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6UN hailsKuwait’s efforts to assist Syrian refugees 9

Egypt Islamist party holds pro-Morsi rally 48

Sharapova in Qatar semi-finals

Meteor explodes over Russia, 1,000 injured

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013 RABI ALTHANI 6, 1434 AH No: 15721

Asteroid will buzz, but miss Earth

KUWAIT: Salem Al-Mubarak Street in Salmiya erupted in festivities yesterday as thousands of people joined the month-long Hala February Festival that kicked off yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat (See Page 4)

BEIRUT: Heavy fighting for control of the international air-port in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and a major mili-tary air base nearby has killed some 150 rebels and gov-ernment soldiers over the past two days, activists said yes-terday.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the casualties arealmost evenly divided between opposition fighters andtroops loyal to President Bashar Assad. Rebels launched amajor attack on Aleppo’s civilian airport and the adjacentNairab military airfield on Wednesday. So far, the rebelshave captured most of the “Brigade 80” base, which isresponsible for protecting the area, as well as an armycheckpoint. The airport itself and the military airfield,which have their own defenses as well, still remain inregime hands.

Yesterday, the Observatory and the Local CoordinationCommittees activist group said rebels and PresidentBashar Assad’s forces were shelling each other in renewedclashes in and around the facilities.

“The operation will continue until we control the airport

and Nairab,” Col Abdul-Jabbar Al-Aqidi, commander of therebels’ Military Council in Aleppo, told Al-Arabiya TV.

Control of Aleppo international airport and Nairabwould be a huge strategic shift for Syria’s northeasternregion, giving the opposition a potential air hub enablingaid and other flights. But in order to start using the airport,the rebels first would likely have to secure all of the embat-tled city of Aleppo, where fighting has settled into abloody stalemate in the streets and squares, as well asmuch of the surrounding countryside.

In Geneva, the UN World Food program said some40,000 Syrians have fled the northeastern town ofShadadah. Rebels seized the town and most of a nearby oilfiled in days of clashes earlier this week. Most of the fleeingSyrians went to the provincial capital of Hassakehprovince, which produces most of Syria’s oil. WFP spokes-woman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters yesterday in Genevathat her agency sent 62 metric tons of food, enough for10,000 people in Shadadah and Hassakeh. The UnitedNations says nearly 70,000 people have been killed sinceSyria’s crisis started in March, 2011. —AP

150 die in clashes for Syria airport

MOSCOW: A meteor streaked across the sky and explodedover Russia’s Ural Mountains with the power of an atomicbomb yesterday, its sonic blasts shattering countless win-dows and injuring nearly 1,000 people.

The spectacle deeply frightened many Russians, withsome elderly women declaring that the world was comingto an end.

The meteor - estimated to be about 10 tons - enteredthe Earth’s atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and shattered into pieces about30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above the ground, theRussian Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showedan object speeding across the sky about 9:20 am localtime, just after sunrise, leaving a thick white contrail andan intense flash.

The meteor released several kilotons of energy abovethe Chelyabinsk region, the science academy said. Theshock wave blew in an estimated 100,000 square meters(more than 1 million square feet) of glass, according to cityofficials.

“There was panic. People had no idea what was hap-pening,” said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, acity of 1 million about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) east ofMoscow.

“We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to seewhat it was and we heard a really loud, thundering sound,”he said by telephone.

Meanwhile, an asteroid hurtled toward Earth’s back-yard, destined yesterday to make the closest known flybyfor a rock of its 150-foot (45-meter) size. In a startling coin-cidence, a meteor exploded above Russia’s Ural Mountainsjust hours before the asteroid was due to zoom past theplanet.

Scientists insisted the meteor had nothing to do withthe incoming asteroid since they appeared to traveling in

Continued on Page 10

This frame grab is made from a video done with a dash-board camera on a highway from Kostanai, Kazakhstan toChelyabinsk region provided by Nasha Gazeta newspaperyesterday. — AP

L O C A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

KUWAIT: Former Speaker of theHouse Ahmad Al-Saadoun said consti-tutional freedoms were being violatedin Kuwait at an unprecedented scaleand the country never witnessedimprisonments and political harass-ment at this scale earlier. He said hehas seen political life in Kuwait sincethe 50s but violations of rights andarrest of activists were never the orderof the day.

Addressing a rally organized by theKuwait University students’ union overthe weekend, Al-Saadoun said theexoneration of some Twitter users wasa realistic step and the ruling in thisregard was along expected lines sincethey had not committed any crimeand were detained without any evi-dence.

Referring to the students’ backedrally at the university and the role ofthe youth movements and activities,Al-Saadoun said youth have always ledactivities that played a major role inthe political movements and broughtabout a change. He said the youthmovement was similarly strong in the1980s when young people supportedpoliticians through various actionsincluding the famed Mondaydiwaniyas.

Responding to calls from certainquarters asking him to stay away frompolitical life in view of his advancedage, he said he will continue as long ashe felt able to serve Kuwait andKuwaitis and will not retire unless thepeople told him that “enough, we donot want you.”

Meanwhile, former MP MusallamAl-Barrak told journalists that with thestudents and unions making commoncause with the popular movement, itwill help achieve people’s demands,

including adherence to the constitu-tion and not messing with the elec-toral system.

He said student power has beenplaying a major role since a long timein history, be it local issues or interna-tional. Thus, the students’ opinionsmust be respected.

Al-Barrak said repression on stu-dents for expressing their opinionsmeans that the government wants toturn Kuwait into a police state. “Ibelieve that Kuwaiti people are freeand will never accept this repressivesystem. As long as there is a move-ment by the workers and students, thegovernment will have to give in topeople’s demands,” he added.

About the silence of current MPs onthe issue of the harassment of Twitterusers, he said it was an Assembly out-side the confines of the constitution,and “we expected it to do worse. It isfighting against the youth and thepeople.”

Former MP Ali Al-Diqbasi said thestudents’ movements and unions havea major role in changing governments.He said these movements do notmean chaos, rather they are meant tosafeguard the constitution and law. Hesaid the moves to distort the move-ment by drawing up lists of certainstudents and labor leaders revealedbad intentions. The demands of theyouth were clear and fair, and theyonly want to defend the liberties guar-anteed by the constitution and pre-vent anyone from messing with theelection system.

Al-Diqbasi said sections of themedia were reflecting an untrue imageabout people not adhering to the con-stitution and law. He described thecurrent Assembly as “shameful” and

said the silence of the incumbent MPsconfirmed that the movement was onthe right track.

MP Khalid Al-Tahoos said the move-ment at the University was the mostsignificant and true, especiallybecause it is youth who build coun-tries by defending freedoms and pro-tecting the constitution.

Al-Tahoos said, “We are facing arepressive government that violatesthe constitution and laws, and fightsthose who do not agree with it as wasevident by its action of pursuing theTwitter users and former MPs whouncovered the government’s viola-tions of the constitution.” He said thissituation will not continue for long,and the government will have to buck-le before the people’s will.

He said the current Assembly didnot represent the will of the people ofKuwait but of a rather small group. Themovement in the streets has moreinfluence than the “one vote”Assembly, he added.

The secretary general of the stu-dents’ alliance, Falah Al-Ajmi, said thestudent movement is part of the socie-ty and we must pursue economic andpolitical reforms. He said the studentpower proved that they can preservethe people’s dignity and safeguard lib-erties. He said the students’ alliancewill stand against the government’srepressive actions and added that “allthose who accuse us of fomentingcrises actually do not supportreforms.” He said he wonderedwhether reform is being ushered in byrestricting freedoms, arresting theyouth and violating the constitution,and said, “It is our duty to stand withthe students and ensure that all casesare dropped.”

Major political role for youth movements

No plans to retire: Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: For the second consecutive year,Zain, the leading telecommunication compa-ny in Kuwait, was awarded with the ‘BestMobile Operator ‘ award from Service Hero,the creators of Kuwait’s only customer satis-faction index. The company ranked firstamong the telecommunication sector inachieving the highest customer satisfactionscores by providing best quality standards.

Zain announced in a press release that theawards ceremony was held on Feb 12, at theHotel Missoni Kuwait and was attended bypublic and private sector leaders. The com-pany stated that the award was received afteran in-depth evaluation by an independentAdvisory Council, which recognized Zain’srole in launching advanced programs andexceptional promotions for its customerbase, as well as playing a leading role in thedevelopment of the telecommunications sec-tor. The company mentioned that the ‘BestMobile Operator ‘ award is based on eight cri-teria: confidence in the product, speed ofservice, quality, price versus value, company’sranking, and behavior of staff, call center and

the usefulness and functionality of the web-site. On this occasion, Hani Al-Kukhun, Zain’sChief Operating Officer commented: “The‘Best Mobile Operator’ award is a recognitionthat demonstrates Zain’s commitment in pro-viding its customers with the highest level of

services. This award also highlights the com-pany’s tireless efforts in surpassing customersexpectations according to the finest level ofquality standards.

Al-Kukhun, pointed out that this presti-gious recognition came to reassure that the

company will strive to maintain a customercentric strategy to deliver an ultimatetelecommunication experience to its cus-tomers. Al-Kukhun, concluded: “This awardreinforces Zain’s commitment in maintainingthe values of its brand name. We are greatlymotivated to continue our pledge in provid-ing exclusive services and telecommunica-tion products to meet the requirements ofour customers as well as facilitating their per-sonal, professional, and business needs.”

Zain wins ‘Best Mobile Operator’ award from Service Hero

KUWAIT: All eyes will be on a meeting today of for-mer opposition MPs who plan to resume efforts seek-ing to contain a rift after two opposition groupsdefected from a coalition leading the anti-govern-ment movement.

The Nahj Group announced last week that thePopular Action Bloc and Islamic ConstitutionalMovement were granted their requests to secedefrom the coalition, leading speculation of conflictemerging in the opposition which seemed unitedsince boycotting last December’s parliamentary elec-tions in protest against an emergency decree thataltered the voting mechanism a couple of monthsbefore.

The news came on the heels of an announcementof the creation of the Opposition Coalition, underwhich several opposition groups are incorporatedincluding the National Front which includes thePopular Action Bloc, as well as activists running the‘Karamat Watan’ (dignity of a nation) Twitter accountused to announce details about demonstrations carry-ing the same name. The Coalition is reportedly com-peting with the Coordinating Committee of the PublicMovement, a group that includes Nahj and someindependents, for leading public pressure whichpushes for demands ranging between dissolving thepresent parliament, and adopting a parliamentary sys-tem based on an elected cabinet.

The Majority Bloc, a coalition of 35 oppositionistswho formed a majority in the 50-seat parliamentelected February 2012 and dissolved by a court rulingfour months later, hopes during its meeting tonight toavoid having the new developments negatively affectthe opposition’s unity. “The two parties made it clearto the Majority Bloc that they are seeking cooperationwhich both see necessary as they realize that theycannot lead the public movement alone”, said sourcesclose to the Majority Bloc, which functions as anumbrella to both the Opposition Coalition and theCoordinating Committee of the Public Movement.

The sources who spoke to Al-Rai on the conditionof anonymity further explained that the two partiesagreed on the general goals but disagree on themethods by which they seek to achieve them. “In real-ity, it is a struggle for leadership, or in other words,who takes the driver’s seat in the public movement”,they said.

Opposition looks to contain

‘leadership struggle’

By Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: Salem Al-Mubarak Street in Salmiyaturned into a fiesta-like atmosphere at the open-ing ceremony of a month-long Hala FebruaryFestival yesterday. The portion of Salem Mubarakwas closed to traffic to give way to the celebra-tion which was enjoyed by families especially theshows related to cultural heritage of Kuwait;music and dancing. The festival which is now onthe 14th straight year also became a venue todisplaying different kinds of colorful souvenirsfrom hats in the color of Kuwait, to balloons forkids. The organizers also distributed prizes andawards to participants/attendees. “I am here to

celebrate the festival. I heard they’ll be organiz-ing much better and different events. So I amhere to witness the show,” said a Kuwaiti oldman sitting on a wheelchair when asked by theKuwait Times prior to the ceremony.

The epicenter of this celebration will be thesuperb shopping extravaganzas or discountedprices which will be given to customers by vari-ous participating malls, shopping centers/outletsall over Kuwait. The event portrays an atmos-phere of Kuwaiti warmth and hospitality whichattracts people from all walks of life in Kuwaitand visitors from neighboring countries sincesome Kuwaiti airlines are offering some huge dis-counts on airfares, accommodation as well as

purchases in shops. Various ministries also dis-play their services and showcase their functionsand capabilities.

Twenty two cars will be given away includingthousands of cash gift ranging from KD50-500.This year’s celebration also showcased thebiggest mobile stage in the world, about 100meters long, circuses, booth/stalls and roamingcartoon characters and display of some vin-tage/old/classic cars on the street. Kuwait cultur-al heritage were also showcased along with thedisplay of some art crafts from various countriesaround the world.

“I heard many things about the festival but Inever attended the event. I came to see for the

first time, and it was really beautiful,” the Kuwaitisaid. Earlier, the Ministry of Commerce andIndustry Undersecretary Abdul-Aziz Al-Khaldireleased a statement in which he recognized thefestival’s influence in boosting tourism and tradein Kuwait, which “highly benefits” the state’seconomy. Also MP Adel Al-Khurafi said that thefestival comes at the right time “in which we arein dire need for national festival and occasionsthat boost patriotism in the society”.

Chairman of the Salmiya Co-op SocietyAbdurrahman Al-Sharrah announced specialoffers and “huge discounts” during the festivalwhich ends on March 9, in addition to dailydraws on cars and cash prizes.

L o c a lSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Hala February kicks off

L o c a lSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

L O C A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

BRUSSELS: Valerie Amos, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarianaffairs and emergency relief coordina-tor, has praised His Highness the Amirof Kuwait for hosting the internationaldonors’ conference on Syria on Jan 30.“We were hosted by HH the Amir ofKuwait which was extremely impor-tant. Kuwait took the lead in terms ofmaking pledges at that conference,pledging $300 million for humanitari-an effort,” she told the Kuwait NewsAgency during a visit to Brussels.

“I think that was very well received.The conference was extremely wellorganised and I think the fact ofKuwait taking the lead in the pledgingled other countries to also respondgenerously,” said the UN’s top mosthumanitarian aid official.

“The Secretary General, myself thewhole of the UN system are enor-mously grateful to the Amir and to thepeople of Kuwait for their efforts onour behalf,” noted Amos who has alsoserved as leader of the House of Lordsin the UK.

She noted that the response fromthe other Gulf countries like SaudiArabia, the UAE, Bahrain was“extremely positive and recognized assuch”. Amos noted that a number ofcharities in the Gulf countries havebeen active in relief and aid work forSyrian refugees particularly in neigb-houring countries like Turkey andJordan. “The conference gave a recog-nition to that work which I think isimportant, “ she said.

Earlier, speaking at a press confer-ence Amos said she is in Brussels aspart of a tour of a number of EU coun-

tries which are strong supporters ofhumanitarian work. The focus of hervisit is the humanitarian issues in Syriaand Mali and the wider Sahel region,she said. She will meet KristalinaGeorgieva, EU Commissioner forHumanitarian Aid and Andris Piebalgs,EU Commissioner for Development,and will brief the EU Political andSecurity Committee. She will also meetBelgian and NATO officials during hervisit to the Belgian capital.

“In Syria the situation is deteriorat-ing as the fighting continues to devas-tate the lives of millions of Syrians,”said the UN official.

She estimated that four millionSyrians require immediate humanitari-an assistance including three millionwho are internally displaced and over700,000 who have taken refuge inneighbouring countries.

“While political solution continuesto evade us the humanitarian commu-nity continues to try do more to helpSyrians caught up in the conflict,” shesaid. Amos said she is talking to boththe Syrian regime and oppositiongroup to improve access to humani-tarian aid. “In the recent pledging con-ference for Syria which was oganisedin Kuwait on Jan 30, the internationalcommunity came together to showsupport to the Syrian people and morethan $1.5 billion was pledged,” shesaid.

“We are now working to turn thismoney into respond efforts on theground. We are grateful to all of thosecountries which pledged and therewere many European Union countrieswhich did so either in the individual

capacity or as part of the EU efforts,”she said. The UN needs $1 billion toassist the Syrian refugees in neigh-bouring countries and $519 million forresponse effort inside Syria itself forthe first six months of this year.

Amos said the situation in the Sahelis better than we feared last year.“Early and rapid action has helped tosave lives but the crisis is now aggra-vated with the conflict in Mali whereover 1.2 million people are caught inthe middle of armed operations,” shesaid. She said that the UN is workingwith the EU to improve the responseon the ground across the Sahel totackle food and security issues.

As a former secretary of state forinternational development in theBrit ish government Amos hasworked globally to tackle poverty inAfrica. — KUNA

UN hails Kuwait’s efforts to assist Syrian refugees

Response ‘extremely positive’

Valerie Amos

KUWAIT: Drug and Food Control Administration deniednews of withdrawing drug drops of vitamin D (One-Alpha)used for the treatment of patients with vitamin D deficien-cy. The administration conducted a study and evaluatedthe product, which turned out to be a registered medicinein the State of Kuwait and approved by the Ministry ofHealth, the administration’s registration and releaseobserver Rami Sadiq Behbehani said yesterday.

He said that the administration approached the Danishmanufacturer (LEO Laboratories Limited) regarding thesafety and risk of One-Alpha, and in return, it confirmedthat the product was not pulled off the Gulf markets.

The company has a special department responsible forthe follow-up of any side-effects that may occur to thepharmaceutical substances it produces and withdrawingthem, he added.

He stressed that the administration “would like to reas-sure all those who use One-Alpha that it is safe, and nodangers were detected when examining it as the adminis-tration closely follows up all medicines to pull them off themarket.” The administration is in direct contact with globalpharmaceutical bodies, such as the US Food and DrugAdministration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency(EMA) and pharmaceutical controls in the Gulf States tofollow the latest developments regarding all matters con-cerning medicine safety, he noted.

Behebehani concluded by calling on all residents andcitizens not to believe such rumors spread by text mes-sages on Whatsapp, websites or Twitter. — KUNA

Drug, Food Control Administration denies

withdrawing One-Alpha

SPRINGFIELD: An Ozarks soldier stationed in Kuwaitpulled out all the stops when it came to wishing hiswife a happy Valentine’s Day. Military wife MichelleWilliams says she is always amazed by the romanticgestures her husband is able to pull off. But, when itcomes to the president’s promise of a troop drawdown, she’s a little more skeptical.

“He tries to surprise me every year,” says the Mercynurse. Her husband has been deployed for almost ayear. “He’s over in Kuwait. He’s with the 935th AlphaBattalion.” This year, her husband, Andy Williams,promised a big surprise for Valentine’s Day. TheWilliams have been married for 20 years and theyhave four children.

“He told me he would be sending hints and cluesthroughout the next couple of weeks.”

With friends, co-workers and family, Williams deci-phered she should take a close look at a billboard atBattlefield and National. “When I turned around and Iseen it I said, ‘Oh, that’s my name!’ I turned aroundand looked at the billboard and I was really excited tosee it. I did tear up.”

Andy Williams pulled off the surprise with the helpof Missouri Neon. This is Sgt. Andy Williams’ seconddeployment. So, like many military spouses, when thepresident promised in the State of the Union to drawndown troops, Michelle Williams says in all thingsactions speak louder than words.

“In all honesty, I am kind of in disbelief. I would liketo say that I believe that. But, when my husband wasbeing deployed, they were talking about bringing thesoldiers home.” Today, 360 members of the MissouriNational Guard are serving in Kuwait and Afghanistanand this fall, hundreds more will be sent there and toKosovo.

National Guard spokeswoman Tamara Spicer saysthis fall, 600 more Missouri National Guard soldierswill go overseas and after Oct 1, another 460 will besent after the start of the federal fiscal year. Thespokesman for Fort Leonard Wood says it consistentlyhas about 400 soldiers deployed. Williams says herhusband is slated to come home in April barring inchanges in his orders.

US soldier in Kuwait rents billboard to greet his wife

L O C A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

KUWAIT: A man was arrested afterstorming an apartment in the areawith the intention of theft, whilesearch is on for his two accompliceswho fled the scene. According to thepolice report, the suspects forcedthemselves inside an apartmentinhabited by two Asian workers, whofell victim to their physical assault asthey introduced themselves as policeinvestigators. The two roommatesrealized they were set up when thethree planned to leave after seizingKD3,000 they found in the apartment.They turned the table on the suspectsand managed to catch one of themwhile the other two escaped. The sus-pect, a Kuwaiti man, was taken in cus-tody by police who arrived at thescene following an emergency call.Investigations are ongoing in searchfor the two suspects based on infor-mation provided by their accomplice.

Adan accidentA delivery man was killed in an

accident that happened while policewere chasing a fugitive in Adanrecently. Patrol officers went in pursuitof the suspect who ignored orders topull over. The car chase ended tragi-cally when the fugitive hit a restaurantdelivery car at a roundabout, whichprompted the fugitive to stop. He wasput under arrest while the deliveryman succumbed to his injuries beforeparamedics arrived at the scene. Thebody was taken to the coroner whilethe suspect was referred to the properauthorities to face legal action.

Possessive boyfriendA man faces charges after he brutal-

ly assaulted his girlfriend when he sawher talking to another man in public.

The Sri Lankan victim was admitted atthe Jahra Hospital with a broken shoul-der and multiple contusions. Sheexplained to officers that herBangladeshi boyfriend beat her upthinking that she was cheating on himwith an Indian friend he saw her talkingto in the street. A case was filed forinvestigations in search for the suspect.

Tailor assaultedA tailor refused a hefty price to

drop a lawsuit filed against a cus-tomer who assaulted him inside hisshop in Fahaheel. In his statements tolocal police, the Pakistani man saidthat his longtime customer had beathim following a dispute sparked overpayment of his wedding dress. TheKuwaiti man had paid KD20 at first,but requested to delay payment ofthe remaining KD60 until after thewedding, which the tailor refused. Theman admitted when summoned bypolice that he beat the tailor, explain-ing that he lost his temper when thetailor accused him of being a cheater.He then offered KD500 for the tailor todrop the charges, but the latterrefused which led police to go aheadwith legal procedures.

Money launderingLegal action was taken against two

bank customers with suspicions ofusing their accounts to carry out moneylaundering. Officials at a local bank sus-pended the two accounts after discov-ering suspicious operations pertainingwith buying clothes for large amountsof money. The bank officials reportedthe case to the Monetary ProsecutionDepartment who proceeded with legalprocedures against the accounts ofSyrian and Sierra Leonean owners.

Salmiya suicideA man was found dead inside his

Salmiya apartment in a case classifiedas suicide according to investigations.A relative of the victim had requestedthe building janitor’s help to breakinto the apartment after he failed toanswer the door. They called policeafter finding the man hanging deadfrom the ceiling. Investigations areunderway to determine the circum-stances behind the case.

Drug dealer heldA man was arrested with posses-

sion of drugs and taken in custody forinvestigation with suspicion of traf-ficking according to police. The sus-pect was initial ly pulled over inKhaitan for reckless driving. The offi-cers arrested the driver, but couldn’tcatch his accomplice who ran away assoon as the car stopped. Police founddrugs and drug paraphernalia insidethe car, in addition to a large amountof money suspected to have beencollected from drug trade. Police alsofound out after verifying the suspect’sidentity that he is wanted for 16 crim-inal charges ranging between theft,mugging and drug abuse. He remainsin custody pending legal procedureswhile search is ongoing for hisaccomplice.

Man hurt in fightA man was hospitalized with sever-

al stab wounds sustained during afight reported recently at a Hawallycoffee shop. The Jordanian man wasreportedly engaged in a scuffle withfive other Arab men who were takenin police’s custody. A case was filedfor investigations.

New deans appointedKUWAIT: Kuwait university council witnessed a sharpdispute between Education and Higher EducationMinister Nayef Al-Hajraf and University RectorAbdellatif Al-Bader in regards to the list of deans evalu-ation, as the rector told him “I am not a puppet to forcethe appointment of deans on me”. The minister thenended the meeting which approved the appointmentof Najat Al-Mutawaa as dean of the Education College,Omar Al-Khattab for Architecture, Fawaz Al-Enezi forComputer Science and Engineering, while shareah, lawand science were postponed until next meeting. Themeeting also agreed to increase the budget of the stu-dents union.

Banks present new offersKUWAIT: Banking sources said several local banks arepresenting several discount combinations to major cus-tomers to encourage them to pay back their debts.Sources said: “Those banks have several delinquent cus-tomers, so they are restructuring the payments for tem,especially that the restructuring process gives cus-tomers 10% to 15% discount from the total debt, andthis affects the interest only, not the debt itself.” Theysaid that after most banks carried out the allocationsdeductions during past years, they discovered that sev-eral delinquent customers can pay if a special arrange-ment is made available for them, especially that someof them have companies or revenue generating activi-ties, so it is possible to reach a compromise.

Circular to librariesKUWAIT: The Education Ministry has issued a decisionto withdraw all books relatecd to AIDS from publiceducation schools libraries. The education zones weresurprised by a circular sent to libraries supervisorydepartment asking them to withdraw all books relatedto AIDS with giving the reasons. Sources said the with-drawn books contain sexual materials that is not in theinterest of the students.

Health delegationKUWAIT: Health Minister Mohammad Al-Haifi willhead a specialized delgation to Europe next week.Sources said Dr Al-Haifi will visit Germany to sign con-tracts with a group of hospitals to facilitate the treat-ment of Kuwaiti patients there. It is expected that hewill sign contracts with 9 hospitals before leaving toBritain to sign an agreement in regards to health insur-ance for Kuwaiti students.

Newsin brief

Three-member ‘police gang’tries to rob two Asians

Delivery man killed in accident

KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) launched its socialactivity on Instagram “Hasala around Kuwait”, posting thebest photos of NBK’s money box (Hasala) taken by fans inKuwait, on the occasion of Kuwait’s independence and theanniversary of liberation.

The concept behind this social activity is to interact withfans and introduce different touristic and old places inKuwait. NBK Hasala visited Kuwait Towers and many otherplaces that will be shared with the fans on Instagram dur-ing the entire month of February.

NBK’s Hasala attracted thousands of people since lastRamadan’s TV commercial. Many photos have been postedand shared by followers. Participants can send their photosto social@nbk.com or to NBK official page on Instagram@NBKPage ,” Al Reshaid added.

NBK greatly values social media as an easy mean ofcommunicating with customers and also building a strongand lasting relationship. NBK is among the first regionalbanks to establish a strong social media presence, withFacebook, Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare and Google +pages. For more information regarding banking transac-tions, events and competitions check out National Bank ofKuwait official facebook page NBK - Official Page or followNBK on Twitter @NBKPage, and on Instagram @NBKPage.

KUWAIT: Ministry of Interior Undersecretary Lt GenGhazi Al-Omar inaugurated the new building for theMilitary Trials Department, a subdivision of the min-istry’s Legal Affairs General Department over theweekend. The senior official’s tour which took place onThursday also included stops at the new MigrationGeneral Department building and the CriminalEvidence General Department building.

‘Hasala around Kuwait’

9 Weary passengers come outof sinking cruise ship 1110

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Italian defense boss quitsover India bribery scandal

Egypt Islamist party holds pro-Morsi rally

TUNIS: Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali was yes-terday consulting with a raft of party leadersas he hammered out a government of tech-nocrats designed to pull Tunisia out of itsworst political crisis since the revolution.

Jebali has promised to announce the newgovernment today and says he will resign if itis rejected by the National ConstituentAssembly, which is dominated by his ownIslamist Ennahda party.

The prime minister announced his inten-tion to form an apolitical government afterTunisia was plunged into political turmoil onFebruary 6 when prominent leftist leaderChokri Belaid was assassinated outside hishome in a Tunis suburb. The plan has beenmet with resistance by the Ennahda but haswon support from a number of secular parties.

The Is lamists have joined ranks withPresident Moncef Marzouki’s centre-leftCongress for the Republic Party, and two oth-er parties, in proposing that the new cabinetcomprise both politicians and independents.Jebali was expected to meet the party leaderslater at a palace in the Tunis suburb of

Carthage. “On Saturday I will announce thenew government line-up and if it is rejected Iwill submit my resignation to the president,”Jebali told reporters on Thursday.

“Tomorrow ... (Friday) I will meet all theparties who have, or have not, accepted thisinitiative,” he added. The prime minister issticking to his guns that the criteria for inclu-sion in the new cabinet is non-partisanship aswell as a firm commitment by future ministersnot to run in the next elections.

Meanwhile, Tunisian jihadist groups, tak-ing advantage of a political crisis after lastweek’s assassination of a vocal critic of theIslamist-led government, have set up patrolsto police towns and keep the peace, witness-es said.

Wearing orange vests and armed withclubs, the militants patrol by night on foot,motorcycles or by car “to protect people andproperty,” the jihadist Ansar Al-Sharia groupsaid on its official Facebook page.

They have been seen in Tunisia’s secondcity Sfax in the southeast, in Kef and Mateurin the north, in a half a dozen Tunis neighbor-

hoods and in the central city of Sidi Bouzid,said witnesses and the Facebook page.

On Wednesday their commanders orderedthem, however, to get off the streets“because of the threats of the so-called”Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, a member ofthe Islamist ruling Ennahda party and betenoire of the jihadists. But the orders postedon Facebook urged the jihadists to continuenevertheless to protect their homes and “stayvigilant” amid accusations by the group thatthe police are hunting down its militants.

Interior ministry spokesman KhaledTarrouche has warned that the country’s“security forces alone have the right to main-tain law and order and protect citizens andtheir property, in cooperation with thenational army.”

“As much as the ministry praises the initia-tive of some citizens to protect their sur-roundings from acts of violence, i t a lsoreminds (the population) that no one canreplace the security apparatus,” he said.

Larayedh said on state television that hewould not tolerate any patrols by jihadists.

The group has since reported that one ofits members who took part in a patrol in theimpoverished Tunis suburb Sijoumi had beenarrested by security forces and that policewere searching for others.

Two years on from the revolution that top-pled the dictatorship of former president ZineEl Abidine Ben Ali and brought to power themoderate Islamist party Ennahda, the influ-ence of Salafist jihadists has grown in Tunisia.

The Salafists, known for their radical ver-sion of Sunni Islam, are flexing their musclesas Tunisia battles lawlessness and politicaland social turmoil that has swept the countrysince the start of the revolution that triggeredthe Arab Spring uprisings across the Arabworld.

The February 6 killing in Tunis of leftistleader Chokri Belaid has further inflamed thetensions in the once proudly secular Muslimnation. The Muslim extremists are believed tonumber between 3,000 and 10,000 and areheld responsible for a wave of violence,including an attack on the US embassy inSeptember. —Agencies

Tunisia PM grapples with new crisis

HEBRON: Palestinian protestors flash the sign for victory towards Israeli security forces after opening the gate of the main southwest entrance to the West Bank city of Hebron, during ademonstration against the closer of the entrance to the city, which is situated near the Jewish settlement of Beit Hagai, in the occupied West Bank yesterday.— AFP

Jihadists on patrol as tensions simmer

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

MANAMA: Bahrain’s opposition called a rally nearManama yesterday marking the second anniversary ofa Shiite-led uprising against the kingdom’s Sunni rulers,a day after two people died when protests turned vio-lent. The mid-afternoon demonstration, to be held onthe Boudaya highway that links a string of Shiite-popu-lated villages with the capital, is likely to heighten ten-sion in the kingdom which has seen two years of politi-cal upheaval linked to opposition demands for a consti-tutional monarchy.

The wave of protests and clashes that began onThursday comes as members of the opposition engagethe authorities in a new round of a national dialogueaimed at resolving the political deadlock.Demonstrations on Thursday coinciding with the actualanniversary of the start of the uprising on February 14,2011 turned deadly when a teenager was killed bypolice gunfire during clashes in a village near Manama.

Clashes raged sporadically in other outlying Shiitevillages through the night and into the early hours ofyesterday, during which a policeman was killed after

being struck by a petrol bomb, the interior ministrysaid. “Police officer Mohamed Atef, hit by an incendiarydevice which seriously injured him, died soon after hewas admitted to hospital,” public security chief Major-General Tariq Al-Hassan said in an interior ministrystatement.

Protesters were hurling petrol bombs, iron bars andstones at police in the Shiite-populated village of Al-Sahla when the incident occurred, Hassan said. Theopposition identified the teenager slain on Thursday asHussein al-Jaziri, saying he had been killed in the Shiite-populated village of Daih near the capital Manama.

Jaziri was “wounded by a shotgun that regimeforces fired... He was severely wounded in his stomachand died at the hospital,” said Al-Wefaq, the main Shiiteopposition bloc. The official BNA news agency said twopolice officers are being questioned by prosecutorsover the killing, which the opposition described as“cold-blooded”. “The people are steadfast in gettingtheir legitimate rights... for a democratic transition,”said a statement by the opposition, which demands a

full constitutional monarchy, an elected governmentand an end to confessional discrimination. A number ofgroups, including Al-Wefaq, had called for strikes andnationwide protests on Thursday and Friday to markthe Arab Spring-inspired uprising that was crushedabout a month after it began by the security forces ledby troops from neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The latest unrest comes amid a fresh round of anational dialogue between opposition groups and thegovernment and political groups that support it. Thedialogue, hailed by the United States as a positive stepthat could bring reforms to satisfy all Bahrainis,resumed at the weekend for the first time since theybroke down in mid-2011, with a second session beingheld on Wednesday. The opposition is demanding thatthe results of the talks be put to a referendum and notbe submitted to King Hamad for approval. Its represen-tative Sayed Jameel Khadim said agreement wasreached in Wednesday’s talks for the regime to act as “amain party in the dialogue and that its outcomes beturned into constitutional drafts”.—AFP

Bahrain oppn calls rally amid unrest

KHARTOUM: The United States yesterday warned of a dan-gerous increase in tensions on the undemarcated borderbetween Sudan and South Sudan after reports of clashesbetween the two sides. Washington is “deeply concerned”by the reported incidents in disputed border areas betweenSouth Sudan’s Upper Nile state and Sudan’s Blue Nile, theUS embassy in Khartoum said.

