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NO. 13773

THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Established in 1977 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009 / ZUL QEDAH 6, 1430 AH

48 PAGES

150 FILS

Global expected to sign restructuring deal by Nov end Number of ‘failed’ US banks hits 106

Residents use a makeshift raft to cross a flooded street next to a submerged car in Lupang Arenda in Taytay, east of Manila, on Oct 24. The Philippines breathed a sigh of relief as Typhoon Lupit, now downgraded into a tropical storm, veered away from the country which is still dealing with the devastation from two previous deadly storms. (AFP) — See Page 18

Opinion

‘Iranian Hezb’ must be faced

WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AFP): The number of failed regional US banks exceeded 100 Friday, after authorities announced the collapse of seven more financial institutions around the country. A total of 106 regional banks failed in the United States this year, a figure not seen since 1992. Partners Bank of Naples, Florida, which had capital of 65.5 million dollars, became the 100th bank shut down in the country since the beginning of the year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced. It was closed Friday by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The other collapsed bank, whose closure was announced Friday, include Flagship

Two firms planned

60 lashes for TV show

Saudi female journalist to be flogged RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct 24, (Agencies): A Saudi court on Saturday convicted a female journalist for her involvement in a TV show, in which a Saudi man publicly talked about sex, and sentenced her to 60 lashes. Rozanna al-Yami is believed to be the first Saudi woman journalist to be given such a punishment. The charges against her included involvement in the preparation of the program and advertising the segment on the Internet. Abdul-Rahman al-Hazza, the spokesman of the Ministry of Culture and Information, told The Associated Press he had no details of the sentencing and could not comment on it. In the program, which aired in July on the Lebanese LBC satellite channel, Mazen AbdulJawad appears to describe an active sex life and

shows sex toys that were blurred by the station. The same court sentenced Abdul-Jawad earlier this month to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes. The man’s lawyer, Sulaiman al-Jumeii, maintains his client was duped by the TV station and was unaware in many cases he was being recorded. On Saturday, he told the AP that not trying his client or al-Yami before a court specialized in media matters at the Ministry of Culture and Information was a violation of Saudi law. “It is a precedent to try a journalist before a summary court for an issue that concerns the nature of his job,” he said. The case has scandalized this ultraconservative country where such public talk about sex is taboo and the sexes are strictly segregated. Continued on Page 8

Continued on Page 8

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24, (KUNA): Kuwait’s Global Investment House (Global) has reached a deal with its creditors to restructure and reschedule its debts, the company’s CEO and managing director Maha Al-Ghenaim said in a press statement Saturday. The investment firm, which held a meeting in the UAE with its creditors on Monday, is expected to sign the final deal before the end of November. Global defaulted on most of its debts earlier this year. Al-Ghenaim said the company was looking forward to finalizing its debt restructuring so that to focus completely on its operational activities in the Continued on Page 8

OVER 1,000 DEATHS, MILLIONS SAID TO BE INFECTED

US declares swine flu emergency

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

AFTER four months, the house of Lebanon is still hanging in the process of government formation without a political ceiling, doors that can repel security problems, and open windows for a brighter future. Sa’ad Al-Hariri has been saddled with the responsibility of forming a new government over the last four months. After the parliamentary elections, he continued to try and consult others but the main problem, since the first day, is the weapon of the ‘Iranian Hezb’ in Lebanon. Groups entrusted with the slogan of resistance and rebellion, albeit fraudulent and deceitful, have been hiding under threats to use weapons unless they get the front seat in the government. How long will the Lebanese accept the cold feeling amidst the funny and sad isolation before calamities? How long will they continue to watch the circus in which Nabih Berri jumps from the ropes of anguish, Walid Jumblatt is concerned about his group, and Hassan Nasrallah seizes the opportunity to ambush the latter? Did the majority of the Arab and international leaders not stress the need for a quick formation of government to meet the high expectations of the region? Did the vanquished mobile security not violate the Lebanese military and weaken Lebanese treasury due to pressure on the Lira, and subsequently destabilize several projects? Is it possible for a single person in a country like Lebanon to block formation of the cabinet because he is not a minister? What is the response of Lebanese political leaders to the statement of highly placed Western diplomats, who said obstructions are not from Lebanon or Arab nations? Numerous questions are necessary in this worrisome situation that has never occurred in any other country, especially since all the concerned parties have accepted the outcome of the elections. Is the open acceptance of the militia group embedded in the threat to put the country on fire if formation of the government takes place before getting approval from an external power? The Lebanese might have not learnt from their late compatriot poet Gibran Khalil Gibran who said, “Woe unto a nation that eats what it did not sow and wears what it did not weave.” Obviously, the obstructive and wearisome groups have been trying Continued on Page 8

Rates rising rapidly WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AFP): President Barack Obama has declared swine flu a “national emergency,” the White House said Saturday, as the United States reels from millions of cases of infection and over 1,000 deaths. The emergency declaration, signed by the president late Friday, enhances the ability of medical treatment facilities to handle a spike in influenza A(H1N1) patients by allowing medical officials to temporarily bypass certain federal requirements. “The 2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve,” Obama said in the declaration. “The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities.” The declaration comes just days after Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius warned that demand was outstripping supply of vaccine for the novel flu strain. As Americans waited for more shipments of vaccine, 46 of the 50 states now report widespread swine flu activity — an unusually early uptick that ordinarily takes place in January or February at the peak of a normal flu season. “By rapidly identifying the virus, implementing public health measures, providing guidance for health professionals and the general public, and developing an effective vaccine, we have taken proactive steps to reduce the impact of the pandemic and protect the health of our citizens,” Obama said. In a note to Congress, Obama said the move was implemented “in order to be prepared in the event of a rapid increase in illness across the nation that may overburden health care resources.” Continued on Page 8

People form the giant figures 350 with umbrellas on the steps of the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, Oct 24. Leading scientists claim for our atmosphere to remain safe with the upper limit for carbon dioxide measured should be no more that 350 parts per million to avoid runaway climate change. (AP)

Top Iran officials question UN-brokered nuclear deal TEHRAN, Iran, Oct 24, (Agencies): Top Iranian figures criticised on Saturday a UN-brokered deal to produce nuclear fuel for Tehran from its own partly enriched uranium, apparently challenging what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself has proposed. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Western powers are trying to “cheat” Iran through the deal, under which Tehran would export low-enriched uranium (LEU) to be further enriched and converted into nuclear fuel for a reactor in Tehran. “Westerners are insisting to go in a direction that speaks of cheating and are imposing some things on us,” Larijani told ISNA news agency.

Newswatch

“They are saying we will give you the 20 percent (enriched uranium) fuel for the Tehran reactor only if you give us your enriched uranium. I see no link between these two things.” But that is essentially what Ahmadinejad himself proposed on September 30. “We need 19.75 percent-enriched uranium. We said that, and we propose to buy it from anybody who is ready to sell it to us. We are ready to give 3.5 percent-enriched uranium and then they can enrich it more and deliver to us 19.75 percentenriched uranium,” the president said. Ahmadinejad was speaking just ahead of an Oct 1 meeting in Geneva at which the proposal was apparently discussed, and

Day by Day

which drew a positive reaction from Russia and France. The full details of deal eventually hammered out have not been released, but France has said it calls on Iran to hand over to Russia by the end of the year 1,200 kilogrammes of LEU it has at a plant in Natanz. Russia would enrich the material to the 19.75 percent level needed for use in a research reactor in Tehran that makes radioisotopes for medical use. Diplomats say Russia would sub-contract to France the process of turning the enriched uranium into the fuel rods for the reactor. Continued on Page 8

‘Impressive impacts on blood lipids’

Obesity drug cuts cholesterol, diabetes Trains collide, 25 dead CAIRO, Oct 24, (AP): A passenger train collided with the back of a second one ahead of it on the tracks just outside of Cairo on Saturday, destroying several passenger cars and killing at least 25 people, a police official said. At least 55 others were wounded in the accident, which occurred in Girzah district of 6th of October province, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Emergency personnel were working to extract the dead and wounded from the trains, said the official. The train that caused the collision was headed from Cairo to the southern city of Assuit, while the one that was impacted was traveling from Giza province to the

Continued on Page 8

Lebanese chefs react after preparing a massive plate of hummus, seen in the middle, weighing more than 2,056 kgs, during a bid to break a record previously held by Israel and reclaim ownership over the popular Middle Eastern dish in Beirut, Lebanon, Oct 24. (AP) — See Page 7

MOHAMMAD ABDUL AZIZ ALSHAYA, founder of the Avenues Mall, is a man with a commercial mind and adventurous heart. I hope Almighty Allah will protect him from malice. A few days ago, I visited the mall and was mesmerized by its grandeur. It is comparable to other famous complexes around the world. Like hundreds of visitors, I moved inside the mall freely, breathing the air of progress and modernization. Awed by the magnificent and modern engineering features of the mall, I beseeched Almighty Allah to help everyone behind the establishment of this giant commercial complex and ensure the success of its staff.

Continued on Page 8

NEW YORK, Oct 24, (RTRS): Nearly half of patients who completed 56 weeks of treatment with Orexigen Therapeutics Inc’s experimental obesity treatment, Contrave, lost at least 10 percent of their weight in a late-stage study and the drug also appeared to help cholesterol and blood sugar levels. The drug demonstrated an even greater improvement in non- weight loss measures in patients considered to be at high risk of heart disease, according to data released on Saturday. Orexigen released top-line data in July from a trio of Phase III trials showing Contrave met its primary goal of at least 5 percent weight loss compared with a placebo. That data included all patients who began the studies, even those who discontinued the medicine at any point. The data presented Saturday included only those who completed 56 weeks of

treatment, which the company called “a more clinically relevant number.” Orexigen also released data that looked at several secondary measures, such as impact on waist circumference, blood lipids and a marker for inflammation, as well as blood sugar levels in a separate trial of obese diabetics. “We’re very encouraged that all those things are going in the right direction,” Dennis Kim, Orexigen’s head of medical affairs who presented the new data at the Obesity Society scientific meeting in Washington, said in an interview. Contrave is a pill that combines the antidepressant Wellbutrin, known generically as bupropion, with a sustained- release version of naltrexone, an opioid blocker used to treat alcoholism and other addictions. New obesity treatments are needed for what Continued on Page 8

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

LOCAL

2

the Aljenfawi files

‘Apply severe punishment’

‘Joint panel’ needed to deal with rise in violence By Khaled Aljenfawi “A KUWAITI woman has filed a case against two people, who allegedly damaged items in her home over a minor disagreement between the parties and her husband. Security sources said the suspects started smashing items in the house when they couldn’t locate her husband inside the house after the disagreement. Police have registered the case for investigation” (Arab Times 10-23-2009). The incident of anger and violence allegedly committed by two people against a Kuwaiti family’s home due to some kind of disagreement indicates a rising of a serious phenomenon: the tendency of some people in the country to use verbal and physical abuse readily to settle disputes! Such kind of abuse seemed to have intensified because in Aljenfawi the mentioned incident the culprits ignored the sanctity of homes! Such cases of violence and uncontrolled anger are far from being spontaneous reactions, but they constitute utter disregards to laws, regulations and good manners governing our day to day peaceful interactions. It will be more effective if such alleged perpetrators (suspects) of such offenses are punished after they are caught and sent afterwards to anger management classes. This is better than allowing violence-prone individuals to run around threatening the security of Kuwaiti families, whatever the real reasons for the original disagreement! Anger management classes are quite common in other countries. For example, in the United States such classes are frequently assigned for minor misdemeanors, family

quarrels and for individuals who do not seem to fully cooperate with police. In our Kuwaiti context and due to different social, cultural and perhaps due to the gradual erosion of a general agreement about what is socially acceptable; some individuals use violence as their first option in dealing with situations of tension. We in Kuwait pride ourselves of having one of the largest educated sections of society in contrast to neighboring countries. As such, we are supposed to be more tolerant, more peaceful, respect laws and regulations...etc than others. Yet, once in a while one reads about cases of physical abuse against others due to trivial if not stupid reasons! We suggest that the ministry of interior in cooperation with the ministries of education, and social affairs set up a committee to study the spread of verbal and physical violence in our daily life. Whether assigning anger management classes is chosen as the best option to counter the rise in the number of violence cases or something else is adopted, we have to face this negative phenomenon head on and deal with it as effectively as possible. In the case of the reported alleged damaging of the house of a Kuwaiti family by two individuals, the authorities should apply the most severe punishment provided by our laws. Threatening the security of women and children is an indication of criminal tendencies which should not be ignored but, dealt with quite swiftly. Why not the ministry of education introduce a new subject in its curriculum specifically dealing with verbal and physical violence, as it is a noticeable phenomenon in our streets and neighborhoods? Shying away from our real challenges and obstacles which continue to prevent us from achieving tangible progress will delay almost all kinds of real achievements. [email protected]

News in Brief ‘Scant rainfall expected’: Renowned Kuwaiti astronomer Dr Saleh Al-Ojairi has predicted that the country will witness partial cloudy weather with scant rainfall in the next few days, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. Al-Ojairi said the presence of the clouds may increase humidity levels slightly. The effect of the tropical low-lying winds from the south east generally leads to windy weather in the Gulf region. He added this will be an indication of light rainfall till next Sunday. “We shall have torrential rainfalls in the second week of November”, he concluded. ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Level of anxiety on flu exaggerated’: Head of Pediatrics and Respiratory Organ Diseases at the Mubarak Hospital Dr Abdullah Farhan Owaid recently disclosed the level of anxiety on the spread of swine flu infection in Kuwait has been exaggerated, in spite of the fact that the disease was discovered in 1918, reports Al-Seyassah daily. Dr Owaid made this declaration in a speech he delivered during an awareness seminar at Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah School. He stressed that 99.9 percent of swine flu victims have overcome the infection. He explained the fair and danger of the infection has to do with special cases like diabetes, cardiology, leukemia, respiratory organ diseases and allergy, which is because those categories do not have enough immunity like every other person. “Swine flu can be treated within two to four hours after symptoms have occurred”, the expert physician added. ❑ ❑ ❑

WHO office faults labs: The Middle West Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) has noted the deplorable condition of public health laboratories and their failure in conducting tests on required samples of several chronic diseases, reports Al-Shahid daily.

‘Imported from Iran’

Samples of saffron sent to MoH’s labs KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: The General Customs Department (GCD) has transferred samples of saffron imported from Iran to the Ministry of Health’s laboratories to ensure it is safe for consumption, reports Arrouiah daily. In a letter of which the daily obtained a copy, the Director-General of GCD disclosed persistent illegal export of saffron, which laboratory tests have uncovered were not up to specifications of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and contained unsafe artificial colors. The report stated Kuwait, Djibouti and Lebanon are among countries which least implement the WHO criteria for testing required samples of mild and acute infections, and it is on this basis WHO recognizes laboratories and centers which are supportive of polio investigations, the report briefed. ❑ ❑ ❑

Iraq, Kuwait regular flights eyed: The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority recently discussed the possibility of resuming regular flights from Iraq to Kuwait twice a week, with its Kuwaiti counterpart, reports Al-Anbaa daily. The daily quoting sources stressed the Kuwaiti Civil Aviation will study the request, and revealed an Iraqi aviation company identified as Al-Nasser had put forward the request.

Sheikh Jaber ‘responds’ to MP’s barrage of rhetoric through media ‘Panel formed to look into grilling procedures’ KUWAIT, Oct 24, (KUNA): Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah issued a statement on Saturday in response to the barrage of rhetoric lobbed at him by MP Musallam AlBarrak regarding some of the minister’s actions in the capacity of his holding one of the nation’s most visible ministries. He indicated in his statement that he wished he could have responded to his detractors within the confines of the National Assembly, but that the strident rhetoric against him in many quarters has compelled him to speak through a press statement at this time in order to put everything in its correct perspective. His response to his detractors today, he underlined, comes in the line of duty as minister and as a commitment that the public has the right to know the truth about vital issues that are bandied about in public circles. With regard to the response of MP Musallam Al-Barrak on an answer to a question given by the minister of Justice, Sheikh Jaber said the answer had been included in a response by the minister of Justice to questions posed to him by MPs Maasouma Al-Mubarak, Aseel Al-Awadhi, Dhaifalla Bouramia, and Muhammad AlHuwaila. Moreover the minister of Justice’s response was also sent to the National Assembly House Speaker last September 28. The information that MP AlBarrak made out that it had arrived at the National Assembly for the first time was in fact old information that Sheikh Jaber had sent as responses to questions by more than one MP 20 days prior to the response by the minister of Justice to MP AlBarrak. Furthermore Sheikh Jaber noted in his press statement that Al-Barrak misrepresented some facts in the course of his recent grilling of the Minister of Interior. For instance AlBarrak said in the grilling that he had not attained a response to his queries from the office of the public prosecutor. Sheikh Khalid said MP Al-Barrak would have received a response from the public prosecutor had Al-Barrak made the request before the onset of the grilling session at the National Assembly. Sheikh Jaber explained that a committee has been formed to look into the grilling procedures, noting that the ministry of Interior had communication with the public prosecutor about the response Al-Barrak was expecting from him (i.e.

Photos by Hamdy Shawke

DHL Global Forwarding celebrated its 2nd anniversary in Kuwait, on Oct 23. The event was filled with fun activities and awarding the employee of the quarter followed by a gala dinner. The reception was held at the Marina Hotel. Top officials attended. Above: Some photos from the event.

Kuwait-funded Urdu fiqh encyclopedia launched

India, Kuwait seek to boost bilateral ties NEW DELHI, Oct 24, (KUNA): Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Saturday extolled close relations between India and Kuwait in all fields, pointing to both sides’ willingness to further bolster and develop their bilateral ties. Ansari was speaking at a ceremony held by the Islamic Fiqh Academy of India last night on the occasion of launching a new Urdu fiqh encyclopedia compiled by Kuwait. He said Indian-Kuwaiti relations had been further strengthened with the launching of the fiqh encyclopedia in Urdu. The Kuwaiti-funded encyclopedia, which will serve an influential sector of Indians, is a fresh addition to good relations between both friendly nations, he the prosecutor). Al-Barrak had sent a letter filed under no. 1162, dated last June 17, which was before the date set for the grilling and which the ministry of Interior did not receive up until the present time, said

added. The Indian vice-president stressed the significance of the encyclopedia to the removal of practical obstacles and barriers facing Urdu-speaking Muslims in their everyday lives. Apart from Ansari, the ceremony was also attended by Kuwaiti Ambassador in India Sami Al-Suleiman, a delegation of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, several Arab ambassadors and Indian Muslim dignitaries. Addressing the celebration, the top Kuwaiti diplomat in India said His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is keen on supporting everything that could serve the tolerant religion of Islam and disseminate its teachings worldwide.

Sheikh Jaber. The minister of Interior said that his responses to MPs will be sent to the office of the House Speaker, bemoaning the fact that matters have gotten beyond the sacrosanct walls of

For several decades now, Kuwait has been shouldering the responsibility of compiling correct and reliable religious references for diverse fiqh issues and questions, he said. Kuwait had adopted several projects and initiatives aiming to establish the concept of Islamic religion and to fan out its teachings, he said, pointing to the establishment of the World Islamic Moderation Center in Kuwait. He considered the Urdu fiqh encyclopedia a proof of firm relations between Kuwait and India, being developed continuously under the leadership of both nations. The 45-volume encyclopedia will be beneficial to some 300 million Urduspeaking Indian Muslims.

the National Assembly to the pages of newspapers. Sheikh Jaber said he hoped that this whole matter would be put to rest if it is discussed publicly in front of the media in a faceoff between himself and

MP Al-Barrak. He affirmed that he was holding the right for taking legal action against some MPs and detractors who used crude language to accuse him of being a liar and prevaricator.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

LOCAL

3

Buramiya vows to lead 100,000 Bedouns to Assembly on Dec 10 Number of MPs attend seminar KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: MP Dr Daifullah Buramiya vowed at Bedoun dominated area of Taima Friday to mobilize an estimated 100,000 Bedouns to the premises of the National Assembly on Dec 10, 2009, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. He disclosed this during a seminar on “Bedoun between solution and hope” which was organized by Kuwait Bedoun Society. He promised to lead each Bedoun with security green

card to the Parliament regardless of the security resistance, and indicated keenness to press for lasting solution to the Bedouns issue on the aforesaid date, before the International Court of Justice issues its decision in May 2010. Meanwhile, a number of MPs who participated in the mass seminar warned the minister of Justice he will be questioned at the International Court of Justice due to the unsolved Bedoun case, which has caused so much suffering to the community for a long period. The seminar which was held Friday afternoon was attended by the Bedoun community, where the Chairman of the Society Ahmed Al-Tameemi offered his condolences on the death of former MP and minister Talal Al-Ayyar. He indicated he was one of those who had taken strong stances on the Bedoun case, and he won’t be forgotten, just like Haif Al-Hajraf. He added Al-Jahra is blessed with brave men who kept the flag of Kuwait high during the ArabIsraeli war, with support from the late Amir Sheikh Sabah AlSalem. On his part, MP Mubarak AlWalan stressed those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of Kuwait should not be considered as men who fought for money, since there is no such human. He rejected rumors about Bedouns participating in earlier wars, including the Liberation War for the sake of money. Moreover, MP Hassan Jowhar expressed willingness to testify against the government of Kuwait on the Bedouns case, if the court asks him to. MP Mohamed Haif emphasized he does not distinguish between Shiite and Sunni Bedouns, and that he won’t tolerate extremists who abuse attendants of the Holy Prophet regardless they are Sunni or Shiite. He disclosed the Thawabet AlUmma Bloc will organize a seminar about the Sharia concerning hijab, where several lawyers, politicians and important personalities will be invited.

Photos by Abdalmohsen Abdallah

Top & above: Some photos from the seminar.

‘Patients react differently to venom’

Medical advice vital in bee therapy KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24, (KUNA): Seeking medical advice is vital for patients undergoing bee venom therapy, therapist Sami AlThunayan says in a study. More than 1,500 studies support the bee therapy and it is accredited in Russia, Japan, Korea and some east-Asian countries, said Al-Thunayan, who conducted the study at the Alternative and Complimentary Medicine conference, recently held in Kuwait. That therapy is used in Germany, Italy, Austria, and some other European countries, while around four million cases are receiving the treatment in the US, the UK and France, he said. Bee venom is used to stimulate cells to bring blood and energy and help renew damaged cells and organs through injecting more than 18 substances that the bee venom con-

tains, he noted. Fully grown bees of 15 days of age are used to produce the colorless clear liquid, he said. Patients react differently to the venom physically and psychologically, he said, adding that it depends on the disease, the patient’s age and health condition. If the patient cannot get desired results, he (or she) is advised to eat parsley, coriander and oils, he said, and noted if the patient experiences pain in other parts of his body, he or she should stop the therapy for a week and treat it with nutrients. The conference, that shed light on the advantages of the alternative medicine and ways to prevent diseases, grouped experts from Germany, China, Arab and Gulf countries.

Kuwait Today Prayer Timings Fajr .....................................................................04:36 am Sunrise .....................................................................05:56 Zohr ..........................................................................11:32 Asr ......................................................................02:44 pm Maghrib ....................................................................05:08 Isha...........................................................................06:26

Night Pharmacies Kuwait City: Rana – Block 13, Fahad Al Salem St, Salhiya, Tel: 22455369 Hawally: Tariq Al Hadeetha – Khaleej St, Shaab, Tel: 22619020 Fahaheel & Ahmadi: Zumorodat Al Ghanim – Cooperative Society St, Fintas, Tel: 23909967 Farwaniya & Kheitan: Palestine – Hasawi St, Jleeb Shuyoukh, Tel: 24315912 Jahra: Al Ghanim Al Jadeeda – Marzook Miteb St, Tel: 24550946

Weather Expected weather for the next 24 hours: By night: Partly cloudy to cloudy with moderate freshening at times SE’ly wind with speed of 15-40 km/h with a chance for scattered rain that might be thundery at times. By day: Cloudy with moderate to fresh SE’ly wind with speed of 20-40 km/h with a chance for scattered rain.

Kuwait Weather Station

Max Rec 32 34 32 36 35 34 34 32 29 30 30

Kuwait City Kuwait Airport Nuwaiseeb Wafra Salmi Abdaly Jalaliyah Failaka Ahmadi Port Umm Al-Maradem Warba-Bubiyan

Min Exp 27 21 19 21 20 23 22 25 24 27 25

Marine Forecast Station South Dolphin Ahmadi L/V Beacon M28 Beacon N6 Umm Al-Maradem Sea island buoy Salmiyah Julaia Port

Max Exp

Min Rec

Sea Surf

31 29 29 31 30 30 32 33

27 28 28 26 27 28 27 24

28 30 28 29 -

Todays Waves Height Direction 6ft NW 6ft NW 6ft NW 6ft NW 6ft NW 6ft NW 6ft NW 6ft NW

Tide times at Shuwaikh Port 1st high tide:.............................................................02:30 2nd high tide.............................................................17:45 1st low tide: ..............................................................21:30 2nd low tide: .............................................................10:30 Sunrise: ....................................................................05:55 Sunset: .....................................................................17:00

deaths Adel Abdullah Ali Sultan Al-Samhan, 52 years old, buried. Condolences: (Men) South Surra Haitteen Block 2, St 223, House 43, Tel: 99049008/99834455. (Women) Qurtoba Block 1, Fifth St, House 35, Tel: 25325466/25325455. Eid Jaber Al-Suhail, 81 years-old, buried. Condolences: Abdullah Al-Mubarak Block 5, St 506, House 39, Tel:66663397/99882492. Bebi Mohammed Mahmoud Ameen, 75 years- old, widow of Abdullah Ali Saleh Al-Khal Al-Motawe’, to be buried on Sunday 9 am. Condolences: (Men) South Surra Haiteen Block 1, St 156, House 1, Tel: 99002101/99611445. (Women) Zahraa Block 5, St 503, House 5, Tel:22513031/99678644. Ghazi Hammoud Maflouh AlMutairi, 72 years-old, to be buried on Sunday after Asr prayer. Condolences: Block 9, First St, Avenue 19, House 10, Tel: 66466458. Mehli Mubarak Al-Qabeel AlRasheedi, 86 years-old, buried. Condolences: Abdullah Al-Mubarak Block 1, St 108, House 5, Tel:66610670. Yaqoub Abdullah Abdullah Al-Kharqawi, 79 years-old, buried. Condolences: (Men) Al-Shamiya, Block 7, St 72, house 10, Tel: 99774465. (Women) Al-Sulaibikhat, Block 2, St 104, Avenue 11, house 37, Tel: 24874554. Mariam Abdullah Mohsen Al-Qallaf, 71 years-old, widow of Hussein Ali Mohsen Al-Qallaf, buried. Condolences: AlDaeya, Al-Baharina Mosque, Tel: 66655501. Abdul Wahab Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Osfour, 77 years-old, buried. Condolences: (Men) Al-Khalidiya, Block 3, and Al-Nasr Street, house 228, Tel: 66336668/99024286. (Women) AlQosour, Block 7, St 38, house 26, Tel: 66773317. Maasouma Khadad Baron, 74 years-old, widow of Hassan Hussein Ali Al-Baloushi, buried. Condolences: AlSalmiya, Husseiniyat Habib Zaid Al-Baloushi, Tel: 99047279/99726263. Abdullah Essa Ibrahim AlQassab, 79 years-old, to be buried on Sunday at 9 am. Condolences: (Men) Al-Yarmouk, Block 3, St 2, Avenue 18, house 9, Tel: 99644141. (Women) Meshrif, Block 2, St 7, house 15, Tel: 99524075.

Oct 24, 2009 Recorded yesterday at Kuwait Airport Max temp.......................................................................33 Min temp........................................................................23 Max Rh.......................................................................84% Min Rh........................................................................30% Max Wind .........................................................W 36 km/h Total Rainfall in 24 hr .............................................00 mm Recorded yesterday at South Dolphin Min/Max/ Air Temp .................................................26/29C Min/Max Rel Hum .................................................59/87% Wind Direction/Wind Speed .............................S/34 km/h Prev Wave Dir/Max Wave Ht....................................N/4 ft Min/Max Sea Surface Temp .................................27/27 C Sea Current .....................................................Down draft — Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Meteorological Dept.

News in Brief ‘System not implemented’: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor confirmed that the automated system project has not been implemented yet, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. The Undersecretary of the Ministry expressed surprise and disapproval towards the criticism of the system. He explained the system is still in the testing stage that lasts for a month to observe the work mechanism used to transfer information from the old system to the new one. “In case there is a delay in the process of data transference, the testing period will be extended by another month, to end on Dec 16 this year”, he said. ❑ ❑ ❑

Kuwait to attend security meet: A delegation of the department of security information of the Ministry of Interior will take part in the eighth conference for chiefs of the Arab security media authorities due in Tunisia on Oct 25-29. The ministry said in a statement released on Saturday that Interior Minister Lieutenant General (ret) Sheikh Jaber Khaled Al-Sabah had issued an order to dispatch the director of the security information and the official spokesman of the ministry, Colonel Mohammad Al-Saber, and

Bid to facilitate housing loans

KSCB okays number of procedures KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24, (KUNA): Kuwait’s Savings and Credit Bank (KSCB) approved during its Executive Board meeting Saturday a number of procedures that would facilitate housing loans for individuals. A KSCB press release said that the bank’s recent meeting focused on procedures that would facilitate loans for those owning private dwellings, governmental granted houses, adding that the loan facilitation would be given for citizens’ living in a house of over 375

square meters space. The meeting agreed on a proposal regarding the decrease of interests rates for the KSCB to two percent, said the statement. The KSCB also approved a decision on adjusting loans regulations which would allow citizens who sell their real-estates and pay their loans to receive refunds. The statement also studied the Cabinet’s decision regarding the allocation of KD 10,000, KD 5,000 as a loan and the rest as a grant, for owners of prefabricated homes.

the head of the traffic awareness, Captain Abdel-Ilah Abdel Razzak, to Tunisia to represent Kuwait at the conference. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑

Chief of General Staff is expected to hand over power to Lieutenant General Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khalid on Dec 15, 2009, in a ceremony which will be attended by the first Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak, reports Al-Anbaa daily.

Chief to hand over power: The current

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‘Govt will, free hand can make Kuwait trade hub’ Education vital for development: Bishara KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24, (KUNA): A national strategist affirms widescale development is possible provided the five-year development scheme is implemented and the government given the “full chance” to execute it. Dr Ahmad Al-Bishara, a member of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, said in a statement to KUNA that each article of the strategy was extensively examined.

Top and above: Gulf Bank staff wooing customers at the forum.

GB sells ‘products’ at BBF Gulf Bank participated in the British Business Forum’s recent event entitled ‘Introduction to Kuwait 2009’ Oct 13, 2009 at the Hilton Kuwait Resort. Designed to inform people about the business, social and cultural life of Kuwait, the event attracted over 4,000 visitors and was opened by HE

Michael Aron, the British Ambassador to Kuwait. Gulf Bank strategically utilized its presence at BBF’s Introduction to Kuwait event to showcase its range of banking products and services that aim to give access to a world of better banking.

News in Brief Gold getting beyond reach: The Kuwaiti gold market is currently passing through consistent hike in its prices, reaching about 70 percent, reports Awan daily. A market expert and activist revealed that the middle class people now prefer to purchase gold for wedding programs, with very close differences between prices of gold and diamond. He stated low income earners have resorted to buying silver plated materials for their wedding, and added this is unusual in the country, and could possibly be a temporary phenomenon. The expert advised that people should not be worried about the gold prices, because the opera-

tors will be forced to reverse them soon. ❑ ❑ ❑

National, Amiri Guard merger: The government of Kuwait has reportedly been considering a possible merger of the National Guard-controlled by the Ministry of Interior and the Amiri Guardcontrolled by the General Armed Forces Council, under a single command, reports Al-Shahid daily. A source disclosed the motive behind the merger proposal, if eventually approved, is to strengthen development and competence of the armed forces. He said officers of the National Guard will control most of the middle class leadership, while the Deputy National Guard Chief Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah is poised to head the new arrangement.

The plan reflects the government serious desire to realize development on a wide scale, Bishara said, adding that it includes several proposals intended to make basic changes, such as participation of the private sector in education, health and housing. He affirmed that the plan envisages a greater role for the private sector in the national development process, in line with the government approach of transforming Kuwait into an international financial-commercial hub, stressing on the great necessity of resolving the national economic problems. The strategist called for participation of experts in examining and assessing the unprecedented plan, due to be blessed into law by the legislators. The government should be given sufficient time to implement it, he said, indicating that questioning the government performance in this respect should be delayed for two or three years noting that criticism would obstruct the cabinet work and waste precious time. The plan will be followed with another one to address flaws that may appear in the first one, he said, indicating that the top decision makers foresee the work-out of such schemes throughout the next 25 years. Dr Bishara, who chairs the social and human development committee in the Development Council, noted that the strategy affirms the vital role of education to achieve tangible development. He indicated that the commission is assessing the conditions in this vital sector and preparing recommendations for the executive authorities to resolve some of the problems. The commission is also involved in pin-pointing housing problems, Dr Bishara said. He indicated at certain shortcomings in the performance of the state administrative and supervision authorities, with the inability to penalize civil servants charged with irregularties.

‘France trip successful’ KUWAIT, Oct 24, (KUNA): Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah has hailed as “complete success” the official visit to France he concluded earlier Friday. Speaking to reporters upon his return from Paris this evening, Sheikh Jaber said the fruitful talks with French leaders led to the signing of an agreement on military cooperation. “The new deal adds to the range of agreements the two sides had reached before,” he said. “It outlines a framework for bilateral cooperation in the fields of exchange of information, training, military equipment and mutual assistance,” Sheikh Jaber pointed out. The visit to France took place in response to the desire of His Highness Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah to open new horizons of cooperation with friendly countries in the defense field. It provided a chance for both sides to further enhance the military cooperation, he noted. Sheikh Jaber said the talks with his French counterpart showed that the two countries shared the desire to boost the defense cooperation with a view to serving their common interests. Meanwhile he mourned the premature demise of former member of the National Assembly Talal Mubarak AlAyyar who passed away earlier in the day at the age of 50.

D I WA N I YA A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION “SOME MPs have repeatedly threatened the government and criticized its five-year plan, which was presented during the parliamentary recess, claiming this is just a set of ideas, far from the so-called State plan while others alleged the government lacks the ability to implement its program,” columnist and former Dr AbdulMohsen Jamal wrote for Al-Qabas daily Saturday. “In spite of the above, members of the parliamentary Financial and Economic Affairs Committee endorsed the plan in a meeting attended by Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs and State Minister for Housing and Development Affairs Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahd. Members of the panel lauded the plan in Sheikh Ahmed’s presence and wished to witness its transformation into reality on the ground. “At this point one may wonder why the nation’s representatives changed their attitude towards the five-year plan. Can this change be attributed to the upcoming inauguration of the next legislative round? Sheikh Ahmed has Jamal succeeded in taking fierce criticisms made by some lawmakers against the plan, particularly when he was quoted as saying ‘the government will seriously consider the comments of MPs in this regard’. “The committee’s approval of the fiveyear plan is a positive step towards achieving the targeted level of cooperation between the executive and legislature. This cooperation will help the two authorities achieve remarkable feats in the local scene. “Although some MPs have continued to threaten to grill ministers, a strong coordination between the National Assembly and government will greatly contribute in controlling the ‘adrenaline rush’ of certain lawmakers at least during the first few months of the next legislative round. “People are eagerly waiting for the inspirational speech of HH the Amir during the inauguration of the next legislative round. This speech will serve as the people’s guide in defining the political horizon, which will govern cooperation between the executive and legislature. “Needless to say the MPs’ approval of the five-year plan of the government and their willingness to cooperate with the latter will define the future of the National Assembly. “Such being the case, we hope the lawmakers will shoulder their responsibilities honestly to address various issues in general and political concerns in particular. We also hope to see lawmakers extending cooperative hands to the government, instead of threatening to grill ministers.”

Also: “If we go through the platforms submitted over the last few years by the consecutive governments, we would hardly find differences, hence, giving an impression that only one person has drafted these programs,” columnist and former MP Ahmed Al-Mulaifi wrote for Annahar daily Saturday. “These platforms lack specific objectives and priorities within a specified period. Apparently, the habit of adopting the previous governments’ programs has been formed due to the reluctance of the incumbent to shoulder its responsibilities in terms of addressing pressing issues and implementing pending projects. “Over the last 10 years, the amount being disbursed for the execution of local projects has not exceeded 60 percent of the specified budget, while carrying over the remaining 40 percent to the next fiscal years. “Under such circumstances, one may deduce that the real problem of the government is not its financial deficit, but the lack of enthusiasm to implement various projects and failure to remain committed to its plans. “This means the issue does not rest in submitting the government’s program, but the way it is implemented. The program will remain futile unless its objectives are clarified.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “The ‘fatwa’ (edict) issued recently by the Fatwa Commission at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs on the ‘hijab’

(veil), particularly requiring female members of the National Assembly to wear it, has drawn various reactions from different sectors in the country,” columnist Marzouq Al-Harbi wrote for Al-Watan Arabic daily Saturday. “This fatwa has been the subject of heated political, social and religious debates among the relevant parties, which have been arguing whether Kuwait is a civil state governed by law and Constitution or it is theocratic governed by the Islamic Sharia or a civil state with legislations derived from the Islamic Sharia. “Several welfare societies have issued statements regarding the fatwa. Some upheld it and called on the public to respect it, while others rejected it, asserting it is tantamount to the interference of religious groups in the country’s political affairs. “Arguments have escalated to such an extent that some parties attacked those who issued the fatwa, claiming the latter are old-fashioned. A local writer went as far as suggesting the abolition of the Fatwa Commission, contending that Kuwait is a civil State, not theocratic. “It seems all the people in the country, including journalists, MPs, political activists and welfare societies, have been discussing the fatwa, except the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs which has opted to remain silent, acting as if the fatwa in question did not come from one of its departments.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Controversies surrounding discussions on requiring two female MPs to wear ‘hijab’ (veil) have led to conflicts in the local arena,” columnist Sara AlMukaimi wrote for Awan daily Saturday. “Assuming the MPs have agreed to enforce the National Assembly by-laws literally, all of them — both men and women — are then expected to abide by the Islamic Sharia, including the wearing of hijab for women. In this case, one may wonder what would be the message of MPs Rola Dashti and Aseel Al-Awadhi to the future generation if they agree to wear the hijab. Is their commitment measured by the way they dress? “We believe the negative aspect of a Constitutional Court verdict on requiring women, who practice their political rights, to wear hijab is a victory for the Islamic current which has been claiming to be the protector of Islamic teachings and principles amid globalization and secularism storms. “It would be disgusting to see female MPs wearing the veil while doing their job under the dome of the National Assembly only to remove it after a parliamentary session. This is against the personal freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. This will also encourage the prevailing ‘religious hypocrisy’ in certain communities.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Every member of the incumbent National Assembly is an expert in a specific field,” columnist Dr Hasan Abbas wrote for Al-Rai daily Saturday. “MP Daifallah Buramiya, for instance, is a specialist in pushing for the loans write-off proposal and pursuing the minister of defense over the alleged weapon deals. MP Musallam Al-Barrak is a specialist in trailing Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali and following up investment issues, economic stability and accrued interests on consumer loans. “MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun is an expert in following up issues concerning Kuwait Municipality and the State. He is also keen on pointing out the mistakes of HH the Prime Minister and he has once threatened to grill the premier. “MP Saadoun Al-Otaibi and some of his colleagues are busy with the calcified coal issue, MP Dr Hasan Jowhar is an expert in issues related to Bedouns (stateless persons) and the Ministry of Education, and MP Khaled Al-Tahous is busy following up the performance of the interior minister. “On the other hand, the attitude of MP Mubarak Al-Waalan is quite perplexing. He is a specialist in pursuing Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipality Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar and he has repeatedly threatened to grill the minister in most of his press statements. One may suggest that he is unlucky simply because Safar seldom talks to the press. Considering his work in both ministries, Safar used to meet the press more often than any of his colleagues but that is no longer true at the moment. Al-Waalan

should realize that Safar currently heads two of the most corrupt authorities in the country.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “A majority of the articles published in dailies are against the MPs in the country. These articles only seek to malign the image of the lawmakers”, wrote Saleh AlGhanim for Arrouiah daily. “Very few articles, including the ones that I write, speak positively about the work done by the MPs in Kuwait. Despite claiming that they have faith in the constitution and the electoral results, 99.9 percent of the writers express disturbing opinions against this group of people. This is not very different from backstabbing the persons who fight everyday to achieve the demands made by the public. “Kuwaiti MPs are very patient and have handled criticism beautifully. They face constant pressure as the voters in the country make many unreasonable demands, which may wear out this enduring lot eventually.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Dr. Mohammad Al-Rumaihi wrote a touching article on Talal Al-Ayyar in August, in which he revealed the details of their first encounter in Beirut”, wrote Sami Abdullatif Al-Nisf for Al-Anba daily. “Al-Rumaihi wrote that he met Abu Mubarak in the lobby of one of the libraries in Beirut, not realizing initially that he was in the presence of an eminent personality. The fact that an intellectual such as Al-Rumaihi titled the article as ‘Talal Al-Ayyar’ is enough testament to the late Al-Ayyar’s character. “It is a point in favor of the late minister that he was the first to warn against the consequences of not establishing new power stations. “He also predicted early on that the Ministry would have to use power rationing techniques if the unreasonable consumption of electricity and water was not curbed. “He contributed several ideas related to the country’s development, setting an example for other leaders. “We received news of the demise of our friend, the wise Humoud Bou Sheba, only a short while after reading this article. May Almighty Allah forgive these men all their sins.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “A Bangladeshi has been playing with our security system as he was deported 20 times, yet he keeps coming back to Kuwait,” Talal Al-Saeed wrote for AlSeyassah daily. “Our security operatives should be proud of this remarkable achievement allowing the Bangladeshi to play with the whole country. Actually, he should be granted the Kuwaiti citizenship for his great work as he uncovered flaws in our security system, which has been touted to be accurate and professional. “Even if he is banned from entering the country, the problem will still exist as he had already left two dozens of Bangladeshis of his kind and trained them to forge official documents. It is a shame that our security operatives are still checking names to identify people wanted by the law, while other countries have been analyzing voice recordings and eye prints for quite sometime. The question is ‘will there be an uprising to deal with this fragile security system?” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Why does the government always avoid tackling issues? Why does it choose to procrastinate when it comes to addressing serious matters? These are questions that we should be asking”, wrote Mohammed Bakheet for Al-Shahid daily. “We notice that when any MP makes a statement, he always hints at a future crisis between the government and the National Assembly. He also concludes most of his statements by saying ‘This is a weak government that is unable to carry out its duties’. “We recently witnessed several disturbing issues, such as the crisis of the Kuwaiti personnel laid off from the private sector and the case of the citizens’ loans. There is also the issue of the “Bedouns, which is considered to be the easiest decision the government has to make, but it still remains unresolved. “Our wise government, the citizens are beginning to worry about the statements that follow these issues, which call you incompetent and say you do not care about the interests of the people.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb

Guantanamo Access to inmates denied

Rights groups reject offer to visit prison SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Oct 24, (AP): Three human rights groups said Friday they will spurn an invitation to tour the Guantanamo Bay prison next month because it doesn’t include an opportunity to speak with prisoners. Amnesty International USA, the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch all said the recent Defense Department invitation falls short of the full access to the prison at the US base in Cuba that they jointly requested in a January letter to President Barack Obama. “What is needed and is still being denied .... is full access to the detention camps, including detainees, so that we may independently review and report on the conditions of confinement there,” said Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program. A fourth group invited on the tour, Human Rights First, raised similar objections but hasn’t yet decided how to respond to the invitation, which came in an Oct. 8 letter from Philip E. Carter, a deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee poli-

cy. The four regularly send observers to the proceedings of the war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo but have sought to inspect the prison camps and meet with prisoners, hoping to provide the Obama administration with an outside assessment of conditions. They were seeking far more than the standard tours, without prisoner access, that are offered to journalists, lawmakers and other visitors to the US base in Cuba. Instead, they wanted a role more like that of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which interviews prisoners but issues confidential reports to the government. Carter appears to rule out more than the typical tour in his letter to the human rights groups. He offers a visit to the prison camps and medical facilities as well as the legal complex where tribunals are held, but says they will not have access to the detainees or their records. He did not return a phone call seeking comment but says in the letter that the visit would provide a “better understanding of

the conditions” at the prison, where the US holds about 220 men. “It is in everyone’s interest for the detention conditions at (Guantanamo) to be as transparent as possible,” Carter wrote in the letter, which the ACLU provided to The AP, “and we would welcome a visit by your organization.” Dakwar has been an observer at proceedings of the war crimes tribunals more than a dozen times but said neither he, nor anyone from the ACLU, has been inside the prison — and won’t go under these conditions. Tom Parker, a policy director for Amnesty International, said his group also sees little value in such a limited tour. “A managed tour of the facility is a Potemkin tour and that doesn’t help us understand conditions at Guantanamo,” Parker said. The Obama administration has pledged to close the prison by early next year and has said it will decide by Nov 16 which Guantanamo prisoners will be tried in a revamped military court and which ones moved to civilian courts.

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Al-Jasim dispels rumors, reveals some important facts about G26 ‘Group does not distinguish between people’ KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: The spokesperson of the G26 Yousef Al-Jasim revealed some important facts about the group, while dispelling several rumors, says Arabic dailies.

News in Brief Somali president due: Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmad and delegetaion accompanying him will be expected in Kuwait on Sunday for a two-day official visit for talks with His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑

Al-Jasim said this initiative took birth when he was invited into the diwaniya of Abdullah Al-Mefrej during Ramadan, adding that the decision to form the group was not a planned one. He disproved some of the accusations launched against the group, saying the group does not pose itself as representatives of the nation or a political bloc. He added that the group does not even claim to be more patriotic than any other body.

GCC naval forces meet in Jeddah: Leaders of the naval forces in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held in Jeddah on Saturday their second coordination meeting under the chairmanship of Saudi naval forces commander Lieutenant-General Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Saud. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the participants reviewed recommendations of the Riyadh Declaration issued on June 29, 2009 to promote cooperation between the naval forces in the GCC countries at military sphere and coordinate positions on all aspects of maritime security to fight piracy. The meeting also discussed a number of topics on agenda of the meeting, the agency added. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑

Kuwaiti aid reaches Yemen: Yemeni Health Minister Dr Abdel Karim Rasea praised on Saturday humanitarian aid that has been offered by Kuwait for the Yemeni civilians fleeing the war zones in the northern regions. Dr Rasea, speaking during handover of the Kuwaiti relief aid, affirmed that Kuwait has always extended its generous hand for those in need, noting that the delivery of the Kuwaiti assistance anew constituted a new evidence of the solidarity between the Kuwaiti and Yemeni peoples. He praised His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for ordering speedy dispatch of the humanitarian supplies to the country. He also hailed in this regard efforts that had been exerted by the Kuwaiti ambassador in Sanaa, Ghassab AlZamanan. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑ Egypt hails Kuwait’s cultural role: An Egyptian cultural official lauded here Saturday Kuwait’s cultural activities and their great influence on the Arab knowledge scene. Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina information chief Khalid Azab was speaking to KUNA on the occasion of the library’s participation in the Kuwait International Book Fair due to be mounted on Wednesday. Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s involvement in

Photos by Mohammad Radwan

Environmental activists, volunteers and members from the Scientific Center staged a protest at the headquarters of the center on the occasion of the International Day of Climate Action, to draw the attention of world leaders towards environmental hazards. This protest was one among many activities organized by over 350 international organizations all over the world to commemorate this day. the Kuwaiti event is part of efforts aiming to further cement and reinforce distinguished cooperation between the library and Kuwait’s different cultural institutions, he

said. Azab lauded Kuwait’s participation in Egyptian cultural activities, including the annual book fair organized by the library. (KUNA)

Al-Jasim said the group believes in raising one question: Why are we at the bottom of the development charts when we possess all the required constituents of success, from manpower to material? He said the group was not formed to destroy any solution towards the issue of the citizens’ loans, but was formed to spread awareness and issue warnings about the depleting public fund. He added that the group also opts to create a public opinion or path that helps the government and the National Assembly to steer Kuwait towards development. Al-Jasim affirmed the group does not have any constitutional tools unlike other authorities, adding that it only aims to give recommendations on issues of concern. He said the group will not react to any criticism directed at it. It only wants that all authorities comply with the method of peaceful dialogue without offending anybody. He expressed pride that the supporters of the group outnumbered the critics. Al-Jasim went on to say that the group does not distinguish between the people of the country as they are all children of one nation.

KJA hails Kuwait’s position in press freedom KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: The Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) expressed pride at securing the first position among countries in the Arab world in a report released by Reporters without Borders titled Press Freedom 2009. In a press release, Secretary-General of KJA Faisal Al-Qannaie said this achievement puts Kuwait on par with countries renowned for their freedom of speech and expression. He added that Kuwait secured the 60th position among a list of 175 Al-Qannaie countries, and climbed one spot compared to last year. He also said Kuwait beat Israel to secure the top position among Arab world countries, a position that

Changes eyed in hospital project KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: The contractor who has received the tender of Jaber Al-Ahmed hospital has asked the Ministry of Public Works to make some amendments in the first phase before executing the project, reports Alam Alyawm daily quoting reliable sources. According to the sources, the contractor has asked for the funds allotted for the first phase - approximately KD 12 million - to be paid for the amendments before receiving it from the previous contractor, a man who had discomfited the Ministry by suspecting its ability to implement such projects.

the Zionist enemy has enjoyed for many years. Al-Qannaie underscored that Kuwait has led the freedom of press since 2003, and still takes its role seriously. He hoped that Kuwait would maintain this standard of journalism and civility. He said the country will ensure that it upholds its status by demanding commitment from the press personnel to avoid the misuse of this freedom. He reaffirmed the trust of KJA in the journalists from all sections of media, despite some exploiting their freedom given by the country. He said KJA is committed to protecting the rights of freedom of the press as one of its fundamental principles. He finally congratulated the press in Kuwait for taking the country to unprecedented heights and making its people proud.

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Motorist escapes after running over Iranian

Two Asians fleeing in sponsor’s stolen car hurt in mishap By Munaif Nayef, Nawaf Al-Hamlan and Shebli Al-Rashed Special to the Arab Times KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: A Kuwaiti citizen aged 53 years sustained serious injuries after his car skidded across Gulf Street in Salmiya and hit another vehicle on the opposite side of the road. Security officials and paramedics rushed to the scene and referred the man to Mubarak hospital. It was discovered that the incident could have resulted in several casualties due to its magnitude. A case was

One of the cars involved in the accident.

registered. Meanwhile, a child aged one year sustained injuries when his father’s car was involved in a traffic accident in Riqqa. He was referred to Adan hospital by paramedics and a case was registered. In another story, a Bedoun youth aged 22 years sustained injuries when his motorbike skid and overturned on King AbdulAziz bin Saud Road going towards the airport. He was referred to Farwaniya hospital by paramedics and a case was registered. In an unrelated incident, a Kuwaiti citizen aged 21 years sustained a broken ankle

and other injuries in a two-vehicle collision on the road opposite Messila. He was referred to Farwaniya hospital by paramedics and a case was registered. Also, an Iranian expatriate sustained injuries to his head after he was hit by a car in Amghara. The Iranian was reportedly trying to cross the road when the speeding car hit him and fled from the scene. Passersby rushed to the aid of the victim and referred him to Jahra hospital. A case was registered and investigations are on to find and arrest the guilty. In yet another case, two Asians sus-

tained injuries in an accident which occurred along Abdalli road after they allegedly stole their sponsor’s car and attempted to abscond from the farm they worked, in their sponsor’s absence. Security sources said the sponsor found his car crashed along the aforesaid location, while on his way to the farm. He indicated he understood the Asians were trying to escape with the car when they got involved in the accident. Meanwhile, the men are receiving treatment in Jahra hospital, while the case has been registered in Qashania police station.

Two boys attempt to rape maid after seeing porn film together Iranian youth hangs to death in Sabahiya

Bedlam & Brawls By Munaif Naif, Nawaf Al-Hamlan and Shebli Al-Rashed

Two Kuwaitis hurt in fight

Special to the Arab Times and Agencies

Bangladeshi stabbed in Fintas

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: Police have arrested two juveniles who attempted to rape a Filipina housemaid, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

By Munaif Nayef Special to the Arab Times

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: A number of quarrels broke out in various parts of the country over the weekend. A youth aged 18 years sustained injuries in a fight that broke out in Mishref Garden due to previous conflicts. Security officials and paramedics rushed to the scene and referred the victim to Mubarak hospital. A case was registered. Meanwhile, a quarrel that took place between a group of youths in Jahra resulted in the injury of two Kuwaiti citizens. They were referred to Jahra hospital by paramedics. Security officials guarded the premises till the relatives could arrive to protect the youths against any further attacks. A case was registered. In another incident, a conflict that took

place between three youths and an Arab expatriate in his thirties progressed into a fistfight at a commercial complex in Jahra Friday evening. Security officials and paramedics rushed to the scene and discovered that the Arab expatriate had been severely beaten up and was lying in a pool of blood. The victim was referred to the hospital and a case was registered. Investigations are on to find and arrest the youths. Also, a Bangladeshi national aged 35 years sustained various injuries after an unidentified person approached and stabbed him in Fintas. He was discovered lying in a pool of blood by a pedestrian at dawn on Friday, who immediately called the Operation Room. The victim was rushed to Adan hospital and a case was registered. Investigations are on to find and arrest the culprit.

News in Brief Two held with hashish: Two Kuwaiti citizens were arrested for the possession of three hashish cigarettes on Wafra Motorway, says AlSeyassah. Security officials on patrol duty in the area became suspicious of the behavior of the citizens and stopped their vehicle. A search of their car revealed the cigarettes, while a verification of the identity documents showed that the two men had criminal records. They were referred to the authorities for further action. ❑ ❑ ❑ Thieves threaten maid, steal: A citizen has lodged a complaint in Jahra police station about three thieves who burgled his house and made away with KD 7,000 and other equipments, while he was out with his family on Friday. He told police he had borrowed the money for a commercial project, which he kept in his room. He went on to explain the housemaid had informed him about three men who came into the house and threatened to stab her if she uttered a sound, until they completed the theft and escaped. Meanwhile, security operatives interrogated the maid and registered the case for investigation, while a search for the thieves is ongoing. In another incident, an unidentified man stabbed a 27-year old Asian expatriate in front of a bank in Fahaheel Friday night and escaped. The Operations Room received a distress call about the attack, and deployed securitymen and paramedics to the scene. The team referred the victim to Adan hospital, while the case was registered at Fahaheel police station. ❑ ❑ ❑

Kuwaiti hurt by fire: A Kuwaiti citizen suffocated after he helped his family to get out from their fire engulfed home in Sabah Al-Salem area Friday night. Security sources said the man notified the Operations Room immediately he saw smoke emanating from the house, and managed to evacuate

his family from the house before securitymen and firefighters arrived at the scene to put out the fire. He was treated by paramedics on the spot. ❑ ❑ ❑

Who is the owner?: Security officials are on the lookout for an indentified person who left two whisky bottles in the middle of an open ground in Salmiya, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. According to sources, the officials monitored the area for a couple of days, but nobody returned to claim the bottles. The daily did not give further details. ❑ ❑ ❑

Short circuit fire cause: Acting on information, firemen rushed to a house in Jaber Al-Ali and extinguished a fire which engulfed one of the rooms, and prevented it from spreading to other parts of the house, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. It is said the fire was caused by short circuit, however, no casualties were reported. ❑ ❑ ❑ Indian trucker injured: An Indian trucker was seriously injured in a traffic accident which occurred along King Fahad Expressway opposite the suburb of Hadiya, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. The trucker lost control of the tanker he was driving and crashed into a tree. It is said the Indian was ejected from the window and got trapped under the truck. ❑ ❑ ❑

Miraculous escape: An Arab expatriate miraculously escaped death when his vehicle overturned on Fahaheel Expressway, reports AlWatan Arabic daily. He was referred to the hospital with injuries by paramedics and a case was registered. The accident reportedly took place when the man lost control of his vehicle after another motorist swerved his car towards him. Traffic was blocked for some time but was returned to normal by security officials.

Security sources said one of the minors took advantage of the absence of his family and invited a friend over to share a pornographic film. The two juveniles began to exercise what they watched and went on to molest the maid, who screamed for help and managed to run to the street. Meanwhile, securitymen rushed to the house and seized the two juveniles, who were referred to authorities. ❑ ❑ ❑ Iranian hangs to death: An Iranian national aged 23 years was found dead at the family home in Sabahiya, reports AlQabas daily. According to a security source, the corpse of the victim was found hanging from the ceiling. The body of the victim has been referred to the Forensic Department by officials and investigations are on to determine the circumstances surrounding the death. In an unrelated incident, an Asian man in his fifties was found dead in his house in Hawalli. It is believed that the man died of heart failure. The corpse was referred to the Forensic Department by officials and initial investigations revealed the man had died around 5 hours before his body was discovered. ❑ ❑ ❑ Fake products seized: Officers from the General Customs Department at North Shuwaikh Command headed by the Intellectual Property Ownership Department Manager Osama Al-Shami foiled the bid by a certain company to smuggle fake products from a neighboring country. The Media Coordinator at the Customs Department Mubarak Al-Qattan disclosed the items included bags and sports kits worth thousands of dinars. He explained the officers discovered inconsistency on the part of the importers, and immediately carried out a thorough check on the goods, to discover the goods bore the trademark of an internationally renowned company. Al-Qattan affirmed the act violates intellectual property rights, and promised the department will take stiff legal action against the importer to serve as a deterrent to others. ❑ ❑ ❑ Jet ski rider injured: A 25-year old Egyptian expatriate sustained fractures and other injuries to his left leg and jaw when his jet ski collided with a boat in AlZour Friday night. Paramedics rushed to the scene and referred him to Adan hospital after the Operations Room received a call about the accident. Meanwhile, a famous actress reported in Rawdah police station that thieves stole KD 250 cash, and two mobile phones from her car. The actress told police she parked her car at the parking lot of Rawdah Cooperative Society to shop, and returned to find the windows of the car broken, and the aforesaid items stolen. The case has been registered, while police are trailing the thieves. ❑ ❑ ❑ Indians caught with liquor: Ahmadi police arrested an Indian for trafficking in liquor, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. The man was apprehended by securitymen during their routine patrol duty in Sabahiya, after he was found in possession of locally brewed gin packed in polyethylene bags. The culprit was not holding a valid residency permit. In another incident, securitymen arrested another Indian in possession of 22 bottles of local gin in Fahaheel. The two men have since been referred to the authority. ❑ ❑ ❑ Husband, brother beat woman: A Kuwaiti woman who was mercilessly beaten by her compatriot husband and his brother has been admitted to the Sabah Hospital, reports Al-Dar daily. According to reports the victim was rushed to the hospital by her husband. He informed the hospital authorities that his wife injured herself after she slipped and fell in the house in Sulaibikhat. However, a doctor treating the woman suspected there was foul play because he discovered blood clot in the nose and the injuries on the woman looked as they had been inflicted by someone.

The bomb squad and security personnel at the bomb hoax site.

Another bomb hoax at PAMA building in one week By Munaif Nayef Special to the Arab Times Security officials are on the lookout for an unidentified person for placing a hoax call, informing the Operation Room about a bomb at the Public Authority for

Minors Affairs (PAMA) building in Sharq. Security officials, led by the operations manager Brigadier Abdulrahman Al-Jarrah, along with officials from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and members from the Bomb Squad rushed to the building. There

they discovered a bottle placed in a suspicious manner with a piece of string hanging from it, and realized that they had been deceived. The officials confiscated the object referred it for investigation. A case was registered.

Left: The sponsors talk to police to get their employees released. Right: Some of the Asians caught for prostitution.

241 illegals, wanted persons held in raids By Munaif Nayef Special to the Arab Times KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: In an intensive operation conducted by the public security and traffic departments in Ahmadi and Jahra governorates Friday night, 241persons were arrested for violating residential laws and for previously registered cases, while 60 cars were impounded for reckless driving. The cars were sent to the confinement garage, while 93 occupants — both drivers of the vehicles and the companions — were arrested and referred to the authorities. Security officials installed checkpoints The hospital authorities then summoned the police and during interrogation the Kuwaiti admitted to beating his wife over family matters. The man has been referred to the Public Prosecution. ❑ ❑ ❑

Infected chicken for sale: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has taken legal action by referring three companies for prosecution for trading in poultry infected with salmonella, reports AlAnba daily quoting reliable sources. According to the sources, this fact was verified after samples sent to laboratories at the Ministry of Health tested positive. The sources added the Ministry has already prepared a report that is ready for submission to the National Assembly. ❑ ❑ ❑ Teen girl in suicide bid: A 19-year old girl has been referred to Mubarak AlKabeer hospital after she attempted to end her life by swallowing a large quantity of tablets, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. A case of suicide attempt has been registered against the girl. ❑ ❑ ❑

in areas going towards Jahra, such as AlSalmi under instructions from the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior Lt Gen Ahmed Al-Rajeeb, and managed to arrest 10 persons for performing dangerous stunts, impounded 28 cars and issued 205 traffic violations. Security sources said officials at the Jahra governorate would continue operations to eliminate recklessness while driving and to apprehend violators. On the other hand, security officers carried out another inspection at a sheep selling market in Al-Dhaher area Saturday afternoon, and arrested 80 persons for violating residential laws. They were referred to the authorities for

further action. Also, security officials from the Ahmadi directorate arrested 8 Asian women and 3 pimps for conducting immoral activities in a flat in the area. Acting on information and armed with a warrant, the officials raided the apartment and made the arrests. They were referred to the authorities and a case was registered. Overall, security officials managed to arrest 150 expatriates for violating residential laws across all six governorates Friday night. It is believed that these violators will be deported to their respective countries after the completion of legal formalities.

Bachelors ouster sought: A number

referred to authorities. ❑ ❑

of residents in Faiha have appealed to the Minister of Public Works, Minister of State for Municipality Affairs to intervene and solve their problem, reports Al-Rai daily. Some of the residents who visited AlRai daily said a director in the Kuwait Municipality rented his house to 120 Asian singles, which is a violation of the law. The residents stressed the Kuwaiti Municipality issued a directive forcing two landlords in the area to dismiss single tenants, but it seems the owner of the building is manipulating application of the law. ❑ ❑ ❑

Energy drinks stolen: Police have arrested 4 youngsters who had earlier stolen 80 cartons containing energy drinks from a truck last Ramadan, reports Al-Rai daily. Investigations conducted by securitymen led to the arrest of the thieves who guided police to three other accomplices and admitted to selling the cartons to a grocery in Khaitan. The thieves have been

❑

40 stuntmen nabbed: In an intensive campaign launched by officials of the Ahmadi governorate in Wafra, 400 violations were issued, 40 youths were arrested for reckless driving and several cars were impounded, reports Al-Rai daily. Security sources said such campaigns would continue throughout the governorate to ensure that traffic rules are followed. ❑ ❑ ❑ Wanted in 27 cases: A Kuwaiti citizen was arrested in Salmiya for 27 previously registered cases, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. Security officials on patrol duty in the area made the arrest after verifying his identity documents and discovering the charges. He was referred to the authorities for further action. Meanwhile, an Egyptian national was arrested for returning to Kuwait with a forged passport after being deported from the country. He was arrested during a routine patrol duty on Qatar St and was referred to the authorities for further action.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

MIDEAST

7

‘Crisis of confidence’ seen by Turkish PM with Kurds ‘Halt return of refugees’ ANKARA, Oct 24, (AFP): Turkey’s efforts to reconcile with its Kurds have been hit by a “crisis of confidence” after freed separatist rebels were given a hero’s welcome, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying Saturday.

Runners prepare to start a mass public run in front of the historic Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, Oct 24, during the first public information event to raise awareness about breast cancer in the Middle East. The race was organized by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, which is a worldwide organization to raise public awareness and search for a cure for breast cancer. The two groups said in a press release that the incidence of breast cancer is rising in Egypt and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. (AP)

‘Come & fight for your bite’

Lebanese set hummus world record BEIRUT, Oct 24, (AP): Lebanese chefs prepared a massive plate of hummus weighing over two tons Saturday that broke a world record organizers said was previously held by Israel — a bid to reaffirm proprietorship over the popular Middle Eastern dip. “Come and fight for your bite, you know you’re right!” was the slogan for the event — part of a simmering war over regional cuisine between Lebanon and Israel, which have had tense political relations for decades. Lebanese businessmen accuse Israel of stealing a host of traditional Middle Eastern dishes, particularly hummus, and marketing them worldwide as Israeli. “Lebanon is trying to win a battle against Israel by registering this new Guinness World Record and telling the whole world that hummus is a Lebanese product, its part of our traditions,” said Fady Jreissati, vice president of operations at International Fairs and Promotions group, the event’s organizer. Hummus — made from mashed chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice,

salt and garlic — has been eaten in the Middle East for centuries. Its exact origin is unknown, though it’s generally seen as an Arab dish. But it is also immensely popular in Israel — served in everyday meals and at many restaurants — and its popularity is growing around the globe.

