11 Mar - Friday Times by Kuwait Times

The new ‘sixth sense’

Muslim ‘witch hunt’ hearings open in US Congress

FR EE

Max 24 Min 11

NO: 15024 - Friday, March 11, 2011

www.kuwaittimes.net

Gaddafi’s forces have rebels in retreat

RAS AJDIR: Men, who used to work in Libya and fled the unrest in the country, wait in line for food in a refugee camp at the Tunisia-Libyan border, in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia, Wednesday. The 20,000-capacity transit camp for thousands of migrant workers who have fled the fighting in Libya in the past two weeks is about seven kilometers (four miles) from the Libyan border and is expanding with each day of crisis in Libya. — AP

Everyday cooking: Yogurt recipes Pages 32-33

Black cats, broken mirrors and evil eyes Page 4

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

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Hornets sting Mavs Page 61

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LIVERPOOL: Birmingham City’s Jean Beausejour (right) beats Everton’s Tony Hibbert to score a goal during their English Premier League soccer match at Goodison Park on Wednesday March 9, 2011. — AP

Birmingham crawl out of drop zone

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Sports

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

United eye hat-trick

LIVERPOOL: Everton’s Seamus Coleman (right) vies for the ball against Birmingham City’s David Murphy during their English Premier League soccer match at Goodison Park. — AP

Birmingham crawl out of drop zone LONDON: Birmingham edged out of the relegation zone Wednesday after securing a vital point in a 1-1 draw with midtable Everton at Goodison Park. Alex McLeish’s side climbed above West Ham on goal difference into 17th spot as they battle to beat the drop. The Blues had got off to a dream start when Chilean winger Jean Beausejour fired them into the lead on 17 minutes with a powerful header for his second goal in as many games. However Dutch midfielder John Heitinga struck for Everton just before half-time, lashing in a firm shot that flew past Birmingham keeper Ben Foster after the Blues failed to deal with a corner. Birmingham barely created anything thereafter although despite enjoying a wealth of possession Everton were unable to make their dominance count. Everton striker Louis Saha was denied by a diving block from Blues midfielder Jordon Mutch while Jermaine Beckford also tested Foster with a close-range shot that was well saved by the Birmingham keeper. — AFP

QPR’s promotion hopes threatened LONDON: Queens Park Rangers

have been charged with seven counts of breaking FA transfer rules and could face a points deduction that would damage their chances of returning to the Premier League. The west London club were charged by the Football Association over breaches of the rules regarding agents and thirdparty ownership in connection with their signing of Alejandro Faurlin for 4.3 million pound ($6.95 million) from Argentine club Instituto de Cordoba in 2009. “The charges concern the alleged existence of an agreement between the club and a third party in respect of the player’s economic

rights and the alleged failure by the club to notify the FA of that agreement before the player was registered,” the FA said in a statement. The club have also been charged with using an unauthorized agent and submitting false documents when Faurlin extended his deal last year. QPR, seven points clear at the top of the Championship (second division), issued a statement. “Having cooperated fully with the FA’s investigation, QPR and (chairman) Mr Paladini shall be denying all of the charges and requesting a formal FA hearing to determine them,” teh statement said. —Reuters

LONDON: Two weeks ago Arsenal were dreaming of a quadruple but by tomorrow evening after their FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United at Old Trafford they could be reduced to chasing just the Premier League title. Arsenal were surprisingly beaten in the League Cup final by Birmingham City, knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona and missed a chance to close on United in the Premier League when they drew 0-0 at home with Sunderland. Manager Arsene Wenger, bristling with fury at the red card for Robin van Persie that he felt contributed to their 3-1 loss in the Nou Camp, must refocus his energy as he seeks his first trophy since winning the FA Cup in 2005. With United also standing in the way of the Premier League title and the two teams due to meet in the Emirates next month, tomorrow’s game is a chance to gain a psychological advantage. Arsenal have not won at Old Trafford since 2006, losing there in the league, Champions League and FA Cup, a 4-0 thrashing in 2008. They are likely to be without Cesc Fabregas after the captain aggravated a hamstring strain against Barcelona and will definitely miss firstchoice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after he dislocated a finger. With Theo Walcott also likely to miss out and Andrey Arshavin struggling for form, it looks a tough task for Arsenal, also beaten 1-0 at Old Trafford in December. “We’ve we got to pick ourselves up, we have to go there tomorrow and get a win,” midfielder Jack Wilshere said. “We are still in two competitions and we want a trophy.” MINI-SLUMP United have also experienced a mini-slump with back-to-back league defeats at Chelsea and Liverpool but they remain a formidable force at home, where they have won 13 and drawn one of 14 league games this season. The record 11-times Cup winners will be without winger Nani tomorrow after he suffered a cut shin in the 3-1 Liverpool defeat but Alex Ferguson’s team plans are likely to remain a secret if the manager maintains a media blackout he imposed in the wake of the two league defeats. Reading are the only remaining club from outside the Premier League in the competition after the Championship (second division) side beat Everton at Goodison Park to reach the last eight for the second successive season. They face a tough task to go any further, however, as they visit Manchester City on Sunday. City have probably given up any realistic hope of winning the league but the Cup offers a great opportunity for their first silverware since 1976. After waiting 48 years for a cup success Birmingham are now eyeing two in one season as they host Bolton Wanderers tomorrow. Birmingham climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-1 draw at Everton on Wednesday and manager Alex McLeish faces a difficult juggling act with a series of crunch games against relegation rivals on the horizon. Two more clubs taking a break from the relegation fight are Stoke City and West Ham United, who meet in the Midlands on Sunday. Stoke, who have never reached the final, lost to Chelsea in the quarterfinals last season but have a better chance this time to make the semis for the first time since 1972. West Ham, who lost to Birmingham in the League Cup semi-finals, are back in the relegation zone and will have mixed views on another drain on their resources. — Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

French League Preview

Late bloomers Lille on track in Ligue 1 PARIS: Surprise package Lille have a chance to extend their lead at the top of Ligue 1 this weekend having broken down a key psychological barrier to keep their bid for a ﬁrst league crown since 1954 on course. Lille, who had picked up only two points in four games against Paris St Germain, Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyon this season, snatched a 2-1 win at the Stade Velodrome last weekend to ﬁnally prove they were made of steel. “Winning (against Marseille) at the Velodrome, against one of our rivals, is a huge morale-booster,” Lille captain Rio Mavuba told the club’s website (www.losc.fr). Lille, who have 49 points

from 26 games, should be too strong for 13th-placed Valenciennes who they host on Sunday, although the leaders have a doubt over Moussa Sow’s ﬁtness. The Ligue 1 top scorer picked up a knee strain against Marseille last weekend but Pierre-Alain Frau, who netted the winner at the Velodrome, has already shown he can deputize. Second-placed Stade Rennes, level on points with Lille, could lose ground in the title race as they face a test of their credentials at home to fourth-placed Marseille today. Once again, Rennes will rely on their sturdy defense, the best in the league with only 18 goals conceded. “We are a

solid team who try to get the ball high up the pitch although we are not Barca,” coach Frederic Antonetti told France Football magazine. “We try and get the ball 40 metres from our goal and we do it pretty well. Our attacks can be very swift.” Rennes could be without France holding midﬁelder Yann Mvila, who is doubtful with a knee injury, Antonetti told a news conference on Wednesday. Marseille, who are four points oﬀ the pace, may have to make do without striker Brandao after the Brazilian was held by police for questioning over an alleged rape. “Obviously, I could do without that kind of problem but the

squad is going to focus on Friday’s game. It’s the most important thing,” said coach Didier Deschamps. Marseille will hope Argentine playmaker Lucho Gonzalez, who has been nursing a muscle injury, can play the 90 minutes. Fifth-placed Paris St Germain, whose title hopes took a knock last weekend when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at lowly AJ Auxerre, host Montpellier on Sunday. Coach Antoine Kombouare has therefore decided to rest midfielders Ludovic Giuly and Claude Makelele plus France striker Guillaume Hoarau for the first leg of their last 16 Europa League tie against Benfica.— Reuters

Libertadores Cup

French League Preview

Marseille bid to banish storm clouds PARIS: Despite pressing for honors on three fronts, Marseille’s season has lurched off-course after a damaging defeat by league leaders Lille and allegations of rape against striker Brandao. The 2-1 loss at home to Lille last weekend left the champions four points off the pace and today they face a daunting trip to second-place Rennes, who are level on points with Lille and on a run of five straight wins. Marseille’s week took a further turn for the worse when Brandao was taken into custody on Tuesday, and police disrupted a training session on Wednesday to interview the Brazilian’s colleagues. To add to the club’s problems, reports in the Italian media this week linked coach Didier Deschamps with a return to Juventus, where head coach Luigi Delneri is reportedly on the precipice due to a dismal run of form. Deschamps poured cold water on the speculation about his future, but admitted the Brandao affair was an unwelcome distraction at such a critical stage of the season. “Obviously it disturbs the squad and it’s really not ideal ahead of the difficult encounter that we’re expecting on Friday evening,” said Deschamps. “It forces me to make more changes than I would have liked. Brandao is obviously in no position to play or to be involved in the match on Friday.” The trip to Rennes continues a crucial run of games for Marseille. They visit Manchester United in the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday-having drawn 0-0 in the first leg-before a home game with sworn enemies Paris Saint-Germain on March 20. Deschamps will also have one eye on the League Cup final against Montpellier on April 23. Argentine playmaker Lucho Gonzalez is expected to start against Rennes despite being forced off against Lille due to a thigh problem, but winger Mathieu Valbuena (knee) may have to make do with a seat on the bench. The loss to Lille prevented Marseille from recording a fifth straight league victory but Rennes did reach that milestone with a 1-0 win at Montpellier. The Brittany side have conceded just one goal in the five games since their shock 5-1 thrashing by Sochaux at the end of January and victory over OM will provisionally send them three points clear at the summit. “The pressure isn’t on us, it’s on OM,” claimed Rennes centre-back Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik. “It’s them that people expect things from. It could be an advantage. With less pressure we can play more freely.” Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti will be without attacking midfielder Yacine Brahimi (thigh) but France international holding midfielder Yann M’Vila is expected to play despite a knee complaint. Third-place Lyon, 5-0 winners over ArlesAvignon last time out, visit Sochaux tomorrow, ahead of the away leg of their Champions League tie with Real Madrid. PSG will look for a reaction at home to Montpellier on Sunday, after they were beaten 1-0 at Auxerre last weekend. — AFP

SANTIAGO: Franklin Lucena of Venezuela’s Caracas FC falls head first in a Copa Libertadores soccer match against Chile’s Universidad Catolica in Santiago on Wednesday March 9, 2011. Venezuela’s Caracas FC defeated Chile’s Universidad Catolica 3-1. — AP

Caracas upset Chile’s Catolica BUENOS AIRES: Caracas FC scored three goals in three minutes right after halftime for a remarkable 3-1 upset win away to Chilean champions Universidad Catolica in the Libertadores Cup on Wednesday. The result, with Venezuelan sides seldom expected to win matches let alone on the road, was the second successive surprise in Group Four after Catolica’s 4-3 victory away to Velez Sarsﬁeld of Argentina last week. It left Caracas top of the group with six points, two more than Catolica after three matches. Velez and Union Espanola have played two matches and meet in Chile yesterday. “It’s really pleasing to see the young players in our team playing so well in a competition as important as the Libertadores,” Caracas coach Ceferino Bencomo said. “Venezuelan football has progressed a lot ... today, Venezuela and

Caracas can play as equals against anyone,” he told Fox Sports. Striker Luis Cabezas scored twice for the Venezuelans in the 46th and 49th minutes. In between, their 23-year-old Panamanian midﬁelder Nelson Barahona drove the ball home from the rebound after keeper Cristopher Toselli parried a shot from Cabezas. Pablo Calandria pulled one back in the 53rd but Catolica’s misery was compounded by the dismissal of defender Hans Martinez 20 minutes from time for a second booking. Estudiantes, coming back from a 50 roasting by Group Seven leaders Cruzeiro, came from behind to beat Guarani of Paraguay 2-1 in Asuncion for their second successive win. After three matches, the Argentine side have six points, three less than the Brazilians. Deportes Tolima of Colombia are third with four points

and Guarani bottom with none. Striker Pablo Caballero put Guarani ahead with a penalty just before halftime but Estudiantes hit back with two goals in three minutes. Midﬁelder Pablo Barrientos swept the ball in from a low left cross by winger Enzo Perez in the 50th minute for the equalizer. Striker Leandro Gonzalez struck a sweet winner, rightfooted from the left edge of the box that curled inside the far post with goalkeeper Pablo Aurrecochea getting a hand to the ball but failing to turn it round the post. “We played poorly in the ﬁrst half. The halftime talk from (coach) Eduardo (Berizzo) did us a lot of good, we played some good football early in the second half and then controlled the game,” said defender Leandro Desabato, standing in as captain of Estudiantes for the injured Juan Sebastian Veron. — Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

NBA results/standings NBA results and standings on Wednesday. New Jersey 94, Golden State 90; Oklahoma City 110, Philadelphia 105 (OT); Utah 96, Toronto 94; Chicago 101, Charlotte 84; LA Clippers 108, Boston 103; New Orleans 93, Dallas 92; Milwaukee 110, Cleveland 90; Minnesota 101, Indiana 75; NY Knicks 110, Memphis 108; San Antonio 111, Detroit 104; Orlando 106, Sacramento 102. Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L 46 16 34 29 33 31 20 43 17 47

PCT .742 .540 .516 .317 .266

GB 12.5 14 26.5 30

Chicago Indiana Milwaukee Detroit Cleveland

Central Division 45 18 27 37 25 38 23 42 12 52

.714 .422 .397 .354 .188

18.5 20 23 33.5

Miami Orlando Atlanta Charlotte Washington

Southeast Division 43 21 41 24 37 27 26 38 16 47

.672 .631 .578 .406 .254

2.5 6 17 26.5

Western Conference Northwest Division 40 23 37 27 37 27 34 31 16 50

.635 .578 .578 .523 .242

3.5 3.5 7 25.5

LA Lakers Phoenix Golden State LA Clippers Sacramento

Pacific Division 46 19 33 29 28 36 25 40 15 47

.708 .532 .438 .385 .242

11.5 17.5 21 29.5

San Antonio Dallas New Orleans Memphis Houston

Southwest Division 52 12 46 18 38 29 36 30 33 33

.813 .719 .567 .545 .500

6 15.5 17 20

Boston NY Knicks Philadelphia New Jersey Toronto

Oklahoma City Portland Denver Utah Minnesota

NFL, union intensify talks as labor deadline looms WASHINGTON: NFL owners and the union representing it players were back at the bargaining table on Wednesday and made some headway on a rookie wage scale but stalled on how to split $9 billion in revenue. The 14th day of mediated negotiations may have produced a breakthrough with reports the two sides reached an agreement on rookie wages which would include limits on length of contracts and guaranteed money. But with today deadline, the main issue standing in the way of a new collective bargaining agreement remained firmly in place with NFL and NFL Players Association unable to make progress on how to carve up revenues. The two sides spent part of Wednesday haggling over the financial information that the league was willing to provide to the union. According to league and union sources in a story posted on the NFL’s official website (www.nfl.com), the NFL offered the NFLPA an aggregate of profitability over a five-year period at the league level. The union has pushed for more information at the individual club level. “There is a long way to go, but as long as we stay at it, we have a chance to get an agreement done,” NFL general counsel Jeff Pash told the NFL Network. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II and owners John Mara of the New York Giants and Clark Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs were among those representing the league. NFL Players Association (NFLPA) executive director DeMaurice Smith and union president Kevin Mawae led the players’ delegation. The league, claiming costs have risen dramatically since the previous deal of 2006, wants to increase the amount it takes off the top by a billion dollars to $2.3 billion. That would shrink the players’ share, which currently is about 60 percent of remaining revenues. —Reuters

PHILADELPHIA: Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (center) has his shot blocked by Philadelphia 76ers’ Spencer Hawes (right) as 76ers’ Elton Brand gets a foot to the chin in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. — AP

Hornets sting Mavs Spurs bounce back NEW ORLEANS: Jarrett Jack hit three free throws to complete an unlikely 8-0 New Orleans run inside the final 1:13, as the Hornets completed a stunning late 110108 win over Dallas Mavericks in the NBA on Wednesday. The Hornets trailed 92-85, then Marco Belinelli hit a 3 and Emeka Okafor put back Belinelli’s missed reverse layup. Dallas’ Tyson Chandler, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds in his return from a sprained ankle, missed two free throws with 17 seconds to go. leaving the game up for grabs. Jason Kidd fouled Jack on a 3-point attempt, setting up Jack’s decisive free throws with 8.4 seconds left. Jack finished with 21 points. Dallas still had one more chance to win it, but for the second time in New Orleans this season, Dirk Nowitzki was unable to convert. Spurs 111, Pistons 104 In San Antonio, the hosts bounced back from a humbling loss by beating Detroit. Tony Parker scored 23 points and Tim Duncan - who matched a career low with two points in a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday - finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes. Richard Hamilton led the Pistons with 20 points off the bench. The Spurs hit their first 14 shots and finished with a seasonhigh 40 points in the first quarter to take a 14-point lead. San Antonio scored just 37 points in the first half in Sunday’s loss. Thunder 110, 76ers 105, OT In Philadelphia, Kevin Durant had 34 points and 16 rebounds to lead Oklahoma City over Philadelphia. Russell Westbrook added 27 points and 12 assists for the Thunder. Durant erased a five-point deficit with a minute left in regulation, hitting a runner and a 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime. The Sixers scored only two baskets in the extra 5 minutes. Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams each scored 22 points for the Sixers. Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer, was 13 of 26 from the field and all 16 boards were defensive ones. Bulls 101, Bobcats 84 In Charlotte, Chicago pulled away in

the fourth quarter to beat Charlotte, a victory dimmed by Carlos Boozer’s leg injury. Derrick Rose and Kyle Korver scored 20 points, with Korver scoring 12 in the final period for the Bulls, who won for the 11th time in 13 games and expanded their hold on second place in the Eastern Conference to 21/2 games over slumping Miami. Boozer limped off late in the game after his left leg bent awkwardly on a flagrant foul by Kwame Brown and didn’t return. Gerald Henderson had 20 points and eight assists for the Bobcats, who suffered their sixth straight loss. Clippers 108, Celtics 103 In Boston, Los Angeles withstood a late Boston surge for its fourth straight win despite a mediocre performance by Blake Griffin. Mo Williams scored 28 points in his highest haul since being traded by Cleveland. DeAndre Jordan had 21 points for the Clippers. The Celtics were led by Ray Allen with 23 points, but lost for the first time in six games. Knicks 110, Grizzlies 108 In Memphis, Carmelo Anthony made a 19-footer with less than a second left to allow New York to resist a late Memphis rally. The winning shot by Anthony, who finished with 31 points, came after Zach Randolph’s three-point play with 14 seconds remaining pulled Memphis even. Memphis had one more chance after Anthony’s basket, but an alley-oop attempt to Darrell Arthur was broken up at the basket, giving the Knicks their third straight win and strengthening their hold on the sixth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Amare Stoudemire added 26 points for the Knicks. Tony Allen led Memphis with 22 points, missing only one of his eight shots. Magic 106, Kings 102 In Sacramento, Jameer Nelson scored 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to lift Orlando over Sacramento. Dwight Howard returned from a one-game suspension to have 16 points and 15 rebounds but fouled out late for the Magic, who overcome an eight-point deficit and open a five-game road trip

with a much-needed victory. DeMarcus Cousins had 29 points for the Kings, who upset the Magic earlier this season but collapsed late in this one. Jazz 96, Raptors 94 In Toronto, Al Jefferson scored 34 points, including a game-winning layup at the buzzer, as Utah rallied from a 14point deficit to beat Toronto for the 12th straight time. CJ Miles and Devin Harris each scored 23 points for Utah. DeMar DeRozan scored 17 points as Toronto lost for the fifth time in six games. Nets 94, Warriors 90 In Newark, New Jersey, Brook Lopez had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and made two clinching free throws with 3.3 seconds left as New Jersey beat Golden State for its first three-game winning streak in two years. Anthony Morrow added 22 points for the Nets. David Lee had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors. Timberwolves 101, Pacers 75 In Minneapolis, Kevin Love recorded his 52nd double-double in a row to surpass Moses Malone for the longest such streak since the ABA and NBA merged in 1976, and Minnesota downed free-falling Indiana. Love overcame a bruised left knee to put up 16 points and 21 rebounds in just 27 minutes to help the Timberwolves win for just the 16th time this season. Love reached the doubledouble with just under seven minutes to play in the first half. Tyler Hansbrough scored 21 points for the Pacers, who shot a season-low 29 percent to lose their fifth straight game. Bucks 110, Cavaliers 90 In Milwaukee, Brandon Jennings and Earl Boykins each scored 18 points to lead Milwaukee over Cleveland. Boykins had all of his points in the first half, then Jennings scored 14 in the third quarter as Milwaukee enjoyed its second blowout in two days, thanks to 55.1 percent shooting. Samardo Samuels scored 11 of his 15 points in the first quarter for Cleveland, which lost for the fifth time in six games.—AP

Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Woods seeing ‘good signs’ in game is at times tough. I’ll get there, but I’m just not to that point yet.” Woods’ last victory was at the Australian Masters in November of 2009. Shortly after that victory, his personal life fell apart amid revelations of multiple affairs and he has played just three tournaments this year. He finished equal 44th at the PGA Tour stop at Torrey Pines, followed by a tie for 20th at the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic, where he was in contention until he shot a closing 75. Woods then lost in the first round at the World Golf Championships

MIAMI: Tiger Woods still believes that a return to his best form is just around the corner. Without a win in 16 months, Woods has endured his share of criticism, but the former world number one insists he remains on the right track. “I’m seeing some really good signs,” the world number ﬁve said on Wednesday, on the eve of the World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship at Doral. “Unfortunately, I just haven’t been able to carry it to the golf course yet at a consistent level. “I hit spurts where I’m really good and then lose it for a while. I just have to keep working on it and the process

Match Play event in Arizona two weeks ago. As Woods spoke about needing to get more tournaments under his belt, he was asked why does he not play more often. “Because I have a family,” he said. “I’m divorced. If you’ve been divorced with kids, you would understand.” Left unsaid was that Woods has never played more than a sparse schedule since turning professional in 1996. If Woods’ comments on Wednesday were somewhat predictable, the same cannot be said of his current instructor, Sean Foley, and his previous coach, Hank Haney.

In an interview with Canadagolf, Foley took aim at the critics who have been questioning Woods’ swing changes. “So he’s struggling when he’s in the hunt,” Foley said. “And they say, ‘How does Tiger Woods struggle when he’s in the hunt? Look at what he did for so long?’ “New days. New times,” Foley said. “You’re absolutely probably an invalid if you don’t think what he went through hasn’t aﬀected his belief system.” Haney subsequently weighed in, via Twitter, where he wrote: “Maybe Foley should stop talking until Tiger wins 6 more majors under him!”— AFP

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Wednesday. Washington 5, Edmonton 0; Atlanta 3, Carolina 2 (OT); Los Angeles 2, Detroit 1; St. Louis 4, Columbus 3 (OT); Tampa Bay 4, Chicago 3 (SO); Calgary 4, Dallas 3 (So); Anaheim 5, NY Rangers 2. (SO Denotes shootout win, OT is overtime win)

Philadelphia Pittsburgh NY Rangers New Jersey NY Islanders

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF 41 19 6 212 39 21 8 196 35 30 4 195 30 32 4 140 26 32 10 188

GA PTS 175 88 167 86 169 74 170 64 216 62

Boston Montreal Buﬀalo Toronto Ottawa

Northeast Division 38 20 8 200 37 23 7 180 32 26 8 190 29 28 10 176 23 34 9 149

156 168 190 206 207

84 81 72 68 55

Washington Tampa Bay Carolina Atlanta Florida

Southeast Division 38 20 10 183 38 21 8 200 31 26 10 193 28 28 11 187 27 31 9 168

167 203 204 216 186

86 84 72 67 63

Detroit Chicago Nashville Columbus St. Louis

Western Conference Central Division 39 20 8 220 37 24 7 223 33 24 10 169 31 26 9 183 30 28 9 186

195 189 159 200 201

86 81 76 71 69

Vancouver Calgary Minnesota Colorado Edmonton

Northwest Division 43 16 9 220 36 24 9 211 35 25 7 176 26 32 8 187 23 37 8 170

158 196 176 229 224

95 81 77 60 54

Pacific Division San Jose 39 22 6 188 169 84 Dallas 36 23 8 187 190 80 Los Angeles 37 25 5 185 164 79 Phoenix 34 23 11 194 198 79 Anaheim 36 26 5 187 195 77 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

CALIFORNIA: Anaheim Ducks defenseman Luca Sbisa (5) checks New York Rangers center Brian Boyle (22) during the first period of a NHL hockey game in Anaheim on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. — AP

Flames overwhelm Stars Kings boost playoff hopes DETROIT: The Los Angeles Kings kept up their surge in a tight playoff race in the NHL Western Conference by beating the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Wednesday. Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar scored LA’s goals in the second period while Jonathan Quick made 28 saves. Darren Helm opened the scoring for the Red Wings in the first. Detroit has lost four straight and trails Vancouver by nine points for the top spot in the Western Conference. Lightning 4, Blackhawks 3, SO In Tampa, Steven Stamkos scored his NHL-leading 42nd goal as Tampa Bay returned to the winners’ list by downing Chicago in a shootout. Martin St Louis had the shootout winner, ending the Lightning’s season-worst four-game losing skid. He also scored in regulation, helping Tampa Bay build a 3-1 lead before the Stanley Cup champions roared back through goals by Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews. In the shootout, St. Louis spun in front of the net, set himself and fired the puck past Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford. Flames 4, Stars 3, SO In Dallas, Curtis Glencross scored in the third round of the shootout to lift Calgary over Dallas and into a fourth place tie with Chicago in the Western Conference, a point ahead of the Stars. Alex Tanguay scored in the second round and Dallas’

Mike Ribeiro countered on a nifty move in the third. Glencross, who scored the deciding goals in Calgary’s previous two games, beat Kari Lehtonen with a snap shot. Rene Bourque, Tom Kostopoulos and Anton Babchuk scored first-period goals during a 3:15 span to get the Flames off to a fast start. Jamie Benn, Ribeiro and Tomas Vincour scored for Dallas. Ducks 5, Rangers 2 In Anaheim, Corey Perry and Lubomir Visnovsky each had two goals and an assist as Anaheim beat New York. Visnovsky, who last Friday became the first defenseman in franchise history to get a hat trick, increased his points total to 54 - tying Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom and Phoenix’s Keith Yandle for the NHL lead at the position. Bobby Ryan added a goal and three assists for the Ducks. Brandon Dubinsky and Marion Gaborik scored for New York. Capitals 5, Oilers 0 In Washington, Alex Ovechkin had two goals and an assist to reach 601 career points as Washington trounced Edmonton. Ovechkin passed Michal Pivonka to gain sole possession of third place on the team’s career points chart. Only Peter Bondra (825) and Mike Gartner (789) have more points in a Washington uniform than Ovechkin, now in his sixth NHL season. Rookie goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 22 shots for his first career shutout as the

Capitals made it six straight wins. Eric Fehr scored twice in his return from a 22-game absence because of a shoulder injury, Alexander Semin also scored and Jason Arnott had an assist for his 900th career point. Blues 4, Blue Jackets 3, OT In Columbus, St Louis fought back from a three-goal deficit to beat Columbus in overtime. Chris Stewart flicked in a backhander 54 seconds into overtime to cap the impressive comeback. He also scored the tying goal early in the third period. Ian Cole had a goal and an assist and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for the Blues, who beat the Blue Jackets twice in 48 hours after losing their previous four games. Jake Voracek, RJ Umberger and Derek MacKenzie scored for Columbus. The Blue Jackets have dropped six in a row. Thrashers 3, Hurricanes 2, OT In Raleigh, South Carolina, Atlanta won its first road game in seven attempts by beating Carolina in overtime. Tim Stapleton scored 1:38 into overtime, Rob Schremp and Tobias Enstrom had firstperiod goals and Ondrej Pavelec made 35 saves. Erik Cole and Troy Bodie scored for the Hurricanes, whose point moved them into a tie with Buffalo for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta is five points behind the Hurricanes and Sabres.— Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

England keep opening choice under wraps

BANGALORE: Kenya’s cricketer Elijah Otieno bowls in the nets during a training session in Bangalore yesterday. Kenya will play against Australia in the Cricket World Cup Group A match on March 13. — AP

Kenya will ‘rise again’ BANGALORE: Tanmay Mishra has promised Kenya “will rise again” as an already difficult World Cup for the Africans is set to become even tougher when they face champions Australia on Sunday. The 2003 semi-finalists, starved of international competition outside of World Cups, have been well beaten in all four of their group matches so far. It’s all a far cry from their fairytale run to the last four eight years ago and middle-order batsman Mishra said: “A lack of regular cricket at the highest level has been our downfall. “It’s a bit frustrating but we can’t do anything about it,” he added at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where Kenya will face Australia at the weekend. “There’s nothing much really to add to that because you can’t really play cricket at associate level and then come up and try to compete against the big boys. It’s a challenge as it is. It’s just a lack of fixtures.” Ireland, who have several players taking part in the English County Championship, have led the way for the non-Test sides, beating England and running both co-hosts Bangladesh especially and India close. “We’re going through a transition period,” said 24-yearold Mishra. “If you look at it we’ve got a lot of youngsters including myself. “The structures are being put in place. To be honest it’s a bit late, but it’s getting in place right now, we’re redeveloping everything, cricket is spreading, we just have to give it time. “In the next three or four years, this team will rise up again and we’ll continue to fight hard and provide success for Kenya.” To make matters worse for the Africans, though, their most recent match saw them lose by five wickets to fellow non-Test side Canada in Delhi on Monday-the match that appeared Kenya’s most ‘winnable’ game of this World Cup. Mumbai-born Mishra made 51 but could do nothing about the clatter of wickets at the other end. “We haven’t done well, our top order hasn’t really connected,” Mishra said. “We spoke about it and now we’ve got Australia and we’ve just still got to stay positive do the basics right. We’ve got to bat 50 overs and bat them positively, not just bat them. “It (the Canada defeat) was a really difficult one to swallow. It was just the top-order collapsed and we were 57 for five. “Australia are the world champions and they are 31 games unbeaten at the World Cup so it will be difficult but hopefully we can come up and give a good show,” Mishra added.— AFP

CHITTAGONG: England captain Andrew Strauss is staying tightlipped over his new opening partner for the World Cup clash against Bangladesh amid growing speculation over who it will be. Strauss needs a new partner for the rest of the tournament after Kevin Pietersen, who had opened in the ﬁrst four matches, returned home to undergo hernia surgery. The freescoring Pietersen reveled in his new position, contributing to stands of 105, 68 and 91 in the ﬁrst three games. “I am very clear in my mind who will open, but will not say before the game has started,” Strauss said ahead of today’s daynight game at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chittagong. “We are not nailed on playing the same combination all through. There is no reason why we can’t change.” The choice is likely to be limited to Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara or wicket-keeper Matt Prior, who are all essentially middle-order batsmen but capable of having a hit at the start. Bell is an accomplished batsman and Bopara scored a man-of-

the-match winning 60 against South Africa, but it could be the hard-hitting Prior who opens the innings against Bangladesh. Strauss also refused to comment on speculation that England will play a third slow bowler in oﬀ-spinner James Tredwell to partner Graeme Swann and leftarmer Michael Yardy. “We will pick the right side,” the captain said. “We need to judge how the wicket will play. Past experience suggests there has been equal support for spinners and seamers.” England will book an early ticket to the quarter-ﬁnals if they beat Bangladesh and the West Indies down Ireland in Mohali earlier today. Strauss was under no illusion that it would be an easy game for England, despite a 13-1 record against their rivals, including six straight wins on Bangladeshi soil. “Bangladesh are an absolutely dangerous side, especially at home,” he said. “We are aware it’s a must-win game for them and that will make them even more dangerous. “Bangladeshi spinners are quality bowlers. And the crowd will be 100 percent behind them. It is

going to be a hostile atmosphere for us, but if we want to win the World Cup we must play well in every environment.” England are reeling under the twin blows of losing both Pietersen and fast bowler Stuart Broad for the rest of the tournament due to injuries. The duo have been replaced by left-hand batsman Eoin Morgan and giant fast bowler Chris Tremlett, who are both available for today’s game. “The loss is not ideal by any means,” said Strauss. “Thankfully, Morgan has recovered from his ﬁnger injury and Tremlett has been here with us for some time. “What is certain is that if they play, they will have to hit the ground running.” England have had a rollercoaster ride so far, with two close wins over the Netherlands and South Africa, a tied game against India and an embarrassing loss to Ireland. “It’s been thrilling to have been involved in some close games,” said Strauss. “Personally, I would have liked them to be a lot easier. I probably would have a little more hair on my head.”— AFP

Bangladesh’s captain wary of another crowd backlash CHITTAGONG: Bangladesh players will try to block out their passionate fans when they face England in the World Cup today after the crowd turned on them in their previous match. The Dhaka crowd’s mood turned from festive to fury last week as the co-hosts crashed to a team record low 58 against the West Indies and lost their Group B encounter by nine wickets. Later the visitors’ team bus was stoned after fans mistook it for the home side’s vehicle and captain Shakib Al Hasan was targeted for particular abuse. Even the country’s premier stepped in to appeal for the cricket-mad nation’s supporters to calm down and armored personnel carriers were introduced to give added security for all teams. It was a far cry from an earlier match when a 27-run win over Ireland prompted nationwide celebrations. Asked how his team would handle the pressure of a make-or-break game against England in front of such a volatile crowd in Chittagong, Shakib said the only ploy would be to concentrate on the job in hand. “Some day if you play well, they will cheer for you and some day if you don’t play well they will abuse you. So we are not thinking about our crowd,” he said. “We have to do our stuﬀ. We know what we can do and we hope to do those things. Anything but a win against England will severely dent Bangladesh’s hopes of progressing to the quarter-ﬁnal and that added to the pressure too, said Shakib. “The

CHITTAGONG: England’s Chris Tremlett bowls during their training at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday. England will play their Cricket World Cup Group B match against Bangladesh today. — AP

boys will be a bit tense but we believe if we can play well we can beat any team and we are conﬁdent enough to do the right thing,” Shakib said. The Bangladesh skipper was also targeted for criticism after the West Indies trouncing by a number of senior former players and he stoked up a row by responding to them in his national newspaper column. The Bangladesh Cricket Board stepped in with a blanket ban on any of their squad writing a column during the Feb 19-April 2 tournament which the country is cohosting with India and Sri Lanka. Local media also published pictures showing the 23-year-old all-

rounder pointing his ﬁnger towards fans during the prize-giving ceremony, which led to another bout of criticism. Shakib said the brickbats directed at him personally had made his job easier to lift the side after last Friday’s defeat. “Since everything was coming upon me, the team was spared. It made the job (to motivate the side) relatively easier,” he said. England arrived in Chittagong in buoyant mood after beating group favorites South Africa by six runs on Sunday but injuries to Kevin Pietersen and Stuart Broad forcing them out of the tournament have stalled their momentum.—Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

India vulnerable despite unbeaten run NEW DELHI: It may sound nitpicking about an unbeaten team on top of their group and with one foot already in the World Cup quarterfinals but India clearly lack the aura of the West Indian or Australian champions of the past. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not interested in the aesthetics as long as India keep winning but the reality is those wins, some hard-earned, were against Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands, none of which are in the title race. India had their lone Group B test of might against England and it took a magical Zaheer Khan over to salvage a tie in that Bangalore run feast. India toiled to beat Ireland and Netherlands and both matches could not gloss over their bowling limitations. The pace bowlers have not really been able to make early regular inroads, thus making life doubly difficult for the spinners who have been fighting their own battle

to get their mojo back. Apart from Zaheer, the pace attack looked toothless, while frontline spinners Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla are either struggling for success or profusely bleeding runs. Harbhajan’s lack of successtwo scalps from four matches is particularly perplexing, considering his vast experience. The otherwise feisty oﬀ-spinner seems content containing the rival batsmen, while part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh has helped himself to a sackful of wickets. Dhoni believes Yuvraj owes part of his success to Harbhajan, who keeps it tight at the other end. “With the opposition team happy to just block Harbhajan out, I think it’s tough for him to get wickets,” he said. “Harbhajan has been bowling well, so they have to score runs oﬀ some other bowlers. Maybe that’s the reason they are going after Yuvraj and he is getting the wickets.

