10 May

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

40 PAGES

MONDAY, MAY 10, 2010

JAMADA ALAWAL 26, 1431 AH

Ahmadinejad opens region’s ‘biggest’ car plant

Siberia mine tragedy kills 12, traps over 80

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Gayle and West Indies push India towards exit PAGE 18

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Chelsea rout Wigan to clinch title in style PAGE 20

Privatization row heats up Khorafi blasts opponents • Hundreds protest outside Assembly • MP threatens to grill PM

By B Izzak, Hussain Al-Qatari and A Saleh

DOHA: (From left) Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali AlNaimi, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad AlAbdullah Al-Sabah and Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah arrive to attend the opening session of the 9th Arab Energy Conference yesterday. — AFP

Gulf unfazed by fall in oil prices Kuwait eyes output hike DOHA: Arab oil producers in the Gulf appeared unfazed yesterday about a weeklong slump in crude prices, insisting at an energy conference that there was no need for an extraordinary OPEC meeting.

“I am never worried,” Ali AlNaimi, oil minister of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, told reporters when asked if he was concerned about the sharp dip in oil prices last week. “OPEC is not standing still. OPEC is always in movement,” he said on the sidelines of the Arab Energy Conference which began yesterday in the Qatari capital.

Later, Naimi said he believes there is “balance” in the oil

market between supply and demand.

Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah said there was no proposal to hold an extraordinary meeting of the oil cartel, blaming psychological factors for the price fall.

“There is no proposal to hold an extraordinary OPEC meeting,” he said after a call on Saturday by his Kuwaiti counterpart for OPEC to meet ahead of its scheduled conference in October if oil prices slide below $65 a barrel.

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad AlAbdullah Al-Sabah said yesterday a fresh strategy has Continued on Page 14

KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee yesterday completed amendments to the privatization law and sent it for final debate as the controversy over the law heated up. Head of the committee MP Yousef Al-Zalzalah said the panel studied 57 amendments submitted by a large number of MPs and made its decision on the amendments. Zalzalah said the most important amendment was to ban the privatization of the production of oil and gas in addition to the health and education sector by deleting the sentence “except with a law”.

The amendment means that the privatization of those sectors is entirely banned and cannot happen, but it also means that other oil sectors like refineries are open for privatization which many MPs are opposed to. The lawmaker said that the committee will refer the final draft of the law to the Assembly today in order to be debated and approved in tomorrow’s session as expected.

Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi however said the debate of the law, which was approved in the first reading last month, depends on the decision of the Assembly. Asked about a campaign launched by opponents of privatization under the theme “I will not sell my homeland”, Khorafi criticized the campaign, saying privatization is not a sale of the country. Khorafi criticized what he called “pressure tactics” being applied to the Assembly by opponents of privatization, adding that “we are a democratic institution and do not belong to the street”.

He was referring to a gathering by the opposition late yesterday at the so-called Determination Square opposite the Assembly to protest the privatization law. The speaker said the voting on the law will be like other laws and Continued on Page 14

in the news Principal molests boy KUWAIT: A Jordanian has accused the headmaster of a private school in Khaitan of molesting his 11-year-old son. The man said his son told him that the school principal, a Kuwaiti, took him to a room and fondled him. Farwaniya police arrested the headmaster and filed a case (No. 61/2010) of raping a minor against him.

Refinery workers strike KUWAIT: Thirty-two workers at Kuwait’s 460,000 barrels per day Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, the country’s largest, started a strike yesterday, but the walkout hasn’t affected production, a union official said.

Mohammad Al-Hamlan, deputy president of the Kuwait National Petroleum Company workers union, said the 32 workers taking part in the strike were from the facility’s utility unit. They are protesting at a cut in the number of workers assigned to that unit. Thirty-five staff work at the utility unit, eight in every shif t, he said.

Hamlan said about 2,000 are employed at the refinery overall. Hamlan said the utility unit was at the heart of the refinery’s operations.

Mirqab fire injures 7 KUWAIT: Seven Indians were injured, two of them critically, after a fire broke out in a building in Mirqab yesterday. The injured were transferred to Amiri hospital.

Firemen from four stations were dispatched to tackle the blaze.

Islamists to stand trial

KUWAIT: (Top) Kuwaitis take part in a sit-in against a privatisation draft bill at the Determination Square opposite the National Assembly yesterday. (Above left) MP Jamaan Al-Harbash addresses the gathering. (Above right) Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi speaks during a press conference earlier at the parliament. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

US: Pak Taleban behind NY bomb WASHINGTON: The United States charged for the first time yesterday that the Pakistani Taleban was behind a Pakistani-American’s failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in the heart of New York City. “We’ve now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taleban was behind the attack,” Attorney General Eric Holder said on

ABC television’s Sunday current affairs talk show “This Week”. “We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it, and that he was working at their direction.”

Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a Pakistani air force officer, was pulled off a plane to Dubai and arrested

Baghdad airport tries to shed ‘dangerous’ image

BAGHDAD: Passengers wait at Baghdad International Airport on April 24, 2010. — AFP

BAGHDAD: Waving his hands wildly in the air, Abdel Al-Khafaji explains that it should not take four hours of security holdups to reach Baghdad airport’s check-in queue ... and yet further delays. “It is really bad,” says the 70-year-old Iraqi exile, trying to head home to Denmark, where he has lived for the past 16 years, after a holiday. “Before, everything was well-managed but now it is so complicated, not just security but the whole process of travel,” he says, remarking on the relative ease with which he moved around before the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Khafaji is among many passengers whom the man in charge of Iraq’s airports has to impress. Adnan Blebil, director general of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority, has grand plans for Baghdad Airport, 16 km west of the capital, which until the 2003 US-led invasion was known as Saddam International Airport. More than a decade of UN sanctions followed Continued on Page 14

CAIRO: Four Egyptians and a Saudi national are to stand trial in Egypt on June 14 on charges of money laundering and funding the banned Muslim Brotherhood, a judicial source told AFP yesterday. The five will be tried after being charged with channeling money through a British-based Islamic charity to fund the movement’s activities in Egypt, the source said.

Monday for allegedly leaving a sport utility vehicle rigged to explode in New York’s Times Square on May 1.

The United States has responded by stepping up the pressure on Pakistan to crack down on Islamic extremists operating in safe havens in tribal areas along Pakistan’s rugged border with Afghanistan.

The New York Times said General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan, urged Pakistan’s General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad on Friday to quickly begin a military offensive in North Waziristan, the stronghold of Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taleban.

Continued on Page 14

Western troops march on Russia’s Red Square

BEIRUT: A Lebanese flag flutters over a giant plate of falafel as Lebanese chefs set a new world record yesterday. — AFP

Lebanon sets falafel record BEIRUT: A day after firing a 10-tonne hummus broadside in a food fight with Israel, chefs in Lebanon weighed in with another first for a Guinness record yesterday - five tonnes of falafel. More than 300 chefs mixed a ton of chickpeas with an equal portion of broad beans, adding onions, garlic, coriander, onion, pepper and cumin to concoct 5,173 kg of falafel, a deep-fried patty popular in Lebanon and many parts of the Middle East.

With a Guinness World Records representa-

tive at hand to record the feat, organisers said it was the first time any country had tried to set such a high-frying falafel record.

On Saturday, Lebanon claimed another victory in its continuing battle with Israel over which country can make the largest plate of the chickpea delicacy hummus - with a 10-tonne platter. More than 300 chefs in Beirut set the new record for hummus, which the Lebanese say is their national dish Continued on Page 14

MOSCOW: Troops from four NATO states marched through Red Square for the first time yesterday as Russia marked victory in World War II with its biggest military parade since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In a moment of huge symbolism, soldiers from Britain, France, Poland and the United States paraded on the Moscow square’s famous cobbles along with nuclear-capable missiles that once would have been aimed at Western states.

Britain and the United States were the key allies of the Soviet Union in World War II but became bitter postwar foes.

France and Poland were occupied by the Nazis but their exiled troops played a major role in the Allied effort.

“Sixty-five years ago, Nazism was defeated and a machine that was exterminating whole peoples was halted,” President Dmitry Medvedev said in a speech at the parade.

“There was one choice - either victory or to become slaves.”

Two dozen world leaders attended the parade for the Continued on Page 14

MOSCOW: British soldiers march through Red Square during the Victory Day parade yesterday. — AFP

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NATIONAL

Monday, May 10, 2010

A strategic partner

BOT conference focuses on role of private sector

By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) chairman Sheikh Talal Al-Sabah said that Kuwait’s ninth annual Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) conference which began yesterday morning comes during a crucial period in Kuwait’s history.

“We stand now before a new phase of economic development, and one of the

KUWAIT: Some of the participants of the annual BOT conference.

Amir briefs Cabinet on results of European tour KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah presided here yesterday over an extraordinary cabinet meeting at Bayan Palace. HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi and Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah AlSabah were present in the meeting.

Following the meeting, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Roudhan Al-Roudhan said that during the meeting, HH the Amir briefed the cabinet on the outcomes of his recent state tour of Germany, Italy, and the Vatican from April 25 to May 6.

He kept the ministers posted on the content of his talks with the leaders, prime ministers and senior officials of the three states, the minister said.

His talks with those leaders focused on ways and means of bolstering and promoting cooperative relations in the political, economic, investment and cultural fields up to fresh horizons for the common benefit of Kuwait and the three European states, he noted. As part of Kuwait’s interest in economic and development affairs with those countries, HH the Amir had asked Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of State for Development and Housing Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah to elaborate on the details of the country’s development

drive, the cabinet minister added.

During the extraordinary cabinet meeting, HH the Amir also apprised the ministers of agreements concluded with the three European states; involving oil, trade, investment, environment and media sectors, mainly aiming to push forward joint economic partnership between Kuwait and those friendly nations. The minister also quoted HH the Amir as hailing identical views with those European leaders on different regional issues, mainly the Palestinian issue, regional peace and stability, and closer cooperation and coordination between the GCC member states and the European Union (EU).

He briefed the cabinet on the outcomes of his visit to the Vatican and his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI on the significance of interfaith dialogue and building bridges of people-to-people cooperation as well as respect of religions. In conclusion, HH the Amir wished that his recent European tour would contribute to opening fresh vistas of cooperation with the Vatican, Germany and Italy, the cabinet minister said. HH the Crown Prince, the parliament speaker and HH the prime minister highly appreciated great efforts exerted by HH the Amir and his accompanying delegation during the European tour, which they hoped would bear fruit in the near future for the common benefit of Kuwait and those friendly nations. — KUNA

KU head rejects mismanagement accusations KUWAIT: In response to accusations of dysfunctional management of Kuwait University (KU), the university’s rector Dr. Abdullah Al-Fhaid stressed that he had four years of achievements in his current position to speak for him, reported AlRai. “Yes, I have Parkinson’s. My left hand is shaky but I’m otherwise OK,” he told local daily Al-Rai. “What do I have to do to prove I’m in good health? Do I have to run a marathon or walk a tightrope?!”

Dr. Al-Fhaid refused to discuss other accusations of academic spying and corruption, asserting that he had come under attack many times in the local press for no reason.

“I have no unsettled old scores with anybody as I don’t judge people by their conscience and surely hope that others would treat me the same way’, he stated.

Dr. Al-Fhaid also denied reports that he had rejected an offer to renew his tenure as KU rector, noting that even if he were to give up that position, he would not quit the campus entirely.

‘My natural place is amongst my students and my colleagues where I can resume developing my knowledge and teaching new generations’, he stressed. On the subject of a dispute between the university management and the Kuwait Teachers’ Society, the rector said that holding different viewpoints is entirely natural.

“It needs to be objectively discussed without criticizing others in person,” he said. “I do respect all the teaching staff members who had been democratically elected and chosen by other colleagues. I only object to the manner in which they discussed the problem, which is over now.” The rector emphasized that Kuwait University’s administration had taken no sides in the dispute and is only keen on achieving the public interest in order to create the most favorable educational atmosphere within the campus and on the various KU facilities. Further, Al-Fhaid underlined that university laws and regulations had to be fully observed and respected as they were equally enforced.

KIFCO honors exhibition participants KUWAIT: The Annual Gold and Jewelry Exhibition is now a prominent specialized exhibition of the region. It has been attracting participants from the world’s most famous companies and establishments, said the Deputy Chairman of Board of Directors and CEO of Kuwait International Fair Co (KIFCO) Abdul Rahman Al-Nassar.

He was speaking during a special ceremony that the KIFCO held to honor the participating companies and sponsors of the 8th International Gold and Jewelry Exhibition. It was organized from February 15 to 21.

“Thanks to the effective participation of over 120 local and international companies, and the support lent by various officials

and establishments like the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Customs Department, KIFCO has managed to overcome many challenges, and achieve further success,” said Al-Nassar.

The ceremony was attended

by KIFCO Chairman of Board Emad Tayfouni, PR and Marketing Manager, Basemah Al-Duhaim, Deputy Marketing Affairs Manager, Ali Al-Shatti and Hamdan Al-Enezi from the Ministry of Commerce, and Hosam Suhail from the Customs Department.

The two-day event includes a number of workshops aimed at addressing the private sector’s role in implementing the development plan, as well as an exhibition featuring major construction and contracting companies. Delivering the inaugural speech on behalf of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah, Essa Khadada said that the government relies on the private sector as a strategic partner to implement its development plan.

Khadada, the deputy head of the Public Authority for Housing Welfare’s (PAHW) Private Sector and Investment Affairs Department, said that the timing of the conference coincides with the announcement of a prominent major BOT project.

“A meeting will be held on Tuesday to announce the auctioning off of 50% of the company that will implement the ‘low cost housing’ project under the BOT system,” he revealed.

Khadada urged the private sector to participate in BOT projects, assuring the audience that any ineffective legislation will be eliminated in order to ensure that investment goes smoothly and without obstacles.

“Some people might think that the current ‘governmentowned real estate’ legislation contains conditions that could limit the private sector’s participation in BOT projects, but I would say, out of practical appli-

most important conditions to ensure that this phase pays off is to shift the national economy’s dependence from the state to the private sector,” he asserted. The conference, entitled ‘Kuwait 2030 - the Private Sector’s Role in Development and Infrastructure Projects,’ is being held under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, the minister of public housing and of development.

KUWAIT: Esa Khadada inaugurating the ninth annual BOT conference. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat cation, that it would be more appropriate for private sector investors to try the system and take part in the upcoming auctions for BOT projects,” said the senior official.

Khadada explained that if it still turns out that implementing this law is difficult, or not cost efficient, then everyone will take part in amending the law for the public interest.

Sheikh Talal said that the KOC has approved a number of projects to develop oil fields,

and to increase the production capacity as part of its 2030 strategy. “The oil sector wants to spend on capital project, and the private sector will have a relatively big role in these projects in the upcoming five years,” he noted.

The head of the event’s organizing committee, Toufiq Al-Jarrah, said that the conference’s aims become more urgent every year, explaining that the committee intended to make this year’s conference a

turning point from whining and complaining to spreading hope.

“The private sector today is not asking for charity or help; it is demanding its constitutional and legal right to be a partner in wealth,” he noted.

Al-Jarrah explained that the harsh strictures imposed by some against private sector are unconstitutional and illegal.

“The intended increase of the state’s presence in economical and investment affairs have produced an unproductive pub-

lic sector, which is weighed down by masked unemployment and filled with bureaucracy and routine,” he asserted, adding that these observations are according to government officials’ own admissions.

The first day of the conference included three workshops, with the participation of current and former government officials. The second day will include four workshops that focus on KOC and affiliated companies.

Awareness must be raised on humanitarian law KUWAIT: Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) reiterated yesterday the importance of raising awareness over the principles of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and its implementation mechanisms in different sects of the society.

Coordinator of the IHL Bureau at KRCS, Mariam AlAdsani, said that the IHL protected the lives of people who did not take part in fighting or who no longer participated in such acts, adding that it served to protect the lives of individuals, their health and their dignity. Al-Adsani said that she represented KRCS at the Arab IHL Session, recently held in Beirut under the supervision of the Arab Center for Research and Studies of the Arab Ministerial Council and the International Committee of the Red Cross, with the participation of 16 Arab states.

She explained that the session aimed at raising awareness of human rights during wartime and the services that the Red Cross provided, as well as how to deal with unarmed soldiers and civilians, and protecting cultural and religious property in different states.

She said that the session underscored the need for the international community to provide safe channels for delivering aid to war victims, noting that local and international conventions stipulated the protecting of individuals and respecting their rights, whether in times of war or peace. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) recently held a graduation ceremony for the second batch of trainees, as part of the Ministry of Interior’s special forces. They attended a course on aviation basics, safety and security of aircrafts. The event was attended by the Head of the KAC’s Training and Development Department, Dr Lafi Al-Thufairi. The course featured training to pilot airplanes as well as simulation devices that helped elevate the efficiency of trainees.

local spotlight

UAS decides to go green!

By Muna Al-Fuzai

I

was really happy to learn that this week, one of the most active schools in Kuwait, the Universal American School (UAS) came up with a simple idea: To observe a ‘Green Week’ in school! I was glad to see that young Kuwaitis, expatriate students and teachers here are concerned about how to help make the local environment cleaner and healthier. They are ready to make efforts to help spread awareness. Collective efforts should be put in for it. I think that the main problem lies with the fact that there is a lack of awareness among many officials about treating the environment!

I could justify the prevalent ignorance and carelessness by stating that the Kuwaiti society is a consumerist society.

We know how to eat, drink and what to wear. In most cases, we do not care how or whether water has been properly treated, or if ingredients of the food we eat contain toxic elements.

I blame those that accept the use of harmful materials which damage the environment. For example, nearly most local markets in Kuwait use plastic carry bags.

Even up market shops whose owners are highly educated and intelligent still use them. What about paper bags? I know that paper costs more money but it would help our surroundings. So why don’t you take this step? Now, look at local beaches after weekends and holidays. We can then understand how our environment is being abused by many who leave garbage behind carelessly!

That is why the Universal American School’s efforts are praiseworthy. Some students at the Universal American School (UAS) in Kuwait have decided to make a small effort to help the environment - an effort that although may seem small but unique, and reflects a high sense of responsibility by organizing a Green Club.

The students had organized a simple Green Week. This week they will be in charge of daily activities of the school by holding a small competition. The more student involvement, the better the chances of catching others’ attention. They have even prepared a week’s schedule of events

for those interested. The goal is to bring schools together and create awareness for a cleaner Kuwait. The idea is simple and unique. I wish that the Ministry of Education would adopt this idea that is really noble and bring benefit to our young boys and girls by spreading a sense of caring to the environment.

For example, in one of the activities of the green ‘Going Green Day, ‘ a student will dress in the color green. Teachers will count the number of kids who are dressed in green that day. The Green club will receive numbers from teachers at end of day.

Another activity of the Green club is to send ‘Announcements via Email. ‘No paper announcements will be sent, and the teacher will read from an email message. I wish many of us would learn from the method. Am I dreaming? Not anymore. There are more educated people from the Universal American School that share my hopes- to see a healthier Kuwaiti environment. Maybe not many are feeling as grateful as I’m now, but am sure some will be. muna@kuwaittimes.net

NATIONAL

Monday, May 10, 2010

3 Malaysian minister in town

Increase in number of Kuwaiti tourists

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The number of Kuwaiti tourists visiting Malaysia is increasing every year, according to the Malaysian tourism minister Dr. Ng Yen Yen, who is currently visiting Kuwait.

KUWAIT: A group of Malaysian women in different traditional costumes. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

AUK holds accounting, auditing seminar

By Hussain Al-Qatari KUWAIT: The American University of Kuwait (AUK) held an Auditing and Accounting seminar yesterday that was organized by students of the Accounting Department. The seminar, entitled ‘Understanding IFRS and the role of auditors in Kuwait’ featured speeches by the Vice-Chairman of the Kuwait Accountants and Auditors Association Dr Rasheed AlQennai, the Director of the Auditing Department at renowned auditing firm KPMG Kuwait, Yassir Attiyeh. Also in attendance was Chairman of the Kuwaiti

Accountants and Auditors Association (KAAA) Mohammed Al-Hajiri. The seminar was attended by students in the Accounting Department of the AUK, and was chaired by Professor Jeremy Kripps of the AUK Business and Economics division.

The Head of the organizing students committee of the event Abdulaziz Safi AlMutawa introduced the speakers and highlighted the role of the KAAA in legislating and applying accounting laws that are followed by all financial institutes in Kuwait including the Central Bank of Kuwait and the numerous auditing firms in the country.

KAAA Chairman Dr Rasheed Al-Qennai

explained in his speech, the role of the association in ensuring the application of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), better known as the IFRS in the auditing forms and accounting departments throughout the country.

“Every other year, the KAAA holds a conference for auditors and accountants to share experiences and knowledge. We encourage the participation of students in this event as well, since it gives them an inside view of the job and the way it goes,” said Al-Qennai. The event was followed by an awards ceremony where participating speakers were honored.

E-Award session begins in Kuwait KUWAIT: The Kuwait Electronic Award’s (KEA) arbitration panel launched the second annual award here yesterday. Under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the annual E-Award is organized by the Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Sciences (KFAS).

The week-long session sees the participation of representatives of the World Summit Award (WSA), a global initiative launched on the occasion of the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), KEA Secretary General Manar Al-Hashash said.

“Under the supervision of

WSIS the 18-member panel of Kuwaiti arbiters is scheduled to select the winning developers of electronic content from 200 local candidates,” she pointed out. “The candidates belong to several government and privately run institutions as well as public interest societies and independent individuals,” AlHashash noted.

“The projects vying for one of the eight categories of the award range From websites and internal networks to software, mobile phone software applications, videogames, interactive touch-screen systems and information kiosk systems,” she said, noting that the winning projects would be patented by the WSIS.—KUNA

This is Dr. Ng Yen Yen’s first visit to Kuwait, and is intended to promote tourism to Malaysia.

During yesterday’s event, she also announced the launch of special holiday packages to the South East Asian nation in coordination with Boodai Aviation. Yesterday’s press conference was also attended by Dato Ashaary Bin Sani the Ambassador of Malaysia to Kuwait. The minister also revealed that Malaysia’s income from tourism in 2009 reached $15.7 billion.

Special programs are awaiting Arab visitors to the country during the present season, said Dr. Ng Yen Yen. “We aim to ensure that tourist stay as long as possible in Malaysia, and to attract 24 million tourists in 2010, with the current number standing at 23.65 million over the past year,” she explained “The Malaysian government is currently focusing on religious and educational tourism. We want to make Malaysia feel like a second home.”

Malaysia is also a good place for foreign investments, the minister continued. “Investors will get 100 percent equity and they don’t need a sponsor,” she revealed. “Also there are many great investment opportunities in Malaysia, with some Kuwait investors already having business there, such as the Kuwait Finance

“Despite the economic crisis the number of Kuwaiti tourists increased from 17,000 in 2007 to 18,853 in 2008 and 20,170 in 2009, and we hope to see 25,000 Kuwaiti tourists this year,” said the minister during the press conference held yesterday at Kuwait’s Sheraton Hotel.

KUWAIT: Minister of Tourism of Malaysia Dr Ng Yen Yen. House (KFH) which invested in the best Asian shopping mall.”

Dr Ng Yen Yen emphasized Kuwait’s stance as an important travel market for tourism within Malaysia, saying that the country has entrusted Boodai Aviation to be Malaysia’s strategic partner in promoting it as a tourist destination in Kuwait. Dato Ashaary Bin Sani also reaffirmed the lasting strong ties between Kuwait and Malaysia, voicing his wholehearted support towards the initiative being taken to promote tourism in Malaysia.

The Malaysian minister also announce the launch of innovative new programs prepared especially for the holy month of Ramadan.

“Malaysia is a suitable country for

Muslim and Arab tourists as Arabic and Halal food is available everywhere,” she emphasized.

“Ramadan in Malaysia is a festival. It’s a unique experience, and all the hotels prepare the best buffets. Also there is the Ramadan Bazaar which is very attractive for tourists. For this reason we are offering the Ramadan Tourism Package.”

Another speaker at yesterday’s event, the Vice President and General Manager of Boodai Aviation, Monzer Najia expressed his immense appreciation to the visiting officials, reaffirming Boodai Aviation’s commitment to promoting Malaysia as a major destination for Kuwaiti tourists.

Najia also expressed his tremen-

dous appreciation for the support offered by the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism through its sponsorship of Boodai Aviation’s Travel Mart (BTM). Now in its fourth consecutive year, the BTM is a travel exhibition aimed at offering the most competitive travel packages to the Kuwaiti market for the top worldwide destinations.

In support of Najia’s statement, Dr Ng Yen Yen confirmed the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism’s dedicated support for the BTM program, later supporting this with the announcement of BTM travel packages to Malaysia starting at a very reasonable KD 333.

Malaysia Airlines’ Regional General Manager for the Middle East, Africa and South America, Merina Abu Tahir, said “Customers should grab these amazing offers. This is an opportunity for those on leisure travel to experience the cultural melting pot in Malaysia. Customers have a choice of wide selection of destinations, ranging from shopping in Kuala Lumpur to the sunny beaches of Penang and Langkawi, as well as eco-tourism in Sabah and Sarawak.”

She added, “For a wholesome experience of these destinations, customers can also choose from more than 55 optional tours available from as low as $19 per person.”

in my view

Mass hypocrisy

By Fouad Al-Obaid

O

ver the past few days, I have been exposed to a multitude of excerpts, clips, documentaries, and debates via YouTube that showcased different religious, pseudo-religious, and secular thinkers each battling one another for the minds of the masses.

Most notable of the clips that I have seen is a series of attacks and counter-attacks between a liberal Kuwaiti media figure and a notable Saudi Arabian cleric. The issue seems to revolve around the fact that the given cleric took part in a forum in Kuwait almost exclusively from the video footage I watched consisting of preeminent Kuwaiti women and the shaikh.

The issue is one of mass hypocrisy, that of the worst kind which involved two discourses; on stage, the other off stage.

The interaction by the given shaikh who is known for his hardline stance on segregation of sexes is seen in the clips laughing at jokes; joking with the women present in the gathering, and in a clip he even touches a woman in a rather innocent manner!

Had the images remained concealed nothing would have happened. However, the images were made public, and the troubled shaikh had to deal with the outrage caused by his presence in a gathering that he himself, have time and again condemned.

Instead of acting like any rational being and acknowledging the fact, he engaged in a spat with the women who he calls all sorts of terrible names and blames as indecent for appearing without a veil. A remark which the women in the various clips reminds the cleric is a choice that she makes, for we in Kuwait live in a society governed by laws and not by bearded men!

This little skirmish is one out of many, and comes as a reminder our current state - that of the ‘Islamic’ nation: A nation which seems to be more attuned to focus on trivial matters rather than dwell on the real issues we face.

I have written in the past, and still continue to say that a cloth regardless in ‘which ever holy water’ you bless it with, is and will remain nothing more than a piece of cloth void of any sanctity! A cloth is a cloth, be it around the head or not! We have to see past trivial issues and understand that the state in which most Arab and Islamic societies are today - far from being funny - lest to those that rejoice at our utter failure!

We have yet to realize that bearded men will not give us the technology needed to create things that our societies need, primarily jobs. We need to realize that regardless of the fascination brought by the touchy subject of completely veiled women, her veiling or unveiling is not the prime problem or issue. The veiled and unveiled women yield both educated and uneducated children, leaders and illiterate! What we truly need is to ensure that our masses are educated. By education I do not mean imploring more meaningless memorization as is the current trend. What we in the Arab-Islamic world need is more knowledge and culture. We need a new global educational strategy that incorporates all the educational stages not only in terms of what the best the contemporary world has to offer. What we need is a model that will instill curiosity in children and adults, and more generally to all students of life. They should inquire as the Almighty has advised us to do in his Holy Book on the miracles he has left for us to discover! Deriving from our discoveries would be numerous benefits that would allow us to master the earth and in the future, the heavens. If the West has done it why don’t the clerics challenge their nations to do likewise and further strive to do even better?

When we do such a thing, and only when we do will we be true Muslims. If we spend our time and energy claiming that such or such is the blasphemer, that x or y is a disbeliever, that if you don’t follow the given shaikh, you are doomed to hell. I have a hard time understanding how only but a fool would dare transgress the Almighty appropriating a prerogative that is solely his?

May we all be guided in the path of righteousness, and may we all strive to learn as much as we can and apply our knowledge for the betterment of mankind. fouad@kuwaittimes.net

KUWAIT: Sheikha Muneerah Al-Sabah and the Ambassador of Italy in Kuwait Enrico Granara with Alain Roncoletta at the inauguration of the exhibition.

Sartoria Italia inaugurates ‘Castelli in Kuwait’ exhibition

By Abdullah Al-Qattan KUWAIT: Sartoria Italia inaugurated its exhibition at the Arraya Mall on Saturday night under the patronage of Sheikha Muneerah Al-Sabah.

The Ambassador of Italy to Kuwait Enrico Granara attended the opening along with other diplomats. The Managing Director of Sartoria Italia, Alain Roncoletta distributed ceramic tiles to all the sponsors of this event including the Kuwait Times as a symbol of appreciation and gratitude.

This premier exhibition entitled ‘Castelli in Kuwait’ showcases a distinct collection of artistic sculptures, which are uncommon and unique. It has more than 100 pieces of handmade ceramic pieces which were brought from the village of Castelli that is famous for its exquisite ceramic art in Italy. The collection displayed in Arraya Mall for the first time is now on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, the British Museum in London and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

The handmade artworks include a rich portrait of the finest art collections varying between

KUWAIT: The American Ambassador Deborah Jones sharing opinions with Sheikha Muneerah Al-Sabah on one of the art pieces displayed.

‘biting knives’ from the town of knives made by Saladini, Fiorentine artistic leather accessories and gifts made by creative artists, Artistic Furniture, exclusive Falconry creations, exquisite Ceramic collections and unique handcrafts from pure Silver.

Sartoria Italia which is home of the distinctive Italian artwork and artisans in the GCC based in Kuwait, have handpicked unique Italian pieces to provide its niche clientele in the local market and region. Every piece holds an age old history which springs from the famous regions of Italy long known for their quality and authenticity.

With this exclusive portfolio and with the professionalism of the management team, Sartoria Italia crafts unique luxurious concepts, on demand, to introduce to the region. These concepts stand out and reflect the true image of Italian luxury and uniqueness.

Italian art and sculpture lovers will have the chance to look at marvelous art pieces that were brought straight from Castelli’s Museum of Art Institute which is on display for the first time in Kuwait at the Arraya Mall from May 8 to 12.

KUWAIT: Adnan Saad from the Kuwait Times receiving a ceramic plate from the managing director of Sartoria Italia, Alain Roncoletta for sponsoring the exhibition. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

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Monday, May 10, 2010

‘A symbol of professionalism’

Pakistani navy ship pays goodwill visit to Kuwait

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: The Pakistani modern navy ship, Shahjahan, a symbol of professionalism, arrived in Kuwait yesterday on a four-day goodwill visit. Captain and Commanding Officer Muhammad Naveel Akhtar briefed local media about the ship

KUWAIT: The Navy celebrated the handing over of the command of the 152 Navy task force at Mohammad AlAhmad Naval Base. The ceremony was held under the patronage of Kuwait Army Chief of Staff Lt Colonel Ahmad Al-Khalid, in the presence of Navy Force Commander Maj General Ahmad Al-Mulla. The task force is part of the Joint Navy Forces, which falls within the framework of joint cooperation among the naval forces of the naval alliance countries. —KUNA

NBK supports ‘Bayt Abdullah’ campaign, charitable project KUWAIT: In line with its social and philanthropic outreach, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the leading bank in Kuwait and the highest rated in the Middle East, has recently been fundraising and taking part in an awareness campaign organized

by Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital (KACCH), in support of “Bayt Abdullah”, Children’s Hospice project.

The launch ceremony for the “Bayt Abdullah” charitable campaign held at the Avenues was attended by President of KACCH and Minister of Health, Dr. Hilal Al Sayer. Also present were NBK Group CEO, Ibrahim Dabdoub & NBK CEO Isam Al Sager.

Commenting on the occasion, NBK CEO Isam Al Sager said, “NBK has always considered support of the Kuwaiti healthcare sector an intrinsic part of its social and philanthropic outreach. Accordingly, we take great pride today in providing support for “Bayt Abdullah” through fund-raising and awareness campaigns. We have purchased a large number of the campaign’s commemorative pins to be distributed to all NBK staff members”.

“Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice is a something of a landmark in terms of volunteer and philanthropic involvement and is geared towards providing medical relief as much as social and emotional care for children in Kuwait suffering from incurable ailments. NBK makes every effort to enable such a

Four cranes disappear

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: An employee working at the Safety and Security Department of the Ports Authority registered a complaint with authorities stating that four cranes were stolen from the area. Police have launched a search for the offenders.

Worker dies Three Arab expats were admitted to Jahra hospital after falling from a building under construction in Jaber AlAhmad. One of the workers who had sustained fatal injuries was later pronounced dead.

in the news

KUWAIT: Minister of Health, Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer and NBK PR Manager Manal Al-Mattar with the kid (Diego). project to achieve its social and humanitarian mission”.

NBK has undertaken several initiatives to support the healthcare sector in the country, including the establishment of the NBK Children’s Hospital at Al Sabah Medical Area, which provides medical care to underprivileged children. The hospital, built by NBK at a cost in excess of KD4 million and

donated to the Ministry of Public Health, houses a number of clinics which specialize in leukemia treatments, neurology, psychiatry and pediatrics as well as surgeries and operating theatres.

From 1992-2009 NBK’s total spending on communityrelated projects and activities totaled approximately KD. 94 million.

KUWAIT: NBK Group CEO, Ibrahim Dabdoub and NBK CEO Isam Al Sager in a group photo with Minister of Health, Dr. Hilal Al Sayer and officials and volunteers of “Bayt Abdullah” campaign.

KUWAIT: Minister of Health, Dr. Hilal Al Sayer and NBK PR Team.

Bedoon teachers KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education (MoE) has begun interviewing bedoon (stateless) teachers for teaching posts at local schools after reviewing the list of candidates presented by the Civil Service Commission (CSC). The interviews are taking place during the evening shift at the ministry’s coordination department, with all candidates having to successfully complete written and verbal tests, reported Al-Watan. Once these interviews and tests are completed, the list of those who meet all the ministry’s criteria will then be submitted to the CSC to give official approval to the teachers’ appointment.

The successful candidates will undergo a brief training course in September ahead of the start of the 2010-11 school year.

Police assaulted KUWAIT: More than ten police officers had to intervene to help restrain a Kuwaiti drug addict when he refused to accompany the arresting officers to the police station after being arrested over drugs offences. The man, who was under the influence of drugs, was stopped by officers in a parking lot behind a wellknown local commercial complex, reported Al-Anba. When asked to get into the police car, he refused, resisting arrest and lashing out at those attempting to take him into custody. He was eventually brought under control and taken to the police station.

Pollution issue KUWAIT: Oil refineries and other petroleum-related facilities are mainly responsible for causing the Umm Al-Haiman pollution issue.

This was revealed in a study carried out recently by the Kuwait University in cooperation with several other specialized bodies. Furthermore, the report indicated that the main problem lies in the decisions made to select the location of the Umm Al-Haiman residential area. It ignored all the warnings issued by environmental organizations at the time, reported Al-Qabas. A report made by the Audit Bureau on the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s (KPC) strategies indicate that oil fields located to the east, west and south of the country are home to eight dangerous pollutants.

He also thanked His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber AlSabah, and the people of Kuwait for their hospitality and warm welcome accorded to officers, especially to about 200 crew members of the ship.

“It is indeed a great pleasure and privilege to be here in Kuwait and share some moments and experiences with our counterparts. I hope that this visit will serve as our invitation to the Kuwaiti navy and pay us a visit in Pakistan. We are ready to serve you the same hospitality as shared with our members,” he said.

Shahjahan is equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors. The warship carries missiles (SSM HARPOON) that has a range of 130 kilometers, helicopter (1 Alloutte), torpedoes, rocket launchers and others.

It is operated by officers and men who are well-trained, devoted and proud of their mission to protect the interests of their land as well as international waters. Shahjahan was launched in 1972. The name Shahjahan is derived from Shahabuddin Muhammad Shahjahan, who was the emperor of India from 15921666 following the death of his father, Emperor Jahangir.

The ship was named Shahjahan as it was characterized by great pomp and splendor. Shahjahan can be remembered for his great leadership and good taste in arts and architectural designs. He commissioned the creation of the famous Taj Mahal.

and the upcoming activities to be undertaken in Kuwait. “We are here on a goodwill visit, with the aim of re-affirming our friendship with our Kuwaiti counterparts and people,” said Naveel at a media conference held aboard the ship. Activities include courtesy meetings with high ranking Kuwaiti navy officials.

KUWAIT: The Shahjahan naval vessel currently docked at one of the Kuwaiti ports.

KUWAIT: Local media representatives pose alongside Shahjahan officers.

—Photos by Joseph Shagra

IICO chairman to step down KUWAIT: The longtime chairman of the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO), Yousef Al-Hajji, has announced his intention to step down from his position shortly due to old age, and in order to open the door to younger contributors, enabling them to have a hand in the continuation of charity work in the country.

Al-Hajji revealed his intention to retire at a press conference held at the IICO head-

quarters to announce a forthcoming event being held to celebrate the organization’s 25th anniversary, which will be held under the patronage and participation of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, reported Al-Qabas.

“Charitable work has shown significant improvements in various fields under the kind supervision of His Highness the Amir, who helped [local charities] to overcome all

the difficulties that faced charity work following the global war on terror”, said AlHajji.

The IICO chairman also talked about the organization’s work, revealing that has been involved in various projects in 136 countries, including donations of aid for areas damaged by wars and natural disasters, and in establishing development projects for poor people around the world.

New medication for scalp psoriasis

By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: LEO pharmaceutical products, a Danish-based pharmaceutical company with a record spanning many decades in the development of original products in the therapeutic area of dermatology, has introduced a new once-daily gel formulation for the treatment of scalp psoriasis that is now available in Kuwaiti markets. Dr Hosni Nasef, Area Sales Manager in Kuwait made the relevant announcement. A press conference was held yesterday morning at the Crowne Plaza hotel.

Christos Georgakopouls, PhD - Medical Affairs and Market Access Manager said, “Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease that affects 1-3 percent of the general population. 50-80 percent of people suffering from Psoriasis have scalp involvement.”

“Physicians will now have a new treatment option for scalp psoriasis with the launch of the once-daily gel formulation containing the proven combination of the Vitamin D analogue Calcipotriol and the

Corticosteroid Betamethasone,” Dr Christos added. He added, “It is indicated for once-daily topical treatment of scalp psoriasis in adults for four weeks and thereafter-repeat treatment can be initiated under medical supervision.”

Christos stated that published clinical data, demonstrated that this novel oncedaily gel is effective with a very rapid onset of action; approximately six out of 10 patients are clear or almost clear of the symptoms of the disease (‘absent’ or ‘very mild’ disease) after just two weeks treatment with the new gel. The separate application of its components is much less effective; after two weeks treatment Calcipotriol alone provides the same results in only two out of 10 psoriatic patients, where as Betamethasone Dipropionate in approximately four out of 10 patients.

Cosmetic acceptability and ease of use are important for patient compliance and treatment success. This unique oncedaily gel, an almost clear and odorless gel, differs from traditional scalp psoriasis treatments such as coal tar that can be messy to

use and/or have a strong odor.

Compliance with once-daily psoriasis treatments is almost double than that seen with twice-daily therapies according to a study performed involving psoriatic patients.

The new once-daily gel formulation has proven to be safe for long-term repeated use through a 52-week safety study, a feature that is very important, considering that one of the active ingredients of the gel is a corticosteroid. This advantage of the gel is of significant benefit to the psoriatic patient, given that psoriasis is a chronic, non-curable disease that flares up 2-3 times per year.

Hence, the patients need to use medication repeatedly.

With the introduction of the new oncedaily combination gel for scalp psoriasis, that provides the benefits of two anti-psoriatic compounds (calcipotriol and betamethasone dipropionate) in one bottle, the psoriatic patient has the ability to treat the symptoms of the disease whenever it erupts without worrying about the risk of steroid associated side effects.

NATIONAL

Monday, May 10, 2010

5 Sharp increase in suicide cases

Another lethal month for migrant workers KUWAIT: Pecha Kucha Night at the Museum of Modern Art over the weekend.

PKN: An inspirational evening

By Abdullah Al-Qattan KUWAIT: Last Wednesday evening’s Pecha Kucha Night (PKN) at Kuwait’s Museum of Modern Art attracted an audience of more than 500 people. The non-profit event (pronounced pechak-cha), the fifth to be held in Kuwait, was originally devised, inspired, and presented to strengthen creative talent whether in already known creative figures or those whose talents have yet to be widely discovered.

Artists, designers, photographers and even divers, of both sexes and various nationalities and ages, came together for the event to create a night which aims to make a positive difference to Kuwaiti society, at a unique venue that inspired both guests and presenters to create an artistic network from different cultures around and to fill those minds with a single message: “We Can Make a Difference”.

Pecha Kucha was created in 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (of the Tokyo-based Klein Dytham architecture firm) as an opportunity for young designers to meet, network, and publicly exhibit their work, with more than 300 cities worldwide now hosting annual Pecha Kucha events.

Maybe due to their architectural background or perhaps because of their knowledge of their audience, the organizers of the event came up with an impressive and innovative way of scheduling it, with each of the creatives present allowed to display 20 images, each for only 20 seconds, and given exactly six minutes and 40 seconds each to make an impression. Pressure much?

Kuwait’s Pecha Kucha Night was made possible by the work of Dr. Aseel Al-Ragam, an Assistant Professor at Kuwait University’s architecture department in cooperation with the Kuwait Architectural Students’ Association (KASA), who became enthusiastic organizers for the event, which, as always, was free of charge and open to all those with an interest in events that think outside the everyday box.

The first of the evening’s speakers, graphic designer Hussa Al-Humaidhi, talked about her work and how it helps in attracting people and enabling them to

become more effectual in the political field. Al-Humaidhi also explained how a graphic designer’s role has become more interactive in recent years, rather than employing the previous static pictures and signboards one might see on the street. As an example, she cited the Voice of Kuwait, an association that aim to attract attention to all the unconstitutional laws that are currently enforced, explaining how a graphic designer’s work can help to raise people’s awareness of their rights.

The second speakers appearing, fencing champions Lulwa and Balsam Al-Ayoub, the latter of whom recently won the Oshakka Award for Social Excellence and is now the current female fencing champion, talked about their 15year fencing career and how their roles had evolved from simply being fencers to becoming role models for young women who want to take up sports as something more than a hobby.

Balsam Al-Ayoub explained how the sisters had come to establish the Touché Sports Club, which aims to improve women’s sports and provide an environment that creates heroes for future generations.

After this inspirational presentation, Dr. Yvonne Wakefield, an Assistant Professor of Arts at Kuwait University, as well as head of the art team and creator of an art project there, talked about her experience in Kuwait and how it had affected her art. Wakefield explained that her work, which is greatly influenced by pomegranates, has been affected by the Islamic culture which considers pomegranates a divine fruit.

Amateur photographer Zeyad Boarki was the next speaker, talk-

Many young Kuwaitis deprived of freedom KUWAIT: Many young Kuwaitis cannot make achievements because they have been deprived of the freedom to express themselves and views with restrictive social barriers, an eminent sociologist warned.

Dr. Ouwaid Al-Meshaan, in a lecture he addressed yesterday at a forum, themed, “Kuwaiti youth toward success,” expressed regret that many young nationals have been largely non-productive and making no remarkable achievements due to crippling social barriers, and for being “deprived of the chance to express themselves.”

The Kuwaiti youth, who constitute the vital wealth of the country, need to be guided and encouraged to enable them prove themselves as a productive segment of the society, said Dr Al-Meshaan in his lecture about the Kuwaiti youth selfesteem at the forum, organized

by Social Development Office, affiliated to the Diwan of His Highness the Prime Minister.

He expressed regret at the prevailing frustration among the youth in the country noting that “a human being needs to develop self-esteem and respect so that he (she) could become capable of activating inner potentials.”

Expressing identical concerns, Dr. Mohammad Suleiman Al-Haddad shed light on the diverse social, political, economic and tribal pressure on the young generation of the country, reportedly populated by some one million natives.

The Kuwaiti youth, who

make up 21 percent of the population, one of the highest proportions in the world, have been unfairly subjected to diverse negative influences and embroiled in some harmful strives and deprived of a wellplanned sound patriotic upbringing, he said.

For his part, Dr. Ghannam AlGhannam ciritcized parents who focus their concern, in the upbringing of their children, on solely helping them attain education and good jobs, in many cases at expense of happiness, selfesteem and emotional wellbeing.

Parents should play a greater and more effective role in educating their children, for they have been exposed to “ferocious media messages ... and promoted distorted concepts such as pysical beauty secures ultimate happiness and content, that violence and power constitute a life style and that religion teaches terrorism and suppression ...,” he elaborated.

Addressing the issue from a wider perspective, Dr. Wafaa AlAradi, the presenter of the session, said Arab youth whose age ranges between 18 and 40 constitute 20 percent of the overall population in the Arab worldsome 60 million-thus this segment of the peoples in these countries deserve sufficient attention and concern. She called for a strategy to help the young overcome the various difficulties and barriers, “for the future of the nation largely depends on them.” — KUNA

ing about his experience of learning photography and how he first became interested in this area.

His presentation began with his older shots which he said were not that good, continuing to his current work and showing the improvement his work has undergone over time. While PKN is primarily intended to share new ideas and good work, Zeyad’s work showed the audience what it’s like to see big improvements in a short period of time.

Boarki explained that his work intends to show others the things that he has seen through his eyes and from his viewpoint, to inspire others into taking up photography as a pastime.

After this, painter Lewis Chapman took his turn under the spotlight to share and discuss his work, which is a process shown by taking a still photo from a video he’s recorded earlier, then sketches that correct angle from the video, and at the end he gets his painting. The realism of his style is notable in most of his works, while a consistent feature is that he depicts only one central figure in an otherwise empty scene.

Six minutes and 40 seconds later, the next speaker, diver Dari Al-Huwail, talked about the Kuwait Dive Team and how its members attempt to preserve and protect Kuwait’s marine life throughout volunteer work. Some of the images he displayed showed pictures of the refuse abandoned at sea by residents of the country who apparently don’t care about the damage they do to its marine life.

Al-Huwail asked people to help support and participate in their cause by joining their Facebook group in order to pre-

serve Kuwait’s great environmental riches before it’s too late.

The speaker after Al-Huwail, blogger Sama Al-Wasmi whose blog, High Street Q8, advocates freedom of sartorial expression, talked about expressing oneself through wearing anything one wants, saying that none of us are here to dictate fashion, or trends, although we may comment on them and voice our personal preferences.

With her presentation AlWasmi hoped to open up the audience members’ minds to new, different and hence beautiful ideas, which she said fill one’s day with beauty and inspiration, even if they don’t fit in with what one may or may not deem “fashionable.”

The next speakers, students Amani Al-Thuwaini & Farah AlHaider gave a presentation on another side of their daily lives at university. Farah, a student at the Gulf University of Science and Technology (GUST), and KU architecture student Amani also talked about launching a movement for artists and encouraging the expression of different varieties of art, such as street art.

Young entrepreneur Ahmed Al-Gharabally was the next speaker, delivering a presentation about his online business, ‘Masahati,’ where prospective customers can save time in ordering any product, and about helping Kuwait to become more interconnected through developing a business network. While this presentation focused more on business rather than art or non-profit organizations, it also helped in introducing further diversity in the range of subjects covered.

Finally, graphic designer Talal Obeid proved to be one of the most popular speakers of the evening, using sharp wit to get the audience laughing along while raising awareness of issues like the various trends in hijabs. His star work, ‘Shanab,’ reminded all the audience members that, in any field, you get better results when you enjoy your work.

Concluding the event, Dr. AlRagam thanked all the speakers for their participation, as well as the audience, who she said had shown great support by attending the event for the fifth time, asking all those who’d like to deliver presentations at the next Pecha Kucha Night to contact her though the Pecha Kucha Kuwait Facebook group.

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s migrant workers continue to attempt and commit suicide at an alarming rate, as a close examination of Kuwaiti papers for the month of April 2010 shows. During this period, 12 cases of suicide and attempted suicide by migrant workers in the country were reported, with the previous 35-day period between late February and March showing a different migrant worker committing suicide every two days on average. Workers are often driven to suicide by harsh living and working conditions, abuse and non-payment of wages. During the same month, the Kuwaiti police uncovered several cases of rape, torture and human trafficking of migrant domestic workers.

On April 4 it was reported that a Jordanian man (57) “fell” from the fourth floor of a building in an undisclosed location.

On April 6, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi ended his life by hanging himself from a tree in Abu Halifa. On the next day an Asian maid jumped to her death from the third floor of a building in Umm Al-Hayman, suffering multiple fractures and dying shortly after in hospital. On the same day, an Asian maid attempted suicide in Hawally by slitting her wrists. On the next day a 48-year-old Egyptian man was admitted to the hospital after drinking insecticide in a bid to end his life at his sponsor’s farm in Abdally.

On April 12, an Indian shepherd committed suicide by hanging himself outside his sponsor’s tent in Salmi. On the next day, a 39-year-old Indian worker “fell” from the roof of the Al-Sabah Cooperative Society and sustained numerous injuries. On the same day an Egyptian worker fell to his death in West Jleeb Al-

Shuyoukh. On the next day, an Asian man hanged himself to death in the Salmi labor camp.

On April 25, a Nepalese maid committed suicide in her sponsor’s house in the Qasser area. On the next day a 33-yearold Nepalese maid hung herself.

The report on the second woman’s death suggests that the maid had previous psychological problems and that her salary was delayed for only two days.

On the same day, a Sri Lankan man, aged 22, attempted to end his life by drinking a cleaning liquid at the intersection of Abu Halifa Bridge and Al-Fahaheel Express Highway.

In April, several cases of torture, kidnapping, rape and forced prostitution of migrant domestic workers were also revealed in Kuwait.

On April 10, one newspaper reported the kidnapping and rape of an Indonesian maid by a Kuwaiti policeman. On April 15, a housemaid reported her sponsor to the police for beating her after she refused to sleep with

him. Three days after this, a Nepali domestic worker was kidnapped by a Bangladeshi driver and sold for KD 200 to a group of Asian men who forced her into prostitution; she was rescued by the police on April 18. The Bangladeshi man apparently “specialized” in kidnapping and selling maids, having previously kidnapped and imprisoned six maids, forcing them to engage in prostitution.

On the next day a Sri Lankan woman was kidnapped and raped by an unidentified man while walking down the street.

On April 27, police arrested an Asian couple who’ve admitted to forcing six runaway maids into prostitution. The police is yet to arrest the six Kuwaitis involved in running the prostitution ring.

On April 26, a police officer visited the house of a Kuwaiti couple that confessed to torturing their maid, following a complaint she had filed with the police. Instead of arresting the couple and bringing them to the police station, the officer

allowed the couple to follow him there in their car. Instead of doing so, however, the couple chose to flee, switching off their phones. A few days prior to this exhibition of negligence, the Kuwaiti policemen stood idly by as a sponsor brutally beat an Indian employee.

Domestic workers, the most vulnerable of migrant workers, are excluded from the protection of Kuwait labor laws, with local newspapers, like most regional papers, featuring workers’ suicides in just a few brief sentences, with the victims’ names and even their nationality rarely mentioned. The reports are almost always hidden away in a small paragraph in the least-read pages and often hint that the cause of suicide was the victim’s psychological instability rather than the abuse he or she suffered at the hands of his or her sponsors. This helps to ensure that Kuwait’s migrant workers remain as nameless and faceless in their deaths as they have in their lives. — Agencies

MPs skeptical over factory closures KUWAIT: While some MPs have commended the closure of a number of factories in Um Al-Hayman as a “step in the right direction,” others are more skeptical of the benefits, suggesting that the closures would only be temporary, with the factories reopening after a week.

The MPs’ statements came after Dr. Saleh Al-Moudhi, the chairman of the Environment Public Authority (EPA), announced the closure of eight factories

over pollution offenses, adding that five of these were being shut down for the second time for the same reason. The EPA head said that if these five facilities were to repeat the same offenses on reopening, they would risk referral to the Comprehensive Court and subsequent permanent closure, reported Al-Rai. Dr. Al-Moudhi said that two of the eight factories had been ordered to introduce updated, environmentally friendly produc-

tion equipment within three months to replace the current technology which is responsible for high levels of air pollution.

The EPA chairman also revealed that a high-level recommendation has been issued to close or relocate all the factories currently based in the Ashairej area due to a series of environmental violations, including the burial of toxic waste, by production facilities there. Ashairej was previously a residential area.

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Monday, May 10, 2010

Junior executives top list

Kuwaiti employers to hire more new staff KUWAIT: More than half of the region’s employers, 56 percent, plan to recruit over the next few months, according to the new Jobs Index study conducted by the region’s number one job site Bayt.com, in conjunction with research specialists YouGov Siraj. The number of employers planning to recruit has remained consistent since the last wave, when 56 percent also

KUWAIT: Kuwaitis take part in a sit-in against a privatisation draft bill at the Determination Square opposite the National Assembly yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Sponsor rapes maid in Ahmadi KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti man raped his Filipina maid in his home in Ahmadi before locking in a room there so she could not escape and inform police of his actions. Four days later the woman managed to break out, however, heading straight for the area police station and informing officers of what her sponsor had done to her, reported Al-Watan. The accused man has been taken into custody.

Street death A passerby who spotted an Asian man lying unconscious in a street in Sabah AlSalem immediately called the emergency services, with police and paramedics quickly at the scene. The emergency workers found when they arrived that the man had already died, reported Al-Rai. Crime scene investigators were called to the scene to carry out an examination of the area and the man’s body was removed for autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Fugitive captured A Pakistani fugitive wanted on charges of issuing a fake cheque for KD 25,000 was recently arrested at a location in Sharq. The arrest followed an operation launched by the head of the Capital governorate investigations department. The felon was handed over to the relevant authorities to face prosecution.

Missing parents Police are searching for the parents of a nine-year-old boy found wandering near the Gulf Road. A Kuwaiti family who found the boy wandering in the area became concerned for his welfare and took him to a local police station, reported Al-Watan. After patrolling the scene with the boy in search of his parents, police took him back to the station, with the search for his parents continuing at the time of going to press.

Road accident Six Arab expatriates were injured when

the bus they were travelling in overturned following a collision on King Fahad Road, reported Al-Rai. The injured were rushed to Farwaniya Hospital by ambulance and an investigation is underway into the cause of the accident.

Suicide attempt A 23-year-old Ethiopian maid sustained several injuries after jumping from the second floor of a home in Abu Halifa in a suicide attempt. Following an investigation launched after the maid was rushed to Adan Hospital, it was revealed that she had been depressed after receiving a letter from her home country, with her depression worsening after her sponsors refused to grant her permission to return home and address the issues she was worried about, reported Al-Jarida. A case of attempted suicide was filed against the already-depressed woman.

Drugs charges against three expats dropped KUWAIT: The Criminal Court has found three male expatriates charged with drug abuse and trafficking offences innocent, due to a lack of evidence against them and of serious investigation.

The three were caught following an operation launched after an informant tipped police off about their alleged drug dealing activities. A sting operation caught two of the men redhanded with what they thought was a large

quantity of hashish. During questioning, they told officers that they had bought the drugs from a third man, who was subsequently also arrested.

Police later discovered, however, that the substance passed off as hashish was, in fact, not, reported Al-Watan. In the meantime, the three suspects pled not guilty to the charges against them.

At the trial, the lawyer representing the

three suspects, Saud Al-Shahoumi, questioned the officer who made the arrests, with the officer admitting that police had not found any concrete evidence that the accused men possessed any narcotic substances with intent to sell them.

Based on the lack of evidence and the inadequate investigation, the charges against the three men were dropped and they were set free.

Around the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the propensity of organizations to hire varies from country to country.

Organizations in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Oman all have the highest propensity to hire, with 36 percent, 35 percent and 32 percent respectively stating their organizations will definitely be hiring in the coming quarter. By contrast, at the other end of the spectrum, just 15 percent of respondents in Tunisia and 17 percent in Jordan say they will definitely be hiring in the next three months. Interestingly for the Gulf region, just 19 percent of organizations in Qatar say they will definitely be hiring in the coming quarter-the lowest figure in the Gulf and one of the lowest figures among the surveyed countries. However, as in the previous wave, the figures indicate the Gulf region is still faring best in terms of the ability of organizations to recruit.

The Jobs Index (JI) is conducted to gauge perceptions of job availability and hiring, to identify job trends and to provide an understanding of the key skill sets and qualifications required in the MENA job market.

Respondents were asked how many positions their organizations would be aiming to fill in the next three months. Overall, 47 percent of respondents say they will be hiring for up to five jobs in the next three months, another 20 percent say they will be hiring for between six and 10 jobs, and just 9 percent say they will be looking for new staff for between 11 and 20 jobs. Just 2 percent of those surveyed say they will be looking to fill more than a hundred positions in the next quarter.