Copyright The issue of food copyright was raised last year by the head of Lebanon’s Association of Lebanese Industrialists, Fadi Abboud, when he announced plans to sue Israel to stop it from marketing hummus and other regional dishes as Israeli. But to do that, Lebanon must formally register the product as Lebanese. The association is still in the process of collecting documents and proof supporting its claim for that purpose. Lebanese industrialists cite, as an example, the lawsuit over feta cheese in which a European Union court ruled in 2002 the cheese must be made with Greek sheep and

goats milk to bear the name feta. That ruling is only valid for products sold in the EU. Abboud says that process took seven years and realizes Lebanon’s fight with Israel is an uphill battle. Meanwhile, he says, events like Saturday’s serve to remind the world that hummus is not Israeli. “If we don’t tell Israel that enough is enough, and we don’t remind the world that it’s not true that hummus is an Israeli traditional dish, they (Israelis) will keep on marketing it as their own,” he said Saturday. Some 300 chefs were involved in preparing Saturday’s massive ceramic plate of hummus in a huge tent set up in downtown Beirut. The white-uniformed chefs used 2,976 pounds (1,350 kilograms) of mashed chickpeas, 106 gallons (400 liters) of lemon juice and 57 pounds (26 kilograms) of salt to make the dish, weighing 4,532 pounds (2,056 kilograms). It was not clear what the former Israeli record was, and organizers gave conflicting reports on when it was made.

“A crisis of confidence has emerged,” Erdogan told journalists accompanying him on a trip to Pakistan, the NTV news channel reported on its web site. Erdogan was referring to celebrations in the Kurdishmajority southeast after the release Tuesday of eight militants who crossed from Iraq to Turkey and turned themselves in as a gesture of support for government plans to expand Kurdish freedoms. Erdogan said the arrival of a second such group, expected next week, had been postponed because of the celebrations, which saw crowds brandish flags of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and play songs praising the 25-year insurgency against Ankara “Let’s take a break,” NTV quoted Erdogan as saying. “We will continue the process after reviewing the situation.” He described the festivities as “unwanted developments” which he blamed on the Democratic Society Party, Turkey’s main Kurdish political movement. Turkey wants to halt the return of Kurdish refugees after a group of returning separatist militants received a festive welcome last week, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Saturday. Rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) surrendered last week after returning from neighbouring Iraq to support Erdogan’s reform process, which includes plans to grant more political and cultural rights to minority Kurds. Scenes of thousands of Kurds waving PKK flags and chanting slogans in favour of its leader Abdullah Ocalan in the majority Kurdish southeastern cities irked the government and angered nationalist Turks. “Unwanted things happened despite the warnings given to the (pro-Kurdish) Democratic Society Party. A crisis of confidence has emerged and return of (a Kurdish refugee) group from Germany has been postponed,” broadcaster NTV quoted Erdogan as telling reporters.

Moroccan Hassan El Bouyahyaoui, 22, poses on Oct 24 in an abandoned house he squats in Temara, near the capital Rabat. El Bouyahyaoui was located through The Education Without Borders Network (RESF) after being expelled from Montpellier, southwestern France, seven months ago. He has no family in Morocco and he describes his return as dramatic. The youth was expelled from France upon reaching the age of 18, becoming an illegal immigrant in a country that he had lived in since 2003. (AFP)

Mideast Briefs Muslims, Christians clash: Muslims and Christians clashed in southern Egypt on Saturday following an earlier murder of a Christian villager by attackers accusing his son of having an affair with a Muslim, according to witnesses. Relatives of the slain villager and the girl pelted each other with rocks, broke shop front windows, and shot bullets into the air before police restored calm to the southern village of Dayrut. The clashes erupted after four relatives from the girl’s family had their detention extended by police investigating their involvement in the murder. Henry Atallah was shot dead while waiting in his car on Oct 18 in the nearby village of Attaleen, near the southern city of Assiut. According to police, the murder was prompted by rumors that Attallah’s son had taken intimate pictures of the girl and distributed them by mobile phone and CD. Egyptian Christians, known as Copts, make up an estimated 10 percent of Egypt’s 78 million people and generally live in peace with the Muslim majority although they complain about discrimination. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ 6 family members killed: A judge and five members of the same family were killed in the Iranian capital during a dispute, local media quoted judicial sources as saying. “A judge was killed and five other people were also killed during the incident in northern Tehran,” state radio said on Saturday. “The judiciary confirmed the report,” it said. The semi-official Fars news agency said the killings on Thursday mwere carried out by a member of the family, correcting the state radio that said earlier the judge had been assassinated. “A middle-aged male member of the family shot dead judge Mohammad Mansouri and the other five people with a firearm in his hand,” Fars said. Such incidents are rare in Iran, particularly in Tehran. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ PM sees state structure: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said, in an interview published Saturday, that his government was determined to complete building a structure of a future Palestinian state by 2011. “We’ve committed ourselves to a path of completing the task of institution building,” he told The Washington Post. He said the institution building meant “the capacity to govern ourselves effectively in all spheres of government within two years.” Asked if Palestinians should declare an independent state in 2011, Fayyad said: “I said this will be

11 convicted of Al-Qaeda links BEIRUT, Oct 24, (AP): A Lebanese court convicted 11 men of having links to alQaeda and carrying out terrorist acts, and sentenced them to life in prison, a court official said Saturday. The men — six Palestinians, three Lebanese and two Syrians — were tried in absentia since they are still on the run, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The men were convicted Friday of transporting fighters from Lebanon into Iraq and from Syria into Lebanon to carry out attacks, said the official. They were also found guilty of forming an armed gang with the intent to carry out terror attacks, forging government documents and giving shelter to wanted people. The same court also convicted a Palestinian man and four Lebanese of belonging to an armed group and attempting to carry out terror acts. The five, all in custody, were given prison terms ranging from two to five years. On Tuesday, a Lebanese investigating judge indicted 21 members of an al-Qaedainspired militant group, Fatah al-Islam, for a bombing in northern Lebanon last year that killed 18 people, mostly soldiers. the program of the Palestinian government - it will commit itself to deliver the state in terms of capacity within two years.” (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Recognize Israel as Jewish state: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in an interview published Saturday, Palestinians needed to recognize Israel as a Jewish state in order to resolve their conflict. “That’s right,” Netanyahu told The Washington Post when asked if such a recognition was needed. “Israel is not a binational state,” he explained. “It has non-Jews who live here with full, equal rights, but it has two things that assure its special character. It’s the homeland of any Jew. And there is a very broad consensus in Israel that the Palestinian refugee problem should be resolved outside Israel’s borders.” (AFP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

8

Obama to visit facility Tuesday

Largest solar panel plant in US rises in Florida ARCADIA, Florida, Oct 24, (AP): Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida’s renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business. For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this sleepy Florida town of citrus trees and cattle farms have been building the nation’s largest solar panel energy plant. Testing will soon be complete, and the facility will begin directly converting sunlight into energy, giving Florida a momentary spot in the solar energy limelight. The Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center will power a small fraction of Florida Power & Light’s 4-million plus customer base; nevertheless, at 25 megawatts, it will

Day by Day Continued from Page 1 However, I cannot help but wonder if Alshaya and his team should be honored for this achievement. Don’t they deserve celebrations in their honor to recognize their courage in constructing this majestic complex for us? Thank you, Brother Mohammad. You are indeed a real man! Forgive us!

Zahed Matar Email: [email protected]

‘Iranian Hezb’ Continued from Page 1 to keep the country like the so-called ‘Roman Rigmarole’. They have been planting hypocrisy to reap destructive winds in the hands of a group which mortgages its future and that of the country to nearby and far rascals. They do not care about Arab and Islamic bonds. Why did they not reveal the truth to rescue the small nation from insecurity and instability? What is Sa’ad Al-Hariri waiting for before uprooting diseases and poisonous blood from his country? Right leadership does not mean remaining calm towards those who try to paralyze, topple and destabilize governance. Agreement should be made to serve public and national interests, while any contrary opinion is incorrect and unfair. What are the Lebanese waiting for before coming out of their shells and taking to the streets in the form of peaceful demonstrations against militia activities and weapons? They should demand the concerned leader to announce the new cabinet whether the circus group accepts it or not. Let them use their weapons and shoot missiles towards several regions in Lebanon. Lebanon should either remain a country with institutions, which majority of Lebanese crave for, or a militia jungle, so that Nasrallah, Aoun, Berri and their cohorts deserve a pat on the back. Email: [email protected]

Saudi female Continued from Page 1 The government moved swiftly in the wake of the case, shutting down LBC’s two offices in the kingdom and arresting Abdul-Jawad, who works for the national airline. Three other men who appeared on the show, “Bold Red Line,” were also convicted of discussing sex publicly and sentenced to two years imprisonment and 300 lashes each. A court on Saturday sentenced a female Saudi journalist to receive 60 lashes for her links with a Saudi-owned Lebanese TV network. Al-Yami said a Jeddah judge dropped all charges that she had been directly involved with the programme but the judge sentenced her to 60 lashes for having been a part-time employee for LBC’s Saudi operations. The judge mentioned LBC had lacked the appropriate operating license, she said. “It’s a punishment for all journalists through me,” Yami told AFP by telephone. “They just said the channel was illegal. But the Saudi minister of information himself appeared on LBC a couple of weeks ago,” she said. Yami did not plan an appeal, saying she feared she could end up with a harsher sentence. Abdul Jawad’s lawyer Sulaiman al-Jimaie expressed shock at Yami’s sentence because she had nothing to do with Mazen and the programme. He called it an attack on journalism generally, and questioned why the case was heard in a criminal court rather than a special media tribunal linked to the information ministry. “They made this decision because she is a journalist,” he told AFP. “It will be difficult for any journalist to work in the future after this.”

Top Iran officials Continued from Page 1 But ISNA said Larijani, Iran’s former nuclear negotiator, termed the deal as illegal and illogical. “The important thing in this nuclear issue is that Westerners should not cheat. We have a nuclear reactor in Tehran and according to the IAEA rules, they have to supply the fuel for it,” Larijani said. The chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Borujerdi, also questioned the deal. He said Iran would be better off buying nuclear fuel directly than entering into the deal. “It is better to buy 20 percent enriched fuel and keep the 3.5 percent for our domestic power plants ... than give it to those countries,” ISNA quoted Borujerdi as saying. “Iran itself needs the 3.5 percent enriched fuel, so it is in its interest to keep it,” Borujerdi said. Amid these criticisms, Ali Bagheri, member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, said Iran would receive 110 kilos of 20 percent enriched uraniun in return for its 1,200 kilos of LEU. “The 110 kilos is enough as fuel for 10 to 15 years for the Tehran reactor,” ISNA quoted him as saying.

generate nearly twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the US. The White House said President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the facility Tuesday, when it officially goes online and begins producing power for the electric grid. As demand grows and more states create mandates requiring a certain percentage of their energy come from renewable sources, the size of the plants is increasing. The southwest Florida facility will soon be eclipsed by larger projects announced in Nevada and California.

Chance “We took a chance at it and it worked out,” said Bove, construction manager at the project, set on about 180 acres of land 80 miles southeast of Tampa. “There’s a lot of backIran was scheduled to give its response to the IAEA deal by Friday, but has delayed it until next week. Late on Friday, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran was still “examining” the deal and he would give Tehran’s response to IAEA next week. Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme. It produces fuel for civilian reactors, but in highly extended form can also make the fissile core of an atomic bomb. Western powers led by Washington suspect Tehran is enriching uranium with the ultimate aim of making the bomb, a charge Iran strongly denies. World powers are concerned that Iran’s LEU, if not shipped out, could be further enriched in-house by Iran to weapons grade. Meanwhile, UN inspectors are set on Sunday to enter Iran’s second uranium enrichment plant under construction near the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran. Iran’s disclosure of the Qom facility to the IAEA on September 21 triggered shockwaves amongst world powers, with US President Barack Obama warning that Iran would face “increased pressure” if it does not come clean on its nuclear activities.

Enrichment Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Iran must agree to stop all uranium enrichment in any deal with world powers. “The crucial thing is that the international community pressure Iran to stop the enrichment of uranium,” Netanyahu told the Washington Post in an interview published on Saturday. “The purpose of enrichment is the development of nuclear weapons capability, so any solution has to be accompanied by the cessation of enrichment,” he said. Iran consistently makes clear that it does not intend to give up enrichment, while Israel’s leaders see Iran’s nuclear programme as an existential threat and say all options must be kept on the table. When asked about a possible Israeli strike on Iran, Netanyahu said: “Since it’s the problem of the international community, the international effort led by the United States is the way to stop this danger.” Netanyahu also said his government was considering setting up an independent inquiry into Israeli military action during a December-January war against Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.

yard projects, there’s a lot of rooftop projects, post offices and stores. Really this is one of the first times where we’ve taken a technology and upsized it.” Despite its nickname, the Sunshine State hasn’t been at the forefront of solar power. Less than 4 percent of Florida’s energy has come from renewable sources in recent years. And unlike California and many other states, Florida lawmakers haven’t agreed to setting clean energy quotas for electric companies to reach in the years ahead. California, New Jersey and Colorado have led the US in installing photovoltaic systems; now Florida is set to jump closer to the top with the nation’s largest plant yet. The Desoto facility and two other solar projects Florida Power & Light is spearheading

will generate 110 megawatts of power, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 3.5 million tons. Combined, that’s the equivalent of taking 25,000 cars off the road each year, according to figures cited by the company. The investment isn’t cheap: The Desoto project cost $150 million to build and the power it supplies to some 3,000 homes and businesses will represent just a sliver of the 4 million-plus accounts served by the state’s largest electric utility. But there are some economic benefits: It created 400 jobs for draftsmen, carpenters and others whose work dried up as the southwest Florida housing boom came to a closure and the recession set in. Once running, it will require few full-time employees. Mike Taylor, director of research and education at the nonprofit Solar Electric Power

US declares Continued from Page 1 The declaration, he explained, will allow health officials “to temporarily waive certain standard federal requirements in order to enable US health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans to deal with the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States.” At least 4,999 people have died from swine flu infections worldwide since April, when an outbreak was first reported in Mexico before rapidly spreading to the United States, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, Sebelius first declared a public health emergency in response to the virus on April 26, and renewed that declaration on July 24 and Oct 1. “We are nowhere near where we thought we’d be by now,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) chief Thomas Frieden said Friday of the amount of vaccine available. Because of the vaccine shortage, the state of New York on Friday suspended a contentious requirement for health care workers to be inoculated against swine flu by the end of next month, or risk losing their jobs. As of Friday, the CDC had 16.1 million doses of swine flu vaccine ready for shipping, and more than 11 million doses have been sent out to state health authorities. Around half of those were nasal mist, which can only be administered to healthy people between the ages of two and 49, and excludes those individuals particularly at risk of infection — pregnant women, people with chronic respiratory illness like asthma and very young children. Earlier this week, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius confirmed that demand was outstripping supplies of the vaccine.

Trails Overall, the United States still trails other nations in building photovoltaic plants. Spain and Germany have made larger per to be inoculated against swine flu by the end of next month, or risk losing their jobs. State Health Commissioner Richard Daines “has suspended the mandatory influenza immunization requirement for New York health care workers so that the limited vaccine supplies can be used for populations most at risk of serious illness and death,” Governor David Paterson said in a statement. The suspension was ordered because state officials had learned they would receive less than a quarter of the amount of vaccine they had been banking on distributing this month. As of Friday, the CDC had 16.1 million doses of swine flu vaccine ready for shipping, and more than 11 million doses have been sent out to state health authorities, said Frieden.

Spreading

A shoe flies in the face of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi (left) as he leaves the 16th annual press fair in Tehran on Oct 23. Clashes erupted at the fair between hardliners and supporters of Karroubi, who in recent months has alleged that several male and female protesters who opposed President Ahmadinejad’s victory in the June 12 poll had been raped in prison after they were detained in post-election protests. (AFP)

Climate Israel is concerned that Iran will use the current climate of international goodwill as a cover to pursue its goal of becoming a nuclear power, an Israeli minister said Friday. Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom made the comment on the day that Iran announced it was still studying a UN-drafted plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia and France for further enrichment, a move seen as a way to delay the country’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. Iran’s envoy to the UN nuclear agency said the government will respond to the offer next week. Shalom, who is also the minister for regional development, said he discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions with UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon during a discussion that also included Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects and Lebanon. US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed the outcome of talks in Vienna over Iran’s nuclear programme by telephone on Saturday, the Kremlin said in a statement. “Medvedev emphasised the significance of the US statement where it said that it was ready to provide written guarantees for the scheme of exchanging uranium for scientific reactor’s fuel, proposed by Russia and the US,” the statement said.

Association in Washington, said the project puts Florida “on the map.” “It’s currently the largest,” Taylor said of the Desoto photovoltaic plant. “But it certainly won’t be the last.” There are two means of producing electricity from the sun: photovoltaic cells that directly convert sunlight; and thermal power, which uses mirrors to heat fluid and produce steam to run a turbine power generator. Taylor said a one- or two-megawatt project was considered large not long ago. The size has slowly increased each year.

In this Dec 20, 2007 photo, Shiloh Pepin laughs with her parents while sitting on a counter in the family’s Kennebunkport, Maine home. Pepin, who was born with fused legs, a rare condition often called ‘mermaid syndrome,’ died, Oct 23. She was 10. (AP)

‘Mermaid’ girl dies at 10 Shiloh Pepin, a girl born with a rare condition often called “mermaid syndrome,” has died. She was 10. Maine Medical Center spokesman John Lamb said Shiloh died at the hospital Friday afternoon. She had been hospitalized in critical condition since last week. Shiloh was born with sirenomelia, meaning her legs were fused from the waist down. She had no lower colon or genital organs and only one partially

working kidney. Doctors told her parents that she would likely survive for only hours, maybe days. Some children who have survived sirenomelia have had surgery to separate their legs, but Shiloh’s circulatory system made that challenging because crisscrossing blood vessels would have been severed. Her story has been featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and other national TV programs. (AP)

Court seeks arrest of Sunni MP

Iraqi PM, US envoy to UN meet over sanctions BAGHDAD, Oct 24, (Agencies): Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US envoy to the UN Susan Rice held talks in Baghdad Friday on helping Iraq get rid of sanctions imposed in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Maliki’s office said. The pair also discussed Iraq’s campaign for a special UN investigation into the circumstances surrounding deadly truck bombs at two government ministries in August. “The prime minister confirmed that it was necessary to let the joint US-Iraq committee work in order to find a way to get Iraq out of Chapter Seven,” his office said in an e-mailed statement, referring to the part of the UN charter under which sanctions were imposed on Iraq. Earlier this month, after meeting with Maliki in Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton indicated that the United States and Iraq were to establish a joint committee to discuss problems related to the sanctions. The statement added: “Susan Rice ... renewed the US’s commitment to help get Iraq out of Chapter Seven.” Baghdad has repeatedly called on the UN Security Council to accept that it no longer poses a threat to international security. Kuwait insists there should be no change until Iraq has fully complied with resolutions on reparations, the return of The shortfall was evident at a clinic in a Washington suburb on Wednesday, where several thousand people showed up in the hope of getting one of 200 injectable vaccines

property, the demarcation of the border and the repatriation of the remains of prisoners of war. Maliki also “renewed Iraqi efforts calling on the UN to appoint a special investigator over the Bloody Wednesday attacks” on August 19, when two truck bombs at the foreign and finance ministries killed around 100 people.

Court A local criminal court in Iraq’s Diyala province issued an arrest warrant for a Sunni member of parliament on suspicion of financing and inciting sectarian violence, a security official in the northeastern province said Saturday. The security official said the warrants for parliamentarian Tayseer alMashhadani and her husband, Hashim alHiyali, were issued on Thursday. A man in police detention told his interrogators the couple gave him instructions and money to kill and expel Shiites from the religiously mixed province, the official said. The official said al-Mashhadani cannot be immediately arrested because she enjoys parliamentary immunity. The judge, Thamir al-Ambaki, who issued the warrants on Thursday, has requested parliament to lift her immunity to facilitate her arrest on suspicion of “ordering and funding terrorist operations,” the security official added. or 1,200 nasal spray doses. Because of the vaccine shortage, the state of New York on Friday suspended a contentious requirement for health care workers

Swine flu is spreading faster and claiming new fatalities in Europe, health officials said Friday, as the global death toll from the virus rose to nearly 5,000 victims. Since the A(H1N1) virus was uncovered in April, there have been over 4,735 deaths reported to the World Health Organisation as of a week ago, the WHO said. Most of the fatal cases — 3,539 — have been recorded in North and South America, the UN health agency said in its latest update on the flu pandemic. But with the winter flu season approaching in the northern hemisphere, swine flu deaths were reported in several European countries this week, with Dutch health officials saying the situation has reached an epidemic level. “The spread of the A(H1N1) virus in the Netherlands accelerated this week. It is now a small epidemic,” said the Dutch institute for health and the environment in a statement. “Around 10 people infected with the virus were admitted daily to hospitals this week,” it said. A 14-year-old girl became the first otherwise healthy person to die from the virus, bringing to six the number of swine flu deaths so far in the Netherlands. In Britain, the worst hit country in Europe, new swine flu cases nearly doubled in a week, from 27,000 to 53,000, and the number of deaths now total 128, according to updated figures released this week. New deaths from the virus were also reported in Germany, its third fatality, and for the first time in the Czech Republic. The Czech health ministry confirmed Friday that a 31-year-old woman who had the A(H1N1) virus, and also suffered from heart problems, was the country’s first fatality linked to swine flu. The Czech Republic is the 18th country in the European Union to report at least one death from swine flu, according to a top health official, Michael Vit. “The situation is under control. We have been one of the countries relatively spared, but the virus is spreading around Europe and is found among the population,” he added. Many of the 27 EU member states have begun or are set to start vaccination programmes. Greece announced Friday the first phase of its vaccination campaign will start in the middle of next month, Greece’s ANA news agency reported. The first group to be vaccinated from November 10-25 will consist of people with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, people working in hospitals and those in charge of children less than than six months old, ANA said. British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said Friday that, to date, more than 150,000 people have received its vaccine, Pandemrix, as part of government initiated vaccination programmes across Europe which started last week. Turkey reported its first swine flu death on Saturday, with the health ministry saying the (A)H1N1 virus had claimed the life of a 29year-old.

Global expected Continued from Page 1 Middle East and North Africa. An agreement was reached between Global and its creditors whereby Global would set up two specialised firms, a real estate one and the other an investment one which will hold Global’s real estate and investment assets which will be mortgaged by Global’s creditors. Toward that end Global held a meeting in Dubai with regional banks and another meeting in London with international banks. The company has been forthcoming and transparent in dealing with its creditors to reschedule its debts, said David Pepper, chairman of the committee looking into the interests of Global’s creditors. Global is among the largest investment companies in Kuwait which faces problems amid tight credit conditions. The investment bank began talks to reschedule its debt in December, appointing HSBC as an adviser to hold talks with its lenders. The troubles of Global and other investment firms in Kuwait has led the government to approve a rescue package worth KD 1.5 billion earlier this year.

Number of Continued from Page 1 National Bank of Florida, American United Bank of Georgia, Riverview Community Bank of Minnesota, Bank of Elmwood of Wisconsin and Dupage Bank of Illinois. Details Page 37

capita commitments to solar power because of aggressive government policies, said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. And China has announced plans to pay up to 50 percent of the price of solar power systems of more than 500 megawatts. “If we don’t get our market right and send the right market signals and really support growing this technology, we will be buying solar panels from other countries,” Smith said. In April, Arizona-based manufacturer First Solar Inc. announced plans to build a 48megawatt plant in Nevada, producing power for about 30,000 homes. Even that pales compared to recently announced plans for a 2 gigawatt facility in China. First Solar has initial approval to build it.

Obesity drug Continued from Page 1 has become a public health epidemic as obesity is a leading cause of diabetes, heart disease and many other serious medical problems, and the condition is rising at alarming rates. The top-line data in July showed 48 percent of obese patients lost at least 5 percent of their body weight in one trial and 56.3 percent in a second study, compared with 16.4 percent and 17.1 percent on placebo. Those differences are considered robust enough for likely FDA approval and the company said it was on track to apply for US approval in the first half of next year. But when looking only at patients who completed the 56-week study, the Contrave numbers jump to 61.8 percent and 75.8 percent compared with 23.1 percent and 21.7 percent on placebo. In addition, 48.2 percent of Contrave patients lost at least 10 percent body weight and 23 percent dropped an impressive 15 percent of their weight in one of the studies. In the other Phase III trial, 34.5 percent lost at least 10 percent on Contrave and 17.2 percent achieved 15 percent weight loss — all significantly better than the placebo group, which topped out at 3.4 percent losing 15 percent of body weight and 10.7 percent who dropped 10 percent. “These numbers demonstrate some really compelling efficacy results that I think patients and prescribers will be impressed by,” Kim said. The data also demonstrated impressive impacts on blood lipids and other measures in those patients in the study considered to be at high cardiovascular risk. In that population, triglycerides went down 66.3 milligrams/deciliter and 51.2 mg/dl on Contrave. “Those drops in triglycerides actually is in the ballpark of what you would expect to see from a lipid lowering drug that’s on the market today,” Kim said, referring to Abbott Laboratories’ blockbuster triglyceride lowerer TriCor. Levels of good HDL cholesterol rose 5 mg/dl and 6.2 mg/dl among Contrave at risk patients — similar to what one would expect from niacin, which is approved to raise HDL.

Newswatch Continued from Page 1 oasis town of Fayoum, said Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency. Egypt has a poor safety record on its railways, and there are several fatal accident each year, usually blamed on poorly maintained equipment. The worst recent disaster took place in February 2002 when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing 363 people. ❑ ❑ ❑

KARONGA, Malawi: The latest discovery of pre-historic tools and remains of hominids in Malawi’s remote northern district of Karonga provides further proof that the area could be the cradle of humankind, a leading German researcher said. Professor Friedemann Schrenk of the Goethe University in Frankfurt told Reuters that two students working on the excavation site last month had discovered prehistoric tools and a tooth of an hominid. “This latest discovery of prehistoric tools and remains of hominids provides additional proof to the theory that the Great Rift Valley of Africa and perhaps the excavation site near Karonga can be considered the cradle of humankind,” Schrenk said. A hominid is a member of a family of primates which includes humans and their prehistoric ancestors. The discovery was at Malema excavation site, 10 kms (6 miles) from Karonga. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ WASHINGTON: NASA is coming to the iPhone. The US space agency announced on Friday that it has created a free NASA application for the popular Apple smartphone and the iPod Touch. NASA said the application, available through the Apple App Store, provides “information, videos, images and news updates about NASA missions.” Users, for example, can track the International Space Station and other spacecraft orbiting the Earth and access NASA countdown clocks, NASA said. NASA said the application was developed by its New Media Team at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. “We’re excited to deliver a wide range of upto-the-minute NASA content to iPhone and iPod Touch users,” said Gary Martin, director of the New Ventures and Communications Directorate at Ames. “The NASA App provides an easy and interesting way for the public to experience space exploration.” (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

WASHINGTON: There was concern at the White House about that wayward Northwest Airlines jet that flew past its scheduled destination in Minneapolis. White House spokesman Nick Shapiro told The Associated Press on Saturday that senior White House officials were alerted by the White House Situation Room and they closely monitored the incident. Shapiro didn’t say if President Barack Obama was informed about the wayward plane. Northwest Flight 118 was out of communications with air traffic controllers for over an hour Wednesday night. The plane carrying 144 passengers and five crew members was destined for Minneapolis but overflew the airport by about 150 miles (240 kilometers) before controllers were able to re-establish contact. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

MIDEAST

9

Many voters see continuity as ‘a good thing’

Tunisia’s Ben Ali set for 5th term as president TUNIS, Tunisia, Oct 24, (AP): Tunisia’s voters braced for presidential and legislative elections expected to grant another landslide victory to President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on Sunday despite timid measures by authorities to let the nascent opposition have its say. Ben Ali, 72, is running for a fifth, 5-year term, after taking power in a bloodless palace coup in 1987 that authorities dub “The Change.” He was last re-elected in 2004 with more than 94 percent of votes — a drop from his previous victories, which oscillated between 99.2 and 99.7 percent. “To say there is very, very, very little suspense about his re-election is a euphemism,” said Hatem, a shopkeeper in central Tunis who only gave his first name because he didn’t want to appear criticizing the country’s leadership. Despite criticism by human rights groups, many Tunisian voters see continuity as a good thing in this Mediterranean tourist haven, a strong diplomatic and business ally of the United States and Europe and a relatively secular, moderate player in the Arab world. Under the current constitution, it is the last time Ben

Ali can run for president, because the age limit is set at 75. Ben Ali faces three, low-profile opponents. He is backed by virtually every labor union and his party Constitutional and Democratic Rally or RCD, which has been continuously in power since Tunisia’s independence from France in 1956. Two challengers, Mohamed Bouchiha of the PUP party and Ahmed Inoubli of the UDU, are seen as posing only cosmetic opposition. The fourth candidate, Ahmed Brahim, of the Ettajdid, or “change,” party, sent ripples through society merely by declaring during the campaign that he would run “equal to equal” against Ben Ali. While Brahim and others complained of multiple obstacles during the low-key campaign, authorities point to steps to increase pluralism. Opposition candidates have been allowed, for instance, to hold meetings in the capital, plaster electoral posters in allotted spots, and talk for one hour on national television. But several longtime opponents were banned from

joining the race on bureaucratic grounds. A group of five Tunisian NGOs announced Friday it had calculated that the space allotted to Ben Ali and his party occupied more than 90 percent of all Tunisia’s printed press during the campaign. Voters will also choose 214 lawmakers for the lower house of parliament on Sunday. The RCD is certain to get the majority. But a 2008 law seen as a gesture to the opposition should allow other parties to get about a quarter of seats. Hard-line opposition movements and Islamists are outlawed. Even Ben Ali’s opponents largely acknowledge the accomplishments he has achieved in this small country lacking any significant natural resource. Tunisia is expecting 3-percent gross domestic product economic growth this year despite global recession; the country’s poverty rate has dropped below 4 percent of the population; and international benchmarks show Tunisia is a regional model in terms of literacy, social welfare, and the important role women play in society.

Abbas to go ahead with Jan vote despite Hamas rejection Move seen as turning heat on Islamist group RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 24, (AFP): Palestinian divisions deepened on Saturday as the Hamas rulers of Gaza rejected president Mahmud Abbas’ call for January elections, accusing him of usurping power.

denied the election call was a “stunt.”

But analysts highlighted the challenge he would face in organising elections in Gaza, where Hamas has held sway since mid 2007. “We are going to pursue our efforts for reconciliation” with Hamas, Abbas said a day after calling presidential and legislative elections for January 24. Abbas pledged to pursue reconciliation efforts with the Islamic movement and Abbas issued a decree late Friday calling elections in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, in a move seen as turning up the heat on the Islamist group to sign a muchdelayed Egyptian-brokered deal for Palestinian unity. Hamas — which trounced Abbas’s secular Fatah faction in the last parliamentary elections in January 2006 — rejected the move. “This is an illegal and unconstitutional step because Abu Mazen’s (Abbas’s) tenure is over and he has no right to issue any decree concerning this” election, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP on Friday. Abbas was elected on January 9, 2005 for a four-year term. The Palestinian Authority extended his presidency by one year so presidential and parliamentary elections could be held on the same date. Hamas has consistently rejected the extension granted to Abbas, and does not consider him to be the legitimate president of the Palestinian people. Barhum said Abbas was making a “deliberate attempt to make (Palestinian) divisions permanent,” by calling elections for January. And on Saturday, Hamas said Abbas — whose term in office expired in early January Palestinian women protest during a demonstration calling for an end to the division between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza City, Oct 24. 2009 — should be put on trial. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree Friday calling for Palestinian elections on Jan 24, 2010. (AP) Abbas “must be tried for usurping power,” deputy Palestinian parliamentary Journalists fined, sent to jail speaker Ahmed Bahar told a news conference in Gaza City. The decree calling elections “has no value whatsoever from a constitutional point of view,” he said. At the beginning of August, the interior minRABAT, Oct 24, (AFP): Morocco this week Hani al-Masri, a RamallahWASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AFP): banned the French daily Le Monde in a latest istry put seals on the premises of Akhbar Al based political analyst, said the crackdown on the media, which has also seen Youm, denying journalists on the paper access to US President Barack Obama calling of elections is a “politiFriday expressed hopes that journalists sent to jail, heavy fines for the local their offices and shutting it down. cal tactic” aimed at twisting the Le Monde was last banned in Morocco at the Lebanon’s factions would finally arms of Hamas leaders to sign press and foreign papers seized. The matter that led to a ban on Le Monde’s edi- beginning of August for running a poll on the first form a new government as he the reconciliation deal. tions dated Oct 22 and Oct 23 was the publication 10 years in power of Mohammed VI. Copies of the marked the 26th anniversary of “But there is a (big) step of satirical cartoons considered “disrespectful” of Moroccan weeklies TelQuel and Nichane, which the “senseless” Beirut bombing between the publication of a the Moroccan royal family, where Prince Moulay published the same poll, were seized and destroyed. of a US Marine barracks. decree and the holding of elec“We remember today the 241 tions on the ground,” he said. “I was constrained and forced to ban the entry to Ismail, a cousin of King Mohammed VI, has marMorocco” of Le Monde, Communications Minister American Marines, soldiers, and ried a German national, Anissa Lehmkuhl. Mukhaimar Abu Saada, lecturIn its Thursday-Friday edition, Le Monde Khalid Naciri told AFP Friday by telephone. “We sailors who lost their lives 26 er in political sciences at Gaza’s republished a cartoon that was printed by the can’t accept a direct attack to our sentiments, an years ago as the result of a hor- Al-Azhar University, predicts a Moroccan daily Akhbar Al Youm at the end of attitude that presents Morocco as a country that kills rific terrorist attack that heightened war of words between destroyed the Marine barracks in Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah. September, a day after Le Monde ran a cartoon rights. The stance of Le Monde shocked us badly.” On July 16, the French weekly Courrier Beirut, Lebanon,” Obama said. touching on the Moroccan monarchy. The split between the fac“The murder of our soldiers, tions has become “the central Taoufik Bouachrine and Khaled Gueddar, the International was banned, again over an article managing director of Akhbar Al Youm and the regarded as defamatory of the king of the north- sailors, and Marines on this day question” for Palestinians, even Moroccan cartoonist both face legal proceedings west African country, who has widely been seen as on 1983 remains a senseless more important than the quesfor “the lack of respect due a member of the royal a reformer improving the human rights situation tragedy,” Obama said in a state- tion of Israeli settlements in the ment. While remembering the West Bank. after the reign of his hardline father Hassan II. family”. victims of the bombing, their families and all US service personnel abroad, Obama also looked to the future in Lebanon, where a political crisis has been grinding on since general elections in June. “In remembering this terrible day of loss, we are at the same time hopeful that a new government in Lebanon will soon be formed,” Obama said. “We look forward to working with a Lebanese government that works actively to promote stability in the region and prosperity for its people.” Lebanese prime minister designate Saad Hariri has tried form a national unity government since his US- and Saudi-backed coalition clinched an election win over a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran. The suicide bombing of the barracks in Beirut on October 23, 1983, which mostly killed US Marines, sent shockwaves through the Reagan administration’s Middle East policy and heralded a new age of terrorist attacks on US targets.

Press has hard time in Morocco

Obama hopeful Lebanon forms new govt soon

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

10

Militants urge compatriots to boycott poll

Taleban threaten Afghan run-off vote KABUL, Oct 24, (RTRS): The Taleban called on Afghans on Saturday to boycott next month’s presidential election run-off and vowed to disrupt voting in a repeat of their threat to derail the disputed first round. Election officials are hastily trying to prepare for the Nov 7 runoff, which removed one stumbling block for US President Barack Obama as he weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight a resurgent Taleban. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan once again urges their respected countrymen not to participate,” the Taleban said in a statement, emailed to Reuters, saying the election process was being orchestrated by Washington. “In order to make this process fail all the mujahideens will carry out operations on the enemy’s centres,” it said of the thousands of polling stations to be set up for the vote between President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah. Karzai agreed to the vote after heavy international pressure. A UN-backed fraud investigation invalidated thousands of his votes from the Aug 20 first round, pushing him below the 50 percent mark needed to avoid a run-off against Abdullah, his former foreign minister. The Taleban also threatened to disrupt the first round but, despite sporadic attacks against candidates, election officials and polling stations, the austere Islamists failed to disrupt the process entirely. However security fears contributed to a low voter turnout, especially in Taleban strongholds in the south and east. Election officials have said they expect turnout to be even lower for the run-off.

‘Absolutely no interest in such a scenario’

Abdullah rules out joining a Karzai govt WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AFP): Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah ruled out Friday joining Hamid Karzai’s government should the incumbent beat him in the Nov7 run-off election. “I think I left Karzai’s government some three and a half years ago, and since then I’ve not been tempted to be part of that government... part of the same deteriorating situation,” the former foreign minister told CNN. “So, (I have) absolutely no interest in such a scenario, while at the same time, for the interest of my country, if Mr. Karzai is elected through a transparent and credible process,

I will be the first person to congratulate him.” Abdullah also accused Karzai’s government and Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) of having a hand in the fraud that tainted the first round poll and led to a run-off. “Unfortunately, the government was involved, IEC was involved. That’s according to everybody,” charged Abdullah, who officially won 30.59 percent of the first round vote. Karzai agreed to contest a run-off after more than one million ballots cast in the first August 20 vote were discounted due to fraud, leaving him short of the 50 percent required for outright victory.

The Taleban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until ousted by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, have strengthened their insurgency, with 2009 the deadliest year of the eight-year war. Election officials have warned that NATO and Afghan security forces are not allowed themselves enough time to secure polling centres for the run-off.

The approach of Afghanistan’s harsh winter, when much of the mountainous country becomes inaccessible, makes organising and conducting the new poll even more difficult. Official campaigning kicked off on Saturday afternoon but Karzai and Abdullah are not expected to start their rallies until later in the week.

Pakistan troops retake strategic Taleban stronghold in Waziristan Missile strike kills 15 militants It is also the birthplace of Pakistani Taleban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and the home town of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior commander known as “the mentor of suicide bombers”. A missile believed fired from a US predator drone aircraft on Saturday killed at least 15 militants at a senior Taleban commander’s hideout in the neighbouring tribal area of Bajaur, a government official said. Kotkai town in South Waziristan has changed hands three times since the army launched a “All of them are militants, including foreigners,” a senior government official, who declined to be idenmajor offensive on Taleban strongholds a week ago, highlighting the difficulty of seizing terri- tified, told Reuters. torial advantage in the rugged mountains and valleys near Afghanistan. He said the commander, Maulvi Faqir, narrowly escaped, but two of his relatives were killed. The offensive is a test of the government’s determination to tackle Islamist fundamentalists, and the campaign is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan’s growing conflict. The militants have responded by stepping up a campaign of suicide bomb attacks and commando raids that have killed more than 150 people and wounded even more in the past three weeks. Military spokesman MajorGeneral Athar Abbas said security forces entered Kotkai on Friday evening and were now clearing the area. Government troops first took the town on Monday, but the Taleban retook control a day later. “The place was a stronghold of terrorists, with a majority of households turned into bunkers,” he told a news conference, adding that militants were abandoning their weapons and shaving their beards to try to blend in with ordinary civilians and avoid capture. Abbas said the military was ahead of schedule on the offensive but the terrain meant operations were going to slow down. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in South Waziristan but aid officials do not expect the exodus to become a humanitarian crisis, as did a similar offensive in the Swat Valley earlier this year. The rise in urban attacks by militants is taking a toll, however, A Pakistani police officer stands among people who fled fighting between security forces and militants in Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan, outside a relief with the country’s stock market — distribution center in the suburb of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan on Oct 24. (AP) which has performed well this year after a slump in line with global markets — dropping 6 percent in a week. Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as the militants come under pressure in South Waziristan, with the Taleban hoping bloodshed and disruption will cause the government and ordinary people to lose KABUL, Oct 24, (AFP): “My family name means justalc, salt,” he said, counting on his fingers. “We are trying to develop the economy using our their appetite for the offensive. tice and that is what I am determined to get for my “Except diamonds,” he grinned. “We haven’t found natural and mineral resources.” A suicide bomber killed eight country,” says Mohammad Ibrahim Adel, diamonds yet, but we might.” Adel, who spent time in jail and as a refugee in people outside a key airforce Afghanistan’s minister of mines. Adel has seen other poor countries - notably in Pakistan before returning to Kabul and joining the facility on Friday. Hours later, a In his large, plush office in a Soviet-style comAfrica and South America - allow foreign governministry after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, has car bomb outside a restaurant in pound in downtown Kabul, Adel - whose surname ments and companies to extract and export their minalready signed contracts developing a massive copper the northwestern city of means “just man” in Arabic, Dari and Pashtu - outeral wealth, with the profits rarely remaining at home. mine in Logar province, and a medium-sized coal Peshawar wounded 15 people. lined how he plans to bring economic justice to one of “Afghanistan will never be exploited in this way. mine in Bamiyan province. Remote and rugged South the world’s poorest countries. The relationship between the company that invests in But he said companies interested in Afghanistan’s Waziristan, with its rocky “People in Afghanistan are like people lying on a Afghanistan’s mineral resources and the people has to natural resources must make long-term and costly mountains and patchy forests bed of gold but going hungry,” he told AFP. be just,” said Adel, who trained as a mining engineer commitments to developing not just the underground cut through by dry creeks and “Afghanistan is not known for its natural resources. in the former Soviet Union. resource, but also everything above it. ravines, has become a global It is known across the world and in history as a nation “Not more than five percent of Afghanistan’s natuExploitation plans must be environmentally sound hub for militants who flit of war and violence and poverty. ral resources is known, 95 percent we still don’t and based on solid social impact studies, with develbetween Pakistan and “But we have a lot: copper, iron ore, gold, natural know. But I hope that in the very near future we can opment including “job creation, schools, hospitals, Afghanistan. gas, oil, precious and semi-precious stones, chromite, start exploration work. electricity, water,” he said.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Oct 24, (RTRS): Pakistani forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery recaptured a strategic town from Taleban militants after fierce fighting, officials said on Saturday.

Contracts signed to develop massive copper mine

Afghan minister seeks justice through exploitation

Believed to be ETA members

2 suspects face French charges PARIS, Oct 24, (AP): A man and a woman believed to be Basque separatists have been jailed in France on preliminary charges of terrorist links, a judicial official said Saturday. The charges were filed overnight against Aitor Elizaran Aguilar — whom Spanish authorities describe as a co-leader of Basque group ETA’s so-called political unit — and Oihana San Vicente, the official said. The official was not authorized to be named because the investigation is ongoing. The two were detained Monday in Carnac in the French Atlantic

region of Brittany. Police found false identity papers and ammunition in the apartment they were renting. ETA has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s in its campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. Its political unit liaises with political parties on separatist strategy. The preliminary charges, including “criminal association with a terrorist enterprise” and forged documents, give magistrates time to further investigate before determining whether to send the case to trial.

Islamists flog 2 for mobile porn KISMAYO, Somalia, Oct 24, (AFP): Hardline Somali Islamists publicly whipped and jailed two men for watching pornography on their mobile phones, witnesses said Saturday. Shebab security officials caught the two Friday and were flogged by hooded men before hundreds of residents in the southern Kismayo town controlled by the hardline militia. “The two young men were caught watching porn movies on their mobile phones by the security forces and after admitting their crimes they were punished according to the Islamic sharia,” Sheikh Omar Mohamed, an Islamist official, told AFP by phone.

Afghan National Army soldiers run towards a house during training by US Marines at a coalition base near Farah, Afghanistan, Oct 24. (AP)

In this March 13, 2007, file photo released by the Department of Defense, an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle from the 42nd Attack Squadron taxis into Creech Air Force Base, Nev. US military surveillance drones based in the Seychelles islands are patrolling off Somalia’s coast in hopes of stemming a rising piracy trade. US military officials say unmanned drones called Reapers are patrolling the Indian Ocean. (AP)

Bid to stem rising piracy

US drones patrolling waters off Somalia NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 24, (AP): For the first time, sophisticated US military surveillance drones capable of carrying missiles have begun patrolling waters off Somalia in hopes of stemming rising piracy. Three ships have been seized in a week off Africa’s lawless eastern coast and Vice-Adm Robert Moeller, the deputy commander for the US Africa Command, said pirates continue to pose a significant challenge. With the monsoon season now ended, there have been a rash of attacks as pirates return to the open seas. More than 130 crew members from seven ships are currently being held, including about 70 from the latest attacks. In an effort to stem the surge, unmanned US military surveillance planes called MQ-9 Reapers stationed on the island nation of Seychelles are being deployed to patrol the Indian Ocean in search of pirates, Moeller told The Associated Press in an interview at command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. The patrols began this week, military officials said. The 36-footlong (11-meterlong) Reapers are the size of a jet fighter, can fly about 16 hours and are capable of carMoeller rying a dozen guided bombs and missiles. They are outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting. Military officials said Friday the drones would not immediately be fitted with weaponry, but they did not rule out doing so in the future. Analysts said they expected the Reapers would also be used to hunt al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants in Somalia. While Moeller said the aircraft would “primarily” be used against pirates, he acknowledged they could also be used for other missions. Even the drones and the presence of an international naval armada are unlikely to deter pirates, Moeller said. Pirates are “prepared to take their chances against the warships that are patrolling the area, simply because the potential for big financial gain is significant,” he said. Cyrus Mody, an expert on piracy at the London branch of the International Maritime Bureau, said he expects the drones will help ward off attacks by acting as an earlywarning system for tankers and other commercial vessels traversing waters off the Somali coast.

Vessels “What we hope will happen is that they will get much earlier warning of suspicious vessels or suspected (pirate) mother ships that can then be targeted by the naval vessels. Or alerts and broadcasts can be sent out indicating the positions of these ships (and) indicating they should keep as clear a distance as possible,” Mody said. US Navy vessels have used 3foot(meter)-long drones off the East Africa coast before. But the Reapers - which have a 66-foot (20-meter) wingspan - represent a significant investment by the US military to gather intelligence in the region. Last spring, US Navy sharpshooters killed three of the four pirates who were holding Richard Phillips, captain of the US-flagged cargo ship the Maersk Alabama, hostage in a lifeboat. The drone deployment comes as piracy is on the rise in the area. While the bandits targeted 35 vessels in 2007 and 111 in

2008, they have launched some 178 attacks so far in 2009, according to International Maritime Bureau figures. The high-seas hijackings have persisted despite an international armada of warships deployed by the United States, the European Union, NATO, Japan, South Korea and China to patrol the region. In a sign that nations are being forced to step up security, Seychelles announced this week that it would send troops to its outer islands. A Seychelles minister, Joel Morgan, said the coast guard is working closely with international naval forces and that both the US and Europe have maritime patrol aircraft stationed in the island nation. The Somali-based pirates operate freely in a country with no effective government and can earn millions of dollars by hijacking a ship that might contain oil, coal or other goods - a windfall for young, unemployed men. Moeller, the US commander, said good governance, rule of law and economic development are all needed in Somalia so that pirates “have an alternative lifestyle to pursue. And unfortunately, that’s not the case today.” Solution “The long-term solution to the piracy issue is basically getting the conditions right in Somalia,” he said. Peter Chalk, an expert on piracy at the Washington-based RAND Corp., said he believed the new drones would be “largely irrelevant” in bringing an end to the lawlessness because problems with Somalia’s government need to be addressed first. Otherwise, piracy will persist, he said. “The risks of being caught are very low (and even lower in terms of being successfully prosecuted) while the potential rewards are enormous - at least in a Somali context,” Chalk wrote in an e-mail. Pirates raked in up to $80 million in ransoms in 2008, Roger Middletown, a piracy expert at the London-based think-tank Chatham House, says. Tracing the cash has been difficult in part because of Somalia’s chaotic civil war and partly because many Somalis use an informal clan-based money transfer system instead of normal banking channels. Analysts say the pirate attacks are criminal in nature and not part of Somalia’s Islamic militancy or al-Qaeda. The pirates try to keep their distance from such groups so the ransom payments don’t get seized by terrorists. Surveillance gathered by the drones will augment other international investigations into pirate activity. Experts have been keen to trace the cash from ransoms, usually packed in a waterproof container and dropped by parachute into the sea, where it is picked up by pirates. Many worry about putting huge sums of cash in the hands of pirates who live in a country where al-Qaeda operates. The US military is stepping up efforts in the region to ensure that shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden remain open, said Mark Schroeder, an Africa analyst at the global intelligence firm Stratfor. He said he believed the Reapers would also be used to track al-Qaeda figures in Somalia. “They need to ensure nothing gets disrupted (at sea),” Schroeder said. “There is the ordinary commercial traffic that is significant (and) the US and the other navies there don’t want to see that blocked by Somali pirates.”

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

11

Anglicans’ ex-leader slams Vatican LONDON, Oct 24, (AP): A former leader of the world’s Anglicans says it was inexcusable that the Vatican gave short notice of its offer to receive dissident traditionalists into the Roman Catholic church, but he nonetheless gave a cautious welcome to the Vatican’s offer. George Carey, who was archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, said in an interview published in The Times on Saturday that he was urging his successor, Rowan Williams, to make a personal protest when Williams visits the Vatican next month. The Vatican announced on Tuesday that Pope

Benedict XVI had authorized an Apostolic Constitution which would allow Anglican to move into the Roman Catholic church while retaining their own liturgy and married priests. “If what I hear is right, that he was only told two weeks ago, then I am appalled,” The Times quoted Carey as saying. “I think, in this day and age, this was inexcusable that Rome decided to do this without consultation.” However, Carey said Anglican traditionalists could benefit from the Vatican’s move. “I give it a very cautious welcome,” he was quoted as saying.

Poll boost for UK far-right after controversial TV appearance ‘22 pct of voters would seriously consider voting BNP’ LONDON, Oct 24, (AFP): Nearly a quarter of adults would consider voting for the farright British National Party, a poll out Saturday said, after its leader made a controversial appearance on a BBC show. The YouGov survey for The Daily Telegraph newspaper, conducted after BNP chairman Nick Griffin made his debut Thursday on “Question Time”, BBC television’s top political panel show, found that 22 percent of voters would “seriously consider” voting BNP. The debate over whether Griffin should have been allowed on the programme — plus the fall-out from the show — has triggered heated debate in Britain and dominated newspaper headlines.

Critics Many critics of Griffin’s appearance feared that giving him such a platform would hand a boost to the far right. The poll found four percent said they would “definitely” consider voting for the BNP, a further three percent who would “probably” consider it, plus 15 percent who said they were “possible” BNP voters. More than half of those surveyed agreed with the BNP or thought the party “had a point” in wishing to “speak up for the interests of the indigenous, white British people... which successive governments have done far too little to protect”. This included 43 percent who agreed that they had “no sympathy for the party itself”, though they shared some of its concerns. Some 12 percent said they completely agreed with the BNP, against 38 percent who said they disagreed totally with the party’s politics. The BNP claimed on its website Saturday that 9,000 people had either signed up as “registered potential members or on our mailing lists” since the show aired.

Show celebrates rise of UK pop and rock giants LONDON, Oct 24, (RTRS): A show at Britain’s National Portrait Gallery in London captures swinging 1960s Britain in photographs from bopping to the Beatles at the Cavern to the psychedelic explosion that ushered in the 1970s. The display of 150 photographs, collections of album sleeves, music magazine covers, sheet music and other items celebrate the rise of British pop and rock music giants such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd alongside US contemporaries including Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan. The portraits by photographers David Bailey, Cecil Beaton, Don McCullin and a host of others are organized into decades from the sweet innocence of youth early in the decade to the decadent, drugfuelled psychedelia and sexual liberation which characterized the summer of love in 1968 and beyond. The early years of the exhibition focus heavily on the Beatles, Rolling Stones and home-grown acts lesser known abroad including Cilla Black and Cliff Richards, although Rod Stewart appears alongside Long John Baldry in a 1964 portrait of a group called Steampacket. “We just wanted to reflect really who were the big stars in each year,’’ exhibition curator Terence Pepper told Reuters on Friday. But Pepper — who at 60 recalls the era and the music well — said the show also depicts how quickly the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin changed the musical landscape and conquered the world. “It was all completely new. It was all happening. Pop music isn’t even on the radio yet,’’ Pepper said. “The BBC has got three hours on the air they can play records and hardly any of them what you can call rock and roll or pop.’’ Overhead speakers softly play hits from the decade to lend atmosphere to the exhibition that also includes original ‘60s fashion from Biba and Mary Quant on Adel Rootstein mannequins.

British soldier Lance Corporal Joe Glenton (center), who is facing a court martial because he refuses to return to fight in Afghanistan, takes part in an anti-war demonstration in London, Oct 24. The demonstration on Saturday was organized by the Stop the War Coalition and called for the British government to remove British troops from Afghanistan. (AP)

Fewer Britons calling for Afghanistan troop pullout LONDON, Oct 24, (RTRS): Hundreds of people took to London’s streets on Saturday demanding that British troops be brought home from Afghanistan but an opinion poll showed fewer Britons were calling for an immediate return. The YouGov poll, to be broadcast on Channel 4 News, showed that while 62 percent of Britons wanted British troops home immediately or within the next year or so, the percentage of those making those demands had remained static or even dropped during the past two years. Those wanting British troops returned in the near-term remained static at 37 percent while the number wanting an immediate withdrawal dropped three points to 25 percent, with a three percent margin of error. The drop is surprising bearing in mind the rising number of British casualties in the eight-year, US-led campaign against Taleban insurgents, with the bloodiest months occurring in the run-up to presidential elections that were found to have been deeply flawed.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

ISSUES

12

Hatoyama to pitch idea when he meets counterparts

Q+A on Japan’s East Asia community idea HUA HIN, Thailand, Oct 24, (RTRS): Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will pitch his idea of an East Asian Community, inspired by the example of the European Union, when he meets his Asian counterparts this weekend. Asian leaders are in Thailand for the “East Asia Summit”, bringing together the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. Why is Japan pushing the idea now? Hatoyama, who took office last month after a landslide election victory, wants to put greater emphasis on Japan’s ties with Asia while steering a diplomatic course more independent of the United States, Japan’s most important security ally. As its economic might declines as the

Voice respected

population ages, Japan needs Asia’s growing economic power for future growth. Some analysts say Tokyo wants to draw China into regional arrangements as it fears losing its first-class status in the region amid talk of a “G2” arrangement under which Washington and Beijing shape the global economy. Economists expect China to replace Japan as the world’s No.2 economy, possibly next year. Why does it matter? Intra-regional trade among member states of the East Asia Summit has grown three-fold over the past decade and accounts for 54 percent of their total trade, higher than that of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The GDP of East Asia Summit members combined now accounts for around 23 percent of the world’s total output.

In addition to increasing economic interdependence, Asia has many issues to tackle together, including the financial crisis, outbreaks of H1N1 flu, climate change and natural disasters. Is the idea new? Not really. The idea of a regional Asian grouping is the brainchild of former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, who proposed an East Asian Economic Caucus in 1990 — a notion that some pundits called the caucus without the Caucasians. Japan’s push to create a home-grown Asian Monetary Fund to help troubled Asian economies in 1997 was quashed by the United States, just like Mahathir’s EAEC proposal. The East Asia Summit started in 2005, building on leaders’ meetings held since

1997 by ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea. But the group is struggling to forge a strong identity. Who will be involved in the east Asia community? Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has envisaged opening membership to Japan, China, South Korea, ASEAN, Australia, New Zealand, and India — the same members as the East Asia Summit. But he has recently toned down his comments, saying there is no immediate need for concrete details, and has tried to soothe worries in Washington about the United States being excluded. Will it ever fly? Critics say the regional concept is pie-inthe-sky, but some argue that with Japan’s new push, the idea could gain momentum. Tokyo acknowledges that it will take

decades to boost political integration and create a common currency in a politically, culturally and economically diverse region. Japan hopes to first deepen economic ties and then take a step-by-step approach to boosting cooperation in other areas such as the environment, energy and influenza. It says sharing a common vision for the regional community will help Asia overcome friction more easily. But Japan’s Okada has said it is hard at the moment to envisage a security agreement like Nato in Asia. To make it viable, Tokyo needs to build trust with Beijing, given China’s bitter memories of Japan’s wartime occupation, the economic competition between the two and mutual mistrust over their militaries. Rivalry over who would take the leading role as well as how to define the US role in

the scheme could become hurdles. Washington has been wary about fresh talk on Asia’s regional bloc, but Tokyo says it is a long-term vision and the US-Japan alliance remains the foundation of Japan’s diplomacy. Any impact on dollar’s role as key currency? Hatoyama has said his vision for an East Asian Community with a future goal of creating a common currency was not meant to diminish the role of the dollar, but market concerns linger. The idea has always been touchy within Asia. Asian finance ministers a few years ago studied ways to create regional currency units as indicators to better monitor their currency movements, but the debate stirred controversy in some countries.

See Also Page 18

Politics

‘Clinton not marginalized’ WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (RTRS): Hillary Clinton has found her voice but finding her place in the top-down foreign policy apparatus that is the Obama administration has proven more elusive. The former first lady, senator and presidential candidate has, by her own and others’ accounts, transitioned well into the role of secretary of state. She says she loves her job, gets along well with President Barack Obama and wants to rebuild the US relationship with the rest of the world. But how much power does she have? Some nine months into her tenure, that is an open question. With no clear signature policy issue of her own and a team of special envoys handling hot spots such as Afghanistan and the Middle East, Clinton has had to fight off suggestions that she has been sidelined. Other eminent foreign policy players such as Vice President Joe Biden and a White House National Security Council run by a tightly knit team of former Obama campaign advisers have made it harder for Clinton to make her mark. Still, the politician-turned-emissary has established a rhythm and unique style in addressing the world as Obama’s top diplomat. On trips to Asia, Africa and most recently Russia, Clinton has brought notable star power to meetings with leaders while holding meetings with local citizens to give voice to Obama’s policy of engagement with civil society and government. She hits the road again to visit Marrakech, Morocco, on Nov. 2-3 for a meeting designed to spur reforms and growth in the Arab world and to hold talks with Arab foreign ministers about the stymied Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Back in Washington, she spends significant periods of time at the White House, among the most of any of Obama’s cabinet members noted on his public schedule. “Her voice is respected and heard and she is a strong, strong part of his overall cabinet and a leader within the foreign policy team,” senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett told Reuters, dismissing reports Clinton has been sidelined. “They meet, if she is in town, every week. She is a part of every single foreign policy meeting that he has with the rest of his foreign policy team.” Clinton herself dismisses any suggestion that she is marginalized within the administration. “I find it absurd,” she said in an interview with NBC television. “I find it beyond any realistic assessment of what I’m doing every day.”

Liability Analysts paint a more nuanced picture of Clinton’s role in the foreign policy team. She has a seat at the decision-making table but her lack of a signature issue could be a liability. “The challenge has been ... the defining of her subject areas,” said Heather Conley, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former deputy assistant secretary of state. Noting the White House and the special envoys held sway over big items such as Iran and Afghanistan, Conley said Clinton had to show which issues fell under her direct purview. “She needs to identify those issues where she’s the lead,” Conley said. “I think they’re still working those kinks out.” This week, for example, the most delicate diplomatic work conducted by the United States may have been Senator John Kerry’s helping to persuade Afghan President Hamid Karzai to agree to a runoff in the fraud-marred August election. Asked if he felt eclipsed, Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters: “I’m not sure how to answer that. I’d like to make a joke and say I’m always happy to be eclipsed by John Kerry but then you’ll take it seriously and then I’ll cause more problems.” Clinton’s past rivalry with Obama notwithstanding, analysts also pointed to a natural tension between the White House and the State Department on foreign policy leadership. “Every secretary of state has competition for influence on foreign policy and that’s especially true in administrations like Obama’s where other senior officials such as Vice President Biden have expertise in the area,” said Larry Sabato, a professor at the University of Virginia. “No secretary of state gets to be ‘president for foreign affairs.’ Even Kissinger couldn’t pull that off,” he said, referring to Henry Kissinger, the powerful top diplomat in the Nixon administration.

US President Barack Obama speaks at a fundraising reception for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick at the Westin Copley Place in Boston on Oct 23. (AFP)

Biden reassures Central European fears with trip

‘Who cares what Cheney says?’ PRAGUE, Oct 24, (Agencies): US VicePresident Joe Biden rebuked his predecessor Dick Cheney over Afghanistan on Friday, and said a war review the previous administration passed onto President Barack Obama was “irrelevant.” “Who cares?” Biden said, when asked to comment on Cheney’s claims that Obama was “dithering” on ordering more troops to Afghanistan, as he plows through an exhaustive review of US strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “I think that is absolutely wrong. I think what the administration is doing is exactly what we said it would do,” Biden said in an interview with a pool of reporters in Prague after a three-nation visit to eastern Europe. At one point in the interview, Biden appeared set to launch a much more vociferous counter-attack on Cheney, but then interrupted himself, ruefully noting his reputation as a sometimes accident-prone public speaker. “Who cares what-” Biden said before checking himself. “Yeah, yeah, I can see the headline now,” he said. “I’m getting better, guys. I’m getting a little better, you know what I mean?” Cheney had fired off a blistering attack on Obama administration foreign policy, and its tactics in Afghanistan in particular, at a dinner in Washington. “Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission,” Cheney said. “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.” Cheney also said that the former Bush administration dug into every aspect of Afghan and Pakistan policy in late 2008,

and briefed Obama’s team before he took office. But Biden said that circumstances had changed since the Bush administration assessment. “Let’s assume they left us a review that was absolutely correct. Is that review relevant and totally applicable to today in light of the changes that have taken place in the region, in Afghanistan itself? “I think it’s irrelevant.” Biden has played a key role in Obama’s war council on Afghanistan, which has regular meetings in the White House Situation Room as the president mulls a request by the military for at least 40,000 extra troops for the war. The vice president is seen as advocating a strategy that would lean away from expanding the counter-insurgency against the Taleban and related groups and focus more strongly on al-Qaeda, possibly in Pakistan. He said Obama had honored a deal they made when he selected him as his running mate, namely that he would have an input into every important decision. “If he reaches a different conclusion than I do, that’s okay. He’s the president.”

Strides Biden made significant strides during a trip to Central Europe this week in relieving anxieties the Obama administration stirred up last month when it scrapped a Bush-era plan for missile defense. Biden won agreement Friday from the Czech Republic to join Obama’s reconfigured missile defense system, just two days after Poland said it also would take part. The Nato chief, meanwhile, praised the new plan as offering good defense for the West from future Iranian threats. “Ministers welcomed the fact the new approach puts European missile defense

more into a Nato context,” Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in nearby Bratislava after US Defense Minister Robert Gates briefed alliance defense ministers on the system. “It is good for solidarity.” Russia vehemently opposed the Bushera plan, which would have put missile interceptors in Poland near Russian territory and in the Czech Republic - areas in its Cold War sphere of influence. When Obama suddenly announced last month that he was scrapping that plan for a reduced missile defense system linked to Nato, many Poles, Czechs and others in the region feared it marked a capitulation to Moscow - a power still viewed with deep suspicion in much of the former Eastern Bloc. Warsaw and some in Prague were also stung because the new system would give them reduced roles, a disheartening prospect because they counted on Bush’s plan to tie their security destinies closer to the US, which is still viewed as the only credible guarantor of stability as Russia grows more assertive. But those fears seem to have dispersed with Biden’s stops this week in Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic. Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Biden appeared to achieve Washington’s objective of reaffirming US interest in Central Europe. “The Biden trip was principally an effort to calm nerves and to reassure countries of Central Europe that the US was not losing interest and pursuing rapprochement with Russia at their expense,” Kupchan said. American officials have said some of the initial criticism was unjustified and based on a flawed belief that the US was completely giving up on the plan.

Biden conceded the US could have done a better job introducing the new plan. “Obviously it could have been done better,” he told reporters in Prague. “But that’s the reason for the trip. I think I set out on behalf of the president to convey to three central European allies that we’re committed.” He said he was “absolutely convinced” after the trip that the three countries’ governments and opposition leaders now “have no doubt about the commitment,” adding that “missile architecture was more sort of a metaphor for ‘are we committed?”’