These included “reports of Sudanese helicopters cross-ing into South Sudan and the artillery bombardment bySudanese armed forces of South Sudanese troops,” it said.“Additionally, we are also very concerned about theincrease in negative rhetoric, which together with thesereports of military clashes is leading to a dangerous increasein tension along the undemarcated border.”

The embassy said it had no evidence of “an offensivebuildup” on either side of the frontier. “Our concern is thatthis increase in tension could lead to accidental confronta-tion that could quickly escalate,” it added.

Sudan and South Sudan fought along their frontier lastMarch and April. In September they hailed an end to con-flict by signing security and economic agreements but theyhave not been implemented. Those agreements, reachedwith the help of African Union mediation, called for aresumption of oil flows between the two countries and cre-

ation of a demilitarized border buffer zone.“We strongly believe the tension underscores the impor-

tance of both parties agreeing to immediately and withoutconditions establish the Safe Demilitarised Border Zone(SDBZ)” along with a joint verification mechanism, theembassy said. The United Nations had already told Sudanand South Sudan to activate the monitored SDBZ last May,under a Security Council resolution ordering an end to theearlier border clashes. Khartoum accuses South Sudan ofbacking rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. Thishas been the major obstacle to implementing theSeptember deals and resuming the flow of oil which is par-ticularly vital to the South. The Juba government stoppedoil production more than a year ago, accusing Khartoum oftheft during a row over how much the South should pay forshipping its oil through Sudanese pipelines for export.

South Sudan, which became independent in 2011,denies backing rebels on Sudanese soil. It says Khartoumsupports insurgents on southern territory. Diplomats andexperts say Khartoum’s concerns over border security areholding hostage billions of dollars in oil revenue for botheconomies. The experts had also expressed concern thattensions are escalating and said there is no immediate hopeof a resolution to the dispute. — AFP

CAIRO: Thousands of supporters ofIslamist President Mohamed Morsitook to the street yesterday todenounce violence after weeks ofbloody protests between police andanti-Morsi protesters.

The Islamist Construction andDevelopment Party had called for therally under the slogan “Togetheragainst violence”, blaming the liberal-led opposition for unrest that hasrecently swept the country.

The opposition National SalvationFront “is responsible for the violence,they incite the people to hate theIslamists,” said Hamdi Ramadan, 45.“Their calls for Morsi to leave aregoing to destroy the country,” saidMohammed Abdel Dayem, 39.

Protesters also called for therelease of blind Sheikh Omar AbdelRahman, holding up pictures of theEgyptian cleric jailed in the UnitesStates for his role in the 1993 WorldTrade Center attack.

“Islam is coming”, “The Koran isour constitution!”, demonstratorschanted as they marched towards the

main rally near Cairo University.“Morsi! Morsi!” others cheered as theywaved Egyptian flags and held upbanners that read “No to Violence,Yes to Sharia” or Islamic law.

The Muslim Brotherhood, onwhose ticket Morsi ran for the presi-dency, said it would symbolically joinFriday’s rally, without mobilising itssupporters on the street.

Egypt has been deeply dividedbetween Morsi’s mainly Islamist sup-porters and a wide ranging liberal-ledopposition calling for rights anddemanding the separation of stateand religion.

In recent months, Egypt has wit-nessed regular, often bloody, protestsagainst Morsi. His opponents say hehas betrayed the revolution that top-pled Hosni Mubarak, accusing him ofusing his power to promote the inter-ests of his Muslim Brotherhood, longbanned under his predecessor.

They also accuse him of failing toreform the interior ministry whosepolice has been accused of abuse andcorruption. — AFP

Egypt Islamist party holds pro-Morsi rally

CAIRO: Thousands of Egyptian protesters shout slogans supporting IslamistPresident Mohammed Morsi during a rally outside Cairo University yester-day. — AP

US warns of tensions on Sudan-S Sudan border

Reports of clashes between two sides

Somali militants kill Kenyan soldierMOGADISHU: Al-Qaeda-linked militants inSomalia claimed yesterday that they have execut-ed a Kenyan soldier after the Nairobi governmentfailed to meet their demands. The Islamic extremistrebels of Al-Shabab said in a statement yesterdaythat they executed an army private after deadlineexpired Thursday. The militants want the release ofall “Muslim prisoners being held on so-called ter-rorism charges in Kenya.”

Al-Shabab threatened to execute the fiveremaining Kenyan hostages in 72 hours if theMuslim prisoners are not released. “While theMujahideen have executed the serving KDF (KenyaDefense Forces) soldier, there is still a chance ofsecuring the release of the remaining 5 prisoners.As a response to the growing pleas of the prison-ers’ families who have contacted us, HSM (Al-Shabab) is adding a grace period of 72 hours,” thestatement said. Al-Shabab said the Kenyan govern-ment does not value the lives of Kenyan citizensbecause it had not taken the opportunity to nego-tiate for the lives of the hostages.—AP

LIBYA: Libyan security forces stand guard at a checkpoint onthe highway leading to downtown Benghazi yesterday.Libyans are preparing to mark the second anniversary of theuprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. —AP

ROME: The head of Italian defense andaerospace giant Finmeccanica, GiuseppeOrsi, resigned yesterday in a briberyscandal over the sale of helicopters toIndia as investigators questioned him inprison. Orsi, who was arrested onTuesday over alleged bribes paid tosecure the sale of 12 choppers, alsostepped down as a member of the boardand presented his resignation letter tojudge Luca Labianca, who heard his tes-timony behind bars.

His lawyer said the resignation wasaimed at “calming the climate created bythe probe” into Orsi and the former headof its helicopter division AgustaWestland, Bruno Spagnolini, who is alsodue to be interrogated. “I never knewanything about illicit operations,” Orsisaid according to his lawyer, adding thathe had never met members of the “Tyagi

family”-the alleged recipients of thebribes according to leaks in Italianmedia. Bribes amounting to 20 millioneuros ($27 million) were paid throughtwo Switzerland-based intermediaries,Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, whoare officially fugitives, Italian media saidciting investigative documents. The totalof 30 million euros in bribes were paidfor the 556-million-euro contract, investi-gators believe. Investigators say pay-ments were made through Tunisia-regis-tered companies controlled by Haschkeand Gerosa and were then transferred toaccounts in India and Mauritius belong-ing to a company called Aeromatrix, thereports said.

“The money was destined for inter-mediaries and to remunerate corruptpublic officials,” Orsi’s arrest warrant wasquoted by Il Messaggero daily as saying.

Italian police have so far arrested twopeople, Orsi and Spagnolini, and carriedout 37 raids including on their homesand offices. The two are accused of inter-national corruption and tax fraud.

Italian prosecutors have requestedthe extradition of Haschke and Gerosa.During a raid on the house of Haschke’smother, La Repubblica daily said policehad found details of a plan to pay anIndian general referred to as “Saini” a0.5-percent commission, around fivemillion dollars, for a helicopter deal.The discovery was first reported by IlFatto Quotidiano daily. La Repubblicaquoted from a transcript of a buggedphone conversation involving Orsi inwhich the CEO could be heard saying:“They’re talking about the Indian gen-eral? Shit, are they talking about the 0.5percent?”. —AFP

I n t e r n a t i o n a lSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

NICOSIA: A man passes in front of a poster showingright-wing opposition leader and presidential candi-date Nicos Anastasiades outside his campaign officein Nicosia yesterday. —AP

Italian defense boss quitsover India bribery scandal

Cyprus counts down to presidential vote

NICOSIA: Cyprus’ heated presidential election campaign windsdown at midnight yesterday ahead a crucial ballot to pick aleader tasked with steering the recession-weary island awayfrom bankruptcy.

Nicos Anastasiades, 66, of the rightwing main oppositionDisy party, is tipped to win Sunday’s first round when just overhalf a million Cypriots are to cast ballots. Analysts say he couldpull off a first round win if, as expected, absenteeism is high,fringe candidates do badly, and if centre-right Diko party faith-ful back him.

“I urge you to give me a strong mandate,” Anastasiades toldhis last major campaign rally. “Success in the first round is whatthis country needs, so that from Monday I can address the dan-gers of debt sustainability.” Diko has endorsed Anastasiades butsome of its supporters are uneasy about his credentials on theCyprus issue as their party has a tough stance on peace talkswith the island’s Turkish-occupied north.

Anastasiades’ closest challenger is former health ministerStavros Malas, 45, a British-educated independent who has thesupport of the ruling communist AKEL party.

Anastasiades, who leads Malas by 20 percentage points inpolls, is seen as someone the Europe Union can do businesswith, while his stance on the Cyprus issue is more flexible thanhis rivals.

First of all, however, Cyprus’ next president will have toagree terms with a troika of lenders on a bailout to save theisland’s Greek-exposed banks and failing economy.

The European Commission, European Central Bank and theInternational Monetary Fund are waiting for the election resultbefore offering the terms for a 17 billion-euro ($23 billion) life-line.

Malas, who is is confident of seeing off the challenge of 52-year-old former foreign minister George Lillikas and reaching asecond round next week, argues for “softer” austerity measures.

President Demetris Christofias sought a bailout in June, andtalks dragged on as the outgoing leader, who is not standingfor re-election, resisted measures including privatisation andreopened talks with Russia on topping up a 2.5 billion-euroloan.

On the political front, the international community will alsoexpect the next Cypriot president to pick up the pieces of adeadlocked UN push for peace. Anastasiades supported a failed“Yes” vote for a UN reunification blueprint in 2004, even thoughit was rejected by Greek Cypriots, resulting in a divided islandjoining the EU. As a former minister, Malas must contend withthe stigma of being linked to an unpopular government. “Ipledge in all honesty that I will lead a government of nationalunity.

We can rise to the challenge of a new era,” Malas said yester-day. Lillikas is the only one of the three main candidates whorejects a bailout, saying it would plunge the tourist destinationinto spiralling recession. Instead, he wants to sell untapped off-shore gas reserves in advance.

The independent candidate has a tough position overTurkey’s EU accession, saying it should be vetoed unless theCyprus issue is resolved. Cyprus has been divided since 1974when Turkish troops invaded and seized its northern third inresponse to an Athens-inspired coup aimed at uniting theisland and Greece.

Polling stations open tomorrow at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) andclose at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT), and results are expected byaround 8:30 pm (1830 GMT). —AFP

Continued from Page 1

opposite directions. The asteroid ismuch more immense object that wasexpected to miss Earth by 17,150 miles(27,500 kilometers), avoiding catastro-phe.

But that’s still closer than many com-munication and weather satellites.Scientists insisted these, too, would bespared.

Scientists at NASA’s Near-EarthObject program at California’s JetPropulsion Laboratory estimate that anobject of this size makes a closeapproach like this every 40 years. Thelikelihood of a strike is every 1,200 years.

The Interior Ministry said 985 peoplesought medical care after the shockwave and 44 of them were hospitalized.Most of the injuries were caused by fly-ing glass, it said.

There was no immediate word onany deaths or anyone struck by spacefragments. Meteors typically cause size-able sonic booms when they enter theatmosphere because they are traveling

so much faster than the speed of sound.Injuries on the scale reported yesterday,however, are extraordinarily rare.

“I went to see what that flash in thesky was about,” recalled resident MaratLobkovsky. “And then the window glassshattered, bouncing back on me. Mybeard was cut open, but not deep. Theypatched me up, it’s OK now.” Anotherresident, Valya Kazakov, said some elder-ly women in his neighborhood startedcrying out that the world was ending.Lessons had just started at Chelyabinskschools when the meteor exploded, andofficials said 204 schoolchildren wereamong those injured.

Yekaterina Melikhova, a high schoolstudent whose nose was bloody andwhose upper lip was covered with abandage, said she was in her geographyclass when they saw a bright light out-side.

“After the flash, nothing happenedfor about three minutes. Then werushed outdoors. I was not alone, I wasthere with Katya. The door was made ofglass, a shock wave made it hit us,” she

said.Russian television ran footage of ath-

letes at a city sports arena who wereshowered by shards of glass from hugewindows. Some of them were still bleed-ing.

City officials said 3,000 buildings inthe city were damaged by the shockwave, including a zinc factory where partof the roof collapsed. The vast implosionof glass windows exposed many resi-dents to the bitter cold as temperaturesin the city hovered around minus 9Celsius (15.8 Fahrenheit).

The regional governor immediatelyurged any workers who can pane win-dows to rush to the area to help out.Some fragments fell in a reservoir out-side the town of Chebarkul, the regionalgovernor’s office said, according to theITAR-Tass.

A six-meter-wide (20-foot-wide)crater was found in the same area, whichcould come from space fragments strik-ing the ground, the news agency citedmilitary spokesman YaroslavlRoshchupkin as saying. — AP

Meteor explodes over Russia, 1,000 injured

Investigators quiz him in prison

A meteorite contrail is seen over Chelyabinsk yesterday. — AP

I n t e r n a t i o n a lSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

MOBILE: Passengers from the cruise ship CarnivalTriumph are questioned by reporters after they dis-embarked in Mobile Thursday. —AP

Hagel blocked, but confirmation seenSenate seeks answers on Benghazi attacks

WASHINGTON: By delaying a confirma-tion vote on Chuck Hagel to be defensesecretary, Senate Republicans have forcedLeon Panetta to remain on the job he iseager to give up. But they’ve also giventhe White House an opportunity to castthe GOP as obstructing President BarackObama’s assembly of a second-termnational security team.

Senate Republicans temporarilyblocked a Hagel confirmation vote onThursday, insisting that the administrationmust first answer more questions about itshandling of a terrorist attack lastSeptember on a US diplomatic compoundin Benghazi, Libya, that killed fourAmericans, including Ambassador ChrisStevens.

Jay Carney, the White House press sec-retary, called it “political posturing.”

“Just when you thought thingscouldn’t get worse, it got worse,” SenateMajority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., saidafter the GOP forced the delay.

The Senate action amounted to a par-liamentary maneuver, with Democratsneeding 60 votes for Hagel’s confirmationto move forward. It fell two votes short.

Still, Hagel is likely to win confirmationon a mostly party-line vote after theSenate returns from next week’s recess.Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said heexpects many of his Republican col-leagues to join him then to end thedebate.

Alexander stopped short of predictingHagel will be confirmed, but that is almostassured if he only needs a simple majority,and Democrats control the Senate by a55-45 margin. Alexander called Thursday’svote “unfortunate” and “unnecessary”

because Hagel’s nomination came up onthe Senate floor too quickly - just two daysafter it was approved by a divided ArmedServices Committee.

The unprecedented stall tactic againsta defense secretary nominee raised therancor of frustrated Democrats, whoimmediately accused Republicans ofthreatening security and said they unnec-essarily undercut US credibility abroad.

“The world is too dangerous to havethis period of uncertainty,” said Carl Levin,D-Michigan, chairman of the SenateArmed Services Committee. The nomina-tion of John Brennan as CIA director wasalso delayed; the Senate IntelligenceCommittee pushed off a vote amidRepublican demands that the WhiteHouse turn over more details about dronestrikes against terror suspects and aboutthe Benghazi attack.

In contrast, the Senate swiftly con-firmed John Kerry to succeed HillaryRodham Clinton as secretary of state. ThePentagon and CIA will continue undertheir current leadership, and Panetta willstay on as defense secretary until his suc-cessor is confirmed.

At a Pentagon award ceremony forClinton, Panetta said it was fitting to rec-ognize her accomplishments as secretaryof state on Valentine’s Day. And he saidthe second-best Valentine’s Day presentwould be for the Senate to confirm Hageland allow Panetta and his wife to “get thehell out of town.” He said he’s got hisbelongings packed.

Reid said he hoped to proceed with anup-or-down vote on Feb. 26 and suggest-ed that the Republicans’ maneuvers haveleft the Pentagon leaderless.

“What does that do to our standing inthe world community?” he asked inremarks on the Senate floor.

Although he had made no secret of hishope to retire by now, Panetta will be backin the Pentagon next week.

His press secretary, George Little, saidPanetta will fly to Brussels for a NATOmeeting late next week where allies willconsider the size and scope of a post-com-bat mission in Afghanistan. The U.S. ishoping allied nations will contributetroops and money for continued trainingof Afghan security forces, which are to befully responsible for security by the end of2014.

Obama himself suggested that Hagel’sabsence from the Brussels meeting couldhurt the war effort. He also criticizedRepublicans for blocking the Hagel nomi-nation and forcing him to win 60 votesinstead of the usual majority.

“It’s just unfortunate that this kind ofpolitics intrudes at a time when I’m stillpresiding over a war in Afghanistan, and Ineed a secretary of defense who is coordi-nating with our allies to make sure thatour troops are getting the kind of strategyand mission that they deserve,” the presi-dent said in an online chat sponsored byGoogle. A veterans group that is backingHagel’s nomination also lamented thedelay. “Our enemies look for any moment- however brief - of weakness,” said JonSoltz, a Iraq War veteran and chairman ofVoteVets.org.

Republicans, led by Sens. LindseyGraham of South Carolina and JohnMcCain of Arizona, insisted the WhiteHouse tell them more about how Obamahandled the Benghazi crisis. — AP

Weary passengers comeout of sinking cruise ship

MOBILE, Alabama: Thousands of relieved passengers pouredashore from a stinking cruise ship yesterday after five days adriftin the Gulf of Mexico with overflowing toilets and stench filledcabins.

Exhausted passengers lined the ship’s decks, waving towelsand flashlights, cheering and singing “Sweet Home Alabama” astug-boats pulled the stricken Carnival Triumph into the port ofMobile, Alabama.

Some travelers kissed the ground when they walked off, oth-ers disembarked wearing the ship’s white bath robes, part sou-venir and part protection against a chilly night.

With only one working elevator, it took several hours to getthe more than 4,200 people off the ship, Carnival said.Passengers were greeted dockside with warm food, blanketsand cell phones to call family and friends. About 100 buses wait-ed to carry passengers on a seven-hour bus ride to Galveston,Texas, while others buses departed for shorter rides to NewOrleans, as well as hotels in Mobile, before eventually flyinghome.

The end of the saga, documented live on US cable news sta-tions, was another public relations disaster for cruise giantCarnival Corp. Last year, its Costa Concordia luxury liner ground-ed off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.

Carnival officials said the Triumph, which entered service in1999, would be towed to a Mobile repair facility for damageassessment.

The 893-foot (272-metre) vessel was returning to Galvestonfrom Cozumel, Mexico on the third day of a four-day cruisewhen an engine-room fire knocked out power and plumbingacross most of the ship on Sunday. Passengers described a gut-wrenching stench on parts of the ship and complained to rela-tives and media by cellphone that toilets and drainpipes over-flowed, soaking many cabins and interior passages in rawsewage.

“The stench was awful,” said Robin Chandler, a 50-year-oldfrom Dallas who spent her birthday on the ship. “A lot of peoplewere crying and freaking out.”

Jacob Combs, an Austin, Texas-based sales executive with ahealthcare and hospice company, praised the ship’s crew.

“Just imagine the filth,” said Combs, 30. “People were doingcrazy things and going to the bathroom in sinks and showers. Itwas inhuman. The stewards would go in and clean it all up. Theywere constantly cleaning,” he said.

Facing criticism over the company’s response, Carnival CruiseLines Chief Executive Gerry Cahill boarded the ship to personallyapologize to passengers. “I know the conditions on board werevery poor,” he told reporters, sounding shaken in a brief mediaappearance before he boarded the ship. “I know it was difficult. Iwant to apologize for subjecting our guests to that,” he said.

“We pride ourselves with providing our guests with a greatvacation experience and clearly we failed in this particular case,”Cahill added.

Operated by Carnival Cruise Lines, the flagship brand ofCarnival Corp , the ship left Galveston a week ago carrying 3,143passengers and 1,086 crew. It was supposed to return onMonday.

Some passengers said conditions deteriorated rapidly on theTriumph earlier in the week, saying people were getting sick andpassengers had been told to use plastic “biohazard” bags asmakeshift toilets.

“It wasn’t a vacation anymore it was like survival mode. Eatwhat you can. Snack when you can. It was awful,” said passengerTammy Garcia.

Smoke from the engine fire was so thick that passengers onthe lower decks in the rear of the ship had to be permanentlyevacuated and slept the rest of the voyage on the decks undersheets, passengers said. —Reuters

QUITO: Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa isfavored to cruise to a new term Sunday tocement a “socialist revolution” that hasbrought stability to a nation where severalleaders were forced out before him.

An outspoken voice of the Latin Americanleft and friend of ailing Venezuelan PresidentHugo Chavez, the charismatic, US-educatedeconomist is far ahead of his seven rivals in all

opinion polls after six years in office. “This isnot one man’s project, this is a citizen revolu-tion. We must make it irreversible,” Correasaid during his final campaign rally in a blue-collar Quito district on Thursday as the crowdchanted: “We already have a president!”

In office since 2007, Correa has broughtback stability to this rebellious Andean coun-try of 15 million, which had seven presidents

in 10 years. Born into a modest family in thesouthwest port of Guayaquil, the 49-year-oldleader has become a popular figure thanks tosocial programs funded by the country’s oilproceeds.

“His victory appears more than assured.The only uncertainty is by how much,” MarcoRomero, a political scientist at AndinaUniversity, told AFP.

A self-declared foe of neo-liberal econom-ics, Correa has taken on big business andmedia groups, imposing new contracts on oilcompanies and renegotiating the country’sdebt while touting his poverty reductionefforts. After clashing with privately-ownedmedia, which he accuses of backing a policerevolt in 2010, Correa barred his ministersfrom talking with opposition newspapers.And while he presents himself as a “defenderof freedom of expression,” Correa wants toenact a new media regulation law.

Last year, he irritated the United States bygranting asylum to WikiLeaks founder JulianAssange at Ecuador’s embassy in Londonafter the anti-privacy group released tens ofthousands of secret US military and diplomat-ic reports.

Critics accuse Correa of scaring away for-eign capital, pointing to his friendships withthe leaders of Cuba and Venezuela, thoughthe Ecuadoran president has been morepragmatic than his leftist allies. —AFP

Ecuador’s Correa eyes easy re-election

Opposition presidential candidate of the Movement Creando Oportunidades,CREO, party, Guillermo Lasso, center, greets supporters during his closingcampaign rally in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. Presidentialelections in Ecuador are scheduled for Feb. 17. —AP

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

NEW DELHI: India yesterday said ithad started the process of cancellinga $748-million deal for 12 Italian heli-copters amid allegations that the con-tract was won through kickbacks.

The ministry of defense said in astatement it had “initiated action for(the) cancellation” of the contract for12 helicopters from AgustaWestlandintended for use by VIPs such as theprime minister.

The decision is a severe blow to theparent company of AgustaWestland,Italian aerospace group Finmeccanica

whose chief executive was arrestedearlier this week in Milan amid aprobe by Italian prosecutors.

India, which has already put pay-ments to the company on hold, alsoasked the Italian firm to “reply withinseven days” if any terms of the con-tract and an “integrity pact” it signedin 2010 had been violated.

The purchase came under scrutinyfrom Italian investigators probing alle-gations the group had broken the lawby paying bribes to foreign officials,leading to the arrest of Finmeccanica’s

boss Giuseppe Orsi on Tuesday. Italianprosecutors suspect that kickbacksworth around 10 percent of the dealor 50 million euros ($68 million) werepaid to Indian officials to ensureAgustaWestland won the contract,press reports say.

The latest move by the defenseministry is seen as an attempt by thegovernment to contain the fall-outfrom the corruption scandal ahead ofelections in the first half of next year.

Defense Minister A K Antonyordered an Indian police investigation

on Tuesday. The chopper deal wascleared by Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, whose govern-ment has been buffeted by a series ofcorruption scandals that analysts saycould affect the party’s electoralchances in 2014 polls.

The cancellation will also overshad-ow a visit to India next week by BritishPrime Minister David Cameron.AgustaWestland, a wholly ownedAnglo-Italian unit of Finmeccanica,was manufacturing the helicopters atits plant in southwest Britain. — AFP

India to scrap Italian $748m chopper deal

ISLAMABAD: Indian troops shot andkilled a Pakistani soldier who crossedthe makeshift border separatingIndian and Pakistani held Kashmir,officials said yesterday.

The incident in the Kashmir region,which is claimed by both Pakistan andIndia, evoked similar incidents inJanuary in which three Pakistani sol-diers and two Indian soldiers werekilled. The deaths ratcheted up ten-sion in an area where the two coun-tries have long battled for dominance.

A Pakistani military official said in atext message to reporters yesterdaythat the soldier was reportedly killedon Thursday night after he’d acciden-tally crossed the line of control thatseparates the Pakistani and the Indianheld sides of Kashmir region. The offi-cial spoke on condition of anonymityin line with military protocol.

Lt Col Rajesh Kalia, a spokesman forthe Indian army in Kashmir, said thesoldier was killed in a firefight with

Indian troops and an Indian soldierwas injured. He said Indian troops saw“suspicious movement” in theNowshera sector of the line of control.

“Our troops challenged him. Thisindividual resorted to indiscriminatefiring. Our troops retaliated. In theensuing firefight, he was killed, andone of our soldiers was injured,” Kaliasaid.

Kalia added that Indian forces real-ized the dead man was a soldier “afterthe Pakistan army contacted our offi-cers.” “We are returning his body withfull respect as a soldier deserves,” hesaid. In January, three Pakistani sol-diers and two Indian soldiers werekilled in a series of attacks along theline of control.

India said one of its soldiers wasbeheaded. Pakistan and India struck acease-fire agreement over Kashmir inNovember 2003. There have beenperiodic violations of the cease-fire,but the incidents in January were the

most serious. The tension disruptedcultural and sporting ties.Performances by a Pakistani theatergroup were canceled in the westernIndian city of Jaipur and in the Indiancapital following protests by hard-lineHindu groups, and nine Pakistanihockey players who went to India toparticipate in a tournament were senthome.

More recently, the Indian-held partof Kashmir has been rocked by violentanti-India protests after a man con-victed in the 2001 attack on India’sParliament was hanged in a New Delhijail. A curfew has been in place sincethe execution, but groups of demon-strators have defied it and clashedwith government forces. Three pro-testers have been killed and morethan 100 have been detained, accord-ing to police.

India accuses Pakistan of financingand supporting insurgents agitatingin Kashmir. —AP

Indian troops kill Pakistani soldier Soldier crossed LOC ‘accidentally’

PESHAWAR: Five years after setting up an umbrella organi-zation to unite violent militant groups in the nation’s tribalregions, the Pakistani Taliban is fractured, strapped for cashand losing support of local tribesmen frustrated by a pro-tracted war that has forced thousands from their homes,analysts and residents of the area said. The temperamentalchief of the group known as the Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan(TTP), Hakimullah Mehsud, recently offered to start peacetalks with the government, raising the prospect of a negoti-ated end to Pakistan’s war against insurgents in a lawlessregion that runs the length of the border with Afghanistan.

The group’s offer of sanctuary to Afghanistan’s Talebanhas been one of the most divisive issues in US-Pakistan rela-tions and has confounded efforts to get the upper handagainst Afghan insurgents after more than 11 years of war.Pakistan denies providing outright military and financialhelp to militants fighting in Afghanistan. With 120,000Pakistani soldiers deployed in the tribal regions, Pakistanhas waged its own bloody battle against insurgents thathas left more than 4,000 soldiers dead. In interviews withanalysts, residents and militant experts, Mehsud’s networkhas emerged as a narrow collection of insurgents - oftenwith links to criminal gangs - that has only limited influencein a vast tribal region overrun by scores of insurgent groupsled by commanders with disparate agendas and varyingloyalties. — AP

MUMBAI: France’s President Francois Hollande (left) andhis partner Valerie Trierweiler pose for photographers atthe residence of the Governor of the western Indian stateof Maharashtra in Mumbai yesterday. French PresidentFrancois Hollande wrapped up his two-day trip to India onFriday with a call for more investment and trade betweenthe countries as he met with business leaders. —AFP

Pakistani tribesmen pushTaleban to talk peace

PESHAWAR: The chief minister of Pakistan’srestive northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwaprovince survived a suicide bombing assassina-tion bid yesterday. Ameer Haider Khan Hoti wastravelling to a political rally when the attackerthrew a grenade at his car before blowing him-self up, Zaka Ullah, a senior local official, toldAFP, but no-one was hurt. The attack came lessthan two months after the Pakistani Talibankilled Hoti’s number two Bashir Bilour in a sui-cide bombing at a political meeting in theprovincial capital Peshawar.

Danishwar Khan, police chief for Mardan, wherethe attack took place, confirmed it was a suicidebombing. “The target of the attack was chief minis-ter of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He and other associ-ates remained safe in the attack,” he told AFP.Mardan lies around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north-east of Peshawar, which is on the edge ofPakistan’s lawless tribal belt, known as a haunt ofTaliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants. — AFP

Pakistan province leader escapes

murder bid

Pakistani paramilitary soldiers and Frontier Constables (FC)gather a day after a bomber detonated a pickup truck at a check-point in Hangu district, near the tribal areas yesterday. — AFP

SATURDAY, FEBRUUARY 16, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR/MANILA: About 100armed men holed up in a village in theMalaysian state of Sabah are refusing toleave, saying they have links with theSultanate of Sulu in the Philippineswhich has a historic claim over thenorthern tip of Borneo island.

Malaysia police and army officialshave formed a tight security ringaround the village, media said, withnavy boats patrolling nearby islands.The gunmen landed near the coastaltown of Lahad Datu on Tuesday. Thedrama on Borneo island has threatenedto spark diplomatic tension betweenthe Southeast Asian neighbors whoseties have been periodically frayed bysecurity and migration problemscaused by a porous sea border.

“They demand to be acknowledged

as citizens of the Sultanate of Sulu,”Abdullah Kiram, a son of the Sultan ofSulu, Ismael Kiram the II, told Reuters inManila. Sulu is an archipelago in thesouthern Philippines. Today, it is aprovince but the old sultanate covereda wider area that included the northerntip of Borneo, which is now theMalaysian state of Sabah.

In an arrangement that stretchesback to British colonial times, Malaysiapays a token amount to the sultanateeach year for the “rental” of Sabah.“They want to be acknowledged as citi-zens of their own land. They ownSabah,” said Kiram. Sultans in theMuslim-majority Philippine south haveno power but generally enjoy therespect of the people. Malaysian offi-cials said they suspected the men were

a faction of a Philippine Muslim rebelgroup. Philippine officials said theywere unarmed Filipinos who had beenpromised land. A spokesman for thePhilippine Foreign Ministry said onFriday that Malaysia had given anassurance that efforts were underwayto get the men to leave peacefully.

“We therefore urge these concernedindividuals to return to their homesand families,” said spokesman RaulHernandez said.

Malaysia’s police chief said onThursday the situation was not tenseand the men appeared to be “behavingwell”. “Discussion is proceeding welland we have told them to leave Sabahpeacefully, as we do not want any situ-ation which can threaten the security ofthe people,” Inspector-General of

Police Ismail Omar told a news confer-ence, according to state news agencyBernama.

The Philippine embassy in KualaLumpur has sent a team to Sabah tocoordinate with authorities there andto ascertain the identities of the men.

Sabah has a history of militantsattacks in more remote parts of thestate. The United States had issuedtravel warnings in the past to Sabah’seast coast which has diving sites.

In 2000, a group of militants fromthe southern Philippines kidnapped 21tourists from diving resort on Sipadanisland. In 1985, 11 people were killedwhen gunmen believed to be from thesouthern Philippines entered LahadDatu, shooting at random before rob-bing a bank. — Reuters

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Gunmen refuse to end Malaysia border siege100 armed men still holed up in village

TOKYO: Japan has the right to developthe ability to make a pre-emptive strikeagainst an imminent attack given achanging security environmentalthough it has no plan to do so now,the defense minister said on Thursday,days after North Korea conducted athird nuclear test.

Any sign that Japan was moving todevelop such a capability in response toNorth Korea’s nuclear program couldupset neighbors China and South Korea,which have reacted strongly in the pastto suggestions it might do so. “When anintention to attack Japan is evident, thethreat is imminent, and there are noother options, Japan is allowed underthe law to carry out strikes against ene-my targets,” Defence Minister ItsunoriOnodera told Reuters in an interview.

“Given Japan’s political environmentand the peace-oriented diplomacy it hasobserved, this is not the time to makepreparations (for building such capabili-ty). “But we need to carefully observethe changing security environment inthe region.”

North Korea conducted its thirdnuclear test on Tuesday, drawing con-demnation from the United States,Japan, Europe and the North’s onlymajor ally, China.

Onodera said Japan needed tostrengthen its ballistic missile defence inview of the North Korean threat. “Japan,the United States and South Korea man-aged to respond well to North Korea’smissile launch on Dec. 12. But NorthKorea is expected to boost various capa-bilities further. We need to improve cor-responding capabilities as well.”

But he declined to say whether it wasmore urgent than ever to lift a self-imposed ban on exercising the right ofcollective self-defence, or coming to theaid of an ally under attack.