In line with the previous wave, in the coming quarter, junior executives will be the most sought after talent in the job market: 38 percent of those surveyed say they are looking to recruit staff at a junior executive level, followed by 32 percent who say they will be looking to hire at an executive level. Following the trend set over the past six months, positions in organizations’ Csuites are likely to be limited: just 3 percent of organizations say they will look to recruit a president, only 6 percent say they are looking to recruit a CEO and another 6 percent say they are looking for a CFO/CMO or COO. “The first quarter of 2010 started positively in terms of the propensity to hire among organizations across the Middle

said they planned to hire during the last quarter. In Kuwait, more than a fifth of the respondents (21 percent) say their organizations will definitely be hiring in the next three months, and 26 percent say they will probably be hiring. By contrast in Kuwait, 18 percent of respondents say their organizations probably or definitely will not be hiring in the next quarter.

East, and this latest study indicates these early positive sentiments will continue into the second quarter,” noted Rabea Ataya, Chief Executive Officer Bayt.com. “Time will tell if this momentum will be kept up throughout the rest of year, but it is fair to say the region is witnessing a degree of economic recovery after the prolonged recession.”

The study found certain graduate disciplines are favored over others in the workplace. Graduates in business management are the most sought after, with 26 percent of respondents stating a business education is a plus point in a potential candidate.

Graduates in commerce are similarly desirable: 24 percent of those surveyed say they place an emphasis on a commerce education when selecting new candidates. Computer science, engineering and administration qualifications are also highly attractive to the region’s employers. At the other end of the spectrum, just 2 percent of the organizations surveyed say they are looking for graduates in aviation/flight training.

Being bilingual is the most desirable trait for organizations looking to recruit new employees: 66 percent of all those surveyed say proficiency in English and Arabic is the skill they look for most in a candidate. Being a cooperative, flexible and helpful team player is also a clear skill priority among the region’s organizations, with 54 percent agreeing it is the most desirable trait.

Possessing a good personality and demeanor is cited as the most desirable trait by 48 percent of the survey’s respondents.

“Given the cosmopolitan nature of the region, it is unsurprising that employers are so keen on candidates who can communicate in two of the most widely spoken languages in the region. However, a number of employers are citing softer, more subjective skills too.

This shows education and experience may help you get the interview, but employers place a big emphasis on how they think you’ll behave if you were to get the job,” said Sundip Chahal, Chief Operating Officer, YouGov Siraj.

The JI is in part gauged by asking respondents what their hiring expectancy is in a year’s time; this forms the Hiring Expectancy Index (HEI). In the long term, 70 percent of the region’s organizations say they will definitely or probably hire a year

from now, suggesting widespread optimism for the future. Job seekers in Algeria are likely to be the luckiest at finding work in a year’s time, with 38 percent of those surveyed stating their organizations will definitely be hiring in a year. In the Gulf, the prospects in a year are best for job seekers in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Oman, where 36 percent, 36 percent and 35 percent respectively say they will definitely be hiring in 12 months’ time.

Around the rest of the region, the prospects for job seekers in a year’s time vary from country to country: in Lebanon and Morocco, 33 percent and 32 percent say they will definitely be hiring in a year’s time, while in the Gulf, just 26 percent in Kuwait and 25 percent in Qatar say their organizations will be hiring in the future, with prospects in Tunisia most bleak with just 21 percent of respondents agreeing - the lowest figure among the surveyed countries.

When asked how they rate their current country of residence as a job market compared to those around the rest of the region, respondents in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the most positive about their country: 47 percent, 46 percent and 38 percent respectively say their country of residence is much more attractive than others.

Positivity about current country of residence is also felt strongly in Lebanon (33 percent) and Kuwait (22 percent).

As part of the survey, the respondents were also asked to name which industries they feel are attracting or retaining top talent in their country of residence: in line with the previous two waves, the telecommunications (39 percent) and banking and finance (38 percent) sectors take top spots in terms of attracting the region’s top employees.

Construction, and oil, gas and petrochemicals also feature strongly at 30 percent and 27 percent.

“Our quarterly Jobs Index has been designed to provide an overview of how the region’s job market changes from quarter to quarter, so the region’s employers, organizations and other HR industry stakeholders can understand new trends, and use this knowledge to help their work. Alongside our partner YouGov Siraj, this is one of a number of studies we conduct to provide the Middle East with jobs industry statistics and data that is insightful, up-to-date, and relevant to the region,” concluded Ataya.

Oil Ministry marks OPEC anniversary KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Ministry of Oil announced on Saturday that it would be launching an online schools competition about the history of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to mark the oil cartel’s 50th anniversary.

Entry into the competition will be restricted to pupils at Kuwaiti public and private secondary schools, explained the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Nawal Al-Fezea.

Speaking at a press conference held to announce the competition, she said that the five-day online contest will come to a close at midnight on Thursday (May 13), she said. The questions in the contest must be answered within a 45-minute period, with the winners of the first three places receiving valuable prizes, while the overall winner will get to participate in an OPEC-organized competition in September, AlFezea added. The ministry will

also mark the forthcoming anniversary by mounting an OPEC-related exhibition at the Scientific Center of Kuwait in late August. The event will take place under the auspices of Minister of Oil and Minister of Information Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah AlSabah, Al-Fezea explained.

A documentary on Kuwait’s role in OPEC since its establishment will be screened during the event, she revealed, adding that former Kuwaiti oil ministers and officials would also be honored during the exhibition.

OPEC is marking its 50th anniversary this year under the slogan, ‘Supporting Stability, Fuelling Prosperity.’

This year’s slogan suggests that the cartel’s policy decisions in the years ahead will continue to be aimed at creating harmony and stability in the international oil market for the benefit of producers, consumers, investors and the global economy. —KUNA

Al-Khorafi praises Turkey’s role in serving Arab causes

KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Youth and Sports (PAYS) recently held its first laser shooting tournament at the Daeya youth club. The event was attended by Vice Director of Youth Affairs, Jassem Yaqoub, Vice Director of the Youth Club Department, Yousuf Ayadah, and Chairman of the Daeya youth club, Jassem Al-Failakawi. The Daeya youth club won the first two places, while the Shamiya youth club finished in third place.

NA, Omani shura council in constant coordination MUSCAT: There is constant coordination and cooperation between Kuwait’s National Assembly and Oman’s Shura Council, said Kuwaiti MP Dr Maasouma Al-Mubarak yesterday.

Speaking on the sidelines of her visit to take part in a workshop on managing electoral campaigns organized by the NGO ‘Tawasul’,

Al-Mubarak said the relationship between Kuwait and Oman extended deeper than being merely institutional, and that all efforts always aimed at the better interests of the two peoples.

She said that during her visit, she met Omani Shura Council Speaker Sheikh Ahmad bin Mohammad Al-Essa’ei to discuss inter-

GCC parliamentary cooperation, and especially that between the Kuwaiti and Omani legislative institutions.

Al-Mubarak added that she was briefed about the Shura Council’s activities and its working mechanism, as well as the participation of women in political life in the council’s second legislative session (1994-1997), and

the success of two women in winning parliamentary seats for the first time in the GCC’s history. ‘Tawasul’ in an NGO that is holding a workshop on skills for managing, planning and executing an electoral campaign. The workshop targets women who wish to run for the Shura Council’s seventh legislative session in 2011. —KUNA

KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Jassem Mohammad Al-Khorafi praised yesterday Turkey’s role in serving Islamic and Arabic causes, noting that such role helped contribute tremendously to the support of such causes among Muslims and Arabs.

Al-Khorafi made the press remarks prior to his departure to the city of Istanbul to partake in the second open meeting for the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) union council executive committee next Monday.

“Everyone knows the vital role played by Turkey’s government, parliament, and people toward Islamic and Arab causes, particularly when it comes to Jerusalem and Islamic holy sites amid Israeli constant violations,” AlKhorafi added.

The Speaker noted that the Palestinian-Palestinian dispute resembles an obstacle toward supporting the Palestinian cause, calling on the Palestinians to overcome their problems, and to end their disputes and unite their front which reflected negatively on their just rights and cause to the Palestinian people.

Al-Khorafi also shed light on the vital role played by Egypt and its efforts to achieve a Palestinian reconciliation to the best interests of the Palestinian people.

The Kuwaiti official mentioned as well Israeli continuous aggression and violations of Palestinian rights, starting from the continuous killings of Palestinians and ending with Israeli on-going building of settlements. — KUNA

INTERNATIONAL

Monday, May 10, 2010

7

Most Jerusalem Palestinians live in poverty: Israeli study JERUSALEM: Most Palestinians in east Jerusalem, including three out of four children, live below the poverty line, an Israeli rights group said yesterday, accusing Israel of neglect and discrimination.

“A unified Jerusalem does not exist,” the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said in a report released as the Jewish state begins celebrations to mark the 43rd anniversary of its 1967 capture of

Arab east Jerusalem.

“The truth is, two cities exist side by side,” the report said, challenging Israel’s claim that it unified the Holy City after annexing the Arab sector in a move not recognised by the international community.

Seventy-five percent of Palestinian children in east Jerusalem live in poverty compared with 45 percent of the city’s Jewish children, the report said.

“Over 95,000 children in east Jerusalem live in a perpetual state of poverty,” ACRI said.

Despite the rampant poverty, only 10 percent of east Jerusalem’s 300,000 Palestinians have access to social services, it added.

The neglect extends to just about every sector of life in the Arab sector, and ACRI blamed this on the authorities.

“Israel’s policy for the past four

decades has taken concrete form as discrimination in planning and construction, expropriation of land, and minimal investment in physical infrastructure and government and municipal services,” the report said.

The office of Nir Barkat, the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, told AFP it had no immediate comment on the report.

Israel has expropriated more than one-third of east Jerusalem land

which was privately owned by Palestinians, on which it has built more than 50,000 homes for the Jewish population.

Virtually no permits for Palestinian housing construction have been issued for decades, there is a shortage of about 1,000 classrooms and rubbish collection is sporadic at best, as are postal services, the report said.

The annual budget allocation per

elementary school child in east Jerusalem was 577 shekels (152 dollars) compared with 2,372 shekels (627 dollars) in west Jerusalem.

About 160,000 Palestinian residents have no suitable and legal connection to the water network and 50 kilometres (30 miles) of main sewage lines are lacking, the report said.

At the end of 2009 approximately 303,429 Palestinians lived in east Jerusalem, which equals around 36

percent of the city’s total population of some 835,450.

Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its “eternal” capital, while Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The status of the Holy City, as well as that of Jewish settlements built on occupied Palestinian land, have long been among the thorniest issues in Palestinian-Israeli efforts to reach a peace deal. — AFP

‘Direct talks require settlement freeze’

Palestinians: Indirect talks with Israel have begun RAMALLAH: The Palestinians declared yesterday the start of indirect talks with Israel mediated by the United States, the first Middle East peace negotiations in 18 months. Echoing a call by Washington for a future move to direct negotiations-and reflecting low public expectations for progress-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said peace would be impossible to

BEIRUT: A Lebanese woman casts her ballot during the second round of the municipal elections in Beirut yesterday. The second round of Lebanon’s municipal elections kicked off in Beirut and the Bekaa region, respectively dominated by Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Shiite party Hezbollah. — AFP

Lebanese vote in municipal polls BEIRUT: The second round of Lebanon’s municipal elections kicked off yesterday in Beirut and the Bekaa region, respectively dominated by Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Shiite party Hezbollah.

Polling among the 3.33 million electorate began on May 2 in the Mount Lebanon area overlooking the capital, and is scheduled for every Sunday of this month, except May 16.

In Beirut, which is dominated by Hariri’s coalition, nearly

450,000 voters are eligible to choose their own councils and mukhtars, or mayors.

No real contest is expected in the northern Bekaa region, a bastion of Hezbollah, except for certain localities where family and local ties take precedence over political affiliations among the 550,000 electorate.

In Bekaa, 49 of 155 town councils were previously elected to office based on family and clan affiliations.

Thousands of security and military personnel have been deployed to ensure the safety of the polls, in which a simple majority is needed for victory.

Tanks were deployed in several points around the capital.

The last local elections were in 2004.

A political lull reigns in Lebanon since the formation in November last year of a national unity government, which includes two Hezbollah ministers. — AFP

The settlement standoff forced US Middle East envoy George Mitchell to search for a new way to conduct talks between sides whose negotiations have mostly been face-toface since the start of the Middle East peace process in the early 1990s.

Palestinian consent to the talks marked a breakthrough, albeit modest, for US efforts to revive the peace process.

Mitchell has not made any public comments since the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) approved four months of indirect negotiations on Saturday. The Palestinians say the talks would focus initially on borders and security. Erekat, speaking after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Mitchell in Ramallah yesterday, said: “I can officially declare today that the proximity talks have begun.”

The Palestinians aim to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel captured those areas in a 1967 war and regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim that has not won international recognition.

Netanyahu said the indirect talks with the Palestinians would begin “without preconditions”, an apparent reference to US and Palestinian demands to curb construction of homes for Jews in and near East Jerusalem.

But no new Israeli housing projects in East Jerusalem have been approved since March, raising speculation he has imposed a de facto moratorium that could keep negotiations

WEST BANK: US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, center left, shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, yesterday. The Palestinians announced yesterday that indirect talks with Israel have officially begun, marking a return to formal peace negotiations after a 17-month breakdown. — AP ticking while avoiding a showdown with far-right coalition partners.

Addressing his cabinet, Netanyahu said in public remarks: “The proximity talks must bring about direct talks soon. Peace cannot be brought about from a distance, or with a remote control.”

The initiative was going ahead after US plans for indirect talks were stymied in March,

Iraq sends all but Baghdad vote results for ratification CAIRO: Egyptian Mahmud Essawi (C), a suspect in the murder of Moroccan singer Leila Ghofran’s daughter, arrives to attend a hearing in his retrial at a court in Cairo yesterday. Ghofran’s daughter Hiba was killed along with her roommate after being stabbed in an apartment in Cairo in November 2008. — AFP

Mideast needs checks, to improve governance CAIRO: Ineffective checks on executive political power in Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian areas and Egypt are hindering the fight against corruption and holding back economic growth, Transparency International said yesterday.

These places share problems of poor public accountability and uneven enforcement of anticorruption laws, the Berlin-based watchdog said, while adding that a lack of accountability was a widespread problem in the Middle East.

Middle East markets have been watched closely by foreign investors as several of them have weathered the global downturn better than the United States, Europe and other big markets.

But investors in the region often grumble about a lack of transparency and other governance issues.

“Conflict and political turmoil have taken their toll on the fight against corruption,” Transparency regional director for Middle East and North Africa Chantal Uwimana said at the release of a report covering the four Middle East countries or entities.

The report said: “Studies of Egypt, Lebanon, and Morocco concluded that nepotism, bribery and patronage are so common that they are widely accepted as facts of life.”

In Transparency International’s corruption perception index rankings for 180 countries, Egypt is 111th, Lebanon is 130th and Morocco

89th, lower than many regional peers on a list where No. 1 is perceived as the least corrupt.

While reasons for poor transparency ranged from fragile political systems to overbearing states that silenced dissent, all needed to empower civil society and improve institutions of governance, the report said.

“Corruption can and needs to be addressed effectively through grass-roots initiatives,” Uwimana said. “Informed, home-grown strategies hold the best chance of success.”

But realities on the ground were far from what was needed, she added.

“Specific provisions regarding whistleblowing or whistleblower protection are almost fully lacking across the region,” Uwimana said.

“While certain government agencies may make use of information from whistleblowers, clear procedures regulating how to report corruption and mechanisms to protect whistleblowers from retaliation are absent,” the report said.

Where local watchdogs exist, they are usually too weak and suffer from limited power and resources to combat corruption.

Public officials, private companies and citizens have little understanding of accountability and transparency, the report said, adding citizens were often wary of holding governments to account sometimes due to social pressures not to speak out. — Reuters

BAGHDAD: The electoral commission has sent results from 17 of Iraq’s provinces in its March 7 poll for ratification by the supreme court, with Baghdad the lone exception, an election official said yesterday.

Authorities have been carrying out a recount in Baghdad, Iraq’s biggest electoral constituency with 68 of the 325 parliamentary seats up for grabs, since last week.

“We decided to send election results for 17 of the provinces, except for Baghdad, to the federal supreme court,” Qassim alAbboudi, spokesman for the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told AFP. Abboudi added that three of the eight seats reserved for minorities would also be sent to the supreme court for ratification, with five Christian seats and seven national compensatory seats being held back.

Saad Al-Rawi, an IHEC official, added that the results from the vote held two months ago were sent to the court at the request of the presidency council, made up of President Jalal Talabani and Iraq’s two vice presidents.

If all of the results are ratified, 245 of parliament’s 325 seats will have been finalised.

Complicating the supreme court’s job is the fact that nine election-winning candidates are awaiting a ruling on whether or not they will be allowed to take office, having been barred for their alleged links to executed dictator Saddam

achieve without face-to-face contacts. “If he (Netanyahu) announces a complete halt to settlement building, there will be direct talks,” Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio. Netanyahu, who heads a coalition government dominated by pro-settler parties, has rejected a total construction freeze.

Hussein’s Baath Party.

One winning candidate, from the Iraqiya bloc of secular former premier Iyad Allawi, has already been disqualified.

Of the nine candidates, only four were running in Baghdad, with one each coming from Anbar, Nineveh and Babil provinces respectively, all three of which were sent to the court.

Rawi said the IHEC had sent its own remarks and notes to the supreme court along with the results it had tabulated.

Full results from the parliamentary election were initially expected to be ratified in early April, but counting delays, multiple complaints and appeals from political groups have set this back.

The Iraqiya bloc won the most seats in the vote with 91, followed closely by sitting Prime Minister Nuri alMaliki’s State of Law Alliance with 89, according to the full results for the 18 provinces.

The Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition led

by Shiite religious groups, finished third with 70 seats.

State of Law and the INA announced on Wednesday that they had struck a deal to form a coalition, but with their alliance so far falling four seats short of a parliamentary majority.

The final number of seats gained by each party could yet change, however, as the IHEC is conducting a manual recount of votes in Baghdad, where Maliki won 26 seats to Allawi’s 24, while the INA won 17. — AFP

when Israel angered Washington and the Palestinians by announcing during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden that it would build 1,600 new settler homes in and around East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians say the United States has given assurances it will take action if either side does anything that derails the talks. The Palestinians take that to mean a guarantee Israel

will not announce new settlement work.

Israel’s anti-settlement Peace Now group said renovation work recently began for the construction of 14 housing units in an old Israeli police station in East Jerusalem’s Ras al-Amud neighbourhood.

Peace Now said renovations within the former station did not require municipal building permits-official approval that could

torpedo the new peace negotiations.

Some 50 Jewish families currently live in six buildings in Ras al-Amud, where an American Jewish millionaire has purchased land for Jewish settlement. Mitchell planned to return home later on Sunday and Israeli government sources said he would be back in the Middle East in about 10 days. — Reuters

8

INTERNATIONAL

Monday, May 10, 2010

Cardinal accuses Vatican official of abuse cover-up VATICAN CITY: Internal Catholic Church bickering over the handling of its sexual abuse scandal has escalated to a new level, with one cardinal accusing another of a cover-up.

The accusations were levelled by Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna against Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who served for 16 years from 1990 to 2006 as secretary of state, the Vatican’s secondmost important position.

Schoenborn, in what was supposed to have been a private conversation with Austrian newspaper editors last month,

accused Sodano of having blocked an investigation of former Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer.

Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress published a summary of the conversation on Saturday, with Italian newspapers giving it prominent coverage in their Sunday edition.

Groer stepped down as archbishop of Vienna in 1995 after allegations that he had sexually abused young seminarians in the past. He died in 2003 never admitting guilt or facing charges.

Schoenborn told the journalists that

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who then headed the Vatican’s doctrinal department and is now pope, wanted a full scale investigation of Groer in 1995 but was blocked by Sodano, according to Kathpress.

The spat made the front pages of many newspapers, with the conservative Il Giornale headlining its story “A war in the Vatican over paedophilia”.

According to Kathpress, Schoenborn criticised Sodano for dismissing reports of sexual abuse as “petty gossip” when he addressed the pope at the start of last month’s Easter Sunday mass at the Vatican.

Last month the National Catholic Reporter, a publication in the United States, ran a series of articles which accused Sodano of turning a blind eye to another case of sexual abuse while he was the Vatican’s number two from 1990 to 2006.

That case involved Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ priestly order, who was discovered to have been a sexual molester and to have fathered at least one child.

That prompted the Vatican to say that accusations it once dismissed against

Maciel, who died in 2008, were true.

Several editorials said the accusations against Sodano showed how deep the crisis over paedophilia in the Church has become.

Sodano has yet to comment on the accusations.

On Saturday, the pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg, the first bishop to quit in the pontiff’s native Germany over the scandal that has rocked the Church in several European countries and the United States.

Mixa had admitted to hitting pupils and is now under investigation over accusa-

tions of sexual abuse, German prosecutors and church officials said.

In recent weeks, a Belgian bishop resigned after admitting he had sexually abused a boy, and three Irish bishops quit over their handling of sexual abuse cases.

Belgian bishops concluded a week-long visit to the Vatican on Saturday with a news conference in which they spoke of the pain caused by the scandal which led to the resignation last month of the bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, who stepped down after admitting he had sexually abused a boy years ago. — Reuters

Explosion destroy main air shaft and mine’s structures

12 dead, 83 trapped after blasts hit Russian mine MOSCOW: Rescue workers scrambled yesterday to save 83 people trapped in Russia’s largest underground coal mine after two explosions killed at least

12 people and injured dozens more, officials said. Among those trapped were rescue workers who had entered the Siberian mine after the first blast.

MEZHDURECHENSK: A man cries near a monument to the perished miners with candles lit in memory of the victims of the recent Raspadskaya mine explosions, in the city of Mezhdurechensk, in the west Siberian region of Kemerovo, yesterday. Two explosions tore through Russia’s largest underground coal mine, killing 11 workers and injuring 41 others, an emergency services ministry official said yesterday. Another 84 people remained in the mine, including rescue workers. — AP

Berlusconi, wife close to divorce settlement ROME: Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is close to reaching a separation agreement with his wife Veronica, who asked for a divorce after accusing him of consorting with a 17-year old girl, Italian newspapers said.

The pair and their lawyers spent nearly five hours in a Milan court on Saturday, reports said yesterday.

“We are close to an agreement,” ANSA news agency quoted legal sources as saying after the meeting, without elaborating on the details.

Newspapers said Veronica Lario, who had initially requested a monthly alimony of 3.5 million euros ($4.70 million) compared to her husband’s offer of up to 300,000

euros, appeared ready to lower her demands after Berlusconi agreed to let her keep a luxury villa near Milan.

Still to be worked out was an arrangement for the three children of the estranged couple and their possible future role in Berlusconi’s business empire.

The prime minister’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

Veronica, 53, announced her intention to divorce the billionaire tycoon-turned-politician to newspapers in May last year after it emerged that he had attended the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model in Naples. She said she could no longer remain with a man “frequenting minors”.

Berlusconi, 73, repeatedly denied being

involved with the Naples girl, but was later embroiled in another scandal after an escort said she slept with him and was paid to attend parties at his Rome residence.

Berlusconi says he has never paid for sex.

Under Italian law, divorce proceedings can only begin three years after a separation agreement is reached. The premier, who is Italy’s second richest man, has three children with Veronica, aged 25, 23 and 21.

However, it is his two children by his first marriage who play the most prominent roles in his media empire. Son Piersilvio is vice-chairman of broadcaster Mediaset while daughter Marina chairs holding company Fininvest and publishing arm Mondadori. — Reuters

Pope visits Portugal hit by crisis, gay marriage VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI visits Portugal this week to mark key anniversaries surrounding Fatima, the famous shrine beloved by his predecessor.

What he will find is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country that like much of western Europe has strayed far from church teaching on key issues and is in the throes of Europe’s spreading financial crisis.

The center-left Socialist government passed a law in 2007 allowing abortion on demand. In 2008, the Socialists introduced a law allowing a judge to grant a divorce even if one of the spouses is opposed. In January, Parliament passed a bill seeking to make the country the sixth in Europe allowing same-sex couples to marry.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, didn’t rule out that the pontiff would raise the gay marriage issue during the four-day visit, which starts Tuesday and will bring the 83-year-old pontiff to the capital Lisbon, Fatima, and Porto, the country’s second-largest city.

Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins was more blunt: “Certainly during the trip he will confront many arguments that aren’t strictly religious, concerning those

values and principles which aside from being Christian are human, such as the value of life, the value of family,” he told Associated Press Television News.

Those terms are Vaticanspeak for the church’s opposition to abortion and its belief that a family is based on marriage between a man and a woman.

Portugal is nearly 90 percent Catholic, but only around 2 million of the country’s 10.6

million people describe themselves as practicing Catholics.

Like much of western Europe, it has seen the number of priests drop sharply and Benedict himself lamented the “growing sea of non-practicing Christians” when he met with Portuguese bishops at the Vatican in 2007.

Speaking to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square yesterday, Benedict told them he would have the “joy” of visiting Portugal, and he asked

faithful for their prayers. He also asked them to pray for the church, “in particular for priests”, but made no mention of the clerical sex abuse scandals rocking the church in much of Europe.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates has been the driving force behind the abortion and gay marriage initiatives, saying they are part of his attempt to “modernize” Portugal, western Europe’s poorest country. — AP

KIEV: Women wearing World War II Soviet Army uniforms march during a Victory Day military parade in Kiev yesterday to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII. — AFP

The second, more powerful explosion destroyed the main air shaft and all of the mine’s above-ground structures, the governor of the Siberian region of Kemerovo told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a meeting with emergency officials, according to a government transcript. No more rescue workers would be sent into the mine until the methane was pumped out for fear of further explosions, Gov. Aman Tuleyev said.

More than 500 emergency workers from around the country struggled throughout the day to ventilate the mine and rebuild mine shafts so the search for those trapped could resume, said Valery Korchagin, spokesman for the Emergency Ministry in Kemerovo, about 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers) east of Moscow.

The official directing the search operation said he hoped this could be done by late yesterday.

“Our unit is ready to go on a reconnaissance mission as soon as the concentration of methane in the air is lowered. We hope this can happen by midnight local time (1700GMT),” said Sergei Sharov, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The first blast, believed to have been caused by methane, hit the Raspadskaya mine just before midnight Saturday and the second about 3 1/2 hours later. There were 359 workers below ground at the time of the first explosion, the Emergency Ministry said. A total of 58 people were injured. Most managed to get out, but after the second blast, 64 miners and 19 rescue workers were trapped underground and all communication with them was lost, Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said during the meeting with Putin, parts of which were televised.

“It’s clear the situation is difficult,” Putin said “We could even say very difficult, tragic.

Dozens of people remain in the mine. ... Their fate is unknown.

And the saddest thing is that additional rescuers cannot be sent into the mine right away.”

He ordered emergency workers to use all means available to ventilate the mine as quickly as possible. The mine is 500 meters deep and has 370 kilometers (220 miles) of underground tunnels, Tuleyev said.

The Raspadskaya mine produces about 8 million tons (8.8 million short tons) of coal a year, according to the company’s website.

There was no immediate information on what set off the blast. Mine explosions and other industrial accidents are common in Russia and other former Soviet republics, and are often blamed on inadequate implementation of safety precautions by companies or by workers themselves.

In December, nine people were killed in an explosion at an ironore mine in the Urals Mountains region that was blamed on faulty transportation of explosives. The deadliest explosion in Russia’s coal mines in decades occurred in March 2007, when 110 miners were killed in Kemerovo.

The United States was hit with its worst coal mining disaster in 40 years when 29 miners died April 5 in an explosion at a West Virginia mine. In China, where the mining industry is the world’s deadliest, at least 33 miners died after a mine flooded on March 28. The flood trapped 153 miners, but most were eventually rescued. — AP

DUESSELDORF: Supporters of Germany’s social democratic SPD cheers as exit poll resuts are announced on state television at an election results party in the western German city of Duesseldorf yesterday. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition suffered a bruising defeat in a regional election that cost it its majority in the upper house, exit polls said yesterday, amid voter anger over the Greek bailout. — AFP

Merkel coalition loses state poll, upper house majority BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition suffered a stinging defeat in a state poll yesterday that cost it its majority in the upper house, preliminary results showed, amid voter anger over a Greek bail-out.

Just two days after parliament approved the colossal loan package for Greece, voters in the western region of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germanyís most populous state, handed Merkelís centre-right alliance a bitter setback.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats won around 34 percent with coalition allies the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) polling 6.5 percent, leaving them well short of a majority in the state legislature.

Meanwhile, the opposition centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) also polled around 34 percent, the Greens 12.5 percent and the relatively new political outfit, the far-left Linke party, scored six percent. The centre-rightís loss means the coalition will sacrifice its majority in the Bundesrat upper house, hobbling Merkel’s ability to push through key reforms in Europe’s top economy.

“I can only warn the CDU against trying to put a positive spin on this result. It is a huge disappointment,” said Wolfgang Bosbach, a leading member of Merkel’s party.

“We have clearly fallen short of our goal of maintaining our coalition in NRW.” The timing of the election could hardly have been worse for Merkel’s Christian Democrats, who have ruled NRW in an alliance with the probusiness FDP since 2005.

Most Germans oppose the 22.4 billion euros (28.6 billion dollars) in loans over three years to debt-wracked Greece as Germany grapples with its own dire fiscal straits.

NRW was ruled by the same centre-right coalition Merkel has in Berlin, making the poll a damaging referendum on her government eight months after she won re-election.

The state is also home to the Ruhr rust belt region whose economic misery has deepened in the recession. A poll published Saturday showed that 21 percent of NRW voters said the Greek bail-out would affect their ballot decision, according to a YouGov survey for the daily Bild.

Underlining the poll’s importance, Merkel scheduled 15 personal appearances in NRW and staged a media blitz this week to defend the aid to Greece. But the chancellor has also faced criticism in Germany and abroad of dragging her feet over the loans for Athens and thereby exacerbating the crisis.

The SPD abstained in Fridayís vote on the Greek loan package.

Beyond control of the NRW state legislature, the dominance of Merkel’s coalition in the Bundesrat upper house is now history.

Currently, the conservatives and the FDP hold 37 of the 69 seats in the Bundesrat, just over the 35 votes needed for an absolute majority.

Losing NRW deprives the centre-right of six seats.

That will effectively axe a drive by the FDP to cut income taxes by 16 billion euros from 2012 — a move many conservatives, and many voters, oppose as fiscally irresponsible in light of Germany’s parlous public finances.

It will also give the centre-left the power to block health care reforms planned by the coalition, and to restore an initiative to mothball the country’s nuclear reactors against the wishes of the Merkel government. — AFP

BARCELONA: Spanish Queen Sofia (C) arrives at the public hospital in Barcelona yesterday to visit her husband Spain’s King Juan Carlos I. Spain’s King Juan Carlos I was doing ‘wonderfully’ after surgery to remove a growth on his lung which turned out to be benign. — AFP

Detonators found in judge’s letterbox MADRID: Two detonators were found in the letterbox of a Spanish judge in the restive Basque country yesterday, apparently designed to intimidate as no explosive was attached, a regional police spokesman said.

The devices and a cable which was also found were not immediately attributed to a nationalist urban guerrilla close to the armed separatist group ETA, but the regional interior ministry said there seemed to be a “logical” link between the two.

The find was made in the port city of San Sebastian.

A small improvised bomb exploded near a Telefonica branch office in the Basque town of Llodio on April 17 but no one was hurt.

ETA, which is blacklisted by the European Union and the United States, is blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a four-decade campaign of bombings and shootings to demand a Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

Monday, May 10, 2010

9

Gangs become father, mother to Haiti’s forlorn orphans PORT-AU-PRINCE: They’ve been forced to swap school books for pistols, homework for hold-ups and drug-dealing: with no parents, some of Haiti’s earthquake orphans have turned to slum gangs as ersatz family in a hard-scrabble bid to survive.

Square meals and the comforts of home are part of the past for thousands of youngsters who lost their mothers, fathers and other relatives in the January 12 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and traumatized the country.

And for some orphans in the capital’s desperately poor shantytowns, roving gangs are filling the void.

In the notorious Cite Soleil, or Sun City, a clutch of youngsters trail behind a scruffy gang leader named “Toutou Soleil 19” and members of his band, darting around

makeshift huts and clotheslines strung across filthy alleyways in the capital’s biggest slum.

Toutou, a 31-year-old who still carries knives but says he gave up his guns in a 2006 amnesty, stops and points across a sewer to a crude sheet-metal cabin on a mound of trash at the seafront.

“There are eight or nine orphans who have been sleeping here since the quake,” Toutou told AFP, eager to show off the deplorable conditions on his home turf where he says “no one has come to help”.

Outside the hut’s door, the children crouch around a radio held by Jef, a 14year-old boy with angelic eyes and a checkered shirt. Toutou hands him a can of condensed milk, which he quickly shares with the others.

“There are a lot of kids like them, they are all throughout Cite Soleil,” said Toutou. Though he couldn’t give a figure, he said they were “many” and rattled off their most urgent needs-”a soup kitchen, a mobile clinic and water”.

In the absence of any non-governmental organizations or local officials in this slum of at least 300,000 residents, the gangs hold de facto authority. So after the catastrophe, the new orphans turned to the gang lords.

“They come to us because they have no one else. We try to help, but there is nothing here,” said Toutou, a wool cap pulled down on his head.

Jef said his parents were killed when their house collapsed in the earthquake, which claimed 250,000 to 300,000 lives in

all. He now carries out “hold-ups” and burglarizes homes at night to survive.

‘We live here like we’re in prison’-”We do that with other children,” he admitted, saying he stopped going to school after the quake. “I would like to go, but I don’t have the money,” he said, lowering his eyes.

“At any rate, all the schools in Cite Soleil have collapsed,” added Jimis, 25, a rapper and member of Toutou’s gang.

Ads for rum and automatic rifles and pornographic photos cover the walls of the orphans’ cabin, where they sleep in old boxes placed over a floor of rubble.

Throughout Toutou’s tour of the slum, children come up to salute their “godfather”.

Many of these youngsters have been caught committing offenses since losing

their parents. “Some of them sell drugs, a lot of them have pistols the gangs give them,” said one social worker with years of experience in the shantytown.

The United Nations recently started investigating the plight of these slum orphans, but a UN worker in charge of the project who asked not to be named said “at this stage, we have no information”.

Ironically, it’s the Cite’s gang leaders and criminals who now find themselves in the role of savior and spokesmen, pleading for aid.

“We need help so that these children don’t become like us, so that they don’t become a danger to society,” said a convict named Ea who said he escaped from Portau-Prince prison during the earthquake, as did some 4,500 prisoners.

A bastion of violent gangs, Cite Soleil was virtually in a state of war from 2004 to 2007. An intervention by UN troops and a disarmament program have calmed matters somewhat, and a curfew remains in place.

At a hospital run by the international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), there has been a recent spike in the number of gunshot victims “but not enough to worry about... yet,” said the facility’s director Karel Janssens.

Gang leaders, however, are unhappy. “If aid does not arrive, we will prepare a revolt,” said one named Patrick.

Toutou echoed the call.

“We will fight until the end-until we receive some support, until we receive justice,” he said. “We live here like we’re in prison.” — AFP

Villanueva received $500,000 for each shipment

Mexico extradites ex-gov to US on drug charges MEXICO CITY: Mexico has extradited a former state governor to the United States to face charges of helping a cartel smuggling cocaine through the resort of Cancun en route to the US market. Mario Villanueva, who was governor of the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo from 1993 to 1999, was turned

MONTEVIDEO: Uruguayan President Jose Mujica casts his vote during the country’s municipal elections, in Montevideo yesterday. — AFP

Staten Island ferry slams into dock; dozens hurt NEW YORK: A Staten Island ferry with a history of accidents, including a fatal wreck in 2003, malfunctioned as it approached its terminal Saturday and smashed into a pier with a jolt that tossed passengers to the deck and hurt as many as 37 people.

The accident happened at around 9:20 am as the Andrew J. Barberi arrived at the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, carrying 252 passengers and 18 crew. Passenger Jason Watler, 30, of St. George, said he became alarmed when the ferry approached the shore faster than usual and ran toward the back of the boat. “It was not slowing down,” he said. “He was going too fast.” Then, he heard a “a real big boom.” “I stumbled a little bit,” he said. “People were screaming. People were crying.”

The accident appeared to be the result of a mechanical failure, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said. The ferry’s throttle failed to engage as it prepared to dock, she said, meaning the crew was unable to use the engines to apply reverse

thrust and slow down. The cause of the malfunction is still unknown, she said. The approximately 3,000-ton, 310-foot(94meter)-long ferry was moving at about 5 knots, or 5.8 miles per hour (9.3 kph), when it hit.

Coast Guard officials said the ferry suffered serious damage to its ramps and gouges in the decks above the waterline.

Ramps on the pier were also damaged. The Department of Transportation described the damage to the vessel and terminal and slip as minor and said the Barberi would be taken out of service.

Fire Department spokesman James Long said a total of 37 passengers were treated. He said 35 were taken to hospitals, but none had life-threatening injuries. Of those, 34 were treated and released and one remained hospitalized for further evaluation, Long said. Two police officers providing ferry security were among the injured, officials said, but no crew members were hurt. The National Transportation Safety Board said it had dispatched a team to investigate the ferry

accident. The Andrew Barberi was also involved in a 2003 wreck that killed 11 people.

That accident occurred when the pilot, suffering from extreme fatigue and on painkillers, passed out at the wheel and the boat hit the terminal in St. George at full speed. The ferry returned to service after a multimillion-dollar rehabilitation.

The pilot pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter and lying to investigators. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The city ferry director was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to negligent manslaughter and admitting he failed to implement or enforce a rule requiring two pilots during docking. Capt.

James DeSimone, the ferry’s chief operating officer, said it was unlikely that the mechanical failure had anything to do with damage suffered by the vessel in the 2003 accident and that it had passed all the required inspections so that it could be placed back in service. “There’s no relationship whatsoever” between the two incidents, he said. — AP

Costa Rica inaugurates President Chinchilla SAN JOSE: Adios, peace prize winner. Hola, first female president.

Costa Rica inaugurated Laura Chinchilla as its first woman leader on Saturday, replacing Nobel laureate Oscar Arias with his former vice president and protege. Chinchilla promised to rule with “humility, honesty and firmness” and said she’ll pursue the same economic policies that recently brought the country into a trade pact with the US and opened commerce with China.

Elected in a landslide, Chinchilla has also pledged new protections for the pristine parks and reserves that make this Central American nation first in the world for land preservation.

“We’re teaming up for a safer Costa Rica,” she said, explaining that a safe country offers a good education, health care, decent housing, care for children and seniors, a prosperous and competitive economy and green, clean industry.

The fifth Latin American woman to be elected president, Chinchilla takes office in a decent economic climate despite the world economic crisis, thanks to policies enacted by Arias that helped insulate Costa Rica. Chinchilla, a 51-year-old Georgetown University graduate, is a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage.

She appealed both to Costa Ricans seeking a fresh face and those reluctant to risk the unknown. Her inauguration was attended by dignitaries including the presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Georgia. She hugged and kissed her husband, parents and 14-year-old son during the ceremony.

Then she hugged Arias, a popular leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his work to end civil wars in several Central American countries.

Arias served as president from 1986 to 1990, and again from 2006 to 2010, boosting tourism and eco-development. During his tenure, Costa Rica became the most visited country in Central America, with a $2.2 billion tourism industry, and Arias has pushed eco-tourism, environmentally friendly development and improved trade rela-

SAN JOSE: Costa Rica’s new President Laura Chinchilla, right, embraces outgoing president Oscar Arias after being sworn-in in San Jose, Saturday. — AP tions. In 2007, he set a goal for his country to be the first carbon-neutral country in the world by 2021, a goal Chinchilla supports. And in recent months, he attempted to mediate between Honduran leaders during a coup. Chinchilla says she wants to help Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, elected in the fall, to repair international relations damaged during the coup. — AP

He is charged in New York federal court with aiding the Juarez cartel smuggle hundreds of tons of Colombian cocaine to the United States via Cancun. US prosecutors have said Villanueva received $500,000 for each of several shipments he aided.

Villanueva is the 326th criminal suspect Mexico has extradited to the US under the government of President Felipe Calderon, which has stepped up the extradition process as the two countries intensify cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking.

Villanueva allegedly helped the Juarez cartel when it was headed by Amado Carillo Fuentes, one of Mexico’s top drug kingpins until he died in 1997 while undergoing plastic surgery.

Villanueva “gave orders to allow shipments of cocaine to be unloaded and stored in ranches in Quintana Roo, to be later sent to the neighboring country by land or air,” the Attorney General’s office said.

The former governor has been fighting extradition to the United States for years.

He disappeared two weeks before his term ended in 1999 after learning that Mexican authorities were seeking his arrest on drug trafficking charges. He spent two years in hiding before he was arrested in Cancun in 2001.

Villanueva, who belonged to the Institutional Revolutionary Party that ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000, was convicted of money laundering charges and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in 2007 but was immediately rearrested on the US extradition request.

In 2008, a Mexican court sentenced him to 36 years for fomenting drug trafficking, overturning the earlier ruling that had convicted him of money laundering but cleared him of drug smuggling and organized crime charges. In the past, few top drug suspects were extradited to the United States because they argued they should face justice first in Mexico. But Calderon has shown greater willingness to extradite drug suspects to the U.S. since taking office in 2006.

Villanueva’s extradition “shows the close collaboration between Mexico and the government of the United States in the fight against crime, ensuring that our national territory does not become a refuge for fugitives of justice,” the Attorney General’s office said.

Washington has supported Calderon’s military-led offensive against drug cartels with equipment and training under the $1.3 billion Merida Initiative.

Several top drug lords have been arrested or killed since Calderon deployed tens of thousands of troops and federal police across the country.

But gang violence has surged, claiming more than 22,700 lives in the past three years.

Three headless bodies showing signs of torture were found just outside Acapulco, a Pacific coast resort city, and the bodies of five other men

with multiple gunshot wounds were discovered in a car north of the Pacific resort, police said Saturday.

Police in the southwestern state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located, said the three beheaded men appeared to be in their 20s and 30s, but their identities and a motive had not been determined.

They were found on a peninsula a few miles south of Acapulco.

About 50 miles (80 kilometers) north, near the small town of Tecpan de Galeana, police discovered five bodies in a car left on a dirt road about 100 yards (90 meters) off a main highway. A police report said all five men had been repeatedly shot. Two bodies were in the front of the vehicle and three in the trunk, the report said. — AP

over to US authorities Saturday at the international airport in Toluca, a city near the Mexican capital, the federal Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. Villanueva is the first former governor to be extradited to the US on drug charges.

ALMOLOYA: The former governor of Quintana Roo state, Mario Villanueva, center, is arrested moments after he was released from the maximum security prison of El Altiplano in Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico, in this June 21, 2007 file photo. Mexico extradited the former state governor to the United States Saturday to face drug trafficking charges. Villanueva is the first former governor to be extradited to the US on drug charges. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

10

Monday, May 10, 2010

South Korea begins national security review SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak yesterday began an overhaul of national security after the mysterious sinking of a warship near the border with North Korea in March, his office said.

Lee created a 15-member Commission for National Security Review consisting of 10 retired generals and five civilians-tasked with assessing outside threats and revamp-

ing the country’s security system, it said.

He also named Lee Hee-Won, a former deputy commander of the US-South Korean combined forces, as his special advisor for national security.

President Lee last week pledged to overhaul the nation’s security system, which came under scrutiny after the 1,200ton warship Cheonan sank near the disput-

ed sea border with North Korea in the Yellow Sea on March 26.

The area where the ship went down was the scene of deadly naval clashes between the two Koreas in 1999 and 2002 and of a firefight last November that left a North Korean patrol boat in flames.

Investigators have said a powerful external blast tore the ship in two-apparently

limiting the possible causes to a torpedo or a mine.

President Lee hinted last Tuesday that North Korea was involved in the sinking.

He promised a “resolute” response when the cause is established following the probe, and his defence minister has vowed to retaliate.

North Korea has denied responsibility

for the sinking.

Seoul’s Yonhap news agency last week quoted an unidentified official as saying that traces of a high explosive known as RDX and widely used in torpedoes had been found on the wreckage of the salvaged warship.

The defence ministry denied the report.

The South has said it would probably

take the issue to the UN Security Council after completing the investigation.

Seoul has said that results of the probe will be discussed with China, a veto-wielding Council member and ally of Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il made a five-day trip to China to hold talks with Beijing leaders, including President Hu Jintao, last week. —AFP

Menu program found defective in more than 40 machines

Philippine automated polls a test of democracy MANILA: Despite scattered violence and a rush to fix a computer glitch, officials said yesterday the Philippines’ first automated presidential and local elections today will be a successful test of its fragile democracy.

Opposition Sen. Benigno Aquino III, the son of revered pro-democracy icons, has topped pre-elections surveys in the nine-way race for the presidency.

His rise reflects the longing to fill a moral vacuum in a country exasperated by decades of corruption, poverty and violence. Aquino’s closest rivals include ousted President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Manuel Villar, the country’s wealthiest politician. A blistering 90-day campaign ended Saturday, with most candidates promising to steer one of Southeast Asia’s economic laggards back to the path to stability. On the eve of today’s vote, thousands of workers on board military and private aircraft — and some on foot — delivered optical counting machines to 98 percent of about 76,300 precincts across the Southeast Asian archipelago, Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said. Reconfigured memory cards for the machines have been delivered to regional hubs after the defect prompted a massive recall last week, according to Smartmatic, the consortium that supplied the machines. Late delivery and final testing may delay vote counting in some far-flung areas, the elections commission said.

In the worst scenario, about a million Filipinos will be able to MANILA: Campaign posters dot the streets of Manila yesterday, the eve of the Philippines’ first ever vote but their ballots won’t be until the new cards automated presidential elections. More than 50 million registered voters are expected to troop to counted arrive in those areas, the poll polling places around the country to elect the highest position of the land from among nine candidates body said. The last-minute with Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III maintaining his double-digit lead in poll surveys over his clos- problem sparked calls for the polls’ postponement and fueled est rivals. — AP fears of vote-rigging and violence that have long sullied Philippine elections. In another flaw discovered yesterday, a button used to open a machine’s TOKYO: The Japanese government is set military personnel in Japan. Meanwhile, Okinawa and a potential relocation site, the menu program was found defecto decide today on a proposal to relocate a local mayors of a tiny island northeast of likelihood for Hatoyama to keep his deadline tive in more than 40 machines in controversial US airbase, Kyodo News Okinawa rejected Hatoyama’s proposal last is dimming. “A resolution by the end of May northern Nueva Vizcaya Agency reported yesterday, but there was week to shift a part of Futenma’s facility is impossible,” Yukio Okamoto, a former province, which has about diplomat now with think-tank Okamoto no sign Washington or local residents would there.

400,000 voters, Sarmiento told The government plan to be decided Associates, said on national broadcaster agree to the plan.

The AP. Replacement buttons The row over relocating the Futenma US today will likely modify a 2006 Japan-US NHK. Even a cabinet minister suggested were rushed to the province by Marine base has upset bilateral ties and con- deal to shift Futenma’s facilities to a site off the prime minister may need more time to helicopters, he said. tributed to Prime Minister Yukio Camp Schwab, another Marine base in a sort things out.

“The best way to disprove all “I think the prime minister’s determinaHatoyama’s falling support rates as he faces more remote part of Okinawa, Kyodo said. the critics who say that this canWashington’s top official for East Asia, tion to set out a certain direction for the a midyear election his ruling Democratic not be done is just to do it,” Kurt Campbell, said yesterday he was cer- issue has not changed, but that does not Party must win to avoid policy deadlock.

Elections Commissioner The floundering premier faces grim tain a resolution on the base would be mean everything will be over,” Kyodo news Gregorio Larrazabal told The prospects on settling the feud by his self- reached. “I remain very confident that we agency quoted transport minister Seiji Associated Press in an interimposed deadline of end-May, as specula- will be able to arrive at an outcome that Maehara as saying yesterday. view.

Some analysts say the next target date to tion simmers that he may have to resign if meets the operational needs of the United “Some machines won’t work but they can be replaced and he cannot do so. Hatoyama pledged to move States but is also politically responsible,” resolve the feud could be in November, some voters may not go out to the base off the southern island of Okinawa Campbell, the US Assistant Secretary of when US President Barack Obama is expectvote,” Larrazabal said, adding ed to visit Japan to attend the Asia Pacific during last year’s election campaign that led State, told a news conference in Bangkok. that majority of Filipinos will But Washington remains reluctant about Economic Cooperation forum. Japanese and his party to power, but angered local resicast their vote and demonstrate dents last week by saying he now realised a the modification to the 2006 deal, the Sankei US officials are set to meet in Washington on that “they have a stake in this Wednesday for working-level talks on the marine presence was needed for deterrence newspaper reported. democracy.” “Too many people Facing opposition from Washington, base issue, Kyodo said. — Reuters in Okinawa, host to some half the 49,000 US want the elections to succeed.

Too many people want change,” he said.

About 50 million Filipinos will vote to elect a new president, vice president and officials to fill nearly 18,000 national and local posts.

Presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said he was confident the automated elections under a widely criticised new YANGON: A top US envoy will be credible, adding its sucelection law introduced ahead of voiced concern yesterday about cess will bolster the country’s elections due later this year.

Myanmar’s preparations for its democracy. “This administraCampbell met the 64-yearfirst elections in two decades, tion will put all of its resources old Nobel peace laureate in ahead of talks with the ruling behind a successful transition of Yangon last November when he junta and detained opposition power and preserving the stabilbecame the highest-ranking US leader Aung San Suu Kyi. ity and continuity of our republiofficial to visit Myanmar in 14 President Barack Obama’s can institutions,” Olivar said in a years. administration last year statement.

During his current visit, he launched a policy of engaging Violence threatened to derail is due to hold talks with former Myanmar’s rulers in a bid to voting in some areas. More than 2,500 people have been arrested members of the NLD, which promote democracy and for violating a ban on firearms in was dissolved last week under improve human rights, but has public areas. Still, police have the controversial election law. since sharply criticised their reported at least 27 election“The NLD will discuss with approach to rare polls. related killings.

Mr Campbell our stand to solve “We’re troubled by much of The figure does not include national reconciliation probwhat we’ve seen and we have the 57 people, including 30 very real concerns about the SEOUL: Myanmar activists stage a rally against lems. We hope a good result will media workers, who were shot come from our meeting with elections laws and the environto death in a widely condemned ment that’s been created,” said Myanmar’s military junta near the Myanmar him,” the NLD’s long-time massacre in southern Kurt Campbell, the assistant Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. spokesman Nyan Win told AFP. Maguindanao province last A faction within the NLD secretary for East Asian and Dozens of protesters urged Myanmar’s military November. Many of the victims Pacific Affairs. government to immediately release their pro- said Friday that it would form a were in a convoy to register a “Our team would like the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and hold new political party but had not relative as a Maguindanao decided whether to run in the opportunity to engage directly gubernatorial candidate when elections. and see what the plans are in free and fair elections later this year. — AP they were stopped allegedly by “I think it’s critical to have terms of the overall approach of Information Minister Kyaw who has been in detention for 14 members of a rival clan In the a dialogue with the governthe elections,” he told a news Hsan, a government official in of the past 20 years. latest violence, two supporters conference during a stopover in the military-ruled country told Suu Kyi’s National League ment as well as key figures of a town mayor up for re-elecBangkok. for Democracy (NLD) won a outside the government,” AFP, asking not to be named. tion in southern Davao del Sur Campbell arrived in Obama’s top diplomat for landslide victory in 1990 elec- Campbell said. “We will be province were killed late Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw East Asia is due to travel to the tions but the junta never meeting with elements of the Saturday in a clash with another NLD. We will meet with other yesterday and held discussions main city Yangon afterwards for allowed it to take office. candidate’s security escorts, with officials including a meeting today with Suu Kyi, police said. — AP The poll result was nullified elements as well.” — AFP

Japan to decide on US base plan today

US ‘troubled’ by Myanmar election preparations: Envoy

ACEH: Residents in Aceh stand outside after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit the province yesterday. The quake struck at a depth of 30 kilometres (18 miles) 66 kilometres (41 miles) southwest of Meulaboh district and triggered a local tsunami alert, according to the local Meteorological and Geophysics agency. It was not immediately known if there were any casualties or damage. — AFP

Magnitude 7.4 earthquake rattles western Indonesia JAKARTA: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 rattled Indonesia’s North Sumatra province yesterday, prompting a brief local tsunami watch, knocking out power and damaging some homes, officials said. The US Geological Survey said the afternoon quake hit 135 miles (220 kilometers) southeast of Banda Aceh at a depth at 38 miles (61 kilometers).

Indonesia and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu issued a tsunami watch for the area, but both canceled their warnings less than 90 minutes later.

Fauzi, chief of Indonesia’s meteorology agency, said the closest town to the epicenter was Meulaboh, where a small “tsunami wave” just 7.9 inches (20 centimeters) high was detected by a buoy off the coast.

Fauzi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said the official tsunami watch had been canceled. Local media reports said the quake caused panic in many parts of Aceh — which was hit hard by the earthquake that triggered the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people — and in neighboring North Sumatra province.

Lt. Col. Widodo, chief of West Aceh police in Meulaboh, told MetroTV that many residents remained outside in the streets for fear of another quake.

“But up until now, there is no indication of damages or casualties,” said Widodo.

Minor damage to the control tower of the Cut Nyak Dhien airport near Meulaboh — including broken windows and cracks on the wall — did not disrupt airport operations, said Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan. Activities at Meulaboh seaport were also briefly disturbed as workers fled to higher ground after hearing the tsunami alert.

“But all things have returned to normal now,” Ervan said. Riswan, local government secretary on Simeulue island, said the quake damaged some houses and caused a power outage, but phones were still working. Indonesia rests on a series of fault lines that make the archipelago nation one of the most world’s most earthquake-prone. A quake last year killed more than 1,000 people on Sumatra, but a 7.7 quake last month in the same area caused only minor damage. — AP

Thai PM pleads for end to two-month street protests BANGKOK: Thailand’s prime minister pleaded yesterday for an end to two months of street protests paralyzing part of the capital and an acceptance of his reconciliation plan that has been stalled by fresh violence. Hopes that the prolonged protests by so-called Red Shirt demonstrators would end without further bloodshed were dashed when two attacks Friday night killed two policemen and wounded 13 people. The violence happened just outside the protest occupation zone in Bangkok’s prime commercial district, where upscale shopping centers and hotels have been shuttered for weeks.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva went on nationwide television to ask all parties to accept his five-point reconciliation plan, which

includes new elections Nov. 14.

“Don’t hesitate. If you agree with the reconciliation, quit the demonstration and start working together,” he said. He described those instigating violence to undermine peace efforts as “terrorists” who would not be granted amnesty.

He also promised to address some of the grievances of the protesters, including rural poverty and social injustice.

The Red Shirts say their own proposal will be unveiled in coming days and would be open to negotiations.

They are refusing to leave the protest site until their demands are met, and an estimated 5,000 reinforcements from northeastern Thailand arrived Saturday. The protesters say they agree in principle with Abhisit’s proposal to dis-

solve Parliament and hold new polls — their key demands — but want more specifics including the exact date for the dissolution.

The government has warned the protesters that if the occupation continues, unknown assailants responsible for several attacks in the capital may try to ruin the conciliatory atmosphere.

Violence tied to the protests — including clashes between demonstrators and security forces — has killed 29 people and wounded nearly 1,000. The standoff in Bangkok has hammered the economy, decimated the tourist industry and ground government machinery to a near halt. The Red Shirts include the rural and urban poor as well as pro-democracy advocates. — AP

BANGKOK: A Thai woman speaks with a soldier standing guard around the financial central district of Silom in downtown Bangkok yesterday.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called for a swift end to mass anti-government protests following fresh bloodshed, saying he had a back-up plan to solve the crisis if the demonstrators refuse to disperse. At least 23 people died and over 800 were injured in the violent April 10 clashes between anti-government protesters and Thai security forces. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

Monday, May 10, 2010

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Expect no climate deal this year: Indian minister BEIJING: The chance of a climate change agreement this year is remote because the United States and China are unwilling to make more commitments during the talks, India’s environment minister said yesterday. The last UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen last December was seen as deeply disappointing as a deep rift showed between industrialized nations and developing countries.

The toughest issues — cutting greenhouse gases, creating a system of financial

aid from rich to poor countries, and measuring both — still need consideration.

The next major UN climate conference is in Cancun, Mexico, in December. “The prospect of a breakthrough in 2010 is very, very remote,” Jairam Ramesh told reporters in Beijing after finishing talks with his Chinese counterpart. India is the world’s fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases and one of the largest players in securing any deal. “We’ve reached virtually a dead end” with neither the United

States nor China — the world’s top two emitters of heat-trapping greenhouse gases — unwilling to make any firm commitments, Ramesh said.

