26 Dec 2011 by Kuwait Times

CR IP TI ON BS SU

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NO: 15310

SAFAR 1, 1433 AH

Islamists gain, ‘corrupt’ lose in tribal primaries

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150 FILS

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

More monitors for polls • Sheikh Nasser to return: Qallaf

Max 21º Min 09º Low Tide 07:22 &19:03 High Tide 13:52

By B Izzak

in the

news

Kuwait Airways jet in emergency return KUWAIT: A Kuwait Airways flight to London made an emergency return to Kuwait yesterday after 20 minutes in the air due to a technical failure. The plane had nearly 200 passengers onboard including former National Assembly speaker Jassem AlKhorafi. Kuwait Airways has suffered a series of problems in the last few years. Kuwait Airways flights are routinely canceled due to mechanical failures or poor maintenance. After two decades without profit, Kuwait is seeking to off-load a 35 percent stake in its national carrier to a strategic partner.

Gaza leader Haniya on regional tour GAZA: Gaza’s top political leader ventured from the territory yesterday on his first regional political tour since change swept the Arab world, to lobby support for Hamas which controls the coastal strip. Hamas’ Gaza leader Ismail Haniya said he decided to embark on the trip after being encouraged by recent political changes that have taken place in Arab countries. It is his first such tour since 2007 when Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. A Ismail Haniya Haniya aide said he will meet leaders in Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey and discuss rebuilding the Gaza Strip which suffered damage during a month-long Israeli offensive in 2008-09. Missing from Haniya’s itinerary is Syria, which has hosted Hamas’ leadership in Damascus for the past decade.

Prominent Egypt blogger released CAIRO: A prominent Egyptian blogger accused of attacking soldiers during deadly clashes was released yesterday after nearly two months in detention, during which he became a symbol of the pro-democracy activists’ struggle to end military rule in Egypt. Alaa Abdel Fattah’s ﬁrst stop after he was freed was Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that top- Alaa Abdel Fattah pled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in February. Outside police headquarters yesterday, Abdel Fattah cradled his newborn son Khaled, named after Khaled Said, whose death at the hands of police oﬃcers helped inspire the uprising that toppled Mubarak. Abdel Fattah’s wife gave birth to the baby while her husband was in detention.

ABUJA: Men look at the wreckage of a car following a bomb blast at St Theresa Catholic Church outside the Nigerian capital yesterday. — AFP

Nigeria blasts kill 35 MADALLA, Nigeria: Bomb attacks on churches during Christmas services and a suicide blast killed at least 35 people in Nigeria yesterday amid spiralling violence claimed by Islamists. A purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a bombing of the church outside the Nigerian capital and other violence which stoked fear and anger in Africa’s most populous nation. Authorities have been seemingly unable to stop the attacks despite heavyhanded military crackdowns and claims of arrests of Boko Haram members. One attack yesterday saw a suicide bomber seek to ram a military convoy in front of a secret police building in the northeastern city of Damaturu, killing the bomber and three security agents. The church blast outside the capital Abuja killed at least 30 people and degenerated into chaos after the explosion, with angry youths starting ﬁres and threatening to attack a nearby police station. Police shot into the air to disperse them

LONDON: Hackers yesterday claimed to have stolen 200 GB of emails and credit card data from United States security think tank Stratfor, promising a weeklong Christmas-inspired assault on a long list of targets. Members of the loose hacking movement known as “Anonymous” posted a link on Twitter to what it said was Stratfor’s secret client list - including the US Army, the US Air Force, Goldman Sachs and MF Global. “Not so private and secret anymore?,” the group taunted in a message on the microblogging site. Anonymous said it was able to get credit details, in part, because Stratfor didn’t bother encrypting them - an easy-to-avoid blunder which - if true - would be a major embarrassment for any security company. Continued on Page 13

Afghan MP among 19 killed in suicide attack

Decades later, a Cold War secret is revealed

KUWAIT: Former MPs Hussein Al-Qallaf and Aseel AlAwadhi register for the upcoming elections yesterday. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Yemenis rally for Saleh Sudan army trial despite shootings kills Darfur SANAA: Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Yemen’s capital yesterday calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to face trial, a day after his forces and loyalists killed 13 people at a similar demonstration. “The people want to bring the slaughterer to trial,” shouted the protesters who marched from Change Square, epicentre of the uprising that began nearly a year ago, towards Sittin Avenue in the northern district of Sanaa. “We won’t rest until the slaughterer is executed,” they chanted. “We don’t want Abdrabuh, Ali Saleh controls him,” they chanted, referring to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. Saleh is still honorary president but handed authority over to Hadi last month when he signed a Gulfbrokered deal in which he won immunity from prosecution in exchange for ending his 33-year rule when polls are held in February. Angry youths have staged deﬁant protests against the plan, which is

Hackers target US security think tank

and closed a major highway. Emergency oﬃcials called for more ambulances as rescuers sought to evacuate the dead and wounded, and calm later returned to the area. In a swift response, a Vatican spokesman condemned that attack as an act of “blind hatred” which sought “to arouse and feed even more hatred and confusion”. Britain condemned the “cowardly” attacks, with Foreign Secretary William Hague oﬀering “condolences to the bereaved and injured.” France, Italy and Germany also slammed the blasts. Other attacks included a bomb blast outside an evangelical church in the central city of Jos, that killed a policeman, according to a spokesman for the governor. Another explosion targeted a church in the northeastern area of Gadaka on Christmas Eve, but no one was reported killed, while two other blasts hit the northeastern city of Damaturu on Christmas Day, including Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: Islamist candidates, especially Salafists, made clear gains in outlawed tribal primaries held by five tribes in the fifth constituency and whose results were declared in the early hours of yesterday. All former MPs suspected of involvement in the bank deposits’ scandal lost in the primaries in the constituency which means that no former MP involved in the scandal from the constituency will bid for re-election. Five former MPs from the constituency, or half of its MPs, were interrogated by the public prosecution on charges that large sums of money were deposited illegally into their bank accounts. They were later freed on KD 5,000 bail. The five ex-MPs are Khaled Al-Adwah, who did not contest the tribal primaries, Dulaihi Al-Hajeri, Saad Znaifer and Ghanem Al-Azemi, who lost the primaries, and Saadoun Hammad, who moved to the third constituency. Under strict tribal rules, candidates who lose in the primary elections are banned from contesting the general elections and if they do, the tribes’ voters will not vote for them. On the contrary, two former opposition MPs from the constituency, Salem Al-Namlan and Saifi Al-Saifi, won in the primaries while two others, Falah Al-Sawwagh and Khaled Al-Tahous, did not contest because primaries are against the law. At least four Islamist candidates were among the 11 winners in the primaries held by five tribes. The Awazem and Ajman, the largest tribes in the district, elected four candidates each while the Hawajer, Dossari and Mutairi elected one each and are expected to form an alliance in the forthcoming polls. The Oteibi tribe has not held its own primaries but are likely to do so soon. The primaries were held under the new name of “consultations” and although the procedures were held in public, police did not take any action against them. Continued on Page 13

backed by the United Nations, despite a bloody backlash by Saleh’s forces and loyalists that has seen hundreds of them killed. But Saleh’s General People’s Congress party insisted yesterday that the parlia-

ment would conﬁrm the immunity deal. “Measures will be taken to issue the immunity law as per the Gulf plan” after a parliamentary vote of conﬁdence on the newly formed Continued on Page 13

SANAA: An elderly protester chants slogans during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday. — AP

Japan’s ‘Lolita’ style: Cutesy and disturbing

rebel leader KHARTOUM: Sudan’s army killed a key rebel leader and 30 of his Darfur-based troops in a battle which was still continuing yesterday, oﬃcials said, after rebels announced an advance towards the capital. Khalil Ibrahim, 54, who led the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), was wounded on Khalil Ibrahim Thursday evening in a clash with government forces in Umm-Gozain, an area of North Kordofan state near North Darfur, army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told reporters. “He died on Saturday evening” and was buried shortly afterwards, he said. “In the clashes on Thursday, 30 of his troops were killed and a number of them were injured,” Saad added. “We destroyed 12 Land Cruisers, four trucks and a tanker of oil.” The battle was continuing yesterday, Information Minister Abdullah Ali Massar said at the same news Continued on Page 13

Patriots storm back to edge Dolphins

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Years

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

LOCAL

Christians celebrate Christmas in Kuwait ‘God’s children need peace’ News

in brief

School meals circular KUWAIT: Emphasizing on the importance of abiding by recommendations put forward by the Undersecretaries Council, Ayesha Al-Roudhan Assistant Undersecretary of Ministry of Education issued a circular to all the educational directors with respect of meals provided at schools during the current academic year. In the circular, she asserted that schools ensure that student eat their meals. It has been instructed that the cafeteria be closed down during the first recess, and during the second recess only juice, milk and biscuits can be sold to students.

KUWAIT: Pastor Dave Peacock officiating the Christmas bonfire service. —Photos by Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: Pastor Warren Reeve lighting up the advent candles at the Lighthouse Church.

By Ben Garcia

the most important time of the year. The Evangelical Church in Kuwait organized ‘Christmas bonfire’ where members gathered to sing carols in native dialects Tagalog, Hindi, Malayalam, Arabic and English around the huge bonfire. Pastor David Peacock officiated the ceremony before the two consecutive Christmas Eve Services which followed between 9 pm and 11pm. Pastor Warren Reeve led the congregation to reflect the real message of Christmas by recollecting the current events known to many today

KUWAIT: Thousands of Christians celebrated Christmas throughout Kuwait yesterday against the backdrop of ‘the usual traffic jam near the place of worship’ in Kuwait City. It is a common scene on Christmas Day in Kuwait City where many expatriates congregate at churches to celebrate Christmas. Christians mostly from South Asia and the Philippines converged in large numbers to celebrate Christmas. Most workers are only allowed

to take a day-off on this special religious occasion. After church services, expats meet at restaurants and other shops situated in and around Kuwait City to catch up with friends, making it almost impossible for many motorists to penetrate into Kuwait City. The National Evangelical Church and the Holy Family Cathedral, the biggest Christian denominations are both based in Kuwait City although their satellite churches are present in some parts of Kuwait. Members observed Christmas as

as the Arab Spring. He noted that the world needs the Prince of Peace now more than ever, “Peace in the world starts with you and I when we are connected with Jesus. Each of us needs peace, all God’s children need peace.” The Holy Family Cathedral [The Catholic Church] arranged several masses in Malayalam, Konkani, Bengali, Tamil, English, French, Korean, Italian and Arabic from as early as 4 am [December 25] till 9 pm last night.

Fine arts exhibition KUWAIT: The National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters (NCCAL) will host a fine arts exhibition, entitled “The Man and Earth Controversy”, for Egyptian artists Wafa Al-Nashashibi and Rania AlHakim. The two artists will showcase their special experience of the relationship between Man and Earth through geometric abstractions or use of color, an NCCAL statement pointed out yestrday. It noted that the idea for this exhibition, to be held in the Arts Hall at Abdullah Al-Salem area, came about when the two artists expressed themselves in one studio and found that each had a drastically different perspective and style, yet complimenting that of the other. MoE coordinating committee KUWAIT: Minister of Education and Higher Education, Ahmad Al-Mulaifi, has asked Undersecretary, Muna Al-Loghani, to head the coordinating committee between the education college (Kuwait University) and the basic education college (the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training - PAAET) and the Ministry of Education (MoE). The committee is to discuss the subject of the teaching license and a 5 year system to prepare teachers, among 11 missions which the minister has decided for the committee.

KOC to light installations with solar energy KUWAIT: Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) represented by the West Kuwait Directorate announced yesterday the completion of plans to use solar energy to light inland oil installations. Saeed Al-Duwaisan Project Head of West Kuwait Directorate, said the company has realized the necessity of providing alternative and clean energy at remote sites in the desert, He said it is the biggest project at national level, and can provide free power which will not produce carbon emissions for 25 years. Al-Duwaisan said the West Directorate priority is to maintain a clean environment, therefore a study has been applied to implement trials at

other sites, to reveal the pros and cons for future projects The possibility of using this project at other installations depends on the needs of cooperating groups, and a range of services supporting the West Directorate to implement existing ideas, such those presented by the staff of operations or marine exportation, he said. Fahad Al-Ajmi, Project Engineer, said the purpose of the venture is to provide lighting for gas and oil installations in the Directorate using sources such as solar energy that are eco-friendly. Moreover, such an energy resource is economically feasible, as a single battery lasts as long as a quarter of a century, he told Al-Kuwaiti magazine.—KUNA

Al-Azhar to open branch in Kuwait KUWAIT: Lawyer Nasser Al-Shatti, Deputy Chairman for the International League for Al-Azhar Graduates (Kuwait Branch), said that Al-Azhar Imam Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayeb has agreed to open the first branch for Al-Azhar in Kuwait. Four colleges will be established: a Languages and Translation college, an Islamic Law and civil Law College, a Bilingual Islamic studies college and a

higher studies college for Masters and Doctorates. Al-Shatti said the subject is now officially approved in Kuwait. He emphasized that Al-Azhar university branch is an international minaret and a non-profit university aimed at teaching local children science according to Islamic Law as per the system of Al-Azhar university. —Al-Anba

Wataniya Telecom sponsors Gulf Run Race in Bahrain KUWAIT: Stemming from its dedication to spread awareness by applying safety measures while driving to limit from street accidents and as part of its social responsibility towards Kuwait and its youth, Wataniya Telecom announces its sponsorship for the Gulf Run 7 race for the third consecutive year organized in Bahrain. The Gulf Run Race will take place from 26th-28th January, 2012 at the Bahrain International Circuit. The objective of the famous race is to share the thrill and excitement the youth have about cars and racing as well as to encourage and promote safe driving and reinforce the safety rules amongst all people. The first phase of the Gulf Run Race will commence today at the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) through a car show displaying all the 70 sports cars that will be used during the race in Bahrain. The GUST car exhibition will take place over two days, today and tomorrow, from 10am to 10pm. On the occasion, Abdolaziz Al Balool Public Relations Director praised the success achieved by the previous Gulf Run races confirming the following: “The Gulf Run Races have greatly contributed to raising awareness on safety driving throughout the previous years and has limited from car accidents on the streets, which conse-

Abdolaziz Al-Balool quently was the main reason we have been sponsoring the event for three consecutive years. The race has been very much appreciated and enjoyed by everyone who attends it as we also look forward to the excitement and fun it brings with it.” Wataniya Telecom invites everyone to attend the special athletic event taking place in GUST today and tomorrow. Worthy to mention, a car show will also be exhibited in early January at the 360 mall before the cars go to Bahrain for the official race, an event also sponsored by Wataniya Telecom.

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Years

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

local

Number of NA candidates hits 222

Ahmad Al-Duwailah

Ahmad Al-Azmi KUWAIT: A total number of 222 candidates have been nominated for upcoming parliamentary elections, with 13 of them being women. Paying a visit to the Election Control Department, Sheikh Hamad Jaber AlAli Al-Sabah Minister of Information asserted that people select the best. Former MP Hussein Al-Qallaf recently criticized protesters who stormed the Parliament noting that they had modeled themselves into ‘heroes’ despite having breached the country’s laws. “What makes things worse is that they accused minister Ali Al-Rashid of being a lunatic when he described the act as a crime,” he added. Speaking to the press after registering his name as a candidate from the first constituency, Al-Qallaf stressed ‘tension-creating MPs’ had abused the Constitution. “They were not only focused only on deposing former premier Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, but also wanted to empower radical Islamic groups. They have not worked in Kuwait’s best interests,” he said, noting that such opposition blocs would surely destroy the country. Candidate from the first constituency, Dr Abdul Wahed Al-Khalfan said that Kuwait was currently living a

Bader Al-Baidan

Ahmad Abbas ‘democratic festival’ and that the elections would be a unique phenomena. The Islamic Salafist Alliance (ISA) candidate from the first constituency, Dr Mohammed Al-Kandari said that people had lost faith in the legislative after bribery cases. “Therefore, voters must take up responsibilities and make wise choices,” he stressed. Yousif Al-Bedah, candidate from the third constituency described Kuwait’s Constitution as ‘unconstitutional,’ causing a rift between ruling family members. “The problem lies in Article 4 which spells out that the succession rights rest with the descendants of Sheikh Mubarak Al-Kabir, a clause which was later cancelled by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, “ he said. He went on to quote Dr Ahmed Al-Khateeb stating that all laws were tailored-made to fit ruling family members. On her part, candidate from the third constituency, Naeema Al-Haii called for reinforcing the role played by the Audit Bureau after being marginalized by previous parliaments. Former MP Hussein Quwaian AlMuttairi said that lawmakers will be scrutinized by the public. He also promised his voters to adopt health-

Safaa Al-Hashim

Ahmad Al-Shatti related issues in a bid to promote health services. “I’m optimistic because this change was created by the public.” Former MP and the third constituency candidate, Dr Aseel AlAwadhi said that she had been hesitant about contesting elections because of the political upheaval experienced by the country. She also described by-elections as a’ bad start’ to the new elections. Al-Awadhi also denied any intention to forge an alliance with any political group during the elections. She added that former MPs accused of receiving bribes can still contest as long as they are not convicted. Commenting on the likelihood of Sheikh Nasser’s return as prime minister, Al-Awadhi stressed that it would be difficult because he was forced to tender his resignation. “However, appointing him elsewhere is only up to the ruling family and no one can interfere in that,” she stressed. She expressed hope that more ‘technocrats’ would be included. “ I hope we can get at least 20 MPs out of 50 to avoid the incidents that marred the previous Parliament with everybody commenting on all kinds of issues,” she stressed.

5th constituency by-elections on Saturday KUWAIT: Despite measures taken to stop the practice of holding by-elections during 2012 elections, several newspapers reported yesterday that the illegal procedure will be carried out in the fifth constituenc y on Saturday, where tribes wield considerable influence when compared to other constituencies. According to Al-Qabas, tribal byelections were held in different areas within the constituency by five major tribes which are Ajman, Mutran, Dawaser, Awazem, and Hawajer. The report prepared by a team of reporters from several parts in the constituency say that “large crowds of tribe mem-

bers,” gathered at diwaniyas of Haddiya, Al-Riqqa, Jaber Al-Ali, AlSubahiya, Al-Fahaheel, Abu Hlaifa and Al-Ahmadi, where primary elections were being held. Furthermore, the report confirms that some of the elections were held publicly, while other tribes opted to hide it under the pretext of arranging a wedding party to justify the presence of the crowd, repor ted Al-Qabas. Instead of holding primary elections which were criminalized by a Constitutional Court order issued this year, a report published by Al-Rai suggests that fifth constituency tribes actually held ‘consultative meetings’

Ex-speaker justifies parliament dissolution KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah accepted the resignation of the previous Cabinet and dissolved the Parliament shortly after wards to meet Kuwaiti people’s demand, reiterated former MP and opposition bloc leader Ahmad Al-Saadoun. He was speaking at a diwaniya in south Surra that belonged to third constituency voters. Al-Saadoun, a veteran parliamentarian and former Speaker expressed his opinion on the storming of the Parliament building on November 16. He added that the incident was sub-judice , and that he would not comment on the subject. He credited Saudi Arabia’s late King Fahad ibn Abdul-Aziz in connection with achieving unity in the Gulf Cooperation Council. He announced that he welcomes the step “as long as it falls in line with the Constitution.” Meanwhile, former Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi described the Saudi King’s initiative as ‘historic,’ and one that “falls in line with ambition of GCC countries to achieve integration.” Al-Kharafi was also asked while speaking recently to reporters about the prospect of Jordan and Morocco joining the GCC. He replied, “the decision was made at the recent GCC summit to establish a fund to support development in these counties, a better alternative to membership.” Al-Kharafi announced earlier that he is not contesting parliamentary elections during the 2012 elections, but added in his recent statement that he intends to stay active in “serving Kuwait through national work.” Regarding his decision, Al-Kharafi explained that he chose to step aside “to give the opportunity for a new generation to serve Kuwait,” reiterating that his decision was final. —Al-Qabas

on Saturday to select representatives. Either way, primary elections and consultative meetings cannot be very different as both serve the purpose of electing a number of candidates. However, the former is more officially organized. Al-Rai’s report and quotes unnamed sources who indicate that more than 8,400 voters par ticipated in AlAwazem tribal meetings. At least 6,000 took par t in Al-Ajman’s meetings. Meanwhile, the same report added that Awazem tribe leaders are trying to reduce the number of candidates contesting from the first constituency, reported Al-Rai.