They have to hunt in pack and that’s important. “He reacts to aggressive cricket in a different way. When the opposition is not playing aggressive cricket, maybe he also lays down but it won’t be the case when you play bigger sides who would look to go after him... you will see a different Harbhajan against stronger sides.” Dhoni seems to have similar unshakable trust in Chawla’s ability even though lanky off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin seems to be a better choice than the baby-faced leg-spinner who has proved to be expensive. “I felt Piyush needed it (exposure against the Dutch) more than Ashwin because he’s under pressure. You want your bowlers to be in a very good mental state in the second half of the tournament when you play the best teams,” said Dhoni. “Of course we need to give Ashwin a chance. He deserves a place and he will feature in one of

the matches. I know he is mentally tough and always up for a challenge.” The famed batting line-up, possibly the most dangerous on paper, is not without its frailties, something evident from their collapse from 69 for no loss to 99-4 before Yuvraj steered them home. Dhoni does not see a reason to panic yet and believes the pressure on the lower middle order in the last two matches would make them better prepared to handle tight situations in the knock-out stages. His robust optimism notwithstanding, India will have a lot to ponder before they face South Africa (tomorrow) and West Indies (March 20) when the going may not be easy. While the wins suggest India know how to get over the line, their labored performance so far suggests they do not have the aura of the West Indies team in the 1970s or the Australians two decades later.— Reuters

Sarwan keeps cool as Windies eye last eight MOHALI: Grizzled veteran Ramnaresh Sarwan, who knows the difference between a new West Indies golden age and another false dawn, is refusing to ponder a World Cup quarter-final spot just yet. The 30-year-old, with 162 ODIs under his belt as well as more than 5,000 runs, believes the West Indies cannot take anything for granted despite being in touching distance of the last eight. Victory over Ireland today would virtually assure qualification but Sarwan is wary of the dangers posed by an Irish side who stunned England in a record-breaking run-chase earlier in the competition. “Every game is a must-win game for us, we can’t take anything for granted. The points table has gone back and forth. We have to go out there and enjoy. It is important for us to win this game,” said Sarwan. “Ireland showed what they are capable of in their game against England. We are going to go out there and play to the best of our ability. You surely can’t take anybody for granted here. “The way they played against England came as a surprise. But they deserved to win.” The Caribbean side were well beaten by South Africa in their tournament opener but responded by thumping the Netherlands and demolishing co-hosts Bangladesh in Dhaka, bowling them out for just 58. West Indies captain Darren Sammy said he was not getting carried away despite his side’s awesome display against Bangladesh, in which fast bowler Kemar Roach took 3-19 to add to his 6-27 against the Netherlands. Other bright spots in the tournament have been the bowling by giant spinner Sulieman Benn and the potential shown by batsman Darren Bravo. “We are taking it step by step,” Sammy said. — AFP

NAGPUR: South Africa’s Colin Ingram dives for a ball during a training session in Nagpur yesterday. South Africa play India in a Cricket World Cup match in Nagpur tomorrow. — AP

MOHALI: West Indies’ cricketer Kieron Pollard stretches during a training session in Mohali yesterday. West Indies will face Ireland in a Group B World Cricket Cup match today. —AP

Steyn, Zaheer aim for fast and furious NAGPUR: South African paceman Dale Steyn and his Indian counterpart Zaheer Khan will be keen to spoil the batsmen’s party when their teams clash in a blockbuster World Cup match tomorrow. The duo have already left a mark with their intelligent variations in previous matches, which were dominated by batsmen and spinners on low, slow sub-continental tracks. The pitch at the Vidarbha Cricket Association’s Jamtha Stadium is expected to favor batsmen again, but Steyn and Zaheer have the ability to strike at crucial stages. India have virtually qualified for the quarter-finals with seven points from four matches, but are still struggling to find the right bowling combination. Zaheer is an exception as he has been taking wickets in every match to put the opposition on the backfoot. He has so far taken 11 wickets in four matches to emerge his team’s leading bowler. His ability to reverse-swing the ball

has taken even quality batsmen by surprise. He dismissed well-set skipper Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell to sustain his team’s hopes against England before the match ended in a tie in Bangalore. India’s bowling woes can be gauged from the fact they required part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh to restrict non-Test-playing nation Ireland to a modest total of 207 in Bangalore. South Africa have no such problems as their bowlers impressed in previous matches, with Steyn keeping pressure from the one end and spinners taking wickets from the other. Steyn has bagged ﬁve wickets in three matches but his form augurs well for South Africa ahead of bigger clashes as he has proved that he can test the best with his clever changes in pace. “You’ve got to be street smart I suppose when you bowl in India. You can’t bowl the same pace at the same place as the guys will work you out,” said Steyn, who has so far taken 74 wickets in 51 one-day internationals. Steyn is famil-

iar with the Indian conditions, having grabbed 10 wickets at this venue to bowl his side to an innings victory over the hosts in the opening Test last year. Pace, backed by controlled swing, makes the South African one of the most feared fast bowlers in the world. Steyn and Zaheer will be required to play key roles as both the teams boast strong batting line-ups capable of dominating any bowling attack. The South African batsmen have ﬂoundered only once in the tournament when they failed to chase a modest 172-run target in their previous match against England in Chennai. But the conditions here will be more batsmenfriendly, meaning only quality bowlers like Steyn and Zaheer can hope for achieving success. That top fast bowlers can deliver at this venue was shown by Australian trio of Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait and Brett Lee who dismissed New Zealand for 206 to set up their side’s easy victory.— AFP

Flight Schedule FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

FLIGHT SCHEDULE

IN CASE YOU ARE NOT TRAVELLING, YOUR PROPER CANCELLATION OF BOOKINGS WILL HELP OTHER PASSENGERS TO USE SEATS. Airlines WAN JZR TAR KAC BBC THY UAE QTR DHX FDB ETD JZR JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE KAC QTR ABY ETD GFA IRA JZR JZR JZR JZR MEA IYE MSR MSR KAC FDB UAL OMA KAC KAC JZR JZR QTR KAC WAN WAN MLR ETD UAE JZR SVA JZR RJA JZR

Flt 612 267 327 544 43 772 853 138 370 67 305 207 503 223 416 157 352 206 53 302 678 284 362 855 286 132 123 301 213 619 151 121 555 165 404 825 623 610 672 57 982 645 546 552 125 257 134 746 110 304 403 303 857 201 510 213 800 239

Arrival Flights on Friday 11/3/2011 Route ISTANBUL BEIRUT TUNIS / DUBAI CAIRO DHAKA ISTANBUL DUBAI DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI ABU DHABI DAMASCUS LUXOR ALEPPO JAKARTA / KUALA LUMPUR LONDON COCHIN ISLAMABAD DUBAI MUMBAI MUSCAT / DUBAI DHAKA COLOMBO DUBAI CHITTAGONG DOHA SHARJAH ABU DHABI BAHRAIN LAR DOHA BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA DUBAI BEIRUT SANAA SOHAG CAIRO DUBAI DUBAI WASHINGTON DC DULLES MUSCAT ALEXANDRIA DAMASCUS BAHRAIN BEIRUT DOHA ABU DHABI / DAMMAM DUBAI CAIRO COLOMBO / DUBAI ABU DHABI DUBAI DAMASCUS RIYADH DEIREZZOR AMMAN AMMAN

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

ABY ALK KAC KAC KAC KAC AIC KAC KAC KAC FDB OMA JAI JZR SVA JZR KAC DHX KAC VOS WAN GFA MEA QTR UAE JZR SAI RBG UAL JZR DLH WAN

127 227 502 542 674 166 975 102 774 562 61 647 572 179 506 787 618 372 786 81 104 217 402 136 859 157 441 3553 981 553 636 646

SHARJAH COLOMBO / DUBAI BEIRUT CAIRO DUBAI PARIS / ROME CHENNAI / GOA NEW YORK / LONDON RIYADH AMMAN DUBAI MUSCAT MUMBAI DUBAI JEDDAH RIYADH DOHA / BAHRAIN BAHRAIN JEDDAH BAGHDAD DUBAI BAHRAIN BEIRUT DOHA DUBAI DOHA LAHORE / KARACHI ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA FRANKFURT VIENNA / BEIRUT

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

Airlines UAL AXB AIC PIA DLH TAR BBC THY DHX FDB UAE ETD JZR QTR JZR RJA JZR KAC VOS JZR FDB BAW JZR KAC KAC

Flt 981 390 982 206 637 328 44 773 371 68 854 306 554D 139 164 803 150 545 94 120 54 156 256 671 745

Departure Flights on Friday 11/3/2011 Route WASHINGTON DC DULLES MANGALORE / KOZHIKODE HYDERABAD / AHMEDABAD / CHENNAI LAHORE FRANKFURT TUNIS DHAKA ISTANBUL BAHRAIN DUBAI DUBAI ABU DHABI ALEXANDRIA DOHA DUBAI AMMAN DOHA ALEXANDRIA DUBAI / KANDAHAR BAHRAIN DUBAI LONDON BEIRUT DUBAI DAMMAM / ABU DHABI

Time 0:45 0:45 1:05 1:10 1:30 1:40 2:35 3:15 3:45 3:45 3:50 4:00 4:00 4:55 6:55 7:00 7:10 7:50 8:00 8:20 8:25 8:55 9:00 9:00 9:05

KAC UAE ABY QTR KAC ETD GFA KAC JZR JZR IRA JZR KAC JZR KAC MEA KAC IYE MSR MSR FDB KAC KAC OMA UAL KAC JZR JZR KAC KAC QTR JZR MLR ETD UAE RJA ABY JZR SVA ALK KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC OMA JAI JZR SVA DHX KAC GFA MEA KAC QTR KAC JZR UAE RBG SAI KAC

551 856 124 133 117 302 214 177 200 212 618 124 541 238 103 405 501 825 624 611 58 561 673 646 982 785 178 552 617 773 135 786 404 304 858 801 128 156 511 228 283 361 62 331 343 648 571 528 507 373 675 218 403 203 137 301 502 860 3554 442 411

DAMASCUS DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA NEW YORK ABU DHABI BAHRAIN FRANKFURT / GENEVA DAMASCUS DEIREZZOR LAR BAHRAIN CAIRO AMMAN LONDON BEIRUT BEIRUT DOHA / SANAA SOHAG CAIRO DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI MUSCAT BAHRAIN JEDDAH DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DOHA / BAHRAIN RIYADH DOHA RIYADH DUBAI / COLOMBO ABU DHABI DUBAI AMMAN SHARJAH DOHA RIYADH DUBAI / COLOMBO DHAKA COLOMBO DUBAI TRIVANDRUM CHENNAI MUSCAT MUMBAI ASSIUT JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN BEIRUT LAHORE DOHA MUMBAI LUXOR DUBAI ALEXANDRIA LAHORE BANGKOK / MANILA

9:10 9:40 9:45 10:00 10:00 10:20 10:20 10:30 11:40 11:45 11:50 12:00 12:00 12:10 12:30 12:55 13:00 13:05 13:30 13:55 14:35 14:45 15:10 15:15 15:25 15:45 15:50 16:00 16:20 16:25 16:30 17:35 17:40 17:40 18:10 18:15 18:25 18:30 18:35 19:10 20:15 20:20 20:50 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:40 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:15 22:20 22:30 22:35 22:45 23:00 23:10 23:35 23:50 23:55

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

Make water Make water circulate c irculate

Water W a ater circulates – or flows ffllows around in a closed loop loo op – in home heaters, heaterrs, steam m engines and many many other machines. machines.

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What W hat happened? happened? On the side with ice, warm water coming through the tube is cooled and sinks

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

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TV Listings FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

15:20 15:40 16:00 16:25 17:10 18:00 18:25 18:42 18:45 20:10 20:25 20:50 21:12 21:15 22:50 23:15 23:35

00:50 Untamed And Uncut 01:45 The Heart Of A Lioness 02:40 Dogs 101 03:35 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 04:30 Pit Bulls And Parolees 05:25 I Shouldn’t Be Alive 06:20 Untamed And Uncut 07:10 Animal Crackers 08:00 Meerkat Manor 08:25 Dolphin Days 08:50 Growing Up... 09:40 Breed All About It 10:10 Dogs 101 11:05 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 12:00 Animal Precinct 12:55 Wildlife SOS 13:50 Animal Cops Philadelphia 14:45 RSPCA: Have You Got What It Takes? 15:10 E-Vets: The Interns 15:40 Chimp Family Fortunes 16:30 Dogs 101 17:30 Dolphin Days 18:00 Breed All About It 19:20 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 20:15 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 21:10 Dogs 101 22:05 Austin Stevens Adventures 23:00 Whale Wars 23:55 Buggin’ With Ruud

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

00:05 02:15 02:35 03:20 04:10 06:20 07:10 08:05 08:40 09:30 10:20 11:10

My Family Allo Allo The Weakest Link Casualty Eastenders Doctors Allo Allo Balamory Tweenies Fimbles Little Robots Buzz And Tell Penelope K, By The Way Balamory Tweenies Fimbles Little Robots Buzz And Tell Penelope K, By The Way Balamory Tweenies Fimbles Little Robots Buzz And Tell Penelope K, By The Way Balamory Tweenies Fimbles Little Robots Buzz And Tell Penelope K, By The Way Allo Allo Allo Allo The Weakest Link Full Circle With Michael Palin Doctors Eastenders Casualty Allo Allo Allo Allo Dad’s Army Full Circle With Michael Palin The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Full Circle With Michael Palin The Weakest Link Doctors Doctor Who Doctor Who Conﬁdential After You’ve Gone Mutual Friends

The Naked Chef Cash In The Attic USA Design Star Superhomes The Naked Chef Antiques Roadshow The Naked Chef Daily Cooks Challenge 10 Years Younger Antiques Roadshow Fantasy Homes By The Sea What Not To Wear

Phineas & Ferb WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE Wizards of Waverly Place Hannah Montana SUITE LIFE ON DECK S3 SHAKE IT UP FISH HOOKS HAVE A LAUGH TOY STORY 2 Phineas & Ferb SHAKE IT UP FISH HOOKS HAVE A LAUGH JAKE & BLAKE Sonny With A Chance WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE Jonas

00:15 Kendra 00:40 Fashion Police 01:05 Extreme Close-Up 01:30 25 Celebrity Near Death Experiences 03:15 Extreme Hollywood 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 05:30 Streets Of Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:45 Behind The Scenes 08:35 E! News 09:25 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 10:15 THS 12:00 E! News 12:50 Extreme Close-Up 13:15 Style Star 13:40 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:05 Kendra 14:30 E!es 15:25 THS 16:15 Behind The Scenes 17:10 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 17:35 Kourtney And Kim Take New York 18:00 E! News 18:50 Fashion Police 19:15 Style Star 19:40 E!es 20:30 Behind The Scenes 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:20 Kendra 22:10 E! News 23:00 Chelsea Lately 23:25 Fashion Police 23:50 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami

Sherlock Holmes on OSN CINEMA 12:00 12:50 13:35 14:00 14:25 15:55 16:45 17:30 17:55 18:20 21:00 21:45 22:35

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

Antiques Roadshow Fantasy Homes By The Sea Glamour Puds Glamour Puds Daily Cooks Challenge Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt The Naked Chef Cash In The Attic USA The Naked Chef Design Star Superhomes Cash In The Attic

Hot Rod Apprentice: Hard Shine Dirty Jobs Destroyed In Seconds Destroyed In Seconds Really Big Things Mythbusters How Does It Work? How It’s Made Dirty Jobs Really Big Things American Chopper How Does It Work? How It’s Made Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Hot Rod Apprentice: Hard Shine Ultimate Survival Mythbusters Miami Ink Dirty Jobs Hot Rod Apprentice: Hard Shine Mythbusters Deadliest Catch Cake Boss Border Security Deconstruction

20:05 20:35 21:00 21:30 21:55 Junior 22:50 23:45

How Does It Work? How It’s Made Fifth Gear Fifth Gear American Chopper: Senior vs

21:45 The Gadget Show 22:10 Futurecar 23:00 Sci-Fi Science 23:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman

Battle Machine Bros La Ink

00:40 Kings Of Construction 01:30 The Gadget Show 01:55 Bad Universe 02:45 Weird Or What? 03:35 Science Of The Movies 04:25 How Does That Work? 04:50 Junkyard Wars 05:45 Robotica 06:40 Weird Connections 07:10 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 08:00 Da Vinci’s Machines 08:55 Investigation X 09:50 Weird Or What? 10:45 How Does That Work? 11:10 The Gadget Show 11:40 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 12:30 Green Wheels 12:55 Da Vinci’s Machines 13:45 Weird Connections 14:15 Weird Or What? 15:05 Science Of The Movies 15:55 Savage Planet 16:20 Bad Universe 17:10 Kings Of Construction 18:00 The Gadget Show 18:25 How Does That Work? 18:50 Brainiac 19:40 Sci-Fi Science 20:30 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 21:20 How It’s Made

00:00 00:25 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:45 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:35 09:00 09:25 09:50 10:10 10:35 10:50 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:25 12:42 12:45 13:10 13:30 13:55 14:20 14:40 14:48 14:55

KIM POSSIBLE FAIRLY ODD PARENTS STITCH Replacements FAIRLY ODD PARENTS STITCH Replacements Emperors New School Phineas & Ferb KIM POSSIBLE Sonny With A Chance JONAS LA WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE FAIRLY ODD PARENTS MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE Y3 Handy Manny SPECIAL AGENT OSO JUNGLE JUNCTION IMAGINATION MOVERS SPECIAL AGENT OSO Handy Manny MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE Y3 GOOD LUCK CHARLIE SHAKE IT UP FAIRLY ODD PARENTS HAVE A LAUGH Phineas & Ferb Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE JAKE & BLAKE HAVE A LAUGH HAVE A LAUGH FAIRLY ODD PARENTS

00:40 Good Eats - Special 01:05 Unwrapped 01:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 01:55 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 02:20 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 02:45 Ultimate Recipe Showdown 03:35 Unwrapped 04:00 Unwrapped 04:25 Food Network Caters Your Wedding 05:15 Good Eats - Special 05:40 Unwrapped 06:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 06:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 06:50 Paula’s Party 07:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 08:00 Chopped 08:50 Guy’s Big Bite 09:15 Boy Meets Grill 09:40 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 10:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 10:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 10:55 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 11:20 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 11:45 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 12:10 Unwrapped 12:35 Paula’s Party 13:25 Good Eats - Special 13:50 Paula’s Best Dishes 14:15 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 14:40 Ultimate Recipe Showdown 15:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 15:55 Unwrapped 16:20 Boy Meets Grill 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Paula’s Best Dishes 18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:25 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 18:50 Ten Dollar Dinners 19:15 Paula’s Party 20:05 Good Eats - Special 20:30 Guy’s Big Bite 20:55 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 21:20 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 21:45 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 22:10 Chopped 23:00 Good Eats - Special 23:25 Good Eats - Special 23:50 Food Network Challenge

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

Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Dead Tenants Dead Tenants Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters The Haunted Mystery Diagnosis Forensic Detectives Accident Investigator Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Real Emergency Calls Royal Inquest FBI Files On The Case With Paula Zahn The Prosecutors Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Real Emergency Calls Royal Inquest Forensic Detectives Accident Investigator FBI Files Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Real Emergency Calls On The Case With Paula Zahn The Prosecutors FBI Case Files Disappeared

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

On Surfari On Surfari Banged Up Abroad Bondi Rescue On Surfari On Surfari Banged Up Abroad Bondi Rescue On Surfari Banged Up Abroad Bondi Rescue On Surfari Banged Up Abroad By Any Means Market Values Weird And Wonderful Hotels Banged Up Abroad By Any Means Market Values Weird And Wonderful Hotels Banged Up Abroad By Any Means Market Values Weird And Wonderful Hotels Banged Up Abroad By Any Means Market Values Weird And Wonderful Hotels Banged Up Abroad By Any Means

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 Barr 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 Barr 15:00 16:00 17:00 19:00 20:00 Barr 21:00 22:00 23:00

World’s Deadliest Animals Hooked The Kawaii Wild Hooked Dangerous Encounters With Brady

00:15 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 09:45 12:00 14:00 15:45

The Uninvited-18 Against The Ropes-PG15 The Tournament-18 The Yards-PG15 Snake Eyes-PG15 State Of Play-PG15 The Fast And The Furious-PG15 Snake Eyes-PG15 Scream 3-18

Wild Freaks Malaysia’s Most Wanted Animals World’s Deadliest Predator CSI Wild Freaks Meat Lovers Wild Freaks Malaysia’s Most Wanted Animals Dangerous Encounters With Brady Shark Men World’s Deadliest Wild Freaks Malaysia’s Most Wanted Animals Dangerous Encounters With Brady Shark Men World’s Deadliest Caught In The Act

TV Listings FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

17:45 The Fast And The Furious-PG15 19:45 Se7en-18 22:00 XXX-PG15

01:00 44 Inch Chest-18 03:00 Au Pair 3: Adventure In Paradise-PG 05:00 The Prince And Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon-PG15 07:00 Moon-PG15 09:00 Au Pair 3: Adventure In Paradise-PG 11:00 Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian-PG15 13:00 Astro Boy-PG15 15:00 Phoebe In Wonderland-PG 17:00 Bandslam-PG15 19:00 Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian-PG15 21:00 Sherlock Holmes-PG15 23:15 Harry Brown-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Boondocks 02:00 30 Rock 02:30 Community 03:00 Sarah Silverman Program 03:30 Curb Your Enthusiasm 04:00 Boondocks 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Coach 06:00 Yes Dear 06:30 The Drew Carey Show 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 According To Jim 08:30 Coach 09:00 Just Shoot Me 09:30 The Drew Carey Show 10:00 Yes Dear 10:30 30 Rock 11:00 Coach 11:30 According To Jim 12:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 13:00 Just Shoot Me 13:30 Coach 14:00 Yes Dear 14:30 Community 15:00 30 Rock 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 The Drew Carey Show 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Family Biz 18:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 19:00 Outsourced 19:30 The Oﬃce 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Nut Case 22:30 Weeds 23:00 Boondocks 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Ellen Degeneres Show American Idol Bones The Gates Good Morning America One Tree Hill Emmerdale Turn Back Your Body Clock The Martha Stewart Show The View The Gates American Idol One Tree Hill Live Good Morning America The Ellen Degeneres Show Psych No Ordinary Family American Idol Survivor: Redemption Lie To Me One Tree Hill

00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30

House American Idol The Gates Bones House The Ellen Degeneres Show 8 Simple Rules ... Two And A Half Men Cold Case House The Ellen Degeneres Show 8 Simple Rules ... Two And A Half Men American Idol Cold Case House 8 Simple Rules ... Two And A Half Men

17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Ellen Degeneres Show Friday Night Lights No Ordinary Family American Idol Survivor: Redemption Royal Pains The Ellen Degeneres Show

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:30 19:45 21:15 PG15 23:00

Coﬃn Rock-18 Shinjuku Incident-PG15 Inside Ring-PG15 Virtuality-PG15 National Treasure-PG15 Air Force One-PG15 Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story-PG15 National Treasure-PG15 Enemy Of The State-PG15 Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans-18 Universal Soldier: Regeneration-

00:00 02:00 PG15 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Lucky Break-PG15 Down And Out In Beverly Hills-

Midnight Meat Train-18

The Matchmaker-PG15 Beauty And The Briefcase-PG15 Clueless-PG15 Mad About Mambo-PG15 For Love Or Money-PG Hannah Montana Movie-PG Lucky Break-PG15 Say It Isn’t So-18 Fired Up!-18 Separation City-18

01:00 Rudo Y Cursi-PG15 02:45 Genova-PG15 04:15 In The Electric Mist-PG15 06:15 The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button-PG15 09:00 Julie And Julia-PG15

11:00 Finding Forrester-PG 13:15 A Far Oﬀ Place-PG15 15:00 Gifted Hands-PG15 17:00 Frost/Nixon-PG15 19:00 The Hours-18 21:00 Cold Souls-PG15 23:00 Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead-18

01:00 03:30 05:00 07:00 FAM 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 18:30 21:00 23:15

Vanilla Sky-18 Cutting Edge 3-PG15 Appaloosa-PG15 Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The DinosaursWhen In Rome-PG15 Pinocchio-FAM Race To Witch Mountain-PG15 Enid-PG15 When In Rome-PG15 The Boat That Rocked-PG15 The Blind Side-PG15 Cold Mountain-18

00:00 Scruﬀ In Halloween-FAM 02:00 Mr. Magoo-PG 04:00 Franklin And The Green KnightFAM 06:00 Groove Squad-FAM 08:00 Yogi Bear And The Magical Flight Of The Spruce Goose-PG 10:00 Pinocchio-FAM 12:00 Legend Of Sleeping Beauty-PG 14:00 Groove Squad-FAM 16:00 Stuart Little 2-FAM 18:00 Pinocchio-FAM 20:00 Flintstones: I Yabba Dabba Do!FAM 22:00 Legend Of Sleeping Beauty-PG

00:00 Romulus My Father-PG15 02:00 Tenderness-18 04:00 My Fake Fiance-PG15

06:00 Hachiko : A Dog’s Story-PG15 08:00 Planet 51-PG15 10:00 Secret Origin: The Story Of DC Comics-PG 12:00 Amelia-PG15 14:00 Easy Virtue-PG15 16:00 Planet 51-PG15 18:00 The Box-PG15 20:00 The Blind Side-PG15 22:30 Armored-18

07:00 11:00 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:15 21:00 22:00 23:00

Dubai Int’l Racing Carnival ICC Cricket World Live NRL Premiership Super 15 Super 15 NRL Premiership NRL Premiership The All Sports Show Trans World Sport Golﬁng World

00:30 01:30 02:00 03:00 03:30 04:30 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 11:30 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:30 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:30 20:00 22:00 22:30 23:00

Trans World Sport Total Rugby Golfing World European Tour Weekly Trans World Sport Aviva Premiership Futbol Mundial Golfing World European Tour Weekly Futbol Mundial Total Rugby Live Super 15 Live Super 15 Total Rugby European Tour Weekly Futbol Mundial Scottish Premier League Highlights Trans World Sport ICC Cricket World Live The All Sport Show European Tour Weekly Golfing World Total Rugby Live Super 15 ICC Cricket World Futbol Mundial Live Super League

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

WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter City Centre Races City Centre Races WWE NXT UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed WWE NXT Red Bull X-Fighters Full Throttle UAE National Race Day Series City Centre Races City Centre Races WWE NXT Live NRL Premiership Full Throttle Superstock Powerboat Series WWE NXT V8 Supercars Championship V8 Supercars Championship WWE NXT WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line UFC The Ultimate Fighter

03:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:30

RFL Championship European Tour Weekly Total Rugby European Tour Weekly World Hockey

00:00 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:30 Report 07:00 07:30 Report 08:00 08:30 Report 09:00 12:00 13:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00

News, Sport, Weather Sky News At Ten Sky News Tonight Press Preview Sky Midnight News Cbs News News On The Hour News, Sport, Weather News On The Hour Cbs News Sky World News Sky World Review & Business

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

Pawn Stars Ancient Discoveries Battlefield Detectives Man Moment Machine Deep Sea Detectives Ax Men Sliced Sliced Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Ancient Discoveries Battlefield Detectives Man Moment Machine Deep Sea Detectives Ax Men Sliced Sliced Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Ancient Discoveries Battlefield Detectives Man Moment Machine Deep Sea Detectives Ax Men Sliced Sliced Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Ancient Discoveries Battlefield Detectives Man Moment Machine Deep Sea Detectives Rise And Fall Of The Spartans

National Treasure on OSN Movies Action

Sky World News Sky World Review & Business Sky World News Sky World Review & Business Sunrise The Live Desk Sky News Today Boulton & Co Boulton & Co Afternoon Live Live At Five Live At Five Sky News At Six Sky News At Six News, Sport, Weather

00:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 23:00

Jerseylicious Fashion Avenue How Do I Look? Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? Homes With Style Area Clean House Big Boutique Homes With Style Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? How Do I Look? Fashion Avenue Big Boutique Clean House Clean House Comes Clean Fashion Avenue Jerseylicious Ruby Married Away Mel B: It’s A Scary World Big Boutique Fashion Avenue Momster Of The Bride Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? Bridalplasty

00:15 00:17 01:00 01:50 02:00 02:45 03:15 03:17 07:15 07:17 08:00 08:45 09:15 09:17 13:00 13:45 15:15 15:17 16:00 16:45 17:15 17:17 18:00 18:45 19:00 20:00 20:30 22:15 22:17 23:00 23:40

Top Mobile Playlist Hit Us Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Top Fashion Playlist Top Gossip Playlist French 10 Playlist Top Money Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Monthly Top Playlist Africa 10 Playlist Top Sexy Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Trace Video Mix New Playlist Top Mobile Playlist Club 10 Playlist

00:15 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 00:40 Chowder 01:05 Cow And Chicken 01:30 Cramp Twins 01:55 George Of The Jungle 02:20 Adrenalini Brothers 02:45 Eliot Kid 03:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 03:35 Ben 10: Alien Force 04:00 The Powerpuﬀ Girls 04:15 Chowder 04:40 The Secret Saturdays 05:05 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 05:30 Ben 10: Alien Force 05:55 Best Ed 06:20 Skunk Fu! 06:45 Cramp Twins 07:10 Eliot Kid 07:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 08:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 08:25 Cow And Chicken 08:50 Best Ed 09:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 09:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 10:05 The Secret Saturdays 10:30 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 10:55 The Powerpuﬀ Girls 11:20 Robotboy 11:30 The Life And Times Of Juniper Lee 11:55 Ben 10 12:20 Chowder 12:45 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 13:10 Camp Lazlo 13:35 George Of The Jungle 14:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 14:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 14:50 Ben 10 15:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey

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Announcements

Photography and painting work on display in the Liberal Arts Building.

Hassan Meshkinfam

AUK hosts Persian art week

he American University of Kuwait hosted a Persian Art Week where prominent Iranian Painter and Photographer Hassan Meshkinfam visited the AUK campus. Meshkinfam participated in several diﬀerent events and activities including visiting art classrooms, holding a workshop for AUK art students and had a permanent photography and painting exhibition in AUK’s 5th ﬂoor of the Liberal Arts building.

Meshkinfam with an AUK student during the water color workshop.

many student participants. The workshop was extended an hour to accommodate the influx of student participants. The highlight of the week was the main lecture titled ‘Contemporary Persian Art and Design’, where Mr. Meshkinfam discussed trends in Persian painting. This lecture, which was open to the public, also included AUK faculty members Professors Maryam Hosseinnia, William Andersen and Dr. Gholam Vatandoust. Dr. Gholam Vatandoust, Visiting Associate Professor of International Relations & History and one of the organizers of the event, was encouraged by the success of the event and thanked all thathelped make the Persian Art Week a great achievement. Meshkinfam is a renowned Iranian artist who was educated in Iran and at the Besancon School of Fine Arts in Paris. Since 1981 he has established The Gallery of Modern Art in Shiraz, where he continues to teach painting. His art work and photographs have ornamented numerous national and international galleries. He has also put on display many domestic and international art shows and has published various albums of his works. Among his most outstanding commitment and contributions to art is his creation in 2003 of the first private museum of visual arts in Iran. The Meshkinfam Museum is in his home town of Shiraz and his joint recent volume with AUK’s Professor of International Studies Dr. Gholam Vatandoust titled The Meshkinfam Museum of Art: The First Private Museum of Visual Arts in Iran is a tribute to such an effort.

The renowned artists interacted with many AUK art students, who beneﬁt from his great experience when he held a critique of student artwork. Mr. Meshkinfam also held a watercolor workshop which was very well received with

Students participating in the watercolor workshop.

Hassan Meshkinfam with an AUK student during a critique session.

(Left to right) Hassan Meshkinfam, AUK faculty members Dr Gholam Vatandoust, Professors Maryam Hosseinnia and Professor William Andersen.

Seminar on disabilities Come to find out more about this dynamic Kuwaiti company and their international partnerships to improve the lives of people with disabilities in Kuwait on Tuesday March 15th, 2011 at the AWARE Center in Surra at 7:00pm. “The AWARE Center cordially invites you to its diwaniya presentation about, “Changing Limited Perceptions of the Capabilities of People with Disabilities,” By Carol Marshall. If you have noticed that you rarely see people with disabilities in the malls or out in society, get ready for changes that will result from Kuwait’s new Law 8-2010 for the Rights of People with Disabilities, enacted by the Parliament in May. In three well-designed projects, developed in coordination with international partners to support the implementation of this law, Training Gate, Kuwait proposes to bring to Kuwait’s disability community the benefits of the 35-year history of US commitment to the rights of people with disabilities to schooling in the least restrictive environment; to job-skills preparation and supported employment opportunities; and to programs for parents of people with disabilities to help them in addressing the needs of their families. Born to Excel A 3-day personality development program Born To Excel by Prof. C F Joseph is being organized by Friday Forum and Centre for Computer & Management Studies (CAMS) for the benefit of children aged 10-18 years on March 30, 31 & April 1 at Kuwait Continental Hotel. The three day camp will equip the participants with the confidence to cope with fears associated with public speaking, unleash the forces within the recess of our minds to promote creative thinking, manage time to judiciously plan for effective learning, gain clarity into focused career planning and last but not the least, gain an all-round development of one’s personality. Call 22418934 /22418917 Ext. 204 for details. Woman in Mind Tickets are now on sale for Ayckbourn’s “Woman in Mind” which opens at the theatre today - March 11th @ 7.30 pm. Alan Ayckbourn is known for delivering works of class to the theatrical stage and “Woman in Mind” is no exception. Perhaps one of his cleverest, most stimulating plays it has been hailed as “a dazzling, provocative evening...which is both hilariously inventive and demonic.” (Sunday Telegraph). Josef Stagg brings the KLT production to the stage with a talented cast, headlined by Pauline Barry, bringing to life the real and imagined families of Susan, a woman on the verge of a mental collapse and whose twin worlds appear, disappear and collide in spectacular fashion as the evening progresses. “Woman in Mind” is an intelligent evening of truly entertaining drama. In true Ayckbourn style audiences are made to smile, laugh and even shed a tear as the characters’ lives unfold before them and KLT’s production is certain to thrill all who attend Curtain rises at 7.30pm and tickets are available now. Call 99373-678. NBK Walkathon Registrations started Sunday at NBK Walkathon Tent next to the Scientific Centre in Salmiya on Sunday, February 13 and continues until March 11, which is one day before the start of the walkathon. National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the best bank in the Middle East, announced the launching of its 17th Annual Walkathon on the 12th of March 2011 on the occasion of Kuwait’s celebration of 50 years over its independence, 20 years over its liberation from the Iraqi invasion and 5 years since H.H. the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah assumed his post. The Walkathon event will also feature a host of functions, activities and competitions with rewarding prizes and rewards awaiting the participants. NBK’s Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Bank & Community Committee, Nasser Musaed Al Sayer said that it has been clear that NBK’s Walkathon is growing year on year, and we are extremely thrilled to take our involvement with this exciting event to new levels. This year, we are expecting participation to be much more than previous walkathon which witnessed more the participation of more than 12,000 contesters”.

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ICF Kuwait Meelad conference

he 2nd International Meelad Conference held on Friday, 4th March was organized by ICF Kuwait National Committee to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It was a colorful and spiritually enlightening evening attended by thousands of believers and well-wishers from all over Kuwait.

The event was started with Dua of the great scholar Thajul Ulama Sayed Abdul Rahman Al Bukhari Ullal followed by recitation of verses from the Holy Quran by Yousuf Ali, Shukoor Kaipuram Gen Secretary ICF welcomed the guests of the event. Abdulla Vadakara introduced the delegates from different part of the world to the audience. Abdul Hakeem Darimi, the president of ICF Kuwait has briefed the ICF activities. SYS a socio-Cultural, religious organization working among the Keralites in Kuwait for the last three decades has changed its name as ICF (Islamic Cultural Foundation of India) with this conference. The change was declared by Shaikh Aboobacker Ahmed. Thajul Ulama Sayed Abdul Rahman Al Bukhari Ullal, President of Samastha Kerala Jam’iyathul Ulama was the polestar of the total event. In his presidential address, Thajul Ulama has underlined the importance of the month of Rabi-ul-awwal and its significance in the whole of human history because of the birth of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra inaugurated the conference by addressing the audience and he reiterated the significance of Meelad celebrations to show our respect and reverence to the Holy Prophet, who heralded a new message of peace and prosperity for the suffering mankind. Also he emphasized the bilateral relationship with India

and Kuwait. He also highlighted the kindness of Kuwait government towards Indian expatriates. Shaikh Aboobacker Ahmad, The General Secretary of All India Muslim Scholars Association, was the key note speaker. Shaikh Aboobacker Ahmad reemphasized prophet’s greatness, his humility, his kindness, his compassion, his gentleness, his ﬁrmness in Islamic principles, his love and his concern for his Ummah throughout his speech. The conference was attended by many prominent scholars such as Ponmala Abdul Qadar Musliar (President SYS Kerala state), Abdul Latheef Sa’adi Pazhassi, Shaikh Hamad Ahmed Sinan, (Kuwait), Shaikh Waleed (Syria), Dr. Ahmed Ramadan (Egypt) Moulavi Ajwad (Srilanka), Shaikh Nasir Rabbani (Tamil Nadu (Kuwait), Abdul Rasheed Zaini (Karnataka) Syed Zainul Abideen were also present on the stage. The program was coordinated by Ahmed K Maniyoor, Abdul Nazar CK, Adv. Thanveer Omar, Eng. Abu Mohammad, Noufal KK. The vote of thanks was given by Abdul Latheef CT.

SEVA DARSHAN holds ‘SAKUDUMBAM’

EVA DARSHAN Fahaheel had again shown the harmony among the members whilst having their “SAKUDUMBAM” -family fest on Saturday 26th February, at the Hot Burger Auditorium, Mangaf. The day started in the midst of more than 200 members and their children with Prayer and Lighting of Traditional Lamp followed by welcome speech by the Event Coordinator. A series of cultural programs were then staged by SEVA DARSHAN family, bringing back the nostalgic memories of homeland. Both traditional and contemporary art forms such as

Thiruvathirakali, Group Songs, Karaoke Songs, Kavitha Chollal, Speeches, Mimics, Nadan Pattu and Comedy Skits were the highlights of the whole daylong event. Drama “Yamalokam” staged by the ‘Adhyathmik Samithi’ members and the ‘Kavyasilpam’-visual drama of poem “Oru kiliyum Anchu Vedanmarum” presented by the children’s of ‘Bala Darshan’ was the prime attraction of the day which entertained and prized by all the spectators. Apart from the above the day was delighted by variety of mind blowing interactive games like Musical chair, passing the

parcel, Quiz, Anthakshari etc., played by ladies, gents & kids of Seva Darshan family who enjoyed the whole day program. Vice-President of Seva Darshan, who represented the central committee, delivered his thoughtful message. This meticulous event concluded with a raﬄe draw, the winner got an attractive surprise gift. Sumptuous lunch also served to all the attendees besides a ‘Payasam Mela’ arranged by Mathru Samithi.

Stars

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Aries (March 21-April 19) "Dear Mr. Astrologer: Like the god Prometheus, I stole fire from the gods and gave it to people who sometimes make awful use of it. As punishment, the gods chained me to a rock on the beach, and arranged for an eagle to come daily to eat my liver. Luckily, the liver grows back every night. Unluckily, the eagle always returns to devour it again. I'm used to it by now; it doesn't hurt as much as it once did. But I'm still eager to get out of my predicament. Any suggestions? Aries in Limbo." Dear Aries: Your rescue is scheduled for no later than your birthday, possibly before. In the meantime, the best thing you can do to prepare for your release is to feel gratitude for all you've learned during your ordeal.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Your meditation for this week comes from writer H. P. Lovecraft. "What a man does for pay is of little significance. What he is, as a sensitive instrument responsive to the world's beauty, is everything!" While that's always good counsel, I think it's especially apt for you right now. You're in a phase of your astrological cycle when you'd be smart to evaluate your own worth based less on what job you do and more on who you are. Practice thinking this healing idea: The soulfulness you embody and express from moment to moment is the single greatest measure of your success as a human being.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

One of my favorite peculiarities about the English language is the idiosyncratic words it uses to characterize groups of specific animals. For example, the correct term for many owls gathered together is not "flock" but "parliament": a "parliament of owls." Likewise, we say a "rabble of butterflies," a "prickle of hedgehogs," a "shrewdness of apes," and a "murder of crows." If I had to come up with a comparable term for the human members of your tribe, it might be something like a "zeal of Geminis" or a "charm of Geminis" or a "romp of Geminis" or an "exaltation of Geminis." All those words capture part of the glory that will be you, especially for the next few weeks.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) The roots of the lotus are anchored in muck at the pond's bottom. Its leaves float on the water and its dramatic flower rises above on a thick stem. It's an evocative plant that is featured in many ancient myths. For Buddhists, it was an emblem of enlightenment: beauty ascending from the mud. In India, a thousand-petaled golden lotus symbolized the miracle of creation. To the Egyptians, it represented rebirth. Even modern science has contributed to building the mystique of the lotus, having determined that its seeds can remain viable for many centuries. It's not a fragile marvel! In the 16th-century Chinese folk tale "Monkey," a teacher instructed the hero on how to achieve a long life. "Even amidst fierce flames," he said, "the Golden Lotus can be planted." For the foreseeable future, Cancerian, the lotus is your power object.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

"Picture a very complicated combination lock, one that requires dialing up eight different numbers to open," writes Arianna Huffington. "You have seven of the numbers, but the lock still won't open until you hit upon that final number. Oneeighth may not seem as 'big' as seven-eighths, but without the final click of the combination, the tumblers won't fall into place." Sound familiar, Leo? In my astrological opinion, you have dialed up the first seven numbers but you don't know what the eighth is yet; until you discover it, the lock will stay closed. Where should you look for the missing info? It's now within your reach, and it wasn't before.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

In the coming week, it's very important that you stay out of other people's hells -even if they invite you in with a big welcome, and even if you're tempted to join them there in their infernos as a misguided way of proving your love. Be compassionate, Virgo, but don't be manipulated or foolish. The best thing you can do to help others is to cultivate your own mental health with ingenuity, trusting in its radiant power to heal by example.