Defence Under Obama’s new missile defense plan, US Navy ships equipped with antimissile weapons - such as the Navy’s Standard Missile-3 - would form a front line of defense in the eastern Mediterranean. Those would be combined with land-based anti-missile systems to be placed in Europe. Poles in particular were appalled the US announced its plans for a reconfigured missile defense system on Sept 17, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland at the start of World War II. They felt that timing showed a lack of sensitivity, and Polish tabloids accused the US of stabbing Poland in the back while political experts described Obama’s plan as a slight. Obama’s proposal calls for a focus on short- and medium-range interceptors to better counter expected threats from rogue states such as Iran. The Pentagon says the SM-3 anti-ballistic missile is the most technically advanced and cost-effective way to counter Tehran’s anticipated arsenal. Obama has said the old blueprint was scrapped largely because the US conclud-

ed Iran is less focused on developing the kind of long-range missiles for which the Bush-era system was developed. With Biden’s visit to Warsaw on Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk - who weeks ago said he would use more caution in signing onto deals with the US - had resorted to language more typical of his pro-US nation, going so far as to describe Polish views as “identical” to those of Washington. The Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer on Friday said, while standing beside Biden, that his country “is ready to participate in the building of such a new architecture.” The United States was “very appreciative of the prime minister’s statement today,” Biden responded, adding that Washington would send a high-level defense team to Prague next month to “discuss the terms this participation will take.” Neither Biden nor Fischer gave any details, and it remains unclear if the Czechs could even deliver on any promises made now by Fischer’s weak caretaker government. A new Czech government will be formed after elections in May. In Russia, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko on Thursday welcomed Obama’s decision to dump the Bush-era plan, and said Moscow will carefully watch the next US moves on missile defense. He said Russia was still conducting “a thorough analysis” of the new proposal. Gates, the US defense secretary, said he hopes Moscow will join the new missile defense system, saying it “will be much easier to tie it in with Russian capabilities.”

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

SUBCONTINENT

13

Anonymous threats expose bitter divisions

Tensions rise as Bhutan refugees leave Nepal BELDANGI REFUGEE CAMP, Nepal, Oct 24, (AFP): Seventeen years ago, Narad Muni Sanyasi was forced to flee his native Bhutan in the middle of the night, leaving his home and all his possessions behind. Sanyasi was one of more than 100,000 Bhutanese who fled the country when ethnic tensions flared in the early 1990s and who ended up in eastern Nepal, where they have lived ever since in camps run by the UN refugee agency. Now, the 65-year-old former member of Bhutan’s parliament is once again facing threats — this time apparently from within his own community. Last month Sanyasi’s name appeared on pamphlets distributed by an anonymous group in the Beldangi refugee camp where he works as camp secretary, threatening him and eight other community leaders with death. The pamphlets accused Sanyasi of supporting the resettlement of the refugees in Western countries and

turning his back on the fight for their repatriation in Bhutan — a charge he strongly denies. “I am neither against repatriation nor against resettlement. But I was accused of sending my family members to be resettled in a third country,” he told AFP in the small bamboo hut that functions as his office.

Brave “No one is so brave they would not be afraid of a death threat. But where can I go? I am responsible for the people in this camp.” The anonymous threats have exposed bitter divisions within the Bhutanese refugee community over a UN scheme under which more than 20,000 of the exiles have resettled in third countries, the majority in the United States. The ethnic Nepali refugees fled Bhutan, claiming ethnic and political persecution, after the Buddhist kingdom made national dress compulsory and banned the Nepalese language.

Bhutan’s government says the people who left were either illegal immigrants or went voluntarily. The refugees, who have no legal right to work or own land in Nepal, insist they are Bhutanese citizens. Numerous rounds of high-level talks between Nepal and Bhutan have failed to reach an agreement on repatriation. Police in the nearby town of Damak say they have increased security at Beldangi, the largest of seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal, after a 45year-old male refugee was murdered there last month. No one has yet been convicted over the murder, but police say they believe it was linked to the resettlement issue, and they are also providing protection to the eight community leaders whose lives have been threatened.

Protect But with the refugees allowed to move freely in and out of the camps during the day, police say there is a

limit to what they can do to protect people. “Tensions are increasing day by day. We have 50 armed police stationed at the camp, but there are 40,000 refugees there and it is not enough,” Damak police inspector Navin Karki told AFP. Gandhivraj Syangtam, head of the armed police unit at Beldangi, said the murder had exacerbated tensions, but cautioned that not all reported threats were genuine. “People have been afraid for a long time, that’s the nature of refugee camps,” he said. “Those who are threatened will receive protection help from us. But there are also those who claim to be threatened in order to be given priority for resettlement. We have to be very thorough in our investigations.” The UN refugee agency UNHCR points out that the situation has stabilised since resettlement began in 2007, when buses belonging to the

International Organisation for Migration were bombed and one refugee died in a scuffle with police. “Overall the security situation is pretty good. It is very different from two years ago when resettlement started because that created a big debate in the camps,” said Mads Madsen, the UNHCR’s local field safety adviser. “Many people were in favour, but there were some who were aggressively opposed, and there were threats and even physical attacks against those who supported resettlement.”

Return Facing little prospect of being allowed to return to Bhutan or settle permanently in Nepal, most of the refugees in the camps have now asked to be resettled, and applications continue to pour in. “There is no work and no future in the camps, and anyway we don’t feel safe here,” said Milan Kumar Rana, 22, who hopes to go to Australia with his family.

India, China agree to work on border row Singh, Jiabao meet on sidelines of Asian summit HUA HIN, Thailand, Oct 24, (RTRS): Leaders of China and India agreed on Saturday to “gradually narrow their differences on border issues”, a perpetual strain in relations between the two giant neighbours which has flared

in recent weeks. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, meeting on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Thailand, also agreed to try to ensure peace and stability in the border area, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.

Models display creations by designers Pankaj & Nidhi at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in New Delhi, India, Oct 24. (AP)

Device uses between five and 7 watts of power

Solar lantern lights up rural India’s dark nights NEW DELHI, Oct 24, (AFP): For more than 100 Indian villages cut off from grid electricity, life no longer comes to an end after dark thanks to an innovative solar-powered lantern that offers hope to the nation’s rural poor. While cooking, farming and studying after sunset were once a struggle using inefficient kerosene or paraffin lamps, the solar lantern now provides a cheap and practical source of light. The simple device, which is charged during the day from a communal rooftop solar panel, uses between five and seven watts of power and has a battery that lasts up to eight hours. It also boasts a socket for charging mobile phones and a hand crank for topping up the power. Villagers pay between three and six rupees (six to 13

US cents) a day to rent the lantern under the “Lighting a Billion Lives” (LaBL) scheme, which was launched last year to promote solar energy as the environmentally friendly answer to India’s energy shortages. “I keep my shop open as late as 9:00 pm. All my fish get sold by that time,” a fish seller in Govindorampur district in West Bengal state who uses the lamp told researchers. He is one of those whose lives have been transformed by the first wave of 5,000 lanterns distributed across nine states in India. The LaBL scheme, run by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, plans to eventually put 200 million lamps into use. Organisers say each lamp should work for ten years, saving between 500 and 600 litres of kerosene which would produce about 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Government figures show more than 10,000 impoverished Indian villages have no access to grid electricity, but the solar revolution could also change middle-class lives in urban India, where energy demands have soared. Power cuts are common even in the smarter suburbs of New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata as residents soak up fragile supplies with air-conditioning units, freezers and washing machines. While per capita electricity use in India — 704 kilowatt hours in 2007-2008 — is far lower than the 8,000 kilowatt hours per capita in many industrialised countries, there is no sign of consumption slowing. “There is something like 30 percent overdemand. There’s significant undergeneration as it is, even if you don’t electrify any more,” said Joel Slonetsky, a researcher with LaBL.

Friction over a disputed swath of land along their Himalayan border has been rising, most recently over plans for Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to visit the Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh in two weeks. Beijing reviles the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist, and has protested against the trip saying it was further proof of the Nobel Peace Prize winning monk’s scheming. “The two sides agreed to continue talks, with the aim of incrementally removing the barriers to a solution that was fair and acceptable to both sides,” Xinhua said. Both sides declined an immediate comment about the meeting. China claims about 90,000 sq km (35,000 sq miles) of the region as part of its territory. The two countries fought a short border war in 1962 and, despite burgeoning trade in recent years, mistrust remains. There have been reports in Indian media of Chinese incursions along the border — shrugged off by both governments — and Delhi this month protested against a Chinese embassy policy of issuing different visas to residents of disputed Kashmir. Xinhua said they “agreed on Saturday to gradually narrow differences on border issues”. Singh “underscored the importance for both sides to build better understanding and trust at the political level so that our relations remain robust and strong”, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. Differences should not impede “the growth of functional cooperation between the two countries”, it said. The Dalai Lama plans to make a week-long visit to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh which borders China in early November. Beijing has protested against the trip saying it was further proof of the Dalai Lama’s scheming. But India, which has been home to the exiled Dalai Lama since he fled a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, has cleared the visit.

See Also Page 18

Clinton eyes high-level talks in Islamabad

Indian troop shot from Pakistan side of Kashmir SRINAGAR, India, Oct 24, (Agencies): An Indian soldier was wounded in Indian controlledKashmir on Saturday by shots fired from Pakistan’s side of the disputed region, a senior Indian army officer said, calling it a violation of a cease-fire in the troubled region. The shots targeted an Indian army post and came from a Pakistani post across the cease-fire line dividing the Himalayan region, said Brig. Gopala Krishnan Murali. “A couple of bursts of gunfire came from Pakistani posts. We returned the fire and a bullet hit our soldier, wounding him,” Murali said. “It’s a cease-fire violation.” The incident, which was brief, took place in Mendhar sector, 110 miles (175 kms) southwest of Srinagar, the main city in the Indian portion of Kashmir, Murali told The Associated Press. Pakistani army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said the Indian allegations were “baseless.” Indian and Pakistani troops have observed a cease-fire in Kashmir since November 2003. However, there have been isolated shooting incidents in the past. More than a dozen militant

groups have fought Indian forces since 1989, seeking independence for the Muslim-majority state or its merger with Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Islamic militants, a charge Islamabad denies.

Also: WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Pakistan “soon” for highlevel talks there but her travel dates must be kept secret for security reasons, top aides said. Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley spoke of Clinton’s “desire to travel to Pakistan soon” as Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, gave brief details about her upcoming talks there. “There are security constraints on how we discuss this,” Holbrooke told reporters. “She will see the leadership of the country, the leading members of the opposition, civil society, businessmen and as many people she can in a limited period of time and within the limits of a very, very dramatic situation going on in the country,” Holbrooke added.

In this portrait taken on Aug 18, 2009, Shahana Begum stands with her baby outside her home in a slum on the dry banks of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka’s biggest river. (AFP)

An Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol soldier displays his skills, during the force’s Raising Day parade, in New Delhi, India, Oct 23. The ITBP is a paramilitary force conceived on Oct 24, 1962. (AP)

‘New urban centers needed’

‘Climate refugees’ add strain to Dhaka DHAKA, Oct 24, (AFP): When a cyclone destroyed her home two years ago, Shahana Begum joined the swelling ranks of Bangladeshi “climate refugees” who, experts say, could one day overwhelm the capital Dhaka. Shahana’s family, like more than half a million people in the impoverished nation, lost her shanty home and all her belongings when cyclone Sidr slammed into southern Bangladesh in November 2007, claiming more than 3,500 lives. “I moved to Dhaka because there was nowhere else to go,” said Shahana, for whom home is now a slum on the dry banks of the capital’s biggest river. “My husband now works a little as a fisherman up here but we want to take our two daughters back to the south. There’s no home for us there and no real work,” the 25-year-old said. Almost two years after the cyclone, the United Nations and aid groups say thousands of families like Shahana’s have yet to receive assistance to rebuild their lives. In May this year, another cyclone, which killed 300 people and left 375,000 people homeless, also destroyed 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) of roads and embankments. The country’s leading climate change scientist says it is a sign of things to come.

Cyclone “It used to be that we would have a big cyclone every 15 to 20 years. We are getting a big one now every two or three years,” said Atiq Rahman, who was on the UN’s Inter-government Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Nobel Prize-winning IPCC predicts 20 million Bangladeshis will be displaced by 2050 because of sea level rises and an increase of natural disasters caused by changing weather patterns. The vast majority will be extremely poor and will likely end up in Dhaka’s growing slums, according to Rahman, who has repeatedly called for rich nations to start opening their doors to those displaced by climate change. “There’s no question about whether it’s going to happen, it’s a question of how we respond,” Rahman said, with an eye on the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in December. Dhaka’s population was 177,000 in 1974. Now, with more than 12 million inhabitants, it is one of the most densely populated cities on earth and its infrastructure is buckling under the strain. The World Bank estimates that the city will be home to more than 20 million by 2020. “At the end of the day people will have to move out of the country. No one wants to leave their home but at the end of the day it will happen. Dhaka is already under tremendous pressure,” Rahman said. A 2006 study found that three million — or one in four — of Dhaka’s population live in the city’s slums, up from 1.6 million people in 1996. “We need better warning systems, better preparedness, better disaster management systems and we need to develop other cities. Dhaka is simply not coping under the strain of rapid urbanisation,” said Rahman. The Bangladeshi government says the country needs five billion dollars in the next five years to offset problems created by climate change, including helping its bursting capital cope.

Replace It wants rich countries to help as part of any deal that emerges from the Copenhagen summit, which will try to hammer out a global warming treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012. In June this year, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability poll ranked Dhaka as the 138th worst city in the world to live, with only Harare in Zimbabwe ranked lower. The poll cited frequent water shortages in Dhaka, power outages and severe traffic jams, as well as the city’s dense population. Bangladesh’s second largest city, Chittagong, is home to just three million people and Sweden’s ambassador to Dhaka, Britt Hagstroem, said new urban centres were urgently needed. “There must be other centres developed. Everything cannot be only Dhaka. The city is already huge,” she said. Rabab Fatima, of the International Organization for Migration in Dhaka, said Bangladesh had always had a migratory population, because of river erosion, cyclones and flooding.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

15

Healthcare Dems gauge option on public plan

House bill to close Medicare drug gap WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (RTRS): Democratic leaders moved on Friday to build support among the elderly for a massive overhaul of the US healthcare system, saying the measure would immediately start closing a gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage. The coverage gap, the so-called doughnut hole, occurs after a certain amount of money is spent. This year that level is $2,700 of which $896 is out of pocket expenses by the beneficiary. Coverage begins again once drug costs reach $6,154. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the healthcare reform bill being considered by the House of Representatives would reduce the that doughnut hole and lower the cost of medicine for as many as 4 million elderly next year. Reduce “As of Jan 1, 2010, our legislation will give a 50 percent discount for brand-name drugs to recipients in the doughnut hole, and it will reduce the size of the doughnut hole by $500,” Pelosi said. An earlier version of the bill would have started closing the doughnut hole beginning in January 2011. House Democratic leaders are working to merge three healthcare reform bills approved by committees into a single bill that can pass the House and give President Barack Obama a major victory on a top domestic priority. The emerging bill would also gradually eliminate the gap in prescription drug coverage in 10 years. The earlier version of the bill would have eliminated the gap in 15 years. Medicare is a popular government health program for the elderly and

many are worried that the sweeping healthcare overhaul, which includes some spending cuts in Medicare, would hurt benefits. Recent polls show the elderly are more skeptical than others about healthcare reform. Democrats in the US House of Representatives struggled on Friday to agree on which version of a government-run health insurance plan to include in a reform bill, but said one was certain to be in the final legislation. Backers of a liberal “robust” version of the public insurance plan, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said a head count showed they were a few votes short of the 218 needed for passage but they were still trying to win support. Two other versions of a government-run “public” insurance option are also under consideration in the House, and Pelosi said any of the three would meet the goal of creating more choice in the insurance market. “At the end of the day, we will have a public option in our legislation to keep the insurance companies honest,” Pelosi told reporters, describing the choices among the three as “good, better, best.” She dismissed a media report that she was dropping plans to include the “robust” public option in a House bill being crafted from three pending healthcare measures. “By no means is the count complete or any decisions made,” she said. A healthcare overhaul that reins in costs, regulates insurers and expands coverage is the top domestic priority for President Barack Obama, but it has been slowed by battles over cost, size and the government-run public option.

This image provided by the White House shows US President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters, Malia (second from left), and Sasha, sitting for a family portrait in the Green Room of the White House, on Sept 1. A smiling US President Barack Obama and his family, arms around one another, feature in a new official photo by Annnie Leibovitz, the renowned celebrity photographer. The picture, posted by the administration on its Flickr photo feed Friday, shows a smiling and relaxed First Family. (AP)

America Obama praises Dodd, pushes reform: President Barack Obama urged the financial industry on Friday in Stamford, Connecticut to “join us, don’t fight us” in backing regulatory reform while raising money for one of the reform’s main architects, Senator Chris Dodd. Dodd, a five-term Democratic senator fighting an uphill battle for re-election in Connecticut, is the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, which is overseeing a major overhaul of financial regulation. “I want to stress the urgency of this reform,” Obama told a fund-raising dinner for Dodd, praising him for fighting to establish a financial watchdog agency for consumers. Noting that the country came very close to another Great Depression as a result of the financial crisis, Obama repeated his call for reform to prevent similar turmoil in the future. “Join us, don’t fight us,” he said, arguing that reform would be good for the country and for the industry. Dodd has helped to spearhead a

financial regulatory overhaul and healthcare reform, both of which are among Obama’s top legislative priorities. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Cynical claims’ attacking bill: President Barack Obama said Friday in Cambridge, Massachusettes, that opponents of

his energy bill are disputing the evidence of global warming in a cynical ploy to undermine efforts to curb pollution and steer the nation to greener energy sources. Obama said some opponents “make cynical claims that contradict the overwhelming scientific evidence when it comes to climate change — claims whose only purpose is to defeat or delay the change that we know is necessary.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Michelle gripe president game: What’s

Dodd

Leno

President Barack Obama’s most annoying habit? Practicing his speeches for hours in front of the bathroom mirror? Talking too much foreign policy at the dinner table? No — First Lady Michelle Obama said Friday it’s his tennis game. When they play, the president usually wins. “He beats me quite often,” she said on NBC television’s “The Jay Leno Show,” appearing via satellite hookup from the White House.

“That gets to be pretty annoying.” The show was taped for airing later Friday evening. In a brief skit, Jay Leno pushed her to talk about her husband’s flaws. At first, she sarcastically said he has none. “He’s perfect,” she quipped. Then she let it out: It’s their battles on the tennis court that get her peeved. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Obama offers technology fund: The White House Friday highlighted a new multimillion-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations, following a pledge made by President Barack Obama in his landmark speech to the Islamic world. The White House said in Washington the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had issued a call for proposals for the fund, which will provide financing of between $25 and $150 million for selected projects and funds. (AFP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

16

World News Roundup The Supreme Court quashed Yanukovich’s victory in the rigged 2004 poll after proYushchenko mass protests against electoral fraud. Yushchenko went on to win a re-run ballot in early 2005. “Only the unity of power and the people will be the guarantee that Ukraine will be freed from the evil created by the war between the Orange leaders,” Yanukovich told a congress of his Party of the Regions where he declared himself candidate for the election. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Verdict due January 28: The verdict in a trial pitting former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin against President Nicolas Sarkozy is due on Jan 28, the court said on Friday. Villepin, an aristocratic ex-diplomat and a bitter rival to Sarkozy when they were ministers in the government of former president Jacques Chirac, is accused of taking part in Sarkozy a failed plot to destroy Sarkozy’s bid for power in 2007. The trial came to a close on Friday after weeks of courtroom drama that have badly tarnished France’s political elite. Prosecutors have tried to show Villepin arranged for faked documents apparently implicating Sarkozy and dozens of others from the business and political elite to be sent to a judge investigating kickbacks on an arms deal dating from the 1990s. They have asked for an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros ($67,370) for him and jail terms for the two men accused of being behind the alleged manoeuvre. Villepin has rejected the charge and says he is himself the victim of the president’s vindictiveness. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Kremlin guards parade during a ceremony of the Changing of the Guard, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Oct 24. The uniforms worn were designed to resemble Russian military uniforms used at the time of Czar Nicholas II in 1907-1913. (AP)

Germany

Europe New hope for EU Lisbon treaty: The European Union’s Lisbon treaty looked set to emerge from a limbo as the last hurdle to its ratification, Czech President Vaclav Klaus, nodded to a concession offered by the 27nation bloc on Friday in prague. Klaus is the last EU leader holding out on signing the text, which aims to streamline EU decision-making and must be ratified by all members to take effect. But on Friday the staunch eurosceptic accepted a proposal by the Swedish EU presidency to handle an opt-out from the treaty which he demands and which his critics take as another attempt to delay the ratification. “This proposal corresponds to the president’s expectations and he can continue to work with it,” said Klaus’s office. Two weeks ago, Klaus asked for an exemption from the treaty that would prevent ethnic Germans forced out of his country after World War II from claiming back their property. Britain and Poland won similar exemptions during the treaty negotiations in 2007 — the deeply-Catholic Poland was assured it would not be forced to allow gay marriages, and Britain that EU laws and courts would not prevail over its own judicial system. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Nationalist form alliance: Five European nationalist parties are forming an alliance in opposition to the European Union and globalization, officials said Saturday. Hungary’s Jobbik, France’s National Front, Italy’s Three-Color Flame, Sweden’s National Democrats and Belgium’s National Front formed the Alliance of European National Movements, saying the British National Party, Austria’s Freedom Party as well as groups from Spain and Portugal would join them soon. Far-right parties won a surprisingly large number of seats in June’s European parliamentary elections. Jobbik got three seats and nearly 15 percent of the vote in Hungary, while the British National Party won two seats and 6 percent of the vote. Nationalist parties are usually opposed to immigration and increased rights for homosexuals, say globalization will homogenize independent cultures and don’t want supranational bodies like the European Union to limit the rights of individual countries. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Azerbaijani killed in fighting: An Azerbaijani soldier has been killed in fighting with Armenian forces near the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, news agencies reported Saturday. The Trend and ANS Press agencies reported that the soldier was killed Friday in fighting in Azerbaijan’s Aghdam region, on the de facto border with Karabakh. Officials with Azerbaijan’s defence ministry could not be reached to confirm the reports. Tensions over Karabakh have heightened in recent weeks amid efforts by Armenia and Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, to establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border after decades of hostility. Azerbaijan fears the efforts will lead Ankara to soften its longstanding support for Baku in the dispute. Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian forces seized control of Nagorny Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. The two former Soviet republics have cut direct economic and transport links and failed to negotiate a settlement on the region’s status. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Opposition launches comeback bid: Ukraine’s opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich, ousted in 2005 after mass

Merkel promises ‘relief’, but financing unclear

New govt slashes taxes

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a press conference to present the new government programme in Berlin on Oct 24. (AFP)

Turkson

Pope Benedict

Ghana cardinal in top job Pope Benedict on Saturday appointed a Ghanaian cardinal to one of the most influential jobs in the Vatican, increasing the possibility that the next pontiff might be a black man. The Vatican said Benedict had named Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Cape Coast, Ghana, to head the Justice and Peace Commission, a position roughly equivalent to justice minister. Turkson, Ghana’s first cardinal, becomes only the second African to head Justice and Peace, a department which advises the pope and Vatican on justice issues and prepares documents on topics such as human rights, immigration and law. Turkson, 61, has just completed a high-profile stint as the relator, or secretary general, of the three-week synod on Africa that ends on Sunday. Turkson had already been tipped in Church circles to be a strong candidate for the papacy after the death of the current pope. The new appointment, following the synod job, will give him increased visibility in the Roman Catholic Church and around the world. (RTRS) protests against a rigged presidential poll, launched a comeback bid on Friday with a pledge to end the “chaos” caused by the “Orange revolution” leaders. Yanukovich, 59, seen as a front-runner for the Jan 17 election for the presidency, focused on the bitter rivalry that has sprung up between President Viktor Yushchenko and his

BERLIN, Oct 24, (Agencies): Germany’s newly elected government unveiled its plans for the next four years on Saturday, spearheaded by 24 billion euros of tax cuts in spite of the country’s mammoth debt mountain. “It is all geared to creating jobs,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said, calling the coalition pact, finalised after three weeks of tough negotiations in the early hours of Saturday, Germany’s “answer to the crisis.” “We have agreed a coalition programme showing that we want to advance courageously into the future,” she said. “We are aiming for growth, for the creation of an education republic and social cohesion.” “The burden on families has to be lessened, the burden on companies and inheritance tax has to be reformed,” Merkel told reporters. Merkel, 55, won a second term in elections on Sept 27, ditching her previous coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats, in favour of the probusiness Free Democrats (FDP). The cuts, some of which will take effect from Jan 1, 2010, come despite the parlous state of Germany’s public finances, with the national debt currently standing at around 1.5 trillion euros ($2.25) — and growing fast. erstwhile “Orange” ally, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, since the pro-Western leadership took over. Opinion polls suggest Yanukovich and

Germany already spends tens of billions in interest payments on its debts each year, and it will borrow hundreds of billions of euros more over the next few years as the country reels from its worst recession since World War II. The new government argues that the economic growth that the cuts will trigger will help cover the cost, together with as yet unspecified reductions in public spending.

Promised The FDP, led by Guido Westerwelle, 47, who will be vice-chancellor and foreign minister, had promised voters 35 billion euros worth of tax cuts but Merkel wanted 15 billion euros worth, making this the thorniest issue in the coalition talks. Westerwelle said that Germany’s taxation system would be simplified, and that the new government wanted the country to become “the best in the world” in education and research in order to ensure long-term prosperity. “Courage for the future — that is the central theme,” he said. In other areas, agreement came more easily for the two parties, who have a long history of being in coalition, governing together for 28 years since 1949 when then West Germany was founded. The government wants to reform Tymoshenko are likely to face-off in a second round showdown in early February. Yushchenko has low ratings and is expected to drop out in the first round.

Germany’s creaking health care system by changing the way premiums are set, with the details to be hammered out by a specially created committee. Employee contributions are likely to rise. Chancellor Angela Merkel sealed a coalition deal with the Free Democrats (FDP) on Saturday, promising to revive the German economy with billions of euros in tax relief but failing to spell out how the government will pay for the cuts. The agreement, reached shortly after 2 am, paves the way for a new centreright government to take office next week, roughly a month after Merkel’s conservatives and the FDP won a parliamentary majority in a federal election. The new coalition will look to extend the lifespans of nuclear power plants it judges safe, change banking supervision rules to give the Bundesbank greater powers and ensure continuity in foreign policy, according to the 128-page text. At the centre of the pact is a pledge to pursue income tax relief of 24 billion euros ($36 billion) annually starting in 2011, with low and middle income households and families with children benefiting. Victory would be sweet revenge for Yanukovich who was humiliated in 2004 by Yushchenko in what was known as the fight of the two Viktors.

Conciliatory move

Medvedev in talks

Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe (front row 4th left), and his wife Princess Letizia (front row 5th left), pose with the Prince of Asturias award winners in Oviedo, northern Spain, on Oct 23. (AP)

BARVIKHA, Oct 24, (AFP): President Dmitry Medvedev met Saturday with the leaders of Russian parliamentary factions in a conciliatory move after three parties staged a walkout in protest over alleged voting fraud. While Medvedev himself assessed this month’s local and regional elections as well-run, he told party leaders he had agreed to meet them to prevent the issue turning into a “funeral for democracy.” “Not so long ago we held elections ... which on the whole were well organized. But anyway our parliamentary parties have differing views,” Medvedev said, opening talks at his country residence outside Moscow. “There was a lot of emotion. Therefore, I agreed to meet with you to talk over the results of the vote ... so that all this doesn’t turn into a funeral for our democracy and electoral system.”

Scandal hits leftist party: A scandal has rocked Italy’s main opposition party on the eve of a nationwide primary Sunday designed to select a new leader and relaunch the party’s sagging fortunes. The case centers on widespread media reports that a video shows center-left politician Piero Marrazzo in the company of a transsexual in a Rome apartment. Four policemen have been arrested for allegedly attempting to blackmail the 51-year-old Marrazzo, and an investigation is under way. The video has not been publicly seen and officials have not confirmed its existence. Marrazzo was quoted as saying in Italian newspaper La Repubblica that “the video is fake” and that he is the victim of a smear campaign. However, bowing to mounting pressure, he said Saturday that he was stepping aside from the high-profile job of governor of the Lazio region, which includes Rome, and leaving his responsibilities to his deputy. Marrazzo said in a statement that the move paved the way for his full-fledged resignation. “It’s a personal case in which weaknesses that have to do with my private sphere have come into play,” Marrazzo said in the statement. “The mistakes I have made have in no way interfered with my public activity.” However, he added, the situation has become of such public significance that his staying on was “inappropriate.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Air France warns pilots: In a strongly worded internal memo, Air France has warned its pilots to be more vigilant about safety procedures and upbraided those blaming flight equipment for the crash of Flight 447 into the Atlantic in June. No one knows what caused the accident, which killed all 228 people aboard and was Air France’s deadliest crash. Pilots’ unions said Saturday the company is trying to distance itself from blame — and shift attention to the possibility of human error — as the investigation drags on. “Enough Scandals and False Debates about Flight Security!” reads the memo, sent to pilots Tuesday and obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday. It dismisses calls by pilots for new safety procedures following Flight 447’s crash. “It suffices simply to apply our doctrine, our procedures,” the memo says. Erick Derivry of the SNPL union said he was “shocked” by the letter and that pilots were being made into “scapegoats.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Anti-Semitism on the rise: Violent acts or threats against French Jews in the first half of this year outnumbered all similar incidents in 2008, a Jewish community group said Saturday in Paris, pointing to a wave of antiSemitism following Israel’s attack on Gaza. In the period from January to June, 631 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded, the Paris-based Protection Service for the Jewish Community (SCPJ) said, compared to 474 for the whole of 2008. Some 360 of those took place in January — the month when Israel launched its military offensive on the Gaza Strip. From this year’s numbers, 113 were violent attacks and 518 were threats of violence. The data was based on records from the French interior ministry and the SCPJ’s own figures. The SCPJ said anger over Israel’s offensive on Gaza was one of the main reasons for the rise in attacks on or threats of violence against Jews. “The pro-Palestinian movement of January 2009 paved the way for numerous anti-Semitic attacks,” the group said in a statement. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Prez defends election: Russia’s president on Saturday defended recent local elections that drew fraud allegations, inspired an opposition walkout of parliament and strengthened the Kremlin’s grip on power. Dmitry Medvedev said during a meeting with parliamentary opposition leaders that the election was “overall well-organized.” In broadcast comments he seemed to dismiss allegations of vote-rigging while noting there were legal mechanisms for challenging election results. Nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky later said Medvedev had told the opposition privately that the Oct 11 election results would not be changed. But Zhirinovsky said opposition leaders agreed not to provoke a political crisis. Zhirinovsky led the Oct. 14 walkout. The protest in Russia’s Duma, or parliament, was the first of its kind in nearly a decade. The Kremlin-backed United Russia party swept more than 7,000 local elections in 75 of Russia’s 83 regions on Oct 11. Prominent opposition leaders have charged the vote was rigged. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

17

Diplomacy

‘Real gap in communication’

Xu ‘visit’ shines spotlight on ties

Unidentified BASE jumpers leap from the height of 300 meters of Malaysia’s landmark KL Tower, the 421-meter (1,381-foot) broadcasting tower, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Oct 24. (AP)

Europe

Japan

Survivors to attend trial: Some 160 survivors of Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war left Sarajevo on Saturday to attend the start of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic’s genocide trial in The Hague, a news agency reported. “We are going there (The Hague) to show to Europe and the world that we are still here, still searching for the truth and still waiting for justice,” Munira Subasic, head of an association gathering the 1995 Srebrenica massacre survivors that organised the trip, told FENA. Karadzic’s trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) starts on Monday. However, the 64-year-old, who is acting as his own lawyer, announced earlier this week that he would boycott the start of his trial because he had not been given enough time to prepare it. “Karadzic’s trial should by conducted in line with rules and justice to avoid what had happened with (former Serbian president Slobodan) Milosevic,” said Subasic, who is still searching for the remains of her son and husband. Milosevic died in his prison cell during his genocide trial in 2006. “When he died, justice died as well,” Subasic said. Karadzic faces life imprisonment on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions as Bosnian Serb president during Bosnia’s inter-ethnic war that claimed an estimated 100,000 lives. Along with his military henchman Ratko Mladic, who is still at large, Karadzic is charged notably for the July 1995 massacre of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Agreement would ease tension

Chances grow on signing off US base TOKYO, Oct 24, (Agencies): The Asahi newspaper reported on Saturday that chances are growing Japan may sign off on a plan to reposition a US Marine air base, which would help clear the way for a realignment of US troops in the country. An agreement would ease growing tension with the United States over the reorganisation, an issue which could fray ties with Washington. The Sankei newspaper reported on Friday Japan would tell US President Barack Obama when he visits next month that it would craft a new plan by the end of the year to relocate the base on the southern island of Okinawa, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said there had been no such decision. The Asahi said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had indicated that a decision would be made on the issue by the end of the year. It gave no other details.

Alternate

In this photo taken Oct 22, Sule Pagoda is illuminated in downtown Yangon, Myanmar. Yangonites are experiencing insufficient power supply as the government’s hydropower plants does not supply electricity sufficiently due to a drier rainy season. The country’s rainy season, which would mainly be the source of plants’ energy, is expected to end in early November. (AP)

Police arrest activist: Police in the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan have arrested a prominent environmental activist in what appeared to be a politically motivated action, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in Almaty. Andrei Zatoka was arrested in the city of Dashoguz this week after being attacked by a stranger at a market, Rights Watch said in a statement on Friday. He was himself accused of causing bodily harm to a passer-by. “Zatoka’s arrest appears to be a clear move by Turkmen authorities to stifle his activism,” USbased Rights Watch said. “Authorities should let him go at once and drop any charges against him.” Zatoka, a biologist, has run an environment protection group shut down by the government in 2003. The co-founder of the group, Farid Tukhbatullin, now lives in exile in Europe and monitors human rights abuses in Turkmenistan. Rights groups say the government of the reclusive ex-Soviet republic tolerates no dissent and routinely locks up activists, a charge it denies. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Decide US Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week made a blunt call for the planned realignment to be implemented and for Tokyo to decide on the issue before Obama’s Nov 12-13 visit to Japan, but Hatoyama said on Friday there was no need to rush a decision. Asked if the United States wanted Japan to

Balinese Hindu followers pray at a temple during the celebration of Kuningan on Serangan island, Bali on Oct 24. Balinese Hindu followers are celebrating the prosperity day of Kuningan, a time for commemoration as the ancestors return to heaven after ten days dwelling on earth. (AFP)

79 kilos of heroin seized: Bulgarian customs officers seized a total of 79 kilogrammes (173.8 pounds) of heroin at the southeastern Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint with Turkey, the customs agency said Saturday. The drugs were hidden in a German car travelling from

Since it would be difficult to find an alternate location for the base by that time, chances were growing that the government would have to accept the original plan or one with slight modifications, the Asahi said. Concerns are growing about friction over the long-planned reorganisation of the US military presence in Japan, the first big test of ties between Washington and a new Japanese government that wants more equal relations with its closest security ally. How Hatoyama copes with the dispute could also affect voter support for his monthold government, now riding high at about 70 percent in most polls, especially if he looks indecisive. Central to the reorganisation deal is a plan to move the functions of the Futenma air base — located in a crowded urban area of Okinawa — to a more remote part of the island. It also involves shifting 8,000 Marines to the US territory of Guam, partly at Japan’s expense. Hatoyama had said he wanted the base moved off the island, which lies 1,600 kms (1,000 miles) from the Japanese mainland in the Pacific Ocean. But US officials have ruled that out, saying it would undermine broader security agreements. Foreign Minister Katsyua Okada said on Friday it was unrealistic to consider shifting the functions of Futenma off Okinawa. “Considering that ... the more time we take, the longer the danger at Futenma continues, moving the base outside Okinawa is not a realistic option,” Okada said.

Turkey to Germany. The 37-year-old driver of the car, who has dual Turkish and German nationalities, and a 34-year-old Turkish man travelling with him were arrested. The Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint between Bulgaria and

Turkey is a key point on the socalled Balkan drug trafficking route between Asia and Western Europe. Bulgarian customs have intercepted so far this year a total of 330 kilogrammes of heroin at this checkpoint, the agency said in a statement. About 1,100 kilogrammes of

make a decision by Obama’s visit, US Ambassador to Japan John Roos told Asahi TV in an interview on Friday: “I think the timing of the decision is up to the prime minister and his government. It’s really not up to the United States to set a deadline”. “The important thing is that the process move very expeditiously to a conclusion,” he said. The US-Japan security alliance has been strained as Tokyo’s new center-left leaders, in a row over a US military base, make good on their promise to be less subservient to Washington, analysts say. The five-week-old government has repeatedly signalled it may scrap an agreement to build a new airbase on the southern island of Okinawa, where many residents have long objected to the existing American military presence. The tone hardened this week when US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government to quickly “move on” and resolve the issue before President Barack Obama visits Japan next month. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada shot back later, saying “I don’t think we will act simply by accepting what the US tells us.” Reviewing the base issue, he added, reflected the will of the people. On Friday, Okada relented somewhat, saying new facilities could be built on the island but suggesting they be merged with another US site, the Kadena Air Base, a plan also not favored by the United States. Political observers have taken notice of the new tone in Japan. “Hatoyama’s ‘no’ is the first time Japan is rebelling against the US in decades,” said political analyst Minoru Morita, warning that “Japan-US relations are in danger.” Some commentators warned that Japan’s new government is allowing domestic politics to threaten the security alliance that protected Japan through the Cold War and ever since. The conservative newspaper Sankei Shimbun in an editorial said the government lacked responsibility and should take seriously Gates’ comments as a “warning that the Japan-US alliance could come to a rupture.” Hatoyama signalled during his election campaign that although he values the US alliance, he would also seek a “more equal” relationship. His government, which ended half a century of conservative rule, has said it will end a naval refuelling mission that has supported the Natoled Afghanistan campaign since 2001. Washington initially played down such comments as campaign rhetoric by Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which had never been in government. But concern has grown, especially over the base issue. The Washington Post Thursday quoted an unnamed US State Department official as saying: “The hardest thing right now is not China. It’s Japan.”

heroin were seized on Bulgarian borders in 2008. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Chinese to build bridge: Serbia has signed a deal with a Chinese construction firm to build a bridge in Belgrade, the Serbian broadcaster RTS reported on Friday. Work on the 170 million euro ($255 million) bridge over the River Danube is due to start in October or

Milosevic Karadzic November 2010. It is hoped the 1.5-km (one-mile) bridge will reduce traffic congestion in central Belgrade and ease the

movement of goods out of the city. The contract, with the China Road and Bridge Corporation, still has to be approved by the Serbian parliament before the project can go ahead. “The bridge over the Danube is the most significant economic project between Serbia and China,” the Chinese ambassador in Belgrade, Wei Jinghua, said after the contract was signed. (AFP)

WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AFP): China’s second-highest ranking officer kicks off Saturday a week-long visit to the United States amid signs that testy military relations between the superpowers are thawing. The trip by General Xu Caihou, the most high-profile Chinese military official to travel to the United States in years, is poised to ease tensions that flared earlier this year amid naval standoffs off China’s coast. Xu will meet US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday and tour a string of American bases and installations as the two militaries look to ensure dangerous past miscommunications are not repeated. The high-profile trip comes ahead of President Barack Obama’s first visit to China next month since taking office. Obama is expected to discuss US-China military ties on top of seeking Beijing’s help in stemming the global financial crisis, combating climate change and bridling nuclear drives by North Korea and Gates Iran. Experts say military relations have long lagged behind political and economic ties and note that Xu’s visit comes months after a US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue that failed to address military issues. Washington has expressed concern at China’s military build-up and modernization, pressing for more transparency from the Asian giant on its intentions amid double-digit increases in Beijing’s armed forces budget. The Pentagon chief said last month that China’s increasingly advanced weaponry could undermine US military power in the Pacific, as American aircraft carriers and short-range fighter jets faced potential threats from missiles and anti-ship and anti-satellite systems. China has boosted its conventional missile capabilities to such an extent that an attack involving Chinese shortrange ballistic missiles “could cut every runway at Taiwan’s fighter bases and destroy any aircraft parked in the open,” a RAND Corporation report concluded in August.

Problem “The problem at heart is that China’s leaders are still uncomfortable with a leadership position because of what that entails in terms of responsibility,” Abraham Denmark of the Center for a New American Security told AFP. Beijing and Washington have established a military hotline but “the real test of communication is whether they will pick up the phone,” noted Denmark, a former country director for China affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Although this year’s incidents between Chinese vessels and US Navy ships in the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea were resolved peacefully, “setbacks in the relationship could come at anytime,” warned Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “There is a real gap of communication.” In order to allay each other’s concerns, the two countries could discuss ways to provide each other with greater “strategic reassurance,” Glaser said, repeating US calls for China to reassure the world of its peaceful intentions as it positions itself on the global stage. A long-standing Chinese demand that Washington stop selling weapons to Taiwan — which China claims is part of its territory — is sure to loom large during Xu’s talks with Gates. Beijing cut military exchanges with Washington for months last year over a proposed 6.5-billion-dollar US arms package to Taiwan, but agreed to resume them in February. On Monday, Xu, a vice chairman of China’s central military commission, will visit the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. During his stay ending October 31, he will also tour the US Army’s Fort Benning in Georgia, US Strategic Command in Nebraska, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego and US Pacific Command in Hawaii.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

18

World News Roundup Africa Mugabe shrugs off cabinet boycott: President Robert Mugabe has shrugged off the former opposition’s boycott of Zimbabwe’s unity government, saying he would not yield to pressure to make concessions, state media reported on Saturday in Harare. Mugabe and his former opposition foe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, formed a power-sharing government in February to end a political stalemate that followed last year’s elections. A new crisis hit the government last week when Tsvangirai and his MDC party said it would stop attending cabinet meetings in protest against the arrest of a senior official and Mugabe’s refusal to implement a political pact in full. In his first public comments on the matMugabe ter, Mugabe said his party had fulfilled its part of the agreement and he would not to yield to MDC pressure, according to the statecontrolled Herald newspaper. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Police raid PM party’s offices’: Armed police raided a house belonging to Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party claiming they were searching for weapons, a top party official said on Saturday in Harare. “Last night armed police numbering over 50 raided this residence on the pretext that they were looking for arms stolen from the police or the army,” Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general Tendai Biti told journalists. “They ransacked every room and took a bunch of valuable party material from a room occupied by our organising secretary Morgan Komichi. “They beat up the wife and sister of the caretaker before they started digging part of the garden ostensibly in search of weapons. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Ransom to free aid workers’: A

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (sixth from left), links hands with ASEAN leaders during a group photo session after concluding their 7th ASEAN-India meeting at the 15th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the southern Thai resort town of Hua Hin, Oct 24. From (left top right), are Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Laos Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphvanh, Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong, India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen and ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan. (AFP)

Asia Storm drifts away: Tropical Storm Lupit drifted away from the Philippines on Saturday after a week of zigzagging across the rainsoaked north, allowing residents who had been evacuated to return to their homes. The erratic direction of Lupit — meaning cruel in Filipino — had baffled forecasters. The typhoon was expected to ram into northeastern Cagayan province Friday, but weakened into a tropical storm and stayed offshore. It was the third successive storm in a month to threaten the region. Authorities shepherded at least 2,500 people to seek shelter following back-to-back typhoons in late September and early October that killed nearly 1,000 people, most of them buried in mudslides. On Saturday, Lupit moved further northeast of the Batanes islands in the country’s northernmost tip. It was still packing winds of up to 59 miles (95 kilometers) per hour and gusts of up to 75 mph (120 kph). Government forecaster Manny Mendoza said Lupit may be out of Philippine territory and closer to southern Japan by late Sunday. Northern provinces enjoyed sunny but partly cloudy weather as Lupit drifted away. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Asean Washington role uncertain

Japan pushes E. Asia bloc Putting up Thai traditional handmade parasols, Japanese prime minister’s wife Miyuki Hatoyama (right), Thai prime minister’s wife Pimpen Vejjajiva (centre), and Indian prime minister’s wife Gursharan Kaur (left), stroll at the Thai imperial villa Mrigadayavan Palace in the southern Thai resort town of Hua Hin on Oct 24. Japan’s new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said a proposed East Asian community should aspire to lead the world, it was reported Saturday as he held talks at a regional summit. (AFP)

Myanmar, N. Korea at ASEAN: Southeast Asian leaders, having launched the region’s first human rights watchdog, called Saturday on military-ruled Myanmar to conduct free and fair elections next year but refrained from criticizing one of the world’s worst human rights offenders. Activists said the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was taking a less critical line on Myanmar than in the past, and was ignoring growing demands to press for the release of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. They accused the nations of misinterpreting a new U.S. initiative of engaging Myanmar as an excuse for them to go soft on the junta. A statement from the ASEAN leaders did not mention Suu Kyi, sparing the junta a public scolding. It only “underscored the importance of achieving national reconciliation and that the general elections to be held in Myanmar in 2010 must be conducted in a fair, free, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community.” The ASEAN leaders’ statement also urged North Korea to return to six-party talks aimed at halting Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, and stressed the need to continue domestic stimulus packages to ensure sustained recovery from the global economic crisis. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Kelly

Gun

US mulls direct talks

Baby born on plane healthy: A

The US State Department is considering a rare face-to-face meeting with a North Korean envoy visiting the United States, raising hopes of progress in stalled nuclear talks. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly late Friday said no decision had been taken on who would meet Ri Gun, the senior North Korean nuclear negotiator who has reportedly arrived in New York for a visit of several days. But Kelly said a meeting between Ri and the US special envoy for North Korean disarmament talks, Sung Kim, had not been ruled out. “I wouldn’t exclude that. I don’t have anything to announce about that, but I certainly wouldn’t exclude it,” he said. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that Ri arrived in New York on Friday. He was also expected to visit San Diego on Monday for closed-door informal talks on the nuclear standoff, the event’s director Susan Shirk told AFP. Kelly indicated it had not yet been decided which US official would attend that meeting. Ri’s rare visit has fueled speculation that North Korea is preparing to return to six-party talks about its nuclear weapons program. On Monday, Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said the United States was ready to meet one-on-one with North Korea but only if it leads “rapidly” to full-fledged six-nation denuclearization talks. (AFP)

Malaysian woman who gave premature birth aboard a plane said Saturday in Kuala Lumpur that doctors are expected to release her son from a hospital Monday or Tuesday. Liew Siaw Hsia had been flying home Wednesday after quitting her job as a waitress when she started having labor pains. A doctor

on the flight helped her deliver while the plane was still 2,000 feet (600 meters) in the air. She and the airline said she had been 27 weeks pregnant, 11 weeks short of the full term. The airline, AirAsia, said it would give

Indonesia lifts tsunami alert: Indonesia briefly issued a tsunami warning on Saturday after a powerful earthquake struck the eastern part of the country, but the meteorology agency later lifted the alert. Officials were still checking for possible casualties or damage after the quake struck in an area of the Banda sea southeast of the Maluku islands. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 11:40 p.m. (1440 GMT) and measured magnitude 7.0. Its epicentre was located 232 km (144 miles) northwest of Saumlaki and 366 km southeast of Ambon at a depth of 138.5 km. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, also said that the earthquake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami in the Indian Ocean due to its depth. In Papua, further east, Metro TV reported people panicked and fled to the hills after the quake, while in Ambon, in Maluku, people fled their homes fearing further aftershocks. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

HUA HIN, Thailand, Oct 24, (RTRS): Japan’s prime minister backed a US role for a proposed EU-style Asian community on Saturday, telling Southeast Asian leaders Tokyo’s alliance with Washington was at the heart of its diplomacy. Making a case for an East Asian Community at a summit of Asian leaders in Thailand, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said there should be some US involvement in the bloc, which faces stiff obstacles including Japan’s historic rivalry with China. It was unclear how a US role would work. But the comment may help allay concern in some countries that such a body would ultimately fail by shutting out the world’s biggest economy. Hatoyama may also be trying to defuse US-Japan tension over a planned reshuffling of US troops on the Japanese island of Okinawa, the first big test of ties between Washington and the new Japanese government. “Japan places the US-Japan alliance at the foundation of its diplomacy,” Hatoyama said at the meeting, according to a Japanese government spokesman. “I would like to firmly promote regional cooperation in East Asia with a long-term vision of forming an East Asian Community,” Hatoyama said. Several Southeast Asian leaders expressed support for the bloc, but none spoke of a US role.

The talks are part of a three-day leaders’ summit which got off to a rancorous start on Friday, marred by a diplomatic spat between Thailand and neighbour Cambodia, a trade feud over Filipino rice and a few no-shows in the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). An ASEAN statement summing up those talks called on its most recalcitrant member, military-ruled Myanmar, to ensure elections next year are free and fair, though it stopped short of seeking the release of detained prodemocracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Pursue It also urged North Korea to return to six-way nuclear disarmament talks, and urged its members to continue to pursue domestic stimulus programmes to sustain a nascent recovery from the global financial crisis. Southeast Asian leaders met as a group on Saturday with counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea, a day after launching a much-criticised human rights commission as part of a plan to build their own economic and political community by 2015. The summit in the resort town of Hua Hin gives Asia’s economic titans, China and Japan, a chance to jockey for influence in Southeast Asia, a region of 570 million people with a combined $1.1 trillion economy, as it pulls out of recession.

Japan’s new government sees its influence bound to an East Asian Community, an idea for a new regional trading bloc inspired by the European Union and including India, Australia and New Zealand, along with China, South Korea and ASEAN countries. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will push another idea for a new forum of Asia-Pacific nations and the United States for economic, security, environmental and political crises. Washington has stepped up Asian diplomacy under the Obama administration and fears missing out on such groupings, especially with Japan’s new leaders considering redefining their close security alliance while deepening their Asian ties. US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, told reporters in Beijing this month “critical dialogues that touch on security, economic, and commercial issues should involve the United States”. Accounting for nearly a quarter of global economic output, an East Asian Community could overtake ASEAN’s existing trade ties with Japan, China and South Korea, but would also vie with the “Group of 20”, which anointed itself last month as the pre-eminent forum for global economic coordination. Exactly how Washington would participate is uncertain.

150,000 euros ($225,000) ransom was paid to secure the release of two aid workers in Sudan’s western Darfur region, the Irish Times newspaper reported on Saturday in Dublin. Irish national Sharon Commins and Ugandan Hilda Kawuki, who worked for Irish charity GOAL, were freed on Oct 18 more than 100 days after they were kidnapped at gunpoint. At the time the Irish, Sudanese and Ugandan authorities denied any ransom had been paid. The Irish Times said it was told by Musa Hilal, a former Arab militia leader who is now special adviser to Sudanese President Omar alBeshir, that this denial “is just politicians’ talk”. “The amount of money I just talked about now is something the government doesn’t want to talk about,” he said. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Union adopts refugee treaty: The African Union (AU) adopted a convention on Friday that obliges member states to protect and help millions of people uprooted within their own countries because of conflict and natural disasters. Africa is home to almost half the world’s internally displaced people (IDPs) with 12 million, most of them sheltering in ramshackle camps, shantytowns or among local communities. Unlike refugees, who have fled to another country and have a global UN agency dedicated to protecting their rights, IDPs benefit from little or no protection. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who hosted an AU summit in Kampala on the issue, hailed the pact as an “historic agreement aimed at protecting and assisting our brothers and sisters, the internally displaced”. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ Crew throws clandestine passengers: A Congolese man drowned and three others had to be rescued after they were thrown overboard by the crew of a ship on which they were clandestine passengers, DR Congo authorities said Friday in Kinshasa. The Panamanian-flagged ship, Island of Luc, arrived Monday at the river port of Matadi, but the crew lacked all the necessary documents to unload its cargo of rice, so they were asked to drop anchor clear of the port. The four stowaways were thrown overboard as the boat made its way back downstream on the Congo river to the Atlantic, according to the UN’s Radio Okapi and DR Congo officials. “They were reportedly beaten up before being thrown into the water with an empty five-litre canister tied to each body to help them to float,” the interior minister of the western Bas-Congo Province, David Kuku di Mayeye, told AFP. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Burundi taking threat ‘seriously’: Liew and her child free flights for life. Liew told The Associated Press that doctors at a hospital outside Kuala Lumpur have told her they do not expect any health complica-

tions and she can take her baby home Monday or Tuesday. She said her boy’s current weight was about 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms). “I was worried about my baby, but now I’m

happy,” she said. “I never thought something like this would happen.” A hospital doctor declined to comment, saying it was not their policy to speak about patients. (AP)

Blockade mounted

Native leader detained

A girl washes on a makeshift raft floating on floodwaters in Taytay, east of Manila, Oct 24. The Philippines breathed a sigh of relief on Oct 24 as typhoon Lupit, now downgraded into a tropical storm, veered away from the country which is still dealing with the devastation from two previous deadly storms. (AFP)

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24, (AFP): Malaysian police said Saturday they had arrested a native leader who set up roadblocks in Borneo to stop a logging firm from encroaching on their ancestral land. Ondie Jugah, 55, from the Iban indigenous group, was among a group of 10 people who have mounted a blockade since early this week in the interior of eastern Sarawak state, on Borneo island. Police said Ondie was detained late Friday after he refused to remove the blockade, following complaints filed by the logging company. “We directed him to open up the road but he refused, so we have to take him back to facilitate investigation,” a senior police official from the local Kapit district, who did not want to be named, told AFP. Police said Ondie was expected to be released later Saturday after questioning.

Burundi said on Saturday it was taking seriously threats by Somalia’s Islamist rebels to attack its capital in retaliation to this week’s clashes in Mogadishu. On Thursday, insurgents fired on Somali president’s plane as he flew out, sparking an artillery exchange with Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers that killed at least 21 and wounded dozens. The Shebab rebels said they would attack Kampala and Bujumbura in revenge. “Of course we take the threats by the Shebab seriously... It is something we are aware of since deploying in Somalia and we know that we have to be vigilant to protect our country,” army chief Gaudefroid Niyombare told AFP. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Niger sets amnesty: Niger has decreed an amnesty for rebel Tuareg fighters who laid down their arms this month, the desert state said late on Friday in the latest step aimed at achieving peace in its uranium-rich north. Niger and neighbouring Mali agreed on Oct 6 to a peace deal with most of the main rebel groups who since 2007 have led an uprising in a region where al-Qaeda cells also operate. The amnesty was passed in a decree by President Mamadou Tandja, according to a statement read out on state television. There have been a number of abductions of foreign mining workers by rebels in the region over the past two years, including the brief kidnapping of four employees of France’s Areva mining group in 2008 and the weeklong abduction of a Chinese worker the year before. (RTRS)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

19

Ecuador

Correa criticized

‘Abrasive style’ opens new front QUITO, Oct 24, (RTRS): Leftist Rafael Correa was elected president on promises of curtailing the power of Ecuador’s rich elites. He was not counting on having to do political battle with his poor indigenous base as well. But the confrontational leader is coming under fire from Indian leaders and other one-time allies as he uses his regular Saturday television program to blast the growing list of those who criticize his policies and his pugnacious style. International investors, local bankers and what he calls “corrupt and dishonest” media companies have always been among Correa’s adversaries. Indigenous leaders in Ecuador’s Amazon region, Correa who have helped throw presidents out of office before, are now lining up to oppose some of his policies as well. They say his mining reforms will allow big companies to encroach on and pollute their lands. They also say his water policies will rob local communities of control over natural resources and concentrate control in the hands of the state. Performance Teachers unions have taken to the streets against his performance education reform agenda. The multi-front political battle has taken a toll on Correa’s popularity, which has fallen to below 60 percent from 84 percent in the early days of his government in 2007, analysts say. Correa needs to tone down his rhetoric or risk losing more support, said Santiago Nieto of Quito-based polling firm Informe Confidencial. “The president has quite a confrontational style,” Nieto said. “This approach is losing its efficiency in the current political environment.” On his most recent Saturday broadcast, Correa defended his style, saying he was within his right to speak directly to indigenous leaders and university professors. Demand Low global oil demand has hurt Ecuador’s finances while many international investors shun the OPEC-member country due to the tough stance Correa has taken with the private sector and his 2008 default on $3.2 billion in foreign debt. Growing opposition to Correa is important given Ecuador’s history of toppling presidents in times of economic trouble — its leaders have lasted less than two years in office on average over the last decade. Correa remains one of the country’s most popular presidents after two years in office. In the early stages of his presidency, many Ecuadoreans thanked him for taking on lawmakers many blamed for years of corruption and instability. But going on the counterattack against opposition groups could prove costly for the US-educated former economy minister, who is distrusted by many international oil companies for his push to renegotiate production contracts in a bid to increase government clout in the sector. “Ecuadoreans are tired of hearing his regular Saturday attacks against the indigenous, journalists and everyone else who criticizes the regime,” said Indian leader Monica Chuji in a televised interview this month. “His attitude is arbitrary and antidemocratic,” said Chuji, a former spokeswoman for Correa’s government who fell out with him after an argument over indigenous rights. He won re-election this year after pushing for a new constitution allowing more than one presidential term. Since then the president, who is given to wearing ornate indigenous shirts beneath his suit jacket, has vowed to deepen his socialist reforms, which include setting up Cuban-style “Committees for the Defense of the Revolution”. El Comercio, a local newspaper and regular target of Correa’s tirades, earlier this month said the country is at its “saturation point” with the tough-talking leader. Newspaper columnist Julio Cesar Navas wrote last week: “Frankly, it’s not very nice to have a neighbor who wants to fight every weekend.”

Policemen take position during an operation in search of traffickers, drugs and weapons in Vila Cruzeiro slum in Rio de Janeiro, on Oct 23. Authorities blame drug dealers for more than 30 slayings in Rio just this week as officials aim to rid the city of crime before the 2016 Olympic Games. (AP)

Violence Authorities pledge to crack down harder than ever

Rio battles crime prior to Olympics In this photo released by the presidential press office, El Salvador’s President Mauricio Funes (right), shakes hands with Cuba’s Ambassador Pedro Pablo Parada in San Salvador, on Oct 23. Funes delivered diplomatic credentials to Parada, reestablishing diplomatic relations after 48 years. (AP)

Fernandez

Silva

Lat/Am Argentine general jailed: Retired Argentine general Jorge Olivera Rovere was sentenced Friday Buenos Aires, to life in prison for crimes committed during the 1979-1983 dictatorship, including the assassination of two Uruguayan lawmakers. Judge Daniel Gordo sentenced the 82-yearold after a case involving four murders and 107 disappearances or kidnappings. Rovere gained international notoriety as the sometime spokesman of Argentine dictator Leopoldo Galtieri during the 1982 Falklands War with Britain. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

New constitution approved: President Leonel Fernandez is close to achieving one of his major goals in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic now that legislators have approved in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic a new constitution that allows leaders to serve an unlimited number of terms. The charter would be at least the 33rd enacted in the Caribbean country’s 165-year history. It was adopted by a constitutional assembly Thursday and will go to a revision committee before being submitted to Fernandez. Approval came after objections from hundreds of citizens who felt excluded from having their say over controversial provisions that include a total ban on abortion and the guarantee of private property rights over valuable, once public beaches. “The Dominican Republic has lost a great opportunity to create a true constitution that respects the rights of Dominicans,” said Javier Cabreja of Citizens’ Participation, a civic group that criticized the revision process. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ 10 dead in bus crash: At least 10 bus passengers were killed and another 12 injured Friday when their vehicle collided with a truck on a main freeway in the Venezuelan capital, rescue officials said in Caracas. “Eight people died at the scene and another two” died at local hospitals, said Victor Lira, director of the area’s Civil Protection agency, adding that some of the wounded were in a critical condition. The head of the city’s firefighters, William

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 24, (AP): They go by names like “Scooby” and “Big Baby” but carry the best weapons money can buy, are accused of torturing cops and even managed to shoot down a police helicopter. They are drug dealers who hold court deep inside most of Rio de Janeiro’s 1,000 slums, surrounded by foot soldiers carrying Belgian-made assault rifles, Israeli pistols, grenades, anti-aircraft weapons and endless rounds of ammunition. The criminals drew international attention this week following bloody shootouts that left more than 40 people dead, just days after Rio was awarded the 2016 Olympic Games. Authorities have pledged to crack down harder than ever on the criminals to ensure safety for the Olympics — while assuring the rest of the world that the violence is actually restricted to small areas of this seaside city of 6 million people, famed for its raucous Carnival and gorgeous beaches.

Dominate “There have always been those miniregions in Rio de Janeiro where drug traffickers dominate,” said Rio state Public Safety Director Jose Beltrame. Beltrame concedes, however that those “mini-regions” can be found in slums dotting every corner of Rio, rich and poor. Ask any of the 2 million slum dwellers — taxi drivers, businessmen, housewives, barbers, and police officers

Martinez, said the truck appeared to have lost control and struck the back of the bus, pushing it onto the median where it flipped over. Authorities have launched an investigation to determine whether excessive speeding or a brake failure may have caused the crash. Last weekend, at least 24 people died in two traffic accidents on Venezuela’s chaotic free-

— whose lives are dominated by drug chieftains and violent militias, and they will tell you that defeating the criminals is formidable, if not impossible. “The police are playing a game they have already lost,” said vegetable seller Roberto Lima, tending his small stand at the base of the Tabajaras slum in Copacabana, where a heavy police patrol came through the day before. “They have to make their efforts, we understand. But they are working outside the reality that they don’t control this place.” Lima’s remarks reflect the fatalistic attitude pervading nearly every conversation about controlling crime in Rio. The statistics show why: In 2008, there were 5,717 homicides in Rio state, the vast majority in Rio de Janeiro’s metropolitan area. In comparison, Vancouver, Canada, which will host the 2010 Winter Olympics, had a total of 58 slayings last year. Viva Rio, a Brazilian organization that aims to rid the city of arms, recently released a report stating that criminals in Brazil have three times as many weapons as police. Beltrame describes the difficulty of confronting the criminals on their own turf: “When we enter a slum ... where they have their stockpile of weapons and ammunition,” the criminals are “defending their territory and reacting against police as if it were a war.”

Assault Brazilian newspapers this week pub-

ways. (AFP) ❑

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Drug flights from Venezuela: Most illegal flights hauling Colombian drugs to Central America and the United States are now leaving from Venezuela, Colombia’s Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said on Friday in Bogota.

lished several photos of masked gunmen, proudly displaying their assault rifles in broad daylight while standing atop hillside slums, seemingly daring authorities to take them on. This week’s shootouts were yet another episode in an ever-repeating cycle of violence: About 150 members of the Red Command drug gang in northern Rio invaded the Monkey Hill slum controlled by rivals before dawn last Saturday. Intense gunfire ensued and police responded as they had many times before, in helicopters that hovered over the scene while fellow officers battled criminals on the ground below. But this time, for the first time, one of those helicopters was shot down, crashlanding in flames in a football field and killing three officers — just one mile (two kilometers) from the Maracana stadium, where the Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies and the 2014 World Cup final will be held. In the days since, more than 2,000 officers have responded, invading more than a dozen slums in search of those responsible. Meanwhile, the bodies keep piling up: Two men were found shot to death Friday, their corpses left in a homemade cart, while four other bodies were found nearby. Earlier this week, a slum dweller delivered two dead men to a hospital in his van, telling police that traffickers ordered him to. Authorities pledge to ramp up their The charge could further raise tensions between the Andean neighbors currently embroiled in a diplomatic standoff that has begun to damage bilateral trade of some $7 billion a year. Traffickers in Colombia, still the world’s No. 1 cocaine producer, use Venezuela as a transit route to reach markets in the United States and

actions against the tens of thousands of drug gang members who they say present the biggest obstacle to the city’s peace and tranquility. “We’re going to smother these traffickers and give them no breathing room,” police Col Marcus Jardim told reporters this week. “We’re going in with rifles in hand. Society wants answers. We’re going to hunt down these criminals.” Taxi driver Alexandre Baldi, who lives near a slum in Rio’s center, has his doubts. “It’s a war without end,” he said. “The police can’t occupy every slum.” Beltrame hopes the latest violence — erupting as it did when the city was under the Olympic spotlight — will galvanize Brazil’s leaders to aggressively tackle crime and “look for a solution that is definitive, visible, palatable and concrete to deliver to society.” The federal government responded earlier this week with a promise of $55 million in new funding for Rio police and a new, bullet-resistant helicopter. But if the words of a Red Command drug gang leader are to be believed, that will not be nearly enough to tackle a problem with social and political implications that extend beyond the scope of law enforcement. “The government has totally abandoned these areas,” the 26-year-old leader told The Associated Press earlier this year as he stood on a dirt street populated by hundreds of shacks and polluted by open sewers. Europe, and also smuggle through the Caribbean, Africa, Central America and Mexico. “The number of radar tracks that are detected coming out of Colombia is marginal. Unfortunately the number of tracks detected and that end in the area around Honduras ... pass through Venezuelan territory,” Silva told reporters. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Re-election ruling ‘next year’:

More evacuations

Fire spews toxic smoke

Smoke billows from a fuel storage facility run by the Caribbean Petroleum Corp and owned by Gulf in Catano, Puerto Rico, on Oct 23. An explosion at the fuel storage facility sent earthquake-force shock waves across Puerto Rico’s capital and created a tower of smoke that forced airliners to alter flight paths. No one was reported killed. (AP)

SAN JUAN, Oct 24, (RTRS): Authorities in Puerto Rico on Friday ordered the evacuation of hundreds more residents from homes around a huge fire at an oil depot which spewed a column of toxic black smoke into the sky near the capital San Juan. Some 130 firefighters, backed by National Guard troops, were still trying to put out the massive fire, hours after an early morning explosion triggered the blaze at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. storage facility at Bayamon. After initially destroying 11 tanks at the 40tank site, the fire spread to at least six more, containing products such as jet fuel, bunker fuel and gasoline. It was one of the largest fires ever in the US Caribbean island territory. “There are 17 tanks ablaze, and the firefighters are cooling the rest to avoid their explosion,” Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno said. He declared a state of emergency in San Juan and four surrounding towns.

