2 May 2010

RI PT IO N BS C SU THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF

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SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2010

JAMADA ALAWAL 18, 1431 AH

‘Imminent’ attacks seen in New Delhi

Spurs, Man City set up Champions League showdown

India overpower bold Afghanistan

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Kuwait FM holds ‘productive’ talks with top US officials Gitmo, Iran, Mideast peace discussed • Kuwait seeks nuclear tech from US WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted Kuwait’s Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah at the State Department on Friday for a “very productive exchange of views that covered a wide range of common concerns”. Clinton commended Kuwait’s support for the Arab Peace Initiative,

while Sheikh Mohammad said, however, that Kuwait and the US agreed on ways to address the issue of remaining Kuwaitis at the US Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. “This is an area that presents continuous hardship for both the United States and the Kuwaiti government and Kuwaiti people,” Sheikh Mohammad said. “We have agreed on

ways to resolve this issue in the near future”. The Kuwaiti FM also raised the issue of Kuwait’s desire to acquire nuclear technology from the US for peaceful purposes, saying the two countries will work closely on that issue.

Clinton praised Kuwait’s leadership of the rotating presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and said the

US “looks forward to continuing to work with Kuwait on our shared goals of peace, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond,” during the joint press conference in the State Department’s Treaty room, following their meeting. “Kuwait is a trusted and valued partner of the United States,” said Clinton, stressing that “the US is deeply committed to a

WASHINGTON: The US Food and Drug Administration yesterday urged consumers to stop using liquid Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Zyrtec medicines for children and infants after a broad recall announced by the manufacturer, although it said the chance of serious problems was remote. Johnson & Johnson’s consumer division announced a broad recall of over 40 affected products made by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, including certain liquid infant’s and children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl products late on Friday. The medicines were manufactured in the United States and distributed in many countries including Kuwait.

“We want to be certain that consumers discontinue using these products,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement. “While the potential for serious health problems is remote, Americans deserve medications that are safe, effective and of the highest quality. We are investigating the products and facilities associated with this recall and will provide updates as we learn more,” she said.

Continued on Page 14

Tehran denies report as ‘utterly baseless’

Arab League backs indirect peace talks backed the talks, but they later retracted the decision after Israel announced it would erect 1,600 settler homes in the occupied West Bank.

Syria and Lebanon did not support the statement, Syria’s ambassador said, demanding more from Israel before talks could resume. “This committee has exceeded its authority and given the Palestinians the green light to start indirect talks without the Israelis taking steps on the ground,” Yousef Al-Ahmed said. On Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she expected indirect talks to begin next week with US special envoy George Mitchell returning to the region to try to energise a peace process that is a key US foreign policy goal. An Israeli political official said Mitchell was expected to visit the region tomorrow.

Abbas had insisted Israel freeze Jewish settlement building before he would come to the negotiating table.

But Palestinian sources have suggested he might accept a delay to some Jewish housing projects instead and have spoken of an unwritten commitment from Mitchell to assign blame publicly to any party that jeopardises the talks. Erekat said the Palestinian side had been given ‘positive indications’ by the United States but declined to elaborate. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to visit Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak next week.

Egypt was the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel. — Reuters

ATHENS: A riot policeman jumps over metal railings after being set on fire by protesters throwing petrol bombs yesterday. Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in central Athens and other Greek cities yesterday for May Day rallies fueled by anger at expected harsh austerity measures needed to secure rescue loans for near-bankrupt Greece. — AP (See Page 21)

World marks May Day ISTANBUL: Tens of thousands of workers marched worldwide to mark international worker’s day, demanding more jobs, better work conditions and higher wages. About 140,000 jubilant workers gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square in the first celebrations at the site since dozens of people died there in a May 1 gathering more than three decades ago. The demonstrations in Istanbul, which sits on both European and Asian continents, marked a special victory for the Turkish unions, which had been denied access to the Taksim Square since 1977, when 34 people died after shooting triggered a stampede.

The culprits were never found and workers demanded yesterday an inquiry into the deaths of the demonstrators.

Most of the annual May Day marches were peaceful, but in the Chinese territory of Macau police used water cannons and pepper spray against rowdy protesters who tried to break away from the approved route. Hong Kong radio RTHK reported at least eight people injured, including a photographer.

In Greece, where the debt-stricken government has pledged budget cuts to secure a European Union and IMF rescue, protesters burned garbage cans and set a TV van on fire.

Shops were closed and the streets of the capital Athens were unusually empty but for various protest marches heading towards parliament, metres away from the Finance Ministry where Continued on Page 14

Shanghai World Expo throws open its doors SHANGHAI: Hundreds of thousands of people flooded into Shanghai’s World Expo yesterday at the start of a sixmonth showcase of culture and technology seen as the latest sign of China’s growing economic might. Organisers have said all 500,000 tickets are sold out for opening day at the massive Expo park along the Huangpu river, where visitors will wander through the exhibits of 189 nations, as well as dozens of companies and organisations.

“Everything is very colourful,” Cui Yan, a 23-year-old Chinese university student, said outside the Mexican pavilion. “The architecture is amazing.”

peace, Clinton told reporters. “The security and stability in Iraq is critical to the security and stability of Kuwait, and indeed the entire region,” said Clinton.

On the issue of securing a resolution on Iran’s controversial nuclear program, the two discussed the importance of diplomatic efforts to encourage Tehran to Continued on Page14

Kuwait busts Iran spy cell

Kids’ cold, allergy medicines recalled

CAIRO: Arab League nations yesterday endorsed a resumption of negotiations on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, raising hopes that indirect talks brokered by the United States could revive the stalled peace process. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters after a meeting of Arab officials in Cairo that the regional body would back indirect negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli officials.

“The timeframe of indirect talks will not change from what was agreed to in March, and there will be no change from indirect talks to direct talks until after the outcome of indirect talks has been assessed,” he said.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the condition for Arab League support would be a halt of settlement activity in the West Bank. “If Israel builds one house in the West Bank, Palestinians will immediately stop the negotiations,” he said. Speaking to Reuters by phone after the meeting, Erekat said a final decision would be made by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation executive committee next week. “It was a very positive meeting and they made a consultative decision on engagement in proximity talks for four months.”

Arab League backing is key if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to risk opposition from Palestinian hardliners backed by Syria and Iran and embrace negotiations that have been on hold since the three-week Gaza war began in Dec 2008. In March, a majority of Arab League nations

prosperous, secure, democratic future for the people of Kuwait. Kuwait has been a stalwart supporter and friend”.

During their closed-door meeting, the two dignitaries discussed recent political developments in Iraq and the ongoing process of forming Iraq’s new government, as well as the United Nations resolution on Iran, and securing Middle East

“There are so many highlights -I’m worried I can’t see all of them on this trip,” said Cui, who travelled from Ningbo, in neighbouring Zhejiang province, to be one of the first to catch a glimpse of the Expo pavilions. A sea of people waited to visit China’s red inverted pyramid - the centrepiece of Expo park - with 50,000 tickets handed out within five minutes of the park opening.

Queues were long at all pavilions but by 4:30 pm about 200,000 people had entered the park - less than half the SHANGHAI: Visitors queue at the British Pavillion on the first number of tickets sold.

Continued on Page 14 day of the World Expo 2010 yesterday. — AFP

KUWAIT: Security agencies in Kuwait have busted a spy cell working for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to feed information on Kuwaiti and US targets, a newspaper reported yesterday. Al-Qabas, citing high-ranking security sources, said at least seven Kuwaiti men were arrested, some of whom served in the interior and defence ministries, as well as bedoon, or stateless Arabs, and other Arabs.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, on Tehran’s Arabic-language television AlAlam, denied the report as “utterly baseless” and part of propaganda efforts against the Islamic republic. But AlQabas said security agencies were still hunting for six to seven others suspected of being members of the cell, which was dismantled in a coordinated effort between the secret service and army intelligence.

Cell members had taken pictures of Kuwaiti military and other vital targets in addition to US military sites.

Security forces stormed the home of one of the cell leaders in Sulaibiya, 25 km west of Kuwait City, earlier this week and found maps for key sites, sophisticated communications gear and over $250,000 in cash. Al-Qabas quoted Kuwaiti security sources as saying members of Continued on Page 14

MOGADISHU: Residents remove the bodies of victims yesterday after two explosions rocked a mosque in a crowded area of Somalia’s restive capital. — AFP

39 killed in blasts in Somali mosque MOGADISHU: Two explosions at a mosque in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu yesterday killed 39 worshippers, wounded scores more and hurt a senior member of the AlQaeda-linked Al-Shabaab rebels. It was the second

attack this week on a mosque in Bakara Market, an area of Mogadishu dominated by members of the country’s two main rebel groups, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam. Yesterday’s attack was at the Abdalla Continued on Page 14

Oil slick hits US coast VENICE, Louisiana: Bad weather grounded planes trying to break up a giant Gulf of Mexico oil spill yesterday and forced back boats trying to scoop up and contain the slick as President Barack Obama planned a trip to assess the disaster. The White House said Obama would travel to the Gulf today morning to survey containment operations, amid reports that the spill threatening fragile Louisiana wetlands could be growing 10 times faster than previously estimated.

Oil washing onto Louisiana shores yesterday raised fears of an environmental and economic catastrophe rivaling Hurricane Katrina, and Obama will be keen to avoid the mistakes of his predecessor George W Bush’s disastrous response to the 2005 storm.

British Petroleum was working on three fronts to stop the oil flow - trying to activate a device to shut off the oil, drilling a relief well, and building a containment structure that would prevent the oil from flowing out into the sea.

Continued on Page 14

FORT JACKSON, Louisiana: Dr Erica Miller (right) and Danene Birtell with the Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research work to help a Northern Gannet bird covered in oil, normally white when full grown, at a facility Friday. — AP

2

NATIONAL

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Refugees International statement

Kuwait going backward on issue of stateless

By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: A senior official on the issue of statelessness in the NGO Refugees International (RI) said that the Kuwait government is moving backward on resolving the country’s bedoon issue. The statement was made during a special interview to Kuwait Times upon the completion of their recent assessment of Kuwait. “There have been some changes over the three years that I have been following the issue of stateless people in Kuwait,” said Maureen Lynch, senior advocate on stateless initiatives in RI. “One of the things that are becoming clearer during this visit is that over time bedoon individuals themselves are beginning to become a little more willing to behave in a bolder manner, to speak out on their own behalf, and this is a positive step in the right direction,” she added.

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates receiving Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah yesterday.

Kuwait MoMA hosts 5th PechaKucha Night

By Abdullah Qattan KUWAIT: By now, you have probably heard the buzz on the street regarding this little thing called PechaKucha Night. For those who haven’t, PechaKucha Night is a lecture series that has a special presentation format.

Presenters are limited to 20 images that move forward at a 20 second interval, giving each presenter 6 minutes and 40 seconds. This keeps the presentations concise and allows a larger number of people a talk about their ideas, projects, whims, art and concerns.

PechaKucha Night is a global network that began in Tokyo in Feb 2003 and is now in over 300

cities. Kuwait City became part of this international community in Dec 2008. It’s been over a year now and PKN organizers are expected to launch their fifth installation. It will be performed on May 5 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Kuwait City at 7:30 pm. PKN came to Kuwait through the efforts of Dr Asseel Al-Ragam, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture at Kuwait University. Each city, in fact, has to have an organizer that volunteers their time to make PKN a success. Each organizer goes through a screening process and only then do they receive the official PKN trademark to run in

their respective cities.

Dr Al-Ragam, however, does not run this event without the support of creative volunteer groups that include KASA (Kuwait Architectural Student Association), Design Squared, an interior design and architecture firm based in Kuwait, and Element 8, an event planning team. The latter has been part of the team since PKN #3.

Together PKN organizers have run four events with great success.

What keeps these events interesting is the different locations that host PKN nights. The first one occurred at the Maidan Center of the Dar Al-Athar AlIslamiyyah. The second event

took place in Al-Qabliyah. The third at the beach of the Moevnpick Hotel. PKN #4 occurred at the Scientific Center. Kuwait’s MoMA will host PKN #5. PKN #5 is sponsored by Hassan’s Eye Boutique of Hassan’s Optician Company.

As always, PKN Nights are free of charge and open to all who have an interest in something outside the quotidian box.

This session, presenters include; Talal Obeid, Lulwa and Balsam Al-Ayoub, Hussa AlHumaidhi, Amani Al-Thuwaini and Farah Al-Haider, Lewis Chapman, Yvonne Wakefield, Zeyad Boarki, Dari Al-Huwail, Sama Al-Wasmi and Ahmed AlGharabally.

in my view

Laws that hurdle development

By Hussain Al-Qatari

A

news story was carried in the last Friday Times, reporting that the National Assembly’s committee for alien practices, led by controversial conservative MP Mohammad Hayef, proposed a draft law stipulating a one-year imprisonment, or a KD 1,000 fine, for men who sexually harass women in public.

The fact that such a draft law was proposed is really sad. If it suggests anything, it means that we have MPs who are far more concerned with policing people’s actions rather than actually doing something that is productive and

beneficial to the people who elected them to the position of lawmakers to begin with.

When it comes to issues that concern the development of the country, such as improving the infrastructure, creating better education opportunities and challenging jobs for youth, we find that many MPs turn their back on all of this and pick on silly personal issues.

Despite the fact that this has been ongoing on for quite a long time now, there are a number of MPs that are still elected despite the fact that improving the status quo for citizens and expats is not a priority in their agenda.

In the next election, when candidates

start their campaign, I think clippings from these terrible draft laws, grillings and questionings should be part of the campaign. I think it is essential for voters to learn about these actions that only hurdle plans for development.

What makes me rather worried though is the fact that to some, draft laws of this kind might mean that these MPs are rather hardworking, dedicated and honest people with much love for their country. Only time can tell, but I hope that when we elect our next Parliament we’d think of the candidates’ actions and how they would improve life in Kuwait. hussain@kuwaittimes.net

The advocate said that another positive change is that the Kuwaiti government is listening to the voices of bedoons. “Maybe they are not responding to the degree that we would like to see, but there is some listening that is taking place,” she explained.

In the meantime, Lynch said that although everybody in the government is aware that there is a problem, there does not seem to be a willingness to come to a solution. “There’s a lot of talk, maybe more talk than before, but there’s no actual concrete action towards a remedy. Not even the small remedies, such as insuring that all children are registered at birth.”

“Even regarding the law that permits nationalizing up to 2,000 stateless people annually, my understanding is that during the last two years, the number of nationalized people is zero. Compared to the just few hundreds who were nationalized before, we are moving backward rather than forward,” Lynch explained.

Maureen Lynch joined Refugees International in 1999. She has conducted assessment missions on more than 20 countries, including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Ingushetia, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Syria and Zimbabwe.

Lynch said that the first impression she had when she first visited Kuwait in 2007 was that the hardships being faced by stateless individuals here are similar to stateless people in other parts of the world. “The inability to fully access their right to education, healthcare for children, not being able to get their birth certificates, being unable to exercise their right of buy real estate or

Maureen Lynch the right to vote among other things — a large number of rights are at risk because people do not have a nationality. We’ve observed this very clearly, very easily during our visit to Kuwait,” she asserted.

Speaking on the life conditions of stateless people in Kuwait, Lynch said that it is difficult to compare human misery across the world. “One of the things you can compare is the quality of life for nationals of the country versus the quality of life for people whose nationality is not recognized,” said Lynch. “Within the Kuwait context, you can see a discrepancy in the quality of life, she added” According to Lynch, among the unique circumstances of the issue of statelessness in Kuwait is the fact that stateless people, or anyone with a nationality issue, cannot take

their issue to a court. Additionally, she pointed out that Kuwaiti women are deprived of their right to pass their nationality to their sons. “That is actually a way in which statelessness can be created,” she noted. “As a means of preventing future statelessness, I think it’s important to recognize the need to solve this issue,” she noted. Charlotte Ponticelli, an independent consultant and a member of the RI team, said that the issue of the bedoon is an important challenge that must be resolved for Kuwait’s movement forward.

“The Bedoon issue is not only an issue of human rights,” said Ponticelli. “We have to think about the flip side. The majority of bedoon are below the age of 25, we need to consider the possible outcome of not investing in these people.”

“I’ve spoken to the mothers and grandmothers of bedoon in Kuwait, many of them are worried about their sons. Some of them expressed to me their concern that their sons could be dragged into crime or drugs, or even into extremism. This is a matter of security to Kuwait,” she added.

According to Ponticelli, there’s a special opportunity for Kuwait at this moment in its history to be a model for other countries.

“We can say ‘we had this big problem, we had this huge challenge, and we took steps to address it. I know that many people view Kuwait as a wealthy country but I would like to say that human rights are not a matter of whether you can afford them or not.

Nonetheless, I think that Kuwait can afford to enhance human rights on its soil,” she concluded.

Farwaniya driving test dept reduces queues KUWAIT: The driving test system in operation at Farwaniya governorate’s traffic department has been greatly improved by the recent introduction of a number of new initiatives, including the computerization of the written part of the tests.

Department head Humoud Al-Roudhan said that the department had been able to overcome the problem of applicants having to wait long periods to carry out transactions by introducing an evening shift, enabling license applicants to submit their documents and

obtain licenses at various times.

Around 908 non-Kuwaitis applied to the department for licenses in January, reported AlWatan, with 745 of these passing the necessary practical and written tests, while a total of 1,532 individuals sat driving tests, with 749 passing them.

In March, meanwhile, 881 non-Kuwaiti applicants sat the written test, with 749 passing it, while 755 of the 1,572 who took the driving test passed, with only 48 percent of the nonKuwaitis who sat driving tests between April 11 and April 15 passing them.

in the news $102,000 donation GAZA: A Kuwait-based fundraising agency, the AlRahma Charity for Relief and Development, yesterday handed over $102,000 to help 340 financially struggling college students in the Gaza Strip. “The cash was deposited in colleges’ accounts,” the society said yesterday. The students are studying at four universities in the Strip, which have an annual budget of $300 per student. At the Islamic University, $51,000 will be distributed among 170 students, while at the AlAzhar University $20,400 will be shared among 68 students, said the CEO of the charity in the Gaza Strip Kamal Musleh.

Meanwhile, 68 students at AlAqsa University students will each receive a share of $20,400, while $10,200 will be shared among 34 students at Al-Umma University.

Stolen car torched KUWAIT: Police and firefighters rushed to the scene after receiving a report of an abandoned car being set alight in an open area of Taima. After firemen put out the blaze, police discovered that the car had been reported stolen earlier, with the thieves stripping it of the engine, gearbox, tires and seats before setting what was left on fire, reported AlAnba. An investigation is underway.

KUWAIT: Ali Al-Wazzan and other officials at the workshop yesterday.

Energy rationalization ‘a patriotic duty’ KUWAIT: Energy rationalization is a patriotic duty and “we have a huge responsibility in raising awareness in this regard,” a government official said here yesterday. Rationalization is one of the most pressing issues due to its significance in achieving balance between energy resources and needs, especially when it comes to daily consumption of water, either by the public or entities, Ali AlWazzan, Assistant Undersecretary in charge of Monitoring, Control and Information Systems at the Electricity

and Water Ministry said.

Al-Wazzan’s remarks came on the sideline of a workshop held by the ministry today on “Creative Thinking for Rationalization of Electricity and Water.”

Experts from Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Kuwait University, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Kuwait Municipality and the oil sector are all chipping in short and medium-ranged ideas to address the issue, he pointed out.

On his part, Senior Advisor at KISR Dr

Salah Al-Mazeedi said the workshop is seeking creative thinking in order to come out with recommendations that could be implemented on ground regarding rationalization of energy resources.

Al-Mazeedi, also Chairman of Creative Thinking Committee at KISR, added that all 50 ideas tabled would be assessed, as the committee is aiming to achieve KISR’s strategic transformation by adopting applicable and innovative initiatives, even the ones introduced from the outside. — KUNA

Al-Barrak slams FM KUWAIT: MP Musallam AlBarrak has condemned foreign minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Al-Sabah’s recent suggestions that Kuwait might consider investing the Iraqi compensation payments for the 1990-91 invasion and occupation of Kuwait in developing the Iraqi infrastructure.

Any such moves would meet with grave consequences, AlBarrak warned. The MP criticized taking any measures of this sort “at a time when several locations in Kuwait still lack basic infrastructure requirements, including water connections and schools,” reported Al-Qabas.

CAIRO: The Board Chairman and Director General of Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij Al-Sabah on Friday evening held a dinner in honor of participants in the 6th ‘Kuwait In Egypt’ Exhibition, which concluded earlier in the evening. The dinner was attended by a number of prominent media figures, including the chairman of the Kuwaiti Journalists’ Society (KJS) Ahmad Yousef Behbehani, Director of External Media at Egypt State Information Service Huda Mazareqi, Secretary General of the Egyptian-Kuwaiti Friendship Society Dr. Mohammad Al-Sabahi, as well as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Middle East News Agency Hisham Al-Rayes.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

NATIONAL

3 Kuwait holds seminar

Metro system plans completed, building gets underway

By Abdullah Al-Qattan KUWAIT: The Spanish Embassy in Kuwait and the Kuwait Metro Company held a joint seminar at the Avenues Mall last Wednesday night to celebrate the end of the data analysis phase of the Kuwait Metro system project and the beginning of the construction stage. The metro project, which aims to help end Kuwait’s steadily increasing traffic conges“The development company INECO, which has demonstrated diligent efforts and unparalleled support for the Kuwaiti transit system, is one of the best metro developers chosen by us to work with on this project” Al-Awadhi stated.

Al-Awadhi added that the Kuwaiti transport experts recruited by the MoC have provided the blueprints and master plan for Kuwait’s transit system, with the invaluable help of the INECO’s transportation specialists who have acquired great expertise in the successful implementation of similar high-quality projects over many years. The companies managed to jointly finalize the Kuwaiti Metro master plan within the last years, handing it over, along with a number of recommendations, to the MoC in order to facilitate the immediate commencement of the practical work on the project.

In conclusion, Al-Awadhi pointed out that the project will not only greatly ease the traffic congestion problem, but also positively affect people’s quality of life by solving daily mobility issues.

Another distinguished guest speaker at the event, Spanish Ambassador to Kuwait Manuel Gomez De Valenzuka, expressed his gratitude to Kuwaiti society, inviting Kuwaitis to participate in the events planned for the Spanish Week being staged at the Avenues Mall in order to learn more about the different facets Spain has to offer. The ambas-

sador also expressed his delight at having this opportunity to show Spain’s advanced technological capabilities and to share these with another welcoming nation, Kuwait.

Spain is a country that has distinguished itself with a variety of technological developments, including being ranked third in the world in terms of wind energy production and fourth in the EU in scientific output in the field of biotechnology, Ambassador De Valenzuka explained. Additionally, he continued, Spain has proved itself highly capable and trustworthy in matters of construction and developing means of public

tion problem, is co-directed by the Kuwait Metro Company under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications (MoC) and Spanish training company INECO (Ingenieria y Economia del Transporte S.A.).

Attending the event on behalf of the Kuwait Metro Company, Khaled AlAwadhi thanked both the Spanish embassy and the INECO for their efforts towards the realization of this solution to Kuwait’s traffic dilemma, which he said appears to be steadily worsening.

transportation, whether groundbased or in aviation.

“Thus, we are more than happy to participate in the efforts to develop a metro system that is becoming real with the help of both the Kuwait Metro Company and the INECO, that are the leading experts in their fields” the ambassador said, commending both companies to advance in this project that aims to change lives rather than simply fixing a problem.

INECO was established in 1968, now employs over 3,200 engineers who have worked on 2,500 different projects in more than 31 countries around the

world. The company aims to provide Kuwait with a master plan for a modern railway and metro system and began developing studies into the project in 2006 when the bids for the system were initially launched.

INECO’s experts looked at the various challenges from both environmental and economic perspectives, developing each plan to determine its technical and financial feasibility and the construction and operation requirements.

According to the master plan’s technical characteristics, the metro system will consist of three main lines. Line 1 will connect Kuwait’s southern met-

ropolitan area with the center and the main university will see 20 well-distributed stops extending along its 25.8-kilometer length.

Line 2, meanwhile, will be 20.9 kilometers long in total, featuring a total of 25 stations and connecting the main business district with the main residential areas of Salmiya and Hawally.

Finally, line 3, connecting the city center to Kuwait International Airport, as well as providing stations at residential areas and Shuwaikh Industrial Zone en route, will feature 15 stations spread along its 18.5kilometer length.

Kuwait team presents forward-looking plan

KUWAIT: A recent series of raids by Hawally municipal inspectors resulted in four local restaurants being shut down, while four shops were issued with penalty notices for building extensions without official permission. The operations carried out by municipality officials in April resulted in the closure of 21 stores in the area and the issuing of 155 penalty notices.

Parliament panel set to discuss ‘Mishref’ options KUWAIT: The parliamentary finance committee is today set to discuss the laws governing the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as MPs’ recommendations on amending this legislation.

A number of MPs are also reportedly preparing a proposal to discuss the recent report on last year’s breakdown at Mishref sewage plant, asserting that this issue is a matter of national interest.

The MPs are apparently pushing for the recommendations contained in the recent report to be enforced, especially after a court recently found the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) to be fully responsible for the crisis at the sewage plant.

Another group of parliamentarians, however, is reportedly moving in the opposite direction, urging that the issue be restricted to parliament by discussing the report in the National Assembly

but taking no further action in implementing its recommendations.

On a separate issue, a number of MPs have underlined the importance of more extensive discussion of the government’s privatization plans and the draft legislation put forward in regard to this issue, specifically demanding that the oil sector be wholly excluded from any move towards privatization and that the government offer job security guarantees.

MP Saleh Ashour insisted that in its current form the privatization bill will not benefit Kuwait, asserting that privatization should be introduced gradually.

MP Dr. Rola Dashti, meanwhile, said that the bill does not mention any privatization of the education or health sectors, as well as omitting any reference to issues surrounding oil extraction.

kuwait digest

Kuwait’s outlaw expats ‘I

t’s sad to say that the country contains a number of expatriates who cause problems for citizens,’ wrote Rashid AlRadaan in a column with Al-Watan. ‘They are like the bad apple that stand out amongst all the robust ones,’ he continued.

As an example, he pointed out that several citizens who are real-estate owners are experiencing incidents in which expats abstain from paying rent and move to another building in order to evade prosecution. In order for the expat to be prosecuted, the court indicates that the citizen must file a complaint against the offending tenant.

‘The problems caused by these kinds of expats are countless,’ he wrote. ‘They violate almost all of the country’s regulations by carrying out different forms of crime and intentionally running red lights. Meanwhile, others

working in the private sector escape to their original country after robbing their employers.

Not only that, but they sue their employers in international courts when they are sacked from their positions and make their demands to courts that usually stand by the side of employees. With the enforcement of the new labor law, things are not looking too bright. This law gives them countless rights by which they can break many rules without being prosecuted,’ he continued.

Of course, not all expatriates in the country commit such crimes and carry out such illegal actions, he added. We have to give credit to the expat men and women who make great efforts toward the country’s development, he pointed out. ‘However, these efforts are often overshadowed by offending expats who deserve to be strictly punished,’ he concluded.

MUSCAT: Kuwait, a first time participant in the 3rd Government e-Services Exhibition that coincides with COMEX show in Sultanate of Oman, offers a ambitious vision envisaging a future e-linkage among the Gulf Cooperation Council states, head of the Kuwaiti delegation and representative of the Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT) Banjala Al-Duwaihis said here yesterday.

Al-Duwaihis said in a statement this Kuwaiti participation aims at getting acquainted with the experience of other countries, particularly Oman, in the field of e-governmental services as well as being briefed on the world experience on information technology as the exhibition some specialized seminars.

She also hailed the show’s distinctive organization and the good timing as “this kind of exhibitions provide opportunities for exchanging expertise in the field of e-governmental services among the GCC states, besides exchanging information, notions and ambitious visions

on future e-linkage.”

This linkage will greatly help in facilitating services for the citizens of the GCC states due to the success of the distinctive and pioneering experience of the GCC Civilian Cards Entry System, known in Oman as Identity Cards, Al-Duwaihis said, pointing out that many efforts are made by the GCC governments in order to electronically offer their services.

Concerning the Kuwait’s official e-Government Services Portal, (www.e.gov.kw), she said that it represents the official access to citizens, residents, state bodies, business sector and visitors to get information and governmental services.

She also made clear that this e-portal is available in English and Arabic languages and it also gives access to its users to know a lot of data, services, regulations and laws on the State of Kuwait. She added this e-portal is a main tool of applying the egovernment as its users can get data through three steps only or less than that. —KUNA

in the news NBK’s Facebook page KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait’s Facebook page recently managed to attract more than 3,000 subscribers in a short time, enabling it to obtain the top rank among local firms in terms of popularity on the famous social networking website. Abdulmohsen AlRashid, NBK’s Assistant Director of Public Relations, said that the bank is committed to maintaining contact with customers through all means, including social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, revealing that NBK’s Facebook page has been getting around 1,000 visitors per week. The bank’s Facebook provides a chance for people to have their inquiries answered, as well as offering an opportunity to take a look at the latest services and promotions provided by the bank.

Kuwait bedoon issue KUWAIT: The problematic issues affecting Kuwait’s bedoon (stateless) population can only be resolved by the state’s governing authorities issuing firm, direct orders that these people who have suffered for years be treated justly, according to a prominent Kuwaiti political activist. “The ball is in the parliament’s and cabinet’s court” on this matter, said Khalid Al-Shumaili. “The issue has been looked at more from a political viewpoint than from a humanitarian one,” he continued. “MPs continue to hold meetings on it, while some of them are not even fully aware of the seriousness of the problem and lack the genuine will to find an end to it.”AlShumaili also accused previous members of the Executive Committee for Illegal Residents’ Issues of not just failing to address the problem but perpetrating several injustices against the bedoon people, reported Al-Watan. The political campaigner called on the cabinet and parliament to work on addressing all these problems, including the committee’s offenses.

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) professional women’s committee recently held its second annual convention, with over 200 female staff and a number of guests participating. Leading female figures in the field hosted several seminars for female oil sector workers, with the event aiming to help improve female KOC employees’ efficiency level, as well as inspiring them with examples of successful women in this field.

Deer imports ban lifted KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) on Thursday lifted the ban on deer being imported from Sudan for breeding.

The PAAAFR announced in a press release that all shipments of deer are to be examined at its Animal Health Department according to the procedures set down by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), as well as the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the procedures of Kuwait’s veterinary quarantine system.

The statement added that the previous epidemiological instability which had caused the earlier ban had subsequently eased off, with the WOAH not reporting any recent problems with deer in Sudan.—KUNA

NATIONAL

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Two drug dealers in custody

Defense officer kills neighbor in Kaifan

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense (MoD) employee has been arrested after killing one of his neighbours in his fifties by shooting the man with an M16 assault rifle, firing a volley of 20 shots at the victim as he stood outside his home in Kaifan before fleeing the scene. The victim was rushed to hospital after the attack, but was pronounced dead on arrival. The killer was apparently caught when he was stopped by patrol officers in Qairawan, telling them that he had committed a crime. The officers apparently stated that the man appeared to be drunk or on drugs at the time.

Drug dealers held Two Pakistani drug dealers have been detained, with two kilograms of heroin being confiscated from the duo. The first dealer was caught in a sting operation by police in the Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh area. On being questioned following his arrest, the man gave officers information about his accomplice, who was subsequently arrested in his accommodation in the area, with the heroin, which was described as extremely pure and ready for cutting with other substances before being sold.

Both men have been taken into custody and are awaiting trial.

Car accidents A car accident on Friday evening on King Fahad road, opposite Al-Rawdha, resulted in the broken thigh of a 44-yearold Egyptian expat. He also suffered several injuries to the head. He was taken to Amiri Hospital.

In another incident on Friday, three citizens were injured in a car accident on Wafra road. A 63-year-old man broke his left leg, a 20-year-old woman broke her thigh and a 15-year-old young man injured his right leg.

Also on Friday, a 54-year-old Iraqi woman injured her knee and a 35-year-old Kuwaiti woman injured her left arm in a car accident on Al-Sur street.

They were both taken to Amiri Hospital.

A 60-year-old citizen broke his ribs and injured his head while a 59-year-old citizen

KUWAIT: The old building in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh in which fire broke out yesterday.

— Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Eight hospitalized after Jleeb blaze

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Firefighters rushed to the scene of a blaze that broke out early yesterday morning in an old building in Jleeb AlShuyoukh that was being used as a carpet warehouse, with seven Asian expatriates and one fireman being taken to hospital after suffering the effects of smoke inhalation.

The director of Kuwait Fire Services Directorate (KFSD) Public Relations department Colonel Khalid Al-Amir, blamed negligence on the part of the building owner for being behind the blaze in the 400 square meter traditional building. Col. Al-Amir said that the owner’s failure to

take precautionary measures had endangered the lives of staff and firefighters.

Using such buildings, which were meant for residential purposes, for storage of large quantities of flammable items is extremely dangerous, the senior fire service official emphasized, with any resulting blaze being dangerous to those inside the building and to anyone in nearby buildings, as well as creating hindrances to firefighters carrying out their duties. Col. Al-Amir said that the building owner would be questioned about the incident and could face legal charges, saying that safety regulations must be implemented for the wellbeing of all.

The hospitalized firefighter, Sergeant

Ali Al-Rashid, remains in a stable condition in hospital, where he was visited later yesterday by senior KFSD official Colonel Khalil Al-Amir.

Hawally burglars Unknown burglars broke into an office in Hawally, stealing the safe inside, which contained KD 1,050 in cash along with a number of official documents. The burglars also took electrical equipment worth around KD 3,000 from the office. On discovering the ransacked office, the Kuwaiti business owner immediately reported the burglary to local police, with crime scene officers removing evidence and an investigation launched to apprehend the culprits.

Kuwaiti family refuses to drop case against Filipina killer KUWAIT: Family members of a Kuwaiti female victim who was stabbed to death by her Filipina maid reasserted their commitment to the death penalty sentence, reported Al-Watan. As a response to the court-issued death penalty for the maid, the victim’s family responded that the notion of a concession was out of question.

The statements were made by the victim’s uncle, who indicated that the family has received several calls from peo-

ple, including personnel from the embassy of the Philippines, offering them money in exchange for dropping the case.

“We don’t seek revenge, we only seek justice against the criminal who stabbed our beloved Dalal [Al-Naqqi] twelve times while she was asleep,” said the victim’s uncle, Abu Ahmad.

He indicated that they have been encouraged to drop the case despite their continuous refusal to do so.

Abu Ahmad explained that they have been offered money, as well as to have a mosque built on behalf of the victim, if they were to drop the case.

He said that “these funds should be used to host awareness campaigns for Filipino citizens against violence.”

The uncle indicated that the family has no personal problem against Filipinos, and that the country is entitled to ensure the safety and security of their own citizens.

39 illegal call centers raided KUWAIT: A joint operation between the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and Ministry of Communications (MoC) resulted in raids on 39 internet cafés and unlicensed premises in Hawally and Salmiya which were illegally offering cut-price international phone calls.

The two-week operation also led to the arrests of several expatriate residents for violations of residency laws, as well as the confiscation of computer equipment used to make the international calls.

KUWAIT: The Pakistani drug dealers pictured after their arrest yesterday. injured his head and broke his left arm during a car accident on Saturday on the Fourth Ring Road. Also injured in the accident was a 35-year-old Sri Lankan woman who sustained a back injury. The three were taken to Amiri Hospital.

A 35-year-old Indian expat trying to cross the street in Mahboula, near the Latifa Towers, was struck by a pass-

ing car. The accident left him with a broken leg. He was taken to Adan Hospital.

Fights A number of teenagers in Hawalli, on Muthanna Street opposite the American School, engaged in a large fight. During the brawl a 17-year-old Jordanian injured his head and was taken to Mubarak

Hospital.

Mishap Meanwhile, two Egyptian construction workers fell from a building they were working on in the Jaber Al-Ahmad area.

One of them, a 38-year-old, injured his head while the other, a 25-year-old, broke his left leg. They were taken to Jahra Hospital.

Scores held for brawls in Salmiya, Farwaniya Three Kuwaiti juveniles arrested KUWAIT: A fight between groups of young Egyptians and Syrians occurred at a football field in Salmiya, reported AlWatan. During the fight, the youths used weapons such as knives and axes and one person was admitted to the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital with serious injuries. Police arrested 13 of the brawlers and sent them to the area’s police station for questioning. Police also responded to the scene of a huge brawl at a mall in Farwaniya, reported Al-Anba. It was reported that at least 50 people from one Arab nationality were involved and that seven individuals were taken to a nearby hospital with injuries. A preliminary investigation revealed that the brawl was caused by a previous dispute involving a girl. Investigations are ongoing.

Road accident An accident involving three cars on Istiqlal Highway left a male citizen injured while two other citizens, one male and one female, were unharmed, reported AlWatan. The injured was taken to a nearby hospital while police investigated the incident.

Reckless youths Police arrested three Kuwaiti juveniles

for driving a stolen car through Sabah AlNassir, reported Al-Watan. An inspection into the youths’ IDs revealed that one of them was wanted for previous cases. They were taken to the proper authorities.

Home robbery A citizen was informed by police that thieves broke into his home in Ardiya and stole 1.4 million Iraqi dinars and the passport of his Indonesian maid, reported AlWatan. Investigators responded to the scene and lifted fingerprints in search of the suspects. They are still searching for the thief.

Run over An Asian woman was killed after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing a street in Bnaid Al-Gar, reported Al-Qabas. Paramedics responded to the emergency and pronounced her dead on the scene. A case was opened and investigators are searching for the driver. In another incident, a female citizen in her thirties was admitted to the intensive care unit of Jahra Hospital in critical condition after she was struck by a car while jogging in Oyoun reported Al-Anba. The citizen who hit her called for help and turned himself in to authorities.

Unexpected visit A citizen caught a Bangladeshi man trying to infiltrate his home and turned him in to police, reported Al-Anba. When questioned, the man explained that he had a date with the citizen’s Filipina maid and was trying to meet her in her room so he could give her the cell phone he bought her as a present. He faces charges of breaking and entering and plotting illicit acts.

Auto thief held Police arrested an unemployed Syrian for breaking into cars parked in front of mosques and wedding halls throughout the Capital and Hawally Governorates, reported Al-Anba. Following investigations, the arrest was made at the criminal’s home in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. He was taken to the proper authorities after pleading guilty to the charges pressed against him.

Fugitive nabbed Ahmadi investigators arrested a citizen wanted for a drug trafficking case for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, reported Al-Anba. He was taken to the proper authorities.

KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr. Helal Al-Sayer yesterday presented awards to the participants in the health ministry’s recently concluded ‘Facts of Life’ course.

The awards ceremony was held under the joint patronage of Dr. Al-Sayer and the education minister Dr. Moudhi Al-Humoud. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

Sunday, May 2, 2010

NATIONAL

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Fingerprints on the sands of time

Photographs narrate the story of Kuwaiti traditions shaped by hand

By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: What would we do without our hands? I am using them now to type this article, and you are using them to hold the newspaper. We use our hands to do most of the tasks in our daily lives, from handshakes and text-messaging

KUWAIT: A photo of a ssmil, a dual purpose sheep or goat skin vessel used to store milk and as a butter churn.

KUWAIT: Large wooden mortars and pestles were used to grind Herees, while smaller metal objects were used to grind gand (sugar), spices, yegut (dried milk) and coffee. — Photos by Farah Hamed Khajah and Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield.

VIVA Kuwait holding ‘Small

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: As a part of its social responsibility program, VIVA Kuwait is sponsoring a series of ‘Small to Big’ workshop seminars to help local small business owners to develop their companies through using best business practices. The workshops will be held between May 12 and 15.

VIVA Kuwait is organizing the ‘Small to Big’ workshops in cooperation with Pink Coffee PR & Marketing Company.

“Interested owners of small businesses can register free of charge for these workshops until May 6. We will accept 50 small projects for these workshops,” said Shamlan Al-Bahar, the Marketing Director of Pink Coffee PR & Marketing Company at a press conference held on Thursday at Olympia Tower. Small to Big is a non-profit program that provides a real opportunity for owners of small businesses to learn all the necessary skills to help them expand their businesses in a short period of time at minimal cost. The Small to Big workshops comprise a series of activities designed to make it easier for new business owners to gather information and interact with other participants by creating the atmosphere of a trade show within the workshop. The seminar aims to assist those taking part in developing

Dual citizens exploiting Kuwaiti privileges KUWAIT: Security authorities have discovered that around 10,000 individuals with dual Kuwaiti citizenship have been living outside the country for over 12 years.

These individuals have reportedly been exploiting the privileges accorded to them by both their nationalities while only visiting Kuwait in periods when an Amiri grant is awarded in order to collect ‘their’ share.

The security services also found a number of cases in which individuals with dual citizenship working for local companies used various ruses in order to avoid attending work, including coordinating with other employees at the same firm to cover for them.

The absentee workers would apparently report to work occasionally in order to ensure that their absenteeism remained undetected, reported Al-Watan.

Another deception perpetrated by some dual citizens is the false claiming of benefits, such as disability allowance, in Kuwait and other GCC countries, with some of the individuals getting up to KD 3,000 per year in this fashion.

Meanwhile, a number of those with dual citizenship were also discovered to be registered in different names in their official records in their country of origin.

their brand identity, as well as teaching them marketing techniques and helping entrepreneurs to get their companies established.

“Those interested in these workshops can register through the website, wwww.stbviva.com. There will be both local and international trainers providing these workshops depending on the field of experience and knowledge required, with seven lectures provided,” AlBahar revealed.

“A well developed and executed strategy is the backbone of any growing business,” said Marketing Communication Manager Omar Al-Houti. “Every big business started off small at some point; it was just a matter of nurturing it in the right way. These small businesses are the future of our economy, and need to be cultivated. VIVA Kuwait is pleased to support small business owners, because we sincerely believe in making dreams into reality.” Participants in the forthcoming event can look forward to activities that will give them a complete overview of how small businesses grow into big ones, with VIVA Kuwait providing them with the learning tools to facilitate success, said Al-Houti, while a new website will also be launched to promote the businesses participating in the workshop. He emphasized that VIVA Kuwait is committed to giving back to the communities in which its employees live and work.

A team of artists took to the task of using art to document the tasks done by hand in traditional Kuwaiti households; a life of details that are fading away. “I had the idea to document the simple day-today tasks that Kuwaitis used to do with their hands but are not doing anymore. We wanted to preserve this heritage and protect it from being lost or forgotten,” said Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield, an assistant professor of arts in Kuwait University, head of the art team and creator of an art project.

The idea occurred to Wakefield after being involved in a project to portray the pomegranate in the arts and cultures of the Middle East. “I started to talk to all these different people in the Middle East and ask them what they did with pomegranates,” she said.

“Older people would tell me all these incredible stories about the use of pomegranates in cooking and curing and other things.”

“From that experience I realized that these stories were being lost, that this oral tradition was being lost and nobody was writing them down and then I thought about how to apply this to other areas,” explained Wakefield. That’s when the idea came to look into how people use their hands in the past on a daily basis to do things that they are not doing anymore. “I look at my students who are twenty-something, raised on computers, and never did these things. If they are not documented they will be lost forever,” she noted. The project consists of 30 pieces of artwork and recreates 19 activities in old Kuwaiti households. Activities such as washing, grooming, preparing food and playing were staged by creating replicas of the tools and instruments that were used as well as by restaging the surrounding environment for each specific task. Farah Khajah and Wakefield then took pictures of the various hand activities and projected them onto canvas in sepia tone. Wakefield then applied color to each of the pictures. Sarah Ali Al-Otaibi and other artists participated in the project.

“I wanted to keep the feeling of the old hand-colored photographs,” said Wakefield, who explained that getting the tone and uniformity of color wasn’t an easy task. “The process is unforgiving.

If you mess up, you can’t erase. I had to experiment and throw out a couple of canvases,” she added.

Wakefield who has been living in Kuwait for six years, said that being involved with this project changed her view on the history of Kuwait. “I realized that there is a rich heritage in this part of the world that I wasn’t aware of,” she asserted.

Sharing her view about the current artistic movement in Kuwait, Wakefield said that when she first arrived to Kuwait she wasn’t aware of any art in the country. “I didn’t even know if I could buy art supplies here. Since I’ve come here I found it fascinating that there are world-renowned artists in Kuwait and that there are some very unique things going on here. It’s like a young plant that is growing and growing, with so much potential in the future,” she said.

Wakefield has many projects in the pipeline. “I would like to continue these projects but also do a more modern version, using much more direct colors and be more experimental.” The project started in July, 2009 and was supported by a Kuwait University grant. The collection of artworks will be displayed in an exhibition that will open on Monday, May 3 in Kuwait’s Museum of Modern Art.

AL delegation CAIRO: Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa assigned a League delegation to partake in the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty 2010 Review Conference to be held in New York next Monday. Head of the delegation Wael Al-Assad said before his departure from Cairo that the delegation would focus on coordinating its efforts to bring on a unified Arab stance on the NPT issue.

all the way to the most delicate and complicated medical surgeries. We might even say that what we do with our hands determines who we truly are, and plays a great role in determining the paths of our lives. Ultimately, what a society does with the hands of its people works as a sort of identification for that society, giving it a distinct ‘fingerprint’ in the journey of human civilization.

KUWAIT: Washing clothes the traditional way: a stick is used to beat the dirt out, while the clothes are washed in seawater.

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NATIONAL

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Protection of migrant workers

Reforms incremental, slow and hard-fought NEW YORK: The reforms undertaken by Middle Eastern and Asian governments fall far short of the minimum protections needed to tackle abuses against migrant domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said in a report released yesterday, May 1, International Labor Day. Despite recent improvements, millions of Asian and African women workers remain at high risk of exploitation and violence, with little hope of redress, Human Rights Watch said. The 26-page report, “Slow Reform: Protection of Migrant Domestic Workers in Asia and the Middle East,” reviews conditions in eight countries with large numbers of migrant domestic workers: Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Saudi enumerators find it tough DAMMAM: It is 6:30 pm. Forty-two-yearold Saudi national Abu Muhammad AlShehri gets off his vehicle in Dammam’s AlShatea district.

He is armed with a pen and a bundle of papers. A badge that is neatly tucked on the front pocket of his thobe clearly identifies him as a census enumerator employed by the Ministry of Economy and Planning’s Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI).

Al-Shehri is one among nearly 7,000 enumerators in the Eastern Province whose task it is to ensure the 59-point questionnaire for the 2010 census is filled up by all Saudis and expatriates in the region within the next 15 days. He approaches one of the flats on the ground floor of a four-storey building. On the front door is a census sticker pasted two weeks ago by a CDSI employee after confirming the presence of seven members of a family in the flat.

“This sticker means our people have already visited this area and have done the preliminary work...they have basically confirmed that the flat is indeed occupied and that there are x number of people staying in the flat and also their nationality has been registered,” said Al-Shehri.

“Now it is the tough task of diligently filling up all these forms,” he said, pointing to the clutch of papers that he is carrying in his hands.

He rings the doorbell and a young Saudi

boy answers the door. He says his father is not home.

“When will he be back?” asks Al-Shehri.

“After Isha,” says the boy. “OK, I will come back later,” comes the reply. The forms that have to be filled in have multiple fields including personal details, employment details, type of housing, type of sewage disposal and details of Internet/telephone connectivity, among others.

“Getting all these details is not an easy task ... waajid mushkila (a big problem),” says Al-Shehri. “It takes on an average 15 to 20 minutes to fill out the forms in each household. Sometimes, people get irritated by the number of questions. However, we keep our cool and keep explaining to them in the best possible way the importance of these details for the formulation of future government policies.”

The one thing that tends to irk Saudis the most is when he asks them for the names of the women members in each household.

“They look at us with contempt. What to do? This is our job,” says Al-Shehri who works as a teacher at a government school in Dammam during the day. “We have been hired for one month for census work. The first 15 days were spent in workshops and lectures and other 15 will be spent in the field. At the end of the month we will be paid SR6,200,” he said.

The enumerators, including inspectors

and supervisors, were given extensive training on how to carry out the census.

“We attended a number of workshops and lectures in which we were educated about people’s behavior, the counter questions, and their reluctance to part with personal information,” Al-Shehri said, adding that such a task is especially difficult in a society where personal questions about a family is generally abhorred.

At a press conference in Dammam on Tuesday, the Eastern Province’s CDSI chief Abdul Rahman Al-Thumairy admitted that the task was enormous and appealed to the media to help create a conducive atmosphere for the enumerators.

“The media can and should play a leading role in informing people about the importance of the census. Many Arabic newspapers have featured public interest advertisements exhorting people to cooperate with census enumerators,” he said.

The enumerators will continue to visit residential buildings and compounds only in the evenings from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for the next 15 days. Al-Thumairy underscored the importance of the census in providing an up-to-date record on the demographic, economic and social features of the Kingdom.

He urged all citizens and expatriates to cooperate with employees in charge of conducting the national census and to provide them with accurate and correct information.— Agencies

The report surveys progress in extending protection to domestic workers under labor laws, reforming immigration “sponsorship” systems that contribute to abuse, ensuring effective response by police and courts to physical and sexual violence, and allowing civil society and trade unions to organize.

“Several governments have made concrete improvements for migrant domestic workers in the past five years, but in general, reforms have been slow, incremental, and hard-fought,” said Nisha Varia, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Jordan deserves credit for including domestic work in their labor law, but enforcement remains a big concern.

Singapore has prosecuted physical abuse against domestic workers vigorously, but fails to guarantee them even one day off a week.”

Several countries across the Middle East and Asia host significant numbers of migrant domestic workers, ranging from 196,000 in Singapore and 200,000 in Lebanon to approximately 660,000 in Kuwait and 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia.

Migrant domestic work is an important source of employment for women from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nepal, India, and Ethiopia. Migrant domestic workers’ earnings constitute a significant proportion of the billions of dollars of remittances sent to these countries each year.

Human Rights Watch research over the past five years has shown that migrant domestic workers risk a range of abuses.

Common complaints include unpaid wages, excessive working hours with no time for rest, and heavy debt burdens from exorbitant recruitment fees. Isolation in private homes and forced confinement in the workplace contribute to psychological, physical, and sexual violence, forced labor, and trafficking.

“Reforms often encounter stiff resist-

ance both from employers used to having a domestic worker on call around the clock and labor brokers profiting handsomely off a poorly regulated system,” Varia said.

“Governments should make protecting these vulnerable workers a priority.”

Most governments exclude domestic workers from their main labor laws, denying them protections guaranteed to other workers, such as limits to hours of work or a weekly day of rest. Only Jordan has amended its labor law to include domestic workers, guaranteeing protections such as monthly payment of salaries into a bank account, a weekly day off, paid annual and sick leave, and a maximum 10-hour workday. However, domestic workers cannot leave the workplace without permission from their employer.

The governments of Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia have all publicly announced they will amend existing labor laws or draft new legislation on domestic work. But despite years of proposals, none have adopted such reforms. Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council approved an annex on domestic work to the labor law, but the cabinet has not yet approved it. Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower has repeatedly rejected calls to extend labor law protections to domestic workers.

“Instead of ensuring protection under labor laws, governments have relied on creating standard employment contracts or bilateral agreements with labor-sending countries, Varia said. “Employment contracts and bilateral agreements may be better than nothing, but with weaker protections than labor laws, they effectively reinforce discrimination against domestic workers.”

Immigration reforms have proceeded even more slowly than labor reforms, Human Rights Watch said. In the countries surveyed, domestic workers migrate on fixed-term visas, under which their

Red Crescent CEO, Barjas Al-Barjas, receives an ambulance donated by the NBK from CEO Al-Saqr.

employers double as their immigration sponsors. This system heightens the risk of abuse by giving inordinate control to employers, who can have domestic workers sent home at will or prohibit them from being hired by a new employer.

“Governments have dragged their feet on reforms to the immigration sponsorship system, which contributes to forced labor and trafficking,” Varia said. “They need to move quickly to find alternatives, such as shifting sponsorship from employers to labor authorities or closely monitored employment agencies.”

Human Rights Watch also examined the governments’ responses to criminal abuses against domestic workers. Some governments have begun to investigate and successfully prosecute abuse against domestic workers, but numerous obstacles continue to stand in the way of such victories, Human Rights Watch found. For example, systems for filing complaints are often out of reach of domestic workers trapped in private homes and unable to speak the local language.

For cases that do reach the attention of the authorities, legal proceedings often stretch over years, while victims typically wait in overcrowded shelters, unable to work. The lengthy waits and uncertain outcomes cause many domestic workers to withdraw their complaints or negotiate financial settlements so they can return home quickly. In other cases, domestic workers who bring charges are forced to defend themselves against counter-allegations of theft, witchcraft, and adultery.

“Successful prosecutions of abusive employers and labor brokers is not only justice served but also a strong deterrent against abuse,” Varia said. Governments should establish accessible ways to file complaints, expedite legal proceedings, and ensure a minimum standard of social services, such as shelter and health care, during the process.”

NBK deputy CEO, Sheikha Al-Bahar, presents a check of a donation to the head of the national association for child protection, Dr Seham AlFuraih.

NBK releases 2009 Social Responsibility Report KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait recently released their annual corporate social responsibility report (CSR) which was included in the bank’s annual report for the fiscal year 2009. On that regard, head of deputy CEO of the NBK and head of the “Bank and Society Committee”, Nassir Musaed Al-Sayer, indicated that

the report sheds some light on the bank’s various social activities carried out throughout the year.

