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THERSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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Controversy rages over waiving interest on debt ICM decries ‘oppression’ against bloggers, tweeters

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By B Izzak conspiracy theories

No rights, no dignity, no future

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

T

he story of the Palestinians is never-ending.

Unfortunately, it is a very sad story which nobody can help bring to a positive end. They were forced to leave their country in 1948 when the Jews invaded it. They were scattered in refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and many other places. Then Israel was established and populated by Jews who came from around the world, especially from Europe and Germany in particular. The Israelis who came to Israel and became Israelis have nationalities from where they came from - Russia, Germany, Poland and others. They are privileged and lucky because they had a choice to either stay in their country or leave a whole country of people “stateless”.

I am sure you are all familiar with the saga of the Palestinian state and its history. This is how the story goes in short. Palestine was under British mandate and after the British authorities handed the country on a platter to the Jewish immigrants from all over the world and helped them settle down all over Palestine, Palestinians were kicked to the other half of Palestine - the West Bank. The Israelis were given the best plots - the seaside, Haifa, Jaffa and Yafa and all the important key cities. Then when the Israeli-Arab war started in 1967, Israel took over the rest of the country, or the main cities - Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem etc.

Now back to the Palestinians and refugee camps, especially in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Palestinians always become victims of the political situation in these countries. Though they live in camps under the title “refugees”, they get food subsidies by UNRWA and not by the host countries - still, politically they suffer and live in agony. Whatever happens in those countries in the end falls on their head.

The latest misery is the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria which has around a million Palestinian refugees.

If they side with Assad, the opposition will kill them.

If they side with the opposition, Assad’s army will kill them. They cannot stay neutral. Everyone tears them apart and uses them as a scapegoat. It is not enough that they live in deprivation in refugee camps, but they are also humiliated more by the political situation. Some of them are now trying to escape to Lebanon - a road that is not so easy. The most ironic part is that Netanyahu is building more settlements in their country now, which is called Israel, while they remain refugees scattered with no rights, no dignity and no future.

SEOUL: South Korea’s presidential candidate Park Geun-Hye of the ruling New Frontier Party waves after her arrival at the party headquarters yesterday. — AFP

S Korea elects first female prez SEOUL: South Korea elected its first female president yesterday, with voters handing a historic victory to conservative candidate Park Geun-Hye, daughter of the country’s former military ruler. As leader of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, Park, 60, will face numerous challenges, handling a belligerent North Korea, a slowing economy and soaring welfare costs in one of the world’s most rapidly ageing societies. The National Election Commission said early today that Park, from the ruling New Frontier Party, had secured the necessary votes to beat liberal rival Moon Jae-In of the main opposition party, according to Yonhap news agency.

With more than 99.3 percent of the vote counted, Park

had secured 51.6 percent against Moon’s 48 percent, the report said. The election was largely fought on domestic economic issues, with both candidates offering similar policies as they went in search of centrist voters beyond their traditional bases. Park had pushed a message of “economic democratisation” - a campaign buzzword about reducing the social disparities thrown up by rapid economic development - and promised to create new jobs and increase welfare spending.

However, she had been far more cautious than Moon about the need to rein in the power of the giant familyrun conglomerates, or “chaebol”, that dominate the

BP sells stake in China gas field to Kuwait

Boycott deepens rift between city, tribes KUWAIT: In a room scented with incense, twelve men in long traditional robes sip sweet tea and debate the political future of Kuwait’s tribes at one of many “diwaniya” across the country, a tradition of evening social gatherings older than Kuwait itself. The issue looms large in the tribal areas after changes to the voting system ahead of a parliamentary election on Dec 1 sparked a boycott by opposition politicians, including tribal leaders who said the changes would have worked to their disadvantage in particular.

The dispute shows that the imbalance in power between those “inside and outside the wall” - referring to the series of walls that used to surround the capital area from the 18th to 20th

KUWAIT: Several MPs in the newly elected National Assembly yesterday strongly criticized Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali for saying that the government will not accept proposals calling to write off interest on loans taken by Kuwaiti citizens. Some MPs threatened they will grill the minister and vowed that this time they will make sure he does not come back to the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, a new draft law was submitted yesterday by two MPs calling on the government to purchase bank debts of Kuwaitis and then forgive interest on them and reschedule the repayment of the remaining principal loan in easy installments. The new bill, filed by MPs Mohammad Al-Jabri and Mohammad Al-Barrak, also calls for giving every citizens who will not benefit from the debt relief scheme KD 1,000.

Earlier, three draft laws were filed by MPs in the new National Assembly elected barely three weeks ago, all calling for the government to purchase all bank loans of Kuwaiti citizens and then waive incurred interest.

Shamali however said yesterday that the government will not accept such proposals because the government does not see any need or reason to purchase the loans or drop the interest. Shamali told Al-Jarida newspaper that the government has already resolved the problem by establishing a debtors’ fund about two years ago and that about 28,000 Kuwaiti defaulters have registered to benefit from the fund.

Islamist MP Khaled Al-Shulaimi threatened he will grill the minister if he continues to oppose the debt relief proposes, adding that Shamali this time will never come back to the Cabinet. Shamali was forced to resign from the Cabinet in May after a grilling by three former opposition MPs over allegations of corruption and mismanagement and for opposing the debt relief laws. MP Khalil Al-Saleh said Shamali should know that the decision to write off the interest on debt is in the hands of the Assembly and not the government and there is no need for such statements.

MP Faisal Al-Kandari said that it is not Shamali who decides to accept or reject such proposals, and accordingly there is no need for such provocative statements.

MP Youssef Al-Zalzalah however said that the issue is purely technical and that he and a number of MPs have prepared a draft law to deal with interest on loans taken before Dec 2009 when the Central Bank’s supervision was not effective. He did not say when the bill will be submitted.

In another parliamentary issue, MP Yaqoub Al-Sane yesterday warned that he will grill Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah for failing to curb the protests of the opposition activists who, according Continued on Page 13

centuries - is alive and well, said Fawaz Al-Adei, a lawyer who was at the diwaniya. “Tribes make up only a small part of the financial system, there is no real representation in government,” he said, clacking his yellow prayer beads.

“It is mostly people from the urban areas who control the media, who make the decisions.”

The perceived divide is one of the sources of tensions in the major oil producer and could become more problematic as the tribal population grows, becomes more prosperous and demands more political power. In the Saber Al-Nasser area where the diwaniya took place some 20 km outside Kuwait City, police had to use tear Continued on Page 13

national economy. “This election was a victory for all of you, the people,” Park told cheering, flag-waving supporters at an open-air victory celebration in central Seoul. “It is a victory from the heart of the people hoping to revive the economy,” she added. On North Korea, Park has promised a dual policy of greater engagement and “robust deterrence”, and held out the prospect of a summit with the North’s young leader Kim Jong-Un, who came to power a year ago. She also signalled a willingness to resume the humanitarian aid to Pyongyang suspended by current President Lee Myung-Bak. Continued on Page 13

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Housing costly, hard to find for Riyadh expats

Obama is Time’s person of year for second time NEW YORK: Time magazine yesterday named the recently re -elected US President Barack Obama as its person of the year for 2012 - the second time it has accorded him this honor. Obama now not only has a reelection as America’s first black president and a Nobel peace prize under his belt, but he beat fancied runners-up, including brave Pakistani girls’ rights activist Malala Yousafzai, to be enshrined again as Time’s dominant personality of the year. The venerable American news magazine put Obama on its cover, striking a thoughtful, statuesque pose, and said he deserved the accolade as “the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America”.

The magazine lauded Obama’s campaigning prowess, noting he was the first

president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to win more than 50 percent of the vote in two straight elections and the first president since 1940 to be re-elected despite a jobless rate above 7.5 percent. Obama beat Republican Mitt Romney soundly in November’s election to win a second four year term, despite presiding over a chronic economic slump. “In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union,” said Time, which had named Obama person of the year back in 2008 when he became America’s first black president.

The others considered for the weekly magazine’s traditional annual honor were Apple CEO Tim Cook, atomic scientist Continued on Page 13

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

LOCAL

Air tickets to Philippines ‘ridiculously expensive’ Airlines cashing in on Christmas season

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Not only are the prices of airline tickets to the Philippines becoming sky high but also many of the airlines are fully booked, especially during the Christmas season. A travel agent in Dawliah Complex, Kuwait City, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said some Filipinos were unable to take their Christmas vacations because tickets to the Philippines had become too expensive. “[It was] not because of a lack of airlines there were many airlines - but the available tickets were expensive and were mostly for business class. Just imagine, the price ranges from KD500-600,” disclosed the travel agent. She said if people are really dying to return to the Philippines, they pay the high prices.

“The economy ticket now ranges from KD395-450. Some took chances though; many of

them paid for a ticket as a ‘chance passenger’ and are mostly set to fly on Dec 22, 23, and 24.

They paid with the hope that a last-minute seat will become available, so many of them are waiting at the airport,” the travel agent told Kuwait Times.

“I want to spend Christmas Day in the Philippines, so I hope I will be able to get a seat on Dec 23. I am a chance passenger. I’ll be in the airport on the 23rd just to stand by in case a passenger does not fly on that day, so I can take his/her seat,” a passenger said.

Christmas season is the busiest month of the year for Manila-bound airlines. There are other peak destinations every Christmas too, such as Bangkok and Dubai. Tickets to those countries are expensive too, but they are not as costly as tickets to the Philippines.

“You know, the Philippines is the happiest country in the world at Christmastime, so

Filipinos and other nationalities prefer to spend their [Christmas] season in the Philippines.”

According to her, ticket prices are up by 20 percent compared with the same period last year, when tickets could be purchased for about KD285.

“If not for my promise to my parents that I’d be home this Christmas, I would not go, because my ticket was ridiculously expensive. I paid KD420, but I had no other choice,” a passenger said. Likewise, ticket prices to Dubai and Bangkok also increased by 10-15 percent compared with last year’s prices. “The price of the tickets will always depend on the demand. But it’s not as expensive, of course, as [they are during the] peak season in the summer. While we claim that some other countries are equally busy, the number of people leaving the country is far lower when compared with the summer season,” she noted.

Kuwait to host anti-drugs forum

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The National Anti Drug Committee (NADC) held a press conference yesterday at its premises on the occasion of

Samdan stressed the importance of the forum. “This forum is being held based on the guidance and instruction of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, which was given to the officials

KUWAIT: Dr Ahmad Al Samdan (left) and Dr Ahmad Al-Shatti during the press conference held yesterday.

—Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat hosting the First Anti Drug Forum on Dec 23 and 24, 2012 at the Kuwait Regency Hotel.

NADC Secretary Ahmad Al-

of the Ministry of Interior in dealing with the issue of drugs and fighting this negative phenomena. [It will] support the

institutions working in this field and encourage the institutions in charge to create plans to fight drugs,” he pointed out.

The committee held a forum about 15 years ago. “During this forum, many suggestions and recommendations were made that we worked on executing.

After all these years, many new things have occurred, so we are holding this forum next Sunday, which is considered to be a review of the present situation and the challenges we face in dealing with drugs. This will be the point from which we start, based on previous experiences,” added Al-Samdan.

The NADC has many achievements, and they aim for many more. “We hope that more public and private institutions will cooperate with us in fighting drugs that cause physical, social, and health damage. The anti-drug movement does not stop at a certain point; thus, our efforts must continue. At the end, we should depend on the

institutions in charge to enforce the necessary proposals,” he stated.

Seventeen different institutions including ministries, NGOs, and societies as well as the Ministry of Interior (with six sectors), Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Kuwait Journalist Association, and Bashayir Al Khair Society are involved in the forum. Dr Ahmad Al-Shatti, Executive Director of the National Awareness Anti Drug Project ‘Ghiras,’ noted that the planned forum aims to coordinate the efforts of different institutions and increase cooperation between them. It also provides an opportunity to exchange experiences and affords more space for cooperation among experts in the field of drug prevention. “The forum also aims to form recommendations that will reflect the efforts, experiences, and roles of all the public and private institutions,” he explained.

vKUWAIT: Under the auspices and with the attendance of Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, Qatar’s ambassador to Kuwait Abdul Aziz bin Saad Al-Fuhaid recently held a special reception to celebrate his country’s National Day. The ceremony was attended by diplomats, dignitaries and the media. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Safar blames stalemates on mismanagement

By A Saleh KUWAIT: Former public works minister Dr. Fadhel Safar blamed “governmental mismanagement” as being the main problem that slows development in Kuwait, denying, in his first statements after leaving the cabinet, allegations that his exclusion came as part of a deal to help MP Adnan Abdulsamad win the Deputy Speaker’s post.

“Kuwait has a lot of potential and financial resources, but the issue lies in management, and we, unfortunately, have slow governmental management,” Dr. Safar said yesterday, calling for “reinforcing the role of the private sector.” Dr. Safar also refuted allegations of “feuds” being conducted between ministers, which are often blamed for the cabinet’s lack of accomplishments. “A minister in Kuwait isn’t a senior employee, but a senior official with wide authorities and freedom of work”, he said, adding that “while the minister’s post comes with wide privileges, it also comes with huge challenges”.

Addressing criticisms that he often was subjected to during his six-year tenure in the cabinet, Dr Safar insisted that he placed reforms as a top priority during his time at the public works and municipality affairs ministries. “I entered the hornets’ nest, which made me the target of defamation campaigns by people with influence”,

KD 12.973m collected in charity KUWAIT: Charity organizations in Kuwait collected KD12.973 million this past Ramadan, a senior Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor official said in a recent statement. Meanwhile, Director of the ministryís Charity Organizations and Foundations Department, Bader Al-Awadhi, noted that some violations were discovered during the ninth annual charity project, held throughout the holy month.In an attempt to organize charity collections during Ramadan and prevent violations, the MSAL adopts a program in which every organization is handed a booklet to provide receipts to members of the public making donations. The booklets are returned to the ministry following the holy month to allow for calculations of donations.

he argued, before listing “multiple achievements” accomplished during his time as a minister, including tackling poor-quality food, the establishment of the food and transportation authorities, as well as creating a body for the Boubyan City and Hareer City development projects.

Pro-Assad rally Former MPs slammed the government and newly elected parliament for what they described as their silence regarding a march carried out

by Syrian citizens supporting President Bashar Al-Asad, following their national team’s victory in the semi-final for the West Asia Federation Cup. “Can we say that a procession in support of the criminal Bashar [AlAssad] is a natural result of the situation following [the election of the parliament due to] the single vote system?” asked former MP Mohammad Al-Kandari, criticizing the lack of reaction from the cabinet and MPs to the rally, reported to have taken place in Hawally. Meanwhile, former MP Saleh Al-Mulla slammed “the inaction of security forces towards the march of Syrian Baathist supporters in Kuwaiti streets”, which he said “happened while security officers attacked peacefully demonstrating Kuwaiti citizens”.

Also, former Islamist MPs Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and Mohammad Hayef slammed the Kuwaiti government

“which attacks its peaceful citizens while allowing [Bashar] Al-Assad’s thugs to march in Kuwait’s streets, raising his pictures and chanting proregime slogans”. Meanwhile, former MP Adel Al-Damkhy accused the government of adopting “double standards” by “arresting and deporting Egyptian nationals within an hour after gathering at the Green Island, while overlooking Hawally’s proAssad demonstration”. Separately, the Public Prosecution released a Kuwaiti man on a KD500 bond yesterday who has been accused of running over a police officer during a recent demonstration in Sabah Al-Nasser.

Saad Al-Daghar was charged with attempted first degree murder, participating in an unlicensed rally and instigating confrontations between demonstrators and police officers.

Bad food shipment Kuwait Municipality personnel confiscated a large shipment of poorquality food recently, which was to be sold in the local market, said sources with knowledge of the case, who indicated that an official announcement is pending current investigations to arrest those people responsible for the food. “The successful capture of the shipment is the result of cooperation between the municipality and related state departments”, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

LOCAL

Amir attends KFAS awards ceremony Education ‘basis for advancement of society’

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah presenting awards and certificates of appreciation for winners of the KFAS prizes yesterday.

KUWAIT: Under sponsorship of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) held a ceremony yesterday distributing awards and certificates of appreciation for winners of the foundation prizes for 2011.

The ceremony, held at Salwa Sabah AlAhmad Hall at Marina Hotel, got underway shortly after HH the Amir arrived at the venue where he was warmly welcomed by Director General of KFAS Dr Adnan ShehabEddine and members of the board.

It was also attended by HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, Speaker of the National Assembly Ali Al-Rashed, the former speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi, senior sheikhs, Deputy Chief of the National Guards Sheikh Meshaal AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlHamad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Homoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah and senior state officials.

KUFPEC to expand China gas exploration KUWAIT: Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, yesterday announceds that it has agreed to acquire an additional 34.3 percent interest in the Yacheng gas field in the South China Sea from BP; the transaction is subject to regulatory, CNOOC and third party approvals.

Commenting on the transaction, KUFPEC’s Chairman and Managing Director, Nizar Al-Adsani stated that “KUFPEC is pleased to have the opportunity to grow a material business through alignment with valued partners such as CNOOC. KUFPEC is committed to working in China to expand its oil and gas exploration and development operation in this important emerging market.”

The Yacheng 13-1 field was discovered in 1983 and is the largest offshore natural gas producing field in China.

The field is located at about 90 metres water depth and is located approximately 100 kilometres south of Hainan Island, in the South China Sea. KUFPEC has been a participant in Yacheng 13-1 since 1990. Commercial production at Yacheng started in 1996. CNOOC has been the operator since January 1, 2004.

The field currently supplies natural gas for power generation to Castle Peak Company Limited in Hong Kong via a 780km pipeline.

Additional natural gas, condensate and LPG are sold to customers on Hainan Island.

Following completion, the Yacheng partnership will consist of KUFPEC (49 percent) and CNOOC (51 percent).— KUNA

Dr Shehab-Eddine, in his inaugural statement made after the ceremony got underway with the National Anthem and recitation of the Holy Book, noted that the occasion coincided with the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of Kuwait Constitution, “around which all Kuwaitis of diverse segments have closed ranks adhering to it for sake of safeguarding the independence.”

Kuwait Constitution stipulates that education is a basis for advancement of the society (of Kuwait), Shehab-Eddine stated, also noting that teaching and scientific research remained the foundation for prosperity and progress.

He revealed that KFAS, under directions of HH the Amir and the foundation chairman, concluded in the end of 2011 devising a five-year strategy aimed at “enabling the foundation attain its message” of promoting knowledge, scientific research and encouraging scientific culture as well as supporting the skilled and innovators particularly the youth, in line with affirmation of His Highness in his inaugural address of the National Assembly last Sunday.

He indicated at plans to establish a new university to accommodate thousands of citizens and millions of limited-income Arab students. The board of the foundation has recently approved annual support fo Abdul Aziz Al-Sager Training Center, with aim of encouraging the youth launch free enterprise. Moreover, broad meetings have been held with leading entrepreneurs and leaders of unions to discuss means of tackling obstacles facing the private sector.

Furthermore, the board blessed this year a number of major researches on projects, execution of which was underway, such as the venture for production of solar energy and electrical power at some cooperative buildings.

Majid Al-Kathemi, speaking on behalf of the winners, affirmed that honoring of the distinguished citizens “reminds all natives of the Arab world that being distinguished in the realms of sciences and culture constitutes a basis for the future.”

He also expressed gratitude for HH the Amir for his great concern for scientific and literary activities in Kuwait and the Arab world. —KUNA

Engineering Initiatives Forum opens in Kuwait KUWAIT: Under auspices of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah the First Engineering I nitiatives Forum, themed “technical vision and political adaptation,” opened here yesterday.

In his inaugural speech to the opening session of the three-day gathering on behalf of HH the Crown Prince, Minister of Electricity a n d Wate r a n d M i n i s te r o f Pu b l i c Wo r k s Abdulaziz Abdullatif Al-Ibrahim said the social initiatives, particularly the ones made by the youth and the engineers, were very significant to the government efforts to achieve the targets of the development plan.

“We attach great importance to the role of the youth in the development and reconstruc-

tion process; the youth play an essential professional role in the industrial development,” he said. “The government support to the youth is a practical translation of the instructions of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as shown in the initiation of a portfolio for the youth in the incumbent government,” the minister stressed.

He voiced hope that the forum and the similar events will help realize the aspirations of the youth and speed up the development process.

He noted that the Ministry of Electricity and Water has been keen on nominating youth engineers in leading positions but “this doesn’t mean doing without the more experienced

staffers.” Dealing with the state development plan, Al-Ibrahim said it was divided into three chapters; first, the laws and regulations that need to be amended; second, the executive chapter relating to the efforts to cut the red tape; and the cooperation between the different state departments.

The minister voiced hope that the legislative and executive authorities would work together for reaching the targets of the development plan, affirming that the government spares no effort in this regard.

Chairman of Kuwait Society of Engineers Hussam Al-Kharafi said the forum aims to list the engineering initiatives to be debated during the three -day gathering and provide a

technical assessment for the development projects.

“The forum will culminate in launching the viable initiatives which will serve as a technical road map for the executive mechanisms of the engineering projects,” Al-Kharafi pointed out.

Meanwhile, chairperson of the youth engineers committee of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) Zainab Lari said the initiatives to be debated during the forum will be available for the legislative and executive authorities. “Creativity and innovation are two basic features of the work of the youth particularly the zealous engineers who seek to materialize their thoughts and turn them into reality,” she added. — KUNA

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

LOCAL

kuwait digest

in my view

Free online Hyde Park

Opposition, boycotters

By Dr Hassan Abbas t appears that as a result of recent political developments, many people have become confused about the difference between the opposition and the group of citizens that boycotted the elections to protest against the single-vote system. Some people don’t even know there is a difference between the two at all. Let me start with the boycotters to explain what I mean.

People have the right to freely choose whether to vote or to boycott the elections, especially if they have a valid reason for their choice. Since its enforcement last September, the single-vote system has sent shockwaves across the country. Citizens have been working according to the principles of the Constitution for half a century.

During this time, they have survived several tough experiences, with the Iraqi invasion being the most difficult.

I

By Labeed Abdal

labeed@kuwaittimes.net any concerns are being raised by several Internet service providers and some activists over a recent conference in Dubai about the new global telecommunications treaty.

The supervision of the International Telecommunications Union of the United Nations is an issue that has played a major role in the debate since it’s no longer a domestic issue but rather a global one in an area that has grown out of control for many governments around the world.

The Worldwide Web is, so far, the primary ‘open Hyde Park corner’ of the world, where nations express their views freely, individuals are able to criticize any public figure, and revelations are easily made.

Online speech remains a crucial right of expression, which started out as being free and without boundaries, and countries feel threatened by the power of the people online.

Large and small countries vary in their online security.

There are huge gaps between countries in their ability to identify codes and names to trace crimes or offences. In reality, those who ask for more regulations are seeking restrictions that are outdated and out of control. Furthermore, those who are not seeking regulations are enjoying their supremacy on the Internet and don’t need to request regulations since they have rules of their own.

If there are any new rules, all participants must focus on preventing cybercrimes and preserving freedoms rather than fragmenting the Worldwide Web as a whole.

Decentralization and the neutrality of the Internet was a dream come true. People wanted an oasis of online freedom in cyberspace, away from wars and the many faces of oppression around the globe.

Moreover, to be fair, among the three concerned partiesindividuals, companies, and governments as regulators-we must not go backwards by applying more restrictions. It is important to keep the Internet free and to guarantee privacy while surfing the Net. All new rules should only be necessary regulations with appropriate permissions from the judicial authorities to safeguard all types of freedoms and liberties, mainly in the case of serious cybercrimes or threats to individuals, public entities, or public peace.

M

kuwait digest

Putting an end to fake claims

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah orruption spreads through society in various forms.

It goes beyond hypocrisy, thievery, deceit, and disrespect. Corruption isn’t specific to any social category or age group. It spreads naturally over time and can reach a point where tackling it becomes extremely difficult.

That is why many countries have created laws and regulations to tackle corruption and protect society from its dangers.

While there are many faces of corruption in Kuwait, there is one form that has emerged in recent years in the least expected place, and it directly affects the lives of citizens with special needs. I’m talking about those people who fake disabilities to obtain privileges from the state.

These privileges were intended to help disabled citizens overcome difficulties in their daily lives. Several reports have proven that this problem is real. Statistics show the number of registered disabled citizens has increased from 12,000 in 2000 to 42,000 in 2010.

Given the lack of wars or natural disasters that could’ve resulted in the rapid increase in disabilities among citizens over the past few decades, there is no doubt that this boost reflects the creation of fake disability files that have been opened through deception or forged medicalassessment certificates. This puts us in a state of crisis since we are unable to tell the difference between citizens who are suffering from real disabilities and those who are faking them-something that would have been considered unthinkable until recent years.

The problem is serious if we consider the fact that we’re dealing with thousands of people faking disabilities, who enjoy privileges that were intended, by law, for citizens with special needs. What’s the solution? This is an important question given the fact that Kuwait has a public authority for citizens with special needs, which has the necessary authority to develop procedures to provide care for disabled citizens and make life easier for them. I believe that it’s the duty of this authority to address this problem comprehensively. It can start by reviewing all the records before forming specialized teams to reevaluate each case in order to identify the fake ones.

Once exposed, those who have faked disabilities should be prosecuted to put an end to this crime. — Al-Rai

C

kuwait digest

Looking for a real MP

By Thaar Al-Rashidi t is expected that the current council will approve pop- opponent of opinions and is not the enemy or a political ular laws. Apparently, it will appear as if these laws opponent.

I remember, a year ago, when the authorities wanted have come from the council. In truth, the laws are being created by the government. This means the gov- to establish a youth authority to gather the opposition ernment will arrive at all judgments, and the council will and encourage youths to engage in national work, we pass these judgments on to the public in an attempt to were surprised to find that all the youths who were invitincrease the council’s popularity. The council could have ed were mostly pro government or were not associated proven itself without the need for such tactics, regardless with the opposition. Not a single youth from the opposition or anti-government of what may happen in groups was invited. The projupcoming sessions and the judgments that will be pro- If the government is really look- ect is still on, even though it is 100% handled by the governnounced over the next 30 days. This council was born ing for a popular promotion, it ment, and has failed in its without priorities and with- should deal with the public most important mission, which is to communicate with out coordination, even though it appeared to be in directly. It should operate with- youths who are political or those who hold good shape and pro governout a mediator and should under- opponents a different opinion from that ment.

In general, it is not possi- stand that this is a peaceful move of the government.

The differences in Kuwait ble to politically assess the council from day one. We aimed at improving the future are political; therefore, any need to witness more than and the interests of the state. It solution other than a political solution is useless. Security six sessions before we can produce a realistic judgment needs to appreciate that the solutions for dealing with the will only compliabout the council and its peropposition is merely an opponent opposition cate things further. More vioformance.

All the popular judgments of opinions and is not the enemy lence against demonstrations will also complicate things. passed by this council will be The political problem needs a stamped “Made by the gov- or a political opponent. political solution because ernment.” In doing so, the carpet could be partially yanked out from under the opposi- nothing else will do. When a problem is political, it is nortion. However, many issues are still under the control of mal for the solution to be political. For instance, the govthe opposition, and the most important issue is that the ernment can call for a national dialogue and can reform authorities, until today, did not know how to contain all issues being opposed, starting with the decrees and popular anger. Arrests based on “IDs” are part of the mis- ending with finding a legal (political) solution to the castake that the government is making. Security solutions es filed against the activists.

NA council members should be aware that they repreare not suitable in 2012. It was very simple for the government to start a timely dialogue with the opposition, sent all members of the public and not only their own while getting on the same train as the current council and sectors, groups, tribes, or those who voted for them.

This would make things better. One of the MPs should working on popularizing it. There is nothing wrong with allowing your political train to move forward in your cho- have gone to the Sharq police station, which is only three sen direction while trying to negotiate with those who kilometers away from the NA council, to find out the rearefused to get on your train at the start of the journey. In sons for the arrest of several bloggers and activists. Such behavior would make one a real MP. But the statements the end, they will become partners.

If the government is really looking for a popular pro- that “they deserve it” or “heel with them” make one nothmotion, it should deal with the public directly. It should ing more than a government soldier. operate without a mediator and should understand that Note: We are not looking for an opposition MP; we are this is a peaceful move aimed at improving the future and looking for a real MP, who understands his duties toward the interests of the state.

It needs to appreciate that the opposition is merely an the nation. — Al-Anbaa

I

kuwait digest

Dangerous illiteracy

By Aseel Ameen lliteracy, according to the traditional definition, is the technology allowed more freedom of expression for perinability to read or write. A more modern definition sonal opinions, many people started to play the role of recognizes an illiterate person as being unable to use political analysts and activists to the point where we have technology, the Internet, and information systems. Some become unable to tell the difference between true politiacademics even indicate that illiteracy is also defined by a cians and politically illiterate people who claim to be person’s lack of the tools of knowledge, analysis, and politicians.

Having ‘freedom of expression’ doesn’t necessarily give deduction in scientific, social and humanities fields. a person political knowledge The definition of illiteracy has changed throughout his- The definition of illiteracy has or the tools of political analysis and deduction. At the tory, which means it is variable, depending on the cir- changed throughout history, same time, the failure to understand this exposes politcumstances. I believe that Kuwait has already solved the which means it is variable, ical illiteracy.

This scenario can be problem of illiteracy, based on depending on the circumstances. I applied to other issues, the traditional definition, since the number of citizens believe that Kuwait has already including economic, religious, historical, cultural, and social who can’t read or write is less than 2.5 percent, and most of solved the problem of illiteracy, illiteracy-the majority of which can pose a threat to them are over 60 years old. As for the ‘modern’ definition, based on the traditional defini- society if they spread. It is there are no clear, precise sta- tion, since the number of citizens even more dangerous when an illiterate person doesn’t tistics, but we can form a general idea if we take into who can’t read or write is less realize he or she is illiterate.

For example, when an ecoaccount the rapid increase in the use of smart phones, the than 2.5 percent, and most of nomically illiterate man speaks about economic probInternet, and social networks. them are over 60 years old. lems and provides solutions That leaves us with the based on inaccurate concluthird definition of illiteracy. It is hard to understand the exact meaning of this definition sions, he can have a negative effect on society. Also, a reliwithout breaking it down and looking at each part indi- giously illiterate person can create major conflicts in socividually. If we consider political illiteracy, for example, we ety by sparking disagreements over a ‘fatwa’ he/she has can define it as the lack of political knowledge, the inabil- made without basing it on solid proof.

Illiteracy isn’t only about not knowing, but it is also ity to analyze a political issue, and the inability to draw logical conclusions over a political issue. After modern about pretending to know. — Al-Qabas

I

People have the right to freely choose whether to vote or to boycott the elections, especially if they have a valid reason for their choice. Since its enforcement last September, the singlevote system has sent shockwaves across the country.

Citizens have been working according to the principles of the Constitution for half a century.

But through all of this, Kuwaitis have kept a tight hold on their Constitutional and democratic rights until the introduction of the single-vote decree. This decree made Kuwaitis appreciate the value of being citizens who can enjoy all the benefits of living under a sophisticated Constitutional and democratic system. With this in mind, many citizens chose to boycott the elections, believing that the decree had shaken the confidence of Kuwaitis and opened the door for the government to intervene with an “absolute right for the [good of the] people.”

This is a clear justification of the choice made by many citizens to boycott the recent elections. The main problem here is that the opposition has unfortunately taken over the boycotting campaign. With their strong presence among the public and in the media, they claim to be the sole group boycotting the elections. This is a huge mistake. I actually believe it was a strategic choice made by the opposition to make it appear as if every citizen who had boycotted the elections had done so to support them.

The opposition is known to be a discriminatory group, classifying Kuwaitis on a sectarian basis under two teams: the “oppressive team” consisting of Shiite, liberal and native Kuwaitis who had “formed an alliance to violate the rights of the second team” and the “oppressed team” consisting of tribal and Islamist citizens who “are paying the price for standing in the way of corruption.” In their bid to prove this argument wrong, the opposition is now trying to lure as many liberals and Shiites as possible to their side. In this regard, I urge the citizens who boycotted the elections to stand firm and avoid following the opposition’s lead, which will only lead to further turmoil.

Boycotting the elections and challenging the Constitutional relevance of the single-vote decree is an undeniable right for free societies, but automatically associating with the opposition just because they too boycotted the elections puts you on their side, and you will have to bear the resulting consequences. — Al-Rai

kuwait digest

No end in sight for traffic jams

By Hamad Al-Sarie e have written more than one article about traffic jams in Kuwait’s streets. Despite multiple attempts by several parties from the government or private enterprises to solve the problem, the issue has only resulted in an exchange of accusations over which party is responsible for the traffic jam.

The last declaration made by an official from the Ministry of Public Works noted that expanding the roads would not end the trafficjam situation. This brings us back to square one. This issue is the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior and not the trafficadministration office. Rather than addressing the problems caused by the gridlocked roads, officials are too busy signing files, ignoring the long queue of people at the office door who are waiting to be seen.

As a result, we have redrafted our proposed solution in the hope that the Minister of Interior will take a look at it. * Charge each expatriate who is not a driver an annual fee of KD 500. * Charge each expatriate an annual fee of KD 1,000 for owning a car. * Cancel the driving license of all expatriates who have reached the age of 60 years. * Ban from the streets any car that is more than 15 years old.

Kuwait has more than 100,000 forged driving licenses or licenses that do not meet the necessary conditions, officials at the traffic department have confessed. Implementing the points above would put an end to illegal driving licenses, and many expatriate drivers would get rid of their cars and use public buses or taxis.

Weekly announcements of traffic citations from the traffic department will not solve the traffic problem.

Look at what happened when Ghazali Bridge was closed, creating a traffic jam on all Kuwait roads. What would happen if the Fourth Ring Road was closed? It needs urgent maintenance, especially since its bridges are practically falling apart from old age. If it is closed, all the other roads will be gridlocked.

Quick, easy formalities and decisions could take about 200,000 cars off the road for good. Today, after the election results are released, the new MPs will be seeking cooperation with the government to solve all the country’s problems. — Al-Anba

W

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

LOCAL

Early detection to help cure RA Registry launched in Kuwait

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: One percent of the world’s population is suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), which may have very serious effects on the patients’ health since 50 percent of them risk becoming disabled. According to specialists in the field, early detection of this disease is very important for treating it. To assist with this endeavor, the largest study ever conducted on RA will be held in Kuwait.

At a scientific gathering of RA experts in Kuwait yesterday, the Kuwait Association of Rheumatology (KAR) launched the first and largest comprehensive RA registry in Kuwait.

In the same vein as the announcement, a press conference was held at the Missoni Hotel by Pfizer, one of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies, to raise awareness on the gravity of RA and the registry’s advantage for patients suffering from RA. In his welcome speech, Zeydan Abuissa, Country Manager of Pfizer Gulf & Levant markets, explained that RA is a chronic disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling, and loss of function in the joints. “It causes inflammation that leads to swelling in the joints, making them progressively less mobile. If it is not managed properly, over time, RA can cause joint damage and can even result in permanent joint destruction,” he noted.

“The RA Registry in Kuwait will include data about patients with RA for the period from 2012 to 2017. I t will provide impor tant insights into RA and available treatment options and will assess the safety and efficacy of these treatments. Six renowned hospitals from all over Kuwait have participated in creating the RA Registr y, including Al Amiri, Mubarak Al Kabeer, Farwaniya, Adan, Jahra, and Sabah Hospital, in addition to the Shaikhan Al Farisi Center, with the ultimate aim of offering better care to patients with RA,” added Abuissa.

Dr. Adel Al Awadhi, Head of KAR said, “RA is a common disease worldwide, and there are about 30,000 RA patients in Kuwait. RA imposes significant social and economic burdens on the patients and the country. If it is not treat-

US reducing military presence in Kuwait Washington helps train military

KUWAIT: Dr Adel Al-Awadhi, Dr Adeeba El-Herz and Zeydan Abuissa are seen during the press conference held yesterday at the Missoni hotel. — Photo by Joseph Shagra

ed effectively, patients suffer from intense pain, become disabled, and need assistance in performing their daily activities, [not counting] the costs that may arise due to their loss of productivity and treatment expenses. Also, women are more likely to get this disease, since out of every four patients, only one is male,” he explained.

“We are delighted to launch the first RA Registry study in Kuwait because we believe it will generate vital datasets to showcase the patients’ response to available RA therapies, and hopefully it will improve their care and treatment,” he added. Dr Adeeba El Herz, Consultant R heumatologist at the Amiri Hospital, stressed the importance of the early detection of RA. “Early, effective treatment of the disease may slow or even stop the progression of joint damage. It is necessary to constantly remind physicians of the importance of an early diagnosis for RA. We hope that this comprehensive RA registry in Kuwait, the first and largest of its kind, will be able to

KUWAIT: Scores of stateless people (bedoons) went out on a demonstration around Jahra streets yesterday. Special forces led by Jahra Security director Maj Gen Ibrahim Al-Tarrah dealt with protestors. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Arab Spring energises Gulf’s stateless people DUBAI/KUWAIT: When Ahmed Abdul Khaleq started campaigning for the rights of his fellow stateless people in the United Arab Emirates, he was well aware he was risking something most activists were not - his home. He was right. After two months in jail for what he said was his human rights activism and campaigning for the stateless, he was given a choice: life in jail or deportation. “It was a really difficult decision. I left my country, family, my mother, father and sisters in the UAE and left on my own to a strange country with different language and traditions where I knew no one,” said Abdul Khaleq, 35. “It was the first time for me to be at the airport and take a flight. I used to only see the planes flying above my head,” he told Reuters, speaking by phone from a country he asked not be named. Abdul Khaleq was able to be deported because he is a “bedoon” - an Arabic word meaning “without” - with limited access to jobs, medical care and education despite having been born in the UAE and living there all his life, after his father was unable to secure citizenship. He was one of five activists who were jailed for criticising the UAE rulers last year but later pardoned. He was not charged with any offence when he was jailed again in May before he was deported, he said. UAE officials say he was expelled for security reasons.

Abdul Khaleq’s expulsion is a rare measure taken against stateless residents in the UAE. But his story is indicative of the plight of all bedoons, tens of thousands without citizenship under strict nationality laws in the US-allied Gulf Arab states, where citizens enjoy generous welfare benefits.

In the rising calls for reform in the Gulf region, the rights of the stateless have gained new attention. “Our movement is surely a result of the Arab Spring,” said Mona Kareem, a USbased stateless rights activist who grew up in Kuwait. “Before 1986, the bedoons did not feel discriminated against as they were denied political rights and housing but not documents, education, and jobs. After that, rights got deprived gradually,” Stateless activists in the region do not call for bringing down governments. But many have been energised by the change around the region to seek more rights. “We demand our right to live, our right to have a nationality. We don’t want land or money, only the right to be citizens,” said Abdul Khaleq, who runs the “Emaraty Bedoon” blog and is active on Twitter.

“There are people who have lived in the UAE for 40 and 50 years and whose fathers and grandfathers were born in the country, but they are still bedoons,” he said.

Many of the Gulf stateless trace their origins to nomadic tribes that used to move freely

around the Gulf region, or to later non-Arab immigrants whose ancestors failed to register for nationality after the discovery of oil when the modern Gulf states were established in the 20th century. Thousands fell through the net as the region’s states were formed, sometimes by Western powers in some cases as late as the 1960s or 1970s, and ended up with no legal ties to any state, or were omitted for religious, ethnic or tribal reasons. Many bedoons do not have even a birth certificate and with no official identity documents they are often unable to travel or access public services. Their children are also born stateless and often have no access to state education or health care.

“Statelessness throughout the Gulf is caused by a number of factors including discrimination and a lack of willingness to share financial resources,” said Maureen Lynch, from research group The International Observatory on Statelessness. The United Nations estimates that Saudi Arabia has some 70,000 stateless and Kuwait has 105,000. It has no figure for the UAE but activists estimate their numbers at between 10,000 and 50,000. UA E officials say the number is less than 5,000. Gulf authorities say many stateless are “illegal residents” and include immigrants who hid or destroyed their passports to claim nationality and take advantage of the financial benefits granted to citizens.

In 2008, the UAE set up a body to register people without identity papers to assess their status. One requirement was for those hiding their passports to show them, a first step to evaluate cases to see who was eligible for citizenship. UAE authorities say the country applies its laws fairly to all. “The UAE government will always uphold and apply these laws and regulations,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. “Many bedoons have come forward and revealed their country of origin. As a result, the UAE government has waived all penalties for having resided in the UAE illegally.”

Hundreds have been naturalised since 2009, local media reported.

In Kuwait, the Central Agency for Remedying the Status of Illegal Residents is tasked with assessing whether applicants should get citizenship.“There are conditions to deserving Kuwaiti nationality, the main one being that the person was registered in 1965.

Other conditions include having a clean criminal record,” said Saleh Al-Saeedi, head of the information department in the agency. Activists scoff at what they see as excuses. “Although the bedoons fought in the Kuwaiti resistance (during the Iraqi invasion) and died in wars, the state and many citizens discriminated against them saying they are traitors of Iraqi roots,” said Kareem, who is in her mid-20s.— Reuters

ultimately improve patient care for those with RA,” she stated.

There are always new medicines entering the market that can change the lives of patients. “For this reason, we frequently hold such symposiums and seminars to compare the new medicines worldwide and to choose the drugs with the highest success and fewest side effects. We also study genetics and the potential of Kuwaitis for becoming patients with RA or other diseases,” she pointed out.

Yasser El Dershaby, Medical Director, Pfizer Gulf & Levant markets, noted that “Pfizer adheres to its values of quality, innovation, and collaboration with the local Kuwaiti community by supporting this valuable research, which will generate considerable data from patients with RA. The outcome will enrich the body of knowledge on this disabling disease, which will reduce the suffering of patients enduring treatment trials by enabling them to administer an effective and safe medication and hence resume their normal daily lives.”

WASHINGTON: The United States has been quietly reducing its military presence in Kuwait.

Congressional sources said the Defense Department was reducing the US military presence in Kuwait in the aftermath of the withdrawal from Iraq. They said the reduction included the removal of US military personnel and the closing of facilities in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

“On the other hand, the Defense Department is closing a logistics hub in Kuwait in late 2012, suggesting that, now that US troops are out of Iraq, the department may plan to de-emphasize Kuwait in its postIraq posture in the Gulf,” the Congressional Research Service said.

In a report titled “Kuwait: Security, Reform, and US Policy,” CRS said Washington’s plans to employ Kuwait for a major US combat presence for Iraq and the Gulf appear to have dissipated. Author Kenneth Katzman said the Pentagon did not order any “significant increase” of the US military presence in Kuwait even as neighboring Iraq underwent massive insurgency attacks in the summer of 2012.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee asserted that the United States would deploy about 13,500 troops in Kuwait as of midlate 2012. Until this year, the US military presence reached 25,000.

Kuwait has also been awaiting the implementation of a NATO decision to open a center in Kuwait City.

NATO discussed the proposed facility with the country in December 2011.

CRS said most of the US troops that remain in Kuwait were assigned to logistics operations. At the same time, Washington has helped train the Kuwaiti military, particularly the Navy, to contribute to Gulf security. As a result, the Kuwaiti military has now reached its strength of that before the Iraqi invasion of 1990 of 17,000 troops.

Washington has been training Kuwaiti officers in intelligence and aircraft operations. Kuwait has been a major procurer of US weapons. In 2012, the sheikdom requested billions of dollars worth of US platforms, including the PAC3 ballistic missile defense system and the AIM-9X Sidewinder air-toair missiles.

“Kuwait and the United States largely share a common threat perception and cooperate on a wide range of regional issues,” the report said. “After the United States, Kuwait’s most important security alliance is with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of fellow Gulf monarchies, although the GCC is not perceived as able to provide Kuwait - or any of its members - with as extensive a security umbrella as can the United States.” —World Tribune

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

LOCAL

UN needs time to decide on Kuwait-Iraq issues Missing persons, property in focus UNITED NATIONS: UN Security Council members yesterday said they needed more time to examine Secretary General Ban Kimoon’s options to deal with the issues of missing Kuwaiti and third country nationals and that of missing property, and insisted that whatever their choice will be, Iraq still needs to fulfill its obligations towards Kuwait. In his recent report to the Council, Ban, who visited Kuwait and Iraq earlier this month, listed four options to choose from after his high-level Coordinator for the two humanitarian files Gennady Tarasov leaves his post later this month for another UN job in Geneva.

The four options Ban presented to the Council to choose from are: asking the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) to fulfill Tarasov ’s role, appointing an interim Coordinator for six months, replacing Tarasov with another Coordinator, or asking someone from UN headquarters to assume this mandate.

Ban prefers that UNAMI takes over Tarasov’s mandate. He said Kuwait and Iraq find it “acceptable” too, “but under certain conditions for Kuwait, most notably the fulfillment by Iraq of its border-related obligations.”

Diplomats said the Council is split on what option to choose, but concur on one thing: “whatever the choice is, Iraq still needs to continue to fulfill its obligations towards Kuwait,” a diplomat said.

While the US, UK, France and Germany prefer that someone the UN Secretariat at headquarters assume Tarasov’s mandate

for the coming six months, Russia prefers that an interim Coordinator be appointed. The option of replacing Tarasov with another Coordinator for a long period will happen only if Iraq fails to fulfill its obligations to Kuwait, especially those related to the border between the two countries. Tarasov briefed the Council behind closed doors for the last time on Ban’s report and his options.

He said following the briefing that the Council’s reaction to Ban’s options is that “they need more consultations, because the Secretary General proposed a new shorter confidence-building period to give Iraq another chance to comply with its obligations.” They will discuss the option and “will decide at a later stage.”

“My mandate ends on Dec 31, but I told the Council very clearly: whatever the transformation of this mandate may undergo, the search for the missing persons must continue, as well as the missing property, including the (Kuwaiti) archives,” he said.

“It is something in the Council resolution (1284), and this effort needs to continue under whatever form or guise both sides find acceptable,” he insisted.

“I am leaving, but the Kuwaiti families who lost their loved ones are still there, they still suffer, they still wait for the outcome,” he added. He described his job since he was appointed in April 2008 to replace late Yuli Vorontsov, as a “difficult task.”

He recalled that at the beginning, the “confidence between Iraq and Kuwait was at a very low point. So our first priority was to

tr y to build the confidence between the parties, because without that, nothing could move for ward ... Not many people believed in that approach, but it finally worked.”

He said the task of finding the remains of hundreds of people killed over 20 years ago in the desert was a “difficult professional business” that needed a machinery that he helped set up.

He indicated that he got assurances from the Kuwaiti, Iraqi and other sides that such mission and excavations will continue after he leaves his post. He conceded that no much progress was recorded on this issue and that is because of the lack of information.

“The biggest problem now is to have better information.

Without more precise information, digging without precise information will take a lot of time and effort and will not produce any results,” he argued.

He noted that the exchange of high-level visits between Kuwait and Iraq and the decisions taken at the joint Ministerial Committee were “very good examples that both countries are now on the right track.”

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said following the Council private meeting “we believe that the Secretary General’s suggestion to have an interim appointment of a highlevel coordinator will be the cleanest in legal terms, and will also provide some political encouragement because it would indicate that we have taken note of the fact that Iraq has made some progress and that the overall relationship between the two

countries has improved.”

“We certainly understand that Iraq wants to move in the direction of lifting all restrictions under chapter VII. We are very sympathetic with that. On this particular issue, some things need to be done, as far as Kuwait is concerned in order for that to happen. So far, that has not happened in order for the mandate of the high-level Coordinator to be discontinued,” he added, in an indirect reference to Iraq’s border-related obligations.

He explained that Russia’s choice to have an interim Coordinator for six months is to see “if Kuwait is satisfied and everything is OK, then this interim period will end, and Iraq exits the Chapter VII of the UN Charter.”

He admitted that if the Council agrees on an interim Coordinator, “we do have a Russian candidate.

It remains to be seen,” claiming that the two Russian diplomats, who have taken care of the two humanitarian issues for over a decade, have done so “with some success.” He said Council members praised Tarasov for being able to produce “some progress under very difficult and delicate circumstances.”

In reaction to the Council Western members opting for the UN Secretariat to take care of the issues, Churkin said Council resolution 1284 mandated the Secretary-General to appoint a high-level Coordinator and not to relate them to the UN Secretariat.

“The other option on the table is to have somebody from the Secretariat to do the job, not taking into account that resolution,” he argued. —KUNA

Envoy stresses Arabic as spirit of the nation PARIS: Kuwait’s Permanent Delegate to the UNESCO Ambassador Ali Al-Tarrah underlined here yesterday that Arabic language was the spirit of the nation and its tool for development and communication with other cultures.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UNESCO ceremony marking the first World Arabic Language Day, Al-Tarrah said the UNESCO’s celebration reflects its firm belief in the significance of Arabic language as a key component and effective tool for communication with other peoples and cultures.

He said Kuwait was very interested in the development of Arabic language out of its political leadership’s keenness on enriching the common heritage of Arabic language.

“We boast this day, where we confirm Kuwait’s eagerness to disseminate Arabic and Islamic cultures, which are the spirit and identity of the nation and its tool for the development of nations,” the Kuwaiti diplomat added.

“Today’s world is living many challenges, something which requires Arab countries to attach more importance to Arabic, which embodies culture itself,” he pointed out.

Al-Tarrah stressed the significance of harnessing more concerted efforts to develop Arabic curricula with a view to maintaining and preserving national identity.

In 1948, the 3rd General Conference of UNESCO held in Beirut, declared that Arabic, in addition to English and French, will become the third working language of the governing bodies meeting in an Arabic-speaking country.

Earlier in the day, Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO, said in a keynote speech addressing the celebration marking the first World Arabic Language Day: “Languages contribute to the beauty of the world because each one enriches that which it names. Our languages are not only tools of communication, but also carry values and identities.”

She added that linguistic diversity broadens the mind and provides the means to build intercultural and interreligious dialogue based on genuine mutual understanding.

“World Arabic Language Day is an opportunity for us to celebrate the language of 22 Member States of UNESCO, a language with

more than 422 million speakers in the Arab world and used by more than 1.5 billion Muslims,” she said.

In the face of transformations that are challenging the world and the emergence of plural societies, every language provides a key to living together better, to building solidarity and to helping each other to be heard, the UNESCO chief noted.