Colombia’s constitutional court likely will not rule until next year on President Alvaro Uribe’s re-election bid, complicating the campaign for the US ally to secure a third term, the court’s chief said on Friday in Bogota. Colombia’s Congress has approved a referendum on whether to amend the constitution to allow Uribe a third consecutive term. But the court has yet to rule on the legality of the process to clear the conservative for another run in May next year. Electoral authorities say once the constitutional court makes its ruling, they will need at least two months to organize the re-election referendum, which could now be pushed back very close to the presidential vote. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

7 prisoners burn to death: At least seven convicts burned to death on Friday in a riot in a prison in northeast Brazil, Globo News television reported in Rio de Janeiro. Five of the prisoners died in the facility in the city of Joao Pessoa, while the other two died on their way to hospital, according to initial reports. A guard at the prison, Anderson Cleiton, said up to “10 to 15” detainees could have been killed. The riot started when inmates in one wing set fire to their mattresses. The blaze rapidly spread in the prison, which has 860 convicts. (AFP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

20

World News Roundup Climate Massive tax: critics

Bill could add $100 in costs WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AP): A Senate plan to tackle global warming would add about $100 a year to the energy costs for a typical American household, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. The analysis released late Friday by the office of Sen Barbara Boxer, who heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, generally mirrors the cost projected by the EPA when it examined similar legislation that the House passed in the summer. The Democratic bill calls for cutting greenhouse gases from power plants and large industrial facilities by shifting energy use away Boxer from fossil fuels, especially coal. It would cap emissions and allow trading of pollution allowances to mitigate the cost. Boxer, a California Democrat, has scheduled hearings this coming week on the bill. The committee will hear from Obama administration officials, including the EPA, on Tuesday.

Accused

The tall ship ‘Southern Swan’ approaches Man-o-War steps to join the 350.org, an organisation named after the atmospheric carbon target of a cut to 350 parts per million, rally on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, Oct 24, to kick off an international day of protest about global warming. Similar stunts were planned at some 4,000 locations in more than 170 countries across the globe to mark 50 days until world leaders meet in Copenhagen to thrash out a new climate change treaty. (AFP)

Environment EPA to cut toxic emissions: The US Environmental Protection Agency agreed to issue rules by November 2011 to cut toxic air pollution at electric generating plants that burn coal or fuel oil, a federal court ruled. The court-ordered agreement issued on Thursday will reduce mercury pollution and soot that cause asthma, bronchitis and other heath problems, particularly in children. The EPA acted after a coalition of environmental and public health groups sued the agency. The fallout of mercury and other metal emissions from power plants can occur within 100 miles (161 km) of the source, and then move up the food chain through fish and other animals. “Power plants are the largest unregulated industrial source of air toxics. It is unconscionable that 19 years after the Clean Air Act of 1990, we still do not have air toxics controls on these large existing sources of pollution,” said James Pew of Earthjustice. “Cleaning up dirty coal-burning power plants is the best way to make the air healthy for the American people,” said John Walke, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Under the settlement, the EPA has to propose its rules by March 16, 2011, and issue the final rules by Nov. 16, 2011. The EPA said tackling hazardous air pollutants from utilities was a “high priority.”. “The agency is committed to developing a strategy to reduce harmful emissions from these facilities, which threaten the air we all breathe,” it said. The EPA was required under the Clean Air Act to slash toxic air emissions at power plants by December 2002. The former George W. Bush presidential administration asked Congress to end that requirement, but lawmakers said no. The Bush administration then tried to convince the courts that the pollution controls were not needed, a move that was rejected in February 2008. The groups sued and now the EPA under the Barack Obama administration agreed to issue the rules within two years. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ Tercek to ‘save world’: The biggest conservation organization in the world says it needs help saving the world’s diminishing storehouse of unspoiled nature. The president and chief executive of the Washington-based Nature Conservancy wants to enlist countries and corporations to preserve rain forests and other ecosystems by unleashing market forces and by opening eyes. The Conservancy has quietly moved over the past half-century to protect some 119 million acres (48 million hectares) of land around the world — an area slightly larger than California. It has also protected 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of rivers and 100 marine sanctuaries, but wants to do more and to raise its profile, said its leader, Mark Tercek. Most recently, the organization purchased a large swath of Montana that is prime grizzly bear habitat and helped engineer a compromise among loggers, native peoples and conservationists over a huge forest along Canada’s West Coast. “We have this vision or mission to basically save the world,” Tercek said. “As good as we are, and as proud as we are of all our projects, if you add them all up it doesn’t seem to really move the needle. So we now have to achieve conservation on an even greater scale. How do we do that?” Tercek said he can show policymakers how conservation and economic development can co-exist. He is lobbying the US Congress and participants in upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen to give developed countries like the United States incentives to pay billions of

Climate International day of protest against global warming

Thousands join ‘wake up’ call

A climate activist is pictured on the steps of Paris’ former stock exchange during a flash mob called by Greenpeace, WWF, Oxfam associations on Oct 24, as part of the International Day of Climate Action about global warming. They held cellphones and alarm clocks to wake up French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the crisis of climate change 50 days before of world leaders summit in Copenhagen. (AFP)

Rasmussen

Hedegaard

‘Climate talks slow’ Talks on a global climate treaty have been “painfully slow” and must speed up or they will fail to reach an agreement in December, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Saturday. Governments are due to meet in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18 to try to reach a climate accord that would replace provisions of the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012. “The sense of urgency is setting in as we approach the deadline,” Rasmussen told an international gathering of parliamentarians at the Danish parliament. “Negotiations have been ongoing for almost two years and progress has been painfully slow,” he said. “Clearly, at current speed, we will not make it in the remaining weeks.” But Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard told the gathering a partial agreement was not feasible because the various aspects of a deal, such as finance and adaptation measures, were interlinked. (RTRS) dollars to developing nations. They, in turn, would preserve rain forests and other ecosystems that are carbon stores. By preventing deforestation that would release carbon as greenhouse gases, developed nations can offset their own emissions and buy time to reduce carbon footprints through energy conservation and developing renewable energy.

PARIS, Oct 24, (AFP): Kicking off with thousands gathering on the steps of Sydney’s iconic Opera House, global warming protests took place around the world Saturday to mark 50 days before the UN climate summit. From Asia to Europe via the Middle East, activists staged lively events addressing world leaders and to mobilise public opinion around climate issues. Many waved placards bearing the logo 350, referring to 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere which scientists say must not be exceeded to avoid runaway global warming. France’s politicians received a “wake up” call from several hundred Parisians who chose clocks as their symbol. Protesters who met in a central square had set their alarm clocks and mobile phones to ring at 12:18 pm (1018 GMT) in reference to the closing date of the summit, which lasts from Dec 7-18. The summit is considered crucial as world leaders will try to thrash out a new treaty to curb greenhouse gas emissions in place of the Kyoto Protocol which will expire in 2012. Discussions However, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said Saturday that preliminary discussions are not moving fast enough for an international decision to be concluded in Copenhagen. “It is time to give full speed to the negotiations,” Rasmussen said, adding that he wanted a legally binding international agreement to be in place by January. There is growing concern that a treaty deal in Copenhagen could be hampered by issues including US domestic politics and the problems of securing agreement between developed and developing countries. Rasmussen underlined that progress had been made on climate issues but that these “key political questions” still had to be resolved ahead of the December meeting.

Tercek insisted the money transfer works, pointing to projects in Indonesia, Bolivia and Brazil as examples. The Conservancy has also worked with energy giants like BP in Wyoming to conserve unspoiled land in exchange for drilling rights. Tercek, 52, is a Goldman Sachs veteran picked to lead the Nature Conservancy 15 months ago. He institutionalized the Wall Street firm’s environmental conscience by melding the interests of clients to environmental forces.

In Berlin, some 350 protesters wearing masks with the face of German Chancellor Angela Merkel came together in front of the Brandenburg Gate in the city centre. In the Lebanese capital Beirut hundreds of activists, many wearing snorkels, held demonstrations in key archaeological sites. They gathered around the Roman ruins in central Beirut, in the ancient eastern city of Baalbek and along the coast, carrying placards bearing the logo 350. “It’s not the first time Beirut will have gone under water,” Wael Hmaidan of the IndyACT group organising Beirut’s protests said to AFP, explaining the goggle-wearing, “but this time it’s going down because of climate change, and not earthquakes.” In Jakarta, around 100 students from the London School of Public Relations also gathered to form the symbolic number 350, coordinator Candy Tolosa said on Detik.com news website Saturday. Consequences In central Madrid, the Spanish capital, members of the Platform Against Climate Change, grouping social organisations, ecologists and unions, acted out parodies of the “catastrophic consequences of climate change on the planet”, the Platform’s press release said. Environmental activists in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul staged their protest in a boat, unfurling a banner reading “Sun, wind, right now!” under the main bridge linking Asia and Europe over the Bosphorus Strait, Anatolia news agency reported. They then sailed to the ancient Maiden’s Tower, which sits on a tiny islet in the Bosphorus, and unfurled another banner reading “Jobs, climate, justice,” the report said. Climate activists gathered on the steps of Sydney’s iconic Opera House and along the city’s beaches to kick off an international day of protest about global warming.

Walke

Tercek

Along the famous sands of Bondi Beach and across the span of the Harbour Bridge protesters gathered with placards bearing the logo 350 to call for a cut in carbon emissions to 350 parts per million (ppm), organisers said. Thousands of people gathered on the steps of the Opera House for an outdoor concert and formed a giant 350 with their bodies, one of more than 200 events to be staged across the continent, said spokeswoman Blair Palese. Church bells at the city’s largest cathedral sounded 350 times, while groups ranging from scuba divers to Frisbee players gathered to stage events Australia-wide. Similar stunts were planned at some 4,000 locations in more than 170 countries across the globe, including the Eiffel Tower, Times Square and the Himalayas, said Palese. Australia has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by up to 25 percent by 2020 compared to 2000 levels if an “ambitious” target is agreed in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, around 1,000 people joined a protest march Saturday to demand government action on toxic waste sunk by the mafia in boats off the southern Italian coast, media reports said. “The state must consider this task a priority by allocating funding and supporting the magistrates’ inquiry, and monitoring polluted sites and cleaning them up,” said the president of the environmental organisation Legambiente, Vittorio Cogliati Dezza, quoted by Italian media. The demonstrators marched through the town of Amantea holding banners reading “No to the Calabria dustbin.” Former anti-corruption judge Antonio di Pietro, now head of the opposition Italy of Values party (IDV), took part to “show the indignation of honest Italians who are fed up of being governed and crushed by racketeering and speculation.”

The organization he now heads has $1.3 billion in assets and a $450 million annual budget, which he said gives it more resources than any other conservation group. The recession cut into the Conservancy’s endowment and curbed contributions from its many wealthy donors, so it trimmed its 4,000person staff by 400 this year. “We want to do projects like these forest carbon projects that can be enormous and harness market power,” Tercek said. (RTRS) “The other thing we want to do is we need

President Barack Obama, in a speech Friday in Boston, said he believes “a consensus” is emerging in Congress on the climate issue. But he also accused some opponents of making “cynical claims that contradict the overwhelming scientific evidence” that the earth is becoming warmer in an attempt to derail legislation. “There are those who will suggest that moving toward clean energy will destroy our economy, when it’s the system we currently have that endangers our prosperity and prevents us from creating millions of new jobs,” Obama told his audience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Boxer said the bill provides “a clean energy future, creating millions of jobs and protecting our children from dangerous pollution.” Critics of the bill have called it a massive energy tax. They also say the EPA uses overly optimistic assumptions disguising the likely increase in energy costs to consumers.

Complete Oklahoma Sen James Inhofe, the committee’s top Republican, said the EPA analysis was “unacceptable” and he wanted a more complete economic assessment of the bill before moving ahead. He said committee Republicans may force a delay; Boxer wants a committee vote in early November. “One would think that, prior to legislative hearings, the committee would have a thorough, comprehensive economic analysis to understand how an 800-plus page bill, designed to fundamentally reshape the American economy, affects consumers, small businesses, farmers, and American families,” Inhofe said in a statement. The EPA analysis released by Boxer said while there are differences between the Senate and House bills, they are so small that the economic costs “would be similar” in the case of either bill. As a result, the EPA produced in detail the same numbers for household costs it issued earlier this year when examining the House legislation — and no revised numbers specifically for the Senate legislation. It said the cost would add between $80 to $111 a year to households energy bills as a result of higher prices, although energy consumption was expected to decline slightly as a result of increased efficiency measures. There have been widely conflicting price tags estimated for the climate bills. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the household cost of the House-passed bill at about $175 a year in 2020. It has not examined the Senate bill. But some industry-cited studies have put the cost much higher, some claiming possible added costs of as much as $3,000. Boxer also released a summary of changes to the bill that was introduced by Sen John Kerry of Massachusetts last month. The revised bill describes how pollution allowances for curbing greenhouse gases would be distributed. It is similar to the distribution in the House bill with 35 percent going to large electricity distribution companies, with an understanding that the benefits would be passed onto consumers to ease the impact of electricity prices. Free allowances also would go to smaller electricity distribution companies, natural gas distributors, providers of home heating oil and to offset costs for low and moderate-income households. A slightly larger portion of the allowances would be auctioned off by the government than would be under the House bill. ❑

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On the Net: EPA analysis: http://tinyurl.com/ ylruozv Sen Boxer’s release: http://tinyurl. com/npwe5u

Movie expected to make $660m worldwide

Film

Sony looks for box office hit with ‘This Is It’ LOS ANGELES, Oct 24, (RTRS): Heading toward its Oct 28 release, Michael Jackson movie “This Is It” looks like a box office winner for Sony’s Columbia Pictures movie studio with one estimate saying it could make more than $600 million worldwide in a limited two-week run. Jackson’s many fans are hungry for one last chance to see their idol sing and dance on screen, and the film’s makers promise an image of him that is more like the pop star who ruled the charts in the 1980s, and less like the frail paparazzi target he seemed in recent years. Industry watchers say the unique nature of “This Is It” — part docu-

mentary and part concert film starring a legend who is no longer living — make it difficult to judge how successful it will be for Sony Corp unit Columbia Pictures because there are few, if any, comparisons to it. Based on the $60 million Columbia paid to release the film, plus marketing costs, and taking into account distribution fees it will earn, industry insiders predict the film needs to make just over $100 million at worldwide box offices to profit. Some experts said “This Is It,” which opens Wednesday in more than 3,400 theaters in the United States and Canada, could make $40 million in those domestic markets

during its first five days, but that is at the low end of estimates. A rival studio executive who asked to remain anonymous said over its two-week run the film could make $660 million globally — $260 million domestic and $400 million internationally. “This is a big win for Sony,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Hollywood.Com’s box office division. “The fact that (Columbia) was able to put this kind of a deal together quickly, and that they were able to obtain the rights, speaks volumes about their ability to get things done.” Columbia has said the movie will be extended beyond its two-week

run if ticket demand is high, and it plans to release the DVD for the movie in early 2010. Still, for parent company Sony, whose annual revenues total $79 billion from a range of businesses including most prominently consumer electronics, any one movie will rarely have a huge impact on the corporate bottom line, experts said. “I’d say it’s likely to be a big success, but Sony is so huge I don’t believe it matters much beyond a quarter,” said industry analyst Harold Vogel of Vogel Capital Management. “This Is It” is mostly composed of video footage of Jackson rehearsing for a series of concerts in the weeks

before his unexpected June 25 death from an overdose of powerful drugs. In the following weeks, his fans paid tribute at gatherings from London to Tokyo and at a Jackson family memorial service in Los Angeles attended by about 18,000 people. Fans lined up for tickets to the movie when they went on sale in Bangkok, Munich and elsewhere, and many early screenings sold out fast. Still, there remains some uncertainty about the box office because sales of Jackson-related products have shown mixed results since his death. His music has seen a resurgence in popularity with Nielsen SoundScan

reporting more than 5.5 million in physical album sales for the “Thriller” singer and the equivalent of more than 900,000 in online album sales. But the Oct 13 reissue of Jackson’s 1988 autobiography “Moonwalk” was met with more tepid reaction by consumers. So far, the book has sold 12,000 copies at major retailers, US tracking firm Nielsen BookScan said. Online retailer Amazon.com listed “Moonwalk” at mid-day Friday as its 156th top seller, far behind such titles as 1963 children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are,” which was ranked 16th after the release of a movie adaptation this month.

Features

Variety

Actress Evan Rachel Wood arrives at the launch of Gucci Icon-Temporary, a flash sneaker store, in New York, Oct 23. (AP)

Film

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

Paranormal Activity scares up box-office delight

STOCKHOLM: A Norwegian businessman has bought the late Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman’s former house, reports said on Friday. Hans Gude Gudesen, who made a fortune in IT, hopes to turn the property into an arts centre supported by a foundation, according to Swedish media. The director died in 2007 and his belongings have been sold at auction in Stockholm over recent months, in accordance with his wishes. Gudesen paid an undisclosed sum for the property, which was valued at between three and four million euros. The property consists of four buildings - one of which housed Bergman’s private cinema - on the coast of the remote Baltic island of Faaroe. The house is typically Swedish in style, built of wood and surrounded by rocks, sand dunes and pine trees, and the main building appears in “Scenes from a Marriage”, one of Bergman’s best-known films. The Swedish government, which refused to buy the property, welcomed the sale. “For the government, it is important that Ingmar Bergman’s artistic heritage is preserved and made accessible,” the culture ministry said in a statement. Gudesen has already bought a number of Bergman’s personal belongings at auction, Swedish media reported. Bergman died at the age of 89 after directing more than 40 films during a career that spanned the second-half of the 20th century. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ NASSAU, Bahamas: A Bahamas judge asked a lawmaker Friday to explain remarks that led to a mistrial in the John Travolta

‘Saw VI’ carves up more of the same NEW YORK, Oct 24, (Agencies): There’s not really much to say anymore about the “Saw” series, which has found its formula and is sticking with it. Arriving Friday for its annual Halloween time slot, this Lionsgate franchise is now in its sixth edition. It might well be time for a creative rebooting; the freshness, if not the viscera, has begun to diminish. There is, however, at least one all too timely angle to this year’s installment, courtesy of screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. The chief victims here are predatory lenders — two of whom are dealt with in a harrowing opening scene in which the heinous Jigsaw demands a literal pound (or more) of flesh — and an uncaring insurance company executive, whose struggles through yet another diabolical series of torture contraptions comprise most of the film’s running time. If this is torture porn, it’s as if it was designed to be enjoyed by Michael Moore. Indeed, the film’s most compelling scene is entirely free of bloodshed. It’s a flashback depicting Jigsaw/John’s anguished conversation with the insurance company exec when he’s denied coverage for an experimental treatment of his cancer. “F***ing insurance companies,” he exclaims, shortly after noticing that the fish tank in the office is filled with — what else? — piranha. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same old

extortion case. Picewell Forbes was summoned before the judge for announcing an acquittal Wednesday night while the the jury was still deliberating a verdict for two defendants accused of trying to blackmail the movie star. Senior Justice Anita Allen told

Bergman

story, as Jigsaw/John, played as usual to icy perfection by Tobin Bell, continues to enjoy more screen time dead than he did when he was alive. Perpetuating his twisted legacy is, among others, Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who may be just as evil but, let’s face it, doesn’t quite have the same panache. And by this point, the increasingly twisted chronology of the various supporting characters is beginning to become headache inducing. As usual, what gives the film whatever interest it has — beyond satisfying the rapacious appetites of gore aficionados — is the moral element attached to the various Rube Goldberg-style set pieces. Here, it’s exemplified by a well-staged sequence in which a man must choose who lives or dies during a particularly lethal variation of musical chairs. ❑

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Fueled by rave word-of-mouth reviews and clever marketing, micro-budget horror film “Paranormal Activity” has taken the box office by storm to become one of the year’s most unlikely hits. Following in the footsteps of 1999’s “The Blair Witch Project,” director Oren Peli’s acclaimed film — made for just $11,000 — has already earned 37 million dollars in North America alone. Like “Blair Witch,” “Paranormal Activity” is simple but effective. Spooked by things that go bump in the night, a young couple in sub-

Travolta

Forbes that he has until Thursday to show why he should not be charged with contempt of court. Forbes did not provide an explanation at the hearing, but his lawyer said earlier he was only repeating a rumor he heard moments before making a televised speech at political convention.

urban California decide to leave a camera on at their bedside to record supernatural goings on. “It’s an unbelievable phenomenon,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst with box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. Remarkably, the hit movie has had to wait to reach the big screen, having been filmed as long ago as 2006. Initially snapped up by Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks, “Paranormal Activity” was eventually released by Paramount after the two studios split in 2008.

Decision Bock meanwhile said Paramount’s decision to postpone the release of Martin Scorsese’s latest film “Shutter Island” from October 2009 to February next year had worked in favor of “Paranormal Activity.” “They could focus all their attention on this very small film,” Bock said. Paramount’s marketing campaign for the film was built around word-of-mouth and Internet buzz following a handful of screenings at select festivals. Amy Powell, senior vice president of interactive marketing at Paramount, said executives had taken the decision to allow fans to “be an important voice in dictating where the film would be released.” “We have been able to galvanize the community online to actually drive the release strategy and the film has been released as a result of the fans support,” Powell said, saying

Allen said she declared a mistrial because the announcement created the appearance of a leak from the jury room. “One can see that the fairness of the trial could have been compromised,” Allen said. “I operated under the maxim that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done, which is the

social networking sites had helped create buzz. “We decided that if we hit a million demands, we would open the movie nationwide and we hit a million demand in only four days. The reason it went so fast is because of the social media tools that we used: Facebook, Twitter.” Powell described comparisons to “Blair Witch” as “wonderful.” “That movie was 10 years ago and there was an entirely different set of tools available at that time to market a movie,” she said. “We are the lucky benefactors of all the innovations that happened online.” Stuart Ford, chief executive of IM Global distributors, said he had been convinced the film would be a hit after watching it for the first time in 2007. “I didn’t imagine that it would become such a phenomenon. What I did know was that there was something unique, and scary about it,” Ford said. “And that’s why I took it on, not because I was convinced it would be a huge theatrical box-office success, but it definitely had something different.” Ford sold worldwide rights to the film in just 48 hours, something he described as “pretty much unheard of.” “We recruited 250 teenagers here in Los Angeles, and let the distributors watch the film in a movie theater with its target audience,” Ford said.

basis on which the jury was discharged.” Defendant Pleasant Bridgewater, a politician from Forbes’ party who resigned her Senate seat after she was charged, is accused of aiding paramedic Tarino Lightbourne in a plot to seek $25 million from Travolta in exchange for not releasing private

information about his son’s January death in the Bahamas. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to extortion charges. An attorney for Forbes, Anthony McKinney, said outside court that his client believes his remarks did not risk affecting the outcome of the trial. (RTRS)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

NEWS/FEATURES

22

People & Places

Music Banhart’s voice clear of modern affectation

Style trumps substance in ‘Air’ B

illboard CD reviews as presented by Reuters from New York Artist: Air Album: Love 2 (Astralwerks Records) Few bands live up to their names as well as Air. The French electronic duo makes gravity-defying disco-pop that can be as foreboding as it is frothy (see the 2000 soundtrack to “The Virgin Suicides”). Air’s fifth studio album, “Love 2,” hinges on Joey Waronker, a percussionist who toured with the band on its last outing. His delicate playing helps bring all of those potentially spacey piano arpeggios back down to earth, resulting in a sound that resembles the lo-fi pop for which Air first became known, more than the cosmic symphony of recent efforts. Ditties like “Sing Sang Sung” include a vibraphone, wind chimes and tambourine, while “African Velvet” has horns and light-handed syncopation from Waronker. It’s not always immediately clear if the group is being tongue-in-cheek (“Tropical Disease” is so lounge-y and psychedelic that it could be retrofitted into a Roger Moore-era James Bond flick), but one thing is certain: Style trumps substance in this particular breath of Air. Artist: Devendra Banhart Album: What Will We Be (Reprise Records) Devendra Banhart’s major-label debut, “What Will We Be,” was recorded with the same collaborators who graced his 2007 “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.” This time the quintet holed up for two months in a Northern California cabin, and the resulting collection from the idiosyncratic singer-songwriter is intimate, experimental and ultimately accessible. The first single, “Baby,” is a breezy yet bass-heavy love song about “learning to let in all the laughter,” while “Chin Chin & Muck Muck” is something of a vanguard mini-review, changing acts between swinging jazz, cabaret torch and a twinkling chant. Banhart’s Venezuelan childhood peeks through with Spanish lyrics on “Angelika” and “Brindo,” and “Rats” is a full-fledged psychedelic-rock jam. Throughout the set, Banhart’s expressive vocals are the real pleasure point; the artist may be known for his selfsupported aura of knowing peculiarity, but his voice carries a frankness that — save some well-applied reverb — is gratifyingly free of modern affectation. Artist: Meshell Ndegeocello Album: Devil’s Halo (Downtown Music) Though not as sprawlingly ambitious or experimental as the 2007 “The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams,” Meshell Ndegeocello’s eighth release, “Devil’s Halo,” neatly straddles a line between challenging and accessible, with some of the tightest and catchiest compositions she’s yet brought forth. Listeners might not get that from the opening song, “Slaughter,” which moves from liquidlike verses to crash-bang choruses with a Radiohead-style prog vibe, but tracks like “Mass Transit” and “Blood on the Curb” channel melodic, if slightly subversive, New Wave influences — and the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde would pay large for the leathery attitude of “Lola.” Ndegeocello lays jazz overtones atop of “White Girl,” employs old-school synthesizers through “Die Young” and brings out front-porch Americana for “Crying in Your Beer.” She also uses a big beat and subtle dissonance to turn Melvin Riley’s “Love You Down” into a Joni Mitchell-flavored tone poem. “I transform myself for maximum attraction,” Ndegeocello sings in “Mass Transit.” It works. Artist: Joe Nichols Album: Old Things New (Universal South) It’s no stretch to say that Joe Nichols is country music’s finest vocalist in at least a generation. That’s not to diminish the often stunning vocal work of his immediate predecessors — what puts Nichols above his peers in terms of vocal chops is that he’s a natural singer. This was evident on his 1996 debut, and it’s fully realized on his sixth album, “Old Things New.” The set’s title track evokes the primal pain and loneliness of George Jones during his Billy Sherrill-produced ’70s heyday, while Merle Haggard’s influence is displayed on the bone-chilling “This Bed’s Too Big.” Playful moments emerge on “Gimmie That Girl” and “Cheaper Than a Shrink,” the latter extolling the painkilling virtues of good whiskey (though Nichols has successfully battled his own demons recently). The haunting “An Old Friend of Mine” finds the 32-year-old Nichols reciting words of sober resolution while communicating tortured forbearance. It looks like his honkytonk forefathers — Haggard, Jones,

Vocalist John Baldwin Gourley of Portugal. The man performs at the Apple Store Soho on Oct 23, in New York City. (AFP)

Lefty Frizzell and Gene Watson, to name a few — were effective tutors. Artist: Lou Barlow Album: Goodnight Unknown (Merge Records) Lou Barlow’s latest release, “Goodnight Unknown,” incorporates the aggressive guitar, angst-ridden lyrics and low-fi sensibilities of his other bands (Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh) while maintaining the sweet sophistication of his 2005 solo release, “Emoh.” Recorded last year between tours with the two aforementioned acts, “Goodnight Unknown” is layered with subtle distortion and commanding percussion, combined with Barlow’s confident, sometimes contemplative vocals. The set opens with the gritty “Sharing,” and takes a lighter turn with the playful acoustic cut “Take Advantage,” on which Barlow charmingly sings, “Love me like a pancake.” But the album is strongest when he combines elements of folk and noise-rock, as on the title track and the stomping “One Machine, One Long Fight,” where heavy percussion builds energy behind his determined vocals. Artist: Kings Of Convenience Album: Declaration Of Dependence (Astralwerks Records) On their first album in five years, the Norwegian duo Eirik Boe and Erlend Oye — who record under the name Kings of Convenience — have returned with more atmospheric folkpop to soothe the soul. Percussion is nowhere to be found on the group’s latest release, “Declaration of Dependence,” and the pair’s Simon & Garfunkel-esque harmonies are less dynamic than they once were. But there are still plenty of bright spots. Kings of Convenience’s melodies range from the brisk and abstruse — as heard on the angular “My Ship Isn’t Pretty” and the brooding “Renegade” — to the disarmingly catchy. On the standout track, “Mrs. Cold,” Boe and Oye lace their beloved bossa nova rhythms with R&B lyrics aimed at an ice queen. Artist: Shafiq Husayan Album: Shafiq en’ A-Free-Ka (Plug Research) Most hip-hop artists shout out major US cities on their albums, but Shafiq Husayn covers far more extensive territory. “Senegal, Portugal, let’s go! Mexico and Japan, Kosovo and Sudan, US and Pakistan!,” he sings on the song “UN Plan.” As one-third of the progressive hip-hop outfit Sa-Ra and a collaborator on Erykah Badu’s album “New Amerykah: Part One,” Husayn has long cultivated an ear for the bold and experimental. On his latest release, “Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka,” he continues the sonic innovation, culling from influences as diverse as Afrobeat and drum ‘n’ bass and bearing traces of Timbaland (the reggaetinged track “Nirvana”) and Andre 3000 (the psychedelic “Major Heavy”). When French lyrics and an accordion appear on the smooth “Le’star” and then dissolve into a cacophony of synths, it’s not jarring at all — it’s just another trip into Husayn’s wonderfully open musical mind. Artist: Gossip Album: Music For Men (Columbia Records) The androgynous face of Gossip drummer Hannah Blilie cops an intense stare on the cover of this electro-punk outfit’s newest album, “Music for Men.” With a quaffed confidence a la Morrissey, the photo personifies the cool poise that Gossip has maintained with its elegant glam-synth sounds and powerful beats, despite a raucous reputation. It may have been harder for the mainstream audience to swallow the image of Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto, whose onstage nudity and outsize persona have earned her respect among

the gay and lesbian community. But on “Music for Men,” the band’s devotion to being itself has finally found it a place in the mainstream. The dark single “Heavy Cross” features ragged guitars accompanied by Ditto’s sharp velvety voice, while the feminist-leaning “Love Long Distance” is supported by a swaggering bassline. On “Dimestore Diamond,” Ditto employs all of her hard-edged sexiness and manages to charm with an appealingly intimidating allure. ❑ ❑ ❑ Billboard Singles reviews as presented by Reuters from New York Artist: Norah Jones Single: Chasing Pirates (Blue Note Records) Due Nov 17, Norah Jones’ fourth studio album, “The Fall,” will incorporate more rhythm and guitar, but it won’t be a 180-degree transformation. Both of these elements are introduced with subtlety and care on the album’s first single. “Chasing Pirates” floats along with Jones’ breathy, sensual vocals over a stream of guitar effects and a New Wave-esque groove, courtesy of producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits). The lyrics are somewhat obscure but still manage to achieve a winning simplicity, as Jones sings of her preoccupied dream state. While her jazzy, piano-driven hits have always been rich in songwriting and arrangement, Jones’ experimentation with tempo and instrumentation on her new material is a welcome one. Artist: Timbaland Single: Morning After Dark (Blackground Records) Timbaland is nearing the release of the second installment in his “Shock Value” series, and from the sounds of the first single, “Morning After Dark,” the producer is back in stride. Much like the material on his first set, the song heaves with massive subbass and weighty kick drums. Timbaland flirtatiously harmonizes over a galactic-sounding, doublespeed piano and thumping beats. “When the cats come out, the bats come out to play,” he croons on the catchy hook, which features his new label signee, SoShy. While comparisons to the 2007 cut “Return the Favor” are undeniable — lacking shock value on that end — this club banger will send shockwaves through your speakers nonetheless. Artist: The Bellamy Brothers Featuring The Balcon Brothers Single: Guilty Of The Crime (Bellamy Brothers Records) Two pairs of veteran country siblings come together with impressive results on this tune. “Guilty of the Crime” was featured on the Eagles’ 2007 album “Long Road out of Eden” and is revived for an intriguing collaboration between Howard and David Bellamy and Kevin and Michael Bacon. The song is now featured on the Bellamy Brothers’ “Anthology, Volume I,” and its new production is skillfully understated, focusing on what feels like an effortless blend of the duos’ voices. Their solid vocal delivery is what gives “Guilty of the Crime” its main appeal.

Also: LONDON: Sales of music singles in Britain have hit a record high in 2009, already exceeding the previous peak in 2008 of 115.1 million. With 10 weeks of the year still to go, singles sales have hit 117.6 million, 99 percent of which were sold in digital format. The figure is good news for the recorded music industry, which has seen album sales worldwide tumble in recent years, partly due to Internet piracy. “This truly is the era of the digital single,’’ said Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company which compiles the UK weekly music charts for singles and albums. Lady Gaga has the two top-selling singles of the year so far, with “Poker Face’’ followed by “Just Dance.’’ Black Eyed Peas are third and fifth with “I Gotta Feeling’’ and “Boom Boom Pow’’ respectively, while La Roux’s “In For The Kill’’ is fourth. Geoff Taylor, chief executive of industry group BPI, said the figures suggested the music market could “explode’’ in Britain if the government acted to tackle illegal peer-to-peer file sharers. “That singles have hit these heights while there are still more than a billion illegal downloads every year in the UK is testimony to the quality of releases this year and the vibrancy of the UK download market,’’ he said in a statement. The British music industry is divided over how to tackle illegal downloads, with some stars supporting government proposals to block repeat offenders from accessing the web and others opposing what they see as draconian measures.

British pop star Robbie Williams performs on stage in Berlin on Oct 23. Williams gave a free concert to promote his new album ‘Reality Killed the Video Star’. (AFP)

Trip down memory lane

Simon revisits old songs

Tim McGraw performs on the NBC ‘Today’ television program in New York, Oct 23. (AP)

Variety NEW YORK: An Argentine diva has been charged with creating a ruckus at a Manhattan restaurant, but the case isn’t likely to take on operatic proportions. The case against Gabriela Pochinki was adjourned Friday on contemplation of dismissal. That means the misdemeanor disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and obstructinggovernment charges will be tossed if she stays out of trouble for six months. A criminal complaint says Pochinki irked fellow cafe patrons Sunday by yelling into her cell phone, then screamed at a manager and refused to leave when asked by the manager and a police officer. The soprano says in a statement she’s “deeply sorry” about the flap. Pochinki has appeared in leading roles on stages around the world and recorded several albums. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ LOS ANGELES: With four nominations each, Beyonce, Keri Hilson and Maxwell head the list of nominees for the Soul Train Awards. The awards ceremony, hosted by actors Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, will be the first special aired on BET’s recently launched CENTRIC Network. Taping Nov. 3 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, the “CENTRIC Presents: 2009 Soul Train Awards” will premiere on both CENTRIC and BET in a special simulcast on Nov. 29 at 9 p.m. In addition to awards presented in various categories, the show will salute the careers of Chaka Khan, Charlie Wilson, Antonio “L.A.” Reed and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. The Soul Train Awards will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Motown Records and honor the late Michael Jackson with the Entertainer of the Year Award. Scheduled performers include Toni Braxton, Trey Songz, Chrisette Michelle, Ledisi and Melanie Fiona. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

NEW YORK: “Gossip Girl” actress Leighton Meester hasn’t yet released her Universal Republic debut. But it appears the TV star is well on her way to silencing naysayers about her fledgling singing career. Meester released her first single — a retro dance-pop track, “Somebody to Love” — to digital retailers Oct 14 after premiering it on Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM Los Angeles morning show. Featuring R&B singer Robin Thicke, the song is off to a solid start with 102 spins on top 40 radio and 7,000 digital tracks sold through the week ending Oct 18, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “I have a crazy, strange life and I work a lot, so the song is about me not getting any,” Meester says. “I like that it’s electronic but still lyrically driven. It’s a very sexy track, and Robin really brought something different to it.” “Somebody to Love” follows “Good Girls Go Bad,” Meester’s collaboration with Cobra Starship that reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the summer. It isn’t yet finished, but Meester’s debut album is tentatively slated for late 2009 or

LOS ANGELES, Oct 24, (RTRS): Carly Simon recorded her new album, “Never Been Gone,” at her Martha’s Vineyard compound, and she delivers intriguing twists on her hits (“You’re So Vain,” “Anticipation”) and other songs from past albums, as well as two new tunes. A portion of the album’s proceeds will go to the Carly Simon Music Therapy Initiative, a collaboration between the singer-songwriter and the Berklee College of Music in Boston. “Never” — which Iris Records releases Tuesday — also helped Simon work through despair and anger over her 2008 Hear Music release, “This Kind of Love.” She’s seeking unspecified damages in a lawsuit she recently filed against Starbucks, claiming that the company’s now-defunct music venture didn’t fully promote the album. Along for Simon’s restorative trip down memory lane was a host of family and friends, including son Benjamin Taylor and his Iris Records partner Larry Ciancia, daughter Sally Taylor, godson John Forte (the former Fugees producer pardoned for a drug trafficking conviction in 2008), singer-songwriter David Saw and engineer Frank Filipetti. “It was like people were rallying around me,” Simon says. “They knew my disappointment.” Moving beyond disappointment, Simon is gearing up for a series of promotional appearances and her first overseas tour early next year, with DJ Logic in tow. Billboard: Why did you record this album? Carly Simon: After what happened with “This Kind of Love,” I was devastated. It felt like carrying a child to term and then having it die in childbirth. But (Iris Records partners) Ben (Taylor, her son) and Larry (Ciancia) said, “Let’s not sit around and waste time. You’ve got these incredible songs you’ve written. Let’s rethink some of them and have fun.” And “fun” was the operative word. We all got together in the same room and started rethinking my songs. When I say rethinking, I don’t mean in an intellectual way. I mean, we all had a couple of glasses of wine or beer and just started having a good time. Billboard: Were the two new songs written specifically for the album? Simon: “No Freedom” is a lyric I wrote a few years ago. Ben and singer-songwriter David Saw wrote a melody to it. It had originally been a folk song, but I woke up one morning and said, “It’s got to be in 2/4 time like (Elton John’s) ‘Bennie and the Jets.”’ Ben did an absolutely amazing job on the production; it’s a great song to

Beyonce

Hilson

early 2010. She’s spent most of the year juggling studio sessions with taping two feature films and the CW network’s “Gossip Girl.” About 25 songs have been completed, however, and collaborators include producer Mike Caren on “Somebody to Love,” Stuart Price on “I Feel Everything” and J.R. Rotem on “Lights Out.” Meester also plans to showcase her vocals on more downtempo tracks like “Your Lies Are the Truth.” (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

TORONTO: Former “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson wants to save the seals from the

dance to. The album ends with “Songbird,” which I wrote in 1970 but never finished. I have hundreds of songs on cassettes around the house. I was listening to one when I heard this song and said, “Wow.” The first verse actually came from a different song; I had obviously written the songs around the same time. I also remembered there was a songbird that used to come to my landing when I lived in a little New York apartment on 35th Street, and I’d try to get melodies from its singing. You couldn’t do better than a bird. Billboard: What was it like to work again with your godson, John Forte? Simon: I’m so happy John is free and able to do his music. He’s a great poet who raps and sings beautifully. He doesn’t sound like anyone else, which is key. He’s his own man. I asked John to work with me on “You Belong to Me,” and he’s going to perform it with me on TV. It’s a hip-hop version with a little George Benson feel in the guitar solo. Billboard: Did you find that your songs stand the test of time? Simon: There were some songs that didn’t and others for which we couldn’t figure out a new feeling or arrangement — for instance, “Jesse” and “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain.” And the songs we did do weren’t necessarily hits, like “It Happens Every Day” and “Never Been Gone.” I’ve always loved “Never,” and the decision to make it a barroom version is one that happened so naturally. Billboard: Looking back at your career, is there anything you’d change? Simon: Maybe I would have been a bit more careful about who and what I was getting involved with because my enthusiasms can sometimes be my downfall. Some things are both your greatest assets and your biggest detriments. I think my great enthusiasm for doing things has caused me to perhaps not dot the I’s and cross the T’s as well as I should have. Billboard: Will you reissue “This Kind of Love?” Simon: Anything is possible at this stage of the game. I’m not closing the door to anything. It was the first time in 10 years that I’d done an album of original songs. It took almost two years to prepare. That’s why it hurt so much. My previous album of original material, “Bedroom Tapes,” got lost in the mixup when Clive Davis left Arista. So I bought that album back. I’ve got no idea when, where or how, but the songs I wrote for those two albums are going to get a second life — whether another artist records them or the albums are re-released.

annual hunt on Canada’s East Coast. The Canadian-born actress has joined other celebrities who are taking part in a new ad campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Anderson, who was in town to launch her animal-friendly clothing line at Fashion Week, visited the Ontario provincial legislature on Friday to introduce the new ads. The ads — showing celebrities wearing white T-shirts with a drawing of a baby seal — also feature singers Sarah McLachlan and Kelly Osborne, actresses Jennie Garth and Jorja Fox, and gossip blogger Perez Hilton, among others. Anderson’s ad reads, “What do I have in common with Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and the Dalai Lama? We all oppose the massacre of baby seals. It’s time to end Canada’s shameful slaughter.” Outside the Ontario legislature building, the 52-year-old Anderson cuddled a seal mascot and told supporters that she wanted to prevent the “barbaric massacre” of seals. “When I travel all over the world, the Canadian seal hunt is a huge issue that people talk to me about,” she said. “So I’m trying to save some embarrassment.” (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

NEWS/FEATURES

23

Music Fight on for new listeners

U2, Bono ‘adapting to’ quickly changing times NEW YORK, Oct 24, (AP): Even while maintaining its status as one of the few musical acts that can still fill stadiums, U2 is struck by how quickly its world is changing — musically and politically. Charismatic front man Bono, in a reflective mood as U2 closes the North American leg of its “360” tour, notes the different, more polarized atmosphere in the United States since the band performed its anthem, “City of Clayton Blinding Lights,” at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in January. “I didn’t think it could come to this so quickly, after the joyous occasion of that election,” Bono says in an interview on board the band’s plane, as they jet to another stop on the tour. “I thought America was looking good. ... Things are getting a little rough now.” Bono says he’s been in touch with Obama and is confident the president will deliver on promises made during the campaign, including the singer’s favorite issue: funding to fight AIDS in Africa. “The Obama administration is just getting going. (He) has promised to double aid over the next years, because even though (President George W.) Bush tripled it, ... the United States is still about half as what European countries give as a percentage, and I think he knows that’s not right.” Meanwhile, Bono the rock star and the rest of U2 are struggling a bit themselves — as incongruous as that might seem for a band that will have performed to millions of people before its tour wraps overseas next year. (U2 ends its North American tour on Wednesday in Vancouver, British Columbia.) Like other bands in the digital age, U2 is struggling to grab new listeners. Its members admit to frustration at the average album sales for its most recent release and wonder, as bassist Adam Clayton put it, whether the idea of an impassioned rock ‘n’ roll fan is becoming a thing of the past. (One experiment — U2 is broadcasting one of this weekend’s concerts in Los Angeles on YouTube.com.)

Challenges “The commercial challenges have to be confronted,” Clayton says during an interview backstage at TV comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” as awaits the band’s performance on the show’s season kickoff. “But I think, in a sense, the more interesting challenge is, ‘What is rock ‘n’ roll in this changing world?’ Because, to some extent, the concept of the music fan — the concept of the person who buys music and listens to music for the pleasure of music itself — is an outdated idea.” The band’s latest CD, “No Line on the Horizon,” debuted at the top of the charts when it was released in March and has sold a respectable 1 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But the CD, which features more electronic music experimentation from U2, is the group’s lowest selling CD in more than a decade. It represents a marked drop from 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” which has sold 3.2 million copies to date, and 2000’s 4.3 million seller, “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” “No Line” is also an album that hasn’t had that one signature hit. U2’s last CD had “Vertigo,” which wasn’t a huge song on the pop charts, but became so ubiquitous thanks to Apple’s iPod commercial that it might as well have been a No. 1 smash. The first single from “No Line” — the driving, upbeat “Get on Your Boots” — didn’t have a similar platform and didn’t crack Billboard’s top 30 singles pop chart. Meanwhile, “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” was featured in a Blackberry ad as part of the new partnership between the mobile device and U2 but was not released as a single. Songs from the new album are clearly resonating with die-hard fans. “Get on Your Boots” drew one of the more frenetic responses from the crowd during a recent concert near Boston, as did the anthemic show closer, “Moment of Surrender.” Yet the album hasn’t had the impact for which U2 had hoped. While noting that signature U2 songs such as “Beautiful Day” and even “One” weren’t massive or immediate hits, Bono does acknowledge disappointment that the band didn’t quite “pull off the pop songs” with the new work. “But we weren’t really in that mindset,” he says, “and we felt that the album was a kind of an almost extinct species, and we should approach it in totality and create a mood and a feeling, and a beginning, middle and an

end. And I suppose we’ve made a work that is a bit challenging for people who have grown up on a diet of pop stars.” Some would argue that the Irish rockers — Bono, Clayton, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. — remain pop’s biggest act. They are entering their fourth decade of music-making with a string of awards, from Grammys to Billboard to Golden Globes, tens of millions of records sold and a social impact that few musical acts can ever hope to achieve. Still, they find themselves in the same challenging position as most pop groups today, who must seek new ways to connect with music buyers in a declining industry and an increasingly fractious entertainment world. “Music exists in an environment where people are multitasking, and I think that’s a very different environment,” says Clayton, who grew up appreciating jazz but realized “it was for people who took life a certain way, but it wasn’t part of the modern world for me. “I worry that the world of rock ‘n’ roll that I grew up in is destined to end up that way.” U2, of course, is hardly in danger of becoming a band that only gets heard in obscure clubs or on niche radio stations. Its “360” tour is a massive undertaking that has the band performing in the center of stadiums, hence the “360” title. The production, which includes stages that take days to dismantle, has been one of the top grossing tours in the country since it kicked off in September, despite a price tag that runs upward of $250 (at least 10,000 tickets for $30 have been made available for every show). And when the band played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, last month, it broke attendance records with a crowd of about 84,500 fans. “In many ways, U2 has had such an enormous amount of success over the years we’re almost proof against that,” the band’s longtime manager, Paul McGuinness, says, talking about U2 and the music industry’s decline. “We’re still selling a lot of recorded music, but it’s a much smaller part of our business than playing live. This tour, by the time it’s finished, we would have played ... to roughly 6 million people.” It is during live shows when U2 feels the most connection with its audience. Despite the stadium shows and the immense stage structure, the band insists that this time, the set up has created perhaps a greater intimacy with fans than the group has enjoyed in the past. They are literally surrounded by fans. “The staging itself is something we’ve tried to do for a long, long time. The idea of playing 360 — it’s never been done successfully, ... where everybody gets good sound and good visuals, and we managed to achieve that, I think,” says Mullen, who, like the rest of his band mates, is affable and thoughtful as he talks about U2 backstage at “SNL.” “The thing about U2 has always been its audience, and in this environment, I think the audience is so important, and the reaction is so important,” he says.

Reaction On tour, U2 can best gauge fan reaction to the new material. Last month at the cavernous Gillette Stadium near Boston, it was almost as frenzied and passionate as the reaction U2 gets for its classics. A roar came from the crowd as the band opened the show with “Magnificent,” and the energy kept building as U2 performed four more new songs, including “Get on Your Boots.” “Judging by the reaction to the album, live, I feel like it has really connected,” The Edge says. “There’s a lot of records that make great first impressions. There might be one song that gets to be big on the radio, but they’re not albums that people ... play a lot. “This is one that I gather from talking to people. ... Four months later, they’re saying, ‘I’m really getting into the album now.”’ U2 is still hustling to promote the CD. When it was released in March, the group did “Good Morning America” and an unprecedented fivenight appearance on “Late Show With David Letterman.” More recently, U2 appeared on “SNL.” “I love to see an outsized band like U2 behaving like they’re in the kindergarten and just doing what you do with your first album — taking it to the market, setting up your table, selling your wares, selling it out the street corners, giving out fliers,” says an animated Bono, breaking into a wide grin behind his trademark sunglasses. “I think selling out is when you stop believing enough in your music to put yourself out to explain it to people.”

In this photo provided by the Las Vegas News Bureau, Bono of U2 performs at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Oct 23. (AP)

Stills mining archives ‘in pieces’

‘Break Up’ connects with fans

Musician Carlos Santana performs at the Second Annual ONEXONE Fundraiser held at Bimbo’s 365 Club on Oct 22, in San Francisco, California. (AFP)

Jackson

Murray

Variety LOS ANGELES: Christie’s auction house will offer up a portrait of Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol in New York on Nov 10. The auction house told The Associated Press on Friday that the 30 inch-by-26 inch (76 centimeter-by-66 centimeter) portrait should fetch an estimated $500,000 to $700,000. It’s one of a small group of Warhol silk-screened images of Jackson created in 1984. The painting depicts Jackson smiling in a “Thriller”-era jacket, with squiggles of red and yellow in his hair. Deputy chairman Brett Gorvy says the seller is an anonymous private collector in New York who bought it from the Andy Warhol Foundation in the 1990s. The image is part of 47 lots being auctioned, including two other Warhol paintings. A New York art gallery sold a similar Warhol portrait of Jackson in August to an anonymous buyer. The gallery would not disclose the price, but said it was more than a million dollars. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

tation to be grandiose about it,’’ Stills said. “Let’s just do it in pieces, and then we’ll put the whole thing together and put it on Blu-ray and that can be the big deal.’’

Making its ascent on Hot R&B/HipHop Songs is the second single, “Thinkin’ About You.’’ Produced by the Runners and

Rico Love, the song is No. 53 on the most recent chart. In addition, Mario guests on another sultry track that’s climbing the list: Hurricane Chris’ “Headboard.’’ The song, which also features Plies, is No. 71. Hitting the road in support of “D.N.A.,’’ Mario is co-headlining a “106 & Park’’ tour with Trey Songz. With a lineup that includes Garrett and Day 26, the tour is the first of a recently announced partnership between Live Nation and BET. It kicked off Sept. 29 at the House of Blues in Los Angeles and wraps Nov 25 in Las Vegas. Mario will also perform at the Powerhouse ‘09 concert presented by New York radio station WWPR (Power 105.1). The Oct 27 lineup includes Chris Brown, the-Dream and Keri Hilson. A live mixtape by Mario is also in the works. Selling 32,000 copies its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, “D.N.A.’’ didn’t receive the same warm welcome that greeted “Break Up.’’ But Mario remains confident of the album’s long-term success. “I can’t say why I don’t get my just due, but it only makes me hungrier,’’ he says. “I want to continue challenging myself and making incredible music that will connect with fans around the world. I plan to keep creating a distinctive lane for myself. ‘D.N.A.,’ with the help of ‘Break Up,’ does just that.’’ ❑ ❑ ❑ For rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Stephen Stills, this fall’s pair of archival releases are part of a master plan that will lead to a full-scale boxed set of potentially mammoth proportions. “I want to break up the periods of my career and not make one of those big humongous things that nobody can afford,’’ Stills told Billboard.com. In September he released “Pieces,’’ a collection of outtakes from his short-lived band Manassas, and Tuesday he’ll put out “Live at Shepherd’s Bush,’’ a CD/DVD set from his 2008 solo tour. “Part of this is creative, and part of it is business sense and sheer economics, understanding my market and how difficult the business is and avoiding the temp-

tion program beginning last month by explicitly offering cash refunds on any DVDs bought from June 5, 2004 to Sept. 4. Buyers can also exchange DVDs for a

“Baby Einstein” book or music CD, or receive 25 percent off a “Little Einstein” product. The offer expires March 4. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free

Childhood, a Boston-based advocacy group, claimed “victory” Friday in its yearslong battle to protect consumers from falsely believing the videos could, for example, teach words to babies under two years old. “We believe that this is an acknowledgment that baby videos are not educational,” said Susan Linn, a psychologist and director of the campaign. The campaign complained to the Federal Trade Commission in May 2006, saying claims made on “Baby Einstein” packaging and the Web site were not supportable by scientific research. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children under 2 years old watch no television or other “screen media.” At the time, the Disney subsidiary removed some wording from the packages and took down testimonials that claimed educational benefits from the videos on the Baby Einstein Web site. The commission decided in December 2007 to take no formal action after investigating the matter. Unsatisfied, the campaign brought its material to a group of Boston lawyers, which threatened a class-action lawsuit against Disney in a letter to CEO Robert Iger in June 2008. The upgraded refund policy dates back to the same date requested in the letter by the lawyers, led by attorney Edward Broderick, but it’s unclear if the move settles the threatened lawsuit. (AP)

NEW YORK, Oct 24, (RTRS): The last time singer Mario saw the pinnacle of Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart was in 2005. That’s when “Let Me Love You’’ — from his 2004 second album, “Turning Point’’ — reached No. 1. Four years and two albums later, the Baltimore crooner finds himself close to reclaiming that zenith. On the most recent edition of the chart, “Break Up’’ logs its 11th week at No. 2. Featuring Sean Garrett and Gucci Mane, it’s the lead single from Mario’s fourth album, “D.N.A.’’ Debuting this week at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on Top R&B/HipHop Albums, the J Records/RCA Music Group set was released Oct 13. “Break Up’’ also gives Mario his fourth top-five R&B hit, joining predecessors “Just a Friend,’’ which reached No. 4 in 2002, and the Ne-Yo-penned “Let Me Love You’’ and “Crying Out for Me,’’ which peaked at No. 5 in 2008. “‘Break Up’ was originally created for someone else, but I beat it out of Sean (who co-wrote and co-produced the track) until he eventually gave it to me,’’ Mario jokes. “A lot of this album is about letting females know that I know what it is they go through sometimes in relationships. So this song was like a conversation that I had to have with my fans.’’ Picking up where the singer’s 2007 album “Go’’ left off, “D.N.A.’’ finds an introspective and maturing Mario shedding more light on heart-related matters. “This is a very important album for me — a lot of it was about finding myself and figuring out the makeup of who I am now as opposed to who I was when I started,’’ he says. “Throughout the recording process, I learned so much about myself. Thus the songs became more in-depth — digging out much more of myself. The fans know who I’ve been up to this point, but now I want them to know who the changed Mario is.’’

Recent

LAS VEGAS: The doctor being investigated in Michael Jackson’s death says he can’t afford child support because he was forced to close his Nevada office after physical threats against him and his staff. A family court in Las Vegas set a Nov 16 hearing to consider a recommendation that Dr Conrad Murray be arrested for not appearing in court this month to explain $13,000 in unpaid child support to a California woman. Murray’s lawyer Chris Aaron says his client didn’t receive notice about the hearing and can’t pay his debts because of threats and media coverage of the pop singer’s death. Murray says in a signed affidavit dated Oct 15 that he took a job as Jackson’s personal physician to pay off the child support and other debts. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ LOS ANGELES: The Walt Disney Co is expanding a refund program for its “Baby Einstein” videos for toddlers in response to challenges about the legitimacy of its educational claims. The company upgraded a customer satisfac-

Argentina’s rock singer and composer Charly Garcia performs during a concert in Buenos Aires on his 58th birthday, Oct 23. (AP)

Plotting Stills is plotting a number of other archival projects, including a Manassas box set. He also has been working with the Jimi Hendrix family’s Experience Hendrix company on a tape of recordings the two guitarists made together, which Stills claimed “doesn’t have as much as people think is on there.’’ There are two mostly finished tracks, though, “Old Times Good Times’’ and another with only a working title. Stills said they might be part of a Hendrix sessions disc for which he has overdubbed new bass parts on recordings Hendrix made with Johnny Winter. New music is in the offing as well. Stills continues to work with David Crosby, Graham Nash and producer Rick Rubin on a covers album; during concerts this year the trio has performed the Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday,’’ James Taylor’s “Close Your Eyes,’’ the Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider,’’ Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country’’ and the Grateful Dead’s “Uncle John’s Band.’’ CSN has no deadline for finishing the album, Stills said. “Road-tripping all these songs has been really helpful,’’ he said, “but the worst thing we could do is rush it. We learn a few songs and then go cut those and see if we can get them as natural as possible. If we can’t get the sound right ... in three, four, five, six takes, anything beyond that and you’re just not going to have any feel.’’ Stills said he plans to write another album, a follow-up to 2005’s “Man Alive!’’ “I’m finally feeling some songs and some things to say,’’ he said. “I want to work with my quartet and get it down to where there’s lots of air and get pretty live performances and not all over-the-top layered parts and doubled vocals.’’ Stills added that he hopes to road-test some of the solo material before hitting the studio.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

NEWS/FEATURES

24

People & Places Variety LOS ANGELES: Tickets to four of country singer Taylor Swift’s 2010 tour dates sold out in two minutes after going on sale on Friday, her publicists said. All tickets released on Friday for 15 US shows in the 19 year-old singer’s 2010 Fearless tour sold “within minutes”. The four shows in the New York area were the fastest to go, her representatives said. Swift, the biggest selling US artist of 2008, will play 37 shows in the United States and Canada in 2010 and seven in Australia starting in February. The teen star, whose hits include “You Belong with Me” and “Love Story”, has seen her popularity soar since September, when rapper Kanye West hijacked her acceptance speech for a best music video trophy at the MTV Video Music Awards show and said it should have gone to R&B singer Beyonce instead. Swift Swift was nominated for a leading six American Music Awards earlier this month and will perform on and host the popular US late night TV sketch show “Saturday Night Live” on November 7. West, on the other hand, canceled a planned concert tour of the United States and Canada earlier this month and was the subject of an Internet death hoax earlier this week which falsely claimed he had died in a Los Angeles car crash. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ LOS ANGELES: Anna Nicole Smith was using multiple doctors, pharmacies and associates to obtain prescription drugs under false names, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Friday. Jennifer Doss, a special agent with the California Department of Justice pharmaceutical task force, showed a judge how she traced prescriptions issued in the names of Smith’s boyfriend-lawyer, Howard Stern, an assistant of Smith and a series of fictitious names used by Smith over more than two years. In addition, Homeland Security agent Kenneth Krause described travel records showing multiple flights by Stern and Smith’s psychiatrist, Khristine Eroshevich, to and from the Bahamas at times when prescriptions were picked up in California for the celebrity model. Doss identified documents detailing the movement of controlled substances including Demerol, Dalmane, Lorazepam and methadone. She said bottles bearing Stern’s name were later found in the home of Eroshevich, who is charged with Stern and Dr Sandeep Kapoor of conspiring to illegally provide Smith with controlled substances. All three have pleaded not guilty. A judge will rule after the preliminary hearing whether they will stand trial. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ TOLEDO, Ohio: Ray Browne, an Ohio university professor who was credited with coining the phrase “popular culture” and pioneering the study of things such as bumper stickers and cartoons, has died. He was 87. Browne died at his home Thursday, according to his family and officials at Bowling Green State university. He developed the first academic department devoted to studying what he called the “people’s culture” at Bowling Green in 1973. Browne wrote and edited more than 70 books on popular culture — including “The Guide to United States Popular Culture,” published in 2001. “Culture is everything from the food we’ve always eaten to the clothes we’ve always worn,” he said in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press. While many in the field credit Browne with coming up the name “popular culture,” no one could say for sure whether he originated it. He said he made a mistake in 1967 when he first used the phrase. “If I had called it everyday culture or Democratic culture, it would not have been so sharply criticized,” he said. Browne worked for decades to convince academics that much could be learned from studying seemingly insignificant elements of our lives. “He was really going against the grain,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “He seemed to be interested in anything. You could drop a gum wrapper in front of him and he would see a text to be studied.” Professors at universities nationwide thought Browne, an English professor, was trying to demean or trivialize what they were teaching when he founded the popular culture department. That wasn’t the case, he said. His interest was rooted in finding out how society affects culture and how culture affects society. Dozens of schools now offer classes rooted in popular culture. His interests ranged from Western cowboy movies to wallpaper. “The covering of walls has been one of the most important items in housing since the beginning,” he said. “But nobody ever wrote a book on it.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES: A court commissioner on Friday dismissed criminal charges against Kanye West and his road manager stemming from their scuffle with photographers last year. Misdemeanor charges were filed after West and his manager were arrested on Sept 11, 2008, after an altercation with two photographers at Los Angeles International Airport. The struggle was recorded and broadcast by celebrity Web site TMZ. The photographers and the rapper have reached civil settlements over the case, which resulted in a still camera, flash, and a video camera being broken. West’s attorney, Blair Berk, successfully argued the case should be dismissed because of the agreement and that California law allows for certain criminal cases to be settled out of court. West, 32, was not required to and did not appear in court on Friday. Deputy City Attorney Felton Newell argued the charges shouldn’t be dismissed because West and his manager, Don Crawley, intended to commit a felony and that one of the photographers was slightly injured in the scuffle. Berk noted that county prosecutors had declined to file felony charges in the case, and that it took city attorneys more than six months to file misdemeanor battery, vandalism, and grand theft charges against West. She

From left: Italian actor Sergio Castellitto, winner of the Best Actor Silver Marc’Aurelio jury award for the movie ‘Alza la Testa’ (Raise your head); Helen Mirren, winner of the Best Actress Silver Marc’Aurelio jury award for the movie ‘The Last Station;’ Italian filmmaker Giorgio, Diritti, winner

of both the Best Film Silver Marc’Aurelio Grand Jury Award and the Best Film Golden Marc’Aurelio Audience Award for ‘L’uomo che verra’ (The Man Who Will Come); and director Nicolo Donato, winner of the Golden Marc’Aurelio jury Award for Best Film ‘Brotherskab’

(Brotherhood), pose with their trophies. (Inset): US actress Meryl Streep receives the ‘Golden Marc’Aurelio’ award for her lifetime achievements, at the 4th edition of the Rome Film Festival, in Rome, Oct 23. (AP)

Danish film of neo-Nazi gay affair wins Rome Fest A Danish movie about a gay love affair between two members of a neo-Nazi group won top honors Friday at the Rome Film Festival, while Helen Mirren won the best actress award. Mirren won for her depiction of Leo Tolstoy’s wife in Michael Hoffman’s “The Last Station,” while Meryl Streep picked

up a career achievement award. The winning movie, “Brotherhood,” takes a hard look at the neo-Nazi group that the leading character, Lars, joins after leaving the army. The group carries out raids on homosexuals, but Lars and his mentor in the group, Jimmy, begin a love affair that they try to keep secret.