Exercising that right is now prohibit-ed under a long-standing interpretationof Japan’s pacifist constitution but PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe has made clear hewants to lift the ban and a panel ofadvisers has begun discussing the topic.

Onodera called on China to join the

United States, Japan and other countriesin tightening sanctions against NorthKorea, noting that Pyongyang had goneahead with the test on Tuesday in defi-ance of Beijing’s urging not to. “I thinkChina is the one that is most concernedabout the development ... From now on,it is necessary for us, including China, toseek effective steps, effective economicmeasures (against North Korea).”

Onodera urged China to work withJapan to set up hotline and other com-munications channels between Tokyoand Beijing to prevent any accidentalclash over disputed East China Sea islets,while reiterating that the islandsbelonged to Japan.

Sino-Japanese ties cooled sharplyafter Japan’s government in Septembernationalised three of the disputed islets,called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyuin China.

The island row has escalated to thepoint where both sides have scrambledfighter jets while patrol ships shadow

each other, raising worries that an unin-tended collision or other incident couldlead to a broader clash.

“There already is a preliminary agree-ment between Japan and China to setup a maritime communication mecha-nism,” Onodera said.

“The mechanism would includeannual meetings, specialists’ meetings,hotlines between high-ranking people,and direct communications betweenships and planes in the field. I would liketo have final agreement reached as soonas possible.”

Onodera said last week a Chinesefrigate had locked its targeting radar ona Japanese destroyer on Jan. 30 - a stepthat usually precedes the firing ofweapons - but China insisted that itsvessel used only ordinary surveillanceradar.

He said in the interview that Japanhas data to back up its assertion, butwas cautious about disclosing the infor-mation. — Reuters

Japan eyes pre-emptive strike ability in future

Chinese tourists riding a small boat look at the North Korean border areasnear the Chinese town of Dandong. —AFP

Internally displaced Ethnic Karen people gather to receivedonations from the Nippon Foundation led by YoheiSasakawa, Japan Goodwill Ambassador for the Welfare ofthe National Races in Myanmar, in Hpa-an village, KarenState, Myanmar. — AP

Uproar at Mossad over Australia spy story

SYDNEY: The journalist who revealed the identity of a prison-er kept incommunicado in Israel described yesterday thefrantic reaction of Israeli spy chiefs desperate to keep a lid onthe mysterious story.

“Prisoner X”, identified by media as Australian-IsraeliMossad agent Ben Zygier, died in December 2010 while inisolation at Ayalon prison near Tel Aviv, in a case Israel triedhard to cover up until it was revealed this week.

Zygier was reportedly set to reveal information aboutoperations conducted by Israel’s external espionage agencyMossad, including the misuse of Australian passports by itsagents.

Australian reporter Trevor Bormann, who broke the storyon Tuesday, said Israeli intelligence services were aware hisreport was going to air with a promo going viral on socialmedia and a news release sent out the previous week. “Mysources told me that it was ‘all hands on deck’ for Mossad andIsrael’s internal security service Shin Bet,” he said on the web-site of his employer, the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“Their intelligence had told them that the mainstreamIsraeli media would most likely grudgingly abide by the courtgag order, and that the main task for censors would be to‘pull down’ the work of bloggers who would be posting linksto our story.

“It did not work out quite like that.” As the story wentglobal, Israel Wednesday admitted it imprisoned a man withdual nationality on security grounds in 2010 who later com-mitted suicide, but did not identify him nor confirm reportshe worked for Mossad. But Israeli lawyer Avigdor Feldman,who met Zygier just days before his death, confirmed thatMossad agents had been involved in the case and said he sawno indication the prisoner was planning to kill himself. —AFP

20Business

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

1816 20Turkey to Iran gold trade

wiped out by US sanction

Q&A: Currency the latest

threat to global economy

Stock market wavers as

Europe’s economy slows

Buffett’s Heinz buy puts

spotlight on huge deals

MOSCOW: Finance ministers from G20 statesgathered yesterday in Moscow for their firstmeeting in the Russian capital aimed at reas-suring markets that the world’s economic pow-ers would not slug it out in “currency wars” toboost national growth. The troubles of thedebt-ridden euro-zone will for the first time inseveral international meetings not be centrestage, with the main concern expected to beJapan’s controversial plan for “monetary eas-ing” that weakens the yen.

World economic policymakers need to findways to boost growth without using instru-ments that could cause market turbulence orwreck international financial coordination. Themain challenge for the G20 is to “bring theworld economy out of stagnation and uncer-tainty, and move on a firm path towardsgrowth,” President Vladimir Putin told the min-isters as they met.

But EU Economic Affairs Commissioner OlliRehn indicated that taking that path might notbe easy: “The short-term outlook for the euroarea is improving, although forecasts indicate

the economy will only gather momentumslowly over the course of this year,” he said.The two-day G20 meeting, being hosted byRussia for the first time as it holds the presiden-cy of the world’s leading economies, is a primechance for Moscow to present itself as a reli-able global economic player.

Russia has set the task during its presiden-cy-which will culminate in the G20 summitfrom September 5-6 in Saint Petersburg-oflaunching a “new cycle of growth” throughinvestment, transparency and regulation. Buteconomists fear that currency devaluations-making the national currency cheaper to spurexports and domestic activity-could prove tootempting if governments see no other way out.

“We do not want state intervention inexchange rates. We want exchange rates thatare determined by the markets,” GermanFinance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble toldGerman Radio ahead of the talks. “I am actuallyvery confident that will also be the joint posi-tion of all G20 countries in Moscow,” Schaeubleadded in an interview on Germany’s Inforadio.

‘Forex rates must be set by the market’The Japanese answer to the US policy of

quantitative easing-the buying by the centralbank of bonds held by banks to increase thequantity of money in the economy-would beaimed at helping Japan reach an inflation tar-get of 2.0 percent after years of deflation.Under heavy pressure from new Prime MinisterShinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democraticparty, Japan’s central bank last monthannounced plans for monetary easing whichimmediately pushed down the yen.

But the Secretary General of theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) Angel Gurria denied thata currency war was in progress, saying every-one wanted Japan to rid itself of the curse ofdeflation. “There is no currency war. We are fur-ther today away from a currency war than wewere two years ago or three years ago,” he saidin Moscow.

“What we have is a number of countriesusing their instruments, whatever room theyhave left on the monetary side.” European

Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, quoted byDow Jones Newswires, dismissed the talk ofcurrency wars as inappropriate and counter-productive.

But Russia-which does not want to see theruble appreciate against other currencies tothe extent it hurts the domestic economy-hadindicated its strong opposition to artificial cur-rency devaluations.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanovsaid that in the final communique the financeministers would state that “exchange rates aredetermined by the market.” The G7 group ofthe world’s richest nations-including Japan-issued a statement Tuesday to calm markets bydeclaring a commitment to “market-deter-mined exchange rates”.

The United States has urged the world torefrain from “competitive devaluation”, a mes-sage echoed by the EU commission, Franceand Germany. An appreciation of the euro asmarket sentiment improves could also be dam-aging for the extremely fragile economy in theeuro-zone. —AFP

G20 seeks to banish ‘currency war’ Communique won’t single out Japan on forex

KREMLIN: Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to G20 states finance ministers in the Kremlin yesterday. — AFP

b u s i n e s sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican yester-day named a German financier asthe new head of its scandal-hit bank,saying he would help overhaul thesecretive institution to comply withanti-money laundering rules. Ernstvon Freyberg replaces Ettore GottiTedeschi, who was unceremoniouslysacked by the board on May 24 lastyear a day after the pope’s butlerwas arrested for leaking hundreds ofconfidential papers from the Vatican.

Vatican watchers say GottiTedeschi’s ousting could have beenlinked to his drive to make the bank,

the Institute for Religious Works,cooperate with an Italian moneylaundering inquiry but the circum-stances remain mysterious. VonFreyberg, a trained lawyer, is chair-man of the Blohm + Voss shipyard inHamburg in northern Germany andan active member of the Knights ofMalta, a lay religious order foundedin the Middle Ages.

From 1991 until 2012 he was chiefexecutive of Frankfurt-based DaiwaCorporate Advisory, a consultancymainly for financial institutions. “Thisdecision is the result of extensive

evaluation and a series of interviewsthat the Commission of Cardinalshas conducted, with the constantsupport of the Supervisory Board,”the Vatican said in a statement. “TheHoly Father has closely followed theentire selection,” it said. The Vaticanis trying to implement reforms toput it on an international “white list”of countries that comply with legis-lation to combat money launderingafter a critical report from theCouncil of Europe last year.

“There is a clear willingness toproceed. The new president is

absolutely aware of this,” Vaticanspokesman Federico Lombardi toldreporters. The report from Moneyval,the Council of Europe’s anti-moneylaundering body in Strasbourg,scored unsatisfactory ratings for theVatican in seven out of 16 “key rec-ommendations” and satisfactory rat-ings in nine. The report noted thatthe foundations for a more transpar-ent financial system in the tinyVatican state “are now formally inplace,” adding: “The Holy See hascome a long way in a very short peri-od of time.” — AFP

German financier named new Vatican bank chief

ISTANBUL: Tighter US sanctions arekilling off Turkey’s gold-for-gas tradewith Iran and have stopped state-owned lender Halkbank from process-ing other nations’ energy payments tothe OPEC oil producer, bankers saidyesterday. US officials have sought toprevent Turkish gold exports, whichindirectly pay Iran for its natural gas,from providing a financial lifeline toTehran, largely frozen out of the globalbanking system by Western sanctionsover its nuclear programme. Turkey,Iran’s biggest natural gas customer, hasbeen paying Iran for its imports withTurkish lira, because sanctions preventit from paying in dollars or euros.

Iranians then use those lira, held inHalkbank accounts, to buy gold inTurkey, and couriers carry bullionworth millions of dollars in hand lug-gage to Dubai, where it can be sold forforeign currency or shipped to Iran.Halkbank had also been processing aportion of India’s payments for Iranianoil. A provision of US sanctions, madelaw last summer and implemnted fromFeb 6, effectively tightens control on

sales of precious metals to Iran andprevents Halkbank from processing oilpayments by other countries back toTehran, bankers said.

“Halkbank can only accept pay-ments for Turkish oil and gas purchasesand Iran is only allowed to buy food,medicine and industrial products withthat money,” one senior Turkish bankertold Reuters. “The gas for gold trade isvery difficult after the second round ofsanctions. Iranians cannot just with-draw the cash and buy whatever theywant. They have to prove what theyare buying ... so gold exports will defi-nitely fall,” he said.

Trade in Turkish gold bars to Iran viaDubai was already drying up as banksand dealers declined to buy the bullionto avoid sanctions risks associated withthe trade. Reuters first reported theboom in Turkish gold sales to Iran viaDubai last year. Turkish EconomyMinister Zafer Ca�layan signalled adecline in the trade last week when hesaid that, while Turkey would not beswayed by US pressure to halt goldexports to Iran, Tehran’s demand for

the metal was expected to fall. “Youcould say that the United States hasachieved its aim,” said a western diplo-mat. “If Turkey is going to continueenergy imports from Iran, there is noother way to go than trading sanction-free goods.”

New routes?Washington says Tehran is enrich-

ing uranium to levels that could beused in nuclear weapons and has beentrying to ratchet up economic pressureon Tehran. Iran says the programme isfor peaceful purposes. Turkish ministershad acknowledged the “gold-for-gas”trade but said it was carried out entirelyby the private sector and was not sub-ject to US sanctions. Turkey like China,India and Japan is heavily dependenton imported energy and, while it hascut back on oil from Iran, has madeclear it cannot simply stop buyingIranian oil and gas. “With so manyrestrictions, Iran’s cash may accumulatein Halkbank accounts... they may havedifficulty getting some of that moneyout of Turkey,” another senior Turkishbanker said. — Reuters

NICOSIA: Huge untapped gas deposits almost 20,000 feet below the surface of theLevantine Sea could be a life-changer for debt-crippled Cyprus and candidates intomorrow’s presidential election are rushing to reap political gains. Experts believeCyprus, a novice in the energy sector, could be potentially sitting on hydrocarbonsworth up to $400 billion. That would dwarf a 17.5 billion euro financial bailout underdiscussion with international lenders. “Prima facie, its huge. Much bigger than anyoneis talking about,” said Michael Economides, an energy consultant based in Houston,Texas. But this treasure is buried deep in the Mediterranean and is trapped in one ofthe most bitterly-contested regions of the world, with arch-rival Turkey openly brand-ing Cyprus’s efforts to tap it illegal. With a massive bailout bill from lenders amid adeep recession, Cypriots are bracing themselves for years of austerity and the gut-wrenching frustration that billions might be languishing under the Mediterranean seabed. The three main candidates in the island’s election have sensed the potential toscore points and the gas has become a campaign issue.

One contender has suggested “securitisation” - pledging future profits to secureloans in advance, so that Cyprus can solve its financial problems without waiting forthe gas to flow. It is an idea that is gaining currency in Brussels, where the finances ofthe small island are a big headache for the EU. But even if Cyprus does try to sell itsfuture gas revenues early, getting any money is still probably years away. Other coun-tries have pledged future oil and gas revenue to securitise loans, but only fromproven reserves that are ready to produce. — Reuters

Turkey to Iran gold trade wiped out by US sanctions

Iran restricted to food, medicine purchases with lira

PORTO: An elderly person exits through a traditionalPortuguese grocery specialized in codfish, in Porto,Portugal. — AP

Cyprus election contenderstap gas reserve potential

THESSALONIKI: University students hold a banner that reads ‘’We chose our degrees,not you’’ during a rally against austerity measures affecting the education budget.Greece’s conservative-led government plans to reduce the number of higher educa-tion departments in the new academic year. — AP

B u s i n e s sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Martin Blessing

Gold at 6-month low as chart support crumbles

Technical selling triggers further lossesLONDON: Gold prices extended lossesyesterday to hit a six-month low as abreach of key chart support levels at$1,625, its previous low for the year, and$1,620 triggered technically-driven sell-ing. Softer appetite for the preciousmetal from investors and a dearth ofphysical demand from China during theLunar New Year holiday put the metalon track to slip 3 percent this week, itsbiggest weekly drop since June. Spot

gold hit a low of $1,608.11 an ounce, itsweakest since Aug 16, and was at$1,615.01 by 1428 GMT, down 1.2 per-cent. US gold futures for April deliverywere down $21.6 an ounce at $1,614.20.

The next technical support was nowseen at $1,600, traders said. “The 1,625level was a big support and once thatwas broken, stop-selling orders kickedoff and now we are in a new range of$1,550 to $1,625,” said Adrien Biondi,head of precious metals trading atCommerzbank. Sell stops are automatictechnical selling signals that start after

prices break through key support levels,which allow traders to limit losses in afalling market.

Losses in the euro also pressured themetal. The single currency remained innegative territory against the dollar afterdata showing manufacturing in NewYork state expanded in February for thefirst time in seven months. Gold invest-ment has softened this year on signsthat economies such as the United

States and China are picking up, whilecontinued problems of sovereign debtand economic weakness in Europe seemto be priced in by the market.

“The market now seems to be gettingused to the more positive frame of mindof a recovering US (economy) - whichentails lower probability of continuedQE and in turn a lower gold price,” MKSCapital said in a note. The next focus forthe market remains a G20 meeting andensuing statement, which could affectbroader markets by giving more clueson currencies. “(The Group of 20) will try

to put the ‘currency wars’ discussion torest,” MKS added. “Given the uncertaintyaround the meeting’s results, (therecould be) volatility... next Monday.”

The physical market was again sub-dued in Asia. Chinese players, however,were expected to take advantage of thelower prices to replenish stocks when theyreturn from their week-long public holidayfor the Lunar New Year celebrations. “Withprices coming lower, all the physical buy-ers will start covering some of the shortsand maybe some investors will comearound as well,” Commerzbank’s Biondisaid.

Investment interest in gold has suf-fered in recent months after the latestmonetary easing measures from theFederal Reserve failed to push pricesabove $1,800 an ounce, and as US eco-nomic data took on a firmer tone. Datareleased on Thursday showed billionaireinvestor George Soros had cut his hold-ings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’slargest gold exchange-traded fund, bymore than half in the fourth quarter,while GLD’s biggest shareholder JohnPaulson left his holdings unchanged.

A few others also cut exposure togold, including investment fund PIMCOand Tiger Management’s JulianRobertson, who dissolved his entirestake in Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF.The SPDR’s holdings fell 0.23 percent onThursday from Wednesday, while thoseof the largest silver-backed ETF, NewYork’s iShares Silver Trust, rose 0.26 per-cent during the same period.

In other precious metals, platinumand palladium gave up gains made atthe start of the week and followed therest of the complex lower. Spot platinumdeclined to a two-week low of $1,668 anounce and was later seen at $1,672.99 anounce, down 2 percent. Palladium wasdown 1.6 percent to $750.97, retreatingfrom a new best since September 2011at $775 hit on Wednesday. Spot silver fellto a five-week low of $29.87 an ounce,before settling at $30, still down 1.3 per-cent. —Reuters

AHMEDABAD: In this file photograph, an Indian sales person arrangesbangles made of gold and other precious metals on the eve of theHindu festival, Akshaya Tritiya. —AFP

SEVILLA: This picture shows an Airbus Military A400M transport plane underconstruction in the factory. The four-engine aircraft was designed to replace C-130 Hercules and C-160 Transall cargo planes, and can perform three majorroles, according to Airbus. —AFP

Commerzbank CEO to forgo bonus due to poor profits

FRANKFURT: The head of Germany’s Commerzbank says he’s not askingfor a bonus after a year of meager profits and no dividend for shareholders.The bank is cutting costs and plans to drop 4,000 to 6,000 jobs through2016. CEO Martin Blessing also gave a downbeat outlook for 2013, saying itwould be a year of restructuring that would cost “effort, money and time.”He said yesterday that revenues, measured before provisioning for loanlosses, “will remain under pressure” for this year.

Blessing termed profit of only 6 million euros ($8 million) for last year as“unsatisfactory” and told the board of directors he would not be drawingany performance-related pay. He said other executives on the top manage-ment committee would still get 40 percent of their bonuses, while man-agers lower down would take home more. He cited a “responsibility pyra-mid” in saying those with more authority should make a bigger sacrifice. “Iam at the top, and find that a larger contribution is correct and justified,” hesaid. The bank is restructuring to deal with tough conditions for the bank-ing industry, including low interest rates and regulators’ demands thatbanks keep stronger financial buffers against losses. It is winding downtroubled businesses in ship financing and commercial real estate, asordered by European Union authorities, to compensate for the state aid itgot when it was bailed out after the 2007 2008 financial crisis. The Germangovernment still owns 25 percent. The bank provided detail yesterday onits fourth-quarter earnings announced Feb 4. It lost 716 million euros ($954million) largely due to one-time losses of 185 million euros on its sale ofBank Forum in Ukraine and 560 million euros in tax accounting charges. Forall of 2012, net profit was a meager 6 million euros. Contributing to thepoor result were the large one-time charges for Bank Forum and the taxissue, as well as losses on shipping finance loans that are not being repaid.Additionally, rock-bottom interest rates set by the European Central Bankand other central banks narrow the difference between what the bankpays depositors and creditors for money and what it can earn on loans.

The bank says its job cuts will see it incur costs of ?500 million forrestructuring in the first quarter of this year alone. It says it is ahead ofschedule in reducing expenses, however. The bank’s shares rose 2.7 per-cent to 1.51 euros in midday trading in Europe. Some of the bank’s busi-nesses, particularly its core business lending to mid-size companies inGermany, are doing better. The German business finance division showedvery low loan losses of only 30 million euros for the whole year due to thecountry’s relatively strong, export-based economy and raised operatingprofit to 1.65 billion euros from 1.59 billion euros. —AP

WASHINGTON: The International MonetaryFund announced yestedray it had reachedan agreement with Jamaica for a fresh $750million loan, after the Caribbean countrylaunched a crucial debt swap earlier thisweek. “The mission has reached a staff-levelagreement with the Jamaican authoritieson the key elements of an economic pro-gram that can be supported by a 48-montharrangement under the Extended FundFacility,” the IMF said in a statement.

The Fund said the loan could beapproved by the IMF executive board bythe end of March, “subject to the timelycompletion of prior actions to be taken bythe Jamaican government and obtainingnecessary financing assurances.” The agree-ment came after Prime Minister PortiaSimpson Miller and Finance Minister PeterPhillips announced on Monday an ambi-

tious domestic program to swap high-yieldgovernment debt for lower-yield paper. Theswap, the country’s second debt restructur-ing in three years, was crucial to loweringthe government’s debt service burden,which currently sucks up 55 percent of gov-ernment spending.

The swap was a condition set by the IMFfor a new financing program, said Phillips.The debt swap and other fiscal and structur-al reforms in Kingston’s economic program“will help reduce Jamaica’s medium-termfinancing needs and contribute to debt sus-tainability,” the IMF’s Jamaica mission chiefJan Kees Martijn said in a statement. “Thesuccess of the authorities’ program willdepend critically on a high rate of participa-tion of private creditors in the debtexchange. All these elements will helpsecure financing. —AFP

IMF okays $750m loan to Jamaica

B u s i n e s sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

LONDON: The world economy faces a newthreat. Instead of a banking collapse or toomuch debt, fears are growing that countriesare using their currencies as an economicweapon. History suggests that’s never a goodthing. If too many countries try to weakentheir currencies for economic gain - sparking aso-called “currency war” - then the fragileglobal economic recovery could be derailedand the international financial system throwninto chaos. Financial representatives from theworld’s leading 20 industrial and developingnations are gathering in Moscow for a meet-ing this weekend that looks set to be dominat-ed by these concerns and they will have theirwork cut out to douse the fires.

Why is everyone suddenly talking aboutcurrencies?

During the financial crisis of the past fewyears, the value of currencies wasn’t a high pri-ority - governments and central banks aroundthe world co-operated to fix the global econo-my. But, five years down the line, a full recov-ery is still a long way off. To encourage theirconsumers and businesses to keep spending,central banks in the US, Europe and beyondhave made it a priority to keep interest ratesextremely low. One way of doing this it to usetheir power to print money to buy up largequantities of bonds. Boosting the amount ofcurrency in circulation also has a knock-oneffect: it can drive down the value of that cur-rency. Japan, the world’s third-largest econo-my, is currently facing charges that it is tryingfirst and foremost to lower the value of its cur-rency, the yen, to stimulate its economy andget the edge over other countries. The newgovernment is trying to get Japan, which is inrecession, motoring again after a two-decadebout of stagnant growth and deflation. Earlierthis week, the yen fell to a 21-month lowagainst the dollar and a near three-year troughagainst the euro. As the yen falls, its exportsbecome cheaper and those of Asian neighborsSouth Korea and Taiwan, and further afield inEurope, become relatively more expensive.

Is Japan trying to weaken the yen?Yes and no. Though it’s not directly inter-

vening in the foreign exchange markets byselling yen and buying other currencies, thenew Japanese government has embarked onan economic course it hopes will finally kick-start the economy. The government hasalready pushed the Bank of Japan to accept ahigher inflation target. This has triggered spec-ulation the bank will create more money. Theprospect of more yen in circulation has beenthe main reason behind the yen’s recent fall toa 21-month low against the dollar and a nearthree-year record against the euro. Japan’sFinance Minister Taro Aso doesn’t appear tobe holding back on the success of the policy.Though he insists the government hasn’t beendirectly intervening in the currency markets,he says the world “has been awed” by therecent surge in share prices and that the weak-ening yen has “brought huge benefits to theexport sector.”

Will a lower yen help Japan?It can help exporters, such as Sony and

Toyota, thereby lifting growth. A lower curren-cy can also stoke inflation by making importsmore expensive. For a country that’s seenprices fall for a large chunk of the past twodecades, that may be no bad thing. But if oth-

er countries respond to the falling yen bydevaluing their currencies, Japan will struggleto achieve its objectives - back to square one.

Have other countries been manipulatingtheir currencies?

In Sept 2011, Switzerland took action toarrest the rise of its currency, the Swiss franc.The rise was triggered by the debt crisisafflicting the 17-country eurozone - investorswere looking for somewhere safe to park theircash and the Swiss franc has traditionally ful-filled that role. The Swiss intervention wasviewed as an attempt to protect the country’s

exporters.The appropriate level of currencies was a

hot topic of debate before the financial crisis.For years, U.S. politicians have accused Chinaof keeping its currency artificially weak inorder to industrialize fast. And the US waswidely seen to have abandoned the “strongdollar” policy at the core of the Clintonadministration’s economic policy in a dash forgrowth.

So why the fears that Japan might start anew currency war?

Getting an edge from a lower currency maybe seen as an easy way of “trying to spark eco-nomic recovery,” according to NeilMacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTBCapital. It’s the desire to eke out growth that’sbehind the talk of currency wars and the focuson the yen. So far, Europe has felt the impactof the falling yen the most. At the height ofthe euro-zone’s financial crisis last year, theeuro was worth $1.21 - to the potential benefit

of big exporters like BMW or Airbus. However,this week it’s at $1.33 even though the euro-zone is still the laggard of the world economy.Figures Thursday showed that the economicoutput of the 17 European Union countriesthat use the euro shrank at an annualized rateof around 2.5 percent in the last quarter of2012. A rise in the value of euro, which is alsopartly to do with the diminishing threat of acollapse of the currency, will do little to helpcompanies in the euro-zone - and will hardlyhelp getting it growing again.

Politicians have voiced concerns about theeuro’s value - notably French President

Francois Hollande, who indicated he wasopen to calls for a more managed exchangerate. European Central Bank President MarioDraghi said last week that the bank will moni-tor the economic impact of the euro’s risingvalue. Several analysts took that to mean theECB could cut interest rates to bolster growth,which in theory could weaken the euro - anindirect tit-for-tat response to the yen’s fall,some say. Earlier this week, the volatility inthe currency markets prompted the Group ofSeven leading industrial nations, whichincludes the US, Germany as well as Japan, towarn that volatile movements in exchangerates could adversely hit the global economyand to reaffirm their commitment to market-driven exchange rates this week.

How bad could a currency war get?Since World War II, one of the key objec-

tives of international economic policymakinghas been to avoid a repeat of the 1930s, whencountries round the world engaged in a tit-

for-tat battle with their exchange rates. Thatdecimated global trade, accentuating thedepression and providing another catalyst towar. Assuming the world doesn’t descendinto a similar abyss, a currency war can stillharm the global economy. For example, cen-tral banks, particularly in the developingworld, may resort to controlling the amountof capital that can be moved out of a countryto affect exchange rates. “Increasing impedi-ments to the free flow of capital might bethought to lower the potential growth of theworld economy,” said Stephen Lewis, chiefeconomist at Monument Securities. And even

if capital controls are avoided, violent fluctua-tions in the value of currencies sparked by acurrency war don’t encourage businesses toinvest- raw materials and componentsshipped in from abroad would becomeincreasingly difficult to cost and the value ofany money invested in a country could quick-ly be wiped out.

Can the world’s leaders and central bankerscalm the situation?

No doubt, a communique will emerge fromthis weekend’s G-20 meeting in Moscow thatpours scorn at competitive devaluations. Mostof the action, though, is likely to take placebehind-the-scenes with pressure expected tobe put on the Japanese finance minister andcentral bank governor not to allow the yen tofall much further. “Expect smoke and mirrors,”said Simon Evenett, a professor of economicsat the University of St. Gallen in Switzerlandand a former World Bank official. “It’s not theG-20’s style to point fingers.” —AP

Q&A: Currency the latest threat to global economy

CARACAS: Venezuelan Bolivar notes are pictured. Venezuelans swamped stores to snap up everything from washingmachines to plane tickets in a last-minute wave of panic-buying ahead of a 32 percent currency devaluation last week. —AFP

B u s i n e s sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

NEW DELHI: French President Francois Hollandedelivers his speech during the India FranceEconomic Conference - Strengthening Long-TeamEconomic partnership. —AFP

PARIS: CEO of the luxury group PPR, Francois-HenriPinault, speaks to the media as he presents theresults for 2012 yesterday. Strong luxury sales out-side Europe raised French retail and luxury groupPPR’s 2012 revenue and profits, after the companybehind Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent jettisoned twoof its weaker brands and pressed hard into emerg-ing markets. —AP

LONDON: British retail sales unexpected-ly fell in January hurt by heavy snow,reviving worries that the economy maybe slipping into a third recession sincethe onset of the financial crisis. Sales vol-umes slipped 0.6 percent in both month-ly and annual terms, the Office forNational Statistics said yesterday, con-founding economists’ expectations forgrowth. “The underlying picture is thatthe economy is bouncing along the bot-tom, so weather disruptions can easily tipit into negative territory,” said Rob Wood,economist at Berenberg Bank.

Britain’s economy has endured tworecessions since the 2008 financial crisisand contracted again at the end of lastyear, coming closer to its third slump,although stronger recent economic datahas raised hopes of modest growth inearly 2013. “This release brings a dip backon the table,” Wood said. Another reces-sion would pile pressure on Britain’sConservative-led government, which hashad to defend its austerity programmeagainst criticism it is stifling growth.

The government says cuts are neces-sary to shrink a swollen deficit, but it alsoneeds solid growth to meet its budgettargets and bolster its chances of win-ning a 2015 election. The pound hit ahalf-year low against the dollar and

British government bonds extendedgains after the retail data release.Economists polled by Reuters had fore-cast a 0.4 percent rise in sales on themonth and a 0.8 percent increase on theyear. The ONS also revised December’snumbers down.

Weather is not the only problem fac-ing British consumers. High inflation haseroded their spending power in recentyears, with real wages now at their lowestsince 2003. Little respite is on the cards.The Bank of England warned onWednesday that inflation would remainhigh until 2016 and economic growthwould be slow. In a sign that it was notjust the bad weather that is weighing onconsumers, sales between Novemberand January posted their steepest fallcompared to the previous three monthssince March 2010. In expenditure terms,retail sales account for roughly one fifthof Britain’s gross domestic product.

Fair-weather shoppersThe ONS said weak food sales, which

posted their biggest monthly fall sinceMay 2011, were the main reason behindthe overall sales drop, with bad weatherforcing some small grocers to close.“Given it has come early in the quarter,there is some chance of catch-up in

February and March,” said David Tinsley,economist at BNP Paribas. “But of courseforgone food sales are not necessarilymade good,” he said, adding that a scan-dal over horse meat sold as beef mightalso hurt sales.

Unemployment figures next week willprovide further clues about the state ofthe economy at the turn of the year. Onemajor British retailer has showed shop-pers might be getting back to spendingin February. John Lewis said yesterdaythat sales at its department storesjumped by more than a fifth last weekcompared to a year earlier. However, thatnumber was flattered by heavy snowfallin February 2012.

The ONS said the quantity of food soldfell by 2.6 percent compared withJanuary last year, touching its lowest vol-ume since April 2004. Meanwhile, theshare of online food sales jumped bynearly a third, probably another reflec-tion of the bad weather that kept shop-pers at home. The increase in onlineshopping helped big retailers, the ONSsaid. Retail sales excluding fuel fell 0.5percent on the month but were 0.2 per-cent higher than in January 2012 - muchweaker than economists’ forecasts for ris-es of 0.4 percent on the month and 1.4percent on the year. —Reuters

UK retail sales plunge unexpectedly in JanuaryNumbers rekindle worries about triple-dip recession

Hollande eyes more trade on India trip

MUMBAI: French President Francois Hollande wrapped up histwo-day trip to India yesterday with a call for more investmentand trade between the countries as he met with businessleaders. Hollande, making his first trip to Asia since takingoffice last year, said that trade between India and France wasbarely 8.0 billion euros ($11 billion) annually-far from anobjective of 12 billion euros set in 2008.

The French leader has sought to sell France for its infra-structure and highly educated labour force in a trip that hasfocused on business, particularly on the sale to New Delhi ofFrench fighter jets and nuclear technology. “The idea of myvisit, beyond friendship and our historical links and our com-mon positions about the future of the world, is also to intensi-fy economic and trade links,” he said in New Delhi.

He arrived later yesterday in commercial capital Mumbaifor a meeting with 250 business chiefs. After talks betweenHollande and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh onThursday, the two leaders stressed that negotiations wereprogressing on the world’s biggest defence deal, the sale of126 French fighter jets to India. Hollande’s trip was seen byanalysts as vital in giving a push to the $12-billion purchase,which manufacturer Dassault Aviation hopes to concludeafter being chosen for exclusive negotiations in January lastyear. —AFP

UK’s Cameron may fly in to Shell India tax row

LONDON: Oil company Royal Dutch/Shell has asked theBritish government to raise the subject of a tax dispute withIndia during Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit there nextweek, according to a source familiar with the request. The dis-pute blew up earlier this month when tax authorities revaluedby $2.7 billion a 2009 transaction by Shell with a wholly-owned subsidiary, and claimed a tax payment was due.

It comes as India faces a potential seeks to balance theneed to shore up its finances by raising tax receipts with itsdesire to encourage foreign investment. The Anglo-Dutch oilgroup’s run-in with tax officials follows a long-running $2 bil-lion Indian tax claim on British mobile telecoms groupVodafone which has dented foreign investor confidence inthe country. Finnish phone maker Nokia earlier this weekbecame the latest international company to protest againstan Indian tax investigation.

The amount claimed from Shell was not specified, and anIndian tax official told Reuters it would be confined to inter-est on that amount. Shell has responded vigorously to the taxclaim, which was revealed initially in press reports. “Taxingthe money received by Shell India is, in effect, a tax on for-eign direct investment, which is contrary not only to law butalso to the spirit of the recent global trip by the finance min-ister,” Shell India Chairman Yasmine Hilton said on Feb 4.Shell’s Indian presence goes back 80 years and, like other bigoil companies, it has its eye on the country’s growing marketfor natural gas and fuels.