Addressing the event, Chairwoman of the Arab Group in the UNESCO Zohor Al-Alawi of Morocco said the celebration is mainly meant to demonstrate the beauty of Arabic language and to promote its role in the enrichment of human civilization.

Director General of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) Mohammad Ibn Ashour said the celebration is a supportive procedure for the ALESCO in its efforts to develop Arabic language in knowledge communities.

He boasted that 1.2 billion Muslims use Arabic, which is the mother tongue of 400 million people in the world. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Students, teaching staff and administration of an Arab private school for girls were yesterday alarmed by a phone call about the presence of a bomb on the school premises. The whole school was evacuated and the police and a special bomb squad combed the school and found nothing. A hoax call case was filed and further investigations are in progress. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KCCI tackles economic cooperation with Bulgaria KUWAIT: The President of Kuwait’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ali Al-Ghanem discussed yesterday with Bulgarian Ambassador to Kuwait Alexandar Olshevski ways of bolstering economic cooperation and activating cooperation protocols signed between the two chambers.

In a statement by the Kuwaiti Chamber, Al-Ghanem said that economic ties between the two countries needed to be as strong as political ties, calling on the Bulgarian embassy to provide the

chamber with enough information on projects and regulations in Bulgaria, in order to relay adequate information to investors.

The Kuwaiti official added that the chamber was completely ready to provide the Bulgarian Embassy with the services needed to reach a positive outcome and cooperation between the two nations. For his part, the Bulgarian Ambassador affirmed on the need to exchange information and develop trade ties between the two sides. —KUNA

KUWAIT: A group of high school students recently paid a visit to the Kuwait Airport fire center and military base to attend a lecture presented by the director of the military base fire center, Col Khalid Salmeen. Col Salmeen explained about the types of fires which firemen are prepared to face at the airport, and how to extinguish such fires. —Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Worker buried alive by sand from dump truck, driver held KUWAIT: A worker was killed during an accident in the Abdullah Port area and a truck driver involved in the tragedy is being held for manslaughter. Police and paramedics were called to the scene, where a man was reported buried under sand unloaded by a dump truck. The Pakistani victim was pronounced dead at the scene, while the truck’s Saudi driver, who claimed that the death was an accident, was taken into custody as the investigation continues.

Probe into death Salwa detectives are working to determine how a man, recently discovered inside an apartment, had died. Paramedics and police rushed to the scene after an emergency call from a man who reported finding his friend unconscious. The victim, a 22-year-old Kuwaiti, was pronounced dead on the scene, while a preliminary medical examination failed to determine a cause of death. However, a felony case was opened after crime scene detectives found evidence of foul play. The friend is being

held by police pending an investigation while police await autopsy results.

Suicide attempt A female resident was hospitalized following a suicide attempt two weeks after arriving in Kuwait. The incident was reported Tuesday when the Lebanese woman was found unconscious by her husband. A medical examination revealed that the woman suffered from an overdose of prescription medications, prompting police to file an attempted suicide case, which will remain open, pending the woman’s full recovery.

Illegal photography The State Security Service carried out investigations and recently arrested four people who were taking photographs at the Shuaibah oil refinery, in violation of the law. The incident took place Tuesday when three Germans and one Sri Lankan man were caught by patrol officers.

Additionally, their cameras were confiscated when they were taken to the Abdullah

Port police station for investigations, during which they said they had been taking memorial pictures. The four suspects remain in custody pending further investigations.

Newborn found Investigations are continuing in an attempt to identify the parents of a newborn found recently outside a mosque in Al-Rai. The incident was reported Tuesday afternoon when worshippers, arriving for Al-Asr (afternoon) prayer, found a baby wrapped in a blanket near the entrance.

The infant was taken to the Farwaniya Hospital for medical care, while a case was filed at the Andalus police station.

Con man nabbed Jleeb Al-Shuyiukh detectives arrested a con man who managed to steal nearly KD13,000 from several people.

Investigations had been ongoing for a number of days after victims reported being lured into signing useless agreements for the supplying of goods. Detectives were

eventually able to identify the suspect through police investigations, as he had earlier used a false identity when dealing with the victims. The suspect was apprehended during an ambush carried out, after he was observed while on his way to visit his sister. He has since been referred to the proper authorities to face charges.

‘Wrong choice’ A man faces domestic abuse charges after striking his wife when she asked for a divorce only one week after being married.

The case was recently reported at a local police station in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, where the woman fled following the assault.

According to her testimony, the woman had first approached her husband with her unexpected request, which she tried to explain by saying that she had chosen the “wrong person” to marry. The man, who reportedly had borrowed money to pay for the marriage and wedding preparations, was angered by the remarks and struck his wife. He has since been summoned for investigations.

Son attacks father

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A citizen came to the Salmiya police station to accuse his son, who is in his twenties, of beating him and then fleeing from the family’s home. The father, who is in his sixties, provided police with a medical report. Another citizen contacted Sabah AlSalem police to accuse an Indian maid of assaulting his handicapped daughter on a number of occasions.

Pointing out that the daughter complained to her mother about the Indian maid, the citizen set up a surveillance camera which, reportedly, recorded the maid striking the handicapped girl. The video was given to police and the maid was detained for interrogation.

Robbery attempt Security officer apprehended an unemployed citizen as he attempted to rob a Kuwaiti man. The suspect, says officials, has a criminal record. The suspect also confessed that he had previously robbed expats by claiming he was a detective. A Syrian teacher reported to Sabah Al-Salem police that the father of one of his students insulted him in front of the school teaching staff and threatened to deport him. A case was filed against the father.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Court upholds DSK’s sex, pimping inquiry

Palestinians worry as Israel right-wing gains Page 8

Page 10

JERUSALEM: Caravans are seen in Givat HaMatos, a Jewish settlement suburb of annexed east Jerusalem yesterday. An Israeli committee gave final approval yesterday to plans to build 2,610 new homes in Givat HaMatos, a settlement suburb of annexed east Jerusalem. — AFP

‘Help! I can’t find anywhere to live’ For expats in Riyadh, housing is costly and hard to find RIYADH: The message boards of online expat forums in Saudi Arabia tell their own story: increasingly frantic enquiries from new arrivals looking for somewhere to live in a very tight market. “Help! I can’t find anywhere to live. All the housing managers just tell me their waiting lists are months and months long,” posted a British man seeking a home for his family.

Expatriates moving to Riyadh, the capital of the Middle East’s largest economy, face long waits for places in housing compounds where rents have risen by more than 10 percent a year for the past four years, according to property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle. Most better-paid expatriates choose to

News

in brief

4 Afghan policemen poisoned, shot dead KANDAHAR: Four Afghan policemen were shot dead and three wounded after being poisoned by a colleague in southern Afghanistan yesterday, officials said. The attack happened in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province and is the latest in a series of insider attacks by Afghan security forces on their local and foreign colleagues. “There were eight border police in Shero area check post, one of them poisoned the others’ food and then shot them,” provincial spokesman Jawid Faysal said. Four had died and three taken to hospital for treatment for gunshot wounds, he said, while the attacker had fled. Ghurzang Afridi, a spokesman for border police in southern Afghanistan said a probe into the attack was under way. “The police are still investigating whether the attacker had any links with Taleban,” he said. Afghan police are an important force in supporting US-led NATO forces in the fight against Taleban militants, but they are poorly equipped and often susceptible to Taleban infiltration.

Saudi Arabia beheads Sudanese for murder RIYADH: A Sudanese man convicted of murder was beheaded by the sword yesterday in the western city of Mecca, the Saudi interior ministry announced. Othman Mohammed was found guilty of killing another Sudanese, Salah Ahmed, by repeatedly beating him on his head following a dispute between the two, the ministry said in a statement published by state news agency SPA. Mohammed’s beheading raises to 76 the number of people executed so far this year in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, where 79 were put to death in 2011, according to Amnesty International. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under its strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.

US eliminates most Al-Qaeda kingpins WASHINGTON: The United States has eliminated more than 20 of Al-Qaeda’s top 30 leaders based in Afghanistan and Pakistan from the battlefield since Barack Obama became president, a top US government security official said. Daniel Benjamin, head of the State Department’s counterterrorism bureau, said that when Obama took office in 2009, Al-Qaeda’s central organization, then led by Osama bin Laden, was a “formidable and dangerous organization.” By contrast, at the end of 2012, Al-Qaeda’s core has “been seriously degraded,” not least by the US commando raid that killed bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan in 2011, Benjaminsaid at a meeting of the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

live in compounds because they offer better safety against possible militant attacks and to escape Saudi Arabia’s stringent Islamic regulations on public behavior. However, a pause in housing investment after militant attacks on foreigners between 2003 and 2005 coupled with a subsequent surge in expatriate arrivals as the economy boomed and a broader rise in land prices have caused a severe shortage.

Now, with rents in the more expensive compounds topping 250,000 riyals ($67,000) a year for a three-bedroom villa, property developers are moving to exploit a booming market with several large new projects. Compound housing availability in Riyadh will increase by 50 percent in the next two years, with 3,000 units expected to hit the market, estimates John Harris, Saudi Arabia director at Jones Lang LaSalle. “It has become a real challenge for expats to find a place to live on their budget,” he said. “We’re going to see a substantial amount of compound supply coming on stream, which will relieve the pressure somewhat. But there’s obviously a huge backlog of demand.”

Most of the new additions to Riyadh’s compound housing are priced at the higher end of the spectrum, said Harris, while much of the demand was for less-expensive housing in the 100,000-200,000 bracket. “I’m not sure whether the new compounds will fill the demand. Most of them will be 200,000 riyals plus a year. The majority of the market cannot afford those prices,” said Peter Haworth-Lees, co-owner of the new mid-priced Riyadh Village Compound, built on the site of an older abandoned compound on the far eastern edge of the city.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, follows the austere Wahhabi school of Islam and imposes pervasive restrictions on public behavior. The worship of other religions is confined to private spaces; women are barred from driving and must cover their bodies in voluminous black robes; it is forbidden for unrelated members of the opposite sex to mix; and alcohol is prohibited.

However, with nine in 10 private sector jobs in the world’s biggest oil exporter held by foreigners, compounds make it possible for expatriates to follow more or less Western lifestyles within their immediate neighborhood. Hidden from view behind high walls topped with barbed wire, most compounds boast swimming pools, restaurants, shops, cafes, tennis courts and other leisure amenities. Saudis, including the morality police who patrol city streets, are not allowed to enter because conservative clerics fear Westernizing influences are corrupting. With rents so high, some expatriates prefer to live in the city, where they can rent a much more spacious three-bedroom villa than in a compound for only around 80,000 riyals a year.

However, the social restrictions, particularly for women, can make it tough for families. “It was pretty miserable. We didn’t know anyone and couldn’t interact with the neighbors at all. Mobility becomes a huge issue for women,” said a Pakistani woman who lived in an apartment with her husband, a banker, and two small children before moving into a compound two years ago. The city’s expatriate population has taken time to recover from attacks a decade ago, discouraging luxury home building. On the night of May 12, 2003 Al-Qaeda militants attacked three expatriate compounds in Riyadh, killing 35 people. Another attack on a compound that November, and two more the following May, left a further 20 dead.

The impact on Western workers in the kingdom was immediate: an exodus to Dubai, Bahrain and other neighboring business centers. Security at compounds was put in the hands of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, which now man the main entrances and patrol the perimeters, themselves guarded by high walls, barbed wire and blast-proof concrete blocks.

“The confidence went out of the market for Saudi investors so nobody was building. Everybody was downscaling. People were getting out of the business and there was a big risk involved,” Howarth-Lees said. —Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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

Iraq President’s stroke fuels succession talk Sunnis feel marginalized since Saddam’s fall BAGHDAD: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was responding to treatment yesterday after suffering a stroke that raised fears of a messy succession battle to replace the Kurd leader who has mediated among Iraq’s competing factions. “He is showing clear signs of improvement,” Najmaldin Karim, the governor of Iraq’s Kirkuk city who is also a doctor said. The 79-year-old former guerrilla, who has helped ease tensions among Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds and in the growing dispute over oil between Baghdad and the country’s autonomous Kurdistan, was admitted to hospital on Monday night. He was in intensive care with a specialist team including doctors from Germany, where he received treatment in the past.

Under Iraq’s constitution, parliament elects a new president if his post becomes vacant. Iraq’s power-sharing deal calls for the presidency to go to a Kurd while two vice president posts are shared by a Sunni and a Shiite. Talabani survived wars, exile and infighting in northern Iraq to become the country’s first Kurdish president a few years after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. He has since been pivotal in navigating through the political turmoil in Iraq’s fragile power-sharing government that is split among Shiite Muslims, Sunni Muslims and ethnic Kurds who also run their own autonomous enclave in the north.

“He is the Kurd who is closest to the centre. He is so close to the Shiites and to the Sunnis,” said

Iraqi political analyst Ibrahim Al-Sumaidaie. “He is a very important regional player in creating balance.” But in an early sign that any future succession will likely be messy, senior Sunni political leaders suggested they may present their own

BAGHDAD: Iraqi people deliver flowers to the hospital where Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is receiving treatment at the Medical City in Baghdad yesterday. — AP

Palestinians worry as Israel right-wing gains

By Taghreed Saadeh JERUSALEM: In the upcoming Knesset election in January, the Likud-Beytenu list, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and outgoing Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, will receive the majority of the votes of Israelis, according to polls conducted up until now. Israeli news outlet reported that Netanyahu is seen as a winner and he will remain prime minister after merging his Likud Party with Avigdor Lieheriuans Israel Beiteinu Party. Israel Beiteinu is currently the third largest faction in Israel’s Knesset, and has been the vital artery in Netanyahu’s coalition since the last election in 2009, making Lieberman sole leader in Israel.

The combination of Israel Beiteinu’s seats with those of the Likud will almost guarantee that he remains head of the Knesset’s largest faction. Palestinians in the other side catch their breath because they will live the four coming years Israeli prime minister to serve a 4-year term - with increasing the illegal settlements in their land, no negotiation, and more breach for the Palestine human right in the international legitimacy with no help from international community.

Sufian Abu Ziada an expert in the Israeli affairs told Kuwait Times, Israel with Netanyahu leadership will continue breach the international law and build more and more settlements. He added, “they eat the rest of our land and there is no more land for Palestine state.” Abu Zaida who is the previous minister of prisoners in the PA added, “there is no hope unless the USA will interfere to stop all Israeli settlements

plans so Palestinians can establish their statehood.” Abed Alsalam Al-Tawel, in the end of his forty, predict that Netanyahu will remain in his post as a prime minister, added, “there is, absolutely, no hope for peace process or any negotiation.” “The Israelis became more extremist and rightwing supporters,” he added. Mohammed Hassan, a consultant, said that USA has to do something and I think there is fear among Israelis that Obama in his second term will march lots of pressure on Netanyahu to renew the negotiation between Palestinians and Israelis. “We hope so,” he added. The Palestinian authority also expresses its concern alter Netanyahu announced his plans for building 3,000 new settlement units in E1 area after they got the recognition in UN. Palestinian Analyses consider the E1 area as a strategic area, and it would cut out Jerusalem from the West Bank, which would make a two state solution nil. They expect that Netanyahu will go further.

A leader of the Islamic Jihad, Ahmed Modlal, said in a statement, “his movement does not count on the Israeli elections result, because all their governments are “war government,” explaining that the Israeli policy is heading more and more toward extremism. Most observers believe that the Israeli elections will not come with surprises but maybe the USA administration could play a key role to return the fight parties to the negotiation table, especially with Obama’s second term and with his expected designation secretary of state, Sen John Kerry who is hated by the current Israeli government and being attack for his supporting Palestinians.

Maya descendants face discrimination, poverty GUATEMALA CITY: At its peak, the Maya civilization had one of the richest cultures in the Americas. Today, ethnic Mayas in central America and Mexico suffer from discrimination, exploitation and poverty.

In Guatemala, where nearly half of the population is indigenous, descendants of the once-mighty ancient civilization have even fallen victims to genocide. The rich Mayan culture will be in the global spotlight tomorrow when revelers and doomsday watchers-will mark the end of a 5,200-year era as sketched out in the elaborate Mayan calendar. But the plight of indigenous Mayas in the region will likely go undiscussed. “The indigenous population was always seen as cheap labor and this persists to this day,” said Guatemalan anthropologist Alvaro Pop, a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

“They are seen as a tool and are not the focus of public policies.” The Maya civilization reached its peak between the years 250 and 900, but then slipped into decline around 1200. Three centuries later, during Spanish colonization, the Mayas were dispossessed of their lands and reduced to poverty as well as servitude. Today, there are currently an estimated 20 to 30 million direct descendants of the ancient civilization living in southern Mexico, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, where the indigenous group is most prevalent.

In Guatemala, ethnic Mayas often find themselves on the margins of society, with limited access to education, health care and other basic services. Their native languages are not officially recognized.

Within the indigenous community, which accounts for 42 percent of Guatemala’s 14.3-million-strong population, the poverty rate is 80 percent. Nearly six in 10 indigenous children suffer from chronic malnutrition, and the infant mortality rate has hit an alarming rate of 40 per 1,000 live births, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

candidate for the presidency in a challenge to the Kurds. “Some Sunni leaders will sprint to try to get this post,” a Sunni leader in the Iraqiya block said.

“But anyone with any sense knows in the end they won’t get it.”

In Mexico, social misery and exploitation led to the creation in 1994 in Chiapas state of the media-savvy but later weakened Zapatista National Liberation Army, which drew attention to the community’s plight.But ethnic Mayas paid perhaps the heaviest price during Guatemala’s civil war that pitted the army against leftist guerrillas from 1960 to 1996. “There were external reasons which exacerbated the population’s poverty and led to a stigmatization of indigenous people,” according to Pop. More than 600 massacres of indigenous communities were recorded during that period and tens of thousands of Indians sought refuge in southern Mexico from the brutal counter-insurgency by the military, according to a 1999 UN report. Under the “scorched earth” policy conducted by the regime of ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt (1982-83), entire villages were wiped out. In the midst of this systematic repression, indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchu rose to prominence.

Her strong condemnation of the massacres earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. “The armed conflict was used as a pretext to exterminate the indigenous population, physically and spiritually,” Menchu said.

As part of an apparent bid to root out Mayan spirituality, security forces targeted indigenous priests. Menchu said the “scorched earth” policy also aimed to “push the indigenous population deeper into poverty.” Today, areas that are home to indigenous peoples have seen an influx of troops as part of the government’s war on drugs. And once again, Mayan descendants are being expelled from their lands-this time, to make way for hydro-electric, mining or farming projects. In Honduras, the growing demand for African palm oil, a key ingredient in cosmetics and processed foods, is fueling deadly land disputes, pitting large landowners against landless peasants. — AFP

SUNNIS FEEL MARGINALISED Since the fall of Saddam Hussein and rise of the Shiite majority to power through the ballot box, many Iraqi Sunnis feel they have been marginalized, especially under the government of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. Among Kurds, political analysts said former Kurdistan Prime Minister Barham Salih is favored. But Talabani’s exit could also prompt an internal struggle in Iraqi Kurdistan, where Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party and rival Kurdistan Democratic Party share power. Iraqi law would see one of the vice presidents take over Talabani’s duties before the parliamentary vote. But Iraq’s Sunni Vice President, Tareq Al-Hashemi, is a fugitive outside of the country after he fled to escape charges he ran death squads.

The other vice president is from Maliki’s alliance.

Any parliament vote would also be complex, with Maliki locked in a struggle with Sunni, Kurdish and some Shi’ite rivals over power-sharing. Talabani was crucial in helping Maliki survive a no-confidence motion directed against him this year. Talabani also recently helped ease a military stand-off between Maliki’s central government and the autonomous Kurdistan president, Masoud Barzani, in their longrunning dispute over oil-field rights and internal boundaries. But that situation remains sensitive after both regions sent troops to reinforce positions.

Underscoring tensions, Kurdish forces opened fire on an Iraqi army helicopter on Tuesday, saying it was spying on their military positions.— Reuters

Benghazi review discovers ‘systematic security faults’ Inquiry harshly criticizes US State Department WASHINGTON: Security at the US mission in Benghazi, Libya was grossly inadequate to deal with a Sept 11 attack that killed a US ambassador and three others because of failures within the State Department, an official inquiry found on Tuesday. In a scathing assessment, the review cited “leadership and management” deficiencies at two department offices, poor coordination among officials and “real confusion” in Washington and in the field over who had the responsibility, and the power, to make decisions that involved policy and security concerns.

The attack killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans and set off a political furor as Republicans used the issue to attack President Barack Obama before the Nov 6 election in which he won a second term in office.

The report’s harsh assessment seemed likely to tarnish the four-year tenure of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said in a letter accompanying the review that she would adopt all of its recommendations. “Systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department ... resulted in a special mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place,” said the unclassified version of the report by the official “Accountability Review Board.” The board specifically faulted the department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, the regional office which is responsible for the Middle East and North Africa, and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, its law enforcement and security arm.

The five-member board said US intelligence provided no “specific tactical warning” of the attack and that there was “little understanding of militias in Benghazi and the threat they posed to US interests” in the eastern Libyan city, where the central government has little influence. The incident has raised questions about the adequacy of security at US embassies around the globe and where to draw the line between protecting American diplomats in dangerous places while giving them enough freedom to do their jobs.

Jon Alterman, head of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the assessment reflected poorly on Clinton and its recommendations would probably make life harder for diplomats in the field. “ This is a mark against Secretary Clinton. While she was not singled out, the report highlighted the lack of leadership and organization on security issues, and those fall into her bailiwick,” Alterman said. “The report, however, relies a little too much on bureaucratic

BENGHAZI: File photo shows a burnt house and a car inside the US embassy compound in Benghazi following an attack on the building. — AFP fixes,” he added. “Sprinkling people throughout the system who are not only empowered to say ‘no,’ but have an institutional interest in doing so, will make it harder for diplomats to get out of tightly guarded facilities.”

DID GUARDS LEAVE GATE OPEN? The report faulted as “misplaced” the mission’s dependence for security support on the “armed but poorly skilled” Libyan February 17 Martyrs’ Brigade militia members and unarmed guards hired by State Department contractor Blue Mountain Libya. No Blue Mountain guards were outside the compound immediately before the attack to provide early warning, which was their responsibility. The report raised the possibility that Blue Mountain guards left the “pedestrian gate open after initially seeing the attackers and fleeing the vicinity. They had left the gate unlatched before.”

The board found little evidence that the February 17 guards alerted Americans to the attack or swiftly summoned more militia members to help once it was under way. There had been questions of reliability in the weeks preceding the attack. “At the time of Ambassador Stevens’ visit, February 17 militia members had stopped accompanying special mission vehicle movements in protest over salary and working hours,” the report said. The board recommended

that the State Department create a new, senior position to oversee security at “high threat” posts, to strengthen security at such posts beyond what is usually provided by host governments, and to consult outside experts on “best practices” for operating in dangerous environments. The department should also hire more security personnel at dangerous posts, ensure key policy and security staff serve there for at least a year and consider making it easier to punish those who perform poorly in future security incidents. The political uproar in the United States over the Benghazi attack has already claimed one victim.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, widely tipped as a front-runner to replace Clinton when she steps down as secretary of state early next year, last week withdrew her name from consideration, saying she wished to avoid a potentially disruptive Senate confirmation process.

Republican lawmakers had blasted Rice for comments she made on several television talk shows in the aftermath of the attack in which she said preliminary information suggested the assault was the result of protests against an anti-Muslim video made in California rather than a premeditated strike. The review, however, concluded that no protest took place before the attack. Rice has said she was relying on talking points drawn up by US intelligence officials. — Reuters

Obama faces a backlash on possible Hagel nomination Ex-senator under fire for views on Israel, Iran WASHINGTON: Pro-Israel groups, neoconservatives and even some former colleagues on Capitol Hill are confronting President Barack Obama with a growing backlash against Chuck Hagel, the ex-Republican senator tipped as his leading candidate for defense secretary. Obama’s aides have given no sign of dropping Hagel from consideration - even after several American Jewish leaders privately complained about his policy views, most notably on Israel and Iran, at a White House-hosted Hanukkah party last week, according to one attendee. But what has become clear in recent days is that the Democratic president will have a Senate confirmation fight on his hands if he decides to nominate the former Nebraska lawmaker, regarded as a moderate Republican, to replace Leon Panetta at the Pentagon.

The White House is preparing for a major realignment of Obama’s national security team, possibly by the end of this week, sources familiar with the process have said. But the announcement could be delayed by the difficult “fiscal cliff” negotiations with congressional Republicans.

That could provide more time for Hagel’s critics to marshal opposition to his nomination, in public and behind the scenes. But even they are

skeptical of being able to derail it. Obama himself has faced questions from American Jewish leaders about his approach to close US ally Israel, especially given his strained relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and may decide to take a risk with Hagel. “This is a nomination that could be toxic to some degree for the White

Republican Sen Chuck Hagel

House,” a Senate Republican foreign policy aide said. “Do they really want this in the first months of a second term?” Some of Israel’s leading US supporters contend that Hagel, who left the Senate in 2008, at times opposed Israel’s interests, voting several times against US sanctions on Iran, and made disparaging remarks about the influence of what he called a “Jewish lobby” in Washington. William Kristol of the conservative Weekly Standard wrote in a recent column that Hagel “has anti-Israel, pro-appeasement-of-Iran bona fides.”

While declining to discuss Hagel’s record on Israel, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters last Thursday that “the president thinks very highly of Senator Hagel.” Hagel’s office has remain tight-lipped and had no immediate comment. J Street, a liberal American Jewish group, said it was “appalled by efforts surfacing in recent days to question his commitment to the state of Israel and to Middle East peace.” But The Washington Post weighed in late on Tuesday with an editorial declaring that Hagel was “not the right choice.” It chided him for advocating deep defense cuts and said he was out-of-step on Iran for voicing skepticism that force might eventually be needed to stop its nuclear program. —Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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

Dogs comfort grieving hearts after US school tragedy NEWTOWN: Lisa Peterson went straight to the dogs-therapy dogs, that is-when she returned home to Newtown from a business trip to Florida upon learning of the Sandy Hook school massacre.

“I saw them and I just had to come over and hug them,” Peterson said Tuesday as she stroked Abbie Einstein and Smartie Jones, two gentle, purebred golden retrievers whose mission in life is to make people feel better.

“There’s something about that unconditional love (from dogs) that is just so nurturing,” she said.

“It takes you in to the moment with the dog-and everything else horrific just melts away.” Nearly 25,000 dogs, and their volunteer owners and handlers, are registered with Therapy Dogs International, a non-profit based in Flanders, New Jersey that sets standards for canines that “bring joy and comfort to those in need.” Several dogs turned up in Newtown to help residents cope with their grief after Friday’s brutal killing of 20 first graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Police say Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed his mother before he went to the school, sprayed bullets in two classrooms with a semi-automatic

assault rifle, then turned a pistol on himself. Ten dogs came to Newtown from far-off Illinois and Indiana via a Lutheran Church Charities “comfort dog” program that has its origins in the aftermath of the 2008 killing of five students by a gunman at Northern Illinois University. Abbie and Smartie’s owner said his dogs-specially trained to give emotional comfort and healing-usually visit nursing homes and a center for people with autism.

For several hours, they were the center of attention at an ever-expanding teddy bear memorial by the town Christmas tree, just down the hill from the ill-starred school. Locals, visitors, even journalists from the many TV satellite trucks parked nearby, paused to stroke and hug the dogs, aged five and nine. They appeared to relish the attention when they were not peering up at their owner Michael Jones for a treat. “Their job is to give emotional therapy,” Jones, who also owns a border collie and two cats and knows several Newtown inhabitants through the Hudson Valley Golden Retriever Club.

“That’s why we’re here, and that’s what they’re doing.”

Another golden retriever, Dutchess, projected so much affection that few noticed she had no eyes-

they were surgically removed after she contracted pigmentary uveitis, a painful eye disease seen almost exclusively in the breed. “She does fine.

She’s a happy dog,” said her owner Mark Condon, a biology professor at State University of New York and member of the Good Dog Foundation, another therapy dog network, as Dutchess snuggled up to an AFP reporter. Dutchess, who turns 10 next month, typically drops in once or twice a week at an autism center up the Hudson River from New York where she happily mingles with children eager to brush, feed and play ball with her.

In Newtown, on the other hand, many folks responded to Dutchess by simply running their hands over her rich silky coat. “It’s been very tactile,” Condon observed. “Some people don’t even say anything-which is fine.” In another part of town, Ken Whalen of Smithfield, Rhode Island went directly to Hawley Elementary School with his seven-year-old golden retriever Cooper to comfort kids on Newtown’s first day of school after the tragedy. “I’ve been taking him to nursing homes since he was probably a year old,” Whalen said. “He has a lot of experience like that... I just hope he makes people happy, puts a smile on them.”_ AFP

NEWTOWN: A girl holds a cuddly toy dog, handed out by the Red Cross at a memorial service for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown. — AFP

Crackdown created more drug cartels

CHICAGO: This undated photo shows Kenneth Conley (left) and Jose Banks - two inmates who escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago. — AP

2 inmates escape from high-rise jail in Chicago CHICAGO: Two bank robbers pulled off a daring escape from downtown Chicago’s high-rise jail Tuesday by apparently scaling down about 20 stories using a makeshift rope tied to the bars in a cell window. Police helicopters and canine units swarmed the area, but not until more than three hours after Joseph “Jose” Banks and Kenneth Conley went unaccounted for during a 5 am headcount, US Marshal’s Service spokeswoman Belkis Cantor said. Both men were still at large late Tuesday night. Investigators found a broken window in the men’s cell, where window bars were found inside a mattress, according to an FBI affidavit filed late Tuesday.

Fake metal bars also were found in the men’s cell, a rope was tied to a window bar, and each man’s bed was stuffed with clothing and sheets to resemble a body, the affidavit said. It appeared to illustrate a meticulously planned escape from the 27-story facility that came a week after Banks made a courtroom vow of retribution. Both men are facing hefty prison sentences, and the FBI said they should be considered armed and dangerous. SWAT teams stormed at least one home in Tinley Park, a suburb south of the city.

Although neither man was found, evidence suggested that both had been at the home just hours earlier, according to the FBI. Some schools went on lockdown after being inundated with calls from nervous parents. Mike Byrne, a superintendent in Tinley Park, said “our parents are so emotionally charged right now” because of the school shootings in Connecticut.

Hours after the escape, a rope possibly made of bed sheets could be seen dangling down the side of the Metropolitan Correctional Center. At least 200 feet long and knotted about every 6 feet, the rope was hanging from a window that was 6 feet tall but only 6 inches in diameter.

The facility is one of the only skyscraper lockups in the world, and experts say its triangular shape was meant to make it easier to guard, theoretically reducing blind spots for guards. The only other escape from the nearly 40-year-old facility occurred in the mid-1980s, Cantor said.

Exactly when Banks, 37, and Conley, 38, escaped remains unclear. Shop owners across the street from the wall the men scaled said police suddenly flooded into the area around 8:30 am, hours

after they missed a headcount. Police initially said the men escaped sometime between 5 am and 8:45 am.

Both men were wearing orange jumpsuits, but police believe they may have quickly changed into white T-shirts, gray sweat pants and white gym shoes. The FBI believes both men were in Tinley Park, a heavily wooded area about 25 miles south of Chicago. Authorities were scouring a local forest preserve in the afternoon.

Banks, known as the Second-Hand Bandit because he wore used clothes during his heists, was convicted last week of robbing two banks and attempting to rob two others. Authorities say he stole almost $600,000, and most of that still is missing. During trial, he had to be restrained because he threatened to walk out of the courtroom. He acted as his own attorney and verbally sparred with the prosecutor, at times arguing that that US law didn’t apply to him because he was a sovereign citizen of a group that was above state and federal law.

After he was convicted by US District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, he said he would “be seeking retribution as well as damages,” the Chicago SunTimes and Chicago Tribune reported. When the judge asked how long he needed to submit a filing, Banks replied: “No motion will be filed, but you’ll hear from me.” Pallmeyer, a prominent federal judge who oversaw the corruption trial of now imprisoned former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, appeared to stick to her regular schedule Tuesday and there were no signs of extra security. Her office declined comment. Conley pleaded guilty last October to robbing a Homewood Bank last year of nearly $4,000. Conley, who worked at the time at a suburban strip club, wore a coat and tie when he robbed the bank, and had a gun stuffed in his waistband.

Both men were being held in the Chicago lockup, which houses around 700 inmates awaiting trial in the Dirksen Federal Building a few blocks away. It is one of the only skyscraper jails in the world, said Jennifer Lucente of Chicago Architecture Foundation. Architect Harry Weese designed the building in the mid-1970s shortly after notorious prison riots in Attica, NY, and was asked to design a “more humane” lockup, Lucente said. —AP

MEXICO CITY: The fracturing of Mexico’s criminal establishment in the governmentled crackdown on drug traffickers created between 60 and 80 new cartels, the nation’s attorney general said on Tuesday, far more than were active six years ago. Speaking on Mexican radio, Attorney General Jesus Murillo said former President Felipe Calderon’s efforts to stamp out drug trafficking and go after the kingpins had splintered the gangs, spawning many smaller criminal syndicates. “I would calculate there are between 60 and 80 (new cartels), both medium-sized and small,” Murillo said. The Sinaloa Cartel of Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman and the Zetas gang are arguably the two biggest organized crime groups in Mexico, though a number of lesser ones are strong in some areas and certain cities like Acapulco are home to many small gangs.

When Calderon, whose six-year term ended on Nov 30, took office, about 10 cartels were operating in Mexico; four large, and six smaller ones, according to consultancy Risk Evaluation. Murillo estimated about 70,000 people died in drug-related violence under Calderon, with roughly 9,000 bodies unidentified. “(Calderon) tried to confront the situation with emergency responses ... but this caused things to break down brutally and they got really out of control,” the attorney general said. Calderon’s forces arrested or killed dozens of drug lords in his struggle against the gangs, but that military-led offensive led to more violence, kidnappings and a spiraling death toll.

Mexico’s new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, won election pledging to restore stability to the country, and on Monday he laid out his plans for reducing the violence. Pena Nieto belongs to the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for most of the last century until it was voted out of office in 2000. Critics say the PRI tolerated the presence of drug gangs in Latin America’s second biggest economy, making deals with them to keep the peace and allowing corruption to take root. But Murillo said the new government was committed to going after the cartels’ money, and emphatically rejected the idea that there could be any negotiation with them. “No way,” he said.

“That would not make any sense.”

PRISON SHOOTOUT; 17 DIE In another development, a shootout during a prison break at a penitentiary in northern Mexico late Tuesday has left at least 11 inmates and six guards dead, authorities said.

Durango state Public Safety Department said guards foiled “a massive prison escape” at the Cereso No. 2 facility in the city of Gomez Palacio. The inmates tried to climb the prison’s back walls and when guards fired into the air to stop them the firefight ensued, a statement from the department said.

“The inmates started firing guns into the watchtowers and into custodian areas,” it said.

At least 17 people were killed. Soldiers surrounded the prison and helped stop the prison break, it said, adding that the prison was back under the control of authorities.

Mass prison breaks are not uncommon in Mexico. In September, more than 120

inmates escaped from a prison in the border city of Piedras Negras, across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. Authorities attribute the jailbreaks to drug gangs trying to swell their ranks as they fight bloody tur f battles throughout Mexico, including Durango, where the Sinaloa and Zetas drug cartel are fighting for control. — Agencies

Massacre revives debate over videogame violence LOS ANGELES: The massacre of 26 people, mostly young children, at a US school has revived the perennial debate about the impact of violent videogames on the warped minds of gunmen behind such tragedies. Experts are divided over whether games with names like “Assassin’s Creed,” “Thrill Kill” or “Manhunt Executions” are blueprints for real-life violent behavior or harmless fantasies that allow young men to vent testosterone. Some politicians have highlighted the role of violence in television, movies and videogames-including Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, after 12 people were killed in a movie theater massacre near Denver in July. “There might well be some direct connection between people who have some mental instability and when they go over the edge-they transport themselves, they become part of one of those video games,” he told CNN. Senator Jay Rockefeller called the latest massacre a “wake-up call” for federal action.

“While we don’t know if such images impacted the killer in Newtown, the issue of violent content is serious and must be addressed. “As parents, research confirms what we already knowthese violent images have a negative impact on our children’s well-being,” he said, adding: “I’m pushing for that action now before we have to mourn more innocent lives lost.” Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who killed himself after massacring 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was reportedly a fan of violent videogames, including “Dynasty Warriors.”

California banned the sale of violent videogames to minors, but the US Supreme Court struck down the law in June 2011, saying it violated the right to free speech, enshrined in the First Amendment of the US constitution.

Experts and games developers say the evidence about such games’ impact on players is mixed. “I’m rather tired of this argument. I’m sure you can find a study or two to support the claim that videogames foster violence, but I’m sure you can also find studies that deny it,” said specialist and game designer Greg Costikyan.

“In general, my impression is that the idea

that media of any sort cause anything other than short-term and minor changes in proclivities to violent behavior has been thoroughly debunked.” But Brad Bushman, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University and coauthor of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology last month, said players grow more aggressive the longer they play such games. Of experts who disagree, he said: “It’s like global warming. Ninety-five percent of scientists say that global warming is occurring, but you can always find a few scientists saying it’s not occurring.

“The same is true. I would say 95 percent of scientists believe that violent media, TV programs, movies, videogames, increase aggression, and only 5 percent or even less believes they have no effect. “They are outliers, they’re not the norm.” Blood-drenched videogames may well have a more harmful effect than violence in movies or TV shows, he said. When you’re playing a videogame, “you’re active.

You’re not just sitting on a couch watching other people. You are actively involved and people learn when they’re actively involved. “You’re directly rewarded in a videogame for behaving aggressively... And you get to advance in the game. If you kill people you get points,” he said.

But violent videogames do not by themselves create crazed killers. “Shootings like the one in Connecticut are very rare and you cannot predict them,” Bushman said. “But violent videogames increase behavior that’s not so rare, like yelling, hitting, pushing, and being an aggressive driver. “Maybe if you play violent videogames you won’t kill somebody, but how do you treat your friends, how do you treat strangers? There’s never one cause.

Violent video games are maybe one factor.”

Nevertheless, Rockefeller, chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said the Newtown massacre must spark not just debate, but action. “It would be a travesty if we only looked at Friday’s attackas well as the many other senseless tragedies we’ve seen-in silence and refuse to act,” he said.— AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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

Bosnian rape victims suffer in silence, await justice Wartime rape victims unrecognized by Bosnian state TUZLA: Fika was 15 years old, and her sister 17, when they were captured and repeatedly raped by Bosnian Serb soldiers who swept through eastern Bosnia early in the country’s 1992-95 war. “We were forced to watch each other being raped, and I still feel my pain and the pain of my sister,” she said. “They wanted us to admit we were spies, so they beat us till they knocked out our teeth.”

chological toll is only getting worse with time. “The silence surrounding the wartime rape of women in the Serb Republic... is deafening,” Amnesty International wrote in October.

Fewer than 40 rape cases have been prosecuted in the 17 years since the war ended, and legislation at the state level to extend compensation and rehabilitation rights to rape victims of the war is gather-

SARAJEVO: Bosnian Muslim woman, Ramiza Gurdic, survivor of the 1995 massacre in the Eastern-Bosnian town of Srebrenica, cries in Sarajevo. — AFP

Twenty years on, Fika is among thousands of Bosnian Muslim women whose search for recognition and support from the Bosnian state is being blocked by Bosnian Serb leaders who fear a wave of compensation claims. Her sister died at the hands of their torturers. Rights groups are losing patience, warning that the psy-

ing dust, hostage to ethnic politicking.

The lesson of Bosnia has spurred a push

by Britain to raise awareness of sexual violence in war when it takes over the chairmanship of the G8 group of industrialized nations next year. Under the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, the British government plans to send police officers,

lawyers, psychologists and forensic experts to Bosnia and other conflict and post-conflict countries to work with local authorities on the issue.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina is seen as a priority country,” Ann Hannah, a spokeswoman for the initiative, told Reuters. She said a team would arrive in Bosnia early in 2013. “We have a very strong feeling there is a window of opportunity to make a significant breakthrough on this issue,” Hannah said. “Without its resolution, any peace process is incomplete.” A delicate balance of Muslims, Serbs and Croats, Bosnia was torn apart as federal Yugoslavia dissolved. An estimated 100,000 people died, most of them Muslims. Some estimates put the number of women raped at up to 35,000, again the majority of them Muslims.

‘MY HEART IS ROTTEN’ With peace, the country was split into two autonomous regions - the Serb Republic and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, home to mainly Muslims and Croats. The country is ruled by a system of ethnic quotas, with each region enjoying a high level of autonomy and the central state often left powerless to legislate over the entire territory. The story of Fika, as she asked to be called, is indicative. She declined to give her real name, fearing the stigma attached to many wartime rape victims in Bosnia.

Reuters reached her through a non-governmental organization that helps rape victims.

Caught up in a wave of ethnic cleansing of Muslims from eastern Bosnia, Fika was captured and held at a Serb-run detention camp in the town of Vlasenica.

She says she lost count of how many times she was raped by her captors. Finally

released, Fika fled to the northern town of Tuzla, now part of the Federation, dropped out of school and struggled to support her mother, who was widowed during the war, and younger sister. Now 34 and a mother, she has not told her three children what happened to her, nor will she return to her home in Vlasenica, which is now part of the Serb Republic and where she believes her rapists still live.

Three years ago, spurred by recurring nightmares, she raised the courage to report two of them, whom she recognized as locals of Vlasenica, to police in the region, but charges were never brought.

She has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and receives 250 euros ($330) per month from the MuslimCroat Federation as compensation for her war trauma. Those like her who live in the Serb Republic receive nothing, however, because the law there only recognizes those who can prove damage to at least 60 percent of their body as civilian victims of war, disregarding psychological trauma.

Fika told her husband what happened to her, but says she regrets doing so because of the toll it has taken on their marriage. “I have no idea what keeps me going,” Fika said. “My heart is rotten.” At least three separate bids have been made in recent years to enshrine the rights of wartime rape victims in state law, so far without success. Bosnian Muslims accuse the Serb Republic of blocking their efforts. “We have created a nation-wide strategy designed to ensure reparation for the victims of wartime rape but from the very beginning we knew the government of the Serb Republic was hardly likely to accept it,” said Saliha Djuderija, assistant minister for human rights and refugees in the Bosnian central government.

PERPETRATORS STILL FREE Amnesty International said the Serb Republic “is still failing to acknowledge the needs of wartime rape survivors - indeed, the existence of a problem at all.”

Authorities there, it said, “have never made a meaningful attempt to collect data on this population, to understand and quantify their problems or to develop policies that would address their specific needs.”

Bosnian Serb War Invalids Minister Petar Djokic denied this, saying his government was exploring ways to resolve the issue while safeguarding against the possibility of false claims. “We have already discussed this with some nongovernmental organizations dealing with this problem to see how we can resolve this institutionally in the best way,” Djokic told Reuters, “without creating another problem for ourselves through any attempted abuse of the social support system. “We want to protect the victims of sexual violence in a just manner, but all such victims will have to prove exposure to sexual violence, though not necessarily medical confirmation of the level of bodily damage,” Djokic said.

As time passes and victims are left to deal with their trauma alone, the psychological scars deepen, psychologists say, worsened often by the knowledge that the perpetrators are still walking among their victims. “It only aggravates the condition and their experience of trauma reaches the level of psychological terror,” said Teufika Ibrahimefendic, head of the ViveZene NGO and a psychologist who has worked with rape survivors for years. “The community must recognize the rape as a war crime and each victim must be recognized.” Fika agreed: “For me, the war never ended.

And it never will.”— Reuters

British police face inquiry over minister ‘plebs’ row Diplomatic protection officer arrested LONDON: A British former minister who quit after failing to shake off claims that he called police “plebs” called for an inquiry on Tuesday after a television program said he may have been falsely accused and the victim of a dirty tricks campaign.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said the program’s suggestion that a police officer may have fabricated evidence against Andrew Mitchell was “exceptionally serious” and urged police to investigate the matter urgently. The disclosures threaten to further undermine relations between politicians and police at a time when the government is cutting force budgets to meet its deficit reduction target.

Mitchell resigned as the “chief whip” in charge of maintaining discipline in Cameron’s Conservative party in October after weeks of negative headlines over the alleged insult. His reported use of the offending word was highly damaging to the ruling Conservatives, reinforcing an image of an elitist government out of touch with ordinary Britons financially squeezed at a time of economic austerity. Mitchell admitted swearing at police officers outside Cameron’s Downing Street offices when

told to wheel his bicycle out through a side exit, but denied calling them “plebs”, an old-fashioned insult laden with snobbery.

Channel 4 News said previously unseen CCTV footage of Mitchell’s confrontation with officers at the security gates raised doubts over the veracity of an account of the incident recorded in a police log and leaked to a newspaper. It also said there were questions over an email sent to a Conservative lawmaker, supposedly from a member of the public who saw the encounter, after it discovered the sender was a police officer who told the program he had not actually been there. The email and leaked logs said several members of the public had overheard and been shocked by Mitchell’s alleged outburst.

However, the CCTV footage appears to show the street outside the gates almost empty of bystanders.

EXCEPTIONALLY SERIOUS Mitchell said the email’s claims were untrue and “clearly designed to destabilize me”. “It has certainly shaken my life-

long support and confidence in the police and I believe now there should be a full inquiry so that we can get to the bottom of this,” Mitchell told Channel 4 News. Cameron’s office called on police to urgently establish what had happened. “Any allegations that a serving police officer posed as a member of the public and fabricated evidence against a cabinet minister are exceptionally serious,” a Downing Street spokesman said.

The Police Federation, which represents officers, had exploited the “pleb” row in its campaigns against cuts to force budgets and changes to working conditions, but denied on Tuesday it was part of a conspiracy to unseat the minister. The TV report came after London’s police force on Saturday arrested and suspended from duty a police officer over the leaks to newspapers about Mitchell’s confrontation. A police watchdog supervising the investigation said the inquiry was focused on the validity of the officer’s claim to a member of parliament that he had witnessed the incident. The arrested officer, a member of the Diplomatic Protection Group, was not on duty at the time of the incident, the London force said. — Reuters

126 women raped in Congolese town

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Court upholds DSK’s sex, pimping inquiry PARIS: A French court yesterday rejected a request by former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn to drop a sex offence inquiry in which he risks standing trial on pimping charges, his lawyers said. The ruling was given just over a week after Strauss-Kahn settled a separate civil case in New York with a hotel maid who accused him of attempted rape in May 2011, ending his French presidential hopes and career at the International Monetary Fund. While the New York settlement brought his US legal woes to an end, the latest decision by the court in Douai in northern France means he remains under the legal spotlight at home.

“Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s defense team is certain that he will ultimately be cleared of these absurd accusations of pimping,” lawyer Henri Leclerc said in a statement, adding that he planned to appeal to France’s supreme court. Strauss-Kahn denies wrongdoing in all the charges against him. He is under fire about sex parties with prostitutes in the so-called Carlton Affair, named after a hotel in northern France at the centre of the inquiry. His lawyers argue that consorting with prostitutes is not illegal and that investigators have no grounds for pursuing him on the basis that his behavior

could be construed as pimping, which is illegal.

They denounced “serious violations” of their defendant’s rights, alleging that investigators held back information which should have been shared with lawyers. Several acquaintances of Strauss-Kahn, or “DSK” as he is often called in France, are under inquiry too, including a police commissioner, Jean-Christophe Lagarde. Lagarde’s lawyer, Olivier Bluche, said he might take the matter to the European Court of Human rights. Under French law, being placed under official investigation does not automatically lead to trial but it often takes months or years before a decision to take the matter to court or not.

In the United States, Strauss-Kahn’s legal troubles ended within 18 months of a sex assault complaint filed by New York Sofitel hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo. US prosecutors dropped criminal charges in August 2011, saying they had worries about Guinea-born Diallo’s credibility as a witness in court after discovering that she had lied in the past on tax and immigration documents. She opened civil proceedings that ended last week with a settlement for an undisclosed sum, but StraussKahn’s problems multiplied in France while US proceedings ran their course.—Reuters

UNITED NATIONS: The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo found that 126 women were raped in an eastern town after Congolese troops fled there last month as rebels advanced on the provincial capital of Goma, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Congolese troops, aided by UN peacekeepers have been battling the socalled M23 rebels - who UN experts and Congolese officials say are backed by neighboring Rwanda - for the past eight months in the resource-rich east of the country.

Congolese troops retreated to the nearby town of Minova when the rebels captured Goma on Nov. 20. Kinshasa regained control of Goma almost two weeks later when the rebels withdrew, but the United Nations said the situation remains “tense and fragile.” The UN mission, known at MONUSCO, was investigating alleged human rights abuses in and around Minova from Nov. 20 to Nov 30 and this month interviewed more than 200 people in the area, said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

“According to preliminary findings the UN mission has documented at least 126 cases of rape. The teams were also able to confirm the killings of two civilians, including one minor,” Nesirky told reporters. “The Congolese Armed Forces have started investigating those human rights violations,” Nesirky said. “To date nine soldiers from the armed forces have been arrested, two in connection with the rapes and seven in connection with looting.”

The United Nations was working with the Congolese government to establish which army units the men belonged to so the world body could review any support provided to those units, he said. “It would appear that most of those rapes were committed by FARDC (Congolese army) soldiers,” UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told reporters after briefing the UN Security Council. MONUSCO has more than 17,000 troops in the Congo - a nation the size of Western Europe - and even before the M23 rebellion, the peacekeepers were stretched

thin and the UN force was struggling to fulfill its mandate of protecting civilians.

PROGRESS AGAINST LRA The UN mission is also helping the Democratic Republic of Congo combat fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army. UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon said in a report on Tuesday that here had been 180 attacks presumed to have been carried out by Kony’s LRA guerrillas this year. Ban said 138 of those attacks were in the Congo and 42 in neighboring Central African Republic. “They resulted in the deaths of 39 civilians,” Ban said. “A total of 193 persons have been abducted, 84 from the Central African Republic and 109 from the Democratic Republic of Congo. One third of the abductees were children.”

Kony, who has been accused of terrorizing northern Uganda for 20 years, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. His guerrillas are accused of abducting children to use as fighters and sex slaves, and of hacking off victims’ limbs as a method of intimidation and revenge. In June, the UN Security Council called for global help to equip an African Union force hunting Kony, which lack basic resources such as boots, food, transport and training.