A UN panel of scientists says greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide — emitted mostly by burning fossil fuels for electricity and transportation — are causing climate change that threatens potentially catastrophic environmental damage such as floods, droughts and rising sea levels. The Copenhagen conference

failed to reach a new legally binding treaty after two years of UN-sponsored negotiations.

Instead, it ended with a political declaration called the Copenhagen Accord, brokered at the last minute by President Barack Obama, but many of the 190 or so countries that attended were unhappy with it and some dismissed it outright.

China’s top climate change negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, twice shouted and thumped the table when the agreement was signed,

Ramesh recalled yesterday. Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao were all in the room during the outburst. “‘What did he say?”‘ Ramesh quoted Clinton as saying. “‘He’s congratulating us,”‘ Obama said, according to Ramesh.

Ramesh said he never found out what Xie was shouting about. “I think he was saying the Americans were not fulfilling their part of the bargain. That’s my guess,” Ramesh said.

The United States emits about a fifth of all the world’s greenhouse gases. China has edged past the United States as the planet’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter mainly from fossil fuel burning, but emits far less than the US on a per-capita basis.

Last week, some 40 nations agreed to take individual steps to fight global warming but made little progress during a three-day meeting near Bonn, Germany toward a new international climate change treaty. —AP

US drone strike kills 10 in Pakistan’s tribal belt Missiles hit militant compound MIRANSHAH: Ten militants were killed yesterday in a US drone attack in Pakistan’s tribal area, officials said, as the US attorney general linked the Pakistani Taleban to a failed New York car bomb. The strike by two missiles in North Waziristan came after the head of US

KATHMANDU: Maoist activists throw brickbats at Nepalese police during a demonstration in Kathmandu, Nepal, yesterday. Riot police clashed with thousands of communists demonstrating outside the government’s main offices in the Nepalese capital, injuring several protesters and police officers. — AP

Police, Maoists clash in Nepal, several injured KATHMANDU: Riot police clashed with thousands of communists demonstrating outside the government’s main offices in the Nepalese capital yesterday, injuring several protesters and police officers.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who gathered to block the complex housing key offices, including the prime minister’s, in an attempt to shut down government machinations. Thousands of police had been deployed early yesterday to guard the complex. The Maoists, former rebels who fought a bloody 10year war that killed an estimated 13,000 people, have demanded that Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal step down and hand over power to a national communist-led government.

The crisis — which included a paralyzing sixday general strike last week called by the communists — has raised fears of renewed violence after the Maoists joined the political process in 2006 under a peace deal. Protesters pelted police with stones yesterday, beat up pedestrians and television cameramen, and set government vehicles on

fire. Both police and demonstrators were injured in the street battles.

Some 125,000 Maoists gathered in the capital Kathmandu on May 1 for protest rallies. The Maoists on Friday had ended the crippling strike that shut down transportation, markets and schools, bowing to pressure from angry citizens, Western diplomats and business groups. The Maoists traditionally back strike calls with the threat of violence against those who defy them, and security forces have been deployed in large numbers to mitigate unrest.

The communists won the country’s most recent elections and briefly led a coalition government. A dispute split their coalition and the Maoist leader resigned as prime minister, allowing the current government to come to power.

The Maoists now want power back, but the government has refused to step aside.

The unrest comes as Nepal’s Constituent Assembly, elected to draw up a new constitution, struggles to draft the charter before its term expires May 28. —AP

Victims of violence speak out in Afghanistan KABUL: Mothers of slain teenage sons, men wounded by mine blasts and tearful widows were among Afghans who spoke out yesterday at a conference billed as the first major gathering of victims of decades of war in their country. The so-called “victims’ jirga” at a Kabul hotel brought together dozens of Afghans from across the country to build pressure on the government ahead of a national peace assembly called by President Hamid Karzai for later this month.

Legal advocates who organized the gathering in the capital want to make sure the voices of the Afghan people who have suffered at the hands of insurgents, warlords and under the former Taleban and Soviet regimes are heard at the government’s peace assembly.

Some 1,500 people from across Afghan society have been invited to the assembly to seek a consensus for reconciling with insurgents willing to lay down their arms. “We cannot lose hope for a peaceful life,” said Sima Hussiani, a woman from Badakhshan province in northern Afghanistan. The former Taleban regime killed her two brothers, both teachers, in the late 1990s, she said. “I don’t want blood for blood, but the perpetrators should acknowledge their mistakes.” Despite talk of peace and hopes for justice, the violence continues across the country as an insurgency led by Taleban militants works to destabilize the Karzai government and its

international supporters. Four members of a community defense force protecting villagers in western Afghanistan were beheaded by militants in fighting Saturday, an Afghan army official said. Maj. Zainudin Sharifi, the commander of the Afghan National Army’s rapid-response team in Herat province, said the fighting occurred in Zerko, a Taleban area of Shindand district.

The defense force, hired by the Afghan Interior Ministry, came under fire while investigating tips that suicide bombers were planning to attack a coalition outpost. Four were captured and beheaded.

Coalition forces and the quick-response force responded, killing 10 militants. Sharifi said four of the militants died when they were hit by bullets that detonated their suicide vests.

On Saturday in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, a joint Afghan and international force uncovered a roadside bomb factory in Now Zad district. NATO said yesterday two suspected insurgents were detained and dozens of rocket-propelled grenades and bomb parts were confiscated. In a separate operation, NATO said a joint force killed several insurgents and seized 4,960 pounds (2,250) kilograms of opium resin, 130 pounds (60 kilograms) of morphine, 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of heroin and four guns on Saturday in Helmand, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the Pakistani border. — AP

KABUL: Afghan women, victims of war, look on during a “victims’ jirga” (a meeting) in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday. Mothers of slain teenage sons, men marred by mine blasts and tearful widows were among Afghans who spoke out yesterday at a conference billed as the first major gathering of victims of decades of war in their country. — AP

Yesterday US Attorney General Eric Holder said Washington had evidence that Pakistani Taleban were behind a failed car bomb attack in the heart of New York City.

The drone missile strike, the latest of dozens of such attacks, targeted Inzarkas village, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, which lies by the Afghan border.

“The missiles struck a militant compound in the village,” a senior Pakistani security official in the area told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Another security official confirmed the strike and casualties but said the nationalities of the dead were not yet known.

“The compound became suspicious as it was being used by foreigners,” he said.

“It was, however, not immediately known if any high-value target was present in the area at the time of attack.” Pakistani officials use the term “foreigners” for Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the tribal regions.

The United States has been waging a covert drone war in the tribal belt, where militants have carved out havens in mountainous areas outside direct government control.

More than 900 people have been killed in over 100 drone strikes since August 2008.

Waziristan has come under renewed scrutiny due to suspected links between the area and Faisal Shahzad, a PakistaniAmerican arrested and charged with the attempted bombing of New York’s Times Square on May 1.

According to the US authorities, Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired Pakistani air force officer, admitted to receiving bomb-making training in Waziristan.

US media reports said his family knew at least two key Pakistani militants involved in terrorist activities.

Yesterday the US attorney general clearly linked Shahzad to the Pakistani Taleban, telling ABC television: “We’ve now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taleban was behind the attack.”

“We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it, and that he was working at their direction,” said Holder.

Pakistani army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said earlier that a link between Shahzad and Waziristan had “yet to be established”.

Top US officials warned Pakistan after the failed Times Square car bombing that it must crack down on Islamic militants or face severe consequences, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

Citing unnamed US and Pakistani officials, the newspaper said McChrystal met Pakistani military commander General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad on Friday and urged Pakistan to quickly begin a military offensive against the Pakistani Taleban and Al-Qaeda in North Waziristan.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Pakistan, in remarks published Friday, that it faced “very severe consequences” if a terror plot like the Times Square bombing were traced to the country.

North Waziristan is a fortress of Al-Qaeda, Afghan and Pakistani Taleban, and the affiliated Haqqani network, set up by Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and now effectively run by his ambitious son Sirajuddin.

The militants in the area are believed to be fuelling the nearly nine-year insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan.— AFP

and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, urged Pakistan’s army chief on Friday to quickly start a military offensive against militants in the same tribal district, according to the New York Times.

LAHORE: Activists of Pakistani banned Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir chant slogans against US policies during a protest in Lahore yesterday. Ten militants were killed yesterday, in a US drone attack in Pakistan’s tribal area, officials said, as the US attorney general linked the Pakistani Taleban to a failed New York car bomb. — AFP

Malaysia on trial: Anwar KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who returns to court today to face sodomy charges, said Malaysia’s reputation is on trial in a case aimed at destroying his political career.

Anwar, a former deputy premier who was sacked and jailed on separate sex and corruption counts a decade ago, said Malaysian justice had deteriorated under Prime Minister Najib Razak, who came to power a year ago.

“It is not Anwar’s case. It is the institution of governancethe police, the judiciary and certain media-which have all got worse under Prime Minister Najib Razak. They are the real ones on trial,” Anwar told AFP. Anwar said he would not be cowed by the fact he could again end up behind bars if convicted of the charges that carry a penalty of 20 years imprisonment.

“I am committed to political and economic reforms. There is no turning back,” he said.

“Of course I am a political threat. They have been trying for 12 years to kill my political career. I leave it to my supporters and Allah to believe in me.”

Anwar, a 62-year-old father of six, is accused of having illicit sexual relations with a young man who worked in his office.

Sodomy remains a crime in Malaysia, a conservative Muslim-majority nation.

The trial opened briefly in February with explicit evidence from his accuser, 24year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, but has been suspended since then as the defence pursued a number of unsuccessful legal manoeuvres.

They were knocked back in

attempts to have the presiding judge disqualified, complaining he had refused to rein in biased media coverage, and also failed to win access to key prosecution evidence such as video footage and medical tests.

Anwar last week lost his final bid to strike out the sodomy charges, as the Federal Court rejected an appeal and paved the way for his trial to resume at the High Court today.

His counsel Sankara Nair said the prosecution’s refusal to release information such as its witness list and key documents on forensic and DNA evidence was problematic.

“Anwar is put in a very severely disadvantaged posi-

tion. The defence faces an uphill task as vital documents in relation to Anwar’s defence have not been given to us by the prosecution,” he said.

Human Rights Watch has urged Malaysia to drop the charges against Anwar, condemning the case as a “charade of justice” and saying his lawyers had been blocked from preparing a thorough defence.

Sankara said the defence team would cross-examine Mohamad Saiful when the hearing opens today.

“We intend to grill this witness,” Nair said. “The court has set four days for this hearing.” Hearing dates have been set until August but Sankara said he did not know when the

trial would end.

Anwar’s earlier sexual misconduct conviction was quashed in 2004 and he was released from jail. After a period of recuperation he reinvented himself as the leader of an opposition alliance.

Against all expectations, it made huge strides in 2008 elections, depriving the ruling coalition of its crucial two-thirds majority and redrawing Malaysia’s political landscape.

After suffering its worst polls results in half a century, the shell-shocked Barisan Nasional coalition ousted the serving prime minister and drafted in Najib, who has unveiled reforms aimed at winning back support. —AFP

Obama asks aides to treat Afghan president better WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has asked his security team to treat Afghan President Hamid Karzai with more public respect after US statements called into question the relationship, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

The newspaper said Obama sought to impose discipline on his administration during a White House meeting last month.

Karzai is expected in Washington today for a crunch summit aimed at repairing ties after a damaging row, a meeting that is likely to see renewed US pressure on the embattled leader to wipe out corruption.

His talks with Obama will be the first since Karzai infuriated the White House with a string of outspoken criticisms alleging that foreign nations orchestrated fraud in the 2009 election that returned him to power.

US administration officials have sent mixed signals about Karzai’s legitimacy and his value to the US-led counterinsurgency campaign.

As a result, The Post reported, Karzai threat-

ened to join the Taliban just days after Obama concluded his first presidential trip to Kabul in late March. Karzai grew bitter after receiving a copy of comments made by Obama’s national security adviser on the way to Kabul that struck him as insulting, the report said.

Days later, Karzai read in a newspaper article that an unidentified US official was threatening to put Ahmed Wali Karzai, his half-brother, on the military’s kill-or-capture list, the paper noted.

Karzai had been led to believe months earlier that his brother, who leads Kandahar’s provincial council, would remain in his post despite persistent accusations of corruption and ties to drug trafficking, The Post said.

“There has been a rough patch,” the paper quotes a senior administration official as saying.

“Frankly, some of what Karzai said needed to be responded to. But the bottom line is that there has been an improvement since then in the atmospherics and in the substance of our dealings with President Karzai and his team.” — AFP

OPINION

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Latin America hard left losing its luster

By Andrew Cawthorne

“F

atherland, Socialism or Death!” scream the large red letters on a typical pro-government street painting in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. Down the road, however, some of the president’s supporters grumble among themselves at a state food shop where shelves are half-empty, vegetables rotten and meat non-existent. After 11 years of socialist rule in Venezuela - a flagbearer for a decade of gains by the left across Latin America - trappings of revolutionary fervor are everywhere.

Scratch under the surface, though, and even many poor Venezuelans who still back Chavez are increasingly displeased at the prospect of a second straight year of economic contraction and a government unashamedly dependent on one man. “He was our only hope, but I can’t stand seeing Venezuela become another Cuba. He’s taking this too far,” said Jose Quintero, who still calls himself “half-Chavista” but plans to abstain at the next election in protest.

Around Latin America, other hard-left leaders like Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and Cuba’s Raul Castro have won support among the poor with heavy spending on social programs but have also failed to make their economies shine, to the disappointment of believers at home and abroad. The center-left that ruled Chile for two decades has just lost power to a conservative billionaire, Sebastian Pinera, and radical presidential candidates are losing support.

Peru’s pro-Chavez candidate Ollanta Humala and Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador both came close to winning power in 2006, but have faded since and are long shots for the next elections. The most successful socialists seem to be those like Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who long ago toned down his rhetoric and embraced orthodox policies that helped usher in the biggest economic boom in three decades.

Mexican Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz says greater political maturity is squeezing radicals on both sides across Latin America, which suffered a string of military coups and left-wing rebellions in the second half of the 20th century. “Where democracy has truly taken hold, it is very difficult for there to be a radical government from either extreme, left or right,” he told the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit this week.

So has the left had its heyday in Latin America? Almost certainly not. Most experts are quick to distinguish between the state of the “Bolivarian” left - named for Chavez’s hero and 19th century South American liberator Simon Bolivar - and the centrist left represented by Lula

and the likes of Uruguayan President Jose Mujica. “It was never a homogenous movement,” said analyst Jimena Blanco of the Latin American Newsletters, based in Britain.

“The radical or ‘Bolivarian’ left has lost a lot of its initial strength and force. It does not have the same appeal. But the center-left looks here to stay, even though they are more likely to alternate government with the centerright.” While frustrating to supporters, the radicals’ problems in Latin America are a relief to Wall Street and President Barack Obama’s administration. “The vast majority of governments in the hemisphere ... have chosen a path which was much more toward the side of ‘let’s open up our economies, let’s try to increase transparency, let’s try to fight corruption’,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Craig Kelly told Reuters on Thursday. “The fact that they are not seeking those Utopian solutions now is a good sign.”

Foreign investors have poured money into Latin America, which generally weathered the global financial crisis well and is expected to grow 4 percent or more this year. “The region’s appeal is only going to grow to the extent that the more unorthodox models continue to fail,” said analyst Patrick Esteruelas, of Eurasia Group.

“One left seems to have withered, while the other has kind of consolidated itself as part of a new center. As much as Chavez and Correa still retain an institutional grip and count on a divided opposition, they are both very much in decline.”

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez’s leftist rhetoric is hailed by Chavez, and her power base continues to be labor unions and the urban poor who have benefited from high spending on social programs. But her policies are more ad-hoc than ideological, and her popularity is down to below 30 percent. In Mexico, Lopez Obrador of the leftwing Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, lost the presidency by a whisker-thin margin in 2006, but he upset moderates by contesting the result with crippling street protests.

Party divisions mean the PRD is unlikely to get close again in 2012. Marcelo Ebrard, the mayor of Mexico City, has cast himself as a modernthinking moderate leftist with an eye to running for the PRD in 2012, and he says the left needs to combine its old emphasis on social support with solid economic policies.

“Brazil is a good example,” he told the Reuters summit, referring to Lula’s model of targeted social spending with market-friendly policies. “I don’t think we can repeat here what Chavez did.” In Colombia, the radicalism of neighbors Venezuela and Ecuador is a turnoff to voters, with all candidates in this month’s presidential vote stressing free-market principles. — Reuters

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Shiite merger deal in Iraq a work in progress

By Rania El-Gamal and Suadad Al-Salhy

A

n alliance between Iraq’s two main Shiite political coalitions to form the next government is far from concluded, with potentially divisive issues such as the nomination of a prime minister still unresolved.

The announcement last week that Shiite Prime Minister Nouri AlMaliki’s State of Law bloc and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) would join forces in parliament was seen as a reminder to their Sunni-backed rival, Iraqiya, that the next prime minister will come from the major Shiite coalitions.

The strong showing by the crosssectarian Iraqiya, led by secular Shiite former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, has raised Sunni expectations of a large role in government. Violence could ensue if they feel sidelined by majority Shiites. But the Shiite tie-up did not include a deal on a prime minister, a main stumbling block to forming a new government after a March 7 parliamentary election. It produced no clear winner and left Iraq adrift in dangerous political uncertainty. The results of the election have not even been certified to date.

“I don’t think this would be a final agreement,” Iraqi political analyst Ibrahim Al-Sumaidaie said. “The State of Law thinks it solved half of the problem of Maliki’s getting the premiership and the INA thinks it solved half of the problem of pushing Maliki aside from the premiership,” Sumaidaie said. The March election was seen as a water-

shed for Iraq as it emerges from the violence set off by the 2003 US-led invasion and sets out to attract foreign investment and develop its vast oilfields while US forces prepare to withdraw. Yet, while the election was declared largely free and fair, the results have faced a slew of challenges that have delayed a final tally and the formation of a new government.

State of Law, which won 89 seats two less than Iraqiya - and INA said weeks ago that they intended to merge in parliament. But both camps had said talks had stalled over the issue of the prime minister. Maliki wants another term but is opposed by a key faction of INA, the Sadrist political movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr.

The Sadrists hold around 40 of INA’s 70 seats. The alliance talks were put on hold after State of Law successfully sought a recount of votes in Baghdad, hoping that might overturn Iraqiya’s lead, and while a panel considered what to do with candidates accused of links to Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath party. Neither issue has been concluded. That made Tuesday’s announcement a bit of a puzzle.

Mohammed Al-Darraji of the Sadrists said consensus on how to select a prime minister was far from finalised. “We have not agreed on the mechanism of choosing the prime minister ... Who will rule Iraq will be a compromise candidate,” said Darraji. “Not agreeing on the prime minister could be the knot obstructing the political process.”

An agreement signed by the two alliances requires them to form a com-

mittee to study possible candidates and to pick a single nominee, said Amir AlKenani, another Sadrist.

The pact says the parties could consult religious leaders to resolve disputes but does not give the final say to a small group of Shiite clerics led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s

most revered Shiite cleric, Kenani said.

“There is no obligation, as some people imagine,” he said. Leading Iraqiya politician Osama Al-Nujaifi accused neighbouring Shiite Iran of masterminding the planned Shiite alliance.

But he ruled out the possibility of Iraqiya being totally excluded from the

new government. “The alliance between (Maliki’s) State of Law and INA was expected and there are Iranian pressures in this direction,” said Nujaifi, a senior Sunni politician. “But of course ... Iraqiya will be present in the parliament in a large number and can’t be overlooked.” — Reuters

World debt crisis looms W

By Dario Thuburn

ith Europe locked in Greece-linked market mayhem, influential economists are now warning that a wider crisis of rising debts and ageing populations in advanced economies could be in store. And it is not just Greece and some other vulnerable eurozone economies that are in trouble. Countries such as Britain and the United States are at risk too unless urgent action is taken to avert a major public finances crunch.

A recent working paper published by the Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, an organisation that groups together the world’s top central banks, said the developed world has seen “an explosion of public debt”. “Drastic measures” are needed to slash this debt, said the authors of the report, including Stephen Cecchetti, chief economic adviser to the BIS, which often helps shape government economic policy years into the future.

It is a refrain frequently heard at economic policy conferences but is rarely heard on the lips of politicians, who are only too conscious of the growing problem and the painful ways of cutting public deficit. The main solution put forward by the BIS experts as an alternative to raising taxes or cutting social welfare is to raise the retirement age as a way of reducing future costs linked to ageing populations in advanced economies. “A decision to raise the retirement age appears a better measure,” they said. Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain are among the advanced economies that have recently

announced plans to raise the retirement age. The BIS experts warned that without action there could be dire consequences from “unsustainable” debt, including a slump in bond markets, a vicious circle of rising interest rates and more debt and even a rise in the shadow economy. Rumblings on the world’s sovereign debt problems are nothing new in recent months but there is a greater sense of urgency among many observers.

“Greece is only one case, but it’s only a tip of the iceberg,” People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Zhu Min said at a conference in Hong Kong in March.

Zhu said that the “main concern today obviously is Spain and Italy,” far bigger European economies than Greece’s that are also heavily indebted. The International Monetary Fund in a report issued last month warned of the risk that “market concerns about sovereign liquidity and solvency in Greece could turn into a full-blown sovereign debt crisis, leading to some contagion. “The global crisis and its ripple effects have exposed weaknesses in existing policy arrangements on various fronts that need to be corrected to ensure Europe’s future financial stability and growth,” it added.

Since then the eurozone and the IMF have given the goahead to an unprecedented Ä110-billion ($140-billion) bailout aimed at helping Greece avoid a default on its debts that would wreak further havoc on the markets. Analysts are also saying the European Central Bank or domestic private banks could be forced into buying government bonds as a way of avoiding more bailouts of other eurozone economies such as Portugal and Spain. — AFP

Can Obama and Karzai still work together?

US

By Matt Spetalnick

President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, allied in war but lacking in personal chemistry, face a critical test next week of whether they can just get along.

From Washington to Kabul, the consensus is clear - the two leaders have no choice but to use their White House meeting to move beyond a recent war of words between their governments and try to restore trust and mend frayed relations. How well they do could have implications for the success or failure of Obama’s military buildup aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan and fulfilling his pledge to start bringing US troops home in mid-2011.

“We don’t have the luxury of having a dysfunctional relationship in such an important war,” said Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution in Washington. “It’s time for cooler heads to prevail.” Still, it could be an awkward encounter on Wednesday, just weeks after Obama flew across the world to Afghanistan to lecture Karzai about corruption. After that visit, Karzai and Obama’s aides traded public rebukes before Washington finally backed off.

The flare-up marked a new low in US-Afghan ties under

Obama and was widely seen as a sign the White House was struggling to craft a coherent strategy for dealing with the Afghan president. But Douglas Lute, Obama’s adviser on Afghanistan and Pakistan, dismissed the strains as normal “ups and downs” of a strategic partnership in t h e eightyearo l d

war.

Obama has broken with predecessor George W Bush’s c h u m m i e r approach to Karzai but now must find the right balance.

Karzai, as a Washington Post foreign affairs columnist wrote, poses a classic dilemma for the United States of “you

can’t win with him, you can’t win without him”. US officials have appeared reluctant to put much faith in Karzai, but alienating the prickly Afghan leader would risk the support they need from Afghans to make Obama’s war strategy work.

There is no viable replacement for Karzai at this point, and though Washington is increasingly reaching out to other Afghan officials there is little support within the administration for marginalizing him. Karzai is just as mindful of how much he depends on Washington for support, aid and even his own survival in the face of a resurgent Taleban.

Against this backdrop, every utterance and bit of body language will be scrutinized for signs of tension when the two men meet. Expect smiles, a handshake and the usual diplomatic niceties in front of the cameras. In private, Obama is likely to stick to his arms-length approach of pressing Karzai to do more to

crack down on rampant corruption and show Americans he is a reliable partner. Would anyone blame Karzai if he felt a little nostalgic for the Bush era? His close bond with the back-slapping Republican included regular videoconferences, praise and US visits.

By contrast, the current US leader, who cultivates a “nodrama Obama” image and relies less on personal diplomacy with foreign leaders, has opted not t o

become Karzai’s pal. Obama a d v i s e r s believe Bush’s embrace gave the Afghan leader too much cover for his failings.

While some experts agree, they say it could pay dividends f o r

Obama to develop better rapport with Karzai. Many analysts believe US public pressure tactics became counterproductive after Karzai was declared the winner of Afghanistan’s fraudmarred election last year.

Incensed at his treatment, Karzai even hosted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Kabul and stood by as the Iranian president railed against the United States.

After Obama’s visit, Karzai responded to heightened US criticism with a series of anti-

Western diatribes.

That culminated in US news reports denied vehemently by Karzai aides -that he told a closed-door meeting he might consider switchi n g sides to the

Taleban. With critics at home accusing the White House of brow-beating a vital ally, Obama sought to defuse the situation in April when he reaffirmed Karzai’s invitation to visit.

Some analysts said Obama may have learned a lesson and expect him to put relations on a more even keel. Karzai’s recent outbursts were seen as calculated in part to show the Afghan public he is no US puppet. That could also be a subtext during his trip to Washington. “The president must show that he has self-determination and must not be carried away by Obama’s patting” him on the back, said Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, a former Afghan prime minister.

Ryan Crocker, former US ambassador to Pakistan and Iraq, urged Obama to cut Karzai some slack. “It is hard to overstress the challenges that President Karzai faces,” he said. Obama will also be playing to a domestic audience, a public weary of what was supposed to be a “good war” compared to the more unpopular conflict in Iraq. The Democratic president wants to keep Afghanistan from becoming another drag on his party in pivotal congressional elections in November when voter anxiety over high unemployment and a fragile economy is already expected to take a toll. — Reuters

ANALYSIS

Monday, May 10, 2010

13

Sarkozy calms down, but French unforgiving

By Crispian Balmer

H

yperactive French President Nicolas Sarkozy has learned to chill and reduced his media exposure in an effort to reverse his disastrous approval ratings and regain the political initiative. But on the third anniversary of his emphatic 2007 election victory, the bleak economic outlook and depressed mood amongst voters suggests that even a newlook Sarkozy will struggle to hold on to power at the next presidential ballot in 2012. “Ugly birthday to you, mister president,” BVA pollsters wrote in a commentary on Thursday, unleashing another battery of dire readings for Sarkozy, including the fact that 69 percent of French people judge his achievements to be “bad”.

The president’s unpopularity was laid bare in March local elections, which saw his Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party win control of just one out of 22 mainland French regions. Political analysts said Sarkozy’s restless character, his overbearing presence on every major issue of the day and his soap-opera personal life, contributed to the savage

able

defeat. Not for the first time in his threeyear reign, Sarkozy has looked to address his failings and he has been remarkably quiet in recent weeks on hot issues such as the Greek debt crisis, the volcanic ash disruption and a move to ban the Islamic veil.

“Sarkozy is trying to reinvent himself as a statesman, but I think it might be coming too late,” said Jacques Rupnik, head of research at Paris’s prestigious Sciences Po university. “He is a victim of the circumstances and I am not sure if the economic situation will change quickly enough for him to be

recover his impetus,” he added.

Although his new, understated style does seem to have halted Sarkozy’s precipitous decline in the opinion polls, his ratings are still significantly worse than those of his three predecessors at the same stage in their presidency.

“There is a level of disappointment that we have never seen before with another president of the republic,” said Brice Teinturier, head of the TNSSofres pollsters.

Elected on the back of a bold reform program, Sarkozy’s promises have been blown off course by the financial crisis and his slogan “work more to earn more” sounds extremely hollow.

The unemployment rate has risen above the psychologically painful 10 percent level, the deficit is due to hit a record 8 percent of gross domestic product this year and economic growth remains anaemic, exposing France’s lack of competitiveness. “We are going to have growth blocked around one percent for some time, public debt will be around 100 percent of GDP in 2012 and unemployment at 10 percent,” said economist Nicolas Baverez. “All this is generating a lot of political and social

anxiety which is causing a rise in populism and xenophobia.”

Senior politicians scoff at the idea that France could fall victim to the sort of market meltdown afflicting Greece and the government is attaching much significance to an ongoing reform of state pensions to prove its determination to cut spending. But Sarkozy’s supporters fear a union backlash over pensions, which could translate into paralysing street protests, and say the prospects for 2012, which had appeared sunny only a year ago, now look extremely difficult.

“When you go around you meet a lot of people who say they won’t vote for Sarkozy again. By contrast, I have yet to meet any new converts to our cause,” said one glum minister, who declined to be named.

Government allies are particularly alarmed by signs the opposition Socialist party is finally overcoming its deep, seemingly perennial, internal divisions under the guidance of Martine Aubry, and is shaping up as a credible alternative. “2012 is going to be difficult if the left sorts out its leadership problem,” said a very senior UMP politician, who again did not want

to be named. “The basic problem is that France and Europe are in a very bad shape, with monstrous deficits, and neither the right or the left is up to the challenge,” he added.

In the months ahead, Sarkozy is likely to maintain his low profile, while pushing his ministers into the frontline to take the flak in time-honoured French presidential fashion. He will also almost certainly shake up both the cabinet and his inner circle of Elysee advisors, whose hapless manoeuvrings earlier this year aimed at limiting the fallout from rumours over Sarkozy’s marriage only exacerbated the problem.

But all this might carry little weight with a grumpy electorate that wants to see Sarkozy fulfil his promise of a break with the past and is unimpressed by data suggesting France fared better than most during the recent downturn.

“Objectively speaking, the situation is much less bad than the French make it out to be ... but there has been a loss of confidence in the government, the president and his team,” said respected French sociologist Alain Touraine. — Reuters

Moldova’s leaders under early election pressure

By Alexander Tanas

M

oldova’s pro-Western leadership is coming under increased pressure to call early parliamentary elections to help one of Europe’s poorest countries out of a year-long political impasse which paralyses reform. The ex-Soviet republic of 4.1 million has been without a head of state since September and rivalry between the ruling Alliance for European Integration and opposition Communists has repeatedly doomed attempts to elect a new one.

For months now, the two blocs in the European Union aspirant have pushed rival plans for electoral reform and even turned to European institutions for advice - but neither side appears ready for compromise.

Analysts say the deadlock is draining away the political energy needed to enact reform in the tiny republic, locked between Ukraine and EU member Romania, where average pay is less than $300 a month. “Moldova needs this political crisis to be solved as quickly as possible,” political analyst Vitalii Andrievschii told Reuters.

On the one side, acting President Mihai Ghimpu, a fierce anti-communist, is fighting off pressure to dissolve parliament and call new elections apparently fearing the Communists would fare better in them than the four Alliance parties.

The Alliance parties want to change the constitution so that the president is elected by a popular vote, rather than by parliament. This would play into their hands now since their candidate - charismatic leftist politician Marian Lupu - is regarded as a sure election winner.

But the powerful Communists, rallied around ex-president Vladimir Voronin, are pressing Ghimpu to dissolve parliament in late June and fix an election date to produce a new assembly to choose a president. They oppose the idea of a presidential election by

universal suffrage since-apart from the 68-year-old Voronin who has served two terms already as president -they have no candidate who could beat Lupu at the polls, analysts say.

Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and EU member Romania, suffers from widespread corruption, its media has a tradition of toeing the line of those in power and the judiciary, police and state security apparatus are politicised. Diplomats say the country urgently needs reform for it to be taken seriously as a possible EU member one day. Since a pro-Western leadership took over in July 2009, it has signed up to a three-year $590 million bail-out program from the International Monetary Fund on condition it keeps a tight rein on the budget.

The IMF particularly wants Moldova to hold its budget deficit to 7 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 and a two per cent GDP growth.

With an economy driven by agricultural and wine production for which there is mainly regional demand, Moldova suffered a sharp fall in trade during the global crisis. But the level of remittances from Moldovans working abroad, a vital source of income, is up on last year, according to statistics, and there are other signs of a flickering recovery.

Ghimpu has taken his case for a change in the constitution to Europe.

Speaking in Strasbourg on Wednesday, he said he backed a referendum to change constitutional rules for electing a president. He said the referendum could give the go-ahead for the president to be elected by parliament by a simple majority on a one-off basis and thereafter by a people’s vote. That could see a new head of state elected in the autumn, he said.

But Ghimpu has won little backing for this idea from the Strasbourg-based ‘Venice Commission’ on European democracy which is pressing him to hold early parliamentary elections. As long as the crisis continues, the more

strains are appearing among the four coalition partners whose parties cover a wide spectrum of political opinion from right to centre-left.

“The members of the Alliance relate too differently to the historical past and, more importantly, to the development of Moldova in relations with East and West,” said analyst Andrievschii.

But one important date - June 16 - is coming up fast on the horizon for

Ghimpu and his Alliance partners. That date marks one year since the last dissolution of parliament.

Under the constitution, he must call new elections sometime after that date. The constitution, however, does not lay down how quickly he must do this. The Venice Commission says only that Ghimpu should act “within a reasonable timeframe”.

The Alliance holds 53 seats in the 101-seat assembly, with the rest held

mainly by the Communists. The Alliance tried twice in late 2009 to get Lupu elected by parliament but each time failed to win any defectors from the Communist bloc which would have given it the required 61 votes. The Alliance came to power in a snap election in July 2009 following violent street protests in Chisinau three months earlier over an election, won by the Communists but judged fraudulent by the opposition. — Reuters

Somalia hasn’t capitalized on rifts

By Katharine Houreld

T

wo explosions inside Somali mosques kill nearly 50 people. Islamist militants raid a lucrative pirate haven before their rivals move in, sending pirates fleeing in luxury vehicles. Events in Somalia over the last week show a lawless country growing even more chaotic amid deepening divisions among militant groups. A fissure has also emerged among members of Somalia’s most powerful Islamist militia, Al-Shabab, over whether to strengthen ties with al-Qaida to encourage the flow of foreign fighters in the Horn of Africa country. Opponents to the idea within the group fear that focusing on global jihad could undermine al-Shabab’s own struggle in Somalia by alienating domestic supporters. Despite the rivalries between the myriad armed factions in Somalia and disputes within at least one of the groups, Somalia’s UN-backed government hasn’t been able to capitalize on the situation by bringing any of them into a broader coalition. “The government should be doing much more to try to bring these people in,” said E J Hogendoorn, a Nairobi-based analyst at the International Crisis Group. Anarchy has reigned in Somalia since 1991, when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. The weak Somali government controls only a small bit of the capital, Mogadishu, and is battling Islamic insurgents. The lawlessness has allowed the piracy trade to flourish off Somalia’s coastline.

In a sign that the rifts among Somalia’s various militant groups may be deepening, a group called Hizbul Islam sent truckloads of fighters to the pirate haven of Haradhere last weekend in an effort to take over the town. The move came after Al-Shabab already had sent scouts there. It’s not clear whether Hizbul Islam wants a cut of the multimillion-dollar pirate trade or if it seeks to publicly flex its muscle by shut-

ting down piracy - and the drugs, alcohol and prostitution that flourish in pirate havens because of the huge ransoms the pirates get. Hizbul Islam’s leader calls piracy unIslamic.

Rival groups may be settling their grudges through bombings. Two bombs detonated last weekend in a Mogadishu mosque frequented by hardline Al-Shabab leaders. Another mosque explosion in the port city of Kismayo followed a day later. Nearly 50 people were killed overall.

No matter what the goal is, such bombings risk alienating Somalis from those carrying them out, along with AlShabab’s campaign of stonings, decapitations and amputations as punishment under conservative sharia law.

More nationalist militants also have been upset by threats against aid organizations that help their clan. “We are even afraid the Shabab will find out we are here and kill us,” said 19-year-old Maryam, who was standing in a line of women for free treatment at a clinic run by African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu. She asked her last name be withheld to protect her from reprisals.

Somalia’s ambassador to Kenya, Mohamed Ali Nur, said the government is doing its best to build coalitions and check corruption. “We are willing to talk with any Somali group who wants peace. Some talks are already going on,” said Nur. “The cake is big enough for all of us.” But the inability of the weak Somali government to, at least thus far, capitalize on the rivalries between armed groups and fissures within some of them endangers a multimillion dollar program funded by the US and European Union to rebuild Somalia’s tattered army. The first batch of 2,000 soldiers to be trained by the European Union in a US-supported program flies to Uganda this week. Roland Marchal, a Somalia expert at the Center for International Studies and Research in Paris, said the effort will be meaningless unless the Somali government can build a broader coalition. —- AP

Greek PM must bow to calls for catharsis

By Dina Kyriakidou

T

ens of thousands screamed “Thieves, Thieves!” outside Greece’s parliament in violent protests last week that killed three people - and for the first time, the prime minister was listening. After seven months in office, George Papandreou finally appears to be heeding calls for retribution as he tries to push through his pain-foraid measures on a society enraged over chronic corruption. “My rage is huge when I see the tragedy of the looting of Greek people’s wealth,” he told a parliament debate on his austerity bill on Thursday, accusing the previous government of waste and corruption.

“One minister paid 28,000 euros for office curtains...They will be prosecuted.”

Opinion polls show Greeks are more willing to suffer belttightening measures to exit a debt crisis shaking the euro zone if those they hold responsible for their woes - corrupt politicians and businessmen pay. Analysts say tackling high level corruption means changing a legal system set up to protect parliamentarians and confronting resistance from within his own party, also spoiled from years in power in the 1980s and 1990s. “Will he do it? He has no other option,” said Costas Panagopoulos,

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou speaks in the Greek Parliament on May 6, 2010. – AFP head of ALCO pollsters.

“Society wants blood and if you don’t give them some, they will drink yours.”

Papandreou came to power promising to tax the rich and help the poor, and the re-birth of the state after a series of scandals helped bring his conservative opponents down. But he quickly found himself deal-

ing with Greece’s biggest economic crisis in decades. His plans for “green growth” were set aside and the first wave of tax hikes and wage cuts prompted public demands that those responsible go to jail.

His government repeatedly said it was not the time for punishment but for change, a position analysts said helped

create an impression that all Greek politicians conspire to cover up for each other. They say he has been slow on the social justice front, but after this week’s protests he can no longer underestimate the force of people’s anger. “He appeared reluctant but he is now being forced by social unrest,” said Costas Vergos,

head analyst at Cyclos Securities. “I believe he can make it if he tackles corruption and tax evasion.”

Papandreou must push through 30 billion euros worth of austerity measures in exchange for a Ä110 billion EU/IMF bailout, taking on angry unions protesting wage and pension cuts with strikes and rallies. “We understand the rage and we feel it as well,” said Papandreou, son of the socialist maverick Andreas.

“We are all to blame for not daring to make the necessary changes sooner.”

But sympathy will not be enough. Papandreou must effect a reform in norms as vast as his father’s policy of socialist “Change” in the 1980s, when he modernised society and generous EU subsidies helped create a large, affluent middle class. Analysts say his task is to limit a gargantuan public sector bloated through decades of political influence and introduce meritocracy.

The private sector must be freed from both state constraints and money. If such problems, which seriously erode competitiveness, are not addressed Greece will continue to be the trigger for a wider euro zone crisis, and face more painful measures down the line.

A main hurdle to fighting corruption is a constitutional law protecting politicians suspected

of wrongdoing from prosecution unless parliament lifts their immunity. Several parliamentary committees have been investigating scandals but no politician has ever been brought to justice. The ruling party itself has shown some desire to reform. In a letter to parliament, 48 of its younger members petitioned to investigate all those who have held public office in the last 20 years and confiscate whatever cannot be justified. “We must have catharsis in our political system to rescue our political ethos and restore our role as parliamentarians,” they said.

Papandreou himself, widely seen as untouched by scandals, is for the first time showing he is determined to pay the price for change. Analysts said he could ask his deputies to abandon their parliamentary immunity, pressuring opposition parties to do the same, and allow the necessary sacrifices.

In a show of political muscle flexing, on Thursday he expelled from the party three deputies who voted against his austerity bill, cutting his parliamentary majority to 157 in the 300-seat house. “I have known George Papandreou for years and I see he is now more determined than ever,” said a government official close to the premier. “He is willing to pay the political cost to turn the page for Greece.” — Reuters

focus

Nigeria ruling party faces power tussle

By Susan Njanji

G

oodluck Jonathan’s takeover as Nigeria’s president helps focus efforts to fix the oil-rich nation’s myriad woes but power tussles will intensify within the ruling party, analysts said. Jonathan, a Christian southerner, was sworn in Thursday after the death of president Umaru Yar’Adua, a northern Muslim.

He will hold the post until elections next year, but is expected to have difficulty winning party backing to seek a new mandate.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has a policy of alternating between the south and north in the presidency, with the aim of defusing the religious, political and ethnic tensions which wrack Nigeria.

Under this deal, the leadership was reserved for a northerner for eight years from 2007, and the party says its candidate for next year’s poll must come from the north. Yar’Adua had served a little more than two years of his four-year mandate before he succumbed to a heart and suspected kidney ailment.

Jonathan, formerly vice president, had been acting president since February. “The leadership of the country is settled.

It’s a more secure government,” said Abuja-based analyst Chidi Odinkalu of the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Already two party top stalwarts - former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida and an exvice president, Atiku Abubakar - have expressed interest in the 2011 race. But analysts say Jonathan may be able to emerge as a “compromise” candidate to save the PDP. “The party will go through a lot of internal crisis - power formations, new realignments - in preparation for 2011 elections,” said Olu Obafemi of the respected

Nigerian thinktank, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).

Some see the power rotation system being questioned in this country of 150 million which emerged from decades of military rule in 1999. “Every leader who has come as a result of the zoning is just as bad as the other,” said analyst Chidi Odinkalu. With Yar’Adua’s demise, loyalties will shift with his supporters seeking new affiliations, Jonathan’s camp cementing its own stronghold and other aspirants building their own blocs within the party. “A number of changes will take place. The party may collapse because a number of people will form blocs. I foresee a number of groups coming out of the PDP,” said Tajudeen Akanji of the centre for conflict resolution at the Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan.

In a local paper Friday, an obscure group warned Jonathan not to tamper with the party’s power rotation system. “The time-tested zoning formula of your party ... has ensured peace, justice and political stability in the country sinced 1999, and has become its defining feature as well as the raison d’etre,” said the so-called Nigeria Support Group. Jonathan is expected shortly to nominate his deputy who should come from the north. Presidentials hopefuls may be jostling for the job to position themselves for 2011. But chances are that it will be “a place holder - an uncontroversial figure without presidential aspirations,” said Jonas Horner of the New Yorkbased Eurasia group. Possible names being touted in the media include the current senate president, a former antigraft chief, the national security chief and some northern states governors. —AFP

Airbase feud risks damage to alliance

By Linda Sieg

J

apanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s handling of a feud over a US airbase on Okinawa is fanning concerns about damage to USJapan security ties as the two allies face a rising China and an unpredictable North Korea.

Pessimists worry the ruckus could result in a downgrade of the alliance, a development that would likely cheer Beijing while adding fresh geopolitical uncertainty to the region. Others forecast relations will stay firm but efforts to revamp the alliance, now entering its second half-century, to cope with changing regional and global dynamics will stall.

The discord coincides with China’s emergence as a more active naval presence. While analysts mostly dismissed the notion China was flexing its muscle because of US-Japan tensions, they added that deeper divisions could encourage Chinese boldness.

“If indeed the alliance collapses and the bases are gone from Okinawa, I think China should be happy. But at least they are not trying to accelerate the current worsening of the relationship,” said Yoshihide Soeya at Tokyo’s Keio University.

During the election campaign that swept his Democratic Party to power last year, Hatoyama had raised hopes on Okinawa that the US Marines’ Futenma airbase could be moved off the southern island, host to about half the 49,000 US forces in Japan.

But with a self-imposed endMay deadline nearing for settling the row, Hatoyama told angry Okinawans this week he now realised a Marine presence was needed on the island to provide deterrence.

Analysts say, though, that a return to even a modified version of a 2006 US-Japan deal to shift Futenma to a less populous part of Okinawa appears out of the question.

“You are going to have to go back to the starting line and have a long dialogue with Okinawa to come up with something, and in the meantime, what happens to Futenma and the alliance?” said Columbia University professor Gerry Curtis.“It’s not only messy, it’s quite damaging to the alliance.”

REDUCED MILITARY PRESENCE Hatoyama’s proposal to move part of the Futenma facility to a tiny island northeast of Okinawa was also rejected out of hand by local residents and no other communities are raising their hands, although surveys show Japanese generally support the alliance.

“You can’t find a community anywhere in Japan that will say ‘Put a military base in our backyard because it is important for national security’,” Curtis added. Some critics say Hatoyama was just wooing voters when he advocated moving the Marine airbase off Okinawa.

But others say his proposal reflected a real desire to reduce Japan’s military reliance on the United States while improving ties with Asian neighbours by creating a future East Asian Community modelled on the European Union. “He is now saying the Marines are necessary for pragmatic purposes, not because he has changed his concept. He is trying to do things now that don’t fit his ideals,” Soeya said. A view that Hatoyama is personally to blame for the alliance woes, experts say, is taking hold in Washington, inclining US officials to want to wait until he’s gone to try to move forward.

“They are waiting for Hatoyama to leave,” Soeya said.

Support for Hatoyama’s government has nosedived since he took office due to voter doubts about his leadership. With an election just months away, some even in his own party say he may have to step down if he fails to meet the Futenma deadline. Whether a new Japanese leader could resolve the Futenma feud, however, is in serious doubt. Tokyo and Washington agreed in 1996 to close the base provided a new site could be found in Okinawa, but took a decade to agree on a replacement plan.

Replacing Futenma is a prerequisite for shifting up to 8,000 Marines by 2014 from Okinawa to the US territory of Guam.

“My guess is at the end of the day, they will not only remove the 8,000 but may get all of the Marines out of Japan and rethink the fundamentals of the alliance,” Curtis said. “If they are forced out, it downgrades the importance of Japan for American military strategy,” he added. — Reuters

NEWS

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Ahmadinejad opens Middle East’s ‘biggest’ auto plant TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad opened yesterday what is being dubbed as the Middle East’s biggest car plant set up

by Iranian state-run automobile company Saipa, the official IRNA news agency reported. IRNA said the plant, “biggest” in the Middle East and located in the central city of Kashan, would manufacture 150,000 vehicles annually.

The facility, built at a cost of around $350 million, would on full production offer direct employment to 4,000 people and launch a slew of locally designed sedans and small cars, called the Tiba (Deer).

Tiba, marketed as entirely domestically built, was unveiled by Ahmadinejad yesterday and is priced between 8,000 to 9,000 dollars, mainly targetting the lower middleclass buyers. “This is the first Iranian vehicle with Iranian characteristics as it is designed and manufactured

by Iranians,” the president was quoted as saying on the state-run television website.

“Tiba is the symbol of our confidence in ourselves ...

The Iranian nation has shown that despite sanctions and pressures from enemies, we have have resisted and have progressed.”

KASHAN, Iran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad drives a newly produced Iranian Tiba (Gazelle) car at the Saipa auto plant in this central city yesterday. — AFP Ahmadinejad told the gathering at the inaugural ceremony that Iranian car manufacturers must increase the performance of locally made vehicles. “The quality of our cars should be such that if an Iranian wants to buy a vehicle, he must prefer homemade ones,” Ahmadinejad said. Iran is the largest automobile manufacturer in the Middle East with more than 1.4 million vehicles produced last year.

In 2009, Saipa was the

leading car producer in Iran manufacturing 54 percent of the total vehicles produced.

State-run Iran Khodro produced the rest, according to official figures. Both companies have technical tie-ups with leading French and South Korean automobile manufacturers such as Peugeot, Renault and KIA. Saipa has tie-ups with KIA and Renault for its Pride and Logan range of cars, while Iran Khodro collaborates with Peugeot for several models,

including Samand which uses the Peugeot engine.

Iran has banned importing vehicles which compete with these locally-made models, which have to be paid for in cash, but it allows luxury vehicles to come in after paying a hefty 90 percent customs duty. Iran’s automobile industry is the second largest employer in the country after the oil sector. It directly employs around 500,000 people, as well as creating jobs in connected industries. — AFP

Fortunes of Ambassador automaker hit a pothole NEW DELHI: Losses at Hindustan Motors, maker of the Ambassador car - easily India’s most recognisable vehicle - have been mounting, raising questions about the company’s survival. The snub-nosed Ambassador once ruled India’s potholed roads, but last week Hindustan Motors reported that losses widened in the last fiscal year to 429 million rupees ($9.5 million) from 378 million rupees the previous year.

In addition, India’s oldest automaker said its net worth has tumbled by over 50 percent and it must now report to the state-run Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction - part of India’s socialist-style bureaucracy that oversees revival of “sick companies” as financially troubled firms are known.

But the company remains upbeat, insisting the future appears much brighter, helped by an improving outlook for sales which took a hit during the financial downturn.

“Our operations are looking up,” Ravi Kathuria, Hindustan Motors’ senior vice president, told AFP, adding that the company has extensive land assets “which can be leveraged”. “We’re not in a bankruptcy situation,” Kathuria said. In a boost to the company’s spirits, the Ambassador also has been chosen as the official car to ferry athletes around at the October Commonwealth

KOLKATA: In this file picture taken on May 15, 2006, Indian men wash a white Ambassador car by the roadside. —AFP Games. But analysts are doubtful about longer-term prospects for the company, whose shares have nosedived.

It “could hang on tenaciously to some small corner of the market, but it’s no longer the purchase of choice,” says Murad Ali Baig, one of India’s leading independent automobile analysts.

The woes engulfing Hindustan Motors come as the rest of India’s vehicle industry booms with firms such as automaker Maruti Suzuki doubling profits in the world’s fastest-growing automobile market. Hindustan Motors, flagship company of the CK Birla Group, joined forces with Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors in the 1990s to manu-

facture L ancer sedans and Pajero sports utility vehicles (SUVs). But it has never returned to its glory days in the 1970s when “the Amby”, as it was affectionately known, held a market stranglehold of around 70 percent.

For much of independent India’s history when the economy was closed to foreign manufacturers, “the joke was you could buy any car in India so long as it was an Ambassador”, Hormuz Sorabjee, editor of automobile magazine Autocar, said. The Ambassador was muscled out by sleek new cars that made its plump contours look dowdy when India began opening its markets to the world. Kathuria said he sees a

rebound in demand for the Ambassador, with sales expected to double to 1,000 units a month in the coming year, but this represents just a fraction of India’s total annual car market of 1.53 million units.

The Ambassador’s bulky design, based on the 1950s British-built Morris Oxford, has changed little since it first rolled off the assembly line in 1957, although the engine is now more powerful. For years the Ambassador was the only car driven by senior government officials and people always knew when a “power do” was on in the national capital because of the fleet of Ambassadors outside. The car’s “power status” allowed Islamist terrorists to drive an Ambassador past security and attack parliament 10 years ago, bringing nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

But now many bureaucrats have abandoned the $9,460 Ambassador in favour of sportier sedans or SUVs. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ferried around in an armoured black BMW. Even taxi drivers - who were among the Ambassador’s most loyal buyers - are opting for more fuel-efficient compacts. “This is cheaper to run, it’s more reliable and it’s easier to drive,” said New Delhi taxi driver Rajiv Singh, who drives a small Maruti hatchback. — AFP

US: Pak Taleban behind NY bomb Continued from Page 1 “We’ve made it very clear that if heaven-forbid - an attack like this that we can trace back to Pakistan were to have been successful, there would be very severe consequences,” Clinton told CBS’s “60 Minutes” program, according to excerpts released by the TV network.

Clinton said there had been a “sea change” in cooperation by Pakistani authorities but added, “We want more.”

John Brennan, the White House deputy national security adviser, charged that Shahzad was trained and apparently funded by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. “He had extensive interaction with the TTP. And this is something that we are, again, looking at very carefully, understanding the extent of that interaction and the extent of the direction and guidance that was given to him,” he told Fox News yesterday.

Brennan portrayed Shahzad as having been influenced by the “murderous rhetoric” of Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani

Taleban, but told CNN’s ‘State of the Union” show that he had been “very cooperative” under questioning. He said Shahzad had traveled back and forth to Pakistan, working with the TTP over a period of several months before returning to the United States in February. “What we are trying to do is determine now exactly who helped him, who worked with him and making sure we are able to uncover and then to address successfully these individuals who are trying to carry out other attacks,” Brennan said.

The Pakistani Taleban claimed responsibility for the failed attack a week ago, but it was initially discounted because the plot was so sloppily executed and the bomb so primitive it appeared to be the work of an amateur acting alone. But US authorities have since concluded that the Shahzad case reflects a change in tactics

by Islamic extremists, who have been hammered over the past year by an onslaught of US missile strikes.

When coupled with Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s alleged attempt to

blow up a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day with explosives sewn in his underwear, the New York bombing signaled a shift to the use of hastily trained individuals to carry out attacks. “Abdulmutallab was a singleton on that plane, but he obviously had the links back to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Shahzad in Times Square had links back. But he drove that vehicle to Times Square alone,” Brennan said on Fox News yesterday. He told CNN other people with roots in the south Asian region had been noted traveling back and forth. “It shows they are trying to take advantage of individuals who may have been able to come to the United States and in some instances acquire United States citizenship. We have to remain on guard against that.”

Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican, said the latest attempt showed the United States faces an expanding threat. “If they keep doing this and they fan out all over the country, we are going to have deep, deep challenges ahead in terrorism work,” Shelby said. — AFP

Lebanon sets falafel record Continued from Page 1 despite Israeli claims, in the presence of a Guinness World Records representative who confirmed its weight at 10,452 kg. In January, 50 chefs in the ArabIsraeli village of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem mashed up more than four

tonnes of hummus, beating the record set in Lebanon just months previously.

Hummus is a dip made of chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.

The hummus and falafel salvo came amid a gastronomic fight between two countries still technically at war. Falafel,

like hummus and tabbouleh (chopped tomato, onion, parsley, bruised grain salad), are the objects of a cultural quarrel between Israel and Lebanon. Israel exports hummus widely, and is accused of claiming an Arab dish as its own.

Lebanon set the tabbouleh record last year. — AFP

Monday, May 10, 2010

Privatization row heats up Continued from Page 1 issues inside the Assembly chamber and based on majority vote. “This is the true democracy which requires us to deal in wisdom,” said Khorafi, adding that “we will remain keen on preserving the wealth of future generations”.

A number of MPs later criticized Khorafi for describing their campaign as belonging to the street. MPs and activists opposed to the privatization law say they are concerned about the future of Kuwaiti employees at services that will be privatized. They are also concerned that privatization will lead to a sharp rise in price of services and commodities that are currently subsidized by the state.

Meanwhile at the Determination Square, hundreds of protestors demanded that the government change its policy towards privatization due to what they called a “poorly designed plan” that would bring the country’s demise rather than its betterment. Carrying “I will not sell my homeland!” placards, protestors from students unions, workers unions and federations chanted slogans demanding that a just decision be made.

MP Musallam Al-Barrak said that the government has failed miserably in doing anything to serve the people of the country. “The government has not accomplished a single goal until today; if their privatization agenda is not stopped, thousands of Kuwaiti families will be left without jobs; everything will be controlled by

an ‘elite’ class that hires slaves. Your future is at stake; you must speak up,” said Al-Barrak.

MPs Mubarak Al-Waalan, Dhaifallah Buramia and Jamaan Al-Harbash also spoke against the government’s decision to privatize government sectors. “It is a shame to see that other MPs are speaking against this protest; we are a democracy and we can speak if we want and when we speak, we must be heard!” Walaan said to applause. Organizing unions also intend to hold a strike soon in order for their demands to be met.

Meanwhile, the Popular Action Bloc has threatened to submit a grilling against the prime minister if the government fails to revoke the licenses of a number of violating industrial facilities in Umm AlHaiman. “The bloc has won the support of MPs from both the fourth and fifth constituencies to increase the political accountability of the government over the Umm Al-Haiman issue,” bloc member MP Khaled Al-Tahous announced yesterday. He said that a temporary closure of violating factories won’t be enough. “The withdrawal of licenses should be permanent and area residents should be granted full compensation,” he demanded.

The Supreme Environment Council suspended the licenses of about eight factories for one week for their high toxic emissions, but Tahous insisted the measure is not sufficient and what is needed is to shut these factories down. “The government’s decision to temporarily sus-

pend the licenses of the factories mocks the parliament and the people,” the MP said, adding that he would submit to the Assembly an interpellation request against the premier today if licenses were not withdrawn.

Tahous indicated that a decision adopted by the council on Thursday does not concern a number of industrial installations that have been closed already. “The council’s decision protects factory owners at the expense of public health. It represents a way out of the real solution to the pollution problem in Umm Al-Haiman.”

Other MPs also criticized the government’s handling of the Umm Al-Haiman pollution issue. MP Waalan described the temporary closure of the factories as “dust in the eye, and we are not a police state where our views and the people’s will are seized”. MP Salem Al-Namlan also echoed his colleagues’ views, saying that factory licenses should be withdrawn permanently. But he added that it would be untimely to talk about the grilling of the prime minister at present.