Hussein Al-Muttairi

Bassam Jawal

Bader Al-Jassar

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Years

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

LOCAL

kuwait digest

In my view

A volatile year for oil

Chances of change By Dr. Wael Al-Hasawi

he sensation of frustration from the performance of the previous Parliament perhaps leads citizens from all places and backgrounds in Kuwait to register for the upcoming elections. All you need to register is a Kuwaiti citizenship and a KD50 registration fee, and you can launch an election campaign regardless of your knowledge of the principles of Parliamentary work. What led me to reach this conclusion are statements I read in papers or heard on TV for new candidates who are running for the first time for Parliament. One candidate actually said that he is running for Parliament to be appointed as Interior Minister (unlike Parliament, Kuwait’s Cabinet has selected members appointed by the Prime Minister). Another candidate imagined he will implement a project to launch hot-air balloons into the sky in order to sprinkle water over the land - presumably in a bid to cool down the summer heat or perhaps combat drought in Kuwait. There is also a candidate who announced that he is running only to represent Christian Kuwaitis, instead of Kuwaitis of all backgrounds and beliefs. The main problem is that all these candidates do not realize how unprofessional - and sometimes laughable - their performances actually are during their campaigns. Kuwaiti citizens generally tend to avoid mentioning flaws of someone they are asked to give an opinion about. A citizen can give a candidate all the praise he likes to hear, only to vote for another candidate on elections day. I still remember an incident during the 80’s when a candidate spent thousands on catering services to his election headquarters. He eventually suffered a major defeat, which he never expected given the large crowds which flooded his tents. Surveys can be somewhat helpful in assessing candidates popularity, but they remain too inaccurate to predict election outcomes because they fail to detect the true intentions of voters. Voter’s opinions remain subject to change throughout the election period due to many aspects, that also include bribes. Some analysts predict a fifty percent change in the formation of the next Parliament compared to the previous one. I believe that these chances are good if we consider the probability that citizens will shun away from voting for former MPs, accused of being involved in the multimillion-dinar deposits scandal. Moreover, the public condemnation that this major graft scandal brought is almost certainly going to translate into many changes in the new Parliament. Or at least that is the way it should go in similar situations. Voters want to elect MPs not involved in bribery cases. The problem is, how can people make sure that the person they are voting for is 100 percent honorable? They cannot, because the previous Parliament failed to enforce the much anticipated wealth disclosure law. Voters are left to build their assessment on whatever promises and claims candidates make during their campaigns.There is something I also feel the need to point out. The fact is that opposition lawmakers, who succeeded in their campaign against the former Cabinet, should not feel safe about their chances of re-election. After all, people are not 100 percent satisfied about their performance during the previous Parliament, as their continuous confrontational approach was the reason for most tensions. This made it impossible for the Cabinet to push the development process forward. Unless they start cooperating with the Cabinet, opposition MPs might find themselves mainly at odds with voters in future elections. — Al-Rai

By Walid Al-Qadoumi

kuwait digest

Put an end to bedoons’ suffering By Abdullatif Al-Duaij

aleh Al-Fadalah, Chairman of a central committee set up by Kuwait to resolve the countr y ’s bedoons’ issue, announced that cases of 34,000 stateless residents may be naturalized. The terms ‘going to’ and ‘will consider’ raise a lot of suspicion on the probability that these stateless residents will be granted citizenship. Given the history of how the government usually handles long-standing issues, this ‘consideration’ process might take yet another half a century. I can swear that whenever the bedoons’ suffering is mentioned, it always gets connected with naturalization for some odd reason. Whenever someone writes or speaks about the need to resolve the stateless residents’ situation,

someone else comes out and demands that they be granted citizenship. I am convinced that this is not a coincidence. It is intentional in order to put hurdles in the process of solving the problem as well as stir panic among citizens so that they support the process. Before finding a solution to the problem, all bedoon residents in Kuwait -that means all the 105,000 as per Al-Fadhalah’s estimation — must be given temporary residency until the central committee completes its job. Stateless residents should be allowed access to education, medication and travel, as per international regulations. While the central committee seeks to decide on who deserves a citizenship, human rights

activists must be asked to join the assessment process. If we talk about this from a humanitarian standpoint, we must notice that with all due respect to current members of the central committee, they act from a governmental standpoint giving priority to the part pertinent with Kuwait’s sovereignty, ahead of the humanitarian suffering of bedoons. Allowing long-time Kuwaiti human rights activists like Ghanim Al-Najjar and Ali AlBaddah to join the central committee would give credibility to the solutions that it eventually finds. They meet all humanitarian aspects recognized by international organizations. After that, the solutions wouldn’t only be accepted by Kuwait. — Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

Long and bumpy road to GCC unity By Waleed Al-Rujaib

he raving approval to the initiative made by King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin AbdulAziz, to achieve unity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was, in my opinion, rushed and incomprehensively assessed. Unity of course will be a very important step in the history of the GCC, and it certainly meets the hopes and ambitions of people of the Gulf countries, but such historic steps must only be taken following thorough consideration. This will eliminate chances of failure, as seen in previous unity attempts among Arab countries. This thorough consideration process must not be exclusive to the strong desire for unity within the GCC countries, and obvious political benefits that unity can bring with regards to facing potential regional threat. Instead, the process must tackle all social, cultural, and economic aspects which unity brings. The term ‘GCC national’ is commonly used in the Arab World to describe a citizen of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Despite the fact that these countries share common cultural, social, economic and political characteristics, each of them varies in the level of development in all of these fields. Some GCC countries enjoy constitutional rule and elected Parliament, whereas others only have elected consultative councils. If unity is achieved, one country would have to accept changing its political system to match other countries. I do not think the people of Kuwait and Bahrain will be willing to give away the democratic gains that they fought so hard to achieve during the past century. Meanwhile, Kuwait and Bahrain also enjoy relatively open and multicultural societies, compared to the other GCC countries. Furthermore, there are differences in economic and trade levels between all GCC countries. There is also the fate of current Heads of State, whose status will be demoted to something similar to governors should unity be achieved. There is another aspect that I believe should not be ignored. This is that the United States of America will not appreciate GCC unity, since it does not fall under its political strategies in the region based on the disintegration of Arab countries such as Sudan, and attempts currently in place for Iraq and Lebanon. I believe that GCC countries should focus today on boosting the level of joint projects, which include the GCC stock exchange market and unified custom fee and currency. That at least would be a step in the right direction to unity, which I believe is still a long and rugged one at the present time. —Al-Rai

s the global economic and geopolitical outlook worsens, an oil industry expert predicts a volatile year for oil in 2012. “It is important that producers act responsibly and work together with consumers to ensure the world is reliably and well supplied with crude oil,” Badr Jafar said. Jafar, President of Crescent Petroleum, surveyed the current environment and explained how policy makers and industr y in the Gulf region should best respond. While oil prices have remained relatively steady in the past few months, the outlook is more uncertain than ever with both a price collapse and spike possible in the near term. “At first glance oil prices look like they may have reached equilibrium in recent months, between $100 and $120 per barrel, in which range they have traded for most of 2011,” he said. “Yet if you ask many market participants they do not think market prices are going to stay in this range. In fact, there is a sharp division between those who expect prices to rise sharply and those who expect them to crash. The only thing that both sides agree on is that the risk of a crisis of one sort or the other is serious in 2012”. The upside risks to current oil prices are apparent from the heightened tension between the West and Iran, with recent talks over the closing of the Straits of Hormuz creating a feverish environment. Global oil supplies remain tight, with demand continues to outstrip supply as it has done since the start of 2010. Currently, demand is only met by the steady drawing down of inventories. Hence any interruption, due to a loss of production from any geopolitical incident, could directly impact prices. On the other hand, there are considerable downside risks too. The Eurozone crisis is threatening to throw the European Union (EU), an area accounting for about 24 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 16 percent of global oil demand, into a sustained recession. At the same time there are signs that the Chinese economy is also cooling, with its stock market down by 23 percent to date. A resultant drop in oil demand from these regions could soften global oil prices considerably by themselves, but when combined with booming US liquids production, up by three percent in 2011 compared to 2010, there is a real risk of a global oversupply if global economy falters. “What can be done to mitigate these risks?” asks Jafar. “Firstly, it is important that producers act responsibly and work together with consumers to ensure the world is reliably and well supplied with crude. Reducing risk promotes confidence critical to the global economy. OPEC’s recent decision, to maintain oil output at 30 million barrels per day in the first half of 2012, is a positive sign in this direction given the organization’s previous meeting ended in stalemate. Furthermore, it is good to see that Iraq’s relationship with OPEC is being normalized, after over a decade in limbo. Yet more work needs to be done to provide confidence to oil consumers facing a fragile economic future.” “The best way for Gulf producers to do this is to ensure that investment in productive capacity and diversifying export routes continue so that the market can be well supplied whatever disruptions may occur. And the best way to achieve that is to release the huge potential of the private sector to energize the region’s hydrocarbon sector,” Jafar advised.

kuwait digest

GCC states wary of neighbors By Sami Al-Nisf

t is quite strange that some Arab observers express concern about GCC states and accuse them occasionally of doing nothing to achieve the awaited Gulf unity. Then when GCC leaders announce their wish to speed up that GCC union, the same observers start enquiring about reasons for the call for unity and whether it reflects a GCC weakness before current changes in the area?! What is tempting to countries or persons who are observing the Gulf is the availability of wealth, and the weakness of those who own the wealth. We, as GCC nationals, only have to open a map and see the sums of dangers which surround us. In the north there is Iraq, Syria and unstable regimes security wise. In the east there is Iran and problems with the International Community and interaction in the affairs of the regional states. In the south we have Yemen and its explosive status, and in the west Egypt and Sudan, which are both unstable politically and economically. It is very clear that the problem of countries surrounding the GCC states from all sides will negatively affect our status whether we like it or not. The experience of the European Union shows their economic union in the joint European market. This was established in 1957 and their political union, which came after 1992, was proceeded by a military union (the formation of NATO) which was established in 1949. Then their armies began joint exercises, which occur annually in front of media cameras, in preparation to face any power and secure their borders. Had we done that since the GCC union formed in 1982, Kuwait would never have been invaded, and Huthies in Yemen would never have taken advantage of our weakness and separation. — Al-Anbaa

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Years

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

local

Suspects in robbery attempt in custody Smuggling thwarted at Salmi border

KUWAIT: Ahmadi Governor Sheikh Dr Ibrahim Al-Duaij Al-Sabah held a farewell ceremony to honor outgoing Ambassador of China to Kuwait, Huang Jiemin. In addition to discussing means of boosting cooperation between two countries Ambassador Jiemin invited Sheikh Ibrahim to visit the Chinese city of Jinjiang.

NCCAL, KCC celebrates Mahfouz centennial KUWAIT: The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), in cooperation with Kuwait Cinema Club (KCC), will host a celebration entitled ‘In the Love of Naguib Mahfouz’ on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. The celebration, due to be held today at the headquarters of the NCCAL secretariat, will include a literary symposium in which novelist Taleb Al-Refae will discuss Mahfouz’s influence and status in the art of the Arabic novel, the NCCAL said in a state-

ment yesterday. Sharif Saleh, writer and critic, will also talk about the transformation of the story in terms of written and visual script. In addition, several Kuwaiti and Arab novelists will highlight their association with Mahfouz, and read excerpts of his short stories. The statement pointed out that a book exhibition will be held during the Celebration. The film ‘The Thief and Dogs’, which was based on one of Mahfouz’s well-known novels, will also be screened.—KUNA

KUWAIT: Police are interrogating three suspects who were caught recently in connection with a failed armed robbery attempt targeted at a money collector last week. The victim had stepped out of a grocery store when suspects attempted to steal a bag containing cash. He was supposed to deliver it to a telecommunication company. He sustained a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Police apprehended three suspects, a citizen, a GCC national and a stateless resident based on descriptions provided by the victim. The suspects remain in custody and have denied all accusations leveled against them. Convict held A fugitive sentenced to life imprisonment was recently captured in Kuwait City after trying to run away unsuccessfully. Some security personnel chased the suspect after he began running away. The man was arrested after police verified his identity. He is a GCC citizen who is wanted in connection with several criminal cases. The man was imprisoned in the Central Jail to serve a sentence. Rapists caught Mubarak Al-Kabeer police arrested a suspect in his twenties who has been accused of sexually assaulting a teenager after luring her. Investigations went underway after the underage girl reported to being molested by her boyfriend. The girl, who was escorted to a

local police station by her father, provided the suspect’s phone number to officers. Investigators were able to identify the suspect as a citizen in his twenties. He was eventually traced down to Fintas. He is currently interrogated. In other news, Mubarak Al-Kabeer investigators arrested a rapist who sexually assaulted a teenager in his vehicle after kidnapping him at knifepoint. The 15-year-old boy reported that he was bundled into a black SUV and sexually assaulted. Investigators arrested the suspect, in his thirties, two days after the incident was reported. The rapist admitted to abducting the boy after spotting him strolling along in the area. He remains in custody. Man attacks wife An amateur actress’ husband beat her up mercilessly after he caught her dating a stranger. However, the husband was not arrested after his wife decided not to press charges. The incident took place in Abdullah Al-Mubarak after the husband received a phone call from his domestic worker informing him that his wife went out with someone who had picked her up soon after he left his apartment. The man returned immediately and waited outside in his car for four hours until his wife was dropped off. He began chasing the stranger but failed to intercept him. The disgruntled husband returned to his

building and began attacking his wife. Police soon reached the place after receiving an emergency call. Police did not file a case as none of the couple filed complaints. Smuggling attempt A security officer deployed at the Salmi border check point (west) was recently arrested in connection with attempting to smuggle a fugitive out of the country. He was spotted escorting a traveler towards the exit to personally supervise his departure. After learning that the traveler is banned from traveling due to a theft charge pressed against him, he was immediately detained and referred to the Criminal Investigations General Department. He remains in custody pending trial. Gamblers in custody For suspects wanted in connection with violating residency and labor regulations were arrested during a recent raid held at a Hawally apartment. A security team issued a warrant to storm the apartment based on information used as a place for Asian residents to gamble. Police apprehended four people , two of whom violated residency laws, while the others had been reported absconding by sponsors. The four admitted to conducting illegal gambling in their apartments. They were referred to the concerned authorities.— Al-Rai, Al-Anbaa

Philippines ambassador praises Kuwait’s humanitarian role KUWAIT: The Philippine’s Ambassador to Kuwait, Shulan Primavera, praised the Kuwaiti humanitarian role in offering aid to people in need at all levels. Following his meeting yesterday with Barjas Al-Barjas, Chairman of the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS), the diplomat praised the efforts exerted by the KRCS in aiding peo-

Officers awarded ‘Al-Soor’ medals for good services KUWAIT: Brig Asaad Al-Rerwaih, chief of Legal Affairs Directorate, decorated a number of officers with the Al-Soor medal, bestowed upon them by His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, in appreciation of their dedication to military duties and excellent service. “These medals should be an incentive to further elevate the officers’ performance to keep the country safe and secure”, Al-Rerwaih stressed during the honoring ceremony, held in the presence

of Brig Mohammad Al-Saeed. Al-Saeed pointed out that giving the officers actually means they have more responsibilities to honor. The officers, meantime, expressed their appreciation for the honor and pledged to maintain devotion in safeguarding the homeland. The ceremony was attended by Brig Nabeel Al-Aslawi, Director of the Directorate General of Military Courts, and Brig Khaled Al-Mehanna, Director of the Financial and Administrative Office, and other military officials.— KUNA

ple in need all over the world. The KRCS comes at the top of the humanitarian societies offering aid, making Kuwait a pioneer in this field, the Ambassador added. He discussed with Al-Barjas means of cooperation in the humanitarian field, and means of offering help to the Filipino people suffering from the floods and typoons that recently hit

Busairi underlines importance of regular GCC energy meetings ABU DHABI: Kuwait’s Minister of Oil and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs, Dr Mohammed Al-Busairi, asserted here yesterday the impor tance of regular meetings between the GCC countries to coordinate their positions on oil and energy issues. Al-Busairi and his accompanying delegation arrived in Abu Dhabi late on Saturday after participating in the 30th meeting of Ministers of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)in Cairo. He spoke after participating in a meeting of the GCC Ministerial Committee for Petroleum Cooperation in the GCC states. The minister said that all sectors in the GCC countries should have regular meetings with each other, both at the level of ministry undersecretaries or senior officials to coordinate positions and come out with a unified vision on all issues related to their joint cooperation. Al-Busairi stressed that oil and energy are among the most important issues in the Gulf region, especially considering 60 percent of the energy and the world’s oil reserves exist in this region.

He stressed the importance of such consultative meetings, saying the reports and studies presented are in addition to various points of view regarding coordination among the Gulf countries. He noted that the Kuwaiti delegation submitted a paper to develop a vision for the Petroleum Media Strategy in the Gulf region, saying publicity is sensitive because undisciplined media may negatively affect directly and indirectly on this strategic commodity. In March 2012, the State of Kuwait will hold an energy forum which is expected to be attended by more than 60 countries. He said that this will be an opportunity for the countries to display their studies, reports and insights to the issues and energy problems in the world. On the other hand, a statement issued by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Oil said that the ministerial committee for petroleum cooperation in the GCC states became acquainted with the unified bylaw of the ministerial committees in the member states, which was endorsed by the ministerial council. —KUNA

the country. Primavera called on organizations around the world to offer aid to his People, who are homeless. Al-Barjas expressed deep worries over the increasing natural disasters hitting various parts of the world, causing casualties and severe economic losses, stressing that KRCS will exert all efforts to aid those in need.—KUNA

Kuwait inks deal with Irish universities DUBLIN: Prof Waleed Shuaib, head of the Kuwait Cultural Office in Ireland, announced yesterday that a deal has been struck with Irish universities to eliminate a former mandatory requirement for Kuwaiti students to complete one year of studies at an Irish senior high school. Shuaib said great efforts and fruitful connections have been made for Kuwaiti scholarship students to Ireland, Shuaib said, adding that this academic year (20112012) is the first to witness the acceptance of Kuwaiti students to Irish academic institutions without the need to finish an Irish high school year. However, he noted that scholarship students must pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in order to be admitted. He pointed out that deals made with various public and private universities have led to the direct admission of Kuwaiti high school graduates to Irish universities. This is regarded as recognition of Kuwaiti high schools, whether public, British, American, or bilingual.— KUNA

KUWAIT: Brig Asaad Al-Rerwaih pictured with the officers during the honoring ceremony.