“I am encouraged by the progress made in tackling the threat and impact of (the) LRA,” said Ban. “I urge the international community to maintain its attention to the LRA issue and to provide the financial support needed by the African Union and the United Nations to continue their work.” Violence by the Lords Resistance Army has subsided since 2005 when it was ejected from Uganda. Kony is now thought to command only hundreds of followers scattered in jungle hideouts. Kony’s profile rose after a celebrity-backed campaign against him earlier this year and a video was posted on YouTube by a California filmmaker and promoted on Twitter with the hashtag #Kony2012. — Reuters

LONDON: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange addresses the press and supporters from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. — AFP

Assange marks 6 months in Ecuador ‘space station’ LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange marked six months holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London yesterday, with no end in sight to a diplomatic stand-off that has even dragged in pop icon Lady Gaga. The Australian is due today to give what the antisecrecy website billed as a “Christmas speech” in front of the South American nation’s diplomatic mission, next door to the famed Harrods department store. It will be only his second public outing since he fled to the embassy on June 19 after losing his battle in the British courts against extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault. Ecuador granted Assange asylum on August 16 but Britain has refused to allow him safe passage, despite Quito’s claims that the 41-year-old needs urgent medical treatment for a lung problem. For most of the last half year the former hacker has been stuck in a tiny room inside the embassy, which is itself just an apartment inside a Victorian red-brick building in the posh Knightsbridge district.

Assange has nothing but a laptop, a running machine, a sunlamp and a microwave for company, friends have said, while he has described the conditions as like living in a “space-station”. But he has had some celebrity support. British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood visited him and said she would sell unisex tshirts with the words “I’m Julian Assange”, with profits going to WikiLeaks. US pop star Lady Gaga meanwhile had a cosy dinner with the platinum-haired fugitive at the embassy in Octoberalthough only after she had first launched her new perfume at Harrods.

ROCK STAR WELCOME Assange received a rock star welcome himself when he was last seen by the outside world, addressing dozens of cheering supporters from the embassy balcony on August 19. Britain’s Foreign Office told AFP this week that it was “committed to seeking a diplomatic solution” to the stand-off with Ecuador but insisted that it was legally obliged to hand over Assange to Sweden.

“Officials have been in regular dialogue with representatives of the Ecuadorian government, both in London and Quito, to seek a diplomatic solution to this situation. These efforts continue,” it said. Sweden has said that it will not interfere in another country’s judicial process. Ecuador, for its part, insists that it is “not asking for the impossible.” “Our objective is to reach a solution that is satisfactory for everybody, under European, Swedish and British law... but which excludes all possibility of extradition to the United States,” an Ecuadorian government official said. Assange claims that if he is extradited to Sweden he could eventually be sent to the United States for prosecution over WikiLeaks’ controversial release of secret US military and diplomatic files. He says he could face life in prison or even the death penalty in the US. Assange is believed to have sought sanctuary with Ecuador mainly because he had interviewed its leftist, US-baiting president Rafael Correa for a television program. —AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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

Once a symbol of new Afghanistan, can policewomen survive?

KABUL: Shortly after Friba joined the Afghan National Police, she gave herself the nickname “dragon” and vowed to bring law and order to her tormented homeland. Five years later, she is tired of rebuffing the sexual advances of male colleagues, worries the budget for the female force will shrink and fears the government will abandon them. Women in the police force were held up as a showcase for Afghan-Western efforts to promote rights in the new Afghanistan, born from the optimism that swept the country after the ouster of the Taleban in 2001.

Images of gun-wielding Afghan policewomen have been broadcast across the globe, even inspiring a television program popular with young Afghan women. But going from the burqa to the olive green uniform has not been easy. In Reuters interviews with 12 policewomen in districts across the Afghan capital, complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and bitter frustration were prevalent. President Hamid Karzai’s goal is for 5,000 women to join the Afghan National Police (ANP) by the end of 2014, when most foreign troops will leave the country.

But government neglect, poor recruitment and a lack of interest on the part of authorities and the male-dominated society mean there are only 1,850 female police officers on the beat, or about 1.25 percent of the entire force. And it looks to get worse. Friba, who asked that her second name not be used, says it all when she runs a manicured finger across her throat: “Once foreigners leave, we won’t even be able to go to the market. We’ll be back in burqas. The Taleban are coming back and we all know it.”

Conditions for women in Afghanistan have improved significantly since the Taleban were ousted. Women have won back basic rights in voting, education and work since Taleban rule, when they were not allowed out of their homes without a male escort and could be publicly stoned to death for adultery. But problems persist in the deeply conservative Muslim society scarred by decades of conflict.

The United Nations said this month that

despite progress, there was a dramatic under reporting of cases of violence against women.

Some female lawmakers and rights groups blame Karzai’s government for a waning interest in women’s rights as it seeks peace talks with the Taleban, accusations his administration deny.

“We have largely failed in our campaign to create a female police force,” said a senior Afghan securit y official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject. “Mullahs are against it, and the women are seen as not up to the job,” he added, referring to Muslim preachers. Almost a third of the members of the female force work in Kabul, performing duties such as conducting security checks on women at the airport and checking biometric data.

CONSTANTLY HARASSED Friba sat in a city police station room decorated with posters of policemen clutching weapons to talk to Reuters. “I am the dragon and I can defend myself, but most of the girls are constantly harassed,” she said. On the other side of Kabul, detective Lailoma, who also asked that her family name not be used, said several policewomen under her command had been raped by their male colleagues.

Dyed russet hair poking out from her black hijab, part of the female ANP uniform, Lailoma wrung her hands as she complained about male colleagues: “They want it to be like the time of the Taleban.

They tell us every day we are bad women and should not be allowed to work here.”

Male colleagues also taunt the women, she added, often preventing them from entering the kitchen, meaning they miss out on lunch. On several occasions, male colleagues interrupted Reuters interviews in what the policewomen said were attempts to intimidate them into silence.

One male officer entered the room without knocking three times to retrieve pencils; another spent 20 minutes dusting off his hat, only to put it back on a shelf. The women switched subjects when the men came in.

Rana, a 31-year-old, heavy-set policewoman with curly hair, said policewomen were expected to perform sexual favours: “We’re expected to do them to just stay in the force.” The raping of policewomen by their male counterparts “definitely takes place”, said Colonel Sayed Omar Saboor, deputy director for gender and human rights at the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police. “These men are largely illiterate and see the women as immoral.”

Insecurity, opposition to women working

the force. “It is just difficult. There is no real history of women in the police force, there is no precedent, even having an open space for women in employment is a challenge,” UNDP Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan told Reuters.

A recruitment campaign of television adverts and posters has not produced the desired effect in a country where there are huge social and religious divides between the rural and urban

GOSHTI: Burqa-clad Afghan women make their way in Goshti district of Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan.— AFP out of the home and sexism deter many women from signing up, said Saboor. But impoverished widows sometimes have no choice. A starting salary is about 10,500 afghanis a month ($210).

DIFFICULT The Interior Ministr y and foreign organizations responsible for training the women police - NATO, the European Union and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) - say recruitment poses the main challenge to

populations. Even fewer join the national army, where some 350 women serve amongst 190,000. “Much of the male leadership don’t want to have anything to do with women in the ANP. Commanders want them out of their units,” Saboor said, adding that having 2,500 female police officers could be realistic by end-2014. Of those who join, few have prospects for promotion. They often find themselves in police stations without proper facilities for women, such as toilets or changing rooms which are

vital for the many who hide the fact that they work from their families.

The sprawling Interior Ministry has only recently started work on installing toilets for women. “Ten years of this war have passed, and we’re only now building them a toilet,” Saboor said with a wry laugh. For First Lieutenant Naderah Keshmiri, whose humble yet stern approach helps her pursue cases of violence against women, life as a policewoman means being undervalued. “My male subordinates quickly became generals. But not me. Where’s my promotion?” she asked in a UNDP-backed Family Response Unit, which she heads.

The UNDP has set up 33 of the units countrywide, which help increase female visibility in the ANP, with plans to more than double them by 2015.

A Western female police trainer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said policewomen are almost always passed over for promotion by their male commanders. US lawmakers are hoping to amend a defense bill by year-end to protect the rights of Afghan women during the security transition. They want to reduce physical and cultural barriers to women joining the security forces.

Ethnicity also plays a role: 55 percent of women in the ANP are ethnic Tajik, Afghanistan’s second-largest ethnic group. Recruiting from the largest and most conservative ethnic group, the Pashtuns, is difficult.

The Taleban draw most of their support from the Pashtuns, who dominate the south of the countr y. Pashtun women make up only 15 percent of the force. Hazaras, a largely Shiite minority who suffered enormous losses at the hands of the Taleban, are overrepresented amongst the women, making up 24 percent, according to figures from NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan.

But many of the policewomen are wondering whether their force can survive.

Lowering her voice, Friba whispered: “As soon as the foreigners leave, they ’ll reduce our salaries. This will not happen to the men. Or perhaps they’ll kick us out entirely.”— Reuters

Southeast Asia nations look to India amid China tensions South China Sea the biggest potential flashpoint

HELMAND: In this file photograph, Britain’s Prince Harry (left) examines the 30mm cannon of an Apache helicopter with a member of his 622 Squadron at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province. — AFP

Britain to withdraw 4,000 troops from Afghanistan LONDON: Britain will slash its military force in Afghanistan next year, withdrawing nearly 4,000 troops as local security forces become increasingly capable, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday. Cameron told parliament that the current force of 9,000 British troops would be reduced to 5,200 by the end of 2013 and that most of the rest would leave the following year.

Britain, the United States and other NATO nations in Afghanistan are due to withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 when they will hand over responsibility for security to Afghan forces. But the government has faced pressure at home to speed up the withdrawal from Afghanistan following a series of “insider attacks”, in which Afghans in army uniform have attacked British and other foreign soldiers. Cameron said the withdrawal was possible “because of the success of our forces and the Afghan National Security Forces”, and the mentoring arrangements between them.

“We’ll be able to see troops come home in two relatively even steps in 2013, 2014, leaving probably around 5,200 troops after the end of 2013 compared with the 9,000 that we have now,” Cameron told parliament. Cameron said

there was no final decision on how many British troops would stay in Afghanistan after 2014 but added that Britain would honor its commitment to help set up an officer training academy for the Afghans. Cameron discussed the plans with US President Barack Obama in an hour-long video call on Tuesday night during which they agreed the handover plan was “on track”, Downing Street said in a statement.

“This would present further opportunities for ISAF countries to bring troops home next year and they agreed to stay in close touch as detailed plans develop,” it said, referring to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. “They also agreed on joint work to strengthen the political process, particularly supporting Afghanistan and her neighbors to work together for stability, building on the trilateral discussions with Pakistan led by the United Kingdom.” The final decision on the latest withdrawal was taken at a meeting of Britain’s National Security Council on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense said. The government is reportedly considering leaving several hundred British troops in Kabul for training and support roles when NATO ends its combat role in 2014.—AFP

3 more polio workers shot dead in Pakistan PESHAWAR: Three workers in a polio eradication campaign were shot in Pakistan yesterday, and two of them were killed, the latest in an unprecedented string of attacks over the past three days that has partially halted the UNbacked campaign. The United Nations in Pakistan has pulled all staff involved in the immunization campaign off the streets, spokesman Michael Coleman said.

The government insisted immunization was continuing in some areas although many Pakistani health workers were refusing to go out.

Government officials were surprised by the violence, saying they had not expected attacks in areas far from the Taleban’s strongholds and they would have to change tactics in the health campaign. “We didn’t expect such attacks in Karachi,” said Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, minister for human rights, who oversees the polio campaign. He was referring to the southern commercial hub where there have been attacks this week. “In far flung areas where the threats are

more pronounced, we have been providing polio teams security.”

Yesterday saw four separate attacks. In the northwestern district of Charsadda, men on motorbikes shot dead a woman and her driver, police and health officials said. Hours earlier, a male health worker was shot and badly wounded in the nearby provincial capital of Peshawar. He was in critical condition, said a doctor at the Lady Reading Hospital where he is being treated. Four other women health workers were shot at but not hit in nearby Nowshera, said Jan Baz Afridi, deputy head of the Expanded Program on Immunization. Two women health workers were shot at in Dwasaro village in Charsadda, police said. It was not clear who was behind the violence.

Many Islamists, including Taleban militants, have long opposed the campaign. Some say it aims to sterilize Muslims, while one militant commander said it could not continue unless attacks by US drone aircraft stopped. —Reuters

NEW DELHI: The dozens of vehicles that roared into northeast India this week on a rally from Indonesia symbolize deeper ties between the South Asian giant and Southeast Asia, but the dreadful roads along several parts of the 8,000 km journey also show how much remains to be done. The caravan crossed jungles and mountains in eight nations before reaching the remote Indian state of Manipur, bordering Myanmar, in an event promoting a high-level meeting between India and leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in New Delhi today and tomorrow.

“The roads crumbled to begin with and then ceased to exist,” said participants Bijoy Kumar and Vinod Nookla in a blog published by Mahindra & Mahindra, the Indian company that supplied the XUV 500 vehicles that participated. “In place of tarmac there were boulders and the road started becoming narrower by the kilometer.” The meeting in New Delhi will mainly be a ceremonial affair to mark 20 years of cooperation, India’s Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said. But it is held against the backdrop of Chinese assertiveness in the potentially oil and gas-rich South China Sea. Some ASEAN countries contest claims by China in the waters, making it the biggest potential flashpoint in the region. The United States has called for calm, but some ASEAN nations are also looking to India, the other regional heavyweight, to get involved. “They want India to play a larger role. Those concerns are only increasing given the uncertain situation that is emerging,” said C Raja Mohan, a strategic affairs expert at the Observer Research Foundation think-tank. For India, improved relations with Southeast Asia will give it entry into one of the fastest-growing economic regions in the world and a source of raw materials needed for its own growth.

But the broken-down roads between India and the nations to its southeast, a shortage of direct flights and constraints such as India’s tiny diplomatic corps comparable in size to New Zealand’s - mean India trails China in relations with the region. Trade between India and the 10-member ASEAN was up to $80 billion last year compared with $47 billion in 2008. An agreement on free trade in services and investment could be signed at the New Delhi meeting. Direct flights from Delhi to Myanmar on Indian airline SpiceJet are due to begin in the next few weeks.

But India’s role in the region is dwarfed by that of China, which enjoyed trade worth a record $363 billion with ASEAN countries in 2011 in an already established free trade area. “What we need is far greater connectivity,” Khurshid said in an interview, mentioning roads, railways and flights as areas needing work.

“There is still a lot that can done, and we hope that over the next few months and years we will see considerable improvement,” said Khurshid, who also described a 10-year plan to double the number of diplomats to reflect India’s growing global ambitions.

PARTICIPANTS The first meeting of ASEAN leaders in India is a watershed in India’s efforts to build ties with Southeast Asia. The prime ministers of Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam, the presidents of Myanmar and Indonesian, and the vice president of the Philippines are scheduled to attend. The other nations in the group are Thailand, Laos, and Brunei.

India walks a delicate line to balance its increasingly close partnership with Washington as President Barack Obama steps up the US presence in Asian, and the reality of living next door to China, Asia’s fastest-growing superpower. Khurshid played down the possibility of any tension with China and

reiterated that India had no territorial claims in the South China Sea. “I don’t think this is something that will reach hostility or conflict, there are differences obviously - China has a very clear perception about its sovereignty and it also has a very clear idea of how it wants to resolve these issues.

“It’s not something that cannot be resolved, it is certainly not something in which we are directly involved, we’ve said categorically that there should

be compliance and respect for the law of the sea.”

But India’s “Look East” policy and a need to lock down energy supplies for its rapidly growing industrial sector are pushing it to gradually step up military activities in the region with more joint exercises and visits. This month, India’s navy chief said his force was ready to deploy naval vessels to the South China Sea to protect its oil-exploration interests there if needed.—Reuters

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (right) speaks with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen (left) during their meeting in New Delhi yesterday. Sen is in India to attend the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit. — AFP

Gang-rape outrage swells across India NEW DELHI: Riot police fired water cannon yesterday at a protest in New Delhi over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old student who was left fighting for her life as anger against the brutal attack grew across India. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh joined his ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi in condemning Sunday night’s “heinous” assault by six drunken man who were joyriding on a bus when they picked up the woman and a male companion.

After taking turns to rape the woman, the attackers then threw the pair off the vehicle. Four people, including the bus driver, have so far been arrested, while a hunt is ongoing for two other suspects. Three of those arrested appeared in court yesterday and were remanded in custody. As the government tried to address the anger by announcing a series of measures, a number of demonstrations were held in Delhi and other cities, including Ahmedabad and Patna. Police used water cannon on one group of demonstrators as they tried to tear down steel barricades outside the official residence of New Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Before the violence broke out, protesters carrying banners chanted: “We want equal rights for women.” “Women don’t feel safe in the city, this is appalling,” said 18-year-old student Jayesha Koushik who was among those protesting. “The blame is always put on the women. ‘She was not wearing the right dress, she was out at the wrong time, she must have provoked it’. How can you blame the

women for rape?” “Rapes are happening to teach women a lesson,” said Kavita Krishnan of the All India Progressive Women’s Association who was among the protesters.

Even Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan weighed in by calling on his Facebook page for “every Indian (to) become a vigilante, a soldier, a commander” to “fight such heinous crimes with strength and conviction”. National crime records show that 228,650 of the total 256,329 violent crimes recorded last year were aimed against women. Rape cases in India more than doubled between 1990 and 2008. Sunday night’s case was the latest in a series of particularly brutal attacks in the capital. Congress’s Gandhi who is India’s most powerful politician, described the attack as a source of shame for the capital after she paid a visit Tuesday to the hospital where the victim is being treated. “Such violence and criminality needs not only to be condemned, it calls for a concerted effort to fight it,” Gandhi said in a letter to Dikshit. The anger spread to India’s financial capital Mumbai where protesters organized a petition to the authorities to seek justice for the victims.

Hospital doctors were shocked by the extent of her injuries. “They cannot be described in words,” a surgeon who did not want to be named said. In a bid to stem the growing anger, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced in parliament that there would be a crackdown on buses having tinted glass and heavy curtains-measures that should already be in force.—AP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

NEWS Boycott deepens rift between city, tribes Continued from Page 1

Pedestrians walking past the Reichstag building are reflected in a puddle yesterday in Berlin. The Reichstag houses the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament. — AFP

Controversy rages over waiving interest...

Continued from Page 1 to Sane, disturbed the residents of Kaifan on Tuesday night. Sane said that the interior minister has failed to stop the protests by the opposition, adding that if the minister cannot per form his job, he should quit.

Hundreds of opposition activists gathered in Kaifan Tuesday night as part of the protests against the amendment of the election law and to call for dissolving the new Assembly. Riot police used teargas and stun grenades to disperse them, wounding at least two

and arresting around three in the process.

The Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, strongly deplored the oppressive security measures that authorities are using against bloggers and tweeters, describing them as “unprecedented oppressive measures”, and adding that these herald an oppressive police era. The ICM called on the government to present a serious initiative that should lead to practical solutions to the current crisis which resulted from the single-vote decree and the outcome of the election based on it.

S Korea elects first female prez Continued from Page 1 But analysts say she will be restricted by hawkish forces in her ruling party as well as an international community intent on punishing North Korea for its long-range rocket launch last week. To some extent yesterday’s election was seen as a referendum on the legacy of Park’s father, Park Chung-Hee. More than three decades after he was assassinated, Park remains one of modern Korea’s most polarising figures - admired for dragging the country out of poverty and reviled for his ruthless suppression of dissent during 18 years of military rule. He was shot dead by his spy chief in 1979. Park’s mother had been killed five years earlier by a pro-North Korea gunman aiming for her father.

In an effort at reconciliation, Park had publicly acknowledged the excesses of her father’s regime during her campaign and apologised to the families of its victims.

“I believe that it is an unchanging value of democracy that ends cannot justify the means in politics,” she said. Despite freezing temperatures that hovered around minus 10 degrees Celsius, the election was marked by a high turnout of nearly 76 percent, compared with 63 percent in

the 2007 presidential poll.

It was a bitter defeat for Moon, 59, the son of North Korean refugees and a former human rights lawyer who was once jailed for protesting against Park Chung-Hee’s rule. “I feel so sorry and guilty that I have failed to accomplish my historic mission to open a new era of politics,” Moon told his downcast supporters. “I congratulate Park Geun-Hye and humbly accept the outcome of the election,” he added.

Park has never married and has no children - a fact that makes her popular with voters tired of corruption scandals surrounding their first families. A female president will be a huge change for a country that the World Economic Forum recently ranked 108th out of 135 countries in terms of gender equality - one place below the United Arab Emirates and just above Kuwait. “I can’t even describe how happy I am right now. I feel like crying,” said Cha In-Hong, a 57-year-old office worker. “Park Geun-Hye has married our nation. Now she will go on her honeymoon to the Blue House to begin governing,” Cha said. Park’s presidential inauguration will be held on Feb 25. — AFP

gas and make arrests to disperse local youths protesting the voting changes in rare clashes in recent weeks. The Interior Ministry said the protests were unauthorised and that people had attacked police and damaged property.

Opposition politicians boycotted the election on the grounds the changes imposed by HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, would prevent candidates that were not pro-government, including tribal figures, from winning a majority. As a result, more than half of the lawmakers in the new National Assembly which opened on Sunday are newcomers to politics.

Descendents of Kuwait’s old merchant families mainly live in the urban areas while the outlying areas tend to be home to people that were more recent arrivals to the Kuwaiti state. Many were naturalised after Kuwait’s independence from Britain in 1961. Analysts say this was part of the ruling family’s strategy of tempering the influence of the other powerful families by bolstering support in parliament. Despite having traded their more nomadic traditions for air-conditioned homes and sleek cars decades ago and entering higher education and skilled professions, people from the tribes are still viewed by some city folk as socially inferior.

The conservative tribes started out as loyal to the AlSabah monarchy, which offers its citizens a generous welfare system. It provides secure state jobs for many people from the tribal areas, especially in the police and army. But with greater sophistication has come a greater desire for political and social status, people at the diwaniya said. “Fifty years ago, we were not educated enough to change our position or the conditions we live in,” said Jasser Al-Mutairi, a 45-year-old lawyer. “If you came to this diwaniya even 30 years ago you would not find people with more than a secondary school education. Now you find lawyers, engineers and graduate students,” he said, gesturing at the men seated on plush chairs.

The men said people from their districts were stereotyped in the Kuwaiti media and that while opposition MPs from tribal areas were often quoted, little effort was made to speak to the people themselves. At a separate women’s gathering upstairs from the diwaniya, a woman who gave her name as Om Abdullah said dialogue was needed to bring the two communities closer.

“The government and the prime minister and the Amir should come to the common ground for negotiating,” she said. Another woman, Om Therma, said people from her district needed to be treated with more respect and voiced frustration at the way police had dealt with the protests in the area. “I am the mother of four attorneys and three engineers but the government fired tear gas at us and there is no respect in that,” she said.

Kuwait bans political parties but its political system is generally acknowledged as the most democratic in the Gulf Arab region thanks to its elected parliament which has legislative powers. Still, the Amir has the final say in state matters and selects the prime minister who forms

a Cabinet. Top portfolios are traditionally held by ruling family members. The December election was the fifth in the state in six years. In an election in February, tribal candidates performed strongly and joined with mainly Islamist MPs to form a majority opposition bloc which put pressure on the government.

Under that voting system, citizens could select four candidates using four votes of equal weight, which meant candidates could call on supporters to cast their additional ballots for allies in the 50-seat legislature.

Under the new system, Kuwaitis get one vote only. The candidate who won the most votes in February was Musallam Al-Barrak, a tribal politician who was later arrested for remarks at a rally deemed to undermine the Amir’s status.

Saleh Al-Saeedi, a political science researcher who has carried out a study on Kuwaiti families based on voter registration data, estimated that people from tribal backgrounds form slightly more than half of the electorate. He said candidates from tribal areas were particularly successful under the old system thanks to their social ties. “They have links, they organise between the groups. In this fight the city people are just not as well organised,” he said.

Critics say some of the tribal MPs used the last parliament to settle scores rather than concentrating on legislation needed to develop the Kuwaiti economy. Progovernment MPs also say their tribal counterparts, who are Sunni Muslims, can be hostile towards minorities, like the Shiite population, and are not supportive of women’s rights.

The move by Sheikh Sabah, whose family has ruled for 250 years, to change the voting system brought tens of thousands of Kuwaitis of all stripes out to the street in Kuwait City on the eve of the vote, including urban citizens. The government said the aim was to bring the system in line with those of democracies elsewhere and in a speech on Nov 21 the Amir urged Kuwaitis to vote, not protest, to seek change. “We have the great challenges of fighting corruption and (the) reform of state bodies, (the) educational system, public services, health, water, transport, roads, housing and job creation,” he said, touching on themes tribal and other candidates have campaigned on in the past.

Back at the diwaniya, Mutlak Al-Mutairi, the eldest man in the group, said a big problem was the structure of the political system. “It is a worldwide principle that the minority should follow the majority and not vice versa,” the 75-year-old said. The men in the room said that the security services and judicial system discriminate against the tribes. “ There was a protest in Rumaithiya, another part of town, and there was not even a police car there. Why do they come here? Is it because we are tribes or because of our political ideas?” said 22-year-old fireman Majd Al-Radwi. The men said the government should be more representative. “The tribes are more than 50 percent of the population and now the government is confronted with the tribes,” said Jasser, the lawyer. “The government does not have the power to suppress the tribes now.” — Reuters

Obama is Time’s person of year for second...

Continued from Page 1 Fabiola Gianotti, and Egypt’s post-revolutionary President Mohamed Morsi. But Obama swept to the head of the pack as because of what Time said was his ability to grasp the demographic and social changes

shifting the United States. “The truth is,” Obama told Time, “that we have steadily become a more diverse and tolerant country that embraces people’s differences and respects people who are not like us. That’s a profoundly good thing. That’s one of the strengths of America.” — AFP

14

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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Egypt instability won’t end with referendum

By Marc Burleigh gyptian President Mohamed Morsi will certainly succeed in pushing through a new constitution in a weekend referendum, analysts say - but his battle with the opposition is far from over. The Arab world’s most populous nation is looking at prolonged instabilit y that will undermine Morsi’s prospects of governing and badly hurt an economy tottering on the brink of disaster, observers warned.

Weeks of protests and missteps by Morsi have weakened the president’s authority and split the nation into two camps: one supporting the ruling Islamists, and one backing an opposition coalition of disparate forces united essentially by their fierce anti-Morsi stance.

“Of course, the constitution will be adopted” in a second-round referendum on Saturday, Hani Sabra, an analyst at the Eurasia group, said in a media note.

But “the referendum results will also fuel the confrontation between the Brotherhood and the nonIslamist opposition,” he said. “This confrontation, played out through protests, strikes and clashes between rival supporters and police will make governing even more difficult. This will be compounded by the ongoing battle between the bureaucracy and the presidency.”

Opposition rallies against Morsi and the draft constitution have ebbed this week, as attention has turned to the referendum. The opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, after initial hesitation over whether to boycott, has urged voters to reject the new charter drafted mainly by Morsi’s Islamist allies, saying it will open the way to sharia-style strict Islamic law. Unofficial tallies showed 57 percent of voters in the first round backing the draft constitution, though turnout was a low 30 percent and the opposition claimed numerous instances of polling fraud.

The margin is expected to grow in the second round to seal the text’s adoption, but by a smaller margin than Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood had been banking on. Hostility to the charter is the principal issue holding together the broad coalition of leftwing, liberal, secular and Christian groups. “The question is: If the Brothers win, will the opposition give up and say it did what it could? Or will it go into the streets calling for a bigger mobilisation in the future?” asked analyst Hassan Nafaa of the Ahram Centre.

An adoption of the charter would trigger new polls, setting the scene for more demonstrations and renewing the ideological debate over whether the country should become more Islamist. “What is developing in Egypt is the ideological battle of the decade,” said Paul Sullivan, a professor specialising in Egypt and the Middle East at Georgetown University in the United States. While most Egyptians see themselves as pious Muslims, the Brotherhood and the more radical Salafists want the country to adopt their views, he said in an analysis published on the Global Experts website. “In many ways what we may be seeing in Egypt is a clash of interpretations of Islam, or even a clash of civilizations within Egypt,” Sullivan said.

One of the first casualties of the continued turmoil could be Egypt’s economy, which has slowed dramatically in the aftermath of the Feb 2011 revolution that toppled veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak and not yet recovered. Gross domestic product is expected to grow a meagre 2.0 percent this year and 3.0 percent in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund - less than half the performance recorded prerevolution. Unemployment is over 12 percent, around 40 percent of Egypt’s 83 million citizens lives on the equivalent of two dollars or less per day, and the central bank’s foreign reserves have plunged by more than half since early 2011 to less than $15 billion today.

The IMF last week put on hold a proposed $4.8 billion loan Cairo needs to prevent devastating devaluation of Egypt’s currency, frightening investors. The EU ambassador to Egypt, James Moran, told AFP that Egypt’s eroding reserves “is a worry obviously for the government and also for us”. Up to $2.7 billion the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was mulling to invest in Egypt’s private sector over the next couple of years could be affected, he said. —AFP

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Saudis may boost natural gas price

By Amena Bakr and Reem Shamseddine audi Arabia may as early as next year do something it has resisted for decades: raise what is currently the world’s lowest price for natural gas, in order to reduce expensive subsidies and curb energy waste.

A price hike would be an important economic shift for the country but a difficult one, since it would risk hurting the competitiveness of industries such as petrochemicals.

Energy-hungry industries have boomed in Saudi Arabia over the last decade, thanks largely to the cheap gas, priced for domestic industrial users at just $0.75 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) - a small fraction of prices paid by competitors around the globe.

The Saudi price, unchanged for decades, was set when gas was a plentiful by-product of the country’s giant oil fields. Since then, Riyadh has shied away from raising the price, despite escalating production costs, for fear of hurting companies which provide jobs for a young and growing population. But sources of gas that can be tapped cheaply have now run low, a shortage intensified by waste. So Saudi Arabia is increasingly having to look at costly offshore or unconventional sources of gas to meet soaring demand.

The government has had some success reducing waste by demanding that petrochemical projects, which use natural gas as a raw material, introduce more efficient technologies before allocating them any gas.

Raising the domestic selling price could do more to discourage waste, while saving the government billions of dollars in gas subsi-

S

dies. “There are plans to increase the gas price, and this will happen because Saudi Arabia wants to eliminate inefficient use of gas, because it’s running out,” said a Saudi industry source familiar with government discussions on the issue.

The source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, said a decision on concrete action had not yet been made, but that a price hike might occur by the end of 2013. Top government officials have declined to comment publicly on the issue. But over the past year, Saudi Arabia has shown increasing willingness to grapple with economic reforms, introducing a law covering home mortgage lending, for example.

Reform of gas pricing may follow as soon as next year, many industry participants and analysts believe.

Kamel Al-Harami, an independent Kuwaiti oil analyst, said that after years of debate among government officials, the gas price might be lifted next year - but that any hike would be small and calculated to avoid harming the petrochemical sector. Saudi Arabia keeps its domestic gas selling price down with huge government subsidies paid out of the hundreds of billions of dollars which the kingdom makes from exporting crude oil. The subsidies have drawn complaints to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by China and India, whose own petrochemical companies compete with Saudi firms.

But the Saudi petrochemical industry has gained great political weight because it generates thousands of jobs in a country whose leaders are keen to avoid the kind of youth unrest that fueled the region’s Arab Spring

uprisings of 2011. So the government has so far resisted outside pressure to cut the subsidies, arguing that since none of the gas is exported, it is not breaking WTO trade rules.

Some Saudi petrochemical executives have warned higher gas prices would make them less competitive in the global market. They point out that Chinese competitors pay lower wages to their workers, while North American rivals are starting to benefit from low energy prices thanks to the proliferation of shale gas.

“The decision on the Saudi gas price is now even more important in light of the US shale gas revolution,” said Aman Amanpour, an independent petrochemicals and energy consultant. The price of gas for US industrial users tumbled from highs of around $13 per mmbtu in 2008 to a record low of about $3 per mmbtu in April 2012, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The US price has rebounded somewhat since then, however, with the EIA expecting industrial consumers next year to pay well over $4 per mmbtu and often more than $5.

So Riyadh could double or triple its gas price for Saudi industrial consumers without coming close to the prices faced by US competitors. Also, analysts expect US gas exports to rise over the next few years, which would keep upward pressure on US domestic prices and therefore help safeguard the big price advantage enjoyed by Saudi firms. The result of such calculations, industry participants and analysts believe, may be that Saudi Arabia raises its domestic gas selling price to around $1.50 per mmbtu - a level high enough to make firms think harder about

conserving gas, but not so high as to make a big dent in their earnings. “The increase in price will not eat too much into the profitability of petchem companies, because right now the price is very, very low,” said the Saudi industry source.

“I don’t necessarily think that the Middle Eastern producers will be less competitive,” said David Seaton, chief executive of US engineering firm Fluor Corp, which is active in Saudi Arabia’s downstream petrochemical sector. Yet a natural gas selling price of $1.50 per mmbtu might still not be high enough to resolve Saudi Arabia’s looming supply problems. State-owned oil and gas monopoly Saudi Aramco has the fourth largest conventional gas reserves in the world and aims to increase its production from 10.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2010 to over 15 bcfd by 2015.

But with most of its easily exploited gas deposits associated with oil fields already developed, Aramco is being forced to map out its “unconventional” gas reserves, such as those trapped in heavy formations of rock and sand, which will be much more expensive to exploit. If the domestic selling price remains far lower than global levels, there will be scant incentive for foreign companies to explore for gas in the vast deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, leaving the Saudi state to foot the bill. “In order to enhance the growth of petrochemicals in Saudi Arabia you need two things: you need innovation, and you need more searching for future gas,” said Mohamed Al-Mady, chief executive of the country’s largest petrochemical producer, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. —Reuters

Rousseff price controls fail to stoke investment

By Paulo Prada and Anthony Boadle hen President Dilma Rousseff took office just under two years ago, she pledged to “eliminate the obstacles that still inhibit the dynamism of our economy”. At the time, Brazilians could be forgiven for believing her. Latin America’s largest economy was rebounding from the global financial crisis, growing at an annual rate of 7.5 percent. These days, though, the economy is anything but dynamic. For a year and a half, Brazil has been at a near standstill. During the third quarter, the economy grew just 0.6 percent from the previous quarter - less than half what economists expected. It is not that Rousseff, a left-leaning former bureaucrat with an economics degree, isn’t trying. But her efforts, rather than stimulating the sort of investment she hopes will stoke the economy, appear to be doing the opposite. Since stagnation set in, Rousseff launched a battery of stimulus measures and new regulations, most of them designed to reduce the so-called “Brazil cost,” the combination of taxes, transport bottlenecks, and other obstacles that hinder growth by making business in Brazil costly compared to other major economies. By cutting that cost, the thinking goes, Brazil can build an economy fueled by businesses investing - not the consumer spending that sustained growth before the slowdown.

The problem, economists say, is Rousseff’s approach. Rather than seek comprehensive reforms to cut costs across the economy, Rousseff has chosen scattershot initiatives targeting prices in isolated sectors.

Instead of tackling onerous tax and labor regulations, for instance, she is settling for cheaper gasoline, electricity, and bank loans. “There is no overall plan, just a

W

series of short-term measures replete with contradictions,” says John Welch, Latin America strategist at CIBC World Markets Inc, in Toronto. “Is it any surprise that growth is disappointing?”

The measures, critics argue, are highly selective, condemning any sector not targeted to the costly status quo. But they are also prompting a pullback in some areas of the economy, as companies, wary of intervention, retrench. The result is less investment, not more. Already, Brazil invests far less than most other big, emerging economies - less than 20 percent of gross domestic product, compared with over 40 percent in China. And investment is falling further, declining in each of the past five quarters.

Presidential aides and supporters say Rousseff is focusing on what’s possible.

In Brazil’s chaotic, multi-party democracy, they argue, she is unlikely to gain traction with restive allies in Congress, let alone opposition lawmakers, for deeper reforms. “This isn’t China, where the government just does what it wants and then everyone falls in line,” says Jose Ricardo Roriz Coelho, the director of competitiveness at the Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo, a leading business group.

Each of Rousseff’s efforts has caused unwanted consequences.

Power rates next year will go down after the government forced utilities to lower charges in exchange for renewed rights to hydroelectric dams and transmission lines. But the plan cost Brazilian utilities more than $15 billion in market value, as investors dumped their shares. “Brazil needs cheaper electricity,” said Jo„o Augusto Castro Neves, an analyst with the Eurasia Group consultancy. “But the way they handled it - by imposing rules on private companies - led people to ask if Brazil

was becoming another Argentina.” And consider Rousseff’s push for lower interest rates. When growth began to flag last year, she urged the central bank to lower rates that remain among the highest of any major economy. The bank complied, slashing rates to historic lows. Rousseff then forced state-run lenders to follow suit, putting the squeeze on private-sector banks, who could lower their rates in turn or be rendered uncompetitive. To protect their profit margins, though, banks also began cutting their costs and growth plans, even jobs.

Then there’s Rousseff’s longstanding refusal to raise gasoline prices. Despite a steady increase in the cost of oil, the policy is designed to control costs for consumers, business and industry, reducing inflation. But state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, has lost more than $8 billion this year because of it. The company, which doesn’t have the refining capacity to cover Brazil’s gasoline needs, is forced to import the fuel and sell it at a loss. Meanwhile, the gasoline policy has also crippled Brazil’s ethanol producers. The industry, once hailed as a global pioneer in alternative fuels, is priced out at the pump because sugar cane producers cannot afford to compete with the cut-rate gasoline.

Combined, the policies are a misguided effort “to micromanage economic activity”, warned Arminio Fraga, a former central bank president, with a colleague in an editorial that ran in Brazil’s biggest newspapers last weekend. Some economists believe the meddling could derail government plans to attract private investment to Brazil’s old and overburdened infrastructure. Upgrades to roads, ports and airports are crucial to clear crippling logjams in the flow of goods and services, especially as Brazil gears up to host the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics.

The rate of return offered on some recent infrastructure projects has been so low that investors have shown little interest. An auction last year for a $17 billion highspeed rail link between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the country’s two biggest cities, failed to draw a single bidder. “The government should accept that it needs to provide a high rate of return to cover uncertainty,” said Ilan Goldfajn, chief economist at Itau Unibanco, Brazil’s largest private-sector bank. “Brazil has improved but there is still uncertainty about the economy.” —Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

sp orts London chosen to host 2017 Paralympic championships LONDON: London will get the chance to recreate the magic of 2012 after being chosen to host the 2017 Paralympic athletics world championships, Mayor Boris Johnson said yesterday.

The event will be held just a month before the Olympic Stadium hosts the IAAF world athletics championships, making London the first city to stage both events back-toback.

This year’s Paralympics athletics events attracted sell-out 80,000 crowds with the performances of British 100m runner Jonnie Peacock and wheelchair racer David Weir providing some of the most memorable moments of the Games.

“London just staged the best spectacle of sport the world has seen,” Johnson said in a statement. “By bringing the IPC athletics world championships to our wonderful Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park just a month before the world athletics championships, the capital is poised to recreate the magic of 2012.—Reuters

NBA results/standings Atlanta 100, Washington 95 (OT); Toronto 113, Cleveland 99; Utah 92, Brooklyn 90; Miami 103, Minnesota 92; Chicago 100, Boston 89; Milwaukee 98, Indiana 93;Dallas 107, Philadelphia 100; Denver 112, San Antonio 106; LA Lakers 101, Charlotte 100; Golden State 103, New Orleans 96.

NY Knicks Brooklyn Boston Philadelphia Toronto Chicago Milwaukee Indiana Detroit Cleveland Miami Atlanta Orlando Charlotte Washington

Oklahoma City Denver Utah Minnesota Portland LA Clippers Golden State LA Lakers Phoenix Sacramento Memphis San Antonio Houston Dallas New Orleans

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L 18 6 13 11 12 12 12 13 7 19 Central Division 14 10 13 10 13 12 7 20 5 21 Southeast Division 16 6 15 7 11 13 7 17 3 19 Western Conference Northwest Division 20 4 14 12 14 12 12 11 11 12 Pacific Division 18 6 17 8 12 14 10 15 7 17 Southwest Division 16 6 19 8 12 12 12 13 5 19

PCT .750 .542 .500 .480 .269

GB 5 6 6.5 12

.583 .565 .520 .259 .192

0.5 1.5 8.5 10

.727 .682 .458 .292 .136

1 6 10 13

.833 .538 .538 .522 .478

7 7 7.5 8.5

.750 .680 .462 .400 .292

1.5 7 8.5 11

.727 .704 .500 .480 .208

.5 5.5 6 12.5

Gabart, Le Cleac’h pass Vendee half-way point PARIS: The enthralling battle for the lead in the roundthe-world Vendee Globe hit the half-way point yesterday, with Frenchman Francois Gabart leading compatriot Armel Le Cleac’h by just over 12 nautical miles.

With 12,035 miles to the finish at Les Sablesd’Olonne in western France, the fleet which began with 20 boats but has since been reduced to 13 has been at sea for 39 days in what is widely regarded as the most prestigious race in the sport.

The solo helmsmen who sail without stopping or without assistance must now negotiate the dangers of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans as they make their way back towards the starting point.

“I’m currently at 22-24 knots and there’s a lot of noise. I’m very happy Armel (Le Cleac’h) didn’t sail away after the gate,” said Gabart. “I managed to catch some strong wind a little before him and take the lead of the race but it’s very close.”

“Now I need to be careful and take good care of myself, make sure I don’t push myself too hard.

Sometimes, when you’re tired, you get nervous or mad really fast, just like in everybody’s daily life.

“And when that happens, you have to take a deep breath or take a nap when it’s really needed. I’m glad to be halfway through and to be on my way back home, it’s a pleasant feeling. “I’ll try to do as good, and possibly even better, in the second half.”—AFP

China blind chess contest BEIJING: Some of the world’s top chess players went eye-to-eye in China yesterday in the year’s highest-level “blindfold” chess tournament-seen by some as the toughest challenge in the game.

Unable to physically see their own or their opponent’s past moves, the players summoned headache-inducing levels of concentration to fight for gold in a silent conference room, lined up in front of laptop screens showing a blank board. As each picked out a move, it was briefly displayed to their opponent opposite before disappearing-although spectators outside were allowed a full computer representation of the match.

World number two Levon Aronian of Armenia took the men’s title, while China’s 18-year-old former women’s world champion Hou Yifan clinched the

women’s gold. “It’s the ultimate pinnacle of the human brain,” Beijing Sportaccord World Mind Games organiser Geoffrey Borg told AFP, adding that the blindfold tournament was “probably the world’s most difficult type of chess”.

Winners would even be tested for banned substances, organisers said, but declined to go into details of the list.

Contestants complained of aching heads after hours of intense concentration, having to visualise the entire state of the chess board while planning as many as 15 moves in advance. “After playing for five or six hours, you can get terrible headaches,” said Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko, who stormed out of the competition room shaking his head after losing a match in a momentary lapse of concentration. —AFP

Clarke in fitness race SYDNEY: Australian captain Michael Clarke is confident he will be fit for the second Test against Sri Lanka and started an intensive physio campaign yesterday to overcome a hamstring strain.

The world’s leading Test batsman suffered the twinge in his team’s 137-run win over the tourists in Hobart this week and he is racing the clock to recover in time for the next encounter in Melbourne from December 26.

“I know I’m in great hands with (team physio) Alex (Kountouris) and I know how great a physio he is,” said Clarke, who reclaimed the top spot in the ICC Test batsman rankings released Tuesday evening.

Clarke, who entered the Hobart Test trailing Shivnarine Chanderpaul by just one ratings point, now leads the West Indian by nine points after knocks of 74 and 57. “Obviously my preparation will be a little bit different to the lead-up to this Test match but I’ve done a fair bit of batting throughout the summer so I’m confident,” he added.—AFP

Heat beat Timberwolves MIAMI: Dwyane Wade scored 24 points, LeBron James added 22 points and 11 assists and the Miami Heat survived a huge rebounding differential to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-92 on Tuesday night.

Chris Bosh scored 15 points and Mario Chalmers added 12 for the Heat, who gave up 21 of the game’s first 24 rebounds and wound up getting beaten 52-24 on the boards - yet still won.

Andrei Kirilenko scored 22 for Minnesota, which played without guard Ricky Rubio, who’s being eased back after recovering from knee surgery. The Timberwolves dropped their second straight. Kevin Love finished with 11 points and 18 rebounds, and Nikola Pekovic had a 18-point, 12rebound effort for the Timberwolves. James topped the 20-point mark for the 27th straight regular-season game and 43rd straight overall.

Lakers 101, Bobcats 100 In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored four of his 30 points in the final 1:26 and the Lakers overcame an 18-point thirdquarter deficit to hand Charlotte its 12th straight loss.

Jodie Meeks and Metta World Peace each had 17 points for the Lakers, who won their third straight to match their longest winning streak of the season. Pau Gasol, back after missing eight games with tendinitis in both knees, had 10 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes and shot 3 for 10.

World Peace was not in the starting lineup for the first time after starting the first 25 games. Reserve center Jordan Hill missed his third straight game because of back spasms. Kemba Walker led Charlotte with 28 points, reserve Ramon Sessions added 20 and Gerald Henderson had 19. Byron Mullens finished with 17 rebounds and 13 points.

Memphis on Monday, putting up their lowest point total in five seasons.

Raptors 113, Cavaliers 99 In Cleveland, Jose Calderon scored a season-high 23 points, and Toronto won on the road for the second time this season. The Raptors snapped an 11-game skid on the road, winning away from home for the first time since Nov. 13 when they beat Indiana. Toronto, which is 2-14 on the road, has also won three in a row for the first time this season.

Alan Anderson hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 18 points. Amir Johnson scored 17 points and DeMar DeRozan added 16. Kyrie Irving, coming off a career-high 41 points Saturday, scored 23 points for Cleveland. The reigning rookie of the year, currently playing with a broken bone in his jaw, is wearing a protective mask.

had 18 for the 76ers, who lost their fourth straight game. Philadelphia point guard Jrue Holiday, the team’s leading scorer at nearly 19 points per game, missed his third straight game with a sprained left foot.

Dallas point guard Derek Fisher left the game with 6:50 left in the first quarter with a strained right knee and did not return. Fisher, who wasn’t expected to play because of the flu, went down to the ground after having his shot blocked by Evan Turner. The 17th-year guard walked slowly to the locker room.

Nuggets 112, Spurs 106 In Dever, Danilo Gallinari scored a season-high 28 points and outplayed Tim Duncan down the stretch as Denver beat San Antonio. Duncan had 31 points - also a season high - to go along with 18 rebounds for the Spurs, who closed a 15-point lead to three with 3:38 left before

Hawks 100, Wizards 95 In Washington, Lou Williams scored a season-high 24 points and Josh Smith had 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead Atlanta past Washington in overtime. Atlanta (15-7) has won all three meetings with the Wizards (3-19) this season. After Washington took a 93-92 lead on a jumper by Earl Barron with 3:05 to play in overtime, the Hawks scored six straight points - capped by DeShawn Stevenson’s 3pointer - to go up five with 1:29 to play.

Stevenson and Al Horford each made 1 of 2 free throws, and then Jordan Crawford, who had a triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, hit a jumper with 48 seconds left to pull Washington to 98-95. Nene had a jumper blocked by Smith with 9 seconds to play, and Kyle Korver made two free throws to cap the scoring.

Jazz 92, Nets 90 In New York, Mo Williams scored 19 points, Al Jefferson had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Utah held on to beat Brooklyn. Utah turned it over on two inbounds passes in the final 31 seconds, the last leading to a Nets steal. They pushed it up and got a potential go-ahead 3-pointer from Gerald Wallace that missed. The Jazz escaped when Reggie Evans’ follow shot was no good as time expired.

Derrick Favors added 13 points against his former franchise for the Jazz, who improved to just 5-10 on the road.

Joe Johnson scored 21 points for the Nets, who led for most of the game and by as many as 13 points before dropping their second straight.

Bulls 100, Celtics 89 In Chicago, Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer scored 21 points apiece, Joakim Noah had a triple-double for Chicago. Noah had 11 points, 13 rebounds and a career high-tying 10 assists for his second career triple-double, and the Bulls evened a 101-95 home loss to Boston on Nov. 12.

Nate Robinson scored 18 points for Chicago and keyed a fourth-quarter surge that put the game out of reach.

Rajon Rondo led the Celtics with 26 points and eight assists. Paul Pierce added 16 points. Boston has lost a season-high three straight games, all on the road.

The Bulls improved to 4-2 in the second of back-to-back games this season. Chicago bounced back from a loss at

CHICAGO: Boston Celtics forward Jeff Green (8) fouls Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng on Deng’s drive to the basket during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game.—AP

Bucks 98, Pacers 93 In Milwaukee, Brandon Jennings scored 13 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter and Monta Ellis had 19 points, leading Milwaukee past Indiana. Jennings scored four straight points midway through the fourth quarter to give the Bucks an 89-85 lead with 4:10 remaining.

Paul George drove the lane for Indiana for a dunk to cut the lead to two, but Jennings responded with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3:30 remaining to give the Bucks a 92-87 lead.

David West hit one of two free throws, but Mike Dunleavy rebounded his own miss and scored to give Milwaukee a 94-88 lead with 1:35 remaining. George Hill hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 94-91 with 1:17 remaining.

Jennings then drove the lane and scored with 1 minute left to boost the lead to 96-91 and the Bucks held on for the win.

Mavericks 107, 76ers 100 In Dallas, OJ Mayo scored 26 points, Chris Kaman added 20 and Dallas snapped a three-game losing streak.

Mayo and Kaman scored 17 of Dallas’ last 19 points to help the Mavericks win their seventh straight at home against the 76ers.

Dorell Wright scored 25 points and Spencer Hawes

the Nuggets closed it out for their third straight win.

Manu Ginobili scored 16 points for the Spurs, who have lost four of their last five. San Antonio trailed 98-83 before charging back. Patty Mills hit two 3-pointers, Duncan scored eight points and Tony Parker hit a 3 to pull the Spurs to 105-102.