MP Mohammad Hayef said supporting an interpellation request against the premier would be inevitable if the government did not close the violating factories permanently. MP Falah Al-Azmi expressed astonishment that the government is creating problems and complicating matters with the National Assembly.

“For that reason, I support Tahous’ grilling... we also tell him that you are not alone - we are with you.”

Gulf unfazed by fall in oil prices Continued from Page 1 been set to raise Kuwait’s oil output to four million barrels per day by 2020, and gas output to one billion cubic feet per day by 2016. Kuwait’s oil and gas strategy provides for drawing and training national cadres to manage oil operations both at home and abroad to develop the country’s national elements and to involve them in national development and prosperity, the minister told the conference.

Sheikh Ahmad voiced Kuwait’s keenness on adopting the call for joint Arab cooperation in diverse areas, including oil, recalling his country had hammered out an agreement with Saudi Arabia and Libya in 1968 for establishing the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) based in Kuwait, not to mention several other Arab economic and oil organizations.

Kuwait is eager to contribute to OAPECstemmed projects on commercial basics in the domains of offshore oil transport, financing oil projects and repairing ships, he said.

Sheikh Ahmad pointed to Kuwait’s support for Arab development efforts by means of bankrolling many energy and electricity-generating projects in several Arab countries. At the international level, Kuwait has adopted a balanced oil policy within the OPEC based on cooperation

with all member states and even with non-OPEC countries as well as consumers for the common benefit of all parties. This Kuwaiti policy is chiefly intended to ensure stability at the global oil market and curb oil price fluctuations, he noted.

Environmentally, Kuwait is interested in environmental issues at both local and internal levels; with its policy purposed to protect environment, preserve air water, soil and natural resources and ensure balance between development requirements and environmental safety, Sheikh Ahmad said. Kuwait’s oil sector is seeking to reduce gas emissions produced out of industrial operations and to develop and set up oil projects that meet necessary environment criteria and conditions and produce clean and environmentally friendly fuel, the minister remarked. In this context, he reminded of Kuwait’s active involvement in international environmental conferences and gatherings, mainly UN meetings on climate change and the Kyoto Protocol.

Oil prices fell sharply last week, shedding more than $10 a barrel as the dollar struck 14-month highs against the euro on worries about the impact of Greece’s debt crisis on the eurozone. UAE Energy Minister Mohammad bin Dhaen Al-Hamli said he believes OPEC is unlikely to meet ahead of schedule. “Our next con-

ference is in October,” Hamli said on Saturday when asked if OPEC should meet now to consider actions to stop the price slide. “What has been taking place is a correction... prices are going up and down,” he told reporters, adding that oil prices were being driven by market forces.

On Friday, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for June delivery shed 2.00 dollars to $75.11 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for June delivery slid $1.56 to $78.27 a barrel. Crude prices had soared above $85 a barrel late last month on more confident signals about the global economic recovery which is expected to stimulate demand.

“This is normal,” said Attiyah when asked about the drop in prices. “Price fluctuations have nothing to do with supply and demand... The Greek and European (debt) crisis, and the pressure on the euro, have led to a psychological reaction from the market. “Whatever you do now, the market will not respond, because it is under huge psychological pressure,” he said, adding that “we should wait calmly to see what will happen in the market when this psychological situation settles.”

OPEC secretary general Abdullah ElBadri said he is confident the price will rebound. “Eighty-eight dollars (a barrel) is not sustainable and 75 dollars is also

Baghdad airport tries to shed ‘dangerous’ image Continued from Page 1 Saddam Hussein’s August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which closed down Iraq’s airports and forced travellers to take the long, costly and at times perilous overland route from Amman.

It left a bitter economic legacy that Blebil intends to reverse. His major problem, however, is securing the five to seven billion dollars needed to make his plans a reality. “I would like to see European countries, such as France and Germany, come here (and invest), but for some reason they are waiting,” says Blebil, 55, a graduate of the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw. Billions of dollars are needed, he says, to upgrade the airport’s interior, passenger facilities and infrastructure so that it is on a par with Dubai, the only Middle East airport in the world’s top-30 in terms of passenger numbers.

Government rules and the lack of a satisfactory investment law are among the other barriers inhibiting his vision of an airport campus filled with hotels, banks, convention centres, a business park, cargo village, and shops. Transport ministry figures show 807,848 passengers landed or took off from the airport last year, compared to more than 37 million in Dubai, according to 2008 figures provided by global monitor Airports Council International.

Although regionally-based carriers Turkish Airlines and Etihad Airways are

among those to launch services from Baghdad recently, with Emirates and Lufthansa due to follow this summer, the reason for a lack of greater investment seems obvious. The road - known as “Route Irish” - from the airport to the capital was nicknamed “RPG (rocketpropelled grenade) alley”, after insurgents fired rockets and small arms at passing vehicles in the wake of the invasion.

There are now few security incidents along the heavily-protected highway, whose three lanes have speed limits of 60, 80 and 100 km/h. The restrictions are routinely ignored by drivers on the return route to the city, betraying its history as one of the most dangerous in the world.

Aircraft were routinely shot at and a DHL Airbus cargo plane was hit by a surfaceto-air missile eight months after the invasion, although it managed to land safely.

The normal flight path took planes into the heart of Anbar province, the home of the insurgency, and the risk of being shot down led planes to adopt a so-called corkscrew take-off and landing where they repeatedly circled the airport to gain elevation and stay out of the reach of missiles.

Seven years later, however, a series of checkpoints along the route to the airport and a plethora of security staff, ironically, makes it the most secure in the world, the airport boss argues. “It’s the safest airport I know because of the military forces that surround it,” says Blebil, who

returned to Iraq after the war and has been in his job since 2005, having previously worked in the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. “We have very strict procedures and 660 security staff,” which equates to a dominant force when compared with a total of 600 other workers at the airport.

Although security has improved in Iraq in the past two years, the difficulty of squaring private foreign investment with Baghdad’s all-dominant public sector remains a headache. “We really need to develop the investment law,” says Blebil, alluding to various financial restrictions

by Iraq’s government, including prohibitions on foreign companies owning land.

The disruption of a Baghdad-London service launched by national carrier Iraqi Airways, which led to the airline boss’s passport being confiscated and a chartered plane being impounded on its maiden and so-far only flight to the British capital, have not boosted credibility among investors.

It is all rather symptomatic of an industry trying to pick up the pieces after the flight embargo and several wars, says Blebil. During most of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Saddam’s regime imposed a travel ban on Iraqis to curb capital flight, draft-dodgers and a brain drain. With no such restrictions in place now, Blebil is upbeat. “The country needs us, so we will make it happen somehow. We cannot wait for the French, German or American investors forever,” he says. — AFP

Western troops march on Russia’s Red Square Continued from Page 1 65th anniversary of the victory, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of state of almost all the ex-Soviet nations.

Under blazing sunshine and to the sound of thunderous military music, Britain’s 1st Battalion Welsh Guards marched in their full ceremonial uniform including traditional bearskin hats, red jackets and black trousers. France was represented by the Normandie-Niemen squadron, which fought on the Eastern Front, the United States by a detachment from the 2nd Battalion, 18th Regiment, and Poland by a ceremonial guard of honour. The presence of the Western troops “shows clearly our solidarity and that general human values are more and more important for the development of the modern world,” Medvedev added.

Thorbjoern Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, told reporters that the day was an “historic sign of reconciliation on the European continent”. Hundreds of Russian tanks and missile systems rolled

through the square past the VIP grandstand erected in front of Lenin’s mausoleum, on which Joseph Stalin stood to welcome Soviet troops home in 1945. Regiments also marched from almost all the ex-Soviet states, with the detachment from Turkmenistan led by a commander on a white stallion, a direct descendant of the steed ridden by Marshal Georgy Zhukov in the 1945 parade.

The parade culminated with the entrance of three nuclear-capable Topol-M missiles, which have a range of 11,000 km.

A procession of 127 military aircraft roared through the sky, including a special Ilyushin Il-80 designed to accommodate the Russian leadership in case of a nuclear attack. Over 10,000 Russian troops took part in the finely choreographed parade which appeared aimed at impressing the world with Russia’s post-Soviet resurgence.

“Greetings, comrades! I congratulate you on the 65th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War,” declaimed Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, standing up in a black open-top Zil car as he

inspected the Russian troops. “Hurrah!” replied the troops in chorus, sending a huge wave of sound across Red Square. A civilian and former furniture executive, Serdyukov wore a suit rather than military uniform.

However the parade was also overshadowed by tragedy, with more than 80 coal miners and rescue workers still trapped underground after explosions at a mine in Siberia overnight that killed 12.

With Russia still finding its national identity almost two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the surrender of Nazi forces is seen by the authorities as a moment that can unify modern Russia.

However liberal analysts have expressed cynicism over the Moscow parade costing 1.3 billion rubles ($40 million), saying the authorities are using the event for a show of might to reinforce their own power. The Western allies mark Victory in Europe Day each year on May 8, but Russia celebrates Victory Day on May 9 as the German surrender went into force at 11:01 pm Berlin time, when it was already May 9 in Moscow. — AFP

SPORTS

Monday, May 10, 2010

15

MLB results/standings Major League Baseball results and standings on Saturday. Detroit 6, Cleveland 4; Washington 5, Florida 4; NY Mets 5, San Francisco 4 (11 Innings); Baltimore 7, Minnesota 3; NY Yankees 14, Boston 3; Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 1; Oakland 4, Tampa Bay 2; Chicago White Sox 7, Toronto 3; San Diego 2, Houston 1; Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 0; Cincinnati 14, Chicago Cubs 2; Texas 3, Kansas City 2; Milwaukee 17, Arizona 3; Minnesota 6, Baltimore 1; LA Angels 4, Seattle 3 (10 innings); Colorado 8, LA Dodgers 0.

American League Eastern Division W L PCT GB Tampa Bay 22 8 .733 NY Yankees 21 8 .724 0.5 Toronto 18 14 .563 5 Boston 15 16 .484 7.5 Baltimore 9 22 .290 13.5 Central Division Minnesota 20 11 .645 Detroit 17 13 .567 Chicago White Sox13 18 .419 Cleveland 10 18 .357 Kansas City 11 20 .355

2.5 7 8.5 9

Texas Oakland LA Angels Seattle

Western division 17 14 .548 16 15 .516 14 18 .438 11 19 .367

1 3.5 5.5

Philadelphia NY Mets Washington Florida Atlanta

National League Eastern Division 18 12 17 13 16 14 14 16 13 17

.600 .567 .533 .467 .433

1 2 4 5

St. Louis Cincinnati Milwaukee Pittsburgh Chicago Cubs Houston

Central Division 19 12 .613 15 15 .500 14 16 .467 14 16 .467 14 17 .452 9 21 .300

3.5 4.5 4.5 5 9.5

San Diego San Francisco Colorado Arizona LA Dodgers

Western Division 19 11 .633 17 12 .586 15 15 .500 14 17 .452 13 17 .433

1.5 4 5.5 6

NEW YORK: San Francisco Giants second baseman Matt Downs tags out New York Mets’ David Wright during the fourth inning of a baseball game.—AP

Mets down Giants as Brewers thrash D’backs NEW YORK: Henry Blanco hit a leadoff homer in the 11th inning to give the New York Mets a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday for their second game-ending drive by a catcher in less than a day.

Blanco drove a 1-0 pitch from former Mets reliever Guillermo Mota (0-1) just over the wall in left for his first homer of the season. Rod Barajas connected in the ninth inning in New York’s 6-4 victory Friday night. Jason Bay and Angel Pagan had two RBIs apiece for the Mets, who haven’t lost at Citi Field since a 9-3 setback against the Chicago Cubs on April 21.

Hisanori Takahashi (3-1) pitched a perfect 11th for the victory. Aubrey Huff drove in two runs for San Francisco, which lost catcher and cleanup hitter Bengie Molina to a tight left hamstring in the third.

Slumping slugger Pablo Sandoval singled in the fourth to end an 0-for-15 slide and

hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Brewers 17, D’backs 3 At Phoenix, Jody Gerut hit for the cycle and drove in four runs, and Ryan Braun also had four RBIs for Milwaukee. Rickie Weeks and Casey McGehee each added three hits and Randy Wolf (3-2) settled down after a rocky first inning to improve to 7-1 at Chase Field. Gerut hit a solo home run in the second inning, singled in the third, drove in a run with a triple in the fifth and added a tworun double in the ninth. Mark Reynolds hit his 10th home run and had two RBIs for Arizona, which allowed a season high in runs.

Braves 4, Phillies 1 At Philadelphia, Eric Hinske ignited a three-run rally in the sixth inning as Atlanta snapped Philadelphia’s four-game winning streak. Hinske’s one-out double to right

after Chipper Jones and Brian McCann led off with singles knotted the score 1-1.

Melky Cabrera followed with a single to left to give the Braves the lead, and Omar Infante’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1.

The Braves added a run in the eighth on Troy Glaus’ RBI single, and Billy Wagner pitched the ninth inning for his fourth save in five chances.

Nationals 5, Marlins 4 At Washington, Adam Dunn was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, allowing the go-ahead run to score and giving Washington the victory over Florida. Josh Willingham had a triple, homer and two RBIs, and Willie Harris also homered for the Nationals. Matt Capps closed the ninth inning for his major league-leading 12th save. With the score tied at 4 in the eighth, the Nationals loaded the bases on reliever Burke Badenhop (0-4) on a hit bat-

ter, a wild throw on an infield single that allowed runners to reach second and third, and an intentional walk. Renyal Pinto was then called in from the bullpen to face Dunn, and hit his right arm on a 1-2 pitch to score the run.

Reds 14, Cubs 2 At Cincinnati, Joey Votto hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat, and Jonny Gomes broke the game open with a bases-loaded single in the seventh off Carlos Zambrano to lead Cincinnati over Chicago.

Votto extended his hitting streak to seven games when he connected off lefthander Tom Gorzelanny (1-4), who hadn’t allowed a homer by a left-handed batter.

Gomes’ single sparked a five-run rally in the seventh, and Ryan Hanigan added his first career grand slam an inning later. Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro doubled and scored in four at-bats, a day after he drove in a

record six runs during his debut.

Pirates 2, Cardinals 0 At Pittsburgh, Jeff Karstens made a bid to keep his spot in the rotation with six innings of three-hit ball and Jason Jaramillo had three hits for the Pirates. Karstens (11) combined with four relievers on a fourhitter. Jaramillo, the Pirates’ backup catcher, tied a career high with his third three-hit game and had an RBI single. The Pirates won for the fourth time in their last five games and beat St. Louis for just the fourth time in their last 14 meetings. The Cardinals lost for the fourth time in five games.

Padres 2, Astros 1 At Houston, Jon Garland pitched seven shutout innings to win his fourth straight start for San Diego. Yorvit Torrealba and Chase Headley drove in runs for the Padres, who’ve won 16 of their last 21 games. The

Tigers 6, Indians 4 At Cleveland, Miguel Cabrera hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the seventh inning to lead Detroit past Cleveland.

Cabrera’s bases-loaded line drive off Kerry Wood (0-1) broke a 3-3 tie and Detroit went on to win its 10th consecutive game against the Indians. The Tigers are 18-4 in the series over the past two years, outscoring Cleveland 116-79.

Justin Verlander (3-2) gave up three runs over six innings, striking out nine. A year ago, the right-hander was 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA and three

games of 11 strikeouts against Cleveland.

Orioles 7, Twins 3 At Minneapolis, Scott Baker put together his best start of the season after Francisco Liriano tossed one of his worst as Minnesota salvaged a split of its doubleheader with Baltimore.

Nick Markakis drove in three of the five two-out runs off Liriano (4-1) in the opener, when Baltimore cruised to a victory. The doubleheader made up for a rain out Friday night.

Joe Mauer returned in the nightcap for the first time since missing eight games with a deeply bruised left heel. The reigning AL MVP drew a standing ovation as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, but struck out with the bases loaded.

Light-hitting Drew Butera followed with a two-run single, giving Baker (4-2) more than enough support. The Twins starter scattered three hits - including a solo homer to Luke Scott in the fifth - while winning for the first time since April 16.

Athletics 4, Rays 2 At Oakland, California, Ben Sheets finally pitched like an ace and Daric Barton drove in a pair of runs as Oakland handed Tampa Bay its second road loss of he season. Sheets (23) scattered four hits over 6 1-3 innings and had a season-high eight strikeouts in his most impressive start of the year.

Andrew Bailey pitched the ninth for his sixth save in six tries. Jason Bartlett had an RBI double for Tampa Bay, which fell to 13-2 away from Tropicana Field and lost to the A’s for the first time this season.

White Sox 7, Blue Jays 3 At Chicago, Jake Peavy pitched

eight innings for his second straight victory, Paul Konerko hit his major league-leading 13th homer and the White Sox snapped the Blue Jays’ sixgame winning streak.

Konerko drove a two-run shot off Brett Cecil (2-2) in the first inning and the White Sox drew three basesloaded walks, including two in a fourrun seventh that broke open a 3-1 game.

That was enough for Peavy (2-2), who retired the first 16 batters before John Buck hit his eighth homer. He also allowed a leadoff shot in the eighth to Alex Gonzalez.

Rangers 3, Royals 2 At Arlington, Texas, Ian Kinsler hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning to lift Texas over Kansas City.

With the score even at 2, Royals starter Gil Meche (0-4) walked Michael Young with one out in the eighth.

Josh Hamilton followed with an infield single, and Young advanced to third on Vladimir Guerrero’s flyout.

Kinsler, playing his ninth game after missing the first 21 because of a high ankle sprain, lined a 2-2 pitch to right field that scored Young.

Angels 4, Mariners 3 At Seattle, Hideki Matsui became the ninth Japanese player to reach 1,500 career RBIs when he singled home Bobby Abreu in the top of the 10th inning, and Brian Fuentes got his first save in two weeks for Los Angeles. Matsui’s single and 611th RBI in the major leagues came off David Aardsma (0-2) after Abreu doubled leading off the 10th.

Seattle’s closer pitched 1 1-3 innings and allowed four hits plus a walk. The Mariners lost their eighth consecutive game, all at home.—AP

Rockies 8, Dodgers 0 At Los Angeles, Jhoulys Chacin made his second stellar start since being inserted into Colorado’s injury depleted rotation as the Rockies took knuckleballer Charlie Haeger for a six-run first inning to beat Los Angeles.

Ian Stewart hit a two-run homer and RBI single among his three hits. Carlos Gonzales had a three-run double in support of Chacin (2-0), who has filled in brilliantly while Jorge De La Rosa and Jason Hammel have been on the disabled list. The 22-year-old right-hander scattered six hits over 7 1-3 innings, struck out seven and walked two. —AP

Upsets tighten Super 14 rugby playoffs race

Yankees pound Red Sox BOSTON: Mark Teixeira joined Lou Gehrig as the only Yankees to hit three home runs against the Boston Red Sox as he and Francisco Cervelli drove in five runs each as New York clinched another series with a 14-3 win Saturday.

The Yankees have won nine of their first 10 series this season, a mark surpassed only twice in team history. They won 14 of their first 15 in 1928 and 11 of their first 12 in 1939.

Teixeira hit solo homers in the fifth and seventh, then hit a two-run shot far over the left field wall in the ninth off outfielder Jonathan Van Every, who last pitched on April 30, 2009, for Boston. He now has five homers this season after hitting three for the third time in his career.

Cervelli singled in a run that tied the score 3-all in the third, hit a tworun single in the fourth that put the Yankees ahead 6-3 then capped a four-run eighth that made it 12-3.

Alfredo Aceves (3-0) relieved CC Sabathia with two outs in the bottom of the fifth after a rain delay of 1 hour, 14 minutes. Clay Buchholz (3-3) allowed six runs in five innings for Boston.

Astros have lost 11 of their last 12, averaging 1.75 runs during the skid.

Felipe Paulino (0-5) struck out a careerhigh 11 in seven effective innings, but got no help from Houston’s hitters, who produced fewer than three runs for the ninth time in 12 games.

BOSTON: New York Yankees’ Brett Gardner (11) is forced out at second base as Boston Red Sox shortstop Marco Scutaro turns a double play on a grounder by Yankees’ Mark Teixeira in the first inning of a baseball game.—AP

WELLINGTON: The top-four standings in rugby’s Super 14 underwent a series of seismic shifts during weekend matches which ended with seven teams in contention for semifinal places in next week’s last regular season round.

Drama, contention and emotion abounded as first the Wellington Hurricanes, then the New South Wales Waratahs and finally the ACT Brumbies — with a last-gasp try — forced their way into the top four during the 13th round.

In doing so, they ended the Canterbury Crusaders and Queensland Reds’ long residence in the top four, forcing those teams back to sixth and seventh places respectively and handing the Hurricanes a shortterm tenancy as they moved back to fifth.

The Pretoria-based Bulls started and ended the round on top of the table and, with an eight-point lead over compatriots the Stormers entering the final round, gave the tournament it’s one certainty: that they will host one of the semifinals.

Defending champions the Bulls (47 points) scored a contentious try in injury time to beat seven-time champions the Crusaders 40-35 to ensure they will defend an 18-match winning streak at home in the playoffs in two weeks’ time.

The Cape Town-based Stormers (39 points) held second place despite a 20-14 loss to the Sharks; their fifth-straight loss to their Durban-based compatriots. The Stormers had

been in outstanding form and looked one of the teams most likely to make the playoffs but their chances are now more tenuous as they must face the Bulls in the final round.

That clash between South African rivals will be one of the most compelling of the season, likely deciding whether the Stormers make the playoffs.

The Waratahs and Brumbies, after bonus points wins in the 13th round, are now third and fourth, one and two points respectively behind the Stormers and placed to overtake the South African team if it falters next weekend.

The Sharks took advantage of an error-ridden performance by the Stormers’ Saturday to lead 14-0 at halftime with tries to winger Odwa Ndungane and flyhalf Ruan Pienaar. Flyhalf Peter Grant scored his first try of the season to give the Stormers hope, but the Sharks drew away again with two late penalties to Pienaar.

“It was one of those performances you really want to write off and forget about, but I have to take positives and the bonus point we got towards the end is a very vital bonus point for us,” said Stormers coach Allister Coetzee. “(The players) know they have disappointed themselves.

They have to pitch up (against the Bulls) next week.” Bulls winger Francois Hougaard scored a contentious try in stoppage time — his second of the match — to lift his team to a thrilling 40-35 win over the Crusaders. —AP

SPORTS

16

Monday, May 10, 2010

Webber wins Spanish GP

AUCKLAND: Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala (right) and co-driver Miikka Anttila celebrate after winning the Rally of New Zealand, in the FIA World Rally Championship.—AP

Latvala clinches NZ Rally AUCKLAND: Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala won the Rally of New Zealand yesterday after leader Sebastien Ogier spun and stalled his Citroen three corners before the finish.

The Finn began the Whaanga Coast special stage 6.20 seconds behind the Frenchman, but edged ahead in the final sector to win his third World Rally Championship race. “This is unbelievable,” Latvala told the World Rally Championship website (www.wrc.com).

“I tried not to be too hard at the start in case I made a mistake. At the last split I realised I was 2.7 seconds down so then I did try. But at the end I could not believe it.”

The win was Latvala’s first since the Rally of Italy almost a year ago and lifted him above team mate Mikko Hirvonen and Norway’s Petter Solberg into second place in the standings, 36 points behind French champion Sebastian Loeb.

The six-time world champion Loeb managed a podium spot to complete an eventful weekend.

Loeb, who drove brilliantly on Saturday to come back into contention after a first-day crash left him more than a minute off the pace, took the lead after the first stage on Sunday, but then crashed into a tree on the next stage.

Ogier, who finished second 2.40 seconds behind Latvala, matched his best finish and improved to fourth in the standings. “We can’t be disappointed when you look at what we have achieved,” Ogier’s co-driver Julien Ingrassia said.

“It was a very good rally, a fantastic place and incredible stages. It was a left-right sequence, second or third gear where we tapped a bank and spun. Unfortunately we stalled the engine and lost a lot of time.”

Hirvonen finished fourth, while Norwegian Petter Solberg’s last-ditch push for victory ended when he came off the road and crashed his privately-entered Citroen into an electricity pylon. He and co-driver Phil Mills were uninjured.—Reuters

DARLINGTON: Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, celebrates with his crew in victory lane in celebration of winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup series Showtime Southern 500.—AFP

Hamlin sweeps Darlington DARLINGTON: Denny Hamlin became the first driver in 17 years to sweep Darlington Raceway, winning the Southern 500 Sprint Cup race Saturday after late mistakes took Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton out of contention.

Winner of the Nationwide Series race Friday, Hamlin became the first driver since Mark Martin in 1993 to sweep the Darlington weekend. It was Hamlin’s first victory at NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway, and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has never finished lower than 13th in his five career starts at the difficult track.

Hamlin led 104 of the 367 laps, but knew he was going to have to contend with both Gordon and Burton over the closing laps. That changed during the final pit stops.

Gordon planned to pit early under green, but had to abort the effort at the last second to avoid a collision with the cars closing quickly behind him.

When he finally entered pit road a lap later, a spin

by David Reutimann brought out the last caution

of the race and Gordon had to hustle back onto the track to avoid losing a lap.

All the leaders headed to pit road under yellow and Burton, who had traded the lead with Hamlin right before the caution, came out in third. Only NASCAR flagged him for running over his air hose, Burton had to return to the pits for a penalty, and lost a ton of track position.

Hamlin restarted the race in first with 20 laps to go, while Gordon was 12th and Burton 13th.

Hamlin got a terrific restart in his Toyota over teammate Kyle Busch, then sailed to his third win of this season to tie four-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson for most wins this season in the Cup series.

Jamie McMurray started from the pole and finished second in a Chevrolet, while Kurt Busch was third in a Dodge. Gordon came back from a late-race error to finish fourth, while Juan Pablo Montoya, McMurray’s teammate, rounded out the top five. Burton came back to finish eighth. —AP

Malaysia has easy start KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia got off to an easy start in the Thomas Cup badminton tournament yesterday when its opponent Nigeria failed to show up, while favorites China won all its games.

The host nation, led by topranked Lee Chong Wei, was awarded a 5-0 win over Nigeria in the group B opening match at Kuala Lumpur’s Putra Stadium after the African qualifiers didn’t arrive as scheduled.

It was unclear why Nigeria

did not arrive on their flight from Dubai. A Nigerian official told Malaysian news agency Bernama they did not yet know where the players went missing.

In other opening matches of the weeklong tournament, China beat Peru 5-0 in Group A. China is hoping for its fourth consecutive victory.

The Chinese men’s squad has won seven times since joining the biennial tournament in 1982.

Meanwhile, Denmark won

5-0 against Poland in Group C, and 13-time champion Indonesia beat Australia 5-0 in Group D. China and Indonesia did equally well in the women’s Uber Cup, which also opened Sunday.

The Chinese women’s team — which has won all six times since 1998 — beat the United States 5-0 in Group A. Indonesia triumphed over Australia 5-0 in Group B, and South Korea routed South Africa 5-0. Japan beat Germany 4-1 in Group C.—AP

BARCELONA: Mark Webber secured a comfortable wire-towire victory at the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday, while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel filled out the podium after Lewis Hamilton crashed with one lap remaining.

Webber made it 10 straight winners from pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya after the Australian drove a flawless race for a 24-second victory over Alonso. “It was a crucial pole,” said Webber, who celebrated his third career victory by throwing his helmet into the stands. “I controlled the race.”

Hamilton was second for most of the race before his tire blew out to send the McLaren driver into the wall shortly before the finish. Vettel took advantage to finish third for Red Bull despite running into the gravel after one of his brake pads blew out.

“Like it or not, I think it was a very lucky day,” Vettel said.

“Third is not a disaster, it’s good points but the result is difficult with how it came together. We were just lucky to bring the car home, to be honest.”

Michael Schumacher of Mercedes was fourth after holding off McLaren’s Jenson Button for the seven-time champion’s best finish since his comeback to the sport this season. Defending champion Button has 70 points to lead Alonso by three in the standings, while Vettel improved to 60 points and Webber 53.

“I’m happy, very happy to move up two spots,” Spanish driver Alonso said. “This little gift was great for me, the team and the fans.” Although Webber eased to victory, a combination of driver error and mechanical faults made for a dramatic race for the two spots behind him.

Hamilton’s front left tire blew out at turn 10 as he appeared to be cruising toward a second-place finish after overtaking Vettel during the first round of pit stops.

Hamilton, who was set to move to within one point of Button, instead stayed stuck on 49 points after being classified 14th.

“It’s not the result we wanted and it’s not the result we really deserve,” Button said. “It was very frustrating. Not a very good race.”

Vettel benefited most from Hamilton’s misfortune, after having dropped into fourth when Alonso overtook him as he changed tires after his late setback. “A lot of things went wrong today,” Vettel said. “I was not quick enough. I struggled a lot with the balance of the car today.”

Webber jumped into the championship mix after Red Bull finally managed to convert a pole position to a victory. The team started first for the fifth straight race, but struggled with reliability problems in Bahrain and Australia, while Vettel overtook pole sitter Webber to win in Malaysia.

Webber made a perfect start this time while his three chasers weaved behind him looking for space to pass. The Australian driver held firm as Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso and the rest of the chasing pack got around the first corner without incident.

“It was quite tight into turn one and then I just settled into a rhythm and took care of the tires,” Webber said. “A sensational effort from the whole team this weekend.” There were problems at the back of the gird, however, as Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus had to retire before the start with a gear box problem, and HRT driver Bruno Senna slid into a tire wall for an early exit. Pedro De la Rosa had to retire from his home race, leaving the Sauber team still without a point this season.

Schumacher’s teammate Nico Rosberg was relegated to 17th after a botched pit stop that would ruin his day and see him finish 13th. The German driver has 50 points. Webber and Hamilton pitted simultaneously, and the McLaren driver was then able to get in front of Vettel - who had a slow tire change earlier — as he returned to the track, holding his ground at the first corner to split up the Red Bull cars.

Schumacher started behind Button but made a nice pass as the two engaged in a battle for fifth, with Felipe Massa eventually sliding into the mix. The Ferrari driver would settle for sixth.

Schumacher showed little interest in battling for a podium spot, however, driving defensively the rest of the way to keep Button behind him. It was the first time Schumacher finished ahead of Rosberg this season.

Adrian Sutil was seventh for Force India ahead of Robert Kubica of Renault, and Rubens Barrichello of Williams and Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari rounded out the top 10. None of the teams can relax with the calendar’s iconic street race in Monaco being raced next Sunday.

“Everyone’s pushing to the limit,” Webber said.—AP

SPAIN: Red Bull Formula One driver Mark Webber from Australia reacts on podium after winning the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix.—AP

Sharks eliminate Red Wings SAN JOSE: Patrick Marleau scored the tiebreaking goal 6:59 into the third period and the San Jose Sharks eliminated the two-time defending Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings with a 2-1 victory Saturday in Game 5 of their second-round series.

Joe Thornton scored the first goal for San Jose and then set up Marleau’s tally with a pass from behind the net to help the Sharks advance to the conference final for the second time in franchise history by beating Detroit 4-1 in the series.

Marleau and goalie Evgeni Nabokov are the only two players remaining from the 2004 team that lost to Calgary in six

games. Detroit got its first goal early in the second when Brian Rafalski’s point shot sneaked through to make it 1-0.

Johan Franzen assisted on that goal, tying Gordie Howe’s franchise record set in 1964 by recording a point in 12 straight playoff games.

Penguins 2, Canadiens 1 At Pittsburgh, Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves and Kris Letang scored on a power play after accidentally setting up Montreal’s decisive goal in the previous game as Pittsburgh moved within a victory of eliminating the Canadiens.

Sergei Gonchar also scored as the

reigning Stanley Cup champions seized a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with Game 6 set for Montreal today night.

The Canadiens, held to four goals in the last three games, must win to force a Game 7 on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

Sidney Crosby remained without a goal in the series and Evgeni Malkin also didn’t find the net — he did set up Letang’s pivotal goal late in the first period — but the Penguins had enough offense without their stars to support Fleury’s best game of the playoffs. Mike Cammalleri scored with 30 seconds to play, but it was much too late for the Canadiens.—AP

SAN JOSE: Evgeni Nabokov No. 20 of the San Jose Sharks blocks a shot by Pavel Datsyuk No. 13 of the Detroit Red Wings in Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.—AFP

SPORTS

Monday, May 10, 2010

17

Montanes bags Estoril Open

FLORIDA: Lee Westwood of England tips his hat on the 18th green during the third round of The Players Championship golf tournament.—AP

Westwood stays in charge at Sawgrass, Woods fades FLORIDA: Lee Westwood, ice-cool down the closing stretch, took advantage of a stumbling finish by American Heath Slocum to regain a oneshot lead at the Players Championship in Saturday’s third round.

A stroke in front at the start of another muggy day at the TPC Sawgrass, world number four Westwood trailed by two late in the day before regaining control with a two-under-par 70.

While Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods began the round level before going in opposite directions, Westwood stayed in the hunt for his first PGA Tour victory in 12 years.

The Briton, regarded by many of his peers as the game’s best player from tee to green, broke clear of a tightly bunched leaderboard with a birdie at the par-five 16th where he got up and down from left of the green.

He pushed his drive well right of the fairway on to a cart path on the last hole but, after getting a free drop, struck a superb approach over trees to 34 feet before two-putting for a 14-under total of 202.

“It was a good yardage for the six-iron and I hit a nice hard fade in there,” Westwood told reporters with a smile. “It looked harder than it was, I guess.

“It was tough out there, the golf course changed a lot,” he added after recording four birdies and two bogeys on a Sawgrass layout running fast and firm in breezy conditions.

“I thought I played well, gave myself a lot of chances and made some nice iron shots in close. I didn’t make too many poor shots out there.”

Australian Robert Allenby was alone in second after firing a 67, with Americans Ben Crane (68) and US Open champion Lucas Glover (69), and Italian Francesco Molinari (71) tied for third at 12

under.

Slocum, who had been two ahead with six holes remaining, bogeyed 13 and 15 and then dumped his tee shot into water at the par-three 17th en route to an ugly five. He ended up with a 72 and a four-way tie for sixth at 11 under.

“I’m still in this golf tournament,” said Slocum, who won the biggest title of his career at the 2009 Barclays Classic where he triumphed by one shot over Woods, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Steve Stricker.

“I could have been a little better but I’m playing well, even though I didn’t finish off the round the way I wanted.”

While Westwood is perfectly positioned to push on for his first PGA Tour title since the 1998 New Orleans Classic, Mickelson kept alive his hopes of replacing Woods as world number one this week.

A distant nine strokes off the pace overnight, Mickelson charged into contention with a sizzling 66 to end the day five adrift.

“I felt like things started to click a little bit today and I think I’ve got one more low round in me,” the American said after finishing at nine under. “I just hope it will be enough, that I’ll be within striking distance.”

Mickelson, a perennial world number two, can move atop the world rankings for the first time if he was to wins yesterday and Woods finishes outside the top five. Woods, again wayward off the tee, bogeyed the last two holes for a 71 to lie joint 45th at four under in the event considered the “fifth major” by the players. “I need a lot of help but it doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case,” the 14-times major winner said of the final round.

“There are too many guys out there (ahead of me).”—Reuters

ESTORIL: Frederico Gil came close to earning Portugal’s first-ever ATP title but finally fell yesterday as holder Albert Montanes squeezed out a narrow 2-6, 76 (7/4), 7-5 win in the final of the Estoril Open.

The stirring home effort went a long way to soothe fans after the shock semi-final exit of top seed Roger Federer at the hands of Montanes 24 hours earlier. Gil, ranked 133, will rise to around 104 in the world after his major and all but unexpected effort.

Montanes, ranked 34th, looked to have the match sewn up in little more than an hour, but Gil had other plans.

The outsider rallied from a deficit in the second set and took it into a winning tiebrekaer to bring on a third set.

Gil also held a lead but lost it as Montanes fought to level 4-4, then broken the final game to ease to the victory after two and a half hours of battle.

“It’s great to win the trophy again, especially after beating Federer here,” said the winner. “It was a real battle between us and I’m just glad I was able to come through, it feels great and gives me more confidence going into the French Open.”

Fourth seed Montanes won the fourth trophy of his career. The Spaniard, who benefited from a bye into the second round, had played for less than three hours in his previous three matches this week while Gil had one match more and a total time of more than eight and a half hours on the clay.

On Saturday, Montanes had handed Federer a stunning straight-set loss in their semi-final and was able to carry his momentum through for his tenth win in a row at Estoril.

Montanes became the first man to defend a title here since Austrian Thomas Muster in 1995-1996. Gil kept pace with Montanes in the first few games before the Spaniard broke it open with four consecutive winning games to claim the first set in 33 minutes.

Montanes went up an early break in the second on the way to his win. Montanes never faced a break point early on, but Gil showed his courage as he saved a pair of match points in the penultimate game and showed he would not roll over.

Montanes, who beat American James Blake in the 2009 final, was playing Estoril for the sixth time. Estoril was his 12th ATP event of the year and by far his best performance after a pair of semifinals in Auckland and Buenos Aires. —AFP

LISBON: Spain’s Albert Montanes (left) and Portugal’s Frederico Gil hold their trophies after the Estoril Tennis Open final match. Montanes defeated Gil 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in the final.—AP

Henin shocked, Sharapova exits MADRID: Four-time French Open champion Justine Henin’s preparation for the Roland Garros grand slam event suffered a shuddering jolt with a defeat by France’s Aravane Rezai in the Madrid Open first round yesterday.

Henin won the Stuttgart title on clay last week and is considered a dangerous outsider in Paris later this month but her first serve was inconsistent and Rezai, the world number 22, took full advantage with a 4-6 7-5 6-0 win as the Belgian’s game collapsed.

Henin beat Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the final in Stuttgart last Sunday for her first title since she ended her 19-month self-imposed exile at the start of the year.

Maria Sharapova was another former world number one to fall at the first hurdle, the Russian 11th seed going down 6-4 6-3 to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

“It’s a struggle trying to find the rhythm,” a philosophical Sharapova, who was playing her first tournament since pulling out of the Sony Ericsson Open in March with an elbow injury, told a news conference.

“I thought (Safarova) played really solid, good tennis and did everything she needed to win the match. More solid than me anyway,” the 23-year-old added.

“I certainly had my chances in the match and a few balls here and there that I maybe would have made if I had the match-

es under my belt.”

Safarova broke Sharapova’s serve four times and the Czech is on course for a possible last-16 clash with sixth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva.

“If you win against these top players, as I have the last couple of months, then you get your confidence and you realise you can be up there,” the world number 35, who beat world number two Caroline Wozniacki in Stuttgart, told a news conference.

“My dream is to be top 10 and it’s a lot about believing in yourself.” Fourth seed Venus Williams, also a former number one, plays qualifier Stefanie Voegele in the first round later yesterday.—Reuters

Cintron falls out of ring, Williams wins decision CARSON: Paul Williams earned a bizarre victory Saturday night when Puerto Rico’s Kermit Cintron wasn’t allowed to continue after tumbling through the ropes and landing on a ringside table early in the fourth round.

The 154-pound (70-kilogram) bout ended with Cintron strapped to a stretcher and wearing a neck brace, though he wanted to get up and keep fighting. Williams (39-1, 27 KOs) was awarded a technical victory by split decision because he

led on two of the three judges’ scorecards. California rules require a decision if a fight ends by injury after the fourth round begins.

“It’s a strange way to get a win,” Williams said. “I’ll try to fight better the next time. ... I definitely don’t want to see a guy get hurt. I wanted to hurt him with a punch, not by him falling out of the ring.”

The bout between two hardpunching veteran fighters began with three uneventful rounds, but ended with an unbelievable acci-

dent that could have been tragic.

Williams and Cintron exchanged big shots in the early moments of the fourth, with Williams snapping back Cintron’s neck with two big left hands.

Williams connected with another punch and tried to clinch, but slipped and fell to the canvas.

Leaning forward and off balance, Cintron (32-3-1) tripped over Williams’ left leg and went headfirst through the ropes, hitting a monitor and a table with his head.

OSAKA: Mexico’s Hugo Cazares (right) fights Japanese champion Nobuo Nashiro in 11th round action of their WBA super flyweight title bout at Osaka Prefectural Gym. Cazares grabbed the title from the Japanese with a unanimous decision.—AP

Cintron stayed down on his side for several minutes, but the fighter eventually said he felt fine to keep going. The ringside doctor wouldn’t allow it, and Cintron was taken away from the Home Depot Center in an ambulance.

The same fans who booed the relative inactivity of the early rounds also booed the early stoppage, even while Cintron was taken from the arena on his back. “I feel bad,” Williams said. “The fans didn’t get their money’s worth, but I’ll try more to give it to them the next time.” Before the bout, Cintron’s corner argued with California officials when told the fight would be held under the state’s rules, which require the bout to be decided if it ends after just three rounds.

Cintron wanted to fight under the Association of Boxing Commissions’ common rules.

Judge Jen Kin scored it 40-36 for Williams, while Fritz Werner favored Williams 39-37. Jerry Cantu saw a completely different fight, scoring it 40-36 for Cintron.

“No one really knew who won that fight,” said an incensed Lou DiBella, Cintron’s promoter.

“There wasn’t enough fight to be judged. It was 3 1/2 rounds. That’s not a fight. ... There should be a rematch, and he’s a man’s man. I think he’ll give him a rematch.”

Williams landed just 13 percent of his 207 punches, while Cintron connected with 23 percent of his 126 blows. —AP

SALT LAKE CITY: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (right) drives past Utah Jazz guard Wesley Matthews (left) during the second half of Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference second-round playoff series.—AP

Lakers beat Jazz, Magic roll SALT LAKE CITY: Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute as the Lakers held on for a 111-110 victory over the Utah Jazz that put Los Angeles on the verge of sweeping the Western Conference playoff series.

The Jazz had two chances to win it in the final 4 seconds, but Deron Williams missed from the top of the key and Wesley Matthews’ tip just before the buzzer bounced off the rim.

Bryant finished with 35 points and Fisher scored 20 for the Lakers, who can close out the four-game sweep with a win Monday night in Game 4. Pau Gasol added 14 points and 17 rebounds for Los Angeles. Williams scored 28 and Kyle Korver added a career playoff-high 23 points for the Jazz.

Magic 105, Hawks 75 At Atlanta, Rashard Lewis scored 22 points and the backups helped Orlando pull away early with Dwight Howard on the bench as the Magic romped to another playoff blowout, moving to the brink of their second straight sweep. It was also the Hawks’ worst home playoff loss in franchise history. Howard had 21 points and 16 rebounds but was hardly dominating. No problem for the Magic, who have so many complements to Superman and allowed many of them to shine in Orlando’s seventh straight postseason victory and 13th straight win overall. Lewis knocked down four 3-pointers. Jameer Nelson scored 14 points. Mickael Pietrus chipped in with 13, hitting three shots from outside the arc. The Magic are up 30 in the best-of-seven series, winning by an average margin of 29 points.—AP

KSSC basketball tourney KUWAIT: The athletic committee of the Kuwait Sea Sports Club recently held a juniors’ basketball mini tournament for girls, in which two teams competed for the tournament’s trophy.

The match took place between team “A”, led

by Alisar Ghassan and included Maria Fadi, Maryhan Maher, Yasmine Ayman, Dina Essam and Farah Ghanem, and team “B”, led by Nour Saleem and included Razan Khalid, Sheikha Ahmad, Maryam Saied, Qamar Saleem, and Jana Khalid. Team A was able to emerge victorious.

After the match, the winning team was awarded by the secretary general of the KSSC, Khalid Al-Foudari, and repporteur of the cultural and social committee, Jassem Al-Durai’a, with attendance of women’s athletic activities supervisor Haif Baravi, and head of the athletic activities committee Adel Mahmoud.

SPORTS

18

Monday, May 10, 2010

KP confident England can get to semis BRIDGETOWN: Kevin Pietersen is heading back home for the birth of his first child confident he will be returning to the Caribbean to help England reach the World Twenty20 final.

Pietersen said what he hopes will be a temporary farewell to the squad in style with a superb innings of 53 as England beat his native South Africa by a crushing 39 runs in the Super Eights here on Saturday.

That win maintained England’s perfect record in the second round after, thanks mainly to another man-of-the-match winning innings of 73 not out from Pietersen, they previously beat champions Pakistan by six wickets.

Victory over New Zealand in St Lucia on Monday will guarantee England a semi-final place and even defeat by the Black Caps may not spell the end of their hopes, with net run-rate in line to come to their rescue if required.

Pietersen’s commanding innings against South Africa came in just 33 balls and featured a six and eight fours in a total of 168 for seven.

It all added to the joy the 29-year-old is set to experience off the field, with Pietersen saying: “It’s my first child, so it’s a hell of an exciting time for me.

“I’ll be dashing across the Atlantic and, I hope, dashing back. I’m flying back to London in the next 24 hours and hoping everything goes well and according to plan, that there’s no complications. “If we get through to the semi-finals, I’ll come in the day before the semi-finals.”

Pietersen put on 94 in under 12 overs with Craig Kieswetter before spinners Michael Yardy and Graeme Swann took five top-order wickets between them.

“Today was as close to perfect, apart from a couple of wide balls,” Pietersen said of Saturday’s victory at the

Kensington Oval.

“The boys were brilliant. Colly (captain Paul Collingwood) and I have just been talking about the perfect game, and to beat South Africa so convincingly really was amazing. “It’s just so great to be part of a dressing room that plays such great cricket,” he added.

Meanwhile, Collingwood said: “There are a lot of England fans in here, and I wanted to put a good performance - and we’ve done that.

“South Africa are a very good side, and we knew we would have to perform at our best. I think we have almost done that. In the line-up we have got there is a lot of potential. The boys are making good decisions and they are backing themselves.”

Pietersen appears to be getting back to his world-class best after more than a year of struggles, including an Achilles injury that ruled him out of most of England’s 2009

Ashes triumph against Australia.

“It’s just nice to be in the nick again, nice to be back in the side,” he said. “It’s great to be part of a team that is successful. I’ve had a really rough last 12 to 14 months, so it’s nice to be back again.”

Meanwhile, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori hailed his team’s resilience after they kept alive hopes of a World Twenty20 semi-final spot with a thrilling one-run win over champions Pakistan.

Saturday’s nailbiting success here at the Kensington Oval left Vettori’s men with a shot at qualifying for the last four after they lost their opening Super Eights match by 13 runs to South Africa.

New Zealand could only manage 133 for seven, Vettori top scoring with 38 after several failures by specialist batsmen. However, the Black Caps inflicted a top order collapse upon Pakistan thanks to recalled pace bowlers Ian

Butler and Kyle Mills.

With two needed off the last ball of the match, man-of-the-match Butler had Abdur Rehman caught by Martin Guptill to finish with fine figures of three wickets for 19 runs from his maximum four overs.

“We are pretty proud of what we achieved and it gives us a chance of going into the semis,” said Vettori, whose side complete their Super Eights campaign against England in St Lucia today.

“We knew we were a little under par but we back ourselves as a bowling and fielding unit, that has always been our strength in any form of the game.

“The selection of Ian and Kyle gave us a bit more impetus,” Vettori added. “We managed to take wickets and kept taking them which makes a difference. The total wasn’t enough but we knew if we started well we had a chance.

Looking through our history Kyle Mills

has been outstanding at the top of the order and we knew we needed to take early wickets.

“Pakistan are pretty good players of spin so we wanted to give our swingers a chance,” Vettori, one of the world’s leading left-arm spinners added.

“The last time Ian bowled against them in the Champions Trophy he took four so we backed some past reputations and they came to fruition.”

Meanwhile a relieved Butler added: “You usually back yourself with 12 runs (Pakistan needed 11 to win off the last over).

“I said to Hoppy (wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins) that’s why we play the game, but after the four through point (struck off the fourth ball by Salman Butt) I was starting to doubt whether that was the case.

“As long as you keep yourself in the game, ‘death’ bowling is what you have to be good at.”—AFP

Gayle force blows away India BRIDGETOWN: West Indies captain Chris Gayle fell short of an unprecedented second Twenty20 international hundred but still inspired his side to a 14-run win over India here yesterday. Defeat left India, champions in 2007, contemplating elimination from the World Twenty20.

Gayle’s innings of 98 powered the hosts to a total of 169 for six before a good all-round display by the West Indies in the field at the Kensington Oval saw India held to a total of 155 for nine from 20 overs.

If Sri Lanka beat Australia in the second Super Eights match at Kensington, India will be out even before their final second-round game. But if Australia win, India will still have a shot at reaching the semifinals.

et-wise, but I was also given so much support. So it was important to play well myself,” the man-of-the-match added.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed his batsmen for India’s plight.

“The batting hasn’t been up

However, India will have to beat Sri Lanka in St Lucia tmorrow and then hope both for an Australia win over the West Indies and that their own run-rate is better than that of Gayle’s side.

West Indies’ victory revived their bid for a last-four spot after a 57-run thrashing by Sri Lanka at Kensington on Friday.

“It was a good win, just what we needed,” said Gayle, whose typically enterprising innings lasted 66 balls, with seven sixes and five fours.

“I was under pressure, not just crick-

to expectations. The bowlers have done decently, give or take a few overs here and there.

“Batting is supposed to be our strength, and we should chase 170 in these conditions,” he added.

India lost opener Murali Vijay in the fourth over BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Final scoreboard in the when he was caught at World Twenty20 Super Eights match between the deep backward square leg West Indies and India at the Kensington Oval here for seven pulling a short, rising ball from Darren West Indies Sammy.

C. Gayle run out (sub Karthik/Dhoni) 98 They S. Chanderpaul c Dhoni b Nehra 23 suffered D. Sammy c Vijay b Jadeja 19 another K. Pollard c Pathan b Zaheer Khan 17 early blow D. Bravo c Sharma b Nehra 1 R. Sarwan c Sharma b Nehra 0 when Gautam Gambhir W. Hinds not out 0 gloved a short ball from D. Ramdin not out 4 Kemar Roach and was Extras (lb4, w2, nb1) 7 caught behind for 15.

Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 169 India slipped to 38 for Did not bat: S Benn, K Roach, J Taylor Fall of wickets: 1-80 (Chanderpaul), 2-119 (Sammy), three in the eighth 3-160 (Pollard), 4-163 (Bravo), 5-164 (Sarwan), 6-165 over, when Rohit Sharma gloved (Gayle) Bowling: Harbhajan 4-0-16-0; Zaheer 4-0-36-1 (1nb); behind essaying a Nehra 4-0-35-3 (1w); Pathan 4-0-28-0 (1w); Raina 2-0- scoop shot off 23-0; Jadeja 2-0-27-1 Kieron Pollard.

The dismissal India was mired in M. Vijay c Pollard b Sammy 7 controversy, G. Gambhir c Ramdin b Roach 15 when the batsS. Raina c Sammy b Gayle 32 man essenR. Sharma c Ramdin b Pollard 5 Yuvraj Singh c Chanderpaul b Benn 12 tially asked MS Dhoni run out (Bravo) 29 umpire Billy Y. Pathan c Hinds b Taylor 17 Bowden to Harbhajan Singh c Bravo b Roach 14 refer the R. Jadeja not out 5 decision A. Nehra c Benn b Bravo 0 to TV Zaheer Khan not out 0 umpire Extras (lb2, w15, nb2) 19 Steve Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) 155 Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Vijay), 2-27 (Gambhir), 3-38 Davis.

(Sharma), 4-80 (Raina), 5-81 (Yuvraj Singh), 6-114 But (Pathan), 7-140 (Dhoni), 8-150 (Harbhajan), 9-152 the

SCOREBOARD

(Nehra) Bowling: Sammy 3-0-16-1 (1nb, 1w); Taylor 4-0-24-1 (4w); Roach 4-0-38-2 (1nb, 7w); Bravo 4-0-28-1; Pollard 2-0-23-1 (2w); Gayle 2-0-22-1 (1w); Benn 1-02-1 Result: West Indies won by 14 runs

umpire decision review system is not in place for the competition, and Bowden upheld his original decision, following consultation with his on-field colleague Simon Taufel.

A stand of 42 between left-handers Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh bolstered India, but they were both removed in the space of five balls.

Raina was caught inside the deep midwicket boundary off Gayle for the top innings score of 32,

BARBADOS: West Indies’ captain Chris Gayle (right) hits a six as India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni looks on during a Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match in Bridgetown.—AP and Yuvraj was caught at wide midon off Sulieman Benn as India slipped to 81 for five in the 13th over.

Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan put on 33 in 19 balls to raise Indian hopes of a comefrom-behind victory.

But Pathan was caught at long leg off Jerome Taylor for 17 in the 16th over, and Dhoni was run out going for a second run by Dwayne Bravo’s direct hit at the bowler’s end from longon to take India’s last hopes with him.

Earlier, Gayle was run out going for a second run, when he failed to beat substitute fielder Dinesh Karthik’s throw from the cover boundary to wicketkeeper Dhoni off the penultimate ball of the West Indies innings.

BARBADOS: West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo celebrates their victory at a Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match against India in Bridgetown.—AP Gayle was dropped at square leg on 46, when he top-edged a pull off Ashish Nehra in the 12th over and Dhoni and short third man fielder Yusuf Pathan ran into each other. With left-handed opener Gayle nearing a hundred, both Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan sacrificed their wickets with miscued pulls to midwicket off Nehra, who ended with three wickets for 35 runs.

Gayle was the first of only four men to score a Twenty20 international hundred when he made 117, still the highest individual score at this level, against South Africa at the inaugural World Twenty in Johannesburg in 2007.—AFP

BARBADOS: Sri Lanka’s Suraj Randiv (left) and teammate Chamara Kapugedera celebrate the dismissal of Australia’s David Hussey during a Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match.—AP

Australia overwhelm Sri Lanka BRIDGETOWN: Australia took a huge step towards the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals with a crushing 81-run win over Sri Lanka yesterday.

The Australians were in trouble at 67 for five before Cameron White led an extraordinary fightback with an unbeaten 85 off 49 balls which dominated their total of 168 for five.

White and Michael Hussey (39 not out) added 101 runs, a record sixth-wicket partnership in international Twenty20. White smashed six sixes and six fours in an explosive innings that put pressure on Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka opener Mahela Jaywardene, the tournament’s top scorer, failed for the first time and his team collapsed to 87 all out against the relentless Australian attack. Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the bowlers, ending with figures of three for 15 from 3.2 overs. Australia, who top Group F with four points, need only to avoid a heavy defeat by West Indies on Tuesday in St. Lucia to go through to the semi-finals.

BARBADOS: Australia’s Cameron White hits a six against Sri Lanka.

—AP

SCOREBOARD BRIDGETOWN: Scoreboard in the World Twenty20 Super Eights match between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Kensington Oval yesterday: Australia Watson b Mathews 1 Warner c Jíwardene b Randiv 9 Haddin c Jísuriya b Mathews 15 Clarke b Randiv 14 Hussey st Síkkara b Randiv 0 White not out 85 Hussey not out 39 Extras (lb2, w1, nb2) 5 Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 168 Did not bat: S Smith, M Johnson, S Tait, D Nannes Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Watson), 2-20 (Haddin), 3-30 (Warner), 4-30 (D Hussey), 5-67 (Clarke) Bowling: Mathews 4-0-24-2; Welegedara 4-040-0 (1nb, 1w); Randiv 4-0-20-3; Malinga 4-0-40-0; Mendis 4-0-42-0 (1nb)

Sri Lanka Jayawardene v Smith b Nannes 9 Jayasuriya lbw b Nannes 5 Sangakkara c Haddin b Tait 2 Dilshan c White b Johnson 20 Mathews c M Hussey b Johnson 8 Chandimal st Haddin b Smith 19 Kapugedera b Smith 12 Randiv run out (Nannes) 2 Malinga c Smith b Clarke 1 Mendis b Johnson 1 Welegedara not out 2 Extras (lb2, w4) 6 Total (all out, 16.2 overs) 87 Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Jayawardene), 2-18 (Sangakkara), 3-26 (Jayasuriya), 4-48 (Dilshan), 5-49 (Mathews), 6-73 (Kapugedera), 7-83 (Randiv), 8-83 (Chandimal), 9-84 (Malinga), 10-87 (Mendis) Bowling: Nannes 3-0-19-2; Tait 2-0-10-1 (2w); Watson 3-0-27-0; Johnson 3.2-0-15-3 (1w); Smith 4-1-12-2 (1w); Clarke 1-0-2-1

Smith in search of SA rally BRIDGETOWN: South Africa captain Graeme Smith admitted it would be a “challenge” for his side to revive their World Twenty20 campaign against champions Pakistan after a crushing 39-run defeat by England.

The Proteas were undone by an England side that produced one of its very best displays in this format as South Africa lost after starting the second round Super Eights with a 13-run victory over New Zealand.

Such are the permutations in Group E that even a win over Pakistan in St Lucia today might not be enough for South Africa to go through to the semi-finals. But Smith is determined the Proteas give themselves every chance.

“How we bounce back is going to be crucial, Pakistan on Monday is obviously an important game for us,” Smith said.