Kuwait signs accord with Johns Hopkins University KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health signed an agreement with the US Johns Hopkins University yesterday, stipulating transfer of medical expertise and clinical services to some Kuwaiti hospitals. Hospitals included in the agreement are Adan, Farwaniya, Amiri and Jahra hospitals. The $17.7 million accord is valid for five years. Acting Minister of Health, Mustafa Al-Shimali, said during the signing ceremony that the aim of this agreement comes within the framework of the National Health Development Plan for raising the level of health services provided by the ministry to both citizens and residents. Al-Shimali, also minister of finance, said the state has spared no effort in bringing in highly qualified staff and equipment for improving health services. Ministry of Health Undersecretary, Dr Ibrahim Al-Abdulhadi, said at a news conference that the agreement came after years of negotiations between the two sides. He stressed that it will particularly

target the Emergency Department and outpatient clinics. The agreement includes 100 visits by a consultant and faculty member of the US university per year, of which 70 visits would be for clinical training programs and 30 for non-clinical activities. It also stipulates 420 days of work for clinical programs and 180 working days for non-clinical works, he said. Work at Adan Hospital will begin 90 days after the signing date. In the other hospitals, it will start after approval of the steering committee, after nine months of operations at Adan Hospital. This will allow time to assess preliminary results of the process. Ser vices included in the agreement are clinical services, knowledge transfer, education and training, public health and information management, information technology and medical library, as well as related services and the introduction of remote medical consultations and the support of management and operation. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Long Kem, hosted at his residence on Thursday evening a reception for the outgoing Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Dasho Sherub Tenzin. Prominent officials, diplomats and media persons attended the function.—Photos by Joseph Shagra

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Years

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

LOCAL

MoI calls young Kuwaitis to stand for NA polls ‘Veterans’ urged to step down Increased demand for Asian maids in Saudi By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: Minister of Information Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali inspecting the electoral supervision authority yesterday. — Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh KUWAIT: The polls are forecast to result in a 70 percent change of the National Assembly formation, the Minister of Information (MoI) said yesterday, calling on a younger generation of Kuwaitis to vote and stand for election. “Give way for the youth to serve the country,” said Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali in a statement to journalists while inspecting the electoral supervision authority. He called on ‘veteran’ candidates and MPs to step down, citing the example of the former Speaker of the National Assembly, Jassem Al-Kharafi, whose intention is to give a chance to a younger person to serve in the top Parliament seat. Upcoming Parliamentary elections constitute some of the most crucial events in the history of democracy in Kuwait, he said. The Ministry of Information and the national media establishments are responsible for

portraying “an honorable picture of the democracy in Kuwait,” in line with recommendations of His Highness the Amir in this regard. Sheikh Hamad affirmed the readiness of the Ministry and the affiliate departments and authorities, namely Kuwait Television, to cover the polls. “We will interact (with the event) and we won’t be mere spectators ... and we have substantial potential for covering the events of the elections,” Sheikh Hamad said. He urged citizens to participate in the electoral process for sake of choosing the most qualified to serve in the Assembly, and called on all candidates to air their views and pledges via the official television station. Addressing HH the Amir, Sheikh Sabah AlAhmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Minister

assured His Highness that he and the ministry staff will be quite helpful to ensure success of the polling process. “I would like to say to the Amir that we will help you to ensure the success of this great democratic ceremony,” he pledged. Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali expressed gratitude to the Kuwait Transparency Society and Kuwait Journalists Association for aiding the authorities in the electoral process, noting that the transparency association was tasked with examining implementation of the laws of the audio-visual media. On re-opening office of Al-Jazeera television channel, the minister indicated that it would resume its work in the country following completion of some paper works. “Kuwait will witness a new and unprecedented era of media openness,” he added. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Prices of domestic laborers have soared due to the increased demand of Saudi nationals for maids from Kuwaiti offices, according to the Saudi daily Al-Watan. As many maids refuse to go to work in the Saudi Arabia, the only way to attract them is with higher salaries. Their focus is on Filipina and Indonesian maids, as these were banned from going from the Philippines to Saudi Arabia to work. The charges to import a maid has increased in Saudi Arabia, and become more expensive compared to recruiting a maid in Kuwait. Domestic labor offices in Kuwait have different prices for maids, not only for different nationalities but even for maids of the same nationality. Earlier this year, the cost of maids hiked to very high prices. They are not affordable for many people, especially expatriates. For many people a maid is essential and they agree to pay this high price to get a maid. It seems that some offices have increased their prices again, as the cost of some maids has reached KD 850, not including the visa or salary. “Our office only has Filipina maids available, and their price is KD 850,” Husain from the Jasim Kamal office told the Kuwait Times. “ We didn’t increase the price recently, this is our price since this year. Our office does not export maids outside Kuwait, so we do not have any Saudi clients taking the maids abroad to increase our prices,” he said. An employee of Fawziya Al-Mutatih Office agreed that they do not give a maid to clients who are not living in Kuwait. “We only provide maids to Kuwaiti citizens or any other nationalities on condition that they live in Kuwait. We cannot risk letting them leave Kuwait,

as we do not know what problems may happen to them abroad and we will not be able to help them. In case that the client takes her outside Kuwait without telling us it is his responsibility. At the end he is her sponsor,” he said. The price of the maids is not unified in all domestic labor agencies. The price depends on the nationality of the maid and whether the maid is returned or brought from abroad. A Filipina maid is most expensive comparing to other nationalities. The Ethiopian maid is the cheapest. Indonesian maids are not available from agents now as their government banned them from coming to work here as domestic helpers. Some offices do not mind providing maids to work in Saudi Arabia. “The maids are those who refuse going to KSA. We had a few clients who came to our office or called us, but the maids refused the offer. I do not mind giving a maid to a Saudi client who will take her to work there if she agrees. Our price is KD 650 for the Filipina maid. I expect that the price may decrease, and will not increase more than the current price,” stated Khalid from Saffiya Al-Ruwayih Office. An employee of Mohammed AlSairafi office stressed that their office has previously provided maids to Saudi clients who took them abroad. “We don’t mind if somebody takes the maid to work abroad, but the problem is with the maids as they usually refuse to go there. We only have Ethiopian maids available. The cost is KD 300 for a Muslim maid, and KD 270 for a Christian. Her salary is KD 52. In this case it is easier to take a returned maid as she can be asked while already here in Kuwait, rather than waiting for a response and arrival that takes a month or more,” he pointed out.

MoH undersecretary seeks equal pay for psychologists KUWAIT: The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health(MoH), Dr Ibrahim AlAbdul Hadi, is preparing to send an official letter to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) with respect to equality in allowances and increments paid to sociologists and psychologists. The request aims to equalize the amount of money granted to social specialists and psychologists who are working in social health administration with employees at the psychological clinic at

the Psychiatry Hospital. Health sources emphasize that this step was taken because both sets of employees work alongside doctors and technicians while dealing with hospital patients as they assist in social and psychological interventions. Some of the employees conduct test and check-up, in addition to preparing research and statistics. Employees in both places have the same qualifications, he stated. —Al-Anbaa

Drugs seized from citizen By Hanan Al- Saadoun

Ukrainians meet at embassy KUWAIT: The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait hosted a meeting with representatives from the Ukrainian community on Dec 22. The event was held on occasion of celebration of the New Year and Christmas holidays. The ceremony was attended by citizens of Ukraine who live in the emirate. V. Tolkach, the Ambassador of Ukraine, opened the meeting with a traditional introductory speech. He congratulated the guests on the holidays and noted the importance of

unification of the Ukrainian diaspora into one friendly family. According to the Ambassador, the priority of the diplomatic mission will continue to be the protection and comprehensive assistance to the citizens of Ukraine. During the meeting, the participants exchanged views on holding various events in the New Year. These included thematic discussions, sports activities, tours, and art exhibitions etc. Taking into consideration the importance

of strengthening friendly relations with the representatives of Kuwait, the creation of the Union of Ukrainian-Kuwaiti friendship was initiated. The citizens of the Emirates and other Arab countries, whose lives are linked with Ukraine, are invited to take part in the events. Proposals on methods for further cooperation between the two friendly nations may be made public on the Embassy page ‘Ukrainians in Kuwait’ on the social networks site Facebook.

KUWAIT: Police arrested a citizen in Sabah Al-Salem after confiscating 30 kg of hashish from his place of residence during a raid. He admitted to obtaining the contraband from Saudi Arabia. The arrest was made after police were tipped off on the suspect’s arrival into Kuwait via Nuwaiseeb border crossing. Car accidents Two citizens, both aged 20, suffered multiple injuries during a car accident that took place along Fifth Ring Road. They were admitted to Mubarak hospital. A 28-year-old Egyptian fractured a

right hand after a fight took place in Ferdous cooperative society. He was admitted to Farwaniya hospital. Two Egyptians, both aged 45, sustained head injuries and were admitted to Adan hospital ICU. A 31-year-old suffered lacerations to the scalp during a car accident that took place in Fahaheel. A 35-yearold Ethiopian man and a 26-year-old Ethiopian woman sustained bodily injuries in a car accident that took place near Fintas bridge. They were admitted to Adan hospital. Also, A 23-year-old citizen sustained a spinal injury and a 24-yearold suffered a dislocated shoulder in a car accident that took place in Rumaithiya. They were admitted to Mubarak hospital.

KDT cleans 70 tons of waste from Ushairej Beach K U WA I T: K u w a i t D i v e Te a m ( K DT ) recently cleared 70 tons of solid waste during its fifth annual major cleaning campaign at Ushairej Beach.

The campaign was conducted in cooperation with several NGOs and state departments including the Committee in Charge of demolishing

Encroachments from State Proper t y, Kuwait Geographic Society, the General D e p a r t m e n t o f Cu s t o m s a n d K u w a i t Municipality.

After the campaign, a celebration was held to reward participants who helped remove the ship wreck debris from the sea, the disposal of fishing nets and

metal waste. Former MP Dr Ali Al-Omair, participated in the campaign and praised volunteers in a speech he delivered during the closing ceremony.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

Pope prays for peace

N Korea power-behind-throne emerges as neighbors meet

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Afghan MP among 19 killed in attack Attacker blows himself up among mourners

TAKHAR: Dead bodies are seen covered following a suicide attack on a funeral in Taluqan city, capital of Takhar province yesterday. A suicide bomber attacked a funeral in northeastern Afghanistan on December 25, killing at least 19 people including an MP and wounding dozens of others, officials said. —AFP

KABUL: A suicide bomber attacked a funeral in northeastern Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 19 people including an MP and wounding dozens of others, officials said. The attacker, who was wearing a suicide vest, blew himself up among a crowd of mourners gathered for the funeral of a government official in Taluqan city, the capital of Takhar province, 155 miles (250 kilometres) north of Kabul. “We have 19 dead including an MP, Abdulmutalib Baig, and more than 40 wounded, mostly civilians,” said Takhar provincial governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa. “I was also invited to this ceremony but I didn’t go. The target was either me or the MP.” Baig was a former antiTaleban Northern Alliance commander and the former police chief of Kunduz province. He was working with opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah in the newly established National Coalition of Afghanistan. “This ruthless act of terror to target innocent people who had gathered for a religious ceremony yet again demonstrates the vile and vicious nature of the enemy who do not want to see the Muslim people of Afghanistan to per form even their Islamic rituals,” Afghan President Hamid K arzai said. General John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, said the attackers “must only be interested in destruction”. “These attackers are

cowards, callously targeting and killing families and friends who had gathered to mourn a loved one,” he said. Both the provincial police chief General K hair Mohammad Temor and the interior ministr y confirmed the death toll. Temor said there were no women among the dead and more than 50 were wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and the Taleban, who are leading an insurgency against Afghan government forces and US-led international troops, were not reachable for comment. Peace talks with the Taleban in the hope of finding a political settlement af ter 10 years of war have stalled in the wake of the September assassination of government peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani and continued violence. Takhar province is one of the areas being handed over by NATO in the second wave of transition to Afghan security forces ahead of the planned withdrawal of foreign combat forces by the end of 2014. Although the province is relatively calm, there have been a number of high-profile attacks in the last year, including the assassination of anti-Taleban northern Afghanistan police commander General Mohammad Daud Daud. “This reprehensible attack... illustrates that the Taleban and other insurgents are waging a murderous campaign against

innocent Afghan civilians,” the US embassy said in a statement. Elsewhere, in eastern Afghanistan, an ISAF service member died after an insurgent attack on Christmas day. The nationality was not disclosed in line with policy. The death came after Afghan army and police officials said an Afghan soldier was killed in a gunfight with US troops in southwestern Farah province after he opened fire during an argument on Christmas eve. Four US troops were also injured in the incident on Saturday after the Afghan soldier began shooting and coalition troops returned fire, the officials said. A spokesman for the NATOled International Security Assistance Force said there were no coalition fatalities but would not comment on ISAF casualties in line with policy. Coalition troops often carry out joint operations with Afghan army and police. But violent incidents are not uncommon and Afghan security forces or those purporting to be have carried out several attacks on ISAF soldiers. There are now 180,000 Afghan National Army soldiers but rapid growth has raised fears over the quality of recruits and even Taleban infiltration. Meanwhile, the interior ministry said in the space of 24 hours Afghan security forces killed 30 armed insurgents in various operations around the country in which a number of weapons were found.—AFP

Egypt’s military rulers study plan to speed up vote CAIRO: Egypt ’s militar y rulers are studying a proposal from their own advisers to bring forward parliamentary elections by two weeks after demands from protesters and politicians to speed up transition to civilian rule, an advisory council member said yesterday. Many Egyptians believe the army is no longer fit to manage security on the ground and carry out difficult reforms at a time of political and economic crisis. On Friday, thousands rallied in Cairo and other cities to demand the army give up power and to vent anger after 17 people were killed in recent protests where troops beat and clubbed women and men even as they lay on the ground. Voting for the upper house, or Shura Assembly, is due to be held in three rounds beginning on Jan 29 and

ending on March 5. It follows a similarly protracted vote for the lower house that began in November and is due to end in mid-January. “The military council has agreed to study the option of shortening the election time for the Shura by two weeks, to end on February 22,” Sherif Zahran, a member of a council advising the military on the transition to civilian rule told Reuters. Zahran said the judiciary had agreed to the idea of squeezing Shura elections into two stages instead of three and that a plan to shorten the vote tallying process was being studied also. “This would allow for both the (lower house of ) parliament and Shura to convene in a joint meeting by the end of February,” Zahran told Reuters. Once parliament

convenes, Egypt will draw up a constitution and a presidential vote is planned before the end of June. Protests continue daily in Tahrir Square. Several hundred protesters have set up camp there. Some are demanding the army bring forward the presidential vote to as early as Jan. 25, the first anniversary of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. Others, worrying that 10 months after Mubarak’s downfall Egypt remains in disarray, protested on Friday to end protests so order can be restored and the economy revitalized. A source close to the army said the militar y council, including leader Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, was meeting to decide on what was needed to speed up the Shura vote. —Reuters

Jordan probes violent clashes at demo: Report AMMAN: Jordan said yesterday it was probing clashes between opposition Islamist demonstrators and government loyalists in a northern city, where dozens, including police, were wounded. “The government is investigating the clashes that erupted Friday in Mafraq, where citizens and policemen have been attacked,” government spokesman Rakan Majali said in published remarks.

“Offices of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) have been torched. What happened is unacceptable and intolerable. Those responsible behind the violence will be brought to justice,” he told the government-owned Al-Rai Arabic daily. Police fired tear gas after around 300 Islamists clashed with thousands of members of the Bani Hassan, one of Jordan’s largest tribes. Witnesses said

several shops have been destroyed during the clashes, which forced demonstrators to seek refuge in a mosque. Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm the IAF urged the government on Saturday to arrest the attackers. Islamists, youth groups and other parties have been protesting since January, demanding political and economic change and an end to corruption.—AFP

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Years

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

INTERNATIONAL

Arabs urged to monitor Syrian flashpoints Call comes day before a first group of observers arrive

JARUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting in his offices yesterday in Jerusalem. —AFP

Netanyahu vows to stop harassment by Jewish zealots JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up pledges to curb Jewish zealotry in Israel yesterday after an 8-year-old girl complained of being menaced by ultra-Orthodox men who deemed her dress immodest. While his conservative government insists such incidents are fringe phenomena in the mostly secular country, Netanyahu’s repeated announcements on the matter reflected concern about widening religious and political schisms. “In a Western, liberal democracy, the public realm is open and safe for all, men and women both, and neither harassment nor discrimination have any place there,” he told his cabinet in broadcast remarks. Netanyahu said he had ordered law enforcement authorities to crack down on “whoever spits, whoever lifts a hand (in violence), whoever harasses” and to remove street signs segregating men from women in some ultraOrthodox districts. The statement appeared to have been prompted by an expose on Israel’s toprated weekend news about intra-Jewish friction in Beit Shemesh, a town of about 87,000 people near Jerusalem. Naama Margolese, 8, told Channel Two television she was terrified of walking to her moderate Orthodox school because of passersby who want her “to dress like a Haredi” - the Hebrew term for the ascetic, black-coated Jews who are in “awe” of God. “I’m afraid I might get hurt or something,” the girl said. Margolese’s mother Hadassa, an American immigrant who wore a headscarf and skirt in deference to religious Jewish tradition, said the sidewalk abuse could include spitting, curses like “whores” and “bastards” and calls to “clear out of here”. “If that’s what happens now, and they (authorities) don’t do anything, what will happen in another few years?” she told Israel’s Army Radio yesterday. “This is a terrorist group.” Returning to Beit Shemesh yesterday, a Channel Two crew was mobbed by ultra-Orthodox Jews who stoned their car, wounded a reporter and stole equipment, police said. The crew was rescued

by police, who said they were questioning suspected assailants. Separately, police said they had arrested a Beit Shemesh man for spitting at a woman, and that he could face assault charges. In the report broadcast on Friday, Channel Two showed a Beit Shemesh street sign instructing women to keep to one side, away from a synagogue. A few ultra-Orthodox men who agreed to be interviewed sought to justify their forcible occlusion of women. Israeli media have debated the impact of religious gender segregation on public transport and the conscript army, where some pious troops prefer to shun female instructors and singers. The ultra-Orthodox make up only about 10 percent of Israel’s population of 7.7 million. But their high birthrates and bloc voting patterns have helped them secure welfare benefits and wider influence. One of Netanyahu’s biggest partners in the coalition government, Shas, is a party run by rabbis. According to Channel Two, its Beit Shemesh story has generated momentum for a demonstration against ultra-Orthodox coercion in the town, scheduled for Tuesday. Moshe Abutbol, the Shas mayor of Beit Shemesh put the number of townspeople involved in the abuse at between 20 and 50. Emulating Israeli commandos who disguise themselves as Arabs for missions in Palestinian areas, the police have officers who work undercover among the ultra-Orthodox. Israeli television showed them raiding a religious protest in Jerusalem on Dec 17. Netanyahu has also condemned radical Jews behind a spree of vandalism against Palestinian property and Israeli garrisons in the occupied West Bank, attacks designed to bog down government moves to raze settlements built without a permit. “Beit Shemesh shocked Netanyahu not because of new facts but because of old facts that were recounted by a lovely little blond-haired girl with blue eyes,” said Nahum Barnea, senior commentator for the biggest-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. —Reuters

Wanted Iraq VP refuses to return to Baghdad QALACHWALAN: Vice President Tareq Al-Hashemi, who is charged with running a death squad, told AFP in an interview yesterday he would not go to Baghdad to stand trial and raised the prospect of fleeing Iraq. Hashemi, holed up at an official guesthouse of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in the country’s autonomous Kurdish region, acknowledged his guards may have carried out attacks, but he has steadfastly denied any involvement. The warrant against Hashemi, issued nearly a week ago, has been the focus of a political row between Shiite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Sunnibacked Iraqiya bloc, which is a part of his national unity government and of which Hashemi is a member. Asked if he would return to Baghdad to face trial, Hashemi told AFP: “Of course not.” The 69-year-old attributed his refusal to travel to the capital to poor security and politicization of the justice system. He said most of his guards had been arrested and had their weapons confiscated, adding that “there is no security for the vice president. How can I come back to Baghdad if I cannot secure myself?” “The Iraqi judicial council is under the control and the influence of the central government, and this is a big problem,” Hashemi added in a one-hour interview in Qalachwalan, on the outskirts of Kurdistan’s second city Sulaimaniyah, during which he was surrounded by unarmed guards. “That is why I asked to move the case to Kurdistan. ... Justice here will not be politicized.” Since US troops completed their withdrawal a week ago, Iraq has been mired in political crisis, with Hashemi wanted and Maliki calling for the sacking of his Sunni deputy after the latter called him a dictator “worse than Saddam Hussein.” Iraqiya, the bloc of Hashemi and deputy premier Saleh al-Mutlak, has boycotted parliament and the cabinet in protest at

Maliki’s alleged centralization of power. Coupled with a spate of attacks on Thursday in Baghdad which killed 60 people, the row has heightened sectarian tensions in the country. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, meanwhile, has said Ankara would not turn Hashemi away if he requested asylum, but said he should stay in Iraq. “I have no intention to leave Iraq at this time, unless my personal security is endangered,” Hashemi said in yesterday’s interview. “Then, we will talk about this.” He added that he was still fulfilling his duties as vice president, and “if I decide to travel outside Iraq, it will be related to my responsibilities as a vice president and not to have political asylum.” The arrest warrant against Hashemi was issued on Monday, after authorities aired footage of what they claimed were the vice president’s guards confessing to carrying out attacks, for which they said they received financial and moral support from Hashemi himself. “I don’t know why he did this,” Hashemi said, referring to Maliki. “Even if there were accusations and crimes committed by my bodyguards, we could have postponed it (the warrant).” “I don’t know why this happened the day after the last American soldier left,” the vice president added. Hashemi, who left the Iraqi army in 1975, has been vice president since 2006. As part of a power-sharing deal after March 2010 elections, Hashemi retained the post, and is one of two vice presidents, along with Khudayr Al-Khuzaie, a Shiite Muslim. He said that the prospects of resolving the political row depended on Maliki and his National Alliance bloc. “This crisis has blown up, this is a big crisis,” he said. “The situation is now more complex than before-if we fail, I think Iraq will slip towards tyranny again, and Iraq and Iraqis, all of them, will lose.” —AFP