COUNTRY CODES Libra (September 23-October 22) "Two paradoxes are better than one," said physicist Edward Teller. "They may even suggest a solution." I hope this gives you a glimmer of appreciation for the sparkling contradictions you're surrounded by, Libra. It would be understandable if up until today you felt they were crazy-making stressors that served no good purpose. But now maybe you will be motivated to stand on your head, cross your eyes, and try to see how the tangy riddles might actually be used to untangle each other.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

Despite the wealth and renown he has accumulated during his influential career, musician Brian Eno is a big fan of raw simplicity. Speaking about R&B, soul music, and psychedelia, he said, "These earlier eras of pop music were characterized not by the search for perfection but by bizarre enthusiasms, small budgets, erratic technique, crummy equipment, and wild abandon." Would you consider playing with that approach in the coming weeks, Scorpio? It's not necessarily something you should do all the time, but right now I suspect it's a formula for the most interesting kind of success.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Research Digest Blog asked eminent psychologists to write about the theme "one nagging thing you still don't understand about yourself." One expert wondered why he always overestimates how much work he can get done. Another pondered the fact that he falls prey to his own irrational biases even though he's well aware he has them. A third said he can't fathom why it's so easy for him to learn some things and so hard to learn others. What would your answer be, Sagittarius? This is an excellent time, astrologically speaking, to see if you can get to the bottom of a truth about yourself that has always eluded you.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

I suspect that you will either be spectacularly right or breathtakingly wrong in the coming days. Which way it goes will all depend on whether you're observing and responding to the actual events unfolding in front of you or else are more focused on the images dancing around in your imagination. Of course it's always a good idea to get your biases and projections out of the way so you can see life as it really is, but it's especially crucial now. So much is contingent upon your ability to be acutely perceptive and crisply objective.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) In the old fairy tale, the character known as Rumpelstiltskin had the power to spin straw into gold. That skill has a metaphorical resemblance to the wizardry you could pull off in the coming weeks: transforming seemingly ordinary or worthless stuff into a valuable asset. Although your work might seem a bit miraculous and make some people wonder if you've used hocus-pocus, the fact is that it may at times feel tedious or extremely demanding to you. Be gutsy in your mastery of the intricate details, Aquarius. I'll be thinking of you as the Gritty Magician.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

"Good things may come to those who wait -- but they're mostly just the things left behind by those who hustle and bustle." That message was in the fortune cookie I got with my Chinese take-out food tonight. It happens to be a perfect fit for your current astrological omens, so I'm handing it over to you. In the coming week, I don't recommend that you sit around patiently and watch how the trends ripen. I don't think you should bide your time or be cautious in making a commitment. Be proactive, Pisces -- maybe even gung ho. Carpe the freaking diem.

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 Republic 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 Somalia 00252 South Africa 0027 South Korea 0082 Spain 0034 Sri Lanka 0094 Sudan 00249 Suriname 00597 Swaziland 00268 Sweden 0046 Switzerland 0041 Syria 00963 Taiwan 00886 Tanzania 00255 Thailand 0066 Toga 00228 Tonga 00676 Tokelau 00690 Trinidad 001868 Tunisia 00216 Turkey 0090 Tuvalu 00688 Uganda 00256 Ukraine 00380 United Arab Emirates00976

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Years

Lifestyle

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Members of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club point to revelers as they ride on a float down Jackson Avenue in New Orleans on Mardi Gras Day, Tuesday.—AP

From telecoms to art, Carlos Slim promotes investment

exican tycoon Carlos Slim, who on Wednesday made the top of the Forbes rich list for a second consecutive year with a fortune of $74 billion, has investments from telecoms to oil and art. Slim saw his fortune inflate $20.5 billion in 2011, according to Forbes, placing him a large step above US tycoons Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who have recently given large chunks of their fortunes to charity. The 71-year-old mustachioed Mexican, who is of Lebanese origin, earned his wealth building up the telephone monopoly Telmex after acquiring it from the Mexican government in 1990. Telmex and cell phone company Telcel, also the country’s largest, are currently fighting disputes with Mexican cable and telephone companies seeking more access to their telephone infrastructure, as Slim seeks to move into TV. But that has failed to distract him from a hive of activity, even opening a spectacular Mexico City museum this month, drawing on his collection of more than 66,000 works of art, including masters such as Rodin, Cezanne and Renoir. Last month, Slim’s Grupo Carso announced it would acquire 70 percent of the Tabasco Oil, which has exploration and production operations in Colombia. Meanwhile in January, Slim said he would invest $8.3 billion dollars this year in 19 countries, mostly in Latin America. “Whomever doesn’t invest for any reason, out of fear, precaution or whatever, will stay behind,” the billionaire said at a recent news conference. “Whomever doesn’t invest in telecoms, for example, will then accuse us of being dominant and monopolistic and such things, but you have to invest,” he added, in a jab at the companies with which he is at odds. A recent biography claimed Slim limits his monthly salary to 24,000 dollars and travels in a Suburban, while his lack of ostentation is noted by many who meet him. —AP

Cirque du Soleil

brings circus to Africa

he audience gasped as a performer in Cirque du Soleil’s “Saltimbanco” circled up a brasscolored pole and stretched his body out into an extension perfectly perpendicular to the pole while his hands gripped it tightly. As the acrobat slid down 20 feet to the ﬂoor, in pranced Daniel Buckland, Cirque du Soleil’s only South African performer, clad in a blue sparkly pair of pajamas and a long pointy hat. Buckland murmured some phrases in a made-up language, dancing across the stage and seducing the Johannesburg audience into the show’s dreamlike world. Wednesday’s opening performance in Johannesburg was the Montrealbased company’s ﬁrst-ever performance in Africa. “Performing with Cirque is an absolute dream,” said Buckland, who joined the company in January, and has since performed in France, Germany, Turkey and now his home country of South Africa. Cirque du Soleil, renowned for creating surreal atmospheres and showing captivating and awe-inspiring stunts, is reaching out to new audiences worldwide, said the company’s spokesman Maxime Charbonneau. In the past year the show “Saltimbanco,” has been performed in Budapest, Hungary and Croatia, all new countries for the company. After the success of the World Cup, the Cirque du

Soleil organizers knew it was possible to bring the circus to South Africa too, Charbonneau said. “Everywhere we go here, people say, wow, ﬁnally, this is cool,” Charbonneau said. After 19 shows in Istanbul, 94 crew members and artists boarded a plane for South Africa, some making their ﬁrst trip to the continent, Charbonneau said. Cirque du Soleil

chartered another plane to transport the artists’ more than 2,500 costume pieces and 250 shoes, all handmade in Montreal. “It was brilliant,” Marianne Sutherland, a Johannesburg native, said after the show. “You always hear about all these shows and we’ve seem them in other countries, but it’s fantastic to have them here.” —AP

An artist from the international entertainment group Cirque du Soleil performs during a rehearsal in Johannesburg.—AP

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Lifestyle

FRIDAY, MARCH 11 2011

50 Cent

joins

‘Gaddafi

performance regret club’

rapper 50 Cent has joined what one entertainment website called the “Gaddafi performance regret club,” making a donation to charity after news emerged that he performed for the clan of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. “In light of the ongoing events in Libya, 50 Cent will be making a donation to UNICEF, which is providing vital relief supplies to meet the needs of women and children at risk during this crisis,” a spokesman for the artist told E! News. 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, joins a growing list of pop stars who performed for members of Gaddafi’s family at exclusive parties around the world, sometimes commanding seven-figure sums in the process. The appearances have become a major source

of embarrassment since the Libyan leader’s brutal response to a popular uprising against him in Libya. Beyonce, Nelly Furtado, Mariah Carey and Usher have all issued statements saying they would donate or had already given money to charities after they appeared for the Gaddafi clan in recent years. 50 Cent did not name the amount of money he earned from a private concert given during the 2005 Venice film festival. Media reports said that some artists were paid by Gaddafi’s family merely to attend the parties. On the Twitter social networking website, Furtado said recently that she was paid $1 million for a 45 minute set before the Gaddafi clan in Italy in 2007.—Reuters

Clapton auctions

Lady Gaga, Target end deal to sell CD in stores

dozens of guitars for charity

ady Gaga’s deal to sell a special edition of her upcoming album at Target has been canceled. A representative for the singer said Wednesday the two sides “came to a mutual decision to end their overall exclusive partnership a few weeks ago.” Last month, it was announced that Target would be selling a deluxe edition of the album, to be released May 23, with bonus content. But gay advocates were concerned about the partnership, citing Target’s donations to a political candidate who was against gay marriage. Gaga told Billboard that her relationship with the retail giant was tied to their “reform,” supporting the gay community and making up for past “mistakes.” The Advocate reported Tuesday that Gaga wasn’t comfortable with the deal and ended it. Target says it’s “very surprised and disappointed” and that it remains committed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. —AP

File photo shows a 2006 Fender Eric Clapton ‘Blackie’ re-creation on display during a press preview at Bonhams New York for the auction to sell some of Eric Clapton’s guitars and amps in aid of the Crossroads Center, Antigua. —AFP

ritish rock legend Eric Clapton parted with 70 of his guitars in a charity auction on Wednesday that drew hundreds of fans and aficionados, and broke sale estimates. Clapton’s 1948 Gibson hollow body guitar brought in $83,000, making it the most expensive item in the auction. Its estimated value stood at $30,000. Most items sold for much higher than estimated by Bonhams auction house. The auction included numerous Fender Stratocaster guitars, which the legendary guitarist is so closely associated with, including a black model he used during the Cream Reunion concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London and New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2005. Clapton’s signature Stratocaster sold for $51,000 in the auction, which was carried out simultaneously in New York, Los Angeles, London and online. Proceeds will go to the Crossroads Center in Antigua, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center which Clapton, himself a recovered alcoholic and former heroin addict, founded in 1998. An acoustic 12string Martin guitar Clapton played on his song Motherless Child sold for $70,000, way above its estimated $5,000 price tag. Another guitar that drew auctioneers’ attention was a 2006 replica-down to the cigarette stains on its headstock-of Clapton’s “Blackie” Stratocaster, which he played throughout the 1970s. It fetched more than $30,000. The original Blackie was bought by musical instruments chain store Guitar Center for a record $959,500 in 2004. The auction also offered dozens of Clapton’s amplifiers, including a vintage 1960s Supro amp said to have been used by guitarist Jimmy Page on the Led Zeppelin II album. It went under the hammer for $28,000. This isn’t the first time Clapton put his instruments up for auction. In 1999, he raised more than $5 million and in 2004, another $7.4 million that went toward the Crossroads Center. —AFP

Salzburg Easter fest looks to revive from scandal

he Salzburg Easter Festival of opera and music, where the top ticket price is 1,230 euros ($1,706) for four events, is awaiting the ﬁnal curtain on a scandal which hit a sour note in the fairytale Austrian town. Just before the opening of last year’s week-long season, the Austrian press was ﬁlled with reports that two of the festival’s longtime managers were being investigated over the alleged disappearance of more than 2 million euros. The reports had more the makings of soap opera than grand opera, but the message from the festival today is straight out of the Gloria Gaynor 1970s disco songbook: We have survived. “The whole thing is now in the hands of the Justice Department,” said Peter Alward, the 60year-old Briton brought in on short notice to replace the festival’s former director. “Basically, there’s no new information, everything that hap-

pened has been raked over...and publicised, unfortunately too greatly, because to a certain extent it stands in the way of what we really want to talk about, which is the music,” Alward told Reuters in a telephone interview from Salzburg, where rehearsals were in full swing. That, of course, is something any cultural institution that has been embroiled in scandal would dearly wish for. But in the festival’s case, it seems that apart from the slow workings of the wheels of justice, a corner has been turned. “I have to tell you that thank heavens we’ve been able to count on extremely loyal patrons and extremely loyal sponsors and they haven’t jumped ship,” Alward said. “They remain on board because-I’ve said this before, and it’s trueif you have a barrel of apples and a few have gone bad it doesn’t mean the rest of the apples are bad.” —Reuters

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Lifestyle

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Johnnie To collaborator delivers

HK thriller

ohnnie To’s priority this year is the mainland Chinese market. But the acclaimed Hong Kong director is trying to keep signature local movies in his pipeline by proxy: His frequent collaborator Law Wing-cheong is delivering a small psychological thriller that explores revenge and class tensions. “Punished,” which is scheduled to make its world premiere at the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival on April 4, features veteran Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong as a ruthless property tycoon who intimidates villagers in order to conﬁscate their land-only to be humbled after his rebellious daughter is kidnapped and murdered. His search for revenge brings him only greater mental anguish. The HK$23 million dollar ($3 million) production lacks the stylish, dance-like action sequences that have won To and his production company Milkyway Image international renown, but director Law-a regular assistant director and occasional actor for Tomakes up for the deﬁcit with a sophisticated exploration of human psychology. Law’s picture, on which To served

Moore set to play Sarah Palin in

M J

In this photo released by Media Asia Film Distribution Ltd, veteran Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong acts in a scene from the upcoming psychological thriller “Punished.” —AP movies to pass censorship,” Jen said. So “Punished” investor, Hong Kong studio Media Asia, has mainly set its sights on the local market in this southern port economy that reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Despite the resumption of Chinese sovereignty, Hong Kong has retained a Western-style government and civil liberties like freedom of speech. It’s an increasingly rare strategy as Hong Kong filmmakers rush to cash in on the rapidly expanding mainland marketalso coveted by Hollywood studios. “Punished” perhaps also offers director To a way to balance his commercial pressures and his artistic integrity. The master himself finds himself increasingly pulled to the mainland. He is currently shooting the

Mel Gibson to offer pleabargain in abuse dispute

HBO film

ulianne Moore is set to play former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in an upcoming TV film. HBO Films said Wednesday that Moore will star in the film “Game Change,” which follows John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign from when he chose Palin as his running mate through their defeat in the general election. The film is based on the bestselling book of the same name. No other cast members were announced, and HBO did not say when production on the film might begin. Moore is a four-time Academy Award nominee. Last year, she starred in the critically acclaimed film, “The Kids Are All Right.”—AP

as producer, can also be seen as a broader examination of rich-poor conflict in Hong Kong’s hyper-capitalistic society. Wong’s tycoon is awash with cash thanks to his brutal tactics and Hong Kong’s inflated property prices. But he faces payback from the working class when a used car salesman plots his daughter’s kidnapping-and finds a willing coconspirator among Wong’s staff. The biting political commentary, the violent scenes and use of foul language are standard fare for Hong Kong cinema but are questionable for mainland China’s more prudish film censors. “This is a high-risk project,” Law told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday. “We are talking about revenge. And there is no sense of justice in the movie: No one is arrested by police and put into jail. Whether this story meets the need of the mainland market is an unknown factor.” Taiwanese actor-singer Richie Jen, who plays Wong’s bodyguard, told the AP it wasn’t clear if mainland audiences would see the movie. “Maybe they need to adjust their

el Gibson will offer a plea bargain to seek an ‘immediate’ resolution and avoid jail in a long-running legal dispute over alleged domestic abuse, media reports and his lawyer said Wednesday. Media reports said the embattled actor-director would plead no contest to the battery charges leveled against him by former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva after an alleged incident in January 2010 at his Malibu home. ‘Mel’s priority throughout all of this has been that the best interests of his young daughter, Lucia, and the rest of his children be put first in any decisions made,’ his lawyer Blair Berk said in a statement. ‘It is with only that in mind that he asked me to approach the district attorney with a proposal that would bring all of this to an immediate end,’ she added, without elaborating. The TMZ celebrity news website said Gibson was currently in Guatemala, but would be in court on Friday and plead no contest to a charge of battery, which is less serious than corporal injury on a spouse. Under the plea bargain, he is not expected to go to jail, but would be ordered to continue with counseling, TMZ reported. Police launched an investigation into the Australian-educated actor after Grigorieva released recordings of expletive-ridden abusive telephone calls he allegedly made. Gibson’s career has struggled since his 2006 arrest for drunk driving, which exploded into a major scandal because of anti-Semitic remarks he made to a highway patrol officer. In that case, he was sentenced to three years probation and fined $1,300, after undergoing alcohol rehabilitation. —AFP

second of two romances targeted at mainland viewers-but outsourcing projects with a more Hong Kong local ﬂavor to his collaborators helps keep the Milkyway Image brand alive. Still, Jen hopes the social themes in “Punished” reach a broader audience beyond Hong Kong. “When I started shooting this movie, I knew it wasn’t commercially oriented or entertainment-oriented. But it touches your heart,” Jen said. “Its subject matter touches on problems facing modern society-ethnic Chinese communities everywhere are dealing with skyrocketing property prices, tough labor markets, a breakdown in intergenerational communication.” “Punished” will be in general release in Hong Kong on May 5 after its debut. — AP

Lohan due back in court for necklace theft case

indsay Lohan return to court yesterday morning and is not expected to accept a plea deal in a grand theft case that would return the actress to jail. The “Mean Girls” star has pleaded not guilty to a felony grand theft that was filed after a jewelry store reported the starlet had taken $2,500 necklace without permission. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Keith L Schwartz has said if Lohan accepts a plea agreement offered by prosecutors last month that he will send her to jail for the fourth time in as many years. A source close to the actress told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Lohan does not intend to accept the plea offer at yesterday’s hearing. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Lohan’s case. Schwartz will lay out the next steps of the case and may schedule a preliminary hearing during which prosecutors will present their evidence. If Lohan is ordered to stand trial, Schwartz has warned the starlet that she may be sent to jail for violating her probation on a 2007 drunken driving case. Lohan’s return to court comes days after surveillance footage of her trying on necklaces at Kamofie & Co, which reported the necklace stolen on Jan. 22. —AP

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Lifestyle

FRIDAY, MARCH 11 2011

Fashion world

eagerly bids adieu to

Paris shows

Models show creations from Turkish designer Arzu Kaprol.

Nine days after Dior dismissed its ﬂamboyant star designer John Galliano in a shock announcement that coincided with the start of Paris’s ready-towear displays, the City of Light’s marathon collections wrapped up Wednesday with a kinky fetishist collection from another

Jacob’s handcuﬀ-wearing fetishist display for bag-maker Louis Vuitton. The hourglassshaped coats and bustiers-asouterwear struck a vaguely Diorlike note, reviving speculation that the American superstar might be tapped to succeed Galliano.

fashion luminary, Marc Jacobs, that set tongues wagging that he could be the one to replace Galliano. The former Dior designer was ﬁred amid allegations he hurled anti-Semitic insults at a couple while drinking at a Paris bar and after a video circulated on the Internet showing a visibly drunk Galliano say “I love Hitler” in a separate altercation at the same bar. The news was deeply upsetting to industry insiders, and many were quick to come to his defense, saying Galliano’s multiethnic-inspired work of 15 years with Dior had proven him not to be a racist. The whole saga was like a wet blanket thrown over the Paris shows. The sense of relief was palpable after Elie Saab, the

Other persistent rumors would have Riccardo Tischi of Givenchy or Haider Ackermann, who has his own eponymous label, step into Galliano’s immense shoes. Both Vuitton and Givenchy are owned by Dior parent company LVMH Moet Hennessy, a not insigniﬁcant detail which would appear to shore up the speculation. The Paris-based luxury conglomerate also owns Galliano’s signature label, throwing its future into question. Galliano-designed collections for Dior and his eponymous John Galliano label were shown to the press and buyers in solemn displays last week that had some in tears. What would happen next was anyone’s guess. —AP

Models show creations from Miu Miu. —AP photos

last big-name show on the Paris calendar. Fashion editors, journalists and stylist beat a beeline out of the show, glad to have put what was generally agreed to have been an uninspired season to bed. Still, Wednesday saw one of Paris’ strongest fall-winter 2011-2012 collections,

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Models show creations from Lebanese designer Elie Saab as part of his Fall-Winter ready-to-wear 2012 fashion collection, in Paris, Wednesday.

lie Saab’s detractors complain the Lebanese red carpet favorite’s collections are always the same, but frankly, if it’s not broke, why fix it? Saab has the magic formula that has won him legions of fans among world’s beautiful people down pat. In addition to his high-drama red carpet gowns covered with flashbulb-friendly sequins, he churns out flattering, glamorous daywear that moves seamless from day to night. Wednesday’s show, which capped Paris’ nine-day-long ready-to-wear marathon, included plenty of formfitting sheath dresses with sharp square shoulders and long, lean, sequin-covered gowns with rounded trains in black, taupe, mauve and brick red. Granted, Saab didn’t reinvent the wheel with Wednesday’s fall-winter 2011-12 collection, but then again, with a mile-long client roster that includes Alist actresses, princesses and stylish women the world over, why on earth would he? “I already picked out about six pieces that I absolutely want,” said Victoria Yaeger Sawyer, a San Francisco lawyer with a passion for fashion. “As a working woman who has to go from day to cocktail, the collection was great. For my needs, it’s the best show I’ve seen all week.” Perhaps it was because it was the last show after a month of collections that began in New York, moved to London and then Milan before debuting in Paris at the start of the month, but the models appeared to be staging some kind of spontaneous strike: Several of them walked only half the runway, posing and turning around and a hundred yards (meters) from the photographers’ pit. —AP

ng i n n i w sticks for fall a l u m r fo

Lebanese designer Elie Saab receives applause at the end of his Fall-Winter ready-to-wear 2012 fashion collection. —AP photos

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Magazine ranks stars’ behind-the-seams stylists

scars host Anne Hathaway had many winning outfits during the recent telecast, even if the banter with her co-host was less memorable. For Hathaway and other stars famous for looking great wherever they go, those flashbulb-fashion moments largely are a tribute to their stylists. The Hollywood Reporter magazine has compiled its first-ever list of the 25 mostpowerful celebrity stylists, and, no surprise, Rachel Zoe — who dressed Hathaway on Oscar night — is at the top. She’s grown her bohemian, beach-girl look made famous by Cameron Diaz into a reality TV show, books and her own fashion line. It’s important for a stylist to carve out an aesthetic, much like a designer does, but she also needs to give her clients what they want, and Zoe is a master at that, said Merle Ginsberg, Hollywood Reporter senior writer. “When Rachel was working with Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan years ago — and making them into mini-mes — she caught a lot of flack, and it ended quickly. She was

young, they were young. Now she does Cameron Diaz as the bohemian, but Eva Mendes is not, and Anne Hathaway is no bohemian.” The next names on the magazine’s list are Kate Young, a former Vogue editor behind Natalie Portman’s stylish maternity wardrobe; Petra Flannery, who is guiding young stars Emma Stone and Hailee Steinfeld; Jen Rade, who boasts longtime client Angelina Jolie; and Anna Bingemann, whose clients include Claire Danes, Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts. Depending on the celebrity, the duty of the stylist changes, Ginsberg explains. For someone like Cate Blanchett, who works with Elizabeth Stewart, she already has a strong fashion sense and is looking for someone to scout out outﬁts that suit her style. Other celebrities turn to their stylists to help them carve a fashion personality. Sometimes — think Rachel Bilson or Diane Kruger, perhaps — the starlets are becoming more famous for their ripped-

from-the-runway looks than their resume of roles. “Something happened in the ‘90s, maybe it was the economy or maybe that fashion became a bigger deal in America, but that’s when this whole thing started, and that’s when all the Hollywood fashion started to be good,” said Ginsberg. She gives credit to Phillip Bloch, Deborah Waknin (No 7) and Jessica Paster (No 14) as early trailblazers who made the link between Hollywood and the runway. They introduced names such as Alexander McQueen, and, really, Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace, to the armchair audiences of America who were suddenly interested in celebrity style thanks to the weekly glossy magazines and cable channels that brought the red carpet home. These relationships all require delicate handling, though, Ginsberg added, with the designers, stars and stylists all wanting some degree of credit for a winning outﬁt. The stylist issue of The Hollywood Reporter is on newsstands today.—AP

S Africa’s Mandela Foundation getting into fashion

reppy meets philanthropy in a new international clothing line being launched by Nelson Mandela’s foundation. The 46664 Apparel line, named after Mandela’s inmate number at Robben Island Prison, features colorful clothing that is supposed to make wearers look good on the outside-and feel good inside. Profits from Mandela’s project will help sustain the foundation’s charitable gifts, while boosting South Africa’s troubled textile and clothing industry, officials said at a news conference at the Nelson Mandela Foundation on Wednesday. With the launch, the foundation joins a small but growing club of socially conscious sartorialists, such as Edun, a line founded by Bono and his wife in an effort to bring a steady, sustainable manufacturing industry to Africa. The 46664 line features brightly colored men’s sportswear and intricately patterned, Africaninfluenced women’s wear, all designed by Seardel, South Africa’s biggest textile and clothing manufacturer. Mandela was the 466th prisoner at Robben Island, a wind-swept penal colony in the Atlantic off Cape Town, in 1964. The anti-apartheid icon spent 27 years in prisons for fighting white rule. He became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, winning office in all-race

People walk past clothes during the launch of an international fashion clothing line by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg. —AP

elections that spelled the end of apartheid. Golf shirts and jerseys carry a small embroidered upheld palm symbolizing Mandela’s hand and alluding to his challenge at the 46664 London concert in 2008 for “new hands be found to lift the burden.” “You are not just investing in a piece of apparel ... you also are investing in a plan that will continue to spread that humanitarian legacy” of Mandela, said foundation board member Achmat Dangor. He said the 46664 campaign has evolved since its start to raise global awareness and prevention of HIV and AIDS to “confronting

and inspiring action to address the broader social injustices in our society.” Seardel CEO Stuart Queen pointed to special touches in the clothing-colorful African shweshwe cloth discreetly lining the waistband of a pair of pants and chinos closed by two brass buttons and one red button, all branded with 46664. “Everywhere you look, there’s a surprise,” Queen told journalists. But many South Africans will not be able to aﬀord the clothing. When the brand is launched in South Africa in August, a T-shirt will cost about 180 rand ($26). A man’s collared shirt runs about 600 rand ($86). A quarter of South

Africa’s work force is unemployed. The minimum monthly wage for a farm worker is 1,300 rand (less than $200). The clothing will be sold at the group’s own store, to be opened August in downtown Johannesburg, as well as at upmarket Stuttafords department stores. It also will be available online. Next year, Dangor said, the line will launch internationally, probably in Britain and the United States. Dangor said Seardel paid the foundation a royalty of 1 million rand (about $143,000) and the foundation will get a share starting at 7 percent of annual turnover rising to 9 percent. The money will help the foundation’s sustainability, Dangor said, describing how last year it had been forced to stop supporting development agencies in Ghana, Tanzania and Mozambique. Funds raised from Mandela Day and other 46664 events also have funded

the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. Campaigns manager Ruth Rensburg said profits from the clothes line will help 46664 in its transformation to a “development agency” distributing funds for select projects that reflect Mandela’s humanitarian legacy and ethos. He said Mandela’s image will not appear on any of the clothing-a commercialization some find distasteful. Mandela has fought law suits to prevent his name being used for commercial gain. His lawyers in 2005 confronted a clothing company that applied to register Mandela’s prison number, preventing it from doing so. A more recent controversy erupted last year when Mandela’s family, including eldest daughter Makaziwe and grandson Mandla, launched House of Mandela wines. Many were outraged but Mandela gave the commercial project his blessing. —AP

Comic

C R O S S W O R D

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Solution

ACROSS 1. A health resort near a spring or at the seaside. 4. A port city in southwestern Turkey on the Gulf of Antalya. 10. A widely distributed system of free and fixed macrophages derived from bone marrow. 13. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc.. 14. Of or relating to the lips of the mouth. 15. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma. 16. A legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee or society or legislative body. 17. Related to or written for or performed by a chorus or choir. 18. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research. 19. The second month of the Hindu calendar. 21. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska. 23. A primeval personification of air and breath. 25. An Indian nursemaid who looks after children. 26. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables. 29. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders. 31. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind. 34. Having help. 38. Not reflecting light. 39. English monk and scholar (672-735). 40. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else. 42. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 44. A doctor's degree in dental surgery. 45. A French abbot. 50. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River. 57. A small ball with a hole through the middle. 60. The back side of the neck. 61. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium. 63. A Gaelic-speaking Celt in Ireland or Scotland or the Isle of Man. 64. A chronic skin disease occurring primarily in women between the ages of 20 and 40. 65. (Judeo-Christian religion) Chief spirit of evil and adversary of God. 66. Type genus of the family Arcidae. DOWN 1. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike. 2. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America. 3. (prefix) Opposite or opposing or neutralizing. 4. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill. 5. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh. 6. A unit of resistance equal to a billionth of an ohm. 7. (Irish) The sea personified. 8. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots. 9. (prefix) Indicating difference or variation. 10. Of or relating to or characteristic of the people or language of Malaysia and the N Malay Peninsula and parts of the W Malay Archipelago. 11. Capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. 12. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo. 20. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae. 22. Genus of sticky herbs with yellow flowers open in morning or evening but

closed in bright light. 24. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group. 27. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls. 28. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad. 30. A light touch or stroke. 32. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC). 33. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank. 35. A doctor's degree in education. 36. A doctor's degree in education. 37. Any of several small ungulate mammals of Africa and Asia with rodent-like incisors and feet with hooflike toes. 41. The (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb. 43. A light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element. 46. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group. 47. A colorless toxic flammable liquid used in the synthesis of nylon. 48. A highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series). 49. A genus of Siphonaptera. 50. Concerning those not members of the clergy. 51. Made of fir or pine. 52. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine. 53. (Polynesian) An alcoholic drink made from the aromatic roots of the kava shrub. 54. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria. 55. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum. 56. A sails-shaped constellation in the southern hemisphere near Carina. 58. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages. 59. Take in solid food. 62. An honorary degree in science.

Yesterdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Solution

C h i l d re n FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Sleeping Beauty A

long time ago there were a king and queen who were unhappy because they were childless. But it happened that once when the queen was bathing, a frog crept out of the water on to the land, and said to her, “Your wish shall be fulfilled, before a year has gone by, you shall have a daughter.” What the frog had said came true, and the queen had a little girl who was so pretty that the king could not contain himself for joy, and ordered a great feast. He invited not only his kindred, friends and acquaintances, but also the wise women, in order that they might be kind and well disposed towards the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but, as he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat out of, one of them had to be left at home. The feast was held with all manner of splendor and when it came to an end the wise women bestowed their magic gifts upon the baby - one gave virtue, another beauty, a third riches, and so on with everything in the world that one can wish for. When eleven of them had made their promises, suddenly the thirteenth came in. She wished to avenge herself for not having been invited, and without greeting, or even looking at anyone, she cried with a loud voice, “The king’s daughter shall in her fifteenth year prick herself with a spindle, and fall down dead.” And, without saying a word more, she turned round and left the room. They were all shocked, but the twelfth, whose good wish still remained unspoken, came forward, and as she could not undo the evil sentence, but only soften it, she said, it shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall. The king, who would fain keep his dear child from the misfortune, gave orders that every spindle in the whole kingdom should be burnt. Meanwhile the gifts of the wise women were plenteously fulfilled on the young girl, for she was so beautiful, modest, goodnatured, and wise, that everyone who saw her was bound to love her. It happened that on the very day when she was fifteen years old, the king and queen were not at home, and the maiden was left in the palace quite alone. So she went round into all sorts of places, looked into rooms and bed-chambers just as she liked, and at last came to an old tower. She climbed up the narrow winding staircase, and reached a little door. A rusty key was in the lock, and when she turned it the door sprang open, and there in a little room sat an old

woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax. “Good day, old mother,” said the king’s daughter, “what are you doing there?” “I am spinning,” said the old woman, and nodded her head. “What sort of thing is that, that rattles round so merrily,” said the girl, and she took the spindle and wanted to spin too. But scarcely had she touched the spindle when the magic decree was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it. And, in the very moment when she felt the prick, she fell down upon the bed that stood there, and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep extended over the whole palace, the king and queen who had just come home, and had entered the great hall, began to go to sleep, and the whole of the court with them. The horses, too, went to sleep in the stable, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons upon the roof, the flies on the wall, even the fire that was flaming on the hearth became quiet and slept, the roast meat left off frizzling, and the cook, who was just going to pull the hair of the scullery boy, because he had forgotten something, let him go, and went to sleep. And the wind fell, and on the trees before the

castle not a leaf moved again. But round about the castle there began to grow a hedge of thorns, which every year became higher, and at last grew close up round the castle and all over it, so that there was nothing of it to be seen, not even the ﬂag upon the roof. But the story of the beautiful sleeping Briar Rose, for so the princess was named, went about the country, so that from time to time kings’ sons came and tried to get through the thorny hedge into the castle. But they found it impossible, for the thorns held fast together, as if they had hands, and the youths were caught in them, could not get loose again, and died a miserable death. After long, long years a king’s son came again to that country, and heard an old man talking about the thorn hedge, and that a castle was said to stand behind it in which a wonderfully beautiful princess, named Briar Rose, had been asleep for a hundred years, and that the king and queen and the whole court were asleep likewise. He had heard, too, from his grandfather, that many kings, sons had already come, and had tried to get through the thorny hedge, but they had remained sticking fast in

it, and had died a pitiful death. Then the youth said, “I am not afraid, I will go and see the beautiful Briar Rose.” The good old man might dissuade him as he would, he did not listen to his words. But by this time the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when Briar Rose was to awake again. When the king’s son came near to the thorn hedge, it was nothing but large and beautiful ﬂowers, which parted from each other of their own accord, and let him pass unhurt, then they closed again behind him like a hedge. In the castle yard he saw the horses and the spotted hounds lying asleep, on the roof sat the pigeons with their heads under their wings. And when he entered the house, the ﬂies were asleep upon the wall, the cook in the kitchen was still holding out his hand to seize the boy, and the maid was sitting by the black hen which she was going to pluck. He went on farther, and in the great hall he saw the whole of the court lying asleep, and up by the throne lay the king and queen. Then he went on still farther, and all was so quiet that a breath could be heard, and at last he came to the tower, and opened the door

into the little room where Briar Rose was sleeping. There she lay, so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, Briar Rose opened her eyes and awoke, and looked at him quite sweetly. Then they went down together, and the king awoke, and the queen, and the whole court, and looked at each other in great astonishment. And the horses in the courtyard stood up and shook themselves, the hounds jumped up and wagged their tails, the pigeons upon the roof pulled out their heads from under their wings, looked round, and flew into the open country, the flies on the wall crept again, the fire in the kitchen burned up and flickered and cooked the meat, the joint began to turn and sizzle again, and the cook gave the boy such a box on the ear that he screamed, and the maid finished plucking the fowl. And then the marriage of the king’s son with Briar Rose was celebrated with all splendor, and they lived contented to the end of their days. (www.kidsgen.com)

Children

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Solution

SUDOKU

WORD-SEARCH

CONNECT THE DOTS

Can you find the hidden words? They may be horizontal or vertical. ARCHERY, BADMINTON, BASEBALL, BASKETBALL, BOXING, CRICKET, FOOTBALL, GOLF, GYMNASTICS, HOCKEY, JUDO, NET-

BALL, POLO, SKIING, SQUASH, SURFING, SWIMMING, TENNIS, VOLLEYBALL, WRESTLING.