“Bouncing back and putting in a good performance on Monday is

obviously a challenge.”

Fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel conceded a huge 90 runs in eight overs between them as England’s South Africa born second-wicket partnership of Kevin Pietersen, man-of-the-match for his 53, and Craig Kieswetter (41) helped their adopted country to a total of 168 for seven.

What made it worse for South Africa was that Morkel had Kieswetter ‘caught’ off a no-ball for seven. It was the second time this tournament that over-stepping had cost Morkel a wicket after Suresh Raina made a century in India’s first victory against South Africa, having been given a reprieve by a no-ball when on five.

“I think the first six overs was especially disappointing,” said Smith. “Basic mistakes, no balls, missed chances upfront proved costly for us.

“We really could have had England three or four down in those first six overs but basic mistakes from us allowed them to get a partnership that has proven to be the difference between the two sides.”—AFP Turning to Morkel’s no-ball problems,

SPORTS

Monday, May 10, 2010

Gunners flatten Fulham to secure third position

Burnley 4

Tottenham 2

Burnley fight back, ends Spurs’ third place hopes BURNLEY: Tottenham were frustrated in their bid for a thirdplace Premier League finish as they threw away a two-goal lead to lose 4-2 at already-relegated Burnley yesterday. Victory for Arsenal over Fulham meant Spurs would have finished behind their north London rivals whatever the result at Turf Moor and this result couldn’t take the gloss off a superb campaign for Harry Redknapp’s side.

Reaching the Champions League qualification round thanks to the fourth place they secured with a midweek win at Manchester City is more than enough to keep everyone at Tottenham happy throughout the close-season.

Tottenham looked to be cruising to an 11th win in 13 Premier League games thanks to early goals from Gareth Bale and Luka Modric. But Wade Elliott gave Burnley hope by pulling a goal back before the break. Secondhalf goals from Jack Cork, Martin Paterson and substitute Steven Thompson pulled off an unlikely comeback as the hosts rounded off a miserable campaign with only a second win in nine games.

The opening goal arrived as early as the third minute. Bale arrived unmarked at the far post to beat Brian Jensen with a confident left-foot drive after Aaron Lennon easily out-paced Danny Fox to deliver an inviting low pull-back from the visitors’ right. —AFP

Totti saves Roma to set up grand finale ROME: Two late goals from Francesco Totti gave AS Roma a nervy 2-1 victory at home to Cagliari yesterday and ensured the Serie A title will be decided on the final day of the season.

Inter Milan maintained their two-point lead at the top with a 4-3 success over Chievo at the San Siro that proved less comfortable than it should have been. Inter travel to Siena while Roma will be entertained by Chievo next weekend.

The nerazzurri can sew up a fifth title in a row with victory while Roma can only secure their first scudetto since 2001 if they win and Inter fail to do so.

At one stage in the afternoon’s proceedings, Inter were cruising at 4-1 while an Andrea Lazzari goal direct from a free-kick gave Cagliari a shock 1-0 lead in Rome with just 17 minutes remaining, meaning Inter were virtual champions.

“It was the usual game of suffering for us. After hitting the woodwork three times we were close to losing,” said Roma midfielder David Pizarro.

“Thankfully we managed to get the result we were hoping for and in the end, that’s good.” Inter fans were celebrating in the stands but two goals just four minutes apart from Roma captain and talisman Totti silenced them.

Even so, Inter goalscorer Esteban Cambiasso insisted the players were not expecting to wrap up the title. “We have enough experience in football to know perfectly well that the game can change at any time right to the end,” he said.

“Therefore when the fans in the San Siro exploded with joy after the Cagliari goal we tried to stay calm because we knew the scudetto wasn’t finished. “Now we will go to Siena with the determination and desire to win the game and hence the title.”

Totti’s goals were the perfect response after the 33-year-old forward was roundly criticised in midweek following his sending off in Roma’s 1-0 Coppa Italia final defeat to Inter for a wild kick at Mario Balotelli. —AFP

19

Arsenal 4

Fulham 0

LONDON: West Ham United’s Luis Boa Morte (left) competes for the ball with Manchester City’s Shaun Wright-Phillips during their Premier League Soccer match at Upton Park. —AP

Hammers season ends with City stalemate West Ham 1

Man City 1 LONDON: Gianfranco Zola’s West Ham United side ended their Premier League campaign, and possibly the manager’s reign, with a 1-1 draw against Manchester City at Upton Park yesterday.

Zola’s future has appeared uncertain throughout what has been a chaotic season at the east London club and the focus is now expected to turn to whether or not he will continue.

Luis Boa Morte, on his return from a serious knee injury, opened the scoring in the first half but Shaun WrightPhillips levelled for the visitors shortly afterwards.

France coach Raymond Domenech was in the stands, with Patrick Vieira protecting the defence for City as he seeks to force his way back into the France squad for the World Cup. West Ham fans had hoped to see one of their cult heroes in Carlos Tevez but the Argentina forward was on the City bench, while Craig Bellamy, another

ex-Hammers striker, was not in Roberto Mancini’s matchday squad.

This fixture looked like being a tense finale to the season until West Ham secured their safety two weeks before the end of the campaign, while City’s challenge for a top-four finish ended on Wednesday with defeat to Tottenham. The game was significant, however, for marking the return of Boa Morte from his injury.

The Portuguese midfielder made his first start of the season and opened the scoring in the 17th minute, chipping past Marton Fulop after Alessandro Diamanti split the City defence with a backheel.

Boa Morte whipped his shirt off in celebration and ran over to the touchline to thank Zola with a hug. With England assistant manager Franco Baldini watching from the stands, City were level four minutes later with a goal set up by Adam Johnson.

The England World Cup candidate floated a cross to the far post and Wright-Phillips was unmarked to head home.

Johnson then had a penalty shout turned down after wriggling between Radoslav Kovac and Fabio Daprela before Matthew Upson challenged him.

Emmanuel Adebayor also had a goal disallowed for offside and a chance saved by Robert Green after Johnson had set up another opportunity.

The hosts replied with Diamanti cutting inside Vincent Kompany and hitting Fulop’s post with a drive from the edge of the penalty area.

In the second half, Scott Parker did his England chances no harm when he burst through three challenges and teed up Ilan, but the Brazilian’s finish was saved by Fulop.

Tevez got an ovation when he warmed up on the touchline and saluted fans with an ‘Irons’ gesture, mimicking West Ham’s badge.

But it was Zola who made the first substitutions, taking off Carlton Cole and giving Boa Morte a breather, with Guillermo Franco and Junior Stanislas coming on.

Tevez eventually came on with 17 minutes remaining and was greeted warmly again for his role in keeping West Ham in the top flight in 2007.

Franco had a decent chance before the end, turning Kolo Toure but then seeing his shot saved by Fulop, while Tevez lobbed onto the roof of the net with his one sight of goal.—AFP

Wolves 2

Sunderland 1

Wolves see off Sunderland

LONDON: Aston Villa’s Stephen Warnock (right) is brought down by Blackburn Rovers’ David Hoilett as they battle for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match. —AP

Villa Dunne for by own goal Aston Villa 0

Blackburn 1 BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa’s season ended on a flat note yesterday with a 1-0 defeat at home to Blackburn Rovers at Villa Park thanks to a Richard Dunne own goal.

The Republic of Ireland centre-half, one of Villa’s best performers this season, headed the ball into his own net to hand Rovers a victory they barely deserved.

The Villains, who had harboured hopes of landing both domestic cups and earning a Champions League spot, ended the season six points off the top four and having

lost the League Cup final and an FA Cup semi-final in their two Wembley appearances.

Despite the defeat, the Birmingham side ended up finishing sixth in the Premier League table thanks to seventh-placed Liverpool’s goalless draw at Hull.

That at least meant Villa avoided going into the third qualifying round of the Europa League, which gets underway on July 29, and instead enter the play-off round, which begins on August 19.

Meanwhile Rovers, who had spent much of the season in the relegation battle, snatched a top half finish. The Lancashire side ended up 10th in the table in manager Sam Allardyce’s first full season in charge, an improvement on last season’s 15th-place.—AFP

LONDON: Wolverhampton Wanderers edged out Sunderland 2-1 at Molineux on the final day of the Premier League season with both sides having already preserved their status.

Franco-Algerian Adlene Guedioura, signed on-loan from Belgium’s Charleroi in the January window, struck the winner 13 minutes from time to cheer Wolves fans after their side went a goal behind early on.

Mick McCarthy twice endured relegation in his time in charge of the visitors but this season the former Ireland manager has hauled Wolves away from the drop zone five years on from a bottom place finish by the Midlanders.

Steve Bruce has meanwhile turned Sunderland into a side able to flirt with the top half of the table for much of the campaign, a strong home record banishing any fears of relegation with time to spare.

Trinidadian international Kenwyne Jones put Bruce’s men ahead on eight minutes after good work by Fraizer Campbell only for Kevin Doyle to level from the spot two minutes later for only Wolves’ 12th league goal on home turf all season after Alan Hutton fouled Matthew Jarvis.

Wolves, promoted from the second-tier Championship as champions last season, have blown hot and cold all season, most notably doing a shock double over Tottenham but scrapping for win bonuses elsewhere. —AFP

LONDON: Arsenal booked their place in the group stage of next season’s Champions League by beating a shadow Fulham side 40 at Emirates Stadium yesterday.

Arsene Wenger’s side had kicked off knowing that defeat at home would have cost them third place in the English Premier League had Tottenham won at Burnley.

But first half goals from Andrey Arshavin and Robin van Persie plus an own goal from Chris Baird and a late chip from Carlos Vela meant third place was never in doubt.

It was made all the easier by Fulham manager Roy Hodgson resting eight regulars ahead of the biggest-ever match in the club’s history, Wednesday’s Europa League final with Atletico Madrid.

Arsenal had been able to welcome back France defender Gael Clichy and Russia forward Arshavin after absences through injury.

The Fulham line-up featured far more changes as Hodgson had Hamburg, the German venue for the key European final, on his mind.

Only goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, defender John Pantsil and forward Clint Dempsey were risked from the start - although that backfired as the latter pair were both injured.

The opening exchanges were all about goalkeepers with Arsenal’s Lukasz Fabianski looking shaky and Australia stopper Schwarzer pulling off fine saves to deny Van Persie and Arshavin.

Schwarzer spoiled his good work, however, by gifting the north London side a 21st-minute lead. He delayed a clearance and Arshavin nipped in to gain possession and, once the Russian had evaded Schwarzer’s desperate efforts to retrieve, his shot went in off Pantsil on the line.

Netherlands striker Van Persie doubled the lead five minutes later after Theo Walcott, who had burst through on the right thanks to Bacary Sagna’s through ball, unselfishly squared the ball for his colleague.

Schwarzer managed to deflect the first shot on to the crossbar off his legs but the rebound fell perfectly for the Dutchman for a simple finish.

The west London side continued to live dangerously and they were grateful for a raised flag from a referee’s assistant to rule out a Walcott effort.

A third Gunners goal arrived in the 37th minute as the Cottagers gave a master class in how not to defend. England World Cup squad hopeful Walcott’s delivery from the right appeared to have little menace.

However, two defenders managed to mis-kick attempted clearances and a third, Northern Ireland defender Baird, inexplicably put it into his own net.

Emmanuel Eboue had bamboozled Baird with a clever flick and produced another one to put Walcott through only for the winger to fire across goal and wide. —AFP

Bolton 2

Birmingham 1

Bolton sign off with win BOLTON: Bolton Wanderers ended their Premier League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Birmingham City at the Reebok Stadium here yesterday that means they finish 14th in the table.

Having already preserved their top-flight status, Bolton prevailed with goals in either half from strike partners Kevin Davies and Ivan Klasnic, while Birmingham replied through James McFadden in the second period.

Bolton were in the relegation zone when coach Owen Coyle arrived from Burnley in January, while Alex McLeish has also enjoyed a successful season with Birmingham. —AFP

LONDON: Arsenal’s Robin van Persie (left) and Fulham’s Chris Smalling vie for the ball during their English Premier League soccer match at the Emirates Stadium. —AP

Lifeless Liverpool end season with a whimper Hull 0

Liverpool 0 HULL: Liverpool’s season of failure was summed up at the KC Stadium yesterday, where Rafa Benitez’s side were held to a goalless draw by relegated Hull that means they end the season in seventh place.

The visitors looked lethargic from start to finish and struggled to create any clear-cut chances, although Daniel Aggar blazed over the top with the home goal at the mercy and Alberto Aquilani struck the crossbar on the stroke of half time.

This promised to have a hollow feeling to it considering Hull had already been relegated and Liverpool had failed in their quest to finish in the top four.

There was still a great deal of pride at stake, however, especially for the visitors. The last thing Benitez needed to suffer was the ignominy of finishing the season on a losing note to a side destined for the Championship.

The Spaniard named his strongest side available, with

Dirk Kuyt leading the line on his own once again in the absence of the injured Fernando Torres.

There was a rare start on the right flank for Nabil El Zhar while Hull’s interim manager, Iain Dowie, decided to hand some more first team experience to teenagers Mark Cullen, Tom Cairney and Will Atkinson in a youthful looking line-up.

Dowie is keen to get the job on a permanent basis and knew a home win would boost his chances, if not fail to make a difference to the club’s league status.

Yet it was Liverpool who made the early running without appearing to get out of first gear.

Cairney almost scored a bizarre own goal from 20 yards in the fifth minute but was relieved to see his interception slice inches wide of Matt Duke’s goal.

El Zhar demanded a smart, fingertip save from Duke with a powerful drive on 19 minutes and moments later George Boateng was in the right place at the right time to clear Kuyt’s backward header from underneath his own crossbar as Benitez’s men went in search of that early breakthrough.

Hull stood firm, however, even though their defending was desperate at times. Kevin

Kilbane’s attempted headed clearance fell straight to Alberto Aquilani on 28 minutes but the Italian’s instant shot flew just wide of Duke’s left hand post.

The home side were living off scraps and struggling to create genuine chances, which seemed to reflect the story of their entire season. It took Dowie’s men half-an-hour to must an effort on goal and even then Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink headed straight at Pepe Reina.

Better chances soon followed when Cairney’s shot deflected into the path of Cullen but he was unable to get the ball out from underneath his feet at the crucial moment and seconds later the youngster, who scored his first Premier League goal at Wigan last weekend, headed wide from point blank range to waste a wonderful cross from Atkinson. Cullen’s woeful miss was emulated at the opposite end on the stroke of half time by Agger.

Aquilani’s initial shot came back off the crossbar but fell invitingly to the defender, who managed to blaze his volley over the top despite having the Hull goal at his mercy as the visitors’ frustration mounted. —AFP

Everton sink sorry Portsmouth Everton 1

Portsmouth 0 LIVERPOOL: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov smashed in a stunning injury-time goal for Everton at Goodison Park yesterday to end Portsmouth’s time in the Premier League with one last heartbreaking defeat.

Spirited visitors Pompey had seemed set to bow out with a creditable goalless draw in which they even had a goal wrongly disallowed.

But Russia midfielder Bilyaletdinov grabbed his seventh Toffees goal of the season in spectacular fashion from more than 25 yards out to crush rock-bottom Portsmouth at the death.

Everton finished eighth in the Premier League, two points off seventh place and a Europa

League spot.

Debt-ridden Portsmouth, at the foot of the table, were scuppered by their nine-point deduction for going into administration and ended the season 16 points off the safety mark.

But they have six days to pick themselves up again before their FA Cup final date with newlycrowned champions Chelsea.

Pompey boss Avram Grant made five changes as he prepared for Saturday’s Wembley showpiece.

England goalkeeper David James was the most notable absentee, replaced by Jamie Ashdown.

Ricardo Rocha, Hayden Mullins, Papa Bouba Diop and Marc Wilson all came into the side.

For the Toffees, Australia midfielder Tim Cahill was absent due to a groin strain, while South Africa midfielder Steven Pienaar returned after a game out.

Mikel Arteta took over as skipper from the injured Phil Neville.

The Liverpudlian side easily

had the better of the first half, but failed to convert their chances.

The Toffees created five opportunities in the first few minutes. Rocha cleared a Tony Hibbert effort, then Senegal midfielder Diop headed an Arteta cross to safety.

Striker Louis Saha nodded over and Arteta hit a shot at Ashdown as it seemed Everton were going to crush their opponents.

But the south coast club came close to scoring 10 minutes in as John Utaka curled a shot over the crossbar. Then Portsmouth striker Frederic Piquionne beat Phil Jagielka but USA goalkeeper Tim Howard blocked his effort.

Ashdown pulled off a good save from an Arteta shot as Pompey kept the scores level at the interval. Midfielder Jamie O’Hara came on at half-time for his final league appearance for Pompey before returning to parent club Tottenham at the end of the season. —AFP

EPL results/standings Arsenal 4 (Arshavin 21, Van Persie 26, Baird 37og, Vela 84) Fulham 0; Aston Villa 0 Blackburn 1 (Dunne 84-og); Bolton 2 (Davies 33, Klasnic 60) Birmingham 1 (McFadden 77); Burnley 4 (Elliott 42, Cork 54, Paterson 71, Thompson 88) Tottenham 2 (Bale 3, Modric 32); Chelsea 8 (Anelka 6, 57, Lampard 32-pen, Kalou 54, Drogba

63, 68-pen, 80, A.Cole 90) Wigan 0; Everton 1 (Bilyaletdinov 90) Portsmouth 0; Hull 0 Liverpool 0; Man Utd 4 (Fletcher 31, Giggs 38, Higginbotham 54-og, Park 84) Stoke 0; West Ham 1 (Boa Morte 17) Man City 1 (Wright-Phillips 21); Wolves 2 (Doyle 10-pen, Guedioura 78) Sunderland 1 (Jones 8).

Final English Premier League table after yesterday’s last round of matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Chelsea 38 27 5 6 103 32 86 Fulham 38 12 10 16 39 46 46 Man Utd 38 27 4 7 86 28 85 Sunderland 38 11 11 16 48 56 44 Arsenal 38 23 6 9 83 41 75 Bolton 38 10 9 19 42 67 39 Tottenham 38 21 7 10 67 41 70 Wolverhampton 38 9 11 18 32 56 38 Man City 38 18 13 7 73 45 67 Wigan 38 9 9 20 37 79 36 Aston Villa 38 17 13 8 52 39 64 West Ham 38 8 11 19 47 66 35 Liverpool 38 18 9 11 61 35 63 Burnley 38 8 6 24 42 82 30 Everton 38 16 13 9 60 49 61 Hull 38 6 12 20 34 75 30 Birmingham 38 13 11 14 38 47 50 Portsmouth 38 7 7 24 34 66 19 Blackburn 38 13 11 14 41 55 50 Note: Portsmouth deducted 9 points for entering Stoke 38 11 14 13 34 48 47 administration

www.kuwaittimes.net

Chelsea win EPL title in style Chelsea 8

Wigan 0 LONDON: Didier Drogba’s hattrick capped Chelsea’s stunning 8-0 demolition of ten-man Wigan as the Blues ensured the Premier League title returned to Stamford Bridge for the first time in four years.

Nicolas Anelka set Chelsea on the way to victory with Frank Lampard adding a second from the spot before half-time.

The floodgates opened after the break, with Salomon Kalou, Anelka, Drogba’s treble and a late volley from Ashley Cole meaning Chelsea ended the campaign with 103 league goals-the first time a Premier League club has passed the century mark.

Chelsea needed a win to be certain of pipping Manchester United in the race to the championship and delivering silverware to the club at the end of Carlo Ancelotti’s first season in charge.

Wigan’s dire record in Londonthey had failed to win on any of their previous 17 Premier League visits to the capital-reinforced the pre-match view that victory would be a formality for Ancelotti’s side.

And Chelsea’s formidable record at Stamford Bridge, where they had won 16 of their previous 18 home league fixtures, stacked the odds even further in favour of the Blues.

Last weekend’s victory at Liverpool ensured Ancelotti’s side came into the final day of the campaign with a one-point advantage over United and the manager entrusted Chelsea’s title ambitions to the same starting eleven.

The initial signs suggested Wigan might present more formidable opposition than Liverpool had seven days previously with the home defence immediately pressed onto the back foot.

Those early exchanges, howev-

er, provided only a fleeting moment of hope for Chelsea’s rivals as Ancelotti’s side wasted little time in taking control of the game, Anelka scoring from close-range from their first meaningful attack.

It was the perfect start for Chelsea but Wigan responded well and Charles N’Zogbia wasted an opportunity to bring them back on level terms four minutes after Anelka’s goal.

The visitors dominated possession for a spell but with striker Hugo Rodallega lacking support, they never managed to test Chelsea keeper Petr Cech.

And when Latics defender Gary Caldwell was sent off in the 31st minute after tugging at Lampard’s shirt as the midfielder broke clear in the visitors’ penalty box, the game looked as good as over.

Lampard slotted home the resulting penalty after refusing Drogba’s pleas to be given the chance to move ahead of Wayne Rooney in the league scoring charts, prompting a churlish sulk from the Ivorian.

That was quickly forgotten in the second half when Drogba and the rest of Ancelotti’s side provided a stunning demonstration of the strengths that have made them champions.

Kalou added the third goal nine minutes after the restart when he played a neat one-two with Lampard and finished from close range.

Three minutes later Anelka produced the goal of the game when he volleyed home from a tight angle after being picked out

by Branislav Ivanovic’s crossfield ball.

By that point celebrations were in full swing around Stamford Bridge and they were cranked up a gear when Drogba finally found the target and racked up Chelsea’s century of league goals by heading home at the far post.

Lampard relinquished penalty duties when Ashley Cole was brought down by Mario Melchiot, allowing Drogba to claim his second and the striker completed his

LONDON: Chelsea players celebrate winning the English Premier League soccer title with the trophy after defeating Wigan Athletic at the end of their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge. —AP hat-trick when he followed up Joe Cole’s shot ten minutes from time.

It was a cathartic moment for Terry personally after a turbulent year marred by allegations of an affair with the former partner of England team-mate Wayne Bridge, which prompted Fabio Capello to strip the Chelsea defender of the international captaincy.

But Blues skipper Terry insist-

ed he took more pleasure from helping Chelsea return to the summit of English football.

Asked about his difficult year, Terry told Sky Sports: “It amazes me that people still talk about it.

This is what it’s all about, this is what I’ve worked so hard for all.

“It’s about Chelsea Football Club and our day. It’s been a hard three years, not winning the

Premier League, but we’ve done it today and we deserved it.

“It’s been inside of me for three years, seeing Man United lift it season after season and every single one of us has sat there and watched it. And now it’s their turn to sit there and watch us.”

Chelsea’s title glory was also a validation of boss Carlo Ancelotti as he banished memories of Jose

Mourinho, who was the last man to lead the west London club to the title.

The Italian, in his first season at the club, succeeded where his Chelsea predecessors Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink failed as he ended United’s Premier League dominance.

In the process, Chelsea set a

Premier League record of 103 goals as Ancelotti encouraged his players to express themselves more.

Ancelotti said: “It’s fantastic, we did our best and I did my best for this club. There’s a fantastic atmosphere at this club, with these supporters, and I think we deserved to win the championship after this season.

“There are a lot of things we’re happy about. We’re happy for this goal-scoring record but the most important thing is that we showed some good play.

“It has been right up there because of the way we’ve done it, we finished the season in style. “It’s been a great Premier League season and I think in the end we deserved to come out on top.”—AFP

United settle for second Man United 4

Stoke 0 M A N C H E S T E R : Manchester United’s bid for an unprecedented four th successive Premier League title ended in failure despite a 4-0 victory over Stoke at Old Trafford yesterday.

Requiring a dramatic final twist to the most unpredictable of seasons, United would only have retained the title if they had defeated Stoke and lowly Wigan had produced a shock win at leaders Chelsea.

But although goals by Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs, Park Ji-Sung and a Danny Higginbotham own goal saw off Stoke, it wasn’t enough as Chelsea’s crushing 8-0 win over Wigan meant United finished runners-up, one point behind the Blues.

United ultimately paid the price for losing control of the title race, with last month’s home defeat to Chelsea and the subsequent draw at Blackburn the results that ended up costing them their crown.

Three of United’s Premier League titles have been won on the last day of the season, but on each occasion Sir Alex Ferguson’s men were in the driving seat.

But there was to be no drama this time, not once word reached Old Trafford that Chelsea had taken an early lead.

Around the same time as Nicolas Anelka’s sixthminute goal put the champions-in-waiting ahead, Dimitar Berbatov was spurning the first of three firsthalf chances that fell the Bulgarian’s way. It has been that kind of season for United and no-one has felt the fr ustration more than Berbatov.

The for mer Tottenham striker has struggled to live up to his 30.75 million

LONDON: Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney with the Barclays Player of the Season trophy before their English Premier League soccer match against Stoke City at Old Trafford yesterday. —AP pounds (35.7 million euros) transfer fee and struggled to fill the void when Wayne Rooney was injured at a crucial stage of the campaign.

His failure to conver t Nani’s inch-per fect 11thminute cross summed up his campaign while Rooney headed narrowly over in the 23rd minute.

It was left to midfielder Fletcher to break the deadlock, the Scottish international pouncing from inside the six-yard area after Stoke had failed to clear a 31stminute corner.

Seven minutes later Giggs doubled the lead with a composed finish af ter clever work by Berbatov yet, with Chelsea in control against Wigan, the atmos-

phere was subdued.

Stoke’s season has been another of steady improvement. Having surpassed the 45 points they registered last term with a 1-0 victory against Fulham last Wednesday, they arrived in Manchester with hopes of finishing as high as ninth if results went their way.

Despite the impressive effor ts of Rober t Huth in defence, they never looked like getting anything here.

They fell 3-0 behind in the 54th minute when Higginbotham put past his own keeper after trying to stop Rooney’s low cross from reaching Nani.

Stoke kept plugging away and almost reduced the deficit when Matthew

Etherington’s 74th-minute cross was met by Ror y Delap.

However, Edwin van der Sar produced a stunning fulllength save to ensure United brought the curtain down on a disappointing season with a clean sheet victory.

United still found time to add a fourth goal the 84th minute, Park scoring with a diving header less than 10 minutes af ter replacing England striker Rooney, who looked as though he could have picked up an injury.

But it was too little, too late as far as the title was concer ned, thousands of United fans having already left the ground by the time referee Mark Clattenburg blew the final whistle. —AFP

Australian property prices soar

Low visitor numbers hit Shanghai Expo’s hopes

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Markets watch for clear Brit election outcome

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Monday, May 10, 2010

www.kuwaittimes.net

EU to defend euro against ‘wolves’ EU officials to propose 60bn euro top-up of existing plan BRUSSELS: European Union finance ministers promised to do everything to defend the euro from the “wolfpack” of the financial markets as they began talks yesterday on emergency measures to stop Greece’s debt crisis spreading. The European Commission will present the ministers with a proposal on a stabilization mechanism intended to provide a multi-billion euro safety net for other euro zone countries with bloated public finances such as Portugal, Spain or Ireland.

Bond yields of these countries have been rising sharply- increasing the risk premium investors carry to hold their debt — on market concern they may be next to need assistance. The threat that markets would turn against the three states next triggered a call from euro zone leaders on Friday to come up with a solution to the crisis before markets open today. “We now see ... wolfpack behaviors, and if we will not stop these packs, even if it is selfinflicted weakness, they will tear the weaker countries apart,” Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told reporters on arrival for the meeting.

“So it’s very, very important that we now make progress, both when it comes to consolidation — -not only long-term but shortterm consolidation-but also when it comes to a common facility to deal with the urgent problems,” he said. Greece, which had a budget deficit of 13.6-14.1 percent of GDP in 2009 and debt of more than 115 percent of GDP, has already secured a 110 billion euro ($148 bln) three-year loan package from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund after its costs of borrowing rose to unsustainable levels.

“We ... need resources to stop the market turmoil. If this goes

ATHENS: Tourists visit the Acropolis archeological site.— AFP on for more than a couple of days it will be very, very problematic for the recovery,” Borg said. EU sources said the European Commission will ask EU finance ministers to extend an existing aid mechanism for non-euro zone countries to nations in the single-

currency bloc. The Commission will also ask the extraordinary meeting of ministers to raise the existing amount available under the mechanism, called the balance-of-payments facility, by 60 billion euros ($80.5 billion).

The maximum available now

is 50 billion euros. EU sources said the 60 billion top-up would be used as base capital, or collateral, for borrowing on the markets, which would allow the Commission to raise up to 10 times that amount. The 60 billion top-up would be guaranteed by all

27 members of the European Union and the loans, if paid out to an EU member, would carry conditions set by the International Monetary Fund, one EU source said.

Funds previously raised via the facility are rated AAA- top

investment grade-by major credit ratings agencies. As an additional measure for euro zone countries only, the Commission will propose a separate mechanism of intergovernmental loans, the source said. “We are going to defend the euro,” Spanish

Economy Minister Elena Salgado told reporters as she arrived for the talks.

A similar mechanism has already been successfully used in the cases of Latvia, Romania and Hungary after the pool of money available was increased to 50 bil-

lion euros last year. The mechanism could be used on the basis of an EU law which says that if a member of the 27-nation bloc is in difficulties caused by circumstances beyond its control, EU ministers may, under certain conditions, grant it financial assistance.

“The situation in the financial markets has gone in a very bad direction, even though the Greek situation was brought under control,” Finnish Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen told a news conference in Helsinki. “Now we have to do everything we can to bring stability in time,” he said.

The ministers’ meeting follows a summit of euro zone leaders on Friday, which asked for a European Stabilization mechanism to be ready before markets open today. Some economists said the move was welcome news, but it would cure the symptoms, rather than the disease.

“By putting in place additional safeguards for the euro area financial system, governments finally appear to be rising to the challenge of the sovereign debt crisis,” Morgan Stanley said in a research note to clients.

“But, like the measures taken before - for the benefit of Greece - a stabilisation fund is just buying time for distressed borrowers,” the bank said. It added: “The fiscal policy action taken in these countries during this “extra time” is essential. If yet another rescue mechanism isn’t followed by aggressive austerity measures, the problem just continues to fester - and could eventually spread even wider.” Euro zone leaders vowed on Friday to accelerate their fiscal consolidation programs to make sure they meet targets set by EU finance ministers this year and in the coming years. — Reuters

Dubai jeweler in talks to recover $55m DUBAI: UAE Jeweller Damas International said it was taking longer to recover the $55 million owed by its founders, the Abdulla brothers, due by April 30, but the delay does not mean a default.

Dubai-based Damas was ordered to dismiss its board and pay fines, after the company last year accused its former head of involvement in $165 million of “unauthorized” transactions.

“Given the complexity involved in

transferring/selling the assets declared to the company, it is taking more time to affect the recoveries as per the timeline mentioned in the previous announcement by the company on 4 November 2009,” Damas said in a bourse statement yesterday.

However, the delay in payments does not constitute an event of default under the agreements, it said adding that efforts were underway to repay the amounts either in cash or by trans-

fer of assets. The company asked for trading of its shares to be resumed immediately, after it was suspended earlier yesterday. The shares last traded at $0.18.

Damas replaced Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Tawhid Abdullah last year after alleging that he made unauthorized transactions worth about $165 million. He has denied any wrongdoing. The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)

found that the “Abdullah Brothers”, who it named as Tawhid, Tawfique and Tamjid Abdullah, owed the company $99.4 million cash plus the value of 1,940 kilograms of gold, which would be worth around $71 million at market prices.

The jeweler’s board of directors has since been replaced, and bank creditors have agreed to a standstill agreement while the company restructures. — Reuters

Engineers mull options after ice blocks bid to cap oil leak NEW ORLEANS: Engineers mulled options yesterday after the first try to cap a ruptured pipe gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico failed when ice crystals clogged a containment dome. Officials said they have not yet given up hope of capping the leaks some 5,000 feet below the surface which are hemorrhaging an estimated 210,000 barrels a day. But they cautioned it will likely be several days before a solution is found. “I wouldn’t say it’s failed yet,” said Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for British energy giant BP, which is responsible for the cleanup.

“What we attempted to do last night

didn’t work because these hydrates plugged up the top of the dome.” Clearing out the slushy crystals is easy-the 100-ton (90-tonne) chamber just has to be raised to warmer levels, Suttles told reporters.

Keeping the crystals out so that a pipe can be lowered into the dome to suck the oil to a waiting barge is another matter. The engineers are looking at ways to heat the frigid water in the dome, among other options, and have moved the concrete and steel box to rest on the seabed some 650 feet (200 meters) away while they evaluate their options.

BP has already begun drilling relief

wells to stem the flow, but it will take about three months for them to be operational. It is also considering other temporary measures like trying to plug the leaks by injecting ground-up material in a “junk shot,” but Suttles said BP cannot proceed until it is sure that it “won’t make the situation worse.” The BP official said his company had anticipated encountering hydrates, but had not expected them to be as significant a problem. The dome had been expected to be operational today and to collect about 85 percent of the leaking crude by funneling it up to a barge on the surface. An estimated 3.5 million gallons of oil has formed

LOUISIANA: Oily water is seen off the side of the Joe Griffin supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. —AP

a slick the size of a small country which threatens the fragile coastal wetlands of Louisiana and the beaches of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Favorable winds have kept the bulk of the oil from reaching shore since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon sank some 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Venice, Louisiana on April 22, two days after an explosion that killed 11 workers.

But the Coast Guard reported that tar balls were beginning to wash up on Alabama’s Dauphin Island, south of Mobile Bay. If the black gobs that are being analyzed prove to be oil, it would be the eastern-most landfall from the BP oil slick.

However, officials closed off the western half of the island to residents last week as part of the region’s effort to prepare for the oil’s arrival. With a thin sheen of oil now lapping Louisiana’s coastal islands, local leaders begged for more boom to protect vulnerable coastal wetlands and wildlife preserves, as well as multi billion-dollar fishing and tourism industries.

“It’ll be so much harder to clean up this oil if it gets into the marshes,” said Governor Bobby Jindal. The US Coast Guard, which is overseeing the recovery efforts, cautioned that resources must be used “strategically.” “There’s not enough to completely boom off every piece of coastline for all four (gulf) states,” Coast Guard Petty Officer David Mosley told AFP. “That’s hundreds and hundreds of miles.” Fears are growing that the disaster is already impacting sea life in a region home to vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and a major migratory stop for rare birds.

“It’s going to destroy the industry-it will never recover if the oil gets into the marshlands,” said Cliff LeBoef, whose Louisiana oyster beds are only now recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.— AFP

HONG KONG: Pedestrians are reflected in a shop window as they walk in the Causeway Bay area.— AFP

Hong Kong’s IPO market hits the brakes HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s IPO market-the biggest in the world last year-has hit the brakes with several companies shelving share sales as the Greek debt crisis pounds global markets. Swire Properties, a major real estate developer in the city, Thursday pulled a planned 3.09-billion US dollar share sale, just two days after Giti Tire, China’s largest tyre maker, shelved a 500-million dollar initial public offering.

On Friday, iron ore producer China Tian Yuan halted its 522-million dollar issue, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing an unnamed source. The shelving of the IPOs comes as British insurer Prudential on Wednesday delayed launching a rights issue in London aimed at helping it fund a 35.5-billion-dollar takeover of AIA, the Asian arm of troubled US insurer AIG. Prudential, which remains in talks with Britain’s financial sector regulator over the deal, said Friday that its planned listings on the Hong Kong and Singapore exchanges would also be delayed. It did not give a revised date for those listings, which will add trading venues without issuing new shares. The announcement came hours after Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index fell Friday to its lowest level in three months, closing at 19,920.29 points as investors fretted about the spectre of a European fiscal implosion. One company that has gone ahead with plans to list is French cosmetics maker L’Occitane, which saw its share price dive 4.51 percent to 14.40 Hong Kong dollars (1.85 US) when it debuted in Hong Kong on Friday after raising 704 million US dollars in its IPO. Brian Brenner, national director of tenant representation at global real

estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle in Hong Kong, said it made sense for companies to pull their share sales given current market conditions.

“If you’re going to float something, you want to do it in the strongest market possible because you only have one go at it,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with the sentiment of the time more than anything else,” added Brenner. “It has been like a domino effect with the credit problems in Greece and Portugal, the delayed Prudential offering.” Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong, said given the global market conditions, more companies would likely drop their IPO plans in the coming weeks.

“The situation will last for some time until the Hang Seng Index bounces back to above 20,000 points,” Lun told AFP. But he said the market fall was due largely to external factors such as Greece’s debt crisis and the tumbling euro. “Any turmoil in the Hong Kong market will be relatively limited compared to the overseas markets,” Lun said.

The listing slowdown comes as Hong Kong’s bourse aims to establish the city as an international IPO hub, shrinking its reliance on mainland Chinese companies. Last year, firms listing in Hong Kong raised almost 32 billion US dollars, making it the world’s largest IPO market in 2009. In January, aluminum giant UC Rusal raised 2.55 billion US dollars in a Hong Kong flotation, the first by a Russian company in the city. But Strikeforce Mining and Resources Plc, controlled by Rusal’s chief executive Oleg Deripaska, will delay its 200-million US dollar Hong Kong IPO, Dow Jones reported, citing an unnamed source. — AFP

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BUSINESS

Monday, May 10, 2010

Stronger US dollar across the board he dollar rallied across the board last week as fears of contagion stemming from the Greek debt crisis escalated and pushed US stocks to one year lows. The greenback benefited from heightened risk aversion as investors rushed to the perceived safety of the dollar along with betterthan-expected US data. The Euro broke the psychological level of 1.3000 and dropped sharply to a low of 1.2520 from a high of 1.3340, on growing fears that the Greek crisis will affect the more vulnerable members of the Euro zone. The sterling pound dropped to a one-year low as the UK faces uncertainty over government control following results of the UK general election.

The pound traded at a low of 1.4475 after reaching a high of 1.5320 earlier in the week. The yen also benefited from the risk aversion theme as it reached 88.00 against the dollar after having traded around a low of 95.00 to close the week at 91.60. The franc traded between 1.0740 and 1.1245.

Finally, the Australian dollar dropped sharply to 0.8715 levels from a high of 0.9275 as hints of a monetary tightening by the RBA sparked a sell-off in the currency.

T

Stocks fall sharply The US stocks suffered one of their biggest ever intraday sell-offs last Thursday, wiping out about $1 trillion in market capitalization at one point before the market recovered some of the losses. This might have been attributed to investors’ increased worrisome over the Euro zone’s debt crisis and its contagion fears. On the

rose more than expected to a five-month high in March, as buyers rushed to sign contract before the popular tax credit expires. However, the non-farm productivity growth slowed sharply in the first quarter, rising by 3.6 percent from 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, suggesting businesses will have to raise employment to boost output.

NBK WEEKLY REPORT

Kuwait Dinar at 0.28945 The USDKWD opened at 0.28945 yesterday following the performance of the US Dollar last week.

other hand, this could have been due to potentially erroneous transactions whereby automated orders were activated by false trades. Additionally, it was believed that a trader had accidentally placed an order to sell $16 billion, instead of $16 million, worth of futures, which was enough to trigger sell orders across the market.

US employment The labor market is on the mend after being hardly hit during the recession, but the recovery pace may be slow for the 8.2

million Americans who had lost their jobs during the worst downturn since the 1930s.

The number of US workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits dropped 7,000 to 440,000 from the previously reported 451,000. Employers added 290,000 jobs in April. The unemployment rate, however, rose to 9.9%, from a previous 9.7%, as people streamed back into the market looking for work.

Good numbers Resilient economic data has boosted the

dollar further last week. The ISM Manufacturing index surged to its highest level since June 2004 at 60.4, beating estimates for an improvement to 60.0 from 59.6 in April. New orders received by US factories jumped unexpectedly by 1.3 percent in March as businesses rebuilt inventories, pointing to continued strength in manufacturing. Personal consumption expenditures index edged up by 0.1 percent on a monthly basis and by 2.0 percent on an annualized basis. In the housing market, pending home sales of previously owned US homes

Europe The European Central Bank (ECB) kept its main refinancing rate unchanged at a record low of 1.00 percent, as widely expected by the financial markets. In a statement following the central bank’s meeting, the ECB’s President Jean-Claude Trichet said the central bank had not considered buying government debt to stop the Euro’s rout as some had speculated and that a Greek default was “out of the question.”

Numbers German manufacturing orders rose 5.0 percent in March, rounding off a surge in first quarter demand that offered strong evidence that the recovery in Europe’s largest economy is gathering pace. German retail sales declined in March by 2.4 percent despite a brighter outlook, as the traditional German winter sales ended.

United Kingdom The sterling pound started the week on a stronger footing trading at a high of 1.5320 against the dollar. However, the pound lost ground later during the week as the outcome of the country’s elections along with a stronger dollar weighed on the currency taking it to 1.4470. The lack of clarity about the composition of the next government and the possibility of a hung parliament raised uncertainty about how Britain would tackle its towering deficits.

Economic indicators The British manufacturing activity grew last month at its fastest rate in more than 15 years, boosting hopes that the broader economy is gathering momentum. The manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 58.0 in April up from 57.3 in March. The PMI non-manufacturing report came in as expected at 55.3 showing steady growth in the service sector. The British mortgage lending rose by GBP 318 million in March, well below the anticipated 1.6 billion hike and the lowest since July 2009, reflecting housing market weakness at the start of the year.

Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia raised its cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.50 percent last week. Despite the strength of the economy, the RBA signaled that the first stage of its tightening cycle was over following its six hikes in eight months.

Low visitor numbers shatter Shanghai Expo’s high hopes Measures underway to increase footfall

DOHA: Gulf Bridge International (GBI) and Omantel officials sign agreement.

GBI-Omantel ink sub-sea cable deal DOHA: Gulf Bridge International (GBI), the Middle East’s first privately owned submarine cable operator, is pleased to announce that Omantel, Oman’s leading telecommunications provider and experienced landing site operator, will provide a landing station for GBI’s cable in Oman.

The launch of GBI’s cable system will provide telecom operators and other communications companies, both in the region and globally, with greater choice, value, diversity and resilience. The GBI Cable System, which will utilize the latest subsea fiber cable technology, will connect all the countries of the Gulf region to each other and provide onward

connectivity to Europe and Asia.

“I am delighted that Omantel, the premier telecoms company in Oman and GBI have reached an agreement to provide a landing station for GBI’s Cable System” commented Hamad Al-Mannai, Executive Vice Chairman of GBI. “The unique geographical location of Oman represents the gateway between the Gulf and the global connectivity market. GBI is excited to conclude this major milestone” “Today’s agreement with GBI confirms Omantel’s position as the region’s leading telecom operator providing a gateway to and from the Gulf to the international subsea cables connecting to the rest of the

world.” said Abdulraheem AlBahlani, General Manager Business Relations, Wholesale “We are confident that we will continue to see significant growth in international traffic, as consumers and businesses in the Gulf region become more dependent on communications applications and services.

“Oman has strengthened its position to become the focal point for the region for the provision of submarine landing stations and this new agreement with GBI is the latest in a number of agreements we have made with international companies as we implement our strategy to be a HUB for global companies in the region.”

Upon signing the Landing

Party Agreement, Ahmed Mekky, Board Member and CEO of GBI said “Oman’s location at the entrance to the Gulf, where the majority of international subsea cables meet, is strategically important to GBI as it allows GBI easy access to both Asia and Europe. We are forecasting tremendous growth in regional traffic to and from the Gulf and this agreement will ensure we can provide onward connectivity for our customers both eastwards and westwards” Scheduled to launch in 2011 and designed to operate for up to 25 years, the GBI cable system will connect all the Gulf countries via a core ring, which can re-route traffic thereby increasing resilience.

SHANGHAI: Massive queues snake around the steel and glass pavilions, and signs warn of four-hour waits at key sites-indications the first week of China’s World Expo in Shanghai has been a huge success. But organizers of the six-month event, launched with great fanfare including a star-studded party and a mammoth fireworks show along the Huangpu river, are worried they will fail to draw the 70 million visitors they have predicted.

“If the situation continues, we will take measures to increase the flow of visitors,” an Expo official who did not want to be named was quoted as saying by the Global Times newspaper.

The Expo, a display of culture, ideas and technology from 189 countries and dozens of companies, is seen as a showcase of China’s growing political and economic clout. Organizers have repeatedly given the magic attendance number of 70 million as the hallmark of success, but so far, turnout has fallen far short of the daily average of 380,000 needed to meet that goal.

Even though all 500,000 opening day tickets were sold out, only 207,000 people came. Organisers who keenly offered hourly attendance updates at the outset are now only giving daily figures. Shanghai-keen to show the world it is a cosmopolitan city on a par with London and New York-nevertheless hopes it can set an Expo attendance record, topping the 64 million people who visited Osaka in 1970.

Portia Luo, a 29-year-old secretary watching Mongolian musicians and Canadian aboriginal dancers perform at the site, said reports of big crowds and long waits in the hot sun had “definitely... scared

SHANGHAI: A man walks past visitors as they queue under the rain to enter the Spanish pavilion at the site of the World Expo 2010 yesterday. — AFP some people” away.

Across the river only a handful of visitors wandered through the city exhibits by London, Madrid, Hamburg and others highlighting how they are embracing the Expo’s theme, “Better City, Better Life”. More than 33 million tickets have been sold and the Shanghai government plans to give a free ticket to each household in the city, boosting potential attendance so far to 40 million, organisers say.

They have urged ticketholders not to wait until Expo’s final weeks to show up, but 54-year-old retiree Jiang Lijun said she did not want to tackle the heat and would likely

wait until at least September to visit with her family.

“We saw too many media reports saying that there are very long queues at the Expo park,” Jiang said outside a downtown shopping mall. Tough security also may have dampened tourists’ enthusiasm.

Authorities have insisted on rigorous searches in rail and subway stations, car inspections and major road traffic restrictions around the site.

For those braving the first week of Expo, the lower-than-expected turnout meant lines were flowing smoothly at the site’s hotspots by the end of the week. — AFP

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

.2850000 .4250000 .3660000 .2580000 .2750000 .2540000 .0045000 .0020000 .0784240 .7640650 .4020000 .0750000 .7490330 .0045000 .0500000

.2960000 .4360000 .3730000 .2670000 .2850000 .2620000 .0075000 .0035000 .0792120 .7717740 .4170000 .0790000 .7565610 .0072000 .0580000

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

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2889000 .4275920 .3686490 .2606500 .2769430 .0495740 .0378230 .2568150 .0371170 .2069980 .0031550 .0063630 .0025430 .0034330 .0041990 .0786950 .7666930 .4085790 .0770780 .7507570 .0063560

.2910000 .4306110 .3712520 .2624960 .2789040 .0499260 .0380910 .2586280 .0373800 .2084640 .0031770 .0064080 .0025610 .0034570 .0042280 .0791960 .7715800 .4114720 .0775700 .7555430 .0064010

US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2910000 .4306110 .2624960 .0775700

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.206 6.376

Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

3.441 2.548 3.992 208.300 37.290 4.186 6.362 8.989 0.301 0.292 GCC COUNTRIES 77.400 79.740 754.000 770.830 79.040 ARAB COUNTRIES 54.250 51.840 1.287 197.800 409.900 194.700 6.269 33.811

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 290.100 Euro 374.230 Sterling Pound 433.700 Canadian dollar 281.700 Turkish lire 186.400 Swiss Franc 264.930 Australian dollar 257.500 US Dollar Buying 288.000 GOLD 235.000 120.000 61.000

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

SELL CASH 262.100 771.570 4.410 282.800 569.700 15.800 50.600 167.800 54.620 374.100

38.070 6.700 0.035 0.295 0.256 3.270 411.850 0.196 91.110 47.200 4.260 212.000 1.977 47.700 753.680 3.530 6.730 80.240 77.470 209.700 40.260 2.749 434.900 38.800 265.900 264.400 6.400 9.350 217.900 79.170 290.500 1.340

10 Tola

GOLD 1,317.260

Sterling Pound US Dollar

37.920 6.380

410.120 0.195 91.110 4.000 210.500

SELL DRAFT 260.600 771.570 4.188 281.300

209.700 51.873 372.600

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

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

9.170 79.070 290.100

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar 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

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 432.900 290.100

290.050 279.166 430.150 372.234 261.474 710.935 767.734 78.949 79.649 77.315 409.302 51.864 6.381 3.449

2.542 4.194 6.344 3.087 8.945 6.327 3.980

Currency 753.500 3.480 6.370 79.810 77.470 209.700 40.260 2.548 432.900

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash

Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria 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

290.250 3.455 6.385 2.560 4.200 6.530 79.090 77.570 771.200 51.855 435.500 0.000035000 4.200 1.550 412.000 5.750 375.200 285.200

Al Mulla Exchange Currency 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

Transfer rate 289.900 372.000 431.500 280.000 3.185 6.375 51.850 2.548 4.187 6.345 3.455 770.600 78.950 77.320

BUSINESS

Monday, May 10, 2010

WEEKLY COMMODITY UPDATE

Calamity in global markets

By Ole S Hansen

F

inancial markets experienced one of the most dramatic weeks in years as sovereign debt worries triggered an avalanche of risk reduction.

The Euro remained under pressure all week as the market viewed the Greek bail out with scepticism and renewed selling pressure on southern European government debt and banking stocks followed. Investors seeking a safe haven from the turmoil drove ten year government bond yields in Germany down to a record low at 2.8 percent.

Thursday’s near 1,000 point sell off in the Dow Jones index will however be the lasting memory from this week. The Thursday trading session opened weak as traders watch the unrest in Athens unfold on their screens.

What followed was the most dramatic and amazing market collapse seen since the 1987 crash. It later turned out that a chain event of trading errors triggered the panic on electronic trading platforms with bids disappearing.

The lack of circuit breakers caused some 300 stocks to be driven down by more than 60 percent, some reaching the lowest possible price of just 1 cent before recovering back to near their original price level. Investors will be looking for answers from the authorities as to

what happened and how a repeat can be prevented.

The monthly unemployment data from the US calmed the markets somewhat as new job creation exceeded expectations. Nervousness persists as fears about the banking system freezing up again have become a present danger leaving limited room to the upside near term.

Commodities took the brunt of the selling as risk aversion and lack of liquidity triggered reversals across the board. Gold managed a small gain on the week helped by its safe haven status but also struggled amid continued dollar strength. Crude oil and gasoline both suffered double digit falls as the oil less recovery in the US and fears about overheating in China took prices lower.

During the past month crude tested and got rejected three times above 87 which technically triggered a seven dollar sell off once the recent low at 81 gave way. Trend line support back from July 2008 at 74.30 halted the move and some consolidation below 81 is now expected. Long term the 100 week moving average has crossed down through the 200 week leaving little room to the upside. The 74.30 will be crucial in determining whether this market is in for additional weakness over the coming weeks. Gold not surprisingly has put in a strong performance despite the dollar strength and weakness elsewhere. Thursday’s market calamity saw it trading back above 1,200 and now looks set for a retest of the December high at 1,226.50. The current trading range is between 1,215 and 1,160 with additional support at 1,192.

VIVA Kuwait takes show on the road KUWAIT: VIVA Kuwait is offering special postpaid voice lines and BlackBerry packages to University students in Kuwait. Till May 13, VIVA Kuwait will be at Kuwait University’s Engineering College in Khaldiya, today and tomorrow, VIVA Kuwait will be at GUST University.

VIVA Kuwait’s exclusive package for student features BlackBerry Onyx or Gemini devices, as well as new double up options at value packed rates to complement a student’s lifestyle. For postpaid voice lines, students can now double up their credit bundles with VIVA. With a one year contract, this package offers free gold numbers from the 500 series and double ups on 8, 16 and 25 up to four months. Students can now double up their credit bundles with VIVA. As for the BlackBerry packages, VIVA launched the BlackBerry KD 12 especially for students. They can get BlackBerry 12 with 2 or KD 8 credit bundles on a monthly subscription; BlackBerry devices will be discounted for any students signing up for this offer. Also available with VIVA is the new and improved Internet offers for one or two year contracts.

VIVA Kuwait is touring university campuses throughout Kuwait to make their offers possible for all students. It has never been easier to stay connected, surf the Internet, check email accounts, socialize with friends and relatives through Facebook, tweet on Twitter, as well as stay up to date on the latest YouTube videos.

Not to mention Googling up some important information for that upcoming term paper.

Sheikha Nouf Al-Sabah

CBK announces Al-Tijari exhibition KUWAIT: In view of the continued considerable success of “Al-Tijari Hobbyist Exhibition”, Commercial Bank of Kuwait organizes for the seventh consecutive year, “Al-Tijari 7th Hobbyist Exhibition” for CBK staff from May 13-15, 2010.

On this occasion, Sheikha Nouf Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah Head of Advertising & Public Relations Dept said that CBK endeavors constantly to organize this annual exhibition which achieves more success year after year and expressed her happiness at the increasing number of participants. She emphasized that the exhibition provides participants a chance to present their art related thoughts and experience through a special event tailored for them, namely “Al-Tijari Hobbyist Exhibition”. Sheikha Nouf added its correlation with Al-Tijari stands as a clear manifestation of the bank’s efforts to support the diverse hobbies of its staff members.

Sheikha Nouf who had initiated the idea long time ago, pointed out that the exhibition is a good opportunity to exhibit the artworks and handcrafts manually made by the bank’s staff and their families and

which may be displayed through CBK’s support by organizing such events.

Further, the exhibited items include a wide variety of popular designs, an assortment of accessories, various household items, artificial jewelry, marvelous paintings and other crafts that accommodate all tastes and reflect the different cultures of the employees participating.

Sheikha Nouf concluded her press statement by stating that it has become a special occasion where all the bank staff and their families meet and this in turn boosts the social relationships among all staff members and reflects CBK’s support for the artistic, cultured and innovative talents of all staff members. It is worthwhile to mention that such event comes within the bank’s social responsibility towards its staff members. The exhibition will be held at the Dar of His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah located at Qurtuba. It will be held for three days and receive its visitors on Thursday and Friday between 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm, and on Saturday 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

Iran threatens to oust foreign firms over gas field delay Foreign investments slow down over sanction fears TEHRAN: Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi threatened on Saturday that Iran would kick out foreign firms for delaying the development of its massive South Pars gas field and replace them with domestic companies.

Mirkazemi did not name any foreign company, but his threat comes just days after Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps boasted that it could take over projects from Western firms such as Total and Shell in South Pars.

“We have recently told some foreign firms which have delayed (development of) some phases (in South Pars) for several years, that we would not negotiate with them and domestic firms will be given these projects to implement,” Mirkazemi was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency. Several foreign companies have stopped making new investments in Iran’s energy sector amid Western pressure for new sanctions against Tehran because it continues to pursue its controversial nuclear program.

Iran is OPEC’s second largest crude oil exporter and also holds one of the largest gas reserves in the world. It has planned a massive 200billion-dollar investment in the energy sector over a fiveyear period to 2015.

Mirkazemi said on Saturday, without elaborating, that the Islamic republic was facing “shortage of funds for implementing various projects.”

Iran has already started issuing bonds to raise funds for these projects, and last month a top official with the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company said it will issue five billion euros worth of bonds in the next Iranian year starting March 21, 2011. He said three billion euros of the money raised from the issue will be used to develop South Pars. The Guards boasted last month that the corps can take over Iranian energy sector projects if Western firms pull out.

Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, who heads the Guards’ political bureau, played down the impact of Western sanctions, saying: “The Revolutionary Guards are proud to declare that they have the ability and know-how to easily replace large foreign companies.

“For example, we can take up big projects in (the southern port and energy hub of) Assalouyeh and replace Total and Shell.”

The Guards’ presence in Iran’s economy has risen under the presidency of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, even as the United States and European Union target the body for “weapons proliferation” amid accusations it is involved in Tehran’s nuclear program.

China, which continues to reject the imposition of new sanctions on Tehran, has emerged as one of the main investors in the Iranian energy sector. —AFP

Wataniya’s Red Draw Campaign begins KUWAIT: As promised by its Red Draw Campaign, Wataniya Telecom is conducting the first electronic draw at The Avenues mall rewarding its customers and interacting with them in a live show and giving out instant prizes for all participants. The Red Draw Campaign gave the chance to each Wataniya customer to be a winner without having to do anything! Winning is simple if your number starts with 6. Wataniya is having a monthly draw on the 10th of each month to reward its customers for being part of Wataniya’s family.

The electronic draw will award 105 winning customers; gifts will range from Mini Coopers, Yamaha Banshees, and Football Travel Packages to South Africa. Cell phones devices, Blackberry devices and thousands of free SMS and talk time will be given to the winners.

Mishaal Al-Shayee will host the live

show at The Avenues today in Phase 1 Rotunda 2 from 5:00 pm till 9:30 pm, announcing the lucky winners as well as presenting instant Q&A sessions PR Manager Abdol and giving out prizes for those Aziz Al-Balool who give the right answers. The Official Draw will be conducted live at 7 pm.

“We wanted to create a campaign that is out of the box and is different from the norm. Our Red Draw Campaign encompasses every Wataniya subscriber and gives the opportunity for each one of them to win

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valuable prizes.” Abdol Aziz Al-Balool PR Manager at Wataniya expressed.

