24 May

ON IP TI SC R SU B

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

Citizens part of media revolution shaping world

EU slaps sanctions on Assad for first time

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UK lawmaker names football star Giggs in privacy row

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Tabtabaei slams return of Iranian ambassador Popular Bloc backs grilling against prime minister

Max 41 Min 31 Low Tide 10:37 & 23:33 High Tide 05:27 & 15:55

By B Izzak conspiracy theories

Different audience, different policies

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

P

lease Mr Obama, take it easy on my nerves!

You spoke on May 19th and I heard your whole long speech, which by the way, sounded much like an Arab leader’s speech, which I am used to. It is not the Western style to go on and on for over a good half hour.

Nevertheless, you had so many issues to touch upon. You started with Tunisia and educated the American nation on the policy of the Middle East. You started with Bouazizi’s story in Tunisia and why he burned himself. Then you went on to Israel’s best safeguard - President Hosni Mubarak. You also elaborated on telling the American nation about the great Green Book storyteller Gaddafi. You mentioned Libya, Yemen and Bahrain.

You had so much on hand to talk about. Your concern about Bahrain’s security, the Yemeni leader, etc etc. Then you jumped to Syria to tell the Americans that they are allies of Tehran.

Then you reiterated the US commitment against nuclear proliferation in Iran. We have so much fun in the Middle East nowadays.

You also mentioned your success in Afghanistan and that you are slowly handing over security to the local government. You boasted about killing Osama bin Laden, and you have the right to do so. You boasted the end of terrorism and the world’s new era of peace. Of course, you didn’t forget to mention the withdrawal from Iraq and the beautiful democratic state you left there. You did not forget to comfort the Americans that democracy in the whole Middle East prevailed, except for a small snag.

To complete the rosy picture, you mentioned the Palestinian state and the peace process. You started by assuring the Americans that the security of Israel comes first and that is why you have to agree to a viable Palestinian state and Israel has to give some land in exchange for peace.

My favorite quote from your speech is: “As for Israel, our friendship is rooted deeply in a shared history and shared values. Our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable.”

Here, Mr Obama, I would like to ask you: Don’t Americans share the same values as Palestinians? Do Palestinians come from another planet? Aren’t they peace -loving people?

Haven’t they suffered enough? At least you said that you will give the Palestinians the 1967 lines: “The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.”

A couple of days later you gave another speech. It is obvious that you were talking to an entirely different audience. Your tone changed completely. You only concentrated on Israel and shifted 180 degrees. You sounded so emotional when narrating a story that happened at the Western Wall. I understand that you were addressing the Jewish community - of course a different audience - but you failed in the consistency of your foreign policy. Foreign policies should not change when we talk to different audiences.

You commented on the recent Hamas and Fatah pact and how this will be an obstacle to peace. Here, I would like to remind you that Hamas and Fatah have been enemies for five years. Why Israel did not take advantage and make peace at that time? If Israel meant to make peace at all! In fact, I would like to remind you that when you ordered the Israelis to dismantle the settlements, Netanyahu started building new settlements the next day.

How can we trust you? In three days the audience changed, but what is more disturbing is that your policy changed totally!

JOPLIN, Missouri: Emergency personnel walk through a neighborhood severely damaged by a tornado near the Joplin Regional Medical Center Sunday. — AP

Monster tornado kills 89 in US town JOPLIN, Missouri: The deadliest single tornado to strike the United States in nearly 60 years has reduced the Missouri town of Joplin to rubble, ripping buildings apart and killing at least 89 people. Disaster struck on Sunday evening when, with little warning, the monster twister tore a strip 9.5 km long and more than a kilometer wide through the center of the town.

Rescuers worked through the night to try to find people trapped in their homes, relying on torchlight as they listened for terrified cries from survivors piercing through the blackness.

Rescue crews from throughout the region worked all night and battled a driving rain and thunder storm yesterday morning in the town of about 50,000 peo-

ple, searching for anyone still alive in the rubble. More than 500 people were confirmed injured, many with massive internal injuries, officials said. The number of dead and injured was expected to climb as rescue workers dig through collapsed homes and businesses.

A number of bodies were found along the city’s “restaurant row”, on the main commercial street and a local nursing home took a direct hit, Newton County Coroner Mark Bridges said. At St Johns Hospital in Joplin, 180 patients cowered as the fierce winds blew out windows and pulled off the roof. Others took refuge in restaurant coolers, huddled in closets, or just ran for their lives.

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KUWAIT: The opposition Popular Action Bloc will support the grilling against the prime minister over the government’s bias toward Iran and one of its MPs will speak in support of the grilling, the bloc spokesman MP Mussallam Al-Barrak said yesterday. At the same time, the new Iranian ambassador arrived in Kuwait late Sunday night and Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabatabaei described the move as a provocation and said the issue will be added to the grilling.

Tabtabaei and MPs Mohammad Hayef and Mubarak Al-Waalan on Sunday filed to grill Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah over allegations that his governments have harmed national security for adopting a foreign policy that has been favourable to Iran over ties with Gulf Arab states. The grilling also accused the prime minister of trying to play down the uncovering of the Iranian spy cell and allowed a visit by the Iranian foreign minister despite highly provocative statements by Iranian officials against Kuwait and Gulf states.

Barrak said the Popular Bloc rejects any attempt by the government to refer the grilling either to the National Assembly’s legal and legislative committee or to the constitutional court. The bloc also rejected attempts that the government may undertake to either delay the debate of the grilling or hold the debate behind closed doors, and urged the prime minister to publicly refute the allegations of the grilling.

Barrak denied reports that the head of the bloc, veteran MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun, is not supporting the grilling because Saadoun opposed sending Kuwaiti troops to Bahrain. The grilling is accusing the prime minister of failing to promptly send troops to Bahrain to help crush Shiite-led protests there.

Meanwhile, outspoken Shiite MP Hussein Al-Qallaf said that those who filed the grilling request are not aware of the articles of the constitution and have no knowledge of politics and diplomacy. He described the grilling as a “constitutional, political and moral scandal”, saying that it is illogical for a Kuwaiti citizen, especially for a senior member of the ruling family and the prime minister, to favour his own interest over that of the nation.

MP Khaled Al-Adwah also criticized the grilling, saying that Kuwait’s relations with its Gulf partners have not deteriorated because of ties with Iran. Adwah said that the MPs who filed the grilling have committed a mistake unless they provide evidence during the debate to prove that Kuwait’s relations with Gulf states have suffered. The lawmaker accused the MPs of claiming that the relations with Gulf states have deteriorated just because they differed with the prime minister.

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Pak retakes naval base after attack KARACHI: Pakistan yesterday regained control of a naval base in the country’s biggest city, 17 hours after heavily armed Taleban gunmen attacked, destroying two US-made surveillance planes and killing 10 personnel. It was the worst assault on a military base since the army headquarters was besieged in Oct 2009, piling further embarrassment on the armed forces three weeks after Osama bin Laden was found living under their noses.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said four to six militants used ladders to climb into the naval air base in the teeming port city of Karachi under the cover of night late Sunday, triggering gun battles and a series of explosions. Officials said 11 Chinese and six American maintenance contractors were evacuated safely during the attack, but it took 17 hours before the

navy confirmed that the attack on the PNS (Pakistan Naval Ship) Mehran was over. “We have cleared the base. The operation has been completed and the base is now under our control,” Commodore Irfan ul Haq told AFP. Malik said the “terrorists” sneaked into the base from three points adjacent to residential areas in the city of 16 million people, whose port is a vital hub for NATO supplies bound for Afghanistan. “It is not just an attack on a navy establishment, it is an attack on Pakistan,” Malik added, warning that those who sympathise with the Taleban and Al-Qaeda should instead “join hands with us to save our country”.

“There are believed to have been four to six terrorists. Four are confirmed dead.

Two are suspected to have run away.

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KARACHI: Pakistani troops gather next to a burnt plane inside the naval aviation base following an attack by militants yesterday. — AP

SANAA: Anti-government protestors show the ‘thumbs-down’ as they shout demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday. — AFP

Gun battles erupt after Saleh refuses to leave SANAA: Security forces and opposition tribal fighters battled with automatic weapons, mortars and tanks in the Yemeni capital yesterday, blasting buildings and setting government offices on fire in an eruption of violence after President Ali Abdullah Saleh refused to sign an agreement calling on him to step down. At least six people were killed and 25 wounded in the fighting, the fiercest yet between the pro- and anti-Saleh camps, which raised fears that the collapse of efforts to negotiate a peaceful resolution to Yemen’s 3-month-old crisis could throw the country into a violent confrontation. Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have been holding protests

since February demanding Saleh’s removal, and they have been hit by a bloody crackdown - but before yesterday there had been only minor armed clashes between the two sides.

The violence erupted outside the Sanaa home of Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ahmar, leader of Yemen’s largest and most powerful tribe, the Hashid. Saleh himself belongs the tribe, but al-Ahmar announced in March that the Hashid were joining the popular uprising against the president. Fighting raged for more than six hours, until the US ambassador mediated a ceasefire, according to a ruling party official.

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Kuwait Digest

Why Kuwaitis don’t revolt

By Eman Ali Al-Bedah

W

e often confuse comfort with happiness, which makes us miss out on a lot of pleasures in life, and places us on a constant state of provocation. This kills ambition and development in us.

The general concept of comfort is getting rid of tension-creating factors such as hunger, sickness, fear, annoyance and other disturbances.

However, comfort does not necessarily mean happiness - a psychological satisfaction resulting from hormonal reactions caused by external, inner feelings related to man’s superior motives such as communication, social coherence, power, destiny control, success and achievement.

Comfort is always the result of financial wellbeing and prosperity that usually kills man’s will to challenge or exceed norms. Therefore, we usually find the rich prefer money to love, wealth to knowledge and science and commerce to politics unless love, science and politics all lead to creating more fortunes.

On the other hand, man’s preoccupation with making a living and providing daily amenities alienates him from his superior needs. It keeps him panting in a daily strife to achieve the simplest forms of comfort. For this, we find that the poor tend to carry out more suicide bombings rather than take up political careers.

They are motivated by their need to get rid of pain rather than construct and accomplish.

Social and political revolutions are usually led by those entrapped in an incomplete sense of comfort. They are capable of winning daily bread while still having some time to contemplate and think. They get worried about the future, annoyed by corruption and appalled by instability. They do not have much to lose as part of the lower middle class. However, the poor usually fuel revolutions.

In addition, other factors such as political awareness, experience and general cultural level affect the tendency to revolt. This explains why the Tunisian revolution spread fast, the Egyptian middle class took a longer time to join the revolution, Bahrain Sunnis withdrew from making simple public demands.

It also explains why panic spread across both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia about the spread in such waves of change. They are considered the end of the line for people there, despite the constant mumbling and grumbling. This is the case when anyone thinks about the danger that ‘change’ can bring about. This fear makes so many of us believe that it would be better to cling to ‘known facts’ rather than wait for the unknown. That is why we don’t revolt! —Aljarida

KUWAIT: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) Chairman Barjas Al-Barjas and other officials at the meeting.

Challenges in Arab region require bolstering relief aid cooperation Kuwait hosts ARCO session KUWAIT: The recent challenges and turmoil sweeping the Arab world required the bolstering of cooperation amongst relief aid organizations, Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) Chairman Barjas Al-Barjas said here yesterday.

Speaking at the 38th meeting of the Arab Crescent and Red Cross Organization (ARCO) Executive Committee, Al-Barjas stressed during the meeting, held under the auspices and also chaired by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, that relief aid person-

nel should work to make sure help was delivered to those in need, adding that such help should be unbiased and provided to all parties involved in the conflicts.

The meeting, said Al-Barjas, focused on recent happenings in Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and the Palestinian territories.

On his part, the Arab Crescent and Red Cross Organization’s (ARCO) Secretary General Abdullah Al-Hazz’a said during the event that the most paramount issue at hand was to address the plight of the Palestinian people who have

ACK doors open for registration for new academic year KUWAIT: The Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) is the first private college in Kuwait pioneering in Australian vocational education.

Since its establishment in 2004, ACK students have been in a caring and supportive environment while studying the best vocational courses with qualified Australian and international staff. The concept of this unique institution was initially derived from the Chairman of the board of trustees, Abdullah Abdulmohsen AlSharhan’s vision of “enabling human potential within a culture of care.”

ACK has established partnerships with some of the finest vocational institutions in Australia and other parts of the world to deliver the Australian Vocational Education System in Kuwait. This system prepares employment-ready graduates that are able to apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they have acquired during their course of study at ACK. ACK graduates are surely an asset to any employer or business, as they are shaped to make a productive difference.

ACK is also the first and only private college in Kuwait to offer a wide range of Engineering Technology programs to the public including Aircraft Maintenance. It also presents various Business programs. Students have the opportunity to choose between obtaining a diploma (2 years) or continue into a degree program (4 years). The college offers competitive training and academic programs that meet both local and international job market requirements.

ACK Kuwaiti applicants have the opportunity to obtain their diploma or degree from one of the finest educational institutions in the country by either self-funding or applying for a government scholarship awarded by the Private Universities Council (PUC). In order to apply for a Diploma government scholarship, prospective Kuwaiti students must have achieved a minimum high

been suffering for 60 years from the injustice imposed by Israel.

He called on Arab governments to provide more support to boost relief aid works in all parts of the region suffering from turmoil.

Meanwhile, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Representative Christine Beerli affirmed that the international Red Cross was keen on bolstering cooperation with other relief aid entities, adding that the current meeting in Kuwait and its main theme of helping those in the MENA region was a vital step towards such coopera-

school GPA of 2.0. Prospective students wishing to apply for Aviation are required to have a minimum high school GPA of 2.5.

All applicants for any Business program at ACK must have successfully completed the equivalent of a Kuwait High School Certificate and their English Language Proficiency assessed to ensure that it is at an adequate level to enable studies at Diploma level. Upon receiving a score of 71 on a TOEFL IBT test or an overall IELTS score of 5.5 (across all bands), the applicant will be deemed to have the English Language proficiency to enter a Business Diploma.

As for Engineering programs at ACK, applicants must have successfully completed the equivalent of a Kuwait High School Certificate (Science stream) or if educated through the British High School system, six IGCSEs which include Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry at grade D or higher as well as their English Language Proficiency assessed to ensure that it is at an adequate level to enable studies at Diploma level. Upon receiving a

score of 71 on a TOEFL IBT test or an overall IELTS score of 5.5 (across all bands), the applicant will be deemed to have the English Language proficiency to enter the Engineering Diploma.

ACK Diploma graduates wishing to continue into the Degree program must have a GPA of 2.67 or higher for direct entry or a GPA of 2.40 to 2.66 for conditional entry. PUC Degree scholarships are available for Kuwaiti Diploma graduates. To apply for a PUC degree scholarship, a Diploma graduate requires a GPA is 3.0 or above.

ACK continuously strives to remain a pioneer in the private education sector in Kuwait. The college constantly seeks opportunities to support the development of the country. ACK graduates are employment-ready and will be productive assets to any employer from the first day they enter the workforce. The college has excellent staff, facilities, and world class laboratories to provide high quality Engineering and Business education and training second to none.

a memorial shield, offered by ARCO, the ICRC and the KRCS, in appreciation for his support for civil and welfare societies. The Prime Minister, then, inaugurated a sideline exhibition.

The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, the Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, sheikhs, ministers, governors, heads of the participating delegations, senior officials of the state and the diwan of the prime minister. — KUNA

New moves to defend Sheikh Ahmad

By A Saleh KUWAIT: Member of Parliament Marzouq Al-Ghanim said that the ‘state of Ahmad Al-Fahad’ has been utilizing all its resources to defend Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah from the next grilling motion that is scheduled to take place next week. Al-Fahad has asked MPs not to issue any statements on the grilling motion and not participate in any seminars. The grilling motion’s issues should sway public opinion. He also contac ted newspapers, asking them to downplay the interpellation motion.

Meanwhile, the Development and Reform Bloc(DRB) has begun

Christine Picone - Registrar

tion. Other officials attending the meeting lauded Kuwait’s efforts in holding event, saying that it was in line with the comprehensive international effort to help those in need.

At the conclusion of the meeting, His Highness Sheikh Nasser opened the sideline exhibition for relief aid organization.

The event started with display of a documentary about the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society, namely its humanitarian missions and operations in aiding victims of catastrophes.

HH Sheikh Nasser was honored, during the ceremony, with

preparations for the May 31 session during which the grilling of HH the premier is to be discussed.

It is being initiated by Waleed AlTabatabae along with Mohammad Hayef and Mubarak Al-Waalan. The government will refer it to the Constitutional Court. Officials said that the bloc is now convinced that only members of the Bloc support the grilling motion.

prison sentence issued against AlDousari, which was passed, after Major Gen Al-Awadhi filed a lawsuit. The Court observed that the formation of the Cour t of First Instance and Appeals was not valid.

The case started when Al-Dousari approached Al-Awadhi at his office and did not care to wait for his turn and argued with Al-Awadhi, before hurling an object at him.

Verdict repealed The case of Maj Gen Kamel AlAwadhi, Director General of Immigration at the Interior Ministry against Dr Badi Al-Dousari has reached a dead end. The Cassation Court has repealed the one month

New ambassador I ran’s new Ambassador to Kuwait Roohallah Qahramani arrived in Kuwait yesterday.

Qahramani was a governor before being appointed to the diplomatic post.

Subbiya plant to supply extra 880 megawatts KUWAIT: The Subbiya power plant will provide an extra 880 megawatts power capacity to the country’s electricity network by the end of the month, and 440 megawatts more will be added by the middle of June, the Ministry of Electricity said yesterday. The Ministr y ’s undersecretar y Dr Meshan Al-Otaibi said that a test run at the first unit of the power plant was launched on Wednesday.

“Routine maintenance operations to all power plants and electricity transformers have been done as scheduled, which will enable the

ministry to meet the increasing demand throughout the summer”, Dr. Al-Otaibi added, indicating that power cuts resulting from faults in the distribution network are expected to drop significantly this year. The new Subbiya plant will help the ministry achieve an estimated 9% surplus in power production. The undersecretary further stated that the ministry has added 50 more diesel fueled generators to supply real estates with electricity in cases of emergency. Meanwhile, Dr Al-Otaibi revealed plans to replace 1500 transformers.

‘Unstudied salary raises catastrophic’ KUWAIT: Unstudied salary raises made in the public sector could result in catastrophic conse quences if oil prices remain between $75 and 100 per barrel by the year 2030. This is only one of three situations mentioned in a study conducted by the Kuwait Banks Association(KBA), which warned against the increases made disregarding inflation rates or pro-

ductivity rates in the public sector.

The report was released to the press recently, and warns of the ‘serious repercussions’ of this move on the private sector. It noted that it will create lopsided situation in which the private sector becomes less competent, reported Al-Qabas.

It further adds that the indiscriminate salary increases also deepens the state’s budgetary issues.

CSC approves formation of regulating authorities KUWAIT: The Civil Service Commission (CSC) held a Council Committee meeting here yesterday that resulted in the formation of several regulating authorities.

CSC Chairman Abdulaziz Al-Zeben said after the meeting, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior, and Acting Chairman of the Council, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud AlSabah, had resulted in approving memos in regards to forum authorities that would regulate manpower, communication, Transportation, IT, and food products.

He also mentioned that the process of evaluating the performance of leading figures at the CSC was discussed with reforms on the matter were approved.

The meeting also touched on the May fourth decision in regards to organizing working groups with government institutions, adding new regulations to the previous decision, said the official who indicated that the council also touched on proposals from the Health Ministry regarding the Kuwaiti medical and fellowship councils. —- KUNA

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KUWAIT: Sheikh Fahad Al-Salem Ali Al-Sabah, third right, welcoming attendees at the forum yesterday.

Citizens, audiences part of media revolution shaping the world Kuwait hosts major conference

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Citizens or public audiences of today are no longer mere audiences, but part of the media revolution that is shaping the world today, a media executive remarked. Speaking at the second-day forum organized by Fahad Al-Salem Center for Dialogue among Civilizations and Defense of Liberty, Joyce Barnathan, President of International Center for Journalism (ICJ), said citizens are part of the ‘media revolution’ currently sweeping the news business today. “They serve as a powerful force for change around the world. We all know the role of social media in the revolution of Tunisia and Egypt,” she said. “With the new tools around us, citizen journalism can never be denied of its important role. We are in the stage where we see how powerful social media is, transforming the business of news that was never witnessed before,” Barnathan added. A thought provoking lecture was delivered yesterday as part of the forum to bring out ideas for debate on the role of media and its contribution to a peaceful world. Former head of states, renowned academics and founders of various international non-governmental organizations participated in the forum entitled ‘Renewing Dialogue for Peace and Advancing Freedom and Human Rights in Today’s World.’ Barnathan even argued that media definition of the word ‘journalist’ has already changed. “When I was a reporter, I go out with the pen and paper; now, a journalist goes out with their laptops equipped with wireless internet, digital recording equipments, iPhones and their stories go out in all available platforms. Now, our audiences are changing as well. They demand great stories, and often want to produce news by

KUWAIT: Sheikh Fahad Al-Salem Al-Sabah, President of Fahad Al-Salem Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations, held a dinner reception in honor of the member delegates participating in the forum yesterday.

— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KD 45,000 housing loan for women KUWAIT: The Savings and Credit Bank has set a maximum limit of KD 45,000 as loan amount that divorced or widowed Kuwaiti women can take out. The sum can be used to either finance building a house or buy a house with a maximum KD 100 monthly installment.

The preliminary draft of the law will be referred to Sheikh Ahmad AlFahad Al-Sabah, Minister of Housing Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs. It will then be submitted to the Cabinet and enforced

through a decree.

Regulations pertinent with this housing loan includes certain conditions based on which a female citizen can benefit from the law. For example, a minimum three years should be passed before a divorced female citizen is entitled to take the loan. A woman should also have a monthly income in order to be able to repay the loan. Moreover, an applicant must be at least 30 years of age, a step taken to discourage divorce .

Kuwait informs UN of assistance to Libyans UNITED NATIONS: Acting in conformity with Security Council resolution 1973 regarding Libya, Kuwait informed SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon of the steps it is taking to provide humanitarian assistance to the Libyan people as a result of the ongoing violence, and expressed readiness to provide more.

“I should like to inform you that Kuwait is continuing to provide humanitarian assistance to the Libyan people who are suffering as a result of the events currently taking place in their country,” Kuwaiti Permanent Representative to the UN Mansour Ayyad Alotaibi wrote in a letter to Ban circulated yesterday as a Security Council document.

Resolution 1973, adopted on March 17 of this year, authorized Member States to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in Libyan and inform the SecretaryGeneral immediately of such measures.

Alotaibi said that to date, the Kuwaiti assistance has included the announcement that Kuwait will provide the Libyan

Transitional National Council with an emergency humanitarian financial assistance worth USD 180 million to help the Libyan people to overcome the current humanitarian and existential crisis.

Kuwait, he added, has dispatched, through the Kuwait Red Crescent Society, a third relief aircraft carrying 20 tons of medicines and medical equipment to meet the most urgent needs of the Libyan people.

Moreover, the Tunisian field team of the Kuwait Red Crescent Society is continuing to carry out the relief operations and humanitarian programs by providing assistance to the displaced persons at the TunisianLibyan border.

“Kuwait is ready to provide any additional assistance and relief to the civilian population of Libya, and trusts that the international endeavors that are exerted pursuant to the Security Council resolution (1973) will save the lives of our brothers in Libya and end the tragic situation in which they currently find themselves,” Ambassador Alotaibi concluded. — KUNA

Work permits restrictions to prevent forgery KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior’s General Department for Immigration has urged the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor(MSAL) to avoid issuing work permits until they approach the relevant migration division, in a bid to prevent forgery.

It was suggested that workers should be provided with a receipt that has been signed by relevant authorities, and bears the name of the work permit’s holder, as well as the permit number.

This issue was discussed during a meeting held between Migration Department officials and members from the MSAL’s Labor Automation Department, representing the Ministry’s Labor Sector.

Furthermore, the meeting’s record mentions recommendations to find new mechanisms to adjust the situation of bedoon (stateless) residents who work as company representatives, reported Al-Qabas.

Meanwhile, the two parties have reportedly reached an agreement during the meeting, to allow resident permit holders of categories 17, 20, 22 and 24 pertinent with the public sector, domestic helpers and family support visas, to transfer their visas to categories 18 and 19.

KPC, MEW disagree over fuel issue KUWAIT: The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) have locked horns over an oil and gas deal. The latter refused to sign a memorandum on organizing relations to supply the MEW with crude oil, petrochemicals and gas.

“The ministry refused because it intends to privatize one of the power plants,” officials predicted. Negotiations had been going on for over two years and the ministry refused despite agreeing to all the conditions, reported Aljarida.

Commenting on this, the KPC said that it had prepared a draft agreement. It was in the final stages before being submitted to the Audit Bureau.

KUWAIT: Joyce Barnathan addressing the forum yesterday at ‘The Regency Hotel’.

— Photo by Yazzer Al-Zayyat

themselves,” she added. Barnathan advised traditional media to follow the changes of time sweeping the world or risk extinction. The ICJ president explained that today’s era has been experiencing enormous free flow of information than ever before. She cited the revolution in Egypt which

many believed was fueled by social media network, “Some 28 percent of the population in Egypt falls between the ages of 15 to 29. They are into web; it has been part of their daily lives. Egypt’s youngsters do not have to travel overseas to envision what could be the virtual world. They can see the world easily; opportunities are open to them, and virtual world is changing the expectation of young population,” she added.

Barnathan also believes that citizen’s participation especially in news gathering has also increased, “Traditional media now want to engage readers, viewers, listeners and urge them to participate by sending photos, videos, give comments on issues.”

While she pointed out that more voices are always better, but she also claimed sometimes, more is worse, “More is worse when comments are destructive; more is worse, when the quality is low and when the facts are not verified. More is worse when the goal is deceptive; more is worse when the government masquerades as a citizen journalist and gives out false information,” she stressed.

Consequently according to Barnathan, citizen journalists must be trained accordingly and training should be essential than before, “We are beginning to see the merger of citizen journalism and journalism professionals. With them, it provides us the cycle of quality news. Professional journalists must know how to utilize new technology; and if the journalist can use them well; the story would be great, deeper but intellectually though provoking and also of high quality,” Barnathan said. She added that the new platform for journalism can be incredible tools to change the world for better.

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School under fire over ‘Twilight’ love story MoE launches investigation

KUWAIT: Officials at the Ministry of Education (MoE) are investigating a case in which some female students at a middle school were made to watch a movie that contained scenes which allegedly ‘contradict Kuwait social culture’. The case was first brought to the ministry’s attention when it received a complaint from a parent saying that her daughter was made to watch a movie ‘Twilight’ along with her classmates - which tells a story of a love relationship between a school girl and a vampire.

Emergency team raids wholesale market

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: An emergenc y team from the Capital governorate raided vehicles that transport food.

They mostly verified if licenses issued are valid and comply with hygiene standards. The campaign was held in a wholesale market in industrial Shuwaikh, under the direct instructions of Fadhel Safar, Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipality Affairs.

Follow up action was taken by Ahmad Al-Sabeeh, Municipality Director General.

Inspections were carried out in the wholesale market in the presence of Capital Municipality officer Faleh Al-Shimmari, in cooperation with Municipality Public Relations Department.

Shoppers praised the measures taken by the Municipality against unlicensed vehicles that transport

The student’s mother strongly condemned what she described as the “negative impact the movie leaves on the moralities of the students”, mentioning in specific terms that it includes “k issing scenes” and other aspects which makes it unsuitable for the students.

Moreover, the parent said in her complaint that the school collected a KD1.5 fee from each student to watch the movie.

The ministry had since received other similar complaints, and has ordered an investigation on the issue.

However, sources indicate that some officials within the Hawally Educational Directorate are trying to mediate, to avoid being held accountable for the incident.

“Attempts were made to put the blame on a different school, but those attempts failed after the ministr y found out that the other

school does not even have a theater,” sources said.

Last month, Islamist lawmakers demanded an investigation regarding a case in which a girls school hosted an event termed immoral by the MPs. During the event, some female students reportedly performed in front of a mixed-gender audience. The ministry insisted that the event was only an operetta which has nothing immoral in its plot. —Al-Qabas

Iraqi team to discuss port project

meat.

Al-Shimmari said, “Supervision is very strict at all levels, especially when it comes to food, and all laws will be implemented to nab violators. He said inspection campaigns will be continued and are conducted according to a certain criteria. He said that the campaign concentrates on ensuing that licenses are valid, including the validity of food being sold or stored.

These are delivered safely in accordance with safety and quality standards.

Tariq Al-Qattan, Head of the emergency team said that the campaign was divided into two so as to control the places. He said the inspection

team issued 22 citations to transport food in an unlicensed transport vehicle. This is very dangerous as some food, especially meat, may spoil quickly when transported in uncooled trucks and temperatures are high. He said it is important to enforce the ministerial Decree No. 301/2009.

He added that inspection teams inspected all the food stores that fall under the purview of the capital on a daily basis. Such campaigns will be intensified to prevent some people from selling expired food items. Al-Qattan said raids will be held after identifying problems.

Drug peddler caught

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Officials from the General Department of Drug Control (GDDC) arrested a Syrian who has been convicted in several robberies. He was sentenced for two years and deportation, but was granted amnesty. At least 80 grams of heroin and 750 illicit drugs were seized. The man was arrested after he attempted to sell heroin to an undercover agent.

Car accidents A car accident took place near Umm Al-Haiman after a vehicle flipped over. Three Egyptians died and a citizen was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. An official said that the coroner removed the bodies for an autopsy. In another case, an 18-year-old citizen and a 16-year-old Saudi national sustained severe injuries in a car accident that took place near the Jahra bridge. They were admitted to the Jahra hospital.

Praise for Saudi Gizan resort RIYADH: The lucrative Red Sea resort of Jizan has won praise of the top Kuwaiti diplomat here who has visited the region, located in the southwestern corner of the kingdom, inspecting tourist and historic landmarks.

The resort area, situated close to the border with Yemen, is witnessing full-scale development in various sectors, said Sheikh Hamad Al-Jaber Al-Ali AlSabah after touring the province and nearby areas yesterday.

The ambassador to the kingdom, who was accompanied by diplomats, expressed admiration at the natural beauty of the nearby island of Farasan where seagoers enjoy scuba diving and fishing. During the tour of the island, the ambassador visited the ancient AlRifai House, now a museum, and an Ottoman fortress.

Sheikh Hamad Al-Jaber hailed the noticeable efforts of Jizan Prince, Mohammad Bin Nasser Bin Abdul Aziz, and the other local officials for putting Jizan on the map of the kingdom tourist attractions.

Prince Mohammad is to hold a luncheon for the visiting diplomat, who will reciprocate with a memorial shield for the Amir. —KUNA

Ushairej factories to be compensated

Gruesome death A 35-year-old Bangladeshi died after getting jammed between a container and the wall, severing his head from his body. The remains were removed by the coroner for an autopsy.

Mishap A 35-year-old Egyptian missed a step and fell from a height in Salmiya, breaking his right thigh bone. There were cases of internal bleeding and lacerations in the abdominal area. He was admitted to Mubarak hospital.

Electrocution A 37-year-old Egyptian suffered second degree burns after being electrocuted at the Kuwait Environment Society, Shuwaikh. He was admitted to Amiri hospital.

KUWAIT: A special committee representing the Iraqi government will arrive in Kuwait to discuss the construction of Kuwait’s large-scale Mubarak Al-Kabeer port project in Boubyan island. Unconfirmed reports about Kuwaiti authorities’ plan to expand the mega project in a manner that threatens Iraq’s waterway will also be deliberated upon, reported Al-Rai. The relevant announcement was made by Nouri AlMaliki, Iraqi Prime Minister stating in a recent televised statement that if the reports turn out to be true, “then this could spell the death of Iraq.”

Meanwhile, the Iraqi parliament will hold a meeting with the country’s foreign minister and minister of transportation and communications to discuss issues pertinent with the Kuwaiti port, Usama Al-Nujayfi, Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament said.

The drug trader pictured after his arrest

KUWAIT: A report concerning the authorization process to relocate industrial facilities in Al-Ushairej has been finalized. It will soon be submitted to the Cabinet.

This was announced by Mohammad Al-Enizi, Head of the Industrial Environment Department at the Environment Public Authority (EPA). He noted that the report includes a recommendation to compensate some factories that are worthy of such procedures as per the contracts’ terms, reported Al-Qabas. The government has issued a decree to relocate all factories located along the Doha beach to stop serious environmental damage. This was mostly caused by dumping liquid industrial waste into Gulf waters.

GCC commemorates 30 years on march of unity, integration RIYADH: Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdullatif AlZayani said yesterday the GCC will continue the march of unity and integration among its member states backed by the strong support of the leaders of these countries. Al-Zayani congratulated, in a press release issued here, the peoples and governments of the GCC member states on the 30th anniversary of the inception of the council in 1981.

On this occasion he thanked ruler of Riyadh region Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz for sponsoring a ceremony to mark “this national occasion,” renewing gratitude to the Kingdom

of Saudi Arabia for supporting the GCC and hosting its permanent headquarters here.

The ceremony was attended by a large number of members of the Saudi royal family, cabinet members and public figures as well as dozens of foreign diplomats based here and members of the GCC Secretariat.

Al-Zayani commended the GCC member states for enforcing the resolutions of the 31st session of the GCC Summit, held in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, last December particularly the one relating to hoisting the GCC flag at the land, air and sea ports of these countries. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Bassam Al-Enezi from the commercial department at the Steel and Transformation Industries honored Kuwait Municipality Public Relations Department Supervisor Iman Ibrahim for her efforts during the voluntary environmental awareness project that aimed at protecting the environment.

CBK sponsors third Forum for Basic Education Faculty KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait sponsored the 3rd Forum for the Basic Education Faculty under patronage of Dr Abdul Razzaq Meshari Al Nafeesi, the General Manager of Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. The event titled “Education Between Challenges and Modern Variables” was held in the Palms Hotel on Tuesday 17/5/2011. Speaking on the occasion, Huda Sadeq, AGM, Human Resources Division emphasized on the bank’s keenness to communicate with large segment of the society as they develop the spirit of loyalty and dedication to the country which counts on them in building up its renaissance and advancement. “It is worth noting that CBK has been playing a leading role in supporting Kuwaiti youth by participating in a set of activities in pursuit of the future ambitions and plans of the sons of our beloved country,” Sadeq added.

News

in brief

Online fee payment soon KUWAIT: The Ministry of Justice will soon issue a decision to make provisions to pay fines online.

This step will help attempt to prevent late payments, Ali Al-Dhabibi Director of Ministr y ’s General Implementation Department explained.

The stipulation will allow a person to make direct payment to the department’s account. It will then transfer the payment, reported Al-Qabas.

Separately, a statistical report issued by the ministry’s Statistical and Research Department indicates that the Kuwaiti authorities have issued arrest warrants against 1,395 suspects belonging to different nationalities.

Govt to establish authority for co-op societies KUWAIT: The Parliament’s health committee has reached an agreement with the government to establish a Public Authority for Co-operative Societies. Next Sunday, a report will be finalized on the amendments made to co-operative societies’ law. In a press statement, rapporteur Saleh Ashour indicated that an agreement has been reached on most of the proposed amendments with Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi during the panel’s meeting held this past Sunday, reported Al-Qabas. A public authority would include, under its subordination all co-operative societies in Kuwait, as well as the Kuwait Union of Consumer Co-operative Societies (KUCCS).

‘Hygienic conditions mandatory’ KUWAIT: Shop owners should ensure that all means of transportation used to carry food items follow stringent hygiene rules, urged Ahmed AlSubaih , Kuwait Municipality Director. He added that general guidelines to be followed should be obtained from any Municipality branch to avoid legal ramifications, repor ted Annahar.

Furthermore, Al-Subaih said that, in addition to maintaining food items’ freshness, inspection tours will be held periodically. He also asserted that raids will be conducted to nab violators.

Sun will be directly overhead Kaaba KUWAIT: The sun will be directly overhead Kaaba on Saturday in an event that only happens twice a year, Astronomer Dr Saleh Al-Ojairi said yesterday.

Al-Ojairi said the phenomenon will occur at exactly 12:18 local time in Makkah and Kuwait.

Many Islamic countries may benefit from this by knowing the exact praying point (qibla) and standing directly in front of the sun. There will be no shade in Makkah during this time, he added.

The sun will be directly overhead to the countries with latitude less than 23 and 26 degrees north south, other countries will not witness this phenomenon such as Kuwait because it has a latitude of 29 degrees.

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Interior warns against unlicensed gatherings Stiff penalties stipulated

KUWAIT: His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received, in his diwan at Seif Palace yesterday, Dr Nora Al-Subeiee who awarded HH a copy of her PhD thesis, themed, The Development of the History Curricula at High Schools in Kuwait in Light of the Women’s Rights. Sheikh Nawaf thanked her for the effort that could contribute to promoting the national educational system.

Kuwait Digest

Demanding freedom

By Meshal Al-Thufairi

C

itizens who gathered near the Safat Square last Friday were calling for ‘freedom’ and the ‘election of prime minister’. They called for an elected cabinet, chaired by either a member of a ruling family or any other Kuwaiti citizen. In my opinion, this incident marks the beginning of a society in which everyone enjoys a great deal of freedom.

One of the protestors shouted “Obama says that people should have the right to choose”. To that I respond by saying that we (Kuwaitis) have a larger space of freedom than the Americans.

However, the difference between us (Kuwaitis) and the Americans, is that they know the difference between freedom and chaos and are keen on making sure that they remain separated. But we always confuse the two. For example, verbal assault has become a form of freedom to many in Kuwait.

If we could use our brain properly, we would be able to emulate Singapore for its cleanliness, Europe in its development and order, and Japan for its industries.

However, we are still unable to improve our infrastructures and public hygiene. Some citizens believe that Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad’s cabinets are the worst in the history of Kuwait. In my opinion, they remain a lot better than any cabinet which could be formed through elections, and that for many reasons.

One reason- is the examples shown by former ministers who have relations with political groups in the parliament. Can anyone say the approach these former ministers adopted was completely unbiased?

The government should invite the public to express their opinions and make recommendations regarding subjects that are needed, in order to improve the country, in addition to constructive criticisms. This will be more effective than letting young people express their opinions through public demonstrations. — Al-Rai

MoI officer delivers lecture on security KUWAIT: Media Relations Officer at the Ministry of Interior First Lt Othman Mohammad Ghareeb delivered a lecture on the importance of security in everyday life at Khalid Saud Al-Zaid High School in Mubarak Al-Kabeer governorate. He emphasized on the importance of security in our lives. He spoke about violence and fighting among students.

Al-Ghareeb demanded that everyone keep away from violence and concentrate on studies to score high marks. This is so that we achieve more development.

Lt Othman Ghareeb He also spoke about the dangers of misusing the telephone and internet. He elucidated some examples of this in real life.

Furthermore, Al-Ghareeb explained the dangers of driving without a license. He also mentioned other violations like crossing the red traffic signal, over speeding and reckless driving. He called for the necessity of respecting the law and abiding by rules when driving.

This also means remaining within allowed speed limit on the roads. It also means using car signal when turning left or right. At the end of the lecture, he answered all the students’ queries.

Website page to launch complaints against police KUWAIT: Citizens and residents who believe that they have been mistreated by police can soon register their grievances online. An ancillary page to the Ministry of Interior’s official website will be launched where grouse can be posted.

According to an official, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud AlSabah Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister has issued a decision to add new services to the ministry’s website. Complaints can be made against police officers and other ministry personnel, reported Al-Qabas.

Furthermore, the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity stated that all complaints will be received by specialized senior officers, who will observe the investigation and personally interrogate the officers in question. All complaints will be looked into confidentially, officials said.

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior warned yesterday that it would deal firmly against unlicensed public demonstrations and reminded prospected violators of stiff penalties stipulated by relevant laws. The ministry said in a statement, that the personnel would act firmly vis a vis such gatherings at the public square opposite the seaside headquarters of the National Assembly, indicating its respect for the citizens’ freedom of expression, provided they refrain from violating laws or carry out acts against the public security and others’ freedom of expression.

It urged all citizens to cooperate with the security forces for protecting their safety, and abide by the laws that prohibit public gatherings and marches without a license, particularly during the current critical circumstances prevailing in the region. The ministry urged nationals to refrain from responding to calls, made through the media and various social networks, inciting them to harm the higher interests of the homeland and threaten the country’s security and stability. Decree-

China expects more GCC visitors in exhibition KUWAIT: China predicts its biggest import and export exhibition, Canton Fair, slated for October this year, will attract many more Arab Gulf businessmen. In its last edition, the exhibition - held twice a year - lured 30 percent more Kuwaitis and 45 percent more Saudis than it did in its former edition, and entering its 110th edition, an official from China’s Foreign Trade Centre in Guangzhou expected this average to increase, he told KUNA while touring Kuwait to promote Canton Fair.

Direct links from the Gulf to China’s eastern Guangzhou province have also increased, with the Saudi Airlines opening a direct flight to the region.

The Chinese official said the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are huge commercial partners of China, judging the large scale of trade between the regions during the last

ten years. Ahead of the event, the exhibition will be promoted by a number of China Foreign Trade Centre official visits to the Gulf region, with Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia all on the list.

The 109th session of the Canton Fair, which just concluded on May 5, 2011, attracted 208,406 overseas buyers from 209 countries and regions, with an increase of 3.89 percent from its previous one.

The business turnover achieved at this session amounted to $36.86 billion, up by 5.8 percent. “Chinese exhibitors of the Canton Fair are credible and highly competitive. About 20,000 domestic enterprises participate in each session, which are selected from hundreds of thousands of Chinese enterprises and represent the highest industry levels,” the statement noted. — KUNA

Noticeable progress in child care field GENEVA: The Kuwaiti delegation, participating in the 64th annual World Health Assembly, has taken part in closed-door sessions on best methods and techniques for feeding babies and infants.

Deliberations have shown noticeable progress in some nations as to the child care, particularly securing adequate nutrition for the children and babies, said Dr Nawal Mejren Al-Ahamad, in charge of the depar tment of nutrition of the Ministry of Health.

“Decision makers have become aware of the necessity to abide by guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) for child care, however, each country cannot literally apply such rules considering the variety of cultures, traditions and policies,” she elaborated, alluding to some

diverse opinions expressed by the participating delegations on the matter.

Meanwhile, WHO General Director Margaret Chan has called for a frameworks for cross-examination about disbursement of financial aid granted to the developing nations for the mother and child care programs.

Speaking at a session devoted for this issue, Chan shed light on diverse problems and flaws, such as lack of registration of causes of death of children and proportions of spread of diseases among them. The participants recommended that nations should set up a guideline for the registration of births and deaths-along with the causes-and making studies on care of breast-feeding and delivering mothers. — KUNA

law No. 65 (1979) regulates the holding of demonstrations, escorts and gatherings and mentions penalties against violators, such as imprisonment for two years and a KD 1,000 fine-both or one of the two penalties-namely against organizers who do not obtain a license.

The law also stipulates a year in prison and KD 500 fine, both or one of the two penalties, against a person who calls for such actions without a license. A participant in such unlicensed activities is to be imprisoned for three months, or and, compelled to pay KD 200. The ministry urged the citizens to abide by instructions of the security personnel and cooperate with them for their safety’s sake.

Meanwhile, member of Parliament Musallam Al-Barrak said the country’s youth should exercise the right to freedom of association, in accordance with the country ’s laws and the Constitution. He also asserted that young men and women must swear allegiance to His Highness the Amir.

Al-Barrak believed it was strange that the youth are being prevented from forming associations, especially in

Safat Square. He added that no law prevents them from forming into groups, and that any move to threaten the youth will not be tolerated.

The lawmaker said that fear has no place in people’s hearts and young people are bright with a clean conscience. At a time when people in other Arab countries are protesting against their rulers, here in Kuwait, people are steadfast in their loyalty to the Amir, reported Al-Aan. The youth have the right to express their opinion and demand for a new prime minister with a new Cabinet and a new policy, he said He pointed out the Interior Ministry allows gatherings to be held in the Iradah (will) and Change Square but were refused in Al-Safat. In principle, gatherings will be allowed. Al-Barrak warned against attempted clashes, adding that the youth are keen about the Constitution and the law and order, at a time when the government and premier forego such principles. He also demanded that the National Guards commanders explain the truth behind some provocative statements that were issued.

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Trio in police custody for raping woman in Salmiya Teacher sued for beating student KUWAIT: Security officials have arrested three men accused of kidnapping a woman from Sulaibiya and raping her inside a Salmiya apartment. Investigations has been ongoing since the victim reported the case to police. The policemen were able to locate a car in Sulabiya with a license plate bearing the same number that the victim described. The car’s owner confessed during interrogation that he and his two friends had sexually assaulted the victim, but denied the kidnap charges. His two accomplices were arrested after he gave their address to the police.

Kuwait Digest

Representing people accurately

By Badriya Al-Awadhi

P

arliament members usually assert that they are entitled to take decisions on behalf of citizens as public representatives, based on Article 108 of the Constitution. It states that an MP takes care of public interests for representing the entire nation. In reality, to say that lawmakers represent all the citizens in Kuwait, is not particularity accurate. I can enumerate a number of reasons: 1- MPs in the Parliament represent citizens who voted for them in a single constituency. These citizens are only part of a total number of voters from the same constituency who voted for other candidates, and not to mention citizens who opted against taking part in the voting process.

2- As per Article 97 of the Constitution, a parliamentary session can be held with the participation of more than half the members. Regulations can be passed without a hitch during such sessions. This means that a regulation can be passed through the votes of only quarter of the total number of MPs in the Parliament, if it was approved by a minimum majority, with a minimum number of lawmakers who participated in the session. In such cases, a topic can be settled as per a point of view that will not necessarily be agreed with by most of the public.

3- In most cases, priorities of MPs are focused on protecting the interests of citizens. Combining MPs’ individual priorities, according to a comprehensive sense, lawmakers are representatives of the Kuwaiti public.

4- MPs mainly believe that a voter’s role is restricted to simply electing candidates. They cannot have a say on the lawmaker’s approach . This goes against international standards on the concept. Citizens have an equal say in decisions that affect their lives.

These enable them to be directly consulted in the decision-making process pertinent with crucial matters.

These reasons explain that ‘representing the entire nation’ as mentioned in the Constitution is not reprised by MPs accurately today. This is because this concept aims to achieve what is best for all citizens, as a top priority over the interests of individual constituencies. —Al-Qabas

NGO to mark ‘Nakba’ on Friday KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti non-governmental organization will hold a special event on May 27, marking the 63rd anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ and the displacement of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli forces.

“The ‘Awdah’ (return) Festival will be held under the patronage of Dr Abdullah Al-Maatouq, Chairman of the Islamic International Charity Organization,” said Dr Ghazi Al-Enizy, Secretary General of the Ansar AlQuds (Jerusalem’s adherents) Committee. In a press statement, a decision was made to hold the event during a meeting held with representatives from various Kuwaiti NGOs. This is in order to “reiterate Kuwait’s unwavering supportive stance towards the Palestinian cause. This remains the primary misDr Ghazi Al-Enizy sion of Arabic and Islamic nations.”

“When the Zionist regime celebrates the Haganah, Irgun, other Zionist gangs occupied Palestinian territories in 1948. It is our duty as Arabs and Muslims to counter Zionists’ attempts to document the event by exposing the facts on atrocities that the Palestinian people have been subjected to,” Dr Al-Enizy’s statement read.

Furthermore, Dr Al-Enizy urged citizens and residents to take part in an event that will be held at the Dr Othman Abdul-Malik theater at the Kuwait University’s Faculty of Law in Shuwaikh. He insisted that the “clear picture about Kuwait’s continuous support for the Palestinian cause,” should be reinforced.

Ministries to discuss audio-visual, press laws KUWAIT: The Ministry of Communication plans to discuss with the Ministry of Information (MoI) certain articles from the Audio-Visual and Press laws. Reports indicate that it had sent out an invitation last week.

According to officials from the Information Ministry, this step followed several incidents in which the Information Ministr y asked the Communication Ministry, to take legal action with the Public Prosecution Department (PPD) against some news websites, reported Al-Qabas.

“The meeting aims to outline the Communication Ministry’s role in implementing the Audio-visual and Press regulations’ articles,” officials said.

Suicide attempt A young Arab man is facing charges for attempting to stab himself to death. Paramedics and policemen rushed to a house in Andalus where the man was reported to have stabbed himself repeatedly. The man was later rushed to

the Farwaniya hospital and was admitted at the intensive care unit.

Meanwhile, his father told police officers that the young man was receiving a lot of pressure from his home country over his marriage proposal. Meanwhile, a middle aged Arab woman was rushed to Jahra hospital for severe poisoning. The woman tried to commit suicide by drinking a bottle of pesticide. The 52-year-old woman was found lying unconscious inside her son’s house in Qasr following an emergency call.

It was later revealed that the woman attempted to commit suicide because she has been feeling depressed ever since her husband died, and the fact that she wasn’t able to return to her home country.

Thief apprehended Jahra policemen have arrested a bedoon (stateless) man who allegedly stole a piece of jewelry from a shop at the Jahra markets

area and attempted to run away. The policemen at the market apprehended the suspect as he tried to run away with a KD9000-worth of gold.

Female teacher sued A citizen has filed physical assault charges against an Arab school teacher, accusing her of hitting his son with a stick. The man further provided officers at Surra police station with a medical report showing a deep cut that his fifth grader son sustained near his ear after being beaten by the Arabic language teacher.

Man kidnaps kids A case was opened at Farawniya police station after an Arab woman told police officers that her ex-husband has kidnapped their kids. She explained that the man has refused to return them after taking them for a visit. Investigations are ongoing.

Al-Mutawa and Dr Al-Mutairi with the trained staff.

TEC staff attends training course KUWAIT: Fifteen staff members from the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) underwent special training courses as part of a ‘Priorities and Time Management’ program that was held at the company’s headquarters in Shuwaikh. It was held in cooperation with the Nobel International Training and Consultations Center.

The program aimed to help employees find the best way to list job priorities that will enable them to makes use of time as effectively as possible. The initiative was part of the TEC’s efforts to improve the competitiveness of its staff members.

During the concluding ceremo-

Al-Mutawa awards Dr Al-Mutairi. ny, Hanan Al-Mutawa Director of TEC’s Training and Development Center awarded Dr Yousuf Al-

Mutairi from the Nobel Center. He delivered lectures during the training course.

A training course in action.

Diving team visits Palinuro caves KUWAIT: The Kuwait Diving Team returned to the country after a sixday trip to Palinuro in Italy. They underwent training missions where Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) equipment was used at the city’s famous caves.

“This program was held as part of the plans to reinforce team mem-

bers’ capabilities on environmental underwater duties,” said team leader Waleed Al-Fadhel in a statement. He explained that the Kuwaiti divers passed training courses on utilizing the best methods to be used in closed spaces.

During the trip, the team members visited five of the main large

caves of Palinuro that include at least 40 underwater caves. These caves are distinguished by the fact that fresh water springs do not mix with sea water from the Mediterranean, in addition to many labyrinthine passages that require the employment of skilled navigational techniques.

China supports GCC stance on Bahrain DOHA: A Kuwaiti official has affirmed China’s support for necessary measures that have been taken by the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council to safeguard their security and stability.

“Chinese officials, taking part in the two-day 8th round of the Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum have taken a distinctive stance towards the security of the region, declaring Beijing’s opposition to external intervention in the domestic affairs of the GCC states,” Kuwait’s permanent representative to the Arab League Jamal Al-Ghuneim and member of the Kuwaiti delegation attending the gathering said.

Specifically, the Chinese have demonstrated backing for the GCC stance towards the incidents in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and this constitutes an explicit

gesture “to the states that view the GCC step as negative,” said Al-Ghunaim. Units of the GCC Peninsula Shield Force have been deployed in Bahrain to aid the government maintain law and order. Iran has condemned the move. And Bahrain, along with the other GCC states, have accused Tehran of plotting to foment discords in the GCC countries.

Elaborating, Al-Ghuneim said the Chinese delegation, during the first sessions of the gathering, affirmed Beijing’s call for nuclear proliferation in the region, with regard to the prospected hazards to the security and stability of the Gulf and Middle Eastern countries.

The Chinese officials and their GCC counterpar ts have expressed identical opinions on various regional and internation-

al affairs, with emphasis on the unwavering suppor t for the Arabs’ just causes, namely the cause of the Palestinians and their struggle to establish an independent state. He added that the conferees examined avenues for enhancing cooperation among the participating states.

A meeting grouping Arab and Chinese businessmen was recently scheduled, but was adjourned due to the regional upheavals, he said, expressing hope that it would held in the future in the hope of paving war for opening new avenues for cooperation in the commercial and investment sectors.

The forum is due to issue recommendations at its end due later today, in preparation for the fifth ministerial round due in Tunisia next year. — KUNA

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

Kim’s China visit highlights crucial ties

Dense ash cloud could disrupt Scotland flights Page 10

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Sudan’s flashpoint town burned, looted: UN

JUBA: Hundreds of southern Sudanese take part in a demonstration against northern Sudan’s military incursion into the border town of Abyei in the southern capital of Juba, Sudan yesterday.—AP JUBA: Armed men burned and looted the flashpoint town of Abyei yesterday, the UN mission said, while Southern Sudan’s military said the northern army is moving to carry out a “full-scale war” in the contested region. Violence flared late last week in the region of Abyei, a no man’s land between north and south Sudan that is threatening to send the two sides back to war. Southern Sudan voted in January to secede from the south, and the region becomes an independent country on July 9. But violence in Abyei is overshadowing the march toward independence.