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Years

Arts

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Unlike many of her famous subjects, Ida Kar, a once sensational bohemian photographer, has slipped into obscurity.

da Kar was an Armenian, a bohemian and a fiercely distinguished artist who made history. Her exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1960 has been described as the first one-person photography show to be held in a major London gallery. It made her name, but her fame has been slowly slipping away over the decades. It should now be revived thanks to a new look at her work at the National Portrait Gallery, full of striking images of familiar and unfamiliar faces. Some of her subjects, like herself, have drifted away towards neglect and obscurity, but others - Ionesco, Braque, Sartre, Shostakovich, Bertrand Russell, TS Eliot, Andre Breton, Doris Lessing, Bridget Riley, Ivon Hitchens - have held the frontline. She knew how to get hold of the famous and the about-to-be famous. She was a hustler, and, as Jasia Reichardt commented in her shrewd but feeling review of the Whitechapel show, her career was marked by a mixture of “perseverance, blundering, despair, hope and frustration”. Born Ida Karamian in 1908 to Armenian parents in Russia, she served her apprenticeship and found both friends and a metier in modernist Paris in the late 1920s. In the 30s she rejoined her family in Egypt, where she married an Egyptian photographer with whom she set up a studio. She married her second husband, the artist and writer Victor Musgrave, in Cairo during the war, and the couple came to England in 1945, to austerity and Soho and the Colony Room club, to a land of coffee bars and struggling writers in bedsits. London became her home terrain, which she conquered by camera and from which she set off on excursions to other settings and other countries - to the St Ives of Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon, to a Stalin-haunted Moscow, to an ethnically dressed Armenia, back to Paris and some of her most famous sitters, and on to Cuba in 1964. This was a hardworking freelance life with no institutional support and lit-

tle comfort, at times awkwardly poised between art, photojournalism and celebrity portraiture. (At one point she was reduced to accepting a commission to photograph zoo animals, a move that did not serve her well.) She felt strongly that photography was undervalued as a form and treated without respect, and she was right: David Sylvester, discussing her Whitechapel exhibition on The Critics on the Third Programme, denied that photography could ever be “a true art”. This debate about status seems quaint now, but the issues then were strongly contested and had ﬁnancial implications - photographers were ineligible for Arts Council grants. Kar sunk a good deal of her own limited resources into the Whitechapel, and, according to her biographer Val Williams (Virago, 1989), they were never recouped. She had been inspired by the impact of the 1956 South Bank The Family of Man from the American Museum of Modern Art, with its massive blown-up images hung on tubular poles, and she wanted her own work to operate on a similarly grand scale. She told the Whitechapel’s director, Bryan Robertson: “We are going to make this show the most exciting photographic event since The Family of Man.” And she had her wish. It was a sensation. The Family of Man was my ﬁrst encounter with photography as art, and as a schoolgirl I was overwhelmingly impressed by it. I treasure my tattered catalogue, a memento of youth and hope and the international spirit, which has survived with me for more than half a century. I suspect that Edward Steichen’s huge and lyrically captioned montage has since been deconstructed as politically incorrect, but it remains an impressive collection, featuring work by Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt, Robert Capa, Wayne Miller and many well-known artists. Unsurprisingly, only a

very small number of these are women, though Eve Arnold, Dorothy Lange, Margaret Bourke-White and a handful of others are well represented. As a woman, Kar had to fight her way, and her struggle to be taken seriously made her at times difficult, temperamental and autocratic. She was no feminist. Politically she was of the old-fashioned left, a sympathiser of Moscow, East Germany and Cuba, and she was certainly not in the vanguard of the rising feminism of the late 50s and early 60s. When asked by Queen magazine why she photographed so few women, she replied: “I photograph famous people, and famous people are mostly men. Beauties leave me cold.” And if one looks carefully at the portraits of the women who did receive the accolade of her solicitations, she really does not do some of them very well. Sylvia Syms, Maggie Smith, Penelope Mortimer and Shelagh Delaney come across as coy or sultry, and even Elisabeth Frink looks whimsical and slightly ridiculous. The ambiguous Iris Murdoch fights back against Kar’s female stereotyping, and succeeds in looking intense, lonely, beautiful and desperate, even though she is leaning on a cosy candlewick bedspread staring at a heap of manuscripts. Barbara Hepworth doesn’t look ridiculous, but she does look as though she is struggling out of a large metal lobster pot. Marie Laurencin, with pearls, is old enough to look supremely dignified. Olivia Manning (who admired Kar’s work and must, I feel, have known her in her wartime Cairo party-going years) looks real, but she had a face that, to her own annoyance, defied conventional beautification. Most interesting is the case of Doris Lessing. According to Williams, Lessing thought that she had been made to look “too glamorous”. And indeed she does look uncharacteristically seductive, in at least one standard studio-style Kar close-up, with her dark

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Years

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

curly hair, dark eyes and sensuous mouth. But in another portrait we see her looking intensely herself, her buoyant, pretty, youthful self (“very sexy”, Manning used to say crossly) as she sits behind a table full of hyacinths that we know she has grown from bulb, for they are all shapes and sizes, not florist-bought. It seems unlikely that Kar had read Lessing. She was not a reader. She had certainly not read TS Eliot, and, to her then assistant and collaborator John Kasmin’s embarrassment, hardly knew who he was. Eliot was famous, and he was a man, and she turned him, as she did Somerset Maugham and Bertrand Russell, into a leathery old lizard. She persuaded Ionesco and Sartre to pose amid tottering piles of books, like characters trapped in a Borgesian library. Both look rather self-conscious. Some of her portraits of writers are revealing (there is an intensely poignant Joyce Cary, not on show) but on the whole she was better with painters and sculptors, and made fine use of studio interiors and backdrop canvases - such cluttered studios as those portrayed by Cary in his novel The Horse’s Mouth. We see paintbrushes and palettes, easels and ironwork, African masks and unfinished busts, mantelpieces covered with objets d’art. André Breton and his wife, Elisa, are happily splendid in their bric-a-brac; Sandra Blow looks as though she is about to make a cake rather than a work of art; Graham Sutherland and his wife, Kathleen, are delicately poised near a chaste jug of iced water and a bottle of Rose’s lime juice; Ivon Hitchens (who was to become a good friend of Kar’s) looks cornered with bottles of turpentine, a paraffin lamp and some figure drawings. Kar’s masterpiece is a magnificent Augustus John, at home in 1959 at Friern Court, with a backdrop of paintings, including a Gwen John, and some of his own late essays in sculpture, a form he took up to give himself something new to explore. Noble, fierce and ageing, he glowers at the camera. Manning wrote to Kar that this portrait was “so wonderful and so terrible - an old man looking straight into the eyes of death”. Perhaps surprisingly, in view of her childless marriages and rackety life, Kar seems to have been fond of children, and produced some lively family groups, in which all participants seem happily and messily engaged. Bernard Kops with wife and son, John Bratby with wife and son, Paul Millichip with wife and two children, Stephen Spender with Matthew and Lizzie Spender - they all look relaxed in front of the camera. Her friend and supporter in hard times, the photographer Mark Gerson, said she was good at making her subjects chat and tell her stories. Sometimes, he said, they regretted their confidences, but by then it was too late. Photography is an art, but it can be a cruel art. One of her most desolately revealing portraits shows Cecil Beaton, the grand master, standing stiffly posed among the urns and lilies in his spacious conservatory in Wiltshire; formal, ill at ease, wearing a hat. He did not wholly approve, and wrote to her: “I suppose it is an interesting slant a development. It was stupid of me not to put the hat on with more of a dash. I would appreciate a little retouching.” How sad that is! How, as the years pass, we may wish to be mercifully retouched! I recall an uncomfortable episode that took place, improbably, at a Jane Austen Society meeting at which I was speaking. The event was being covered by a fashionable young Polish photographer who said he wished to capture “the spirit of the occasion”.

As this involved the audience rather than me, I didn’t pay much attention to what he was doing, until I saw that he was directing his camera remorselessly at an elderly woman in the front row. She was conspicuous, heavily made up, with elaborately coiﬀed white hair, and wearing an ostentatious summer hat. She was a little grotesque, a raddled caricature of a fading beauty. Was the camera making her unhappy? I thought not. She even seemed pleased to be the focus of its lens, and said afterwards that she was accustomed to being photographed, as she had been one of the favourite subjects of Cecil Beaton. I discovered later that she was his sister. Those who live by the camera shall die by the camera, and be resurrected by it. Ida Kar (who also liked to wear a hat) is back on view at the National Portrait Gallery, outfacing mutability and the unimaginable touch of time. Ida Kar is at the National Portrait Gallery, London WC2 from 10 March to 30 June.- — Guardian

Beauty FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

How to keep hair healthy and manageable during winter months

ndoor heating and daily blowdrying, common perils of the winter season, can leave hair deprived of moisture. Plus, winter hats can cause ﬂat and static-ﬁlled hair. Ack! Here’s how to avoid those bad hair days. 1- Get a haircut or trim by midautumn to remove any damage caused by the summer elements. Follow with a deep-conditioning treatment to replenish moisture loss, and repeat once or twice a month throughout the season.

Goddess Yogurt Body Mask

his dairy product contains “healthy” bacteria, it can be used for a wonderful cleansing and moisturizing treatment for the skin.

1/4 Cup Yogurt 3 T Honey 3 T Pureed Pumpkin OR 3 T Pureed Carrots To Make: Use canned (nothing added), or slightly cooked pumpkin or carrots. Drain, and purÈe in a blender. Pour into a bowl with the yogurt and honey. To Use: Draw a warm bath. Lather your face and body with the yogurt mask. Sink into a warm bath and soak for 10-20 minutes. Rinse in the shower, tone, and apply a light moisturizer.

here are many ways to layer clothing; some of them are great ways of making your outﬁt different and personal and some of them can make you look messy and bulky. The colour and fabric are some of the main points to consider when layering clothing. Avoid using too many layers - 3 things on top is enough. You risk looking bulky if you overdo it. When it comes to the colours, neutral colours are very good for layering as they have low saturation and are therefore not bright and intense, which gives you a harmonious layering look, while pure, brilliant colours will become central making the softer colours fade.

Layering rules and ideas If you’re going for a polished and professional look layer a cardigan over a fitted top. I’m not a fan of matching cardigan and shell look - it’s very dated and can be a bit boring. I’d rather drop the ‘matching’ and go for two different colours. For a personal and stylish look mix different fabrics - put a sequined cardigan or shrug over a T-shirt, a short military inspired blazer over a simple top or a waistcoat/vest over a white shirt. Layering is not only for the upper part of your body. Layer the bottom half with tights and leggings worn under a skirt with knee-high boots and over the knee socks peeping out of the boots for a warm, fashionable look. Wearing tight sitting, long sleeved shirts under T-shirt is not the way to go, if you’re no longer a teenager. But wearing a tight regular long sleeve shirt under a short leather jacket with 3/4 sleeves and a scarf is going to make you look very stylish and chic. Scarfs are an essential item when wanting to achieve the layered look! Here’s an older post about how to wear a scarf.

2- Alternate your regular shampoo and conditioner with a moisture-rich formula to combat seasonal dryness. Since you’re likely to blow-dry your hair more frequently in the winter, use a heat-protectant spray before you flip the switch, and dry on a low setting whenever possible. 3- Add volume to hair flattened by hats or scarves by styling it with mousse. Reactivate it with moist fingertips when you reach work in the morning, flipping your head

Layering with a dress The classically shaped grey dress and a classical cardigan look great and modern when paired up with sequined flats and a bright, white scarf along with some cool rouch leggings and a wide belt. Mixing classical items with modern items always creates stylish outfits! Layering with pants love using waistcoats when I want to layer the clothes. It is a great look for many different occasions and leaves you with many different choices. Choose a waistcoat with sequins or some other details to avoid looking old fashioned. Tuck the jeans into the boots for a sexy and fashionable look. Wearing a long necklace under a scarf is a nice detail. Layering with a skirt Using the neutral colours, layering becomes personal and feminine and using different shapes and lengths makes it layery and not bulky. As a personal touch wear over the knee socks inside your boots and let them show just a little. (WWW.fashionstyleadvice.com)

and lifting your roots for added fullness. 4- Combat hair static by switching to a leave-in conditioner. Towel-dry freshly shampooed hair, then evenly distribute a dollop of the product before styling. 5- Give your scalp a nice massage a few times a week to keep oxygenated blood moving to your roots. It will relax your senses and promote hair growth. (www.ehow.com)

Beauty FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Scents of self: What’s your perfume personality?

1. The best part about summer is: a) Donning all the crisp summer whites you want: linen pants, floppy sunhats, and sexy jeans! b) Picking whatever sixties silk daydress suits your mood c) Choosing a new suitcase-full of swimsuits: Tomas Maier, Pucci, ChloÈ... d) Wearing short-shorts and tiny tanks to show off your gym-toned bod 2. Your favourite recent beauty trend is: a) The matte face with a heavy retro brow: so classic! b) The outlandish green and blue eyeshadows c) The meticulously applied red lip: dead sexy and all woman d) The heavy-duty sunscreens that keep you wrinkle-free 3. Getting ready to go out: a) Is a streamlined routine: you know what looks good on you and you stick with it. b) Takes a little while: should you be a ‘50’s ingÈnue tonight, or an ‘80s vamp? c) Is a multi-hour process: becoming a glamazon takes time and effort. d) Consists of putting on your Chucks and heading out the door. 4. Your go-to piece of clothing is: a) A super-fitted Hedi Slimane blazer b) A vintage pair of Vivienne Westwood pumps c) A pair of Balenciaga C-3PO gold chainmail leggings d) A well-loved seventies rock tee 5. Your ideal after-work way to wind down is: a) Having cocktails at some swank bar b) Checking out an art gallery opening c) Getting a fire-engine red pedicure d) Hitting a beach volleyball game 6. Your favourite movie hunk of the

nineties was: a) Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye b) Johnny Depp in Benny & Joon c) Antonio Banderas in Desperado d) Keanu Reeves in Speed

12. Your dream job is: a) Fortune 500 company CEO b) Bistro owner c) Supermodel d) Olympian

7. Your dream shopping excursion would consist of: a) Hitting the Chanel atelier and having tea with Karl Lagerfeld b) Being granted access to the celebworthy vintage gowns at LA’s Decades and Lily et Cie c) Having the run of Agent Provocateur while oiled cabana boys wait on you d) Trolling the markets in Bangkok for silk skirts and ﬁsherman pants

13. Your first perfume was: a) Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps b) Calvin Klein’s ck one c) The Body Shop’s vanilla fragrance oil d) Ralph Lauren PoloSport

8. Your pet is a: a) Cat b) Parrot c) Tropical ﬁsh d) Dog 9. When it comes to your hair: a) You prefer a signature style, whether it be a blunt bob or baby bangs b) You change it every few months. What colour is it again? c) You swear by weekly blow-outs, and hot rollers every morning d) You usually wear it in a ponytail to save time 10. Your nails can be found painted: a) In a French manicure b) Coral c) Blood red d) Clear 11. Your most embarrassing fashion moment included: a) American Apparel leggings b) Wearing all black c) Sporting Lulu Lemon stretchpants in public d) Platform pink jelly sandals

14. The best way to calm your nerves before a job interview is: a) Applying a great lipstick b) Listening to your iPod c) Having a bubble bath d) Working out 15. Your dream vacation is: a) Rome b) Ireland c) The Bahamas d) Switzerland 16. You have an extra few hours to kill before a big date, so you: a) Have a manicure, pedicure, and bikini wax b) See the visiting erotic art exhibition at your local gallery for “inspiration” c) Check out the goods at your local store d) Go for a long run on the beach 17. Your favourite supermodel is: a) Cindy Crawford b) Agyness Deyn c) Helena Christensen d) Gisele Bundchen 18. Your attitude toward moisturizer is: a) “All over the body, every morning and night.” b) “If it’s scented, it’ll do in a pinch if I forget to apply perfume.” c) “It’s for your partner to rub in after a hot, steamy shower.” d) “That it better have sunscreen in it.”

19. If you had to get glasses, you’d choose: a) Tortoiseshell Chanels b) Pink cat-eyes c) Versaces with rhinestones d) Contacts 20. When single, the best plan of attack is to: a) Ask your friends to set you up with some eligible bachelors b) Go to an online dating site to find someone who has the same interests as you c) Try the local salsa club to dance with the available Latin hotties d) Sign up for a marathon and see if any cuties want to train with you 21. The best compliment you ever received from your boss was: a) “You’re such a professional.” b) “You’re so creative.” c) “You really make an impression.” d) “You have so much energy.” BOX ANSWERS MOSTLY A’S: You’re a FLORAL You tend to be a little more girly and traditional in your tastes, whether it be a great structured leather handbag or a bottle of Chanel No. 5. Perfume notes that strike your fancy come from flowers, including rose, jasmine, lily, orangeflower, gardenia, violet, freesia, and peony, and make for a sparkling, feminine scent. New summer scents to try include: Sarah Jessica Parker’s Covet Pure Bloom, Stella McCartney Sheer Stella, Vera Wang Flower Princess, Ralph Lauren Romance Eau Fraiche MOSTLY B’S: You’re a GOURMAND You tend to be a little more quirky in your tastes, with the offbeat sensuality that comes from a love of scents that are both femme and mouthwatering. Fruity and foodie perfumes

have been growing in popularity recently, and notes you should seek include grapefruit, apple, melon, honey, berries, chocolate, orange, passionfruit, citrus, and even caramel! New summer scents to try include: Thierry Mugler’s Innocent Rock, Ralph Lauren Ralph Wild, Donna Karan Be Delicious: Charmingly Delicious, Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Figue-Iris MOSTLY C’S: You’re an ORIENTAL You tend to gravitate toward the sexy side of life, and that extends to your love of perfumes that are drop-dead glam. Orientals (also known as ambers) contain such woody elements as sandalwood, musk, vanilla, mahogany, tonka bean, clove, cardamom, white pepper, rosewood, dark chocolate and patchouli. New summer scents to try include: Jean-Paul Gaultier Classique Summer, Estee Lauder Sensuous, Yves St. Laurent Elle Summer, Guerlain Eau de Shalimar MOSTLY D’S: You’re a FRESH You tend to stay outside and active, and prefer your scents light and natural so that they don’t clash with your carefree lifestyle. Your fragrances are just as fresh, and take their inspiration from the beach, nature, and the sea, with citrus, green, and ocean-inspired notes like lemon, mandarin, green tea, coconut, grass, herbs, seawater, dew, and lime. New summer scents to try include: L’Eau d’Issey Summer, Michael Kors Island Capri, Fruits & Passion Tamanu, Nautica My Voyage for Her. (www.ellecanada.com)

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Years

Books

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

The Complete Middle East Cookbook By Tess Mallos

he cuisine of the Middle East has always had its devotees, and eating at Lebanese, Syrian, Turkish or Greek restaurants has delighted many people in recent years. But relatively few have tackled these dishes in their own kitchens. Now, with The Complete Middle East Cookbook, anyone can produce delectable meals from the exotic worlds of Homer, Omar Khayyam

and the Arabian Nights. Author Tess Mallos provides carefully tested recipes set out in easy-to-follow steps, with many of the dishes illustrated in eighty superb color photographs.Including regional dishes from Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Cyprus and Kuwait, to name a few, this is the deﬁnitive book for anyone interested in Middle Eastern cooking.

Vegetarian Dishes from Across the Middle East By Arto der Haroutunian

H Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East by Richard Tapper, Sami Zubaida, Claudia Roden

ere are two hundred and ﬁfty delicious, authentic recipes that showcase the vibrant ﬂavors and healthful variety of vegetarian Middle Eastern cooking. Vegetarian Dishes from Across the Middle East-originally published in 1983, out of print for 20 years, and previously unavailable in North America-now reappears as the appeal of vegetarian and Middle Eastern cooking continues to grow. Author Arto der Haroutunian wrote 12 cookbooks that share with readers his thorough knowledge of and love for Middle Eastern food and of the peoples and cultures from which it developed. Here are dishes from as far west as Albania and as far east as Iran, with tastes from everywhere in between.

his pioneering book considers the culinary cultures of the Middle East in a variety of contexts. The contributors discuss various aspects of historical and contemporary processes, including likely origins and diﬀusions on ingredients and dishes, changes in food production and eating habits, contemporary revivals of traditional cooking, literary representations of food and drink, and the class, gender, and communal dimensions to food. Written by scholars from diﬀerent disciplines, it covers a wide geographical area, from Central Asia to Morocco.

Mediterranean Cooking by Cristina Blasi, Rosalba Gioffre, Gabriella Mari .

“I

f you’re among the millions of people tantalized by the aroma of aromatic herbs, seduced by the fresh flavors of classic Mediterranean foods, and stimulated by the thought of recreating your local ethnic restaurant’s delicious entrees and desserts, then you will love the recipes in the Mediterranean Cookbook.” “Common to all of the regions surrounding the Mediterranean is a dietary pattern that is rich in the consumption of fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds, with olive oil as an important source of monounsaturated fat, the so-called “good” fat. Indeed, the “Mediterranean diet” has often been recognized as a way of eating associated with the lowest rates of chronic disease and the highest life expectancies for adults in the entire world.” Collected in this one volume, you will find everything you need to create time-tested homestyle dishes. With its more than 200 photographs, Mediterranean Cooking provides a comprehensive pictorial guide to this region of the world and celebrates its cuisine, where fresh flavors, simplicity, and health are emphasized.

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Years

Books

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Arthur Miller: 1962-2005 by Christopher Bigsby reviewed

s F Scott Fitzgerald ruefully noted, there are no second acts in American life: the impatient marketplace decrees that early success leads directly towards oblivion, as newer talents bustle into view. Christopher Bigsby dealt with the productive first half of Arthur Miller’s life in the initial instalment of his biography, so why should these last dejected decades be treated to a second outsize volume? Miller’s best plays ñ preachy democratizations of Ibsen, lumpenly prosaic despite their solemnity ñ were written between 1947 and 1955. After that he dwindled into an appendage of Marilyn Monroe; when they divorced in 1961 he became officially a has-been. Reviewing his new plays, as a critic remarked in 1971, was “like going to the funeral of a man you wish you could have liked more”. Once when he attempted to hire a limo, the young female receptionist gaped at him as if he were a ghost and commented to a colleague: “He’s been dead for years.” Miller blamed the world for rejecting him. “The very word ‘society’ is death on Broadway,” he said in 1980 when his play about the Great Depression, The American Clock, had its run embarrassingly curtailed. In the glutted Reagan years, America no longer wanted to be reminded of economic fragility, or recalled to a sense of human solidarity that was in abeyance during Tom Wolfe’s “Me Decade”. Then when communism collapsed, Miller ñ like the protagonist of his play Mr Peters’ Connection ñ recognized that “nothing I have believed has turned out to be true”. Socialist hopes expired in a “culture of appetite”, embodied by the voracious Bill Clinton, who gobbled cheeseburgers and was gobbled in turn by Monica Lewinsky. Sermonising in a wilderness, Miller complained that the contemporary theatre had “no prophetic function”. The truth was ruder, and less flattering to his vatic pretensions. A theatre is a civic arena, and the people who turn up to see a performance will only go to the trouble if their own urgent contemporary concerns are being addressed. Miller, still obsessively scrapping with Elia Kazan about the conscientious dilemmas of the McCarthy years, was sidelined by history. Bigsby gamely defends the flimsiness of his later, thinner works by arguing that they are about “the construction of meaning”, that most academic of activities, and suggesting that Miller had advanced “from sociologyÖ towards ontology”. But the ontological mystery over which he brooded was that of his own creative demise. He reacted to changing fashions with resentful grumpiness. During the 1960s he flinched from the anarchic carnival of shows such as Hair, and denounced absurdism as a flight from political engagement. In 1984 Bigsby, hoping to re-educate his hero, took Miller to see David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway, where it was playing not far from a revival of Death of a Salesman with Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich. It was an excellent idea, at least in theory. Mamet’s play is the successor to Miller’s, dealing with a more up-to-date form of salesmanship ñ the motor-mouthed peddling of illusions that sustains the new consumer economy. But on the way out, Miller opined that Mamet had “a lot to learn” and intolerantly tossed the programme in a street-corner litter bin. It was not even much of a consolation when a block of West 49th Street in the theatre district was designated Arthur Miller Way: the honoree groused that he was “still not allowed to park there”. No longer revered at home, Miller took to the road, evangelising for freedom as the president of Pen, apparently unaware that his junkets were subsidised by the CIA.

A sympathetic account of Arthur Miller’s later life depicts the playwright struggling to accept his creative demise During the Vietnam war he self-importantly chastised President Johnson and informed him that “a lasting work of art is the work of love and sincerity”. On a jaunt to Cambodia, Miller drove his family in a panic across the Thai border when Nixon ordered the bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail. A woman with a sick husband objected that she had a higher claim on the car that a slippery diplomat had found for him. “You call yourself a humanitarian?” she screeched. “Not today,” replied Miller, putting his foot on the pedal. Bigsby ñ who might be thought of as Miller’s representative on earth (or at least in Norwich, where he runs the Arthur Miller Centre for American Studies at the University of East Anglia) ñ can’t help but notice such little lapses in the behaviour of a man he prefers to regard as the honest Abe Lincoln of American letters. He emphasises the happy longevity of Miller’s marriage to the photographer Inge Morath, but is hard put to explain away their decision to institutionalise a baby born with Down’s syndrome in 1967, whose very existence was omitted from Morath’s obituaries. The missing child, Bigsby loyally contends, was “not so much a secret as a private fact”; in actuality, Miller’s act of

denial coldly edited out a superﬂuous character, as if he were revising a play’s cast list. Then there is the matter of a year-long extra-marital aﬀair, handled by Bigsby with excessive delicacy although he has to concede that this too exposes Miller’s failure “to reconcile his public and private selves”. It’s a shame that he did not quietly put himself out to pasture: the most touching sections of Bigsby’s book concern Miller’s life on his estate in Connecticut, where he planted trees, cut grass for hay, drove a tractor, made furniture for the house, and even attempted in vain to invent a bird feeder that would outwit the foraging local squirrels. But these rural routines were not enough to content him. He still subscribed to “a national dream that proposed the inevitability of success”, apparently overlooking the fact that in Death of a Salesman he had demolished that tacky creed. In the end, the morally muddled, sadly untragic Willy Loman was his self-portrait and his self-condemnation.

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Testing the turquoise waters of paradise A

sk about Fernando de Noronha when you’re in Sao Paulo, and your enquiry will invariably meet with a combination of wonderment, national pride, jealousy and misinformation. Fernando de Noronha is an island - named after a 16th-century Portuguese nobleman who may never have actually set foot there - that exists in the Brazilian imagination somewhere not far from Shangri-la, Atlantis and paradise. People glaze over when you mention it: eyeballs tend to roll upwards in that universal gesture of delight. We were told by friends, acquaintances and strangers - none of whom had actually been to Fernando de Noronha - to expect the most spectacular beaches in all of Brazil. Some were certain that jet aircraft are barred from landing there; others warned that there is only one hotel and absolutely no internet. Naomi Campbell, we were reliably informed, goes there to unwind after Sao Paulo Fashion Week, but - far from being just a bolt-hole for the wealthy - it is also a fiercely protected eco-wonderland, favoured by naturalists and marine biologists. The island’s luxuriously warm and unsullied emerald waters are, it was widely agreed, teeming with dolphins and turtles. What’s more, the consensus assured us that every type of shark common to the area is, in fact, friendly. Like most people from outside Latin American we had never heard of Fernando de Noronha, and because less than half of what we’d been told seemed even remotely plausible, we turned to Charles Darwin for supporting testimony. He stopped there in 1832, after one of his crew had harpooned a porpoise for supper (Darwin was evidently no Dr Dolittle), but spent only a day “wandering about the woods” before setting off in hopes of finding “greater wonders” elsewhere. His account - except for reports of “a conical hill, about one thousand feet high, the upper part of which is exceedingly steep” - is distinctly underwhelming. Would this living paradise, in reality, turn out to be little more than a product of mass exaggeration? Or would it live up to the hype? Fernando de Noronha is, strictly speaking, an archipelago made up of one 11-square-mile chunk of volcanic rock and 20 smaller islands, three degrees south of the equator, 220 miles from Brazil’s north-eastern coast. The flight from Sao Paulo - on a

Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha is fabled as an eco-wonderland and a beach-lovers’ Shangri-la, where even the sharks are friendly. Mike Hodgkinson finds out if it lives up to the hype modern passenger jet, for the record - pauses briefly in the seafront city of Recife before continuing out into the Atlantic, and touching down on an airstrip that occupies a large portion of the lush, green interior. From above, the promise of an outrageously attractive wonderland - glinting turquoise sea, pristine sand - is instantly made good. After happily coughing up an Environment Protection Tax at the airport (seven days costs about £65 per person), we were taken by Land Rover to our hotel - the Pousada do Vale - a friendly place on a wooded lane near the island’s first permanent settlement, the Vila dos Remedios. Within half an hour, we fully understood the basic climatic reality of life on Noronha during the rainy season (April to August) - bursts of blistering sunshine punctuated by torrential downpours. As a result, nature goes into overdrive: explosions of greenery; reptilian battalions of frogs and native, yellow-eyed mabuya lizards; and clouds of low-flying, almost invisible borrachudo mosquitoes that have a voracious appetite for human ankle flesh. Self-preservation quickly drove us

to the most effective, but least environmentally friendly, of the two insect repellants offered by the pousada: not the ideal start on a Unesco World Heritage Site and designated maritime national park where swimming in sun-screen is, in places, forbidden lest the delicate eco-system be damaged. As night fell like a cosh, the island’s split-personality began to reveal itself. All the evidence so far had marked out Noronha as a dream destination for tropic-hardened biologists, but the appearance of several smartly dressed couples, picking their way gingerly over rain-slicked cobblestones, confirmed its bread-and-butter identity as a magnet for well-heeled honeymooners. Their shoes were muddied, and their lower legs were - like ours - borrachudo’d, but they had paid good money for romance in paradise and no extremes of nature were going to take that from them. The remoteness of the island - and its perceived value as the perfect holiday destination - keeps prices (food, lodging) perennially high, on a par with pricier quarters of Sao Paulo, enhancing its exclusivity and mystique.

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

The evening, spent over several cans of lager at a bar called Tom Marrom, surrendered a colourful procession of diverse characters: a local teenager rode past on a horse, followed by a man in a dune buggy who appeared to be modelling himself after Steve McQueen’s Thomas Crown. The dune buggy turns out to be the island’s most common form of transportation: not exactly the environmentalist’s first choice, but practical given a road system structured largely around the pot-hole, the gully and the rut. The bar’s waitresses wore fake pig-tails and painted-on freckles, and danced - between deliveries of food - to the live forr? band. Forr? is an accordion-based type of folk-dance music particular to the north-east of Brazil, with an intoxicating and swampy feel to it. One band member traditionally plays the triangle, which we assumed was the least-taxing, most Bez-like role, until our trianglist started to sing, very well, and instantly shot up in our estimation. After a night spent under the watchful eye of several mabuyas, we set about discovering that the best of Noronha is to be found on and under the water. A three-hour round trip by boat from the island’s small harbour is as good an introduction to the island as any, and features a 40-minute snorkelling stop at the astoundingly pretty Baia do Sancho. En route we were shown rock formations that (sort of) resemble a dog, an Egyptian mummy and King Kong, caught passing glimpses of flying fish, a stray turtle and

several javelin-shaped barracuda. The big draw, though, was the resident spinner dolphins - so-called because they jump clear of the water in acrobatic spirals - that turn up in their hundreds on a daily basis. You just can’t argue with wild dolphins en masse: some would insist they’re worth the hefty price of admission to Noronha alone. We could neither confirm nor deny the rumoured friendliness of the local sharks - the lemon shark, nurse shark and Caribbean reef shark are the most common - because we didn’t see any, but we can state that there have been no reported attacks (touch wood). In marked contrast to the mainland coast near Recife, where environmental disruption has provoked a dramatic rise in fatal shark encounters, the protected marine eco-system around Noronha appears to offer the creatures all the sustenance they require. Other nature-based highlights included the walking route to Baia do Sancho, which involves negotiating two ladders on a sheer cliff-face and feels moderately adventurous, until you realise that it’s regularly tackled by old ladies in flip-flops; and a lunch of freshly caught barracuda at Bar do Meio on the Praia do Meio, frigate birds circling overhead. Away from the beaches, the ruins of a prison offers a hint of life on Noronha before the modern tourist era. Gypsies (in 1739) and capoeira fighters (in 1890) were incarcerated there, unaware that their living hell would one

day morph into a high-end eco-destination. Fish night back at the Pousada do Vale - during which the hand-delivered catch is wrapped in banana leaves and grilled - is free for guests on Thursdays. The hotel’s two-storey “bungalows” have balconies with hammocks, and it was in one of them that we weighed up our thoughts on the island. Had Noronha lived up to the hype? No question about it, the place is gorgeous - whatever nature had taken away by sending deluges of Atlantic rain and vindictive insects, it had given back in spades with stunning marine life, dramatic rock formations and priceless sunsets. But there was still the sneaking suspicion that Fernando de Noronha has something of an identity crisis. By selling itself as both a strictly patrolled eco-paradise and a dream destination for the well-oﬀ - where bicycles are out-muscled by petrol-chugging buggies, and much of the food is ﬂown in - the island comes across as confused. The price-tag for a holiday there is likely to deter many, but for honeymooning scuba divers who aren’t short of a bob or two, Fernando de Noronha is a live contender.—Guardian

How to pack light for your next trip

here’s no question: over packing tops the list of biggest travel mistakes. When traveling by an airplane; or by any fashion for that matter, it is important to travel light in order to reduce hassle and stress. Nobody wants to lug around six bags of luggage and the kitchen sink and that’s without taking in to account the checking and general luggage process, but the biggest beneﬁt is that you might be able to get away with having your entire luggage as “hand luggage” meaning you can keep an eye on it. The following top ten tips for traveling light will help make your journey a smooth and enjoyable one.

•

Going to a foreign country with tour guide information and phrase books? You may be tempted to pile your bags with tones of books. Don’t. The best option for this is to photocopy the pages you need so you don’t have to carry around heavy books all day. Better yet print oﬀ what you need from the internet and do away with books completely.

•

Write out a clothing plan and make a packing list. You may feel like throwing in your whole wardrobe just in case, but listing what you intend to wear each day is a lot more eﬃcient. Just pack a few extras in case you spill some exotic food down your front.

•

Buy a new suitcase. Yes we all still have those rugged behemoths from the 80’s that have worked perfectly since the start of time, but the truth is they weigh a tone even before anything has been packed and will bring down your baggage allowance. Get a modern light weight hold-all or sports bag.

•

Get out a tape measure. Luggage which is 7”x14”x20” (17x35x50cm) will ﬁt under most plane’s seats and is therefore hand luggage.

•

Avoid trolley bags. They are easy to whiz around the airport but are heavy and cumbersome.

•

Don’t overdo the toiletries. You can easily buy some more while you’re out there or steal them from your accommodation.

•

Don’t be afraid to do laundry, if it means packing half as many clothes so be it.

•

Pockets. Anything that can ﬁt in to pockets should be crammed in there.

•

Think simple. Regular toothbrush not big electric one.

•

Yes you still need underwear.

Although you’ll know of any personal items that you’ll need to pack, such as medication; here is a top 20 list of things you should consider packing before hitting the airport. This is by no means exhaustive and is just a guide to get your brain really ticking over. Weeks before your trip you should have a detailed packing list, but you may want to include some of these items: 1. This goes without saying but you aren’t going anywhere without a passport, tickets and money (whether that be cash travelers checks or credit cards). 2. Enough clothes. Select an outﬁt for each day then add two more in case of accidents. In a hot place have at least one winter outﬁt incase the weather turns. 3. Select 2-3 dark colored pants to combine with 10 light colored (white, beige t-shirts). This will eliminate you mix and match problem. 4. Underwear and socks for every day of your stay. 5. Travel sized toiletries and a towel, even if your accommodation has some. 6. Swimwear! Many people always seem to forget their beach or swimwear and end up buying cheaper versions out there. 7. Entertainment like a MP3 player or handheld console for the journey. For young children bring some travel games. 8. Guides and phrase books. 9. Prepaid cell phone for the country you’re visiting. 10. Extra bags. People seem to forget they need room for souvenirs. 11. A camera. Capture those happy, and sad moments. 12. Cables for your phone, laptop, battery charger for your camera. 13. A laptop or blackberry/iPhone with internet access.

14. Several pairs of footwear, one sensible, one for the clubs and one for the beach or activities. 15. Food and water for the journey and airport. 16. Diapers and food for babies in the family. 17. Equipment depending on your holiday. Snorkel, goggles, armbands, surfboard, climbing apparatus, beach ball, football... 18. A book you never got round to ﬁnishing. 19. First aid kit incase of accidents. 20. Medications for diarrhea, head ache, tummy ache, heartburn, allergy, sun screen, disinfecting wipes and any prescribed medications you have to take. Considering the above items should make your holiday run smooth, as well as adding to the fun you’ll have. (www.travellighttips.com )

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Food FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Everyday cooking

Yogurt

By Sawsan Kazak

n recent years we have all learnt of the nutritional ‘magic powers’ of yogurt. Probiotic is a word usually used when describing the benefits of yogurt but what does it really mean? Well it is a ‘beneficial bacterium found in the intestinal tract of healthy mammals.’ In other words, it’s a live bacteria that is good for us and our digestion and lucky for us it’s found in something as delicious as yogurt. In addition of being a good source of probiotics, yogurt also contains potassium, magnesium, vitamin B-2, B-12 and, of course, calcium. Having a bowl in the morning with some fresh fruits and maybe a drizzling of honey is great, but why not try to incorporate this fantastic food in our everyday meals and snacks. Try the following recipes and discover the goodness of yogurt. What do you think? sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

Yogurt

Homemade

•1 ripe banana •1/2 cup non-fat yogurt •1 tbs honey •1 cup ice, crushed

banana smoothie

Combine ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve immediately. You can also throw in strawberries, blueberries, peanut butter.

1/2 gal homogenized milk 1/2 cup yogurt (make sure it’s plain yogurt) 1/2 pint heavy cream METHOD: Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. When it comes to a boil, add 1/2 pint of heavy cream, and pour into an earthen bowl or Pyrex dish. When it is lukewarm (105 -110 degrees), stir the starter with a spoon until it is smooth and dilute it with some of the

warm milk. Pour this mixture into warm milk and stir. Wrap the warm milk (with yogurt starter), and leave it in a warm place, undisturbed, for at least 8 to 10 hours. Yogurt should be set by then. Place pot in refrigerator until cold, and ready to serve. ••You can buy starter as plain yogurt in the supermarket, or save a cup or two of your home-made yogurt to use as a starter each and every time you want to make it again.

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Years

Food FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Yogurt

2 cups yogurt 1/2 - 1 Tsp salt 1 - 2 Tbls crushed dried mint 1 clove Garlic crushed 1 Tbl lemon juice

Combine all ingredients and mix well. As a dressing for Salad greens, endive, cucumber salads or any veggies you like.

Cook potatoes in large pan of boiling

5 Minute frozen peach

Yogurt

• 1 bag frozen unsweetened peach slices • 1 container plain low fat yogurt • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar • 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice • 1/8 teaspoon almond extract Let frozen peaches stand at room temperature 10 minutes. In food processor with knife blade attached, process peaches

• 3 pounds small red new potatoes • 2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar • Salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste • 2 Tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt • 1 Tablespoon reduced-fat mayonnaise • 1-1/2 teaspoons honey mustard • 1 Tablespoon minced fresh chives • 1 Tablespoon minced fresh tarragon

water 8 to 12 minutes or just until they can easily be pierced with tip of a sharp knife. Drain. When they are cool enough to handle but still hot, cut in half and place in a large nonreactive bowl. Toss with rice vinegar, salt, and pepper. Set aside to cool. Mix yogurt, mayonnaise, and mustard in a small nonreactive dish. Add to potatoes along with chives and tarragon and mix lightly. Add additional salt and pepper, if needed. Serve or chill potato salad until serving time.

Yogurt chicken wings

until fruit resembles finely shaved ice, occasionally scraping down side with rubber spatula. With processor running, add yogurt, confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract. Process until mixture is smooth and creamy, occasionally scraping down side. Freeze for about an hour and then scoop and serve.

16 chicken wings 2 tablespoons curry powder 1/2 pint plain yogurt 1/2 cup water 1 inch ginger root, peeled and grated

Fold the tips in back of the chicken wings and place them in an ovenproof baking dish. Combine remaining ingredients and spoon mixture over the wings, taking care that each piece is coated. Bake, uncovered, in a 325ºF oven for 1 1/2 hours.