DAMASCUS: The opposition Syrian National Council appealed yesterday for the Arab League to send observers immediately to the besieged city of Homs and other hotspots of a bloody crackdown on dissent. The call came a day before a first group of Arab League observers is set to arrive in Syria to begin monitoring a deal the 22-member bloc agreed with the government in Damascus aimed at ending more than nine months of violence. “Since early this morning, the (Homs) neighborhood of Baba Amro has been under a tight siege and the threat of military invasion by an estimated 4,000 soldiers,” said the SNC, the main umbrella group of opponents of President Bashar Al-Assad. “The Syrian National Council demands that the Arab League observers go to Homs immediately, specifically to the besieged neighborhoods, to fulfill their stated mission,” it added in a statement. At least three people were reported killed yesterday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that security forces pounded Baba Amro with mortar and heavy machinegun fire, killing an undetermined number of people and wounding 124 others. Two people were killed in other parts of the city, it said. The central city of Homs has been a focal point of the Assad government’s crackdown on anti-regime demonstrations, as well as the site of fierce clashes between the army and deserters. Security forces also raided the town of Al-Jerdi in eastern Deir Ezzor province, killing one person, wounding four and arresting dozens, said the watchdog. “Three children who had been wounded on Saturday in military and security operations in the town of AlQuriya died,” it added, noting that reports of the deaths were delayed as the town is cut off by security forces. A nine-member advance team of Arab monitors arrived on Thursday to pave the way for the observer mission to oversee the deal aimed at ending the crackdown, which the UN estimates has

killed more than 5,000 people since March. “We demand that the observers go to all the hotspots in Syria, or withdraw and conclude their mission if it is not possible for them to do so. “We hold the Arab League and the international community accountable for the massacres and bloodshed committed by the regime in Syria,” the

League Assistant Secretary General Samir Seif al-Yazal, heading the nine-member advance team, said the first group of observers-more than 50 expertswould leave for Damascus today. They will eventually number between 150 and 200. The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that also

responsibility for the two terrorist explosions.” It said the government was trying to create the impression “that it faces danger coming from abroad and not a popular revolution demanding freedom and dignity.” The Observatory reported at least 21 civilians killed on Friday and 20 killed by security forces on

HOMS: Syrian Christians pay their respects to clergymen following Christmas Day mass at the Saint George Monastery in Mishtaya, some 50 kms from Homs yesterday.—AFP SNC said. Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said he expects the Arab League observers to vindicate his government’s contention that the violence is the work of “armed terrorists.” Western governments and rights watchdogs blame Assad’s regime for the bloodshed. Opposition leaders charge that Syria agreed to the mission after weeks of prevarication in a “ploy” to head off a League threat to go to the UN Security Council over the crackdown. Muallem met the advance team of Arab League officials on Saturday, in talks the ministry’s spokesman called “positive.”

calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees. But since signing the agreement, the Assad regime has been accused of pressing on with its crackdown on dissent. The SNC and human rights activists have charged that the Syrian government was behind twin suicide bomb attacks on Friday that killed 44 people in Damascus. Assad’s regime has blamed the attacks on “terrorist organizations,” including Al-Qaeda, although it has not said how it reached such a conclusion. The SNC said “the Syrian regime, alone, bears all the direct

Saturday. The bodies of four detained civilians were found on Saturday bearing signs of torture in Hula in Homs province, it said in a statement. The Observatory demanded the Arab League “immediately head to the town of Hula to document this flagrant violation of human rights which is just the tip of the iceberg of what is going on in Syria.” The plight of Syrians was a focus of Pope Benedict XVI’s Christmas Day prayers. “May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts... May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed,” he told pilgrims in Vatican City. —AFP

Iraq’s dwindling Christian population marks Christmas BAGHDAD: Iraq’s dwindling Christian population marked Christmas yesterday with religious leaders calling for peace, days after attacks across Baghdad killed dozens and a political row raised sectarian tensions. The commemoration came a week after US forces completed their withdrawal from the country, with a senior bishop noting little was being done to prevent a continuing Christian emigration from Iraq. At the Church of Our Lady of Sacred Heart in east Baghdad, hundreds of worshippers gathered for a 90-minute Sunday morning mass, the second of three such celebrations planned by the church. Outside, half a dozen armored security vehicles and an Iraqi army humvee stood guard, with several heavily-armed soldiers and policemen patrolling the street opposite the church. A handful of soldiers with machineguns were also perched atop the building. “Our faithful are like everyone in Iraq-they have fear,” Bishop Shlemon Warduni, the second most senior Chaldean in Iraq, told AFP. “They feel there is no peace, no security, so they go where they can live in peace. We don’t agree, we don’t want them (to go), but they say, ‘If we don’t go, can you ensure my life, can you ensure my job, can you ensure the future?’ “We cannot ensure our lives, how can we ensure their lives? The government cannot ensure their lives, how can we ensure their lives? This is our dilemma.” He added: “Emigration is a very bad sickness, and it is contagious.” Warduni said he wanted his congregation to “pray for all of Iraq to become more quiet, more peaceful, to have more togetherness and dialogue with one anotherShiite, Sunni and Christian.” The bishop cancelled a midnight mass due to security con-

cerns following attacks on Thursday across Baghdad that left 60 people dead, the worst to strike Iraq in more than four months. And unlike in previous years, the Shiite mosque across the street did not blast Koranic recitations over loudspeakers

about the security situation.” Kirkuk provincial police chief Major General Jamal Taher Bakr said his forces had put “tight security” in place for Christmas, with streets closed off and multiple security perimeters formed around churches. Warduni esti-

have been attacked since the invasion, with more than 900 Christians killed and more than 6,000 wounded. US troops completed their withdrawal yesterday, leaving security in the hands of an Iraqi force more than 900,000strong.

BAGHDAD: Bishop Shlemon Warduni, the second most senior Chaldean in Iraq, leads the start of Christmas mass at the Virgin Mary Chaldean Christian church (Church of Our Lady of Sacred Heart) in the capital Baghdad yesterday. —AFP during the mass. “We came in fear, but this is a duty, we have to do it,” said Nibras Naama, a 30year-old pharmacist among Warduni’s congregation. “We don’t want churches to be empty because of fear.” Naama said she did not wish to leave Iraq, “but the continuous violence and bad security may force us to.” Churches in Kirkuk, where a significant chunk of Iraq’s Christian population remain, also cancelled midnight mass, and Louis Sako, Chaldean archbishop for Kirkuk told AFP that he was “worried

mated that Iraq’s Christian population, put at between 800,000 to 1.2 million before the 2003 US-led invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, had halved since then. Their plight was highlighted by an October 31, 2010, assault on a Baghdad church by Al-Qaeda that left 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security force members dead. Warduni’s church was itself hit by a suicide car bomb on July 12, 2009, that killed four and wounded 21. According to Sako, 57 churches and houses of worship in Iraq

Officials insist it is able to maintain internal security, although they openly acknowledge it still lacks the means to defend Iraq’s borders, airspace and territorial waters. That claim was dealt a blow by Thursday’s violence. The attacks only served to raise sectarian tensions amid a worsening political dispute that has seen Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister seek to sack his Sunni Arab deputy, and authorities issue an arrest warrant for the Sunni vice president on charges he ran a death squad, accusations he denies. —AFP

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Putin team still defiant after protest rocks Russia MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin still has the support of a majority of Russians, his spokesman said yesterday after a mass protest challenged the premier ’s authority two months before he stands in presidential polls. Organisers said 120,000 people attended the rally in central Moscow Saturday where protesters chanted slogans against Prime Minister Putin and called for the annulment of disputed December parliamentary elections won by his party. Police put the numbers at 29,000 but AFP correspondents said the turnout was clearly bigger and more anti-Putin in tone than the first rally two weeks ago which smashed the taboo in Russia against mass opposition protests. “As a politician and a presidential candidate, Putin still has the support of a majority. And we should treat the opinion of a majority

with respect,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP. He added that Putin was “beyond competition” as a candidate in March 4, 2012 presidential polls, where the Russian strongman plans to stand for a third Kremlin term after his four-year stint as prime minister. Peskov acknowledged the protest had taken place and said the demonstrators’ position was to be treated with respect. “Those people who came out onto the streets-they are a very important part of society. But they are a minority.” The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had late Saturday dramatically called on Putin to quit, just as he had done on December 25, 1991 when the USSR collapsed exactly two decades ago. The protest movementwhich brings together a charismatic

anti-corruption blogger, a detective story writer, musicians and a former finance minister-does not so far have a clear leader but is gaining momentum. “This is not an outburst which will die down. This is not about the protests but about the mood,” Yevgeny Gontmakher, head of the Centre for Social Policies at the Moscow-based Economics Institute, told AFP. “There is a danger of a revolution. Authorities are making concessions but are not keeping up with the development of the events.” The leaders have not said when the next protest will take place and one of the most prominent opposition figures, politician Vladimir Ryzhkov, admitted that there were “several points of view” within the movement on the timing. Ryzhkov told Moscow Echo

radio he would prefer the next rally to take place in March to coincide with the presidential polls but he said some of his colleagues wanted a rally at the end of January. The opposition set up a Facebook page to coordinate and debate the timing of future protests. Another leading figure, 35-year-old blogger Alexei Navalny, provocatively vowed on Saturday that one million people would attend the next antiPutin rally. The mass protests were triggered by widespread claim of wholesale violations in this month’s parliamentary polls which handed a reduced majority to Putin’s ruling United Russia party. Protesters called for the annulment of the ballot, sacking of the Central Election Commission chief and a re-run of elections. Hoping to ride out a wave of

protests, Putin ignored those demands and promised instead a return to the direct election of regional governors and a simplified procedure to register political parties. In defiance of the protests, the newly-elected lower house of parliament convened for its first session earlier this week. Most Russians lost their taste for street politics in the chaotic 90s and the scale of the current protests is a major boon for the fragmented opposition which had for years struggled to encourage Russians to take to the streets. But incensed by his claims that opposition supporters were in the pay of the US State Depar tment and insults comparing them to an antiAIDS campaign, protesters are now taking their anger out directly at Putin. —AFP

Pope prays for peace Pope urges community to aid those suffering

TIRASPOL: A woman casts her ballot at a polling station yesterday in Tiraspol during the Second round of a presidential election in Transdniestr, a pro-Russian separatist republic of Moldova. —AFP

Rebel Transdniestr votes for new leader TIRASPOL: Moldova’s rebel region Transdniestr yesterday voted in run-off polls for a new leader after the man who held it in a virtual Soviet time warp for two decades was eliminated in the first round. The rule of Igor Smirnov, who had dominated Transdniestr since it split from Moldova in a civil war after the collapse of the Soviet Union, was ended when he could only manage third place in December 11’s first round. The two contenders to succeed him in the run-off are the Kremlin-backed candidate Anatoly Kaminsky and the more opposition-inclined Yevgeny Shevchuk. Shevchuk polled 38.55 percent of votes in the first round compared with Kaminsky’s 26.3 percent. But the outcome remains difficult to predict. Early turnout was brisk, the official Olviya news agency reported from the main city of Tiraspol, noting that there had already been controversy over alleged election day agitation by Shevchuk’s supporters. Smirnov’s position was fatally weakened after the Kremlin made it clear earlier this year that he no longer enjoyed

its support, in a region where Russian peacekeepers are still deployed and reliant on economic support. Whoever wins will inherit an economically impoverished region notorious for organised crime whose independence has not been recognised internationally, not even by Russia. The Russian-speaking region with a population of over 555,000 wedged between the Dniestr river and the border with Ukraine declared independence from Romanian-speaking Moldova in 1990 after a brief civil war. Under Smirnov, a former trade unionist who bears more than a passing resemblance to Lenin, it retained state symbols and insignia barely changed since the fall of the Soviet Union. The elections came after the parties in the conflict met in Vilnius last month to hold the first official talks since 2006 on resolving the conflict. Lithuania, which chairs the OSCE and hosted the talks, described the meeting as a “stepping stone” but it was unclear if any substantial progress was made. —AFP

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the victims of famine, floods and conflict in his Christmas message yesterday as a string of bomb attacks targeting churches in Nigeria killed dozens. “Let us turn our gaze anew to the grotto of Bethlehem. The Child whom we contemplate is our salvation! He has brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace,” he told thousands of pilgrims in the Vatican. The pope urged the international community to aid those suffering from hunger in the Horn of Africa, called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and said he hoped this year’s Arab revolts would aid the “common good”. He also prayed for the victims of recent flooding in Thailand and the Philippines which he said were enduring “grave hardships” and said he hoped for increased dialogue in Myanmar “in the pursuit of shared solutions.” The pope’s strongest words were against wars and in favor of reconciliation, particularly between Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land but also in the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the new nation of South Sudan. “May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts which even today stain the earth with blood... May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed,” he said. “May he grant renewed vigour to all elements of society in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East as they strive to advance the common good,” he added, following the revolts in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. However in religiously divided Nigeria, at least 28 people were killed when five separate bomb attacks claimed by Islamist sect Boko Haram targeted churches during Christmas services. The largest explosion killed at least 27 outside the capital Abuja and the aftermath of the attack degenerated into chaos when angry youths started fires and threatened to attack a nearby police station. A bomb blast later hit outside an evangelical church hundreds of miles away in the central city of Jos, killing a policeman, according to a spokesman for the governor. A purported spokesman for the Boko Haram group claimed responsibility for all of yesterday’s attacks and vowed there were more to come. “We are responsible for all the attacks in the past few days, including today’s bombing

Somalis flee famine to find hunger, sickness in camps DOLO ADO: When Somali refugee Madina Ali escaped harsh drought and famine in Somalia, she hoped to find a better life in Ethiopia’s Dolo Ado camp. But her son’s health has deteriorated since arriving over two months ago, and she is worried it will only get worse. “Since we came here, he keeps getting sick every three days,” she said, cradling her frail nine -year old son, Ibrahim Abdirahman. “When he falls sick he starts vomiting, and then he gets diarrhoea. He doesn’t eat properly, and in this place there is no milk, there is no sugar,” she added. Aid workers say malnutrition rates among children under five at the Dolo Ado camp are alarming. “Malnutrition rates are still very high-this is still an emergency situation,” said Voitek Asztabski, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the camp. “It’s not over, and it could continue for several months before we reach the control level,” Asztabski added. Over 50 percent of children in Dolo Ado’s Hilaweyn camp and nearly half of all children in Kobe camp are suffering from malnutrition, according to a preliminary health survey from the United Nations refugee agency. The World Health Organization says conditions are “critical” when the rate is above 15 percent. Severe drought, famine and conflict forced 300,000 people

to flee Somalia this year, according to UN figures. Many have streamed into Ethiopia, which continues to receive hundreds of refugees every day as fighting rages between Al-Qaeada-linked Shebab insurgents, government troops and regional armies. Poor sanitation and hygiene, overcrowding and meagre food intake mean malnutrition rates have not improved since the height of the influx of new refugees in July, when up to 2,000 were arriving ever y day. Conditions are worse in the transit centre, where some refugees are forced to stay for months because construction of a new camp is delayed. “The living conditions are

appalling, there is not enough shelter, there is not enough food, there is not enough water,” Asztabski said. Some refugees are selling their basic food rations for other goods they need, or to swap wheat provided for the rice or pasta many prefer. “The refugees are selling part of their food to have access to other commodities, to other goods, things like clothes and types of foods that they want,” said Ted Chaiban, UN children’s agency country director. The bustling markets in the camp are lined with stalls offering sacks of wheat and rice, as well as packs of a special food supplement for children. — AFP

of the church in Madalla,” Abul Qaqa told AFP by phone. “We will continue to launch such attacks throughout the north in the next few days.” In a swift response, a Vatican spokesman condemned that attack as an act of “blind hatred” which sought “to arouse and feed even more hatred and confusion.” Concluding his message, the pope voiced Christmas greetings in 65 languages including Aramaic, Icelandic and Samoan to cheers from the crowd. “God is the Saviour: we are those who are in peril. He is the physician: we are the infirm,” he told them. “To realise this is

around the world. “In this time of ours, in this world of ours, cause the oppressors’ rods, the cloaks rolled in blood and the footgear of battle to be burned, so that your peace may triumph in this world of ours,” he said. Peace was also a central theme in Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal’s Christmas Eve homily delivered in Bethlehem, where hotels and guesthouses were packed to capacity with pilgrims. “We ask for peace, stability and security for the entire Middle East,” said Twal, the most senior Roman Catholic in the region. In a midnight mass, he urged “the

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI delivers his traditional Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” blessing from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican yesterday. —AFP the first step towards salvation, towards return of calm and reconciliation in Syria, in emerging from the maze in which we have Egypt, in Iraq and in North Africa”. been locked by our pride.” “O Child of Bethlehem, in this New Year, At Christmas Eve mass in Saint Peter’s we place in your hands this troubled Middle Basilica, the pope had lamented the con- East and, above all, our youth full of legitisumerism surrounding a holiday “whose mate aspirations, who are frustrated by the bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humil- economic and political situation, and in ity, which in turns calls us to humility and search of a better future,” Twal said. simplicity.” “Let us ask the Lord to help us see Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus through the superficial glitter of this season, saw some of its largest crowds of tourists in and to discover behind it the child in the sta- years for the Christmas festival, bringing ble in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and cheer to the troubled West Bank, while celetrue light,” the 84-year-old pope said. He also brations also passed without incident in rebuked “oppressors” and warmongers Iraq. —AFP

British royal family misses Prince Philip at Christmas SANDRINGHAM: Britain’s Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, missed the royal family’s Christmas Day festivities for the first time yesterday as he remained in hospital after heart surgery. Thousands of well-wishers gathered at the queen’s Sandringham estate in eastern England as the royals attended their traditional church service, with Prince William’s new wife Catherine making her debut appearance. Speaking to the crowd after the ser vice at St Mar y Magdalene Church on the sprawling royal estate, William said his 90-year-old grandfather was “very well, thank you. Getting much better”. Prince Charles, who is William’s father and the heir to the British throne, added that Philip was “very well”. Buckingham Palace said that Prince Philip “remains in good spirits” after spending a second night at

Papworth hospital near Cambridge and that family members were set to visit him after lunch. Television channels reported that his grandchildren, including Prince William and his younger brother Prince Harry, would be visiting, a day after the queen and her four children went to Philip’s bedside. Prince Philip, who is the longest serving royal consort in British history and an outspoken pillar of the House of Windsor, was airlifted on Friday from Sandringham suffering from chest pains. Tests showed a blocked coronary artery and doctors at Papworth, which boasts Britain’s leading cardiac unit, inserted a tube-like device called a stent to restore healthy blood flow. Around 3,000 people queued at the gates of the church yesterday to see the queen and other royals walk the few hundred metres (yards) from the main house for the service,

police said. During the service, the rector of Sandringham, Jonathan Riviere said: “We pray for the queen and the royal family, especially today we pray for Prince Philip and his continued recovery.” It was the first time that Catherine, 29, had attended the service. She wore a brown coat and walked alongside Prince William, also 29, whom she married in April, and Prince Harry. Also present were the queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips and her husband, England rugby player Mike Tindall, who also married this year. Lunch was served at 1300 GMT at Sandringham House following the church service and the family reportedly tucked into a huge turkey reared on the estate. The family were then to gather around the television-without the queen to watch her annual Christmas broadcast, in which this year she is set to stress the importance of family. — AFP

3 people dead in storm off Russia’s east coast

MOGADISHU: A file photo taken on July 26, 2011 shows internally displaced Somali women receiving food-aid rations at a distribution centre, in an IDP camp in the Somali capital Mogadishu. —AFP

MOSCOW: Rescue vessels and a helicopter are searching for five people missing in a fierce storm off Russia’s east coast after a Cambodia-flagged ship sank early yesterday. The Russian Emergencies Ministry said in a statement that it has recovered three bodies from the icy waters of the La Perouse Strait, which lies between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan. The accident took place in the same waters in which a Russian floating oil rig capsized and sank last Sunday killing 17 people. Thirty-six people are still missing, feared dead. Officials said five of the Cambodia-flagged ship’s crew were Russian, and the others are Indonesian. Two of the dead have been identified as Russian nationals,

and one remains unidentified. The ship, named Ginga, was sailing through the Russian waters from a Japanese port. Russian news agencies reported that it was a fishing boat. Emergencies Ministry representatives were not immediately available for comment. Two trawlers, a Russian helicopter, a rescue vessel, two steamboats and a Japanese maritime safety department ship were conducting the search. Efforts were hampered by strong winds and meters-high waves. Nikolay Sukhanov, a top official from Russia’s Sailors Union, told RIA Novosti that he thought that the size of the crew, its flag and route could suggest that the ship was poaching in the waters on the RussianJapanese maritime border. — AP

