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‘World is with you’; UN backs Arab League plan

7Libya marks revolution day as leader issues warning 14

Pakistansuicide attack kills 25 48

Chisora slaps Klitschko at weigh-in

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012 RABIA ALAWAL 26, 1433 AH No: 15363

Syria bleeds as Assad troops hammer Homs

newsin the

German president resigns BERLIN: Angela Merkel’s hand-picked choice for the cere-monial post of president resigned yesterday in a scandalover political favors, dealing a blow to the German chan-cellor in the midst of the euro zone crisis. In a curt five-minute statement at the Bellevue presidential palace,Christian Wulff said he had lost the trust of the Germanpeople, making it impossible to continue in a role that ismeant to serve as a moral compass for the nation. “Forthis reason it is no longer possible for me to exercise theoffice of president at home and abroad as required,” Wulffsaid, standing next to his wife Bettina. Merkel postponeda trip to Rome where she was to hold talks with ItalianPrime Minister Mario Monti and made a brief statementafter Wulff spoke, saying she regretted his departure.

Bahrain police, protesters clash MANAMA: Bahraini police and anti-government protest-ers clashed in a number of Shiite districts of the Gulf Arabstate on Thursday night and the interior ministry said twopolicemen had been seriously injured in a petrol bombattack. Riot police have maintained a heavier presencethan usual in areas populated by majority Shiites thisweek to prevent mass protests on the anniversary of theFeb. 14 pro-democracy uprising last year. In the district ofSar police fired volleys of stun grenades and tear gas tobreak up groups of teenagers who threw stones andpetrol bombs. It was not clear who started the clash.Some residents shouted anti-government slogans and theMuslim call ‘Allahu akbar’-God is great-from inside theirhomes or on rooftops.

Villagers set ‘witch’ ablazeKATHMANDU: A mob burned alive a 40-year-old womanyesterday after accusing her of casting black magic spellsin a remote village in southern Nepal, police said. DenganiMahato died after she was severely beaten, doused inkerosene and set alight for allegedly practicing witch-craft, Gopal Bhandari, a superintendent of police inChitwan district said. “Nine people started to beat herafter a local shaman pointed the finger at her over thedeath of a boy a year ago,” the officer said. “They accusedher of having hands in the death of the boy, who haddrowned in a river.” Bhandari said the shaman and thenine locals suspected of taking part in the crime had beenarrested on suspicion of murder. “They poured keroseneand threw straw over her and then set fire to her. No onecame to her rescue. By the time we heard about it, shehad already died,” he said.

AMMAN: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’sforces, disregarding UN condemnation oftheir violent suppression of a nationwiderevolt, renewed a bombardment of theopposition stronghold of Homs and attackson rebels in Deraa yesterday.Demonstrations against Assad were report-ed by activists in several cities across Syria,including the capital Damascus and thecommercial hub Aleppo, after FridayMuslim prayers despite the threat of vio-lence from security forces.

China’s vice foreign minister, Zhai Jun,arrived in Damascus in a show of supportfor Assad after the UN General Assemblypassed a resolution telling the increasinglyisolated president to halt the crackdownand surrender power. China, along withRussia, had voted against the motion andsays Syria must be allowed to resolve itsproblems without being dictated terms byforeign powers. Its stance on Syria will“withstand the test of history”, ForeignMinistry spokesman Liu Weimin said inBeijing.

Even as Zhai landed in Damascus, gov-ernment forces pummeled opposition-heldareas of the strategic western city of Homs,

now under fire for two weeks. An intensebombardment hit the mainly Sunni Muslimarea of Baba Amro after Alawite-led troops,backed by armor, advanced from neighbor-ing Inshaat, opposition activists there said.“They are mostly firing rockets that directlyfall onto buildings and mortar rounds nowand then. Only Karama street now separatesBaba Amro from the army at Inshaat,”activist Aba Iyad said by satellite phonefrom Baba Amro.

In Idlib, capital of the rugged northwest-ern province on the border with Turkey, tworesidents said that tanks ringed the city atdawn. Residents anticipated an assault. “Atevery entrance of Idlib several tanksdeployed along with pick-up trucks used fortroop transport,” said one resident, whogave his name as Fouad. In Deraa, a city onthe Jordanian border where the revolterupted nearly a year ago, explosions andmachinegun fire echoed through districtsunder attack by troops, residents said. Themilitary has also opened a new offensive inHama, a city with a bloody history of resist-ance to Assad’s late father. The Assad clanare Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, inthe majority Sunni country.

Meanwhile, the 193-nation UN GeneralAssembly ratcheted up the pressure onSyrian President Bashar Al-Assad onThursday by overwhelmingly approving aresolution that endorses an Arab Leagueplan calling for him to step aside. “Todaythe UN General Assembly sent a clear mes-sage to the people of Syria-the world is withyou,” US Ambassador to the United NationsSusan Rice said in a statement. “An over-whelming majority of UN member stateshave backed the plan put forward by theArab League to end the suffering ofSyrians,” she said. “Bashar Al-Assad has nev-er been more isolated.”

The resolution, similar to one Russia andChina vetoed in the Security Council on Feb.4, received 137 votes in favor, 12 againstand 17 abstentions, although three coun-tries said their votes failed to register on theelectronic board. Russia and China wereamong those opposing the resolution,which was drafted by Saudi Arabia and sub-mitted by Egypt on behalf of Arab states.Unlike in the Security Council, there are novetoes in the General Assembly, but its deci-sions lack the legal force of council resolu-tions. — Agencies

CAIRO: People hold up a poster showing Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad during a protest in front of the Syrianembassy in Cairo yesterday. The poster reads: “ That’s why this neck was created long”. — AP

L O C A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

NewsAl-Hajraf ends midterm dilemma

KUWAIT: The Minister of Education and Higher Education,Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf, succeeded in solving the crises of thesecond period of exam results with decisive and technicaldecisions. This was just to students without affecting theeducation system. The wrong grades were cancelled and theold system has been re-implemented. There will also be acommittee to adjust the grades of students in the first andsecond period in order to restore the correct status. This is amajor step, which shows the ability of Minister Al-Hajraf andhis competence and success in his first and major challenge.He speaks of other steps that will restore the right directionfor education. The decisions were taken after several hoursof meetings with Ministry of Education under secretaries anddirectors of educational areas. -Al-Anb

New low-cost homes KUWAIT: Informed sources at the Public Housing Authoritysaid that the authority received 12 offers from companiesexpressing their willingness to build a low cost housing proj-ect in the area near Salmy Road. These will replace the popu-lar residences in Jahra and Sulaibiya areas. They said theproject includes 9,696 government homes, each with an areaof 150 meters square at a total cost of KD 520 million.Sources said the project site is 15 kilometers from Jahra.Envelopes will be opened in four months to name the com-pany that will take over the project.

Panels reopen investigationsKUWAIT: Informed sources said that investigation commit-tees and topics on their agendas will not be changed. Theysaid the topics that were not approved by previous commit-tees and were not included in the agendas will not be con-sidered until after being adopted by political factions or byMPs on an individual basis. The sources said the public fundscommittee will continue considering basic topics that wereon the agenda, such as investigations of the planes deal thatwas not completed, because opposition MPs withdrew fromcommittees of the dissolved National Assembly. -Al-Shahed

Bosnia supports KuwaitSARAJEVO: Bosnia Herzegovina is poised to supportKuwait’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council as a tem-porary member for the years 2018 and 2019, said BosnianForeign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija as he met here yesterdayKuwait’s Ambassador Muhammad Khalaf. Extolling Kuwaiti-Bosnian relations and the efforts both countries have exert-ed in recent years toward cementing them, the Bosnian min-ister said that his country would support the Kuwaiti bid notonly because of the warm ties the two countries enjoy butmore importantly because Kuwait has earned, through itslegacy of diplomatic prowess, the seat in the Council. Hepraised the Kuwaiti leadership for their wise handling of for-eign affairs over the years, including fostering highly com-mendable ties with his country. The Kuwaiti ambassadorthanked the Bosnian government for their support ofKuwait’s intention to have a temporary seat on the UNSecurity Council, underscoring meanwhile the firm bondsexisting between the people of both countries, and theprogress they have expeditiously made in disparate fields bethat in politics or the economy or social issues.

KUWAIT: MP Mohammad Al-Sagr is will-ing to work openly with ParliamentSpeaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun as well asIslamist and other majority groups in theNational Assembly, the liberal lawmakersaid in a statement following the inau-gural session on Wednesday. Insistingon Al-Saadoun’s competency asSpeaker, Al-Sagr did not hide his disap-pointment during a press conference onThursday on the process in which elec-tions for the coveted post were con-ducted. He blamed Khalid Al-Sultan for“offense to democracy and to an honor-able man such as Ahmad Al-Saadoun”when he ordered voting be carried outon paper instead of electronically.

“I lost respect for Al-Sultan”, Al-Sagrfirmly indicated. “I reiterate my utmostrespect for the Islamic Salafist Assembly,which is one of the most honorablepolitical groups in Kuwait. It is unfortu-nate that it is led by someone like KhalidAl-Sultan”.

Al-Sultan headed the session onWednesday as the oldest lawmakerbefore Al-Saadoun, and won theSpeakership by a landslide vote againstAl-Sagr. He replied by insisting that heused his “constitutional right” to choosethe voting criteria, adding that papervoting is a better option to “maintainconfidentiality and preciseness [of vot-ing and results respectively]”.

Meanwhile, Islamist MP Dr. WaleedAl-Tabtabaei hinted on Thursday thatplans are in place to revive a draft law toscrapping the interest on local bankloans for Kuwaiti citizens. Al-Tabtabaei’sannouncement comes a day after Al-Sultan talked about the issue during theinaugural session.

The Opposition previously attemptedto pass the law in Parliament but theirefforts fell short due to the majority sup-port which the Cabinet had at the time.Al-Tabtabaei said a new draft law notonly aims to resolve problems of indebt-

ed citizens, but will also include “radicalsolutions to prevent the problem fromtaking place again in the future”.

The Popular Action Bloc (PAB) report-edly plans to meet today to outline pri-orities for its members to focus on.According to sources with knowledge ofthe bloc’s thinking, they plan to submita request to form a parliamentary inves-tigations committee to probe the multi-million dinar deposits and foreign trans-fers scandals.

The bloc also plans to give the newCabinet six months to work beforeassessing its performance, the sourceswho spoke on the condition ofanonymity said.

MP Musallam Al-Barrak, the PABspokesman, said they are mulling theoption of pressing charges against for-mer Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah “so that he is tri-aled at the minister’s court for squander-ing public funds”.—Al-Qabas, Al-Rai

Moves to scrap interestof Kuwaiti bank loans

Al-Sagr ‘lost respect for Al-Sultan’

KUWAIT: An Islamist lawmakerannounced recently that he plans tosubmit a draft law to ban the construc-tion of churches or any non-Islamicworship places in Kuwait. He claims tohave a religious edict to support hiscause. MP Osama Al-Munawer postedon his Twitter account that he plans tosubmit a draft law to remove allchurches in Kuwait. He later clarified, ina statement to Al-Anbaa, that his pro-posal will only ban licensing for con-struction of future churches in the

country, but insisted that any existingworship places will remain intact.

Al-Munawer indicated that hisefforts are based on an earlier edict, aruling issued by the department of fat-wa at the Ministry of Awqaf and IslamicAffairs which bans the construction inKuwait of worship places for religionsother than Islam.

Another Islamist MP MohammadHayef, commented on the news thatrecently a new church has beenlicensed to be built in Jleeb Al-

Shuyoukh. He insisted that this subject“will not pass unnoticed”.

“Kuwait already has an excessivenumber of churches compared to thecountry’s Christian minority”, Hayefsaid on Thursday, adding that the stateshould look into this issue before issu-ing license to build more churches.

Hayef called the decision to licensea new church in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh as“an error that the Ministry of Awqafand Islamic Affairs must bear the con-sequences of”. —Al-Anbaa, Al-Rai

Draft law to ban construction of churches

Kuwaiti poet launchesinteractive works

on App Store KUWAIT: Kuwait poet Humoud Al-Shaiji is the first Arab tolaunch an interactive booklet of his works on the iPhone andiPad. His booklet, Ishq, which means passion in Arabic, offers AppStore consumers the ability to interact directly with verses, byvoicing their opinions on the works.

The application is also enhanced with musical greats by someof the world’s most renowned composers.

Speaking from Belgrade, Serbia, where he currently resides,the poet said the milestone comes after much hard work healong with a Kuwaiti company specialized in programming sawout. Classical Arabic poetry in this day and age has been facedwith the problem of not being approved by written publishers asa result of the declining public demand, he said.

The poet also highlighted censorship as another problempoetry is currently facing in the Arab world. — KUNA

in brief

L O C A L

Anniversary

Years

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

By A. Saleh

KUWAIT: The Central Agency for Illegal Residents is not enthusi-astic about a proposal to naturalize 5,000 stateless residents with-in the next year, as proposed by Kuwaiti lawmakers recently.“Such a proposal does not fall in line with the agency’s efforts toresolve the problem of stateless residents, which focus on identi-fying individuals who meet conditions of naturalization whileleaving the opportunity open for those who do not meet natural-ization conditions to legalize their status”, said sources withknowledge of the agency’s thinking.

The sources said the agency is capable of announcing 500 can-didates for naturalization within a year. A law passed byParliament could put the agency under pressure, especially whendealing with stateless residents it can prove do not meet condi-tions for naturalization.

Al-Maliki’s visitKuwait reportedly invited Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki,

to visit the country within the next two weeks, or ahead of theArab Summit scheduled to take place in Baghdad in late March,according to sources with knowledge of the issue.

Al-Maliki’s visit was postponed from early this week as a resultof parliamentary elections and the formation of a new Cabinet inKuwait. The sources who spoke on the condition of anonymityindicate that the Kuwaiti Government “left it open for Al-Maliki”to choose whichever time is suitable for the visit, with the beliefthat it is likely to take place either by the end of February or dur-ing the first week of March.

Baseless accusationsAn Iraqi political group accused Kuwait to be planning, along

with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to hold an Arab pseudo-summit inRiyadh in order to foil the Arab Summit planned to take place inBaghdad next month.

Abbas Al-Mohammadawi, Secretary General of the ArdentChildren of Iraq Coalition, made the accusations based on earlierreports which hinted that leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt,the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Jordan plan to meet inRiyadh before the Arab Summit in Baghdad. Al-Mohammadawimentioned Kuwait’s involvement in an alleged plot to foil the

Arab League’s summit, despite the fact that there was no men-tion of Kuwait in the suggestion.

“It is sad that some countries continue to practice dangerousactivities behind the scenes, in order to isolate Iraq from its Arabperimeter”, Al-Mohammadawi said.

Surprise visitMinister of Health, Dr. Ali Al-Obaidi, carried out an unsched-

uled visit to Adan Hospital on Thursday as part of early efforts tocheck on the process of work in the country’s public medical facil-ities. According to sources familiar with the visit, Al-Obaidi madeorders as he carried out the tour for punitive measures to be tak-en against staff members who were absent during work hours. Al-Obaidi asserted in an earlier statement that among his top priori-ties will be to improve health services in Kuwait “to be on par withinternational standards”.

Electricity privatizationThe Minister of Electricity and Water (MEW) and State Minister

of Municipality Affairs, Abdul-Aziz Al-Ibrahim, reportedly askedMEW officials to finalize preparations on a project to establish ashareholding company to build a power plant in Khairan. Al-Ibrahim reportedly insists that the project is bid on by privatecompanies this year as part of the ministry’s efforts to privatizethe energy sector.

Minister defies pressureNewly appointed Minister of Housing Affairs, Shuwaib Al-

Muwaizri, is reportedly under pressure from his election base inJahra. They demand that he reopen an investigation into a case inwhich Said Sandouh, Deputy Director of the Savings and CreditBank (SCB) was reportedly snubbed from promotion to theGeneral Manager post in favor of Salah Al-Madhaf.

The decision made last year by the Cabinet to appoint Al-Madhaf, who is the Secretary General of the National DemocraticAlliance, at the helm of the SCB was met with criticism from thosewho were hoping that longtime Deputy Director Sandouh wouldeventually be promoted to the coveted post. Al-Madhaf wasappointed General Manager despite no prior experience at theSCB. Sources close to Al-Muwaizri indicate that the minister is notyielding under pressure due to “the lack of logical reasons torelieve Al-Madhaf of his duties”.

5,000 stateless residents to be naturalized this yearCentral Agency not enthusiastic

Wataniya Telecom sponsors ‘Hope of Sunrise’

KUWAIT: Driven by its commitment to take part in various socialactivities, and as an encouragement to all segments of the societyand especially those with special needs, Wataniya Telecom hasrecently sponsored the “Hope of Sunrise” for people with disabili-ties. The event took place on Feb 12 and 13 at the Missoni Hoteland was organized by the Commercial Real Estate Company andthe Missoni Hotel. The event was held under the patronage andattendance of the President of the Voluntary Work Center SheikhaAmthal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The main goal behind Wataniya sponsorship of the event is toprovide the motivation and support to people with disabilities andto ensure their involvement in the society without any obstacles.The event was attended by parents and families and included activ-ities specially created for the disabled.

Commenting on this sponsorship, Abdolaziz Al-Balool PRDirector at Wataniya Telecom stated the fact that “Wataniya isproud to take part in all types of activities organized for the dis-abled in Kuwait as they are integral to our community and its devel-opment. Wataniya is always aiming to involve them in differenteducational, sports, artistic and cultural events to motivate themand make them feel equal to every member of the society.”

Al-Balool also added: “Hope of Sunrise is an initiative that affirmsthe right of people with special needs to enjoy life and be part ofthe overall community like any other segments of the society.Wataniya does not spare an effort to invest in its CSR programsdesigned especially to give the support needed to all members ofthe community.

New ministers stress on cooperation

KUWAIT: The new Cabinet will adopt a reformist approach ledby His Highness the PM Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, whoacts from an ideology that advocates reform, said Minister ofHousing and State Minister of Parliament Affairs, Shuwaib Al-Muwaizri. He said the Prime Minister still needs support fromministers and MPs to push forward the developmental projectsthat Kuwait desperately needs.

“We have a golden opportunity to realize achievements andtackle problems in order to meet citizens’ ambitions for a betterKuwait”, Al-Muwaizri said in statements to Al-Jarida. He reiterat-ed the need for “the Cabinet and Parliament to put tensionsbehind them and turn a new page of cooperation to achievedevelopment”.

Al-Muwaizri, the only elected member in the newly formedCabinet, asserted that he plans to seek solutions to the housingproblems which mainly pertain to the shortage in accommoda-tion provided by the government to citizens.

The Minister of Justice and State Minister of Awqaf andIslamic Affairs, Jamaal Shehab, hoped in the meantime that MPswill overcome tensions created during the voting process for thepost of Parliament Speaker, “and work together with ministersfor the stability of Kuwait”.

The Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Ahmad Al-Rujaib, rec-ognized the imbalance in the demographic structure of the stateas a top priority in the subjects he will focus on. He said “a visionfor a comprehensive project to address the imbalance” is inplace. Minister of Health, Dr. Ali Al-Obaidi, admitted in the mean-time that “huge challenges” ahead require “all efforts of staffmembers in public facilities and ministry departments”. The newminister will focus on improving the quality of services in thestate’s medical facilities “and make them on par with internation-al standards”, Dr. Al-Obaidi said, while talking about his prioritiesin a recent statement. —Al-Jarida, -Annahar

KUWAIT: The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters hosted a classical music concert at the Abdul-Aziz HusainCultural Theater recently, featuring young pianists Abdulaziz Al-Abwah, Faisal Al-Buhairi, and 10-year-old Luluah Al-Shamlan who won 40 competitions around the world.

KUWAIT: Shiite lawmaker Adnan Al-Abdulsamad announcedon Thursday that an Iraqi woman investigated recently onespionage charges came to Kuwait at his personal invitation.He categorically denied spying claims, which an Islamist MPaccused her of committing.

Al-Tabtabaei indicated in a press statement that StateSecurity Service officials launched investigations into an Iraqiwoman, who was brought to Kuwait by an MP. She was arrest-ed after spying with a camera at a military facility.

“The woman arrived in Kuwait on a visitor’s visa I personallyissued for her”, Al-Abdulsamad said, insisting that she is “a vir-tuous woman of a respected family who is far from commit-ting any of the actions Al-Tabtabaei accused her of”.

Al-Abdulsamad confirmed that the woman in question wasbriefly detained by the State Security Service. She wasreleased after officers found no evidence of foul play or indica-tions of threat to national security after examining the picturesshe took with her camera.

Al-Abdulsamad said he contacted Al-Tabtabaei shortlyafter he made his statement and “heavily criticized him”for spreading accusations before confirming the news. Al-Tabtabaei had gone as far as warning the Ministry ofInterior against “undermining [the seriousness of] theIraqi spy’s case”, while fellow lawmaker, Abdullah Al-Turaij i , demanded an investigation to reveal circum-stances of the case. —Al-Rai

MP denies ‘woman spy’ charge

L O C A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

KUWAIT: Kuwait is pushing aheadwith its new metro rail system, withthe company in charge of building thefirst phase of the project announcingthat it will begin procurement “short-ly”. Construction of the 160-km KuwaitMetropolitan Rapid Transit SystemProject (KMRT), which will have 69 sta-tions on three lines, is worth an esti-mated $7billion.

According to a statement providedby the Partnerships Technical Bureau(PTB), a government committeerecently signed off the feasibilitystudy into the metro.

That study, which was conductedby Ernst & Young, Ashurst and Atkins,

covered the railway’s procurementstage, including infrastructure, controlsystems, rolling stock, depot andoperations.

As a result, PTB said it would “short-ly” be issuing an expression of interestfor the procurement of the IntegratedRolling Stock and Systems PPPCompany.

That firm will provide rolling stockand systems for all five phases of themetro. PTB is currently focusing onthe first phase of the project, whichwill include around 50km of rail, with28 new stations, 30 percent of whichwill be underground.

No timeline has been given for the

start of construction on the project, orthe eventual finish. However, last year,a local businessman said that workcould start in 2013.

The GCC states are individuallyplanning cross-country railway sys-tems that will eventually link to createan entire infrastructure across the sixstates.

The first train on the UAE’s ShahHabshan-Ruwais railway will start run-ning in around 2013, while Qatar ispushing ahead with plans to build ametro system in Doha.

Saudi Arabia is also upgrading andextending its already-substantial railnetwork. — Agencies

KUWAIT: The British government isready to mobilize all required expert-ise and potential in different sectors toturn Kuwait’s ambitious developmentplan into a reality, said the Lord Mayorof the City of London CorporationDavid Wootton.

Addressing Kuwaiti officials andbusinesspeople at Kuwait Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (KCCI) head-quarters, Wootton said his visit to

Kuwait is meant to take UK-Kuwaitipartnership to a new level.

He underlined that the British gov-ernment seeks to contribute to Kuwaitdevelopment plans through thePublic-Private Partnership (PPP) mod-el particularly in the infrastructure sec-tor. UK companies have executed ahuge number of projects through thePPP model, Wootton said.

There over 50 UK companies oper-

ative in Kuwait and willing to expandtheir partnership with their Kuwaiticounterparts, he said, noting thatthese companies have carried out anumber of the mega projects inKuwait.

Wootton expressed readiness tooffer all financial and legislativeexpertise and consultations to Kuwait.

The UK official said that his countrywants to take value of annual tradeexchange between the two nationsup to $4 billion. For his part, KCCIChief Khalid Al-Sagar welcomed theUK guest and his accompanying dele-gation. Al-Sagar hailed the distin-guished Kuwaiti-UK ties in all fields,adding that UK comes tenth at the listof exporters to Kuwait.

The City of London is one of theworld’s leading international financecenters. The City of London provideslocal government and policing servic-es for the financial and commercialheart of Britain, the ‘Square Mile’.

It is committed to supporting andpromoting ‘The City’ as the worldleader in international finance andbusiness services through the policiesit pursues and the high standard ofservices it provides. — KUNA

CAMP ARIFJAN: This year is the 15th anniversary ofthe Minnesota Polar Bear Plunge. The plunge is heldby the Minnesota Law Enforcement to benefit SpecialOlympics. Participants must raise a minimum of $75and take a plunge into one of designated spots onone of Minnesota’s frozen lakes. In the last sevenyears, the plunge has increased from five to 16 plungesites all over the state - including Camp Arifjan inKuwait.

About 125 service members, mostly from the 1stBrigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division “RedBulls” deployed to the area came to participate on thebreezy and cold morning of Feb 4 to hold a remoteversion of the event.

The event had many similar features a polar bearplunger would experience in Minnesota. Like a PolarBear Plunge “Dash ‘n’ Splash,” the service memberswere required to run 5,000 meters prior to theirplunge into an icy pool. “One of the coldest days wehave had in Kuwait, and here are tons of MinnesotaRed Bulls lined up to run and then jump into a tank ofice water,” said Sergeant First Class Erin Reski of WhiteBear Lake. “It’s nice to be able to continue traditionswhen we are so far from home.”

Red Bull members found themselves bracingalmost freezing 35-degree temperatures and strongwinds the morning of the event - something manythought they would never find during their stay inKuwait. “If we were to do it over again, I would try toadd a warming tent a little closer to the plunge site,”said First Lieutenant Ryan Doliber of Elk River. “It wascold enough to see your breath, but as far as I’m con-cerned it was a success, we raised awareness for agreat cause and had fun as a group in an unusualway.” After the plungers dried off the ice cold water,all the participants received a Polar Bear Plunge longsleeve shirt to remember their chilly Saturday morn-ing in Kuwait. The common experience of cannon-balling into a pool of water was a bit of a bondingexperience for all.

“The event was fantastic; I think it was a tremen-dous morale builder for the brigade,” said Maj MichaelPazdernik of Alexandria. “Since we are from Minnesotaand not home this winter, there was an extra connec-tion for all of us in ‘braving’ the cold.”

Instead of a freezing ice-covered lake, the unit useda blivet, or a rubberized bladder used to transportwater, and filled it with around 3,000 gallons of water.To simulate the take-your-breath away temperatures,approximately 500 bags or 3,000 pounds of ice werebrought to fill the pool.

All of this was to simulate the water temperaturesparticipants would feel during the plunges back inMinnesota. “I have participated in three previous PolarBear Plunges at the Maple Grove location in 2008,2009 and 2011,” said Doliber. “The cold water, cold airtemperature, and plunging with close friends madethe event feel like I was doing it at home.”

Not all of the participants are veterans at the jumpinto an icy abyss, but enjoyed the new experience.

“I have not previously participated in a PolarPlunge, but I chose to participate in this eventbecause I thought it would be fun, funny and becauseof the connection between the event here and eventsback in Minnesota,” said Pazdernik.

After the desert sun rose into the morning and thePolar Bear Plunge closed after its last jumper, themonths of coordination and work paid off for all ofthose involved. “After seeing and hearing those thatjoined us today, I would do it again even if it were 10times more difficult to set it up,” said Master SergeantRyan Newcomer of Anoka. “The people really enjoyedthis and I am proud that we were able to raise aware-ness for the Special Olympics as well as a little bit indonations while managing to create a memory thatwill last a lifetime.”

Red Bull troops take polar

plunge in Kuwait

Kuwait’s $7billion metro project gets green light

69 stations on three lines

UK ready to mobilize all expertise, potential for Kuwait development

KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti and British officials holding talks over the weekend.

L O C A L

Anniversary

Years

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

KUWAIT: A police patrol in Salmiyaarrested a suspicious driver who wasaccompanied by a woman. The driverand his companion were found drunk.At the police station, the woman startedshouting insults at the officers. She wasreleased after some people intervened.Her Iraqi friend remained in jail on othercharges.

Love beatA man, who failed to attract a

woman’s attention, chased her inSalmiya while she was with her friendsand started beating her. A passerbystopped and saved her, but the suspecthit his car and caused it extensive dam-age, before escaping.

Love struckA man was arrested after harassing a

girl driving on Love Street. The womantold police that the man kept drivingnext to her and was flashing his mobilephone, so she avoided him. Shechanged her route, not knowing that hewas still chasing her. He then swervedtowards her car and hit it before escap-ing. Police are looking for him.

Reckless loveA security source said that a reckless

driver, who was showing off along withfew others, lost control of his pick-uptruck and hit one of his cousins. Other

friends took the victim to hospital. Theytold police he was hit by a car and itsdriver escaped, but investigationsrevealed that the culprit was a cousin ofthe victim.

Love your Bag!An Egyptian woman told police that

an unknown person surprised her bysnatching her purse as he passed by.She said she tried to resist his attempt,but he pushed her to the floor and ranaway. She said the purse containedKD50 in addition to identification cardsand a mobile phone.

Iraqi killing timeCol Abdelrahman Al-Sharrah,

Commander of Shuwaikh Industrialarea, sent an Iraqi girl to the StateSecurity Department for questioningafter being caught while taking picturesof the military cooperative society andits adjacent military building in Jeewanarea. The Iraqi girl was with a Kuwaiti,who went inside the co-op to buy someitems. The Iraqi girl began taking pic-tures of the front side of the co-op, theflags flying as well as a surveillance cam-era. She was approached by soldiers,who arrested her before referring her toShuwaikh police station. The woman,who is visiting Kuwait on a visa obtainedby an MP, told police she was just killingtime, and is not a spy.

Love drug A man who went to the police station

in Mubarak Al-Kabeer to file a complaintagainst his estranged wife was arrestedon a drugs charge and sent to con-cerned authorities.

Drug addict heldJahra police arrested a citizen in pos-

session of drugs on the Sixth Ring Roadafter he caught their attention with sus-picious driving. Officers found out theman was convicted to serve a two-yearjail sentence on drugs charges. Heroinwas found in a search of his car. The sus-pect was sent to concerned authorities.

OverdoseA man confessed to police that he

gave his friend excessive amounts ofdrugs, leading to his death. The mantold officers he did not mean to kill him.He did not know his friend had intestinalflu, and thought he needed extra dosesof heroin. He kept giving him the druguntil he died of an overdose.

No loveA security source said a Gulf expatri-

ate told police that his wife left thehouse and did not return. He said thatshe did not respond to his calls andadded, that he did not find her at his rel-atives houses. Police authorities areinvestigating.—Al-Watan, Al-Rai

Drunk Iraqi driver inSalmiya police custody

Woman insults officers

KUWAIT: Ahmadi governorate municipality officialsrecently inspected the Fahaheel co-operative society, inaddition to grocery stores, restaurants, pastries and juicemakers, fish and meat shops. At least 39 citations wereissued to business owners and six written undertakingswere obtained to destroy inedible foodstuff weighing 117kg. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuwaiti Ambassadorto Indonesia Nasser Al-Enizi discussedmeans of promoting bilateral ties on theenergy field with Indonesian Minister ofEnergy and Mineral Recourses JeroWacik.

Al-Enizi said that the meeting aimedat creating open communication linesbetween the two country’s officials toserve mutual interests.

The Kuwaiti envoy also hoped to thenewly-appointed Indonesian ministerthat bilateral ties would flourish ever fur-ther in all domains, epically the oil andpower ones. He also stressed the impor-tance of speeding up discussionsbetween Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) andthe Indonesian gas and oil company(PERTAMINA) to finish setting up a refin-ery plant in the Indonesian region of

West Java. Al-Enizi also emphasized thenecessity of having an office for theKuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration(KUFPEC) in Indonesia for smoothercooperation. On his part, the Indonesianminister lauded exceptional relations andexpressed wishes of further collabora-tions in the oil sector since his countryneeds assistance in setting up more oilrefineries. —KUNA

Kuwaiti held fordemonstrating in Bahrain

KUWAIT: Bahraini authorities arrested aKuwaiti teenager accused of taking partin demonstrations carried out by theopposition at the island-kingdomrecently, says a report quoting diplo-matic sources familiar with the subject.

Speaking anonymously because theyare not authorized to talk to the mediaabout the subject, the sources told Al-Qabas that the 17-year-old came toBahrain a few days ago with his family“before he was lured to take part in theprotests”. He remains in custody ofBahraini authorities pending investiga-tions on charges that include taking partin illegal activities, the sources con-firmed.

Kuwaiti authorities are reportedlycoordinating with their Bahraini coun-

terparts in order to stay updated regard-ing the case and work for the citizen’srelease, the sources added.

In Kuwait, the Public Prosecutionreleased a continuance columnistMohammad Al-Mulaifi’s detention untilSunday for further investigations. Thewriter faces state security charges aftermaking offensive remarks to Shiite reli-gious figures in an article publishedrecently. He faces prison sentence iffound guilty of sectarian instigationcharges.

Also on Thursday, the PublicProsecution extended detention of tenSyrian citizens for 21 days, pendinginvestigations in charges they face inthe case pertaining with storming theircountry’s embassy in Kuwait.

In other news, eleven new appealswere made on election results Thursday,increasing the total number of appealsfiled at the constitutional court to 20.The final day for submitting appeals istomorrow.

Among the people challenging theelection results are former MP and FirstConstituency candidate Dr MaasoumaAl-Mubarak, who challenges the win ofMP Abdullah Al-Turaiji and argues thatthere are errors found in the votes sort-ing process which would put her ontenth place by 200 votes ahead of Al-Turaiji. MP Ali Al-Rashid also challengedthe result he obtained in the SecondConstituency, arguing that actual resultsput him in a higher spot than the one hefinished with. — Al-Qabas

Kuwaiti envoy discusses promotingenergy ties with Indonesia

Syria charitycollections illegal

KUWAIT: Charity being collected for Syria is illegalbecause no organization has obtained a license, a seniorMinistry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) official saidrecently.

“No charitable organization or any other party submit-ted a request to license their activity of collecting dona-tions for victims of the ongoing situation in Syria”, saidNasser Al-Ammar of the MSAL charitable organizationsand foundations department.

He urged people not to cooperate with any party askingfor donations unless they show proof that their activity islicensed.

“While we stand by the Syrian people during the toughconditions they are currently going through, the MSALasserts that aid activities must be carried out as per thelaws that regulate charity collection in Kuwait”, Al-Ammarsaid.

He explained that this process is not aimed at placingobstacles in front of the process of collecting donations forthe people of Syria, but rather to ensure that these dona-tions “reach their rightful destinations”.

Al-Ammar said that a committee formed to overseecharitable work in Kuwait recently detected illegal activi-ties carried out by organizations asking people to donatefor Syria through phone or online.

Al-Ammar assured that all these methods - such asusing social networking websites to announce charity col-lecting campaigns - are considered in violation of the lawsthat regulate charity work in Kuwait. —Al-Qabas

9 Pakistan suicide attack kills 25 1411

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Strong fundraising month helps Obama momentum

‘Vatileaks’ casts cloud over new cardinal ceremony

Libya marks revolution day Leader issues warning

BENGHAZI: Libyans celebrated yesterday the firstanniversary of the uprising against MuammarGaddafi with fireworks and slogans, even as theirnew leader vowed to prevent further instability.Thousands gathered in Tahrir (Liberation) Square inBenghazi, the city which first rose against Gaddafiand his 42-year regime, after traditional Muslimprayers, waving Libya’s new flag and proclaimingthe revolution’s “birthday.”

Libya’s rulers have not organized official cele-brations at a national level as a mark of respect forthe thousands of people killed in the conflict thatsaw Gaddafi captured and slain on October 20. Butspontaneous commemorations began nationwide,as former rebels, who toppled Gaddafi last yearwith NATO backing, set up fresh checkpoints inTripoli, Benghazi, the western port city of Misrataand other towns. In Tahrir Square, mothers heldpictures of their sons killed in the fighting, whilesingers and poets performed for the growingcrowds.

“This is the first birthday of Libya. It is a day offreedom, a day to remember. The days ahead will

be better now that Gaddafi is gone,” said Malek LSahad, a Libyan-American rap singer who returnedto his native country last year. Former army colonelIdris Rashid, 50, said the difference between thenew Libya and the old was “like the differencebetween the sky and the earth.” “We were livingbefore, but never knew the meaning of life. Todaywe can feel the breeze of freedom,” he told AFP.

School teacher Ala Zaid, who won fame inBenghazi during the early months of the uprisingby ferrying casualties to hospital in his car, paradedthe vehicle decked out in ribbons and balloons inthe red, green and black colours of the new Libya.“When the uprising erupted, I saw people beingshot at by the Gaddafi forces,” Zaid recalled. “Icouldn’t hold myself back; I plunged into the revo-lution. Whomever I could help I just put in my car,the dead and the wounded, and took them to hos-pital. “All those efforts have borne fruit. Libya isfree. Gaddafi has gone.” Libyan ruler Mustafa AbdelJalil was expected to attend a function in Benghazilater yesterday to mark the anniversary of the revo-lution, along with interim Prime Minister Abdel

Rahim al-Kib and other dignitaries.Thuwar, or revolutionaries, were deployed

across the city to ensure the celebrations wentpeacefully, and Abdel Jalil warned on Thursdaythat Libya’s revolutionary spirit and stability wouldnot be compromised. “We opened our arms to allLibyans, whether they supported the revolution ornot. But this tolerance does not mean we are inca-pable of dealing with the stability of our country,”he said in a television address.