The UN mission in Sudan said armed elements were burning and looting in Abyei and said the Sudanese Armed Forces must fulfill their responsibility to intervene to “stop these criminal acts.”

Officials in the north indicated that the two sides could be brought back from the brink even as the south said it would respond with force if its territory is breached. A powerful Sudanese Arab tribal chief, meanwhile, said his tribesmen have entered the area with other Arab tribes, and that “Abyei is a northern town.”

Both north and south claim Abyei, a fertile region near several large oil fields, and its disputed status has long been recognized as a potential trigger for violence. The ethnic African tribe of the Ngok Dinka and the Arab tribe of Misseriah both lay claim to the area. Misseriah tribal chief Mukhtar Babu Nimr dismissed the calls and warnings by southerners and the UN Security Council, saying that for months the southerners have violated the Abyei protocol and no one complained. “Abyei was occupied by the southern forces for six months, and there was not a single northern,” he said. “No one said anything. Now hours after southerners leave, it is a problem. This is very strange.” Civilians fleeing the violence in Abyei are moving farther south, from the town of Agok toward Turalei , because of fears of more attacks, Gustavo Fernandez, an official with medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, said.

Children fleeing the conflict are walking long distances by themselves and risking dehydration during the journey, he said.

A UN official in the southern capital of Juba said that UN personnel were fired at by members of the southern military while trying to carry out a humanitarian assessment in Agok. A UN spokesman declined comment. The UN official wasn’t authorized to give a name. Tanks from northern Sudan rolled into the town of Abyei Saturday night, scattering southern troops that were there as part of a joint security unit. The UN compound was also hit with mortar fire, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council called for an immediate end to military action.

The seizure of Abyei followed an attack on a convoy of northern soldiers by southern forces on Thursday and two days of aerial bombardment of the area by the north. Russia’s ambassador to the UN told a news conference late Sunday that a Sudanese official had hinted that the government is ready to pull back if guarantees are made that the south won’t attack its troops again. The escalation in violence comes as Southern Sudan, which is predominantly ethnic African, is due to become the world’s newest country on July 9. The south voted overwhelmingly to secede from the Arab-dominated north in a January referendum promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of north-south war. Southern army spokesman Col. Philip Aguer told a news conference that the south would respond with force if northern troops continue moving south. Aguer said the south would support rebels in Sudan’s western region of Darfur and northern militias that support the south in response to the north’s actions. He accused the north of using militias to block the south from oil fields.

The northern military “is not only just attacking Abyei, but it’s moving for a full-scale war,” Aguer said. The south “will not just wait and allow the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) to invade Southern Sudan. We have our limits where we are ready to protect our territory.” Under the peace deal, Abyei was also due to have a referendum to decide whether it would remain part of the north or south, but it was canceled amid disagreements over who was eligible to vote.

Now Abyei town is mostly empty, said Fernandez. MSF staff all evacuated to Agok, to the south, but now citizens and humanitarian aid groups are moving even farther south to Turalei, he said.

Tensions among the fleeing populations were high because of fears that violence would arrive in Agok, he said. —AP

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

First govt-authorized sit-in canceled in Syria BEIRUT: Activists canceled the first government-approved demonstration in the capital since the government lifted a 48-year-old state of emergency last month, a Syrian official said yesterday. The silent candlelight vigil in a Damascus public garden was to have honored some 900 people who have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule began in midMarch. Some opponents of Assad have been saying in recent days that they planned to continue the vigil until the regime fell.

All demonstrations had been banned in Syria under state of emergency laws that were abolished last month. Now, organizers must get official permission. But human

rights activists have scoffed at the rule, saying they would be targeted for reprisals if they tried to organize an anti-government demonstration.

The Syrian official said yesterday’s vigil was canceled on the request of its organizers. He asked that his name not be used because he was not allowed to speak publicly. Further details were not immediately released. In neighboring Lebanon, meanwhile, Lebanese soldiers acted as a buffer between pro- and anti-Assad protesters who blocked traffic yesterday in Beirut’s main commercial and residential Hamra Street, highlighting concerns that the crisis in Syria could spill over into tiny Lebanon. Many in

Lebanon support the uprising in Syria, which maintained troops in the country for 29 years before withdrawing in 2005. But the Syrian regime still holds considerable sway over Lebanese politics, with many loyalists among the population and politicians. The revolt has posed the most serious challenge to the Assad family’s 40-year ruling dynasty.

Assad has blamed the unrest on thugs and foreign agitators, not true reform-seekers.

The European Union yesterday imposed sanctions on Assad because of his government’s continuing crackdown. The 27-nation bloc instituted an assets freeze and a visa ban on Assad and nine other members of his regime. Earlier this month, the EU sanc-

tioned 13 people with links to the Syrian regime, but Assad was not among them. A European official said at the time that the omission was part of a deliberately gradual approach.

Human rights activist Mustafa Osso told The Associated Press yesterday there were demonstrations late Sunday in the central cities of Homs and Hama, the northern province of Idlib and the Damascus suburb of Douma. Unlike previous days when security forces used live ammunition to disperse the protests, security agents sprayed the protesters with water and beat them with batons, Osso said.

Dozens of people were detained. Osso

also said the death toll from a crackdown on Friday’s wave of protests had risen to 58. The figure given earlier by human rights groups was at least 44.

Also yesterday, Anwar al-Bunni, a prominent Syrian lawyer and human rights activist, said he had been released from prison after finishing a five-year jail term. He was sentenced in 2007 by a criminal court on charges of spreading false news that might weaken the nation’s morals. Al-Bunni told the AP after his release Sunday that “freedom would remain incomplete unless it includes all detainees.” Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of political detainees are being held in Syrian jails. —AP

EU blacklists Syria’s Assad for first time Sanctions imposed on Syrian leader

MISRATA: A rebel fighter carries a rocket in the front line between rebels and Muammar Gaddafi forces, 25 km west from Misrata, Libya yesterday. —AP

US calls for Gaddafi to leave Libya BENGHAZI: The United States yesterday called on Muammar Gaddafi to leave Libya as Washington’s most senior envoy to date held talks in the rebel capital in another boost to forces fighting to oust the strongman. Washington’s call came a day after the European Union opened an office in the rebel bastion of Benghazi to show its “long term” support to the rebels who took their diplomatic offensive to NATO’s sole Muslim member Turkey.

“The United States remains committed to protecting Libyan civilians and believes that Gaddafi must leave power and Libya,” said a statement released by the US representative’s office to the rebels’ National Transitional Council. “The Libyan people, like people everywhere, have the right to determine their own future and the United States will continue to support them and to work with the NTC in this endeavour,” it said.

The statement came as the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Jeffery Feltman, was in Benghazi for talks with the rebel leadership in a three-day visit.”Feltman’s visit is another signal of the US’s support for the NTC, a legitimate and credible interlocutor for the Libyan people,” said the statement. Britain, France, Gambia, Italy and Qatar have already recognized the rebel council as their sole interlocutor in Libya.

Washington’s latest move came a day after the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, opened an EU office in Benghazi.

The European bloc’s foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels yesterday to look at ways forward in Libya as divisions emerge over an exit strategy. The ministers were expected to discuss how to get the rebels and Gaddafi loyalists to agree to a ceasefire that would include a pullback by regime forces in order to clear the way for a political dialogue.

“Member states currently are less united in the belief that Gaddafi must go before a ceasefire or political talks can begin,” one diplomat said. “But the rebel leadership will not budge on this point.”

The EU also stepped up pressure against Gaddafi directly, widening sanctions on his regime. An EU assets freeze and travel ban against Gaddafi loyalists and firms

suspected of propping up the regime was extended to a member of the Libyan leader’s inner circle and a Libyan airline, an EU diplomat said, without immediately disclosing details of those targeted.

In Ankara, the head of the rebel council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday to discuss the situation in Libya, a diplomat said. “The parties should proceed to an exchange of views on the Libyan crisis and search for ways to deepen their relations,” the Turkish diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Mr Abdul Jalil will also discuss ways to improve coordination and cooperation with Turkey for humanitarian aid to his country,” the diplomat added.

Jalil was also to meet President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu during his two-day visit, the Turkish foreign ministry said. The meetings mark the highest-level contact so far between Turkey and the rebels.

Ankara has toughened its tone in recent weeks after initially criticising the US-led air strikes on Libya launched on March 19 and insisting on a limited combat role for NATO once the alliance took over command.

Earlier this month, Erdogan urged Gaddafi to “immediately” cede power and leave Libya. In Moscow, a rebel representative was due to hold talks with Foreign Minister Minister Sergei Lavrov a week after the top Russia diplomat met emissaries of Gaddafi . In March, Russia abstained from the UN Security Council resolution on Libya that essentially authorized militar y action. But the Kremlin has since accused the West of exceeding the UN mandate and getting entangled in a full-blown military operation in Libya.

On the ground, there was little movement in the battle lines. Rebel military spokesman Ahmed Omar Bani said the front line between the rebel-held east and the mainly government-held west remained between the strategic crossroads town of Ajdabiya and the oil refinery town of Brega. “In Ajdabiya, our forces are at 40 kilometres (25 miles) on the road to Brega,” he said, an advance of some 20 kilometers on their positions a few days ago. — AFP

Iran president not to attend OPEC meeting TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not participate in the upcoming OPEC meeting in Vienna, the official IRNA news agency reported yesterday. The report undercut a statement last week by a senior government official that Ahmadinejad would chair the next OPEC meeting in his capacity as the country’s caretaker oil minister.

But the Guardian Council, Iran constitutional watchdog body, ruled Friday that Ahmadinejad can’t also serve in the oil ministry role. The comments on IRNA by Shojaeddin Bazargani, a senior Oil Ministry adviser, suggested that Ahmadinejad has backed down after the ruling.

Bazargani was quoted by IRNA as saying that an Iranian Cabinet minister will attend the meeting.

“During a meeting, the president announced that he won’t attend the

upcoming OPEC meeting and that a Cabinet minister at his discretion will participate,” IRNA quoted Bazargani as saying. Ahmadinejad dismissed Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi last week as part of a Cabinet restructuring plan to merge eight ministries into four.

The move put him temporarily at the helm of the country’s most vital sector. Iran also holds the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ rotating presidency this year.

Iran , OPEC’s second largest oil expor ter and the world’s four thlargest crude oil producer - is typically seen as a price hawk. The country relies on oil exports for about 80 percent of its public revenues and, despite crude’s price rally over the past couple of months, has said there is no need to adjust OPEC members’ output quotas to cool the market. — AP

BRUSSELS: Europe tightened the noose on President Bashar al-Assad yesterday, imposing sanctions on the Syrian leader for the first time while calling for quick Middle East peace talks as it responded to the Arab Spring. Long reluctant to target the Syrian leader directly, the European Union’s decision to slap an assets freeze and travel ban on Assad is the latest in a string of measures against his regime, though the effects are unclear.

In wide-ranging talks encompassing events sweeping the Arab world, EU foreign ministers also strengthened sanctions on Iran and Libya, chided Yemen’s leader for failing to sign a transition deal, and urged Bahrain to stick to reform. And after President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy shift last week, as well as a recent inter-Palestinian peace deal, the EU ministers judged the time ripe for an “early meeting” of the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East-the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States.

Obama’s sea-change speech setting borders prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war as the basis of a future Palestinian state-a long-held EU position-set out “important elements contributing to the resumption of negotiations,” the EU said.

“We want negotiations to resume as soon as possible,” said Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. “This is what we have to do now. But I have to admit a window of opportunity is narrowing day after day.” “The Arab Spring,” added German counterpart Guido Westerwelle, “has also opened a chance for the Middle East peace process. But inversely, the peace process must move forward to guarantee long-term success to the Arab Spring.” As Syrians buried their dead, with at least 900 people killed and thousands more arrested in pro-democracy protests, the 27-state bloc condemned “in the strongest terms the ongoing repression in Syria and the unacceptable violence.”

“I think more will need to be done,” said Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague. “We must not overstate the leverage of the international community on Syria. “It does appear at the moment that the regime in Syria has decided to go down the path of repression, not

DAMASCUS: Women walk in front of displayed pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Syria,yesterday. The European Union imposed sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad because of his government’s continuing crackdown on anti-government protesters, in which more than 900 people have reportedly been killed. —AP reform, whatever international opinion may be.” Calling for an immediate halt to intimidation, mass arrests and torture, the ministers demanded the release of prisoners and access across the country for aid workers, medics and the press.

An EU statement also urged “without delay and through a concrete timetable, meaningful political reforms. This is the only way to initiate a peaceful transition and provide stability for Syria in the long term.” And in a final thrust, the ministers added the president, along with nine leading officials, to an earlier blacklist of 13.

The sanctions will take effect from today.

Stepping up pressure on Assad to halt weeks of relentless violence, the EU earlier this month imposed an arms embargo and targeted the

Attacks targeting Iraqi forces kill 2, injure 20 KIRKUK: Two bomb blasts targeting security forces in different parts of Iraq yesterday killed two people and wounded 20, underscoring Iraq’s instability, though the nation’s prime minister insisted that security forces have been mostly successful in curbing insurgent attacks. Police said a car bomb killed two people and injured 10 in Kirkuk, a northern Iraqi city torn by ethnic tensions. Another bomb in Baghdad also wounded 10, including four Iraqi soldiers.

In a violent incident later yesterday, unidentified gunmen shot and killed two Iraqi soldiers who were on patrol in Mosul, a former Al-Qaeda haven in northern Iraq, police and hospital officials said. In Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the capital, police Col Ghazi Mohammed Rashid said a car exploded as a security patrol was driving by. The blast killed two people who happened to be near the car when it blew up. Five police were among the 10 wounded. Kirkuk has long been plagued by disputes among Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen over land and oil fields. A triple bombing in the city last week killed 27 people and wounded at least 60.

A few hours later, the Baghdad car bomb exploded next to an army patrol in the northern Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah. A police officer and doctor at Kazimiyah hospital said six bystanders and four soldiers were wounded. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq compared to a few years ago, when bloody battles between Sunnis and Shiites brought the nation to the brink of civil war. Even so, attacks still happen every day in Iraq, and military officials and experts say it could be decades before Iraq is stable.

Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki blamed the continued violence on

what he described as the last remnants of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. He said his failure so far to appoint defense and interior ministers to run Iraq’s security forces has not hampered their ability to protect the country.

“We were able to stop these terrorist groups,” Al-Maliki told reporters at a press conference with visiting Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas. “Our security forces are continuing to chase these gangs and to prevent them from resuming their past activities.”— AP

KIRKUK: An injured boy is treated at a hospital after a car bomb in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq yesterday. Iraqi police say a car bomb has exploded in a northern city that is rife with ethnic tensions, killing and wounding several bystanders.—AP

president’s innermost circle, including his brother and four cousins.

Assad could have avoided the sanctions, said Westerwelle. “He continued to violently repress peaceful protests. This is why we must widen the sanctions, including against President Assad.” After also suspending development aid, the EU on Monday invited the European Investment Bank “to suspend” new financing operations in Syria.

Turning to Iran, the ministers added some 100 firms to a blacklist of companies hit by an assets freeze over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, diplomats said. The new restrictive measures come amid efforts to jumpstart international talks aimed at convincing Iran to halt its nuclear activities. —AFP

Abbas defends unity deal AMMAN: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sought yesterday to defend his new unity government with the militant Hamas movement, saying criticism by US President Barack Obama represented a “wrong understanding” of the deal. Abbas’ comments followed talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in the Jordanian capital and were noted in a royal palace statement.

They were his first remarks on major speeches the US president delivered in recent days. Last week, Obama outlined his policy on the Middle East, roiled by popular Arab uprisings, and endorsed Israel’s 1967 boundaries as the basis of negotiations for a future Palestine.

Hoping to revive stalled Israel-Palestinian peace talks, Obama addressed the powerful Jewish lobby group, AIPAC, in Washington, DC, on Sunday. He repeated a request for the Palestinians drop their plans to appeal for UN recognition and raised concerns about an emerging Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas. Abbas said that there was a misunderstanding of the unity government with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. “There is a wrong understanding of the government, that it is a power-sharing government between Fatah and Hamas,” he told reporters after talks with Abdullah.

Abbas, who heads the moderate Fatah faction, added: “The government is my government and it follows my strategies and policies.” He also said the two sides were working to form “a technocratic government.” He did not provide further details.

For his part, Abdullah “affirmed” the national reconciliation agreement, according to the palace statement. He said the agreement presents a “positive step” toward uniting the Palestinian people and enabling them to regain their “legitimate rights to establish a state.” Palestinians hope the FatahHamas reconciliation will end a split that has left rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians seek both areas, along with east Jerusalem, for their future state.

Israel has said a return to the 1967 borders would undercut its security. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the border issue should be the focus of Mideast diplomacy. “Israel’s recognition of the borders of 1967 as the borders for the two states is the only way to achieve peace in the region,” he said. “The failure of Israel to do so would only mean that the peace process would be a waste of time and effort.”— AP

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Allende’s body taken from Chile tomb for autopsy

International team of experts to study remains FARMLEIGH, Ireland: US President Barack Obama reacts after he was presented with a hurley stick from Irish Prime Minister and Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday. – AP

Obama: US, Ireland have ‘blood link’ DUBLIN: President Barack Obama said yesterday that the US and Ireland share a “blood link” that extends beyond strategic interests or foreign policy into the hearts of the millions of Irish Americans who still see a homeland here. And though Obama didn’t mention it in brief comments shortly after arriving in Dublin, that blood link extends to the president himself. Obama was to set out later in the day for Moneygall, the tiny village in County Offaly that is the ancestral homeland of Obama’s great-great-great grandfather on his Kansasborn mother’s side. Like so many others, America’s first black president has a little bit of Irish in him.

“For the millions of Irish Americans, this continues to symbolize the homeland and the extraordinary traditions of an extraordinary people,” Obama said alongside Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny after meeting privately with him on the first stop of a six-day, four-country Europe tour. “The friendship and the bonds between the United States and Ireland could not be stronger,” Obama said. “Obviously, it is not just a matter of strategic interest. It’s not just a matter of foreign policy. For the United States, Ireland carries a blood link with us.” The president, who has struggled very publicly in recent days with his own role trying to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, also said during his visit with Kenny “how inspired we have been by the progress that’s been made in Northern Ireland. It speaks to the possibilities of peace, and people in longstanding struggles being able to reimagine their relationships.” Kenny said the Irish people had been awaiting the president’s visit, though he’s in the country for just one day, and his pilgrimage to Moneygall. “Their excitement is palpable,” he said.

As the story goes, Falmouth Kearney, a shoemaker, left Moneygall for the United States in 1850 at the height of Ireland’s Great Famine. Obama’s roots in the town were discovered during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Residents in the village of about 350 some 90 miles southwest of Dublin have been eagerly anticipating Obama’s arrival, applying fresh coats of paint to their homes, patching up the sidewalks and hurriedly building a coffee shop called, what else?, Obama Cafe. Ahead of Obama’s arrival yesterday, Irish television showed a huge crowd assembled on Moneygall’s Main Street.

Three thousand tickets had been handed out and cheery ticketholders waited under changeable Irish skies, getting alternately drenched with rain and whipped by wind. “We’re used to getting soaked in the rain. Nothing will dampen our spirits!” declared one of Obama’s manytimes-removed family members, 26-year-old accountant Henry Healy, to a thunderous cheer from the sea of humanity around him.

White House aides say the president shares the excitement and may even raise a pint at a local pub and connect with a few distant relatives. Guinness last week delivered a specially brewed keg of stout to be poured the moment Obama walks through the door of Ollie’s Bar, which sports a bronze bust and life-size photo cutout of the president. First, though, after traveling overnight from Washington aboard Air Force One, the president and first lady Michelle Obama met Ireland’s President Mary McAleese at her official residence, and Obama participated in a tree planting ceremony. He tossed shovels-full of dirt at the base of a young oak as children rang a peace bell marking the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday accord, the historic agreement that put Northern Ireland on the road to peace. Nearby stood trees planted in past visits by then-presidents Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy, and one planted just last week by the queen of England during her visit here.

Obama then headed into his meeting with Kenny, paid a visit to US embassy staff, and then boarded Marine One destination Moneygall, where excited residents waited to cheer their connection to the US president. Obama was to wrap up his trip here with an openair speech at College Green, the same spot in the center of Dublin where Clinton drew a massive crowd for a speech during his 1995 trip to Ireland.

Obama’s remarks will be part of a larger rally that includes musical performances and appearances by popular Irish actors and athletes. In keeping with the festive mood, Obama aides said the president’s speech would not be political, instead focusing on the deep ties that bind the US and Ireland.

Obama arrived just days after Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II visited the Emerald Isle, the first trip to Ireland by a British monarch in about 100 years. The back-to-back visits have given the Irish a much-needed reason to celebrate as they struggle to climb out of the financial hole created by the collapse of the country’s banks and housing market.

Gripped by debt, Ireland was forced to take a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund in November that could total $100 billion. The rescue package came with stringent conditions that will lead the Irish to slash 25,000 jobs from the state payroll, leaving many in this country of 4.5 million with deep uncertainty about their financial future.

Heather Conley, a Europe expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said she hopes Obama’s visit includes “a moment of reflection to see the personal impact and toll” the economic crisis has levied on Ireland and other countries in the region.

After spending the night in Dublin, Obama heads to London for a two-day state visit at the invitation of the queen. He’ll then travel to Deauville, France, to meet with the heads of leading industrial nations, before ending his Europe trip with a visit to Poland, a strategically important Central European ally.

An overarching theme of Obama’s trip, his eighth to Europe since taking office, will be to reassure the region that it still has a central role in US foreign policy, even though Obama has put a premium on boosting US relations with Asia and emerging markets elsewhere in the world.—AP

SANTIAGO: The remains of deposed Chilean President Salvador Allende were removed from his tomb yesterday for an autopsy to determine whether he committed suicide or was assassinated during the 1973 military coup that ousted the leftist leader. An international team of experts in forensic pathology will now study his remains at the request of Allende’s family and investigative Judge Mario Carroza, who ordered the review after discrepancies were found between initial police and military reports on his alleged suicide. Experts hope bone fragments will show how many weapons were involved in his death.

Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s overthrow of the hemisphere’s first elected socialist leader began nearly 17 years of heavy-handed dictatorship in which thousands of suspected leftists were kidnapped, tortured and killed.

Allende’s casket was pulled from the family’s crypt in the General Cemetery in Chile’s capital. Allende’s two daughters were there as well, each carrying a rose on the frigid autumn morning. “Our conviction is that President Allende took the decision to die, as an act of political coherence in defense of the mandate that was given him by the people,” said Sen. Isabel Allende, who gently laid her hand on the casket, draped with a Chilean flag, during the somber procedure. She didn’t take any questions. The Allende family has trusted the version told by the only apparent eyewitness,

SANTIAGO: Legal Medical Service experts remove the coffin of Chile’s late President Salvador Allende from his tomb after being exhumed in Santiago, Chile yesterday. — AP Dr. Patricio Guijon, who was one of Allende’s doctors and shared his final moments on Sept 11, 1973, as the presidential palace was under furious attack. Allende had ordered his comrades to surrender, but instead of following them out, went alone into the Hall of Independence on the second floor.

Guijon said he too stepped away from the rest, to grab his gas mask, and happened to

look into the hall at the moment Allende pulled the trigger of an AK-47. “What I saw was the body rising up from the impact of the assault weapon, which was a weapon of war, and I ran there and saw there was nothing I could do,” Guijon told The Associated Press in an interview last week. Guijon’s account supported the official version put out by the military — that Allende committed suicide using

the gun his friend Fidel Castro had given him.

But doubts arose immediately, partly because Pinochet’s military rushed his initial autopsy, performed in an irregular way only hours after his death, and then secretly buried Allende in a closed casket. Also, many prominent leftists refused to believe their martyred hero would take his own life.

The exhumation took about 45 minutes yesterday morning. His body was carried a short distance to the Legal Medical Service, Chile’s official coroner’s office. Carroza said Allende’s daughters have already provided blood samples to help confirm the identity through DNA analysis at a foreign laboratory.

“It’s necessary to open the casket, see the condition of the remains, analyze any other related evidence such as clothing, etc., to pursue the questions,” said the center’s director, Dr. Patricio Bustos. He said it could take until early next year for the 12-member forensic team to determine the cause of death.

This is the second exhumation of Allende’s body. He was buried during a rapid nighttime ceremony with only his widow present in a crypt near Chile’s coast, where the casket remained for 17 years. Then, with democracy’s return in 1990, his remains were moved to Santiago. Experts disagree on how much damage the corpse suffered in that move, which was complicated because the casket had fallen apart. — AP

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Former UK minister to take police to court LONDON: Britain’s former deputy prime minister won the right yesterday to a legal review of the way London’s Metropolitan Police handled the wide-ranging phone hacking campaign mounted by a British tabloid newspaper. John Prescott, who was the deputy of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, claimed police breached his human rights by not informing him that people working for the scandal-hungry News of The World may have listened to his voice mails.

High Court judge David Foskett granted Prescott and three other people , lawmaker Chris Bryant, journalist Brendan Montague and former senior police officer Brian Paddick , the right to seek a judicial review of the way the Metropolitan Police dealt with their cases. Their lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson, said the men believed police became aware of the phone hacking in 2006, but failed to inform them they were victims, did not respond adequately to their requests for information and failed to carry out an effective investigation at the time.

James Lewis, the lawyer acting for the Metropolitan Police, argued that a judicial review is not necessary because police are now carrying out their own investigation into the phone hacking scandal.

The News of the World, which is published by News International, has admitted that some of its employees hacked into voicemails of celebrities.

Several of its journalists have been arrested following the revelations.

The case has rocked Britain’s journalistic world. News executives initially claimed the practice was limited to a single rogue reporter and a private investigator, but have since admitted

MANCHESTER: In this Thursday, Sept 28, 2006 file photo Britain’s then deputy Prime Minister John Prescott delivers his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Manchester, England.

Britain’s former deputy prime minister won the right yesterday to a legal review of the way London’s Metropolitan Police handled the wide-ranging phone hacking campaign mounted by a British tabloid newspaper.—AP it was more widespread. Andy Coulson, a former News of The World editor hired as Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications chief, was forced to step down from his Downing Street job over the scandal earlier this year. Last month the newspaper agreed to pay actress Sienna Miller 100,000 pounds ($165,000) and to provide full disclosure of the extent of its intrusion into her privacy. — AP

though it could also seek support from other smaller parties.

“I think this will make the government’s task more complex and it will take more time for them to reach their goals,” said ABN AMRO economist Nico Klene.

The right-leaning government aims to bring its budget deficit below 3 percent in 2012 as part of plans to cut the budget by 18 billion euros ($25.3 billion) by 2015. The minority government has already been forced to delay a planned rise in VAT on cultural events and Klene said other budgetary changes may need to be changed.

Rutte entered a pact with Wilders last year in which he promised to curb Muslim immigration in return for the Freedom Party’s support in parliament for austerity measures. The outcome of the Senate vote could undermine those plans as left-wing opposition parties are now in a strong position. — Reuters

Students demonstrate in Burkina Faso OUAGADOUGOU: Thousands of students yesterday took to the streets of Burkina Faso’s capital burning tires and chanting in support of teachers who are demanding better conditions. Angry students also entered the education ministry, destroyed computers, smashed windows and burned documents on the streets outside. Ministry spokesman Boubacar Sy said yesterday that angry students turned everything “upside down” in the education ministry.

Firefighters rushed to the building after smoke was seen rising from it.

Some demonstrators seized buses and forced drivers to drive around gathering more students. Those in the streets carried whistles and chanted, “We want teachers back in class.” Some were demanding the departure of the education minister, Albert Ouedraogo.

Teachers launched strikes last week to ask for better living conditions. Students had also demonstrated in the capital and across the country last week for the same cause, fearing that the absence of teachers would lead to the cancellation of their final exams. “We want the government to know that investing in education is important and they have to listen to the teachers’ demands”, protester Adama Traore said. Teachers’ group representative Emmanuel Dembele told The

Associated Press that teachers have made their claims clear since Jan. 4.

“So far nothing has been done, only promises, promises we are not buying again,” he said. “It is up to the government, if they make positive steps we are going to resume classes.” These protests come more than a month after a mutiny had threatened President Blaise Compaore’s 24-year rule. A mutiny by soldiers started April 14 when members of the presidential guard began firing into the air, demanding unpaid housing allowances. By April 18, soldiers in several cities north, south, east and west of Ouagadougou joined in and students followed suit.

Compaore tried to stem the unrest by dissolving the government and removing the country’s security chiefs. He also named himself defense minister. This year’s uprisings in the impoverished West African nation began in late February when students in Koudougou protested a young man’s death in police custody.

The government said he had meningitis, but accusations he had been mistreated while in custody fueled protests in which at least six people died and buildings were torched.

Experts say hostilities in the landlocked West African country have been simmering for a long time. — AP

UK woman awarded $10m for failed facelift LONDON: A British woman has been awarded nearly 6.2 million pounds ($9.9 million) in damages for a botched facelift. Penny Johnson sued Dr Le Roux Fourie after a procedure in 2003 left her with nerve damage and what she described as a “monster eye.”

Fourie admitted liability in the case.

Johnson, a 49-year-old IT and financial

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Dense ash cloud could disrupt Scotland flights Approach radically different than last year

Dutch government fails to win Senate majority AMSTERDAM: The minority Dutch coalition government looked set to fail to gain a clear majority in the Senate after a vote by provincial parliament members yesterday, making it harder for it to pass legislation. In the Netherlands, the 566 elected provincial parliament members determine the number of seats allocated to each party in the Senate, or upper house, where Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government is in a minority.

Early results indicated the government and its ally, the anti-immigration Freedom Party of maverick politician Geert Wilders, would win 37 seats out of 75 in the Senate.

This means Rutte’s seven-month-old government-a Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition-will need to forge new alliances to pass legislation in the Senate. The government is expected to team up with the conservative protestant party SGP, which won one seat,

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

consultant, said she was unable to work and that she lost about 54 million pounds ($87 million) when her business went bankrupt. The High Court yesterday made the award to Johnson for lost earning. Fazel Fatah, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, described the award as “disproportionate.” — AP

LONDON: A plume of dense ash from an Icelandic volcano was bearing down on Scotland and set to disrupt flights there as early as last night, Britain’s Met Office said.

Officials appeared to be responding to the ash with a radically different approach than last year, when European aviation authorities were sharply criticized for closing large swathes of airspace in response to the April 2010 eruption of another Icelandic volcano.

Many airlines said authorities overestimated the danger to planes from the abrasive ash, and overreacted by closing airspace for five days. Thousands of flights were grounded, airlines lost millions of dollars and millions of travelers were stranded, many sleeping on airport floors across northern Europe.

Spokesman David Britton said an ash cloud classified as high-density was expected to cover parts of Scotland by 6 am local time today. Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Jonathan Nicholson said authorities had no plans to close airspace. Instead, they would give airlines information about the location and density of ash clouds. Any airline that wanted to fly would have to present a safety report to aviation authorities in order to be allowed to fly. He said most British airlines had permission to fly through medium density ash clouds, but none had asked for permission to fly through high density clouds, classified as having over 4,000 micrograms of ash per cubic meter.

Nicholson said British airlines had not yet made a decision over whether to fly over Scotland yesterday evening or today morning.

The coasts of Scotland and Ireland were set to be hit by the smaller of two plumes from the Grimsvotn (GREEMSH-votn) volcano. The main cloud of ash was causing minor disruptions around Scandinavia. Officials said the ash plume was unlikely to affect President Barack Obama, who arrived in Ireland yesterday. Most flight paths in and out of Ireland run far south of the ash cloud’s projected path.

In addition to flights directly affected by heavy ash, some long-distance flights could be delayed if airlines have to divert their routes away from Iceland, UK Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond said. An Icelandic meteorological official said the eruption already appeared to be getting smaller, but Thierry Mariani, France’s transport minister, said it was too early to tell whether air travel over Europe would be affected by the eruption.

Mariani told Europe 1 radio that the composition of the cloud will be examined in the

STOCKHOLM: An SAS Boeing 737 aircraft takes off behind Icelandair’s stranded Boeing 757 aircraft named after the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull is parked at a remote stand at Arlanda airport north of Stockholm yesterday. —AP coming days and if the ash is found to be harmful to airplanes, countries may take a joint decision to close part of Europe’s airspace. “The priority must always remain to ensure security,” he said.

Iceland shut its main airport after Grimsvotn, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Reykjavik, erupted Saturday. The airport remained closed yesterday morning, but officials hoped to reopen it later in the day.

Danish air traffic officials said the main ash plume had reached eastern Greenland and Air Greenland said its flight between the island’s main airport and Copenhagen was canceled as a result. Aviation officials in Norway said the cloud might also affect flights to and from the Arctic islands of Svalbard yesterday.

Hammond told the BBC that Britain had equipment in Iceland analyzing the ash as it comes out of the volcano, and equipment in the UK that analyses the density of the ash.

He said that this year airlines are able to seek permission to fly through low and medium densities of ash if their aircraft are designed to do so. “We won’t see a blanket closing of airspace,” he said. The plume was drifting at a height of 6,000 to 10,000 meters (20,000 to 33,000 feet), the normal altitudes for passenger airliners, down from a maximum height of

50,000 feet Sunday, said Steinunn Jakobsdottir, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Met Office.

“The eruption has reduced,” Jakobsdottir said. “We don’t know exactly know what that means. We don’t know how fast the eruption will die down.” The European air traffic control agency’s models showed the main plume of ash gradually extending northward from Iceland over the next two days. The cloud was predicted to arch its way north of Scandinavia and possibly touch the islands off the northern Russian coastline within the next two days.

Eurocontrol said the smaller ash plume was not expected to move further east than the western coast of Scotland. Some airline chiefs complained that regulators had overreacted by shutting much of Europe’s airspace last year. But a study last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded the shutdown had been justified. It said the hard, sharp particles of volcanic ash blasted high into the air could have caused jet engines to fail and sandblasted airplane windows. Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark and Slobodan Lekic, Gabriele Steinhauser and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.— AP

Sarkozy champions workers ahead of G-8 PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy positioned himself as the defender of workers’ rights and financial regulation yesterday, claiming ground normally occupied by his Socialist opponents now in disarray over the loss of Dominique Strauss-Kahn as their best-hope challenger in next year’s presidential elections.

The conservative president used a speech ahead of a summit he’s hosting of leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations to push a message that workers need to be protected from the excesses of capitalism.

“There is no market without regulation,” Sarkozy told a hastily arranged meeting in Paris on the “social dimension of globalization.” The president’s words were a departure from his message during the previous election, when he championed the free market and said his country’s generous labor rights and byzantine business bureaucracy were weighing down the economy.

“How can we accept that eight

PARIS: Oxfam international activists pose as G8 leaders, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, 2nd left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 2nd right, and Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan all wearing giant caricature masks at a poker table in a gambling club in Paris yesterday. —AP out of 10 people in the world don’t have any access to social protection?” Sarkozy asked yesterday. On Saturday, thousands marched in the northern city of Le Havre to protest the upcoming

G-8 summit in the plush nearby resort of Deauville. The meeting is seen by activists as a rich-club meeting that pays little heed to workers’ needs.

Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF

Somali pirates go on trial in South Korea SEOUL: Four Somali pirates captured in a dramatic commando raid on a hijacked ship went on trial in South Korea yesterday on charges punishable by life imprisonment. A fifth pirate who has admitted the charges against the group-including maritime robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder-will have his case heard separately.

The trial in the southern port city of Busan marks the first attempt by South Korea, a major seafaring nation, to punish foreign pirates. But language problems were slowing proceedings at the tightly-guarded courtroom. South Korean navy SEALs raided the South Korean-operated chemical freighter Samho Jewelry on Januar y 21, six days after it was hijacked in the Arabian Sea, killing eight pirates and seizing five.

All 21 crew were rescued but Captain Seok Hae-Kyun, 58, was shot several times and remains in stable condition in hospital after multiple operations. His written testimony will

be read to the court tomorrow. Seok was hailed as a hero for his attempts to slow down his ship after it was hijacked, as were the commandos.

Investigators say some of the pirates had last year taken part in the hijacking of a supertanker operated by the same firm as the Samho Jewelry.

The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream and its 24 crew were released after a reported $9 million ransom payment was made. A 12-member jury-a relative novelty in the country-will hear the case alongside the judges. It will suggest a verdict and sentence but the judges are not bound by the recommendations. A lengthy translation process involving Korean, English and Somali was delaying proceedings, Yonhap news agency reported, and raising doubt as to whether a verdict on the four can be delivered Friday as scheduled. The pirates have been given prominent defence lawyers including a college law professor, a former judge and a prominent human rights advocate. — AFP

chief now facing allegations he sexually assaulted a hotel maid in New York, had been seen as the Socialist Party’s strongest candidate to straddle the divide between the demands of business and labor unions. The party is now scrambling to rally behind a new figurehead for next April’s vote. Sarkozy blamed light-touch regulation for the recent financial crisis, and said social protection had served as a stabilizer that helped speed up economic recovery. “Following the crisis I promised France that I would do everything to reform the financial capitalism that led us into disaster,” Sarkozy said, adding that he would fight to prevent competition between countries trying to attract companies with minimal regulation.

“Let us not forget the pressure of migration, which today has its origins in social inequalities,” he said, in a nod to French fears of mass immigration from North Africa in the wake of the popular uprisings there.— AP

Albanian PM claims victory in capital race TIRANA: Albania’s prime minister said yesterday that his party’s candidate has won the contested mayoral race for the capital Tirana by a slim margin following a decision by the country’s election commission to include in a count votes cast in the wrong ballot boxes. Sali Berisha said that the country’s former interior minister, Lulzim Basha, got 78 more votes than the leader of the opposition and the current mayor of the capital, Edi Rama.

The election commission is likely to announce the final results from the May 8 poll late yesterday. A first count had handed victory to Rama by just 10 votes.

The opposition has threatened not to recognize the result if loses. The opposition objects to the electoral commission’s decision to include votes cast in wrong ballot boxes in the final tally for the Tirana poll.

More than 1,000 Rama supporters held a protest , for the sixth day in a row , outside the Tirana building that houses the electoral commission. Opposition lawmakers also boycotted the work of parliamentary committees. Albania has been gripped by a political crisis for almost two years, with the opposition accusing the governing Democrats of corruption and rigging national elections in 2009. Four opposition supporters were shot dead in clashes with police in January.— AP

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US drone strike kills seven in Pakistan Killed in are all foreigners

NEW DELHI: Indians hold placards as they protest against the Indian Planning Commission outside its office after the commission set India’s national poverty line at 578 rupees ($12.8) a month, in New Delhi, India yesterday. —AP

India court rejects bail pleas of telecoms execs NEW DELHI: An Indian superior court yesterday rejected bail to five company executives charged in a multi-billion dollar telecoms corruption scandal that has rocked political and business establishments in Asia’s third-largest economy. Shares in the three firms linked to the executives fell after Judge Ajit Bharihoke read out his order in the packed courtroom of the Delhi High Court. Sanjay Chandra, the managing director of Telenor’s India partner Unitech; Vinod Goenka, chairman of Etisalat’s India partner DB Group; and three executives from Reliance ADA Group have been held in jail since April 20, after a lower court had denied them bail.

They are among 14 individuals and three companies charged of rigging a 2007/08 grant of lucrative telecoms licences. The scandal may have cost state coffers as much as $39 billion in lost revenue, a sum equivalent to the country’s defence budget. Bharihoke said the accused were highly influential persons who could tr y to influence witnesses, especially those in their companies, if released on bail. “Taking into account the gravity of the accusation against the petitioners, a reasonable possibility of their inter fering with the process of justice by tampering with the evidence, I do not deem it appropriate to release the petitioners on bail,” he said in his 34-page long order.

Police have already arrested former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja, a member of government ally DMK party, and Kanimozhi, the law-

maker daughter of the DMK chief, straining ties between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Congress party and its second-biggest partner in the ruling coalition. But few expect the DMK to pull out of the government, as the party is weakened following the loss in elections in its bastion state of Tamil Nadu last month. Both Congress and DMK officials have said the coalition is intact.

The telecoms scandal is the largest of the several that have emerged in Singh’s second term and has weakened the government ’s political authority and spooked investors.

Attacked by a resurgent opposition, policy-making has drifted into limbo and the government has had its energies diverted from pushing forward reforms like freeing up controls on diesel prices or allowing foreign investment into supermarkets. The case has also spooked investors after a series of questioning of tycoons, including Reliance ADA’s billionaire chairman Anil Ambani, a rare event in India where top businessmen are seen as beyond the reach of police.

All accused have denied any wrongdoing. The executives can now appeal to the Supreme Court.

Separately, Kanimozhi, who was arrested on Friday, appealed to the Delhi High Court for bail. After the order, shares in Reliance Communications, the telecoms venture of the Reliance ADA group, fell 3.4 percent. Unitech shares were down 6 percent, while those in DB Realty , the listed firm of the DB group, dropped 7.5 percent. —Reuters

Delhi’s last 10 Jewish families guard an ancient heritage NEW DELHI: In the capital of one of the world’s most religiously-diverse countries, a Rabbi who has never been ordained bends ancient customs, ensuring New Delhi’s ten Jewish families a place to worship. Unlike most synagogues, there is no separation of men and women as Jewish-born worshippers, converts and followers of other faiths chant Psalms in perfect Hebrew, with doors thrown open to all.

The service leader never asks attendees what religion they follow, and envisions his daughter becoming India’s first female rabbi.

“Being a small community, we cannot be so rigid, so orthodox,” says Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, honorary secretary of the synagogue whose unpaid job of thirty years has overlooked religious convention to keep this tiny group together. “Our openness, our liberal approach is what allows us to survive. For reading the Torah, you must require ten men, a minyan. But I made radical changes, because why should we discriminate between women and men? I count the women.”

In the small Judah Hyam Synagogue, tucked between one of the city’s most popular markets and most expensive hotels, the tight community, as inconspicuous as the small black plaque outside, gathers every Friday to bring in Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. The synagogue and its adjoining cemetery, gifted to Delhi’s Jews by the Indian government in 1956, is one of over 30 in India, where Jews first arrived 2,000 years ago but account for barely 5,000 people in a population exceeding 1.2 billion.

Lieutenant General JFR Jacob, a former governor of Punjab and Goa and the synagogue’s President, leads the service alongside a Canadian tourist for a dozen worshippers who have travelled up to 30 kilometres (19 miles) across the city. Some of the small crowd have been coming to the small, brightly-lit synagogue for decades, and say the weekly services are crucial in binding together the city’s Jewish families. During the High Holidays, the synagogue’s sparse but dedicated crowd is substantially bolstered by Israeli diplomats and other Jewish expatriates, while up to 10,000 international travellers visit during India’s busy winter

tourist period.

“We are a tiny, miniscule community, but what keeps us together is a special bond. We are one family, we meet, we talk, we share with each other,” says Shulamith, Malekar’s daughter, minutes after her father offers a blessing for the daughter of a 94-year-old woman he knows from Kolkata. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which six Jews were kidnapped and killed by militants who had stormed a Jewish outreach centre, the government posted ten paramilitary soldiers outside the tiny Delhi synagogue, a precaution repeated following the killing of Osama bin Laden this month.

The targeted attack was an isolated incident in a country that has seen bloody conflicts between Hindus, which account for over 80 percent of the population, Muslims and Sikhs since independence from Britain in 1947. “I am an Indian first and a Jew second. India is one of the places where Jews have never suffered from anti-Semitism or persecution, therefore I consider India my motherland,” said Malekar, who lives in a small cottage in the synagogue complex.

India’s 1951 census listed 35,000 Jews, mostly living in or around the commercial hub of Mumbai, where 4,000 live today, and where the city’s biggest fishing docks bear the name of the Sassoon family, the country’s most famous Jewish residents. Malekar, a qualified attorney and former deputy secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, participates in national memorial services for independence movement leader Mahatma Gandhi and the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

He was invited to deliver Jewish prayers at the burial services of former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, and was par t of an interfaith prayer service during the funeral of popular guru Sathya Sai Baba last month. “Israel is in my heart, but India is in my blood,” says Malekar, who recounts a legend of a shipwreck in the 4th century that landed seven families on the shores of Mumbai. “We have survived here this long,” says Elizabeth, a regular at the New Delhi synagogue. “Somebody will always be here.” — Reuters

MIRANSHAH: A US drone strike yesterday destroyed a vehicle in Pakistan’s Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked stronghold of North Waziristan on the Afghan border, killing seven militants, officials said. The attack took place on the outskirts of Mir Ali, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of the district where US officials want Pakistan to launch an offensive against networks fighting in Afghanistan.

“A US drone fired two missiles which hit a vehicle. At least seven militants have been killed,” one security official in Peshawar told AFP. Another intelligence official in Miranshah said two drones fired four missiles, hitting a van and killing at least seven militants. “I do not know whether there was a high-value target. We received reports that those killed in the van were all foreigners,” he said.

Yesterday’s attack was the eighth to be reported in Pakistan’s tribal areas near the Afghan border since US commandos killed Saudi-born terror mastermind Osama bin Laden in a secret raid in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad on May 2. The drone strikes are hugely unpopular among the general public, who are deeply opposed to the government’s alliance with Washington, and inflame anti-US feeling, which has heightened further after the bin Laden raid.

Missile attacks doubled in the area last year, with more than 100 drone strikes killing over 670 people in 2010, compared with 45 strikes that killed 420 in 2009, according to an AFP tally. Most have been concentrated in North Waziristan, the most notorious Afghan Taleban and Al-Qaeda bastion in Pakistan, where the United States wants the Pakistan

military to launch a ground offensive as soon as possible. Pakistan says its troops are too overstretched to mount such an assault and that any campaign will be of its own time and choosing. The United States does not confirm drone attacks, but its military and the CIA in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy them in the region. The Pakistani parliament has called for an end to US drone strikes and said there must be no repeat of the operation that killed bin Laden, despite the fact that President Barack Obama has reserved the right to act again.

The raid also rocked Pakistan’s seemingly powerful security establishment, with its intelligence services and military widely accused of incompetence or complicity over the presence of bin Laden close to a military academy. —AFP

Study ties new Qaeda chief to murder of journalist Pearl ISLAMABAD: Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian militant recently appointed interim leader of al Qaeda operations, has been linked to the killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, US investigators said in a report. A Wall Street Journal reporter, Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story on Islamist militants, and was later beheaded.

The findings by investigators of the Pearl Project revealed alAdel had discussed Pearl’s

abduction with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, also known as KSM, the accused mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

“KSM told the FBI that he was pulled into the kidnapping by a high-level leader in Al Qaeda circles, an Egyptian named Saif al-Adel, who told him to make the kidnapping an al Qaeda operation,” said the investigators in their report which was published in Januar y.

Journalism academics and students set up the Pearl Project at Georgetown University in the

United States to investigate Pearl’s kidnapping and murder.

The linkage of Al-Adel to Pearl’s murder shows the longstanding ties between al Qaeda and Pakistan militancy, which flourishes not only in the lawless northwest along the Afghan border but in Karachi and other urban centers. Pearl fell into al Qaeda’s hands after Pakistani militants, the subject of Pearl’s research, kidnapped him. AlAdel learned of Pearl and approached Mohammad to take him off the Pakistani militants’ hands. “He (Al-Adel) thought this

was an opportunity,” Mohammad told FBI agents, according to the report’s authors. “We can take advantage of it. He said he wanted to make sure it’s an al Qaeda thing.”

Mohammad, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and taken to the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, later admitted he beheaded Pearl. Mohammad told investigators he initially had no idea about the kidnapping and he also said Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was reportedly angry over Pearl’s brutal killing, the report said. — Reuters

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Japan protest revised school radiation limit TOKYO: Furious parents at the centre of Japan’s atomic crisis and hundreds of their supporters rallied in Tokyo yesterday against revised nuclear safety standards in schools they say are putting children at risk.

Japanese children can now be exposed to 20 times the radiation that was permissible before the March 11 tsunami caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, sparking the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

Around 400 protesters, many from areas

around the stricken plant, flocked to the education and science ministry to demand a rethink on the new limit, which allows exposure of up to 20 millisieverts a year. A group of Fukushima residents submitted a letter for the education minister demanding the ministry do all it can to lower radiation levels at schools and offer financial support.

Protest organizers said the radiation limit for playgrounds was about six times as much as the 0.6 microsievert-per-hour legal maximum under which under-18s are

allowed to work.

Demonstrators brandished banners emblazoned with slogans such as “Protect children in Fukushima from radiation” and chanted: “Why is it 20 millisieverts? Come out minister!” Ministers have defended the increase in the acceptable safety level as a necessary measure to guarantee the education of thousands of children in Fukushima prefecture. Science minister Yoshiaki Takaki had earlier told a parliamentary session: “We are always thinking that we should

never underestimate the risk of radiation.”

“Efforts have to be made in order to avoid radiation as much as possible,” he said. But the demonstrators were not placated.

“This is enough. I’m really furious to see the government has no intention of protecting its people,” said Ruiko Muto, 57, who had journeyed from Miharu town, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the crippled plant.

“We are making the demand in order to protect children, as Fukushima’s education

authorities are following the guidelines and saying outside activities can be safe.” The nuclear crisis remains unresolved and tens of thousands of people are still unable to return to homes, farms and businesses in a 20-kilometre zone around the radiationspewing plant.

More than 20 elementary and junior high schools within 30 kilometres have been forced to close since the accident, affecting some 5,000 pupils, the Yomiuri daily newspaper reported yesterday. — AFP

Kim’s China visit highlights crucial ties Beijing pushing economy initiatives in N Korea

QUEZON: Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie salutes during arrival honors before meeting with his Philippine counterpart Voltaire Gazmin at the Defense Headquarters in suburban Quezon City, north of Manila, Philippines yesterday. —AP

China, Philippine defense chiefs discuss Spratlys MANILA: The Chinese and Philippine defense chiefs warned rival claimants yesterday to avoid unilateral action and to act responsibly in the dispute over South China Sea islands, where recent spats have renewed tensions. Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and his Philippine counterpart, Voltaire Gazmin, acknowledged in a joint statement the need to ensure that the South China Sea remains stable.

Liang’s four-day visit comes amid renewed tensions in the disputed Spratly Islands, which are contested by China, the Philippines and four other nations.

Washington has expressed concerns that the disputes could hamper access to one of the world’s busiest commercial sea lanes. “Unilateral actions which could cause alarm should be avoided,” the defense ministers said in the statement.

Gazmin said they discussed the May 11 sighting of two unidentified foreign fighter jets near an island occupied by Filipino troops. Two Philippine patrol planes failed to identify the jets, which made no hostile moves. Liang, according to Gazmin, mentioned that Philippine media accounts identified the two aircraft as Russian-made MIG fighter jets

and clarified that China has no MIG planes in its air force.

The discussions did not touch on a March 2 incident in which the Philippine government accused two Chinese patrol boats of harassing a Filipino oil exploration ship into leaving a vast area called the Reed Bank. A Filipino general scrambled two military aircraft, which arrived at the scene after the Chinese vessels had left, the Philippine military said.

Filipino officials say the Reed Bank, which lies off the western Philippine province of Palawan, is not a disputed territory. China countered by saying that it has jurisdiction over the Spratlys and adjacent waters. Gazmin said he and Liang agreed that any conflict “should be settled amicably by opening the lines of communication, dialogues and sitting down and talking to each other.”

Liang discussed the dispute in a meeting with President Benigno Aquino III later yesterday. Although they did not discuss the recent altercations in detail, both agreed that there should be more dialogue to safeguard diplomatic relations among nations with claims to the Spratlys, presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang said. —AP

UN envoy: Myanmar does little to stop rights abuse BANGKOK: The United Nations’ human rights envoy to Myanmar said yesterday that the country’s nascent civilian government has done little to address widespread abuses, including forced labor and extrajudicial killings, since replacing the ruling junta in March.

Elections last year for a new parliament and the installation of civilian leaders this spring were supposed to be the final steps of what Myanmar’s military leaders had hailed as their “roadmap to democracy.” But UN envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana told reporters in Bangkok that “democracy requires much more.”

Myanmar’s government is currently refusing to allow Quintana to visit the Southeast Asian nation. The envoy spoke after a weeklong trip to Thailand to talk with refugees from Myanmar.

Thailand is home to more than 100,000 people who have fled the neighboring country. Quintana said violence continues along Myanmar’s eastern border region, and ethnic minority groups there are victims of “land confiscation, forced labor, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence.” These abuses “are widespread, they continue today, and they remain essentially unaddressed by the authorities,” Quintana said.

In Myanmar’s eastern Kayah state, for example, both men and women have fled out of fear of being conscripted into the military, he said. There is such a deficit of schools there that some parents send their children to refugee camps in Thailand for basic education, he added. Ethnic groups living in the eastern and northern border areas have sought more autonomy since Myanmar ’s independence in 1948, and the government maintains uneasy cease-fires with most armed groups in those regions but faces lowlevel rebellions by others. Human rights organizations have long accused the military of forcing civilians into forced labor, particularly as porters.

The military has ruled Myanmar with an iron hand since 1962, and critics

charge the new government is merely the latest iteration of the repressive regime. Last week, Washington’s deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Joseph Yun, also expressed concern about the new government’s human rights policies.

The Myanmar Times, meanwhile, quoted Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin as urging Yun to refer to the country as Myanmar rather than Burma. The former junta changed the country ’s name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, but many regime opponents and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi still call the country by its former name.

The paper quoted the minister as telling Yun: “You might think this is a small matter, but the use of ‘Myanmar’ is a matter of national integrity. ...

Using the correct name of the country shows equality and mutual respect.”