Two free throws by Duncan and a basket by Ginobili made it 110-106 with 53 seconds left. A turnover by Denver gave the Spurs a chance to get closer but they missed three straight 3-pointers in the final 24 seconds.

Warriors 103, Hornets 96 In Oakland, David Lee had 26 points and nine rebounds, Klay Thompson finished with 19 points and the Warriors brought their surprising road run home with a victory over the struggling New Orleans Hornets.

After going 6-1 on the season’s longest road stretch, the Warriors built a 14-point lead in the second quarter and held off the Hornets late. Golden State (17-8) is off to its best start since the 1991-92 season, when the team began 21-8. Ryan Anderson scored 28 points off the bench and Anthony Davis had 15 points and 16 rebounds in his first start in a month for the Hornets, who lost their eighth straight and are the worst team in the Western Conference with a 5-19 record. — AP

For the 2nd consecutive year, Wataniya sponsors GulfRun- Kart race KUWAIT: For the 2nd consecutive year, Wataniya Telecom sponsored GulfRun- Kart Race - 24 hours which was held at Kuwait International Fairground in Mishref from Dec 14-15. Wataniya’s initiative in sponsoring this event comes in line with its endeavor to fulfill its social responsibility program by raising awareness about the importance of applying the rules of safety driving to avoid severe accidents.

Many of professionals and beginners participated and competed in this race continuously for 24 hours which help greatly in testing their ability to stand the long time driving and perseverance. The winning teams were awarded with medals and many other valuable prizes.

“Shanubz” team was the grand winner at the event.

On this occasion, Public Relations Manager at Wataniya Telecom Fatima Dashti stated the fact that this sponsorship is “a great event which the company is keen to take part in for the 2nd year, especially after the great success it has witnessed in 2011. GulfRun’s main role is to raise the awareness on the importance of the driving laws and safety driving to reduce the accidents, as well as to maintain the youth safety. Dashti added saying “Wataniya will always be part of such important events and to share the excitement in a safety driving environment”. A special racing ring was established at the fairground to host the race which was marked with excitement.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

sp orts

Tebow Time clocks out in the Big Apple NEW YORK: In the end, the Tim Tebow era in New York will be remembered for his shirtless jog in the rain. Really, that’s about it. He barely played at all for the Jets, who clearly didn’t do any sort of clear-headed reasoning before they traded for Tebow, then quickly began asking themselves, “Uhh, what were we thinking?”

And now, with a hugely disappointing season all but done and Mark Sanchez finally banished to the bench, coach Rex Ryan officially signaled the end of Tebow Time in the Big Apple. He turned to Greg McElroy, a seventh-round pick in 2011, to start Sunday’s now-meaningless game against San Diego.

No one thinks McElroy’s the answer to what ails the Jets. But, apparently, he’s more of an answer than Tebow, who will watch the game from the same spot he’s spent nearly the entire season - the bench.

Tebow’s career with the Jets will surely go down as a one-and-done flop. At this point, it would be easier to find Waldo on the depth chart than Tebow. Shortly after this mess of a year comes to its merciful end, he will surely ask for a trade (politely, of course) or simply be released.

“I think it’s where we are right now and I just think it’s best for our team and for this game,” Ryan said on a conference call Tuesday, explaining his decision to start McElroy instead of Tebow less than 24 hours after a hideous loss to Tennessee officially eliminated the Jets from playoff contention. “That’s how I feel.”

He wouldn’t get any more specific than that, repeatedly referring to it being a “gut” decision - nothing more, nothing less. Not that there was much Ryan

could say. The Jets backed themselves into a corner way back in March when they acquired Tebow from the Denver Broncos, and they never came up with a way out.

Supposedly, the plan was to let Sanchez remain the starter, with Tebow working two or three series a game as a change-of-pace option, running out the Wildcat or spread to give defenses another look. But there were a couple of big problems with that scenario.

For one, the Jets really didn’t have the personnel on offense to change things up that drastically, even for just a few plays a game. Heck, as it turned out, they really didn’t have enough talent around Sanchez to run a conventional offense, and they never thought for a moment that Tebow had the skill set to oversee anything resembling the norm.

Then, there’s the dilemma that everyone could see coming before Tebow’s jet even landed in New York.

Everyone except the Jets, that is. If the team played a second quarterback, even while insisting he was just the backup, Sanchez’s standing would’ve been undermined beyond repair (which might have been the case regardless, as it turns out). It’s called a quarterback controversy. If Tebow had been given the chance to do something - anything - all the fans and pundits and talking heads would have been screaming for a change at the slightest hint of success.

So, while Tebow raised a ruckus merely by stripping off his shirt to jog off the field on a rainy day at training camp, Sanchez remained the undisputed starter. He held on as captain of the Titanic right to the

bitter end, the Jets resisting any urge to save themselves by jumping in a lifeboat piloted by Tebow.

“I know Tim is a tremendous competitor, and I don’t doubt that at all,” Ryan said, again explaining in the vaguest possible terms why it will never be Tebow Time on his team. “For right now, I think this move, it’s a move that I made, is best for our team in this game. I believe that and that’s why I’m making the move that I’m making.”

Tebow has played in 11 games for the Jets, but if you blinked, you missed him. Outside of a 23-yard completion against Indianapolis back in mid-October, he’s passed for a grand total of 16 yards. He’s had just three runs longer than 10 yards. He’s yet to reach the end zone with either his legs or his left arm.

Now, the Jets can’t afford for him to play well - not even in their final two meaningless games. As with all sinking ships, everyone is now trying to figure out a way to save himself. Ryan is hanging on by a thread.

So is Tony Sparano, the offensive coordinator who was supposed to make this experiment work. Not to mention general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who has overseen the gutting of a franchise that seemed on the rise not so long ago.

If Tebow plays now - and plays well - those Jets fans still paying attention would undoubtedly wonder, “Hey, why haven’t they been playing him all along?” Which would lead to all the above-mentioned figures finding themselves looking for work next season. They may be anyway, but they no longer have any chance of surviving on Tebow’s back. In hindsight, Tebow and the Jets were like love-struck teenagers

back in March, all giddy over each other and not paying a lick of attention to what really mattered.

For Tebow it was a chance to spread his clean-cut, deeply religious brand in the greatest media market of them all. For the Jets, it was a chance to steal away some of the thunder from the team they share a city and a stadium with, the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

In the end, the only winner was the Broncos, playing the role of the all-knowing parent. Even after Tebow guided the team to the playoffs in 2011 and a stirring overtime win against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round, GM John Elway knew he needed more skill at the most important position on the field.

He jumped at the chance to land one of the best ever, Peyton Manning, and quickly dumped Tebow on the Jets, even picking up a couple of draft picks in the deal. And look where they teams are now: Denver, the AFC West champion and headed to the playoffs with an 11-3 record; the Jets, already looking ahead to the offseason at 6-8.

So, it’s time for Tebow to put the shirt back on and find another team. Maybe he’ll wind up close to home with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Or maybe another team in desperate QB straits, such as the Arizona Cardinals. If those options don’t pan out, he could even give the Canadian Football League a try.

The game north of the border might be better suited to his unorthodox style. No matter what, the clock has run out on Tebow Time in New York. We all saw the end coming, what surprised us was the Jets didn’t wind the darn thing up. — AP

Pepper leaves NBC Sports after 8 years

OXFORD: In this Oct. 6, 2012, file photo, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel throws a pass in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game against Mississippi. — AP

Texas A&M’s Johnny is AP’s Player of the Year NEW YORK: Johnny Manziel ran for almost 1,700 yards and 30 touchdowns as a dual-threat quarterback his senior year of high school at Kerrville Tivy. Who would have thought he’d be even more impressive at Texas A&M when pitted against the defenses of the Southeastern Conference?

On Tuesday, Manziel picked up another major award for his spectacular debut season. He was voted The Associated Press Player of the Year. As with the Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award that Manziel already won, the QB nicknamed Johnny Football is the first freshman to collect the AP award.

Manziel’s 31 votes were more than twice that of second place finisher Manti Te’o, Notre Dame’s start linebacker. He is the third straight Heisman-winning quarterback to receive the honor, following Robert Griffin III and Cam Newton.

Manziel erased initial doubts about his ability when he ran for 60 yards and a score in his first game against Florida.

“I knew I could run the ball, I did it a lot in high school,” Manziel said in an interview with the AP. “It is just something that you don’t get a chance to see in the spring.

Quarterbacks aren’t live in the spring. You don’t get to tackle.

You don’t get to evade some of the sacks that you would in normal game situations. So I feel like when I was able to avoid getting tackled, it opened some people’s eyes a little bit more.” The 6-foot-1 Manziel threw for 3,419 yards and 24 touchdowns and ran for 1,181 yards and 19 more scores to help the Aggies win 10 games for the first time since 1998 and in their inaugural SEC year, too.

Ryan Tannehill, Manziel’s predecessor now with the Dolphins after being drafted eighth overall this season, saw promise from the young quarterback last year when he was redshirted. But even he is surprised at how quickly things came together for Manziel.

“It’s pretty wild. I always thought he had that playmaking ability, that something special where if somebody came free, he can make something exciting happen,” Tannehill said. “I wasn’t really sure if, I don’t think anyone was sure if he was going to be able to carry that throughout an SEC season, and he’s shocked the world and he did it.” After Manziel sat out as a redshirt in 2011, Texas A&M’s scheduled season-opener against Louisiana Tech this year was postponed because of Hurricane Isaac. That left him to get his first taste of live defense in almost two years against Florida.

He responded well, helping the Aggies race to a 17-7 lead early using both his arm and his feet. The Gators shut down Manziel and A&M’s offense in the second half and Texas A&M lost 20-17. But Manziel’s performance was enough for Texas A&M’s coaching staff to realize that his scrambling ability was going to be a big part of what the Aggies could do this season. “The first half really showed that I was a little bit more mobile than we had seen throughout the spring,” Manziel said. “Me and (then-offensive coordinator) Kliff Kingsbury sat down and really said: ‘Hey we can do some things with my feet as well as throwing the ball.’ And it added a little bit of a new dimension.”

Manziel knew that the biggest adjustment from playing in high school to college would be the speed of the game.

Exactly how quick players in the SEC were was still a jolt to the quarterback. “The whole first drive I was just seeing how fast they really flew to the ball and I felt like they just moved a whole lot faster,” he said of the Florida game. “It was differ-

ent than what I was used to, different than what I was used to in high school. So it was just having to learn quick and adjust on the fly.” He did just that and started piling up highlight reel material by deftly avoiding would-be tacklers to help the Aggies run off five consecutive wins after that.

His storybook ride hit a roadblock when he threw a season-high three interceptions in a 24-19 loss to LSU. But Manziel used it as a learning experience, taking to heart some advice he received from Kingsbury.

“He just told me to have a plan every time, before every snap,” Manziel said. “Make sure you have a plan on what you want to do and where you want to go with the ball.”

“I feel like as the year went on, I just learned the offense more and knew exactly where I wanted to go, instead of maybe evading the blitz and just taking off running for the first down instead of hitting a hot route or throwing it underneath to an open guy and doing things a lot simpler and cleaner.” The Aggies and Manziel rebounded from the loss to LSU by winning their last five games, highlighted by their stunning 29-24 upset of top-ranked Alabama on Nov. 10.

By the time Manziel wrapped up a 253-yard passing and 92-yard rushing performance to lead Texas A&M to the victory in Tuscaloosa, you could hardly call him a freshman anymore. “You keep growing and growing every week,” he said.

“By the time I played Alabama I had a much better grasp of the game than I did in the first one.” The 4,600 yards of total offense Manziel gained in 12 games broke the SEC record for total yards in a season. The record was previously held by 2010 Heisman winner Newton, who needed 14 games to pile up 4,327 yards. The output also made him the first freshman, first player in the SEC and fifth player overall to throw for 3,000 yards and run for 1,000 in a season.

Manziel, who turned 20 two days before taking home the Heisman, has been so busy he hasn’t had a second to step back and digest the historical significance of his accomplishments this season. He’s far more concerned with helping the Aggies extend their winning streak to six games with a win over Oklahoma on Jan. 4 in the Cotton Bowl.

“I think it will happen after the bowl game and after the season is completely over,” he said. “I’m just ready for it to die down a little bit and get back into a practice routine where we get better and hopefully do what we want to do in the bowl game.”

He’ll have to do it without his mentor Kingsbury, who left A&M last week to become coach at Texas Tech, where he starred at quarterback not that long ago. Manziel said is happy Kingsbury got to return to his alma matter, but is still adjusting to the idea of playing without him.

“I’m the happiest guy on the face of the earth for him,” Manziel said, speaking from California where he appeared on the “Tonight Show” Monday evening. “I think he deserves it with how hard he’s worked this year to get us where we were. It’s bittersweet though, because I’d like him to be here for the entire time that I’m here.”

Manziel is eager to get back on the field for the Cotton Bowl and is focused on helping the offense pick up where it left off in the regular-season finale. “Even though Kliff Kingsbury’s not here anymore, we just need to continue to get better and do what we do,” Manziel said. “Push tempo, go fast and be the high-flying offense that we have been all year.”— AP

NEW York: Dottie Pepper learned the art of retirement at an early age. In a practice round during her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, she wound up behind someone Pepper would describe as an aging veteran who had no business being out there. Pepper turned to her sister, who caddied for her that summer, and told her, “Don’t ever let me get to that point.”

Two years after her first shoulder surgery, when those blue eyes didn’t blaze with quite as much intensity and Pepper began to realize there was more to life than chasing around a little white golf ball, she announced her retirement at the 2004 US Women’s Open when she was 38. Her retirement Sunday after eight years with NBC Sports was not much different.

“I would have to say this is similar to when Barry Sanders retired because she’s going out on top of her game,” said Tommy Roy, NBC’s executive producer of golf who gave Pepper a chance, coached and critiqued her, and was sorry to see her go. “Her work this year on the FedEx Cup and the Ryder Cup was impeccable. You could take her work and make a ‘how-to’ tape for future broadcasters.” Her last day at work was Sunday at the Father-Son Challenge in Orlando, Fla., the end of a ride that Pepper, 47, could not have imagined.

It was former NBC staffer John Goldstein who persuaded Roy to give her a shot at the ‘04 Women’s Open, and Pepper took it from there. She started work in 2005 during the Florida swing on the PGA Tour, and then got her big break at her first US Open that summer. She was assigned the next-tolast group, and walked the final round at Pinehurst No. 2 with the champion, Michael Campbell.

“You can’t dream up an assignment like that,” Pepper said. “My very first Open and I walk in the winner.” Just like her retirement from playing, however, Pepper caught herself pulled in another direction. She was tired of the travel, for one thing, and she found her passion shifting to junior golf. The PGA of America called on her again, and this time, Pepper listened. She decided at the Ryder Cup to leave her role as the most prominent female golf analyst and join the PGA of America’s board of directors, where she can work on developing junior golf programs. Roy was

effusive with praise.

“The great thing about Dottie is not many players could come over from the LPGA and analyze in a critical way how the PGA Tour players and still be respected by those players,” he said.

“She garnered so much respect from the players. She came over and fit right in.” That’s all Pepper really wanted. Roy said he would like to have another LPGA Tour player work the U.S. Women’s Open next summer on Long Island, though it is not imperative for the NBC team to find another woman to fill Pepper’s role. It was never about gender, and Pepper never saw it that way.

SOUTH HADLEY: This July 1, 2004 file photo shows golfer Dottie Pepper wiping tears as she announces that she will retire as a player at a news conference during the first round of the US Women’s Open Golf Championship at The Orchards. — AP “It’s been the greatest thing because I was treated as a reporter and an analyst, not because I was a woman,” she said. “I was expected to toe the line. No matter how bad the weather was, how tough the walk was, I was to do everything the guys did. And that’s how I wanted it.”

She was never lacking in intensity and honesty, sometimes to a fault. She once was criticized for shouting, “Yes!” when her opponent missed a putt in the Solheim Cup. Roy laughed when recalling her early years with NBC. “Everyone on the NBC golf team was scared to death of her from when she

was a player,” he said. That intensity, however, led to her lowest moment in broadcasting. Pepper was working the Solheim Cup for Golf Channel in 2007 when the Americans kept missing one pivotal putt after another. They had gone to a commercial break, but someone forgot to hit the switch. Thinking they were off the air, Pepper said, “Choking, freakin’ dogs!”

Only they weren’t off the air, and her commentary got back to the Americans. Pepper didn’t remember saying it and she didn’t even find out about it until six hours later, when the telecast was over and a producer closed the door behind him and said, “We’ve got a problem.”

“An enormously sick feeling,” Pepper said. “The thing that still stings about that is that there were people at Golf Channel who had already packed my bags. They had issued my resignation.

And (senior programming director) Don McGuire said, ‘No, that won’t be the case. That was our fault.’ I’ll always be appreciative of him for that.”

Her sin wasn’t being honest, rather it was being a cheerleader. “That’s what hurt the most,” she said. “I was bleeding with them, and as a broadcaster, you can’t do that. You call your sport.”

Pepper wasn’t sure she would recover from that, and there are still a few American players who won’t speak to her. Once a shoo-in as a Solheim Cup captain, Pepper quickly became an afterthought except in the booth. That changed this year when Meg Mallon chose Pepper as one of her assistant captains for the 2013 matches in Colorado. Will she be a captain someday?

“Only if I’m wanted,” she said. “People have to want you to be a captain.” But she says her decision to leave broadcasting was in no way related to her future in the Solheim Cup. It was simply time to move on to something else, which in this case is developing young American players at an early age. She has created a mascot called “Bogey,” a big range ball who is tired of his deadend job and wants to be a player.

Pepper is bringing “Bogey” to the PGA show next month. She describes him as “a bridge so that golf isn’t so scary to kids.” Pepper has no idea how long her stint with the PGA of America will last, but odds are she’ll get out when she’s ready and not a moment too late. — AP

Grinham still has world title ambitions

Natalie Grinham

GRAND CAYMAN: Even though she is now a mother and well into her 35th year, Natalie Grinham’s fine performance and ambitious words suggests she has not entirely relinquished the idea of becoming world champion. The Australian-raised Dutch player upset the seedings to reach her ninth World Open quarter-final in ten years with a fighting 8-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7 success against Joelle King, a New Zealander six places higher at world number five. Grinham may have lost a little of the physicality of her superbly light-footed style, but she went some way towards making up for it by allying one of the most skilful games on the tour with just as much will to win as when she reached her four World Open finals.

She also looked good enough to have chance of reaching the final in the opposite half to Nicol David, the record-breaking six-times champion. This though apparently has limited attraction. “I would rather win my first title than just make my fifth final,” said Grinham, whose showdowns with David in Belfast and Amsterdam in 2006 and 2009 showed her capable of halting the squash legend. Such tough-minded qualities were now vital against a heavier-hitting opponent in sweaty, humid conditions. There were disjointed pauses for court wiping, as well as moments when fluency gave way to more scrappily earned points. Surviving this was not easy for someone not long out from freezing conditions at her home in Amsterdam. King, one of the most improved players on the tour this year, pushed to within three points of victory in the fourth game, and remained threatening even though Grinham was always slightly ahead in the decider. “It was so hot on court it was hard to find that extra fight, but I did,” she said. “My results have been up and down, so I am just happy I am playing. I like being the underdog: there’s no pressure on me then.”—AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

sp orts

Big task for depleted Black Caps in S Africa DURBAN: The New Zealand Black Caps will be underdogs on their cricket tour of South Africa, with the first Twenty20 international against South Africa scheduled for Durban tomorrow. Hit by injuries and the unavailability of leading batsman and former captain Ross Taylor, New Zealand’s best chance of matching their powerful hosts would appear to be in three Twenty20 internationals, which precede two Tests and three one-day internationals.

Led by Brendon McCullum, one of the world’s leading T20 batsmen, New Zealand will hope to match an experimental South African squad in the shortest form of the game. Their chances in the Tests would seem to be minimal against South Africa, who claimed the world No 1 ranking by

beating England in England earlier this year and then endorsed that status with an away win against Australia.

New Zealand’s hopes in the Tests are likely to depend on a handful of key players such as batsmen McCullum, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and fast bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Not only will the New Zealanders have difficulty matching South Africa on the field, but they will also have to convince a sceptical local public that they are worthy opponents.

Jacques Faul, the acting chief executive of Cricket South Africa, took the unusual step of distancing the organisation from negative media comments about the quality of a New Zealand side

ranked eighth in Test and T20 cricket and ninth in one-day internationals.

South Africa are first, fifth and second in the respective categories. “It is fundamental at any level of sport to respect the opposition, regardless of the team they put in the field,” said Faul.

He pointed out that New Zealand had recently drawn a Test series in Sri Lanka, McCullum had hit a record T20 international score, and that New Zealand had a crop of talented young cricketers, especially among their fast bowlers.

Faul talked up the appeal of the South African side, claiming that local supporters would be eager to see their country’s stars in action on home soil for the first time in almost a year.

The New Zealand T20 squad includes five new caps and there is one uncapped player, left-arm spinner Bruce Martin, in the Test party. The one-day squad has not been announced.

McCullum, appointed captain in all three formats after what appeared to be a botched communication between Taylor and coach Mike Hesson, admitted the Black Caps would have been stronger if Taylor was in a team already missing world-class spin bowling all-rounder Daniel Vettori.

“There’s obviously been some distractions back home, but we know there is a monumental task in front of us,” said McCullum. “To take it on without some of our better players is disappointing, but that’s what we’ve got to do.”— AFP

Sri Lanka look to Herath’s spin to save Australia series HOBART: Sri Lanka will be hoping for help from wickets more suitable for spin bowling in the second two tests against Australia after losing the opener by 137 runs on a Hobart track described as a “minefield” by coach Graham Ford. Spin has always been a key weapon in Sri Lanka’s bowling armoury since they achieved test status in 1981, not least when wrist-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was taking his 800 test wickets from 1992 to 2010.

Since Muralitharan’s retirement, Rangana Herath has emerged as the team’s main spin threat and the 34-yearold left arm orthodox bowler has had a stellar year.

Even in defeat in Hobart, Herath took a five-wicket haul, which gave him 60 wickets for the year and ensured he would win his personal battle with England’s Graeme Swann for the title of the most prolific wicket-taker of 2012. “In Melbourne and Sydney, from what I’ve heard, it looks like it’s some help for the spinners so that’s a good start,” he said after taking 5-95 in Australia’s second innings. “Taking five wickets from here, that’s a good achievement. This is my first game playing in a test match in Australia so I’m really happy with the way I bowled.” Coach Ford also thought conditions in the last two tests would suit the tourists better. “History suggests that the MCG and Sydney would help us a little bit more,” he said on Tuesday. “Although this is a new surface here, spinners haven’t done so well whereas at the other venues, spinners have had match-winning performances.

“We’d like to think we are better equipped at those two grounds.” Ford was forced to concede that his pace bowling unit lacked the fire-power to “blow batsmen away” after the Australians had plundered runs off them before declaring at 450-5 in their first innings.

The South African was encouraged, however, by the improved performance by all his bowlers in the second Australian innings, where the hosts were bowled out for 278. He was also confident that the big names in his batting line-up - Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara - were starting to find their feet.

“It’s always hard at the beginning of a tour and these days without a lot of time to prepare, you’re straight in,” he said.

“It can go one way or the other, things can go downhill or they can improve and I think over the five days all our players started to compete and started to improve.”

One man they will have to shut down if they are to fight their way back into the series is middle order batsman Mike Hussey, who in the first innings scored his third century in his last four matches and a fifth in six tests against Sri Lanka.

The 37-year-old now boasts 908 career runs at an impressive average of 129.71 against the Sri Lankans. “He is an outstanding player,” Ford said. “Over the years I guess he’s been able to neutralise our main strength spin bowling - and we haven’t been able to get into him with seam bowling, so that’s possibly the reason why he’s done well, but he is a good player and has a good record, full stop.” Despite the defeat, which came in the final hour of the fifth day on Tuesday after six wickets fell in the last session, Ford was encouraged by the character the Sri Lankans showed to hold off the Australians for so long.

“During the five days there were areas we need to improve on, but if you just look at today, I’m unbelievably proud of the effort the boys put in,” he said. “That surface really became a minefield, it was very difficult, the Australians got the ball to reverse swing considerably. If I look at every delivery, it took a really special effort to get the batsmen out. “As a coach, you can’t really ask for more from your troops than that. Disappointed but at the same time proud of the effort.” —Reuters

Media committee members pose after their meeting

Blatter with Shaikh Salman

Ceremonies committee members during their visit to the National Stadium

Blatter to attend Gulf Cup in Bahrain BAHRAIN: FIFA president Joseph Sepp Blatter, will be attending the opening ceremony of the 21st Gulf Cup next month in Bahrain, the organising committee announced yesterday. The event is scheduled to take place from January 5 to 18, with the National Stadium in Riffa being the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Organising Committee received an official letter from the FIFA chief, in which he accepted an invitation that was initiated

by Chairman of the Executive Committee of Gulf Cup Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim AlKhalifa last October.

The presence of Blatter in this edition Gulf Cup affirmed his support to this prestigious regional football competition, and also underlines the unique reputation thath this event has reached since it was founded in 1970.

The Organising Committee, meanwhile, has appointed Jordanian media personnel Menem Fakhoury as general co-ordinator for press conferences during the tournament. He will also oversee interviews that

will take place at the specially-allocated “Mix Zone” at the National Stadium and Stadium Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town.

Fakhoury is regarded one of the most prominent media representatives in the A r a b r e g i o n a n d h a s a re m a r k a b l e media and sport record. He had previously worked for Jordanian publication Al Rai for nearly 30 years, and chaired its sports department He also conducted many lectures highlighting the media aspects in Jordan and on the continental level.

Fakhoury also worked as an observer of international matches in Asia, including the Asian Champions League, the AFC Cup and West Asian Championship. He was declared international instructor by the Asian Football Confederation and attended various training course in sports umpiring in general, as well as other issues on observing football competitions and international seminars for coaches.

As part of its hard work to evoke all the success factors in welcoming VIP person-

Munem Fakhoury nel, the Reception Committee has made visits to the National Stadium to inspect its facilities that underwent significant chances recently.

This visit was also witnessed by Stadiums Committee chairman Khalid Al Haj and Transports Committee chairman Ali

United Eleven crowned champions BEC T10 Cup 2012 KUWAIT: Last year’s champions United Eleven retained the BEC CUP 2012 by defeating Friends Eleven in the final. In a close encounter, Friends Eleven won the all important toss and with no hesitation, opted to bat first.

In 10 overs, they set a target of 79 runs, which considering the way the pitch was behaving seemed a good target to defend.

However United eleven started off in spectacular fashion, led by their Captain Siraj who led from the front , without losing his cool at any time. In a very clinical way, Siraj and his teammate opener slowly countered the Friends’ Eleven attack. After gaining in confidence, they went on to demolish the opposition bowlers, who were found wanting in ideas.

Finally United Eleven reached the target 79 runs comfortably 7.2 overs with all wickets intact. Arif’s brilliant knock of 53 in the innings ensured that he remained the tournaments highest run getter. He was

adjudged the man of the match and man of the series.

Immediately after the finals, the prize distribution ceremony was held at the Abu Halifa Grounds. The presentation ceremony was graced by ED Titus , Director &G.M.Of Bahrain Exchange Company and Jimmy Scaria, the President of Red N Black Team who were the organizers of the event. Nixon, regional representative of Asianet Middle East, was also present for the prize distribution. Also making time from his busy schedule Dr. Murali Gopal - who incidentally is an ex state level cricket player from Orissa , attended the prize distribution ceremony. Also present were given by officials from BEC Exchange; Jose Thomas, Marketing Manager of BEC, Jimmy Joseph ,secretary and Remi Emmanuel, manager of Red N Black Cricket Club . During the presentation ceremony , Titus addressed the gathering and congratulated the winners of BEC cup for their collective effort. He also congratulated the other teams for putting up such a

spirited performance. The unique specialty of the T10 event held by BEC Exchange & Red N Black over the years, has been the participation of players from various countries. This year also, there was participating teams, from players of different nationalities comprising of Sri Lankans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis , apart from Indians.

Titus congratulated the Red N Black Cricket club for conducting a very well organized tournament in a fair manner and appreciated the club for the initiative. The tournament showed that soft ball cricket had a great following in Kuwait .He thanked Remi and Jimmy for officiating the match as umpires. Finally the BECT10 Ever rolling trophy and cash prize was given away by ED Titus to the captain of United XI .

Friends Eleven received the runners up trophy from Jimmy Scaria, and Dr. Murali Gopal gave away the cash prize. Jose Thomas, handed over the trophy to Kirby, who were the second runner up .

Al-Majed. During the visit, they looked into the main facilities that featured substantial amendments following major construction and renovation works at the stadium in preparation for the upcoming event.

The committee representatives also inspected the entry gates as well as parking area allocated for VIPs. The committee members were briefed on the main stand scheme and the distribution of its stands allocated for VIPs and the appropriate mechanism to be taken by the Committee in order to ensure the success of its mission.

Elsewhere, the media committee has prepared all arrangements related to the media centres that will be made available at different locations. This came during the committee meeting, chaired by Tawfeeq Al Salhi who was briefed on what have been achieved in this regard.

Updates on the committee duties and tasks were presented by Hamad Ali and Jaber Shamsl, as several media personnel in the GCC and Arab region have been invited to attend the tournament.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

sp orts

UK court quashes Hillsborough disaster verdicts LONDON: Families of 96 Liverpool fans crushed to death at the Hillsborough football stadium in 1989 welcomed a British court decision yesterday to quash accidental death verdicts from the disaster, but say their fight is far from over.

High Court judges annulled the inquest verdicts delivered in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy and called for fresh inquests to be held, while police also launched a new investigation. “If there is sufficient evidence to bring charges against those who were in the wrong, then they have to be held accountable in law,” said Barry Devonshire, whose 18-year-old son Christopher perished in the tragedy.

“I am not on a witch-hunt and I don’t want people locked up for the sake of it, but if there is evidence, they should be before a court.”

The move followed the publication of a damning independent report in September which concluded that 41 of the 96 people who died would have had the “potential to survive” if they had received medical

treatment more quickly. The Hillsborough Independent Panel report also found that police tried to divert blame for the tragedy on to the victims. It said that 164 police statements had been changed, 116 of them to remove or alter “unfavourable” accounts about the police handling of the crisis, which was the worst sporting disaster in British history.

The fatal crush was caused by huge overcrowding on a terrace at Hillsborough Stadium in the northern English city of Sheffield prior to an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in April 1989. The new inquest and separate police investigation represent a huge victory for the families of the Hillsborough dead, some of whom have campaigned for years to see the true facts of the case brought to life. Announcing the decision to order a new inquest, the Lord Chief Justice, Igor Judge, said the “interests of justice must be served” and that “however distressing, the truth will be brought to light”. More than 40 family members were present in court to hear the verdict,

while other victims’ relatives watched the proceedings via video-link from a court in Liverpool.

In England, inquests are held to examine sudden or unexplained deaths. They set out to determine the place and time of death as well as how the deceased came by their death, but do not apportion blame.

British Home Secretary Theresa May also announced Wednesday that a new police probe into the disaster would be opened, led by former Durham Chief Constable Jon Stoddart.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which has pledged to undertake an investigation of its own, welcomed the development. “The appointment of Mr Stoddart to lead the investigation into the deaths is a crucial step,” said IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass.

“His investigation will be into a wide range of agencies outside of the IPCC’s remit, but, in order to ensure independence from the police service, we will be managing the element which will look at the actions of

police officers in relation to the deaths of the 96 men, women and children.”

Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool manager at the time of the disaster, wrote on Twitter: “Two fantastic results today for the Hillsborough families.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron hinted that a charity single released in aid of the Hillsborough families could be granted dispensation from paying sales tax in order to raise more money to cover their legal costs.

The cover version of the Hollies’ 1969 song ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ by a group featuring Robbie Williams and former Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm is the odds-on favourite to become Britain’s number one Christmas record. “ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne) is currently on the other side of the Atlantic but as the First Lord of the Treasury, I think I can confidently predict there will be a decision that will go down well in Merseyside,” said Cameron. — AFP

The Engineer could put the spanner in Mourinho’s works

Adel Taarabt

Taarabt commits to Africa Cup of Nations PARIS: Queens Park Rangers midfielder Adel Taarabt says he wants to play for Morocco at next month’s Africa Cup of Nations, despite his club manager Harry Redknapp’s request for him to skip the tournament.

Redknapp wants the mercurial attacking player to focus on QPR’s bid to avoid relegation, but Taarabt hopes to earn a recall from Morocco coach Rachid Taoussi for the January 19-February 10 competition in South Africa.

Taarabt has fallen out of favor with Taoussi in recent months, but the 23-year-old is determined to win back his place in the national team. I will do everything I can to prove to him that I deserve to be there,” Taarabt told the website of French sports daily L’Equipe. On Redknapp’s desire for him to miss the tournament, he said: “He came to see me to ask me not to go but I told him: ‘If they call me, I can’t refuse, boss. I love my country, I love the Moroccan people and football means a lot to them.’ “I warned him that the only solution was

that the coach doesn’t call me up.” Taarabt added: “The coach isn’t obliged to take me. I hope to be at the African Nations Cup but even if I’m not there, and that would be painful, I will be the biggest Morocco supporter.” Taarabt scored twice as QPR beat Fulham 21 at the weekend to climb off the foot of the Premier League table, with Redknapp hailing his display as “one of the all-round great individual performances”.

The former Lens player failed to shine under Redknapp during their time together at Tottenham Hotspur, but Taarabt says he is delighted the pair have been reunited at Loftus Road. “He is a peerless motivator,” he said. “You believe you are the best player in the world when he talks to you.

“Before matches he is very strong. When you go on the pitch, you fear nothing. At the end of the match against Fulham, he came to me to say: ‘I told you that you were as good as (Fulham striker Dimitar) Berbatov.’”— AFP

MADRID: Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini has the chance to put the future of the man who replaced him at Real Madrid under the microscope if his team beat Jose Mourinho’s misfiring side when they visit on Saturday.

Real’s surprise 2-2 draw at home to lowly Espanyol on Sunday left them four points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid and a whopping 13 adrift of unbeaten leaders Barcelona after only 16 games.

The champions have already dropped more points than they did in the whole of last year’s record-breaking championship campaign and a deflated Mourinho said after the Espanyol game that the title was “almost impossible now.”

On Saturday, Real president Florentino Perez, who brought Mourinho to the club in 2010, backed his Portuguese coach to the hilt but on Monday he fired out what sounded like a rebuke. “Real Madrid has a sporting principle that one should never give up, however difficult the challenge,” he said at a club event.

Perez and Real’s fans have a notorious shortage of patience and a failure to win would have the vultures circling going into the two-week winter break, with their desire to win the Champions League the main reason for holding off more drastic action until later in the campaign. Pellegrini knows Mourinho’s situation all too well. In his trophyless year at the Bernabeu in the 2009-10 season he set a then club record tally of 96 points in La Liga only to finish second behind Pep Guardiola’s Barca, and he was unceremoniously ditched in favour of Mourinho.

The calm, silver-haired Chilean, known as ‘the engineer’, is a striking contrast to his brash, outspoken successor and there is little love lost between the two.

Mourinho’s belittling dig at Pellegrini a year ago, when he said he would never go and coach a team like Malaga but would instead leave Real to go and take the helm at a big club in England or Italy, did little to endear him to the locals either. Pellegrini has stuck to his guns, however, and guided them to fourth in La Liga last season, their highest ever finish which earned them a first ever shot at the Champions League.

MADRID: Real Madrid’s Fabio Coentrao of Portugal (second right) celebrates his goal with teammates during a Spanish La Liga soccer match in this file photo. — AP Despite the loss of players such as Santi Cazorla, who was sold to Arsenal, and problems with the payment of squad wages, Malaga qualified for the last 16 in Europe as leaders of their group ahead of AC Milan.

Their attractive passing game and solid defence, currently the tightest in La Liga with only 10 goals conceded this season, has put them in fourth on 28 points level with Real Betis and five points behind Mourinho’s team.

Real have struggled on the road and have striker concerns with Gonzalo Higuain still sidelined while out-of-form Karim Benzema is a doubt with a foot problem.

The game throws up a clash of styles just

when Mourinho’s counter-attacking tactics are being questioned the most. “Madrid cannot be a team who runs behind the ball..with players of that category and standing,” Pellegrini said in a recent interview.

“I don’t like coaches who are only interested in results. The concepts of spectacle and creativity are fundamental to me.” Barca could increase the pressure on Real and move 16 points clear of their arch-rivals with their 16th win in 17 league games if they can overcome Valladolid away on Saturday before the match at the Rosaleda kicks off (1900). Second-placed Atletico close out the year at home to promoted Celta Vigo tomorrow. — Reuters

Singapore in Suzuki Cup final

SINGAPORE: Singapore player Aleksandar Duric (in red) fights for the ball with Thailand Pornsai Jakkapan (in blue) during the AFF Suzuki football Cup final first leg. — AFP

SINGAPORE: Singapore took a firm grip on the AFF Suzuki Cup final Wednesday with a thumping 3-1 win over Thailand in the first leg at Jalan Besar Stadium.

Goals from Mustafic Fahruddin, Khairul Amri and Baihakki Khaizan gave the Lions a deserved victory which will raise hopes of a record fourth Southeast Asian title ahead of Saturday’s second leg in Bangkok.

Pre-match favourites Thailand were briefly on level terms in the second half through Adul Lahso but Singapore were back in front almost immediately and scored a third at the death to seize the advantage.

“We’ve got a good result, it’s up to us now to go to Thailand and try again to score, as if we don’t score it will be very, very difficult,” said Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic, promising not to sit back in the second leg. “If they provide us with a nice chair, we can maybe sit back,” he deadpanned. Thailand’s German coach Winfried Schafer bullishly insisted he was “sure” his team would win, despite seeing their usual freeflowing attacks stifled by Singapore.

“I have trust in my team, I know my team. For me it’s (the result) not important,” Schafer said, adding: “I’m sure we will win this match.” In a carnival atmosphere, the home team were quickly into their stride with some slick interchanges on the artificial surface, and Bosnianborn striker Aleksandar Duric, 42, headed over as early as the third minute. Duric, who will retire after the tournament, proved himself a handful again just minutes later when he was hauled down in the box by Piyaphon

Buntao, with Japanese referee Masaaki Toma pointing straight to the spot. Fahruddin survived some nervy moments after his first, successful spot-kick was ruled out for encroachment, and he planted the second effort high and right to spark jubilation in the packed 7,500capacity stadium.

Singapore were dominant and Amri, the match-winning hero when the two sides met in the 2007 final, floated a showboating effort from distance which tested Thai goalkeeper Kawin Thamasatchanan. Teerasil Dangda’s shot from a tight angle was as close as Thailand came in the first half but the tournament’s leading goal-scorer brought his team back into it on 59 minutes when his cut-back was swept in off the post by Adul.

However, parity lasted just two minutes as Duric found Amri in the box from the left and the striker span away from his marker, turned and buried his shot at the near post. Singapore goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud was at full stretch when he palmed away a stinging free-kick

by Thailand’s Jakkapan Ponsai, and Duric should have done better with a header from a set-piece as the chances flowed. With 10 minutes to go, Thailand were dealt a blow when goal-scorer Adul was stretchered off injured, reducing them to 10 men as coach Schafer had already made all three substitutions.

And Khaizan made it Singapore’s night when he bundled in a corner from close range with just seconds left, prompting long and loud celebrations outside the stadium. — AFP

Sailing drifts to Asia for greener pastures KUALA LUMPUR: Like many other professional sports, sailing was not spared by the 2008 global financial crisis as sponsors in Europe pulled out and governments were not keen to host large-scale tournaments.

However, halfway across the world, Asia’s resilient economy fueled by strong domestic consumption from a rapidly growing population raised hope of providing the boost the ailing sport needed to tread Europe’s rough water. The World Match Racing Tour, an international sailing championship which first kicked off more than two decades ago, was facing bankruptcy following the eurozone debt crisis when Malaysian businessman Patrick Lim picked it up.

“Because of the financial crisis, it was in a state of almost neglect by the time we bought over,” Lim told Reuters in an inter-

view in Kuala Lumpur. Lim said although the “traditional” sailing countries in Europe were keen on the sport, they could no longer afford to host the tour, which can chalk up to $6 million per venue.

Whereas Asian countries, said Lim, despite being fairly new to sailing would grab the opportunity to host a world championship for the tourism dollars and to notch an identity in the global sports arena.

“The Asian economy views sport very differently. They look at it as a platform to launch a product,” Lim said. “They want to stand out in the world, and sport is a good platform,” he added, citing China as an example. The biggest global sponsors, however, still come from Europe where large corporations eye robust Asian markets to expand their businesses. —Reuters

Peter Gilmour (right) in action in this file photo

Mario Balotelli

Balotelli drops appeal over Man City fine LONDON: Manchester City’s wayward striker Mario Balotelli has accepted a two-week fine over his poor disciplinary record and dropped an appeal to a Premier League tribunal, the club announced yesterday.

Lawyers representing the Italy international had been due to present an appeal on his behalf to a tribunal on Wednesday, after City reportedly fined him two weeks’ wages for his on-pitch misdemeanors last season. However, following talks between Balotelli and the club, the 22-year-old agreed to withdraw his case and accept his punishment.

“After amicable talks between the parties, as a sign of respect for (manager) Roberto Mancini, the supporters and the club, Mario Balotelli has chosen to accept a two week fine levied upon him by the club and withdraw his disciplinary appeal, which was due to be heard by a Premier League panel today (Wednesday),” City said in a statement.

“Mario remains available for selection for all forthcoming fixtures.”

Balotelli missed 11 domestic and European games through suspension last season and he has endured a difficult start to the current campaign, scoring just once in the Premier League.

Mancini has twice dropped him

from City’s match-day squad and he was substituted at half-time of the English champions’ 3-2 derby defeat by Manchester United earlier this month.

Mancini has repeatedly voiced his frustration at Balotelli’s inability to harness his talent, prompting speculation that the player could leave the club during the January transfer window.

Balotelli joined City from Inter Milan for £24 million ($39.1 million, 29.4 million euros) in 2010. He has been linked with a move to Inter’s city rivals AC Milan but his agent says he has no intention of leaving the Etihad Stadium.

Meanwhile, an Italian magazine carried an interview with Balotelli’s former girlfriend, who restated her claim that the footballer was the father of her newborn baby daughter. Balotelli split up with former underwear model Raffaella Fico in July after she said she was pregnant with his child and was prepared to prove it with a test.

Fico was quoted as saying by the Chi weekly that she thought the City forward was “irresponsible” and had shown no interest in either her or the baby, who was born on December 6 in a private clinic in Naples and has been named Pia. “The door to his daughter is still open but he will find my heart locked forever,” she added. — AFP

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

SPORTS

Celtic Tiger and emerging China shine LOS ANGELES: Rory McIlroy’s dominance on both sides of the Atlantic and the clearest hint yet at the exciting potential in China were the biggest storylines in what may prove to be a truly transformational golfing year in 2012.

The coronation of McIlroy as the game’s leading player was confirmed in sensational fashion when the exciting Northern Irishman cruised to his second major title by a record eight shots in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in August.

Dubbed ‘Boy Wonder’ in his homeland for the past decade, McIlroy fully justified his other nickname of ‘the Celtic Tiger’ as he ended the year being showered with virtually every accolade available to him.

He followed in the footsteps of Luke Donald when he became the second player to win the money list titles in both Europe and the United States and he strengthened his position as world number one with an extraordinary run of form.

Long regarded as heir-apparent to Tiger Woods as the game’s greatest player, McIlroy has smoothly taken over that role while Woods, despite triumphing three times on the 2012 PGA Tour in a welcome return to winning ways, has had to take a back seat.

The 23-year-old McIlroy is almost

certain to be a dominant figure in golf for at least another decade but 14year-old Chinese Guan Tianlang gave a strong indication of the likely impact from his part of the world well beyond that time frame.

Guan ensured he would become the youngest player ever to compete at the Masters by winning the AsiaPacific Amateur Championship last month, tantalising proof of the vast golfing potential in the Chinese market. The world’s most populous nation had celebrated another coup just five months earlier when Shanshan Feng, 22, clinched the LPGA Championship by two shots in Rochester, New York to become the first person from mainland China to win a women’s major.

Remarkably, Feng was born just five years after the first golf course was opened in China. There were several other highlights during 2012 with Bubba Watson producing arguably the shot of the year to win the Masters in a two-way playoff and Ernie Els ending a decade-long drought in the majors to claim his second British Open.

The belly putter was also thrust into the limelight when Webb Simpson, at the U.S. Open, and Els, at Royal Lytham, joined 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley as the only players to triumph in the majors using a long putter.

That trend, coupled with the growing number of younger golfers opting to anchor putters to their chin, chest or belly, prompted golf’s rulemakers last month to propose a ban on the technique which could come into effect by 2016.

However, McIlroy’s stellar play around the world gave golf fans their most stirring memories in 2012. He recorded four wins on the U.S. circuit among 10 top-10s in just 16 starts before ending the season being named the PGA of America Player of the Year, the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year and winner of the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average.

McIlroy clinched the Arnold Palmer Award as the PGA Tour’s leading money winner, with earnings of $8,047,952, and was delighted to follow that up with the European Tour order of merit with two events remaining.

“Winning a second major already made it a fabulous season, but then to follow Luke in becoming number one in both Europe and the States is the icing on the cake after a fabulous season,” he said.

Hardly surprisingly, McIlroy finished his 2012 campaign on a triumphant note when he won the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship by two shots in Dubai last month.

“I didn’t want the year to just tail off, I wanted to end it in real style,” he said after spectacularly making birdies on the last five holes to close with a 66.

While the richly talented McIlroy is a gifted shot-maker, left-hander Watson delivered the ‘blow’ of the year with a miraculous escape from pine straw to win the Masters in a playoff with South African Louis Oosthuizen in April.

On the second extra hole, the longhitting American ended up well right and deep in the tree line off the tee from where he had a narrow avenue to the green.

Undaunted, Watson struck a stunning hook off the pine straw with a gap wedge, his ball bending 40 yards in the air to settle 10 feet from the pin before he claimed his first major victory with a two-putt par.

“I got in these trees and hit a crazy shot,” said Watson, a self-taught golfer who learned the game by hitting wiffle balls around his house. “I just hooked it up there and somehow it nestled close to the hole.”

In June, Watson’s good friend and fellow American Simpson clinched his first major title with a nerve-jangling one-shot victory at the U.S. Open after overhauling overnight leaders Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell.

The following month, 42-year-old South African Els won the British Open

at Royal Lytham by one stroke from Adam Scott after the Australian agonisingly bogeyed the last four holes.

Unquestionably the greatest comeback of the year, and perhaps of all time in golf, came at the Ryder Cup in September when Europe overhauled a deficit of 10-6 going into the final day to beat the United States by 14-1/2 points to 13-1/2.

Inspired by the spirit of the late Seve Ballesteros, Europe sent out their best players early and rode a wave of blue numbers to retain the trophy when Germany’s Martin Kaymer defeated Steve Stricker one up.

“Seve will always be present with this team,” a teary-eyed European captain Jose Maria Olazabal said of his fellow Spaniard, friend and mentor. “He was a big factor for this event, for the European side.”

That same month, South Korean Shin Ji-yai romped to a nine-stroke victory at the Women’s British Open at Royal Liverpool in England to complete a stunning Asian sweep of the year’s four women’s majors.

Shin’s compatriot Yoo Sun-young won the Kraft Nabisco Championship in a playoff at Rancho Mirage in April and Choi Na-yeon, also of South Korea, claimed her first major title by four shots at the U.S. Women’s Open in Kohler, Wisconsin in July.—Reuters

Despite huge growth, Asian golf has problems

BRAZIL: Brazilian former striker Ronaldo Nazario (right) and French former footballer Zinedine Zidane (left) joke during a press conference to announce ‘The Match Against Poverty’, in Porto Alegre. —AFP

Barcelona, Madrid head Champions League last 16 NYON: Champions League favorite Barcelona and nine-time European champion Real Madrid are among nine former winners in the last-16 draw today. The bitter rivals and their star forwards, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, are joined by debutant Malaga and Valencia in a show of Spanish supremacy. Spain is the best represented of nine countries with teams in the knockout stage.

Germany has last season’s beaten finalist Bayern Munich, plus widely admired Borussia Dortmund and Schalke. All won their group and will be seeded in the draw, assured of playing a runner-up at home in the second leg.

England’s recent dominance of world football’s most prestigious club competition has faded, and only Manchester United and Arsenal will represent the Premier League.

Chelsea’s failure - in a group that saw Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk advance means the Champions League has never been successfully defended since the European Cup’s pure knockout format was abandoned in 1992.

AC Milan, in 1989 and ‘90, was the last back-to-back winner, and seeks an eighth European title despite offseason cost-cutting sales including forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic and defender Thiago Silva to Paris Saint-Germain.

An Ibrahimovic reunion is perhaps the most intriguing potential pairing. Fuelled by its Qatari owners’ lavish transfer spending, PSG advancing from the Champions League groups for the first time since 2001

has given the competition a different look this season.

Just five of the 16 teams in today’s draw reached this stage one year ago: AC Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern and Madrid.

United returns to the last 16 after its groupstage elimination by Basel last season, and Juventus last reached the knockout stage four years ago.

Celtic and Galatasaray will give Scotland and Turkey their first representation at this stage since 2008. Despite beating Barcelona at home last month, Celtic shapes as arguably the weakest team of the 16. Still, it could be drawn against Malaga, which UEFA ranks No. 62 in Europe, the lowest of the remaining teams despite being unbeaten in eight matches in this season’s competition.

UEFA rules mean clubs cannot be paired today with a previous group-stage opponent, or another from its home country.

Group winners are seeded and will play the first-leg match away on Feb. 12, 13, 19 or 20. Return matches are played on March 5, 6, 12 and 13.

The final is on May 25 at Wembley Stadium - a possible omen for Barcelona whose four European titles were won either at Wembley (1992, 2011) or against English teams (Arsenal in 2006, Man United 2009). Seeded clubs: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Malaga, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Schalke. Unseeded clubs: AC Milan, Arsenal, Celtic, Galatasaray, Porto, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Valencia.—AP

SINGAPORE: Rapid growth has made Asia the big new destination for world golf but there’s an unmistakable sense of gloom as long-standing events face an uncertain future and local talent stalls.