“We will be tough towards people who threatenour stability.” Tripoli resident Naima Misrati saidtraffic police and former rebels were distributingleaflets, warning people against thinking of carry-ing out attacks, which said: “We cannot bring backthe buried man (Gaddafi) but we can send you tohim.” The pro-Gaddafi Libyan Popular NationalMovement posted a statement on several websitessaying the situation in Libya “is becoming worseevery day.” “There’s very little interest from theinternational media in the many horrors that havetaken place. We are reorganizing ourselves outsideLibya in an inclusive political movement that

would encompass all Libyans who understand theterrible reality of Libya,” it said.

One year after the uprising, Libya is battlingchallenges ranging from how to tame the rowdymilitias that fought Gaddafi to establishing a newrule of law. Thousands of people were killed orwounded in the conflict, the country’s vital oil pro-duction ground to a halt, and homes, businesses,factories, schools and hospitals were devastated.But the most immediate headache is how to con-trol the tens of thousands of ex-rebels who havenow turned into powerful militias, whose jealouslyguarded commitment to their honor and poweroccasionally erupts into deadly clashes.

Global human rights organizations AmnestyInternational, Human Rights Watch and DoctorsWithout Borders have accused militias of torturingtheir prisoners, most of whom are former pro-Gaddafi fighters. Prime Minister Kib has acknowl-edged that integrating these militias into securityservices is a “complex” issue. But his governmenton Thursday said that about 5,000 of them hadalready been integrated.— AFP

TRIPOLI: Children flash the signfor victory whilst celebrating the

establishment of a memorial statue in

the Friday Market neighbourhood in Tripoli

yesterday on the first anniversary of the revolt that

toppled Muammar Gaddafi. —AFP

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

WASHINGTON: The US is losing oldfriends and can’t win new ones in thenew Egypt. Trying to secure a way homefor seven American democracy expertstrapped in the country, the Obamaadministration is facing a wrathful cam-paign of retribution from HosniMubarak’s old allies of the dictatorship,which the US long supported but thenturned away from last year. It is gettingno help from the most legitimate forcenow in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood,and a sympathetic ear but little concretesupport from an unpopular military lead-ership that has long benefited from USlargesse.

One year after the revolution thatchased Mubarak from power, no onewants to be seen as too close to theUnited States. After watching the USdeliver billions of dollars in aid to propup Mubarak over three decades ofauthoritarian rule, the political partiesthat have risen from the ashes of his dic-tatorship see no value in doingWashington’s bidding. The calculation

holds even when it comes to defendingUS groups that long championeddemocracy for Egyptians, or even whenmore than $1.5 billion may be at stake.

The dispute began in Decemberwhen security forces raided the offices ofnonprofit groups that receive foreignfunding, seizing documents and com-puters. Among those affected were theNational Democratic Institute, theInternational Republican Institute,Freedom House and the InternationalCenter for Journalists. Several Americans,including Sam LaHood, son ofTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood,have sought refuge in the US Embassywhile their status remains unclear.

The allegations against the groupsinclude trying to foment unrest in Egypt.“Trial with the possibility of prison timefor our staff appears the most likely out-come at present,” Lorne Craner, the IRIpresident, told the US House ForeignAffairs Committee. To resolve the crisis,President Barack Obama, Secretary ofState Hillary Rodham Clinton and

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta havepersonally engaged top officials inEgypt’s military-led government to endthe investigations of democracy workersand allow US citizens on a no-travel listto leave Egypt.

“I’ve been assured by all of them thatthey’re going to do everything they canto resolve this, and I believe them,”Lahood said yesterday on “This Morning”on CBS. Joint Chiefs Chairman MartinDempsey visited Cairo last week inanother unsuccessful bid for a solution,and the logjam has led to increasingthreats to withhold the United States’annual aid to Egypt. US Sen. JohnMcCain will lead a congressional delega-tion on yet another such effort in thecoming days.

But administration officials are hesi-tant to push the issue too far. DespiteMubarak’s ouster, the US is eager to sal-vage an alliance with Egypt that hasbeen a foundation of stability in theMiddle East since the late 1970s, ensur-ing peace between the Arab world’s

most populous country and Israel.Ending US assistance programs only ayear after Egyptians braved the repres-sion in Cairo’s Tahrir Square would hard-ly be a vote of confidence in Arabdemocracy. “I am always reluctant tocome to the stark conclusion about cut-ting aid,” Dempsey told a congressionalpanel Thursday. “Cutting off aid andtherefore cutting ourselves off fromthem means that the next generationwon’t have that benefit, and I don’tknow where that takes us, to tell you thetruth.” Stil l , US State Departmentspokeswoman Victoria Nuland insistedthat a failure to resolve the situation withthe Americans “may have an impact onall kinds of other aspects of our relation-ship with Egypt, including our ability tosupport them economically.” For the mil-itary assistance to go through, she not-ed, Clinton must certify to Congresssometime in spring that Egypt is promot-ing freedom of speech and religion andthe rule of law. “She has not made thosedecisions yet,” Nuland said.—AP

US lacks a champion in the new Egypt

GAZA: Several thousand Palestiniansrallied in Gaza and the West Bank yes-terday in support of jailed Islamic Jihadleader Khader Adnan, who is on the62nd day of a hunger strike to protestagainst his detention by Israel. “We areall Khader Adnan,” chanted crowdsgathered in the Gaza Strip, withactivists from the main political partiesjoining forces in a rare display ofPalestinian unity. Adnan, 33, has beenrefusing to eat since mid-Decemberfollowing his arrest in the occupiedWest Bank. He is being held under so-cal led “administrative detention”,which means Israel can detain himindefinitely without trial or charge.

The Islamic J ihad group, whichadvocates the destruction of the stateof Israel, has said it will escalate vio-lence if Adnan dies, following reportsthat his health was deteriorating. “Wewill pursue our Jihad and resistance.We will sail in the sea of blood andmartyrdom until we land on the shoreof pride and dignity,” top Islamic Jihadleader Nafez Azzam said during aFriday sermon at Gaza’s oldest al-Omarimosque. The Physicians for HumanRights group in Israel (PHR), which hasbeen monitoring Adnan’s condition inan Israeli hospital, said yesterday hewas “in immediate danger of death”,adding that he had suffered “signifi-cant muscular atrophy”.

The Israeli army has said in a state-ment that Adnan was arrested “foractivities that threaten regional securi-ty”. It has not given further details.Adnan owns a bakery and a fruit andvegetable shop in his West Bank vil-lage, Arabeh. He has served as aspokesman for the Islamic Jihad, whichdescribes him as a local leader.

At least 5,000 people took to thestreets of Gaza, waving a mix of blackJihad flags, the green flags of Islamist

group Hamas and the yellow flags ofthe secular Fatah movement ofPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Witnesses said hundreds had alsodemonstrated in the northern WestBank city of Jenin. Palestinian officialssaid many other prisoners in Israeli jailshad started hunger strikes to supportAdnan, including Hassan Salama, a sen-ior armed commander of Hamas who isserving life terms for mastermindingsuicide bombings against Israelis.

Palestinian prisoners have regularlystaged hunger strikes in the past to tryto gain better conditions or todenounce the Israeli occupation ofPalestinian Territories. However, suchprotests usually end quickly and offi-cials said no-one had persisted for aslong as Adnan, who is married with twochildren and whose wife is expecting athird infant. The Islamic Jihad’s Azzam

accused Arab states and Western pow-ers of ignoring Adnan’s protest.“Shame on the nations of hundreds ofmillions (of Muslims) for the fact thatKhader Adnan is still in prison,” he saidin his Friday sermon.

Hamas, which governs Gaza, said itwas pushing the Arab League andEgypt to press for the re lease ofAdnan. “The Palestinian people, withall its components and its factions,will never abandon the hero prison-ers, especially those who lead thishunger strike battle,” said Hamas’stop authority in the Mediterraneanterritory, Ismail Haniyeh. The PHRrights group said Adnan could dieeven if he broke his fast. “There is arisk to his health even if he starts eat-ing now because his system has gotused to not having any food at all,” aspokesman said.— Reuters

Thousands rally in Gaza, West Bank for hunger strikerJihad group vows to escalate violence if Adnan dies

GAZA CITY: Gazans protest after the Friday noon prayer in support of KhaderAdnan, an Islamic Jihad militant held in an Israeli prison without trial and whois on hunger strike since December 18 yesterday in Gaza City.—AFP

SANAA: Yemeni women show their ink-stained thumbs astheir hands read “February 21, a new Yemen” to showtheir support for next week’s presidential election duringa rally in Sanaa yesterday.—AFP

Yemen troops capture 10 militants

after attackSANAA: Yemeni government forces detained 10 Al-Qaeda-linked fighters yesterday, a security source said, after anattack in a town that underscored the security challenges ofnext week’s presidential election. Separately, oil pipelineworkers returned to work after a 10-day strike which had shutdown oil exports, Yemeni officials and Norwegian energy firmDNO said. On Wednesday, Islamist militants shot dead a mili-tary officer and an election official in the town of Baydah,about 130 km (80 miles) southeast of the capital Sanaa.

The militants opened fire on a car carrying Khaled Waqaa,the leader of a brigade of the elite Republican Guard, killinghim as well as the head of Baydah’s election committee,Hussein Al-Babli, his son and two soldiers. Ten people werewounded. Yemenis vote on Feb. 21 to pick a leader to replacePresident Ali Abdullah Saleh, now in the United States formedical treatment, amid concern that violence - and the factthere is only one candidate, his former deputy Abd-RabbuMansour Hadi - could depress the turnout.

Pipeline workers, who are employees of state-owned oilfirm PetroMasila, returned to work yesterday, ending theirstrike, a government official told Reuters. A union official said:“The purpose of the action was to bring the workers’ griev-ances to the attention of the government. The strike has nowended.” Norway’s DNO said it was about to restart productionat several Yemeni oilfields after workers returned to the job.

The company on Tuesday ceased production of some4,500 barrels of oil per day due to the strike. — Reuters

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

RIGA: Like a detective at a crimescene, chief language inspectorAntons Kursitis scans the lobby of ahotel in downtown Riga. He spots abrochure that lists hotel services inRussian only, a flagrant violation ofLatvia’s language laws. “You can haveinformation in Russian, English,Chinese, even use hieroglyphics -doesn’t matter - as long as it’s alsothere in Latvian,” explains Kursitis, wholets off the management with a repri-mand.

Protecting the Latvian language -that is, safeguarding its supremacy

over Russian - has been a priority heresince the Soviet occupation ended twodecades ago. Those efforts face theirbiggest test yet today, in a referendumon whether to make Russian the coun-try’s second official language. Eventhough the initiative is all but certainto fail, the vote has symbolic meaningfor Russian-speakers, who make upone-third of this Baltic republic of 2.1million people.

“I think that over the past 20 yearsRussian residents of Latvia have beenhumiliated by authorities, by endlessattempts either to assimilate or make

them second-class citizens,” saysVladimir Linderman, co-chairman ofMother Tongue, the movement spear-heading the referendum. “So this isour answer.” Hundreds of thousands ofRussians, Belarusians and Ukrainiansmoved to Latvia and the neighboringBaltic republics during the populationtransfers of the Soviet regime. SinceRussian was the lingua franca at thetime, there was little use in learningLatvian, which belongs to a differentbranch of the Indo-European family oflanguages. But the tables turned afterindependence, when the new Latvian

authorities introduced Latvian lan-guage skills as a prerequisite for citi-zenship. Many Russian-speakers resis-ted, and some 300,000 remain withoutcitizenship, which means they cannotvote in elections, hold public office, orwork in government institutions.

The Russian-speakers get little sym-pathy from the majority of ethnicLatvians, who still view Russian as thelanguage of a brutal dictatorship thatled to the forcible deportation of some60,000 Latvians to places throughoutthe former USSR, including Siberiangulags. — AP

Latvia votes: Is Russian our language, too?

VATICAN CITY: A scandal over leakedVatican documents and reports of politi-cal infighting, financial mismanagementand administrative chaos in its frescoedhalls have cast a cloud over this week-end’s ceremony to create 22 new cardi-nals. With Pope Benedict XVI slowingdown as he nears his 85th birthday,Saturday’s ceremony has taken on theaura of a pre-conclave summit. Reportsabound in the Italian media of cardinalsand their supporters jockeying forprominence ahead of a future papalelection, and of a Vatican bureaucracy indisarray as Benedict focuses his waningstrength on other matters.

All that has weighed today’s consis-tory, where the 22 new princes of thechurch will get their red hats, or birette,and be formally welcomed into the elitemen’s club that will elect Benedict’ssuccessor. That ceremony will bring upto 125 the number of cardinals world-wide eligible to vote for the next pope.Yesterday, cardinals new and old joinedBenedict for a pre-consistory day ofreflection on spreading the faith in anincreasingly secularized world. Themeeting was headlined by Cardinal-des-ignate Timothy Dolan, the archbishop ofNew York.

Apologizing for his rusty Italian,Dolan peppered his remarks with histrademark good humor. He told the car-dinals that evangelizing in today’s worldrequired its missionaries to live andspread the faith with love, joy - and “sor-ry to bring it up, but blood.” He notedhow cardinals wear scarlet cassocks tosymbolize their willingness to shedblood as martyrs for the faith and makea pledge during the consistory to die asmartyrs, if necessary.

“Holy Father, can you omit the ‘shed-ding of your blood’ when you presentme with the biretta?” Dolan asked thepope. “Of course not! We are but ‘scarletaudio-visual aids’ for all of our brothersand sisters also called to be ready to suf-fer and die for Jesus.” While the subjectmatter was deadly serious, Dolan’s deliv-ery lightened the mood of the otherwisesomber Vatican. The Vaticanspokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi,took pains to tell journalists how appre-ciative the cardinals were of Dolan’s“lively” remarks.

The Vatican spokesman has beendoing serious damage control of late

amid reports and leaked documentsalleging corruption in the running of theVatican city state and money launderingat the Vatican bank. The scandal beganlast month with the publication of let-ters from the former No. 2 Vaticanadministrator, who begged the popenot to be transferred after he exposed

millions of euros in cost overruns in theVatican administration. He was thenremoved and named the Vatican’s U.S.ambassador in Washington.

Subsequent news reports focused onfour priests under investigation forallegedly using Vatican bank accountsto launder cash. The pope’s top banker,meanwhile, remains under investiga-tion for allegedly breaking Italy’s anti-money laundering law by trying totransfer cash from two Vatican bankaccounts without identifying the senderor the recipient. He has denied wrong-doing.

More recent leaks have included aVatican document warning of a plot tokill the pope this year - a scenario thathas since been discredited - and of aninternal debate over the scope andpower of the Vatican’s new financialwatchdog. The scandal, dubbed“Vatileaks” after Lombardi himself noted

the similarities to the Wikileaks docu-ments scandal that hit the U.S. govern-ment, has come as the Vatican has triedto clean up its finances and be moretransparent in its financial dealings tocomply with international norms.

The Vatican hopes to get on the so-called “white list” of countries that share

information to crack down on tax eva-sion, aiming to forever erase its reputa-tion as a secrecy-obsessed offshore taxhaven. The latest reports certainlyhaven’t helped its bid. In an editorial thisweek, Lombardi said the leaks “tend tocreate confusion and bewilderment,and to throw a bad light on the Vatican,the governance of the church, and morebroadly on the church herself.”

“We must, then, remain calm andkeep our nerve, make use of reason -something which not all media outletstend to do,” he said. The Vatican news-paper L’Osservatore Romano took upthe charge as well, saying in a front pageeditorial this week that Benedict wasfighting unnamed “wolves.” The popehimself made a vague reference to therumors during a meeting with seminari-ans Wednesday when he said a lot wasbeing said about the church in thesedays. — AP

PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain’sPrime Minister David Cameron put recent disputes behindthem yesterday to unveil a nuclear power deal and renewtheir own sometimes shaky political alliance. The pair tooka strong position on the Syrian regime’s violence at theirsummit in Paris, and Cameron took the opportunity of ajoint news conference to wish his “friend” Sarkozy well inFrance’s upcoming presidential election.

Celebrating a multi-million pound (euro) nuclear powerdeal and ever closer defense ties, the Paris summit was afar cry from recent encounters between the pair atEuropean summits in Brussels, where they have clashedbitterly. “When you look across the foreign policy anddefense policy issues we discussed today, I don’t thinkthat there has been closer French-British cooperation thanat any time since the Second World War,” Cameron said.

Cameron and Sarkozy first bonded over the Libyanintervention last year, where British and French jets spear-headed what later became a NATO-led air campaign thateventually led to the overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi’sregime. They have since worked towards closer defenseand military industrial ties and have jointly pushed fortougher UN action against Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad, who isengaged in a bloody crackdown on a pro-democracyrevolt.

Both men expressed support for an upcoming confer-ence of an international coalition dubbed the Friends ofSyria, which meets next week in Tunis, but called on theSyrian opposition to organise itself better as well. “We can-not accept that a dictator massacres his own people, butthe revolution will not be brought from outside, it will risefrom inside Syria, as it has done elsewhere,” Sarkozy toldthe pair’s joint news conference.

Both men said the conditions are not ripe in Syria foranother Western military intervention like the one thattipped the balance in Libya, but said that they would bringmaximum diplomatic pressure to bear. “In Libya we had aUN Security Council that authorised force, we had an ArabLeague that wanted action to be taken, we had a clearopposition in Libya that was working on behalf of thewhole of the country,” Cameron said.

“With Syria we don’t have all those circumstances inplace but that doesn’t mean we should stand back andjust say there is nothing that can be done. We need to ...put the maximum pressure on Assad to stop the butcher-ing.” Cameron also gave his backing to Sarkozy’s re-elec-tion campaign, which promises to be an uphill struggleagainst opposition Socialist challenger Francois Hollande,who has a clear opinion poll lead with 10 weeks to go.

“We’ll be following your fortunes in the weeks to comeon the campaign trail and, as I said, I wish you luck,”Cameron told Sarkozy, calling the summit “a chance towish my friend well in the battle he has ahead.” The pairalso hailed the civil nuclear deal, in a joint appearance thatwas noticeably more friendly than other recent encoun-ters. Cameron said the British engineering firm Rolls-Roycewill secure a £400 million (481 million euro, $632 million)share in the work to build Britain’s first French-pioneeredEPR reactor at Hinkley Point in southern England. — AFP

‘Vatileaks’ casts cloud over new cardinal ceremony

22 new cardinals to be named

VATICAN CITY: A Swiss guard salutes as Cardinal designate Archbishop of NewYork Timothy Dolan leaves the Synod hall after a meeting with Pope BenedictXVI at the Vatican yesterday. The Pontiff is scheduled to name 22 newCardinals in a Consistory today at the Vatican. —AP

Britain, France sign nuclear power

deals at summit

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

KAMPALA: Ugandan officials havestripped Libya’s ambassador of histitle and evicted him from theembassy, saying he was an obstacleto new relations with post-MuammarGaddafi Libya, the foreign ministersaid yesterday. The Libyan diplomathad to be evicted in order to accom-modate the arrival in Uganda of anew representative, said Uganda’sforeign affairs minister OkelloOryem. But the former ambassadorcan remain in the country, Oryemsaid.

“He’s no longer the Libyan ambas-sador in Uganda. He can no longercontinue to enjoy the status of anambassador,” Oryem told The

Associated Press. He denied accusa-tions that the diplomat had beenharassed and said that he was givenpolice protection. Relations betweenUganda and Libya prospered duringthe long reign of Gadhafi, whose oilmoney flowed into Uganda throughthe telecommunications and travelsectors. He was also popular amongUganda’s Muslims, to whom hedonated an elegant mosque thatremains one of the tallest structuresin Kampala, the capital.

Gaddafi’s death last October putUgandan diplomats in an uncomfort-able situation: What to do with anenvoy who did not want to go homeand was eager to continue occupy-

ing his former office. The diplomatalso kept the official residence,Oryem said, leaving no place for thenew envoy when he arrived inKampala weeks ago. The evictedenvoy has expressed concerns thathe could be arrested once hereturned home, and Ugandan offi-cials say the government may nego-tiate his transfer to a third country.Oryem said the diplomat had beenstripped of his security and was nowa private man.

“I don’t know if he’s willing to gohome, but he’s welcome to stay inUganda for as long as he wishes,”Oryem said of the former ambassa-dor. “We cannot press him to go to

Libya.” The decision to evict thediplomat was reached after Ugandanand Libyan officials attending arecent African Union summit inEthiopia decided to formalize rela-tions that had gone cold afterGaddafi’s death. The envoy’s refusalto leave had complicated Uganda’splans to reopen its mission in Libya,with Ugandan diplomats normallyaccredited to Tripoli still holding outin neighboring Tunisia.

Libya has at least $300 million inUgandan assets that have since beenunfrozen. The Ugandan governmentis in the process of handing over theproperties, which include one of theoldest banks in Uganda. —AP

Uganda strips Gaddafi-era ambassador of role

DAKAR: Police opened fire with teargas on protesters who had gone aheadwith a sleep-in Thursday at a down-town square, even though the govern-ment had banned the demonstrationbeing held one week before the coun-try’s presidential election. It’s the sec-ond day that protesters have contin-ued their demonstrations despite thegovernment’s refusal to authorize thegathering. Senegalese police areallowed to use force to break upcrowds at unauthorized protests, asthey did on Wednesday to stopmarchers who got within 500 yards(meters) of the presidential palace.

The country’s opposition is callingfor the departure of 85-year-oldPresident Abdoulaye Wade, who isinsisting on running for a third term inthe Feb. 26 election despite growingresistance from the population as wellas criticism from the international com-munity. Interior Minister OusmaneNgom defended the government’sdecision to ban the protests eventhough the campaign season is in fullswing, and the ruling party is holdingregular rallies. He told reportersThursday that Senegal has a long dem-ocratic tradition, and pointed out that3050 demonstrations had been author-ized last year, while only 245 - less than5 percent - were banned due to athreat to public order. He described therecent opposition demonstrations as “acrime spree by vagrants” and said thatthey cannot be equated with cam-paign events since most are not beingorganized by the candidates them-selves. The sleep-in on Thursday isbeing organized by a group of rappersknown as Y’en a Marre, French for“We’ve had enough,” which is alliedwith the opposition but is not fieldinga candidate in the election. Riot policebegan pelting the group with tear gas,after protesters tried to light tires onfire. Security forces moved in andarrested Simon and Kilifeu, two of thefounders of the Y’en a Marre, who wereled away to a police truck.

Ngom also said that the police hadrecovered one pistol, explosives andseveral molotov cocktails at recentdemonstrations - which he saidshowed that protesters had the inten-tion of using violence. Four people

have been killed in anti-Wade demon-strations over the past two weeks sincethe country’s highest court ruled thatWade could run for a third term, eventhough the constitution was revised in2001 to impose a two-term maximum.

The violence has been mild by com-parison to recent elections in IvoryCoast, Guinea and Nigeria where hun-dreds were killed.

But the unrest is rattling Senegal, anation of 12 million on Africa’s westerncoast, which is considered the moststable democracy in the region.Alioune Tine, the coordinator of M23,which represents a dozen oppositioncandidates running against Wade innext week’s election, announced thatthey too would go ahead with demon-

strations yesterday and today despitethe ban.

“Citizens need to come to say ‘No’ tothe violation of our constitution, and todemand the unconditional rejection ofPresident Wade’s candidacy,” said Tine.

“I want to remind the police that it ishere to defend the republic. They needto refuse to be used by the regime.”Unlike many countries in Africa,Senegal has never experienced a coupor a military takeover.

The country is deeply proud of itsdemocratic tradition, which dates tothe mid-1800s when the former Frenchcolony was given the right to elect adeputy to the French parliament. Mostof its neighbors in West Africa onlybegan their democratic experiment inthe 1960s after independence fromFrance, an experiment that was fre-quently hijacked by the military.Guinea, for example, which shares aborder with Senegal, held its first dem-ocratic election in 2010. —AP

Two rappers arrested at Senegal opposition protest

Govt refuses to authorize gathering

DAKAR: Kilifeu (C), one of the leaders of Senegal’s rapper-led youth move-ment “Fed Up”, on Thursday in Dakar as he attempted to stage a protestagainst Senegalese President’s third term bid. —AFP

ABUJA: Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara wasnamed the new head of West Africa’s regional bloc,outgoing chief Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeriaannounced yesterday before the close of the body’ssummit. “For the chairman of the authority we havealso unanimously agreed that the President of Coted’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara,” would take over, Jonathansaid at a meeting of the Economic Community of WestAfrican States in Abuja.

Ouattara’s election for the rotating position in the15-nation bloc marks the return to the regional stage ofIvory Coast, recently shaken by deadly violencesparked by a disputed election. One year ago, Ouattarawas largely confined to an Abidjan hotel by his politicalfoe, ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, who had refused toaccept defeat after a November 2010 vote. Gbagbo’srefusal to quit triggered conflict which left around3,000 people dead before Ouattara took power.Gbagbo is now awaiting trial by the InternationalCriminal Court, accused of crimes against humanity.Ouattara had been the favorite to take the key job,which carries a one year mandate, from regional pow-erhouse Nigeria.

“Countries of the region feel they have invested a lotfor Ivory Coast and see it as the culmination of theirefforts,” said a West African diplomat before theannouncement. — AFP

I Coast president named head of West Africa bloc

CAIRO: Sudanese police raided student dormitories atKhartoum’s main university yesterday, beating and arrest-ing hundreds of students in the latest crackdown on youthprotesters, activists said. The youth activist group ChangeNow said the National Intelligence Security Servicesstormed the dormitories before dawn at the University ofKhartoum and detained more than 350 students.

Students at the university began protesting in lateDecember to demand compensation for people displacedfrom their homes by construction of a dam near the city ofDammir, 175 miles (280 kilometers) northeast of the capi-tal. They also have been calling for the right to form a stu-dent union and for an end to police violence. Change Nowsaid in a statement that the students arrested yesterday“were brutally beaten and their properties destroyed in ahaphazard manner.”

“Terrorization and intimidation of the students in thedorms further complicates their reasons for protesting fromthe onset,” the group said. Opposition lawmaker Mariam al-Sadeq al-Mahadi, a member of the Umma Party, called theraid “an attack on freedom of expression.” — AP

Sudan police raid university dorm, arrest hundreds

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

AKRON: An Ohio teen who came under the influ-ence of a convicted criminal turned self-styled streetchaplain pleaded not guilty yesterday to helping hismentor kill one man and try to kill another in adeadly Craigslist robbery scheme. Brogan Rafferty,his ankles and wrists cuffed and dressed in a whiteT-shirt and orange jail pants, made a brief appear-ance yesterday in Summit County Common PleasCourt. His plea came after he was transferred to theadult system from juvenile court because of the seri-ousness of the charges against him.

Authorities say applicants who fell for thescheme answered a Craigslist ad for a job at a non-existent cattle ranch in Noble County, 90 milessouth of Akron in rural southeastern Ohio, wererobbed, then killed. The teen was questioned by theFBI and arrested in mid-November several days afterScott Davis, of South Carolina, said was shot in thearm and escaped after he answered the ad.

The body of Norfolk, Va., resident David Pauley,

51, was found on the Noble County property,owned by a coal company and often leased tohunters. Authorities say Pauley was killed Oct 23.Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, was found Nov. 29 ina shallow grave near an Akron-area shopping mall.He had been shot in the head.

The complaint against the teen says he partici-pated in the crimes with Richard Beasley, a 52year-old Akron resident said to have acted as hismentor. Beasley was a Texas parolee who returnedto Ohio in 2004 after serving time on a burglaryconviction. He was awaiting trial on prostitutionand drug charges when authorities took him intocustody, and police have said a halfway house heran in Akron was a front for prostitution. Beasleyhas pleaded not guilty to the slayings and couldface the death penalty if convicted. As a juvenile,Rafferty cannot. Rafferty’s attorney, JohnAlexander, said after the arraignment that hisclient is holding up well.

“He’s doing as well as you can, obviously, withserious charges like this,” he said. “You’re going tohave a whole wide range of emotions, so he’s hold-ing up as best as he can.” Alexander said he wouldask to have Rafferty held in juvenile detention,instead of adult jail, for the duration of the case.Rafferty was a student at Stow-Munroe Falls HighSchool in suburban Akron when he was arrested inthe fall.

The victims had answered Craigslist ads for workon a nonexistent cattle farm in rural Noble County insoutheast Ohio. The scheme targeted older, single,out-of-work men with backgrounds that made itunlikely their disappearances would be noted rightaway. In a four-page handwritten letter to the AkronBeacon Journal, Beasley has said he has been mis-cast as a con man when he really helped feed, houseand counsel scores of needy families, alcoholics,drug addicts, the mentally ill and crime suspects foryears.— AP

Teen pleads not guilty in Ohio Craigslist killings

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obamaraised $29.1 million for his campaign andthe Democratic Party in January, a strongmonth that added to his momentum asRepublican rivals were distracted bytheir fight for the chance to challengehim in November. Obama’s approval rat-ings have been on the rise as the pooreconomy - by far the most importantissue in this presidential race and hisbiggest weakness for rivals - continues toshow signs of a recovery. He also scoreda rare victory this week over congres-sional Republicans on taxes.

The Obama campaign announced thefundraising number in a Twitter messageyesterday morning. The month’s haulraises Obama’s total combined fundrais-ing for this election cycle to about $250million. Raising money is even moreimportant in this election after aSupreme Court ruling opened the doorto big-money donations to groups thatsupport campaigns. The so-called superpolitical action committees are sup-posed to be independent of the cam-paigns, but critics have pointed out thepossibility for abuse.

Obama often criticized the superPACs on those grounds but abruptlychanged his mind and embraced themthis month after their influence becameclear in the Republican race. The groupsalready have spent millions on attack adsand are poised to spend more in thegeneral election. The Obama campaigndid not immediately provide a break-down of the January fundraising but said98 percent of the donations were $250or less. The nonpartisan CampaignFinance Institute, which analyzes contri-butions, found that small donors, thosewhose aggregate contributions amount-ed to less than $200, accounted for 48percent of Obama’s campaign income in2011.

The institute found that small donorsaccounted for only 9 percent of 2011fundraising for Mitt Romney, who is bat-tling for front-runner status in theRepublican presidential primary and isthe party’s top fundraiser. Presidentialcandidates must submit January

fundraising reports to the FederalElection Commission yesterday. TheObama campaign’s full report wasexpected later in the day. Obama wasconcluding a three-day swing ofCalifornia and Washington that includedeight fundraisers, where he was expect-ed to raise more than $8 million.

Obama repeatedly tells his audiencesthat this election will be more difficult.“And that’s not going to be easybecause, first of all, I’m older and I’mgrayer,” he told about 70 high-dollarcontributors in San Francisco onThursday night. “And part of it is we’vegone through three tough years and sopeople want to hope, but they’ve beenworn down by a lot of hardship,” he said- a reference to the economy. TheRepublican candidates, especiallyRomney, have had to focus less on thepresident and more on each other as theparty’s nominating contest stretches outlonger than expected.

Romney, a former Massachusetts gov-ernor, faces an aggressive Rick Santorum,who has surged to a virtual tie in the pollsafter surprise wins in three states last

week. The former Pennsylvania senatoron Thursday attacked Romney in the cityof his birth in Michigan, challenging hisvalues, consistency and even his eco-nomic policies. Santorum positions him-self as the leading conservative in therace, while Romney has struggled to winover the party’s conservative base andhas been attacked for his shifting posi-tions on sensitive issues like abortion andhealth care. Romney not only grew up inMichigan, he is the son of a former gover-nor. The state hosts a presidential pri-mary Feb. 28, marking the end of a lull instate-by-state contests that will be fol-lowed by a 10-state Super Tuesday votein early March. Though Santorum andRomney are close in the polls, Romney isconsidered the Republican front-runnernationwide, with far more delegates fromstate-by-state voting that are necessaryto claim the party’s nomination. Themultimillionaire also has far more moneyand campaign organization thanSantorum. Romney picked up the sup-port of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, whoon Thursday called him “the man for thejob.” —AP

Strong fundraising month helps Obama momentum

Obama’s approval ratings on the rise

SAN FRANCISCO: US President Barack Obama speaks during a Democraticcampaign fundraiser at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco,California.—AFP

CALIFORNIA: Pro-Tibetan demonstrators shout slogansagainst Chinese-ruled Tibet while marching with flags infront of a downtown hotel in Los Angeles following thearrival of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Thursday inCalifornia. —AFP

LOS ANGELES: Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s pivotalfour-day visit to the United States brings him and US VicePresident Joe Biden yesterday to Los Angeles, where the vasttrade imbalance between the two countries is at its starkest.The tour by China’s soon-to-be leader comes at a politicallychallenging time in US -China relations, with the White Housesending stern messages on currency and trade policies andRepublican presidential candidates claiming that PresidentBarack Obama isn’t doing enough to keep America competi-tive with the Chinese economy.

The Asian power sells four times as many goods to the USas the United States sends in return to China, and much ofthat trade pours through the giant Port of Los Angeles, thebusiest port in the US Xi met with California Gov. Jerry Brownon Thursday and toured a shipping terminal at the port.Nearly 60 percent of the imports moving through the Port ofLos Angeles come from China, including $120 billion worth ofcomputers, TVs, sneakers and other goods last year. The USshipped $13.5 billion in exports to China through the port lastyear.

Yesterday, Biden and Xi start with a China trade forum inLos Angeles, followed by a luncheon, a school visit to meetchildren learning Mandarin, then a governor’s forum at DisneyHall. In a carefully scripted event, Xi took a short walking tourthrough the China Shipping terminal with Brown and MayorAntonio Villaraigosa. —AP

China’s heir apparent wraps up US visit in LA

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

TEGUCIGALPA: As workers cleaned up the rub-ble of the century’s deadliest prison fire, a collec-tive rage built among relatives who gathered atthe morgue and said the official explanation of amattress fire was absurd. Details of the investiga-tion remained thin, and mystery swirled aroundthe possible cause, from a crazed inmate who setfire to his bedding to rumors that gas cans werefound inside and that guards deliberately set theblaze, whose death toll rose to 356 when a 31-year-old prisoner died in a hospital early yester-day.

Family members said guards fired on prison-ers to keep them from fleeing the flames, thoughguards and firefighters said they were shots inthe air to summon help and to respond to whatthey thought was a prison break. The attorneygeneral’s office said it was investigating allangles. “It’s impossible to believe that prisonersset the fire themselves when they too were goingto die,” said Felix Armando Cardona, 56, whoseson, Luis Armando Cardona, 28, died in the blazethat broke out in Comayagua prison late Tuesdaynight.

In Geneva, the UN ‘s human rights office saidyesterday that an independent probe is neededand that Honduras must prevent a recurrencesince it was the third fatal prison fire in aHonduran prison in a decade. From the time fire-fighters received a call at 10:59 p.m., what shouldhave been a rescue became a catastrophe. Onlysix guards were on duty, four in towers overlook-ing the prison and two overseeing 852 peoplecrowded into a facility built for half that number.Some 57 percent had yet to be convicted, eitherawaiting trial or being held as suspected gangmembers, according to a government report.

Survivors said they watched helplessly as theguard who had the keys fled without unlockingtheir cells.”He threw the keys on the floor in pan-ic,” said Hector Daniel Martinez, who was beingheld as a homicide suspect. Martinez said aninmate who was not locked in because he alsoworked as a nurse picked up the keys and, brav-ing the scorching heat, went from one cell blockto another, opening doors. “He went into theflames and started breaking the locks,” said JoseEnrique Guevara, who was five years into an 11-year sentence for auto theft. “He saved us, I tellyou.”

About 100 relatives of the presumed deadgathered in tight knots outside a barricademanned by police and soldiers at theTegucigalpa morgue, their faces etched in pain as

they waited for a public address system to callthe name of the latest identified victim. Family ofthe few victims identified by late Thursday wereescorted to a cinderblock building where RedCross workers in white suits unloaded black plas-tic body bags arriving from the prison farm about55 miles (90 kilometers) away.