The US Embassy in Myanmar declined to comment on the report.

Though the US long tried to isolate Myanmar, the Obama administration has switched to a policy of engagement in hopes of coaxing democratic change. Washington still insists that the government release political prisoners, estimated at more than 2,000 by the UN and human rights agencies.

Myanmar’s government last week released more than 14,000 prisoners from jails across the country under a clemency program, but Quintana and international rights have criticized the program because most political prisoners remain in detention.

Over the weekend, the Thailandbased Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said 22 political detainees at Yangon’s main Insein Prison began a hunger strike to protest living conditions, including poor food and health care that have given rise to a scabies outbreak. “National reconciliation requires the full participation of all key stakeholders, including prisoner of conscience,” Quintana said. — AP

BEIJING: Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s visit to crucial ally China highlights his regime’s increasing dependence on its giant neighbor amid his country’s economic collapse and diplomatic isolation over its nuclear program.

This is Kim’s third trip to China in just over a year, indicating an interest in the market economy initiatives that Beijing is believed to be pushing for in North Korea. But previous reform attempts have been abandoned in spite of chronic food shortages, and it’s far from clear how far the ailing 69-year-old Kim , or his anointed successor, son Kim Jong Un , would be willing to go. “For North Korea, it won’t be easy to reform its economy and open up itself to the outside world,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul’s Dongguk University.

Kim arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Yangzhou late Sunday after crossing the border Friday in his special train, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency and YTN television reported.

Both cited unidentified sources in the city west of Shanghai as saying Kim visited sites related to the solar power industry in the city yesterday morning. Yonhap said he had been greeted at Yangzhou’s train station by Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to be China’s next leader, and was thought be planning to hold talks with Xi and former President Jiang Zemin, a native of the city.

YTN said he is expected to travel today to Shanghai, which he visited in 2001 to look at China’s economic reforms. The frequency of Kim’s visits to China is unusual for a leader who rarely travels abroad. Kim’s visit was surprisingly confirmed Sunday by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at a summit in Japan, in an indication of China’s desire to push the reclusive communist country to remold its moribund economy.

By agreement, Beijing and Pyongyang usually announce Kim’s visits only after he has crossed back into North Korea, but Wen was quoted in a statement as telling South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that Beijing invited Kim to give the North Koreans “a chance to understand the Chinese development and use it for their own development.” China is keen to see economic reforms in North Korea because it wants to avoid a churning mass of instability on its border as a result of an explo-

Civic leaders urge Seoul to resume N Korea aid SEOUL: Civic and religious leaders urged South Korea’s government yesterday to resume food aid for North Korea and to soften its stance towards the impoverished communist country. The plea came a day before a US team led by Robert King, the special envoy on North Korean human rights, begins a trip to the North to assess its food needs amid growing calls from Pyongyang for help.

Some 30 leaders of religious and civic groups also pledged to send 5,000 tons of flour to the North’s western city of Sariwon by the end of July, urging Seoul to approve the plan and other aid projects. “Apart from military and political tension between the two Koreas, millions of North Korean brothers are suffering... We can’t simply ignore the stark reality,” they said in a joint statement.

The first shipment of 500 tons of flour will be sent across the land border on June 14 if Seoul’s government approves the shipment, they said, adding that Pyongyang officials have agreed to the plan.

The South halted its annual aid of 400,000 tons of rice in 2008 as relations soured under the new conservative administration in Seoul.

Ties worsened further after two deadly border incidents last year which Seoul blamed on its neighbor.

By law the Seoul government must authorize all contacts with Pyongyang. Officials have allowed some aid shipments by private groups. “We understand the principles in the government’s North Korean policies... but we want the government to take a more flexible stance,” said the statement. It said a monitoring team would ensure the food is delivered to orphanages and daycare centres instead of army silos.

UN food agencies say more than six million people-about a quarter of the North’s population-need aid after an unseasonably cold winter. Some Seoul officials have questioned the prediction, saying Pyongyang may be seeking to stockpile food handouts to mark a major political anniversary in 2012. —AFP

DANDONG: North Koreans rest along the river banks of North Korea’s Sinuiju seen from a boat along the Yalu river near the Chinese border town of Dandong in China’s northeastern Liaoning province yesterday. —AP sive mix of poverty and repression.

North Korea’s exchanges with China have grown even more important since ties with South Korea soured after a new government took office in 2008 and the UN and others enacted sanctions to punish the country for violating nuclear agreements. South Korea’s conservative government halted unconditional food and fertilizer shipments in early 2008 and has suspended almost all trade, costing the North tens of millions of dollars in lost income.

Its status as an international pariah deepened after last year’s sinking of a South Korean navy ship and the shelling of an island community by North Korea. “What North Korea is trying to do now is to get rid of international isolation as soon as possible,” said Fang Xiuyu, an analyst at the Center for Korean Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Not only is China, the North’s main diplomatic protector but also the chief supplier of food and fuel of country dealing with cyclical food shortages. The United Nations says 6 million people , a quarter of North Korea’s popu-

lation , need emergency food assistance.

Kim’s trip comes ahead of planned new economic development projects along the Chinese border.

The idea is to facilitate Chinese trade and investment with North Korea through the paving of a road between the Chinese city of Hunchun and the North Korean port of Rajin, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported. A Chinese shipping line also sails regularly from Rajin to the South Korean port of Busan, where cargo is easily moved onward to Japan.

Another project would see China develop North Korea’s Hwanggumpyong island along their border, the paper reported. The projects would allow North Korea to profit as a broker for Chinese exports, but don’t signify any further liberalization of the North’s centrally planned economy, said Ian Davies, an Australian consultant who worked on a UN project to develop the area during the 1990s.

Rajin is a relatively dynamic economic zone and offers China an alternative export conduit to South Korea and Japan to help relieve logjams at its main northeastern port of Dalian, Davies said.— AP

Bhutan’s monarch set to marry later this year GAUHATI: Their thunder may have been stolen by Prince William and Kate Middleton, but the monarch of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and his sweetheart plan to marry this year. Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, Bhutan’s 31-year-old Oxford-educated king, will wed a 20-year-old commoner. The would-be queen of the nation of 700,000 people is Jetsun Pema, a student at London’s Regent College. “As king, it is now time to marry,” Wangchuck said Friday at the end of an address to Bhutan’s parliament in the capital, Thimphu, that was also attended by members of the royal family and elected representatives.

Wangchuck became king in June 2008 after the abdication of Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who stepped down to usher in democracy. The country is now a constitutional monarchy. “His majesty’s wedding announcement is the talk of the town. People are happy,” Sangay Duba, a senior Bhutanese government official, told The Associated Press by telephone.

“This is what the Bhutanese were waiting to hear because ours is a hereditary monarchy, and this marriage will give us our next king.” According to the Kuensel, the main newspaper in Bhutan, the king told parliament, “I cannot say how she might appear to the people, but to me, she is the one.” “While she is young, she is warm and kind in heart and character.

These qualities, together with the wisdom that will come with age and experience, will make her a great servant to the nation,” Kuensel quoted Wangchuck as saying.

Wangchuck said the wedding would be later this year but did not give a date, the newspaper reported. The wedding will likely be a huge event in Bhutan, where the royals are deeply loved, but it’s unlikely to generate the same kind of international frenzy as the British royal wedding in April. Bhutan first began opening up to the world in the 1960s.

Foreigners and the international media were first admitted in 1974, while the Internet and television finally arrived in 1999. —AP

THIMPHU: In this May 7, 2011 photo provided by Bhutan’s Royal Office for Media, Bhutan’s 31-year-old Oxfordeducated monarch, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, left, poses with his fiancee 20-year-old Jetsun Pema, a student at London’s Regent College, in Thimphu, Bhutan. —AP

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Taleban: Mullah Omar not dead Kabul says he’s vanished KABUL: Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said yesterday that Taleban leader Mullah Omar had disappeared from his Pakistani hideout but did not confirm a claim, fiercely denied by the militants, that he was dead. One-eyed Omar - who has a $10 million bounty on his head from the US and is a talismanic figure for insurgents in the 10-year war against foreign and Afghan troops - is said to have vanished up to five days ago. “We can confirm that he has been disappeared from his hideout in Quetta, (the capital of the southwestern Pakistani province) Baluchistan,” said Lutfullah Mashal, spokesman for the National Directorate of Security (NDS). “He has been disappeared from his location during the last four to five days,” he added, speaking in English. “So far we cannot confirm the killing of Mullah Omar officially.”

Mashal’s comments came hours after an Afghan intelligence source called a handful of reporters to tell them on condition of anonymity that Omar had been killed in Pakistan by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. A separate intelligence source later told AFP that he had been missing for 11 days. The Taleban have furiously denied that he is dead or missing. Speaking to AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location, Afghan Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the news was “pure propaganda”. His Pakistani counterpart Ehsanullah Ehsan said it “has been spread to weaken the Taleban”.

The claims came exactly three weeks after the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan and amid a fierce wave of targeted attacks as the Taleban’s spring offensive gets under way. It was not immediately clear exactly how Afghanistan would have such detail on Omar’s movements, although Mashal said the information came from “our sources and senior Taleban commanders”.

Omar created the world’s strictest Islamist state in Afghanistan in the 1990s and sheltered bin Laden and AlQaeda before the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the mili-

tants. The Taleban were known for their strict enforcement of sharia law. Since 2001, Omar has continued to inspire Taleban fighters in Afghanistan despite extremely rare public communications. The first Afghan source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Omar had been killed on Friday, citing information received from sources within the Haqqani insurgent group, whose leaders are based in Pakistan.

“Based on ISI instruction” through former ISI chief Hamid Gul, Mullah Mohammad Omar was told to move from Quetta to the tribal district of North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan, the source said. “As Mullah Omar was being transported from Quetta to North Waziristan by the ISI, he was secretly killed by the ISI.” However, a second Afghan intelligence source who also spoke anonymously said that Omar had been missing for 11 days following a meeting with Gul. “It has been 11 days since his close circle, the people around him, have no clue of his whereabouts.

The Taleban leadership are all concerned and worried for the sudden disappearance of Mullah Omar,” the source said.

Gul described the claims by the sources as “totally false”.

“I never met Mullah Omar, not even once in my life,” he told AFP. “This has been fed by the Indian lobby to defame Pakistan and me. I don’t think he is in Pakistan. He never came into Pakistan, even during the Soviet Union war (in Afghanistan).”

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik also told media that Pakistan had “no such information” on Omar’s alleged killing. “There has been no report available to us about any operation that has happened in Pakistan. If Mullah Omar has been killed in Afghanistan, it is up to the Afghan authorities to confirm or deny,” he said.

Afghanistan and Pakistan regularly trade accusations over Taleban insurgencies plaguing both their countries. There is deep distrust between Afghan intelligence and the ISI, which helped create the Taleban in the 1990s. — AFP

Tabtabaei slams return of Iranian ambassador Continued from Page 1 Meanwhile, liberal MP Marzouk AlGhanem launched a scathing attack on deputy premier and state minister for housing and development Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah ahead of a

grilling debate next week. Ghanem charged that Sheikh Ahmad has mobilized all his people in the National Assembly, media and other sensitive positions in the state to oppose the grilling which was submitted by Ghanem and MP Adel Al-

Saraawi. The lawmaker claimed that Sheikh Ahmad has asked MPs close to him to not issue any statements about the grilling so as not to highlight the alleged violations specified in the grilling request. The two grillings are scheduled to be debated on May 31.

Pak retakes naval base after attack Continued from Page 1 We are still checking. Things will be clear by the evening,” he told reporters.

One of the attackers is believed to have blown himself up and three dead bodies were found, the minister said. He said the group had used two ladders, under the cover of darkness, to climb over the wall into the base late Sunday. In a bizarre analogy, Malik compared the attackers to characters from a Star Wars film, dressed in Western clothes. “They were wearing black clothes like in Star Wars movies, (one) with (a) suicide vest. They had small beards and two of them were between 20-22 years old while the third who blew himself up was about 25.”

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban, who have stepped up attacks to avenge the May 2 death of bin Laden, said they had dispatched 15 to 20 suicide bombers equipped to fight for a week. “We had already warned after Osama’s martyrdom that we will carry out even bigger attacks,” Taleban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by tele-

phone from an undisclosed location.

Bin Laden was killed by US commandos in a garrison town north of Islamabad, in a raid that humiliated Pakistan’s security establishment.

The militants’ attack deep inside Karachi underlined the military’s vulnerability.

An AFP reporter heard blasts and intermittent barrages of gunfire yesterday, and helicopters flying overhead. Dozens of ambulances queued outside the base, which is about a few kilometres from Karachi’s international airport. Malik said 10 security personnel were killed, including one navy officer, three navy firemen, three navy commandos, a sailor and two paramilitary soldiers, and 15 others wounded. “They have destroyed two P-3C Orion aircraft,” said Navy spokesman Commander Salman Ali. The attack was also likely to raise further concerns about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, which reportedly number more than 100.

The New York Times said that a mere 24 km away from PNS Mehran, Pakistan was believed to keep a large depot for nuclear weapons that can

be delivered from the air. Malik refused to acknowledge any security lapse, saying the “rapid” response had prevented bigger losses and adding that a security alert had been ordered across the country in large cities to guard against future attacks.

Soon after the operation was over in Karachi a bomb blast damaged a bridge on the main highway linking the capital Islamabad to the northwestern city of Peshawar, but caused no casualties, police officer Quresh Khan told AFP. In Oct 2009, Taleban militants besieged the army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi for two days, killing 22 people and raising serious questions over why it took the military so long to put down the assault. Karachi is Pakistan’s financial capital and the assault was the fourth on the navy in a month. Three bombings in late April killed nine people. Despite anger in Pakistan over bin Laden’s killing, US President Barack Obama told the BBC he was ready to order a similar mission if another high-value target was discovered in Pakistan, or anywhere else. — AFP

Monster tornado kills 89 in US town Continued from Page 1 Heavy winds and strong rain forced teams to halt the effort yesterday morning and some rescuers took advantage of the brief respite to catch a bit of muchneeded sleep inside one badly damaged bank.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency late Sunday and activated the National Guard to help out after one of the worst disasters in the state’s history. President Barack Obama called Nixon and offered his condolences to those affected, assuring the governor that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would provide whatever assistance was needed.

“The president has directed FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate to travel to Missouri to ensure the state has all the support it needs,” a White House statement said, adding a FEMA team had already been dispatched. Caring for the injured was made more difficult because the main hospital, Saint John’s Regional Medical Center, had to be evacuated after suffering a direct hit - the tornado ripped off its roof and smashed all its windows. US media reported that cries could still be heard early Monday from survivors trapped in the wreckage, with the latest tragedy coming less than a month after a horrific tornado outbreak left 354 dead across seven US states.

Authorities estimated that up to 30 percent of Joplin, which lies near the border with Oklahoma and Kansas, had been damaged by the tornado, which experts said carried winds of up to 320 km per hour. It was the deadliest of 46 tornadoes reported to the National Weather Service in seven states on Sunday.

“It’s a war zone,” Scott Meeker of the Joplin Globe newspaper told AFP. “We’ve got hundreds of wounded being treated at Memorial Hall (hospital), but they were quickly overwhelmed and ran out of supplies, so they’ve opened up a local school as a triage center.”

Obama earlier sent his “deepest condolences” to victims and said the federal government stood ready to help Americans as needed. “Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives in the tornadoes and severe weather that struck Joplin, Missouri, as well as communities across the Midwest today,” the president said in a statement sent from Air Force One as he flew to Europe. “We commend the heroic effor ts by those who have responded and who are working to help their friends and neighbors at this very difficult time.”

People in Joplin clawed through the rubble looking for friends, family and neighbors after the storm tore buildings apart and turned cars into crumpled heaps of metal. Flames and thick black smoke poured out of the wreckage of shattered homes, and water gushed out of broken pipes as shocked survivors surveyed the damage, early photos showed. A tangled medical helicopter lay in the rubble outside Saint John’s Regional Medical Center.

Jeff Law, 23, was able to take shelter in a storm cellar and was overwhelmed by what he saw when he emerged. “I’ve lived in this neighborhood my entire life, and I didn’t know where I was,” Law told the Springfield News-Leader. “Everything was unrecognizable, completely unrecognizable. It’s like Armageddon.” The emergency manager at the neighboring county of SpringfieldGreene was told that at least 24 people were killed before he could rush over to help, a spokeswoman told AFP. Officials said the last twister to wreak such loss of life occurred in 1953 in Worcester, Massachusetts, when a tornado killed 90 people. On Saturday, a deadly tornado pummeled the east Kansas town of Reading, killing a man and damaging an estimated 80 percent of Reading’s structures, mostly wood-frame buildings. Meanwhile, a tornado was also responsible for the death of one person in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Sunday, authorities said.

At least 30 others in that city and its suburbs were injured. — Reuters

SAQQARA, Egypt; A worker of Egypt’s antiquities walks at the site of the New Kingdom Cemetery containing the famous tomb of Maya, the treasurer of King Tut and the tomb of Horemheb, the general of King Tut who later became king, yesterday. Egypt’s minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass has opened six tombs in the New Kingdom Cemetery in south Saqqara for tourists for first time after being renovated. — AP

Saudi woman who defied driving ban rearrested CAIRO: Saudi authorities have rearrested an activist who defied a ban on female drivers in the conservative kingdom, a security official said yesterday. Manal Al-Sherif was accused of “violating public order” and ordered held for five days while the case is investigated. The 32-year-old Al-Sherif launched a campaign against the longtime ban last week by posting a video clip on the Internet of herself behind the wheel in the eastern city of Khobar. Through Facebook, the campaigners set June 17 as the day all women should drive their cars. The page, called “Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself”, was removed after more than 12,000 people indicated their support for the call. The campaign’s Twitter account also was deactivated.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women - both Saudi and foreign - from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire livein drivers, and those who cannot afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor. Al-Sherif was initially detained for several hours on Saturday by the country’s religious police and released after she signed a pledge agreeing not to drive. She was rearrested on Sunday at dawn, said a security official who spoke on condi-

tion of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Sherif faces accusations of “violating the rules and the system by driving her car, roaming the streets of the province,” Khobar prison chief Ayoub ben Nahit was quoted as saying in the daily Al-Watan. He also accused her of “inciting public opinion” by posting the video clip. Her brother, Mohammed Al-Sherif, who was in the car while she was driving, also was detained Sunday.

Manal Al-Sherif is an employee of state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco, where she is an expert in information technology. Her arrest prompted hundreds of activists to set up Facebook groups and campaigns calling for her release and an end to the ban on women driving. “Let Manal Al-Sherif and all other women drive their own cars, take their kids to the hospital, buy her stuff from the supermarket, go to work without a driver,” columnist Khalf Al-Harbi wrote in Al-Watan.

Activist Walid Abou El-Kheir posted on his Twitter account a petition signed by 300 Saudi activists appealing to the Saudi king to set Al-Sherif free and make a clear commitment to ending the driving ban. A second woman in her 40s was also reportedly arrested, along with two female relatives, yesterday after driving to a grocery store in a remote area of Al-Ras

province north of Riyadh, according to the website of the Al Riyadh daily. The paper quoted the woman as saying she doesn’t have a male relative to take her shopping and has driven herself to the supermarket in the past.

Women in remote desert areas of Saudi Arabia can sometimes drive with no problems from the authorities.

A hardline cleric, Abdel Rahman AlBarak, said in a fatwa, or religious edict, posted on his website that women who violate the driving ban are “plain sinful and are opening (the doors) of evil”. There is no written Saudi law banning women from driving, only fatwas by senior clerics that are enforced by police. No major Islamic clerics outside the country call for such a ban. Hardline clerics like AlBarak believe that women at the wheel create situations for sinful temptation. They argue that women drivers will be free to leave home alone and interact with male strangers, such as traffic police and mechanics.

Women are also barred from voting, except for chamber of commerce elections in two cities in recent years, and no woman can sit on the kingdom’s Cabinet. Women also cannot travel without permission from a male guardian and shouldn’t mingle with males who are not their husbands or brothers. — AP

Gun battles erupt after Saleh refuses to leave Continued from Page 1 The spark of the fighting was unclear. Abdel-Qawi Al-Qawsi, an aide to Al-Ahmar, accused security forces of trying to storm the Hashid leader’s residential compound and said tribal fighters counterattacked. Some witnesses said security forces had been setting up roadblocks between the walled compound and the nearby Interior Ministry, and that tribesmen saw it as a provocation.

The Hassaba district, where the Al-Ahmar compound and a number of ministries are located, was turned into a battle zone, as tribesmen and security forces battled in the streets outside the Interior Ministry, trading fire with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. An office building of Yemeni Airlines was on fire, and smoke poured out of a building inside the Interior Ministry compound. Tanks were seen pulling into the neighborhood and the sound of tank fire was heard. Hashid fighters outside Sanaa were rushing into the capital to reinforce their comrades, one tribal official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Some security forces took refuge in the nearby headquarters of the state news agency Saba, and tribal fighters who seized the Industry Ministry across the street opened fire on them with mortars and automatic weapons, said Hassan Al-Warith, Saba’s deputy editorin-chief. The news agency’s staff took refuge in the basement. “We have been trapped here in the basement. The top floors have been destroyed,” Al-Warith said, pleading for the authorities to rescue them.

One journalist at Saba was injured by flying shrapnel and the crossfire made it impossible to take him to the hospital, said the head of the Journalists Syndicate, Marawan Damag. Three Hashid fighters were wounded in the battle, Al-Ahmar’s aide Al-Qawsi said. The gunfire ceased in the evening, but fighters and security forces remained in the district. A member of Al-Ahmar’s family said five tribal fighters were killed and 37 other fighters wounded. A bystander was also killed and two others wounded, according to a security official.

The violence erupted amid heightened tensions following Saleh’s refusal to sign a US-backed, Gulf Arabmediated agreement under which he would step down in 30 days and hand over power to his vice president and a unity government in return for immunity from any future prosecution. Sunday night, pro-government gunmen and soldiers locked down main streets around the capital with roadblocks, while tens of thousands of anti-Saleh demonstrators were massed at their protest camp in a central Sanaa square, worried that a new crackdown could ensue.

The situation in Yemen is particularly explosive because of the heavy weaponry on both sides. Saleh’s regime has been bled dry by a wave of defections by party officials, tribes and - most importantly - major units from the national army. Yemen’s tribes are heavily armed, and their fighters virtually are militias loyal to the tribal leader. Al-Ahmar’s residence, overlooking the main road to the airport in Sanaa, is sprawling, fortified

compound, surrounded by walls and barricades on nearby streets. Often, armed tribesmen are seen on rooftops nearby keeping guard.

Saleh, meanwhile, has been able to cling to power by maintaining the loyalty of Yemen’s best trained and equipped military and security units, which are headed by close family members. Those security forces have occasionally unleashed bloody attacks on the crowds of protesters holding street demonstrations demanding Saleh’s removal. The opposition says 150 protesters have been killed during the uprising. But the pro-opposition military units and tribal fighters have avoided fighting with Saleh’s security forces, except for scattered minor clashes.

In a sign of the tensions, a protest activist said an anti-Saleh army unit siezed two supporters of the president who were allegedly storing weapons near Taghyeer, or Change, Square, the roundabout in the capital that has been the epicenter of the protest movement, with thousands camping there for weeks. The activist, Radwan Massoud, said the two were caught by the army unit led by Maj Gen Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, who was a Saleh confidant but later joined the uprising on March 21. The two were hiding weapons in a building near the square, apparently for use in attacking the protesters.

A coalition of Yemeni opposition parties said the protesters would remain peaceful and accused the regime of sparking Monday’s fighting by trying to “storm” AlAhmar’s residence. In a statement, the coalition warned of “assaults that aim to drag the country into civil war.”

Saleh, who has held power for 32 years, was supposed to sign the agreement for his resignation on Sunday.

The opposition had signed it a day earlier. But instead, Saleh’s regime on Sunday unleashed a wave of his armed supporters into the streets of Sanaa in an orchestrated campaign to show support for him. Hundreds demonstrated outside foreign embassies and the presidential palace, chanting that they would not accept the president’s ouster.

Amid Sunday’s turmoil, armed Saleh loyalists trapped the US ambassador along with European and Arab ambassadors for hours inside the United Arab Emirates Embassy. The American ambassador was taken out of the mission to the presidential palace to witness while a number of top ruling party officials signed the accord but Saleh refused. US officials said the ambassador was taken out by car, not by helicopter as reports Sunday had contended. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was “outraged” by the surrounding of the embassy.

Yesterday, the US Embassy announced it was closing its consular section today and tomorrow because of “the fluid security situation in the city” and barred its employees from entering the Hadda district of Sanaa, where the embassy standoff took place a day earlier “because of the “presence of armed militias”. Saleh said he would only sign the agreement if opposition leaders join him in a public signing ceremony, a demand rejected as an excuse by the opposition, which said the separate signings had been agreed on earlier. — AP

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Backroom deal would undermine confidence in IMF

By Lesley Wroughton backroom deal between Europe and the United States to select a new IMF chief could undermine the legitimacy of the global lender as well as a G20 commitment to give emerging economies a greater voice. Developing powers are frustrated that Europe and the United States appear likely to decide between themselves who should head the International Monetary Fund, with French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde their probable choice. The leadership of the IMF, which oversees global financial stability and is at the forefront of bailouts in Europe and elsewhere, was thrown open by the resignation on Wednesday of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He is facing charges of sexual assault and has denied the allegations.

For more than six decades, a “gentleman’s agreement” between Europe and Washington has guaranteed that the head of the IMF is a European and that a US national leads the World Bank, the main global poverty-fighting institution. While Lagarde is widely respected, developing countries want to see a number of candidates from different nationalities seriously considered for the IMF leadership - even if a European is selected in the end. “We are trying to ensure we have a process where there is not a closed room deal,” one high-ranking official from a large emerging market nation told Reuters.

In April 2009, leaders of the Group of 20 economic powers endorsed “an open, transparent and meritbased selection process,” for heads of global institutions, although they could not agree that nationality should be explicitly ruled out. The official said if the Strauss-Kahn succession process was rushed through in contravention of the G20 commitment, it would not only undermine the IMF and the legitimacy and effectiveness of whoever is chosen, but the G20 itself.

With advanced economies struggling with low growth and a financial crisis, emerging powers like China and India have become important drivers of global demand and have sought more sway at the Washington-based institutions. After tough negotiations, in which France and Britain initially fought back, China surpassed both of those nations to become the IMF and World Bank’s third-largest voting member after the United States and Japan. The votes of other under-represented emerging market economies in the IMF were also increased, giving countries like Brazil, India, Turkey, Mexico and South Korea a greater voice. That meant emerging markets will be contributing more resources to the IMF and toward emergency loans for countries in need.

Now these nations want a fair shot at the top job.

The Obama administration finds itself in somewhat of a bind. If it were to throw its weight behind an emerging market candidate, it would have to be willing to give up its captaincy of the World Bank, which could anger the US lawmakers who control contributions to the institutions. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who as a former senior IMF official is no newcomer to the sensitivities around the issue, said on Friday that the United States was talking to emerging markets as well as advanced economies.

There has not always been agreement on candidates between the trans-Atlantic allies. In 2000, the United States objected to German finance official Caio Koch-Weser’s nomination, forcing Germany to withdraw his name and nominate Horst Koehler, who served until 2004. The IMF board, led by Egyptian Shakour Shaalan, on Friday said it hoped to conclude the selection process for a new IMF chief

by June 30 and outlined a process whereby more than one candidate will be interviewed.

But there is still a widespread belief that Washington will end up backing Europe’s candidate.

During previous leadership changes at the IMF, the shots were called by the smaller Group of Seven rich nations - the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and Britain - or the Group of Eight, which includes Russia. Since then, the G20 has superseded the G7 as the main group overseeing the global economy, giving emerging nations a stronger perceived right to claim leadership of institutions like the IMF and World Bank. —Reuters

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

The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.

Iran’s ‘Sisyphus-war’ against satellite TV

By Farshid Motahari ran has once again started a crackdown on satellite television, demanding the forceful removal of dishes in what critics term a “Sisyphus-like war”.

“Whenever there was a removal, I had an increase in my income,” said Mansour, a satellite installer in Tehran. “Police take them away, and as soon as they are gone, the people call me to bring a new one and install it,” the 38-year-old added.

Fahimeh, a 46-year-old housewife in northern Tehran, did this several times.

“The police took away my dishes and even receivers twice, but every time I immediately ordered new ones as satellite TV is my gate to the world,” she said.

In the last 17 years, all efforts by hardliners within the Islamic administration to forcefully prevent the use of satellite equipment have ended in vain. “It is such a futile effort and a Sisyphus-like war, as how can you force millions all over the country not to watch what they want within their own four walls?” asked a former reformist official and member of a banned reformist group. “Instead of all the manpower and money wasted for forcefully removing the dishes, they (officials) should invest the same money

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for improving their own TV programs, like in other par ts of the world,” he added.

Critics of the ban believe that, in the era of globalization, and amid technologies like the internet, any forceful effort to block access to information and entertainment would be futile. But supporters say that the satellite programs are immoral and, therefore, undermining Islamic values. But differences remain among local authorities as to whether the removal of satellite dishes, used by millions of Iranians nationwide - reportedly 12 million alone in Tehran and its suburbs - could have any effect and force people to watch only domestic TV. During the presidency of reformist Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), officials said that a forceful approach to satellite TV would be meaningless and produce no tangible results. They instead proposed improving the rather dull domestic programming by way of an alternative. This policy eventually worked, par tially. More and more Iranians returned to local television in cases where entertainment was given precedence, and where some Hollywood productions were even dubbed into Persian.

Foreign satellite programs, received via satellite and digital receivers, are the main competition to the five domestic IRIB state channels watched nationwide by the majority of Iranians who have no other alternative. Another alternative comes from Iranian exiles, who have also launched Persian satellite programs, broadcast from Los Angeles and par ts of Europe. These Persian-language programs have become very popular.

While some of them focus solely on entertainment, others produced by promonarchist circles also raise political issues about the Islamic establishment in Iran, believed to be the main backer of the crackdown. The political programs mainly come from Washington and London, where the Persian programs of Voice of America and BBC carry the Iranian news with a more critical perspective, building a loyal Iranian listener base in the process.

There are also MTV-like entertainment programs showing video clips of I ranian music per formers in US or Europe exile. These are especially popular among the younger population.

Recently, programs have begun production in neighbouring countries, like

the United Arab Emirates, and dubbed into Persian. TV series and movies in the Persian language, or with subtitles, have become ex tremely popular nationwide. The Iranian parliament banned the use of satellite equipment some 16 years ago, but even the ban could not stop people throughout the country from using satellite dishes, most of them camouflaged on rooftops as air conditioners. The countr y ’s deputy police commander, AhmadReza Radan, said a legal permission has been obtained to resume removal of satellite dishes in the capital Tehran and that the police were serious in removing the dishes from residential units in Tehran. Tehran’s police commander, M or teza Talaei, has several times warned that reception of satellite programs was a “clear legal offence” and advised the capital’s residents to dismantle their satellite equipment voluntarily, thus not forcing the police to remove them forcefully. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reportedly against the crackdown, but has to give in to demands from more pious circles for renewed crackdowns to fight what they call a “Western cultural invasion.” —dpa

50 years for Germany’s Turkish community

By Simon Sturdee ylin Selcuk may be the granddaughter of a Turkish immigrant, and a Muslim to boot, but she only really began to feel different from other Germans after a certain central banker spoke out. “This whole debate is awful. It has taken us back years, we thought we’d got past this,” Selcuk, 21, told AFP. “It has pitted the weak against the strong, creating a rift in society.”

This year marks half a century since a landmark accord with Turkey saw large numbers of “guest workers” from Turkey come to West Germany to help in the country’s post-war economic boom.

Their presence has never been a big issue, but over the past year it has suddenly become so, due in large part to Thilo Sarrazin, a central banker who attacked Germany’s record on multiculturalism. “If I want to hear the muezzin’s call to prayer, then I’ll go to the Orient,” he said in his book, “Germany Does Itself In”.

Allowing in millions of immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s was a “gigantic error”, he adds. He said that Germany’s 16 million people with an “immigration background,” including some four million Muslims, most of whom are of Turkish origin, were making Europe’s biggest economy “more stupid.”

The banker, who made the cover of the influential Spiegel weekly with the headline “People’s Hero”, also told a newspaper that “all Jews share a certain gene”, while Basques share another. Many immigrants made

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huge sacrifices in upping sticks and moving thousands of miles away to Germany. “I left my sixmonth-old son with one grandmother, and my 18-month-old girl with the other grandmother for seven years,” Nimet Erisen, 63, who came to Germany in 1973, told AFP. “That was not easy.”

Large numbers stayed, laying

here,” Erisen said. Mainstream politicians have distanced themselves from Sarrazin, who has become what Germans call “salonunfaehig” - literally, unsuitable for the drawing room - and who has been sacked from the Bundesbank.

Humboldt University in Berlin even took the trouble of publishing an exhaus-

shelves to top best-seller lists, and the controversy raised fears unfounded, so far - that a charismatic populist, like anti-Islam Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, could win considerable support.

A majority of Germans (55 percent) believe the country’s million Muslims are an economic burden, one poll showed, costing

Two women wearing headscarves and two boys walk through Kreuzberg, a district with a large Turkish population, yesterday in Berlin. —AFP the foundations for the world’s largest Turkish diaspora, numbering today around 2.5 million, Germany’s biggest ethnic minority, and changing the face of the countr y ’s towns and cities. “I wanted to go back to Turkey after four or five years. But then the children went to school, and more than 35 years later I am still

tive study that destroyed all of Sarrazin’s main claims using data compiled by respected institutions around the country.

But that has not stopped him getting considerable sympathy from Bild, Germany’s mass-circulation daily, which has praised Sarrazin’s “plain speaking”. His book has also flown off the

“considerably more socially and financially than they produce economically”.

It doesn’t help that apart from notable exceptions like Cem Ozdemir, co-head of the Green par ty, and Real Madrid and Germany football star Mesut Ozil, ver y few public figures in Germany are of Turkish origin.

“Joe -Six-Pack has only understood that Muslims basically have less education, that they are ripping off the state, that they are bad for society and that they should go back home,” Aylin Selcuk said.

The debate has forced senior politicians to address the issue.

Chancellor Angela Merkel declared efforts in Germany to create a harmonious multiculturalist society a “failure”, while the new interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich declared that Islam “does not belong to Germany”.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, helped to stir things up by using a speech in Duesseldorf in February to insist that the children of Turkish immigrants should learn Turkish before German. Erdogan caused a similar storm in nearby Cologne in 2008 when he called assimilation, which he defined as a person being “forced” to abandon their culture, a “crime against humanity”. “ We don’t have an ethnic problem, we have a social problem,” Meltem Baskaya, a social scientist of Turkish origin, told AFP. “ The positive things are not reflected enough in the media.

Aylin is not the only one. She is not the only success story in the third generation. There are thousands and thousands like her, but they are not shown.” “My grandfather couldn’t read or write when he came to Germany in 1968,” said Selcuk, who has set up DeuKische Generation, a group aimed at fostering better understanding of people of Turkish origin. “Me, I’m studying to become a dentist.” —AFP

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ANALYSIS

Pak both fighting and supporting the enemy

By Chris Allbritton n attack on a Pakistani naval air force base yesterday heaped further humiliation on a military already stunned by the killing of Osama bin Laden on its territory, and raised further doubts about Pakistan’s ability to confront militancy. The brazen assault on the headquarters of the naval air wing in Karachi fuelled fears about the Taleban’s growing capacity to stage attacks and the military’s shrinking ability to control extremists - both inside and outside its own ranks. “It’s a complicated situation, a paradox,” said Kamran Bokhari, Middle East and South Asia director for global intelligence firm STRATFOR. “On the one hand, you’ve got elements within the security establishment that are helping the militants and at the same time, the militants are attacking that same security establishment.”

Pakistan’s military has been on the back foot since US special forces killed Al-Qaeda leader bin Laden on May 2, unable to explain either why they had been unable to catch the world’s most wanted man themselves nor why the Americans could launch a raid deep into their territory undetected. The Pakistani Taleban, however, are on a roll.

Their spokesmen promised to sow chaos and avenge the killing of bin Laden.

Yesterday’s spectacular attack in Karachi shows that they are making good on their promises.

The attacks are likely to further deepen the United States concerns and suspicions about Pakistan as a reliable partner in its war against militancy, with no clear answer to the question of whether the Pakistan military is incompetent in fighting militants or complicit with them. STRATFOR’s Bokhari said it was obvious that yesterday’s attackers had inside help, suggesting that elements of the military, at least, are turning against the state as it comes under unprecedented pressure to roll up the militant networks. “It is not possible for people with no familiarity with the

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military establishment to be able to carry out such an attack. Like in Rawalpindi, the militants had inside facilitators who provided access,” he said.

In October 2009, a similarly small raiding party of Pakistani Taleban attacked the Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, taking 42 people hostage, including several senior and junior officers. By the end of the day-long ordeal, nine gunmen, 11 soldiers and three hostages were dead. As far back as

sympathy with militants is the case of bin Laden, who lived for years in the shadow of the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad. Suspicions abound that he had help from a network of sympathisers who may have been either retired or serving military officers.

Pakistan’s powerful military intelligence agency has long cultivated ties with the Haqqani network, the violent faction based in North Waziristan, in its lawless tribal belt,

Flames and smoke rise from a naval air base following an attack by militants in Karachi early yesterday. —AFP 2006, the Pakistani military had to deal with extremist sympathisers in its ranks, with a leaked US State Department cable revealing monthly reports of “acts of petty sabotage” to Pakistan’s fleet of F-16s in an attempt to keep them from being deployed in support of operations in Pakistan’s tribal badlands to the northwest.

And the biggest question of complicity or

that Washington blames for fuelling the insurgency across the border in eastern Afghanistan. “This attack must be a wakeup call for the government, particularly the military, who apparently has indulged in little cost benefit analysis about its relations with the Haqqani network,” said Imtiaz Gul, the author of “The Most Dangerous Place” a book on Pakistan’s lawless frontiers.

Gul says the Pakistani military believes that Haqqani network “doesn’t touch us, therefore, we don’t touch them”. However, he said, the Haqqani network harbours militants attacking the state. “If the government and military find incriminating evidence that connects the attacks with militants hiding in North Waziristan” - where the United States has been demanding an offensive against the Haqqanis - “I hope they will swiftly move to neutralise those elements,” he said. That’s unlikely, Bokhari says. He expects an intensification in offensives, but not in North Waziristan, because “the military don’t want to make more enemies than they already have,” and “don’t want to be seen as doing the US’ bidding.”

As for the civilian government, it looks like it is missing yet another opportunity to take advantage of the weakened position of the military, which has ruled Pakistan for about half of its 64-year history. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has called an “emergency” meeting of the Defence Committee, but there’s little sense of urgency. The meeting is tomorrow, fully two days after the showdown in Karachi. The civilians missed a similar opportunity after the bin Laden raid to bring the military, which controls foreign policy and national security, to heel.

They allowed the military to successfully change the subject from how bin Laden managed to live undetected for so long to outrage over the Americans’ unilateral actions. The question of military complicity in sheltering bin Laden - or incompetence in finding him - was drowned out by a roar of wounded national pride, with the government squeaking a chorus. “The political government is totally paralysed,” said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a political analyst.

“They have different priorities. Their priorities are to get approval for the budget, make new alliances. The war on terror is not their priority; they have handed over everything to the army.” —Reuters

In Iraq, shisha smoking on a smuggling boat

By Aref Mohammed or the hip and trendy in Iraq’s southern oil city of Basra, a warm spring evening spent puffing a water pipe or drinking tea on a boat that was once used to smuggle oil is just the ticket. Ferries used to smuggle crude, weapons and people in the mayhem that followed the 2003 overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein have been transformed into floating cafes as the shore of the Shatt al-Arab waterway reclaims its role as a nightlife hotspot. “This place where we are sitting used to be a place for gas and oil smuggling ferries. It was an isolated area,” said Mustafa Sadiq, sitting with two friends on one of the boats. “But now it has become a very nice amusement place. We spend lovely evenings here.”

A security crackdown by the government on militias in 2008 helped restore a sense of normality in Basra, one of Iraq’s most populous cities and the southern hub of the country’s burgeoning oil industry. Basra is an important centre for the foreign companies that have set up shop here in a bid to refurbish dilapidated oilfields, the wellspring of the billions of dollars of government revenues needed to rebuild after years of war and

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international economic sanctions.

The Shatt Al-Arab, a waterway formed by the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates at Qurna - a town some believe to be the site of the biblical Garden of Eden - runs 184 km to the Gulf. In the chaotic aftermath of the US-led invasion in 2003, Basra smugglers ran wild. They bought oil from gangs that tapped into Iraq’s pipelines and siphoned off crude into tanker trucks. The stolen oil was transported to the ferries in the Shatt alArab and sailed into the Gulf, where it was sold in neighbouring Kuwait or Iran or to ships at sea.

As the smugglers took over the Basra shore, the smell of oil hung heavy in the air. The area was transformed by drugs, prostitution and the detritus of a thriving illegal trade. Now the smell of grilled meats and shisha, the aromatic flavoured tobacco smoked in hookah-style water pipes, wafts over the shore. “The Shatt Al-Arab and its shore were considered to be one of the most important tourist places in Basra,” said Zahra Al-Bijari, head of tourism and heritage for the Basra provincial council. “Now the change we see in the use of these ferries serves Basra and ... raises the economic conditions in Basra.”

The resurrection of the cafes on the Shatt Al-Arab is

another sign of the halting restoration of normal life in Iraq, still beset by an Islamist insurgency. Nightclubs and restaurants are reopening in Baghdad, where parkland is being replanted. An entrepreneur is building cinemas in private clubs. Major hotels are being refurbished. In Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, residents can swim at a public pool, bowl, ride a cable car, or even ice-skate.

Local investors have lined the shores of the Shatt AlArab, which was renowned in the 1970s for its floating cafes, with waterborne amusements. One turned a ferry into a wedding hall, while others have been transformed into meeting rooms. Some of the multi-deck vessels have been painted in bright colours and decked out with decorative lights and railings. Air conditioners have been fitted to walkways and decks crammed with tables and chairs. A local firm won a $12.5 million contract to build a floating hotel, restaurant and shops.

Schoolteacher Abbas Ali travels to Basra from a town far to the west to smoke shisha and spend time with friends. “I feel happy when I see these places,” Ali said.

“We come here to spend couple of hours to feel at ease in this beautiful weather, then go back late, feeling so relaxed.” —Reuters

Libya women demand louder voice

By Mohammed Abbas ust two women sat among 17 men on a podium in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi this month when rebels paraded new members of their National Transitional Council to the media. For women who took a prominent role in an uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, the lack of female rebel leaders points to a long struggle ahead. “During the revolution, women were really strong and were leaders.

They were multi-lingual and they were welcomed,” said Hana El-Galal, who quit her role as head of education in Benghazi’s local council, partly to further women’s rights. “Now there’s competition, and we went back to a view that women should not compete with men, that men should be dominant.”

Women in the east are taking advantage of their newfound freedom to speak out, try to change the political discourse and raise their social ambitions.

Early in the rebellion, the shrill ululating of women mixed with the sound of gunfire celebrating victories over Gaddafi’s forces that prised the region from his grip in mid-February.

Women sat in the rebel headquarters planning their next moves, often taking the lead in speaking to the media and discussing with male rebel leaders their vision for a new Libya.

A group of female lawyers were conspicuous in the first meetings aimed at organising the rebel efforts, the eloquent and bi-lingual women mobbed by reporters after emerging from the closed-door sessions.

One of those women, lawyer

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Salwa Bugaighis, said she was unhappy that the national council now contained just five women out of 50 or so members. “Maybe it will take some time to change the mentality, to be a leader, to be in a higher position,” she said.

Libya remains a deeply traditional, male-dominated society

atively enlightened when it comes to women’s role in society. As if to underline this, the idiosyncratic leader had an allfemale entourage of bodyguards when he travelled abroad.

Higher living standards have helped make underage marriage much rarer since Gaddafi took power, according to a 2004 UN

many coffee shops, restaurants and water pipe cafes - where politics and religion are always on the agenda - are almost entirely male bastions.

The few women who walk into them are greeted with gawps and stares, especially the few who forego a headscarf. “If the men of our country lack the

A Libyan woman carrying the flag of the old Libyan monarchy adopted by the revolution movement flashes a victory sign during a gathering against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at Revolution Square in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi on May 17, 2011. —AFP that sits 91st out of 102 countries for gender equality, according to a 2009 index published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Gaddafi’s official views on women are laid out in his “Green Book”, a mix of socialist and Islamic political theory that is rel-

report, and many women hold high academic and other professional posts. But is rare for women in Libya to travel alone or without the permission of their husbands or families.

Unchaperoned social mingling with members of the opposite sex is still taboo for most, and

political and cultural experience because of 41 years of oppression and chaos ... women have even less experience and exposure,” said Fawzia Bariun, who represents Tripoli on the national council and is an Arabic professor at the University of Michigan in the United States.

The reality of political life in a country where Gaddafi had absolute control and his inner circle near legal impunity meant most women shied away from politics. “For women to get in a very high position in the government, you had to pay. You had to pay in different ways. So it was better to be on the safe side,” Bugaighis said. Galal said: “In Gaddafi’s time we tried to keep low profiles in politics because we didn’t want to be part of his regime. It was dangerous for us.

There was no rule of law. If you’re a woman, there’s nothing to protect you if you attract attention”.

“Earlier, girls just spent their time saying ‘Who am I going to marry? What dress will I wear and what will my wedding be like?’” said Aisha Mohammed, an English teacher. “Now they are all talking about things they want to do in the future.” Libyan university student Sumaia Adel, in a checked headscarf and tight jeans, dreams of becoming a journalist now that the media is no longer a Gaddafi mouthpiece.

“I used to think I’ll get married and then I’ll travel abroad and then do what I want,” she said.

“But now I want to stay here and work, become a reporter.”

While Bugaighis acknowledged that women are far more politically active, she said they still had a long way to go.

“Women in this revolution are part of the political action, in demonstrating, in magazines, in the media, in helping NGOs. They’ve woken up, and feel this is the time to act,” she said. “But I’m afraid that when the revolution ends, they will stop. The end of the revolution when Gaddafi goes is not the end of the revolution for women.” —Reuters

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Land conflict in Ivory Coast wild west simmers on

By Tim Cocks orld leaders have lauded the inaug u ra t i o n o f Pre s i d e n t A l a s s a n e Ouattara as marking the end of the violence in Ivory Coast, but villagers in the volatile, cocoa-growing west are much less sure. Ouattara was invested as head of state on Saturday in front of 20 other national leaders and UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon, an event they hope will enable the former economic star of West Africa to recover from the worst turmoil in its recent history. But in the rolling hills cloaked in tropical forest and cocoa trees near the border with Liberia, the local tensions that flared into war during Ouattara’s bitter poll dispute with ex-president Laurent Gbabgo are far from resolved.

“For us, this war was never really about the election,” said Diara Yakonda, chief of the Dioula half of Fengolo, a village divided in two by an ethnic feud over cocoa-growing land. Ouattara’s migrant Dioula tribe occupies the land on one side of the road cutting through Fengolo, while the indigenous Guere people, seen as pro-Gbabgo, live on the other. “ There was a conflic t between Dioula and Guere long before the election. They want our land, but we’ll never give it up,” Yakonda said.

Feelings like these underscore the challenge Ouattara now faces in reuniting a co u n t r y r i ve n by fe u d s ove r l a n d a n d nationality, between migrant farmers and indigenous peoples, that triggered two civil wars in a decade. While much of the country slowly regains a sense of security, residents in the far west say ethnic militias still roam and thousands of people are trapped in refugee camps.

Ivory Coast’s well-watered forests have long attracted migrant workers from drier states to the north like Mali and Burkina Faso to work cocoa farms, but populist politicians have exploited tensions between them and the indigenous people. Politicians s t i r re d u p xe n o p h o b i c s e n t i m e n t a n d denied I vorian nationalit y to migrants’ descendants and northern Ivorians with cultural ties to migrants, ultimately triggering the country’s first civil war in 2002-03. “Ever since Gbagbo took power, there was violence and indimidation towards people seen as foreigners. Now we feel safe,” said Yakonda, who came from Burkina Faso 40 years ago.

But just as the victory of pro-Ouattara forces liberated northerners and foreign nationals from Gbagbo’s militias, the Guere say they are now being persecuted with equal zeal. The UN is investigating reports that 800 Guere were killed by pro-Ouattara forces advancing on Duekoue town last month. Analysts say Ouattara will find it difficult to disarm the forces that helped him seize power from Gbagbo when Gbagbo refused to quit after losing the November 2010 election - but he must do so if Ivorians are to feel safe again.

Some 27,000 peopole, mostly Guere, are sheltering in the grounds of the Catholic m i s s i o n i n D u e k o u e, l i v i n g i n s q u a l o r.

Cocoa farmer Michel Taiiloula, too frightened to leave, says he fled to the mission when ethnic militias allied to Ouattara razed his village. “We want the new president to say everyone who does not have the right to bear arms has to put them down,” he said. “ A pick-up truck carrying heavily armed fo r m e r re b e l s r u m b l e s ove r d i r t ro a d s through cocoa fields and grassland. Kicking up dust as they pull up at a village, the men with sunglasses, automatic weapons and a rocket propelled grenade launcher (RPG) hop off the back. The man carrying the RPG launcher lights a cigarette as another fighter bends down to pick up a hand grenade he dropped. Nervous villagers scatter in fear, though the commander says the patrol is supposed to reassure them that security is back. “We are doing everything we can to reassure the population that it is safe to go back home,” commander Issa Konda, who is in charge of the Duekoue area, told Reuters.

But he also said ominously that those living in camps were people hiding because “they know they did something wrong”.

In the short run, former rebels will have to b e d i s a r m e d o r i n te gra te d i n to a n accountable military. In the longer term, as with other land conflicts in Africa, talks bet ween communities and proper land titles will be needed. “This is a challenge,” Cyprien Ahore, the Catholic priest looking after the Guere refugees, told Reuters. “It will happen by dialogue to reconcile these conflicting communities. All actors must be i nvo l ve d. Th i s i s a te s t c a s e. I f we c a n achieve reconciliation here, then we do it for the whole country.” —Reuters

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sp orts Wallabies skipper sidelined

Choi to host own tourney SEOUL: Fresh from becoming Asia’s first winner of golf’s unofficial “fifth major” at the Players Championship last week, KJ Choi has announced he will host his own tournament in his home country of South Korea later this year.

The K.J. Choi Invitational will be held at the Sky72 Golf Club in Incheon from Oct. 20-23 and offer prizemoney of $750,000, organisers said on Monday.

The tournament would also serve as a vehicle for Choi’s charity, the K.J. Choi Foundation, in partnership with the Korean and Asian Tours.

“This is a very exciting day for me ... The K.J. Choi Foundation is very important to me and this tournament will be a very special way to raise funds and the profile of many of the causes we support,” said the golfer, who celebrated his 41st birthday last week, in a statement released by the Asian Tour.

Choi, who pledged $200,000 of his Players Championship earnings to help tornado relief in the southeastern United States, is Asia’s leading player on the U.S. PGA Tour with eight career victories. — Reuters

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

CANBERRA: Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom faces another spell on the sidelines after injuring his ankle in his first match of the season for the AC T Brumbies in Super rugby at the weekend.

The 28-year-old flanker, who sustained the injur y in the Brumbies’ 13-13 draw with Western Force on Saturday, under went scans yesterday which showed he had sustained a Syndesmosis injury, or high ankle sprain.

A spokesman for the Brumbies said Elsom would meet with doctors on Tuesday to discuss the diagnosis and was not yet being ruled out of Saturday’s match

against the Stormers.

A long spell out could signal the end of Elsom’s time at the twice Super rugby champion Brumbies, who have four more matches to play and no hope of making the playoffs.

Elsom has not yet decided on his future after his contract with the Brumbies and Australian Rugby Union (ARU) expires at the end of the year.

Saturday ’s match in Per th was Elsom’s first for six months after he recovered from a hamstring injury and the twisted ank le is another blow to his preparations for this year ’s World Cup. — Reuters

Neuer slapped by fan GERMANY: Schalke’s goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer was slapped by a fan during street celebrations of the team’s victory in the German Cup final.

Neuer is widely expected to leave for Bundesliga rival Bayern Munich.

Neuer, a local boy, joined Schalke’s ranks in preschool days and many hometown fans were disappointed with his decision to leave.

A video apparently shot by a mobile phone and published online by a German newspaper shows Neuer getting slapped as he bends down from an opentop car to greet fans lining the streets

Indians sweep Reds strong innings as the Los Angeles Angels beat Atlanta.

Chatwood (3-2) allowed a run and five hits, s tru ck ou t s ix and wa lked t wo.

Jordan Walden got three outs for his eighth save in 11 chances.

Lowe (3-4) threw 108 pitches over six innings, allowing three runs, five hits and a season-high five walks.

CLEVELAND: Asdrubal Cabrera made five hits from five pitches with two home runs and five RBIs as the Cleveland Indians completed a three -game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with a 12-4 win in interleague play Sunday.

Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Edinson Volquez (3-2) for the Indians, who did early damage after winning the series’ first two games with lateinning comebacks. Cabrera added a solo homer in the sixth to give Cleveland an 8-4 lead.

Yankees 9, Mets 3 At New York, Derek Jeter leveled the score with a two-run single that sparked an eight-run rally in the seventh inning and Alex Rodriguez drove in the go-ahead run with yet another hit as the Yankees pummeled the Mets in the finale of their weekend Subway Series. In a slump for most of the season, Jeter hit a two-run, basesloaded single off Mike Pelfrey (3-4) that made it 3-all _ just the second time since Aug. 11 that Jeter tied the score or put the Yankees ahead from the seventh inning on.