The report mainly points out the main importance given to support national employment as part of the basic standards of the country’s development process, as 430 citizens graduated from

The NBK walkathon.

NBK personnel distribute power saving florescent light bulbs.

the University of Kuwait were employed in 2009. The report further mentions other activities that include the NBK’s hospital, activities in support of the educational process, the 15th annual walkathon, holding environmental activities, as well as hosting prominent global personalities.

A bank employee attends to a child at the NBK Hospital during the Eid occasion.

The “Iftar” feasts organized by the NBK during the Holy month of Ramadan.

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INTERNATIONAL

Sunday, May 2, 2010

US lawmakers denounced Ahmadinejad’s plans to take part in NY conference

Iran warns US against taking UN as ‘hostage’ BEIRUT: A handout picture released by the press office of Lebanon’s Hezbollah shows Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah (R) meeting with Qatari Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani in Beirut yesterday. Sheikh Hamad is on an official visit to Lebanon. — AFP

Palestinians seek Arab backing for Israel talks CAIRO: The Palestinians are seeking the Arab League’s backing yesterday to resume peace talks with Israel through a US mediator.

A first attempt to get indirect talks going collapsed last month when Israel announced a new Jewish housing project in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as a future capital.

That drew fierce criticism from the United States and led to the worst rift in decades between Washington and its chief Mideast ally.

Foreign ministers from several top Arab League member nations will meet in Cairo Saturday to decide whether to endorse the indirect talks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signaled earlier in the week that he would be willing to resume negotiations, telling an Israeli TV station that he would present the US proposal to the Arab League and that “we hope that the reply will be positive.” The talks, however, will not be the face-to-face meetings the Obama administration had hoped to put in place more than a year after peace efforts broke down amid Israel’s military offensive on Hamas-ruled Gaza. The Palestinians have

refused to sit down at the same table with Israel until it agrees to freeze all construction in West Bank settlements and in east Jerusalem — two areas that the Palestinians want for an independent state along with the Gaza Strip.

The indirect talks, with US envoy George Mitchell shuttling between the two sides, were meant as a compromise.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that the talks would get started next week. The Palestinians, however, were still waiting for backing from the 22member Arab League.

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi cautioned that the Palestinians would still be waiting to see stronger Israeli compromises on settlement construction. “If it is to succeed then there are requirements that have to be fulfilled in order to give Mitchell’s shuttle diplomacy ... some credibility and substance,” she said.

“Of course we need to see on the ground that Israel has stopped settlement activities in Jerusalem, around Jerusalem and everywhere else.” — AP

Militant turncoat leads Iraqis to Al-Qaeda chiefs BAGHDAD: Leery of using a mobile phone, the militant tasked with directing some of Baghdad’s deadliest recent bombings would get his orders from Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s leadership by meeting a go-between near a grocery store named Mr. Milk.

So after Iraqi security forces nabbed the militant, Munaf Abdul-Rahim al-Rawi, it was to Mr. Milk’s store that he led investigators. That was the first step culminating in what Iraqi and American officials called a devastating blow to the terror group: the killing of Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s secretive two top leaders in a raid last week. In an interview this week with The Associated Press, al-Rawi offered a rare insight into the shadowy terror group that continues to plague Iraq after years of deadly attacks aiming to push the country into civil war. AlRawi’s arrest itself was something of a coup for Iraqi security forces. Known by his underlings as “the dictator,” al-Rawi commanded Al-Qaeda operations in Baghdad, and an Iraqi security spokesman confirmed that al-Rawi played a role in a number of attacks, including the August 2009 bombings of several government ministries that killed more than 100 people.

On March 11, al-Rawi was passing through a Baghdad checkpoint, where a guard recognized him from his photo on a most-wanted list and arrested him, al-Rawi said. But the capture was kept secret from the public, as he gave investigators information that eventually led to the April 18 strike that killed Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

Now al-Rawi will likely face trial for his own role. In the 45minute interview, he shrugged off worries over his fate. “My hope is to enter paradise,” alRawi said. “One of the investigators said a death sentence is waiting for me. I told him, ‘It is normal.”‘ Security spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi described al-Rawi as the militant who led investigators to alBaghdadi and al-Masri.

Speaking to reporters last week, US Brig. Gen. Ralph Baker also said al-Rawi was a vital source who along with others “have all been instrumental in leading to the success of the capture and the killing of the senior leadership in Al-Qaeda.”

Al-Masri, a weapons expert who was trained in Al-Qaeda

camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, was the national leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Baghdadi was the self-described leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, and was so elusive that at times US officials questioned whether he was a real person. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki heralded their deaths in a news conference where he brandished pictures of the two militants’ bloody bodies. US Vice President Joe Biden called the killings a “potentially devastating blow” to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

But four days later, officials believe al-Qaida struck back in a series of bombings that killed 72 people in Iraq’s bloodiest day of the year so far. An AP reporter was allowed by Iraqi security officials to interview al-Rawi.

The reporter was taken in a car with blacked-out windows to an undisclosed location in the Baghdad area that appeared to be a military facility. Wearing a blue track suit, the 35-year-old al-Rawi spoke in a spartan office, and an Iraqi security official was present for parts of the interview.—AP

TEHRAN: Foreign Minister Ma nouchehr Motta ki yesterda y w a rned Washington against taking the United Nations “hostage” by rejecting visas to the Iranian delegates headed for a nuclear conference in New York. “The “The US government has no right to use the issuance of visas as a tool against other countries. The US government ... should not take the UN and the UNSC (UN Security Council) hostage.”

The United States said on Friday it has begun approving visas for Iranian applicants for next week’s nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference.

“We’re working through them,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said asked on the status of visa applications for a team headed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Some of them have been issued. Not all,” Crowley said, adding he did not know whether Ahmadinejad’s was among those approved.

Ahmadinejad and East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta will be the only two heads of state at the NPT conference, Crowley added.

A senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity that Iran had asked for no less than 70 visas for its delegation.

Mottaki, meanwhile, criticised Washington for “undermining” the NPT treaty.

The conference must take place in a “transparent atmosphere ... and the conference must concentrate ... on the issue of (nuclear) disarmament,” he said at a press conference.

Animosity between the United States and Iran has grown as Washington has stepped up efforts to levy new sanctions against the Islamic republic for pursuing its nuclear programme which Washington suspects masks a weapons drive.

Tehran denies the charge.

US lawmakers on Friday denounced Ahmadinejad’s plans to take part in the New York conference.

“This is preposterous, and allowing it to happen will make a mockery of the effort to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to rogue states and terrorist groups,” 14 Republican senators wrote to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“There is simply no compelling reason for Ahmadinejad to be allowed to enter the United States,” they said. “The US government has the legal authority to deny Ahmadinejad’s request and bar his entry.” — AFP

issuing of visas to the delegation and officials of any country coming to participate at the UN in the United States is obligatory on the part of American officials,” he told reporters.

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi policeman inspects the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday.

Gunmen have robbed a jewelry store in northern Baghdad and killed its owner. As they were making their escape, a car bomb exploded nearby, killing three policemen who were responding to the robbery, police said. — AP

Iraqi police face trial for lynching suicide bomber BAGHDAD: Iraqi police who appeared to lynch a failed suicide bomber in a beating broadcast by a satellite television station are to face human rights charges, the government said yesterday.

Graphic pictures of the incident, which occurred on February 28, 2007 at the height of Iraq’s sectarian clashes when security forces were being targeted daily, have been shown after every news bulletin since Thursday evening.

The violent footage on Sharqiya television showed police officers stamping on the foiled bomber’s head and kicking his body.

A statement from the interior ministry, responsible for the police, said an inquiry recommending prosecutions had been approved and “anyone involved in

the violation of human rights will be sent to court to receive proper punishment.”

“The (internal) investigation committee presented the results of their work to the minister himself and he approved it,” it said.

A police officer told AFP the bomber, an Algerian whose payload was hidden in gas and chlorine bottles, was foiled when his path into Bab al-Sheikh police station in central Baghdad was blocked by a departing policeman’s car.

“By chance, the car blocked the entrance. The officer opened fire and wounded the suicide bomber,” before a gunfight broke out between police and insurgents who launched a secondary attack, the officer said.

Some but not all of the 24 fuel bottles,

which were covered by building materials, exploded, causing casualties. but all the insurgents except the bomber, who was shot and killed, managed to flee, he said.

The statement said the relieved officers then took their revenge by repeatedly hitting the bomber’s body.

It was not clear from the television pictures if the foiled bomber was dead or alive when the officers attacked him.

“It was one of the worst periods ever for attacks against police. That explains why it happened,” the officer added.

Around 9,500 Iraqi police and soldiers have been killed since the March 2003 US-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, according to figures used by the Washington-based Brookings Institution. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

8

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Rare Russian opposition rally says Putin is Stalin MOSCOW: Hundreds of Russian opposition activists rallied in Moscow yesterday, shouting slogans comparing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in a rare protest approved by the authorities.

“Putin is Stalin! Putin is Brezhnev! Russia without Putin,” chanted the crowd, including former chess master Garry Kasparov, one of the Kremlin’s harshest critics who co-heads the democratic, prowestern Solidarity movement.

The opposition says Putin has stifled media freedom and democratic rights when he was president between 2000 and 2008.

They accuse Putin of blind economic policies-similar to the years of stagnation under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev- as he continues to dominate Russian politics after handpicking successor Dmitry Medvedev and becoming prime minister under him.

Putin’s supporters say Russia has enjoyed one of the longest periods of

growth under his leadership, saying the country is now on its way to recover fully from the economic collapse and political chaos which followed the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The global economic crisis has silenced some of those voices as Russia has faced a deep economic contraction.

“Haven’t you noticed what is happening in this country?”

Kasparov told Reuters, surrounded by activists holding orange balloons

and placards demanding democratic elections.

“Everything has got worse. The economy is sinking, the politicians do not allow any opposition into parliament, Putin’s state control is all encompassing and the authorities cannot close their eyes to us today.”

Opposition groups have been repeatedly banned from holding rallies and rely mainly on street protests-often broken up by policeand online campaigning to get their message across.

Kasparov said it was the first time the authorities have let the opposition rally on May 1. Other groups such as the nationalists and neo-Nazis have often been allowed to rally.

One protester at the opposition rally held a large caricature picture of Putin kissing Brezhnev, but police took it down. Kasparov said some 40,000 people have already signed his petition asking Putin to resign.

Elsewhere in Moscow, thousands of Russian Communists, trade union

activists, nationalists and supporters of Putin’s ruling United Russia party rallied to mark May Day. Media reports put the nationwide total at 1.7 million, from Russia’s Pacific coast to the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

Russia’s Communist Party, the country’s second biggest party, cherish May 1 — known as International Workers Day in the Soviet era-and some 3,000 marched on Saturday holding traditional red banners and large portraits of Stalin.

Critics of the Communists say they are not real opposition as their leaders often avoid criticism of Putin or Medvedev.

“People of labour have no other weapons but to come out together to force the authorities to listen to their demands,” Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov told Reuters.

“And those demands are pretty simple. We need jobs, we need real modernisation and not talk. We need the fight against corruption and bandits.” —Reuters

Opinion polls still point to no outright winner

Premier Brown fights on as media tips rivals in UK vote LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday he paid a heavy price for calling a Labour supporter “bigoted” as negative media coverage pointed increasingly to his Labour party losing power after 13 years.

With only five days to go until the May 6 election, his main rival, the Conservative Party has pulled ahead in the opinion polls, but not by enough to win an outright majority.

That raises the prospect of a so-called hung parliament in which no party has an overall majority-an outcome not witnessed since 1974 and which markets worry will hamper decision-making at a critical time for the economy.

In another blow to Brown, two newspapers turned against him yesterday, including a leading left-leaning daily, but the prime minister said his party was still fighting to win.

“Never. Never. I’m fighting this to the last second of this election. I’m a fighter. I’ve had to fight for everything I’ve got,” Brown said in an interview published in yesterday’s edition of the Telegraph newspaper.

Brown admitted he had paid a “very heavy” price for his gaffe on Wednesday, when he was unwittingly recorded calling a traditional Labour voter a “bigoted woman” after she questioned his party’s policy on immigration.

A day later, Conservative leader David Cameron was NEWCASTLE: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah, are greeted by Conservative sup- widely judged to have won the porters, carrying Conservative banners, background, as they arrive at a supermarket in Newcastle, England last of three US-style televised during a general election campaign for the ruling Labour Party yesterday. —AP debates, putting wind in the sails of his centre-right party, which has long led in opinion polls.

Yesterday, The Times switched its support to the Conservatives and the onceloyal Guardian is now backing Britain’s third-largest party the Liberal Democrats, or Lib Dems.

Another leading newspaper, the left-leaning Independent, BRUSSELS: The vote in the Belgian authorities and manages and author of the bill, Daniel ety,” Chemlal added. On 22 April, wasn’t likely to support centrelower house of the Belgian parlia- the religious affairs of the Bacquelaine, was quoted saying the government of Prime left Labour either while the train the press that the burqa clash- Minister Yves Leterme collapsed ment on Thursday to ban the Muslims. ditionally pro-Labour Mirror 141 Belgian deputies voted to es with the principles of an eman- over a long-standing electoral diswearing of the burqa or niqab, tabloid relegated its election face-covering veil, is being criti- ban the burqa. There were two cipated society that respects the trict dispute between the Dutch coverage to page eight. cized by representatives of abstentions but nobody voted rights of all. “It’s not about intro- speaking and the French speak“The Guardian’s gone, and Muslim organisations in the against. The bill says no one can ducing any form of discrimina- ing communities of Belgium. my paper, the Independent is Observers, however, noted country as a violation of religious appear in public “with the face tion,” said Bacquelaine. more or less veering towards Karim Chemlal, President of that in the case of the burqa bill fully or partly covered so as to freedom. either, ‘We support a hung par“This measure which comes render them no longer recogniz- the League of Muslims in both the communities as well as liament’ or ‘Let’s give the Lib in the middle of a government cri- able.” Belgian politicians have Belgium, said he thinks the all the parties whether Liberal or Dems more of a chunk of sis is a violation of liberties and argued that the law is necessary debate around the Muslim dress Conservatives or Greens were power’,” columnist Yasmin fundamental rights of Muslims by for public security and to protect code is a “false debate and a tactic united.

Alibhai-Brown told Sky News.

The bill must now be some persons,” the Vice women from being forced to wear of diversion.” “The real debate is “So they have no one. And this President of the Muslim the burqa. Praile, however, dis- the discrimination and the mar- approved by the Senate to is extraordinary for the Labour Executive of Belgium, Isabelle missed the security argument as ginalisaton of the young people of become a legislation. But this will party.”

Muslim origin and also the conse- have to wait till fresh elections Praile, told the Kuwait news “not feasible.”

Still, several factors may yet “Citizens are not required to quences of the economic crisis on are held in the country sometime agency (KUNA) in an interview. alter the political balance in the She stressed that the measure identify themselves except under the society. I think this is the real in June. last leg of the tightest British But when and if it becomes a could be considered as an abuse specific cases. The women who debate,” Chemlal told KUNA. election in decades.

“There are only a few cases of law anybody caught wearing the of the law as these rights are wear the hijab are not a source of “We are up for the fight ... I guaranteed by Belgian, European any trouble for the security in niqab in Belgium and they are burqa or niqab in public could be do not think we are losing. The Belgium. We have women wear- making a law for this. You go to fined between 15 and 20 euros, and international rights. contest is still wide open.

“In Belgium, we don’t have ing sunglasses and some making the markets, go to the streets and and or face a one week jail senThere are many who have not the burqa. It is in Afghanistan.. surgical face changes and they see how many Muslim women tence. Belgium would also yet made up their minds,” become the first European counSome dozens of women are wear- cannot be identified also,” she are wearing the niqab,” he said.

Labour Business Secretary “This is a disorientation and try to ban the burqa. ing the veil,” said Praile, a Belgian said.

Peter Mandelson told BBC The international human “This measure could have an diversion from the real problems. who converted to Islam 26 years news on a campaign walkabout. group Amnesty emotional reaction which could They are diverting the people rights ago.

Analysts will be looking out The Muslim Executive of stigmatize the Muslim communi- from the real problems. The real International has condemned the for another gaffe, as well as debate should be about the future burqa-ban vote by the lower Belgium is the interlocutor of the ty living in Belgium,” said Praile. more detail on how the parties The Liberal Belgain deputy of Muslims in the Belgian soci- house of Belgian parliament.

Muslim community with the hope to cut Britain’s record “A complete ban on the coverbudget deficit, currently runing of the face would violate the ning at more than 11 percent of rights to freedom of expression GDP and the main election and religion of those women who campaign issue. wear the burqa or the niqab as an Politicians have been relucexpression of their identity or tant to scare voters by outlinbeliefs,” said John Dalhuisen, ing the extent of deep spending Amnesty International’s expert cuts expected whichever party on discrimination in Europe, in a wins. statement.

Labour and the Lib Dems “The Belgian move to ban fullsay that cuts should be delayed face veils, the first in Europe, sets to give a tentative economic a dangerous precedent. In the recovery time to take root, but absence of any demonstrable link the Conservatives want to between the wearing of full-face slash spending soon after takveils in Belgium and genuine ing power. threats to public safety, there can be no justification for the restricClegg told Reuters in an tion on the freedom of expression interview on Friday that the and religion that a complete ban main parties should work on the wearing of face veils in together to devise a plan to public places would entail,” said tackle the deficit.

Dalhuisen.

His centrist party’s support On the number of Muslims in could be pivotal in the case of a Belgium, the Vice-President of hung parliament, but he VATICAN: In this June 3, 2005 file photo made available by the Vatican newspaper the Muslim Executive said it is refused to be drawn on L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI meets with then San Francisco believed in general that there whether the Lib Dems would between 400 - 500,000 support Labour or the Archbishop William Levada, newly nominated as guardian of church doctrine, at the are Muslims living in the country Conservatives, saying he will Vatican. Levada, who succeeds Ratzinger as prefect for the Congregation of the which has a population of over be guided by the election’s outDoctrine of the Faith, holds the highest Vatican office ever held by an American. — 10 million. —KUNA come. —Reuters

Muslim organisations in Belgium slam burqa-ban

PRETORIA: Joaquim Chissano (C), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mediator, flanked by Jean Ping (L), the Chairperson of the African Union and the SADC Executive Secretary, Tomaz Salomao (R), gives a press conference yesterday in Pretoria at the end of three days of political talks on Madagascar which failed to a way out of the political crisis. —AFP

One dead, 21 hurt in blast in Nalchik MOSCOW: One person was killed and at least 21 injured yesterday when a bomb exploded in Nalchik, the capital of Russia’s KabardinoBalkaria republic, in a sign that unrest is spreading in the troubled North Caucasus region.

The bomb exploded during horse races in Nalchik as the city celebrated May Day, a spokeswoman for the region’s interior ministry told Reuters.

The bomb was equipped with a timer and filled with pieces of metal designed to injure as many people as possible, said spokeswoman Marina Kyasova. “At least 21 people were injured but the exact number is still being defined,” she added.

The leaders of the republic, including President Arsen Kanokov, were not at the race meeting. Russian agencies said the person who died was a World War Two veteran born in 1906.

Kabardino-Balkaria, which has many ski

resorts and is a favourite for Russian lovers of extreme sports, is near the turbulent trio of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, but its level of violence has been much lower than in those three.

The Kremlin is struggling to contain a bubbling Islamist insurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus region which aims to create a Muslim, shariabased state separate from Russia.

Frequent attacks targeting law enforcement officers define much of the violence in the region, a decade after two wars between government forces and Chechen separatists. “(The blast) could be revenge by extremists for the destruction of the leaders of bandit groups and could be aimed at destabilising the situation in the republic during May holidays,” ITAR-TASS quoted regional leader Kanokov as saying. —Reuters

TIRANA: Protesters and police clash, during a hunger strike in Tirana, capital of Albania, yesterday. More than 200 lawmakers and supporters from Albania’s opposition Socialist Party went on hunger strike yesterday to press the government to allow a partial recount of an election they claim was tainted by vote-rigging. —AP

South Africa police seize largest explosives cache JOHANNESBURG: South African police have seized 2.5 tonnes of explosives of the type robbers use to bomb banks’ cash machines, the Star newspaper reported yesterday.

“It’s the biggest find we have discovered so far,” the paper quoted police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini as saying. “There were about 100 boxes, each containing 25 kilogrammes of commercial explosives. Our investigations revealed it is the same type of explosives used to bomb ATMs.” Police found the explosives in the bathroom of a house in a Johannesburg suburb. They raided the house after receiving a tip-off from a member of the public. Two people have been arrested and police are looking for a third suspect, the newspaper said.

South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, with 18,487 murders, 36,190 rapes, and 14,201 reported carjackings in 2007-8, according to police. Many crimes go unreported.

About 50 people are murdered a day, slightly higher than the rate in the United States, which has six times South Africa’s 50 million population. South Africa’s police chief, Bheki Cele, has said he did not think the high crime levels would scare visitors from attending the FIFA Soccer World Cup which the country is hosting in June. —Reuters

Dozens injured in Zambia poll violence LUSAKA: Dozens of people have been injured in clashes between supporters of competing political parties in Zambia since parliamentary by-elections this week, police said yesterday.

Home affairs minister Lameck Mangani described the clashes between supporters of the ruling MMD party and the opposition as the worst violence during an election since Zambia’s independence from Britain in 1964.

Police have arrested 24 people since the violence erupted in Northwestern province on Thursday during the by-elections, in a sign of mounting tension ahead of 2011 presidential and parliamentary polls in Africa’s largest copper producer.

Police said supporters of the two camps clashed using knives and stones. The opposition has accused President Rupiah Banda’s MMD party of fanning the violence. —Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

Sunday, May 2, 2010

9

Arkansas tornadoes kill one

ALEXANDRIA: In this artist’s drawing Wesam El-Hanafi, center, and Sabirhan Hasanoff are seen with US Attorney John Cronan, during their initial appearance on terrorism related charges at US District Court in Alexandria, Va., on Friday. — AP

Drug smugglers suspected in attack on US deputy PHOENIX: Law officers backed by helicopters hunted gunmen in Arizona’s desert early yesterday after a sheriff’s deputy was wounded by suspected marijuana smugglers, officials said. The violent episode came amid nationwide debate over the state’s tough new immigration law. Pinal County Deputy Louie Puroll was patrolling alone Friday afternoon in a rugged area about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Phoenix when he came upon a band of suspected smugglers, authorities said. At least one of five suspects opened fire on the 53-year-old lawman, tearing a chunk of skin from just above his left kidney. The officer was found after a frantic hourlong search, Pinal County sheriff’s Lt. Tamatha Villar said.

The wound was not serious and Puroll was released Friday night from Casa Grande Regional Medical Center. State and federal law enforcement agencies deployed helicopters and scores of officers to search a 100 square-mile (260 square kilometer) zone for the suspects. The Arizona Republic newspaper reported officials said more than one of the choppers came under fire during the manhunt.

The Pinal Sheriff’s depart-

ment told The Associated Press that the hunt lasted into the early morning hours Saturday but no arrests had been made.

The shooting was likely to add fuel to an already fiery national debate sparked when Gov. Jan Brewer on April 23 signed a law cracking down on illegal immigration in the state.

A backlash over the law has surged with civil rights activists, concerned it will lead to racial profiling, calling for protests and a boycott of the state. The new law’s passage came amid increasing anger in Arizona about violence, drug smugglers, illegal immigration drop houses and other problems that some say are caused by poor border security. The issue gained focus a month ago when a southern Arizona rancher was shot and killed by a suspected illegal border crosser.

Arizona politicians called Friday’s shooting an outrage and urged the federal government to do more to secure the border with Mexico.

“Regardless of the outcome of tonight’s manhunt and investigation, Arizona is now confronted by some of the most vicious and dangerous narcoterror organizations the world has seen,” Brewer said in a

statement. Rep. Kirkpatrick, a Democrat whose district includes part of Pinal County, said the violence “should show the rest of the country what we Arizonans have known for too long _ the unsecured border poses a very real and very immediate danger.” Puroll, a 15-year department veteran, had been carrying out smuggling interdiction work before finding the bales of marijuana and encountering the five suspected smugglers, two armed with rifles.

“He was out on his routine daily patrol in the area when he encountered a load of marijuana out in the desert. He obviously confronted the individuals and took fire,” Villar told The AP. The Republic quoted Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu as saying about 30 bullets were fired at the deputy, who returned fire with a semiautomatic rifle and a handgun. The area is a well-known smuggling corridor for drugs and illegal immigrants headed from Mexico to Phoenix and the US interior. “(Puroll) is a search-andrescue deputy, so its not uncommon for them to work those areas A) looking for drugs and B) looking for people who need assistance out there,” Villar said. — AP

CLINTON: Several tornadoes that ripped through central Arkansas killed at least one person and injured two dozen others, officials said as they braced for another round of severe weather yesterday.

Debris was being cleared and damage assessed as day broke in Van Buren County where authorities said at least one person died in the Friday night storms. A sheriff’s department dispatcher said details about the death were expected to be released later Saturday. At least two dozen other people were hurt across Van Buren and several other counties, state Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Renee Preslar said. Officials in those counties referred questions to the state agency, but Preslar said local authorities who provide her with updates hadn’t released details about the severity of the injuries. More storms — including tornadoes — could hit the state Saturday, said meteorologist Brian Smith with the National Weather Service in Little Rock.

“We have a lot of warm air over the area, warm and moist air. The atmosphere has a very high amount of wind energy available and a lot of instability, and as the day gets warming, that’s all we need,” Smith said. Search teams Friday night located a person believed missing in the wreckage of a home in Center Ridge, while extensive property damage was reported across central Arkansas, Preslar said.

Tornado sightings were reported just a few miles north in Culpepper, according to Arkansas State Police. A sheriff’s dispatcher said a sighting also was reported in the Oakland area, near the Missouri border.

Trees and power lines blocked major roadways in both areas.

John Robinson, warning coordinator meteorologist with the NWS in Little Rock, said a slow-moving front from the west touched off the severe weather Friday. “We had spotty thunderstorms here and there, and those are the ones — the ones that sit out there by themselves — that end up being tornado producers,” he said, noting Arkansas’ tornado season generally peaks in April. — AP

ARKANSAS: Firemen in East End, Ark., assess the damage caused by a tornado to their fire station yesterday after a series of violent storms swept through central Arkansas Friday evening. — AP

Officers’ duties will remain limited pending an investigation

Diplomat beaten, injured

by Houston police: China DALLAS: Three Houston police officers have been restricted to desk duty after they followed a Chinese diplomat into the parking garage of the Chinese Consulate, arrested the man and injured him, the Houston mayor said. Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement that the officers’ duties will remain limited pending an investigation into how Chinese diplomat The consulate in Houston did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press. Houston police and the US State Department are investigating the incident. “China urges the US ... to quickly investigate the details of this incident and to look into the persons responsible to ensure that the Chinese diplomatic and consulate personnel and premises are not violated,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.

“The Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese Embassy and the Houston consulate have already made solemn exchanges with the US side.” Under

international practice, the premises of foreign embassies and consulates are outside the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, and diplomats have legal immunity. Houston police tried to stop a car that was missing a license plate, CBS News reported. When the car didn’t stop, they pursued it into a garage.

Police handcuffed and arrested the driver, injuring him, the report said. CBS News identified the official as Ben Ren Yu. The Houston consulate website lists a deputy consul-general, Yu Boren. The officers said they were unaware they had pursued the diplomat into the Chinese Consulate’s parking garage,

Yu Boren was injured last Saturday. Officials in China’s Foreign Ministry released a statement Friday saying police harassed and beat a deputy consul-general while he was driving to the consulate. The statement said a family member also was involved, but did not say if that person was injured.

Parker said.

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the US took the issue seriously.

“It started as a police encounter based on an expired plate or the lack of a license plate,” Crowley said. “We share the concern that China has about its diplomat. We are investigating.” A Houston police spokesman declined to comment. The police force did not immediately respond to a request for a copy of the offense report, which typically is not released while an incident remains under investigation. US-China relations only recently emerged from a

tense period aggravated by spats over US arms sales to Taiwan, trade and China’s currency policy. Comments on at least two major Internet portals had apparently been deleted, an indication the case was considered sensitive, perhaps because of its impact on US-China ties. Houston’s police chief has ordered officers to receive a list of addresses for every consulate in the city.

“This is important as Houston has the third-largest number of consulates in the country,” Parker said. “We cherish our international residents and want to assure them they are welcome in our city.” — AP

Adviser slams Tonga government over ferry inquiry NUKU’ALOFA: Tonga’s top legal adviser quit his post Friday, claiming the government was trying to subvert an inquiry into the South Pacific nation’s worst maritime disaster that has been highly critical of officials.

A royal commission of inquiry has blamed the Aug. 5 sinking of the Princess Ashika on the decision to send an unseaworthy vessel to sea packed with passengers.

The disaster killed 74 people.

Attorney General John Cauchi said the independence of his role and of Tonga’s judges had been stripped away and most of

his responsibilities handed to either the Cabinet or the justice minister.

“The action of the government against my role and the independent judiciary has meant that my resignation is the best way for me to show that the government’s interest in independence is a highly qualified one,” Cauchi said in a statement.

Cauchi alleged that the government had attempted to have the inquiry commission’s terms of reference modified before its damning final report was released to media early this month.

He called a Cabinet decision not to sup-

Rancher found guilty in killing of US nun RIO DE JANEIRO: A jury convicted a Brazilian rancher early yesterday of orchestrating the murder of US nun and Amazon defender Dorothy Stang.

Regivaldo Galvao — the last of five defendants to stand trial in the case — was sentenced to 30 years in prison, said Telma Lima, a spokeswoman with the federal court in the jungle city of Belem where the trial was held.

The verdict came two weeks after another rancher, Vitalmiro Moura, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of collaborating with Galvao.

Prosecutors say the pair offered to pay a gunman $25,000 to kill the 73-year-old Stang because she blocked their stealing a piece of land that the government had granted to a group of poor farmers supported by the nun. The trials were seen as a litmus test for Brazil’s ability to begin to end the lawlessness that reigns in the Amazon region — an area the size of the United States west of the Mississippi River. The government has little presence in the area, and illegal activities like deforestation and illegal mining are rampant.

According to the Catholic Land Pastoral, a watchdog group that tracks rural violence in Brazil, more than 1,500 activists, small farmers, judges and others have been killed

across Brazil the past 25 years — usually by gunmen paid by powerful ranchers with land claims at stake. “The vast majority of these crimes are met with absolute impunity by the legal system,” said Antonio Canuto, an official with the group. “Today’s trial is a nearly singular fact — and it is of supreme importance to set a precedent to stop the violence.”

Canuto said Catholic Land Pastoral delivered a report to Brazil’s Justice Ministry on Thursday showing that 1,546 people were murdered in land conflicts over the last 25 years.

Of those, only 85 cases were judged, according to the report.

A total of 20 “masterminds” of the crimes were found guilty, but only Moura and Galvao are behind bars — the rest either escaped from prison or are free on appeals. Canuto said 79 gunmen involved in the killings are in prison.

In addition to Galvao and Moura, three other men were tried in Stang’s case: • Rayfran das Neves Sales, who confessed to shooting Stang six times on a muddy Amazon road, is serving a 28year sentence.

• Clodoaldo Carlos Batista, an accomplice of Sales, is serving out a 17-year sentence in Brazil’s “semi-open” prison system, meaning he can work outside but must sleep in jail.— AP

port Cauchi’s appointment of two senior foreign lawyers to prosecute issues arising from last year’s sinking “spurious.” He also criticized recent government moves to bypass normal procedures and appoint a judge directly. The government’s “hand selection of judges” could mean people would not be held responsible for their actions over the ferry tragedy, and the failure to support the independent prosecutors “means at the very least interference in the independent prosecutorial system,” he told New Zealand’s National Radio.

Three people have been charged by

police with manslaughter in connection to the sinking, and findings of the commission blamed senior government and state shipping officials.

In a statement on Cauchi’s resignation released nearly 24 hours later, the Tongan government accused him of “inappropriate activism” and said his resignation comments indicated “politically motivated criticism” of the government.

“When Mr. John Cauchi was appointed, he was granted powers which proved eventually beyond his abilities properly to exercise,” the government statement said. “He

had also frequently tested the government’s patience and forbearance by interfering in matters that were not within his purview.” It noted that reform of the Tongan Constitution “is a matter to be decided only

by Tongans.” Cauchi is an Australian national.

Separately, government spokesman Lopeti Senituli told The Associated Press that Cauchi’s claim that the Tongan Cabinet had decided not to support the appointment of two foreign prosecutors “is a deliberate misrepresentation designed to create animosity toward Cabinet.” “Cabinet’s decision

was to defer the discussions on the matter until a report was received from the Minister for Finance,” he said in an e-mail.

Police investigations into the royal commission’s findings are continuing, and Cauchi vowed last month that the independent prosecutors would pursue all of its ultimate findings even if they led to the prime minister’s office. Cauchi said then that Cabinet ministers, former ministers and even Sevele, accused by the royal commission of withholding documents from the inquiry, could be implicated in future prosecutions. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

China city goes on defense after school attack TAIXING: A Chinese city shaken by one of three back-to-back attacks on schools stepped up security and urged its citizens to “trust the government” yesterday, a day after parents of the injured children protested outside a local hospital.

A dozen police and security guards patrolled the lobby of the Taixing city People’s Hospital the morning after marching parents chanted “We want the truth,” asked to see their children and demanded a better government response to the crisis. Photos and video posted online showed hundreds of people massed outside the hospital Friday night, pushing so hard to get in that they shattered a glass door.

The school attack in Taixing came Thursday when a 47-year-old unemployed man armed with an 8-inch (20-centimeter) knife wounded 29 students aged 4 or 5 — five of them seriously — plus two teachers and a security guard.

The city government tried to ease fears in a mobile phone text message sent to citizens Saturday. “No one has died, and all of the parents have seen their injured children,” the government said. “Citizens please trust the government, don’t believe rumors,” the text said. A parent of one of the four children still in intensive care confirmed that he and other

parents had been able to see their children Friday and Saturday. Xin Feng, the father of a 4-year-old boy, said parents had no plans for further protests.

Xin had said a government employee was handing out compensation to families Saturday, but later said he had been mistaken and that the money was from a private citizen.

“We don’t want the government money.

We just want the children to be OK,” he said, adding that parents also want a reasonable explanation from the government of the attack. “When I walked into the ICU this morning, my son recognized me but couldn’t talk,” Xin said. “He looked so helpless.” The anger and fear come after three classroom assaults in three days across China. The government issued an urgent order Friday for schools to tighten security, and armed police will patrol schools in the capital, Beijing, when classes resume Tuesday after the May Day holiday. The attack in Taixing came a day after a 33-year-old former teacher broke into a primary school in the southern city of Leizhou and wounded 15 students and a teacher with a knife. The attacker had been on sick leave from another school since 2006 for mental health problems. And on Friday, a farmer used a motorcycle to break down the

TAIXING: A Chinese girl who was attacked at the Zhongxin Kindergarten, plays with her toys at a hospital in Taixing, in east China’s Jiangsu Province, yesterday. A knife-wielding man attacked a kindergarten class of 4-year-old in eastern China on Thursday, slashing two dozen children in what an expert said was a copycat rampage of two other episodes at Chinese schools in the past month. — AP

Thailand could slide to ‘undeclared civil war’ Thailand is reeling from its worst political violence BANGKOK: Thailand’s prolonged stand-off between the government and “Red Shirt” protesters could deteriorate into an “undeclared civil war”, a top think-tank has warned as tensions increase in the capital. The International Crisis Group (ICG) said Thailand must consider mediation

help from other countries to avoid a slide into further violence. “The Thai political system has broken down and seems incapable of pulling the country back from the brink of widespread conflict,” the ICG report, which was released late Friday, said.

BANGKOK: Thai “Red Shirt” anti-government protesters remove used truck tyres after agreeing to move back the main barricade set up at their fortified camp in the financial central district of Silom in downtown Bangkok yesterday. Thailand’s prolonged stand off between its government and “Red Shirt” protesters could deteriorate into an “undeclared civil war”, a top think-tank has warned as tensions increase in the capital. — AFP

China seeks bilingual officials in Xinjiang BEIJING” Applicants for official jobs in China’s restless far western region of Xinjiang must be able to communicate in both Chinese and one of the local languages, state media said, as Beijing tries to soothe ethnic tensions.

Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi erupted in violence last year leaving around 200 people dead, as majority Han Chinese fought Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people who call the region home.

Decades of migration have massively raised the number of Han who live in Xinjiang. But few of them speak Uighur, or any of the other languages spoken there, a cause of resentment for minorities who have to learn Mandarin if they want to prosper.

Many Uighurs resent Chinese controls on their religion, culture and language.

“The regulation will enable officials to better serve the people, encourage the learning of languages and promote exchanges between people of different ethnic groups,” Xinhua news agency quoted government spokesman Kang Tingfeng as saying.

Candidates for government jobs who fail to meet the language requirements will have to go on a three-month course to get their abilities up to scratch, the report added. “After the training, the candidate’s language abilities will be tested again. If the candidate fails the test again, he/she will be given another opportunity to study in the following year’s training programme. If the candidate fails the test a third time, his/her job application will be rejected,” it said. Some parts of Xinjiang, like the heavily Uighur city of Kashgar, have had these requirements for years, Xinhua added.

Similar rules also exist in Tibet, another restless area of Chinese control. — Reuters

MANILA: Phillipine former president and presidential candidate Joseph Estrada (upper C-R) tosses t-shirts to his supporters during a motorcade in Manila yesterday.

Fifty million voters are set to go to the polls on May 10, when 17,000 posts from president down to municipal council seats will be contested. — AFP

“The stand-off in the streets of Bangkok between the government and Red Shirt protesters is worsening and could deteriorate into an undeclared civil war,” it added.

Thailand is reeling from its worst political violence in almost two decades in the capital, where 27 people have died and nearly 1,000 been injured in a series of clashes, but the government has rejected suggestions of outside mediation.

Deputy premier Suthep Thaugsuban, in charge of national security, told reporters that a special cabinet meeting would be held at a Bangkok military base on Sunday to analyse the crisis.

The demonstrations are the latest chapter in years of turmoil pitting the ruling elite against the Reds, who say the government came to power illegitimately in 2008.

Many of the Reds come from Thailand’s rural poor and urban working classes and support former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and now lives overseas to avoid a jail term for corruption.

Protest leaders yesterday slammed management at a Bangkok hospital, saying its chaotic evacuation of patients after it was stormed by Red Shirts was a ploy to make the protesters look bad.

The Reds have faced heavy criticism after about 100 supporters raided Chulalongkorn hospital Thursday evening under the mistaken belief it sheltered security forces preparing a crackdown, following deadly street violence.

The 1,400-bed hospital evacuated most of its patients because of the incident, and Red leaders have apologised profusely.

“The hospital did not hear our apology. They dramatised the evacuation of patients, turning it into a tragedy to paint Red Shirt people as bad,” Jatuporn Prompan, one of the group’s core leaders, said at a news conference. “We have been made to look like terrorists and very soon the crackdown will begin,” he added.

The Reds, who have occupied sections of Bangkok for over a month in their bid to force snap elections, claim the hospital was used in an April 22 grenade attack on a pro-government rally that killed one and wounded dozens.

The government said the grenades were fired from inside the Reds’ camp-an accusation the movement has denied.

Thailand’s Medical Council criticised the storming of the hospital and asked protesters to respect medical personnel, while police were deployed at the hospital to ensure neither security forces nor Reds use the grounds.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva vowed to prosecute those who were involved in the hospital incident. Thai television reported Princess Chakri Sirindhon went to Chulalongkorn Saturday to visit one of its last patients, 96-year-old Patriarch Prasangkaraj, and suggested that the country’s ailing head Buddhist monk switch hospitals.—AFP

gate of a primary school in the eastern city of Weifang and struck five students with a hammer. He then poured gasoline over his body and burned to death, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Chinese schools have had five such attacks in just over a month — unusual in a country where extreme violence is comparatively rare and strict controls keep most people from owning guns. Sociologists suspect the rampages — usually by lone, male attackers — could be copycat actions. State media reports have largely shied away from why students have been targets. Experts say outbursts against defenseless children can be due to social pressures in a rapidly changing society. The attacks have been particularly shocking because most urban families in China have only one child due to government population control policies. “There are a few children whose medical condition is still very critical,” said Li Wenjiang, the director at the Taixing city People’s Hospital. “There are two children with broken windpipes who suffered from lack of oxygen and lack of blood, so their condition is quite critical. Another also has puncture wounds in his chest.”

Nearby, two of the injured girls were seen in beds quietly clutching stuffed animals. Their heads had been stitched up. Security at the

school in Taixing was tight, and the gate was locked.

State media either ignored or played down Friday’s attack. It wasn’t mentioned on the evening news in the eastern province of Shandong, where it occurred, and Xinhua didn’t release a Chinese-language story on its website. Experts have worried openly about copycat crimes. The education vice minister, Hao Ping, said emergency management is a “heavy task” with 270 million students across China, according to a Xinhua report Saturday. Hao said the government was setting up a 22-member expert team to focus on “public incidents” in the education system.

The Education Ministry’s directive Friday, posted on its website, urged “concrete actions,” including strictly implementing a rule already on the books to register all visitors to school campuses and preventing unidentified people from entering.

News reports have said some schools are arming guards with police batons, pepper spray or even long-handled metal restraint poles with a hook on the end. The central government first ordered increased school security in 2004 following an attack that left nine students dead at a Beijing school. Since 2006, schools have been required to register or inspect all visitors. — AP

S Korean activists send leaflets despite Pyongyang’s threat IMJINGAK: Activists yesterday let loose 10 giant balloons filled with radios, DVDs money and leaflets into North Korea in defiance of threats from Pyongyang. Around 200 hundred people, mostly defectors, gathered at a public park in Imjingak near the North-South border to release the balloons, which carried slogans such as “Abolish gulags” and “Down with Kim JongIl’s Dictatorship.”

The leaflets contained the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations and criticism about North Korea’s communist regime. Park Sang-Hak, an activist and former defector from the North, told AFP that the DVDs had a documentary about Pyongyang’s human rights abuses and “seedy aspects” of leader Kim Jong-Il’s private life. The release of the balloons comes after the North’s military last month called for the end of leafleting, which it described as a “despicable psychological smear campaign”.

It then threatened to scrap agreements guar-

anteeing the safety of South Koreans crossing the border-effectively halting passage to and from a South Korea-invested industrial park in the North’s Kaesong City near the border.

The two Koreas agreed in 2004 to end decades of official propaganda warfare across their border but the South’s unification ministry says it has “no grounds legally or in any other way” to halt leafleting by private groups.

South Korea has urged activists to halt the campaign on the grounds that it inflames already strained relations. Tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul have been simmering since the unexplained sinking of a South Korean warship near the disputed border on March 26 with suspicions growing that the North might have been involved.

The North has also sealed some assets owned by Seoul at the North’s Mount Kumgang tourist resort and announced it would let a new partner take over the tour business there from South Korea’s Hyundai Asan. —AFP

Myanmar leader warns of election disruptions YANGON: Myanmar’s junta chief yesterday warned people to be vigilant against “saboteurs and aliens” trying to disrupt elections the ruling regime says will put the country on the road to democracy. The elections planned this year have been criticized as a sham designed to give the junta a democratic veneer though the military leaders show little sign of relinquishing control. New election laws prevent opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part, and her party is boycotting the polls. In his Workers’ Day message, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the junta leader, said “internal and external saboteurs” are trying to harm the election, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

“I would urge you all to ward off attempts of saboteurs and aliens to interfere and to sow seeds of mistrust in our country,” he was quoted as saying.

The junta often refers to the opposition and exiled anti-government groups as “saboteurs” and its condemnation of aliens appears to refer to Western nations that have imposed sanctions on the military government for its human rights abuses.

Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, also issued a Worker’s Day statement, saying the Myanmar constitution mentioned very little about the rights of workers and farmers.

The party said industrial workers and laborers have gone on strike due to rising consumer prices, and Myanmar’s migrant workers in foreign countries live with no protections and unequal pay. The party urged the military junta and the International Labor Organization to help alleviate the plight of Myanmar workers.

The National League for Democracy won the last elections in 1990, but the military refused to recognize the results and would not allow it to take power. The elections have been announced for this year but an

exact date hasn’t been set. The opposition’s decision to not participate means the political party could be disbanded by May 7.

Suu Kyi filed a suit in the High Court on Thursday to annul the clauses in the party registration law that barred convicted persons from being member of a political party and that forced unregistered parties to disband. The suit also called for the seating of the parliament elected in 1990.

A group closely linked to the junta applied Thursday to register as a political party, the initial step to participate in the elections, and a number of junta members have resigned their

military posts and applied as civilian candidates.

Myanmar’s new constitution sets a number of legislative seats for military representatives and for elected civilians, and the resignations widely are viewed as a way for the military to hold seats beyond its quota.

Other parties have expressed concerns that the new party linked to the junta will have an unfair advantage.

“People have always believed that the government would support its party and now it is very certain the elections will be lopsided,” said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy. — AP

PAJU: A leaflet reading, “North Korean leader Kim Jong Il should apologize for the attack on the South Korean navy ship Cheonan,” hangs from the mouth of a South Korean activist during a rally to release balloons carrying leaflets condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong Il at the Imjingak Pavilion near the border village of Panmunjom that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea, yesterday. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

Sunday, May 2, 2010

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UN atomic agency probing Delhi radioactive waste scandal VIENNA: The UN atomic watchdog said yesterday it is seeking more information about reports of a radioactive waste scandal at the University of Delhi, with one person already dead from radiation poisoning.

India’s atomic energy regulator the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) is currently investigating a claim that Delhi University buried radioactive material on its campus 20 years ago.

Local police also blame the university for dumping an irradiation machine containing radioactive cobalt-60 which ended up in

scrapyard in New Delhi, where it killed a 35-year-old worker and put seven others in hospital.

International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Marc Vridricaire said the watchdog had become aware “of the possibility of a serious radiation emergency at Mayapuri in New Delhi” via media reports on April 9.

It had also seen media reports this week “of a fatality caused by exposure to radiation in Indian scrap metal yards.”

As a result, the IAEA’s Incident and

Emergency Centre “has contacted India’s Department of Atomic Energy to request information” and offer help, Vridricaire said.

The Indian Department of Atomic Energy had “confirmed the initial event,” and the AERB had notified the IAEA that “multiple Cobalt-60 sources” had been located and secured, the spokesman continued.

Cobalt-60 is categorised as a radioactive source “that can cause permanent injury to a person handling the material even for a

short time without appropriate safety measures and protection.”

The IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre was “continuing to seek further information on this event,” Vridicaire said.

“And the IAEA stands ready to assist Indian authorities upon request.”

The incidents at Delhi University have highlighted the lax enforcement of waste disposal laws in India and raised fears of further contamination from the university, the city’s biggest institute with 300,000 students spread over two sites.

Ramesh Chandra, a professor in the chemistry department, told the Times of India on Friday that his counterparts in the physics faculty had buried 20 kilograms of low-grade radioactive waste in a pit on campus 20 years ago.

“Instead of handing over the hazardous material... for proper disposal, they just buried it,” he said. “Though it’s been 20 years the buried isotopes of substances like uranium could still be active.”

Singh said the regulator was looking into waste management by the university

and would scrutinise the new allegations by Chandra.

“We will verify the professor’s claims. If toxic waste is found, then we will take strict action against the university,” Singh said. Delhi University declined to comment on the issue when contacted by AFP. The gamma irradiation machine found in the Delhi scrapyard earlier this month was imported by the university in 1980, but had not been used since 1985.

It was sold to scrap dealers at auction in February. — AFP

Fate of displaced people critical for stability

Suicide bomber in Swat valley kills 5 MINGORA: A suicide bomber killed five people in Pakistan’s Swat Valley yesterday, police said, fuelling fears of a Taleban comeback in the area a year after a major army offensive routed the group. Pakistan says a series of secu-

NEW DELHI: Madhuri Gupta, 53, a diplomat accused of spying, is escorted out after being produced in court in New Delhi, India, yesterday. India is investigating a serious breach of security after arresting Gupta, accused of passing information to Pakistani intelligence agencies while posted at the Indian Embassy in Islamabad, India’s foreign minister said Wednesday. — AP

Indian accused of spying for Pakistan remanded in custody NEW DELHI: An Indian diplomat accused of spying for Pakistan was remanded by a New Delhi court to 14 days in custody yesterday as her lawyer insisted she had been “framed.”

Madhuri Gupta, who worked in the information service of the Indian High Commission (embassy) in Islamabad as an Urdu translator, was arrested by police in April when she was summoned to New Delhi after being trailed for months.

The bespectacled Gupta, 53, a second secretary at the High Commission, has been accused of breaching India’s Official Secrets Act, an offence which carries a maximum 14-year jail sentence.

But her lawyer Joginder Dahiya said his client was “being framed in the case.”

Dahiya said police had not come up with evidence to prove Gupta’s guilt and that she would likely to file a bail application next week.

Junior state minister Preneet Kaur told parliament earlier in the week that Gupta did not have access to highly classified material in her job.

Gupta, dubbed “Pakistan’s Indian mole” by

India’s media, is the first woman Indian diplomat to face charges of spying for Pakistan.

She had been working in the Islamabad mission for three years and came under suspicion because of the “extraordinary interest” she started taking in subjects unrelated to her assignment, Indian media reported.

Her arrest appeared to cast no shadow on a meeting Thursday between the premiers of nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan on the sidelines of a summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Conference (SAARC) in Bhutan.

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Raza Gilani, took a significant step at the meeting towards resuming their frozen peace dialogue.

India broke off all formal discussions with Pakistan after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed at least 166 people and which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. — AFP

Tens of thousands rally against Nepal’s govt KATHMANDU: Tens of thousands of former communist rebels and their supporters rallied in the capital yesterday demanding Nepal’s coalition government be disbanded and replaced by a Maoist-led government. The mass rally and a general strike planned by the protesters for today if their demands aren’t met have raised concern of renewed violence in Nepal, where the Maoists ended their decade-old insurgency and joined a peace process in 2006.

Some 15,000 police in riot gear were guarding the streets of Katmandu, traffic was halted and shops and markets were closed for demonstrations that leaders of the Maoist party said would be peaceful.

The protesters chanted slogans against the government and waved their party’s red flags. Top Maoist leaders were scheduled to address rally later yesterday. No violence or clashes between police and protesters were reported, Katmandu police chief Ramesh Kharel said. He said the crowd was estimated at more than 125,000. Baburam Bhattarai, deputy leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), said they expect 500,000 supporters to rally peacefully for the prime minister’s resignation. “Our demonstrations will be peaceful, and we will do all we can to make sure there is no trouble,” Bhattarai said. “But if there are any cases of violence it is the government that will be responsible.” Bhattarai said Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal should resign by the end of Saturday and disband the present government.

“If there is no agreement reached by yesterday, then we will be forced to impose an indefinite general strike from Sunday,” he said. — AP

KATHMANDU: Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as ‘Prachanda’, addresses supporters during a Labour Day rally in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepal’s opposition Maoists have called for an indefinite strike from May 2 if their demands for the resignation of the ruling administration and the formation of a new national unity government under the Maoist leadership are not met. — AFP

Renewed violence in Swat over the last few weeks has raised concerns that militants are regrouping in the area while the army tries to consolidate gains in other parts of the northwest and return displaced people to their homes.

Yesterday’s attacker blew himself up in a hostel after being surrounded by government forces near Sohrab Khan market in the town of Mingora, 130 km (80 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad, Swat police chief Qazi Ghulam Farooq told Reuters.

He said the bomber killed himself, three civilians and two militants who had been apprehended and lead government forces to the location. Another militant was shot dead by security forces in a raid at the site.

“The Taleban may be trying to come back. But there is no way we will allow it. We will catch them everywhere,” Farooq said.

The Swat operation last year involved 30,000 troops backed by airstrikes. Some 4,000 Taleban had taken control of Swat. The scenic valley has witnessed a spate of killings of tribal elders in the past few weeks.

Security officials said they appeared to be aimed at frightening the local leadership, which is supporting the army’s operations. People have expressed fears the Taleban will return and impose their harsh version of Islamic rule-including public floggings and destruction of girls’ schools-if the army leaves and entrusts the underfunded police force with security.

The military, Pakistan’s most powerful institution, says offensives have destroyed Taleban bases, killed hundreds of fighters and driven many others from strongholds.

Those successes have eased fears that nuclear-armed Pakistan, vital ally for the United States, was sliding into chaos, but unabated bombings are still a concern. Taleban militants often melt away during security crackdowns and retain the ability to stage suicide bombings and bomb attacks on security forces and civilians across the country.

A roadside bomb attack on a police van wounded a senior police official and five others, including three passers-by in a town in the southwestern Baluchistan province yesterday. Separatist militants have waged a low-key insurgency for decades in Baluchistan on the Afghan border to demand more political and economic rights, but Taleban militants have also been active in the region. — Reuters

New Pakistan inquiry into Bhutto killing ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday sent a team to visit the scene of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, after a damning UN report said the ex-premier’s death was not investigated adequately, security officials said.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani formed the three-member fact-finding committee last week to determine whether the then director general of military intelligence ordered that the scene of the 2007 killing be hosed down.