Most wore surgical masks to ward off theheavy scent of decaying bodies. Loads of cheapbrown wooden caskets pulled up aboard pickuptrucks, apparently donated. Prosecutors’spokesman Melvin Duarte said 25 forensic exam-iners were working around the clock, startingwith the few bodies that weren’t too charred tohave finger prints. Prisoners who survivedunscathed or suffered only minor injuriesremained inside the prison. Those with moreserious injuries were taken to hospitals and weretrickling back Thursday. Some were being treatedinside by the nurse credited with saving manylives.

Miguel Angel Lopez, a guard on duty insidethe prison, said he called the fire brigade as soonas he saw the blaze, but it took firefighters 30minutes to get inside. Fire officials told TheAssociated Press they were blocked from enter-ing the prison for half an hour by guards whothought they had a riot or breakout on theirhands. Relatives are suspicious because

Honduras has been the site of two other majorprison fires, in 2003 and 2004, that killed a totalof 176 inmates. Government officials were con-victed of wrongdoing in the 2003 blaze, whichinvestigators blamed on the guards. Prison offi-cials and the governor of Comayagua provinceoriginally said the fire was started by an inmatewho screamed he was going to burn the placedown in a cell phone call to the governor, PaolaCastro. On Thursday Castro said the call wasactually a message from someone reporting thefire and that she accidentally erased it. Officialsthen said prisoners told investigators that thefire started with a fight inside a prison barracksover a mattress. One prisoner threatened to burnthe mattress if the other didn’t hand it over, saidElver Madrid, director of intelligence forHonduran national police. Madrid said his officecurrently considered that to be the most crediblescenario. “They’re assassins,” said Pedro Mejia,a weather-beaten, straw-hatted farmer whoseson, Carlos David Mejia, died in Comayagua.His son had been there for six months whileawaiting trial for the attempted robbery of awelding machine. The US State Departmenthas criticized the Honduran government forharsh prison conditions, citing severe over-crowding, malnutrition, and lack of adequatesanitation. —AP

WASHINGTON: One of Cuba’s leading dis-sidents, Oscar Elias Biscet, testified by tele-phone from Cuba on Thursday to the USCongress and said the international com-munity did not seem to understand thathuman rights violations continued there.“The Cuba in which I live is a society full offear,” Biscet said, speaking from the USinterests section in Havana to a joint meet-ing of two House of Representatives sub-committees.

“The human rights violations need tobe expressed further to the internationalcommunity, because they seem to be notgetting the point, or understanding thatthis is really happening,” he said, speakingthrough an interpreter. The connectionwas lost and restored several times asBiscet’s voice was broadcast via speaker

phone to a Capitol Hill hearing room.Biscet, 50, a medical doctor, was releasedlast March as one of the last of 52 politicalprisoners President Raul Castro promisedto release in an accord with Cuba’sCatholic Church.

He had been first arrested in the 1990sfor organizing meetings, and was jailedseveral times. After his fourth arrest in2003, he was sentenced to 25 years inprison as part of a crackdown on oppo-nents known as Cuba’s “Black Spring” thatstrained the Communist-led island’s inter-national relations. Biscet said that he hadbeen beaten and tortured in prison; as aresult, he said, his face was disfigured andhis foot broken. “Violations of human dig-nity” are systematically committed againstall people who are incarcerated in Cuba,

he said. Among abuses he had “suffered orobserved” were tortures in which nakedprisoners had their hands handcuffed totheir feet for 12 to 24 hours, or were hand-cuffed with their hands over their headsand suspended with their feet barelytouching the floor for similarly long peri-ods. He also described abysmal prison con-ditions with no clean drinking water, noventilation, and no toilets for prisoners. ForBiscet’s opposition to Cuba’s government,President George W. Bush awarded him inabsentia the Presidential Medal ofFreedom in 2007. Cuban authorities viewdissidents as mercenaries working for theirarchenemy, the United States. The UnitedStates has maintained an economicembargo on Cuba for 50 years in order topressure the Communist government on

the island, which lies 90 miles (145 km)south of Florida.

Cuban dissidents have said there are stillat least 60 people behind bars for politicalreasons, including some convicted of boatand plane hijackings and spying. Askedwhether he feared re-arrest because of histestimony to the US Congress, Biscet said:“Everything is possible.” He said he intend-ed to continue non-violent efforts forchange under the Castro government. “Wecannot wait for someone to die to createchange. We will create change on our own.”He said he hoped that Pope Benedict wouldlobby for more freedoms, including free-dom of speech, when the Pope visits Cubaat the end of March. “We hope that his com-ing will bring great change to our country,”Biscet said. — Reuters

Cuban dissident testifies by phone to US Congress

Survivor rage grows in deadly Honduran prison fire

Explanation of mattress fire absurd: Relatives

TEGUCIGALPA: An unidentified relative of Marvin Javier Castro, 28, places a cross on hiscoffin during a wake at his home in Tegucigalpa, Honduras Thursday .—AP

Chavez: Venezuela free to sell

its oil anywhereCARACAS: Venezuelan President HugoChavez said Thursday that his govern-ment is free to sell its oil to any countryit wishes, although he didn’t directlyanswer a question about whether he isshipping fuel to Syria. Chavez wasasked about news reports thatVenezuela is selling diesel fuel to Syria,which was condemned Thursday bythe UN General Assembly for itsbloody crackdown on governmentopponents. Chavez is an ally of SyrianPresident Bashar Assad.

“Have we accepted that anyoneimpose conditions on us for selling oilto the United States, or anyone else inthis world? We’re free,” the Venezuelanleader said. Chavez did not, however,say whether Venezuela has shippedfuel to Syria, which is under sanctionsimposed by the US and other coun-tries.

“Have we asked the United Stateswhat it does with the fuel that we taketo the United States?” Chavez added.“The greater part of the streets ofWashington are paved withVenezuelan asphalt.”

Chavez, who commented whilestanding with actor Sean Penn at thepresidential palace, noted Venezuelasells large amounts of oil to the UnitedStates, which remains its largest cus-tomer despite years of strained rela-tions. Chavez has accused the UnitedStates and its allies of provoking vio-lence in Syria in order to try to oustAssad. The Venezuelan leader has saidit seems to be a similar pattern toevents in Libya that led to the over-throw and killing of Muammar Gaddafi.

Last year, the US governmentimposed sanctions on Venezuela’sstate oil company, Petroleos deVenezuela SA, saying it had deliveredto Iran at least two cargos of refined oilproducts worth about $50 million.Those sanctions have had little impact.The sanctions bar the Venezuelan oilcompany from any US governmentcontracts and from export licenses forsensitive technology, but don’t pre-vent it from selling oil to the UnitedStates. —AP

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

Anniversary

Years

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

TOKYO: Japan was woefully unpre-pared for last year’s nuclear disaster,the country’s former prime ministersaid yesterday, and suggested that thecrippled Fukushima plant should nothave been built so close to the oceanon a tsunami-prone coast. In an exclu-sive interview with The AssociatedPress, Naoto Kan acknowledged flawsin authorities’ handling of the crisis,triggered by the March 11 earthquakeand tsunami, including poor communi-cation and coordination betweennuclear regulators, utility officials andthe government Kan headed at thetime.

But he said the disaster - the worstnuclear accident since Chernobyl in1986 - laid bare a host of an even big-ger man-made vulnerabilities in Japan’snuclear industry and regulation, frominadequate safety guidelines to crisismanagement, all of which he said needto be overhauled. “Before 3/11, wewere totally unprepared,” he said. “Notonly the hardware, but our system andthe organization were not prepared.

That’s the biggest problem.”Kan said the disaster made clear to

him that Japan needs to dramaticallyreduce its dependence on nuclear pow-er, which supplied 30 percent of itselectricity before the crisis, and hasturned him into a believer of renewableenergy. He also acknowledged thatinformation disclosure was sometimesslow and at times wrong, particularly inthe days immediately after the crisiserupted. He blamed a lack of reliabledata at the time and said the govern-ment never hid any information fromthe public.

Kan said the very location of theFukushima Dai-ichi plant was problem-atic. It was built close to the shore andabout 33 feet (10 meters) above acoastline that has experienced numer-ous tsunamis over the centuries ,including three within the last 120years, all of them smaller than the oneon March 11. That height was a levelregulators and the utility operator,Tokyo Electric Power Co., thought wassafe.

But the tsunami that hit on March 11was at least 46 feet (14 meters) tall, andit knocked out the plant’s power as wellas emergency generators, located inthe basement areas of the reactorbuildings, disabling their cooling sys-tems and sending three active reactorsinto meltdowns. “If they had thoughtabout it, they wouldn’t have intention-ally built it at a place so low,” said Kan.“The plant was built on the assumptionthat there was no need to anticipate amajor tsunami, and that’s the verybeginning of the problem.”

“We should have taken more ade-quate safety steps, and we failed to doso,” he added. “It was a big mistake andI must admit that (the accident) wasdue to human error.” The accident dis-placed about 100,000 people who livednear the plant and has raised fears ofcontamination in everything from fruitand vegetables to fish and water. InDecember, the government declaredthe plant was stable, although it esti-mates that it will take about 40 years tocompletely decommission the plant.

Early on in the crisis, Kan said he didconsider the possibility of a worst-casescenario in which all six of the reactorsplus spent fuel pools melted down outof control. That probably would haveresulted in radioactive fallout over awide area, requiring evacuation of mil-lions of people, including possibly thepopulation of Tokyo.

Kan said he never instructed officialsto produce a blueprint plan for evacu-ating the 30 million people from thegreater Tokyo area, although an inter-nal report submitted March 25 by thehead of the Japan Atomic EnergyCommission - and obtained by the AP -warned of that possibility if the disasterdeteriorated. Fearing panic, the reportwas kept a secret. “My mission was tostop that from happening and thinkhow to do it,” Kan said. “We were luckyto have taken the crisis under controlbefore things turned worse.”

He said the cris is was most direaround the time of a third hydrogenexplosion at the Fukushima plant inmid-March . — AP

Japan was unprepared for nuke crisis: Ex-PM

ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan’s authoritarianpresident was sworn in yesterday for a sec-ond term during a lavish ceremony filledwith adulation for the man increasinglyreferred to as the “protector” of this tightlycontrolled, resource-rich nation.Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov won therecent presidential election with 97 per-cent of the vote. The opposition candi-dates were mere tokens - several of thempraised the incumbent during the race.

What Berdymukhamedov does withTurkmenistan during this second, five-yearterm is the subject of avid interest fromthe West, Russia and China because of theCentral Asian state’s natural gas reserves,estimated to be the world’s fourth-largest.Berdymukhamedov first came to powerafter the 2006 death of SaparmuratNiyazov. Although he has diluted much ofthe cult of personality established aroundNiyazov, his promises of political reform inthe ex-Soviet state have been largelyunmet.

Still, at a government meeting thisweek, Berdymukhamedov reaffirmed

vows that he would install a multipartydemocracy and develop a civil society.State media meanwhile have taken toreferring to the president as Arkadag -Turkmen for “protector” - a moniker remi-niscent of Niyazov’s title of Turkmenbashi,or “Father of the Turkmen.”

Some 3,000 people in the capital,Ashgabat, attended Berdymukhamedov’sinauguration. As the head of the electioncommission again announced the finalelection results at the start of the ceremo-ny, people in the hall interrupted himtwice, rising to their feet chanting: “Hail theHero, Hail Arkadag.” Berdymukhamedovperformed the swearing-in against thebackdrop of a gigantic carpet inscribedwith one of his own slogans: “The govern-ment is for the people.” After the inaugura-tion, Berdymukhamedov gave a briefspeech in which he promised to carry outreforms aimed at improving well-being inthe country. The ceremony ended with aconcert of songs, many of which werededicated to Berdymukhamedov andreferred to him repeatedly as “Arkadag.”

During the performance of a traditionalTurkmen song, a giant television screenonstage showed pre-recorded footage ofBerdymukhamedov playing a keyboardstanding up and singing along.

Turkmenistan is set to hold parliamen-tary elections next year. The toothless rub-ber stamp legislature is occupied solely bythe Democratic Party of Turkmenistan,which is the only legally registered party inthe country.

Berdymukhamedov has suggested anew party might be created to representagrarian interests. That party, too, wouldalmost certainly be tightly controlled bythe state. While it is hard to gauge thepresident’s genuine level of popularity incountry where no independent media isallowed to operate and dissent is brutallystamped, discontent is greatly temperedby generous state subsidies enabled bythe country’s vast energy revenues.Household gas, water and electricity are allprovided free. Families also receivemonthly rations of salt.—AP

Turkmen authoritarianleader sworn in

Authoritarian prez referred to as the ‘protector’

ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (C) is inaugurated for a second term in the capi-tal Ashgabat, yesterday.—AFP

MANILA: The Philippines for the first time plans to closedown dozens of illegal small-scale gold and copper mines,often the cause of deadly accidents, an official said yester-day, but it remains to be seen how strictly the new regula-tions will be enforced. The new policy will be spelt out in an“executive order” by President Benigno Aquino, said LeoJasareno, director of the state agency, Mines andGeosciences Bureau.

Aquino, who has vowed to crack down on perennial cor-ruption which blights the country, will sign the order afterconsulting with the mining industry. A National Anti-IllegalMining Task Force will be created and given police powersto oversee small mines.

“There are between 200 and 300 small-scale miningoperations in the country, and about 80 percent of them areconsidered illegal,” Jasareno said at a media forum.

Most mining accidents in the Southeast Asian country,which has mineral reserves estimated at $1 trillion, havebeen caused by rampant and unregulated small-scale min-ing. There has been no attempt so far to close the minesbecause they enjoy the support of local governments.Jasareno did not say how the executive order would beenforced at the local level. The new policy “will lay out meas-ures and directives that will address all issues the industry isfacing, including the conflict between national and locallaws”, he said.

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines which repre-sents large-scale miners on Tuesday criticised a governmentplan to impose new taxes on mining and review incentivesprovided under their contracts. It said the government’sinconsistent mining policy would scare off investors.Jasareno declined to comment on the issue. But FinanceSecretary Cesar Purisima told reporters on Wednesday thegovernment wants a bigger share of mining revenue and theremoval of incentives for mining investors.

“The order will provide clarity to our rules and that willhelp improve the business environment,” Jasareno said,adding the order would pave the way for the lifting of a one-year-old moratorium on the issuance of new mining permits.He said the new mining policy should also help resolve theissue involving the $5.9-billion Tampakan project in SouthCotabato, believed to be Southeast Asia’s biggest undevel-oped copper-gold reserves. The project led by global minerXstrata Plc is under threat from a local ban on open-pit min-ing and the government’s refusal to grant it an environmentclearance needed for mine construction. “We want to makeit clear that Tampakan remains a priority project for us,”Jasareno said.—Reuters

Philippines for firsttime to try to close

illegal mines

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

Anniversary

Years

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

PESHAWAR: A suicide motorbikebomber attacked a market in a largelyShiite Muslim area of northwest Pakistanyesterday, killing at least 25 people inthe deadliest attack for a month. Thebomb exploded near a mosque as themain Friday prayers took place inParachinar, a flashpoint for sectarian vio-lence between majority Sunni andminority Shiite Muslims in Pakistan’stribal badlands on the Afghan border.

Parachinar is the main town inKurram district, part of the semi-autonomous tribal belt where US dronestrikes target Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants in what Washingtonconsiders the world’s largest interna-tional terror hub. It was the deadliestattack in Pakistan since a remote-con-trolled bomb blast killed at least 35 peo-ple in the Khyber tribal district onJanuary 10.

“At least 25 people have been killedin the suicide bombing,” Kurram admin-istrator Shahab Ali Shah told AFP.“About 54 people were wounded in thebombing and 38 were still in hospital,some in critical condition,” he said. Thecasualties occurred after “a suicidebomber on a motorcycle blew himselfup in a crowded market,” top regionaladministrator Sahibzada MohammadAnees told AFP, also confirming the lat-est death toll.

A splinter group that broke awayfrom Pakistan’s umbrella Taleban fac-tion claimed responsibility for theattack. “We sent the suicide bomber fol-lowing attacks on Sunni Muslims by theShiite tribes in the area,” Fazal Saeedtold AFP by telephone, claiming to bethe leader of the so-called Tehreek-e-Taleban Islami. “We caught a man yes-terday who was planting a bomb at a

petrol station owned by a Sunni. We didit in response,” he added.

Since the late 1980s more than 4,000people have been killed in outbreaks ofsectarian violence between Sunni andShiite militant groups in Pakistan.Residents said the bombing destroyedat least eight shops in the city’s crowdedbazaar. Telephone links broke downafter the attack and news of the elevat-ed death toll was slow to arrive via radio,Anees said. Officials had earlier saideight people died in the blast, whichstruck as locals visited a special Fridaymarket. “A curfew has been imposed inthe area after some people tried to holda demonstration. Security forces havesealed the area,” Anees said. Accordingto an AFP tally, Islamist bombers andgunmen have killed more than 4,800people across Pakistan since July2007.— AFP

Pakistan suicide attack kills 25Bomb explodes during Friday prayers

COLOMBO: Police in Sri Lanka fired teargas and water cannons yesterday to dis-perse thousands of demonstrators in thecapital protesting higher fuel prices. Awave of protests has swept across SriLanka since the government increasedfuel prices a week ago because of risingworld oil prices. A liter of gasoline rose10 cents to $1.25 (about $5 per gallon)and diesel went up 26 cents.

The rise in fuel prices also led the gov-ernment to increase bus fares and elec-tricity charges. Yesterday, oppositionlawmakers and protesters gatheredopposite the main train stat ion inColombo, blocking the traffic on themain road. Opposit ion leader Rani l

Wickremesinghe said the government’spolicies have led to the increasing oilprices. “People have been compelled topay for the government’s corruption andwaste, which are everywhere,” he toldthe protesters.

While the government has increasedprices of fuel, electricity charges, busfares, Wickremesinghe said, “It has notshown any mercy to the people. No reliefto the public. “I urge the government toincrease the salaries of the people andstrengthen democracy,” he said. AfterWickremesinghe’s speech, protestersstarted marching on the main road inColombo, apparently toward the build-ing complex that houses the treasury

and president’s office. On the way, theywere stopped by riot police officers whohad erected a temporary roadblock. Asthe number of protesters toppled thepolice blockade and tried to move for-ward, police started firing tear gas andwater cannons. The government saidprices had to be raised since world oilprices have increased. Governmentspokesman Anura Priyadarshana Yapasaid the government has arranged fuelsubsidies for bus owners, fishermen andtaxi owners. On Wednesday, police firedon fishermen protesting fuel prices inChilaw, a coastal town about 40 miles (70kilometers) north of the capital, killingone person and wounding three.— AP

Lankan police fire tear gas at fuel protesters

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan opposition lawmaker Palitha Thewarapperuma is seen throwing a tear gas canister back towardspolice during a demonstration against higher fuel prices in Colombo, Sri Lanka yesterday.—AP

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai (L)and Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari (C) look as Iraniancounterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) speaks during ajoint press conference at the Presidential Palace inIslamabad yesterday.—AFP

ISLAMABAD: After two days of high-level talks ,Afghanistan appears to have failed to gain more Pakistanisupport for its bid to advance its reconciliation process withTaleban insurgent. Pakistan is seen as critical to efforts toreach a settlement to Afghanistan’s conflict, now in its 11thyear, and is believed to have influence over Afghan insur-gent groups.”The talks were hard. But sometimes you needto have hard talks,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina RabbaniKhar told reporters after the meetings between AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai and Pakistani leaders in Islamabad.

Before Karzai arrived in Pakistan, Afghan officials said hewould press Pakistan to provide access to senior AfghanTaleban leaders belonging to the so-called Quetta Shura,named after the Pakistani city where it is said to be based.They would be the decision-makers in any peace negotia-tions. Pakistan has consistently denied giving sanctuary toinsurgents and denies the existence of any Quetta Shura, orleadership council.

“We are willing to look at anything. But if you have unre-alistic, almost ridiculous expectations, then you don’t havesort of common ground to begin with,” Khar said. “DeliverMullah Omar? If that is the expectation, then there’s no real-ity check then. Then they’re not only unrealistic, but prepos-terous,” she added, referring to the Taleban leader. ButAfghans have long been suspicious that Pakistan uses mili-tant groups l ike the Afghan Taleban as proxies inAfghanistan to counter the growing influence of rival India.

Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan were strained formonths after the assassination in September of Afghanpeace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.Afghan officials blamed Pakistan’s intelligence agency, alle-gations angrily denied by Islamabad. Khar said after arecent trip to Kabul that a lot of the ill will between theneighbours had faded. Pakistan, she said, would encourageAfghan militant groups to pursue peace if asked by Kabul.Karzai seemed cautiously optimistic on relations betweenKabul and Islamabad.

“I’m glad to convey to you, brother, that the engage-ments that we have had recently-unfortunately with inci-dences in between-have been fruitful,” he told a news con-ference after the talks. “What we need now is to formulate apolicy that is actionable and implementable.” An Afghanofficial said Karzai took a firm stand in the Islamabad talks,presenting Kabul’s concerns “clearly”. The Afghan Talebanannounced last month it would open a political office inQatar, suggesting the group may be willing to engage innegotiations that could give it government positions or offi-cial control over much of its historical southern heartland.

While Afghanistan supports any talks that the Talebanmay have with American officials in Qatar, it also wantscountries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to play a role sothat the process is comprehensive, analysts say. The UnitedStates also sees Pakistan as a key player in the Afghan rec-onciliation process. But strained ties mean Pakistani cooper-ation may not come easily.—Reuters

Afghanistan, Pakistanhold ‘hard’ talks on

Afghan peace

20Business

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

ATHENS: A stray dog barks at riot police during a high school students’ anti-austerity protest in Athens yesterday. Tensions between Athens and other Europeancapitals hit new highs this week as euro-zone ministers delayed to next Monday a decision on a bailout agreement and demanded more commitments fromGreece. — AP

1716 19US consumer prices rise as gas, clothing costs up

Iran to pay rupee for India imports in ‘two weeks’

Frankfurt airport workers walk out for second day

Indonesia flies high at Singapore Airshow

BRUSSELS: SWIFT, the global interbanktransfer network, said yesterday it was readyto exclude Iranian banks from its systemonce the EU has enacted new sanctions tothat effect against Tehran.

“SWIFT stands ready to act and discontin-ue its services to sanctioned Iranian financialinstitutions as soon as it has clarity on EUlegislation currently being drafted,” theBelgium-based organization said in a state-ment. The United States and EuropeanUnion have been tightening sanctionsagainst Iran to force it to abandon its nuclearprogram, which they suspect has militaryaims. Tehran insists the program is forpeaceful uses. Washington has urgedBrussels to block Iranian banks’ access toSWIFT, a cooperative of more than 9,000financial institutions that serves as the main

conduit for inter-bank transactions aroundthe world. The EU is drafting new sanctionsthat would directly affect the ability of EU-based financial communication serviceproviders such as SWIFT to do business withblacklisted Iranian banks, the organizationsaid. “This decision follows extensive consul-tation with our board and with relevant reg-ulatory authorities,” it said. “The decisionalso reflects the extraordinary and highlyexceptional circumstances of significantmulti-lateral international support for theintensification of sanctions against Iran.”

The US Senate’s banking committee hasendorsed similar legislation.

“The responsibility of SWIFT with regardto international financial sanctions hasalways been to assist our member banks inmeeting their responsibilities to comply with

national and international regulation,” thestatement said. “SWIFT is and has alwaysbeen in full compliance with applicablesanctions regulations and has received con-firmation of this from the competent regula-tory authorities.”

SWIFT said it has informed its overseers-worldwide central banks including the USFederal Reserve, Bank of Japan andEuropean Central Bank.

Evicting Iran from SWIFT would furthercripple the country’s financial flows butcould shock the global financial system at atime of rising risks to economic growth,mainly due to the euro-zone debt crisis.

The escalating tensions between theWest and oil-rich Iran, including an EU banon Iranian oil imports, have helped push oilprices higher. The US Treasury’s sanctions

Inter-bank system to cut off Iran banksSWIFT awaits EU notice on new sanctions

KUWAIT: Burgan Bank Groupannounced its financial results for theyear ended December 31, 2011. Thegroup posted KD 50.6 million net profit.Earnings per share stood at 35.3 fils. TheBoard of Directors recommended a pay-out of 10 fils as a cash dividend and 5%as bonus shares subject to the approvalof the annual general assembly meeting.

Burgan Bank Group reports KD 50.6m

net profits for 2011

chief David Cohen raised the SWIFT issue intalks in Brussels earlier this month, a US offi-cial said Thursday. — AFP

b u s i n e s sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

SINGAPORE: Gold prices rose yesterday as optimism thatGreece may soon secure an urgently needed bailoutbuoyed financial markets and helped bullion recoverfrom a one-week low hit in the previous session. Gold hasmoved in the range between $1,700 and $1,760 since thebeginning of the month, closely tracking the progressand setbacks in Greece’s struggle to obtain a 130-billioneuro bailout from its international lenders.

Hopes that Greece has finally done enough to securea second bailout after Athens set out extra budget sav-ings demanded by its international lenders helped riskierassets rally in the last trading day of the week. Technicalsignals may have turned upbeat for gold, said NickTrevethan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ inSingapore.

“We’re at the point where we have tried the downsidethree or four times in the past two weeks and failed. Thefrustration with failure to breach the $1,700-$1,710 levelmight put the focus back on resistance,” he said. Lofty oilprices on concerns about supply disruption from Iran arealso expected to underpin sentiment in gold, he added.

Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,731.90 an ounce by0250 GMT, on course for a 0.7-percent weekly rise aftertwo consecutive weeks of losses. Gold touched a low of$1,705.09 in the previous session, lowest since Feb. 10.US gold gained 0.3 percent to $1,733.60. The data fromthe World Gold Council, showing that global golddemand in 2011 hit a 14-year high on investment, Chinabuying and central bank purchases, also supported gold.

Encouraging US labor, manufacturing and housingdata also helped boost sentiment in the financial mar-kets. Gold, traditionally a safe-haven asset, has beentracking riskier assets in the past few months as the tur-moil caused by the euro-zone debt crisis forces investorsto sell off their gold positions to cover losses elsewhere.Though hopes were raised on Greece’s bailout deal, theeuro zone is hardly out of the woods and its debt crisiscan continue to disrupt the global financial markets.

“The recent sideway pattern makes it difficult toattract buyers,” said a Shanghai-based trader, “I still don’tsee any direction while $1,750 may remain a key resist-ance level.”

Spot silver edged up 0.2 percent to $33.52, off a three-week low of $32.64 hit in the previous session. The metalremained the top performer of the complex with a 21percent year-to-day climb.

Spot platinum gained 0.6 percent to $1,628.99, head-ed for a weekly decline of 1.5 percent, after six straightweeks of gains. Spot palladium rose 0.3 percent to$693.72, but on course for its biggest one-week drop insix weeks. — Reuters

WOLFSBURG: A worker wraps a protective liner around aVolkswagen Tiguan at quality control portion of the produc-tion line in the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany.Volkswagen AG says it sold 1.3 percent more vehicles glob-ally in January but saw sales slip in Europe. VW’s marketingchief Christian Klingler said yesterday. —AP

Gold rises on Greece

bailout hopes

WASHINGTON: Consumer prices rose in January for only thesecond time in four months. The price of food, gas, rent andclothing all increased. The Labor Department said yesterdaythat the consumer price index increased 0.2 percent lastmonth, after a flat reading in December. Both November andOctober were revised slightly higher to show an increase of0.1 percent and no change, respectively.

Excluding volatile food and energy, so-called “core” pricesticked up 0.2 percent. Medical care and tobacco prices alsoincreased. Car prices were unchanged, and airfares fell.

Core inflation over the past 12 months moved up to 2.3percent - its highest point in more than three years. Whilemany economists say inflation is likely peaking, the rise in coreprices could limit the Federal Reserve’s ability to take steps toboost the economy. The Fed last month said it plans to holdits benchmark interest rate at a record low near zero until late2014. If inflation were to rise rapidly, the Fed would comeunder pressure to increase rates.

A small amount of inflation can be good for the economy. Itencourages businesses and consumers to spend and investmoney sooner rather than later, before inflation erodes its val-ue.

And modest inflation, combined with recent increases inincome, gives consumers more buying power and should addto economic growth. A sharp jump in gas and food prices earlylast year left Americans with less money to spend on otheritems, dragging on the economy.

Retailers are still reluctant to charge more, even as theeconomy grows at a moderate pace.

Many relied on heavy discounting to boost holiday saleslast year. Oil and gas prices have increased again after drop-ping late last year, though that has been offset somewhat byfalling natural gas costs. The average price for a gallon of gasrose to $3.52 on Thursday, up 14 cents from the previousmonth.

Falling energy and food costs kept wholesale prices incheck last month, the Labor Department said Thursday. Theproducer price index rose 0.1 percent in January, after drop-ping the same amount the previous month.

Wholesale gas costs rose, but that was more than offset bysteep drops in natural gas, home heating oil and electricityprices.

Core wholesale prices jumped 0.4 percent because of high-er pharmaceutical, pickup truck and tobacco costs. Those riseswere likely temporary, many economists said.

The Fed is forecasting that consumer price inflation will

remain in check this year. It expects that the inflation gauge itfollows will increase by about 1.6 percent in 2012. That’sbelow the Fed’s target for inflation of 2 percent. Fed ChairmanBen Bernanke announced that target, the first ever for the cen-tral bank, last month. — AP

US consumer prices rise as gas, clothing costs up

Economists say inflation peaking

BERLIN, Vermont: Gas prices are posted on a sign at anIrving Oil gas station in Berlin. Consumer prices rose amodest 0.2 percent in January, pushed up by higher gas,clothing costs. —AP

LONDON: European shares rose to their highest in more thansix months yesterday, on optimism that euro-zone officialswould sign off a rescue package for Greece, helping the coun-try to avoid a messy default.

Greek officials say they have done everything asked ofthem for euro zone finance ministers to agree the 130 billioneuro ($170 billion) rescue package on Monday-a monthbefore Athens needs the money to make 14.5 billion euros ofdebt repayments due on March 20.

Euro zone banks, many of which have significant exposureto peripheral euro-zone countries and have taken a hit ontheir balance sheets from the long-running debt crisis, rose1.8 percent.

The banking index has gained more than 15 percent thisyear, with strategists saying there is optimism that the crisis isbeing contained. The sector has been boosted by theEuropean Central Bank providing cheap funding. “Every dip inthe sector has been perceived as a buying opportunity,” saidIan King, head of international equities at Legal & General,which has 356 billion pounds ($653 billion) under manage-ment. “Given the extent to which funding is being made avail-able, a European bank would have to try very hard to go bust.And if you use the banking sector as a microcosm of what’sgoing on, the outlook is reasonably good for equities.” Kingadded that even if Greece were to suffer a chaotic defaulteventually, the impact would not be “as severe as it mighthave been previously”. — Reuters

LONDON: Oil steadied near $120 a barrel yesterday, supportedby tension between Iran and the West and hopes for a long-awaited Greek bailout deal. “As long as there are serious con-cerns about supply shortfalls and while optimism continues onthe financial markets, the oil price is likely to continue to rise,especially since even investors with a short-term view will nodoubt want to jump on the bandwagon now that the $120mark has been exceeded,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst atCommerzbank. Oil has turned in a star performance this week:US crude is heading for its biggest weekly gain since lateDecember and Brent is targeting its fourth consecutive weeklyrise.

North Sea Brent slipped 15 cents to $119.96 by 1324 GMT,having climbed to an eight-month high of more than $120. UScrude rose 47 cents to $102.78. Iran’s top oil customers inEurope are making substantial cuts in imports ahead ofEuropean Union sanctions, reducing flows to the continent inMarch by more than a third, industry sources said.

This has increased demand for replacement barrels fromSaudi Arabia, Iraq and Russia, leading to higher prices, althoughthere is no shortage of actual supply. Growing optimism thatGreece has finally done enough to secure a second bailout afterit set out extra budget savings also boosted sentiment. Euro-zone finance ministers are due to meet on Monday, and expec-tations that they will sign off a bailout deal for Greece increasedafter a proposal was dropped to withhold part of the agree-ment until after Greek elections expected in April. — Reuters

Greek bailout optimism boosts European shares

Oil steady around $120 on rising Iran worries

b u s i n e s sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

PRAGUE: TPCA, a Czech-based jointventure of French car maker PSAPeugeot Citroen and Japan’s Toyota,will cut production from Maybecause of falling demand for itscars, the company said.

“We have to react flexibly andadjust production to demand forsmall cars in European markets,”company president SatoshiTachihara said in a statement.

TPCA “will cut the working week

to four days during which produc-tion will be ensured by two teamsinstead of the current three,” saidthe company which has 3,500 staffbased in Kolin, about 60 kilometers(38 miles) east of Prague. “TPCAexpects to produce 221,000 cars thisyear,” down from more than 270,000in 2011, it added. The companymakes the small Peugeot 107,Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo models.

PSA Peugeot Citroen-Europe’s

second largest automaker afterGermany’s Volkswagen-saidWednesday it would boost its cost-cutting plans after its 2011 net profittumbled by nearly half.

Along with Volkswagen’s indige-nous Czech unit Skoda Auto andSouth Korea’s Hyundai, TPCA is oneof three large Czech automakerswhose combined output last yearwas up 11.44 percent to a record-high 1,194,981. The economy of the

Czech Republic, a central Europeannation of 10.5 million people, isheavily dependent on the car indus-try, which accounted for 21 percentof total industrial output and 22 per-cent of all exports in 2010.

Fuelled by exports from the threecar makers and local car parts pro-ducers, the Czech economy grew 1.7percent in 2011, following 2.7-per-cent growth in 2010, official datashowed on Wednesday. — AFP

Peugeot-Toyota Czech plant to cut output

NEW DELHI: Indian exporters will beable to receive payments in therestricted rupee currency for sales toIran within two weeks, the chief ofIndia’s top exporters’ body said yes-terday, as New Delhi puts a mecha-nism in place to maintain tradedespite US sanctions.

About $3 billion in Iranian importarrears have accumulated s inceDecember 2010, M Rafeeque Ahmedsaid, when a previous payment con-duit was closed under pressure fromWashington, which is using sanc-tions to try to stop Tehran’s suspect-ed nuclear program.

“The government has told us themechanism for payment in rupee (toIndian exporters) will be in place intwo weeks’ time,” Ahmed, presidentof the Federation of Indian ExportOrganizations, told Reuters in aninterview. “Between December 2010and January 2012 we have sentgoods worth about $3 billion andalmost all of it is stuck.”

Ahmed is taking part in govern-ment negotiations to find a solution

to the payment problems that havehit trade between the two countriesafter US sanctions on dollar deals.His organization is a quasi-govern-ment body set up by the trade min-istry. Indian oil importers have beenpaying for around $11 billion a yearof crude since the middle of 2011through Turkey’s Halkbank, but thisroute would have been expensive forIranian importers given sharp falls inthe rial.

India was Tehran’s second-biggestcrude customer last year after Chinaand Iranian oil accounts for about 12percent of its needs. Most of theIranian arrears are for imports of ironand steel ($623 million), chemicals($453 million) and cereals ($419 mil-lion), machinery ($143 million) andpharmaceuticals ($87 mil l ion) ,Ahmed said. Indian rice suppliershave also reported defaults byIranian buyers and have said they areowed at least $144 million.

With payments for oil throughHalkbank now looking vulnerable tofresh sanctions, India and Iran have

agreed to settle 45 percent of thistrade in rupees and boost exports tonarrow their trade gap. Oil buyersare wait ing for tax issues to becleared up before they use themechanism.

Iran’s central bank has alreadydeposited with India’s UCO bankabout $1 bill ion which had beenused in the Asian Clearing Union(ACU), the longstanding mechanismthat ended in 2010.

This will be used to kick off rupeepayments to India’s exporters-allow-ing Tehran a way to use the restrict-ed currency it would otherwise findhard to spend.

India abides by United Nationssanctions on Iran, but has refused togo along with new financial meas-ures imposed by the United Statesand European Union which aim topunish Iran for its nuclear ambitions.India has pushed back the visit of adelegation to Iran to Mar. 10 to 14from this month to explore boostingexports, said Ahmed, who will bepart of that team. — Reuters

Iran to pay rupee for India imports in ‘two weeks’

Delhi puts mechanism to maintain trade

SHANGHAI: An investor smiles in front of the stock pricemonitor at a private securities company yesterday inShanghai. World stocks rose yesterday as optimismgrew that Greece’s debt crisis would soon be resolvedand upbeat US economic data added to evidence of arecovery in the world’s No. 1 economy. — AP

LONDON: Global miner Anglo American said yesterday its2011 net profits slipped six percent, partly because ofexceptional charges, but the group gave an upbeat out-look despite ongoing economic uncertainty.