Shell also has bitumen and lubricant operations in Indiaand is the only one of the big-name international oil compa-nies with a fuel retail licence in the country. It employs over1,600 people at a business services centre in Chennai. Thesource, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Shell hadnot been invited to join a business delegation that willaccompany Cameron on the trip, but hoped he would raisethe issue on their behalf. A spokeswoman for Camerondeclined to discuss issues he was likely to raise, and wouldnot say which companies were accompanying him. A Shellspokesman also declined to comment. —Reuters

Knight Vinke says Darty not showing

any urgencyLONDON: The biggest shareholder in Darty, Europe’s No. 3electrical goods retailer, demanded a seat on the firm’sboard after it issued a profit warning that threatens its finaldividend. Activist investor Knight Vinke, which owns 25 per-cent of Darty’s equity, said yesterday it would exercise itscontractual right to join the Darty board with immediateeffect. “It has taken more than six months for the board toimplement the strategic changes we recommended back inJuly and we fail to note any increased sense of urgency in itsdeliberations, despite a deterioration in the trading envi-ronment that was not unexpected,” Knight Vinke said.

Darty, which trails market leader Media-Saturn and No.2player Dixons Retail, said sales trends had softened inJanuary. It said if current trading conditions continued itwould miss the lower end of expectations for underlyingpretax profit in the year to April, of 30 million euros ($40million). Darty, which made a 59 million euros profit in2011/12 and has been battling weak economies and intensecompetition from online retailers, said most European mar-kets had become even more promotional since January,particularly Holland and Spain.

“When you look at the overall euro zone data announcedyesterday, we can’t expect any material improvement in thecoming year, and I think there will continue to be pres-sures,” acting chief executive Dominic Platt told reporters.“The consumer is tightening its belt in difficult circum-stances and responding perhaps more to promotional activ-ity.” Official EU data on Thursday showed the euro zoneslipped deeper than expected into recession in the lastthree months of 2012 after its largest economies, Franceand Germany, shrank. —Reuters

B u s i n e s sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

NEW YORK: Warren Buffett and a fellowbillionaire are teaming up to snap up theHeinz ketchup company, marking thefood industry’s biggest ever deal and yetanother sign that the lifeless merger mar-ket is finally picking up. HJ Heinzannounced Thursday a $23.3 billion dealto be purchased by Buffet’s BerkshireHathaway and 3G Capital, which was co-founded by Jorge Lemann, one of Brazil’srichest men. The news came the sameday that American Airlines and USAirways announced their $11 billionmerger. Just a little over a week ago,Michael Dell said he struck a deal to buythe computer company that he foundedand bears his name.

Even before Thursday’s blockbusterdeals were announced, the year hadbeen shaping up to be a promising one

for mergers. US mergers total $219 billionyear-to-date, which is the fastest start to ayear since 2000, according to Dealogic. Atthe same time last year, mergers hadtotaled just $85 billion. Globally, mergeractivity has been tepid since 2007 whenthere were $4.6 trillion in deals. Lastyear’s total was $2.7 trillion. One of thereasons activity is picking up is thatfinancing deals is cheap, with interestrates near record lows. Companies arealso sitting on piles of cash, with those inthe Standard and Poor’s 500 index hold-ing nearly $1 trillion on their books.

Another reason to buy? After years ofslashing expenses and squeezing morework out of remaining staff, companiesare struggling to grow earnings. In theJanuary-March quarter, earnings areexpected to climb less than 1 percentcompared with the year earlier, accord-ing to FactSet, a financial data provider.As for Heinz, the company says its sale toBerkshire and 3G is intended to helpaccelerate its transformation into a globalpowerhouse. The company, based inPittsburgh, also makes Classico pastasauces and Ore-Ida potatoes, as well as agrowing stable of sauces suited to localtastes around the world.

For his money, the Oracle of Omahagets one of the nation’s oldest and mostfamiliar brands, one that’s in refrigerators

and kitchen cupboards all over the US.The deal, expected to close in the thirdquarter, sent shares of Heinz soaring. Thecompany’s stock price was up nearly 20percent at $72.45 in afternoon trading onthe New York Stock Exchange.

Berkshire picked up steam, too. ItsClass A shares gained $1,490, or about 1percent, to close Thursday at $149,240.The plans to take Heinz private apparent-ly began to take shape on a plane in earlyDecember. In an interview with CNBC,Buffett said he was approached at thattime by Jorge Lemann, a fellow billionaireand a co-founder of 3G. The two hadknown each other since serving on theboard of Gillette about 12 years ago.

Soon after that encounter, two of 3G’smanaging partners traveled to Pittsburghto have lunch with Heinz CEO William

Johnson and raise the prospect of buyingthe 144-year-old company. “The offerwas such that I simply felt compelled totake it to my board,” Johnson said at anews conference Thursday after the dealwas announced. Over the next severalweeks, Johnson said, the board workedout details of the transaction. Berkshire isputting up $12.12 billion in return for halfof the equity in Heinz, as well as $8 billionof preferred shares that pay 9 percent,according to a filing with the Securitiesand Exchange Commission. 3G Capitalwill run Heinz, and Berkshire will be thefinancing partner.

By taking the company private,Johnson said, Heinz will have the flexibili-ty to react more quickly without the pres-sure of satisfying investors with quarterlyearnings reports. Heinz is increasinglyfocusing on emerging markets, where itexpects to get about a quarter of its salesthis year. Like other packaged food com-panies, it is betting that staking an earlyclaim in countries with multiplying ranksof middle-class customers will secure itsown future.

Although ketchup and sauces stillaccount for just under half its sales, Heinzhas expanded over the years to include amuch broader array of products across200 countries, including ABC soy sauce inIndonesia, Quero tomato sauces and veg-

etables in Brazil and Complan nutritionaldrinks in India. In 2010, the companybought Foodstar, which makes Masterbrand soy sauce and fermented beancurd in China.

The ever-expanding business reachesback to 1869, when Henry John Heinzand neighbor L. Clarence Noble beganselling grated horseradish, bottled in aclear glass to showcase its purity. Itwasn’t until 1876 that the company intro-duced its flagship product, marking thecountry’s first commercial ketchup. Heinzis a prize because it has the type of namerecognition that takes years to build, saidBrian Sozzi, chief equities analyst for NBGProductions. One testament to thestrength of the brand has been the com-pany’s ability to raise prices even in thecompetitive market, he said.

“There isn’t going to be another Heinzbrand,” Sozzi said. Johnson stressed thatHeinz would remain in its nativePittsburgh as a condition of the agree-ment with 3G and Berkshire Hathaway.The only change will be when Heinz nolonger appears in stock listings. Although3G Capital has a record of aggressivelycutting costs at businesses it acquires,managing partner Alex Behring saidHeinz is different because the business ishealthy and sales are rising. But it wasn’ta guarantee that jobs won’t be cut.

The more Heinz is able to grow, the“safer people will be,” said Johnson, whohas been CEO for 15 years. As for man-agement changes, including his owntenure, Johnson said there have not yetbeen any discussions. Buffett did notimmediately respond to a messageThursday from The Associated Press. Buthe has recently said that he’s been hunt-ing for elephant-sized deals. At the endof last year, he said on CNBC that he hadabout $47 billion in cash available.

Berkshire’s biggest acquisition everwas its $26.3 billion purchase of BNSFrailroad in 2010. Last year, Buffett alsostarting building a newspaper companywith the $149 million acquisition of 63Media General newspapers and severalother small or mid-sized newspapers.Berkshire now owns 28 dailies and anumber of other publications. The Heinzdeal is a departure for BerkshireHathaway. Generally, Buffett prefers tobuy entire companies and then allow thebusinesses to continue operating muchthe way they were before. Berkshire hasalso helped finance deals before - mostrecently during the financial crisis of2008, when he made lucrative deals forBerkshire when few other companies hadcash. Heinz shareholders will receive$72.50 in cash for each share of commonstock they own. Based on Heinz’s numberof shares outstanding, the deal is worth$23.3 billion excluding debt. Includingdebt, it’s worth about $28 billion. Theprice for the deal represents a 20 percentpremium to Heinz’s closing price of$60.48 on Wednesday. Heinz said thedeal was unanimously approved by itsboard. “It’s our kind of company,” Buffettsaid in the CNBC interview, notingHeinz’s signature ketchup has beenaround for more than a century. “I’vesampled it many times.” —AP

Buffett’s Heinz buy puts spotlight on huge dealsUS mergers total $219 billion year-to-date

Stock market wavers as Europe’s economy slows

NEW YORK: Renewed worries about Europe overshad-owed an encouraging US jobs report on Thursday, leav-ing major stock indexes roughly where they started.Germany’s economy shrank more than expected late lastyear, and the slowdown in Europe’s largest economydeepened the region’s ongoing recession. That’s a trou-bling sign for the US, because sales to Europe have beena boon for American companies. The Dow Jones industri-al average fell 9.52 points to close at 13,973.39.

After a strong start, the stock market has drifted side-ways over the previous week with few major events tosway investors. That calm could disappear soon, saidDoug Cote, chief market strategist at ING US InvestmentManagement. With recessions in Europe and Japan, andweak growth in the US, he’s bracing for some turbulence.“Everybody is too complacent,” Cote said.

Cisco Systems fell 1 percent. The world’s largest mak-er of computer networking equipment reported earningslate Wednesday that surpassed Wall Street’s expecta-tions, but the company predicted sales growth that wasweaker than previous estimates. Cisco’s stock lost 15cents to $20.99. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edgedup 1.05 to 1,521.38. The Nasdaq composite index rose1.78 to 3,198.66.

The S&P 500 index has climbed 1.6 percent thismonth and has already gained 6.7 percent for the year.The number of people applying for unemployment ben-efits fell to 341,000 last week, the lowest level in threeweeks, according to the Labor Department. Besides a fewweeks last month affected by seasonal trends, that’s thelowest level in nearly five years. Among the many dealsannounced Thursday, American Airlines and US Airwaysagreed to merge, creating the country’s largest airline.Warren Buffett and 3G Capital, a private-equity firm, alsoplan to buy the ketchup maker HJ Heinz for $23 billion.US Airways sank 67 cents to $13.99, while HJ Heinzsoared $12.02 to $72.41.

Constellation Brands soared 37 percent, the biggestgain in the S&P 500, after reaching a deal with Anheuser-Busch InBev. InBev agreed to sell a brewery in Mexicoand rights for Corona and Modelo beer in the US toConstellation for $2.9 billion. Constellation Brandsgained $11.87 to $43.75. In the market for US govern-ment bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to1.99 percent, down from 2.02 percent the day before.

The 10-year Treasury yield, used to set a variety ofborrowing rates, began the year around 1.70 percent andhas climbed steadily higher since then. As worries abouta recession ease, traders have shifted money out of theTreasury market, driving yields up. Among other compa-nies making news:

Whole Foods Market slumped 10 percent. The grocerystore chain trimmed its forecasts for sales and earningsthis year, a result of its plans to open more stores and putmore lower-priced goods on its shelves. Whole Foodslost $9.40 to $87.50. General Motors fell 3 percent afterthe biggest US carmaker said it made money in NorthAmerica and Asia and nearly doubled last year’s fourth-quarter profit. But its earnings fell short of analysts’ esti-mates. GM’s stock dropped 92 cents to $27.75. —AP

PITTSBURGH: HJ Heinz Co CEO William Johnson (left) and 3G CapitalManaging Partner, Alex Behring, speak at a news conference at theworld headquarters of the HJ Heinz Co on Thursday, Feb 14, 2013, inPittsburgh. —AP

EU raps Macedoniaover political impasse

SKOPJE: The European Union’s enlargement commissioner can-celled a visit to Macedonia next week over a political dispute that hewarned could undermine the ex-Yugoslav republic’s bid to startmembership talks with the bloc. Macedonia’s main opposition SocialDemocrats have been boycotting parliament since they werethrown out of the assembly by security during a brawl in lateDecember.

Accusing the rightist government of authoritarianism, the SocialDemocrats are now threatening to boycott local elections on March24. EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule had planned to visitnext week to assess the small Balkan country’s reform progress, butsaid on Friday this would no longer be “appropriate”. “I am frustrat-ed by the lack of progress in putting an end to the political stale-mate,” Fule said in a statement. He warned the situation was“putting at risk” an opportunity for Macedonia to clinch the start ofmembership talks. —Reuters

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In this photo taken byDaniel Berehulak,Australia, for GettyImages, pine trees whichwere uprooted by lastyear’s tsunami are seenstrewn by the beach. (See Pages 24 & 25)

Winter? Not in the hotworld of Marc Jacobs

Page 28

Swedish photographerwins World PressPhoto award

Swedish photographerwins World PressPhoto award

Pages 24 & 25

The actor - who played head lifeguard MitchBuchannon in the classic series - says the cast, whowere required to wear skimpy red outfits, would often

breathe in when the cameras started rolling in order to lookgood. He said: “Well, we had a thing on ‘Baywatch’ called the

‘rolling six pack’. What that would mean is we all come to work andthen we’d say, ‘Roll cameras’, we’d suck it in and we’ddo the scene. And then they’d say, ‘Cut’, and thenwe’d let it out. “If you watch ‘Baywatch’, one key to‘Baywatch’ was in the beginning of the year youwould see beautiful slender bodies and the shotwould be all of us, entire body. By the end of theyear, the camera would move slowly up so soonthe only thing at the end of the show was [ourheads] because the rest of your body reallyturned into a mush.”

Sofia Vergara was almost arrested

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

The country singer has filed a law-suit - obtained by TMZ - againstDr Duane C McKay on several

occasions over the last three years toget work which has included upperfront veneers and crowns which shewas told would ease her TMJ-relatedpain and improve the appearance ofher teeth. However, Rimes states in thelegal papers the dental procedureshave actually left her in terrible painand her mouth often bleeds becauseof the work. The 30-year-old blondealso claims she has had to undergonine painful root canal surgeries andhave and bone grafting as well as havea temporary bridge fitted and undergoa course of physical therapy. In thelawsuit, Rimes claims she will have a

“permanent cosmetic deficiency” as aresult of Dr McKay’s work and the painshe has endured has stopped her fromsinging and performing live. The‘Crazy Women’ singer is seekingunspecified damages for physical,emotional and psychiatric injuries andis seeking cash for loss of past andfuture earnings. Rimes - who is marriedto Eddie Cibrian - has often took to herTwitter account to complain about herteeth troubles. Last February, shetweeted: “K, coming clean ... I hadminor surgery this week and I’ve beenin SO much pain it’s not even funny.“Nothing major just annoying! Painpain go away!!!!!! When it’s mouth painand jaw pain it makes your whole headpound! YUCK. (sic)”

LeAnn Rimesis suing her dentist

Conor Kennedy, who dated the ‘WeAre Never Ever Getting BackTogether’ singer last summer - was

reportedly hauled away in handcuffs andtaken into police custody, along with herfather Robert F Kennedy Jr. and actressDaryl Hannah for protesting with the envi-ronmental group Sierra Club outside theWhite House in Washington DC against theproposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.According to a press release from the SierraClub, seen by gossip websiteRadarOnline.com: “After being taken awayfrom the White House in handcuffs, bothKennedys were driven to a Park Police sta-tion and released after paying a fine.” The18-year-old student, whose mother MaryRichardson Kennedy committed suicide lastyear, and his father are long time activists.Taylor and Conor were first spotted togeth-er in July and the blonde beauty was said tohave missed him so much when she lefthim in Massachusetts to go home toNashville over the summer that she char-tered a private jet so he could visit.Speaking at the end of August, a sourceexplained: “Taylor missed Conor so much,she sent a plane for him a few days later.He’s been with her ever since, and his fami-ly doesn’t know when he will be back.” Thecouple split when Conor returned to schoolin September but are said to have remainedgood friends.

Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend arrested

The ‘Modern Family’ beauty’s boyfriendNick Loeb popped the question on avacation to visit the pyramids at the

Mayan archaeological site in the Yucatanpeninsula, Mexico last year but they got introuble when they scaled one of the monu-ments for the romantic moment. Sofia toldchat show host Ellen DeGeneres: “He waslike, let’s go take a picture up there. “He saidhe had gotten permission. I swear to God he

said he had gotten permission to go upthere and take a picture. So I said, ‘OK, let’sgo.’ So I went up, he took the ring out there.I made sure I like it. “I like it, I put it on imme-diately and I said yes. And I checked, butthen when we came down they want toarrest us because there were some nation-als, no...local people got really upset andthey thought I was [taking] advantage of thesituation, but it was not true.” Sofia previ-

ously revealed she did not want to wedagain after her split from childhood sweet-heart Joe Gonzalez nearly two decades ago,but thinks her engagement to Nick “perfect”timing. Sofia - who has 20-year-old sonManolo from her relationship with Joe - said:“I never really planned on getting marriedagain. I had my son and it just wasn’t a prior-ity. But I love being in love, and I’m veryhappy right now. It’s perfect.”

David Hasselhoff sucked in his

gut on ‘Baywatch’

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

The 31-year-old ‘Love on Top’ singer,who has a 13-month-old daughterBlue Ivy, has revealed she is grateful

to count the 40-year-old ‘Iron Man’ actress,who is raising daughter Apple, eight, and sonMoses, six, among her best pals because they bothunderstand the demands of managing a high pro-

file career and motherhood. She told E! News at thered carpet premiere of her upcoming HBO documen-

tary ‘Life is But a Dream’ in New York: “She is incredible.She’s a great friend on every level. I think for us, protect-ing our daughters is so important and ... keeping thingson our own terms, so I will still be protective and makesure [Blue Ivy] has a childhood and a great time.”

Beyonce, who is married to rapper Jay-Z, also revealedthat she trusts her own instincts when it comes to rais-ing their child. She said: “At some point, you know it iswhat it is, you can’t control it anymore. But I know aslong as I’m the mother that I know I can be and themother I have - such an incredible mother - my daugh-ter’s going to be fine.” Gwyneth, who is married to rock-er Chris Martin, recently admitted she is in awe of herfriend’s work ethic and believes none of her contempo-raries can compare. She said: “When she is workingonstage, she has more power than any woman I’ve everseen. She would never say it and has never said it, but Ifeel she knows with every fiber of her being that she isthe best in the world at her job.” — Bangshowbiz

Beyoncesays Gwyneth Paltrow

is ‘incredible’

Lily Aldridge loves when her husband cooksThe Victoria’s Secret model - who tied the

knot with the 31-year-old Kings of Leonfrontman at San Ysidro Ranch in

Montecito, California in May 2011 after twoyears of dating - is never happier than when herspouse treats her to a romantic dinner at home.Lily, 27, told Us Weekly: “Cooking dinner is veryromantic and gets you lots of points. My hus-band cooks,. Whenever he cooks me dinner, Ithink it’s very romantic. “He does amazingsteaks that are really delicious.” Lily - whowalked down the aisle in a custom-made VeraWang gown - has said her wedding was perfectand she wouldn’t have changed anything aboutthe sunset ceremony. She gushed: “It was reallyan amazing day. It was more beautiful than Icould’ve imagined.” The couple welcomed theirfirst child, daughter Dixie Pearl, in June and Lilyhas never been happier. She previously said:“Married life is the best. I’m so proud to be awife. “Caleb is the man of my dreams. And youcan quote me on that.”

The 27-year-old model - whohas been dating the

‘Ordinary People’ peoplesinger for seven years and became

engaged to him in December 2011 -has given her fiance an ultimatum that

they either tie the knot by the end of2013 or she’s “out”. She said: “We

keep pushing the date.”Quizzed when they might

marry, she revealed:“Definitely this year, but this

year just started. If it’s notthis year, I’m out.” The Sports

Illustrated cover girl admittedthat she and John, 34, got

engaged after constant pres-sure from their friends and

family about when they wouldsettle down but bemoanedthat she is constantly being

hassled about their impend-ing nuptials. Speaking

to the New York DailyNews newspaper, shesaid: “We were sick ofpeople saying, ‘When

are you gettingengaged?’, so we did.

And now everyone’sasking when we’re

getting married.” AndChrissy also claimed

she now plans to starta family before walk-

ing down the aisle. Sheadded: “You know. I’m

doing it backwards.I’m going to get de-

engaged, then have ababy, then get mar-

ried.”

Chrissy Teigen gives fiance ultimatum

to marry her

Jada PinkettSmith ate

non-stop for role

The 41-year-old actress - who has a son Jaden, 14,and daughter Willow, 12, with her husband of 15years Will Smith, has revealed she was required to

eat tons of food in order to build enough muscle for herrole as Niobe in ‘The Matrix’. She told People.com: “Mycraziest diet was for ‘The Matrix’. “I actually had to eattons and tons and tons of food. It was all about buildingmuscle.” The vegetarian actress, who is known for herbuff figure, admitted that she is very careful about whatshe eats in order to maintain her trim and toned figurebut still craves “McDonald’s French fries” every so often.Jada was spotted enjoying a number of catwalk showsat New York Fashion Week in recent days, while her hus-band Will spent a few days with Kim Kardashian and herboyfriend Kanye West in Rio de Janeiro. The actress pre-viously claimed she hit the “jackpot” when she marriedWill in 2007. She said: “There are no negatives beingmarried to Will Smith! I swear Will has to be one of themost outstanding fathers. Not only just loving him, andhim being my husband, but when I look at how he loveshis children, I go, ‘Thank you! I made such a goodchoice.’ I hit the jackpot with that one.”

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Swedish photographer Paul Hansen won the 2012World Press Photo award Friday for newspaperDagens Nyheter with a picture of two Palestinian

children killed in an Israeli missile strike being carried totheir funeral. The picture shows a group of men marchingthe dead bodies through a narrow street in Gaza City. Thevictims, a brother and sister, are wrapped in white clothwith only their faces showing. “The strength of the pic-tures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow ofthe adults with the innocence of the children,” said jurymember Mayu Mohanna of Peru. “It’s a picture I will notforget.”

World Press Photo, one of photojournalism’s mostprestigious contests, issued awards in nine categories to54 photographers of 32 nationalities. Hansen’s Nov. 20shot won top prize in both the spot news single photo-graph category and the overall competition. It portrays 2-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her 3-year-old brotherMuhammad, who were killed when their house wasdestroyed by the Israeli attack. They are being carried bygrieving uncles, as their father Fouad was also killed, andhis body can be seen in the background of the picture.

The children’s mother, whose name was not provided,was in intensive care. “This prize is the highest honor you

can get in the profession,” Hansen told The AssociatedPress. “I’m very happy, but also very sad. The family losttwo children and the mother is unconscious in a hospital.”“These situations are so visually complex,” he added. “It’sdifficult to convey the emotions, to translate what is hap-pening. The light is harsh and there are a lot of people.

“But in the alley the light bounced off the walls, so Ithought this is a place where you can see that it’s a pro-cession. ... You get the depth in the image, and the bounc-ing light.” Violence in the Middle East, and its effect uponcivilians, was the dominant theme in the hard news cate-gories.

The Associated Press won seven awards in all, includ-ing top prizes for a spot news series for Bernat Armangueof Spain for photos he took in Gaza during November; andfor Rodrigo Abd of Argentina for general news single pho-tograph, with a picture of a woman with a bloodstainedface weeping in Idib, Syria, on March 10. She was identi-fied as Aida, and her photo of silent grief is in some ways areverse image of Hansen’s winning shot. She receivedsevere injuries when her house was shelled by the SyrianArmy, killing her husband and two children.

In other categories, Wei Seng Chen of Malaysia won inthe sports singles category with a shot of what might be

In this photo, the 2013 World Press Photo ofthe year by Paul Hansen, Sweden, for Dagens

Nyheter, shows two-year-old Suhaib Hijaziand her three-year-old brother Muhammad

who were killed when their house wasdestroyed by an Israeli missile strike. — AP

In this file photo, butchers use a crane to lift a bull during a bullfight of theSan Isidro’s fair at the Las Ventas Bullring in Madrid. This photo is one in aseries of images by Associated Press photographer Daniel Ochoa de Olza thatwon the second place prize for the Observed Portrait series category in theWorld Press Photo 2013 photo contest. — AP

In this file photo, underprivileged Indian child Rajesh, 8, reads from a black board, painted ona building wall, at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. This photo wasone in a series of images by Associated Press photographer Altaf Qadri that received an hon-orable mention in the World Press Photo 2013 photo contest for the Contemporary Issuesseries category. — AP

In this file photo, Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla is carried out of the ring among jubi-lant crowd scenes on the shoulders of fellow bullfighter Serafin Marin, a honor for the bestperformers, after a bullfight at the southwesternSpanish town of Olivenza. —AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

considered a local “extreme sport”: a man clutch-ing the tails of two bulls as they pull him througha watery rice field in Batu Sangkar, Indonesia. Thecompetition also includes portrait series, scenesfrom everyday life, and nature photography,among others. The contest drew entries fromprofessional press photographers, photojournal-ists and documentary photographers across theworld. In all, 103,481 images were submitted by5,666 photographers from 124 countries.

The photos were submitted anonymously to apanel of 19 jury members, chaired by AP Directorof Photography Santiago Lyon, and judged inmultiple rounds. The winners were all “stellarexamples of first-rate photojournalism,” Lyon

said. Other judges came from Germany, Iraq,Peru, France, Sweden, China, Britain, Spain,Azerbaijan, South Africa, The Netherlands,Switzerland and the US. Hansen will receive10,000 euros as prize at ceremonies and theopening of the year’s exhibition April 25-27 inAmsterdam. — AP

This photo taken by Malaysian photographer Wei Seng Chen shows a jockey, his feet steppedinto a harness strapped to the bulls and clutching their tails, in relief and joy at the end of adangerous run across rice fields on February 12, 2012 in Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra,Indonesia. — AFP

In this file photo, a Torrehandilla ranch fighting bull jumps to the arena during a bullfight inPamplona, Spain. — AP

This photo taken by US photographer Micah Albert of Redux Images shows a woman whoworks as a trash picker at the 30-acre dump, which literally spills into households of onemillion people living in nearby slums, reading a book she came across on April 3, 2012 inNairobi. — AP

In this file photo, Mireia Arnau, 39, reacts behind the broken glass of her shop stormed bydemonstrators during clashes with the police at the general strike in Barcelona. — AP

This photo taken by Canadian photographer Paul Nicklen of National Geographic Magazineshows emporer penguins in the Ross sea on November 18, 2011 in Antarctica. — AFP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

If older women can’t find work inHollywood they might want to cometo Berlin, where this year’s film festival

has been studded with performances byseasoned actresses that have put themand their movies in the running for topprizes. The 11-day cinema event, centredaround the main competition of 19 filmsbut showcasing hundreds more, windsup with an evening awards ceremonytoday. Jude Law, Anne Hathaway, HughJackman and Matt Damon have hit thered carpet, and Nicolas Cage andCatherine Deneuve are still to come,while after a string of critical flops at thestart of the festival the reception haspicked up.

The two frontrunners for the covetedGolden Bear for best picture, which canhelp bring a low-budget movie to aninternational audience, centre aroundstrong women in their 50s and 60s whoovershadow the men around them.“Gloria”, arguably the biggest hit at the63rd Berlin film festival, stars PaulinaGarcia as the eponymous Gloria, a 58-year-old divorcee living alone inSantiago where she is determined toenjoy life to the full. She goes out danc-ing on singles nights, drinks, smokes, hasaffairs, stays in touch with her childrenand works full time.

Director Sebastian Lelio said his inspi-ration for the character was his motherand her generation, rarely tackled in cin-ema which tends to be obsessed withyouth. “We all face crossroads in our liveswhere we can retreat into ourselves orwe can hit the dancefloor,” he said. TheChilean cast agreed that scenes betweenGloria and her 60-something boyfriendRodolfo may prove shocking to some,but should not be. “I don’t think peopleshould be shocked,” said SergioHernandez, who plays the charming butweak foil to Gloria’s indomitable spirit.“It’s always been there...adults makinglove as they never have before, perhapsbetter than they ever have before.”

Post-communist injusticesAnother favourite for best film and

best actress is “Child’s Pose”, about a

wealthy 60-year-old Romanian motherwhose obsessive love for her son seesher try to buy his freedom when he acci-dentally knocks down and kills a boy. JayWeissberg, critic for the Variety tradepublication, called the performance ofRomanian veteran Luminita Gheorghiuas Cornelia a “tour-de-force”. There wasalso a warm critical reception for Frenchstar Juliette Binoche in a film about thetragic story of sculptress Camille Claudel,who spent the last 29 years of her lifewrongly confined by her family to amental asylum.

Compatriot Deneuve’s “On My Way”,in which she plays a grandmother whoset off on a road trip across France,screens later yesterday. “Directors seemto have discovered the value of maturityand been anxious to explore the femaleface and psyche as they age, gracefullyor otherwise,” said Deborah Young oftrade publication The HollywoodReporter.

“Child’s Pose” also picks up on anoth-er theme running through the festival -Eastern European directors looking atthe post-Communist world for theirinspiration, and arguing that the ills ofold have been taken over by fresh injus-tices and abuse. Russian film “A Longand Happy Life”, for example, follows anidealistic young farmer who refuses tosell his land to a wealthy developer, withdramatic consequences.

And Bosnian drama “An Episode inthe Life of an Iron Picker”, about a manstruggling to get enough money for hispartner’s life-saving operation, packs theadded emotional punch of having thereal-life subjects in the main roles.Iranian entry “Closed Curtain” receivedmixed reviews, but because it was co-directed by Jafar Panahi in defiance of a20-year ban on filmmaking, it command-ed centre stage for much of the festi-val.—Reuters

Lights, camera, laughs. Tens of millions of filmfanatics are entering theaters around Asiaduring the long Lunar New Year holiday, but

Hollywood can’t count on them to boost the boxoffice for its mostly serious Oscar nominees. Evenwith the Academy Awards buzz at a peak barelytwo weeks before the ceremony, patrons are opt-ing for lighter fare. “Viewers are mostly drawn toaction films, films with special effects, comedies oreasy-to-follow ‘popcorn’ movies,” said Ross Lee, amanager with Vieshow Cinemas, which owns oneof Taiwan’s largest theater chains. “In Taiwan thebig hits are traditionally disaster films like “2012.”

Lee and others say that with Chinese movie-goers using the New Year holiday to escape theirdaily grinds, they generally give the cold shoulderto weightier movies, like this year’s leading nomi-nee “Lincoln” or last year’s best picture “TheArtist.” “‘Lincoln’ is an American film,” said HongKong film fan Leo Wong, 31. “I think Americanswill probably be more interested. I don’t reallyunderstand the history. And it’s too serious.”

Reflecting Wong’s critique, Hong Kong’s filmindustry goes out of its way to pander to the localpreference for lighter New Year’s selections, turn-ing out a sub-genre of films specifically designedwith holiday tastes in mind. This year’s Hong Kongholiday crop includes “Journey to the West:Conquering the Demons,” a prequel to the classicChinese fable, and “I Love Hong Kong 2013,” asuper-light comedy with an all-star cast and acrowd-pleasing happy ending.

Explaining her preference for watching locally-produced comedies, Hong Kong movie-goerChristine Lam said it reinforced the spirit of theseason. “You want to do this on Chinese NewYear,” she said, “to watch Chinese movies insteadof Western ones because it gives you the vibe.”Chimed in husband Andy Lam: “(New Year come-dies) are funny and we have a lot of fun. We justlaugh.”

Sun Shaoyi of Shanghai University’s School ofFilm and TV Arts and Technology, said in additionto aesthetic considerations, Oscar nominees vyingfor attention on the mainland must also contendwith officially sanctioned blackouts. “Authoritieslimit the number of Western films showing duringthe New Year period,” Sun said. “They have to dothis to protect the local market.” But even allow-ing for the artistic and administrative roadblocks,some Oscar-nominated films do manage to makea big impact in Chinese speaking markets duringthe New Year holiday, particularly if they are

accompanied by a positive critical buzz.Christine Lam said she had decided to use this

year’s holiday to see “Les Miserables,” notwith-standing its relatively heavy subject matter. “Thisis a very famous movie and people are talkingabout this movie very much,” she said, addingthat the film’s much ballyhooed operatic style andlive singing by actors had tipped the balance in itsfavor. In Taipei, trading firm owner Thomas Huangsaid his own preference for thrillers made goingto see “Zero Dark Thirty” an easy viewing choice.He said he also said he took in local hero AngLee’s “Life of Pi,” the special effect-rich story of ayoung man’s epic journey of discovery, “halfbecause Ang Lee is Taiwanese and half because ofthe Oscar nominations.”

Huang saw best-picture front-runner “Argo”previously and would not miss other nominatedfilms if trusted critics endorsed them. He said he’scaptivated by the pomp of the Oscar-nominationceremony, which raised his interest in the nomi-nated films as well.

“You don’t count on the Oscar awards as aguarantee a film is good, but they are still general-ly up to a certain standard,” he said. Taiwanesefilm critic Wen Tien-hsiang said that even if someOscar-nominated films did not do well withChinese-speaking audiences during the New Yearholiday period, scoring big on Oscar night wouldhelp to guarantee them substantial audiences lat-er. “Films winning awards will definitely gain themviewer attention,” Wen said in an email. “Filmcompanies sometimes decide to screen Oscarwinners only after they get the prize.” — AP

Korean actress Jung Eunchae poses during a photocall for the film “Nugu-Ui Ttal-Do Anin Haewon” (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon) competing in the63rd Berlin International Film Festival Berlinale yesterday. — AFP

In this photo, movie goers head to a popular theater complex as the Chinese New Year nearsin Taipei, Taiwan. — AP

Akiss lasting nearly two-and-a-half days pro-pelled one determined Thai couple to a newrecord for the world’s longest smooch on

Valentine’s Day, organisers said yesterday. Hospitalsecurity guard Ekkachai Tiranarat, 44, and 33-year-old housewife Laksana locked lips for 58 hours, 35minutes and 58 seconds, smashing last year’sGuinness World Record by more than eight hours.