The committee visited the scene of the December 27, 2007 gun and suicide bomb attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and questioned those who were police officers at the time, security officials told AFP. The panel has twice summoned former director general of military intelligence, Major General Nadeem Ijaz, following reports that he ordered the site hosed down, destroying valuable evidence, local media have reported.

According to those reports, Ijaz has denied giving the order.

Pakistan removed senior police and intelligence officials from their posts after last month’s UN report.

Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed after addressing an election rally near the capital Islamabad.

The UN panel said it believed police deliberately failed to probe the killing effectively and that the government of then military ruler Pervez Musharraf failed to provide Bhutto with adequate protection.

Bhutto, who twice served as prime minister, returned from exile to stand for election two months before she was assassinated.

Her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, led her Pakistan People’s Party to election victory in February 2008 and he is now head of state.

The UN panel said its investigation was severely hampered by intelligence agencies and other officials who impeded “an unfettered search for the truth”. — AFP

rity crackdowns that began in Swat hurt militants fighting to topple the government, which is under pressure from Washington to help stabilise Afghanistan.

QUETTA: Pakistani security officials gather at a bomb blast site in Quetta yesterday. Five people were injured when a tricycle bomb exploded in southwestern Pakistan, a region troubled by Islamic insurgents and separatist unrest, officials said. The remote-controlled bomb exploded when a police van passed by in Quetta city’s Saryab neighbourhood, police said. — AFP

OPINION

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issues

In praise of Latin American migrants

By Bernd Debusmann

T

he United States owes Latin American immigrants a debt of gratitude. And Latin American immigrants owe a debt of gratitude to lawmakers in Arizona.

How so? Thanks largely to immigration from Latin America (both legal and illegal) and the higher birth rates of Latin immigrants, the population of the US has kept growing, a demographic trend that sets it apart from the rest of the industrialized world, where numbers are shrinking.

That threatens economic growth and in the case of Russia (UN projections see a decline from 143 million now to 112 million by 2050) undermines Moscow’s claim to Great Power status.

A country’s population starts shrinking when fertility falls below the “replacement rate” of 2.1. births over the lifetime of a woman. For white American women, that rate is around 1.8 now. For Latin American immigrants, the rate is 2.8. According to the US census bureau, nearly one in six people living in the US are Hispanics. By 2050, they are projected to make up almost a third of the population. That translates into the biggest minority group of consumers. Their spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion by next year despite the recession. A point worth noting but rarely mentioned in the often overheated debate about immigration: illegal immigrants in effect subsidize social security payments to Americans over 62.

This is because people working with false papers have their social security taxes withheld from wages but are not entitled to receive benefits. The sums involved are substantial-the Social Security administration has an “earnings suspense file” of payments under names that do not match social security numbers. The file has been growing by around $7 billion a year which goes to pay benefits to legal workers. And the benefit to immigrants of the Arizona law?“It may finally wake up the whole country to the consequences of the current approach to illegal immigration in which ever tougher border enforcement is seen as the only solution to the problem,” says Edward Alden of the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank. “That approach is gravely flawed.”

So is the argument that the federal government has done so little to secure the USMexican border that states need to take things into their own hands? The number of Border Patrol agents along the 2,000-mile frontier has doubled in the past five years, to 20,000. Arrests of border crossers have dropped 60 percent since 2000, evidence that tighter controls are discouraging illegal crossings (as does a shortage of jobs at a time of

high US unemployment).

Under the law, the toughest of its kind in the country, state and local police are required to “determine the immigration status” of anyone “where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is illegally present in the United States.” Failure to carry identification documents at all times would be grounds for arrest. Critics say “reasonable suspicion” opens the door to racial profiling.

Despite the acrimonious debate sparked by the Arizona law - which faces legal challenges and might never take effect - there is common ground on the issue between a good number of politicians on both sides of the aisle: the present system is a mess that needs fixing. The last serious attempt to fix it was in 2006, when the US Senate failed to agree on a bill that would have paved the way to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants - the most widely used estimate is around 11 million, most of them Mexicans - and introduce a guest worker program to meet demand for unskilled and low-skilled workers.

At the time, the late Senator Edward Kennedy, the Democrats’ most vocal champion of immigration reform, asked its opponents what they were planning to do with the millions already in the country. “Send them back ...?

Develop a kind of Gestapo here to seek out these people that are in the shadows?”

Critics of the Arizona bill think that prediction has come true. Much of the immigration argument has glossed over the fact that for decades both the authorities and employers turned a blind eye to illegal immigration because the country has been deeply dependent on cheap labor - in effect one of America’s ways of competing with the lowpaid workers of the Third World.

The link between demographics and economic growth has rarely featured in the discussion but this week former president Bill Clinton took it up and added a frank interpretation of the anti-immigrant anger reflected by a nationwide poll that showed 60 percent of voters nation-wide favouring Arizona-type laws.

The real reason for antiimmigrant sentiment, he said, was the fact that the economic downturn in the last few years disproportionally fell on white males without college degrees, such as factory workers. “But they’ll get more jobs if the economy grows. Their taxes will be lower if we’ve got more taxpayers. The pressures on Social Security ... will be less if we have more people contributing to the system.

“So I don’t think there’s any alternative but for us to increase immigration,” he said, adding that bringing in more immigrants must be part of the overall strategy. So far it is not. — Reuters

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

Israel Scud allegations linked to wider Mideast

By Jocelyne Zablit

R

ecent allegations by Israel that Hezbollah is stockpiling missiles are related to wider issues in the Middle East, notably the Iran nuclear dossier and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, analysts say. They say that by claiming that the Lebanese militant group has acquired Scud missiles, the Jewish state might be seeking to divert attention from its controversial settlements policy in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

It could also be laying the groundwork for a potential strike against Hezbollah in the event long-running negotiations with Iran - the Shiite movement’s main supporter - over its nuclear ambitions fail, according to several analysts interviewed

by AFP. “My fear is that by the beginning of next year, if the sanctions (against Iran) have not brought out results, the situation will be very different,” said Paul Salem, head of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre. “I fear that one way to contain Iran if sanctions and negotiations don’t work would be to hit its allies outside Iran,” he added. “And the biggest ally outside Iran is Hezbollah.” The Scud accusations were made earlier this month by Israeli President Shimon Peres who claimed Syria was supplying the militant group with the missiles. Syria has denied the charges. Washington, which has been seeking a rapprochement with Damascus, on Tuesday further fed the controversy by accusing Iran and Syria of arming Hezbollah with increasingly sophisticated rockets and missiles.

Hezbollah has two ministers in the Lebanese government and is the only Lebanese faction that has refused to disarm since the end of the country’s 19751990 civil war. The party fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 and claims its weapons are needed to defend the country against further Israeli aggression.

Salem said he believes the missile

issue could be an expression of Israel’s displeasure at seeing Hezbollah - blacklisted as a terrorist group by Washington - gaining legitimacy. “This fits into a pattern of Israel trying to make a case that the Lebanese government is too close to Hezbollah and that if there is another war with Hezbollah, Lebanon and the Lebanese government won’t be spared,” he said. Analysts also noted that the Scud issue strikes a chord in Israel and the United States as it brings back memories of now executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s use of the missiles in the 1991 Gulf war.

“I think the Scud issue took on such proportion because of the symbolic power and impact of the word Scud, which basically speaks to Israeli and US public opinion because these weapons evoke Saddam,” said Peter Harling, project director for Iraq, Lebanon and Syria at the International Crisis Group.

Harling, who is based in Damascus, lamented Washington’s stance in the controversy saying it only served to inflame an already tense situation. “What I find regrettable is that the United States is taking sides in this war of words ... when it should be adopting a more comprehensive approach ... to defuse the rhetoric and start discussing some rules of the game,” he said.

Salem added that the Scud accusations could also be part of an effort to convince Syria that its alliance with Iran was a strategic liability. “Israel, the United States and others want Syria to move away from Iran and want it to reduce its support for Hezbollah,” he said.

“So such escalation can be understood politically because it makes sense. “But what concerns me is that this type of escalation in the past has led to air raids, has sometimes led to war, so one cannot take it lightly.”

Franck Mermier, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research

(CNRS) and former head of the French Middle East Institute (IFPO) in Beirut, said the missiles issue allows Israel to put peace talks with the Palestinians on the back burner while pushing forward

with its settlements policy.

“The (Scud) claim allows the peace negotiations to be pushed back, especially in the light of US pressure, albeit soft, on Israel concerning this issue,”

Mermier said. “So Israel can push forth with its settlements, its expansionist policy while at the same time putting pressure on Syria and Lebanon ... and portraying itself as the victim.”— AFP

Media should get Islam right

By Hind Al-Subai Al-Idrisi

G

iven the amount of violence and instability in countries with Muslim majorities, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, some people mistakenly assume the violence stems from Islamic teachings, when in fact Islam does not condone such actions. The media does not help the matter, often focusing on the activities of terrorists who claim to be Muslims, instead of identifying these individuals as criminals and shedding light on the true essence of Islam.

The media shows Muslim terrorists with guns performing prayers but rarely associates terms like terrorist, fanatic and fundamentalist with any other religious group. For instance, the phrase “Hindu fanatics” or “Jewish terrorists” are seldom used even though in each faith there are people that do not represent the larger group. The vast majority of Muslims are peace loving and coexist harmoniously with those around them; they would say that the core of Islam is tolerance, co-existence and respect for all religions. In fact, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was known for his superior manners, merciful demeanor and tolerance toward all people, regardless of their race or religion.

Islam is a universal religion, for all times and places. It encourages tolerance and respect for differences. As our world becomes a global village, with technology bringing cultures together and increasing interaction among civilisations, we must embrace religious tolerance as one of the basic principles behind flourishing democratic societies.

There are many verses in the Holy Quran that support this message of peaceful coexistence and harmony. Among the basic features of Islam is freedom of religion and non-compulsion: “Let there be no compulsion in religion” (2:256) and “If it had been the Lord’s will, they would all have believed - all who are on earth.

Wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will to believe?”

(10:99).

When Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) established the first Muslim community in Makkah, he guaranteed freedom of religion, the sanctity of the human soul, and the right to security for non-Muslims, including Christians and Jews - the “People of the

Book”, as they’re referred to in the Quran. They were privy to the same rights and subject to the same duties as Muslims, and were granted protection from outside threats. In addition to recognising the right of freedom of religion for non-Muslims, Islam calls for respecting Jews and Christians and their faiths, noting that faith is a personal matter between the individual and his or her Lord.

Most Muslims respect the idea of religious freedom established in the Holy Quran. I see this idea lived out in my own country, Morocco, a Muslim-majority country where Jews have lived for centuries and practiced their faith freely. The Moroccan Jewish community has its own judges for family law, covering things such as inheritance, marriage and divorce, and demonstrating one way that religious tolerance can be lived out.

The Prophet (PBUH) was keen on establishing relations based on respect, equality and justice with non-Muslims, and recommended that they be treated well. He said: “He who hurts [non-Muslims] is my enemy until Judgment Day” and “He who killed a person under a treaty shall never go to heaven.” This respect is also reinforced in the hadith (sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad PBUH) by the Prophet’s (PBUH) companion Jaber Ibn Abdellah: “A funeral passed by, and the Prophet (PBUH) stood up in respect. We said to him, ‘It is a Jewish man’s funeral.’ He said: ‘If you see a funeral, you shall stand up. Is it not a soul?’”

The teachings of Islam encourage acquaintance and communication among all people, as well as the blending among societies: “O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another” (49:13) It is important today for everyone - and especially the media - to move away from discussing Islam only in association with terrorism, and toward spreading an understanding of Islam in all its diversity.

NOTE: Hind Al-Subai Al-Idrisi is a Moroccan blogger who participated in a Rabat-based workshop for bloggers organised by the international conflict transformation organisation Search for Common Ground— CGNews

Is the oil spill Obama’s Katrina? Not yet

By Jeff Mason

C

omparisons with the slow US response to Hurricane Katrina are already being made, but the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not a huge political albatross for President Barack Obama - yet.

The Obama administration has gone to great lengths to show it is overseeing and responding quickly to a looming environmental disaster from the ruptured undersea well that is gushing oil at a rate of up to 5,000 barrels a day.

“There are now five staging areas to protect sensitive shorelines; approximately 1,900 federal response personnel are in the area; and more than 300 response vessels and aircraft on the scene 24/7,” Obama told reporters at the White House on Friday, his second public statement on the spill in two days.

“I’ve ordered (Interior) Secretary (Ken) Salazar to conduct a thorough review of this incident and report back to me in 30 days on what, if any, additional precautions and technologies should be required to prevent accidents like this from happening again.”

Obama’s message: we’re in

US President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor yesterday. – AFP charge. It’s a familiar message for the president. For much of the Democrat’s more than 15month presidency, critics and pundits have compared various natural disasters or other political crises to Katrina, the 2005 hurricane disaster that was largely defined by what many

considered a slow response by Republican President George W Bush.

On Friday some critics, including influential conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, called the oil spill “Obama’s Katrina.” Similar labels were assigned at one stage or another

to the January Haiti earthquake and the swine flu outbreak.

But the president, who was criticized for a perceived slow response to another crisis in December - an attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner has repeatedly sought in other situations to get ahead of such

labels with a swift response.

The White House viewed the comparison as contrived. “I guess I’d want to remember that 1,800 - more than 1,800 people died in Katrina,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, rejecting the analogy. “We were there ... right after the incident happened,” he continued, referring to the oil spill. “This notion that somehow we’re playing catchup is badly uninformed.”

Analysts and political strategists largely agreed. “This is not Katrina yet,” said Julian Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University. “While terrible, the oil spill does not equal the kind of human suffering that was seen in New Orleans. This is something (Obama) must respond to and improve his plan, but a distinction must be made.”

Republican strategist Rich Galen said the continuing response would show whether the oil spill turned into a bigger political problem for the president. “Whether or not it becomes Obama’s Katrina depends on what happens when the little ducklings covered with black tar start showing up on CNN,” he said. “For the sake

of the shoreline, I hope that they will do it right. Do I have any confidence that they will?

Not much, but I hope I’m proven wrong,” he said.

Fellow Republican strategist Mark McKinnon questioned what had led to the incident in the first place. “It’s too early to cast blame. But it’s not too early to ask questions about why the danger wasn’t recognized earlier,” he said. “It seems (the) initial response was pretty benign from both the company and the government.”

If there are political ramifications for Obama, they are more likely to affect his push for a climate change bill that includes provisions to expand offshore drilling - a component meant to draw Republican support.

“This certainly complicates the message because it points out the potential environmental disadvantages of that domestic production,” said Adele Morris, the policy director for climate and energy economics at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. “Does it change the outlook for climate legislation? no one was placing great odds on the chances for climate legislation this year anyway,” she said. — Reuters

ANALYSIS

Sunday, May 2, 2010

13

Crist’s move ominous political trend

By Ron Fournier

C

harlie Crist’s departure from the Republican Party is not just a Florida story; it’s an American story - a tale of two parties driven by their ideologues, squeezing out moderate candidates, alienating independent voters and isolating the place in US politics where most things get done: the middle.

Crist, a populist governor with a history of bipartisanship, bolted the Republican on Thursday to run for the Senate as an independent. He did so only after it became clear that he would lose his party’s primary to conservative purist Marco Rubio. No matter who wins a three-way race in Florida, the factors that drove Crist from the Republicans are a microcosm of broader political and social changes contributing to polarization.

“We have a deadlocked democracy,” said Pat Buchanan, a conservative commentator and three-time presidential candidate. “Both parties, held hostage by their extremes, are incapable of tackling the issues that threaten this country.” Buchanan left the Republicans for the Reform Party after he twice failed to win his party’s presidential nomination.

Moderate Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut left the Democratic Party after losing a 2006 nomination fight to liberal Ned Lamont. He won re-election

Florida Gov Charlie Crist greets supporters as he announces that he will make an independent bid for the open US Senate seat on April 29, 2010 in St Petersburg, Florida. — AFP as an independent. Sen Arlen Specter quit the Republican party last year as he faced a conservative challenge in Pennsylvania. He found a more welcoming home in the Democratic Party. And now Crist.

True, they abandoned their parties for purely political reasons - to save their skins. But Lieberman, Specter and Crist had viable options outside their

parties because so many voters feel disconnected from the Democratic and Republican establishments. “Unfortunately our political system is broken,” Crist said in an appeal to independent-minded voters in St Petersburg, Florida. Democratic consultant Steve McMahon calls these voters the “invisible middle” because parties care far less about them than hard-core liberals and conservatives. This is

especially the case in nonpresidential election years like 2010, which tend to draw high percentages of partisan voters.

“Politicians are responding to the noisemakers of their party,” said McMahon, who helped engineer the 2004 presidential campaign of liberal Howard Dean.

Dean’s unsuccessful campaign brought to light one of the factors contributing to polarization: new technologies and media. He

launched his bid when the war in Iraq was highly popular. That was a political problem for the anti-war candidate until likeminded people began finding and organizing each other through websites such as Meetup.org.

Soon the anti-war minority became a vocal, unyielding majority. A generation ago, it would have taken much longer for people opposed to the war to realize they were hardly alone and could reshape the campaign agenda if they banded together.

Fast forward a few years to the explosion of blogs and the rise of partisan cable news channels and the US is a national people who increasingly get their information from people who already agree with them. Facts become fungible. Compromise become cowardice. McMahon’s firm recently conducted research that showed most young voters get political information from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” mock news shows with a liberal bent. “As a Democrat, that sounds great,” McMahon said, “but as an American, that’s scary, because a lot of them think those shows are news”.

Another contributor is the fact that both parties work hard often in concert - to draw congressional districts so that most lawmakers represent areas that are heavily Republican or Democratic. This gerrymander-

ing is designed to protect incumbents but, as technology makes the practice more precise, it also favors hyper-partisan candidates.

Also fueling the trend: money.

Special interest groups on both sides of the partisan divide - say, anti-tax groups on the right and abortion-rights groups on the left - raise the most money when there is a fight over their issue.

So they pick fights.

Incumbents who cross swords with their party’s interest groups will find their fundraising drying up or even face a well-funded primary rival.

Record numbers of people tell pollsters they are independents.

The public’s approval of both parties is at an all-time low. Will more politicians follow voters out of the major parties? Yes, said McMahon: “There is a market for independent candidates that Joe Lieberman capitalized on and Charlie Crist seized, so there will be others who explore that market.”

To be sure, Republicans seem more likely than Democrats this year to impose purity tests and struggle through divisive primaries.

And Democrats can point to more moderates in Congress than the Republicans could. But there is no doubt that both parties are drawing ideological lines in bright colors. Take one of the nation’s most pressing issues the debt. — AP

Markets in new territory in three-party Britain

By Peter Apps

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ritain’s abrupt shift from a two to three party dominated political system puts investors, markets, businesses and politicians in uncharted waters and could radically impact the way policy is made. The inclusion of third-party Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg in televised debates with the dominant Labour and Conservative parties-and the resulting surge in Lib Dem support - now means all three parties poll within catching distance of each other in the popular vote.

Many analysts believe that means electoral reform is inevitable even if the repercussions are unclear. “We really are stepping into the unknown here,” said Simon Derrick, head of currency strategy at Bank of New York Mellon. “There’s really nothing in recent British political history to compare this to. It makes it very hard to make projections.” Looking for guidance on market moves to Britain’s previous 1974 hung parliament - a parliament where no party has overall control, and an outcome seen likely this time - was relatively meaningless, Derrick said.

Then, the Lib Dems won 14 seats and the other two major parties over 250 each. Normal two-party politics swiftly resumed. This time, the Lib Dems could gain as many as 100 seats still less than half that of the Conservatives and Labour - but making them a serious possible coalition partner or supporter of a minority Labour or Conservative government.

Britain could be looking at decades of multi-party coalition government more along the lines of that seen in Germany or Sweden, or perhaps minority governments that could be ousted if the other parties pushed through a noconfidence vote.

“Politicians and businesses are going to have to be ready for a cultural change when it comes to politics,” said

Eurasia Group analyst Wolfgang Piccoli. “You would be looking at a much more European system of coalitions with much less instability and more gradual policy shifts.”

That could change the whole dynamics with which financial markets respond to British elections. Sterling and to a lesser extent other markets have traditionally moved up and down on opinion polls and election results.

They would do so much less in a centrist, coalition based system - as the general lack of market reaction to Germany’s election last year shows.

How markets would react to a minority government would depend heavily on how secure that minority appeared to be. A Conservative minority government could be welcomed providing investors believed it could push through reforms - and that might mean needing a Lib Dem pledge not to block the budget.

One lesson of the 1970s that should carry across would be that a series of short-term minority governments would unquestionably be bad for British assets. Markets are used to the weeks of wrangling taken to form European coalitions. Whether they would be so generous to the pound and British gilts if parties cannot agree within days of a hung parliament in May is another question, particularly if wider market jitters over Greece continue.

Failure to swiftly form a government could hit markets hard, as could debt worries if a post-election budget failed to impress or multi-party horsetrading was seen paralysing policy.

Many in London’s financial markets say they would mourn the loss of the twoparty system, and there had been widespread talk of a sell-off in British assets if the election produced a hung parliament with no one party in overall control. But a rising number of analysts now say they believe the main parties are sufficiently close together to make a coalition viable and able to address

the deficit, pointing to multiple successful European coalitions.

In the European Union, only three other countries are currently ruled through a single party majority: France, Malta and Greece. “I have to say, I like the two-party system because I like the clear alternatives,” said Bank of New York Mellon’s

Derrick. “But if you look elsewhere in Europe at Greece, it obviously hasn’t worked out particularly well for them.”

A case can be made that two-party systems can deepen deficits - the left increasing spending, the right cutting taxes and each digging the other deeper into a hole. Stable coalitions could be more able to take tough measures,

some say.

But they are also harder to kick out of office. That might please markets, which never like unpredictability, but frustrate the electorate. Power shifts between parties would still take place, but likely often much more gradually.

Gauging the longer term policy implications is difficult. — Reuters

Australia slips from leader to laggard

By Sid Astbury

A

ustralia was always an unlikely instigator of action to mitigate climate change. It is coal-export world champion and league-leader in per-capital greenhouse-gas emissions. Along with the United States, it refused to accept the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set emissions-reduction targets for rich nations. But carbon crusader was the mantle Kevin Rudd took up when he became prime minister two years ago.

His first act was to embrace the Kyoto Protocol. Then came plans for a European-style carbon-trading scheme to take effect in 2010 and help deliver a unilateral 5-per-cent emissions reduction on 2000 levels by 2020. In the lead-up to December’s international climate-change meeting in Copenhagen, Rudd promised to go as high as 25 per cent if there were matching commitments from fellow summiteers.

His rhetoric, as expectations of a Copenhagen breakthrough built, was inspirational. “When you strip away all the political rhetoric, all the political excuses, there are two stark choices: action or inaction,” he said. “We choose action, and we do so because Australia’s fundamental economic and environmental interests lie in action - action now, not action delayed.”

But delay is what Rudd offered this week. The absolute earliest his vaunted carbon-trading scheme would start is 2013. But it might not start at all. “We’ll only introduce it if there’s sufficient progress internationally, particularly from China, India and the USA,” Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said. Rudd’s retreat put Australia back where it was before: a laggard on saving the planet rather than a leader.

Rudd, as his climate change minister avowed, is waiting on China, India and the United States to take the initiative before calibrating Australia’s response to what he famously called the “greatest moral, economic and environmental challenge of our generation.” Why the switch from coura-

geous to craven? Rudd faces an election later this year, and opinion polls showed that the failure in Copenhagen has ruined the public’s appetite for action on climate change.

This week, the Lowy Institute, a private think tank, released the latest issue of an annual survey that showed a sapping in the willingness to share the burden of keeping the planet cool. Two years ago, 21 per cent of respondents said they were not prepared to pay anything to address climate change; now, the figure is 33 per cent. Four years ago, 68 per cent said global warming was a pressing problem; now, that figure is 48 per cent.

As well as blaming the opposition parties, which blocked enabling legislation for a carbon-trading scheme to pass through Parliament, Rudd has pointed the finger at other governments. “The rest of the world has been slow to act or slower to act on appropriate action on international climate change,” he said. The opposition Liberals have made headway in the opinion polls with their claim that carbon trading is tantamount to a “great big new tax on everything.” They said they relished the prospect of an election fought on carbon trading.

But giving up on a commitment so firmly given is sure to be costly. Describing it as “one of the most spectacular backdowns by a prime minister in decades,” newspaper columnist Paul Kelly said, “As retreats go, they come no bigger than Kevin Rudd’s delaying of his once-cherished emissions-trading scheme.” Writing in The Australian, Kelly said of Rudd, “He is a prime minister without the courage to champion the policy that defined him.”

Australian National University economics professor Stephen Howes helped draft the carbon-trading scheme. He said he worries that the deferral means Australia would be hard-pressed to meet that miserly 5-per-cent emissionsreduction target on 2000 levels by 2020. “There’s really no way forward if there’s no price on carbon,” Howes said. “I can only say, as an analyst, that it’s not credible to have a goal but then not to have an instrument to achieve it.”—dpa

Maliki’s moves to hold office threaten stability

By Rebecca Santana

P

rime Minister Nouri AlMaliki’s efforts to retain power despite his failure in last month’s elections threaten to undercut the democratic process that has been hailed as a key achievement of the US invasion and occupation. He is also potentially gambling away the country’s security with steps that, if successful, are certain to leave Iraq’s minority Sunnis feeling cheated after they overwhelmingly backed his secular challenger, Ayad Allawi. The resulting anger could fuel new sectarian bloodshed and reinvigorate an insurgency against the country’s Shiite-dominated leadership.

Illustrating the risk, suicide attackers detonated two car bombs Wednesday evening in a Shiite enclave of Baghdad, killing seven people. Allawi, a former prime minister, is fighting back, demanding an internationally supervised caretaker government and warning he might withdraw from the political process altogether, potentially prompting the barely contained Sunni-Shiite tensions to explode just as US troops prepare to go home. Al-Maliki came

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki gestures during a speech in Karbala Friday. – AP out of the March 7 parliamentary election with a two-seat deficit to Allawi, a decision that was met with dancing in the streets by Allawi’s backers, many of whom are Sunni Arabs who resent Al-Maliki’s perceived sectarian policies. AlMaliki has vigorously fought the outcome, using the powers of his office and a judiciary of questionable independence to try to change the results. He successfully pushed for a recount of the Baghdad votes - which has not yet been carried out - and benefited from a vetting panel targeting former members of Saddam

Hussein’s ruling party that has set its sights on several of Allawi’s candidates. Either tactic could tilt the election outcome in Al-Maliki’s favor.

“Certainly what is going on is a theft of the Iraqi will and democracy, jeopardizing the safety of the country,” Allawi told Iraq’s Al-Sharqiya channel in an interview early Wednesday. Allawi called on international organizations like the UN, the Arab League, the EU and the Organization of Islamic Conference to help establish an impartial interim government, and a spokesman

said his Iraqiya coalition would consider quitting the political process altogether or demand a repeat election if its demands are not met.

He has also been touring neighboring countries in an attempt to drum up support for his candidacy and held talks with the Cairo-based Arab League Wednesday. With no end in sight to al-Maliki’s efforts, US officials appear worried and impatient. Speaking to reporters this week, US Ambassador Christopher Hill did not mention Al-Maliki specifically, but his frustration was palpable. “It seems it is time to get this show on the road here,” he said. It was always going to take a long time to form a government in Iraq, a fractious country in which every political decision deteriorates into a showdown, but what is surprising to many is the degree to which al-Maliki has battled results even before the negotiating for the new government has started.

“Almost every day, we see new procedures and possible decisions that could change the results and have a grave impact on the political process,” said Baghdad-based political analyst

Kadhum Al-Muqdadi. Even if the recount is in Al-Maliki’s favor and a number of Allawi’s candidates are booted from the race, it still won’t give the prime minister’s coalition the majority needed to form a government outright. But that may not be his aim.

Baghdad-based political observer Hadi Jalo said AlMaliki is trying to strengthen his negotiating position before serious talks to form a coalition government. Al-Maliki has said his legal appeals are simply designed to make the process fair and that he will abide by all court decisions. In some ways, Al-Maliki is simply a sore loser, some Iraqi politicians say privately. But the cost of his political machinations could be extremely high. Sunnis were outraged after the news last week of a secret prison run by Iraqi forces that mostly held Sunnis. In a report released Wednesday, the New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch said Iraqi men held for months at the prison were systematically tortured, including some beaten so badly they lost teeth and urinated blood for days. Others were raped, given electric shocks to their genitals and deprived of

air, the report said. The Iraqi government quickly shut down the prison after the torture was revealed by the Los Angeles Times and either released or transferred its 431 detainees.

The government has denied AlMaliki had any knowledge of the facility and vowed to investigate the abuses. But many Sunnis see the prison as proof the Shiite-dominated government is persecuting them and has changed little since the days when Shiite death squads roamed the city.

Adding to frustrations, the lack of information about the court handing down rulings favoring Al-Maliki has raised questions about its independence. Its three anonymous judges approved Al-Maliki’s call for a Baghdad recount and upheld a decision to bar 52 candidates from the election including one from Allawi’s list who won a seat. But the decisions were not publicly released and word leaked out piecemeal.

The man who oversaw the elections and is tasked with carrying out the recount, Faraj AlHaidari, railed against the court last week in an interview with AP, calling their decisions entirely political. — AP

focus

Belgian vote on veils could echo in Europe

By Tom Heneghan

B

elgium’s vote to ban full face veils in public is the furthest any European country has gone to confront a tiny minority whose choice in clothing has come to symbolise the issue of integrating some Muslim minorities. The issue is being debated elsewhere in Europe, especially in France, and the example of two countries moving towards a ban has raised the stakes in a dispute pitting politicians and public opinion against Muslim leaders and human rights groups.

The lower house of parliament in Brussels passed the draft law almost unanimously on Thursday evening. It could become law in the coming months as the Senate is not expected to block it. France, home to Europe’s biggest Muslim minority, is next in line, planning to debate a draft law from mid-May and ban all face veils in public within months.

Polls say about 70 percent of voters want some ban, but not all back a complete one.

Full facial veils - known as niqabs or burqas - are extremely rare in Europe, but the number of women wearing them is rising. No exact figures exist, but estimates put the totals at about 2,000 in France and a few hundred in Belgium. Promoters of a ban denounce the veils as a threat to public security, an affront to women’s dignity, a negation of gender equality or an intrusion of religion on public life. Concern over radical Islamism echoes through their arguments.

In France last week, both the communist deputy Andre Gerin and the far-right leader Marine Le Pen used the same term “the tip of the iceberg” - to urge a full ban on the veils. “Once we solve the burqa problem, we’ll still have the problem of polygamy, of praying in the streets of big cities, of banning pork from cafeterias, in short all the sectarian demands the French are confronted with daily,” Le Pen said.

Bans are under debate in several other European states.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said this week a veil

ban was “conceivable” there and his minister for women supported one in public buildings, banks, hospitals and offices.

Far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose political clout could grow in the Dutch general elections in June, advocates outlawing face veils there. Right-wing groups in Switzerland and Italy have also urged bans, but no action seems likely there soon.

The moves towards a full veil ban have evoked protests from Muslim leaders in Europe, many of whom do not consider veiling obligatory in Islam but resent laws that single out Muslims. “We have to condemn both the notion of imposing and the notion of banning,” said Isabelle Praille, vice president of the Executive of Belgian Muslims. In Paris, M’Hammed Henniche, head of a civic group called UAM 93, told officials the planned ban there was spreading “panic” in the city’s sensitive northern suburbs. “The community feels like this is a rape,” he said. “The Belgian move to ban full face veils, the first in Europe, sets a dangerous precedent,” said John Dalhuisen of Amnesty International. “Restrictions on human rights must always be proportionate to a legitimate goal. A total ban on full face veils would not be.”

Under Belgium’s draft law, wearing a full facial veil could lead to fines of 15-25 (about $20 to $33) and imprisonment for up to seven days. According to the Paris daily Le Figaro, Paris plans to slap a 150 ($200) fine on women wearing full veils, with stiffer penalties for people who force others to veil themselves. Le Figaro said the government’s draft bill, which has yet to be presented to the cabinet and parliament, says people who use “violence, threats, abuse of power or authority” to make women cover themselves would face a 15,000 fine.

“Nobody can wear a garment in public aimed at hiding their face,” reads article 1 of the French draft bill, Le Figaro said.

Article 2 says “instigation to hide someone’s face because of their gender” is a criminal offence. — Reuters

Is Pak LNG move good for investors?

By Michael Georgy

A

Pakistani Supreme Court scrapping of a murky government gas deal with a French company over irregularities is pro-business, but the court’s stand could stoke concerns of fresh political instability. On Wednesday, the court said the petroleum ministry had not taken awarding procedures seriously, and a decision by the government’s economic decision-making body to award the contract to France’s GDF Suez “shall be of no consequence”.

Although the move suggested Pakistan would not tolerate corruption, it may deepen tension between the judiciary and the government. “If an impression is created that the Supreme Court is out to undo everything that the federal government does and that it has a particular issue or a level of scepticism about foreign investors, then it’s a problem,” said Asad Sayeed, director of Collective for Social Science Research think-tank.

“Basically what that would mean is that the Supreme Court is taking political positions, which it should not be doing. On the other hand, if it is seen to be acting in a manner which is transparent and which encourages and facilitates fair play, then it’s a good thing.”

Analysts say the Supreme Court has been on a collision course with the civilian government since December when the court moved to restore corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and thousands of other politicians, including some of his top aides. Investors welcomed that Supreme Court decision as a strong stand against corruption even though it raised the prospect of political turmoil.

It took up the natural gas deal case after media reports that Pakistan had lost $1 billion when senior petroleum ministry officials ignored the lowest bid by the Fauji Foundation, an investment group run by former military officers, and European company Vitol, and chose France’s

GDF Suez. Political wrangling often overshadows pressing economic issues in Pakistan.

Politically sensitive power cuts have made a government already struggling with a raging Taliban insurgency more unpopular so securing energy supplies is an urgent matter. The government announced last week measures to cut state electricity consumption by half, as it battles a chronic energy shortage that is inflaming public anger and stifling industry. Under the original deal with GDF Suez, Pakistan was to pay $8 billion for 3.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas supplies annually for six years and then prices would be reviewed, said G A Sabri, a senior petroleum ministry official.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said the deal had been cancelled with the hope that the matter would be handled more transparently.

One analyst said a Supreme Court seen as intrusive would be bad for business, in a country struggling to keep its budget deficit at the levels required under politically sensitive reforms the International Monetary Fund is pushing for.

“To what extent is the action on the part of Chaudhry great and to what extent is it stifling matters?,” asked Kamran Bokhari, regional director for the Middle East and South Asia at Stratfor global intelligence firm. “This issue of cancelling a deal because it wasn’t transparent is a tool by which the judiciary asserts itself because ultimately it is also a power.”

Chaudhry has a history of taking tough stands. He stood up to military president Pervez Musharraf when he was in power. Musharraf suspended Chaudhry in 2007, apparently fearing the judge would oppose his legally questionable bid to hold on to power. The move triggered large protests and violent clashes. Chaudhry had irked a former prime minister by taking up a case looking into the privatisation of a steel firm, and cancelling the sale. — Reuters

14

NEWS

‘Imminent’ attacks seen in New Delhi NEW DELHI: The Indian capital faces possible “imminent” militant attacks, the United States, Australia and Britain warned yesterday, stepping up their risk advisories to travellers to New Delhi. The latest warnings come as India battles to assure visitors it can serve as a safe host for the Commonwealth Games slated to be held in October in New Delhi, which has been targeted before by militants.

“There are increased indications that terrorists are planning imminent attacks in New Delhi,” the US embassy said in a statement on its website, urging tourists to avoid half-a-dozen of the city’s popular shopping areas. Police in New Delhi were taking “appropriate measures” in response to the warnings, said police spokesman Rajan Bhagat as a source said police had been put on alert. “Security is adequate,” Ravindra Singh, spokesman for India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, said.

India is home to a wide range of separatists and insurgents, but Islamist terror groups, both homegrown and from across the border in Pakistan, are considered the most dangerous threat.

Tighter security was already in effect around the city’s congested markets and tourist hotspots in response to earlier warnings

by Western nations about the chance of attacks in New Delhi.

The latest warnings added the mention that attacks could be “imminent”. “Americans travelling or residing in India are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance,” the US embassy said in its notice.

Australia and Britain issued similar warnings.

The US advisory said mar-

Sunday, May 2, 2010

39 killed in blasts in Somali mosque Continued from Page 1 Shideye mosque which is used by AlShabaab officials to deliver speeches. Most of the dead were said to be members, officials and commanders of the hardline rebel group.

Relatives bent over dead bodies in a corner of the mosque below walls pockmarked by shrapnel. Outside, sheets of cardboard covered other victims and the wounded were pushed on wooden wheelbarrows to awaiting ambulances. Some witnesses said a senior leader of Al-Shabaab, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, was the target. Khalaf, also known as Fuad Shongole, is on a list of people in Somalia subject to UN sanctions because of their involvement in the conflict.

“Thirty-two people died and more than 70 were wounded in the attack,” Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilaal, a senior AlShabaab official, told Reuters. “Sheikh Fuad suffered wounds on the hands. The rescue workers are still taking people to hospi-

tals.” Nurses at Daynile hospital said seven of the badly wounded subsequently died, taking the death toll to 39. According to the UN Security Council, Khalaf, who also has Swedish nationality, has raised funds for AlShabaab and was involved in two car bomb attacks in the capital in April 2008.

The mosque hit yesterday is near the Abu Hureya mosque where a landmine killed one person on Tuesday. The mosque attacks are a new phenomenon in the Horn of Africa nation that has been plagued by violence and anarchy since a dictator was ousted in 1991. It was not clear who was behind the latest blasts. Residents suspected they could be the result of infighting between the insurgent groups, which are both trying to topple the Western-backed government.

Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle denied any government involvement, telling Reuters it would not attack the rebels where many other people were gathered. Al Shabaab has been fighting

the Western-backed government of Somalia since the start of 2007. It now controls much of southern and central Somalia and has hemmed the government into a few blocks of the capital.

Hizbul Islam is also fighting to topple President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s administration. While the two groups have fought together against government troops in Mogadishu, they have clashed on numerous occasions in the south of the country.

The government has been promising for months to launch an offensive against the rebels to regain control of Mogadishu.

Some residents said they feared the strikes were just the latest tactic copied by Somali insurgents from Iraq, where Sunni and Shiite insurgents often target each others’ mosques. Al-Shabaab has also used suicide bombers to devastating effect over the past two years, killing five government ministers and dozens of African Union peacekeeping troops. — Reuters

Kuwait busts Iran spy cell Continued from Page 1

NEW DELHI: A foreigner passes through a metal detector as she enters Paharganj, an area frequented by tourists, yesterday. — AP kets in New Delhi such as Connaught Place in the heart of the city could “be especially attractive targets for terrorist groups”. “Specific and credible information indicates terrorist attacks in New Delhi, especially in markets, may be imminent,” the Australian High Commission (embassy) said. The last major attack in New Delhi was a series of bomb blasts that ripped through busy, upmarket shopping areas in September 2008, leaving 22 people dead and wounding 100 more.

Security concerns about the forthcoming Commonwealth Games were stoked in April

when two low-intensity bombs went off at a cricket stadium in the southern city of Bangalore ahead of an Indian Premier League match. Some 8,000 athletes are expected to attend the Commonwealth Games. India has vowed to provide “foolproof” security for athletes and spectators during the Games.

The London-based Commonwealth Games Federation has said security for the Indian event is subject to “continual review.”

In February, a bomb exploded in a packed restaurant popular with travellers in the western Indian city of Pune, killing 16

people, including five foreigners.

It marked the first major incident since the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 10 Islamist gunmen launched an assault on multiple targets in India’s financial capital, killing 166 people.

India blamed the attack on the banned Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, straining already tense diplomatic ties with its neighbour. The run-up to the field hockey World Cup in February and March was overshadowed by concern some teams might pull out. Ultimately, the tournament went ahead without incident amid a heavy police presence. — AFP

Oil slick hits US coast Continued from Page 1 As environmentalists warned that the oil could devastate Louisiana’s fragile coastline, the slick forced the operators of two natural gas platforms to order a halt to production. Workers were evacuated from one of the platforms amid fears that the combustible oil sheen surrounding them could pose a safety risk, officials from the Minerals Management Service (MMS) told AFP. It was believed to be the first time that production elsewhere in the Gulf has been affected by the spill, although officials said the amounts involved represented only a tiny fraction of the area’s gas production.

As an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil a day spews into the Gulf of Mexico, BP spokesman John Curry told AFP relief well drilling would start yesterday. “We continue to get into position to drill the relief well, that drilling begins today,” he said, cautioning that the process could take up to 90 days. Chemical dispersant also was being used underwater, while remote-controlled subs were trying to activate a blow out preventer that failed to work when the Deepwater Horizon rig sunk April 22, two days after the platform exploded, killing 11 workers. “We don’t know why it hasn’t activated. We’ve had these remote-controlled subs down there that have been try-

ing to pump it full of hydraulic fluid to get it to activate. That has not succeeded so far,” Curry said.

Meanwhile, the Mobile Press-Register reported yesterday that the US Coast Guard now feared the leak could become an unchecked gusher shooting out millions of gallons of oil per day. Citing a confidential National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report, the Alabama newspaper said two additional release points had been found. “If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought,” the paper quotes the report as saying.

That suggested the flow could be 10 times greater than estimated, the paper said. At the current estimated rate of leakage, it would take 54 days for the amount of spilled toxic crude to surpass the 11 million gallons of oil that poured from the grounded Exxon Valdez tanker in Alaska in 1989. On Friday, US federal and state officials warned BP, which leased the rig from Transocean, that its resources appeared insufficient for the task at hand. “I do have concerns that BP’s resources are not adequate,” said Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. “I urge them to seek more help from the federal government and others.”

So far, the disaster has prompted

Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi to declare states of emergency.

The oil’s approach also forced Louisiana to close shrimping grounds and oyster beds, as a massive effort involving state, federal and BP resources struggled to combat the slick. The spill measured at least 1,500 sq km on Wednesday when the coast guard said oil was leaking at a rate of 5,000 barrels a day, five times faster than initially reported. The White House has put new domestic offshore oil drilling on hold until the disaster has been fully investigated and sent teams to the Gulf Coast “to inspect all deep water rigs and platforms to address safety concerns”.

British energy giant BP, which has been named in a slew of lawsuits, has pledged to take “full responsibility” and said it would pay for “legitimate claims” stemming from the disaster. The region is a prime spawning ground for fish, shrimp and crabs, home to oyster beds and a major stop for migratory birds. The spill also threatens hundreds of miles of coastline in a region that amounts to more than 40 percent of America’s ecologically fragile wetlands.

“For birds, the timing could not be worse; they are breeding, nesting and especially vulnerable in many of the places where the oil could come ashore,” said Melanie Driscoll of the Audubon Society, a nature conservancy group. — AFP

Kuwait FM holds ‘productive’ talks with top US officials Continued from Page 1 abide by international nuclear obligations outlined by the United Nations Security Council. Clinton will travel tomorrow to New York to attend the United Nations review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. “We will underscore once again the importance of all nations upholding their responsibilities,” she said. “We are working to isolate Iran through the United Nations. We’re in the midst of negotiations over a Security Council resolution that will impose consequences on Iran for its unwillingness to follow the IAEA or the United Nations Security Council requirements about its nuclear program,” Clinton said.

During the meeting, they also emphasized their “shared goal” of achieving a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East. She commended Kuwait’s support for the Arab Peace Initiative, describing it as a “vision for a better future for all the people of the Middle East”. She was referring to the Initiative that was endorsed by Arab leaders during their summit in Lebanon in 2002. The Initiative offers normalization of ties with Israel in return of full withdrawal of occupied Arab territories. “The Middle East will never realize its full potential, Israel will never be truly secure, the Palestinians will never have their legitimate aspiration for a state unless we create the circumstances in which positive negotiations can occur,” she cautioned.

In addition to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict, the US is seeking a regional peace between Israel and Syria and Lebanon, and normal relations between Arab states, Clinton noted. “We believe through good-faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree to an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the ‘67 lines

with agreed swaps and Israel’s goal of a Jewish state,” she said.

Sheikh Mohammad underlined the commitment by the Arab states to resume the proximity talks “on parameters that was stated by President Barack Obama during his speech to the United Nations”.

“What is needed is peace. We need to bring about peace based on a two-state solution for independent and viable Palestinian states, with its capital East Jerusalem, and a state that would live in peace and security with its neighbors,” he said.

Clinton expressed confidence that the proximity talks will resume by this week, during the scheduled trip by US special Mideast envoy George Mitchell to the region. “We’ve been very clear in our efforts that the resumption of talks is absolutely essential for the progress we seek toward a two-state solution,” Clinton said. In addition, Clinton noted the US is looking “forward to the meeting of the Arab follow-up committee in Cairo on Saturday to support the commitment by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to move forward with the peace talks”.

Sheikh Mohammad later met a number of other senior US officials during which they discussed bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest. Sheikh Mohammad met Defense Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Advisor General James Jones and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.

In a statement to KUNA following his meeting with Sheikh Mohammad, Feltman shed light on the “excellent” meeting the Kuwaiti FM held with Clinton. He indicated that Sheikh Mohammad and Clinton covered in their discussion bilateral issues, as well as regional and international affairs. “Sheikh Mohammad’s trip provided us with a real

opportunity to sit down and compare notes about issues of concern and how we can strengthen and build on an already rock solid bilateral relations,” Feltman affirmed.

He noted that “we have such a strong partnership with Kuwait,” adding that he has “great fondness for Kuwait as I have visited there a few times and having seen how lively your press is and having seen the civil society” there. The American official said that among the issues he discussed with Sheikh Mohammad was the Mideast Peace Process “because both Kuwait and the US agree that we must be moving as quickly and as firmly toward comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”

He reiterated Clinton’s praise of Kuwait’s work for the Arab Peace initiative, saying “we very much appreciate Kuwait’s role in supporting a comprehensive peace”. He added that Iran was another topic of discussion and “our concerns towards Iran’s nuclear ambitions”.

“We very much appreciate Kuwait’s perspective as Kuwait lives in the neighborhood. Kuwait has a perspective that we can benefit from,” he stressed.

Feltman shed light on Sheikh Mohammad’s generosity “with his time and his wisdom in giving Kuwait’s perspective on Iran and other Gulf issues.”

He indicated that Iraq was also one of the issues discussed, where the US is “committed to working with Kuwait, working with the new government of Iraq, to see that Baghdad fulfills all the obligations under the Security Council Resolution 833”. “For a friendship that is as deep and as wide as the friendship between Kuwait and the US, this was a great opportunity to talk about a number of issues,” he remarked. Feltman also indicated to KUNA that there is a plan for him to visit Kuwait in the next few weeks, saying “I look forward to seeing Kuwaiti officials in Kuwait.” — KUNA

the cell had confessed they were assigned to recruit new members whose ideas were similar to the Revolutionary Guards. Cell members had visited Iran frequently under the guise of tourism, medical treatment or visiting religious places.

Kuwait is home to several US military bases. The main base in the emirate is located in Arifjan, 70 km south of Kuwait City, and houses around 15,000 US soldiers.

The state is also used as a transit point for US troops into and out of both Iraq and Afghanistan. The Revolutionary Guards are an elite military, industrial and political force

set up to safeguard Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution from both foreign and domestic threats. They have repeatedly warned they have US bases in Iraq and Afghanistan under watch, implying they will pound these targets and could shut down the sea lanes of the oil-rich Gulf if the United States launches a military attack. — AFP

World marks May Day Continued from Page 1 EU and IMF officials have been meeting for days to agree on a new set of austerity measures. “No to the IMF’s junta!” protesters chanted, referring to the military dictatorship which ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. “Hands off our rights! IMF and EU Commission out!,” the protesters shouted as they marched to parliament. At one rally, police fired tear gas against a group of protesters trying to reach parliament.

In Switzerland, Zurich police used water cannons in an attempt to disperse dozens of stone-throwing protesters as unions and politicians protested against “excessive” Swiss banking bonuses.

German police detained 250 neo-Nazis who attempted to attack them in downtown Berlin, while they braced for further clashes after sundown. Nadine Pusch, a spokeswoman for Berlin police, said 7,000 officers were scattered throughout the city in an effort to ensure peaceful demonstrations. Overnight in Hamburg, 17 officers were injured in clashes on the eve of May 1 and at least nine demonstrators were detained, the German news agency ddp reported yesterday.

In Italy, unions rallied in the southern town of Rosarno, where clashes between African immigrants and locals this year marked the worst racial violence in Italy since World War Two. Addressing thousands of people waving flags and banners, union leaders demanded the government do more to create jobs and protect immigrants at risk of exploitation. In Sofia, more than 5,000 Bulgarians protested against high unemployment and what they called an inadequate response to the economic crisis of the centre-right government.

Supporters of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) waved red and national flags and chanted “Resignation”.

“Every day this government causes damages to Bulgaria and it must go,” said BSP’s leader and former premier Sergei Stanishev.

The turnout in Cuba was massive, as expected, and authorities claimed the march by hundreds of thousands of Cubans amounted to approval of the island’s com-

munist system amid mounting international criticism over human rights. Thousands joined peaceful May Day marches in Stockholm, where opposition leader Mona Sahlin blamed the center-right government for failing to stem rising unemployment and eroding the nation’s cherished welfare system. Sahlin is hoping to become Sweden’s first female prime minister after national elections in September. Several thousand demonstrators in Paris also took to the streets amid concerns about conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to overhaul the pension system.

In Manila, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced she had ordered the labor secretary to speed up negotiations between unions and employers on a 75peso ($1.67) increase in daily minimum wage. In Indonesia’s capital, thousands of workers marched on the presidential palace, shouting: “Workers unite! No more layoffs!”. Rally organizer Bayu Ajie said a free trade agreement with China had cost jobs, decreased wages and encouraged corruption. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to create safer working conditions and improve job prospects if the workers maintained political and economic stability.

Thousands of Communist demonstrators, carrying red balloons, red Soviet flags and portraits of Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin, called for the Russian government’s resignation over rising prices and unemployment in Moscow.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov led hundreds of opposition activists in a separate rally. They also called for the ouster of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whom they accuse of stamping out democracy. A few thousands also rallied in Ukraine’s capital.

In Seoul, South Korea, Tokyo and Taiwan, thousands marched for better working conditions and permanent jobs.

Jeong Ho-hee, spokesman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Union, vowed to fight against long working hours and high death rate related to industrial accidents.

In the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, several hundred workers protested a proposed 4 percent goods and services tax while about 1,000 protesters, including jan-

itors, construction workers and bus drivers, demanded the government in Hong Kong to introduce a minimum wage of 33 Hong Kong dollars ($4.30).

This freewheeling capitalist Chinese enclave is one of the world’s wealthiest cities, but critics say its wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few. “A lunch box at a fast-food restaurant costs about HK$30 ($4). It’s an insult if you can’t afford a lunch box after working for an hour,” pro-democracy legislator Leung Yiu-chung said on the sidelines of yesterday’s protests.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in a large-scale May Day rally in Los Angeles against a tough new immigration law in Arizona that has triggered a nationwide outcry. Demonstrations were planned in more than 70 cities across the United States as Hispanic organizations mobilize to demand the repeal of the controversial Arizona legislation and wideranging federal immigration reform. The biggest protest took place in Los Angeles, where city fire department officials estimated some 60,000 people were marching downtown, with celebrities such as Gloria Estefan addressing the crowd. Around one million people marched for a similar rally in the city in 2006.

Protesters in Los Angeles were being encouraged to wave the Stars and Stripes rather than flags from their countries of origin, in an effort to emphasized their loyalty to the United States. “I’ve been here since I was three,” said Jose Luis, a Los Angeles teenager wearing an American flag across his shoulders. Although he had brandished a Mexican flag in the past, he said he now realized “it’s about supporting this country.”

Other rallies were taking place across the country, with crowds expected later before the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix. The Arizona law makes it a state crime to lack proper immigration papers and requires police to determine whether people are in the country illegally. Civil rights activists say the move will lead to racial profiling but state officials have repeatedly emphasized that it expressly forbids law enforcement officers from stopping someone on the basis of their ethnicity. — Agencies

Kids’ cold, allergy medicines recalled Continued from Page 1 McNeil said it was recalling the products in consultation with the FDA after discovering manufacturing deficiencies that could affect the quality, purity or potency of the medicines. The FDA said some of the products may not meet required quality standards, and parents and caregivers should stop administering them to children and switch to generic brands, which are not affected by the recall.

They said consumers should not administer adult strength medicine to infants or children since that could result in serious harm. Some of the products affected by the recall may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than specified; others contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others may contain tiny particles, the FDA said. The FDA said the chance of an adverse reaction was remote, but urged consumers to contact their doctors and the FDA if their

children exhibited any symptoms.

McNeil Consumer said it was recalling all lots of the over-the-counter products.

The medicines were also distributed in the United States, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Dubai, Fiji, Guam, Guatemala, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. It said consumers with questions about the recall could contact the company at 1-800-222-6036 or the website www.mcneilproductrecall.com.