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38 Haitians found dead in shipwreck off Cuban coast Another 87 people rescued

IOWA: Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, RMinn., signs an autograph during a campaign stop at Tangleberries in Centerville, Iowa, Friday. —AP

Iowa race quieter than in the past IOWA: It’s been a different presidential race in Iowa this year - quieter. Campaign headquarters have hardly been buzzing with activity, unlike the around-the-clock nature of past contests. Candidates have barely visited the state, compared with years when most all but moved here. And they have largely refrained from building the grass-roots armies of yesteryear, in favor of more modest on-theground teams of paid staffers and volunteers. The final rush of campaigning here gets under way Monday, just a week before the Jan. 3 caucuses, and, to be sure, there will be a flurry of candidate appearances and getout-the-vote efforts all week. But that will belie the reality of much of 2011, a year marked by a less aggressive personal courtship of Iowans in a campaign that, instead, has largely gravitated around a series of 13 nationally televised debates, a crush of television ads and interviews on media outlets watched by many Republican primary voters, like Fox News Channel. “We just haven’t had as much face time,” Republican chairwoman Trudy Caviness in Wapello County said. “That’s why we’re so undecided.” Indeed, people here simply don’t know the Republican presidential candidates that well. And it’s a big reason why the contest in Iowa is so volatile and why the caucus outcome could end up being more representative of the mood of national Republicans than in past years when GOP activists here have gone it alone by launching an unlikely front-runner to the top of the field. With a week to go, the state of the race in Iowa generally mirrors the race from coast to coast. Polls show Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, having lost ground and Texas Rep. Ron Paul having risen, with both still in contention with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at the head of the pack. All the others competing in Iowa - Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum - are trailing. But, in a sign that the contest is anyone’s to win, most polls have shown most Republican caucusgoers undecided and willing to change their minds before the contest in a state where the vote typically breaks late in the campaign year. There are a slew of rea-

sons why the Iowa campaign is a much more muted affair than in 2008 marked by the iconic clash of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who together employed almost 300 staff in Iowa and held blockbuster rallies. This year, there is no contested Democratic primary, given that President Barack Obama has no serious challenger. Only Republicans are competing, and those candidates are approaching the state differently, both visiting and hiring less. Also, like it did everywhere else, the race here started slowly - months later than usual - as a slew of GOP politicians weighed candidacies, only to abort White House bids. Long-time Republican activists here, who often joke that they like to meet the candidates several times before deciding, have barely seen the candidates once, much less at all, and no campaign has more than 20 paid staff in the state. All that’s partly a consequence of how technology has changed both the political and media environments in recent years. Campaigns now can more precisely - and cheaply - target their pitches to voters from afar, sending personalized emails and YouTube video messages from the candidates to voters directly, and more campaign outreach is being handled by volunteers and through central national websites. And voters, themselves, now can go online and find information about the candidates without having to wait for the White House hopeful to show up in the town square. “Caucuses don’t exist in a vacuum. They’re not the same every time,” said John Stineman, a West Des Moines Republican activist who ran Steve Forbes 2000 Iowa campaign. “But everything else has changed. Why wouldn’t the caucuses change?” Part of the change has been driven by Romney’s approach to the state. The nominal GOP front-runner for most of the year, Romney has been far less aggressive in cultivating support in Iowa than in his failed bid of 2008. He’s only spent 10 days in the state this year, compared to 77 days four years ago, in an attempt to lower expectations in the leadoff state where evangelical conservatives have harbored doubts about Romney in light of his Mormon faith and changed positions on some social issues. —AP

HAVANA: The Cuban military searched for survivors yesterday after at least 38 Haitian migrants died as a boat in which they fled their country started taking in water and got stranded at sea. The gruesome discovery was made Saturday when the Cuban Coast Guard found the half-sunken boat about 100 meters (yards) off Point Maisi on the eastern shore of the communist-ruled island, the Cuban government said. A statement from the Cuban Civil Defense agency read on state television said the dead included 21 men and 17 women. Another 87 people, including four children and seven women, were rescued and moved to an international migrants’ camp at Point Maisi, where they have been given assistance, the statement said. The Civil

Defense agency did not elaborate on the cause of the shipwreck. But rusty, decrepit and overcrowded boats carrying migrants from Haiti are often found in distress in the Caribbean Sea. A similar tragedy occurred in July 2009 off the coast of Turks and Caicos Islands when a boat carrying dozens of Haitian migrants capsized and sank, forcing its passengers to jump overboard. The US Coast Guard managed to rescue 118 of the migrants, but at least 15 were found dead and about 70 others remained missing. In 2007, a boat with at least 160 Haitians sank in the Caribbean Sea, leaving 82 passengers dead. According to survivors, some of the victims were eaten by sharks swarming the warm waters of the

est at 19, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told. The jury heard testimony that Zainab’s sisters, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, were hounded and trailed by

RICHMOND: A massive Christmas Eve search for a 2-year-old boy who was in the backseat of an SUV that was stolen following a double-slaying in Richmond ended around midnight with the boy being found safe, police said. Richmond police said in a Tweet late Saturday: “2-year-old Kaiden Burnside is OK. Found alone inside SUV off Jennie Scher Road. Thanks to everyone for assistance.” City police spokeswoman Karla Peters told the Richmond Times-Dispatch the child was found sleeping alone in the parked vehicle. “He’s being checked out by EMS and will soon be reunited with his mother,” Peters said. Authorities late Saturday identified the suspect as 27-year-old Jamal Louis Clemons of Richmond, Va They say Clemons is wanted for abduction, robbery, robbery with a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony by a convicted felon. Richmond city police said in a press release that shortly after 5 p.m., officers responded to a report of two persons down and found an adult man and an adult woman inside a Church Hill residence. Both had been fatally shot. Witnesses reported that a man fled the scene inside a 2012 white GMC Terrain SUV that was left with the motor running and the boy strapped in the back seat, the news release said. The Virginia State Police issued an Amber Alert at 9:39 p.m. EST Saturday for the boy, identified as Kaiden Gage Burnside. They described him as having short blond hair and blue eyes, and wearing a red plaid shirt, a cream-colored vest with a red truck carrying a Christmas tree, dark green corduroy slacks and white light-up sneakers. “The child is believed to be in extreme danger,” the alert said. City police described the suspect - later identified as Clemons - as a black man in his midto late 20s, 5-foot-8 and 150 to 160 pounds, with black hair and wearing dark jeans and a black zip-up sweat shirt with a hood. He is believed to be armed with a revolver. “We don’t believe that he knew there was a child in the back seat,” Richmond police Maj Steve Drew told the newspaper. Police said they didn’t believe the shooting was random but have not released additional details about the victims or their potential relationship to the suspect. Officers continued to search early yesterday for the suspect. Richmond police did not return repeated calls from The Associated Press on Saturday —AP

ple of weeks and her sisters contacted authorities, saying they wanted to be removed from the home because of violence and their father’s strict parenting, the prosecution said. Prosecutor Laurie Lacelle presented wire taps and cell phone records from the Shafia family in court. In one

ONTARIO: In this Dec 14, 2011 file photo, Mohammad Shafia, front left, Hamed Shafia, background, second from left, and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, behind officer on right, arrive at the Frontenac County Courthouse in Kingston, Ontario. —AP their brothers because the parents suspected them of dating boys; that Sahar repeatedly said her father would kill her if he found out she had a boyfriend; that she had bruises on her arms; that Mohammad, the first wife who was helping to raise the children, also was brutally treated. Zainab ran away from home for a cou-

Congress. But the migration continues. There are an estimated 1.2 million Haitians now living in the United States, about 200,000 in Canada and an estimated one million in the Dominican Republic. Up to 80,000 Haitians are believed to have settled in the Bahamas. Haiti is still recovering from a devastating 7.0magnitude quake in January 2010 that leveled the capital, killed more than 225,000 people, and left one in seven people homeless in a nation that was already the poorest in the Americas. The humanitarian situation has been further aggravated by a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 5,000 people, food insecurity affecting 4.5 million and an active hurricane season that destroyed homes and crops. —AFP

Police find 2-year-old boy in stolen SUV

In family horror, some Canadians see culture clash TORONTO: On a summer morning in 2009, in canal locks east of Toronto, police made a grisly discovery: In a submerged Nissan car were the bodies of three teenage sisters and a 52year old woman. A joyride gone tragically wrong, claimed the father, Mohammad Shafia, 58, who reported the disappearance. An “honor killing,” prosecutors allege. A murder trial is under way, heating up a national debate about how to better absorb immigrants into the Canadian cultural mainstream. The prosecution accuses Afghanborn Shafia, his wife, and their 20year-old son of killing the daughters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and going online. The older victim was Shafia’s first wife, Rona Amir Mohammad, who was living with him and his second wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 41, in Montreal. It was a polygamous relationship, the court has been told, and if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation. The parents and son, Hamed, have pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder. The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children. The second marriage produced seven children. The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, the court has heard. Zainab, the old-

area. Cuban officials said the Coast Guard and Red Cross continued searching for for more survivors around Point Maisi. Under Cuban immigration procedures, migrants from Haiti who reach the island’s coast are usually given food and medical assistance before being sent back home. Thousands of Haitian boat people had been also arriving in the United States since the early 1970s and settling in Miami, Florida. But in 1981, Washington and Port-auPrince reached an agreement under which boats with Haitian migrants are interdicted at sea and their passengers returned to Haiti. Under the agreement, by 1984, more than 3,100 Haitians had been deported by the United States back to their country, according to the US Library of

phone conversation, the father says his daughters “betrayed us immensely.” Fazil Javad, Shafia’s brother-in-law, said Shafia tried to enlist him in a plan to drown Zainab. “Even if they hoist me up to the gallows, nothing is more dear to me than my honor. There is nothing more valuable than our honor,” Lacelle quoted Shafia as saying in

an intercept transcript. Taking the stand and speaking in his native Dari through an interpreter, Shafia portrayed himself as a loving father with his daughters’ best interests at heart. He repeated his contention that the famil members were returning from a Niagara Falls holiday, were in two cars, and were overnighting at a motel when Zainab took one of the cars. The daughters met an accidental but “rightful” death for their disobedience, he said. “You believe there’s no value in life without honor, don’t you?” asked Lacelle in cross- examination. “My honor is important to me,” Shafia replied. “But you can’t regain your honor with murder, respected lady, you must know that. “I’m a strict Muslim, but I’m not a killer.” Other relatives - two of the children and a brother-in-law of Shafia - testified in support of the joyride scenario and portrayed the family as loving and caring. The trial then adjourned for the holidays and will resume on Jan. 9. Canada takes in 250,000 immigrants a year, more per capita than anywhere save Australia, and in recent years a number of so-called honor killings have prompted debate about absorbing immigrants into the mainstream and dealing with culture clashes between immigrant parents and their children. Even before the trial, Rona Ambrose, the women’s affairs minister, had said the federal government was considering making such killings a separate category in the criminal code. —AP

DANBURY: This undated image made available by the National Reconnaissance Office shows a declassified photo of a man standing next to a satellite control section from the Hexagon program. It was dubbed “Big Bird” and it was the most successful space spy satellite program of the Cold War era.—AP

Decades later, a Cold War secret is revealed DANBURY: For more than a decade they toiled in the strange, boxy-looking building on the hill above the municipal airport, the building with no windows (except in the cafeteria), the building filled with secrets. They wore protective white jumpsuits, and had to walk through airshower chambers before entering the sanitized “cleanroom” where the equipment was stored. They spoke in code. Few knew the true identity of “the customer” they met in a smoke-filled, wood-paneled conference room where the phone lines were scrambled. When they traveled, they sometimes used false names. At one point in the 1970s there were more than 1,000 people in the Danbury area working on The Secret. And though they worked long hours under intense deadlines, sometimes missing family holidays and anniversaries, they could tell no one - not even their wives and children - what they did. They were engineers, scientists, draftsmen and inventors - “real cloak-and-dagger guys,” says Fred Marra, 78, with a hearty laugh. He is sitting in the food court at the Danbury Fair mall, where a group of retired co-workers from the former Perkin-Elmer Corp. gather for a weekly coffee. Gray-haired now and hard of hearing, they have been meeting here for 18 years. They while away a few hours nattering about golf and politics, ailments and grandchildren. But until recently, they were forbidden to speak about the greatest achievement of their professional lives. “Ah, Hexagon,” Ed Newton says, gleefully exhaling the word that stills feels almost treasonous to utter in public. It was dubbed “Big Bird” and it was considered the most successful space spy satellite program of the Cold War era. From 1971 to 1986 a total of 20 satellites were launched, each containing 60 miles of film and sophisticated cameras that orbited the earth snapping vast, panoramic photographs of the Soviet Union, China and other potential foes. The film was shot back through the earth’s atmosphere in buckets that parachuted over the Pacific Ocean, where C-130 Air Force planes snagged them with grappling hooks. The scale, ambition and sheer ingenuity of Hexagon KH-9 was breathtaking. The fact that 19 out of 20 launches were successful (the final mission blew up because the booster rockets failed) is astonishing. So too is the human tale of the 45year-old secret that many took to their graves. Hexagon was declassified in September. Finally Marra, Newton and others can tell the world what they worked on all those years at “the office.” “My name is Al Gayhart and I built spy satellites for a living,” announced the 64-year-old retired engineer to the stunned bartender in his local tavern as soon as he learned of the declassification. He proudly repeats the line any chance he gets. “It was intensely demanding, thrilling and the greatest experience of my life,” says Gayhart, who was hired straight from college and was one of the youngest members of the Hexagon “brotherhood”. He describes the white-hot excitement as teams pored over hand-drawings

and worked on endless technical problems, using “slide-rules and advanced degrees” (there were no computers), knowing they were part of such a complicated space project. The intensity would increase as launch deadlines loomed and on the days when “the customer” - the CIA and later the Air Force - came for briefings. On at least one occasion, former President George H.W. Bush, who was then CIA director, flew into Danbury for a tour of the plant. Though other companies were part of the project - Eastman Kodak made the film and Lockheed Corp. built the satellite - the cameras and optics systems were all made at PerkinElmer, then the biggest employer in Danbury. “There were many days we arrived in the dark and left in the dark,” says retired engineer Paul Brickmeier, 70. He recalls the very first briefing on Hexagon after Perkin-Elmer was awarded the top secret contract in 1966. Looking around the room at his 30 or so colleagues, Brickmeier thought, “How on Earth is this going to be possible?” One thing that made it possible was a hiring frenzy that attracted the attention of top engineers from around the Northeast. PerkinElmer also commissioned a new 270,000square-foot building for Hexagon - the boxy one on the hill. Waiting for clearance was a surreal experience as family members, neighbors and former employers were grilled by the FBI, and potential hires were questioned about everything from their gambling habits to their sexuality. “They wanted to make sure we couldn’t be bribed,” Marra says. Clearance could take up to a year. During that time, employees worked on relatively minor tasks in a building dubbed “the mushroom tank” - so named because everyone was in the dark about what they had actually been hired for. Joseph Prusak, 76, spent six months in the tank. When he was finally briefed on Hexagon, Prusak, who had worked as an engineer on earlier civil space projects, wondered if he had made the biggest mistake of his life. “I thought they were crazy,” he says. “They envisaged a satellite that was 60-foot long and 30,000 pounds and supplying film at speeds of 200 inches per second. The precision and complexity blew my mind.” Several years later, after numerous successful launches, he was shown what Hexagon was capable of - an image of his own house in suburban Fairfield. “This was light years before Google Earth,” Prusak said. “And we could clearly see the pool in my backyard.” There had been earlier space spy satellites - Corona and Gambit. But neither had the resolution or sophistication of Hexagon, which took close-range pictures of Soviet missiles, submarine pens and air bases, even entire battalions on war exercises. According to the National Reconnaissance Office, a single Hexagon frame covered a ground distance of 370 nautical miles, about the distance from Washington to Cincinnati. Early Hexagons averaged 124 days in space, but as the satellites became more sophisticated, later missions lasted twice as long. —AP

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

Pakistan information minister withdraws her resignation ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s information minister withdrew her resignation yesterday, hours after she offered to quit amid tensions between the civilian government and the country’s powerful military over a memo alleging an army plot to seize power in May. Information Minister Firdos Ashiq Awan made the surprise announcement at a televised cabinet meeting but Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani later persuaded her to withdraw resignation. “The prime minister tore down my

resignation and asked me to continue my work,” Information Minister Firdos Ashiq Awan told reporters after the cabinet meeting . Some media reports suggested that Awan offered to resign over criticism within the ruling party over her perceived failure to defend the government in the “memogate” scandal, as it is being called in Pakistan. Tensions have been running high between the government and the powerful army after the scandal surfaced, raising concerns for the region and for Pakistan’s already

uneasy relationship with its key ally, the United States. Mansoor Ijaz, an American businessman of Pakistan origin, wrote in a column in the Financial Times on Oct. 10 that a senior Pakistani diplomat had asked that a memo be delivered to the Pentagon with a plea for US help to stave off a military coup in the days after the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May. Ijaz later identified the diplomat as Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, who denied involve-

ment but resigned over the controversy. The scandal has reached a fever pitch, and rumours have swirled in recent weeks that President Asif Ali Zardari, who left Pakistan for medical treatment in Dubai earlier this month, would be forced out by the military, which has ruled Pakistan for almost half of its 64-year history. Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has ruled out the possibility of a coup and the military does not want to be seen as interfering in civilian politics, but there are

still several scenarios under which Zardari could be forced out. The military could use its extensive influence to isolate Zardari, or offer him an honourable exit by guaranteeing he will not face prosecution on long-standing corruption charges. Kayani has already called for an investigation into who may have been behind the memo which could further undermine the deeply unpopular Zardari. The Supreme Court is looking into a petition demanding an inquiry into the matter.—Reuters

N Korea power-behind-throne emerges as neighbors meet Signs pointing to heir’s uncle playing key role

BEIJING: Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (C) reviews an honour guard with China’s Premier Wen Jiabao (L) during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday.— AFP

Japan’s PM heads to China amid North Korea worries BEIJING: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda arrived in Beijing yesterday on his first official visit to China focused on regional security following the death of North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Il. Ties between the two regional powers have been dogged by economic and territorial disputes. Japan has repeatedly expressed concern over China’s widening naval reach in the Pacific and what it calls the “opaqueness” of Beijing’s military budget. But Kim’s death has shifted the agenda to worries about nuclear-armed North Korea, where Kim’s untested son Kim Jong-Un appears to be taking the reins of power in the isolated communist state. It has created a “new situation” in East Asia, Noda said as he met with Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, a country he said wields the “most influence” over Pyongyang. “On this issue it is very timely to exchange views with the host of the six-party (nuclear disarmament) talks and the country with the most influence on North Korea,” Noda said. Analysts agree that China holds the key to handling North Korea, where Japan has few ties overall and fewer still to Kim’s untested son. Japan, having no ties with the North, can do little other than to support China’s engagement with Pyongyang, said Takehiko Yamamoto, professor at Waseda University. “You might call it an achievement if Japan and China only confirm their joint resolve to work together to protect peace and stability in northeast Asia including on the Korean peninsula,” he added. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi this week held telephone talks with his counterparts in the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan as Beijing seeks to ensure regional stability. Efforts to revive six-party negotiations on scrapping the North’s nuclear program are also likely to be on the agenda after Seoul’s chief nuclear delegate visited China Thursday and Friday for meetings with his counterpart.