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

How H ow to

A bromeliad plant can add color to any room ȮȮ MCT

very January, very January, Joan Coulat Coulat w welcomes elcomess an indoor jungle Capital Nursery. jung gle tto oC apital Nurser y. FFerns, erns, orchids, orchids c , dracaenas dracaenas Calif., greenhouse, _ they the ey pack the Sacramento, Sacramento, C alif., g reenhouse, rready ead dy for for new homes. homes. It's It's houseplant houseplan nt season. ««We We said just unpacked unpacked a whole truckload,» truckload,» Coulat Coulat sa aid of the tropical tropical arrivals. ar rivals. «There's «There's always always something different differen nt and exciting.» exciting.» When weather turns gray, interest W hen the w eather tur ns ccold old and g ray, gardeners' gardeners' d interest often of ten headss indoors. indoors. It's It's no wonder wonder sales off houseplants houseplan p ts spike each winter w ter as people find time tto win o ccozy ozy up tto o their favorite alive spring. Acfa vorite greenery gree enery and try try tto o keep it aliv e till spr ing. A cGardening more ccording ording to to the the National National G ardening Association, Association, t more than one-third one -third off American American households grow grow indoor ind door plants. plants. Most decor; M ost businesses busine esses also include plants plants in theirr dec or; besides creating friendly ambience, greenery have cr eating a fr riendly ambienc e, the g reenery is said tto o ha ve «People don't a calming effect. eff ffect. «P eople don 't rrealize ealize how how houseplants houseplants wake Coulat said.. «A «And we now w ake up a rroom,» o oom,» C oulat said nd w e kknow no ow no w that that they faster anything.» Recent clean the airr so much fast er than an ything.»» R ecent rresearch esearch cites efficientt air pur purifiers. Like cit es houseplants housep plants as efficien ifiers. Li ike their outdoor outdoor carbon oxygen. ccounterparts, ounterparts t , they change car bon dioxide dioxide into in i to o xygen. also benzene But they als o can pull ttoxic oxic chemicals such as benz ene and fformaldehyde ormaldehyde d out of the air we we breathe. breathe. «All «All plants plants add oxygen o xygen and create create a healthier indoor environment,» environmen o t,» said Chris Landcare Network, Chr is Raimondi Raimo ondi of the Professional Professional Landcar e Net work, or PLANET. provide PLANE T. «In «In addition, some plants plants pr ovide the t added benefit from air.» While house-of rremoving emoving g ttoxins oxins fr om the air .» W hile cconsidering onsidering house plants future space bases,, NASA ffound plan ts ffor or fu uture spac e bases ound they t can help cut down airborne do wn on air rborne bacteria bacteria and mold spores spores e by by 50 percent percent tto o 60 percent. percen nt. IIn n addition, houseplants houseplants emit emit water water vvapor apor like humidifier, more a living hum midifierr, helping the indoor air ffeel e mor eel e ccomfortomfortable.. A Virginia credits houseplants able Virginia TTech ech e study cr edits housepla nts with rreduceducWell-known ing indoor dust d by by 20 percent. percent. W ell-known as Sacramento's Sacramento's «Begonia plants. «B Begonia i Lady,» LLaady d ,» Coulat Coula l t also l has h a soft sofft spott for for indoor i d plan l ts t. them,» said.. «I' «I've sansevierias. «I ccollect ollect the em,» she said ve got aatt least 30 3 sansevier ias. love aralias. can't curly I lo ve the ar alias. I can 't rresist esist the cur ly dracaena dracaena or the spathiphyllum. pretty.» hybrids domino spa athiphyllum. TThey're hey're all vvery ery pr ettty.» New h ybrids have broadened world beyond ha ve br oade ened the w orld of indoor plants plantss far bey ond basic philodendrons philodendr o and violets. ons violets. And And some need d very very little care care to to thrive. added. thr ive. «They're «Theyy're selling very very well,» well,» Coulat Coulat ad dded. ««We We had cut the economy slump,, but peo people are back with th he ec onomy in a slump ople ar e buying houseplants. better.»Enjoying houseplan tss. TThey hey make people ffeel eel bett er.»Enjoying the beautyy and soothing vibe of a houseplant easy.. Keeping beaut houseplant iiss easy from drooping more work. Many it fr om dr oo oping and dying takes a little mo ore w ork. M any houseplants greenery people kill kill their t houseplants with kkindness indness - the g reenery succumbs suc cumbs to to oversaturated oversaturated roots. roots. «No. «No. 1: Don't Don o 't overwater,» overwaterr,» , said Joan Coulat Coula o t of Capital Capital Nursery. Nursery. «People «People e water water them until until they're they'r e drowned.» drowned w .» Such species as sansevierias sansevie erias need water water every three weeks. Others byy with w weekly only ev ery ttwo wo tto o thr ee w eeks. O thers get b eekly watering. it starts w atering. TThe h key is to he to feel feel the soil; water water when w starts to to saucer ffeel eel dry. dry. Ideally, Ideally, put water water in a sauc er underr the pot and let actually soil-less it wick upward. upwar a d. TThe he ideal «soil» is ac tually so oil-less potting thatt sta stays drains quickly. Don't medium, a mix m tha ys moist but dr ains quick q ly. D on't use garden dirtt w won't work. perlite, gar den soil - dir on't w ork. IInstead, nstead, use a mix of per lite, peatt moss moss,, sphag moss,, or orchid barkk and pea ssphagnum num moss chid bar an nd charcoal. charcoal. Also, Also, don't or gravel bottom don 't put rocks rocks o gravel at at the bott om of tthe he pot tto o improve improve drainage; that planting drawing dr ainage; th hat keeps the plan ting medium fr ffrom om dr awing water from saucer. size w ater up fr o the sauc om er. Choose the rright ight siz e pot for for the plant. plantt in a big pot pot,, it rrots,» Coulat plan t. ««When Whe en yyou ou put a little plan p ots,» C oulat said.. ««The soil stays wet dies.» When said The so oil sta ys ttoo oo w et and it dies .» W h rrepotting, hen epotting, larger diameter choose a container con o tainer an inch or ttwo wo lar ger in diamet er than plantt clea clean. Dust the previous previous container. container. Keep the plan n. D ust it rreguegularly give lar ly and occasionally occasionally c give it a shower. shower. Place Place the plant plant in the bathtub gently ba thtub and d gen tly rrinse inse off its leaves leaves with tepid tepid water. water. That That allows allo ws the leaves le eaves to to work work and stay stay healthy. healthy. Plants Plants need light light thrive tto o grow. grow. Most Most o houseplants houseplants thr ive in bright bright indirect i indir ect light, light, the

turn your y hohhome mee iniinto ntto an nursery? nursery y?

House plants clean th e air while improving your mood

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Years

Home

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

bromeliad plan an add color color to to any any A bromeliad plantt ccan room. ȮȮ MC M T room. MCT

The long ar The arching ching br branches anchess of the A Amerimericcan an beautyberry beautyberry off brilliant brillian nt purple fruit fruit thatt ar are showy landscape tha e not only sho wy in the landsc ape loved by birds. MCT but lo ved b y bir ds. ȮȮ MC T

kind found kind found near ne ear an east-facing east-facing window. window. Under Unde er fluorescent fluorescent light, plants do well eightt hours a da day, such ligh t, plan ts d ow ell with eigh y, su uch as in a ttypiypical office. office. Fertilize Fertiliz t e your your houseplant houseplant once once or twice twic w e a month. month. Coulat C oulat rrecommends ecommends diluting houseplant houseplant ffood ood d and ffeeding eeding every Some houseplants, particularly ev ery time you you water. water. S ome houseplan ts, par rticularly fferns erns orchids, appreciate higher-than-normal humidity. Mist and or chids, appr a eciate higher -than-normal h humidit y. M ist them occasionally occasion nally with fresh fresh water. water. Or make a humidity humidity tray: tray: Put P ut gravel gravel in a shallow shallow dish. dish Fill Fill the dish with water, waterr, keeping level below stones. Place the water water lev e just belo el w the ttop op of the st ones. P lace the houseplantt (s (saucer gravel. houseplan aucer and all) on ttop op of the g ravel. Houseplants Houseplants are ar e beset by by few few e pests except except «mealybugs and an nd mildew take care said.. U Use car e of them immediately,» immediately y,» , Coulat Coulat said se an a indoor fungifungimildew.. P Pick leaves. For cide to to fight fight mildew m ick off damaged lea vess. F or mealybugs like white alcohol (which look lik ke whit e scales), tab them with alc a ohol on a ccotottreat systemic spray tton on swab swab or tr reat with a sy stemic spr ay rrecommended ecom mmended for for ininproblem, may door use. use. Gnats, Gna ats, another pr oblem, ma y be a sig ssign n of ttoo oo much moisture the soil.. A According three large moistur e in th he soil ccording tto o rresearch, esearch, ttwo wo tto o thr ee lar ge houseplants houseplan ts ((in in 10- tto o 12-inch ccontainers) ontainers) can n clean the air 150-square-foot bedroom o 15 in a 100- tto 50-square -foot rroom, oom, a ttypical ypical bedr b oom or den. For your «breathing F or maximum i m effect, eff ffect, place ffe plac l e plants plan l ts t iin y our «br b ea e thing thi zzone,» one,» where you normally lie.. But within 6 tto o 8 squar ssquare e ffeet eet of wher ey ou nor ma ally sit or lie rremember: emember: They They h need light light to to survive. survive. Spiderr plant: plant: Among Among the best pollution pollu ution fighters, fighters, Chlorophytum Chlorophytum plants pla ants need moderate light thrive. They're great beginners dorm or beg moder ate ligh ht tto o thr ive. T hey're g reat ffor ginners or dor m rrooms. ooms. Water Water when the soil feels feels dry. dry. Another Anotherr bonus: This This insects pests.. - MC MCT spider attracts attractss ffew ew insec ts or other pests M T

An easy houseplant h houseplan t to to gr ow ffor or nice nice An grow color is th he an thurium. ȮȮȮ MC T color the anthurium. MCT

HOUSEPLANTS POPULARR HOUSEPLANTS Because they prefer Because prrefer temperatures temperatures in the ttypiypical indoor rrange, ange e, the 60s and 70s 70s,, these popula popularr houseplan ts rrank an nk among the easiest tto og row. houseplants grow. A frican violet: Not N true violets y African violets,, these fuzz fuzzy fa vorites were were introduced in ntroduced tto oE urope fr om A frica a in Europe from Africa favorites eds of v arieties ha ve been dev eloped 1893. Hundr Hundreds varieties have developed om whit e tto o dar k pur ple. A key to to with blooms fr from white dark purple. repeat blooming g: humidit y. T hey g row w ell in repeat blooming: humidity. They grow well bathrooms and k itchens; other wise, put them on o a bathrooms kitchens; otherwise, humidity tray. tray. Don't Don't splash leaves leaves with cold cold water; water; humidity y spot. spot p . they'll Anthurium: These The ese Ha waiian fa vorites can last ffor o or Anthurium: Hawaiian favorites years, even even decades. deca ades. They They prefer prefer higher temperatemperrayears, tures and bright bright indirect indirect light. light. Don't Don't overwater. overwater. tures Aralia: These These plants pla ants with pr etty ffoliage oliage ccome ome in n Aralia: pretty many v arieties, including i China D oll. They They like ffull, ull, varieties, Doll. many br ight but indirect indirec e t light, light, a way from from heaters heaters but bright away abo ve 65 deg ree es. L et the soil dr y out bet ween above degrees. Let dry between w aterings. waterings. Br omeliad: T hriving i neglect, bromeliads bromeliads Bromeliad: Thriving on neglect, ttolerate olerate a wide rrange ange of indoor cconditions onditions with care. But Bu ut never never use a metal watering watering can ca an _ minimal care. toxic x to to bromeliads. bromeliads. They They bloom only o metal can be toxic once in their h lifetime, lif l fetime e , but b that tha h t flo fl wer lasts l ttwo wo to to once flower three months. months. A fter flo wering, the plant plant st ops pr p othree After flowering, stops proleaves but bu ut will grow grow «pups,» «pups,» baby baby plants plantss ducing leaves that will g row an nd flo wer in ttwo wo tto o thr ee y ears. that grow and flower three years. Dracaena: These Thesse plants plants can g row tall _ up tto o th he Dracaena: grow the ceiling _ and prefer pref e er bright bright filtered filtered light. light. T hey lik ke They like ceiling their soil to to dry dry out; o too too much water water tur ns their turns lea ves br own. Bu ut mist them onc eaw eek. leaves brown. But once week. F erns: T hey nee ed medium or br ight indir ect Ferns: They need bright indirect

The Boston ligh t. T he B oston ffern ern is a good pollution-fighting pollution-fighting light. variety Ficus v ariety that that rrequires equires little e maintenance. maintenance. F icus tree: tree: A n indoor -pollution figh terr, this small tr ee pr efers An indoor-pollution fighter, tree prefers medium to to bright bright light. light. Don't Don't water water until until the lea ves beg in tto o tur n yellow. yello ow. The The ficus is sensitive sensitive tto o leaves begin turn ccold old drafts drafts and changes in light. light. G rape iv y: T hese fast-growing fast-growing vines are are tolerant tolerant Grape ivy: These of low low light light but pr efer go ood air circulation. circulation. T hey prefer good They ertilizer; too too much m causes salts tto o build need little ffertilizer; up. W arning signs signs are are leaf lea af bur n, wilt and loss of up. Warning burn, foliage g . foliage. Ivy: A n out door plan dapted tto o the indoors Ivy: An outdoor plantt ad adapted indoors,, this indirect light light and and evenly evenly spaced spaced waterwatervine likes indirect doesn't mind drying drying y occasionally. ing but doesn't out occasionally. Jade plan ts: M embers of o the Crassula Crassula genus Jade plants: Members genus,, low-care succulents succulents t like to to be left left alone. alone. these low-care T hey pr efer a sunny sunny window wind dow with light light ffour our hours They prefer a da y, but keep the plant plant a om the day, att least 3 inches fr from glass tto oa void sc orching lea ves. T hey need little avoid scorching leaves. They w ater in fall and win ter when w dor mant; other wise, water winter dormant; otherwise, let the soil dry dry out completely comp pletely between between waterings. waterings. O rchids: M oth or butt er fly orchids orchids (Phalaenop(PhalaenopOrchids: Moth butterfly sis) and D endrobiums prefer prrefer indirect indirect light, light, away away Dendrobiums f om gas heat. fr h t. A hea void d overwatering. over e watering. Ideally, Ideally d lly, water water from Avoid every three three weeks weeks if the orchid orchid is planted planted in moss every moss,, every other w eek if plan ted in bar k. D on't let pots every week planted bark. Don't waterr, either oo ots can rot. rot. P ansy orchids orchids stand in water, either;; rroots Pansy (Miltonias) like their roots rootts constantly constantly damp but (Miltonias) never soggy never soggy.. Palms: P robably the w orrld's most popular househouse Palms: Probably world's plants, palms g row tall (u up tto o the cceiling) eiling) and need grow (up plants, space as well well as indirect indirect light, light, good air cir culation space circulation

an nd a regular regular weekly weekly watering watering sc hedule. S alts can and schedule. Salts bu uild up in soil; palms pr efer disti illed or filt ered build prefer distilled filtered water and oc casional misting water occasional misting.. T he b est choices choices for for in ndoors: The best indoors: ke entia palm (Ho wea fforsteriana) orsteriana) or o lady palm kentia (Howea (R Rhapis excelsa). excelsa). Philodendron: Philodendron: Na N tive tto o the Native (Rhapis ju ungles of Central Central and S outh A me erica, these are are jungles South America, am mong the most durable durable houseplants. houseplants. T hey ttoleroleramong They a te lo w ligh t. A llow the soil tto o dr y out bet ween ate low light. Allow dry between w aterings; g ; yellow yellow leaves leaves indicate indicate too too much water. water. waterings; P o othos: A mong A merica's favorites, favorittes, these lowlowPothos: Among America's m main tenance vines fr om M alaysia an jungles can from Malaysian maintenance ha andle low low light; light; they pr efer a no orth-side windo w. handle prefer north-side window. Water when the soil ffeels eels dr y. S an nsevieria: W ith Water dry. Sansevieria: With niicknames like mother-in-law's mother-in-law's ttongue o ongue and snake nicknames pllant, this fa vorite is almost indes structible and plant, favorite indestructible no ow comes comes in dozens dozens of varieties. varietiess. It It can tolerate tolerate now lo ow light light and go two two months months without with hout water water in low w ter. O win therwise, water water ev ery other otther week. week. Treat Treat winter. Otherwise, every lik ke a cac tus. Watch Watch out ffor or sharp sharp tips! SpathiphylSpathiphyllike cactus. lu um: A great great indoor air filt err, the popular p P eace Lily lum: filter, Peace tells e you you when it needs watering watering it wilts. wilts. tells Ke eep the h soill ev enly l moist but b no ot soggy They h Keep evenly not soggy.. They toler o ate lo w ligh t. - MC T tolerate low light. MCT

Relationships FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

husband, Nicholas is seen in a portrait with her Bahar Mallah (left) of Chicago, T MC — . ried r they were mar died at age 32, two months afte

Schmidt, who

beats cancer W

hen Nick Schmidt and Bahar Mallah were introduced, he told her he was sick. At a bar after an Illini game on a chilly night in October 2008, she asked him why he wasn’t drinking. Cancer, he explained. That was typically when such conversations ended. But Mallah stuck around long enough for him to ask whether he could buy her a drink instead. “‘I have cancer, but I’ll buy you a drink?’” Mallah recalls saying to him. “That’s your line? That’s a horrible, horrible line.” Their first date was on Halloween. They grew happy fast. By November, the couple had made lists of their promises to each other. He pledged to tell her he loved her every day, to play with her hair, to trust her. She vowed never to let the petty things get in the way, to be patient, to stay focused on the big picture. They flew to Costa Rica, biked to Wisconsin, watched movies on their couch. Schmidt, 31, and Mallah, 32, got married. He wore Nikes to the wedding. She was in 4-inch heels. They were husband and wife for 52 days before the cancer killed him. A week after Schmidt’s Dec 1 death, Mallah sat in their third-floor walk-up in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, where her wedding dress still hangs in the bedroom. She ran her hand across a picture of his face. “Ahh,” she said as she wept softly. “I just love him.” Like their marriage, their journey together seemed to last but for a sweet moment. Schmidt’s initial prognosis in 2008 wasn’t good - six months to live, or a meager 10

percent chance he’d see Christmas. Doctors diagnosed him with a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma. He took oral chemotherapy daily, and for a while was summoned to Louisville, every three weeks for an intense, 24-hour course. When one round fell on New Year’s Eve, Mallah snuck some lights, a dress and a pair of fancy shoes into the hospital room. Despite it all, he didn’t act sick. Mallah kept buying tickets for things - movies, concerts, trips to see her family in Baltimore and he kept showing up. They were blissfully in love, but they weren’t naive. Mallah works as a pharmaceutical rep who specializes in cancer medicine. Before she even met Schmidt, she knew how to change an IV and manage a port. Schmidt had no interest in knowing. He put his faith in God and his trust in her. If anything could be done, she would do it. Mallah sought the advice of Chicago’s medical oncology community, many of whom she knew well through her daily work visits. Not only did her job provide an added level of know-how, it gave her hope. “There are people who beat this,” she would think. “Why can’t he be one of them? Every new treatment he was on didn’t exist when he was on the treatment before that. There will come a time when science is going to catch up, so (we) should keep trying.” Even before Mallah came into his life, Schmidt was determined not to surrender to the cancer. Born and raised in Champaign, Illinois, he had always been the outgoing, comical type. He started swimming when he was 5 and didn’t stop until

doctors banned him from entering the water because of his sickness. Growing up an only child, he delivered newspapers, played in the church band and was once accused of TP’ing his high school. (The mountain of toilet paper rolls in the trunk of his Blazer didn’t help his case.) Schmidt graduated with an accounting degree and an MBA from Eastern Illinois University, where he still holds a swimming record. His conditioned body would prove among his greatest allies in the battle that followed. He worked as an accountant in Champaign, but his passion had nothing to do with crunching numbers. He video blogged constantly, often with a goofy grin, even while an IV dripped cancer drugs into his bloodstream. His mother, who suﬀered from rheumatoid arthritis and got around in a wheelchair for much of her life, was the glue that kept the family together. “He would tell his mom things that he wouldn’t even think of telling me,” said his dad, Bob Schmidt, 71. Sharon Schmidt died of heart complications about a year and a half before her son was diagnosed. “It was like somebody hit me with a hammer,” Bob Schmidt, choking back tears, said of his son’s devastating news. “We decided we’d pray for it, and we were going to beat it. He and I agreed on one thing: We were both happy Sharon wasn’t here.” He had one question after his son told him he wanted to marry Mallah - the strong-willed, independent daughter of Persian-Muslim immigrants. “What took you so damn long?” Schmidt had fallen

hard, but still, he was hesitant. He compiled a photo book of their whirlwind romance including a shot of the first time they met and spelled out, letter by letter, “Will you marry me” at the top of each page. It took him nine months to give it to her. “He didn’t want to make me a widow,” Mallah said. Her mother’s reaction, when she first told her she was dating a guy with advanced cancer, was worry. Even after they got engaged, a mother’s rightful moment of unadulterated joy, Mehry Mallah’s heart ached for her only daughter and her inevitable fate. But when the family got to know Schmidt, really know him, they adored him. “He was such a wonderful guy,” Mehry Mallah said. “He was so gentle, kind, polite and very loving of Bahar. We understood.” No one could deny it. Their love was the kind that people spend a lifetime searching for. “I already love you,” she told him. “I’m already committed. It’s going to suck regardless, so be my husband.” He proposed a week after she spoke those words. Marriage, they agreed, was as an opportunity to share their love with friends and family and have it acknowledged in the eyes of God. “He loved me,” she said. “Why would I reject that? It doesn’t make any sense. Even now that he’s gone. Even now that I’m in so much pain.” Her eyes filled with tears and her voice trailed. “Why would you reject that?” A month before the wedding, he could barely walk. Doctors feared he wasn’t going to make it, but he ignored them.— MCT

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Te c h n o l o g y

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Avoiding

junkware Y

ou start up your browser one day and see a new toolbar that you don’t remember installing. Or you boot your Windows PC, and suddenly there are several new icons on your desktop from an unknown source. Or you buy a new PC, and it’s already crammed with programs that you never intend to use. How does all this junkware make it onto your computer? How can you avoid it in the first place or get rid of it once it’s on your system? Read on to find out. Q: The Yahoo! toolbar has somehow been installed on my computer, and it now appears on my browser. How does this happen, and how can I get rid of it? A: Toolbar makers - including Yahoo!, Google, Ask, and others - have devised numerous ways to get you to “opt in” to having their products installed. In the case of the Yahoo! toolbar, you might have accidentally agreed to its installation by installing a related application such as Yahoo! Messenger, or you may have fallen victim to the downright sneaky installation of the toolbar through Oracle’s frequent updates of Java, a popular technology behind numerous programs and web applications. You can also all too easily agree to install toolbars from Yahoo!, Google, or others these days by neglecting to de-select the option while installing any number of freeware applications, which increasingly include tie-ins to these unrelated applications. The trend is annoying, and unfortunately your only defense is vigilance while installing all applications. Merely clicking Next repeatedly during installation, for example, can get you a lot of software you don’t want. The good news is that most such unwanted junkware applications can easily uninstalled by using your operating system’s normal uninstallation routine. The Yahoo! toolbar, for example, is listed separately in Windows’ Programs and Features uninstallation dialog box. Q: I bought a new computer, and it came with a lot of software installed that I do not use and do not want. How can I get back to a clean installation of Windows? A: The easiest way is simply to use the Uninstall a Program link in the Control Panel to remove the “junkware” that came pre-installed on your PC. While this method probably will not remove every trace of the pre-installed software on your computer, what remains should not affect the performance of the system. If you want the peace of mind of knowing that there’s nothing on your system that you haven’t installed, however, you’ll need to reinstall the operating system from scratch. To do that, ask for or download the “reinstallation CD,” which is essentially the operating system installation disk. Keep in mind that if

you take this route, you will need to have on hand the installation disks for any desired additional software that came with your computer as well as, perhaps, the driver software for peripherals such as scanners. Windows 7, however, does include a good number of drivers, so assembling driver files is typically not as critical as it used to be. Q: I installed Acrobat on my computer, and now I have Acrobat toolbars in my Office applications. How can I remove them? A: Removing the toolbars that the full version of Acrobat installs is not as easy as simply de-activating the toolbar from the View menu of your various Office applications. When you use this method, the toolbars just re-appear the next time you start your application. That’s because Adobe inserts these toolbars (without asking) by making changes to the load behavior of your applications. To do away with the toolbars entirely, therefore, you have to edit the Windows Registry, where load behavior is often defined. Open the Windows Run dialog box (Windows

Key-R), type regedit, and press Enter. In the left-hand pane of Regedit, expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE node by double-clicking its name or by clicking the rightpointing arrow to the left of its name. Then expand the following nodes: Software, Microsoft, Office. Under the Office node, you will see entries for the various Office applications: Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. Expand the Word node, and then expand Addins. Under Addins, you will see an entry for PDFMaker.OfficeAddin. Select that, and in the right-hand pane, double-click the LoadBehaviour entry. Change the value in the resulting dialog box from 3 to 0, and click OK. Repeat for all other Office applications. When you’re finished, the Acrobat toolbar will no longer appear when you start Office applications. — dpa

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Health

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Make Exercise A Habit:

Try The 15-Minute Boot Camp Workout

hat is a boot camp workout?

The focus of the “boot camp” workouts is to perform a fitness routine that benefits the entire bodyboth heart and muscles-by sequentially practicing one exercise after the other without resting in-between. These workouts are incredibly effective because they work many muscles groups simultaneously, which in turn elevates the heart rate and burns more calories and fat. Because boot camp workouts are all the rage right now, I’ve created a “Super Body Boot Camp” that is a fun circuittype exercise routine. It’s perfect for the busy professional or mom who finds it challenging to incorporate cardio and strength training into her schedule. Now there’s no excuse! You can regularly practice cardio and strength training during a quick, effective circuit boot camp workout. This boot camp workout consists of one mini-circuit that targets the entire body:

● Repeat the following four exercises in a continuous circuit. ● Perform the circuit three times. ● The entire workout takes approximately 15 minutes from start to ﬁnish. Remember: Consistency is the key to a tighter, toned body!

Strength-training exercises Exercise #1: Flamingo with shoulder raise A.Stand on your left leg which is slightly bent, arms are by the side of body and right leg is bent in front of body. B.Exhale reaching the right leg behind you to hip height, at the same time arms extended forward to shoulder height. Inhale, bring right leg back to start position with the arms at the same time. Reps: 10-15 on each leg Weights: 3-5 pounds Muscle Focus: Arms, shoulders, quads, hamstrings, glutes and abs for stabilization Exercise #2: Plank to side plank star A.Hands are directly underneath shoulders, legs extended out in to plank position with right leg slightly lifted and abs are contracted. B.Turn to right side balancing on left arm with right arm extended over head and left lifted hips, knee and toes facing forward. Reps: 8-10 on each side Muscle Focus: Shoulders, upper back, abs, legs and glutes

Exercise #3: Plank to side lift with fly’s A.Start with legs turned out at hips shoulder width apart and right heel off the floor, arms are at shoulder height slightly bent palms facing inwards in front of body. B.Squat in to a plies with knees over toes, extend knees and lift the right leg directly out to the side of body to hip height. Simultaneously arms go directly out to side of body. Reps: 10-15 on each leg Weights: 5-8 pounds Muscle Focus: Quads, hamstrings, chest and shoulders Cardio-interval exercise Perform as many repetitions as possible for one minute, while maintaining the proper form. Exercise #4: Shoot the hoop A.Stand tall knees slightly bent arms by side of body. B.Jump up reaching arms over head as if you were shooting a basket, lower and bend knees to touch the floor. (www.thedietchannel.com)

Everything you want to know about ab exercises

ew bodybuilders would argue against the importance of abdominal exercises in order to look good. But ab exercises are also important to enabling a person to feel good and perform well. Your body’s core, the area around your trunk and pelvis, is related to every physical action you perform. It is also the location of your center of gravity. By doing upper and lower ab exercises and having strong abdominal muscles, you also strengthen the support system for the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, and hips. This provides increased protection for people with lower back problems and injuries. Strengthened ab muscles also allow for greater controlled movement, and a more stable center of gravity. While this is important to increasing performance and guarding against injury in any athletic endeavor, it is also important for nearly any physical activity, including sitting. Strong ab muscles help you to sit properly without slouching; this supports the lower back and is important for people sitting at a desk for long hours. The frequency Ab exercises should be done at least three times a week. Select exercises that work all of your core

muscles simultaneously. Rather than concentrating on the number of repetitions, your goal should be

to exercise with proper form. Make sure to breathe, with full inhalations and exhalations, throughout

each movement. Abdominal exercises at home

There are numerous ab exercises that you can perform in your home, even while watching television. The simplest is the regular sit-up, or ab crunch, that everyone knows how to do. In this exercise, lay with your back on the floor, and bend your knees to allow your feet to lay flat on the floor; your arms can be crossed in front of your chest, or to add more resistance and to support the neck, they can be locked behind your neck or the back of the head. Using your ab muscles, slowly lift your shoulder blades off the mat. After completing a full slow exhalation, slowly return your back down to the floor. Do not use your arms to pull upwards on your head or neck. Your abs should do the work, and your hands are only there to support your neck muscles. Try this exercise on a stability ball in order to engage more of your core muscles and create an additional challenge. Using a stability ball for ab exercises is an excellent way to strengthen your core, as well as to add variety in doing regular ab exercises like the plank. If you tire of doing isolated ab exercises, try yoga or Pilates, which are both great for strengthening your ab and core muscles. (www.thedietchannel.com)

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Years

Health

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Protein is found in common foods such as beef, fish, chicken, milk, eggs and cheese. Eating a diet rich in these foods is a good way to get protein. Unfortunately it can also be a good way to increase a lot of other things you don’t want in your body like fats and sugars.

What is the big deal with protein? Here is our very quick biology lesson: Amino Acids make up protein. Protein makes up basically everything in your body. In fact the only thing our body has more of than protein is water. It really is as simple as that. Protein is the building block of our whole body - muscles, tissues, hair, nails, etc - all made up of protein. If you do not have enough protein in your body you can NOT build muscle mass. The body needs to break protein down to amino acids to build muscles. So, no matter how much you work out - if you don’t have protein - you will not gain muscle mass. Another important point to remember is that every time you work out you are tearing down muscles and then rebuilding them. Protein is necessary to repair and rebuild your muscles. What types of foods have protein? Protein is found in common foods such as beef, fish, chicken, milk, eggs and cheese. Eating a diet rich in these foods is a good way to get protein. Unfortunately it can also be a good way to increase a lot of other things you don’t want in your body like fats and sugars. Don’t I get enough protein from my diet? If you work out - probably not. New studies from the International Journal of Sports Nutrition show that someone who works out should ingest significantly more protein than couch potatoes. How much protein should I take? Unfortunately, there is no exact answer to this question. There are a two different

formulas that are commonly used: To ensure that the body is in a positive muscle building state, in other words, that it is burning fat—not muscle, you should ingest at least .9 grams of protein per lean pound of body weight. For example, a 200 lb. man with 12% bodyfat requires 158 grams of protein daily. 200 X .12 = 24 lbs 200 - 24 = 176 lbs 176 X .9 = 158 gms The latest study from the International Journal of Sports Nutrition says that people involved in strength training should get 1.6 - 1.7 grams protein per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of bodyweight per day. That is .7 grams per pound. Therefore, a 200 lb man (200 * .7) would need 140 grams of protein. Slightly less than the first formula. Are all protein supplements the same? No. Protein supplements can be made from a few different source of protein. These include milk protein, egg protein, soy protein. In addition, not all protein is absorbed in the same way in the body. The better a protein is absorbed by the body the higher the Biological Value (BV) the protein is said to have. What is Whey Protein and why is it good? Whey Protein is derived from milk protein. However, unlike milk proteins - whey protein does not contain fat or lactose sugar. Whey protein is the best form of protein to take when using a supplement. Basically with Whey Protein you get all the advantages of protein without the excess baggage other proteins come with - no fat and no lactose. Not only that, studies have

shown that Whey Protein can increase our blood levels of glutathione. Glutathione is an antioxidant which is essential to a healthy immune system. As we get older glutathione levels decrease and our immune system weakens. Studies are still being done - but at the University of Nebraska Medical center they were able to extend the life span of hamsters by 60% by supplementing their diet with Whey Protein. So, whey protein is not only good for building and repairing muscles, it also may extend your life. What are the reasons I should supplement with whey protein? ● To build muscle mass ● To speed recovery time ● Reduce injuries related to working out ● Maintain a healthy and fit body ● Feel better during your workouts Will taking protein make me fat? No - in fact it may help you if you are on a diet. You see the amino acids in protein may help keep your blood sugar levels stabile. This is important because it keeps you feeling good all day and stops your craving for food that occurs when your blood sugar level drops. If your diet is too high in carbohydrates your blood sugar levels go though peaks and valleys. You go from a burst of energy and feeling full to a lull and being hungry. In addition, if you are dieting, getting 17 grams of protein from a protein shake that has only 90 calories is better than getting your protein from a big meal which may have hundreds of calories. When is the best time to take a protein supplement?

This depends on your diet and when you are eating foods rich in protein. Here are a few points when it is best to take a protein supplement: Right after a workout - this is when your body goes into a stage of recovery and growth. Having the amino acids that make up the protein is key at this point. First thing in the morning - because your body has just gone though 8 hours (or however long you sleep for) of not having food so the protein levels are way down. Before you go to sleep - this helps prevent the protein breakdown that naturally occurs when we sleep. If you are not trying to build muscle mass then this protein breakdown is fine. But if you are working out - you want to try to minimize any losses you suffer when you sleep and your protein metabolism slows down. Are there any dangers of taking too much protein? Yes. As with basically anything - too much of a good thing can be bad. If you take too much protein, say you weigh 150 pounds and take 300 grams of protein a day - your body will not be able to process all the protein into amino acids. What your body can not use will have to be excreted as a waste product. This means your kidney and liver will be doing a lot of work just to get the excess protein out of your body. While this will not cause any major problems over a short period of time - you would not want to be overworking your kidney and liver over the course of several years. That being said - protein supplementation is very safe if you stay within the dosage guidelines.