— Reuters

Shanghai World Expo throws open its doors Continued from Page 1 Eager visitors used umbrellas to shield themselves from the blistering sun as they waited patiently, the long queues doing nothing to dampen their enthusiasm. “I want to see the Canada pavilion first. So many of my relatives have emigrated to Canada and I want to get an idea of what kind of life they’re living,” retiree Huang Huifang, 58, said as she ran towards the building.

Shanghai kicked off the Expo on Friday night with a star-studded music and fireworks extravaganza, signalling it would be bigger and brighter than the more low-key World’s Fairs in recent years. Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan and Chinese pianist Lang Lang performed for thousands of guests including Chinese President Hu Jintao and about 20 other world leaders. A record number of countries are participating in the event, which is expected to attract at least 70 million visitors - the vast majority of them Chinese, many of whom have never travelled outside the country.

Li Huahe, a 47-year-old telecoms company employee from Urumqi in far-western

Xinjiang, said he bought his ticket months ago but could only stay a few hours before heading home. “I woke up at 5:00 am and I have a 2:00 pm flight. I’m worried about the crowds. I want to see at least one pavilion today,” Li said outside the Swiss pavilion, which boasts a chairlift that soars over a three-storey-high meadow.

Nations with an eye on China’s consumer market of 1.3 billion people are pulling out all the stops to attract the attention of Expo visitors. “I really hope people will discover the attitude of the Netherlands. We want to have friendly relations with China,” Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told AFP as he surveyed the grounds from the top of the “Happy Street” pavilion, which aims to capture the feel and creativity of Amsterdam.

Denmark has made a splash by bringing its “Little Mermaid” statue out of Copenhagen for the first time, France has Impressionist paintings and India is bringing in a cast of Bollywood stars. Li Kai, seven, was stunned when he was told the statue was real. “It’s shocking. I thought it was fake. We should treat her well because she travelled so far,” said Li. The hamburger and ice cream cone

debuted at past Expos and food is once again playing a major role in attracting Chinese visitors to pavilions. Belgium was promoting fries with mayonnaise, Australia was serving meat pies and France featured champagne tasting. “This is the first time I’ve eaten foreign specialty food, I will try more,” visitor Yang Wei said, sampling Uruguayan barbecued beef.

In Shanghai, the spotlight will be on the cutting-edge design of the national pavilions, all embracing the theme of “Better City, Better Life”. Highlights include Britain’s stunning dandelion-like “Seed Cathedral”, Spain’s “Big Basket” made of 8,500 wicker panels, and Switzerland’s pastoral pavilion. Du Yuping, a 52-year-old steel company employee from Shanghai, came prepared for the queues with a folding stool. He said he came to Expo park last week on a trial opening day and ended up waiting up to three hours to see one pavilion, but was pleased to see that operations were running more smoothly yesterday. “I want to visit Expo at least six times,” Du said, sitting on his chair in the queue outside the Norwegian pavilion.

“I’m focusing on European pavilions today.” — AFP

Sunday, May 2, 2010

15

SPORTS

Royals stop Rays as Tigers pound Angels ST. PETERSBURG: An error by reliever Randy Choate helped Kansas City score twice in the ninth inning, and the Royals held on to beat the American League-leading Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 on Friday.

Scott Podsednik reached first base safely to start the ninth when Choate (0-2) misfielded a ball back to the mound. After Billy Butler singled and Jose Guillen was hit by a pitch, Alberto Callaspo gave the Royals a 2-1 lead with his sacrifice fly. Mitch Maier’s single made it 3-1.

Evan Longoria nearly won it for the Rays in the bottom of the ninth, but his long drive to left with two runners on base was caught at the wall for a sacrifice fly, and Joakim Soria retired BJ Upton on a fly ball for his sixth save. Royals reliever Josh Rupe (1-1) threw a scoreless eighth to take the win.

BALTIMORE: Boston Red Sox JD Drew runs on a solo home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game. — AP

Reds beat Cardinals as Mets roll over Phillies ST. LOUIS: The Cincinnati Reds overcame the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 and a 21/2-hour rain delay on Friday to post their season-best fifth consecutive victory in the National League.

The Reds also snapped St. Louis’ five-game winning streak. The game was delayed 2 hours, 32 minutes in the middle of the sixth inning by rain and severe weather. Jay Bruce had three hits and two RBIs. His single in the sixth off Cardinals starter Brad Penny (3-1) brought in Joey Votto with the tying run.

One batter later, Jonny Gomes gave the Reds a 32 lead with a single. Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto (1-1) gave up two runs in five innings. Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his ninth save in 10 chances. He gave up a two-out double to pinch-hitter Joe Mather but then got Tyler Greene on a gameending grounder.

Mets 9, Phillies 1 In Philadelphia, New York’s winning streak reached eight games as Rod Barajas homered twice to help beat Philadelphia. David Wright and Jeff Francoeur also homered for the Mets, riding their longest winning streak since a 10-game run in 2008.

New York starter Jonathon Niese (1-1) pitched seven impressive innings, shutting down Philadelphia’s powerful lineup, allowing only one run and matching a career high with seven strikeouts.

He yielded Carlos Ruiz’s RBI single in the second, then retired 14 straight until a single leading off the seventh. Wright and Francoeur connected during a three-run second inning against Kyle Kendrick (0-1).

Nationals 7, Marlins 1 In Miami, Ryan Zimmerman homered twice as Washington defeated Florida for a third straight victory. Back after a week out with a hamstring injury, Zimmerman quickly made up for lost time, connecting both times on a full count against starter Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco (2-1). Nolasco only last four innings. Nationals starter Scott Olsen (2-1) pitched six scoreless innings to get his first win in four starts against his former club.

Giants 5, Rockies 2 In San Francisco, Barry Zito improved his record to 4-0 for the first time in his career, steering San Francisco past Colorado.

Zito settled down after falling behind 1-0 in the first and lasted eight innings. He followed an impressive effort against St. Louis last Saturday with another solid start, and has yet to give up a home run in 2010. Aubrey Huff hit a two-run double and Juan

Uribe had a two-run single for the Giants off Rockies starter Aaron Cook (1-3).

Padres 3, Brewers 0 In San Diego, Clayton Richard pitched six neat innings to guide San Diego over Milwaukee. Richard (1-2) tied his career high with eight strikeouts and combined with three relievers for San Diego’s fifth shutout, tops in the majors, and second straight against Milwaukee. The Padres have thrown 24 consecutive scoreless innings. San Diego has won 12 of 14 and is in first place in the NL West heading into May for the first time since 1998. Scott Hairston entered in the seventh as part of a double switch and homered off Dave Bush (1-2) in the bottom half after his brother, Jerry, hit a leadoff double. The Padres won their eighth straight home game. Their 9-2 home record is the best in the NL. Milwaukee lost for the seventh time in eight games and has been held scoreless in 22 straight innings.

Cubs 11, D’backs 5 In Chicago, Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run homer and Chicago connected for four in all while rallying to beat Arizona. Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto and Marlon Byrd added solo shots as the Cubs shook off a 13-5 beating by the Diamondbacks in the previous game and stopped a three-game skid.

The big blow was Soriano’s three-run drive off Rodrigo Lopez (1-1), capping a four-run sixth that put Chicago ahead 6-4 and made a winner of Randy Wells (3-0). The Cubs broke it open with three in the seventh, getting two bases-loaded walks. Chris Snyder homered for Arizona.

Dodgers 6, Pirates 2 In Los Angeles, Andre Ethier jump-started the Dodgers’ offense with a two-run homer, sparking Los Angeles to victory over Pittsburgh.

James Loney added a three-run shot. Both Los Angeles homers came off Pirates starter Charlie Morton (0-5), who has allowed seven in 19 1-3 innings this season and has an ERA of 12.57. He gave up six runs — three earned — in six innings.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (2-1) allowed two runs over six innings to help L.A. snap a fivegame losing streak.

Braves 4, Astros 2 In Atlanta, Jason Heyward hit a tiebreaking, tworun homer to lift Atlanta over Houston and end a nine-game losing streak. Heyward homered for the second consecutive night to break a 2-2 tie and Nate McLouth also went deep against Brett Myers (12).—AP

MLB results and standings Major League Baseball results and standings on Friday: Chicago Cubs 11, Arizona 5; Baltimore 5, Boston 4 (10 Innings); NY Yankees 6, Chicago White Sox 4; Minnesota 9, Cleveland 3; Detroit 10, La Angels 6; NY Mets 9, Philadelphia 1; Toronto 10, Oakland 2; Kansas City 3, Tampa Bay 2; Washington 7, Florida 1; Atlanta 4, Houston 2; Cincinnati 3, St Louis 2; San Diego 3, Milwaukee 0; LA Dodgers 6, Pittsburgh 2; Texas 2, Seattle 0 (12 innings); San Francisco 5, Colorado 2.

American League National League Eastern Division Eastern Division NY Mets 14 9 .609 W L PCT GB Washington 13 10 .565 1 Tampa Bay 17 6 .739 12 10 .545 1.5 NY Yankees 15 7 .682 1.5 Philadelphia Florida 11 12 .478 3 Toronto 12 12 .500 5.5 Atlanta 9 14 .391 5 Boston 11 12 .478 6 Central Division Baltimore 5 18 .217 12 St. Louis 15 8 .652 Central Division Cincinnati 12 11 .522 3 Minnesota 15 8 .652 Chicago Cubs 11 13 .458 4.5 Detroit 14 10 .583 1.5 Pittsburgh 10 13 .435 5 Cleveland 9 13 .409 5.5 Milwaukee 9 14 .391 6 Chicago White Sox 9 14 .391 6 Houston 8 14 .364 6.5 Kansas City 9 14 .391 6 Western Division Western Division San Diego 15 8 .652 LA Angels 12 12 .500 San Francisco 13 9 .591 1.5 Oakland 12 12 .500 Arizona 11 12 .478 4 Seattle 11 12 .478 .5 Colorado 11 12 .478 4 Texas 11 12 .478 .5 LA Dodgers 9 14 .391 6

Tigers 10, Angels 6 In Detroit, Scott Sizemore and Brennan Boesch hit their first career homers in an eight-run fourth inning that powered Detroit over Los Angeles.

Sizemore’s homer, which came one pitch after Gerald Laird’s first of the season, tied the game 4-4. Miguel Cabrera added an RBI single later in the inning before Boesch’s grand slam to center field. Austin Jackson went 5 for 5, making him the first Tigers rookie with five hits in a game since Curtis Granderson in 2005.

Detroit starter Rick Porcello (2-2) won despite allowing five runs in 5 1-3 innings.

Angels starter Joel Pineiro (2-3) gave up a career-worst 10 runs in 3 1-3 innings.

Yankees 6, White Sox 4 In New York, Derek Jeter hit a tiebreaking two-run triple in the seventh inning and drove in four runs to lift New York over Chicago.

With two on and one out in the seventh, Jeter sliced a pitch from Matt Thornton (2-2) past diving right fielder Jayson Nix and into the corner. Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner scored easily to give New York a 6-4 lead.

Jeter also hit a tying, two-run homer in the fifth for New York, which notched a third consecutive win. He went 3 for 4 and is batting .538 (7 for 13) in his past three games. Paul Konerko set a White Sox record with his major league-best 11th homer in April and Gordon Beckham added two hits as Chicago lost for the 12th time in its past 14 games in New York.

Yankees reliever Alfredo Aceves (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh to improve his career record to 13-1.

Twins 9, Indians 3 In Cleveland, Justin Morneau made an instant impact in his return to the Minnesota lineup, launching a two-run homer that helped Minnesota beat Cleveland.

After Joe Mauer singled with two outs in the first, Morneau — returning from two games out with a back injury — hit a 444-foot homer over the center-field wall against Fausto Carmona (3-1). Kevin Slowey (3-2), moved up in Minnesota’s rotation and pitched five innings for the win.

Blue Jays 10, Athletics 2 In Toronto, Alex Gonzalez hit two home runs and Vernon Wells also connected as Toronto crunched Oakland. Gonzalez hit a three-run homer in the second inning and led off the sixth with a drive down the left-field line. It was the eighth multihomer game of his career. Gonzalez has hit seven home runs this month, a team record for a shortstop in April.

Wells had three hits, including his eighth home run. Toronto, which came in with an ALleading 32 homers, sent the A’s to their sixth straight road loss. Brandon Morrow (2-2) won.

Rangers 2, Mariners 0 In Seattle, Elvis Andrus scored from third on a wild pitch to break a scoreless tie in the top of the 12th inning as Texas beat a mistakeprone Seattle.

League (3-2) had retired all six Rangers he faced in the 10th and 11th innings, but he skipped a pitch off catcher Adam Moore’s glove to allow Andrus to get home, and then Josh Hamilton had an RBI groundout for the only runs of the game. Boom recruit Cliff Lee pitched seven scoreless innings in his Mariners debut.

Texas’ Frank Francisco (3-3) pitched a wild 11th before Neftali Feliz finished for his fourth save in five chances. Texas starter Colby Lewis went through nine scoreless innings, retiring 21 consecutive batters.

The Mariners had the bases loaded with one out in both the 10th and 11th innings. The latter came undone on a failed suicide squeeze by Seattle, which was followed by Texas manager Ron Washington’s ejection.

Orioles 5, Red Sox 4 In Baltimore, Adam Jones doubled and scored on a two-out single by Miguel Tejada in the 10th inning, giving Baltimore victory over Boston.

Tejada had three RBIs, including a tying homer in the eighth after Baltimore blew a 3-1 lead. The win ended a seven-game skid for the Orioles against Boston at Camden Yards.

JD Drew hit two solo homers and Dustin Pedroia homered and drove in two runs for the Red Sox, whose three-game winning streak ended. The defeat left Boston with its first losing April since 1996. Baltimore’s Matt Albers (1-3) pitched a perfect 10th for the win. Red Sox reliever Ramon Ramirez (0-1) took the loss.—AP

CLEVELAND: Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (right) looks toward first base after forcing out Minnesota Twins’ Jason Kubel at second base in the ninth inning in a baseball game. — AP

Brumbies keep playoff hopes alive SYDNEY: Prop Ben Alexander scored two tries and his fellow ACT Brumbies forwards shut down the dangerous Queensland Reds combination of Will Genia and Quade Cooper to guide their side to a 3212 victory in their Super 14 match in Canberra yesterday.

The bonus point win kept the Brumbies in the hunt for the semifinals, moving into sixth place on 32 points, level with the Wellington Hurricanes, who are seventh on points differential.

The New South Wales Waratahs are fifth on 33 points, while the Reds are fourth on 34, the same as the third-placed Canterbury Crusaders.

All have played their games this weekend and none of the three matches in South Africa later on Saturday will affect those positions

in the standings.

Scrumhalf Genia and flyhalf Cooper have been instrumental in driving the surprising Reds into semi-final contention, but the Brumbies forwards monopolised possession, disrupted the breakdown and aggressively drove the Reds back in the tackle to ensure the Queensland duo were unable to get any forward momentum.

“Their names (Genia and Cooper) were mentioned a lot this week,” Brumbies captain Stephen Hoiles said in a televised interview.

“They have been the form players for the Reds and got them to this point.

“We knew we had to put them under pressure and forced them into a lot more kicking. It was just a massive defensive effort.”

The Brumbies stormed to a 14-0

lead courtesy of tries to lock Mark Chisholm and loosehead Alexander, both of which were converted by Matt Giteau.

Queensland spent the majority of the first period hemmed inside their own territory, though Cooper managed to keep his side in it with two penalties to make it 14-6 by the break.

Cooper narrowed the margin with two penalties early in the second half before scrumhalf Josh Valentine capitalised on some more patient buildup work that opened a gap close to the ruck to give the Brumbies breathing room.

Alexander added his second try of the game, and sixth of the season, after another sustained buildup and Giteau slotted his second penalty in the last eight mintues to put the victory beyond doubt. — Reuters

Hurricanes blow away Chiefs AUCKLAND: The Wellington Hurricanes scored two tries in the final 10 minutes to retain a slim chance of reaching the Super 14 semi-finals with a gutsy 33-27 victory over the Waikato Chiefs yesterday.

The Hurricanes moved into sixth position on 32 points, one behind the fifth-placed New South Wales Waratahs, and five ahead of the ACT Brumbies. All Blacks centre Ma’a Nonu scored a 40-metre try after Hosea Gear had counter-attacked from deep to finally give his side the lead 28-27 with six minutes remaining, while Neemia Tialata crossed after the hooter had sounded to secure a bonus point.

“It showed the team we have been and to come back and get that bonus point try at the end, it might be the most important try of his (Tialata) life,” Hurricanes captain Andrew Hore said in a televised interview. The Hurricanes’ performance swung between brilliant and bumbling with first half tries to fullback Cory Jane and Nonu coming after patient and sustained pressure created the gaps needed to burst through.

The home team, however, also dropped passes, failed to commit players at rucks and continuously turned the ball over, and gifted the Chiefs two of their four first half tries.

Chiefs centre Jackson Willison pounced on a dropped pass by Aaron Cruden, who appeared to be looking downfield for attacking options instead of at the ball, to score the first try of the match.

Later in the half, a surprised Liam Messam was passed the ball by Wellington’s Rodney So’oialo as a defensive scrum twisted.

Chiefs prop Sona Taumalolo and fullback Tim Nanai-Williams also crossed for the visitors to give them a 24-15 lead at the break after Callum Bruce had slotted just two conversions. —Reuters

FRANCE: Leinster’s lock Nathan Hines (up) grabs the ball in a line out during their European Cup rugby union semi-final match Toulouse vs Leinster. — AFP

SPORTS

16

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Lakers eliminate Thunder OKLAHOMA CITY: Pau Gasol tipped in with half a second left to give the Los Angeles Lakers a 95-94 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, clinching their NBA first-round playoff series 4-2.

Gasol crashed to the rim at the right block and tipped in Kobe Bryant’s errant jump shot to put the defending NBA champions ahead after they squandered a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma City had one more chance, but Russell Westbrook missed a desperation 3-point attempt at the final buzzer. Los Angeles will face Utah in the second round.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 26 points on a dreadful 5for-23 shooting night.

Westbrook had 21 points and nine assists.

For LA, Bryant scored 32 points and Gasol had nine points and 18 rebounds, scoring his only basket of the second half at the end.

After missing 17 of his first 20 shots, Durant broke through with a 3-pointer from the right wing that ignited a 10-0 comeback by the Thunder.

Westbrook followed with a jumper, and his three-point play off a putback of his own miss put Oklahoma City ahead 92-91 with 3:04 to play.

Durant added a driving layup to push the lead to three but Oklahoma City couldn’t score again in the final 21/2 minutes.

Bryant hit an 18-foot jumper from the left side to get Los Angeles within one, and the Lakers delivered the knockout punch on their fifth chance.

MEXICO: US Michelle Wie reacts after missing a birdie putt on the eighth hole during the second round of the LPGA Corona Morelia golf championship.—AP

Wie takes one stroke lead MORELIA: Michelle Wie’s game held together with the wind hollowing through the mountainside ravines at the Tres Marias Championship, shooting a 5-under 68 in Friday’s second round for a one-shot lead. Wie led from fellow American Brittany Lincicome (67) and Japan’s Ai Miyazato (72).

But the gusts and the emotional ups-anddowns got to Lorena Ochoa, who fell five strokes off the pace with a 73 in her farewell tournament.

This is the last event for the No. 1-ranked Ochoa, under some pressure to deliver a victory for her adoring fans in Mexico — she has won this event three times — before stepping away.

“I’ll take it I guess with these conditions,” Ochoa said. “With all the emotions I am going through and the adrenalin it’s been a little bit tough.” Wie beat the wind, and seems to love playing in Mexico where she won her first LPGA event 5 1/2 months ago in Ochoa’s Invitational in Guadalajara — Ochoa’s hometown.

“It’s fun over here,” Wie said. “It’s a good attitude over here; relaxed, great weather, great people and hopefully I can keep it going.” It could have been even better for the Hawaiian, who pulled off a spectacular birdie on the 541-yard 16th, but then stumbled with two bogeys to close.

She hit a booming drive downwind on 16 — her father BJ Wie estimated it at 380 yards — but hit an 8-iron approach from 165 yards over the green into loose gravel. She chipped out, but knocked it across the green into a bunker.

She then holed out from 70 feet, lifting both arms skyward to celebrate the shot. “Holing out the bunker shot was kind of funny,” said Wie, breaking into a smile.

Ochoa tried to force a few laughs, but it wasn’t easy — even for a player recognized as one of the most likable and humble on the LPGA tour.

“I try not to think (about the retirement), but of course it is in my head,” said Ochoa, who has 27 career victories — including two majors — and has held the No. 1 ranking for three years.

“Today when I was struggling a little bit more, I was more frustrated than usual. But you try to smile. Trying to keep myself together and focus on the tournament is difficult.” Ochoa, 28, chose to play Thursday and Friday with Miyazato and Natalie Gulbis.

She called Miyazato “the nicest girl on the tour,” and she grew up playing junior golf, and college golf at Arizona with Gulbis.

Ochoa said her mind was wandering, walking with Gulbis and talking about the old days. Then she’d pull herself back to reality.

“All of a sudden I’d say: ‘Hello, but you are here.”‘ “It was not my best day I guess,” Ochoa added. “I only have five or six players in front of me so I’m trying to be positive.” Miyazato, who has won two of the first four LPGA events to reach No. 5 in the rankings, missed too many putts. “The fairways were really firm today, and the greens were a little bit drier, so it was tough to make adjustments about my distance,” said Miyazato, who is from Japan’s southern island of Okinawa. “But I still had many chances out there.” Lincicome had a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th, using a pitching wedge to hole the 125-yard shot. It was her first on the LPGA Tour.

The American has played all four events this season, playing well but never putting it all together — until Friday.-”I felt like I’ve been playing really, really well,” she said. “Just if I’m hitting it well, I’m not putting well.

If I’m putting well, I’m not hitting it well. It’s nice to kind of see it coming together, and of all places Mexico because this is not normally one of my favorite golf courses.”—AP

Jazz 112, Nuggets 104 In Salt Lake City, Utah also clinched its series in six games, beating Denver. Carlos Boozer had 22 points and 20 rebounds and rookie Wesley Matthews scored 23 and made a key block as Utah pulled away late in the fourth quarter.

Deron Williams added 14 points and 10 assists for the Jazz, who went on an 11-0 run after Carmelo Anthony had tied the game at 95-all midway through the final period.

Matthews went 13 for 15 from the free throw line as Utah persevered in a foul-filled game, making 34 of 51 free throws after drawing 39 fouls by the Nuggets. Chauncey Billups led Denver with 30 points and Anthony finished with 20 points on 6 for 22 shooting. The Nuggets came pretty close despite falling behind by 15 early.

Denver opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run and led by eight before Utah answered.

Denver still had a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter, then the Nuggets’ emotions started to cost them.

Millsap broke a 95-95 tie with his second three-point play of the fourth, putting the Jazz up 98-95 with 6:22 remaining and starting an 11-0 run as the Nuggets began to unravel.

Martin drew a foul and a technical for shoving Williams over the baseline on a drive with six minutes left and Utah leading 98-95. It was the third technical on Denver. Although Miles missed the technical free throw, Williams hit both from the line for a 100-95 lead for the Jazz, and they maintained a buffer from then.

Hawks 83, Bucks 69

TKS wins DMC Gold Cup KUWAIT: Telugu Kala Samithi (TKS) cricket team played the Gold Cup finals against KAICO. TKS won the toss and elected to bat first. Their total score was 180-7. Opening batsman Abbas scored 79 of 45 balls and was elected as Best Batsman of the match. Ameer scored 22 runs in 4 overs, and took 4 wickets. He was elected the Man of the Match.

In reply KAICO scored 123-9 in 20 overs.

TKS won the DMC Gold Cup by 67 runs.

Rammohan Reddy, captain and team members received the cup from the organizers. TKS Vice President Mulakala Subbarayudu Naidu, Sports Wing Co-ordinator Siva, officials BP Naidu, and P Srinivaasa Chowdary were present for this event.

In Milwaukee, Atlanta held Milwaukee in check to force a deciding Game 7. Jamal Crawford broke out of a slump with 24 points and Joe Johnson added 22 points for Atlanta, which will host the decider on Sunday.

Carlos Delfino scored 20 for the Bucks, who came into the game hoping to finish off their heavily favored opponent but instead went completely flat after halftime. The Hawks outscored the Bucks 29-11 in the third quarter to take a 15point lead.

Milwaukee made a furious comeback attempt in the last 6 minutes, cutting the lead to 7 with just over 5 minutes left, but Josh Smith’s block on John Salmons with just over 2 minutes remaining helped stop the rally and the Hawks pulled away.

Al Horford had 15 points and 15 rebounds for Atlanta. It was an off night for two of the Bucks’ top offensive threats, Salmons and Brandon Jennings.

Jennings had 12 points on 4-for15 shooting, including 1 of 9 from 3-point range. Salmons finished with eight points on 2for-13 shooting. —AP

OKLAHOMA CITY: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (right) drives to the basket as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (left) defends in the fourth quarter of Game 6 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series.—AP

All bets off if rain dampens Derby LOUISVILLE: The heavy rain forecast for this weekend’s Kentucky Derby threatens to turn the dirt track into a sloppy mess and has opened the door for a longshot to capture the ‘Run for the Roses’, trainers said on Friday.

Eleven of the 20 entries have more experience on turf or synthetic tracks and few have raced on a wet and muddy dirt track.

“Any time the track gets like that every longshot has a chance,” said trainer Bob Baffert whose race favourite Lookin At Lucky (3-1) won the Rebel Stakes in his only dirt start.

Rain is expected to fall around 1000 local time (1400 GMT) yesterday and last for about four hours before turning to scattered

showers through the 1825 post time.

Second favorite Sidney’s Candy (5-1) has raced only on the synthetic surfaces at Santa Anita and Del Mar so how he handles the conditions is a mystery.

While Sidney’s Candy performed well on a wet track during a workout at Churchill Downs last Saturday, stablemate Line Of David (30-1) does not like those sort of conditions.

“I might consider not running him if it were to get really bad here tomorrow,” Line Of David trainer John Sadler told reporters.

“But it would have to be something extraordinary.”

Eoin Harty, trainer of American Lion (30-1), was uncertain how his colt would

perform while Alexis Barba, who will saddle Make Music For Me (50-1), was unconcerned about the weather.

“He trained and worked on a muddy track,” Harty said. “(But) I don’t think it’s going to be any comparison with what the track is going to be like if they get the rain that everybody is forecasting.”

Barba, hoping to become the first female to saddle a Kentucky Derby winner, disagreed with Baffert that poor weather aided the outsiders.

Stately Victor trainer Mike Maker said his Kentucky-bred bay could handle any conditions. “Rain, snow, sleet or shine, it’s not going to matter,” he said of his 30-1 colt.—Reuters

CHARLOTTE: Tiger Woods shadow is cast on a bunker on the sixth hole as he balances on the edge during the second round of the Quail Hollow Championship golf tournament.—AP

Woods misses cut CHARLOTTE: Tiger Woods, his game imploding with every wayward shot, missed the cut for only the sixth time as a professional on Friday after a woeful second round of 79 at the Quail Hollow championship.

The world number one cast a forlorn figure as he trudged off the course after limping to the halfway stage at nine-over-par, eight shots off the cut-off line following his opening round of 74.

Woods, competing in only his second tournament after a self-imposed break following revelations about his private life, finished with a nine-over total of 153, his worst 36-hole score of his career.

The inept performance prompted questions about whether distractions in his private life were taking their toll, but Woods insisted they were not to blame. “Does it test you? Yes, of course it does,” he told reporters.

NBK wins KFH cricket tourney KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait’s team won the Kuwait Finance House Cricket Tournament after defeating Boubyan Bank’s team in the final match which was held recently according to a press release. After the match, the NBK CEO, Issam Jassem Al-Saqr, handed the winning team the championship trophy.

He acknowledged the bank’s activity in taking part in all sports activities held for workers of the banking sector, demonstrating the achievements made by the bank’s teams in football, cricket, bowling, squash, tennis and other sports.

“Is that any excuse? No, because I’m out there and I have the same opportunity as everybody else here in this field to shoot a good number, and I didn’t do that.”

As Woods struggled, many of his main rivals, including US Masters champion Phil Mickelson, ripped up the course on a perfect spring day.

But it was Billy Mayfair who quietly took the lead, carving out a second successive four-under 68 in front of a handful of spectators on the other side of the course away from Woods’s drama.

“I played real well today,” the American told reporters after posting an eight-under total of 136 to finish a stroke ahead of Argentine Angel Cabrera. “I’m rolling the rock pretty good and I love being in contention. I made a lot of good putts, drove the ball well.”

Last year’s Masters champion Cabrera, partnered with Woods, shot a sparkling 67 to finish a stroke above a foursome including Mickelson. “I was very happy with the way I drove the ball and was able to make some key putts,” he said. “I know I’m working hard and I’m real close to being at the top of my game.”

However, his performance was overshadowed by the almost-unimaginable showing by Woods, whose missed cut was his first since last year’s British Open and his first on home soil since the 2006 US Open. Woods at times looked like a weekend hacker as his game unravelled on the back nine.

There were already some worrying signs as he went through the first nine holes in

even par with three birdies cancelled out by three bogeys but few could have expected what was to unfold.

He bogeyed the 10th, 11th and 12th holes to suddenly drop back to five-overpar. He stopped the bleeding with a par at the 13th before making a double-bogey at the 14th when he pitched over the green and into the water.

“At that point it was pretty much out of reach and I was just trying to stay out of Angel’s way,” Woods said. “He’s the one leading the golf tournament, and that’s kind of what you’re supposed to do.”

Worse was to come at the next hole when he four-putted for another double bogey. He closed with three pars to avoid shooting an embarrassing 80 but that failed to save him from an early exit.

“I chipped poorly, putted poorly, but for the most part I didn’t really hit the ball that poorly until the end,” Woods added.

“It does bother me, no doubt (missing the cut). But at least I get the weekend to watch and see how it’s done, how real players play golf and hopefully I can piece it together for next week and be ready to go.”

Mickelson, who was ill from food poisoning and faded late in his opening round, looked a picture of health as he shot a fourunder-par 68 to be suddenly feeling upbeat about his chances.

“I should be 100 percent for the weekend,” he declared. “I thought I was going to get a few more on the front. But four under?

I would say I’m in good position for the weekend.”—Reuters

SPORTS

Sunday, May 2, 2010

17

Ferrer strolls into final

PITTSBURGH: Chris Kunitz No. 14 of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Hal Gill No. 75 of the Montreal Canadiens crash into the boards after chasing down a loose puck in Game One of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. —AFP

Penguins shine on power play PITTSBURGH: The Pittsburgh Penguins shredded Montreal’s penalty-killing unit that the Canadiens used so well in the opening round of the NHL playoffs, beating the visitors 6-3 on Friday in the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski each had a goal and an assist, Sidney Crosby set up two goals, and Jordan Staal and Sergei Gonchar also scored as the Penguins’ power play went 4 for 4.

That is three more goals than the Washington Capitals scored with the man advantage across seven games in Montreal’s stunning first-round series win, when the Canadiens killed 32 of 33 Washington power plays. Bill Guerin added an empty-net goal and had an assist as the Penguins won Game 1 for only the second time in five playoff series.

The Stanley Cup champion Penguins, winners of eight of 10 playoff series since 2007, are in position to take a 2-0 lead in Game 2 on Sunday at home.

Pittsburgh used a very different powerplay strategy against Montreal than did Washington. They screened Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak in front and, rather

than carrying the puck through traffic and into Montreal’s collapsing defense, they instructed their undefended point men to keep pumping one-timers at the net.

The Penguins’ first three goals — by Gonchar and Staal in the first period and Letang early in the second — all came from center point and couldn’t be stopped by Halak, who turned aside 131 of the Capitals’ final 134 shots in the first round.

Halak let in five goals from 20 shots Friday and was pulled early in the third for Carey Price, several minutes after Goligoski made it 5-2.

The Canadiens, playing two days after finishing off one of the biggest first-round upsets in NHL history, didn’t look to be off their game or fatigued despite the quick turnaround. They held Pittsburgh to 16 shots in the first two periods and 24 overall and kept stars Crosby and Evgeni Malkin from scoring.

The rested and patient Penguins, playing for the first time in six says, simply looked better. Brian Gionta had a goal and an assist, and the Canadiens led when P.K. Subban scored unassisted on a shot from the right point with 4:30 gone.

Pittsburgh’s Gonchar tied it about four minutes later after Gionta’s tripping penalty. Staal put the Penguins ahead to stay by cutting across the middle and beating Halak with a wrist shot at 13:27 of the first.

Staal, who has never missed a game to injury in his four NHL seasons, hurt his right leg after being undercut by Subban behind the net near the midpoint of the second period and didn’t return.

The Canadiens played the final 21/2 periods without defenseman Andrei Markov, who sustained an unspecified lower body injury while being upended by Penguins forward Matt Cooke.

Markov’s injury inadvertently set up the Penguins’ go-ahead goal. As Markov was being attended to by trainers, two Canadiens players drew roughing penalties — only one Penguins player did — and Staal scored near the end of that power play.

Mike Cammalleri scored his sixth for Montreal, briefly cutting it to 3-2 in the second period, but Craig Adams answered late in the period to restore Pittsburgh’s twogoal advantage. Adams has two goals in seven playoff games after going without a goal all season. —AP

KSSC announces sports activities KUWAIT: The sailing, rowing and kayak committee of the Kuwait Sea Sports Club (KSSC) announced the start of team registration for the three sports.

Applicants, should be Kuwaiti citizens, at least 16 years of age and be able to swim, can submit their forms to the committee’s headquarters in Maseelah.

The registration process will take place on two occasions, said the committee’s general secretariat Khalid Al-Fodary.

The first started yesterday and will last until Thursday and the second will occur between June 27 and July 1, he added.

Furthermore, Al-Fodary indicated that the committee will host several activities, including the ‘Family Kayak Festival.’ This event will feature relay races for all members of the family and members for the club’s kayak team will be selected from the family competitions.

Additionally, the rowing activities will include a tournament to be held on Aug 8, followed by a second tournament to be on Sept 18. Sailing activities, which will include a tournament, will be held on Sept 18.

RICHMOND: Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 NOS Energy Toyota, races against Reed Sorenson, driver of the No. 32 Dollar General Toyota, during the NASCAR Nationwide Series BUBBA burger 250. —AFP

Busch grabs sixth career pole RICHMOND: Kyle Busch was to start from pole position for yesturday’s NASCAR race at Richmond International Raceway, taking just the sixth pole of his career in the sport’s premier series. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver turned the lap as the 19th of 47 cars attempting to qualify Friday, easily beating David Reutimann for the top spot.

The pole, in Busch’s 196th Sprint Cup event, gave him his choice of pit stalls as he defends his victory in this race a year ago.

“It’s nice to sit on the pole every once in a while,” Busch said of his first pole position since March 2009 in Las Vegas. “I only get the opportunity maybe once a year.” Busch, who swept both races here a year ago, also won the pole for Friday’s Nationwide

Series race on the 0.75-mile oval, giving him a good start to the weekend.

Seeking his first Sprint Cup Series victory since last August at Bristol, he said he feels as if he’s getting closer to ending a 21-race winless streak. “We’ve had some opportunities where we should have won races,” he said.

“We’ve also had opportunities where we should have run 15th or 18th and we finished top 10.”

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who said the air has been cleared in their well-publicized feud of the past two weeks, will start in the second row, followed by Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray.

Reutimann’s solid run came

after a shaky start to the day. “We weren’t very good at the beginning of the practice,” Reutimann said.

“We were way off, to be honest with you. ... We made some big adjustments that got us a lot better.” Johnson, who took the blame for making a mistake that caused Gordon to crash and caused the war of words at the end of last weekend’s race at Talladega, said his team struggled, too.

“Really, really pleased,” he said. “It seems like a lot of guys are really struggling to get grip, but we couldn’t produce a lap time as fast as some of our teammates were. ... At the end of practice, we found a few things that gave us a little bit of hope.” Local favorite Denny Hamlin struggled on his run and will start 30th. —AP

ROME: David Ferrer beat a sluggish Fernando Verdasco 75, 6-3 to advance to the first Masters Series final of his career yesterday.

Verdasco jumped out to a 51 lead over his fellow Spaniard at the Rome Masters, but then lost six straight games to give Ferrer the set and control of the match.

Verdasco appeared worn out from his marathon-like quarterfinal victory over Novak Djokovic a day earlier — a match that lasted 3 hours, 18 minutes. “It was a very physical match against Novak yesterday. I was feeling good mentally, but my body was not feeling good,” Verdasco said.

“I wasn’t just tired after 51. I was tired ever since I woke up this morning. He was making unforced errors (at the start). I wasn’t playing unbelievable.” In today’s final, the 13th-seeded Ferrer will face either four-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal or 40thranked Ernests Gulbis, who were up next inside the new 10,500-seat stadium at the Foro Italico.

The sixth-seeded Verdasco had reached the final of his last two tournaments - losing to Nadal in Monte Carlo two weeks ago and beating Robin Soderling to win the Barcelona Open last weekend. He showed little of the blistering groundstrokes of his recent matches, however, and had trouble running down Ferrer’s frequent drop shots. Verdasco also had three costly double faults at the end of the first set, including one to let Ferrer draw level at 5-5.

Verdasco managed to win a 29-point rally in the final game, but then had to lean on his racket to gather his breath.

On the next point, he hit a forehand wide of the doubles alley, and Ferrer then converted his first match point with a routine put-away volley.

Verdasco had won his previous three meetings with Ferrer, winning 6-1 in the third set in the Barcelona semifinals.

Ferrer has not dropped a set this week and leads the tour with 23 wins on clay this season.

Despite the loss, Verdasco will be one of the favorites for the upcoming Madrid Masters and the French Open, which begins on May 23.

“These were the best three weeks of my life and my career,” Verdasco said. “I need to stay positive, recover for a few days and practice hard to be perfect for Madrid and Roland Garros.” —AP

ROME: Spain’s David Ferrer celebrates after defeating compatriot Fernando Verdasco in their semi-final match at the Rome Masters tennis tournament. —AP

Henin sends Jankovic packing STUTTGART: Justine Henin continued her impressive return to tennis when she fought back to beat former world number one Jelena Jankovic 3-6 7-6 6-3 in Stuttgart on Friday, leaving her opponent exasperated.

Jankovic was kicking herself when, having won the first set, she failed to take a break point which would have put her 6-5 ahead in the second.

Instead, seven-times grand slam winner Henin, who returned this year from a 19month break, won the set in a tiebreak before wrapping up the win. “As soon as you lose your ground or drop you level, she is right there, she comes right at you, she takes advantage, she has all the experi-

ence,” said Jankovic.

“I felt I was really going to win and I had everything under control, it was just a few points here and there that didn’t go my way.

“I had everything under control, I was more aggressive than her-it was frustrating. As soon as you drop your guard, she takes her opportunities.”

Henin won all four of her break points in the match while Jankovic converted only three out of nine. The Belgian, whose grand-slam haul includes four wins at Roland Garros, will face unseeded Israeli Shahar Peer in yesterday’s semi-final at the indoor clay tournament. Peer upset second-seed and another former number one Dinara Safina

6-3 6-2.

“I still need time to get used to clay,” Henin told reporters. “I haven’t played on this surface for two years. I grew up on this surface and my best results are on this surface but I try to be a complete player.” Wildcard Henin, runner up at the Australian Open in January, added: “It’s only my fifth tournament back, it’s normal to have ups and downs.

“I feel fresher than two years ago, I really needed the time off. Just to have the experience which I didn’t have before as a person gives me a lot.” Australia’s Samantha Stosur also went through to the semi-finals with a 6-3 6-3 win over China’s Li Na. —Reuters

Montiel wants big names after claiming WBC belt TOKYO: Mexico’s Fernando Montiel is eyeing off a bout against the likes of Nonito Donaire or Vic Darchinyan after claiming the WBC bantamweight title. Montiel claimed the belt with a surprise fourth-round TKO defeat of Hozumi Hasegawa in front of the Japanese fighter’s home fans on Friday.

“There are a lot of options for potential opponents,” Montiel told BoxingScene.com. A bout with either Filipino Donaire or Australia-based Armenian Darchinyan would require either them moving up from super flyweight or Montiel going back down to that level where he formerly held the WBO title.

The Mexican staggered Hasegawa with a series of punches at Nippon Budokan and the referee stopped the bout at 2 minutes, 59 seconds in the fourth round. “I didn’t think I would be able to knock out Hasegawa so quickly,” said Montiel.

“Hasegawa is a powerful boxer.” The 31-year-old Montiel improved to 41-2-2 with 31 knockouts while Hasegawa, who had held the WBC crown since April 2005, dropped to 28-3 with 12 KOs. Hasegawa was bidding for a Japan record of six straight KOs in a world title bout.

“I got caught off guard when I lost focus for a split second,” said Hasegawa. “I was in top form and put in all the training necessary so I can’t argue about who was the better fighter if I lose.”—AP

LAS VEGAS: Floyd Mayweather (left) and Shane Mosley pose during the official weigh-in for their fight at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino. —AFP

Mayweather faces Mosley test NEW YORK: The last time Floyd Mayweather Jr. lost, it took a Bulgarian conspiracy to do him in. That was before a character named Money even existed, before Mayweather had earned his first dollar in the ring.

He was 19 and cocky, fighting for his country, with the man who taught him everything he knew about boxing giving advice by phone from a Michigan prison. He boldly declared that he’d win if the gold wasn’t stolen from him. Unfortunately for Mayweather, his reading of Olympic history was correct.

He lost a decision to a countryman of the Bulgarian in charge of Olympic boxing in the semifinals at 125 pounds that was such a robbery even the referee raised his hand in triumph, sure that Mayweather had won.

“Politics, basically,” Mayweather said. “But in a way I’m glad I got the bronze medal.

It just made me work harder, made me want to become even more successful.”

Fourteen years later, there’s no more successful fighter around. Mayweather is not only a pay-per-view superstar who has made more millions than he can count, but — in his eyes, at least — one of the greatest fighters ever.

He returned to the ring late yesterday ready to earn many

millions more in a 147-pound showdown, but this time there’s a catch. In the other corner will be a fighter who some think has the best chance to beat Mayweather since the days he was fighting for medals, not money. No, it’s not Manny Pacquiao, much to the disappointment of many fight fans.

But Shane Mosley may be the second-best thing.

“He couldn’t just fight Joe Blow,” Mosley said. “He had to fight somebody good if he wants to be considered the best.” That somebody is a fighter who has been in and won big fights himself, a fighter who brings both quickness and power to the ring.

Mosley (46-5, 39 knockouts) may be aging chronologically, but he showed by stopping Antonio Margarito his last time out that he still has the speed and reflexes he used to beat Oscar De La Hoya not once, but twice.

The Margarito fight, though, was 15 months ago. Even without ring rust, 38-year-old fighters can sometimes look their age at just the wrong time.

But this may be Mosley’s last chance to establish himself as one of the greats of his era. And while he’s always in great physical shape, it may be the mental edge that proves most important as he tries to chase down the

most slippery fighter around.

Judging from the subdued Mayweather and his camp at Wednesday’s final prefight press conference, Mosley believes he has that edge. He will go into the ring trying not to just earn his $7 million guarantee, but the respect of boxing fans everywhere.

“My style can give him problems,” Mosley said. “It’s a different style from a lot of fights he’s been fighting. He’s going to have to adjust in the ring.”

Adjustments have been the talk all week for a fight that promoters believe could end up being one of the top non-heavyweight pay-per-view events ever. The fighter who makes the right ones the soonest should have the upper hand, though the oddsmakers who make Mayweather a 4-1 favorite clearly believe he has the superior defensive skills to prevail.

If Mayweather slips and slides and backpedals his way around the ring it could be a long night for Mosley, which is one reason why his trainer, Naazim Richardson, has tried to goad Mayweather into trading punches. It could also be a long night for anyone who paid $59.95 and up to watch it on TV at home, but that’s the chance taken with any Mayweather fight. —AP

SPORTS

18

Sunday, May 2, 2010

India overpower bold Afghanistan

GROS ISLET: Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir hits a shot during the match India against Afghanistan at the Beausejour Cricket Ground during the first round of the 2010 ICC Twenty20 World Cup.—AFP

SCOREBOARD Scoreboard from the Twenty20 World Cup Group C match between Afghanistan and India in St Lucia yesterday.

India beat Afghanistan by seven wickets Afghanistan Noor Ali c Dhoni b Nehra 50 Karim Sadiq c Dhoni b Nehra 0 Mohammad Shahzad c Dhoni b Nehra 6 Nowroz Mangal c Gambhir b Jadeja 5 Asghar Stanikzai c Khan b Kumar 30 Mohammad Nabi c Dhoni b Kumar 0 Raees Ahmadzai not out 5 Samiullah Shenwari run out 7 Hamid Hassan c Nehra b Khan 6 Shapoor Zadran not out 0 Extras (lb-3, w-3) 6 Total (eight wickets; 20 overs) 115 Fall of wickets: 1-6 2-22 3-29 4-97 5-97 6-97 7-107 8-114 Bowling: Kumar 3-0-14-2, Nehra 4-0-19-3, Zaheer 3-0-

24-1 (1w), Jadeja 4-1-15-1, Yuvraj 1-0-4-0, Harbhajan 40-24-0 (1w), Pathan 1-0-12-0 (1w) India G. Gambhir c Mohammad Nabi b Dawlat Ahmadzai4 M. Vijay c Shapoor Zadran b Hamid Hassan 48 S. Raina lbw b Samiullah Shenwari 18 Yuvraj Singh not out 23 MS Dhoni not out 15 Extras (lb-1, w-3, nb-4) 8 Total (three wickets; 14.5 overs) 116 Fall of wickets: 1-19 2-46 3-101 Bowling: Dawlat Ahmadzai 2-0-21-1 (1nb), Shapoor Zadran 2-0-6-0 (1w), Mohammad Nabi 3-0-33-0 (1nb), Samiullah Shenwari 2-0-11-1 (1w), Karim Sadiq 2-0-220 (2nb, 1w), Hamid Hassan 3-0-8-1, Nowroz Mangal 0.5-0-14-0.

NZ sink Sri Lanka in exciting opener PROVIDENCE: New Zealand pulled off a dramatic two-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the last over of the opening game of the Twenty20 World Cup on Friday.

A large and lively Guyanese crowd witnessed a spectacular finish as Nathan McCullum won the game by hitting paceman Lasith Malinga for six over long off.

McCullum, named man of the match after also picking up one for 17 in his three overs with the ball and taking three catches in the deep, let out a loud yell as he struck the decisive blow.

New Zealand needed 20 off the last two overs, chasing Sri Lanka’s 135 for six on a slow track which included an outstanding innings from opener Mahela Jayawardene.

Jayawardene made 81 from 51 balls, with eight fours and two sixes, and was helped by 20-year-old Dinesh Chandimal (29).

The fun atmosphere at the Providence Stadium was in marked contrast to the flat mood for the World Cup three years ago and was helped by some lively dancing from Caribbean-style cheerleaders.

Jesse Ryder’s punchy 42 off 27 balls got New Zealand off to a decent start but some intelligent bowling and smart fielding from last year’s runnersup Sri Lanka kept things tight until, with three runs needed from the last two balls, McCullum struck.

“I guess 135 was a pretty good total and we knew how difficult Sri Lanka could be with their bowlers,” said New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori.

“We put ourselves under pressure with the way we batted in the middle but Jacob Oram (with a quick 15) and McCullum rescued us in the end. It was easier for Nathan to hit at the end and his six was pretty amazing.”

The defeat leaves Sri Lanka needing victory in their second group game against Zimbabwe and skipper Kumar Sangakkara said it was important his batsmen improved. “We fell about 10-12 runs short, Mahela batted well with Chandimal but we need to convert good starts into good totals and improve our fielding,” he said.—Reuters

SCOREBOARD PROVIDENCE, Guyana: Scoreboard from the Twenty20 World Cup Group B match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand on Friday.

Sri Lanka M.Jayawardene c N.McCullum b Southee 81 T.Dilshan b Oram 3 K.Sangakkara b Styris 4 D.Chandimal c Taylor b N.McCullum 29 C.Kapugedera c N.McCullum b Bond 11 A.Mathews c N.McCullum b Bond 3 S.Jayasuriya not out 0 Extras (lb-3, w-1) 4 Total (6 wickets, 20 overs) 135 Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-44, 3-103, 4-124, 5-135, 6-135 Bowling: N.McCullum 3-0-17-1 (w-1), Bond 4-0-35-2, Southee 4-0-21-1, Oram 3-0-23-1, Vettori 4-0-23-0, Styris 2-0-13-1 New Zealand B.McCullum c Malinga b Mathews 0 J.Ryder b Muralitharan 42 M.Guptill b Jayasuriya 19 R.Taylor c Matthews b Muralitharan 9 S.Styris b Mendis 17 D.Vettori run out 17 J.Oram b Welegedara 15 G.Hopkins run out 1 N.McCullum not out 16 T.Southee not out 0 Extras (b-2, w-1) 3 Total (8 wickets, 19.5 overs) 139 Bowling: Mathews 2-2-7-1, Welegedara 2-0-21-1 (w1), Mendis 4-0-34-1, Malinga 3.5-0-33-0, Muralitharan 4-0-25-2, Jayasuriya 4-0-17-1

GROS ISLET: India beat Afghanistan by seven wickets in the teams’ World Twenty20 opener here yesterday but the outsiders were far from disgraced on their tournament debut.

Set 116 for victory, India finished on 116 for three with more than five overs to spare - a welcome respite ahead of their return to the Beausejour Stadium to play South Africa here today.

Earlier, Afghanistan’s 115 for eight after they lost the toss featured an impressive fifty from opener Noor Ali, well supported in a fourth-wicket stand of 68 by the hard-hitting Ashgar Stanikzai, whose 30 included three sixes.

Ashish Nehra led the Indian attack with three wickets for 19 runs, his pace and bounce proving too much for several batsmen.

Murali Vijay, making his Twenty20 debut in place of injured India opening batsman Virender Sehwag, then made 48 before getting out when his team were in sight of victory. But there was no masking Afghanistan’s pride.

“Yesterday we were here practising, we heard our national anthem, it was a huge honor for us,” Afghanistan captain Nowroz Mangal told reporters.

“Of course India is one of the best teams in the world, early in the morning the wicket was difficult for us,” he added.

Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan said his side were unused to facing bowlers of Nehra’s quality.

“So far they haven’t played fast bowlers of that pace. They coped okay but I hope after the World Cup we play against good sides so they get used to it. They need to play against all these top bowlers on a regular basis.”

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was impressed by Afghanistan. “It’s good to see the way they played and I hope they will get better.

“I felt they were quite passionate about being here and representing their country. They wanted to be aggressive and lost two or three early wickets. In the end it was a very good effort to get 120-odd.”

Former champions India did not have long to wait for wickets, Karim Sadiq caught down the legside by wicketkeeper Dhoni off left-arm quick Nehra for a four ball nought as he tried to pull a short ball.

But Ali gave Afghan fans something to cheer by leg-glancing the first four of the innings, off Praveen Kumar in the third over and he stylishly square drove the same bowler for another boundary.

However, Mohammad Shahzad fell in similar fashion to Sadiq and Afghanistan captain Nowroz Mangal fell cheaply to Ravindra Jadeja.

Stanikzai though gave Ali good support and smote some impressive boundaries, including a six over midwicket off Harbhajan Singh.

The duo’s stand was ended when Ali, whose fifty came off 47 balls with four fours, gave the returning Nehra a third wicket when he too failed with a pull, Dhoni once more taking the catch.

Then 97 for four became 97 for five when Stanikzai, whose runs came from just 33 balls, holed out to midwicket off Kumar. Next ball Mohammad Nabi skied Kumar to Dhoni.

But Afghanistan got past the hundred mark - a fair achievement in itself and all the more impressive given that less than two years ago they were playing alongside Germany and Vanuatu in Division Five of the World Cricket League.

However, their score was put in perspective when Dawlat Ahmadzai’s no-ball first delivery of the Indian innings was a no-ball that led to a free hit which Vijay struck for four.

However, Ahmadzai did have Gautam Gambhir caught at point for four and Samiullah Shenwari had Suresh Raina lbw for 18.—AFP

ST LUCIA: Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal (left) runs to make it to the crease as Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim waits for the ball at a Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match.—AP

Pakistan off to sound start GROS ISLET: Pakistan got the defence of their World Twenty20 title off to a sound start with a 21-run win over Bangladesh at the Beausejour Stadium here yesterday.

Victory was built around a huge opening stand of 142 between Kamran Akmal and man-of-the-match Salman Butt, who both made 73.

It was the third highest opening stand in all Twenty20 internationals and just shy of the tournament record posted by the West Indies duo of Chris Gayle and Devon Smith against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2007.

The win more than atoned for Pakistan’s warm-up loss to Zimbabwe and set them up nicely for their Group A match today against Australia, who also lost to the Africans in the preliminaries.

This match looked all over when Bangladesh were 31 for two in the sixth over of their reply. But Mohammad Ashraful (65) and captain Shakib Al Hasan (47) kept Bangladesh in the game with a third-wicket stand of 91 in 10 overs.

Ashraful, whose fifty came off 38 balls, struck Pakistan captain and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi for six high over long-off and Shakib struck Hafeez for two big sixes over long-on.