“Brotherhood” is the first feature film by Nicolo Donato, a 35-year-old who previously worked as a fashion photographer. The jury handing out the awards was headed by Oscar-winning director Milos Forman. The best actor award went to Italy’s

Sergio Castellitto, who played a single parent and blue-collar worker dreaming that his son will become a boxing champ in the movie “Alza la Testa.” The festival paid homage to Streep through the career award and a retrospective of her work. Her cooking flick “Julie & Julia,” in which she plays Julia

Child, was shown out of competition and was chosen to close the festival. At the award ceremony, a black-clad Streep was presented with the career achievement prize by Giuseppe Tornatore, the Italian director who won an Oscar for best foreign film with “Cinema Paradiso.” (AP)

Music Hip-hop group gaining new fans

The Roots branch out on nightly TV By Mariel Concepcion

F Chester Bennington of Dead by Sunrise performs at MTV’s ‘Ulalume’ Halloween Music Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavillion on Oct 23, in Columbia, Maryland. (AFP)

or the past seven months, Questlove has been on the run. The Roots drummer, whose driver’s license reads “Ahmir Thompson,” wakes up every day between 6 and 7 am to catch an 8 am train from his hometown of Philadelphia and usually doesn’t return home until 11 pm. That’s because at the beginning of the year, the hip-hop group accepted a job as the house band for “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” which premiered in March on NBC. “My friend (“Chappelle’s Show” producer) Neal Brennan asked me who I was thinking of for a house band, and I said that I didn’t know,” Fallon says. “‘You should ask the Roots,’ he said. ‘The Roots? You think they’d do it?’ ‘No,’ he said. ‘But maybe they’d know someone.”’

Responsibilities Madonna

Winfrey

Madonna set for launch Pop queen Madonna will lead a groundbreaking ceremony next week for a girls academy she is building in Malawi, where she has adopted two children, officials from her charity said Friday. Madonna is expected to arrive in Malawi on Sunday and the ceremony for the construction of the school, which will be named Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, will take place on Monday, they said. “The academy seeks to provide a model of relevant and effective education in Malawi while advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment,” said an official who requested anonymity. The school on the outskirts of the administrative capital Lilongwe will prepare girls from poor backgrounds for careers in medicine, education or law, the official said. The school is modelled on a similar academy built by US television talk show host Oprah Winfrey. Madonna’s trip was confirmed by Anjimile Mtila Oponyo, a local academic who has been hired by the American star to head the academy. (AFP) said the case was “wildly overcharged” and that it should be dismissed in the interests of justice, fairness and common sense. West and Crawley have already completed 12 hours of anger management classes, Berk

“Back in the day, we were young and fresh out of school, had no families and no responsibilities — the sky was the limit. But, fast forward, and you’ve got wives, kids, ballet recitals, football practices, first day of middle school, flu shots, and it gets harder every year,” Thompson says. “We just wanted to be in one place, and the only

said. Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Mark Zuckman dismissed the case, but wants

job that can give us that comfort without us seeing a dip monetarily was doing a residency. For us to be in one place and make the same amount of money made a lot of sense.” His harrowing commute is paying off, though. While the gig is time-consuming, the show has an average of 1.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen, which means the Roots are likely gaining a slew of new fans. Sales of their previous albums haven’t increased meaningfully, but many close to the band believe that sales of its forthcoming album will reflect the group’s new platform. The idea that a new fan base might be the result of the residency is a surprise to Thompson; he says his biggest concern when he took the “Fallon” gig was that he would alienate the group’s longtime fans. “We put on a whole pile of extracurricular work to fend off bloggers and press people that were ready to say we sold out for taking the job,” Thompson says, adding that the Roots reinstated their Jam Sessions — weekly concerts that the group staged in 1999 and which are now held at New York’s Highline Ballroom — in February (the series ends in November) because they wanted to prove to themselves “that we weren’t getting lazy. We were so busy thinking about the bullets we

both men to perform 50 hours of community service. He said he was taking into account the steps West and Crawley had already taken,

were going to be fired that we discounted this could actually benefit us. We didn’t think we could get new fans; we just wanted to be in one place. One thing we didn’t bank on was the show being a success and our profile raising five times more than before the show.” (At $10 per ticket, all Jam Sessions have sold out, and most sell out in advance.) But the act hasn’t broken the 1 million sales mark with any of its albums since its 1993 inception. The group’s latest set, 2008’s “Rising Down,” has sold 171,000 copies in the United States, and its biggest seller is the 1999 “Things Fall Apart,” with 921,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It plans to release its next album for Def Jam, “How I Got Over,” in early 2010. Will the exposure translate into album sales?

Performance According to Roots manager Richard Nichols, that remains to be seen. “I don’t know if the new fans are the same music fans from before,” he says. “People that watch late night are older and more along the lines of Middle Americans. So, it’s definitely a fan, but you have fans that don’t buy your product and don’t come to a show.” “Fallon” music booker Jonathan Cohen says the Roots are gaining new fans every

their agreement with the photographers, and that there were no lasting injuries to the men. He also noted that neither man had a criminal

Obsessed

Stalker ‘restrained’

Peter Fonda, who played ‘Captain America’ in the 1969 counterculture film ‘Easy Rider,’ poses atop a Harley-Davidson motorcycle based on the one he rode in the film, Oct 23, in Glendale, Calif. Fonda was promoting the recent release of the film on Blu-ray disk, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the film. (AP)

LOS ANGELES, Oct 24, (AP): Justin Timberlake was granted a temporary restraining order on Friday against a woman his attorney described as an obsessed stalker, court records show. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cunningham III granted the “SexyBack” singer the protective order against Karen J. McNeil, 48. Timberlake’s attorney, Evan Spiegel, described McNeil in court filings as a “mentally unstable celebrity stalker.” The papers state McNeil was placed in protective psychiatric custody by police after she trespassed at the singer’s home on Thursday.

day, especially among other artists who perform on the show. “We’ve had numerous artists who were more nervous about meeting the Roots than about their own performance on the show,” he says. “People are in awe of them, for good reason. More people than ever are aware of what an amazing band they are. My hope is that because of the show, a lot of new fans will pick up the album when it comes out.” Thompson, who calls his nightly appearances a “blessing in disguise,” hopes new and old fans alike will pick up the band’s new project. “We have a slew of new fans,” he says, “not to mention the creative juices that are flowing from us interacting and playing with other artists on the show,” including Michael McDonald, Tom Jones, Smokey Robinson and Eric Idle, to list a few. In addition to music, the Roots are responsible for creative segments on “Fallon” like “Slow Jam the News,” during which Fallon and Roots MC Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter re-enact the day’s events as R&B singers, and “Freestylin’ With the Roots,” for which Fallon randomly picks members of the audience, asks them three questions about themselves and has the Roots rap on the spot, incorporating their answers.

history. (AP) ❑

❑

❑

LOS ANGELES: Forty years ago, actor Peter Fonda flew down America’s highways on a motorcycle in counterculture classic “Easy Rider.” So what better way to celebrate the film’s anniversary than with a bunch of bikers? On Friday, Fonda motored into the Southern California city of Glendale for an annual motorbike event called “Love Ride” where “Easy Rider” would be shown in an outdoor screening. Fonda, the son of legendary actor Henry Fonda, has been part of the “Love Ride” for more than 25 years, as it grew from a few bikers to thousands motoring up the freeway. This year, the formal ride was canceled as the poor economy depressed turnout, so the “Easy Rider” screening became the main reason for participants to gather at a HarleyDavidson shop for a scaled-down event. Speaking by phone before the screening, Fonda told Reuters “Easy Rider,” which sees a 40th anniversary DVD edition hit retail stores this month, is still relevant today because many of the social problems it highlights persist. One of the most famous parts of “Easy Rider” comes at the movie’s end when Fonda’s motorbiking character Wyatt tells riding buddy Billy, “We blew it.” (RTRS)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

25

travel sunday, october 25, 2009

airport inquiry tel: 180 www.kuwait-airport.com.kw

May tarnish image

‘Lodge’ tragedy raises concerns PHOENIX, Arizona, Oct 24, (AFP): The death of three people at an Arizona spiritual retreat has cast a spotlight on the modern-day popularity of an ancient Native American ritual designed to cleanse the soul and purify the mind. Police in the spiritual center of Sedona are treating the deaths of three people who collapsed after entering a punishing “sweat lodge” as homicide, and are now probing safety precautions in the October 8 incident. Roughly 60 people paid self-help guru James Arthur Ray 9,000 dollars to go on the retreat involved in the recent tragedy. As well as three fatalities, nearly 20 participants were hospitalized. Now workers at some of Sedona’s roughly 80 retreats, tours, and quests fear the tragedy will tarnish the reputation of sweat lodges, where participants gather around hot stones in a covered underground pit. “That’s one of my greatest fears,” said Ed Preston of the SpiritQuest Retreat Center in Sedona. Legislation to regulate sweat lodges “would be completely inappropriate,” he told AFP. Sedona’s red rock canyons are home to more than 80 spiritual businesses, according to the chamber of commerce, with names like “Earthstar Vortex Tours,” “CosmicJaguar Lovevolution,” and “Angel Lightfeather’s Sacred Pathways.” Believers say the region is home to several “spiritual vortices”, mystical channels of energy. However, there aren’t more than about six or seven sweat lodges in Sedona, and the surrounding area, according to Preston. Within the spectrum of available spiritual activities, which range from yoga, hikes for “soul retrieval” and shamanic journeys, sweat lodges aren’t high on the list for most visitors.

‘He makes us laugh with us, not at us’

Cosby heads to DC for Mark Twain humor prize WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AP): Bill Cosby still thinks America is funny — like the name-calling over healthcare and the way we drink so much water from plastic bottles that could be toxic — even though he says the nation has some serious problems it needs to tackle. The 72-year-old who has long drawn laughs for his wisecracks and deadpan observations will receive the nation’s foremost humor prize Monday at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Sinbad and other top entertainers will line up to honor him with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. It’s a prize Cosby has turned down twice before because he said he was disgusted with the profanity and racial epithets thrown around by performers honoring Richard Pryor, who was the first recipient in 1998. “I told them flat out no because I will not be used, nor will Mark Twain be used, in that way,” he told The Associated Press from his home in New York. The profanity bugs Cosby. He always kept it clean with the family laughs on “The Cosby Show,” portraying a middle-class

black family and everyday life, from 1984 to 1992. And he’s not impressed with today’s comedians who can’t help but curse. It took a chat with Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser this year at Sen Edward Kennedy’s birthday celebration for Cosby to accept the award this time. “What I wanted was to associate my work with why I do what I do,” he said. For a man with a master’s degree and doctorate in education, his life is about more than laughs. So Cosby helped craft Cosby the tribute show — airing Nov 4 nationwide on the Public Broadcasting Service — to capture his overarching emphasis on taking education seriously and telling stories that teach something in the process. He’s planned a special nod to his beloved Central High School in Philadelphia, with fellow alumnus James DePreist conducting their alma mater’s orchestra.

Producers of the show are worried it won’t be funny, Cosby said. But he said there will still be plenty of entertainment. Cappy McGarr, one of the show’s executive producers, said they’re thrilled with the lineup, which also includes Carl Reiner, Wynton Marsalis, and “Cosby” costars Phylicia Rashad and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. The producers shape each show around the honoree and have had Cosby on their list for years. McGarr explained the tribute to Pryor aired for a different audience on Comedy Central and wasn’t meant to be offensive, but the show has aired on PBS ever since. He said the producers were grateful Cosby finally accepted. “He is a comic genius,” McGarr said. “He just has a wonderful reflection of funny ... and is an absolute master at taking an ordinary human condition and giving his take on it. “He makes us laugh with us, not at us.” The comedian who kept NBC viewers laughing on Thursday nights after “Cosby” went to reruns will salute the man he says reinvigorated the TV sit-com. Seinfeld said he started buying Cosby’s

comedy albums when he was 11 years old. He was watching as Cosby made the jump from nightclubs to television with the “I Spy” series and as physical education teacher Chet Kincaid on “The Bill Cosby Show” in 1969. “Watching him do those things showed me the right way for a standup comedian to play himself on television — how you kind of transform your standup persona into a character persona,” Seinfeld told the AP. “I think only comedians know and understand that this guy has reached like a virtuoso point of command over this form that most people, even the big star comedians, don’t get anywhere near.” Beyond the comedy that he still performs on stage, Cosby has spoken bluntly about society over the years. He has spoken out about personal responsibility in the black community and talks often about education on his Web site, Facebook and Twitter feeds. Of all things he’d wish for young people, better television is on the list. Cosby said he wishes kids had access to classic writers and their stories on TV, “so that our youth can find themselves being excit-

ed about things other than going straight for the genitalia.” The longtime TV dad also has some observations on politics, though he says he’s not a “wheeler, dealer” when he visits Washington. Recently, the protests against President Barack Obama have struck a chord. Demonstrators likened themselves to the American colonists who protested against oppressive British rule by dumping a shipment of tea into Boston harbor in the 1773 Boston Tea Party. “To see people marching down the street, talking about a tea party, they’ve got to be kidding ... and the name-calling, these people are hilarious,” he said. “What’s not funny is how seriously so many of them have come together to speak like this.” He was appalled by the refusal of some public schools last month to show students an Obama speech about education, and he agrees with some observers, such as former President Jimmy Carter, that some of the opposition is driven by racism. “I just want this United States of America to be the United States of America, for which it’s supposed to stand,” Cosby said.

Spiritual “On a scale of one to 10, it’s a two,” said Deidre Manson of Shangri-La Sedona, a spiritual travel company. “People don’t just come here for sweat lodges; they come here for a variety of different reasons.” Practitioners insist sweat lodges are safe, if led by trained lodge keepers, as they are called. Lodges are highly ritualized in how many rocks are used, how much water is put on them and how often the door is opened as well as many other factors including construction and the number of participants. “A reputable retreat company would not be conducting the lodge themselves,” Preston said. “In our case we use Native American practitioners because they use a format which has been established for centuries.” Lodge keepers who aren’t native have “almost always” been trained by Native Americans, Preston said. It’s a complex process. Apprentices can train for one to two years just to tend the fire outside in which the lava rocks are heated. “If someone came to us and said, ‘It’s our own thing,’ that would be a huge red flag,” he said. “There’s some art to it ... (Native Americans) know exactly what they’re doing, and they don’t kill anyone doing it.” No safeguards have been put in place, before or since the three deaths, according to Johanna Mosca of Sedona Spirit Hiking and Yoga. Mosca, who has done more than 50 sweats since 1994, does not have a lodge on her property. If her clients want to sweat, she calls local practitioners. “The precaution we put in is knowing the person who is leading the sweat lodge,” she said. “I would allow my 90year old father to attend a sweat lodge. “I totally trust the people I know in Sedona who are leading lodges as sacred practices. Things go awry when things are led for profit and people are not conscious. I think this was an isolated incident. I hate it that it makes Sedona people look like irresponsible woo-woo jerks.” Katherine Lash, co-owner of the SpiritQuest Retreat Center, said ritual participants trust the facilitator to watch out for them. She questioned whether Ray was paying close enough attention to the condition of the participants. “There’s no need to push someone beyond their limits to accomplish self-acceptance,” she said. Lash also said the lodge appeared to be overcrowded. “Having 60 people in there is absolutely absurd,” she said. A survivor of Ray’s ill-fated lodge said Friday the guru had not been paying attention when tragedy struck. “James Ray pretty much abandoned all of us. He left us there to figure out what was going on,” orthodontist Beverly Bunn told “Good Morning America.” “After the incident he never came back.” Manson meanwhile said Ray’s lodge was not built according to traditional methods. “I understand the lodge out there was covered in plastic, not a natural fiber,” she said. “Once you convert it into a sauna, if you put 60-some odd people in an enclosed space, I’m not sure what goes on there. That’s not the traditional way a lodge is built.

The Minneapolis skyline rises through the rain as an arriving Northwest Airlines jet taxis at Minneapolis, St Paul International Airport, Oct 23. Investigators are looking into a Northwest flight bound for Minneapolis from San Diego which over flew the airport by 150 miles. (AP)

Pilots missed destination by 150 miles — but how?

Overshot airport pilot denies crew napping MINNEAPOLIS, Oct 24, (AP): The first officer of the Northwest Airlines jet that missed its destination by 150 miles (240 kms) says there was no fight in the cockpit, neither he nor the captain had fallen asleep, and passengers were never in any danger. But in an interview with The Associated Press two days after he and a colleague blew past their destination as air traffic controllers tried frantically to reach them, pilot Richard Cole would not say just what it was that led to them to forget to land Flight 188. “It was not a serious event, from a safety issue,” Cole told The Associated Press in an interview outside his home in Salem, Oregon. “I would tell you more, but I’ve already told you way too much.” Air traffic controllers and pilots had tried for more than an hour Wednesday night to contact Cole and the flight’s captain, Timothy B. Cheney, of Gig Harbor, Washington state, using radio, cellphone and data messages. On the ground, concerned officials alerted National Guard jets to prepare to chase the airliner from two locations, though none of the military planes got off the runway. Cole would not discuss why it took so long for the pilots to respond to radio calls, “but I can tell you that airplanes lose contact with the ground people all the time. It happens. Sometimes they get together right away; sometimes it takes awhile before one or the other notices that they are not in contact.” A police report released Friday said the pilots passed breathalyzer tests and were apologetic after the flight. The report also said that the crew indicated they had been having a heated discussion about airline policy. But aviation safety experts and other

pilots were deeply skeptical they could have become so distracted by shop talk that they forgot to land an airplane carrying 144 passengers. The most likely possibility, they said, is that the pilots simply fell asleep somewhere along their route from San Diego. “It certainly is a plausible explanation,” said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia. Cole said that wasn’t the case. He also said an argument wasn’t to blame. “All I’m saying is we were not asleep; we were not having a fight; there was nothing serious going on in the cockpit that would threaten the people in the back

at all,” Cole told The Associated Press. Unfortunately, the cockpit voice recorder may not tell the tale. New recorders retain as much as two hours of cockpit conversation and other noise, but the older model aboard Northwest’s Flight 188 includes just the last 30 minutes — only the very end of Wednesday night’s flight after the pilots realized their error over Wisconsin and were heading back to Minneapolis. Cheney and Cole have been suspended and are to be interviewed by National Transportation Safety Board investigators next week. The airline, acquired last year by Delta Air Lines, is also investigating.

This still image from video courtesy of ABC News shows Northwest Airlines First Officer Richard I. Cole on Oct 23, in Salem, Oregon. US aviation officials and the FBI on Oct 23, probed how pilots of an airplane with 149 people on board managed to overshoot their destination by 150 miles (240 kms), prompting fears of a hijacking. (AFP)

Messages left at Cheney’s home were not returned. FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said in general, an unsafe condition created by a pilot could lead to the suspension of the person’s pilot license and possibly a civil penalty. With worries about terrorists still high, even after contact was re-established, air traffic controllers asked the crew to prove who they were by executing turns. “Controllers have a heightened sense of vigilance when we’re not able to talk to an aircraft. That’s the reality post-9/11,” said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said fatigue and cockpit distraction will be looked into. The plane’s flight recorders were brought to the board’s Washington headquarters. The pilots were finally alerted to their situation when a flight attendant called on an intercom from the cabin. Voss said a special concern was that the many safety checks built into the aviation system to prevent incidents like this one — or to correct them quickly — apparently were ineffective until the very end. Not only couldn’t air traffic controllers and other pilots raise the Northwest pilots for an hour, but the airline’s dispatcher should have been trying to reach them as well. The three flight attendants onboard should have questioned why there were no preparations for landing being made. Brightly lit cockpit displays should have warned the pilots it was time to land. “It’s probably something you would say never would happen if this hadn’t just happened,” Voss said. Federal investigators struggled to determine what the crew members of a

Northwest Airlines jetliner were doing at 37,000 feet (11,000 meters) as they sped 150 miles (240 kms) past their destination and military jets readied to chase them. Unfortunately, the cockpit voice recorder may not tell the tale. A report released late Friday said the pilots passed breathalyzer tests and were apologetic after Wednesday night’s amazing odyssey. Authorities said the pilots told them they had been having a heated discussion about airline policy. But aviation safety experts and other pilots were frankly skeptical they could have become so consumed with shoptalk that they forgot to land an airplane carrying 144 passengers. The most likely possibility, they said, is that the pilots simply fell asleep somewhere along their route from San Diego to Minneapolis. “It certainly is a plausible explanation,” said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia. One of the two pilots, first officer Richard I. Cole, said that wasn’t the case. He also said an argument wasn’t to blame. He declined to discuss what exactly happened but did insist “it was not a serious event, from a safety issue.” “I can’t go into it, but it was innocuous.” The pilots, both temporarily suspended, are to be interviewed by National Transportation Safety Board investigators next week. The airline, acquired last year by Delta Air Lines, is also investigating. Messages left at both men’s homes were not immediately returned. The FAA said Friday letters had been sent informing the pilots they are being investigated by the agency and it is possible their pilot’s licenses could be suspended or revoked.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

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Twitter entries satirize works of literature

Re-telling Shakespeare, Kafka, Dante ... with a Tweet CHICAGO/LONDON, Oct 24, (RTRS): Deciphering William Shakespeare plays in school essays apparently was not enough for two university students who have written a book of Twitter entries that summarize and satirize works of literature. “Twitterature: The World’s Greatest Books Retold Through Twitter,” which Penguin releases next month in the United Kingdom, is an irreverent, profane and sometimes brilliant collection of 20 comments on the ideas and themes in 60-some classics. The “tweets” of Emmett Rensin and Alexander Aciman combine the knowledge of an English major with the snarky shorthand of a teenager’s text message. “It’s funny if you’ve read the books,” said Rensin, 19. Rensin of Los Angeles is a student at the University of Chicago majoring in English and philosophy, and his collaborator and classmate Aciman

is a comparative literature major from New York City. The goal is laughs and gasps, not a study aid for students trying to comprehend Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” or William Shakespeare’s plays. Take Dante’s “Inferno” — which the authors did in Twitter entries that are restricted to 140 characters or less: “I’m having a midlife crisis. Lost in the woods. Shoulda brought my iPhone.” Of Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” they said: “PARTY IN THEBES!!! Nobody cares I killed that old dude, plus this woman is all over me.” Rensin discussed boiling down Homer’s “The Odyssey.” “We have Odysseus, he’s on an island, and he’s stranded, and he’s just fought in this egregious war. He has nothing to his name except his wits

Site to restore some old features

Facebook tweaks home page based on feedback NEW YORK, Oct 24, (AP): Worried about missing a birth announcement, or details on what your portly uncle had for lunch? Facebook is tweaking its home page yet again in hopes of making it easier to find information. Among the latest changes is a list of items you might have missed during those rare moments spent away from the online hangout. The changes are being rolled out Friday. When you log in to Facebook you will see what the site deems the most interesting things that happened in the past day in the “News Feed.” These could be

photos, status updates or other items. As has been the case previously, what Facebook deems interesting to you will be based on what updates are popular with your friends or how close you are to the person giving the update. “If the content has comments or ‘likes’ by 10 of your mutual friends, it’s something that is important to you,” said Peter Deng, a Facebook product manager. After you’ve caught up, you can click back to the “Live Feed” you’ve had before and read updates from everyone on your friends list in a constant stream. In another change, Facebook is inte-

grating its “Highlights” feature from the right hand side of the page to the “News Feed” in the middle. The space it frees up will be used to feature birthdays and events more prominently — something Facebook says users had asked for. And the site is restoring some features it had gotten rid of, such as posts on when your friend adds a new friend or becomes a fan of a brand or a celebrity. “Nothing is going away,” Deng said. “We are just moving things around.” That’s important, because if past redesigns are any indication, change doesn’t always go over well at Facebook.

and his iPhone and at that point he goes on his Twitter account. What at that moment would Odysseus say?”

Rensin said in an interview with Reuters Television. “There were some lines in the book

where we’re sitting on a couch and we’re writing it, and we’d both laugh and say ‘there’s no way they’re going to

let us write that,”’ Aciman said. Renaming Shakespeare’s Macbeth for Big Mac, the fast-food icon, seemed only natural. “If Macbeth were to register a user name, he’s arrogant enough to pick something like that, I think,” Aciman said. “I figure he’d be much more of a sandwich than just a hamburger.” But the manuscript has received mixed reviews. “Some people think it’s funny and some people think it’s disrespectful,” Aciman added. The point was to make people laugh, not offend the defenders of great literature, the authors said. “I’m not going to say it’s high art,” said Aciman, whose favorite author is Marcel Proust. “There is some value to it, I feel, aside from the fact we’re making available the idea behind great works of art.”

OnLine Amazon crowns Kindle No. 1

E-book shift to hurt bookstores: analysts NEW YORK, Oct 24, (Agencies): The shift to digital from physical books will ultimately hurt traditional brickand-mortar book sellers, analysts said Friday on the heels of Barnes & Noble Inc., the largest US bookstore chain, launching its new e-reader. Barnes & Noble introduced the Nook Tuesday as a competitor to online retailer Amazon.com’s Kindle, which has dominated the e-reader market. Barnes & Noble, which operates 774 brick-and-mortar stores, also has an e-bookstore that offers more than 1 million titles and an e-reader application that can be used on mobile devices and personal computers, as well as the Nook. The company could become a major player in the digital book business, but that actually may speed the downward trend in its revenue and profit, said Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter, who rates the company “Underperform.” “As the math currently works, each sale through a Nook is not just unprofitable but potentially replaces a higher-margin sale at stores,” Balter wrote in a client note Friday. He lowered his price target to $16 from One obvious risk is that downloading books reduces the need to go into stores, Balter said. Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler wrote to clients Friday that the move to digital formats “clearly challenges Barnes & Noble’s store-based model.”

Readership E-book readership is small, but growing fast. Forrester Research predicts 3 million e-readers will sell in the US in 2009, and twice that many in 2010. Fassler said Barnes & Noble’s revenue could rise in the short term with sales of the $259 Nook. “But ultimately, (we) anticipate earnings fallout as the firm confronts broad, intensifying competition with a legacy cost structure,” he wrote. Barnes & Noble’s chief rival Borders Group Inc. faces similar issues, Fassler added. “We see more structural risks for this sector than any other in our coverage,” he said. Fassler cut his rating on Barnes & Noble to “Sell” from “Neutral.” ❑ ❑ ❑ Amazon crowned a new bestseller on Thursday - the Kindle, its electronic book reader. “Kindle has become the number one bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars - not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com,” said Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos. In keeping with previous practice, Bezos declined to reveal sales figures for the Kindle, but Forrester Research estimates the device has a nearly 60 percent share of the US market fol-

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lowed by the Sony Reader with 35 percent. Forrester estimates that three million e-readers will be sold in the United States this year, up from a previous forecast of two million units, and for e-reader sales to double to six million units next year. Version Bezos also announced that the price of a new international version of the Kindle, which is designed to synch with telecom networks in 100 countries, was being cut to $259 from $279. The Bezos statements came as his Seattle-based company reported a 68 percent rise in net profit in the third quarter to 199 million dollars, or 45 cents per share, better than the 33 cents per share forecast by Wall Street analysts. Revenue increased 28 percent to $5.45 billion during the quarter which ended on Sept 30. Amazon shares soared 14.77 percent in after-hours electronic trading to a record $107.25. Unlike eBay, which unveiled a cautious outlook for the holiday season the previous day, Amazon delivered an optimistic sales forecast for the Christmas period. It said it expected fourth-quarter sales of between $8.1 billion and $9.1 billion, an increase of between 21 percent and 36 percent over last year. Amazon said North America sales rose 23 percent in the quarter to $2.84 billion while international sales from its British, German, Japanese, French and Chinese sites rose 33 percent to $2.61 billion. It said worldwide media sales, which include music, books and other items, grew 17 percent to $2.93 billion. Sales of electronics and other general merchandise sales climbed 44 percent to $2.36 billion. Amazon also said that the Kindle book store has increased its number of titles to more than 360,000 books including 101 of the 112 New York Times bestsellers. Bezos told Amazon’s annual shareholders meeting in May that the company may never reveal Kindle sales figures. “Our point of view on that is that there can often be a competitive advantage in keeping the numbers close,” he said. But Amazon is not the only firm trying to shake up the market for electronic books. Google is pressing ahead with plans to digitize thousands of books and on Wednesday hardware firm HewlettPackard said it would get in on the action, stepping up its out-of-print book publishing business and taking on Google. The US computer giant announced Wednesday it has teamed with the University of Michigan to offer print versions of more than 500,000 out-ofcopyright books in the school’s library.

bestows the ‘Best Student’ award to students who score maximum marks or grades in the Board Exams for SSC and HSC. This is an integral part of a belief that these students are the foundations of a better tomorrow and we should support and reward their efforts. Calling on all the member parents of Thumpamon Forum to submit the marksheet copies for their children who have appeared for the (SSC) Secondary School Certificate and (HSC) Higher Secondary School Certificate in this academic year. Kindly submit hardcopies of the attested marksheets or email the same addressed to Thomas Thomas ([email protected]). The marksheets have to be submitted latest by the 25th of Oct 2009. For further details please call Thomas

On the railway.

The Waterbry family.

The children save the train after the landslide.

One rainy day, the Russian writer faints.

BAIA brings literature alive

‘Railway’, delightful theatrical journey By Michelle Fe Santiago Special to the Arab Times

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hug...Chug...Chug...Tooot! Toot! Toot! There goes the train, as literature comes alive with the staging of ‘The Railway Children’ last weekend by the British Academy of International Arts (BAIA) in the Shakespeare Theatre at the British School of Kuwait. The Railway Children, a children’s book written by Edith Nesbit, originally published in 1906 was adapted for stage by a 20-year-old BAIA alumna and promising playwright Eleni Price. The stage play was part of BAIA’s educational series of productions dubbed ‘BAIA Brings Literature Alive.’ The stage and props were fantastic and breathtaking with a realistic, multi- set on three levels incorporated the railway station, the tunnel in which Jim was wounded and The Three Chimneys Cottage (where the children lived). The audience entered a train and was treated to an exciting journey to the English countryside in

Thomas on 99745127 or George Mathew on 66513091.

the 1900s. During the interval the audience was taken to a tour of an authentic English cottage parlour designed by Sarah Lewis. The play was composed of colourful characters who kept the audience entertained such as the sensitive Roberta, energetic Peter and sparkling Phyllis, members of BAIA’s Elite Triple Threat Troupe played respectively by 14-year-old Emily Webster, Yousef Al Nasser and Elizabeth Gribble. They have internalised their characters and their performance was truly admirable. They were supported by a cast ranging from ages three to 80. This was a production of many emotions as the audience was taken to a roller coaster ride of laughter and tears. Set in period costume of 1900, Mother (Fiona McCulloch), lovingly and bravely held her family together while Father was unjustly held in prison. The old gentleman on the train, 81-year-old Gwyn Mordecai befriended the family and eventually reunited Father (Mousaed Khalid ) with his wife and children.

Roberta’s meeting with her daddy at the end teemed with emotions that left the audience in tears. The humorous and busy Mr Perks the porter played with consummate skill by Hamad Al Jenai, ran the railway in the absence of the station master together with Mr Mitchel , Yousef Musairi ,the kindly guard. Perks together with his lovely wife Nell (Sarah Lewis) and their three young daughters, Gertie (Amy Lewis), Elsie (Georgina Lewis) and Rosie (Rosie Lewis) drew pearls of laughter from the audience. The supporting cast – the disagreeable Yorkshire man – Tristan French, awful Aunt Emma – Dr Joyce Mordecai, the handsome doctor – Surya Butterworth, Jim the injured school boy – Jake Al Dookhi, the tragic Russian – Mousead Khalid the tearful maid – Elenor Mallon and the small boy – Alex White, played their characters with realism and humour. ‘The Railway Children’ also amazed the audience with its wonderful musical scoring and meticulous lighting that enhanced

every scene of the play. Steam from railway engines, 105 sound effects and 31 seasonal lighting changes ranging from midnight in the summer to autumn thunderstorms were created by Technical Manager Masarow Fearsunny, BAIA Musical Director Jumel Carjavel and hardworking Stage Manager Nichole Kemsley. No praise can be too high for all cast and backstage staff who worked with such enthusiasm to produce such a heart warming performance for a very appreciative audience. This delightful theatrical experience was produced and directed by prolific Director Alison Shân Price, the Principal of BAIA. Shan who has directed numerous stage plays in the past such as Othello, Annie, Oliver, Dream Dealer and A Midsummer Nights Dream has once again shown her directorial prowess and artistry. After this successful stage play, BAIA is again up on its toes for its upcoming Concert of Hope on Oct 30 at the Radisson Blu Hotel for the benefit of the disadvantaged children.

of Commerce and the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce proudly organise a trade mission to bring to the State of Kuwait the latest Dutch

innovations in the area of transport, logistics and infrastructure. The trade mission, which will take place

from Oct 26 to 28, will bring 13 prominent Dutch companies to Kuwait. These Dutch companies are globally-experienced and eager to develop strong business relations with prospective Kuwaiti firms. The mission’s agenda will feature a number of individual business meetings, side visits, a network reception and other networking tools to enable Dutch and Kuwaiti firms to explore areas of interest and to facilitate the exchange of experience and expertise. Collective meetings will be organised with i.e. Kuwait Port Authority, Ministry of Public Works and Kuwait Civil Aviation Authority. The business delegation will be lead by the Deputy Head of Mission and Head of the Economic Department of the Embassy in Kuwait, Mr Cees Kieft. More information on the participating companies and the program can be found on the embassy website www.netherlandsembassy.gov.kw.

Oct 26

Dar Al-Athar ‘organ recital’: Dar alAthar al-Islamiyyah cordially invites you to an organ recital by Christian Schmitt on Monday, Oct 26 at 07:00 pm. Moderated by Ahmed Khaja. Organist Christian Schmitt plays continuo organ and harpsichord with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony orchestra, conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, with whom he recorded the early Mozart symphonies, the orchestral suites of J.S. Bach, and several other CDs. He also teaches at the Saar College of Music and conducts master classes at music colleges in Europe, the US and the Far East. The awardwinning organist, who has been recognised for his performances of both classical and ‘new music’, has played with many of Europe’s leading symphony orchestras and conductors. Al-Maidan Cultural Centre – Abdullah AlSalem School, Maidan Hawally, Beside Al Sha’ab Leisure Park. Tel: 25636528 / 25636561. Fax: 25653006. E-mail: [email protected], website: www.darmuseum.org.kw ❑ ❑ ❑

Trade mission from Netherlands: The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands together with the Netherlands British Chamber

Oct 27

Toastmasters meeting: Desert Pioneers The English School Fahaheel gave a warm welcome to Val Bloom on her recent visit to meet students. A visiting author is now an annual event at ESF. Students were very excited to meet a renowned UK author and get an autographed copy of her famous works. Val Bloom has been at the forefront of performance poetry in the UK for over 10 years and this achievement was recently recognized by Her Majesty the Queen when Val was awarded an MBE for services in poetry in December 2007.

Toastmasters Club, promoted by Toastmasters International; invites you to join them on every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month at Rezayat Village, Salmiya between 07:15 pm and 09:15 pm; and find answers that will help you build your self-confidence to stand before any kind of audience and speak fearlessly.

Continued on Page 27

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

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Women who lead face fears, says ‘Remarkable Women’

Books tackle scarcity of US women in leadership posts NEW YORK, Oct 24, (RTRS): Women make up half the US work force these days, yet they remain scarce in the ranks of top business leadership. That persistent gap, in which women hold no more than 3 percent of chief executive jobs in Fortune 500 companies, is the topic of “How Remarkable Women Lead” by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston and “Women Lead the Way” by Linda TarrWhelan. Barsh and Cranston study successful women in leadership to find what traits and talents they may share, and Tarr-Whelan argues why and how women should hold leadership positions. Women who lead are inspired by a sense of meaning in what they do, assess situations in a positive light and know the value of connecting with others, write Barsh and Cranston, both consultants at McKinsey & Co. Women who lead take risks, face down their fears, speak up and have a strong sense of optimism, which can be learned, Barsh said in an interview. “All of it is practice,” she said. Critical to the process is finding and recharging energy as well as plugging energy drains — which is not easy, she said. “This is about facing reality, taking ownership and saying this is my life ... I am setting out to grow, and growth requires dis-

Carol Berkin’s new book fascinating reading

‘Civil War Wives’ unearths intriguing women of past By Mary Foster

In this book cover image released by Knopf, ‘Civil War Wives: The Life and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant’, by Carol Berkin, is shown. (AP)

ivil War Wives: The Life and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis and Julia Dent Grant’ (Alfred A. Knopf, 384 pages, $27.95), by Carol Berkin: Carol Berkin has found rich ground in the wives of famous men during the Civil War and mines it for wonderfully readable stories. Her new book, “Civil War Wives: The Life and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis and Julia Dent Grant,” is interesting for the women’s stories and for the contrast among the three. It also offers insight into the lives of 19th-century women. These wives of abolitionist Theodore Weld, Confederacy President Jefferson Davis and Union Gen Ulysses S. Grant all came from privileged backgrounds, married powerful men — and lived very

different lives. All three grew up in rich, slave-owning families in the South, but one rejected slavery outright, another was on the side of the war that ended it, and only Howell lived on a plantation as an adult. Grimke rejected the slavery of her South Carolina family and finally followed her sister north. She became a Quaker and an abolitionist, going on to become an influential speaker for that cause. Seen as a radical at the time, Grimke’s beliefs were silenced after her marriage to Weld. Howell was Davis’ second wife and just a teenager when she married him. Davis disapproved of her independent and outspoken ways while he served as a US congressman, senator and secretary of war, and she was ill-suited to be

the first lady of the Confederacy. But when Davis was imprisoned after the war, it was her lobbying efforts that freed him. Dent left plantation life to marry Grant and embraced domesticity and motherhood. Grant found fame commanding Union forces during the war and served as president for two terms, but his fame was counterbalanced by poverty and disgrace. Through it all, Dent devoted herself to Grant and her family, finding her voice only after his death when she wrote his memoir. Berkin is a great storyteller, her writing is colorful, her subjects multilayered and their times and trials fascinating. After reading “Civil War Wives,” one might wonder what other intriguing women from that time are waiting to be discovered. (AP)

comfort,” she said. “We’re not asking you to pretend things are better than they are. We’re asking you to

unlock the greatest potential for what you’ve got,” she said. In “Women Lead The Way,” Tarr-Whelan

lays out why more women should lead. “I am not happy with those books that simply tell what the problem is. I think it is

time to try and suss out what can make a difference,” said the author, who was ambassador to the U.N. Commission on the Status of

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Women in the administration of President Bill Clinton. She advocates the “30 percent solution,” a concept that gained traction at the U.N. Conference on the Status of Women in Beijing in 1995. “The catalyst for a wave of change is having at least one-third women at the table,” she said. “It works.” Research shows companies do business better and nations govern better when they adapt the 30 percent measure, she said. Financial institutions with more than 30 percent women on their boards have fared the economic crisis better, she said. “Often without even thinking about it, we are seeing the world through men’s eyes and don’t realize a woman’s perspective is missing,” she noted in the book. Getting in the way are stereotypes and myths, she said, such as those that say women lack the drive to lead, the smartest women drop out to stay at home or not enough women are qualified to lead. “They are very pervasive,” she said. “They influence people who are deciding who’s going to be promoted and who is considered to be a rising star or an emerging leader.” “Women Lead the Way” was published by Berrett-Koehler and “How Remarkable Women Lead” was published by Crown Business, owned by Random House Inc.

Books Life dedicated to beating setbacks

Harry Ricardo shifted engines in high gear By Donna Howell

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arry Ricardo turned 12 in 1896. By then he’d designed and built his first engine. He spent the rest of a long life making better ones. Enthralled by a “most exciting period” of history, Ricardo said in an autobiography, he discovered early what he wanted to do. In this era, motor vehicles were brandnew to practical use, and Ricardo latched on to what he could accomplish if he tried. “At last after tears of sheer frustration came the thrilling moment,” he wrote of his first big boyhood project, an apparatus powered by steam. “The engine worked.” That joy propelled the London-born architect’s son into decades of successes aiding the rise of the car and the fighting of World War I. Ricardo’s youthful tribulation of helping his grandfather try to drive 26 miles home in a 3.5-horsepower Benz positioned him to beat setbacks. The car couldn’t crest a hill without overheating. The two made it only when the granddad traded up to a 5-horsepower car. “The first thing that strikes you about Harry Ricardo was his passion for engineering, but in particular for combustion. He was passionate about how the fuel and air is mixed in an engine and how you get the best performance from it,” said Dave Morrison, a senior manager at Ricardo PLC, the firm Ricardo started in Shoreham, England. The outfit is still an engineering innovator.

Power In his teens, Ricardo (1885-1974) started a business with a cousin producing engines, and later cars with his own engine design. The autos didn’t catch on, but the Dolphin engines became a popular way to power fishing fleets. Years later, Ricardo shifted into high gear by aiding the British in World War I, Morrison says. “They were developing this thing called a tank, which was highly secret,” he told IBD. “The reason it was called a tank was that they didn’t want the enemy getting wind of this device, so they said they were water tanks for troops in the desert. The engines were appalling; they were gas engines, but smoked dreadfully, so the enemy could see where the tanks were by the smoke plumes.” Ricardo rode to the rescue. His engine used a horizontal valve approach and didn’t smoke so much. More than 7,000 tanks based on Ricardo’s engine were built for use by the Allies by the war’s end. He went on to refine diesel and conventional gasoline engines, including some that paved the way for the world’s use of octane ratings. Engine knock can cause damage when gasoline ignites too early in a high-compression engine. To study the problem, Ricardo built a test engine. He made the compression ratio and valve timing variable to reduce knock. Thanks to his variable engine, others worked on knock too. They found that additives could reduce knock, and octane ratings arose. High-octane fuels for high-compression engines aided performance and efficiency, leading to the first direct crossing of the Atlantic by airplane. “The general public probably never heard of Ricardo, but most engineers would know who he was,” said Geoff Challinor, curator at the Anson Engine Museum in Cheshire, England. “He was very much into research on combustion chamber designs.”

Grandfather While WWI raged, Ricardo’s grandfather died in the winter of 1916-17. In his

memoir, Ricardo wrote that the death brought home to him that “I must make up my mind what I really wanted to do when the war was over.” He had studied engineering at Cambridge University’s Trinity College and now had an offer to team up in a civil engineering firm. “By that time,” he wrote, “I had fallen so deeply in love with the internal combustion engine that I could not bear the thought of parting from it.” His engine research proved successful, so he confided his “dream of establishing a laboratory of my own in which to carry out research, design and development to a number of leading engineers in industry.” That led him to meet Campbell Swinton, a financier who brought Ricardo advice and backers. One idea Ricardo liked was to pick a generic name, Engine Patents Ltd. He figured that if the firm flopped, he wouldn’t be so tarnished. Also as Swinton said, Ricardo started the company right away, even as the war continued. Swinton “predicted that the end of the war would be followed by a scramble to convert swords into ploughshares and a period of drastic cuts in expenditure of all kinds,” Ricardo wrote. “Whereas if we got cracking at once, we could rely on the Ministry of Munitions to grant us the necessary permits and take advantage of the prevailing atmosphere of goodwill and offers of support promised us by a number of industrial firms.” The business did succeed. Now he was ready to call it Ricardo & Co. Once the fighting stopped, Ricardo steered from tanks and aircraft back toward cars. And the goodwill continued. “When the war ended in 1918, the ministry gave him a nice pot of gold to say ‘thank you very much,’” Morrison said. Working with top mechanics, Ricardo set out to modify aspects of the Dolphin engine. He found ways to get a faster increase in pressure by boosting turbulence in the chamber where air and fuel mixed. Royalties from what became the turbulent head engine, which improved on the side-valve engine with a modified combustion system, helped finance his firm for 15 years. The design was used on many autos. Ricardo had laid the foundation for other successes by showing up to talk about what he knew - and asking questions. In the war, he’d gone to a highlevel meeting about fuel supplies. He pleaded in vain for better tank fuel, but learned the best was reserved for aviation and staff cars. So he pleaded for benzol, which was more plentiful. The men “held up their hands in horror,” Ricardo wrote, because it was considered unacceptable as a petroleum engine fuel. He insisted that because it was tough to detonate, it would let him raise the engine’s compression ratio safely and get more power. Later the meeting chairman, a managing director at Shell Co., probed Ricardo about his idea. As a result, Shell presented him with different fuels. Through his testing, he found one from Borneo worked best in his new engine.

Aviation Teaming up with Shell followed. Ricardo’s observation led to the making of aviation fuel from Borneo crude and its use in the first nonstop plane crossing of the Atlantic. British air force pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown made that flight in 1919 from Newfoundland to Ireland after Ricardo advised that a little increase in power or efficiency could spell success. His call was precise. They landed with barely enough fuel left.

Handout images obtained on Oct 21 from publishers Frances Lincoln Limited show pictures of ‘The Ferry’ (left) and ‘The Weir’ (right), from the book entitled ‘A Village Lost and Found’ by Brian May and Elena Vidal. Brian May, the Queen guitarist and expert astronomer, has ventured into another dimension, bringing the idyllic world of 1850s rural England back to life in vivid colour 3D. The 62-year-old rock star’s childhood fascination with three-dimensional pictures set him on a lifetime’s quest to find an unknown village captured by the equally mysterious Victorian photographer T.R. Williams. (AFP)

Stephen King one of the kings of fictional tales

‘Needful Things’ reflects real life facts By Rima A. Mneimneh Special to the Arab Times n many genres of fiction the writer seems to work hard to portray life in the best possible manner adhering so close to what life in all its flanks is all about. It might get harder and more mystifying but perhaps more challenging when a writer attempts the thrillers’ genre and still aiming at evoking a humane fundamental message. In such attempts fiction and credible segments from real life ought to play in harmonious synchronization in order make the tale acceptable and successful.

I

Characters At some instances, some characters in the story tend to be depicted performing extreme acts foreshadowing the succession of events that will entail thus creating a cataclysmic consequences only to reiterate to readers how presumably simple and ordinary things might lead to unavoidable results. It is noteworthy to mention there are proven masters in this field of writing whose books have reaped phenomenal success worldwide in this exceptionally difficult fictional line. Robin Cook, a physician by profession, writer of many suspense thrillers including “Coma,” says he chose to write thrillers because he feels it is “an opportunity to get the public interested in things about medicine that they didn’t seem to know about. I believe my books are actually teaching people.” “Coma” was made into a successful feature film. Dean Koontz is another contemporary suspense author acknowledged as “one of today’s most celebrated and successful writers; Koontz has earned a wide readership worldwide and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.” The author expounds that he never thought that he would have such compelling material to work with when he began writing fiction in 1970. He revealed by saying, “If I tried to be the writer I am today a number of years ago, I wouldn’t have very much to write about. But today, with the pace of change in biomedical research, there are any number of

different issues, and new ones to come.” One of those celebrated names in the genre of suspense and thriller stories is none other than the highly acclaimed Stephen King. His string of one successful thriller after another has jostled boundaries of language and geography by having his books translated into scores of languages. In one of his unforgettable tales that was also made into a feature film is his novel entitled “Needful Things.” The story is a reflection of what some opportunistic people in this fast materialistic world is fraught with, where ulterior motives seem to control the minds of some people persuing the footsteps of the Machiavellian’s path in “The Prince.” King’s tale is set in a small fictional town. A new shop opens in this tranquil town. The story starts out in first person with the narrator beckoning the reader into a third-person narration afterwards. A diverse cast of characters and their complicated histories unfold to the reader gradually engaging us readers with the intricacies of each character’s whims, aspirations and most of all how they were drawn by an item they want more than anything else found only at a shop.

Favors At a Rock Castle town a shop opens called “Needful Things.” The shop is owned by the seemingly good-natured old man Leland Gaunt claiming to be from Akron, Ohio. He treats his customers with marked courtesy, all of whom are oblivious of the sign hanging in his shop, “caveat emptor” meaning “Let the buyer beware.” One person after another buys the items he keeps in stock, paying surprisingly low prices and in return must perform what appeared small favours or pranks at Leland’s request. It is designed that the protagonist performing the prank knows who the Stephen King target is but has no real contention or any relationship with him or her. With the passage of time, trivial pranks were aggravated that eventually led to bitter grudges among the However this week’s meeting on Tuesday, Oct 27 will be held at Continental Hotel, from 7-9 pm. For more details, please contact Xavier Muthu at 99850173.

click Latest Continued from Page 26

Oct 28

ICAI to conduct CPE seminar: Institute

Book jacket of ‘Needful Things’

town’s inhabitants until they start turning against each other or themselves wreaking havoc in a once-upon-a-time peaceful small town. One of the protagonists in this interesting tale is Brian Rusk who buys a famous player’s memorabelia for ninety-five cents in return for a prank to be performed on a bitter and austere person called Wilma Jerzyck, who dispises another woman named Nettie Cobb. Brian sneaks into Wilma’s house while she is away and ruins her laundry sheets by staining them with mud. At the scene, he leaves a note warning Wilma that it is her last warning. Wilma immediately presumes the note belongs to Nettie Cobb. Wilma warns that she will take her revenge.

Destroys Again, Brian is told that he must perform one more prank to finish paying for his purchase. He goes to Wilma’s house and destroys her windows, television and microwave. Hugh Priest, an alcoholic, purchases a fox tail from Gaunt and pays for it of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) Kuwait chapter, is conducting a CPE Seminar on 28th October 2009 at 6.30 pm, Venue: Holiday Inn Down Town, Topic: Purchase Price Allocation and Valuation of Intangible assets. Presenters: CA Varun Dev Sharma, Partner and Mr. Tarun Koduri of Ernst &

by sneaking into Nettie’s house and murders the dog. A note is left at this scene. The murder of her beloved dog leads Nettie to take a meat cleaver and head toward Wilma’s house. At the same time, Wilma has seen the damage to her house and left with a large knife for revenge too. The two raging protagonists meet at a street corner and kill each other. Ace Merrill buys a treasure map from Gaunt and gets to pay by becoming the owner’s shop assistant. His first job is to bring a large shipment of guns to the shop. The shipment comprises of “Guns, automatic pistols with poison-tipped bullets are eventually sold to all of Gaunt’s customers after his business brings various grudges to the boiling point.” Danforth Keeton is another protagonist who joins Ace Merrill as an assistant to Gaunt. Another protagonist buys a magic charm from “Needful Things” shop in a desperate attempt to cure her ailment, in return she has to forge papers belonging to another person. So in this sequential order of events the inhabitants of the peaceful town has turned into a hellish place ruled by hatred, antagonism and weapons were made available for the deadly encounters.

Manipulator Smaller deeds are turned into terrifyingly larger ones with great profit procured by the manipulator of them all, the initial instigator and real profiteer of all the contentious encounters in that town, Gaunt. One wonders how close the sequence of events in this superb tale depicts the realities accosted in life in pursuit of needful things by many people to which they become victims ignoring the phrase in Latin “caveat emptor” meaning “Let the buyer beware.” Stephen Edwin King, who was born in the mid-forties of last century, hails a wide and diverse range of books in horror and science fiction, fantasy literature, screenplays and collections of short stories. Many of his stories have been adapted for film, television and other media. King has penned several of his books using Richard Bachman and one short story entitled “The Fifth Quarter” as John Swithen. In 2003, The National Book Foundation has awarded King the Medal fro Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Young. On line registration and membership renewal can be done through BEC. ❑ ❑ ❑

Dar Al-Athar Film Festival: Dar AlAthar al-Islamiyyah Forum cordially invites

Continued on Page 29

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

28

Int’l Dialing Codes

emergency

Afghanistan 93; Algeria 213; Argentina 54; Australia 61; Austria 43; Bahrain 973; Bangladesh 880; Belgium 32; Bolovia 591; Brazil 55; Bulgaria 359; Canada 1; Chile 56; China 86; Colombia 57; Croatia 385; Cyprus 357; Denmark 45; Egypt 20; Finland 358; France 33; Germany 49; Ghana 233; Greece 30; Guatemala 502; Hong Kong 852; Hungary 36; India 91; Indonesia 62; Iran 98; Iraq 964; Ireland 353; Italy 390; Japan 81; Jordan 962;

777/1844777

Important Tel. Nos. 234; Norway 47; Oman 968; Pakistan 92; Philippines 63; Poland 48; Portugal 351; Qatar

civil ID info

1889988

974; Russia 7; Saudi Arabia 966; Singapore 65; Somalia 252; South Africa 27; Spain 34; Sri Lanka 94; Sudan 249; Sweden 46;

Kazakhstan 7; Kenya 254; Korea 82; Kuwait 965;

Switzerland 41; Syria 963; Turkey 90; United

Lebanon 961; Libya 218; Luxembourg 352; Malaysia 60;

Arab Emirates 971; United Kingdom 44; United

Malta 356; Mauritius 230; Mexico 52; Morocco 212;

States 1; Venezuela 58; Yemen 967; Zambia

Nepal 977; Netherlands 31; New Zealand 64; Nigeria

260.

Conceptis Sudoku

Electricity: Kuwait City 24847329, 2484704; Fahaheel 23915300, 23911333; Hawalli 22650702/4; Kuwait City 24832933; Hawalli 22627728, 22627729; Jahra 24578380; Kheitan 24722935/7; Salmiya 25712259, 25711130; Shuwaikh 24831781; Street lights 24745408. Water: Emergency (drains) 24834044; Ahmadi 23984755, 23984926; Jahra 24553640, 24555231; Salmiya 25642104; Shuwaikh 24832933, 24832987; Sulaibikhat 24677378, 24674568. Hospitals: Amiri Casualty 22450005; Al Sabah 24812000/24815000; Mubarak Al Kabeer 25312700 to 709; Farwaniya 24883000, 24888000; Adan 23940600;

indoor gardening

Ibn Sina 24840300; Al Razi 24846000; Al Jahra 24575300; Maternity 24848067; Allergy 24849252; Blood Bank 25336538; Burns Centre 24840300; Cancer Control Centre 24849100; Chest Diseases 24838990, 24849400; Drug Control 24837245; Infectious Diseases 24870351; Islamic Medicine Centre 24849000. Private Hospitals: Ahmadi 23985174; Dar Al Shifa 22423151. Ambulance: Central 24722000; Emergency 24765616; Adan 23940660/23941455; Amiri Hospital 22422366; Dai’ya 22510854; Dasman 22419785; Fahaheel

23919089; Faiha’a 22553779; Farwaniya 24883000; Farwaniya 24725149; Jahra 24575448; Mubarak Al-Kabir 25311437; Nuwaisib 23950114; Sabah 24815000; Salmiya 25739011; Shuaiba 23261927. Consumer Protection Hotline: 24820281/25720252. Traffic Violation Inquiry: 198 The Scientific Center: 1848888. Labour Complaints Hotline: Tel 24344954, Fax 24347562. Social Work Society of Kuwait (Human Rights Organization): Tel 25375031, Fax 25375032 E-mail: [email protected], http://www.q8sws.com

beauty tips

taste buds

The grid must be so completed that every row, column and 3x3 box has every digit from 1 to 9 inclusive.

angraecum germinyanum

stress release exercise

bass in salsa sauce

Angraecum germinyanum also known as Germiny’s Angraecum is found in Madagascar as a small to medium sized plant. It produces several white flowers from different leaf axis up and down the stalk. The flowers occur in spring and summer. Site: Grow in shade and cool to intermediate conditions Temperature: range 58-75°F Water: Water regularly.

Lie on the couch or bed and if you are at your work place, just sit comfortably on your chair. Close your eyes and take a deep slow breath and imagine tension in all your muscles. Now breathe out and imagine that you are letting out as much inner tension as possible. Repeat this step five times. Now focus your mind on the muscles of shoulders and neck. Push your shoulders back and stretch the muscles of shoulders and neck. Hold your breath in for a few seconds and than breath out and relax.

Ingredients: 4 Bass fillets 1 can cream of Mushroom soup 1 cup heavy cream 4 tbsp. salsa Method: Place all ingredients in an oven proof container and bake for 20 - 25 minutes at 350 F.

15th October marks the Annual Global Hand Washing Day, aimed at increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of hand washing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases. The slogan ‘Clean hands save lives’, is the driving theme for Global Hand Washing Day.

The key largest audience is children, positioned as the agents of hygiene learned at school take back the practice into their homes and communities. The Lower Primary Wing of Indian Central School joined the Global Hand Washing Day on Oct 15 by organizing activities to

motivate children to wash hands with soap before and after eating food, after toilet use, after playing etc. Mrs Shantha Maria James inaugurated the activities by giving hand wash to the children and joining them in a rhyme ‘Wash your hands, before you eat.… It saves our lives’.

Answer to yesterday’s puzzle

Challenger

DIRECTIONS: Fill each square with a number, one through nine. ■ Horizontal squares should add to totals on right. ■ Vertical squares should add to totals on bottom. ■ Diagonal squares through center should add to total in upper and lower right. Yesterday’s solution THERE MAY BE MORE THAN ONE SOLUTION. Today’s Challenge Time 1 Minutes 10 Seconds Your Working Time __ Minutes __ Seconds

Kuwait Kannada Koota (KKK) is celebrating its 25 years of existence in Kuwait. To commemorate the Silver Jubilee during the current year, KKK is planning to host the Karnataka Rajyotsava function which will be held on Nov 13, 2009 at American International School, Hawally, Kuwait. On this grand event, honorable Chief Minister of Karnataka, Yeddyurappa will be gracing the occasion as chief guest. Among other guests who will attend are respected state minister for transport R. Ashok, Kannada Development Authority, Chairman Mukyamantri Chandru, Deputy Chairman, NRI Forum, Ganesh Karnik and popular film personalities, Srinath and Ms Jayamala. Dr B.R. Shetty ‘Padmashree Awardee’ and Founder — NMC will be the guest of honor. (From left): Ganesh Karnik, Satischandra Shetty, Gopinath Rao with B.S. Yeddyurappa — Chief Minister Karnataka, India.

Congratulations to Ms Vijaya Lakshmi Anantharaj (extreme right) and Ms Anitha Ashok Garlapati (second from right) for winning the Tennikoit match conducted as part of Tamil Nadu Engineers Forum Annual Sports on Oct 9. There were 11 teams participating in the competition, all belong to housewives of Forum members. The runners-up were Ms Sindhu Ramesh Kumar (third from right) and Ms Lakshmi Sivasubramaniyan (first from left). It was tough competition and all members enjoyed the winning moments of final match.

what’s on today

legal clinic PRO BONO LEGAL ADVICE

Travel ban My friend has a lawsuit against him. Can he travel? His case is for not paying one month’s rent of an apartment. His trip is this week. Can he pay same day he leaves. My question is if he pays on that day, will there be any problem at the airport?

Name withheld First of all you must find out if there is any travel ban on your friend. Even if there is, in such cases, he can pay the amount asked of at the Kuwait Airport where an office has been created especially for this purpose. ❑

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The Arab Times invites questions on all aspects of Kuwaiti law. If you face a problem, or need specific advice on any legal matter, from commercial and investment law to divorce and labour, send questions to the Managing Editor, Arab Times, P.O. Box 2270, 13023 Safat, Kuwait, or Fax to 24818267.

■ AWARE Diwaniya: Aware organises diwaniya on Oct 27, 2009, Child-raising in Islam and the role played by maids in Kuwait by Sharifa Carlo. What are the responsibilities of parents regarding child-raising in Islam? What are the pros and cons of employing maids to take care of children? Are maids a substitute to parents? What are the rights of maids from the Islamic viewpoint? Should maids be trained on childcare before assuming their jobs? In her 35minute presentation, Sharifa Carlo will answer all these questions and many more. If you are interested, the AWARE Center is the best place to visit on Oct 27, at 7 pm. For details log on to www.aware.com.kw. AWARE is located at: Surra, Block 3, Surra St., Villa 84. ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ AWARE Winter Arab course: The AWARE Center is glad to announce that the winter 1 Arabic Course will begin on Oct 25, 2009 until Dec 10, 2009 (Introductory Arabic begins on Oct 25 till Dec 3rd, 2009). The AWARE Center offers Arabic classes on a regular basis from Introductory Arabic to level 4. AWARE Arabic classes are designed with the expat in mind. Our Arabic Language course offer a relaxed approach to communicating in basic Arabic for those who wish to learn Arabic for travel, for better understanding the Culture of the Arabs, for conducting business or for simply feeling more involved while residing in Kuwait. Whether you

are a teacher, a traveler, or work in the private business sector AWARE Arabic courses introduce Arabic language basics that will offer you a start into the skills that will better prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic. AWARE Arabic Courses combine language learning with valuable cultural insights. All courses are taught in group settings which provide additional opportunities with other Western expatriates studying the language. For more information, please call 25335260/80 ext 105 or e-mail: [email protected] ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ GSC presents lecture at AUK: The Gulf Studies Center (GSC) at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) presents a lecture by His Excellency Abdullah Bishara, former Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, on the subject of “The Turbulent Gulf and the Gulf Cooperation Council,” Ambassador Bishara’s lecture will be presented in English, and held next Sunday, Oct 25, at 5 pm in the auditorium of the Liberal Arts building at the AUK. Admission is free to the public. Discussing the broader challenges facing the GCC, Ambassador Bishara’s lecture will also focus on historical and contemporary challenges in Iran and Iraq. He plans to stress the continuing importance of Gulf diplomacy: specifically its role in facing up to extremist trends and expanding avenues of political moderation in the region. He will explore past

Items for the What’s On page can be sent directly to the Arab Times, P.O. Box 2270, 13023, Safat or faxed to 4818267 or e-mail to [email protected]. All items on this page are published as a courtesy to the public. These announcements can include birthday greetings, weddings, social functions or any other non-commercial events. Photographs of all events are welcome. crises with which the region has dealt – the Iran-Iraq War and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait – with particular reference to the international diplomatic alliances that preserved and sustained the nations of the Gulf. The Ambassador will then analyze the problems which the GCC faces today, including the threat of Iran’s nuclear program, and security and political conditions in Iraq. ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ IPC – Islamic Courses: IPC is offering Islamic courses in English (for Ladies only). Muslims and non-Muslims are welcome. On Sundays – (1) Forty Hadith (Part 1) at 5:30–7 and (2) Muslims, The Moderate Nation at 7–8:30. On Tuesdays – (3) Quran Recitation – Surah Al Baqara (Part 2) at 5:30–7 and (4) Tajweed 2 at 7–8:30.