While rich tournaments and even richer stars continue to flood east, grabbing widespread attention and making large sums for the game’s elite, for the home-grown scene it’s a different story entirely.

A bitter turf war between two rival circuits, which has spooked sponsors and divided players, shows little sign of easing, and Asian golfers are making slow progress on the world stage with just nine listed in the top 100.

China, the great new market with an ever-increasing number of courses and recreational players, is developing at a glacial rate in competitive terms with only three men ranked among the world’s best 800.

Asia’s inter-circuit rivalry even ended up before the courts with four struggling players, who were fined and suspended by the Asian Tour for taking part in OneAsia events, winning a restraint of trade case in Singapore.

Meanwhile traditional cornerstone events are facing trouble.

Prize money at the venerable Hong Kong Open was slashed to just $2 million, and organisers went cap-in-hand for government funds to pay appearance fees for top players.

The Singapore Open, touted as “Asia’s Major” and its oldest national open dating back to 1961, lost title sponsor Barclays and is missing from next year’s European schedule, with its future date and backers unclear.

While those events hit hard times, the European and American tours remain in a powerful position with a series of big, multi-million dollar tournaments that remain the season’s highlights.

The CIMB Classic in Malaysia, headlined this year by Tiger Woods, will become a full-status PGA Tour event next season-and with just 10 Asian Tour players in the field, according to current

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Asia Team Captain Naomichi Joe Ozaki of Japan lifts up the Royal Trophy after beating Europe Team in their playoff game to win the Royal Trophy on day three of the Sixth Royal Trophy golf tournament between Asia and Europe at the Empire Hotel and Country Club on Dec 16, 2012. — AFP ner Thaworn Wiratchant, and lems, remains upward. Asian plans.

The WGC-HSBC Champions, Thongchai Jaidee and Jeev Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla which featured just nine winners Milkha Singh, who won the Han said his organisation proof Asian Tour events and four Wales and Scottish opens vides the “right balance” of tourChinese players at its last edition respectively, are in their forties. naments to nurture players, in November, has signed on for However those victories also adding in an email: “We are cona five-year stint in Shanghai with show it’s not all bleak for Asian fident the future of professional Major-level prize money of $8.5 golf, and there are other signs to golf in the region is secure.”

OneAsia chairman and comcheer the optimist. million.

In June, Beijing-born Florida missioner Sang Y. Chun called The European Tour also bypassed both the Asian Tour resident Andy Zhang played the Asia’s development “alarmingly and OneAsia by co-sanctioning US Open at just 14, and China’s strong”, and even held out the the $7.1 million BMW Masters, a Guang Tianlang, who is the possibility of working with the much-criticised exhibition tour- same age and also trains fre- Asian Tour to bring the region nament when it emerged last quently in the United States, is on to a more equal footing with year, with China’s domestic cir- set to break the US Masters age Europe and the PGA. However for some observers, record next year. cuit.

Asians continue to dominate the current situation is very difBut the year’s most talkedabout event, China’s “Duel at the women’s game with four of ferent from the high hopes of Jinsha Lake”, was unsanctioned, the top five players, including nearly 20 years ago, when the featured only Woods and Rory world number one Yani Tseng Asian Tour first came into being.

McIlroy and was over in just one and Park In-Bee, the highest “Some people on all sides are day of spectator mayhem and earner on this year’s US LPGA claiming they’re working for the betterment of golf and in fact gratuitous displays of wealth by tour.

And just this month, they’re doing no such thing,” the organisers.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Naomichi “Joe” Ozaki’s Asia Spencer Robinson, managing local players barely figured at team won the Royal Trophy in a editor of Asian Golf Monthly, the top tournaments and out of play-off against a European side told AFP last month.

“You just want to shake five European and PGA-backed led by Jose Maria Olazabal, who events since late October, only masterminded September’s these guys, pick them up by the ears and bash their heads three Asians, in total, finished in famous Ryder Cup victory.

The men in charge of Asia’s together and say, ‘For Christ’s the top 10, and none in the top five. And among Asia’s top per- rival tours both insist that the sake, there’s a big enough pie. formers this year, several, future is bright and that the tra- L e t ’ s a l l s i t d o w n a n d w o r k including Asian Tour merit win- jectory, despite admitted prob- together’.”—AFP

Inter defeat Verona

PSV cruise into q-finals ROTTERDAM: Dutch Cup holders PSV Eindhoven eased into quarter-finals with Slovenian striker Tim Matavz netting twice in a 4-0 win at amateurs Rijnsburgse Boys on Tuesday.

Stanislav Manolev’s long-range strike after four minutes set PSV Eindhoven on their way and they effectively had the game secured before halftime after Matavz scored from a rebound and then added another with a well-executed lob from Kevin Strootman’s pass.

Damiano Schet missed a penalty for third-tier Rijnsburgse and in a lacklustre second half Strootman hit a fourth for PSV. Despite the ease of victory, coach Dick Advocaat was not overly impressed. “I

used this match to see some young players in my squad but that was not very satisfying,” said Advocaat. “It is clear that this squad is not at full strength and that we need to get some reinforcements during the winter break.” AZ Alkmaar overcame a second-half fightback to beat second division side Dordrecht 4-2 and reach the last eight, with second-tier Den Bosch also progressing after a 1-0 victory over Cambuur Leeuwarden. Dirk Marcelis, Jozy Altidore and Viktor Elm scored before the break for Alkmaar, but they were made to sweat after Moussa Kalisse and Lars Veldwijk replied. Ruud Boymans sealed the win from close range in the final minute.—Reuters

MILAN: Inter Milan Colombian midfielder Fredy Guarin (covered by his teammates) celebrates after scoring during the Italian Cup soccer match between Inter Milan and Hellas Verona at the San Siro stadium.—AP

ITALY: Inter Milan moved into the Italian Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over second-tier Verona on Tuesday. Inter’s Italy striker Antonio Cassano and Colombia midfielder Fredy Guarin were on target in the second half for the 2011 cup winners.

AC Milan, Juventus, Catania and AS Roma had already booked their places in the last eight. The quarterfinal lineup will be completed on Wednesday when Lazio host Siena, Udinese welcome Fiorentina and Napoli entertain Bologna.—Reuters

Heat beat Timberwolves

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Balotelli drops appeal over Man City fine

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Sri Lanka look to Herath’s spin to save Australia series Page 17

ARE: Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg speeds down the course on her way to win an alpine ski, womenís World Cup giant slalom.—AP

Rebensburg ends Maze’s winning run ARE: Olympic champion Vitkoria Rebensburg stopped Tina Maze’s unbeaten run when she won a women’s World Cup giant slalom in Are yesterday. Setting a combined time of two minutes 28.94 seconds, the German outshone her opponents for her eighth World Cup victory.

Austria’s Anna Fenninger was second 0.62 of a second adrift while Maze, winner of the first four giant slaloms of the season, finished third, 0.91 of a second off the pace.

While Rebensburg had already twice made it into the top three this season, she was forced out of the season opener in Soelden and struggled in the last giant slalom held in Courchevel three days ago, finishing

15th. “It was much different, it was a much better piste here, not too icy.

That’s what skiing is supposed to be,” said the German, who is not taking part in today’s slalom on the same piste.

“It’s good to be back in the lead, it’s a good feeling to win again. “I can really go home now and have a good time and relax a bit with my friends and my family.” The World Cup giant slalom champion said she had not resented Maze’s success this season.

“I’m not looking at what Tina is doing. I ski for myself, I try to stay focused on myself. What’s important is that I ski well and it was a real pleasure to ski here,” she said.

Rebensburg took a huge 1.12 sec-

onds lead over Maze in the first run, which salvaged her victory in the second when a gross mistake could have been extremely costly for the German.

Maze’s third place was her eighth podium spot of the season, which took her points tally in the World Cup overall standings to 859 and her lead over second-placed Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany to 351 points.

“If I have to chose between winning races or the World Cup? “Well I’m looking forward to the overall, I’m longing for a globe. Another highlight is Schladming,” said Maze, who will defend her giant slalom world title in the Austrian resort in February.

Overall World Cup holder Lindsey Vonn, who returned home to the

United States to take a rest after an exhausting start to the season, was a notable absentee. The American will also miss next week ’s races in the Austrian resort of Semmering.

Meanwhile, American sk i great Lindsey Vonn is to miss the next four European meets the American team announced. The 28-year-old four-time World Cup overall champion has had an up and down season, being hospitalised with a painful intestinal ailment and then bouncing back to win all three races at the Lake Louise meeting to become the first skier to win three World Cup races at the same venue in two different seasons.

However, she had a rare fall in the downhill at Val D’Isere at the weekend

Bayern advance as Schalke slump out BERLIN: Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery was sent off for slapping an opponent just after halftime but that did not stop his side moving into the German Cup quarterfinals with a 2-0 win at Augsburg on Tuesday.

Fellow Champions League competitors Schalke 04 slumped out of the competition in a 2-1 defeat by visiting Mainz 05, while Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf were stunned 2-0 by third-tier Kickers Offenbach.

Bayern, who also lead the Bundesliga at the start of the winter break, grabbed the lead against the run of play with striker Mario Gomez tapping in from close range. But things took a turn for the worse at the start of the second half when winger Ribery slapped South Korea’s Koo Ja-cheol and received a straight red card.

In an entertaining second half both sides missed several good chances, with Mario Mandzukic, who has failed to score since the return of Gomez in November, twice coming close for Bayern.

Xherdan Shaqiri, who had earlier hit the crossbar, settled the visitors’ nerves five minutes from time, slotting in after good play from Mandzukic and Thomas Mueller to ensure Bayern finished the year on a high.

“Overall I am satisfied with our season so far because we have been playing very well over long periods,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes told reporters. “It cannot really get much better than that.” “As for the red card, it was provoked but as a Bayern player you must know how to handle such situations,” he said.

With new Schalke coach Jens Keller, who replaced Huub Stevens on Sunday, making his debut, the hosts showed few signs of recovery in the cup after losing four and winning none of their last six

and said she felt tired on her Facebook page, and on Monday the US team confirmed that the reigning Olympic downhill champion was heading home for a rest.

“Struggling to find the energy I usually have...going to think hard over the next few days about my plan for the coming weeks and how to get strong again. Trying to stay positive,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

Only last week in a revealing interview with People magazine Vonn, who won double gold at the 2009 world championships in the downhill and Super-G, said she has been battling depression for years and takes antidepressants.

However, Vonn, who filed for

divorce late last year from her longtime coach and manager Thomas Vonn, told the magazine she is happier now than she has been in a long time.

Vonn, who with 57 wins is closing in on Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proll’s World Cup record of victories of 62, will miss this week’s meeting in Are in Sweden - which hosts a slalom and giant slalom - and Semmering which also hosts the same events. Aside from that also off her schedule is the New Year’s Day parallel slalom in Munich and the slalom in Zagreb on January 4.

All being well she could return for the races in the Austrian resort of St Anton on January 12 and 13 which has her favoured super-G and a downhill disciplines scheduled.—Agencies

Cancer operation sidelines Barcelona coach Vilanova

AUGSBURG: Augsburg’s defender Matthias Ostrzolek (right) and Bayern Munich’s midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger vie for the ball during the German Cup football match.ó—AFP

league games.

Schalke, who topped their Champions League Group to book a spot in the next round of Europe’s premier competition, allowed the visitors to take a 30th-minute lead when Marco Caligiuri drilled in from 16 metres.

After a string of missed chances, Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar drew them level but their joy was short-lived as Nicolai Mueller controlled a Jan Kirchhoff cross to fire in the winner seven minutes from time.

Schalke’s Christian Fuchs rattled the bar late in the game but could not prevent the 2011 Cup winners’ exit in their sixth straight game in all competitions without a win.

“The team was insecure in the first half

and you could see it,” Keller told reporters.

“I liked how we played in the second but still we are hugely disappointed.” Freiburg advanced with a 1-0 victory over third-tier Karlsruhe SC but the shock of the night was Kickers Offenbach’s surprise 2-0 victory over Fortuna Dusseldorf.

The lowly third tier club hung in until the 76th minute when the Fortuna defence failed to clear a cross and Mathias Fetsch scored on the rebound after an initial save by the keeper.

Stefan Vogler darted into the box and added another five minutes from time to complete another upset for Offenbach, who beat teams from higher divisions in the previous two rounds. Holders Borussia Dortmund face Hanover 96 late yesterday.—Reuters

BARCELONA: Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova must have surgery today and six weeks of treatment after suffering a cancer relapse, the Spanish league leaders said.

Vilanova, 44, has led Barcelona to their best league start ever but he must now undergo weeks of further care for cancer in his salivary gland, the club said yesterday.

Doctors monitoring him following a cancer operation a year ago detected “an extension of his condition which will require surgery” on Thursday plus chemotherapy or radiotherapy for “about six weeks” a club statement said.

It said that “depending on how he develops, he could combine the treatment with his working life”-but the club’s president Sandro Rosell at a news conference later appeared to think Vilanova would be out for weeks.

“We will have to try to go on as normally as possible, but there will not be total normality, because Tito is the coach and now for a few weeks he will not be there,” Rosell said. But he insisted: “Tito is very strong and we are convinced he will come back to us soon.”

Barca’s sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta said assistant coach Jordi Roura would stand in for the time being, acting as coach when the side travels to Valladolid for Saturday’s league game.

Zubizarreta rejected speculation that Barcelona’s previous coach Pep Guardiola who left last season would step back in. “Tito is the coach and continues to be the coach. Jordi Roura will be in the dugout at Valladolid, but the trainer is Tito,” he told a news conference.

“What we have to do is pick ourselves up and keep on working.” The news came at a dramatic moment for Barca, flying nine points high at the top of La Liga while their fierce rivals and title holders Real Madrid are suffering a malaise.

Jose Mourinho’s Real are 13 points adrift in third place and rattled by reports of internal squabbles.

Atletico Madrid are in second place, nine points behind Barcelona.

Real Madrid joined various sporting figures in Spain and abroad in wishing Vilanova well after Spanish media reported the news. “Real Madrid wishes to express all its support, love and affection for Barcelona’s coach Tito Vilanova, to whom it wishes a quick recovery,” it said. “Real Madrid extends this support to his club and all his family.” Online message site Twitter buzzed with messages from sporting figures including Spanish tennis champion Rafael Nadal, who tweeted: “All my strength and support to Tito Vilanova. We are with you to overcome this.”

Tito Vilanova Vilanova has been Barca manager since the departure of his long-time comrade-in-arms Guardiola in April. Vilanova underwent an operation to remove a tumour on his parotid gland-the largest of the salivary glands-on November 22, 2011 and was back at work as Guardiola’s deputy just two weeks later.

One of the world’s most successful football teams, Barca are riding high largely thanks to Argentine hitman Lionel Messi, who has taken his goal tally for the calendar year to a record-breaking 90.

Vilanova played only briefly as a professional in Spain’s top flight, notably with Celta Vigo, before turning to coaching at the end of his career and finding his way back to the club of his youth.

He came through Barcelona’s youth ranks but after failing to break into the first team he continued his playing career with lower league clubs before retiring in 2002. He rejoined the Catalans as a youth coach in 2007 and was promoted to first team duties, working alongside Guardiola, for the 2008-2009 season, by the end of which the team had won six major trophies including the Champions League. Yesterday’s announcement overshadowed the news that Barcelona’s defender Eric Abidal returned to training with his teammates for the first time since having a liver transplant in April.

Vilanova was not present at the training session.—AFP

Kuwait residents believe their savings not enough for future Page 22

Japan’s US-bound exports overtake China shipments Page 23

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Republicans put squeeze on Obama

All-new BMW 650i engine now available in Kuwait Page 26

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ATHENS: A woman shouts slogans while marching with others towards the Greek Parliament in Athens yesterday as Public services in Greece are hit by a 24-hour strike called by unions in protest at damage to the sector caused by sweeping austerity measures. — AFP

UBS fined $1.5bn in growing Libor scandal Second-largest fine ever levied on a bank ZURICH: Swiss bank UBS admitted fraud and accepted a $1.5 billion fine yesterday for its role in manipulating global benchmark interest rates. Dozens of UBS staff rigged the Libor rate, which is used to price trillions of dollars worth of loans, in collusion with brokers and traders at other banks, according to an investigation by authorities in multiple countries.

The controversy is expected to ensnare other big lenders and spark criminal and civil lawsuits against individuals involved. The penalty UBS agreed with US, UK and Swiss authorities far exceeds the $450 million levied on Britain’s Barclays in June, also for rigging Libor, and the second largest ever imposed on a bank.

“This is an endemic banking industry problem and shows how far the industry has fallen, failing itself and its customers,” said Neil Dwane, chief investment officer for Allianz Global Investors.

“For the future it shows that without strong regulation and strong and new management throughout most of the biggest banks, there can be no reasonable expectation that they will improve their behaviour substantially - at least UBS now has strong new management.”

Shares in the Swiss lender rose 1.6 percent to hit a 17-month high of 15.5 francs ($16.97) in early trade as investors judged the worst was over. “You can see from the stock movement that the fine is already baked in,” said Markus Jordi, principal at Zurich-based investment manager Cosmos Capital.

“The bank has already kicked out some traders, apologised, said it will shut down parts of the investment bank and overhauled management.”

The UBS fine comes a week after Britain’s HSBC agreed to pay a record $1.92 billion to settle a probe in the United States into laundering money for drug cartels. UBS’s unit in Japan pleaded guilty to one count of fraud relating to manipulation of benchmark rates, including the yen Libor.

The Libor benchmarks are used for trillions of dollars worth of loans around the world, ranging from home loans to credit cards to complex derivatives.

Tiny shifts in the rate, compiled from daily polls of bankers, could benefit banks by millions of dollars. But every dollar a bank benefited meant an equal loss by a bank, hedge fund or other investor on the other side of the trade raising the threat of a raft of civil lawsuits.

The Libor settlement caps a torrid 18 months for UBS during which it lost $2.3 billion in a rogue trading scandal, underwent a management upheaval and made thousands of job cuts. “We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behavior. No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of this firm,” UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said in a statement. The reputational impact of the controversy may only emerge next year.

“The only thing shareholders can do is keep a very close eye on the money flows on the wealth management side,” said Neil Wilkinson, portfolio manager at Royal London Asset Management.

“We may not see until the first quarter of next year whether they have lost any clients as a result of this.” Ermotti said around 40 people had left UBS or had been asked to leave as a result of the investigation.

Emaar signs $500m Turkey property loan

ZURICH: Two Swiss flags flying by a logo of UBS on the top of the Swiss banking giant headquarters in Zurich. — AFP The bank will pay $1.2 billion to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), 160 million pounds to the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) and 59 million Swiss francs from its estimated profit to Swiss regulator Finma. The UK penalty is the largest in the history of the FSA and more than double the 59 million pounds paid by Barclays.

UBS said the fines would widen its fourth quarter net loss but it would not need to raise new capital.

Britain’s FSA said attempts to manipulate Libor and Euribor, its European equivalent, were so widespread that every submission UBS

made over a six-year period from 2005 to 2010 was suspect.

At least 45 people at UBS were involved in the rigging, which was discussed in internal chat forums and group emails but never detected by compliance staff, despite five audits. The FSA said the manipulation was considered to be “normal business practice” by a wide pool of people within UBS. In addition to traders trying to move the Libor rate up or down to make money for themselves, senior managers at the Swiss bank directed dealers to keep Libor submissions low during the financial crisis to make the bank look stronger.——Reuters

Booming Philippines’ missing link: Foreign investors MANILA: The gathering had the air of a postmortem. About 100 executives and government officials listened quietly as Guillermo Luz poked holes in the Philippines’ fairytale economic revival.

Luz, head of the Philippines’ National Competitiveness Council, projected a deck of slides onto two pull-down screens that showed the fast-growing Philippine economy slipping in the World’s Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” index to 138 out of 185 countries, near Tajikistan and Sudan.

“It’s a lousy neighborhood,” he said of the two-notch fall this year. “I do not want to live with that ranking.” As the Philippines gallops ahead with the strongest economic growth in Southeast Asia and one of the world’s bestperforming stock markets, its shortcomings are being laid bare, including stubborn problems that have already started to undermine its economic renaissance.

While foreign funds have poured into Philippine assets this year, driving the main stock index up around 30 percent to a succession of record highs and lifting the peso cur-

rency about 7 percent, foreign direct investment (FDI) remains embarrassingly low. Total FDI is on course to hit around $1.5 billion this year about half its level in 2007 and less than the average $1.7 billion received every month in remittances from Filipinos overseas.

That is only about 3 percent of the total that flowed last year to a group of five peer economies including the Philippines in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

In his presentation in Manila’s Makati business district, Luz highlighted the Philippines’ lowly ranking in a range of categories, from “paying taxes” (143rd), to “starting a business” (161st) and “resolving insolvency” (165th).

Since coming to power in 2010, President Benigno Aquino has made headway against long-standing problems of corruption, shaky public finances and low infrastructure investment that earned the country the unwanted sobriquet of the “sick man” of Asia.

But he has yet to show his government can translate the torrent of hot money and improved market confidence that is also

fuelling a property boom into real gains such as an expansion of higher-paying jobs and better transport links. Calls by congressional leaders to loosen constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership have met with a lukewarm response from Aquino, a scion of an elite family whose mother, democracy icon Corazon Aquino, passed the 1987 constitution as president.

“I do not believe that foreigners would be that foolish to come here and put their money in business,” Juan Ponce Enrile, the Senate president who is calling for the constitution to be revised, told Reuters. “They are at the mercy of local people who are not quite familiar to them. That is to me the reason why we lag in investment attractiveness in Asia.”

The absence of FDI is a missing link that raises doubts over how much has really changed in the nation of 96 million people, where many an investor has been stung by copious red tape, unpredictable policymaking and graft.

Aquino has vowed to change the country’s tarnished reputation among foreign

investors, billing himself as the country’s “salesman in chief”. But to do so he needs to tackle vested business interests who benefit from a protected domestic market. So far, there are few signs he is doing so.

The constitution and current rules allow foreign investors to own no more than 40 percent in most industries and bars foreigners entirely in areas such as media and the practice of licensed professions such as engineering, law and medicine.

From 2000 to 2011, net FDI to the Philippines totalled $18.9 billion, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, less than a third of what Singapore attracted in 2011 alone. As a proportion of the economy, the Philippines’ net FDI stood at 0.6 percent last year, compared with 2.2 percent in Indonesia and 6.2 percent in Vietnam.

Strong foreign investment has been a vital ingredient in the rise of better-off Asian neighbours like Malaysia and Thailand, boosting job creation and deepening technological capabilities.—Reuters

DUBAI: Emaar Properties signed a $500 million loan to finance its project in Turkey, as a gradual recovery in Dubai’s battered property market helps the developer revisit stalled developments and international growth plans.

The loan facility, which runs for seven years, was provided by a consortium of banks, including Emirates NBD, HSBC and Standard Chartered, Emaar said in a statement yesterday.

The Turkish development, called Emaar Square, will host residential and commercial real estate as well as Turkey’s largest shopping mall, the statement added. “With the current positive growth outlook of Emaar in all its key markets, we are exploring new opportunities to strengthen our project portfolio and create long-term value for our stakeholders,” Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, said in the statement. The builder of the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, has announced a series of new projects and restarted stalled developments this year as sentiment in Dubai’s battered property market turned positive.

It has also looked to shift focus to retail projects and developments outside its home base of Dubai, where property prices plunged by over 60 percent from the 2008 peak. The developer recently announced plans to set up a new joint venture with the Iraqi government to develop housing in the war-torn country. It also plans to build a retail and entertainment complex in Egypt. Emaar Properties and an arm of Dubai Holding, the ruler’s conglomerate, also launched the first project in the planned multi-billion dollar Mohammed Bin Rashid (MBR) City development earlier this month. — Reuters

US home building recovery stalls WASHINGTON: US home construction fell in November, as the recent recovery paused in the troubled sector, the Commerce Department said yesterday. Privately owned housing starts last month dropped 3.0 percent below the revised October estimate of 888,000 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 861,000. The monthly drop was below the average analyst forecast of 875,000. However, the results are 21.6 percent above the November 2011 pace of 708,000. New building permits for privately owned housing units, which signal potential future homebuilding, rose 3.6 percent compared to October’s revised 868,000, coming in at a seasonally adjusted rate of 899,000. On average, analysts had expected 876,000.

The results are also 26.8 percent above the estimate for the November 2011 estimate of 709,000. “Despite the decline, housing starts... stand at their second highest level since July 2008,” said analysts with Barclays Research.

“Permit activity suggests the upward momentum in the pace of start activity can continue in the months ahead.”

In recent months, data has indicated the US housing recovery from the 2006 collapse of a price bubble is gaining traction, with sales and prices picking up.— AFP

22

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

BUSINESS

Kuwait residents believe their savings not enough for future National Bonds Index highlights savings behavior in Gulf ABU DHABI: Residents of Qatar have shown the biggest decrease in savings sentiments, while residents of Bahrain have shown the biggest overall increase, closely followed by UAE, Oman and KSA, according to the results of the 2012 National Bonds GCC Savings Index, released yesterday by National Bonds Corporation PJSC, the UAE-based Sharia-compliant savings scheme and investment company.

The results of the index, which converts respondents’ attitudes into a base value that can be used to compare countries against themselves or against one another from year to year, showed that over the past year, residents of Bahrain demonstrated the biggest increase in their savings sentiments, followed

by UAE, Oman and KSA. Kuwait remained the same as last year, showing no significant improvement or decline, while Qatar regressed for the second year running, slipping even further down the table and highlighting an increasing level of pessimism towards savings in the country.

The trend of intermittent or lack of savings has continued in 2012, with 74 percent of people in KSA and 71 percent of people in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain admitting that they do not save regularly. The only country that improved significantly is the UAE, where 65 percent of respondents made the same claim. Worryingly, 92 percent of Saudi residents believe that their savings are not adequate for their future - the highest percentage in the region. Other GCC countries displayed similar pessimism with residents of Kuwait (91 percent), Bahrain (88 percent), UAE (87 percent), Oman (85 percent) and Qatar (84 percent) all close behind.

The findings of the National Bonds GCC Savings Index, now in its third year, also revealed that just 1 percent of residents of KSA, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, and 2

percent of residents of Oman, would class their savings as ‘more than enough’ for their future.

Kuwait had the highest percentage of respondents who admitted that their savings are less than they had originally planned at 78 percent, with an average of 71 percent of respondents across KSA, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman making the same claim, revealing a need for better education on the mechanisms and tools of savings. Of those who do save, 45 percent of people in the GCC countries revealed that they save only 10 percent of their income or less.

On the positive side, two thirds of respondents expressed their plan to start saving in the next 6 months. Resident of Oman and Kuwait expressed the most interest in increasing their savings in the next 6 months (76 percent and 70

percent respectively). Half of those surveyed foresee their income to increase in the next 6-12 months, while only 6 percent believe that their income may decrease in next 6-12 months.

The National Bonds Savings Index is an annual comprehensive study of the behavior and attitudes of people in the GCC towards saving and spending money. The initiative was launched in 2010 by National Bonds Corporation PJSC to provide a regional reference point for the development of savings patterns and habits among the general public, and to better understand the reasons for these habits. The survey covered 1,140 residents of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, and 611 residents of the UAE. While the research reveals differences in savings habits among

residents of the different Gulf countries, reflecting the contrasting economic environments of each, it also shows some common challenges. Groceries and everyday amenities remained the items that residents of the GCC countries claim to be spending more money on year on year.

In Qatar, the percentage of people spending more money on products and services is higher than any other GCC country. Qatar residents also lead the tables in increases in spending on eating out (33 percent) followed by UAE (30 percent), Kuwait (27 percent) and Oman (26 percent). KSA is the highest when it comes to spending more on rents (33 percent), followed by UAE (31 percent), Qatar and Kuwait (both 30 percent). Bahrain and Oman are a long way behind with just 20 percent and 19 percent respectively.

The results this year have shown an increasing gap in trends related to travel abroad between GCC countries, with Oman having the least percentage of people spending more money on travel outside the country at 15 percent, while the UAE and Kuwait are the highest at 25 percent and 23 percent respectively.

While personal priorities differed amongst GCC residents, children’s education (which ranked number one in UAE and Qatar) and retirement (which ranked top in Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain) were unanimously chosen as two of the top

three reasons for saving money across all six GCC countries. For residents of Saudi, purchase of property to live in was once again the number one reason for savings, and the factor was similarly prioritized high up among the other GCC countries.

When questioned about the top factors taken into consideration when choosing a savings instrument, Sharia compliance was the number one factor across all markets except the UAE, followed by the reputation of the provider.

Attractive annual returns was also a factor that featured in the top five of all markets. The ability of the savings scheme or company to guarantee your invested capital was the third highest priority in KSA but ranked much lower in Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

Mohammed Qasim Al-Ali, Chief Executive Officer of National Bonds Corporation PJSC said: “Our UAE and GCC Savings Indices are eagerly awaited measurement tools, as they not only reflect the current economic environment but act as important indicators regarding the direction in which the economy is heading or is perceived to be heading by its people.”

National Bonds is currently the leading Sharia-compliant savings scheme of its type in the region, with a customer base that has crossed the 670,000 customer mark from 200 different nationalities.

DLF sells luxury Amanresorts for $300 million NEW DELHI: India’s biggest property company DLF, struggling to repay debt, said yesterday it has agreed to sell luxury hotel chain Amanresorts International back to its founder for around $300 million.

The New Delhi-based company, controlled by billionaire Kushal Pal Singh and his family, has been disposing of non-core assets in a drive to pare its nearly $4 billion debt and develop its main real estate business.

DLF, India’s largest developer by sales, said in a statement it was “pleased to announce the signing of a definitive agreement” to sell Singapore-based Amanresorts back to Indonesian hotel operator Adrian Zecha. DLF valued the transaction, which excludes the chain’s hotel in New Delhi, at around $300 million. It bought Amanresorts, which has some 25 top luxury properties across the world, five years ago from Zecha for some $400 million, DLF and other Indian developers have been hit by buyers delaying property purchases as growth in Asia’s third largest economy stumbles. The company last month reported quarterly net profit slid 63 percent from a year earlier on weaker sales.

Shares of DLF closed nearly one percent higher at 225.55 rupees following the announcement by the firm, which said the deal would be closed by the end of February. The sale is the latest in a series by DLF which earlier this year disposed of a prime plot of land in the commercial hub Mumbai for nearly $500 million.

DLF now is focusing on selling its wind-energy business. —AFP

India to cut Iran oil imports in 2013/14 NEW DELHI: India plans to cut oil imports from Iran by 10 to 15 percent in the next fiscal year, and more if Tehran does not lower prices to help cover higher costs resulting from Western sanctions, a government source said.Iran’s top Asian oil buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea have all reduced imports after the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The sanctions have more than halved Iran’s oil exports this year, costing Tehran up to $5 billion a month in lost revenue. “Next year our imports will be 10 percent to 15 percent less than this year,” said a government official with direct knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

“If they don’t cut prices, the decline will be substantial. Indian refiners have genuine problems with credit availability.” India, the world’s fourth-biggest oil importer and Iran’s secondbiggest client, relies on outside supplies for 80 percent of its oil needs, or about 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd). Officials at state refiners said they had yet to receive any directive from the government to cut imports from Iran in the year beginning April 2013, when annual contracts start.

But refiners would probably cut imports anyway because of high costs, the officials said. The push for cheaper prices is similar to a move by Chinese refiner Sinopec, Iran’s biggest buyer, last year. As rising international pressures forced other buyers out of the market for Iranian oil, Sinopec strong-armed Iran into giving it better terms for its annual oil purchases.

The United States wants importing countries to make further cuts in purchases from Iran in 2013 to avoid sanctions, a State Department source said this month. South Korea has already told the United States it will cut imports by about a fifth from a year earlier in the six months to May, government and industry sources said this month. Yesterday, Japan’s top refiner said the country’s crude oil imports from Iran would be about 15 percent lower next year.

There is no clear indication yet on 2013 imports by China. Daily imports into China in the first 10 months of 2012 were down 22 percent on the 2011 figure. For the current fiscal and contract - year, New Delhi had asked refiners to cut purchases from I ran by 15 percent.

Refiners have bought more from Saudi Arabia, the top supplier, and Iraq, pushing Iran out of the number two slot.

Banks have refused to issue short-term dollar credit, also known as buyers’ credit, for Iranian oil imports because of the sanctions, officials at refiners said. Indian refiners say Iranian crude has become more expensive because sanctions force them to borrow at high domestic interest rates to finance purchases and face continuing volatility in the rupee against the dollar.

“Economically Iranian oil is not viable. My borrowing cost has gone up,” an official at a staterun refiner said. Starting on Feb 6, US law will prevent Iran from bringing home its oil export earnings, a measure that will lock up a substantial amount of Tehran’s funds, US officials have said.

That could affect the continuation of India’s existing payment system with Iran, which settles 55 percent in euros through Turkey’s Halkbank.

The rest is settled in rupees through a local bank. —Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds

.2740000 .4520000 .3670000 .3040000 .2830000 .2940000 .0040000 .0020000 .0761620 .7420270 .3880000 .0720000 .7274250 .0430000

.2840000 .4610000 .3700000 .3130000 .2920000 .3030000 .0067500 .0035000 .0769280 .7494850 .4060000 .0770000 .7347360 .0510000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2805500 .2826500 GB Pound/KD .4548840 .4582890 Euro .3695120 .3722780 Swiss francs .3057100 .3079980 Canadian dollars .2853000 .2874360 Danish Kroner .0495250 .0498950 Swedish Kroner .0421260 .0424410 Australian dlr .2956860 .2978990 Hong Kong dlr .0361980 .0364690 Singapore dlr .2300340 .2317560 Japanese yen .0033300 .0033650 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 .0051920 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 .0022010 Pakistan rupee .0000000 .0028920 Bangladesh taka .0000000 .0035290 UAE dirhams .0764130 .0769850 Bahraini dinars .7444610 .7500330 Jordanian dinar .0000000 .3997880 Saudi Riyal/KD .0748330 .0753930 Omani riyals .7289850 .7344420 Philippine Peso .0000000 .0069380

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - transfer Irani Riyal - cash

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.342 5.145 2.871 2.186 3.220 231.580 36.335 3.455 6.852 9.205 0.271 0.273

GCC COUNTRIES 75.123 77.405 731.710 748.240 76.709

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal/for 1000 Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira/for 1000 Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 47.700 45.561 1.314 181.970 397.380 1.890 3.060 33.928

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 281.600 Euro 374.250 Sterling Pound 459.570 Canadian dollar 286.470 Turkish lire 158.390 Swiss Franc 309.960 Australian dollar 297.090 US Dollar Buying 280.400

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria

SELL CASH 299.400 748.490 3.790 288.700 552.800 45.900 50.300 167.800 47.800 376.900 37.010 5.480 0.032 0.161 0.242 3.440 398.850 0.190 94.780 45.700 4.330 239.500 1.823

50.600 731.070 3.070 7.230 77.850 75.150 232.410 35.160 2.681 461.600 43.700 312.200 3.400 9.550 198.263 76.740 281.800 1.360

730.890 2.898 6.865 77.420 75.150 232.410 35.160 2.193 459.600 310.700 3.400 9.400 76.640 281.400

SELL DRAFT 297.900 748.490 3.462 287.200

232.400 45.584 375.400 36.860 5.180 0.031

3.230 238.000

76.580 77.225 74.990 396.605 45.560 2.182 5.139 2.870 3.472 6.846 690.150 4.335 9.285 4.365 3.305 92.155

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

10 Tola 1,767.120 TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 459.600 281.400

Sterling Pound US Dollar

COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

SELL DRAFT 300.56 289.86 313.37 373.75 281.00 460.76 3.41 3.511 5.128 2.192 3.216 2.879 76.57 748.21 45.56 400.33 731.33 77.60 75.14

SELL CASH 298.500 288.000 311.000 374.600 282.100 460.500 3.690 3.620 5.500 2.330 3.600 3.020 77.000 747.500 47.700 398.000 732.000 77.850 75.400

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 398.810 0.189 94.780

UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

GOLD

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

GOLD 319.000 161.000 83.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar

281.350 285.840 458.445 373.130 309.055 744.865

Currency Rate per 1000 (Tran) US Dollar 281.400 Pak Rupees 2.873 Indian Rupees 5.147 Sri Lankan Rupees 2.195 Bangladesh Taka 3.472 Philippines Peso 6.890 UAE Dirhams 76.715 Saudi Riyals 75.195 Bahraini Dinars 748.100 Egyptian Pounds 45.559 Pound Sterling 463.100 Indonesian Rupiah 2.990 Yemeni Riyal 1.550 Euro 378.600 Canadian Dollars 291.200 Nepali rupee 3.265

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 281.000 Euro 375.100 Pound Sterling 459.300 Canadian Dollar 287.000 Japanese Yen 3.375 Indian Rupee 5.145 Egyptian Pound 45.555 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.182 Bangladesh Taka 3.473 Philippines Peso 6.852 Pakistan Rupee 2.875 Bahraini Dinar 748.200 UAE Dirham 76.500 Saudi Riyal 75.000 *Rates are subject to change

23

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

BUSINESS

China property market revives despite controls SHANGHAI: After waiting for a year, accountant Qi Youdi has bought a new home in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, among the millions of buyers bringing the country’s property market back to life.

For the past two years, China has sought to control residential property prices with measures including restrictions on second and third home purchases, higher minimum down payments, and annual taxes in some cities on multiple and non-locally-owned homes. The moves, announced in the first half of 2010, have cooled the once red-hot market, with analysts estimating prices nationwide have risen only four to seven percent since then.

But pent-up demand, easing government monetary policy and inflows of speculative funds from overseas betting on a recovery have brought the property market out of the doldrums, analysts said. Sales volumes have jumped, with the total transaction value up 10.4 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2012, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Prices, though, remain relatively stable, with average home prices in 100 cities rising 0.26 percent in November to 8,791 yuan ($1,410) per square metre according to research institute

the China Index Academy. It was the sixth consecutive monthly rise, totalling 1.23 percent, after nine months of falls. At the height of the boom prices were rising at an average of 1.5 percent every month. “We’ve been looking for a suitable period of time,” said Qi, who finally gave up waiting for substantial price drops.

She was looking to buy a flat for her daughter to live in, with no intention of looking to resell at a profit.

“Since our demand is fixed, it doesn’t matter whether home prices rise or fall,” she added, after paying $222,000 for a 90-square-metre (970-squarefoot) flat. The property sector has been a key part of China’s economic boom in recent years, driving demand for materials such as steel and concrete and with ripple effects spreading far and wide. Reflecting the more solid picture, ratings agency Moody’s recently upgraded its outlook for China’s property industry to stable from negative.

“While the residential market is policy-sensitive, a sustainable recovery is projected for the next three years,” real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield said in a report released in November. But analysts rule out a strong rebound. The new Communist Party leadership is unlikely to scrap

policies to make housing affordable, an initiative closely identified with Premier Wen Jiabao who is due to step down in March. The earlier price boom had pushed costs well above the reach of many people in China’s rapidly emerging urban middle class, sowing widespread frustration, especially as some who bought previously have been able to parlay their gains into multiple acquisitions.

The government controls have upset some market players, including developers who reaped riches during the boom years and local governments which earn money from land sales and taxes.

“We don’t want constant regulation from the government,” said Wong Chun-hong, chairman of high-end developer Top Spring International Holdings. But price stability is the watchword for government policy.

Beijing fears that spiralling housing costs could fuel discontent and possible social unrest. “Policymakers have little to gain from adjusting their current stance,” independent research company Capital Economics said in a recent report.

“That means though that a period of stability in real estate investment after the weakness of the past year

might be the most we can hope for over the next few quarters.”

Nie Meisheng, head of industry group China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce, said: “There won’t be any drastic falls because of the ‘iron floor’ of

home prices,” referring to high land costs that support prices of finished homes. But she added: “There won’t be any chance of a sharp rebound in home prices as the government will not allow it.” —AFP

SHANGHAI: A man (right) walking past real estate agents in Shanghai.

For the past two years, China has sought to control residential property prices with measures including restrictions on second and third home purchases, higher minimum down payments, and annual taxes in some cities on multiple and non-locally-owned homes. —AFP

Japan’s US-bound exports overtake China shipments US economy helps boost flow of Japanese goods

TAIPEI: Perng Fai-nan, governor of Taiwan’s central bank, gestures during a press conference in Taipei yesterday. The bank decided to leave its key interest rate unchanged due to slow economic recovery and eased domestic inflationary pressure. —AFP

Fitch warns US cliff; EU complacency top risks PARIS: Fitch Ratings warned yesterday that so-called US fiscal cliff is the top risk to the world economy, and expressed concern easing market pressure and elections could make the euro-zone complacent.

“Fitch has identified the US fiscal cliff as the single biggest, near-term threat to the world economy, given its potential to tip the US into an unnecessary and avoidable recession, with negative implications for global growth,” it said in a report.

The agency warned if talks drag on about the $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts due to come into force on January 1 then it may review and downgrade the United States’ top AAA rating.

Weeks of talks between Democratic President Barack Obama and the Republicans which control the US House of Representatives have failed to produce a deal.

Fitch said its baseline scenario sees a compromise being reached and that it expects to resolve the negative outlook on its US rating next year. Fitch also expressed

concern that “the current easing of market pressure on sovereign bond yields - combined with the specifics of 2013’s electoral calendar, including Italian and German general elections - could induce complacency and slow policy momentum to a crawl” in the euro-zone.

It noted that it expected to resolve next year the negative outlook on the AAA ratings of France and non-euro-zone Britain.

Fitch said global growth has been coming in below expectations and that the risks remain skewed to the downside.

For major advanced economies it said it expects only marginal improvement in growth rates, with growth picking up to 1.2 percent next year from 0.9 percent this year. Fitch said it expects major emerging economies will regain momentum, with Chinese growth rising to 8.0 percent next year, India to 7.0 percent (in the year to March 2014) and Brazil to 4.0 percent.

Overall the ratings agency forecasts global growth to pick up to 2.4 percent next year from 2.0 percent this year. —AFP

TOKYO: Japan’s US-bound exports overtook shipments to China last month, official data showed yesterday, as a new government in Tokyo vows to stand its ground in a bitter diplomatic dispute with Beijing.

Shipments to China tumbled 14.5 percent in November as demand for everything from cars to construction equipment fell away, while an improving US economy helped boost the flow of Japanese goods 5.3 percent on-year.

The result pushed exports to the US ahead of those to China for the first time in nearly a year, although Beijing remained Tokyo’s biggest overall trade partner despite their simmering dispute over an East China Sea island chain. The data “reflects the soundness of the US economy and brisk sales of Japanese cars there, but whether US exports will keep this pace depends on the settlement of the fiscal cliff,” said Ayumi Maekawa, senior economist at Tokyo-based Mizuho Research Institute, referring to the US budgetary impasse.

“China’s domestic demand is still weak but if its public spending increases that could boost exports of products like Japanese-made steel.” Overall, Japanese exports fell 4.1 percent while imports edged up 0.8 percent, translating into a $11.3 billion trade deficit for November, the fifth straight monthly shortfall and a record for the month. Exports to Europe - a key market for Japanese goods - were off almost 20 percent as demand on the debtstrapped continent sagged.

“Japan’s trade deficit is likely to continue for the time being as the European economy is weak,” Maekawa said. The gloomy data for Japan, which may have slipped into recession last quarter, comes

days after the conservative Liberal Democratic Party swept to an electoral victory at the weekend.

Hawkish LDP leader Shinzo Abe has pledged to take a hardline stance in the dispute with China that flared badly in September after Tokyo nationalized the

hold onto assets instead of having the cash available again to redeploy into new projects.

“The market has been bad but this kind of asset can sell in bad times and would fly in good times. Waiting around for another two or three years for the good times to return is not an option,” said a source familiar with the matter.

Healthcare businesses in the Gulf region are expected to boom in coming years as rising wealth couples with an increase in socalled lifestyle diseases - five of the six Gulf nations are in the global top 10 for prevalence of diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation.

Al-Noor Medical operates a number of hospitals, clinics and pharmacies in Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

HSBC, JP Morgan and QFIB all declined to comment. Ithmar Capital didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Having dropped the two banks, new advisers will be brought in to complete the IPO - with both banks and law firms having already pitched for bookrunner and legal

concerns about the already weak economy, still struggling to cement a recovery after last year’s quaketsunami disaster.

All but two of Japan’s 50 nuclear reactors remain offline after the atomic crisis at Fukushima, which has seen Japan’s energy bills soar

TOKYO: A container ship arrives at a port in Tokyo Bay yesterday. Japan’s US-bound exports overtook shipments to China last month, official data showed, as a new government in Tokyo vows to stand its ground in a bitter diplomatic dispute with Beijing. —AFP Senkakus, which Beijing refers to as the Diaoyu islands.

The dispute set off a bitter diplomatic row, huge anti-Japan protests across China and a consumer boycott that weighed heavily on China sales of well-known Japanese brands, including those of top automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda. However, sagging demand for goods such as construction equipment-less likely to

Private equity group eyes Abu Dhabi healthcare IPO DUBAI: The private equity consortium which owns half of Abu Dhabi healthcare provider Al Noor Medical is reviving plans to sell its stake through a stock market listing in 2013, four sources aware of the matter said.

The group, including Dubai-based Ithmar Capital and Qatar First Investment Bank, is looking for new advisers after dropping HSBC Holdings and JP Morgan Chase, following an aborted previous listing, three of the source said.

The banks had held informal investor meetings on an Abu Dhabi initial public offering (IPO) in late 2011 but a significant discrepancy between owners and investors over the company’s valuation stalled the plan, two of the sources said.

“The company set off down the (IPO) path but, as often happens when something goes wrong, the easiest thing to do was to blame the banks and change horses,” a London-based banker said, speaking anonymously as the matter is not public.

The episode highlights the difficulties faced by regional private equity firms in exiting investments in a depressed market for equity offerings, forcing investors to

be influenced by the consumer boycott-may also reflect uncertainty about the pace of growth in China’s economy, the world’s second-biggest after the US. In a bid to reflate Japan’s economy, Abe has pledged to boost infrastructure spending and pres-

adviser roles.

Some of the details, such as where the share sale will take place and how much the company will raise, have yet to be finalized.

However, the most likely destination for the listing was now London, two of the sources said.

“As with any IPO, they are looking at all markets. But, for healthcare, it is fair to say that London has more clout in that sector,” a Dubai-based source said.

While Abu Dhabi has had just two small IPOs since the 2008 financial crisis, European equity markets have rebounded, with the fourth quarter of 2012 witnessing multi-million dollar listings from MegaFon and Alior.

If the company pursues a London listing, Al-Noor Medical will be following another Abu Dhabi-based medical firm, NMC Healthcare, which raised $187 million from its IPO earlier this year.

Having initially risen in the days after the shares started trading at the beginning of April, NMC had slipped over 14 percent by Dec 14. It has underperformed the FTSE 250, which gained 5.1 percent in the same period. —Reuters

sure the Bank of Japan (BOJ) into more aggressive easing measures.

The central bank starts a two-day policy meeting yesterday with the yen tumbling in recent weeks on speculation that an under-pressure BoJ will take some kind of policy action. Last week, the bank’s quarterly Tankan survey showed confidence among Japanese manufacturers hit a near three-year low in the final months of 2012, adding to

as it turned to pricey fossil-fuel alternatives to plug the gap.

Japan’s economy contracted in the July-September quarter and possibly in the previous three months. If confirmed that would mean it is in recession. yesterday’s data showed Japan’s trade deficit last month expanded nearly 38 percent to 953.4 billion yen ($11.3 billion) from a year-earlier deficit of 691.2 billion yen. —AFP

Fiat’s baby Jeep first step in European recovery plan MILAN: Fiat will unveil details today of plans to make two small sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in southern Italy, including a new baby Jeep, as it attempts to turn around its ailing European operations by as early as 2015. European mass-market car makers are all grappling with a devastating five-year market slump, with sales in western Europe now at levels last seen in 1995.

Some manufacturers, such as Ford, General Motors and Peugeot, have chosen to shut plants.

Fiat, which owns US carmaker Chrysler, and Germany’s Volkswagen, have opted instead to increase investment and the Italian company intends to launch 15 new models over the next four years. Fiat announced in the autumn that it would stop European losses in two years’ time by spending between 7.5 billion euros ($9.9 billion) and 8.5 billion euros next year on new models for its premium brands Alfa Romeo and Maserati - at least 1.3 billion euros more than previously earmarked.

It then plans to spend as much as 9.5 billion euros in 2014.

Fiat is betting on strong demand for its Jeep, Fiat 500, Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands in the US and in foreign markets such as Russia, India and China.

It will start its new investment plan with the two new small SUVs at Melfi, one of its five Italian factories, where workers have

been on temporary layoff for months.

Fiat’s plan to shift focus from low-margin mass-market models such as the Punto to its upscale brands was met with skepticism from investors. Most analysts would rather see Fiat close excess manufacturing capacity than spend more money in a risky bid to sell more cars.

“While Fitch believes that this strategy makes sense, it carries substantial execution risk, particularly in the current extremely difficult competitive environment,” ratings agency Fitch said this week.

A Nov 19 research note from UBS said that it was downgrading its rating for Fiat and that the company’s export strategy looked flawed because it would not result in the production of enough cars to make Fiat’s plants run at full capacity.

“Looking at the actual output of Fiat’s main European plants over the past fiveplus years, we calculate that Fiat could produce about one million cars more than it will in 2012,” UBS wrote.

Fiat closed a factory in Sicily at the end of 2011. Instead of shutting plants, it has dealt with falling demand by using Italy’s temporary layoff rules, which allow big industries to leave plants idle for months on end while the workforce waits at home.

Fiat’s 5,000 workers at Melfi, where the Grande Punto is made, were told on Tuesday that the temporary layoffs there will last until the end of January. —Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

BUSINESS

Republicans put squeeze on Obama Boehner offers ‘Plan B’ back-up measure WASHINGTON: Frustrated by their inability to wring more “fiscal cliff” concessions out of President Barack Obama, Republicans in the US House of Representatives announced Tuesday night that they expect to pass their own tax bill as a backup plan to avert the tax hikes and automatic budget cuts set to occur in January.