With five overs left,

SCOREBOARD GROS ISLET: Final scoreboard in the Group A World Twenty20 match between Bangladesh and Pakistan at the Beausejour Stadium here yesterday: Pakistan Akmal c Raazaq b Shakib 73 Butt b Shafiul Islam 73 Afridi c Mahmudullah b Shakib 9 Razzaq not out 6 Misbah-ul-Haq not out 8 Extras (lb2, w1) 3 Total (3 wkts, 20 overs) 172 Did not bat: Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Sami, Saeed Ajmal Fall of wickets: 1-142 (K Akmal), 2-156 (Afridi), 3-158 (Butt) Bowling: Mortaza 4-0-39-0 (1w); Razzak 4-0-41-0; Shafiul Islam 4-0-25-1; Naeem Islam 2-0-18-0; Shakib 4-0-27-2; Shuvo 1-0-12-0; Ashraful 1-0-8-0 Bangladesh Tamim c and b Hafeez 19 Imrul c Misbah b Aamer 0

Bangladesh needed 53 runs for an improbable win. But, two balls later, Shakib holed out off Mohammad Sami to long-off. Sami then turned 122 for three into 123 for four when he had Mahmudullah caught at point.

Ashraful though was undaunted driving Afridi for six and Bangladesh’s target was down to 38 off 18 balls. However, his innings ended when he was caught behind by diving wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal off left-arm quick Mohammad Aamer, having faced 49 balls with three sixes and six

Ashraful c K Akmal b Aamer 65 Shahkib c U Akmal b Sami 47 Mídullah c Aamer b Sami 0 Naeem Islam not out 10 Mushfiqur c Ajmal b Sami 4 Mortaza st Akmal b Ajmal 1 Suhrawadi not out 1 Extras (w3, nb1) 4 Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 151 Did not bat: Shafiul Islam, Abdur Razzak Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Kayes), 2-31 (Iqbal), 3-122 (Shakib), 4-123 (Mahmudullah), 5-140 (Ashraful), 6145 (Rahim), 7-150 (Mortaza) Bowling: Aamer 4-0-16-2; Sami 4-0-29-3 (1w); Hafeez 3-0-28-1 (1w); Razzaq 2-0-23-0 (1nb); Ajmal 3-0-18-1 (1w); Afridi 4-0-37-0 Result: Pakistan won by 21 runs Man-of-the-match: Salman Butt (PAK)

fours. But a target of 32 off 12 balls proved just beyond Bangladesh, who finished on 151 for seven.

Sami took three wickets for 29 runs and Aamer two for 16.

Earlier Kamran Akmal was dropped on 13 by Ashraful, running back at mid-on, off Mashrafe Mortaza, whose four overs cost 39 runs. Fellow paceman Abdur Razzak’s four overs were even more expensive, going for 41 runs and Bangladesh’s spinners were unable to repair the early damage.

Butt’s stylish fifty took just 29 balls, with two sixes and six fours,

while Akmal, who looked to be scoring the quicker of the pair, reached the landmark in 43 balls, with six boundaries.

Bangladesh opener Imrul Kayes’s exited for nought in the first over as an attempted drive off the lively Aaamer saw him sky to Misbah-ul-Haq at short third man. And spinner Mohammad Hafeez then struck third ball to have Tamim Iaqbal caught and bowled off a soft return catch.

Bangladesh finish the group phase against Australia in Barbados on May 5.—AFP

Ireland crumble against Windies pace PROVIDENCE: Ireland crumbled to 68 all out, falling to a 70-run defeat to West Indies on the opening day of the Twenty 20 World Cup on Friday.

Darren Sammy was the match-winning all-rounder for the hosts, making a top score of 30 with the bat, taking three wickets and four catches to delight a packed home crowd.

As organisers had promised, relatively cheap ticket prices and less stringent regulations resulted in a large and enthusiastic crowd but for a period it looked like they might merely witness another sorry episode in the decline of Caribbean cricket.

West Indies were without skipper Chris

Gayle who pulled out with a neck injury and after none of their top order batsmen managed to get into their swing they were struggling at 93 for six. The damage had been done mainly by 17-year-old slow leftarmer George Dockrell, who bowled beautifully for his 3-16 from four overs, which included the wicket of Ramnaresh Sarwan (24) just as the Guyanese batsman had looked ready to step up the pace. The crowd were given something to cheer about though

by Sammy, surely one of the most underrated all-rounders, who came in to make 30 from 17 balls helping the team, led by standin skipper Dwayne Bravo, to a reasonable total of 138 on a slow track.—Reuters

GEORGETOWN: Ireland’s batsman Gary Wilson loses his balance after playing a shot off West Indies’ Darren Sammy (rear) during their Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match. —AP

SCOREBOARD PROVIDENCE, Guyana: Scoreboard from the Twenty 20 World Cup match between West Indies and Ireland played on Friday.

West Indies A.Fletcher c K.O’Brien b Dockrell 19 S.Chanderpaul c Wilson b Rankin 14 DJ.Bravo c & b Cusack 18 R.Sarwan c Wilson b Dockrell 24 N.Deonarine c N.O’Brien b Dockrell 10 D.Ramdin c N.O’Brien b Rankin 1 D.Sammy c Porterfield b Botha 30 K.Pollard c & b Botha 8 N.Miller not out 2 R.Rampaul c Botha b Cusack 8 Extras lb-2, w-1, nb-14 Total (9 wickets, 20 overs) 138 Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-43, 3-77, 4-77, 5-83, 6-93, 7125, 8-127, 9-138 Bowling: Rankin 4-0-35-2, Johnston 4-0-36-0, K.O’Brien 1-0-8-0, Cusack 3-0-19-2 (nb-1), Stirling 20-15-0 (w-1), Dockrell 4-0-16-3, Botha 2-0-7-2.

Ireland W.Porterfield c Sammy b Roach 4 P.Stirling c Sammy b Rampaul 0 N.O’Brien c Ramdin b Rampaul 6 A.Cusack c Sammy b Rampaul 2 G.Wilson c Sammy b Bravo 17 K.O’Brien c Fletcher b Sammy 9 T.Johnson b Bravo 5 J.Mooney lbw Miller 1 A.Botha not out 4 B.Rankin c Ramdin b Sammy 1 G.Dockrell c Ramdin b Sammy 0 Extras: lb-8, w-11 19 Total (all out 16.4 overs) 68 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-7, 3-11, 4-16, 5-39, 6-55, 7-56, 8-61, 9-64, 10-68 Bowling: Roach 4-0-12-1 (w-5), Rampaul 3-0-17-3 (w3), DJ Bravo 2-0-5-2 (w-1), Miller 4-0-18-1 (w-1), Sammy 3.4-0-8-3.

SPORTS

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Mueller kicks off Bayern title party

Soccer results/standings Birmingham 2 (Jensen 29-og, Benitez 41) Burnley 1 (Thompson 87); Man City 3 (Tevez 41-pen, Adebayor 43, Bellamy 89) Aston Villa 1 (Carew 16); Portsmouth 3 (Dindane 20, Utaka 39, Brown 67) Wolves 1 (Doyle 35); Stoke 0 Everton 0 Tottenham 1 (Huddlestone 38) Bolton 0 Playng today Fulham v West Ham, Liverpool v Chelsea, Sunderland v Man Utd. Playing tomorrow Blackburn v Arsenal, Wigan v Hull

Scottish Football League results First Division Airdrie 0 Dunfermline 1; Inverness CT 1 Dundee 0; Morton 2 Ayr 1; Partick 1 Queen of the South 0; Raith 4 Ross County 1.

Second Division Alloa 3 Cowdenbeath 1; Arbroath 2 East Fife 2; Brechin 1 Stirling 1; Clyde 4 Dumbarton 2; Stenhousemuir 1 Peterhead 1.

Third Division Albion 0 Stranraer 0; Annan Athletic 0 Berwick 1; Elgin City 5 Montrose 2; Forfar 1 Queen’s Park 1; Livingston 1 East Stirling 0.

English Football League results Division One Bristol Rovers 0 Norwich 3; Carlisle 1 Walsall 1; Charlton 1 Leeds 0; Gillingham 2 Southampton 1; Hartlepool 1 Exeter 1; Huddersfield 2 Colchester 1; Leyton Orient 2 Wycombe 0; Milton Keynes Dons 0 Brighton 0; Southend 2 Stockport 1; Swindon 3 Brentford 2; Tranmere 2 Millwall 0; Yeovil 3 Oldham 0.

Division Two Accrington 2 Chesterfield 0; Aldershot 3 Lincoln 1; Bournemouth 4 Port Vale 0; Bradford 2 Northampton 0; Bury 0 Torquay 3; Dagenham and Redbridge 2 Hereford 1; Grimsby 2 Barnet 0; Macclesfield 0 Darlington 2; Notts County 5 Cheltenham 0; Rochdale 1 Burton 2; Rotherham 0 Crewe 0; Shrewsbury 2 Morecambe 3.

Spanish League results Tenerife 2 (Mart?nez 45+1, Garc?a PÈrez 56-pen) Racing Santander 1 (Xisco J. 71) Deportivo La Coruna 0 Real Zaragoza 1 (Colunga 50) Malaga 1 (Caicedo 79) Sporting Gijon 1 (Apo?o 43-og) Valladolid 0 Getafe 0 Xerez 2 (Armenteros 27, Bermejo 90+3) Almeria 1 (Soriano 33) Playing later Espanyol v Valencia, Villarreal v Barcelona Playing today Sevilla v Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid v Osasuna, Athletic Bilbao v Real Mallorca Italian League results

Scottish Premier League results Aberdeen 1 (Young 85) Hamilton 3 (F.Paixao 1, Wesolowski 49, Mensing 58-pen); Celtic 4 (McGeady 48, O’Dea 78, Forrest 87, Keane 90) Motherwell 0; Dundee Utd 1 (Casalinuovo 80) Rangers 2 (Boyd 2, Novo 41); Falkirk 1 (Arfield 45pen) St Mirren 1 (O’Donnell 86); Hibernian 1 (Stokes 55-pen) Hearts 2 (Santana 72, Obua 89); Kilmarnock 1 (Wright 38) St Johnstone 2 (Deuchar 44, Samuel 75).

Parma 1 (Lanzafame 81) Roma 2 (Totti 5, Taddei 75)

English Premier League table English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Chelsea 36 25 5 6 93 32 80 Man Utd 36 25 4 7 81 28 79 Arsenal 36 22 6 8 78 39 72 Tottenham 36 20 7 9 64 37 67 Man City 36 18 12 6 72 43 66 Aston Villa 37 17 13 7 52 38 64 Liverpool 36 18 8 10 61 33 62 Everton 37 15 13 9 59 49 58 Birmingham 37 13 11 13 37 45 50 Sunderland 36 11 11 14 47 53 44 Stoke 36 10 14 12 33 44 44 Blackburn 36 11 11 14 38 54 44 Fulham 35 11 10 14 36 39 43 Bolton 37 9 9 19 40 66 36 Wolverhampton 37 8 11 18 30 55 35 Wigan 36 9 8 19 35 69 35 West Ham 36 8 10 18 44 62 34 Hull 36 6 10 20 32 73 28 Burnley 37 7 6 24 38 80 2 7 Portsmouth 37 7 7 23 34 65 1 9 Note: Portsmouth deducted 9 points for entering administration

Second Division Stirling Alloa Cowdenbeath Brechin Peterhead Dumbarton East Fife Stenhousemuir Arbroath Clyde

36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36

18 19 16 15 15 14 10 9 10 8

11 8 11 9 6 6 11 13 10 7

7 9 9 12 15 16 15 14 16 21

68 49 60 50 45 49 46 38 41 37

48 35 41 45 49 58 53 42 55 57

65 65 59 54 51 48 41 40 40 31

Third Division Livingston Forfar East Stirling Queens Park Albion Berwick Stranraer Annan Athletic Elgin Montrose

36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36

24 18 19 15 13 14 13 11 9 5

6 9 4 6 11 8 8 10 7 9

6 9 13 15 12 14 15 15 20 22

63 59 50 42 35 46 48 41 46 30

25 44 46 42 35 50 54 42 59 63

78 63 61 51 50 50 47 43 34 24

Spanish League table Barcelona Real Madrid Valencia Real Mallorca Sevilla Villarreal Getafe Athletic Bilbao Deportivo La Coruna Atletico Madrid Espanyol Osasuna Almeria Sporting Gijon Real Zaragoza Racing Santander Malaga Tenerife Valladolid Xerez

34 34 34 34 34 34 35 34 35 34 34 34 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35

27 28 18 16 16 15 15 14 12 12 10 10 9 9 9 8 7 9 6 7

6 2 8 8 6 7 6 8 8 7 11 9 11 11 10 12 14 8 15 9

1 4 8 10 12 12 14 12 15 15 13 15 15 15 16 15 14 18 14 19

83 89 53 53 52 50 52 45 33 52 27 30 35 34 40 38 39 37 34 33

20 30 37 38 42 46 46 44 44 53 40 39 48 47 58 52 44 67 54 60

87 86 62 56 54 52 51 50 44 43 41 39 38 38 37 36 35 35 33 30

Italian League table Roma Inter Milan AC Milan Sampdoria Palermo Juventus Napoli Genoa Parma Fiorentina Chievo Bari Udinese Cagliari Catania Lazio Bologna Atalanta Siena Livorno

36 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 36 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35

22 21 18 17 16 16 13 13 12 13 12 11 11 11 9 9 10 9 7 7

8 10 10 9 10 6 14 9 10 7 8 10 9 9 13 13 9 7 9 8

6 4 7 9 9 13 8 13 14 15 15 14 15 15 13 13 16 19 19 20

64 68 56 45 54 52 46 56 39 47 33 41 48 52 41 34 39 35 38 25

40 31 38 40 44 49 41 57 48 43 34 46 51 53 43 39 52 48 63 53

74 73 64 60 58 54 53 48 46 46 44 43 42 42 40 40 39 34 30 29

English Football League tables League One Norwich 45 29 8 8 Leeds 45 24 11 10 Millwall 45 23 13 9 Swindon 45 22 16 7 Charlton 45 22 15 8 Huddersfield 45 23 11 11 Southampton 45 22 14 9 Colchester 45 19 12 14 Bristol Rovers 45 19 5 21 Brentford 45 14 19 12 Milton Keynes Dons 45 17 9 19 Walsall 45 15 14 16 Brighton 45 14 14 17 Carlisle 45 14 13 18 Yeovil 45 13 14 18 Hartlepool 45 14 10 21 Oldham 45 13 13 19 Leyton Orient 45 13 12 20 Gillingham 45 12 14 19 Exeter 45 10 18 17 Tranmere 45 13 9 23 Southend 45 10 13 22 Wycombe 45 9 15 21 Stockport 45 5 10 30 Note: Southampton deducted 10 points administration League Two Notts County Bournemouth Rochdale Rotherham Aldershot Morecambe Dagenham Bury Port Vale Chesterfield Northampton Shrewsbury Accrington Stanley Burton Albion Bradford Torquay Hereford Crewe Macclesfield Lincoln City Cheltenham Barnet Grimsby Darlington

45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45

89 75 73 71 69 81 82 63 58 55 59 58 55 61 55 59 39 53 48 46 42 50 53 35 for

45 9 5 43 83 42 82 54 82 48 81 54 80 46 70 52 69 68 62 52 61 66 60 62 59 60 56 66 55 58 53 67 52 55 52 62 51 61 50 59 48 72 48 69 4 3 76 4 2 92 2 5 entering

27 25 25 21 20 19 19 19 17 20 18 17 18 16 15 14 16 15 12 13 10 11 9 8

11 8 7 10 12 13 12 11 16 7 12 11 6 11 14 14 8 10 17 10 17 12 17 6

7 12 13 14 13 13 14 15 12 18 15 17 21 18 16 17 21 20 16 22 18 22 19 31

96 60 82 55 69 72 67 53 60 59 61 54 61 68 58 64 51 68 49 42 53 46 45 33

31 42 47 49 55 64 58 58 49 61 52 53 73 71 62 55 65 72 58 65 70 63 68 85

92 83 82 73 72 70 69 68 67 67 66 62 60 59 59 56 56 55 53 49 47 45 44 30

Scottish Premier League table Rangers 36 26 Celtic 36 23 Dundee Utd 36 17 Motherwell 36 13 Hibernian 36 14 Hearts 36 13 St Johnstone 36 12 Hamilton 36 12 Aberdeen 36 9 St Mirren 36 7 Kilmarnock 36 7 Falkirk 36 6

8 6 11 12 8 8 10 9 11 12 8 11

2 7 8 11 14 15 14 15 16 17 21 19

78 71 55 43 50 34 55 36 34 36 27 31

23 37 45 45 49 44 58 44 50 48 50 57

86 75 62 51 50 47 46 45 38 33 29 29

Scottish Football League tables First Division Inverness CT 36 21 Dundee 36 16 Dunfermline 36 17 Queen of the South 36 15 Ross County 36 15 Partick 36 14 Raith 36 11 Morton 36 11 Airdrie Utd 36 8 Ayr 36 7

10 13 7 11 11 6 9 4 9 10

5 7 12 10 10 16 16 21 19 19

72 48 54 53 46 43 36 40 41 29

32 34 44 40 44 40 47 65 56 60

73 61 58 56 56 48 42 37 33 31

19

Playing later AC Milan v Fiorentina Playing today Atalanta v Bologna, Bari v Genoa, Cagliari v Udinese, Catania v Juventus, Chievo v Napoli, Lazio v Inter Milan, Sampdoria v Livorno, Siena v Palermo

Matches on TV (local timings) English Premier League Liverpool v Chelsea FC SowSports 1 ShosSports 2 Fulham FC v West Ham ShowSports 3 Sunderland v Man Unied ShowSports 1 ShowSports 2 Spanish League Sevilla v Atletico Al Jazeera Sport +4 Real Madrid v Osasuna Al Jazeera Sport +3 Bilbao Mallorca Al Jazeera Sport +2 Italian League Sampdoria v Livorno Al Jazeera Sport +7 Siena v Palermo Al Jazeera Sport +2 Cagliari v Udinese Al Jazeera Sport +4 Catania v Juventus Al Jazeera Sport +1 Lazio v Inter Al Jazeera Sport +1

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BERLIN: Germany’s rising star Thomas Mueller scored a hat-trick yesterday as Bayern Munich secured a 3-1 home win over Bochum which, barring a last weekend miracle, guarantees them this season’s Bundesliga title.

With second-placed Schalke 04 losing 2-0 at home to Werder Bremen, the Royal Blues now trail Bayern by three points while Munich have a vastly superior goal difference of plus-17 with just one game left each.

It means Bayern’s Dutch coach Louis van Gaal will win the Bundesliga title in his first season in charge with his side still on course for the treble of German League, German Cup and Champions League crowns.

The Dutchman can also now add the Bundesliga title to the La Liga crown he won with Barcelona in Spain and last season’s Dutch league with AZ Alkmaar.

“The board of directors told me a year ago that this is the most important title to win: now we have achieved it, I am very proud,” said van Gaal.

“This means a lot to me. I don’t think there are many coaches in Europe who have won championship titles in three countries.

“We played the best football I have seen in this arena for 20 to 25 minutes. Then we heard what happened at Schalke.”

Bayern were 2-0 up after just 20 minutes as 20-yearold Mueller did his World Cup chances the power of good with two goals in as many first-half minutes before completing his hattrick on 69 minutes.

After Ivica Olic scored a hat-trick in Bayern’s 3-0 win at Lyon last Tuesday to put them in the Champions League final, Mueller stole the limelight with three goals of his own at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

A Philipp Lahm cross found Mueller unmarked in front of goal and the ball went in off his chest on 18 minutes.

Just two minutes later, Lahm linked up with Franck Ribery and the Frenchman’s volley was headed home by Mueller.

Mueller then grabbed his third when captain Mark van Bommel played him into area and he drilled his shot in the top left-hand corner on 69 minutes, before Bochum pulled back a late consolation goal.

Schalke coach Felix Magath’s dream of winning the German league with three different teams is on ice for another year as the Royal Blues lost at home to Bremen.

Third-placed Bremen took the lead when Germany midfielder Mesut Oezil hit a left-footed shot just after half-time.

The guests then played a big part in deciding the title will go to Munich when striker Hugo Almeida scored on 64 minutes to make it 2-0.

Stuttgart’s chances of a top five finish to claim a European spot for next season suffered a blow when they were held 2-2 at home

by Mainz as Romanian striker Ciprian Marica rescued them with two second-half goals.

Hamburg bounced back from last week’s Europa League exit with a 4-0 win over Nuremberg which leaves their oppoents in the relegation zone.

Hertha’s relegation was confirmed by their 1-1 draw at Leverkusen as the league’s bottom side are four points from safety and face Bayern in the final game of the season next Saturday.

Hanover gave themselves a strong chance of staying in the Bundesliga with an incredible 6-1 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach.

This was only their eighth win of the season, but they led 4-0 at half-time as ‘Gladbach’s defence capitulated.

The win leaves Hanover 15th - just above the relegation zone - and Mirko Slomka’s side must beat Bochum next Saturday on the last day of the season to be sure of survival.—AFP

GERMANY: Bremen’s Hugo Almeida, Schalke’s Lukas Schmitz and Heiko Westermann (from left) challenge for the ball during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match against FC Schalke 04. —AP

Getafe suffer European setback MADRID: Getafe’s European hopes suffered a blow after they were held 0-0 away to relegation-threatened Valladolid.

The home side have discovered a new steel under coach Javier Clemente and stretched their unbeaten run in the league to five games after they more than held their own in a hard-fought clash with few chances.

The best opportunity of the first half fell to Valladolid defender Nivaldo Batista who unmarked headed wide from close range.

There were plenty of fouls and errors, and David Cortes was dismissed shortly before the hour mark for a second yellow card.

Valladolid could have won the match with a powerful strike from Pele which came back off the post. The goalless draw is a result of little use for either side as it leaves Getafe a point off sixth place and Valladolid deep in trouble.

Tenerife beat Racing Santander 2-1 but remain in the bottom three after Malaga drew 1-1 with Sporting Gijon. A fine header from Roman Martinez put Tenerife in front and Ayoze Garcia added to the lead from the penalty spot before Xisco Jimenez

pulled a goal back.

Malaga meanwhile are above the relegation zone on goal difference thanks to a strike from Salvador Caicedo which cancelled out an own goal from Antonio Apono.

A late injury time header from Mario Bermejo saw bottom side Xerez beat Almeria 2-1 but they are still five points from safety. Emiliano Armenteros put Xerez ahead with Fernando Soriano equalising before Bermejo’s late show.

Deportivo La Coruna’s dismal run continued as they were beaten 1-0 at home with Adrian Colunga scoring the only goal of the game.

Later yesterday, Barcelona cannot afford a hangover from their Champions League exit as they face a difficult away trip to Villarreal.

Baraa go into the final four games of the season with a one-point advantage over their bitter rivals Real Madrid, but their morale is at low ebb after the team went out to Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola has tried to take the pressure off his players by saying the match will not decide the title.

“We will find out who wins the league in the penultimate or last match. Villarreal are a good side that always cause us problems and our defeat in Europe has not helped us but I have faith in my players,” he said.

Real coach Manuel Pellegrini agreed that there will be plenty of points still to play for even after this weekend.

“The team which is leading obviously has more chances of winning the league but from now on all the games are going to be difficult as teams are fighting for European places or against relegation,” he said. “The key now is to keep playing at a high level in the games left.”

Third-placed Valencia have a tough away match at Espanyol but the real fight is taking place below them for the final Champions League position.

Inconsistency from both Mallorca and Sevilla means the battle is wide open. Last weekend Mallorca could only draw at home to Malaga while Sevilla crashed away at Getafe.

This weekend Mallorca travel to Athletic Bilbao while Sevilla face Atletico Madrid, and both must now be wary of the threat from Villarreal. —AFP

Celtic rout Motherwell GLASGOW: Celtic made it six league wins in a row as they warmed up for the final Old Firm derby of the season with a 4-0 second-half rout of Motherwell.

With one eye on Tuesday’s match interim manager Neil Lennon rested several top team stars meaning rare starts for Morten Rasmussen and China captain Zheng Zhi. Lennon said he was happy to get the win before the Old Firm clash.

“Their consistency and level of performance over the last two or three games has really gone up a level I’ve felt,” the Celtic coach said.

“In general today it was quite good but it kept breaking down in the final third so we asked them to step it up a little and to be fair they did that second-half.”

Motherwell manager Craig Brown said the score-line was a reflection of Celtic’s dominance.

“In football the better team usually wins and should win and that is what happened today,” Brown said.

After a goalless first-half Aiden McGeady opened the scoring three minutes after the break before Darren O’Dea headed in a second 12 minutes from time.

Substitute James Forrest, making his debut for the Hoops, scored a third late on before fellow sub Robbie Keane added a fourth in injury time.

Rivals Rangers will also head into the Glasgow derby on the back of a win as the champions claimed a 2-1 win over Dundee United. —AFP

ITALY: Parma’s Alessandro Lucarelli (right) vies for the ball with AS Roma’s Francesco Totti during their Italian League soccer match in Parma’s Tardini stadium.—AP

Roma down Parma to go top ROME: AS Roma moved a point clear of Inter Milan at the summit of Serie A after goals from Francesco Totti and Rodrigo Taddei earned a nervous 2-1 win at Parma yesterday.

Ahead of Inter’s away match in Rome against Lazio on Sunday, Totti struck after five minutes and Taddei doubled the lead with a quarter of an hour to go after Parma had bossed the match.

Davide Lanzafame’s 81stminute strike set up a tense finale but the Giallorossi, seeking their first scudetto since 2001, held on and with two matches to play will now be cheering on their city rivals.

Roma were given an early reminder they would get no easy ride against a mid-table Parma side as Valeri Bojinov fired inches wide with four minutes gone. Just a minute later though skipper Totti calmed Giallorossi nerves with a superbly taken goal.

Chesting down a fine through ball from fellow Roman Daniele De Rossi, Totti calmly lobbed a stranded Antonio Mirante for the simplest of strikes.

Sampdoria’s smash-and-grab comeback last weekend still seemed to be on Roma’s minds though and Julio Sergio was forced to save from Jonathan

Biabiany on 18min after Juan’s horribly sliced clearance.

Francesco Valiani was having plenty of the ball down the left and he brought an even better save out of Julio Sergio on 28 minutes. The Brazilian goalkeeper dived full stretch to fingertip the Italian winger’s leftfoot strike around the post.

Dominating possession, Parma continued to create chances.

On 35 minutes, Luca Antonelli nodded Valiani’s centre into the side-netting and, seconds before the break, Biabiany should have done better after climbing highest at a corner but could not keep his header down. —AFP

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City crush Villa in fight for fourth spot Man City 3

Aston Villa 1

LONDON: Portsmouth’s goalkeeper David James (right) punches the ball away from Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Chris Iwelumo during their English Premier League soccer match at Fratton Park. —AP

Portsmouth brush aside Wolves Portsmouth 3

Wolves 1

PORTSMOUTH: Portsmouth gave their fans a winning Premier League send-off at Fratton Park as Avram Grant’s relegated side beat Wolves 3-1 yesterday.

Grant’s team will begin next season in the Championship after a woeful campaign, which saw the club deducted nine points for going into administration, brought relegation from the top-flight.

This was the final time Pompey supporters will see their side playing a Premier League match on home turf for at least a season and goals from Aruna Dindane, John Utaka and Michael Brown gave them a happy finale.

Portsmouth, who finish their league fixtures at Everton next weekend, still have the FA Cup final against Chelsea on May 15 to look forward to and this resounding win showed there is still plenty of spirit at the south-coast club. It was Wolves, already safe from relegation, who looked more dangerous early on and David James had to turn a fine 25-yard strike away from Wolves midfielder David Jones.

Mick McCarthy’s team went close again when, after a fumble by James had given away a corner, Kevin Doyle flicked the ball towards the far post, where Jody Craddock was only inches away from connecting.

But Portsmouth took the lead on 21 minutes as Brown floated over a deep free-kick and Dindane was lef t unmarked to plant a header past Marcus Hahnemann.

Frederic Piquionne was close to making it two as Hahnemann palmed away the striker’s low effort.

James had to be alert to block a snap-shot from Wolves forward Geoffrey Mujangi Bia, making his first start on loan from RSC Charleroi.

And Wolves drew level in the 35th minute. Jones caused problems with a free-kick that Ronald Zubar headed goalwards from point-blank range.

James kept out the header before also denying Doyle’s follow-up. However, with the Pompey defenders slow to

react, Doyle was able to bundle the ball past James for his eighth goal of the season.

Pompey were back in front within five minutes as Nigerian striker Utaka spun in from the right to fire past Hahnemann from 20 yards.

James touched Doyle’s scissor-kick over the bar early in the second half before Wolves substitute Sylvan EbanksBlake somehow rolled the ball

wide from 12 yards af ter Doyle’s shot had come back off the post.

Brown ensured Portsmouth would claim their seventh league win of the season with a fine finish in the 67th minute. Piquionne broke down the right, and his cross was nodded down to Brown by Tommy Smith and the midfielder send a low strike into the far corner. —AFP

LONDON: Birmingham City’s Christian Benitez celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during their English Premier League soccer match against Burnley at St’ Andrews stadium. —AP

Burnley woes continue Birmingham 2

Burnley 1

BIRMINGHAM: Birmingham piled more misery on Burnley with a 2-1 win over the alreadyrelegated team at St Andrew’s yesterday.

Alex McLeish’s side were gifted the lead when Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen pushed Cameron Jerome’s close-range effort into his own net before Ecuador striker Christian Benitez increased Birmingham’s advantage in the final moments of the first half.

Steven Thompson got one back for Burnley late on but the loss compounded their pain after last weekend’s confirmation of relegation just a year after winning promotion via the Championship play-offs.

It is the Clarets’ woeful away form which has been key to their failure and this was their 17th defeat from 19 away league

games. Burnley’s fate had been sealed by defeat against Liverpool and Brian Laws’ side, who welcomed back captain Steven Caldwell for his first start in five months after recovering from a groin injury, inevitably seemed to lack any real motivation.

Birmingham, ninth in the table, were unbeaten at St Andrew’s since September and immediately laid seige to the Burnley goal.

In the first minute, leading scorer Cameron Jerome did well to create space for himself before sending over an inviting cross for Lee Bowyer but, from six yards out, the midfielder headed wide.

Jerome was a constant threat and he headed over at the near post from a James McFadden corner, then forced Jensen to save with a smart snap-shot.

Birmingham’s pressure paid off as they took the lead in the 29th minute. Bowyer glanced a header across goal from Sebastian L arsson’s cross and Jerome poked goalwards before the ball finally crossed the line after a deflection off the hapless Jensen.—AFP

MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s impressive comeback 3-1 win kept alive their top four hopes and killed off Aston Villa’s Champions League prospects at a tension-packed Eastlands yesterday.

In a crucial fixture in the battle to finish fourth in the English Premier League and thus secure the final Champions League spot, Villa stunned the hosts by taking the lead through Norwegian John Carew in the 16th minute.

But City came roaring back with two goals in two minutes at the end of the first half to keep alive their hopes of joining neighbours Manchester United in Europe’s premier club competition.

Carlos Tevez struck a penalty and Emmanuel Adebayor scored the second, before City sealed victory with Wales striker Craig Bellamy’s goal in the final minute.

Winger Adam Johnson, who started the season in the Championship at Middlesbrough but could now end it playing for England at the World Cup, was the inspiration for the turnaround.

After winning the penalty that allowed Argentina forward Tevez to equalise in the 41st minute, Johnson teed up Adebayor to slot in another two minutes later.

Bellamy’s goal made victory certain to set up an intriguing clash with Tottenham at Eastlands on Wednesday. The win left City in fifth place and a point behind Spurs, while Villa are sixth and cannot now get into the Champions League, though they have qualified for the Europa League.

City goalkeeper Shay Given’s dislocated shoulder ensured a first start for emergency loan signing Marton Fulop, drafted in from Sunderland after City failed in an attempt to recall Joe Hart from his loan at Birmingham.

But it was the Hungarian’s opposite number Brad Friedel who was forced into the game’s first serious save after 11 minutes. A clever one-two between Patrick Vieira and Bellamy resulted in the latter whipping in a cross that deflected off a Villa defender towards the net before Friedel got his fingertips in the way. Six minutes later Villa took the lead on their first attack with Stewart Downing slipping the ball through for Carew, who showed great composure to find the net after Kolo Toure failed to get in a challenge.

It was a soft goal to concede yet it could have been much worse, Downing only just failing to find the net with a blistering effort after City’s defenders once again went missing in action.

City’s players began to display signs of frustration. Vincent Kompany was booked for a cynical challenge on Downing while the hosts’ mood was not helped when referee Mark Clattenburg denied City a 29th minute penalty after Tevez’s shot appeared to strike Stephen Warnock on the hand.

City’s penalty came after Warnock’s clumsy challenge on Johnson. Suddenly the showdown was living up to the prematch expectations. Moments after Tevez’s penalty, Carew was denied his second by the woodwork before Adebayor gave the hosts the lead.

The gifted Johnson provided the assist for Adebayor to score from eight yards and send Eastlands into raptures. Villa boss Martin O’Neill looked as shell-shocked as his players, yet the game was far from over.

Although he produced a nervous display, Fulop did well to keep out Ashley Young’s stinging 49th-minute attempt.

However, Villa’s last remaining hopes of finishing fourth vanished with Bellamy’s impressive finish. City’s match against Tottenham will now go a long way towards determining who grabs the final Champions League spot. —AFP

LONDON: Manchester City’s Emmanuel Adebayor (centre) has a shot on goal during the English Premier League soccer match against Aston Villa. —AP

Stoke end Everton’s Euro bid Stoke 0

Everton 0

STOKE: Everton’s bid to secure a place in the Europa League was brought to a controversial end in yesterday’s 0-0 draw at Stoke.

David Moyes’ side had to win to have any hope of catching seventh placed Liverpool, but they are now four points behind their Merseyside rivals with only one game to play.

The Toffees thought they had snatched a win from the

Britannia Stadium when Phil Jagielka headed home in the second half but the defender’s effort was harshly ruled out for a foul. With Denmark goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen sidelined by the dislocated elbow he suffered at Chelsea last weekend, Asmir Begovic was handed his full debut for the hosts. Begovic was one of four changes to the Stoke side hammered 7-0 by Chelsea, while Everton, unbeaten in their last nine league games, were without South African midfielder Steven Pienaar.

Everton made a confident start as Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta dictated the tempo in his usual stylish manner.

But it was Stoke who near-

ly took the lead when Ryan Shawcross escaped his marker at a long throw from Rory Delap and headed wide.

The Toffees responded and Victor Anichebe tested Begovic with a shot from distance before Ricardo Fuller failed to get enough power to beat Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Tony Pulis’s team appealed for a penalty when Glenn Whelan went to ground following an aerial collision with Arteta, but referee Howard Webb waved play on.

Everton midfielder Phil Neville released Anichebe with a fine pass, only for the striker to drag his effort wide of the post, then Leighton

Baines saw his powerful shot beaten away by Begovic.

Delap should have given Stoke the lead early in the second half when he ran onto Matthew Etherington’s cross but the midfielder shot wide with only Howard to beat.

Fuller was next to threaten as he dragged a shot wide after being set up by Mamady Sidibe. Everton found the net in the 72nd minute thanks to Jagielka’s downward header from a corner by Arteta but their celebrations were soon cut short.

Webb ruled out his effort for an infringement leaving Moyes protesting to the fourth official as Everton’s European hopes were ended. —AFP

Spurs on course for Champions League Tottenham 1

Bolton 0

LONDON: Tottenham maintained their challenge for a Champions League place after Tom Huddlestone’s spectacular strike clinched a 1-0 win against Bolton at White Hart Lane yesterday.

Harry Redknapp’s team stay one point ahead of Manchester City in the Premier League table before Wednesday’s crucial trip to Eastlands, where victory will guarantee Spurs a place in Europe’s elite club competition.

Despite defeating Arsenal and Chelsea in their previous home games, Redknapp resisted the temptation to rest players ahead of the trip to City. Skipper Ledley King was included even though it meant his is knee may not be ready for the midweek clash. King was needed in the early stages to cut out Ivan Klasnic’s low cross, although the striker’s effort was not pleasing his manager.

Bolton boss Owen Coyle was up on his feet swearing at his player and calling him “lazy” when he did not track back as Spurs played the ball in defence.

The Scot did not celebrate when Bolton secured safety and his reaction highlighted the high standards he demands from his players.

Coyle’s men needed every-

one pulling together as Spurs pressed forward, looking for the win that would cement fourth place.

Roman Pavlyuchenko had the first glimpse of goal for Redknapp’s side, but the Russian failed to connect after Younes Kaboul got past Matt Taylor on the right flank.

Then Gareth Bale had a couple of efforts from long range. The Premier League’s player of the month for April could not get enough power on his first shot but his second had Jussi Jaaskelainen down sharply to block.

It needed something to special to brighten up the match and Huddlestone provided it seven minutes before the break with his spectacular opener.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto laid the ball across for the midfielder and his shot from 25 yards crashed into the top corner at the near post.

Huddlestone has a reputation for stunning goals but he would not have struck many better than this one, his fourth of the season.

It sent the Spurs fans wild in celebration as thoughts turned to Champions League qualification, although they also had to be wary of Bolton striking on the counter-attack.

Gretar Steinsson had an earlier effort deflected into the side-netting to give Spurs a warning.

Then, just before the break, Taylor had a decent chance but his shot flew over after Klasnic nodded down for him. It seemed only Huddlestone had his shooting radar switched on, as

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s David Bentley (left) slips past Bolton Wanderers’ Jack Wilshere during their English Premier League soccer match. —AP Pavlyuchenko blazed over after the interval.

Then Jermain Defoe had an effort blocked by Gary Cahill but the England striker had strayed offside, while David Bentley also dragged a shot wide.

At the other end, Bolton’s threat came through setpieces. Taylor had one freekick deflected over by Huddlestone, then the corner was stabbed horribly wide by

Zat Knight.

Coyle made his move on the hour mark, bringing on South Korea’s Lee ChungYong and Johan Elmander for Vladimir Weiss and Klasnic in a bid to freshen up his attack.

It nearly worked as Taylor unleashed a shot that needed Heurelho Gomes down sharply to make a one-handed save. The Brazilian also made a fine save in the dying stages, again from Taylor. —AFP

KAMCO Energy Services Fund returns +43.1%

New Panasonic cameras, camcorders launched in Kuwait

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Fraud charges, Greece crisis batter Wall St

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

www.kuwaittimes.net

Greek unions protest austerity measures ATHENS: Hundreds of youths rioted in Athens yesterday, throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at police who responded with tear gas at a large May Day rally against austerity measures needed to secure loans for nearbankrupt Greece.

Responding to calls from the country’s two main labor unions, several thousand people marched in major cities yesterday against further anticipated spending cuts and consumer tax hikes. In Athens, groups of blackclad anarchists in hoods and motorcycle helmets left the main demonstration and burnt a TV van, smashed shop windows and set up barricades of burning trash bins.

Some 17,000 people took part in the march, according to police estimates. Police said 10 suspected rioters were arrested, while no severe injuries were reported.

The government is set to announce more sweeping spending cuts through 2012 to win support for an international loan package worth 45 billion euros ($60 billion) this year alone. The cabinet was to meet today morning to finalize the measures, with Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou expected to announce them at noon and then immediately fly to Brussels for an emergency meeting of euro-zone finance ministers.

The International Monetary Fund has said it will provide the money over three years, along with Greece’s partners in the euro-zone. IMF and EU negotiators began talks in Athens on April 21 and continued through Friday. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said yesterday after a meeting of French government officials that she was confident euro-zone finance ministers would approve the package by the end of the weekend.

Governments are discussing a package of up to 120 billion euros ($159 billion) over three years, she said.

Greece’s additional austerity measures are likely to include raising consumer taxes, while docking pensions and public service pay. Unions are furious. “These measures are death. How people are going to live tomorrow, how they’re going to survive, I do not understand,” said Nikos Diamantopoulos, who was participating in a rally organized by pro-Communist unions. Union members held a peaceful march to the Athens offices of the European Union and continuing to the US Embassy. In the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, where more than 5,000 people demonstrated, anarchists briefly clashed with police and smashed a few storefronts and ATMs. Conservative opposition party New Democracy and the right-wing populist LAOS have been critical of the government but are seen as likely to support the package of measures. Left-wing parties have vowed to escalate protests.

“The Greek people do not owe anything to anybody.

Spending cuts tied to $60bn international loan

ATHENS: Supporters of the Greek Communist party attend a May Day protest in front of Greek parliament building in Athens yesterday. Greek police fired tear gas on youths as marchers swarmed through central Athens to protest unprecedented austerity cuts needed for an EU and IMF loans worth as much as 120 billion euros.—AFP

Merkel to back voluntary bank support for Greece BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would welcome a contribution from Germany’s private sector to support a Greek rescue package and acknowledged the public outrage over the damage caused by market speculation.

In an interview to appear in Bild am Sonntag newspaper today, Merkel also said in future countries should face sanctions and even be stripped of EU voting rights if they fail to adhere to euro Stability Pact rules on debt and deficits.

“I would very much welcome the voluntary participation from banks,” Merkel said, according to an advance interview excerpt. Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann is helping coordinate German private sector efforts to support the rescue, a senior banking source told Reuters on Friday.

The move would make it easier for political leaders to sell a bailout to the German public ahead of a key state election. A consortium has already pledged to contribute 1-2 billion euros ($1.3-2.6 billion) toward the effort, although no formal agreement has been struck, the source said, declining to give details on how the plan would work.

Ackermann, one of Germany’s top executives and chairman of the Institute of International Finance bank lobby, got involved in helping to assemble the consortium after a conversation with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, the person said.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the plan, which would be the first sign of private-sector involvement in the rescue. But Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the main opposition Social Democrats (SPD), ridiculed Merkel’s efforts to haul the private sector into the Greek rescue with “one-off” donations.

“It’s nothing more than a placebo,” Gabriel told

the Neue Westfaelische newspaper yesterday. “We need more than a one-off donation of a couple billion euros. We need a lasting involvement from the financial markets. These banks and speculators caused these disastrously high debts.”

Germany is preparing to agree to contribute to a euro zone/International Monetary Fund aid package for debt-stricken Greece once IMF and European officials have agreed an austerity package for Athens.

Berlin expects that to happen this weekend.

Aware that the German public remains wary of helping Greece, Merkel also told Bild am Sonntag it was essential that the stability criteria be tightened in the future.

“It must be possible in the future that a country that fails to live up to its obligations should be, at least temporarily, stripped of its voting rights,” Merkel told the best-selling tabloid. “For Germany that will be essential.”

Merkel said the Stability Pact will be strengthened. “And that will include changes with the sanctions involved when the euro stability rules are violated,” she said. “To ensure that the euro remains a strong and stable currency in the future, we need to learn our lessons from this crisis.” Ackermann has helped gather a commitment from “a handful of companies”, including banks, insurers and an industrial company, one source said, without naming them.

German banks have the second-biggest exposure to Greece after France.

In a previous effort to help stabilize Greece’s stretched finances, Ackermann met Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in Athens in February.

Schaeuble said aid for Greece could involve banks. Merkel’s coalition government is under pressure from the opposition SPD to bring banks into a solution. — Reuters

ADNOC awards $5.6 billion worth contracts for Shah DUBAI: Italy’s Saipem emerged as the biggest winner in a $5.6-billion round of contracts from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for the Shah gas field, days af ter ConocoPhillips’ bailed out of the project. Saipem was awarded three contracts, worth a total of around $3.1 billion, for a gas process plant, sulfur recovery and product pipelines.

South Korea’s Samsung Engineering was awarded a $1.5 billion contract for the utilities and offsite package. The state-run ADNOC said a consortium of Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas and India’s Punj

Lloyd won a $463 million gas gathering package.

“The project facilities are scheduled for completion by 2014,” ADNOC said.

On Thursday, ADNOC said it would proceed with the development of the Shah gas field despite ConocoPhillips’ exit from the scheme. Conoco announced it had ended its participation in the $10 billion Shah project on Wednesday, its second withdrawal in a month from high-profile projects in the Gulf.

The Shah scheme is to pump and purif y gas with a high content of potentially

deadly sulphur dioxide, making it tougher and more expensive to produce than conventional gas.

The Gulf Arab state has been slow to develop the world’s fifth-largest gas reserves to meet demand from industry and the power sector. To meet the shortfall, it imports gas via pipeline from Qatar. Shah would pump around 1 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of raw gas, which after processing would give 540 million cfd of gas fit for consumption. “Gas production is expected in mid-2014, that’s the target,” a UAE oil official told Reuters. — Reuters

DFM Q1 net profit falls 8% DUBAI: Dubai Financial Market (DFM) said yesterday it saw positive indications for “significant stability” in the market after posting an 8.4 percent fall in first-quarter net profit.

The firm made 53.6 million dirhams ($14.6 million) in the three months ended March 31, compared to 58.5 million dirhams in the first quarter of last year, it said in a statement.

“The revenue and profits of Q1-2010 are clear evidence that our market is more stable and in a better condition compared to a year ago,” Executive Chairman Essa Kazim said in the statement.

“Market performance during the last few months shows positive indications for significant stability and relative progress which allows us to look forward more optimistically,” DFM’s Kazim added.

Trading value in the first quarter rose by an annual 5 percent to 28.98 billion dirhams, the firm said.

DFM’s profit fell by almost half in 2009 as market turnover slumped 43 percent to a five-year low of $47.2 billion. ADX turnover slid 70 percent last year to $19.1 billion.

This collapse in trading was spurring UAE bourses to consolidate, analysts say, with many questioning the wisdom of having three stock exchanges-DFM, ADX and Nasdaq Dubai - in a country of 5 million people, while consolidation would boost liquidity and with it valuations. Kazim said in March DFM owners and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange have held merger talks, and last week two people familiar with the matter said a merger of the two was imminent. — Reuters

Those who have brazenly robbed public money and pension funds,” Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras told reporters at one of the Athens rallies.

Accountant Virginia Kalapotharakou, who joined striking seamen and dockworkers rallying in the port of Piraeus, called the potential measures “very reactionary.” “They’re trying to do away with all the rights we gained through struggles in previous years,” she told The Associated Press.

A default would be a serious blow to the euro currency and could hit Greek and European banks that invested in Greek government bonds. The bailout is designed to prevent that and to keep the Greek crisis from spreading to other countries that use the euro.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin is pushing for changes to the rules governing the eurozone, including the possibility of suspending voting rights for nations that do not uphold their commitments.

Merkel told the Bild am Sonntag weekly in comments released yesterday that European Union finance minister would meet in May to discuss implementing changes to the bylaws for membership in the 16-nation eurozone. The chancellor said the common currency had been one of the greatest European success stories, but that changes were needed to ensure its stability. Greece spent freely for years and ran up debt equal to 115 percent of gross domestic product. It has been effectively shut out of bond markets to refinance its debt pile because investors fear default and are demanding high rates of interest the government says it cannot pay.

Signs that the help will soon be approved have calmed markets, which previously pushed Greece’s cost of borrowing to untenably high levels high as EU and German officials showed little urgency in addressing the problem. On Friday the interest rate gap, or spread, between Greek 10-year bonds and their benchmark German equivalent narrowed to 6.20 percentage points, from a staggering 10 points Wednesday.

But Athens was in for more bad news as credit agency Moody’s Investor Services downgraded the debt rating of nine Greek banks: National Bank of Greece, EFG Eurobank Ergasias, Alpha Bank, Piraeus Bank, Emporiki Bank of Greece, Agricultural Bank of Greece, General Bank of Greece, Marfin Egnatia Bank and Attica Bank. Moody’s said the banks’ might face further downgrades-a move that would come alongside Moody’s ongoing review of the country’s sovereign debt rating.

On Thursday, the agency confirmed that it is awaiting to see details of an EU-IMF rescue package before a possible revision of Greece’s credit rating, but that a “multinotch downgrade” remained likely. — AP

BUSINESS

22

Sunday, May 2, 2010

GLOBAL WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Kuwait equities pare losses, index firms KUWAIT: The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) was able to regain some of last weeks’ losses with some stocks gearing the market. The logistics companies were the talk of the week as investors reacted in and out according to news regarding the legal matters and rewarded logistics contracts. As measured by Global’s weighted General Index, the Kuwaiti market closed the week adding 0.63 percent, at 207.34 point. On a year-todate basis, the index gains reached 11.33 percent.

Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) price index was also up by 44.60 points (0.61 percent) and closed at 7,299.40 points.

Total market capitalization was higher reaching KD34.22bn. Market breadth skewed towards decliners as out of 165 shares traded this week, 68 shares declined against 61 advancing.

Trading activity was also higher this week with trading concentrated on the services stocks. Traded volume was up by 16.62 percent for the week reaching 1.36bn shares changing hands at a total traded value of KD299.47mn (1.66 percent increase compared to the week before).

High volume was seen on the Services sector, accounting for 39.71 percent of the total traded volume in the market with 538.85mn shares traded. Al-Safwa Group Holding was the highest volume traded this week with 139.08mn share traded on its stock accounting for 10.25 percent of the total market volume. On the value list, the Services sector also took the lead with KD130.85mn traded, accounting for 43.70 percent of total traded market value. Agility was the highest value traded and topped the value list for the week with KD32.95mn traded on its share, accounting for 11 percent of the total market value traded. The large-cap scrip was able to rise by 12.50 percent by the end of the week. Sector-wise, The Food sector was the most advancer this week with Global Food Index adding 3.81 percent to its value as four food stocks added to their values while two remained flat.

United Food Industrial Group was the biggest gainer as it share price closed 14.29 percent higher. Global Insurance Index came second, closing higher by 3.39 percent. 1st Takaful Insurance Company was the biggest gainer in the sector and also showed up in the gainers list this week with an increase of 18.33 percent in its share value. No losers were seen among the insurance companies. Global NonKuwaiti Index was also up by 3.09 percent while the services sector was able to rise by 1.11 percent as measured by Global Services Index. Two of the services companies took the lead in the top gainers list this week.

KGL Logistics Company and Mubarrad Transport Company added 26.13 percent and 25 percent to their share prices respectively.

On the other hand, only three sectors ended the week with negative performances. Global Real Estate Index was the biggest loser, shedding 0.77 percent with Al-Mazaya Holding Company being a major loser in the sector, shedding 10.17 percent of its share price. Global Industrial Index was also down by 0.50 percent. United

Industries Company was the biggest loser this week and topped the losers list with a decrease of 13.16 percent in its share value. Global Banking Index was the third loser as it closed 0.14 percent lower.

Global’s special indices showed mixed performances. Global Large Cap (Top 10) Index was up by 0.42 percent while Global Small Cap (Low 10) index recorded an increase of 1.57 percent. Global Islamic Sharia Index was down by 1.10 percent.

Macroeconomic news The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has finished compiling the provisional figures for the Balance of Payments (BOP) of the State of Kuwait for 2009 and revising the BOP data for the period 2007-2008. Provisional BOP figures for 2009 show a decline in the surpluses realized in the main external balances during that year, compared to 2008. The surplus realized in the Current Account (which reflects the outcome of transactions between the domestic economy and other economies involving goods, services, investment income, and unrequited current transfers) declined by 50.2 percent to reach KD8,064.9mn during 2009, compared with KD16,194.8mn during 2008. The decrease in the Current Account surplus of the State of Kuwait BOP during 2009 over the previous year was mainly an outcome of the decline in the Balance on Goods surplus by 44.5 percent. Regarding the developments in the Financial Account, the growth in the net value of assets invested abroad and recorded under that account decelerated during 2009, compared with the previous year. Specifically, the Financial Account recorded an increase of KD7,495.3mn in the net value of assets invested abroad during 2009, compared with KD13,601.8mn during 2008. As a result of the above-mentioned developments, the overall surplus in the BOP of the State of Kuwait reached KD1,088.4mn during 2009, compared with a surplus of KD171.5mn during 2008. When the overall position of the State of Kuwait BOP is considered from a broader perspective to encompass the change in the net value of external assets of some government institutions recorded under the “General Government” item, along with the change in total reserve assets of the CBK, the overall position of the Balance of Payments shows a surplus of KD4,593.3mn during 2009, compared with a surplus of KD8,420mn during the previous year.

The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) issued KD70mn ($243mn) worth of one-year bonds on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, with a coupon rate of 1.25 percent. Bids for the bonds amounted to KD439.5mn, central bank data showed. This is the fourth week in row that the CBK issue bonds. The last issue was on April 21, for KD85mn, with 1.25 percent coupon.

This is the eighth issue this year with a total amount of KD745mn and a maturity of one year each.

In a poll conducted by Reuters is showed that most Gulf Arab states will run comfortable budget surpluses this year, and continue to increase spending, as higher oil prices help cement recovery in the region.

Kuwait is seen booking the largest fiscal surplus in the region, of 19.4 percent of gross domestic product this year, according to the median forecast of economists polled between April 20-27, although that is down from 23.4 percent in the previous poll in January. With oil prices more than doubling from end-2008 lows of around $32 a barrel, most Gulf states are seen booking budget and current account surpluses this year.

Most Gulf Arab economies will grow in low single digits this year, little changed from previous forecasts, as debt restructuring will weigh on credit growth, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday. The global downturn cut output and froze credit in the world’s top oil exporting region last year, but ongoing economic recovery of its main trading partners and generous government spending should support the six Gulf countries.