Instructor: Sr Zeinab Hassan Ashry, Place: IPC – Women Section Al-Rawdah – Area 3 – St. 30 – House 12, Opp. 4th Ring Road. Phone: 22512257/ 97290278. ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ Redeemed Christian Church: The Redeemed Christian Church of God (worship in English) Regular services – Fridays: 7:30 am-9:30 am fellowship hall (Neck) compound, 10:30 am-12:30 pm Hall of Faith (Neck), 6:00pm-8:00pm Hall of Joy (Neck), Sunday service (Divine Encounter) 6:30 pm-8:30pm Hall of Faith (Neck) compound. All services in English language. For prayers and counseling, please call 6804798, 6332846. E-mail: [email protected] website: www.rccg.org. ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ St. Paul’s Anglican Church: St Paul’s Anglican (Episcopal) Church of Kuwait has worship services in English, every Sunday at 6.30 pm in Ahmadi and every Friday at 10.30 am in Salwa. The Chinese worship service is held every Friday at 10.30 in Salwa. Bible classes for children are held during all the services. You are all invited to come and enjoy the services and fellowship. You are welcome to visit our website – http://www.stpaulskuwait.com. For more information, you may call 7356700,7992517, 3985925, 4837716, 9114947 or Email at [email protected]

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

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Cinema From Thursday 22/10/09 to Wednesday 28/10/09 Michael Jackson’s This Is it (Michael Jackson) Sharqia 1 16:15, 18:30, 20:45, 23:00 (Wed) Muhalab 1 15:45, 18:00, 20:15, 22:30 (Wed) Fanar 5 15:30, 17:45, 20:15, 22:45 (Wed) Marina 2 17:15, 19:30, 21:45 (Wed) Avenues 5 16:00, 19:00, 22:00 (Wed) Avenues 6 16:00, 19:00, 22:00 (Wed) 360° 8 15:30, 17:45, 20:15, 22:45 (Wed) 360° 9 VIP 1 15:30, 17:45, 22:45 (Wed) 360° 9 VIP 1 20:15 (Special Show) 360° 13 17:00, 19:30, 22:00 (Wed) Al Kout 3 16:00, 18:15, 20:30, 22:45 (Wed) Plaza 20:00 (Wed) Laila 18:15, 22:30 (Wed) New Town Killers (Dougray Scott, Alastair Mackenzie) Sharqia 1 22:00 (Thu to Tue) Sharqia 2 14:45, 18:45 Muhalab 1 13:30 Muhalab 1 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Muhalab 3 15:45 Fanar 3 13:15, 17:00, 21:00, 23:00 Fanar 3 01:00 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Marina 1 12:30, 16:15, 20:30, 22:30 Avenues 3 12:30, 15:30, 18:30, 21:30 Avenues 3 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 2 14:00, 17:00, 20:00, 23:00 Al Kout 4 12:45, 16:45, 20:45 Al Kout 4 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Laila 18:45 (Thu to Sat) Ajial 1 15:45, 17:45, 21:45 Al Farah (Goumana, Murad) Sharqia 2 12:45, 16:45, 20:45, 22:45 Sharqia 2 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Muhalab 3 13:45, 17:45, 19:45, 21:45 Muhalab 3 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Fanar 4 13:00, 15:30, 17:45, 20:00, 22:15 Fanar 4 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Marina 3 12:45, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00, 23:00 Avenues 4 12:30, 15:30, 21:30 Avenues 4 18:30 (Fri to Wed) Avenues 4 18:30 (Special Show) (Thu) Avenues 4 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 11 13:30, 15:45, 18:00, 20:15, 22:30 Avenues 11 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 10 VIP 2 13:00, 15:15, 17:30, 19:45, 22:00 360° 10 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 11 13:00, 15:15, 17:30, 19:45, 22:00 360° 11 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Al Kout 1 12:30, 14:30, 16:30, 18:30, 20:30, 22:30 Al Kout 1 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Plaza 15:45, 22:30 Laila 20:45 Sun, Mon, Tue Laila 20:30 (Wed) Scorpion (Clovis Cornillac, Francis Renaud) Sharqia 3 12:30, 16:30, 18:30, 22:30 Muhalab 2 12:45, 16:45, 20:45 Muhalab 2 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Fanar 2 12:45, 14:45, 16:45, 18:45, 20:45, 22:45 Marina 3 01:00 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 2 16:00, 19:00, 22:00 (Wed) Avenues 5 13:00, 15:00 Avenues 5 17:00, 21:00, 23:00 (Thu to Tue) Avenues 5 19:00 (Thu, Sat to Tue) Avenues 5 19:00 (Fri) (Special Show) Avenues 5 01:00 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 6 13:00, 15:00 Avenues 6 17:00, 19:00, 21:00, 23:00 (Thu to Tue) Avenues 6 01:00 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 8 12:30, 14:30 360° 8 16:30, 18:30, 20:30, 22:30 (Thu to Tue) 360° 8 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 9 12:30, 14:30 360° 9 16:30,18:30, 20:30, 22:30 (Thu to Tue) 360° 9 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 14 16:30, 18:30, 20:30, 23:30 (Wed) Al Kout 2 16:00, 20:15, 22:15 Al Kout 2 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Kill Switch (Steven Seagal, Holly Dignard) Sharqia 3 14:30, 20:30 Sharqia 3 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Muhalab 2 14:45, 18:45, 22:45 Fanar 1 16:15, 20:30, 22:30 Fanar 1 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Marina 2 13:30, 15:30 Marina 2 19:45 (Thu to Tue) Marina 2 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 9 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00 Avenues 9 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 12 13:30, 15:30, 18:15, 20:15, 22:15 360° 12 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Al Kout 4 14:45, 18:45, 22:45 Laila 22:45 (Thu to Sat, Mon) Ajial 4 16:00, 18:00 Ajial 4 20:00 (Sun to Wed) My Sister’s Keeper Sharqia 1 15:15 Sharqia 1 19:45 (Thu to Tue) Muhalab 1 15:30, 22:15 (Thu to Tue) Fanar 1 14:00, 18:15 Marina 2 17:30, 21:45 (Thu to Tue) Avenues 1 13:30, 16:30, 19:30, 22:30 Avenues 1 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 10 11:00 (Thu) 360° 7 14:15, 17:15, 20:15, 23:15 Al Kout 2 13:45, 18:00 Laila 16:00 (Thu to Sat) District 9 Sharqia 1 13:00 Sharqia 1 17:30 (Thu to Tue) Sharqia 1 00:15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Muhalab 1 18:00 (Thu to Tue) Fanar 5 12:30, 15:00 Fanar 5 21:30 (Wed) Fanar 5 23:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Marina 1 18:15 Marina 1 00:30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 10 13:45, 16:15, 19:15, 22:15 Avenues 10 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 1 12:45, 15:45, 18:45, 21:45 360° 1 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Al Kout 3 13:00 Al Kout 3 15:30, 19:30 (Thu to Tue) Al Kout 3 23:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Plaza 20:15 (Thu to Tue) Metro 1 18:15, 22:30 Ramy Al Entasmy Muhalab 1 20:15 (Thu to Tue) Fanar 3 19:00 Avenues 8 12:45, 14:45, 20:30 360° 4 14:45, 17:45, 20:45 360° 4 23:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Ajial 1 19:45 Metro 1 16:15, 20:30 Surrogates Fanar 2 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Fanar 5 17:15 (Thu to Tue) Avenues 7 14:30, 16:30, 19:15, 23:15 360° 6 13:15, 16:15, 19:15, 22:15 360° 6 00:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Al Kout 3 21:45 (Thu to Tue) Ajial 2 18:00 Granada 18:00, 22:45 The Final Destination Fanar 3 15:15 Marina 1 14:30 Avenues 2 13:00 Avenues 2 16:00 (Thu to Tue) Avenues 2 01:00 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 3 14:30, 17:30, 20:30, 23:30 Al Kout 3 17:45 (Thu to Tue) Ajial 4 22:45 Granada 16:00 Main Aur Mrs Khanna (Hindi) Fanar 5 19:00 (Thu to Tue) Plaza 17:45 All the Best (Hindi) Avenues 2 19:00, 22:00 (Thu to Tue) Genova Avenues 7 21:15 360° 5 13:45, 19:45 Ajial 2 16:00, 20:00 Alf Mabrouk Avenues 8 23:00 360° 5 16:45, 22:45 Ajial 2 22:00 H Daboor Avenues 8 17:30 360° 14 21:00 (Thu to Tue) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 360° 13 (Imax) 12:45 360° 13 (Imax) 15:45, 18:45, 21:45 (Thu to Tue) 360° 13 (Imax) 23:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 14 18:00 (Thu to Tue) Under the Sea 3D 360° 13 (Imax) 14:45 360° 13 (Imax) 17:45, 20:45 (Thu to Tue) 360° 13 (Imax) 15:45 (Wed) The Orphan 360° 14 15:00 (Sun to Fri) The Tournament 360° 14 23:45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Blue (Hindi) 360° 15 14:00, 17:00, 20:00, 23:00 Up 360° 14 16:00 (Special Show) (Sat) Robinhood (Malayalam) Ajial 4 20:00 (Thu to Sat) Acid Factory (Hindi) Ajial 3 15:30, 18:30, 21:30 Aadhavan (Tamil) Metro 2 15:30, 18:30, 21:30 Wake Up Sid (Hindi) Granada 20:00

Movies inquiries and Fax Back hotline 1803456 IMAX Sunday Showtime available for groups 09:30 am Fly Me to the Moon 3D 10:30 am, 08:30 pm Journey to Mecca 11:30 am, 07:30 pm Under The Sea 3D 12:30 pm, 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Sea Monsters 3D 05:30 pm Under The Sea 3D , Sea Monsters 3D and Journey to Mecca are in Arabic, English Headsets are available upon request. Fly Me to the Moon 3D is in English Film schedule is subject to changes without notice. For visitor information call 1848888 or visit www.tsck.org.kw

KCP Chopin competition

KUWAIT Chamber Philharmonia (KCP) will hold its First Gulf International Chopin Competition for pianists from across the Arabian Gulf in March 2010. The competition, which is part of the International Chopin Year, will be held for children up to 12 years and for children above 12. Outside Kuwait the competitions will be held in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Oman and Qatar. The preliminary rounds will start in February 2010. The final round of the competition will begin on March 17 in Kuwait at Hashemi II Grand Ballroom, Radisson Blue Hotel. Meanwhile, the Fifth Chopin Competition will be held in Kuwait on March 12 and 13, including the firstround and final hearings. For more information and registration forms visit www.treasureoftalents.com

[email protected]; kindly remember to include your mobile and landline telephone numbers, to allow Sadu House staff to contact you. These sign-ups should be received by 27th October 2009. For those of you, who have already signedup for these workshops; kindly re-confirm your place in these workshops by replying to [email protected]. or calling at any of the following numbers below. For all of you who are not aware of this workshop, this is an excellent opportunity to learn local craft of weaving, and prepare gifts to take back home. Next Sadu weaving workshops will be available around March 2010. Contact Aiesha Khalid 99597983, Sadu House 22432395; e-mail Saduweaving@gmail/com; [email protected]; web page: www.alsadu.org.kw

The Selda 5C2 Band performs.

‘Rockability for a cause’

Pinoy band Selda 5C2 rocks Kuwait By Michelle Fe Santiago Special to the Arab Times

T

he music reverberated. The hall was filled with thunderous applause and cheers as everyone sang and enjoyed a wonderful night of music with one of the hottest Pinoy bands in Kuwait — the Selda 5C2 Band. Filipinos as well as other expatriates trooped on Thursday to the Royal Hall of AlWatiya Complex in Kuwait City for the dinner concert dubbed ‘Rockability for a Cause,’ wherein part of the proceeds of the concert will be donated to the distressed OFWs housed at the Filipino Workers Resource Centre. Philippine Labour Attache Josephus Jimenez along with his wife Emma Jimenez and Welfare Officer Yolanda Penaranda graced the occasion The concert commenced with the singing of the Kuwait National Anthem led by Dalal Al Ameri followed by the Philippine National Anthem performed by the Kuwait Got Talent winners and conducted by Jun

Bellen. The invocation was given by Fr Ben Barrameda followed by the song ‘Warrior is a Child’ with the participation of Bellen.

Repertoire Filipino Cultural Club Adviser Marie Al Ameri welcomed all the guests to the event and wished them an enjoyable night ahead with a vast repertoire of songs from the Selda 5C2 Band and other surprise numbers from various performers. For the opening act, United Radio was presented on stage followed by the stand-up comic routine of Adrian Galman who brought down the house with laughter with his antics and adlibs. The FCC kids entertained the audience with their graceful performance of ‘Nobody Dance’ by the Wonder Girls. Meanwhile, Micah Velasquez crooned ‘Paparazzi’ with Francis Argallon on acoustics. Kuwait Got Talent grand champion Jose Roy Laguda who is known for his mellifluous baritone voice surprised the audience with his acoustic version of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ eliciting cheers from the audience. He

also crooned the Eraserhead’s ‘Huling El Bimbo’ while Argallon known for his soulful performance sang ‘High’ and ‘Love Hurts.’ Jonathan Soriano, dubbed the Gary Valenciano of Kuwait did a wonderful interpretation of ‘Can’t take my eyes off you.’

Sensation Packed with a powerful voice, child singing sensation Sarah Al-Ameri earned the admiration of the audience with her performance of ‘I Will Surivive,’ with Charice’s version of the song popularised by Gloria Gaynor in the mid 70s. Other singers who gave their best performances were Claire Constantino with her renditions of OPM songs such as ‘Ipagpatawad mo, Tell me where it hurts and Magasin,’ Sheila Minota sang ‘Forevermore and Donna Melendez with her acoustic version of ‘Bleeding Love’ while Hazel Ursais gave Jon Bon Jovi a run for his money with her amazing interpretation of ‘Bed of Roses.’ The FCC Dance Crew also presented a bombastic hiphop dance to the delight of the audience.

Meanwhile, the Selda 5C2 Band composed of Art Lalix (lead guitar); Neil Ferrer (bass guitar), Ron Lico (band leader, second guitar), Ogie Vivo (drums) and Ghali Dhalag (lead vocals) kept the audience alive and awake with their kind of music that oozed with so much verve and passion. The band’s repertoire ranged from the hits of the yesteryears to the all-time favorites of the generation X. The band also gamely performed the song requests of the audience, making them ask for more. The band indulged to the audience’s clamor and gladly did an encore The dinner concert for a cause sponsored by Qatar Airways, National Exchange Company, Nayon Restaurant in Farwaniya, Amana United Trading, Al Mekhlal Est Eng, F & K Al Shukjayer, Kapamilya Restaurant and Mediacom was also marked with a raffle draw of prizes where gift certificates and roundtrip tickets to Manila courtesy of Qatar Airways were given to the lucky winners. The FCC, Selda 5C2 Band and the other performers thanked all the attendees for supporting the ‘Rockability for a Cause.’

Nov 2

Hungarian photo exhibition: The Hungarian Ambassador announced the holding of a photo exhibition, “Escape to Freedom: Dismantling the Iron Curtain and the Miracles in Central Europe 1989” and “From the Peaceful Revolution to German Unity” at Hall No.6 Kuwait International Fairgrounds, Mishref, on Nov 2, 2009 at 6:30 pm. The photo exhibition is being held in commemoration of the “20th Anniversary of the Dismantling of the Iron Curtain between Hungary and Austria, and the Subsequent Fall of the Berlin Wall,” under the patronage of Bader Sayed Abdulwahab Al Rifai, Secretary General, National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters. Nov 4

KTAA meeting: Nov 4th: Yarn and Fibre Group meeting – 10:00 am or 05:00 pm at Sadu House. Nov 11th: Quilt Group meeting Nov 18th: Yarn and Fibre Group meeting – 10:00 am or 05:00 pm at Sadu House Nov 21st :KTAA Bazaar and Craft Demonstration Day 10 am to 01:00 pm at Sadu House. Nov 25th: Quilt Group meeting. Q8 Yarn and Fibre Group meet: Covers weaving, spinning, crochet, knitting, embroidery, canvas work, dyeing, etc.Meets twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month with both a morning and an evening group at Sadu House. For more information contact: [email protected] Nov 6

Indian Football Federation launch: Indian Football Federation Kuwait (IFFK) are pleased to announce the launch of 'Indian Football Federation – Kuwait.' The tournaments are scheduled to commence from Nov 6, 2009 at Shuwaikh Grounds. Teams desiring to participate in the tournament are kindly requested to email iffkuwait at gmail dot com for entry forms, federation/tournament rules and other details. For more details visit http://indianfootballfederationkuwait.blogspot. com Nov 13

Inter-School Competition: Don Bosco

Some photos from the event.

Indian Orthodox Church marks harvest festival H.E. Ajai Malhotra, The Indian Ambassador to Kuwait inaugurated the Harvest Festival celebration 2009 of the Indian Orthodox Maha Edavaka, Kuwait at Al-Shaab Leisure Park on Friday, Oct 23. The daylong event, presided by Rev Fr Jose K. Varghese and H. G. Yuhanon Mar Polikarpose delivered the key note address. In his address, His

Grace stressed on the different manifestation of divine love and extending alms to the poor. The public meeting attended by Rev Ammanuel Ghareeb, President NEC Rev Fr Abraham P. George, Ahmadi St Thomas Church, Rev Fr Habeeb Joseph, Rev Fr C. Kurian, Mr Salah Al-Shihab, Operations Manager, Al-Shaab Leisure Park, Kurian Varghese, Shaji Abraham, P. Nov 1

St Paul’s church special service: ‘St

click

Paul’s Anglican Church in Ahmadi (see

Kurian, Jerry Koshy besides representatives from Episcopal churches and other dignitaries from the business community in Kuwait and India. H. E. Ajai Malhotra accompanied by Mrs Ira Malhotra recalled and appreciated the humanitarian help extended by the Orthodox Church. Mrs Ira Malhotra released the Harvest Festival souvenir by accepting the first copy of Shaji

Varghese, Souvenir Convener. The event came to a close with a musical presentation led by Pradeep and Meera, the famous Kerala playback singers along with his troupe and Indian Orthodox Maha Edavaka choir master M. U. Mathew. General Convener Koshy Mammen delivered the welcome speech and vote thanks by E. P. Varghese, Joint General Convener.

www.stpaulskuwait.com for directions) is holding a Service of Memorial and Thanksgiving on Sunday, Nov 1, at 06:30 pm.

Have you lost a friend or relative and feel you’ve missed out on saying goodbye, or sharing in the funeral? Would it bring peace to acknowledge the loss you feel, or comfort to join in this service? This gentle and reflective service is for anyone who has lost a relative or friend and would like to remember them in prayer and give thanks for their gift of life. During the service there will be an opportunity to light a candle in your loved one’s memory.’ This service will be led by the Reverend Beth Woodgate. ❑ ❑ ❑

Latest Continued from Page 27 you to the Green Caravan Film Festival 2009 on Wednesday, Oct 28 and Thursday Oct 29 presented by ‘Equilibrium’ and Oct Wednesday, Oct 28, 11:00 am ‘Home’’ 04:00 pm ‘Chasing Wild Horses’; 06:30 pm ‘Manufactured Landscapes’; Thursday, Oct 29, 10:00 am ‘The 11t Hour’; 04:00 pm ‘The Edge of Eden’ 06:30 pm ‘Blue Gold: World Water Wars’. Al-Maidan Cultural Centre – Abdullah AlSalem School, Maidan Hawalli, Near Al Sha’ab Leisure Park. Tel: 25636528 / 25636561. Fax: 25653006. E-mail: membership@darmuseum. org.kw, website: www.darmuseum.org.kw Oct 30

Universal energies conference: On Oct 30, 31, and Nov 1 for the first time in the Middle East an ‘Holistic Energies and Therapies Conference’ will be held with Seven International speakers and bestselling authors: Frank Arjava Petter, Hazel Raven, Kathleen Murray, Sue and Simon Lilly, Julie Lomas and Abdul Azeez Al Kulaib. For bookings, tickets or more information e-mail us: [email protected] www.conscious-connections.com

NAFO Kuwait celebrated this year’s Onam with its full sprit and fervor on Oct 16. Several eminent personalities, representatives of various fellow associations and NAFO members including their families attended the celebration. HE the Indian Ambassador Ajay Malhotra was the chief guest, HE the Ambassador, NAFO President Dr T.S. Srikumar, Patron Dr C.G. Suresh, Kerala Ayurvedic Medical Education Director Dr Vasudevan Nampoothiri felicitated the occasion. Two NAFO’s life members Krishnadas Menon, who was leaving Kuwait after completing 31 years of service and P.B. Maninan of Jashanmal for his exemplary social contributions, were honored at the function with Ponnada. NAFO meritorious students from class 6 to 12, who scored highest marks, were also awarded with trophy and certificates at the gathering. Advisory Board Member Dr Prasad Nair proposed vote of thanks.

Sadu weaving workshop: Sadu weaving workshop is ready to start from Sunday, Nov 1, at Sadu House. For four weeks, every Sunday and Wednesday, from 09:00 am to 12:00 noon. There will be a total of 8 sessions of three hours each. Sadu House can also schedule evening workshop from 04:00 pm to 07:00 pm every Sundays and Wednesdays starting on Nov 1, 2009 if there is enough demand. During this workshop students can complete up to three Sadu projects, depending upon their progress. After completion of the workshop, one of the project’s can made into a Sadu bag at an minimal charge. Students will also receive a workshop completion certificate. Fees are due to be paid on the first day of the workshop at Sadu House. Please reserve your place by sending a msg. to saduweav-

Past Pupils Association are organizing their 5th Inter-School Choral Recitation Competition on Friday, Nov 13, 2009 at 15.00 Hrs at Indian English Academy School, Salmiya, Kuwait. Its a open competition for all schools in Kuwait. With tremendous success in the past years gone by, we plan to make this event a grand success once more with support from all participating schools. Entries are applicable for Grade 5 & 6 and Grade 7 & 8 comprising of two groups. We encourage the school teachers, parents, friends, and well-wishers are invited to witness this unique competition. ❑ ❑ ❑

Kala Kuwait holds ‘Niram 2009’: Kala Kuwait has scheduled to conduct Children’s Day by marking the birthday of the First Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, under the auspices of Kala Kuwait on Friday, Nov 13, at the Indian Community School, Khaithan Branch at 02:00 pm. The programme named as ‘Niram 2009’ consists of drawing and painting competition for the Indian School students and a ‘Marathon Open Canvas Painting’ for the other attendees including parents, visitors and guests. The drawing and painting competition will be conducted in four different age groups. Group A from LKG to 1st standard, Group B from 2nd to 4th standard, Group C from 5th to 8th standard and group D from 9th to 12th standard. The media for Group A and B will be crayons while group C and D are water colours. Crayons and water colours to be brought by the participants. Stamped drawing papers will be supplied by the Organizers. Clay modeling competition also will be conducted for 7th to 11th standard students. The marathon open canvas painting is conducting in a view to display everyone’s views and talents through their vivid creations. Besides the 1st and 2nd and 3rd prizes, ten percent of the participants will be awarded with consolation prizes. The winners are liable to prove their age group with relevant documents in case the organizers requested so. For more details and registration please contact by e-mail at [email protected] or by Web www.indiansinkuwait.com and the following telephone numbers 24891490, 97959072, 66763154, 67001038, according to Mukesh Vanpulli, President Kala Kuwait and K. Hassan Koya, General Secretary, Kala Kuwait.

Continued on Page 30

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

30

Couch slouch

contract b r i d g e By Steve Becker

‘Dunham’ breaks Comedy Central ratings record

Canada’s PM says he prefers US news TORONTO, Oct 24, (RTRS): Canadian 24hour news channels struggling for audience and advertising revenue against growing American competition from CNN, Fox News and MSNBC have one less viewer: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper turned heads when he told the Canadian Chamber of Commerce convention in Toronto that he prefers American to Canadian newscasts. “I watched the last several elections in the United States very closely. I tend to watch mainly American news, because I don’t like to watch Canadian news and hear what Allan (Gregg) and everybody else is saying about me. So my hobby is to watch politics elsewhere,” the prime minister said during a Q&A session. Harper referred to prominent Canadian pollster and TV pundit Gregg, who was in the Toronto audience. The prime minister’s admission drew disbelief from Harper’s cabinet ministers, and criticism from opposition politicians. “I’m sure (Harper) does” watch Canadian news, federal Industry Minister Tony Clement told reporters outside the House of Commons in Ottawa. “We’re news junkies, all of us are. Come on. You know what we’re all about,” Clement added.

Also: LOS ANGELES: After breaking Comedy Central’s ratings records with his special last year, ventriloquist Jeff Dunham repeated the feat with his new series. The Thursday debut of “The Jeff Dunham Show” drew 5.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched series premiere in Comedy Central’s history. The show, mostly panned by critics, also posted all-time records for a Comedy Central series premiere among adults 18-49 (a 2.6 rating). Including the same-night replays, the premiere of “Jeff Dunham” attracted 7.9 million viewers. It was the top cable series on Thursday night and powered Comedy Central to its highest-rated night of the year. ❑

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LOS ANGELES: HBO drama “In Treatment” will return for a third season. The cable network has renewed the half-

‘Blind Dating’ starring Chris Pine, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Anjali Jay is shown on Star Movies at 20:30 hours. After a series of disastrous first dates, a blind young man named Danny (Pine) finds love in an unusual place … the doctor’s office. While investigating an experimental surgery to restore his sight, Danny falls for Lisa (Jay), a receptionist at the eye clinic. But his risky operation is nothing compared to the cultural obstacles the young lovers face.

hour series for another cycle, which will begin production in New York in early 2010 for a premiere later in the year. Star Gabriel Byrne will return as Dr Paul Weston, with casting on the other roles expected to begin shortly. Anya Epstein (HBO’s “Tell Me You Love Me”) and Danny Futterman (“Capote”) are joining the therapy-themed drama as executive producers/co-showrunners. That follows the July departure of Warren Leight, who served as executive

producer/showrunner on the second season of “Treatment.” ❑

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LOS ANGELES: NBC has picked up full seasons of Thursday night comedies “Community” and “Parks and Recreation,” as well as its Wednesday night medical drama “Mercy.” “Community,” “Parks” and “Mercy” have been modest performers, but the order for nine more episodes of each gives the

trio some breathing room to potentially improve their ratings. Absent from the network’s pickup list so far is Monday night medical thriller “Trauma.” NBC, the final broadcaster to order additional episodes of its new shows this fall, has a limited inventory of scripted content to fill open slots. Returning comedy-drama “Chuck” is on deck, and it has been speculated that it might replace “Trauma” should NBC pull the medical thriller.

tv highlights

tv today

Pehla Star World 07:00 The Simpsons 07:30 The Simpsons 08:00 According To Jim 08:30 Hope & Faith 09:00 Most Daring 10:00 Grey's Anatomy 11:00 The Office (Us) 11:30 The Office (Us) 12:00 Australia's Next Top Model 13:00 Hope & Faith 13:30 The Bold And The Beautiful 14:00 7th Heaven 15:00 Grey's Anatomy 16:00 [V] Tunes 17:00 Most Daring 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 The Simpsons 19:00 According To Jim 19:30 Hope & Faith 20:00 Scrubs 20:25 Scrubs 20:50 Different Strokes 21:00 90210 21:50 Married With Children 22:00 Ed 22:50 Bewitched 23:00 Ghost Hunters International 23:50 Different Strokes 00:00 90210 00:50 Married With Children 01:00 Ed 01:50 Bewitched 02:00 [V] Tunes 03:00 According To Jim 03:30 Ngc Program 04:00 [V] Tunes 05:00 [V] Tunes 06:00 7th Heaven 07:00 The Simpsons 06:00 Good Morning America 07:00 Without A Trace 08:00 The O.C. 09:00 Beauty And The Geek 10:00 The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency 10:30 The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency 11:00 Law & Order 12:00 Beauty And The Geek 13:00 Janice Dickinson 14:00 Law & Order 15:00 Good Morning America 16:00 Men In Trees 17:00 One Tree Hill 18:00 Law & Order 19:00 Men In Trees 20:00 Law & Order 21:00 One Tree Hill 22:00 Men In Trees 23:00 True Blood 00:00 True Blood 01:00 One Tree Hill 02:00 Law & Order 03:00 Beauty And The Geek 04:00 The O.C. 05:00 Janice Dickinson 06:00 Good Morning America

Lazytown 07:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:00 Fairly Odd Parents 08:25 Suite Life On Deck 08:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place 09:15 Jonas 09:40 Hannah Montana 10:00 Sonny With A Chance 10:30 Wendy Wu 12:00 Hannah Montana 12:25 Hannah Montana 12:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place 13:15 Sonny With A Chance 13:40 Jonas 14:00 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 14:20 Fairly Odd Parents 14:45 Replacements 15:05 Kim Possible 15:35 American Dragon 16:00 Famous Five 16:25 Phineas and Ferb 16:45 Jonas Brothers Living The Dream 17:00 Jonas 17:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 17:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place 18:10 Hannah Montana 18:35 Sonny With A Chance 19:00 Motocrossed 20:35 Hannah Montana 21:00 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 21:25 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 22:00 Hannah Montana 22:25 Hannah Montana 22:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place 23:15 Wizards Of Waverly Place 23:40 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 00:00 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 00:20 Fairly Odd Parents 00:45 Replacements 01:10 Replacements 01:35 Phineas and Ferb 02:00 Little Einsteins 02:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:45 Handy Manny 03:10 Lazytown 03:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 04:00 Replacements 04:25 Fairly Odd Parents 04:50 Suite Life On Deck 05:15 Wizards Of Waverly Place 05:40 Hannah Montana 06:00 Higglytown Heroes

Hollywood Channel

VH1

General

Orbit America Plus

06:20 Retail Therapy 06:45 Take My Kids Please! 07:35 In Your Dreams 08:00 Yoga Zone 08:25 Breathing Space Yoga 08:50 New York City Ballet Workout 09:15 Caribbean Work Out 09:40 Divine Design 10:05 Divine Design 10:30 A Place In The Sun 11:25 Maxed Out 11:50 Maxed Out 12:15 Diva On A Dime 12:40 Diva On A Dime 13:10 Retail Therapy 13:35 Retail Therapy 14:00 Sizzle 14:25 Sizzle 14:50 Sizzle 15:15 Sizzle 15:45 A Place In The Sun 16:35 Mansions 17:00 Arresting Design 17:25 Divine Design 17:50 Divine Design 18:20 Planet Food 19:10 Maxed Out 19:35 Maxed Out 20:00 Diva On A Dime 20:25 Diva On A Dime 20:55 Hollywood Hair Affair 21:45 Maxed Out 22:10 Making It Big 23:00 Single In South Beach 23:55 Pamela Anderson 00:45 Single In Vegas 01:35 Hollywood Pets 02:05 Hollywood Pets 02:30 Arresting Design 02:55 10 Years Younger New Zealand 03:20 Single In South Beach 04:10 Picture This! 05:05 Arresting Design 05:30 10 Years Younger New Zealand 05:55 10 Years Younger New Zealand 06:20 Retail Therapy

Orbit Disney

Sports

06:00 Little Einsteins 06:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 06:45 Handy Manny 07:10

Extreme Sports 06:00 Asian X Games 2009 07:00 The Man Who Souled The World 07:30 The Man Who Souled The World 08:00 High Octane 08:30 High Octane 09:00 High Octane 09:30 High

Movies

News

Orbit News 06:00 NBC Nightly News 06:30 ABC World News 07:00 NBC Nightly News 07:30 ABC World News 08:00 NBC Dateline 09:00 ABC World News 09:30 NBC Nightly News 10:00 MSNBC Hardball 11:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 12:00 MSNBC Dr. Nancy 13:00 ABC 20/20 14:00 NBC Dateline 15:00 NBC Weekend Today Show 16:00 NBC Meet The Press 17:00 ABC this Week 18:00 MSNBC Hardball 18:30 MSNBC Your Business 19:00 NBC Meet The Press 20:00 ABC this Week 21:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 22:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 23:00 NBC The Today Show Weekend 00:00 ABC this Week 01:00 Abc World News 01:30 NBC Nightly News 02:00 ABC World

06:00 Chill Out 08:00 Smooth Wake Up 10:00 VH1 Music 12:00 VH1 Pop Chart 13:00 Top 10 _ 14:00 Storytellers Mariah Carey 15:00 Featuring Weekend 18:00 Music For The Masses 19:00 VH1 Music 20:00 VH1 Viewer's Jukebox Love Request 21:00 Countdown 22:00 Cover Power 23:00 Music For The Masses 00:00 Sunday Soul 01:00 VH1 Rocks 02:00 VH1 Music 08:00 Espresso

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Calling 10:00 George Lopez 10:30 Samantha Who? 11:00 Reggie Perrin 11:30 Home Improvement 12:00 The Bernie Mac Show 12:30 Tyler Perry's House Of Payne 13:00 Scrubs 13:30 My Wife And Kids 14:00 Coach 14:30 Mumbai Calling 15:00 Seinfeld 15:30 Fresh Prince Of Bel Air 16:00 The Bernie Mac Show 16:30 Tyler Perry's House Of Payne 17:00 Scrubs 17:30 Home Improvement 18:00 George Lopez 18:30 Samantha Who? 19:00 Reggie Perrin 19:30 My Name Is Earl 20:00 Seinfeld 20:30 Will And Grace 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 22:30 The Colbert Report 23:00 South Park 23:30 Reggie Perrin 00:00 Seinfeld 00:30 Will And Grace 01:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 02:30 The Colbert Report 03:00 Coach 03:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 04:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 04:30 The Colbert Report 05:00 My Wife And Kids 05:30 George Lopez 06:00 Samantha Who?

KidsCo 06:30 S Club 7 In La 07:00 Titch 07:15 The Tidings 07:30 Corduroy 07:55 Corduroy 08:20 Boo And Me 08:25 Babar 08:50 Babar 09:15 Titch 09:27 The Tidings 09:40 New Adventures Of Madeline 10:05 New Adventures Of Madeline 10:30 Rolie Polie Olie 11:00 M.A.S.K. 11:30 M.A.S.K. 11:55 M.A.S.K. 12:20 M.A.S.K. 12:45 M.A.S.K. 13:15 M.A.S.K. 13:40 M.A.S.K. 14:05 M.A.S.K. 14:30 M.A.S.K. 14:55 M.A.S.K. 15:20 M.A.S.K. 15:45 M.A.S.K. 16:15 M.A.S.K. 16:40 Dino Squad 17:10 Dino Squad 17:40 Dino Squad 18:10 Dino Squad 18:30 Boo And Me 18:35 M.A.S.K. 19:00 100 Deeds For Eddie Mcdowd 19:30 Tales From The Cryptkeeper 20:00 Frankie And Hazel 21:30 S Club 7 In La 22:00 100 Deeds For Eddie Mcdowd 22:30 Tales From The Cryptkeeper 23:00 Frankie And Hazel 00:30 S Club 7 In La 01:00 Sonic Underground 01:30 Five Children And It 02:00 Frankie And Hazel 03:30 S Club 7 In La 04:00 100 Deeds For Eddie Mcdowd 04:30 Tales From The Cryptkeeper 05:00 Frankie And Hazel 06:30 S Club 7 In La

ShowSeries 06:00 Ugly Betty 07:00 Lost 08:00 Eli Stone 09:00 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 09:30 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 10:00 What's Good For You 11:00 Lost 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Life 14:00 The Unusuals 15:00 Eli Stone 16:00 Ugly Betty 17:00 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 17:30 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 What's Good For You 20:00 Doctor Who 21:00 C.S.I. Miami 22:00 Lost 23:00 Eli Stone 00:00 Ugly Betty 01:00 Doctor Who 02:00 C.S.I. Miami 03:00 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 03:30 Never Trust A Skinny Cook 04:00 What's Good

Motocross Championships 17:00 FIM World Motocross Championships 18:00 Mexico X Games 2008 19:00 Quattro Int Events 19:30 Quattro Int Events 20:00 Quattro Int Events 20:30 Quattro Int Events 21:00 Quattro Int Events 21:30 Quattro Int Events 22:00 Quattro

Report 17:30 Ireport For CNN 18:00 Mainsail 18:30 World Sport 19:00 State Of The Union With John King 20:00 African Voices 20:30 Revealed 21:00 World Report 21:30 World's Untold Stories 22:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 23:00 Amanpour. 00:00 Best Of Backstory 00:30 World Sport 01:00 World Report 02:30 Talkasia 03:00 World Business Today 03:30 World Sport 04:00 World Report 05:00 Mainsail 05:30 Ireport For CNN 06:00 Revealed

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click Latest Continued from Page 29

KALA Mogui presents ‘Zaiat Zage’: KALA Mogui Kuwait presents Prince Jacob production ‘Zaiat Zage’. KALA Mogui

For You 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 Ugly Betty

Travel Channel 06:00 The Big Fish 06:30 The Big Fish 07:00 The Big Fish 07:30 The Big Fish 08:00 Globe Trekker 09:00 Swiss Railway Journeys 10:00 Down The Line 11:00 World's Greatest Motorcycle Rides 12:00 The Big Fish 12:30 The Big Fish 13:00 Travel Notebook 14:00 Planet Food 15:00 Chef Abroad 15:30 Chef Abroad 16:00 Feast India 16:30 Rudy Maxa's World 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 Globe Trekker 19:00 Travel Notebook 20:00 Planet Food 21:00 Dream Destinations 21:30 Cutting Edge California 22:00 Africa Trek 00:00 Globe Trekker 01:00 Julian And Camilla's World Odyssey 02:00 Globe Trekker 03:00 Travel Notebook 04:00 Planet Food 05:00 Globe Trekker 06:00 Globe Trekker

TNT & Cartoons 05:55 Best ED 06:20 Robotboy 06:45 Cramp Twins 07:10 Eliot Kid 07:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 08:00 Skunk Fu! 08:25 Chop Socky Chooks 08:50 Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends 09:15 Ben 10: Alien Force 09:40 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 10:05 The Secret Saturdays 10:30 Skunk Fu 60 11:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 11:55 Best ED 12:20 Eliot Kid 12:45 Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes 13:10 Megas Xlr 13:35 Samurai Jack 14:00 Ben 10: Alien Force 14:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 14:50 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 15:15 The Life And Times Of Juniper Lee 15:40 George Of The Jungle 16:05 Skunk Fu! 16:35 Chop Socky Chooks 17:00 Robotboy 17:25 Squirrel Boy 17:50 Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends 18:15 The Secret Saturdays 18:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 19:05 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 19:30 Ed, Edd N Eddy 20:00 Megas Xlr 20:25 Samurai Jack 20:50 My Gym Partner's A Monkey 21:05 Ed, Edd N Eddy 21:30 Skunk Fu! 21:45 Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes 22:10 Ben 10: Alien Force 22:35 The Life And Times Of Juniper Lee 23:00 Atomic Betty 23:25 Samurai Jack 23:50 Megas Xlr 00:15 Out Of Jimmy's Head 00:40 Chop Socky Chooks 01:05 Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends 01:30 Cramp Twins 01:55 George Of The Jungle 02:20 The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers 02:45 Gadget Boy 03:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 03:35 Class Of 3000 04:00 The Powerpuff Girls 04:15 Samurai Jack 04:40 The Secret Saturdays 05:05 Chowder 05:30 The Life And Times Of Juniper Lee 05:55 Best ED

Pehla Granada 07:30 House Of Horrors (Series 3) 08:00 Airline (Series 4) 09:00 I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (Series 7) 10:00 Coronation Street WEEKEND OMNIBUS 11:30 I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (Series 7) 12:00 Art Crime 13:00 The Unknown 14:00 Fat

Int Events 22:30 Quattro Int Events 23:00 FIM World Motocross Championships 00:00 Strikeforce 01:00 Strikeforce 02:00 Mexico X Games 2008 03:00 FIM World Motocross Championships 04:00 High Octane 04:30 High Octane 05:00 High Octane 05:30 High Octane

09:30 Fast Track 10:00 BBC World News 10:10 The Doha Debates (r) 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 World Challenge 2009 (r) 4\6 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 Dateline London (r) 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 Food For Thought (r) Appliance Of Science 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 India Business Report (r) 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 Newsnight (r) 16:00 BBC World News 16:15 Sport Today 16:30 Africa Business Report (r) 17:00 BBC World News 17:10 Hot Cities (r) Bursting At The Seams 18:00 BBC World News 18:10 The Doha Debates (r) 19:00 BBC World News 19:30 Reporters (r) 20:00 BBC World News 20:30 Food For Thought (r) Appliance Of Science 21:00 BBC World News 21:30 World Challenge 2009 (r) 4\6 22:00 BBC World News 22:15

Kuwait celebrates 7th anniversary, presents 70mm entertainment Prince Jacob production ‘Zaiat Zage’ – Wake-Up, the showman of Konkani stage an innovative director coming first time with his twenty member troupe from Goa. The show will be held in Kuwait on Friday, Nov 13, 2009 at 04:15 pm, at Daiya Fencing Club Hall. For gate passes please contact Raja stores, Kuwait City, Tel. 22412970 or organizers 99391452, 97439165, 99106617, email [email protected]

Club 14:30 Britain's Youngest Boozers 16:00 I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (Series 7) 17:30 Parkinson (Series 5) 18:30 Life Begins (Series 1) 19:30 Murder City (Series 2) 21:00 I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (Series 7) 22:30 Parkinson (Series 5) 23:30 Life Begins (Series 1) 00:30 Murder City (Series 2) 02:00 Only Organic 02:30 Cooking School 03:00 Life Begins (Series 1) 04:00 The Springer Show 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 Only Organic 06:30 Cooking School 07:00 The Jeremy Kyle Show

National Geography 07:00 Nat Geo Junior -Human Footprint 08:00 Jean-Michel Cousteau-Ocean Adventures -Gray Whale Obstacle Course 09:00 Nat Geo's Top 10 HD -NatGeoTop10HD 10:00 Apocalypse The Second World War -The Great Landings 11:00 Tribal Odyssey -The Pokot:The Path to Manhood 12:00 Meet The Natives -2 13:00 Danger Men -Wild Wind Workers 14:00 Air Crash Investigation -Air Crash Investigation Specia : Who's Flying The Plane? 15:00 Locked Up Abroad -Teen Smuggler 16:00 Redwoods Anatomy Of A Giant 17:00 Nat Geo's Top 10 HD -NatGeoTop10HD 18:00 Inside -Inside- Narco State 19:00 Megastructures -Train Wreck 20:00 Redwoods - Anatomy Of A Giant 21:00 Nat Geo's Top 10 HD -NatGeoTop10HD 22:00 Inside -Inside- Narco State 23:00 Megastructures Train Wreck 00:00 Redwoods - Anatomy Of A Giant 01:00 Nat Geo's Top 10 HD NatGeoTop10HD 02:00 Inside -Inside- Narco State 03:00 Megastructures -Train Wreck 04:00 Naked Science -Angry Skies 05:00 About Asia China's Great Wall : Protecting The Dragon 06:00 Seconds From Disaster -Kings Cross Fire S2.5 - 4 07:00 Dangerous Encounters Dangerous Encounters With Brad : Venomland S4-6

Discovery Channel 06:05 Mythbusters 07:00 Mega Builders 07:55 Street Customs 2008 08:50 Biker Build-Off 09:45 How Do They Do It? 10:10 Destroyed in Seconds 10:40 Destroyed in Seconds 11:05 Most Deadly 12:00 Time Warp 12:30 Time Warp 12:55 Time Warp 13:25 Time Warp 13:50 Time Warp 14:15 Time Warp 14:45 Time Warp 15:10 Time Warp 15:40 Time Warp 16:05 Time Warp 16:35 Time Warp 17:00 Time Warp 17:30 How Do They Do It? 18:00 Brainiac 19:00 Nextworld 20:00 Prototype This 21:00 Mythbusters 22:00 Verminators 23:00 Megaheist 00:00 Megaheist 01:00 Destroyed in Seconds 01:30 Destroyed in Seconds 02:00 Street Customs 2008 02:55 Biker Build-Off 03:50 American Chopper 04:45 How Do They Do It? 05:10 Destroyed in Seconds 05:40 Destroyed in Seconds 06:05 Prototype This

Animal Planet 06:20 Meerkat Manor 06:45 Monkey Life 07:10

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07:15 Glory Road 09:15 At First Sight 11:25 Hackers 13:10 28 Weeks Later 14:50 Me, Myself And Irene 16:45 Supernova 18:15 School Of Life 20:10 Garfield Gets Real 21:30 Blind Dating 23:10 Mrs. Doubtfire 01:15 Hackers 03:00 At First Sight 05:10 Supernova 06:40 School Of Life

05:00 Red Riding: 1974 07:00 Little Fish 09:00 Scooby-Doo! And The Lochness Monster 10:30 US Top 10 11:00 Eragon 13:00 Music And Lyrics 15:00 The Ant Bully 17:00 Pearl Diver 19:00 Married Life 20:30 US Top 10 21:00 Quid Pro Quo 22:45 Pride And Prejudice 01:00 I Think I Love My Wife 03:00 Married Life 04:45 Pride And Prejudice 07:00 I Think I

ShowMovies 1

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05:00 Under Siege 2 07:00 Hindsight 09:00 The Vanishing 11:00 The Sunchaser 13:05 Together Again For The First Time 15:00 Wilby Wonderful 17:00 Recount 19:00 Breaking Up 20:40 Heaven And Earth 23:00 Hindsight 01:00 States Evidence 03:00 Heaven And Earth 05:20 Breaking Up

05:30 Night Of The Wolf 07:00 Mystery Woman 08:50 Reading Room 13:00 Blonde 15:00 Mystery Woman 17:00 Returning Lily 19:00 Blonde 20:50 Mcbride: Doctor Is Out...Really Out 22:40 Shania 00:30 Foyle's War - Season 1 02:30 Out Of Order 04:15 Cold Squad IV 05:00 Cold Squad IV 05:30 Ann Rule's 06:00 Reading Room

05:45 Two Weeks 07:30 Dragonlance Samurai Girl: Book Of The Sword Something New 13:00 Golden Boys Samurai Girl: Book Of The Sword Something New 19:00 The Duchess There Will Be Blood 23:30 Adulthood Johnny Mad Dog 03:30 The Duchess

09:00 11:00 15:00 17:00 21:00 01:30 05:30

06:15 The First Wives Club 08:00 Georgia Rule 10:00 Cj7 12:00 The River King 14:00 Once 16:00 Cj7 17:30 The River King 19:30 Kite Runner 22:00 I Want You 00:00 Sabrina 02:30 The Hunting Party 04:30 Kite Runner 07:00 The Forgotten Coast

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

HEALTH

31

Health Low-fat diet best after skin cancer

Gene therapy cures congenital blindness PARIS, Oct 24, (Agencies): Exhilarated scientists on Saturday announced they had used gene therapy to restore eyesight to children blighted by a rare, inherited form of creeping blindness. Youngsters were able to walk unaided around dimly-lit obstacles, take part in lessons at school without extra help — and one child saw the colour of his father’s eyes for the very first time. The revolutionary treatment targets a disease of light-catching retinal cells called Leber’s congenital amaurosis, or LCA. Caused by flaws in any one of around 13 key genes, LCA triggers severe loss of vision and abnormal eye movements in early infancy, usually leading to total blindness in the twenties or thirties. Doctors led by Jean Bennett of the US, UK compared University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine tested a way of tackling this tragedy by inserting a corrective gene in a disabled cold virus. Their study was published online by The Lancet on Saturday, coinciding with a presentation at a conference of American ophthalmologists in San NEW YORK, Oct 24, (RTRS): Francisco. People who die in a US hospital The modified virus was injected into are nearly five times as likely as the eyeball, and infected the diseased their counterparts in England to cells — in effect, acting like a Trojan have spent part of their final horse to deliver the right DNA to the hours in an intensive care unit retina. (ICU). What’s more, over the age of Twelve patients aged eight to 44 85, ICU usage among terminal years were recruited in the small, patients is eight times higher in experimental study, and were given the the US than in England. treatment in the eye that had the worst Intensive care services are vision. expensive and labor intensive, Dr None of the patients recovered norHannah Wunsch, an anesthesiolmal sight, but all of them had an atogist and intensive care doctor at least 100-fold increase in so-called Columbia University Hospital in New York noted in an interview pupillary light response, meaning the with Reuters Health. constriction of the pupil when exposed Intensive care is “painful, it’s to light. distressing, it’s noisy, and it’s Six of the 12 recovered sufficient upsetting to patients and families sight that meant they may no longer be to be in ICU. It’s not something classified as legally blind. you want if the outcome is not The best results were among four going to be favorable,” Wunsch children aged eight, nine, 10 and 11. said. All four gained vision that enabled In the study, Wunsch and colleagues compared the records of them to walk unaided along a dimly-lit 493,054 patients who died in simulated street route. 2001 in England with those of “Another child, who since birth, 704,028 patients who died in could only see light and shadows, 2001 in seven US states. stared into his father’s face and said he While the outcome was the could see the colour of his eyes. Later same for all patients, the use of they played soccer together,” the uniintensive care was quite different versity said in a press release. between the two countries especially among the oldest patients Normally reserved, the researchers — those 85 years old and older. used such words as “dramatic” and Roughly half of all hospital “spectacular” to describe the outcome, deaths in the United States even though the trial is only a Phase 1 involved intensive care, comtest, the first and most cautious level of pared with only 1 in 10 in a three-phase process to assess protoEngland, the researchers found. type treatments for safety and effecGenerally, US patients of all tiveness. ages were four times more likely It comes less than six weeks after to have used costly intensive care services at the end of life another breakthrough in gene vision than patients in England. therapy, in which two monkeys were After age 85, the disparity in cured of colour blindness. ICU usage between the United Gene medicine is one of the most States and England was more alluring areas of biotechnology, offerthan double that - 11 percent of ing the theoretical promise of blocking the US patients versus 1.3 peror reversing inherited disease. cent of the English patients. But this new frontier has also been Yet, on average, the British live longer than Americans which hit by occasional setbacks, notably an begs the question “what do we unexpected or uncontrollable response get with all this intensive care from the immune system. we’re giving people?” Wunsch The pioneering treatment for LCA, said. though, has so far had no side effects and The US has more ICU beds its benefits have remained unchanged per capita than England and it two years later, say the researchers. uses them. When the benefits “These remarkable results have laid are not apparent, the questions a foundation for applying gene therapy are “why” and “what’s right?” These are questions being asked not only to other forms of childhoodnow in the United States as polionset retinal disease, but also to more cy makers debate the correct common retinal degenerations,” said path to major health care reform. Bennett. “Whether less intensive care In an analysis also carried by The for very elderly patients who are Lancet, Frans Cremers and Rob Collin dying is a form of rationing, or is of Radboud University Nijmegen actually better recognition of Medical Centre in the Netherlands prewhat constitutes appropriate care at the end of life warrants further dicted a major boost for further gene research,” Wunsch noted in a therapy trials. prepared statement. ❑ ❑ ❑ The current findings, published this week in the American Journal Skin cancer: People with a history of of Respiratory and Critical Care skin cancer may want to cut back on Medicine, “highlight the urgent the amount of fat they eat to reduce need to understand whether there their risk of a second skin cancer, based is over-use of intensive care in the on study findings from Australia. US, or under-use in England,” The findings link high intakes of Wunsch said. total fat to increased risk of developing In a related commentary, Dr a type of skin cancer called squamous Theodore Iwashyna, of University of Michigan Medical cell carcinoma among people who have School in Ann Arbor and Dr Julia a history of skin cancer. Lynch of the University of “In addition to protecting the skin Pennsylvania in Philadelphia from sunlight, people who have a histomake the point that the numbers ry of skin cancer would benefit from in a comparative study are not lowering their total fat intake,” Dr enough. Torukiri I. Ibiebele, of the Queensland “An exploration of the evolution Institute of Medical Research in Herston of critical care, taking into account diverse national histories noted in an email to Reuters Health. and healthcare ecosystems, Two forms of non-melanoma skin would help,” they write. cancer — basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma — account for the large majority of skin cancers and are Even when prescribed high doses of easily treatable when caught early. Ibiebele and colleagues studied the steroids, about 5 percent of adults with diets of 457 men and 600 women, who asthma remain difficult to control, with were 25 to 75 years old. They deter- persistent symptoms and frequent flaremined their daily intake of saturated, ups, Dr Liam G. Heaney at Queen’s monounsaturated and polyunsaturated University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, fats in meats, fried foods, on breads and and colleagues have found. They thus remain at high risk for vegetables, and in cooking. The men and women lived in the fatal or near-fatal asthma attacks. sub-tropical area of Nambour, While not taking medication as preQueensland, an area with high expo- scribed is believed to contribute to this sure to ultraviolet sunlight, the problem, its prevalence is unknown. To find out, Heaney’s group studied researchers report in the International 182 patients referred to the Northern Journal of Cancer. During follow up lasting 11 years, Ireland Regional Difficult Asthma 267 of the study participants developed Service. Nonadherence to anti-asthma 664 basal cell skin tumors. Another 127 therapy was not suspected as a major men and women developed a total of issue, and all patients denied not taking their medicine at their first visit to the 235 squamous cell skin tumors. clinic. ❑ ❑ ❑ Nonetheless, it was found that 35 perAsthma: People with difficult-to-con- cent of these patients had filled no more trol asthma are often not taking their than half their prescriptions for inhaled anti-asthma medication as prescribed steroids, and these patients were more by their doctor, new study findings likely to have been hospitalized at least 3 indicate. times in the previous year.

ICU stay before death common

Music therapist Heather Davidson (center), leads a drum circle as patients with Alzheimer’s disease play drums and percussion instruments at the Copper Ridge Care Center in Sykesville, Maryland, on Oct 23. Davidson leads a music therapy session for residents of the center each Friday. (AFP)

Liraglutide beats weight-loss drug in shedding pounds

Diabetes drug helps ‘obese’ NEW YORK, Oct 24, (RTRS): Obese adults may shed more weight with the diabetes drug liraglutide than with the weightloss drug orlistat (Xenical, Alli), suggests a study in The Lancet this week. The finding that liraglutide was superior to orlistat was “unexpected,” Dr Arne Astrup, from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, told Reuters Health. Until now, liraglutide has only been tested for its blood sugar-lowering abilities in people with type 2 diabetes. “This is the first state of the art trial to test its weight loss properties” in obese adults without diabetes, Astrup said. First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during a breast cancer awareness event in the First Lady’s Garden at the White House in Washington, Oct 23. (AP)

Nyoni

Hamburg

Health Food industry labels halted: An industry-funded food labeling program was halted on Friday just days after US officials warned they were investigating if nutrition claims on the front of packages were misleading. The Smart Choices Program said it would “voluntarily postpone active operations and not encourage wider use of the logo at this time by either new or currently enrolled companies.” Consumer advocates and nutritionists have complained that some sugary cereals and highsalt foods display a “Smart Choices” checkmark on their packages to promote the products as healthy. Companies that participated in the program included Kellogg Co, Kraft Foods Inc and General Mills Inc, among others. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration headed by its Commissioner Dr Margaret Hamburg announced it was examining nutrition claims on the front of packages and would take action against false or misleading claims. The agency also said it was developing a proposed regulation to define criteria for frontof-package claims and exploring if consumers would benefit from a single symbol to give a quick and accurate idea of nutritional content. Mike Hughes, chair of the Smart Choices program, said after the FDA announcement “it is more appropriate to postpone active operations and channel our information and learnings to the agency to support their initiative.” “We continue to believe the Smart Choices Program is an important step in the right direction,” Hughes said in a statement, adding that “our nutrition criteria are based on sound, consensus science.” General Mills, asked about the decision, referred questions to the Smart Choices Program. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Findings The biggest findings with liraglutide, Astrup said, were the “clear-cut” doseresponse relationship with weight loss (the higher the dose, the greater the weight loss), “the nice reduction in blood pressure, and the “cure” of patients with “pre-diabetes” - that is, poor blood sugar control not yet bad enough to qualify as diabetes. In the study, 564 obese adults without diabetes were randomly assigned to receive liraglutide at one of four doses (1.2, 1.8, 2.4, or 3.0 milligrams), placebo, or orlistat (120 milligrams). Liraglutide and placebo were given once daily as an injection, while orlistat was given three times a day in pill form. All participants in the study increased their physical activity throughout the trial and followed a calorie-restricted diet, which contained approximately 500 calories less than they needed each day. People who took liraglutide lost significantly more weight than people who took placebo or orlistat, Astrup and colleagues found. Liraglutide contains a satiety hormone that helps curb appetite.

Weight loss Average weight loss with the lowest liraglutide dose (1.2 mg) was 4.8 kilograms (10.6 pounds); with 1.8 mg liraglutide, subjects lost an average of 5.5 kg (12.1 pounds); with 2.4 and 3.0 mg liraglutide, subjects lost an average of 6.3 kg (13.9 pounds) and 7.2 kg (15.8 pounds), respecSchools in Handeni have been closed until December, as part of the campaign. The disease is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and is spread by consuming contaminated food or water. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Human form of mad cow in Italy: The Italian Health Ministry reported on Friday a “likely” case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human form of mad cow disease. Since national records were established in

More study urged

Statins may slightly up diabetes risk NEW YORK, Oct 24, (RTRS): Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs do not reduce the risk of diabetes and might modestly elevate the chances of developing the condition, researchers found in a pooled analysis of trial data. “Contrary to our expectation,” lead investigator Dr Swapnil Rajpathak told Reuters Health, “we did not find any benefit of statins on diabetes risk. In fact, there is a suggestion that statins may be associated with increased risk — which needs to be explored further.” The role of statins in lowering high cholesterol and protecting the heart is well established, but their relationship with diabetes is controversial, Rajpathak of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York and colleagues note in the journal Diabetes Care. One Scottish trial reported a small protective effect of statins on diabetes. To investigate further, the researchers pooled data from this trial and five other randomized placebo-controlled trials of statins involving a total of more than 57,000 adults. After an average follow-up of 3.9 years,

2,082 participants developed diabetes. When data from the Scottish trial were excluded, there appeared to be a small but significant 13 percent increased relative risk of diabetes developing in those who received statin therapy. When the Scottish trial was included in the analysis, the risk of diabetes with statin therapy was attenuated (6 percent increased risk). However, the researchers emphasize that there were a number of possible factors that may have influenced the results. In addition, Rajpathak stressed that the benefits of statins on heart disease “by far outweigh any detrimental effects on ... diabetes risk.” In an accompanying editorial, Dr Christie M. Ballantyne of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and colleagues agree, pointing out that if future studies confirm such a connection, “Because cardiovascular disease accounts for almost two-thirds of deaths in people with diabetes, the protective effect of statins on this major complication may suffice to support their use despite a potential risk of new-onset diabetes.”

tively. This compares with an average weight loss of only 2.8 kg (6.2 pounds) with placebo and 4.1 kg (9 pounds) with orlistat. Moreover, 76 percent of subjects taking the highest dose of liraglutide lost more than 5 percent of their body weight compared with only 30 percent on placebo and 44 percent on orlistat. Liraglutide also lowered blood pressure at all doses. At the start of the study, about a third of subjects in each group were considered “pre-diabetic.” At the higher doses, liraglutide cut the number of pre-diabetics significantly — by 84 to 96 percent. Nausea and vomiting were reported

more often with liraglutide than with placebo, but side effects were usually transient and seldom led to discontinuation of treatment. Astrup, who is a member of the Liraglutide Obesity Advisory Board of Novo Nordisk, the company developing the drug, noted that “liraglutide has to pass phase III trials before it can reach the market in the coming years. However, the drug is available for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in Europe.” Dr George A. Bray, from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, comments in a related editorial: “Whether long-term use of an injectable drug is palatable as a treatment for obesity is yet to be established.”

1993, Italy has had only one known case of the disease, in 2002, the ministry said. It said the likely new case was believed to have been infected before the use of animal and bone meal in animal feed was banned in December 2000. Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a fatal brain disease in cattle which first emerged in Britain in the 1980s. It is believed that humans can contract a fatal variation of it by eating infected parts of

animals suffering from the disease. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ European regulators said they have begun a review of the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri in light of 23 reports of a potentially deadly brain infection known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, since the drug has been on the market. Tysabri is made by the US biotechnology company Biogen Idec Inc and Elan Corp Plc of Ireland. It was temporarily withdrawn from the market in 2005 after being linked with PML. It was reintroduced with stricter safety warnings in July 2006. The European Medicines Agency said it has initiated the review to discuss any additional measures necessary to ensure the safe use of Tysabri. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Big pharmas back generic drugs: Three

Cholera kills 59 in Tanzania: At least 59 people have died of cholera in the past two months in Tanzania, mostly in the north-eastern coastal region of Tanga, a senior health ministry official said Friday. “There are reports of new infections. We had 60 new cases last week in Tanga alone,” said Blandina Nyoni, permanent secretary in the ministry of health. She said 3,454 cases of cholera have been recorded in the Tanga region in the past two months, with Handeni district hardest hit by the water-borne disease. Nyoni told AFP additional health personnel and medical supplies were sent to the affected areas earlier this month. She said the government has also stepped up public health education, advising people to boil drinking water and to build and use latrines.

Europe to review MS drug risk:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius attends a news conference at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan on childhood obesity on Oct 23, in New York City. Sebelius, who attended the event with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, spoke about the growing issues of obesity in school aged children in New York and the country. The museum is launching a pilot program in coordination with the National Institutes of Health at the East Side House Settlement, a public housing facility in the Bronx, to educate children about nutrition. (AFP)

pharmaceutical firms said Monday they support continued efforts by a Canadian generic drug maker to distribute cheaper versions of their patented HIV/AIDS medicines in Rwanda. GlaxoSmithKline and the Canadian subsidiaries of Shire and Boehringer Ingelheim had two years ago authorized Canadian generic drug maker Apotex to export to Rwanda a “fixed dose triple combination antiretroviral medicine” containing drugs over which each held patent rights in Canada. In statements, each company reconfirmed their support for Canada’s so-called Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) that allows the manufacture of the medicine in Canada. Over the past year, Canada’s Apotex has sent two shipments of the generic triple-combination AIDS drug to treat for 21,000 people living with HIV in Rwanda, the only country to have so far benefited from CAMR. The company threatened last month to abandon the project, saying it was a too “costly and complicated process.” (AFP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

HEALTH

32

Sanofi on track for 75.3 mln swine flu US vaccine doses

Glaxo H1N1 shot works on children after one dose LONDON, Oct 24, (Agencies): Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline has shown that its H1N1 vaccine works in children after just one dose, potentially helping to ease the supply pressure as drugmakers rush to produce enough of the swine flu shot. The vaccine, Pandemrix, is currently approved for use in two doses to children, but Glaxo said on Friday that governments might be able to change this to just one once the trial was completed. Glaxo, the world’s second biggest drugmaker, also said that 150,000 people have received the vaccine so far across Europe since mass vaccinations started last week. Early results from the study showed that the vaccine worked after just one shot in all of the 200 children, aged between 6 and 36 months, that it tested. Glaxo’s Pandemrix has an edge over rival products because it contains a so-called adjuvant — an immune-stimulating compound designed to increase the effectiveness of the vaccine. Earlier on Friday, Europe’s drugs watchdog, the European Medicines Agency, said that giving two doses of swine flu vaccine was preferable as the data so far was not conclusive. US health officials are struggling to deliver vaccine against the H1N1 pandemic virus ahead of its spread but Sanofi Pasteur, one of five vaccine makers under contract, said on Friday it was on track. A spokeswoman said the company could now deliver 75.3 million doses of bulk vaccine ingredients by December. “Our shipments are tracking close to what we have agreed to with (the US Department of Health and Human Services). Thus far we have provided more vaccine to HHS than all other manufacturers combined,” Sanofi, the vaccine unit of Sanofi-Aventis SA, said in a statement. Sanofi said it has shipped 12 million of the 16.1 million vaccine doses the US government had received as of Friday. “We have orders for 75.3 million doses of bulk antigen for anticipated delivery between October and December. We are on track to deliver this by December,” the statement said. HHS has also ordered vaccine from CSL Ltd, Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca’s MedImmune unit. US health officials recently trimmed supply expectations for H1N1 swine flu vaccine by 25-30 percent for October, saying manufacturers had run into production problems.

According to the Dutch institute for healthcare research, swine flu is now at an epidemic level as more than 50 out of 100,000 people in the Netherlands have symptoms of the virus.

Indonesia

Residents who began lining up during the night wait for the launch of the first Public Health H1N1 vaccine clinics in Los Angeles County on Oct 23, in the Los Angeles area community of Encino, California. The clinics will provide free vaccine against H1N1, also known as swine flu, to priority groups and people who do not have health insurance or a regular source of healthcare. (AFP)

The delay has caused vaccine shortages at US immunization clinics at a time when H1N1 flu activity has become widespread in 46 states.

Vaccine Much of the available vaccine has been MedImmune’s nasal spray, which contains live virus and is not recommended for some people at risk, including children under 2, pregnant women and children and adults over 50. Companies are using decades-old technology used to make seasonal influenza vaccine to manufacture the H1N1 immunizations, but this involves uncertain methods that start with growing the virus in chicken eggs. For some reason H1N1 did not always grow well. MedImmune had no problems but the other companies did. Sanofi said it had taken steps to address

the problem. “We are pleased to report that yields are now exceeding the yield projections used in early production planning with HHS,” the statement said. “In fact, current yields are now close to our seasonal standard. Thus, we do not anticipate the strain yield to be a factor impacting future production schedules.” Sanofi said it was able to accelerate licensing for two new production lines with assistance from HHS and the Food and Drug Administration. “It must be recognized that we are producing a biological product and there is always an element of uncertainty with regard to production schedules,” the statement said. “However, at this time we are tracking close to what we have agreed to ship and feel that we are well-positioned based on long standing experience in influenza production

to continue to fulfill our agreements with HHS.”

Netherlands The Netherlands is dealing with a “small epidemic” of swine flu and reported this week the first death of an otherwise healthy person from the A(H1N1) virus, health officials said Friday. “The spread of the A(H1N1) virus in the Netherlands accelerated this week. It is now a small epidemic,” said the Dutch institute for health and the environment in a statement. “Around 10 people infected with the virus were admitted daily to hospitals this week,” it said. Also this week a 14-year-old girl became the first otherwise healthy person to die from the virus, bringing to six the number of swine flu deaths so far in the Netherlands. Since April, 205 people in the country have been hospitalised with the disease.

Indonesia does not intend to resume sharing bird flu samples with other countries until there is a global mechanism for virus sharing in place, the newly appointed health minister told Reuters on Saturday. Indonesia, which has suffered the most confirmed deaths from the H5N1 bird flu virus, has been holding out for guarantees from richer nations and drugmakers that poor countries get access to affordable vaccines derived from their samples. But the move has drawn global concern, since experts say it is vital to have access to samples of the constantly mutating virus, which they fear could change into a form easily transmissible among humans and sweep the world in months, killing millions of people. “It depends on the international treaty result regarding the standard material transfer agreement, I will closely monitor this,” Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said. The World Health Organisation’s more than 190 member states have been holding negotiations on virus sharing, but a sticking point has been how and when biological samples of viruses would be shared with the world’s pharmaceutical companies who need them to make vaccines, an issue known as “material transfer”. Jakarta wants a material transfer agreement for each sample of the virus sent to foreign labs, specifying it will be used only for diagnostic purposes and not for commercial gain. H5N1 bird flu has been circulating in Asia for years but it has hit Indonesia harder than any other country. Although it only rarely infects people, it has killed 262 out of 442 infected globally since 2003, according to the WHO website. At least 115 Indonesians have been killed by the virus. The health minister also said there were no plans to reopen a US Naval laboratory operating in Indonesia but biomedical research with the United States would take place instead under a civilian-to-civilian programme. The US Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2, or NAMRU-2 for short, was central to Indonesia’s early efforts to track H5N1. It was one of the few labs globally capable of

the genetic analysis needed to identify H5N1 at the beginning of the epidemic. The lab had been been in Indonesia since 1970 and is one of five in the world, but its future became politicised after some Indonesian officials said its operations were not transparent. US officials have previously denied there was a lack of transparency and said the lab benefited both countries. Paul Belmont, a spokesman at the US embassy in Jakarta, said the new civilian facility — the Indonesia-US Biomedical and Health Research Center — would be established under a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Indonesia’s previous health minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, signed last month. Sedyaningsih, who earned her public health doctorate at Harvard University, said both countries were still discussing the structure and budget for the new civilian lab. “I need to clarify that NAMRU won’t be reopened, we will stick to the previous policy, the new one will be civilian-to-civilian cooperation with the US health department, there’s no military link,” Sedyaningsih said.