“We will be at the Avenues mall today to interact with our customers and the audience for a more valuable experience and entertainment for them” AlBalool also added.

Every Wataniya customer is qualified to take advantage of this unique opportunity and expect grand prizes every month. The more a customer uses Wataniya services, the more chances for him/her to win a prize. In addition, postpaid customers are awarded by points when paying their bills within the due date. If you weren’t among the lucky winners with Wataniya’s Red Campaign this month, more opportunities are to come for you in the next draws for the next 11 months! Congratulations to all May winners!

ASALUYEH: File picture shows an Iranian engineer standing in front the development phases 6, 7 and 8 of Iran’s ‘South Pars’ gas field onshore facility. —AFP

New campaign promotes the true spirit of Egypt DUBAI: Amr El Ezabi, Chairman of The Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA) announced the launch of a new Arab Campaign “Egypt... the Beginning of the Tale” in a press conference held in Dubai in the presence of Mohab Nasr, Consul General of Egypt in Dubai and Northern emirates, key media, and tourism industry representatives.

El Ezabi, Chairman of the Egyptian Tourist Authority called on the Arab tourists to rediscover Egypt’s rich heritage, lively entertainment, and vibrant destinations that inspired many memorable experiences since the dawn of time. “A warm welcome awaits visitors in Egypt where, spirited people and a lively social and artistic agenda entertain them all year long, and a host of breathtaking destinations combining exquisite nature and luxurious resorts, tell thrilling stories of Egypt, the world’s most ancient civilizations,” added El Ezabi.

The new campaign “Egypt... the Beginning of the Tale” will cover the GCC markets including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, as well as Jordan and Libya. The integrated promotional campaign includes highly creative advertisements on television, press ads, outdoor placements, and an extensive online component. Effectively, the ETA will re-launch its official Arabic website (arabic.egypt.travel) on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM). The revamped website will reflect the creativity of the campaign while providing an exciting insight into the various tourist destinations and products such as city breaks in Cairo

ETA Chairman Amr El Ezabi and Alexandria, Northern Coast, luxury resorts in Sinai and the Red Sea, Nile cruises, Spa & Wellness tourism, shopping, Ramadan.

The new campaign aims to improve the image of Egypt through highlighting the diversity of the Egyptian tourism products and the quality of tourist services. Its key objective will also be to attract new segments of visitors throughout the year by focusing on new tourism categories such as health, five-star, and luxurious resorts on the Red Sea, Cairo by night, and the North Coast. A tactical campaign will follow to introduce Arabs to the spirit of Egypt dur-

ing the holy month of Ramadan.

According to El Ezabi “The spirit of Egypt that keeps bringing people back and back again to the country.” In fact, a recent survey conducted by the Egyptian Tourist Authority unveiled that about 90 percent of Arab travelers have visited Egypt at least once. The study came to reinforce the perception that Arabs have long had about Egypt; a vibrant country with fun-loving, friendly, and warm people.

Regarding the overall status of the Egyptian tourism sector, ETA Chairman said: “With over 3.46 million tourists entering the country from January to March end, a record 29 percent increase, we have started to see positive signs of recovery. During the first quarter of 2010, our tourism revenues increased 24 percent to reach USD$2.7 billion. We are confident the rest of the year will only be better.”

In addition to the new campaign, the ETA organizes regular road-shows and delegations to various Arab countries on annual basis and participates frequently in international exhibitions held across major Arab markets. The authority works closely with key travel and tourism players to promote Egypt through various joint campaigns especially in Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. An extensive media and public relations strategy has also been launched in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates and includes a number of familiarization trips and sponsorship and participation in various events and activities throughout the year.

AUB announces weekly draw winners KUWAIT: The only investment savings account with prizes compliant to Sharia’a AUB has announced the results of the weekly draw of its Al-Hassad Islamic savings scheme. The lucky customer Murali Kottakota Lakishmanaraw won the grand weekly prize worth KD 20,000. The following AlHassad Islamic customers won cash prizes of KD 1,000 each: Zahraa Ali Abdulla Hasan, Mohamad Nakad, Lissamma Joseph, Zakiya Abdulla Al Mousa and Naser Ahmed Yusuf Abdulla.

The biggest-ever Al-Hassad Islamic savings scheme features 6,000 prizes worth KD 10 million in total. The scheme’s structure gives eligible customers the opportunity to win KD 1 million in two quarterly prize draws, offering a single ‘Grand Salary for Life’ prize of KD 4,000 a month for the next 250 months.

Other ‘Salary for Life’ prizes include quarterly KD 500,000 prizes (KD 2,000 paid out every month) and KD 250,000 prizes (KD 1,000 paid out every month). With a total of three winners announced each quarter, all prizes convert to a stable source of monthly income for the winner over the next 250 months.

Apart from the quarterly prizes, one grand weekly prize of KD 20,000 and five weekly

The winner Murali Kottakota Lakishmanaraw receives the cheque from Hamad Ashkanani, AUB Area Manager. cash prizes of KD 1,000 each are given away every week.

Customers with KD 1,000 and above invested in the Al-Hassad Islamic scheme are eligible to win KD 500,000 in each of the four loyalty draws held over the scheme period.

The concept behind the savings scheme is giving customers the opportunity to win a ‘Salary for Life’. AUB’s objective has been to create a lifetime change for the winners and allow them to invest their winnings in things that will make a lasting

difference to the well being of their families. For more information on the Al-Hassad Islamic investment savings account, its prize structure and eligibility criteria, customers may visit any AUB Kuwait branch or call Hayakom 181 2000.

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BUSINESS

KSE touches big intra-day loss Global Daily Market Report KUWAIT: The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) fell sharply during yesterday’s session.

Selling orders with no buying interest were prevalent during yesterday’s session. These declines are backed by psychological reasons associated with the sharp falls witnessed by the world markets against the backdrop of the Greece crisis.

Market indices GGI shed 3.15 points (- 1.55 percent) during yesterday’s session to reach 200.08 points.

Furthermore, the KSE Price Index decreased by 138.30 points (-1.94 percent) yesterday and closed at 6,976.10 points.

Market capitalization was down KD 519.89 million yesterday to reach KD 33.04 billion.

Market breadth During yesterday’s session, 126 companies were traded.

Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 105 equities retreated versus seven that advanced. A total of 99 stocks remained unchanged during yesterday’s trading session.

Daily trading activity Trading activities ended on a positive note yesterday as volume of shares traded on the exchange increased by 20.61 percent to reach 141.38 million shares. Furthermore, value of shares traded gained by 48.13 percent to stand at KD 37.76 million.

The investment sector was the volume leader yesterday, accounting for 23.82 percent of total market volume. The banking sector was the value leader, with 46.05 percent of total market value. Gulf Finance House was the volume leader yesterday, with a total traded volume of 12.56 million. In terms of value, Kuwait Finance House took the top spot with a total traded value of KD 6.78 million.

Top gainers and biggest decliners In terms of top gainers,

Advanced Technology Company took the top spot for the day, adding 7.58 percent and closed at KD 0.710. On the other hand, Automated Systems Company shed 14.08 percent and closed at KD 0.300, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sectors wise Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, they all ended the day on a negative note Except for Global Insurance Index, which was unchanged during yesterday’s trading session. Global Investment Index was the top decliner, down 3.01 percent.

Contributing to the index’s

decline was Kuwait Projects Company (Holding), the largest company in the sector, ending the day down 1.20 percent and closed at KD 0.410.

Furthermore, National Investment Company also dragged down the index by posting a 4.11 drop to close at KD 0.350. It is worth mentioning that almost half of the companies in the investment sector ended in the red, with the remaining companies being unchanged.

Global Industrial Index was the second biggest decliner, down 2.49 percent backed by

National Industries Group (Holding) ending the day with a loss of 4.11 percent to close at KD 0.350.

Furthermore, ACICO ended the day down 4.29 percent and closed at KD 0.335.

Global’s special indices also ended the day in the red, with Global Islamic Index being the top decliner. The index ended the day with a loss of 2.47 percent backed by Kuwait Finance House which ended the day down 1.92 percent.

Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $78.52 a

barrel on Thursday, compared with $81.12 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Market news Kuwait Central Bank is hosting today a seminar for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) central banks and monetary bodies to follow up on the latest developments in the field’s criteria and systems. Operation amid extreme international pressure, such as in case of global financial crises, and bolstering management capacity when under stress are one among the topics.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Qatar Airways wins three leading awards in Dubai DUBAI: Qatar Airways has claimed yet further key international awards, winning three accolades at two glittering award ceremonies in Dubai. The Doha-based carrier retained its Leading Business Class Airline in the Middle East title as voted by travel industry professionals in the prestigious World Travel Awards, an honour that the airline has now held for five consecutive years.

The airline’s innovative exclusive Premium Terminal for First and Business Class passengers at Doha International Airport was named Leading Airport Lounge in the Middle East.

The two awards were presented at a ceremony held at The Address in Dubai Marina where acclaimed international singer Nancy Ajram was the star performer of the night.

At a separate ceremony organised by Business Traveller Middle East for travel industry professionals held at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel, Qatar Airways took home the airline award for Best Economy Class in the Middle East for the second year running.

Readers of the monthly magazine based their voting on cabin comfort and inflight service.

The airline, which offers superior space with an Economy seat pitch of up to 34 inches - above the industry norm - recently began introducing seat back entertainment across its cabins on the new Airbus A320 family of aircraft.

The British Embassy Consul General in Dubai Guy Warrington presented the evening’s awards and the latest accolades demonstrate Qatar Airways’ commitment to offering the travelling public with unrivalled levels of inflight service. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al-Baker said: “Most airlines invest heavily in developing their premium cabins and, while we continue to do this, Qatar Airways strives to innovate in Economy Class ensuring our high standards are maintained and passenger expectations are exceeded worldwide.”

The awards coincided with Arabian Travel Market - the Middle East’s premier travel trade event - taking place in Dubai where Qatar Airways is participating with a prominent exhibition stand. More than 400 leading figures from across the regional and international travel and tourism industry attended both events. AlBaker added: “Winning the Leading Business Class category five years in a row and Leading Airport Lounge once again proves that we have an outstanding product, which continues to convince travel industry professionals and our customers year on year.”

“These are great achievements for the airline and show that we clearly deliver an ultimate inflight experience which our customers appreciate. Our exclusive Premium Terminal is the world’s only dedicated commercial passenger terminal for First and Business Class passengers - and winning again just four years after its opening reflects the importance we place on service delivery. “Our passengers travelling in Economy also have an unrivalled experience and we are extremely delighted to have won over the travelling public for our high service standards in the Economy cabins.”

The World Travel Awards were conceived in 1993 to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in the world’s travel and tourism industry. Now in their 17th year, travel professionals and discerning travellers have come to regard the World Travel Awards as the very best endorsement that a travel product can hope to receive.

Dubai-based Business Traveler Middle East is a prestigious monthly travel magazine, part of a global franchise of similar publications worldwide dedicated to frequent travellers. Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 82 aircraft to 89 diverse cities across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and North America. The airline has over 200 aircraft pending delivery with the orders worth more than US$40 billion.

BUSINESS

Monday, May 10, 2010

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Merkel’s party gets ready for backlash over Greece Merkel faces possibility of defeat over economic reforms

SYDNEY: A Neil Durback-designed house (center) cantilevers over the sandstone cliff on Sydney’s eastern seaboard on May 8, 2010. —AFP

Australian property prices soar SYDNEY: Sydney real estate agent Poh Ling Ee remembers the young couple who came to her hoping she could help them buy their first home for a reasonable price. But with a buying frenzy making Australian homes among the world’s least affordable, Ee says her advice was to take the next home they liked and not quibble too much about the cost. “You just pay whatever you have to pay to get it before auction,” she says she told them.

In Australia’s largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the growth in property prices has been enough to ensure many prospective home owners are priced out of the market before they make their first tentative bid. A house which cost 700,000 Australian dollars (about 620,800 US) a year ago now sells for 800,000 dollars as housing supply fails to keep up with the demands of an increasing population, Ee says.

“Also there’s been a lot of foreign buyers,” she says, citing the case of a Chinese man who paid 750,000 dollars cash for a two-bedroom home because it was cheaper than in Shanghai.

“They outbid everyone.” Australia boasts some of the least affordable housing in the world, according to the US-based Demographia survey, which found houses in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are less affordable than in London and New York.

Affordability is the ratio of the average price of a house against average household incomes.

Australia’s central bank, which has lifted interest rates six times since October, is keeping its eye on the market. “Over the past 15 months, capital city housing prices have risen by an average of around 1.0 percent a month, to be 15 percent above their trough in late 2008,” the Reserve Bank of Australia said in a monetary statement Friday.

The bank noted that the supply of new housing-hampered by government restrictions and

the tightness of finance for developers — is not keeping up with demand, while the rise also reflected improved economic growth. Analysts expect the situation to worsen in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, with available housing shrinking as people live longer and the national population tips over 28 million over the next two decades. “The shortages are going to get much, much worse in Sydney,” Jason Anderson, a senior economist with BIS Shrapnel told AFP. Anderson said the underlying lack of housing had contributed to a 10 to 15 percent explosion in Sydney’s prices over the past year and had put a “floor” underneath what people pay to buy homes. Prices were now so high in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne that Anderson said there could be a plateau due to the “great limitations on how much price growth there can be over the next couple of years.”

But central bank interest rate rises since October, which have left the official cash rate at 4.5 percent, have so far failed to dampen demand significantly, he said. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said this week that homes in Sydney have risen 21 percent over the year to March, and those in Melbourne rocketed 28 percent.

Perhaps the best sign of the frenzied buying is the sale of a four-bedroom terrace house in Sydney’s trendy Annandale, which fetched 1.3 million dollars in December 2008 but auctioned for more than 1.8 million dollars last month.

The house had been repainted and recarpeted but it was largely unchanged from 2008, said agent Vittoria Pizzolato. In a wild 30-second exchange hopefuls drove the price up 200,000 dollars, offering a series of 50,000 dollar premiums towards the end. “We were astounded. We still can’t get over it,” Pizzolato told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. “We fell off our chair when the hammer went down.” —AFP

Central bankers to meet as Greek crisis spirals BASEL: Central bankers meeting from this weekend in Switzerland were meant to discuss such issues as the end of special measures taken during the worst global financial crisis since World War II, as well as longer-term issues surrounding monetary system reforms. But their meetings may now turn into a crisis sitting as Greece’s debt woes ballooned into one of global proportions, sending Europe’s single currency plunging and world stocks sharply down.

Central bankers were to gather yesterday and today at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, before heading to Zurich for a conference on the international monetary system organized by the IMF and Swiss National Bank tomorrow. Economist Jan-Egbert Sturm told AFP that they are now not only having to deal with the puzzle of unwinding extraordinary measures adopted during the financial crisis, but also the crisis sparked by Greek debt.

“What we have seen in the financial crisis was that central banks were forced to create new instruments to deal with the crisis. It is uncertain how these new instruments will be dealt with,” he said. The situation in the eurozone “makes it even more complicated on different fronts,” added Sturm, who heads the Centre for Economic Research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Central banks had pumped extraordinary sums of liquidity into the financial system and pushed interest

rates down to record lows as they seek to stimulate lending and economic activity.

With most economies emerging from recession, they have begun withdrawing these measures, and the focus has turned to longerterm issues surrounding the monetary system that were exposed by the financial crisis. Among them is the question of instabilities in the system generated by the US dollar’s role as the world’s dominant reserve, an issue to be tabled at the IMF meeting. However, the Greek crisis in the past week has taken on global proportions, with implications felt as far as the United States and Asia.

Japan’s central bank on Friday moved to calm markets by pumping in more than 20 billion dollars in liquidity, helping in part to curb the yen’s rise. The falling euro was also taking its toll on key trading partners of the bloc, such as Switzerland, whose currency rose to a historic high against the euro, raising fears that exports would be hit.

However, the franc gained to a record 1.40 francs on Thursday against the euro. Sturm noted that the bank’s foreign reserves had grown sharply due to its interventions, and that it was now unclear how the bank would reduce its balance sheet. “Take the Swiss National Bank, it is quite obvious that the way forward is not entirely clear. The central bankers say that they know what they are doing, but I doubt it,” he said. Pressure is once again rising for central

banks, particularly the European Central Bank, to act.

On Saturday, European leaders launched plans to create a new crisis fund aimed at all troubled euro countries, as the Greek debt chaos put the eurozone into a “state of emergency.”

Sources stressed that talks on an idea for the European Commission to pour up to 70 billion euros into a reserve pool would require the European Central Bank’s agreement, given its politically independent status. Analysts such as Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, also believe that the ECB may be forced to adopt once again quantitative easing measures to stabilise the situation.

“One possible option-if market strains worsen significantly would be for the ECB ultimately to engage in ‘quantitative easing’ by purchasing Greek sovereign debt and possibly other sovereign debt outright in the secondary markets,” he said.

For Heiner Flassbeck, chief economist of UNCTAD, the Greek crisis has added the impetus for urgent action to address weaknesses in the monetary system.

“We have many instabilities in the system because after the financial crisis not much has happened in terms of reregulating the system,” he said. Blind speculation had to be curbed, said Flassbeck. “What you need is clear straightforward action to show that there are limits for the markets,” he said. —AFP

BERLIN: Polls in Germany’s most populous state opened for a key election yesterday, with surveys showing that voters angry at the bailout for Greece could hand Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party a bitter defeat. Just two days after the German parliament approved an unpopular threeyear loan package for Athens worth billions of euros, some 13.5 million voters in the western region of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) elect a new legislature.

A reverse for Merkel could cost her the majority in the upper house of parliament, giving her opponents the power to block several promised reforms including sweeping tax cuts she hopes will invigorate Europe’s top economy. And the most recent opinion polls showed that the 22.4 billion euros (28.4 billion dollars) in aid for Greece could punish Merkel’s conservatives, who have governed NRW with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) since 2005.

The two parties, also in coalition at a national level, are poised to win between 43 to 45 percent of the vote, according to polls. The rival centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who held power in the state for four decades until 2005, and their preferred partners, the Greens, are polling between 45 and 47 percent. Greece was certainly to the fore in the final hours of campaigning, with the conservative candidate, Juergen Ruettgers, seeking desperately to defend the bailout in an industrial region that has itself has been hit by recession.

On the other hand, the SPD abstained in Friday’s parliamentary vote, a tactical move that analysts said could pay off in North RhineWestphalia, which takes in such major cities as Cologne and Dusseldorf. A YouGov poll published in mass circulation daily newspaper Bild on the eve of the election showed that the bailout would affect how one in five NRW voters cast their ballot.

Beyond control of the NRW state legislature, the dominance of Merkel’s coalition in the Bundesrat upper house also hangs in the balance.

The conservatives and the FDP currently hold 37 of the 69 in the Bundesrat, just over the 35 needed for a majority.

Losing NRW would deprive them of six seats and risk bringing their plans to a shuddering halt. “Scarcely one of the big projects that the conservatives and the FDP promised seven months ago in their coalition agreement will-if the polls are correctsurvive,” wrote the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag weekly. Bild am Sonntag said the vote was a “day of fate” for Merkel, adding that policies such as a drive to slash taxes by 16 billion euros by 2012 were doomed if her party lost.

Political scientist Gerd Langguth of the University of Bonn said that life had been on hold in Germany, politically speaking, until this vote took place. “For months, federal politics has been nearly at a standstill because all decisions have been taken with a view to this election, or postponed until after it takes place,” he said.

And the president of the association of German taxpayers told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung: “The federal government should finally be free to work again, without taking account of party political interests in the regions.” Ballot boxes in the state opened at 0600 GMT and are due to close at 1600 GMT, when exit polls will be released. However, due to the complex electoral arithmetic, the closeness of the race and the probability of torturous coalition negotiations, it could be some time until the make-up of the new Bundesrat is known. —AFP

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks on during a press conference at the chancellery. —AFP

BHP warns Australia tax could affect investment SYDNEY: Australia’s proposed 40 percent tax on resources profits could not only drive investment overseas but impact expansion at BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine, chief executive Marius Kloppers said yesterday.

The centre-left Labor government is holding firm on its decision to tax the so-called “super profits” of the mining companies reaping the benefits of an Asian-driven commodities boom. But Kloppers said the government was attempting to take “another bite of the cherry” and the proposal could impact expansion at its Olympic Dam uranium and copper mine in South Australia.

“This new tax proposal does upset the apple cart there a little bit,” the head of the world’s biggest diversified mining company told state television in an interview. But he said this did not mean the project had been shelved. Kloppers said that while he did not expect the proposed tax to impact on the company’s plans for an iron ore joint venture with Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, other Australian projects could be affected.

“The uncertainty is in place-it would be

very difficult to approve any of those projects,” he said, adding that no BHP operations were due for a final investment decision imminently. The government hopes the new tax, which helped see resources stocks dive last week after it was announced on yesterday, will raise 3.0 billion dollars (2.7 billion US) in the first year of operation from June 2012. Treasurer Wayne Swan said because the government was lowering company tax from 30 percent to 28 percent, the effective tax rate for a resources company would range between 28 percent and 53.3 percent depending on their profits.

And he denied the proposed levy would permanently damage the industry. But Kloppers said the proposed tax would mean Australian mining companies paid twice the tax rate of other major mining countries such as Canada and Brazil and drive investment overseas. “There will be an impact on investment, jobs and growth if the tax is implemented in an unchanged form,” Kloppers said.

“I think that what one can safely say is

that if you pay twice the tax in one country that you pay in another for the same product then relatively speaking that other country will become more attractive.” Swan said he did not expect mining executives to be “overjoyed about having to pay a fair price for the mineral resources that the Australian people own”, but that the government would not back down on its plans to introduce the tax.

“We cannot govern, and cannot take decisions, if mining executives decide to go out there and put a gun to the head of the national interest of Australia through threats,” he said. “We’re not going to give in to those sorts of threats.” Australia earned some 127.5 billion dollars from resources exports in 2008-2009, with the sector accounting for 44.8 percent of total exports. Estimates are that Australia is set for a decades-long commodities boom fuelled by rocketing demand for minerals and energy from fast-industrializing China and India. —AFP

ROXBY DOWNS, Australia: This undated BHP Billiton handout photo shows BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam copper and uranium operation. —AFP

Euro could reach parity with dollar, says German economist BERLIN: Battered by the Greek fiscal crisis, the euro could weaken to the point of parity with the US dollar, a top German economist said yesterday, as others warned of inflation in Europe’s biggest economy. “As long as uncertainty over Greece and other countries on the periphery of the euro area continues, the euro will remain under pressure,” Thomas Mayer, chief economist at Deutsche Bank, told the Bild am Sonntag

weekly.

“I think we could soon see 1.20 against the dollar and a further decline in the direction of parity is definitely possible,” added Mayer. On Friday, as volatile markets closed for the week, the euro fetched 1.2755 dollars as investors warned that failure to nail down a credible rescue plan at yesterday’s meeting of EU finance ministers could pressure the euro even more.

Meanwhile, other economists

warned of the dangers of inflation returning in Germany in the wake of the Greek crisis.

Wolfgang Gerke, president of the Bavarian Finance Centre, said he expected “maybe not hyperinflation, but around three to four percent, caused by high budget deficits.” The majority (52 percent) of Germans fear that inflation could result from the Greek crisis, according to an Emnid poll published yesterday, compared to 45 percent

that saw no such danger.

Moreover, nearly two thirds (59 percent) of Germans think Berlin should consider a return to its pre-euro currency, the deutschmark, with one in three believing the euro will no longer exist in 10 years. For the moment at least, inflation in Germany is under control, with the latest data from April showing prices rising 1.0 percent compared to the same month in 2009. —AFP

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BUSINESS

Monday, May 10, 2010

US investigates ‘unusual’ crash to protect investors from loss Dow Jones industrials average down almost 1,000 points in minutes NEW YORK: US regulators on Saturday probed a stunning Wall Street crash that dragged the Dow Jones industrials average down almost 1,000 points in mere minutes and sparked panic on markets around the world. As indices in Europe plummeted and US markets swung wildly, President

Barack Obama vowed Thursday’s “unusual market activity” would be investigated. “The regulatory authorities are evaluating this closely with a concern for protecting investors and preventing this from happening again,” Obama said.

NEW YORK: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange before the closing bell. —AFP

Markets watch anxiously for clear Brit election outcome LONDON: Already-jittery markets will reopen today hoping for a decisive result from Britain’s power-sharing talks as they seek a stable government with the power to tackle the deficit and secure the recovery.

The opposition Conservatives won the most seats but without a parliamentary majority after Thursday’s election, leaving Britain in limbo and sending the pound crashing to a 13-month low against the dollar. The FTSE 100 also fell.

Stocks and sterling recovered some of their losses by the end of the day, after Conservative leader David Cameron began talks with Nick Clegg, leader of the smaller Liberal Democrats, to see if they can form a government. But the two parties will be acutely aware than any continuation of the uncertainty into next week could see a further fall in the currency and stock markets, already highly volatile because of the Greek debt crisis.

“Horsetrading and deliberation will increase the pressure on the pound,” said Phil McHugh, a dealer at Currencies Direct, adding that any deal between the Tories and the Lib Dems could by contrast cause the pound to bounce. “The financial markets and credit rating agencies will want to see action on the UK fiscal policy as a matter of priority,” he added, while “procrastination

and disagreement will lead us towards the path of a sovereign downgrade”.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown-whose Labor party will stay in power until a new government is formed, despite coming second in the polls-sought to reassure the markets Friday that someone was still running the show. He said British finance minister Alistair Darling was taking part in a G7 conference call on the deteriorating situation in the euro area that evening, and repeated his priority to secure recovery after a long and deep recession.

Tory leader Cameron also emphasized the “great seriousness” of the economic situation facing Britain, saying in his first speech after the results came in: “We need a government that reassures the international markets.” The hung parliament was not a huge surprise. Opinion polls had been pointing to a tight election for weeks and the markets will have factored in some delay in the formation of a new government.

Ratings agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s kept their top-level credit ratings for the British economy after the results were called, saying a hung parliament in itself was not a problem. One reason for calm is that the Conservatives, Labor and the Lib Dems have all pledged to tackle the deficit by slashing public spending,

although they vary on timing, with the Tories wanting to start now and the others in 2011.

Many analysts now say it matters not so much whether the Tories agree a deal with the Lib Dems, or whether the Lib Dems turn back to Labor to try to prop up Brown’s government, as long as someone forms a government soon. “What we need is clarity of leadership as to where we’re going to be taken,” Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, told BBC radio.

Some commentators are mulling the possibility of a second election if no deal is reached, and this would only bring more uncertainty for the markets and delay the introduction of any firm program to tackle the deficit. “The UK’s route to economic recovery needs to be firmly established,” said Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI business lobby group. “The next few days will be critical.”

Much also depends on a European Union deal for a new crisis fund designed to head off market predators threatening the eurozone in the fall-out from the Greek crisis.

“If that fails then the whole global market will open today in a really fragile state,” O’Neill said, and any further uncertainty caused by Britain’s politicians could create a situation that is “pretty ugly”. —AFP

LONDON: A woman holds a copy of the election day edition of the Evening Standard newspaper. —AFP

Chilean copper miners strike for better wages SANTIAGO: Some 3,000 workers blocked road access to the Collahuasi copper mine in northern Chile Saturday, lowering production and clashing with police, workers and mining officials said.

The workers are seeking better wages and conditions at their on-site living quarters and are prepared to prolong their strike-begun Friday-”indefinitely,” strike leader Victor Reyes told Radio

Cooperativa. Managed by Xtrata and Anglo America, Collahuasi said it was open to dialogue with the strikers, calling their action “unnecessary” in a statement. It said production at the mine continued, albeit “under restricted conditions.” Collahuasi’s regular employees were not taking part in the strike.

Police Saturday used teargas to disperse a group of protesters who broke

inside the mining compound and made 11 arrests, a company employee told Cooperativa. Located at an altitude of 4,000 meters (13,100 feet), the Collahuasi mine supplies 3.0 percent of the world’s coppermore than 530,000 tons in 2009. Chile is the world’s top copper producer, with one third of total output. State-run Codelco accounts for 11 percent of Chile’s copper extraction. —AFP

“They will make findings of their review public along with recommendations for appropriate action.” The panic that plunged the Dow well below 10,000 on Thursday spread to Europe, pulling down markets across the region. The European tumbles in turn spooked US investors beginning their trading day in New York, sending the Dow swinging wildly.

According to The New York Times, the initial focus of the investigations appeared to center on the way a growing number of high-speed trading networks interact with one another and with venerable exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange. Most investors are unaware that these competing systems have fractured the traditional marketplace and have become the dominant force in stock trading, the paper said.

Thursday’s stunning dive began without warning. The drop was so precipitous and unexpected it prompted immediate speculation about whether trader error or a technical glitch was involved. At its lowest point, the Dow fell 998.5 points, dropping to 9,869.62. It then recovered half its losses, climbing back up almost as quickly as it had fallen. Observers watched aghast as the markets nosedived, falling so quickly it was all but impossible to keep up. In little more than 10 minutes, billions of dollars in value was wiped out as investors deserted stocks wholesale.

By the session close, the blue-chip index had recovered significantly, but it was still down 348 points or three percent-a steep drop that would have sparked concern even on an ordinary day. On Friday the Dow lost another 139.89 points (1.33 percent), ending the week at 10,380.43 after a session in which it bounced in and out of positive territory. The shocking sell-off came amid continuing concern about the stability of the eurozone, with many uncertain that a 110-billion-euro (140-billion-dollars) bailout package for Greece would be sufficient to stem the country’s debt crisis.

Some experts also questioned whether the market was due for a correction after recovering with surprising speed from last year’s lows. But the speed of Thursday’s slide suggested that a mistaken trade or computer error was involved, perhaps extending a decline based on eurozone fears. Andy Brooks, a trader at T Rowe Price, speculated the culprit was a so-called “fat finger” trade, in which a trader incorrectly enters data.

“I have no idea why it happened; when it falls that far and fast and bounces back that quickly, you figure it’s an error or tech snafu,” Brooks said.

Adding to the mystery were a series of unusual trades involving major stocks such as Procter & Gamble, which dropped 37 percent at one point, and 3M, which plunged 25 percent, setting off a chain reaction of computer-generated selling.

Reports suggesting that a Citigroup trader accidentally triggered trades worth 16 billion dollars, instead of 16 million, at the CME Group’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange were dismissed by both the CME and Citi. “As we have said, based on our review, rumors about a trading error by Citi are unfounded.

It is troubling that inaccurate and unfounded rumors were spread as far as they were,” said company spokesman Stephen Cohen.

The Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange also said there was no record of technical errors or glitches during Thursday trading. As experts and investigators tried to dissect the crash and Congress planned a hearing for tomorrow, Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld criticized the New York Stock Exchange for having slowed trading as stock prices plummeted.

“They basically walked from the stocks,” he said on CNBC. “What do you think that sends as a signal to the rest of the market?” Democratic Senator Ted Kaufman said the market plunge “must be carefully reviewed and placed within a meaningful regulatory framework soon.” —AFP

NEW ORLEANS: Protesters attend a rally organized by the Sierra Club against the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster off the coast of Louisiana. —AFP

States concerned about chemical dispersants NEW ORLEANS: In the ongoing Battle of the Gulf of Mexico, the “enemy” is a gushing oil slick, fought miles from the Louisiana coast with skimming boats, controlled burns, and - amid increasing doubts-chemical dispersants. Rough weather last week hampered efforts to skim the oil from the sea with boats and controlled burns, but calmer waters have brought the battle back to the Gulf. Officials are also spraying chemical dispersants over the slick to break it up, producing an effect likened to dish washing liquid.

“It’s really designed to break down the oil,” said Bob Perciasepe, deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “It does not make the oil disappear but it makes it into smaller and smaller particles that makes easier over the long haul to be biodegradable instead of big... really, oily globs.” On Saturday, three top Louisiana officials from the departments of health, environmental quality, and wildlife & fisheries published a letter to British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward - requesting more information on the chemical dispersants.

“We have serious concerns about the lack of information related to the use of dispersants in fighting the oil spill at and below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, and what, if any, impact the dispersants could have on our people, water and air quality, as well as the wildlife, fisheries and vegetation of Louisiana’s coastline and wetlands,” the state secretaries wrote on May 7. Also, National Wildlife Federation, US environmental groups and Gulf Coast shrimpers last week raised concerns about the potential damage to marine life from both the leaking oil and chemical dispersants.

“The increasing use of dispersant has left a number of questions about where this material is moving to,” said NWF chief Larry Schweiger.

Pending test results, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced a halt to BP’s unprecedented, underwater use of chemical dispersants near the leaking well sourcealmost a mile down (1.6 kilometers) in the chilly Gulf waters.

Huge C-130 cargo planes continued spraying chemical dispersants Saturday, carpeting vast swaths of the oil slick below. Forty-one percent of seafood consumed in the United States comes from offshore and coastal Louisiana, Subra said,

citing figures from the state Department of Wildlife & Fisheries. Skimming is only effective when seas are one-to-three feet, BP officials have acknowledged. Controlled burning is limited to smaller, heavy concentrations of oil further south in the Gulf.

Dispersant can be sprayed at any time other than when planes can’t fly, Subra says, adding that chemical dispersants are more successful with smaller spills of a fixed amount. “But with this [Gulf] spill they have to keep applying it because the source is still there,” she said. The underwater well has been gushing an estimated 5,000 barrels of medium crude oil daily since the Deepwater Horizon sank April 22 - two days after fiery explosion left 11 crewmembers dead.

LuAnn White, a toxicologist at Tulane University, said chemical dispersants have been used on oil spills for years, including the notorious Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989. “What’s out now is a new generation of dispersants, but we don’t know what is in them because it’s a trade secret,’ White said.

NALCO Energy Services of Sugar Land, Texas, manufactures the chemical dispersant for BP, which is known by its product name “Corexit.” The dispersant itself is a low-level hazardous chemical, posing risks for eye and skin irritations and “chemical pneumonia” but not cancer, according to NALCO data posted on the Deepwater Horizon web site. “Chemical dispersants-I come down on the pro’ side,” said Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute, a finance professor and oil & gas marketing analyst.

“You are talking about a very thin dispersant.

Ideally, you want to use skimmers on the heavy oil areas and dispersants on the wider sheen (of the spill).” Rough seas are bad for skimmers but good for mixing the surface oil with dispersant “which is like washing your hands with soap,” Smith said. Smith adds that the good news is that the spill oil is a “light sweet crude” which is easier to clean up and results in less damage than heavier crude oils. “You may have environmental damage for a short time,” Smith said, “but with this kind of crude oil, it’s going to be gone in six months to a year-if they (BP and authorities) are sticking to spraying the sheen.” —AFP

Portugal to speed up deficit reduction LISBON: Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates has announced plans to delay some major public projects to speed up reducing the country’s public deficit this year, local media reported Saturday. “The government has decided to reduce the deficit this year to 7.3 percent of GDP,” Socrates told Portuguese journalists late Friday after a meeting of eurozone leaders in Brussels.

Portugal, which is struggling to fend off comparisons to Greece, had previously said it would cut its public deficit from a record 9.4 percent of output last year to 8.3 percent in 2010. It expects to be under the EU limit of three percent by 2013.

To speed up the deficit reduction, the Socialist premier said the government would delay several major projects including the construction of a new airport at Lisbon

and a third bridge over the river Tagus aimed at carrying a future high-speed train link between the Portuguese capital and Madrid. “These projects remain absolutely essential to the modernization of the country but I think that it is sensible to wait for the financial situation to stabilize before launching them,” Socrates said.

Struggling with tepid growth, debt-laden Portugal is seen as vulnerable to the sort of crippling speculative market pressure that has hobbled Greece. Last week Standard & Poor’s downgraded Portugal’s credit rating owing to concerns about fiscal and economic weaknesses, triggering a surge in the country’s borrowing costs. Socrates announced the cuts after President Anibal Cavaco Silva and central bank governor Vitor Constancio called for a review of capital

investments.

The right-wing opposition welcomed the move, after calling for months for the projects to be shelved because of Portugal’s debts-expected to top 142 billion euros or 86 percent of GDP this year.

Socrates, who heads a minority government, also said he would discuss new measures to strengthen the budget with opposition leader Pedro Passos Coelho. Lisbon has already frozen civil service pay until 2013 and put a ceiling on unemployment pay and other allowances, triggering strikes and demonstrations. The cost of the new airport is put at 4.9 billion euros and the Tagus bridge 1.9 billion. But the government still plans to go ahead with the high-speed rail line to Madrid, signing a contract Saturday for initial works priced at more than 1.4 billion euros. —AFP

Biden vows to smooth EU concerns over data deal MADRID: US Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday the United States is working to “assuage any concerns” in Europe over a bank data exchange scheme aimed at boosting anti-terrorism efforts.

“We fully appreciate the concerns some Europeans have raised about privacy,” said Biden after talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose nation currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

“Europeans and Americans alike have valued greatly the privacy of our citizens. Were we to make comprises on our civil liberties that would be an admision that the terrorists have already succeeded.” “We are working with our Spanish friends and all of the EU now to assuage any concerns about the program. We are absolutely confident we will address these concerns and preserve the program that is vital to the security of our citizens.”

In February, European Union lawmakers blocked a key agreement of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program that allowed US access to information from

the interbank money transfer system SWIFT to track suspect finances. All 27 EU member states had endorsed the deal, and they and the United States warned that the negotiating breakdown could spark a security gap.

The Euro MPs’ main concern was that personal information, including data from electronic bank payments, would be used by US authorities, held for too long and handed on to other governments. Biden, on the highest-level visit to Spain by a member of the Obama administration, said the United States “appreciates the Spanish government’s support within the EU for the TFTP.” “You have been a great ally and you understand as we do the vital importance of that program,” which he said had “provided critical leads to counterterrorism investigations on both sides of the Atlantic and disrupted plots and ultimately saved lives.” The old SWIFT interbank data system, suspended this year, transmitted information on transactions from 8,000 institutions worldwide. —AFP

TECHNOLOGY

Monday, May 10, 2010

27

23-year-old wins $1 million playing baseball video game NEW YORK: Shh, don’t tell your kids.

Wade McGilberry just won a million dollars playing a video game. The 23-yearold accomplished the feat in just an hour and a half, becoming the first to pitch a perfect game in Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.’s “Major League Baseball 2K10.” He and his wife, Katy, plan to pay off their mortgage and start a family with the winnings. “We are trying to be

responsible with it. We are simple people,” said Katy McGilberry, also 23. It was not supposed to be that easy. In fact Wade has not been able to duplicate his feat since March 2, the day he bought the game at its midnight launch and played it after coming home from his job as a records keeper for 401(k) retirement plans.

Take-Two offered the $1 million prize

to the first person to pitch a perfect game.

Jason Argent, vice president of marketing at Take-Two’s 2K Sports business, said the company did not know how many times the feat has been accomplished in the video game.

Certainly no one among the game’s developers has been able to do it. In a perfect game, no batter from the other team ever scores or reaches a base. That means

no hits, no walk and no getting on base because he is hit by a pitch or for any other reason.

It is among the rarest feats in all sports. And “MLB 2K10” tries to simulate real baseball as closely as possible with the player sitting on the couch. Off the couch, only 18 pitchers have thrown perfect games in the history of Major League Baseball, beginning with Lee Richmond in

1880 and ending with Mark Buehrle in 2009. “We knew it would be difficult but not impossible,” Argent said. McGilberry said that when he bought the game, his wife suggested that he take the day off work so he could get a head start on the competition.

“I thought about it (and) the responsible thing to do was to go to work,” he said.

When he came home, he set up a video

recording, started playing and achieved the perfect game after “five or six attempts.”

Argent said Take-Two has received a handful of submissions after McGilberry, but they have not been verified yet. He said the contest helped sales of the game.

McGilberry agreed. “I think it’s really good publicity,” he said. “I wouldn’t have bought the game if not for that.”— AP

Egypt begins using Arab domain names on Internet CAIRO: Egypt’s communication and information technology minister says his country has begun registering domain names in Arabic on the Internet.

Tarek Kamel said three Egyptian companies were the first to receive registrar licenses for the “.masr” domain written in Arabic, a development that represented a “milestone in Internet history.” Masr means Egypt in Arabic.

The move comes about six

months after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers approved the use of non-Latin domain names. ICANN is a leading Internet policy organization.

Egypt was among the first Arab nations to apply to use Arabic script in the top level domain , the suffix that comes after the Internet address, such as .com.

The three companies are TE Data, Vodafone Data and Link Registrar.—AP

Nokia lodges another complaint against Apple NEW YORK: Finnish cell phone maker Nokia Corp. said Friday that it has extended its patent-infringement claims against Apple Inc. to include the new iPad. The latest complaint, filed in US District Court in Madison, Wisconsin, follows other lawsuits by Nokia claiming that a broad swath of Apple products violate Nokia patents. Nokia says the disputed technologies help reduce the size and cost of electronic gadgets. Apple had already responded with its own infringement claims against Nokia. Lawsuits over patent rights are common in the technology industry. They can take years to resolve and often end with some kind of licensing agreement.

Apple has also sued Taiwan’s HTC Corp., one of the leading producers of cell phones that run on Google Inc.’s Android software, a potential challenger to Apple’s popular iPhone. Apple says HTC’s Android phones violate iPhone patents. The legal disputes come amid increasing competition in the fast-growing market for smart phones.

Tech companies are scrambling to win over the growing number of consumers buying cell phones that come with email, Web surfing and scores of apps for checking the weather, updating Facebook and other tasks.

Nokia is the world’s

biggest cell phone maker, though it is more dominant in Asia and Europe. In the US , it faces intense competition from the iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd’s BlackBerrys.

Nokia’s latest lawsuit targets the iPhone and the iPad 3G, the version of the device that can connect to the Web using cell phone networks. Nokia said the gadgets infringe on five patents related to technology that makes voice and data communications more efficient, which allows the devices to be more compact.

“We have taken this step to protect the results of our pioneering development and to put an end to continued unlawful use of Nokia’s innovation,” Nokia executive Paul Melin said in a statement.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment on the new case but said the company had already filed a countersuit in December to earlier claims by Nokia. Apple claims Nokia is infringing on 13 of its patents, saying the company chose to “copy the iPhone” in order to recapture its share of the high-end phone market. Apple shares fell $11.37, or 4.6 percent, to $234.88 in afternoon trading Friday on a day of market turbulence following some of the most volatile trading in history on Thursday afternoon. Nokia shares rose 11 cents, or 1 percent, to $10.77.—AP

Media wants affidavit in iPhone raid unsealed SEATTLE: The Associated Press and other news organizations asked a judge Wednesday to unseal the search warrant affidavit used to raid the home of a blogger who posted pictures and details of an iPhone prototype.

The legality of the raid is one of many unanswered questions in a saga that began when Gizmodo, a prominent technology blog owned by Gawker Media Inc., paid $5,000 to obtain a device it says was lost by an Apple Inc. engineer in a Silicon Valley bar.

Apple is notoriously secretive about unreleased products, and Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s dissection of what may be the next-generation iPhone appears to have rubbed the company the wrong way. After Gizmodo returned the phone to Apple in April, members of a computer crime task force raided Chen’s Fremont, California, home, taking computers, hard drives, digital cameras, cell phones and financial documents, among other things.

Steve Wagstaffe, spokesman for the San Mateo County district attorney’s office, said the company and the engineer reported the loss of the phone to the authorities.

The search warrant itself, which was made public, indicated that the search was related to a suspected felony.

No charges have been filed, but under California law, someone who finds a lost item and doesn’t make appropriate

efforts to return it could be considered to have stolen it.

Court documents spelling out the legal reasons for a search are usually made public within 10 days, but the affidavit supporting the April 23 raid remains sealed.

Chen’s lawyer, Thomas Burke of Davis Wright Tremaine in San Francisco, said in a recent interview with the AP that a search warrant should never have been issued because Chen is a journalist and his home is his newsroom.

California law protects journalists from such searches. Burke has represented the AP in the past. With the motion filed Wednesday in Superior Court in California’s San Mateo County, the media organizations are trying to learn whether there was a reason for the search warrant more compelling than the legal protections given to journalists.

Wagstaffe said the computers and other objects seized from Chen’s home are not being examined while prosecutors consider arguments that the search was illegal.

Apple declined to comment on the matter. Joining in the court filing are Bloomberg News, CNET News, the Los Angeles Times, Wired.com, the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the First Amendment Coalition. Peter Scheer, executive director for the coalition, said a court hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon to address the motion.—AP

SHANGHAI: Children milk a fake cow at the Shanghai World Expo in Shanghai on May 7, 2010. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded into Shanghai’s World Expo at the start of a six-month showcase of culture and technology seen as the latest sign of China’s growing economic might. —AFP

US aims to set new regulations on broadband Plan to bring high-speed connections to all Americans WASHINGTON: Federal regulators plan to change how they govern broadband services to ensure they can pursue their plan to bring highspeed connections to all Americans, and can require phone and cable companies to treat all Internet traffic equally.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski on Thursday plans to lay out a roadmap for regulating broadband. This step has been eagerly anticipated since a federal court rul-

ing last month cast doubt on the agency’s authority over high-speed Internet access.

The FCC now regulates broadband lightly as an “information service.” It had maintained that this gave it the authority to implement a sweeping national broadband plan it released in March.

Among other things, the plan includes a proposal to use federal subsidies for telephone service to help pay for Internet connections.

The FCC also said its existing regulatory framework gave

it ample authority to impose so-called “network neutrality” rules prohibiting broadband providers from favoring or discriminating against any traffic flowing over their networks.

But the us Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected this argument. It ruled last month that the FCC had overstepped when it imposed net neutrality obligations on cable giant Comcast Corp. Since then, the FCC has been trying to decide whether to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service,

which would be subject to heavier regulation and “common carrier” obligations to share networks and treat all traffic equally.

Late Wednesday, the agency said it will seek a “third way”, a balance between the “weak” rules for information services and “needlessly burdensome” rules for telecommunications services.

This approach, the FCC said, would apply a “small handful” of telecommunications regulations to broadband

providers and set “meaningful boundaries to guard against regulatory overreach.”

The commission is trying to satisfy both big phone and cable companies that oppose additional rules and public interest groups that have been calling on it to regulate broadband as a telecommunications service. The FCC said the new approach also will “restore the status quo as it existed prior to the court decision.”

Last month’s ruling centered on Comcast’s interfer-

ence in 2007 with the online file-sharing service BitTorrent, which lets people swap movies and other big files.

The FCC, then led by Republican Kevin Martin, ordered Comcast to stop blocking subscribers from using BitTorrent. The agency based its decision on net neutrality principles it adopted in 2005.

Comcast argued the order was illegal because the agency was seeking to enforce principles and not regulations or laws.

Genachowski, a Democrat, is now pushing the FCC to adopt formal net neutrality rules that would apply across the industry. Comcast also argued the FCC lacks authority to mandate net neutrality because it deregulated broadband by classifying it as an information service, a decision the Supreme Court upheld in 2005.—AP

Computer tech pioneer Max Palevsky dies at 85 CALIFORNIA: Computer technology pioneer and venture capitalist Max Palevsky, perhaps bestknown for funding thenstartup chipmaker Intel Corp, has died. He was 85.

His wife Jodie Evans says Palevsky died of heart failure Wednesday at his Beverly Hills home. The early high-tech pioneer turned mainframe computer builder Scientific Data Systems into an industry powerhouse that he sold to Xerox for $1 billion in 1969.

The billionaire financier and philanthropist then became a founder and director of chipmaker Intel.

Over the years, Palevsky helped finance then-fledgling Rolling Stone magazine, bankrolled movies, was a political activist and built a renowned art collection that transformed the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.—AP

HEALTH & SCIENCE

28

Monday, May 10, 2010

Exclusive to Kuwait Times

Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A correctable condition lurking in the background

By Nibu Varguise

KUWAIT: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a clinical subtype of Upper Airway Sleep Disorders (UASD). Sleep apnea is a serious and potentially life threatening dis-

order. If a person stops breathing for 10 seconds for more than 30 times during a 7 hour sleep, he is said to have Sleep Apnea. In reality, patients when they undergo sleep studies will be surprised to find out that they do not breath for a 10 second period for more than 200 times. This is a serious depletion of oxygen from the body. ment. CPAP is considered the gold standard for treating moderate to severe OSA patients but is considered excessive for snoring patients. CPAP is a treatment modality that utilizes a pump forcing room air through the patient’s nasal cavity and upper airway. It suffers from poor compliance due to lack of portability, noise, discomfort of wearing a mask and limitation of patient movement. If the condition of OSA is mild or moderate, then the American Association of Sleep medicine has accepted Oral Appliance as the first line of treatment.

Clinical features of the disorder include excessive daytime sleepiness, insomnia, headaches, snoring, abnormal motor activity during sleep, intellect and personality changes, hypertension, heart failure, and polycythemia.

Snoring is the mild form of UASD; OSA is the severe form.

According to the National Commission on Sleep Disorders research report, it has been estimated that snoring affects up to 25% of males, OSA occurs in approximately 2-4% of the American population.

OSA is generally the result of a condition that causes partial or complete obstruction of the airway. Treatment of UASD is a multidisciplinary team approach.

Increased numbers of patients are now being referred to dentists for treatment using removable oral devices.

Causes The patients suffer from OSA due to a blockage of their airway.

The airway of snoring patients remains patent but partially obstructed. The obstruction results from the tongue or hyoid bone dropping back to the posterior pharyngeal wall when the patient sleeps on their backs.

The efforts to get sufficient oxygen to the lungs cause an increased velocity of air passing through the reduced airway space. This often causes the soft palate and/or uvula to vibrate.

The vibration is the sound of snoring.

OSA patients have an almost completely or completely obstructed upper airway. These patients can suffer from hundreds of apneic events per night.

Apneic events are by definition blockages of the airway lasting more than 10 seconds resulting in multiple arousals, causing loss of both quality and quantity of sleep. Posterior positioning of the tongue and hyoid; inflammation of the tonsils, adenoids, epiglottis; tumors; and structural compromise may cause obstruction. According to Dr Nibu Varguise, member of American Association of Sleep Medicine, people at risk include obese indi-

Dr Nibu Varguise viduals, large neck circumference, old age, male gender, smokers, sedatives users, alcoholics and others.

Since the patients are repeatedly aroused from their deep stages of sleep without their knowledge (Micro-arousals), they wake up with a headache and are sleepy the whole day and this prevents them from achieving their maximum output at work or other social activities.

According to a recent study conducted in the USA which was funded by National Heart, Lung and Blood institute, there is a very significant link between Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and risk of stroke. Middle aged men are more at risk than women. The study also revealed that untreated sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, irregular heartbeats and heart failure. A study in 2005 had earlier revealed the link between diabetes and sleep apnea.

Diagnosis The dentist should be responsible for recognizing potential upper airway sleep disorder

patients. OSA is a medical problems that is potentially life threatening.

As mentioned before it is a multi-disciplinary approach. Any blockage in the nose or pharynx which is part of the airway should be eliminated by referring to an ENT specialist.

Diagnostic tests Serum laboratory tests on suspected OSA patients during waking hours are within normal limits. The definitive diagnostic test for sleep apnea patients is the all-night polysomnogram.

The polysomnogram measures oxygen saturation levels, number and length of apneic episodes, sleep stages, airflow, respiratory effort and heart rate. This test allows the calculation of the Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) which indicates the apneic events per hour. An RDI of greater than 5 is abnormal, 5-20 is mild, 20-50 is moderate and greater than 50 indicates a severe OSA patient (2).

In situations when a sleep study centre is not locally available, diagnosis can be preliminarily arrived at by radiographic and physical examinations and

patient questionnaires. This diagnosis can be substantiated by using Sleep Strips which can give the AHI of the patient which is another index just like the RDI giving information about the severity of the existing condition.

Treatment Once a diagnosis of OSA is made, there are five treatment options: behavioral modification, surgery, continuous positive air pressure (CPAP), oral devices and medication. Medications have been proven to be of minimal benefit and are not often used. Behavior modifications include weight loss, change of sleep position, and reducing the intake of alcohol or sedatives before sleep (sleep Hygiene).

These modifications have not been shown to have long-term success; however, patients are sometimes successfully treated using these simple procedures and they should not be overlooked.

Surgery involves permanently modifying the anatomy of the patients. They can be successful in severe cases and those cases which demand this mode of treat-

Oral Devices There are two types of oral appliances for treatment of OSA, the Tongue Retaining Device (TRD) and the Mandibular Repositioning Device (MRD).

The TRDs work through the use of a hollow bulb and sufficient vacuum to hold the tongue forward. The MRDs work by holding the mandible and therefore the tongue forward.

Oral appliances are an excellent and life saving alternatives for those patients who do not accept the CPAP machines.

Patient compliance with oral devices is often better than with CPAP. Oral devices are extremely successful in treating snoring-only patients.

Complications are associated with the oral appliances but are generally minor, consisting primarily of transient occlusal changes, muscular discomfort and excessive salivation.

According to Dr Nibu Varguise, 90% of sleep apneic patients in Kuwait, are undiagnosed and hence go untreated. If diagnosed and treated, the health of so many affected people could be improved and future morbidities could be avoided. According to studies, treating sleep apnea would prolong the patient’s life from 8 to 15 years.

Dr Nibu Varguise is a member of the American Association of Sleep Medicine, and of the Association of Prosthodontists of Canada. Email: Dr.nibu@maidangroup.com

TAIJI: Dolphin sashimi, raw slices from the breast of a striped dolphin, is served during lunch at Moby Dick, a hotel run by the local government, in Taiji, southwestern Japan yesterday. —AP

Mercury high in Japanese town that hunts dolphins TAIJI: Residents of the dolphin-hunting village depicted in Oscar documentary “The Cove” have dangerously high mercury levels, likely because of their fondness for dolphin and whale meat, a government lab said yesterday.

The levels of mercury detected in Taiji residents were above the national average, but followup tests have found no ill effects, according to the National Institute for Minamata Disease. The tests were done on hair samples from 1,137 volunteers of the town’s roughly 3,500 residents.

“The results suggest there is a connection between hair mercury levels and eating cetaceans,” Director Koji Okamoto told reporters at town hall. Mercury accumulates up the food chain, so large predators such as dolphins, tuna and swordfish tend to have the highest levels. The latest studies published by the Japanese government show that meat from bottlenose dolphins had about 1,000 times the mercury content of that from sardines.

Fetuses and small children are particularly vulnerable to mercury, which affects the development of the nervous system. The Health Ministry recommends that pregnant women eat at most 2.8 ounces (80 grams) of bottlenose dolphin per two months. Environmentalists have long protested Taiji’s dolphin slaughter and Japan’s whaling activities, and have adopted the mercury issue as part of their cause. “If you’re eating dolphin meat, you’re eating poison, and if you’re eating a lot of dolphin meat, you’re eating a lot of poison,” said Louis Psihoyos, director of “The Cove,” which won an Academy Award earlier this year. He spoke to the AP by phone from Los Angeles.

Taiji had been considering adding a mercury test to its standard set of health checks for several years. The town government last year contacted the institute, which agreed to perform and pay for mercury tests as part of its research, according to Yoshio Kaino, a Taiji official who oversaw the

program.

Various tests were done from June of last year through February. Yesterday, a town hall meeting was held to explain the results, and about 100 Taiji residents who attended were told that there was no need for most of them to change their diet, although future tests are necessary. Individuals with the highest levels were advised to cut back on large fish and sea mammals. Although it can damage the nervous system permanently, mercury naturally fades from the body over time, halving about every 70 days. A person could flush most of it from their system by completely cutting it out for a year. At lunch after the town hall meeting, council chief Katsutoshi Mihara rejoiced as he carefully dipped raw slices of a striped dolphin into soy sauce. “This may seem nonchalant, but I have absolutely no concerns, and I want to be able to keep my lifestyle,” he said.

As served at “Moby Dick,” a hotel run by the local government, the red and pink dolphin sashimi was chewy and faintly fishy, its mammalian consistency more like meat than fish. Despite the high mercury levels found in the Taiji tests, institute officials said neurological tests on the 182 citizens who wanted them found no problems.

Follow-up tests are planned by March of next year, with outside experts possibly invited, and a separte study is under way to track mercury levels in the local catch.

At a presentation for the press yesterday afternoon, many reporters questioned how there could be no health effects despite such high mercury levels, with some challenging the competency of the lab. Joanna Tempowski, a scientist who works on chemical safety at the World Health Organization in Switzerland, said the Minamata institute was a respected institution that was trusted to provide technical assistance. Without seeing the Taiji results, she said that some damage from mercury might not appear immediately. — AP

Newton’s apple bound for gravity-free space CAPE CANAVERAL: Sir Isaac Newton’s famous apple tree is about to leave gravity behind. Flying aboard space shuttle Atlantis next week will be a 4-inch (10-centimeter) sliver of the tree from which an apple fell nearly 350 years ago and inspired Newton to discover the law of gravity.