No one expects the bill, which would extend low tax rates except on income of $1 million and above, to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate. President Barack Obama’s latest position puts the threshold for income tax hikes at $400,000. While the move, called “Plan B” by Republicans, may not prompt Obama to give further ground in his negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner, it could allow Republicans to argue they did what they could to stop tax hikes and the full impact of the “fiscal cliff,” which the Congressional Budget Office and economists have said could trigger another recession.

“Why not put on the floor something that’s what most Americans think the president is talking about, which is protecting from tax increases everybody but truly millionaires and billionaires?,” said Republican Representative Pat Tiberi of Ohio. When it dies in the Senate, he said, “that’s not our problem. We can’t be held responsible for what the Senate does.”

Polls have consistently suggested that the public is likely to blame Republicans for failure to reach a deal ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline for action. After important concessions in recent days from both Obama and Boehner, Republicans expressed frustration that the president had not moved further.

The White House seemed unconcerned by the Republican tactic, and stressed Obama’s willingness to compromise further. “The president has demonstrated an obvious willingness to compromise and move more than halfway toward the Republicans,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters, adding that Obama is making a “good faith” effort to reach a compromise.

Still, the mood on Capitol Hill was guardedly optimistic.

Global stocks advanced to their highest levels since September. Investors shifted funds to stocks and the euro and pulled away from safe-harbor assets such as bonds, gold and the US dollar.

“They’ve still got a long way to go, but you can’t help but say that the odds are better today than they were on Friday that we’ll get some sort of agreement,” said Oklahoma Republican Representative Tom Cole. Hopes of an accord rose Monday night after Obama made a concession with his offer to limit tax increases to incomes exceeding $400,000 per household. That is a higher threshold than the $250,000 that the president had sought earlier.

Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, had earlier conceded on Obama’s insistence that tax rates rise on the wealthiest Americans, but the two have been unable to agree on what income levels should be included in that category.

Analysts said Obama and Boehner may strike a compromise at $500,000 or close to that, though time was running short. One House Republican aide, asked about prospects for “Plan B” on the House floor, said: “It wouldn’t be surprising ... if a lot of conservatives balk at something like that.” The House’s second ranking Republican, Eric Cantor, said he was confident his party members in the House would back the bill.

Even as he presented the measure, Boehner said he would continue to negotiate with Obama on a broader agreement.

“Plan B is Plan B for a reason. It’s a less-than-ideal outcome.

I’ve always believed we can do better,” Boehner said. The expiration of low tax rates enacted under former President George W. Bush is a key component of the “fiscal cliff” that lawmakers are trying to prevent from taking hold next month, along with deep automatic government spending cuts.

Often challenged by the conservative wing of his caucus, Boehner held Republican lawmakers together in support of his efforts to forge a deal with Obama. The speaker emerged largely unscathed from a potentially tough meeting with his

fellow House Republicans on Tuesday morning.

Representative Darrell Issa, a key committee chairman, said his fellow House Republicans “were supportive of the speaker. ... I saw no one there get up and say, ‘I can’t support the speaker.’” With opinion polls showing broad support in the United States for raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans

WASHINGTON: Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, speaks to the press on Capitol Hill in Washington. — AFP

and Obama still buoyed by his re-election last month, the Republicans’ traditional opposition to tax hikes has waned somewhat. The Obama-Boehner talks have largely overcome stark ideological differences and are focused increasingly on narrower disagreements over numbers.

Obama also may face unrest from within his party. Liberal Democrats were likely to oppose a key compromise he has offered to permit shrinking cost-of-living increases for all but the most vulnerable beneficiaries of the Social Security retirement program. His proposal calls for using a different formula, known as “chained Consumer Price Index,” to determine the regular cost-of-living increases, essentially reducing benefits.

“I am committed to standing against any benefit cuts to programs Americans rely on, and tying Social Security benefits to chained CPI is a benefit cut,” Democratic Representative Keith Ellison said in a statement. Obama also moved closer to Boehner on the proportion of a 10-year deficit reduction package that should come from increased revenue, as opposed to cuts in government spending. Obama is now willing to accept a revenue figure of $1.2 trillion, down from his previous $1.4 trillion proposal.

Boehner’s latest proposal calls for $1 trillion in new tax revenue from higher tax rates and the curbing of some tax deductions taken by high-income Americans. Missing from Obama’s latest offer was any extension of the so-called “payroll tax holiday” that ends on Jan. 1, bringing an immediate tax increase on wage earners.

Possible plans to produce cuts in spending for Medicare and Medicaid, the government health insurance programs for seniors and low-income Americans respectively, remained to be discussed. Boehner and Obama have made headway on the politically explosive question of the president’s ability to avoid constant battles over raising the nation’s debt ceiling, which controls the level of borrowing by the government.

Boehner is ready to give Obama a year of relative immunity from conservative strife over the debt ceiling, while Obama is pushing for two years. — Reuters

Cyprus living hand to mouth until EU bailout comes NICOSIA: Cyprus has taken the extraordinary step of dipping into public authority pension funds to pay salaries for December but it still teeters precariously on the brink while waiting for EU bailout money. The euro-one member was forced to request the bailout in June when its two largest banks asked for assistance after failing to meet EU capital criteria as a result of massive exposure to toxic Greek debt.

“The government is living hand to mouth and will keep on doing so until money comes from international creditors but there is still a risk of everything collapsing,” analyst Fiona Mullen told AFP. A finance ministry official told parliament on Monday that the government could not meet its bumper December wage bill-which includes so-called 13th month bonuses-unless it was loaned around 250 million euros from cash-rich quangos.

Employees were reluctant to heed the call, fearing that, if their pension funds were used to buy government bonds, then their entitlements might fall victim to a Greek-style “haircut” further down the line. But the government struck deals with the boards of the electricity, telecommunications and ports authorities to borrow around 250 million euros in the short term. “The government has been forced to use unorthodox means to meet its everyday expenses, but Cyprus has covered its foreign debt requirements until June,” Mullen said. She said the island’s predicament was the result of the government delaying its request for an EU bailout in an abortive bid to avoid the embarrassment of an application during its tenure of the EU presidency until the end of the year.

A troika of lenders-the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund-is expected to make its recommendation to the eurogroup on January 21. But it would take weeks before Cyprus sees its first tranche of money as other EU parliaments must first rubber stamp the deal. On

Tuesday, the finance ministry tried to calm nerves, saying in a brief statement that the “government has secured all current financing needs and there is no possibility of a default on payments”.

Economist Costas Apostolides said public sector workers had had little option but to back the plea for funds as the government had rebuffed pressure from the troika to privatize state utilities, something they had strongly opposed. “Employees don’t want to be privatized so they had to support the government which supported their view, so a deal was done,” Apostolides said.

Had the government agreed to sell off public monopolies like the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, which is valued at at least two billion euros, it could have sharply eased the amount it needed to borrow from international lenders. “These semi-government organizations are obviously well off and have huge amounts of money. They can afford to give the money and still remain relatively diversified,” said Apostolides. An independent assessment is being carried out into how much Cyprus’s Greekexposed banking system needs to boost liquidity before a final bailout sum is agreed.

But the final report is not due before mid-January, meaning extra funds must be found in the meantime. Nicosia has pushed through tough austerity measures to meet troika demands for more than a billion euros in cuts and savings. The four-year adjustment program represents 7.25 percent of gross domestic product. Parliament has approved public sector salary cuts, a freeze on index-linked wages until 2016, extended emergency salary contributions in the public and private sectors, and increases in duty on cigarettes, alcohol and petrol. But rising unemployment in an economy which is expected to shrink a further 3.5 percent next year threatens to put a further burden on state finances. “There is a recession so you must take abnormal measures,” Apostolides said. — AFP

NICOSIA: A woman walks into the Cypriot Telephone Authority, Cyta, offices in Nicosia yesterday. Cyprus has taken the extraordinary step of dipping into public authority pension funds to pay salaries for December but it still teeters precariously on the brink while waiting for EU bailout money. — AFP

WB warns East Asia of G3 central bank easing SINGAPORE: Monetary policy easing in the G3 countries may lead to excessive credit growth and the creation of asset bubbles in East Asia and Pacific (EAP) as investors flock to the region, the World Bank warned yesterday. In their East Asia and Pacific Economic Update, the World Bank said recent central bank easing in Japan, the US and the euro-zone may redirect capital to the EAP, which could cause more harm than good for the region. “Recent announcements by central banks in the G3 have renewed concerns regarding the possibility of excessive capital inflows into the region,” the report warned.

The money deluge “could render exchange rates uncompetitive, lead to asset price bubbles and excessive credit growth, raise the risk of future sudden outflows, or lead to costly sterilization measures from monetary authorities.” “At high risk are countries that experienced rapid credit expansion, especially if the credit to GDP ratio is already high, and those with weak financial sector supervision,” the report added without citing specific countries. Central banks in the US, euro-zone and Japan had in recent months implemented easing measures such as reducing interest rates and boost-

ing money supply to kickstart their flagging economies. But investors turned off by the measures have cast their eyes towards the developing economies in Asia, lured by factors such as strong domestic demand and economic resilience despite global financial fragility. The World Bank also sang praises for the EAP in its latest report, stating that the region “remained resilient amidst a lackluster and, at times, volatile external environment”.

Raising its 2013 growth forecast for the EAP to 7.9 percent from 7.6 percent previously, the World Bank stated that “growth in EAP is still the highest of any developing region and constitutes almost 40 percent of global growth.”

“For 2013, we expect the region to benefit from continued strong domestic demand and a mild global recovery that would nudge the contribution of net exports to growth back into positive territory, a trend projected to continue into 2014.” China was projected to lead EAP growth in 2013, with the World Bank predicting 8.4 percent growth for Asia’s largest economy due to “this year’s monetary easing, local fiscal stimulus and more rapid approval of large investment projects”. — AFP

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business

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

26

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

business

KAICO (Al Shaya & Al Sagar) hosts oil and gas seminar

Ashish Tandon, GM of KAICO, addresses the seminar

KUWAIT: Kuwait Automotive Imports Co WLL (Al Shaya & Al Sagar) KAICO, the exclusive Mobil distributor in Kuwait for over 62 years, recently hosted Oil and Gas Seminar at Sheraton Hotel (Kuwait). ExxonMobil global and regional experts attended this event, to be with KAICO clients and share with them their latest products and services for the Oil & Gas Sector in Kuwait.

Ashish Tandon, GM of KAICO started the seminar with his presentation emphasizing that ‘choosing the right lubricant saves time, effort and money. He elaborated on the benefits of Mobil lubricants and mentioned that: * Mobil oils are specially formulated to offer greater stability and durability * They can operate for longer, allowing you to extend oil drain intervals * Reduce your total lubricant consumption and costs He also shared with the participants some interesting facts like, for example, the fact that

Al-Tijari exclusive offer with British Airways Continues KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait announced that its Visa and MasterCard cardholders may continue to benefit from its exclusive offer with British Airways, where Al-Tijari cardholders can receive up to 10 percent off airline tickets by using the link specially designated for this offer on the Bank’s website.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait has earlier launched this exceptional offer with British Airways on 1/10/2012 and announced that it will continue until 28/2/2013 giving CBK cardholders: (classic, gold and platinum cards) 10 percent discount at all classes: (first class, business and economy class) . Over and above, Visa Infinite cardholders will receive 15 percent off airline tickets at all classes when booking and ticketing to any destination from Kuwait by using their credit cards at the British Airways General Agent Ticket Shop - Al-Awadhi Complex. However, and with a view to facilitate the booking

process for large number of customers, CBK cardholders may now browse the internet and access the link particularly tailored for this offer on the bank’s website and make their booking.

The bank endeavors, through this offer and others, to reward its cardholders by offering them a chance for shopping and make their purchases from selected merchants and outlets as the prestigious British Airways heading diverse routes in Europe and America, and this accordingly benefits a large segment of the bank’s customers. As the Bank seeks to provide convenient and peace of mind to its customers when traveling, it entered into contract with one of the largest insurance companies to issue free travel insurance policies to all credit cardholders to make their travel abroad secured and wonderful experience, where customers can get their insurance policy by visiting their nearest CBK branch.

The American Space Agency, NASA uses Mobil premium products.

Presentations were also given by ExxonMobil delegates - Biswajit Podder - Distributor Business Consultant, Peter Longstaff - Industrial Lubricants Manager, Akram Reda - EAME Industrial Marketing Advisor, Mohamed Nabil - A & ME Field Engineering Support Manager and Abouhadeed - Field Engineer. They stressed out in their presentations that Mobil lubricants ensured that equipments operate longer and trouble-free and business ran without interruption. Mobil Industrial Lubricants are backed by more than 100 years of expertise and a full range of standard-setting solutions and services to do more than make things run. ExxonMobil delegates highlighted the key role lubricants play in helping to reduce unscheduled downtime, increase productivity and improve energy efficiency of oil and gas business.

Sadiq Ali - Divisional Manager - Lubricants

said, “It was indeed a great event and we are happy to see the interaction between the clients and our principals. Our industrial sales are growing and with many new upcoming projects our focus is on this sector - especially Oil and Gas”.

The seminar concluded with a question and answer session, group photo, raffle draw for the attendees and a scrumptious lunch.

KAICO was established in 1936 and is jointly owned by Al Shaya and Al Sagar families with over 75 years of collective automotive experience in marketing, sales, parts and service and has integrated all its operations to maximize market penetration.

KAICO is also the exclusive distributor in Kuwait for numerous other automotive brands including Mazda, Peugeot, Geely, Michelin, BF Goodrich & Apollo Tyres, Sherwin Williams Automotive Paints & VR-12 the Vitamin for Radiator. KAICO’s business activities also cover a leasing and tender division and used cars.

All-new BMW 650i engine now available in Kuwait BMW Group expands 6 Series Gran Coupe offering KUWAIT: BMW Group has confirmed that customers in Kuwait can now purchase the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe with a second engine variant - the BMW 650i.

Having arrived in Kuwait earlier this year, the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe has been turning heads with its combination of sporting aesthetics and performance with the functionality of a four-door saloon. With the addition of the new BMW 650i, BMW Group is expanding its 6 Series Gran Coupe product offering to make its first ever four-door Coupe even more dynamic for customers across in Kuwait. Performance and technology have

Jazeera Airways reports operational performance report for November KUWAIT: Award-winning Jazeera Airways yesterday issued its November 2012 Operational Performance Report which showed that the airline has grabbed increasing market shares to popular destinations of Amman, Cairo, Beirut and Jeddah.

The report, which presents market share figures based on official statistics from Kuwait’s Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA), also showed that the airline continued to have market share lead on key routes, and a continued lead in on-time performance (OTP) against all other airlines in the Middle East as ranked by the independent US-based OTP tracker FlightStats.

The airline’s OTP for the month was 97.6 percent, making Jazeera Airways the most punctual airline in the Middle East for the 23rd month in-a-row according to FlightStats.

The report also showed that Jazeera Airways became the leading airline serving the Kuwait-Amman route, grabbing a 39 percent market share during the month, and a 2 percent increase from November 2011.

Jazeera Airways also grabbed a 30 percent market share on the Kuwait-Cairo route, up 6 percent from November 2011, and up 3 percent from October 2012. The airline also saw a 28 percent increase in number of passengers on the route, compared to November 2011.

On the Kuwait-Dubai route, Jazeera Airways was the leading Kuwaiti airline by a

significant lead, with a 16 percent market share, accompanied by a 9 percent increase in number of passengers on the route, compared to November 2011. Jazeera Airways also saw a 22 percent increase in number of passengers on the Kuwait-Jeddah route, that led to a 13 percent market share on the route, up 9 percent from November 2011, and 6 percent from October 2012. Between the popular expats destination of Sohag and Kuwait, Jazeera Airways continued to grow and lead on the route since its launch two years ago, with a 51 percent market share, up 16 percent from November 2011 and 8 percent from October 2012. Number of passengers also increased by 24 percent on the Kuwait-Sohag route.

Other report highlights include that the airline was the leading Kuwaiti airline to the high-demand destinations of Beirut and Bahrain, with 40 percent and 9 percent market shares respectively.

Jazeera Airways also captured leading market share figures on another three of the five Egyptian destinations it served during November: the airline had a 27 percent market share on the Kuwait-Alexandria route, a 60 percent market share on the KuwaitAssiut route, and a 74 percent market share on the Kuwait-Luxor route.

Jazeera Airways served the Kuwait-Sharm El Sheikh during the first week on November. Flights will resume during the spring season in March 2013.

always been key areas of expertise for the BMW brand and the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe is no exception. In addition to the BMW 640i Gran Coupe, which has been available since launch, customers can now opt for the 650i variant with the latest generation V8 BMW TwinPower Turbo engine. Optimizing both efficiency and response, this 4.4-litre engine produces 450hp and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds. Power in both engines is managed by an eight-speed sports automatic transmission. With its extremely fast gear changes, this unit is built for sporty driving, comfortable shifting and optimized efficiency. It is operated using the electronic gear selector on the centre console. The Driving Experience Control switch on the centre console allows the driver to alter accelera-

tor response characteristics, engine response, the power steering characteristics, the DSC settings, the damper characteristics and the shift characteristics of the automatic transmission. The interior design creates a harmonious link between the front seats and the rear, and embodies the perfect combination of elegance and dynamics. The BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe boasts Dakota leather upholstery and heated front seats, electric seat adjustment with memory function for the driver and front passenger, 2-zone automatic climate control

with extended features, automatically dimming exterior and rear-view mirrors, electric steering wheel adjustment, and the Radio Professional with HiFi loudspeaker system and USB audio interface.

The interior has a driver orientation typical of the BMW brand. The driver-focused cockpit and front passenger area are bordered by elegantly sweeping surfaces with a harmonious connection between the front seats and the rear. Passengers sitting in the rear will be surprised by the generous levels of space and high level of comfort in a very stylish and luxurious surrounding. The four-door Coupe is a four-seater that offers generous travel comfort in the back with an additional third rear seat which can be used for shorter journeys.

The new BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe also has a range of BMW ConnectedDrive features that give the driver and passengers information and services to help make their driving experience safer and more comfortable.

The new BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe 650i and 640i are available for sale at Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive showroom in Kuwait.

Burgan Bank holds Al Mass Awards event on Sunday KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday that it will hold its annual 11th Al Mass Awards ceremony on Sunday, December 23, which will be held at 7:00 pm in Sheikha Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah hall, near Marina Hotel, under the patronage of Sheikha AlAbdullah Al-Khalifa Al-Sabah, the honorary president of Kuwait Handicapped Sports Club. The event will aim to showcase and honor the distinguished work of participating special needs individuals as well as organizations that have demonstrated exceptional commitment in providing the necessary support for special needs.

The initiative, throughout the years, has rewarded numerous special needs by acknowledging their abilities to overcome their everyday challenge. Al Mass Awards are divided into three categories, each to include the different disabilities that special needs patients face. The Blue Diamond Award rewards those with mental disabilities, the Yellow Diamond Award recognizes physically disabled individuals, and the White Diamond Award honors patients with sensory disabilities. The Al Mass Awards has witnessed a significant development. The awards ceremony, which began as a simple idea, is now one of Kuwait’s truly dedicated events that recognize special needs accomplishments.

The bank has introduced and applied new themes as well as ideas to further enhance this annual event.

Al Mass Awards today is an integral component of Burgan Bank’s corporate social responsibility framework, and echoes the bank’s efforts to establishing a social footprint across the local community.

KUWAIT: Photo shows Manal Al-Mattar, NBK’s Executive Manager, PR, delivering the prize to the winner Hazaa Khaled Fahad Al-Mutaiti.

3 KD 5,000 winners in NBK’s Al-Jawhara draws for Dec KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) announced the three lucky winners in AlJawhara weekly draws during the month of December. Anwar Saleh Hussain Al-Abwah, Hazaa Khaled Fahad Al-Mutairi and Ahmed Jawad Hasan Al-Moosa each won KD 5,000.

The winners expressed their gratitude and thanked NBK for its great services and promotions. NBK has re -launched Al-Jawhara account by offering customers more chances to win bigger prizes; KD5,000 weekly, KD 125,000 monthly and a grand prize of KD 250,000 quarterly. Al-Jawhara is one of Kuwait’s leading cash prize accounts offering

numerous benefits to its customers. Not only is it an interest-free account with regular deposit and withdrawal privileges, it also entitles account holders to enter the weekly, monthly and quarterly Al-Jawhara draws.

Each KD50 in an Al-Jawhara account entitles the customer to one chance in any of the draws. All prizes are automatically credited to the winners’ accounts the day after the draw.

The more money held in Al-Jawhara account, the greater the chances of winning.

Al-Jawhara account is available to both Kuwaitis and expats and can be opened at any of NBK’s branches in Kuwait.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Google launches Dead Sea Scrolls online library JERUSALEM: More than six decades since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls - and thousands of years after they were written - Israel on Tuesday put 5,000 images of the ancient biblical artifacts online in a partnership with Google. The digital library contains the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes the second listing of the Ten Commandments, and a portion of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, dated to the first century BC.

Israeli officials said this is part of an attempt by the custodians of the celebrated manuscripts - often criticized for allowing them to be monopolized by small circles of scholars - to make them broadly available.

“Only five conservators worldwide are authorized to handle the Dead Sea Scrolls,” said Shuka Dorfman, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

“Now, everyone can touch the scroll on screen around the globe.” Last year,

Google partnered with the Israel Museum to put five scrolls online. The scrolls, considered one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century, are thought to have been written or collected by an ascetic Jewish sect that fled Jerusalem to the desert 2,000 years ago and settled at Qumran, near the shore of the Dead Sea. The hundreds of manuscripts found in caves near the site have shed light on the development of the

Hebrew Bible and the origins of Christianity.

Google says the new digital library took two years to assemble, using technology first developed by NASA. The multimedia website allows users to zoom in on various fragments, with translations and Google maps alongside. Google hopes to further expand its project. Two months ago Google launched a “Cultural Institute,” a digital visual archive of historical events in

cooperation with 17 museums and institutes around the world.

“We’re working to bring important cultural and historical materials online and help preserve them for future generations,” said Yossi Matias, head of Google’s Research and Development Center in Israel. “Our partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority is another step toward enabling users to enjoy cultural material around the world.” — AP

Instagram tests new limits in user privacy Instagram’s new policies go into effect Jan 16

TEXAS: Melissa Rycroft shows fans behind-the-scenes pictures on her Nokia Lumia 920 at the Nokia Experience yesterday, in Frisco, Texas. — AP

Smartphone makers post wins on separate continents SAN FRANCISCO: Apple and Samsung, the world’s top two smartphone makers, each scored a significant victory on different continents that will allow both to keep selling their products without legal interference this holiday season.

A federal judge in San Jose late Monday rejected Apple Inc.’s demands to block U.S. sales of three smartphones made by Samsung Electronics Corp. The ruling came weeks after a jury found that Samsung infringed six Apple patents.

Hours later, Samsung announced it was dropping its demands that several European countries prohibit sales of Apple smartphones that Samsung claims infringe its patents. Despite the developments, the two companies remain locked in legal battles around the globe. But taken together, the moves on Monday could hint at a global settlement between the two tech giants that account for more than half of all smartphone sales worldwide, legal experts and technology analysts said.

“I think we have seen some moves in that direction,” said University of Notre Dame law school professor Mark McKenna.

“The odds of a settlement just got a little bit better” because of the judge’s refusal to bar US sales of Samsung’s products.

The ruling allows three versions of Samsung’s older-generation Galaxy SII smartphones to remain on US shelves, while Apple sales will continue unabated in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

“We are pleased that the judge today denied Apple’s move to limit consumer choice, and restrict fair competition in the marketplace,” South Korea-based Samsung said in a statement commenting on the ruling in San Jose.

Regarding its decision in Europe, it said, “we strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court.” Apple declined comment about the developments. Samsung still faces a European Commission antitrust investigation, and its announcement doesn’t effect a trial set to begin next month in London in another dispute with Apple.

Samsung also is continuing to press for damages in the European companies where it dropped its demands for an injunction against Apple phone sales. The companies are also scheduled to go to trial in 2014 in San Jose over a lawsuit filed by

Apple claiming Samsung’s latest products to hit the market still infringe some of its patents.

Earlier this month, US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose implored the two companies to settle the legal disputes stretching over four continents. Koh presided over the month-long jury trial in August that resulted in a jury’s $1.05 billion verdict and a determination that Samsung willfully used Apple’s technology without permission.

In her ruling Monday on the sales ban, Koh said Apple failed to prove the six patents Samsung used without permission were the main reasons consumers purchased the products.

Each of the smartphones at issue was designed and manufactured with technology flowing from hundreds of patents. One of the patents, for instance, was for the Apple “pinch-to-zoom” feature that Samsung incorporates in several of its products.

Koh said it would be wrong to prohibit sales of the three Samsung smartphones because the devices contained just a few features ripped off from Apple. “”Though Apple does have some interest in retaining certain features as exclusive to Apple,” Koh wrote, “it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market because they incorporate, among their myriad features, a few narrow protected functions.”

Stanford University law professor Mark Lemley said Koh’s decision has the potential to “radically change the calculus of patent suits in the information technology industries.”

The decision is part of a legal trend to punish patent violators with damages rather than ruinous sales injunctions “in cases that involve large, multi-component products,” Lemley said.

Koh has yet to rule on Samsung’s plea to reduce the jury’s award by as much as $600 million and on Apple’s argument for an increase of more than $100 million. Koh has indicated she was leaning toward trimming tens of millions from the $1.05 billion award, saying it appeared the jury miscalculated some of the damages. McKenna said there’s a chance Koh could significantly reduce the award based on her ruling Monday that said Apple failed to prove the infringing patents hurt its sales. —AP

Penguin joins settlement in US e-books lawsuit NEW YORK: Penguin Group has agreed to join three other publishers in a settlement of a US government lawsuit alleging an e-book price-fixing conspiracy with Apple, officials said Tuesday.

The Justice Department said that with four of the five publishers having agreed to a settlement, it will proceed in its case against Apple and the remaining publisher, Macmillan. The agreement was filed in a US federal court in New York and would end Penguin’s role as a defendant in the civil antitrust lawsuit filed by the department on April 11.

Previous settlements were reached with Hachette Book Group Inc., HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. A trial against Macmillan and Apple currently is scheduled to begin in June 2013.

“Since the department’s settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, consumers are already paying lower prices for the e-book versions of many of those publishers’ new releases and bestsellers,” said Jamillia Ferris, of the department’s antitrust division.

“If approved by the court, the proposed settlement with Penguin will be an important step toward undoing the harm caused by the publishers’ anticompetitive conduct and restoring retail price competition so consumers can pay lower prices for Penguin’s e-books.”

Penguin agreed to terminate its agreements with Apple and other ebook retailers and will be prohibited for two years from entering into new agreements that limit discounts or other promotions.

US officials said the scheme was aimed at ending a discounting effort by Amazon, which sold most e-books at $9.99 until the new pricing plan was forced on the retail giant. The move almost instantly raised the prices consumers paid for e-books, authorities said.

The latest agreement came as Penguin is seeking to merge with rival Random House, the largest US book publisher.

The Justice Department said the terms of the settlement would apply if the joint venture is allowed to proceed. — AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: Instagram, which spurred suspicions this week that it would sell user photos after revising its terms of service, has sparked renewed debate about how much control over personal data users must give up to live and participate in a world steeped in social media.

In forcefully establishing a new set of usage terms, Instagram, the massively popular photo-sharing service owned by Facebook Inc, has claimed some rights that have been practically unheard of among its prominent social media peers, legal experts and consumer advocates say. Users who decline to accept Instagram’s new privacy policy have one month to delete their accounts, or they will be bound by the new terms. Another clause appears to waive the rights of minors on the service. And in the wake of a class-action settlement involving Facebook and privacy issues, Instagram has added terms to shield itself from similar litigation.

All told, the revised terms reflect a new, draconian grip over user rights, experts say. “ This is all uncharted territor y,” said Jay Edelson, a partner at the Chicago law firm Edelson McGuire. “If Instagram is to encourage as many lawsuits as possible and as much backlash as possible then they succeeded.”

Instagram’s new policies, which go into effect Jan 16, lay the groundwork for the company to begin generating advertising revenue by giving marketers the right to display profile pictures and other personal information such as who users follow in advertisements.

The new terms, which allow an advertiser to pay Instagram “to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata)” without compensation, triggered an outburst of complaints on the Web on Tuesday from users upset that Instagram would make money from their uploaded content. The uproar prompted a lengthy blog post from the company to “clarify” the changes, with CEO Kevin Systrom saying the company had no current plans to incorporate photos taken by users into ads.

Instagram declined comment beyond its blog post, which failed to appease critics including National Geographic, which suspended new posts to Instagram.

“We are very concerned with the direction of the proposed new

FAIRFAX: The Instagram logo is displayed on an Apple iPhone yesterday in Fairfax, California. Users of the popular photo-sharing app Instagram are angered over language in Instagram’s new terms of service that states that a business may use any of the users photographs in advertising without compensation to the user. — AFP terms of service and if they remain as presented we may close our account,” said National Geographic, an early Instagram adopter.

Consumer advocates said Facebook was using Instagram’s aggressive new terms to push the boundaries of how social media sites can make money while its own hands were tied by recent agreements with regulators and class action plaintiffs.

Under the terms of a 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook is required to get user consent before personal information is shared beyond their privacy settings. A preliminary class action lawsuit settlement with Facebook allows users to opt-out of being included in the “sponsored stories” ads that use their personal information.

Under Instagram’s new terms, users who want to opt-out must simply quit using the ser vice.

“Instagram has given people a pretty stark choice: Take it or leave it and if you leave it you’ve got to leave the service,” said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a Internet user right’s group.

What’s more, he said, if a user initially agrees to the new terms but then has a change of mind,

their information could still be used for commercial purposes. In a post on its official blog on Tuesday, Instagram did not address another controversial provision that states that if a child under the age of 18 uses the service, then it is implied that his or her parent has tacitly agreed to Instagram’s terms.

“The notion is that minors can’t be bound to a contract. And that also means they can’t be bound to a provision that says they agree to waive the rights,” said the EFF’s Opsahl.

While Facebook continues to be bogged in its own class action suit, Instagram took preventive steps to avoid a similar legal morass.

Its new terms of service require users with a legal complaint to enter arbitration, rather than take the company to court. It prohibits users from joining a class action lawsuit unless they mail a written “opt-out” statement to Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park within 30 days of joining Instagram.

That provision is not included in terms of service for other leading social media companies like Twitter, Google, YouTube or even Facebook itself, and it immunizes Instagram from many forms of legal liability, said Michael Rustad, a professor at Suffolk University Law School.

Rustad, who has studied the terms of services for 157 social media services, said just 10 contained provisions prohibiting class action lawsuits. The clause effectively cripples users who want to legally challenge the company because lawyers will not likely represent an individual plaintiff, Rustad argued.

“No lawyers will take these cases,” Rustad said. “In consumer arbitration cases, everything is stacked against the consumer. It’s a pretense, it’s a legal fiction, that there are remedies.” Instagram, which has 100 million users, allows consumers to tweak the photos they take on their smartphones and share the images with friends. Facebook acquired Instagram in September for $715 million.

Instagram’s take-it-or-leave-it policy pushes the envelope for how social networking companies treat user privacy issues, said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

“I think Facebook is probably using Instagram to see how far it can press this advertising model,” said Rotenberg. “If they can keep a lot of users, then all those users have agreed to have their images as part of advertising.” —Reuters

Software industry braces for new phone apps rules WASHINGTON: A cellphone game for kids about US geography, “Stack the States,” gets rave reviews from parents. Its creator, Dan RussellPinson, considered making the 99-cent app better by adding a feature to allow children to play online against one another. But with the Federal Trade Commission issuing more stringent online child privacy rules, he’s not even pursuing the idea. “It would require all kinds of data sharing,” said Russell-Pinson, the founder and sole employee of Freecloud Design in Charlotte, N.C. “I would be kind of afraid to do that.”

The software industry is bracing for new regulations that it says will stifle creativity and saddle small businesses with legal and technical costs to ensure their cellphone apps don’t run afoul of the rules. The changes, which the FTC will announce Wednesday, would update a 14-yearold law prohibiting the collection of personal information from preteens. It raises these questions: What is the value of a child’s privacy on the Internet, and who should pay for it?

Businesses said they fear that under the trade commission’s proposal, routine transfers of data that pose no threat to a child’s safety will be treated the same as the improper gathering of information that can be used to create detailed user profiles that are highly valued by advertisers. Responsible software developers will err on the side of caution and the result will be less kidfriendly content available on the Internet, they say. The FTC’s chairman, Jon Leibowitz, defended the government’s approach. “When you are talking about children, you have to give the benefit of the doubt to privacy,” he said last week on Capitol Hill.

The cost of the changes to developers just selling educational apps for kids on Apple’s iTunes store could be as high as $271 million nearly 100 times what the FTC has projected for

all the businesses it expects to be newly covered, according to the Association for Competitive Technology, a Washington-based trade group that represents small and midsize software development companies. The FTC’s estimate is “laughable,” said Morgan Reed, the group’s executive director.

An outlay of several thousand dollars to design the required privacy policy for an app is small change for larger, established companies.

But for the bulk of developers, that’s a lot of money. Most have only a few employees and operate on tight profit margins, Reed said.

Russell-Pinson said he can afford the expense now. But two years ago, when he was starting his business, he would have been in a real bind. “I didn’t even make $10,000 on my first three apps,” he said.

The FTC has imposed steep fines on companies that have violated the current law, the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. In a 2011 case, a mobile apps developer, W3 Innovations, paid $50,000 to settle charges it illegally collected and stored the email addresses of preteens that downloaded apps called “Emily’s Girl World” and “Emily’s Dress Up.” The technological shift from desk-bound personal computers to wireless devices is driving the FTC’s push for major revisions to the law, known as COPPA. It was written before an era of cellphones and tablets loaded with apps that can be designed to siphon up a person’s precise location and other personal data highly valued by advertisers and data brokers.

The push for tougher online safeguards is supported by parents concerned about the abundance of apps and the easy access kids have to them. But parents can be a first line of defense, said Leticia Barr, a former schoolteacher who runs the website Tech Savvy Mama. Barr

also works as a social media consultant to Location Labs, a provider of mobile safety apps to wireless carriers, and she is occasionally paid by other app developers to review their products. Before Barr allows her two young children to use an app, she tests it thoroughly so she knows whether it can collect data or contains advertising that might be inappropriate for kids.

“That’s just my personal policy, just as I wouldn’t send them over to a stranger’s house to play,” Barr said.

The FTC’s proposed changes prohibit the use of behavioral marketing techniques that target children. The revisions also would expand the definition of personal information to include the location data that comes from a cellphone or tablet, the device’s unique identification number and data-tracking files known as “cookies.”

As evidence for what it said was the need for updated rules, the FTC announced last week it was investigating an unspecified number of app developers which may have violated the law by gathering information from kids without their parent’s consent. The agency examined 400 apps directed at kids that it purchased from Apple’s iTunes store and Google’s apps store, Google Play. The majority failed to inform parents about the types of data the app could gather and who could access it, the FTC said. The agency did not name the companies or say how many it was investigating.

The co-founder of Launchpad Toys in San Francisco, Andy Russell, said he adheres to the current law and supports more stringent privacy protections for preteens. Russell has eight employees, but his apps business is financed with venture capital and isn’t yet profitable.

Spending money to ensure he meets the new privacy requirements means it will take him that much longer to get into the black.—AP

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

health & science

Kids’ surgery uses bone products not approved for children NEW YORK: Nearly one in 10 US children undergoing spine fusion surgery get injections with bioengineered bone-growth proteins that have not been approved for that use by health regulators, researchers have found.

So-called “off-label” use of medical therapies is legal, but has triggered concerns because its risks and benefits are not well understood. What’s more, the orthopedic products add more than $4,000 in hospital charges for the surgery, according to a new study published on Tuesday in Journal of the American Medical Association.

“It is expensive, we don’t know if it’s

effective, and we don’t know what the long-term implications are,” said Dr Emily Dodwell, a surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who led the research.

Bone-growth proteins speed up bone formation and have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for limited use in adults. They have a troubled history.

Last year, a medical journal determined that doctors who were paid millions of dollars by Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc had failed to report serious complications linked to the company’s product Infuse, also known as

bone morphogenetic protein-2 or BMP-2.

Those complications include increased cancer risk, sterility in men, infections, bone dissolution and worsened back and leg pain, among others.

While it’s unclear whether children would experience similar side effects, a particular concern is how BMPs would interact with a still-growing skeleton, Dodwell told Reuters Health. Her study did not identify specific products.

There are also no good data on whether or not the products help youngsters, who are less likely to have healing problems than adults after

spine surgeries, according to the new report.

At about 4,100 hospitals that are part of the national registry studied by the researchers, 9.2 percent of more than 8,000 spine fusions in people 18 years and younger involved BMPs. “Most people would feel this is a high number,” Dodwell noted, although she stopped short of saying BMP should never be used in minors.

In cases where BMP was used, patients’ hospital bills amounted to $47,136 on average, compared to $43,126 when surgeons didn’t use the product. There was no difference in

the number of complications seen during the hospital stay in the two groups, although Dodwell and her colleagues cautioned that long-term complications are the main concern.

She said her team is currently analyzing data from another registry to see how kids fare after they leave the hospital.

The researchers also found that doctors more frequently used BMP in the Midwest, which is home to Medtronic. Medtronic officials could not be immediately reached for comment. —Reuters

Brazil struggles to dispel mad cow fears Five countries totally block Brazil beef imports SAO PAULO: Top global beef exporter Brazil has yet to contain the spread of international fears over mad cow disease that have now spilled into a large importer of Brazilian beef: Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and South Korea on Tuesday suspended imports of Brazilian beef, joining Japan, China and South Africa, small importers that stopped all shipments from Brazil last week after confirmation of a 2010 case of atypical mad cow disease in Parana state.

Egypt implemented a partial ban on beef from Parana on Monday, when Russian officials said that if the country were to apply restrictions they would apply only to beef coming from that state. The cow that died there two years ago never developed full-blown bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as mad cow disease.

Brazil’s agriculture ministry confirmed the new bans despite government efforts to calm market concerns that could hurt the country’s $167.5 billion beef industry.

President Dilma Rousseff discussed beef trade with her counterparts in Moscow on a diplomatic visit to Russia, Brazil’s largest beef importer, soon after her government made public on Dec 7 the 2-year-old case of atypical BSE. The visit is largely seen by analysts as responsible for Moscow’s decision to impose no new immediate restrictions on Brazilian beef imports.

Brazil has also dispatched technical emissaries to Japan and other Asian countries to provide clarifying details on the cow that died in the state of Parana in 2010.

The president of national cattle industry association Uniec, Francisco Victer, credited the government for trying to clear the air and said that, if it were not for Brazil’s well-developed national animal health system, the case might have remained undiscovered and never turned into global news.

“We are going through a period of clarification. It’s natural for countries that are not immediately convinced,” he added. “We’re here, we’re certain of what’s going on, but the world is not here.” The 13-year-old animal had tested positive for the causal agent for BSE, a protein called a prion, which can arise spontaneously in elderly cattle. In such cases it is referred to as atypical BSE. A similar case of atypical BSE occurred in the United States in April. Like the Brazilian cow, that animal never entered the food chain. The event had no major effect on US beef exports.

Between January and October, Saudi Arabia imported 31,300 tonnes of beef, according to the agriculture ministry, putting it among the top 10 largest importers from Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter. South Korea imported just 15 tonnes in that period.

Top buyers Russia, Hong Kong and Egypt account for more than half of the 896,000 tonnes of beef that Brazil has exported this year through September. Brazilian companies like JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat producer, as well as rival Minerva SA and food processor Marfrig Alimentos SA, have played down the case’s impact on their operations.

After Brazil confirmed the case of atypical BSE, the World Animal Health Organization issued a statement maintaining Brazil’s status as a country with “insignificant risk” of mad cow disease.

“This (OIE) classification has been followed by important countries, blocks and consumers,” Minerva said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that sales to Saudi Arabia accounted for approximately 2.5 percent of gross sales so far this year.

Some analysts said the bans could even be a way for importing nations to exert pressure on high beef prices at a time cattle for slaughter are scarce.

“I think it seems to be more commercially motivated. This is a mechanism for you to negotiate with your supplier much more than a health problem. If there were some risk OIE would have said so,” said Nadia Alcantara, an analyst with Sao Paulo-based consultancy Informa Economics FNP. —Reuters

9/11 cancer study won’t settle debate over risks CHICAGO: The most comprehensive study of potential World Trade Center-related cancers raises more questions than it answers and won’t end a debate over whether the attacks were really a cause.

The study suggests possible links with prostate, thyroid and a type of blood cancer among rescue and recovery workers exposed to toxic debris from the terrorist attacks. But there were few total cancers and even the study leaders say the results “should be interpreted with caution.”

The study involved nearly 56,000 people enrolled in a registry set up to monitor health effects from those exposed to the aftermath of the trade center attacks. Most participants volunteered for enrollment, which could skew the results if people who already had symptoms were more likely to enroll than healthier people.

Cancers diagnosed through 2008 were included in the study, but that’s just seven years after the 2001 attacks, and cancer often takes longer to develop. People diagnosed with cancer before the attacks were excluded from the study.

Cancer rates were compared with

those in the general New York state population. But the researchers had no data on whether people in the study had risk factors for getting cancer, including a strong family history, or if they had existing cancer that wasn’t detected until after the disaster. Participants are being monitored for health issues and may have gotten more cancer screening than other people, which also could skew the results.

The increased risks were seen only in rescue and recovery workers, who likely had more direct, sustained contact with potential cancer-causing substances in the dust, smoke and debris from the attacks. But cancers weren’t more common in workers who had the most exposure - a finding that would seem to contradict the theory that contact was the cause.

The study comes just a few months after the federal government added dozens of types of cancer to a list of illnesses related to the trade center attacks that will be covered by a program to pay for health coverage.

The study results “won’t settle the question because it’s still too early,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, New York

City’s health commissioner. “People are very, very interested in this topic and we thought it was important to get the data out that we have even though it is early.”

Marijo Russell O’Grady, dean of students at Pace University’s New York City campus, was at her office near the trade center during the attacks. She also lives nearby, and said she worries about how exposure to choking dust, ash and an “overwhelming burnt plastic smell” might affect her family, including her then 1 1/2 year-old son. They are all enrolled in the health registry.

Cancer is her greatest concern and it’s “always present in the back of my mind,” she said. Researchers from the city’s health department led the study, which was partly paid for by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH spokesman Fred Blosser said the agency welcomes the results and that longer follow-up is needed to examine risks for cancers with that take a long time to develop.

The study appeared in yesterday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. Earlier research from the

same registry linked the attacks with respiratory problems including asthma and symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

The new study involved a broader array of people, including firefighters and other emergency workers, along with residents and employees of workplaces near ground zero, Farley said. In the new study, possible links were mainly seen with cancers diagnosed in 2007 and 2008 in rescue and recovery workers.

These included 67 cases of prostate cancer, 13 thyroid cancer cases, and seven cases of multiple myeloma - all at rates higher than in the New York state population.

Donald Berry, a biostatistics professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said the study has too many limitations to draw any definitive conclusions. “There’s no evidence that 9/11 caused any of these cancers,” Berry said.

He pointed out that no increased risks were found for lung cancer - a cancer that might seem plausible after breathing lots of toxic dust and smoke. —AP

Dar Al-Shifa Clinic welcomes Dr Deacon as pediatric dentist

Dr. John Deacon

KUWAIT: Dar Al-Shifa Clinic announced today that it has appointed Dr John Deacon - Pediatric Dentist lately to join its fast growing team. Dr Deacon specializes in providing a complete oral health care, including diagnosis, prevention and treatment. His unique skill set also ranges from local anesthesia, General anesthesia and sedation for infants, teenagers, as well as special needs children patients.

Over the course of his professional career, Dr Deacon participated in many surveys that aimed at detecting caries’ rate in school children, and conducted statistical and cost-saving study for research departments on the importance of early orthodontic intervention versus corrective orthodontics in Kuwait. He is also well known for teaching courses to GP dentists working in oral health programs across five municipal areas around Kuwait. The courses he teaches consist of theory, clinical and lab aspects. On this occasion, Dr Deacon said: “With my long years of experience in Kuwait and my ability to work effectively with patients chal-

lenged by disabilities or phobias, I hope to improve the Pediatric Dentistry department, which is part of Dar AlShifa Clinic’s and Dar Al-Shifa Hospital’s notable contributions to the overall health sector in Kuwait.”

“Dar Al-Shifa Clinic, which is a part of Dar Al-Shifa Hospital, is amongst Kuwait’s top medical institutions, known for introducing the latest medical technologies. I am optimistic about my new career move to the clinic’s team, especially its Pediatrics department. I hope to add my extensive experience in the field of child healthcare to patients’ benefits,” added Dr Deacon.

Dar Al-Shifa Clinic provides patients with comprehensive medical solutions.

The clinic includes an extensive array of Clinics such as Dar Al-Shifa Dental Center, Dermatology, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Dietary, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology, a fully equipped laboratory as well as a solely dedicated pharmacy to accommodate patients’ prescription requirements.

PARIS: A file picture taken on January 17, 2001 in La Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France, shows the President of Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) breast implants company, Jean-Claude Mas, holding an implant. Between 400,000 and 500,000 women around the world are believed to have received PIP implants, the now-defunct company that Mas founded in southern France. At the end of October 2012, 14,300 women in France had their PIP breast implants removed (10,042) as a precaution and 3,290 following a rupture, after French justice decided to support financially the surgery operations and the medical tests. —AFP

Kids are resilient in coping with trauma WASHINGTON: They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts. Last week’s school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?

For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They’re at risk for lingering anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.

But after the grief and fear fades, psychiatrists say most of Newtown’s young survivors probably will cope without long-term emotional problems.

“Kids do tend to be highly resilient,” said Dr Matthew Biel, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. And one way that younger children try to make sense of trauma is through play.

Youngsters may pull out action figures or stuffed animals and re-enact what they witnessed, perhaps multiple times.

“That’s the way they gain mastery over a situation that’s overwhelming,” Biel explained, saying it becomes a concern only if the child is clearly distressed while playing.

Nor is it unusual for children to chase each other playing cops-and-robbers, but now parents might see some also pretending they’re dead, added Dr. Melissa Brymer of the UCLADuke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. Among the challenges will be spotting which children are struggling enough that they may need professional help.

Newtown’s tragedy is particularly heartwrenching because of what such young children grappled with - like the six first-graders who apparently had to run past their teacher’s body to escape to safety.

There’s little scientific research specifically on PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, in children exposed to a burst of violence, and even less to tell if a younger child will have a harder time healing than an older one.

Overall, scientists say studies of natural disasters and wars suggest most children eventually recover from traumatic experiences while a smaller proportion develop long-term disorders such as PTSD. Brymer says in her studies of school shootings, that fraction can range from 10 percent to a quarter of survivors, depending on what they actually experienced.

A broader 2007 study found 13 percent of U.S. children exposed to different types of trauma reported some symptoms of PTSD, although less than 1 percent had enough for an official diagnosis.

Violence isn’t all that rare in childhood. In many parts of the world - and in inner-city

neighborhoods in the US, too - children witness it repeatedly. They don’t become inured to it, Biel said, and more exposure means a greater chance of lasting psychological harm.

In Newtown, most at risk for longer-term problems are those who saw someone killed, said Dr Carol North of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who has researched survivors of mass shootings.

Friday’s shootings were mostly in two classrooms of Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has about 450 students through fourthgrade.

But those who weren’t as close to the danger may be at extra risk, too, if this wasn’t their first trauma or they already had problems such as anxiety disorders that increase their vulnerability, she said. Right after a traumatic event, it’s normal to have nightmares or trouble sleeping, to stick close to loved ones, and to be nervous or moody, Biel said. To help, parents will have to follow their child’s lead. Grilling a child about a traumatic experience isn’t good, he stressed. Some children will ask a lot of questions, seeking reassurance, he said. Others will be quiet, thinking about the experience and maybe drawing or writing about it, or acting it out at playtime. Younger children may regress, becoming clingy or having tantrums.

Before second grade, their brains also are at a developmental stage some refer to as magical thinking, when it’s difficult to distinguish reality and fantasy. Parents may have to help them understand that a friend who died isn’t in pain or lonely but also isn’t coming back, Brymer said.

When problem behaviors or signs of distress continue for several weeks, Brymer says it’s time for an evaluation by a counselor or pediatrician. Besides a supportive family, what helps? North advises getting children back into routines, together with their friends, and easing them back into a school setting. Studies of survivors of the September 11 terrorist attacks found “the power of the support of the people who went through it with you is huge,” she said.

Children as young as first-graders can benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, Georgetown’s Biel said. They can calm themselves with breathing techniques. They also can learn to identify and label their feelings anger, frustration, worry - and how to balance, say, a worried thought with a brave one.

Finally, avoid watching TV coverage of the shooting, as children may think it’s happening all over again, Biel added. He found that children who watched the 9/11 clips of planes hitting the World Trade Center thought they were seeing dozens of separate attacks. —AP

KARANGASEM Indonesia: In this picture taken on October 8, 2012, mental disorder patient, I Ketut Lingga, 54, stays on his bed and chained by his family in Karangasem. A health ministry survey in 2007 showed that 11.6 percent, or more than 27 million people, have some kind of mental or emotional disorder, while around a million have psychotic or serious mental illnesses, in the country of 240 million people, which has 48 mental hospitals and only 700 registered psychiatrists. —AFP

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

health & science

Cancer patient embarrassed by security pat-down SEATTLE: A Michigan woman dying of leukemia says she hopes her embarrassment during a Seattle airport security pat-down might change the way the Transportation Security Administration treats travelers with medical conditions.

A TSA spokeswoman said late Tuesday, however, that the agency had reviewed video from the security checkpoint where Michelle Dunaj was screened for weapons and determined that the agency’s procedures were followed.

Dunaj, 34, was making what she expects will be the last trip of her life on Oct 2 as she traveled through Seattle en route to Hawaii. The Roseville, Mich, woman thought she had prepared by calling the airline ahead of time, asking for a wheelchair, carrying documentation for her feeding tubes and making sure she had prescriptions for all her medications, including five bags of saline solution. But Dunaj said she received a full pat-down in the security line at Seattle-Tacoma Airport and had to lift her shirt and pull back bandages so agents could get a good look. She said everyone else in line got a look, too.