Earnings after tax fell to $6.17 billion (4.69 billion euros)last year from $6.54 billion in 2010, Anglo said in a resultsstatement. Revenues climbed 11 percent to $36.55 billion.Total underlying operating profits meanwhile rose 14 per-cent to $11.1 billion, boosted by its iron ore, coal and dia-mond business. That was in line with analysts’ expecta-tions of $11.2 billion, according to the company.

“Despite short term uncertainty persisting in the globaleconomy, particularly in Europe, the longer term outlookfor Anglo American’s diversified mix of commoditiesremains strong,” chief executive Cynthia Carroll said in thestatement. “Sustained growth in the emerging economiesshould underpin robust demand for commodities, albeitwith a degree of short-term volatility, while the signs ofeconomic recovery and stimulus in the US should providea further fillip.”

Carroll noted that the group’s successful delivery ofthree major mining projects last year was a “great achieve-ment” and would boost its production of copper, iron oreand nickel as they continue to increase output in 2012.Last year, Anglo commissioned its Brazilian Barro Alto nick-el project in March, its Chilean Los Bronces copper expan-sion project in November and its South African Kolomelairon ore project in December.

The company is meanwhile embroiled in a legal battleover the terms of an option that allows Chilean state-owned copper producer Codelco to buy a stake in a cop-per mining venture held by Anglo American. Carroll saidthat the firm’s recent decision to take control of De Beerswas part of its strategy to pursue “the most compelling,long term opportunities and to deliver value from our highquality asset base”. Anglo American announced lastNovember that it would buy 40 percent of De Beers fromSouth Africa’s Oppenheimer family for $5.1 billion, tighten-ing its grip on the world’s biggest diamond firm. — AFP

LONDON: Retail sales in Britain rose nearly 1 percent inJanuary, official figures showed yesterday, confoundingmarket expectations of a decrease and easing fears thatthe country would fall back into recession.

The Office for National Statistics said yesterday thatboth the volume and value of sales increased by a monthly0.9 percent in January on a seasonally adjusted basis. Theconsensus in the markets was that retail sales would drop0.3 percent as consumers struggle in a flat-lining economy.

“These figures are a bolt from the blue and are at oddswith the much softer survey data,” said Nida Ali, economicadviser to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club. She and other ana-lysts suggested that sales may have been stimulated byprice cutting, a retail strategy which isn’t sustainable overthe long haul.

On the brighter side, Ali said the data reduces thechances the GDP will decline in the current quarter, follow-ing a drop of 0.2 percent in the last three months of 2011.If the economy contracts again then Britain would officiallybe in recession - defined as two straight quarters of nega-tive growth.

A more detailed look at the figures shows that house-hold goods store sales rose by 4 percent while fuel saleswere up 8.5 percent. — AP

Anglo American 2011 profits slip

UK retail sales insurprise 1% gain

SOFIA: An employee of Chinese manufacturer GreatWall Motors getting in a Great Wall Voleex C10 car at ashowroom in Sofia. With a brand new Bulgarian plantset to start churning out cars by end-February, China’sGreat Wall Motor hopes to establish a foothold toexpand sales across Europe, says its local partner LitexMotors. — AFP

B U S I N E S SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

TOKYO: Japan’s cabinet yesterdayapproved a plan to double sales taxes aspart of the government’s move to rein inpublic debt as the rapidly ageing nationfaces rising social welfare costs.

If agreed by parliament, the packageof reforms will see consumption tax riseto 8.0 percent in April 2014 and to 10percent in October 2015 from the cur-rent 5.0 percent.

Finance Minister Jun Azumi toldreporters that the government plannedto submit related bills to parliament inMarch.

But the legislation is expected to facea rocky road as opposition parties, aswell as some lawmakers in the rulingDemocratic Party of Japan, are against it.

The opposition bloc controls theupper house of parliament.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda haswarned the future of the world’s third-largest economy depends on reversingthe rising public debt, arguing Japanhas “no time to spare” in reducing its fis-cal burden. In an online message afterthe decision yesterday, Noda notedJapan’s social security costs wouldincrease by one trillion yen ($12.6 bil-lion) every year as the population getsolder. “If you pile up one trillion yen in10,000-yen bills, it reaches the height of10,000 metres, which is taller thanMount Everest,” he said. Arguing Japancan no longer depend on borrowing, hesought understanding from the work-ing, young generation.

“Some of you may think you are an‘unlucky’ generation who needs to sup-port many elderly people. But thosewho built the current affluent societyare the senior generation, your parents’generation.” “I want you to take over thebaton of mutual support firmly,” he said.

With the burgeoning pension andsocial security costs, only around 40 per-

cent of what the government spends iscurrently made up from taxes.

The rest is financed from borrowing,leaving debt at more than double thecountry’s gross domestic product, aneyewatering ratio that dwarfs troubledGreece and will only grow unless moretax revenue is raised or spending is cut,analysts warn. —AFP

Japan cabinet okayssales tax hike plan

Move to rein in public debt

TOKYO: A passer-by talks on a cell phone in front of the electronic stock boardof a securities firm in Tokyo yesterday. Asian stocks rose strongly yesterdayafter encouraging US housing and employment reports sent Wall Street to itshighest level this year and added to growing optimism of a recovery in theworld’s No 1 economy. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.9 per-cent to 9,412.27. — AP

SAN DIEGO: Cans of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup,posed in San Diego. Campbell Soup Co said yesterday itssecond-quarter net income fell 14 percent as it faced high-er commodity costs and it worked to improve its coresoup business. — AP

Hedge funds faulted for not being

short-term enoughLONDON: Used to criticism for caring only about short-term profit, hedge funds are now being faulted for a fail-ure to think short-term enough after losing out badly inlast year’s volatile markets.

A series of bad bets by hedge funds which were notable to keep up with markets roiled by the euro zone debtcrisis pushed the industry as a whole down 5.2 percentlast year, according to Hedge Fund Research. The secondyear of losses in four for an industry used to chasing rapidgains from takeovers and restructurings looked especiallybad because the benchmark S&P 500 stock index was flat.

Double-digit gains were the norm in the 1990s for firmsthat demand high fees for their vaunted acumen. “Manyhedge funds are too focused on the medium term and notenough on price action,” said hedge fund managerPhilippe Gougenheim, the former head of hedge funds atSwiss fund firm Unigestion, who is now launching his ownfirm. “For instance, some commodities funds that did notdo well last year were too focused on the fundamentals,even when the short-term macro environment was notvery good.”

Among those that fared the worst were long-shortequity funds, which buy shares they expect to rise and sellshort those expected to do worse. They lost 8.3 percentlast year. Market neutral funds were down 2.1 percent.Commodity funds tumbled 17.3 percent.

“If you make a good fundamental call but the timing iswrong then it could potentially be a bad investment,” saidSal Naro, founder of Coherence Capital Partners. “Assetmanagers are not paid for making sound credit calls at thewrong time.”Peter Rigg, global head of the alternativeinvestments group at HSBC Alternative Investments, saidthat “with the benefit of hindsight” some funds had notfocused enough on short-term issues.

The criticism reflects in part the maturity of the $2 tril-lion industry, which in its early days was characterized bysmall, start-up funds but which is now dominated byhuge, multi-billion dollar funds. These can be less nimbleand can take longer to exit their positions, meaning theirbets are often longer-term.

It also shows how some funds have changed theirhabits and shed their maverick image to accommodatethe pension funds and other institutional investors whonow dominate the industry.

Funds were caught out last year putting on the so-called pairs trade, in which they match a bet on a risingstock with a bet on a falling stock, often in the same sec-tor. Such bets rely on low correlations between stocks andonly require a manager’s view on the differing worth ofthe stocks to be borne out over a period of time, whichev-er direction the market moves in. But correlationsbetween stocks rose sharply last year as they were allcaught in the maelstrom and markets flipped betweenfears over Europe’s debts and optimism the problemscould be contained. Investors bought and sold almostindiscriminately and pairs traders suffered.

“Fundamentals were no longer relevant in driving per-formance in (some) underlying asset classes,” saidAureliano Gentilini, managing partner at research firmMathema, saying the same principle applied to commodi-ties as to stocks. —Reuters

NEW YORK: It wasn’t Sherry Hunt’s original intent to go publicon the shoddy quality control at a mortgage unit at CitigroupInc, her employer since 2004. But by March 2011, as it becomeapparent to her that the problems were getting worse and notbeing addressed, the Missouri quality assurance managerdecided enough was enough.

“I set up an appointment with human resources and ethicsand told them everything,” Hunt recalled in a telephone inter-view. “They did some cursory investigation. The sad part is,

they never ever told me, ‘Sherry, you were right,’ or ‘Sherry,you’re looking at this wrong.’ There were no assurances.”

Instead, Hunt, who got her start in the mortgage industryin 1975 at age 18, filed a whistleblower lawsuit againstCitigroup, the third-largest US bank by assets.

The United States joined the civil fraud case, which raisedclaims under the False Claims Act, a federal law designed torecover money taken from the government by fraud, and dis-courage further wrongdoing. Whistleblowers can receive upto 25 percent of settlement amounts in such cases.

On Wednesday, Citigroup agreed to pay $158.3 million tosettle. Hunt said her share will be $31 million, before taxes andattorney fees. Her lawyer declined to disclose those fees.

In settling, Citigroup accepted responsibility for conductalleged in the complaint, dating back to 2004. The govern-ment accused CitiMortgage of misleading it into insuringthousands of risky home loans that it knew or should haveknown did not qualify for insurance from the Federal HousingAgency, costing taxpayers nearly $200 million in claims.

CitiMortgage had certified for FHA insurance nearly 30,000home loans valued at more than $4.8 billion since 2004, butmore than 30 percent-or 9,636 loans-had gone into default,the Justice Department said. The default rate topped 47 per-cent for such loans made in 2006 and 2007, it added.

The government also said CitiMortgage failed to reportmany underwriting flaws and other problems as required tothe FHA, part of the U.S. Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment. This even extended to mortgages where bor-rowers were so stressed that they could not make their firstpayment.

In the settlement, Citigroup accepted responsibility forimproperly certifying many loans for insurance, and failing tocomply with disclosure rules. A bank spokesman, MarkRodgers, said the New York-based bank had improved its pro-cedures, and plans to continue participation in the FHA pro-gram. Citigroup declined to comment on allegations in thecomplaint or by Hunt.

The complaint contended that senior bank personnelapplied “brute force” to quality control managers to effectivelysweep “defects” under the rug.

Hunt said such defects, mostly the fault of borrowers,included mismatched signatures on loan documents, white-out on income documentation, and mistakes on employmentstatuses. She said there were also errors on whether borrowersplanned to live in homes they were buying as required for FHAloans. —Reuters

Citigroup whistleblower: I have no regrets

B U S I N E S SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

FRANKFURT: Air travellers in Germanyfaced a second day of delays, cancella-tions and disruption yesterday due to awalkout by around 200 workers atFrankfurt airport, Europe’s third-busiest,in a dispute over pay.

After already grounding 172 flightsduring an initial seven-hour stoppageon Thursday, the so-called “apron con-trol” staff walked off the job again at8:00 am (0700 GMT) yesterday, said aspokesman for Fraport, the companywhich owns and operates Germany’slargest airport.

The walkout is scheduled to last until10:00 pm (2100 GMT), but Fraport hasdrawn up contingency staffing andhopes to be able to ensure that “morethan 50 percent” of take-offs and land-ings go ahead, the spokesman said.Fraport said that airlines had so far can-celled more than 280 from a total 1,300planned flights yesterday.

German airline Lufthansa, which hasits main base in Frankfurt, has said it willcancel 250 flights on Friday, following100 the day before. It and other airlinesare keen to maintain long-haul flights aspassengers travelling within Germanycan be booked more easily on to trainsand national rail operator DeutscheBahn has laid on more trains and staff tocope with the additional traffic volume.

According to Lufthansa’s website, itwas primarily domestic flights that arebeing cancelled, as well as a number ofservices to some European destinations,and only one outgoing and one incom-ing flight from New York.

The wage dispute concerns some 200so called “apron control” staff whodirect aircraft in and out of their parkingpositions, both in the control tower andon the tarmac. The GdF union called forwarning strikes after Fraport turneddown mediation proposals in their wagedispute.

The union argues that apron con-trollers’ pay does not take into accountthe additional complexity resulting fromthe opening late last year of a fourthrunway in Frankfurt. According to docu-ments made available by Fraport, theunion is demanding pay rises of 25-50percent, depending on a worker’s grade,as well as increased bonuses and

reduced working hours. The companyhas dismissed the demands as excessiveand could set a precedent for other air-port employees.

GdF said no industrial action wasplanned for the weekend. Following

“two tempestuous days”, the unionwanted to give management “pause forthought,” chief negotiator DirkVogelsang told AFP. “The ball is inFraport’s court. They must take a steptowards us, Vogelsang said.

Fraport, for its part, called on theunion to “return to the negotiating tableand show a willingness to compromise.”Already on Thursday, the strike actiondrew condemnation industry federationBDL and BDI.

“That just 200 out of 20,000 peoplewho work at Frankfurt airport want toparalyse the entire operation is unac-ceptable,” said BDL chief Klaus-PeterSiegloch.

“This tiny group is taking tens ofthousands of passengers hostage for

their pay demands. The strike will leadto delays and cancellations for passen-gers beyond Frankfurt, as the entireEuropean flight network will be affect-ed,” Siegloch said. A board member ofthe powerful BDI industry federation,

Dieter Schweer, said the strike woulddamage the whole economy. “It is irre-sponsible and totally out of proportion,”he said. “It is not acceptable that smallgroups in key functions paralyse criticalinfrastructures to push through theirown individual interests.”

Frankfurt airport is Europe’s third-busiest after London-Heathrow andParis Charles de Gaulle, with about 1,300flight movements per day, more thanhalf of them by Lufthansa. GdF repeat-edly threatened strike action last year ina long-running wage dispute for regularair traffic controllers.

A strike was finally averted when theunion and Germany’s air safety authorityDFS both sides finally reached a deal incourt in October. — AFP

Frankfurt airport workers walk out for second day

172 flights grounded after strike over pay

FRANKFURT: A passenger rests in a terminal while about 200 workers of theapron control went on a warning strike for higher wages at the internationalairport in Frankfurt yesterday. —AP

SINGAPORE: Singapore yesterday said it will spend bil-lions of dollars more in areas such as healthcare and pub-lic transport but companies hoping to tap opportunitiesin some areas will have to do so with fewer foreign work-ers. “Our increasing dependence on foreign workers isnot sustainable,” Deputy Prime Minister and FinanceMinister Tharman said in his budget speech for the fiscalyear beginning April 1.

“A continued rapid infusion of foreign workers willalso inevitably affect the Singaporean character of oursociety.” “We must therefore take further measures toreduce the inflow of foreign workers, and help our busi-nesses adapt to the permanent reality of a tight labormarket,” Tharman said. Measures to stem the rise in thenumber of foreigners in the city-state include loweringthe maximum ratio of lower-skilled non-locals in theworkforce to 60 percent for manufacturing companies,down from 65 percent currently.

For services firms, the cap that limits the number-known as “dependency ratio ceiling”-will be lowered to45 percent from 50 percent. Singapore, a major Asianhub for banks and multinationals, is facing pressure fromcitizens to tighten immigration and cap the number offoreigners, who now make up one-third of the island’spopulation of 5.2 million. Yesterday’s annual budgetspeech was the first since Singapore’s ruling People’sAction Party saw its share of votes fall to the lowest sinceindependence in May 2011 parliamentary elections. ThePAP’s result reflected about rising income inequality andovercrowding of buses and trains due to the surge in thenumber of foreigners coming to Singapore.

Last year, Singapore-based companies employed anextra 79,800 foreigners-mainly from countries such asChina, India and the Philippines-more than double the36,600 increase in local employment, according toSingapore’s Manpower Ministry. To offset the highercosts that businesses will incur, the government willincrease grants and tax benefits for companies thatinvest in training and equipment to boost productivity,Tharman said.

Some observers expressed concern about moves tomake it harder for companies to hire people from abroad.“The proposed reductions in the dependency ratio ceil-ing do not appear to be addressing an already danger-ously tight labor market,” said David Sandison, tax part-ner at PwC Services LLP in Singapore.

“It remains to be seen whether the measures intro-duced to encourage employment of older workers willcounter-balance this proposed move to restrict theemployment of foreign workers,” he added.

Singapore’s economy shrank 2.5 percent in the fourthquarter from the preceding three months on an annual-ized and seasonally adjusted basis, and the governmenthas forecast GDP growth of 1-3 percent this year, downfrom 4.9 percent in 2011. Unemployment remains low,however, at 2 percent, helped by the huge expansion inlabor-intensive service industries such as tourism as wellas government measures aimed at tightening the flow oflow-skilled workers from the region. — AFP

DUBLIN: The Irish government is considering selling part ofgas utility Bord Gais to meet a priviatization target set by thecountry’s EU-IMF creditors, the energy minister told the IrishTimes yesterday. The government has agreed to sell 2 billioneuros ($2.6 billion) worth of assets, but has indicated it mayexceed that after the government won approval to allow it usesome of the proceeds to invest in the economy as well as paydown debt.

“Do we ... need to keep the non-network side of Bord Gais?I don’t think we do,” Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte told thenewspaper. “If there is the prospect that, should we proceedwith the sale of the energy side of Bord Gais, it would attract ina big player, then that would be compatible with our objec-tives.”

A government-commissioned report last year recommend-ed that all of Bord Gais’s operations, excluding its transmissionand interconnector assets, be privatized as a single entity.

Bord Gais Chief Executive John Mullins last year valued thecompany at over 2.5 billion euros ($3.26 billion). The govern-

ment has already said it plans to sell a minority stake in theElectricity Supply Board (ESB), but Rabbitte told the Irish Timesthat the government was under no obligation to go aheadwith that sale.

A government-commissioned report recommended lastyear that the state sell parts of Bord Gais, ESB and its 25 per-cent stake in airline Aer Lingus as well as offloading smallerassets like peat utility Bord na Mona, forestry company Coillteand Irish horse racing’s National Stud.

The government has said it is considering selling its AerLingus stake, but ministers have made clear the bulk of privati-zation proceeds would likely come from the energy sector,Bord Gais and ESB.

Rabbitte this week said he has been presented with a duediligence report on the potential sale of the stake in ESB and aseparate, less forensic report covering each of the other statesassets.

Neither report has been considered by government, hetold the Irish Times. — Reuters

NEW YORK: Traders Mario Innella (left) and AnthonyRiccio work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Stock markets advanced yesterday on hopes that Greecewould soon get its crucial second bailout and followinganother batch of upbeat US economic news. —AP

Singapore aims to stem rise in foreign workers, help poor

Ireland considering sale of gas utility

B U S I N E S SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

LONDON: Virgin Atlantic has made aformal complaint to the EuropeanCommission about IAG’s purchase ofLufthansa’s British unit bmi, sayingcompetition on some Europeanroutes would diminish and that fareswould increase. Late last year, BritishAirways (BA) owner IAG agreed tobuy bmi for 172.5 million pounds($271 million), seeing off rival bidderVirgin in the race to grab loss-mak-ing bmi’s coveted runway slots atLondon’s Heathrow airport.

In its submission Virgin Atlanticsaid that if the deal was approved,

three key domestic routes-Aberdeen, Edinburgh andManchester-to and from Heathrowwould become a BA monopoly.

It added competition would beeradicated to some popularEuropean destinations and that BAwould have the opportunity and themeans to increase fares and reduceflights on these routes.

“When BA was left the only opera-tor on the Glasgow to Heathrowroute in 2011, fares paid by Scottishtravellers rocketed by 34 percent insix months,” Virgin Atlantic president

Richard Branson said in a statement.“This deal will see BA holding

more than half of take-off and land-ing slots at the UK’s only major inter-national hub-an airport that has hadmuch needed growth plans forciblyfrozen.”

The all-cash deal, which requiresregulatory approval, would give IAGabout 53 percent of take-off andlanding slots at Heathrow, —Europe’s busiest airport-which isoperating at capacity after plans tobuild a third runway were scrapped.

IAG currently holds 43.1 percent

of the slots at Heathrow. “Ourplanned purchase of bmi is beingreviewed by the regulatory authori-ties and we’re confident they willapprove the deal,” IAG said in astatement.

“Bmi is a massively loss making air-line. Selling it to IAG offers the bestsolution for British consumers and UKplc, securing more jobs than if the air-line was broken up and sold-off for itsHeathrow slots.” IAG added that itwas committed to keeping servicesfrom Belfast to Heathrow and increas-ing flights to Scotland. — Reuters

Virgin Atlantic lands bmi complaint with regulator

SINGAPORE: Indonesian buyers dom-inated this year’s Singapore Airshow,underscoring the vast Southeast Asianarchipelago’s growing importance inthe world aviation industry.

An expanding middle class, strongeconomic growth, political stabilityand the need to link the resource-richislands are fuelling a travel boom thatcould spawn even more local airlines,industry executives and analysts say.

Budget carrier Lion Air grabbed thelimelight at the beginning of the tradefair on Tuesday when it formallysealed a $22.4 billion deal for 230 air-craft with US aircraft maker Boeing.

Lion Air ordered 201 Boeing 737MAX and 29 next-generation 737-900ERs, with purchase rights for anadditional 150 planes for its domesticand regional operations.

Dinesh Keskar, vice president ofAsia Pacific and India for sales atBoeing Commercial Airplanes,described the deal as “the largestorder in the history of aviation that Ican know of”.

With some 240 million people,Indonesia has the world’s fourthlargest population and is the most far-flung archipelago with over 17,000islands scattered across 33 provincesand three time zones betweenSingapore and Australia. Indonesia’seconomy grew 6.5 percent last year,the fastest pace in 15 years, withgrowth projected at between 6.3 and6.7 percent this year.

Foreign investors ploughed $20billion into the economy in 2011, upfrom $17 billion on year.

“Indonesia alone is able to sustainthe robustness of the (SoutheastAsian) market because the middleclass is growing, it has a growing pop-ulation and the country is also gainingconfidence on the economic andpolitical fronts,” said aviation analystShukor Yusof of Standard & Poor’sEquity Research.

“The country is creating the marketforces that allow more and more peo-ple to fly. Geographically it’s perfectfor the industry.” Airlines are targeting

Indonesia’s eastern part such asMakassar, Sulawesi and Manado, allareas with a promising tourism sector,said Shukor, who expects smaller fam-ily-owned airlines to join the competi-tion.

“And don’t forget that these are allthe areas where you have all themines and all the resource-basedindustries,” he added. “People havegot the money to travel.”

The market is so massive that thereis still room for growth even with thecurrent number of airlines plying thecountry, according to an executive atIndonesian flag carrier Garuda, whichis facing stiff competition from privatefirms.

“There is enough to be shared byeverybody. Even if new airlines comein, we can all still make profit,” saidthe source, who asked not to benamed. At the Singapore Airshow,which is held every other year andcloses this weekend, Garuda alsosigned a deal to buy six BombardierCRJ1000 jets with an option for 18

more. The six firm orders are worth$297 million, Canada-basedBombardier said, adding that ifGaruda exercises the 18 options, thiswill raise the deal to about $1.32 bil-lion. And just two days after firmingup its Boeing order, Lion Airannounced it was buying 27 smalleraircraft from European manufacturerATR. The new ATR 72-600 turbopropplanes, worth $610 million, will beintegrated into Lion Air unit Wings Air,with full delivery scheduled for theend of 2015.

“The ATR aircraft are perfectlyadapted to the Indonesian short-haulmarket and allows Wings Air to con-nect communities, even those locatedin remote areas,” said Rusdi Kirana,chairman of Wings Air and presidentof Lion Air. Even on the military side,Indonesia was also a star at the show.

The country signed a $325 millioncontract with Airbus Military for nineC-295 transport planes to be used bythe air force for defense, logistical andhumanitarian purposes. — AFP

DALLAS: If you’re buying an airline ticket soon, get readyto pay a few bucks more. According to fare trackers,JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines are leading around of price increases that will boost the base fare onmany medium-length and long flights by $10 per roundtrip. United, Delta, American and US Airways said Thursdaythat they had matched the increases. J P Morgan analystJamie Baker, who tracks fares, said United and US Airwaysexpanded the price increases to routes that Southwestdoesn’t fly and included Denver, where Southwest had notraised prices. Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com, saidat midday Thursday that all the largest US airlines hadraised fares. Baker and Seaney said JetBlue took priceincreases that other airlines limited to a few markets suchas Florida and expanded them nationwide last week.Southwest jumped in on Wednesday, they said.

JetBlue spokeswoman Alison Croyle said the airlineraised prices by $5 each way on some Florida and WestCoast routes last week and expanded the increase to otherroutes Sunday. Southwest spokeswoman Ashley Dillonsaid her airline raised prices to match JetBlue and “coveroperating costs including the high price of jet fuel.”

Jet fuel accounts for about one-third of an airline’s costs- about the same as labor - and the bill has been risingalong with crude oil prices. This week, the spot price forGulf Coast jet fuel was 12.1 percent higher than a year agoand up 8.5 percent so far in 2012, according to the USEnergy Information Administration. That could mean morefare hikes ahead. “It is pretty clear airlines will continue totry to recoup fuel increases regularly this year, with pas-sengers telling carriers exactly when the price of middleseats has stepped over the line,” said Seaney.

Airlines raised base fares about a dozen times in 2011.But at the same time, they sacrificed revenue by simultane-ously running sales to fill seats during slower travel periodsor in specific markets. — AP

Indonesia flies high at Singapore Airshow

Jakarta’s clout in aviation industry grows

DENPASER, Bali: Passengers board a plane while a nearby Lion Air aircraftsits parked on the tarmac of Bali airport. Indonesian buyers have dominat-ed the 2012 Singapore Airshow, which runs from 14-19 February. —AFP

LOS ANGELES: A shopper leaves a Nordtrom depart-ment store in the Woodland Hills section of LosAngeles. Upscale department store operatorNordstrom Inc said on Thursday that its affluent shop-pers continued to spend in the fourth quarter and itsprofit rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier. —AP

Airlines cite high fuel costs as fares go up

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Hundredshonor ‘SoulTrain’ creatorDon Cornelius

Hundredshonor ‘SoulTrain’ creatorDon Cornelius

PAGE 25

Charlie Chaplin’s realname a mystery

PAGE 26

A fan of US pop diva, WhitneyHouston, signs a giant mural witha portrait of her idol displayed at amall in Manila yesterday as part ofthe mall’s tribute to the pop legendwho died on February 11, aged 48 ina Beverly Hills hotel. — AFP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Oprah Winfrey invited to Whitney Houston’s funeralThe media mogul will join a limited guest list includ-

ing Kevin Costner - the late singer’s co-star in ‘TheBodyguard’ - Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin at

the private funeral at the New Hope Baptist Church inNewark, New Jersey, today, according to TMZ.com. Acamera will be allowed inside the ceremony at thechurch - which holds a maximum of 300 people, and waswhere she began her singing career - and it will bebroadcast live on the Internet, allowing the ‘I Will AlwaysLove You’ singer’s fans to grieve alongside her family.Following the service Whitney’s body will be laid to restat the Fairview Cemetery in Westfield in New Jersey, nextto her late father John Huston. However, Whitney’s ex-husband Bobby Brown - and the father of her daughterBobbi Kristina, who entered hospital soon after her moth-er’s passing - is thought to have been stopped fromattending by her mother Cissy because they blame himfor the notorious issues with drugs she had throughouther life.

Gwyneth Paltrow ‘obsessed’ with interior designing

The ‘Country Strong’ actress - who lives in Londonwith husband Chris Martin and children Apple, sevenand Moses, five - recently took a trip to the Maison

and Objet design show in Paris to look out for “beautifulthings” for her home. Writing in her Goop newsletter,Gwyneth said: “A few weeks ago, I took a quick trip to Parisfor the biannual Maison and Objet trade show that special-izes in home goods and furniture. “I’m slightly obsessedwith interior design and I’m always on the lookout forbeautiful things that inspire me and are great forGoop.(sic)” However, once there, the Oscar-winning staradmitted she was overawed by its size. She added:“Imagine each hall as being about the size of several foot-ball fields. Now imagine walking through eight of those!”Gwyneth has become well known for giving out lifestyleadvice, and last year unveiled her first cookbook, ‘MyFather’s Daughter’, which was inspired by the food her dadBruce had taught her to cook when she was younger.

The ‘Ides of March’ actor - who is currentlydating ex-wrestler Stacy Keibler - has con-fessed he has a “very tough time” nodding

off, and often feels alone when attending publicevents. He said: “Turning off the television caus-es me to think, and once I start that vision roar-ing, I have a very tough time getting to sleep.I’m able to numb out. Without question, I wakeevery night five times.’ “Anyone would be lyingif they said they didn’t get lonely at times. Theloneliest you will get is in the most public of are-nas: You will go to a place and end up in thesmallest compartment possible, because it’s adistraction to everybody, and you end up notgetting to enjoy it like everyone else.” However,the 50-year-old star - who has previously dated

a host of beauties, including Italian actressElisabetta Canalis and British presenter LisaSnowdon - explained he has felt “infinitely morealone” in bad relationships in the past. He addedin an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: “Ihave been infinitely more alone in a bad rela-tionship; there’s nothing more isolating. I havebeen in places in my life where that has existed.”Meanwhile, George admitted he has previouslybeen through the “painful” experience of tryingto get a former flame back. He explained: “[I’vebeen] left for someone; all those things. And itwas sometimes a surprise, and sometimes yousaw it coming. The most painful was when I kepttrying to get one woman back. But we all makedumb mistakes.”

The 27-year-old singer will give the profits fromdownload sales of her current track ‘Part of Me’ tothe MusiCares organisation, which provides finan-

cial, medical and personal assistance to musicians inneed. She tweeted: “My proceeds of #PARTOFME fromITUNES & others will go to one of my favorite charities forthe arts, MUSICARES; (sic)” The move comes after Katyalso offered a signed guitar for auction in aid the GRAM-MY Charities, MuisCares and the Grammy Foundation.Bidding on the instrument currently stands at $1,500.Other lots on offer at the auction, which can be found atebay.com/GRAMMY include VIP lounge tickets to theCoachella and Stagecoach music festivals; guitars auto-graphed by Jeff Beck, Coldplay,Tom Petty, Red Hot ChiliPeppers, and Slash, and signed memorabilia from Adele,Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton and Usher.The highest bid currently stands at $6,700 for a Ukelelesigned by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and a copyof his solo album ‘Ukelele Songs’. The lots have varyingclosing dates, but the final bids auctions close onFebruary 23.

Katy Perry donates to charity

George Clooney has trouble sleeping

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

The ‘Bad Romance’ star put fangs inher mouth and covered herself infake blood as a kinky surprise for

‘The Vampire Diaries’ actor to mark thefirst time they have spent the romanticday together. Explaining her costume, asource told The Sun newspaper: “Sheordered it online about three weeks

before the big day. They had a very laid-back evening at Taylor’s house eatingspaghetti.” Gaga also gave him a newlyedited version of her music video ‘YouAnd I’ - which he starred in, and is how hefirst met her - which had added footageof them both in it. Gaga and Taylor areboth fans of off-the-wall dates, and have

previously romanced each other at ashooting range in Lancaster County,Pennsylvania. A source said: “Gaga lovesanything extreme. “Taylor and his palslike having her around as she’s a laugh.Gaga has also been seen looking forproperties in Pennsylvania, sparkingrumours they are to move in together.

Lady Gaga dresses as a vampire for Valentine’s Day

Simon Cowell beats stress by

inhaling pure oxygen

The 52-year-old music mogul caries a can of the gasand believes taking regular breaths helps him lookyounger and stay relaxed. A source told The Sun

newspaper: “Simon knows he’s not getting any youngerand is trying every trick to tackle it. “He says it helps himrelax and keep the stress at bay.” The ‘X Factor’ chiefrecently discussed his use of health-boosting vitamininjections and even administered the treatment to anunnamed famous female friend. He said: “These vitamins,you can feel them going through your entire body and Imean your entire body. “I did say to this girl, you aregoing to have a slightly unusual experience here.” Earlierthis year, it was revealed Simon had sought therapy tohelp him quit smoking after 44 years. A source said:“Simon made it his New Year resolution. He’s been smok-ing since a very young age and feels the time is now rightto try and stop. “He has no major health issues at themoment but, as always, he is under a lot of pressure withhis work schedule. “Simon’s mother and some of his clos-est friends have been nagging him for some time abouttrying to stop smoking. His grandfather Robert was aheavy smoker who died of lung cancer. His father suffereda heart attack. It’s made Simon think long and hard abouthis own health now.”

The ‘Run It’ singer - who was con-victed of assaulting his then-girl-friend in 2009 - reportedly

delighted his former flame by turningup to the bash she hosted at herBeverly Hills home last Monday. GuestKatia C tweeted: “If Cupid was here hewould be very happy everyone@Rihanna bday party was coupled up.“All I can say, CB was invited and shewas acting like the happiest girl on herbirthday and probably got what sheasked for.” Rihanna - who turns 24 onFebruary 20 - spoiled guests includingKelly Rowland and Bruno Mars with aCaribbean banquet, Cuban cigars,which cost £35 each, and 200 cup-cakes and she and newly-single bestfriend Katy Perry particularly enjoyed

the festivities. A source told the DailyMirror newspaper: “Rihanna and Katyhad everyone going crazy. By the endof the night they started a cake fightand were dancing together whileBruno and Chris looked on open-mouthed, cheering. “Ri made sureChris was having a good time butthen he kept a low profile, spendingmost of the night in a corner with afew pals.” However, Katy andRihanna’s outfits fell victim to theirpartying. The source added: “At onepoint Katy danced so much she brokeher heels and had to leave the partybarefoot. “Rihanna also had her ownwardrobe casualty when her corsetcame undone but she didn’t let thatstop the fun.”

Chris Brownseen at Rihanna’s

birthday party

The ‘Horrible Bosses’ star welcomed his seconddaughter with spouse Amanda Anka onFebruary 10, and they have called her Maple

Sylvie, a representative confirmed to People.com.The pair - who married in July 2001 - already havefive-year-old Francesca Nora. Jason previouslyrevealed his wife helped him turn his life aroundafter he became a wild partygoer. He said: “Meetingmy wife Amanda was the best thing that could ever

have happened to me. She wasn’t going to let memess my life anymore, so I started behaving like adecent human being. “Then I got very, very luckywhen ‘Arrested Development’ came along. Thatseries saved my career - it gave me back my credi-bility I used to have when I was much younger andbefore people gave up on me as a party guy inHollywood. It was just enough to make me ambi-tious again.” — Bangshowbiz

Jason Bateman welcomes

second daughter

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

NYC okays mealfor champion dog

The winning dog at New York City’s WestminsterDog Show will have his day - or his steak - afterall. The city Health Department says it will grant

a one-day waiver of its rule against pets in restaurants.This year’s winner, Malachy the Pekingese, enjoyed thetraditional victory meal at Sardi’s in the theater districton Wednesday. He had his favorite chicken and riceinstead of steak. Malachy was served in a private roomaway from other diners. But the New York Post report-ed Thursday that the Health Department would forcefuture winners to make do with a doggie bag

instead. Health Department spokesman JohnKelly says that it won’t. Kelly said Health

Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley will granta one-day waiver to Sardi’s for next

year’s champion. — AP

A poster advertising Chinese opera stands inside the foyer of the Sunbeam theatre, a location famous forshowing Cantonese Opera and which is about to be permanently closed in Hong Kong. — AFP

Hong Kong’s last dedicated Cantonese opera theatre is holdingits final performances before it closes this week, in what artlovers see as another nail in the coffin of a 300-year-old tradi-

tion. The Sunbeam Theatre has been synonymous with the operaticheritage of China’s southern Cantonese-speaking minority since itopened in 1972. The 1,000-seat venue has earned landmark status onHong Kong’s art scene, standing in stoic defiance of the former Britishcolony’s transformation into a flashy, ultra-modern hub of financeand banking.

But after years of fending off Hong Kong’s all-powerful propertydevelopers, it will see the curtain come down for the last time onSunday when the Sunbeam stages its final, sell-out performance.Opera star and playwright Yuen Siu-fai, 66, says the Sunbeam’s fatetypifies the loss of Hong Kong’s cultural heritage to the pursuit ofprofit. “This is a huge blow for Cantonese opera,” he says. “We are los-ing a cultural landmark, we are losing our main theatre. Where do wego? This is another great example of how we don’t preserve our his-torical buildings.”

Other all-purpose venues around Hong Kong will continue tostage traditional opera performances, but none has dedicated itselfexclusively to the art as the Sunbeam has done over four decades.Businessman Francis Law bought the 80,000-square-foot (7,432-square-metre) theatre in 2003 through his real estate and investmentfirm Toyo Mall, with reported plans to replace it with a shopping mall.The Sunbeam escaped the bulldozers initially, but it has been fightingsoaring rental prices ever since and was nearly shut down twice.