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011 www.kuwaittimes.net

• How To Layer Clothing and Look Fashionable • Everything you want to know about ab exercises

A model shows a creation from French designer Jean Charles De Castelbajac's Fall-Winter readyto-wear 2012 fashion collection, presented in Paris.— AP

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Years

C a re e r s

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Aiming higher and wider Why writing a career plan is crucial for growth

eveloping a career action plan is the fourth step in the career planning process. One arrives at this step after a thorough self assessment and a complete exploration of viable career options which were identiﬁed during the self assessment. Next,

when you need to gather more information or clarify your choices. Once you have identiﬁed an occupation to pursue you should develop an action plan. An action plan can be considered a road map that will get you from point

Plan or an Individualized (or Individual) Career Development Plan. According to Individualized Career Plan Models - Eric Digest No 71(ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Career and Vocational Education), “Personal plans of action-individualized career development plans-are becoming important instruments that counselors and others are using to help their students and/or clients (both youth and adults) meet their changing goals, interests and needs in this fast-paced, rapidly changing society.” Though the ERIC Digest talks about individualized career plans being used by counselors and other professionals, you can develop a plan yourself. Even if you do work with a counselor, you will need to do some of the work yourself. For example, a counselor can’t set your goals for you. He or she will just help you clarify your goals and help you find strategies to reach them. In addition, an action plan should be amended over time as your goals change, your priorities change, and your career grows. Let’s begin now to take a look at how to develop a career action plan step-by-step. Employment history/educational background This part is straightforward. List any jobs you’ve had in reverse chronological order-most recent to least recent. Include the location of the company, your job title, and the dates you worked at that job. When you put together your resume, having organized this information will prove very helpful. That goes for the next part as well-Education and Training. List the schools you’ve attended, the dates you’ve attended them, and the credits, certificates, or degrees you’ve earned. Also list additional training and any professional licenses you hold. Next, list volunteer or other unpaid experience. You may find that several of these activities are relevant to your occupational goals. By volunteering you may have developed skills that will play an important role in your future career. Again, this information can be used on your resume. It can also be used in job interviews, or when applying to college or graduate school.

one must choose from those occupations after examining them carefully and determining which one is the best match. The career planning process is ongoing, and bi-directional, meaning you can move back to previous steps

A-choosing an occupation-to Point Bbecoming employed in that occupation. It even helps you get past Point B, to Points C through Z, as you grow in that career. It is also referred to as an Individualized (or Individual) Career

Self assessment results If during the career planning process you met with a career development professional who used self assessment tools to help you gather information about yourself, this is where you can write down the results of those assessments. You can then list the occupations that were suggested to you during that phase. You may even want to attach the information you gathered when you explored those occupations in case you want to refer to your notes later on. Out of all the occupations you explored, at some point in the process

you narrowed your choices down to one occupation. That is the one you plan to pursue. You may even have two occupations-one to pursue in the short term and one to pursue in the long term. They should be related, the second being one that is a step up from the first. For example, you can say you want to first become a nurse’s aid, and then after you get some experience you will pursue a career as a registered nurse. Short term and long term plan You should break your career plan down into goals you can reach in a year or less and goals you want to reach in five years or less. You can use increments of one or two years in this five year plan as well. This breakdown will make your plan easier for you to follow. There’s also a place to include your goals for education and training. Your occupational goals and your educational goals should correspond to one another, since reaching your occupational goals will usually be dependent upon reaching your educational goals. If your long term occupational goal is to be a lawyer, here’s what your short and long term plans might look like: Year One: Complete my bachelor’s degree (12 credits left to go), apply to law school, get accepted to law school (a positive attitude is a good thing) Year Two: through Year Four: Enter law school, study hard and earn good grades, graduate from law school with many job offers Year Five: Begin working in a law firm Barriers to reaching goals As you try to reach your goals you may face some barriers. If you want to pursue your goals, you will have to get around these barriers. In this section of your action plan you can list all the obstacles, or barriers, that may get in the way of being able to reach your goals. Then list the ways you can deal with them. For example you may be the primary caregiver for your children or elderly parents. This may interfere with your ability to complete your degree. You can deal with this barrier by enlisting the help of your spouse or another relative. Perhaps you can arrange for child or adult daycare. You’re on your way A well-thought-out career action plan will prove to be a very useful tool. You’ve gone through the career planning process carefully choosing a suitable occupation. Setting goals and planning what you need to do to realize them will insure that you reach your career destination. www.careerplanning.about.com

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Years

Opinion

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

ISI and the CIA: Mutual

Pakistani Shiite students march during a protest rally in Lahore on March 6, 2011 against CIA contractor Raymond Davis. – AP By Scott Stewart

n March 1, US diplomatic sources reportedly told Dawn News that a proposed exchange with the Pakistani government of US citizen Raymond Davis for Pakistani citizen Aafia Siddiqui was not going to happen. Davis is a contract security officer working for the CIA who was arrested by Pakistani police on Jan 27 following an incident in which he shot two men who reportedly pointed a pistol at him in an apparent robbery attempt. Siddiqui was arrested by the Afghan National Police in Afghanistan in 2008 on suspicion of being linked to Al-Qaeda. During Siddiqui’s interrogation at a police station, she reportedly grabbed a weapon from one of her interrogators and opened fire on the American team sent to debrief her. Siddiqui was wounded in the exchange of fire and taken to Bagram air base for treatment. After her recovery, she was transported to the United States and charged in US District Court in New York with armed assault and the attempted murder of US government employees. Siddiqui was convicted in Feb 2010 and sentenced in September 2010 to 86 years in prison. Given the differences in circumstances

between these two cases, it is not difficult to see why the US government would not agree to such an exchange. Siddique had been arrested by the local authorities and was being questioned, while Davis was accosted on the street by armed men and thought he was being robbed. His case has served to exacerbate a growing rift between the CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI). Pakistan has proved to be a very dangerous country for both ISI and CIA officers. Because of this environment, it is necessary for intelligence officers to have security especially when they are conducting meetings with terrorist sources - and for security officers to protect American officials. Due to the heavy security demands in high-threat countries like Pakistan, the US government has been forced to rely on contract security officers like Davis. It is important to recognize, however, that the Davis case is not really the cause of the current tensions between the Americans and Pakistanis. There are far deeper issues causing the rift. Operating in Pakistan Pakistan has been a very dangerous place for American diplomats and intelligence offi-

cers for many years now. Since Sept 2001 there have been 13 attacks against US diplomatic missions and motorcades as well as hotels and restaurants frequented by Americans who were in Pakistan on official business. Militants responsible for the attack on the Islamabad Marriott in Sept 2008 referred to the hotel as a “nest of spies.” At least 10 Americans in Pakistan on official business have been killed as a result of these attacks, and many more have been wounded. Militants in Pakistan have also specifically targeted the CIA. This was clearly illustrated by a Dec 2009 attack against the CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, in which the Tehrik-iTaliban Pakistan (TTP), led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, used a Jordanian suicide operative to devastating effect. The CIA thought the operative had been turned and was working for Jordanian intelligence to collect intelligence on Al-Qaeda leaders hiding in Pakistan. The attack killed four CIA officers and three CIA security contractors. Additionally, in March 2008, four FBI special agents were injured in a bomb attack as they ate at an Italian restaurant in Islamabad. Pakistani intelligence and security agencies have been targeted with far more vigor than the Americans. This is due not only to

the fact that they are seen as cooperating with the United States but also because there are more of them and their facilities are relatively soft targets compared to US diplomatic facilities in Pakistan. Militants have conducted dozens of major attacks directed against Pakistani security and intelligence targets such as the headquarters of the Pakistani army in Rawalpindi, the ISI provincial headquarters in Lahore and the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) and police academies in Lahore. In addition to these high-profile attacks against facilities, scores of military officers, frontier corps officers, ISI officers, senior policemen and FIA agents have been assassinated. Other government figures have also been targeted for assassination. As this analysis was being written, the Pakistani minorities minister was assassinated near his Islamabad home. Because of this dangerous security environment, it is not at all surprising that American government officials living and working in Pakistan are provided with enhanced security to keep them safe. And enhanced security measures require a lot of security officers, especially when you have a large number of American officials traveling

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Years

Opinion

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

distrust and suspicion away from secure facilities to attend meetings and other functions. This demand for security officers is even greater when enhanced security is required in several countries at the same time and for a prolonged period of time. This is what is happening today in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The demand for protective officers has far surpassed the personnel available to the organizations that provide security for American officials such as the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and the CIA’s Office of Security. In order to provide adequate security for American officials in high-threat posts, these agencies have had to rely on contractors provided by large companies like Blackwater/Xe, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy and on individual contract security officers hired on personalservices contracts. This reliance on security contractors has been building over the past several years and is now a fact of life at many US embassies. Using contract security officers allows these agencies not only to quickly ramp up their capabilities without actually increasing their authorized headcount but also to quickly cut personnel when they hit the next lull in the security-funding cycle. It is far easier to terminate contractors than it is to fire fulltime government employees. CIA Operations in Pakistan There is another factor at play: demographics. Most CIA case officers (like most foreign-service officers) are Caucasian products of very good universities. They tend to look like Bob Baer and Valerie Plame. They stick out when they walk down the street in places like Peshawar or Lahore. They do not blend into the crowd, are easily identified by hostile surveillance and are therefore vulnerable to attack. Because of this, they need trained professional security officers to watch out for them and keep them safe. This is doubly true if the case officer is meeting with a source who has terrorist connections. As seen in the Khost attack discussed above, and reinforced by scores of incidents over the years, such sources can be treacherous and meeting such people can be highly dangerous. As a result, it is pretty much standard procedure for any intelligence officer meeting a terrorism source to have heavy security for the meeting. Even FBI and British MI5 officers meeting terrorism sources domestically employ heavy security for such meetings because of the potential danger to the agents. Since the 9/11 attacks, the primary intelligence collection requirement for every CIA station and base in the world has been to hunt down Osama bin Laden and the AlQaeda leadership. This requirement has been emphasized even more for the CIA officers stationed in Pakistan, the country where bin Laden and company are believed to be hiding. This emphasis was redoubled with the change of US administrations and President Barack Obama’s renewed focus on Pakistan and eliminating the Al-Qaeda leadership. The Obama administration’s approach of dramatically increasing strikes with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) required an increase in targeting intelligence, which comes mostly from human sources and not signals intelligence or imagery. Identifying

Pakistani police officers escort detained American contractor Aaron Mark DeHaven at a local court in Peshawar on March 7, 2011. – AP and tracking an Al-Qaeda suspect amid the hostile population and unforgiving terrain of the Pakistani badlands also requires human sources to direct intelligence assets toward a target. This increased human intelligence-gathering eﬀort inside Pakistan has created friction between the CIA and the ISI. First, it is highly likely that much of the intelligence used to target militants with UAV strikes in the badlands comes from the ISI - especially intelligence pertaining to militant groups like the TTP that have attacked the ISI and the Pakistani government itself (though, as would be expected, the CIA is doing its best to develop independent sources as well). The ISI has a great deal to gain by strikes against groups it sees as posing a threat to Pakistan, and the fact that the US government is conducting such strikes provides the ISI a degree of plausible deniability and political cover. However, it is well known that the ISI has long had ties to militant groups. The ISI’s fostering of surrogate militants to serve its strategic interests in Kashmir and Afghanistan played a critical role in the rise of transnational jihadism (and this was even aided with US funding in some cases). Indeed, as we’ve previously discussed, the ISI would like to retain control of its militant proxies in Afghanistan to ensure that Pakistan does not end up with a hostile regime in Afghanistan following the US withdrawal from the country. This is quite a rational desire when one considers

Pakistan’s geopolitical situation. Because of this, the ISI has been playing a kind of a double game with the CIA. It has been forthcoming with intelligence pertaining to militants it views as threats to the Pakistani regime while refusing to share information pertaining to groups it hopes to use as levers in Afghanistan (or against India). Of course, the ability of the ISI to control these groups and not get burned by them again is very much a subject of debate, but at least some ISI leaders appear to believe they can keep at least some of their surrogate militants under control. There are many in Washington who believe the ISI knows the location of high-value Al-Qaeda targets and senior members of organizations like the Afghan Taleban and the Haqqani network, which are responsible for many of the attacks against US troops in Afghanistan. This belief that the ISI is holding back intelligence compels the CIA to run unilateral intelligence operations (meaning operations it does not tell the ISI about). Many of these unilateral operations likely involve the recruitment of Pakistani government oﬃcials, including members of the ISI. Naturally, the ISI is not happy with these intelligence operations, and the result is the mistrust and tension we see between the ISI and the CIA. It is important to remember that in the intelligence world there is no such thing as a friendly intelligence service. While services will cooperate on issues of mutual interest,

they will always serve their own national interests first, even when that places them at odds with an intelligence service they are coordinating with. Such competing national interests are at the heart of the current tension between the CIA and the ISI. At present, the CIA is fixated on finding and destroying the last vestiges of Al-Qaeda and crippling militant groups in Pakistan that are attacking US forces in Afghanistan. The Americans can always leave Afghanistan; if anarchy and chaos take hold there, it is not likely have a huge impact on the United States. However, the ISI knows that after the United States withdraws from Afghanistan it will be stuck with the problem of Afghanistan. It is on the ISI’s doorstep, and it does not have the luxury of being able to withdraw from the region and the conflict. The ISI believes that it will be left to deal with the mess created by the United States. It is in Pakistan’s national interest to try to control the shape of Afghanistan after the US withdrawal, and that means using militant proxies like Pakistan did after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. This struggle between the CIA and ISI is a conundrum rooted in the conflict between the vital interests of two nations and it will not be solved easily. While the struggle has been brought to the public’s attention by the Davis case, this case is really just a minor symptom of a far deeper conflict. —Stratfor

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Years

Business

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Weathering the fuel price hikes ow would you like to wake up in the morning knowing you need 8,000 gallons of fuel and have to pay for it in 10 days?” That’s the question Tommy Barnes, owner of Ideal Logging in Edgemoor, asks about once a week, now with increasing uncertainty as rising fuel costs have returned. For businesses in the agricultural and logging industries, tightening their belts and scaling back operations are ways to weather fuel prices that experts say will only continue to rise. While some local businesses are confident they’ll survive the hikes, the balancing act for others is reaching a tipping point. Already struggling against shrinking demand for solid woods for construction, loggers are now facing rapid increases in fuel costs. Almost every piece of equipment needed to clear timber requires fuel: equipment for felling and bunching, cutting, removing limbs, debarking, and chipping all run on gas or diesel. Then there are the trucks that transport the product to the mills. Not only fuel, but petroleum-derived engine oil and tires also drive up maintenance costs. Some mills are paying loggers a little extra to help compensate for higher fuel costs, but usually those adjustments are “slow to react,” kicking in after the logger has already absorbed the bulk of added cost, said Crad Jaynes, president of the state’s Timber Producers Association. And mills sometimes don’t adjust what they’ll pay because they’ve signed a contract for the price, leaving loggers with few ways to recoup costs. Before the recession, more than 40,000 people were employed in jobs related to forestry, including loggers, mill workers, truckers, contractors, tree planters, and others, said Tim Adams, director of resource development for the South Carolina Forestry Commission. About 4,200 of those jobs were in logging and trucking. They contributed to a $17.4 billion industry, Adams said. A more recent report isn’t available, but Jaynes believes logging contractors have dropped by a third in more than a decade. “I’m afraid we’re going to see more of our logging force go by the wayside.” Farms fare better When Chester farmer Rusty Darby harvests what he expects to be 300 to 400 acres of wheat in coming months, he, too, will have no control of how much the flour mill will pay. Fortunately, agriculture hasn’t been hit as hard as other markets, he said. “There’s been a world of demand for agricultural products, so we’ve seen a rise in our prices,” he said. But it will surely cost more to drive truckloads of wheat more than 100 miles to the flour mill. At 6 miles to the gallon, the costs add up. Darby also runs a wholesale fuel business as a way to decrease costs for his farming operation. In just three days, Darby’s cost for fuel increased by 30 cents a gallon. ‘Bouncing’ costs At the Farmers Exchange on Cherry Road, owner Bynum Poe is confident his family business of 70 years will get through the crunch. “We just have to tough it out. Hopefully, you’re not in a position where you’re overextended,” Poe said. The Farmers Exchange sells a lot of fertilizer, cornbased animal feed, and seeds and materials for growing vegetable gardens. In a way, the business has benefited from a growing interest in backyard vegetable gardening brought on by groceries being more expense now that fuel costs are higher.—MCT

Mideast unrest causes price volatility, uncertain growth outlook Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city and the hub of its oil sector, is pictured on January 17, 2011. The unrest that sweeps the Middle East, especially Libya, has fuelled a new crisis in the region’s oil sector impacting prices across the consumer countries. —MCT as prices have hit a 28-month high while national customer satisfaction has sunk to its lowest levels in two years. Analysts aren’t calling it a coincidence. Oil and gas prices have spiked in recent weeks amidst political unrest in the Middle East and more recently Libya, which supplies more than 1.6 million barrels of crude per day, according to AAA Auto Club South. “It’s really up in the air right now,” said AAA spokeswoman Jessica Brady about predicting when prices will level again. “With all that’s going on in that part of the world, it’s almost impossible to predict.” The national average for a gallon of regular gas as of was $3.35 last week. It’s slightly higher in Florida at $3.38. Consumers saw an increase of more than 23 cents in one week, according to AAA statistics. Additionally, crude oil settled Friday at $97.88 a barrel at close of the New York Mercantile Exchanges-an increase of $11.68 compared to the previous week. “It’s just too damned expensive,” said Don Lupichuck, who was filling the tank of his vehicle Tuesday afternoon at the RaceTrac along State Road 50 near Brooksville. “It’s put a damper in my budget that’s for sure. Gas prices seem to go up faster than they go down.” The American Consumer Satisfaction Index reported this week that the unrest in the Middle East is causing “oil price volatility,” which in turn will make satis-

faction recovery for the industry “far from certain.” The same goes for the rest of the economy, said Sean Snaith, the director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida. “This is definitely a growing concern,” he said. “At our current levels, we can weather the storm; but if prices keep going up, that could put our recovery in jeopardy.” Gasoline prices, if they remain in the $3.20 to $3.40 range, might “trim a little bit off the top of our recovery,” Snaith said, but more damage will be done if they approach 2008 levels. The fact customers underwent such a sudden and dramatic sticker shock at the pumps less than three years ago could mean they are less likely to be shocked this time, said Brady. “At this point, people might be going, ‘I’ve seen this before and I’ve managed,’” she said, “but the consumer is definitely uneasy. The fear of $4 (per gallon) is going to hit a lot harder once we get to that $3.50 mark.” A J Murray, who also was filling his tank at the Brooksville-area RaceTrac, said two major price scares in less than three years should be enough for the American consumer to demand new sources of energy. “I think it’s all because of our dependency on oil,” Murray said. “We have the technology to not be so dependent on it ... The automotive industry and our politicians aren’t being honest with us when they tell us we need it so much.” —MCT

Business FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Moody’s downgrades Spain credit rating MADRID: Moody’s sliced Spain’s credit rating yesterday and warned it may do so again, pounding financial markets as it raised the alarm over Spanish banking woes and spendthrift regions. New York-based Moody’s cut the long-term debt rating by a notch to “Aa2” with a negative outlook, a serious setback to Spain’s efforts to quell fears it may need an international financial rescue. The downgrade came on the eve of a eurozone summit in Brussels to discuss bolstering the euro’s defences amid growing speculation that weak member states such as Portugal may follow Ireland and Greece and need massive bailouts. Spain’s government bristled at the decision. Moody’s could have resolved its doubts over the cost of recapitalising the banks “simply by waiting until this afternoon for the Bank of Spain to confirm the necessary amounts,” Finance Minister Elena Salgado said. The finance minister agreed however that more should be done to control spending by semiautonomous regional governments. Markets tumbled after the Moody’s announcement, which followed a three-month review of Spain’s credit. The agency withdrew its top-notch “Aaa” rating from Spain in September, a few months after its rivals Standard & Poor’s and Fitch had done so. The euro traded at $1.3828 a few hours after the Moody’s downgrade from $1.3868 beforehand. The Madrid stock market’s IBEX-35 index slipped 1.30 percent to 10,422.0 in early afternoon. The annual interest rate, or yield, demanded by the market in return for buying Spanish 10-year bonds rose to 5.51 percent from the previous day’s close of 5.48 percent, approaching what are seen as punitive levels at six percent. Moody’s Investors Service expressed scepticism about Madrid’s assumption it can clean up savings banks’ balance sheets at a cost of less than 20 billion euros ($28 billion). “The eventual cost of bank restructuring will exceed the government’s current assumptions, leading to a further increase in the public debt ratio,” it said in a statement. Spain’s savings banks are still struggling under the weight of loans that turned sour after the 2008 property bubble collapse and Moody’s put the price of cleaning up those balance sheets at 50 billion euros. The agency said it also had concerns over Spain’s efforts to create sustainable public finances, given the limits of Madrid’s control over the regional governments’ spending. French bank Natixis’ Spanish analyst Jesus Castillo said the costs of recapitalising the banks should be manageable, even if higher than expected, but warned that the big problem was weak economic growth. “We are more concerned by the ability of the Spanish economy to recover a solid growth path able to reduce the large unemployment rate-more than 20 percent at the end of 2010 — and to allow a fiscal consolidation in the mid term,” Castillo said. Madrid has raised sales taxes, frozen old age pensions, cut public workers’ wages by five percent, forced banks to strengthen their balance sheets, raised the retirement age and made it easier for firms to hire and fire. The government said last week it had trimmed the public deficit to 9.24 percent of total economic output in 2010 from 11.1 percent in 2009, narrowly beating its target of 9.3 percent. It has vowed to drive its public deficit below the European Union limit of 3.0 percent of gross domestic product by 2013. — Reuters

Oil futures slump on strong dollar Focus remains on Libya as violence escalates LONDON: Crude oil futures slumped

yesterday as the dollar index strengthened on fresh euro zone credit woes, while the focus remained on Libya, where the escalating violence triggered fears that the country’s oil infrastructure could suffer long-lasting damage. Both Brent and US light crude benchmarks fell by more than $2 earlier in the session. By 1340 GMT, Brent futures for April pared back some losses, down $1.40 to $114.54 a barrel. US crude futures recouped some of the losses by the same time, down $1.47 to $102.91. “Concerns about the eurozone debt crisis have come back to the surface after the downgrade of Spain,” Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said. “But I wouldn’t expect it to continue, it could be a short- term blip, as the general direction is upwards because of the continued supply risk in Libya and tomorrow’s day of rage in Saudi Arabia.” A fall in the euro on the back of Moody’s downgrade of Spain’s sovereign debt pushed the dollar index higher. A stronger greenback typically renders dollar-denominated commodities such as oil and gold more expensive. The focus remained on Libya, where tanks fired on rebel positions around the oil port of Ras Lanuf and warplanes hit another oil hub further east yesterday as Muammar Gaddafi carried counter-attacks deeper into the insurgent heartland. “What we are looking at is possible damages to the oil installations. Up to now we still had the residually opti-

NEW YORK: In this file photo taken Feb. 25, 2011, trader Stephen Guilfoyle uses his handheld device as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. — AP

mistic scenario, but if oil installations are being damaged, there is a completely diﬀerent situation. We may have to restructure everything in the medium term to adapt to a substitute to Libyan oil”, Christophe Barret from CA CIB said. “It means Libya could remain out of the picture for a long time.” An oﬃcial from the East Libya oil company AGOCO told Reuters the company was making arrangements to market oil directly to foreign buyers, instead of through its stateowned parent. The oil port of Brega ran out of crude oil stocks, forcing crude tankers

to cancel shipments or travel to Saudi Arabia, a source told Reuters. Libya turned away an oil tanker hired by Chinese oil trading ﬁrm Unipec to lift 2.0 million barrels of Es Sider crude, a trading source said yesterday. “The large explosions and enormous columns of smoke from storage tanks and other facilities in Ras Lanuf, close to the Es Sider terminal, are perhaps more than merely symbolic,” Barclays Capital oil analysts headed by Paul Horsnell said. “They represent a ﬁnal fading of any residual realistic hope that the outage of Libyan oil could prove to be anything other than prolonged.” —Reuters

Sony to reorganize key businesses

TOKYO: Office workers leave the headquarters of Sony Corp. in Tokyo yesterday. Sony said yesterday it will reorganize its main electronics businesses and promote the star of its gaming operations to lead a new consumer products division. — AP

TOKYO: Sony Corp. said yesterday it will reorganize its main electronics businesses and promote the star of its gaming operations to lead a new consumer products division. The massive new consumer group will be led by Kazuo Hirai, a rising executive who has overseen a recovery in Sony’s video game business. The move likely sets the stage for him to one day take over for current CEO Howard Stringer. The board will be watching Hirai’s performance, Stringer said. But he denied he was stepping down any time soon to make way for a new chief executive. “We haven’t made up our mind on who our next president or CEO will be,” he told reporters at Tokyo headquarters, while praising Hirai as loyal and charming. The iconic company said it will combine the vast array of products that have made it famous with consumers — including TVs, video games, PCs and mobile phones — into the group. A second main division will be formed with the company’s digital components and business-facing products. Tokyo-based Sony remains a household brand name, but has lost much of the glow from years past, when products like its Walkman portable music players transformed the electronics industry. It is currently struggling against ﬂashier rivals like Apple Inc. and behemoth competitors like Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. — AFP

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UK signals end to final salary public pensions LONDON: Public sector pensions in Britain will be delinked from final salaries, a review recommended, contributing estimated savings of 8 billion pounds to government efforts to eliminate a record budget deficit. The review, published yesterday and expected to be broadly adopted by the ConservativeLiberal Democrat coalition by 2015, is likely to prompt a wave of industrial action, unions warned. As expected, the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission, chaired by former opposition cabinet minister Lord John Hutton, recommended a switch to the less generous terms of pensions based on career average salaries, which it said would favour workers on low pay. It also called for an end to public sector retirements below 60 years of age. “Lord Hutton is wise to propose a clean break from the past by recommending closing all accrual in final salary schemes,” said John Cridland, director general of employers’ association CBI. Government statistics show that, in 2009, 12.7 million workers and pensioners were members of public pension schemes, most based on final

salaries. Final-salary pension promises already earned would be honoured, the report said. This type of pension, financed partly by the taxpayer, has been deemed unsustainable and unfair given the less generous deals most private sector workers get. But trade union Unison said yesterday that Hutton’s recommendations were likely to bring closer the threat of a wave of strikes in the public sector. “The government is expecting public sector workers to pay the price of the excesses of the bankers who caused the deficit,” said the union’s general secretary Dave Prentis. The new pension terms could be introduced before the end of the current parliament in 2015, allowing a longer transition period for groups such as the armed forces and the police. Independent consultant John Ralfe told Reuters on Wednesdaythat the switch to career average pensions together with an re-indexation to consumer rather than retail prices would knock 8 billion pounds off annual public pension costs of about 30 billion. The re-indexation alone will save 6 billion, he said. Lord Hutton was appointed by finance minister George Osborne last June to devise ways to

cut costs and make public pensions more sustainable as the government seeks to cut a deficit of almost 150 billion pounds by around 30 billion pounds in each of the next three years. But the report shied away from fixing the retirement age at 65 for all public workers, which had been seen by the industry as an option. Ralfe said that could have saved the government a further 6 billion pounds a year. It recommended a pension age of 60 for the armed forces, police and firefighters, who can currently retire before 60, and a standard retirement age linked to the state pension age, which will rise to 66 for both men and women by 2020. The age increase was “unavoidable” given improving life expectancy, which meant higher pensions costs, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said late on Wednesday. “These proposals aim to strike a balanced deal between public service workers and the taxpayer,” Hutton said. But the general secretary of trade union RMT, Bob Crow, said they would be “the spark that lights the blue touch paper of co-ordinated strike action.” The government is expected to comment on the report later yesterday. — Reuters

China, Russia drive growth in world’s billionaires Mexican Carlos Slim retains crown as world’s richest man Carlos Slim and top 25 billionaires list NEW YORK: Herewith the top 25 richest billionaires, with country of citizenship and main company or other source of wealth, according to Forbes magazine’s 2011 list: 1. Carlos Slim Helu. Mexico. Telecom. $74 billion. 2. Bill Gates. United States. Microsoft. $56 billion. 3. Warren Buﬀett. United States. Berkshire Hathaway. $50 billion. 4. Bernard Arnault. France. LVMH. $41 billion. 5. Larry Ellison. United States. Oracle. $39.5 billion. 6. Lakshmi Mittal. India. Steel. $31.1 billion. 7. Amancio Ortega. Spain. Zara. $31 billion. 8. Eike Batista. Brazil. Mining, oil. $30 billion. 9. Mukesh Ambani. India. Oil and gas. $27 billion. 10. Christy Walton and family. United States. Wal-Mart. $26.5 billion. 11. Li Ka-shing. Hong Kong. Diversiﬁed. $26 billion. 12. Karl Albrecht. Germany. Aldi. $25.5 billion. 13. Stefan Persson. Sweden. H&M. $24.5 billion. 14. Vladimir Lisin. Russia. Steel. $24 billion. 15. Liliane Bettencourt. France. L’Oreal. $23.5 billion. 16. Sheldon Adelson. United States. Casinos, hotels. $23.3 billion. 17. David Thomson and family. Canada. Media. $23 billion. 18. Charles Koch. United States. Manufacturing, energy. $22 billion. 18. David Koch. United States. Manufacturing, energy. $22 billion. 20. Jim Walton. United States. Walmart. $21.3 billion. 21. Alice Walton. United States. Walmart. $21.2 billion. 22. S. Robson Walton. United States. Walmart $21 billion. 23. Kwok Thomas and Raymond and family. Hong Kong. Real estate. $20 billion. 24. Sergey Brin. United States. Google. $19.8 billion. 25. Larry Page. United States. Google. $19.8 billion. — AFP

NEW YORK: Rising global commodities prices and Asia’s economic boom led to a big increase in the number of billionaires in Russia, China and Brazil in 2011. China nearly doubled its number of billionaires to 115, while Russia and Brazil posted two-third jumps to 101 and 30, respectively, Forbes said in its annual list of the world’s richest people. It was the first time any country outside the United States, which has 413 billionaires, had more than 100. Moscow is now home to the most people on the list with 79 billionaires, easily outstripping New York, which has just 58. The world’s richest man, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, retained his crown for the second year in a row and made more money than any of the other 1,209 billionaires in the past year: $20.5 billion, taking his fortune to $74 billion. Russia’s billionaire growth was attributed to a commodities boom. Brazil also benefited from higher commodity prices, as well as stricter disclosure rules and a stronger currency. In China and India, which has 55 billionaires after adding six, strong economies helped create wealth from a range of sectors. “The bottom line is BRICs, commodities and Asia Pacific,” Forbes Chief Executive Steve Forbes told a news conference on Wednesday. “There is a global commodities boom. But as we should have learned ... commodities can go up very sharply, they can go down very sharply.” The

Reuters Jeﬀeries CRB commodities index rose 17 percent last year and is up another 8 percent this year as copper and gold hit record highs, grains

PARIS: A picture taken on July 29, 2008 in Paris shows French luxury goods group LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault posing. Forbes Magazine, placed Arnault as the fourth richest man, worth $41 billion, yesterday. — AFP

are near their 2008 peaks and, most recently, oil surged beyond $100 a barrel. Brazil, Russia, India and China produced half the world’s 214 new billionaires, double last year’s 97 newcomers. Among the newbies in the Forbes list are four billionaires whose fortunes are tied to social networking

site Facebook- co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin and investors Yuri Milner and Sean Parker. They join Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who soared to No. 52 from No. 212 and now has an estimated worth of $13.5 billion, and Facebook investor Peter Thiel, who was also previously on the list. One of the biggest movers up the list was US casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who posted the biggest increase in wealth behind Slim. He is worth $23.3 billion, up from $14 billion, and soared to No. 16 from No. 73 last year in a remarkable turnaround for a businessman whose Las Vegas Sands Corp came close to defaulting on its debt in 2008. While India’s number of billionaires did not increase much, their “average net worth ... is huge — $4.5 billion for an Indian billionaire versus $2.5 billion for a Chinese billionaire,” said Forbes. Russia is also trumping China with 15 billionaires in the top 100, compared to China’s one, while India has seven and Brazil three. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates held on to second place, growing his wealth to $56 billion from $53 billion last year, and investor Warren Buﬀett again came in third with $50 billion, up from $47 billion. Buﬀett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc has fared better than Gates’ Microsoft. Microsoft shares now trade about where they were a decade ago, while Berkshire shares have roughly doubled. —Reuters

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Bahrain banks operating normally ABU DHABI: Bahrain’s banks are operating as usual and there has been no adverse impact from the protests that have gripped the kingdom now for nearly a month, the Gulf Arab country’s central bank governor said yesterday. Echoing comments he made two weeks ago, Bahrain Central Bank Governor Rasheed al-Maraj said on the sidelines of a regional central bankers’ meeting the country would still push forward with a planned $1 billion bond issue. “We have not decided on the timing yet. The plan is still on but we will have to enter the market at the right time,” Maraj told reporters. He added that Bahrain had not yet mandated banks for its planned $1 billion bond issue. “This is part of our budgetary process,” Maraj said.

Bahrain is facing rising expenditures on social items such as subsidies and government houses in a bid to counter protests by its disgruntled Shi’ite population. Protesters emboldened by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt took to the streets a month ago, and before the situation settled into a bloodless impasse, seven people were killed during an initial crackdown. Maraj also said Bahraini banks were operating normal. Thousands of protesters occupy a central square in Manama and launch almost daily, but peaceful, marches to government buildings. But bankers and analysts say Bahraini banks will be impacted by the impact as international banks could cut ﬁnancing lines and local companies in particular in the

tourism and retail sector could be forced into debt restructurings. Rating agencies have lowered Bahrain’s sovereign ratings as well as their ratings on some Bahraini banks due to the unrest. Retail lender Bahrain Islamic Bank <BISB.BH> postponed a planned $143 million rights issue planned for this week. The United Arab Emirates Central Bank Governor Sultan Nasser Al-Suweidi also said the country had seen no capital outﬂows due to unrest in the region. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — a lose economic and political bloc that also includes Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar-is currently discussing an aid package for Bahrain and Oman that has also seen some protests. — Reuters

Markets extend gains as volatility eases State funds buy Kuwait bluechips

SEOUL: A South Korean woman walks past an advertisement for a lending interest rate at a bank in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. South Korea’s central bank raised its key interest rate for the second time in three months. The letters at the top read: “Cut down your lending interest rate, and cut it one more time!” — AP

DUBAI: Gulf Arab markets edged higher yesterday, extending a week-long rebound as investors became more comfortable with heightened geopolitical risk and stock volatility eased. “The market was overdone to the downside, so we saw a strong rebound and it will return to levels where daily moves of 1 to 2 percent will again be the norm,” said Robert Pramberger, acting head of asset management at Doha’s The First Investor. “When people are less worried, more long-term investors will come in.” Qatar’s index, bolstered by the country’s buoyant economy, took its weekly gains to 9.9 percent. “The fundamental factors that underpin growth prospects are still intact, given the high oil prices and the ambitious economic and social programs put forth by the regional governments,” said Shakeel Sarwar, head of asset management at Securities & Investment Co (SICO) in Bahrain. “Markets are likely to be up for the year.” Industries Qatar (IQ) climbed 1.2 percent, with the chemicals producer likely to beneﬁt from oil price gains. “Although Industries Qatar’s (IQ) fourth-quarter earnings were a disappointment, we’re looking for a very good 2011 for the company,” said Ankit Gupta, senior research analyst at Securities & Investment Co (SICO) in Bahrain. He forecast IQ’s full-year earnings would rise 30 percent this year, while the stock is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of less than 10. Kuwait state funds have been buying heavyweight stocks this week, said Naser al-Naﬁsi, general manager for Al Joman Center for Economic Consultancy in Kuwait, with rising volumes - Thursday’s trade was a three-week high - helping the country’s index rally from Monday’s six-year low.

Gulf Bank and Burgan Bank climbed 6.1 and 4.3 percent respectively. “When there is government intervention, it’s usually concentrated on banks and other blue-chips,” said Nafisi. “Kuwait was under pressure to follow Saudi Arabia, which stepped in heavily to invest in its market, but Saudi is in a difficult situation, with critical political issues.” Conversely, Saudi firms were trading at attractive levels and so offered a good buying opportunity for state funds, but the Kuwait investment case is less favourable, Nafisi said, with many shell companies listed on the market and lower corporate governance standards. “Kuwait has no real worries about political risk - these are there every day, but are well known-in other countries these risks are hidden yet could explode at any time,” Nafisi said. Oman trading fell by nearly half from a day earlier, with retail traders wary ahead of planned protests in Saudi Arabia on Friday, said Adel Nasr, United Securities brokerage manager. “If nothing happens, then I think we will have a very strong rebound in Oman next week,” he said. Institutions accounted for about 60 percent on Oman’s trading this week, up from 45 percent last week, Nasr added. More than 32,000 people have backed a call on Facebook to hold two demonstrations in Saudi Arabia this month, the first on March 11 and then March 20, while authorities have said protests would not be tolerated. “To buy now you have to be sure that nothing will happen in Saudi Arabia, but whether you can say that with any certainty remains to be seen,” said Matthew Wakeman, EFGHermes managing director for cash and equity-linked trading. “The whole situation is very fluid and it could change overnight or over the weekend.” — Reuters

Philippine FDI plunges in 2010 MANILA: Foreign direct investment in the Philippines plunged 12.7 percent last year amid the European debt crisis and inflation concerns in emerging markets, the central bank said yesterday. “Equity capital investments in new and existing projects moderated... as investor sentiment was generally marked by cautiousness amid uncertainties surrounding the sovereign debt crisis in some parts of Europe,” it said. Tensions in the Korean peninsula, asset price bubbles and fears of economic overheating were also key factors as FDI flows dropped 12.7 percent from a year earlier to $1.7 billion, the bank said in a statement. In 2009 FDI flows rose 27.1 percent from a year earlier to $1.96 billion, the central bank said. President Benigno Aquino’s eight-month-old government hopes to drive capital flows back this year with an ambitious plan to attract more than $1 billion of private sector investment in toll road and rail projects across Manila. Formal bid invitations are set to be sent out in late March and early April. — AFP

SEOUL: South Korean models pose with Hyundai Motor’s new compact car, the Veloster, during its unveiling in Seoul yesterday. — AFP

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Oil futures slump on strong dollar, eyes on Libya

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China, Russia drive growth in world’s billionaires PAGE 19

MADISON: Opponents to the governor’s bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers have retaken over the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., yesterday. — AP

Wisconsin Republicans cut collective bargaining Bill will now go to the Assembly MADISON: The Wisconsin Senate succeeded in voting to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, after Republicans discovered a way to bypass the chamber’s missing Democrats and approve an explosive proposal that has rocked the state and unions nationwide. “You are cowards!” spectators in the Senate gallery screamed as lawmakers voted. Within hours, a crowd of a few hundred protesters had grown to several thousand. “The whole world is watching!” they shouted as they pressed up against the heavily guarded entrance to the Senate chamber. All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget-repair bill” — a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall. The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday took all the spending measures out of the legislation and a special committee of lawmakers from both the Senate and Assembly approved the revised bill a short time later. The unexpected yet surprisingly simple procedural move ended a stalemate that had threatened to drag on indefinitely. Until Wednesday’s stunning vote, it appeared the standoff would persist until Democrats

returned to Madison from their self-imposed exile. “In 30 minutes, 18 state Senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin. Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten,” said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller. “Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people.” The state Assembly previously approved the entire proposal and was set to consider the new measure on Thursday. Miller said in an interview with The Associated Press there is nothing Democrats can do now to stop the bill: “It’s a done deal.” The bill, though affecting only one state, had become a key test for Republicans who made huge gains in November elections by promising to slash government spending at the national and state level in an effort to boost the economy. Efforts to defeat the the bill had been crucial to public-sector unions, an important part of the Democratic base. Obama and other Democrats need the enthusiastic support of unions in the 2012 elections — especially in swing states like Wisconsin. The lone Democrat present on the special committee, Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, shouted that the meeting was a violation of the state’s open meetings law. Republicans voted over his objections, and the

Senate convened within minutes and passed the measure 18-1 without discussion or debate. Republican Sen. Dale Schultz cast the lone no vote. “The jig is now up,” Barca said. “The fraud on the people of Wisconsin is now clear.” Walker had repeatedly argued that collective bargaining was a budget issue, because his proposed changes would give local governments the flexibility to confront budget cuts needed to close the state’s $3.6 billion deficit. He has said that without the changes, he may have needed to lay off 1,500 state workers and make other cuts to balance the budget. Walker said Wednesday night that Democrats had three weeks to debate the bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come back, but refused. “I applaud the Legislature’s action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government,” Walker said in the statement. The measure approved Wednesday forbids most government workers from collectively bargaining for wage increases beyond the rate of inflation. It also requires public workers to pay more toward their pensions and double their health insurance contribution, a combination equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut for the average worker. Police and firefighters are exempt. — AP

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Chinese gaze in awe at rise in billionaires BEIJING: China may be struggling with growing income disparities, yet when it comes to making a fortune, many Chinese still believe that to get rich is glorious, especially if you are an entrepreneur. Thanks to its booming economy - now the world’s second largest - China has nearly doubled its number of billionaires to 115, according to the Forbes annual list of the world’s richest people. “I think it’s a good thing. It shows that China is getting richer and there will be fewer poor people,” said Wang Fu, 23, a delivery boy working in China’s commercial capital Shanghai. The topic has already become one of the most talked-about subjects on Sina’s Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging service, with many praising the rise of the new wealthy. “More power to the Chinese for their rapid climb up the ranks of the rich list,” wrote Hebei Jade Dragon. Robin Li, the man behind the popular search engine Baidu , is listed with an estimated wealth of $9.4 bil-

lion, topping the list in China, generating much acclaim from the country’s enthusiastic Internet users. “He’s handsome, rich and young. Wow,” wrote Rainy Pavilion. “I’m currently at high school, and I really want to be like you! I idolise you, and I’m sure that one day not too far in the future I will surpass you,” wrote one anonymous poster on Chinese Web portal sina.com. Still, the country has a complex relationship with magnates. Once vilified as evil capitalist exploiters, the ruling Communist Party now goes out of its way to lavish attention on them and bring them in to the political system. High profile cases in recent years of the very rich being jailed for corruption or other offences have dragged many names and reputations into the mud. Widely publicised cases of rich Chinese treating their poorer countryfolk with disdain has also generated heated debate. Traffic accidents between luxurious cars and farmers have made headlines. But

what is generally not talked about in Communist Party-ruled China is the wealth of those connected with the senior leadership, a taboo subject. “What about the wealth of the Standing Committee?” wrote one user on the online bulletin board of Beijing’s elite Tsinghua University, referring to China’s ruling inner circle. “Are their relatives being rated too?” In Taiwan, which China has long claimed as a renegade province, the Forbes list showed an increase in the number of billionaires to 25 from 18, largely thanks to political rapprochement with Beijing in recent years. Most on the list remained the old families that control Taiwan’s top ﬁrms, but the global smartphone craze resulted in a new richest person, HTC Chairman Cher Wang and her husband, who run the components maker turned smartphone company. She topped iPhone maker Hon Hai’s founder Terry Gou from the top spot. One newcomer to the list can thank