“My issue is: It was in front of everyone, and everyone was looking at me like I was a criminal or like I was doing something wrong,” Dunaj told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “It shouldn’t have been in front of everyone.”

Dunaj said a female agent performed the pat-down and asked her to lift up her shirt after feeling the tubes going into Dunaj’s chest and abdomen. Dunaj said her suggestion for a more private pat-down was dismissed.

“I asked them if they thought that was an appropriate location, and they told me that everything was fine,” she said. She said another agent punctured one of the saline bags she was carrying, ruining it.

“I didn’t want to start getting upset and swearing and causing more of a scene or issue,” Dunaj said. “But it definitely wasn’t handled properly.” TSA said in a statement, “At no point did a TSA officer open the passenger’s medically necessary liquids and the passenger was never asked to remove

or pull off any bandages.”

The agency also said “at any point, any passenger can request private screening with a witness present.” Asked to comment on Dunaj’s statement that she had asked for a more private pat-down, TSA Northwest Region spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said, “I cannot address that” and added that the “statement stands on its own.”

“We have determined that our screening procedures were followed,” she said late Tuesday. Dunaj said that after her patdown, she was asked to move along, as if she were responsible for holding up the line. “I thought that was a little rude,” she said.

The TSA statement said “the passenger has not contacted TSA about her screening experience.” “We work to make our screening procedures as minimally invasive as possible while providing the level of security that the American people want and deserve,” Dankers said in the statement.

Travelers with disabilities can call a TSA hotline with questions about screening procedures. Dunaj did not immediately return a call Tuesday evening seeking comment on the TSA’s response.

She initially told her story on KOMOTV. She had no problems flying out of Detroit or returning to Seattle from Hawaii. She has been staying with a friend at suburban Bonney Lake in western Washington and planned to return to Michigan on yesterday. She wasn’t looking forward to departing from Sea-Tac, although the TSA contacted her through KOMO and offered to have a manager help her through security.

Her friend Mary Rowe said Tuesday evening the experience has “been exhausting for her.” “On the last trip of her life, she’s been totally bombarded with everything,” Rowe said. Dunaj decided to make the trip after she was told she had three to four months to live. She doesn’t regret it, despite the hassles.

“Hawaii was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen,” she said. “Number One on my bucket list.” —AP

PARIS: French President Francois Hollande (second left) listens as he receives a report on euthanasia and assisted suicide from Didier Sicard (second right), Professor of Internal Medicine, Honorary President of the National Consultative Ethics Committee and chairman of the end-of-life presidential consultations mission, yesterday at the Elysee Presidential palace in Paris. —AFP

Louisiana sanctuary offers chimps golden retirement NEW ORLEANS: Scientist Linda Brent is as frantic as anyone might guess given that the size of the “household” she oversees is about to double. Unlike an expectant parent, though, Brent is focused on raising millions of dollars to care for dozens of geriatric chimpanzees.

More than 100 of the primates will taste the freedom of the forest for the first time in their adult lives when they move next year to Chimp Haven Inc, a national sanctuary Brent founded in 1995 in Keithville, Louisiana. The planned moved was announced Tuesday by the National Institutes of Health, which owns the animals.

“This is a historic day for research chimpanzees in the United States,” Brent said. Most of the chimps have lived for years at a University of Louisiana biomedical research center in New Iberia, where scientists exposed them to HIV and hepatitis in an effort to improve treatment of the diseases in humans.

Chimp Haven is already home to 108 of the chimps that have long fascinated people because they share

many genetic and behavioral traits with humans. The nonprofit organization has for the past decade doubled as the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary, designated by the U.S. government to care for chimps retired from federally funded research programs.

The 200-acre sanctuary located in a forest just south of Shreveport also houses chimps that have been retired from the entertainment industry or are no longer wanted as pets. Within the walls of the sanctuary, the animals can roam the forest, gather in “social” groups in open-air enclosures or seek the warmth of shelters during cold weather.

Because of their physiological and behavioral similarities to humans, chimpanzees in the 1980s became common subjects for biomedical researchers, with the government launching a breeding program to support the effort.

But as the research yielded less useful information than expected, a surplus of the primates resulted.”We feel there’s a good chance the government

will end the use of chimpanzees in research,” Brent said. Kathy Hudson, NIH deputy director of science, outreach and policy, said on Tuesday that the institutes have been studying how to manage about 670 chimps that are being been phased out of research in several NIH facilities.

A report completed a year ago showed that “with some exceptions, chimpanzees were largely unnecessary in research,” Hudson said during a Tuesday briefing with reporters. “We have a legal and ethical responsibility to care for the animals despite their not being needed for biomedical research,”she added.

Hudson said Chimp Haven can accept about 50 chimpanzees from the New Iberia center during the next four months, but about $2.3 million worth of new construction will be necessary before it can accommodate the rest of them. The nonprofit Foundation for the NIH is working with Chimp Haven and the Humane Society of the United States to raise the needed funds. —AP

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

WHAT’S ON

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! Let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

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Starwood Hotels and resorts continues growth in Iraq tarwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced yesterday it has signed an agreement BCD Co. to introduce its destination sensation brand, Aloft Hotels, to Iraq’s emerging commercial hub. The opening of the new Aloft Erbil in 2015 will mark the launch of the Aloft brand into Iraq.

Created to shake up the traditional mid-market hotel sector, Aloft is redefining the category by delivering urban-influenced, modern and vibrant design and a social guest experience at an affordable price point.

Earlier this year, Starwood marked a milestone with the signing of Sheraton Erbil will which signify the reentry of Starwood in Iraq after 20 years.

“Together with BCD, we are excited to grow Starwood’s presence in this emerging market as we bring Aloft Hotels to Iraq,” said Roeland Vos, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and Middle East. “Aloft Erbil marks our second collaboration with BCD and we look forward to introducing Aloft’s vibrant, stylish yet affordable concept to the country.”

Aloft Erbil will be a part of BCD’s mixed-use complex which will also include a Sheraton hotel.

On the signing of Aloft Erbil, Saad Aldoski, Partner, BCD Co. commented, “We are excited to sign our second hotel with Starwood and we look forward to developing this relationship further to contribute to the growing development of the tourism industry in the Kurdistan area and Iraq as a whole. Erbil is considered as one of the top emerging markets in the Middle East and we believe Aloft Erbil, with its modern style and great value, will create a new benchmark in the city.”

Aloft Erbil will comprise 200 guest rooms featuring the brand’s signature high ceilings, oversized windows and an ultra-comfortable platform bed as well as large walk-in showers with complimentary Bliss Spa(r) products. The hotel will also feature an all-day dining restaurant, the brand’s signature and lounges, providing guests with buzzing, atmospheric public spaces where they can mix and mingle, read the paper, work on laptops, play a game of pool or grab a drink with friends. The re:chargeSM fitness centre will offer an opportunity to re-energise and the unique re:fuelSM by Aloft will introduce a convenient deli option for guests on the go, with an array of food and drinks available 24 hours a day. For meetings and presentations, the hotel will offer creative spaces equipped with the latest audiovisual hardware.

Located in the new part of the city, approximately 10 minutes from Erbil International Airport, Aloft Erbil is situated along the new ring road offering guests easy access to the city and its key attractions such as the historic Citadel and Sami Abdul Rahman Park, the largest green area in the region. Located in northern Iraq, Erbil is the capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region and is emerging as the country’s commercial hub.

“We see great opportunities to grow our Aloft portfolio in emerging markets across the Middle East, such as Iraq, where there is a strong demand for affordable yet stylish and cutting-edge hotel brands,” said Bart Carnahan, Senior Vice President, Acquisitions & Development, Europe, Africa and Middle East Division, Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

After opening its first hotel in 2008, Aloft has since grown to over 60 hotels strong in countries such as the United States, Canada, China, India, Thailand, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Starwood has plans to open its 70th Aloft hotel next year. The company currently operates Aloft Abu Dhabi in the Middle East with plans to further expand the brand in key markets of the region such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The signing of Aloft Erbil marks Starwood’s third hotel in Iraq following the signings of a Sheraton hotel and a Four Points by Sheraton hotel earlier this year.

All three hotels are scheduled to open in Erbil in 2015, marking the company’s re-entry into the country after more than 20 years.

Group picture of Citi alumni posing with Citibank Kuwait senior management. Ozgur Kutay, Citibank Kuwait’s CEO and General Manager is standing (fourth from

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Alumni and Citibankers pose with Hany Magdy, Head of Human Resources at Citibank Kuwait (second from right).

Cake cutting with Ozgur Kutay, second from right, and Mathew Tueller, US Ambassador to Kuwait.

Group pictue of clients.

Clients seen during the celebration.

Citibank Kuwait celebrates Citi’s 200th anniversary itibank NA Kuwait commemorated the 200th anniversary of Citigroup and the bank’s local presence in Kuwait since 2006 on the 10th of December. As part of the anniversary event, Citibank Kuwait also invited its previous employees to thank them for their commitment, hard work, and loyalty which contributed to the franchise’s success in Kuwait and elsewhere.

The celebration, which included a dinner at The Regency, was attended by the US Ambassador to Kuwait, Mathew Tueller, clients, alumni and senior Citi

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executives in Kuwait and the region.

Speaking at the event, Citibank Kuwait CEO and General Manager, Ozgur Kutay offered his thanks and appreciation to the loyal Citi customers. “Your support and belief in Citi have led us to take our position as a leading global financial institution dedicated to you and your companies’ success. This anniversary renews our commitment to Kuwait’s development and is an impetus for us to continue to work on our long-term projects.”

Also attending the celebration were exCitibankers who worked in Citi’s offices in

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

uwait Tamizhosai Poet’s Association’s 80th meeting was convened on the occasions of Christmas celebrations December 7. The association president Dr K Kumar was presided over the event and he welcomed all the participants.

The meeting was ably arranged by the members of the association especially by the general secretary Vittukattay Masthan, the treasurer Ajusudin and UK Sivakumar.

There was huge gathering represented by members from Kuwait-Kanyakumari Association, Kuwait-Catholic Tamil Association, Kuwait Marumalarchi Peravai, Kuwait Thaiman Ilakkiya Peravai, Mutthamizh Aringar Mandram. The guest of honors, Haider Ali, the Chairman of TVS Cargo and Travels and the prominent Tamil scholar in Kuwait, Er Senthamizh Arasu, graced the amazing event.

Sathik Basha highlighted that the Christian community is playing an important role in the development of India and there was no doubt in their spirit of patriotism.

The President Dr K Kumar was assured that Tamizhosai will always be a front runner for such essential initiatives under the guidance of Er Senthamizh Arasur and Janab Haider Ali. In his key note address, the TVS Cargo and Travels Chairman Haider Ali expressed his immense pleasure on the

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nearly 50 years and continues to view the region as critical to its global franchise. It is currently present in ten Arab countries including Egypt, UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. Citi is the fourth foreign bank to set-up a branch in Kuwait, and currently offers corporate and investment banking services, private banking and wealth management services.

Tamizhosai Poet’s association’s Christmas celebrations

Shirva feast hirva Welfare Association Kuwait (SWAK) will be celebrating their Shirva Parish feast-2013 here in Kuwait. On this occasion there will be a mass offered at 9.15 am on February 8, 2013 at the Holy Family Cathedral. Kuwait and the celebration / get-together with a of variety entertainment programme will he held from 4:30 pm - 9 pm on the same day at the Indian Community School, Salmiya. SWAK members or their children who would like to participate in the variety entertainment programme and show their talent are requested to contact any of the SWAK committee members listed below to avail the opportunity before January 10, 2013. Likewise if any of members children have excelled in academics or any other extra curricular activities in the past 1 year will be appreciated and hence are requested to inform any of the SWAK committee members listed below before the 10th of January. Last date for enrollment in the talent show is January 15, 2013.

several countries around the world and are now working in Kuwait, some of whom spent at least 25 years with Citi.

“The 200th anniversary celebration is a chance for us to take a moment and recognize the role this institution played in the success of well-known personalities around the world. We wanted to thank the ex-Citibankers for their hard work and commitment, and we are sure that Citi’s knowledge and experience will always leave a positive mark in their future lives and careers”, Ozgur added.

Citi has been in the Arab World for

Lawyers’ Forum holds annual day he ‘Indian Lawyers’ Forum’, the association of Indian Lawyers & Law graduates’ in Kuwait conducted its Annual Day & Lawyers’ Directory Release on December 14, 2012 at Indian Central School, Jleeb Shuyoukh, The function was presided

by ILF President Thomas Panicker. The chief guest was RC Suresh who had inaugurated the function by lighting the traditional lamp along with President, Pancily Verky, Twinkle, Suresh.

The Indian Lawyers Directory was released by Praveen, News Reader & Editor of 98.4ufm along with Uday and Luciya. The First copy of the Directory was received by Rexy Williams and Mohammed Usman together.

Felicitations speeches were rendered

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by Panciley Varkey, Praveen and Luciya of 98.4 FM, Rajesh Sagar, Sam Pynamood, Chessil Ramapuram, Aziz Thikkodi, Skaria Cherian, Twinkle Chacko, & Luciya.

The function was welcomed by General Convener, Mohammed Basheer.

The program was well compared by Babuji Bathery. Jeseena Bashir, Vinod, Thomas Stephen, Antony, ManyKrishna, Mini, Priyah, coordinated the programs. General Secretary, Suresh Pulikkal presented the vote of thanks.

The cultural program started with a Signature program. Thiruvathira, Oppana, Mridhukam, Arabic dances, Cinematic dances, Classical dances, and Orchstra were the high lights of the function. The cultural program is coordinated by ILF Treasurer, Vinodkumar.

functioning of Kuwait Tamizhosai Poets Association, He assured all sort of assistance to the association.

Francis Jruthayaraj presented Christmas cake which was sliced by

Haider Ali. He offered prizes on behalf of TVS group to Vellaiarnrnal, Tamilpriva Paul Raj, Chithra, Masters, Thalib Rahman and Jaban Kingsly.

The event was enthusiastically graced

by Lukman, Paulraj, Ashok Kumar, Muthurarnalingam, Sivasubramanian and Sampath.

The glorious evening witnessed a spectacular music performance by the versatile musicians of Tamizhosai Messrs.

Kalifulla, Nammapattu Manickam, Ganesh, Ganesh who regaled the audience with their cheerful, resonant and mellifluous voices with memorable cine songs Anbazhakan. The Vice president of the association delivered the vote of thanks.

31

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

WHAT’S ON

Embassy Information

Hundreds attend free medical camp held by MES Kuwait undreds of less privileged people attended the free medical screening camp organized by Muslim Educational Society (MES) in association with Indian Doctor’s Forum (IDF), Indian Dentists’ Alliance, Kuwait Heart Foundation, Kuwait Medical Association and supported by Al-Rahma Committee for Medical Services (Al-Najat Charity Society) on Friday December 14, 2012 at Philippine International English School in Fahaheel. The camp was inaugurated

by Ambassador of India in Kuwait Satish C. Mehta.

The theme of this year’s medical camp was “Be Positive to Reduce Stress” and a booklet based on the topic was released by Salah Malalla Executive Manager of Al-Rahma Committee for Medical Services and received by Noushad, Managing Director of City Clinic.

Experts from various medical specialties including Orthopaedics, ENT, Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Diabetes, Cardiology, General Medicine, Paediatrics, Dermatology and Dental examined the patients.

The dedication and hard work put in by the MES volunteers helped the participants to avail camp facilities easily.

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Large quantity of medicines sponsored

by Al-Rahma and well wishers distributed under the supervision of Medical wing convenor Nasaruddeen and hundreds of patients from different walks of life benefited from this noble event.

This is the 12th camp organized by MES for the community. IDF and City Clinic arranged around 45 doctors, which is the largest contingent till date for such a camp, covering almost all specialties. Around 40 skilled paramedical staff assisted the doctors for the preliminary check-ups.

ECG, blood sugar, hepatitis tests were

also arranged for the public in addition to the blood cholesterol test done by Kuwait Heart Foundation. Moreover, Ultrasonic Scanning facilities also were arranged.

During the brief inaugural ceremony MES Vice President Khaleel Adoor welcomed the guests including the Ambassador of India. MES President N Mohammed Rafi presided the program medical wing convenor Nazaruddeen briefed about the Medical Camp and extended vote of thanks. The felicitation address was given by V K Sherif (convener, MES Overseas Committee,)

Mukthar Mahroof (President, FIMA). Dr Ameer Ahamed (President-IDF).

Ashraf Ayyoor, Dr. Musthafa Keyi, Sadiqe Ali, Siddiqe Valiyagath, Saleh Batha, M M Zubair, Ibrahim, Arshad, Jezeen Jabbar, Ashraf PT, Shaheer, , Advt. Gafoor, Mujeeb, Noufal, Ramees Saleh, Firoz, Hassan Mangad and MES Ladies Wing Leaders Jesseema Rafi, Fibitha Khaleel, Saleena Mustafa, Shahina Zubair actively coordinated this unique program.

MEGlobal case writing competition EGlobal, a joint venture between the State of Kuwait and Dow Chemical Co is sponsoring acase writing competition for MBA students attending a university in Kuwait, and undergraduates of Gulf University for Science & Technology. First prize is $10,000 and a weekend holiday in Dubai! The competition was announced by MEGlobal CEO Ramesh Ramachandran during a symposium at GUST. Students must organize themselves into teams of no more than four to write a case study about ME Global, one of the world’s most successful joint ventures and a strong competitor in the ethylene glycol market.The case studies must be no more than 3,000 words and the students may seek the guidance of an instructor to advise them during the competition.

Teams must register for the competition and may do so at meglobal.gust.edu.kw. While the competition begins now, the deadline for registration is April 15, 2013. Deadline for submission of the case studies is May 1, 2013. More details about the competition will be found on the web site.

Semi-finalist teams will present their case to the Case Writing Competition Panel on Saturday, May 11, 2013 beginning at 10 am at GUST. The 5-member Case Writing Competition Panel will include three executives appointed by MEGlobal; one faculty member

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from Gulf University for Science & Technology; and one faculty member of administrator from a university other than GUST. The panel will award three prizes: first place wins $10,000 and a 3 day/2 night holiday in Dubai; second

place wins $5,000; and third place wins $2,500. Prize amounts will be shared by the team members. Each team member will also receive a trophy.

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department.

All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office).

In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

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EMBASSY OF CANADA The Canadian Embassy in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 7:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed for lunch from 12:30 to 13:00. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on short-stay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database. Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS. ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform the Kenyan community residents throughout Kuwait and the general public that the Embassy has acquired new office telephone numbers as follows: 25353982, 25353985 - Consular’s enquiries 25353987 - Fax Our Email address: info@kenyaembkuwait.com.

Punalur NRI Association elects office bearers he Punalur NRI association Kuwait chapter, (a cultural association for the people from Pathanapuram Thaluk, Kollam district) New Managing Committee for the year - 2013 has been elected by annual general body meeting. Patron Jacob Channapetta presided over the function. The following were elected as office bearers and executive committee members. President: Mintu Cheriyan, Vice President: Rajan Mathew, Ajay Kumar, General Secretary: Achankutty Anchal, Secretary: Abey M Punalur, Baiju Mathai, Mathew Alex, Correspondent & Treasurer: Georji George, Executive Committee: Ani Manoor, Babu Mulayara, Nizamuddin, Joy Karavaloor, John K Abraham, Stanley Johns, Sunny Mathew, Bovas Kulathupuzha, Shaji Punnala, Koshy Mathew Plavela, Anish Sam Tomy Panampatta, Saji Koshy & Punalur Mustafa.

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EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, Al-Salaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location. Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com.

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Christmas family gathering n event to herald in the Good Tidings is organized to be held on December 24, 2012 (Monday) from 9:30 pm to 2:00 am at the elegant spacious Rajdhani Palace, Khaitan. For the true spirit of Christmas, join in the entertainment and fun with carols, games for children, DJ music, grand entry of Santa, surprises and prizes, raffle, buffet dinner, and lots more.

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YMCA Kuwait holds Christmas carol celebrations MCA, Kuwait celebrated 3rd Christmas carol celebrations and musical night with colorful events in a sparkling family atmosphere at Indian Community School, Salmiya.

The celebrations started with the opening prayer by Mathew Eapen and Bible reading by Jacob George. The public meeting was presided over by the YMCA president Babu Johnson. Parimanam Manoj, general secretary and program convener, welcomed all dig-

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nitaries and members to the event.

Rev Binju Varghese Kuruvilla, vicar of CSI Church, inaugurated the event. Kuwait Episcopal Church President and Indian Orthodox Maha Edavaka Vicar Rev Fr Jose Mathew delivered the Christmas message and gave a brief introduction about the history of Xmas and wished everybody a happy and prosperous New Year.

Rev Thomas Koshy, vicar of St Thomas Marthoma Church, delivered felicitation. Different Christian

choirs rendered carol songs. The most exciting of all was the visit of Santa Claus who conveyed Christmas greetings to all and gave away gifts to children. Solos were sung by different members.

Mementos for the participant choirs were distributed during the event. Satheeh John, general convener, proposed a vote of thanks.

Biju Vellor and Sunitha Oommen anchored the program.

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EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk.

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EMBASSY OF PERU The Embassy of Peru is located in Sharq, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Al Arabiya Tower, 6th Floor. Working days / hours: SundayThursday /9 am - 4 pm. Residents in Kuwait interested in getting a visa to travel to Peru and companies attracted to invest in Peru are invited to visit the permanent exposition room located in the Embassy. For more information, please contact: (+965) 22267250/1.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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

Deception With Keith Barry Mythbusters Mythbusters Mythbusters Border Security GI Dough Auction Hunters How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made River Monsters Overhaulin’ Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Border Security GI Dough How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Deception With Keith Barry Mythbusters Mythbusters Border Security GI Dough Auction Hunters Ultimate Survival Overhaulin’ River Monsters Mythbusters How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Border Security GI Dough Auction Hunters American Guns Cook County Jail Manhunt: Search For A Killer

00:40 The Gadget Show 01:05 The Tech Show 01:35 Space Pioneer 02:25 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 03:15 Thunder Races 04:05 Mean Green Machines 04:35 The Future Of...

05:25 How Do They Do It? 06:15 The Gadget Show 06:40 The Tech Show 07:05 Space Pioneer 08:00 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 08:50 The Future Of...

09:40 Head Rush 09:43 Patent Bending 10:10 How Stuff‘s Made 10:40 How Do They Do It? 11:05 How Do They Do It? 11:30 Robocar 12:20 Thunder Races 13:10 The Gadget Show 13:35 The Tech Show 14:00 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 14:50 The Future Of...

15:45 Mean Green Machines 16:10 How Do They Do It? 16:35 How Do They Do It? 17:00 Head Rush 17:03 Patent Bending 17:30 How Stuff’s Made 18:00 Robocar 18:50 Space Pioneer 19:40 Thunder Races 20:30 Bang Goes The Theory 21:20 Killer Outbreaks 22:10 The Gadget Show 22:35 The Tech Show 23:00 Bang Goes The Theory 23:50 Killer Outbreaks

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

Fish Hooks Fish Hooks Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Doc McStuffins Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck A.N.T. Farm A.N.T. Farm Jessie Jessie Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Austin And Ally Austin And Ally Shake It Up Shake It Up Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Doc McStuffins Doc McStuffins Art Attack Jessie Jessie A.N.T. Farm A.N.T. Farm Wizards Of Waverly Place Shake It Up Austin And Ally Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Austin And Ally Phineas And Ferb A.N.T Farm Good Luck Charlie Jessie That’s So Raven Cory In The House Kim Possible Hannah Montana Phineas And Ferb Wizards Of Waverly Place Fish Hooks

00:55 01:25 03:15 03:40

Style Star THS Behind The Scenes Extreme Close-Up

04:10 THS 05:05 THS 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Khloe And Lamar 09:45 Khloe And Lamar 10:15 15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks 12:05 E! News 13:05 Opening Act 14:05 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Married To Jonas 17:25 Married To Jonas 17:55 E! News 18:55 THS 19:55 Opening Act 20:55 Married To Jonas 21:25 Fashion Police 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Holly’s World

00:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner 01:30 Ghost Lab 02:20 Psychic Witness 03:05 Reel Crime/Real Story 03:55 I Almost Got Away With It 04:45 Dr G: Medical Examiner 05:30 Ghost Lab 06:20 Psychic Witness 07:10 Disappeared 08:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 08:50 Street Patrol 09:15 Street Patrol 09:40 Real Emergency Calls 10:05 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

10:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 11:20 Murder Shift 12:10 Disappeared 13:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 13:50 Street Patrol 14:15 Street Patrol 14:40 Forensic Detectives 15:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 16:20 Real Emergency Calls 16:45 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

17:10 Murder Shift 18:00 Disappeared 18:50 Forensic Detectives 19:40 Street Patrol 20:05 True Crime With Aphrodite Jones 20:55 Stalked: Someone’s Watching 21:20 Nightmare Next Door 22:10 Couples Who Kill 23:00 Great Crimes And Trials 23:25 Great Crimes And Trials 23:50 Cuff Me If You Can

01:20 03:20 05:00 06:35 08:20 10:25 12:20 12:35 14:05 15:50 17:25 18:55 20:30 22:00 23:30

Knightriders Hendrix Illegal In Blue Blood Oath De-Lovely The 70’s Mgm’s Big Screen Tom Sawyer (2000) Kidnapped (1971) In The Custody Of Strangers The Initiation Of Sarah (2006) The Calendar Girl Murders Boxcar Bertha Sleeping With The Devil In The Time Of The Butterflies

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

Food School Amish: Out of Order Meet The Amish Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Ultimate Traveller Earth Tripping Market Values One Man & His Campervan Exploring The Vine Food School Food School Amish: Out of Order Meet The Amish Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Ultimate Traveller The Best Job In The World Market Values One Man & His Campervan Exploring The Vine Food School Food School Amish: Out of Order Meet The Amish Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue: Bali Ultimate Traveller Food School Food School One Man & His Campervan Exploring The Vine Earth Tripping Market Values One Man & His Campervan Exploring The Vine David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2

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Ancient Megastructures Is It Real? S3 (1 hour) Is It Real? S3 (1 hour) Hooked Situation Critical Predator CSI Hooked Big, Bigger, Biggest Ancient Megastructures Is It Real? S3 (1 hour) Is It Real? S3 (1 hour) Hooked Situation Critical Predator CSI Hooked World’s Toughest Fixes Megastructures Is It Real? S3 (1 hour) Is It Real? S3 (1 hour) One Ocean Fight Masters Jurassic C.S.I. One Ocean World’s Toughest Fixes

FRIGHT NIGHT ON OSN ACTION HD

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

Wild Case Files Croc Ganglands Wild Russia And Man Created Dog (1 Animal Superpowers World’s Deadliest Animals The Living Edens Wild Russia And Man Created Dog (1 Animal Superpowers Shark Gangs Monster Fish Hunter Hunted Search For The Giant Octopus Nordic Wild Unlikely Animal Friends Animal Superpowers Super Pride Monster Fish Hunter Hunted Wild Russia And Man Created Dog (1 Animal Superpowers Shark Gangs Monster Fish

00:00 Malibu Shark Attack-18 02:00 Devil-PG15 04:00 Tupac: Resurrection-18 06:00 Fright Night-PG15 08:00 Time Machine: Rise Of The Morlocks-PG15 10:00 The Scorpion King 3: Battle For Redemption-PG15 12:00 Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?PG15 14:00 Time Machine: Rise Of The Morlocks-PG15 16:00 Ticking Clock-PG15 18:00 Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?PG15

01:00 Searching For Bobby FischerPG 03:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 05:00 Sammy’s Adventure: The Secret Passage-FAM 07:00 The Third Wave-PG15 09:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 11:00 Greener Mountains-PG 13:00 Arrietty-FAM 15:00 Every Jack Has A Jill-PG15 17:00 The Hole-PG15 19:00 Vampires Suck-PG15 21:00 Something Borrowed-PG15 23:00 Saw VII: The Final Chapter-R

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 02:00 The Big C 02:30 How To Make It In America 03:00 New Girl 04:00 Hope & Faith 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Hope & Faith 08:30 New Girl 10:30 The Office 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 Hope & Faith 14:30 The Office 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report

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Warehouse 13 Hawthorne Smash Touch Greek Good Morning America The Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Practice Warehouse 13

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Touch C.S.I. New York Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show

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The Glades Hawthorne Smash The Tudors Touch Warehouse 13 The Glades Emmerdale Coronation Street Criminal Minds Smash Hawthorne Touch Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Criminal Minds Fairly Legal Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Criminal Minds Touch The X Factor U.S. Smash The Tudors

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AVP: Alien vs Predator-PG15 13 Assassins-18 Faster-PG15 Tremors-PG15 Fantastic Four-PG15 Faster-PG15 Little Big Soldier-PG15 Fantastic Four-PG15 Barricade-PG15 Mission: Impossible-PG15 Mission: Impossible II-PG15 Mission: Impossible III-PG15

00:00 Nothing To Lose-PG15 01:45 Mystery Men-PG15 04:00 The Marc Pease Experience 06:00 Letters To Juliet-PG15 08:00 Airheads-PG15 10:00 Prom-PG15 12:00 The Marc Pease Experience 14:00 Little Shop Of Horrors-PG15 16:00 Prom-PG15 18:00 The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy-PG 20:00 The Breakfast Club-PG15 22:00 Tucker And Dale vs Evil-18

01:00 Elizabethtown-PG15 03:00 Blame It On Mum-18 05:00 Brighton Rock-PG15 07:00 Justice For Natalee Holloway 09:00 Unanswered Prayers-PG15 11:00 Boy-PG15 13:00 My Afternoons With Margueritte-PG15 15:00 Unanswered Prayers-PG15 17:00 Loosies-PG15 19:00 Planet Of The Apes-PG15 21:00 George Harrison: Living In The Material World-PG15

01:00 The Beaver-PG15 03:00 Take Shelter-PG15 05:00 Spy Kids: All The Time In The World-PG 06:30 Michael Jackson: The Life Of An Icon-PG15 09:00 The Fourth Kind-PG15 11:00 Battle For Terra-PG 12:45 The Phantom Of The Opera At The Royal Albert Hall-PG15 15:30 Kings Ransom-PG15 17:00 The Fourth Kind-PG15 19:00 The Artist-PG 21:00 Something Borrowed-PG15 23:00 Paranormal Activity 3-18

01:15 Emilie Jolie-PG 02:45 Cars 2-FAM 04:30 The Great Bear-PG

06:00 08:00 10:00 11:30 13:00 14:30 16:15 18:00 20:00 22:00 23:45

Emilie Jolie-PG Supertramps-FAM The Clockwork Girl-PG15 Scooter The Penguin-FAM Tommy & Oscar-FAM Cars 2-FAM Alpha And Omega-PG15 The Clockwork Girl-PG15 Teo: The Intergalactic Hunter Alpha And Omega-PG15 Tommy & Oscar-FAM

03:00 Trans World Sport 04:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 05:00 European Challenge Cup 07:00 Twenty20 Big Bash League 10:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 11:00 Live Twenty20 Big Bash League 14:00 Darts 19:00 Twenty20 Big Bash League 22:00 Live Darts

03:00 Twenty20 Big Bash League 06:00 Trans World Sport 07:00 Darts 12:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 13:00 Extreme Sailing Series 13:30 Trans World Sport 14:30 Futbol Mundial 15:00 PGA European Tour Weekly 16:00 Live Top 14 18:00 Live Top 14 20:00 NFL Game Day 20:30 Trans World Sport 21:30 PGA European Tour Highlights 22:30 PGA European Tour Weekly 23:30 European Challenge Cup

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Fukuoka Marathon Golfing World Asian Tour Golf FEI Equestrian World MENA Golf Tour Highlights Spirit of a Champion Golfing World Spirit of Golf Spirit of Golf FEI Equestrian World Mosconi Cup Golfing World Asian Tour Golf Twenty20 Big Bash League FEI Equestrian World Golfing World Trans World Sport Top 14 Top 14

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European Le Mans Series UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 143 WWE SmackDown PrizeFighter WWE Experience WWE Vintage WWE Bottom Line V8 Supercars Highlights V8 Supercars Extra WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 144 WWE NXT

00:00 Programmes Start At 7:00am 07:00 Kickin It 07:25 Phineas And Ferb 07:50 Ultimate Spider-Man 08:15 Pokemon S15: BW Rival Destinies 08:40 Slugterra 09:05 Kickin It 09:30 Almost Naked Animals 09:55 Pair Of Kings 10:20 Phineas And Ferb 11:35 Scaredy Squirrel 12:00 Lab Rats 12:25 Kickin It 12:50 Mr. Young 13:20 Pair Of Kings 13:45 Zeke & Luther 14:10 Kick Buttowski 14:35 I’m In The Band 15:00 Phineas And Ferb

Classifieds THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

FOR SALE Indoor plants, 7-seater coffee colored velvet sofa, center table and other. items at Hateen Villa. Contact: 25221890 / 99405162.

(C 4257) 20-12-2012 Mazda (6) white color 2003, excellent condition, insurance one year, KD 1,100.

Mob: 66729295. (C 4256) 18-12-2012 Mazda (6) white color 2003, excellent condition, insurance one year, KD 1,100. Mob: 66729295.

(C 4256) 17-12-2012

MATRIMONIAL Orthodox parents invite proposals for their son 30/172 cm M.Com PGDBA, B & B in Kuwait and employed in a reputed MNC in Kuwait from parents of Orthodox/ Jacobite/ Marthoma B.E/MCA/MBA/M.Com/B.ED or other suitably qualified and employed in Kuwait. Contact Email: thekalloors@gmail.com (C 4253) 16-12-2012

CHANGE OF NAME I, Ali Bhai, holder of Indian Passport No: G1349572 hereby change my name to ALI BHAI JIVAJI ALI KAKA. 19-12-2012

holder of Indian Passport No: F6634470, have changed my name to MUHAMMED KUNHI ABDULLA. I, Parayil Puthen Veetil Abdul Rahim, holder of Indian Passport No: K3650340, hereby change my name to AZAD MANZIL ABDUL RAHIM. (C 4254) 18-12-2012

ACCOMMODATION

Prayer timings

Sharing accommodation in Salmiya behind Mercedes showroom only single Pilipina lady in a master bedroom. Tel: 97751739.

11-12-2012

SITUATION WANTED Accountant (5 years’ experience) B.Com, MBA Finance, Finalization of accounts, B/S, P/L, TB, Bank Transaction, Cash, Debtor, Creditors and Inventory Management, ERP Tally, Oracle. Seeking suitable position.

Contact: 97176224. (C 4255) 18-12-2012 Accountant (5 years’ experience) B.Com, MBA Finance, Finalization of accounts, B/S, P/L, TB, Bank Transaction, Cash, Debtor, Creditors and Inventory Management, ERP Tally, Oracle. Seeking suitable position.

Contact: 97176224. (C 4255) 17-12-2012

I, Muhammed Abdulla,

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net

The Public Institution for Social Security www.pifss.gov.kw

Ministry of Interior www.moi.gov.kw

Public Authority of Industry www.pai.gov.kw

Public Authority for Civil Information www.paci.gov.kw

Prisoners of War Committee www.pows.org.kw

Kuwait News Agency www.kuna.net.kw

Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.gov.kw

Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair www.islam.gov.kw

Kuwait Municipality www.municipality.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Oil) www.moo.gov.kw

Kuwait Electronic Government www.e.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Electricity and Water) www.energy.govt.kw

Ministry of Finance www.mof.gov.kw

Public Authority for Housing Welfare www.housing.gov.kw

Ministry of Commerce and Industry www.moci.gov.kw

Ministry of Justice www.moj.gov.kw

Ministry of Education www.moe.edu.kw

Ministry of Communications www.moc.kw

Ministry of Information www.moinfo.gov.kw

Supreme Council for Planning and Development www.scpd.gov.kw

Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation www.awqaf.org

TUITION AutoCAD tuition available by Highly Qualified Experienced Teacher, Learn professionally AutoCAD 2D&3D with Projects, Flexible Schedule, and individual tutorial. Contact: 99302850 / 22467301. (C 4251) 20-12-2012

Fajr: Shorook Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION

05:13 06:37 11:46 14:35 16:54 18:16

Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is

1889988

No: 15663

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JAI THY JZR JZR QTR SAI ETH GFA UAE ETD QTR FDB MSR DHX THY JZR JZR BAW KAC KAC KAC FDB IRA IRA KAC KAC UAE GFA IZG ABY QTR FDB ETD IRC GFA BAB JZR MSC MEA SVA MSR UAE SYR KAC GFA FDB KNE KAC KAC SVA QTR KAC JZR KNE

Arrival Flights on Thursday 20/12/2012 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 138 DOHA 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 354 COCHIN 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 605 ISFAHAN 617 AHWAZ 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 855 DUBAI 223 BAHRAIN 4161 MASHAD 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 6588 SHAHRE KORD 213 BAHRAIN 436 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 403 ASSIUT 404 BEIRUT 9361 JEDDAH 610 CAIRO 871 DUBAI 341 DAMASCUS 382 DELHI 219 BAHRAIN 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 672 DUBAI 546 ALEXANDRIA 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 470 JEDDAH

Time 0:30 0:35 0:45 0:50 1:00 1:30 1:45 1:50 2:35 2:45 3:01 3:05 3:10 5:15 5:30 5:55 6:35 6:40 6:45 7:35 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 7:55 8:15 8:40 8:45 8:50 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:55 10:05 11:20 11:35 11:55 12:30 12:45 12:50 12:55 12:55 13:35 13:50 14:10 14:15 14:15 14:30 14:45 14:55 15:05 15:10

KAC QTR OMA JZR JZR KNE KAC UAE ETD RJA GFA SVA JZR QTR ABY UAL KAC JZR RBG KAC TAR BAB FDB MSC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC OMA FDB JAI AXB MSC MSR JZR ABY QTR ALK KAC MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE JZR JAI FDB DHX AIC JZR GFA KAC JZR UAL BBC DLH

284 134 645 787 535 474 118 857 303 640 215 510 777 144 127 982 542 177 3553 786 327 438 63 405 176 618 674 104 774 647 61 572 393 401 618 189 129 146 229 562 402 136 221 307 859 135 576 59 372 981 239 217 502 185 981 43 636

DHAKA DOHA MUSCAT RIYADH CAIRO JEDDAH NEW YORK DUBAI ABU DHABI AMMAN BAHRAIN RIYADH JEDDAH DOHA SHARJAH WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO DUBAI ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH TUNIS BAHRAIN DUBAI SOHAG GENEVA DOHA DUBAI LONDON RIYADH MUSCAT DUBAI MUMBAI KOZHIKODE ALEXANDRIA ALEXANDRIA DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA COLOMBO AMMAN BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN COCHIN DUBAI BAHRAIN CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN BEIRUT DUBAI BAHRAIN DHAKA FRANKFURT

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

Airlines AIC AXB UAL DLH JAI KAC ETH THY SAI KAC FDB UAE ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA KAC THY FDB BAW IRA IRA JZR JZR KAC KAC GFA KAC ABY UAE FDB ETD IZG IRC QTR GFA BAB KAC KAC JZR MSC MEA JZR KAC MSR JZR SYR SVA UAE GFA FDB KAC

Departure Flights on Thursday 20/12/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA 390 MANGALORE 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 283 DHAKA 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 442 LAHORE 381 DELHI 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 545 ALEXANDRIA 771 ISTANBUL 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 606 MASHHAD 616 AHWAZ 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 224 BAHRAIN 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI 4162 MASHHAD 6589 SHAHRE-KORD 133 DOHA 214 BAHRAIN 437 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 165 ROME 776 JEDDAH 406 SOHAG 405 BEIRUT 786 RIYADH 785 JEDDAH 611 CAIRO 176 DUBAI 342 DAMASCUS 2461 JEDDAH 872 DUBAI 220 BAHRAIN 58 DUBAI 673 DUBAI

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

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

KNE KAC KAC SVA JZR KNE QTR KAC OMA KAC JZR KNE ETD JZR QTR UAE RJA GFA JZR SVA ABY JZR QTR RBG JZR UAL TAR FDB BAB MSC FDB KAC KAC OMA JAI AXB ABY KAC MSC MSR KAC DHX ALK MEA ETD QTR GFA KAC FDB JZR UAE JAI DHX KAC QTR GFA JZR KAC KAC

473 561 617 505 188 471 141 773 646 501 238 475 304 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 128 266 145 3554 134 982 328 64 439 404 62 351 331 648 571 394 120 343 402 619 543 171 230 403 308 137 222 361 60 554 860 575 373 205 147 218 528 411 415

JEDDAH AMMAN DOHA JEDDAH DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH MUSCAT BEIRUT AMMAN JEDDAH ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH SHARJAH BEIRUT DOHA ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN TUNIS DUBAI BAHRAIN ASSIUT DUBAI KOCHI TRIVANDRUM MUSCAT MUMBAI KOZHIKODE SHARJAH CHENNAI ALEXANDRIA ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN MUSCAT DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI KOCHI BAHRAIN ISLAMABAD DOHA BAHRAIN ASSIUT BANGKOK KUALA LUMPUR

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

34

s ta rs CROSSWORD 44

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) You are able to put your life in a most positive place. There have been changes in many areas of your life all during this year but, finally, people, places and goals are coming into focus. Figuring things out, spotting the fly in the ointment, separating the sheep from the goats all take on a special significance. Get out the picture album and the address book with the space for birthdays. You will be busy with these two items for the rest of the day; there may be phone calls to make. You have a heightened interest in health, as well as an urge to get things organized around your living quarters. Be careful when you express your opinion about political or religious subjects today; you could create some heated conversations—even with family members.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Your imagination is energized. If you are working outside the home today, you will be able to make a presentation that could WOW the public. It would not be surprising to find that what you say or do artistically is apt to catch on as a fad in the public sector next year. Enjoy your creative style—others certainly will. People give you compliments and wish you all good things as you make great headway in some task. New goals and new projects create an opportunity for you to show off your talents. You have a friend or relative that will be supportive of your work. Someone from another country may be helpful to you.

Being in touch with faraway people and places satisfies an intellectual yearning—curiosity will take you anywhere and maybe everywhere.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. Any of several small ungulate mammals of Africa and Asia with rodent-like incisors and feet with hooflike toes.

4. Pig-sized tailless South American amphibious rodent with partly webbed feet.

12. (computer science) The rate at which data is transferred (as by a modem).

15. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

16. Bearing or consisting of or resembling umbels.

17. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.

18. (Norse mythology) God of light and peace and noted for his beauty and sweet nature.

19. On, to, or at the top.

21. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

22. United States writer (born in Poland) who wrote in Yiddish (1880-1957).

25. Capable of wounding.

27. Russian country house.

30. Being one more than fifty.

32. Being the one previously mentioned or spoken of.

33. Australian annual sometimes cultivated for its racemes of purple flowers and edible yellow egg-shaped fruit.

37. Corresponding exactly.

40. Surpassing the ordinary especially in size or scale.

41. An antidepressant drug that acts by blocking the reuptake of serotonin so that more serotonin is available to act on receptors in the brain.

42. A flat cake of thin batter fried on both sides on a griddle.

46. Standard time in the 5th time zone west of Greenwich, reckoned at the 75th meridian.

47. Relating to or characteristic of an apogee.

49. A unit of surface area equal to 100 square meters.

51. A Dravidian language spoken in southern India.

52. A place where taxis park while awaiting customers.

54. Typical geese.

55. A white trivalent metallic element.

57. A small cake leavened with yeast.

58. A Mid-Atlantic state.

59. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

61. Avatar of Vishnu.

65. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

68. English chemist and physicist who formulated atomic theory and the law of partial pressures.

73. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

75. A deceitful and unreliable scoundrel.

76. (botany) Relating to or attached to the axis.

77. A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn.

78. A unit of electrical charge equal to the amount of charge transferred by a current of 1 ampere in 1 second.

80. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

81. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.

82. An electrical device that sends or receives radio or television signals.

83. Experiencing or showing sorrow or unhappiness.

DOWN 1. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

2. Any culture medium that uses agar as the gelling agent.

3. Food mixtures either arranged on a plate or tossed and served with a moist dressing.

4. A popular island resort in the Netherlands Antilles.

5. Before noon.

6. A soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element.

7. Not only so, but.

8. Sandwich filled with slices of bacon and tomato with lettuce.

9. Cuban dancer and choreographer (born in 1921).

10. A straight sword with a narrow blade and two edges.

11. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

12. An island in Indonesia east of Java.

13. The part of a hammerhead opposite the flat striking surface (may have various shapes).

14. A narcotic that is considered a hard drug.

20. Large African forest tree yielding a strong hard yellow to golden brown lumber.

23. A stiff protective garment worn by hockey players or a catcher in baseball to protect the shins.

24. Someone who is morally reprehensible.

26. In favor of (an action or proposal etc.).

28. Appointed to a post or duty.

29. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting (especially in cases of drug overdose or poisoning).

31. Attach a yoke or harness to, as of a draft animal.

34. A drama set to music.

35. (of e.g. celestial bodies) Above the horizon.

36. The cardinal number that is the sum of seven and one.

38. Metal shackles.

39. Half the width of an em.

43. Type genus of the Anatidae.

44. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

45. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

48. Worn or shabby from overuse or (of pages) from having corners turned down.

50. A drug (trade names Atarax and Vistaril) used as a tranquilizer to treat anxiety and motion sickness.

53. A metallic element having four allotropic forms.

56. Perennial subshrub of eastern North America having downy leaves yellowish and rose flowers and.

60. An inlaid furniture decoration.

62. True firs.

63. A republic on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean.

64. Having the leading position or higher score in a contest.

66. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

67. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

69. Type genus of the family Arcidae.

70. A worthless lazy fellow.

71. A colorless odorless gaseous element that give a red glow in a vacuum tube.

72. A island in the Netherlands Antilles that is the top of an extinct volcano.

74. A member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala.

79. A hard brittle gray polyvalent metallic element that resembles iron but is not magnetic.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

You could defeat your own goals today if you let your mind wander apart from your responsibilities. There is a need to be more observant and detailed in your personal activity just now. Become more balanced in the area of work and play.

Anyone that works as hard as you do needs to play hard—perhaps some team sport or some ongoing competition with friends. Perhaps the difficulty is that your work overshadows your ability to enjoy fun and relaxation. Do not spend so much time worrying about the people in your life. You absolutely make a positive difference in people’s lives and you encourage others. If there is something that you can do to help or there is a need for advice . . . you naturally know just what to do to help. Smile

Cancer (June 21-July 22) If you are not working this Wednesday, you may want to just get out and investigate your city. If you are working, a tour this afternoon may find you shopping or just checking out sales at a new store. If other people want to know what you want for your birthday or the next holiday, you might consider requesting a gift certificate to this new store, if you like it. If you like exercise and recognize the benefits, consider a gift certificate to a spa. You may have to stop early this evening to help guide or be with a young person in his or her activities. You can help guide a young person into most productive activities by giving an incentive for doing some sort of volunteer service. You may devote more of your energies to healing and fantasy.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Self-transformation and the development of personal power play a big role in your life. There are some things that need to be accomplished today and you will accomplish what you set out to do. There could be some monetary surprises from a friend as well. Perhaps it is time for a payback or a refund just now. A new influence comes through your friends. This could be a positive difference to you for a long time. Your friends will encourage you. Ask and you will receive. Lovers, children and other people or things dear to your heart are emphasized this evening. Being admired for your gifts and talents is important to you. Listen carefully, there are lots of compliments to go around, particularly for the way you care for these young people.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You could be most persuasive today. You have some exciting relationships that do not necessarily mean a love relationship. You attract healthy, busy people that enjoy the outdoors and sports as much as you. Wherever you are today, there will be opportunities to talk about your hobby and enlist others in joining your group—or purchasing a product. You could be a great asset to a business that needs a demonstrator or a lecturer or a top salesperson to show and encourage other salespeople. This evening a couple of people that are seniors may want to help you out with child-sitting problems. You will still need a child sitter, so find one that can be friendly with the more experienced individuals in your household, a good listener.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) Do not expect things to happen on your timetable this day—you will be happier if you can just take the day one hour at a time. If you find difficulties when trying to come to some sort of decision, it would be wise to work toward a compromise—no matter how difficult or unjust that may seem. In communicating with others, you will most likely find greater clarity through using your intuition, rather than through rational thought. You may touch upon very emotional parts of yourself and find a temptation to psychoanalyze situations. Now is a good time to focus on spiritual philosophy. This is a time to stick with the things you know and to do the things you are familiar with—like a hobby or general chores. You have time to cook a new recipe tonight.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Although you may not want to miss a co-worker meeting or a group gettogether, you place a great deal of importance on a current business matter and you settle down to business. Work may go into the evening hours. If at all possible, put limits on that overtime for the rest of this month. You go above and beyond the expected work quota and you come up with some fantastic results that repeatedly keep tempting the higher-ups of your department to pull more work from you. You should keep notes with dates and times and request a raise. One of your friends has gone before you this evening and arranged some delicious snacks and fun music so that a party can come to life the minute you move through the door. Mind you, this party will end at your request.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You could be planning an adventure for this next weekend. Several of your friends have ideas that sound like fun activities. Over a period of time you and your friends have pushed the limits and gotten in really good shape, lost weight and felt great. Something to stretch your idea of play will bring the word “adventure” to life.

There is time, here and there, during this day to make phone calls and contacts that will secure the accommodations. Work issues are routine and easily handled. You may stay slightly later to help do some fun decorating. This evening a new animal comes to your attention and is the perfect playmate for either a friend or some other pet. Think carefully about getting two of the same animal—misbehavior could be a problem.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Something puzzles you this morning and it is not necessarily a work situation, although you may carry it with you to the workplace. Someone you have met at another time that you can’t remember has reappeared this morning at a coffee shop. You may decide to not say anything and wait to see what develops. If you look at your school album, you will find the same face. Take your time in the workplace; time is needed to complete a difficult task. Your memory is good and you retain what you read. Study and reading about some method or considering a correspondence course is something you enjoy spending time with this afternoon. You may decide to go to a party. Add accent to your evening clothes.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) There is a lot of nervous energy now, as much is to be accomplished today.

However, you are thinking more realistically these days and should find no problem in completing all of the tasks that are before you now. Distractions could cause a tailspin, so try and keep your day as simple as possible—stay within your planned agenda.

Allocate some of your work, if possible. If you are willing, a tradeoff could work quite well.