When its last lease expired in 2009 — the year Cantonese or Yuejuopera was recognised as part of the “intangible cultural heritage ofhumanity” by UN cultural agency UNESCO-the landlords reportedlymore than doubled the rent. The government stepped in to help

achieve more favourable terms for the opera house, but the landlordsstill demanded almost HK$700,000 ($90,256) a month, or more thantwice the previous rate, according to local media. Toyo Mall spokes-woman Rosanna Liu says Law had yet to decide what to do with thesite, dismissing media reports that it will become a shopping centre.

She says Sunbeam’s managers had cancelled the lease “eventhough we were not planning to raise their rent”. The theatre’s man-agement turned down requests for an interview, saying only that theclosure was a “pure commercial decision”. ‘An example of how wedon’t preserve our historical buildings’ Lawmaker Jennifer Chow, thelocal district councilor who had launched a campaign to save the the-atre, says Sunbeam has been losing money. “They decided to discon-tinue the tenancy,” she says.

Whatever the reason for the closure, opera lovers are in no doubtthat property developers are to blame. “New York and London areknown for their sky-high rentals too, but look at them, how many the-atres do they have?” asks Yuen, who has played in some of theSunbeam’s final shows and started his opera career at the age of sev-en. “The heritage and historical values of a property should not bekilled by its commercial value.”

Tickets for the Sunbeam’s closing performances have been soldout for weeks, testifying to the enduring popularity of traditionalopera in a city usually associated with Canto pop music and the kungfu movies of Bruce Lee. Sunbeam’s final show is the story of JusticeBao, a tale of an honest official’s struggle for justice and integrity.Other than its southern dialect, Cantonese opera differs from main-land operatic traditions in its use of percussion instruments likegongs and cymbals. Actors wear elaborate costumes and make-up,and must be adept at elaborately choreographed martial arts as wellas singing. —AFP

Curtain falls on landmark Hong Kong opera house

The globe’s biggest Carnival bash opened yesterday,and it promises to be an even bigger blowout thisyear, with 20 percent more tourists expected than in

2011. Rio officials say they’re also better prepared to keepthe chaos under some semblance of control, with moreportable toilets, traffic guards and paramedics, as well as anew central command center monitoring it all. “We wantrevelers to be conscious that they can party but also carefor the city’s public spaces,” the president of Rio’s tourismdepartment, Antonio Figueira de Mello, said in a statement.About 850,000 tourists are expected during the raucous,five-day free-for-all that kicks off when Rio’s mayor handsthe key to the city to rotund King Momo, the mythical jesterfigure who reigns over Carnival. Merrymakers are expectedto spend $640 million and generate 250,000 jobs, accord-ing to the city’s economic development department. Butthe world’s biggest party traditionally leaves a hangover tomatch: last year, the weeklong romp left about 850 tons of

trash strewn around town. Rio officials have dispatched 80mobile medical emergency units, 1,000 traffic guards and15,000 toilets around the city and officials are running acampaign against urinating in public. Rio residents arehumming along with a catchy little samba running on TV,telling partiers, “If you want to pee, don’t do it here, don’tdo it here.” The jingle rhymes in Portuguese.

Rio also launched a smartphone app, free for iPhonesand Androids, that tells visitors in English, Spanish orPortuguese where to go for blocos, the roving sambabands that draw millions, pied-piper style, through thestreets, as well as basic information on public transit, eater-ies and museums. The federal aviation authority expects 3million people to shuttle in and out of airports duringCarnival week, 13 percent more than last year. Airports tak-ing in visitors will also have 30 percent more federal police,and workers with “May I help you?” vests will be circulatingto take care of visitors’ last minute questions. —AP

Rio Carnival: Bigger, brighter, more organized?

A member of the Beija-Flor samba school workson a float in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil onFebruary 16, 2012, during preparations for theSamba Schools parade. — AFP

Malachy, a Pekingese, winner of the best in showtitle at the136th Annual Westminster Kennel Clubdog, is fed a chicken and rice meal at Sardi’s byrestaurant owner Max Klimavicius. — AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Stevie Wonder performs during a private memorial service for “Soul Train” cre-ator and host Don Cornelius in Los Angeles, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012. — AP

Christina Cornelius, granddaughter of Don Cornelius, wipes her tears whilereading a statement. — AP

Through music, scripture and song, DonCornelius was remembered Thursday asthe man who elevated black culture and

entertainment with his “Soul Train,” demolishingbarriers of race and culture, and changingAmerican history. Hundreds of family, friends,entertainers, sports figures and even some for-mer “Soul Train” dancers gathered to honorCornelius’ legacy and recall their recollections ofthe baritone-voiced host and entrepreneur. Thenearly three-hour memorial service featuredplenty of laughter and music, including a rous-ing performance of “Love’s In Need of Love” byStevie Wonder.

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson deliv-ered a eulogy that centered on how Cornelius’creation created a platform for black music andculture that hadn’t been seen on televisionwhen “Soul Train” debuted in 1970. “Soul Train”was broadcast nationally from 1971 to 2006 andbecame one of television’s longest running syn-dicated shows. He gave up hosting duties in1993.

“Don, we say thanks for being conductor ofthe ‘Soul Train’ and laying the tracks,” Jackson

said. “We thank you because we needed you sobadly and you helped us so much.” Severalspeakers noted that Cornelius didn’t just give aplatform to performers such as Wonder, ArethaFranklin and the Jackson 5, but he also gaveopportunities to black cameramen and demon-strated that television programming aimed atblack audiences was viable.

At several points during the service, photosof Cornelius on the show’s set were displayedfor the gathering, which ended with clips of thepopular host dancing and delivering his signa-ture sign-off, “Love, Peace and Soul!!!” SmokeyRobinson joked that Cornelius would often askguests questions that veered away from theirmusic, such as what they were driving and whenthey’d last eaten at a particular restaurant.

“I’m really happy to be here because Donwas my brother and I am celebrating his life,” asmiling Robinson said. “I don’t what the rest ofyou are doing.” Remaining upbeat, Robinsontold the crowd, “He started a platform for blackpeople that before that time had not been seen.It had been heard, but it had not been seen.”Pastor Donnie McClurkin, who led the service,

noted that his mother didn’t allow her childrento listen to popular music. But when she wentgrocery shopping on Saturdays, he and his sib-lings caught up on all the latest dance movesand music by watching “Soul Train.”

Cornelius was born in September 1936 inChicago, served as a Marine in Korea andworked various jobs before getting into broad-casting in the mid-1960s. He was inducted intothe Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 1995and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,but his greatest legacy was the impact of hisshow, which not only brought black culture, butalso black advertisers to nationwide audiences.His show came long before there were any net-works devoted to television programming forblack audiences, or black actors in prominentroles on network shows - key cultural barriersthat Cornelius helped break down.

Cornelius’ granddaughter Christina said thatto the world, her grandfather was a visionaryand trailblazer. “He was all those things. But tome he was just grandpa,” she said, breakingdown. “My smooth voiced, loving grandpa.”Several speakers, including Cornelius’ son Tony,

spoke of continuing Cornelius’ legacy. Earvin“Magic” Johnson recalled meeting Cornelius inthe early 1980s after he started playing with theLos Angeles Lakers.

“Shoot, I come around the corner and I seethat big ‘fro, I already knew who it was,”Johnson said as the crowd laughed, “but I wasscared because I always wanted to meet him.”On Thursday, Johnson said he was committed tohelping keep the “Soul Train” going. “Tony, it’sour job to keep the legacy going,” Johnson said.“The brand that your father has created will lasta lifetime.”

Several speakers also offered condolences tothe family of Whitney Houston, who appearedon Cornelius’ show and died unexpectedlySaturday at age 48. Wonder mused thatCornelius would be pleased to have Houstonjoin him and other musicians in heaven. “I canonly hope we continue to keep this man’s lifeand legacy alive,” Wonder said. Cornelius, 75,died Feb. 1 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound,and Jackson urged people not to judge him.“We reveal our successes to the world but weconceal our pain,” he said.—AP

Hundreds honor ‘Soul Train’ creator Don Cornelius

German drama “Barbara” is the critics’ favourite to takeaway the Golden Bear for best picture at this year’s Berlinfilm festival, in what would be the first home win since

2004. The 10-day cinema showcase, which attracts thousands ofjournalists, critics and movie industry executives from around theworld, ends today with an awards ceremony. Hundreds of movieshave screened at theatres across the city, while blockbuster titlesand shoe-string budget projects have been bought and sold atthe film market.

Outside the main competition, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pittwalked the red carpet for her Bosnian war drama “In the Land ofBlood and Honey”, while Meryl Streep was honoured with a life-time achievement award on Valentine’s Day. But as the festival,also known as the Berlinale, winds to a close, who is set to winwhat becomes the main focus. Victory for Barbara, set in 1980and dealing with the repressive world of communist EastGermany, would clearly resonate at a ceremony held just a

stone’s throw from where the Berlin Wall once divided the coun-try. Whether it would then go on to enjoy global recognition, inthe same way last year’s Iranian winner “A Separation” has, is lesscertain. “I personally would be surprised if there is anything like ASeparation to come out of the festival so far,” said Lee Marshall,film critic for Screen International. “It started off looking like a realdark horse of a selection-there were a lot of unknowns. But actu-ally it’s turned out to be quite a strong selection in terms of filmquality though not in terms of star power.”

An informal poll of critics in Berlin puts Barbara narrowlyahead of Italian entry “Caesar Must Die”, a docu-drama made in ahigh-security prison near Rome where inmates rehearse for andstage a production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”. Criticspraised veteran film makers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani for theirblack-and-white picture where the words of Shakespeare gainadded significance coming from real-life inmates, some of whomare behind bars for life.—Reuters

German film eyes big prize at Berlin festival

(From left) British actress Holliday Grainger, US actressChristina Ricci and British actor Robert Pattinson pose forphotographers at the photocall for the film “Bel Ami” atthe Berlinale film festival in Berlin yesterday. — AFP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

The real name and birthplace of legendary silent-filmstar Charlie Chaplin is shrouded in mystery, Britain’sdomestic spy agency concluded after a probe into

U.S. claims he was a communist sympathiser, documentsreleased yesterday revealed. British MI5 agents were askedin 1952 to investigate Chaplin’s background by the FBI,which believed he was using an alias and that his realname was Israel Thornstein, over long-running U.S. suspi-cions about the actor’s left-wing leanings. Chaplin, one ofHollywood’s first and greatest stars famed for his “LittleTramp” character, believed he was born on April 16, 1889,in south London.

But, an exhaustive search by MI5 found no record of hisbirth anywhere, nor anything to suggest he was any kindof security risk, declassified files from the spy agencyrevealed. “It’s very unusual, particularly after investigationby MI5, for the date and place of birth for such a well-known celebrity as Charlie Chaplin to remain so mysteri-ous,” said Professor Christopher Andrew, the official histo-rian of MI5. The file shows no one called Charles or Israelwas born on April 16, and further inquiries into sugges-tions Chaplin had been born in France near Fontainebleaualso proved fruitless.

“We can find no evidence that Chaplin’s name is or everhas been Israel Thornstein, nor can we find any evidenceof the existence of such a person,” MI5 said in a letter tothe U.S. Embassy in London. “We have, however, beenunable to discover any other name by which he has beenknown.” Andrew said new evidence which emerged lastyear suggested Chaplin was born in a caravan belongingto a woman known as “the Gypsy Queen” in centralEngland and his mother was a member of what is nowreferred to as “the travelling community”.

The information was in a letter, found in a locked draw-er, which had been sent to Chaplin a few years before hisdeath in 1977 by a man called Jack Hill, who said the cara-van’s owner was his aunt. “Though there’s no proof thatJack Hill’s information is correct, Chaplin obviously treatedit seriously otherwise as his oldest surviving son has com-mented, Chaplin would not have preserved it so carefully,”Andrew said.

During his long career, Chaplin courted controversywith overtly political films such as “The Great Dictator” aparady of German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and “A King inNew York”, a satire on the anti-communist Cold War fearsgripping America. From the 1920s, U.S. authorities sus-pected him of being a communist supporter, a claim healways denied, and he was refused a re-entry permit whenhe left the United States in 1953 and went to live inSwitzerland.

The MI5 file, which includes press cuttings, letters toand from the U.S. embassy and a telegram to Chaplin froma Soviet agent, shows the British agency also rejected theU.S. claims and concluded in 1958 he posed no risk. “Itmay be that Chaplin is a communist sympathiser but onthe information before us he would appear to be no morethan a ‘progressive’ or radical,” an MI5 officer wrote.

Among other declassified documents released onFriday were details of MI5 investigations into three Nobelprize-winning chemists, including Irene Curie and her hus-band, who were communist sympathisers. Another filealso details the actions of Folkert Van Koutrik a Dutch dou-ble agent who worked for German intelligence duringWorld War Two. — Reuters

Charlie Chaplin’s real name a mystery

In this 1914 filephoto, actor

Charlie Chaplin isseen when he

was a player inFred Karno’s

vaudevilletroupe, at an

unknown location. — AP

In this film image released by Columbia Pictures, a scene is shown from ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit ofVengeance’. — AP

Sony’s “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” in 3-D, starringNicolas Cage as Marvel Comic character Johnny Blaze, islooking to kick President’s weekend into high gear with

an expected four-day holiday debut around $30 million.However, given the recent spate of over-performing films atthe domestic box office, the film’s weekend total could gomuch higher. The first installment, released over President’sweekend in 2007, debuted with a whopping $52 million forthe four-day period. Sony’s romantic drama “The Vow,” star-ring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, led last week-end’s Valentine’s box office chart with a $41.7 million bou-quet and received additional love from audiences with $11.5million on Valentine’s Day alone. And that was a Tuesday. Soa four-day, second-weekend gross in the mid-$20 millions isnot out of the question, with a domestic total of nearly $90million likely by Monday night.

Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in Universal’s “SafeHouse” also exceeded opening expectations last weekend

and should draw an upcoming four-day total in the low $20million range. Twentieth Century Fox unleashes the actioncomedy “This Means War” as a sort of anti-Valentine for thoseready to leave the mushy stuff behind and embrace a differ-ent kind of romance. Starring Chris Pine and Tom Hardy astwo former CIA operatives who realize they are dating thesame woman played by Reese Witherspoon, the McG-direct-ed film should draw a four-day gross in the $15 million to $17million range.

The top 5 will likely round out with either Warner Bros.“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” or Fox’s 3-D rerelease of“Star Wars: Episode One -The Phantom Menace.” Both havethe potential to earn grosses in the low teens in their secondweekend in theaters. But don’t be surprised if Disney’s debutof “The Secret World of Arrietty” sneaks in there, too. The G-rated animated film is the American adaptation of the 2010Japanese smash “The Borrower Arrietty,” which has earnedmore than $126 million worldwide. — AP

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‘Ghost Rider’ has the spirit

Mexican model and former winner of NuestraBelleza Mexico, Jacqueline Bracamontes poses forphotographers after hosting the Premio LoNuestro Music Awards in Miami, Thursday, Feb. 16,2012. — AP

Aerialists, acrobats and contortionists from Cirque du Soleil areamong the guests at this year’s Academy Awards. The three-minute performance at the Oscars on Feb. 26 will be among

the international troupe’s biggest yet, said Cirque du Soleil specialevents director Yasmine Khalil, featuring more than 50 artists. MostCirque shows employ 75 to 80 artists over two hours, she said. Cirquedu Soleil has a show now at the Kodak Theatre, where the Oscars willbe presented, but the performance for the awards telecast is “uniquefor this one evening” and not taken from any of the troupe’s 22 pro-ductions playing around the world.

Performers from those shows, however, are heading toHollywood. Khalil says artists from Japan and Russia are flying in toparticipate in the Academy Awards segment. “The theme is verymuch in line with paying tribute to the movie-theater experience,”Khalil said, adding it was different from “Iris,” Cirque’s show at theKodak Theater, which is billed as “a journey into the world of cinema.”

Like “Iris,” the music for the troupe’s Oscar performance was com-posed by Danny Elfman. Cirque du Soleil troupes were reluctant toperform on television in years past “because we felt as though a lot ofit got lost in translation,” Khalil said, but they appreciated the waytheir performance came across in the 74th Academy Awards. “Thatboosted our confidence knowing that we’re comfortable in front ofthe camera,” she said.

Khalil and the performers have been working on their routinesince before Christmas.”To capture 50 people jumping around every-where from the ceiling and from the ground and right and left andcenter, it’s a whole added challenge,” she said. That challengeextends to the viewers, too. “They should be very attentive,” she said.“You don’t want to be blinking too much because you might misssomething.” — AP

Cirque du Soleil plans for Oscar show

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Moms on the runwayMixing fashion

and motherhood

Forget the usual vacant model stare. It was smiles and high fiveswith Iman as real moms of all shapes and sizes took over NewYork Fashion Week, working a runway Thursday with strollers and

pregnant tummies, looking chic for everything from school drop-off todate night. They walked in the first-ever “Strut: The Fashionable MomShow,” organized by two of their own at the city’s Library for thePerforming Arts at Lincoln Center near Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week’stents. They were tall, short, hourglass and your basic size 8. Clothescame from top designers like Tory Burch and Michael Kors, maternitywear from Hatch and A Pea in the Pod.

“I feel amazing,” said mom model Lauren Jimeson, who is 37 weekspregnant and strutted in a cream cocktail dress with cut-outs on thesleeves. “It’s just a great message that you can be fashionable and stillbe a mom and still look great and feel great.” One of the organizers,Melissa Gerstein, said she and fellow mom blogger Denise Alberthatched the idea after they got a TV gig and had nothing to wear.

“We need stuff that’s transformable and affordable, that real momslike us can wear every single day to all of the things that we have to do,whether it’s the grocery store, school pickup, back to the meeting,back to school.” Looks included a pair of white skinny jeans matchedwith a purple, tie-dye T-shirt, or loose black slacks with a billowy mus-tard top. One of two moms who pushed empty strollers down the run-way decorated with autumn leaves wore a khaki skirt above the knee

with a sleeveless white tunic and anadded pop of red in a belt.

Iman - yes, she’s a mom of two -didn’t walk but looked resplendentin the front row in a purple lace topand short, pleated skirt by PrabalGurung. “I ’m with my people!People think fashion and moms areat odds, which I don’t think theyare,” the supermodel and mogulsaid backstage. “It’s just our lifestyleis different, yet we hold the pursestrings at home and make all thedecisions on purchases.” For somany moms, those purchases arefocused on their kids, not them-selves, when it comes to clothes.And they live in the moment, whichis why the show’s creators madesure all of the looks on the runwayare available right now in storesranging from Bloomingdale’s to T.J.Maxx, rather than six months fromnow in exclusive boutiques when

high fashion’s next season rolls around.There were blazers and jackets from Chris Benz to the Gap, bags

Iman sells on HSN.com and dresses by Kors and Rachel Roy. Gerstein,in a charcoal skirt and tie blouse, and Albert, in a sparkly silver partytop with black leggings, run Themoms.com and appear regularly onTV. They chose fellow mommy bloggers to walk the runway. Albertwalked with her young son and the 8-year-old of another mom mod-el served as DJ. When it comes to the fabulous fashion industry,Gerstein said moms are usually invisible. “I think moms are writtenoff by the fashion world because of what’s presented on the runway -a size zero, 6-foot-2 tall woman, and that is not the norm. We careabout fashion, too.”

Mom model Kimberly Goodwin, nearly eight months pregnant,agreed. “Just because you’re a mom, you don’t lose your sense ofstyle,” she said. “You don’t lose your love of fashion. I’m big right now. Iwant to feel good.” She walked in a pair of skinnies. “Who would havethought even five, 10 years ago that red skinny jeans would be some-thing a mom eight months pregnant would be wearing down a run-way,” Goodwin said. Iman, who has her own cosmetics and accessoriescompany, was recruited for the event by an old friend and fellowmom, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the fashion director at LincolnCenter and an IMG consultant.

Balancing work life and home life while still looking and feelinggood “isn’t always easy,” Winston Wolkoff said. “It was important tomake this different than what Fashion Week is usually about.” Sowhat does Iman wear to the bank, the playground, a night out withhubby David Bowie? “I may start with a suit in the morning, then alegging,” she said. “The important thing is we need a wardrobe thatcan change from playground to office to a night out. We still careabout fashion.” — AP

Model Iman poses beforeThe Moms fall 2012 fash-ion show. — AP

As runways go, the one at RalphLauren’s fall-winter show onThursday, the final day of New

York fashion week, was a true stun-ner. A well-worn but beautifully laidparquet floor, illuminated by chande-liers, ran the length of the SkylightStudio in the Soho district whereLauren sent out 57 outfits thatbrought the British period drama“Downton Abbey” to mind. Into thiswhimsical English country house bythe Hudson River appeared Fair Islesweaters in green or taupe cashmere,brown ocelet-print shearling coatsand dark brown plaid jodhpurs.

Double-breasted tweed wrapcoats were enlivened with scarlet orpurple gloves-or with a peacockfeather tucked insouciantly into thelapel. Silk top hats lent an air of fog-gy London town in the era ofSherlock Holmes when matchedwith tartan wool coats, black pumpsor boots, and a debonair walkingstick. For more formal occasions,Lauren stuck with the classic linesthat have made him a go-to designerfor women across the United States,with a range of strapless and halter-

neck evening dresses in black, fuch-sia and gold lam.

It might be easy to dismiss Lauren’svision as predictable, but the silver-haired 72-year-old son of an immi-grant housepainter from Belarus hadevery reason to smile as he walkeddown that fine runway himself in alight grey suit and tie to acknowledgea standing ovation at the end of theshow. Two days ago, the publicly list-ed company that bears his name, andwhich includes the mass market Polobrand, forecast a better-than-expect-ed 20 percent leap in sales this year inlight of a third-quarter profit of $169million-proof positive of Lauren’s stay-ing power in the aristocracy of fash-ion. — AFP

Ralph Lauren meets ‘Downton Abbey’

Models display outfits during theRalph Lauren show at SkylightStudio during the Fall 2012Mercedes Benz Fashion WeekFebruary 16, 2012 in New York.

— AFP photos

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Fashion’s tastemakers and trendset-ters started packing up on theeighth and final day of New York

Fashion Week Thursday as shows beganin London, followed by Milan and Paris.But as the runway previews of fall lookscontinue in Europe, some early trendshave emerged. The most popular looksto grace the runways over the past eightdays include leather, mil itary- andmenswear-inspired tailoring and an over-all sultriness that finds its allure in the

mystery of the woman sheathed in highnecklines and leather leggings instead ofbare skin or overt sexiness. Some of thebest looks at Ralph Lauren’s show onThursday were borrowed from the boysin a collection plucked from a closet of aBritish aristocrat. The eveningwear sil-houettes were simple, jazzed up withjeweled collars - often with a high neck-line.

“There’s a real practicality to the sea-son in New York. There’s a lot of clothingthat women will want to buy and wear,”said Ariel Foxman, editor of InStyle maga-zine. “I’m not seeing big, strong trendmessaging. It’s not ALL about colorblock-ing or ALL about military.” But one thingthe stylish shopper will need is a newcoat - could be a leather trench, an offi-cer’s jacket or a tweed blazer - but outer-wear was the big story after many cyclesof daytime dresses. “It’s interesting thatin this mild winter there is so much outer-wear,” said Foxman. “This idea of whatfall and winter should be doesn’t goaway.”

Brandon Holley, editor in chief ofLucky magazine, liked that a single outfitcould have the toughness of a militarylook combined with a prim lace collar.Attention was also drawn to the face withturtlenecks, which plays into the covered-up sexiness. “It to me is an attitude or

mindset,” said designer Prabal Gurung,whose show was a top draw here.“There’s nothing sexier than confidencethis fall.” Well, there is all the leather,which sometimes was tough looking butotherwise soft and buttery like the bestpair of gloves. Holley said she sometimesspots the trends by what the front row iswearing by the end of the week. “I saw alot of leather leggings. And then therewere leather sleeves or leather pieces,”she said. “It’s about wearing a lot ofleather but not wearing all leather.”

Calvin KleinCalvin Klein designs have long been

known for their razor-sharp lines, but thelabel’s creative director Francisco Costaseems to have a knack for curves, too. Hisfall collection presented as one of the lastmajor shows of New York Fashion Weekended things the way the season largelystarted, offering clothes for a womanwho can seduce and charm with intelli-gence and strength, but without wearinganything too tight or revealing. Costa, infact, purposely created a looser hourglassshape for this muse that gives room tomove and breathe, sculpting stiff woolfabrics into outfits with rounded jewelnecklines and a little extra fabric at thehips. For most women, this is going towork better in coats than dresses, but onthe models, it was nice to see the chic,fuller shape shifts. “Mysterious, sexy andsuper urban” was how Costa described itjust after the show. “The iconography forthis is all super modern,” he said.

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” starRooney Mara sat in the front row, and theclean, architectural and unadorned stylethat Costa has crafted as his Calvin Kleinsignature seems a perfect fit for her. Shemight be the one to pull off a leather lookat the Academy Awards. The colors, asusual here, were dark and stark, with theonly bright moments coming from a fewflashes of red and a salmon-colored dressmade of a glazed tweed and tulle. Themixing of fabrics that this crowd has got-ten used to seeing over the past few dayswas done best on a dress that combinedgray wool f lannel and black shavedshearling. Another standout look was ablack-leather, funnel-neck bodice and awinter-white moleskin skirt. Costa alsosneaked in white leather panels in thefolds of some black pleated skirts.

Bill BlassThe late Bill Blass made his fashion

house famous with chic sportswear wornby a very glamorous crowd, and JeffreyMonteiro, who designs the collectionnow, continued that tradition of sportand glamour. On the runway, tuxedopants had a drawstring waist and a black-metallic gown had gold racing stripesdown its long sleeves. Monteiro did anuptown version of the military trend, buthis strong shouldered coats had jeweledbuttons. The clothes had a nice balanceof youthful spirit with classic silhouettes.There was also a bit of fur, including a foxcollar paired with a simple sheer blackjumpsuit and black evening pants, butcompared to other catwalks that havebeen covered in mink and even raccoon,

Monteiro had a light touch. He favoredcontrasting shiny satin to matte woolwith pops of metallics, which made thecollection still seem fresh after scores ofrunway shows. — AP

NY Fashion Week finishes up

A model gets her hair done backstage in prepa-ration for the Calvin Klein Fall 2012 show duringFashion Week in New York. — AP photos

Emma Stone (left) and Rooney Mara attend the CalvinKlein show.

Fashion from the Fall 2012 collec-tion of Calvin Klein is modeled.

The BillBlass Fall2012 collectionis modeledduringFashionWeek inNew York.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Luxury, sartorial and otherwise, at L’Wren ScottNew York Fashion Week has its A-list

events and its B-list events. And thenthere was the L’Wren Scott runway

show on Thursday. Do they have an A-pluscategory for luxury? Dramatic setting?Check - the wood-paneled, chandelieredbanquet hall of an Edwardian building inChelsea that now houses the Desmond TutuCenter. Perks? Well, there was the wine, andthe caviar, served with a baked potato andsour cream to guests sitting at long tables -sustenance after a long Fashion Week.

And celebrities? Nah, not unless youcount Mick Jagger - who happens to be thedesigner’s longtime boyfriend - and EllenBarkin. As for the clothes, if you could getyour mind off the rock icon in your midst,they were pretty luxurious, too, a mix of vel-vety or satiny gowns, bolero jackets andtea-length dresses, often with a vintage feelthat matched the elegant surroundings.

There was a jacquard tweed cape lined inpurple feathers, for example, paired with apurple velvet high waisted pencil skirt.There was a long deep-red velvet dress witha bow at the front. Bows also appeared atthe back of jackets, along the hem. One ofthe fancier looks was a gold “caviar beads”gown with a black satin floor-length cape,and shiny gold shoes. And what Scott callsher “headmistress gown,” in black satin.

Scott said later that she had boned up onhistory while designing this collection -basically the early 1900s, its architectureand its colors. Some new colors she chosethis time around: Moroccan date, pome-granate, and pansy (a bluish violet.) She alsoadded “a new tea length for my lady,” as shecalls her clients, in case they wanted some-thing new. There was a higher-waisted A-line skirt, higher-waisted pants, and theclassic pencil skirts for which she is known.

Cristina Ehrlich, a celebrity stylist whohas dressed Penelope Cruz, Amy Adams andJulianna Margulies for the red carpet, wasfull of praise for the collection. “She takesthe whole concept of lady-dressing andadds femininity, a sexiness and an edge,”said Ehrlich. “It’s elegant, and so super-luxe.” The stylist especially admired the wayScott played with colors, as in a mix of mus-tard and red in one outfit. The stylist wore atightly fitted Scott design in bright green.Also in a body-fitting Scott number: Barkin,wearing a green pencil skirt and snugorange cardigan. — AP

The L’Wren Scott Fall 2012 collection ismodeled during Fashion Week.

T E C H N O L O G YSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

KESENNUMA, Japan: High-tech fluffyseals that respond to human touch are thelatest weapon in the battle against depres-sion for survivors of Japan’s tsunami disas-ter. “Paro” is being offered to people madehomeless by the disaster and is offering amuch-needed bit of affection with his bur-bling noises and the appreciative flappingof fins when he comes into contact withpeople. “It’s so cute. It coos when I rub it,”said 10-year-old Kosei Oyama, “Because ofthe tsunami, we have fewer things to playwith than before.”

Tsuyako Kumagai, a 47-year-old house-wife, said her friends in temporary housesare happy with Paro as a substitute for thepets that were swept away by the giganticwaves. “Many of my neighbours don’twant to have new pets because they don’twant to remember,” Kumagai said. “Forthem, pets used to be their family.”

The seal robots have been made avail-able to people living in temporary houseserected in a baseball stadium in the porttown of Kesennuma, an area badly hit bythe tsunami last March which killed 19,000people on the coast.

For many, things now are a little betterthan they were, but a long way from per-fect. “I lost what I had built in my life,” saidHiroshi Onodera, 51, whose nephew diedand whose house was swept away.

Onodera is now living with his motherin a prefabricated house and feels isolatedfrom his community.

“When we were in the emergency shel-ter, there were a lot of people stayingtogether, but since we have moved toeach of our temporary houses, we are sep-arated and having a stressful time,” hesaid. “So, it’s great to have this kind ofplace, where we can be healed mentally,”Onodera said, referring to a communitybuilding where the robot creatures areavailable for short-term loan.

The seal, which is equipped with tactileand audio sensors, has already been usedin hospitals and nursing homes as a thera-peutic aid for older people suffering from

depression or dementia. Organisers of thescheme are also offering other fixes to dis-aster victims, including workout robotsand a prototype of a high-tech head mas-sager, and even have a reception deskstaffed by an android.

“It’s important for residents to maintaincommunication,” said Kazuhiro Kojima, aresearcher at Advanced Industrial Scienceand Technology, a public research institu-tion, which developed Paro.

A huge jump in the number of peoplesuffering depression and mental healthdifficulties was recorded in the wake of the1995 Kobe earthquake, with the loss ofhomes identified as a key cause of suffer-

ing. According to the government, some325,000 people are still living in temporaryhousing, mainly in northern Japan, nearlya year on from the devastating earth-quake-tsunami. Many lost their homes inthe catastrophe, while others were forcedfrom their villages by radiation that leakedfrom Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plantwhen its reactors went into meltdown.

Researchers say technological solutionscan help lessen the mental impact of thedisaster. “We hope robots will provide resi-dents here with an opportunity to rebuildtheir community,” Kojima said. “Mentalsupport will become a very importantissue here. I hope robots can help.” — AFP

Robot seals heal hearts of Japan tsunami survivors

KESENNUMA: Children displaced by the March 11 tsunami play with a thera-peutic robot baby seal called ‘Paro’ at temporary housing in Kesennuma,Miyagi prefecture recently. The seal robots have been made available to peo-ple living in temporary houses erected in a baseball stadium in the port townof Kesennuma, an area badly hit by the tsunami of last March that killed19,000 people on the coast. — AFP photo

‘Curb the car dashboard

technology’WASHINGTON: Auto dashboards are becoming an arcade oftext messages, GPS images, phone calls and web surfing, thegovernment says, and it’s asking carmakers to curb those dis-tractions when vehicles are moving.

Manufacturers have been loading up higher-end vehicleswith an array of built-in gadgets in an effort to tempt car buy-ers who want to multi-task behind the wheel in today’sincreasingly connected society. But the technologicaladvances have raised concerns that drivers’ attention is beingdiverted too much from the road.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration onThursday proposed voluntary guidelines for manufacturers,including a recommendation that they design dashboards sothat distracting devices are automatically disabled unless thevehicle is stopped and the transmission is in park.

“We recognize that vehicle manufacturers want to buildvehicles that include the tools and conveniences expected bytoday’s American drivers,” said NHTSA Administrator DavidStrickland. “The guidelines we’re proposing would offer real-world guidance to automakers to help them develop elec-tronic devices that provide features consumers want withoutdisrupting a driver’s attention or sacrificing safety.”

Gloria Bergquist, vice president of the Alliance ofAutomobile Manufacturers, said carmakers will review theguidelines, which have a 60-day comment period. She notedthat the industry has had its own voluntary guidelines since2002. “Drivers are going to have conversations, listen tomusic and read maps while driving, and automakers are help-ing them do this more safely with integrated hands-free sys-tems that help drivers focus on the road,” Bergquist said.

The guidelines, which are directed at passenger cars andsport utility vehicles, would exempt safety devices such elec-tronic-warning systems that alert drivers to potential colli-sions or lane changes. GPS and other navigation devices thatprovide directions would also be permitted while driving, butthe safety administration is asking that the systems bedesigned so that drivers can’t manually enter a destinationunless the car is in park.

The alternative is for drivers to go back to studying mapswhile they drive, which is even less safe, Strickland said.

Bergquist, of the carmakers, cautioned about preventingaddresses from being entered into GPS devices unless thevehicle is stopped.

“There are often passengers in the car who can enteraddresses, so we need to consider that when looking atrequiring these technologies to only be used in park,” shesaid. “And if the GPS is disabled when moving, consumerscan always bring their own Garmin into the vehicle. It’s com-plicated.” Other dashboard technologies recommended forautomatic disabling include text-messaging, Internet brows-ing, social media browsing, phone dialing and computerscreen messages of 30 characters or more that are unrelatedto driving. The guidelines would make exceptions for thesedevices if they are designed only for use by passengers andcan’t be accessed or seen by the driver.

Manufacturers are also urged to take steps to make tech-nologies safer that drivers are allowed to use while driving.That includes reducing to two seconds or less the amount oftime drivers must divert their eyes from the road to use adevice. Devices should also be designed so that drivers don’thave to use more than one hand or glance through extrane-ous information. The guidelines are a good first step towardreducing driver distractions, said Barbara Harsha, executivedirector of the Governors Highway Safety Association, whichrepresents state highway safety offices.

But “the safest thing is for drivers not to use these systemsat all - both hands on the wheel and the mind focused solelyon driving,” she said.

Anne Fleming, senior vice president of the InsuranceInstitute for Highway Safety, an industry supported safetyresearch group, said it’s good that NHTSA and automakersare working together, but it “will be very hard to measurewhether it’s reducing distraction and whether it’s reducing itenough.” One reason NHTSA decided to pursue voluntaryguidelines instead of mandatory rules is that officials wantedto do something quickly, Transportation Secretary RayLaHood told reporters in a conference call. The process forwriting federal rules often takes years to complete. —AP

CARSON CITY: Nevada is envisioning aday when taxicabs might shuttle fareswithout a driver, or people with medicalconditions that make them ineligible fora license could get around with a virtualchauffeur.

The concept took a big step whenNevada became the first state toapprove regulations that spell outrequirements for companies to test dri-verless cars on state roads.

“Then they have to take us out andprove that they can do it,” BruceBreslow, director of the NevadaDepartment of Motor Vehicles, said ofthe autonomous vehicles. “They’re notready to go to market yet.”

But Nevada intends to be readywhen they are, and officials hope to stayahead of other states such as Floridaand Hawaii that are considering similartesting regulations, Breslow said.

Gov. Brian Sandoval took a test ridein a self-driving Toyota Prius in July. The

car being developed by Google Inc. usesradar, sensors and computers that allowthe vehicle to drive itself, though humandrivers can override the autopilot func-tion. Companies that want to conducttesting in Nevada will need a bond of $1million to $3 million, depending on thenumber of cars they plan to test. Firmsalso must lay out their specific inten-tions, such as testing a vehicle on urbanroadways, or its ability to operate in thefog, rain or snow, and provide testingdata to the state.