Rodriguez hit a 60-foot roller toward third that left Willie Harris with no play as Brett Gardner sprinted home.

Red Sox 5, Cubs 1 At Boston, Tim Wakefield held Chicago to four hits in 6 2-3 innings, and Adrian Gonzalez had four hits of his own as Boston sent the Chicago Cubs home after their first visit to Fenway Park since the 1918 World Series. Boston took two out of three from Chicago and has now won eight of its last nine games to move one-half game behind the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay in the American League East.

Making his third start of the season, this one because of injuries to John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Wakefield (1-1) struck out three and walked none before leaving with two out in the seventh.

Rangers 2, Phillies 0 At Philadelphia, Matt Harrison allowed just five hits into the ninth inning to help Texas avoid a three -game sweep to Philadelphia.

BOSTON: Chicago Cubs’ Darwin Barney (top) tags out Boston Red Sox’s Jacoby Ellsbury trying to steal second base in the fifth inning of an interleague baseball game. — AP Harrison (4-4) struck out three, walked three and threw 117 pitches in his longest outing of the season, finishing two outs shy of his first shutout since 2009. Neftali Feliz got the final two outs for his ninth save.

Mitch Moreland had an RBI double off Phillies starter Roy Oswalt (3-2) and Craig Gentry added a suicide squeeze.

Rays 4, Marlins 0 At Miami, James Shields pitched a threehitter with a career-high 13 strikeouts as Tampa Bay avoided a three-game sweep to Florida.

Shields (5-2) walked just one in his second shutout and third complete game of the season. He didn’t allow a baserunner past first base until the ninth inning and had nine strikeouts in the last four innings.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Rays, who haven’t been swept by their intrastate rivals since 2007.

Astros 3, Blue Jays 2 At Toronto, Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer and Wandy Rodriguez pitched six solid innings as Houston held off Toronto to win a series for the first time in three weeks.

Houston, which had lost 11 of 14 coming in, won its first series since taking two of three from Milwaukee between April 29 and May 1.

Rodriguez (3-3) allowed two runs and six hits. He walked two and struck out six. Juan Rivera and J.P. Arencibia homered off Rodriguez.

Orioles 2, Nationals 1 KANSAS: St. Louis Cardinals’ Gerald Laird falls back while At Baltimore, Kansas City Royals catcher Brayan Pena tries to catch the ball Vladimir Guerrero’s after Laird was hit by a pitch thrown by relief pitcher Louis two-run homer in the Coleman during the 10th inning of a baseball game.— AP seventh inning

spoiled Jordan Zimmermann’s stellar outing and lifted Baltimore over Washington.

Through the first six innings, Zimmermann (2-5) was nearly perfect, allowing just two baserunners on a walk and a double in the second inning. He had retired 13 straight.

Tigers 2, Pirates 0 At Pittsburgh, Rick Porcello allowed one hit over eight innings as Detroit beat Pittsburgh to snap a five-game losing streak. Porcello (4-2) took a no-hitter into the sixth before giving up Ronny Cedeno’s leadoff double. He struck out three and walked two in his first start in nearly two weeks. Jose Valverde worked out of a twoon, none-out jam in the ninth to earn his 11th save in 11 opportunities.

White Sox 8, Dodgers 3 At Chicago, Alexei Ramirez homered and drove in a career-high five runs as the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the first inning, then added an RBI double in the third, a run-scoring single in the fourth and another RBI double in the eighth for the White Sox, who have won 11 of 15. White Sox starter Edwin Jackson (4-5) improved to 2-2 with a 2.84 ERA at home this season.

Cardinals 9, Royals 8 At K ansas Cit y, M i sso ur i, Colby Rasmus drew a bases-loaded walk _ his fifth free pass of the day _ that forced in the go-ahead run in the 10th as St. Louis walked 13 times in a victory over Kansas City.

Every walk Rasmus drew was off a different pitcher. The Cardinals had 12 hits, a hit batter and reached on an error in the 4 hour, 9 minute game.

Yadier Molina had a double, two singles and a two-run triple as the Cardinals took the always-lively interleague series between state rivals two games to one.

Angels 4, Braves 1 At Anaheim, California, Torii Hunter ended a home run drought of 28 games with a go-ahead shot off Derek Lowe and rookie Tyler Chatwood pitched seven

Mariners 6, Padres 1 At San Dieg o, Felix Herna ndez equaled his career high with 13 strikeouts in eight dominant innings to lead Seattle over San Diego. Hernandez (5-4) allowed one run and six hits without a walk as the Mariners won their fif th straight and completed a three-game s weep. S eattle held a commanding advantage over San Diego in runs (14-2) and hits (32-14) while striking out 35 Padres batters in the series. The Mariners have yielded two runs or less in their last seven games.

Hernandez, the reigning AL Cy Young pitching award winner, gave up three singles in the seventh for San Diego’s only run, but struck out seven of nine batters from the second through the fourth.

Giants 5, Athletics 4 At San Francisco, Emmanuel Burriss singled home the winning run in the 11th inning as San Francisco completed a three-game sweep of cross-bay rival Oakland. Burriss’ line drive off reliever Brian Fuentes (1-6) scored speedy Darren Ford from second. Ford just beat right fielder R yan Sweeney ’s throw to the plate, sending the Giants running out of the du g ou t to celebrate their fif th straight victory and seventh walk-off win this s ea s on.

Pinch-hitter Na te Schierholtz hit a tying, two-run homer in the eighth off Grant Balfour.

D’backs 3, Twins 2 At Phoenix, Juan Miranda homered and Daniel Hudson had an RBI single to go with eight strong innings on the mound as Arizona beat Minnesota to complete a three - game sweep. The Diamondbacks won their sixth straight, their longest run in three seasons, and eighth in nine games to climb to .500 (23-23) for the first time since April 20.

Miranda, 9 for 18 on the homestand with five RBIs, left in the eighth after being hit in the right wrist by a pitch.

Hudson (5-5) allowed two runs, including Delmon Young’s first homer of the season, with six strikeouts and no walks to improve to 5-1 in his last six starts.

Alex Burnett (0-3) took the loss.

National League Brewers 3, Rockies 1 At Milwaukee, Ryan Braun hit a tworun triple off Ubaldo Jimenez and scored on a throwing error to lift Milwaukee to a three-game sweep over Colorado.

Jimenez (0-4) threw the seventh complete game of his career and allowed only two hits, but struggled to find the strike zone with five walks and a hit batter. He also received little support from t h e re s t o f t h e R o c k i e s’ s p u t te r i n g offense. Braun scored in the third after center fielder Dexter Fowler tried to make a diving catch, then compounded the problem by committing a throwing error. — AP

Canucks beat Sharks in Game 4 SAN JOSE: Sami Salo scored twice and Ryan Kesler added a goal as the Vancouver Canucks capitalized on three two-man advantages in the second period to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 Sunday in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals to take a 3-1 series lead. The Canucks scored the three goals in a span of 1:55, needing only 37 seconds on the three 5-on-3 situations to beat Antti Niemi three times.

Alexandre Burrows added an evenstrength goal in the third period as the Canucks moved to the brink of reaching the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1994. Henrik Sedin had a franchise playoffrecord four assists, twin brother Daniel had three, and Roberto Luongo made 33 saves.

Vancouver scored four goals despite recording only 13 shots in the game and just seven after the first period. Andrew Desjardins and Ryane Clowe had third-period goals for the Sharks, who failed to capital-

ize on five early power-play chances and fell to 1-6 at home in the conference finals in franchise history.

San Jose will need to win Game 5 in Vancouver on Tuesday night to extend the series and get another chance in the Shark Tank. In a series dominated by special teams play, this game was no different with nearly 15 of the first 33 minutes being spent with a team on the power play. That’s where the Canucks dominated in a turnabout from their 4-3 loss in Game 3. They allowed three power-play goals in that game and failed to convert during 1:55 of 5-on-3 time in the second period.

The Canucks clearly solved both of those issues before Game 4 despite being without injured defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Aaron Rome. First, they killed off five straight minor penalties to open the game as they spent 10:00 of the first 24:06 shorthanded. — AP

SAN JOSE: Vancouver Canucks defenseman Sami Salo, of Finland, celebrates his second goal against the San Jose Sharks during the second period of Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference finals. — AP

Sunday to celebrate Schalke’s 5-0 win over Duisburg in the German Cup final.

Neuer appears momentarily stunned, but then stands up and motions to the fleeing fan. He then goes on celebrating with teammates.

The Germany goalkeeper announced before the end of the Bundesliga season that he would leave Schalke, either as a free agent when his contract ends next year, or this summer for a fee. He could hardly hold back tears as he announced the decision.—AP

MLB results/standings Major League Baseball results and standings on Sunday.

NY Yankees 9, NY Mets 3; Cleveland 12, Cincinnati 4; Houston 3, Toronto 2; Tampa Bay 4, Florida 0; Baltimore 2, Washington 1; Texas 2, Philadelphia 0; Detroit 2, Pittsburgh 0; Milwaukee 3, Colorado 1; Chicago White Sox 8, LA Dodgers 3; St. Louis 9, Kansas City 8 (10 Innings); LA Angels 4, Atlanta 1; Seattle 6, San Diego 1; Arizona 3, Minnesota 2; San Francisco 5, Oakland 4 (11 innings); Boston 5, Chicago Cubs 1.

American League Eastern Division W L NY Yankees 25 20 Tampa Bay 26 21 Boston 25 21 Toronto 23 23 Baltimore 21 24 Central Division Cleveland 29 15 Detroit 23 23 Kansas City 22 24 Chicago White Sox 22 26 Minnesota 15 30 Western Division Texas 24 23 LA Angels 24 24 Seattle 22 24 Oakland 22 25

Philadelphia Florida Atlanta NY Mets Washington St. Louis Cincinnati Milwaukee Pittsburgh Chicago Cubs Houston San Francisco Colorado Arizona LA Dodgers San Diego

National League Eastern Division 28 18 26 19 26 23 22 24 21 25 Central Division 28 20 25 22 24 23 22 24 20 25 17 30 Western Division 27 19 23 22 23 23 21 27 19 28

PCT .556 .553 .543 .500 .467

GB .5 2.5 4

.659 .500 .478 .458 .333

7 8 9 14.5

.511 .500 .478 .468

.5 1.5 2

.609 .578 .531 .478 .457

1.5 3.5 6 7

.583 .532 .511 .478 .444 .362

2.5 3.5 5 6.5 10.5

.587 .511 .500 .438 .404

3.5 4 7 8.5

Horner wraps up Tour of California THOUSAND OAKS: Chris Horner won the Tour of California with a solid performance in the final stage Sunday, holding off RadioShack teammate Levi Leipheimer by 38 seconds.

The 39-year-old Horner was the oldest rider to complete the race, crossing the finish line with both hands thrust into the air near the back of the huge peloton. Horner finished in 23 hours, 46 minutes and 41 seconds.

The 16-year pro racing veteran led the overall standings on each of the final five days, comfortably winning North America’s most prominent cycling race. “It’s fantastic,” Horner said. “I’ve done this race every year they’ve had it. I’ve helped Levi win many times ... and I’m just glad I got the chance to do it this time.”

Horner rode most of the final two stages alongside Leipheimer, the three-time race champion who eagerly helped Horner to victory after Horner moved into the lead Wednesday.

“He’s definitely come into his own over the past couple of years,” Leipheimer said of Horner. “In the past 16 years, he’s figured out a few things. ... It’s bittersweet, of course. If you win three times, all the expectations are to win, but to have the team take the title is great. Of course I’d want to win myself, but Chris was the better rider. He was stronger, and he deserved it.”

Leipheimer won the race from 2007-09. Last year’s champion, Australia’s Michael Rogers, didn’t ride this year because of an illness. Garmin-Cervelo’s Tom Danielson finished 2:45 behind Horner in third place, and teammate Christian Vande Velde was fourth.

Matthew Goss won the 80.2-mile (129-kilometer) final stage from Santa Clarita to Thousand Oaks, outsprinting Peter Sagan and his fellow leaders on the final lap. Goss barely edged out Sagan, who ran out of room to pass Goss along the barriers with just a few feet to go.

Goss and 78 riders behind him all finished with identical times of 2 hours, 56 minutes and 39 seconds. After starting the stage north of the San Fernando Valley in Santa Clarita, the field wound through the hills and finished just west of Los Angeles on the suburban streets of peaceful Thousand Oaks, the hometown of biotechnology company Amgen, the tour sponsor.

Goss’ sprint put a little excitement into a final stage that held only a foregone conclusion for Horner and Leipheimer.

The RadioShack teammates all but clinched Horner’s win when they held off every challenge Saturday during a torturous ride up Mount Baldy to the highest finish in Tour history, crossing the line with their clasped hands raised in victory. Horner has picked up most of his best results late in his career, which he intends to extend until at least 2016. He finished fourth in California last year, and his 10th-place performance at the Tour de France was the best American finish.—AP

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Formula One rules pass the acid test MONACO: Formula One’s new rules passed the acid test at the weekend but, despite the novelty of a thrilling Spanish Grand Prix, the season’s story remained the same.

World champion Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team just keep on winning, seemingly destined to retain both their titles with plenty of races to spare and whatever the challenges thrown at them.

The German’s fourth victory in five races at least provided something of a change as the first time in 11 years that the driver on pole (Red Bull’s Mark Webber this time) did not win at the Circuit de Catalunya.

There was plenty of overtaking, at a track where previously there had been precious little, and pitstops galore banishing the processions of old.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told reporters the race proved the sport’s new look-with the moveable

rear wing (DRS), quick-wearing Pirelli tyres and KERS power boost-was working.

“I think Barcelona quite often had the ability to be a ‘drone-athon’ and after the first corner like that, that would have almost pre-determined the outcome,” Horner said of a race in which Vettel lapped Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso despite the Spaniard seizing the lead at the start.

“I remember two years ago, Sebastian drove around looking at the exhausts of Felipe Massa pretty much the entire grand prix with only one pitstop to deal with that,” added the Briton.

“I think that now this has really changed the dynamics. “A track that’s historically been notoriously difficult to overtake (on) or generate close racing has produced an absolute thriller.”

How the teams and drivers managed the massive performance gap

between the soft and hard Pirelli tyres was again key to a race that showed a yawning chasm between the best and the rest.

Red Bull and McLaren lapped everyone else, including Alonso who had been on the podium at the previous race in Turkey and had hoped for much better, with the race turning into a sprint and four stops the norm among the leaders.

“Formula One nowadays is pretty much the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer because of the tyres,” observed Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello, whose Williams team have yet to score a point.

“The better teams go faster with the tyres and save the tyres more. The other teams are going slower and using the tyres more.”

The slower, hard tyres Pirelli brought to Barcelona were loudly criticised by drivers on Friday and the

challenge became to save as many sets of the faster softs for the race as possible.

The Red Bull and McLaren drivers did just one flying lap in final qualifying, knowing they had pace in hand, while Alonso went out again to secure fourth on the grid and then paid the price in the race.

Renault’s Nick Heidfeld, who missed qualifying after his car caught fire in final practice, went from last to eighth because he had plenty of fresh tyres in hand while Russian team mate Vitaly Petrov slumped from sixth on the grid to 11th at the finish, largely because he did not.

“When you have a new option (soft) tyre and someone is driving around on the mid-age hard tyre, it is as easy to overtake as getting a lollipop from a three-year-old kid,” said Barrichello.

“It’s almost too easy. And the guy who is driving that prime (hard) tyre is just

so slow.”

Ferrari’s problem was that they could not get their car to work with the hard tyres, a problem they will not face in the next two races in Monaco this weekend and then Canada where Pirelli will be introducing their ‘supersofts’.

They may be back in the fray but Red Bull, on pole for the past six races including last year’s season-ender in Abu Dhabi, are building up a heavy cushion and can be expected to remain the team to beat through the European summer.

Vettel has dropped just seven points while Red Bull are 43 points clear of McLaren and 83 clear of Ferrari. “In five circuits of very different characteristics, we have managed to be competitive for all of them so far and obviously we are hopeful that we will carry that form into Monaco,” commented Horner.—Reuters

Toms wins Colonial

Adidas celebrates the launch of revolutionary adiPower Predator LONDON/DUBAI: Adidas has brought together some of the world’s best footballers to launch the revolutionary adiPower Predator(r), the visionary football boot created to answer the demands of modern football. Globally renowned players including Kaka· (Real Madrid), Nani (Manchester United), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Jack Rodwell (Everton), JonJo Shelvey (Liverpool), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Club Bilbao) and Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina) gathered together at The Old Truman Brewery in the heart of East London to take part in a special event watched by a crowd of fans and global media.

To celebrate the launch of the 2011 version of the ever popular boot, adidas created a series of unique skill based challenges for the players to attempt. A variety of tasks were set up across a purpose built skills arena which saw the players test their accuracy and control.

The second part of the event saw the players then split into two teams and take on competition winners from the audience in a bespoke game

of “football paintball”. Real Madrid star Kaka· said of the event: “It was fantastic to get involved and be able to interact with the fans. The football paintball was like nothing I’ve ever done before and it gave us players a great chance to show off just how accurate the adiPower Predator is!”

The players tested and contributed valuable input into the development of the adiPower Predator(r) and the boot was debuted on pitches across the globe last weekend. Robin Van Persie said of the new boot: “The new adiPower Predator is perfect for controlling the ball. If you have a good first touch and good ball control then you are able to own the game.”

His fellow Premier League Star Nani said: “I wore the new adiPower Predators for the first time at the weekend when we won the league so I’m hoping they act as a good luck charm in the UEFA Champions League final as well.”

The new adiPower Predator(r) football boot will be available at adidas own retail outlets as well as specialist stores worldwide from June 2011 in Sharp Blue/Electricity/Black.

New league to follow IPL blueprint NEW DELHI: World hockey’s governing body wants its new competition to draw on the success of cricket’s glitzy Indian Premier League and plans to circumvent any ‘club v country’ dilemmas by incorporating the tournament on the official calendar.

International Hockey Federation (FIH) Chief Executive Kelly Fairweather told Reuters in an interview that it was crucial to present the new league as a form of entertainment, something the IPL has excelled at.

Getting the best players involved was also key, added Fairweather, confirming that the league would be on the official calendar.

“This is why we believe that a professional hockey league organised under a partnership between Hockey India and FIH is key to a new league’s success,” he said in an interview.

“If a new league is to attract the best players, it must fit in with the top players’ other objectives of competing in the wider Olympic and international events.” Responding to questions posed via email, Fairweather said FIH member associations were excited about the proposed league, which

would take place over six weeks and begin in January 2013.

“If a new league can be scheduled not to conflict with a players’ international duties, then playing in the best league in the world would surely be beneficial to a player’s performance development and hence, we would expect countries to be supportive.

“Our discussions with the national associations and players have confirmed this,” said the former South African player and coach.

Several high profile cricketers, including West Indies’ Chris Gayle and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, have opted to play in the IPL instead of representing their countries.

The FIH was very impressed by the IPL success story, he said. “The IPL is held as a model of excellence for a franchised league in India. We believe we can learn from this model and adapt it to hockey to be successful.

“Since the IPL has become established, we believe the public, broadcasters, sponsors and investors are all looking for the next IPL and we can see interest in a wide range of sports.”

Business tycoons and Bollywood

actors are IPL team owners, and the FIH admires the cricket league’s marriage of sport and entertainment, such as cheerleaders celebrating every boundary and dismissal.

“Much is made of the IPL’s cheerleaders, but the more important point is that IPL have done a great job in presenting sport as entertainment,” he added. “We would seek to follow that example.” The FIH is yet to finalise the league’s details but the early response has left Fairweather bullish.

“The format is not decided yet and we would expect to work with Hockey India and a sports marketing company to finalise those details. From enquiries made so far, we believe that there are more than enough franchise owners. “We expect the response from the commercial sector to be positive.

However, first we need to establish a transparent and fair procedure to appoint an agency to assist FIH and Hockey India to run the league.

“Once this is achieved, we expect further developments, such as the signing of franchises, players, broadcasters and sponsors to follow quickly.”—Reuters

KSSC laud Jet Ski Champs KUWAIT: Head of the Kuwaiti jet ski team and member of the marine committee at the Kuwait Sea Sports Club Abdulwahab Al-Omar acknowledged in a statement the achievements of Kuwaiti jet ski champion Mohammad Al-Baz who won the stock class competition in the United Arab Emirates Jet Ski Championship, and compatriot Mohammad Burabiea who finished second, as

well as Khalid Burabiea’s achievement in finishing second in the super stock competition, and Yousug AlAbdulrazaq for finishing third in the same race.

“These achievements reflect the true capabilities that Kuwait’s competitors have after being able to overcome tough competition from various contestants from around the world”, said Al-Omar.

Abdulwahab Al-Omar

FORT WORTH: David Toms threw up both arms up in the air and a smile took over his face when he finally regained the lead at Colonial.

This time, he didn’t let it get away.

A day after blowing a sevenstroke advantage to go into the final round trailing Charlie Wi by one, Toms made an eagle with a wedge shot from 83 yards at par-5 11th hole Sunday to take the lead for good and went on to his first PGA Tour victory since January 2006.

The 44-year-old Toms closed with a 3-under 67 at Hogan’s Alley to get to 15 under. His long-elusive 13th career victory came a week after a playoff loss to K.J. Choi at The Players Championship, his sixth runner-up finish since last winning.

“That just took a lot of guts, that’s really all,” Toms said. “That’s what I got by on today.” Wi shot a 69, ending up a stroke back for his fourth career runner-up finish without a win. After that playoff loss at TPC Sawgrass, Toms had an opening 62 at Colonial for his best score in 429 rounds — since a career-best 61 during his last victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Toms followed with another bogey-free 62 to match the PGA Tour scoring record for the first 36 holes of a tournament (124), and opened the third round with another birdie.

At 17 under through 37 holes and seemingly in control, Toms instead had three bogeys in the next five holes. There was later a three-putt from 7 1/2 feet for double bogey and Wi took the lead with a 32-foot birdie at the par-3 16th Saturday.

Wi, the 39-year-old South Korean who made his 100th cut on the PGA Tour this weekend, extended his lead to three strokes after consecutive birdies to open Sunday’s round.

Toms, his playing partner, missed both greens but managed pars.

Toms finally caught up at 13 under after Wi missed the green with his approach at the par-4 10th and two-putted from 13 feet for a bogey. Then came the clincher on Colonial’s longest hole, the 635-yard 11th.

After laying up to a perfect spot short of the green, and Wi’s ball sitting in a frontside bunker, Toms’ wedge shot bounced once, landed just behind the pin and then rolled back into the cup.

“When something like that happens, it’s like it’s meant to me,” Toms said. Toms pumped his arms over his head before Wi blasted to 4 1/2 feet for a birdie putt that still had him a stroke behind. Wi then hit out of the same fairway bunker twice at the par-4 12th hole after his errant drive. He managed a bogey after finally hitting out of the fairway to 7 feet, but Toms’ 5-foot par stretched

FORT WORTH: David Toms wears the winner’s jacket and holds up the Colonial trophy after winning the golf tournament. —AP

his lead to two strokes. Toms became the first player on the PGA Tour to rebound from a playoff loss one week to winning the next since 2000, when Phil Mickelson won at Colonial after losing in a playoff at the Byron Nelson Championship.

Bo Van Pelt (65) finished third at 10 under.

Defending Colonial champion Zach Johnson also shot a closing 65 to finish at 9 under in fourth place, while Robert Karlsson (67) and Chez Reavie (68) were 8 under. After a bogey at No. 4 when his tee shot at the difficult 247-yard par 3 missed the green left, Wi quickly rebounded by draining a 35-foot birdie putt at the 481-yard 5th hole. He pumped his right fist and smiled, still with a three-stroke with Toms still even on the day. But things soon started to change.

At No. 6, Toms putted off the fringe with an 18-foot birdie chance that slid just past the hole. He still gained a stroke when Wi missed a 4-

foot par putt. The margin was down to one after Toms’ birdie at the 440yard No. 7 hole, when he hit his approach to 10 feet.

Wi made another birdie on the 192-yard 16th hole Sunday, an 8footer. But Toms sank a 4 1/2-foot par to maintain his two-stroke edge, and give him a needed margin since he bogeyed the 17th hole after his approach into a greenside bunker.

Stuart Appleby, playing in the group ahead of Toms and Wi, was at 12 under and only one stroke behind the leaders when he teed off at No. 12. About the same time Toms was preparing for his tournament-turning shot on the adjacent hole, Appleby’s tee shot rattled through the trees.

That bogey was part of a 7-over finish over the final seven holes.

After playing the front nine at 4under 31, Appleby shot 43 on the back for a 74 and finished 4 under, tied with 14 other players for 16th place.—AP

Tiger slumps in world rankings LOS ANGELES: Tiger Woods plummeted depths he has not reached in 14 years when he dropped four spots to 12th in the world rankings issued yesterday.

The former world number one has not triumphed anywhere since the 2009 Australian Masters and has been steadily losing ranking points because of his recent struggles on and off the course.

In yesterday’s rankings, Woods is sandwiched by fellow Americans Bubba Watson (in 11th) and Dustin Johnson (13th), the first time he has been out of the top 10 since he was 13th on April 6, 1997.

Ever since his private life unravelled in sensational fashion at the end of 2009 and he tried to repair his crumbling marriage, Woods has been a shadow of the player he once

was. It has been almost three years since he clinched the last of his 14 major titles and the prospect of adding any more in the near future receded after he withdrew from this month’s Players Championship because of injury.

Aged only 35, Woods has already had four surgeries on his troublesome left knee and his latest injury setback comes at an inconvenient time with the second major of the year, the U.S. Open, fast approaching. Woods is a three-times winner of his national open and had initially planned to compete in the Quail Hollow Championship, the Players and then the June 2-5 Memorial tournament to complete his U.S. Open build-up.

However, he was forced to pull out of Quail Hollow because of mild

strains to his left knee and left Achilles’ tendon and those same injuries led to his withdrawal from the Players the following week.

Woods is rapidly running out of time in his preparations for the June 16-19 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

He has repeatedly said he would quit the game whenever he felt he was unable to compete at the highest level. “For me it is very simple, it (the time to quit) is when my best isn’t good enough any more,” Woods told Reuters shortly before he won his most recent major at the 2008 U.S. Open.

“I could not live with myself going out and practising and preparing as hard as I do and knowing that if I go out and play my best someone is just going to beat me.”—Reuters

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Qatar hits back at corruption claims DOHA: Qatar yesterday welcomed an investigation into alleged corruption in its victorious 2022 World Cup bid but said the evidence put forward so far was false, unsubstantiated and coming from a whisteblower who is probably a former employee “with a significant axe to grind.”

Qatar has been on the defensive since the Sunday Times submitted evidence to a British parliamentary inquiry earlier this month alleging that two African FIFA executives were paid $1.5 million in bribes to vote for Qatar’s successful 2022 bid in the December ballot. It has denied the allegations.

Since then, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said a former bid employee would be interviewed Wednesday about the claims as part of its wider investigation into alleged corruption in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

“The Bid Committee welcomes a thorough investigation into the allegations made against it,” the committee said in a statement. “However, such an investigation must surely only be carried out by a properly constituted body with due authority and independence where our side of the story can be heard.

It is wholly inappropriate for any examination of the bid committee’s affairs to be based on unsubstantiated hearsay and inaccurate journalism.” Qatar offered no fresh evidence to refute the claims and,

instead, attempted to cast doubt on the Sunday Times allegations, suggesting the methods it used to build the case calls into question the “credibility of the reporters, their motivations and extent to which ... the evidence in any way can be relied upon.”

The bid committee argued the allegations contain no first hand evidence of bribes and were based solely on heresay. It also criticized the use of undercover reporters posing as “corrupt representatives of the United States,” as well as testimony from one individual — Michel Zen Ruffinen — whom the bid says later retracted his claims as well as a whistleblower who is only trying to hurt the bid.

“We would caution anyone against placing reliance on uncorroborated statements made by an embittered ex-employee without a full and balanced understanding of that individual’s personal and professional circumstances,” the committee said.

“Without knowing the identity of the alleged whistleblower, the details of the allegations made or the circumstances in which they have been made, it is impossible for the Bid Committee to respond to these allegations any further at this stage.”

In an often angry and defensive one-page statement, the bid committee went onto to complain about the British Parliament’s publishing of the allegations which it called “distressing, insulting and incomprehensible.” It also the allegations are part of

a long-running campaign by unnamed parties to undermine the bid which beat the United States in a five-nation race in December, despite concerns the Gulf nation was too small and the weather there too hot during the summer months.

“What is concerning and unfair is that there appear to be those who are unable to accept that a team from a country like Qatar could perform in this way and are ready — on the basis of no evidence — to assume the worst,” the bid committee wrote.

“Qatar is excited at the prospect of hosting one of the world’s greatest sporting events and is determined to deliver a World Cup truly deserving of football fans around the world.” Long before the corruption allegations emerged, questions were raised about the viability of Qatar’s bid.

The FIFA inspection team, led by Chilean Harold Mayne-Nicholls, concluded that holding a World Cup in the desert nation would pose logistical problems and the summer heat could put players’ health at risk.

Mayne-Nicholls, in Qatar yesterday to speak at a stadium design and development conference, wouldn’t talk about the latest corruption allegations.

But he insisted that neither he nor any members of the inspection committee ever received anything from Qatar nor did he receive “a single phone call or a single letter” pressuring the committee to either

emphasize the positive or negative aspects of any of the bids.

“Nobody approached a single member of the inspection committee for nothing,” he said.

Mayne-Nicholls said he still has concerns about the heat in Qatar, but argued that authorities have the time and the ability to solve the problems and that it will host “a wonderful World Cup.” He said the biggest hurdle will be keeping the stadiums and training facilities cool — when temperatures outdoors far exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) — and providing outlets for fans who are struggling to cope with the unbearable conditions.

“It’s the biggest challenge of the World Cup here.

The cooling system. There is no doubt about it,” he told The Associated Press, referring to Qatar’s largely untested plans to build a state-of-the art, solar-powered cooling system that will keep stadium temperatures about 27 degrees C (81 degrees F). Similar systems are planned for training facilities and fan zones.

“They will be able to build stadiums and hotels,” he said. “Now, you have to have a cooling system for fans and players. I’m sure they will be able to do it.

They have 10 years to develop the system. Of course, it’s risky. We have never done it before. It’s a new technology coming to the games. That is always a risk.”—AP

Blatter pledges to restore FIFA’s image

MEXICO: Pumas players celebrate after winning the Mexican soccer league final match against Monarcas Morelia. — AP

Fenerbahce clinch Turkish title ISTANBUL: Fenerbahce clinched their 18th Turkish league title with a 4-3 win over Sivasspor on Sunday, moving ahead of the 17 won by arch-rivals Galatasaray.

Trabzonspor, the Istanbul club’s only challengers, won 4-0 away to Karabukspor to also finish on 82 points but Fenerbahce became champions due to a superior record in matches between the two clubs this season.

Fenerbahce fans thronged the streets on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city, chanting and waving flags in the club’s blue and yellow colours. They last won the title in 2007 and both Galatasaray and the other major Istanbul club Besiktas have won the title since then.

Coach Aykut Kocaman guided Fenerbahce to the title in his first season in charge after taking over from Germany’s Christoph Daum.

Playing in the central Turkish city of Sivas, Andre Santos put Fenerbahce ahead in the sixth minute. Selcuk Sahin restored their lead near the end of the first half after Jakup Navratil had equalised.

Second-half goals from the club’s Brazilian captain Alex and Joseph Yobo sealed the victory for the visitors, despite Erman Kilic pulling two goals back.

The league triumph will help erase the club’s bad memories of last season when Trabzonspor denied Fenerbahce the title, holding them to a 1-1 draw in their final match which enabled Bursaspor to become champions for the first time.

Playmaker Alex was again was at the heart of the club’s success, scoring 28 goals to make him the top goalscorer in the league this season.

The 33-year-old has been ably assisted by Senegal striker Mamadou Niang, who joined the club last year from Olympique Marseille and has scored 15 goals.

It was a frustrating end to the season for the Black Sea club Trabzonspor, which had set its sights on winning a first league title since 1984.

Until Bursaspor became champions last season, sixtimes champions Trabzonspor had been the only club outside of Istanbul to win the league title.

But possibly the most remarkable development this season was the poor performance of former UEFA Cup winners Galatasaray, who were close to the relegation zone for a time towards the end of the season. They ended in 8th, 36 points off the leaders.

It has also been a poor season for Besiktas, who were also facing the prospect of missing out on a place in Europe next season until they beat IBB to lift the Turkish Cup earlier this month. — Reuters

ZURICH: Sepp Blatter has said that rebuilding FIFA’s image will be his top priority if he is re-elected as president next week, following a series of corruption allegations leveled at football’s ruling body.

Blatter told reporters of his first-hand experience of attempted bribery when he received a cash-filled envelope while FIFA secretary general, before becoming president 13 years ago. He said he handed over the money to a FIFA colleague and it was returned to the unnamed bribe-giver. He promised to tackle allegations of past corruption and strengthen FIFA’s panels which investigate alleged wrongdoing.

“We shall find a solution how to handle the past ... in order that we can stop forever in the future all these damaging things about corruption,” Blatter said. “We have to make sure that in the next term of office immediately starting after the election that we rebuild the image of FIFA,” said the 75-year-old Swiss, who joined football’s governing body in 1975.

Blatter pledged “there will be facts” revealed in his zero-tolerance project being presented to the FIFA Congress on June 1, immediately before his election contest against his former ally Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. Their campaign has been clouded by fresh allegations of World Cup bid corruption.

Bin Hammam’s native Qatar has been accused in England of bribing two FIFA executive committee members to help secure 2022 hosting rights. Qatari bid officials on Monday denounced the allegations and sought to discredit a whistleblowing former employee who is set to give evidence at FIFA headquarters tomorrow.

Blatter, who wants the case resolved before election day, said it hurt him that people believed FIFA was corrupt. His first presidential election in 1998 prompted allegations of vote-buying by his supporters in Paris, and some high-ranking colleagues have been linked to corruption scandals on his watch.

Senior FIFA officials have been accused of taking kickbacks from television rights deals, profiting from World Cup tickets sales and pocketing or seeking

bribes to vote for World Cup hosts.

Though retrospective disciplinary action is unlikely, Blatter said he wants to improve FIFA’s ability to investigate internal affairs.

“For the future we must have, I would say, a stronger organization,” he said at a briefing at FIFA headquarters. Responsibility for choosing leaders of FIFA’s ethics, disciplinary and appeal committees could be given to members at Congress, Blatter suggested. Currently, power to appoint the investigative positions lies with FIFA’s 24-member executive committee which has been severely discredited.

Two members, Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii, were suspended following a British newspaper’s undercover investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process. African members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma have denied claims they took $1.5 million from Qatar, while the former head of England’s 2018 bid alleged unethical behavior by four more longstanding executive officials: Jack Warner, Ricardo Teixeira, Nicolas Leoz and Worawi Makudi.

Blatter acknowledged that some people “do not deserve to be ... in the government of FIFA.” He distanced himself from the continental bodies who elect their delegates to the ruling panel he chairs. “They have their own agenda. I have no influence and I cannot take any responsibility,” said Blatter, lamenting that he erred in “trusting people too fast.” Blatter said he was only once offered a bribe, during his 1981-98 stint serving as chief administrator to then-president Joao Havelange.

“In this envelope there was an amount of money. I couldn’t refuse because he put it in my pocket,” said Blatter, declining to identify who made the offer. “I came home here to FIFA and gave it to the finance director and he put this money on the account of the Swiss Bank Corporation.” The cash, which Blatter has said amounted to 50,000 Swiss francs, was later withdrawn by the bribe-giver. “Then it was specifically known that please don’t try to give money to somebody who’s in the FIFA.” —AP

Japan to host Club World Cup TOKYO: Japan will host December’s Club World Cup as scheduled, FIFA said yesterday after dismissing fears the country’s nuclear crisis could force a switch of venue.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter met Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to pledge support for the relief efforts following the deadly March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

“We are confident Japan can organise this competition,” told reporters in Tokyo. “We look forward with confidence and optimism that this tournament will be a good one.”

Blatter delivered his verdict after receiving assurances that teams and officials would not be exposed to radiation from the crippled nuclear plant 150 miles north of Tokyo.

The 9.0-magnitude quake and giant tsunami left 28,000 dead or homeless, devastating large areas of Japan’s northeast. The 15-metre tsunami wave tore though the

Fukushima power plant, triggering fears of a Chernobylstyle meltdown and as a result also plunged sporting events into chaos. Blatter told Kan the Dec. 8-18 Club World Cup would go ahead as planned to help give victims of the disaster courage to rebuild their lives.

“Through football there is hope,” said Blatter, who is battling to defend FIFA from accusations of corruption over World Cup votes. “What (the disaster victims) need now is to smile after the tragedy.”

Radiation leaking into the air and sea has forced the evacuation of thousands of residents near the nuclear facility and could take well into next year to contain. Japan hosted the lucrative Club World Cup, involving the champions of FIFA’s six confederations, from 2005-08 before it went to the United Arab Emirates for two years. — Reuters

JAPAN: FIFA President Sepp Blatter (center) poses with Japan Football Association President Junji Ogura (right) and Vice President Kozo Tashima during a press conference in Tokyo. — AP

BUENOS AIRES: River Plate’s Roberto Pereyra (left) fights for the ball with San Lorenzo’s Juan Manuel Torres during an Argentina’s league soccer match. — AP

Keeper’s blunder leaves Plate in relegation zone BUENOS AIRES: River Plate are in danger of being relegated for the first time after goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo’s blunder cost them a victory over San Lorenzo in the Argentine championship on Sunday.

Despite their fifth-place position in the current championship, River dropped into a relegation zone based on their average points over the last three seasons.

River were leading San Lorenzo at the Monumental when Carrizo let a head-height shot from 25 metres by Jonathan Ferrari slip though his fingers and drop into the net in the 73rd minute for a 1-1 draw.

“A mistake by me and I gave away the triumph,” Carrizo, whose errors also contributed to River’s defeat by arch-rivals Boca Juniors last weekend, told reporters.

Striker Leandro Caruso had given River the lead with a neat back-heel close to the half-hour mark.

River hold an Argentine record 33 league titles and have never been relegated but will face a promotion playoff with a second-tier Nacional B side if their threeseason points average does not improve.

They have traded places with Olimpo, who beat Argentinos Juniors 1-0 on Saturday and whom River visit next weekend.

The relegation heat also intensified at Huracan, whose fans rioted with their team 2-0 down at home to title holders Estudiantes forcing the referee to abandon the match with an hour still to play on Saturday.

Home fans began throwing seats, stones and other objects onto the pitch from the stands after their team conceded the second goal.

After Estudiantes fans taunted the Huracan supporters with relegation chants and joined in the fighting, referee German Delfino abandoned the match and the Argentine Football Association is expected to rule on the issue on Thursday.

Financially troubled Independiente, like River one of Argentina’s “Big Five” who had slipped dangerously close to the relegation zone, eased their worries by beating Colon 3-1 after the players were persuaded not to strike over unpaid wages.

Title favourites Velez Sarsfield are three points clear with four matches to go after Sunday’s 2-0 home win over Gimnasia.

However, second-placed Godoy Cruz could have been only one point behind Velez. They drew 1-1 at Banfield on Friday in a match they should have won.

A long-range strike from Diego Villar came down off the bar almost half a metre inside the goal but was ruled not to have crossed the line.

Embarrassed referee Saul Laverni admitted on Saturday after seeing video replays that Villar’s goal should have stood.

“I can’t hide under the carpet what everyone saw nor justify the unjustifiable,” he said. “I did not have a good night.” Lanus kept pace with the front two when they beat Tigre 3-0 away with a hat-trick by Silvio Romero. — Reuters

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Abramovich continues search for instant success LONDON: Roman Abramovich’s constant search for a Chelsea manager capable of inspiring instant success continues following the dismissal of Carlo Ancelotti. But the Russian billionaire’s obvious desire to see the club he bought in 2003 win the Champions League and dominate England domestically seems to have undermined the chances of that happening.

Ancelotti paid the price for the failure of previous regimes to overhaul a squad largely assembled by Jose Mourinho, with his predecessors unable to stamp their identity on the club in the short time given to them.

That sort of pressure generally forces coaches to rely upon short-term fixes and experienced players, a practice that left Chelsea’s aging squad exposed by injuries and loss of form this season.

Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Ancelotti never managed to find backup or replacements for the likes of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and John Terry as their injuries became more frequent with age.

But Grant, Scolari and Hiddink only averaged six months in charge as Abramovich’s constant search for a manager capable of inspiring instant success restricted opportunities to plan for the future. Even winning over the demanding Stamford Bridge crowd is no guarantee of survival at Chelsea. The popular Claudio Ranieri was the first manager fired by Abramovich in 2004, and Ancelotti went just a week after fans chanted “Carlo, Carlo” during the team’s final home match of the season.

“They gave me fantastic support,” Ancelotti said. “In the moments when it was not so good, they stayed close to the team, to the players.”

Experienced at working under a demanding owner, Ancelotti was hired after winning two Champions League trophies with Silvio Berlusconi’s Milan, but much of his success there was based upon the work of the back-room staff he brought in.

The so-called “Milan Lab” dedicated to extending the career of experienced older players through innovative physiotherapy and medical tech-

niques allowed Ancelotti to rely upon Alessandro Nesta, Filippo Inzaghi and Paolo Maldini for far longer than might otherwise have been expected.

That pattern seemed to continue with the Blues, but new Premier League rules limiting clubs to 25-man squads exposed the lack of depth when front line players were absent this season.

“In my opinion, sometimes I’ve done a good job,” Ancelotti said.

“Sometimes I could have done better.”

As well as being a gifted tactician and man manager, Mourinho was fortunate to inherit a settled squad from Ranieri. Bolstering that lineup with a handful of players from his Champions League-winning FC Porto side, Mourinho ended Chelsea’s 50year wait for the English league title.

But the chances of any coach matching that immediate impact are so slim that Mourinho himself figures prominently on bookmakers’ lists of likely candidates to become Abramovich’s seventh manager in eight years. That scenario is unlikely after Mourinho’s acrimonious exit and present contract with Real

Madrid, but Chelsea’s previous success in gambling on a young Por tuguese could convince Abramovich to take a chance on Andre Villas-Boas.

The 33-year-old Villas-Boas, who worked under Mourinho at Porto and Chelsea as a scout, last week became the youngest coach to win a UEFA club competition when he guided Porto to the Europa League title.

Mourinho swapped Portugal for west London after guiding Porto to the UEFA Cup and Champions League in successive years. He won the Premier League in each of his first two seasons but eventually left a month into the 2007-08 campaign following a series of disagreements with Abramovich.

Abramovich would have no problem paying a release clause in VillasBoas’ contract that has been reported at §15 million, although that could undermine the club’s efforts to rein in its spending as it tries to conform with UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

Villas-Boas was initially rated the favorite by British bookmaker William Hill, but he has said he would like

another year before taking a highprofile job. That mantle has now passed to Marco van Basten following rumors that Hiddink had recommended the former Netherlands and Ajax coach to his friend Abramovich.

Van Basten would appear to be a riskier appointment after an unsuccessful two -year spell with the Netherlands was followed by his exit from Ajax just one year into a fouryear contract. Van Basten has not coached since his 2009 departure from the Amsterdam club.

Abramovich is reportedly considering bringing back Hiddink despite him winning only the FA Cup in his short spell two years ago.

Hiddink was only ever a temporary coach first time around after Abramovich ended Scolari’s sevenmonth tenure, juggling the job with his commitment to lead the Russia national side.

Abramovich was said to want him to stay, but Hiddink would not walk out on Russia while he had a contract and never even had the chance to enter the transfer market with Chelsea.—AP

Giggs in privacy row

ITALY: Udinese’s Mauricio Isla jumps for the ball as AC Milan defender Didac Vila, of Spain, looks on during a Serie A soccer match. —AP

Udinese clinch Champions League spot ROME: Udinese sealed a Champions League place as a nervy 0-0 draw against champions AC Milan proved enough to secure fourth spot in Serie A as AS Roma claimed the final Europa League place.

Serie A’s top scorer Antonio Di Natale made sure the Bianconeri had to sweat until the last after missing a penalty with 15 minutes to go but in a game of few chances the point was all Udinese needed to finish above Lazio.

Lazio, who won 4-2 in Lecce, finished level with Udinese on 66 points, four behind Napoli with Milan, on, ending up six clear of Inter.

Udinese will now play in the qualifying round of Europe’s top competition for only the second time following their first foray into the Champions League in 2005.

Roma joined fifth-placed Lazio and Coppa Italia finalists Palermo in the Europa League.

Despite needing just a draw to finish fourth, Francesco Guidolin’s attractive side began cautiously against a full strength Milan side determined to shackle the threat of flying winger Alexis Sanchez and Di Natale.

Looking for his 29th goal of the campaign, Di Natale struck the outside of the post with a 30-yard free kick after Kevin-Prince Boateng had become the third Rossoneri within the first 20 minutes to be booked.

As the home side pressed for the crucial goal, strike partner Sanchez headed over on 35 minutes after a fine run and cross from left-back Pablo Armero.

But as the tension began to rise with news of Lazio winning, the champions dominated possession and created chances of their own.

Boateng volleyed inches over after a cross from Antonio Cassano before the former Sampdoria forward shot a yard wide after a neat turn just outside the box five minutes before the break.

Milan continued to pose the greater threat early in the second half but with more Lazio

goals being scored in Lecce, Udinese upped the tempo, creating four outstanding chances in as many minutes.

After Sanchez was brought down by Clarence Seedorf’s lunge in the box, Di Natale could only hold his head in his hands as Marco Amelia turned his penalty on to the post.

Swiss midfielder Gokhan Inler had a header saved by Amelia before watching in agony as his swerving 30-yarder crashed back off the bar with Amelia beaten.

A minute later, Sanchez wriggled in the box again but this time it was Amelia’s feet that came to Milan’s rescue.

Udinese were not to pay for the misses, though, as the Rossoneri showed far less ambition towards the end, allowing the Friuli to celebrate with wild abandon at the final whistle.

In Lecce, Lazio, who had crucially lost 2-1 at Udinese two weeks ago, were twice ahead in the first half before being pegged back by a Lecce side that had guaranteed Serie A survival last week.Manuel Coppola and Ignazio Piatti cancelled out Tomasso Rocchi and Mauro Zarate’s strikes before a counter-attacking Lazio made sure of the win with a Zarate penalty and a Giuseppe Vives own goal.

Relegated Sampdoria gave Roma an early shock at the Stadio Olimpico through Daniele Mannini’s goal but skipper Francesco Totti equalised with a low drive and second-half goals from Mirko Vucinic and Marco Borriello secured the three points and a place in next season’s Europa League. —Reuters Juventus, though, will take no part in Europe in their new stadium after ending a sorry campaign in seventh position after a 2-2 draw at home to a second-string Napoli side in what was Luigi Del Neri’s final match in charge.

There were also wins for Inter, Bari, Chievo and Genoa as Fiorentina, Brescia, Cagliari and Parma shared the points as the Serie A season came to a close. —Reuters

Domestic trophy still warm, Ferguson plots Barca upset

MANCHESTER: The Premier League trophy was not even in the cabinet when M an ch e ste r U ni te d m a n a g e r Al e x Ferguson switched his attention to picking a team to beat Barcelona to add the European Cup to his haul.

United face Barcelona on Saturday in th e Ch a mp i ons Le ag u e fi n a l a n d Ferguson was already pondering his lineup for the huge task of beating the hot favourites while the fireworks were still going off to celebrate domestic success on Sunday.

“I think I could pick four or five teams for next week and they wouldn’t let us down ,” he tol d MU T V. Fe rg u s o n h a s

attributed this season’s success to using the full potential of a strong squad, highlighted by a procession of 21 players being presented with Premier League winners’ medals, all eligible as they had made 10 appearances or more.

I t gi ves him plent y of options to choose from next weekend a clear sign that the lines between fringe player and starter are not as clear as usual-but the reality is that only the best will do.

Asked if he had finalised his starting XI, Ferguson said: “Not entirely but we’ve got the nucleus who deserve their place and there are others who deser ve a place. —Reuters

LONDON: A British politician defied a court order yesterday by identifying Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs as the soccer star fighting a legal battle to prevent newspapers from publishing allegations of an affair.

The release of Giggs’ name will be seen as a victory for the media over celebrities and their lawyers after an increasingly farcical game of cat-and-mouse that prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to promise a review of the country’s privacy laws.

For weeks, British media have been fighting the growing use by the rich and famous of “super injunctions”-English court orders which prevent publication of unwelcome stories and prohibit journalists from even reporting that a ban is in place.

A newspaper in Scotland, which has its own legal system, ran a thinly disguised photograph of Giggs on Sunday over an article calling it “unsustainable” to bar reporters from naming the man identified in hundreds of Twitter postings as one of the celebrities using court orders to stifle sex scandals.

“With about 75,000 people having named Ryan Giggs on Twitter, it’s obviously impracticable to imprison them all,” Liberal Democrat politician John Hemming said in parliament.

Hemming, who has campaigned for press freedom, used parliamentary privilege-which allows parliamentarians to raise controversial legal issues without fear of prosecution- to name the player with impunity.

Earlier in the day the High Court in London had turned down a request from the Sun newspaper,

part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, to allow it to name the player. Judge David Eady said there was no legitimate public interest in publishing the name.

Giggs, a Welsh international, has played for English champions

his image as one of the sport’s gentlemen.

Lawyers representing the player had asked U.S.-based Twitter via a London court for information about the users of the messaging website who published details of

Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs Manchester United for two decades and is one of the best known soccer players in the country.

Aged 37, he is married with two children, and assertions by reality TV star Imogen Thomas that she had an affair with the sportsman protected by the ban have dented

his private life. Hemming said this was a step too far. “If you are going to have an expensive firm of lawyers chasing down ordinary people, with a view to threatening them with a jail sentence because they have gossiped about a footballer, that is fundamentally

wrong,” he told BBC TV. English newspapers have responded to bans taken out by a number of celebrities, including other sports stars and actors, by making references to them in gossip columns in the knowledge that readers, having read up on the Internet, will spot the intention behind the apparently innocent stories. Lawyer Roderick Dadak said the case showed how hard it was to regulate online gossip. “It has drawn the attention of all, the judiciary and parliament, to the fact that the Internet is pretty much uncontrollable,” Dadak of media firm Lewis Silkin told Reuters.

“Anyone can post whatever they want out of the jurisdiction and there is nothing you can do about it,” he added. Attorney General Dominic Grieve announced on Monday that a parliamentary committee would study the issues raised in what has turned into a clash between politicians and the judiciary.

Cameron, in a television interview, said earlier: “It is rather unsustainable, this situation, where newspapers can’t print something that everyone else is clearly talking about.

“The danger is that (court) judgments are effectively writing a sort of new law, which is what parliament is meant to do,” he added.

Politicians have also used parliamentary privilege to disclose that former Royal Bank of Scotland head Fred Goodwin had won a gagging order. Goodwin came under fire for taking a generous pension after his bank had to be rescued by the state. —Reuters

Barca chasing greatness Clash with Man United

LONDON: Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez (right) parades the FA Cup in front of fans at the start of an open top bus parade at the Manchester Town Hall. —AP

Ronaldinho shines in opener RIO DE JANEIRO: Former FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho inspired Flamengo to a 4-0 home win over Avai in their opening match of the Brazilian championship on Sunday.

Holders Fluminense were upset 2-0 at home by Santos while Corinthians beat Gremio 2-1 away thanks to a fine performance from striker Liedson. Ronaldinho, who had disappointed Flamengo fans with his indifferent form since joining from AC Milan in January, scored a brilliant goal and laid on another for Diego Mauricio with a one-two inside the box.

Modest Avai fielded a second-string side ahead of their Copa Brasil semi-final on Wednesday.

“That’s as good as it gets. To return scoring a goal, laying on another after a long time is marvellous,” Ronaldinho told reporters.

“I’m going to try to go after the conquest that’s missing from my curriculum,” added Ronaldinho, who had been criticised and jeered by fans after Flamengo’s Copa Brasil elimination earlier in May. Brazil teenager Lucas and striker Dagoberto scored the goals for Sao Paulo, who won the Brazilian championship three years in a row between 2006 and 2008 but have not been in form this year and lost Brazil 2010 World Cup striker Luis Fabiano to injury.

LONDON: For Barcelona, the Champions League final offers more than the chance to collect another glittering title — it’s the opportunity to further advance its claims as football’s greatest club side.

Premier League champion Manchester United is a suitably illustrious opponent in Saturday’s final at Wembley for a Barcelona team seeking to justify its place alongside the great Real Madrid sides of the 1950s and ‘60s.

Ominously for United, Barcelona has improved significantly since beating the English side in the 2009 final. Having won the title in a penalty shootout against Chelsea a year earlier, United was expected to seriously challenge Barcelona in a freeflowing final in Rome but the Spanish side barely had to move out of second gear to secure a 2-0 win.

Powered by the goals of Lionel Messi and inspired by the midfield guile of Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, Barcelona has clinched a third straight Spanish title this season and typically taken two-thirds possession in its Champions League matches against supposedly Europe’s strongest sides. Still, Manchester United has extra motivation after its meek performance in 2009 and is on a high after breaking Liverpool’s 21-year-old record to clinch a 19th English championship.

“You never get bored of celebrations like this,” United striker Wayne Rooney said.