Apple for his 883rd world placing Michael Chiang, chairman of TPK Holdings, which makes touch screens for Apple’s most popular devices. On the mainland, some rich Chinese are deeply involved in charity, but others wondered about philanthropic contributions, which have yet to reach the scale of Western billionaires. China’s 50 most generous individuals donated $1.2 billion in 2009, according to the 2010 Hurun Philanthropy List. “Those who are rich but uncharitable, that’s what I’m most interested in,” wrote Wang Hong CN on renren.com, a Chinese version of Facebook. Yet the real number of billionaires could be a lot higher, due to the reticence of some Chinese to reveal the true extent of their wealth, fearful of attracting unwanted government attention, or wanting to hide their links with government. “This has ignored the full strength of China,” wrote a Weibo user called Lixin629 of the Forbes report. —Reuters

Dalai Lama to quit as Tibet political leader Devolving power seen as modernising exiled movement

KABUL: An Afghan laborer takes a rest as he waits to be hired yesterday. — AP

Afghan villagers say cops killed 5 civilians KANDAHAR: A few dozen villagers shouted and protested in Afghanistan’s main southern city yesterday, accusing the police of killing five civilians in a raid overnight. Meanwhile, Afghan and NATO officials said they were investigating whether German troops accidentally killed an Afghan civilian woman during a battle in the north of the country. Gulamn Mohyuddin, police chief of Chardara district in northern Kunduz province, said that the woman appeared to have been killed by a stray bullet Wednesday morning. NATO said in a statement that a woman was brought to international forces with a fatal head wound but added that she was found nearly more than 1.3 km from the area where international troops battled insurgent gunmen. NATO said the investigation is ongoing. In the demonstration in the south, between 30 and 60 villagers protested outside the house of the provincial governor in Kandahar. The villagers had with them three bodies of men they said were slain by police in Pashmol village in nearby Zhari district late Wednesday. They said two women were also killed by the police. Local government officials confirmed an incident in Pashmol but said that it was a police operation targeting known insurgents and that the men who were killed had fired on the officers. It is often difficult to distinguish actual civilian deaths from insurgent propaganda in the volatile south, where many villages are loyal to the Taleban. —AP

DHARAMSALA, India: The Dalai Lama said yesterday he would step down as Tibet’s political leader, a move seen as transforming the government-in-exile into a more assertive and democratic body in the face of Chinese pressure. By devolving his powers, the Dalai Lama would give the prime minister greater clout as the region seeks autonomy from China. Tibetans will vote for a new prime minister this month, with the elections seen as ushering in a generation of younger, secular leaders and strengthening the movement’s global standing. “As early as the 1960s, I have repeatedly stressed that Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power,” the Dalai Lama said in his annual speech marking 52 years since he ﬂed Tibet after a failed uprising against the Chinese. “Now, we have clearly reached the time to put this into eﬀect,” he told a subdued crowd of 2,000 monks and Tibetans. The Dalai Lama, whose announcement was widely expected, will remain Tibet’s spiritual leader and continue to advocate “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet from the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, where he has lived in exile since 1959. The prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, told reporters yesterdaty it was not clear if the parliament would accept the Dalai Lama’s resignation and warned of a constitu-

DHARAMSALA, India: The Dalai Lama reads a statement from the Tibetan parliament-in-exile during a ceremony marking the 52nd anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule at the Tsuglakhang Temple in Mcleod Ganj yesterday. — AFP

tional deadlock. China, which regards the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist responsible for stirring unrest in Tibet, denounced his resignation as a “trick”. “The Dalai Lama uses religion as a disguise and he is a political exile who has been carrying out separatist activities for a long time,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. “For years he has been expressing his intention to retire. We think these are tricks to deceive the international community.” By divesting his political powers, Dalai, 75, Lama has made it more diﬃ-

cult for China to influence the course of the independence movement after his death, analysts say. The Chinese government says it has to approve all reincarnations of living Buddhas, or senior religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism. It also says China has to sign off on the choosing of the next Dalai Lama. Tibetans fear that China will use the thorny issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession to split the movement, with one new Lama named by the exiles and one by China after his death. A new Dalai Lama would need decades before they could lead the movement. —Reuters

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Actor with HIV allowed to enter Philippines MANILA: The Philippine immigration chief said yesterday he has rescinded an order barring a movie and theater actor who is HIV positive from entering the country, calling it a mistake and violation of the government’s international commitments. FilipinoAustralian actor Marcelino Cavestany said he was unaware he had been banned and shocked when immigration oﬃcers at the Manila airport stopped him upon arrival from Australia on Sunday because his name appeared on an immigration blacklist. Cavestany told GMA television that he has been living with HIV for

the past 12 years and has been an activist since 2006, using theater to promote AIDS awareness among Filipinos. The Philippine Commission on Human Rights said Thursday it was “dismayed and deeply alarmed” by the blacklisting. It said it was “unacceptable and illegal,” citing a 1998 Philippine law that guarantees HIV positive individuals freedom to travel. “Ironically, Mr Cavestany had intended to travel to the Philippines to help educate Filipinos on the eﬀects of AIDS,” the commission said. The actor played a role in the 2005 movie “The Great Raid,” about a

World War II mission to liberate Allied prisoners from a Japanese war camp in the Philippines. Immigration Commissioner Ronaldo Ledesma said Cavestany’s inclusion on the list was a violation of the Philippines’ international commitment to allow freedom of travel of persons infected with HIV/AIDS. Ledesma said Cavestany was free to enter and leave the country, and his name was expunged from the list on Tuesday. He said that his predecessor, Marcelino Libanan, included Cavestany on the list last year because an oﬃcial of the government’s Culture and Arts Commission

claimed the actor had intended to spread HIV. That oﬃcial was unavailable for comment yesterday. The 2010 ban on Cavestany failed to consider that the Philippines was party to the 1994 Paris Declaration on AIDS that guarantees people with the disease freedom of travel, Ledesma said. In Southeast Asia, the Philippines is among the countries with low but rapidly increasing HIV prevalence rates. Out of a population of 94 million, 8,700 are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. Infections have jumped by 25 percent in the last decade, according to the UN. — AP

24 dead, 207 injured in China earthquake Houses collapse, power cut

NAHA, Japan: US Ambassador to Japan John Roos (left) meets with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima in Okinawa Prefecture yesterday to offer an apology for remarks about Okinawa by the US State Department’s Japan desk head Kevin Maher. — AFP

US sacks diplomat over Okinawa slurs TOKYO: The United States yesterday sacked a senior diplomat who infuriated Japan with reported slurs against the people of Okinawa island, which has reluctantly hosted American forces since World War II. The State Department’s Japan desk head Kevin Maher was replaced after he reportedly called Okinawans “lazy” and “masters of manipulation and extortion”, triggering outrage in Tokyo and on the far-southern island. Okinawa, a major WWII battleground, still hosts more than half of the 47,000 US troops stationed in Japan - and anti-base sentiment there has become an irritant in ties between half-century security allies Washington and Tokyo. The United States’ top diplomat for the Asia-Pacific region, Kurt Campbell, on a Tokyo visit Yesterday offered the latest in a string of official US apologies when he met Japan’s new Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto. Campbell told Matsumoto, who took office just a day earlier, that he wanted “personally and on behalf of the US government to convey to you our deepest regret for the current controversy” over the reported statements on Okinawa. “I just want to underscore that these (statements) in no way reflect the attitudes of warmth and gratitude and friendship that the United States has for the people of Okinawa, and we are deeply apologetic for this.” Campbell informed Matsumoto that Maher had been replaced by Rust Deming, whom the US embassy called “a strong friend of Japan”. —AFP

BEIJING: At least 24 people were killed and 207 others injured in an earthquake that struck a remote area of southwest China near the border with Myanmar yesterday, a local official said. The tremor reduced hundreds of houses to rubble, left some desperate residents trapped under buildings and triggered power cuts in the surrounding area of China, though no casualties were reported in Myanmar. The epicentre of the 5.4magnitude quake, which struck at 12:58 pm (0458 GMT), was located about 225 km west-southwest of the ancient city of Dali in Yunnan province, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake hit at a depth of 34 km, the USGS said, though Chinese seismologists put the depth at just 10 km. An official at the local earthquake relief headquarters in Yingjiang county told AFP by telephone that authorities had so far counted 24 dead and 207 injured. Nearly 600 houses or apartments had collapsed in the quake, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing local authorities. Witnesses told the news agency that parts of a supermarket and hotel had caved in, and that people were buried in the debris. State television footage showed people on stretchers out on the streets, some hooked to drips, and survivors being pulled out of debris. The quake triggered power outages in Yingjiang county, Xinhua said, adding that three aftershocks had been registered. Nearly 1,000 soldiers have been sent to join the rescue operation, and authorities have dispatched thousands of tents, blankets, clothes and other items, it said. In Myanmar, official sources said no casualties had been reported yet from the tremor. A massive earthquake rocked the south-

western Chinese province of Sichuan in May 2008, leaving nearly 87,000 people dead or missing. A government team that includes the Civil Aﬀairs Ministry has also been dispatched to the quake-stricken area, state broadcaster China Central

Television said. About 5,000 tents, 10,000 quilts and 10,000 coats are also being sent from the central government. Xinhua said the quake-prone region has been hit by more than 1,000 minor tremors over the past two months. —Agencies

YINGJIANG, China: A man carries the body of a woman who was killed after a 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit this county, in southwest China’s Yunnan province yesterday. — AFP

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Somali pirate made $2.4m from ransoms BOSASSO, Somalia: Only two years after deciding to join in the piracy rampant off the Somalian coast, Saeed Yare is a dollar multi-millionaire. Leaning against the door of his luxury Toyota Landcruiser, one of the latest models in the seaside town of Bosasso, the Yare puffs on a cigarette. “It is not an easy job being a pirate. You gamble with your life, but I enjoy being a piracy tycoon,” says the slim 27-year-old, dressed in a sharp suit he says is Italian. “The piracy business is like a presidential seat, you don’t want to give it up once you taste its sweetness. A friend of mine died in the recent navy operation - but he left one million dollars!” Yare said, referring to a botched rescue attempt that left four US citizens dead. Yare said he made $2.4 million in 2010: $1.2 million for investing in the venture that led to the hijacking of the British-flagged Asian Glory, another $700,000 for Saudi tanker Al Nisr Al Saudi and $500,000 for Bulgarian vessel Panega. “I earned more cash after investing in two operations and personally participating in a separate hijacking, all were successful,” he said. “I spent some of the cash on weapons, private bodyguards, luxury cars, trucks, a boat and three villas. And I still have enough to use until another ship is hijacked.” Armed pirate gangs have made millions of dollars striking at ships in the vast expanse of the

Indian Ocean, as far south as the Seychelles islands and eastwards towards India. Yare abandoned a lucrative trade in khat, a surefire route to amassing riches in the Horn of Africa country, when he saw former fishermen getting even richer by piracy. He befriended a pirate who advised him to “invest” $80,000 to help carry out a hijacking and expect a 50 percent return of $120,000 once ransom was paid. “I got inspired to be a pure pirate in 2009. First, I set off into the sea with them and captured a Saudi oil tanker that made us lick our fingers - a hell of a lot of cash!” Yare was thrust into his father’s trade of fishing at the age of nine and was expected to contribute to the family’s income by the time he became a teenager. He took up selling khat after saving enough to import a batch of the stimulant from neighbouring Kenya. But even returns as high as 300 percent from selling the mild narcotic were not enough for the ambitious young man. He turned to piracy to fuel a flashy lifestyle. The gangs have an agreed formula for splitting their loot hijackers receive 50 percent, investors get 35 percent, and guards on the ship get the remaining 15 percent. Yare said the pirates’ objective was purely money, not to torture or kill their hostages. The shooting of four Americans when special forces

tried to rescue them was because those holding them were pushed to the wall, he said. However, Yare issued a chilling warning for crews of any South Korean and Russian ships that are captured. South Korea’s navy rescued a South Korean chemical ship hijacked by Somali buccaneers in the Arabian Sea, capturing five pirates and killing eight. In a separate incident, Russian forces cut 10 pirates adrift without navigation equipment or much hope of survival after they stormed a tanker the gang was holding. “The South Korean and Russian rescue operations did not aﬀect us, but ... we must take revenge,” Yare said. “We shall be killing Russian and South Korean crew until their navies stop attacks against us.” The bandits’ wealth has pushed up the cost of living in coastal pirate towns such as Garad, Hobyo and Hardheere, but the gangs are philanthropic to the less fortunate, Yare said. “We give residents $200,000 whenever a ship is freed to enable them cope with the changing life. This amount goes to them through local oﬃcials such as clan elders.” Pirate gangs elsewhere are forced to share ransoms with Al-Shabaab Islamist rebels, Al-Qaeda’s proxies in east Africa. “Colleagues in other towns give cash to Islamists in order to continue their business,” he said. “Al Shabaab is just another pirate group.” — Reuters

Illinois scraps death penalty 15 inmates cleared off death row

TUCSON, Arizona: Attorney Judy Clark and defendant Jared Loughner stand before the judge in federal court Wednesday as shown in this artists’ rendering. – AP

Tucson gunman pleads not guilty TUCSON, Arizona: Jared Loughner, the gunman accused of trying to assassinate a US congresswoman and killing six people in Tucson, pleaded not guilty to all 49 new charges against him Wednesday. He entered the pleas in his first court appearance in Tucson itself, after prosecutors announced new indictments against him last week in the Jan 8 Arizona shooting spree targeting lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords. Sitting quietly during the hourlong hearing, the 22-year-old - his hair grown out since his last court appearance, and with long sideburns - listened as the 49 counts including multiple murder charges were read to him. In shackles and dressed in a tan prison jumpsuit, Loughner showed little reaction as Judge Larry Burns heard a lengthy argument seeking public access to records in the case. Loughner smiled as he was led both in and out of the court room. When a court official asked him: “Jared Lee Loughner, is that your true name?” he replied: “Yes, it is,” his voice soft but audible. His lawyer Judy Clarke acknowledged the considerable time before Loughner’s trial would begin. “We are still months away from trial, your honor,” said Clarke, whose past clients include the socalled Unabomber, jailed for life in 1998 after a 17-year campaign of parcel-bomb attacks which killed three people. — AFP

CHICAGO: Illinois abolished the death penalty and pulled 15 inmates off death row Wednesday, a decade after a slew of wrongful convictions led to a moratorium on capital punishment in the midwestern US state. The move is expected to help spur lawmakers and courts in some of the 34 US states with capital punishment still on the books to follow suit. “This is a state that used the death penalty, reconsidered it and now has repealed it,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. “That’s different than a state that hardly ever used the death penalty and decided to get rid of it.” Six states - Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Montana and Washington - are currently considering bills to abolish the death penalty and moratoriums are currently in place in several others. “For me, this was a difficult decision, quite literally the choice between life and death,” Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said after signing the bill into law. Quinn, who had long been a supporter of the death penalty, said he has determined that “our system of imposing the death penalty is inherently flawed” and that there is “no credible evidence” that capital punishment deters crime. Illinois has carried out 12 executions since 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In the same period, 20 inmates have been exonerated from the state’s death row, the second highest number in the United States. “As a state, we cannot tolerate the executions of innocent people because such actions strike at the very legitimacy of a government,” Quinn said in a statement. “Since our experience has shown that there is no way to design a perfect death penalty system, free from the numerous flaws that can lead to wrongful convictions or discriminatory treatment, I have concluded that the proper course of action is to abolish it.” Illinois helped spur a national debate in 1999 after a group of students at Northwestern University were able to prove that a death row inmate was, in fact, innocent. Then-governor George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000 and three years later commuted the sentences of 167 death row inmates to life in prison. Since then, 15 people have been sentenced to die in Illinois, but none have been executed. Those sentences were commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole by Quinn, who took nearly two months to reach a decision celebrated by death-penalty opponents. “By repealing the death penalty, Governor Quinn and the Illinois legislature have taken an historic stand against the systemic injustices

that plague the entire death penalty system in Illinois and the rest of the United States,” said John Holdridge, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Capital Punishment Project. “Executions in this country are carried out as part of an unequal system of justice, in which innocent people are too often sentenced to death and decisions about who lives and who dies are largely dependent upon the skill of their attorneys, the race of their victim, their socioeconomic status and where the crime took place.” Some 138 people sentenced to die have been released from death rows across the United States with evidence of their innocence since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. However, support for the death penalty remains relatively high. Some 64 percent of Americans say they are in favor of the death penalty for people convicted of murder while just 29 percent oppose it, according to Gallup’s annual crime survey. That’s down signiﬁcantly from 1994, when support for the death penalty peaked at 80 percent, but still well above the all-time low of just 42 percent support. When given a choice of sentencing murders to the death penalty or life in prison with no choice of parole, support for the death penalty fell to 49 percent of Gallup’s respondents. There has been a steady shift away from imposing the death penalty at the judicial and legislative levels, and the number of death sentences imposed has fallen by more than 60 percent since the mid 1990s. A dozen US states and the capital Washington did not reinstate the death penalty after it was brieﬂy banned by the Supreme Court in the 1970s.— AFP

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois: Illinois Gov Pat Quinn speakS with reporters in his office after signing legislation abolishing the death penalty at the Illinois State Capitol on Wednesday. — AP

International FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Traffickers seek Mozambican route to S Africa MAPUTO: Kazi Jarangir Alam fled his native Bangladesh in a $11,000 journey over thousands of kilometres and climbed a border fence for a better life in South Africa only to be caught and sent back. Like hundreds of other illegal immigrants, his journey ended in Mozambique, from where authorities say trafficking syndicates are smuggling Asians into South Africa, the continent’s powerhouse and strongest economy. Alam was flown into Mozambique’s capital Maputo, and then quickly crossed into South Africa but was detained in Johannesburg when he asked for asylum. Rather than send him back to Bangladesh, South Africa deported him to Mozambique, where he was held in a transit camp with hundreds of other migrants. Mozambique this week repatriated the last of the 444 detainees from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and China, more than a month after South Africa bussed them back over the border. In a secret phone interview from the Massaca transit camp south of Maputo, Alam explained he left his country because “there are

political problems.” “Bangladesh is a full country. I left for political reasons, others for business,” the 28-year-old told AFP. The head of his political party paid a syndicate for the journey to South Africa, he said. Mozambican authorities say many syndicates could be involved in human trafficking. “This is a direct manifestation of organised crime,” Maputo province police spokesman Joao Machava told journalists during a recent tour of the camp. “We think many syndicates are linked to it. This could be a cell,” he said, as Bangladeshis in worn clothes collected rehydration tablets from the Red Cross. “This is a new phenomenon. In past times it was not normal,” said Machava. Corrupt police and border officials facilitated the process, said Maputo city police spokesman Arnaldo Chefo, noting some officials have already been arrested. During their detention in Mozambique, the haggard migrants were housed in rows of soiled tents in the dusty Massaca camp. Ten tried to escape across a nearby river, but were recaptured. Among those deported

these past weeks were 268 Bangladeshis, 124 Pakistanis, 11 Indians and 41 Chinese. Only 15 were women, all of them Chinese. One of the world’s poorest countries, Mozambique had to raise the funds to repatriate them. The Chinese embassy and the Muslim community in Maputo carried some food and repatriation costs, though other donors are unknown. South Africa, the continent’s richest country, is a magnet for African migrants, but a spate of arrests this year indicate a new wave from Asia. In January, Mozambican police arrested 148 Bangladeshis in a raid around Maputo’s airport. Later that month, a South African farmer discovered 96 Asians on his land just across the border. In February six Indians and six Thais were found trying to enter neighbouring countries illegally through central and northern Mozambican towns. Mozambican police worry those arrested are just a fraction of the migrants trying to get to South Africa. “We have no doubt that this avalanche of people can create national instability,” Chefo said. — AFP

Putin for visa-free US-Russia travel Announcement takes observers by surprise

ROME: Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi holds up a drawing with writing in Italian “Il giusto processo” (the right trial) during a press conference yesterday. Berlusconi has an adhesive bandage on his face after undergoing jaw surgery earlier this week. — AP

Berlusconi cabinet backs justice system overhaul ROME: Italy’s cabinet yesterday adopted a controversial draft bill to overhaul the justice system as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces trials for corruption, a sex crime and abuse of power. The 16-point reform would make judges liable to pay damages in case of judicial errors and restrict the investigative powers of prosecutors, who are often accused of left-wing bias by tycoon-turned-politician Berlusconi. The constitutional reform would need to be approved by two-thirds majorities in both houses of parliament or be put to a popular referendum. Experts say it is highly unlikely the reform will come any time soon as the government only holds a narrow majority in the lower house Chamber of Deputies. The reform is being seen by political experts as part of a fierce battle between Berlusconi and Italy’s prosecutors. The left-wing opposition accuses Berlusconi of creating laws in order to dodge his own prosecution. The Italian leader is set to stand trial on April 6 on charges of having sex with an underage prostitute and then using the power of his office to try and cover up the crime - criminal allegations that he has flatly denied. Asked at the press conference following the cabinet meeting in Rome whether there was any link between the reform and the sex scandal involving a pole dancer known as “Ruby the Heart Stealer” he said: “Absolutely zero.” “We have been planning practically since 1994 when we entered politics,” he said, referring to the year in which he first won a general election. — AFP

MOSCOW: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday proposed to visiting US Vice President Joe Biden that Russia and the United States abolish visas in a “historic” step to seal a revival in ties. Biden’s visit is aimed at building on the “reset” in relations spearheaded by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev but Putin has until now enjoyed less cordial relations with Washington than his successor as Kremlin chief. “If the United States and Russia agree to implement a visa-free regime before Russia and the European Union, then this would be a historic step in our relations,” Putin told Biden. “This would break all the old stereotypes between Russia and the United States. We would turn a very important page and everything would start over. This would create a new moral atmosphere.” The unexpected proposal had not been flagged in advance and appeared another example of Putin’s fondness for taking observers by surprise with unexpected announcements. Efforts by Russia and the EU to agree visa-free travel have continued for years without substantial progress. But this appears to be the first time Putin has suggested cancelling visas with Moscow’s main Cold War foe. Biden praised the improvement in ties overseen by Medvedev and President Barack Obama, saying that the two sides had been failing to exploit the opportunities in relations. “It is not a matter of altruism but in our self-interest and in the self- interest of Russia,” he said. Biden’s reply to the visa proposal idea was not audible to reporters

MOSCOW: Vice President of the United States Joe Biden (left) shakes hands with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday. — AFP

present at the negotiations, although his English-to-Russian translator quoted the US vice president as saying it was a “good idea”. Biden started the day by meeting 19 representatives from Russian rights groups and religious movements that included award-winning campaigner Luydmila Alexeyeva and head of the Memorial human rights centre Oleg Orlov. “He said that the issue of human rights and democracy are extremely important to the United States, and that they keep going back to it,” Alexeyeva

told the Interfax news agency after the meeting. Although such meetings have become a tradition among visiting US oﬃcials, its timing immediately preceding the Putin talks underscored Biden’s desire to demonstrate that Russian civil liberties remained a concern. Rights groups accuse former intelligence agent Putin of orchestrating a clampdown on freedoms during his two terms as president and express fear for Russia’s future should he become Kremlin chief again in 2012 polls. — AFP

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In Syria farmlands, echoes of Egyptian woes TISIA, Syria: Under rainless clouds covering Syria’s strategic Hauran plateau, grave digger Khalil Al-Meqdad toils for 12 hours a day to feed his eight children. “I barely make enough money to buy bread. I keep sinking in debt,” Meqdad said, as he stuck his shovel in the volcanic soil that made Hauran a Middle East bread basket when rain was plentiful during Ottoman times. With its faded vineyards, pomegranate tree groves and historical sites, Hauran is hundreds of miles from the political upheaval shaking the Middle East, and Syrian officials say the unrest will not spread to their country. But Meqdad’s lot is similar to the masses who toppled Tunisia and Egypt’s presidents and who are taking to streets in Yemen and elsewhere, driven by frustration with falling living standards and perpetuation of corrupt autocratic systems they consider an affront to their dignity. Syria, a country of 20 million people, has been ruled by the Baath Party since it took power nearly 50 years ago, imposing emergency law still in force and banning any opposition. Since the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in the last three months, officials have insisted that the government, a self-declared champion of Arab rights and foe of what it describes as Islamic extremism, is “close to the people”. They say gradual economic liberalisation, since President Bashar al-Assad succeeded his late father 11 years ago, has changed Syria, pointing to banks, insurance companies and private schools, in contrast to decades of nationalisation. But parallels with Egypt, which failed to translate economic reform into rising living standards, are hard to ignore. Syria and Egypt have similar gross domestic product per capita at around $2,500. The countries’ official

unemployment rates stand at 10 percent, while independent estimates for Syria’s unemployment range from 15 to 25 percent. In eastern Syria, a water crisis over the past ﬁve years which experts say has been mainly due to state mismanagement of resources has plunged 800,000 people into extreme poverty, according to a 2010 United Nations report. Hundreds of thousands more were displaced. Hauran, which stretches from the south of Damascus across the border into Jordan, has been less hard hit. But Meqdad, who lives with his wife, mother and eight children in a two bedroom abode, can no longer count on agriculture to supplement his meagre income. The 40 donums (40,000 sq m) he used to plant with wheat did not yield enough last year to cover its cost because of lack of rain. He did not plant anything for the 2011 season, expecting another drought. Other farmers have also been hit by poor rains and earlier subsidy cuts. The ministry of agriculture said yields in Hauran’s main agricultural province of Al-Daraa fell by a quarter last year. Youssef Saleh said he lost $4,000 last year on his 500 donums (500,000 sq m), which he planted with wheat. “The crop was so bad that I sold it as animal feed,” he said, adding that it was prohibitive to dig wells because water was 1,000 m under the surface and the price of gas oil, which powers pumps, more than doubled after subsidies on the fuel were lessened three years ago. Samir Aita, a Syrian economist, said the state needed to step up development projects, but it was focusing on promoting business monopolies and “rent seeking” activities such as real estate, as was the case also in Tunisia and Egypt. “Everyone wanted to emulate the ‘Dubai model’ of free trade and real estate zones...forgetting that they have

a population that needs jobs and for whom the growth should be directed. Look what has happened to them,” Aita wrote in a paper published on the Syria Comment website. Wary of potential for unrest despite the iron-fisted grip of the security apparatus, the government last month lowered customs duties on staples and fruits and began distributing cash handouts to 420,000 families. Customs on rice were lowered to 1 percent from 3 percent. Bananas now have a 20 percent tariff, instead of 40 percent. Poor Syrian families can qualify to receive $10 to $70 a month as handouts. Abdallah Salman, who makes $150 a month working as a parking ticket officer for a private company in Bosra, qualified for $70. When he is not at work, Salman begs. “I know people in my own clan who own nice houses who received assistance. Corruption has spread everywhere,” said Salman, who pays $80 a month in rent. Despite the hardships, little is happening on the surface in Syria to indicate that the ruling hierarchy is about to lose its grip. Internet calls for protests went nowhere and a campaign of arrests against independent figures only intensified. Assad, who came to power aged 34, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that reform would have to wait for what he termed as the next generation. But senior officials called in leading opposition figures separately last month to hear their views. “I told them to look at what happened in Tunisia and Egypt. You have to start by releasing the political prisoners, allowing free press and free expression, lifting emergency laws, preparing for free elections,” one opposition figure said. “They kept saying that Syria must maintain stability and national cohesion,” he told Reuters. — Reuters

Saleh offers to devolve power Opposition rejects reforms as ‘too late’

YATTA: Palestinian youths search through a mount of garbage at a dump in this village in southern West Bank on Feb 23, 2011. — AFP

Palestinians eking out living on garbage dump YATTA: Among the gentle slopes of cypress-covered hills near the West Bank city of Hebron is an anomaly, a stinking garbage dump that is workplace and home to dozens of men and boys. The quiet that hangs over neighbouring olive groves, in the far south of the West Bank, is broken here by the shouts of workers, many of them children, and the grinding of a bulldozer covering the picked-over trash with sand and dirt. Overhead the sky is clear and the sun beats down, heating up the detritus of modern life -vegetable scraps, washing liquid bottles, old clothes, cans with dregs of soda in them. The smell produced is overpowering at times, a sickly-sweet stench of rotting organic matter and chemical eﬄuvia, which sticks to clothes and hair despite the light breezes that sweep over the hilltop. At the far end of the hill, created entirely from layers of garbage ploughed over with sand, are makeshift residences - planks of wood with tarpaulin or rubbish bags strapped over

them to provide shelter. For many of those working here, these shacks act as their home during the week, a place they can sleep at night rather than going back to the village of Yatta. And it also means they are on hand to sort out any rubbish that comes in after dark. It is unpleasant, tiring work, but is a rare source of income in the West Bank, where unemployment stands around 15.2 percent. Most of the adult workers here once worked in Israel in the 1990s, but found themselves out of a job as security measures were tightened after the start of the second intifada in 2000. Children ﬁnd themselves here after their families breadwinners are no longer able to provide. “My father worked here, but he fell and hurt his leg and he can’t anymore, so he took me out of school and I’ve worked here ever since,” says 17year-old Mahmud Nabhan. “I was 12 when he took me out of school, but I don’t want to go back. Me and my brother are the ones that earn money for our whole family.”—AFP

SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh bowed yesterday to pressure after a month of violent protests, but his pledge to devolve power to parliament was swiftly rejected as too late by the opposition. Speaking to tens of thousands of people at a stadium in the Sanaa, the veteran leader of the strategic US ally promised to hold a referendum on a new constitution later this year. He also ordered his security forces to ensure the safety of anti-government protesters after weeks of unrest in which some 30 people have been killed, part of a wave of popular unrest that has rewritten the rules of Arab politics. “I propose a new initiative to avoid sedition,” he announced in the nationally televised address, a day after fresh violence saw police open fire on demonstrators near Sanaa University, killing one. He said he would hold a “referendum before the end of the year on a new constitution clearly stipulating the separation of powers” between the president and the parliament. The new charter would “install a parliamentary regime giving all executive powers to a government elected by parliament,” he added. On the surface the announcement amounts to a political earthquake in an impoverished, deeply tribal country that has been smothered in Saleh’s suffocating embrace for 32 years. But the autocratic leader said he expected his offer to be rejected by the opposition, which on Sunday said dialogue was at an end and vowed to step up protests after Saleh refused demands to resign this year. Within an hour of the announcement, a spokesman for the main parliamentary opposition group rejected the promised reforms as “too late,” signalling political unrest will continue. “The president’s initiative is too late and constitutes the last breath of the political regime, which protesters demand an end to,” opposition spokesman Mohammad Al-Sabri told AFP. Demonstrators camped at a square they have dubbed Al-Taghyeer (Change) near Sanaa University also rebuffed Saleh’s offer. “We will only accept the president’s departure,” one of them told the crowd using a microphone. A thousand doctors in white coats and dozens of journalists

joined the sit-in as pressure mounted on Saleh to resign. Yemen is a crucial partner of the United States in the fight against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has plotted attacks against US targets from its redoubts in the country’s unruly tribal regions. It is also battling sectarian and secessionist violence, which undermine stability and development in one of the poorest countries in the region. US involvement in Yemen, including special forces advisors, has depended entirely on Saleh, who has dominated the country since coming to power in a military coup in 1978. He became president of a reunified Yemen in 1990. Washington has expressed concern about violence but President Barack Obama’s administration has not pressured Saleh to leave office in the way it leaned on Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak before his ouster last month. State Department spokesman Mark Toner urged the government to investigate the use of “excessive force” in Wednesday’s deadly police raid. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday that Washington wanted the Yemeni leadership to focus on political reforms that would respond to the “legitimate aspirations” of its people. — AFP

SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh gestures while delivering a speech to his supporters during a gathering in a football stadium yesterday. — AP

International FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Alcoholic drinks market booming in Gulf DUBAI: The duty-free shop at Dubai’s glitzy international airport brims with travellers choosing from row upon row of carefully stacked wine, champagne and whisky. The lavish display highlights a push by major alcoholic drinks-makers into the Gulf Arab region, lured by a vast youth population and large expatriate community whose taste for alcohol remains undaunted by the heavy restrictions imposed on drinkers in Muslim countries. “I almost always walk out from the Dubai airport with an expensive bottle of whisky,” said James Wilkinson, an Australian national, who regularly travels to the region. Islam prohibits the consumption of alcohol and most Gulf countries strictly control the substance - if they don’t ban it altogether - by making it illegal to drink alcohol openly. Regional “dry” states like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have strict laws against drinking. Many expatriates and locals rely on a large black market for alcohol and the occasional binge-drinking trip to Dubai or Bahrain. In the United Arab Emirates, the most liberal of the Gulf states, foreign residents may obtain permits to buy alcohol from a handful of designated liquor stores where bottles are sold at premium rates. It is also freely available in licensed hotels and pubs. Other Gulf Arab countries like Qatar and Oman also permit alcohol sale but only in top hotels. Diageo Plc, the world’s largest spirits company, opened a luxury spirits, fine wine and champagne sampling area at Dubai airport in December last year, the first of its kind, to attract well-off travellers with a taste for premium brands. “The Gulf is an important market for us to continue growing,” said Jane Ewing, Diageo’s general manager for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The London-based maker of Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka posted a 16 percent rise in regional net sales last year and expects sales to double in the next five years in the MENA region. The Gulf Arab region alone

accounted for 44 percent of Diageo’s total sales in MENA, with the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon being its two largest markets. Diageo’s premium brand Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch whisky, priced above $200 a bottle, is selling fast off the shelves in the Gulf. As the Gulf Arab region slowly recovers from the global economic crisis and property slump, tourists are starting to return to hotels and resorts and alcohol producers are keen to catch a share of the beverage business. This also means a heavy presence in discreet Dubai liquor stores aimed at residents with alcohol permits while the Dutch firm Heineken NV says sponsorship of European football has raised its profile in the Gulf. “Heineken is one of the main sponsors of the UEFA Champions League, which is watched around the world and also very popular in Arab countries,” said John-Paul Schuirink, financial communications manager for Heineken, adding that associating with football was a way to reach customers in the Middle East. Targeting observant Muslims with non-alcoholic drinks is also a key strategy albeit a tougher sell for companies whose names are synonymous with beer or hard liquor. Heineken credits its mix of drinks - such as fruit-flavoured malt-based drinks popular among youth as a beer substitute for its expansion into the Middle East and North Africa market. It has a 40 percent market share in the United Arab Emirates, 70 percent in Lebanon and 90 percent in Egypt. For the brewer, the Gulf Arab market is a small but profitable one, with a limited number of competitors amid a growing expatriate population. As more international sporting and entertainment events take place in the Gulf - the region is already on the global sporting calendar for Formula One, tennis, golf and horse racing - alcoholic drinks makers see more opportunity for market growth. “The vision of many Gulf states to become increasingly important in the world market through sig-

nificant events opens business opportunities for us,” said Diageo’s Ewing. “We have already begun talks with the Qatar duty free and hope to have a good presence in the new airport.” Qatar, a tiny gas-rich Gulf Arab state last year won the right to host soccer’s World Cup in 2022 and now faces questions on how the Muslim country will cope with the influx of fans, many of whom are used to drinking as part of the experience. Qatar, in addition to a new airport, hotels and other facilities, has also promised concessions for alcohol consumption, including special fan zones around the stadiums and licenses allowing restaurants to serve alcohol during the games. “Every country has its own restrictions....we adhere to them and respect sensitivities,” said Diageo’s Ewing, on the impact of religious restrictions on alcohol in the region, adding they have been no hindrance to doing business. Despite brisk sales, the religious and social taboo linked to alcohol consumption makes for an uneasy balance in a region where alcohol-related infractions result in severe legal action. Newspapers are filled with reports of public drunkenness leading to jail terms for expatriates as well as tourists, particularly in glitzy Dubai where hotels entertain customers with their best spirits. Recently, a 37-year-old British tourist who went to the police station to report the loss of his passport at a Dubai-based bar was arrested for illegally consuming alcohol - since he was not a resident and had no alcohol license, he should not have been in the bar, prosecutors argued. “Dubai is struggling between upholding the Islamic laws while trying to project the UAE brand to be associated with openness,” said Marco Blankenburgh, international director for Knowledgeworkx, a UAEbased consulting firm that specializes in cross-cultural issues. “The law is not always clear but expatriates and tourists have to remember that they are in a Muslim country.” — Reuters

Israel abducts Palestinian in Ukraine KIEV: The Palestinian engineer vanished from a Ukrainian train in the middle of the night. Now, authorities are trying to verify his wife’s claims that he is being held in prison by the Israeli secret service, whom she accuses of kidnapping the man two weeks ago. Dirar Abu Sisi, 42, went missing “under unknown circumstances” in the early hours of Feb 19 after boarding a train in the eastern city of Kharkiv bound for the capital Kiev, Viktoria Kushnir, a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press. Abu Sisi’s Ukrainian wife, Veronika, 32, alleges the Israeli secret service Mossad carried out the abduction in order to sabotage a key electric power plant in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip where he worked as a senior manager. “I don’t suspect it, I am sure of it,” Abu Sisi told the AP in a telephone interview. “My husband was the heart of the only electric station in Gaza, or rather its brain. It’s a strategic object and they wanted to disable it.” She denied speculation that her husband may be wanted by Israel as a known Hamas sympathizer, saying he had never engaged in politics or any violent groups. In Gaza, fellow engineers and neighbors described Abu Sisi as a Hamas supporter, pointing to his senior position. He served as the deputy head of the electric power station and posts are tradition-

ally staﬀed by Hamas loyalists. Abu Sisi, a Jordan native and father of six, was in Ukraine trying to apply for citizenship after spending 12 years in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli group HaMoked, which defends the rights of Palestinians, says Abu Sisi has been held in an Israeli prison since Feb 19. He is being kept in the Shikma detention center outside the coastal city of Ashkelon, the group said. Israel’s prison service said it had no information on the case. The internal security service, the Shin Bet, declined comment, citing a gag order. Veronika Abu Sisi said her husband told her over the phone about a week after his alleged kidnapping that he was in Israel. His lawyer later told her that he was in custody in an Israeli prison. She said the family decided to return to Ukraine after life in the Gaza Strip became unsafe for their three daughters and three sons and Abu Sisi ﬂew to Ukraine to apply for citizenship in January. In mid-February, after submitting all the paperwork, he was told by Ukrainian authorities to report to a govern-

In this photo taken on March 8, 2011, the children of Palestinian engineer Dirar Abu Sisi (from left to right), Moussa, 11, Mohammed, 6, Malak, 9, Maria, 3, Ayah, 7, and Osama 18months old, sit together at the family house in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip. Abu Sisi vanished from a Ukrainian train in the middle of the night on Feb 19, 2011. (Inset) Abu Sisi’s wife Veronika, 32, speaks to AP at an Islamic community center in Kiev on Wednesday. — AP

ment agency in Kharkiv, which was processing his case. After he turned up, government workers brieﬂy seized his passport, then gave it back to him, saying it was a routine check, Abu Sisi said. Relieved, the engineer on Feb 18 boarded a 10:55 pm overnight train to Kiev to meet his

brother who was ﬂying in from Amsterdam, but the reunion never took place. Veronika Abu Sisi said she was told by Ukrainian police oﬃcials that two unknown men boarded her husband’s train car near the central Ukrainian city of Poltava several hours after departure and escorted him out. — AP

International FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Somali pirate made $2.4m from ransoms BOSASSO, Somalia: Only two years after deciding to join in the piracy rampant off the Somalian coast, Saeed Yare is a dollar multi-millionaire. Leaning against the door of his luxury Toyota Landcruiser, one of the latest models in the seaside town of Bosasso, the Yare puffs on a cigarette. “It is not an easy job being a pirate. You gamble with your life, but I enjoy being a piracy tycoon,” says the slim 27-year-old, dressed in a sharp suit he says is Italian. “The piracy business is like a presidential seat, you don’t want to give it up once you taste its sweetness. A friend of mine died in the recent navy operation - but he left one million dollars!” Yare said, referring to a botched rescue attempt that left four US citizens dead. Yare said he made $2.4 million in 2010: $1.2 million for investing in the venture that led to the hijacking of the British-flagged Asian Glory, another $700,000 for Saudi tanker Al Nisr Al Saudi and $500,000 for Bulgarian vessel Panega. “I earned more cash after investing in two operations and per-

sonally participating in a separate hijacking, all were successful,” he said. “I spent some of the cash on weapons, private bodyguards, luxury cars, trucks, a boat and three villas. And I still have enough to use until another ship is hijacked.” Armed pirate gangs have made millions of dollars striking at ships in the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean, as far south as the Seychelles islands and eastwards towards India. Yare abandoned a lucrative trade in khat, a surefire route to amassing riches in the Horn of Africa country, when he saw former fishermen getting even richer by piracy. He befriended a pirate who advised him to “invest” $80,000 to help carry out a hijacking and expect a 50 percent return of $120,000 once ransom was paid. “I got inspired to be a pure pirate in 2009. First, I set off into the sea with them and captured a Saudi oil tanker that made us lick our fingers a hell of a lot of cash!” Yare was thrust into his father’s trade of fishing at the age of nine and

was expected to contribute to the family’s income by the time he became a teenager. He took up selling khat after saving enough to import a batch of the stimulant from neighbouring Kenya. But even returns as high as 300 percent from selling the mild narcotic were not enough for the ambitious young man. He turned to piracy to fuel a ﬂashy lifestyle. The gangs have an agreed formula for splitting their loot - hijackers receive 50 percent, investors get 35 percent, and guards on the ship get the remaining 15 percent. Yare said the pirates’ objective was purely money, not to torture or kill their hostages. The shooting of four Americans when special forces tried to rescue them was because those holding them were pushed to the wall, he said. However, Yare issued a chilling warning for crews of any South Korean and Russian ships that are captured. South Korea’s navy rescued a South Korean chemical ship hijacked by Somali buccaneers in the Arabian Sea, capturing ﬁve pirates and killing eight.