Britain Europe’s drugs watchdog said on Friday that giving two doses of swine flu vaccine was preferable, even though many governments are pushing ahead with single-shot immunisation for most people. One dose of GlaxoSmithKline’s Pandemrix and Novartis’s Focetria may be sufficient in adults, but the data so far is not conclusive, the European Medicines Agency said. After reviewing the latest findings, the agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) said it continued to recommend that H1N1 vaccines be preferably used as two doses, at least three weeks apart. “The CHMP noted that the data supplied to date are still limited and do not allow the committee to recommend the general use of a single-dose vaccination schedule,” the London-based agency said in a statement. The European Medicines Agency has so far approved three H1N1 vaccines — Pandemrix, Focetria and Baxter International’s Celvapan — and others may be added later. Initially experts thought two doses of vaccine would be needed for everybody because of the current H1N1 swine flu virus is a new strain. But in the past couple of months various clinical trials have suggested one dose may suffice.

Abu Dhabi bourse lists Hits The Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) has approved listing of shares of the Kuwait-based Hits Telecom Holding Company in the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange. Hits Board Chairman Dr Sultan Bahebri said in a press release on Saturday that the listing of the company’s stocks in the UAE bourse would

boost expansion of its interests and operations in many regional markets through broadening the basis of the shareholders. He indicated that the official listing of these shares would be before the year-end. The company will also seek to list its stocks in the Egyptian stock market, Bahebri said.

Market Movements AUSTRALIA HONG KONG JAPAN NORWAY SOUTH KOREA PHILIPPINES INDIA

-

ASX 100 Hang Seng Nikkei 225 OSE Industry KRX 100 PSE All Sensex

Points +38.80 +379.21 +15.82 +1.08 +9.84 +44.27 +21.07

Closing pts 3,980.80 22,589.73 10,282.99 201.03 1,640.17 2,932.99 16,810.81

The Kuwait-based company provides Internet, fixed, mobile and other telecom services, through its subsidiaries in Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Hits was known, as the Nibras Holding Company, an owner and operator of schools, until April 2008, when it converted into a telecom holding. (KUNA)

Investors skittish about trading at KSE The local stock market here continued its timid performance this past week amid feelings of hesitation and anxiety among most traders, said a market watch report on Saturday. This timidity took its toll on market activities where most indices took a sharp fall, said Bayan Investment Co report. For instance the overall value of transactions through the week slid by 41. 2 percent, to KD 35 million and the average

23-10-2009 BELGIUM EUROPE FRANCE GERMANY NETHERLANDS SWEDEN

-

Bel 20 DJ Stoxx CAC DAX AEX OMX

Points -9.21 -16.12 -12.61 -22.68 -0.55 -12.74

Closing pts 2,547.34 2,474.44 3,808.24 5,740.25 320.14 927.47

number of traded shares dipped by 33.1 percent, to 187 million shares - all numbers lower than those achieved last week, said the report. It added that there is expectation among investors and traders that with the announcement of financial results of companies listed on the stock exchange for the first three quarters of this year, the overall picture in the market might become a lot less bleary than now when

many of the traders cannot foresee the market trajectory of these companies in the next few months. So far only about 11 percent of these companies have published their financial quarterly statements for the past nine months, said the report, underscoring the fact that the lackluster showing of the local stock market is in tandem with those of the region as a whole. (KUNA)

Business

Tehran grappling with burgeoning domestic gasoline demand

Iran reiterates quota compliance, refutes ‘violations’ TEHRAN, Oct 24, (RTRS): Iran has always adhered to its implied output target under Opec’s existing output curbs and has not violated its commitments, its Opec governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi told the semi-official Mehr news agency on Saturday. The most recent Reuters survey of oil firms, Opec officials and analysts showed Iran, the group’s second-largest producer, pumped 430,000 barrels above its Opec target in September, the most in absolute terms of any member. “Iran has always been committed to crude production quotas set by Opec and there has never been any violation by Iran in this respect,” Khatibi said. Khatibi said reports by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and other secondary sources are based on “guesswork and not reliable”. “The point to be noticed is that the figures reported by these sources are completely incompatible with one another.”

Opec agreed late last year to lower supply by 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) as recession curbed fuel use and led to a slide in prices. But the Reuters survey showed the group met 63 percent of promised cutbacks in September, down from 68 percent in August, continuing a trend of rising output that shows some members have relaxed adherence amid higher oil prices. Iran has long been one of the group’s members most interested in higher prices. The world’s fifth-largest crude exporter has struggled for years to develop its oil and gas reserves and now has to contend with an international lack of credit, as well as the U.N. nuclear sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme. A report by a parliamentary research centre, published on Saturday by Iran’s Aftab-e Yazd daily, said Iran’s crude oil exports will “drop to zero” in eight years in the absence of an annual $4.5 billion in

Britain mulls charges in KBR JV probe, says Halliburton SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 24, (RTRS): Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is considering civil claims or criminal prosecution in its probe into a Nigerian bribe scheme in which former Halliburton unit KBR Inc has already pleaded guilty, Halliburton said on Friday. The SFO has been investigating a UKbased KBR joint venture that held a stake in KBR’s multinational consortium which was involved in the bribery scheme. Houston-based engineering firm KBR pleaded guilty in February to US charges that it paid $180 million in bribes between

investment in the oil sector. The authorities blame sanctions for the lack of foreign investment in the country’s energy sector.

1994 and 2004 to Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion in contracts. KBR admitted to paying the bribes for the TSKJ consortium — France’s Technip SA, Italy’s Snamprogetti, KBR and Japan’s JGC Corp — to secure contracts for the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas terminal. A quarterly filing with financial regulators from Halliburton on Friday said the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is considering making claims “under various United Kingdom laws” in its investigation of M.W. Kellogg Ltd — a UK joint

Iran also lacks sufficient refining capacity to meet its domestic demand and imports up to 40 percent of its gasoline requirements.

venture 55 percent owned by KBR that held part of its TSKJ share. Halliburton, which indemnified KBR for some past liabilities when the companies split in 2007, said SFO findings of UK law violations could result in “fines, restitution and confiscation of revenues, among other penalties, some of which could be subject to our indemnification obligations.” The SFO investigation is three years old, but Halliburton did not mention possible UK charges or fines in past filings. A spokeswoman for Halliburton

It subsidises gasoline, which is therefore among the world’s cheapest, encouraging fast growth in demand and making it very reliant on imports from international mar-

declined to comment further. Halliburton’s indemnity for M.W. Kellogg is limited to 55 percent of any penalties, the company said, adding that the SFO’s decision on charges rested on many factors, including whether the UK joint venture knew of any payments. The bribes — some delivered in a briefcase stuffed with $100 bills — were paid to officials in Nigeria’s executive branch as well as the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp, the US Justice Department found.

kets. However, Iran’s deputy oil minister Noureddin Shahnazizadeh said gasoline production had increased in the country.

CI rates KFH at A+, says SABB books $94m for loan losses able to overcome crisis Saudi Fransi sets aside $14.6 mln for provisions

Exposure secrecy keeps market guessing

Doubts persist as lenders book provisions RIYADH, Oct 24, (RTRS): Saudi banks booked more provisions for bad loans during the third quarter but a veil of secrecy over the level of their exposure to troubled private firms is keeping investors guessing over their adequacy. Stock exchange data showed that five Saudi banks booked more provisions for loan losses in the quarter, raising by at least 183 percent their total amount this year compared to the first nine months of 2008. The provisions had been widely expected amid concerns over the solvency levels of heavily indebted Saudi conglomerates Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Bros (AHAB) which are at the centre of an estimated $22 billion debt implosion. Unlike peers in the region, Saudi banks have not disclosed the level of their exposure to these two firms and this keeps analysts wondering whether any newly booked provisions would be high enough to fully cushion them against anticipated losses. “We don’t have a clear idea about exposure ... If you don’t know the level of exposure, then it will be difficult to say if these provisions are enough,” said Ibrahim al-Alwan, deputy chief executive of KSB Capital. Standard & Poor’s says banks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates

account for almost two-thirds of the total net exposure to the conglomerates of the 30 commercial banks it rates in the Gulf. A Saudi government panel last month brokered a deal between Saad Group and Saudi lenders but neither party disclosed the details of the agreement adding further mystery to its significance for holders of Saudi banking shares. “Officials say banks are well-covered,” KSB’s Alwan said. “Banks here are generally conservative when it comes to lending and provisions but they are not transparent enough”. SABB bank, HSBC’s Saudi affiliate, booked 351.5 million riyal ($93.7 million) in provisions for bad loans during the third quarter compared to 314.4 million riyals during the previous quarter, bourse data showed on Saturday. This brings to 782.2 million riyals its total provisions made over the nine months to end-September. In comparison, Riyad Bank has put aside 601.8 million riyals in the same period. Samba Financial Group, the secondbiggest Saudi lender by market value, has put aside 377.2 million riyals compared with 127.6 million a year ago, while Banque Saudi Fransi, the Saudi affiliate of French Calyon, booked 223.5 million riyals

RIYADH, Oct 24, (RTRS): SABB bank, HSBC’s Saudi affiliate, booked 351.5 million riyal ($93.7 million) in provisions for loan losses during the third quarter, bourse data showed on Saturday. SABB reported a worse-thanexpected 19.8 percent drop in third-quarter net profit, hit by an increase in provisions for bad loans. The data also showed that Aljazira Bank made provisions for loan losses of 115.7 million riyals during the third quarter, the lender’s highest in at least one year, while Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB) booked 60 million riyals for the same purpose, its the highest this year. Aljazira reported a 14 percent increase in third-quarter net profit while SAIB tripled its net profit during the same period. The provisions have been widely expected amid concerns over the solvency levels of heavily indebted Saudi conglomerates Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Bros (AHAB). Unlike their peers in the Gulf Arab region, Saudi banks have not disclosed the level of their exposure to these two firms and this keeps analysts wondering whether any newly booked sums would be high enough to fully cushion them against anticipated losses. A Saudi government panel has brokered a deal between Saad Group and Saudi lenders but neither party disclosed the details of the agreement. Saudi central bank governor Muhammad al-Jasser said last week that Saudi banks would make sure they have enough provisions for doubtful debts. Jasser has once in the past encouraged Saudi banks to keep the level of their exposure to the two groups secret. Saad and AHAB are at the centre of an estimated $22 billion debt implosion. The two firms are battling in court over alleged financial irregularities in the wake of a debt restructuring. Standard & Poor’s has said it found banks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates accounted for almost two-thirds of the total net exposure to the conglomerates of the 30 commercial banks it rates in the Gulf. ❑ ❑ ❑ Banque Saudi Fransi, the Saudi affiliate of French Calyon, booked 57.6 million riyals ($14.6 million) in provisions for loan losses during the third quarter, bourse data showed on Saturday. Fransi booked loan loss provisions worth 119.9 million riyals in the second quarter of this year. The bank has posted a 1.9 percent decrease in third-quarter net profit. ❑ ❑ ❑ Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia’s second-biggest lender by market value, booked 76.9 million riyal ($20.5 million) in loan provisions in the third quarter, bourse data showed on Saturday. The provisions ere the lowest in at least one year. The lender booked 97.3 million riyals for loan losses in the second quarter and 33.2 million in the thirdquarter of 2008.

Lender focussed on global expansion KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: Capital Intelligence Agency (CI) reasserted Kuwait Finance House (KFH) longterm credit rating at A+ and short-term at A1, which is a sign from a reputable rating agency that KFH is solid and stable, and is moving forward with its strategic expansion plans, not to mention its ability to overcome the global crisis. The agency’s report mentioned that KFH is one of the most prominent and advanced Islamic institutions in Kuwait and the world, which is evident by the large market share that it dominates in terms of credit, deposits and assets. In addition, KFH uses its powerful existence in the local market to reinforce its global existence where the need for Islamic banking products and services is on the rise, especially after the unprecedented profit it achieved in the past years, in addition to having the three most major Kuwaiti governmental authorities as participants in it, including the Public Authority for Investment, which supports the high levels of income of non-profitable stocks. The Risk Management Department Manager Abdul Aziz Al-Badr stated that this positive rating at this time reveals KFH power and leadership as a pioneer Islamic institution that depends in its plans for local, regional, and international expansion on carefully studied strategies. Moreover, the agency mentioned in its report that as a result of the sufficient liquidity that KFH possesses and in light of the rapid global expansion, KFH focused on diversifying its global expansion; and

Abdulaziz Al-Bader

Over 56% in Kuwait say crisis not ended

53% Arab investors forsee global economy recovering DUBAI, Oct 24: A recent survey conducted by Mubasher Info on the current state of the global economy one year after the onset of the current financial downturn, has revealed that majority of Arab investors are optimistic that the global economy is now recuperating from the crisis. The survey, which covered respondents from across the Arab World, aimed at finding different views and opinions on whether or not the crisis has ended and if we are now heading towards recovery. According to the results of the survey, 53.1 percent of Arab investors are confident that the global economy is now in a recovery stage; 27.8 percent believe that the crisis is not yet over and 18.9 percent say that the global economy has overcome the crisis and is now in the initial stages of recovery. A total of 5,212 investors from nine Arab Markets participated in the survey, which was conducted online through the Mubasher Info portal (www.mubasher.info). An analysis of the survey in Egypt shows that 56.9 percent of the respondents believe that we are now recovering from the downturn, while 24.9 percent say that the crisis is far from over and 18.3 percent saying that the crisis has ended and businesses are now trying to pick up in terms of recovery. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the largest financial market in the region, has showed a different view of the economic situation. Results from the area show that 41 percent believe that the global economy is still in recovery, 36.9 percent say that we are still in the middle of the crisis while 22.1 percent believe that the worst has ended and that the global market is now moving ahead all over again. In the UAE, the survey covered respondents from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Results show that 46.5 percent say that we are in a recovery phase, 31.4 percent noting that the crisis has not ended and 21.9 percent believing that the crisis is over. Kuwait respondents have showed that 56.5 percent do not believe that the crisis has ended, while 30.4 percent responding that the global economy is now recovering. On the other hand, experts and economists unanimously agree that we are still in the recovery phase. However, different economies show various degrees of vulnerability, brought about by the result of the economic crisis from one country to another-developed countries suffering more than countries that are still in its developing stage. Moreover, experts explained that the injection of liquidity through government programs and incentives have resulted in positive results and complements what was clearly manifested in the global market. Hamdy Abdel Azim, Professor of Economics and former President of AlSadat Academy for Administrative Sciences, told Mubasher Info that the global economy is still in a recovery phase, indicating that we have yet to overcome the crisis. Despite this, he pointed out that we are showing improvement, albeit slow, through stimulus packages that have been introduced in an attempt to decrease unemployment rates and save stock markets all over the world. Abdel Aziz likened these techniques, plans and regulatory actions to “analgesics,” which did not benefit the economy as expected. Hisham Tawfik, Chairman of Al Arabia Online, shared a different opinion on the matter, pointing out that despite the crisis being far from over, the global financial market is recovering faster than expected and is predicted to show an upward trend in the next few months.

in spite of facing fierce competition from other prestigious Islamic institutions, KFH is fully capable of maintaining its leadership in the near future. The report also highlighted KFH’s strategic importance in the Kuwaiti banking sector and the availability of governmental guarantee for the deposits made in Kuwaiti banks. Al-Badr stressed that KFH’s distinguished cover that was reinforced by large provisions supports KFH’s financial status and enable it to face the global crisis, in addition to going hand in hand with the requirements of the supervisory authorities and abides to the strict professional and international demands, which ensures the continuity of growth rates

according to set plans. It is worth mentioning that the major rating agencies have underscored their trust in KFH through asserting their ratings despite the global crisis. In addition to that, KFH has received many awards, such as Best Bank in Kuwait, Best Islamic Bank, Most Trusted Bank, Biggest Bank (market share) in the Middle East, and other awards. As a result of the deterioration of quality of assets and its effect on profits and capital adequacy ratio, CI adjusted the financial power of KFH to become A-, and CI mentioned that the granted rate reveals the participation of the three governmental authorities.

By Mubasher Info

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

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Iraq SOC vacancies prompt flood of applications Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) unleashed a gush of job applications when it advertised 1,600 vacancies as part of a plan to dramatically increase crude production. In Basra province, where the unemployment rate is in double-digit figures, interest was so overwhelming that SOC officials extended the application acceptance period, before eventually closing it on Wednesday. Despite stringent conditions — recruits must be 40 years old or younger and resident in Basra — thousands of people of all ages from neighbouring

provinces joined queues in the eponymous provincial capital to register their details. “I am a taxi driver, but I’ve had enough of this job, and I want to get a job in the government,” said Mithaq Saber Mohammed, a 33-year-old technical college graduate living in Amara, the capital of a nearby province. “All the registration requirements are fine and good, but unfortunately they’ve said that only people from Basra can apply for the job. They are acting like Basra is the state of states in Iraq — as if no one can get a job if he is from outside Basra.”

The SOC, operator of Iraq’s southern oil fields, is increasing its workforce by around 10 percent as it prepares to begin work aimed at nearly trebling output at the giant Rumaila oil field. In particular, it is looking for engineers, technicians and drivers. “The company announced its need for new jobs, and it started by allocating three days to recruit each of the specialisations,” a company source told AFP. “But due to the large number of applicants, we had to extend the period to five days.” (AFP)

Germany to host Iraq conference Germany will host a two-day investment conference for Iraq in Berlin next month, the country’s embassy in Baghdad told AFP on Thursday. “The conference will take place on the 5th and the 6th of November in Berlin,” said Luay al-Rubaie, secretary to the German ambassador. The United States and Britain have already hosted investment conferences for the war-torn country, which is desperately in need of cash injections as it struggles to rebuild its economy.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki attended the latest conference in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday, which followed a similar meeting in London in May. The Berlinbased German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce confirmed the dates of the conference, which is designed to improve economic ties between the two countries. Organisers are expecting around 200 German businesspeople to attend the conference, along with a 100-strong Iraqi delegation, a chamber spokeswoman said. (AFP)

Calpers ignored red flags about increasingly risky bets

Laying on bets at biggest US pension fund SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK, Oct 24, (RTRS): Russell Read, the former chief investment officer of Calpers, the largest pension fund in the United States, knows his trees. Read owned a 500-acre Maine forest landscaped with the same mix of maples and oaks the colonists would have seen when they first arrived on the shores of America. Bob Carlson, who was a board member at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System for nearly half its history, recalls asking about commodities like timber during Read’s interview for the position at Calpers. “His eyes lit up,” said Carlson. “That’s what I wanted.” Read got the job in June 2006 at the age of 42 and quickly set out to turn Calpers into a modern, aggressive investor. At the time, esoteric new markets were racking up huge, almost unimaginable gains. He and the board were in agreement — Calpers should be part of it. “I think the push for commodities and infrastructure and forestry and some of those other things was kind of a movement afoot,” said Tony Oliveira, Supervisor of California’s Kings County and one of the Calpers board members who helped choose the new investment chief. A former senior executive at Deutsche Bank, who had once taught risk management, Read seemed to be the right person for the times. Despite Read’s background and the ever riskier bets he was making, Calpers still struggled with risk management. Carlson, who describes Read’s risk management plans as “brilliant,” said that Read left the fund before he could put them in place. Red flags about the growing riskiness of Calpers’ portfolio also went unheeded. A consultant warned Read in December 2007 about the size of the fund’s commitment to private equity, but the push went on. For a while, Calpers looked smart under Read, hitting a peak value of $260 billion in October 2007 as it borrowed money to boost returns and moved into sophisticated collateralized debt obligations, land for residential real estate, as well as commodities. But as the financial crisis unfolded last year, Calpers lost $100 billion, more than a third of its value, tumbling to $160 billion a year and a half after the high. The other thing it lost was its gold plated reputation, founded on steady returns, pioneering new investments and policing public companies as an activist shareholder. Smaller rivals who were more conservative lost much less. Calpers has not retreated, though — just the opposite, in fact. As the entire pension industry questions what level of risk it should be taking in the aftermath of last year’s financial meltdown, Calpers in June increased its target for venture capital and private equity — what the fund’s advisor itself called the highest risk, highest reward bet — to 14 percent of overall investments, up from 10 percent. Chief Investment Officer Joseph Dear, who declined to comment for this story, in a published internal interview called the changes “relatively minor”. “We looked at the long term return assumption and basically said we don’t see a significant reason to change,” he said. “Calpers has the reputation of being the gold standard of pension investing, largely by the virtue of its size. But the reality is very different,” said Edward Siedle of Benchmark

Financial Services, a pension fund investigator and investment consultant. The new strategy by the board was nothing more than a high-stakes attempt to dig itself out of a hole, he said, reflecting the view of many critics. “Since their liabilities have grown and their assets have shrunk, they have concluded that they need to take more risk to close the gap,” he added. Voters in California are beginning to understand that they will have to make up any shortfalls. Rating agencies are reviewing municipal debt with an eye to what billions of unexpected liabilities could do to fragile budgets. And in the past weeks, a scandal about how former Calpers officials lobbied to place investments has drawn renewed attention to the obscure world of managing pensions. “In all likelihood this risky gamble will not end well,” Siedle said.

Calpers Model Big as Calpers is, its influence is even bigger. It takes on countries, refusing to invest where labor practices don’t meet its standards, for instance. Olivia Mitchell, Chair of Wharton business school’s Insurance and Risk Management Department, remembers traveling to Thailand, where the primary question from officials was what were Calpers’ plans for investment there. Every year the fund, which serves about 1.6 million members including former state and city workers, from janitors to judges, challenges what it feels are corporate governance laggards with a Focus List that commands considerable attention. Targets have ranged from drug company Eli Lilly & Co to chairmaker La-Z-Boy. Calpers argues that singling out corporate inadequacies leads to better stock performance — and higher returns for the fund. Over the past quarter century, Calpers also has transformed how the entire pension industry is run. Former director Carlson chaired a 1984 voter initiative to lift a cap on stock investments for the fund, whose solvency is guaranteed by the state. The goal was to break free from political dictates of state capital Sacramento, whose investment ideas gave Calpers directors pause. “They wanted us to invest in government buildings, that’s what they wanted. We did away with it,” Carlson said. The measure squeaked by, stock investments rose, and the fund got more aggressive. Shortly after 2000 it made its first investment in hedge funds — a shot heard around the pension fund world. “It was their investment more than anything else that basically allowed every other pension fund to invest in the hedge fund space,” said NYU Stern School of Business Professor Stephen Brown. “Nobody could be fired for doing what Calpers did.”

Size Matters One reason Calpers invests so much is that it has to: $200 billion, roughly twice the state of California’s annual budget, is a lot to invest, and Read had his hands full getting such a big ship to turn. Failures that would cripple other ventures merely put a dent in Calpers. Read closed a $2.5 billion venture known as LandSource in the summer of 2007, the beginning of the end of the American housing boom. LandSource filed for bankruptcy protection in early 2008, though Read still got a $208,000 bonus for the fiscal year. In 2001, before Read joined Calpers, board members said they wanted to get into agriculture. “The board members didn’t care what

File photo shows a Nasdaq billboard on Wall Street. (Agencies) See Also Page 36

the product was,” recalled Michael McCook, the former head of the real estate division. The only caveat was that the money could not go into an area with price supports, he said. Word of the interest spread through the grapevine. Richard Wollack, a real estate tycoon, soon pitched McCook a plan to buy prime vineyard land in Northern California, Oregon and Washington. By April 2002, Calpers struck a $100 million deal with the politically-connected Wollack to run Premier Pacific Vineyards, to buy and plant land with grapes, then sell to established vineyards within seven years. The vineyards are losing money, and the investment is up to $200 million, but in a fund roughly a thousand times bigger, it is a rounding error. “It doesn’t take Calpers a long time to make up a bad decision, because it is diversified and so large,” McCook said. But bad decisions can pile up.

The Yale Model While Calpers led public pension funds into alternative investments, arguably they were far behind Yale University Chief Investment Officer David Swensen, father of the “Yale Model” of investing, which produced double-digit returns for years from diversification into poorly understood and illiquid markets, where sophisticated investors saw an edge. With Yale showing the way, Calpers and other endowments began private equity, real estate and foreign companies. Mark Anson, Read’s predecessor and now president of Nuveen Investments, made many of the early alternative investments and also started the risk management system in 2001. Calpers bought a computer program for equities and fixed income, then added on real estate and other parts of the portfolio. The result of the computer model is “a starting point to talk about risk,” Anson said, arguing that the risk management system, which was upgraded in 2007 under Read, didn’t fail in 2008. “When you say, ‘My gosh what should be the risk management policy?’ or ‘Why didn’t Yale or Calpers or anyone else see this coming?’, well, not even the Fed saw this coming,” he said. But at least one board consultant saw something amiss. Michael Schlachter, managing director and principal at Wilshire Associates, by email said he warned Read in

BP Plc, Jordan gas deal nears AMMAN, Oct 24, (RTRS): BP Plc will sign a deal with Jordan on Sunday to explore for natural gas reserves in the small Risha field near the border with Iraq, company and government officials said on Saturday. They said under the deal the British company would enter partnership with the government owned National Petroleum Company (NPC) in two phases to boost the field that currently produces around 20 million cubic feet per day. The oil major would spend $237 million on exploration and evaluation of the Risha block, which covers an area of 7,000 square km, in the first three to four year phase of the deal, the officials added. If the exploration leads to the discovery of large commercially viable reserves of natural gas, officials said BP would enter a second phase to invest billions of dollars in the field. Risha, which was discovered in 1987, has not delivered encouraging exploration results in the past but Jordanian officials are hopeful intensive drilling could reveal extensive recoverable gas reserves.

a Dec. 4, 2007 memo that Calpers’ then-proposed increased allocation to private equities seemed “large.” The fund had already outspent its target of 6 percent, he pointed out in the memo. Critics say the board lacked more than fancy computer models. It lacked common sense. Boards of funds like Calpers could have and should have seen the big picture — starting in the 1990s when fat stock market returns could have been reaped and rolled into bonds. “Where would they be if they had captured the returns? They would be fully funded,” said Thomas Flanigan, founding chief investment officer of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the smaller sister fund to Calpers. “It was too obvious ... Even my sister called up and said, ‘The market is at 30 times earnings and I’m going to sell.’ I said, ‘That’s a good idea.’” Had public pension funds locked in profits then, pension fund boards years later would have thought twice about buying into opaque investments and Wall Street may not have been so inventive, Flanigan added. “It would not have been necessary to create these overly risky products with the intent to recover from what they missed,” he said. Flanigan sees history repeating itself as Wall Street accommodates the appetite at public pension funds for more risk in the search of home-run profits to make up for losses over the last two years. Calpers is looking at its own relations with consultants, probing more than $50 million in fees paid by private equity firm Apollo Management and others to a firm headed by a

former Calpers board member. State Attorney General Jerry Brown has also launched a Calpers probe into the socalled placement agents who lobby for pension fund business. At the same time, board member Oliveira is leading the Calpers push to reassess risk management, and he looks at it from a very broad perspective, from studying the political risk of laws governing Calpers to understanding how health costs could affect its massive programs for beneficiaries. There is a lot to do: an assessment report to kick off the drive concluded “there is no comprehensive risk policy within the organization” and “management of risk appears to be more reactive than proactive,” among 18 observations. Like other funds, Calpers is keeping more cash on hand. It also is changing rules for private equity funds that want to work with it, requiring more disclosures and overhauling how they are paid. And it is turning to lawyers for help. Faced with huge losses on subprime loans, Calpers is suing the rating agencies which it said misled them by giving top ratings to mortgage bond funds which later turned out to be a house of cards. Calpers also was overcharged for foreign exchange transactions, says state Attorney General Brown, who is suing bank State Street. The market rally this year also has helped. “The recovery now is showing our asset strategy is doing pretty well,” Oliveira said. Calpers’ losses have been cut by about half from the market low, taking the fund to around $200 billion. The recovery, however, remains wobbly, and California, the nation’s largest economy, is in dire straights. The state resorted to IOUs when it nearly ran out of cash, a third year of drought has left farms fallow, and layoffs have even reached into Silicon Valley and Hollywood.

Shortfalls add up fast. Taxpayers are on the hook for about $2 billion for each percentage point investments are behind target, said Rick Roeder, an actuary who has consulted for public pension funds. And the targets are high, he added. “Calpers has relatively optimistic assumptions about investment returns compared to other public funds in the state,” Roeder added. Politics only adds to the risk at Calpers. The state guarantees state pensions and elected officials hold many board seats, a potentially dangerous mix. Wall Street banks waited to find out if they were “too big to fail” but California has a legal obligation to rescue Calpers if it founders. “In any instance where you know you have a (safety) net, your behavior is likely to be riskier. The net here is taxpayer dollars,” said Jessica Levinson, director of political reform at the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. “There’s no downside to losing money,” said Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach, who was a board member of the county employees’ fund from 1995 to 2006. Calpers could have put aside money in the late 1990s, when they were fully funded against liabilities, but instead it backed raising benefits. Stacking the board with political representatives of beneficiaries only makes things worse, argued Keith Richman, a former Republican state lawmaker and critic of the state’s public pension funds. Politicians are encouraged to make promises and are gone by the time promises come due. “In Calpers the conflict of interest is built into the state Constitution. It says the majority of board members need to be recipients,” he said. Wharton’s Mitchell said studies showed that political boards tended to be more aggressive investors.

Change is unpopular

Who’s the boss

If Calpers falls short on its pension commitments, taxpayers will pay. But there is growing pressure from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and others to cut future pensions or do away with them altogether in favor of 401(k)-style programs where individuals manage their own money and both reap the rewards and suffer when risks don’t pay off. Most Californians support pension changes for new hires including an upper limit on benefits, replacing pensions with 401(k) plans and changing pension calculations to cut benefits, according to a Field Poll in October. Meanwhile Calpers is aiming for an annual investment return target of 7.75 percent, in line with returns in recent go-go decades. Laurence Fink, chief of gargantuan asset manager BlackRock told the Calpers board in July he didn’t think the fund would hit its target. “I think it’s going to be subpar for many years,” he said, suggesting that cuts in benefits be considered.

Calpers’ mission statement is to do well by pensioners, but if the payer of last resort is the state, perhaps the mission should be to avoid catastrophe for taxpayers, would-be reformers say. “Calpers’ responsibility, broadly speaking, is to the taxpayers,” said Steven Frates, senior fellow at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government. “When the check comes due, those are the people who pay it.” Common wisdom holds that if pension funds act more like trustees than aggressive investors, returns will be lower. “We can’t have it both ways,” said pioneering shareholder advocate Robert Monks. But a March presentation to the Calpers board by Wilshire Consulting showed a different picture. The most conservative investments, such as treasury bills, had had the best returns over the previous 10 years, in complete opposition to the presentation’s theory of efficient markets, which says riskier rewards like private equity have higher payouts.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

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KSE Weekly Investment sector heads decliners list

KSE capitalization declines 0.51% during last week On the other hand, KSE’s performance was consistent with the performance of neighboring stock markets, as most GCC markets registered weekly losses; whereas indices of major international capital markets managed to record a 12 months high and price of oil barrel overcame the $80 barrier for the first time this year. In terms of last week’s day-to-day trades, KSE price index declined throughout the first day of the week, ending Sunday’s session with 0.38 percent loss. On the other hand, KSE weighted index recorded a daily gain of 0.54 percent due transactions on a number of blue-chips. On the following day, both main indices declined due to intense selling transactions, whereby price index decreased by 0.88 percent and weighted index registered a loss of 0.94 percent. KSE then grew on Tuesday backed by

By Bayan Investment KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: Kuwait Stock Exchange continued to decline during last week amid significant decrease in trading levels, reflecting the continued predominance of cautiousness and hesitation over traders’ movements. During the week’s sessions, daily average of trading value declined by 41.25 percent to reach KD 35.81 million, whereas trading volume average amounted to 187.32 million shares, at a decrease of 33.17 percent compared to previous week’s levels. Anticipation for the nine months results continued to influence the market’s activity despite the relative increase in number of related announcements during the week, as, until now, only 11 percent of companies listed in the regular market have posted their results for the period.

selective purchases that allowed both price index and weighted index to increase by 0.84 percent and 0.73 percent respectively. On Wednesday, market indices fluctuated during the first half of the session, then took a descending trend afterwards, causing the main indices to record daily losses. KSE continued to descend on the last day of the week, thus incurring more losses, as price index closed with 0.59 percent daily loss and weighted index declined by 0.26 percent. By the end of the week, the price index closed at 7,607.9 points, down by 1.30 percent from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 0.40 percent weekly loss after closing at 447.92 points.

Sectors’ Indices All of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the red zone except for one sector. The Investment sector headed

the losers list as its index declined by 2.17 percent to end the week’s activity at 6,226.0 points. The Real Estate sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.84 percent, closing at 3,012.3 points, followed by the Insurance sector, as its index closed at 2,871.5 points at a loss of 1.76 percent. The Non-Kuwaiti companies sector was the least declining as its index closed at 7,930.7 points with a 0.80 percent decrease. On the other hand, the Banks sector was last week only gainer, which index grew by 0.46 percent, closing at 9,110.7 points.

Sectors’ Activity The Investment sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 303.60 million shares changing hands, representing 32.41 percent of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms trading volume as the sector’s traded

shares were 20.60 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of 192.97 million shares. On the other hand, the Services sector’s stocks where the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 40.78 million or 22.78 percent of last week’s total market trading value. The Industry sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover of KD 34.83 million represented 19.45 percent of the total market trading value.

Market Capitalization KSE total market capitalization declined by 0.51 percent during last week to reach KD 33.67 billion, as six of KSE’s sectors recorded a decrease in their respective market capitalization, whereas the other two recorded increases. The Investment sector headed the decliners list as its total market capitalization reached KD 3.44 billion, decreasing by 2.55

percent. The Insurance sector was the second in terms of recorded decline with 1.95 percent decrease after the total value of its listed companies reached KD 344.06 million. The third place was for the Real Estate sector, which total market capitalization reached KD 2.20 billion by the end of the week, recording a decline of 1.91 percent. The Food sector was the least declining with 1.32 percent recorded decrease after its market capitalization amounted to KD 872.71 million. On the other hand, the Banking sector headed the growing sectors as its total market capitalization reached KD 10.91 billion, increasing by 0.50 percent. The Services sector was the second in terms of recorded growth with 0.20 percent increase after the total value of its listed companies reached KD 9.81 billion.

investment funds Funds Fund Manager Valution Valued date Currency Net Asset Value (NAV) Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

National Bank of Kuwait Money Market Funds Watani KD Money Market Fund Watani KD Money Market Fund (Islamic) Watani Foreign Currency Money Market Fund Watani Foreign Currency Money Market Fund (Euro) Watani USD Money Market Fund (Acc to Islamic Shariah principles) Equity Funds NBK Gulf Equity Fund NBK Kuwait Equity Fund NBK Qatar Equity Fund Ijara Fund Islamic Ijara Fund IV Islamic Ijara Fund V Islamic Ijara Fund VI Islamic Ijara Fund VII Islamic Ijara Fund VIII Islamic Ijara Fund IX Islamic Ijara Fund X Islamic Ijara Fund XI Thahabi Ijara Fund I Thahabi Ijara Fund II Thahabi Ijara Fund III Thahabi Ijara Fund IV Thahabi Ijara Fund V Islamic Ijara Fund I Islamic Ijara Fund II Alternative Funds Watani US Real Estate Income & Growth Fund Watani European Real Estate Fund Central European Real Estate Fund Islamic European Real Estate Fund – A Islamic European Real Estate Fund – B Islamic Asian Real Estate Fund Islamic China India Real Estate Fund NBK Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund Real Estate Security Islamic Global Real Estate Securities Fund A Funds Islamic Global Real Estate Securities Fund B Islamic Turkey Real Estate Fund Multi Asset Funds Thahabi Multi Asset Fund – Conservative portfolio Thabi Multi Asset Fund – Moderate Portfolio NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Conservative Portfolio NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Moderate Portfolio NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Plus Portfolio

Fund Manager Liquidity Evaluation date Currency Net Asset Value (NAV) Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Global Umbrella Fund - Europe Global Monthly July 31, 2009 USD 198.020 196.200 June 30, 2009 Global Umbrella Fund - Asia/Japan Global Monthly July 31, 2009 USD 133.520 130.800 June 30, 2009 Global Umbrella Fund - Advanced Sciences Global Monthly July 31, 2009 USD 118.850 120.000 June 30, 2009 Global Distressed Fund Global Monthly July 31, 2009 USD 154.560 152.130 June 30, 2009 Zenith Fund Global Monthly July 31, 2009 USD 104.170 104.550 June 30, 2009 Mayur Hedge Fund Global Fixed Income Funds Global KD Bond Fund Global Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 1.068 1.068 Oct 11, 2009 Global Kibor Plus Fund Global Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.206 1.200 July 31, 2009 Index Funds GCC Large Cap Index Fund Global Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 1.318 1.365 Oct 08, 2009 Global US Equity Index Fund Global Weekly Oct 02, 2009 USD 76.850 77.510 Sept 11, 2009 Global European Equity Index Fund Global Weekly Oct 02, 2009 Euro 95.980 97.790 Sept 27, 2009 Equity Funds Global Local Fund Global Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 1.938 1.990 Oct 08, 2009 Al-Mamoun Fund A Global Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 0.571 0.590 Oct 08, 2009 Al-Mamoun Fund B Global Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 0.571 0.590 Oct 08, 2009 GCC Large Cap Fund Global Weekly Oct 19, 2009 USD 108.750 108.550 Oct 12, 2009 Al-Noor Fund Global Bi-weekly Oct 13, 2009 SAR 143.798 144.928 Oct 11, 2009 Global Saudi Equity Fund Global Bi-weekly Oct 13, 2009 SAR 135.507 137.262 Oct 11, 2009 Money Market Funds Global KD Money Market Fund Global Daily Oct 21, 2009 KD 1.499 1.498 Oct 15, 2009 Global USD Money Market Fund Global Weekly Oct 20, 2009 USD 137.120 137.140 Oct 13, 2009 Guaranteed Funds Global Increasable Guaranteed Fund Global Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.309 1.301 Aug 31, 2009 Islamic Real E. Funds Global US Real Estate Fund Global Quarterly June 30, 2009 USD 0.265 0.378 March 31, 2009 GCC Real Estate Fund Global Quarterly June 30, 2009 USD 0.675 0.710 March 31, 2009 Global Asia Real Estate Fund Global Quarterly June 30, 2009 USD 0.850 0.857 March 31, 2009 Global Real Estate Ijarah Fund Global Quarterly Dec 31, 2008 USD 850.790 Private Equity Funds Global Opportunistic Fund Global Quarterly June 30, 2009 USD 107.180 104.670 March 31, 2009 Global Opportunistic Fund II Global Quarterly June 30, 2009 USD 110.390 111.441 March 31, 2009 Private Equity Fund Global Quarterly June 30, 2009 KD 0.859 0.896 March 31, 2009 Global Buyout Fund Global Quarterly Dec 31, 2008 USD 603.390 582.850 Sept 30, 2008 Country Fund Palestine Dedicated Fund Global Monthly Aug 31, 2009 USD 89.390 87.940 July 31, 2009 Global Jordan Fund Global Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 76.520 75.180 Aug 31, 2009 The Delmon Fund Global Monthly Aug 31, 2009 BhD 149.775 146.553 July 31, 2009 Global Egypt Fund Global Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 68.170 66.890 Aug 31, 2009 Sectoral Funds EPADI Fund Global Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 95.250 88.470 Aug 31, 2009 Islamic Funds Global GCC Islamic Fund Global Monthly Oct 15, 2009 USD 83.920 78.270 Aug 31, 2009 Al-Durra Islamic Fund Global Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 1.318 1.353 Oct 08, 2009 Global Islamic Funds of Fund Global Monthly Aug 31, 2009 USD 88.870 88.960 July 31, 2009 Global Islamic Fund Global Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 1.293 1.294 Oct 08, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Weekly Weekly Weekly Weekly Weekly

Oct 20, 2009 Oct 20, 2009 Oct 20, 2009 Oct 20, 2009 Oct 20, 2009

KD KD USD Euro USD

1.329 1.121 1.241 1.212 1.056

1.328 1.121 1.240 1.212 1.055

Oct 13, 2009 Oct 13, 2009 Oct 13, 2009 Oct 13, 2009 Oct 13, 2009

NBK NBK NBK Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners LP Cayman Islands

Weekly Weekly Weekly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Quarterly Quarterly Quarterly Quarterly Quarterly Quarterly Quarterly Monthly Monthly Monthly

USD KD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD KD KD USD Euro Euro Euro Euro USD USD USD USD USD USD USD USD

1.031 0.581 1.022 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 1,000.000 1,000.000 10,000.000 1,000.000 1,000.000 10,000.000 1,000.000 1,085,690 704.706 769.459 1,000.000 88.049 73.634

1.025 0.610 1.050 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000 10.000

Oct 08, 2009 Oct 08, 2009 Oct 08, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 July 31, 2009 July 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009

1,000.000 1,000.000 10,000.000 1,00.000 1,0000.000 10,000.000 1,000.000 1,074.570 655.832 711.510

Mar 31, 2009 Mar 31, 2009 Mar 31, 2009 Dec 31, 2008 Dec 31, 2008 Mar 31, 2009 Mar 31, 2009 May 29, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009

Monthly Monthly

Oct 15, 2009 Oct 15, 2009 Oct 15, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Aug 31, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 June 30, 2008 July 31, 2008 June 30, 2009 Mar 31, 2009 Mar 31, 2009 June 30, 2009 June 30, 2009 June 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Mar 19, 2009 Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009

88.627 71.239

Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009

Kuwait Finance & Investment Co (KFIC)

Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd

Monthly

Sept 30, 2009

USD

88.049

86.627

Aug 31, 2009

Al Wasm Fund KFIC Weekly Oct 14, 2009 KD 0.624 0.643 Oct 07, 2009 Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund KFIC & Gulf Finance House Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 8.226 7.822 Aug 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd

Monthly

Sept 30, 2009

USD

73.634

71.239

Aug 31, 2009

KAMCO

Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd

Monthly

Sept 30, 2009

USD

58.168

55.358

Aug 31, 2009

Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Wafra Capital Partners L.P. Wafra Capital Partners L.P. Wafra Capital Partners L.P. Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Gulf Bank GB Capital protected Investment - Index Basket Gulf Bank Daily Oct 21, 2009 USD 1,124.100 1,123.800 Oct 20, 2009 Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund Kwt. Fin. & Inv. Co. & Gulf Fin. House Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 8.226 7.822 July 31, 2009 Coast Fund Coast Investment Co. Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.860 0.905 Aug 31, 2009 Noor Fund for Local & Arab Equity Noor Financial Investment Co. Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.686 0.660 Aug 31, 2009 Sanaya Dow Jones Kuwait Index Fund Industrial & Financial Investment Co. Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.719 0.722 Aug 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Commercial Bank Tijari Investment Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Weekly Oct 22, 2009 KD 0.629 0.635 Oct 15, 2009 Tijari Money Market Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Weekly Oct 20, 2009 KD 1.118 1.127 Oct 13, 2009 Tijari GCC Equity Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.642 0.636 Aug 26, 2009 Tijari Islamic Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Weekly Oct 22, 2009 KD 0.529 0.538 Oct 15, 2009 Tijari Indian Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Twice Monthly Oct 19, 2009 KD 1.073 1.032 Oct 12, 2009 Tijari Islamic Money Market Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Weekly Oct 20, 2009 KD 0.842 0.842 Oct 13, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Bond & High Yield Fund KAMCO Quarterly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.194 1.210 June 30, 2009 KAMCO Investment Fund KAMCO Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.156 1.171 Aug 31, 2009 Private Equity Opportunities Fund KAMCO Monthly Mar 31, 2009 KD 0.959 0.982 Dec 31, 2008 Kuwait Education Fund KAMCO Semi-Annually Mar 31, 2009 KD 0.986 0.998 Dec 31, 2008 Energy Services Fund KAMCO Aug 31, 2009 USD 0.554 0.558 July 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Madar Finance Shuwaikh Real Estate Fund Al Madar Quarterly Mar 31, 2009 KD 1.161 1.217 Sept 30, 2008 US index Fund Al Madar Bi-Weekly May 29, 2009 USD 1.077 1.019 May 01, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Madina Finance & Investment Co. India Fund Al Madina Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.791 0.730 Aug 31, 2009 Al Madina Fund Al Madina Quarterly June 30, 2009 KD 0.683 0.642 Mar 31, 2008 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Wafra International Investment Co. Wafra Equity Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Feb 28, 2009 KD 0.813 Wafra Bond Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Feb 28, 2009 KD 1.043 Fajir Islamic Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Feb 28, 2009 KD 0.572 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Ahli Bank

Shuaa Capital Co.

Al Ahli Kuwaiti Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.083 1.092 Aug 26, 2009 Al Ahli Gulf Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly Sept 28, 2009 KD 0.918 0.897 Aug 26, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Tawfeek Gulf Equity Fund Shuaa Capital Twice Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 73.188 72.053 Sept 15, 2009 Kuwait Gateway Fund First Investment Co Monthly Aug 31, 2009 USD 6.590 0.000 July 31, 2009 Arab Islamic Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Monthly July 31, 2009 USD 7.990 7.920 June 30, 2009 Saudi Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Weekly Oct 13, 2009 USD 7.970 7.990 Oct 06, 2009 The Arab Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Weekly Oct 13, 2009 USD 21.090 21.160 Oct 06, 2009 The Oman Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 16.460 16.040 Aug 31, 2009 Emirates Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Weekly Oct 13, 2009 AED 7.310 7.180 Oct 06, 2009 Qatar Gate Fund (Q) Shuaa Capital Monthly Sept 30, 2009 QAR 69.860 67.960 Aug 31, 2009 Qatar Gate Fund (N) Shuaa Capital Monthly Sept 30, 2009 QAR 67.000 65.280 Aug 31, 2009 Turkey Advantage Fund – A Class Shuaa Capital Monthly June 30, 2009 USD 10.648 10.308 May 29, 2009 Turkey Advantage Fund – C Class Shuaa Capital Monthly June 30, 2009 USD 10.715 10.370 May 29, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Boubyan Bank Boubyan Financial Fund (KWD) Boubyan Bank Weekly Oct 21, 2009 KD 1.050 1.049 Oct 14, 2009 Boubyan Financial Fund (USD) Boubyan Bank Weekly Oct 21, 2009 USD 9,718.908 9,715.060 Oct 14, 2009 Global Real Estate Fund Boubyan Bank Quarterly June 30, 2009 KD 0.867 0.938 Mar 31, 2009 Boubyan Sukuk Fund Boubyan Bank Annually Jan 28, 2009 USD 953.680 1,001.180 June 18, 2008 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Burgan Bank Burgan Financial Fund Burgan Bank Daily Oct 21, 2009 KD 1.405 1.405 Oct 20, 2009 Burgan Equity Fund Burgan Bank Monthly Aug 31, 2009 KD 1.878 1.852 July 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait Finance House Net Lease (Al Mumayaz Industrial Real Estate Fund II) KFH Monthly Sept 30, 2008 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 Aug 31, 2008 MALC (Millennium Aircraft Co Fund) KFH Quarterly Dec 31, 2008 USD 102,841.000 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait Investment Co. Local Fund

Al Raed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Oct 08, 2009 KD 1.105 1.103 Sept 30, 2009 Kuwait Investment Fund Kuwait Investment Co Quarterly Sept 30, 2008 KD 0.820 0.813 Aug 31, 2009 Al Hilal Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Oct 19, 2009 KDxx 0.613 0.648 Oct 12, 2009 KIC Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Sept 30, 2008 KD 0.955 0.962 Aug 31, 2009 Al Atheer Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Aug 31, 2009 KD 1.042 1.024 Aug 31, 2009 International Global Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Sept 09, 2009 USD 26.097 25.738 Sept 02, 2009 Diversified Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Sept 09, 2009 USD 17.104 16.885 Sept 02, 2009 European Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Aug 31, 2009 Euro 9.580 9.320 July 31, 2009 Pacific Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Sept 09, 2009 USD 38.953 37.452 Sept 02, 2009 Al-Awaed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Quarterly June 30, 2009 USD 0.992 1.004 March 31, 2009 North American Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Aug 31, 2009 USD 14.820 14.200 July 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

lnternational Financial Advisors Local Fund

IFA Khaleeji Fund IFA Univest Capital Ltd Twice Monthly Nov 30, 2008 USD 28.760 28.760 Oct 30, 2008 IFA Islamic Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.288 0.286 Aug 31, 2009 IFA Investment Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.537 0.528 Aug 31, 2009 International IFA International Guaranteed Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 7.880 7.580 July 30, 2000 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

National Investment Co. (NIC) Equity Funds

Al- Wataniya Fund NIC Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.753 0.792 Aug 31, 2009 Al-Safwa Fund NIC Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.577 0.577 Aug 31, 2009 Al-Darji Fund NIC Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.499 0.597 Aug 31, 2009 Mawarid Fund NIC Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.677 0.670 Aug 31, 2009 Zajil Fund NIC Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.761 0.760 Aug 31, 2009 Al Mada Investment Fund NIC Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 0.623 0.640 Aug 31, 2009 Alternative Funds Al Tahawut Hedge Fund NIC Monthly July 17, 2009 KD 0.751 0.751 June 19, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Investment Dar Co. Al Dar Real Estate Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly July 31, 2009 KD 1.106 1.093 June 30, 2009 Al Dar Fund of Funds Al Dar Asset Management Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.728 0.743 Aug 31, 2009 Al Dar Money Markets Fund Al Dar Asset Management Weekly Oct 19, 2009 KD 1.419 1.419 Oct 12, 2009 Al Dar Securities Fund Al Dar Asset Management Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.765 0.779 Aug 31, 2009 Al Nokhba Fund Al Dar Asset Management Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.539 0.556 Aug 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Aman Investment Al Aman Islamic Fund Al Aman Investment Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.652 0.630 July 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Housing Finance Company (ISKAN) Masaref Fund ISKAN Weekly Sept 17, 2009 KD 0.827 0.820 Sept 10, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Gulf Investment Corp. Gulf Bond Fund Gulf Investment Corp Monthly Oct 09, 2009 USD 11.620 11.549 Sept 30, 2009 Gulf Premier Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Oct 15, 2009 USD 19.260 19.340 Oct 08, 2009 Gulf Islamic Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Oct 15, 2009 USD 6.410 6.330 Oct 08, 2009 GIC KD Bond Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Oct 08, 2009 KD 0.898 0.900 Sept 30, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

First Investment Co. First Arabian Equity 2000 Fund First Investment Co Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 21.705 22.187 Aug 31, 2009 First Gulf Equity First Investment Co Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 7.487 7.660 Aug 31, 2009 Al-Muthana Fund First Investment Co Weekly Oct 19, 2009 KD 1.366 1.365 Oct 12, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Bayan Investment Company Ea’mmar and Estethmar Fund Bayan Investment Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.643 0.637 Aug 31, 2009 Al Themar Securities Fund Bayan Investment Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.580 0.578 Aug 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Tharwa Investment Co. Tharwa Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly Oct 08, 2009 KD 1.148 1.132 Oct 01, 2009 Tharwa Islamic Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly Oct 08, 2009 KD 0.749 0.739 Oct 01, 2009 Tharwa Arab Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 1.302 1.162 June 30, 2009 Tharwa Islamic Money Market Fund Tharwa Investment Co ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

GulfInvest International

Bank Al-Bilad

Al Huda Islamic Fund GulfInvest International Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 0.519 0.528 Oct 08, 2009 Al Shorooq Fund GulfInvest International Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 0.722 0.737 Oct 08, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Seef Fund Bank Al-Bilad Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 0.612 0.628 Oct 08, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Coast Investment Co.

Commercial International Bank

Coast Investment Fund Coast Investment Fund Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.860 0.905 Aug 31, 2009 Coast Pearl Fund Coast Investment Fund Daily Oct 22, 2009 KD 0.938 0.933 Oct 21, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Commercial Int’t Bank Fund I (Osoul) CI Asset Management Weekly Oct 15, 2009 EGP 146.140 145.940 Oct 11, 2009 Commercial Int’t Bank Fund II (Istethmar) CI Asset Management Weekly Oct 15, 2009 EGP 89.460 85.550 Oct 11, 2009 CIB and Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt Fund CI Asset Management Weekly Oct 15, 2009 EGP 72.640 69.150 Oct 11, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Securities Group

Noor Financial Inv. Co.

Al Anoud Investment Fund Securities Group Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 1.282 1.303 Oct 08, 2009 Group Islamic Fund Securities Group Weekly Oct 15, 2009 KD 1.286 1.322 Oct 08, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) Mumtaz Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Oct 16, 2009 KD 4.361 4.440 Oct 08, 2009 MIDAF Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Oct 16, 2009 KD 3.233 3.303 Oct 08, 2009 Islamic Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Oct 16, 2009 KD 1.791 1.819 Oct 08, 2009 GCC Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Oct 16, 2009 USD 2.740 2.730 Oct 08, 2009 FORSA Financial Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.152 1.172 Sept 03, 2009 Atlas Diversified Class A Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 7.350 7.050 Aug 31, 2009 Atlas Diversified Class B Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 7.450 7.150 Aug 31, 2009 Atlas Fund of Hedge Funds Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Dec 31, 2009 USD 8.730 9.070 Nov 30, 2008 Atlas Emerging Market Thematic Class Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 7.810 7.480 Aug 31, 2009 Energy Fund Kuwait Financial Center Quarterly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.965 0.964 June 30, 2009 Real Estate Fund Kuwait Financial Center Half Yearly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.320 1.308 Aug 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait & Middle East Financial & Inv. Co. Al Rou’yah Fund KMEFIC Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.634 1.684 Aug 31, 2009 Gulf Gate Fund KMEFIC Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 1.055 1.009 Aug 31, 2009 Al-Awsat Money Market Fund KD KMEFIC Weekly Oct 21, 2009 KD 0.826 0.826 Oct 14, 2009 Al-Awsat Money Market Fund USD KMEFIC Weekly Oct 19, 2009 USD 7.037 7.039 Oct 12, 2009 Amal Money Market Fund KMEFIC Weekly Oct 21 2009 KD 0.721 0.721 Oct 14, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Global Investment House Hedge Funds

Global Umbrella Fund - US

Global

Monthly

July 31, 2009

USD

195.220

191.480

June 30, 2009

Noor Islamic Fund Noor Local & Arabian Fund

Noor Financial Investment Co Noor Financial Investment Co

Monthly Monthly

Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009

KD KD

0.700 0.686

0.675 0.660

Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009

Kuwait Real Estate Investment Consortium Kuwait Real Estate Fund Kuwait Real Estate Investment Consortium Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.767 0.767 Aug 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Manafae Investment Co. Manafae First Fund Manafae Investment Co Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.767 0.767 Aug 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Zumorroda Investment Co. Zumorroda GCC Fund Al Zumorroda Investment Co Monthly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.585 0.558 Aug 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Safat Investment Co.

Al Safat Local Shares Equity Fund Al Safat Investment Co. Monthly Aug 31, 2009 KD 0.430 0.445 July 31, 2009 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al-Imtiaz Investment Company Al-Imtiaz Money Market Fund Al-Imtiaz Investment Company Weekly Oct 19, 2009 KD 1.131 1.130 Oct 12, 2009 Al-Imtiaz Investment Fund Al-Imtiaz Investment Company Jan 29, 2009 KD 1.200 1.190 Oct 27, 2008 Al-Imtiaz Real Estate Fund Al-Imtiaz Investment Company Quarterly Mar 31, 2009 KD 0.980 0.990 Dec 31, 2008 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

BankMuscat BankMuscat MSCI Kuwait Fund

BankMuscat

Daily

Oct 20 2009

USD

0.667

0.663

Oct 19, 2009

Al-Muthana Investment Company Al-Muthana Investment Company

Bi-monthly Monthly

Sept 30, 2009 Sept 30, 2009

KD KD

0.481 0.722

0.476 0.701

Aug 31, 2009 Aug 31, 2009

Al-Muthana Investment Company Muthanna Islamic Index Fund Muthanna GCC Islamic Banks Fund

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

BUSINESS

37

Hawaii regulators approve first US tuna farm Hawaii regulators have approved a Honolulu startup company’s plan to build the first US tuna farm in waters off the Big Island. Hawaii Oceanic Technology aims to create an environmentally friendly open ocean farm for bigeye tuna, a favorite source for sushi and sashimi that’s overfished in the wild. The state Board of Land and Natural Resources voted 4-to-1 Friday to give Hawaii Oceanic permission to install

three large underwater cages for the tuna. “I’m concerned on a global level and a local level that we have severe overfishing going on, and something needs to be done,” said board member John Morgan, who voted in favor of the project. Unlike many tuna farms around the world which capture immature tuna and fatten them until they’re ready for harvest, Hawaii Oceanic expects to artifi-

cially hatch bigeye at a University of Hawaii lab in Hilo. After the fry grow, the company will take the fish to giant ocean pens about three miles (five kilometers) offshore where they will grow until they reach 100 pounds (45 kilograms). Hawaii Oceanic expects to avoid the disease problems that have plagued other fish farms because it’s ocean pens will be large and its fish won’t be as densely packed in the cages.

The ocean is 1,300 feet (400 meters) deep in the area where the cages will be. This will allow strong currents to sweep away fish waste and uneaten food, preventing the pollution of the ocean floor. The project will also be the world’s first commercial bigeye farm. Companies and researchers in Japan and Australia have a limited number of commercial farms that artificially hatch and grow bluefin tuna.

The farm would produce 6,000 tons of bigeye a year when fully operational, serving Hawaii, the US mainland, Japan and other parts of Asia. In 2007, fishermen caught 224,921 tons of wild bigeye in the Pacific. Hawaii Oceanic projects it will generate $120 million in annual export revenues, more than six times the value of Hawaii’s current aquaculture output. Several critics told the board they’re worried diseased farm fish would

escape and contaminate wild stocks, and others said they’re worried about where Hawaii Oceanic would obtain its fish feed. The project won’t be sustainable if it imports its feed and exports about 90 percent of its product, said Rob Parsons, a board member of the environmentalist group Maui Tomorrow. The venture looks like it will suffer from the same pollution and disease problems as cattle farms, he said. (AP)

‘Make loans to create new jobs’

Obama urges banks to unfreeze credit for small players WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (Agencies): President Barack Obama urged US banks Saturday to unfreeze credit for small businesses, calling them “the engine” of the country’s economy. “Small businesses have always been the engine of our economy — creating 65 percent of all new jobs over the past decade and a half — and they must be at the forefront of our recovery,” Obama said in his weekly radio address. He added that it was time for large American banks that received government assistance at the height of the current economic crisis “to stand by creditworthy small

businesses, and make the loans they need to open their doors, grow their operations, and create new jobs.” The president recalled that his administration had already provided five billion dollars worth of tax relief to small businesses and guaranteed some of Small Business Administration loans up to 90 percent, which has supported nearly $13 billion in new lending to more than 33,000 businesses. But he argued that more needed to be done by private banks, particularly now that the situation in the financial sector has stabilized. Obama said his administration would take “every appropriate step” to encourage the

banking sector to resume lending to small businesses. “Because if it’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that here in America, we rise and fall together,” the president said. “Our economy as a whole can’t move ahead if small businesses and the middle class continue to fall behind.” Banks should return the favor they received in their recent taxpayer-financed bailout by lending more money to small businesses, President Barack Obama said Saturday. In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said too many small business owners

remain unable to get credit despite administration steps to jump-start lending, which was virtually frozen when the financial crisis took hold last year. “These are the very taxpayers who stood by America’s banks in a crisis, and now it’s time for our banks to stand by creditworthy small businesses and make the loans they need to open their doors, grow their operations and create new jobs,” Obama said. “It’s time for those banks to fulfill their responsibility to help ensure a wider recovery, a more secure system and more broadly shared prosperity,” said Obama. The president said the administration will

US bank failures surpass 100 mark so far this year as bad loans mount FDIC finding it tough to get buyers for wobbly banks WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AP): The cascade of US bank failures this year surpassed 100 on Friday, the most in nearly two decades. And the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper than the number suggests.

Failures Yet the pace of actual bank failures appears to be slowing. The FDIC seized 24 banks in July, 11 in September and 11 in October. If any bank poses an immediate danger to customers or the broader financial system, regulators close it immediately, bank supervisors said. The issue is murkier for troubled banks that might qualify to close but whose closings might still be postponed or even prevented. The FDIC’s first priority, spokesman Andrew Gray said, is to maintain public confidence in the banking system. “As evidenced by the stability of insured deposits throughout last year, this mission has been a success,” he said. He said public confidence isn’t reason enough to delay a bank closing, because legally the decision to close rests with whoever chartered the bank — a state or federal agency. But more than a dozen experts, including current and former regulators, bankers and lawyers, say the FDIC’s mission to maintain public confidence in the banking system contributes to the go-slow approach. “The FDIC was set up to create confidence and prevent bank runs,” says Mark Williams, a former bank examiner for the Federal Reserve. Being too aggressive about bank closings “can be counter to the mission.” Sarah Bloom Raskin, Maryland’s top banking regulator, said: “Technically it’s the states who decide, but in reality it’s the

Fed plan not enough: experts

Policing bank pay a ‘short-term fix’

Problem

Kenneth Feinberg, special master of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and Executive Compensation at the Treasury Department speaks at the George Washington University Law School on Oct 23, in Washington, DC. The law school held a symposium on regulatory reform and what is the right response to the financial crisis. (AFP)

Tips sent as far back as 1998

Galleon informant from 90’s SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 24, (RTRS): An informant in the Galleon Group insider trading scandal had a history of sending tips to the firm, according to a court document that surfaced on Friday. The hedge fund run by billionaire Raj Rajaratnam received highly confidential nonpublic information about Intel Corp from the informant, Roomy Khan, as early as 1998, according to a criminal complaint filed under seal in 2001. Last week, federal investigators brought criminal charges against Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam and five others in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history. Galleon, which managed $3.7 billion at the end of last week and boasted strong returns through September, has told investors it will wind down its funds. Information continued to surface on Friday, linking previously unnamed informants and corporate executives to the trading scandal, which has also entangled big names like consulting firm McKinsey & Co, IBM, and rating agency Moody’s. According to regulators’ complaints, an employee at investor relations firm Market

FDIC calling you to say” when the bank will be closed. Last fall, the financial turmoil was rooted in bad bets that the nation’s biggest banks, like Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp, had made on complicated, high-risk mortgage investments. Smaller banks have been undone by something more conventional — real estate, construction and industrial loans that have soured as the recession has deepened. Defaults are up as developers abandon failing projects and landlords can’t meet their loan payments. Small- and mid-sized banks hold lots of those loans and have been hurt more than big ones by the sinking commercial real estate market, especially in states like California, Georgia and Illinois. As

Street Partners tipped off a Galleon informant in July 2007 that Google Inc’s earnings would be below market expectations. Galleon traded on that information, netting a profit of $9 million, the biggest illegal trades identified in the complaints. Shammara Hussain is the Market Street Partners employee who regulators believe leaked information to the Galleon informant and sought money to continue supplying tips, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Regulators did not release the employee’s name in their complaints. Julia Jayne, Hussain’s lawyer, said her client did not expect or receive compensation. “The rumor or some sort of suggestion is that she asked for compensation and that is not true,” Jayne said of the allegation that her client had sought money in exchange for tips. Google has not commented. Last week, the FBI said an executive with Polycom Inc had passed on information regarding the company’s quarterly results as part of the insider trading ring. On Friday, Polycom, a videoconference equipment maker, said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission

defaults rise, these banks must set aside more money to cover losses. For the banks, this means mounting losses and shrinking reserves. In a healthy economy, Williams said, the Fed and the FDIC would be inclined to close such weak banks. But these days, those agencies and other regulators prefer to hold off, hoping an economic recovery will eventually restore the health of some of the banks. But the recovery is expected to be slow. Americans remain hesitant to spend money because of job losses, flat wages, tight credit and high debt. Their cutbacks have triggered tens of thousands of business failures. Abandoned retail space in downtowns and suburban malls means no rental

that it had put executive Sunil K. Bhalla on administrative leave, effective immediately. The company did not give a reason for the action, and spokeswoman Caroline Japic declined to comment beyond the filing. Efforts to reach Bhalla were not immediately successful. Roomy Khan, the Galleon informant who worked at Intel in 1998, has been identified in several media reports as one of the key witnesses assisting federal investigators in the case that led to the recent arrests. According to reports, Khan is the informant known as “Tipper A” in the SEC’s complaint, a hedge fund manager who worked for Galleon in the 1990s and had acted as an informant and tried to rejoin Rajaratnam in 2005 amid personal financial difficulties. The criminal complaint filed in the US District Court in San Jose in 2001 accused Khan of sending billing reports, product pricing, and sales data about Intel microprocessors for the first and second fiscal quarters of 1998 to a fax machine in Galleon’s New York offices.

income for property owners. As landlords default on real estate loans, they weaken the banks that hold the loans. The situation now is especially grave in Southern California, Georgia and Illinois, which have some of the highest home foreclosure rates. Twenty banks have closed in Georgia alone. Individual bank depositors aren’t at risk when a bank fails. Their money is guaranteed up to $250,000 by the government. Ever conscious of maintaining public confidence, agency officials hammer this point in public statements. When weak banks are allowed to stay open, their growing losses potentially can drain the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund faster, says Bert Ely, an independent banking consultant.