British-born astronaut Piers Sellers is flying the piece of wood for The Royal Society of London. “I’ll take it up into orbit and let it float around a bit, which will confuse Isaac,” Sellers said in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this week. When Sellers last flew in space in 2006, he carried up a gold medal that the society later presented to British physicist Stephen Hawking. This time, he told them, “What about something for you?” The small slice of Newton’s apple tree they offered is “from THE apple tree, from the one that he was looking at when the apple fell down and he got the idea,” stressed Sellers.

“It’s his personal apple tree ... that’s really something, isn’t it?” Sellers said the president of the Royal Society assured him the piece is authentic. “Written on it in very old 18th century lettering is I-S-dot-Newton,” the astronaut told the AP. “He had a very nice hand. So I

think it is his tree.” It’s big enough to see the grain in the wood and is curved, he said.

Sellers will return it to the Royal Society following Atlantis’ 12-day flight. The Royal Society , the national academy of science of the United Kingdom , is celebrating its 350th year.

As part of the anniversary celebration, the society in January made available online the 18thcentury document detailing Newton’s account of the famous apple incident, which occurred in the mid-1660s.

Here’s what William Stukeley wrote as told to him by Newton: “It was occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood.

Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself ...

Why should it not go sideways, or upwards?

But constantly to the earth’s center?

Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter.”

Newton was a physicist, mathematician and astronomer, among other things. He was born in 1643 in Lincolnshire, England, said to be the site of the famous apple tree. In 1687, he published his book “Principia” in which he described his theory of gravity and the laws of motion. He died in 1727. — AP

ANTIBES: Polar bear ‘Flocke’ is seen at the Marineland aquatic park in Antibes, southeastern France, Saturday. ‘Flocke’ female 2 years old, born in the Nuremberg zoo, and ‘Rasputin’, male 2 years old , born in Moscow zoo, will now live at the park in Antibes, mandated in the European program for endangered species. —AP

El Nino weakening as hurricane season nears FLORIDA: In this July 17, 2006 file photo, British born US Astronaut Piers Sellers talks with reporters following the safe return the space shuttle Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Sir Isaac Newton’s famous apple tree is about to leave gravity behind. —AP

WASHINGTON: The weather-altering El Nino condition in the Pacific Ocean seems to be easing and could be over by June, U.S. government climate experts reported Thursday. If conditions do revert to neutral, it could complicate forecasting this summer’s hurricanes, since El Nino years tend to have fewer storms than normal in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

Last month, forecasters Philip J.

Klotzbach and William M. Gray of Colorado State University said they foresee above-average storm activity for the Atlantic hurricane season due to a warming of tropical Atlantic “and a more confident view that the current El Nino will weaken.”

So-called La Nina years, when the Pacific is colder than usual, can lead to an increase in Atlantic hurricanes, but neutral conditions between the two make the

storm season harder to predict.

The government’s hurricane forecast for this summer is due out later this month.

El Nino is often noted as warmer than normal water in the tropical Pacific. This year, things were complicated by high pressure over Greenland that pushed cold, wet weather south leading to blizzards along the East Coast.

In its regular update of El Nino/La

Nina conditions, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction said warm conditions in the Pacific continue, but have weakened since the end of February.

Most computer models predict neutral conditions through the end of the year, but a few suggest the possibility of a La Nina developing, according to the Centers, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. —AP

Monday, May 10, 2010

HEALTH

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Try to divert oil aborted; tar blobs hit Alabama ON THE GULF OF MEXICO: As a massive oil leak spewed thousands of gallons more crude into the Gulf of Mexico, a big containment box that BP hoped would be its savior sat idle hundreds of feet away, encased in ice crystals. The company’s first attempt to divert the oil was foiled, its mission now in serious doubt. Meanwhile, thick blobs of tar washed up on Alabama’s white sand beaches, yet another sign the spill was worsening.

It had taken about two weeks to build the box and three days to cart it 50 miles (80 kilometers) out and slowly lower it to the well a mile (1.6 kilometers) below the surface, but the frozen depths were just too much. BP officials were not giving up hopes that a containment box , either the one brought there or another one being built , could cover the well. But they said it could be days before another attempt to capture the oil and funnel it to a tanker at the surface would be tried. “I wouldn’t say it’s failed yet,” BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said. “What I would say is what we attempted to do ... didn’t work.” There was a renewed sense of urgency as tar balls, some as large as golfballs, began washing up on Dauphin Island, three miles (five kilometers) off the Alabama mainland at the mouth of Mobile Bay and much farther east than the thin, rainbow sheens that have arrived

sporadically in the Louisiana marshes.

“It almost looks like bark, but when you pick it up it definitely has a liquid consistency and it’s definitely oil,” said Kimberly Creel, 41, who was hanging out and swimming with hundreds of other beachgoers. “... I can only imagine what might be coming this way that might be larger.” About a half dozen tar balls had been collected by Saturday afternoon at Dauphin Island, Coast Guard chief warrant officer Adam Wine said in Mobile, and crews in protective clothing patrolled the beach for debris. Authorities planned to test the substance but strongly suspected it came from the oil spill. In the nearly three weeks since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers, about 210,000 gallons (795,000 liters) of crude a day has been flowing into the Gulf. Until Saturday none of the thick sludge, those iconic images of past spills , had reached shore. It had taken more than 12 hours to slowly lower to the seafloor the peaked box the size of a four-story house, a task that required painstaking precision to accurately position it over the well for fear of damaging the leaking pipe and making the problem worse. Nothing like it had been attempted at such depths, where water pressure can crush a submarine.

Company and Coast Guard officials had

DAUPHIN ISLAND: Beachgoers walk past netting that is expected to contain oil that washes ashore on Dauphin Island, Ala, Saturday. Tar balls have been sighted on the island after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. — AP

cautioned that icelike hydrates, a slushy mixture of gas and water, would be one of the biggest challenges to the containment box plan, and their warnings proved accurate. The crystals clogged the opening in the top of the peaked box, BP’s Suttles said, like sand in a funnel, only upside-down.

Options under consideration included raising the box high enough that warmer water would prevent the slush from forming, or using heated water or methanol. Even as officials pondered their next move, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said she must continue to manage expectations of what the containment box can do. “This dome is no silver bullet to stop the leak,” she said.

The captain of the supply boat that carried the hulking, concrete-and-steel vault for 11 hours from the Louisiana coast last week wasn’t giving up hope. “Everybody knew this was a possibility well before we brought the dome out,” Capt. Demi Shaffer, of Seward, Alaska, told an Associated Press reporter stationed with the 12-man crew of the Joe Griffin in the heart of the containment zone. “It’s an everyday occurrence when you’re drilling, with the pipeline trying to freeze up.” The spot where the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank now teems with vessels working on con-

taining the rogue well. There are 15 boats and large ships at or near the site , some being used in an ongoing effort to drill a relief well, considered a permanent if weeks-away fix. News that the containment box plan, designed to siphon up to 85 percent of the leaking oil, had faltered dampened spirits in Louisiana’s coastal communities. “Everyone was hoping that that would slow it down a bit if not stop it,” said Shane Robichaux, of Chauvin, a 39-year-old registered nurse relaxing at his vacation camp in Cocodrie. “I’m sure they’ll keep working on it till it gets fixed, one way or another. But we were hopeful that would shut it down.”

The original blowout was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP PLC’s internal investigation. Deep sea oil drillers often encounter pockets of methane crystals as they dig into the earth. As the bubble rose, it intensified and grew, breaking through various safety barriers, said Robert Bea, a University of California Berkley engineering professor and oil pipeline expert who detailed the interviews exclusively to an Associated Press reporter. — AP

30

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Monday, May 10, 2010

Embassy information

Shaikh Ahmed Al Mutawa addressing the audience of Qur’an Saminar organized by the Indian Islahi Center Kuwait

Moulavi Saeed Farooqi at Qur’an Seminar organized by the Indian Islahi Center Kuwait.

Indian Islahi Center Kuwait ur’an Call for Peace” Moulavi Saeed Farooqi - Indian Islahi Center organized Qur’an Seminar at Grand Mosque Kuwait Kerala Jamiyathul Ulama Vice President & Qur’an Learning School Kerala State Director Moulavi Saeed Farooqi declared that Qur’an emits light to peaceful life, he was addressing the Qu’an Seminar audience at Musjid Al Kabir organized by the Indian Islahi Center - Kuwait.

Jb. Farooqi explained the interference of Qur’an in human life and stated that the dreadful life with sadness is disturbing the human life worldwide individually and collectively, whereas, the acceptance of Qur’an as the light and way of life will definitely give a life without fear and sadness. He also reiterated the importance of learning the core of Qur’an, because many are going through Qur’an superficially for just reciting or for examination point of view, that is quite unfortunate, but it should be certainly taught with real meaning and practice by an exem-

“Q

plary life to fan out the light of Qur’an among all.

Shaikh Ahmed Al Mutawa, a well known Islamic Scholar in Kuwait inaugurated the seminar and spoke to the audience by explaining the history of Qur’an, how it was attracted by the intellectuals, those who are attempted to criticize the Qur’an around the world. The divinity of Qur’an cannot be challenged by anyone as the same is the revelation to the last Prophet by the creator and sustainer of the world, so that Qur’an leads people with peace and stability for ever, Sheikh Mutawa narrated.

Representing Awkaf Ministry of Kuwait Jb. Mohammed Ali, Ahmed Al Tarawi, etc. participated in the seminar and the function presibed by Indian Islahi Center President Jb. M.T. Mohamed, in presence of Jb. Abubaker Siddiq Madani, Eng. Ummerkutty, V.A. Moidunny etc. Sayed Abdul Rahman Thangal and Abdulaziz Salafi delivered welcome speech and vote of thanks respectively.

The audience of Qur’an Seminar organized by the Indian Islahi Center Kuwait.

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.

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

TRASSK office-bearers meet Indian ambassador to Kuwait

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hrissur Association of Kuwait (TRASSK) Office-bearers met Ajai Malhotra, ambassador of India to Kuwait on May 5 2010 at his office. President Sunny Kavalakat introduced the new office bearers of TRASSK for 2010-11 and briefed the Ambassador on the social-welfare and cultural activities of TRASSK, which

was well received by the ambassador appraised the TRASSK delegation on the measures taken by the embassy in improving the well-being of the Indian citizens in Kuwait. The meeting was very fruitful with interaction on many aspects with valuable suggestion from him.

President Sunny Kavalakat, Vice

President Sebastian V V, Treasurer Jelson Akkara, Joint Treasurer Suneer Abdulkader, Joint Secretaries Binoy Erinjeri, Shameer Ahmed, Shijo Manjaly, Vanitha Vedi President Susan Sebastian, Vanitha Vedi General Secretary Kripa Sujith and Vanitha Vedi Treasurer Shiny Frank were in the delegation.

CHRISCAA office bearers for 2010-11 AUK theatre program

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he American University of Kuwait Theatre Program proudly announces their next production “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett on May 19, 20, 21, and 22. This internationally famous post-modern tragicomedy depicts the struggle of two men trying to reconcile the meaning of their own existence while waiting for the enigmatic and mysterious Godot to arrive.

Performances are in the Black Box Studio on the AUK campus. Doors open at 7:30 PM, performance begins at 8 PM.

Aware center

T Culinary director Dirk Heinen receives the prestigious ‘President’s Award’

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irk Heinen, Culinary Director at the Sheraton Kuwait, a Luxury Collection Hotel and Four Points by Sheraton Kuwait, was recently selected to receive the prestigious “President’s Award” for the year 2009. This award is in recognition for his exceptional performance, hard work and dedication that he has showcased throughout.

This annual award is presented by the President of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in the Europe, Africa & Middle East Division. On this special occasion, Fahed Abushaar, Area Director/General Manager congratulated Dirk Heinen on his well deserved award.

omorrow at 7pm Aware center hosts diwaniya called “Differences and similarities between marriage in the West and in the Arab World,” by Sharifa Carlo.

Marriage is a sacred and honorable union between two people who vow to take care of each other for the rest of their lives. In Islam, the meeting of a spouse and the courtship are quite different from the rituals of the West; while, traditionally the roles played within the marriage itself bear striking similarities. The modern world has changed the roles assumed in Western marriages, and - to an extent in Muslim marriages. Come find out the “Differences and Similarities between Marriage in the West and in the Arab World.”

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nnual General body meeting of the Christian College Chengannur,Alumni Association (CHRISCAA) Kuwait Chapter was held in united Indian School Auditorium, Abbassiya and elected the following office - bearers for the year 2010-2011.

President -Mathew Alexander Vice president -George Mathew

General Secretary -Sunil Thomas Varghese Joint Secretary - Rachel Thomas Treasurer -Jacob Varghese (Jolly) Auditors - Joseph Mathew Panicker and Thomas George Sixteen members to the executive committee were also elected during the meeting.

Mathew

Alexander presided over the meeting. Sunil Thomas presented the Annual report and Jacob Varghese (Jolly) presented the Annual Accounts. Sunil Thomas Varghese Kuwait General Secretary 4th May 2010.

Contact No:99553036, 94060522, 66265702, 66223348, email: chrisccaa@yahoogroups.com

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 THAILAND All foreigners who apply for Tourist Visa at the Royal Thai Embassies and the Royal Thai Consulate-General worldwide, including eligible foreigners who apply for Visa on Arrival at designated checkpoints, will be exempted from tourist visa fee from tomorrow to 31 March 2011. Such arrangement is for Tourist Visa only.

Author visits bookshop

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enowned author of cook books series Magic Oven Dr Lakshmi Nair browsing through Malayalam books collection at Alzamels bookshop at Lulu Hyper Market, Al Rai.

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WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Monday, May 10, 2010

Vanitha Vedi celebrates May Day

V

anitha Vedi, Kuwait celebrated May Day on May 1, 2010 at United Indian School from 2 pm onwards. Drawing competition for children and women along with the Painting Exhibition by eminent female artists of Kuwait was inaugurated by Shantha

Maria James, Principal of Indian Central School. In the first session Dr Vasanthy S Nair delivered the welcome speech followed by felicitation by Kala President J Albert and Vote of Thanks by Valsamma George. Valsa Stanley welcomed the second session followed by the

Birthday Greetings

ICSK PAC Arts Festival finale

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ndian Community School, Kuwait Arts Festival under the auspices of its Parents Advisory Council is nearing to its grand finale. After the successful culmination of Preliminaries which was held in its different branches in Salmiya and Khaitan, the selected students will participate for great honors in their respective categories in the final.

The mega final event will be held on May 13 at ICSK senior branch in Salmiya. The chief

Happy birthday greetings aster Vaibhav Vibheesh. From father, mother, friends and relatives.

M

Happy Birthday

ear Meljohn Louie Pilotos Wishing you for your 2nd birthday. May GOD bless you & keep you always happy and healthy wishes from Papa, Mama, Anas, Razi, Aiyaan, Sajid, Bourne, Sherin, Alvin, Micheal, Marlon, Noli, Alex, Rashida, Jocelyn, Jose, Camilo, Berna & jahra team.

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Happy birthday

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ooa Diaa Mohammed Abdel Aleem celebrates her first birthday in Cairo with friends and family.

presidential address by Sajitha Skaria.

Ramesh-Vanitha Vedi advisor inaugurated the 2nd session which was an added attraction of the day with an awesome speech delivered by Advocate Twinkle Annie Chacko on the topic “Awareness of Women’s

guest for the glittering function will be Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Ajai Malhotra. Parents, School principals, the ICSK Board Chairman, executives and invited guests will be also present. This grand finale will start at 5 pm at ICSK Branch in Salmiya with finalists from all branches will be showcasing their artistic talents. Items include Fancy dress, group dance, classical dance, solo singing , drawing, elocution, debate etc.

The yearly event has a great acceptance among parents and students attracting wide spectrum of audience. The program already proved to be a platform and opportunity for young talents to show their mettle. The program is part of PAC commitment to the school management and parents to lend a helping hand towards grooming ICSK students with regard to their innate talent. This year around 2000 students participated in various events.

Rules and Regulations in the Employment Sector”.

Invited guests Dr Mary-Consultant Farwaniya Hospital, Unnimaya -Kerala Association President, Warda Anwar-IWA Representative and Mrs Valsa Sam, Abbasiya unit convenor actively took part in the dis-

cussions that followed. Finally Charlotte Albert addressed the vote of thanks. The artists who exhibited their paintings were honored and the trophy’s for the winners of the drawing competition were distributed by evening.

Cinemagic program 1-Thursday, May 13 at 07:00 PM “Winner for Best Director, Cannes 2008” Three Monkeys, Turkey 2008 Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan Genre: Drama | 109 min | English Subtitle Rated: PG 15 Near the Bosporus, Ey¸p and Hacer live in a modest flat with their son Ismail, in his twenties, who’s doing poorly in his studies.

Few words pass between them, and a past family tragedy brings sorrow daily. On a rainy night, Ey¸p’s boss Servet, a wealthy businessman who’s entering politics, hits a pedestrian on a lonely road. He drives off and offers money to Ey¸p if Ey¸p will take the fall - probably a six-month sentence. Ey¸p agrees, and while he’s in prison, Ismail wants his mother to ask Servet for enough money to buy a car. Servet, in turn, desires Hacer.

How can this play out?

2- Saturday, May 15 at 07:00 PM “Winner of Golden Plam 2009” The White Rubbon, Sweden 2009 Director: Michael Haneke Genre: Drama | 144 min | English Subtitle Rated: R 18 A village in Protestant northern Germany.

1913-1914. On the eve of World War I. The story of the children and teenagers of a choir run by the village schoolteacher, and their families: the baron, the steward, the pastor, the doctor, the midwife, the tenant farmers.

Strange accidents occur and gradually take on the character of a punishment ritual. Who is behind it all? The schoolteacher observes, investigates and little by little discovers the incredible truth. Are we being asked to consider whether these events heralded something that would explode years later with the rise of Nazi Germany? Did these events contain the germs of the tragedies that followed?

Third Week: Cannes Nominees 1- Thursday, May 20 at 07:00 PM “Un certain Nominee 2009” Precious, USA 2009 Director: Lee Daniels Genre: Drama | 109 min | English Subtitle Rated: PG 15 Clareece Precious Jones endures unimaginable hardships in her young life. Abused by her mother, raped by her father, she grows up poor, angry, illiterate, fat, unloved and generally unnoticed. So what better way to learn about her than through her own, halting dialect?

2- Saturday, May 22 at 07:00 PM “Golden Plam Nominee 2008” Promise Me This, Serbia 2008 Director: Emir Kusturica Genre: Comedy | 127 min | English Subtitle Rated: PG 13 Set in a rural area of Belgrade. Tsane, a

young boy, has to complete his dying grandfathers wish: to sell the cow and bring back the wife. During this journey, Tsane meets the city buzz, his stepbrothers and is forced to fight a criminal boss in order to rescue his future wife from prostitution. Meanwhile the dying grandfather has found love with the only neighborhood in the village - Bossa.

Fourth Week: Lord Of The Rings, “Delux Screenings, 3 Days” 1- Thursday, May 27 at 07:00 PM “Opening Ceremony, Cannes 2001” LOTR: The Fellowship of the ring, USA 2001 Director: Peter Jackson Genre: Fantasy | 178 min | English Subtitle Rated: PG 13 Set in Middle-Earth many years ago, this is the story of a young Hobbit named Frodo, who has in his possession a ring... This ring is needed by the evil Lord Sauron to destroy civilization and plunge the world into complete darkness. In order to prevent this, Frodo must find a way to the Mount of Doom and destroy the ring.

2- Friday, May 28 at 07:00 PM LOTR: The Two Towers, USA 2003 Director: Peter Jackson Genre: Fantasy | 179 min | English Subtitle Rated: PG 13 Sauron’s forces increase. His allies grow.

The Ringwraiths return in an even more frightening form. Saruman’s army of Uruk Hai is ready to launch an assault against Aragorn and the people of Rohan. Yet, the Fellowship is broken and Boromir is dead.

For the little hope that is left, Frodo and Sam march on into Mordor, unprotected. A number of new allies join with Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin and Merry. And they must defend Rohan and attack Isengard. Yet, while all this is going on, Sauron’s troops mass toward the City of Gondor, for the War of the Ring is about to begin.

3- Saturday, May 29 at 07:00 PM LOTR: The Returm Of The King, USA 2004 Director: Peter Jackson Genre: Fantasy | 201 min | English Subtitle Rated: PG 13 Gondor is overrun by the orcs of Mordor, and Gandalf rides to Minas Tirith to aid the humans in the war that is ahead. Aragorn must realize his true identity and purpose as the King of Men, and journey with Gimli and Legolas to summon the Army of the Dead so that the battle against evil can be won.

Meanwhile, paranoia and suspicion rises between Frodo, Sam and Gollum as they continue their increasingly dark and dangerous travel to Mount Doom, the one place where The Ring can be destroyed once and for all

TV PROGRAMS

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Monday, May 10, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings

00:40 E!ES 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 Fatal Beauty 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 20 Acts of Love Gone Wrong 07:45 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:25 Bank of Hollywood 10:15 THS 12:00 E! News 12:50 Kendra 13:40 Dr 90210 14:30 THS 16:15 Behind the Scenes 17:10 Pretty Wild 18:00 E! News 18:50 Streets of Hollywood 19:15 Battle of the Hollywood Hotties 19:40 THS 21:20 Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami 22:10 E! News 23:00 Dr 90210

00:00 House 01:00 Dawson’s Creek 02:00 Life on Mars 03:00 ER 04:00 Dawson’s Creek 05:00 Supernatural 06:00 CSI New York 07:00 House 08:00 Criminal Minds 09:00 Cold Case 10:00 Life on Mars 11:00 ER 12:00 CSI New York 13:00 Supernatural 14:00 Life on Mars 15:00 Dawson’s Creek 16:00 Criminal Minds 17:00 Cold Case 18:00 Burn Notice 19:00 CSI New York 20:00 My Own Worst Enemy 21:00 Saving Grace 22:00 Supernatural 23:00 Rescue Me

00:15 Going Ape 00:45 In Search of the King Cobra 01:40 Untamed & Uncut 03:30 Animal Cops Miami 04:25 In Search of the King Cobra 05:20 Animal Cops Phoenix 06:10 RSPCA: Have You Got What it Takes?

06:35 Jockeys 07:00 Wildlife SOS 07:25 Pet Rescue 07:50 Orangutan Island 08:15 Dark Days in Monkey City 08:45 Austin Stevens Adventures 09:40 Monkey Business 10:05 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:55 Monkey Life 11:20 SSPCA: On the Wildside 11:50 Animal Precinct 12:45 E-Vets: The Interns 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Houston 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 SSPCA: On the Wildside 15:30 Orangutan Island 15:55 Dark Days in Monkey City 16:25 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Monkey Business 17:45 Monkey Life 18:15 Dogs 101 19:10 Orangutan Island 19:40 Dark Days in Monkey City 20:10 Animal Cops Houston 21:05 Untamed & Uncut 22:00 Human Prey 22:55 Animal Cops Houston 23:50 Orangutan Island

00:27 Doctor Who 01:12 Doctor Who Confidential 01:25 Hell To Hotel 02:15 Robin Hood 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 09:40 Bargain Hunt 10:25 Hell To Hotel 11:15 2 Point 4 Children 12:15 The Weakest Link 13:00 Eastenders 13:30 Doctors 14:00 Cash In The Attic 14:30 Bargain Hunt 15:15 2 Point 4 Children 15:45 Last of the Summer Wine 16:15 The Weakest Link 17:00 Doctors 17:30 Eastenders 18:00 Robin Hood 18:45 Doctor Who Confidential 19:00 Coast 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:15 Eastenders 21:45 New Tricks

00:20 Saturday Kitchen 00:50 Living In The Sun 01:35 Cash In The Attic 03:50 Bargain Hunt 04:35 Chuck’s Day Off 05:25 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 05:50 Gino D’Acampo - An Italian In Mexico 06:15 The Naked Chef 07:05 Cash In The Attic USA 07:25 Bargain Hunt 08:10 Antiques Roadshow 09:50 Cash In The Attic USA 10:20 Hidden Potential 10:45 The Naked Chef 11:35 Living In The Sun 12:20 What Not To Wear 13:10 Come Dine With Me 14:00 Bargain Hunt

00:00 TNA: Lockdown 01:00 M1 Challenge 02:00 Continuum 03:00 M1 Challenge 05:00 Odyssey: Driving Around the World 06:00 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 2007 07:00 Quattro Events 2009 08:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 09:00 X Games 15 2009 10:00 Fantasy Factory 10:30 Untracked 11:00 Ticket To Ride 2009-10 12:00 Pro Bull Riders 13:00 Fantasy Factory 13:30 Untracked 14:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 15:00 X Games 15 2009 16:00 Fantasy Factory 16:30 Untracked 17:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 18:00 X Games 15 2009 19:00 Ticket To Ride 2009-10 19:30 Ticket To Ride 2009-10 20:00 Fantasy Factory 20:30 Untracked 21:00 Pro Bull Riders 22:00 Continuum 23:00 X Games 15 2009

What Happens In Vegas on Super Movies 14:45 Antiques Roadshow 15:35 Cash In The Attic USA 15:55 Hidden Potential 16:20 The Naked Chef 17:15 Living In The Sun 18:00 Antiques Roadshow 18:50 Come Dine With Me 19:40 MasterChef Goes Large 20:10 Saturday Kitchen 20:35 Saturday Kitchen 21:05 Cash In The Attic 21:50 How To Find A Husband 22:40 Come Dine With Me

01:00 Nearing Grace-18 03:00 Welcome To Sarajevo-18 04:45 As Good As It Gets-PG15 07:00 Dragon Hunters-PG 09:00 What Rats Won’t Do-PG15 11:00 All Hat-PG15 13:00 Wendy And Lucy-PG15 15:00 Teknolust-PG15 17:00 It Might Get Loud-PG15 19:00 Chariots Of Fire-PG 21:00 The Baader Meinhof Complex-18 23:45 The Apostle-PG15

00:00 Ross Kemp in Search of Pirates 01:00 Rampage!

02:00 Nextworld 02:55 Fifth Gear 03:50 American Chopper 04:45 How Does it Work?

05:10 Destroyed in Seconds 06:05 Extreme Explosions 07:00 Extreme Engineering 07:55 Mean Machines 08:20 Overhaulin’ 09:15 Mythbusters 10:10 Ultimate Survival 11:05 Industrial Junkie 12:00 Border Security 12:30 How It’s Made 12:55 How Does it Work?

13:20 American Chopper 14:15 Miami Ink 15:10 Mythbusters 16:05 Dirty Jobs 17:00 Deadliest Catch 18:00 Border Security 18:30 Overhaulin’ 19:30 Destroyed in Seconds 20:00 How It’s Made 20:30 How Does it Work?

21:00 Huge Moves 22:00 Surviving Disaster 23:00 Ultimate Survival

00:30 Science of Beauty 01:20 The Colony 02:10 The Gadget Show 03:00 Science of the Movies 03:50 NYC: Inside Out 04:45 Nextworld 05:40 How Does That Work?

06:10 Engineered 07:00 Scrapheap Challenge 08:00 Sci-Fi Saved My Life 09:00 The Gadget Show 09:55 Stunt Junkies 10:20 Weird Connections 10:50 What’s That About?

11:45 How Does That Work?

12:15 Monster Moves 13:10 Sci-Fi Science 13:35 The Gadget Show 14:30 Nextworld 15:25 How Does That Work?

15:55 Sci-Fi Saved My Life 16:50 Brainiac 17:45 Building the Biggest 18:40 Da Vinci’s Machines 19:30 Kings of Construction 20:20 How It’s Made 21:10 Mythbusters 22:00 Da Vinci’s Machines 22:50 Kings of Construction 23:40 Building the Biggest

00:00 Suite Life On Deck 00:20 A Kind Of Magic 00:45 Phineas & Ferb 01:10 Fairly Odd Parents 01:35 Replacements 02:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 02:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:45 Handy Manny 03:10 Lazytown 03:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 04:00 Suite Life On Deck 04:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 04:50 Jonas 05:15 Hannah Montana 05:40 Sonny With A Chance 06:00 Handy Manny 06:10 Jungle Junction 06:35 Special Agent Oso 07:00 Handy Manny 07:20 Imagination Movers 07:45 Jungle Junction 08:10 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:00 Handy Manny 09:20 Jungle Junction 09:35 Special Agent Oso 09:45 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 10:10 Fairly Odd Parents 10:35 A Kind Of Magic 11:00 I Got A Rocket 11:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 11:45 Phineas & Ferb 12:10 Suite Life On Deck 12:35 Replacements 12:55 Hannah Montana 13:20 Kim Possible 13:40 I Got A Rocket 14:05 Fairly Odd Parents 14:30 Phineas & Ferb 14:55 Replacements 15:15 A Kind Of Magic 15:40 Wizards Of Waverly Place 16:00 Hannah Montana 16:25 Sonny With A Chance 16:45 Fairly Odd Parents 17:10 Phineas & Ferb 17:35 Suite Life On Deck 18:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 18:25 Hannah Montana 18:45 The Replacements 19:00 Jonas 19:25 Suite Life On Deck 19:50 Sonny With A Chance 20:15 Hannah Montana 20:35 Wizards Of Waverly Place 21:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody

00:00 Unwrapped 01:00 Food Network Challenge 03:00 Iron Chef America 04:00 Teleshopping 07:00 Food Network Challenge 08:40 Iron Chef America 10:30 Chopped 11:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 12:00 Great British Menu 12:30 Daily Cooks Challenge 13:00 30 Minute Meals 14:00 Barefoot Contessa 15:00 Nigella Express 15:30 Daily Cooks Challenge 16:00 Barefoot Contessa 17:00 Grill It! with Bobby Flay 18:00 Tyler’s Ultimate 18:30 Great British Menu 19:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 19:30 Barefoot Contessa 20:30 Nigella Express 21:00 Food Network Challenge 22:00 Iron Chef America

06:00 American Dragon 06:25 Kid vs Kat 06:50 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 Iron Man: Armoured Adventures 12:00 Aaron Stone 12:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 13:00 Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension 13:30 Phineas & Ferb 14:00 Zeke & Luther 14:25 NEXT X WINTER SHORTS 14:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 15:00 American Dragon 15:30 Kid vs Kat 16:00 Phineas & Ferb 16:30 K9 ADVENTURES 17:00 Suite Life On Deck 17:30 Aaron Stone 18:00 Iron Man: Armoured Adventures 18:25 Kid vs Kat 19:00 Zeke & Luther 19:25 NEXT X WINTER SHORTS 19:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 20:00 American Dragon 20:30 K9 ADVENTURES 21:00 Phil Of The Future 21:25 Iron Man: Armoured Adventures 21:50 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 22:15 Aaron Stone

00:30 Extreme Forensics 01:20 Murder Shift 02:10 On The Case With Paula Zahn 03:05 Deadly Women 04:00 Extreme Forensics 04:55 Crime Scene Psychics 05:20 FBI Files 06:10 Ghosthunters 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 Real Emergency Calls 09:30 Diagnosis: Unknown 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 Mystery ER 12:50 The Prosecutors 13:40 Disappeared 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 Real Emergency Calls 17:00 Diagnosis: Unknown 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 Mystery ER 20:20 The Prosecutors 21:10 Disappeared 22:00 FBI Case Files 22:50 I Escaped Death 23:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:30 Bondi Rescue 01:30 Weird And Wonderful Hotels 02:30 Jailed Abroad 04:30 Positive Footprints 05:00 Wild Rides 05:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 06:30 Bondi Rescue 07:30 Weird And Wonderful Hotels 08:30 Jailed Abroad 10:30 Positive Footprints 11:00 Amazing Adv Of Nobody Europe 11:30 Word Travels:The Truth Behind 12:00 Bondi Rescue 12:30 Lonely Planet 13:30 Departures 14:30 Which Way To...

15:30 Jailed Abroad 16:30 Odyssey:Driving Around The Wor

17:00 Amazing Adv Of Nobody Europe 17:30 Word Travels:The Truth Behind 18:00 Bondi Rescue 18:30 Lonely Planet 19:30 Departures 20:30 Which Way To...

21:30 Jailed Abroad 22:30 Odyssey:Driving Around The Wor 23:00 Amazing Adv Of Nobody Europe 23:30 Word Travels:The Truth Behind

01:35 Sunday, Bloody Sunday 03:25 The Happy Hooker 05:00 Made In Usa 06:20 A Girl To Kill For 07:50 Nicholas Nickleby 10:00 Queen Of Hearts 11:50 Huckleberry Finn 13:40 Popi 15:30 The King And Four Queens 16:55 A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum 18:30 Crossplot 20:05 Woman Of Straw 22:00 Be Cool

00:00 Better Off Ted 00:30 The Office 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Curb your Enthusiasm 02:30 Entourage 03:00 Saturday Night Live 04:30 South park 05:00 Better Off Ted 05:30 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 07:00 Just Shoot me!

07:30 Malcolm in the Middle 08:00 Frasier 08:30 Yes dear 09:00 Married with Children 09:30 Drew Carey 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Just Shoot me!

11:00 Frasier 11:30 Hope & Faith 12:00 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 13:00 The Office 13:30 Yes dear 14:00 Married with Children 14:30 Malcolm in the Middle 15:00 Saturday Night Live 16:30 Drew Carey 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Hope & Faith 18:30 Just Shoot me!

19:00 Billable Hours 19:30 The Office 20:00 Friends 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 Colbert Report Global 22:00 Monday Stand Up night

00:00 Dream For An Insomniac-PG15 02:00 The Good Life-PG15 04:00 Tortilla Soup-PG15 06:00 Much Ado About Nothing-PG15 08:00 Bridal Fever-PG 10:00 Short Track-PG 12:00 Down To Earth-PG15 14:00 The Clique-PG15 16:00 Dream For An Insomniac-PG15 17:30 I’m Not Rappaport-PG15 20:00 Not Another Teen Movie-18 22:00 Wieners-18

00:00 Elias And The Royal Yacht-FAM 02:00 Little Hercules In 3-D-PG15 04:00 War Of The Buttons-PG 06:00 Justice League: The New FrontierFAM 08:00 Barney’s Great Adventure-FAM 10:00 War Of The Buttons-PG 12:00 The Nameless Warrior-FAM 14:00 Little Hercules In 3-D-PG15 16:00 Patoruzito-FAM 18:00 Superman: Doomsday-FAM 20:00 My Favorite Martian-PG 22:00 The Nameless Warrior-FAM

00:00 Ashes to Ashes 01:00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent 02:00 Spooks 02:30 In Treatment 03:00 Saving Grace 04:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 04:30 Home Improvement 05:00 Repear 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 Spooks 08:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 08:30 Home Improvement 09:00 Saving Grace 10:00 Repear 11:00 Spooks 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 13:30 Home Improvement 14:00 Ashes to Ashes 15:00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent 16:00 Repear 17:00 Saving Grace 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 Ugly Betty 20:00 Desperate Housewives 21:00 Spooks 22:00 Repear 23:00 Saving Grace

01:00 Premier League 20:00 Lve Barclays Premier League Review 22:00 Futbol Mundial 22:30 Premier League 00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 Downsize Me 02:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 03:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified 04:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 05:00 GMA Weekend (Repeat) 06:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified 07:00 Parenting 07:30 Job Club 08:00 The Martha Stewart Show 09:00 Downsize Me 10:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 11:00 The View (repeat) 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 The Martha Stewart Show 14:00 GMA Live 16:00 Ahead of The Curve 16:30 Nature’s Edge 17:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 18:00 Eat Yourself Sexy 18:30 10 Years Younger 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 (Best Of) 23:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified

00:00 45 R.P.M.-PG15 02:00 Let Him Be-PG15 04:00 The Man From Earth-PG15 06:00 Every Second Counts-PG 08:00 Before The Rains-PG15 10:00 For One More Day-PG15 12:00 Ocean’s Thirteen-PG15 14:00 All She Wants For Christmas-PG15 16:00 Before The Rains-PG15 18:00 Beverly Hills Chihuahua-PG 20:00 The Dark Knight-PG15 22:30 Milk-18

01:00 Red Sands-18 03:00 Mutant Chronicles-PG15 05:00 Monster Ark-18 07:00 Newton Boys-PG15 09:00 H.I.T.-PG15 11:00 Capers-PG15 13:00 Street Fighter Alpha-PG 15:00 H.I.T.-PG15 17:00 Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead-18 18:30 Black Hawk Down-18 21:00 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life-PG15 23:00 The Tattooist-18

01:00 Premier League 20:00 Live Premier League Season Review 22:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 22:30 Premier League

00:00 Rugby League 02:00 Scottish Premier League 05:00 Rugby League 07:00 PGA European Tour 11:30 V8 Supercars 12:00 Live NRL Premiership 14:00 Premier League Darts 18:00 World Sport 18:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 19:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 20:00 ICC Cricket World 20:30 NRL Premiership 22:30 PGA European Tour Highlights 23:30 Rugby League

03:00 The Screening Room 04:00 The Comedians 06:30 The Screening Room 07:00 Adam’s Rib 08:40 Silk Stockings 10:35 Crazy In Love 12:10 It Happened At The World’s Fair 13:55 Meet Me In St. Louis 15:45 The Asphalt Jungle 17:35 The Screening Room 18:00 The Unsinkable Molly Brown 20:10 Boys’ Night Out 22:00 Butterflies Are Free 23:50 Ryan’s Daughter

00:30 MonsterQuest 01:20 AX Men 02:10 Deep Sea Detectives 03:00 Lost Worlds 03:55 Seven Deadly Sins 04:50 Life After People 05:40 Ax Men 2 06:30 MonsterQuest 07:20 AX Men 08:10 Deep Sea Detectives 09:00 Lost Worlds 09:55 The Universe 10:50 Life After People 11:40 Ax Men 2 12:30 MonsterQuest 13:20 AX Men 14:10 Deep Sea Detectives 15:00 Lost Worlds 15:55 The Universe 16:50 Life After People 17:40 Ax Men 2 18:30 MonsterQuest 19:20 AX Men 20:10 Deep Sea Detectives 21:00 Modern Marvels 21:55 Mega Movers 22:50 Battle Stations 23:40 Dogfights

THE STYLE NETWORK 00:00 What I Hate About Me 01:00 My Celebrity Home 02:00 Split Ends 03:00 How Do I Look?

04:00 Dr 90210 05:00 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 05:30 Area 06:00 How Do I Look?

07:00 Style Star 07:30 Style Her Famous 08:00 My Celebrity Home 09:00 Style Star 09:30 Dress My Nest 10:00 Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?

11:00 How Do I Look?

12:00 Ruby 13:00 Clean House 14:00 Clean House Comes Clean 14:30 Dress My Nest 15:00 What I Hate About Me 16:00 Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?

17:00 How Do I Look?

18:00 Dallas Divas & Daughters 18:30 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 19:00 Split Ends 20:00 Clean House 21:00 Jerseylicious 22:00 Peter Perfect 23:00 Jerseylicious

01:00 Code 01:04 Africa 10

01:45 Playlist 02:00 Urban Hit 02:45 Playlist 05:00 Code 05:04 Playlist 08:00 Code 08:04 Sound System 10 08:45 Playlist 13:00 Code 13:04 Urban Hit 13:50 Playlist 16:00 Code 16:04 Latina 10 16:45 Playlist 18:00 Urban Hit 18:45 Playlist 20:00 Code 20:04 Hit Us 21:00 Playlist

00:00 Tokyo Revealed 01:00 Think Green 02:00 Distant Shores 02:30 Wild At Heart 03:00 Angry Planet 03:30 Culture Shock 04:00 Tokyo Revealed 05:00 Cruising the Spirit of Adventure 06:00 Short History of Convict Australia 07:00 Globe Trekker 07:30 Raging Bulls 08:00 Essential 08:30 Distant Shores 09:00 Think Green 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 The Thirsty Traveler 11:30 Angry Planet 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Chef Abroad 13:30 The Thirsty Traveler 14:00 Journey Into Wine-Spain & Portugal 14:30 Entrada 15:00 Angry Planet 15:30 Travel Today 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Essential 17:30 Chef Abroad 18:00 Planet Food 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Planet Food 21:00 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 21:30 Travel Today 22:00 Culture Shock 22:30 Essential 23:00 Globe Trekker

CNN INTERNATIONAL 00:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 01:00 The Best Of Backstory 01:30 World Sport 02:00 The Situation Room 03:00 World Report 04:00 World Business Today 04:30 World Sport 05:00 World Report 06:00 Anderson Cooper 360 07:00 World Report 07:30 Worldview 08:00 World Report 08:30 The Best Of Backstory 09:00 World Report 10:00 World Report 10:30 World Sport 11:00 World Report 11:30 World Business Today 12:00 World Report 12:30 Worldview 13:00 Larry King Live 14:00 World Report 14:30 World Sport 15:00 World Report 16:00 Amanpour.

17:00 World Business Today 18:00 International Desk 19:00 The Brief 19:30 World Sport 20:00 Prism 20:30 News Special

00:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 02:00 WWE Bottomline 03:00 WWE NXT 04:00 WWE SmackDown 06:00 WWE Vintage Collection 07:00 WWE Bottomline 08:00 UAE National Race Day 08:30 FIM World Cup 09:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 11:00 Bushido 12:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 NCAA Basketball 15:00 WWE SmackDown 17:00 UFC 113 20:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter

01:00 What Happens In Vegas-PG15 03:00 Stan Lee: The Condor-PG 05:00 Into The Storm-PG15 07:00 Momma’s Man-PG15 09:00 The Visitor-PG15 11:00 A Dance For Bethany-PG15 13:00 Barack Obama: The Man And His Journey-PG 15:00 A Shine Of Rainbows-PG15 17:00 The Visitor-PG15 19:00 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl-PG 21:00 Shadows In The Sun-PG15 23:00 Changeling-U

The Man From Earth on Show Movies

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 20:45 More Of Me 22:15 Nanny’s Secret, A 23:50 Fled 01:25 Solar Destruction 02:55 Forever Strong 04:45 More Of Me 06:15 Nanny’s Secret, A 07:50 Fled 09:25 Meet The Spartans 10:50 Forever Strong 12:40 Total Eclipse 14:05 Breaking And Entering 16:00 Species Ii 17:30 Joshua 19:15 Little Man Tate STAR World 20:00 Mental 20:50 Charlie’s Angels 21:00 The Listener 21:50 Who’s The Boss?

22:00 90210 23:00 [V] Tunes 00:00 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Tunes 02:00 Kyle XY 03:00 Scrubs 03:30 Scrubs 04:00 The King Of Queens 04:30 According To Jim

05:00 05:50 06:00 06:50 07:00 07:50 08:00 08:50 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:50 11:00 11:50 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:50 17:00 17:50 18:00 18:50 19:00 19:50

Criminal Minds Jackie Chan Adventures Grey’s Anatomy Charlie’s Angels 90210 Who’s The Boss?

Mental Jackie Chan Adventures The King Of Queens The Bold and the Beautiful Kyle XY Charlie’s Angels Grey’s Anatomy Who’s The Boss?

[V] Tunes Criminal Minds Scrubs Scrubs The King Of Queens According To Jim October Road Jackie Chan Adventures Reaper Charlie’s Angels Stone Undercover Who’s The Boss?

Criminal Minds Jackie Chan Adventures

Granada TV 21:00 Forger’s Masterclass

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

Beyond Boiling Point Holiday Homes From Hell Vroom Vroom (Series 2) 60 Minute Makeover (Series 3) Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (Series 2) Crime Monday: Cold Blood (Series 1) Forger’s Masterclass Young, Posh and Loaded The Sunshine Girls Emmerdale Coronation Street 60 Minute Makeover (Series 3) Crime Monday: Cold Blood (Series 1) Forger’s Masterclass Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (Series 2) The World’s Best Diets Emmerdale Coronation Street Teen Fat Camp Crime Monday: Cold Blood (Series 2) Forger’s Masterclass Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (Series 2) Emmerdale Coronation Street Teen Fat Camp Crime Monday: Cold Blood (Series 2) Forger’s Masterclass

Channel [V] 21:00 [V] Tunes 21:30 [V] Tunes

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

Loop Amp Around Asia [V] Tunes [V] Special XO Loop Backtracks Videoscope [V] Special [V] Tunes [V] Tunes Loop Amp Around Asia [V] Tunes Loop [V] Tunes [V] Plug Loop Backtracks XO [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist [V] Countdown Backtracks Double Shot Loop [V] Tunes [V] Plug Loop Backtracks

19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30

XO [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist

Fox News 20:00 America’s News HQ host Shannon Bream 22:00 Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 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 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 03:00 FOX Report Sunday host Harris Faulkner 04:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee (best of) 05:00 Real American Stories with Sarah Palin 06:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera (Afghan)/Kimberly Guilfoyle 07:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 08:00 Real American Stories with Sarah Palin 09:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 10:00 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 11:00 War Stories with Oliver North Peleliu: The Forgotten Battle 12:00 Real American Stories with Sarah Palin 13:00 Geraldo at Large with Geraldo Rivera 14:00 FOX & Friends First Live 15:00 FOX & Friends Live 17:00 America’s Newsroom 18:00 America’s Newsroom 19:00 Happening Now

National Geographic Channel 20:00 Taiwan To The World -Taiwan to the World : Hip Hop Nation 21:00 Monster Fish -Mongolian Terror Trout 22:00 Inside -Inside- Narco State 23:00 Locked Up Abroad -Conned In Quito 00:00 Air Crash Investigation -Silent Killer 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -ShowReal Asia : The Great Indian Witch Hunt 02:00 Locked Up Abroad -Mexico Or Bust 03:00 Wild Africa -Eye Of The Leopard 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -ShowReal Asia : The Great Indian Witch Hunt 06:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet -The Spice Road 06:30 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet -Eating Montreal 07:00 Guardians Of Nature -New Caledonia 08:00 Locked Up Abroad -Mexico Or Bust 09:00 Wild Chronicles -17 09:30 Wild Chronicles -18 10:00 Theme Week -Fight Masters : Special Forces 11:00 Air Crash Investigation -Silent Killer 12:00 ABOUT ASIA -ShowReal Asia : The Great Indian Witch Hunt 13:00 Generals At War -The Battle Of Singapore 14:00 Mega Factories -Apache Helicopter 15:00 Theme Week -Fight Masters : Special Forces 16:00 Inside -FARC Hostage Rescue 17:00 Air Crash Investigation -Silent Killer 18:00 Generals At War -The Battle Of Singapore

Monday, May 10, 2010

33 Flight Schedule Airlines

Arrival Flights on Monday 10-05-2010 Flt Route Time

Wataniya Airways 188 Wataniya Airways 306 Gulf Air 211 Bangladesh 045 Turkish A/L 772 Wataniya Airways 322 Jazeera 435 Ethiopian 620 Jazeera 267 DHL 370 Emirates 853 Etihad 305 Qatari 138 Falcon 201 Jazeera 503 Jazeera 527 Kuwait 412 Jazeera 529 British 151 Kuwait 204 Kuwait 382 Kuwait 302 Fly Dubai 053 Kuwait 676 Kuwait 352 Kuwait 284 Kuwait 344 Kuwait 362 Emirates 855 Arabia 121 Qatari 132 Etihad 301 Gulf Air 213 Wataniya Airways 182 Middle East 404 Wataniya Airways 102 Jazeera 185 Iran Aseman 6521 Egypt Air 610 Kuwait 672 Oman Air 645 Wataniya Airways 432 Royal Jordanian 800 United A/L 982 Fly Dubai 057 Jazeera 525 Jazeera 257 Wataniya Airways 422 Saudi Arabian A/L 500 Kuwait 552 Nas Air 745 Qatari 134 Kuwait 548 Kuwait 546 Kuwait 678 Kuwait 118 Etihad 303 Emirates 857 Gulf Air 215 Wataniya Airways 402 Saudi Arabian A/L 510 Jazeera 493 Jazeera 367 Arabia 125 Sri Lankan 227 Wataniya Airways 304 Kuwait 104 Wataniya Airways 106 Kuwait 502 Kuwait 542 Kuwait 786 Kuwait 618 Jazeera 177 Kuwait 744 Kuwait 674 Kuwait 614 Kuwait 714 Indian 575 Fly Dubai 061 Middle East 402 Rovos 081 Jet A/W 572 KLM 0445 Wataniya Airways 404 Jazeera 459 DHL 372 Gulf Air 217 Emirates 859 Qatari 136 United A/L 981 Jazeera 429 Jazeera 185 Tunis Air 327 Lufthansa 636 Wataniya Airways 108

Bahrain Cairo Bahrain Dhaka/Bahrain Istanbul Sharm El Sheikh Mashad Addis Ababa Beirut Bahrain Dubai Abu Dhabi Doha Dubai Luxor Alexandria Manila/Bangkok Assiut London Lahore Delhi Mumbai Dubai Dubai Cochin Dhaka Chennai Colombo Dubai Sharjah Doha Abu Dhabi Bahrain Bahrain Beirut Dubai Dubai Lamerd Cairo Dubai Muscat Damascus Amman Washington DC Dulles Dubai Alexandria Beirut Amman Jeddah Damascus Jeddah Doha Luxor Alexandria Muscat/Abu Dhabi New York Abu Dhabi Dubai Bahrain Beirut Riyadh Jeddah Deirezzor Sharjah Colombo/Dubai Cairo London Dubai Beirut Cairo Jeddah Doha Dubai Dammam Dubai Bahrain Riyadh Chennai/Goa Dubai Beirut Baghdad Mumbai Amsterdam Beirut Damascus Bahrain Bahrain Dubai Doha Bahrain Bahrain Dubai Tunis Frankfurt Dubai

00:30 00:50 01:05 01:05 01:15 01:20 01:35 01:45 01:55 02:15 02:25 02:55 03:25 05:25 05:30 06:10 06:15 06:20 06:30 07:10 07:20 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:05 08:10 08:20 08:20 08:25 08:40 09:00 09:25 10:45 10:45 10:50 11:05 11:15 11:45 12:55 13:15 13:15 13:35 13:35 13:35 13:50 13:50 14:10 14:10 14:30 14:35 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:30 15:35 16:15 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:35 17:40 17:40 18:00 18:35 18:35 18:45 18:50 18:50 18:55 18:55 19:05 19:15 19:20 19:20 19:25 19:30 20:05 20:20 20:30 20:30 20:40 20:50 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:35 21:55 22:10 22:40 23:35 23:45 23:55

Departure Flights on Monday 10-05-2010 Airlines Flt Route Time Jazeera 528 Assiut 00:05 India Express 390 Mangalore/Kozhikode 00:25 KLM 0447 Amsterdam 00:30 Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt 00:50 Safi A/W 216 Kabul 01:00 Indian 982 Ahmedabad/Hyderabad/Chennai 01:05 Pakistan 206 Peshawar/Lahore 01:10 Turkish A/L 773 Istanbul 02:15 Bangladesh 046 Dhaka 02:15 Ethiopian 620 Bahrain/Addis Ababa 02:30 DHL 371 Bahrain 03:15 Emirates 854 Dubai 03:45 Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi 04:00 Qatari 139 Doha 05:00 Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai 06:50 Jazeera 164 Dubai 07:00 Jazeera 524 Alexandria 07:00 Gulf Air 212 Bahrain 07:45 Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain 07:50 Wataniya Airways 431 Damascus 08:10 British 156 London 08:25 Jazeera 256 Beirut 08:25 Kuwait 545 Alexandria 08:35 Fly Dubai 054 Dubai 08:40 Kuwait 677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat 08:45 Kuwait 671 Dubai 09:00 Wataniya Airways 421 Amman 09:10 Kuwait 551 Damascus 09:10 Kuwait 547 Luxor 09:20 Arabia 122 Sharjah 09:20 Emirates 856 Dubai 09:40 Qatari 133 Doha 10:00 Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi 10:10 Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut 11:35 Gulf Air 214 Bahrain 11:35 Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris 11:45 Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo 11:50 Middle East 405 Beirut 11:50 Kuwait 541 Cairo 12:00 Jazeera 492 Jeddah 12:15 Jazeera 366 Deirezzor 12:20 Kuwait 103 London 12:30 Iran Aseman 6522 Lamerd 12:45 Kuwait 501 Beirut 13:00 Kuwait 785 Jeddah 13:30 Egypt Air 611 Cairo 13:55 Oman Air 646 Muscat 14:15 Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai 14:30 Royal Jordanian 801 Amman 14:30 Fly Dubai 058 Dubai 14:35 United A/L 982 Bahrain 14:50 Jazeera 176 Dubai 14:55 Wataniya Airways 403 Beirut 15:10 Kuwait 673 Dubai 15:10 Kuwait 617 Doha 15:35 Saudi Arabian A/L 501 Jeddah 15:45 Nas Air 746 Jeddah 15:45 Jazeera 458 Damascus 15:50 Kuwait 773 Riyadh 16:05 Qatari 135 Doha 16:20 Kuwait 613 Bahrain 16:20 Kuwait 743 Dammam 16:25 Rovos 082 Baghdad 17:00 Etihad 304 Abu Dhabi 17:35 Emirates 858 Dubai 18:05 Wataniya Airways 305 Cairo 18:05 Gulf Air 216 Bahrain 18:05 Kuwait 543 Cairo 18:10 Arabia 126 Sharjah 18:20 Jazeera 262 Beirut 18:20 Jazeera 184 Dubai 18:35 Saudi Arabian A/L 511 Riyadh 18:35 Sri Lankan 228 Dubai/Colombo 19:10 Jazeera 428 Bahrain 19:10 Wataniya Airways 107 Dubai 19:40 Kuwait 283 Dhaka 20:00 Fly Dubai 062 Dubai 20:10 Kuwait 331 Trivandrum 21:00 Middle East 403 Beirut 21:20 Jet A/W 571 Mumbai 21:30 Wataniya Airways 187 Bahrain 21:35 KLM 0445 Bahrain/Amsterdam 21:40 Gulf Air 218 Bahrain 21:55 DHL 373 Bahrain 22:00 Kuwait 675 Dubai 22:10 Emirates 860 Dubai 22:25 Falcon 102 Bahrain 22:30 Kuwait 381 Delhi 22:30 Qatari 137 Doha 22:35 Kuwait 301 Mumbai 22:45 Jazeera 612 Lahore 22:55 Kuwait 205 Islamabad 22:55 Jazeera 526 Alexandria 23:20 Jazeera 502 Luxor 23:30 Kuwait 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:40 United A/L 981 Washington DC Dulles 23:40

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available for bachelors with an Indian family near Mecca street, Fahaheel. Contact: 23927458.

(C 2235) Sharing accommodation available for 1 bachelor to share with another bachelor in a 2 bedroom flat in Abbassiya near Unique store no. 2 opp Uduppi palace from May/June 2010, kitchen facilities available. Contact: 66110593 or after 3 pm on 24313908.

(C 2241) Sharing accommodation in Jabriya Mulhaq separate room near Al Hadi hospital, phone and kitchen facilities, rent KD 65, bachelor only.

Contact: 99546413.

(C 2237) 10-5-2010 Sharing accommodation available for a decent Christian or Hindu family/bachelor in Abbassiya. Call 97980907.

(C 2230) Sharing accommodation available for decent executive bachelor/couples to share with Keralite Christian family in a 2 BHK CA/C flat, near Shifa Al-Jazeera medical center, opp. Farwaniya police station, from May last or 1st June onwards. Contact: 55958189.

(C 2231) 9-5-2010 Decent accommodation available in Salmiya near Bestow supermarket from May 20 to July 2. Please contact 25620547 or 66737466.

(C 2228) 8-5-2010 In the double room flat one fully furnished bedroom with separate bathroom and kitchen facilities available with Keralite family at Abbassiya. For couple, lady or ladies from May onwards, interested contact 24310332/97841925.

(C 2222) 6-5-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya behind Caesars bakery one room and separate bathroom only Keralite Christian bachelors. Call 66452684.

(C 2216) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya from May end onwards, for executive bachelors or a couple, in a CAC bldg with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, near Integrated School, Noor stores bldg, spacious rooms and big hall. Call 66752359, 97635928. (C 2218) 5-5-2010

FOR SALE Pathfinder 2001, price KD 1400, Pajero 2001, KD 1600, red color, good condition.

Tel: 99537769, 99439512.

(C 2236) Ford 1998 model, price KD 400, insurance until March 2011. Contact: 99554160.

(C 2238) Hummer H2, 2003, bronze color, full option, very good condition, price KD 5250.

Tel: 97487676.

(C 2240) Cooking oven - medium, freezer - medium. Call: 99554160.

(C 2239) 10-5-2010 Toyota Corolla XLi 1.6, model 2009, excellent condition, silver color, km 43,500 done. Contact: 55107856. (C 2224) Laptop IBM Intel Centrino, Ram 512, HD 30 GB, Wifi bluetooth, DVD + CD - WR,

price KD 65, & IBM PC P4, Intel 2.8, Ram 256, HD 40 GB with Dell LCD complete price KD 55, all in excellent condition, call 99322585.

(C 2223) 8-5-2010 Toyota Corolla, 2000 model, run 1,30,000 km, excellent condition.

Call: 66876539, 24895197.