The romance of the clinch may have been marredby competition rules requiring contestants toremain on their feet throughout, slurp food and liq-uids through a straw and even go to the toilet whilecontinuing to press their lips together. “They werevery exhausted because they did not sleep for two-and-a-half days, they had to stand all the time sothey were very weak,” Sompron Naksuetrong, vicepresident of event organiser Ripley’s Believe It orNot!, told AFP.—AFP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

There’s a 15-year-old Florida girl who didn’treally know much about Charlie Sheenbefore this week - but does now. The actor

wired $10,000 to Teagan Marti and her family onThursday for a therapy dog to help in her rehabili-tation from injuries sustained when she plummet-ed 100 feet from a Wisconsin amusement parkride in 2010. “I think he’s a very kind person forhelping me and my family and very generous,”Teagan said by phone Thursday from her home inParkland, Florida.

Teagan suffered brain, spine, pelvis and inter-nal injuries in July 2010 when nets and air bagsthat were supposed to catch riders on a free-fallride were not raised. She had convinced her fami-ly to make the trip from Florida to Extreme Worldin Wisconsin Dells after seeing the amusementpark’s Terminal Velocity ride on the TravelChannel.

She was hospitalized in Wisconsin and Floridafor three months. She initially had no use of her

arms or legs but through physical therapy is ableto walk again with a walker. Teagan’s mother,Julie Marti, said they are financially in trouble fromthe medical bills and her recent divorce. Theirhouse is being foreclosed upon and insuranceisn’t covering physical therapy anymore, she said.She had no idea how they would pay for theEnglish Golden Retriever puppy. “I’m in such dis-belief,” Julie Marti said. “I was crying. ... What aguy. What a guy.” The dog is being trained to turnon lights, pick up objects and be the teen’s con-stant companion. — AP

The largest-ever retrospective of works of Yoko Ono,once described by her late husband John Lennonas “the most famous unknown artist in the world”,

opened yesterday in Frankfurt’s Schirn Kunsthalle. Ono,who turns 80 next week, “is a unique, indeed perhapseven a mythical figure, not only in the art world, but inthe field of music and the peace and feminist move-ments as well,” said the museum’s director Max Hollein.Most people probably know Ono as the wife and widowof the Beatle, John Lennon who was shot dead outsidehis New York apartment in 1980.

And the two famously staged “Bed-Ins” in 1969 as anon-violent protest against war. But Ono, born onFebruary 18, 1933, was an avant-garde conceptual artistin her own right long before she met Lennon and wasassociated with the likes of composer John Cage and thefounder of the Fluxus contemporary art movement,George Maciunas. “She is familiar to practically everyone,yet only very few people are fully aware of the outstand-ing artistic oeuvre she has created. Yoko Ono’s 80thbirthday offers us an ideal opportunity to change that,”Hollein said.

The exhibition, entitled “Half-a-wind show. A retro-spective”, surveys around 200 objects, films, spatialinstallations, photographs, drawings and textual piecesfrom the past 60 years of Ono’s career. It pays particularattention to works from the 1960s and 1970s, featuringgroundbreaking works such as the “Instructions for

Paintings” first shown in 1961 and 1962 and the perform-ance “Cut Piece” from 1964, in which the audience wasinvited to cut the clothes from the artist’s body withsharp scissors while she sat on the stage.

A number of large-scale installations and recentworks are also on display and Ono has also developed anew work-the installation and performance “MovingMountains”-specifically for the Frankfurt exhibition.Curator Ingrid Pfeiffer said Ono’s work “often tendstoward the immaterial, the substance of which consiststo a lesser extent of objects and installations but to a sig-nificant degree of ideas and texts. It is not easily present-ed.” Ono, wearing her trademark sunglasses, told a newsconference that Lennon “used to say to me: ‘bring mesome truth’.”

“We artists have the dignity to tell the truth to thepeople, unlike politicians,” she said. “But we only knowhalf the truth. The other half is invisible. You have toimagine it, you are the creator, you have to participate.You change the world by being yourself.” The exhibitionruns in Frankfurt until May 12 after which it will tour toDenmark and Austria and then move to the Guggenheimmuseum in Bilbao in Spain. — AFP

In this photo, an English golden retrieverpuppy sits with her litter in Fond du Lac,

Wis. She will be trained to become a ther-apy dog for a teenager who was severely

injured in a fall in Wisconsin. — AP

Yoko Ono poses during the opening of her exhibition “half-a-wind show” atthe Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main, central Germany.

Thai couple Ekkachai (left) and LaksanaTiranarat pose with their new record after win-ning a competition for the “World’s LongestContinuous Kiss” during Valentine’s Day inPattaya resort. — AFP

A visitor looks at the work of Yoko Ono duringthe opening of her exhibition “half-a-windshow”. — AFP photos

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

It was too hot for winter in the world of MarcJacobs, as his new collection was unveiled inthe final act of New York Fashion Week on

Thursday. On a sepia-lit runway under the cav-ernous roof of the Lexington Avenue Armory inManhattan, models strutted out in mini-shorts andmermaid-shiny dresses that banished the Februarychill. It was the last show of New York FashionWeek, and now the cavalcade moves on toLondon, Milan and Paris. But Marc Jacobs madesure to leave his mark.

“It’s a sepia world, no filter necessary. Y’all in fora treat tonight,” he tweeted ahead of the show,which had been scheduled for Monday but waspostponed, ironically, in part because of a blizzardin the US Northeast. The first part took place insepia lighting before color returned. Silk andpomegranate reds made the long sparkling dress-es even more fluid and-as often during this pastweek-there was fur aplenty around coat collars.

But the shorts were sometimes so short as tobe invisible under the shirts and jackets-makingone wonder whether they were there at all. Onemodel came out in mini shorts but no shirt, cover-ing her breasts with a fishnet-gloved forearm.Earlier, Ralph Lauren unbottled a dose of Russiansoul in his fur hats, black peaked caps and long vel-vet dresses. Silk shirts and high-waisted trousers,high boots and big-buckled belts: this was aromantic journey in elegant dark shades and whiteby the veteran US trendsetter, who was rewardedwith a standing ovation.

Held under enormous lights in a Chelsea loft,Lauren’s show featured cashmere turtlenecks,embroidered collars, and blends of silk and leather.The sumptuous evening wear included deep redvelvet dresses that wouldn’t look out of place onthe sofas of a snowbound Russian palace. By con-trast, Calvin Klein’s show near Times Square exud-ed confidence and a touch of military precision,with big, manly coats, large-buckled belts, leatherdresses and shining boots.

Even before the big three brought down thefinal curtain, there were already a myriad of sea-sonal trends emerging in the eight days of catwalkshows. Fashionistas saw the sophistication ofAlexander Wang, shortly off to head Balenciaga,the subtle architecture of Vera Wang, and the mili-tary-inspired aesthetics of Prabal Gurung-not tomention the Rodarte sisters’ grunge chic.

More generally, these were collections forautumn-winter 2013-14 brimming with furs,leathers, masculine jackets, big, round-shoulderedcoats, and high-heeled thigh-high boots. Onehighlight was the Oscar de la Renta show, wherefashion watchers noted a distinct hint of JohnGalliano, the disgraced former Dior designer whohas been spending time with de la Renta.

Stylesight fashion director Sharon Graubardsaid “minimalism” and “clean shapes were key,”with collections tending to be based arounddesign, rather than broader references. Even ifMichael Kors upset the balance a little with hisbright oranges and New York taxi yellows, blackwas back in a big way. “For color, and not surpris-ing for New York, there was black on black onblack,” Graubard told AFP. “Even designers notusually associated with black-like Reed Krakoff, theMulleavy sisters at Rodarte, and Vera Wang-showed nearly all-black collections.” — AFP

Models walk in front of a huge sun as spectators watch from an arena-style set-up during the Marc Jacobs Fall 2013 fashion show at Fashion Week in New York, Thursday. — AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Fashionistas don’t do excitement - they’re too coolfor that. But even the frostiest fashion editor mightbe allowed a little smile of anticipation at the line-

up for this year’s London Fashion Week. A debut designshowcase by singer Rihanna and designer Tom Ford’sfirst proper catwalk show in London are headlining thefive-day style extravaganza that began yesterday.

Their star power is piling an extra dose of buzz andglamour onto a growing biannual event that alreadyfeatures industry leaders including Burberry, VivienneWestwood and others. Securing a major designer likeFord is a big coup for London Fashion Week, but it’s theslew of hot young talent based in the capital that keepsthe international fashion pack coming back for more.

“Before people used to skip London. Now peoplemake a point of coming,” said Carmen Borgonovo, fash-ion director of luxury online retailer my-wardrobe.com.“What I love about London designers is that they’re allvery individual, they’re all very unique with their ownsensibility. You don’t see that variation in other cities somuch.”

The youngest of the “big four” fashionweeks, London had generally been regard-ed as the irreverent, idiosyncratic siblingto the slick productions in Milan, Parisand New York. For some time, it wasmore a place for edgy fashion collegegraduates than a destination for elitefashion buyers Yet these days LondonFashion Week is a professional, pulled-together affair. Burberry packs in the crowds- and the celebrities - with extravagant cat-walk display, while growing corporatesponsorship has seen editors andbuyers whizzed from show toshow in shiny black Mercedes.The week generates over 100million pounds ($160 million)worth of orders, and attractssome 5,000 fashion fans fromaround the world.

Still, considerableresources are pumped intopromoting emerging

names in London. After all, they could be the next MaryKatrantzou or Christopher Kane - young guns who haveburst onto the international scene within just a few sea-sons. This season Kane and Katrantzou will have toshare the buzz with Rihanna, who is making her first for-ay into designing with a collection for British high streetchain River Island. The British Fashion Council is calling itthe “most anticipated collaboration of 2013.”

“This has been something I wanted to do ever since Istarted loving fashion,” the singer said in a video postedon British Vogue’s website. “Every time I saw somethingon a rack there was something I wanted to do to changeit, and so I thought that the only way I could do that is bydesigning the perfect thing for me.”

Ford, who has dressed everyone from MichelleObama to James Bond star Daniel Craig, will also beshowing his first official catwalk collection in London onSunday. The former design chief at Gucci and Yves SaintLaurent had previously only staged exclusive presenta-tions here. Also on the lineup this season for the firsttime is celebrity favorite L’Wren Scott, the Americandesigner who is a former model and the current partner

of Mick Jagger. Briton Julien Macdonald, anotherdesigner with a starry following, is returning after a

two-season break. In all, almost 60 runway pre-views for autumn 2013 will run from Friday toTuesday. London Fashion Week will be fol-lowed by designer shows in Milan and Paris. —AP

Models present creations by designer Bora Aksu during the 2013 Autumn/Winter London Fashion Week inLondon yesterday. — AFP photos

ATHENS: Greece is pinning its hopesof boosting revenue from an antiquat-ed tax system beset by massive eva-sion on Harry Theoharis, a boyish-look-ing 42-year-old who describes himselfas an “I.T. monkey”.

With Athens fighting to stave offbankruptcy, the former London-basedtechnology manager for LehmanBrothers is tasked with modernisingwhat is effectively a 19th century taxbureaucracy and bringing it up to eurozone standards.

“I’m not the type of person who willlock himself up in his tower and nottalk to anyone,” Theoharis told Reuters.“We must organise services better andcut routine procedures.”

Theoharis had long left LehmanBrothers when the US investmentbank collapsed in 2008. But this eventset off a worldwide crisis which helpedthe following year to bring down AspisPronia, a Greek insurance group wherehe was chief information officer.During the crisis Greek tax revenuealso collapsed as the economy wentinto a downward spiral, compoundingthe long-standing problem of evasion

and forcing Athens into an internation-al bailout. Last month, Theoharis wasappointed Secretary General for PublicRevenue - a powerful job Athens creat-ed at the behest of its EU and IMFlenders. His job is to rid the tax serviceof political meddling and removeunderperforming officials as part ofreforms prescribed in the bailout dealkeeping Greece afloat.

Previously as chief of the financeministry’s data service, he introducedinnovations such online payment ofroad taxes. An avid user of Twitter -where he described himself as the I.T.monkey - he tweets taxpayers at one inthe morning and yet appears clean-shaven on TV talkshows six hours later.“The budget and the bailout plan aresetting clear targets. Everybody will bemeasured against them, every quar-ter,” Theoharis said in an interview athis modest office in the finance min-istry. His appointment shows a realisa-tion that computerising the antiquat-ed, paper-based tax administration isthe way to cross-check scattered dataand help to uncover large-scale taxfraud. Greece has so far disappointed

its lenders on reforming revenue col-lection. In a report last month, theInternational Monetary Fund said therich and the self-employed were con-tinuing to evade taxes “on an astonish-ing scale”. Middle-class wage earnersand pensioners, the hardest-hit groupin Greece’s six-year recession, accountfor 70 percent of total personal incomedeclared, deepening a sense of injus-tice and resentment against Greece’spro-EU/IMF government.

In 2011, about four in 10 taxpayersdeclared annual incomes below thepoverty line of 6,600 euros ($8,900) forsingle people or 13,800 euros for four-member families - twice the real pover-ty rate of 21 percent estimated by theGreek statistics agency.

More than 90 percent of all busi-nesses declare losses or profits below10,000 euros a month. Even at theheight of Greece’s debt-fuelled eco-nomic boom in 2007, a tiny 0.1 percentof firms accounted for more than halfof total corporate profit.

Pushed by the EU and the IMF,Greece is to unveil a much-delayedoverhaul of the current, corruption-

prone system and tax code later thisyear. Vassilis Korkidis, chairman of theESEE union of retailers, wants to be ridof the current system. “Enough withthat rag from the 1950s, which isimpossibly complicated and just fuelscorruption,” he said. The ESEE has sug-gested a series of hi-tech measures tofight tax evasion, such as connectingshops’ cash registers online with thefinance ministry, introducing electron-ic invoicing and digitalising fuel stationpumps to combat smuggling.

A 14-member committee set up bythe finance ministry is separately draft-ing a new tax code with simpleaccounting and record-keeping rules.These would replace often contradic-tory tax legislation that has piled upover decades, scaring investors andthwarting business projects.

“You have to consult the tax codeto check how to deduct 100 euros for apurchased couch,” said ApostolosRefenes, a member of the committeewhich brings together Theoharis and adeputy finance minister with expertsfrom the government, business anduniversities. —Reuters

Technology whizz kid tackles Greek tax evasion

Te c h n o l o g ySATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Dry ice vacuum cleaner robot bound for Fukushima

YOKOHAMA: A remote controlledrobot that uses dry ice to vacuum upradiation was unveiled by Japaneseresearchers yesterday, the latest innova-tion to help the clean-up at Fukushima.

The caterpillar-tracked device blasts

dry ice-frozen CO2 — against floors andwalls, evaporating and carrying radioac-tive substances with it, engineers said.The nozzle also sucks up the resultinggases.

The robot has two boxy machinesthe size of large refrigerators and moveson crawlers that are remotely controlled.Each machine has four cameras thatallow the device to “see” what it isdoing, an engineer told reporters.

“As the machine blasts tiny grains ofdry ice against the surface, the impact ofit as well as the energy of evaporationhelp detach radiological substances,”said Tadasu Yotsuyanagi of Toshiba,

which developed the robot.“Since dry ice immediately gets subli-

mated into gas, it itself does not pro-duce contaminated waste,” he said,adding the technology was developedinitially to scrape paint off airplanes.

The robot can theoretically clean aspace of up to two square metres (22square feet) per hour, but the currentsystem can only hold enough dry ice forhalf an hour. The engineers will test therobot first at a separate nuclear plantthis month, aiming to introduce it to thebattered Fukushima nuclear plant thissummer, Yotsuyanagi said.

The massive earthquake and tsunamiof March 11, 2011, sparked an atomicemergency at the Fukushima Daiichiplant in the northeast of the country.Efforts to clear up after the worstnuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986are still continuing, with high levels ofradiation hampering operations.

The decommissioning of the crippledplant is expected to take severaldecades. Toshiba in November unveileda remote-controlled robot resembling aheadless dog that they also hoped touse at the Fukushima power plant.

The tetrapod, which weighed 65 kilo-grams (143 pounds) and was about onemetre (3 foot, four inches) tall, wasdesigned to be able to cover difficultterrain-such as going up steep steps-that regular robots struggle with.

In December, it successfully pho-tographed some of the critical part ofthe plant’s reactor No 2, where highradiation makes it impossible for work-ers to walk in. But when it was sent formore inspection for the second time, itwas hit by a series of defects, includingfalling backward on steps, the companysaid. —AFP

JAPAN: A Toshiba decontamination robot, for work inside a nuclear plant,is used during a demonstration at Toshiba’s technical center in Yokohama,suburban Tokyo yesterday. The crawler robot blasts dry ice particlesagainst contaminated floors or walls and will be used for the decontamina-tion in TEPCO’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. —AFP

Tamagotchi returnsLOS ANGELES: Tamagotchi is re-hatching as an app. BandaiCo. and Sync Beatz Entertainment are hoping to revive theelectronic pet craze of the 1990s with a new mobile applaunching Thursday for Android devices. The app duplicatesthe egg-shaped plastic toy that became a must-own sensa-tion like Beanie Babies, Tickle Me Elmo and Furby after it wasfirst released in 1996 in Japan.

Sync Beatz, which has licensed Tamagotchi from Bandai, iscalling the app “Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.” - with “L.i.f.e” standing for“love is fun everywhere.” Much like the original doodad, theapp tasks users with taking care of a virtual pet by pressingbuttons that simulate feeding, disciplining and playing withthe critter on screen. If a Tamagotchi is neglected, it dies.

“The idea was to base the gameplay on the originalTamagotchi that everyone knows and loves,” said Shin Ueno,chief marketing officer at Sync Beatz. “As we move along,every two months, we’ll refresh the app, and it will evolve.”

The colorful app, which Ueno said will later be availablefor Apple devices, features unlockable characters, back-grounds and shells. It’s split between two modes: an old-school one that works like the original - right down to threebuttons on the shell - and an app mode that utilizes thetouchscreen and allows users to play rock, paper, scissorswith their pets.

The “Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.” app is free, and a version with-out ads costs 99 cents. While there have been a fewTamagotchi clones available for mobile devices, this marksthe first official Tamagotchi app to come from Bandai,which has released updated versions of the toy since thefirst Tamagotchi hatched 16 years ago.

Sales of the toy have cracked the 78 million mark, andTamagotchi paved the way for such virtual obsessions as“The Sims,” “FarmVille” and “Skylanders.” The executives atSync Beatz think Tamagotchi’s “sweet 16” is the prime timeto relaunch Tamagotchi for nostalgic 20- and 30-some-things, as well as a new generation.

“It’s like comfort food,” said Barry Stagg, chief commu-nications officer at Sync Beatz. “I think Tamagotchi bringsback good memories. When we were at the LicensingExpo last year, the first thing that people who came up tous and saw what we were doing tended to do was smile. Ithink there’s an openness to build on Tamagotchi’s brandequity.”

That means Sync Beatz plans to leverage “TamagotchiL.i.f.e.” as more than simply a sentimental app. The compa-ny plans to launch a “Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.” product line laterthis year with clothing, furnishings and accessoriesslathered with Tamagotchi imagery. —AP

T E C H N O L O G YSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

LOS ANGELES: Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebookfounder Mark Zuckerberg, is writing a memoir about heryears at the social network website where she was oncedirector of marketing, publisher HarperCollins said onThursday. Zuckerberg, 30, signed a two-book deal withHarperCollins that will include her memoir “DotComplicated,” and a children’s picture book, scheduledto be released in the fall.

“Technology has changed virtually every part of ourlives, resulting in a modern, digital society that feels a lotlike the wild, wild West,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.“I am thrilled to be working with HarperCollins to sharesome of my own crazy experiences on the front lines ofsocial media, and to inspire people of all ages to

embrace technology, as well as the new set of socialnorms that come along with it.”

“Dot Complicated” will cover Zuckerberg’s six-yearrole in marketing at Facebook and her decision to leavethe social media site to set up her own company,Zuckerberg Media, an entertainment production studio.HarperCollins said the book will also be released in adigital format that will feature “innovative and engag-ing interactive components” that will include socialmedia integration and a platform for crowd-sourcedstories. Zuckerberg, who left Facebook in August 2011,served as executive producer for the Bravo reality show“Start-Ups: Silicon Valley” and is the editor of the lifestyleblog “Dot Complicated.” — Reuters

Sister of Facebook founder signs book deal

WEST SENECA: In a school hallway, a US teacher takesher students to the library, leading a single-file line ofgiggling boys and girls that’s perfectly ordinary until youget to a sleek white robot with a video screen showingthe face of a smiling, chubby-cheeked boy.

Devon Carrow’s life-threatening allergies don’t allowhim to go to school. But the robot with a wireless videohookup gives him the school experience remotely,allowing him to participate in class, stroll through thehallways, hang out at recess and even take to the audito-rium stage when there’s a show.

What’s most remarkable is how unremarkable thistechnology is viewed by his classmates. In a class of 7-year-olds raised on video games, avatars and remote-controlled toys, they don’t see a robot. They just seeDevon. Just before class one recent day, a girl leanedtoward the robot to tell Devon the joke making

the rounds at school: Why did the boy eat his home-work? The teacher told him it was a piece of cake. Whilemaking get-well cards for him during a hospital stay lastyear, his classmates all drew him as a boy, not a bot.

“In the classroom, the kids are like, ‘Devon, come over,we’re doing Legos. Show us your Legos,’” says teacherDawn Voelker. “I wondered how the little kids wouldtake to him, thinking they’d be amazed,” adds PrincipalKathleen Brachmann. “But I think kids are so tech-savvynow that they accept it more than we do.”

Even Devon doesn’t quite get what all the fuss isabout. Steering the four-wheeled robot through schooland spinning around to see the classmates is just anoth-

er mouse-and-keyboard challenge. “It’s so cool becauseit’s like playing a game on the computer,” says the boy.“It’s like your objective is to just survive.” For a year now,Devon has attended school using “VGo,” a robot shapeda little like a chess pawn. Since it was introduced in 2011by VGo Communications, a handful of students acrossthe country have used it.

It’s also attracting attention in the medical and busi-ness worlds, allowing doctors to consult with patientsand workers to virtually pop into the office, even whiletraveling. For Devon, it was a chance to go to school forthe first time in his life. He has eosinophilic esophagitis,caused by an allergic white blood cell that grows in hisstomach and esophagus. He’s also got anaphylacticshock syndrome, which causes life-threatening allergicreactions to triggers including milk and peanuts.

Even though attacks have put him in the intensivecare unit twice in the past 18 months, Devon is outgoingand energetic, whose personality better suits him to theschool experience rather than home-schooling.

But after teachers at Devon’s previous school in NewYork state resisted the idea of having the VGo’s camerain the classroom, his mother persisted, and Devon waswelcomed at another school. It was added to Devon’sspecial education plan, and the cost - about $6,000 forthe robot and $100 in monthly service fees - is beingpaid out of the district’s budget. The technology broad-ens Devon’s school experience beyond what would bepossible through a video chat. The only restrictions arephysical.—AP

NEW YORK: President BarackObama’s State of the Union speechthis week confirmed it: The pre-emi-nent political and economic chal-lenge in the industrialized democra-cies is how to make capitalism workfor the middle class.

There is nothing mysteriousabout that. The most important factabout the United States in this cen-tury is that middle-class incomes arestagnating. The financial crisis hasrevealed an equally stark structuralproblem in much of Europe.

Even in a relatively prosperousage - for all of today’s woes, we haveleft behind the dark, satanic millsand workhouses of the 19th century- this decline of the middle class ismore than an economic issue. It isalso a political one. The main pointof democracy is to deliver positiveresults for the majority.

All of which is why understand-ing what is happening to the middleclass is urgently important. There isno better place to start than by talk-ing to David Autor, an economicsprofessor at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology. Autor is oneof the leading students of the moststriking trend bedeviling the middleclass: the polarization of the job mar-ket. That is a nice way of saying theeconomy is being cleaved into high-paying jobs at the top and low-pay-ing jobs at the bottom, while themiddle-skill and middle-wage jobsthat used to form society’s backboneare being hollowed out.

But when I asked him this weekwhat had gone wrong for the U.S.middle class, he gave a differentanswer: “The main problem is we’vejust had a decade of incredibly ane-mic employment growth. All of asudden, around 2000 and 2001,things just slowed down.”

Academics can usually be count-ed on to have a confident explana-tion for everything. That is why I wassurprised and impressed by Autor’sanswer when I asked him where thejobs had gone. “No one really under-stands why that is the case,” he said.

It was a winningly modest reply.But work by Autor and two col-leagues - David Dorn, a visiting pro-fessor at Harvard, and GordonHanson of the University ofCalifornia, San Diego - is starting tountangle the two forces that boththe conventional wisdom and theacademy agree are probably respon-sible for a lot of what is happeningto the middle class.

Those forces are technologicalchange and trade. The easy assump-tion is that the two go together.After all, trade needs technology - itis hard to imagine outsourcing with-out the Internet, sophisticated logis-tics systems and jet travel.Technology is dependent on trade,too: The opportunity for global scaleis one reason technological innova-tion has yielded such outsizerewards.

But in a careful study of locallabor markets in the United States,

Autor, Dorn and Hanson have foundthat trade and technology had verydifferent consequences for jobs.

“We were surprised at how dis-tinct the two were,” Autor said. “Wefound that the trade shock had avery measurable impact on theemployment rate. Technology led tojob polarization, but its employmenteffect was minimal.” Trade, at least inthe short term, really did ship jobsoverseas. Technology did not killjobs per se, but it did hollow outthose essential jobs in the middle.

The big surprise, at least forbelievers (like me) in the classic liber-al economic view that trade benefitsboth parties, is the strong and nega-tive impact of globalization on U.S.workers - Autor estimates it accountsfor 15 to 20 percent of jobs lost.

“The rise of China was such ahuge change. It really did matter,”Autor said. “First, China is such ahuge country. Two, China was 40 or50 years behind in technology, so ithad a lot of catching up to do. Third,it happened so fast.”

What is striking, and frightening,is the extent to which, at least in theU.S.-China trade relationship, theknee-jerk, populist fears intellectualstend to deride actually turned out tobe true.

“U.S.-China trade is almost a one-way street. This trade relationshipdoesn’t clearly give you the benefitthat you can sell a lot of stuff to yourtrade partner,” Dorn said. “If you talkto someone who is somehowinvolved in the promotion of freetrade, they may say that maybe theheadquarters of Apple benefits. Thatmay be true. But the first-order effectis of job loss.”

The impact of technology is morefamiliar. Autor, Dorn and Hansonfound that it did not create fewerjobs overall, but it did hollow out thejobs in the middle.

“Technology has really changedthe distribution of occupation. Thatdoesn’t necessarily go hand in handwith reduced unemployment, but itcreates a more bimodal set of oppor-tunities,” Autor said. “There is anabundance of work to do in foodservice and there is an abundance ofwork in finance, but there are fewermiddle-wage, middle-income jobs.”

What is challenging about bothof these trends, and what makes thehollowing out of the middle class apolitical problem as well as an eco-nomic one, is how different theylook depending on whether youown a company or work for one.

Shipping middle-class jobs toChina, or hollowing them out withmachines, is a win for smart man-agers and their shareholders. We callthe result higher productivity. But,looked at through the lens of middle-class jobs, it is a loss. That profounddifference is why politics in the richdemocracies are so polarized rightnow. Capitalism and democracy areat cross-purposes, and no one yet hasa clear plan for reconciling them. —Reuters

China, technology and the US middle class

My classmate, the robot: US pupil attends remotely

NEW YORK: In this Thursday, Jan 24, 2013 photo, Devon Carrow attends Winchester Elementary Schoolfrom home while operating a robot in the classroom, in West Seneca NY Carrow’s life-threatening aller-gies don’t allow him to go to school. But the 4-foot-tall robot with a wireless video hookup gives him theschool experience remotely, allowing him to participate in class, stroll through the hallways, hang out atrecess and even take to the auditorium stage when there’s a show. — AP

T V l i s t i n g sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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00:00 Intruders-1802:00 The Last Exorcism-1804:00 True Justice: Dark Vengeance-PG1506:00 Bending The Rules-PG1508:00 True Justice: Street Wars-PG15

00:00 The Men Who Stare At Goats-1802:00 Analyze This-PG1504:00 Below The Beltway-PG1506:00 The Search For Santa Paws-PG08:00 The Family Stone-PG1510:00 Desperately Seeking Santa-PG1512:00 Below The Beltway-PG1514:00 The Tooth Fairy 2-PG1516:00 Desperately Seeking Santa-PG1518:00 Morning Glory-PG1520:00 The Dilemma-PG1522:00 Loser-PG15

00:00 After Life-1802:00 Treasure Buddies-PG04:00 Quest For Zhu-PG06:00 The Birth Of Big Air-PG1507:30 Tim Richmond: To The Limit-PG1509:00 Happy Feet Two-PG10:45 New Year’s Eve-PG1512:45 Jane Eyre-PG1514:45 Backwash-PG1516:15 Happy Feet Two-PG18:00 Source Code-PG1520:00 Waiting For Forever-PG1522:00 A Dangerous Method-18

01:00 Cher Ami-PG02:45 Snow Day-PG04:30 Tommy & Oscar-FAM06:00 Arrietty-FAM08:00 Maroons-FAM10:00 Cheaper By The Dozen-PG11:45 Sammy’s Adventure: TheSecret Passage-FAM13:15 Princess Lillifee-FAM14:30 Snow Day-PG16:15 Olentzero Christmas Tale-FAM18:00 Cheaper By The Dozen-PG20:00 The Adventures Of DonQuixote-FAM22:00 Princess Lillifee-FAM23:30 Olentzero Christmas Tale-FAM

00:00 ICC Cricket 36000:30 Super Rugby 02:30 Premier League Darts06:00 Golfing World07:00 European PGA Tour11:30 ICC Cricket 36012:00 Pro 1214:00 Super League16:00 ICC Cricket 36016:30 Total Rugby17:00 Live Top 1419:00 Trans World Sport20:00 ICC Cricket 36020:45 Live Super League22:45 Top 14

01:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 02:00 WWE SmackDown04:00 WWE Bottom Line05:00 WWE NXT06:00 Trans World Sport07:00 Super League11:00 Snooker14:00 Live PGA European Tour18:00 ICC Cricket 36018:30 WWE Bottom Line19:30 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 20:30 Live UFC

00:00 WWE SmackDown02:00 UFC TUF 03:00 Ping Pong WorldChampionships04:00 US Bass Fishing 05:00 NHL07:00 WWE SmackDown09:00 WWE Bottom Line10:00 WWE Vintage Collection11:00 NHL13:00 UAE National Race Day Series14:00 WWE SmackDown16:00 WWE Bottom Line17:00 WWE This Week 17:30 UFC TUF 18:30 NHL20:30 WWE Bottom Line21:30 Live Pro 1223:30 WWE This Week

01:00 Daydream Nation-PG1502:45 Departures-PG1505:00 The Insider-PG1507:30 Sunny And The Elephant-PG1509:15 Oceans-PG1511:00 The Eagle-PG1513:00 Restless-PG1515:00 Oceans-PG1517:00 Boy-PG1519:00 The King’s Speech-PG1521:00 Black Swan-1823:00 Seabiscuit-PG15

00:00 The Conspirator-PG1502:00 Battle For Terra-PG04:00 The Beaver-PG1506:00 Ice Dreams-PG08:00 Rising Stars-PG1510:00 12 Dates Of Christmas-PG1512:00 The Beaver-PG1514:00 Three Inches-PG1516:00 Rising Stars-PG1518:00 Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes-PG1520:00 Waiting For Forever-PG1522:00 Love And Other ImpossiblePursuits-PG15

01:00 Trans World Sport02:00 HSBC Sevens World SeriesHighlights02:30 Top 1404:30 Super League06:30 ICC Cricket 36007:00 Snooker The Welsh Open10:00 HSBC Sevens World SeriesHighlights10:30 Trans World Sport11:30 Live Super Rugby13:30 Super Rugby 15:30 ICC Cricket 36016:00 Live Snooker The Welsh Open20:00 Super Rugby 22:00 Live Snooker The Welsh Open

00:00 Castle01:00 Survivor: Caramoan02:00 Smash03:00 Justified04:00 American Idol05:00 Smash06:00 Castle07:00 Emmerdale07:30 Coronation Street08:00 One Tree Hill09:00 Glee10:00 American Idol11:00 Survivor: Caramoan12:00 Emmerdale12:30 Coronation Street13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show14:00 One Tree Hill15:00 Castle16:00 Emmerdale16:30 Coronation Street18:00 One Tree Hill20:00 Criminal Minds21:00 C.S.I. Miami22:00 Strike Back23:00 Justified

00:45 Amish: Out of Order01:40 Travel Madness02:05 Travel Madness02:35 On Surfari03:00 On Surfari03:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 203:55 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 204:25 Amish: Out of Order05:20 Bondi Rescue05:45 Bondi Rescue06:15 Walking The World07:10 Departures08:05 Departures09:00 Treks In A Wild World09:55 Treks In A Wild World