OPEC-member Kuwait should grow by 3.3 percent in 2010, after a sharp downturn last year, but that is less optimistic than the central bank’s forecast of 4-5 percent growth. Qatar, the world’s top gas exporter, is the exception, with its GDP set to surge 16.1 percent on the back of expanding gas facilities and infrastructure spending while Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy and the world’s top oil exporter, is expected to grow by 3.9 percent this year, well up from sluggish 0.2 percent growth in 2009.

Growth prospects of the United Arab Emirates, the second largest economy in the Arab world, remained stable after worsening at the turn of the year due to the impact of debt restructuring in Dubai’s flagship firms. The UAE is seen growing 2.5 percent this year, the slowest pace in the Gulf. NonOPEC Oman and Bahrain should see GDP up 3.7 and 3.0 percent, respectively.

The Ministry of Finance is drafting a proposal suggesting taxes be imposed on private companies which will participate in the implementation of the country’s development plan.

The proposal, which is the first of its kink, is in line with the country’s plan to become a financial and commercial center in the region. The main objec-

tive is to reinforce productivity and discourage the consumption of unnecessary commodities, say sources, adding it will help people in controlling their expenditure and invest in productive areas. The proposal is also aimed at developing a tax system which will help increase the State’s non-oil revenues to KD4.20bn by the time all the projects mentioned in the development plan are implemented within the next four years.

Japan’s trade deficit with Kuwait widened for the fifth straight month in March as the import prices far outpaced growth in its Kuwait-bound exports, official data showed.

Shipments to Kuwaiti from the world’s second-largest economy surged 148.8 percent from a year earlier to JP1.82bn ($19.6mn), while Kuwait’s imports to Japan jumped 40.7 percent to JP7.66bn ($82.3mn), the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. As a result, Japan’s trade deficit with Kuwait gained 23.9 percent from a year earlier to JP5.84bn ($62.8mn) in March, marking the red ink figure for the 26th straight month.

Japan is Kuwait’s major trading partner, with two-way trade reaching $10.53bn in 2009.

Oil related news According to the last revealed price, the Kuwaiti crude oil price reached $81.61 per barrel (pb) on Friday, April 23, down by $0.80 compared to a week earlier, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said.

Oil prices at $85 a barrel are at a reasonable level and are not expected to pose a risk to economic recovery, OPEC’s head of research said this week. Hasan Qabazard also said in an interview that he saw plenty of oil in the market and little increase in demand for crude oil from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) this year. Oil was trading just above $85 a barrel on Monday, above the $70 to $80 level that many in OPEC have pegged as fair.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has signed an agreement for Royal Dutch Shell to supply Kuwait with liquefied natural gas from 20102013. The agreement will help Kuwait

cope with rising demand for power in the summer months. On Monday, energy trader Vitol signed a four-year deal to supply liquefied natural gas to KPC for the summer months of April to October from 2010 to 2013. The super-cooled gas will be used to help Kuwait meet peak electricity demand, driven by increased air conditioning use, with cleaner-burning power plant fuels.

Kuwait plans to produce more than 4bn cubic feet per day (cfd) of gas by 2030, a top executive at state-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) said, nearly quadruple current output.

Kuwait does not have enough natural gas to meet power demand and burns a large volume of oil products at power stations. Like its oil exporting neighbors, Kuwait has been slow to develop its gas reserves to meet domestic demand. Kuwait’s pumps around 1bn cfd of gas from oilfields, and 145mn cfd from gas fields not associated with oil.

The 4bn cfd target would include a huge rise in non-associated gas output to 2.7bn cfd, Mohammad Husain, deputy managing director for planning and gas at KOC, said in a presentation to an industry event. The non-associated gas would come from the neutral zone the country shares with neighbor Saudi Arabia and from fields within Kuwait, he said. Tight supply has been exacerbated by OPEC member Kuwait’s adherence to the producer group’s oil output restrictions since late 2008. As most of Kuwait’s gas is a by-product of oil production, when it pumps less crude, it pumps less gas.

To counter this constraint, Kuwait is working on a scheme to increase output of non-associated gas fields to 1bn cfd by 2016. In February, KOC signed a five-year service contract with Royal Dutch Shell to develop gas fields in the country’s north.

Kuwait will invest around KD3bn ($10.4bn) in upstream developments over the next five years, a senior oil official said. Kuwait, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, is looking to expand oil production capacity to 4mn barrels per day (bpd) from 3mn bpd by 2020 and sustain the higher level for 10 years. The Gulf Arab producer will be relying on enhanced

oil recovery techniques as one of the methods to meet its production targets, Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) chairman and managing director Sami Al-Rushaid said at a conference. He said enhanced oil recovery techniques would be employed in some of Kuwait’s reservoirs in the north.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have boosted output capacity from their shared Neutral Zone to 610,000 barrels per day from around 550,000 bpd, a Kuwait oil official said. But the two OPEC producers have drawn back from long-term plans to further boost capacity to 700,000 to 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2030. A project undertaken by oil major Chevron to increase the percentage of oil recovered from the fields would aim to maintain onshore output, Bader Al-Khashti, the managing director of the Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) who operates the Kuwait side of the zone said. The two completed a development plan to boost offshore capacity at the offshore Khafji oilfield in the zone to 350,000 bpd last month, from 300,000 bpd, he said. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were discussing removing the zone from inclusion in OPEC output curbs, transferring reductions there to other fields outside the zone, he said.

Other local news The Popular Bloc submitted this week a number of amendments to the privatization draft bill to exclude oil, gas and public facilities from the privatization process. The most important amendment is the need to enforce Article 152 of the Constitution, which bans the privatization of natural resources and public facilities, in addition to distributing 40 percent of shares in any privatized company as grant to citizens, said Musallam Al-Barrak as a spokesperson of the block lawmaker. The Parliament approved the bill in its first reading earlier this month.

This proposal stipulates the privatization of all sectors, except health and education.

The Ministry of Public Works (MPW) is expected to sign a contract on the Boubyan Island project before the end of this year. A tender was to be awarded this week after relevant studies are completed. The announcement was made by the Ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Monitoring and Auditing Department Talat Al-Athainah.

Oil prices stayed above the $80 per barrel mark as strong economic growth numbers in China and India and signs of recovery in the US pave way for global recovery and hence oil demand. US crude increased by 3.9% during the review period (23 March 23, 2010 - April 23, 20 10) to settle at $84.42 per barrel mark. In view of the improving situation, IMF has raised its global economic growth forecast to 4.2% in 2010 and 4.3% in 2011.

China and India are expected to grow by 10.0% and 8.8% respectively in 2010 while the US is expected to grow by 3.1%.

Kuwait Stock Exchange Agility, which lost a US military contract over fraud charges, played down suggestions it was close to a

settlement just as a dispute broke out over the reawarded contract. Agility said there was no guarantee it would reach a settlement with US authorities over accusations it defrauded the US military in the Middle East on multi-billion dollar supply contracts.

Agility issued the statement at the request of the stock exchange, which briefly halted trading in the company’s shares this week pending clarification of a report that it was close to a settlement with US authorities over the charges, which date back to November 2009. In a court filing last Friday, US prosecutors said it is anticipated that “an agreement in principle on an administrative resolution will be reached early next week.” The US government has replaced Agility as the main supplier to its troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan with Dubai-based ANHAM FZCO LLC, awarding it a $2.2bn contract. On the above issue, the Kuwaiti logistics Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company (KGL) has filed an objection to the awarding of US military supply contract to a competitor, ANHAM FZCO LLC, and said it expected a response to its challenge within 30 days. Kuwait & Middle East Financial Investment Company (KMEFIC) got the Central Bank of Kuwait’s (CBK) approval on April 27 to repurchase or offload up to 10 percent of its issued shares for further six months from the date of approval. KMEFIC should abide by CBK buyback rules and regulations.

Aref Investment Group declared that it puts finishing touches on an agreement with local creditors for rescheduling its debts with the support of the Kuwait Finance House (KFH). KFH which owns about 53 percent of Aref’s capital played a big role in restructuring the group and its subsidiaries, besides it role in devising a new mechanism for addressing the group’s indebtedness through signing a KD132mn agreement, managing director of Aref Ibrahim AlKhozam said. He added that the sum of money will be used in repaying the group’s debts owed to foreign banks and investment funds. Al-Khozam said that in case an agreement was reached on rescheduling the debts of Araf’s Group, the first installment will be due before 18 months of any signed agreement, namely the group will have enough time to repay, making clear that the group has currently liquidity to pay this premium.

Highlights of the week A tax system will be implemented by the beginning of 2013 in all GCC countries, says a reliable source in the Ministry of Finance, adding “it will include comprehensive tax, income tax on foreign and local companies and added value tax.”

Professor of Economics at Kuwait University Dr Abbas Al-Majren confirmed that a bill called the “full Tax Law” is with the Cabinet, but expressed fears that companies might pass on the burden of taxes to consumers by increasing the cost of their products. He therefore, suggested that the government gradually increase the percentage of taxes by initially starting with 10 percent, “so that everyone gets used to them.”

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

.2840000 .4380000 .3780000 .2630000 .2820000 .2630000 .0045000 .0020000 .0780990 .7608980 .4020000 .0750000 .7459280 .0045000 .0500000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2881500 .4399100 .3801830 .2653260 .2839570 .0510900 .0395620 .2652680 .0371060 .2097610 .0030930 .0065110 .0025350 .0034510 .0041700 .0784910 .7647060 .4075200 .0768790 .7488120 .0065480 TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2902500 .4430160 .2672040 .0773690

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.127 6.514

.2940000 .4470000 .3850000 .2720000 .2920000 .2700000 .0075000 .0035000 .0788840 .7685450 .4170000 .0790000 .7534250 .0072000 .0580000 .2902500 .4430160 .3828680 .2672040 .2859680 .0514520 .0398430 .2671420 .0373690 .2112460 .0031150 .0065570 .0025530 .0034750 .0041990 .0789910 .7695810 .4104060 .0773690 .7535860 .0065940

Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

3.444 2.537 4.084 211.700 37.311 4.180 6.501 8.985 0.301 0.292 GCC COUNTRIES Saudi Riyal 77.270 Qatari Riyal 79.600 Omani Riyal 752.700 Bahraini Dinar 769.500 UAE Dirham 78.900 ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 54.500 Egyptian Pound 52.120 Yemen Riyal 1.286 Tunisian Dinar 204.230 Jordanian Dinar 409.200 Lebanese Lira 194.400 Syrian Lier 6.299 Morocco Dirham 35.103 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 289.600 Euro 388.640 Sterling Pound 445.800 Canadian dollar 288.100 Turkish lire 194.500 Swiss Franc 271.900 Australian dollar 267.620 US Dollar Buying 288.000 GOLD 20 Gram 230.000 10 Gram 117.000 5 Gram 60.500

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound

SELL CASH 270.400 769.580 4.430 289.200 568.300 15.800 52.300 167.800 54.480

SELL DRAFT 268.900 769.580 4.177 287.700

212.000 52.253

Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal 10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

387.000 37.970 6.780 0.035 0.294 0.256 3.200 410.790 0.195 92.270 47.100 4.270 210.900 2.972 49.800 751.730 3.520 6.710 80.030 77.270 212.030 41.270 2.742 447.200 40.700 270.700 6.400 9.330 217.900 78.960 289.800 1.330 GOLD 1,265.170 TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 445.200 289.400

385.500 37.820 6.490

409.060 0.194 92.270 4.080 209.400 751.550 3.450 6.495 79.600 77.270 212.030 41.270 2.538 445.200 269.200 9.170 78.860 289.400

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Cyprus Pound Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees

289.300 286.313 442.700 385.891 266.275 709.094 765.746 78.745 79.443 77.115 408.242 52.197 6.503 3.448

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

2.535 4.183 6.482 3.103 8.964 6.311 4.074

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

3.455 6.500 2.545 4.185 6.520 78.870 77.360 769.000 52.230 447.400 0.000035000 4.200 1.550 410.900 5.750 387.000 292.500

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Transfer rate

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

289.200 387.000 445.500 289.800 3.090 6.515 52.110 2.538 4.178 6.485 3.450 768.600 78.800 77.200

BUSINESS

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Ahli United Bank posts net profit of $65.7m for Q1 KUWAIT: Ahli United Bank BSC (AUB) reported a net profit of $65.7 million for the three month period ended 31 March 2010, a drop of 23.5% compared to the same period last year (Q/1 2009: $85.9 million). This result represents a substantial rise of 284% over the trailing Q/4-2009 profit of $17.1 million and reflects a strong improvement in core earnings net of exceptional items relative to the comparative period in 2009.

The Group’s net profit was achieved on the back of an increased net interest margin of 2.4% in Q1/2010 (Q/1 2009: 2.3% ) while prudently growing the loans and advances portfolio of $13.6 billion by 2.3% over the 31 December 2009 balances of $13.3 billion. This generated a net interest income of $117.1 million (an increase of 9.4% over Q1 2009). The Group’s net interest margins have been sustained, underpinned by its focused asset liability management. The Q1/2010 results include a loan loss provision charge of $51.8 million (Q/1 2009: $47.0 million) which enabled the Bank to fully provide for its exposures to specific impaired Saudi corporate assets.

The Bank’s focused efforts on streamlined process efficiencies and cost control helped further contain its total operating expenses at $58.9 million compared to $60.4 million for the same period last year. The resultant cost income ratio for Q1/2010 was a low 31.9%.

Basic and dilutive earnings per ordinary share for the three month period ended 31 March 2010, was US cents 1.3.

The Group’s total assets as of 31 March 2010 stood at $24.7 billion, an increase of 4.7% over the $23.6 billion reported at 31 December 2009, funded largely by a growth in customers’ deposits by 6.6% to $14.1 billion over the $13.2 billion as at 31 December 2009.

AUB also raised its stake in Ahli United Bank, Egypt (AUBE) from 35.3% to 79.6% through a path-breaking Mandatory Dual Tender Offer which was successfully concluded in January 2010. This transaction provided a unique opportunity for AUBE investors to

23

KAMCO Energy Services fund returns +43.1% for 2009 Fund outperforms Broad Energy Indices

Fahad Al-Rajaan, Chairman, AUB sell their shares or to co-partner with AUB in its regional operations through a share and Lower Tier II subordinated debt “2010 remains a challenging year, however we take comfort in the overall resilience demonstrated by the Bank in Q1/2010. It is gratifying to note our ability to maintain unwaveringly high counterparty and customers’ confidence at all times and to improve our core operating earnings.”, said Fahad Al-Rajaan, Chairman, AUB. “In March this year, we have entered the promising Libyan market by way of a 40% stake acquisition in United Bank for Commerce and Investment LSC. We have also secured a ten year renewable Technical Services Agreement to provide management and technical services to this bank. This new market entry further demonstrates our commitment to our regional growth strategy applied in a phased and business justifiable manner”, added Al-Rajaan.

KUWAIT: KIPCO Asset Management Company - KAMCO - holds a positive a challenging 2008 and take advantage of the market uptrend in 2009 and outoutlook for the growth of the KAMCO Energy Services Fund (KESF). It has perform the broad energy index, such as the MSCI World Energy Index and had an outstanding performance in 2009 despite the difficult economic situa- other regional Indices like the MSCI GCC Index, which returned 22.9% and tion, returning 43.1% for the year, and is poised to do just as well in 2010. 18.8% for the year, respectively. The Fund has continued its positive trend The management team has been very aggressive in steering the fund through in 2010, with a Year-To-Date (YTD) of +1.8% as of March.

Index and the ML Renewable Renewable Energy Index rose by “The Fund operated beautiful8.1% for the month of March, Index. ly through the crisis taking into It is the first Sharia-compliant while the broader MSCI World consideration that it is Shariahybrid energy fund in the Middle Energy Index was up 4.2%. The compliant with no hedging possiEast and offers medium-to-long US Exploration and Production bilities and the fact that many term appreciation from listed and index was the laggard for the mutual funds and hedge funds unlisted equities pertaining to month (down 1.5%) as a result of went under in 2008/2009. KESF the oil and energy sectors in key weaker US gas prices and conhas been KAMCO’s best performregional and international mar- cerns that the US gas market will ing fund on a YTD return basis for kets. Following a dual energy remain oversupplied for some 2009. The stellar performance is a Furthermore, the investment model which focuses time. result of the amalgamation of on both ancillary services for the European Oil and Gas Index was KAMCO Direct Investment traditional energy industry (oil, the strongest on the month, and Department’s expertise and that coal and gas) and alternative KAMCO sees this as a reflection of the renowned international energy (wind, solar, bio-fuels and of an increasing appetite for seradvisor, Investec Asset fuel cells), the Fund presents vice companies exposed to tightManagement. In 2009, KAMCO itself as a viable option for ening oil markets, and for explointroduced two new managers as investors seeking returns from ration and production companies part of the Fund’s Investment investment opportunities that offering material exploration Committee - Jonathon Waghorn are designed to promote environ- exposure. and Mark Lacey from Investec KAMCO sees 2010 as a year mental and energy sustainability. who bring with them their exper“If one were to rank the Fund of de-stocking. With OECD tise in the oil and gas industry and on the 2010 YTD performance inventories around 10% above prior experience in this sector at basis, with other long-only inter- normal, OPEC’s output discipline Goldman Sachs,” says Khalil El national Energy Funds, it would (coupled with an improvement in Khoury, Senior Vice President & Khalil El Khoury be ranked in the Top 5, when global demand) is essential for Head of the Direct Investment and Product Development markets,” El Khoury added. enough momentum to generate compared against big names like this de-stocking to occur in 2010.

BlackRock, Fidelity, and This should lead to a rangeDepartments. “We foresee a posOver the last two years, double-digit returns for 2010. itive trend in 2010 which is an KAMCO’s Direct Investment The KAMCO Energy Services Guinness Atkinson which is a bound crude price for 2010. The attractive entry point that implies team has managed to enhance its Fund, which is a Sharia-compliant significant improvement from the cost dynamics of the industry a strong potential for new portfolio management capabilities Fund, was launched in 2007 and 2009 YTD performance, for suggest that the crude price investors. KESF’s salient features and along with the expertise of the aims to optimize value through a which the Fund would have been should trade in a $60/bl - $85/bl such as monthly liquidity and international advisor, succeeded in conservative yet opportunistic in the Top 10,” El Khoury added. range in 2010, with the oil price The MSCI World Energy moving higher in the range as the strategy represent a good diversi- improving the Fund’s perfor- approach. The Fund is benchfication option to local investors mance. The Fund has returned marked against the MSCI All Equipment and Services Index fund manager sees the inventoseeking exposure to international +5.1% in March and is building Country World Energy Equipment rose by 3.2% and the ML ries decline.

Tackling UK deficit needs all-party deal: Lib Dems LONDON: Britain’s political parties should work together to devise a credible plan for tackling a record budget deficit and not become distracted by a dispute over when to start a fiscal squeeze, the Liberal Democrats said.

Nick Clegg, the leader of Britain’s third-largest political party, told Reuters that the Labour government and the main opposition Conservatives were indulging in point-scoring before next week’s national election.

Opinion polls indicate Clegg’s support will be key in deciding which of the two main parties forms the next government after Britons vote on May 6. “(There is) a strong case now for politicians across parties to be talking to each other, irrespective of the outcome of the general election, to come clean with people about how bad the structural deficit is and roughly what the framework is required to deal with it,” Clegg said in an interview.

“We will seek to play an active role, whether in opposition or government, in making sure that we develop a credible plan for sustainable deficit reduction,” Clegg said as he returned by train to London after campaigning on Friday in the northern English city of Sheffield.

At just under 12 percent of gross domestic product for the

2009-10 financial year, Britain’s budget deficit is proportionately approaching that of embattled Greece, which stood at 13.6 percent last year.

However, Britain’s debt position is regarded as much more secure as the average maturity of its government bonds is far longer than Greece’s. While UK public debt is rising sharply, it remains far lower than Greek debt as a proportion of GDP. But the next government, whatever its color, will have to cut spending and raise taxes to get the deficit under control.

“The (deficit) debate has become hijacked by a technical issue about exactly when you start fiscal contraction,” Clegg said. “The precise timing of fiscal contraction is much less important than whether you have actually got a credible plan to start dealing with the structural deficit.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron had been “tearing strips off each other whether you do it next Tuesday or next Thursday”, he said.

The Conservatives are ahead in the polls but by too slim a margin to be sure of winning an outright victory, while an unexpected surge for the normally third-ranking Lib Dems has left them vying with Labor for second place.

Clegg, keen to maximize the

Lib Dem vote, refuses to say which of the main parties he favors, saying he will be guided by the election’s outcome. The Conservatives say Britain faces an economic crisis unless cuts to public spending start this year.

Labor plans to postpone spending cuts and tax rises till 2011, saying the economy needs more time to consolidate a modest recovery from the worst recession in generations following the global banking crisis.

The Lib Dems agree that cuts should be delayed. But Clegg denied this indicated political support for Labor and made clear his disagreement with Conservative policy. “Us siding with Labour? It’s siding with common sense,” he said.

“My eight-year-old (son) ought to be able to work this out — you shouldn’t start slamming on the brakes when the economy is barely growing.

“If you do that you create more joblessness, you create heavier costs on the state, the deficit goes up even further and the pain with dealing with it is even greater. So it is completely irrational.”

Britain has not experienced an inconclusive election for more than 35 years and the prospect has unsettled currency markets where sterling is down nearly 10 cents against the dollar since mid-January. —Reuters

France, Germany pledge to spring into action with Greek rescue PARIS: France and Germany are ready to act quickly to unlock a massive rescue plan for Greece, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said yesterday as negotiators put the final touches to the aid package.

Sarkozy spoke by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and they both “reaffirmed their determination to act quickly to implement the support plan” once spending cuts are agreed with Athens, said an Elysee statement.

Greece is negotiating a three-year bailout plan of between 100 and 120 billion euros ($133-160 billion) with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to avoid defaulting on its debt.

France will be the second largest euro-zone contributor to the Greek package after Germany.

Elysee officials have repeatedly said that Greece must not be allowed to become the “Lehman Brothers of Europe”, referring to the 2008 collapse of the US investment bank that sparked the world’s worst financial crisis in decades.

But France’s readiness to act quickly has met with resistance from Germany where Merkel is facing strong public opposition to saving Greece’s economy with German taxpayer money.

Back from a state visit to China, Sarkozy spoke with Merkel ahead of a top-level meeting at the Elysee with Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and central bank governor Christian Noyer among others.

Lagarde confirmed to reporters that the Greek rescue deal will total between 100 and 120 billion

euros. An official in Athens told AFP the plan will be announced at a cabinet meeting today.

Finance ministers of the 16-nation euro-zone are to meet today to discuss the terms for the bailout expected to reach 45 billion euros this year alone, of which 30 billion will come from European countries.

The German and French parliaments are set to vote on loan packages next week, setting the wheels in motion for EU leaders to give the final go-ahead for the massive rescue at their summit on May 10. In addition, France and Germany will “over the coming days take measures” to step up monitoring of euro-zone financial markets and look at tighter regulation of rating agencies, said the Elysee statement.

Greece’s efforts to climb out of debt suffered a blow this week when Standard and Poors slashed Athens’ credit rating to junk status and also downgraded the ratings for Portugal and Spain.

The Elysee meeting came two days before the National Assembly is to vote on extending loans of up to 6.3 billion euros-of which 3.9 billion would be unlocked this year-to help Greece meet its debt refinancing obligations.

The two German federal houses of parliament could decide by Friday whether to allow Berlin to loan some 8.4 billion euros to Greece, according to leaders of Merkel’s party.

The National Assembly is set to adopt a supplementary budget bill late tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest, with all parties in agreement that quick action is needed to prevent contagion across the euro-zone. —Reuters

Crowne Plaza Kuwait Hotel cheers its Business Club members KUWAIT: The management of Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Kuwait hotel warmly welcomed the members of the Business Club. The Business club is an interactive program

by IHG for choosing their hotels for conferences, meetings and business travel. The members were thanked for choosing Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Kuwait Hotels, promising them an extra ordinary service all around the year. All the Business Club members were treated to a very special night full of entertainment escorted with good company in Al Andalus Ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Kuwait.

Ahmed Serafi, the Hotel Manager, went on to add, “It is great to see so many passionate women and men here tonight, celebrating our partnership and friendship. I know that many of you have very busy schedules yet you made it here. This, ladies and gentlemen serves to remind us all, just how important our friendship is. So, from friend

to friend, thank you and welcome”. He also mentioned how Crowne Plaza Kuwait continues to be a destination of choice for all people whether business or leisure.

Rafik Kamel, the Director of Sales for Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Kuwait spoke of

the new developments in the Business Club and presented the good performance of the two hotels for the first quarter of 2010 showing the continuous support from the Business Club members.

Fashion was the theme of the event, everyone appeared

stylish and trendy for the Best National Dress competition.

The winners won air tickets offered by Kuwait Airways, laptops, DVD players, Black Berry mobiles from Al Ghanim, gift vouchers from Ikea as well as beautiful jewelry offered by Damas.

The Business Club members stressed that Crowne Plaza Kuwait and Holiday Inn Kuwait is perfectly placed for every visitor to Kuwait. With a devoted professional team to serve, guests always have this assurance of being able to completely relax and enjoy good moments.

Soon thereafter, amidst all excitement, a raffle draw took place where lots of valuable gifts and prizes were given out by Business Club redeeming partners, which included Al Ghanim Electronics, Kuwait Airways, Damas, Ikea, Azdea Group, Sultan Center, Crowne Plaza Kuwait, Holiday Inn Kuwait, Laila Gallery Spa, and Beidoun. It was a great opportunity for all sponsors and members to gather together and enjoy a lovely evening.

The invitees were then treated to a fabulous ceremonial buffet and took home joyful moments of this special day with a promise to meet once again in the near future.

DEWA may list $1bn bond on Nasdaq Dubai: Report DUBAI: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is considering the listing of a $1 billion, five-year bond it issued in April on the Nasdaq Dubai exchange, its chief executive was quoted as saying yesterday.

DEWA’s bond was the first from

Dubai since the emirate’s debt troubles emerged and will pay a semiannual coupon of 8.5 percent, DEWA said in April. “DEWA is currently studying listing the bond issued in mid-April worth $1 billion for trading on the Nasdaq Dubai,” the daily

newspaper Al-Ittihad reported, citing DEWA’s Chief Executive Saeed Mohammed Al-Tayer.

Gulf firms have had difficulties tapping the debt market since stateowned conglomerate Dubai World announced in November that it need-

ed to delay repayment on $26 billion in debt.

However, the government’s restructuring plan for Dubai World announced in March has opened the door again for state-linked issuers. —Reuters

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

KSE solidifies performance despite caution BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange’s (KSE) performance solidified during the past week, as it was able to record weekly gains following two consecutive weeks of registering losses. Last week’s trades came amid a state of anticipation and cautiousness that was reflected in traders’ movements, which were of speculative nature, thus causing the market to fluctuate. Anticipation was mainly the result of the delay in announcing first quarter results for many listed companies.

Where the disclosure period will end in about two weeks, while only 14% of companies listed in the regular market have announced their results for the period. On the other hand, despite the continued weakness in overall trades, trading indicators registered an increase last week, as average

daily turnover grew by 1.66%, compared to previous week’s levels, to reach KD 59.89 million, whereas trading volume average amounted to 271.43 million shares, at an increase of 16.62%. In addition, last week’s registered gains lessened KSE’s overall loss for the month of April, as the price index retreated by 3.11% compared to previous March’s closing level, while the weighted index incurred a 1.22% monthly loss.

By the end of the week, the price index closed at 7,299.4 points, up by 0.61% from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 0.72% weekly gain after closing at 435.65 points.

Accordingly, the market’s year-to-date gains grew as a result of last week’s outcome, as price index’s increase from the

beginning of the year reached 4.20%, while weighted index’s gains became 12.94%.

Sectors’ indices Four of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other four recorded declines. Last week’s highest gainer was the Food sector, achieving 4.43% growth rate as its index closed at 4,837.7 points.

Whereas, in the second place, the Insurance sector’s index closed at 2,597.2 points recording 3.90% increase. The Non-Kuwaiti companies sector came in third as its index achieved 1.78% growth, ending the week at 7,562.3 points.

On the other hand, the Real Estate sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 0.93% to end the week’s activi-

ty at 2,654.5 points. The Banks sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 0.60%, closing at 9,266.3 points, followed by the Industry sector, as its index closed at 5,745.5 points at a loss of 0.40%.

Sectors’ activity The Services sector dominated total trade volume during last week with around 538.85 million shares changing hands, representing 39.71% of the total market trading volume. The Investment sector ranked second with a total of 355.58 million shares, 26.20% of the total. On the other hand, the Services sector ranked first in terms of trade value, with around KD 130.85 million representing 43.70% of the total market trade value, while the Banking sector came

in the second place with KD 63.66 million, representing 21.26% of the total market’s traded value during the week.

Market capitalization KSE total market capitalization grew by 0.72% during last week to reach KD 33.12 billion, as five of KSE’s sectors recorded an increase in their respective market capitalization, whereas the other three recorded declines. The Food sector headed the growing sectors as its total market capitalization reached KD 760.36 million, increasing by 3.81%. The Insurance sector was the second in terms of recorded growth with 3.45% increase after the total value of its listed companies reached KD 298.83 million. The third place was for the Non-Kuwaiti compa-

nies sector, which total market capitalization reached KD 3.37 billion by the end of the week, recording an increase of 3.39%.

The Investment sector was the least growing with 0.29% recorded growth after its market capitalization amounted to KD 3.16 billion.

On the other hand, the Real Estate sector headed the decliners list as its total market capitalization decreased by 0.57% to reach, by the end of the week, KD 1.91 billion. The Industry sector was second on this list, which market value of its listed companies declined by 0.35%, reaching KD 2.89 billion, followed by the Banks sector, as its market capitalization amounted to KD 11.48 billion at a 0.14% decrease. — Prepared by the Studies & Research Department

Launch ceremony on Failaka Island

Sunday, May 2, 2010

BUSINESS

25

Easa Hussain Al Yousifi & Sons Co launches

New range of Panasonic digital cameras, camcorders in Kuwait KUWAIT: Easa Hussain Al Yousifi & Sons Co has launched its new range of Lumix digital cameras and Full-HD camcorders for Kuwait market, it was announced yesterday.

Featuring unique Panasonic technology - including Intelligent Resolution Technology, power OIS (Optical Image Stabilizer), High Definition video recording, and GPS technology backed up with the high quality Leica lens, the new Lumix range provides a sophisticated and stylish range, suitable to every level of photographer.

LUMIX Cameras with unique Panasonic technology cater to every level of photographer, says Easa Hussain Al Yousifi & Sons Co General Manager Wael Deeb Easa Hussain Al-Yousifi & Sons Co also launched the latest range of semi-professional and Full-HD camcorders in Kuwait market, featuring a Full HD 1080 Progressive recording and easy-to-use LCD touch screen interface.

The new image processing technology ‘Intelligent Resolution’ is incorporated into the cameras, with the Venus Engine, makes taking pictures hassle-free, while producing excellent results. The technology activates many features at the same time to automatically focus, balance and highlight the best images.

The range of Lumix Digital Cameras now includes the top-of-the-range, 12.1 megapixel TZ10, with GPS and HD video recording capability in AVCHD 720p. A new inclusion to the line-up are the FP3 and FP1 slim and stylish with internal foldable optics; FP3 also features a touch panel.

“The new cameras are packed with features that allow customers to take high quality videos and photos

with ease,” said Wael Deeb, General Manager, Easa Hussain Al Yousifi & Sons Co. “Stylish, compact and easy to use, we recommend these cameras for anyone who wants to enjoy HD image quality. A one touch intelligent auto button allows users to take stunningly beautifully shots, without having to worry about complicated settings,” added Deeb.

Easa Hussain Al Yousifi & Sons Co also announced the expansion of its sophisticated 2010

High Definition (HO) camcorder line with six new semi- professional Full-HO models. The new camcorders, HS700 (240GB HDD), TM700 (32GB Flash Memory), SD700 incorporate 3MOS sensors for superior colour reproduction and enhanced performance in low light conditions are the first in the industry to be able to record stunning videos in Full HF 1080 Progressive, while the HS60 (120GB HDD), TM6O (16GB Flash Memory), and SD60, all feature a 35.7 mm wide-angle lens with 35X Intelligent zoom,

thanks to the new Intelligent Resolution technology.

Whereas the full range of camcorders also includes a total of 6 Standard Definition Camcorders; two HCD models - SDR-H95 (120GB) and H85 (80GB), two models with in-built flash-memory - SDR-T55 (8GB) & T50 (4GB) and two models that record videos and stills onto SDHX cards SDR-S50 & S45. Each camcorder comes complete with intelligent auto technology, making them simple to use, while packed full of features for the more advanced user.

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BUSINESS

Sunday, May 2, 2010

US stocks face jobs, Greece and Goldman NEW YORK: April’s jobs report and a slew of other economic indicators may bolster US stocks next week, but jitters over Greece’s debt and investigations into Goldman Sachs will test the market’s resiliency.

Stocks could also get a lift as earnings season rolls along with investors expecting more strong results. Though some big names are already out of the way, three Dow components-Kraft, Cisco and Pfizer-are on tap. Key economic reports on the manufacturing, housing and services sectors will be released throughout the week, but the main event will be Friday’s non-farm payrolls report for April. The data is expected to show the economy added jobs for a second month in a row, with an increase of 200,000 jobs expected in April by economists polled

by Reuters.

But probes into Goldman Sachs, efforts to alleviate Greece’s debt crisis and a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could steal the spotlight and test stocks’ gains. “It could be a wild one. I think we’re going to have added volatility next week,” said Joe Benanti, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York. “Seeing the S&P swing around a bit gets some of the deadwood off the sidelines and you start to figure out what the real basis of this market is ... I think a slow steady gain is still in the cards.”

After hitting a fresh 19-month high at the end of last week, the market has struggled to gain further ground. The S&P 500 lost 2.5 percent this week,

thanks largely to a drop of more than 2 percent after Greece’s credit rating was downgraded to “junk” status.

But the dip is small, compared with the 75.4 percent gain in the S&P 500 from its 12 1/2-year closing low in March 2009. Markets could see some relief at the beginning of the week if a deal for a Greek bailout is reached. Talks to secure a multibillion-euro aid package for Athens edged toward a deal on Friday with negotiations expected to wrap up by Saturday. It will remain to be seen whether the aid will be enough to pull Greece out of its debt crisis and prevent it from spreading to other euro nations, such as Spain and Portugal.

Worries about potential criminal charges for Goldman Sachs will dog Wall Street after news that federal prosecutors in New York have begun investigating the company.

The reported criminal investigation follows civil fraud charges filed about two weeks ago by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“The Goldman Sachs news is one of great interest to investors because it reflects on the level of risk that must be put into the market and the financial stocks,” said Chad Morganlander, portfolio manager at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in Florham Park, New Jersey.

Goldman has lost more than $20 billion of its market value since the SEC charges were filed. What happens with Goldman also has the potential to up the ante in favor of financial reform. Senate

debate on the reform bill began on Thursday and is expected to continue for the next two weeks or more, followed by a vote next month.

A week of top-tier economic data could provide further evidence the economy is stabilizing. The non-farm payrolls report on Friday is expected to show the economy added 200,000 jobs-up from 162,000 in March, according to Reuters data. The increase in March was only the third since the economy fell into recession in late 2007.

The US unemployment rate, however, is forecast to hold steady in April at 9.7 percent, matching its level in March.

A private-sector employment report from payroll processor ADP on Wednesday-looked at as a precursor to the US Labor Department’s monthly payrolls report-is expected to show an addition of 30,000 jobs in April, compared with a loss of 23,000 in March.

Also on the labor front, Thursday’s weekly initial claims are forecast to fall to 440,000 from 448,000 the week before.

On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index is expected to rise to 60 in April from 59.6 the month before. The ISM’s reading on the services sector, due on Wednesday, is forecast to rise to 56 in April from 55.4 in March.

March pending home sales, due on Tuesday, are expected to rise 4 percent, compared with a gain of 8.2 percent in February. March factory orders, also out on Tuesday, are seen down 0.1 percent

after February’s 0.6 percent gain.

Shares of companies connected to the sunken Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico could see more pressure next week as oil continued to flow unchecked from the undersea wall off Louisiana. The stock of Halliburton Co lost 12.3 percent this week, while the US-listed shares of Transocean Ltd sank 19.4 percent.

“The oil spill unfortunately is not quantifiable at this moment, and any uncertainty will make investors worry,” Morganlander said. Even so, investors have taken solace in the strong earnings season, helping the S&P 500 end April on the upswing-its third monthly gain in a row. With 337 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported results, 78 percent have beat analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Companies set to release quarterly scorecards next week include MasterCard and CVS Caremark.

Earnings also are expected from Loews Corp, which owns Loews Hotels, as well as major stakes in CNA Financial Corp, one of the largest US commercial property and casualty insurance companies, and Diamond Offshore Drilling, one of the world’s largest offshore drilling companies.

“When all is said and done, in spite of all the negatives, the market has thus far been quite resilient,” said John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC in Newark, New Jersey. — Reuters

A coup in Uzbekistan’s drive to become regional power

First for Central Asia as ADB meets in Tashkent TASHKENT: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday opened its annual meeting in Uzbekistan, a first for Central Asia and a coup in the ex-Soviet state’s drive to be recognized as a regional economic power. Some 3,000 participantsincluding heads of state, central bank governors and finance ministers-have “While many challenges remain, we believe that recovery has taken firm hold,” he said. “The big challenge now is to make the recovery sustainable over the long term.... Far too many of the region’s people remain poor and without access to essential public services and economic opportunities,” he added. Kuroda also urged Beijing to loosen its grip on its currency, echoing comments made last month by ADB’s China country director, saying a more flexible exchange rate would benefit China as well as the region.

International critics have accused China of keeping the yuan undervalued to give its exporters an advantage by making their products cheaper. Beijing counters that the policy is needed for its manufacturers’ survival.

“I myself think that it is probably in the interest of the Chinese economy to

make its currency more flexible,” he said. He added, however, that any shifts on its currency policy ultimately had to be decided upon in Beijing.

Although the annual meeting is the 43rd of its kind, it is the first to be held in ex-Soviet Central Asia, a major recipient of ADB investment in the nearly two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Rich in gold and uranium, Uzbekistan, the most populous country in this majority-Muslim region, has long sought to be recognized as a key political player in an area plagued by instability and ageing infrastructure.

While neighbors Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have profited heavily from opening up their considerable reserves of natural resources to foreign investment, Uzbekistan has charted a more cautious course since indepen-

flocked to the Uzbek capital Tashkent from among the development bank’s 67 member nations. While Asia’s developing economies are well on the road to recovery from the effects of the global financial crisis, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters that serious obstacles remain to long-term sustainable growth. dence.

Now, as the last country in the region with largely untapped natural riches, Uzbekistan is being eyed with increasing interest by Western investors, said Ana Jelenkovic, a London-based analyst with think-tank Eurasia Group.

“Since the end of 2009 the rhetoric towards foreign investment has changed, so we’ve seen (Uzbek President Islam) Karimov and other members of the government indicating a very strong interest in attracting foreign investment this year,” she said.

Holding the annual conference in Uzbekistan “reflects growing interest from foreign investors”, including the ADB, she said. The board of governors meeting formally opens tomorrow morning and winds up with a final ADB news conference on Tuesday. But the

choice of Tashkent as a venue for the prestigious annual conference has raised eyebrows among civil society activists, concerned over Uzbekistan’s spotty record on human rights. The NGO Forum on the ADB, a network of 250 civil society organizations which has monitored the bank’s operations since 1992, announced last week that it would be boycotting the event. In a letter posted on the group’s website, it said that it could not in good faith attend the meeting, and called on the bank’s leadership to place a greater emphasis on individual rights. “The ADB must respect the rights of local communities to development and livelihood rather than just serving the interests of the undemocratic, arrogant governments and businesses,” Hemantha Withanage of the Sri Lankan Centre for Environmental Justice said. — AFP

Gulf slick tars BP name: Analysts LONDON: A giant oil slick spreading along the US Gulf coast threatens huge damage to the name of BP, one of the world’s biggest companies, as well as a multi-billion dollar hole in its accounts, analysts said on Friday.

An accident fast turning into the worst oil spill in US history will throw up obstacles to BP’s operations in one of the key world oil zones and a new look at the environmental threat from the industry, analysts said. “Even if not directly liable for the cause, this will impact BP’s overall credibility and ability to do business as effectively in the aftermath,” Peter Hutton, an oil analyst at NCB Stockbrokers, told AFP. Up to 200,000 gallons of oil a day have been spewing into the Gulf of Mexico since a deepwater oil rig operated by BP exploded and sank last week.

The oil hit the Louisiana coast on Friday just before the British energy giant announced that it was “taking full responsibility” and would pay for “legitimate

claims” arising from the disaster.

The US government has already frozen new offshore drilling while the military and oil industry engineers seek ways to tackle the slick which is being blown toward Florida and other states.

BP has been aghast at this latest accident to hit a part of its US operation, which accounts for a huge part of the 6.08 billion dollar (4.5 billion euro) first quarter profits announced Tuesday-up 135 percent on the same period in 2009.

Although it is too early to estimate the fallout from the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster, analysts said BP could have access to oil fields limited and tougher regulation, which would hurt the company and the entire oil sector.

“This is very important from a reputational point of view ... you want to be seen as a reliable partner by those governments that give you access,” said David Hart, an energy analyst at British broker Westhouse Securities.

More than cost and liability, “the bigger

concern is what does this mean for BP’s operation in the Gulf of Mexico,” Hart said.

Fitch Ratings said that containing the slick and clean up costs could be as high as $3 billion (2.2 billion Euros).

BP produces from over 20 gas and oil fields in the gulf. Analysts agreed that the company’s response to the catastrophe has been rapid, but BP’s other accidents in North America makes it more vulnerable to criticism.

In 2005, an explosion at a BP refinery in Texas caused 15 deaths and more than 170 injuries. In 2006 there were two major oil spills at its fields in Alaska. “They’ve had a few missteps and I think in their view they would have liked a few years of clear air,” Hart said. “BP has responded very, very quickly to the incident,” Hutton said, adding that for the company, the Gulf is “a very important area and they are committed to it.” US President Barack Obama has said that “BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and clean-up operations.” And the company has vowed

to take all possible action to limit the impact.

“We are going to do everything we canfirstly, to control the well; secondly, to ensure there is no serious environmental consequence; and thirdly, to understand how this has occurred and ensure that it never occurs again,” BP chief executive Tony Hayward said in a message to staff.

After the Texas accident, an independent panel produced a hefty report on the safety of its US refineries, published in January 2007.

The 374-page report found that BP failed to “fully and comprehensively implement across BP’s US refineries the lessons from previous serious accidents.”

Shares in the company have plunged, but analysts said the market reaction was excessive. “The hit on BP’s shares looks overdone” said Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a research note. “We believe newsflow from Gulf of Mexico is terrible and may get worse, but the financial impacts are overstated,” NCB said.— AFP

EU sugar companies big winners from CAP subsidies BRUSSELS: Sugar companies were among the largest beneficiaries last year of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy payments, according to statistics made public yesterday by most EU member countries. “Each year there are special payments. For the 2009-2009 period the sugar sector benefited from the aid for exporting”, the European Commission spokesman for Agriculture, Roger Waite, said on Friday.

In France, in the year between October 2008 and 2009, three sugar companies received the top subsidies: Tereos (117.9 million euros/$156.8 million), Saint Louis Sucre (143.7 million euros) and Cristal Union (57.2 million euros). In Spain a sugar company also occupied first place, with Azucarera Ebro receiving 119.4 million euros. The world’s leading sugar company

Sudzucker came second in Germany’s list with its 42.9 million euro subsidy, behind the dairy company Nordmilch (51,1 million euros).

The CAP aid for exports allows European exporters to remain competitive by compensating for the EU’s higher prices compared with world markets. It is the second year running that EU countries have had to publish by April 30 the full list of beneficiaries of CAP payments, with the aim of using the information to debate the future of the policy.

France and Britain, which has delayed the publication of its list until after the country’s general election on May 6, are the two main protagonists in the hotly debated reform of the CAP. Britain wants to put an end to direct subsidies, while France is fighting to retain them. — AFP

JAFFNA: A Sri Lankan woman cycles past a roadside market in the northern town of Jaffna on Friday. The Central Bank opened two financial company branches as part of the government’s efforts to revive the war-battered northern region. — AFP

Fraud charges and Greece crisis batter Wall Street NEW YORK: The US stock market lurched wildly this week, tumbling as Europe’s debt crisis intensified and as fraud charges rattled financial players. After starting the week strongly the Dow embarked on a massive mid-week slump, spiraling down over 200 points on Tuesday as Standard and Poor’s downgraded Greek bonds to junk status and also sliced Portugal’s debt rating.

The Dow lost 1.75 percent for the week, shedding almost 200 points. The tech-rich Nasdaq lost 2.73 percent and the broad-based S&P 500 lost 2.5 percent. “Concerns about euro area sovereign debt broadened this week, threatening contagion from Greece to other vulnerable economies,” said Barclays Capital analysts.

“The Greek problem matters for global markets because it raises serious issues about the operation of the euro currency bloc.” The sell-off intensified on Wednesday when Spain’s rating was downgraded, sending its borrowing costs soaring.

Investors awaited details of a multi-billion-dollar bailout from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union over the weekend.

“Market sentiment is likely to hinge on the details of the EU-IMF support package for Greece and the likelihood that the EU portion gets delivered,” said Barclays. After a brief recovery on Thursday the Dow plummeted 159 points on Friday.

Shares in Goldman Sachs were intact throughout much of a testing week, which saw CEO Lloyd Blankfein hauled before Congress to answer for his firm’s role in the financial crisis.

In a day-long grilling Goldman executives were faced with angry questions about why they bet against the US housing market and about fraud charges leveled by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Goldman’s shares were steadily up until Friday trade, when news leaked that New York prosecutors are working on a criminal case against the firm. Stocks ended the week down 7.75 percent, shaving billions of the company’s value.

That rattled other financial stocks as investors feared that more charges could be in the pipeline and that Goldman’s woes would spur lawmakers to toughen planed financial reform.

The US Senate formally opened debate Thursday on the most sweeping finance industry overhaul since the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Barack Obama’s top legislative goal.

Bank of America shares were down 3.26 percent on the week and fellow Dow component JPMorgan ended Friday down 5.25 percent from the previous week. Citigroup shares were off over 10 percent. There was a strong rally on Thursday on positive earnings and news that new claims for US unemployment benefits fell for the second straight week last week, with the Dow up over 100 points.

That came on the heels of a decision by the US Federal Reserve to keep borrowing costs ultralow despite its verdict that the job market is finally starting to improve.

But it was not enough to overcome gloomy sentiment. US car giant Ford on Tuesday said it earned a $2.1 billion profit in the first quarter of 2010, as global sales swelled. Its share price was down 9.52 percent for the week. Exxon Mobil later said its first quarter profits rose 38 percent against the same period a year before, to 6.3 billion dollars, but its share price was hit by malaise in the energy sector cause by an oil spill off the coast of Louisiana.

Oil from a giant Gulf of Mexico slick washed onto Louisiana shores Friday, threatening an environmental calamity as President Barack Obama called for a “thorough review” of the disaster. The disaster at the BP facility prompted the US government to put a freeze on new offshore drilling projects. Exxon’s shares were down 2.12 percent on the week. Some companies did have a successful week. Palm shares soared 16.2 during the week after US computer giant HewlettPackard announced it had reached agreement to buy the troubled US mobile phone maker. — AFP

Argentine oil refinery workers call off strike People wait in line for the chance to apply for a job with Encore, a residential tower with a mix of affordable apartments and market-rate condos, in Tampa, Florida are shown. In the first quarter this year, consumers spent more on things like home furnishings and household appliances, recreational goods and vehicles, clothing, and going out to bars and restaurants. — AP

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine oil refinery workers called off a strike early yesterday after clinching a pay deal in last-ditch talks mediated by the government, a union leader said.

The strike had raised the prospect of fuel shortages during the soy and corn harvest in the South American country, one of the world’s biggest grains suppliers.

“Because we’ve come to an agreement, we’re already in the process of lifting the measure across the country,” Pedro Milla, union secretary for the Federation of Oil, Gas and Biofuels Workers, told Reuters.

The Labor Ministry had been mediating talks

between the workers and the Oil Industry Chamber, which groups leading energy firms.

The refinery workers wanted a 32 percent pay rise, but Milla said they had accepted a 25 percent increase and additional benefits. Strikes and strike threats are common at this time of year in Latin America’s No. 3 economy as trade unions negotiate salary increases, with high inflation stoking recent demands for hikes of around 25 percent on average.

The biggest refinery operators in Argentina are YPF, the local unit of Spain’s Repsol YPF, Royal Dutch Shell, Petrobras and Exxon Mobil Corp under the brand name Esso. — Reuters

TECHNOLOGY

Sunday, May 2, 2010

27

Apple shutting Lala, is ‘Cloud’ music next?

China has more than 400m online users BEIJING: The number of Internet users in China, already the largest in the world, has surpassed 400 million and accounts for almost a third of the country’s population, state media reported yesterday. The online population in the world’s most populous nation has reached 404 million, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the State Council Information Office. That compares with 384 million users at the end of 2009. Users accessing the Internet with mobile phones was steady at 233 million while the number of people with broadband access reached 346 million, the report said.

China’s spiraling online population has turned the Internet into a forum for citizens to express their opinions in a way rarely seen in a country where the traditional media is under strict government control. The growing strength and influence of the web population has prompted concern in Beijing about the Internet’s potential as a tool for generating social unrest, and authorities have stepped up surveillance in recent years. The government blocks web content that it deems politically sensitive in a vast system dubbed the “Great Firewall of China”. — AFP

LOS ANGELES: Apple Inc is shutting down its newly bought Lala online music service amid speculation it is creating a way for iTunes customers to listen to songs stored on distant computers. The move comes just weeks before an annual conference for developers in San Francisco on June 7 at which the secretive company tends to announce big news. Last year, it used the conference to unveil the latest version of its popular iPhone, the 3GS. With Apple continuing to build a $1 billion data center in Maiden, North Carolina, that rivals the largest such facilities in the world, some executives in the online music industry believe that Apple is poised to announce an Internetpowered version of iTunes that would do away with the need to download songs. Such a move would pit Apple, the largest online music retailer, against smaller companies that offer ways to deliver music to mobile devices using “cloud computing,” a remote-storage system that potentially challenges iTunes and its reliance on downloads and personal storage space. “Whatever they bought Lala for, it is likely to be integrated into iTunes,” said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at technology consulting firm Altimeter Group. “It’s no surprise they’re shutting this down.”

But one factor against a big announcement soon is that Apple has not approached music executives about its plans since a few months ago, and new licenses that would be required have not been set up, according to two people at different major recording companies with knowledge of the discussions. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are meant to be confidential. Customers of iTunes currently pay up to $1.29 per song. Because it takes several minutes

to download songs to a phone over cell networks, most users download songs to their computers before transferring them to their phones with a physical cord. A cloud system would let users access the songs right away.

And because storage space wouldn’t be an issue, a user could listen to a wider variety of music on the go.

Several months before Apple bought Lala in December, Lala co-founder Bill Nguyen demonstrated for The

via the cell phone network.

On Monday, Rhapsody unveiled an update to its iPhone application to allow users to play such music even when they lack cell phone coverage. For a $10 monthly fee, users could save any song from a catalog of 9.5 million to their device. Although users can only play the songs for as long as they keep paying, the system still challenges the iTunes model by making it easier to get songs to the phone, without the need for cords

said. Other credits and gift cards are also transferable for a limited time.

Apple has been hiring staff for its North Carolina data center, and in early April advertised on its website for a chief operating engineer.

Only about a dozen data centers in the world are larger than the 500,000square-foot (46,450-square-meter) facility Apple has under construction, said Rich Miller, editor of Data Center Knowledge, a website that tracks such

Apple poised to announce Internetpowered version of iTunes that would do away with the need to download songs Associated Press a working, but unapproved iPhone application that streamed songs instantly to the phone after a user spent 10 cents per song to house them in a digital locker on a distant server.

The 10 cents are credited back to buyers who went on to buy a higher-quality, permanent download. Nguyen called the technology “the end of the MP3,” the dominant format for song downloads. After Apple bought Lala, that iPhone application was never launched.

Since then, several companies have launched similar streaming music functions that do away with downloads and need only be connected to the Internet

and synching with a regular computer.

The ability to quickly save songs on a phone for offline playback was “a huge milestone,” Rhapsody International Inc President Jon Irwin said Friday. “So in a way, the battle’s already begun.” Apple declined to comment Friday on its plans.

Visitors to Lala’s home page have been told since late Thursday that the service isn’t accepting new users and will shut down at the end of May. Songs that were bought from Lala for download are still playable, and people who bought 10-cent songs that can only be played online will get 10 cents credited to their iTunes accounts or a check in the mail, the site

centers. Other companies that have built structures of the same size are “major cloud computing players” such as Microsoft Corp and Google Inc, he said. Apple currently has one data center in Newark, California. That facility covers about 150,000 square feet (13,935 square meters) and is believed to power its MobileMe service of pushing e-mail and calendar events to devices. “It certainly looks like their ambition is to house a lot of data,” Miller said. That would then let Apple deliver greater amounts of content over the Internet than the company’s current offerings. — AP

Volunteers create new digital maps

Sony Ericsson launches XPERIA X10 in ME DUBAI: Sony Ericsson recently announced the launch of XPERIA X10, its flagship offering in the new family of mobile phones that redefines the smartphone category by integrating sophisticated entertainment functionalities and an advanced user interface. Weighing just 135 grams, the XPERIA X10 is equipped with an 8.1 megapixel autofocus camera with 16x digital zoom and includes geo tagging, video recording, smile detection and face recognition.