The six-party talks, chaired by China and also involving the two Koreas, the United States, Russia and Japan, have been at a standstill since December 2008. Negotiations to resurrect them appeared to be making progress before Kim’s death last Saturday. Media reports said Pyongyang would agree to suspend its uranium enrichment program in return for food aid from Washington. In his comments, Noda also stated that “safeguarding the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula is in the common interest” of China and Japan. “We also hope to have a frank exchange of views on how to overcome the kidnapping issue, nuclear issue and missile issue,” Noda stated. Japan has previously expressed outrage over North Korea’s abduction of its nationals, and has viewed with concern Pyongyang’s testfiring of its short-range missiles on the same day it announced Kim’s death. Noda’s overnight visit was set for December 12 and 13, but rescheduled to yesterday and Monday at China’s request, apparently for domestic reasons. Some suggested the date change was tied to the anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese troops killed tens of thousands of Chinese civilians during 1937-38. The two countries are also expected to discuss issues including territorial disputes in the East China Sea. Japan will urge China towards a framework dialogue to set rules for the development of gas fields in the East China Sea, near disputed islands called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. The two are still trying to heal diplomatic wounds from a year ago when China reacted in fury over the arrest of one of its fishermen near the islands after he rammed his ship into Japanese coastguard vessels. Noda is also expected to thank China for its assistance in the aftermath of Japan’s March earthquake and tsunami, and to ask that Beijing send a pair of pandas to the hard-hit city of Sendai to boost morale.—AFP

Three Indian police die in Kashmir barracks shooting SRINAGAR: Three Indian federal police are dead and another was injured following a shooting at a barracks in insurgency-hit Kashmir, an official said yesterday. The fatal incident happened late Saturday evening inside the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in the Himalayan town of Kulgam, about 90minutes drive from Srinagar, the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. “We have three CRPF personnel dead and one injured,” a police officer told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with the media. Other personnel inside the barracks at the time of the shooting were detained for questioning, he added. It was not immediately clear if there was one or more shooters responsible for the deaths.

Around 100 Indian security force personnel commit suicide every year in Kashmir and the insurgency-racked northeastern states, according to official figures. There have also been a raft of incidents involving soldiers shooting their comrades and officers, known as fragging, which have been blamed on stress. Indian soldiers battling a 20-yearold insurgency in Kashmir are now being provided a 24-hour helpline and meditation classes to overcome stress, although fragging incidents in the region have dropped as the insurgency slowed. More than two decades of violence in Kashmir has left more than 47,000 people dead by official count. India and Pakistan, which each hold the region in part but claim it in full, started a peace process in 2004.—AFP

PYONGYANG: North Korea is showing the uncle and key patron of anointed heir Kim Jong Un wearing a military uniform with a general’s insignia - a strong sign he’ll play a crucial role in helping the young man take over power and uphold the “militaryfirst” policy initiated by his late father, Kim Jong Il. As North Korea prepares for Kim Jong Il’s funeral Wednesday, it is also warning South Korea against barring visits to Pyongyang by civilian groups hoping to pay respects, saying the obstruction will lead to “catastrophic consequences” for relations between the rivals. While millions continue to mourn Kim Jong Il, North Korea is offering hints about Kim Jong Un’s rise and the future composition of his inner circle. North Korea began hailing Kim Jong Un as “supreme leader” of the 1.2-million strong military over the weekend as it ramps up its campaign to install him as ruler. Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and was unveiled in September 2010 as his father’s choice as successor, will be the third-generation Kim to rule the nation of 24 million. Koreans should become “eternal revolutionary comrades” with Kim Jong Un, “the sun of the 21st century,” the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said yesterday in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. State television showed footage yesterday of a uniformed Jang Song Thaek and his nephew Kim Jong Un paying their respects before Kim Jong Il’s body, which is lying in state at Kumsusan Memorial Palace. Seoul’s Unification Ministry said it was the first time Jang, usually seen in business suits, had been shown wearing a military uniform on state TV. Jang, a vice chairman of the power ful National Defense Commission, is the husband of Kim Kyong Hui, younger sister of Kim Jong Il and a key Workers’ Party official. South Korean lawmakers say intelligence officials have predicted that Jang and his wife will play larger roles support-

PYONGYANG: This handout picture taken by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) yesterday shows Kim Jong-Un (9th R) and North Korean People’s Army officers offering their condolences at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where the body of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il lies in state, in Pyongyang. —AFP ing Kim Jong Un. The new titles, a Sinmun newspaper urged Kim late father of Kim Jong Il. public show of support from top Jong Un to accept the top miliAlso, animosity with South military leadership and the sym- tary post: “Comrade Kim Jong Un, Korea still lingers after two incibolic appearance of Jang in uni- please assume the supreme com- dents blamed on North Korea form send strong signals that mandership, as wished by the killed 50 South Koreans last year. North Korea will maintain Kim people.” Kim Jong Un’s father and Calls to rally behind Kim Jong Un, Jong Il’s “military first” policy for grandfather led the countr y dubbed the “Great Successor” in the time being. North Korea is in under different titles, and it the wake of his father’s death on official mourning until Kim Jong remains unclear which other Dec 17 from a heart attack, come Il’s funeral Wednesday and a titles will be bestowed on him. amid displays of grief across memorial Thursday. South Korea Kim Jong Un was promoted last North Korea. Yesterday, the has permitted only two groups year to four-star general and North’s state T V repeatedly with ties to North Korea to visit appointed a vice chairman of the showed footage of wailing uniand pay condolences ahead of Central Military Commission of formed soldiers, many with the funeral and has rejected the Workers’ Party. He had been shaved heads, and other citizens demands by several others. The expected to assume a number of professing their tear-choked South Korean groups, led by the other key posts while being longing for Kim Jong Il as they widow of former President Kim groomed to succeed his father. visited mourning sites. Dae-jung, who held a landmark His father’s death comes at a In Pyongyang, workers at summit with Kim Jong Il in 2000, sensitive time for North Korea, drink kiosks handed steaming and a business leader whose late which was in the middle of dis- cups of water to shivering husband had ties to the North, cussions with the U.S. on food aid mourners, including children plan to cross the heavily fortified and restarting talks to dismantle bundled up in color ful, thick border today for a two-day trip, the North’s nuclear weapons pro- park as. State media said the according to Seoul’s Unification gram. Chronically short of food drinks were arranged at the Ministry. On Saturday, Kim Jong and suffering from a shortfall in instruction of Kim Jong Un, who Un again visited the palace where basic staples after several harsh ordered officials to take special his father’s body is lying in state - seasons, officials had been asking measures to protect the health this time as “supreme leader of for help feeding its people even of mourners. “Deeply moved by the revolutionary armed forces” as North Koreans prepared for the measures, all of the Korean and accompanied by North 2012 celebrations marking the people feel that Kim Jong Un is Korea’s top military brass, accord- 100th birthday of Kim Il Sung, the leader of the people, as great ing to KCNA. Earlier, the Rodong North Korea’s founder and the as Kim Jong Il,” KCNA said.—AP

Japan FM arrives in Myanmar

SYDNEY: A beach goer poses with a life guard for a photo in front of a Christmas tree at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia yesterday. —AP

Wild Christmas weather hits Australia SYDNEY: Wild weather battered Australia yesterday, with a tropical cyclone closing in on the north as tornadoes and thunderstorms brought hail in the south and huge swells forced the closure of popular beaches. Tropical Cyclone Grant intensified to a category two storm off the Tiwi Islands nor th of Dar win, packing destructive winds of 130 kilometres (80 miles) and forcing Christmas revellers into lockdown. The weather bureau said Grant was “slowly intensifying” and advised residents in the cyclone’s path to take shelter, with gales and heavy weather closing in as the storm inched toward the mainland. It came as ex-tropical cyclone Fina whipped up huge four-metre (13 foot) waves on the popular northeast coast, creating dangerous surf conditions which forced tourist

beaches to close. Planes were diverted and delayed at Melbourne after thunderstorms, hail and a tornado swept through the southern city, Australia’s secondbiggest, smashing skylights and car windscreens. The windstorm swept through at Keilor Downs, northwest of the city, according to the State Emergency Service (SES). “There was a tornado reported at Fiskville and we know it touched down at Keilor Downs because we had some SES volunteers there and they had to run for shelter,” said SES spokesman Lachlan Quick. Conditions were fine in Sydney, recently hit by unseasonably cool and wet weather, with thousands of tourists flocking to the city’s iconic beaches to catch a rare sunburst for the Christmas holiday. — AFP

TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba arrived in Myanmar yesterday, in the latest highprofile diplomatic trip looking to encourage reforms in the isolated nation, Tokyo’s public broadcaster reported. Gemba’s visit, the first by a Japanese foreign minister since 2002, comes as Tokyo considers resuming official development aid as part of international efforts to engage Myanmar’s new military-backed civilian government. Gemba plans to meet with President Thein Sein and other top officials, and also democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Kyodo News reported citing an unnamed government source. Unlike major Western nations, Japan has maintained trade ties and dialogue with Myanmar and warned that a hardline approach could push Myanmar closer to neighboring China, its main political supporter and commercial partner. Gemba is expected to propose negotiations on a bilateral investment accord in his meetings with officials, Kyodo said. Japan has continued to provide humanitarian and emergency aid to the country, but halted regular economic assistance in 2003 following the arrest and subsequent detention of Suu Kyi. Myanmar’s new nominally civilian government has rolled out a series of reformist measures since it took office as the former generals who dominate it have sought to reach out to political opponents and the West. Suu Kyi was freed in November 2010 from seven years of house arrest, and has re-registered her previously banned opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) as a political party, clearing the way for her to take part in elections. Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar earlier this month in the first trip there by a US Secretary of State in more than 50 years.— AFP

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NEWS

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

KAMOGAWA, Japan: A white whale, also known as a beluga, puffs a ring at Kamogawa Sea World east of Tokyo, yesterday. — AP

Hackers target US security think tank

Sudan army kills Darfur rebel leader

Continued from Page 1

Stratfor said in an email to members that it had suspended its servers and email after learning that its website had been hacked. “We have reason to believe that the names of our corporate subscribers have been posted on other web sites,” said the email, passed on to AP. “We are diligently investigating the extent to which subscriber information may have been obtained.” The email, signed by Stratfor Chief Executive George Friedman, said the company is “working closely with law enforcement to identify who is behind the breach”. “Stratfor’s relationship with its members and, in particular, the conﬁdentiality of their subscriber information, are very important to Stratfor and me,” Friedman wrote.

Stratfor’s website was down midday yesterday, with a banner saying “site is currently undergoing maintenance”. Wishing everyone a “Merry LulzXMas” - a reference to spinoﬀ and fellow troublemakers Lulz Security - Anonymous also posted a link on Twitter to a site containing the email, phone number and credit number of a US Homeland Security employee. The employee, Cody Sultenfuss, said he had no warning before his details were posted. “They took money I did not have,” he told AP in an email. “I think why me? I am not rich.” Anonymous warned it has “enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of LulzXmas through the entire next week”. The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on companies such as Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, as well as others in the music industry and the Church of Scientology. — AP

Islamists gain, ‘corrupt’ lose in tribal... Continued from Page 1 But the head of Kuwait Transparency Society Salah Al-Ghazali said yesterday that the society, which was assigned to monitor the elections by the government, has informed the interior ministry about the illegal primaries. Al-Ghazali said that based on the information, the interior ministry will refer all those involved in the primaries to the public prosecution starting from tomorrow. The move comes amid reports that more tribal primaries will be held in the fourth constituency, another tribal district, tomorrow. The two main tribes, the Mutairi and Rasheedi, will hold the primaries. But the most interesting development this election has been that a number of leading figures and former MPs have publicly refused to enter into tribal primaries. These include ex-MPs Mohammad Hayef, Mubarak Al-Waalan, Dhaifallah Buramia and Musallam Al-Barrak from the Mutairi tribe in the fourth constituency. Barrak and Buramia had not participated in the 2009 tribal primaries and ran on their own and won. All belong to the opposition. They also include former

opposition MPs Ali Al-Deqbasi and Shuaib AlMuwaizri, from the Rasheedi tribe, who are running together from the fourth district. In the fifth constituency, ex-MPs Al-Tahous and Al-Sawwagh did not run in tribal primaries. Meanwhile, a number of Kuwaiti societies are taking part in monitoring the Feb 2 general elections along with the Kuwait Transparenc y Society. Kuwait Journalists Association and Kuwait Lawyers Society, and possibly foreign groups, will join the transparency society to monitor the elections. And, with five days left for registration of candidates, the number of hopefuls rose yesterday to 224 candidates, including only 11 women, who include the four former MPs who made history by becoming the first Kuwaiti female members of parliament in the 2009 elections. Among those who registered yesterday were exMPs Adnan Abdulsamad, Aseel Al-Awadhi and Hussein Al-Qallaf, who told reporters that former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will return soon “in a bigger post than the premiership”. He did not elaborate.

Yemenis rally for Saleh trial despite... Continued from Page 1 unity government expected this week, Sultan al-Barakani, who represents the GPC’s bloc in parliament, told AFP. The veteran leader said Saturday that he would soon visit the United States ahead of transferring power following a Feb 21 presidential election. A diplomat from one of the countries that has sponsored the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Saleh has presented “a list of 412 people” he wants the immunity deal to include. The list includes his relatives, aides, and oﬃcials who had worked with him during his rule, the source said, adding that Saleh was given a US visa “two weeks ago”. But yesterday’s protesters reject any such agreements. “No guaran-

tee, no immunity to Saleh and to those close to him,” they shouted. The protesters, backed by tens of thousands who were met by gunﬁre from Saleh’s forces and loyalists after they arrived on foot Saturday from the second-largest city Taez, called on Hadi to hand over those responsible for the violence to justice. “Take up your responsibility and hand the killers of the youths over to justice, or resign,” said one of the organisers on a loudspeaker as the demonstrators gathered outside Hadi’s residence on Sittin Avenue. Thirteen people were killed on Saturday when security forces and gunmen loyal to Saleh attacked their march in which they were calling for him to be put on trial. “Thirteen people were killed and 50 others were wounded by live rounds,” a medical oﬃcial said yesterday, updating an

earlier toll of nine dead. The medic from a field hospital in the capital said that 150 other people suffered from breathing difficulties due to tear gas inhalation. Another medic who confirmed the toll said three of the wounded had succumbed to their injuries while a fourth was shot dead in another protest later on Saturday. The objective of the five-day-long “March for Life” that turned deadly on Saturday was to press for Saleh and his top allies to face criminal charges for their roles in the violence committed against antiregime protesters. Despite being met by live rounds, water cannon and tear gas upon their arrival in Sanaa’s south, the crowds who set off from Taez on Tuesday for the 270km march to Sanaa poured into the capital where they spent the night in

conference, where officials refused to answer questions. “The fighting is still going on in North Kordofan and North Darfur,” Massar said. Ibrahim’s JEM was once the most heavily armed group in the Darfur region, although its recent strength remains unclear. JEM said in a statement later yesterday that Ibrahim was killed in air strike. Asked about the reported killing earlier, a source close to the group said: “I’m pretty sure it’s true.” Ibrahim’s wife and daughter tried to hold a mourning ceremony at their home in south Khartoum but police forbade it, a witness told AFP. The governor of North Kordofan said on government-run Sudan TV that rebel vehicles were seen burning after the clash. Two fighter jets were also observed over the North Darfur capital of El Fasher at about mid-day on Sunday, a witness told AFP. On Saturday the official news agency SUNA quoted Saad as saying the military was combing the North Kordofan-North Darfur region after JEM “attacked civilians” and targeted local leaders while looting their property in the Umm-Gozain, Goz Abyadh and Aramal areas. The JEM announced on Thursday through its London-based spokesman that its forces had advanced into North Kordofan and were heading eastward towards Khartoum on a mission to topple President Omar al-Bashir’s regime. Saad told reporters that JEM brought about 140 vehicles and 300 troops into North Kordofan where they “took 700 people” to force them to join the movement. A number of them fled to the army side after Ibrahim’s death, he added. In 2008, more than 200 people were killed when JEM guerrillas drove about 1,000 km across the desert to the edge of Khartoum. Government troops repulsed them

after heavy clashes, but the brazen attack shocked the regime. In July, the government signed the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur with the Liberation and Justice Movement, an alliance of rebel splinter factions. JEM and other key rebel groups - factions of the Sudan Liberation Army headed by Minni Minnawi and Abdelwahid Nur - did not join the pact. Instead, last month they and the SPLM-North rebel group ratified documents forming the new Sudanese Revolutionary Front dedicated to “popular uprising and armed rebellion” against the National Congress Party government in Khartoum. Ibrahim was a key player in the early days of the Darfur conflict which erupted in 2003 between non-Arab rebels and the Arab-dominated central government. But recently the group’s interests had turned away from Darfur. The source close to JEM said the implications of Ibrahim’s death remain unclear, “except to say it’s a very significant turn of events for the Darfur rebellion and will definitely lead to a re-ordering within that particular movement”. In October, Ibrahim told AFP he had “returned to my country to fight for the rights of the people in all regions of Sudan”. He had sought refuge in Chad which expelled him in May 2010 after a surprise rapprochement with Sudan. Ibrahim then moved to Libya, whose leader Muammar Gaddafi offered him sanctuary before his regime collapsed this year. According to the United Nations, at least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur, while the Khartoum government puts the death toll at 10,000. UN officials say 1.9 million people are internally displaced and still living in camps in Darfur, with about 80,000 newly displaced by fighting this year. Six people including Bashir are being sought or are before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes in Darfur. — AFP

Nigeria blasts kill 35 Continued from Page 1 the suicide bombing. Emergency officials initially said the blast outside Abuja happened in the church, but later said it occurred near it, with the impact felt inside the church, which was also damaged. Holes could be seen in the wall of the St Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla and the roof was badly damaged. What looked to be blood was splashed on the outside of the wall. A number of cars were destroyed and badly damaged outside from what looked to be a powerful blast. “What we counted, we church officials, was 30 that was dead here,” Francis Aniezue, a rector at the church, told AFP. Father Christopher Barde told AFP that the explosion happened as the Christmas morning service was ending. “As I reached the last entrance, some people met me for blessings and suddenly I heard a bomb blast. It was really terrible,” he said. Nigerian police affairs minister Caleb Olubolade visited the scene. “This is like an internal war against the country,” he said. “So we have to really live up to it and face it squarely.” A purported spokesman for Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the violence. “We are responsible for all the attacks in the past few days, including today’s bombing of the church in Madalla,” Abul Qaqa told AFP by phone. “We will continue to launch such attacks throughout the north in the next few days.” Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for scores of attacks in Nigeria, including the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that killed at least 24 people. There have

been a number of attacks in Suleija, also outside Abuja. A string of bomb blasts in the central city of Jos on Christmas Eve 2010 were claimed by Boko Haram. In recent days in three cities in the northeast, where most of the violence attributed to Boko Haram has occurred, attacks blamed on the sect followed by a heavy military crackdown killed up to 100 people, authorities and a rights group have said. The chief of army staﬀ was quoted by local media as saying soldiers killed 59 Boko Haram members in Damaturu. Shootouts had taken place on Thursday and Friday. Others said the total death toll on all sides - authorities, extremists and civilians - could be as high as 100. Violence blamed on the sect has steadily worsened in recent months, with bomb blasts becoming more frequent and increasingly sophisticated and death tolls climbing, with at least 280 people killed since November. The attacks have continued despite well publicised raids on so-called bomb factories and arrests of a number of alleged Boko Haram members by authorities. There has been intense speculation over whether Boko Haram has formed links with outside extremist groups, including AlQaeda’s north African branch. The group is believed to have a number of factions with varying aims. It launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault which left some 800 dead as well as its mosque and headquarters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri in ruins. It went dormant for about a year before re-emerging in 2010 with a series of assassinations. — AFP

opinion

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

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Issues

Gorbachev warns Putin 20 years on By Stuart Williams wenty years after he appeared on Soviet television to announce he was resigning as president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev has told Vladimir Putin it is time he took the same bitter medicine. After finally admitting that the state he had tried to save through his perestroika reforms had ceased to exist, Gorbachev on December 25, 1991 quit his post of his own free will. His resignation hammered the final nail into the coffin of the USSR and instantly cast Gorbachev out to the political wilderness, admired in the West but abhorred by many Russians for presiding over the collapse of their state. But after the largest protest yet Saturday against Putin’s domination of Russia, Gorbachev on the eve of the anniversary of his own resignation became one of the most prominent Russian personalities to say he should go. “I would advise Vladimir Putin to leave now. He has had three terms: two as president and one as prime minister. Three terms - that is enough,” Gorbachev said, urging Putin not to pursue plans to run for president in 2012. “He should do the same thing I did. That is what I would do. That way, he would be able to preserve all the positive things he did,” Gorbachev told Moscow Echo radio. Gorbachev had been generally supportive of Putin for most of his two terms as president to 2008 and his current post as prime minister, although he notably co-owns Russia’s main opposition newspaper the Novaya Gazeta. But he has sharply turned against Putin over December’s parliamentary elections which the opposition says was rigged. “I extended a lot of support to Vladimir Vladimirovich here and abroad and he deserved that then. But now there is such a situation that we can’t do anything,” he said. Health reasons prevented Gorbachev from attending Saturday’s rally on Sakharov Avenue named after the late Soviet dissident - but one of the protest leaders, Vladimir Ryzhkov, passed on his greetings to the protestors. Gorbachev, 80, who lost his wife Raisa to cancer in 1999, said he was happy to have lived to see the new protest movement. “I am happy that I have lived to see this awakening. There were two generations at the protest. This creates great hope and I don’t think it will just end in talk,” he said. He described Saturday’s protest and the first mass rally on December 10 as “historic moments in our modern life. It shows the ideas and beliefs in which our people have believed.” The next years would be momentous ones for Russia, Gorbachev predicted. “These are going to be the hardest years, the next 612 years will decide what is going to happen to us.” Gorbachev had throughout winter of 1991 made last-ditch efforts to save the Soviet Union and was furious when Boris Yeltsin and other leaders signed accords in his absence on December 8 that effectively ended its existence. But when the writing was truly on the wall, he went of his own accord. Ex-KGB agent Putin has repeatedly expressed regret that the USSR’s last leaders failed to save the Soviet Union and his spokesman Dmitry Peskov brushed off Gorbachev’s call for him to resign. “We, and I personally, respect him (Gorbachev) very much. But I was born in 1967 in the Soviet Union. And this country ceased to exist when he was its leader,” Peskov told AFP. Gorbachev has always been praised in the West for freely letting the Communist bloc states in Eastern Europe break away from Moscow’s influence without armed intervention. He compared Russia’s current situation to Communist Poland in the late 1980s when strikes and protests led by the Solidarity movement were shaking the rule of General Wojciech Jaruzelski. “General Jaruzelski, my friend, phoned me and said ‘Mikhail Sergeyevich, we have Solidarity, it looks like society (is behind it) and we cannot pretend that this simply does not mean anything. We have to change. We need to open a roundtable and start talks. What do you think?’And I said, ‘I support this’,” remembered Gorbachev. —AFP

All articles appearing on these pages are the personal opinion of the writers. Kuwait Times takes no responsibility for views expressed therein. Kuwait Times invites readers to voice their opinions. Please send submissions via email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait. The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.