00:30 The Daily Show With JonStewart01:00 The Colbert Report01:30 The League02:00 South Park02:30 Veep03:00 Parks And Recreation03:30 2 Broke Girls04:00 Less Than Perfect04:30 The Tonight Show With JayLeno05:30 Less Than Perfect06:00 Seinfeld06:30 Hope & Faith07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon08:00 Less Than Perfect08:30 Less Than Perfect09:00 Parks And Recreation09:30 30 Rock10:00 Modern Family10:30 Hope & Faith11:00 The Tonight Show With JayLeno12:00 Seinfeld12:30 Less Than Perfect13:00 Less Than Perfect13:30 Hope & Faith14:00 2 Broke Girls14:30 Modern Family15:00 30 Rock15:30 The Daily Show With JonStewart16:00 The Colbert Report16:30 Seinfeld17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon18:00 Parks And Recreation18:30 Baby Daddy19:00 The Neighbors

00:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir01:00 MSNBC Hardball With ChrisMatthews02:00 MSNBC Politicsnation03:00 Live NBC Nightly News03:30 ABC World News With DianeSawyer04:00 MSNBC The Ed Show05:00 MSNBC The Rachel MaddowShow06:00 MSNBC The Last Word W/Lawrence O’Donnell07:00 NBC Nightly News07:30 ABC World News With DianeSawyer08:00 NBC Nightly News08:38 ABC Nightline09:06 MSNBC The Rachel MaddowShow10:00 MSNBC The Ed Show11:00 MSNBC Morning Joe14:00 MSNBC Caught On Camera15:00 Live NBC Saturday Today Show17:00 MSNBC Up With Chris HayesSaturday18:57 Live MSNBC Hardball With ChrisMatthews19:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show20:19 Live MSNBC The RachelMaddow Show21:00 Live ABC 20/2022:00 MSNBC Weekends With AlexWitt Saturday

00:40 I Almost Got Away With It01:30 Dr G: Medical Examiner02:20 Ghost Lab03:05 Fatal Encounters03:55 Ghost Lab04:45 I Almost Got Away With It05:30 Dr G: Medical Examiner06:20 Ghost Lab07:10 Murder Shift08:00 Killer Outbreaks08:50 Street Patrol09:15 Street Patrol09:40 Real Emergency Calls10:05 Who On Earth Did I Marry?10:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn11:20 Murder Shift12:10 Disappeared13:00 Killer Outbreaks13:50 Street Patrol14:15 Street Patrol14:40 Forensic Detectives15:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn16:20 Real Emergency Calls16:45 Who On Earth Did I Marry?17:10 Disappeared18:00 Murder Shift18:50 Forensic Detectives19:40 On The Case With Paula Zahn20:30 Disappeared21:20 Nightmare Next Door22:10 Couples Who Kill23:00 Blood Relatives23:50 I Married A Mobster

10:50 Amish: Out of Order11:45 Travel Madness12:10 Travel Madness12:40 On Surfari13:05 On Surfari13:35 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 214:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 214:30 Amish: Out of Order15:25 Banged Up Abroad16:20 Departures17:15 Treks In A Wild World18:10 Treks In A Wild World19:05 Bondi Rescue19:30 Bondi Rescue20:00 Walking The World21:00 Departures22:00 Don’t Tell My Mother22:55 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy23:50 By Any Means

10:00 Sucker Punch-PG1512:00 Goal!-PG1514:00 True Justice: Street Wars-PG1516:00 Biker Boyz-PG1518:00 Goal!-PG1520:00 Get Rich Or Die Tryin’-1822:00 Interview With A Hitman-PG15

19:30 Modern Family20:00 The Tonight Show With JayLeno21:00 The Daily Show With JonStewart21:30 The Colbert Report22:00 Saturday Night Live23:00 Veep23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

01:55 Andy Bates American StreetFeasts02:20 Unwrapped02:45 Andy Bates American StreetFeasts03:10 Andy Bates American StreetFeasts03:35 Heat Seekers04:00 Heat Seekers04:20 Kid In A Candy Store04:50 Unique Sweets05:15 Charly’s Cake Angels05:40 Chopped06:30 Iron Chef America07:10 Unwrapped07:35 Unwrapped08:00 Food Network Challenge08:50 Kid In A Candy Store09:15 Unwrapped09:40 Food Crafters10:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics10:30 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics10:55 Cooking For Real11:20 Easy Chinese: San Francisco11:45 Easy Chinese12:10 Mexican Made Easy12:35 Mexican Made Easy13:00 Iron Chef America13:50 Tyler’s Ultimate14:15 Unique Sweets14:40 Unique Sweets15:05 World Cafe Asia15:30 Easy Chinese: San Francisco15:55 Easy Chinese16:20 Food Crafters16:45 Chopped17:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics18:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives18:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives19:15 Andy Bates American StreetFeasts19:40 Charly’s Cake Angels20:05 Guy’s Big Bite20:30 Chopped21:20 Chopped22:10 Chef Hunter23:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives23:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives23:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

13:00 A Dog Named Duke-PG1515:00 33 Postcards-PG1517:00 Something Borrowed-PG1519:00 Hanna-PG1521:00 Cowboys & Aliens-PG1523:00 Dirty Girl-18

00:55 The Adventures Of HuckleberryFinn-FAM02:25 Cat On A Hot Tin Roof04:10 The Biggest Bundle Of Them All-PG06:00 Travels With My Aunt-PG08:00 The Swan-FAM09:45 The Adventures Of HuckleberryFinn-FAM11:15 Travels With My Aunt-PG13:05 In This Our Life-PG14:40 Ivanhoe-FAM16:25 Texas Carnival-FAM17:40 The Biggest Bundle Of Them All-PG19:30 Kismet-FAM21:25 Agatha-PG23:00 Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

ECC organizes Omra trip for Egyptians

Secretary general of the Egyptian CommunityCouncil (ECC), Dr Azmi Abdul Fattah congrat-ulated all Egyptians on the second anniver-

sary of the January 25 revolution urging everybodyto consolidate and unite for the best of Egypt as awhole. On this occasion, Abdul Fattah announcedthat the council would organize its annual Omratrip pointing out that it would last eight days in theperiod of February 21 till 28.

Goan Culinary Club

The Goan Culinary Club - Goa encourages youto log on to their website where you can finda video of Odette and Joe Mascarenhas shar-

ing their thoughts on Goan cuisine. These videoswere recorded at the launch of the Goan CulinaryClub in Goa on March 3, 2012. Thanks to supportfrom all at the Goan Culinary Club, we have madegreat progress in six months.

Basketball Academy

The new Premier Basketball Academy offerscoaching and games every Friday andSaturday from 10 am onwards for 6 to 18 year

olds, boys and girls. Located in Bayan Block 7,Masjed Al-Aqsa Street by Abdullah Al-Rujaib HighSchool. Free Basketball and Tee Shirts for all partici-pants, with certificates and special awards on com-pletion of each 6 week course. Qualified and experi-enced British and American Coaches, EveryoneWelcome.

Salsa & Jive classes

Salsa & Jive classes in Salmiya: Take the Dive,with Salsa & Jive, Two left feet wont stop thebeat. Join now as an individual or a Couple.

Unleash your potential. Individual attention to allstudents guaranteed. For details contact: 97979816/ 94445711

Kuwait Carnatic Music Forum Thyagaraja program

NJ Nandini disciple of Bombay Jayasree whosang the title song in the Oscar nominatedmovie Life of Pi and winner of Ragarathnam

program Amrutha TV classical music competition;accompanying artistes: Kanchi Kamakodi Pithamasthana vidwan Karunagappalli S Balamurali on vio-lin; Kanchi Kamakodi Pitham asthana vidwanPerunna G Harikumar on mridangam; GireeshSundareshan on ganchira; Vazhappalli G Anil kumaron ghatam; and Manoj Mavelikkara on morshankhwill perform. Full day classical music program onFeb 19 am - 4.30 pm. Participants: music studentsand devotees. Pancharathna keerthanaalapanam at5 pm at the Indian Community School Salmiya(senior girls). All are welcome.

Announcements

W h a t ’s o nSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

Write to us

The Coordination Committee ofIndian residents of Salmiya organ-ized an interaction with Area

Commander of Salmiya and his team onFeb 9, 2013 in the Indian CommunitySchool auditorium. Captain Meshal Al-Mutairi, Lt Dhari Al-Shammari, LtDawood Faridhoon took part in theevent. Captain Meshal Al-Mutairi andhis colleagues were accorded a rousingreception by the members of the coor-dination committee. This goodwillmeeting was a grand success in termsof residents’ participation and confi-dence-building.

Basheer Batha, general convener ofthe committee, welcomed the gather-ing. In his address, he spelt out the rea-sons for inviting the esteemed guestsand the community for an interaction.He said that such meetings will help tofacilitate better interaction between theresidents and the authorities.

Vijay Karayil, Chairman of theSalmiya Residents Coordination

Committee, delivered the presidentialaddress and highlighted the supportIndians receive from the Kuwait authori-ties. He underlined that the Indians inKuwait are indebted and grateful to therulers of Kuwait for the benevolenceand kind hospitality. He informed thecommunity members that, in the con-text of crimes by some miscreants in thearea, the coordination committee con-tacted Indian Ambassador Satish CMehta and found full support from theembassy officials. Indian Embassy repre-sented the matter to ministry of Interiorand organized a meeting of the com-munity with the authorities in Salmiyain the presence of Balram Upadhyay,counselor at the Indian embassy.

Vijay further informed the gatheringthat the Salmiya police authorities werevery patient and understanding andpromised to look into the matter pro-vided proper police complaints werefiled. He also prompted the communitymembers to register the case in the

police station and assured them thatthe bilingual volunteers of theCommittee would help them as andwhen required.

Mukhtar Marouf and Harjinder Singh,patrons of the committee presented amemento to Captain Meshal Al-Mutairiand Adv Razak M Payyoli and Sunil P.Antony, conveners, presented memen-toes to Lt Dhari Waleed Al-Shammariand Lt Dawood Faridoon.

Captain Meshal whole-heartedlypraised the Indian community for theirpeace-loving nature and promptedthem to register their complaints withthe nearest police station. He assuredthe Indians that they would get fullcooperation from Kuwait police in theevent of any untoward incident.

Four volunteers came forward tohelp the community at any moment oftime and gave their names and contactnumbers. In conclusion, MehaboobKappad, convener of the committee,presented the vote of thanks.

Police officials hold awareness meeting for Salmiya residents

St Gregorios Orthodox MahaEdavaka gave a warm welcometo Dr Madhu Paulose, MD, DM,

Head of St Gregorios Cardio-VascularCentre and Dr K M Cherian HeartFoundation, Parumala reached inKuwait on Thursday. He was receivedat Kuwait Airport by Parish Vicar FrJose Mathew, Fr Jeffin Varghese,Sabha managing committee mem-bers, parish office-bearers and the offi-cials of Anti-Alcoholism Movement.

Dr Madhu Paulose led a medicalseminar on ‘Common CardiovascularProblems in NRIs’ on Thursday, atIndian Central School Auditorium,Abbasiya from 7.00 pm organized byAnti Alcoholism Movement, a spiritualorganization of St Gregorios MahaEdavaka.

Warm welcome to Dr Madhu Paulose

W h a t ’s o nSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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Information

Embassy

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIAThe Australian Embassy Kuwait does nothave a visa or immigration department.All processing of visas and immigrationmatters in conducted by The AustralianConsulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.aus-dxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS)immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office);Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200(Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office).In Kuwait applications can be lodged at theAustralian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor,Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-SalemStreet, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait,Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days:09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit theirwebsite www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more informa-tion. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visason-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

EMBASSY OF CANADA

The Embassyof Canada in Kuwaitdoes not have a visa or immigra-tion department. All processing

of visa and immigration matters includingenquiries is conducted by the CanadianEmbassy in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Individualswho are interested in working, studying, vis-iting or immigrating to Canada should con-tact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi,website: www.UAE.gc.ca†or www.goingto-canada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy ofCanada is located at Villa 24, Al-MutawakeiSt, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our web-site at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy ofCanada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sundaythrough Thursday. The reception is openfrom 07:30 to 12:30. Consular services forCanadian citizens are provided from09:00†until 12:00, Sunday throughWednesday.

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EMBASSY OF MYANMAREmbassy of the Republic of the Union ofMyanmar would like to inform the gen-eral public that the Embassy has movedits office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203,Block 2, Al-Salaam Area in South Surra. TheEmbassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizensand travellers to Myanmar to contactMyanmar Embassy at its new location. Tel.25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, e-mail:myankuwait11@gmai1.com.

EMBASSY OF KENYAThe Embassy of the Republic of Kenyawishes to inform the Kenyan communityresidents throughout Kuwait and thegeneral public that the Embassy has acquirednew office telephone numbers as follows:25353982, 25353985 - Consular’s enquiries25353987 - Fax Our Email address:info@kenyaembkuwait.com.

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EMBASSY OF NIGERIAThe Nigerian embassy has its new office inMishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. Forenquires please call 25379541. Fax-25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.comor nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk.

The Sunshine Kindergarten (TSK)in Salwa held its annual SportsDays last week, with children

aged between 3 and 4 taking part in amedley of events.

The Sports Days took place over 3days in Marble Arch, the sports arenabelonging to The British School ofKuwait, and were attended by numer-ous parents and family members ofthe TSK Pre-kindergarten andKindergarten children.

Led out into the arena by TSK mas-cots Honey and Sunny, the childrenparaded in their House colors to thetheme tune from Stars Wars, beforewarming up ready to take part in theirevents.

The TSK sports events weredesigned to test the children’s skills inbalance, movement, stamina andagility. The events included a relay

race, two obstacle courses, a bat andbeanbag race and a hoop agility test.For the older children there was alsothe cycling challenge, which was fullof tricky maneuvers and daring dash-es to the finish line!

The grand finale for each day wasthe parents’ tug-o-war event. Firstly,daddies were invited to flex their mus-cles and pull the rope with all theirmight and then came the mummies!This was a hugely entertaining event,enjoyed by the children as much as theparents and a great way to round offeach amazing day.

TSK Principal, Miss Joanne, wouldlike to thank all the parents for theirsupport and participation and all thechildren and staff at TSK for makingthe events so successful. Even the raincouldn’t dampen spirits and a greatmorning out was has by one and all.

Sunshine Kindergarten holds its Annual Sports Day

Honey and Sunny the Sunshine Kindergarten Mascots TSK dads give us the old heave ho!

TSK mums take part in the tug of war with enthusiasm TSK Kindergarten children walking to Marble Arch fortheir Sports Day

Wales House girls from PKG navigatethrough the hoops

The Najla Al-NaqqiForum hosts a dinner

banquet tomorrow(Sunday) in the honor

of the Aheba’a Misr(Egypt Lovers)

Society delegation.The event starts at

8:00 pm at theforum’s headquarters

in Salwa, block 2, Al-Masjid Al-AqsaMosque Street,

House 388.

H e a l t hSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

SYDNEY: An Australian court yesterdaydismissed a challenge against thepatenting of human genetic material ina landmark case which has devastated acancer group that says it could stifleresearch.

The case hinged on whether a validpatent can be granted to cover natural-ly occurring nucleic acids, the buildingblocks of living organisms-in this casethe so-called breast cancer gene BRCA1.

Federal Court Justice John Nicholasrejected the argument that BRCA1, agenetic mutation associated with anincreased risk of breast and ovarian can-cer in women, could not be patented

because it was a naturally occurringsubstance.

He ruled instead in favour of the twomedical research companies that holdthe patent, US-based Myriad Geneticsand Melbourne-based GeneticTechnologies Ltd.

“There is no doubt that naturallyoccurring DNA and RNA as they existinside the cells of the human body can-not be the subject of a valid patent,” hisjudgement concluded. DNA and RNAare types of nucleic acid.

“However, the disputed claims donot cover naturally occurring DNA andRNA as they exist inside such cells.

“The disputed claims extend only tonaturally occurring DNA and RNAwhich have been extracted from cellsobtained from the human body andpurged of other biological materialswith which they were associated.”

The decision is the first in the coun-try to consider whether isolated DNAor RNA sequences can be patentedand lawyers for Cancer VoicesAustralia, which brought the case, haveargued it raises ethical issues about thecommercialisation of the human body.

The judgement is a blow to the can-cer campaigners, with the woman whobrought the case, Yvonne D’Arcy, leav-

ing the court in tears.“To tell the truth I’m very disap-

pointed,” she told reporters. “We weredoing this for future generations, andI’m just so disappointed.”

Cancer Voices Australia alsoexpressed its disappointment in losingthe case which it said was for peoplewith all diseases with genetic markers.

“We think that is it very importantthat information about people’sgenes (and) genetic makeup be freelyavailable to researchers, not only inAustralia, but around the world,”Cancer Voices’ John Stubbs told theABC. —AFP

Challenge to cancer gene patent fails in Australia

LONDON: Banning smoking in enclosedpublic places can lead to lower rates ofpreterm birth, according to Belgianresearchers who say the findings point tohealth benefits of smoke-free laws even invery early life. It is well known that smokingduring pregnancy can stunt the growth ofunborn babies and shorten gestation, andthat second-hand smoke exposure can alsoeffect births, but little was known about theimpact of smoking bans on preterm birthrates. So a team of researchers led by TimNawrot of Belgium’s Hasselt Universityinvestigated trends in preterm births —before 37 weeks gestation — from 2002 to2011 covering a period before, during andafter the introduction of smoke-free laws.

They found the risk of preterm birthafter the introduction of each phase ofBelgium’s smoking ban, which was imple-mented in three phases — in public placesand most workplaces in January 2006, inrestaurants in January 2007, and in barsserving food in January 2010.

No decreasing trend in preterm wasevident in the years or months before thebans, the researchers said in their study inthe British Medical Journal yesterday.

“Our study shows a consistent patternof reduction in the risk of preterm deliverywith successive population interventionsto restrict smoking,” the researchers wrote.

“It supports the notion that smokingbans have public health benefits evenfrom early life.”

Smoking causes lung cancer, oftenfatal, and other chronic respiratory dis-eases. It is also a major risk factor for cardio-vascular diseases, the world’s number onekillers. According to the World HealthOrganisation, tobacco already kills around6 million people a year worldwide, includ-ing more than 600,000 non-smokers whodie from exposure to second-hand smoke.By 2030, if current trends continue, it pre-dicts tobacco could kill 8 million people ayear.

Public health experts hope that as more

and more countries in Europe and aroundthe world adopt stricter legislation onsmoking in public places, the health bene-fits will start to become evident fairly swift-ly. A study from England published lastmonth found that the introduction ofsmoking bans there led to swift and dra-matic falls in the number of children admit-ted to hospital suffering asthma attacks.

And research published in 2009 alsofound the ban on smoking in public placesin England led to a swift and significantdrop in the number of heart attacks, savingthe national health service 8.4 millionpounds ($13.1 million) in the first year.

The Belgian researchers analysed606,877 live, single-born babies deliveredat between 24 and 44 weeks of gestationin Flanders from 2002 to 2011.

The results show a reduction in therisk of preterm births of 3.13 percent afterJanuary 2007, and a further reduction inthe risk of 2.65 percent after January2010. —Reuters

Smoking bans linked to fewer pre-term births

More countries adopt stricter legislation

CASTELNAUDARY: Senior employees arrive for a state-ment at the headquarters of French meat supplierSpanghero in Castelnaudary, southwestern France,yesterday. —AFP

French firm in horsemeat scandal

denies fraudPARIS: The president of French meat-processing companySpanghero said yesterday the government had been tooquick to accuse it of knowingly selling horsemeat labelled asbeef, and said he would prove the firm’s innocence.

Consumer Affairs Minister Benoit Hamon on Thursdayreleased details of an investigation into the firm which he saidindicated Spanghero as the likely culprit in the horsemeatscandal that has enraged consumers across Europe and impli-cated traders and abattoirs from Cyprus to Romania.

“I don’t know who is behind this, but I can tell you it’s notus. I’m astonished,” Spanghero boss Barthelemy Aguerre toldEurope 1 radio. “I think we will prove our innocence and thatof my associate. I think the government has been too quick.”

The French probe into how horsemeat got into readymeals sold across Europe found that the Spanghero firmlabelled meat as beef when it knew what it was processingmay have been horse, Hamon said.

He said that Spanghero could not have failed to notice themeat it was importing was much cheaper than beef and therewas no indication that a Romanian firm supplying the meathad mislabelled what was in fact horsemeat.

Spanghero, based in the town of Castelnaudary nearToulouse in southwest France, has had its operating licencesuspended for 10 days and will face legal action if the suspi-cions are confirmed.

The results of the investigation have been passed on to theParis prosecutor. —Reuters

WASHINGTON: US regulatorsapproved a so-called bionic eye onThursday, giving hope to people with arare genetic disease.

Developed by California-basedSecond Sight Medical Products, Inc., theArgus II Retinal Prosthesis System is thefirst retinal implant for adults withadvanced retinitis pigmentosa thatresults in the gradual loss of vision andcan lead to blindness.

“While the Argus II Retinal ProsthesisSystem will not restore vision topatients, it may allow them to detectlight and dark in the environment, aid-ing them in identifying the location ormovement of objects or people,” the USFood and Drug Administration said in astatement announcing its decision.

The device includes a small videocamera and a transmitter mounted on apair of glasses, as well as a video pro-

cessing unit and an implanted retinalprosthesis that replaces the function ofdegenerated cells in the retina.

“This new surgically implanted assis-tive device provides an option forpatients who have lost their sight to RP(retinitis pigmentosa), for whom therehave been no FDA-approved treat-ments,” said Jeffrey Shuren, director ofthe FDA’s Center for Devices andRadiological Health.

“The device may help adults with RPwho have lost the ability to perceiveshapes and movement to be moremobile and to perform day-to-day activ-ities.”

Already greenlighted by Europeanregulators, the FDA approved the ArgusII as a humanitarian use device, which islimited to instruments that treat ordiagnose fewer than 4,000 people inthe United States annually. —AFP

US regulators approve bionic eye

NEW YORK: The United States couldprevent up to half a million deaths overthe next decade if Americans cut theirsalt intake to within national guidelines,according to a US study.

That finding, which comes the weekNew York City announced successtoward its goals of cutting salt levels byone-quarter by 2014, is based on com-puter simulations using data from vari-ous studies on the effects of extra sodi-um on blood pressure and heart risks.

The Institute of Medicine recom-mends most healthy people get 1,500milligrams (mg) of sodium per day, withan upper limit of 2,300 mg. But theaverage American eats something like3,600 mg a day, largely throughprocessed food.

“Reducing sodium intake is impor-tant for everyone, not just a small sub-set of people who are salt sensitive,”said study lead author Pamela Coxson,at the University of California, San

Francisco. Although the health effectsof cutting back on salt may be smallfor the average person, she said, theresults show they add up when pro-jected across millions of Americans.Coxson and her colleagues ran threesalt-reduction scenarios through mod-els that predicted how a lower-sodiumdiet would have an impact on a per-son’s risk of having high blood pres-sure or dying of cardiovascular dis-ease. —Reutes

Salt reduction could prevent thousands of deaths

H e a l t hSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

i n f o r m a t i o nSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Hospitals

Sabah Hospital 24812000

Amiri Hospital 22450005

Maternity Hospital 24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital 25312700

Chest Hospital 24849400

Farwaniya Hospital 24892010

Adan Hospital 23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital 24840300

Al-Razi Hospital 24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital 24874330/9

Clinics

Rabiya 24732263

Rawdha 22517733

Adailiya 22517144

Khaldiya 24848075

Khaifan 24849807

Shamiya 24848913

Shuwaikh 24814507

Abdullah Salim 22549134

Al-Nuzha 22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh 24814764

Al-Qadisiya 22515088

Dasmah 22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar 22531908

Al-Shaab 22518752

Al-Kibla 22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla 22451082

Mirqab 22456536

Sharq 22465401

Salmiya 25746401

Jabriya 25316254

Maidan Hawally 25623444

Bayan 25388462

Al-Madena 22418714Al-Shohada’a 22545171Al-Shuwaikh 24810598Al-Nuzha 22545171Sabhan 24742838Al-Helaly 22434853Al-Fayhaa 22545051Al-Farwaniya 24711433Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983Al-Fahaheel 23927002Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983Ahmadi 23980088Al-Mangaf 23711183Al-Shuaiba 23262845Al-Jahra 25610011Al-Salmiya 25616368

MATRIMONIAL

SHARQIA-1BULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 1:30 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 3:45 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 6:00 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 8:00 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 10:30 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 12:45 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

SHARQIA-2THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 12:30 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 2:15 PMTHE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 4:15 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 6:00 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 8:15 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 10:30 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 12:30 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

MUHALAB-1BULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 1:30 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 3:30 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 5:30 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 7:45 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 10:00 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 12:15 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

MUHALAB-2MAMA (DIG) 1:45 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 3:45 PMSAVE YOUR LEGS! (DIG) 6:00 PMMAMA (DIG) 8:15 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 10:15 PMMAMA (DIG) 12:30 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

FANAR-1GAMBIT (DIG) 1:45 PMTHE GUILT TRIP (DIG) 4:00 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 6:00 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 8:00 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 10:00 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 12:05 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

FANAR-2MAMA (DIG) 2:00 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 4:00 PMMAMA (DIG) 6:15 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 8:15 PMMAMA (DIG) 10:45 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 12:45 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

MARINA-1MAMA (DIG) 12:30 PMTHE GUILT TRIP (DIG) 2:30 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 4:30 PMSAVE YOUR LEGS! (DIG) 6:45 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 8:45 PM

MAMA (DIG) 11:00 PMMAMA (DIG) 1:00 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

MARINA-23ALA GOSETY (DIG) 1:30 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 3:45 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 5:45 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 8:00 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 10:15 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 12:15 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AVENUES-1BULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 12:45 PMTHE GUILT TRIP (DIG) 3:00 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 5:15 PMTHE GUILT TRIP (DIG) 7:30 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 9:45 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 12:05 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AVENUES-2GAMBIT (DIG) 1:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 3:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 5:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 7:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 9:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 11:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 1:15 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

360º- 13ALA GOSETY (DIG) 1:45 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 4:15 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 6:45 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 9:15 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 11:45 PMNO SUN+TUE+WED

360º- 2GAMBIT (DIG) 2:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 4:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 6:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 8:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 10:15 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 12:15 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

360º- 3SNOWFLAKE, THE WHITE GORILLA1:00 PMSNOWFLAKE, THE WHITE GORILLA3:00 PMSNOWFLAKE, THE WHITE GORILLA (DIG)5:00 PMSNOWFLAKE, THE WHITE GORILLA7:00 PMHANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS9:00 PMHANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS

11:00 PM

AL-KOUT.1THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 12:45 PMTHE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 2:45 PMTHE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 4:30 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 6:15 PMMAMA (DIG) 8:30 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 10:30 PMMAMA (DIG) 12:45 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AL-KOUT.2A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 1:00 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 3:00 PMTHE GUILT TRIP (DIG) 5:00 PMSAVE YOUR LEGS! (DIG) 7:00 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 9:00 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 11:00 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 1:00 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AL-KOUT.3GAMBIT (DIG) 1:30 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 3:30 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 5:45 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 7:45 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 10:00 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 12:05 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AL-KOUT.4SAFE HAVEN (DIG) 1:30 PMSNOWFLAKE, THE WHITE GORILLA3:45 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 5:30 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 8:00 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 10:15 PMBULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) 12:30 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

BAIRAQ-1THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 12:30 PMTHE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 2:15 PMTHE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 4:00 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 5:45 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 8:00 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 10:15 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 12:30 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

BAIRAQ-2A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 2:00 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 4:15 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 6:30 PMSAFE HAVEN (DIG) 8:30 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 10:45 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 12:45 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

BAIRAQ-3GAMBIT (DIG) 1:30 PMSNOWFLAKE, THE WHITE GORILLA3:30 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 5:30 PMMAMA (DIG) 7:30 PMGAMBIT (DIG) 9:45 PMMAMA (DIG) 11:45 PMNO SUN+TUE+WED

PLAZA3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3:30 PMMIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 6:30 PMMIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 9:45 PMTHU+FRI+MON3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 9:45 PMNO THU+FRI+MON

LAILAA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 4:00 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 6:00 PMBROKEN CITY (DIG) 8:15 PMA GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 10:30 PM

AJIAL.1MIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 3:30 PMMIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 6:30 PMMIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 9:30 PM

AJIAL.2SNOWFLAKE, THE WHITE GORILLA4:00 PMSNOWFLAKE, THE WHITE GORILLA6:00 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 7:45 PM3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 10:00 PM

AJIAL.3SPECIAL 26 (DIG) (Hindi) 4:00 PMSPECIAL 26 (DIG) (Hindi) 7:00 PMSPECIAL 26 (DIG) (Hindi) 10:00 PM

AJIAL.4LOKPAL (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 3:45 PMLOKPAL (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 6:45 PMLOKPAL (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 9:45 PM

METRO-1LOKPAL (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 3:30 PMLOKPAL (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 6:30 PMLOKPAL (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 9:30 PM

METRO-2MIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 3:45 PMMIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 6:45 PMMIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 10:00 PMNO SUN+TUE+WEDMIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) 9:45 PMSUN+TUE+WED

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY(14/02/2013 TO 20/02/2013)

Kuwait

FOR SALE

Mitsubishi Lancer - 2010, sil-ver color, 4 cylinder, engine,gear, chasis very good condi-tion, interior & exterior neatand clean, original paint, noaccident, 1,05,000 km run,price KD 2,300. Contact:99072651. (C 4311)

Toyota Corolla 2003, red col-or, excellent condition, pass-ing one year. KD 1,100. Tel:99792546. (C 4312)

16-2-2013

Nissan Altima Sept 2009, V42.5cc, silver 43,000 kms fulloptions and spoiler, execu-tive single owner, price KD4,000. Contact: 97786118.