You are coming into a period of greater than usual emphasis on emotional security, which is likely to manifest as putting down roots somehow. Home and family matters can play a big part in this: relatives take on a greater importance than ever before. Real estate plays a bigger part in your life goals through the end of this week.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) A period emphasizing an enhanced sense of personal possibility and potential has just begun. Making a good impression and putting your best foot forward takes on greater importance as a new cycle becomes a part of your life. Appearances and style may count more than substance. Romance, the arts and life’s other pleasures seem to take center stage this afternoon. A relationship has the possibility of shaping into a permanent commitment. This is a good time for you in that there are many opportunities to build on good relationships and create wonderful memories for a long time. Your special smart-as-a-fox mind will find that financial gains are possible. Your inner resources and emotions are accented. Expect a sense of goodwill.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

ST TATE T OF KUW K WAIT A

Te el.: 161

DIRECTORA AT TE GENERAL GENE OF CIVIL AVIA V ATION T METEOROLOGICAL DEP PA ARTMENT DA AY Y: Wednesday e

19/12/2012

BY Y DA AY:

Partly cloudy with variable wind changing to light to moderate south easterly wind, with speed of 06 - 28 km/h with a chance for scattered light rain

BY Y NIGHT:

Clouds will increase gradually with light to moderate south easterly wind, with speed of 06 - 26 km/h with a chance for fog forming early morning No Current Warnings arnin a

WARNING A

15 °C

KUW WAIT A AIRPOR RT

22 °C

12 °C

NUW WAISEEB A

21 °C

16 °C

WA AFRA

22 °C

14 °C

SALMI

19 °C

12 °C

ABDAL LY

23 °C

13 °C

JAL ALIY YAH A

22 °C

13 °C

25623444

FA AILAKA

20 °C

14 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

19 °C

14 °C

Mishref

25381200

UMM AL-MARADEM

21 °C

19 °C

W Hawally

22630786

WA ARBA A - BUBY YAN A

20 °C

13 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

ST TATION T

SFC. CHART

19/12/2012 0000 UTC

4 DA AYS Y FORECAST Temperatures DA AY

DA ATE T

WEA AT THER

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

Thursday

20/12

partly cloudy + scattered rain later on

23 °C

14 °C

SE

15 - 38 km/h

Friday Saturday

21/12

unstable

24 °C

15 °C

SE-NW

25 - 45 km/h

22/12

partly cloudy

20 °C

10 °C

NW-N

08 - 30 km/h

Sunday

23/12

partly cloudy

20 °C

10 °C

N-NE

10 - 30 km/h

PRA RA AYER Y TIMES

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WA AIT AIRPORT

Fajr

05:12

MAX. Temp.

21 °C

24884079

Sunrise

06:37

MIN. Temp.

07 °C

24892674

Zuhr

11:45

MAX. RH

77 %

Asr

14:31

MIN. RH

30 %

Omariya

24719048

Sunset

16:53

MAX. Wind

N Khaitan

24710044

Isha

18:16

TOT TAL AL RAIINF FALL A L IN 24 HR.

Fintas

23900322

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

SE 21 km/h .48 mm V1.00

19/12/12 04:19 UTC

T1.06

PRIVATE CLINICS Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Dr. Salem soso General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Mousa Khadada Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Faiha

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Expected Weeather for the Next 24 Hours

21 °C

Psychologists /Psychotherapists

22545171

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

07:00

Issue Time

KUW WAIT A CITY

Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427

Al-Shuhada

WWW.MET.GOV V..KW

MIN. REC.

Firdous

Ext.: 262 2627 - 2630

22418714

Fax: 24348714

MAX. EXP P.

Ardhiya

PHONE

Al-Madeena

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Grammer to Host DGA Awards Again

oss” star Kelsey Grammer will host the 65th Annual DGA Awards, DGA president Taylor Hackford and 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner Chair Michael Stevens said Tuesday. This will mark the second consecutive year that Grammer has hosted the ceremony. “We’re so pleased to welcome Kelsey Grammer back as host of the DGA Awards for the second year in a row,” Hackford said. “Last year, Kelsey kept the show (and the wine) flowing while both celebrating the craft of directing and poking fun in all the right places.

The audience had a rousing good time and I know we are all looking forward to seeing what Kelsey comes up with this year.” A DGA member since 1996, Grammer was nominated for a DGA Award for outstanding directing in a comedy series, for the “Merry Christmas, Mrs Moskowitz” episode of his former show “Frasier.” In addition to that episode, Grammer directed dozens of episodes o the series. His directing credits also include “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Out of Practice,” “My Ex Life” and “Hank.” The 65th Annual DGA Awards will take place Feb 2, 2013 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.

“B

Wilkinson

Stewart and Pattinson host Christmas party K

risten Stewart and Robert Pattinson hosted a Christmas tree decorating party on Sunday. The couple - who reconciled recently following a brief split when Kristen, 22, cheated on the 26-year-old actor with director Rupert Sanders - invited friends and family to Kristen’s Los Feliz home for a festive party. A source told HollywoodLife.com: “Kristen and Rob had a small, intimate Christmas tree decorating party on Sunday. They have a gorgeous tree set up at Kristen’s where Rob pretty much lives now.” “Kristen was really happy to be back home and be with Rob. They want to spend as much time as possible together before Rob leaves in January to film his next

reveals healthy Christmas tips

movie.” While the couple aren’t officially living together, friends say they are happier than ever since getting back together. A pal previously said: “They are not living with each other but they are spending plenty of time with each other and they do sleep over often. Rob usually sleeps over at Kristen’s new home in Los Feliz, rather than the other way around. “They are in a really magical place right now despite some lingering trust issues on Rob’s side.” Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino feels “blessed” that he managed to beat his addiction.

endra Wilkinson has revealed her top tips to stay in shape over Christmas. The former Playboy model wants to enjoy the festive season by eating, drinking and being merry but she doesn’t want to put on too much weight. Kendra intends to limit the amount of calorie laden canapes she eats and has a plan for meal times to avoid overeating. In a blog post titled “Say No To Muffin Tops”, she wrote: “Between Christmas cookies and cocktail parties, plus all the heavy holiday meals in between, it can be easy to put on a few pounds during the holiday season. Don’t let it happen! Here’s how to make it to 2013 with a flat belly ... Start every day with breakfast and a short workout. Eating breakfast will rev up your metabolism for the day and a short run or a 20-minute yoga session in the morning boosts your energy and keeps your appetite in check for the rest of the day. “Never go to a party hungry. Eat a small meal before attending cocktail parties, dinner parties, or any events where food will be served. Holiday appetizers are usually fried, stuffed with cheese, or full of sugar. Taste what you want but never make a meal of party appetizers.”

K

Hilton’s romantic Christmas break aris Hilton and River Viiperi are enjoying a romantic skiing break. The hotel heiress and her Spanish boyfriend have jetted off to Aspen, Colorado for a week of fun in the snow, where they have been snuggling up by the fire in a chalet watching Christmas movies in between tacking extreme sports on the slopes. Paris tweeted: “Just had a relaxing deep tissue massage.

Now in bed with @RiverViiperi cuddling by the fire watching Home Alone. Love Christmas movies.” She added: “Going to bed, Getting up early to go skiing and snowmobiling. Can’t wait for another adventurous day in the snow. Sweet dreams everyone.”

The camera-loving couple - who are spending their first Christmas together - are keeping their fans updated by tweeting their every move and posing for a series of holiday snaps in the idyllic resort. The 31-yearold fashionista certainly came well prepared for the trip, stocking up on a whole new wardrobe of top-of-the-range ski-wear before jetting off to the mountains on Monday . She posted: “Love all the ski and snowboarding outfits that I bought today at @BurtonLAFlagship. Can’t wait to go skiing in #Aspen. #YES! (sic)” In between hitting the slopes and shopping, the socialite has taken time to reflect on how lucky she is to be enjoying such “magical” scenery. She wrote: “Can’t wait to have a romantic and magical time at my favorite ski resort. / Aspen is so beautiful. Feel so happy and blessed to be here.#ChristmasVacation (sic)”

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Katie Price is dating a male stripper he 34-year-old former glamour model - who has been romantically linked with rugby player Gavin Henson since her split from fiance Leandro Penna in October was among those in the audience watching Kieran Hayler, 25, at a ladies night in Worthing, West Sussex, South England, raising money for a disabled children’s charity, and the pair reportedly couldn’t keep their hands off one another. A source told The Sun newspaper: “They were kissing and cuddling and seriously wrapped round each other.” Kieran - who has performed his act several times on UK TV soap ‘EastEnders’ and also appeared on panel show ‘Argumental’ - later posted a picture of them kissing online, and said: “I couldn’t be happier in my life right now!” On Tuesday Kieran accompanied Katie who has children Harvey, 10, Junior, seven, and Princess, five, from previous relationships - on a shopping trip to the Bluewater centre in Kent, South East England. He tweeted a picture of them kissing afterwards with the message: “Had fun with my baby girl Miss Katie Price.” However, friends of twicemarried Katie insist she is not looking for a serious relationship at the moment and just wants to have some fun. A source said: “She’s just come out of a serious relationship.

She’s taking things easy at the moment.” Katie sent her ex-husband Peter Andre a message of condolences this week following the death of his brother Andrew from kidney cancer. She wrote on her Twitter page: “My thoughts are with the Andre family at this difficult time xx.”

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Attenborough called Bjork ‘honey’ ir David Attenborough is enchanted by Bjork and calls her “honey”. The natural history TV presenter struck up a friendship with the ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ singer when they filmed a documentary together in which they explore music in nature, entitled ‘Attenborough and Bjork: The Nature of Music’, and David admits he finds the Icelandic pop star mesmerizing. David - who admits he can’t pronounce Bjork’s name properly - revealed: “I called her ‘honey’ [while filming]. She is really quite enchanting.” The 86-year-old TV star and Bjork, 47, got on so well they worked together on another project with David recording a spoken-word introduction for her album ‘Biophilia’, which incorporated live exhibitions and iPad apps. In the documentary the broadcaster reveals his own passion for music and introduce footage of the lyre bird, reed warbler and blue whale to show the music that exists in the animal kingdom. Bjork is not the first famous women to catch the eye of David. During an appearance on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ this year, Cameron Diaz fell for his charm but as much as he enjoyed her company, David insisted they weren’t as cosy as they looked on screen. He added to The Sun newspaper: “The camera angle made it look as if I was sitting on her lap, or vice-versa. It wasn’t quite like that! “Well, I like the company of human beings, and they are more than 50 per cent of the population, so yes. I like the company of women.” David can next be seen on TV screens in ‘Galapagos 3D with David Attenborough’ which will be broadcast on New Year’s Day at 7pm on Sky 3D and in 2D on Sky 1HD.

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Holmes

enjoys birthday at a bakery

atie Holmes celebrated her 34th birthday in a bakery.

The ‘Mad Money’ star was joined by her six-year-old daughter Suri - whose father is the actress’ ex-husband Tom Cruise - and a friend of the little girl at Sugar and Plumm in New York yesterday, with the trio ordering silverdollar pancakes and eggs Benedict. After their meal, Katie was presented with a homemade vanilla sponge cake layered with strawberry jam and vanilla butter cream with “Happy Birthday Katie” iced on top. A source told the New York Post newspaper: “When the staff brought the cake out with a sparkler, Suri and her friend sang ‘Happy Birthday,’ and the two girls helped the pastry chef cut the cake and plate it.” Katie and Suri later visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was recently revealed the brunette actress has splashed out £30,000 on Christmas presents for her daughter. Katie has splashed out £15,000 on a Victorian playhouse, which has its own running water and electricity and will be erected in the garden of their New York home.

Suri will also awake on Christmas morning to find an iPad mini, a Ralph Lauren dress, a Chloe fur coat and a £6,000 mini kids Mercedes car underneath the tree. However, her efforts may be overshadowed because it has also been claimed that Tom’s Christmas gifts to Suri include a pony and her own house. —Bang Showbiz

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

LIFESTYLE F e a t u r e s

Ferry travel offers escape from notorious Lagos traffic

Passengers sit in a ferry at the Marina station in Lagos.—AFP Photos t may not seem like an especially tough choice: spend six hours a day in choking road traffic getting to and from work, or take a ferry, skip the gridlock and cut the commute to 40 minutes, roundtrip? Travelling by road in Nigeria’s sprawling economic capital of Lagos, subSaharan Africa’s largest city, can be torturous, with “go-slows” (local slang for traffic) often turning a two-kilometer journey into an hour-long slog. The lagoon that connects the densely populated mainland to the city’s islands where many work offers an alternative travel option, but for some, ferries are too costly, unreliable and dangerous.

The Lagos state government is trying to change that through measures designed to boost the number of passenger boats in operation while reducing the vehicles on the mega-city’s congested routes. There are signs the strategy is working. “It will save

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A ferry carries passengers from Marina station to Apapa.

me fuel, it will save me time and it will save me other stress,” said Everest Agharesa while seated on a boat at the mainland jetty of Apapa, a lifejacket slipped over his suit. As the real estate agent scrolled through e-mails on his Blackberry, he said he had just left a meeting and needed to get back to his office on Lagos Island, the city’s historic business hub.

‘Now I can play with my children’ Travelling between the mainland and the islands typically involves battling gridlock on one of the city’s notorious bridges, including The Third Mainland Bridge, which, at 10 kilometers (six miles), is Africa’s longest. It has become a key artery for Lagosians since opening in 1991, but the population was much smaller then. Now the city’s road network can hardly cope with its 15 million people, forcing officials to consider a range of solutions

Captain Jones Jombo ferries passengers to Marina station in Lagos. including new roads, a light rail network and an expanded ferry service. Yinka Marinho, who left his job in the oil sector to head the Lagos State Water Authority, said ferry travel is becoming ever more popular.

“When I came two years ago,

only 200,000 or 300,000 people were taking the boat every month. Today, we estimate that at least 1.3 million” are using ferries, he said. Companies looking to enter the sector face a number of obstacles, notably including a lack of properly constructed jet-

ties. “We are trying to make the waterways more attractive to operators,” Marinho said.

Another issue is that the city does not yet have a comprehensive, reliable ferry service.

Currently, the sector consists of roughly 70 boats, individually owned by small businessmen in an informal set-up that is unpredictable and raises security concerns. Among those who said he felt uneasy about water travel was Ezekiel Adewole, who works at a bank and complained about the cost, which increases at night.

He said he pays 600 naira (three euros, $3.95) in the morning and up to 800 naira after sundown.

Prices vary-and, in typically Nigerian fashion, are often negotiable-but many said the ferries were generally more expensive than minibuses, thousands of which snake through Lagos each day, often overloaded with passengers. Seated on a boat at the Oniru jetty, Adewole confessed

that although he did not feel safe when travelling by water, avoiding road traffic was extremely appealing.

Furthermore, security was out of his control, he said: “We put everything in the hands of God.” Youssouf, a 42-year-old consultant who did not want to give his family name, said he hardly saw his children during the week because of his 40-kilometre (25mile) commute from the mainland neighborhood of Ikorodu to Victoria Island. “Before, with my personal car, I used to leave at 4:30 am, and at night I was arriving at 11:00 pm,” he said. His commute has been shaved to 40 minutes roundtrip thanks to the ferry.

“Now I can play with my children in the morning and even at night,” he said. “I can live a normal life!” —AFP

Skulls, bones draw crowds to Europe’s second ossuary im lighting and quiet music accompany a faint smell of decomposing skeletons to complete a ghoulish ambiance that is proving to be a hit with visitors to a giant bone repository in the Czech Republic. The long-forgotten ossuary in the southern city of Brno opened its doors to the public this year with a display of the best-preserved remains of tens of thousands of souls. The collection is Europe’s second largest after a repository in Paris. “Some skulls are penetrated by a sword or bullet,” said Petra Kacirkova, head of the local tourist information centre. Some were victims of an unsuccessful Swedish siege during the Thirty Years’ War of 1618-48, while others succumbed to the plague or cholera, or simply died by accident.

“A few of them injured their heads in dark cellars, for instance by nails,” Kacirkova added. Forgotten for some 200 years, the ossuary was discovered by chance in 2001during building work under St James church in the heart of Brno. Researchers spent a decade uncovering the remains, most of which came from a local German enclave, according to Kacirkova. “An estimate based on the volume of skeleton dust showed there were about 50,000 bodies, but later calculations revised that number up,” she said. “I suppose there are more dead people to be found,” she added, pointing at a pile of bones neatly arranged in a niche against a brick wall.

Built atop a smaller Romanesque church dating to the 13th century, the Gothic-style St James church with its soaring vaulted ceilings was encircled by a cemetery which was closed in 1784. Under imperial reforms effected at the time, cemeteries were banned within the city walls, and many gravestones were used to pave the streets of Brno. After the St James cemetery was abandoned, its auxiliary ossuary was also closed and forgotten for centuries. “The burials lasted 500 years, roughly from the 13th century. People bought the graves for 10 to 12 years, then the bones were exhumed and stored in the church’s underground chambers,” Kacirkova said.

The venue, which has attracted 20,000 visitors since it opened in June, cost about 40 million koruna (1.6 million euros, $2.0 million) to open to the public. Half of the total was covered by the European Union, which the Czech Republic joined in 2004. Death is omnipresent in the vaulted cellar, which features gravestones and modern sculptures alongside the skulls and bones. Soft music by a local modern composer creates a solemn, pious atmosphere. A marble wall at the street-level entrance lists the names of some of the people laid to rest there. Above it, a prayer inscribed in Latin reads, “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them”.

An underground chapel contains some of the bestpreserved skulls. In the centre of this grim room, a pillar of skulls and bones reaches to the ceiling near a tall cross and two coffins, one containing the bones of a 13year-old child, the other a skeleton of a grown man.

Architect Ales Svoboda, who refurbished the ossuary’s interior, insists that every effort was made to preserve its character and to handle the remains with due respect. With piety in mind, Svoboda designed wire baskets supporting the bones to make glue or cement unnecessary. “It’s very impressive, very apt, and done with taste,” Michael Holland, a tourist from Britain, told AFP. Then he admitted: “But it is a little bit creepy.” —AFP

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Hendrick Dierendonck presents a piece of meat “70 days of maturation” during a sale of fine food to raise funds for the French Red Cross on December 18, 2012 French auction house Artcurial in Paris. —AFP photos

An employee of French auction house Artcurial presents a half smoked salmon of the Adour river during a sale of fine food to raise funds for the French Red Cross.

Fine foods net thousands at Paris charity auction ruffles, oysters, and an aged side of beef or a threestar dinner by a top French chef: a mouthwatering line-up of festive delicacies were the star lots of an offbeat charity auction in Paris. Dubbed “Fine Food”, and held for the second year running by the auctioneer Artcurial for the benefit of the French Red Cross, the sale Tuesday night raised 57,015 euros ($75,714) for the charity’s Paris soup kitchens and aid missions. A 58-month-old

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A visitor takes a picture of the “Casa di Babbo Natale” (Santa’s house) illuminated with thousands of lights yesterday in Melegnano, some 25 km from Milan.

Massimiliano Goglio, the owner of the house, decorates every year at Christmas time his house, to wish Merry Christmas to everyone. —AFP

Spanish bellota ham, billed as a Rolls-Royce for meat lovers, fetched the highest amount at the pre-Christmas sale, reaching 2,600 euros.

A three-star meal for two rustled up by chef Michel Troigros was snapped up for 450 euros, one of a string of similar lots put up by chefs from Alain Ducasse to Rene Redzepi of Copenhagen’s Noma, rated the world’s best table. Many of France’s top fine food suppliers took part,

like the star French butcher Yves-Marie Le Bourdonnec who offered a side of Wagyu beef, aged for 100 days, and described by one admiring punter as “a work of art.” Two fresh foie gras went for 160 euros, a lot of aged comte and gruyere cheese fetched 300 euros, while 250 grams of Perigord black truffles reached 450 euros and half a wild salmon 1,250 euros. —AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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Hong Kong probes Chan ‘guns and grenades’ claim

File photo shows Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan speaking during a photo call in Hong Kong. —AFP

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ong Kong police said yesterday they will investigate comments made by action star Jackie Chan that he had used guns and grenades to confront triad gang members. The Rush Hour star told the Guangzhou-based Southern People Weekly magazine that he had been “bullied” by triads, or the Chinese organized crime societies, that were once powerful and thrived in the Asian financial hub. “In the past, when they bullied me, I hid in the United States. They opened fire at me once I got off the aeroplane,” Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post quoted him as saying in the magazine interview published last week.

“From that moment on, I needed to carry a gun every day when I went out,” said the Hong Kong born star, who has played a hero cop that took on crime lords in his hugely popular Cantonese crime action film series Police Story. The 58-year-old actor said he had to confront a gang of 20 members once with guns when the group surrounded him with knives at a Hong Kong eatery. “I told them they had been going too far and that I had been hiding from them. Later on, I confronted them with two guns and six grenades,” he said, without saying when the incident occurred or how it ended.

A police spokeswoman said they will probe Chan’s comments but stopped short of saying whether they will question him. “We will see what he has said in the interview first,” the spokeswoman said. Chan suggested in the same interview that protests in the semiautonomous Hong Kong that was returned to Beijing in 1997 should be restricted, sparking criticism from

Wax figures of John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as the ‘Abbey Road’ Beatles stand at the entrance to the Adlon hotel in Berlin.

Fifty years ago, the Beatles released their very first single the ‘Abbey Road’. On this occasion, Madame Tussauds museum presents the Abbey Road Beatles as wax

Black list revealed:

Hollywood’ s favorite unproduced screenplays ranklin Leonard’s Black List revealed its list of Hollywood’s 100 favorite unproduced screenplays on Monday - opting this year to issue them one each minute on Twitter. Rajiv Jospeh and Scott Rothman’s “Draft Day,” a story about the conflicted general manager of an NFL team, topped the list with 65 votes. Ivan Reitman’s Monteceito Pictures owns the rights. Among the agencies, WME scored the most entrees with 22, leading all other comers by double digits.

CAA placed second with 12. The list began with Brad Desch’s “Fathers and Daughters”

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and concluded with Roberto Bentivega’s “The Eel.” It includes projects such as “Glimmer,” a spec script by Carter Blanchard that DreamWorks optioned in June, and “Come and Fine Me” from Zack Whedon, brother of Joss Whedon. The brothers co-created the “Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog,” a wellreceived web series, with brother Jed. Franklin Leonard launched the first Black List in 2005, based on a survey of film industry executives who chose their favorite unmade screenplays. Several past scripts on the list have gone on to great acclaim, such

as five Oscar winners - “Juno,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The Social Network,” “The King’s Speech” and ‘The Descendants.”

Leonard has since moved full-time to expanding the business. In September, he left Overbrook Entertainment, which TheWrap reported exclusively. In October, he launched a service whereby aspiring writers can pay to upload their scripts for review.

For this year’s list, he partnered with Twitter. “Twitter’s role, both in Hollywood and the world beyond it, is truly singular,” Leonard said in a press release Friday. “Our

mission has always been to celebrate exceptional screenwriting and the writers who do it. We think this partnership has extraordinary potential to do that more effectively than we ever could before.” “Increasingly, Twitter is a place where news breaks.

Releasing the list on Twitter first is a great way to spark a conversation around these scripts,” Omid Ashtari, Twitter’s head of sports and entertainment, said in a statement. This year’s Black List surveyed 290 executives and scripts needed to receive at least six mentions to make the cut. — Reuters

Madonna leads Billboard’s top-grossing tours Indian musicians Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Sabir Khan and singer Roop Kumar Rathod perform during a tribute concert for the late Padma Bhushan Ustad Sultan Khan in Mumbai. — AFP

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Naomi Watts pulls off ‘ The Impossible’ to critical

ays after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, actress Naomi Watts took part in a fundraising telethon spearheaded by George Clooney to help the millions of people from Indonesia to the east coast of Africa whose lives were shattered. Little did Watts know that eight years later she would be starring in “The Impossible,” out in the US movie theaters tomorrow, about a real family’s experience in Thailand.

The earthquake and tsunami killed more than 5,000 people, left more than 2,800 missing and displacing 7,000 more in Thailand alone.

She hesitated to star in the film when she was first approached by Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona. “I thought, how do you make a movie about a tsunami without it becoming some sort of spectacular disaster movie?” Watts, 44, told Reuters. “That would be so wrong.” But once Watts read the script, she said was moved by the story based on the real-life Spanish family of Maria Belon, her husband, Enrique Alvarez, portrayed by Ewan McGregor, and their three sons.

Belon’s family was spending their Christmas holiday in Thailand when the tsunami hit. Injured and separated, the film follows their struggle to survive in the aftermath and their perseverance in finding each other amidst the chaos. “I felt a huge amount of pressure because of the responsibility to Maria’s story,” said Watts. “And on her back, she carries

hile this year’s pop charts have been dominated by young singers, it is veteran music stars, led by Madonna, who are commanding big money in tour ticket sales, according to a new Billboard list released on Tuesday. Madonna, 54, topped Billboard’s list of highest-grossing live tours, earning an estimated $228.4 million in ticket sales from her sold-out ninth worldwide tour in support of her 12th studio album “MDNA.” The singer will wrap her tour in South America this weekend, after performing more than 80 shows across the world starting in Israel in May. Madonna came ahead of pop star Lady Gaga, who landed at No 6, with ticket sales of $124.9 million from her worldwide “Born This Way Ball” tour.

Gaga, 26, is currently midway through her tour, which kicked off in South Korea in April, and will wrap in Oklahoma in March 2013.

Music publication Billboard compiled its list through estimated gross ticket sales figures from Billboard box scores, which tracks concert tours, ticket prices

the stories of everybody else, because hers is connected to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. I felt a sense of responsibility.”

Plaudits for Watts’ performance The British-born, Australian actress delivered, despite her fears.

So far, her performance has earned Watts best actress nominations from the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The weekly newspaper, The New York Observer, wrote in its review that “Watts seems almost spiritually committed to her role” while The Hollywood Reporter trade paper

Naomi Watts

said she “packs a huge charge of emotion as the battered, ever-weakening Maria whose tears of pain and fear never appear fake or idealized.”

Watts credits the real Maria Belon, a doctor, for being “an open book” when it came to recalling the experience. The two met before shooting began, and Belon was on the film set.

Belonr also wrote detailed letters chronicling her experience, including taking refuge in a tree and and being found by Thai villagers. One of the more challenging aspects of the shoot was recreating the tsunami, a 10-minute sequence in the film that Watts said took six weeks to shoot on

location in Spain. Rather than creating the tidal wave digitally, actors were anchored in water tanks with the current pushing at them and “debris being chucked at you.”

Though incomparable to the suffering of those who went through the ordeal in 2004, Watts said shooting the sequence was “physically the most demanding thing I’ve ever done.” There was much more dialogue scripted during that sequence but “you were struggling to breathe and we quickly learned that once you open your mouth, water is going in and nothing is coming out.

“Though it was difficult, I’m grateful we got that kind of level of fear and intensity,” she added. What offset the intensity during the shoot was having her sons Sasha, 5, and Sammy, 4, visiting Watts on the set.

“We had them paint stuff on themselves like scars and wounds, then rub them off so they could see it wasn’t real,” recalled Watts.

It’s a far cry from the way she used to approach her work before having kids, such as her Oscar-nominated performance as a grief-stricken mother the 2003 film “21 Grams.” “I was taking everything home with me, staying up all hours, writing, thinking, researching ... just living with torment,” Watts recalled of that time. “I can’t live like that at this point in my life with little ones. I am a mom of two small kids and once I put the key in the door, it’s my duty to be totally present.” — Reuters

and sales. The top five highest-grossing tour acts of 2012 included Bruce Springsteen, 63, and the E Street band at No 2 with $199 million from 72 shows and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, 69, at No 3 with $186 million.

Cirque Du Soleil’s homage to late singer Michael Jackson in “The Immortal World Tour” ranked N 4 with $147.3 million over 183 shows, and British rock band Coldplay was fifth with $147.2 million over 67 shows. The only other young stars in the list of 25 top-grossing tours was Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, 18, at No 20 with $30 million from 29 shows as part of his ongoing “Believe” tour, and country-pop darling Taylor Swift, 23, who raked in $26 million from 21 shows from her “Speak Now World Tour.”

Last year, Swift ranked No. 5 on Billboard’s list with an estimated $97 million in ticket sales from her “Speak Now World Tour,” while Bieber came in at No. 15 with $44 million. Swift will embark on her third worldwide concert tour in support of her studio album “Red” in March 2013. — Reuters

‘Bully’ honored with ‘Stanley Kramer Award’ from PGA T

he Producers Guild of America will honor the documentary “Bully” with the 2013 Stanley Kramer Award at its January awards ceremony, the organization said Tuesday. Director Lee Hirsch and producer Cynthia Lowen will accept the award.

“Bully” follows five high school students as they are subjected to taunts and ridicule and examines the impact their mistreatment has on their lives and their families. “‘Bully’ is a powerful and inspiring film that brought much-needed attention to an issue that just about everyone can relate to at one point or another in their life,” said 2013 PGA Awards Chair Michael De Luca in a statement.

Released last spring, the film became embroiled in a heated battle with the

Motion Picture Association of America’s ratings board after receiving an R-rating for language. After its distributor, the Weinstein Company, initially threatened to release the film unrated, it ultimately agreed to tone down some language in order to receive a PG-13 rating.

The award was established in 2002 and is named for producer and director Stanley Kramer, who was the driving force between a number of movies such as “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “On the Beach” that took on social and political issues such as racism and nuclear war.Previous recipients of the Stanley Kramer Award include such films as “Hotel Rwanda,” “Precious,” “An Inconvenient Truth” and “In America.” — Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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Cruise oozes low-key charisma as ‘ Reacher’ he idea of watching a movie in which a sniper methodically crafts his own bullets, practices weekly at a gun range, and then waits quietly in an empty parking garage before shooting five people dead may not sound like the most appealing form of entertainment during these tragic days. Nevertheless, it’s important to assess “Jack Reacher” on its own terms, for what it is and what it isn’t. Besides being caught in some unfortunate timing, it’s also clever, wellcrafted and darkly humorous, and it features one of those effortless bad-ass performances from Tom Cruise that remind us that he is indeed a movie star, first and foremost. OK, so maybe Cruise doesn’t exactly resemble the Reacher of British novelist Lee Child’s books: a 6-foot-5, 250-pound, blond behemoth. If you haven’t read them, you probably won’t care. Even if you have read them, Christopher McQuarrie’s film - the first he’s directed and written since 2000’s “The Way of the Gun” - moves so fluidly and with such confidence, it’ll suck you in from the start.

McQuarrie, the Oscar-winning writer of “The Usual Suspects,” exhibits some Hitchcockian aspirations in “Jack Reacher” with its sense of foreboding from the very beginning, its twists and double crosses and the quintessential icy blonde at the center in British beauty Rosamund Pike. Hinting at a romance between the two main characters is among the film’s few mistakes. As Peewee Herman says in “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” to the woman who has a crush on him: “You don’t want to get

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mixed up with a guy like me. I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel.” Taken from the Child novel “One Shot,” Jack Reacher is all that: a former military investigator who’s become a bit of a mythic figure since he’s gone off the grid. No address, no credit card trail. This is a guy who uses pay phones - that’s how stealthy he is.

When the deadly shooting occurs at

the film’s start, along the Riverwalk outside PNC Park where the Pittsburgh Pirates play, authorities believe they’ve quickly found their man: a sniper who’s ex-Army himself named Barr. He reveals nothing during his interrogation but manages to scribble the words “Get Jack Reacher” on a notepad before winding up in a coma. Reacher is hard to reach, if

you’ll pardon the pun, but he knows to show up anyway when he hears about the crime just ‘cause he’s one of those stay-one-step-ahead kind of guys. He agrees to team up with Barr’s defense attorney, Helen Rodin (Pike), in hopes of burying the guy. But the deeper he digs, the more he realizes this case isn’t as simple as he, the lead detective (David

This undated publicity photo released by Paramount Pictures shows Tom Cruise, right, as Reacher and Jai Courtney as Charlie in the film, ‘Jack Reacher.’ — AP

California minor arrested in Bieber, Kutcher ‘swatting’ hoaxes minor was arrested on suspicion of placing hoax calls claiming gunshots were fired at the home of Justin Bieber and that people had been shot at actor Ashton Kutcher’s house, police in Los Angeles said on Tuesday. Police said the unnamed minor is suspected to be behind the hoaxes that resulted in dozens of emergency responders being dispatched to the homes of Kutcher and Bieber in October. Neither the actor nor the singer were at home during the pranks.

The false emergency calls are known as “swatting” because SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) officers are often sent to such purported crime scenes. The Los Angeles Police Department would not release the name or gender of the minor, but said the suspect was arrested on Dec. 10 and lived in the Southern California region. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is reviewing whether to file charges.

In the Kutcher incident, dozens of emergency personnel were sent to the Hollywood home of the “Two and a Half Men” star after a call claiming that people were in his home with guns and explosives, and that several people had been shot. First responders were also dispatched to Bieber’s Los Angeles-area home after a false emergency call said gun shots had been fired on the property. Singer and actress Miley Cyrus has also been targeted by a swatting prank, but police said the Cyrus case has not been linked to the Kutcher and Bieber incidents. — Reuters

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File photo shows Justin Bieber accepting the award for favorite album - pop/rock for ‘Believe’ at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards, in Los Angeles. — AP

‘Zero Dark Thirty’ won’t be ‘Hurt Locker’ at the box office

NY appeals court takes up K Cameron Douglas case he Douglas name - first with patriarch Kirk and later with son Michael has always meant gold for Hollywood. But drama for the third generation of the Douglas family has occurred mostly off-screen, where Cameron Douglas has battled drug addiction and legal troubles. In papers submitted for appeals court arguments yesterday, prosecutors and a lawyer for Cameron Douglas have retold in greater detail than before how a man who seemed to have so many advantages in life could land in prison for a decade on a drug conviction. The dispute is over Manhattan Judge Richard M Berman’s decision to double Douglas’ five year prison term after he committed several new drug infractions, including convincing a lawyerturned-love interest to sneak drugs into prison for him in her bra on three or four occasions. Berman File photo shows Cameron said he had not “ever Douglas, son of Michael Douglas, encountered a arrives at the premiere of the film defendant who has ‘Ghosts of Girlfriends Past’ in Los so recklessly and wantonly and flaAngeles. —AP grantly and criminally acted in as destructive and (as) manipulative a fashion as Cameron Douglas has.” In his brief, Douglas’ lawyer Paul Shechtman called the additional sentence “shockingly long,” saying it “may be the harshest sentence ever imposed on a federal prisoner for a drug possession offense.” Douglas, 34, was originally accused of distributing and conspiring to distribute more than 4.5 kilograms of methamphetamine and 20 kilograms of cocaine from August 2006 until his July 28, 2009, arrest at a Manhattan hotel.

At the time, he was so visibly high on heroin that he was taken first to a hospital before he was brought to court, and it was later learned he had been shooting heroin five to six times a day for five

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years, Shechtman noted.

He was released from custody on the condition that he remain under “house arrest” with a private security guard at his mother’s apartment, Shechtman said.

Within days, he persuaded his girlfriend, Kelly Sott, to smuggle heroin to him, hidden in an electric toothbrush. Once discovered, his bail was revoked and he was incarcerated. Sott pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in a plea deal and was sentenced to the seven months she had already served. Still, Douglas gained leniency from what otherwise could have been a mandatory 10-year prison sentence by cooperating with the government, contacting his suppliers by telephone and text messages as law enforcement agents watched. As a result, two drug suppliers were arrested and convicted. Douglas testified at the trial of one supplier.

Douglas was sentenced to five years in prison for a Jan 27, 2010, guilty plea to narcotics distribution charges even before his cooperation was completed. At sentencing, Berman noted that the Douglas family had staged interventions for Douglas that he had refused and that two decades of drug addiction treatment had been unsuccessful. He said it appeared incarceration had produced the longest period of sobriety for Douglas since he was 13. However, it was learned afterward that even prior to the April 20, 2010, sentencing, Douglas had persuaded one of his attorneys - a 33-year-old associate at a law firm with whom lawyers said he also had a romantic relationship to smuggle Xanax pills to him in prison.

Shechtman said she “apparently became enamored of Cameron during frequent visits.”

He admitted that he had shared the 30 Xanax pills with other inmates and that he had also smoked cigarettes, gambled, snorted substances and committed other infractions while in prison. Shortly after testifying at the Oct 3, 2011, trial of a drug supplier, prison staff caught Douglas with the opioid dependence medication Suboxone and a white powdery substance believed to be heroin.

The prison punished him with disciplinary segregation for 11 months and can-

celed nearly three months of his good conduct time.

On Oct 20, 2011, Douglas again pleaded guilty to drug possession, agreeing in a plea deal that the sentencing range should be an additional 12 to 18 months in prison. Prosecutors say that within a week of the plea, the government learned from a cooperating defendant in another case that Douglas had misled the government about how he obtained heroin while in prison. Douglas had claimed he got it in a television room or at a church service or that he obtained the heroin by chance, picking it up off the floor after another inmate dropped it, the government said. But prosecutors say the cooperator revealed he had brought Douglas the drugs directly to his cell.

In court papers, Shechtman blamed Cameron Douglas’ long history of substance abuse and growing up with little parental support. “While still a young teenager, he drank heavily and began selling drugs after his father sharply limited snorting cocaine,” he said. “He used illegal drugs to self-medicate - to ward off depression and panic attacks.” He began using intravenous cocaine at age 20 and then started using heroin so that by age 25, “his life revolved around heroin,” Shechtman said.

His friends were fellow users, who gravitated to him because of his access to family money, which supported their habits, the lawyer said. His drug habit led him to be fired from a movie in which he had a minor role in 2006. “Exasperated, his father gave him an ultimatum: enter a drug rehabilitation program or have his access to family money sharply limited.

Cameron declined to enter treatment; his father carried out his threat; and Cameron turned to drug dealing to support his habit,” Shechtman wrote.

Shechtman argued that the judge had gone too far with Cameron Douglas, punishing an addict for something beyond his control. “While we recognize that many of the words that the district court used to describe Cameron’s conduct ‘reckless,’ ‘manipulative,’ ‘destructive,’ were apt, the simple truth is that Cameron Douglas is a heroin addict who has yet to shake his habit,” he said. — AP

Oyelowo) or the district attorney (Richard Jenkins) - who happens to be Helen’s semi-estranged dad - had hoped.

Besides being a mind teaser, “Jack Reacher” offers the muscular thrills of a ‘70s action flick, including fight scenes that mercifully aren’t over-edited messes and a thrilling, prolonged car chase through the streets of downtown Pittsburgh, with the grinding and screeching providing its own rhythmic soundtrack. Cruise dials down the megawatt charisma and instead relies on a no-nonsense world-weariness which has its own appeal. He also has a dryly funny give-and-take with Robert Duvall, his “Days of Thunder” co-star, as the gun range owner who becomes Reacher’s ally.

Disappointingly, though, Werner Herzog is a bit of a stereotypical villain as a mastermind named The Zec; he’s never really fleshed out enough to seem truly frightening, but at least he sounds right for the part. Even when delivering voiceover about subject matter he’s excited about in his own films, like the documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams,” it’s as if he’s threatening us with world domination. “Jack Reacher,” a Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG13 for violence, language and some drug material. Running time: 130 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Motion Picture Association of America rating definition for PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. — AP

This undated publicity film image provided by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc shows Jessica Chastain playing a member of the elite team of spies and military operatives stationed in a covert base overseas who secretly devoted themselves to finding Osama Bin Laden in Columbia Pictures’ gripping new thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, ‘Zero Dark Thirty.’ — AP

athryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden manhunt thriller “Zero Dark Thirty” hits theaters yesterday, and when it comes to the box office, this isn’t going to be “Hurt Locker.” That was Bigelow’s last film; a gritty Iraq war drama that upset “Avatar” for Oscar’s Best Picture in 2009 but took in just $17 million domestically. “Zero Dark Thirty” could well top $100 million, say industry analysts and if the awards season breaks the right way for the Oscar Best Picture front-runner, it could go higher than that.

“ZDT” and this year’s winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, “Amour,” are making limited debuts while the Barbra Streisand-Seth Rogen comedy “Guilt Trip” and 3D re-release of “Monsters Inc.” go into wide release. Six more movies will roll out tomorrow, including Judd Apatow’s “This Is 40” and the Tom Cruise starrer “Jack Reacher,” in what Hollywood is hoping will be a very busy pre-holiday week at the box office.

In the course of detailing the killing of Bin Laden, “ZDT” is an examination of the nation’s war on terror, its prosecution and its effect on America’s collective psyche, and that will help, not hurt, the film at the box office, Exhibitor Relations Senior analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap. “This movie is about the biggest American war story since Pearl Harbor,” Bock said. “The American people are at a place now where they are ready to look back and really think about what we’ve been through.

“This movie, particularly if it keeps getting awards buzz, is going to be talked about everywhere, and if you want to have an opinion, you’re going to have to see it.”

Despite all the newcomers arriving yesterday and today, Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” is expected to continue dominating. It took in about $7 million Monday - on the heels of its $85 million debut weekend - and should cross the $100 million mark Tuesday. Sony Classic is rolling out “Amour,” Michael Haneke’s dark and unsparing look at old age and death, at two theaters in New York and one in LA. The French-language film was recently named the best film of 2012 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, giving it an important boost during a season in which its chances outside the Oscar foreignlanguage category hinge on getting Academy voters to see it.

That honor stopped an awards run by “Zero Dark Thirty,” which Sony is rolling out on five screens. The intense tale had won the top award with the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, the Boston Film Critics Society and the New

York Film Critics Online.

“ZDT” was produced by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures for about $45 million.

Sony’s plan is to go wide with it release on Jan 11 after the Academy Award nominations. Beside the film itself and director Bigelow, her producing partner Mark Boal is a good bet for an Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, as is Jessica Chastain in the Best Actress category. All of those earned Golden Globes nominations in those categories.

The gritty and gripping tale is a critical favorite - it has a 97.7 percent rating at Movie Review Intelligence - but a lightning rod for political criticism, from both the left and right of the political spectrum. Some critics have charged the film is an apology for US interrogation tactics that included waterboarding, while others say it’s intended to boost the image of President Obama.

“Our agenda isn’t a partisan agenda - it’s an agenda of trying to look behind the scenes at what went down,” screenwriter Boal told TheWrap earlier. “Hopefully art or cinema can present a point of view that’s a little above the political fray, but that doesn’t mean the political narrative doesn’t try to assert itself and pull you back in.”

“Amour” is a co-production between companies in Austria, France and Germany.

It is Austria’s entry and a favorite in Oscar’s Best Foreign Language category and it has a shot at a Best Picture nomination, too. JeanLouis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva star as Anne and George, an elderly couple who are retired music teachers and have a daughter (Isabelle Huppert) living abroad.

The story, which Haneke wrote and directed based on a similar experience in his own family, focuses on what happens when Anne suffers a stroke.

It was nominated in six categories at the recent European Film Awards and won four, including Best Film and Best Director. The LA Film Critics named the 85-year-old Riva co-Best Actress (with Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook”), and she has an outside shot an Oscar nomination in that category.

“Guilt Trip” is Streisand’s first film foray since “Little Fockers,” which debuted around the same time of year in 2010 for Universal - and her first starring role since 1996’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” “Little Fockers,” a sequel to “Meet the Fockers,” opened to $30 million and went on to make $148 million. Distributor Paramount will be happy if the PG13-rated “Guilt Trip,” which will be on about 2,300 screens, can match half that debut.” —Reuters

Hong Kong probes Chan ‘guns and grenades’ claim

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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Detail of the artwork by Italianartist Liliana Moro Meireles, entitled ‘Dumme Gans’ (silly goose) house made with biscuits and sweets during the press preview of the exhibition ‘Food’ on Tuesday at the Ariana museum in Geneva. The international travelling contemporary art exhibition will be presented later in Milan, Sao Paulo and Marseille. — AFP

Warhol’ s Mao portraits excluded from China

ndy Warhol’s famous portraits of Mao Zedong will be excluded in a major show of his work in China, organizers said yesterday; although they stopped short of saying they had been censored. The exhibition to mark the 25th anniversary of the American artist’s death, which is currently touring Asia, features more than 300 of his works including 10 acrylic and silkscreen portraits of the former Chinese leader. But the US-based Andy Warhol Museum which is organizing the tour

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said the Mao images will be dropped from the Beijing and Shanghai legs next year.

“Although we had hoped to include our Mao paintings in the exhibition to show Warhol’s keen interest in Chinese culture, we understand that certain imagery is still not able to be shown in China,” it said in a statement, which did not say whether they had been censored by Chinese authorities. Officials at the Beijing and Shanghai cultural bureaux were not immediately available for comment

when contacted by AFP. The Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal exhibition is one of the biggest ever shows of work

by Warhol, who died in 1987. The artist was said to have been inspired to create the series of Mao paintings by the historic visit of then US president Richard Nixon to China in 1972.

The portraits are currently on display in Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous Chinese city, where the exhibition is scheduled to run until March next year. — AFP

People walk past advertising for the art exhibition.

A visitor rides an escalator to the art exhibition ‘Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal’ in Hong Kong yesterday. — AFP photos

With new home, Mariinsky builds Russian roots

ith the imminent opening of its third home venue, St Petersburg’s Mariinsky opera and ballet will ramp up an already prodigious output but may ease back on hectic foreign touring, director Valery Gergiev said on Tuesday. World audiences have come to know Gergiev and his company well as they crisscrossed the globe after the collapse of Soviet state funding. But with Russians now pouring the kind of money into the arts that has just built the $700-million Mariinsky II theatre, he wants to concentrate on domestic performances.

“It’s important for us to continue to go to London, Berlin or Chicago,” Gergiev told Reuters after a presentation of plans in London. “But now we are more comfortable at home.”

Touring remains important, not for commercial gain but for “national pride” in promoting Russian music, he said. Some 300 of 1,000 performances in 2014 would be on the road - but many of these would be not abroad but in distant Russian regions where Gergiev sees it his mission to bring music to the provinces.

For those unable to visit St Petersburg, where the 2,000-seat new venue will open on May 2 to complement the 150-year-old opera house and a concert hall opened in 2006, the company, known as the Kirov in Soviet times, is expanding its recordings and video broadcasts to theatres worldwide, including in 3D. A 3D recording of Christmas ballet “The Nutcracker” is in cinemas this winter and Gergiev will go a step further in what he acknowledged is not a risk-free experiment with a live 3D broadcast from St Petersburg of “Swan Lake” on Feb 14 - St Valentine’s Day. It is being produced in partnership with the Hollywood 3D studio of “Avatar” director James Cameron. Turning 60 next year,

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An undated handout photo released by the Hong Kong Museum of Art shows portraits of former Chinese leader Mao Zadong on display during the art exhibition.

Gergiev shows little sign of slowing down; he plans to direct all three of the orchestras that will play under the Mariinsky name once the new venue opens, will begin new recordings of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle and plans to complete his series of discs of all Shostakovich’s symphonies.

While working the company hard, he denied

there have been serious rumblings of discontent in the ballet troupe over pay and conditions.

Responding to a letter of complaint from dancers that were widely publicized in Russian media last month, he said: “There’s nothing terrible happening in the Mariinsky - no way.” —Reuters

A cape penguin dressed in a Christmas themed costume takes part in a Christmas event at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo yesterday. A Christmas show will be held daily to attract visitors until Christmas Day. — AFP

Fashion merry-go-round

brings Paris new faces for 2013 D ior, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga: three top Paris fashion houses kick off 2013 with a new designer at their helm. What better way to whet the appetite of fashionistas and keep sales ticking over? “There comes a point when a brand needs to renew itself,” said Serge Carreira, a luxury industry expert and professor at Sciences Po University. Change can come about involuntarily as in the case of John Galliano, sacked by Dior over a racist outburst in February 2011 and succeeded last spring by the Belgian minimalist Raf Simons.

Or it can be deliberate, as at Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, where Hedi Slimane and Alexander Wang were named to replace the outgoing designers Stefano Pilato and Nicolas Ghesquiere respectively.

“Taking on a new designer has become the new way for brands to whip up consumer appetite,” said luxury industry consultant Jean-Jacques Picart. For the fashion world, this much change in one year spells the end of a cycle and the start of a new one, as seen in the early 2000s with the arrival of Slimane at Dior Homme, and Tom Ford at Saint Laurent, Picart said.

Ghesquiere spent 15 years at Balenciaga, as did Galliano at Dior, while Pilati was at YSL for 12 years in total, starting under Ford, said Pamela Golbin, curator at the Paris museum of decorative arts. Long enough for the industry to change, and the job of designer too. “The number of collections has gone from four to eight, 12 or more if you include capsule collections,” she said.

Brands increasingly look to designers to act as their public face, opening stores and attending galas.

‘Couturiers have to sell clothes’ Golbin captures the outlook in today’s fashion industry with a quote from the late French designer Madeleine Vionnet: “‘Artists are here to make us dream-couturiers have

to sell clothes, or they go out of business.’”

“Today it’s no longer enough to be able to design a dress,” Carreira said. “Having a strong identity and a distinctive product are the keys to success.” At a time when luxury houses are looking to shore up their prospects for future growth, they need to strike a balancing act between creativity and business imperatives. “And history tells us that it pays to be bold,” Carreira said. “If you ask talented creatives to produce standardized products, there is no reason it should work.”

Consumers have changed, too, in the past 15 years. The industry is now addressing switched-on customers who are far from the fashion novices of the 1990s. Today’s clients go back and forth between big and niche brands and more or less expensive offerings. This spring will bring what is widely awaited as Slimane’s first “real” shows for Yves Saint Laurent, after last October’s spring-summer collection by the cult designer seen as a homage to the house’s late founder.

Dior’s new designer Simons has already made a mark in Paris with two collections, one couture and one ready-to-wear that reworked the house’s iconic nipped-waist silhouette with a clean-lined, contemporary twist. And Wang, the darling of the New York fashion scene, will be taking his first steps at Balenciaga at the autumn-winter ready-to-wear shows this spring.

At 28, Wang is already a seasoned businessman, at the helm of an own-name fashion house that has been pushing into Asia, where the Taiwanese-American designer has his family roots. His arrival at Balenciaga may or may not herald a more aggressive market strategy, but whatever direction the house takes, for Picart, Wang’s appointment “seals the arrival of a new generation” of designers at the high table of fashion-in the style capital of the world. — AFP