Toyota Camry Grande, model 2005, 6 cylinders, done 62,000 kms only, white color, excellent condition, cash price KD 2,850. Contact: 60083759.

(C 2220) 6-5-2010 Hummer H2, 2003, bronze color, very good condition, Price KD 5,250. Call: 97487676.

(C 2217) Honda Accord, 2004 model, 4 doors, full options, 12,000 km, golden color.

Call: 55522942.

(C 2215) Pentium 4, Intel, 30 GB HDD, 256 MB RAM, CD ROM, 56K modem, sound card, speakers, 17� CRT monitor, ready for Inernet KD 25. P III, with 17� CRT monitor KD 15. Contact: 66244192.

(C 2214) 5-5-2010 Toyota Corolla XLi, 1.8L, model 2007, golden beige color, excellent condition, done 61,000 kms only, cash price KD 2,850. Contact: 97213518.

(C 2202)

SITUATION VACANT

Required live-in maid for Keralite family. Please contact: 99509436.

(C 2234) 9-5-2010 Required a parttime maid from 2 pm to 7 pm to work for a small family in Farwaniya. Accommodation in Farwaniya is preferred.

Salary KD 30. Please call: 66931621.

8-5-2010 SITUATION WANTED

Indian female (MBA in HR), 10 years experience in HR/ administration, specializing in recruitments, PMS, MIS reports & overall Admin functions, Proficient in MS Office. Good communication

No: 14723

skills, Please 66634322.

contact: (C 2226) 10-5-2010

Indian male, 41 years, BA (economics) diploma in HRD management, fluent in English, Arabic, Hindu, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Urdu, can bring all categories of human resource from India, needs any official job. Tel: 94986733 email: weaverscompany@gmail.com (C 2229) 9-5-2010 Young male, first class degree holder in mechanical engineering, eagerly waiting for employment opportunities, excellent communication skills, Autocad proficient, visa transferable. Tel: 99972119, email: justin.thomas501@gmail.com (C 2221) 6-5-2010

MATRIMONIAL Tamil/Urdu Sunny Muslim 27/163/ BE.ECE seeks (BE/ B.Tech/ MCA/ BCA, MBA) suitable groom from only Tamilnadu base. Contact: email: jkn_majeed@yahoo.com (C 2243) 10-5-2010 Inviting proposals for RC girl working as a staff nurse in MOH Kuwait, height 167 cm, age 28 years, from Changanassery, going for vacation on middle of November preference for male nurse. Email: bobybabuji@hotmail.com (C 2227) 8-5-2010 Proposals are invited for

Nair girl, 24 years, BSc nurse, Mavelikara Taluk, Alleppey dist, presently working as a staff nurse in Amrutha hospital Cochin.

Interested well educated Nair boys may respond with complete profile to email: t-pillai10@yahoo.com (C 2219) 6-5-2010

CHANGE OF NAME I, Fatenus Fazal Khan, holder Pakistani Passport No. KG 245598, hereby change my name to Yunus Khan Fazal Khan.

(C 2242) 10-5-2010 I, Maru Thappan Murugan holder of Indian Passport No: B5516428, have embraced Islam and hereby change my name to Mubarak.

(C 2209) 3-5-2010

MISCELLANEOUS Coaching available for BBA/MBA/EMBA, Preston University Islamabad.

Admissions open: May 15, 2010. Examination center: Kuwait.

Contact: 67656460/66078041. Email: prestonq8@yahoo.com (C 2233) Teaching Knowledge Test, classes available for TKT. Duration: May 14 - June 19, 2010, 3 days a week.

Instructor: Native speaker.

Course ends with a certificate from Cambridge University.

Call: 67656460/66078041. Email: prestonq8@yahoo.com (C 2232) 5-9-2010

SPECTRUM

34 CROSSWORD 984

Monday, May 10, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) You place a high value on your dreams and ideals and do not consider them impossible. You experience the unity around you, that which joins things together. There is a love of the sea and of whatever heals; that which separates us.

Others may find you especially witty and eccentric just now. Mysticism, mythology, poetry and music are natural. People who encounter you may sometimes feel deceived by your remarkable vision, which they enjoy when they are with you but find hard to maintain alone. They wish the world were as you say it is. You have a natural sense of what the public wants at this time. Clear decisions affecting others will prove most successful. You may join some sort of animal study this evening; take a camera.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Everyone seems to be getting outside or going somewhere today. You may just want to rest and hibernate with a good book.

Sometimes your desire for knowledge is in so many different directions that you lose focus and become scattered. Think about creating a new habit that will help you create a little balance in your life. You like to work with words and ideas and have a natural appreciation for anything that is literary or artistic. Your sense of discernment when it comes to matters of literary and intellectual taste is very refined. You may decide to create some poetry or prose. There could be an opportunity to attend a concert. Whatever the case, you are right, this is a day to rest and enjoy. A loved one may be surprised by your antics this evening.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. A thin strip (wood or metal).

5. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

8. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

11. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells.

12. The cry made by sheep.

13. Primitive predaceous North American fish covered with hard scales and having long jaws with needle-like teeth.

14. American civil rights worker in Mississippi.

17. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.

19. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

22. The sacred city of Lamaism.

24. French soldier said to be fearless and chivalrous (1473-1524).

27. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

29. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

30. A Loloish language.

33. A long noosed rope used to catch animals.

38. A religious belief of African origin involving witchcraft and sorcery.

39. An open sore on the back of a horse caused by ill-fitting or badly adjusted saddle.

43. (informal) Roused to anger.

44. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

45. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

46. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

47. Footwear usually with wooden soles.

48. A light touch or stroke.

Gemini

(May 21-June 20) Your sense of discrimination, when it comes to matters of literary and intellectual taste, is very refined. You could spend the afternoon writing poetry or visiting an art show. You put a very high value on people that are creative and expressive and enjoy the brave abandonment that shows when one successful artist surfaces from the general human race. Perhaps you will enjoy chatting with relatives or friends that are far away about your discoveries. A born coach or teacher, you may find yourself guiding and teaching a group of young people this afternoon. Your own growth and success may be linked to questions of security, home and family. This evening may be a good time to have fun in the kitchen, creating and baking ahead for the week.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You create pleasant surroundings in the home. Communal activities that take place at this time should be both well-attended and successful. The need for emotional security is emphasized, though you should not pressure a partner into doing things just to please or satisfy you. Your tendency to partake in group activities is strong just now. Mental stimulation from others is key for you and it is a good idea to make every effort to cooperate and compromise with others. Have fun today! Take your loved ones to a movie, play, zoo or perhaps a picnic in the park with a little fun exercise as well. Take pictures for posterity. Passions, handicaps and negative attitudes are cast aside. An understanding is formed and a positive day is for your taking.

Leo (July 23-August 22) New information is coming to your attention now. The mind and all that is mental will be the source of continued change and adjustment. Letters, writing and speaking assume a great deal of importance.

You will often be asked to guide others. Your mind tends to be engrossed with thoughts, ideas, concepts and remains in almost constant flux. Mental learning is an area of preoccupation and may involve hours of involved conversations with highly educated people. Perhaps a professor or an educated friend wants to talk computers this afternoon. You have very clear insight, even genius, when it comes to discovering or inventing things.

You seem to have been born with this talent, fully operational. Your timing should be perfect.

Zits DOWN 1. A detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work.

2. Rock that in its molten form (as magma) issues from volcanos.

3. Any of various deciduous or evergreen ornamental shrubs of the genus Abelia having opposite simple leaves and cymes of small white or pink or purplish flowers.

4. Waterproofed canvas.

5. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

6. A flexible container with a single opening.

7. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

8. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

9. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

10. The phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid.

15. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

16. Being or befitting or characteristic of an infant.

18. Lacking or deprive of the sense of hearing wholly or in part.

20. A unit of magnetic flux equal to 100,000,000 maxwells.

21. A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk.

23. Singing jazz.

25. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

26. A doctor's degree in religion.

28. A small pellet fired from an air rifle or BB gun.

31. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

32. A member of a seafaring group of North American Indians who lived on the Pacific coast of British Columbia and southwestern Alaska.

33. Any of various dark heavy viscid substances obtained as a residue.

34. Highly excited.

35. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

36. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

37. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

40. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

41. A serve that strikes the net before falling into the receiver's court.

42. A doctor's degree in education.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You have much eagerness today. This is a time where some project may come under scrutiny from people in and around your presence. You should enjoy your hobby and not worry about what others think, the involvement with your hobby helps you to relax and it is not taking your time away from the family; enjoy the art of creating. Who knows, you could make some interesting discoveries or some fun hand-made gifts. This could mean that you have an adventure learning the art of dance, magic, sewing or some other creative activity. You teach young people to make good use of their talents and not be afraid to try new things. There is positive thinking, mental stability, good feelings, relaxation and opportunity. It is a pleasant time for you.

Libra (September 23-October 22) Habits are in a cycle of change; variety satisfies a deep inner need. Being on the go and keeping a finger to the winds of change makes you feel in touch. Learning and communicating scratches an instinctive itch. You may find yourself at a home show or a computer exhibit, whatever is new and creates the ability to have-comfort-and-fun-while-working is something you investigate today. There are many sensual and personal pleasures awaiting you as well. Good food, lovely clothes and the urge to beautify your surroundings are strong. You somehow work thriftiness into the picture and find yourself calculating prices that will fit in your budget. There is good news this evening, through a friend or relative that will open a few doors of job opportunity soon.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You are charming, kind and popular but this morning you look for ways to enjoy some time to yourself; to just enjoy a little time in solitude. A walk or a coffee taken out-of-doors this morning may be just what is needed. A friend or relative becomes more of a fascinating individual today as you discover some hidden skill. Fun conversations and pictures may be enjoyed. Some project started long-ago is about to become completed. Let’s face it, you need help with this project and an unexpected helpful hand becomes a blessing this afternoon. The ability to be flexible is important. Young people learn by watching the way you handle difficult situations. You may find yourself enjoying the evening while visiting with neighbors or friends.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Spiritual matters are important today. You may enjoy the group gatherings that happen when one attends a religious service. A gathering of young people, in some sports or picnic activity may give you opportunities for long discussions and fun opportunities to meet and enjoy new people today. You are warm and genuine and attracted to art, music, singing and dancing. Perhaps you will be coordinating some event or organizing and administering to people today.

It would not be unusual to find you in the middle of some sort of charity project.

Your inner resources and emotions are accented. Expect a sense of support and good will from those around you. Perhaps you feel this day was made for you; all is good.

Yesterday’s Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You are

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

in a great mood today. You enjoy visiting with friends and driving around and just feeling in touch. Learning and communicating creates an awareness. You may find yourself teaching, taking a class or attending a lecture. You can really communicate and convey yourself to others quite easily. You have a lot of drive and can come across assertive at times. This is a great day that should just flow along. In particular, you will do well in activities that include family members this evening. You may find that board games teach and encourage the young people in your family. You could feel real support and harmony for circumstances and those around you. You enjoy close relationships and you have noticed more emotional depth recently.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) The art of patience and the ability to control the tendency to exaggerate is very important today as misunderstandings could be the cause of some difficulty. If you take a particular situation too seriously you could miss a lighter and more imaginative approach to a solution. Open up your mind to new ideas and fill your life with the possibilities of new opportunities by attending educational pursuits, travel, try your hand at writing or learn new ways of interacting.

Your confidence and optimism are strong, even though you will be faced with the need to direct your efforts in ways that will increase your effectiveness.

You are in an excellent cycle to learn or teach. You will enjoy a little work in the garden before evening.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) There could be a personal issue that has you stumped but change will come eventually and simple answers will be available soon.

Ambition is a powerful motivation and can lead you into conflict if you let it get out of control; relax. With your focus properly channeled you will find achievement and recognition. Some plumbing or technical event will make delay your activities today. You may find yourself able to put your schedule on hold with little or no problem. You are particularly gregarious and your social life should blossom this coming week. Avoid extravagance and self-indulgence that also accompanies this time. This evening is a good time for letter writing, talking to friends and visiting with young people. Smile; it is contagious.

INFORMATION

Monday, May 10, 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

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SPECTRUM

Bonnie Wright is getting married

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Monday, May 10, 2010

Hilary Duff’s fiance grinds his teeth H

he 19-year-old ‘Harry Potter’ actress who plays the title character’s love interest Ginny Weasley in the hit movie franchise - has reportedly got engaged to co-star Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Gellart Grindlewald, after just six months of dating.

A source on the set of the final ‘Harry Potter’ movies, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ - which will be split into two parts before it is released later this year - told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: “We are all absolutely shocked and surprised and can’t believe that Jamie has asked Bonnie to marry him. “They met on the set of the movie and Jamie fell for Bonnie really badly. He says they are completely in love. It all seems very whirlwind, but they both say it’s the real deal.”

Jamie, 21, is understood to have proposed to Bonnie last month, but details about their marriage plans are unclear. The source added: “All he has told us is that he asked her to marry him and Bonnie said yes. ‘He is really pleased and neither of them seem to have any doubts that they are rushing in too soon. We have asked them if it is for real and they have said yes.

“They are both very professional, so when they are filming, there is no smooching or playing around. Also they are not really in the same scenes. Jamie is often on the set just to watch Bonnie and spend time with her between takes.” The news is said to be a shock to Jamie’s ex girlfriend Zoe Graham, who split from the actor - who has the clothes designer’s name tattooed on his chest shortly before he started dating the redheaded beauty late last year. An insider said: “They split up last year and within months Jamie was dating Bonnie. He really wears his heart on his sleeve, and when he was dating Zoe he had her name tattooed above his heart. “Zoe feels rather cast aside. It was a very serious relationship and he was always very proud of the tattoo. No one’s sure what he’s going to do about that now he’s with Bonnie.”

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ilary Duff’s fiance grinds his teeth so badly the couple have to sleep in separate rooms. The actress-and-singer - who got engaged to hockey player Mike Comrie when they were on holiday in February - is reportedly so frustrated with the noises which come from his side of the bed she’s forced him to get medical help. And the 22-year-old star is said to be losing so much sleep because of Mike’s troublesome teeth she’s had to move onto the sofa to get her rest. A source told National Enquirer magazine: “It makes the most awful, nails-on-chalkboard noise. Mike has agreed to see his doctor about getting a mouth guard so Hilary can rest easy.”

Despite stressing about her sleepless nights, Hilary is very “relaxed” about her wedding plans and is keeping calm ahead of the big day. Her sister Haylie Duff recently revealed: “She’s really relaxed and wants something comfortable and great. She’s just so excited to be engaged. We’ve started talking about the wedding stuff, but she’s still just really happy in this sort of phase. It’ll be a while, but it’s fun to talk about it and think about it.”

Klum and Seal renew wedding vows

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sunset ceremony on a beach in Costa Careyes, Mexico, The couple were joined by 80 guests - who had been asked to dress in black and white and brides and grooms - for the service and they celebrated afterwards with an outdoor meal, dining under a thatched roof hut decorated with white flowers, dozens of

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chandeliers, and thousands of candles. A source said: “They wanted it to feel like a real wedding, but still have a theme.”

Prior to yesterday’s festivities, Heidi, 36, and her 47-year-old spouse had hosted a dinner and karaoke party on Friday, with both stars serenading their guests.

The fun-loving pair had sent out wedding cakeshaped invitations with bobble heads inside of the whole family to notify their guests of their plan for this year’s anniversary celebration, carrying the sentiment “Five years? Piece of cake!”. Speaking about their annual vow renewal, Heidi said recently: “It’s our time - a lovely family time.

It’s about remembering this moment of love we gave to each other and reinforcing it. “It’s so special to us, something we love and something our children have gotten accustomed to. It’s like, ‘Hey, Mom and Dad love each other and they get married every year!’ “

essica Alba found it difficult to rebel against her family’s beliefs. The ‘Killer Inside Me’ actress admits her Catholic upbringing was quite strict and though her mother and father had views she didn’t always agree with, she didn’t want to upset them by going on a different direction in her life. Jessica, who grew up in California, said: “I come from a religious and traditional family. My mom grew up in the South and she had a Southern Baptist upbringing but my father was very Catholic. It’s hard to rebel without your family feeling like

ylie Minogue can no longer perform her classic song ‘Better the Devil You Know’. The 41-yearold singer admits the track which reached number two in the UK singles chart in 1990 - is her favorite song in her back catalogue, but when she sings it live now she has to do so in a different key. She said: “‘Better the Devil You Know’ was a turning point and an exciting time for me. I was 21, I’d just started dating Michael Hutchence and a different world had opened up.

“That song is ludicrously high, so when I perform it on tour, we take it down a bit. Some of those songs sound simple, but when you tackle them live, they’re not easy.” The Australian pop beauty also claims her brush with breast cancer in 2005 has led her to finally accept herself the way she is after over 20 years in the music business. She told the new UK edition of Elle mag-

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Game addict Mila Kunis ila Kunis spends hours playing computer games with her boyfriend Macaulay Culkin.

The actress - who provides the voice of Meg Griffin on animated series ‘Family Guy’ - recently had to go cold turkey on her favorite pixilated adventures because she was getting so “obsessive”, but since then she’s become hooked on Facebook’s FarmVille game. She said:

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you’re rebelling against them. I don’t necessarily always agree with certain things and that has nothing to do with how much I love them or how much they love me.

Family is the most important thing in the world.” The 29year-old actress - who has a 23month old daughter, Honor Marie, with her husband Cash Warren - always knew she

“All you do is grow wheat. And then you grow blueberries. It’s so monotonous and yet great at the same time. I’m obsessed.” The 28-year-old star also stops herself from playing poker because of her competitive nature. She said: “I lost an obscene amount of money in Las Vegas. I got crap!” The brunette beauty is just as obsessed with ‘Man vs. Wild’, a series on the

wanted to live a different life from her parents from a young age. She told Tatler magazine: “There were parameters and boundaries around me that I always wanted to break from.”

Jessica Alba finds it hard to rebel

Katie Melua is unsure of her sexuality

he couple - who raise four children together, Leni, six, Henry, four, Johan, three, and seven-monthold Lou - marked their fifth anniversary with an intimate

Kylie Minogue doesn’t know her Devil

Discovery channel which features outdoor tough guy Bear Grylls. She added in an interview with the June issue of Esquire magazine: “I love that he gets so excited about carcasses. He’ll be like, ‘Mmm, look at that sexy dead goat, look at those eyeballs.’ Then he digs into the goats eyeballs because they have protein. It makes me want to vomit. And of course, I watch it!”

azine: “I think I’ve hit my stride, finally after 20 years.

Some things have just clicked.

It’s ridiculous that it’s taken that long. “Maybe it’s to do

with being on tour when I fell ill, but I didn’t know I was ill.

The last tour in North America was purely for my fans. I felt like I had nothing to lose, so this immense freedom came with that.”

he 25-year-old singer - who was previously in a relationship with Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard admits she is often confused by her attractions to people, but is currently single. She said: “We live in the 21st century - questions of sexuality are not outdated, but I don’t think the lines are very clear and they are not always clear to me. “I can tell you that I’m single, which is not lovely, but it is what it is. I really don’t think whether you are gay or not is the whole identity of a person. It’s just one side; it doesn’t have to be the thing that defines you.” In 2006, reports surfaced that Katie had formed a close friendship with openly lesbian photographer Lara Bloom, although no romantic relationship was ever confirmed.

Discussing her latest album ‘The House’ - masterminded by legendary musicianand-producer William Orbit - Katie claims it is a departure from her previous work and a journey of self discovery for her. She said: “If this album is about something, it’s the puzzle of being alive, the mind maze of going inside your head and trying to figure out what the hell is going on in there.” —Bang Showbiz

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Monday, May 10, 2010

SPECTRUM

37

Travel

Glenn Curtiss’ mansion rises from the ashes oor Glenn Curtiss. The aviation pioneer rivaled, perhaps exceeded, the Wright Brothers in accomplishment.

He held the first US pilot’s license and the world land-speed record, 136 mph, set on the sands of Ormond Beach on a motorcycle of his design and manufacture. He practically invented and built US naval aviation. Along the way, Curtiss also found time to develop Hialeah, Opa-locka and Miami Springs.

But he had the misfortune of dying young, at 52 in 1930, and his once-electrifying fame faded. So did one of the brightest, most singular bits of Curtiss’s legacy: his Miami Springs mansion, a picturesque

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In this March 2, 1999 file photograph, Martin Marquez, president of Curtiss Mansion Inc., stands in front of what is left of the structure after several suspicious fires.

Pueblo-style sprawl built in 1925 on the edge of the town’s golf course. Abandoned after long use as a hotel, the Curtiss house burned to a roofless husk in a series of fires a decade ago.

Now the house is rising again, Phoenixlike, rebuilt by the town and a nonprofit foundation whose officers hope its resurrection will also help restore Glenn Hammond Curtiss to his rightful place in history. Plans call for museum and exhibition galleries, a conference center and a full professional kitchen to cater events like weddings. “It’s an amazing comeback,” said historian Paul George, who leads periodic tours of Miami Springs and has made it a point to take visitors to view the mansion’s charred shell.

“This is the quintessential grass-roots effort, and it will put Curtiss in a select group with Tuttle and Flagler and others who built Miami. He’s one of the great unsung heroes, not just for Miami but the country.”

The painstaking reconstruction, which is proceeding in phases, at the very least promises to re-establish a South Florida icon. The dreamlike mansion at 500 Deer Run, attributed to prominent 1920s Miami architect Martin Luther Hampton, has long been

regarded as the most distinguished of several quirky, Pueblo-inspired buildings Curtiss erected in what is now Miami Springs.

Curtiss and a business partner, James Bright, had purchased a 12,000-acre ranch in 1916 where they established an airfield. But they built Hialeah on the land to cash in on the 1920s real estate boom.

Appalled by Hialeah’s monotonous sprawl, however, Curtiss undertook careful planning for his next two developments, Opa-locka and the Springs, which he envi-

Register of Historic Places in 2001. By 2002, however, the house had suffered several fires set by vandals and homeless people.

Little aside from the walls remained.

“The house just collapsed,” Carbonell said. A small grant paid to stabilize what was left while supporters struggled to raise reconstruction money. Miami Springs residents, in a straw ballot, approved restoration of the house, now owned by the town, which was not flush with cash. The ruins sat for years, fenced off but plainly visible to neighbors and golfers.

“As time went on, it was very difficult,” town manager Jim Borgmann said. “Miami

of exterior details. Full interior build-out will require another $2 million or so, yet to be raised, Borgmann said.

Because original plans have not been found, preservation architect Richard Heisenbottle used historic photographs and careful measurements to replicate original details and proportions. “The exterior, whenever possible, we’re trying to keep exactly as it was,” Carbonell said. Not so the interior. Modern fire codes, handicapped accessibility and the need for flexibility of use dictated open spaces, meaning the home’s original rooms won’t be reproduced. Work on the shell is now almost complete. Supporters

Springs is not a big town with a lot of money.

The neighbors have certainly had to endure almost a slum for many years. They’ve been very patient.” What the town and foundation finally cobbled together —$1 million from the state of Florida and $1 million from a taxpayer-approved Miami-Dade County bond issue-was enough to put on a roof and rebuild the mansion’s shell, including plumbing and electrical systems and a full panoply

hope completion of the exterior will make raising the rest of the money a lot easier this time. And once the interior is done, Borgmann pledged, the name of Glenn Curtiss will shine again in the town he made his home, and beyond. “Really, he’s a forgotten man and it’s our goal to do something about that,” he said. “We want to reestablish the importance of Glenn Curtiss to the country, and the world,” Borgmann. —MCT

Different views of private home of aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss, developer of Hialeah, Opa Locka and Miami Springs, Florida. —MCT photos sioned as a country-club residential paradise.

For Miami Springs he fancifully chose the architectural style of southwestern adobe houses; for Opa-locka the theme was Arabian Nights.

His vision, interrupted by the subsequent land crash, never panned out beyond a clutch of surviving signature buildings in each. But the Curtiss mansion was, by all accounts, a gem. Curtiss’ wife, Lena, named it Dar-ErrAha, which she said meant “house of happiness.”

The house reproduced the irregular look of hand-made adobe in stucco layered over hollow clay bricks. Set amid lush gardens and an artificial lake, with a swimming pool at the rear, the 10,000 square-foot house was shaped in a ‘V’ around an expansive courtyard. The soaring main room was a center of social life, though the unpretentious Curtiss

liked to slip out of such occasions via a hidden back stairway to a private study upstairs.

“It was certainly a nice house, but considering the money he had, it was understated,” said Antolin Carbonell, a preservationist and member of the board of Curtiss Mansion, Inc., the nonprofit guiding its reconstruction.

“He was a very unassuming person.”

Curtiss lived in the house just five years. He died of complications from surgery in Buffalo, NY, near his native Hammondsport, today home of an aviation museum dedicated to him.

His widow married a man who worked for Curtiss and lived in the house until the late 1940s. It was subsequently sold and made the centerpiece of the famed Miami Springs Villas hotel. The house was designated as a protected historic site by the Springs in 1987, and made the National

Quips and quotes about travel

By Gary A Warner rom a vaporetto swung along the Grand Canal in Venice, I saw these words chiseled in stone on the side of a building: Open my heart and you will see Grav’d inside of it, “Italy.” It’s from Robert Browning’s poem, “De Gustibus”.

I keep a list of travel-related quotes that I sprinkle into stories from time to time. Pieces of wisdom or humor in a line or two.

Some of my favorites, all by American authors except where noted:

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“A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.”

—Earl Wilson “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness. Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth.”

— Mark Twain “Commies love concrete.”

—PJ O’Rourke

“If you will be a traveler, have always two bags very full. That is one of patience and another of money.”

—John Florio “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.

—James A Michener “What affects men most sharply about a foreign nation is not so much finding or not finding familiar things; it is rather not finding them in the familiar place.”

—Marilyn Vos Savant “Don’t confuse your travel agent with God.” —Kenneth R Morgan “To feel at home, stay at home. A foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It’s designed to make its own people comfortable.”

—Clifton Fadiman “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. For there is in London all that life can afford.”

—Samuel Johnson, 18th-century British writer

“Nothing is sure in London, except expense.”

—William Shenstone, 18thcentury British writer “On a long journey, even a straw weighs heavy.”

—Spanish proverb “Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.”

—Ernest Hemingway “Rather see the world abroad than, living dully sluggardzed at home, wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.”

—William Shakespeare “When you get to the fork in the road, take it.”

—Yogi Berra, NY Yankees catcher We’ll end with another one about Italy, which seems to inspire more words than most countries. From a native son, composer Giuseppe Verdi. “You may have the universe if I may have Italy.”

—MCT

SPECTRUM

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Monday, May 10, 2010

Fashion

Sri Lankan models display creations by local Sri Lankan designers during a fashion event in Colombo yesterday. Clothing accounts for over half of Sri Lanka’s 7.5 billion USD export earnings and is a vital line for the economy that has been gripped by decades old ethnic conflict. —AFP

So preppy: t’s all but official: Preppy is back. But can places like Los Angeles-the laid-back land of manana and margaritas, ever rise to the level of a prep paradise? It may surprise you, but it already has. You wouldn’t know it from the definitive text on the topic. When “The Official Preppy Handbook” was published in 1980, it didn’t just give the West Coast the short end of the lacrosse stick, it practically smacked the City of Angels upside the head with the milky white sole of a Sperry Top-Sider. The few references to LA were more like admonitions. As a ski area, Mammoth Mountain was maligned for being “too close to LA,” and the chapter on vacations deemed Los Angeles “strictly slumming material.”

Which was understandable given what passed for preppy at the time: an insular WASP tribe clustered around New England, with wardrobe and social habits bizarre enough to warrant the satirical field guide that sprang from the minds of the handbook’s Lisa Birnbach and co-authors John Roberts, Carol McD. Wallace and Mason Wiley.

Now with Birnbach soon to publish a sequel, we must recognize that the prep Diaspora has contin-

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The ’80s fashion statement is back

ued unabated, and today the full trappings of a prep-centric lifestyle are just as likely to be found on Catalina as on the Cape, and the prototypical prep might just as easily hail from Manhattan Beach as Manhattan. To that end, we’ve compiled a shortlist of LA locales and labels that today’s Binks, Bunnys, Bitsys and Biffs might find worthy

of a soft, well-mannered golf clap.

Neighborhoods: Though Pasadena, San Marino, Palm Springs and La Jolla are well-entrenched prep-appropriate suburbs (and noted as such in the original book), Los Angeles proper also has places where the North American preppy species can be spotted basking in its natural habitat.

The official preppy look is officially back as shown in this new collection to Topsiders by designer Scott Sternberg for Sperry. —MCT photos

The largest cluster can be found around Hancock Park and Larchmont Village-within easy putting distance of the Wilshire Country Club and the Los Angeles Tennis Club (which tend to attract the socially starved flock like dehydrated gazelles to a desert oasis).

It’s an area where even the street names seem to come with a historical back story (see Irving, Plymouth and Windsor, et al). The alpha prepsespecially the female of the speciescan often be spied around the holidays congregating at Landis General Store on L archmont Boulevard, where they order personalized holiday and thank you cards.

School: East Coast boarding schools like Deerfield and Phillips Exeter get all the glory, but if you’re not ready to pack your preppy spawn three time zones away, the co-ed college prep HarvardWestlake School in Studio City is among the top options, with a history that stretches back more than a century.

Until 1989 it was two schools: Harvard School, which opened its doors in 1900 in a former barley field at the corner of Western Avenue and Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles (with permission to

use the name granted by the thenpresident of Harvard University) and the Westlake School for Girls, which opened at 6th and Alvarado streets four years later.

The official preppy look is officially back as modeled by Ryan Greeley during a presentation of the fall collection of Band of Outsiders/Boy in New Yorck City.

With alumni that include HR Haldeman, Candice Bergen and astronaut Sally Ride, what more proof of prep do you need?

Fashion: Los Angeles may not be the birthplace of the prep aesthetic, but designers and labels based here have managed to give it a unique twist. The standard-bearer of the nouveau prep movement is Scott Sternberg, a former CAA agent who launched his Band of Outsiders label here in 2004 with a handful of skinny ties and has gone on to outfit an entire prep world for men-and women-with updated takes on the classic components; madras shirts are dip-dyed sky blue, pencil skirts are patchworked from suspenders, oxford shirts are slimmed down and graced with shrunken collars and tailored trousers are crafted from terry cloth corduroy.

And that’s even before taking into account Sternberg’s ongoing collaboration with Sperry, which over the last six seasons has managed to turn the iconic Top-Sider boat shoe literally inside out (tags and all) as well as render it in green cotton faille, vulcanized rubber and gray flannel.

CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund-winning Trovata-a label based in a con-

verted Newport Beach boathousemakes the preppy DNA its own by melding it with a West Coast surf/sand sensibility, including sunbleached nautical stripes, bold black-and-white gingham, waxed cotton jackets, corduroy shirtdresses, washed-down polos and corduroy shirtdresses.

Shopping: Southern California boasts a trust-fund-busting assortment of retailers of the WASP-adjacent wardrobe, with the Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers flagship stores on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills capable of emptying that pink-and-green grosgrain wallet on their own, though the “trads and dads” would also do well to check out Carroll & Co around the corner on Canon Drive, which has been outfitting men for 60 years.

Also in its sixth decade, but a bit more off the beaten path is a pocket of prepdom known as the Brentwood Country Mart, a faux red barn facade housing a collection of high-end shops such as Apartment Number 9 (which stocks men’s brands like the aforementioned Band of Outsiders, Jack Spade, Steven Alan and Billy Reid), British women’s label Jigsaw and an upscale kids clothing boutique called Poppy. —MCT

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Monday, May 10, 2010

39

Fashion

Step right up:

Leggings come out from the cold and into spring hink only twiggy-legged teenage girls can and should wear spring’s hottest trend-leggings? That’s exactly what we were thinking, too, when we recently walked through the ladies’ department of a major department store and wondered why everything (in the sections we and our mothers normally shop in) seemed so ... well, short! “Is this supposed to be a top or a dress?” we could hear Mom’s voice whispering in our ear, fol-

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Leggings are back for the summer to pair with short skirts. But this year leggings are coming in all lengths from to the ankle to midcalf to bike-short length.—MCT

lowed by, “Leggings? I’m not wearing those at my age and size!”

But fear not the legging, ladies. It’s here. It’s on-trend.

And it’s wearable. So says Gregg Andrews, a fashion director for Nordstrom. We chatted with him recently about pulling off the leggings look for spring and summer.

Q: What’s new in leggings this season?

A: As we move into spring, we’re seeing leggings appear in different lengths: anywhere from midcalf to high-ankle lengths, all the way up to bike short-length.

Also, color. They don’t have to be black for summer.

Think white, pale grays, navy blue. DKNY does a great hosiery-weight legging in all sorts of colors.

Q: How do you incorporate leggings into a summer look?

A: The legging should coordinate with the look. It’s not a time to create a black background for something like we did in fall. In many cases, a legging replaces a short or a skinny jean. Denim, in general, is much lighter in spring. Think about a lighter color “jegging” (jeans legging) that has a washed blue color.

Sometimes the color alone lightens up look and feel, which makes it appropriate for a Texas summer.

Q: What about all those zipper and rhinestone-embellished leggings we saw last fall?

A: We continue to see them into spring.

You need to be careful-a lot of tops for spring are already embellished, so you need

to limit your embellishment on your outfit to one article of clothing.

Q: What kind of shoes are best to wear with a leggings outfit?

A: Pretty much anything goes, from very flat sandals to embellished ballerina flats to high, strappy cage shoes. I think for spring the freshest are the flat sandals with multiple straps (flat cage sandals).

The key is you need to have a little bit of visual weight to ground the look (such as straps) so the look looks finished.

Q: All right, let’s get into it: Who shouldn’t be wearing leggings?

A: I think the key to wearing leggings is what you wear on top. A woman of any size can really wear leggings as long as she is wearing the appropriate-length top. A fuller-figure woman might want to wear something that comes to the bottom of the thigh. Someone smaller might choose hip length.

Q: Might short women feel frumpy in them?

A: The great thing about leggings is that because they are close to the body, if petite women wear them, they elongate the leg.

These give them a nice, slim line. If you want to give a taller appearance, think about matching leggings more closely with a top so you don’t break the line and you elongate the body.

Q: Is there an age at which women should stop wearing them?

A: I don’t think it’s about age; I think it’s about personal style. I see 50-year-old women who can pull off a pair, and I see 25year-old women who can’t. Leggings can look fairly fashion-forward. If they don’t suit a person’s style, maybe try jeggings first.

Q: Are leggings ever office-appropriate?

A: It depends on your work environment. It also depends on what you’re wearing on top. You need to remember that leggings can be revealing. If you are bending over or going to a filing cabinet a lot, you need a little more length on that puppy.

Q: Should we be looking in the hosiery department or the apparel department for our everyday leggings?

A: Many of the leggings are nothing more than thick hosiery. You’ll see them in both apparel and in hosiery. Obviously the ones in hosiery tend to be lighter weight, like the DKNY ones. Those are gonna be great if you want a little something peeking out from a skirt, tunic or dress.

Heavier-weight leggings, like jeggings, you’ll usually find in the apparel department.

Q: How do you know if they fit well?

A: When women start dealing with shorter-length leggings, make sure they’re not too tight around the leg. Try them on and look in the mirror. If you see them cutting into your leg, they’re too tight.

From there, think about mobility. They really should be comfortable and make your body sleek and firm; you shouldn’t feel squashed into them. They shouldn’t feel like a girdle. —MCT

An ‘anything’ spring for fashion ome might say that trends for spring 2010 are blush colors, nautical, military, gladiator shoes, purple and denim. However, the biggest trend for the season is actually whatever you want it to be. Runways were anything but consistent.

There were architectural cutouts at Michael Kors, soft, flouncy ruffles at Nanette Lepore and everything from flowing hippie frocks to sleek jersey at Diane von Furstenberg.

It’s a far cry from even 2006, when every designer seemed to design some form of trapeze or sack dress (though those are now long gone). There’s no such thing as an unfashionable skirt length these days, with lengths ranging from mini to knee-length to maxi in stores.

“There are no longer rules or must-have looks, really,” said Adam Glassman, creative director at O, The Oprah Magazine (and no relation to yours truly). “There are trends that come and go, but they aren’t just for one season. They have a lot more staying power.” It brings to mind colors such as purple, which seemed like a fad color when it appeared more than two years ago. “The trend becomes a classic,” Glassman said.

“It’s really anything goes,” said accessories designer Eugenia Kim, who, like most of the other sources for this story, just couldn’t identify some unfashionable item that shouldn’t be worn this season.

She’s not the only one feeling

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The biggest trend for the season is actually whatever you want it to be including this Mcginn bustier dress, $258, available from Belle Reve.

—MCT

that way right now. “In this day and age in fashion, it’s anything goes,” said Sacha Martin of Bluebird Boutique.

(Is there an echo?) “It’s different because of the money thing. In jeans, it’s not like everyone has to have the latest jean anymore. They’ll wear their old jeans and buy a new shirt.”

Women wear boot-cut, straight, distressed and wideleg now. That said, Bluebird still sells a ton of a particular

denim legging, but customers no longer walk out with a new pair on each visit.

The same trend-free attitude goes for shoes. “I wouldn’t want to say that there is anything to put in the back of your closet this season as classics are classics and trends continue to evolve,” said Jinny Krogman, buyer for higher-end footwear store Pumpz & Co. “It’s great for our current economy: Re-use and rework your wardrobe

basics with simple updates.”

You might wear a black dress with nude shoes, for example, instead of black. The new staying power of “trends” also has to do with the speedy delivery of high style to stores. “Everything is so democratic now. It used to be that high-fashion trends came off of the runways, then would eventually trickle down to New York and the rest of the affordable outlets. Now everything comes down at the same time,” Glassman said.

Now you can invest in pieces that you love and know that you’ll wear them more than one fleeting season. “I’m a firm believer that you only need a few things to pepper the wardrobe _ a little width and personality and novelty,” Glassman said.

A world without anything “fresh” or “new” would be downright boring. Designers are playing to that and hoping you’ll shell out for a few really special pieces-a shiny red trench coat from 3.1 Phillip Lim, a fringed Marc Jacobs bag or anything by the late Alexander McQueen.

When you find the trends that work for you, you don’t have to let them go, according to Aisha Ghanchi, owner of Belle Reve Boutique. “People with the best style mix stuff from different seasons together,” Ghanchi said. “If you can wear shoulder pads, wear them now, two years from now. It’s about cuts of clothes and making sure you wear quality.” Because quality, as we know, never goes out of style. —MCT

Frou Frou Boutique and Salon offers south Laguna Beach shoppers stylish choices such as Reuse Jeans. —MCT photos

California man makes brand-new recycled jeans ntil two years ago, George Powell didn’t think about recycling. At that time, he was 56, had been mostly retired for four years and was spending most of his time with his young son and golfing. It was on a field trip to the recycling center with his son, Luke, who was 3 at the time, and about 500 plastic and glass bottles that he came to a realization. “If I had started recycling, I’ll bet there are a lot of other people who recycle a lot better and with more enthusiasm than I do,” said Powell of Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Powell applied this thought to the retail and apparel industry where he had worked since 1979. He had connections in China and began exploring ways to recycle fabric. What he wants people to know is that he’s not just taking someone else’s jeans, slapping a new label on it and reselling it. Instead, Powell’s company, Reuse Jeans, takes pre-consumer waste as its raw material. When factories in China produce leftover fabric from cut cloth and fabric with defects, Reuse takes it and runs it through a machine that resembles a shredder. “In large part, it looks like cotton when it comes from the fields,” Powell said.

The newly formed material is spun into yarn, then woven into new fabric and cut into brand-new jeans. The leftovers and defects from Reuse’s manufacturing process is again run through the recycling process. Reuse’s signature jeans are made from 80 percent recycled materials and other yarns to add stretch and pliability. Powell believes this to be the most efficient use of recycled material in the denim market. And he believes it is a sign of things to come. “Some day, when we reach critical mass and enough people are buying recycled fabric, you will be shocked how most of the clothes will be coming from recycled materials,” Powell said.

He’s also committed to reducing the company’s environmental impact with its non-denim materials. Reuse makes its labels and hang tags from recycled paper and is packaging its summer shipment in biodegradable bags. Powell is looking for sources of recycled zippers, rivets and shanks, and he wants to

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(Left) A pair of low rise, boot cut Reuse Jeans graces Frou Frou Boutique and Salon in Laguna Beach, California.

(Down) Reuse Jeans features pre-consumer denim scraps and reforms it back into yarn and makes new “recycled” jeans.

George Powell, CEO of Reuse Jeans, creates ecofriendly jeans from a mosaic of denim scraps and defects.

use vacuum packing to reduce the amount of cardboard packaging. But for the stylish woman, Powell knows his product has to look right, feel right and be priced right. For that, he called upon his experience producing jeans for other brands. The results include a dark skinny jean, a boot-cut jean with backpocket embellishments and a classiccut jean with distressing on the front.

They cost $85 to $95 per pair on Reuse’s website. Powell’s 47-year-old wife and his 31-year-old daughter wear Reuse, and it’s resonating with teenagers, too. “They’re most likely to make a change and wrap their arms around a new trend,” he said. —MCT

George Powell, CEO of Reuse Jeans, is framed by his eco-friendly jeans, which sell at Frou Frou Boutique and Salon in Laguna Beach, California.

www.kuwaittimes.net

Robin Hood leads Cannes charge against the rich ollywood blockbusters that take aim at greed provide the razzmatazz at Cannes this year as the French Riviera braces for its annual film frenzy mixing megastars with more obscure arthouse movies. Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood,” starring Russell Crowe as the medieval English archer who robs the rich to help the poor, and fellow Australian Cate Blanchett as his love interest Maid Marian, opens the festival on Wednesday. Later in the week Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” sees Michael Douglas reprise his 1987 role as rogue stockbroker Gordon Gekko now getting out of jail and warning Wall Street of impending financial doom.

Gekko was the man who coined the phrase “Greed is good” back in the avaricious 1980s, but he has now seen the error of his ways. Denouncing greed is a theme that runs through the notoriously extravagant festival this year, with the documentary “Inside Job” probing the financial crisis of 2008 that brought the world to the brink of economic collapse.

“Cleveland vs. Wall Street” meanwhile stages a mock trial in which small-town victims of the subprime crisis fight it out with bankers and mortgage brokers. Douglas, Crowe and Blanchett will be among the Alist celebrities sashaying up Cannes’ fabled red carpet, along with stars like Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and Javier Bardem. They will be on La Croisette to attend gala premieres of films by Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Japan’s Takeshi Kitano, veteran US director Woody Allen and New Wave icon Jean-Luc Godard.

Fears of a real-life drama rippled along the Riviera last week when a freak storm hit Cannes, sending giant waves crashing over cafes and festival installations on the beachfront La Croisette, causing millions of euros’ (dollars’) worth of damage. But organizers say the show will go on. The show that first began in 1946 this year sees “Alice in Wonderland” director Tim Burton preside over a jury that will present the coveted Palme d’Or top award to one of the 18 films in the main competition. This year’s crop is marked by austerity and a distinct lack of frivolity.

It includes works from the likes of Iran’s Abbas Kiarostami, who makes his first foray into European cinema with “The Certified Copy,” starring French actress Juliette Binoche.

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s “The Screaming Man” brings Chad for the first time to the Palme competition, whose results will be announced on May 23, while Ukraine also makes a debut in the main category with Sergei Loznitsa’s “My Joy.” Asia has a strong showing, with two entries for the Palme from South Korea-”Poetry” by Lee Chang-dong and Im Sang-soo’s “The Housemaid”-and China, Japan and Thailand also represented.

France has three films in the main race that last year was won by Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon.” The United States has just one. “Fair Game,” by “The Bourne Identity” director Doug Liman, looks at the bid by former US president George W. Bush’s administration to discredit CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The prestigious Directors’ Fortnight competition, taking place in parallel to the race for the Palme d’Or, promises some lively fare, with documentaries on disabled Congolese street musicians and ageing rockers The Rolling Stones. But Cannes would not be Cannes without a controversy and this year a row has already started over a film about France’s colonial past in Algeria, “Outside Of The Law”

by Rachid Bouchareb.

Far-right groups said they will protest outside the film’s screening and a French member of parliament condemned it as a “negationist” rewriting of history. Around 10,000 movie industry types, 4,000 press and thousands of film lovers and celebrity watchers are due to attend the 12-day gig whose heady cocktail of commerce, glamour and high art makes it the top film event of the year. “In Cannes you have both a major film from a (Hollywood) studio for the opening, and a totally unknown Ukrainian filmmaker with an experimental film in the competition,” said festival director Thierry Fremaux, summing up the event’s diversity. —AFP

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List of Cannes films

A picture taken on May 20, 2009, in Cannes, southern France, shows US actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arriving for the screening of the movie ‘Inglourious Basterds’ directed by Quentin Tarantino in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. —AFP

Rasta farian inmates spend 10 years in isolation for hair rom his treatment, Kendall Gibson would seem to be one of the state of Virginia’s most dangerous prisoners. For more than 10 years he has lived in segregation at the Greensville Correctional Center, spending at least 23 hours every day in a cell the size of a gas station bathroom. In a temporary home for the worst of the worst — inmates too violent or disruptive to live among the rest of society’s outcasts-he has been a permanent fixture. He is there, he says, not for his crimes but for a crime he will not commit-a crime against God. The only thing imposing about Gibson is his long black dreadlocks, resting on the front of his shoulders so they won’t drag the ground as he shuffles along in his orange jumpsuit. It is his hairwinding locks he considers a measure of his Rastafarian faith-that makes him a threat, according to Virginia Department of Corrections Operating Procedure No 864.1. The rule took effect on Dec 15, 1999. Inmates had two choices: cut their hair no longer than their collars and shave their beards, or be placed in administrative segregation.

In the beginning, Gibson was among as many as 40 inmates who opted for confinement over cutting. By 2003, when a handful of the inmates filed a federal lawsuit against the department over their detention, 23 remained in segregation. The lawsuit failed. Some cracked under the pressure of constant isolation with no visits from loved ones, educational or religious programs or commissary.

Some went home. Today, it is difficult to tell exactly how many remain in isolation. The Department of Corrections will not volunteer the information but has confirmed 10 names given to The Associated Press by a group of Rastafarian inmates. Not everyone can handle it, Gibson says.

For those weak in mind or spirit, the walls can easily close in on them. “People always ask how I can smile in a place so negative,” he says. The Rastafarian God, Jah, “is my answer. Without Jah in my life I wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

Like most of the Rastafarians in segregation, Gibson did not become a believer until after he entered prison. He was 18 and had a long time to do, sentenced to 47 years on robbery, abduction and gun charges. Gibson had always loved the “peaceful vibes of Rastafari livity,” or belief system, but like many he knew the movement by the hair, the music and the ganja, or cannabis. In prison, he met others who taught him the spiritual aspects. He took on the name Ras-Talawa Tafari, a strong leader who inspires awe. Rastafari draws from the Bible, mixing in African and Caribbean cultural influences. It is considered by many more of a way of life or movement than a religion. They preach unity with god, nature and each other, but are loosely organized and followers are free to worship with other congregations.

Rastafarians regard Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, who was known as Ras Tafari before he rose to power in 1930, as the second coming of Christ. They believe Jah inhabits them so there is no real need for a church. They smoke marijuana as a sacrament and adhere to a vegetarian diet.

While some view growing their hair as optional, most Rastafarians see it as demanded by the Nazarite Vow in the Bible (Numbers 6:5), “There shall no razor come upon his head.” Gibson never entertained the thought of cutting his hair when the policy was announced or during the 10 long years since. “Jah didn’t lead I to feel that this

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plight was burden enough to bow,” he says. A person must be willing to stand up and fight for a worthy cause, he says, echoing Rastafarian messenger Bob Marley’s rhythmic chant “Get up. Stand up.

Stand up for your rights.”

Gibson longs to hear such reggae music. A clear analog radio that picks up about nine stations is his only luxury in his small cell, but the island music doesn’t get much air time in these parts.

His days are long but compact. Five days a week, he is led in restraints to an outside cage that resembles a dog kennel for an hour of recreation.

Otherwise, he only leaves his 8-by-10 cell for three, 20-minute showers each week. His cinderblock walls are off-white or gray, depending on the way the light hits them. The cell is freshly

Allen McRae, also known as Ras-Solomon Tafari, who is serving 20 years for cocaine possession.

Elton Williams, who is behind bars for armed robbery, gets the question all the time from inmates pulling stints in segregation. Wouldn’t it be easier just to cut his hair? His answer: “My very soul depends on the decisions I make.”

Williams, 31, likens it to a Christian who is told that, for security reasons, he must denounce Christ. Williams is set to leave prison in December; he could cut his hair until then, he says, but what would happen to his soul? Then there was Ivan Sparks, a 59-year-old Rastafarian elder who refused to cut his hair and was sent into segregation at Buckingham Correctional Center.

He never left it-except to die at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center last fall, of prostate cancer.

The way Department of Corrections officials

File photo shows Rastafarian inmate Kendall Ray Gibson.

This Jan 19, 2009 file photo provided by Rastafarian inmate Kendall Ray Gibson, shows him at the Brunswick Correctional Center in Lawrenceville. —AP painted, drowning out the smell of his Dove soap resting on his one-piece sink-toilet unit. If he stands on top of his mounted stainless steel bed, Gibson can speak out the window, where he can see inmates in the general population recreation yard in the distance. He prefers to stare into the woods just beyond the razor-wire fence. On occasion he spies a deer grazing in the field. The segregation unit has 16 cells, and although the inmates cannot see each other, they often talk.

Gibson is amazed at what he calls their pure confusion and senseless babbling-obsession with the lives of movie stars and rappers and sports figures.

And then there are the other Rastafarians. “These people may have my physical body confined, but I refuse to surrender my mind and spirit,” says

see it, the inmates could come out of segregation any time they wish. They made a choice to go to segregation instead of cutting their hair, spokesman Larry Traylor says. Should they decide to comply with the grooming policy, they could return to general population. “Rules must be in place in order to have a secure, safe environment for everyone,” Traylor said. “An inmate that will not follow the rules jeopardizes normal prison operations and is potentially a danger to other inmates and staff.” Virginia is among only about a dozen states, mostly in the South, that limit the length of inmates’ hair and beards, according to the American Correctional Chaplains Association.

A handful of those allow religious accommodations for Rastafarians, Muslims, Sikhs, native Americans and others whose religious beliefs prohibit shaving or cutting their hair. There is no hair policy for federal prisoners. The US Supreme Court has said that constitutional protections, like the right to practice religion, do not end at the prison gates. Congress has said institutions can restrict religious liberties only for compelling reasons, like security, but the policies must be the least restrictive means to accomplish that. Still, inmates have rarely been successful in challenging

prison grooming policies.

An American Indian inmate spent a year in his cell and lost other privileges before a federal appeals court ruled in 2005 that the California prison system’s ban on long hair violated his religious freedom. In a 2002 case, a group of Rastafarian and Muslim federal inmates who were housed in Virginia prisons challenged the grooming policy and a federal court ordered the Bureau of Prisons to transfer them to other facilities that did not have such policies. The court also required the federal prison system to evaluate inmates’ religious beliefs and refrain from sending them to Virginia or other states with burdensome grooming policies. In the case filed by the Virginia state prisoners, a federal appeals court ruled in 2008 that the Department of Corrections’ argument that inmates could hide weapons and other contraband in long hair or easily change their appearance upon escape was compelling enough reason to require trimmed hair. Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the inmates, said the outcome was deeply disappointing because he knew the sincerest believers would be those who would be punished most severely. “This has a disturbingly mean-spirited aspect to it,” Willis says.

“This is not about corrections. This is not about security, but it’s about punishment. In this instance, people are being punished for their religious beliefs.”

Today, the department cuts each inmate’s hair when he enters prison. If he refuses, the use of “reasonable force and restraints” is authorized. If the inmate grows his hair back and refuses to cut it, he is sent to segregation. Thomas Fitzgerald, 52, had grown his locks for 10 years before he was sent to prison for possession of a firearm by a felon. He said he started going bald after his hair was unceremoniously shorn from his head, and he is convinced that there is a connection. The last time he saw his locks they were being stuffed into a red biohazard plastic bag.

He asked to send them home for a proper burial; his request was denied. Fitzgerald has chosen to abide by the grooming policy so that he can work toward growing the Rastafarian community inside the prison and when he is released in three years. But it is hard to shake the humiliation: “Every day is a real struggle for me, because I perceive shaving my face a serious act of mutilation to myself,” he says. With his prison-issue eyeglasses, scrawny frame and boyish smile, Gibson looks much less of a menace than the prisoners stacking lunch trays just outside the glass-walled visitation room. Even less intimidating are his words-talk of love, faith, “upful vibrations” and, most perplexing of all, happiness.

Now 38, he is proud of the things he has accomplished while behind bars. Gibson quit school at 15, but once in prison he completed vocational training in building maintenance and carpentry and in 1994 got his GED, the equivalent of a high school diploma, which he said gave him an “irie,” or peaceful and happy feeling. Gibson’s five co-defendants are out of prison now. He has been denied parole 12 times for the same reason, the serious nature of his crime, but he knows his refusal to bow to the grooming policy probably played a role in that. “Life is what we make of it,” he says. “Jah give each person the fullness of free will to create our own personal heaven or hell and joy or pain.” —AP

Main competition: • “Tournee” (On Tour), Mathieu Amalric (France) • “Des Hommes et des Dieux” (Of Gods and Men), Xavier Beauvois (France) • “Hors-la-loi” (Outside of the Law), Rachid Bouchareb (Algeria) • “Biutiful”, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Mexico) • “Un Homme Qui Crie” (A Screaming Man), Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad) • “The Housemaid”, Im Sang-soo (South Korea) • “Copie Conforme” (Certified Copy), Abbas Kiarostami (Iran) • “Outrage”, Takeshi Kitano (Japan) • “Poetry”, Lee Chang-dong (South Korea) • “Another Year”, Mike Leigh (Britain) • “Fair Game”, Doug Liman (United States) • “Schastye Moe” (My Joy), Sergei Loznitsa (Ukraine) • “L a Nostra Vita” (Our Life), Daniele Luchetti (Italy) • “Utomlyonnye solntsem 2: Predstoyanie” (Burnt by the Sun 2 :Exodus), Nikita Mikhalkov (Russia) • “Szelid Teremtes” (Tender SonThe Frankenstein Project), Kornel Mundruczo (Hungary) • “La Princesse de Montpensier (The Princess of Montpensier), Bertrand Tavernier (France) • “Rizhao Chongqing” (Chongqing Blues), Wang Xiaoshuai (China) • “Long Boonmee Raluek Chat” (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) Out-of competition screenings: Opening film: “Robin Hood”, Ridley Scott (United States, Britain) Closing Film: “The Tree”, Julie Bertuccelli (France, Australia) • “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”, Woody Allen (United States) • “Carlos”, Olivier Assayas (France) • “Tamara Drewe”, Stephen Frears (Britain) • “Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps”, Oliver Stone (United States) • “The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu”, Andrei Ujica (Romania) • “Kaboom”, Gregg Araki (EtatsUnis) • “L’Autre Monde” (Black Heaven), Gilles Marchand (France) • “Inside Job”, Charles Ferguson (United States) • “Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow”, Sophie Fiennes (Britain) • “Nostalgia de la Luz”, (Nostalgia for the Light), Patricio Guzman (Chile) • “Draquila - l’Italia Che Trema”, Sabina Guzzanti (Italy) • “Chantrapas”, Otar Iosseliani (Georgia) • “Abel”, Diego Luna (Mexico) • “Countdown to Zero”, Lucy Walker (United States) • “5 x Favela Por Nos Mesmos”, Manaira Carneiro and others (Brazil) “Un Certain Regard” newcomers’ competition: • “Blue Valentine”, Derek Cianfrance (United States) • “Angelica”, Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal) • “Heartbeats”, Xavier Dolan (Canada) • “Los Labios”, Ivan Fund, Santiago Loza (Argentina) • “Simon Werner a Disparu” (Lights Out), Fabrice Gobert (France) • “Film Socialisme”, Jean-Luc Godard (France) • “Unter Dir Die Stadt” (The City Below), Christoph Hochhausler (Germany) • “Ha Ha Ha”, Hong Sangsoo (South Korea) • “Shang Hai Zhuan Qi” (I Wish I Knew), Jia Zhang-ke (China) • “Rebecca H” (Return to the Dogs), Lodge Kerrigan (United States) • “Pal Adrienn”, Agnes Kocsis (Hungary) • “Udaan”, Vikramaditya Motwane (India) • “Marti, Ddupa Craciun” (Tuesday, After Christmas), Radu Muntean (Romania) • “Chatroom”, Hideo Nakata (Japan) • “Aurora”, Cristi Puiu (Romania) • “Life Above All”, Olivier Schmitz (South Africa) • “Carancho”, Pablo Trapero (Argentina) • “Octubre” (October), Daniel Vega, Diego Vega (Peru) • “R U There”, David Verbeek (Netherlands) —AFP