Featuring a high quality four-inch scratch resistant touch screen with 480 x 854 pixels, it integrates various interfaces such as imaging, music, entertainment, connectivity and messaging to enhance usability in every environment. Husni El-Assi, General Manager, Sony Ericsson Middle East and Africa, said: “Building on Sony Ericsson’s rich heritage of communication and entertainment, the XPERIA X10 provides a unique user experience by integrating social media and enriching people’s opportunities to connect with one another. The technology innovation has focused on humanizing the phone’s interface through added intelligence capabilities.”

Employing Sony’s intelligence capabilities, the XPERIA X10 operates on the new UX platform built on the Open OS, creating a customized Sony Ericsson Android phone, while incorporating brand new features including signature applications such as Timescape, Mediascape and the ‘infinite button’. Timescape offers an unrivalled integration of social media services and a rich

graphic interface, allowing the user to access all communication exchanged with any contact on one platform. On clicking the ‘infinite button’ the application displays the user’s latest communication with a contact SMS, social networks and emails in one window - making it easy to browse through their conversations in one go. It guides users through the connected world, aggregating all their interactions with one person into one view.

Mediascape enables users to browse and access music content as well as photos and videos from their phones, YouTube(tm), PlayNow(tm) or online from the same screen, allowing the user to exchange files with friends or download them from web sources.

The phone’s intelligence capabilities, integrated into Mediascape and Timescape(tm), can automatically recognize

connections between contacts, content and media. Smart face recognition features recognize up to five faces in any picture, automatically connecting them with your social phonebook and all other related communications with that person. XPERIA X10’s advanced technology also incorporates preloaded applications such as Google Search(tm), Google Maps(tm) with Street View, Gmail(tm) and Gtalk(tm), letting consumers organize information in their phones in an astute way.

The XPERIA X10 comes in two chic color options - Sensuous Black and Luster White. Every XPERIA X10 comes packaged with stylish Sony Ericsson accessories including a carry case and a Bluetooth headset (MW600) designed to maximize style and performance. The sleek XPERIA X10 is currently available in all leading electronics stores in the region.

Amazon adds Facebook to Kindle e-reader SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle e-reader is getting access to Facebook and Twitter, along with several other enhancements, as part of a software update being sent wirelessly to the devices. In a posting on Amazon’s site, the company says the new software will let users share book passages on their Twitter and Facebook accounts. The update will also let people sort books and documents

into collections and lock their Kindle with a password. There also will be larger font options and the ability to zoom in on PDF documents. The update comes shortly after Apple released its iPad tablet, which could be the Kindle’s biggest competition.

Both can wirelessly download books.

Amazon said it has released the software to some Kindle owners and expects to send it to all users in late May. — AP

SAN JOSE: When Brian “Beej” Hall first heard about an audacious volunteer effort to create an Internet map of every street and path in every city and village on the planet, he was hooked. At the time, the nascent effort had only a few American members, and the US map was essentially a digital terra incognita.

Just a few years later, the Berkeley software engineer is editing digital maps so precise they include drinking fountains and benches in the Bay Area parks where he hikes, and the mapping community has swelled to more than 240,000 global members. The effort, OpenStreetMap, is a kind of grass-roots Wikipedia for maps that is transforming how map data is collected, shared and used - from the desktop to smart phones to car navigation.

Volunteers have mapped everything from bike paths in Silicon Valley to bear cages in the Berlin Zoo, and added places like Nairobi slums that are often ignored by commercial cartographers. In the hours after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, OpenStreetMap produced detailed digital maps of a quake-altered Port-auPrince that were crucial to relief workers on the ground, a “crisis mapping” template for future disasters.

But increasingly, the nonprofit community collaboration model behind OpenStreetMap, which shares all the cartographic data in its maps for free, is also changing the business of mapping, just as Wikipedia changed the business of reference. More and more, the accuracy of searches on Google Maps or directions issued by your car’s navigational device are based on data collected by volunteers like Hall and other members of OpenStreetMap’s do-it-yourself army.

“A lot of people thought ‘garbage in; garbage out’ - if you only had the ordinary Joe on the street contributing data, you’d get bad data,” said Steve Coast, who founded OpenStreetMap as a university student in Britain in 2004 when he couldn’t find any open-source digital map data, and decided to go out and map Regent’s Park in London himself. “And in fact, it’s much better data.” Coast also has cofounded a Menlo Park startup, CloudMade, which produces a variety of for-profit map software products drawn from OpenStreetMap data.

OpenStreetMap uses public mapping data from government agencies and aerial imagery donated by Yahoo and others. Its master Internet map is also based on large amounts of data uploaded by volunteer mappers who use GPS units to trace roads, trails and other features. In November, CloudMade released a free web application called Mapzen that allows people to edit the shape of a building, trace in a pond or label points of interest from benches to bike shops, together with an iPhone application, Mapzen POI Collector that simply lets users add points of interest.

Google also increasingly relies on feedback from users to make sure its digital maps are accurate and comprehensive, but it does not allow users to directly upload data into its maps, at least not yet. In the next few months, though, Google plans to introduce a product in the

MORGAN HILL, California: Shawn Britton uploads GPS data to www.OpenStreetMap.org after going on a Sierra Club hike at Uvas Canyon County Park. — MCT US called Map Maker, which gives users much more power to customize maps.

And Tele Atlas, a company that supplies digital map data used for everything from car navigation devices to 911 dispatching, now allows individual users to suggest map changes directly from their navigation devices.

Citizen mapping is “an evolution of the entire mapping process,” said Richard Taketa, chairman of the geography department at San Jose State. It “is going to be part of the mapping world as we move on to the future.” Like orienteering or geocaching, mapping can become a kind of outdoor hobby, with a touch of something more. “There is a very strong community ethic around it,” said Marc Prioleau of Palo Alto, who has mapped mountain bike trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains and ski trails at Squaw Valley in the Sierra. “In some parts of the country, in some parts of the world, it’s as much a social group as it is a maps group.”

Shawn Britton, a Santa Clara software engineer, has discovered that adding mapping to the Sierra Club hikes he leads attracts more people. On a recent fivemile hike through Uvas Canyon County Park near Morgan Hill, his group carried two GPS units that tracked the exact location of trails. Hall, who uploaded some of the first US place names into OpenStreetMap from a government database back when the community was first branching out from the UK and Europe, has attended a number of “mapping parties” in the Bay Area. People get together to map an area, then adjourn to a local watering hole to upload data and socialize.

“It’s everything from young students still in college to retirees,” said Hall, 38,

who has also mapped remote areas of California such as the Lava Beds National Monument. “Some people love it because they love maps. Some people really like the idea of free data.” It took about three years for OpenStreetMap to hit 10,000 users, but over the past 12 months, the community has jumped from about 110,000 members to 244,000. Google has also been surprised by the emotional response people have had to its Map Maker product, which is available in 181 countries from Africa to the Philippines, with some individual users contributing tens of thousands of edits.

“Those local users took that to heart as a way to elevate their local community, to sort of put themselves on the map,” said Lior Ron, group product manager for Google Maps. “The concept of what a map is, is changing. With these tools, this is no longer just something that is owned by a government; it’s owned by the community.” There is debate about which model produces better maps - OpenStreetMap’s volunteer community or a traditional commercial mapmaker like Tele Atlas, which primarily relies on its proprietary mobile mapping van technology, as well as satellite and aerial imagery and other sources. Of OpenStreetMap, “I’m sure for some people and some applications the data they have is sufficient,” said Patrick McDevitt, vice president of community mapping for Tele Atlas, noting its data is used for critical functions like dispatching ambulances. OpenStreetMap users say that because their data is collected by people who actually live in a place, it is more likely to be accurate. “It’s the people’s map,” said Paul Jarrett, director of mapping for CloudMade. — MCT

HEALTH & SCIENCE

28

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Camera screens can cut colon cancer death rate Screening 55 to 64-year-olds would save lives and money

PITTSBURGH: A pair of blue fronted Amazon parrots fly from a perch to a trainer after the “Flite Zone” program at the National Aviary. The performance was part of the program for zoo trainers and professional animal handlers from across the United States, Canada and the UK attending the Animal Behavior Management Alliance conference in Pittsburgh this week. —AP

Fat Americans threaten security, say generals WASHINGTON: Increasing rates of obesity among young Americans could undermine the future of the US military, with potential recruits increasingly too fat to serve, two retired generals said on Friday. “Obesity rates threaten the overall health of America and the future strength of our military,” generals John Shalikashvili and Hugh Shelton, both former chairs of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a commentary.

Obesity disqualified more potential recruits for military service than any other medical factor, the two former commanders wrote in the Washington Post. The two generals urged Congress to adopt legislation that would ensure better nutrition in schools, offering children more vegetables, fruits and whole grains while cutting back on foods with high sugar, sodium and fat content.

“We consider this problem so serious from a national security perspective that we have joined more than 130 other retired generals, admirals and senior military leaders in calling on Congress to pass

new child nutrition legislation,” wrote the commanders, part of a non-profit group called “Mission: Readiness.” The warning came amid growing concern that childhood obesity has turned into an “epidemic,” affecting a staggering one in three American youngsters.

A study released in March warned more American children are becoming extremely obese at a younger age, putting them at risk of dying decades younger than normal-weight children and of suffering old-age illnesses in their 20s. The US military also faces a problem with troops already serving who are overweight, with some soldiers losing out on promotions because of their failure to meet fitness standards.

Although the military enjoyed recordbreaking recruitment levels last year, officials say the growing problem of obesity could present a serious problem for recruitment efforts over time. The two retired generals endorsed a plan by

President Barack Obama’s administration to increase funding by one billion dollars a year over ten years for child nutrition programs. Investing in nutrition made sense as the country was already spending 75 billion dollars a year on medical costs associated with obesity, they said.

Citing figures from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the commentary said the proportion of potential recruits who flunked their physical tests because they were overweight has jumped nearly 70 percent since 1995.

Shalikashvili, who led the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997, and Shelton, who held the same post from 1997 to 2001, cited school lunch legislation passed in 1946 as a model. Military leaders at the time recognized that poor nutrition reduced the pool of qualified candidates for the armed forces, they said. “We must act, as we did after World War II, to ensure that our children can one day defend our country, if need be.” —AFP

health and science briefs Gene scan shows man’s risk for heart attack WASHINGTON: A California college professor who sequenced his own genome has had it analyzed-and discovered he has a high risk of dropping dead of a sudden heart attack, as well as a high prostate cancer risk. The analysis, published in the Lancet medical journal, illustrates the challenges facing doctors, patients and healthcare systems as such DNA maps become easier to get and as people seek to find out their disease risks.

NASA may stretch out Mars mission WASHINGTON: NASA is considering a plan to get around limited budgets set in Washington by stretching out missions to bring back samples from Mars, a researcher said on Wednesday. It may be possible to break down the complicated and expensive mission into three parts, said Steve Squyres, a Cornell University astronomer who leads the Mars Exploration Rover Mission.

Iceland has longest-lived men, US scores poorly WASHINGTON: AIDS, smoking and obesity are reversing progress made in helping people live longer around the world, with mortality rates worsening over the past 20 years in 37 countries, researchers reported on Thursday. They found Icelandic men have the lowest risk of premature death, while Cypriot women do. Some rich countries such as the United States and Britain scored relatively poorly, the survey found.

Anabolic steroid users may face heart trouble NEW YORK: Bulking up with anabolic steroids appears to damage and weaken the heart, a new study shows, in principle increasing the odds of heart failure. While it’s nothing new that steroids have bad health effects, the new findings show they may be more harmful than previously thought. In heart failure, a weakened heart can’t pump enough blood around the body.

Obesity ups risk of painful fibromyalgia NEW YORK: To help guard against the pain syndrome fibromyalgia, best to maintain a healthy weight and stay active, according to a new study from Norway. The study in women found that being overweight or obese was associated with increased risk of fibromyalgia, especially among women who weren’t all that physically active.

Severe morning sickness more likely if mom had it NEW YORK: Women whose mothers suffered from a serious type of morning sickness are at triple the risk of the condition themselves, a new analysis of more than 2 million birth records shows. The cause of severe morning sickness is unknown, although investigators have suspected there might be a genetic component. It occurs in up to 2 percent of pregnancies, and causes nearconstant nausea and vomiting, putting both mom and baby at risk of serious complications.

Flu vaccines up, but not enough, govt says WASHINGTON: More Americans got vaccinated against influenza in the past season than ever before, but too few people are seeking vaccines, US health experts reported on Thursday. Publicity surrounding the pandemic of H1N1 swine flu probably drove people to clinics, the team at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Check blood pressure at home, not MD’s office NEW YORK: Think you need to go to the doctor’s office to check your blood pressure? Think again: The best way to predict your risk of stroke or heart attack due to high blood pressure is through systematic monitoring at home rather than periodic checks in the doctor’s office, new research suggests. “With home blood pressure monitoring you get a greater number of measurements and there is no white-coat effect,” lead author Dr Teemu Niiranen told Reuters Health, speaking of the tendency for anxiety to drive up blood pressure.

Fish oil keeps you smart? Sounds fishy, says study NEW YORK: Fish oil may be good for your heart but it doesn’t seem to help keep you smart, according to a two-year British study.

Numerous studies have shown that people who eat more fish have better mental function, and are less likely to develop dementia. But after studying 748 men and women aged in their 70s, researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine cast some doubt on this link.

“This is an important finding because a lot of people are taking fish oil in the hopes that it will be good for their cognitive function,” researcher Dr Alan D Dangour told Reuters Health. “The problem with a lot of these studies of course is there are lots of reasons why people eat more fish,” Dangour pointed out but added that he didn’t rule out the possibility that taking fish oil for a longer period of time might have beneficial effects.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, involved 748 men and women in their 70s, none of whom had any dementia or other impairment of mental function.

The participants took 200 milligrams of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus 300 mg docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) every day for two years or a placebo capsule containing olive oil. EPA and DHA are the two main omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. —Reuters

LONDON: Screening 55 to 64-year-olds with an examination of the lower colon and rectum using a small camera can cut death rates from colorectal cancer by 43 percent, British scientists said on Wednesday. Colorectal cancer is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer worldwide, accounting for more than a million cases and around 600,000 deaths every year. Beating the disease is strongly linked to how early it is detected, with survival rates of around 90 percent for cancers that are found early and have not spread.

Many developed countries have introduced screening programs using a fecal occult blood test, which can detect early cases and reduce death rates by around 15 percent. But Wendy Atkin from Imperial College London and Jane Wardle from University College London said their study showed more lives, and money, could be saved if screening used sigmoidoscopy — a small, flexible camera that is inserted into the rectum.

“Economic analyses suggest ... a once-only flexible sigmoidoscopy screen at age 55 or 60 years would be cost saving, largely because of the avoided costs of treatment,” they wrote. Some of the newest drugs in colon cancer-such as Roche’s Avastin, Vectibix from Amgen and Erbitux from Merck KGaA-can cost thousands of euros a month.

Atkin said in a telephone interview her conclusion that sigmoidoscopy screening would save money was based on previous studies showing it was cost effective in preventing the need to treat so many patients with such expensive medicines.

“There’s a real problem about the affordability of these drugs,” she said. “But one way to make them more available is to reduce the numbers who develop these cancers with screening.”

Cancer screening programs in developed nations have come under close scrutiny in recent months with some European studies suggesting national breast cancer screening programs do little to reduce death rates and research in the United States showing that prostate cancer screens lead to widespread over diagnosis. Commenting on the study, which was published in The Lancet medical journal, David Ransohoff of the University of North Carolina said the findings showed that for this test and this type of cancer, screening appeared to be well worth while.

“The good news is that this size of benefit is large for any cancer screening test, certainly compared with mammography for breast cancer or assay of prostate-specific antigen (PSA tests) for prostate cancer,” he wrote.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 170,000 men and women from 1994 to 1999 at 14 health centers across Britain and then followed the patients’ progress.

Most colorectal cancers start from adenomas, often symptomless growths that develop in 20 to 30 percent of the population. Twothirds of colorectal cancers and adenomas are in the rectum and lower colon, which can be detected early by flexible sigmoidoscopy.

Among those who attended screening, rates of colorectal cancer were cut by 33 percent and death rates from the disease were cut by 43 percent, they said.

This means one colorectal cancer death is prevented for every 489 people screened. —Reuters

UTICA, Michigan: In this photo, Shannon and Paul Morell are shown with their son Logan. —AP

US couple writes book about embryo mix-up UTICA: On the drive home from the hospital, Shannon Morell peered at her sleeping newborn in his car seat and wondered, what would be the fastest route back to normal? The truth is the arrival of every child forces a new definition of normal. But unlike most other parents, Morell and her husband, Paul, had no advice books on what they were going through: Their son was the result of an extraordinary mix-up at a fertility clinic in which another woman was implanted with the Morells’ embryo. Seven months after their son’s birth, the Morells - who only reluctantly talked to the media in the days before he was born - have written a book chronicling their experience and say sharing the story is a necessary detour on the road to a regular life.

“It wraps it all up,” Shannon Morell said earlier this week in a suburban Detroit hotel room with her husband and a frequently smiling and cooing Logan. “We didn’t want our experience to go to waste,” her husband added. The Morells, who live in a Detroit suburb, are making the media rounds after co-writing “Misconception” with author Angela Hunt. The book is due out Tuesday. “I feel we’ve done our best to help other couples, give them some insight of what we went through, what we’ve learned,” Shannon Morell said. “And let fertility clinics know, ‘Hey, we haven’t forgotten what happened. Have you looked at your security, have you tightened up protocols? What have you done?”‘ Embryo mix-ups at fertility clinics are extremely rare. In those few instances, they’ve degenerated into custody battles, ugly lawsuits and at least one abortion. This is one of the only known cases that ended amicably. Carolyn Savage, the Sylvania, Ohio, woman who was implanted with the Morells’ embryos, and her husband, Sean Savage, didn’t want to have an abortion and had no desire to raise the child. The mix-up at the clinic apparently happened because Shannon’s maiden name is Savage and she hadn’t changed it until after using in vitro fertilization to become pregnant with twins. After their daughters were born in 2006, the Morells had six frozen embryos left and planned to try for another baby.

The Morells won’t identify the clinic because of a confidential settlement. They also won’t discuss financial terms, though Shannon Morell said the clinic didn’t “accept responsibility until after it had been in the media.” About three months into the pregnancy the couples met in Toledo. A breakthrough in their relationship came in August, when Carolyn Savage invited Shannon Morell to an ultra-

sound appointment. The Morells initially sought to keep the story private, but in their book they say that Carolyn’s husband, Sean Savage, said “pregnancy is a public event” and can’t be hidden.

In September, shortly before Logan’s birth, Carolyn Savage told Shannon Morell they would soon appear on NBC’s “Today” show. Savage told Morell she wouldn’t mention their names, but the Morells figured their anonymity would soon end. “It was like a tidal wave was coming,” said Paul, 39, a self-employed electrical engineer, who calls Logan “buddy” and likes to bounce him on his wife’s Pilates ball at home to get him to sleep.

For Shannon Morell, 40, the fear of going public was diminished by the desire to tell their story. Morell, an eighth-grade teacher, said staying silent gave the impression they were just “going to get the baby and live happily ever after.” On Sept 23, the Morells appeared on the morning show. In the hours that followed, the phone kept ringing and reporters descended on her house. The media crush made her wonder whether they made the wrong choice. The next day, their son was born, and the Morells were at the hospital to greet him in a private, guarded waiting area. Before leaving, they visited with the Savages and signed the documents that made Logan legally theirs.

Since his birth, the Morells say the couples have stayed in touch and the families got together in December. “I’m glad that they’ve taken an interest,” Shannon Morell said. “I wasn’t sure at first. ... But I think after the fact, it just seems like, well, you carry a baby, you establish a bond.” The Savages, who have three children, said in a statement it’s been “much more difficult for us than anticipated” since Logan’s birth.

They declined to be interviewed but say they plan to release their own book early next year.

“We pray Logan Morell grows to understand his birth was a blessing and his life a gift,” the statement said.

Shannon Morell said her book is meant to serve as a public thank you to the Savages.

Writing it also helped her deal with her many emotions and provide advice she wished she’d had. The ultimate goal is to arrive at something approaching normal. “We’re moving forward, we’re doing what we can to help other people, we’re telling our story,” she said. “Hopefully then, we move off the stage and just go to the park, play with our kids and have a regular life, like nothing ever happened.” —AP

PITTSBURGH: In this April 30, 2010 photo, Koda, a 900 pound Polar Bear swims above visitors to the Water’s Edge exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo. —AP

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Sunday, May 2, 2010

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Philippines’ dirty jeepneys start to turn green MANILA: With exhausts that belch out dark clouds of fumes, drivers who arrogantly break road rules and sardine-can-like interiors, “jeepney” mini-buses are an unlikely source of pride in the Philippines. The iconic vehicles with their flamboyant paint designs are much loved as a symbol of national ingenuity because Filipinos created them from surplus US military jeeps after American forces left at the end of World War II. However, six decades later, they are also becoming known as environmental vandals because their huge diesel-powered motors are one of the major contributors to air pollution and ensuing health problems in Philippine cities. “Because the old jeepneys are all diesel fed and so inefficient, they produce a lot of pollution,” said Red Constantino, director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, a Manila-based non-government organization.

Constantino, along with a small collection of politicians, business groups and other NGOs, has embarked on a campaign to turn the Philippines’ main form of public transport green by replacing them with so-called “ejeepneys”. The e-jeepneys look like little more than glorified golf carts, but they are an

e-jeepneys look like glorified golf carts; powered by electricity emissions-free form of transport powered by electricity that carry a dozen people each.

After charging for between six and eight hours, the e-jeepneys can travel about 70 kilometers (45 miles) at speeds of up to 60 kilometers an hour, according to their manufacturer, Philippine Utility Vehicle. Makati, Metro Manila’s financial district and arguably its most orderly city, introduced the e-jeepneys on two so-called “green routes” late last year. “Because of the e-jeepney we were able to reduce smoke-belching problems... and that was able to give an answer to our problems of air pollution,” Makati mayor Jejomar Binay told AFP on board one of the mini-buses recently. With only 15 servicing Makati, compared with 60,000 licensed traditional jeepneys across all of Metro Manila, Binay may have been overstating the environmental benefits in his enthusiasm for the project.

Nevertheless, Constantino, a former climate change campaigner for Greenpeace, said the Makati project was crucial in offering a show-

MANILA: This photo shows a battery powered ‘jeepney’ making its daily trip in the financial district. - AFP

case for the future. “It’s very important to have solutions on the ground to show people that these types of things are viable,” he said.

“Our goal is to eventually replace all public utility vehicles with appropriate electric ones.” Constantino said momentum was starting to build, with a third green route to be opened in Makati next month and other city governments in Metro Manila placing orders to buy e-jeepneys.

Meanwhile, Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan island in the southwest of the archipelago, is developing as a second flagship city for the planned e-transport revolution. Puerto Princesa authorities are aiming to introduce an e-jeepney fleet, but their major ambition is to replace the city’s 4,000 gasoline-powered tricycles with electric “e-trikes”, Constantino said. A big next step for Puerto Princesa and Makati is to build biogas plants to power the e-vehicles with organic waste from local markets and households, rather than using fossilfuel derived electricity as is currently the

case. Puerto Princesa began construction of a one-megawatt biogas plant, costing 2.4 million dollars, in February to fuel its electric public transport fleet.

Tropical storm Ketsana, which submerged vast parts of Manila in October last year, delayed a similar project for Makati but Constantino said that would also soon get underway. Amid the hype for the e-jeepneysthey have won a plethora of positive reports in the local media-traditional jeepney drivers remain skeptical.

“We are not against e-jeeps, we know they are for our common good but they only work in Makati where roads are smooth,” said Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines president Zeny Maranan. “I also want to see how long e-jeeps will last for. And I see maintenance as a problem... our current jeepneys have durable chassis and bodies that can withstand collisions. How about an e-jeep, how sturdy is it?” Nevertheless, Maranan conceded that old jeepneys-with powerful engines and bodies originally designed for battle rather than city traffic-had serious environmental flaws. —AFP

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WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Embassy information EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to invite all Nigerians residing in Kuwait to come and register with the Embassy. The registration is compulsory for all Nigerians residing /visiting Kuwait. Kindly bring the following documents along with you: • A photocopy of the Nigerian passport • One passport photograph • Copy of the civil identification card or visa For additional information please call: 25620278 or visit the Embassy at Block, 4, Malik Bin Anas Street, Avenue 44, House 31, Along Al-Aqsa Road, Rumaithiya. The Consular Section opens Sunday - Thursday from 9 am - 3 pm Your prompt response is highly solicited.

Nritta Dhyana students make brilliant presentation

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait informs that it has started updating the information about Ukrainian citizens, who live and work in Kuwait. In this connection, we are asking you to refer to the Embassy and update your file in consular register in order not to be excluded from it. For additional information please call: 25318507 ext.106 or visit the embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait (address: Hawalli, Jabriya, bl.10, str.6, house 5).

The consular section of the Embassy open every day from 09:30 till 14:30 except Friday and Saturday.

EMBASSY OF INDIA

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n Friday, April 16, the students of Sujatha Rajendran, Director, Nritta Dhyana (The School for Indian Classical Dance) presented before a large audience at the American International School (Maidan Hawally) a multitude of colorful and spectacular Indian classical dances. The presentation for the evening was inaugurated by Ajay Malhotra, the Ambassador of India. Amongst the esteemed guests were Ashraf Suleiman, the Ambassador of South Africa.

The performance commenced with a beautiful number on Lord Ganesha presented by Sujatha’s senior most disciples in the Mohiniattam style - the classical dance form of Kerala. Following this, were a number of impressive dances performed by some of the younger students clad in colorful costumes. The repertoire included Ananda Narthana Ganapathy, Alarippu, Jathiswaram, Sabdam and many other dances. Even though many of the children were going on stage for the first time, the synchronization

and co-ordination among them was noteworthy.

The highlight of the evening though, was a dance-drama of the well-known Hindu myth Dasavatharam, presented by eleven of Sujatha’s senior most students. Enhanced stunningly by the lighting and nuances in the music, the ten embodiments of Lord Vishnu and their significance were portrayed through the variety of movements adopted by the dancers. Through their expressive faces and brilliant group coordination, Sujatha’s students

had managed to enrapture the audience and impress them greatly, as could be seen by the positive response from them at the end of the dance. The show proceeded with other performances mainly by the senior students of Nritta Dhyana and concluded with the Mangalam (a short piece) presented by all of the performers. The support of the sponsors, parents and many other well-wishers was vital in making this presentation by the students of Nritta Dhyana possible.

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any many happy returnsof the day to Saagar Nair on his third birthday from acha, amma and Sneha.

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appy birthday to Aaya Fahad Omer Yousuf AlRabi. Best wishes from father Fahad Omer Yousuf AlRabi, uncle Abdullah Omer Yousuf Al-Rabi, and Hasham Omer Yousuf AlRabi.

The Embassy of India has further revamped and improved its Legal Advice Clinic at the Indian Workers Welfare Center, and made the free service available to Indian nationals on all five working days, i.e. from Sunday to Thursday every week. Kuwaiti lawyers would be available at the Legal Advice Clinic daily from Monday to Thursday, while Indian lawyers would be available on Sundays. Following are the free welfare services provided at the Indian Workers Welfare Center located at the Embassy of India: [i] 24x7 Helpline for Domestic Workers: Accessible by toll free telephone no. 25674163 from anywhere in Kuwait, it provides information and advice exclusively to Indian domestic sector workers (Visa No. 20) as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. [ii] Help Desk: It offers guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal, and other issues (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iii) Labour Complaints Desk: It registers labor complaints and provides grievance redressal service to Indian workers (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iv) Shelters: For female and male domestic workers in distress; (v) Legal Advice Clinic: Provides free legal advice to Indian nationals (Embassy premises; Kuwaiti lawyers 3 PM to 5 PM, Monday to Thursday; Indian lawyers 2 PM to 4 PM on Sunday); and (vi) Attestation of Work Contracts: Private sector worker (Visa No. 18) contracts are accepted at the Embassy; 9 AM to 1 PM; Sunday to Thursday; Domestic sector worker (Visa No. 20) contracts are accepted at Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offices (KUDLO), Hawally, Al-Othman Street, Kurd Roundabout, Al-Abraj Complex, Office No 9, Mezzanine Floor; 9 AM to 9 PM, Saturday to Thursday; 5 PM to 9 PM on Friday.

EMBASSY OF PHILIPPINES The Embassy of the Philippines wishes to inform the Filipino community in the State of Kuwait, that the recent supreme court decision to extend the registration of voter’s applies only in local registration in the Philippines under Republic Act no. 8189 and does not apply to overseas voters which is governed by Republic Act no. 9189, hence it has no impact on the plans and preparations on the conduct of overseas absentee voting.

The overseas absentee voting for presidential elections will continue uninterrupted until May 10, 2010 daily at the Philippine Embassy. Registered overseas absentee voters are advised to schedule their days off in advance to avoid complications in their schedules. Qualified voters are encouraged to get out and vote.

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any happy returns of the day to our loving son Aiyaan Anas Khaleel on his third birthday.

May Allah`s blessings always be on you and keep you happy. Best wishes from papa, mama, dadu, dadhi, nanu, nani, bade papa, chachu, aunts, poo, riz, izan, nuha, nishana, sajid, murali, satish, daffy, dabby and family.

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ouzia Begum celebrates her fifth birthday.

Best wishes from father Faiyaz Hussain, grandfather Fida Hussain, and uncle, Sahhed Hussain.

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

Sunday, May 2, 2010

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WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Farewell event for ambassadors’ spouses

arjis Al-Shatti held a farewell lunch banquette to commemorate the spouses of ambassadors who are set to leave Kuwait after the end of their deputation in the country, and they are: the wife of the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the wife of the ambassador of South Africa, the wife of the ambassador of Indonesia and the wife of the ambassador of Azerbaijan. The event was attended by several spouses of current ambassadors of other countries to Kuwait, including the wife of the Lebanese ambassador to Kuwait who is currently visiting the country. In addition, members of the international women’s committee took part in the event.

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Sahara Resort celebrates Earth Day

Al-Anjari and Bayrly pose with the team members after planting the tree. he Green Team of the Sahara Resort held an event recently in commemoration of the United Nation’s World Earth Day celebrations, which featured planting a tree that was called “the rainbow tree”, as it represents the various backgrounds and continents from where the resort’s work team comes from. The

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event was attended by CEO of Al-Jazeerah real estate development company, Nabeelah Al-Anjari, while the event was led by the general manager of the resort, Hassan Bayrly. Bayrly pointed out the great importance that the resort’s team give to protect the 450,000 square meter plantation area in the resort, while special-

ized technical teams use the latest technology to maintain the quality of the plants despite the rough climate and environment features. Bayrly further indicated that the resort uses waters from Al-Riqqa water purification plant for irrigation, while they use electricity-powered karts inside to protect the environment.

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stage shows of classical music recital where he is the star singer.

At Integrated Indian School, Abbasiya on Friday people had a chance to taste Sharreth as a classical singer, something different from the judge they see everyday on TV. The versatile musician was accompanied by Mavelikkara Sathees Chandran on violin, Perunna Hari on

mrudangam and Manjoor Unnikrishnan on ghatam. The kacheri (recital) began with a homage to Sharreth’s master Dr Balamuraleekrishna’s raga on mother and the two-and-ahalf hour musical program saw the recital mostly in raga panthuvarali. The program ended with thillana, another tribute to the master Dr Balamuraleekrishna.

Manjoor Unnikrishnan

world and look at its future trend to forecast the fraction of the production that will be consumed domestically.

The trends are examined over the last 30 years and a forecast is made for the next 15 years. Results indicate that indeed domestic energy consumption appears to place an undue pressure on revenues and could become a problem in some countries.

Join Dr Alforgi on May 4 at 7pm at Aware.

harreth, prominent Indian music director who is well known for breaking traditional melody tunes in his films entered the music industry with his original name, Sujith.

Unable to break the mould prevalent in the industry he tried something almost everyone does in the field - he changed his name according to numerology. Sujith who had his voice rendered in a few films like His Highness Abdullah, did become a noted music director making himself a sing-apart music director with his melodious depth. Now he is a star judge in the popular music reality show, the most watched television program by Keralites all over the world.

Sharreth, 41, whose music is a voyage to perfection, was in Kuwait over the weekend for a classical music program organized by Mavelikkara Association, Kuwait. Ping ponging between Chennai, where he resides and works for films and Thiruvananthapuram where the shooting for the TV program takes place, Sharreth has struck a chord with his dealers as well as disciples. His opinions are highly rated and his film songs are critically acclaimed and remain in the hit chart for long. He also does

Sharreth

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Domestic consumption if not carefully monitored, could quietly “eat-up” a large portion of oil and gas production and deprive these countries from an essential income. This can be a particularly serious problem if the increase in domestic consumption is caused by non-productive and even counter-productive activities that have no positive return. Dr Alforgi will examine the current trend of domestic consumption in the Arab

he Board of ICSK believes that the students, family, the school staff, and the community create educational partnership and share responsibility in learning success. The role of the PAC is to provide assistance, to the school respecting any matter relating to programs and services in order to help the school attain its goal of providing each child with the best education possible.

Indian Community School’s Parent’s Advisory Council is proud to announce the annual cultural fest named PAC Arts Festival 2010, exclusively for the students of all the branches of Indian Community School Kuwait. The competitions are being organized with a view to bring out the innate talents of the younger generation amidst the Indian Community School children. The Arts Fest will be spread over a twoweek period with more than 6,500 children competing in a wide variety of events for which close to 2,000 children have registered to participate in various events. This program is exclusively conducted by the parents of ICSK children. A gala event and prize distribution has been planned for the May 13 where Ajai Malhotra, the Indian Ambassador has consented to be the chief guest.

wins hearts

Perunna Hari

lecture on “The impact of domestic energy consumption on revenues from oil and gas exports in the Arab countries,” by Dr Alforgi M Zaid Dr Alforgi Mohammed will address issues involved in domestic energy consumption in the Arab countries. Revenues derived from oil and gas exports represent the major portion of the total revenues for many Arab countries and constitute the backbone of their economy.

ICSK PAC Arts Festival 2010

Mavelikkara Sathees Chandran

Aware center diwaniya

TV PROGRAMS

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings 13:20 Eliot Kid 13:45 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 14:10 Megas Xlr 14:35 Samurai Jack 15:00 Total Drama Action 20:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 21:00 Megas Xlr 21:25 Samurai Jack 21:50 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 22:05 The Powerpuff Girls 22:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 22:45 Ben 10: Alien Force 23:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 23:35 Robotboy

00:00 House 01:00 Dawson’s Creek 02:00 Bones 03:00 Kathy Griffin 04:00 Dawson’s Creek 05:00 The Closer 06:00 CSI New York 07:00 House 08:00 Glee 09:00 Drop Dead Diva 10:00 Bones 11:00 Kathy Griffin 12:00 CSI New York 13:00 The Closer 14:00 Bones 15:00 Dawson’s Creek 16:00 Glee 17:00 Drop Dead Diva 18:00 House 19:00 CSI New York 20:00 Criminal Minds 21:00 Cold Case 22:00 Supernatural 23:00 Nip/Tuck

00:45 Human Prey 01:40 Untamed & Uncut 02:35 Untamed & Uncut 03:30 Animal Cops Miami 04:25 Animal Witness 04:50 Animal Witness 05:20 Animal Cops Phoenix 06:10 RSPCA: Have You Got What it Takes?

06:35 Jockeys 07:00 Meerkat Manor 07:25 Pet Rescue 07:50 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:15 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:45 Animal Cops Phoenix 09:40 Aussie Animal Rescue 10:05 Austin Stevens: Most Dangerous...

10:55 Miami Animal Police 11:50 RSPCA: On the Frontline 12:15 Going Ape 12:45 Animal Precinct 13:40 Wildlife SOS 14:05 Wildlife SOS 14:35 SSPCA: On the Wildside 15:00 SSPCA: On the Wildside 15:30 Dogs 101 16:25 Into the Pride 17:20 Uakari ‚Äì Secrets of the English Monkey 18:15 The Animals’ Guide to Survival 19:10 Almost Human with Jane Goodall 20:10 Austin Stevens Adventures 21:05 Untamed & Uncut 22:00 Untamed & Uncut

00:30 Blackadder II 01:30 Manchild 02:00 The Life And Times Of Vivienne Vyle 02:30 Suburban Shootout 03:05 Teletubbies 03:30 Me Too 03:50 Fimbles 04:10 Teletubbies 04:35 Me Too 04:55 Fimbles 05:15 Teletubbies 05:40 Me Too 06:00 Fimbles 06:20 Teletubbies 06:45 Me Too 07:05 Fimbles 07:25 Teletubbies 07:50 Me Too 08:10 Fimbles 08:30 Teletubbies 08:55 Me Too 09:15 Fimbles 09:35 Teletubbies 10:00 Coast 11:00 Doctors 13:30 Bargain Hunt 14:15 The Weakest Link 15:45 Cash In The Attic 16:15 Doctor Who 17:00 Doctor Who Confidential 17:20 Robin Hood 18:05 Casualty 18:55 Casualty 19:45 Model Gardens 20:15 Hell To Hotel 21:45 Silent Witness 22:45 Dalziel And Pascoe

00:30 Bargain Hunt 01:15 Come Dine With Me 03:20 Chuck’s Day Off 04:10 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 04:35 Gino D’Acampo - An Italian In Mexico 05:00 Saturday Kitchen 06:00 Living In The Sun 07:10 Saturday Kitchen 07:40 Saturday Kitchen 08:15 Living In The Sun 08:55 Cash In The Attic 11:10 Saturday Kitchen 13:00 Living In The Sun 13:45 Cash In The Attic 16:00 Bargain Hunt 16:45 Come Dine With Me 18:50 Chuck’s Day Off 19:40 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 20:05 Gino D’Acampo - An Italian In Mexico 20:30 The Naked Chef 20:55 The Naked Chef 23:50 Saturday Kitchen

Blank Check on Show Movies kids

00:45 The Indian Runner-PG15 03:00 Solaris-PG15 04:45 Wall Street-18 07:00 2012: Startling New Secret-PG 09:00 Quand J’etais Chanteur-PG15 11:00 Uncross The Stars-PG 13:00 Max And Co.-PG 15:00 Trekkies 2-PG 16:45 We Are Marshall-PG15 19:00 The Hi-Lo Country-18 21:00 Arlington Road-18 23:00 Johnny Mad Dog-18

00:00 Deadly Women 01:00 Undercover 02:00 Prototype This 02:55 Brainiac 03:50 Nextworld 04:45 How It’s Made 05:10 Ultimate Survival 06:05 Mythbusters 07:00 Fifth Gear 07:30 Fifth Gear 07:55 Heartland Thunder 08:50 Street Customs Berlin 09:45 How It’s Made 10:10 Destroyed in Seconds 11:05 Ultimate Survival 12:00 American Chopper 17:30 How It’s Made 18:00 Extreme Fishing 19:00 River Monsters: Killer Catfish 20:00 Prototype This 21:00 Mythbusters 22:00 Against the Elements 23:00 MacIntyre: World’s Toughest Towns

00:30 Building the Biggest 01:20 The Colony 02:10 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 03:00 Nextworld 03:50 Building the Biggest 04:45 What’s That About?

05:40 How Does That Work?

06:10 Mighty Ships 07:00 Junkyard Mega-Wars 08:00 The Gadget Show 09:00 Nextworld 09:55 Stuntdawgs 15:25 Savage Planet 15:55 Science of Storm Chasing 16:50 Mighty Ships 17:45 Engineered 18:40 How Does That Work?

19:30 What’s That About?

20:20 Space Pioneer 21:10 Building the Biggest 22:00 Future Weapons 23:40 Extreme Bodies

00:00 Hannah Montana 02:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:45 Handy Manny 03:10 Lazytown 03:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 04:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 04:50 Hannah Montana 05:15 Sonny With A Chance 06:00 Little Einsteins 06:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 06:45 Handy Manny 07:10 Lazytown 07:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:00 Hannah Montana 08:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 08:50 Sonny With A Chance 09:15 Hannah Montana 09:40 Sonny With A Chance 10:05 Wizards Of Waverly Place 10:30 Princess Protection Programme 12:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 12:25 Jonas

12:50 Jonas 13:15 Wizards Of Waverly Place 14:10 Hannah Montana 14:35 Sonny With A Chance 15:00 Starstruck 16:35 Jonas 17:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 17:50 Hannah Montana 18:10 Sonny With A Chance 19:00 High School Musical 20:35 Hannah Montana 21:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 21:45 The Replacements 22:00 Hannah Montana 22:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 22:50 Sonny With A Chance 23:15 Hannah Montana 23:40 Sonny With A Chance

06:00 American Dragon 06:25 Kid vs Kat 06:50 Phineas & Ferb 07:15 Phineas & Ferb 07:40 Phineas & Ferb 08:05 American Dragon 08:30 Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension 09:00 Phineas & Ferb 09:30 Zeke & Luther 10:00 Phil Of The Future 10:30 Suite Life On Deck 11:00 Kid vs Kat 11:30 Power Rangers Jungle Fury 12:00 Aaron Stone 12:25 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 12:50 Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension 13:20 NEXT X EUROPE 13:30 Phineas & Ferb 14:00 Zeke & Luther 14:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 15:00 American Dragon 15:30 Kid vs Kat 16:00 Phineas & Ferb 16:30 I’M IN THE BAND 17:00 Suite Life On Deck 17:30 Aaron Stone 18:00 Iron Man: Armoured Adventures 18:25 Kid vs Kat 18:50 NEXT X EUROPE 19:00 Zeke & Luther 19:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 20:00 American Dragon 20:30 I’M IN THE BAND 21:00 Phil Of The Future 21:25 Iron Man: Armoured Adventures 21:50 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 22:15 Aaron Stone

00:00 Camp Lazlo 00:25 Samurai Jack 00:50 Megas Xlr 01:15 Out Of Jimmy’s Head 01:40 Chowder 02:05 Cow & Chicken 02:30 Cramp Twins 02:55 George Of The Jungle 03:20 Adrenalini Brothers 03:45 Eliot Kid 04:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 04:35 Class Of 3000 05:00 The Powerpuff Girls 05:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 05:40 The Secret Saturdays 06:05 Codename: Kids Next Door 06:30 Ben 10 06:55 Best Ed 07:20 Samurai Jack 07:45 Cramp Twins 08:10 Eliot Kid 08:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 09:00 George Of The Jungle 09:25 Chop Socky Chooks 09:50 Casper’s Scare School 10:15 Ben 10: Alien Force 10:40 Bakugan: New Vestroia 11:05 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 11:30 Knd 60 12:30 The Secret Saturdays 12:55 Best Ed

07:00 Special Agent OSO 07:25 Handy Manny 07:50 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:15 Imagination Movers 08:40 Special Agent OSO 09:05 Jungle Junction 09:30 Handy Manny 09:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:20 Imagination Movers 10:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 11:10 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 11:35 Handy Manny 12:00 Special Agent OSO 12:25 Imagination Movers 12:50 Little Einsteins 13:15 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 13:40 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 14:05 Handy Manny 14:30 Special Agent OSO 14:55 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 15:20 Little Einsteins 15:45 Imagination Movers 16:10 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

00:40 E!ES 01:30 THS 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 THS 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 THS 07:45 25 Most Stylish 08:35 E! News 09:25 15 Most Infamous Child Star Mugshots 11:05 Keeping Up with the Kardashians 12:00 E! News 12:50 Behind the Scenes 13:15 Pretty Wild 13:40 Glamour’s 20 Wedding Do’s and Don’ts 14:30 Kendra 21:20 Pretty Wild 22:10 E! News 23:00 Dr 90210 23:50 Bank of Hollywood

00:00 Food Network Challenge 04:00 Teleshopping 07:00 30 Minute Meals 07:25 30 Minute Meals 07:50 Giada At Home 08:40 Daily Cooks Challenge 11:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back to Basics 12:00 Everyday Italian 13:00 30 Minute Meals 14:00 Rescue Chef with Danny Boome 15:00 Barefoot Contessa 15:30 Daily Cooks Challenge 18:00 Everyday Italian 19:00 Barefoot Contessa 20:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back to Basics 21:00 Food Network Challenge 23:00 Food Network All-Star

00:30 Crime Scene Psychics 00:55 Crime Scene Psychics 01:20 Ghost Lab 02:10 A Haunting 03:05 Psychic Witness 04:00 Crime Scene Psychics 04:25 Crime Scene Psychics 04:55 Amsterdam Vice 05:20 FBI Files 06:10 Ghosthunters 06:35 Ghosthunters 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 CSU 09:30 Diagnosis: Unknown 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 On The Run 12:50 Fugitive Strike Force 13:40 Diagnosis: Unknown 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 CSU 17:00 Diagnosis: Unknown 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 On The Run 20:20 Fugitive Strike Force 21:10 Diagnosis: Unknown 22:00 Murder Shift

01:15 The End 02:55 Echo Park 04:25 The Tie That Binds 06:00 Gothic 07:25 Sticky Fingers 08:55 Nobody’s Perfect 10:25 Operation Lookout 12:00 Popi

13:50 Duel At Diablo 15:30 Outback 17:00 UHF 18:35 The Spikes Gang 20:10 The Rose Garden 22:00 By Duty Bound 23:30 Get Shorty

15:00 Stargate: The Ark Of Truth-PG 17:00 Shaft-18 19:00 Screamers: The Hunting-18 21:00 Starship Troopers 3: Marauder-18 23:00 Feast 3-18

00:00 Gorilla Murders 01:00 Cheetah: Against All Odds 02:00 Monster Crocs 03:00 Penguin Death Zone 04:00 Thunder Beasts 05:00 Shark Nicole 06:00 Ultimate Shark 07:00 Dolphin Army 08:00 Rhino Rescue 09:00 Animal Autopsy 10:00 In The Womb: Extreme Animals 12:00 Tomb Raptor 13:00 Kalahari 14:00 Wild Russia 15:00 Africa’s Lost Eden 16:00 Dive To Tiger Central 17:00 Mother Warthog 18:00 Wild Russia 19:00 Africa’s Lost Eden 20:00 Dive To Tiger Central 21:00 Mother Warthog 22:00 Hammerhead Highway 23:00 Gorilla Murders

00:00 Watching Ellie 00:30 Gary Unmarried 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Flight of the Conchords 03:30 Curb your Enthusiasm 04:00 Saturday Night Live 05:00 Watching Ellie 05:30 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 07:00 Dharma & Greg 07:30 Three sisters 08:00 Frasier 08:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 09:00 The Nanny 09:30 Family Biz 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Dharma & Greg 11:00 Frasier 11:30 The Bernie Mac show 12:00 Saturday Night Live 13:00 Gary Unmarried 13:30 Yes dear 14:00 The Nanny 14:30 Malcolm in the Middle 15:00 How I met your mother 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Drew Carey 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Hope & Faith 18:30 Just Shoot me!

19:00 Better Off Ted 19:30 The Office 20:00 Curb your Enthusiasm 20:30 Entourage 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:30 South park

00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 Downsize Me 02:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 03:00 The Monique Show 04:00 The Tonight show with Jay Leno 05:00 GMA Weekend (Repeat) 06:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified 07:00 GMA Health 07:30 What’s the Buzz 08:00 The Martha Stewart Show 09:00 Downsize Me 10:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

11:00 The View 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 The Martha Stewart Show 14:00 Parenting 14:30 Popcorn 15:00 GMA Weekend Live 16:00 Ahead of The Curve 16:30 Chef’s Table 17:00 The Tonight show with Jay Leno 18:00 Downsize Me 19:00 The View (repeat) 20:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 22:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

00:00 Live!-18 02:00 Beautiful-18 04:00 Hotel For Dogs-FAM 06:00 Angus Thongs And Perfect Snogging-PG15 08:00 Man In The Chair-PG15 10:00 A Previous Engagement-PG15 12:00 Wild Child-PG15 14:00 Keith-PG15 16:00 Man In The Chair-PG15 18:00 Motherhood-PG15 20:00 The Two Mr. Kissles-PG15 22:00 Taken-18

01:00 New Town Killers-PG 03:00 Ice Twisters-PG15 05:00 The Scorpion King 2: Rise Of A Warrior-PG15 07:00 Lost-PG15 09:00 Stargate: The Ark Of Truth-PG 11:00 Heist-PG15 13:00 Street Fighter II-PG

00:00 New York City Serenade-PG15 02:00 How To Be-PG15 04:00 First Sunday-PG15 06:00 Chatterbox-PG 08:00 Class Act-PG 10:00 The Other Half-PG15 12:00 Slap Shots 3-PG15 14:00 Everything’s Gone Green-PG15 16:00 New York City Serenade-PG15 18:00 Jason Byrne Live At Vicar Street Theatre-PG15 20:00 Mr. Troop Mom-PG 22:00 Separation City-18

00:00 Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs Wakko’s -PG 02:00 Blank Check-FAM 04:00 Sunshine Barry And The Disco-PG 06:00 Santa Buddies-PG 08:00 Chill Out: Scooby-Doo-FAM 10:00 Sunshine Barry And The Disco-PG 12:00 Snow 2: Brain Freeze-FAM 14:00 Blank Check-FAM 16:00 The Three Robbers-PG 18:00 How To Eat Fried Worms-FAM 20:00 Christmas In Wonderland-PG 22:00 Snow 2: Brain Freeze-FAM

00:00 Psych 01:00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent 02:00 Whitechapel 03:00 Saving Grace 04:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 04:30 Coach 05:00 Reaper 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 In Treatment 07:30 In Treatmen 08:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 08:30 Coach 09:00 Saving Grace 10:00 Reaper 11:00 In Treatment 11:30 In Treatmen 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 13:30 Coach 14:00 Psych 15:00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent 16:00 Reaper 17:00 Saving Grace 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 The Ex-list 20:00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent 21:00 Law & Order 22:00 Reaper 23:00 Whitechapel

01:30 Premier League 05:15 Premier League Classics 06:30 Premier League World 07:00 Premier League 15:00 Live Toshiba Super Sunday 15:30 Live Premier League 17:30 Live Toshiba Super Sunday 18:00 Live Premier League 20:00 Live Toshiba Super Sunday 20:30 Premier League 22:00 Premier League World 22:30 Futbol Mundial 23:00 Live Portuguese Liga

10:00 WWE SmackDown 12:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 V8 Supercars 15:00 World Sport 15:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 16:00 Live Snooker World Championship 20:00 V8 Supercars 22:00 WWE SmackDown

12:00 Peter Perfect 13:00 Ruby 19:00 Ruby: The First 100 Pounds 20:00 Ruby 20:30 Ruby 21:00 How Do I Look?

22:00 Clean House

00:35 The Departed-18 03:00 The Rocker-PG15 04:40 Greetings From The Shore-PG 06:30 Genghis Khan-PG15 09:00 Against The Current-PG15 11:00 Son Of The Mask-PG 13:00 Happy Feet-PG 15:00 Taking Chance-PG15 17:00 Against The Current-PG15 19:00 Take The Lead-PG 21:00 Racing For Time-PG15 23:00 The Ruins-R

01:00 Code 01:04 Sound System 10 01:45 Playlist 02:00 Urban Hit 02:45 Playlist 05:00 Code 05:04 Playlist 08:00 Code 08:04 Africa 10 08:45 Playlist 13:00 Code 13:04 Urban Hit 30 15:00 Code Compilation 15:24 Playlist 16:00 Code 16:04 New 16:35 Playlist 17:00 Focus 18:00 Urban Hit 18:45 Playlist 20:00 Code 20:04 French Only 20:45 Playlist

00:25 Gone With The Wind 02:25 Penelope 04:00 The Prize 06:15 The Screening Room 07:00 Beau Brummell 08:50 Anchors Aweigh 11:05 Hot Millions 12:50 Sunday In New York 14:35 Bad Day At Black Rock 15:55 Young Cassidy 17:45 Ice Station Zebra 20:10 An American In Paris 22:00 The Prize

00:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 01:20 Cities of the Underworld 02:10 Ancient Discoveries 03:00 Crap: A Short History 04:50 Ancient Discoveries 3 05:40 Conspiracy?

06:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 07:20 Cities of the Underworld 08:10 Ancient Discoveries 09:00 Crap: A Short History 10:50 Ancient Discoveries 3 11:40 Conspiracy?

12:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 13:20 Cities of the Underworld 14:10 Ancient Discoveries 15:00 Crap: A Short History 16:50 Ancient Discoveries 3 17:40 Conspiracy?

18:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 19:20 Cities of the Underworld 20:10 Ancient Discoveries 21:00 Lost Worlds 21:55 Seven Deadly Sins 22:50 Life After People 23:40 Ax Men 2

00:00 Clean House 01:00 My Celebrity Home 02:00 Split Ends 03:00 How Do I Look?

04:00 Dr 90210 05:00 Kimora’s Home Movies 05:30 Area 06:00 How Do I Look?