The cars must have two people in itat all times, with one able to take con-trol. The new regulations approved lastweek also require companies to detaillicense requirements for people to oper-ate them when they become available.

Cars must be equipped with a sepa-rate data collector - similar to the “blackbox” on an aircraft - that will “captureand store the autonomous technologysensor data for at least 30 seconds

before a collision.” The regulations gobeyond testing procedures, anticipatingthe day when driverless cars become areality on the highways.

If a vehicle is certified as capable ofbeing driven in autonomous mode with-out a driver, a person can operate thevehicle “without being physically pres-ent,” one provision says.

Whether there’s a human driver ornot, the regulations hold the operatorresponsible regardless of whether theperson is physically present in theautonomous vehicle.

The only exception to traffic laws istexting or talking on a hand-held cell-phone. A law passed by legislators lastyear to ban texting while driving includ-ed a specific exemption for operators ofself-driving cars on autopilot. But thevehicles won’t be a substitute for a des-ignated driver after a night on the town,Breslow said. “There is no exemption fordrinking and driving,” he said. — AP

Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

T E C H N O L O G YSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

NEW YORK: Google and other online advertisersbypassed the privacy settings of an Apple webbrowser on iPhones and computers in order to sur-vey millions of users, the Wall Street Journal report-ed yesterday.

The Journal said the companies used a specialcode that tricks Apple’s Safari software into lettingthem monitor the browsing habits of many users.

Safari-the most widely used browser on mobiledevices and the default browser on iPhones and

Mac laptops-is designed to block such tracking bydefault, the Journal said.

The Journal said Google disabled the code afterthe newspaper contacted it and that Googleremoved a message on its website saying userscould rely on Safari to prevent the search giantfrom tracking them. It quoted Google as saying theJournal “mischaracterizes what happened andwhy.” “We used known Safari functionality to pro-vide features that signed-in Google users had

enabled. It’s important to stress that these advertis-ing cookies do not collect personal information.”

The Journal quoted an Apple official as sayingthe company was “working to put a stop” to the cir-cumvention of the privacy settings.

The code was first spotted by Stanfordresearcher Jonathan Mayer and independentlyconfirmed by Ashkan Soltani, a technical adviser tothe Journal. Google and Apple could not immedi-ately be reached for comment. — AFP

Google bypassed Apple privacy settings

BRUSSELS: Xavier Degon and Antonin Guy, two French engineers, pose in a Citroen C Zeroelectric car, during a stopover in Brussels yesterday. The two French engineers will this yearattempt to achieve the first ever around-the-world trip in an electric car. — AFP photo

BEIJING: A debt-laden Chinese computerfirm embroiled in a copyright row withApple over the iPad name yesterday threat-ened to sue the technology giant in theUnited States for $2 billion.

Proview Technology (Shenzhen) says itowns the Chinese rights for the “iPad”trademark and its lawyers say they are seek-ing to prevent Apple from shipping theiconic tablet computers into and out ofChina-one of the US company’s biggestmarkets.

Apple last year took the firm to a Chinesecourt, claiming trademark infringement, butthe court unexpectedly rejected the caseover lack of evidence.

Proview, which makes computer moni-tors, has since filed lawsuits against Apple inChina, also claiming trademark infringe-ment, and is now threatening to take legalaction in the United States claiming Applehad behaved unfairly.

“Right now we are selecting from threeAmerican law firms to sue Apple in theUnited States for $2 billion in compensa-tion,” Li Su, chairman of Hejun VanguardGroup, which is working with creditors torestructure Proview, told a news conferencein Beijing.

Proview chief executive Yang Rongshansaid he wanted to protect his trademarkrights and stop Apple selling the iPad inChina-and denied he was trying to get com-pensation from Apple to bail out the cash-strapped company.

“We own it (the iPad trademark) in China.If you were in my position... you would tryto protect your rights,” Yang told reporters.

The Taiwanese affiliate of ProviewTechnology (Shenzhen) registered thetrademark name “iPad” in several countriesincluding China as early as 2000 — yearsbefore Apple began selling the product.

Both the companies are units of HongKong-listed Proview International Holdings,whose shares have been suspended fromtrading since August 2010.

The US giant subsequently bought therights for the global trademark, but ProviewTechnology (Shenzhen) claims its Taiwanaffiliate had no right to sell the Chineserights.

A Hong Kong court last year sided withApple saying the agreement was valid.

Ma Dongxiao, a lawyer for Proview, saidthe company would sue Apple in the UnitedStates on the grounds that Apple boughtthe rights through another company, whichhad promised not to make products in com-petition with Proview.

Apple said it was the rightful owner ofthe iPad trademark and accused Proview ofnot honoring the agreement in China.

While authorities in some cities havereportedly seized dozens of iPads, the icon-ic tablet computer-which was officiallylaunched in mainland China in September2010 — remains on sale across the nation’sfive Apple stores and through some on-lineshopping sites. — AFP

Chinese firm in iPad row threatens to sue Apple

SAN FRANCISCO: Buying ads on Twitter isabout to get easier for small businesses as theonline messaging service adds a key piece to itsmoneymaking model.

Twitter is unveiling a long-awaited automat-ed system that will enable advertisers to man-age their marketing campaigns and budgetswithout having to deal with sales representa-tives. Before Twitter opens the system to allcomers later this year, the self-service approachannounced Thursday will only be available toadvertisers who accept or use American Expresscards

To get the ball rolling, American Express Co.will buy $100 in Twitter ads for each of the first10,000 qualified businesses in the U.S. that signup at http://ads.twitter.com/amex . The ads,which Twitter calls “promoted products,” willbegin appearing within the flow of users’ mes-sages in late March. Flipping the switch on self-service advertising is the latest sign of Twitter’sambition to build a powerful online marketingvehicle in the mold of Internet search leaderGoogle Inc., by far the Web’s most profitablecompany, and online social network FacebookInc., technology’s fastest-rising star.

It marks another stepping stone toward aneventual initial public offering of stock fromTwitter, which has attracted more than 100 mil-lion users since its creation nearly six years ago.

The timetable for Twitter’s IPO remains amystery, although CEO Dick Costolo said in aninterview Thursday that the company’s decisionwon’t be influenced by how well Facebook faresin its stock market debut this spring.

“I don’t look at what other companies aredoing,” he said. “We don’t think in terms ofbuilding this company for a particular IPO date.We are trying to build this company for the longterm.” The company, which is based in SanFrancisco, isn’t in desperate need of capital, hav-ing raised at least $700 million last year.

Twitter also probably needs a little moretime to prove its financial chops. Last year,Twitter generated ad revenue of about $140million, according to the research firmeMarketer Inc. That compared to $36.5 billion atGoogle and $3.2 billion at Facebook. This year,eMarketer expects Twitter to sell $260 million inadvertising, helped in part by the new self-ser-vice platform.

The automated system will be similar toGoogle’s. Advertisers will be able to specify howmuch they are willing to spend, pick the cities orregions where they want their ads to appearand write their own commercial messages,which will be confined to Twitter’s 140-charac-ter limit per tweet. Twitter will only charge forads that get a user response, such as when aviewer decides to follow the business, retweetsthe message or clicks on a link.

Selling ads through a self-service system willtest Twitter’s ability to prevent bad actors frompolluting the atmosphere with spam and scams.It’s a problem that still plagues Google, whichhas gotten into trouble for showing ads for fromunlicensed pharmacies and other shady opera-tors. But Twitter’s self-service ad system seemsless likely to encounter trouble in the earlygoing because only small businesses that havealready been vetted by American Express will beallowed to participate during first few months,said eMarketer analyst Debra Williamson.

Twitter is allowing self-service advertisingafter about three months of tests with a smallgroup of hand-picked small businesses. Twitterhas been easing into advertising to ensure thecommercial messages don’t spoil the ambianceof service that has been likened to a townsquare teeming with wildly divergent observa-tions and conversations. The response to theads so far has been mostly positive, Costolo said,helping to convince him that the privately heldcompany can open up its revenue spigot evenmore without facing a big backlash. “I haveevery expectation that we will be able to scalethis very rapidly,” Costolo said Thursday. Twitterads paid off for Glennz Tees, an online merchantin Austin, Texas, that has been testing the self-service marketing system. The company’sDecember sales more than doubled from theprevious year, said CEO Walter Stokes. —AP

Twitter unveils self-service

advertising system

MONTREAL: Suneet Singh Tuli is picturedin this July 30, 2011 handout photographin Montreal, Canada. Tuli heads theCanadian company Datawind, which hasproduced the Akash, at $35, the world’scheapest computer tablet. — AFP photo

Awards21:25 THS22:25 E! News23:25 Chelsea Lately23:55 Keeping Up With TheKardashians

T V l i s t i n g sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

00:50 Pit Bulls And Parolees01:45 Untamed & Uncut02:40 Into The Dragon’s Lair03:35 Ultimate Air Jaws04:30 Crime Scene Wild05:25 The Animals’ Guide To Survival06:20 Escape To Chimp Eden06:45 In Too Deep07:10 Wild Africa Rescue08:00 Monkey Life08:25 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip09:15 Crocodile Hunter10:10 Natural Born Hunters11:05 The Really Wild Show12:00 Gorilla School12:25 Project Puppy12:55 Corwin’s Quest13:50 Wildlife SOS14:45 Dogs vs. Cats15:40 Must Love Cats16:35 America’s Cutest...17:30 Big Five Challenge18:25 World Wild Vet19:20 Amazing Animal Inventions!20:15 Saba And The Rhino’s Secret

00:45 Last Of The Summer Wine01:15 Doctors01:45 Survivors02:35 Lead Balloon03:05 Ideal03:30 Keeping Up Appearances04:00 Balamory04:20 Charlie and Lola04:30 The Large Family04:45 Bobinogs05:00 Poetry Pie05:05 Fimbles05:25 Little Robots05:35 Nina And The Neurons05:50 Balamory06:10 Charlie and Lola06:20 The Large Family06:30 Bobinogs06:45 Poetry Pie06:50 Fimbles07:10 Little Robots07:20 Nina And The Neurons07:35 Last Of The Summer Wine08:05 After You’ve Gone08:35 The Weakest Link09:20 Doctor Who10:05 Doctor Who Confidential10:20 Eastenders12:20 The Weakest Link13:05 Last Of The Summer Wine13:40 Born and Bred14:30 Doctor Who15:15 After You’ve Gone15:45 The Weakest Link16:30 Holby City18:10 Doctor Who19:00 One Foot In The Grave19:30 The Old Guys20:00 Alan Carr - Tooth Fairy20:50 Little Britain

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00:15 Bobby Chinn Cooks Asia00:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives01:05 Reza, Spice Prince Of India01:30 Good Eats01:55 Reza, Spice Prince Of India03:35 Aarti Party04:25 Bobby Chinn Cooks Asia05:15 Kid In A Candy Store05:40 Good Eats06:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam06:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives06:50 Food Network Challenge07:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics08:00 Food Network Challenge08:50 Reza, Spice Prince Of India09:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics09:40 Good Eats10:05 Healthy Appetite With EllieKrieger10:30 Paula’s Best Dishes10:55 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam11:20 Bobby Chinn Cooks Asia11:45 30 Minute Meals12:10 Unwrapped12:35 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives13:00 Good Eats13:25 Guy’s Big Bite13:50 Aarti Party14:15 Bobby Chinn Cooks Asia14:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics15:05 Healthy Appetite With EllieKrieger15:30 Unwrapped15:55 Paula’s Best Dishes16:20 Andy Bates Street Feasts16:45 Chopped17:35 Guy’s Big Bite18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics18:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives18:50 Aarti Party19:15 Good Eats19:40 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam20:05 Reza, Spice Prince Of India20:30 Restaurant: Impossible21:20 Sandwich King22:10 Food Network Challenge23:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives23:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives23:50 World Cafe Asia

07:00 Geo Sessions08:00 The Ride: Alaska To Patagonia08:30 Travel Madness09:00 Lonely Planet: Roads LessTravelled10:00 Pressure Cook11:00 City Chase Rome12:00 Which Way To13:00 Wild Rides13:30 First Ascent14:00 Danger Men15:00 Word Travels16:00 Travel Madness16:30 Destination Extreme17:00 Don’t Tell My Mother18:00 Departures19:00 Wild Rides19:30 First Ascent20:00 Danger Men21:00 Word Travels22:00 Travel Madness22:30 Destination Extreme23:00 Don’t Tell My Mother

00:40 Through the Wormhole withMorgan Freeman01:35 Weird or What?02:25 The Tech Show02:50 Tech Toys 36003:40 Ecopolis04:35 How Does That Work?05:00 How Stuff’s Made05:25 Kings of Construction06:20 Junkyard Mega-Wars07:10 Through the Wormhole withMorgan Freeman08:00 Science of Star Wars08:55 Head Rush08:58 Sci-Fi Science09:25 Weird Connections09:55 Tech Toys 36010:45 Ecopolis11:35 How the Universe Works15:45 Head Rush15:48 Sci-Fi Science16:15 Weird Connections16:45 The Tech Show17:10 Science of Star Wars18:00 Meteorite Men18:50 Building the Future

16:45 My Babysitter’s A Vampire17:10 Fish Hooks17:30 A.N.T. Farm18:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place18:20 Phineas And Ferb18:45 Recess19:10 So Random19:30 Camp Rock 221:25 My Babysitter’s A Vampire21:50 Good Luck Charlie22:15 Shake It Up22:40 Fish Hooks23:05 The Suite Life Of Zack AndCody23:30 Hannah Montana Forever23:55 Sonny With A Chance

00:00 Don’t Look Up-1802:00 Sinners & Saints-1804:00 The Devil’s Tomb-PG1506:00 Planet Of The Apes-PG1508:00 Rocky IV-PG1510:00 The Lost Future-PG1512:00 Ip Man-PG1514:00 Rocky IV-PG1516:00 Arctic Predator-PG1518:00 Ip Man-PG1520:00 Brotherhood-PG1522:00 Blank Slate-PG15

00:00 Kim Possible00:25 Fairly Odd Parents01:15 Stitch02:00 Replacements02:50 Emperor’s New School03:35 Stitch04:25 Replacements05:15 Fairly Odd Parents06:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse06:25 Jake & The Neverland Pirates06:45 The Suite Life Of Zack AndCody07:10 So Random07:35 Fish Hooks07:55 Timon And Pumbaa08:20 Good Luck Charlie08:45 Shake It Up09:10 Phineas And Ferb09:32 Have A Laugh09:40 A.N.T. Farm10:05 Fish Hooks10:30 High School Musical 212:12 Fish Hooks12:25 Shake It Up12:50 Good Luck Charlie13:15 A.N.T. Farm13:40 Recess14:00 Timon And Pumbaa14:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place14:50 So Random15:15 Fish Hooks15:30 Hannah Montana Forever15:55 Shake It Up16:20 Good Luck Charlie

00:00 BMX Megatour00:50 M1 Selection 201001:40 Breitling Airsports 200902:30 World Combat League03:20 BMX Megatour04:10 M1 Selection 201005:00 X Games 16 201005:50 Summer Dew Tour 201006:40 World Combat League07:30 Ride Guide Mountainbike 200809:00 Ticket To Ride 2009/201010:40 Best Of The Streets12:20 AMA Motocross 201114:00 Mantracker14:50 Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose YourRide15:40 Glutton For Punishment16:30 Dragrace High17:20 AMA Motocross 201118:10 Carpocalypse19:00 Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose YourRide19:50 AMA Motocross 201121:30 Mantracker22:20 Carpocalypse23:10 Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose YourRide

00:15 Destroyed In Seconds00:40 Rampage!01:35 Dirty Jobs02:30 Overhaulin’03:25 Ultimate Survival04:20 Mythbusters05:15 How Does It Work?05:40 How It’s Made06:05 Dirty Jobs07:00 How Does It Work?07:25 Really Big Things08:15 Huge Moves09:10 Extreme Engineering10:05 Mighty Ships

10:55 Man, Woman, Wild11:50 Dual Survival12:45 Ultimate Survival14:35 Oil Strike!15:30 Swamp Loggers16:25 Swords: Life On The Line17:20 Gold Rush18:15 Storm Chasers19:10 River Monsters20:05 Extreme Fishing21:00 Ultimate Survival21:55 Taking On Tyson

19:40 Smash Lab20:30 Scrapheap Challenge21:20 Sci-Fi Science23:00 Smash Lab23:50 Scrapheap Challenge

00:25 Kendra00:55 Style Star01:25 Cheating Death03:15 25 Most Stylish04:10 Sexiest05:05 Extreme Hollywood06:00 THS07:50 Behind The Scenes08:20 E! News09:15 Bridalplasty11:10 Fashion Police: 2008 GrammyAwards12:05 E! News13:05 Ice Loves Coco14:05 Dirty Soap15:00 Keeping Up With TheKardashians16:55 Fashion Police: 2008 GrammyAwards17:55 E! News18:55 World’s Specials19:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York20:25 Fashion Police: 2008 Grammy

00:00 Which Way To01:00 Geo Sessions01:30 Geo Sessions02:00 The Ride: Alaska To Patagonia02:30 Travel Madness03:00 Lonely Planet: Roads LessTravelled04:00 Pressure Cook05:00 City Chase Rome06:00 Which Way To

00:05 How Do I Look?01:00 Jerseylicious02:00 Homes With Style02:25 Open House02:55 Videofashion Daily03:50 Videofashion News04:20 How Do I Look?05:15 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?06:10 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?07:05 Clean House08:00 Big Boutique08:30 Big Boutique09:00 Videofashion Daily10:00 Homes With Style10:25 Homes With Style10:55 Videofashion Daily11:50 Videofashion News12:20 Videofashion News12:50 Jerseylicious13:50 Jerseylicious14:45 Jerseylicious15:45 Jerseylicious16:40 Jerseylicious17:35 Jerseylicious18:30 Jerseylicious19:25 Jerseylicious20:25 Jerseylicious21:20 Designer Marathon22:15 Fashion Police: The 2012Grammy Awards23:10 Big Rich Texas

00:00 Wild Amazon01:00 World’s Deadliest Animals01:55 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy02:50 Journey Into Amazonia03:45 The Living Edens04:40 Amazonia’s Giant Jaws05:35 Wild India (aka Secrets of WildIndia)06:30 Monster Fish07:25 Animal Extractors08:20 World’s Deadliest Snakes09:15 Killer Shots10:10 Lion Army11:05 Wild India (aka Secrets of WildIndia)12:00 Alaskan Killer Shark13:00 Great Migrations14:00 Night Stalkers15:00 Africa’s Deadliest16:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy17:00 Journey Into Amazonia18:00 The Living Edens19:00 Night Stalkers20:00 Africa’s Deadliest21:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy22:00 Journey Into Amazonia23:00 The Living Edens

00:45 James Martin’s Brittany02:00 Indian Food Made Easy03:20 What To Eat Now - Autumn03:50 10 Years Younger04:40 Fantasy Homes By The Sea05:25 Raymond Blanc’s KitchenSecrets06:25 Indian Food Made Easy07:15 Bargain Hunt09:30 Masterchef Australia14:45 Bargain Hunt17:00 Antiques Roadshow21:20 Gok’s Fashion Fix23:00 What Not To Wear

T V l i s t i n g sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

THE BOUNTY HUNTER ON OSN MOVIES HD

00:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner01:30 The Haunted02:15 A Haunting03:05 I Was Murdered03:50 I Escaped Death04:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner05:25 The Haunted06:15 A Haunting07:10 Life Or Death: MedicalMysteries08:00 On The Run08:50 Forensic Detectives09:40 Murder Shift10:25 Mystery ER11:10 Real Emergency Calls11:35 Who On Earth Did I Marry?11:55 On The Case With Paula Zahn12:40 Disappeared13:25 Murder Shift14:15 Mystery ER15:00 Real Emergency Calls15:25 Who On Earth Did I Marry?15:50 On The Case With Paula Zahn16:35 Disappeared17:20 On The Run18:10 Forensic Detectives19:00 Murder Shift19:45 Real Emergency Calls20:10 Mystery ER20:55 Who On Earth Did I Marry?21:20 On The Case With Paula Zahn22:10 Disappeared23:00 The Haunted23:50 Ghost Lab

01:00 Lost Boys: The Thirst-1802:45 Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale-PG1504:45 How Do You Know-PG1507:00 Easy A-PG1509:00 My Name Is Khan-PG1511:45 The Nanny Express-PG1513:30 Prom-PG1515:15 Certified Copy-PG1517:15 The Nanny Express-PG1519:00 Letters To Juliet-PG1521:00 Paranormal Activity 2-1823:00 I Melt With You-PG15

03:00 The Simpsons03:30 Happy Endings04:00 Dharma And Greg04:30 The Tonight Show With JayLeno06:00 Malcolm In The Middle08:30 The Simpsons12:00 Malcolm In The Middle12:30 Dharma And Greg13:30 Just Shoot Me14:00 Happy Endings16:30 How I Met Your Mother18:00 The Simpsons18:30 2 Broke Girls19:00 The Office19:30 Breaking In20:00 The Tonight Show With JayLeno21:00 The Daily Show With JonStewart21:30 The Colbert Report22:00 Saturday Night Live23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 American Idol01:00 Drop Dead Diva03:00 Glee04:00 Off The Map05:00 Good Morning America07:00 Tower Prep08:00 The Bachelor09:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show10:00 Downsize Me11:00 The View12:00 American Idol13:00 Glee14:00 Tower Prep15:00 Drop Dead Diva16:00 Live Good Morning America17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show18:00 Emmerdale18:30 Coronation Street19:00 Breakout Kings20:00 Criminal Minds21:00 C.S.I. Miami23:00 Off The Map

00:00 Deep Sea Detectives01:00 Ax Men02:00 Investigating History03:00 American Restoration04:00 Seeking Salvage05:00 Pawn Stars06:00 Deep Sea Detectives07:00 Ax Men08:00 Investigating History09:00 American Restoration10:00 Seeking Salvage11:00 Pawn Stars12:00 Deep Sea Detectives13:00 Ax Men14:00 Investigating History15:00 American Restoration16:00 Seeking Salvage17:00 Pawn Stars18:00 Deep Sea Detectives19:00 Ax Men20:00 The Crusades21:00 America: The Story Of The Us22:00 Monumental Challenge23:00 Modern Marvels

00:00 Smallville01:00 Survivor: One World02:00 Supernatural03:00 American Idol04:00 Glee05:00 Drop Dead Diva06:00 Smallville07:00 Warehouse 1308:00 Criminal Minds: SuspectBehavior09:00 Drop Dead Diva10:00 American Idol11:00 Glee12:00 Warehouse 1313:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show14:00 Criminal Minds: SuspectBehavior15:00 Smallville16:00 Parks And Recreation16:30 Coronation Street17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show18:00 Criminal Minds: SuspectBehavior19:00 Breakout Kings20:00 Criminal Minds21:00 C.S.I. Miami22:00 Top Gear (UK)23:00 Sons Of Anarchy

00:00 It’s A Wonderful Afterlife-PG1502:00 It’s Complicated-PG1504:30 The Prince And Me 4: TheElephant Adventure-PG1506:30 Dr. Dolittle-PG08:00 A Lot Like Love-PG1510:00 Cats & Dogs-PG12:00 Rat-PG14:00 Molly-PG1516:00 It’s A Wonderful Afterlife-PG1518:00 Out Cold-PG1520:00 You Again-PG1522:00 Dodgeball: A True UnderdogStory-PG15

00:00 Micropolis-FAM02:00 Tangled-FAM04:15 Young Fisherman-PG06:00 Micropolis-FAM08:00 Tom Tom & Nana-FAM09:45 Marmaduke-PG12:00 A Christmas Carol-PG14:00 Little Bee 2-PG1516:00 Supertramps-PG1518:00 Marmaduke-PG20:00 A Christmas Carol-PG22:15 Tom Tom & Nana-FAM

00:30 European PGA Tour05:00 Premier League Darts07:00 Snooker The Welsh Open10:00 World Cup Challenge12:00 Pro 12 Celtic League14:00 European PGA Tour18:15 Live Pro 12 Celtic League20:30 Volvo Ocean Race22:00 Futbol Mundial22:30 ODI Cricket Highlights23:00 Super League

00:40 Samurai Jack01:30 The Marvelous MisadventuresOf Flapjack02:20 Bakugan Battle Brawlers03:10 Best Ed04:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien04:25 Adventure Time04:50 Generator Rex05:15 Scooby-Doo! MysteryIncorporated05:40 Grim Adventures Of Billy AndMandy05:55 I Am Weasel06:55 Scooby-Doo! MysteryIncorporated07:20 Powerpuff Girls07:45 Angelo Rules08:00 Casper’s Scare School08:25 Casper’s Scare School08:55 Angelo Rules09:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien09:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien10:20 Scooby-Doo! MysteryIncorporated10:40 Scooby-Doo! MysteryIncorporated

01:00 WWE Bottom Line02:00 WWE SmackDown04:00 WWE NXT05:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter

00:30 ODI Cricket Highlights01:00 Pro 12 Celtic League03:00 Top 14 Highlights03:30 Trans World Sport04:30 World Club Challenge06:30 ICC Cricket World07:00 Pro 12 Celtic League09:00 ODI Cricket Highlights10:30 Top 14 Highlights11:00 Scottish Premier LeagueHighlights11:30 Volvo Ocean Race13:00 World Club Challenge15:00 Pro 12 Celtic League17:00 Live Top 1419:00 ODI Cricket Highlights19:30 ICC Cricket World20:00 Futbol Mundial20:30 Pro 12 Celtic League22:30 Trans World Sport

00:40 Brewster Mccloud02:25 Cool Hand Luke04:35 Grand Prix-PG07:30 TCM Presents Under The...-U08:00 The Letter-FAM09:35 The Strip-PG11:00 Somebody Up There Likes Me-PG12:55 The Hill-PG15:00 Les Girls-PG16:55 The Champ-PG19:05 Humoresque-PG21:10 Summer Stock-FAM23:00 The Postman Always Rings

11:05 Gumball11:30 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu11:55 Adventure Time12:20 Courage The Cowardly Dog13:10 Ben 1013:35 Ben 1014:00 The Grim Adventures Of Billy &Mandy14:50 The Amazing World OfGumball15:15 Generator Rex15:40 Generator Rex16:05 Scooby-Doo! MysteryIncorporated16:30 Scooby-Doo! MysteryIncorporated16:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien17:20 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien17:45 Adventure Time18:35 The Amazing World OfGumball19:00 Regular Show19:25 Regular Show19:50 Generator Rex20:15 Generator Rex20:40 Courage The Cowardly Dog21:30 Fantastic Four: World’sGreatest Heroes21:55 Fantastic Four: World’sGreatest Heroes22:20 Star Wars: The Clone Wars22:40 Star Wars: The Clone Wars23:00 Ben 1023:25 Ben 1023:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog

00:00 Globe Trekker01:00 Planet Food02:00 Intrepid Journeys03:00 Planet Sports04:00 Tall Ship Explorers05:00 Globe Trekker06:00 Planet Food07:00 Flavours Of Mexico07:30 Life’s A Trip08:00 Globe Trekker09:00 Sophie Grigson In The Orient09:30 Sophie Grigson In The Orient10:00 Chef Abroad10:30 Chef Abroad11:00 Top Travel11:30 Top Travel12:00 The Ethical Hedonist13:00 Globe Trekker14:00 Indian Times15:00 Wild Camping16:00 Third Class Traveller17:00 Globe Trekker18:00 World’s Greatest MotorcycleRides19:00 Secrets Of Bangkok20:00 Globe Trekker21:00 Going South21:30 Essential22:00 Inside Luxury Travel-VarunSharma23:00 Globe Trekker

06:00 UFC Unleashed07:00 WWE This Week07:30 WWE SmackDown09:30 Live PGA European Tour13:30 WWE Vintage Collection14:30 UFC 17:30 WWE SmackDown19:30 Live Super League22:00 UFC

01:00 Julia’s Eyes-1803:00 Kiss Of Death-1805:00 Don’t Look Up-1807:00 The Karate Kid II-PG09:00 Star Trek: First Contact-PG11:00 Altitude-PG1513:00 Drunken Master-PG15

15:00 Star Trek: First Contact-PG17:00 X-Men-PG1519:00 Blood Out-1821:00 Blank Slate-PG1523:00The Haunting Of Molly Hartley-18

01:00 Posse-PG1503:00 The Dry Land-1805:00 Up In The Air-PG1507:00 Not Since You-PG1509:00 Oceans - Into The Deep-PG11:00 Veronica Guerin-PG1513:00 Private-PG1515:00 Simon Birch-PG17:00 Bond Of Silence-PG1519:00 The Public Eye-PG1521:00 The Hunt For Red October-PG1523:15 The Fog Of War-PG15

01:00 The Clearing-1803:00 Jane Eyre-PG1505:00 Chasing Papi-PG

07:00 Preacher’s Kid-PG09:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG11:00 At Risk-PG1513:00 Hurricane Season-PG1515:00 The Bounty Hunter-PG1517:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG19:00 Clash Of The Titans-PG1521:00 Sleeping Beauty-PG1523:00 Repo Men-18

01:00 ODI Cricket Highlights01:30 World Club Challenge03:30 Premier League Darts07:00 World Club Challenge08:45 Live Volvo Ocean Race10:15 Snooker The Welsh Open13:30 Trans World Sport14:30 Volvo Ocean Race16:00 Live Snooker The Welsh Open21:30 ODI Cricket Highlights22:00 Live Snooker The Welsh Open

01:40 The Passage-1801:40 The Passage03:20 Extremities04:50 Till The End Of The Night-Pg04:50 Till The End Of The Night06:20 Heart Of Midnight07:50 Avanti-Pg07:50 Avanti10:10 Flight From Ashiya-Pg10:10 Flight From Ashiya11:55 Romantic Comedy-Pg11:55 Romantic Comedy 13:35 Tennessee Nights15:20 Road Rage-Pg15:20 Road Rage16:45 Delirious-Pg16:45 Delirious18:20 The Spree-Pg18:20 The Spree19:55 Mgm’s Big Screen-Fam19:55 Mgm’s Big Screen20:10 Ulee’s Gold-Pg20:10 Ulee’s Gold22:00 Salvador-1822:00 Salvador

Happy birthday

W H A T ’ S O NSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Belated First Happy birthday toJohan Jolly who celebrated hisbirthday on February 16.

Greetings from parents and relatives.

Kerala Association Kuwait held a folk music festival called‘Kathirmanikal’ at the United Indian School, Abbassiya lastweek in which hundreds of artists participated. The festival

that was held in two categories - juniors and seniors, showcased therich folkloric tradition and diversity of Kerala.

In the junior category, Salmiya Kids bagged the first prize, Aparna

Shine Team second prize and Salmiya Kids won the third prize. In the senior category the first prize went for two teams, Friends of

Kannur and Fahaheel Nadodikoottam while the second prize wasbagged by Kazhcha. The third prize was bagged by Abyat CompanyWorkers Recreation. A large numbers of people from different walksof life were present to watch the festival.

Folk music festival ‘Kathirmanikal’

NPIS celebrated Eid Milad-un-Nabi with great religiousfervor. Students from class 1 to IGCSE took part in thecelebration. They recited Na’at, presented Tableau

and rendered speeches to throw light on the life history of

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) who was sent not only for onetribe or a nation as other prophets but for the wholemankind as blessing as the Holy Quran says, “I have sent theethe Prophet with the true light of guidance so that he may

proclaim over all the religions and only the pagans will detestit.” The Director of the school also attended the function andappreciated the efforts of the teachers and students inorganizing such a wonderful celebration.

NPIS celebrates Eid Milad-un-Nabi

National DayCarnival

Face Painting, Traditional Corner,Jumping Castle, Rides Shows,Jewellery Making, Animal Rides,

and more suprises! All this and more ishappening tomorrow between 11 am to3:30 pm at Kidzee Playground & Nursery,Faiha - Block 8 - Al-Muzaini St. Hs No. 21.Mothers and fathers, cousins andnephews, boys and girls, everyone is wel-come to join us in celebrating Kuwaitand our traditions in our National DayCarnival!

W H A T ’ S O NSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Kuwait Improv Fun lovers of Kuwait unite. A get together by peoplewho love to surprise, be surprised and just be about atanything are welcome to Kuwait Improv, a gathering,reminiscent of the famous American TV program WhoseLine is it Anyway, informally organized by AmericanSchool of Kuwait teacher Brad Manker. No histrionic tal-ent required, but a wil l ingness to share. Pleasecontact:mankerb@ask.edu

Tulu speaking classesHere’s a great opportunity for parents who alwayswished their children could learn Tulu. Tulu KootaKuwait, in its objective towards promoting Tulu lan-guage and culture, is pleased to announce the openingof Tutu Speaking Classes “Tulu Siri” at Indian PublicSchool Salmiya @ 11:30 am. For more details kindly con-tact Ramesh Kidiyoor-97204716/99596457,Shalini Vijay -66502369,Tharendra P. Shettigar - 66757979,JayalaxmiKarkal - 66958848, Sathyanarayana Salian -66585077,Vanitha Dias-94996459. And our Website:www.tulukootakuwait.org Email :info@tulukootakuwait.org

Palpak 4th AGM Palakkad Pravasi Association of Kuwait (Palpak) is con-ducting its Fourth Annual General Body Meeting onFebruary 24, Friday at Hiphop Auditorium, Fahaheelfrom 10 am. The main agenda include as following,annual report on the activities during the year of 2011,the audited accounts report for the year of 2011. Allmembers of Palpak are kindly requested to treat this asan official Invitation and attend the said Annual Genera1body meeting on time. For more details please contactPresident P.N.Kumar (99771830) and General SecretaryAravindha Shan (66535989).

Sadu weaving workshopThis workshop is of four weeks duration, and it will beheld twice a week. The morning group sessions are onMonday and Wednesday from 9am to 12pm. Theevening group are on Sunday and Tuesday from 4:30pmto 7:30pm. A total of 8 sessions of three hours each. Thisworkshop will be held from January 22nd to February18th. For more Information kindly contact Sadu Houseat: info@alsadu.org.kw SaduWeaving@gmail.com2243-2395 or 9959-7983

Balakrishna to visit KuwaitProminent Telugu film Hero Nandamuri Balakrishnacoming to Kuwait on 5th April 2012 for 2days short visitfor the invitation of Pravasaandhra Telugu Desam, NBKseva samithi. Nadamuri Balakrishna is popularly knownas "Balayya" and "NBK" by his fans and admirers. He isthe son of the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradeshand Telugu film legend Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao. Hethen starred in many critical and commercial films andestablished himself as one of the leading contemporaryactors of Telugu Cinema.

In addition to films, Balakrishna is associated with sev-eral philanthropic and social organizations activities. Hecampaigned for the Telugu Desam Party in the 2009Assembly elections, and he is the chairman of the trustboard of The Basavatarakam Indo American CancerHospital & Research Institute. Balakrishna will be the ChiefGuest in the “Musical Night” Program which will be organ-ized by Pravasaandhra Telugu Desam, NBK seva samithion 6th April evening. Social entrepreneur awardeeGuttikonda Thakoor is convening and also participating inthis program. For More details Contact PravaasandraTelugu Desam Officials Mulakala Subbarayudu, Ph:55770769, Venkat Koduri, Ph: 97200952, Malepati SureshBabu, Ph: 99547190, Adusupalli Udaya Prakash, Ph55524888, Pidikiti Sreenivas Chowdary Ph: 66488028,Email: nbksevasamithikwt@yahoo.com

Announcements

Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, socie-ty, even when perfect, is but a jungle. - Albert Camus.True to the letter and spirit of the French genius, Camus,

ICSK Amman hosted one of the most colorful shows on February9 at the ICSK Senior School Auditorium with the sole aim of edify-ing and entertaining the spectators. The three-hour show was afeast to the aesthetic sensibilities to the audience present. Theauditorium was packed to its capacity and the crowd had spilledall across the courtyard outside. The chief guest was Preeti SatishMehta, the wife of the Indian Ambassador to Kuwait and theguest list included the luminaries from the board of trustees -Chairman Ashok Kalra, Secretary Rajan Daniel, Treasurer DineshKamath, Jt Secretaries Vijay Karayil and Francis Machado, and theother revered Members of the Board.

The evening started with the invocation of the Almighty, fol-lowed by the National Anthems of Kuwait and India and then thelighting of the ceremonial lamp of knowledge by the dignitaries.The Principal of ICSK Amman, Sridevi Pradeep extended a warmwelcome to all the dignitaries and the invited guests. The ChiefGuest in her address congratulated the prize winners and appre-ciated the whole hearted efforts of the students and the teachersin putting up a great show. The chairman Ashok Kalra expressedhis gratitude to the Chief Guest for taking time out to be a part ofthe evening show and extolled the sincere attempts of the staffand the students of the Amman branch in staging a thoroughlyentertaining show.