Britons mull future outside EU By Adrian Croft and Keith Weir ong dismissed as “Little Englanders” living on the fringe of politics, Britain’s vocal band of EU-haters sense that their moment may have come. Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to veto a new European Union treaty during a Dec 8-9 summit has emboldened Britain’s so-called eurosceptics, who are now pressing him to loosen ties with the bloc or even leave. Cameron insists that Britain must remain part of the 27-nation Union, with which the island nation does around half of its trade and which supports an estimated 3.5 million jobs. “Our membership of the EU is vital to our national interest,” Cameron told parliament last week. “We are a trading nation and we need the single market for trade, investment and jobs.” Many legislators from Cameron’s Conservative Party, his Liberal Democrat coalition partners, and the opposition Labour Party, share the government line, which reflects a British establishment view formed over nearly four decades of EU membership. However, an influential and vocal section of Cameron’s party dreams of Britain having a similar relationship with the EU to that of Switzerland or Norway - a free trade agreement which gives access to the EU’s huge single market without signing up to what they see as a costly and burdensome bureaucracy. Public opinion is starting to move in that direction too. An Ipsos MORI poll in October found 49 percent of British voters would choose to leave the EU in a referendum, compared with 41 percent who would vote to stay in. A similar poll in 2007 found 51 percent of voters would choose to stay in. EU sources said Cameron, a relative novice to the delicate art of Brussels summitry, had not intended to cast a veto, intending only to use the threat of a “no” as a negotiating tactic to secure concessions for London’s financial district. But the apparent diplomatic missteps which led to the veto have now presented the British premier with an unexpected problem: his defiance in Brussels may have infuriated Continental allies but it proved very popular at home, giving him and his party an immediate lift in the opinion polls. No one expects a British exit from the EU to be seriously proposed any time soon and the current fraying of relations between the remaining EU 26 nations over their fiscal pact could yet open the door for Britain to re-engage with Europe as the Cameron’s coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, are demanding. However, the eurosceptics see a unique opportunity to refashion relations with Europe and create an entity which looks more like a free trade association than a political and fiscal union. Peter Bone, one of the Conservative eurosceptic members of parliament, believes Britain is clearly moving in the direction of quitting the EU. “I think what is much more likely is that we will have to come out and renegotiate our position with the EU from outside,” he told Reuters. Cameron wielded the veto against his EU partners after France and Germany rejected his demands for safeguards for Britain’s important financial services sector. The decision left Britain, the bloc’s third largest economy, in a minority of one and infuriated key allies such as Germany and France. Conservative eurosceptic MP Douglas Carswell said the summit outcome made a British referendum on EU membership “even more likely”. “There is now going to be some sort of new deal,” he said. In his vision, Britain would have a Swiss-style free trade agreement with the EU but would not be an EU member state.

British Bulldog Bites Popular feeling against the EU in Britain is already running high and there is a risk that Britons’ alienation from Brussels could increase if they feel their country does not have a say in important decisions affecting them. Opposition to Europe is fuelled by doubts about the benefits of EU membership and resentment at what are seen as overly intrusive decisions from Brussels, eagerly covered by a largely eurosceptic British press. Another Conservative MP, Andrew Rosindell, who urged

Cameron before last week’s summit to show some “bulldog spirit”, said Britain had reached a fork in the road. “We no longer want to go down the road of more centralisation of power. What we do want is trade and cooperation,” he said. “I believe there should be a referendum at the right time - I voted for one in parliament,” added Rosindell, who has a bull terrier dog which he dresses in a Union Jack waistcoat. “It doesn’t have to be an in/out referendum - there could be an alternative that is good for business, good for the country and which others could follow if they want. In/out is rather a false choice. If we get a new relationship sorted out, Switzerland, Turkey and Norway would want to be part of that.” Such fighting talk alarms British businesses who fear it could cost Britain influence over crucial EU economic decisions. Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising group WPP told Reuters it would be “better to be on the inside of the tent than the outside”. The Confederation of British Industry, the main business lobby group, expressed concern that the debate would distract from the key goal of resolving the eurozone crisis. Lines Crossed With the euro zone crisis fuelling hostility to the EU among British voters, there is a good chance they would opt to pull out of the bloc if given a chance. Citigroup Global Markets said in a note for clients that, over the long term, “exposing the UK public’s widespread euroscepticism to the light of day may accelerate support for an ultimate exit for the UK from the EU.” “We believe this is currently a low probability and long-term prospect, but one that will introduce significant doubt over the UK’s dealings with Brussels and fellow member states,” it said. Government sources scorned the idea that Cameron’s decision put Britain on a path that could lead it out of the EU. “They said that when we didn’t sign up to the euro 20 years ago and it didn’t come to pass. The idea that when you don’t sign up to everything you are isolated is nonsense,” one source said. “We are a very big economy and therefore a big influence in the EU,” the source said, adding that this would remain the case. Economists say that Britain must protect its trade ties whatever the political posturing. “I think UK disengagement from the European Union in terms of trade and financial linkages is really very unrealistic,” said Jens Larsen, economist at RBC. “What I see going on is the more political dimension to that where Britain might lose influence on how the European Union is being shaped, but I don’t think anyone in government, or anyone in opposition, is seriously considering diminishing the economic and financial links,” he added. Coalition Tensions Cameron is desperate to avoid feuding over Europe that wracked previous Conservative governments dating back to Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. But the new intake of Conservative MPs who came into parliament in 2010 are more eurosceptic than many of their predecessors and public attitudes are changing too. The Conservatives are in coalition with the proEurope Liberal Democrats and the issue has the potential to bring down a government that hopes to rule until 2015. The government has promised that any future transfer of power to Brussels will be put to a referendum. But Cameron was forced to water down a pledge to repatriate some powers from Brussels as the price of a coalition deal with the Lib Dems. Cameron knows that if he weak-

ens his stance on Europe, he risks losing supporters to the avowedly anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP), which won 16 percent of the vote in the 2009 European election, its best ever result. UKIP leader Nigel Farage took heart from Cameron’s decision, saying Britain had started its “great escape” from the EU, recalling the famous film made about a World War Two escape by Allied prisoners from a German camp. “David Cameron has inadvertently opened up the real debate. Logic tells you there is only one of two things to be done - either we leave or we go further into it. Where we are now is untenable,” Farage told Reuters. Elsewhere, signals are mixed. A Reuters poll of economists this week found that Cameron’s veto had not significantly increased the chances that Britain would leave the bloc. Despite the veto, Britain has still been invited to participate in talks on new eurozone fiscal controls and some EU nations have attempted to make contact since the summit to encourage Britain back into the fold. John Kerr, a former British ambassador to the EU who famously passed notes to Prime Minister John Major from under the table during talks on the Maastricht Treaty 20 years ago, said it was not clear how long Britain would be out in the cold. “It’s not clear what exactly was decided in the middle of the night - the Brits stormed off in a huff and France announced a version of what had been decided,” he told Reuters. “It’s still all to play for.” — Reuters

MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011

analysis

Caution mutes US response to N Korea By Matthew Lee he Obama administration’s cautious response to the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il reflects unease and uncertainty about the leadership transition in the reclusive country that has confounded US presidents for 60 years. North Korea, the “hermit kingdom,” has vexed the United States and its allies with war, nuclear tests, missile launches, belligerence and bellicose bombast. But since he took office in 2009, President Barack Obama has had to deal with North Korea at perhaps its most secretive point: an unclear succession amid a time of deep concern about the stability of the regime. Thus, the administration’s carefully worded public messages have underscored its desire for better relations with the autocratic nation and its concern about the welfare of the North Korean people. They are also gentle reminders that Washington expects Pyongyang to follow through on denuclearization pledges and improve ties with its neighbors, particularly South Korea. The kid-gloves treatment accorded to the North’s youthful new leader, Kim’s twenty-something son Kim Jong Un, has attracted criticism from some who see this is a moment to make a forceful case for dramatic reform and regime change. But without solid intelligence on the opaque transition process and fearful of misunderstandings that could lead to provocations with the notoriously erratic North, US officials have concluded the best course is to say little, wait and watch. Indeed, the administration’s initial reactions to Kim’s death have contained little substance at all. “All I can say is that we’re monitoring the situation closely,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday as North Korean state media broadcast pictures of wailing mourners, apparently overcome with grief. “Kim Jong Il had designated Kim Jong Un as his official successor, and at this time we have no indication that that has changed.” Carney added: “We hope that the new North Korean leadership will take the steps necessary to support peace, prosperity and a better future for the North Korean people, including through acting on its commitments to denuclearization.” Those comments echoed words from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. On Monday, more than 16 hours after Kim’s death was announced, she was the first senior

U.S. official to comment publicly, calling for “a peaceful and stable transition in North Korea” and expressing hope that it would not affect “regional peace and stability.” Ironically, it was Clinton who first stirred the pot about a possible succession crisis in North Korea. Nearly three years ago, on her first trip to Asia as secretary of state, she stunned diplomatic circles with a frank appraisal of US concerns amid speculation about the health of Kim Jong Il, who had suffered a stroke in 2008, and his choice of a successor. “If there is a succession, even if it’s a peaceful succession, that creates more uncertainty and it also may encourage behaviors that are even more provocative as a way to consolidate power within the society,” Clinton told reporters on Feb 20, 2009. Her remarks on a previously taboo subject sparked great debate. In Seoul the next day, she expressed surprise at the uproar, noting that reports of Kim choosing his youngest son Kim Jung Un to succeed him had “been in the news for months”. “I don’t think that it’s a forbidden subject to talk about succession in the hermit kingdom,” Clinton said. “In fact, it seems to me it’s got to be factored into any policy review that one is undertaking.” That same month, US diplomats were scrambling to collect any information they could about Kim Jong Un from South Korean, Chinese and Japanese officials and experts, according to leaked State Department cables published by WikiLeaks. Unfortunately for the Americans, their interlocutors had sharply divided opinions, according to the cables. Some predicted the North Korean regime would collapse politically within two to three years of Kim Jong Il’s death. Others foresaw a power struggle between the young and untested Kim Jong Un and rivals in the elite, but differed over who would prevail. Others believed there would be little change. One apparent area of convergence, however, was that most South Korean experts believed the challenge for the younger Kim would come after his father’s death. Before Kim’s passing, the US administration had been expected this week to announce the resumption in food aid to North Korea and a potential bilateral meeting on nuclear disarmament. Although the State Department said there had been brief exchange with North Korean officials in New York on Monday, both initiatives are now in flux pending the end of the North’s mourning period.

The administration says it is respecting that mourning period by understanding that North Korean officials will not be available for discussions. Yet it has steadfastly refused to express any sympathy for the death of Kim, whose Stalinist regime is accused of having one of the worst, if not the worst, human rights records in the world. While showering the late Czech democracy leader Vaclav Havel with effusive eulogies, American officials have refused to even utter the word “condolence” in relation to Kim. — AP

he whereabouts of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s eldest son, once seen as the natural successor in the communist dynasty, has become a subject of intense speculation since his father’s death. Kim Jong-Nam is believed to have lived a life of reclusive luxury, mainly in the Chinese gambling hub of Macau, since he was caught in 2001 entering Japan on a fake passport saying he wanted to take his family to Disneyland. Apparently banished by his father and North Korea’s secretive ruling elite, Jong-Nam, 40, has watched from afar as his young halfbrother, Kim Jong-Un, has been groomed since 2009 to succeed his father as the nation’s leader. Jong-Nam’s movements since the announcement of his father’s death on Monday could give clues about the machinations in Pyongyang during the sensitive transition of power in the impoverished, nuclear-armed state. But Macau-based observers say he has remained below the radar. “He’s moving here and there. It has been hard to track him down,” said Ricardo Pinto, publisher of Macau Closer magazine, who keeps an eye on JongNam’s comings and goings in the former Portuguese colony. “It appears that he lives at his house sometimes, and sometimes he stays at different hotels. There’s no indication where he is living now.” Jong-Nam’s last public appearance

Kim Jong-Nam

was in January this year, when he gave an interview to Japanese newspaper Tokyo Shimbun at an unspecified location in southern China. He told the paper that Kim Jong-Il, who took power in 1994 after the death of his father, North Korea’s founder and “great leader” Kim Il-Sung, was against a third-generation succession. But the late leader had anointed Jong-Un aged in his 20s and relatively inexperienced - to ensure national stability, he said. “Hereditary succession did not happen even under Chinese chairman Mao Zedong,” said Jong-Nam, sporting funky brown plastic glasses, a light pink shirt and a black jacket. “(Heredity succession) does not fit socialism and my father was against it. I understand that it was done in order to stabilise the framework of the nation,” he said, warning that instability in North Korea would disrupt the “surrounding region”. While most Kim-watchers agree Jong-Nam has used Macau as a base since his aborted Disneyland adventure, he is also reported to have stayed in Beijing and to have regularly visited Austria, France and Thailand, as well as North Korea. Analysts say the passing of power to a new generation could provide an opening for reform and improved relations with the outside world. They point out that Swisseducated Jong-Un is the first leader in two generations to have had any experience of life in the West. Jong-Nam was also educated at a Swiss boarding school, but his years

as a gambling, drinking free spirit in exile may have corrupted him too much in the eyes of the ruling elite back in austere Pyongyang, analysts say. “He has been in exile for too long and has no more political base in North Korea,” said Joseph Cheng, a political analyst from Hong Kong’s City University. “It’s very unlikely he will have any role.” In the late nineties, the eldest of Kim Jong-Il’s three sons was the heir apparent, holding senior jobs including general and head of foreign counter-intelligence. Jong-Nam’s resume makes him a better choice as North Korea’s next leader over his half brother. But the eldest Kim, whose film-star mother died in 2002, has expressed no interest in North Korea’s highest office. “If I were the successor, would you see me in Macau wearing these casual clothes and taking a holiday? I am only the son of Kim Jong-Il,” he told a Japanese television reporter in 2009. In his most recent interview, JongNam said his “heart aches” when he heard about the hardship suffered by poverty-hit North Koreans. He urged the country’s leaders to “pay attention to reform and openness”. “What the North desires the most is the normalisation of ties with the US and settlement of peace on the Korean peninsula,” he told Tokyo Shimbun. Some analysts had seen second son Kim JongChul as favourite to take over, but the late Kim reportedly thought of him as too effeminate for leadership. —AFP

Russia’s ‘love affair’ with Putin ending By Anna Smolchenko new mass rally against Vladimir Putin’s domination of Russia shows that the protest movement had gained critical momentum and he must commit to change or risk losing power, analysts said. While Saturday’s rally will not topple Putin by itself, his once invincible popularity is irreparably damaged and the outcome of 2012 presidential elections far more uncertain than just one month ago, they added. First triggered by widespread claims of egregious violations in Dec 4 parliamentary elections that handed a reduced majority to Putin’s party, the protest movement is now increasingly targeting the Russian strongman himself. Putin now faces a turbulent campaign for the March 4, 2012 presidential elections during which he is planning to return to the Kremlin for a third term after his four-year stint as prime minister. “Other countries elect an official, a manager. For Russia it is a love affair that turns into hate,” said Alexander Konovalov, president of the Institute of Strategic Assessment. “Putin will not survive one presidential term, let alone two, unless there are very serious changes to satisfy people,” he said. “There has been a de-legitimisation of the authorities and it’s very serious.” Tens of thousands of people attended Saturday’s protest in Moscow, the second mass opposition rally within a month and even bigger and more sharply critical of Putin than the first such protest two weeks ago. “The authorities are trying to respond but are running out of time,” said Nikolai Petrov, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Centre. “There is a danger of a revolution because in the conditions of a political desert there are no parties or politicians to channel this colossal social energy into a constructive solution.” Many Russians appear to feel insulted by Putin’s decision to return to the Kremlin in the March polls, a move he presented as a fait accompli in a job swap announcement with incumbent President Dmitry Medvedev in September. “Putin still has a great chance to be elected but he will not be able to reverse the fall in his popularity. After the election he will have to change this personal system of politics,” said Petrov. “But I do not think that

Putin is capable of this.” After September’s announcement Putin’s approval ratings have declined to historic lows, and polls showed earlier this month he would not be able to secure victory in the first round. As recently as the summer of 2010, Putin was so sure of his popularity that he was able to travel around Siberia with loyal media in tow and mesmerise the nation with often bare-chested stunts in Russia’s wild nature. But his touch seemed to have slipped this summer when he went diving in southern Russia and “discovered” ancient Greek urns that it later turned out had been especially placed there for him to find. Just before the disputed elections, Putin was unexpectedly whistled at by unhappy fans when he stepped into the ring after a no-holds barred fight in what was seen as a symbol of the growing public discontent with his rule. “The authorities need to take extraordinary steps to get out of this while saving face,” said Yevgeny Gontmakher, head of the Centre for Social Policies at the Moscow-based Economics Institute. “I would not want to be in their place but they walked into this and ignored the warnings.” The prime minister’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking to AFP, insisted the protests reflected an opinion of a minority of Russians, while Putin still has the support of a majority. Putin dismissed the first rally as insignificant, saying he was learning to play ice hockey and compared the white ribbons opposition supporters pin to their lapels as a symbol of their protest to condoms. In scenes unthinkable just one month ago, the protesters on Saturday in response derided Putin with racy slogans. Condoms were distributed while one sign said: “We know you want a third time. But we have a headache!” “I do not know what will happen next but March 4 will not be the way it was planned,” commentator Olga Bakushinskaya wrote in a blog post. “Russians take a long time to harness a carriage but they ride fast.” — AFP