07:00 Style Star 07:30 Style Her Famous 08:00 Clean House 09:00 My Celebrity Home 10:00 Ruby 11:00 Dallas Divas & Daughters

00:00 Secrets of Bangkok 01:00 Chef Abroad 01:30 Chef Abroad 02:00 Planet Food 03:00 Top Travel 03:30 Destination Art 04:00 Distant Shores 04:30 Distant Shores 05:00 Distant Shores 05:30 Distant Shores 06:00 Cruising the Spirit of Adventure 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Swiss Railway Journeys 09:00 Swiss Railway Journeys 10:00 Intrepid Journeys 11:00 Temples In The Clouds 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Planet Food 14:00 Chef Abroad 14:30 Chef Abroad 15:00 Rajasthan - A Colourful Legacy 16:00 Globe Trekker Special 17:00 Grannies On Safari 17:30 Spring 18:00 Distant Shores 18:30 Wild At Heart 19:00 Angry Planet 19:30 Culture Shock 20:00 Secrets of Ancient China 21:00 Short History of Convict Australia 22:00 Great Scenic Railways-Australia 23:00 Globe Trekker

01:00 Vh1 Music 05:00 Chill Out 07:00 Smooth Wake Up 09:00 Vh1 Music 11:00 Vh1 Pop Chart 12:00 Top 10 Top of Millenium 13:00 Cover Power 14:00 Forever Great Weekend Weekend 17:00 Music For The Masses 18:00 Vh1 Music 19:00 VH1 Viewer’s Jukebox Love Request 20:00 VH1 Viewer’s Jukebox Love Request 21:00 Top 10 Top of Millenium 22:00 Sunday Soul 23:00 Behind The Music Pink

01:30 Premier League 07:00 Live NRL Premiership 09:00 Premier League 15:00 Live Toshiba Super Sunday 15:30 Live Premier League 17:30 Live Toshiba Super Sunday 18:00 Live Premier League 20:00 PGA European Tour

00:00 AFL Premiership 02:00 Super 14 04:30 Super 14 06:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 07:00 Futbol Mundial 07:30 ICC Cricket World 08:00 Live NRL Premiership 10:00 World Sport 10:30 Super 14 12:30 European Challenge Cup 14:30 European Challenge Cup 16:30 Futbol Mundial 17:00 Live Premier League 19:00 FIA GT1 World Championship 20:30 ICC Cricket World 21:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 21:30 World Sport 22:00 Live Snooker World Championship

01:00 WWE Bottomline 02:00 WWE NXT 03:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 04:00 UAE National Race Day 04:30 V8 Supercars 06:00 Live V8 Supercars 08:00 WWE Bottomline 09:00 WWE NXT

Hotel For Dogson Show Movies

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 20:35 Little Man Tate 22:15 Yeti 23:45 Species Ii 01:15 Carrie 02:50 Christmas Caper 04:20 Little Man Tate 06:00 Breaking And Entering 07:55 Annapolis 09:40 Hitman 11:10 Carrie 12:45 Pandemic 14:20 Picture Perfect 16:05 Safehouse 17:30 Four Weddings And A Funeral 19:25 Hollywoodland STAR World 20:00 American Idol 22:00 [V] Tunes 23:00 [V] Tunes 00:00 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

01:00 [V] Tunes 02:00 Kyle XY 03:00 Scrubs 03:30 The King Of Queens 04:00 Samantha Who? 04:30 Samantha Who? 05:00 East West

06:00 Grey’s Anatomy 07:00 Samantha Who? 07:30 Rules Of Engagement 08:00 Australia’s Next Top Model 09:00 The King Of Queens 09:30 The Bold and the Beautiful 10:00 Kyle XY 10:50 Charlie’s Angels 11:00 Grey’s Anatomy 11:50 Who’s The Boss?

12:00 [V] Tunes 13:00 Asia Uncut 14:00 Scrubs 14:30 The King Of Queens 15:00 Samantha Who? 15:30 Samantha Who? 16:00 90210 16:50 Jackie Chan Adventures 17:00 Mental 17:50 Charlie’s Angels 18:00 The Listener 18:50 Who’s The Boss?

19:00 Criminal Minds 19:50 Jackie Chan Adventures Granada TV 20:00 Parkinson (Series 7) 20:30 I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (Series 7)

21:00 Lewis (Series 1) 23:00 Vroom Vroom (Series 2) 00:00 60 Minute Makeover (Series 3) 01:00 Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (Series 2) 02:00 Crime Monday: Lewis (Series 1) 04:00 Young, Posh and Loaded 04:30 The Sunshine Girls 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 60 Minute Makeover (Series 3) 07:00 Crime Monday: Lewis (Series 1) 09:00 Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (Series 2) 10:00 Young, Posh and Loaded 10:30 The Sunshine Girls 11:00 Emmerdale 11:30 Coronation Street 12:00 Teen Fat Camp 13:00 Crime Monday: Cold Blood (Series 1) 14:30 Forger’s Masterclass 15:00 Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (Series 2) 16:00 Emmerdale 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 Teen Fat Camp 18:00 Crime Monday: Cold Blood (Series 1) 19:30 Forger’s Masterclass Channel [V] 21:00 [V] Tunes 21:30 [V] Tunes

22:00 Loop 23:00 [V] Tunes 23:30 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] China - Chinese Music Awards 2010 03:00 [V] Countdown 05:00 [V] Tunes 05:30 [V] Tunes 06:00 Loop 07:00 [V] Tunes 07:30 [V] Tunes 08:00 [V] Special 09:00 [V] China - Chinese Music Awards 2010 11:00 Videoscope 12:00 [V] Special 13:00 U2 Rose Bowl Special (TBC) 14:00 Loop 15:00 Amp Around Asia 15:30 [V] Tunes 16:00 [V] Special 17:00 XO 17:30 Loop 18:00 Backtracks 19:00 Videoscope 20:00 [V] Special Fox News 20:00 America’s News HQ Host Shannon

Bream 21:00 America’s News HQ Hosts Kelly Wright and Jamie Colby 22:00 The Journal Editorial Report 22:30 Fox News Watch 23:00 The Passion: Facts, Fictions and Faith with Lauren Green 00:00 America’s News HQ hosts Gregg Jarrett and Harris Faulkner 02:00 America’s News HQ hosts Rick Folbaum and Juliet Huddy 03:00 FOX Report Saturday host Harris Faulkner 04:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 05:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 06:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 07:00 The Journal Editorial Report 07:30 Fox News Watch 08:00 FOX Report Saturday 09:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 10:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 11:00 FOX Report Saturday host Julie Banderas 12:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 13:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 14:00 The Journal Editorial Report 14:30 Fox News Watch 15:00 FOX and Friends Sunday 16:00 FOX and Friends Sunday

17:00 FOX and Friends Sunday 18:00 America’s News HQ 19:00 America’s News HQ National Geographic Channel 20:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet Turkish Delights 20:30 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet Community Power 21:00 Animals Like Us -Medicine 22:00 Warplanes -The Age Of Stealth 23:00 Shark Men -The Hot Spot 00:00 Situation Critical -Assault On Entebbe 01:00 Mystery Files 30min -Mystery Files : Jack The Ripper 7 01:30 Mystery Files 30min -Mystery Files : Royal Murder 8 02:00 Megastructures -Megastructure : Worlds Biggest Store : Shinsegae Centumcity 03:00 Nat Geo Junior -Wild Chronicles : 13 03:30 Nat Geo Junior -Wild Chronicles : 14 04:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet Grill Masters 10 04:30 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet -Hi Tech Taste 13 05:00 Shark Men -The Hot Spot 06:00 Triumph Of Life -Winning Teams

07:00 Locked Up Abroad -Party Girl 08:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet Turkish Delights 08:30 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet Community Power 09:00 Monkey Thieves -Beggar’s Banquet 20 09:30 Monkey Thieves -Cops And Robbers 21 10:00 Shark Men -The Hot Spot 11:00 Mystery Files 30min -Mystery Files : Jack The Ripper 7 11:30 Mystery Files 30min -Mystery Files : Royal Murder 8 12:00 Wild Africa -Relentless Enemies 14:00 Dangerous Encounters -Dangerous Encounters With Brad : Monster Crocs (aka Size Matters) 15:00 4Real -Pawnee 5 15:30 4Real -Kenya 6 16:00 Mystery Files 30min -Mystery Files : Jack The Ripper 7 16:30 Mystery Files 30min -Mystery Files : Royal Murder 8 17:00 Theme Week -42 Ways To Kill Hitler 18:00 Theme Week -Hitler’s Secret Bunkers 19:00 Theme Week -History’s Secrets : The

Sunday, May 2, 2010

33 Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Sunday 02/05/2010 Airlines Flt Route Ariana 405 Kabul/Dubai Royal Jordanian 802 Amman Wataniya Airways 188 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 306 Cairo Kuwait 544 Cairo Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 408 Beirut Turkish A/L 772 Istanbul Wataniya Airways 322 Sharm El Sheikh Jazeera 513 Sharm El Sheikh DHL 370 Bahrain Emirates 853 Dubai Jazeera 241 Amman Etihad 305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 138 Doha Jazeera 503 Luxor Falcon 201 Dubai Jazeera 527 Alexandria Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok British 157 London Jazeera 481 Sabiha Kuwait 206 Islamabad Kuwait 382 Delhi Jazeera 529 Assiut Iran Air 615 Shahre Kord Kuwait 302 Mumbai Kuwait 332 Trivandrum Fly Dubai 053 Dubai Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 284 Dhaka Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 121 Sharjah Kuwait 286 Chittagong Qatari 132 Doha Iran Air 603 Shiraz Etihad 301 Abu Dhabi Iran Aseman 6801 Ahwaz Jazeera 425 Bahrain Falcon 203 Dubai Wataniya Airways 182 Bahrain Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 102 Dubai Jazeera 165 Dubai Jazeera 447 Doha Jazeera 113 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 171 Dubai Egypt Air 610 Cairo Oman Air 645 Muscat Kuwait 672 Dubai Kuwait 774 Riyadh United A/L 982 Washington Dc Dulles Royal Jordanian 800 Amman Wataniya Airways 432 Damascus Jazeera 257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 422 Amman Kuwait 512 Tehran Kuwait 562 Amman Saudi Arabian A/L 500 Jeddah Qatari 134 Doha Jazeera 173 Dubai Bahrain Air 344 Bahrain Etihad 303 Abu Dhabi Emirates 857 Dubai Gulf Air 215 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 402 Beirut Saudi Arabian A/L 510 Riyadh Jazeera 239 Amman Jazeera 367 Deirezzor Arabia 125 Sharjah Jazeera 511 Sharm El Sheikh Jazeera 343 Sanaa/Bahrain Wataniya Airways 304 Cairo Kuwait 166 Paris/Rome Wataniya Airways 106 Dubai Kuwait 542 Cairo Kuwait 502 Beirut Kuwait 618 Doha Kuwait 786 Jeddah Jazeera 177 Dubai Kuwait 744 Dammam Kuwait 614 Bahrain Kuwait 674 Dubai Kuwait 102 New York/London Kuwait 552 Damascus Srilankan 267 Colombo/Dammam Fly Dubai 061 Dubai Oman Air 647 Muscat Middle East 402 Beirut Rovos 081 Baghdad Wataniya Airways 404 Beirut Jazeera 459 Damascus Jazeera 183 Dubai DHL 372 Bahrain Gulf Air 217 Bahrain Emirates 859 Dubai Kuwait 172 Frankfurt Qatari 136 Doha United A/L 981 Bahrain Indian 981 Chennai/Ahmedabad Jazeera 429 Bahrain Jazeera 117 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 449 Doha Safi A/W 215 Kabul Lufthansa 636 Frankfurt Jazeera 185 Dubai India Express 389 Kozhikode/Mangalore KLM 0447 Amsterdam/Bahrain Pakistan 205 Lahore Wataniya Airways 108 Dubai

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

Departure Flights on Sunday 02/05/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 528 Assiut Bangladesh 044 Dhaka Egypt Air 607 Luxor India Express 394 Cochin/Kozhikode Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt Indian 994 Mumbai/Chennai Ariana 406 Dubai/Kabul Turkish A/L 773 Istanbul DHL 371 Bahrain Emirates 854 Dubai Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi Qatari 139 Doha Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai Royal Jordanian 803 Amman Jazeera 164 Dubai Jazeera 112 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 422 Bahrain Jazeera 446 Doha Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 431 Damascus British 156 London Jazeera 256 Beirut Iran Air 614 Shahre Kord Fly Dubai 054 Dubai Kuwait 171 Frankfurt Kuwait 671 Dubai Jazeera 170 Dubai Jazeera 342 Bahrain/Sanaa Wataniya Airways 421 Amman Kuwait 561 Amman Arabia 122 Sharjah Emirates 856 Dubai Qatari 133 Doha Kuwait 511 Tehran Kuwait 773 Riyadh Kuwait 117 New York Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi Iran Air 602 Shiraz Iran Aseman 6802 Ahwaz Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut Gulf Air 214 Bahrain Falcon 204 Baghdad Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo Jazeera 172 Dubai Kuwait 541 Cairo Jazeera 510 Sharm El Sheikh Jazeera 366 Deirezzor Jazeera 238 Amman Kuwait 103 London Kuwait 501 Beirut Kuwait 785 Jeddah Egypt Air 611 Cairo Oman Air 646 Muscat Kuwait 551 Damascus Royal Jordanian 801 Amman Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai United A/L 982 Bahrain Jazeera 176 Dubai Kuwait 673 Dubai Wataniya Airways 403 Beirut Kuwait 617 Doha Saudi Arabian A/L 503 Medinah/Jeddah Jazeera 458 Damascus Kuwait 613 Bahrain Qatari 135 Doha Kuwait 743 Dammam Jazeera 182 Dubai Rovos 082 Baghdad Bahrain Air 345 Bahrain Etihad 304 Abu Dhabi Emirates 858 Dubai Gulf Air 216 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 305 Cairo Arabia 126 Sharjah Saudi Arabian A/L 511 Riyadh Jazeera 116 Abu Dhabi Jazeeras 448 Doha Jazeera 184 Dubai Jazeera 428 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 107 Dubai Wataniya Airways 321 Sharm El Sheikh Kuwait 283 Dhaka Jazeera 266 Beirut Kuwait 361 Colombo Fly Dubai 062 Dubai Kuwait 343 Chennai Kuwait 351 Cochin Srilankan 267 Colombo Oman Air 648 Muscat Middle East 403 Beirut Wataniya Airways 187 Bahrain Gulf Air 218 Bahrain DHL 373 Bahrain Kuwait 675 Dubai Emirates 860 Dubai Kuwait 381 Delhi Falcon 102 Bahrain Qatari 137 Doha Kuwait 203 Lahore Kuwait 301 Mumbai Jazeera 526 Alexandria Jazeera 502 Luxor Jazeera 636 Aleppo United A/L 981 Washington Dc Dulles Kuwait 411 Bangkok/Manila Kuwait 415 Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

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

ACCOMMODATION Two central A/C rooms available in Benaid Al-Gar, very near to Al-Salam hospital, for decent working ladies from May 2010.

Please contact: 97879611.

(C 2205) Fully furnished room with separate bathroom available in Hawally, Tunis St, near Sadique roundabout, behind Tijari bank. Contact: 97794619. (C 2204) Furnished sharing accommodation available in Kuwait City for ladies. Contact: 97527233. (C 2201) 1-5-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya with Keralite family, couple & working ladies are pre-

ferred. Tel: 97501647.

(C 2197)

tion, serious buyer contact: 66063764. (C 2198)

Sharing accommodation available in a CAC flat at Jabriya, area 10 near Jabriya Indian School for working ladies or decent family from 1st June 2010.

Mob: 99300513. (C 2200) 29-4-2010

Laptop IBM Intel Centrino, RAM 512, HD 30 GB, WiFi, Bluetooth, DVD + CD writer, price KD 65 & IBM PC P4, 2.8 Intel original, RAM 256, HD 40 GB, with LCD, price KD 60, all in excellent condition.

Call: 99322585.

(C 2196) 29-10-2010

LOST Mohammed Salim Jamal Al Deen, Pakistani Passport No: CN5759371 has been lost. Finder please contact: 66819146. (C 2203) 1-5-2010

FOR SALE Mitsubishi Galant, model 1998, passing till April 2011, km 180,000, very good condi-

MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited from parents of well educated, qualified girls for a Keralite Marthomite boy, 29 years 175cm, MBA working in MNC, interested parties may respond with complete profile to varghese8192@gmail.com (C 2194)

SPECTRUM

34 CROSSWORD 976

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) Study, if you are a student, can be very productive this morning.

Perusing a bookstore that sells used books might be fun later today. You might even find some old classic video films to give as gifts for upcoming birthdays.

Conversations today with strangers can surprisingly lead to better business contacts, as well as a mutual interest in hobbies. A preoccupation with your appearance, how you come across to others and a social life in general may become more important to you. A little shopping expedition may help you add to your wardrobe. You find yourself most communicative, but pay attention to those closest to you? they are the most important people in your future. Social contact today or this evening shows you at your most elegant.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Friends and neighbors occupy most of your day today. You appreciate your friends and enjoy the interactions that occur. You can be very charming and enchant others to come under your spell. Periods of intense creativity will help you to go through changes and inner growth. This creative intensity is good for music, poetry and art. There is a great intensity of emotions and purpose.

A Saturday class at a nearby art store might be fun, as long as you do not enter into a project with the attitude of competitiveness. Later today there is time to tend to your favorite pet, perhaps you will shampoo and dry this animal. Living in your home just smells especially good this evening. You enjoy home and family and rely on each other for support and encouragement.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. A commercial center and river port in western Germany on the Rhine River.

5. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

7. Telephone line (Wide Area Telephone Service).

11. (Old Testament) The eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the Covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac.

12. A rare silvery (usually trivalent) metallic element.

13. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

14. An unofficial association of people or groups.

15. A metric unit of length equal to 100 meters.

16. A Chadic language spoken in Chad.

17. A state in northwestern North America.

18. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

21. A public promotion of some product or service.

22. A flexible container with a single opening.

23. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

27. Avoid or try to avoid, as of duties, questions and issues.

30. A software system that facilitates the creation and maintenance and use of an electronic database.

31. Extremely pleasing.

33. United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters.

34. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

36. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

40. Greek mythology.

44. A unit of electrical power in an AC circuit equal to the power dissipated when 1 volt produces a current of 1 ampere.

45. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

48. An independent agency of the United States government responsible for aviation and spaceflight.

49. A city in the European part of Russia.

50. 4-wheeled motor vehicle.

51. Little known Kamarupan languages.

52. A member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala.

53. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

54. An inhabitant of Lappland.

DOWN 1. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

2. Port city on southern Honshu on Osaka Bay. 3. A local computer network for communication between computers.

4. Ctenophores lacking tentacles.

5. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

6. A genus of Lamnidae.

7. Pan with a convex bottom.

8. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

9. A three-tone Chadic language.

10. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.

19. A young woman making her debut into society.

20. Pertaining to or resembling amoebae.

24. The eleventh month of the civil year.

25. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

26. United States writer (born in Poland) who wrote in Yiddish (1880-1957).

28. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

29. Angular distance above the horizon (especially of a celestial object).

32. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

35. Obvious and dull.

36. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

37. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

38. The biblical name for ancient Syria.

39. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

41. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells.

42. A program under which employees regularly accumulate shares and may ultimately assume control of the company.

43. An association of people to promote the welfare of senior citizens.

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

47. An undergarment worn by women to support their breasts.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Reading or attending a lecture on law, politics, education, travel or religion may be part of your day. Your creative side is showing this afternoon when you help a friend decorate or purchase a colorful scarf, shirt or some other accessory. Your home environment, friends and surroundings receive encouragement as a neighbor or family member gives a rare compliment. Friends are a great source of information. Ask the right questions to get the answers you need. Some misunderstanding from the past is better understood now; things seem almost magical in the way they work out in your favor. This evening is a good time to respond to some long overdue correspondence, perhaps a relative or friend has been out of town for a very long time.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You may find that you have plenty of vigor for whatever you plan today. You appreciate each moment of the day and seem anxious to move on to the next experience. Your current appreciation for just about everything may lead you to overspend? careful. Shopping at a unique store today, you find many opportunities to check out new produce or see a demonstration of a new product. You may enjoy a massage while you wait for a friend to finish shopping. Later, you will enjoy conversations about the experiences of the day. You also appreciate art and music and may enjoy talking about the popular movie star or new music.

Before it gets too late you will probably want to clean out your car and give it a wash. You like things neat, clean and in order.

Leo (July 23-August 22) This is a time of good fortune? when things open up in a very natural way for you.

Situations are almost perfect for what you want to accomplish. You will prosper as you pursue your ideals and plot the path to your goals. Don’t be afraid to project yourself? make those dreams real. Opportunities to improve and enlarge your friendships are available and you may find yourself wanting and able to do almost anything. Overall, this is a good time to project your image. You are very other-oriented at this time. Be careful, however and give thought to new or different ideas before making promises. You could find it difficult to move away from your regular way of doing things but your efforts will become successful.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Flow with the tide instead of pushing against it today. You will experience some positive feedback regarding a creative project but when you least expect it. Perhaps you are working on improving a product or you are creating your own product, whatever the case your perseverance pays off. The solution to a gnawing mystery comes from a family member today. A person that you were close to in the past may contact you with some information. An earnest effort in letting go of hard feelings can free you to move forward where emotions are concerned. Learn to dismiss the past so that you can concentrate on today. There is a free feeling with this effort. You will eventually gain a more self-confident attitude. This is an evening for romance.

Libra (September 23-October 22) In-depth discussions and probing conversations find you at your mental best this Saturday. Your analytical abilities are at a high point. Perhaps you have a part-time job in helping a friend that is a teacher to proof or grade papers. You might consider work at home for a publisher as an editor for writers. This can be an expansive, creative and even a romantic phase; a time you will look back on with fondness. Your need for admiration and appreciation will certainly be meet as you entertain and visit with friends this afternoon. This could be a time to make, or plan for some changes in your environment. You are ready for some positive changes. Any work along this line will help set your sub-conscious to work in helping you each day to achieve a balance.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You are ambitious, self-confident, self-reliant, loyal, honorable and generous in money matters. You might, however, be tempted to overspend or indulge too much if you are shopping.

Everything is beautiful! You are fond of your home life and will strive to create a harmonious environment. Being fashion-conscious, you may decide to create a cover for a couch or a pillow or perhaps you will be inspired to get out some stored away sheets for the upcoming summer. Making life comfortable for others is a pleasure. You also like to have your home looking nice, in case someone drops by for a visit.

Family, home, relatives and real estate play a bigger part in your life this year.

You want to belong on a private, intimate and personal level.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You are in a position to show your trust and respect to a loved one today. You will also employ any manner of means to change a negative to a positive. You have probably become tired of hearing negative comments as you are ready to create positive changes. You are able to promote a healing where emotional concerns are involved. You enjoy a peaceful home. Tomorrow, you might allow complaints, but today you will not accept any sounds but from a person with a grateful spirit. You may reserve the right to find other ways to occupy your time, but it will not be necessary. Visiting with an older person is enhanced today. You may enjoy the company of young people through some games or a little trivia pursuit later this afternoon.

Yesterday’s Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Today is good for performing renovations or spring-cleaning.

Unexpected company won’t stay long if you don’t stop your work. You may get a little help from a friend later today; perhaps a trade situation is in the making. This can be a productive time physically and emotionally penetrating conversations bring insights if a friend or friends stay for a visit.

Your emotions and the feelings of those around you become clear; life is good.

You are expansive and creative and there is much pride in what you choose to become involved. You may value your experiences this day. Another visitor in your home this evening compliments you on your belongings. This is a time of romance, deepening relationships and positive feelings. yester

Yesterday’s Solution

to

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321

Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn

0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228

Word Sleuth Solution

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) This can be a very superficial day. It may not be possible for you to penetrate anything remotely meaningful or moving. Perhaps there is a sense of the senselessness or wasteful use of time. Instead of pushing to accomplish the regular chores, you move to do the essentials. Take some time to just enjoy the day. This can be a day of healing and nurturing for the body and spirit. It just may be beneficial to learn more about herbs and ways to determine the types of useful plants that grow in your area. You may be surprised to know that dandelions make a beautiful, nutritional and healthy addition to a tossed salad.

Someone in your family needs a helping hand and you may join in and find much laughter and camaraderie in this team effort.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Whether you are working in a business or at home, your attention is in getting things accomplished. If you find yourself working within a group today, you will be productive. You may want praise for your good works, but this may not come on your time schedule so? do not push. Emotions and feelings of those around you may be very clear; allowing you to know what is expected of your energies and your time. If you have things you want to accomplish, separate yourself from others. Let them know your time limit before you get yourself involved in new projects. This is a good time to use your writing skills as you can communicate with real originality. Learning ways to get rid of some of your restlessness is beneficial to your health.

INFORMATION

Sunday, May 2, 2010

35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 Al-Madena 22418714 Al-Shohada始a 22545171 Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 Al-Nuzha 22545171 Sabhan 24742838 Al-Helaly 22434853 Al-Fayhaa 22545051 Al-Farwaniya 24711433 Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 Al-Fahaheel 23927002 Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 Ahmadi 23980088 Al-Mangaf 23711183 Al-Shuaiba 23262845 Al-Jahra 25610011 Al-Salmiya 25616368

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha始a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

24874330/9 CLINICS

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

4892674

Al-Omariya

4719048

N.Kheitan

4710044

Rabiya

4732263

Fintas

3900322

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988 AIRLINES

PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE Ahmadi

PHARMACY Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

ADDRESS Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

PHONE 23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554

EMERGENCY 112

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea Dr. Masoma Habeeb Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy Dr. Mohsen Abel Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly

25622444 25752222 25321171 25739999 25757700 25732223 25732223

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT): Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners: Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists: Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Plastic Surgeons: Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari Dr. Abdel Quttainah

22617700 25625030/60

Family Doctor: Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581

Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.

Zahra Qabazard Sohail Qamar Snaa Maaroof Pradip Gujare Zacharias Mathew

25710444 22621099 25713514 23713100 24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 Gynaecologists & Obstetricians: Dr Adrian Harbe 23729596/23729581 Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 Dr. Salem soso 22618787 General Surgeons: Dr. Abidallah Behbahani 25717111 Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148

Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290

(2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535 Dentists:

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists:

Internist, Chest & Heart: DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Tel: 25339667 Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Consultant Cardiologist Tel: 2611555-2622555 Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324 Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

Internists, Chest & Heart: Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3

Physiotherapists & VD: Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030 Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Endocrinologist: Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari

25658888

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr

25329924

Psychologists/Psychotherapists Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688 info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677 William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Kuwait Airways Wataniya Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines

22433377 24379900 177 22477631 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/2433141 22456700 22412284/5 22453820/1

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK)

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345 00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044

Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Holland (Netherlands) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Ibiza (Spain) Iceland India Indian Ocean Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia

00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689 00241 00220 00995 0049 00233 00350 0030 00299 001473 00590 001671 00502 00224 00592 00509 0031 00504 00852 0036 0034 00354 0091 00873 0062 0098 00964 00353 0039 00225 001876 0081 00962 007 00254 00686 00965 00996 00856 00371 00961 00231 00218 00370 00352 00853 00389

SPECTRUM

36

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Ridley Scott plans sequel for a ‘Robin Hood’

Perry dumping junk before her big day aty Perry is cutting out junk food before her big day. The ‘I Kissed A Girl’ singer - who is set to exchange vows with fiance Russell Brand in October has yet to find the perfect wedding dress for their intimate ceremony, but is already cutting back on fatty foods in preparation. She said: “I’m preparing a little bit here and there.

I have to stop eating McDonald’s and start my dance classes.” The 25-year-old pop star -

K

T

Halle Berry who accepted the comedian’s marriage proposal after a four-month whirlwind romance is reportedly already thinking about having children with Russell. A friend close to Katy said: “She’s totally in love with him. She never stops talking about Russell and is already talking about how she can’t wait to make him a dad.” Russell - who abandoned his womanizing ways in order to settle down with Katy - also recently admitted he was beginning to feel broody. When asked if he wanted to be a dad, the 34-year-old star said: “That would be good, I do want children.”

Paris Hilton is happy to be single

splits from Scarlett’s

Gabriel Aubry he actress and the FrenchCanadian model - who have a two-year-old daughter Nahla Ariela Aubry together but are not married - have ended their romance and are currently working out financial and custody arrangements, according to RadarOnline.com. It was Gabriel, 34, who allegedly decided to call time on his five-year relationship with 43-year-old Halle and their nineyear age gap is believed to have been a factor in his decision. A source said: “Gabriel just felt it wasn’t working anymore. When they were first together the nine-year age difference between them didn’t faze him, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever dated and he was totally in love.

But as time went on he started feeling it more and more. He felt he needed to break it off with Halle.”

The relationship ended a couple of months ago and Halle has been using the services of Judy Bogen, a family law attorney from Beverly Hills law firm Hersch Mannis and Bogen, to sort out custody conditions for Nahla and various financial matters. The source added: “Gabriel’s main concern was custody of Nahla, he loves

T

that little girl more than anything, and wanted 50/50 joint physical custody of her, which Halle agreed to.

“Financially, Gabriel earns a decent amount from his modeling career, in the region of $700,000 per year, so he’s comfortable and he didn’t want a dime from Halle. “All Gabriel has asked for is the house they own together in Canada. Halle put the full deposit down on the house but Gabriel has made every one of the payments since. Halle agreed right away. “As much as it can be it’s been an amicable split.” Unlucky-in-love Halle is no stranger to break-ups.

The Oscar winner’s first marriage to David Justice, a former baseball player, ended after four years in 1997.

Her second union to musician Eric Benet imploded after four years when the ‘Monster’s Ball’ star discovered he had cheated on her. After two failed marriages Halle vowed not to wed Gabriel because she didn’t need to be a wife to be happy. She said: “I will never marry again. I have a good healthy love for myself and love in my life. I no longer feel the need to be someone’s wife and I don’t need the validation of a marriage certificate.”

secret tattoo he screen beauty has a sunrise etched onto the inside of her left arm, but insists she will never reveal the special meaning of it. Scarlett who is married to Ryan Reynolds - said: “I’ve had the tattoo of a sunrise on my arm for a while. It makes me happy when I look at it, but the reason I had it done is very personal.

Some things have to remain private.” The 25-year-old actress loves experimenting with new looks and was thrilled when she had to dye her hair red for her role as a Russian spy in ‘Iron Man 2’ in which she stars alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr. and Mickey Rourke. She added: “I play Black Widow in ‘Iron Man 2’ and I had to dye my hair red to audition, which I loved. When I met the producers the second time I still had red hair because I was hoping they’d cast me, but also because I was experimenting with my hair color.”

Usher’s revealing music sher’s music gives an insight into his private life. The singer whose divorce from ex-wife Tameka Foster-Raymond was finalized last November - has revealed his new album ‘Raymond Vs Raymond’ deals with the breakdown of his marriage as he wants to “set the record straight”. He told The Guardian newspaper: “I was still married when the record was written.

The last thing you want to do in a marriage is give up, but when you’ve tried everything you can, then the best thing to do is realistically have a conversation about letting go. “I don’t have a private life, that’s the catch. What R&B music is, and what it always has been, is taking an emotional experience and singing it passionately. If people wondered if there were certain truths in certain things, my music basically sets the record straight.”

The pop star - who has two sons, 23month-old Usher Raymond V and ninemonth-old Naviyd Ely, with Tameka claims he is honest in his music because that’s what fans want. He said: “They want your soul... they want to know how you really feel. I have a responsibility

U he socialite - who ended her 14-month romance with reality TV star Doug Reinhardt in April - insists she just wants to be on her own and have fun. In an interview on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’, she said: “I don’t really want to date anyone yet. I just want to hang out with my friends and my family and enjoy life and focus on my work.” Despite her single vow, the 29-year-old star admitted she enjoyed having dinner with her ex-boyfriend Jason Shaw - who she dated from 2001 to 2003 - last week, and hinted something romantic could happen between them again. She added: “I was with someone I was with, like, years ago back in the day. We’ll see what happens. I love him so much. We’re very close and I’ve known him a very long time.”

T

called Robin Hood and all the historians will go nuts!” ‘Robin Hood 2’ is not the only film he is planning, the British filmmaker has also revealed details of his prequel to ‘Alien’. He said: “I got fed up with all the sequels, so I’m going to do a prequel, which will be set before the days of Sigourney Weaver’s character. “It will take place in

both ways - to be an incredible man, but also to be very artistic and open. There are certain things on this album, about infidelity or whatever it may be, that are very difficult. But it’s about growing in every aspect of the journey through life.”

Despite the difficult times he’s experienced, the 31-yearold star looks back fondly on his marriage. He said: “I just think back to how I felt when I found my wife. It was one of the most sincere moments in my life, and I’ll never diminish that. I was very happy to have had that experience with her, and to have two beautiful boys, who we raise together. But it just didn’t work out for us.”

T

Duchovny’s twilight crush

he 72-year-old director - who unveils the Russell Crowe-led movie at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12 wants to make a sequel which may irritate historians. He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “In it we’ll take King John up to being forced to sign the Magna Carta by his people who will probably be led by a guy

about 2085 when they first come across this thing. And it will ask the question, ‘Who is the guy lying in a chair with his chest blown outwards?’ “ Ridley has previously claimed there will be two prequels to the 1979 classic. He said: “It’ll be two. Prequel one and two, then ‘Alien’ one. At the moment I’m just trying to get the first one out.”

avid Duchovny would “go gay” for the stars of ‘Twilight’. The 49-yearold star admits he has a “long list” of famous men he would consider changing his sexual preference for, with director Woody Allen and the stars of the vampire movie franchise, including Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner among those he admires. David who has two children with wife Tea Leoni - said: “If I were gay, you know. I think Woody Allen is one of a long list of men I might go gay for. “Garry Shandling is someone I’ve publicly gone gay for, for jokes. Oh and anyone in the ‘Twilight’ movies. I don’t know any of their names, but all of them. The wolves, the vampires? They’re all fantastic.”

David also revealed that one of his greatest pleasures is showering naked outside his house in Massachusetts. He told Empire magazine: “I seriously hope noone in Massachusetts reads this, but we have this outdoor shower and so I’m kinda naked and outside. I really enjoy taking an outdoor shower.” David also admitted he regularly uses his fame to get free goods. He said: “Do I use my celebrity to get something for free? Hell yeah! Mostly sporting apparel. Oh and the courtside seats at basketball games are fantastic. It’s a fantasy for someone like me, who grew up wanting to play basketball, to be down there.” —Bang Showbiz

D

SPECTRUM

Sunday, May 2, 2010

37

Hilton hosts KUWAIT: The participants and spectators of the first Q8 Rafting Competition could not complain about the weather conditions on April 30 at the Hilton Kuwait Resort. The event began at 9:00 am with bright sunshine and calm seas. Participating rowing teams arrived bringing friends and -spec tators eager to take advantage of the volleyball Entry tickets included the cost for participation in the activities and food, including; Hilton style salads, cold and hot meals, desserts and unlimited refreshments. The competition, organized under normal rafting rules, had a totally new concept; all teams could race with standard white water rafts and paddles provided by the organizers. The race featured five individual rowing lanes and five buoys 250 meters away from the shore to be circled by each of the participating teams.

The distance assured fair competition while individual lanes reduced the possibility of disputes over deliberate collisions and the inten-

tional obstruction of other competing rafts.

According to information received from Julius Barany, a member of the organizing team and general manger with Ali Alghanim and Son Group, participants welcomed the new rules.

The intention of the organizers, Legends Corporation, was to bring back competitive teams who used to participate in rafting but lost interest due to the tendency expensive rafts. In the past, rafts could have cost as much as several thousands of Kuwaiti dinars.

The effort was a success and the event this year attracted 25 participating teams, twice as many as last year.

Participating teams included • • • • • • • • •

The British School of Kuwait (BSK) American University of Kuwait (AUK) Mutawa Al-Kazi - HONDA Schulmberger Flydubai Gunners (Kuwait Shooting Club) Cool Britannia (British Army) Cafe Organica - Mighty Hungarians British Institute for Vocational Training (BIVT)

Medals Women 1st Place: Cafe Organica - the Mighty Hungarians 2nd Place: Honda Civic 3rd Place: Honda City Mixed 1st Place: Cafe Organica - the Mighty Hungarians 2nd Place: BIVT 3rd Place: Honda Odessey Men 1st Place: Honda Pilot 2nd Place: Cafe Organica - the Mighty Hungarians 3rd Place: BIVT

After the lunch break, the rowing finals began alongside the final for the volleyball tournament. The sports activities ended with the completion of the football final at 4:30 pm. The winning teams were awarded their medals while audience members cheered the completion of a fun filled day. The awards cer-

emony was hosted by Dr Janos Hovari, the ambassador of Hungary.

All of the participants and sponsors were satisfied with the quality of the event and the professionalism of the referees and judges. Many of them expressed that they are looking forward

to next year’s competition which, according to the organizers, will attract an even larger number of teams, participants and sponsors, both locally and from other Gulf countries.

Sponsoring the event was: BSK, HONDA - Mutawa Al-Kazi, QNET, Red Bull energy drink, Kuwait Development and

Trading Co. (Sultan Al-Salem and Sons), Kuwait Times, BIVT, Ali Alghanim and Sons Group of Companies, Sebamed - AlSanabel Al-Thahabeyh Trading and Contracint, FlyDubai, Arab Times, Honda CRV, Lauretana “water from the Italian Alps”, American University of Kuwait and HIBO.

SPECTRUM

38

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Fashion

Threading an alternative to waxing eing of Italian heritage, I have eyebrows that, when grown out, can rival those of Groucho Marx.

I’ve plucked, waxed and even gone through some laser treatments to get rid of unwanted facial hair. I hate the time-consuming plucking. I’ve been burned by waxing and lasers can’t get really close enough to the brow to give it shape. But still I pluck and wax and wax and pluck just to maintain a feminine look.

But recently that all changed. This past December, as I was wandering through the Stoneridge Shopping Center in Pleasanton, Calif, I saw two booths at either end of the mall offering threading.

I’d heard of the ancient Asian hair-removal practice, but it never seemed accessible.

Now here it was available in these little mall booths. I didn’t have it done that day, but my curiosity was piqued.

A few weeks ago, I finally made the leap. I went back and had my brows and lips threaded. Threading is a form of epilation in which heavy, 100-percent cotton threads are twisted around hair, and it is quickly pulled out by its roots. It’s debatable where the practice started, but it is quite common in India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In fact, many young women learn at a very young age how to perform threading at home from their mothers, aunts and sisters. It’s not unusual, says Mitesh Parikh, co-owner of Threads Beauty Bar and Spa in Dublin, Calif., for practiced people of those nationalities to

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Timely timepieces

Chetna Parikh, owner-operator of Threads in Dublin, California, threads a client’s eyebrows.

Threading is done to get rid of unwanted facial hair and accurately shape eyebrows. The thread is 100 percent cotton made especially for this technique. —MCT photos

offer threading in their garages or homes for a fee.

It turns out that threading is so woven into the fabric of these cultures that it is not regulated by the state Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, like waxing and hairdressing are. It is considered a cultural custom akin to the tradition of braiding hair in the African-American community, which is also not regulated by the board. As with any hair-removal technique, there is a chance of skin irritation and minor skin tears from threading.

About 15 minutes after I had settled down at the booth in the mall, hair was pulled from my brows, upper lip and chin (and $32 was pulled from my wallet). I immediately turned to Facebook and posted about my first threading experience. I described it as “quick, painful, precise and expensive” though I learned later that $32, plus tip, is a pretty decent price for all the work I had had done. And I love how sleek my new brows look.

Chetna Parikh, Mitesh’s wife and the other owner of Threads in Dublin, says all epilation is somewhat painful because the hair is being pulled from its roots. An interesting aspect of threading, she says, is that the threads can pull out hair at the point where it’s just poking out of the skin.

“Waxing needs to have at least a quarter-inch of hair to pull it effectively,” she says.

Chetna Parikh is also an aesthetician, authorized by the

ding fashion designer Zalikha Safdari of San Ramon, Calif, says she’s been waxed once, but she prefers the threading method. “It’s convenient and cleaner and less aggressive on the skin than waxing,” she says during an eyebrow treatment.

Mitesh Parikh says even men are jumping into the threading trend, shaping their eyebrows and removing wispy fuzz from their cheeks.

“Men are learning if they do their eyebrows, it makes their eyes stand out,” he says.

Threading is applicable for both facial and body hair, but is not recommended for thick beard hair, however. As for me, I’d go back to any store that does threading. There was hardly any redness on my brow after the procedure, and Groucho was held at bay for state board to perform waxing and other services.

I suppose the quarter-inch rule is why a waxing session usually ends with a bunch of tweezing. I hate that. Chetna Parikh says threading is precise because the threads can pull out multiple hairs at once or one hair at a time. The work is done in lines around the hairy patch so brow arches, for instance, can be intricately defined.

Mitesh Parikh says his wife is too shy to admit that she is one of the top threading professionals in the country and speaks of the practice at national cosmetology events.

Her method of threading is weaving the string in between her hands and pulling the hair

in short bursts. Many threading professionals anchor the thread in their mouths, which Chetna Parikh says is still a clean and sanitary way of doing it. “In our country, this isn’t at all disgusting,” she says, referring to India.

“There’s absolutely no way we would get it done ourselves if there were any chance it would be unclean.”

When the Parikhs opened their first 200-square-foot store inside the Holiday Inn Express in Dublin in 2005, they were quickly overwhelmed by demand. They opened their current 2,500square-foot store in a Dublin strip mall nearby a year or so later. Although they offer a host of other services, they

say 90 percent of their business now is customers getting their hair threaded, about 300 clients a day.

One of those clients, wed-

weeks. The average client who relies only on threading for grooming would need the procedure done about once every three weeks. —MCT

This square-face watch is set with a bright pink, faux croc band.

—MCT photos

one are the days when a person wore the same watch every day until it wore out. Then it was time to get another one. Today, many people have a wardrobe of watches. A vast range of price points, from $10 to $10,000, and styles, from casual to very dressy, make it easy and affordable to have a watch to go with just about any outfit.

“People wear watches the way they wear bracelets,” said Valerie Reimers, who owns Lucinda’s in Wichita, Kan. These days, many people have developed a habit of looking at their cell phones to find out what time it is, she noted. “For many who have cell phones, watches have become an accessory instead of a necessity,” she said.

Watches on display in her store range from sparkling to rustic. One timepiece that is selling well is what Reimers calls a “clocket”-a locket with a clock in it. They cost about $26. Linda Webb, owner of Personally Yours in Wichita, made sure she stocked up on a variety of watches for spring.

“I have 60 different stylessilver tone, mixed metals, gold tone, rhinestone and lots of colors,” she said. Prices range from $15 to $38. Fun watches make a great gift for the friend who has everything. Watchbands have arrived in the bright colors that are an important part of spring wardrobes. This is the season to check the time by looking at a bold, colorful, timely accessory. —MCT

G (Above) A “clocket,” a clock in a locket that hangs on a chain as a necklace, can be found for under $30.

(Right) The face on this watch by Bora is set in a bold, purple cuff.

(Below) This watch features a hand-painted face as well as a combination of brass, copper and sterling silver for a rustic finish.

A silver-tone watch with a large face is trendy and can be found for under $20.

This watch from LaMer features a long leather band that gives the appearance of several bracelets are being worn along with the watch.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

SPECTRUM

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Fashion

he sexy singer is a huge admirer of the former Spice Girl-turned-fashion designer’s collections and is keen for her to create some stunning outfits for her next series of concerts. A source said: “Beyonce is a big fan of Victoria’s work, and was given a couple of samples from the new collection. Victoria was hugely flattered and has agreed, in principle, to suggest some designs. While Beyonce already has the sunglasses and a few dresses, it is Victoria’s more elegant full-length designs that she particularly loves as they are a real departure from her usual glitzy stage costumes. This collaboration could be the start ofsomething big.”

Victoria’s designs have become a huge hit with celebrities with Demi Moore, Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz and Heidi Klum all donning some of her creations. Demi wore a strapless, floor-length royal blue dress from Victoria’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection at the preOscars Hollywood Domino party and couldn’t help but gush about Victoria’s handiwork. She said: “I always feel so comfortable and Victoria’s designs fit so well. They’re just stylish through and through.” —Bang Showbiz

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Models present creations from Peruvian designers during the annual Peru Fashion event in Lima. More than 400 Peruvian businesses in the industry expect to profit over 70 million dollars from the event.

—AFP photos

Art, fashion mix on ramp Models are seen at the House of Yes, an old ice warehouse that has been turned into an event space, where a performance fashion show was held on April 30, 2010 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The show, entitled New Faux, featured numerous young New York designers who mix art and fashion on the stage. A $10 entry fee included all the night’s fashion shows and a dance party that followed. —AFP

Models in the Kae Tards show walk on the stage at the House of Yes.

Bailey gets McCartney’s help aura Bailey can’t wait to wear the dress Stella McCartney has custom-made for her.

The stunning model is attending the prestigious Met Ball in New York next month and when she couldn’t decide what to wear, she turned to her designer friend who was more than willing to help out. She said: “Luckily for me, the friend is Stella McCartney and the dresses she made for me are perfect in the way that can only happen when someone not only knows your size and your style, but intuitively your issues and inhibitions too.” —Bang Showbiz

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Pixie Lott launches her fashion range

Knowles wants Beckham to design her tour outfits

he 19-year-old singer has teamed up with British high street store Lipsy to create the Pixie Loves Lipsy line which has two looks, Pixie Party and Pixie Festival - and celebrated with an exclusive party at London nightclub Movida, where she wowed the crowd with a stunning performance. Speaking about the collection, Pixie - who earlier in the day had showcased the collection at the Lipsy store in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, South England - said: “The collection is very me and that’s why it was great to do the two looks - festival and party - as I love festivals and I love going out. “It’s good for people looking for something to wear over the summer and for the weekends.”

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To promote the range, Pixie flew to Spain to pose in her new designs. She said: “It was amazing to go to Marbella and be in the sunshine. I loved doing the festival stuff as the make-up was a bit crazy. I also love accessories, so we had fun with scarves and hats and I took a creative role in the way I looked.” The new spring/summer collection - which is priced between £25-£75 - is on sale now and will be followed by an autumn/winter range later this year. —Bang Showbiz

www.kuwaittimes.net

Safir Marina Hotel hosts Wedding Exhibition he Safir Marina Hotel Kuwait hosts its first Wedding Exhibition at The Salwa Sabah AlAhmed Theatre and Hall today. Soon-to-be brides and grooms are invited to the exhibition which will feature Kuwait’s leading suppliers and services necessary for a perfect wedding day. From haute couture fashion, venue decor, accessories, floral designs, wedding cakes, jewellery to photography, all vendors will be present under one roof making it an event of great interest to local couples and their families concerned with the wedding planning.

The Safir Marina Hotel Kuwait also unveils its amazing wedding packages like exclusively tailored for soonto-be brides and groom. The package which is valid from June to August guarantees that the wedded couple is treated with royalty. Additional perks on booking the package include a royal dinner after the party, and a free night stay at the Royal Suite. Not only that, but couples who book The Salwa Sabah Al -Ahmed Theatre and Hall as their wedding venue on the day of the exhibition can avail of fabulous discounts from all wedding arrangement exhibitors.

For the first time in Kuwait, couples who celebrate their wedding at The Safir Marina Hotel will have an opportunity to plant their very own wedding tree at the hotel’s outdoor premises to commemorate their joyous occasion. As years go by they can watch their tree bloom and grow in splendor.

The exhibition provides a great opportunity for suppliers involved in the wedding industry to showcase their latest products and services and meet prospective clients. Brides-to-be as well as women who enjoy fashion and beauty have the opportunity to shop for everything they need for their wedding celebration.

Jan Verduyn, General Manager of The Safir Marina Hotel Kuwait said “This is a very good time for us to host the Wedding Exhibition. Not only is Kuwait one of the most affluent markets in the region, it is also a country where weddings have a great significance and no expense is spared in making these occasions memorable. We would like the local residents to have the opportunity to shop for everything they need for their wedding all under one roof and also avail of the special offers and packages designed for them by The Safir Marina Hotel Kuwait”.

“While making your wedding preparations, I would like to request couples to keep in mind The Safir Marina Hotel Kuwait. With our meticulous planning and individualistic services, Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmed Theatre and Hall is the ideal venue which provides plenty of opportunities and offers to make your special day memorable” further comments Jan. Open from 9:00 am till 10:00 pm, visitors can seek advice and gather inspiration from demonstrations taking place throughout the day. The exhibitors will be present showcasing everything: wedding gowns, floral dÈcor, wedding stationary, haute couture fashion, accessories etc.

The Safir Marina Hotel’s reputation assures quality and expertise with special focus on your day from the moment you make your first enquiry until your wedding takes place. The experienced wedding team of the Hotel will tailor the resources to all your requirements from wedding cakes, floral arrangements to a rich buffet of Oriental, Continental and International dishes. Special menus, specialty stations, fresh juices are also offered as per the packages chosen. This is the hotels special way of wishing the couple a happy and long wedded life.

The Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmed Theatre and Hall with its magnificent seaside location and spacious car park is fully equipped with the latest technologies and facilities can accommodate upto 1,500 people.

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Conan O’Brien says has no regrets in Leno debacle omedian Conan O’Brien says he has no regrets on any of his decisions in January when he quit his shortlived stint as host of “The Tonight Show” and NBC installed Jay Leno in his place. In a second set of transcripts from his interview with television news program “60 Minutes”-O’Brien’s first talk with a reporter since leaving the “Tonight Show”-the comic said he is “mostly very happy” right now.

He said people on the street tell him, “Hey partner, you got screwed.” But O’Brien does not believe that. “I always tell them, ‘No, I didn’t. I didn’t get screwed.

I’m-I’m fine. It just-it didn’t work out.”“ O’Brien quit as the host of the NBC network’s “Tonight Show,” a long and popular talk program on US late-night TV, in January just seven months after taking the reins from Leno. Leno had hosted the “Tonight Show” for 17 years before moving to his new “The Jay Leno Show” in an earlier time period. But the move proved to be a blunder, and the network moved Leno’s new show to a late-night period, pushing O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” to a later start time.

The change caused a storm of bad publicity. O’Brien openly criticized NBC on its own airwaves saying, among many things, NBC had caused the “destruction” of the “Tonight Show.” He eventually left with a $45 million severance deal, signed an agreement to mount a new talk show on cable TV network TBS, and is currently on a live comedy tour.

“I don’t regret one decision I made in that week and a half period,” O’Brien told “60 Minutes” in an interview airing May 2. “I wish it had ended differently. But, I’m fine.” O’Brien says that while “I have not resolved all my issues. I am mostly very happy. “I love this (comedy) tour, it’s the most thrilling thing I’ve done in my career. And so I’m in a really great place in a lot of ways. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t-have my moments of everything, you know, anger, disappointment- frustration and just confusion.” —Reuters

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Pooch Sling comforts your pets when you can’t.

The fleece hammock, developed

by North Canton, Ohio, inventor and dog owner Sharon Lemon, can be attached to the inside of a crate to give a small dog or cat a cozy, enveloped feeling. —MCT

Bono meets with Obama at the White House resident Barack Obama hosted activist and U2 frontman Bono at the White House’s Oval Office Friday to discuss US development policy ahead of key international meetings later this year. A statement from ONE, the development organization Bono founded, said the singer met with Obama “to discuss the administration’s development strategy heading into the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings in Canada and September’s UN Summit on the

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Millennium Development Goals.”

The group said Bono and Obama also “discussed the power of new technology to empower activists and entrepreneurs across Africa, part of a new rising generation that’s boosting growth and governance and def ying stereotypes.” The meeting did not appear on the president’s daily schedule published by the White House, but a spokesman confirmed the talks without giving further details. —AFP

Singer Bono makes comments after receiving the Atlantic Council’s Humanitarian Leadership Award.—AFP

A 1967 Rolls Royce belonging to Michael Jackson.

Jackson memorabilia go on show in Japan M

ichael Jackson fans flocked to the opening yesterday in Tokyo of an exhibition of memorabilia from the late King of Pop, including his famous crystal-studded gloves and favorite 1967 Rolls Royce.

Some ardent fans were overcome with emotion and fainted while viewing the Lifetime Collection of some 300 items belonging to singer on display in a hall at the foot of Tokyo Tower.

Exhibits included stage costumes and props such as the

crystal-studded gloves worn by the superstar, who died last June aged 50.

“By seeing his memorabilia, I was refreshing my memories of Michael,” Kimiko Sato, 49, said, sobbing. “I felt as if he was still alive here.” Yu Tei, a 21-year-old Chinese student studying in Tokyo, said: “It was so regretful that we lost him. I like all of his songs and his lifestyle. He was so cool.”

The collection also included costumes and masks of ghosts prepared for his unrealized London performance scheduled for last year as well as plastic containers used for his lunch in his last days.

Among other items were an antique piano, a gate sign from his “Neverland” ranch, trophies and gold discs commemorating one million sales of his records such as “Rockin’ Robin,” “Got To Be There,” “Maybe Tomorrow” and “I Want You Back.” —AFP

The exhibition poster of Michael Jackson, “The official Lifetime Collection” is displayed at the entrance of the exhibition.

A sculpture of Michael Jackson is displayed during a press preview of the Michael Jackson exhibition in the Tokyo Tower museum in Tokyo. —AFP photos