The cultural items included theme dances based on varied cul-tures from the Indian states of Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Naduand Rajasthan to Japan and Spain etc. The soulful plea of conser-vation of the birds and a skit based on the theme of unity werealso part of the agenda. All of them were received with a hugeapplause. “Kabuki Rhythm”, the Japanese theme dance and theHand mime with the most relevant theme of unity won thehearts of the audience and were also adjudged the best twoitems of the evening. The winners of the various CCA from all theclasses were awarded their mementoes and certificates by thedignitaries. The children were filled with pride and honor to bethus appreciated in public. The vote of thanks was proposed bySherly Dennis, Vice Principal of Amman branch. The show cameto a magnificent conclusion with “grand finale”, the Curtain Callduring which the selected participants and the teachers were

invited to the stage and given a standing ovation. PrincipalSridevi Pradeep unveiled a banner which declared “ICSK Amman,Setting the Trend...” and commended the hard work of each andevery person involved in the successful conduct of the show. TheAmman flag keeps flying high.

Cultural Day - Amman style

H E A L T HSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

WASHINGTON: Federal health officialssay they still have safety concerns aboutan experimental diet pill from drugmakerVivus Inc., as the company prepares tomake a second attempt to convinceexperts of the drug’s safety next week.Vivus, based in Mountain View, Calif., isone of three small drugmakers racing tobring the first new prescription weightloss drug to market in more than adecade. In the past two years the Foodand Drug Administration has rejected pillsfrom all three: Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.,Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. and Vivus. Allthree companies are in the process ofresubmitting their products.

The FDA had rejected the diet pill

Qnexa in October 2010. Vivus has resub-mitted the drug with additional follow-upinformation, hoping for a more favorableruling. But in documents posted onlineFriday, the FDA reiterated concerns abouttwo safety issues that plagued the pill thetime first around: Potential heart prob-lems and birth defects in women whobecome pregnant while taking the drug.

On Wednesday the FDA will askexperts at a public meeting to weigh inon those issues, specifically risks of cleftlip defects associated with one of theingredients in Qnexa. The experts will alsodiscuss increased blood pressure andhigher heart rates reported for patientstaking the drug. The panel of doctors will

take a final vote on whether the drugappears safe and effective.

The group’s recommendation is notbinding, and the FDA is expected to makeits final decision in April. With U.S. obesityrates nearing 35 percent among adults,doctors and public health officials saynew weight-loss therapies are desperatelyneeded. And even a modestly effectivedrug could have blockbuster potential.But none of the three medicines beforethe FDA represents a breakthrough inresearch. Qnexa is a combination of twoolder drugs. The amphetamine phenter-mine, which is approved for short-termweight loss, and topiramate, an anticon-vulsant drug sold by Johnson & Johnson

as Topamax. Phentermine helps suppressappetite, while topiramate is supposed tomake patients feel more satiated.

Many analysts had picked Qnexa asthe most promising contender of the newpotential diet pills because of the highlevel of weight loss reported in companystudies. On average, patients lost morethan 10 percent of their total body mass.But at Qnexa’s first FDA panel in 2010,experts assembled by the food and drugregulator voted 10-6 to not recommendthe drug’s approval. Panelists said thedrug was associated with a number ofdangerous side effects, including suicidalthoughts, heart palpitations, memorylapses and birth defects. — AP

Vivus diet pill under FDA scanner

HANOI: Thought bird flu was gone?Recent human deaths in Asia and Egyptare a reminder that the H5N1 virus is stillalive and dangerous, and Vietnam isgrappling with a new strain that hasoutsmarted vaccines used to protectpoultry flocks. Ten people have died inCambodia, Indonesia, Egypt, China andVietnam since December during theprime-time flu season when the virustypically flares in poultry. “We are wor-ried, and we will be very cautious,” saidTo Long Thanh, director of Vietnam’sCenter for Animal Health Diagnostics inVietnam.

The H5N1 virus has killed 345 peopleworldwide since 2003, when it ram-paged across large swaths of Asia deci-mating poultry stocks before later sur-facing in parts of Africa, the Middle Eastand Europe. The number of poultry out-breaks has greatly diminished sincethen, but the virus remains entrenchedin several countries and continues tosurface sporadically, resulting in 20 to 30human deaths globally in recent years.

Bird flu remains hard for people tocatch, with most people sickened afterbeing in close contact with infectedpoultry, but experts have long feared itcould spark a pandemic if it mutatesinto a form that spreads easily amongpeople. The fresh wave of cases comesamid a controversy involving scientistswho created new lab-only versions ofthe virus that spread more easily amonganimals, hoping to better understand it.After a loud uproar over whether pub-lishing the research would put therecipe for a bioweapon into the handsof terrorists, the researchers haveagreed to temporarily halt their work.They are set to wrap up a two-day meet-ing on the issue Friday with internation-al experts at the World HealthOrganization in Geneva.

Vietnam has long struggled to con-trol the virus, but it has made progress -going 21 months before reporting itstwo most recent deaths in the pastmonth. It has also experienced a burst ofpoultry outbreaks in 11 provinces

nationwide over the same period.Officials have issued fresh warnings forfarmers to beef up surveillance, espe-cially since they can no longer rely onthe latest poultry vaccine in the northand central aress where it is weak oruseless against a new strain that hasemerged in the region.

“We have to increase biosecurity,”said Thanh, the animal diagnosticsdirector. The new strain had earlierbeen identified in China and was alsorecently found in Bangladesh and Nepal,where it likely spread via wild birds, saidJan Slingenbergh, a senior animal healthofficer at the U.N. Food and AgricultureOrganization in Rome. Viruses are con-stantly mutating and require new vac-cines to protect against infection - thesame reason new human seasonal flushots are developed each year. A newvaccine is in the works, and scientistshave stressed that the new strain hasnot changed in any way that suggeststhe virus is becoming more dangerous.

The U.N. agriculture agency warnedof a possible resurgence in bird flu out-breaks after the new strain was identi-

fied, potentially increasing risk tohumans. However, Vietnam’s two recentdeaths occurred in the southernMekong Delta, where the vaccineremains effective. WHO stressed it is alsonormal to see a spike in cases and poul-try outbreaks during this time of year.“WHO has always said that as long as thevirus is entrenched in poultry, which itis, there continues to be the risk of bird-to-human transmission,” spokesmanGregory Hartl said in Geneva. “That riskmeans that you cannot predict exactly ifthe transmission will happen and if itwill be regular, but there is the risk sothat’s why it’s not surprising to see cas-es.” Vietnam buys most of its poultryvaccine from China, which has contin-ued with its robust vaccination cam-paign of some 15 billion doses despitethe emergence of the new strain.Researchers there have developed anew version that works against thestrain, but it’s unclear when it might beready for distribution, said KeithHamilton, an animal influenza expert atthe Paris-based World Organization ofAnimal Health. — AP

Bird flu is still a menace in Asia H5N1 virus kills 345 people worldwide since 2003

HA GIANG: In this photo, an ethnic Hmong woman ties a chicken’s legs whileselling live poultry at a Dong Van market in Vietnam.—AP

PRAGUE: Nora, a Rothschild giraffe, stares at the cameraat Prague Zoo yesterday. — AP

LONDON: Scientists studying the human genome have foundthat each of us is carrying around 20 genes that have been com-pletely inactivated, suggesting that not all switched-off genes areharmful to health. A team at Britain’s Wellcome Trust SangerInstitute is developing a new catalogue of so-called “loss-of-func-tion” (LoF) gene variants to help identify new disease-causingmutations, and say their work will help scientists better under-stand the normal function of human genes.

Working as part of larger study called the 1000 GenomesProject, the team developed a series of filters to identify commonerrors in the human genome, which maps the entire geneticcode. “The key questions we focused on for this study were howmany of these LoF variants were real and how large a role mightthey play in human disease,” said Daniel MacArthur of the SangerInstitute, who worked on the team.

The researchers looked at nearly 3,000 possible LoF variants inthe genomes of 185 people from Europe, East Asia and WestAfrica. Their findings were published in the journal Science onThursday. Loss of function variants are genetic changes that arepredicted to severely disrupt the function of genes. Some areknown to cause severe human diseases such as muscular dystro-phy and cystic fibrosis.

Previous genome sequencing projects have suggested thereare hundreds of these variants in the DNA of even perfectlyhealthy individuals, but researchers were not able to tell exactlyhow many. In this study, the filters revealed that 56 percent of the3,000 possible LoFs analysed were unlikely to seriously affectgene function. — Reuters

1% of human genes switched off: Study

H E A L T HSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

C L A S S I F I E D SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

No: 15363

CHANGE OF NAME

ACCOMMODATION

F O R S A L E

To let from March 1, 2012, 1semi furnished big room withattached toilet from a 3 bedroom spacious flat in B’neidAl-Ghar. Ideal for executives.Rent KD 75/- for single occu-pancy and KD 95/- for doubleoccupancy. Contact:60914165. (C 3868)

Sharing available forChristian family, C-A/C, room+ bathroom, near LearnersAcademy, Abbassiya. Smallfamily or two bachelors.Contact: 66265733 /24346514.

(C 3869)12-2-2012

MISCELLANEOUS

A Kuwaiti woman is lookingto hire a driver. No residencytransfer required. Contact:99215511. (C 3872)

16-2-2012

SITUATION VACANT

Original guaranteedPalestinian virgin olive oil,large black and green olivesfor sale. Tel: 66517417

Whole Floor or small villaneeded for rent in Shaab,Mansoriya, Nozha, AbdullahAl-Salem or Shamiya. Directcontact with owner. Tel:9989018-99169016

A camp for rent in Kabedincluding five tents with allservices. Complete privacy+ game arcade. Tel:97177714

Size 36 air pressure gun forsale in addition to a scope,safety lock. Shooting range350 meters +bag+25 shots.Price KD 70. Tel: 97790478

A 3700 watt, 2012 modelASTRA generator for sale.Japanese parts assembledin China with pressure andgas meters. Price KD 85. Tel:60066891

For rent in Hawalli a onebedroom (4x4m) and a7x3.5 m reception+ terrace,fully equipped kitchen andbathroom. Tunis street,behind Al-Andalus pharma-cy. Tel: 99683200

A 2008 white, 1600 CCNissan Sunny. Price KD1700. Tel: 99553221

A 2008 dark blue 6 cylinderToyota Prado with Beigesued interior, low mileage,touch A/C, CD, cruise con-trol, front and rear sensorsfor sale. Price KD 6650. Tel:99275550

A 2009 white, 6 cylinderToyota Prado with 40,000mileage touch A/C, CD,cruise control, front andrear sensors for sale. PriceKD 7850. Tel: 97477508-55809093

A 2009 YUKUN SuburbanGMC XL with low mileageand beige sued interior,electric seats, cruise control,super headlights, rear cam-era, remote recording and

TUITION

Business managementteacher with doctoral degreefor universities, institutions,corporate & all student levels.Over 10 years experience.Call 66495951. (C 3817)

Mathematics teacher,Intermediate and secondaryExams models, Easy method,Exams from past years withsolutions. 97301901

English teacher (3) yearsexperience, looking for a joband ready to start with alleducational stages.55963993

Mathematics teacher forUniversities, Institutions,Foreign Schools, Administra-tive, American, English,Australian, Bahrain, Electricand Gulf Sciences, Algbra

Chevrolet Optra 2009 is onimmediate sale for KD 2,350/-as expat leaving Kuwait.Showroom maintained and inexcellent condition. Contact:99754454.

(C 3867)11-2-2012

I, Medamalli VenkataSubbaiah, holder of IndianPassport No: F4933824, resi-dent of S/o M. Subbaiah,Kuppavari Palli (Village),Seetharampuram (Post),Rajampet (Mandal), KadapaDistrict, Andra Pradesh,have changed my name toMedamalli Sreenivas.

I, Anis s/o Ali Mohammed,holding Indian PassportNo.E1091168, R/o 147/10Najampura, Bohrawadi,Udaipur (RAJ), havechanged name to SHABBIRALI MOHAMMED s/o AliMohammed in future becalled and known by newname. (C 3873)

I, Pappu Lal s/o Mohan Lal,holder of Indian PassportNo. E5530889 herebychange my name toKAMALESH DEVRA.

(C 3874)16-2-2012

I, Vinod Kumar S/ONarinder Kumar holder ofIndian Passport No.

rear sensors. Price 8550.Tel: 99301914

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Arrival Flights on Saturday 18/2/2012Airlines Flt Route TimeJZR 553 ALEXANDRIA 0:10JZR 185 DUBAI 0:20QTR 138 DOHA 0:20KLM 447 AMSTERDAM 0:30JZR 539 CAIRO 0:50ETH 620 ADDIS ABABA 1:45THY 772 ISTANBUL 2:15PIA 239 SIALKOT 2:20UAE 853 DUBAI 2:35OMA 641 MUSCAT 2:50QTR 148 DOHA 2:55DHX 370 BAHRAIN 2:55MSR 612 CAIRO 3:00FDB 67 DUBAI 3:05ETD 305 ABU DHABI 3:10GFA 211 BAHRAIN 3:15THY 770 ISTANBUL 4:50DHX 170 BAHRAIN 5:15FCX 201 DUBAI 5:30JZR 503 LUXOR 5:55KAC 416 JAKARTA 6:25JZR 555 ALEXANDRIA 6:35BAW 157 LONDON 6:40KAC 412 MANILA 6:45KAC 206 ISLAMABAD 7:40FDB 53 DUBAI 7:45KAC 352 COCHIN 7:50KAC 382 DELHI 7:50KAC 302 MUMBAI 7:55JZR 531 ASSIUT 8:00KAC 284 DHAKA 8:15KAC 362 COLOMBO 8:20KAC 344 CHENNAI 8:25UAE 855 DUBAI 8:30ABY 125 SHARJAH 9:00QTR 132 DOHA 9:05ETD 301 ABU DHABI 9:15FDB 55 DUBAI 9:20GFA 213 BAHRAIN 9:55RKM 310 RAS ALKHAIMAH 10:40JZR 165 DUBAI 11:20RBG 3553 ALEXANDRIA 11:35IRM 5066 MASHAD 12:40BAB 436 BAHRAIN 12:55MSR 610 CAIRO 12:55KAC 672 DUBAI 13:20GFA 219 BAHRAIN 13:25MSR 621 ASSIUT 13:30JZR 241 AMMAN 13:35FDB 57 DUBAI 13:50MSR 606 LUXOR 13:55UAL 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 14:05GRF 93 KANDAHAR 14:15QTR 140 DOHA 14:20KNE 745 JEDDAH 14:25SVA 500 JEDDAH 14:30RJA 640 AMMAN 14:40KAC 562 AMMAN 14:45KAC 786 JEDDAH 14:50JZR 257 BEIRUT 15:00LMU 611 ALEXANDRIA 15:10QTR 134 DOHA 15:25KNE 839 JEDDAH 16:15JZR 535 CAIRO 16:25IRC 6791 MASHAD 16:30JZR 357 MASHAD 16:50ETD 303 ABU DHABI 16:50KAC 118 NEW YORK 16:55UAE 857 DUBAI 16:55GFA 215 BAHRAIN 17:15CLX 792 LUXEMBOURG 17:15SVA 510 RIYADH 17:20ABY 127 SHARJAH 17:40JZR 777 JEDDAH 17:45

KAC 550 SOHAG 18:00ALK 227 COLOMBO 18:10RBG 3563 ALEXANDRIA 18:25FDB 63 DUBAI 18:40KAC 502 BEIRUT 18:45KAC 542 CAIRO 18:50JZR 177 DUBAI 18:50JZR 125 BAHRAIN 19:00QTR 6130 DOHA 19:00KAC 178 GENEVA 19:10KAC 618 DOHA 19:15IRA 607 MASHAD 19:20KAC 674 DUBAI 19:25KAC 104 LONDON 19:35KAC 774 RIYADH 19:40KAC 790 MEDINAH 19:55SYR 341 DAMASCUS 20:00JAI 572 MUMBAI 20:10OMA 647 MUSCAT 20:15AIC 975 CHENNAI 20:25AXB 393 KOZHIKODE 20:40MSR 618 ALEXANDRIA 20:45KAC 788 JEDDAH 20:55DHX 372 BAHRAIN 21:00KNE 789 JEDDAH 21:05KNE 843 JEDDAH 21:15MEA 402 BEIRUT 21:20GFA 217 BAHRAIN 21:25QTR 136 DOHA 21:35UAE 859 DUBAI 21:40KLM 445 AMSTERDAM 22:05KAC 614 BAHRAIN 22:05FDB 61 DUBAI 22:15JZR 135 BAHRAIN 22:30JZR 239 AMMAN 22:45UAL 981 BAHRAIN 23:00BBC 43 DHAKA 23:45DLH 636 FRANKFURT 23:50

Departure Flights on Saturday 18/2/2012Airlines Flt Route TimePIA 216 KARACHI 0:30UAL 981 WASHINGTON DC 0:45AIC 976 GOA 0:50JZR 530 ASSIUT 1:15DLH 637 FRANKFURT 1:20KLM 447 AMSTERDAM 1:45ETH 621 ADDIS ABABA 2:45THY 773 ISTANBUL 3:15PIA 240 SIALKOT 3:30FDB 68 DUBAI 3:45UAE 854 DUBAI 3:50OMA 642 MUSCAT 3:55DHX 371 BAHRAIN 3:55MSR 613 CAIRO 4:00ETD 306 ABU DHABI 4:00QTR 139 DOHA 4:40QTR 149 DOHA 5:40THY 771 ISTANBUL 5:50JZR 164 DUBAI 6:55GFA 212 BAHRAIN 7:00JZR 240 AMMAN 8:05FDB 54 DUBAI 8:25BAW 156 LONDON 8:40JZR 256 BEIRUT 9:00KAC 671 DUBAI 9:00JZR 534 CAIRO 9:15KAC 561 AMMAN 9:20KAC 785 JEDDAH 9:25KAC 101 LONDON 9:35UAE 856 DUBAI 9:40ABY 126 SHARJAH 9:45ETD 302 ABU DHABI 10:00KAC 549 SOHAG 10:00FDB 56 DUBAI 10:05QTR 133 DOHA 10:10

GFA 214 BAHRAIN 10:40JZR 356 MASHHAD 10:50RKM 311 RAS ALKHAIMAH 11:40KAC 165 ROME 11:45KAC 541 CAIRO 12:00RBG 3564 ALEXANDRIA 12:15JZR 776 JEDDAH 12:15KAC 501 BEIRUT 13:00MSR 611 CAIRO 13:55IRM 5065 MASHHAD 14:15GFA 220 BAHRAIN 14:20JZR 176 DUBAI 14:25MSR 622 ASSIUT 14:30FDB 58 DUBAI 14:35MSR 607 LUXOR 14:55KAC 673 DUBAI 15:05KNE 746 JEDDAH 15:10UAL 982 BAHRAIN 15:20KAC 789 MADINAH 15:30RJA 641 AMMAN 15:35KAC 617 DOHA 15:50JZR 124 BAHRAIN 15:50KAC 787 JEDDAH 15:55LMU 612 ALEXANDRIA 15:55SVA 505 JEDDAH 16:00KAC 773 RIYADH 16:25QTR 141 DOHA 16:30KAC 153 ISTANBUL 16:35KNE 840 JEDDAH 17:05JZR 238 AMMAN 17:15QTR 135 DOHA 17:25IRC 6792 MASHHAD 17:30ETD 304 ABU DHABI 17:35JZR 538 CAIRO 17:40GRF 82 BAGHDAD 18:00UAE 858 DUBAI 18:10GFA 216 BAHRAIN 18:15ABY 128 SHARJAH 18:25SVA 511 RIYADH 18:35CLX 792 ONG KONG 18:45JZR 266 BEIRUT 18:45BAB 437 BAHRAIN 18:55KAC 613 BAHRAIN 19:00RBG 3554 ALEXANDRIA 19:05ALK 228 DUBAI 19:10FDB 64 DUBAI 19:20JZR 134 BAHRAIN 19:40JZR 184 DUBAI 19:55KAC 283 DHAKA 20:15IRA 616 AHWAZ 20:20QTR 6131 DOHA 20:30SYR 342 DAMASCUS 21:00KAC 331 TRIVANDRUM 21:00DHX 171 BAHRAIN 21:00KAC 351 KOCHI 21:05JAI 571 MUMBAI 21:10OMA 648 MUSCAT 21:15MSR 619 ALEXANDRIA 21:45KNE 790 JEDDAH 21:50KAC 543 CAIRO 21:55DHX 373 BAHRAIN 22:00KNE 844 JEDDAH 22:05KAC 675 DUBAI 22:10MEA 403 BEIRUT 22:20GFA 218 BAHRAIN 22:25KAC 381 DELHI 22:30FCX 102 BAHRAIN 22:30QTR 137 DOHA 22:35JZR 554 ALEXANDRIA 22:45KAC 301 MUMBAI 22:45UAE 860 DUBAI 22:50KAC 205 ISLAMABAD 23:00KLM 445 BAHRAIN 23:05FDB 62 DUBAI 23:10JZR 528 ASSIUT 23:35KAC 411 BANGKOK 23:55

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i n f o r m a t i o nSATURDAY, FEBRUARY18, 2012

ACROSS1. Any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted.5. Tropical starchy tuberous root.9. A strong current of air.13. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.14. A fraudulent business scheme.15. A state in the western United States.16. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegeta-bles.17. An inclination to withhold approval from some person or group.19. Any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap of toddypalms or from fermented molasses.20. The syllable naming the fourth (subdominant) note of the diatonicscale in solmization.22. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.23. An ugly evil-looking old woman.25. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.27. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).28. A heavy brittle diamagnetic trivalent metallic element (resemblesarsenic and antimony chemically).30. An organization of independent states to promote international peaceand security.31. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.35. South American wood sorrel cultivated for its edible tubers.37. A radioactive element of the actinide series.38. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.39. Port city in northwestern Belgium and industrial center.41. Long-tailed brilliantly colored parrot of Central and South America.45. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down byground control using precision approach radar.46. German mystic and theosophist who founded modern theosophy.47. An informal term for a father.48. Thigh of a hog (usually smoked).49. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.50. A master's degree in fine arts.52. Before noon.54. (used of count nouns) Every one considered individually.59. A person to whom money is paid.62. An independent agency of the United States government responsiblefor collecting and coordinating intelligence and counterintelligence activi-ties abroad in the national interest.63. A city in northern India.65. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.66. A nap in the early afternoon (especially in hot countries).69. (informal) Of the highest quality.70. (Judaism) Sacred chest where the ancient Hebrews kept the twotablets containing the Ten Commandments.71. Make a marcel in a woman's hair.72. The cry made by sheep.

DOWN1. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh.2. Someone who copies the words or behavior of another.3. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.4. An industrial city in southern Poland on the Vistula.5. A radioactive transuranic element produced by bombarding plutoniumwith neutrons.6. The district occupied entirely by the city of Washington.7. An informal term for a father.8. Type genus of the Amiidae.9. A Russian prison camp for political prisoners.10. A city in central New York.11. British writer of short stories (1870-1916).

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12. (Greek mythology) The Titaness who was mother of Helios and Seleneand Eos in ancient mythology.18. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.21. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.24. Relatively small gnawing animals having a single pair of constantlygrowing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing.26. (Babylonian) A demigod or first man.29. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation.32. In bed.33. A ruler of the Inca Empire (or a member of his family).34. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.36. A dull persistent (usually moderately intense) pain.40. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).42. Affect with wonder.43. Germanic barbarian leader who ended the western Roman Empire in476 and became the first barbarian ruler of Italy (434-493).44. A rotating disk shaped to convert circular into linear motion.51. A federal agency established to regulate the release of new foods andhealth-related products.53. A flat-bottomed volcanic crater that was formed by an explosion.55. (computer science) A kind of computer architecture that has a largenumber of instructions hard coded into the cpu chip.56. The emotion of hate.57. Type genus of the family Arcidae.58. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and theTitans in ancient mythology.60. Noisy talk.61. Electronic warfare undertaken under direct control of an operationalcommander to locate sources of radiated electromagnetic energy for thepurpose of immediate threat recognition.64. Light informal conversation for social occasions.67. A state in midwestern United States.68. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Berdych, Del Potro join Federer in quartersROTTERDAM: Tomas Berdych andJuan Martin del Potro joined restingtop seed Roger Federer in theRotterdam Open quarter-finals onThursday. Second seed Berdychadvanced with only minimal effort asopponent Marcos Baghdatis quit with aleft foot injury after 19 minutes oncourt while trailing 3-0 in their secondround match. But Del Potro, the num-ber three seed making his debut here,had a battle on his hands before hefinally got past Slovak Karol Beck 6-4, 7-5.

On Wednesday, Federer moved eas-ily into the last eight at the Ahoy stadi-um when scheduled second roundopponent Mikhail Youzhny withdrew aday before their contest with a left footinjury. Federer still had to go out andwin his opening match againstFrenchman Nicolas Mahut, which hedid, 6-4, 6-4. Del Potro had to over-come a slight bloody nose whichrequired a medical timeout early in thecontest with Beck. Once that was sort-ed, it was back to work for the 2009 USOpen champion, who advanced withnine aces - his last one earned twomatch points.

Del Potro needed almost two hoursto move into a match against Serb sev-enth seed Victor Troicki who put outJesse Huta Galung, the last local playerleft in the tournament. “He played sofast and hits with such a low bounce, Ireally had to keep up,” said Del Potro ofBeck. “It was tough. “But I focused inthe last game on trying to get an ace. Igot one and I’m just glad that I ’mthrough.” Frenchman Richard Gasquet,seeded fifth, continued his steadyprogress at his second tournamentappearance, defeating Russian AlexBogomolov 6-3, 6-2 while Italy’sAndreas Seppi dispatched GermanPhilipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2.

The 16th-ranked Gasquet improvedhis record to seven wins this season tonext face Russian Niklay Davydenko.The Frenchman, with six career titles,went through to victory in just over anhour and a quarter with four aces andfour breaks of the Bogomolov serve.“I’m happy to win in two sets and getinto the quarters,” said the winner, wholost in his first Rotterdam appearancein the 2009 first round. “I didn’t knowhow he plays, but I’m in good shapewith my game and hoping to go fur-ther - why not win the next round?” Hisquarter-final with Davydenko is arepeat of the match he won this monthin Montpellier, taking his record overthe veteran Russian to four wins in fiveencounters.— AFP

BERNE: Uzbekistan will start the fourth roundof the Asian World Cup qualifying competitionwithout five players after what appeared to bea cunning plan to use a “dead rubber” to wipeout yellow cards back-fired. The five playerswere all booked for time-wasting in the last 20minutes of November’s World Cup qualifieragainst Tajikistan, who have lost all five gamesin third round Group C, have not scored andconceded 17 goals. Uzbekistan won 3-0.Having already qualified for the next stage, thebookings meant the quintet had each accumu-lated two yellow cards in the competition toearn one-match bans they had hoped to servein a meaningless final group game againstNorth Korea.

However, FIFA confirmed on Friday that theplayers had been handed an extra one-matchban, meaning they will miss the opening matchof the fourth stage of qualifying as well .“Between the 70th minute (with Uzbekistanalready winning 2-0) and the conclusion of thematch, five Uzbekistan players - who hadalready received one yellow card in previousmatches in round three of the AFC preliminarycompetition - were cautioned in separate inci-dents for deliberately delaying the restart ofthe match,” FIFA said in a statement.

“Shavkatjon Mulladjanov, Sanjar Tursunov,Islom Tuhtahujaev, Server Djeparov and VagizGaliulin have been sanctioned with a one-match suspension, to be served duringUzbekistan’s first match in Round 4 of the Asianpreliminary competition for the 2014 WorldCup, in addition to the automatic suspensionincurred for two yellow cards. “Each player hasalso been fined 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,200).”FIFA, which also fined the Uzbek federation18,000 Swiss francs, said the decision was taken“having reviewed the official match reports andfootage of the incidents, as well as taking intoconsideration all of the circumstances”. Thefourth round of the competition consists of twogroups of five teams, with the draw to be heldin Kuala Lumpur in March.—Reuters

Uzbeks hoodwinked as cunning

trick backfires

CORPUS CHRISTI: Unbeaten Tavoris Cloudrisks his International Boxing Federation light-heavyweight title and Japan’s Nobuhiro Ishidaseeks a third first-round knockout in a row intoday’s fight card. Cloud, 23-0 with 19 knock-outs, defends his crown against Spanish south-paw Gabriel Campillo, 21-3 with one draw andeight knockouts, while Ishida will meet USsouthpaw Paul Will iams in a l ight-mid-dleweight showdown. Cloud, a 30-year-oldAmerican, won the title in 2009 by unanimousdecision over Britain’s Clinton Woods and fol-lowed with 2010 triumphs over Jamaican-bornGlen Johnson and Colombian Fulgencio

Zuniga the stopped compatriot Yusaf Mack inthe eighth round last June.

“This will be my fourth title defense and I’mlooking forward to getting it over quick,”Cloud said. “They always come to dethrone, killand destroy but I am not the champ for no rea-son. When the final bell rings I’ll be victorious.”Campillo, 34, comes off a draw with Germany’sKaro Murat last October. The Spaniard lost theWBA version of the light-heavyweight crownto Beibut Shumenov of Kazakstan in 2010. “Ibelieve I will come out with the victory,”Campillo said. “Despite what Cloud says, it’smore difficult to become the champion than

retain the belt.”Ishida, 24-6 with two drawn and nine

knockouts, stopped James Kirkland in the firstround last April and Mexican pro debutanteEdson Espinosa in round one last November,but the Asian standout knows Williams is abigger challenge. “He’s the toughest fighter ofmy boxing career but I am ready to win thefight,” Ishida said. “I thank him for giving methe chance but I’m going to win.” The 37-year-old from Osaka lost his interim World BoxingAssociation light-middleweight title toMexico’s Rigoberto Alvarez in a split decisionin 2010 in his rival’s homeland. —AFP

ROTTERDAM: Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus serves to Thomas Berdych from CzechRepublic during their second round match at the ABN Amro tennis tournament. — AP

Unbeaten Cloud risks title; Ishida faces test

Heady dayfor Holmes

PACIFIC PALISADES: J B Holmes, competing inonly his fourth PGA Tour event since having brainsurgery, gave himself a major boost by charginginto contention at the Northern Trust Open inThursday. The big-hitting American birdied four ofhis first five holes, and three of his last four, to carda four-under-par 67 in the opening round at sunnybut wind-buffeted Riviera Country Club. Havingmade just one cut in three starts on the 2012 PGATour, Holmes put himself in position to challengefor a third victory on the US circuit with his bestscore of the season.

“Overall it was a really good day for me,” the29-year-old from Kentucky told reporters aftermixing eight birdies with two bogeys and onedouble-bogey. “We got about four holes wherethe wind wasn’t blowing, so it was whipping mostof the day on us. “Coming in (on his back nine) Imade some bogeys, a couple of them were badbreaks and a couple of them I just hit a bad shot.“But overall I hit the ball pretty good,” saidHolmes, who ended the first round a strokebehind leader Phil Mickelson. “My mindset wasreally good all day, I made a bunch of birdies andputted pretty good.” — Reuters

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 181, 2012

PATTAYA: World number one YaniTseng staged an impressive come-back on the second day of the $1.5million Honda LPGA Thailand tour-nament yesterday before thunder-storms cut short play. After her dis-appointing one-over 73 on theopening day, the Taiwanese defend-ing champion sparkled with a seven-under 65 to get back in the runningin joint seventh place with an eagle,seven birdies and two bogeys.

“In the first round I felt so sadabout the way I had played and real-ly disappointed. I was even crying.But today I feel great,” she said.

Tseng could not fully explain whyshe played so much better in thesecond round which saw animprovement by eight strokes. “Ithink I was more focused and myputting was much better. “I had agood massage last night—that mayhave helped. I told my caddie that Ifelt I could go out and hit seven-under, and that’s what I did.”

Australia’s Karrie Webb moved tothe top of the leaderboard on 10-under for the tournament with fourholes to go when play was suspend-ed for the day. The Australianísincomplete round at the Siam

Country Club’s Pattaya Old Courseincluded a hole-in-one at the 12th. “Ididn’t see it go in but I heard thecrowd roar,” said a delighted Webb.ìIt was a very solid day but a little dis-appointing I couldn’t complete theround today. I hope I can carry onwhere I left off in the morning.”Clubhouse leader when play wassuspended was South Korea’s JiyaiShin on eight-under after shooting a66. Compatriot Amy Yang was alsoon eight-under but with four holesto play.

Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall was afurther shot behind on 65, along

with Norway’s Suzann Pettersen andSouth Korea’s Choi Na-Yeon who stillhad four holes to play. Overnightleader Ai Miyazato from Japan wason six-under in joint seventh place,with five holes left.

Michelle Wie who shot a disap-pointing 75 in the first round had amuch better day, moving up theleaderboard after hitting a four-under 68 with five birdies and justone bogey. With just 70 players in thetournament there is no half-way cut,so there is still an opportunity forthose lower down the field to worktheir way into contention. — AFP

Tseng stages an impressive comeback

PACIFIC PALISADES: Red-hot Phil Mickelson, fresh from victory atthe Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tomorrow, chipped in to birdiehis last hole and grab a one-shot lead at the Northern Trust Openon Thursday. On a tricky day of strong, gusting winds at RivieraCountry Club, the American left-hander delivered a superb five-under-par 66 to finish a stroke in front of compatriots JB Holmesand Hunter Mahan.

American Jonathan Byrd, who played in the stronger gusts ofthe morning, and Swede Carl Pettersson opened with 68s whileBritish world number one Luke Donald launched his PGA Tour sea-son with a 70. However, 30 players were still out on the coursewhen play was suspended in fading light and they will completethe first round. Of those, 2006 winner Rory Sabbatini of SouthAfrica was closest to the lead at two-under par with one holeremaining. Mickelson, champion here in 2008 and 2009, recordedsix birdies and a lone bogey to replicate the scintillating form heunveiled in the final round at Pebble Beach where he closed with aflawless 64.

Having made his only mistake of the day at the par-three 16th,he was delighted to end his round with a 35-foot chip-in from justoff the back of the green at the par-four 18th. “It wasn’t one I wasreally trying to make,” four-times major winner Mickelson toldreporters. “It was quick, it was downhill and I had to play aboutfour or five feet of break. “I was trying to get good speed and try tolet it feed with the break. I got fortunate obviously that it went in.”“I left one or two (shots) out on 16 and 17, and you hate to havesuch a good round and let a few slide late,” added Mickelson, whofailed to birdie the par-five 17th. “To make that shot unexpectedlyon 18 felt like I got one of those back.”

SIZZLING RUNUS Ryder Cup player Mahan, who like Mickelson played in the

afternoon, surged into contention with a sizzling run of four con-secutive birdies from the par-four fifth, his 14th hole. “I hit it goodall day, with just a couple loose swings. Other than that, it was verysolid from tee to green,” Mahan said after recording eight birdies,two bogeys and one double-bogey. “I put myself in good positionall day to make putts.

“The last seven holes the wind started to die down progressive-ly, and by the end, it couldn’t be playing any nicer or any better, soI was excited to come make some birdies late.” Big-hitting Holmeshad even more reason to celebrate his first-round charge as he isplaying in only his fourth PGA Tour event since having brain sur-gery last year. The American returned to competition at lastmonth’s Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, having been side-lined since August after being diagnosed with Chiari malformation,structural defects in the part of the brain which controls balance.

“It feels great to get out here and put in a good round right offthe bat,” the 29-year-old said on a day of winds gusting up to 35mph through the Santa Monica Canyon. “I made a bunch of

birdies, a few mistakes, but overall it was a very good round for me,especially in these conditions. “It was really difficult. We got aboutfour holes where the wind wasn’t blowing. It was whipping most ofthe day on us. “I’m probably not quite 100 percent, but I definitelyfeel a whole lot better with my swing and my game and everythingright now than I did at San Diego for sure.” — Reuters

SAN JOSE: American prospect RyanHarrison saved two match pointsbefore storming through a third-settiebreaker to reach the San Jose Openquarter-finals with a 6-3 2-6 7-6 victoryover compatriot Robbie Ginepri onThursday. The 19-year-old world num-ber 94 saved the match points in the12th game of the deciding set beforeracing through the subsequent tiebreak7-0 against his vastly more experiencedopponent. ìTo be able to keep ittogether in tight spots, especially beingdown two match points, Iím getting alot better at staying under control,îHarrison told reporters. ìAt that point, ifyou lose the match, I just wanted to beable to look back on it and say I tookthe bull by the horns and lost on myterms.î

Harrison struggled to hold serve inthe opening game but soon found hisrhythm to break Ginepri immediately ashe dominated the first set. The 29-year-old Ginepri, who was ranked as high asworld number 15 in 2005, rallied to takethe second set 6-2 and both playersheld firm in the decider until theyounger man pulled clear in the closingstages. Harrison will next face BulgarianDimitar Kutrovsky, a 7-5 6-3 winnerover American lucky loser Blake Strode,who replaced top seed Gael Monfils inthe draw after the Frenchman withdrewfrom the event due to a right kneeinjury on Wednesday.