In a separate incident, Russian forces cut 10 pirates adrift without navigation equipment or much hope of survival after they stormed a tanker the gang was holding. “The South Korean and Russian rescue operations did not aﬀect us, but ... we must take revenge,” Yare said. “We shall be killing Russian and South Korean crew until their navies stop attacks against us.” The bandits’ wealth has pushed up the cost of living in coastal pirate towns such as Garad, Hobyo and Hardheere, but the gangs are philanthropic to the less fortunate, Yare said. “We give residents $200,000 whenever a ship is freed to enable them cope with the changing life. This amount goes to them through local oﬃcials such as clan elders.” Pirate gangs elsewhere are forced to share ransoms with Al-Shabaab Islamist rebels, Al-Qaeda’s proxies in east Africa. “Colleagues in other towns give cash to Islamists in order to continue their business,” he said. “Al-Shabaab is just another pirate group.” — Reuters

Rebels see diplomatic victory, loss in fight Gaddafi’s forces have rebels in retreat

King Mohammed VI

Moroccans welcome king’s reform vow RABAT: Moroccans largely welcomed yesterday King Mohammed VI’s promise of sweeping reforms, announced as uprisings rock the Arab world, but said they wanted to see if concrete changes would result. France and Spain, former colonisers which have become key trade partners, also praised the monarch’s announcement in a rare national speech late Wednesday, calling it courageous and historic. The king unveiled plans for constitutional reforms including a popularly elected prime minister with real powers, instead of a royal appointee, addressing the nation for the ﬁrst time since pro-reform protests last month. The country’s two television channels rebroadcast large extracts of the address throughout the morning yesterday, accompanied by mostly positive commentary. “It is a very good speech which responded to the demands of many Moroccans, especially the ‘February 20’ youths... it is a positive step,” civil servant Mohammed Oussedri told AFP. The youths rallied thousands of people to pro-democracy protests in several cities on February 20, with six people killed in unrest that erupted afterwards. They have called, via Facebook, for more protests on March 20. The king said a commission would work on constitutional revisions, with proposals to be made to him by June. A referendum would then be held, he said, without giving a date. France hailed the address as “responsible and brave”. “We are convinced that is a major speech for Morocco and for all the region, particularly in the current context,” foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. — AFP

RAS LANUF, Libya: Relentless pounding by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces sent rebels fleeing a key oil hub Thursday, and a town near Tripoli was recaptured, as the Red Cross warned of escalating conflict in Libya that it termed a civil war. As loyalists appeared to have wrested back the initiative on the battlefield, a source close to Nicolas Sarkozy said the French president will propose “targeted air strikes” in Libya. And NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who said “time is of the essence,” affirmed that the alliance stands ready to act if there is a clear mandate. With their fighters in retreat, the opposition appealed to Western powers meeting in Brussels to follow the lead of France, who on Thursday officially recognised their national council as Libya’s “legitimate representative”. That brought a quick reaction from Tripoli, which suggested Paris was acting stupidly and said it could sever diplomatic relations. Targeted by rocket fire, rebels fled from Ras Lanuf, a strategic coastal oil town in eastern Libya they had captured last Friday, AFP reporters said. Their vehicles streamed eastward from the town after hours of heavy shelling and rocket attacks that swept from the western outskirts of Ras Lanuf to the east. Other groups of rebels appeared to stay in town, but dejected fighters in the exodus said they had been defeated as rockets exploded and there was at least one air strike. “We’ve been defeated. They are shelling and we are running away. That means that they’re taking Ras Lanuf,” said a rebel fighter, dressed in military fatigues who gave his name as Osama. At least four rockets struck the centre of town, prompting medics to evacuate the hos-

BENGHAZI: Libyan anti-government protesters shout slogans while waving their country’s former national flag during a protest in central Benghazi yesterday while Muammar Gaddafi’s forces battled rebels. — AFP pital, pack into ambulances with patients and speed away. The only man left, Doctor Mahmud Zubi stood beside the body of a man laid out on a stretcher, his nose and the top of his head blown away, and puddles of blood on the floor. “We have evacuated the hospital. They were shelling us. It’s only me here,” the doctor told AFP. “They’re getting too close. Some of us are still there, but a lot of us are pulling out. They’re getting too close,” shouted one rebel. Mahmoud Ibrahim, a rebel in his late teens, wept in one retreating truck, calling on US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene. “Where’s Obama? Where’s Cameron? Tell

Obama to help us,” he sobbed. Fighting in eastern Libya has killed at least 400 people and wounded 2,000 since Feb 17, medics there said. In the west, an intense battle for control of Zawiyah, a prosperous dormitory town 50 km west of Tripoli, ended in victory for Gaddafi’s forces yesterday night, a number of sources said on Thursday. “The town is now under the army’s control,” said a resident by telephone. “The fighting ended last night. Today the situation is calm. I’m taking the opportunity to leave the town with my family. I’m heading for Jedayem,” he added, referring to a village three kilometres west. The town had been under assault for several days by artillery and tanks. —AFP

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

‘witch hunt’ hearings begin

WASHINGTON: Rep Keith Ellison, the only Muslin in Congress, becomes emotional as he testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee on the extent of the radicalization of American Muslims on Capitol Hill yesterday. (Inset) US Republican Representative Peter King, Chairman of the committee, speaks yesterday. — AP WASHINGTON: Al-Qaeda is targeting Muslim Americans for recruits to terrorism and the community must do more to combat Islamic radicalization, a US lawmaker said yesterday as he opened hearings that have been criticized as a witch hunt. Peter King, the chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee who called the hearings, has accused the Muslim community of refusing to cooperate with law enforcement and charged that preaching in some US mosques was leading to radicalization. “To combat this threat, moderate leadership must emerge from the Muslim community,” King said. “Today, we must be fully aware that homegrown radicalization is part of Al-Qaeda’s strategy to continue attacking the United States.” King denied accusations that the hearings were “radical or un-American” and said there was no comparison between the threat by Al-Qaeda and neo-Nazis, environmental extremists and other “isolated madmen”. The New York congressman has been criticized by religious and civil rights leaders as going on a witch hunt for focusing on a single community, but he has defended the hearings, citing the open attempts by Al-Qaeda militants to recruit its members to launch attacks. He has pointed to some individuals who have gone overseas to try to join militant groups, the attempt by a Saudi student caught in Texas as he was trying to build bombs and the failed attempt by a Pakistani-born citizen to detonate a car bomb in New York’s bustling Times Square last year. Democratic Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to serve in the House, castigated the committee for its approach and broke down crying as he recounted the story of a 23-year-old Muslim paramedic who died when he responded to the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in New York City. “After the tragedy, some people tried to smear his character solely because of his Islamic faith,” he said. “Some people spread false rumors and speculated that he was really with the attackers because he was a Muslim.” He said that the young man should be identified as someone “who gave everything for his fellow Americans” rather than solely as a member of a religion or ethnic group. Ellison tried to hide his tears behind his papers and quickly left the room after his remarks. The senior Democrat in the House, Michigan Representative John Dingell, urged King and the committee to ensure that their investigation would not “blot the good name or the loyalty or raise questions about the decency of Arabs or Muslims or other Americans”. The focus of the hearings have also raised concerns within the Obama administration to the point that a senior White House official was dispatched to speak to Muslim leaders in Virginia where he told them they were “not part of the problem.” In addition, US Attorney General Eric Holder took a veiled swipe at King on Wednesday, saying the focus by law enforcement was on individuals rather than an entire community because “we don’t want to stigmatize, we don’t want to alienate entire communities”. —Reuters

Local FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

NA refers trade accords to govt KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti parliament on Wednesday examined two bills put forward by the parliamentary free trade committee for the endorsement of two free-trade agreements, one between the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Singapore, and the other between the GCC member states and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The MPs unanimously approved both agreements, calling for imple-

menting more such accords in order to serve the interests of all the GCC member states and bring the bloc greater advantages. Some MPs also urged the creation of further accords between the GCC member states themselves, particularly in relation to the customs union and the regional single currency. In response to the customs union query, ﬁnance minister Mustafa Al-Shamali told the parliamentarians that whilst

the inter-GCC relations are strong, the problem lies in agreeing on the levying of tariﬀs in this area. Al-Shamali also indicated that the GCC member states had reached agreement on implementing the custom fees system later this year, noting that such a tangible step would be more likely to lure foreign capital into the region and spur joint investment with foreign governments and authorities. — KUNA

Kuwait committed to increasing oil production capacity: KPC head KUWAIT: Kuwait is committed to its strategy of increasing its oil production capacity as dictated by the goals of the 2030 strategic plan, as well as to complying with the stated time-table for development, said the CEO of the stateowned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) on Wednesday. KPC head Farouk Hussain Al-Zanki said that the global oil market is not suﬀering supply shortages at present, stressing that KPC is committed to honoring its contracts and to stabilizing the market however possible. He pointed out taking part in international forums and conferences is important and an opportunity to stress this attitude.

Attending gatherings such as the international Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) conference in Houston are vital to sustain market confidence in the corporation, he said. They are important to exchange views and experiences and to coordinate regarding the latest developments in and affecting the oil market, be they political, economic, technological, or other. The CERA conference he is currently attending, he added, is an opportunity to attend and benefit from valuable specialized seminars and lectures with attendance of the world’s top figures in the field. It is also an opportunity to meet prospective clients.— KUNA

Premier receives KCCI officials KUWAIT :

At his Diwan on Wednesday, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammed Al-Sabah received a number of senior Kuwaiti Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) oﬃcials. During the meeting, the guests, KCCI chairman Ali Mohammed Thunayan Al-Ghanim and his two deputies, Khalid Abdulla Hamad AlSagar and Abdul Wahab M. AlWazzan, presented HH the Prime Minister with a commemorative gift on the occasion of the recent national celebrations. Kuwait recently celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its independence, the 20th anniversary of liberation from the Iraqi invasion and occupation of 1990-91 and the fifth anniversary of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah’s investiture. — KUNA

Ambassador commends Kuwaiti leadership’s efforts for $9 billion refinery BEIJING: The Kuwaiti Ambassador to China, Mohammad Saleh Al-Thuwaikh, on Wednesday commended the efforts of the wise leadership in both Kuwait and China, which resulted in the final approval for the establishment of a joint multibillion dollar refinery project. The ambassador was speaking at a luncheon held in honor of Liu Xiaohua, the Secretary of Communist Party of China’s Municipal Committee of Zhanjiang City, which will host Kuwait’s $9 billion refinery and petrochemical complex. Liu and his accompanying delegation are currently visiting Beijing on the occasion of the final approval being granted by the Chinese central government for the massive project. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planning committee, officially granted final approval on March 4 for Kuwait to build the long-awaited refinery and petrochemical complex on Donghai Island off Zhanjiang in south China’s Guangdong Province. “This approval coincides with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with China,” Ambassador Al-Thuwaikh pointed out, recalling the strong and longstanding bilateral relationship between the two countries. “The achievement of this project is the latest example that we are elevating the bilateral cooperative partnership to a higher level.” The project, China’s largest-ever joint venture of its kind, will benefit the two closely-allied countries generally and Zhanjiang City’s party committee in particular, the ambassador added. Kuwait will supply all the crude feedstock for the world-class integrated plant, which will include a 300,000 barrels-per-day refinery and a 1 millionton-per-year ethylene plant. The project, jointly owned by the state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and Asia’s top refiner, Sinopec, is expected to go on-stream in 2014. For his part, Liu, Zhanjiang’s top official, expressed pleasure at the project’s approval, saying, “The establishment of this project is a very positive event in the best interests of the two friendly countries and this event is a translation of the aspirations of the wise leaderships in both nations.” — KUNA

Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad village opened in Indonesia HONG KONG: Advisor of Kuwait’s Amiri Diwan Dr. Abdullah AlMaatouq and the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Indonesia Nasser AlEnezi yesterday jointly inaugurated the Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Charitable Village in the western Indonesian city of Garut, with the event coinciding with the Gulf state’s national days. In addition to Al-Maatouq, who is also the Chairman of the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO), the ceremony was also attended by a number of

dignitaries and ordinary Kuwaiti citizens who have donated to charities in the Republic of Indonesia. In his speech during the event, Ambassador Al-Enezi said that he was elated at the opening of this village, named after His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah, especially since its opening coincides with Kuwait’s national days. He also revealed indicated that the foundations for identical ventures were being laid in the town. The ambassador hailed HH the Amir’s philanthropic activities, as well

as his eagerness to support development-related and humanitarian projects, with the emphasis on spreading charitable activities across the world. The ambassador also praised the signiﬁcant role played by Dr. AlMaatouq in support for charitable projects, indicating that the Amiri Diwan Advisor had taken part in a ceremonial reception, hosted by the embassy, to mark the launch of the charitable venture. Ambassador AlEnezi also thanked all the Kuwaiti citizens and bodies that had donated to Indonesian causes. — KUNA

Advisor of Kuwait’s Amiri Diwan Dr. Abdullah Al-Maatouq and the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Indonesia Nasser Al-Enezi yesterday inaugurated the Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Charitable Village in western Indonesian. — KUNA

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Local

FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Interior minister affirms new MoI strategy, appeals for MPs’ cooperation KUWAIT: Following Wednesday’s parliamentary session which focused on analyzing the findings of a parliamentary committee’s investigation into the death of Kuwaiti citizen Mohammed Al-Mutairi in police custody, interior minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah revealed that the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has adopted a new approach to tackling problems within the ministry, and is keen to consult with MPs on the issue. “I listened to your comments,” he told the parliamentarians. “I affirm that the ministry has adopted a new strategy, but we need time and cooperation from all MPs to tackle all the shortcomings and problems.” Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, stressed that violations by MoI personnel would not be accepted. “With your trust, you put a huge responsibility on the ministry,” he told the MPs, adding, in reference to those officers charged

Crimes Mother’s tragic death

KUWAIT: A pregnant Jordanian woman who had taken her young son to Salmiya Medical Center for tests collapsed unconscious whilst in the center. Despite medical staﬀ administering ﬁrst aid and rushing her to Mubarak Hospital by ambulance, she was pronounced dead on arrival. Doctors at the hospital performed an emergency caesarean, with the baby being rushed to the maternity hospital’s premature baby unit. The woman’s body was removed for autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Fatal assault

A Bangladeshi expatriate died as a result of being brutally assaulted by his Kuwaiti employer. The employer apparently launched his assault on the man, who worked at his livestock farm in Kabad, after ﬁnding that some money was missing in order to force the employee to admit to stealing it. After this, rather than take the fatally injured man to hospital, the employer dragged him to the local police station to report the ‘theft,’ with his victim dying shortly afterwards. An investigation is underway into the case.

Police brutality

Detectives in the Capital area are investigating an Asian expatriate’s claims that he was abducted by a police officer who locked him in his patrol vehicle for four hours and administered a series of brutal beatings before dumping him in a street. Following his release, the man immediately went to Salhiya police station. There he told officers that his ordeal began after a Sri Lankan man who had earlier bought a used mobile telephone from him returned to demand a refund. When he refused, the irate customer approached a nearby police officer to register a complaint. The police officer in question then grabbed the phone-seller and physically assaulted him, then placed him in his patrol vehicle for four hours before administering another beating before dumping him back on a local street. An investigation is underway.

Rude customer

A staff member at the Jaber Al-Ali Co-op has filed an official complaint against a female customer who verbally abused him over the distribution of subsidized foodstuffs.

Bike crash

A police motorcycle oﬃcer was taken to Farwaniya Hospital after suﬀering multiple fractures and heavy bruising after he lost control of his motorbike due to the slippery road conditions in the recent heavy rainfall and crashed.

over Al-Mutairi’s death, “Nobody accepts the acts of some ministry personnel.” The minister said that a number of senior MoI oﬃcials have been suspended from their duties over being linked to Al-Mutairi’s death, adding that he would do everything in his power to reform the ministry so as to improve its per-

formance. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud also revealed that he has asked the cabinet to form an independent committee of Fatwa and Legislation Department (FLD) experts to investigate claims of irregularities at the interior ministry, saying, “If any oﬃcer is found guilty, he will be referred directly for prosecution.” — KUNA

Local FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Wiki set to leak into Kuwait By Nisreen Zahreddine

The Student Vibe Radio team.

Student Vibe Radio to hit the airwaves shortly Programs to focus on student issues By Nawara Fattahova

he internet has permeated all areas of modern life. It is the contemporary means of communication; as well as websites, blogs and chat programs, we can also access information and interact via electronic media such as online newspapers and even radio stations. The greater ease and far lower cost of establishing an online radio station compared to founding a regular one has enabled the realization of a dream shared by a group of students studying in Kuwait. These seven students, studying at diﬀerent universities, namely the Gulf University for Sciences and Technology (GUST), the American University of Kuwait (AUK), Arab Open University (AOU), Kuwait University (KU), and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), have got together to found an online radio station, ‘Student Vibe Radio,’ which will shortly be broadcasting on www.student-vibe.com. The founders currently don’t have a base or oﬃce but soon they will launch their headquarters. They are also looking for talented young

fellow students to work with them in the station. “Right now all of us, the seven founders, are the administrative staff only. We are looking for students who aim to work with us as reporters, broadcaster, researchers and other positions. The main purpose of having staff made up of students, is that this station is focusing on the students’ issues and problems,” explained Ahmad AlSharman, one of the founders. Student Vibe Radio came about as an innovative solution to achieving its creators’ dream of establishing a radio station especially for students. “To get or issue a license for launching a real radio station is very complicated, almost impossible, so we came up with the idea of the online radio station,” AlSharman said. The founders faced some difficulties before achieving their project. “As many students are not familiar with online radio we have to launch a promotional campaign for the station to tell the students about it, and also to solicit applications from those interested in working with us,” Al-Sharman continued. “Unfortunately we faced problems and obstacles from some private

universities as they demanded high fees for renting a booth and meeting with students on campus to provide them with information about the station. On the other hand some universities, especially GUST and AUK, were very supportive.”At ﬁrst, Student Vibe Radio will broadcast for around 12 hours per day. “Most of the programs will be live,” said another of the organizers, Emad Al-Saadi. “Then there will be some music [which is] recorded. The main program, ‘Rise and Shine,’ will be broadcast live every morning and will discuss students problems,” he said explaining that in the beginning Student Vibe will be dealing with university students’ issues.” In the future we will also discuss the issues of high school students, too. We’ll also broadcast some general entertaining programs,” AlSaadi said. Student Vibe Radio’s listeners will be able to listen to the station either direct from the website or on their mobile phones. “Listeners can get the directions from the website,” Al-Saadi explained. “This station is not based on any frequency, and they can listen to it through a wireless connection from pc or mobile phone.”

hen Julian Assange, an Australian internet activist who has in-depth knowledge of hacking into Internet sites since the age of 14, founded the Wikileaks website in 2006, it was unforeseen that the website would be able to trigger so much turmoil in Arab countries, starting with Tunisia and later spreading to Egypt. The shocking information that was posted on the website from leaked classified official documents of countries around the world, spared none. Recently, the Kuwaiti version of Wikileaks has forayed into the information highway. Wikileaks, an international non-profit organization that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources and news leaks, claims a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. Khaled Al-Hajeri, Chairman, Green Line Group announced the soon-to-be launched website ‘Kuwait Wikileaks’ that aims to spread the culture of surveillance and transparency among civil society organizations, government institutions, including official authorities like the legislative, executive and judiciary. According to a recently released press release, which was published two days ago on the website, “Its (website’s) main aim is to highlight facts and spread knowledge that members of the society need to understand, in terms of what has been going on around them, especially since rumors and wrong information overwhelm and demolish facts.” Al-Hajeri, who established this website in Kuwait told The Friday Times, “Kuwait

‘Kuwait needs many WikiLeaks websites to attain real surveillance and transparency’ needs many Kuwait Wikileaks websites to attain real surveillance and transparency on diﬀerent authorities and governmental institutions.” AlHajeri, refused to connect the timing of the website’s launch with the current political turmoil that the Arab world has been experiencing. “Our top priority is to investigate and ensure that the documents published are factual,” he added. He insisted that the website belongs to the society. It is a forum through which interactions are held and facts spread. A culture of transparency and evaluation can be developed. The website’s founder described Kuwait Wikileaks to be “a cultural instrument to evaluate government performance and not an aim by itself.” He welcomed any criticism of the documents published on the website, and encouraged the launch of similar websites on the basis of honesty and transparency. The press release, which was published on the website, states that it has been functioning a documental database since February 2010. The tumultuous political circumstances in Kuwait resulted in the launch’s postponement. The website aims to spread factual information in a professional manner, laying emphasis on transparency and accountability.

Local FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Amna aspires for a brighter future Bedoon woman inspires many By Sunil Cherian

mna Latif Al-Shemmery completed high school a few years ago, and at that time, believed that all doors have been closed, in terms of pursuing higher studies. A studious young girl from Jahra, Amna saw her Kuwaiti classmates go to college while waiting to enroll into a suitable college. Amna who lost her mother when she was in grade two, had never fallen into a depression except during the four-year waiting period. “That was the time,” Amna recollected, “I hated myself for being a bedoon.” Four years later, Amna enrolled into a Bachelor’s Degree program in Education at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET). Now working as a teacher, Amna serves as a role model to her two younger sisters, supports her unemployed father and student brother. She was promoted to a higher position last year, bought a car last year, an iPhone last month, and has just applied to pursue a Masters degree. “My dream,” Amna told me, “is to secure a scholarship which I’ll not get. If I were a Kuwaiti, the situation would have been diﬀerent - I’d receive all kinds of support.” Now that Amna has to set aside a lion’s share from her earnings for her family, she believes it may take a longer time to complete her Masters degree. Her two working sisters, great friends and cosupporters are fully supportive of their older sister, except for Amna’s decision to delay her marriage. “Marriage is an issue,” a thoughtful Amna said, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Amna who is thankful to her father who has, in her words, ‘played both father and mother’s role’ in her life has a pleasant disposition towards life. Her bedoon father remained a widower after his Kuwaiti wife’s untimely death,

“No, it’s not that I’m against men. I don’t want to get married to someone who is less qualiﬁed than I am. It can create issues.” Several of her friends, Amna told me, remain unmarried. Right now, marriage is not a priority. Studies are, she said. Amna represents a large population of women who are educated, employed, independent and ambitious and prefer to choose partners from an equal, if not higher, social strata. Some women suﬀer because of their decision to remain spinsters and feel better about it. For most others, ‘it’s not the end of the world,’ as Amna puts it. “But don’t you want to continue the good family tradition?,” I asked her. “I don’t know, but I’m willing to be surprised.”

Amna who lost her mother when she was in grade two, had never fallen into a depression except during the four-year waiting period. ‘That was the time I hated myself for being a bedoon.’ Four years later, Amna enrolled into a Bachelor’s Degree program in Education at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET). Now working as a teacher, Amna serves as a role model to her two younger sisters, supports her unemployed father and student brother.

Local FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

It’s hard to undo the superstition hardwiring that was installed in my brain when I was a child. I still knock on wood to avoid a catastrophe, throw spilt salt over my shoulder and I am still uneasy around black cats. By Sawsan Kazak

rowing up, when I was informed of ‘superstitions’ I believed them like they were facts of life and did everything I could to avoid ‘bad luck’. I never walked under an open ladder, didn’t allow a black cat to cross my path and always knocked on wood to avoid the evil eye. I can still remember the state of panic I found myself in when I broke a small mirror when I was ten years old. At that time I truly believed that I was bound to have seven consecutive years of bad luck. Now that I am a little older and am able to use some deductive logic, I question the reality and accuracy of these beliefs. Do black cats and broken mirrors actually bring bad luck and if so, how? And what does wood have to do with dispelling the evil eye? Is it like kryptonite for evil-wishers? Why don’t we touch plastic or metal for that matter? Apparently I was not the only one to have been told of these supernatural phenomenon and the methods to cure them. Karim, 31, a Kuwaiti of Iranian descent clearly remembers his mother warning him of the bad luck that would come from leaving open scissor on the table. He also remembers the superstitions that come along with giving a pair for scissors to another person: “You must always have the handle of the scissors touch the forehead of the other person as it is believed that you will no longer have fights with that person,” he recounts. He recalled that when his sister gave birth to her first child, his mother tied a bracelet made of different-colored strings on both the baby and the mother for the first forty days. Afterwards, the bracelet is cut off and thrown in the ocean or tied on a tree as it is believed that this practice will rid the baby and mother of any bad energy people will bring with them when they visit. “When I was a child, every time I lost a baby tooth I would throw it on the roof of the house because I was told that if I did that, a stronger one would grow,” said Karim. Karim added, “Every time I got sick, my mom would take a bowl of water, an egg and a pen. She would have me recall every person I saw that day and she would make a corresponding dot on the egg. When the egg broke that would mean that was the person who gave me the evil eye.” That bowl was placed under his bed for that night and that would cure all his ailments and the next morning the mixture of egg and water would be thrown at the entrance of the house. “I still remember waking up in the morning and seeing birds picking at the dried egg mixture,” Karim recalls. Meqdad, a 27-year-old Kuwaiti, remembers what his par-

ents did when he bought a new car: “My mother cracked a raw egg on each tire because she believed this would be good luck.” He also recalled a time when his mother would buy live chickens at the butcher and have it killed and the blood would be spilled over each tire to avoid evil eye and bring good luck. “I always found that a little disturbing,” says Meqdad about the chicken practice. Monira, A 26-year-old Kuwaiti who lived in Japan for 10 years, recalls some practices based on superstitions. “Two AM was the ghost hour, people would avoid taking the elevator or going to old temples because there is a belief that it is the haunted hour,” says Monira. She also mentioned a belief in the mystical powers of charcoal. “Charcoal is believed to rid evil spirits,” she explained. “I once knew of a woman who had

charcoal placed inside her ﬂoors all over her house.” Salt in a bowl outside doorstep was a very popular superstition in Japan as it is believed repel bad spirits. “The numbers 4 and 9 sound the same as death and pain so hospitals do not have ﬂoors 4 and 9 to avoid the bad omens that comes along with that,” she revealed. Kenneth, an expat of African origins, speaks of many superstitious practices such as the belief in dreams and their meanings such as: if you dream of eating or engaging in sexual activities, you will have bad luck. “It is believed that if you see an owl in the early hours of the morning, death will come,” explains Kenneth, adding, “There are many superstitions still followed in parts of Africa such as taking the fallen umbilical cords of babies and planting them in certain areas, signifying that this particular location now belongs to that child and disturbing it will bring you bad luck.” Like Karimm Kenneth also

recalls throwing his baby teeth over the roof of the house for good luck and healthy teeth. “Parents are very important in blessing you and your things; you are supposed to give them your first paycheck and they will bless it for you,” he explained, adding that sometimes they simply touch it and give it back to you. One of the strangest beliefs Kenneth recalls is that you are not supposed to eat the head of any animal of gizzards in front of elders, which is apparently considered disrespectful and believed to bring bad luck to those who do so. Tony, an Indian expat explains a very well known superstition: “You never sweep your house or cut your fingernails at night as that will bring you bad luck.” Apparently in India it’s only bad luck when a black cat crosses your path from left to right rather than the other way around. “Babies are dotted with a black smug on their faces to rid them of the evil eye,” he explained, also recalling “You never hand a knife to another person by hand; you put it down and they take it from there, otherwise it’s believed to break the friendship.” Joe, an expat from the Philippines, grew up believing that you never give belts or shoes as gifts because belts signify bad financial luck and giving shoes means the recipient will walk all over you in the future. “A funny superstition I remember was If you are at a dining table and one person has to leave early, all the diners must turn their plates 360 degrees because it’s believed that you will have an accident and bad luck otherwise,” explains Joe. “I always found that a little strange but I did it anyway!” Lina, an expat from eastern Europe remembers the importance of the umbilical cord of a baby. “When it falls off, parents throw it at a location where they want their child to prosper, like at a school or at a bank.” Lina also remembered that her mother never handed her a bar of soap in her hands; it was always left on the table for her. “I grew up with many superstitions that I still practice to this day,” she added. Superstition or fact of life? Are the above practices and beliefs based on facts or are they pure fiction? Most of them must have evolved out of tradition and practicality. But when it comes to luck I now understand that it is like the placebo effect; if I believe that I am going to have a bad luck day then that is what I will be searching for and thus, a self fulfilling prophecy. However, it’s hard to undo the superstition hardwiring that was installed in my brain when I was a child. I still knock on wood to avoid a catastrophe, throw spilt salt over my shoulder and I am still uneasy around black cats. My mother still insists I wear blue stones that, according to her, bring good luck. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Local FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Satire Wire

It’s only rain, let’s keep it moving By Sawsan Kazak

sawsan@kuwaittimes.net

F KUWAIT: Kuwait drained in heavy rain over the past two days. Some areas of the city were flooded yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Local Spotlight

Pedestrians’ deaths: whose fault is it? By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

ast week, an Asian woman and her baby were both killed on a road in Kuwait. According to media reports, the woman and child were crossing the road when they were hit by a speeding car. This news was dreadful and I felt truly sorry for the mother and child who lost their lives, with the woman not only dying far from her country but alone in the street along with her child. Such a tragic scenario is diﬃcult to imagine and, I’m sure, simply adds to her family’s already immense pain. I wonder, however, whose fault the accident was. I know that investigations are opened in such cases to determine liability, and that in many cases the pedestrians are blamed for not taking more care, especially whilst trying to cross a motorway or similar busy, fastmoving expressway where a pedestrian overpass is nearby or overhead. I realize that all these factors are taken into consideration when allocating responsibility. I think that this approach is right because, in all traﬃc systems, there are rules and regulations which all those present, both motorists and pedestrians, must follow. Yes, I know that in Kuwait the laws in this area are not enforced strictly or by the book, but when it comes to investigations into accidents in which lives are lost I believe that the law is implemented and followed to the letter,

with the country depending on this approach to determine who was at fault and should be penalized. The high number of car accidents in Kuwait, even aside from the number of fatalities involved, should be a warning to us all. I also think that motorists need a greater awareness of traffic laws, even when there is apparently nobody around to check whether or not they are complying with them. For example, I know that there is a law in place against using mobile phones while driving, imposing strict fines on those found to be doing so, but how many drivers actually comply with this legislation? And how many motorists would avoid using mobile phones while driving not only because they want to avoid the penalties but simply to avoid crashing into or being hit by other vehicles - or even hitting pedestrians? My principal recommendation is to establish an institute of traffic education for all road-users, working closely with law enforcement agencies so that those lethal motorists would have to obey the law and pedestrians would need to look right and left before losing their lives for nothing. For this woman and her baby, no words can ease their family’s loss or soothe their pain; these tragic deaths should be a wake-up call for all of us.

or the past few days it has been raining in Kuwait something that is probably much needed. But for some strange reason the coming of rain also signifies the loss of driving abilities for many drivers in this country. It is as though the drops of rain erase people’s driving skills, completely washing away any capability of operating a moving vehicle. With the first cloud and drops of rain comes bumper to bumper traffic and erratic driving. I understand that rain for more than five minutes is unusual in Kuwait, but it is not a tsunami and does not deserve that much attention. Yes, we should be more aware of the road, but we do not need to press on the brakes for every raindrop, nor do we have to act like the roads are covered with ice or made of eggshells. Staying a safe distance from the car in front of us is a good idea, but you still have to move at over 20 miles an hour. It is probably more prudent to drive at a slower speed than usual. However, it is not

prudent to stop driving completely and let the car drift in neutral until you get to your location. Over-prudent driving might be the cause of more accidents than the rain itself. For the most part, the rain in Kuwait is not torrential and does not obstruct visibility that much. Having your windshield wipers at full blast is definitely not necessary; in fact, it might be more distracting than the actual rain. People in other cars also know that it is raining and you don’t have to drive on their behalf. To sum up, these are the roads you use on a daily basis, they don’t transform into minefields on rainy days. I am not saying that we should ignore the rain and all drive recklessly; we should, however, try to maintain some normalcy in our driving behavior. By doing so, we can avoid parking lots in our highways, as well as needless accidents. Anyway, shouldn’t we be grilling some parliament members over this rain and the subsequent traffic? After all, someone needs to be held accountable, right?

Local FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011

Mohamed Al-Mulla

The new ‘sixth sense’ Kuwaiti inventor creates iSense for sports lovers Kuwaiti Masters degree student has devised a wireless device which he believes will change the way athletes look at sports. Mohamed Al-Mulla devised the iSense device, which in his own words can work as a personal trainer. The iSense device is a system or tool which uses algorithm and provides a prediction of muscle fatigue, thus giving a predictive signal that enables the user to note his or her muscular ability to perform weightlifting or other exercise, AlMulla explained. Sensors in the device measure small electrical signals produced by the muscles when they contract, he says. “What I want to do is build a bridge between the brain and the muscle,” he explains.

experience to tell athletes what muscle improvement they have attained and how many kilograms they can lift at a time. In addition, they can answer many musclerelated questions. With Al-Mulla’s invention every athlete can answer these questions him or herself. “I invented the iSense to be able to try the algorithm,” he told the Kuwait Times, adding that the main purpose of his invention is to apply this algorithm which detects muscle fatigue, basically functioning as a muscle monitor. After inventing this algorithm, Al-Mulla wanted to apply it in a portable system that works just like a heartbeat monitor. The key to exercising well, Al-Mulla explains, is to train safely and smartly. This is where iSense’s application comes into play.

iSense Has it ever occurred to anyone to calculate their muscle strength themselves without first referring to a coach? Why is it necessary for athletes to do the same movement a definite number of times that is variable from one person to another and that is linked to the trainer’s assumptions? AlMulla has addressed all these questions with his new invention. The answers to these questions are varied: trainers know their jobs and they have the skill and

How did Al-Mulla come up with the idea? As a longtime keen athlete, having been a weightlifter and regular gym visitor since he was 20 years old, his own experience was AlMulla’s primary inspiration. “It occurred to me that every time a person goes to the gym they have to do the same exercise a number of times without knowing why or how many times,” he explained. This question in turn led ultimately to his invention - a portable device with an internal ‘fatigue-

By Nisreen Zahreddine

tracking algorithm-based system. The main purpose behind it, as he explained, is to enable gymusers to know how to achieve their goals and what point they have reached in their training and muscle definition; through using his new invention, they can do all this by themselves. Athletic and commercial websites enthusiastically seized on AlMulla’s idea, with many carrying articles regarding this innovative tool. The site Megadget, for instance, indicated that although the iSense was designed with athletes in mind, the technology can be used in other applications, such as for the elderly and disabled, who often suffer from muscle fatigue due to lack of movement. This means that the wider applications and uses of this tool can be introduced to all people who work out and even move their muscles to detect their muscle fatigue in order to avoid pain and injuries which could be dangerous most of the times. These injuries occur due to the lack of knowledge of the muscles limits of tolerance. He was sent from the Kuwait University to London to complete his PhD at the University of Essex with a specialty in Pervasive Computing. Next step for AlMulla is to make iSense device a commercial product.