(C 4307)

SITUATION WANTED

A European qualified andexperienced company coor-dinator/administrator look-ing for employment inKuwait. Speaks 5 languages.city.break@gmx.com

(C 4303)

CHANGE OF NAME

Abdul Kader Buhari, s/o,Ahamed Abdul Kader, holderof Indian Passport No.K3651873 hereby change myname to Seyed MuhammadBuhari. (C 4309)

14-2-2013

Alliance invited for a M.Scnurse, Marthomite boy born

and brought up in Kuwait,currently in Kuwait, invitesproposals from God fearingwell educated/employedgirls. Email:dnte121@hotmail.com

(C 4313)16-2-2013

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

Arrival Flights on Saturday 16/2/2013Airlines Flt Route TimeJAI 574 MUMBAI 0:05KLM 413 AMSTERDAM 0:30THY 772 ISTANBUL 0:35JZR 267 BEIRUT 0:45JZR 539 CAIRO 0:50QTR 148 DOHA 1:00SAI 441 LAHORE 1:30ETH 620 ADDIS ABABA 1:45GFA 211 BAHRAIN 1:50UAE 853 DUBAI 2:35ETD 305 ABU DHABI 2:45OMA 643 MUSCAT 2:50FDB 67 DUBAI 3:05PIA 239 ISLAMABAD 3:05MSR 612 CAIRO 3:10RBG 3555 ALEXANDRIA 3:25QTR 138 DOHA 3:45DHX 170 BAHRAIN 5:15THY 770 ISTANBUL 5:30JZR 503 LUXOR 5:55JZR 555 ALEXANDRIA 6:00KAC 416 JAKARTA 6:25JZR 529 ASSIUT 6:35BAW 157 LONDON 6:40KAC 412 MANILA 6:45KAC 206 ISLAMABAD 7:40KAC 382 DELHI 7:45FDB 53 DUBAI 7:45IRA 3401 TEHRAN 7:55KAC 302 MUMBAI 7:55THY 5594 ISTANBUL 8:00KAC 352 COCHIN 8:05KAC 344 CHENNAI 8:40UAE 855 DUBAI 8:40KAC 362 COLOMBO 8:45ABY 121 SHARJAH 9:05QTR 132 DOHA 9:10FDB 55 DUBAI 9:15ETD 301 ABU DHABI 9:20GFA 213 BAHRAIN 9:55JZR 327 NAJAF 9:55JZR 165 DUBAI 11:20MSC 401 ALEXANDRIA 11:30JZR 329 NAJAF 11:40IZG 4161 MASHAD 11:45JZR 359 MASHAD 12:05MSR 610 CAIRO 12:45IRM 1190 MASHAD 12:50UAE 871 DUBAI 12:50KAC 284 DHAKA 12:55JZR 325 NAJAF 13:00IZG 4171 MASHAD 13:05IRC 6592 MASHAD 13:10FDB 57 DUBAI 13:50KAC 672 DUBAI 14:15KNE 472 JEDDAH 14:15FDB 8055 DUBAI 14:20SVA 500 JEDDAH 14:30QTR 140 DOHA 14:35FDB 8057 DUBAI 14:50KAC 788 JEDDAH 14:55KAC 790 MEDINAH 15:00KNE 470 JEDDAH 15:05QTR 134 DOHA 15:30JZR 331 NAJAF 15:55JZR 535 CAIRO 16:25KAC 118 NEW YORK 16:35UAE 857 DUBAI 16:40SYR 341 DAMASCUS 16:40JZR 357 MASHAD 16:45ETD 303 ABU DHABI 16:50RJA 640 AMMAN 16:55FDB 8063 DUBAI 17:15GFA 215 BAHRAIN 17:15SVA 510 RIYADH 17:20JZR 777 JEDDAH 17:45ABY 127 SHARJAH 17:55UAL 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 17:55KAC 538 SOHAG 18:00KAC 542 CAIRO 18:05NIA 251 ALEXANDRIA 18:10

JZR 177 DUBAI 18:15RBG 3553 ALEXANDRIA 18:20FDB 63 DUBAI 18:45IZG 4167 MASHAD 18:50IRC 6692 MASHAD 18:55MSC 405 SOHAG 19:00KAC 176 GENEVA 19:15KAC 618 DOHA 19:20QTR 144 DOHA 19:20KAC 104 LONDON 19:35KAC 674 DUBAI 19:35KAC 774 RIYADH 19:50IRA 607 MASHAD 19:50KAC 562 AMMAN 19:55OMA 647 MUSCAT 19:55FDB 61 DUBAI 20:00JAI 572 MUMBAI 20:10AXB 389 MANGALORE 20:15MSR 618 ALEXANDRIA 20:25JZR 189 DUBAI 20:30ABY 129 SHARJAH 20:35KNE 462 MEDINAH 20:40QTR 146 DOHA 20:55ALK 229 COLOMBO 20:55KNE 474 JEDDAH 21:00KAC 502 BEIRUT 21:10MEA 402 BEIRUT 21:20QTR 136 DOHA 21:25GFA 221 BAHRAIN 21:30ETD 307 ABU DHABI 21:35UAE 859 DUBAI 21:40JZR 135 BAHRAIN 21:50FDB 59 DUBAI 22:00KLM 415 AMSTERDAM 22:05KAC 786 JEDDAH 22:25AIC 975 CHENNAI 22:30JZR 239 AMMAN 22:45GFA 217 BAHRAIN 22:50JZR 185 DUBAI 23:05KAC 613 BAHRAIN 23:15UAL 981 BAHRAIN 23:25DHX 370 BAHRAIN 23:40BBC 43 DHAKA 23:45DLH 636 FRANKFURT 23:55

Departure Flights on Saturday 16/2/2013Airlines Flt Route TimeAIC 976 GOA 0:05KAC 283 DHAKA 0:10JAI 573 MUMBAI 1:05UAL 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 1:10DLH 637 FRANKFURT 1:20KLM 413 AMSTERDAM 1:45SAI 442 LAHORE 2:30ETH 621 ADDIS ABABA 2:45THY 773 ISTANBUL 2:55FDB 68 DUBAI 3:45UAE 854 DUBAI 3:50OMA 644 MUSCAT 3:55ETD 306 ABU DHABI 4:00RBG 3556 ALEXANDRIA 4:05MSR 613 CAIRO 4:10PIA 240 SIALKOT 4:20QTR 139 DOHA 4:50QTR 149 DOHA 6:05JZR 358 MASHHAD 6:05JZR 326 AL NAJAF 6:30JZR 164 DUBAI 6:55GFA 212 BAHRAIN 7:00THY 771 ISTANBUL 7:35JZR 328 AL NAJAF 8:15FDB 54 DUBAI 8:25BAW 156 LONDON 8:45IRA 3402 MASHHAD 8:55JZR 534 CAIRO 9:15KAC 101 LONDON 9:20KAC 787 JEDDAH 9:25JZR 324 AL NAJAF 9:35KAC 671 DUBAI 9:40ABY 122 SHARJAH 9:45KAC 537 SOHAG 9:50UAE 856 DUBAI 9:55FDB 56 DUBAI 10:00

THY 5425 ISTANBUL 10:00ETD 302 ABU DHABI 10:05QTR 133 DOHA 10:10KAC 789 MADINAH 10:15GFA 214 BAHRAIN 10:40JZR 356 MASHHAD 10:45KAC 541 CAIRO 11:30KAC 165 ROME 11:50JZR 776 JEDDAH 12:15JZR 330 AL NAJAF 12:30MSC 406 SOHAG 12:30IZG 4162 MASHHAD 13:05MSR 611 CAIRO 13:45JZR 176 DUBAI 13:50IRC 6593 MASHHAD 13:55IZG 4172 MASHHAD 14:05IRM 1191 MASHHAD 14:15UAE 872 DUBAI 14:15FDB 58 DUBAI 14:30KAC 561 AMMAN 14:30FDB 8056 DUBAI 15:00KAC 673 DUBAI 15:05KNE 473 JEDDAH 15:10KAC 501 BEIRUT 15:15FDB 8058 DUBAI 15:30KAC 617 DOHA 15:45SVA 505 JEDDAH 16:00KNE 461 MADINAH 16:00JZR 188 DUBAI 16:05QTR 141 DOHA 16:15KAC 773 RIYADH 16:25KAC 785 JEDDAH 16:55JZR 238 AMMAN 17:15ETD 304 ABU DHABI 17:35JZR 538 CAIRO 17:40SYR 342 DAMASCUS 17:40QTR 135 DOHA 17:45UAE 858 DUBAI 17:50RJA 641 AMMAN 17:55FDB 8064 DUBAI 17:55GFA 216 BAHRAIN 18:15JZR 184 DUBAI 18:30SVA 511 RIYADH 18:35ABY 128 SHARJAH 18:40JZR 266 BEIRUT 18:45RBG 3554 ALEXANDRIA 19:00JZR 134 BAHRAIN 19:05UAL 982 BAHRAIN 19:10NIA 252 ALEXANDRIA 19:10FDB 64 DUBAI 19:25IRC 6693 MASHHAD 19:50MSC 402 ALEXANDRIA 20:00IZG 4168 MASHHAD 20:05KAC 613 BAHRAIN 20:15QTR 145 DOHA 20:20FDB 62 DUBAI 20:40IRA 604 ISFAHAN 20:50OMA 648 MUSCAT 20:55KAC 331 TRIVANDRUM 20:55JAI 571 MUMBAI 21:10ABY 120 SHARJAH 21:15JZR 1776 JEDDAH 21:20MSR 607 LUXOR 21:25KAC 351 KOCHI 21:30KAC 543 CAIRO 21:40KNE 475 JEDDAH 21:45DHX 171 BAHRAIN 21:50KNE 471 JEDDAH 21:55ALK 230 COLOMBO 21:55MEA 403 BEIRUT 22:20ETD 308 ABU DHABI 22:20QTR 137 DOHA 22:25GFA 222 BAHRAIN 22:30KAC 301 MUMBAI 22:35KAC 381 DELHI 22:40FDB 60 DUBAI 22:40JZR 554 ALEXANDRIA 22:45UAE 860 DUBAI 22:50KAC 205 ISLAMABAD 23:00KLM 415 DAMMAM 23:05QTR 147 DOHA 23:10GFA 218 BAHRAIN 23:50KAC 411 BANGKOK 23:55

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellationof bookings will help other passengers use seats

i n f o r m a t i o nSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

ACROSS1. A young woman making her debut into society.4. Durable fragrant wood.12. The compass point midway between south and southeast.15. The month following March and preceding May.16. (Polynesian) An alcoholic drink made from the aromatic roots of the kavashrub.17. A legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee orsociety or legislative body.18. Horizontal beam used as a finishing piece over a door or window.20. The greatest possible degree of something.21. (British) Your grandmother.22. Established by or founded upon law or official or accepted rules.25. Deciduous round-headed Asiatic tree widely grown in mild climates as anornamental for its heart-shaped leaves and fragrant yellow-green flowers fol-lowed by hanging clusters of fleshy orange-red berries.27. A Loloish language.29. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.31. Goddess of criminal rashness and its punishment.36. A unit of length of thread or yarn.38. (of exocrine glands) Producing a secretion in which part of the secreting cellis released with the secretion.41. Any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue andreacting with an acid to form a salt and water.43. (Old Testament) The minister of the Persian emperor who hated the Jewsand was hanged for plotting to massacre them.44. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.45. Male red deer.46. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.48. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.49. A sliver-white metallic element of the platinum group that resembles plat-inum.52. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.55. (Irish) Ancient Irish god (probably a god of the sun).56. United States assassin of President John F. Kennedy (1939-1963).58. Call forth.62. Chinese ephedra yielding ephedrine.66. Squash bugs.67. Cause to lose one's nerve.70. (Norse mythology) Goddess of old age who defeated Thor in a wrestlingmatch.71. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.72. French explorer who claimed Louisiana for France (1643-1687).74. A feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause).75. Inquire about.76. (of time) Having passed or slipped by.77. Capital and largest city of Italy.

C R O S S W O R D 1 0 2DOWN

1. Tropical woody herb with showy yellow flowers and flat pods.2. A fencing sword similar to a foil but with a heavier blade.3. (Norse mythology) God of poetry and music.4. Of or relating to or forming or attached to a skeleton.5. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.6. A state in the western United States.7. Indigo bush.8. Similar or related in quality or character.9. Avatar of Vishnu.10. The birds of a particular region or period.11. Feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and being unable to roar.12. The capital and largest city of Yemen.13. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.14. An inactive volcano in Sicily.19. An informal term for a father.23. (Sumerian) Goddess personifying earth.24. An American doctorate usually based on at least 3 years graduate study anda dissertation.26. A shade of brown with a tinge of red.28. Having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions.30. Having or provided with a belt.32. The father of your father or mother.33. Capital and largest city and economic center of Peru.34. The capacitance of a capacitor that has an equal and opposite charge of 1coulomb on each plate and a voltage difference of 1 volt between the plates.35. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.37. Jordan's port.39. A place of worship that has its own altar.40. A quantity of no importance.42. (of reproduction) Not involving the fusion of male and female gametesreproduction".47. A person who uses scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.50. Made clean.51. A Scottish word.53. Slender bristlelike appendage found on the bracts of grasses.54. A port city in southwestern Croatia on the Adriatic.57. A river that rises in central Germany and flows north to join the Elbe River.59. A large stringed instrument.60. Muslims collectively and their civilization.61. Wild ox of the Malay Archipelago.63. Type genus of the Anatidae.64. One who works hard at boring tasks.65. A large bundle bound for storage or transport.68. A period of time spent sleeping.69. A master's degree in library science.73. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

SINGAPORE: Golf’s Asian Tour outlineda glittering vision for the future andtook a swipe at rival OneAsia as it heldcelebrations to mark the start of its 10thseason yesterday.

CEO Mike Kerr said by 2023, theAsian Tour aimed to offer more thanUS$100 million in prize money and upto 39 events a year. He hoped Asiawould have three players in the top 10,three more major-winners and at leastone Olympic medal.

But both Kerr and executive chair-man Kyi Hla Han said Asian golf’s devel-opment in the last decade had beenbadly affected by the dispute withOneAsia, the region’s alternative circuitwhich emerged in 2009.

And any rapprochement in the lunaryear of the snake, marked by a liondance during a gala lunch atSingapore’s swanky Laguna NationalGolf and Country Club, looked unlikelyas Kerr said no formal contacts had

been made between the two bodies.“Absolutely,” Kerr told AFP, when

asked if Asian golf would be in astronger position without the arrival ofOneAsia. “Like any competitive threat,like any business that has a competitor,it’s taken market share. But ultimatelyit’s a relatively small market share,” hesaid. “Certainly in the last few years,there’s been no growth (for OneAsia).The damage that was done in 2009 stillto this day hasn’t been replaced, interms of prize fund.

“The events themselves that are onOneAsia have not increased in terms ofglobal profile, whether it’s in prizepurse or whether it’s in world rankingpoints. “So I see them as competition, Irespect them as competition but I don’tnecessarily believe that they are agrowing competitive threat.”

Asia is the big growth area for worldgolf but despite years of development,players often lag the standards of their

non-Asian rivals and the region’sbiggest tournaments are co-sanctionedby the European or US PGA Tour. AfterY.E. Yang’s surprise major victory at the2009 PGA Championship, big winshave been rare, with some expertsblaming Asia’s inter-tour dispute forspooking sponsors and putting offplayers.

“It could have been better,” saidKerr. “You can see in 2009 there was areal impact on golf in Asia-Pacific andreally to some extent the Asian Tourhas recovered, we’re back up to wherewe were in 2009.

“But golf as a whole has been affect-ed and it’s difficult to get over that. It’sbecause there was an organisation whofelt they could do something differentor better caused a serious impact thatwe’ve yet to recover fully from.” Kyi Hlaagreed the stand-off had “definitely”affected Asian golf and said the AsianTour was still considering appealing

November’s ruling, when a Singaporecourt judged that it had illegallyrestrained trade by barring players fromOneAsia events.

“Competition’s always there sowe’re not going to get too worriedabout it,” Kyi Hla told AFP, when askedabout the chances of the two toursworking more closely together. “We’llsee if we can cooperate, we’ll see if wehave to compete.”

And Kerr, a week before the AsianTour’s 10th season starts with theZaykabar Myanmar Open in Yangon,made it clear that joining hands withOneAsia was not high on his agenda.“To think that somebody has come intothe market, set something different upto compete against the establishmentand then feel that the establishmentshould somehow accept them into thefold because they’re a competitivethreat, that’s not necessarily the way itworks,” he said. — AFP

Birthday bash as Asian Tour takes swipe at rival

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

W L PCT GBNY Knicks 32 18 .640 - Brooklyn 31 22 .585 2.5 Boston 28 24 .538 5 Philadelphia 22 29 .431 10.5 Toronto 21 32 .396 12.5

Central DivisionIndiana 32 21 .604 - Chicago 30 22 .577 1.5 Milwaukee 26 25 .510 5 Detroit 21 33 .389 11.5 Cleveland 16 37 .302 16

Southeast DivisionMiami 36 14 .720 - Atlanta 29 22 .569 7.5 Washington 15 36 .294 21.5 Orlando 15 37 .288 22 Charlotte 12 40 .231 25

Western ConferenceNorthwest Division

Oklahoma City 39 14 .736 - Denver 33 21 .611 6.5 Utah 30 24 .556 9.5 Portland 25 28 .472 14 Minnesota 19 31 .380 18.5

Pacific DivisionLA Clippers 39 17 .696 - Golden State 30 22 .577 7 LA Lakers 25 29 .463 13 Sacramento 19 35 .352 19 Phoenix 17 36 .321 20.5

Southwest DivisionSan Antonio 42 12 .778 - Memphis 33 18 .647 7.5 Houston 29 26 .527 13.5 Dallas 23 29 .442 18 New Orleans 19 34 .358 22.5

NBA results/standingsMiami 110, Oklahoma City 100; LA Clippers 125, LALakers 101.

OKLAHOMA CITY: LeBron Jamespowered the Miami Heat to a 110-100win over the Oklahoma City Thunderon Thursday, but fell just short ofextending a record-breaking scoringrun. James finished with 39 points andshot 58 percent from the field in arematch of last year’s NBA finals whichthe Heat won in five games.

In Miami’s six previous wins, Jamesdid what no NBA player had everachieved-scoring at least 30 pointseach game while shooting at least 60percent from the field.

“All good things have to come to anend at some point,” James said. “It wasa good run but we got the win tonightand that is the most important thing.”The reigning playoff MVP was his usualdominant self Thursday at ChesapeakeEnergy Arena as he grabbed 12rebounds and had seven assists, lead-ing the Heat to their seventh consecu-tive win.

He appeared to be heading for hisseventh straight 30-60 game but failedto connect on a three-point shot in thefourth quarter and had to settle for 14-of-24 shooting from the field. ChrisBosh finished with 20 points and 12rebounds, while Dwyane Wade had 13points and eight assists for the Heat,who have won seven straight and 12of their last 14. James, Wade and Boshwill represent Miami in the 62nd All-Star Game on Sunday in Houston.

Thursday’s contest was the first of afour-game road trip for Miami and thelast game before the all-star break.

Kevin Durant had 40 points on 12-of-24 shooting, while RussellWestbrook finished with 26 points, 10assists and five rebounds for theThunder, who had their seven-gamewin streak at home snapped Thursday.At one point, Durant fell to the floor

and landed with a heavy thud. Hestruggled early in the game and didn’tmake his first field goal until just overfour minutes left in the second quar-ter. James said double teaming Duranton defence was one of the keys to thewin. “You can’t guard him one-on-one,” James said. “You have got tohave help behind you. Defensively wewere able to pick up a couple ofcharges on him.”

It marked just the fourth loss athome for Oklahoma City to go with 23wins. The Thunder were eliminated bythe Heat in the playoffs and lost thefirst regular season rematch, 103-97,on Christmas Day in Florida. Durantand Westbrook will represent theThunder in the all-star showdown.Meanwhile, Los Angeles Lakers ownerJerry Buss has been admitted to hospi-

tal for cancer treatment, the LosAngeles Times reported Thursday. The79-year-old, who has been in failinghealth for the past year, was taken tohospital in July for “dehydration” andunderwent surgery a month later foran undisclosed illness. He has also suf-fered from blood clots.

The LA Times report said Buss hadspent time in intensive care. It was notclear what form of cancer Buss is fight-ing and the Lakers did not immediate-ly respond to requests for a comment.Buss bought the Lakers in 1979 andhas been in charge of the franchise for10 of their 16 National BasketballAssociation championships. He usedto be a regular fixture at Lakers gamesbut has not been seen at a match thisseason after not attending any gameslast season. — AFP

LeBron ends record run as Heat beat Thunder

Lakers owner in hospital for cancer

OKLAHOMA CITY: Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0)tumbles over Miami Heat forward Shane Battier, bottom, as he shoots inthe first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City. Miami won110-100. — AP

NYON: Russian cycling teamKatusha won its appeal against theInternational Cycling Union’s deci-sion to deny it top-tier status thisseason for “ethical” reasons.TheCourt of Arbitration for Sport saidyesterday it upheld Katusha’s chal-lenge to the rejection by the UCIlicensing commission in December.

Katusha will be automaticallyentered in all World Tour events,including the Tour de France,major stage races and one-dayclassics.

The legal victory ensuresKatusha will keep its top rider,Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain. Theverdict was “absolutely objectiveand justified,” Russian cycling fed-eration leader Igor Makarov said ina statement.

“I would like to express our deep

(gratitude) to all, who sincerelyempathized, hoped and believedthat justice will be restored,” saidMakarov, a member of the UCImanagement board.The UCI mustdecide whether to remove anotherteam’s World Tour status to makespace for Katusha within its quotaof 18 top-tier teams.

“The UCI will now evaluate theconsequences of this ruling andwill communicate further in com-ing days, as soon as such evalua-tion has taken place,” it said in astatement.

The governing body con-firmed its independent licensingpanel denied the license on “eth-ical criterion.” It also weighs fac-tors such as team finances andquality of riders. In 2012, Katusharider Denis Galimzyanov admit-

ted doping with EPO, and theUCI opened an investigation intoclaims that teammate AlexandrKolobnev arranged a f ix withAlexandre Vinokourov to let theAstana leader win the L iege-Bastogne-Liege classic in April2010. The allegation stated thatKolobnev was paid euro 150,000(nearly $200,000) for agreeing toconcede defeat in their two-manbreakaway.

Katusha also recently appoint-ed Viatcheslav Ekimov as generalmanager. The three-time Olympicchampion was a longtime team-mate of Lance Armstrong with theUS Postal Service team.

The Russian team looks toRodriguez to help restore its repu-tation. The 2012 World Tour rank-ings leader was reportedly ready

to leave if the team was not guar-anteed a place in the Tour deFrance.

Rodriguez was r iding forKatusha in the Tour of Oman yes-terday when the urgent verdictwas issued in Switzerland. CASsaid its panel of three arbitrators“did not reach the same conclu-sions as the UCI licensing com-mission and decided to upholdthe appeal.”

A detailed ruling will be pub-l ished within weeks. Katushabecame the 19th licensed WorldTour team, rising from the sec-ond-tier status which requiresteams to seek wild card entriesfrom race organizers. If the UCIdrops an already registered team,that decision could prompt a fur-ther appeal at CAS. —AP

Russian cycling team Katusha wins appeal at CAS

S p o r t sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Runner’s Twitter feed is a long victory lap

‘Pistorius went from podium to police cell’LONDON: Since captivating the worldwith his groundbreaking Olympic trip toLondon, Oscar Pistorius’ life seemed likean extended victory lap.

More than 230,000 Twitter followershave been given a glimpse into a life offast cars and luxury holidays as the herowas feted by an adoring public. The“Blade Runner” has reveled in the famethat came from becoming the firstamputee sprinter to compete at both theOlympics and Paralympics.

Among dozens of tweets in recentweeks, there are only a scattering of ref-erences to the girlfriend he is nowaccused of killing earlier Thursday.Quoting a tweet from Reeva Steenkampon Dec. 6 - “Wondering what my stalker isup to? Kinda miss him lurking around2nyt” - Pistorius replies: “Heard he is tak-

ing a water break with the boys!;)”Steenkamp gushed over Pistorius on

Twitter, seeming to relish going out withone of South Africa’s biggest stars. Bycontrast, there was little outpouring ofaffection from Pistorius, although therewas no indication their relationship hadsoured or that his mindset had dark-ened.The only reference to guns was aTwitter image of him on Nov. 28, 2011,firing off rounds at a shooting range, anda boast: “Had a 96% headshot over 300m

from 50shots! Bam!”) Steenkamp wasshot four times at Pistorius’ home inPretoria early on Thursday.

With his arrest and charge, Pistoriuswent from podium to police cell. At theOlympics in August, Pistorius reached thefinals of the 4x400 relay and semifinal inthe 400 sprint, with his carbon fiber

blades clattering into the history bookson the London track. But the script didn’tgo to plan when the Paralympics startedlater in the month. The 100 and 200 titleswere lost in a blaze of fury as he becameembroiled in a public row with the rivalhe accused of unfairly using lengthenedblades to win the 200. Only in the finalevent, the 400, did Pistorius finally collectan individual gold.

While his carefully honed publicimage - as the poster boy for Paralympicsport - was a little tarnished by his out-bursts, Pistorius has spent the time sincethen, on Twitter in particular, displayingthe softer side that enthralled sports fansand the general public alike.

“Don’t sweat the small things andchase your aspirations,” he tweeted onJan. 29, while posting an image of aquote from Walt Disney: “All our dreamscan come true, if we have the courage topursue them.”

At the start of December he retweeteda series of motivational messages. “Lifeconsists not in holding good cards, but inplaying those cards you hold well.” Andfrom Oscar Wilde: “A gentleman is onewho never hurts anyone’s feelings unin-tentionally.”

Displaying his religious side, Pistoriuspeppered his timeline with references tohis faith, including: “God is good all thetime, all the time God is good!”

As he prepared to see in 2013,Pistorius wrote: “Had a blessed day today.Grateful for the type of people I have inmy life.”But his Twitter timeline more reg-ularly featured self-portraits sunning him-self or posing among the great and thegood at conferences or glitzy events.

In his last personal tweet on Feb. 11,Pistorius was looking forward to thelaunch of his foundation in July to help10 disabled children. It was a reminder ofhow Pistorius had overcome difficultiessince having both legs amputated belowthe knee in the first year of his life. —AP

PRETORIA: South African athlete Oscar Pistorius at the end of courtproceedings, in Pretoria, South Africa, yesterday. Pistorius was formal-ly charged at Pretoria Magistrate’s Court with one count of murderafter killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. —AP

USA-led group tries to save Olympic wrestling

NEW YORK: USA Wrestling executive director Rich Benderknows it will take an international push to save Olympicwrestling. To that end, the Americans have formed a star-stud-ded group designed to help get their sport back on the Olympicprogram. USA Wrestling has announced that a group led by for-mer world champion Bill Scherr will work to fight the IOC’s deci-sion earlier this week to eliminate wrestling from the 2020Olympics.

Scherr’s brother, former US Olympic Committee head JimScherr, will take part along with World and Olympic championsBruce Baumgartner, John Smith, Rulon Gardner and Dan Gableand two-time Olympians Kerry McCoy and Clarissa Chun. USAWrestling also plans to lean on international business leadersand public relations experts as it formulates a strategy to peti-tion for re-inclusion. “It’s an opportunity for our sport to have aplatform and talk about the characteristics of wrestling. Thedemographics of our sport. The broad-based participation of oursport. The history of our sport. All the things that are great aboutour sport,” Bender said.

The newly-formed group doesn’t have much time to changethe IOC’s mind. The IOC executive board will meet in May in St.Petersburg, Russia, to choose which sport or sports to proposefor inclusion in 2020. The final vote will be made at the IOC gen-eral assembly in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Wrestling has now been lumped with a combined bid frombaseball and softball, as well as bids from karate, squash, rollersports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and the martial art ofwushu. The first major face-to-face meetings between interna-tional wrestling officials will come next week in Tehran, site ofthe upcoming World Cup tournament. Bender, who leavesMonday for Iran, said he intends to meet with leaders fromRussia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Belarus.

“We must form a coalition. We must. The wrestling nationsmust work together on this,” Bender said. “It’s critical that we areall on the same page. And directing the energies of the wrestlingcommunities and their countries to one common cause, andthat’s obviously to convince the International OlympicCommittee that wrestling belongs on the program.”

Bender said the Russian, Iranian and Japanese wrestling fed-erations have also begun their own plans to fight the IOC’s deci-sion, adding that he spoke about strategy with Russian andJapanese officials over the phone on Thursday. Bender said aninternational summit could also be on the table, though moresolid plans will likely be formed in the coming weeks. ThoughBender knows that sports that are removed from the Olympicprogram don’t usually earn immediate re-inclusion, he seeswrestling as a unique case. “This might be taken the wrong way.But historically, sports like wrestling haven’t been challengedlike this,” Bender said. “The reality of it is that our sport belongsin the program. Our sport has one of the biggest histories andtraditions within the Olympic movement.” —AP

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

NEW YORK: A decision on whether NHL players will headto the 2014 Sochi Olympics isn’t likely this week, but a firstday of discussions went well. Talks between the NHL, theNHL players’ association, and officials from theInternational Ice Hockey Federation and the InternationalOlympic Committee stretched into Thursday night as theparties worked toward getting NHL players back to theOlympics for a fifth straight time.

There are obstacles in the process, but the sides willget back together on Friday to talk some more. “We hadgood discussions,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly

told The Associated Press in an email Thursday nightafter talks wrapped up. “We expect to continue tomor-row.” While the NHL and the players might want to par-ticipate in the Olympics again, they have to figure out ifit makes sense for them to interrupt another season tomake it possible.

“I don’t expect any resolution or decisions this week,”Daly wrote to the AP earlier Thursday. In these negotia-tions, the NHL and the players’ association appear to bealigned in their position. The Sochi Games are one yearaway. While a final decision isn’t required this week, one

will have to be reached in the near future. It is believedhockey federations will need to know by May what play-ers will be available for their teams.

The current discussions are being held between NHLCommissioner Gary Bettman, NHLPA executive directorDonald Fehr, IIHL President Rene Fasel and officials fromthe IOC. After enduring a long lockout that produced ashortened regular season this year, the NHL is weighingwhether it is worth shutting down the game for more thantwo weeks next season to allow its players to go to Russiafor the Olympics. —AP

No decision yet on NHL players in Olympics

RALEIGH: Carolina’s Staal brothersplayed key roles as the Hurricanes beatthe Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Thursdayto increase their lead in the NHLSoutheast Division to four points.

Jordan Staal scored and brother Erichad an assist to extend his point streakto a league-best 11 games.

Elsewhere, Nashville goalie PekkaRinne completed back-to-back shutoutsin the win over Phoenix, Montreal beatFlorida in overtime, and the New YorkIslanders ended a run of five straightdefeats by beating the crosstown NewYork Rangers in a shootout.

Carolina’s Joe Corvo had a goal andan assist while Jussi Jokinen also scoredfor the Hurricanes, while Nazem Kadriscored for Toronto, which had won itsprevious four games.

Nashville’s Rinne extended hisshutout streak to just shy of 138 minutesas the Predators beat the PhoenixCoyotes 3-0. Gabriel Bourque, NickSpaling and Mike Fisher had the goalsfor the Predators. Montreal’s ReneBorque netted 2:10 into overtime, pro-viding the sole goal in the Canadiens’ 1-0 win over the Florida Panthers.

Bourque’s winner came on a tip-injust in front of the net. The puck driftedin front of the crease and ShawnMatthias couldn’t clear it for Florida.Instead, it bounced off goalie JoseTheodore’s pad and Bourque poked it in.

The Islanders’ John Tavares scoredone of his team’s three-second periodgoals and then netted the winner in ashootout as they beat the Rangers 4-3.Tavares followed Frans Nielsen’s goal in

the opening round of the tiebreakerwith one of his own, and goalie EvgeniNabokov stopped two shots to give theIslanders the elusive win. They haddropped eight straight at MadisonSquare Garden, including a loss therelast week.

The Rangers squandered a 2-0 leadand had their three-game winning

streak snapped. Colorado’s Mi lanHejduk and Matt Duchene scored inthe shootout to lift the Avalanche toa 4 - 3 w i n a t t h e M i n n e s o t a W i l d ,while Washington’s Eric Fehr scoredtwice as the Capitals beat the TampaBay Lightning 4-3 to notch a thirdstraight win after a dire start to theseason. — AP

NY Islanders 4, NY Rangers 3 (SO); Carolina 3, Toronto 1;Washington 4, Tampa Bay 3; Montreal 1, Florida 0 (OT);Nashville 3, Phoenix 0; Colorado 4, Minnesota 3 (SO).

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

W L OTL GF GA PTS New Jersey 8 2 3 35 28 19 Pittsburgh 9 5 0 45 34 18 NY Rangers 7 5 1 36 34 15 Philadelphia 6 7 1 34 40 13 NY Islanders 5 7 1 40 46 11

Northeast DivisionBoston 8 1 2 32 25 18 Montreal 8 4 1 36 33 17 Toronto 8 6 0 40 36 16 Ottawa 7 5 2 35 27 16 Buffalo 5 8 1 39 48 11

Southeast DivisionCarolina 8 4 1 41 37 17 Tampa Bay 6 6 1 49 40 13 Winnipeg 5 6 1 32 40 11 Florida 4 6 3 30 47 11 Washington 5 8 1 40 49 11

Western ConferenceCentral Division

Chicago 10 0 3 44 28 23 Nashville 7 3 4 28 26 18 Detroit 7 4 2 36 36 16 St. Louis 7 5 1 43 43 15 Columbus 4 7 2 30 41 10

Northwest DivisionVancouver 8 2 2 35 25 18 Minnesota 6 6 2 30 36 14 Edmonton 5 5 3 29 34 13 Calgary 4 4 3 33 39 11 Colorado 5 6 1 27 32 11

Pacific DivisionAnaheim 9 2 1 42 33 19 San Jose 7 3 3 36 29 17 Dallas 7 6 1 34 36 15 Phoenix 6 6 2 35 38 14 Los Angeles 4 5 2 26 32 10

Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in thestandings and are not included in the loss.

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Finance House held theGulf Bank to a 1-1 draw in week five of theKBC Football League, a tournament organizedby the Kuwait Banks Club featuring teamsrepresenting local banks.

The Gulf Bank remained on top of theoverall standings with 13 points following thisresult, while the KFH increased their total to11 at third place. The National Bank of Kuwaitremained in second place with 12 points afterdefeating the International Bank 3-0.

Meanwhile, the Boubyan Bank defeated theAhli United Bank, which put the team at fourth

place with 10 points. In other results, Al-AhliBank of Kuwait defeated the Commercial Bankof Kuwait 2-0 to earn 9 points and the fifthplace in the overall standings. Warba Bank issixth with six points after its match withBurgan Bank ended with a 1-1 draw.

Week six competitions kick off tomorrow(Sunday) with a match between theInternational Bank and Burgan Bank, followedMonday with the KBH vs. Boubyan Bank,Tuesday with Al-Ahli Bank vs. Gulf Bank, andWednesday with the Commercial Bank vs. theNBK.

Gulf Bank, KFH end in 1-1 draw

Staals star as Hurricanesblow away Leafs 3-1

NHL results/standings

RALEIGH: John-Michael Liles #24 of the Toronto Maple Leafs moves the puckup the ice as Jeff Skinner #53 of the Carolina Hurricanes looks on during playat PNC Arena on Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina. — AFP

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

WELLINGTON: England’s opening batsmen Alex Halesand Michael Lumb made a mockery of the New Zealandbowling attack to guide the visitors to a 10-wicket win intheir third Twenty20 international and a 2-1 series victo-ry yesterday.

After England’s bowlers restricted New Zealand to139 for eight, Hales blasted 80 off 42 balls while Lumbscored 53, including a six that landed on the roof to winthe match and bring up his half century, as the pairpushed England to victory in just 12.4 overs.

“The power the two openers have shown there waspretty spectacular,” England captain Stuart Broad toldreporters. “What was it 12, 13 overs to chase down 140?“We know that early wickets kill you in Twenty20 cricketso it was great to see the guys get used to the wicketand take their time for two or three overs and then onceAlex Hales got going it looked hard to stop him.”

Much of England’s damage was done in the fifth overwhen Ian Butler lost his composure and sprayed the ballall over the wicket, yielding five wides, four leg byes andthree further boundaries by Hales.

Hales then took to Mitchell McClenaghan in the 11thover, blasting a six, a four and two more sixes in four suc-cessive deliveries to race towards the victory target onthe drop-in pitch at Wellington Regional Stadium.

“We were blown off the park,” New Zealand captainBrendon McCullum said. “Batting, bowling and fieldingnowhere near the standard it needed to be. Englandwere ruthless in their approach and thoroughly deservedtheir victory.” Martin Guptill had anchored NewZealand’s innings, scoring 59 runs off 55 balls, but wasforced to work the ball around rather than attack aswickets kept falling at the other end.