“This is what you play football to do, to win trophies and medals.” Manchester United also has history at Wembley.

As well as the multiple domestic cups it won there, United won the 1968 European Cup — its first — at the north London stadium with a 4-1 win over Benfica. United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is set to retire after the match and wants his teammates

to further strengthen that connection.

“Manchester United is the biggest club in the world,” Van der Sar said. “Now we have to get that trophy.” United has few injury concerns ahead of the match, with midfielder Darren Fletcher having played in Sunday ’s final league match against Blackpool.

Fletcher, who missed the 2009 final because of suspension, had played just once in two months before Sunday’s 4-2 win. Captain Nemanja Vidic was replaced late in the game with a slight limp but should be fit to play alongside regular defensive colleague Rio Ferdinand.

Barcelona completed its third straight Spanish title -winning season in style Saturday when a team composed mostly of reserve players came from a goal behind to beat Malaga 3-1.

Messi was among seven regulars left out by coach Pep Guardiola but Bojan Krkic, Ibrahim Afellay and Marc Bartra made their case for inclusion in the squad for Wembley with the goals that secured a record 14th win from 18 away games.

Barcelona finished with three fewer points than last season, but still won by four points from a Real Madrid side coached by Jose Mourinho and driven by a Spanish-record 53 goals from Cristiano Ronaldo. “We’re not here to grade ourselves,” Guardiola said.

“We’re here to play a game and that’s been impeccable. Last year we had 99 points and this year 96 _ it’s absolutely ridiculous.” Like United, Barcelona also has history at Wembley. With Real Madrid having won the title six times by the time Barcelona made the 1992 final, the Catalan club finally clinched the trophy it desperately craved with a 1-0 win over Sampdoria. —AP

Toms wins Colonial

Indians sweep Reds in interleague play

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Qatar hits back at corruption claims

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PARIS: Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki serves the ball to Japan’s Kimiko DateKrumm during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament.(Inset) Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns the ball toThe Netherland’s Thiemo de Bakker.—AP

Djokovic extends winning streak Wozniacki eliminates Kimiko PARIS: Novak Djokovic extended his perfect season into the French Open, beating Thiemo de Bakker 6-2, 6-1, 63 yesterday in the first round. The second-seeded Serb improved his 2011 record to 38-0 — and stretched his winning streak to 40 — on the second day of the tournament at Roland Garros.

And he barely broke a sweat doing it, breaking his Dutch opponent six times. “I was serving really, really well and being very aggressive, using every opportunity to step into the court,” Djokovic said. “I was quite in control of the match.”

Roger Federer, meanwhile, joined Djokovic in the second round by beating Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3), but sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych was knocked out by French journeyman Stephane Robert in five sets.

On the women’s side, top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki eliminated 40year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-0, 6-2 and defending champion Francesca

Schiavone beat Melanie Oudin of the United States 6-2, 6-0.

Djokovic walked out onto center court as the co-favorite after beating Rafael Nadal in two clay-court finals leading up to the French Open. He could only meet Nadal in the final at Roland Garros, and if he does he will be assured of taking over the No. 1 ranking from the Spaniard regardless of that result.

“Pressure is always there,” said Djokovic, who turned 24 on Sunday. “I know there is a lot of expectations because of the streak I have, but, look, I’m really happy the way I’m handling things right now on and off the court.”

Djokovic needs five more wins to break John McEnroe’s Open era record of 42 for the best unbeaten start, and a sixth victory will make him the first man to win the Australian and French Opens back-toback since Jim Courier in 1992.

“Coming into a Grand Slam with three titles on clay courts and winning

against the best player ever on this surface gives me a lot of motivation, a lot of confidence that I’m trying to use on the court,” Djokovic said.

Nadal, who is looking for his sixth French Open title, doesn’t get on court until Tuesday, but Federer progressed without facing a single break point against his Spanish opponent.

“Important thing from my side was to be solid in my own serve,” Federer said, “which I was all the way through from start to finish.” The third-seeded Federer, who completed a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros two years ago, lost in the quarterfinals last year to end a streak of 23 straight major semifinal appearances.

Berdych, who last year reached the semifinals at the French Open and the final at Wimbledon, was knocked out by the 140th-ranked Robert 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 9-7. “Maybe it’s too early to analyze how was that or what was happening on the court,” Berdych said “That’s what can happen in the long matches, and ... sadly

it happened to me today.”

Berdych held a match point while leading 5-4 in the fifth set, but Robert saved it and went on to earn only his second win at a Grand Slam tournament. Wozniacki, unbothered by her bandaged left thigh, dominated from the start and won the first seven games until Date-Krumm finally held serve.

Date-Krumm made her debut at Roland Garros in 1989, a year before Wozniacki was born. She retired in 1996 and made her return 12 years later.

In the next round, Wozniacki will face Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada.

She beat another Japanese player, Junri Namigata, 6-1, 6-1.

In the opening match on center cour t, defending champion Schiavone bounced back to her winning ways by beating Oudin.

Schiavone, who last year became the first I talian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title, won four straight games in the first set after

Heat stop Bulls charge MIAMI: Chris Bosh scored 34 points and LeBron James finished with 22 points and 10 assists as the Miami Heat remained unbeaten at home in the postseason by beating the Chicago Bulls 96-85 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday. Miami now lead the series 2-1 and is two victories from its first trip to the NBA finals since 2006.

Game 4 is Tuesday night in Miami.

Dwyane Wade added 17 points and nine rebounds for Miami, which is now 7-0 at home and handed the team that finished with the NBA’s best record its first losing streak since Feb. 5-7. Udonis Haslem sealed it with a jumper with 1:29 left, putting Miami up 93-84.

Bosh scored 30 points in Game 1 against Chicago, a game where Miami was embarrassed 103-82. The Heat haven’t lost since, and only trailed for 3:22 in Game 3.

“I just wanted to be aggressive and just have some kind of imprint on this series,” said Bosh, who’s in the conference final round for the first time. “I had an aggressive Game 1, Game 2 was so-so, but we still

won. But out here on the home floor I just wanted to be aggressive and it turned out to be a good game.”

Carlos Boozer finished with 26 points and 17 rebounds for Chicago, which had won the first four meetings of the season with Miami.

Derrick Rose finished with 20 points, but struggled from the field once again, making only 8 of his 19 shots.

Taj Gibson had 11 off the Chicago bench. Boozer made a pair of free throws with 6:39 left to get Chicago within 78-74, the outcome clearly hanging in the balance.

Minutes later, that was no longer the case — not after Miami scored nine straight to build more than enough of a cushion.

Bosh and Boozer exchanged words and looks more than once on Sunday night, but Bosh ended up with the upper hand. “All I care about is winning games,” Bosh said.

“And we do whatever it takes to get that.” How good was Miami’s defense down that stretch? Bulls center Joakim Noah tried a 5-footer with 4:25 left. He shot it over the backboard. —AP

MIAMI: Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose (1) shoots over Miami Hea’s LeBron James (6) as Udonis Haslem (40) looks on during the second half of Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals basketball series.—AP

being broken early by her 19-yearold American opponent. The fifthseeded Schiavone, who had 25 winners to Oudin’s six, then won seven straight games to reach the second round.

“I’m still shak ing a little bit,” Schiavone said of playing on Court Philippe Chatrier for the first time as defending champion. “The court is perfect. Everything is going around you and it’s like — you know when you go home and your mom does everything for you and you feel comfortable?”

Last week, Schiavone had her best result of the season, reaching the semifinals at the Brussels Open. No. 3 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, No. 9 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France, No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, No. 16 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, No. 25 Maria Kirilenko of Russia, No. 28 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, No. 29 Peng Shuai of China and No. 30 Roberta Vinci of Italy also advanced,

while No. 26 Nadia Petrova of Russia and No. 31 Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic lost.

In the men’s draw, No. 9 Gael Monfils of France, No. 10 Mardy Fish of the United States, No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, No. 13 Richard Gasquet of France, No. 15 Viktor Troick i of Serbia, No. 23 Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, No. 25 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 27 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, No. 28 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and No. 29 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia all reached the second round.

No. 22 Michael Llodra of France lost.

Del Potro, who won the U.S. Open in 2009, is one of only four Grand Slam champions in the men’s tournament, along with Nadal, Djokovic and Federer. The Argentine beat Ivo Karlovic 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

“I t ’s difficult to play against Karlovic, because you don’t have many chance to break his serve,” Del Potro said of the tall Croat. “I was focused in the beginning to the final, and I got through it.”—AP

Saudi clubs seek success where national team fails SEOUL: The Saudi Arabian clubs enter the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League with a chance to give their nation’s football fans something to cheer about after some lean years.

A traditional Asian powerhouse, Saudi Arabia has struggled in recent times. The national team failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and then crashed out of the 2011 Asian Cup in the first round.

At club level, this year has been much more successful. All four of the country’s representatives made it safely through the group stage of the Asia Champions League. The Round of 16 comprises oneoff matches, with no home and away legs.

The teams that finished on top of the eight groups of four in the group stage have home advantage. In the big all-Saudi match, Al Ittihad welcomes bitter rivals Al Hilal in Jeddah today. Al Ittihad was the last team from the western half of the continent to lift the trophy in 2005 since when it has been the sole preserve of South Korea and Japan.

There is an extra edge to the game as Al Hilal is coached by Gabriel Calderon. The Argentine was fired by Al Ittihad in January 2010 just two months after winning the Saudi title and losing in the final of the 2009 Asian Champions League.

Now with Al Hilal, Calderon has repeat-

ed the championship feat in Riyadh and did so in style as his team remained unbeaten throughout the season.

“Our desire to advance played a big role in the results that we have had,” Calderon said. “All the teams in the Round of 16 are big teams and they have shown good performances in the competition.

The game against Al Ittihad will be tough and we will never underestimate them.” Dimitri Davidovic is the new coach of Al Ittihad and is starting his fifth spell at the club, replacing Portugal’s Toni Oliveira just ahead of the big game. The naturalized Belgian citizen led the club to the Saudi title on three occasions in the past but never to Asia’s biggest club prize.

“I knew all about the important match in the Asian Champions League against Al Hilal before I came here. I know I can get a positive result,” Davidovic said.

The other two Saudi representatives are away from home. Al Shabab travel to Qatar’s Al-Sadd while Al Nassr visits the home of 2010 runners-up Zob Ahan of Iran. Al Shabab’s Croatian coach Dragan Skocic is looking forward to trying to take the team, which reached the semifinal under Uruguay’s Jorge Fossati in 2010, to the latter stages once again. “It is important that we reached the last 16,” Skocic said. —AP

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2010: A year of recovery for many Kuwait equities Page 23 TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

IFC merger with Kuwait Invest, Jizan Holding successful

KSE stocks drop sharply Page 24

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KUWAIT: Aayan Leasing and Investment Co Director of the board Ali Al-Ghanem (signs) the debt restructuring deal with its lenders yesterday. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Aayan signs debt restructuring deal 62% of debt to be restructured

By Nisreen Zahreddine KUWAIT: Kuwait’s leading Islamic firm Aayan Leasing and Investment Co yesterday signed a KD205 million ($743.6 million) debt restructuring agreement with its creditors. After signing the agreement at the Sheraton Hotel, Aayan Director of the board Ali AlGhanem applauded the positive results after hectic negotiations with its creditors.

The firm has signed an agreement with nine creditors, seven of which are local, including Kuwait Finance House, Burgan Bank and Gulf Bank.

According to the agreement Ayan will have to settle 62 percent of the total debts over the next five years while maintaining its right to run the management of Aayan. It can concentrate on the operational activities which will enable the company to boost its revenues.

Al-Ghanem pointed out that the negotiation process took a long time as they had to adhere to the new regulations of the Central Bank of Kuwait stipulating financial proportions for debt average and outer debts in addition to fast liquidity which is supposed to be in operation starting from

June 2012. “All these factors played a major role in prolonging the finalization of the deal.

This is not considered an agreement but a partnership deal between Aayan and the lending partners. This also reflects everybody’s confidence in Aayan’s ability to honor its commitment and contributing to the economic growth,” Al-Ghanem commented.

Al-Ghanem said that Aayan took considerable efforts to comply with the requirements of the lending parties by cutting off expenses and downsizing the staff.

At the same time, the company worked towards enhancing its asset value by providing technical support to its sister organizations and subsidiaries to help notch up revenues in the light of the current circumstances.

He mentioned that the company will concentrate on leasing as a main activity in the next business plan to boost its profits.

Fahad Ali Al-Ghanem, head of the follow-up committee for rescheduling said that the final plan for rescheduling included writing off 10 percent of the total debts, transferring 15 percent of the total debts into company

Mansour Al-Mubarak said that the debt restructuring deal will allow the company to exert more efforts to implement the plan in a positive working environment. He asserted that during the last few months the company started to implement some aspects of the plan as for rescheduling expenses and management expenses in addition to the salaries. This has resulted in a drop in the employees’ salaries amounted to KD7.5 million. In addition, the company has managed to bring down the general administrative expenses amounting to KD3 million, he added.

Dubai leads declines, ME tracks global stocks

Gulf seen cutting ties with telecoms to boost growth DUBAI: Gulf Arab states, which generate hefty returns from their stakes in regional telecoms firms, will need to reduce those ties so the industry can consolidate, generating greater income in the long run, analysts said.

Slumping earnings, stiff competition and ever more disgruntled minority shareholders characterize the Gulf telecoms sector where state bodies own controlling stakes in 10 of the 15 regional mobile license owners.

“Middle East operators are facing an erosion of their traditional revenues, with prices falling in most countries,” said Marc Biosca, principal at A T Kearney.

“Telecoms is seen more and more as a yield industry, rather than a growth industry.

“Shareholders-governments-will realize operators will gain competitive edge and therefore deliver higher profitability levels by being part of a larger telecom group.”

Regional telcos serve about 39 million people in the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states-two-thirds of whom are in Saudi Arabia-and most governments have a protectionist bent, a stance that is harder to sustain as revenues sag.

Annual profits at four of the Gulf’s six former monopolies UAE’s Etisalat, Saudi Telecom Co (STC), Omantel and Bahrain’s Batelco — fell by more than 10 percent last year and first-quarter earnings were also downbeat.

“The ultimate trigger (for consolidation) will be the absolute necessity to cut costs in an industry with revenues and margins under pressure from different angles,” said Pedro Oliveira, partner at consultants Oliver Wyman.

Mobile penetration rates in the Gulf are among the highest in the world, ranging from 130 percent in Kuwait to more than 230 percent in the UAE. While Gulf telcos have sought licenses in other Gulf markets STC has licenses in Bahrain and Kuwait, Etisalat is in Saudi and Qatar Telecom is in Oman and Kuwait-there have been few mergers. Outside of the Gulf, STC, Etisalat and Qtel operate in more than 30 countries combined.

“Companies that don’t have a big footprint or operate in a single market could be potential takeover targets,” said Irfan Ellam, telecoms analyst at Al Mal Capital.

“What’s up for grabs? Maybe Omantel and du, while Batelco is not that big.”

Rising dissent from minority shareholders will be another trigger for consolidation, together with a shift away from a public sector culture at incumbent players.

Governments, which use telecoms firms to implement state policy such as building out national ICT infrastructure, will likely be reluctant to scale back their ownership of the telcos.

“Etisalat is a flagship of the UAE,” Nasser Bin Obood, acting chief executive of Etisalat, told a conference last week.

Consolidation would also aid acquisitions outside the Gulf. “They end up competing against each other and pushing M&A prices up. Premiums on M&A transactions are 30, 40, 50 percent above the market price,” said Amersi. “There are too many people with too much money chasing too few things.” — Reuters

stocks, increasing capital by KD10 million, cash settlement of debts with assets on par of with the debt amounting to KD51 million while keeping the option of repurchasing the stocks from the lenders.

Al-Ghanem pointed out that 62 percent of the debts were approved to be rescheduled and the door is open for the rest of the lenders to enter the plan until 16/6/2011. He pointed out that some of the foreign banks are planning to enter this plan, but still it needed more time to finalize its internal approvals.

Executive Director of Aayan

MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

PARIS: France’s Finance and Economy Minister Christine Lagarde is followed by journalists after attending a G20 Globalization conference in Paris yesterday. Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager says Lagarde is “outstandingly suitable” to succeed Dominique Strauss Kahn, who quit last week as leader of the global financial body after he was accused of attempting to rape a New York hotel maid. — AFP

Europe’s debt turmoil propels dollar higher NEW YORK: Intensifying worries about the debt crisis in Europe are helping drum up demand for the US dollar. In midday trading in New York, the euro skidded to $1.4003 from $1.4201 late Friday. It had dipped below $1.40 for the first time since March earlier on Monday. The British pound fell to $1.6096 from $1.6276. The dollar rose to 81.82 Japanese yen from 81.57 yen. Regional elections in Spain over the weekend brought new politicians to power, triggering fears about the country’s ability to cut its deficits. Investors suspect Greece will have to restructure its debts or need even more aid a year after it received emergency funds. Standard & Poor’s lowered its outlook on Italy’s debt last Friday.

“Europe’s failing approach to its debt crisis has renewed fears of a contagious sovereign default and a possible euro-zone breakup,” said Lena Komileva of Brown Brothers Harriman in a research note Monday.

European policymakers can’t agree on how best to help Greece, which is still struggling a year after its 110 billion euro ($154 billion) emergency loan package was approved in spring 2010. The European Central Bank has said that renegotiating Greece’s bond payments — cutting the amount it owes or extending how long the country has to pay back debt — would be catastrophic for Europe’s banks, while

European Union finance officials have suggested that pushing back bond repayments could help prevent a default. Such a default could hit the European banks that hold lots of Greek bonds.

Policymakers have also said that more aid for Greece is contingent on further spending cuts and economic reforms, but Greek citizens have protested strongly against cuts the government is already making.

Greece’s bailout package last spring was intended to calm default fears, but investors have not been reassured. The EU and International Monetary Fund have also extended aid to Portugal and Ireland.

“Given the level of debt currently weighing on Greece, a default looks more or less inevitable and, given increasing voter discontent, policymakers may well have their hands forced with respect to Greece leaving the euro,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

Anxiety about possible defaults and debt levels has driven the euro about 6 percent lower in the past month. At the end of April, the euro had been worth nearly $1.49, the highest level since December 2009.

In other trading yesterday, the dollar rose to 0.8827 Swiss franc from 0.8771 Swiss franc, and gained to 97.99 Canadian cents from 97.23 Canadian cents. —AP

DUBAI: Dubai shares led a regional decline yesterday as most Gulf Arab markets took their cues from weakness in global stocks, and Egypt’s bourse fell from Sunday’s sixweek high.

Doubts about Europe’s ability to manage its debt hammered markets yesterday, knocking the euro to its lowest in two months and dragging down equities in Europe and the United States.

“Unfortunately, the world has the following to worry about now: U.S. debt ceiling, Euro zone issues, commodities bust, potential economic slowdown and a whirl of confusion,” said Haissam Arabi, chief executive at Gulfmena Alternative Investments.

Dubai’s index fell 2 percent to a sevenweek low. It is down more than 5 percent in May. Tabreed slumping 10 percent to a fiveweek low, after the district cooling firm’s share dilution, which involved issuing 415.68 million shares to repay a bond. Most stocks ended lower, with Emaar Properties and Dubai Financial Market falling 3.2 and 4 percent respectively.

Abu Dhabi’s index slipped 0.6 percent to its lowest close since April 12 as six of the 10 largest stocks fell.

An MSCI index upgrade candidate, Qatar tumbled to an eight-week low, following the regional trend. The index ended 1.9 percent down at its lowest close since March 30.

“The market’s been range-bound since the end of March (from) 8,400 to 8,850 — any break out of this range should see a significant move in either direction,” said Sleiman Aboulhosn, assistant fund manag-

er at Al Masah Capital.

Heavyweights Qatar National Bank and Industries Qatar shed 2.5 and 2.8 percent respectively.

Egypt’s benchmark index fell 1.3 percent from Sunday’s six-week high, as investors sold off amid uncertain outlook for corporate profits in the wake of a popular uprising.

“The market is simply taking a breather after previous gains. It’s technical, no fundamental impact,” said Osama Mourad of Arab Finance Brokerage.

Developers Talaat Moustafa Group and SODIC fell 2.1 percent and 4.7 percent respectively. Kuwait’s Zain fell 1.9 percent, weighing on the index which ended 0.7 percent lower.

Agility shed 2.6 percent and Kuwait Finance House slipped 2 percent. Banks and petrochemicals weighed on Saudi Arabia’s index, which eased from Sunday’s four-month high amid declining oil prices.

The main benchmark ended 0.7 percent lower, snapping a four-session winning streak as eight of the 10 largest stocks by market value fell.

The top two sectors declined, with the banking index down 0.9 percent and petrochemicals falling 0.7 percent.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) and Al-Rajhi Bank fell 0.2 and 0.7 percent respectively.

Crude oil futures slipped more than $3 on Monday due to the peripheral euro zone’s debt crisis, which pushed the dollar to a two-month high versus the euro and knocked broader equity markets lower. —Reuters

Gulf investors see value in developed markers DUBAI: Middle East investors are looking west for investment opportunities as financial crises in developed markets such as Europe create more value plays, a study released by US-based fund manager Invesco showed.

Growth in emerging markets have been strong in the last year but investors are increasingly looking towards markets where investment have been under pressure.

“A lot of investors are looking back to the developed market where they are seeing good value. If you look at the prices in Western Europe, for instance, they ’re

cheap,” Nick Tolchard, head of Invesco Middle East told reporters at a conference to launch the study yesterday.

Gulf-based sovereign wealth funds, however, have not abandoned regional and local investments despite the widespread political unrest, according to Tolchard. “The political crises might mean short-term concerns but investors in the region, like sovereign wealth funds, are taking a more sensible long-term returns approach. There still appears to be a great deal of confidence. At least, there is no more cautiousness then there was last year,” he said. —Reuters

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TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

BUSINESS

Al Mazaya set to launch Clover Medical Centre brand in GCC Salwa Malhas sees good annual revenues for Al-Mazaya KUWAIT: Following the successful completion and delivery of the largest part of its projects in Kuwait and Dubai, Al Mazaya Holding is gearing up to carry out its recently announced strategic plan, which aims to explore rewarding investment opportunities in GCC countries. The company’s primary goal is to boost the expansion of its Clover Centre brand through the establishment of medical property projects in GCC countries, starting with Qatar, where the real estate market is seeing a satisfactory improvement due to an optimistic and supportive government plan, political stability, and the country’s preparation for building a number of tourism and development projects related to its hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Al Mazaya Holding’s Studies and Research Department is conducting a detailed study on current prices, change margins, locations, and compliance with local laws, and is also examining the reality of the medical sector in the GCC region, and the market ’s needs and requirements. The success of the company’s Clover Centre Medical Complex in Kuwait has encouraged it to replicate this model in other local and international markets with the aim of generating further revenues.

Commenting on these developments, Eng. Salwa Malhas, Executive Vice President Business Development and Marketing, said, “ The GCC markets are showing signs of improvement, particularly as security and stability are of paramount impor tance for attrac ting investment and encouraging developers to look for sectors within the proper ty market that are still in need of facilities and infrastruc ture. This includes specialized medical services, which is today consid-

ered one of the most important pillars of society.

According to recent studies, this sector achieved eight and ten percent growth in the GCC in 2009 and 2010, respectively.”

Regarding the nature of

including the Clover Centre, as this type of investment guarantees high revenues and the ability to operate and manage the project even after delivery”.

Clover Centre is one of the most impor tant projec ts in

Eng. Salwa Malhas investment in the Clover Centre, Eng Malhas said, “Having completed and delivered most of our projects in Kuwait and Dubai, we are currently focusing on revenuegenerating investments,

Kuwait’s healthcare sector, and represents Al Mazaya’s first foray into this sec tor. The 4,000sqm complex is strategically situated in the Al Jabriya District, one of the most important areas in Kuwait, and con-

sists of 19 floors of 600m≤ each, along with additional clinics between 160m2 and 600m≤. An additional eightstorey facility flank ing the main building is allocated for boutique clinic services, Eng. Malhas said that revenues from the Clover Centre will be added to all revenues from Al Mazaya’s projects for income generating once the leasing process is complete.

Clover Centre is experiencing increased demand following its official inauguration, with the rate of leased units in the project having risen to over 70 percent. Al Mazaya is currently studying applications submitted by doc tors and medical clinics wishing to operate from Clover Centre, and according to Eng. Malhas the Centre has attrac ted a selected group of diverse modern medical specialties that meet the modern demand.

Eng. Malhas added that Al Mazaya is planning to use the 18th floor of the Centre as a multi-purpose hall to attract top doc tors in the areas of

stem cell medicine and antiaging preventive medicine, an additional service provided by Al Mazaya for its clients, investors and tenants.

Clover Centre has successfully completed the acquisition and installation of all required equipment for the fully-integrated services provided by the centre, including the first ultra-modern MRI scanners from Images Radiology to be installed in the Middle East.

O ther facilities include the Global Med Dermatology and Skincare Clinic, various medical laboratories, the 24-hour Clover Modern Pharmacy, the Kids Smile Children’s Clinic, Baqi Cosmetic Dentistry, the Dental Lounge, a newborn centre, a neurological diseases centre, an orthopaedic surgery centre, an ENT clinic, an obstetrics and gynaecology clinic, an ERCP department, an internal medicine section, a section for the rehabilitation of patients suffering from chronic diseases, and a centre for the prevention and treatment of agerelated diseases.

Caesars Holidays bags Cox & King’s top performer award for ME 2010 KUWAIT: Caesars Holidays bagged the prestigious Cox & King’s top performer award for the Middle East 2010. Caesars Holidays represents Cox & Kings as the General Sales Agent for Kuwait. Cox & Kings, the leading, oldest and the world’s longest established travel company, organizes high quality group tours, private journeys and tailor-made holidays to many of the world’s most fascinating regions.

After the assignment as GSA, Caesars Holidays is proud to receive this award continuously for the years 2007 to 2010, showing the excellence in their performance. “It is our great pleasure to receive the award, but it would not have been possible without the excellent rates and services provided by Cox & Kings. We would also like to thank all our valued customers and let them know that it is due to their loyalty and faith in us that we have achieved this award”, said P N J Kumar, General Manager

of Caesars Travel Group.

This year Cox & Kings have come up with more attractive packages specially for Europe, USA, Fareast, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, China, Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Africa and many more. They have also introduced a number of new Relax and Explore holidays in the Caribbean islands of Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis and St Lucia. There will be untold surprises to discover that are once in a lifetime experience. Cox & Kings invites everyone to join with them to avail this unique opportunity of this special privileges on packages recently introduced by them. Cox & Kings has built on the tradition of high quality service and attention to detail established

by Richard Cox over 250 years ago and it now provides travel arrangements of the highest caliber in many of the most culturally and naturally fascinating parts of the world.

Zain to launch iPhone 4 in Kuwait soon KUWAIT: Zain will launch iPhone 4 in Kuwait in the coming weeks. iPhone 4 is the most innovative phone in the world, featuring Apple’s stunning Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone and FaceTime, which makes video calling a reality.

For further information, please visit www.kw.zain.com.

Burgan Bank announces daily winners of Yawmi Account KUWAIT: Burgan Bank amongst the leading and the most dynamic bank in the state of Kuwait announced the names of last week’s Yawmi account winners at the bank’s head office. Yawmi is the 1st account in the country to give away cash prize every day.

Muneera The lucky winners for Al-Mukhaizeem the five daily draws took home a handsome cash-prize of KD 5000 each. The lucky winners are: 1- Abdul-Kareem Suleiman Hamad 2- Mohammed Saleh Sabti Saleh Alsabti 3- Karim Mohammed Subhi Saeed Badawe 4- Mohd Mukhtar Al-Lababidi & or Marie el-Lababidi 5- Eid Hamad Khalaf M Al-Shemmeri Congratulating the winners, Burgan Bank Chief Retail Banking Officer- GM Muneera Al-Mukhaizeem said: “I extend my warm wishes to the winners of last week’s Yawmi draw. Yawmi today is a well understood product, the popularity of which can be seen from the number of increasing account holders. Burgan Bank has always been at the forefront of introducing innovative and differentiated products. Now, every single day represents yet another chance of winning KD 5,000.”

In 2009, Burgan Bank introduced a first-of-its kind draw account - Yawmi Account - which entitles customers who deposit KD 500 to win KD 5000 every single day (except weekends and public holidays). For every KD 50 deposited in your Yawmi Account you receive an additional entry into the draw, which means the more you deposit, the more chances you will have of winning.

For example, if you deposit the minimum of KD 500, you will receive 10 entries into the draw.

Opening a Yawmi account is simple, just visit your nearest Burgan Bank branch and get all the details. Or simply call our Call Center 1804080 and our executive will be more than happy to assist you. For further information visit www.burgan.com

UK lawmakers slam Kraft’s Cadbury deal

Caesars Holidays receiving the award from Tushar Shinde, Deputy General Manager, NRI Division of Cox & Kings, Bombay, for the best Middle East performer for the year 2010. Ramnath Naik, Deputy Manager (NRI Division of Cox & Kings), Ghazi AlAbdulrazzaq, Abdul Aziz Al-Mutawa and Lawrence D’Souza, Directors, P N J Kumar, General Manager, Vivek Shetty, Business Development Manager of Caesars Holidays and his team receiving the award.

LONDON: British lawmakers said yesterday they still have “significant concerns” about the takeover of chocolate maker Cadbury by Kraft Foods Inc — more than a year after the controversial deal. The Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee also strongly criticized Kraft’s chief executive Irene Rosenfeld for refusing to appear before parliamentary hearings into the takeover. The report — titled “Is Kraft working for Cadbury?” — said Kraft’s attitude to the inquiry “steered close to a contempt” of the House of Commons. —AP

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

.2700000 .4420000 .3820000 .3090000 .2790000 .2880000 .0040000 .0020000 .0747670 .7284350 .3810000 .0700000 .7140980 .0040000 .0430000

.2765000 .4530000 .3950000 .3210000 .2890000 .2970000 .0072500 .0035000 .0755190 .7357560 .4010000 .0770000 .7212750 .0072000 .0530000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2754000 .2775000 .4445090 .4478990 .3856290 .3885690 .3117500 .3141270 .2813940 .2835390 .0517120 .0521070 .0431880 .0435180 .2903130 .2925270 .0354180 .0356880 .2206020 .2222850 .0033830 .0034090 .0000000 .0061800 .0000000 .0025340 .0000000 .0032360 .0000000 .0038140 .0750100 .0755820 .7306980 .7362700 .0000000 .3925040 .0734600 .0740200 .7155110 .7209660 .0000000 .0064530

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

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.395 6.124 3.201 2.515 3.835 222.690 35.608 3.749

Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

6.380 9.113 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 73.843 76.086 719.240 735.290 75.386

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 48.750 46.455 1.267 199.140 391.040 183.700 5.978 35.351

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 276.800 Euro 390.980 Sterling Pound 449.660 Canadian dollar 284.660 Turkish lire 173.660 Swiss Franc 316.310 Australian dollar 292.610 US Dollar Buying 275.600 GOLD 279.000 140.000 72.000

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

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

SELL CASH SELL DRAFT 296.200 294.700 735.760 735.760 4.000 3.755 286.700 285.200 543.400 14.100 54.100 167.800 225.200 47.690 46.580 393.700 392.200 36.280 36.130 6.380 6.130

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

0.033 0.240 0.242 3.490 392.350 0.187 94.340 47.600 4.340 222.400 1.876 51.600 718.600 3.330 6.630 76.530 73.870 225.240 42.460 2.660 452.500 45.300 319.000 5.900 9.510 198.263 75.430 277.000 1.240

0.033

391.020 0.186 94.340 3.840 220.900

Sterling Pound US Dollar

317.500 5.900 9.310 75.330 276.600

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 450.500 276.600

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees

Selling Rate 276.200 287.845 450.205 393.945 312.458 731.016 75.176 75.843 73.623 390.159 46.552 2.512 6.142

3.242 3.756 6.364 677.498 3.492 9.175 6.025 3.916 90.836

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. 718.420 3.230 6.395 76.100 73.870 225.240 42.460 2.515 450.500

GOLD 1,566.350

10 Tola

Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

Currency 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 Canadian Dollars

Rate per 1000 (Tran) 276.600 3.210 6.135 2.530 3.765 6.425 75.410 73.965 735.400 46.450 453.600 0.00003280 3.910 1.550 393.000 5.750 394.900 289.050

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 275.250 Euro 392.000 Pound Sterling 450.300 Canadian Dollar 285.000 Japanese Yen 3.415 Indian Rupee 6.115 Egyptian Pound 46.440 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.513 Bangladesh Taka 3.745 Philippines Peso 6.372 Pakistan Rupee 3.220 Bahraini Dinar 735.700 UAE Dirham 75.250 Saudi Riyal 73.700 *Rates are subject to change

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TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

BUSINESS

2010: A year of recovery for many Kuwait stocks

Regional unrest could hit HSBC Mideast revenues DUBAI: Revenue growth at HSBC’s Middle East and North Africa operations will be hampered by the political unrest in the region, a senior executive said yesterday.

Turmoil has spread across the Arab world since January, leading to the ouster of longtime regimes in Tunisia and Egypt as well as clashes in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. Steve Bottomley, regional head of strategy and planning for HSBC, said revenue growth will be constrained by the political instability, especially ongoing uncertainty in Egypt, one of the largest markets for the bank in the region.

“It makes sense that with some of the instability in Egypt, it will impact revenue but we haven’t seen that yet,” he told reporters. Egypt is to set up a committee to settle problems surrounding investment contracts which have shaken confidence in its once booming property sector.

HSBC, which has some 250 branches and offices across the Middle East and North Africa region, said pretax profit for its regional operations grew 96 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to a bank presentation.

Bottomley said the British lender will see only marginal impact on its Qatar Islamic operations, adding existing customers will be offered a switch to conventional services.

In February, Qatar’s central bank asked conventional lenders to close down their Islamic operations amid worries of overlap between the two. Lenders have until Dec. 31 to shutter operations. The central bank has not provided further clarity. HSBC may expand its Islamic business, HSBC Amanah, in Oman which this month opened the door to Islamic finance for the first time, Bottomley said. Oman was the only Gulf Arab state which until now had not set up a bank specifically offering products and services complying with Islamic law. — Reuters

UAE interbank rates at 17-month low, seen falling DUBAI: United Arab Emirates interbank offered rates edged down yesterday to their lowest level in nearly 17 months as regional unrest helped increase liquidity in the Gulf oil producer’s banking system. The benchmark UAE three-month interbank offered rate was set at 1.884 percent at Monday’s fixing, below 1.889 percent yesterday and 1.915 percent seen before Dubai’s debt crisis hit in November 2009.

“There has been a notable rise in deposit rates in the first quarter of 2011, most likely supported by the regional political developments,” said Monica Malik, chief economist at EFG-Hermes.

“This increase in deposits has improved liquidity in the banking sector,” she said.

The three-month rate, calculated from quotes provided by a dozen banks, rose as far as 2.363 percent in July 2010 as Dubai debt troubles rocked the UAE banking sector. It remains well above the Saudi benchmark of 0.731 percent. Bank deposits in the OPEC member stood at 1,105 billion dirhams ($301 billion) in March, the highest level since at least end-2008 and up 5.3 percent since the turmoil in the Arab world started in December, central bank data showed.

The world’s No.3 oil exporter has escaped public protests that challenged autocratic regimes in nearby Bahrain and Oman. It has announced several measures to prevent social tensions.

“The expectation from the interbank market is that the 3-month EIBOR will continue to slide lower over the course of the year,” said Ehsan Ahmed, head of rates trading for Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered.

The UAE central bank had been urging banks to bring rates down and increase lending after September’s $25 billion debt restructuring deal with Dubai World.

A central bank official said earlier in May he expected EIBOR rates to decline further. However, despite banks being flush with deposits, credit in the second largest Arab economy is not seen picking up strongly as lenders stay cautious and the property sector remains weak.

“We continue to see relatively weak private sector credit growth this year,” Malik said.

UAE private sector credit was up 2.0 percent year-on-year in February, a second monthly rise in a row following at least 13 consecutive months of declines. It showed annual growth rates of above 50 percent at the height of the oil and property boom in 2008. — Reuters

KUWAIT: In 2010, earnings of the listed companies on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) excluding Non Kuwaiti firms, rose a staggering 319.5 per cent to KD 1.6bn as compared to KD 382mn in 2009, mainly driven by market heavyweight ZAIN’s KD 1.06bn profit that included a one-time capital gain of KD 741.8 mn from the sale of its African unit.

Excluding ZAIN’s one-time profit for 2010, aggregate market earnings would have increased by 125 per cent to KD 860 mn. Net profits of the Banking sector surged 62 per cent to KD 575.4 mn in FY10 against KD 355.8 mn the previous year, mainly driven by the drop in loan loss provisions (LLP) booked during the year which plunged by 31 per cent to KD 507.7 mn. Although a number of investment companies resorted to rescheduling of its debt obligations, persisting lack of confidence and transparency led the investment sector to continue its lackluster performance in 2010. During 2010, the Investment sector incurred losses of KD 138 mn, a significant reduction as compared to massive losses of KD 415mn incurred in 2009 mainly due to a drop in impairments on investments.

Devaluation of investment properties and rising impairments weighed down on the real estate companies, as the Real Estate sector continued to incur losses of KD 95 mn in 2010 as compared to a loss of KD 98.4 mn in 2009. A rebound from the crisis lifted the Industrial sector to post a second year of profits of KD 78.4 mn, charting a 380 per cent growth over 2009. Meanwhile, ZAIN’s sale of its African unit boosted the Services sector’s earnings for the year recording profits of KD 1.1 bn as compared to KD 470.5 mn in the previous year. Excluding the extraordinary profit from the deal, the sector’s profits would have declined to KD 364.8 mn due to diminished returns posted by Agility and The Sultan Center. The Food sector witnessed its profits grow 7.5 per cent to KD 52.7 mn, supported by sector heavyweight Americana, while the Insurance sector was the best performer for the year with a 430 per cent growth in profits to KD 22.1mn.

The top 10 companies by profit dominated earnings for the second year running as they represented the vast majority of the market’s earnings. The combined profits of the KSE’s top 10 profitable companies stood at KD 1.81 bn, compared to KD 1.60 bn for the entire market. Furthermore, other loosing companies in the market managed to narrow their losses from KD 475 mn in 2009 to KD 207.5 mn in 2010, suggesting that the market situation is improving. The earnings indicate that the top brass companies in Kuwait have core operations that generate revenues even in economic downturn, and thus proving to be more resilient to the boom-bust cycle of the economy than their peers in the market.

The top performer for the year from this segment was Zain having recorded profits of KD 1.062 bn or 59 per cent of top 10 profitable stocks; however excluding Zain’s non-recurring profit of KD 741.8 mn, its profits would have recorded KD 321 mn, yet still the most profitable listed company in Kuwait, followed closely

KAMCO ECONOMIC REPORT

by NBK with a net profit of KD 302 mn.

In Q1-11, earnings of 150 listed companies excluding Non Kuwaiti firms, rose 61 per cent to KD 563.6 mn as compared to KD 350.5 mn in Q1-10, mainly driven by market heavyweight National Mobile Telecommunication Co’s (NMTC) profit of KD 285 mn. The surge in NMTC’s profits is attributed to the group re-measuring of its previous held interests in Tunisiana at fair value and recognizing a revaluation gain of KD 278 mn. Excluding NMTC’s profit, aggregate market earnings would have dropped by 14.8 per cent to KD 298.6 mn as compared to KD 350.5 mn recorded in Q1-10.

Banking Sector Higher net profits Led by a drop in Loan Loss Provisions: driven by the drop in loan loss provisions (LLP) booked during the year which plunged by 31 per cent to KD 507.7 mn, the aggregate net profits of the Banking Sector grew 62 per cent to KD 575.4 mn in 2010 as compared to KD 355.8 mn in 2009. In terms of profitability, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) remained the most profitable bank in Kuwait and witnessed its yearly profits grow 13.7 per cent to KD 302 mn, constituting around 52.4 per cent of Kuwaiti banks’ combined net profits during 2010, although down from a share of 74.6 per cent in 2009. The growth in NBK profits can be mainly attributed to the substantial drop of 64 per cent in LLP to KD 19.9mn as compared to KD 55.6 mn booked in 2009. During 2010, NBK witnessed its net interest income decline by 4.7 per cent to KD 358.7mn as compared to KD 376.8mn in 2009 due to the tight credit conditions, low demand for credit and drop in interest rates along with a stagnant growth in credit. During the year, NBK’s net loan portfolio grew a marginal 0.5 per cent to KD 7.8bn, lagging

behind the annual growth rates of 12.4 per cent and 17.5 per cent recorded in 2009 and 2008, respectively. The slowdown in growth is mainly attributable to the impact of the financial crisis coupled with low demand for credit and the bank’s conservative lending policies given the impact the financial crisis had on the economic activity. NBK strengthened its equity base in 2010 by 21.5 per cent to KD 2.2 bn compared to KD 1.8 bn in 2009.

During 2010, sector heavyweight Kuwait Finance House (KFH) witnessed its net profit drop 10.7 per cent to KD 105.9 mn from KD 118.7mn a year earlier mainly on the back of booking additional provisions of KD 198.6mn against impairments and loan losses. Gulf Bank, after posting losses for two consecutive years, witnessed its net profit trudge back into positive territory to KD 19.1 mn in 2010 from a net loss of KD28 mn in 2009 mainly due to a rise in its net interest income and operating profits which rose 15.3 per cent and 57.9 per cent to KD 103.4 mn and KD 140.1 mn respectively.

Bank’s Revenue Stream: Interest income generated by Kuwaiti banks dropped during 2010 by 10 per cent to KD1.79 bn due to the tight credit conditions and low interest rates along with the stagnant growth in loan portfolio driven by elevated credit and market risk which pushed banks to implement conservative lending policies. Net interest income was almost flat at KD 1.2 bn, while non-interest income (fees & commission and FX income) edged down by 1 per cent to record KD 602 mn, an indication of slowdown in economic activity in the private sector. The Banking sector has maintained the same level of operating income since 2007 at around KD 1.8 bn, despite the challenging business

environment and the repercussions of the financial crisis. However, elevating market risk and provisioning weighed down on profitability and eroded part of operating profits. KFH generated the highest operating income during 2010 at KD 573.4 mn, followed by NBK with an operating income of KD 498.6 mn. In line with the sector’s positive performance during FY 2010, the sector’s core profitability ratio, Return on Average Equity (ROAE) improved to 10.4 per cent, up from 7.5 per cent in 2009, yet still below the 23.5 per cent recorded during 2007.

The improvement in ROAE is mainly attributed to the lower provisioning and impairments losses for investment securities which dropped to KD 508 mn compared to KD 740 mn in 2009.

Healthier Profitability in Q1-11 driven

by Low Provisions: Kuwaiti banks’ profits continued to improve in Q1-11 on the back of lower provisioning against doubtful loans. Despite the challenging business environment, aggregate net profits surged 19.5 percent in Q1-11 to KD 156 mn ($554 mn) up from KD 131 mn ($464 mn) in Q1-10. This increase was mainly fuelled by the 15 percent drop in provisions & impairments to KD 116 mn ($412 mn) down from KD 136.7 mn ($485 mn) booked in Q1-10. Despite the unfavorable business environment, provisioning has been on a downward trend since 2010 as some highly indebted companies succeeded in rescheduling their financial obligations and asset prices bounced back from their lows in 2009. In fact, total assets registered a growth rate of 3.4per cent over the first quarter of 2011 alone, which came despite a modest increase of 0.9per cent in Net Loans and Advances reaching KD 27.8 bn, over the same period. Loan growth improved slightly during the year leading to March 2011 to 2.8per cent in comparison with 2010 growth rate of 1.7per cent while it is considered to be significantly slower than 2009’s and 2008’s growth rate of 4.4per cent and 17.5per cent, respectively. Credit facilities are still held back by the ongoing recovery in economic activity.

Outlook In the long run, local banks are expected to benefit from favorable demographics, rising oil revenues and the Government’s decision to finance part of its KD 30bn development plan through the financial system. However, in the current scenario the banks’ performance continues to be constrained by weak credit growth and high NPLs. Most banks have been impacted by exposure to the Kuwaiti investment and real estate sectors which has forced banks to book high provisions and strengthen capitalization. The exposure to the troubled investment sector, and high-profile regional companies which have been restructuring debts, has weighed heavily on profits in the banking sector. The Banking sector is expected to continue witnessing growth in its bottom-line in 2011, to be driven largely by a decline in provisions, which was reflected in better than expected profitability during Q1-11 that reached KD 156 mn as compared to KD 131 mn in Q1-10.

European debt crisis shakes markets again

LISBON: Antonio (R) and his wife Rosalia meet with an adivisor to resolve their financial problems at the Deco Consumer Protection Association office in Lisbon. Antonio and his wife Rosalia, both in their 50s, owe 50,000 to 60,000 euros. Rosalia is unemployed and Antonio is a waiter who earns 900 euros a month. In 2010, Deco received over 17,000 calls for help from families in debt, twice more than in 2008.

And in the first three months of 2011, the number of cases already opened is 22 percent higher than in 2010. — AFP

Doha Bank sees no layoffs in Islamic business ABU DHABI: Doha Bank will not lay off any employees impacted by the Qatar central bank’s ban on conventional banks engaging in Islamic finance, its chief executive said yesterday. Raghavan Seetharaman said the bank will honor existing commitments from Islamic business undertaken before Qatar’s decision. “We have committed billions of riyals that we have to go ahead and finance. There is no stopping on that,” Seetharaman told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi. Seetharaman said the bank will retain its Islamic branch employees to oversee the sharia-compliant business it currently has but is not writing new business. He added that excess staff has already been deployed to its conventional operations. — Reuters

LONDON: Europe’s debt crisis returned to shake markets yesterday as fears over the solvency of Greece combined with concerns that Spain, or even Italy, may be dragged into the turmoil that has already seen three euro countries bailed out.

Stocks and the euro tanked on a toxic brew of credit rating downgrades, a heavy electoral defeat for Spain’s governing party and disagreements among top European officials on how to deal with the crisis. “It was a bad weekend for the euro-zone and in particular for those politicians and financial authorities trying desperately to keep the euro project together,” said Jeremy Batstone-Carr, director of private client research at Charles Stanley.

Investors watched aghast last week as top policymakers clashed over how to deal with Greece’s mountain of debt. While policymakers at the European Central Bank warned of the catastrophic effects of a Greek debt restructuring, officials in Brussels suggested a delay in bond repayments could help give Greece more time to regain market trust. Amid the confusion, Fitch on Friday downgraded Greece further below junk status and Standard & Poor’s the next day lowered Italy’s rating outlook. Tensions were further heightened over the weekend when the governing Socialists in Spain took a battering at regional polls as voters protested against the scale of austerity cuts at a time

when one in five people are looking for work. The epicenter of the market tensions, however, was in Greece, analysts said.

After repeated warnings that Greece is behind schedule in its austerity reforms, some investors worry the country may not get its next bailout installment — which it needs to avoid default — from its partners in the euro-zone and the International Monetary Fund European officials have warned Greece needs to find cross-party support for new reforms, including privatizations, but that political unity seems distant. Though Greece managed to get a 110 billion euros ($154 billion) financial lifeline just over a year ago, the consensus in the markets is that it will have to get a second bailout in the next few weeks if it’s not to avoid some sort of default of its debt.

Prime Minister George Papandreou conceded as much over the weekend when he said the country was unlikely to be able to tap bond market investors next year — last year’s three-year package of loans was predicated on it being able to do so.

The prevailing view in the markets is that Greece will get more aid, partly because not doing so may cause an even bigger crisis for the euro. Austrian National Bank governor Ewald Nowotny suggested in Vienna on Monday that the EU Commission and IMF could consider more financial support. With uncertainty lingering over Greece’s eco-

nomic future, investors ran for cover, selling off stocks around the world. Markets outside Greece were affected because many foreign banks would be hit by a default there. Most of Europe’s stock markets ended over a percent lower yesterday, with Italy ’s main exchange underperforming with a 3 percent decline.

The euro was clearly in the firing line, dropping over 2 cents at one stage to briefly fall below the $1.40 mark for the first time in two months. The currency was down 0.7 percent at $1.4032 by late afternoon. As Greece’s borrowing costs surged to another record high on Monday, the country’s cabinet was meeting to put the final touches to another batch of austerity measures that would last beyond the current government’s term in office.

Papandreou was to meet opposition leaders on Tuesday to seek consensus on the measures and assure investors that they would not be scrapped by the next government to come to power.

But markets seemed unconvinced that more reforms would do anything other than buy Greece more time. “Until euro area policymakers understand that monetary union has intrinsic weaknesses and fragilities embedded in its infrastructure and fail to respond at the system-wide level, periods of financial instability will continue to be a feature,” said Jacques Cailloux, European economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland. — AP

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BUSINESS

KSE stocks drop sharply GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange closed sharply lower yesterday after a source told Reuters that Bahrain Telecommunications Company’s (Batelco) joint $950mn bid for a 25 percent stake in Zain’s Saudi unit has hit a snag over management rights. The market reacted negatively on this news taking Global General Index to close sharply down, its lowest level since March 20, 2011.

Global General Index (GGI), market weighted, ended the day down by 0.89 percent, at 198.39 point. Market capitalization was down for the day at KD32.53bn.

On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 6,443.4 point, shedding 47.80 points (0.74 percent) to its previous close.

Market breadth During the session, 100 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 68 equities retreated versus 9 that advanced. Trading activity was down this session.

The trades conducted in the real estate sector. Total volume traded was down by 9.27 percent with 143.61mn shares changing hands at a total value of KD16.85mn (4.06 percent higher compared to the day before). The real estate sector was the volume leader yesterday, accounting for 39.42 percent of total shares. The banking sector was the value leader, with 30.41 percent of total traded value. Kuwait International Bank was the most active in terms of values of shares traded during the session, with 5.25mn shares exchanged at an aggregate value of KD1.74mn.

In terms of top gainers, A’ayan Real Estate Company took the top spot for the day, adding 7.58 percent and closed at KD0.071.

Earlier yesterday, Aayan Leasing and Investment Company signed a KD205mn ($743.6mn) debt restructuring deal with creditors.

This amount is 62 percent of the Aayan’s total debts, it said in a statement.

On the other hand, Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Company shed 9.43 percent and closed at KD0.024, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sector-wise Sector-wise, seven out of eight sector indices went down for the day, with Global Services Index being the biggest loser as it decreased by 1.44 percent to close at 860.99 points. This was due to the drop seen on Zain’s share price, which decreased by

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

1.85 percent to reach KD1.060.

Global Real Estate Index was the second biggest decliner, shedding 1.32 percent from its value to close at 52.30 points. The drop of the index was caused by the share prices of heavyweights Mabanee Company which decreased by 2.27 percent and National Real Estate Company which decreased by 1.92 percent.

During the session, all Global Special indices ended the day on a negative note, with Global Small Cap (Low 10) Index being the top loser, shedding 2.31 percent from its value to reach 5,147.64 points.

This was due to Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Company and International Resorts Company’s share prices, as they both shed

9.43 percent and 5.32 percent, respectively. Global High Yield Index was the second largest loser, decreasing by 1.61 percent to reach 151.76 points.

Ikarus Petroleum Industries Company a unit of National Industries Group Holding, has reached a preliminary agreement with a local bank to reschedule for five years its maturing debt valued at KD33mn ($19.4 mn).

Al Safat Energy Company has suspended its operations in Libya and looks forward to entering the Sudanese market. The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $107.42 a barrel on Friday, compared with $107.88 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Oil falls more than $3 on euro-zone debt woe LONDON: Crude oil futures slipped more than $3 yesterday due to the peripheral euro zone’s debt crisis, which pushed the dollar to a twomonth high versus the euro and knocked broader equity markets lower.

North Sea Brent crude futures led the oil complex lower, trading down $3.36 at $109.03 a barrel by 1250 GMT, having dropped by $3.81 earlier.

US crude was trading $2.95 lower at $97.15. “The ratings cut for Italy and concern over Greek restructuring and the subsequent euro weakness appear to have prompted the price fall in crude this morning,” said Mark Thomas, head of energy Europe with brokerage Marex Financial.

The dollar rose against the euro as a block of bad news about the eurozone crisis hit the single currency.

Fitch Ratings cut Greece’s debt rating by three notches on Friday, pushing the country’s debt deeper into junk status, and rival Standard & Poor’s cut its outlook for Italy to “negative” from “stable” on Saturday.

Investors also worried that the defeat of the Spanish ruling Socialist party at weekend local elections could have further implications for the country’s debt status. “A worsening Spanish debt picture may mean that the country could conceivably follow Portugal, Ireland and Greece in negotiating a rescue package, a

development that, in our view, could potentially crack the euro,” MF Global analysts said in a note. The euro fell below $1.40 briefly, the level which had been seen as an important support.

Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix said the euro would remain the key focus for global investors. “Crude oil has not been able to find any follow-through buying over the last ten days and without new fundamental developments it is likely to be harder to find strong fresh buying into crude oil if the Euro weakens further,” Jakob said.

European shares suffered the same fate as the euro, with the FTSEurofirst 300 index selling off 1.4 percent. Risk aversion spread beyond Europe.

World stocks as measured by MSCI were down more than 1 percent.

European airlines were sold because of the concerns over the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland. The eruption of Iceland’s most active volcano closed the island’s main airport. Aviation authorities in Iceland said it hoped to reopen Keflavik airport later yesterday. Other European nations watched for any impact on their air routes from a towering plume of smoke and ash.