In the final match of the day, DenisIstomin of Uzbekistan eased to a 6-2 6-2victory over American Michael Russellto set up a quarter-final showdownagainst second seed and triple San Josechampion Andy Roddick. Fourth seedand 2009 champion Radek Stepanek ofthe Czech Republic was the highest-ranked player to fall when he was upset7-6 7-6 by Belgian Steve Darcis, whonext plays Julien Benneteau of France, a6-2 6-4 winner against Gilles Muller. Inthe other early match, sixth seededSouth African Kevin Anderson dis-patched Australian Matthew Ebden 6-16-2 and advanced to face defendingchampion Milos Raonic. — Reuters

Harrison overcomes

Ginepri

Mickelson takes charge at Riviera

Mahan, Holmes tied for second

CALIFORNIA: Phil Mickelson chips out of the rough on the sec-ond hole during the first round of the Northern Trust Open atthe Riviera Country Club on February 16, 2012. — AFP

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

NEW YORK: The Chicago Blackhawkssnapped their nine-game losing skid inemphatic fashion on Thursday, scoring fourgoals in the opening period and beating theNHL Eastern Conference leading New YorkRangers 4-2. Jonathan Toews kicked off thespree with a penalty shot just over a minutein, defenseman Nick Leddy doubled the lead1:03 later, and Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossaadded goals to make it 4-0 before 10 minuteshad elapsed. Chicago, which had 22 shots,was 0-6-1 during the first seven games of anine-game trip that ends Saturday atColumbus.

Marc Staal and Carl Hagelin scored for NewYork, which went 0 for 7 on the power playand missed a chance to jump over Detroit tothe top of the NHL standings. The Rangershad won four straight to open a seven-pointlead in the East over defending Stanley Cupchampion Boston.

BLUES 5, ISLANDERS 1In St Louis, Andy McDonald scored his first

goal of the season to help St Louis comfort-ably beat New York. McDonald has playedonly six games after missing 51 with a concus-sion. TJ Oshie had goal and an assist whileKevin Shattenkirk, Jason Arnott and DavidPerron also scored for the Blues, who movedwithin three points of NHL-leading Detroit.The Blues have points in a team-record 20straight home games (17-0-3) and have 25home wins, one more that the Red Wings formost in the league (25-3-4). Frans Nielsenscored the Islanders’ sole goal.

COYOTES 1, KINGS 0In Los Angeles, Mike Smith posted his

fourth shutout of the season after getting intofirst-period fight, helping Phoenix beat LosAngeles. Smith made 28 saves for his 15thcareer shutout, and Radim Vrbata scored on apower play in the second period for his 27th

goal of the season, equalling a career best.Vrbata’s 25-foot wrist shot from the right cir-cle was his ninth game-winner of the season,one fewer than league-leader Johan Franzenof Detroit. The 10-year veteran right wing hasscored a league-best 19 goals on the road,three more than Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin.The game featured three fights in the firstperiod, including a rare brawl between theteam captains, as the Kings’ Dustin Brown andShane Doan slugged it out.

FLYERS 7, SABRES 2In Philadelphia, Wayne Simmonds scored

twice despite being hit in the face in thewarmup, helping Philadelphia cruise pastBuffalo. Simmonds joined the bench minutesinto the first period, wearing a full face mask.He has a career-high 20 goals this season. MaxTalbot also scored twice and Claude Girouxhad five assists. Erik Gustafsson scored his firstcareer NHL goal as part of a four-goal secondperiod for the Flyers that turned the gamearound after they conceded two goals in thefirst. Jakub Voracek and Scott Hartnell addedgoals in the third for the Flyers. JasonPominville and Thomas Vanek scored forBuffalo.

LIGHTNING 6, SHARKS 5, OTIn Tampa, Martin St Louis scored his sec-

ond goal of the game in overtime, givingTampa Bay victory over San Jose. StevenStamkos had two goals and two assists in his300th NHL game, to take his league-leadingtally to 39 goals this season. Teddy Purcelland Steve Downie also scored for Tampa Bay.The Pacific Division-leading Sharks got goalsfrom Logan Couture, Michal Handzus, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Colin White and TommyWingels.

STARS 3, FLAMES 2, OTIn Dallas, Mike Ribeiro scored in overtime

to lift Dallas past Calgary. Ribeiro’s slap shotfrom just beyond the right circle sailed overthe goalie’s shoulder. Steve Ott and AdamBurish also scored for the Stars. Jarome Iginlascored his team-high 23rd goal, and MikeCammalleri added a goal for the Flames,whose lead over Dallas was cut to two pointsas both teams scramble for the top eight inthe Western Conference.

JETS 4, WILD 3, SOIn St Paul, Minnesota, Evander Kane had

two goals in regulation and the winner in thefourth round of a shootout in Winnipeg’s vic-tory over Minnesota.

Kane has four goals in five games for theJets since returning from injury and 21 for theseason.

He upstaged Devin Setoguchi, who had hisfirst two-goal game for the Wild. Mikko Koivugave the Wild the lead early in the third peri-od, but Alexander Burmistrov equalized on arebound off an end-board ricochet for theJets. — AP

Blackhawks snap 9-game skid

KRASNAYA POLYANA: Lindsey Vonn led thefinal World Cup downhill training session onthe Sochi Olympic course by a huge marginFriday, while other skiers had trouble. Eventhough she stood up out of her tuck beforecrossing the line, Vonn still finished in 1minute, 49.21 seconds on the Rosa Khutorslope, 1.27 seconds ahead of Tina Maze ofSlovenia and 1.49 in front of Elisabeth Goerglof Austria. “Obviously I really like the race hill.The track is perfect,” said Vonn, who canclinch discipline titles in both Saturday’sdownhill and Sunday’s super-combined. “It’s avery unique track. It has everything - sidehills,traverses, flats, steeps, turns like super-G, bigopen turns.” Since Thursday’s training wascanceled due to heavy snowfalls, this was thefirst time skiers got to test the course sincethe two main jumps were shaved down fol-lowing Wednesday’s opening session.

Racers were getting about 25 meters of airoff the tunnel jump, which is the largest onthe course. However, it wasn’t the jumps giv-ing other skiers trouble. Maze crashed into aTV cameraman in the finish area and was visi-bly shaken. After sitting on the snow for awhile, she got up and headed into a medicaltent holding the back of her head. Swiss racerLara Gut caught one of her poles on the freshsnow during her run, jerking her arm up awk-wardly. “I think I pulled a muscle,” Gut said.“Tomorrow I’ll go up to the start and hopeful-ly it will be better.” Kelly Vanderbeek ofCanada fell and did not finish, and Daniela

Merighetti of Italy also lost control.While work was done to push most of the

fresh snow off the course, some remained,and warm temperatures - hovering near thefreezing level - made for spring-like condi-tions. “The snow is really hard to ski on, it’ssticky and it’s taking the skis everywhere,”said Swedish standout Anja Paerson, explain-ing that many racers had trouble with a pitchon the upper section after an area called

Devil’s Spine. “That patch is really bumpy anddark.” In the downhill standings, Vonn holds a230-point lead over Tina Weirather ofLiechtenstein and is 255 points in front ofGeorgl with two downhills remaining afterthis weekend. So if Vonn maintains her lead,or even gives up some points, she will havelocked up her fifth consecutive title in thesport’s signature discipline.

“It’s tough to be as fast as Lindsey - at the

moment it’s almost impossible,” saidWeirather, the daughter of former championsArti Weirather and Hanni Wenzel. “But I likethe course, it’s really special. It’s either reallysteep or really flat but nothing in between. Sothe most important thing is to get a lot ofspeed out of the flats.” That’s why having fastskis will be key, and Vonn is confident in skiman Heinz Heammerle, who previouslyworked for Bode Miller. “He’s been a ski tech-nician for 27 years, so if there’s anyone whoknows how to make my skis fast he’s the guy,”Vonn said. “So I trust tomorrow that my skisare going to be fast and all I have to do is skiwell.”

American teammate Julia Mancuso, how-ever, wasn’t too enthusiastic about the courseafter placing 12th in the final training, 2.54seconds behind Vonn. She noted that thereare two uphill sections, which is unusual fordownhill. “The first one is kind of cool becauseyou go into a jump, then the bottom one withthe sidehill traverse is kind of strange,”Mancuso said.

“I just think they set downhill a lot moreconservative now. They’ve set big turns thatdon’t flow very well. “It’s nice to carry speedand take risk in downhill,” Mancuso added.“That’s when I ski good, when I can see sec-tions of the course where I know I can cut offthe line or take risk and carry more speed.When it’s just the same speed or big turns anda lot of speed control I have a harder timemaking up time on people.” — AP

Eastern Conference Atlantic DivisionW L OTL GF GA PTS

NY Rangers 37 14 5 158 114 79 Philadelphia 32 18 7 189 171 71 Pittsburgh 32 20 5 176 150 69 New Jersey 32 20 4 158 156 68 NY Islanders 24 25 8 135 165 56

Northeast Division Boston 35 18 2 188 126 72 Ottawa 30 22 8 179 183 68 Toronto 29 23 6 176 174 64 Montreal 23 25 10 155 158 56 Buffalo 24 27 6 139 169 54

Southeast Division Florida 27 18 11 143 158 65 Washington 28 23 5 156 160 61 Winnipeg 27 26 6 144 167 60 Tampa Bay 25 26 6 161 194 56 Carolina 21 25 11 147 175 53

Western Conference Central Division

Detroit 39 17 2 185 136 80 St Louis 35 15 7 145 114 77 Nashville 33 18 6 161 150 72 Chicago 30 21 7 180 176 67 Columbus 17 34 6 133 186 40

Northwest Division Vancouver 36 15 6 183 140 78 Calgary 27 22 9 141 155 63 Colorado 28 26 4 147 162 60 Minnesota 25 23 9 129 150 59 Edmonton 22 28 6 150 169 50

Pacific Division San Jose 31 17 7 163 136 69 Phoenix 28 21 9 150 146 65 Los Angeles 27 20 11 124 125 65 Dallas 29 25 3 149 162 61 Anaheim 24 24 9 148 165 57 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth onepoint in the standings and are not included inthe loss column (L).

NHL results/standings

Chicago 4, NY Rangers 2; Philadelphia 7, Buffalo 2; Tampa Bay 6, San Jose 5 (OT); St. Louis 5, NYIslanders 1; Winnipeg 4, Minnesota 3 (SO); Dallas 3, Calgary 2 (OT); Phoenix 1, Los Angeles 0.(OT = overtime, SO = shootout).

Vonn dominates as skiers struggle

ROSA KHUNTOR: United States’s Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course of a women’sWorld Cup downhill training session in Rosa Khuntor, near Sochi, Russia yesterday. — AP

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division

W L PCT GB Philadelphia 20 10 .667 - Boston 15 14 .517 4.5 NY Knicks 15 15 .500 5 Toronto 9 22 .290 11.5 New Jersey 8 23 .258 12.5

Central Division Chicago 25 7 .781 - Indiana 18 12 .600 6 Milwaukee 12 17 .414 11.5 Cleveland 11 16 .407 11.5 Detroit 9 22 .290 15.5

Southeast Division Miami 23 7 .767 - Atlanta 19 11 .633 4 Orlando 19 11 .633 4 Washington 7 23 .233 16 Charlotte 3 26 .103 19.5

Western Conference Northwest Division

Oklahoma City 22 7 .759 - Denver 17 13 .567 5.5 Portland 16 15 .516 7 Utah 14 14 .500 7.5 Minnesota 14 16 .467 8.5

Pacific Division LA Clippers 19 9 .679 - LA Lakers 17 12 .586 2.5 Golden State 11 15 .423 7 Phoenix 12 18 .400 8 Sacramento 10 19 .345 9.5

Southwest Division San Antonio 21 9 .700 - Dallas 19 11 .633 2 Houston 17 13 .567 4 Memphis 16 14 .533 5 New Orleans 6 23 .207 14.5

NBA results/standingsNBA results and standings on Thursday. Indiana 93, New Jersey 88; Chicago 89, Boston 80; LA Clippers 74,Portland 71.

CHICAGO: The Chicago Bulls defendedstrongly before going on to stun theBoston Celtics with a late offensiveburst to pave an 89-80 victory at theUnited Center on Thursday. Chicagorelinquished a 44-35 halftime lead andtrailed briefly at the start of the fourthquarter before Taj Gibson sparked a20-11 run to seal the win. The Celticswere dominant early, opening a 24-18lead after the first quarter, but wererepelled in the latter half of the secondquarter. The Bulls closed the half with a22-5 run, led offensively by JoakimNoah, who scored 10 of his 15 pointsduring the Bulls rally. Defensively,recently signed reserve guard, MikeJames shut down Rajon Rondo, whohad scored eight points in the firstquarter. “I was shocked when coachcalled my name,” James told reporters.“He said it maybe four or five times. Ihad to make him say it one more timejust to be sure. But it’s about beingready, about being prepared. Whenyour number is called, you have tocontribute however you possibly can.”

Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer led

the Bulls with 23 points apiece andboth finished with double-doubles asDeng added 10 assists and Boozerpulled down 15 rebounds. Noah alsohad a double-double for the Bulls with16 rebounds as Chicago enjoyed a 52-37 advantage in that department. “It’stough to win that way when you’regiving teams second and third andfourth opportunities,” said Celtics for-ward Paul Pierce, who had 14 points.“It’s definitely demoralizing. You workso hard on defense, challenge the shotand then they get an extra opportuni-ty. You know that about the ChicagoBulls. You know Joakim Noah. Youknow Carlos Boozer. Those guys areterrors on the boards.” Kevin Garnettled the Celtics with 18 points and 10rebounds and Rondo finished with 17points.

CLIPPERS 74, TRAIL BLAZERS 71In Portland, Oregon, Blake Griffin

had 21 points and 14 rebounds to helpLos Angeles rally from an 18-point sec-ond-half deficit and beat Portland.Chris Paul, scoreless through three

quarters, finished with 13 points as theClippers outscored the Trail Blazers 22-11 during the fourth quarter. The winwas Los Angeles’ first in Portland forthree seasons. Both teams were held toseason lows for points. Nicolas Batumand Jamal Crawford each scored 19points for Portland, which was playingits second straight game without All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, whosprained an ankle Tuesday.

PACERS 93, NETS 88In Indianapolis , Danny Granger

played through a sprained left ankle toscore 32 points and help strugglingIndiana snap a season-worst five-gamelosing skid by beating struggling NewJersey. Granger had missed the Pacersprevious seven quarters and the teamsorely missed his presence. He made10 of 20 shots, 8 of 9 from the free-throw line and grabbed five reboundsin a game the Pacers desperately need-ed to win. Deron Williams scored 29points to lead New Jersey, not quiteenough to snap a skid that hit eightstraight.—Agencies

Raging Bulls charge past Celtics with a late surgeClippers beat Trail Blazers 74-71

CHICAGO: Chicago Bulls small forward Kyle Korver (left) goes after a loose ball against Boston Celtics point guard RajonRondo during the second half of an NBA basketball game. —AP

LONDON: Pakistan international spinner DanishKaneria was named in court yesterday as beinginvolved in a spot-fixing scam that led to the trial of aformer English county cricketer. Prosecutors in thecase of former Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield, whohas pleaded guilty to spot-fixing and faces sentenc-ing yesterday, said the player had been lured into thefix after an approach by Kaneria. The Old Bailey heardthat Kaneria told Westfield he would be paid to con-cede a certain number of runs in a particular over.

Prosecutor Nigel Peters QC said the deal emergedafter another Essex player, Tony Palladino, showedWestfield “the most money he had ever seen”.Kaneria was arrested in connection with the case in2010 but later released without charge. Westfieldadmits receiving £6,000 ($9,200) to bowl so that 12runs would be scored in the first over of a 40-overmatch between Durham and Essex in September2009, although in fact only 10 were scored. This casetook place against the backdrop of Pakistan playersSalman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamerbeing jailed in Britain last year for their role in a sepa-rate spot-fixing scandal in a Test match againstEngland.—AFP

Kaneria implicatedin English

spot-fix case

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

SYDNEY: Sri Lanka posted their biggest-ever one-day international win overAustralia in Sydney yesterday with a crush-ing eight-wicket tri-series ODI victory with101 balls to spare. Sri Lanka bounced backinto finals contention with a bonus-pointvictory on the Duckworth-Lewis methodafter skittling out Australia for 158 off 40.5overs and rattling up a revised winning tar-get of 152 for two in just 24.1 overs. It wasSri Lanka’s largest ODI win over Australia interms of balls remaining. The Sri Lankans,who were winless before yesterday’s gameafter being held to a tie in their previousmatch by leaders India, moved to withinthree points of the Indians after fourgames in the tournament. Skipper MahelaJayawardene steered his side to victorywith an unbeaten knock of 61 off 67 ballswith opener Tillakaratne Dilshan hitting 45off 41. “The intent was good, the aggres-sion, the tempo... it was a good, clinical fin-ish,” Jayawardene said. “The bonus pointwas brilliant, we just wanted a win, butnow we’re definitely back in it. The bonuspoint was the icing on the cake.” KumarSangakkara reached 10,000 career ODIruns in his innings of 30 off 29 balls. ThisaraPerera was judged man-of-the-match in awide open vote having taken two for 29and also effected two run outs inAustralia’s innings.

It was Australia’s fifth-biggest loss inone-day cricket in terms of balls remaining.It was also Australia’s second straightdefeat in the tournament and they faceIndia in Brisbane on Sunday, when theywill again be led by Ricky Ponting in thecontinued absence of injured skipperMichael Clarke. “A really poor day with bat,ball and in the field,” Ponting said. “Nodoubt we’ll have a chat about it as agroup, but the bottom line is we’re goingto have to move on pretty quick. “Fullcredit to Sri Lanka, they bowled and field-ed really well, and played their shots in thechase. “We thought we could use theseam of the ball and capitalize, but thatwasn’t the case. Hopefully Sunday is betterthan tonight.”

Of the Australians, only Clint McKay (1-23 off six overs) enjoyed a good night withthe ball while Brett Lee, on his return 16days after fracturing his toe, finished withone for 42 off seven overs. Sri Lanka set up

their emphatic victory by dismissingAustralia for 158 off 40.5 overs in thematch, which was reduced to 41 overs-a-side by afternoon rain. It was Australia’slowest ODI total at the Sydney CricketGround since 1997 and fourth-lowest in allODIs in Sydney. David Hussey rescuedAustralia from an even lower score afterthe home side had tottered at 88 for sixbefore a two-hour rain delay. He hit adetermined 58 off 64 balls for his thirdhalf-century of the tournament after beingdropped on eight and 31.

David Warner went for 13 being

deceived by a slower ball from LasithMalinga and hitting straight to FarveezMaharoof at mid-on. Ponting’s run of sin-gle-figure scores in the series continuedwhen he was caught and bowled byMaharoof for two. Michael Hussey (13),brought in for Clarke, clouted a huge sixoff Angelo Mathews but was caughtbehind off the next ball and Peter Forrestfollowed shortly afterwards for 16 to leaveAustralia 74 for five. All-rounder Maharoof,brought in for spinner SachithraSenanayake, claimed two for 18 off eightovers.— AFP

Sri Lanka crush AustraliaSangakkara reaches 10,000 career ODI runs

Australia inningsD. Warner c Maharoof b Malinga 13 M. Wade run out 15R. Ponting c & b Maharoof 2P. Forrest c Mathews b Maharoof 16 M. Hussey c Sangakkara b Mathews 13D. Hussey c Thirimanne b Perera 58D. Christian lbw Perera 6C. McKay lbw Herath 3 B. Lee run out 0M. Starc run out 17X. Doherty not out 2Extras (lb-2, w-11) 13 Total (all out, 40.5 overs) 158 Fall of wickets: 1-21 2-37 3-37 4-60 5-74 6-81 7-95 8-104 9-153 Bowling: Malinga 8.5-0-42-1 (w-2), Kulasekera 8-1-29-0, Maharoof8-1-18-2, Mathews 4-0-26-1, Perera 7-1-29-2, Herath 5-1-12-1 (w-1)

Sri Lanka innings M. Jayawardene not out 61T. Dilshan c D. Hussey b McKay 45K. Sangakkara c Doherty b Lee 30D. Chandimal not out 6 Extras (lb-5, w-5) 10Total (for two wickets, 24.1 overs) 152Did not bat: L. Thirimanne, A. Mathews, T. Perera, M. Maharoof,

N. Kulasekara, L. Malinga, R. Herath.Fall of wickets: 1-74 2-133Bowling: Lee 7-0-42-1 (w-2), Starc 4-0-32-0 (w-1), McKay 6-1-23-1

(w-1), Christian 5.1-0-32-0 (w-1), Doherty 2-0-18-0.

SCOREBOARD

Scoreboard after Sri Lanka beat Australia by eight wickets in thesixth match of the one-day international Tri-series, also featuringIndia, at the SydneyCricket Ground yesterday:Australia won the toss and elected to batFollowing a two-hour raindelay, Sri Lanka were set 152 for victory in a maximum of 41 overs.

SYDNEY: Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara (left) celebrates thewicket of Australia’s Clint McKay (right) during their ODI cricket match at theSCG in Sydney yesterday. — AP

Guptill shines as NZ down South AfricaWELLINGTON: New Zealand batsmanMartin Guptill continued a dream run ofform as the Black Caps posted a six wicketwin over South Africa in the openingTwenty20 international in Wellington yes-terday. Guptill’s undefeated 78 off 55 ballswas his sixth successive international half-century, steering New Zealand to four for148 with four balls to spare in reply toSouth Africa’s six for 147. The opener, whoput Zimbabwe’s attack to the sword in therecent tour whitewash, looked comfortableagainst more challenging opposition inSouth Africa’s first trip to New Zealand ineight years.

He smashed four sixes in his innings,one booming effort off LonwaboTsotsobe’s bowling sailing onto the roof ofWestpac Stadium before it bounced backdown onto the pitch. Kane Williamson alsomade a valuable cameo with 24 off 22 balls,

while paceman Tim Southee took three for28 to limit South Africa’s total. New Zealandcaptain Brendon McCullum’s decision tosend South Africa into bat on a slow pitchafter winning the toss paid dividends withearly wickets, preventing the Proteas build-ing momentum. JP Duminy top scored forSouth Africa with 41, while Justin Ontong,returning to the national team after a three-year absence, hit four successive sixes in his32 off 17 balls. Hashim Amla, who hadlooked threatening, was the first to go aftertrying to snatch a quick single off a mis-field in the fourth over, only for Guptill todive in from the field with ball in hand andknock over the stumps. Colin Ingramdeparted for a duck in the next over whenhe charged down the pitch to attack aNathan McCullum off-break, leaving him-self stranded when it slipped past him andinto the hands of Brendon McCullum

behind the wicket. Southee then joined theattack, smashing Levi in the helmet with hissecond ball, then going on to claim thewicket with the last ball of the over whenLevi misjudged a slower ball and sent it sail-ing to Doug Bracewell. AB de Villiers cameto the crease with his side reeling at 38 forthree but could only manage eight off 17balls before being ruled out to a debatablecatch and the carnage continued. DeVilliers hit spinner Ronnie Hira to short cov-er, where Guptill swooped and claimed alow catch, the South African captain initiallystanding his ground until third umpireChris Gaffaney ruled him out after inconclu-sive TV replays. New Zealand, their tails up,then restricted Ontong and Duminy to justsix runs an over through the middle of theinnings, forcing the batsmen onto the backfoot with aggressive bowling and sharpfielding. —AFP

South AfricaR. Levi c Bracewell b Southee 13 H. Amla run out 19C. Ingram st B.McCullum b N.McCullum 0A.B. de Villiers c Guptil b Hira 8J.P. Duminy c Mills b Southee 41J. Ontong c & b Southee 32J. Morkel not out 13J. Botha not out 14Extras (lb7) 7Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 147Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Amla), 2-34 (Ingram), 3-38 (Levi), 4-52 (deVilliers), 5-102 (Ontong), 6-127 (Duminy)Bowling: N.McCullum 4-0-16-1, Mills 4-0-44-0, Southee 4-0-28-3,Hira 2-0-12-1, Bracewell 3-0-10-0, Williamson 2-0-27-0, Nicol 1-0-3-0

New ZealandR. Nicol c Amla b Theron 13M. Guptill not out 78B. McCullum b Duminy 16K. Williamson run out 24C. de Grandhomme c Levi b M.Morkel 2J. Franklin not out 8Extras (lb3, w2, nb2) 7Total (4 wickets; 19.2 overs) 148Fall of wickets: 1-49 (Nicol), 2-90 (B.McCullum), 3-127(Williamson), 4-136 (de Grandhomme)Bowling: A.Morkel 3-0-20-0, Tsotsobe 3-0-28-0, M.Morkel 4-1-26-1, Botha 3.2-0-24-0, Theron 4-0-27-1, Duminy 2-0-20-1Series: New Zealand lead the three-match series 1-0Man of the match: Martin Guptill (NZL)

SCOREBOARDWELLINGTON: Scoreboard in the first Twenty20 internation-al between New Zealand and South Africa at WestpacStadium yesterday:

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012S P O R T S

SAO PAULO: Bebeto, the fleet-footedformer striker who helped Brazil winthe 1994 World Cup, was appointedon Thursday to the local committee incharge of organizing the 2014 tourna-ment in the South American country.The appointment makes Bebeto thesecond big name in Brazilian soccer tojoin the so-called Local OrganizingCommittee, alongside formerBarcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madridstriker Ronaldo, who led Brazil to theirfifth World Cup title in 2002. “It was apleasure, on my birthday, to get thisinvitation,” Bebeto told reporters onhis 48th birthday in Rio de Janeiro. “Itwas like getting my first call up for theWorld Cup, for the Brazil team.

“I never had the joy of playing in aWorld Cup in my own country but now

I will, as a fan, as a representative ... sowe have to do everything possible inorder to have a great World Cup, oneof the greatest World Cups in history.”Bebeto, now a state legislator in Rio,joins the organizing committee asBrazil is struggling to get ready to hostthe world’s premier soccer tourna-ment. Work on stadiums got off to aslow start, many projects are overbudget, and airport infrastructureremains woefully insufficient toaccommodate the 600,000 visitorsexpected for the soccer extravaganza.

While Bebeto celebrated hisappointment, Ricardo Teixeira, head ofthe Brazilian Football Confederation(CBF) and the local World Cup organiz-ing committee, continued to face anonslaught of corruption allegations.

Teixeira, who has headed the CBF for22 years, has denied any wrongdoing.Bebeto, who formed a deadly duowith Romario when Brazil won the1994 World Cup in the United States, isperhaps best remembered for his“rocking the baby” goal celebrationagainst the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

However, his new position mightput him at odds with his old strikingpartner. Romario, who is now a federalcongressman, has been one of themost outspoken critics of Teixeira andhis handling of preparations for thetournament. Pressure has mounted onTeixeira in recent days after Folha deS.Paulo newspaper reported that acompany linked to him overchargedthe organisers of a November 2008

friendly match between Brazil andPortugal. Another Brazilian newspa-per, O Globo, said the latest accusa-tions could force Teixeira to resignsoon.

Bebeto said the 64-year-old soccerboss seemed “happy and content” onThursday as he chatted about pastWorld Cups with him and Ronaldo.Asked whether Teixeira might finallystep aside, Bebeto said: “I hope hecontinues, and continues to work(because) that is without doubt veryimportant for Brazil.” Ronaldo, whoended his playing career last year, alsodefended Teixeira. “He’s the guy whobrought the World Cup to Brazil andwe owe a lot to him,” the three-timesFIFA World Player of the Year toldreporters in Rio. — Reuters

Bebeto joins Brazil WCup committee

Italian League Juventus v Catania 22:45Aljazeera Sport +1

AFC Champions LeagueEsteghlal v AlEttifaq 20:15 Aljazeera Sport 1

Spanish League Getafe v Espanyol 20:00Aljazeera Sport +1Real Madrid v Racing 21:30 Aljazeera Sport +2

TomorrowSevilla v Osasuna 0:00Aljazeera Sport +5

FA CupChelsea v Birmingham 15:00Aljazeera Sport +3

Everton v Blackpool 28:00Aljazeera Sport +3

Sunderland v Arsenal 20:15Aljazeera Sport +3

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

LOS ANGELES: Former England captainDavid Beckham has offered his support toFabio Capello, the Italian who called timeon Beckham’s international career, afterhis decision to stand down as Englandmanager. In his first public comments onthe issue, Beckham said he was disap-pointed Capello had quit the job so closeto the European championships, but saidhe respected his decision and believedthe manager should always be allowed tochoose the captain.

“I’ve been working with Fabio for quitea few years. It’s sad, obviously that hestepped at a critical stage for England,”Beckham told reporters after training withthe LA Galaxy on Thursday. “You knowhe’s done it for his own reasons. You knowhe’s a manager that I respect a lot, a per-

son I respect a lot. I wish him all the best.”Capello’s turbulent reign as England man-ager ended last week when he resignedafter meeting with the FA, who strippedJohn Terry of the captaincy for allegedlyracially abusing Queens Park Rangers’defender Anton Ferdinand.

Terry, who would have led England atthis year’s European Championship,denies the charge and Capello laterexpressed his frustration that the decisionhad been made without his consultation.When Beckham was asked whether thecaptaincy should be decided by the coachor the FA, he backed the manager.“Coach’s call.

You know I think that’s always thecase,” Beckham said. “Obviously a decisionwas taken ... to take the captaincy away

from John. Going forward, I’m sure thecaptain will be picked by whatever man-ager steps in.”

Beckham, who has not given up hopeof being recalled to the England squadeven after Capello said last year he wastoo old for international duty, also reiter-ated his preference for an Englishman torun the national team.

Beckham offered his support toTottenham Hotspur manager HarryRedknapp, who has emerged as one ofthe frontrunners for the job. “Harry’s agreat man, great manager. His man man-agement is incredible,” Beckham said. “Iknow players, obviously, who have playedup him. I’ve trained under him. He’s notjust a great manager but he’s a great per-son as well.” — Reuters

Beckham backs Redknapp David Beckham

BERNE: Uzbekistan will start the fourth round of theAsian World Cup qualifying competition without fiveplayers after what appeared to be a cunning plan to usea ‘dead rubber’ to wipe out yellow cards back-fired. Thefive players were all booked for time-wasting in the last20 minutes of November’s World Cup qualifier againstTajikistan, who have lost all five games in third roundGroup C, have not scored and conceded 17 goals.Uzbekistan won 3-0. Having already qualified for thenext stage, the bookings meant the quintet had eachaccumulated two yellow cards in the competition toearn one-match bans they had hoped to serve in ameaningless final group game against North Korea.

However, FIFA confirmed on Friday that the playershad been handed an extra one-match ban, meaningthey will miss the opening match of the fourth stage ofqualifying as well. “Between the 70th minute (withUzbekistan already winning 2-0) and the conclusion ofthe match, five Uzbekistan players - who had alreadyreceived one yellow card in previous matches in roundthree of the AFC preliminary competition - were cau-tioned in separate incidents for deliberately delaying therestart of the match,” FIFA said in a statement. — Reuters

Uzbeks hoodwinked as cunning trick backfires

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Sri Lanka crush Australia

Manchester clubs take charge in Europa

PORTO: Manchester City’sYaya Toure (right) from Ivory

Coast, challenges FC Porto’sEliaquim Mangala, from

France, during their EuropaLeague round of 32 first soc-

cer match at the DragaoStadium, Porto on Thursday

Feb 16, 2012. —AP

LONDON: Manchester United earned comfort in the unfamil-iar surroundings of the Europa League with a 2-0 win at Ajaxon Thursday while their English rivals Manchester City foughtback against holders Porto to also take control of their roundof 32 tie. Winger Ashley Young put three-times Europeanchampions United ahead just before the hour mark andJavier Hernandez extended the lead five minutes from timeas they showed they meant business in a competition theywould rather not be in.

Their domestic title rivals Manchester City made it harderfor themselves in Portugal by conceding in the first halfagainst the run of play before an Alvaro Pereira own goal anda late Sergio Aguero strike put them on course for the nextround. Other teams to build a solid advantage ahead of nextweek’s second legs were Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv whowon 4-0 at Salzburg and Atletico Madrid who take back toSpain a 3-1 win over Lazio after fighting back from a goaldown.

The 2004 winners of the UEFA Cup - the Europa League’spredecessor - Valencia secured a 1-0 win at Stoke City to sitpretty halfway through the tie while Twente Enschede cameaway with the same scoreline from Steaua Bucharest on acold night. Schalke 04 were glad to grab an equaliser 15 min-utes from time to draw 1-1 at Viktoria Plzen, while LegiaWarsaw’s tie with Sporting was also evenly balanced after a 2-2 draw in Poland and Udinese and PAOK Salonika played outa 0-0 draw. German side Hanover 96 needed an 80th-minutepenalty by Jan Schlaudraff to complete a comeback at hometo Club Bruges who had taken the lead early in the secondhalf through Maxime Lestienne before Arthur Sobiech’sequaliser.

Wisla Krakow, who played more than an hour with 10 menafter Michal Czekaj was sent off, left it even later to snatch a1-1 draw at home to Standard Liege with Tsvetan Genkovnetting in the 88th minute. In the day’s other games, AZAlkmaar beat Anderlecht 1-0 courtesy of Adam Maher’s 35th-minute goal, Lokomotiv Moscow came from behind to over-come Athletic Bilbao 2-1 and PSV Eindhoven held on to anearly two-goal lead to win 2-1 at Trabzonspor. With theEuropa League something of a consolation prize for teamswho were eliminated from the elite Champions League at thegroup stage, the presence of heavyweights ManchesterUnited and mega-rich Manchester City has injected it with abit of glamour. Having won seven European Cups betweenthem, United and Ajax could easily have been meeting in theChampions League rather than the Thursday sideshow.United manager Alex Ferguson, whose club have never wonthis competition or its predecessor, named a strong team toback up his pre-match assertions they were taking it seri-ously but their first-half performance lacked a cutting edge.The English champions picked up the pace after the breakand made the breakthrough when Nani’s cross eventuallyfound Young in space and the England winger took his timeto pick his spot through the legs of keeper KennethVermeer. Ajax had their chances but United keeper David deGea kept the four-times European champions at bay withsome excellent saves, including one at full stretch fromSiem de Jong’s curling shot in the first half. United madeabsolutely sure they left the Netherlands in the driving seatwhen substitute Antonio Valencia broke to feed Hernandez,who exchanged passes with Wayne Rooney before slottinghome on 85 minutes.— Reuters

MUNICH: Standing head-to-head for the customary “stare-down,”challenger Dereck Chisora slapped WBC heavyweight championVitali Klitschko during the weigh-in for their title fight today. Bothcamps had to be pulled apart Friday after the British fighter, his facepartially concealed by a Union Jack handkerchief, hit Klitschkoacross the face with his open right hand and launched a series ofinsults. Klitschko did not retaliate. “I am going to hit back today,” theUkrainian champion said. “He will get his beating.”

Chisora’s blow may have been the closest he gets to hurting thechampion. About the only advantage Chisora might have is his age.The WBC champion is 40, while Chisora is 28. But Klitschko has amassive advantage in height and reach and few give Chisora achance of an upset. Klitschko weighed in at 110.5 kilograms, Chisoraat 109.4 kilos. Chisora has bravely predicted he will knock out theUkrainian in the eighth round and claims he can “smell fear” inKlitschko’s camp. Klitschko has brushed aside such boasts but sayshe takes the British challenger seriously.

“Chisora can hit, and I do too. So I don’t see it going 12 rounds,”Klitschko said earlier ahead of the fight in Munich’s Olympic Hall.The Zimbabwe-born Chisora is one of those who say the heavy-weight division has become boring because of the dominance ofVitali and his younger brother Wladimir, who holds the other signifi-cant belts. But they remain huge drawing cards in Germany, wheretheir fights have become heavily choreographed events, with rockshows in the ring, laser lights and champagne flowing. The 12,500capacity arena is sold out Saturday.— AP

United, City notch away wins to sit in driving seat

Chisora slaps Klitschko