Guptill tried to force the pace at the end of NewZealand’s innings but was dismissed in the penultimateover to end any chance of the hosts posting a score inexcess of 150. England’s frontline pace bowlers weremuch more aggressive than in the second match inHamilton and bowled short of a length, hurrying theNew Zealand batsmen into mistimed pull and hookshots with the ball skying into the outfield.

Broad finished with three for 15 from four overs,while Jade Dernbach also took 3-36, while Steve Finnwas bristling aggression as he conceded just 18 runsfrom four overs. “We knew the wicket would be goodand outfield potentially a bit slow, but the way we start-ed with the ball, the tone we set was fantastic,” Broad

said. “We probably kept them to 20-30 (runs) under par.“All round, probably the most powerful performance I

have seen from an England side.” England won the seriesafter taking the first match in Auckland by 40 runs, whileNew Zealand won the second in Hamilton by 55 runs.The first game of the three-match one day series will bein Hamilton tomorrow. — Reuters

N Zealand blown off park in all departments

CAPE TOWN: Off-spinner Saeed Ajmaldismissed both opening batsmen asSouth Africa started their reply toPakistan’s first innings on the secondday of the second Test at Newlands yes-terday. South Africa were 65 for two attea after dismissing Pakistan for 338. Itwas a productive day for Ajmal, whohelped fellow tailender Tanvir Ahmedput on 64 for the ninth wicket to takePakistan comfortably past the 300 mark.Their eventual total had seemed unlike-ly when Vernon Philander took threewickets in his first three overs to reducethe tourists to 268 for eight.

Ajmal came on to bowl after 11 overshad been bowled in South Africa’sinnings. He struck with his ninth deliverywhen South African captain GraemeSmith missed a sweep. Umpire SteveDavis turned down Ajmal’s appeal forleg before wicket but the Pakistanissought a review which showed the ballhad pitched in line and would have hitthe stumps.

Two overs later Ajmal had AlviroPetersen smartly caught at short leg byAzhar Ali, who dived to his right to holda sharp chance. At tea, Ajmal had takentwo for 20. Faf du Plessis surprisinglybatted at number four for South Africain place of Jacques Kallis.

Pakistan batted until lunch afterresuming on 253 for five, althoughPhilander’s early strikes raised the homeside’s hopes of wrapping up the inningsquickly. Philander, who took five for 59,struck with his first ball of the day whenAsad Shafiq was caught at first slip with-out adding to his overnight score of 111.Shafiq batted for 308 minutes and faced230 balls. Sarfraz Ahmed, the otherovernight batsman, fell in Philander’snext over when Petersen dived fulllength to his right to hold a good catchat third slip. Sarfraz made 13.

Umar Gul was leg before wicketwithout scoring as Philander completedhis ninth five-wicket haul in Test match-es. But Tanvir and Ajmal went for theirstrokes, with Tanvir in particular hittingout aggressively as he made 44 off 59balls with four fours. Ajmal made 21 notout. South Africa suffered a blow whenfast bowler Morne Morkel left the fieldafter bowling three balls of his 21st overwith what was described as a tight lefthamstring.

Tanvir fell shortly before lunch whenhe hit left-arm spinner Robin Petersonto Philander at deep mid-off, with lastman Mohammad Irfan following in thenext over when he was bowled byPeterson, going for a big hit. — AFP

Ajmal makes double strike for Pakistan

WELLINGTON: England’s Alex Hale, right, scrambles back as New Zealand’s Nathan McCullum fields offhis own bowling in the Twenty20 cricket match at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, yes-terday. — AP

England thrash NZ to claim Twenty20 series

WELLINGTON: Scoreboard at the end of thethird New Zealand v England Twenty20 interna-tional at Wellington Regional Stadium yesterday.

New ZealandH. Rutherford c Dernbach b Broad 11 M. Guptill c & b Broad 59 B. McCullum c Bairstow b Tredwell 26R. Taylor c Bairstow b Root 6G. Elliott c Finn b Dernbach 15 C. Munro c Root b Broad 1J. Franklin c Tredwell b Dernbach 15 N. McCullum c Buttler b Dernbach 0I. Butler not out 1Extras (b-4, lb-1) 5 Total (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 139 Did not bat: T. Boult, M. McClenaghanFall of wickets: 1-17 2-62 3-70 4-95 5-99 6-128 7-130 8-139Bowling: Finn 4-0-18-0, Broad 4-0-15-3, Dernbach4-0-36-3, Wright 2-0-19-0, Tredwell 4-0-31-1,Root 2-0-15-1

EnglandM. Lumb not out 53A. Hales not out 80Extras (lb-5 w-5) 10Total (for no wickets, 12.4 overs) 143Did not bat: L. Wright, J. Bairstow, E. Morgan, J.Buttler, J. Root, S. Broad, J. Tredwell, S. Finn, J.Dernbach Fall of wickets: Bowling: Boult 2-0-20-0, McClenaghan 3-1-38-0,Butler 2.4-0-41-0, N. McCullum 4-0-32-0, Franklin1-0-7-0Result: England won by 10 wickets

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan first innings (Overnight 253-5)Mohammad Hafeez c Smith b Steyn 17 Nasir Jamshed c De Villiers b Philander 3 Azhar Ali c De Villiers b Morkel 4Younis Khan c De Villiers b Philander 111Misbah-ul-Haq c Elgar b Morkel 0 Asad Shafiq c Smith b Philander 111Sarfraz Ahmed c Petersen b Philander 13Tanvir Ahmed c Philander b Peterson 44Umar Gul lbw b Philander 0 Saeed Ajmal not out 21Mohammad Irfan b Peterson 6Extras (lb5, nb3) 8Total (116.2 overs) 338Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Jamshed), 2-21(Hafeez), 3-33 (Azhar), 4-33 (Misbah), 5-252(Younis), 6-259 (Shafiq), 7-266 (Sarfraz), 8-268 (Gul), 9-332 (Tanvir)Bowling: Steyn 25-7-55-1, Philander 26-10-59-5 (2nb), Morkel 20.3-6-59-2 (1nb), Kallis 19.3-2-52-0, Peterson 23.2-0-

94-2, Elgar 2-0-14-0South Africa first inningsG. Smith lbw b Saeed Ajmal 19A. Petersen c Azhar Ali b Saeed Ajmal 17H. Amla lbw Saeed Ajmal 25F. du Plessis c Younis Khan b Saeed Ajmal28J. Kallis lbw b Saeed Ajmal 2A. de Villiers not out 24D. Elgar not out 11Extras (b2, lb5, nb6) 13Total (5 wkts, 60 overs) 139Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Smith), 2-50(Petersen), 3-84 (Amla), 4-102 (Kallis), 5-109(Du Plessis)Bowling: Umar Gul 6-1-17-0, Tanvir Ahmed5-3-5-0 (1nb), Mohammad Irfan 6-1-18-0(3nb), Saeed Ajmal 7-1-20-2To bat: R. Peterson, V. Philander, D. Steyn, MMorkel Match situation: South Africa trail by 199runs with five wickets remaining in the first innings.

SCOREBOARDCAPE TOWN: Close of play scores on the second day of the second Testbetween South Africa and Pakistan at Newlands yesterday.

CAPE TOWN: South African Dean Elgar plays a shot during the 2nd Test betweenSouth Africa and Pakistan, in Cape Town at Newlands yesterday. — AFP

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

LONDON: Birmingham striker NikolaZigic has been axed from the squad fortoday’s match against Watford aftermanager Lee Clark said he’d turned in“the worst training session...I have evercome across”.

Towering Serbian forward Zigic stillearns a reported £50,000-plus per weekfollowing Birmingham’s relegation fromthe English Premier League. And heremains something of a fans’ favouriteat the Midlands club after heading theopening goal in the 2011 League Cupfinal win over Arsenal.

Nevertheless, the 32-year-old hasbeen used sparingly by Clark this sea-son, making nine starts and 13 substi-tute appearances for a return of six

goals. But he will not get the chance toimprove those figures when Watfordvisit St Andrew’s for a second-tierChampionship clash on Saturday, eventhough he was in line to start becauseof Marlon King’s knee injury.

Clark said Thursday’s training stinthad been the final straw. “I witnessedpossibly the worst training session interms of a professional footballer I haveever come across on Thursday,” Clarksaid yesterday. “We did our preparationwork for Watford and he (Zigic) was inthe team. And I was disgusted when Iwalked off. “I need to tell the fans beforethe game because obviously the socialmedia network will go into overloadbecause of this. I know he’s quite popu-

lar. “But ultimately he’s a very well-paidguy and you’ve got to earn that,” the 40-year-old Clark added.

“And what he dished up yesterday(Thursday) was, since I’ve left school at16 and been a professional footballer-not technically or tactically-the worst Ihave ever seen. “And this is not the firsttime. This has been coming. Now,whether he has been angry he hasn’tbeen starting enough games over theprevious weeks, that could be a point, itcould be valid. But does that mean youjust basically down tools, don’t try?

“I think the fans deserve more thanthat, the football club deserves morethan that. I am an honest man and Ineed to be honest with everyone. “And

there will be people who disagree andsay this is a crazy thing. But what am Imeant to do? Am I meant to accept that,just let people do that? All the otherplayers see that. Or am I within myrights as a manager?

“Whatever happens tomorrow(Saturday), I can sleep soundly in mybed because I know I have made theright decision, in how Lee Clark goesabout the football work and his busi-ness.” Zigic joined Birmingham fromSpanish club Valencia on a four-yeardeal for an undisclosed fee in 2010.

Now Birmingham run the risk ofbeing drawn into the Championship rel-egation zone while Watford are in therace for a play-off place. — AFP

Dropped Zigic goes from Blues’ hero to zero

SCHLADMING: US ski star Ted Ligety pro-duced two majestic runs to defend his worldgiant slalom title yesterday and join an eliteclub of skiers to have won three or more goldmedals at a world championships.

Riding the thin line between risk-takingand smart tactics to perfection, Ligety laiddown a solid foundation in his first run, whichwas a massive 1.30sec faster than Norway’sAksel Lund Svindal.

The 28-year-old American then nailed aslightly more conservative second run toclock an aggregate of 2min 28.92sec, 0.81secahead of Austrian Marcel Hirscher, with ItalianManfred Moelgg claiming bronze at 1.75sec.

“I ’m super pumped,” beamed Ligety,already a gold medallist here in the super-Gand super combined. “It’s such a cool feelingand I’m glad to have got it. “I don’t know howeasy it was. It was on the limit, and I tooksome risks, it was dark and bumpy. “I heardthe cheering in the finish area (when Hirscherbriefly took the lead), but I didn’t feel pres-sure. I had a 1.3sec lead.”

Ligety became the first male skier in 45years to win triple gold at one World SkiChampionships. The illustrious quartet to

have won three or more golds that Ligetyjoined were Austrian Toni Sailer (four golds in1956, three in 1958), French duo Jean-ClaudeKilly (four, 1968) and Emile Allais (three,1937), and Norway’s Stein Eriksen (three,1954). It was also a fourth individual goldmedal to equal the absent Bode Miller’s USrecord, and saw the US team regain theirplace on top of the medals table. “If you wantto call me the king of Schladming, that’s coolwith me,” Ligety said.

“It’s been a crazy, unbelievable week anddefinitely far exceeded my expectations. Towin three gold medals is awesome and it’s areally cool feeling to join some of the legendsof the sport.” Ligety was a shock winner of theopening super-G and then showcased hisslalom skills to claim super-combined gold,suitably filling the void felt in the US camp bythe absence of the injured Lindsey Vonn.

His victory in the giant slalom, his favouredevent, was not unexpected: Ligety has totallydominated the discipline on the World Cupcircuit, winning four of the five giant slalomsso far this season. With Austrian hopes for afirst individual gold medal resting squarely onthe young shoulders of Hirscher, the 23-year-

old produced a no-holds barred quickest sec-ond run. But he was left ruing two errors onhis first run that saw him start with a 1.31secdeficit on Ligety.

“It was defintiely one of toughest races I’veever competed in,” Hirscher said. “Yesterday Ihad back problems and at 2 a.m. this morningI was thinking about whether it made senseto compete.

“I was looking pretty bad today - a bad hairday! But I mobilised every energy in my body,it means a lot for me. “The whole country’swatching me, they want to see me winning.I’ve got a silver medal, it’s perfect.”

Svindal was edged off the podium andinto fourth by Moelgg, the giant Norwegianthus missing out on his bid for his own thirdmedal of these championships followingdownhill gold and super-G bronze.

“I feel like the guy who came in fourthplace, not ideal but that’s the way it is,” saidSvindal. “I’m definitely not happy right nowbut I have a gold and a bronze and I was inthe chase for a medal in all four races so itcould’ve been better but... right now I’mdisapointed but in an hour or two I’ll beover it.” — AFP

LONDON: Roberto Mancini laughed offsuggestions that defeat by Leeds Unitedin the FA Cup could cost him his job yes-terday, saying 20 other Premier Leaguemanagers would also have to go ifManchester City’s owners wielded theaxe.

A morale-sapping 3-1 defeat atSouthampton last weekend left champi-ons City 12 points behind ManchesterUnited in the title race and the FA Cup isnow the only silverware realistically still inthe club’s sights this season.

“All the people who talk about thisdon’t understand football,” Mancini,whose side finished bottom of theirChampions League group, told reporterswhen asked if he was worried about get-ting the sack.

“If Manchester City should sack me, theother 20 teams in the Premier Leagueshould be without a manager.” Manciniled City to their first English title since1968 last season, having won the FA Cupa year before that for the first time since1969.

Things have not gone to plan this sea-son, however, and defeat at home toChampionship (second tier) side Leeds onSunday would turn up the heat on the 48-year-old Italian.

Mancini defended his record on Fridayand even suggested that defending theirPremier League title was not beyondthem.

“We started our project three yearsago,” he said. “In three years we arealways on the top - we fight for the title,we have won three trophies, we have thechance to win more this year. “I alwaysthink we can do everything. We have 12games, we need to do our best and notlook at the table.”

Leeds manager Neil Warnock, whoseside knocked out Tottenham Hotspur inthe previous round, said his side were rel-ishing the thought of upsetting theEnglish champions.

“We will give it a go tomorrow, andwhen you are underdogs, you do tend tocome out of your corner fighting, becauseyou don’t want to be embarrassed,” hesaid. “It’s just the quality of the opposi-tion, though. Give them an inch, andthey’ll take a yard.

“We won’t go there to shut up shop.We would lose for sure if we did that, sowe may as well try and take them on andhave a real go at it.” — Reuters

Majestic Ligety joins elite club with treble

SCHLADMING: US Ted Ligety celebrates after winning the men’s Giant slalom at the 2013 Ski World Championships in Schladming,Austria yesterday. — AFP

Mancini laughs off talk of sack

S p o r t sSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

GLASGOW: Celtic are to seek “clarification”from UEFA regarding referee AlbertoUndiano Mallenco’s performance in the 3-0Champions League defeat by Juventus,manager Neil Lennon revealed yesterday.

Lennon was scathing about the per-formance of the Spanish match officialimmediately after Tuesday’s last-16, first-legloss at Parkead, a defeat that rendered thereturn leg in Turin all but redundant.

And the Hoops boss repeated thosecomments yesterday during what wasmeant to be a news conference previewingSaturday’s Scottish Premier League matchat home to Dundee United.

Scottish champions Celtic were furiousat the way Juventus defenders repeatedlymanhandled their strikers at corners with-out any punishment and Lennon said yes-terday the club would take up the matterwith European football’s governing body.

“The referee didn’t do his job and therehas been a lot of talk since Tuesday nightregarding it, so we are looking for clarifica-tion on the referee’s decisions during thegame,” Lennon said.

“We are going to compile a DVD andsend it to them (UEFA) and wait and seewhat answers we do get. We needed astrong referee and we didn’t have that. “Itwas blatant. I have seen photographswhere the shirt was almost pulled off GaryHooper’s back and he ends up in the goal atone stage.

“I admire Gary for keeping his cool, if ithad been me I might have got sent off forsomething I would have regretted later on.“Gianluca Vialli (former Juventus captain)said we should have had two penalties,Graham Poll and Dermot Gallagher (formerreferees)...Trevor Francis said that even in histime playing in the ‘80s (in Italy) it was never

as blatant as what he saw the other night,so these guys can’t all be wrong and the ref-eree right.”

Meanwhile, Lennon stood by his deci-sion to play Efe Ambrose, who onlyreturned to Glasgow early on Tuesday fol-lowing Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations finalwin over Burkina Faso on Sunday.

Ambrose was at fault for two ofJuventus’s goals and former Celtic captainLennon said the defender had apologisedto him for his performance. “On reflection, ifI had the opportunity to change anything Iwouldn’t, I would go with the same team,”said the Northern Irishman.

“Efe made two basic mistakes but hehad the clear-cut chance of the game for usand if he had scored then no one wouldhave been talking about his selection,”Lennon added.

“I spoke to him and he said he was ready

to play. “When you make basic mistakes likeEfe did then you are open to criticism andhe has apologised for his performance.“However, he has been a fantastic signing.He has added a new dimension to the waywe play and some of his performances inthe Champions League this season havebeen of an exceptionally high standard andso he doesn’t need to apologise, we all havebad nights.”

After the game Celtic midfielder KrisCommons specifically berated Ambrose,saying: “If he felt good then he should haveput in a better performance.” “It was heat ofthe moment stuff,” Lennon said yesterday.

“I have spoken to Kris about it and it hasbeen dealt with internally, and there is nobad feeling from anyone. “Kris really caresand he was disappointed but he did over-step the line a little bit. Sometimes you haveto keep your emotions in check.” —AFP

Celtic seek UEFA view on Champions League referee

Bale shines for Spurs as Liverpool slump

PARIS: Gareth Bale struck two magicalfree-kicks as Tottenham edged Lyon 2-1 in the Europa League last-32Thursday, but Liverpool’s hopes wereon a knife-edge after a 2-0 defeat atZenit St Petersburg in Russia.

Bale beat Lyon keeper RemyVercoutre with a dipping 35-yard free-kick on the stroke of half-time at WhiteHart Lane and then repeated the preci-

sion in the third minute of injury timeat the end of the first leg tie.

In between, Samuel Umtiti hadburied a fierce drive past Brad Friedelin the Spurs goal to keep the Frenchside in the tie.

“I’m delighted. I’ve been practisingfree-kicks and I scored one like thatlast week,” said Bale.

In Russia, two goals in three min-

utes midway through the second halfturned the tide in Zenit’s favouragainst Liverpool on a badly churned-up pitch in the country’s formerImperial capital.

That makes the home leg at Anfieldan uphill struggle, but disappointedLiverpool boss Brendan Rodgers triedto put a brave face on the defeat.

“I thought we looked solid and a

threat going forward and could havebeen in the lead at half-time,” he said.

“But we gave away two poor goalstonight. We ended up losing the gamewhen we should have won it.”

Big-money Brazilian signing Hulkput the Russians ahead in the 69thminute with a blistering shot from theedge of the area which just clippedMartin Skrtel to wrong-foot Liverpool

goalkeeper Pepe Reina.Then on 72 minutes, Sergei Semak

ghosted in behind Skrtel and GlennJohson to arrive unmarked on the leftto clinically dispatch AleksandrAnyukov’s cross from the right pastReina. Racist taunts from some ofZenit’s more vociferous fans, whichLiverpool officials had feared afterrecent incidents at the club, failed tomaterialise.

In the Czech Republic, Chelsea sub-stitute Oscar wasted no time gettinghis name on the scoresheet, grabbingthe only goal of a largely lacklustregame in the 82nd minute againstSparta Prague, just 45 seconds aftercoming off the bench.

Oscar collected a ball from Belgianmidfielder Eden Hazard and firedhome into the bottom corner of thenet. Newcastle were held 0-0 at homeby Metalist Kharkiv in a game in whichthe English side’s striker Papiss Cissehad two goals chalked off for offside.

Anzhi Makhachkala beat Germany’sHannover 3-1, despite falling behindto Szabolcs Huszti’s 22nd minutestrike. Samuel Eto’o put them back onterms, the former Barcelona and InterMilan striker tapping in a pass fromWillian, and Odil Ahmedov put themahead just after the break beforeMoroccan midfielder Mbark Boussoufasealed it in the 64th minute.

Fellow Russian side Rubin Kazandefeated defending championsAtletico Madrid 2-0 in Spain.

Napoli’s players had to face thewrath of the club’s passionate fans atthe end of a comprehensive 3-0 drub-bing at home to Viktoria Plzen.

Once Vladimir Darida had put theCzech side ahead, Napoli were alwaysplaying catch-up and were exposedwhen Frantisek Rajtoral doubled thelead in the 79th minute and it only gotworse as they went in search of a con-solation goal and Stanislav Teci madeit 3-0 a minute from time. —AFP

ST. PETERSBURG: FC Zenit St. Petersburg’s football players Hulk (L)and Sergei Semak celebrate after scoring a goal during UEFA EuropeLeague round of 32 football match between FC Zenit St. Petersburgand Liverpool FC in St. Petersburg on February 14, 2013. FC Zenit St.Petersburg won 2-0. —AFP

Wenger eyes Champions glory

LONDON: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes hisside can end an eight-year trophy drought by capturingEuropean club football’s greatest prize if they knockBayern Munich out of the Champions League.

The Gunners face the German giants in the first leg oftheir last 16 clash at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, amatch that follows hot on the heels of their FA Cup fifthround tie at home to Blackburn Rovers today.

Bayern lost last season’s Champions League final toChelsea and are currently 15 points clear at the top of theBundesliga, having not lost since October 28. They havealso returned from German football’s winter break withfour straight league wins.

Arsenal, by contrast, are a massive 21 points adrift ofPremier League leaders Manchester United and theirdefence coninues to look vulnerable. However, an upbeatWenger said Friday: “We have a big game on Tuesdayagainst Bayern. If we get past them, then why should wenot go further and win it?”

“It looks at the start that (winning) the FA Cup is morereachable than any other competition, but you don’t reallyknow how difficult it will be.

“If you compare it to the Premier League certainly, wehave more chances to do it because we are too far away inthe Premier League,” added Wenger, looking to bringsileverware to Arsenal for the first time since the northLondon club won the FA Cup in 2005.

Meanwhile the French manager insisted the excite-ment generated by their upcoming Champions League tiewould mean no loss of concentration for Arsenal in amatch against second-tier Rovers that will take the win-ners into the FA Cup quarter-finals. “The FA Cup is animportant target for us,” said Wenger. “We always take itvery seriously, we’re on a good run and we want to contin-ue the run,” added Wenger, whose side have closed thegap on the Premier League top four after back-to-back vic-tories. “We are the favourites, they’re the outsiders, andhave nothing to lose. “However, if you look at who is in thesquad, many of their players have Premier League experi-ence, that is why they are dangerous.” Arsenal have fitnessconcerns over England midfielder Jack Wilshere, whowent off at Sunderland last week as a because of concernsover a thigh problem.

Wenger said: “I will not take a risk. (That is because of)the rest of the season in mind and what happened to himbefore.” Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen should beback from his ankle problem, but fellow defender LaurentKoscielny (calf) will be assessed.

Meanwhile Gervinho could return to Arsenal duty fol-lowing the Ivory Coast forward’s time at the Africa Cup ofNations. “We will play a team who has a good chance togo through with experienced players,” said Wenger. “Weonly have big names in our squad, so it will be a team ofbig names, for sure.” —AFP

S P O R T SSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Spanish League

Getafe v Celta de Vigo 18:00Aljazeera Sport +9

Malaga v de Bilbao 20:00Aljazeera Sport +2Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

Granada v Barcelona 22:00Aljazeera Sport +2Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

Osasuna v Real Zaragoza 0:00Aljazeera Sport +8

Italian League

Chievo Verona v Palermo 20:00Aljazeera Sport +1

AS Roma v Juventus 22:45Aljazeera Sport +1Aljazeera Sport 1 HD

German League

Werder Bremen v Freiburg 17:30Dubai Sports 4

Hambuger v Borussia 17:30Dubai Sports 2

Leverkusen v Augsburg 17:30Dubai Sports 1

FSV Mainz v Schalke 17:30Dubai Sports 6

Dortmund v Eintracht 20:30Dubai Sports 1

French League

Marseille v Valenciennes 19:00Aljazeera Sport +4

Brest v AC Ajaccio 22:00Aljazeera Sport +9

Montpellier v Nancy Lorraine 22:00Aljazeera Sport +4

Bastia v Nice 22:00Aljazeera Sport +10

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

LONDON: Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaletainsists his side are determined to avoid becoming the lat-est high-profile victims of the FA Cup’s giant-killing tradi-tion when they face Leeds in the fifth round.

This season’s competition has already provided a hostof memorable moments with several members of thePremier League’s elite suffering shock defeats against low-er league opposition. While the Cup is now regarded bymany in the Premier League as something of an inconven-ience, it remains a beacon of hope for those outside thelucrative top-flight and Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle,Aston Villa, Norwich and QPR have all fallen prey to anuprising from the underdogs this season.

Only seven Premier League teams made it out of thefourth round last month and there are several opportuni-ties for more upsets this weekend. English champions Citylook especially vulnerable as they prepare to hostChampionship club Leeds, winners against Tottenham inthe last round, on Sunday. City’s 3-1 defeat atSouthampton last weekend left Roberto Mancini’s out-of-form side 12 points behind leaders Manchester United in

the Premier League title race. Yet Zabaleta claims the spiritin the camp is still very positive. “We will learn from theSouthampton defeat and use the deflated feeling we hadafterwards as an inspiration to maybe try and re-discoverthe sort of spirit we had last season,” Zabaleta said.

“We need to stand together, battle and show what weare really capable of. We will aim and get back to winningways in the FA Cup and that is our immediate focus now.”Arsenal will also have to be on their guard againstChampionship side Blackburn. Arsene Wenger’s side havealready bowed out of the League Cup against League Twoside Bradford this season and, with a Champions Leaguetie against Bayern Munich looming on Tuesday, theGunners could be distracted. Wenger’s players would dowell to heed the words of the club’s German defender PerMertesacker, who cautioned against looking ahead to theBayern clash.

“Bayern are doing superb this year and that is a bigchallenge for us,” Mertesacker said. “But we still have animportant cup game today. We absolutely want toadvance in the FA Cup and that is why the preparations for

Bayern are not that intense yet.” After beating Liverpool inthe fourth round, League One strugglers Oldham will aimto complete a rare Merseyside giant-killing double athome to Everton. Leighton Baines, Everton’s England left-back, concedes his team can’t afford to be below paragainst opponents who will be fired up to claim anotherscalp. “We saw what a tough game they gave to Liverpoolin the last round,” Baines said.

“We played them ourselves a few seasons back andthey beat us, so we know what those cup ties are all about.It’s just about getting through.”

Luton, seventh in the fifth-tier National Conference, arealso looking to cause another shock after becoming thefirst non-league side to beat a top-flight team in the FACup since Sutton in 1989.

Only six other teams from outside England’s FootballLeague have made it this far in the competition since theSecond World War and the Hatters host Millwall onSaturday knowing a win over the second-tier side wouldmake them the first non-league outfit to reach the quarter-finals in 99 years.—AFP

City aim to avoid more misery in tricky Cup test

MADRID: Barcelona full-back Adriano has said they won’t be tak-ing their trip to Granada this weekend lightly, despite holding a12-point advantage at the top of the table.

The Catalans stretched their lead with a 6-1 demolition ofGetafe last weekend and the Brazilian believes it is better to main-tain that kind of form heading into their Champions League tieagainst AC Milan next Wednesday than rest players.

“We know we have a good advantage over Atletico and RealMadrid, but we cannot forget the league,” he said. “If we take ourfoot off the accelerator they will be there. We cannot stop. Everygame we go for it 100 percent. “We know we are entering thefinal straight of the Champions League, but we have an importantmatch today,” he added, with the southern side having beatenReal Madrid and Deportivo in the last fortnight.

“It will be a difficult match, they are in very good form coming

off the back of two consecutive victories.” However, with matchesagainst Sevilla and a Copa del Rey semi-final second-leg againstMadrid to follow their trip to Italy in midweek, the 28-year-oldaccepts it will be a tiring spell for his side.

“The calendar is very difficult and this month it does notstop,” he said. “The truth is when there are more rest daysbetween matches, above all the important ones, you are thankfulfor it.” Barca will be without David Villa on Saturday as he hasbeen taken back into hospital with kidney stone pain, while Xaviremains on the sidelines despite returning to light training onWednesday. Granada welcome the league leaders in the midst oftheir best spell of the season with three wins from four gamesand, following their 1-0 defeat of Madrid in their last home out-ing, former Barca striker Nolito believes they can spring anothersurprise.—AFP

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Welsh midfielder Gareth Bale (L) vies with Lyon’s French defender Anthony Reveillere duringthe Europa League Round of 32 football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Lyon at White Hart Lane in London, England,on Thursday. Tottenham Hotspur won 2-1. — AFP

Barcelona wary of Granada, derby clash for Madrid

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DOHA: World number one Victoria Azarenka andthird-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova moved intothe Qatar Open semi-finals yesterday as SerenaWilliams eyed becoming the oldest woman to takethe top ranking.

Azarenka moved closer to a successful titledefence for the second tournament in a row whenshe survived a weird umpiring incident and over-whelmed Sara Errani, the French Open finalist, 6-2,6-2. The Belarussian’s surprisingly emphatic winover the Italian means she has now dropped amere nine games in three matches, and looks thepart of the favourite even though the quarter-finalline-up contained the four best players in theworld. “She’s a great fighter and I’m just happy toget through to the semi-finals again here,” saidAzarenka, who has established an affinity for thesea air, gentle winter sunshine and slowish hardcourts in Qatar.

“I came here to practise before the AustraliaOpen, and I shall be back here to do the same inDecember.”

Errani’s fighting qualities manifested them-selves after she thought she had been unfairlydenied a point with an over-ruled line decision inthe sixth game, with the umpire oddly askingAzarenka to “help her out”. An argument of severalminutes ensued with Errani contending that theincorrect “out” call had interfered with her attempt

to return the ball, and the umpire apparentlyunable to remember if Errani had hit the ball or not.Errani had indeed done so, but may have beenunable to return the ball in court anyway.

Australian Open champion Azarenka, however,kept quiet about what she had witnessed, andErrani worked herself up into a feverish sense ofinjustice. She duly held serve and continued to play

spiritedly in many long rallies, without ever beingable to find weaknesses in Azarenka’s game. Thetop seed got 72 percent of her first serves in,enabling her to force the issue in the rallies moreoften, and struck 26 clean winners.

More surprisingly, Azarenka also won all of the14 rallies where she came to the net, not normallyone of her strongest areas. She may though have

to contend with Sharapova, who has won the Qatartitle twice and remains unbeaten in Doha afterreaching the semi-finals in the other half with a 6-2,6-4 win over Sam Stosur, the former US Openchampion from Australia. It was Sharapova’s 12thwin in three Doha tournaments, and after tram-pling her way through the first three-quarters ofthe match, responded well when Stosur finallyfound a higher gear and almost regained parity justbefore the end. Afterwards Sharapova explainedwhy she, Azarenka and Williams have appeared sodownbeat about the three-way struggle for theworld number one ranking this week.

“Is it great to have the opportunity to comeback to that position? I mean, we’d be lying if weweren’t,” she said, dispelling the impression givenby Williams that she no longer cared.

“We’re excited about having the chance. It’spretty special. But, you know, I have been in thatspot before. “The ranking is always one of thosethings where it also depends on the other players’success and the amount of points and the tourna-ments that they play. “That’s out of control. I thinkthat’s the reason why maybe we’re a little bit, youknow, not so jumping up and down at this tablehere.” Later Williams, at the age of 31, was aimingto become the oldest player ever to become worldnumber one, during her quarter-final with PetraKvitova, the former Wimbledon champion. — AFP

Sharapova in Qatar semi-finalsDOHA: Maria Sharapova of Russia hits a return to Samantha Stosur of Australia during their WTA Qatar tennis Open quarter-final match yesterday in the Qatari capital Doha. — AFP

Azarenka too good for Sara Errani

SAO PAULO: Rafael Nadal beat Joao Souza 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of theBrazil Open, the Spanish star’s second tournamentsince returning from a left knee injury.

Nadal broke Souza’s service late in each set towin in 1 hour, 18 minutes at the indoor clay-courttournament in South America’s biggest city. Thevictory over the 140th-ranked Brazilian came a dayafter Nadal withdrew from the doubles tourna-ment to preserve the sore knee that sidelined forseven months. The 11-time Grand Slam winner,the tournament champion in 2005, had a bye inthe first round.”Today I felt good,” Nadal said. “It’snot perfect yet, I don’t know when I’ll be at 100percent. It was acceptable. I’m confident that asthe days and weeks go by I’ll recover what’s still

missing.” Nadal will face Argentina’s CarlosBerlocq, a 7-6 (7), 6-4 winner over eighth-seededAlbert Ramos of Spain. Nadal lost the singles anddoubles final last week at the VTR Open in Vina delMar in Chile. Earlier in the day, defending champi-on Nicolas Almagro of Spain beat Chilean qualifierPaul Capdeville 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2. The 11th-rankedAlmagro won the last four games to stay on trackfor his third straight title in Sao Paulo - and fourthoverall. Almagro won the tournament for the firsttime in 2008 and then in 2011-12. “Hopefully, I’mon my way to winning another title here,” saidAlmagro, who had 18 aces in a match that lastednearly two hours. “I’ve been successful in Brazil sofar and I hope it continues like this for a longtime.” —AP

Nadal cruises into q-finals