But experts said they saw little chance of a repeat of last year’s sixday closure of airspace, which also hit transatlantic flights, when another Icelandic volcano erupted. —Reuters

Dinar stable at 0.275 KUWAIT: Exchange rate of the Kuwaiti dinar remained stable at KD 0.275 per dollar, and decreased against the euro, recording KD 0.388, the Central Bank of Kuwait said yesterday.

The Kuwaiti dinar stood against the

pound Sterling at 0.447, also remaining at the same level against the Japanese yen, at KD 0.003, and decreased to KD 0.313 against the Swiss franc, Kuwait’s state monetary authority said in its daily bulletin. —KUNA

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Energy outlook

Smart Grid offers smarter alternative

By Roy Hodges he effective management of energy resources has never been so critical. With fuel prices once again on a strong upward trend, concerns about pollution and the environment and a new fear of nuclear energy triggered by events in Japan, the need to optimize our finite energy resources has driven producers and consumers alike in the Middle East to seek out solutions to address the problem.

Electricity authorities in the Middle East face oil deficits, budget cuts, decreases in natural resources and political disputes leading some of them to do the unthinkable - cutting domestic power supplies as a way of power rationing.

Restricted energy supply has already led to problems across the region. Lebanon suffers from a lack of fuel that makes it impossible to manage reliable power supplies: power outages from 1 to 20 hours a day plague in its southern regions. In other countries, like Iraq, the traditional grid does not even have the capacity for domestic use, leading to power outages in many areas where electricity is only available for a few hours a day.

Egypt, which has become a topic of the moment for reasons other than its energy needs, has also recently experienced the regional energy crisis, choosing to stick with a traditional grid solution and setting out a federal plan to increase its grid by 500 megawatts at huge cost to the country. And even the UAE, an affluent oil producing nation, has suffered power cuts in the hot summer months.

Even as the GCC adds more countries to its regional grid to enable it to share excess power between countries, power consumption continues to rise and electricity crises in Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon and others are still becoming more of a problem. Coupled with the increased cost and scarcity of energy sources available to countries, the need for a solution that manages demand, minimizes loss and encourages sensible consumer behavior is now more critical than ever.

Smarter management The two biggest problems for utility companies, when distributing energy, are managing peak demand and minimising energy wastage.

Electricity can’t really be stored, so if you need it now, you have to make it now, and when you make it, you use it or lose it. Continued expansion of generation capacity is essential to meeting long term demand growth and ultimately involves building more expensive power stations and widening the distribution grid. Recent technology advances can mitigate this requirement by using a smarter solution - one that can manage the entire utility supply chain from generation, through transmission and distribution to consumption by the end user, and all in near real time.

A Smart Grid upgrades grid communications infrastructure to enable real-time management of the electricity grid and its components. Being able to read electricity meters every 15 minutes instead of once a month, for example, allows a far greater understanding and forecasting of user demand. Extending this capability to the end users themselves, via an Internet portal, allows customers to monitor their usage by time of day and even by type of device, increases conservation awareness and saves customer costs with adjusted usage patterns. Remote immediate disconnect and reconnect improves customer service and satisfaction. Real time feedback of the entire distribution system allows better outage management for the utility, while reducing downtime and enhancing customer communications.

A service area-wide Smart Grid network is a complex “network of networks” infrastructure that invariably requires multiple communications layers and technologies such as fibre and metro-scale wireless infrastructure. It has to have “utility grade” resiliency, security and reliability, and must deliver complete connectivity to all grid components, including customer meters located throughout the service area. Fortunately, such technology is now available, proven and cost effective, with many deployment examples around the world, including in the Middle East.

The business case for building such networks is now becoming inescapable, with the network infrastructure and deployment costs and schedules normally being a fraction of the cost of the new power generation facilities they can save.

Utilities can often leverage important current assets, such as sub-station buildings and existing fibre infrastructure to accelerate deployment schedules and minimize costs. The network infrastructure can be multi-use, allowing the deployment of multiple Smart Grid applications such as metering, SCADA control and mobile workforce automation over the same infrastructure. Each application is provided with specific bandwidth, service quality and appropriate security policies up to the most stringent, military grade security if required. Delivering true broadband data rates, properly designed Smart Grid networks have sufficient capacity to even support non-utility applications such as WiFi Internet, totally independently and securely over the same infrastructure.

Smarter consumers?

Nearly all utilities have a small but significant percentage (up to 5% or so) of their generation capacity standing idle for all but a few days a year of peak demand. Clearly, if demand can be leveled out to eliminate this peak, better use can be made of all generation plant, and expansion plans can be deferred - a significant saving. Smarter consumer and business usage behavior can achieve this saving. So customers must be encouraged to play an active role in saving electricity, normally via the stick-and- carrot approach of variable “time-of-use” tariffs, currently being considered by many regional utility companies, coupled with conservation awareness, education and incentives. In other words, it is important for consumers to understand that whilst a Smart Grid promises savings for responsible usage, irresponsible usage may come at a premium. For some, the cost of energy usage could go up.

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business

IFC’s merger with Kuwait Invest, Jizan Holding successful: Al-Roumi International Finance presents financial report

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The International Finance Company KSC (IFC) held its regular 31st General Assembly yesterday at the Courtyard Hotel. The board of directors reviewed the consolidated financial statements and independent auditors’ report for last fiscal year. The board submitted its annual report on the works and results of the company for the fiscal year that ended on December 31, 2010.

“The continuing difficult economic conditions and the financial crisis hitting the national economy since 2008 had been affecting all areas of the business sector in general and the performance of investment companies in particular. This has reflected negatively on the company’s 2010 results, compared to what had been achieved during the previous years,” Khalifa Al-Roumi, Vice Chairman of IFC said.

The impacts of the market on the investment sector did not shake the management’s confidence and its capabilities.

“One of the important achievements of the company was the successful merger with both Kuwait Invest Holding Company and Jizan Holding upon approval of the extraordinary General Assembly of the company. This merger

KUWAIT: Khalifa Al-Roumi, Vice Chairman of the International Financial Company addresses the general assembly yesterday. — Photo by Joseph Shagra would enhance the establishment of an investment and economic integrated high-quality entity specialized in the management of assets and the diversification of investment instruments in various sectors,” he added.

In 2010, the company suffered a loss of KD6,771,893 as a result of decrease in the investment portfolio’s value (compared to profits worth KD124.446 in 2009). This led

to the loss in share value of 14.6 fils compared to earnings per share of 0.26 fils in 2009. The total assets of the company amounted to KD 101.3 million in 2010 - a decrease of 24.3% compared to 2009.

“It is worth mentioning that the rest of the value of bonds with variable interest, amounting to KD10 million in March 2011, has been fully paid,” he stated.

The total equity as of 31 December,

2010 was about KD 77.9 million compared to KD 82.9 million in 2009. The reason behind merging the company was the growing plans, which needs great financial deposits. “ The company’s Administration wishes that in 2011, the company would grow to become a great economic institution that would take part in boosting the national economy,” AlRoumi said.

Spanish markets fall on govt election losses

TOKYO: A businessman passes before a share prices board in Tokyo yesterday. Japan’s share prices fell 146.45 points to close at five-week low of 9,460.63 points at the Tokyo Stock Exchange as machinery stocks and insurers dropped. —AFP

Britain’s banks fail to meet lending target LONDON: The British government has warned the country’s major banks that it wants to see a “significant improvement” in lending to smaller businesses after figures released yesterday fell well short of pledges. The Bank of England revealed that the “Big Five” banks lent some 16.8 billion pounds ($27 billion) in the first three months of the year to small and medium-sized enterprises.

That’s 2.2 billion pounds short of the amount they agreed to lend in the quarter under the so-called Project Merlin agreement with the government, a deal that has been criticized for being toothless.

“There is a serious problem with lending to good, small companies,” said Business Secretary Vince Cable.

“We looked to the Merlin agreement to rectify the problem and though these are early days we want to see significant improvement over the next few months.” Cable said the government will monitor the banks’ performance “extremely closely and if they fail to meet the commitments they have agreed we will examine options for further action.” The Conservative-led coalition government struck a deal with Britain’s top banks in February to curb bonus payments and boost lending to businesses as it sought to draw a line under a crisis that culminated in a multibillion-pound (-dollar) state bailout of the sector. Project Merlin followed a public outcry about the banks’ role in the financial crisis, including past large bonus payouts and ongoing criticism that they were hampering Britain’s economic recovery by failing to lend to businesses.

Banks pledged to increase lending to small and medium-sized businesses to 76 billion pounds this year, equating to 19 billion pounds in the first quarter. But the government also appeared to heed warnings from banks that excessive government interference would harm Britain’s position as a global financial center, and the deal did not include any enforcement measures or penalties should the banks fail to follow through on their commitments.

The British Bankers’ Association said the figures showed a solid start to the year and that available capacity was not fully taken up due to muted demand.

“Economic conditions remain challenging, and demand for lending is likely to vary through the year,” the Merlin banks — Barclays, HSBC, Santander, and part-nationalized lenders Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds — said in a statement. “So whilst these numbers are encouraging, it is too early to draw conclusions as to the year-end outcome.” Ed Balls, the opposition Labour Party’s Treasury spokesman, said that the figures were worrying “just at the time we need small and mediumsized businesses to grow so we can get our economy moving again.” — AP

MADRID: Spanish financial markets slumped yesterday after voters angry about austerity measures dealt the governing Socialist party a painful loss in local and regional elections, raising doubts over the country’s ability to enforce debt cuts.

Investors worried that the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had lost support in its drive to heal public finances and faced a period of political uncertainty. Daily protests against both the Socialists and the opposition conservatives, meanwhile, were spreading to cities across the country and expected to last for days. The Ibex 35 index on the Madrid stock market was down nearly 2 percent in midday trading and the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds on the secondary market was up to 5.6 percent. That indicates investors are more cautious about the country’s ability to repay its debts. The spread, or difference in yield between that bond and the equivalent benchmark German one, stood at about 255 basis points in the afternoon, up from 240 on Friday. A basis point is one-one hundredth of a percent. The governor of the Bank of Spain said the country cannot sustain spreads of more than 200 basis points for a sustained period because this will raise government borrowing costs and leave less money available for providing financing for companies and getting stagnant credit flowing again.

Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez also said in a speech that the gov-

ernment needs to press ahead quickly with labor market reforms to create jobs and reassure investors.

He called for more flexibility in how collective bargaining agreements are negotiated. Economists say the current system is too rigid because in a given sector it treats money losing and profitable companies with the same terms when it comes to giving workers raises. Alejandro Varela of brokerage Renta 4 in Madrid said that besides debt worries spilling over from other troubled countries such as Greece, investors feared that conservatives taking over town halls and regional governments might discover bigger debt piles than had been previously disclosed.

That’s what happened late last year when the wealthy and powerful Catalonia region held similar elections. The center-right Catalan nationalists took over from a Socialist-led coalition and recently announced the region’s deficit was much bigger than previously known. Catalonia did not vote on Sunday. In 13 other regions that were up for grabs Sunday, the conservative opposition Popular Party won virtually all of them from the Socialists, causing new debt concerns to sprout, Varela said.

“There had been speculation to this effect for a week and now that melon will be sliced open,” Varela said. The Popular Party also cleaned up at municipal elections by winning 2 million more votes than the Socialists with a margin of victory of about 10 percentage points. The

party said those numbers show Spain is hungry for change. Varela said he expects Zapatero to call early elections and that it would be good for the country, although the prime minister said Sunday night as he acknowledged defeat by his party that he would not and plans to serve out his term. General elections must be held by next March. Zapatero has said he will not seek a third term.

Varela said, “Spain is in a very weakened situation and this transitory period is particularly dangerous.” The elections were local and regional, but many Spaniards said they had the national picture in mind as they voted. The country is saddled with a euro-zone-high jobless rate of 21.3 percent and is struggling to recover from nearly two years of recession triggered by the collapse of a real estate bubble and the end of an overzealous period of free-flowing credit.

For the past week, central Madrid’s Puerta del Sol plaza has been home to a makeshift protest camp to mainly young Spaniards angry over their bleak economic prospects - the youth jobless rate exceeds 40 percent. The protesters dismiss both Socialist and conservative politicians as inept, corrupt and distant from the plight of everyday people.

N ightly protests there have drawn tens of thousands of people of all ages and spread to dozens of other cities. In Madrid, the protesters voted Sunday to dig in for at least another week at their camp. — Reuters

Ryanair warns on fuel costs, dismisses ash worries DUBLIN: Europe’s largest low-cost airline Ryanair said yesterday high fuel costs and a lack of growth in capacity would mean flat earnings this year after a 26 percent surge in 2010, sending its shares south.

A new volcanic eruption in Iceland prompted worries the ash cloud could affect airlines across Europe, but Ryanair said it did not expect a repeat of last year’s disruption which cost the airline 30 million euros and investors instead homed in on its subdued outlook.

The Irish airline, which operates more than 1,500 flights a day, said it expected traffic growth to slow to 4 percent in 2012 from 8 percent last year and that increases in average fares would be eaten up by higher fuel costs. Longer, more lucrative routes and growth in

VIENNA: European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn attends a press conference after a meeting of the National Bank on ‘The Future of European Integration: Some Economic Perspectives’ in Vienna, yesterday. — AP

France and Germany will help drive up fares, but this will be offset by higher costs and weakness in southern Europe and the Irish domestic market, CEO Michael O’Leary said.

“I see a lot of upside in us not growing for the next year or two, at least not growing in the top line,” O’Leary told a conference call with analysts. Ryanair will instead focus on cutting costs and increasing yields, he said.

Shares in Ryanair dropped in early trade, down 5.4 percent at 3.357 euros by 1000 GMT. “Given the fuel headwind and increased costs, they are being cautious, and this is what is weighing down the share price,” said Davy stockbrokers analyst Stephen Furlong.

O’Leary said he hoped the latest ash cloud would be less problematic than last year’s when European airspace was closed for six days and transatlantic flights hit. “I think the regulators are a bit more sensible than they were last year,” O’Leary said. “I hope there will be no airspace closures-there shouldn’t be, certainly not over any countries where we are flying.”

Ryanair’s competitor easyJet was down 4 percent yesterday morning. Lufthansa, AirFrance-KLM and IAG were all down around 3 percent.

Ryanair’s 26 percent surge in net profit for 2011 to 401 million euros was at the top end of the company’s guidance and above the 382 million average forecast by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. “The results were ok, but the focus is on the outlook,” said Johannes Braun, an analyst with Commerzbank.

“Given that Ryanair is already fuel hedged by 90 percent, the very cautious outlook came a little bit as a surprise.”

The airline has 90 percent of its 2012 fuel needs hedged at a cost of $820 per tonne, a level it said would give it an advantage over competitors. Costs will increase 13 percent in 2012 but would have increased just 2 percent without rising fuel costs, Ryanair said. — Reuters

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BUSINESS

It’s still mainly about the economy GLOBAL MARKETS WEEK AHEAD LONDON: From Arab revolt to disaster in Japan and the arrest of the head of the IMF, there have been enough big news surprises thrown at financial markets this year to prompt suggestions that Elvis will show up next.

But throughout it all, investors have pretty much focused on three interlinked issues-when the US Federal Reserve will stop creating liquidity, whether China can cool itself in a controlled manner, and if the world economy is really healed. Rising oil prices and unease over euro zone debt are crucial elements buried within. These issues have combined to keep investors cautious, but not overly so. Yields have risen but not blown out, and world stocks are gaining at a rate that would

lead to annual increases in the low double digits.

“It is clear that some investors have decided that they need to take some risk off the table but they do not want to take too much off,” said Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments.

The real stresses, however, lie ahead.

Investors are entering a heavy period for global economic data that will take on additional importance because it may reflect the first impact from Japan’s triple disasters in March.

It will also be hard to shake off concerns about what will happen when the US Federal Reserve ends its asset-buying quantitative easing (QE) program next month. QE has been described as

jumper cables on a dead car battery.

What happens when you unclip them?

A Reuters poll released in the past week showed that stocks, bonds, gold and the euro were all expected to fall in the three months after the end of QE2. Investors rarely wait for an event like that before acting on their holdings. For the coming week much of the data focus will be on Europe, with the release of euro zone purchasing managers’ indexes and various sentiment surveys.

Economists at ING reckon these will again point to a highly divided eurozone, with core economies such as Germany soaring away and the likes of Greece and Portugal struggling under the weight of debt-reducing fiscal

austerity. The past week showed how bond investors see the two groups. A bond auction in Germany threw out lower borrowing costs than previously while one in Portugal demanded higher coupons from the government.

Attention may be distracted by the comings and goings of world leaders, culminating in the Group of Eight summit in the French resort of Deauville.

It will follow an OECD anniversary bash which German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend, while U.S. President Barack Obama will also be on a pre-G8 European tour in Dublin, London and Warsaw.

None of this may add much to the

investment mood, but such events tend to create a background noise for markets, which may get louder if Merkel and Sarkozy in particular speak about euro zone debt.

As for Obama, one of his immediate problems is that the US debt ceiling has been hit. Treasury prices are reasonably stable for now, but a solution to the issue will need to be found for this to remain the case.

A wild card for attention in the coming week may be Turkey, up until recently a darling of emerging market investors. Turkey’s central bank holds a meeting on Wednesday at which it is expected to keep interest rates steady while increasing banks’ reserve requirements yet again. —Reuters

India PM eyes trade and China catch-up in Africa Six-day visit to Ethiopia, Tanzania begins ADDIS ABABA: Indian Prime Minister began a six-day trip to Africa yesterday, aiming to strike deeper economic ties with a continent rich in minerals and commodities, but where Asia’s third-largest economy lags rival China. Manmohan Singh will travel to Ethiopia and Tanzania for only the fourth African visit of his eight-year premiership, pledging development support in exchange for trade agreements to fuel growth in India’s resource-intensive economy.

He arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa yesterday and will visit Tanzania on Thursday.

At an address to an IndiaAfrica summit in Addis Ababa starting today, Singh will trumpet India’s historical and cultural links with the continent to representatives of 15 African Union members in an attempt to emerge from Beijing’s shadow. “The IndiaAfrica partnership rests on three pillars of capacity building and skill transfer, trade and infrastructure development,” Singh said in a departure statement.

“Africa is emerging as a new growth pole of the world, while India is on a path of sustained and rapid economic development.” Rival emerging economies India and China are scouring the globe to secure energy resources, minerals and food. Both are keen to stress to African nations that they are more than just trade partners and want to help the continent develop.

Singh is expected to announce

new lines of credit to African nations totalling around $600 million, and unveil plans to open regional centres of excellence and vocational training centres in countries such as Uganda, Ghana, Botswana and Mozambique. “This cooperation will continue to provide dividends that would impact on key sectors of our economies in areas such as infrastructure, scientific research, innovation and technology, as well as medicine and pharmaceuticals,” said John Kayode Shinkaiye, the African Union Commission’s chief of staff.

Both nations are also trying to extend their influence in Africa as they emerge as economic powers and appear keener to flex their diplomatic muscle. China is around a decade ahead of India in getting into Africa. Beijing’s investments in Ghana, for example, topped the all Indian investment in the continent in 2006.

Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender, is 20-percent owned by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Chinese compa-

nies are busy building roads across the continent, investing in the energy sector and are active in areas such as telecoms technology.

India is tr ying to secure a greater presence as well as get African support for its bid for a permanent place on the UN Security Council, as the body is reformed to include emerging powers and developing nations.

“India is massively playing catchup to China in Africa, and only in recent years is it trying to engage the continent in a serious way,” said Brahma Chellaney, professor at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research.

“But they are trying to build political and economic ties, and position itself as different to China, which has acquired the image of being a new imperial power.”

Total bilateral trade between India and African countries stood at $46 billion last year, a huge increase on $3 billion in 2000-1.

Volumes are estimated to reach

$70 billion by 2015, India’s Trade Minister Anand Sharma said on Saturday. China’s bilateral trade with Africa already stood at $107 billion back in 2008. India is one of the largest investors in Ethiopia with approved investment of $4.78 billion, of which about $1 billion is already on the ground or in the pipeline-with two-thirds of the investment in commercial agriculture.

India’s state-run oil firms are beginning to invest in countries including Nigeria and Kenya, while China has pumped billions of dollars into Sudanese oil, mineral-rich Zimbabwe, and Zambia’s mining sector, among other countries.

India imports 70 percent of its crude needs, and energy demand is expected to more than double by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.

India’s fledging investments are headed by telecoms firm Bharti Airtel’s $9 billion acquisition of Zain’s African assets last year. —Reuters

Copper down on dollar, Euro-one debt woes

ANHUI: A worker laying out gold necklaces at a gold shop in Huaibei, east China’s Anhui province. Gold, fresh from striking record highs at the start of this month, will enjoy buoyant demand this year, particularly from China and India, the World Gold Council said in a report . —AFP

Niger cuts 2011 budget as aid flows still crimped NIAMEY: The government of Niger’s new president Mahamadou Issoufou has trimmed the 2011 budget by 6.55 percent, in part to reflect expectations of reduced revenue from donor nations, the government said.

The impoverished West African uranium producer now forecasts spending of 940.7 billion CFA francs ($2.02 billion), down from about 1 trillion CFA francs projected by the military junta Issoufou replaced, it said.

Development aid was cut after former president Mamadou Tandja had the constitution changed in 2009 to extend his rule. The European Union, Niger ’s biggest donor, froze its aid, worth more than 450 million euros ($644.2 million) between 2008 and 2013. Tandja was toppled in a military coup in 2010 and a presidential election in March restored civilian rule-raising hopes aid flows would be restored.

The European Union’s executive arm proposed last July the resumption of development aid on condition Niger restored civilian rule by March 2011, but

no decision to resume the flow of funds has been announced.

“A review of projected income is justified by the uncertainty over the mobilization of revenue, the administration’s capacity to absorb external funds, and delays in the implementation of administrative measures on tax matters,” according to a government statement read over state television late on Sunday.

Niger’s government said the lower projected spending in 2011 would not affect its forecast for internal funds allocated to combat poverty and improve security and infrastructure.

Despite drawing billions of dollars of investment from oil and mining companies, resource-rich Niger remains one of the world’s poorest countries and its authorities have struggled with a growing presence of Al Qaeda-linked militants. Issoufou promised during his campaign to invest 6 trillion CFA over five years in agriculture, infrastructure, energy and other projects aimed at development and creating employment. —Reuters

LONDON: London copper fell yesterday, as part of a broad decline across the base metals complex, weighed down by a stronger dollar and euro-zone debt worries.

Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange dropped to $8,825 per tonne by 0931 GMT from $9,071 at the close on Friday. The metal used in power and construction fell to its lowest in nearly a week at $8,803. Base metal prices fell across the board, with tin hitting its lowest since January and nickel trading at its lowest since late November.

“Spain is back in focus in relation to debt and that is really a concern for the markets-it’s weighing on the euro, on risk sentiment in general and on commodities,” Danske Bank analyst Christin Tuxen said. “At the same time we just had euro land PMIs out ... We’ve seen activity slowdown and that is likely to be a problem for metals demand.”

The euro fell to a two-month low versus the dollar and a record low against the Swiss franc, hit by a barrage of negative news from the euro zone that could lead to further declines.

Investors had ample reasons to sell the euro, given doubts about Spanish austerity measures after the ruling Socialist party was defeated in regional elections, an outlook downgrade to Italy’s credit rating and escalating speculation over some sort of Greek debt restructuring.

Surveys showed growth in the euro-zone’s dominant service sector slowed faster than expected this month and manufacturers tapped the brakes as growth in new orders tailed off.

A stronger dollar makes commodities such as metals more expensive for holders of other currencies. In Asia, China’s imports of refined copper stood at 160,236 tons in April, down 48.3 percent from a year earlier.

China is the world’s largest consumer of industrial metals, accounting for nearly 40 percent of global demand estimated at around 21 million tons this year.

Global copper mine production hit speed bumps last quarter, interrupting a growth trend that the copper industry counted on to meet strong global demand and justify aggressive expansion plans.

At LME warehouses, rising copper inventories have put pressure on the metal. The latest data shows stocks rose to 468,175 tons.

LME stocks of aluminum fell by 2,325 tons, off a record high level of 4.71 million tons hit last week.

Cash aluminum to the three-month contract is now in a $13.50 a ton contango, or discount, that could discourage deliveries to LME warehouses. —Reuters

NEW DELHI: An Indian woman carries food materials that can be purchased for 20 rupees ($0.43) as she shouts slogans against the Indian Planning Commission outside its office after the commission set India’s national poverty line at 578 rupees ($12.8) a month, in New Delhi, yesterday. —AP

Kenya eyes Brazil, India, China trade to cut deficit South-to-south goods are affordable NAIROBI: Kenya plans to push trade with countries like Brazil, China and India, taking advantage of south to south cooperation, to bridge its trade deficit, a senior official said yesterday.

Data from the 2011 economic survey showed Kenya’s trade deficit grew by 17.6 percent to 537.59 billion shillings ($6.28 billion) in 2010 compared with 443.1 billion in the previous year.

Wycliffe Oparanya, Minister of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, told Reuters in an interview that the high import bill was expected due to rising international oil prices.

“We spend 50 percent of imports on oil. Our exports last year was just about 480 billion shillings against about a trillion of imports,” Oparanya said. Oparanya said the south-to-south cooperationtrade and investment with countries like China, India, Brazil-offered Kenya a lifeline because goods from those countries were more affordable compared with the more developed nations.

“We are emphasizing on south-tosouth corporation because technology (and machinery) is much cheaper, than if we were to import from the developed countries,” said Oparanya.

Asian countries with also form the south-to-south corporation remain as the dominant sources for Kenya’s imports, accounting for about 60 per-

cent. China takes a lion’s share of the this trade. Capital equipment for industrial and infrastructure development were also a major contributing factor to the widening balance of payment.

The economic survey showed the total ratio of exports to imports eased to 43.3 percent from 43.8 percent in 2009.

Imports from China rose by 62 percent to 120.6 billion shillings in 2010 while India registered a 24 percent growth to 103.2 billion shillings. However, exports to these countries form a fraction of the trade. The economic survey made no mention of Brazil, but Oparanya said the east Africa’s biggest economy was interested in machinery from there for the sugar sector. “There are some machines especially in the sugar industry that we can import from Brazil. You will find that the price is a quarter of what we would import from Germany,” said Oparanya.

Kenya’s Vision 2030 economic blueprint has identified the manufacturing sector as one of the main factors expected to drive down the import bill.

Oparanya reiterated Kenya’s economy would grow by 4.2 percent in 2011 compared with 5.6 percent last year, with the slowdown coming from high oil prices, a depreciating currency, erratic rains and reduced investor confidence as the country draws close to an election in 2012. —Reuters

HONG KONG: Traders go about business at the Stock Exchange in Hong Kong yesterday. Stocks closed down sharply to end the afternoon session down 488 points at 22 711. —AFP

Drought in EU and US stress crops, farmers PARIS/CHICAGO: Drought from Paris, France to Paris, Texas has farmers and grain dealers looking upwards. The farmers are looking to the skies for rain and the dealers are wondering where rising grain prices are going to stop.

US wheat prices are on their way to their biggest weekly gain and European benchmark wheat futures have jumped

just under 30 percent in the past nine weeks as wheat belts on both sides of the Atlantic show signs of irreversible drought damage. “ We need Mother Nature’s help to save a crop, which whatever happens will be mediocre,” said a senior European trader, referring to France, the EU’s biggest wheat producer. —Reuters

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TECHNOLOGY

Teething problems shadow India solar power dreams NEW DELHI: From a lack of data and trained manpower to dealing with inexperienced investors, India’s ambitious dream to boost solar power faces a host of problems that could slow plans to zoom production from near zero to 20 gigawatts by 2022.

Under its Solar Mission plan issued in 2009, India is to produce 1,300 megawatts (MW) of power by 2013, an additional supply of up to 10 gigawatts (GW) by 2017 and the rest by 2022 at an overall investment of about $70 billion.

Once implemented, the plan would see output equivalent to one-eighth of India’s current installed power base, helping the world’s third-worst carbon polluter limit reliance on coal and easing a power deficit that has crimped economic growth.

But, despite an encouraging start, several hurdles remain, clouding the possibilities of a sunshine sector that is seen as crucial to India’s energy security plans, according to Debashish Majumdar, chairman and managing director of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency.

“The Solar Mission has created tremendous interest in the solar field. There are

project developers, manufacturers, contractors - they all want to get into this big market that has been created,” Majumdar told Reuters in a weekend interview.

“But there are roadblocks. The biggest problem is lack of data. If you set up a large hydro project, nobody would even think of shovelling the first spade of sand from the site unless there is 40 years of data.

“In the case of solar there is no primary data. There is a lot of secondary data (from meteorological offices, NASA satellite studies). From all that you can do some sort of an analysis and come to a certain educated guess about what your generation is likely to be. What we don’t have is a correlation with the actual ground-level data.”

“That is going to make or break the project viability, especially because the project cost is very high,” he added.

This means banks and financiers of solar projects remain hesitant, not least because the field is an emerging sector where levels of uncertainty and risks are seen as high.

While the sector remains a high-risk venture in India, the promise of first-mover advantage and attractive returns in the

Sony stumbles: Did Stringer’s makeover fail?

TOKYO/NEW YORK: Had Sony stuck with the Airboard portable computer it launched in 2000, Satoru Maeda rather than Apple’s Steve Jobs might have been feted as the creator of tablet PCs. “I was the inventor of the Airboard,” says Maeda between mouthfuls of fried prawn and dumplings at a Chinese restaurant in downtown Tokyo.

He was referring to a flat panel device that predated the iPad by a decade yet boasted video, touch screen typing and Internet access.

A hefty price tag and patchy picture quality were among the reasons the product, which in hindsight looks like it was ahead of its time, didn’t initially take off. Internal politics and a series of disruptive divisional reorganizations ensured the product never got the management focus it needed to succeed, Maeda says.

Morphing it into Location Free TVa device through which you can watch local TV channels anywherewasn’t enough to convince Sony or the marketplace that it was going to work. The project once touted as being as revolutionary as the Walkman was dropped entirely in 2008.

Maeda said he knew a year earlier that Sony under Howard Stringer, who became CEO in 2005, was going to kill his invention. His boss sent him an email saying he was taking it over.

Soon after, he quit the company he had joined in 1979 when Sony launched the Walkman and was one of the coolest companies around. It was a heyday Stringer pledged to restore, but Maeda, who is now at audio visual equipment maker JVC Kenwood, no longer sees returning.

“Sony old boys liked Airboard and Location Free TV because it was doing something new, which is what they did at Sony,” said Maeda. “The current Sony people have no experience with such things because they haven’t introduced any new products for about 10 years.”

Still beset by turf wars, secrecy, complacency and a bloated innovation-killing corporate bureaucracy, Maeda and other Sony refugees insist their former employer is in dire straits and Stringer, who is 69, is running out of time to deliver on his promise of reinventing the company.

Certainly Stringer can boast of his role in developing 3D film-making and the victory of the Sony-backed Blu-ray technology in the next generation format wars. But Sony, despite its iconic brand, remains out of step with the rest of the global technology world and its talent for crowd-pleasing innovation has largely evaporated.

A hacking scandal in April that exposed more than 100 million accounts on its online gaming network to possible data theft not only hurt its image but threatens an online strategy meant to unite a disparate corporation and could upset a carefully crafted succession plan for when Stringer steps down.

It wasn’t so much the security breach itself but the delays in informing customers of the problem and Sony’s subsequent inability to quickly close other weak spots vulnerable to hackers that has left a stain. “ Too big to succeed comes to mind,” a former senior manager involved until recently with Sony’s PlayStation game console told Reuters, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the comments. “I was at PlayStation, considered the most flexible of the Sony units, but ironically that was crippled by over-secretive IT security, a lack of a coherent management structure and a lot of deadwood at the top. It was harder to work across Sony units than

long term is drawing a mixed bag of investors, many of them either inexperienced or in the game to make a quick profit.

Under the Solar Mission, investors have to bid to build solar power plants and the winning bids are determined by the electricity tariff that they accept as viable. Such has been the interest, that the government has been flooded investment pledges for the first batch of projects.

With about 250-300 clear sunny days in a year, India’s solar power reception is about 5,000 trillion kilowatt hour per year, meaning just 1 percent of India’s land area can meet the countr y ’s entire electricity requirements till 2030.

Such potential holds huge attraction for firms such as Tata BP Solar, a joint venture between Tata Power (TTPW.BO) and BP Plc’s (BP.L) solar unit, BP Solar, and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL.BO), a state-run power and engineering equipment firm, and Lanco Infratech (LAIN.BO).

“A whole lot of people have jumped into this taking this as the next big business opportunity in the country and they have

jumped into this without any knowledge,” Majumdar said.

“They are floundering around trying to find out which is the best thing they should do, where is the knowledge base, who are the experts, who is the consultant, who can give an accurate picture of what the issues are.

Such handicaps also come in the way of choosing the right technology, he said, a choice that has huge impact on project costs and the push to bring down the price of solar power.

While these are early days and solar’s steep costs, much like that of nuclear power, are a deterrent, government policy seems to be on the right track, Majumdar said.

An Indian government panel has said renewables costs had to be brought down to near par with coal-based electricity, the cheaper form of energy in India, by 2020.

Coal, available in abundance in India, provides power at about 2 rupees (4 cents) a unit, compared to a kilowatt hour of solar power at a range of 11 to 12 rupees.

“What time will tell us is whether these

policies are right, whether the assumptions behind these policies are good enough to make it work,” he said.

India faces a 12 percent power shortfall during hours of peak consumption, according to figures from the federal Planning Commission, which charts the country’s growth path.

The government has scaled down its target for the installation of new power generation capacity for the current five-yearplan, which ends in March 2012, to 62,000 MW from an initial estimate of 78,700 MW. Which is why solar is a key area in the renewables sector. Renewables contribute just about 6 percent of India’s total power mix. “So why are we doing solar when the costs are so high? Because there is reasonable hope that costs are coming down and coming down quite dramatically,” Majumdar said.

“Therefore, we get our feet wet today so that we are there when this thing really becomes the mainstay. But mainstay, when I use that word, will happen maybe many decades later but it is a process we need to go through today.” — Reuters

Explosion at China iPad factory shows supply risks ‘The major problem is quality and consistency’

TOKYO: CFO of Japan’s Sony Masaru Kato listens to questions during a press conference in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP to work with outside partners,” he said.

It isn’t only former insiders who see the magnitude of the problems.

A procession of top executives at US technology companies who spoke at a Reuters Global Technology Summit last week didn’t mince their words when asked about Sony. Robert Glaser, chairman of Internet media software company RealNetworks Inc, likened Stringer’s task of rehabilitating Sony to “introducing capitalism to a Soviet-bloc country after 50 years of communism.”

The erosion of Sony’s standing is a cautionary tale of what can happen to technology companies when innovators move on. Back when Sony, led by co-founder Akio Morita, launched the Walkman, it proved an inspiration to the founders of the then little known startup company: Apple Computers.

“Sony had the most incredibly well thought out products in the world. We wanted to be like that from day one,” Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, told Reuters recently. At the time, “no other company in the world was the model for consumer electronics.”

As Japan’s seemingly unstoppable economy expanded through the 1980s, Sony remained the consumer electronics benchmark as Morita handed over the creative mantle to maverick Norio Ohga, a trained opera singer who caught the founder ’s attention by writing to complain about the quality of Sony’s audio tapes.

Ohga, who died in April aged 81, is best remembered for convincing the world to give up vinyl in favor of CDs and for green-lighting one young executive’s ploy to beat Nintendo at its own game with the PlayStation.

The serial successes, though, bred complacency. “If you had the Sony name on the back of your shirt you were fine, so they stopped thinking,” Maeda says.

In 1989, the Japanese economic juggernaut stalled and the benchmark Nikkei index topped out just shy of 39,000, marking the start of an asset value slump that continues to sap Japan’s economic vitality 22 years later. That same year, amid a frenetic Japanese pursuit of landmark overseas assets, Sony made its first big mistake.

The company bought Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures for $3.9 billion from the Coca Cola Company. It was a business and culture that Sony didn’t fully understand and became a big distraction for management.

Five years later as Ohga handed Sony over to Nobuyuki Idei it was forced to write off $2.7 billion from the purchase after a string of costly box-office flops.

Seven years later, Apple’s Steve Jobs, inspired by Sony’s Walkman, launched the iPod digital player. It was a seminal event for Apple and a huge warning for Sony.

BEIJING: An explosion at one of two factories that make Apple’s new iPad 2 highlights the risks of a global manufacturing strategy that has cut costs but concentrates production in a few locations.

Foxconn Technology Group, the contractor that manufactures Apple’s iPhones and iPads, said Friday’s blast in the western city of Chengdu killed three employees and injured 15. The Taiwanese company said production was suspended but did not respond to questions Monday about how supplies of iPads might be affected.

Foxconn said the blast was caused by combustible dust in a workshop that polished products. It said operations in workshops that do similar work at its other factories in China would be suspended pending an investigation. Estimates by industry analysts of the impact on iPad production ranged from minimal to up to 2.8 million units in lost output.

That is equal to just over half the number sold in the first three months of this year but Apple says sales are so strong it already is struggling to keep up with demand.

“There probably is going to be no impact” if production resumes as expected in the next few days, said Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang in Taipei. “If this safety inspection drags on for two or three weeks, then there will be an impact on production.” Coming as global auto and electronics makers struggle with parts shortages caused by Japan’s March 11 tsunami, the disaster emphasized the pitfalls for companies whose global sales depend on one or two factories. “If you are trying to do as much as you can in one place to reduce the risks of an overextended supply chain, then you are very dependent upon the safety of those one or two factories,” said David Dayton, owner of Silk Road International Inc., which manages purchasing and manufacturing in

China for foreign customers. Electronics makers such as Foxconn have flocked to China, drawn by a low-cost workforce and good infrastructure, making it the global manufacturing center for computers and consumer electronics.

All of Apple’s iPads are produced at Foxconn factories in Chengdu and Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, said Chang. But he said that is not overly concentrated in an industry in which a contractor with a single factory might supply a laptop computer sold worldwide.

Foxconn, a unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is a leader in a contract manufacturing industry that helps global electronics brands hold down costs. Chinese factories produce 80 to 90 percent of the world’s notebook computers and 50 to 60 percent of mobile phones. Foxconn illustrates the complex web of trade and investment ties between China and Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory.

Taiwanese companies have invested tens of billions of dollars in the mainland, despite their government’s lack of formal ties with Beijing. They make clothing, toys and other goods and are moving into higher-value electronics and computer chips.

Foxconn delivers savings for Apple, Hewlett-Packard Inc. and other customers by operating on a vast scale. It employs an estimated 1 million to 1.1 million people on the mainland in a half-dozen sprawling campuses the size of small cities.

The potential pitfalls of such massive concentration were driven home when Japan’s tsunami forced thousands of factories to shut down, abruptly cutting off supplies of key auto and electronics components. Auto factories as far away as Louisiana were forced to suspend production. Industry analysts said the shock was likely to prompt manufacturers

to reconsider supply strategies that can depend on a handful of producers in distant locations. Contract manufacturers find China so appealing that “clients really would have to pay them extra to leave China and set up production elsewhere,” said Citigroup’s Chang.

In China, potential supply chain problems can be traced in part to companies’ decisions over the past decade to use fewer suppliers both to save money and to be able to monitor them more closely.

Customers get lower prices by placing giving more business with one company and want to watch suppliers carefully following a string of scandals over shoddy or toxic Chinese-made toothpaste, tires and other goods. Dayton said some of his customers that buy millions of dollars worth of Chinese goods each year choose to deal with only one or two suppliers.

“The major problem is quality and consistency,” he said. “If we diversify the number of factories we work with, we are just adding headaches and adding that many more opportunities to get lesser-quality products.”

Demand for iPads is so strong that Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, said last month the Cupertino, California-based company was working through “the mother of all backlogs” on orders.

Still, Apple’s market position is so strong that it can easily ride out potential supply disruptions, said David Wolf, a technology marketing consultant in Beijing. “A few issues on the supply chain aren’t going to hurt it now,” said Wolf, CEO of Wolf Group Asia. But he said Apple could face challenges from products such as Google Inc.’s tablet computer.

“They’ve got competitors who are running very hard to catch up,” Wolf said. “So these aren’t issues today but that will not always be the case.” — AP

Toyota to set up social networking service TOKYO: Toyota is setting up a social networking service with the help of a US Internet company and Microsoft so drivers can interact with their cars in a way that ’s similar to posting on Facebook or Twitter. Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. and Salesforce.com, based in San Francisco, announced their alliance yesterday to launch “Toyota Friend,” a private social network for Toyota owners.

In a demonstration at a Tokyo showroom, an owner of a plug-in Prius hybrid found out through a cell phone message from his Prius called “Pre-boy” that he should remember to recharge his car overnight.

When the owner plugged in his car to recharge it, the car replied, “The charge will be completed by 2:15 a.m. Is that OK? See you tomorrow.” Since many next-generation cars need to be recharged, drivers may need realtime information, such as the battery level of their cars and locations of charging stations, more than regular gas-engine cars.

The exchanges can be kept private or be shared with other “Toyota Friend” users, as well as made public on Facebook, Twitter and other services, the company said. The companies did not give details of how the technology, such as the content of the talking car’s dialogues, will be managed. But officials said the answers will be automated through sensors in the car.

If your car is up for an inspection, for example, the owner will be notified through “ Toyota Friend,” which will in turn automatically link to a dealer to set

up an appointment. Toyota is investing 442 million yen ($5.5 million), Microsoft Corp. is investing 335 million yen ($4.1 million) and Salesforce.com 223 million yen ($2.8 million) in the project.

Many cars are already equipped with navigation and other network-linking capabilities that make them almost like mobile devices.

Toyota’s ser vice, built on open-source cloud platforms that are the specialty of Salesforce.com, as well as on Microsoft’s platform, will start in Japan in 2012, and will be offered later worldwide, initially with electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, according to Toyota.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda, a racing fan, said he always “talks”

with his car when he is zipping around on the circuit.

With the popularity of social networking, cars and their makers should become part of that online interaction, he said.

“I hope cars can become friends with their users, and customers will see Toyota as a friend,” he said. Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff said social networks can add value to products and companies. It can also help Toyota gain massive information not only about their buyers but about how the car is working or not working, he said.

“I want a relationship with my car in the same way we have a relationship with our friends on social networks,” he said.

Toyoda, who has always been

interested in telematics, or the use of Internet technology in autos, has been aggressive in forging alliances with new kinds of companies, including one with US luxury electric carmaker Tesla Motors that he announced last year. Partnerships with dot.com types have been a bright spot in Toyoda’s bumpy career as president. He has faced growing doubts about reliability and transparency because of the massive global recalls that began two years ago, shortly after he took office, and which now affect more than 14 million vehicles.

Toyota is also battling parts shortages after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan destroyed key suppliers, hampering production. — AP

TOKYO: Salesforce.Com chief executive Marc Benioff speaks during a joint press conference with Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda in Tokyo yesterday. Salesforce.com, based in San Francisco, and Japanese automaker Toyota announced their alliance to launch “Toyota Friend,” a private social network for Toyota owners that works similar to tweets on Twitter. Japanese on top reads: Toyota Friend Network. — AP

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health & science

Cultured people happier, less stressed: Study PARIS: People who go to museums and concerts or create art or play an instrument are more satisfied with their lives, regardless of how educated or rich they are, according to a study released yesterday.

But the link between culture and feeling good about oneself is not quite the same in both sexes, according to the study, published in the British Medical Association’s Journal of Epidemiology and

Community Health. For men, passive activities such as taking in a concert or museum exhibition are associated with an upbeat mood and better health, it found.

For women, though, the link is active, in that they were less likely to feel anxious, depressed or feel unwell if they played music or created art. Researchers led by Koenraad Cuypers of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology analysed

College mental health screenings going high-tech CHICAGO: Look around a waiting room at a university counseling center and you will see students wrestling with all sorts of problems: one who is failing because of binge drinking; another who is struggling with a roommate conflict or a recent break-up; yet another who is stressed out and suicidal.

Many centers are more swamped than ever, college therapists say, particularly at this time of year, in the frenzy of final exams and job searches.

Although there is debate about why more students are seeking services, there is agreement on this: The increase in demand, those therapists say, has made it even more crucial to zero in on the students who are in the most distress. “ We used to worry about there being a stigma about coming in for counseling,” says Ian Birky, director of counseling and psychological services at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Now, he says, they are overwhelmed by the number of students seeking help.

To help deal with the demand, more campus counseling centers are using computerized questionnaires, some that generate color-coded charts, to help them flag a serious problem more quickly than traditional paper-andpencil evaluations.

Although they stress that these evaluations are not a replacement for in-depth questioning or counseling, many counselors say high-tech methods like these appeal to students, who are often more comfortable communicating with smart phones, iPads and laptops.

These therapists say these screenings also help them do their jobs better, and they fine-tune therapy. One of the therapists is Paul Toth, a staff psychologist at Indiana University, where therapists began using a computerized evaluation called the Behavioral Health Measure, or BHM, in November. He recalls one student whose depression scores were improving but whose overall well-being scores were not.

Staffers then determined that, to truly get better, the student needed to deal with academic issues that had been caused by the depression. Evaluations like these also shed light on topics that students may not verbalize in therapy, such as a lack of trust, or bonding, with their therapist. In some cases, Toth says he has found out that a few students have not liked it when he has suggested trying antidepressants with therapy.

“So then I can back off on that,” he says. Perhaps most importantly, therapists say these instant evaluations show them more quickly when a student is seriously considering suicide.

“I can look at that on my computer before the student even walks into my office,” says Birky, whose new clients sit at private computer kiosks in the counseling center waiting room to take a different evaluation called the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms, or CCAPS. CCAPS, which has versions with 34 and 62 questions, is used on dozens of campuses across the country, including Pennsylvania State, where researchers used national CCAPS data to generate an annual study on the mental health of students on campuses across the nation. Among other things, the research found that about one in four US college students sought mental health services last year.

“So as demand increases, you have to be more objective about deciding who is in the greatest need,” says Ben Locke, the study’s lead author and the associate director of research and technology at Penn State’s Center for Counseling and Psychological Services.

The newer BHM was developed by Mark Kopta, a psychologist at the University of Evansville in Indiana. So far, it is used on just 15 campuses, from the University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins to tiny Fairmont State University in West Virginia.

Those who use it say it has some advantages over more established evaluations. For one, it has a 20-question version that takes two minutes or less to complete, so it can be used more easily at every counseling session. “It doesn’t take the place of an interview, but it makes the interview much more efficient,” says Kopta, head of CelestHealth Systems, which markets the BHM.

Factors students are asked to rate in the BHM include: •”Alcohol or drug use interfering with your performance at school or work.”

•”Thoughts of ending your life.”

•”Powerful, intense mood swings or highs and lows.” Results from that evaluation also are divided by categories, including suicide risk, depression, anxiety and drug and alcohol abuse. Each category is color-coded: green for normal, yellow for mild distress, orange for moderate distress and red for severe distress.

Glenn Hirsch, head of counseling services at the University of Minnesota, recalls one student whose suicide chart was flagged with red, but who initially denied she was severely suicidal.

Her BHM scores also indicated that she was mistrustful of Hirsch and the counseling process, so he used those scores and showed her charts to her at each session to get her to open up and deal with her suicidal thoughts.

“Showing that visually can really make a difference,” he says.

After initially dropping out of school, he says, the student client returned to the university and passed all her classes. She also has regularly taken her medication, which she had not done before.

There are other ways mental health professionals are using technology to help them evaluate clients, on and off college campuses.

A psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins has developed a free service called Mood 24/7 that sends a daily text message to its users, asking each to rate his mood on a scale of 1 to 10. The data can then be accessed by the user, his mental health counselor and even family and friends. Dr. Adam Kaplin, who came up with the idea, says that typically clients are unlikely to remember how they were feeling between visits, or to use paper and pencil charts to keep track.

“It’s very simple. But there is power in simplicity,” Kaplin says of the system, which now has about 3,000 users, from college students to older clients.

Among other things, he says, the system helps psychiatrists do a better job of monitoring and adjusting psychotropic medications. All of these methods are fine for those who seek help. But there also is concern that the large majority of suicidal and depressed students still do not seek counseling and, therefore never are evaluated.

“I’ve talked to graduating seniors who literally didn’t know that the mental health counseling center existed,” says 23-year-old Jeff Brozena, president and founder of Penn State’s chapter of Active Minds, an organization aimed at raising students’ awareness about mental health. His chapter is one of a few that hosted a traveling exhibit called “Send Silence Packing,” comprising 1,100 backpacks representing the estimated number of college students who take their own lives each year. Counseling centers also have expanded outreach. At Pace University in New York, counseling director Richard Shadick and his staff give a presentation at each “University 101” class for freshman and give them a survey to help them get a read on substance abuse and mental health problems they may be having. The mental health staff also spends time on campus giving miniscreenings called “checkups from the neck up” and refers students who need help to the counseling center. Elsewhere, the National College Depression Partnership has been working with campus health centers across the country to do their own quick mental health screenings when students come in for regular visits with the doctor. Within the counseling field, there is no consensus about whether there really are more college students with mental health problems or whether they are simply increasingly willing to ask for help.

Some say that antidepressants and more support has made it more possible than ever for a student who is mentally ill to attend college. Others have noted that this generation of students seems less able to cope with stress, for whatever reason. “Maybe, in some ways, these kids are a little bit less resilient,” says Birky, at Lehigh.

Whatever the reason, it is a problem that is being taken seriously. — AP

information culled from 50,797 adults living in Nor way ’s NordTrondelag County.

The par ticipants were asked detailed questions about their leisure habits and how they perceived their own state of health, satisfac tion with life and levels of depression and anxiety. The results were unambiguous and somewhat unexpected: not only was the correlation strong between cultural activi-

ties and happiness, but men felt better when they were spectators while women clearly preferred doing rather than watching.

Even more surprising was that wealth and education were not an issue. “After adjusting for relevant confounding factors”-including socio-economic status-”it seemed that cultural participation was independently associated with good health, a low depression score and

satisfaction with life dependent on gender,” the study said.

“The results indicate that the use of cultural activities in health promotion and healthcare may be justified,” it concluded.

Questions remain, though, about cause and effect: are people healthier and happier because they are cultured-or do they seek out more culture because they feel good to begin with? — AFP

Bulgaria’s black market in blood is flourishing ‘Everyone is free to come and donate blood’

SOFIA: In this Tuesday, April 26, 2011 photo a man donates blood at the National Center for Hematology and Transfusion in Sofia. — AP

SOFIA: Her 85-year-old husband needed immediate surgery but doctors told her to find blood for the operation herself. So Slavka Petrova swallowed her anguish and went to haggle on the black market outside the national blood clinic.

It’s a grim reality for patients and families in Bulgaria, a struggling EU nation where donors are troublingly scarce, hospitals are strapped for funds and blood traders — mainly Gypsy, or Roma, men — are thriving.

Trading in blood and blood products is illegal in Bulgaria, punishable by a fine of up to euro 5,000 ($7,100). But lawyers say it’s difficult to prove an illegal blood transaction because that requires an official complaint lodged by the person who pays the donor — and families are so desperate they consider the black market blood donors lifesavers.

In the streets around the blood clinic, a dozen men sit smoking on benches or in cafes, on the alert for people in need.

They don’t have to wait long.

“Even before I had decided what to do, three men stood in front of me and one asked me what blood group I was looking for,” Petrova, an 82-year-old former government employee, told The Associated Press.

The price can be prohibitive “When they told me that this would cost me euro 250 ($355), I

thought, my God, this is my whole pension,” she said. “I went mute for a while and they decided to lower the price to euro 200 ($285).” Once a deal is struck, a donor hanging out nearby — or at most a phone call away — is summoned, and turns up at the blood clinic masquerading as a relative. He gets a proof of donation certificate and sells it to the desperate family. The blood heads off to be checked, and if it is found to be disease-free it goes toward filling the clinic’s reserves.

So, lifesavers or bloodsuckers? It depends on where you sit.

Mariana Shipkovenska favors the first description. The former journalist had to rely on paid blood donors when her 89-yearold mother had surgery for a fractured thigh bone. She said she would have given blood herself but after a medical check her doctor advised her not to. “They are the ones that give you something priceless when you need it and you can’t find it anywhere else,” she told the AP. Traders also claim they provide a good service. “I don’t think it is a crime to help people who are in need,” one told an AP journalist, refusing to give his name for fear of prosecution. “I haven’t been able to find a job for years now and selling blood is a way for me and my family to survive.” Health workers at the blood center are well aware of the illegal transactions but feel powerless to do

SOFIA: Blood units are prepared for storage at the National Center for Hematology and Transfusion in Sofia. — AP

anything. At most, they ask police to shoo the traders from the entrance door, but the men soon return.

The deputy director of the center, Natalia Masharova, admitted that there was no legal way to prevent the practice.

“Although it is not legal, everyone is free to come and donate blood,” she said.

Often the center itself loses out in the transaction. Blood found to be infected with HIV or Hepatitis B or C is thrown out and the donor put on a blacklist, but that takes time and the donation certificates are issued immediately, Masharova said.

Her boss at the center, Andrei Andreev, told AP the national clinic has enough blood to help those in need and urged people not to turn to the black market.

But Rumen Dimitrov, a surgeon at ISUL, one of the main hospitals in Sofia, the capital, says the lack of sufficient blood supplies is a problem he runs into every day.

“We often have to ask relatives of our patients for certificates for blood donations because we receive only one liter of blood for a surgery from the blood center.