Protests far from knockout blow for China leaders By Brian Rhoads ike battle-hardened boxers, China’s Communist Party leaders are leaning back on the ropes, patiently absorbing the blows from angry village protesters who have grabbed headlines but lack a knockout punch. Similar social upsrisings have floored leaders from North Africa and the Middle East but China’s leaders, and the country itself, are made of sterner stuff. Analysts say it would take an unlikely combination of blows for any semblance of an Arab Spring to take root in China: collapse of the economy, a breakdown of the Party system, a comprehensive loss of trust in the central government, and a cohesive anti-party movement in rural and urban areas. Still, China has endured headlines that would make many an Arab leader tremble. Villagers in Wukan in south China chase off local officials and barricade themselves in for a 10-day standoff. Thousands march in Haimen city less than 160 km away to protest against a power plant project. Workers stage a sit-in in Dongguan city to the west, demanding backpay after their paper plant closed down. But while Arab Spring protesters have scored knockout blows this year, economic conditions appear to have China on course for a comfortable points decision. After the wave of Arab Spring revolutions, analysts began looking for markers that might be useful for predicting the next uprising. The most common characteristics included a disproportionately large segment of the population aged under 25, stagnating GDP per capita, and widening income inequality. China doesn’t stand out in any of those categories. The one-child policy means the country is ageing rapidly, and the bigger worry is potential shortages of young workers. GDP per capita is rising steadily. Income inequality, although wide, may narrow as Beijing mandates large minimum wage increases. Some 80 million Communist Party members and millions more who have benefited from China’s economic boom have little interest in spreading social unrest that would undermine those gains. Among China’s vast bureaucracy, where college graduates are competing for jobs, and the People’s Liberation Army, appetite for change is even lower. “With civil servants and military, with their support, even when there is extensive discontent among the general public, the regime can still maintain its rule for quite a long period of time,” said Kin-man Chan, associate professor at the department of sociology at Chinese University of Hong Kong. Other factors favour the Party over the protesters, who lack central organisation. These include strong political cohesion, a system that reinforces support for the central government over local officials, a massive police force and fairly tight controls on traditional and social media. The last time the Politburo Standing Committee was seriously split was in 1989, a divide that gave time for the democracy movement centred on Tiananmen Square to snowball. Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping eventually stepped in, Party secretary Zhao Ziyang was sacked, and the movement was crushed on June 4 that year in a bloody military crackdown that killed hundreds, perhaps thousands. The Chinese government’s fear is that, in the more distant future, those trends could gather momentum and threaten it. “I don’t think this can become a single spark that starts a prairie fire,” said Ting Wai, a professor of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University, referring to Mao Zedong’s famous thesis from the Chinese revolution. “There are many incidents of social unrest like these in China, but I don’t think in the near future they will join together,” Ting said. While pressures from riots, strikes and other mass incidents could chip at the Party’s grip on the country, analysts say that weakening remains manageable, a trickle rather than a flood. Even the incident in the rebellious Guangdong province village of Wukan, where concessions to end the standoff appeared particularly favorable, only rippled the surface. Liu Feiyue, a human rights advocate in central China’s Hubei province who collects reports from protesters, said “the scope of concessions in Wukan was unusually large, especially on freeing detained villagers and a fresh village election”. “This showed unusual flexibility and reasonableness from the Guangdong government,” said Liu, who runs the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website. “But I don’t think the Wukan model will spread nationwide easily. There’s too much conservatism and fear of change, and other places tend to offer only tactical compromises and then officials return to high-pressure methods and to settling scores,” Liu said in a telephone interview. The Communist Party has years of experience handling incidents of mass unrest that have grown in number as economic reforms gathered pace in the 1990s and 2000s, bringing booming growth and rising incomes but also spawning a widening wealth gap and uneven development. Each day, authorities grapple with nearly 250 mass incidents, the euphemism for riots and protests, somewhere across the country, based on the annual figure of more than 90,000 incidents that Chinese experts estimate occur annually. It has also been going on for years - in 2004 there were 78,000 incidents and Hu’s predecessor Jiang Zemin had to defuse huge strikes as he and Premier Zhu Rongji overhauled lumbering state enterprises, shattered the iron rice bowl and laid off thousands of workers from once guaranteed jobs. While incidents differ, China’s approach to handling violent protest has been fairly formulaic. First, security forces quell the incident with overwhelming force and arrest the ringleaders. The authorities one rung up the ladder at the county or province often then address the source of the outrage - closing down the polluting factory, arresting the corrupt local official, or ordering the backwages paid. There is little sign of discord in the Politburo when it comes to social stability, particularly with a leadership transition coming. Zhou Yongkang, the Standing Committee member in charge of public security, was not speaking just for himself in a speech carried in newspapers on Thursday that urged law-and-order cadres to ensure “a harmonious and stable social setting” ahead of the Communist Party’s 18th Congress in late 2012. Social media are yoked as well. China has banned Facebook and Twitter and while Weibo, the popular microblogging site, has become a source for news to spread, tight controls - posts are deleted or topic searches are banned - hinder the ability to use it to organise, Chan said. —Reuters

Kim’s eldest son slips off radar in Macau By Beh Lih Yi

Focus

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Sri Lanka hope for Durban change of luck DURBAN: South Africa will remain favorites but Sri Lanka can expect less treacherous batting conditions in the second Test starting at Kingsmead today. Sri Lanka were swept aside by an innings and 81 runs before tea on the third day in the first Test at Centurion, where their batsmen were unable to combat the home side’s fast bowlers on a pitch with uneven bounce and extravagant sideways movement. Shaun Pollock, a former South African captain and a resident of this Indian Ocean city, was among critics who felt the pitch at Centurion was loaded unfairly in favor of the bowlers and it seems likely that the surface at Kingsmead will offer a more even contest. Pollock said

he could understand South Africa’s eagerness to win a home series, but with tours to New Zealand, England and Australia coming up in 2012, he added: “I’m more concerned with us honing the skills we will surely need over the next year.” Pollock said pitches like that at Centurion did not benefit the South African team in the long term. “I don’t believe these conditions help with the development of our cricketers ... as a South African supporter I feel we can compete with the best teams in the world on quality surfaces.” The Kingsmead pitch is still likely to help the fast bowlers, because it offers pace and bounce, but the bowlers will probably have to work harder for their

wickets. Sri Lanka were outclassed in the first Test but will be hoping to end what has been a winless year in Test cricket on a positive note. With batsmen of the calibre of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and captain Tillekeratne Dilshan, they have the potential to post a competitive total. Sri Lanka’s bowling, though, lacks penetration following the retirement of offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan and it is doubtful whether the call-up of fast bowling reserves in the form of Dhammika Prasad and Kanishka Alvitigala will make a significant difference. The tourists can take heart from recent history, however, because South Africa have lost their three

most recent Tests at Kingsmead-against Australia, England and India. Sri Lanka drew the only Test they have played at the ground, in 2000/01, when Sangakkara and Jayawardene shone with the bat, making 74 and 98 respectively, and Dilhara Fernando, another survivor from that tour, took five first-innings wickets. It remains the only Test in South Africa in which Sri Lanka have avoided defeatalthough they were helped by a full day’s play being lost to rain. South Africa will be seeking to wrap up the three-Test series ahead of the final match in Cape Town, starting on January 3. Rookie fast bowler Vernon Philander, who hurt his knee in the nets on Saturday, has been in irresistible

form, taking 24 wickets in his first three Tests, including 10 for 102 at Centurion. He has been helped by bowler-friendly pitches but offers tight control and the ability to move the ball both ways, proving an ideal new ball partner for tearaway Dale Steyn. South Africa will look to improved form from tall fast bowler Morne Morkel, who went to Durban early to work with fast bowling coach Allan Donald in an effort to regain the form that made him one of the world’s most potent strike bowlers last year. Another early arrival in Durban was batsman Jacques Rudolph, who is hoping to cement his position as captain Graeme’s Smith opening partner.— AFP

Australia rookies face Indian greats

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) congratulates forward Blake Griffin (32) for taking a charge against the Los Angeles Lakers during an NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles. Clippers won the game 108-103. — AP

Clippers set to deal with expectations NEW YORK: Long overshadowed in Los Angeles by the star-studded Lakers and their 16 NBA Championship banners, lowly city rivals the Clippers have suddenly become the talk of the town following their stunning off-season acquisitions. Boosted by the arrival of premier point guard Chris Paul and former All Stars Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler, the Clippers have instantly been installed as genuine title contenders for the 2011-12 season. While the players themselves claim they are not feeling any added pressure, there is no question their long-suffering fans now hold great expectations, starting with the season-opening game away to the Golden State Warriors. “We don’t feel any pressure,” four-time All-Star Paul told reporters while preparing for his first official game in Clippers colors. “Who’s putting that pressure on us? “The thing is, at the end of the day, we’re the players. We control what we can control and that’s the people in this organization who are in here at practice every day. “We can’t control what you guys (reporters) say because that is what it is.” The acquisition of Paul from the New Orleans Hornets for guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman, forward Al-Farouq Aminu and a 2012 first-round draft pick was comfortably the biggest signing in the NBA’s off-season. Add in twice All-Star small forward Butler and Billups to a line-up already

boasting the astonishing dunking talents of Blake Griffin, along with veteran All-Star Mo Williams and talented center DeAndre Jordan, and it is no wonder Clippers fans are suddenly drooling with delight. ‘GREAT OUTLOOK’ “We really do have a great outlook but, in all actuality, we haven’t won a game yet,” five-time All-Star guard Billups said warily ahead of the game. “And the difficult thing is that everybody knows we should be a lot better, so we don’t have the advantage of sneaking up on teams anymore. Teams are going to be ready. We are going to get a teams’ best punch, so we’ve got to guard for that.” The Clippers, who won only 32 games last year and have exceeded the .500 mark just once in the last 19 years, have captured the interest of former Lakers great Magic Johnson. “For the first time, I’m going to be watching Clippers games,” the 12-time AllStar said earlier this month. “You’re talking about excitement for the city. Wow. I mean, since that (Paul) trade everybody’s talking about both teams, that’s all the conversation. “I think you’re going to see sellouts on both sides. It’s a great time to be in the city of Los Angeles ... you’re going to be able to go see a great Lakers team and then a great Clippers game as well.” — Reuters

Bucks’ Bogut believes NBA lockout allowed him to heal MILWAUKEE: Andrew Bogut is ready to put a trying season behind him. And “trying” doesn’t come close to explaining the mental and physical anguish he endured while playing in 65 games with one good hand. Now as Bogut and the Bucks get ready for a 66-game NBA season, starting today night in Charlotte, they are hoping to be smart and be healthy. The Bucks’ 7-foot center used the down time during the lockout to his advantage, working out regularly in his gym in

Andrew Bogut Melbourne, Australia, while gaining confidence again in his right elbow and right hand. Bogut underwent surgery on the elbow in April, when surgeon James Andrews made five incisions and removed a large bone chip. The injury stemmed from Bogut’s famous crash to the Bradley Center floor in April 2010, when he went up for that disastrous dunk against the Phoenix Suns. “People say Bogut is injury prone,” said the 27-year-old, now in his seventh season with the Bucks. “I would give a million, 2 million dollars out of my con-

tract for this injury never to have happened. “I’d give half my (yearly) contract, $5 million. I knew when the lockout happened I was going to lose some money, but I’d pay that money right now to be 100 percent. “I’d rather be feeling the way I’m feeling now. That was a blessing in disguise for me (the lockout). I got to stay an extra two months in a gym. I still would have been OK coming back in October but not as healed. To get an extra six to eight weeks, it was huge for me.” It’s difficult to recall how the Bucks actually function with a healthy Bogut in the lineup. But it’s worth remembering the team was on a roll at the end of the 2009-’10 season and putting a beat-down on the Suns when Bogut was injured. So far in the shortened training camp Bogut has performed better in practice than in the two exhibition games against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But he also has showed enough positive signs to encourage Coach Scott Skiles, who said he would go home after games last season and feel sorry for his big man. “You can tell he feels better,” Skiles said. “He’s in great shape. He was unhealthy for the whole year. He has a totally different look on his face. “When he catches it and goes quick to the basket, he’s got a much quicker first step than people think. Last year due to his injury, he was catching and looking and waiting. He just didn’t feel comfortable; he just wasn’t himself.” Bogut didn’t want to let on about how much pain and frustration he felt, but finally he couldn’t take it any longer at one point last season. “ There was a day where I finally snapped and I was like, ‘My elbow is absolutely terrible,’ “ Bogut said. “Mentally I’ve never dealt with anything like that in my life before. The stress fracture in my back was nothing compared to this. “All of a sudden, I had a ball in my right hand and I couldn’t dribble, I couldn’t shoot, I couldn’t lift weights. I knew going into the season to an extent I was going to have to try to just guard, get rebounds, block shots and be a defensive presence, finish easy shots. Everything else was going to come hard. —MCT

MELBOURNE: Australia may have an inexperienced batting top three but they are in form ahead of the opening Boxing Day Test against India, Australian vice-captain Brad Haddin said yesterday. Australia’s top three in the batting order-David Warner, Ed Cowan and Shaun Marsh-have just five Tests between them in one of Australia’s most unfamiliar combinations in more than three decades. Warner has played just two Test matches but comes to the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a last start unbeaten 123 against New Zealand, while three-Test Marsh crunched 99 off 52 balls in domestic Twenty20 just days ago. Debutant Cowan earned selection on the strength of his 109 for a Chairman’s XI against India this week along with three first-class centuries this season. While the Australian team is in transition, India’s top five batsmen-Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman boast a combined tally of 610 Tests. In the first of four Tests for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy it is India’s experience against Australia’s untried potential. Wicketkeeper Haddin, who will be an important member of the Australian batting lineup at number seven, said it was time for the home team to stand up and meet the Indian challenge head on. “You talk about our inexperienced top three, I think we’ve got a very in-form top three,” Haddin told reporters yesterday. “And if we’re going to do any good in this series it’s going to be from one to seven with the bat. We’ve all got to perform. “We’ve got to make sure we’ve got our game heads on and ready to go.” Coach Mickey Arthur arranged a batting camp this week and Haddin said the three-day get-together was to clear the batsmen’s minds. “Freeing your head, having no other thoughts in your head but just playing cricket,” Haddin said. “You’ll see over the next five days whether it has all paid off.” Australia are also conceding huge amounts of big-match experience with the ball to India, with two of the four frontline bowlers, James Pattinson and offspinner

Nathan Lyon, in their first year of Test cricket. “We’ve picked an 11 that we think is confident to rip through this Indian side,” Haddin said. “They’ve got some great players and I know especially our bowlers are looking forward to having a crack at them.” Pattinson, just 21, has taken 14 wickets in his two Tests against New Zealand, while Lyon has 22 wickets from his seven Tests at 24.59. Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman have indicated they will go after Lyon to dent his confidence. “We’re just hoping that we score some

spin bowling. “We’ve got to make sure we bowl Nathan at the right times, set the right fields to give him a little bit of protection and then attack when it’s time to attack,” Clarke said. Tendulkar could score his 100th century in Tests and one-day internationals during the four-Test series. He has been anchored on 99 hundreds since March and Dhoni said Tendulkar was putting aside the speculation and pressure linked to his impending achievement. “He’s someone who keeps it

MELBOURNE: Australian player Michael Hussey (right) dives to catch the ball as captain Michael Clarke (left) looks on as the team train for their upcoming Test match against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) yesterday. — AFP runs off him, try to put pressure on him,” India skipper MS Dhoni said. “The kind of experience we have got, that will really help us in executing our plans.” Australian captain Michael Clarke said Lyon will have to be managed carefully during the series, but he regards him as a potential weapon against a team who are traditionally adept at playing

really simple,” Dhoni said. “He will get it at some point in time, whether it’s this series or the next series. “I don’t think there’s any added pressure on him. “A hundred hundreds in international cricket, it’s something really big. The whole of cricket, all over the world, people will really cherish the moment when he gets his hundredth done.”— AFP

India wait on fitness of injury-prone pacemen MELBOURNE: India is expected to wait until just before today’s toss to name its team for the first test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, giving injury-prone pace bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma a chance to prove their fitness. India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said Khan and Sharma “are shaping up well, hopefully they would all be available for selection” for the first match of the fourtest series. The visitors have not won a test series in 64 years of touring Australia. Batsman Sachin Tendulkar will renew his quest for his 100th international century in the first test, having been stuck on 99 since March. Dhoni said Tendulkar’s main emotion when he finally reaches the milestone will be relief. “He will get it at some point in time, whether it’s this series or the next series,” Dhoni said. “I don’t think there’s any added pressure on him. But of course if he gets it soon he will feel a bit relieved. The whole of cricket, all over the world, people will really cherish the moment when he gets his hundredth done.” Yesterday, both teams held light batting sessions and the Australians had a family Christmas luncheon. Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who took his son with him to the luncheon, says Australia has put its embarrassing loss to New Zealand in the Hobart test behind them. Australia lost eight wickets for 74 on the final day in a seven-run loss to the No 8-ranked Kiwis two weeks ago - the visitors’ first test win in Australia since 1985. “We’re in a very good space at the moment,” Haddin said. “Boxing Day, it’s a great occasion to walk out onto the MCG. As as sportsman, it’s a highlight to be able to come out in front of 60,000 or 70,000 to watch a test match.” Australia left out uncapped allrounder Dan Christian and pace bowler Mitchell Starc from its 13-man squad when its team was named Saturday. Swing bowler Ben Hilfenhaus won a recall after recovering from knee tendinitis while Shaun Marsh returns to bat at No 3 after overcoming a back injury which kept him out of the two-test New Zealand series. Clarke said it was a gamble to leave out No. 6 batsman Christian, especially with fellow allrounder Shane Watson declared unfit as he recovers from hamstring and calf strains. But Clarke said he could call on himself and other part-timers Michael Hussey, Ricky Ponting and David Warner to bowl a few overs. Australia will take just four genuine bowlers into the test Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon and James Pattinson, who has taken two five-wickets hauls in his first two tests. Tasmania’s Ed Cowan, 29, will become the 10th Australia player to make his test debut in 2011. Cowan will open the batting with David Warner against No 2ranked India. Haddin said the possibility of Tendulkar achieving the historic 100-century mark was a bonus for the fans. “That’s exciting, the prospect of him scoring his hundredth 100, for everyone involved in the game,” Haddin said. “We haven’t discussed anything about Sachin’s hundred. With a bit of luck we don’t give him the opportunity to get there.”— AP

MELBOURNE: Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar (right) attempts to take a catch as captain MS Dhoni looks on during training for their upcoming Test match against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) yesterday. — AFP

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MLS move on, minus Beckham LOS ANGELES: Au revoir, David Beckham. Although your aides-decamp keep insisting nothing has been decided, everybody knows your move to the French club Paris SaintGermain is pretty much a fait accompli. (By the way, David, I hope you’re reading this closely because you really should learn the language.) When the deal does become official - which probably will be after New Year’s to assure the greatest possible media coverage - we hear a “movie star” unveiling will be staged in central Paris. Sounds as if this will be the biggest signing on French soil since the Treaty at Versailles. And the French may wind up regretting this deal almost as much. We keep hearing how Europe is broke, but you’re going to be getting more than $1 million a month. And that’s after taxes. So expect the French honeymoon to be short. In fact, Eva Joly, the Green Party candidate for president in next year’s elections, has already called the contract “shocking,” while Jean-Marc Ayrault, who represents the Socialist party in Parliament, said “I’ve had enough of these enormous salaries.” But they’re lefties so, you know, let them eat cake? They don’t even know about the sponsorship deals; the house for you, Posh and the kids; or the $28,000 annual “scholarships” for your three boys at the hoity-toity British School of Paris. Shoot, you’re a one-man stimulus package. Yet all that sounds a little too familiar on this side of the pond. After all, we gave you a movie star welcome too - with real movie stars. We also gave you the

richest contract in the history of our quaint soccer league, after which our economy totally tanked. OH WELL, C’EST LA VIE. Yet before the ink on your contract with the Galaxy had dried, you had become an enfant terrible, missing more than half the team’s games in your first four years - many of them during your failed attempt to make England’s World Cup team. Surely the French know your raison d’etre this summer is not to help Paris Saint-Germain win its first Ligue 1 title since 1994. You’re hoping to prove your fitness for next summer’s Olympics Games, an event you played no small part in bringing to London. What a glorious farewell being the captain of the national team in your hometown. But you’ll be 37 then and the English will need proof that you can still be a tour de force. So while your body and your bank account will be in France, your heart and mind will be focused on London. Which doesn’t mean this can’t work. Au contraire. Your final season in MLS was, well, magnifique. You finished second in the league in assists, made the Best XI and won the league’s comeback-player-of-the-year award - all while being a model citizen and leading the team to an MLS title. But then all that was really little more than icing on the croissant. The real reason you were brought here was to give our sleepy little league the international prestige and profile it sorely needed to expand - the je ne sais quoi it clearly lacked.

And in that you were a spectacular success. Major League Soccer and especially the Galaxy are now global brands. You proved that coming to

Blackburn Rovers’ English manager Steve Kean Manchester United and on course for their first top-flight title for 44 years. But Sir Alex Ferguson’s reigning champions will end the calendar year at the summit if they follow up victory over struggling Wigan today with another three points against bottom club Blackburn on Sunday. That is because City do not play again after today until January 1,

Matches on TV (Local Timings) English Premier League Chelsea v Fulham