In some cases two or more liters are needed,” Dimitrov said. “Due to lack of enough blood, some scheduled surgeries are being postponed by weeks.” Up until 1989, when the Balkan nation was under a communist government, Bulgarians were eager

blood donors. Army conscripts were awarded a two-day home leave each time they donated blood.

But voluntary blood donation has been gradually shrinking here over the past two decades, leaving Bulgaria above only by Albania, Bosnia and Moldova in Europe in the percentage of voluntary donors — 23 per 1000 people. The average for the United States is 53 per thousand, according to the American Association of Blood Banks, a figure similar to most EU countries.

“Only few become voluntary blood donors, because most people donate blood only if a relative or a friend needs it,” said Stavri Toshkov, a leading hematology expert. “It is difficult to overcome the crisis of blood donation.

Economic hardships have led to a deficit of such important values in society as solidarity, compassion and the willingness to help.”

Bulgarian authorities are now urging residents to show compassion with those in need by joining blood donor campaigns.

The Red Cross and the Christian Orthodox Church launched a two-month campaign around Easter dubbed “Light a candle, donate blood,” hoping to raise awareness about the country’s chronic blood shortage. “It is the only way to eliminate the illegal trade,” said Evelina Dinkova, one of the campaign’s main organizers. — AP

Researchers scan cyclists’ brains at race speed CAPE TOWN: Researchers in South Africa said yesterday they have found a way to measure the brain activity of cyclists at racing speed, breaking new ground in the study of how the brain works during exercise.

The University of Cape Town study used a specially designed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to hold athletes’ heads still while they lay horizontally inside and “cycled” on a set of pedals attached to a performance monitor.

The Brazilian-South African research team is still crunching data from the project, but said it promises to unlock new information about which brain areas control exercise and the relation between sports performance and the brain.

“Because of the difficulty of the project,

technique, equipment and methodology, limited information is available in this area of exercise science research,” said Elske Schabort, a postdoctoral fellow at the university’s exercise science centre.

“The opportunity to be among the first to initiate such novel investigations will allow great progress in our work to try to understand and describe the involvement of brain and central nervous system during exercise and performance regulation.”

A group of seven competitive cyclists were asked to lie inside the scanner and do a performance test.

The first results from the study should be out early next year, said Eduardo Fontes, a doctoral student at the University of Campinas in Brazil who designed the specially modified scanner. — AFP

US approves second new hepatitis C drug WASHINGTON: The US Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved Incivek to treat hepatitis C when taken along with the current two-drug regimen, marking the second such drug approval this month.

“The sustained virologic response for patients treated with Incivek across all studies, and across all patient groups, was between 20 and 45 percent higher than current standard of care,” the FDA said. Incivek is a pill that should be taken three times a day with food, and is added

to therapy made up of peginterferon alfa and ribavirin.

In mid-May, the US regulatory agency approved a Merck-made pharmaceutical known as Victrelis. Both have been shown to boost cure rates when added to the present regimen, which helps fewer than 50 percent of people with the liver disease. The existing two-drug treatment of pegylated interferon and ribavirin for genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C was approved by US regulators in 1998.— AFP

ABUJA: The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon kisses a baby during his visit to Dutse Makaranta Primary Health Centre in Abuja yesterday. Ban Ki Moon is on a three-day working visit to Nigeria to assess the level of improvement in primary health care as part of the “Every Woman, Every Child” global health effort, which he launched in September 2010. — AFP

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TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

H E A LT H

Americans slow to embrace walking, cycling NEW YORK: Despite wobbling fuel prices, thickening waistlines and an avalanche of evidence lauding the benefits of active travel, Americans have been slow to embrace walking and cycling.

Research shows that walking has increased only slightly and cycling has stagnated during the past decade. Both activities have decreased among women, children and seniors, Dr. John Pucher, a professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, said the increases have been among men, the employed, well-educated and people without a car.

“What struck me was the social inequity,” said Pucher.

“Most of the increase is in middle-aged men. That says we’re doing something wrong in the United States.”

He believes American resistance to active travel has more to do with safety concerns than suburban sprawl.

Pucher, who works at Rutgers Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, has been studying transportation and ways to make walking and cycling feasible for 15 years.

In a recent study he and his team analyzed government data on active travel from telephone interviews in 2001 and 2009 with tens of thousands of Americans.

He said data from 2009 shows that 25 percent of all trips in American cities are a mile (1.6 kms) or shorter, and 40 percent are two miles or shorter.

“Those distances are easily covered by walking and biking,” Pucher said. “Children,

women and seniors are just not going to cycle on a busy arterial street.”

He said other studies have shown that women cyclists tend to make huge detours to get to safer facilities, even if it takes longer, whereas men are more likely to take the most direct route, even if it is a busy street.Better sidewalks for pedestrians and separate and protected lanes for cyclists would encourage active travel among what he calls riskaverse groups.

“It’s done all the time in Danish, Dutch and German cities,” he said. “Some American suburbs don’t have any sidewalks at all.”

In residential neighborhoods, he said, traffic-calming measures such as narrowed streets and lowered speed limits would make roads less

threatening to children, seniors and women.

Pucher cited northern Europe, where cyclists and walkers comprise a 50-50 mix of men and women as well as many seniors and children, as a good example.

“We also looked at earlier surveys that were not directly comparable,” he said, “and we saw a continual decline in walking and cycling over twoto-three decades.”

Danger, both real and perceived, is the main, and very fixable, reason walking and cycling levels are lagging in America, Pucher said. “It’s very clear how to do it, we just don’t do it,” he said. “Getting from point A to point B is a really daunting experience in many American cities because of such lousy pedestrian and cycling facilities.” —Reuters

Facelift lawsuit LONDON: A British woman who claims a botched facelift left her with a “monster eye” was awarded nearly 6.2 million pounds ($9.9 million) by the High Court yesterday. Penny Johnson, 49, sued her surgeon, Dr. Le Roux Fourie after receiving a facelift she described as “experimental” in 2003. Fourie admitted liability but denied the surgery was experimental. Johnson said in court that the procedure left her with nerve damage to the right side of her face. She complained her face was constantly contracting and that her children had said she now had a “monster eye.” Johnson, an IT and financial consultant, said she was unable to work and that she lost about 54 million pounds (US$87 million) when her business went bankrupt. The High Court made the award

for lost earnings, both in the past and the future.

Fazel Fatah, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, called the award “disproportionate, especially considering the compensation people — including those in the armed forces — receive after losing limbs or requiring care the rest of their lives.

Most plastic surgery in Britain is provided by the private sector and the industry is largely self-regulated. Fatah said he hoped the ruling would not set a precedent and stressed that no surgical operation was without risk. “Understanding the procedure, its likely outcome and possible risks is the key to making an informed choice about whether to have an operation,” he said. —AP

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TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

W H AT ’ S O N

Announcements

Festival of Science attracts huge crowd

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he most popular science and technology festival Shaastrotsav attracted huge crowd at Gulf University for Science & Technology (GUST) campus, Mishref. The highly popular science and technology event was organized by Kuwait chapter of NSS College of Engineering Alumni, in association with Gulf University for Science & Technology (GUST) on 6th May. For the third consecutive year, Shaastrotsav - Festival of Science continued the legacy of presenting the best and the latest in science and technology to the society. Shaastrotsav experienced tremendous growth, both in participation and quality, since its origin in 2009.

The daylong event was inaugurated

by Faris Al-Mansouri - Team Leader Kuwait Oil Company by cutting ribbon after his brief speech along with Dr Ibrahim El Mahdy (KOC), Abdulla Ali Al Harban (KOC), Ms Noor Baha Yacoub (Public Relations Officer - GUST), Sankaran Nair (G.C, Kuwait Engineers Forum) and Lynus Kalister of Bronzia Group of companies. In his speech, Faris Al-Ansari stressed KOC’s support to such educational and informative

events which benefits society.

Dr Ali Al-Ansari, Dean of Gulf University for Science & Technology (GUST) presided over the concluding function in the evening. Addressing the huge gathering Dr Ali Al- Ansari appreciated the organizers and promised GUST’s continued partnership in organizing Shaastrotsav - Festival of Science in the coming years.

55 teams from various schools, engineering graduates associations and various technical & professional bodies exhibited science and technology projects and latest technological developments in the day long exhibition.

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) exhibited Vehicle Roll-over Simulator and Seatbelt Convincer which attracted large number of visitors throughout the day. Vehicle Rollover Simulator and ‘Seatbelt Convincer’ demonstrated how seatbelts and airbags protect us in the event of a motor vehicle accident. This provided awareness to all visitors including students about the importance of wearing seat belt. KOC engineers were present to assist and explain throughout the day.

Display of 3D printer in the exhibition was a first experience for the public. This technology helps rapid and flexible production of scale models and prototypes of buildings, equipment, machine parts etc. directly from a CAD model.

This year’s Shaastrotsav included Computer Animation contest for school students. Students demonstrated their skills in creating computer animations using their expertise in computer software and artistic skills based on the theme “Science & Technology”. This is the first time such a contest was held for students in Kuwait. Audience watched with amusement the animations projected on big screen.

The most awaited event of the day was the Robotic demonstration by Technophilia - Robotic specialists from India. Technophilia is well known to robotic enthusiasts and they conduct robotic workshops famous engineering institutes. Technophilia demonstrated various robots, Haptic Robotic Arm, ITouch Arm and many more interesting robotic technologies including robots controlled by mobile phone, light, etc.

This was a rare opportunity for the pub-

lic to watch the amazing show of technology. Adults and children were thrilled by the Robotic Show.

A panel of 4 doctors representing Indian Doctors Forum conducted a seminar on ‘Cancer - Everything You Want To Know’. These specialists from Kuwait Cancer Centre answered all questions and doubts of audience. Seminars were also conducted by American Society of Safety Engineers and Dr Abdul Razaak Rumane of IEI. Two child prodigies from Kuwait, demonstrated their amazing skills in mathematics and chemistry in front of audience. Rohan, an 8 year old child prodigy, can tell the day of any date of the year within 3 decades (2000 to 2030). Rahul, a 9 year old child, knows details of all elements of Periodic Table and can tell the formulae of nearly 100 compounds. Shaastrotsav gave an opportunity for the public to interact with these amazing kids.

Shaastrotsav - Festival of Science provided a day full of knowledge and technology in the most attractive manner gripping students, teachers, professionals and general public alike.

Former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi’s 20th martyrdom day observed

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he 20th anniversary of the martyrdom of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was observed by a cross section of the Indian community in Kuwait during a solemn function on May 21, organized by the Rajiv Gandhi Awards Committee (RGAC) at the residence of RGAC Chairman Markos Williams.

A highlight of the event was the participation of Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Sikh speakers underlying the theme of communal and national harmony.

Eminent businessman Ajay Goel who lit the traditional lamp inaugurating the event said that Rajiv Gandhi was determined to create a highly developed and progressive India. “I was privileged to be associated with the Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982 which was a thundering success as Rajiv Gandhi’s organizational ability came to the fore with his involvement in every

aspect of the Games. His dynamism, zeal, enthusiasm and eye for detail was amazing and this contributed significantly to the success of the Asiad”, Goel recalled.

Dr Tejinder Singh Arora, prominent physician and Vice Chairman of RGAC said the progress that is now visible in India, particularly in the IT sector is mainly due to the vision and farsightedness of Rajiv

Mazen appointed as director of sales at Sheraton Kuwait & Four Points

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heraton Kuwait and Four Points by Sheraton Kuwait are proud to announce that Mazen Al Mhana has been recently promoted to Director of Sales & Marketing in a strategy to further enhance the department’s operation.

Al Mhana was a member of the Sheraton family back in 2002 where he held the position of Sales & PR Executive and worked his way up to become Assistant Director of Sales due to his dedication, hard work and tremendous experience that he gathered in five years working at Sheraton Kuwait, one of the leading hotels in the Middle East. Following that, Al Mhana moved on to take up the position of Regional Marketing Manager in an investment company for a period of two years. In 2009, he joined back the hotel as director of sales confident to lead, execute and grow.

Al Mhana proudly holds a BA Degree in Tourist Enterprises Management from Athens University of Economics & Business in Greece. In addition, he obtained a certificate in Hotel Marketing Management from Cornell University in New York “Al Mhana has proven throughout the years that he is truly dedicated and has earned his new role due to this extensive experience in this field. In his new role, Al Mhana will continue to develop the Sales & Marketing department together with a highly qualified and experienced team”, said Fahed Abushaar, Area Director & General Manager at the Sheraton Kuwait.

Gandhi. “Those who live in the hearts of others never die” Dr Arora stated.

“Rajiv Gandhi was a dynamic leader who strove to establish probity in the political system and his untimely death deprived India of one of its greatest sons” declared Abdullah Kollorath and added that Rajiv Gandhi strongly advocated the empowerment of youth in India’s development

process.

Speaking on the occasion RGAC Chairman Markos Williams quoted Rajiv Gandhi who said “What has kept India together through thousands of years, despite periods of political turmoil, economic vicissitudes and even colonialism, has been the enduring values of our civilization. Without these values, India would count for nothing, however fast our economic

Top winners shine at Galileo awards night

BAIA Summer Camp now open for registrations 2011 ON STAGE summer camp from 19 June to 06 July. Last year High School Musical, this year Camp Rock, Tangled, Cars...many more! From Page to Stage in just 3 weeks, through costume design, technicals, acting, singing, dance, music, make-up, film and lighting. Create a fabulous performance ON STAGE. Discounts available if registered before 01 June. Call 60052087 or mail administrator@baia.com.kw. Full details of all events and courses are available on www.baia.com.kw Hairspray at KLT Hairspray is the latest musical performed by the Kuwait Little Theater. It’s directed by Kirsty McDonagh with an all singing, all dancing KLT cast of talented actors. Most of the performances are already sold out but they still have some openings available so if you’re interested you need to book right away. Location: Kuwait Little Theater. Dates still available: May 24th and 25th. Time: 7:30pm.

Ahmadi Music Group The Ahmadi Music Group, directed by Richard Bushman, is delighted to announce the forthcoming production of The Desert Song by Siegmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein.

Fully-staged, with costumes, dancing, professional soloists, a cast of around fifty people and a full symphony orchestra, this will be a wonderful opportunity to experience an evening of musical theatre in the stunning new Performing Arts Centre at The English School Salmiya. Tuesday 31 May, Preview Performance for students. Wednesday 1 June, Black-tie Gala Opening Performance followed by Buffet Supper. Thursday 2 June, Performance. Friday 3 June, Performance. All performances start at 7pm at The English School, Salmiya. Emailing invitations@ahmadimusicgroup.com AWARE Arabic course The AWARE management is glad to inform you that Summer 2 Arabic language courses will begin on June 12 until July 21, 2011. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. We cater to teachers, travelers and those working in the private business sector.

GREETINGS

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ouristic Enterprises Company employee Mazin Saied celebrated the birth of his first child, Saied, and received congratulations from family and friends on this occasion.

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ome of Kuwait’s most successful Galileo-connected dignities were recently honoured for their achievements at a special awards night gala in Kuwait City.

Held at the JW Marriott, top-producing travel agencies were recognised for their efforts in 2010 during an annual awards evening hosted by leading global distribution system (GDS) provider Travelport and its local Galileo distribution partner Travel Technology Systems (TTS).

General Manager of Travel Technology Systems Mr. Raj Krishnan welcomed the crowd of travel agents and VIP’s, then Jennifer D’Souza, Travelport’s Regional Commerical Director took to the stage to give Galileo customers a company update and thank them for their continued loyalty and support.

Afterward, guests enjoyed a highly-anticipated raffle sponsored by several airlines, including Etihad Airways, Saudia, Mihin Lanka, Jazeera Aiways, Sri Lankan and Jet Airways, which gave away hampers and tickets to their key destinations. The Rotana Group, Marriott, and Crowne Plaza hotels also gave away free nights and meal vouchers.

Some of the agents recognised by Galileo Kuwait for their loyalty and performance at the event include: Caesars Travel, Boodai Aviation Agencies, Waseet Travel, Barakat Travel, Badur Travels, Abdul Jalil Alliance Group, Qiblah Travel and Tourism Co, Sayed Travel, TRAVEL CLUB, Discovery Travel, and Express Holidays Travel & Tourism & others.

progress might be.”

Shaji Abraham, General Secretary of RGAC administered the Anti Terrorism pledge to all participants, “to work for the emotional oneness and harmony of all the people of India regardless of caste, creed, religion or language.”

All participants paid floral tributes to Rajiv Gandhi at the conclusion of the Memorial Day event.

BAIA presents the delightful new children’s musical BUZZ the STORY of GLORY BEE! From the pens of Dream Dealer Duo Harriet Petherick Bushman and Marita Phillips and the A TEAM , the Creative Team of The Lion King comes BUZZ! The Story of Glory Bee. Glory (Isabella Wellinkar) is a newbee who doesn’t want to be just a Gatherer Bee and has adventures involving Humungus the Beekeeper (played by Augustin ‘Mufasa’ Tchantcho) and the villainous Hornet (Aidan Scott). Performed by the wonderful talent of the Kool Kidz Children’s Theatre BUZZ runs from 26 to 28 May at the Shakespeare Theatre, The British School of Kuwait. Box office open now. Mobile number 60052087 and box office@baia.com.kw or visit our office Salwa 1 Street 1 villa 32. Full details of all events and courses are available on www.baia.com.kw

AWARE Arabic courses highlights: Introductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics; Ccmbine language learning with cultural insights; taught in multi-nationality group settings ; and provides opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs. For more information and/or registration, call 25335260/80 ext 105 or 0 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

Five more outlets in Kuwait by Grand Hypermarket Group

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t was announced in the press conference on 18th May in Kuwait by Ameen, Managing Director, Grand Hypermarket Group, that five more outlets of Hypermarket would be opened shortly in Kuwait. He pointed out that already one outlet was opened in Fahaheel in last December, 2010 and the next one in this series would be opened on Thursday, 26th May. he added, “Our primary concern is not only bringing quality products from all over the world but also satisfying our customers by providing them the products at affordable price”. Naeem Usman, manager briefed group’s future plan. Dr Abdul Fathah

Scientific Center reaches 6 million visitors’ milestone

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he Scientific Center celebrated this past Sunday, May 22 reaching the six million customers milestone since its inauguration on April 17, 2000.

Visitor Faisal Al-Ajmi who purchased ticket No 6 million was welcomed by the center’s CEO and managing director Mejbel Al-Mutawa’a, who awarded him with several prizes that include a 32” LCD TV, a stay for the weekend at the Sheraton Hotel, in addition to a one year free subscription to the Scientific Center.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

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TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA The Embassy of the Argentine will close tomorrow 25 of May on the occasion of the Argentine Republic National Day. The embassy would like to invite Argentinean citizens in Kuwait, on 27 of May to celebrate this special occasion at the Argentine Embassy located in (Mishref - Block 6 - Street 42 - Villa 57. Tel 25379211).

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CONGRATULATIONS International Affairs College at George Town University, Qatar celebrated the graduation of its third batch of 46 students from thirteen countries. Sheikh Jaber Al-Abdallah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was among the attendees as Sheikh Abdallah Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah was among the graduates.

Dedication service The dedication service of the new hall for Kuwait St. Peters Mar Thoma Church in Abbasiya will be inaugurated by the Mar Thoma Metropolitan, Most Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma on Thursday 26th May at 7 pm. This meeting would be presided by the Parish Vicar Rev. Chacko Thomas in the auspicious presence of Episcopal Churches Vicars in Kuwait and distinguished invitees. All are cordially invited”.

Chocolate Day

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or the third year in a row, the Arab Open University (AOU) students held a special open day activity under the title of ‘Chocolate Day’, on which participants competed in making desserts. The activity was supervised by Miss Tahani Al-Ajmi with the attendance of a large number of students and members of the teaching staff with the aim of breaking study monotony and encourage activities.

Prayer meeting Prayer and healing meeting Pastor Dave Hess will be held in Mahboula on 27 May between 4 pm and 7 pm. Limited free transportation available. For details contact Anil 99656778, Max 97428039 or Yesu 99863584.

‘Mahakte Lamhe’ Indian Cultural Society (ICS) presents “Mahakte Lamhe” with Udit Narayan

with Deepa Narayan. Another attraction of the evening will be reality shows fame Neha Chouhan & Nayan Rathod on 10th June 2011 Friday at Auditorium Kamil Al Rays, American International School, near Police Station Maidan Hawally Kuwait at 7.30 pm sharp. The Chief Guest for the event will be Vidhu P Nair Charge d” Affaires Embassy of India, Kuwait and the guest of honor will be prominent personalities from Kuwait.

For details contact: 97690035, 66568147, 94450833, 97270386, 97286577, 67030839, and 99757214 Email ics.kuwait@gmail.com Silver jubilee anniversary Ahmadi Marthoma Youth conducts its silver jubilee anniversary celebrations on Friday, May 27, 6 pm, at Fintas Cooperative auditorium. The function will be inaugurated by Dr Joseph Mar Thoma Metroplitan. Idea Star singer fame Roshan will lead the orchestra.

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Embassy encourages all Australians to register their presence in Kuwait through Smartraveller Online (see link below).

Australians who are registered are asked to update their details. The information provided will assist us in contacting you in an emergency. www.smartraveller.gov.au Kuwait citizens can apply for and receive visit visas to Australia online at www.immi.gov.au. This usually takes two working days. All others visa applications are handled by the Australian Visa Application Centre Tel. 22971110.

Witnessing and certifying documents are by appointment only, please contact the Embassy on 2232 2422.

The Australian Embassy is open from 8.00am to 4.00pm, Sunday to Thursday.

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EMBASSY OF BRITAIN The Visa Application Centre (VAC) will be closed on the same dates above. The opening hours of the Visa Application Centre are 0930 - 1630 Application forms remain available online from the UKBAs’ website: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk or from the Visa Application Centre’s website: www.vfsuk-kw.com. And also, from the UK Visa Application Centre located at: 4B, First Floor, Al Banwan Building (Burgan Bank Branch Office Building), Al Qibla area, opposite Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City. For any further inquiries, please contact the Visa Application Centre: Website: www.vfs-uk-kw.com E-mail:info@vfs-uk-kw.com Telephone:22971170. The Consular Section will also be closed on the same dates.

For information on the British Embassy services, visit the British Embassy website: www.ukinkuwait.fco.gov.uk ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, AlMutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

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Saudi Corvette Club arrives in Kuwait

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embers of the Saudi Corvette Club arrived to the country recently to meet the Kuwaiti Corvette Club, in an event that is supported by the Rhetorical, Vintage and Classic Cars Museum. The fifteen members of the Saudi team were met by their Kuwaiti counterparts at the Nuwaiseeb southern border checkpoint, and were escorted to Kuwait City in a trip during which police patrols

were present to maintain their safety.

In a statement made to the press, chairman of the Kuwaiti Corvette Club Terki AlBaidan explained that the meeting aims to boost cooperation between members of both clubs, and that as part of efforts to launch cooperation between Corvette Clubs in the Gulf region with those in the United States of America and other countries around the world.

EMBASSY OF GERMANY The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kuwait wishes to announce that as of 1 May 2011, the external service provider Al Qabas Assurex is operating a Visa Application Centre in support of the German Embassy. Short-term visa applications for travels to Germany (e.g. for tourism, visits, business) are to be submitted to the service provider Al Qabas who for your convenience will ensure that all relevant documents are included in your application. Your personal appearance at the Application Centre is not required. Address of the Visa Application Centre: Al Qabas Assurex Sanabel Tower (Al-Babtain) Mezzanine (M3) opposite Sharq Mall Kuwait 22924444 Fax: 22924442 Further information are available on the following websites: www.kuwait.diplo.de www.qavisa.com ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF GUYANA The Embassy of Guyana will be closed on Thursday, 26 May 2011, a national holiday in Guyana to mark the countr y ’s Independence Day. The Embassy is located in West Mishref (Block 3, Street 321, Villa 3).

Information of Guyana can be accessed on the website, www.guyana.org ■■■■■■■

BSK students visit Nepal Aakash Ravikrishnan gold award participant

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IIS blesses newly married couple

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IS organized a grand reception to the newly wedded couple, Preenu Sharon Johnson and Sanjay Sam, on 13th April at Audio Visual Hall. Preenu is the first daughter of Elizabeth, Department of Science, IIS. F.M.Basheer Ahmed, Principal, introduced the sweet couple to all the teachers assembled at the hall. Mrs Narinder Kaur, Vice-Principal, presented the flower bouquet to the young couple.

Moosa Koya, Director, in his brief speech, reminded all the staff members that IIS would continue to function as a family sharing joy or grief alike among all the members. He blessed the young couple and presented a wonderful marriage gift to them on behalf of all the members of IIS. Preenu sang a melodious song,“ A song of Love” accompanied by the guitar, played by Sam in return to the love and affection showered by all the staff members. Mrs Elizabeth, thanked the gathering and the management for their large heart and magnanimity and assured that she would be loyal to the institution till her end. Every one present in the hall wished the charming couple to have a long and happy married life and moved away with Mrs Preenu’s sweet song in their heart.

he British School of Kuwait Gold International Award final expedition to the Annapurna region in Nepal this year was an exciting challenge of determination. A group of 13 students and staff arrived at Kathmandu International Airport full of enthusiasm and hunger for the adventure ahead.

After spending a day in Thamel, Kathmandu, all were given some time to get over jet lag and do some final preparation for the trek. The next day was spent traveling by bus to Pokhara, an epic 8 hour drive! On arrival to Pokhara students were instructed to relax that evening in order to prepare themselves mentally for the next six challenging days ahead. Early next morning the small plane flew to Jomsom, high in the Himalayan Mountains so that the students could start their expedition.’ The view from the plane was fascinating, the Annapurna mountain range looked stunning said Abdulahad Aslam Pervez. The first three days of the expedition were just a warm up for the killer day. It was mainly flat and downhill trekking. After setting off earlier than usual, the arduous day four began. An epic 2000 metre accent! ‘It was by far the hardest day of my life!’ said Zara Baker, a Gold participant at BSK. But after just a few hours of sleep the students were woken at the crack of dawn for a short walk to a peak called Poon Hill II. Here everyone witnessed one of the best sunrises in the world, watching as the sun cascaded

EMBASSY OF INDIA Embassy of India, Kuwait, would like to inform that application forms for passport/visa services and labour contracts that are on its website, www.indembkwt.org, have been upgraded to include the facility for online data entry. Affidavit forms on the Embassy website have had this facility since May 6, 2009.

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EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to request all Kenyans resident in or training through Kuwait to register with the Embassy. We are updating our database. This information is necessary in order to facilitate quick assistance and advise in times of emergency. Kindly visit in person or register through our website www.kenyaembkuwait.com. The Embassy is located in: Surra Area - Block 6 - Street 9 Villa 3 Tel: 25353362 - 25353314; Fax: 25353316.

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EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has moved its office to Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk ■■■■■■■

onto the Himalayan peaks. On the last day, an exhausted yet triumphant group of young adults walked to the finish line and tucked into a massive dinner back in Pokhara. Seeing all those happy faces, listening to the excitement all had faced

and the pain everyone went through to achieve this level of the Award was certainly worth it! During dinner praise was given, highlighting how hard the young adults had pushed themselves throughout the expedition.

EMBASSY OF PERU With the growing interest shown by Kuwaiti citizens and/or foreign residents in Kuwait for going for vacation and tourism to Peru and/or with the purpose of doing business over there, The Embassy of Peru in Kuwait did the effort and obtained as a temporary and immediate solution - till the opening of the consular section of Diplomatic Mission of Peru in Kuwait City - that the consular section of the Embassy of Peru in Qatar will attend those requests of granting such visas. Working hours: 9 am till 2 pm or call +974-4491-5944, Fax: +974-4491-5940 E-mail: arestegui.cj@gmail.com

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00:45 Untamed And Uncut 01:40 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 02:35 Into The Pride 03:30 Mutant Planet 04:25 Your Worst Animal Nightmares 05:20 Animal Cops South Africa 06:10 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 07:00 Meerkat Manor 07:25 The Really Wild Show 07:50 Natural Born Hunters 08:15 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:40 Breed All About It 09:10 Animal Crackers 10:05 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 11:00 Animal ER 11:55 Wildlife SOS 12:50 Animal Cops South Africa 13:45 SSPCA: On The Wildside 14:10 Vet On The Loose 14:40 Swarm Chasers 15:30 Planet Wild 16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Natural Born Hunters 17:00 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:25 Must Love Cats 18:20 Into The Pride 19:15 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 20:10 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 21:05 Life Of Mammals 22:00 Last Chance Highway 22:55 Tigers Attack 23:50 Swarm Chasers

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

00:15 01:55 02:45 04:50 05:15 05:40 09:00 09:25 10:20 12:20 12:50 13:40 14:25

The Weakest Link Holby City New Tricks Eastenders Doctors Last Of The Summer Wine Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Charlie And Lola Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Charlie And Lola Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Bobinogs Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Bobinogs Last Of The Summer Wine The Weakest Link New Tricks Doctors Eastenders Holby City Last Of The Summer Wine New Tricks The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Holby City New Tricks The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Holby City Unforgiven Green Green Grass

Come Dine With Me The Home Show Come Dine With Me The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook Daily Cooks Challenge The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook Antiques Roadshow Come Dine With Me The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic Bargain Hunt

15:10 17:40 18:00 19:00 19:50 20:35 21:20 22:10 23:00

Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me The Home Show Cash In The Attic USA

00:00 BBC World News 00:30 World Business Report 00:45 Sport Today 01:00 BBC World News America 01:30 Asia Business Report 01:45 Asia Today 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Asia Today 03:00 BBC World News 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Asia Today 04:00 BBC World News 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Asia Today 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Asia Today 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 Hardtalk 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Hardtalk 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 Sport Today 14:00 GMT With George Alagiah 14:30 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 21:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 Hardtalk

00:05 Cow And Chicken 00:30 Cramp Twins 00:55 George Of The Jungle 01:20 Adrenalini Brothers 01:45 Eliot Kid 02:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 02:35 Ben 10: Alien Force 03:00 The Powerpuff Girls 03:15 Chowder 03:40 The Secret Saturdays 04:05 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 04:30 Ben 10: Alien Force 04:55 Best Ed 05:20 Skunk Fu! 05:45 Cramp Twins 06:10 Eliot Kid 06:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 07:00 Codename: Kids Next Door

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

TV PROGRAMS 07:25 Cow And Chicken 07:50 Angelo Rules 08:05 Cartoon Network Dance Club 08:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 08:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 09:05 The Secret Saturdays 09:30 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 09:55 The Powerpuff Girls 10:20 Robotboy 10:30 Hero 108 10:55 Ben 10 11:20 Chowder 11:45 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 12:10 Camp Lazlo 12:35 George Of The Jungle 13:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 13:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 13:50 Ben 10 14:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 14:40 Squirrel Boy 15:05 Eliot Kid 15:35 Ed, Edd N Eddy 16:00 Cow And Chicken 16:25 Chop Socky Chooks 16:50 Skunk Fu! 17:15 Chowder 17:40 Best Ed 18:05 Hero 108 18:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 18:55 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 19:20 Ben 10: Alien Force 19:45 The Secret Saturdays 20:10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 20:35 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 21:00 The Powerpuff Girls 21:25 Ed, Edd N Eddy 21:50 Cartoon Network Dance Club 22:00 Camp Lazlo 22:25 Hero 108 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 23:40 Chowder

00:40 Dirty Jobs 01:35 Gold Rush: Alaska 02:30 Ultimate Survival 03:25 Mega Builders 04:20 Mythbusters 05:15 How Do They Do It? 05:40 How Stuff’s Made 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 Mega Builders 07:50 American Chopper 08:45 How Stuff’s Made 09:10 How Do They Do It? 09:40 Mythbusters 10:30 Cake Boss 10:55 Border Security 11:25 Motor City Motors 12:20 Ultimate Survival 13:15 Mythbusters 14:10 LA Ink 15:05 Dirty Jobs 16:00 Motor City Motors 16:55 Mythbusters 17:50 River Monsters 18:45 Cake Boss 19:10 Border Security 19:40 I Could Do That 20:05 How Stuff’s Made 20:35 How Do They Do It? 21:00 The Next Great Baker 21:55 LA Ink 22:50 Police Women Of Maricopa County 23:45 River Monsters

00:30 00:55 01:45 02:35 03:25 03:50 04:45 05:40 06:10 07:00 07:55 07:58

The Gadget Show Kings Of Construction Mighty Ships Futurecar How Does That Work?

Thunder Races What’s That About?

One Step Beyond Nextworld Scrapheap Challenge Head Rush Sci-Fi Science

STATE OF PLAY ON OSN ACTION HD

08:25 Weird Connections 08:55 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 09:45 The Gadget Show 10:35 The Future Of...

11:25 Savage Planet 11:50 Scrapheap Challenge 12:40 One Step Beyond 13:05 Mighty Ships 13:55 Bang Goes The Theory 14:45 Kings Of Construction 15:35 The Gadget Show 16:00 Head Rush 16:03 Sci-Fi Science 16:30 Weird Connections 17:00 Brainiac 17:50 Mission Critical: Hubble 18:40 Space Pioneer 19:30 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 20:20 Weird Connections 20:45 How Stuff’s Made 21:10 The Gadget Show 22:00 Space Pioneer 22:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 23:40 Colony

00:00 00:25 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:20 07:05 07:25 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:35 09:00 09:25 09:50 10:10 10:35 10:50 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:25 12:45 13:10 13:30 13:55 14:20 14:40 14:47 14:55 15:20 15:40 16:00 16:20 16:25 16:45 17:10 17:35 18:45 19:30 20:25 20:50 21:12 21:15 21:35 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15 23:35

Kim Possible Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Replacements Emperors New School Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Emperors New School Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck Cars Toons Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Fairly Odd Parents Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Imagination Movers Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Fairly Odd Parents Phineas And Ferb Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Suite Life On Deck Cars Toons Have A Laugh Good Luck Charlie Jonas LA Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Cars Toons Fish Hooks Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Forever Double Teamed Cars Toons Jake And Blake Hannah Montana Have A Laugh Phineas And Ferb Fairly Odd Parents Replacements Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Jonas

06:00 Kid Vs Kat 06:20 Kick Buttowski 06:40 Pokemon 07:05 Phineas & Ferb 08:05 American Dragon 08:30 Kick Buttowski 08:50 Cars Toons 09:00 Zeke & Luther 09:50 I’m In The Band 10:15 The Super Hero Squad Show 10:40 Suite Life On Deck 11:30 Pair Of Kings 11:55 Phineas & Ferb 12:45 Kid Vs Kat 13:10 Cars Toons 13:20 Kid Vs Kat 13:50 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 14:40 Zeke & Luther 15:05 Suite Life On Deck 15:25 Cars Toons 15:35 Kick Buttowski 16:00 I’m In The Band 16:25 Suite Life On Deck 16:50 Zeke & Luther 17:40 Phineas & Ferb 18:30 Escape From Scorpion Island (Cema) 18:55 Pokemon 19:20 American Dragon 19:45 Aaron Stone 20:05 Cars Toons 20:15 Kid Vs Kat 20:40 Phineas & Ferb 21:05 I’m In The Band 21:30 Zeke & Luther 21:50 Phineas And Ferb 22:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 22:20 The Super Hero Squad Show

00:25 Kendra 00:55 The Soup 01:25 E!es 02:20 THS 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Married To Rock 10:15 50 Most Insane Celebrity Oops 12:05 E! News 13:05 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:35 E! Investigates 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Kourtney And Kim Take New York 17:25 Kourtney And Kim Take New York 17:55 E! News 18:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 19:55 THS 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Holly’s World 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami

00:15 Fantasy Factory 00:40 Mantracker 01:30 World Combat League 02:20 Fantasy Factory 03:10 Aiya TV 04:00 Cape Epic 04:50 Mantracker 05:40 World Combat League 06:30 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2007 08:00 Quattro Events 2009 08:25 Stairsmasters 2010 08:50 BMX Masters 2010 09:15 IFMXF 2010 10:05 UCI Nissan Mountainbike World Cup 2008 10:30 UCI Nissan Mountainbike World Cup 2008 10:55 Final Fu 11:45 Glutton For Punishment 12:35 Fantasy Factory 13:25 Mantracker 14:15 World Combat League 15:05 Final Fu 15:55 Glutton For Punishment 16:45 Quattro Events 2009 17:10 Stairsmasters 2010 17:35 BMX Masters 2010 18:00 IFMXF 2010 18:50 UCI Nissan Mountainbike World Cup 2008 19:15 UCI Nissan Mountainbike World Cup 2008 19:40 Mantracker 20:30 Fantasy Factory 21:20 Cape Epic 22:10 World Combat League 23:00 Aiya TV 23:50 Fantasy Factory

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

Ghost Lab A Haunting Ripped From The Headlines Disappeared Autopsy: Most Shocking Black Museum Ghost Lab Diagnosis: Unknown Forensic Detectives On The Run Diagnosis: Unknown Real Emergency Calls Disappeared FBI Files On The Case With Paula Zahn Fugitive Strike Force Diagnosis: Unknown Real Emergency Calls Disappeared Forensic Detectives On The Run FBI Files Diagnosis: Unknown Real Emergency Calls On The Case With Paula Zahn Fugitive Strike Force Deadly Women The Prosecutors Autopsy: Most Shocking

00:00 Market Values 01:00 Departures 02:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 03:00 Long Way Down 04:00 Pressure Cook 04:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 05:00 Food Lovers Guide To Planet 05:30 Exploring The Vine 06:00 Market Values 07:00 Departures 08:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 09:00 Long Way Down 10:00 Pressure Cook 10:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 11:00 Food Lovers Guide To Planet 11:30 Exploring The Vine 12:00 Market Values 13:00 Departures 14:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 15:00 Long Way Down 16:00 Pressure Cook 16:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 17:00 Food Lovers Guide To Planet 17:30 Exploring The Vine 18:00 Market Values 19:00 Departures 20:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 21:00 Long Way Down 22:00 Pressure Cook 22:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 23:00 Food Lovers Guide To Planet 23:30 Exploring The Vine

The

04:00 South Park 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Will And Grace 06:00 Yes Dear 06:30 The Drew Carey Show 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 08:30 Dharma And Greg 09:00 Just Shoot Me 09:30 Will And Grace 10:00 Yes Dear 10:30 Seinfeld 11:00 The Drew Carey Show 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 Dharma And Greg 13:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 13:30 Will And Grace 14:00 Yes Dear 14:30 30 Rock 15:00 Hot In Cleveland 15:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 16:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 16:30 The Drew Carey Show 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Just Shoot Me 18:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 19:00 Seinfeld 19:30 30 Rock 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The Cleveland Show 22:30 Weeds 23:00 South Park 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

The

The

The

00:00 Se7en-18 02:15 John Carpenter’s Ghosts Of Mars-PG15 04:00 XXX-PG15 06:00 The Stepfather-PG15 08:00 The Bodyguard 2-PG15 10:00 State Of Play-PG15 12:15 The Fast And The FuriousPG15 14:00 The Bodyguard 2-PG15 16:00 Blue Crush-PG15 18:00 The Fast And The FuriousPG15 20:00 Echelon Conspiracy-PG15 22:00 Shanghai Knights-PG15

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

PRIMO ON OSN CINEMA

Growing Op-PG15 The Wronged Man-PG15 The Cake Eaters-PG15 The Wild Thornberrys MovieThe Wronged Man-PG15 Primo-PG15 Flying By-PG15 Disco-PG Preacher’s Kid-PG I Love You Beth Cooper-PG15 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 Nine-PG15

00:00 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia 00:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 01:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 01:30 South Park 02:00 Tracy Morgan: Black And Blue 03:00 Just Shoot Me 03:30 30 Rock

00:00 Desperate Housewives 01:00 Law And Order: Criminal Intent 02:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 03:00 Covert Affairs 04:00 The View 05:00 Good Morning America 07:00 C.S.I. New York 08:00 Emmerdale 08:30 Coronation Street 09:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:00 The Martha Stewart Show 11:00 The View 12:00 Desperate Housewives 13:00 Covert Affairs 14:00 Live Good Morning America 16:00 C.S.I. New York 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 Grey’s Anatomy 21:00 Private Practice 22:00 The Glades 23:00 Treme

00:00 Cold Case 01:00 C.S.I. 02:00 Law And Order: Criminal Intent 03:00 Desperate Housewives 04:00 Covert Affairs 05:00 Psych 06:00 Cold Case 07:00 The Office 07:30 Coronation Street 08:00 Look-A-Like 08:30 Look-A-Like 09:00 Psych 10:00 Desperate Housewives 11:00 Covert Affairs 12:00 The Office 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 14:00 C.S.I. 15:00 Cold Case 16:00 The Office 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Huge 19:00 Grey’s Anatomy 21:00 Private Practice 22:00 The Glades 23:00 C.S.I.

01:00 03:00 PG15 05:00 07:00 09:00

Goal III-18 X-Men Origins: WolverineChildren Of The Corn-18 Ghost Town (TV Movie)-18 Star Trek-PG

11:15 13:15 14:45 17:00 PG15 19:15 21:30 23:30

Air Force One-PG15 Captain Drake-PG Star Trek-PG The Hunt For Red October-

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 13:30 15:30 17:30 20:00 PG15 22:00

The Proposal-PG15 The Freshman-PG15 Leaving Normal-PG15 Checking Out-PG15 Wag The Dog-PG Flirting Wth Flamenco-PG15 Under The Tuscan Sun-PG15 Can’t Buy Me Love-PG15 The Proposal-PG15 Keeping The Faith-PG15 Revenge Of The Bridesmaids-

01:40 03:30 05:30 07:30 09:00 10:45 12:45 15:00 16:45 18:45 21:00

I Love Your Work-18 Limo Driver-PG15 Paradise-PG15 Witness To Waco-PG15 Operating Instructions-PG15 Accidents Happen-PG15 Capitalism: A Love Story-PG15 Far North-PG15 Whip It-PG15 Survivre Avec Les Loups-18 Beloved-PG15

Pride And Glory-18 Shanghai Knights-PG15 Friday The 13th-18

Mumford-18

01:00 One Fine Day-PG15 03:00 Sherlock Holmes-PG15 05:30 Dr. Dolittle-PG 07:00 Dr. Dolittle 2-PG 09:00 The Perfect Score-PG15 11:00 Everybody Wants To Be Italian-PG15 13:00 Stuart Little 2-FAM 15:00 9-PG 17:00 The Perfect Score-PG15 19:00 Wrong Turn At Tahoe-18 21:00 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 23:00 Revenge Of The BridesmaidsPG15

00:00 Free Willy 3: The Rescue-FAM 02:00 Groove Squad-FAM 04:00 The Prince Of Dinosaurs-PG 06:00 Babe-FAM 08:00 Gladiators: The Conspiracy-PG 10:00 Free Willy 3: The Rescue-FAM 12:00 The Amazing Zorro-PG15 14:00 Babe-FAM 16:00 Free Willy: Escape From Pirate’s Cove-FAM 18:00 Ace Ventura : Pet Detective Jr.PG15 20:00 Dinosaur Island-PG 22:00 Gladiators: The Conspiracy-PG

00:00 2:37-R 02:00 Fanboys-PG15 04:00 One Hot Summer-PG15 06:00 Adventures Of A Teenage Dragonslayer-PG 08:00 Easy Virtue-PG15 10:00 L’affaire Farewell-PG15 12:00 500 Days Of Summer-PG15 14:00 Toy Story 3-FAM 16:00 Easy Virtue-PG15 18:00 Amelia-PG15 20:00 My Best Friend’s Girl-18 22:00 Iron Man 2-PG15

00:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 01:00 Asian Tour Golf Show 01:30 AFL Highlights 02:30 Futbol Mundial 03:00 Tennis Masters Guinot 04:30 Asian Tour Golf Show 05:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 06:00 Weber Cup Bowling 07:00 Trans World Sport 08:00 World Hockey 08:30 European Challenge Cup 10:30 FEI Equestrian World 11:00 AFL Highlights 12:00 Trans World Sport

13:00 World Hockey 13:30 Scottish FA Cup 15:30 Golfing World 16:30 NRL Premiership 18:30 Trans World Sport 19:30 World Hockey 20:00 Rugby League Challenge Cup 22:00 AFL Highlights 23:00 European PGA Tour Highlights

00:00 AFL Highlights 01:00 Rugby League Challenge Cup 03:00 ICC Cricket World 03:30 Premier League Darts 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 09:00 Asian Tour Golf Show 09:30 NRL Premiership 11:30 ICC Cricket World 12:00 Spirit of Yachting 12:30 Golfing World 13:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 14:30 Weber Cup Bowling 15:30 European Challenge Cup 17:30 NRL Full Time 18:00 Spirit of Yachting 18:30 AFL Highlights 19:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 20:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 21:00 Futbol Mundial 21:30 Scottish FA Cup 23:30 ICC Cricket World

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

UFC The Ultimate Fighter V8 Supercars Championship Sports Adventure City Centre Races UFC 130 Countdown UFC Unleashed WWE NXT WWE SmackDown Full Throttle City Centre Races Adventure Sport WWE Bottom Line Superstock Powerboat Series V8 Supercars Championship UAE National Race Day Series Superstock Powerboat Series Full Throttle UFC 130 Countdown V8 Supercars Championship UFC Unleashed UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 130 Countdown

00:00 The Big Fish 00:30 Word Travels 01:00 Great Scenic Railways-US & Canada 01:30 Travel Oz 02:00 Travel Notebook 03:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 The Big Fish 05:30 Word Travels 06:00 Luxury Getaways 06:30 48 Hours In 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 09:00 Feast India 09:30 Feast India 10:00 Grannies On Safari 10:30 The Seasoned Traveler 11:00 The Big Fish 11:30 Word Travels 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Distant Shores 13:30 The Thirsty Traveler 14:00 Luxury Getaways 14:30 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 15:30 Distant Shores 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Riding Eastern Europe 17:30 Four Men and a Lady 18:00 Distant Shores 18:30 The Thirsty Traveler 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Think Green 21:00 Journey Into Wine- Australia 21:30 Journey Into Wine- Australia 22:00 Working Holiday 23:00 Globe Trekker Special

Classifieds TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

ACCOMMODATION What causes bad breath?

A bunch of stuff: eating foods and drinks, such as garlic, onions, cheese, orange juice and soda; failing to brush and floss your teeth; and smoking or using other tobacco products.

It’s bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children’s health than the pediatrician.

Family on vacation, flat available for 2 months in Abbassiya (June - July), Keralites family only. Contact: 97121669. (C 3373)

— Academy Award-winning actress and mother of four, Meryl Streep.

— kidshealth.org

Wave this oversize wand through the air to create colossal versions of a springtime favorite.

What do kids know about health?

TIME For Kids and KidsHealth.org were wondering: When it comes to health-related issues, how knowledgeable are kids? We conducted a survey to find out.

We asked more than 10,000 kids 21 questions about fitness, nutrition and healthy habits. Their answers impressed us. They showed that kids know a lot about staying healthy and that they want to learn even more.

“Kids have a really strong basis of health knowledge,” says Dr. Mary Lou Gavin, a pediatrician and a medical editor for KidsHealth.org.

Disney FamilyFun magazine

YOUR HEALTH I.Q.

HOMEMADE BUBBLE SOLUTION Stir together 1/2 gallon of distilled water, 1/3 cup of dishwashing liquid (we used Joy) and 3 tablespoons of glycerin (available at drugstores).

Craft glue (we used Delta Sobo brand) Two 3-foot wooden dowels 3’ Yarn

It’ll probably take you a few minutes to figure out the right moves for making the best bubbles, but once you do, you won’t stop!

1. Coat 8 inches of one end of each dowel with glue, then wrap with yarn.

2. Cut a 3-foot length of yarn and tie one end to the covered tip of one

dowel, the other end to the tip of the other dowel.

3. Tie on a second, 4-foot length of yarn so that it hangs below the first. Let glue dry.

8”

4. Holding a dowel in each hand, dip the strings into a bucket of bubble solution (see above for our bubble recipe), then slowly pull the dowels apart, let-

When it comes to keeping active, sidewalk chalk seems to brim with superpowers. Here are four activities that are sure to unleash the power (and playfulness) of one of concrete’s most carefree companions.

LONGSCOTCH: Play this version of hopscotch just like the classic game of stone tossing and skipping but draw the board with 20 squares instead of 10 for twice the workout.

ting a soap 4’ film form between the strands of yarn. Wave the wand slowly through the air to make giant bubbles.

catch each ball.) Play proceeds to the next player when an o is missed.

BROAD JUMP CONTEST: Have each player take a turn jumping as far as she can from a designated spot.

Use a different color chalk to mark each player’s distance. A kid playing alone can go for a personal best.

2-D OBSTACLE COURSE: Draw a meandering path (wide enough to run through), then inside it draw obstacles with instructions: a ladder HIT THE SMALL MARK: Draw a series of o’s. From a designated spot, (“Climb the ladder”), a high wire players take turns trying to hit each o (“Don’t fall off the wire!”), and so on. Players must act out tackling an with a tennis ball. (Draw the o’s in obstacle while standing on each front of a wall so that the ball will drawing. bounce back or have another player

P H OTO S F R O M FA M I LY F U N M AG A Z I N E

I 3-D FUN: Drawings appear to jump off the sidewalk when you use Crayola 3-D Sidewalk Chalk and its accompanying glasses. It makes the 2-D Obstacle Course particularly fun — and challenging. Ages 4 and up, Crayola, $5

When it’s time to select a snack or pick an activity, many kids would like to make a healthy choice. But to do that, they need information.

That’s good news, because it turns out that kids have a lot of health-related knowledge.

They are smart about nutrition. More than nine out of 10 kids are aware that water is a healthier drink than soda and that a plain potato is better for you than chips. About 88 percent of kids answered correctly that vitamin C makes an orange a healthy snack option. And nearly 85 percent know that the best way to get to a healthy weight is by exercising and eating a balanced diet.

Kids also scored high on questions about the body.

Nine out of 10 know what a brain looks like. Just as many can tell you where the heart is located. And a similar number can identify which organ is most affected by smoking: the lungs.

HEALTHY HABITS

Does all of this knowledge lead to healthy habits? In many cases, it does. About 85 percent of kids read the nutrition facts on their food packages at least some of the time. Most kids (87 percent) say they would rather go outside and play than stay inside and watch a movie. Many (85 percent) are willing to try new fruits and vegetables too.

Health-smart kids know that staying well involves more than choosing nutritious food and being active. Dentists say it is important to brush your teeth at least twice a day. Three out of four kids brush that much or more.

Hand washing matters too. More than four out of five kids say they wash their hands after using the bathroom. But only seven out of 10 do so before they eat.

To-let, one semi furnished spacious room with attached mini room consisting of toilet, for decent couple or executive bachelors in a flat in Bneid Al-Ghar. Please call: 60046720 for detail and viewing. (C 3375) 24-5-2011 Sharing accommodation single room available in Salmiya near American University, opposite Salmiya Palace Hotel. Sharing with Indian family, couples only required.

Contact: 99111612/ 25755636. (C 3371) 23-5-2011 1 big room with attached bathroom available for 1 or 2 decent executive bachelor near Shara Amman Street, opposite Appolo Hospital. CA/C eat & kitchen facility, W&E free. Call: 99761807. (C 3365)

FOR SALE 2003 Toyota Rav4, full options - 4 doors, automatic transmission, excellent shape, price KD 2450. Tel: 99419677. (C 3368) 23-5-2011 Engineer leaving Kuwait selling all household appliances and furniture very cheap. Contact: 66271658/ 97686139/ 24728413.

(C 3367) 22-5-2011

(Pilipino, Sri Lankan, Indian) for an Indian family in Farwaniya (part time or full time). Call 97220933.

(C 3377) 24-5-2011 Urgently wanted housemaid full time/ part time for Indian family in Shaab.

Contact: 94064839.

(C 3372) 23-5-2011

GOALS FOR GOOD HEALTH

When it comes to making positive changes, kids are up for the challenge. Most kids said their health is pretty good. “They’re saying there is room for improvement,” Gavin says.

Kids told us which goals they want help achieving. Learning how to cook is at the top of the list. Many kids also would like to get more exercise, eat better and learn to play new sports.

How will you reach the health goals on your list?

To learn more about the survey, visit kidshealth.org/healthsurvey.

— Suzanne Zimbler © 2011 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TIME FOR KIDS and Timeforkids.com are registered trademarks of Time Inc.

SITUATION VACANT

CHANGE OF NAME

A Kuwaiti family is seeking to recruit a cook adequate with the Kuwaiti cuisine.

Tel: 22633624/5, 97803627.

(C 3367)

I have changed my name from Khalil Ahmed Abdul Qadeer to Shaikh Khalil Ahmed Abdul Qadeer as per affidavit dated: 05-042011.

(C 3362)

Urgently required maid

I, Kutbuddin, holder of Indian Passport No. G1348678, hereby change my name to Kutbuddin Hakimuddin Bhatia.

(C 3363) 21-5-2011

MATRIMONIAL Proposals are invited for a Keralite, 28 yrs old, Brethren, born-again Baptised software engineer boy, currently working in a Multinational Company in Bangalore, seek alliances from similar background.

Please contact Email: sunjack777@gmail.com (C 3369) 23-5-2011

SITUATION WANTED Indian male B.Com, 25 years Gulf experience (Kuwait & UAE) in management, procurement, sales, seeks senior position, experience in oil field materials, hard wares, power and hand tools, timber, steel, building materials etc. Contact: 66889375.

(C 3374) 24-5-2011 Indian male (28 yrs) B.Com, MBA (Finance) having 5 years experience in Accounting and Investment, is seeking suitable opportunity, proficient on MS-Office and Tally.

Visa # 18, transferable. Please Contact: 66516791.

(C 3370)

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines RJA JZR THY ETH UAE DHX ETD FDB GFA QTR JZR JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC FCX KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC UAE IRA QTR ABY QTR ETD GFA IRA MEA MHK JZR JZR KAC MSR UAL RJA KAC FDB SVA

Flt 642 267 772 620 853 370 305 67 211 138 529 505 555 412 157 416 201 206 302 332 53 352 284 855 605 132 125 6130 301 213 619 404 711 165 121 672 610 982 640 512 57 500

Arrival Flights on Tuesday 24/5/2011 Route AMMAN BEIRUT ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA DUBAI BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA ASSIUT LUXOR ALEXANDRIA MANILA / BANGKOK LONDON JAKARTA / KUALA LUMPUR BAHRAIN ISLAMABAD MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM DUBAI COCHIN DHAKA DUBAI ISFAHAN DOHA SHARJAH DOHA ABU DHABI BAHRAIN LAR BEIRUT BAGHDAD / NAJAF DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI CAIRO WASHINGTON DC DULLES AMMAN TEHRAN DUBAI JEDDAH

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

KAC JZR QTR ETD UAE GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY JZR JZR ALK KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC SIA JAI VOS FDB OMA MEA KAC MLR DHX KLM UAE JZR GFA QTR UAL AIC JZR JZR MSR DLH AXB JZR PIA

746 257 134 303 857 215 510 777 239 127 213 177 227 104 166 502 542 618 786 674 774 458 572 93 61 647 402 552 1405 372 443 859 183 217 136 981 981 135 787 612 636 389 539 205

ABU DHABI / DAMMAM BEIRUT DOHA ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH JEDDAH AMMAN SHARJAH DEIREZZOR DUBAI COLOMBO / DUBAI LONDON PARIS / ROME BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH DUBAI RIYADH SINGAPORE / ABU DHABI MUMBAI KANDAHAR / DUBAI DUBAI MUSCAT BEIRUT DAMASCUS COLOMBO / DUBAI BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM DUBAI DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN CHENNAI / AHMEDABAD BAHRAIN RIYADH CAIRO FRANKFURT KOZHIKODE / MANGALORE CAIRO LAHORE / PESHAWER

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

Depurture Flights on Tuesday 24/5/2011 Departur Flt

Route

Time

DLH

637

FRANKFURT

0:40

AIC

976

GOA / CHENNAI

0:50

PIA

240

SIALKOT

1:10

THY

773

ISTANBUL

2:15

ETH

620

BAHRAIN / ADDIS ABABA

2:30 3:45

UAE

854

DUBAI

FDB

68

DUBAI

3:50

DHX

371

BAHRAIN

3:55

ETD

306

ABU DHABI

4:05

QTR

139

DOHA

5:00

JZR

164

DUBAI

6:55

RJA

643

AMMAN

7:00

GFA

212

BAHRAIN

7:10

JZR

120

BAHRAIN

8:20

BAW

156

LONDON

8:25

FDB

54

DUBAI

8:40

KAC

671

DUBAI

9:00

KAC

745

DAMMAM / ABU DHABI

9:05

JZR

256

BEIRUT

9:10

KAC

511

TEHRAN

9:15

KAC

101

LONDON / NEW YORK

9:30

UAE

856

DUBAI

9:40

ABY

126

SHARJAH

9:50

IRA

604

ISFAHAN

9:55

QTR

133

DOHA

10:00

ETD

302

ABU DHABI

10:15

GFA

214

BAHRAIN

10:20

IRA

618

LAR

10:40

QTR

6131

DOHA

10:40

KAC

165

ROME / PARIS

11:45

MEA

405

BEIRUT

11:55

KAC

541

CAIRO

12:00

JZR

776

JEDDAH

12:00

JZR

212

DEIREZZOR

12:05

JZR

238

AMMAN

12:10

MHK

712

NAJAF / BAGHDAD

12:20

KAC

501

BEIRUT

13:00

KAC

785

JEDDAH

13:30

JZR

176

DUBAI

13:40

MSR

611

CAIRO

14:20

RJA

641

AMMAN

14:30

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

FDB UAL KAC KAC KAC SVA KAC QTR JZR JZR ETD UAE GFA ABY JZR SVA JZR JZR ALK KAC KAC JAI FDB JZR KAC KAC OMA MEA SIA MLR DHX KLM UAE GFA KAC FCX QTR KAC KAC JZR JZR KAC UAL MSR

58 982 551 673 617 501 773 135 538 182 304 858 216 128 266 511 786 134 228 283 361 571 62 528 343 351 648 403 457 1405 373 443 860 218 381 102 137 301 205 502 554 411 981 613

DUBAI BAHRAIN DAMASCUS DUBAI DOHA JEDDAH RIYADH DOHA CAIRO DUBAI ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH BEIRUT RIYADH RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI / COLOMBO DHAKA COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI ASSIUT CHENNAI COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT ABU DHABI / SINGAPORE COLOMBO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN / AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN DELHI BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD LUXOR ALEXANDRIA BANGKOK / MANILA WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO

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

34

s ta rs CALVIN

CROSSWORD 327

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) Take nothing for granted today as far as communication is concerned. Important information comes to you in many forms.

Because you listen carefully to what others tell you, you are able to detect the times you are being misled. Practice this talent by repeating what another person has said until you become adapted to the actual listening process—then there should be little work involved in the awareness process. This is an excellent time for dealing with partnership investments, contracts, agreements and large purchases. Your finances look promising—take steps to secure your investments. You may have an opportunity to meet someone new and interesting during this time. A hunch you have this evening is worth pursuing.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. The bill in a restaurant.

4. A deep bow.

10. A proportion multiplied by 100.

13. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

14. United States poet and critic (1916-1986).

15. The network in the reticular formation that serves an alerting or arousal function.

16. Capital and largest city of the Czech Republic.

18. A notable achievement.

19. A federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment.

20. Possible to sell.

21. Hold back to a later time.

23. 16 ounces.

24. 1 species.

27. To an ample degree or in an ample manner.

30. A loud utterance.

31. A youthful male person.

34. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

35. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

38. The 17th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

39. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

41. (Assyrian) God of fire and light.

43. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

44. A humorous anecdote or remark.

45. (baseball) Able to bat either right-handed or left-handed.

49. A member of an extinct North American Indian people who lived in the Pit river valley in northern California.

50. Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge.

54. In such a manner as could not be otherwise.

57. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

58. Any plant of the genus Gazania valued for their showy daisy flowers.

60. An organic compound that contains a hydroxyl group bonded to a carbon atom which in turn is doubly bonded to another carbon atom.

61. A promontory in northern Morocco opposite the Rock of Gibraltar.

63. A belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school.

64. (British) An open river valley (in a hilly area).

65. An oil port in southern Iraq.

66. (informal) Of the highest quality.

DOWN 1. (military) Signal to turn the lights out.

2. A city in northern India.

3. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

4. Covered with scabs.

5. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively.

6. Filled with a great quantity.

7. A unit of surface area equal to 100 square meters.

8. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.

9. The middle of the day.

10. Manufactured in standard sizes to be shipped and assembled elsewhere.

11. A strip of land projecting into a body of water.

12. A male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917).

17. (Jewish cookery) A loaf of white bread containing eggs and leavened with yeast.

22. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication.

25. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

26. Exaggeratedly proper.

28. Informal terms for a mother.

29. Small beads made from polished shells and formerly used as money by native Americans.

32. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

33. Not only so, but.

36. A former copper coin of Pakistan.

37. A former British gold coin worth 21 chillings.

40. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

42. A festival featuring African-American culture.

46. A narrow headband or strip of ribbon worn as a headband.

47. A set of data arranged in rows and columns.

48. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

49. The habitation of wild animals.

51. Type genus of the Ranidae.

52. Neither warm or very cold.

53. Armor plate that protects the chest.

55. Sound recording consisting of a disc with continuous grooves.

56. Same in identity.

59. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942).

62. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

Yesterday’s Solution

You could be seen by others as just the person to be put in charge of some special project. With you in charge, others feel safe and they know that work will have success. You are very skilled at working with psychology and the hidden recesses of the mind. There are few secrets when you are involved in the work process as well as with a team of people. You are good at managing people and finding the right answers to difficult investigations or projects. You would make an excellent psychologist and teacher of psychology. Involving yourself in a volunteer program will actually help you to have more freedom from those that take advantage of you with problems or requests for help, etc. You enjoy helping others but home is where you and the family relax.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) This is a great time to be with others and to work together. You always can say just what you mean. You are usually right when a dispute arises but you are wise to keep a low profile. You take an active interest in psychology, different cultures and history. You can find support from all sides when it comes to any sort of mental activity—writing, speaking and all forms of communication. These may be the things that interest you most today. You could come up with new solutions or inventions that will help a handicapped person. You would make a superb decorator of homes and in general; for and in all kinds of environments. You enjoy moods and emotions, whatever is psychological—especially in a group setting. Music becomes a hobby.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Your ability to discriminate real breakthroughs and to spot new trends makes you able to work in areas at the very fringe of technology. You love all that is new and different and are most willing to share your insight with others. You have an inner drive to find out the complete truth or whole story. You can portray the picture needed for others to understand most difficult situations. Electronics, computers, communications and everything electrical is right up your alley. This evening, you are sociable and encourage the performer in others. You like to work with words and ideas and have a natural appreciation for anything that is literary or artistic. Perhaps it is time to join a poetry or book club. You and a friend may enjoy dinner away from home this evening.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

ZITS

You could experience problems with home life today—especially any discord with parents or children. Additional responsibilities may be placed on you in the context of the home setting. You should open up to relatives, since it is a good time to receive help! Your interest in progressing in your profession is great and you may feel the need to put in for lots of overtime or perhaps a little volunteer time. There could be something you are trying to accomplish and interruptions have been a problem. You will work in a balance. Do not forget the favors you may owe now—even if you have to write an I OWE YOU on a calendar to help you remember. You may increase finances through unexpected boons. A current project ends successfully.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Outer circumstances and the flow of events make it easy for you to make clear decisions, see the road ahead and move forward. Things seem to fall in place and progress is easy. You could have difficulty getting outer recognition for your efforts or accomplishment, but you will receive recognition in due time. This means you should throw your efforts into work or ventures you really love doing. You have a high rate of change when it comes to what you believe in— your ideals and dreams. You adjust and change your ideals often and struggle not to become carried away with each new vision. The world of your imagination is a major focus of change. The ultra light hobby or some similar hobby may gain your attention soon.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIM

Quick answers, great wit and a surplus of insights and solutions are at the ready today. This is a good time to write and communicate with real originality. Inventions and breakthroughs are possible. You are apt to spend a great deal of time communicating with people apart from work as well as your coworkers today. Your financial affairs may be in a bit of a mess but if you use today to gather your questions in list form and have a financial counselor help you, you will be pleased with the outcome. Take time to evaluate your needs. Enjoy the company of your loved one(s) this evening they will be pleased to see you making these plans for a consult. There is an opportunity to cook or serve others this evening and you gain from the experience.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) This is a time when you could make some wrong choices, in particular as they could change your work situation. You might feel that you are unable to make good decisions today. This will pass soon enough and any feelings that are negative could be noted for later consideration. Criticism for yourself or another is a dangerous spark just now—careful. You may be in the mood for deep and penetrating conversations with your friends this afternoon. Through listening to another person air their views on work and responsibilities, you may come upon your own answers or ideas. Ideas and thoughts will have greater meaning and form just now. Find ways in which to nourish another person’s self-esteem today. In turn, you will find your own self-esteem improves.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) This could be a frustrating time both at home and at work. This could either mean interruptions or it could mean some need to correct mechanical difficulties. There may be a tendency to make your decisions too quickly. Be sure to take your allocated breaks and if it is possible, follow a written list of today’s duties so that you know you have covered all the bases. At home this afternoon, keep yourself or others busy. Take a little trip or just get out-of-doors. You may want to break your routine and try something new or different. Once you step back and take the big picture of todayís events, you may discover insights into day-to-day problems that will be of great value. This evening a lover or child becomes a focal point in your life.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You may receive some recognition or special attention regarding your particular skills and abilities today. Generally, this could be a productive and potentially satisfying day. Your timing is right for introducing your ideas to higher-ups. You will see positive results if you pace yourself and not try to accomplish too many changes at once. Ambition and achievement are qualities you hold in special regard. This is a time for getting ahead and enjoying your career. This evening you may enjoy being out-of-doors with neighbors, young people or a loved one. You are keen on education and may provide quite a lot of encouragement for someone considering taking some classes. A lover or child shares his or her hobby with you.

Yesterday’s Solution Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You will find that you are appreciated and valued for your ability to act and get things done. You are valued for your natural leadership abilities. You are able to handle the problems that come across your path today and you do not stop to dally over fixed mistakes. The attitude is onward and upward toward bigger and better things. Everything you do points to your unique capabilities. The satisfaction of a job well done is one of your greatest incentives and this is a great time to be with others and to work together. This evening you have a feeling of being at peace and stable on the emotional level. Stability satisfies a deep emotional need. Music is the instigator for an enjoyable evening and it may be background to entertaining a friend.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Your attitude and your energies work toward positive results. These changes could have long-lasting effects. Do not become preoccupied with one idea. An urge to wipe the slate clean and start over can leave you feeling empty. Have a definite plan in mind before you make drastic changes and give yourself time to contemplate those changes. Perhaps little steps are more in order.

Pay attention to resentments and find ways to lesson or eliminate these negatives.

You may find yourself becoming more organized and conservative in your activities today. Pay special attention to your dreams, since you may be able to tap into levels of consciousness that have been previously closed to you. Know that your dreams of late are not literal.

A

y

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Years

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

i n f o r m at i o n

FIRE BRIGADE STATE ST TAT TE OF KUW K KUWAIT WA AIT

112

Tel.: T e el.: 161

DIRECTORA DIRECTORATE AT TE GEN GENERAL NERAL OF CIVIL A AVIATION V VIA AT TION METEOROLOGICAL L DEP DEPARTMENT PA ARTMENT DA AY: Y Monday DAY:

WWW .MET.GOV V..KW W WWW.MET.GOV.KW

23/05/2011 23/05/201 1

Ministry of Interior

Ext.: 26 2627 627 - 2630

Fax: 24348714

19:00

Time Issue Time

Expected Weather Weeather for the Next 24 2 Hours

website: www.moi.gov.kw For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

BY Y NIGHT NIGHT::

Cloud Clouds ds will decrease gradually with w light to moderate freshen freshening ning gradually north westerly y to northerly wind d, with speed of 15 - 40 km/h h causing raising dust over op pen areas wind, open

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

BY Y DA AY: DAY:

Hot with w moderate to fresh north westerly wind, with speed of o 22 - 42 km/h causing raisi raising ing dust over open areas

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

WARNING W A ARNING

No Current W Warnings aarnin ngs

STATION ST TAT TION

MAX. REC.

MIN MIN. N. EXP EXP. P.

Al-Mangaf

23711183

KUWAIT KUW WA AIT CITY

41 °C

3 °C 33

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

24812000

KUWAIT KUW WA AIT AIRPORT AIRPOR RT

42 °C

3 °C 30

Al-Jahra

25610011

Amiri Hospital

22450005

NUWAISEEB NUW WAISEEB A

39 °C

3 °C 30

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Maternity Hospital

24843100

W A AFRA WAFRA

41 °C

2 °C 28

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

SALMI

42 °C

2 °C 28

Chest Hospital

24849400

ABDALY ABDAL LY

45 °C

3 °C 30

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

JAL ALIYAH ALIY YAH A

43 °C

2 °C 29

Adan Hospital

23940620

F A AILAKA FAILAKA

41 °C

3 °C 31

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

PORT AHMADI POR RT

39 °C

3 °C 34

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

UMM AL-MARADEM AL-MARAD DEM

33 °C

3 °C 31

W A ARBA A - BUBYAN BUBY YAN A WARBA

40 °C

31 3 °C

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

Clinics Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

SFC. CHAR CHART RT

23/05/201 23/05/2011 1 120 1200 00 UTC

POLICE STATION

4 DA DAYS AY YS FORECAST Temperatures Temperatures DAY DA AY

DATE DA AT TE

Tuesday Tuesday

24/05

W eednesday Wednesday

25/05

Thursday

26/05

Friday

27/05

WEA WEATHER AT THER R

Wind Wind Speed

Wind Wind Direction Direction

MAX.

MIN.

hot + raising dust d

43 °C

30 °C

NW

22 - 42 km/h

hot + raising dust d

43 °C

30 °C

NW

22 - 42 km/h

hot + raising dust d

44 °C

31 °C

NW

20 - 45 km/h

hot + raising dust d

44 °C

32 °C

NW

20 - 40 km/h

PRAYER P PRA AY YER TIMES

RECORDED RECORDE ED YESTERDAY YESTERDA AY AT AT KUW KUWAIT WA AIT AIRPORT AIRPOR RT

Fajr

03:20

MAX. Temp.

M Temp.

42 °C

Sunrise

04:52

Temp.

MIN. T M emp.

31 °C

Zuhr

1 1:45 11:45

MAX. RH M

21 %

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Asr

15:20

MIN. RH

06 %

Dasmah

22532265

Sunset

18:38

Wind MAX. W M ind

N 43 km/h

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Isha

20:06

TOTAL RAINFALL T OT TA AL L RA AINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

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

24892674

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

3900322

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

00 mm

23/05/11 14:50 UTC 23/05/11

V1.00

T1.06

PHARMACIES

AIRLINES

ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines Aeroflot

22433377 177 22924455 22414400 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/ 2433141 22456700 22958787 22453820/1 22404838/9

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist 25340300

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581 22641071/2

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Salem soso

22618787

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists

Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists

25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291 22666288

Rheumatologists:

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

Dentists

Internists, Chest & Heart

25339330

25655535

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

General Surgeons

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345

Central African Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK) Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia

00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689

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Years

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

lifest yle G o s s i p

Hayek has become ‘good housewife’

a

he 44-year-old actress - who has a three-year-old daughter Valentina with husband Francois-Henri Pinault - explained while she enjoys her “homey” lifestyle in Paris, her partner is a “spoilt brat” when it comes to his food. She said: “I am a housewife. I cook every night for my husband. I am most definitely a housewife. And a good one, I must say. “Our life is great and glamorous in many ways, and in many ways - the good ways - it’s very homey. He’s a spoilt brat, my husband, when it comes to food.” Despite being content with her lifestyle now, the Mexican-born beauty admitted when she first met Francois she “panicked” about

T

having to move to France and become a housewife.

Salma added to Style magazine: “The first thing I panicked about was moving. I got scared. I said, ‘I’m not moving to Paris to be a housewife’. And he said, ‘Fine, we’ll be different’. It’s sort of exciting to have a different kind of marriage. “He knew I was going to end up here but he said the right thing. Before I knew it, I was spending most of my time here, and I love it.”

Paltrow’s record deal fizzles out G

Hepburn’s hairstyle named most influential udrey Hepburn’s ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ hairstyle has been named most influential style ever. The late actresses’ French pleat in the 1961 film - in which she played lead character Holly Golightly - has been given the honor after hairdressers voted it top of their list in a

A

wyneth Paltrow’s record deal discussions have “fizzled out”. The 38-year-old actress - who has daughter Apple, seven, and five-year-old son Moses with her husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin impressed industry chiefs with her portrayal of a troubled country singer in recent movie ‘Country Strong’ but Atlantic Records are now said to have cooled their interest in getting her to record for them. A source told the New York Post newspaper: “Atlantic bosses were very interested, and [Atlantic owner] Lyor Cohen was very supportive. But then the talks halted and the deal fizzled out. There was a rumour that Paltrow wanted $1 million to sign, but that is a ridiculous figure. Atlantic is still interested in signing her.” It is believed Gwyneth is currently focusing on her acting career and promoting her new cook book, but her spokesperson insists she hasn’t ruled out making a record. The representative said: “Atlantic was not the only company pursuing her, and she still has not decided if she wants to record an album.

It is still something she is considering.”Earlier this year, Gwyneth - who has showcased her musical abilities on TV drama ‘Glee’ - performed at the Oscars, singing a rendition of nominated song ‘Coming Home’ from ‘Country Strong’. She also duetted with Cee Lo Green at the Grammy Awards, with the pair performing a version of his hit ‘Forget You’. At the Oscars last month, the 38-yearold blonde revealed she wanted to work with Jay-Z who she and Chris are close friends with. She said: “I think Jay-Z and I would be a good combination. He is a genius - and I’m his biggest fan.”

Hairdressing Council poll, revealing it is the most requested style in salons. Other vintage cuts in the list included ‘Some Like It Hot’ actress Marilyn Monroe’s trademark blonde curls, which were second, and model Twiggy’s crop in third. Jennifer Aniston made the top 10 for her ‘Friends’ character Rachel Green’s hairstyle aptly named ‘ The Rachel’, while Victoria Beckham’s bob cut was also among the frontrunners. Audrey’s accolade comes after she was voted the most beautiful woman of all time in a poll held by TV channel QVC last year. Once again she saw off competition from Marilyn, who was third, and Jennifer, who came 10th in the survey. Modern stars such as Cheryl Cole, who was second, Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson were also outdone by the ‘My Fair Lady’ star.

Allen gets cooking lesson from Ramsay ily Allen celebrated her hen party with a cooking lesson from Gordon Ramsay. The 25-year-old singer - who is set to tie the knot with fiance Sam Cooper in Gloucestershire, South West England, on June 11 - spent the evening at the celebrity chef’s restaurant in London’s exclusive Claridge’s Hotel alongside a group of close friends, including actress Jaime Winstone and British TV presenter Miquita Oliver. Writing on her twitter page, she said: “I am on my hen, having a cooking lesson with a very special teacher.

“Gordon Ramsay, and he was brilliant. Had no idea, I am a very, very luccky girl. X x (sic).”

While the party got off to a classy start, it quickly degenerated into a traditional hen bash, with Lily posting pictures on twitter of penis-shaped straws and “stripper shoes” before emerging from the hotel wearing a fake bride’s veil on her head. According to the

L

ussell Brand was deported from Japan. The 35-year-old funnyman - who has previously battled heroin addiction and been arrested 12 times for offences including criminal damage and indecent exposure - flew into Tokyo’s Narita Airport with his wife Katy Perry, who is touring the country, but was denied entry by immigration officials because of his criminal past. The ‘Firework’ hitmaker broke the news on her twitter page, admitting she was distraught not to be able to show her spouse her “favorite place”. She tweeted: “So...my husband just got deported from Japan. I am so. sad.

R

I brought him all this way to show him my favorite place.

Tokyodreamscrushed “...But of COURSE I heart my Japanese fans & the show #MUSTGOONno matter the daily aftershocks or husband kidnappings! it’snotrightbutit’sokay (sic)” While Katy was upset by Russell’s deportation, the British comic saw the funny side when being questioned by officials and revealed he was planning to escape. He tweeted: “Planning escape from Japanese custody. It’s bloody hard to dig a tunnel with a chopstick “Stockholm syndrome kicking in. Just asked my guard out for (vegetarian) sushi. He giggled. (sic)” When the officials had finished questioning him he tweeted: “Alcatraz! Shawshank Redemption!

And now this! Ah, sweet blue bird of freedom!”

iley Cyrus has enjoyed exploring Colombia with Liam Hemsworth. The singer-andactress recently reconciled with the Australian hunk - whom she broke up with in November after 18 months of dating - and after being pictured with the actor while touring South America, she took to twitter to express her delight at their visit. She tweeted: “Thank you Columbia =]

M

Had such a great time! So happy I was able to spend time and enjoy your beautiful country with my BOOOOO. XX. (sic)” Miley, who was in Colombia for her ‘Gypsy Heart’ tour, was also happy to be photographed by fans as she walked around with 24year-old Liam. Though Miley has not confirmed she is back with Liam, the ‘So Undercover’ star recently revealed that she is “not single”. She said: “I don’t

Daily Mirror newspaper, the group then moved on to Soho’s Lucky Voice karaoke bar where the ‘Smile’ hitmaker was spotted belting out a string of hits, including Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ and ‘Moment For Life’ by Nicki Minaj.

Lily and her pals were then given permission to stay on at the night spot after hours, where they downed four bottles of rose champagne.

Notably absent from the celebrations was fellow bride-to-be and close friend of Lily Kate Moss - who is tying the knot with rocker Jamie Hince in July - after the pair reportedly fell out over plans to host their hen parties on the same night. A source recently said: “Lily and Kate are more like ‘frenemies’ these days. Lily was upset when she heard that Kate was throwing her own hen night on the same weekend as hers. “Lily then brought hers forward to May, but the whole thing has left a bitter taste.”

Walsh’s Beyonce inspiration K imberley Walsh says she is inspired by curvy women like Beyonce Knowles when she dresses. The shapely Girls Aloud singer said she chooses clothes that suit her figure and looks to other celebrities such as Beyonce and Halle Berry for ideas. The beautiful pop star, who is dating Justin Scott, said: “I guess I tend to look towards curvier women like Beyonce and see what looks good on them. And Halle Berry also has a great body. If I had her figure I don’t think I’d complain!” The 29 year old - who is taking a break from music to build a career as a TV presenter - added she

want to cross out the Australian boys but I may or may not be single ... I love Australian boys though obviously. “Liam and I are very close, I’m not going to comment too much, but you guys don’t have to worry about that ... I’m definitely not coming to Australia single.”— Bang Showbiz

likes to dress to a 50s style to flatter her shape and she has learned not to get too hung up on her body flaws. She said: “I always dress to suit my shape. I won’t wear a trend if it doesn’t suit my figure. I love that whole 50s style, mainly because it suits my body shape, rather than it being a trend. “I’d like to have longer legs - but wouldn’t everyone? It’s just the way it is. But they probably wouldn’t look right with the rest of my shape anyway!”

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

lifestyle

File photo shows a “Star Wars” Lego display at Legoland California Resort in Carlsbad.

—AP photos

a look at what’s new in US theme parks

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ew rides, new aquariums, new exhibits: There’s all sorts of change going on at amusement parks all over the US. Here, from the Association of Amusement Park and Attractions, is the latest on just a few of the many improvements: Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Ore: There’s a new water park with four water slides and interactive exhibits. More: evergreenmuseum.org.

Alabama Adventure, Bessemer, Ala: BuzzSaw Falls plunges riders down a five-story flume chute. More: alabamaadventure.com.

Busch Gardens, Tampa, Fla: Cheetah Hunt coaster propels riders from 0 to 60 mph in seconds three times during the ride, which flies above a simulated Serengeti plain and canyon. More: buschgardens.com.

Canobie Lake Park, Salem, NH: Untamed coaster takes riders up a 75-foot incline, drops them 97 degrees, then rolls them into banked curves, loops, twists, turns and zero-gravity rolls. More: canobie.com.

Discovery Cove, Orlando: New Grand Reef allows guests (in a wet suit and breathing apparatus) to walk below the surface through tropical fish. More: discoverycove.com.

Disneyland’s California Adventure, Anaheim, Calif: The Little Mermaid ride zips you through an underwater adventure in a clam shell. More: disneyland.com.

Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tenn: The Swing’s two arms swing riders up to 81 feet high at 45 mph. More: dollywood.com.

SeaWorld San Diego, San Diego, Calif: Turtle Reef offers a close look at more than 60 threatened or endangered sea turtles. More: seaworld.com.

Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington: The Texas park’s 50th anniversary includes a faster and steeper Texas Giant with a new track that will churn your stomach. More: sixflags.com/overtexas/index.aspx.

Deal Affordable six nights in the US Caribbean You don’t need a passport to visit the US Virgin Islands, and for visits June 10-Aug.31, St Croix is offering hotel deals between $566.40 and $1,837.40 (plus tax) for a six-night stay. That’s right: a six-night stay. And you’ll want to stay awhile, because the bad news is that air fare isn’t cheap. I suggest flying American Airlines

nonstop from either Houston or Dallas; it runs around $700 round trip for midweek flights. The fare’s $830 out of Austin. It’s a gorgeous slice of paradise, though.

Participating hotels include The Buccaneer, Carambola Beach Resort, Chenay Bay Beach Resort, Club St. Croix, Colony Cove, Company House Hotel, Divi Carina Bay Beach Resort, Hibiscus Beach Resort, Hotel Caravelle, King Christian Hotel and Sand Castle on the Beach.

Book at visitusvi.com/package-and-promotions.

Top 10 Global music festivals Cheapflights.com has dubbed these the world’s best music festivals.

1. Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival, Indio, Calif.

2. Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark 3. Soundwave Music Festival, Petrcane, Croatia 4. T in the Park, Kinross, Scotland 5. Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, Montreal, Canada 6. Sziget Fesztival, Budapest, Hungary 7. Summer Sonic Festival, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan 8. Festival Internacional de Benicassim, Benicassim, Spain 9. Bestival, Isle of Wight, England 10. Rock im Park/Rock am Ring, Nuremberg, Germany and Nurburg, Germany FESTIVAL Ohio town celebrates miracle of duct tape.

It is a product we all rely on, so duct tape richly deserves its own festival. Avon, Ohio, was smart enough to realize this, primarily because it’s the town where Duck Tape brand tape is actually made. The Duct Tape Festival, now in its eighth year, is a chance for Avonites to stick together and celebrate with duct tape floats and fashions as well as food, games, entertainment and rides (not, we hope, duct-taped together). It’s June 17-19 at Veterans Memorial Park, 3701 Veterans Memorial Parkway in Avon. If you’re in the neighborhood, drop by. More at ducttapefestival.com.

Camp 3-day camp teaches modeling, acting Does your child show a flair for the stage? Consider this three-day acting and modeling camp at Mo-Ranch Conference Center in Hunt, open to all children ages 8 to 19. The camp is especially inviting deaf and hard-of-

hearing children to participate. It costs $500, and that includes air-conditioned accommodations for three nights, meals, snacks, activities and a professional photo shoot with a CD of images to take home. Find out more at entouragesummercamp.com.

Festival Join Myrtle Beach, SC, for Memorial Day Myrtle Beach’s Mayfest - one of South Carolina’s big festivals - is already under way, but a lot of its key events are coming up Memorial Day weekend. There’ll be a parade, along with a performance by “American Idol’s” David Archuleta May 28 and a meet-and-greet with Disney and Nickelodeon stars, such as Jennette McCurdy (“iCarly”) and Ariana Grande (“Victorious”).

Best of all, there are special rates at the hotels and resorts, which don’t want to run you off by overcharging during the festival.—AP

File photo shows audio-animatronics characters from The Little Mermaid - Ariel’s Undersea Adventure attraction in Anaheim, Calif.

File photo shows general manager Adrian Jones as he poses for a photograph with a map of Legoland Florida during a preview tour at the park in Winter Haven.

File photo shows the Green Lantern stand-Up coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ.

“One Ocean” at SeaWorld in Orlando.

The Leela Palace New Delhi opens T

he Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts recently celebrated the grand opening of its newest property, The Leela Palace New Delhi. Set on three acres in the heart of the capital’s prestigious Diplomatic Enclave, The Leela Palace is the first new hotel built from the ground up in New Delhi in 30 years and, at over $370 million, is the most expensive hotel ever built in India. It is also the first hotel designed for Gold LEED certification to premiere in India.

“We are proud to launch our first hotel in the heart of the nation’s capital,” said Capt. CP Krishnan Nair, the visionary hotelier behind the 25 year-old, family-owned group, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, which has six other luxury hotel properties in India. “Our goal is provide visitors with service that’s on a par with the best in the world, along with true Indian hospitality,” he added.

The architectural firm Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart and Stewart, of Atlanta Ga, which developed Burj Place in Dubai, among other iconic international projects, designed the 11-story, 260-room hotel. With some of the city’s largest guest rooms, beginning at 550 square feet in size, The Leela Palace New Delhi features dazzling Murano chandeliers from Italy, hand-woven carpets from Turkey

and a $5 million collection of traditional and contemporary Indian art.

Design Studio Spin Inc, Tokyo, Lim Teo Wilkes Design, Singapore and K&A, USA were responsible for the interior design that evokes the ambiance of a luxurious Indian residence and blends traditional and contemporary styling with cutting-edge electronic amenities. The 260 guest rooms include 18 spacious suites and the six-room Maharajah Suite, which includes its own private elevator, gym and spa room and use of a chauffeured Rolls-Royce Phantom. All rooms and suites are equipped with Bose iPod docks; Sony high definition LCD TVs with Blu-Ray compatibility; mirror television sets and spa mood lighting in the bathrooms.

In addition to two ballrooms, six meetings rooms, two board rooms and outdoor event space flanked by tropical gardens, the hotel features a heated rooftop infinity pool and a 6,500 square foot, two-level, relaxation area with spas, saunas, fitness center and a cafÈ.

The Leela Palace New Delhi’s five restaurants include Jamavar, serving gourmet Indian cuisine in a setting evocative of a Maharajah’s palace, and The Qube, featuring international fare in a “glass house” overlooking the lawn and gardens. While the burnished-wood-pan-

eled Library, with its ambiance of an old-fashioned gentlemen’s club, serves fine whiskies, wines and martinis, the first Asian branch of New York’s Le Cirque, offering Italian-French cuisine will open on the 10th floor in June.

And, in July, Megu, the first Indian branch of one of Japan’s most famous restaurants, is slated to open.

In keeping with The Leela’s dedication to sustainable development, The Leela Palace New Delhi was designed for LEED Gold certification and features an eco-friendly operations designed to ensure zero wastage of natural resources. With its own gas-fired generator set that utilizes the water and steam from the air-conditioning system, an in-house rainwater harvesting project and an in-house water treatment plant, the hotel recycles 100 percent of its used water.

To celebrate the opening of The Leela Palace New Delhi, the hotel is offering a special Grand Opening rate of Rs 14500 (approximately US$325) plus tax per night, based on double occupancy in a Grande Deluxe Room.

Reservations for the offer can be made at www.theleela.com and is available through September 30, 2011, for stays of two nights or more.

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TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

lifestyle Music & Movies

Paul McCartney performs with drummer Abe Laboriel Jr.in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday. — AP

Indian film superstar Rajinikanth recovering

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ndian film legend Rajinikanth has been taken out of intensive care and was recovering in a private ward yesterday after a serious health scare, doctors said. The 61year-old Tamil language cinema icon, who is often referred to simply as “The Superstar”, was transferred from the special ward on Sunday evening. He had spent three days there after suffering breathing problems. “He is cheerful and is

spending time with all the family members and is watching cricket (on television) keenly,” a medical bulletin from the Sri Ramachandra hospital in the southern city of Chennai said.

“His vital parameters are stable,” it added. Rajinikanth, a former bus conductor from Bangalore who inspires a fanatical following among movie-goers in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, has been dogged by health problems for the last month.

He first fell ill at the end of April on the first day of shooting his new film “Rana” (The Monarch). Since then he has been in and out of hospital. He was admitted to the private Sri Ramachandra hospital on May 13 and taken into intensive care on Thursday, shocking his legions of fans and prompting prayers and vigils for his swift recovery. Well-wishers also included Hindi-language Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Dev Anand.—AFP

File photo shows Indian Bollywood actor Rajinikanth poses as he attends a music launch ceremony for the Hindi film “Robot” in Mumbai. — AFP

French actor arrested for mooning in Cannes

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olice arrested a French actor for baring his bottom to fans when they asked to take a photograph of him in the movie festival town of Cannes, media and an official said yesterday. Sami Naceri, 49, star of the hit television series “Taxi”, was arrested on Sunday and is in police custody, “accused of displaying an intimate part of his anatomy” in public, said the police official, who asked not to be named.

Police would not describe the offence in detail but the regional newspaper Nice Matin reported that Naceri dropped his

trousers and bared his buttocks to a group of young people who asked him for a photo on the Cannes seafront. The actor has had several run-ins with the law and last month was convicted of a knife attack in 2009. Just last week he was briefly detained in Cannes for insulting police. — AFP French actor Samy Naceri poses with a guest on the red carpet before the screening of ‘The Tree of Life’. — AFP

Oscar-winning composer accused of rape found dead

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oseph Brooks, the Oscar-winning composer of the hit “You Light Up My Life” and who was awaiting trial on rape charges, was found dead in his New York apartment on Sunday, having apparently killed himself, police said. Brooks’ body was discovered at his apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side about 12.30 pm /1630 GMT by a friend with whom he had planned to have lunch, police said. Brooks, 73, had a plastic bag wrapped around his head. A helium tank with a hose attachment also was found at the scene, police said.

They said they found a suicide note but would not discuss its contents. An autopsy was planned. Brooks was awaiting trial after pleading not guilty in 2009 to charges he raped and sexually abused at least 11 women. According to the Manhattan district attorney’s account, Brooks, a director and screenwriter as well as a composer, tricked

aspiring actresses into coming to his apartment in the belief they were auditioning for a role.

In many cases, the women had responded to an audition notice that Brooks had posted on Craigslist, the online classified ads service, and flew to New York from across the country at Brooks’ expense, according to the account. Brooks won his Academy Award in 1977 for composing the Debby Boone ballad “You Light Up My Life,” which featured in the film of the same name. Brooks also wrote and directed the movie. Brooks’ son Nicholas was charged with second-degree murder in December after his ex-girlfriend, Sylvie Cachay, a 33year-old swimwear designer, was found dead in a bathtub at an upscale New York hotel. He has pleaded not guilty. — Reuters

File photo shows songwriter Joseph Brooks smiles as he holds his Oscar for best original song for ‘You Light Up My Life,’ in Los Angeles. — AP

Dylan admits past heroin

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Spanish actress Penelope Cruz poses for photographers as she arrives for the German premiere of the movie ìPirates of the Caribbean - part fourî at the Mathaeser cinema. — AFP

he fourth installment in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series captured $90 million in box office treasures as Jack Sparrow’s latest adventure debuted at number one, Sunday estimates said. In “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” Johnny Depp’s character looks to get “savvy” with the Fountain of Youth. Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush and Ian McShane co-star in the Disney romp, which has earned mixed reviews from critics.

The $90.1 million North American take was enough to knock “Thor” off its throne, according to estimates from industry tracker Exhibitor Relations. The surprise hit “Bridesmaids” held onto the second spot, grossing $21 million in its second week. The comedy about an oddball group of women preparing for their wedding day supporting roles has earned $57.5 million total. After two weeks on top, “Thor,” starring Chris Hemsworth as the epic hero banished to Earth from the mystical world of Asgard, slipped to third, earning $15.5 million and raising its three-week total to $145

million.

“Fast Five” kept its engine revving by picking up $10.6 million. The fifth volume in the highspeed car chase series, which added action star Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson this time around, has grossed $186 million in a month. In the fifth spot was “Rio,” a family-friendly tropical bird comedy which took $4.65 million for a total of just over $131 million over its six-week run. Horror flick “Priest” starring Paul Bettany on the hunt for vampires who kidnapped his niece fell two spots to number six.

It grossed $4.6 million in its second week.

“Jumping the Broom,” about two African-American families meeting for a wedding, earned $3.7 million, slipping one spot to seventh. Next was romantic comedy “Something Borrowed” with $3.4 million, followed by Depression-era romance “Water for Elephants” with $2.1 million. Rounding out the top 10 was “Madea’s Big Happy Family,” which took in just under $1 million.—AFP

addiction in 1966 interview

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File photo shows legendary American singer, songwriter, poet, artist and actor, Bob Dylan performing from his repertoire of over 400 songs and 50 albums at the 22nd annual Bluesfest music festival near Byron Bay, Australia. — AFP

usic legend Bob Dylan has revealed that he was once addicted to heroin, in an interview taped in 1966 and only released for the first time yesterday.

“I kicked a heroin habit in New York City,” the singer-songwriter confessed to his friend Robert Shelton in a March 1966 interview. “I got very, very strung out for a while, I mean really, very strung out. And I kicked the habit. I had about a $25-a-day habit and I kicked it.”

It is thought to be the only time that Dylan, dubbed the “voice of a generation” for anthems like “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and the poet laureate of folk for “Hey Mr Tambourine Man” and others, admitted the habit. The twohour interview, broadcast by BBC radio, was conducted on Dylan’s private plane while he was touring the United States.

He and Shelton, the critic who helped launch his career, were flying from Lincoln, Nebraska to Denver. Elsewhere in the interview tapes, Dylan, then aged 24, reveals that he thought about killing himself. “Death to me is nothing... death to me means nothing as long as I can die fast. Many times I’ve known I could have been able to die fast, and I could have easily gone over and done it,” he said.

“I’ll admit to having this suicidal thing... but I came through this time.” Asked about his writing, Dylan said he took his work “less seriously than anybody” and said “it’s not going to make me happy. You can’t be happy by doing something groovy”. Returning to the theme of suicide, he says: “I’m not the kind of cat (guy) that’s going to cut off an ear if I can’t do something. I’m the kind of cat that would just commit suicide.”I’d shoot myself in the brain if things got bad. —AFP

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TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

lifestyle Awards

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Singer Rihanna arrives at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday. — AP/AFP photos

minem and teen idol Justin Bieber dominated the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, winning six awards each with the 38-year-old rapper taking the top honor for artist of the year.

With Eminem absent, Bieber helped lead the way on stage beside some of pop’s biggest current stars at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, marking the music magazine’s efforts to revive what was once an annual event following a four-year hiatus.

Sporting his now short, spiky hair and a sparkling gold tuxedo jacket, Bieber beat singer Bruno Mars and rapper Nicki Minaj for best new artist and marveled to the audience, “I’m 17 ... every day is crazy to me because I see so many people and I get to make so many people smile.”

The Canadian pop star, who has gained a huge following of “Beliebers” through YouTube and social media websites, also won awards for top pop album, streaming artist and song, as well as social and digital media artist. He thanked “everybody who helped me get out of my home town and live my dream.”

Detroit native Eminem, who released the critical and commercial success “Recovery” last year, including the hit single “Love The Way You Lie” featuring singer Rihanna, won awards for top male artist, billboard 200 album, rap artist, rap song and rap album. Rihanna, 23, kicked off the show with a performance of “S&M” from her 2010 fifth studio album “Loud,” and was joined on stage by Britney Spears before going on to win three awards including top female and top radio artist of the year.

She thanked her biggest fan devotees, who call themselves the Rihanna navy, and hailed her native Barbados. The last Billboard artist of the year was Rihanna’s former boyfriend Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty to assaulting her in 2009 and did not attend the awards.

Katy Perry won awards for top hot 100 artist and top digital songs, while British singer-songwriter Taio Cruz won the top hot 100 song of the year for his hit, “Dynamite.” “Need You Now,” by Lady Antebellum won country song of the year. The title track from their second album introduced the group from Nashville, Tennessee to audiences worldwide and is now the most-downloaded country song ever, according to Billboard. Taylor Swift, 21, who has swept music award shows in the past several years, won country artist of the year. She sold 1,047,000 first-week copies of her third album “Speak Now” in the United States last November, making it the fastest-selling new album in five years.

Accepting the top duo or group award for the The Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.Am singled out “technology because without technology we wouldn’t be

here as an industry.” Beyonce was honored with the Millennium Award for her musical influence and hailed as a role model for women. Neil Diamond, 70, won the icon award before performing his 1969 hit, “Sweet Caroline.” Other performers included Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and singer Cee Lo Green.

U2 won the top touring award for its current “U2 360 degrees” tour, which features revolutionary staging and has become the highest-grossing tour of all time. “You can make classic albums in your bedroom and you can play the greatest show of your life on a one-string guitar, but we just don’t do that,” U2 frontman Bono told the audience. The awards, with eligibility from Feb 28, 2010 to March 1, 2011, were based on multiple factors including chart performance, album and single digital sales, touring and streaming and popularity on social media sites.—Reuters

Singer Justin Bieber accepts the Digital Artist of the Year award.

Singer Beyonce with her Millennium Award of the year.

Actor Rico Rodriguez and actress/singer Selena Gomez speak onstage.

Singer Taylor Swift accepts the Billboard Album Artist of the Year award onstage.

Host Ken Jeong and musician Keith Urban perform onstage.

Singer Nicki Minaj arrives at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards.

Singer Ne-Yo and rapper Pitbull perform onstage.

(From left to right) Larry Mullen, Jr, Adam Clayton, Bono, and The Edge of the rock band U2 pose in the press room with their award at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards.

Singer Fergie of Black Eyed Peas performs onstage.

Singer Taio Cruz accepts the Hot 100 Song of the Year award.

Rapper Snoop Dogg poses onstage with musical group Far East Movement.

French actor arrested for mooning in Cannes

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

38 List of past Cannes best film winners

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Producers Bill Pohlad and Dede Gardner pose with US actress Jane Fonda as they received on behalf of US director Terrence Malick the Palme D’Or for the movie “The Tree of Life” during the closing ceremony of the 64th Cannes Film Festival.—AFP

claims Cannes glory

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Actor Edgar Ramirez, right, presents actress Kirsten Dunst with the Best Actress award for the film Melancholia during the awards ceremony at the 64th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France.—AP

eclusive US director Terrence Malick clinched the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival for “The Tree of Life”, a fantastical family drama uniting Brad Pitt and Sean Penn on screen. Malick did not turn up at the gala awards ceremony Sunday, after which jury president Robert De Niro said the epic had “the size, the importance, the intention, whatever you want to call it, that seemed to fit the prize”. Kirsten Dunst won acting honors for her turn as a depressed bride facing the apocalypse in “Melancholia” by Denmark’s Lars von Trier, who was expelled from the festival for making an awkward joke about his sympathies for Hitler.

“Well, what a week it’s been,” she quipped, referring to the scandal which marred what critics otherwise hailed as a vintage year at the world’s top cinema showcase. She skipped a post-ceremony press conference.

Fellow Dane Nicolas Winding Refn claimed best director for his highoctane thriller “Drive” starring Canada’s Ryan Gosling as a stunt driver who moonlights as a wheelman for armed robbers in what was probably the most commercially viable of the 20 Cannes contenders. France’s Jean Dujardin, who charmed critics with his role as a fading 1920s film star in Michel Hazanavicius’s silent blackand-white feature “The Artist”, took the best actor laurel.

Notoriously exacting, the 67-year-

old Malick has only made five films in 38 years, including “Days of Heaven” for which he won the Cannes best director prize. One of the most hotly anticipated tickets in town, “The Tree of Life” divided critics, drawing cheers and equally insistent boos when it was unveiled to Cannes critics. It was the first US film to win since 2004, when Michael Moore took home the gold for the political documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11”. The sweeping picture stars Pitt in 1950s Texas as a domineering father of three boys, one of whom grows up to be a disaffected adult (Penn) struggling with the legacy of his troubled upbringing and a sudden tragedy in the family.

Drawing on themes of nature and grace, the film features lyrical scenes of the family at home interwoven with computer-generated images of the origins of life, dinosaurs, a meteor striking planet Earth-putting the problems of a few individuals in America into cosmic perspective. The New York Times said it marked “an affirmation of Mr Malick’s belief in the power of cinematic images to express the sublime” while film industry bible Variety called it “in many ways his simplest yet most challenging work”. The runner-up Grand Prix was shared by Belgium’s Dardenne brothers for “The Kid With a Bike” about an abandoned boy and the woman bent on saving him, and “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”, a police drama by Turkey’s

Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

The competition featured a record four women film-makers but only French actress-director Maiwenn picked up a gong, the third-place Jury Prize for “Poliss” about a closely knit Child Protection Unit of the Paris police. Israeli director Joseph Cedar won the best screenplay prize for “Footnote”, which recounts the decades-long rivalry between a father-son pair of Talmudic scholars.

Some of the biggest names in European cinema saw themselves shut out on awards night including Pedro Almodovar, whose thriller about radical cosmetic surgery “The Skin I Live In” audiences applauded.

Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki’s “Le Havre” about illegal immigration in France and Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino’s eccentric road movie “This Must Be the Place” starring Penn also defied expectations by being ignored by the jury. A-listers sprinkled stardust during the 12-day event, including Penn, Pitt, his partner Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, plus Woody Allen who turned up for his festivalopening romantic comedy “Midnight in Paris”. Cruz starred with Depp in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” in 3-D, shown out of competition. And attendees of the festival’s sprawling market where film rights are bought and sold reported a bumper year.—AFP

Kirsten Dunst poses with the Best Actress award for the film Melancholia.

Director and actress Maiwenn Le Besco cries as she accepts the Jury Prize for the film Polisse.

Directors Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne pose with the shared Grand Prix award.

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn poses next to French actress Nicole Garcia after being awarded with the Prix de la Mise en Scene (Best Director) with the movie “Drive”.—AFP

ere are the previous winners of the Palme d’Or prize for the best film at the Cannes festival, including Sunday’s victor, Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life”. Once known as the Grand Prix, from 1975 the top award has been the “Palme d’Or” or Golden Palm. This year was the festival’s 64th edition.

1939: No prize as the festival was halted after 48 hours by Hitler’s invasion of Poland.

1946: 11 films shared the top prize, including: “Open City” by Roberto Rossellini “Maria Candelaria”

by Emilio Fernandez “Brief Encounter” by David Lean “The Lost Weekend” by Billy Wilder 1947: Six prizes including: “Les Maudits” by Rene Clement “Ziegfeld Follies” by Vincente Minnelli “Dumbo” by Walt Disney 1949: “The Third Man” by Carol Reed 1951: “Miracle in Milan” by Vittorio de Sica “Miss Julie” by Alf Sjoberg 1952: “Othello” by Orson Welles “Due Soldi di Speranza” by Renato Castellani 1953: “ The Wages of Fear ” by Henri-Georges Clouzot 1954: “The Gate of Hell” (Jigokumon) by Teinosuke Kinugasa 1955: “Marty” by Delbert Mann 1956: “Le Monde du Silence” by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle 1957: “Friendly Persuasion” by William Wyler 1958: “The Cranes are Flying” by Mikhail Kalatoz 1959: “Black Orpheus” by Marcel Camus 1960: “La Dolce Vita” by Federico Fellini 1961: “Viridiana” by Luis Bunuel “The Long Absence”

by Henri Colpi 1962: “The Given Word” by Anselmo Duarte 1963: “The Leopard” by Luchino Visconti 1964: “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” by Jacques Demy 1965: “The Knack (...and How to Get It)” by Richard Lester 1966: “A Man and A Woman” by Claude Lelouch “The Birds, the Bees and the Italians” by Pietro Germi 1967: “Blow-Up” by Michelangelo Antonioni 1969: “If” by Lindsay Anderson 1970: “M*A*S*H” by Robert Altman 1971: “The Go-Between” by Joseph Losey 1972: “The Working Class Goes to Heaven” by Elio Petri “The Mattei Affair” by Francesco Rosi 1973: “Scarecrow ” by Jerr y Schatzberg “ The Hireling” by Alan Bridges 1974: “The Conversation” by Francis Ford Coppola 1975: “Chronicle of the Years of Fire” by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina 1976: “Taxi Driver” by Martin Scorsese 1977: “Padre Padrone” by Paolo Taviani 1978: “The Tree of Wooden Clogs” by Ermanno Olmi 1979: “Apocalypse Now” by Francis Ford Coppola “The Tin Drum” by Volker Schloendorff 1980: “Kagemusha” by Akira Kurosawa “All That Jazz”

by Bob Fosse 1981: “Man of Iron” by Andrzej Wajda 1982: “Missing” by Costa-Gavras “Yol” by Yilmaz Guney 1983: “The Ballad of Narayama” by Shohei Imamura 1984: “Paris, Texas” by Wim Wenders 1985: “When Father Was Away on Business” by Emir Kusturica 1986: “The Mission” by Roland Joffe 1987: “Under the Sun of Satan” by Maurice Pialat 1988: “Pelle the Conqueror” by Bille August 1989: “Sex, Lies and Videotape” by Steven Soderbergh 1990: “Wild At Heart” by David Lynch 1991: “Barton Fink” by Joel and Ethan Coen 1992: “The Best Intentions” by Bille August 1993: “Farewell My Concubine” by Kaige Chen “The Piano” by Jane Campion 1994: “Pulp Fiction” by Quentin Tarantino 1995: “Underground” by Emir Kusturica 1996: “Secrets & Lies” by Mike Leigh 1997: “The Eel” by Shohei Imamura “Taste of Cherry”

by Abbas Kiarostami 1998: “Eternity and a Day” by Theo Angelopoulos 1999: “Rosetta” by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne 2000: “Dancer in the Dark” by Lars Von Trier 2001: “The Son’s Room” by Nanni Moretti 2002: “The Pianist” by Roman Polanski 2003: “Elephant” by Gus Van Sant 2004: “Fahrenheit 9/11” by Michael Moore 2005: “The Child” by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne 2006: “The Wind That Shakes The Barley” by Ken Loach 2007: “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” by Cristian Mungui 2008: “The Class” by Laurent Cantet 2009: “The White Ribbon” by Michael Haneke 2010: “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” by Apichatpong Weerasethakul 2011: “The Tree of Life” by Terrence Malick—AFP

Main prize-winners at Cannes

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alme d’Or: “The Tree of Life”, Terrence Malick (United States)

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan holds the Grand Prix prize for the film Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.

Actor Jean Dujardin accepts the award for Best Actor for the film The Artist from actress Catherine Deneuve.

In this publicity image released by Fox Searchlight films, from left, Laramie Eppler, Jessica Chastain, and Hunter McCracken are shown in a scene from “The Tree of Life.” —AP

Best Director: “Drive”, Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark) Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst in “Melancholia” by Lars von Trier (Denmark) Best Actor: Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” by Michel Hazanavicius (France) Best Screenplay: “Footnote”, Joseph Cedar (Israel) Grand Prix: “The Kid With a Bike”, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium) and “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”, Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey) Jury Prize: “Poliss”, Maiwenn (aka Maiwenn Le Besco) (France)—AFP