American consumers bailed them out as a consequence of the bad decisions that they made.” The financial bailout package cost $700 billion. In his address Saturday, Obama said small businesses have created nearly two-thirds of the nation’s new jobs over the past decade and a half. “They must be at the forefront of our recovery,” he said. This year’s $787 economic stimulus package made $5 billion in tax breaks available to small business and cut the costs of Small Business Administration loans, Obama said.

Analysis

NEW YORK, Oct 24, (AP): It’s the boldest idea yet to rein in Wall Street recklessness: Put the Federal Reserve in charge of policing not just the nation’s banks, but also how much their employees are paid. Some experts say the plan might help correct a pay system that has long rewarded those who make the sort of high-risk bets that triggered the financial crisis. Others see it as merely a short-term fix that will have little effect on making banks act more prudently. The biggest concern is that as long as the government stands ready to rescue troubled banking giants, there’s little to discourage traders from making potentially calamitous gambles on stocks, bonds and exotic financial products.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other banks remain open even though they are as weak as many that have been shuttered. Regulators are seizing banks slowly and selectively — partly to avoid inciting panic and partly because buyers for bad banks are hard to find. Going slow buys time. An economic recovery could save some banks that would otherwise go under. But if the recovery is slow and smaller banks’ finances get even worse, it could wind up costing even more. The bank failures, 106 in all, are the most in any year since 181 collapsed in 1992, at the end of the savings-and-loan crisis. On Friday, regulators took over three small Florida banks — Partners Bank and Hillcrest Bank Florida, both of Naples, and Flagship National Bank in Bradenton — along with American United Bank of Lawrenceville, Georgia, Bank of Elmwood in Racine, Wisconsin, Riverview Community Bank in Otsego, Minnesota, and First Dupage Bank in Westmont, Illinois. When a bank fails, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp swoops in, usually on a Friday afternoon. It tries to sell off the bank’s assets to buyers and cover its liabilities, primarily customer deposits. It taps the insurance fund to cover the rest. Bank failures have cost the FDIC’s fund that insures deposits an estimated $25 billion this year and are expected to cost $100 billion through 2013. To replenish the fund, the agency wants banks to pay in advance $45 billion in premiums that would have been due over the next three years. The FDIC won’t say how deep a hole its deposit insurance fund is in. It can tap a credit line from the Treasury of up to a half-trillion dollars to cover the gap. The list of banks in trouble is getting longer. At the end of June, the FDIC had flagged 416 as being at risk of failure, up from 305 at the end of March and 252 at the beginning of the year.

“take every appropriate step to encourage them to meet those responsibilities.” He did not specify what those steps might be. The president’s words were the latest instance of the populist tone he has employed to pressure the financial industry. Earlier this week, Obama criticized the banking and finance industries for working through Congress to try to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Agency he has proposed. He accused them of “using every bit of influence they have to maintain the status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers, despite the fact that recently those same

“Outsized pay that is a result of taking lots of risk is a problem,” said Bill Fleckstein, a Seattle-based hedge fund manager. “But the real problem is the fact that these institutions have a setup where it’s heads they win, tails the taxpayer loses.” Signs suggest that system still exists today. Only a year after the financial crisis peaked, the biggest banks are already making billions again placing risky bets with help from cheap government loans and other federal subsidies. If those bets were to go bad, the loss to taxpayers could be immense. That’s led some critics to call on the government to ban big commercial banks from trading risky securities — or shrink them so their collapse wouldn’t jeopardize the economy. The Obama administration and the Federal Reserve have resisted such calls, opting instead to seek the authority to take over and wind down large banks that get into serious trouble. On Thursday, the Fed took a different tack, detailing plans to address the outsized compensation and risk-taking blamed for fueling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Under the plan, the central bank wouldn’t set compensation, but it would review pay polices — and veto those found to encourage excessive risk-taking by executives, traders or loan officers. Even banks that didn’t benefit from the taxpayer-financed bailout would be subject to the Fed’s compensation oversight.

Plan The Fed plan would require the 28 biggest banks — including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co — to submit compensation plans for review. Thousands of smaller banks would also face supervision. It’s the latest in a string of proposals by the administration, Congress and banking regulators to crack down on the problem. Simon Johnson, a former chief economist with the International Monetary Fund, said the plan might reduce excessive risk-taking at banks under the Fed’s watch — but not at firms beyond the Fed’s authority, including hedge funds and

other securities firms that trade billions of dollars in complex securities and whose collapse could hurt the economy. “This is a good start, but it’s not enough,” said Johnson, now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. The Fed’s plan was unveiled the same day that the Treasury’s “pay czar,” Kenneth Feinberg, announced plans to slash pay at seven big firms that haven’t repaid their government bailout money. Those companies must to cut their top executives’ average total compensation — salary and bonuses — in half, starting in November. Under the plan, cash salaries for the top 25 highest-paid executives will be limited in most cases to $500,000 and, in most cases, perks will be capped at $25,000. Speaking Friday, Feinberg said he will now turn to designing compensation structures for 75 additional high-paid employees at the companies that received extraordinary bailouts: Bank of America, American International Group Inc, Citigroup, General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial. For the executives ranking 26 through 100 in pay, Feinberg will set up a general plan to govern their pay, rather than specific terms. Feinberg also has the authority to claw back compensation at any firm that received money from the $700 billion bailout program and still hasn’t paid it back. But he said he’s reluctant to do that.

Involvement The government’s involvement in determining Wall Street pay has raised concerns that top performers could flee to companies or industries with less restrictive pay rules. At some of the seven firms under Feinberg’s authority, more than half of the 25 top earners had already left. They include 14 at Bank of America and 13 at American International Group. But Feinberg said he will set pay for their replacements at the beginning of next year. Other analysts said the Fed, meanwhile, would find it hard to define exactly what constitutes excessive risk-taking. Banks and regulators themselves missed the warning signs before the housing bubble popped last year. “What is excessive risk and who knows?” said David Yermack, finance professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University. From a logistical standpoint, he called the Fed’s proposal to gauge the level of risk-taking at thousands of banks “ridiculous.” “You would need thousands of experts, and to think you can identify which traders are taking on too much risk may be impossible,” he said. Even the Treasury’s pay czar acknowledged the difficulty of determining when a risk is excessive. “I’m not sure what is risk,” he said. “I’m certainly not sure what is excessive risk.”

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Fisker to build plug-in cars in Delaware Fisker Automotive, a California-based startup manufacturer of luxury electric vehicles, plans to build plug-in electric cars at a former General Motors assembly plant in Delaware, people with knowledge of the situation said Friday. Henrik Fisker, the company’s cofounder and chief executive, said Tuesday that an announcement about the location of a manufacturing facility was in the works. He declined to elab-

orate on the site but appeared to rule out a California facility where Toyota plans to halt production in March 2010. On Friday, a person who has knowledge of the situation but didn’t want to be identified because an announcement has not been made, confirmed that Fisker has settled on GM’s Boxwood Road facility in Wilmington. “There will be a formal announcement early next week,” the person said. A state government official, who also

Icahn opposes CIT Group restructuring plan

didn’t want to be identified because there’s been no announcement, described the deal as “99 percent” complete. “So it looks like it’s going to be a go,” said the official, who has been briefed on discussions involving the GM plant. Until it closed this summer, the plant produced the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice roadsters, as well as an Opel version that was exported to Europe. (AP)

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is urging fellow holders of CIT Group Inc bonds to oppose the embattled lender’s debt restructuring plan. Icahn said in a letter Friday that bondholders “must not endanger the value of our investment” by voting in favor of the company’s plan. Last week, the lender to small and mid-sized businesses sweetened an offer for bondholders to swap out CIT’s current debt for debt that matures later, and some stock. The proposed restruc-

turing is aimed at reducing CIT’s nearterm debt burden by $5.7 billion. Icahn’s letter said if CIT’s balance sheet consisting of loans and other assets is “run off in a controlled way,” the value of investors’ bonds will be worth at least 80 cents to 85 cents on the dollar, which he argued would be a much better alternative than the restructuring plan. Under the company’s plan, Icahn wrote, “the assets will not be wound down; rather, they will be reinvested in

an operating business controlled by the company’s current board of directors.” Icahn said the board and senior management have made “Titanic-sized errors” that led to the company’s current troubles. Their plan, he said, would “put our assets at peril,” Icahn said. CIT, which is based in New York, is also asking bondholders to approve a prepackaged reorganization plan should it need to file for bankruptcy protection. (AP)

Lack of confidence in economic leadership ‘catastrophic’

UK opposition calls for business credit scheme LONDON, Oct 24, (RTRS): Britain’s Conservative finance spokesman George Osborne on Saturday called for a loan guarantee scheme to boost business, saying a lack of credit remained one of the root causes of the country’s economic woes. Osborne told BBC radio there was a “catastrophic” lack of confidence in Britain’s economic leadership, and doubts over its ability to live within its means as debt levels reach record levels. His comments come a day after figures showed Britain’s economy contracted in the third quarter of this year, quashing hopes the downturn was ending and instead marking the longest recession on record. The Conservatives are well ahead in opinion polls and on course to win a national election that has to be held before next June. “You need to address the root problems

the

which are credit by creating loan guarantee schemes that work,” he told BBC. “Businesses cannot get access to basic banking services, so the credit crunch continues.” The government has pumped billions of pounds into the economy in an attempt to stimulate business activity including bailing out the banks, introducing quantitative easing, slashing interest rates and cutting VAT. Finance minister Alistair Darling said he still expects growth to return by the turn of the year, but the economy remains stubbornly in recession, shrinking 0.4 percent between July and September. It has now contracted for six successive quarters for the first time since records began in 1955, while other major economies, including France, Germany and Japan, have seen growth.

bottomline

LONDON: Private equity firm Blackstone is preparing to float theme park operator Merlin Entertainments next year, hoping to take advantage of buoyant equity markets, a source familiar with the situation said. The US buyout house has called in Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Nomura to advise on the initial public offering, which could value the business at around 2 billion pounds ($3.33 billion) and come early in 2010, the source said. Merlin is the world’s second largest theme park operator after Disney, owning the London Eye, Madame Tussauds and the Sea Life centres. Dubai International Capital (DIC) also owns 20 percent of the business. Blackstone and DIC declined to comment. As equity markets have stabilised, private equity firms have started to line up betterperforming businesses for possible flotation in order to realise some cash from their investments. Blackstone Chief Executive Steve Schwarzman said earlier this month the firm was evaluating the possibility of seven IPOs in addition to one — Team Health — already filed. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

TAIPEI, Taiwan: Taiwan and China will establish semiofficial tourism offices in each other’s territories early next year, an official said Saturday, in a landmark move underscoring their dramatically improved relations. Yang Rwei-chong, a government official, will become the first senior Taiwanese official to be based in Beijing, a milestone in bilateral ties after decades of hostility. Yang confirmed to reporters he was appointed to head the Taiwan tourism office that will begin operations by February 2010. He pledged to do his best to attract more Chinese tourists to the island. The two sides agreed to exchange offices in July to promote tourism and handle tourist disputes and accidents but did not immediately set a timeframe. Since taking office 17 months ago, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has actively promoted ties with Beijing. This would be the first time Taiwan and China have set up offices of any kind in each other’s territories since they split amid civil war in 1949. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ TOKYO: Japan’s major nuclear reactor manufacturers have begun developing small nuclear power systems for both developed and emerging countries, a report said on Saturday. Toshiba Corp. is developing an ultracompact reactor with an output of about 10,000 kilowatts and has started procedures for approval in the United States, the Nikkei business daily said. The new reactor, the Toshiba 4S, is designed to minimise the need for monitoring and maintenance, with an automatic shutdown function to ensure safety in case of problems, the newspaper said. Toshiba plans to market the reactor first in the United States, while foreseeing demand from emerging countries in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe as well as in Africa, it said. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. has separately completed the concept design for a pressurised-water reactor with a power output of around 350,000 kilowatts, the Nikkei said. Hitachi Ltd. also aims to develop a boiling-water reactor with a capacity of 400,000600,000 kilowatts for use in Southeast Asia and other countries, it said. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

NEW DELHI: India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported Saturday that its quarterly net profit had soared 93 percent year-on-year, amid signs pointing to a reviving domestic economy. Maruti, majority owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp, reported net profit of 5.7 billion rupees (123 million dollars) in the second financial quarter to September 30, broadly in line with market expectations. Net sales jumped 47 percent to 70.5 billion rupees. The car manufacturer attributed the profit increase partly to government stimulus measures aimed at boosting a slowing economy that have put more money into the hands of India’s increasingly affluent middle class. “Demand has been driven by government stimulus,” Maruti Suzuki India Ltd said in a statement issued in New Delhi. It also attributed the rise in sales to aggressive monetary easing by India’s central bank to help shield the economy from the impact of the global financial crisis that

has made consumer loan costs cheaper. Nearly four-fifths of cars in India are purchased using loans. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

SAO PAULO: Maria Aparecida Silva didn’t finish high school until just two years ago, but she has already told her two teenage children that they’re college-bound. Silva, 38, works 14-hour days as a cleaner and restaurant cook in Brazil’s southern city of Florianopolis so she can afford private school and college educations for the kids, a car and motorcycle for herself, a house for the family. Middle class lives, in other words. “I want them to have another kind of life,” she said in a telephone interview. “I never had anyone to do this for me.” Despite the persistence of deep inequalities, a growing Brazilian middle class is now transforming Brazil, altering the economy and even national values. For a country long divided between a small, wealthy elite and a vast army of havenots, the emergence of a strong middle class is also moving Brazil closer to achieving its long-sought goal of joining the ranks of developed nations. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Taxpayers right to resent bank bonuses’ LONDON, Oct 24, (RTRS): Billionaire investor George Soros said US taxpayers were entitled to resent bankers’ bonuses because their profits were funded by government bailouts, according to an interview published in the Financial Times. “Those earnings are not the achievement of risk-takers. These are gifts, hidden gifts, from the government, so I don’t

think that those monies should be used to pay bonuses,” the paper quoted him as saying in its Saturday edition. “There’s a resentment which I think is justified.” The US government committed hundreds of billions of dollars to bailing out financial firms, some of which have since reported surging profits. Soros said there was a need to regu-

late payments to employees, even if that meant banks found it difficult to retain talented risk-takers. “That would push the risk-takers who are good at taking risks out of Goldman Sachs into hedge funds, where they actually belong, because hedge funds take risks with their own capital, not with deposits and not with government guarantees”.

Asked why it was that Britain was still in recession while other countries were coming out, Osborne said: “It is because people do not at the moment have confidence in the eco-

nomic leadership and the future of the British economy under the present government. “They don’t think that Britain can get on top of their debts. There is also a catastrophic loss

of confidence in economic leadership in this country.” Osborne said far from pump-priming the economy, the government had undertaken lit-

Obama’s consumer agency deal may likely die along the way Debate hints on looming pitfalls WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AP): Take a hard look now. A new agency that consumers were promised would make bankers, credit card companies and mortgage lenders treat them fairly will never look as strong again. Legislation to establish President Barack Obama’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency cleared a key hurdle this week. But it’s already been watered down from what Obama proposed and will likely become even weaker when it comes up against higher hurdles on the House floor and in the Senate. It may even die along the

Russia Millionaire Fair

MONTEVIDEO: Foreign investors who have plowed millions of dollars into soy farming and cattle ranching in Uruguay say even the election of a fiery leftist as president is unlikely to ruffle a friendly investment climate. Voters in the small, South American nation will pick a new leader on Sunday, but both front-runners are expected to maintain the market-friendly policies that have drawn record investment in the key agricultural sector in recent years. “As a small country surrounded by two big countries like Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay has a very strong belief that the only way to survive is by looking overseas and getting foreign investment,” said Carlos Miguel de Leon of New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay. Uruguay’s mild climate and cheap land caught the eye of parent company PGG Wrightson, but De Leon said the country’s reputation as one of the region’s most stable economies was one of its biggest draws. “Regardless of what happens (in the election), this isn’t a party political issue,” he told Reuters. Sunday’s vote pits leftist Sen. Jose Mujica, a former guerrilla fighter, against center-right ex-President Luis Lacalle. Mujica is ahead and one poll showed him winning a likely second round run-off with Lacalle. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ BERLIN: Germany’s new government plans to cut taxes from Jan 1, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday after wrapping up talks on a joint programme with her new coalition partners. “The burden on familes has to be lessened, the burden on companies and inheritance tax has to be reformed,” said Merkel, who won a second term in elections last month at the head of a new coalition. “We have agreed a coalition programme showing that we want to advance courageously into the future,” Merkel said. “We are aiming for growth, for the creation of an education republic and social cohesion.” In the election Merkel ditched her previous coalition partners for the last four years, the centre-left Social Democrats, in favour of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). Three weeks of hard bargaining between the parties wrapped up in the early hours of Saturday morning. Officials said earlier that the new coalition planned 24 billion euros ($36 billion) worth of tax cuts. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ GENEVA: The World Trade Organization has opened an investigation into whether European Union charges on imports of Chinese steel fasteners comply with international commerce rules. Beijing argues that the EU is illegally taxing steel fasteners needed for products from furniture to cars, but the 27-nation bloc says Chinese manufacturers are breaking trade rules by selling a flood of screws at 30 percent to 50 percent below European prices. Brussels passed on a chance to delay the probe, saying it is “strongly convinced of the strength of its case.” In other proceeding at Friday’s WTO dispute meeting, the EU blocked until at least next month a US complaint about European barriers to American poultry. The United States, meanwhile, delayed the establishment of a panel to look into a complaint by Canada and Mexico about country-of-origin requirements for cattle and hog imports. (AP)

tle discretionary fiscal stimulus beyond the VAT cut. He criticised one of the government’s schemes, the trade credit insurance scheme, saying it had only helped 58 businesses so far. Osborne said a credible plan was needed to reduce the budget deficit, set to hit 175 billion pounds, or more than 12 percent of gross domestic product this year, to maintain confidence at home and abroad. “Because there is no credible fiscal plan to deal with the borrowing problems coming from the government there is a lack of confidence in the UK’s ability to live within its means,” he said. Osborne set out his party’s fiscal plans at this month’s Conservative conference, including speeding up planned rises in the state retirement age and shaking up the welfare system.

way. Banks flatly oppose a new consumer agency, arguing their current regulators can handle the task. The US Chamber of Commerce has weighed in with a $2 million ad campaign against the plan. And some industry claims, particularly those from bankers back home, have proved persuasive with many lawmakers. Ahead lie enormous obstacles: potentially debilitating amendments on the House floor and, ultimately, a tougher Senate landscape, where Republican support is essential to passage of any new financial regulation scheme. “If they are insisting on a separate agency, a stand alone agency, it’s going to be difficult to do a bipartisan bill,” Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, top Republican on the Senate banking committee, said in an interview. “I wouldn’t be interested in a stand alone consumer agency.” The committee’s Democratic chairman, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, has championed the agency and voiced frustration over the industry criticism. There are “all sorts of ways” to address consumer protection, Dodd said in a brief interview, and emphasized the need to re-regulate large financial institutions so they can’t again trigger catastrophic failures that ripple throughout the economy. “Of all the things we’re doing, this fixation and this preoccupation with that one issue is a little misplaced,” he said of attacks on the consumer agency. Hints of looming pitfalls for a new consumer agency were evident in the debate this week before the House Financial Services Committee. Even there, where the president’s party holds a 42-29 edge, Obama didn’t get all he wanted. Up until the end, White House aides buttonholed individual members, fighting unsuccessfully against yet another exemption to the powers of the proposed consumer protection agency.

Aspects

A woman plays harp at the pavilion showing a luxury interior at the Moscow Millionaire Fair 2009 late on Oct 23. (AFP)

Russian luxury industry shaken

Party over mood at Moscow fair MOSCOW, Oct 24, (AFP): Despite its show-boat extravagance, Moscow’s top annual luxury fair was morose on opening night as champagne-sipping party goers complained of a hangover from the global financial crisis. In the surest sign the good-time highs were over, few even bothered to attended this year’s Millionaire Fair, Russia’s main exposition of luxury goods and services, which kicked off Friday. “The entire luxury industry is shaken by the crisis. There are 30 percent less participants this year,” Oleg Makarevich, the head of yatch-distributor Mas, said leaning on a 225,000-euro ($337,545) model beached on the red-carpet at his stand. “In the space of one year, my overall turnover dropped 40 percent,” lamented Mark Tuck, the head of Paradise Properties, which markets villas in Bali. He added that half of the group’s clientele are Russian. “Everyone has been affected by the crisis, including the rich,” admitted Tuck, who nonetheless voiced faith that business was picking up again. The mood was no brighter next door at the stand of Anson Estates, a Spanish real

estate firm offering luxury homes in Marbella and the Dominican Republic, each worth between 3.5 and 8.4 million euros. “The crisis is hard, sales are down,” one sales representative Francisco Galvan said. “We sold only two villas this year compared to six in 2008.” In a bid to mask the poor turn-out, organizers hosted the fair a short walk from the Kremlin in the 18th-century Manege centre — a tiny space compared to the immense Crocus-expo centre outside Moscow, where the event unfolded previous years. At the fair’s entrance Friday, an oversized limousine, 13.5 metres long by 1.8 metres tall, attracted visitors to its opulent leather interiors and VIP bar with deafening club music.

Extravagant Bear-skinned covered arm chairs were also among the gilt furnishing, extravagant accessories and novelty gadgets on display. In one corner of the hall, the world’s most expensive thoroughbred horses showed off under bright arena spotlights. But market-leading, high-end brands Bentley and Rolls Royce were absent from

the fair, as were Italian-made Agusta helicopters, a favorite prize of Russian oligarchs. Russia was to be a bright spot amid a recession on the global market for high-end goods in 2009, according to many analysts, driving the luxury industry to push its wares in Moscow and compensate for slacking sales elsewhere. Some vendors seemed to have developed a sudden allergy to the word “crisis” and insisted on an upbeat take that sounded a bit forced. “Up until now things have been fine, let’s see things in a positive light,” said Nasser Al-Hai, the head of the Dubai-based firm Ultimate Motors. “I don’t speak about the crisis, I think positive!” a smiling salesgirl said at a stand featuring Swiss-made Zai skis of granite and wood that sell for up to 8.500 euros a pair. As the fair wound down in the early morning Saturday, a protest by activists from the opposition movement The Other Russia broke up the flashy scene. One activist climbed on stage shouting to the assembled crowd to “Go to Hell!”, news agency Interfax reported.

The panel’s chairman, Massachusetts Rep Barney Frank, acknowledged later that of all the aspects of financial regulation that he is contending with, the consumer agency was politically the most difficult. Indeed, consumer advocates applauded him for preserving as many consumer protections as he did. Still, Travis Plunkett of the Consumer Federation of America called the bill “battered and bruised.” Obama had called for a robust agency to police the fine print of credit cards, mortgages and other services ranging from payday loans to auto financing. The president wanted to make banks offer standardized “plain vanilla” mortgages, simple no frills home loans that customers could compare to more elaborate mortgages. He wanted to make lenders communicate with their customers more clearly. And he wanted to invest the new agency with the power to examine bank books, along with the other regulators already checking banks for their safety and soundness. As the legislation stands now, all those measures are gone or compromised. The idea of standardized mortgages, which administration officials had held up as a key protection for consumers, proved hard to sell even to Democrats. In the end, it wasn’t a matter of bowing to the big banking lobbies but rather lawmakers listening to business leaders back home — the bankers, auto dealers and Rotarians who make up the fabric of local politics Moderate committee Democrats succeeded in exempting thousands of banks from examination by the consumer agency, though they’d still have to abide by its rules. They argued that small community banks would be overburdened with regulators and hadn’t been the cause of the financial crisis anyway. But the standard measure of a community bank is one that holds assets of $1 billion or less. There are about 7,500 such banks across the country. The committee, however, decided to make any bank with assets under $10 billion off limits to the new consumer agency’s examiners. There were also exemptions for retailers, title insurance providers, and, finally, auto dealers, although the scope of the latter is somewhat uncertain. It was the auto dealers exception that the White House fought to no avail Thursday. While the agency would still regulate firms that provide auto financing themselves, consumer advocates say dealers are the ones who make the financing pitch no matter who actually makes the loan and should be equally covered.

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A set of ruby and diamond necklace and diamond earrings from the 19th century that will be part of an upcoming auction, in central London on Oct 23. The necklace made of 24 cushion-shaped rubies balanced with 24 similarly shaped diamonds, along with the matching earrings, property of Mary Duchess of Roxburghe, is estimated to fetch some $530,000$975,000 (some £318,000£586,000, some 212,000650,000 euros) at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sales in Geneva and New York. (AP)

Icahn resigns from Yahoo’s board Activist investor Carl Icahn has decided his work is done at Yahoo Inc. after muscling his way on to the slumping Internet company’s board nearly 15 months ago. In a resignation letter Friday, Icahn said he felt like it was time to leave Yahoo so he could spend more time on his investments in other companies. “I don’t believe that it is necessary at this time to have an activist on the board of Yahoo and currently my attention is focused on other matters,” Icahn wrote. Icahn, an outspoken billionaire, spent several

Icahn also applauded Yahoo’s decision three months ago to hire Microsoft to provide its search results in the United States for the next decade. It’s a partnership that Icahn tried to bring together while he was still seeking to get Yang fired. The proposed alliance between Yahoo and Microsoft still requires regulatory approval. Yahoo, which is based in Sunnyvale, also had kind words for Icahn, saying it is “grateful for his active role in shaping the future” of the company. A Yahoo spokeswoman said there are no immediate plans to fill Icahn’s seat on the board. (AP)

Market expected to take a breather even as investors await more data

Commodities Weekly Metals rally

Crude oil prices hit one-year high LONDON, Oct 24, (AFP): Crude oil prices hit a one-year high of 82 dollars and metals rallied this week as the US currency struck a 14-month low against the euro as investors took on greater risk amid signs of recovery, traders said. Among the soft commodities, cocoa prices struck 24-year highs on prospects of a poor crop in leading producer Ivory Coast. Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates said a weak dollar “precipitated some buying in the commodities market, not only in oil.” The European single currency jumped above $1.50 on Wednesday for the first time since August, 2008, as investors looked beyond the safehaven US unit whose super-low interest rates are no longer attractive as recovery takes hold. The dollar is weakening as buoyant global equities persuade investors to pull their cash out of the US unit and into assets that are deemed a riskier bet — such as the euro — but which also offer higher returns. This week, a raft of positive US company results helped propel global stock markets even higher, sparking hopes of a speedy global economic recovery. Those hopes were dashed slightly on Friday as official data showed Britain had failed to exit recession in the third quarter, confounding expectations. Oil: Oil prices rallied this week, with New York crude hitting a one-year high of $82, driven by a weak dollar and optimism over the global economic recovery, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December touched $82 a barrel on Wednesday — a level last seen on Oct 14, 2008. The falling dollar makes dollar-priced oil cheaper for buyers holding stronger currencies, and therefore tends to stimulate crude demand and eventually prices. Opec Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri said in London on Thursday that the cartel would consider ramping up crude oil production at its next meeting in December should economic growth improve and other conditions be met. The cartel “will not hesitate to increase its production in December,” he told reporters, adding the decision was dependent also on higher oil prices and no floating storage of crude. The 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), whose members pump 40 percent of the world’s crude oil, will hold their next meeting in Luanda, Angola, on Dec 22. Oil prices tumbled from historic highs of more than $147 in July 2008 to about $32 in December because of the global recession but have since risen on hopes of recovery. By Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), light sweet crude for delivery in November rose to $80.48 compared with $77.32 for the expired November contract a week earlier. On London’s InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude

months last year denigrating Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and the rest of the company’s board after Yahoo turned down an opportunity to sell to Microsoft Corp for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share. That snub still looks like an expensive mistake, with Yahoo shares closing Friday at $17.22. Icahn struck a truce with Yahoo to get on the board in August 2008 and he is apparently leaving on an amicable note. In his letter, Icahn praised Yahoo’s current chief executive, Carol Bartz, saying she is “doing a great job.” Bartz replaced Yang as CEO nine months ago.

Weekend profit taking dampens equities NEW YORK, Oct 24, (Agencies): Stock bulls may hit the pause button again next week if a wave of earnings due from marquee names such as Exxon Mobil and a slew of economic data offer no fresh incentives to extend Wall Street’s seven-month rally.

for December delivery climbed to $78.91 from $75.93 a week earlier. Precious Metals: The price of gold rose but failed to beat its recent record high of $1,070.80 an ounce. Gold hit an all-time high the previous week as the dollar weakened before falling on profit-taking. Platinum and palladium reached their highest levels in more than a year. By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold climbed to $1,061.75 an ounce from 1,047.50 dollars a week earlier. Silver gained to $17.65 an ounce from $17.31. On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum advanced to $1,372 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday from $1,346. Palladium firmed to $338s an ounce from $326. Base Metals: Base metals prices rose, with copper hitting a 13-month high of $6,714 as traders tracked the performance of the weakening dollar. By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months jumped to $6,702 a tonne from 6,200 dollars a week earlier. Three-month aluminium gained to $1,990 a tonne from $1,915. Three-month lead increased to $2,438 a tonne from $2,197. Three-month tin climbed to $15,300 a tonne from $14,400. Three-month zinc advanced to $2,283 a tonne from $2,040. Three-month nickel rallied to $19,530 a tonne from $18,626. Cocoa: Cocoa prices struck a 24-year high of £2,193 a tonne. On the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), the December cocoa contract climbed to $3,395 a tonne from $3,278. Sugar: Sugar fell after recently striking 28-year highs due to tight supplies. On NYBOT, the price of unrefined sugar for March retreated to 23.02 US cents a pound from 23.11 cents. Grains and Soya: Prices extended gains made the previous week, helped in part by freezing weather in key producer the United States that threatens to cut supplies. January-dated soyabean meal — used in animal feed — increased to $10.25 from $9.82. Wheat for December rose to $5.72 a bushel from $4.98. Coffee: Coffee futures dropped. On the NYBOT, Arabica for December fell to 137 US cents a pound from 138.60 cents. Rubber: Malaysian rubber prices rose on speculative buying interest amid a weak stock situation caused by unfavourable weather conditions in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s top three producing countries. By Friday, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s benchmark SMR20 climbed to 232.90 cents a kilogramme from 228.95 cents the previous week.

Q3 earnings rally fades

Wall Street eyes new catalyst more quarterly results and economic data including gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter, expected to show the economy expanded after four consecutive declines. Douglas McIntyre at 24/7 Wall Street says he believes the rally has strong momentum and can carry further despite some skepticism. “Each week most market experts say that the Dow cannot go any higher,” he said. “Earnings are not good enough. The economy is not strong enough. Unemployment is too high and so is the federal deficit. None of that has kept the market from its persistent climb.” He said there is room to rise further in view of the fact that the Dow index is still well below its all-time high over 14,000 in October 2007. “The Dow is not going back to 14,000 next year, but there are several arguments that it could rise much more between now and the middle of 2010,” he said.

Comments

NEW YORK, Oct 24, (AFP): The earnings-driven rally of the past few weeks appears to have run out of steam on Wall Street, leaving the market in search of a new catalyst heading into the final stretch of 2009. The main stock indexes remain near 12-month highs, but gains have been harder to achieve following the sizzling move since March of some 60 percent for the broad market. Wall Street has been pleasantly surprised by the strength of third-quarter corporate earnings. Analysts, though, say their ability to spark fresh gains appears to be diminished. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.24 percent for the week to end at 9,972.18, as it hovered around the 10,000 level topped a week earlier. The Standard & Poor’s 500 broad-market index shed 0.74 percent to 1,079.60 and the technology-rich Nasdaq composite drifted down 0.11 percent on the week to 2,154.47. Over the past week, the market warmed to earnings from Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo! in the tech sector, as well as Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo in banking, but they only gave a temporary boost to stocks. “The earnings have been tremendous, not just beating estimates but blowing away estimates. That’s been the catalyst for holding the market together,” said Marc Pado at Cantor Fitzgerald. But he said that because many had already anticipated a strong season, “we see selling on the news.” In the coming week, investors will see

“The comments that we’ve heard so far are pretty guarded. There are very few companies that came out and said things are great.” On the economic front, investors will wade through reports on October consumer confidence, August home prices, September new home sales and durable goods orders and the latest weekly jobless claims, as well as the government’s first estimate on third-quarter gross domestic product. In addition, investors will watch the four Treasury auctions that will dominate the market’s landscape next week. The US Treasury will sell $123 billion of notes next week - a record weekly issuance. Investors are fretting that massive waves of government debt, intended to rescue financial companies and prop up the economy, could eventually endanger the United States’ top level credit rating. Thursday’s GDP report is forecast, according to economists polled by Reuters, to show that gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced within the US borders, grew at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the third quarter, its first quarterly expansion in more than a year. Analysts said the market’s rally so far also was a reflection of the expectation that GDP might show an improvement. “That (the GDP number) is going to be fairly significant,” said Cleveland Rueckert, market analyst at Birinyi

Associates Inc in Stamford, Connecticut. “There are a lot of people who are still questioning whether this rally is for real and whether or not the stock market is forecasting economic gains.” The benchmark S&P 500 has rallied 60 percent since hitting a 12-year closing low on March 9, reflecting optimism about the financial sector’s stabilization and hopes that the recession that began in December 2007 might be over. Even so, other analysts said caution might be warranted after the three major US stock indexes halted a string of two weeks of gains on Friday. For the week, the Dow fell 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 shed 0.7 percent and the Nasdaq dipped 0.1 percent. “We’ve filled up to the brim with great earnings beating on revenues at an unprecedented rate. But the market is now saying, ‘What’s next?,’” said John Canally, investment strategist and economist for LPL Financial in Boston. “Most people view the gain in stocks we’ve seen since March as just a bounce and are asking, ‘Is it for real? Is the economy for real? Are the earnings for real?’” About 200 companies within the S&P 500 had reported their third-quarter results through Friday, with Thomson Reuters data showing 81 percent beat the Street’s profit

forecasts. The coming week, which will be a hectic one for economic indicators, will wrap up on Friday, the day before Halloween, with a triple dose of data: September personal income and spending, the Chicago purchasing managers’ index for October and a final reading on October consumer sentiment from the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.

Even though the profits that have come in so far have proven surprisingly strong, US stocks have made very little headway as investors search for more definitive signs that the economic recovery is gaining strength. At best, stocks could trade sideways to consolidate some of the gains seen since the 12-year lows of early March. But at the same time, analysts said the market could have a downward bias as investors fret about outlooks, the potential for a pullback and earnings quality. Energy, telecom and consumer goods companies will be in the spotlight as the reporting season kicks into overdrive, with Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp, Verizon Communications and Colgate-Palmolive among a raft of companies on next week’s scoreboard. Visa Inc, the world’s largest credit card network, also is due to report next week. “What I’ll be looking for is a good industry cross-section to see what revenues are looking like, what company comments are about the overall economy. I’ll be looking for confirmation of this more than anything else,” said Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates in Hinsdale, Illinois.

Disappoint Even if some earnings disappoint, McIntyre said, “they are not going to be shocking enough to knock the market off its present course.” Gregory Drahuschak at Janney Montgomery Scott said the market is now looking further ahead at the potential for a slowdown in activity as the impact of government stimulus fades. “As we approach 2010 the market increasingly will look not at potential fourth quarter GDP or earnings but rather

Dumped Investors dumped stocks and locked in profits Friday after the glow of a week full of strong earnings reports faded. The retreat came as cautious forecasts from railroads caused unease about the U.S. economy and a rising dollar pushed prices of commodities lower, which hurt materials and energy stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 109 points to end the week with a modest loss. Traders appeared eager to collect gains after earnings reports for the JulySeptember quarter came in far stronger than forecast, pushing major stock indexes up more than 6 percent in three weeks. “We’ve had such a great run that you’re going to get people taking money off the table, especially at the end of the week,” said Dr. Bob Froehlich, senior managing director, at Hartford Financial Services. Analysts have been calling for stocks to

what both will be like by the middle of next year,” he said. Al Goldman at Wells Fargo Advisors said the sharp swings of the market over the past months are a reflection of the shifts in investor sentiment. “What we have witnessed the past seven months is classic market action,” he said. “Most folks just can’t buy stocks when they are fearful but they do buy after a big rally when they are feeling good.” In view of the strong rally this year, he said a pause is needed. “For the short term, we believe the market has entered a correction that will take the popular averages down about five percent,” he said. “If things heat up further in Iran and oil leaps up in price, a 10-percent correction is likely. Last week we advised adding some caution to our optimism and assumed better buying opportunities lie ahead before a higher market by yearend. That remains our opinion.” Bonds failed to benefit from stock market weakness. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 3.475 percent from 3.417 percent a week earlier and that on the 30-year bond climbed to 4.289 percent from 4.247 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. In the coming week, the market reacts to data on consumer confidence, durable goods orders and new home sales as well as Thursday’s key report on GDP. Earnings news will be dominated by oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron, with reports also coming from International Paper and Colgate-Palmolive.

take more breaks after a seven-month rally that raised questions about whether the market was getting ahead of itself. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 59.6 percent since March, though it’s still down 31 percent from its peak two years ago. The day’s drop came despite some pieces of good news. The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales posted their biggest increase in 26 years in September, while shares of Amazon.com rode to a new high after the Internet retailer’s earnings and forecasts came in much stronger than expected. Amazon’s gains as well as a jump in Microsoft Corp after its own strong earnings helped limit the losses of the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index. However, the strong results from Amazon and Microsoft couldn’t erase concerns over a poor outlook and sharp profit drop from chipmaker Broadcom Corp or the pessimistic forecasts from railroad CEOs. Union Pacific’s CEO Jim Young said he expects the economy to “limp along” until unemployment starts to fall, while Burlington Northern also issued a tepid forecast. Railroads are seen as an early indicator of economic activity because of the key role they play in shipping goods to manufacturers and markets.

exchange rates – Oct 24 US dollar BEC Muzaini Dollarco Commercial Bank Gulf Bank NBK Burgan Bank ABK Oman

Buy Sell Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell

Cash .281500 .286400 .284000 .290000 .283000 .292000 .282300 .288900 .279800 .288400 .282550 .287400 .282300 .288400 — .287900

Buy Sell Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell

Cash .053100 .058100 — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft .283900 .286000 .286100 .285950 .285100 .287200 .284800 .286900 .284800 .286900 .284800 .286900 .284800 .286900 — .287900

Sterling pound Transfer .284200 .286300 .286100 .285950 .285100 .287200 .284800 .286900 .284800 .286900 .284800 .286900 .284800 .286900 — .287900

Cash .461500 .471500 — .480000 .466000 .474000 .423450 .433927 .471320 .479720 .469541 .477745 .468050 .480470 – 467000

Danish kroner BEC Muzaini Dollarco Commercial Bank Gulf Bank NBK Burgan Bank ABK Oman

BEC Muzaini Gulf Bank ABK

Buy Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell

Draft — — — — .057192 .057597 .057382 .057882 .057290 .057860 .057401 .057860 .057070 .058470 — —

Draft .460500 .469500 .472100 .478280 .468487 .471797 .473052 .477176 .472820 .476720 .473280 .476913 .472860 .477220 — .475000

Transfer .460500 .469500 .472100 .478280 .468487 .471797 .473052 .477176 .472820 .476720 .473280 .476913 .472860 .477220 — .475000

Indian rupee

Transfer — — — — .057192 .057597 .057382 .057882 .057290 .057860 .057401 .057860 .057070 .058470 — —

Cash .005980 .006420 – 006400 .004500 .007500 — — — — — — — — — —

Draft .006090 .006150 .006156 .006155 .006184 .006228 — .006170 — — .006111 .006163 .006051 .006166 — —

Transfer .006090 .006150 .006156 .006155 .006184 .006228 — .006170 — — .006111 .006163 .006051 .006166 — —

Euro Cash .424000 .433000 — 425000 .423000 .431000 .423450 .433927 .425300 .433660 .423952 .431373 .422460 .433900 — .408000

Draft .424000 .431600 .432900 .431460 .425726 .428734 .427200 .430923 .426800 .430660 .427328 .430622 .426800 .430960 — .406000

Japanese yen Transfer .424000 .431600 .432900 .431460 .425726 .428734 .427200 .430923 .426800 .430660 .427328 .430622 .426800 .430960 — .406000

Pakistani rupee Cash .003300 .003580 — .003750 — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft .003410 .003445 .003433 .003445 .003445 .003469 — .003454 — — .003418 .003446 — .003515 — .003564

Cash .003030 .003210 — .003350 — — — — — — — — — — — .003200

Draft — — .003127 .003145 .003144 .003167 .003125 .003152 .003120 .003148 .003122 .003147 .003120 .003156 — .003200

Transfer — — .003127 .003145 .003144 .003167 .003125 .003152 .003120 .003148 .003122 .003147 .003120 .003156 – .003200

Sri Lanka rupee

Transfer .003410 .003445 .003433 .003445 .003445 .003469 — .003454 — — .003418 .003446 — .003515 — .003564

Cash .002168 .002748 — .002900 .002000 .003500

Draft .002188 .002488 .002488 .002486 .002495 .002513 — — .002504 — — — — — .002479 — .002499 — — — .002553 — — .002650 .002510

Transfer .002188 .002488 .002488 .002486 .002495 .002513 — .002504 — — .002479 .002499 — .002553 — .002510

Cyprus Pound

Yemeni riyal

Thai baht

South African rand

Draft Transfer Cash — — .677200 — — .690200 — — — — — — .722765 .722765 — — — — —

Cash Draft Transfer .139000 — — .147000 — — — .001395 .001395 — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft Transfer Cash .082100 .008150 .008150 .089100 .008750 .008750 .008585 .008585 — — — — — — — — — — – – –

Transfer Cash Draft .032630 .032630 .032630 .041130 .041130 .041130 — — — — .038790 .038790 — — — — — — —

travellers cheques BEC Commercial Bank Gulf Bank Al-Ahli Bank

US dollar .2860000 .2872000 .2869000 .2869000

Sterling .4695000 .4717970 .4771760 .4772200

Euro

local gold BEC Muzaini Exchange

.4309230 .4309600

Swiss franc Cash .277700 .287200 — .273000 .279000 .287000 — — .278370 .287420 .282778 .285004 — —

Draft .278800 .285800 .285810 .282725 .281609 .283604 .282595 .285059 .282370 .284920 .280544 .285501 .282230 .285730 — —

Transfer .278800 .285800 .285810 .282725 .281609 .283604 .282595 .285059 .282370 .284920 .280544 .285501 .282230 .285730 — —

Bangladesh taka Cash .003810 .004460 — .004400 — — — — — — — — — — — .004250

Draft .004100 .004150 .004145 .004155 .004177 .004206 — .004163 — — .004109 .004169 — — — .004170

Transfer .004100 .004150 .004145 .004155 .004177 .004206 — .004163 — .004109 .004169 — — — .004170

Draft Transfer — — — — — — — — .000243 .000243 — — — —

Gold 999 kg — 9700.000

Draft .266500 .275500 .275100 .275160 .272081 .274008 .272067 .274439 .271630 .274060 .272197 .274335 .271480 .274770 — —

Transfer .266500 .275500 .275100 .275160 .272081 .274008 .272067 .274439 .271630 .274060 .272197 .274335 .271480 .274770 — .267000

Philippine peso Cash .006050 .006320 — .006400 .004500 .007200 — — — — — — — — — .006000

Korean won Cash — — — — — — —

Swedish kroner

Canadian dollar Cash .268500 .277000 — .275000 .270000 .278000 — — — — .270046 .274813 — – .268000

Draft .005635 .006000 .006099 .006080 .006197 .006241 — .006100 — — .006037 .006094 — .006250 — .005990

Cash .038100 .043100 — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

.005990

Cash .256100 .267600 — — .261000 .267000 — — — — — — — — — .240000

Draft .254100 .266100 .263700 — .263178 .265037 .263440 .265736 .263330 .265750 .263610 .265698 .263320 .266020 — .237000

Transfer .254100 .266100 .263700 — .263178 .265037 .263440 .265736 .263330 .265750 .263610 .265698 .263320 .266020 — .237000

Iranian riyal

Cash Draft Transfer .006200 — — .006400 — — — .006285 .006285 — — — — — — — — — — — — Gold ounce — 317.000

Transfer — — — — .040995 .041286 .041444 .041806 .041390 .041810 .041466 .041790 .041150 .041960 — —

Australian dollar

Transfer .005635 .006000 .006099 .006080 .006197 .006241 — .006100 — — .006037 .006094 — .006250

Syrian pound

Gold 999 10 tola 1,133.970 1147.000

Draft — — — — .040995 .041286 .041444 .041806 .041390 .041810 .041466 .041790 .041150 .041960 — —

Cash Draft .000294 — .000294 — .000292 .000301 — — — — — — —

Gold gm 22k — 8.895

Transfer — — — — — — —

Gold gm 21k — 8.490

Saudi riyal Cash .075680 .076370 — .077500 .075000 .079000 .075099 .077060 .074880 .077540 .074944 .077048 .075060 .077060 — .076800

Draft .075730 .076370 .076334 .076280 .076066 .076551 .075831 .076527 .075880 .076540 .075541 .076914 .075830 .076530 — .076800

Transfer .075730 .076370 .076334 .076280 .076066 .076551 .075831 .076527 .075880 .076540 .075541 .076914 .075830 .076530 — .076800

Hong Kong dollar Cash .348400 .375900 — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft .343400 .374400 .036941 — .036783 .037044 .036746 .037066 — — — — .036750 .037010 — —

Transfer .343400 .374400 .036941 — .036783 .037044 .036746 .037066 — — — .036750 .037010 — —

Lebanese pound Cash .000181 .000193 — — — — —

Draft Transfer .000185 .000185 .000192 .000192 .000194 .000194 — — — — — — —

Gold gm 18k — 7.275

100 gm 999 – —

UAE dirham Cash .077540 .078050 — .078200 .077395 .078173 .076826 .078762 .077310 .078090 .076644 .078815 .077395 .078173 — .078600

Draft .076440 .078050 .077960 .077835 .077661 .078157 .077575 .078217 .077490 .078140 .077254 .078678 .077260 .078170 — .078390

Transfer .076440 .078050 .077960 .077835 .077661 .078157 .077575 .078217 .077490 .078140 .077254 .078678 .077260 .078170 — .078390

Singapore dollar Cash Draft .202030 .201030 .206530 .206530 — .205830 — — .204551 — .206000 — .204230 — .206011 — .204110 — .205990 — .204274 — .205899 — .204030 — .206150 — — — —

Transfer .201030 .206530 .205830 — .204551 .206000 .204230 .206011 .204110 .205990 .204274 .205899 .204030 .206150 — —

Malaysian ringgit Cash Draft Transfer .080590 .079590 .079590 .086590 .086590 .086590 — — — — – — — — — — — — — — — 10 gm 999 – 105.000

Bahraini dinar Cash .752690 .760690 — .766815 .754036 .761614 745838 .767330 .753240 .760810 .747486 .764361 — —

Draft .752190 .760690 .760200 .758265 .756626 .761453 .753104 .762018 .754940 .761450 .753439 .763031 .753440 .761870 — —

Transfer .752190 .760690 .760200 .758265 .756626 .761453 .753104 .762018 .754940 .761450 .753439 .763031 .753440 .761870 — —

Jordanian dinar Cash .398550 .406050 — .409500 .402000 .418000

Draft .397000 .404330 .404210 .403506 .403214 .406071 — — .406612 — — — — — .401409 — .405512 — .401120 — .406920 — — .415000 .415000

Transfer .397000 .404330 .404210 .403506 .403214 .406071 — .406612 — — .401409 .405512 .401120 .406920 .415000

Indonesian rupiah Cash .026000 .034000 — — — — —

Draft Transfer .026000 .026000 .034000 .034000 — — — — .000030 .000030 — — — —

Omani riyal Cash .737350 .743030 — — .739200 .746629 .733056 .750945 .738420 .745840 .731994 .748437 — — — .752000

Draft .731850 .742850 .743600 — .740900 .745626 .740197 .745747 .739260 .745520 .737823 .747135 .737640 .745480 — .748000

Transfer .731850 .742850 .743600 — .740900 .745626 .740197 .745747 .739260 .745520 .737823 .747135 .737640 .745480 — .748000

Egyptian pound Cash .051960 .054710 .054750 .056000 .050000 .057000 — — — — — — — — — .56000

Draft .050313 .052333 .052340 .052360 .521630 .525330 — .541320 — — .051622 .052962 — .052700 — —

Transfer .050313 .052333 .052340 .052360 .521630 .525330 .541320 — — .051622 .052962 — .052700 — —

New Zealand dollar Cash .210400 .219900 — — — — —

Draft .208400 .218400 — .214767 .216639 .214040 .217270

All rates in KD per unit of foreign currency

Transfer .208400 .218400 — .214767 .216639 .214040 .217270

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

LEISURE N E W

Y O R K

40

T I M E S

Horoscope

CROSSWORD

By Jacqueline Bigar Happy birthday for Sunday, October 25, 2009: This year, others count on you perhaps more than you might like. Establishing clear boundaries at work and in your personal life will be a high priority. You don’t want to compromise on what is important. If you are single, you’ll meet people in your daily life. Build a strong friendship behind a romantic bond. If you are attached, of course you will have your differences. Respect them rather than make them a point of contention. AQUARIUS helps you relax. The Stars Show the Kind of Day You’ll Have: 5Dynamic; 4-Positive; 3-Average; 2-So-so; 1-Difficult ❑ ❑ ❑

Capricorn - (Dec 22 - Jan 19): **** Your magnetism triggers an interesting chain of events. Although it’s not a common experience, do be aware. Zero in on what you want most, doing nothing halfway. By the afternoon, you will want to relax and not think. Why not go to a movie? Tonight: Your treat. This Week: Be aware of your finances. You could decide on a purchase that ultimately might not be good. ❑ ❑ ❑

Aquarius - (Jan 20 - Feb 18): *** You might be slow to start, and it could be midday by the

time you get going. Make it OK to lounge around and not push too hard. You often make quite an effort for others; now it is time to defer to your needs. Tonight: It is your call. This Week: Greet Monday and Tuesday with energy and drive. You could be surprised by what happens. ❑ ❑ ❑

Pisces - (Feb 19 - Mar 20): **** Get together with people, friends and/or family early. Make plans to go to a movie or take a hike later in the day. Schedule some quiet personal time at the end of the day. Whether on the computer or snoozing, it doesn’t matter. It is your time! Tonight: Think “tomorrow.” This Week: Use Monday and Tuesday for research. Wednesday, take action. ❑ ❑ ❑

Aries -

Sherman’s Lagoon — By J. P. Toomey

In this November 2007 file photo, a Polar Bear is seen outside Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. The United States on Oct 22, announced plans to designate more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska as critical habitat for polar bears, a key step towards increasing protection for the threatened species. (AFP)

(Mar 21 - Apr 19): **** Finish off what you must, and have an even better afternoon. Let go and find your friends. Together you’ll have a great time. What starts as a friendly get-together could turn into a ruckus. Tonight: Let the party go on and on. This Week: Networking pays off; a friendship helps you. Observe more. ❑ ❑ ❑

Taurus -

(Apr 20 - May 20): ***** Make calls to those you don’t see, or who live far way, or who you just like to say good morning to. Though you might be thinking of a vacation or getaway in the near future, making phone calls can make you happy. A last-minute responsibility could change the complexion of the day. Tonight: A must appearance. This Week: Others’ creativity, especially a boss’s, is like a geyser. Count on brainstorming and being busy. ❑ ❑ ❑

Gemini - (May 21 - June 20): ***** Spend personal time with a friend or loved one, top-

ping off the get-together with a late brunch. You have a skip in your step later today. Anything is possible. Tonight: Check out a new spot. This Week: You might not land until Wednesday, but keep a record of your great ideas. ❑ ❑ ❑

Mutts — By Patrick McDonnell

Cancer - (June 21 - July 22): ***** Know your limits; defer to others. You could be

exhausted by recent events, and, in a sense, not having to make plans is a relief. One-on-one relating allows greater fluidity. Tonight: Enjoy a favorite person. This Week: A select associate pulls through for you. Ideas bloom if you add imagination. ❑ ❑ ❑

Leo -

Felix, a female African elephant, eats a pumpkin at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Oct 23, in Baltimore. (AP)

Hagar The Horrible — By Chris Browne

dear abby

Virgo - (Aug 23 - Sept 22): **** The first half of your day is lighthearted and fun. Join in on a

Bad driving puts business at risk By Abigail Van Buren

Beetle Bailey — By Mort Walker

Garfield — By Jim Davis

Dear Abby: My husband, “Harvey,” and I have operated a home-based business for more than 20 years. Harvey is an amazing technician, extremely efficient with his time on the job. The problem is, he is always in a hurry to get to the next job. I receive calls from angry motorists complaining that “the driver of one of our trucks” cut them off, yelled at them or flipped them off in traffic. When I receive one of these calls I say, “Thank you for calling. I’ll be sure to speak to the appropriate driver about the incident.” Harvey feels I should support him by telling the caller it was probably his own fault for talking on a cell phone, driving too slow or cutting him off. I have no doubt that some of these motorists actually do those things, but my husband is driving around with his phone number on his truck and they’re not. When I mention the complaints, he wants to call them back using caller ID. Am I handling this appropriately? I don’t feel I should reprimand someone for bad driving if I wasn’t present when something happened, nor do I want anyone to know it was my husband — the owner of the business — who flipped them off. Harvey is angry at me because I’m “not supporting” him. Any suggestions? — Between a rock and a hard place Dear between: Harvey may be a great technician, but it

appears he’s a little short on common sense and good manners. I see no reason why you should defend him. His behavior is not only childish but also dangerous. Because other motorists are actually calling to report his erratic driving, it’s a pretty good indication that your husband is an accident waiting to happen. It’s time you Abigail Van Buren mentioned to him that what he’s doing is also bad for business. Those he offends in traffic are not likely to say a kind word about the business he’s advertising on his truck. ❑ ❑ ❑ Dear Abby: My husband, “Adrian,” and I have been married five years, but there is something looming in our future that both of us dread — our parents’ old age. Adrian is an only child. I have one sister, but when it comes to caring for our parents, I might as well be an only child. Adrian’s parents live month-tomonth on Social Security and pension checks. If they ever have any extra money, they don’t save it. They buy each other expensive gifts and eat out. Neither one of them is in good health, and the day will come when they won’t be able to care for themselves or each other, and I

Word by Word Baby Blues — By Rick Kirkman & Jerry Scott

Walls

(Jodran)

Walls have ears. Lejodran athan.

Numbers

5068

Five thousand and sixty-eight Khamsat alaaf wa thaman wa setoon

(July 23 - Aug 22): ***** Make that extra effort. News could impact your plans, though you certainly will have people surrounding you. You might need to drop in at a friend’s in between running off to a ballgame or barbecue. Tonight: First listen to your offers. This Week: Others delight in surprising you. Go along for the ride. ❑ ❑ ❑

know they’ll expect us to do it. My parents are about the same, except they’re banking on an inheritance to see them through retirement. That money may or may not be enough, considering how long people live now. My grandparents were frugal. They saved and were determined not to be a burden on their children. Our parents think it’s our duty to care for them. His parents are in their late 60s, and we have young children. We cringe at the idea that after all our hard work we’ll go from caring for our children to caring for our parents with no time for ourselves. — Afraid for the future in San Antonio Dear afraid: No one can foresee the future, so stop ruining the present by obsessing about what “might” happen. You say your in-laws are not in good health? One or both of them could die before they become completely dependent on you and your husband. The same is true for your parents. Forgive me if this seems cold, but it happens to be the truth. ❑ ❑ ❑ Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. (Source: Universal Uclick)

fun ballgame, or perhaps get together with your pals for brunch. The convivial atmosphere draws smiles. You feel renewed, like the world is your oyster. Tonight: Get a head start on tomorrow. This Week: Dive into work Monday. By Wednesday, you want to play. ❑ ❑ ❑

Libra - (Sept 23 - Oct 22): ***** Read the Sunday paper at your leisure. Midday or afterward, a

child or dear friend starts energizing you. Clearly this person wants you for company — no ifs, ands or buts. Let your imagination spin. Tonight: Acting as if there is no tomorrow. This Week: Settling in could take until Wednesday. What are you up to? ❑ ❑ ❑

Scorpio - (Oct 23 - Nov 21): **** Phones ring, and people walk up to you. Your sense

of centering helps many stabilize. Still, take time for yourself. Visit with a special friend, surf the Net or do whatever you enjoy. Settle in at home in the afternoon. Tonight: Have a family member over for dinner. This Week: If you can take off this week, do. If you cannot do that, work from home. If you cannot do that, play hooky at least one day this week. ❑ ❑ ❑

Sagittarius - (Nov 22 - Dec 21): **** Though an expenditure is necessary, don’t stress your

budget. Maintain your limits, and ultimately you will feel better about this cost. An older relative or friend could be out of sorts. Tonight: Invite friends to dinner. This Week: Your creativity creates too many dynamic ideas, if that is possible. Only share the relevant ones. ❑ ❑ ❑ Born today: Artist Pablo Picasso (1881), comedian Minnie Pearl (1912), singer, songwriter Helen Reddy (1941)

odds ’n’ ends CHICAGO:

A small town police department in Minnesota will put a motorized lounge chair up for auction next week after it was seized in a drunk driving incident. The black and blue pleather lounge chair comes complete with stereo, footrest, cupholders, headlights, a nitrous oxide power boost system, drag racing-style steering wheel and a parachute. Built on top of a riding lawnmower engine, the chair is decorated with stickers proclaiming “hell yeah it’s fast” and “I smoked your (expletive),” and can get up to speeds of around 15 miles (24 kms ) per hour. It was seized on Aug 31, 2008 after Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 62, smashed it into a parked car on his way back from a local bar in Proctor, Minnesota. Anderson told police the only reason he hit the car was because a girl jumped up on the chair. “We cannot confirm or deny the story,” police chief Walter Wobig told AFP. “The bottom line is it doesn’t get him off driving while intoxicated.” (AFP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

SPORTS

41

British Soccer Results/Standings Saturday’s English soccer results (home teams listed first): Premier League Birmingham 2 Sunderland 1 Burnley 1 Wigan 3 Chelsea 5 Blackburn 0 Hull 0 Portsmouth 0 Tottenham 0 Stoke 1 Wolverhampton 1 Aston Villa 1 League Championship Barnsley 2 Bristol City 3 Coventry 0 West Brom Albion 0 Crystal Palace 1 Nottingham Forest 1 Newcastle 2 Doncaster 1 Peterborough 3 Scunthorpe 0 Plymouth 1 Ipswich 1 Preston 2 Middlesbrough 2 Sheffield United 3 Cardiff 4 Swansea 0, Blackpool 0 Derby 2 QPR 4 League One Brentford 2 Stockport 0 Brighton 0 Oldham 2 Bristol Rovers 1 Yeovil 2 Carlisle 2 Southend 1 Colchester 2 Walsall 1 Exeter 1 Wycombe 1 Gillingham 1 Charlton 1 Hartlepool 1 Tranmere 0 Huddersfield 4 Leyton Orient 0 Millwall 2 Leeds United 1 Norwich 1 Swindon 0 Southampton 3 MK Dons 1 League Two Barnet 3 Darlington 0 Bournemouth 3 Grimsby 1 Bradford 1 Hereford 0 Bury 2 Rotherham 1 Chesterfield 5 Burton Albion 2 Lincoln City 0 Torquay 0 Macclesfield 2 Dagenham & Redbridge 2 Morecambe 2 Northampton 4 Notts County 2 Crewe 0 Port Vale 1 Cheltenham 1 Rochdale 1 Accrington Stanley 2 Shrewsbury 3 Aldershot 1 Results Saturday in Scottish football (home teams listed first): Premier League Aberdeen 0 Dundee United 2 Hearts 0 Falkirk 0 Kilmarnock 2 St Johnstone 1 Rangers 1 Hibernian 1 St Mirren 3 Motherwell 3 Division One Ayr 1 Inverness CT 5 Dundee 2 Raith 1 Dunfermline 3 Morton 1 Queen of South 3 Airdrie 0 Ross County 2 Partick Thistle 2 Division Two Cowdenbeath 0 Brechin 0

Dumbarton East Fife Peterhead Stirling

1 Arbroath 0 2 Stenhousemuir 1 0 Alloa 0 1 Clyde 1 Standings Standings in English soccer after Saturday’s games: Premier League GP W D L GF GA Pts Chelsea 10 8 0 2 24 8 24 Man United 9 7 1 1 21 9 22 Tottenham 10 6 1 3 21 14 19 Arsenal 8 6 0 2 27 11 18 Man City 8 5 2 1 16 9 17 Aston Villa 9 5 2 2 13 8 17 Sunderland 10 5 1 4 18 15 16 Liverpool 9 5 0 4 22 13 15 Stoke 10 4 3 3 9 11 15 Wigan 10 4 1 5 12 17 13 Burnley 10 4 0 6 10 22 12 Everton 8 3 2 3 10 12 11 Fulham 8 3 1 4 8 10 10 Birmingham 10 3 1 6 8 12 10 Blackburn 9 3 1 5 11 22 10 Wolverhampton 10 2 3 5 9 16 9 Bolton 8 2 2 4 11 13 8 Hull 10 2 2 6 8 22 8 West Ham 8 1 2 5 9 13 5 Portsmouth 10 1 1 8 5 15 4 Championship Newcastle 14 8 3 3 21 9 27 Cardiff 14 8 2 4 30 15 26 West Brom 14 7 4 3 24 13 25 Middlesbrough 14 7 3 4 22 15 24 Bristol City 14 6 6 2 17 13 24 QPR 13 6 5 2 25 13 23 Blackpool 14 6 5 3 19 13 23 Preston 14 6 5 3 22 19 23 Nott Forest 14 6 5 3 16 13 23 Leicester 13 5 6 2 15 11 21 Watford 14 5 6 3 22 21 21 Swansea 14 4 7 3 9 10 19 Sheffield Utd 14 4 5 5 23 25 17 Crystal Palace 13 4 5 4 13 15 17 Coventry 14 4 5 5 16 20 17 Scunthorpe 14 5 2 7 19 26 17 Sheffield Wed 14 4 4 6 21 22 16 Doncaster 14 2 8 4 15 17 14 Derby 14 4 2 8 17 25 14 Barnsley 14 4 2 8 16 25 14 Peterborough 14 2 5 7 17 23 11 Reading 13 2 4 7 11 22 10 Plymouth 14 2 3 9 13 26 9 Ipswich 14 0 8 6 15 27 8 League One Leeds 13 9 3 1 21 8 30 Charlton 14 8 5 1 23 12 29 Colchester 14 8 4 2 25 11 28 MKD 14 8 2 4 16 12 26 Norwich 14 6 4 4 26 20 22 Bristol Rovers 13 7 1 5 20 18 22 Huddersfield 14 6 3 5 28 16 21

Millwall 14 5 6 Oldham 14 5 5 Hartlepool 14 5 4 Swindon 14 4 7 Yeovil 14 4 6 Southend 14 4 5 Walsall 14 4 5 Brentford 14 4 5 Gillingham 14 4 3 Leyton Orient 14 4 3 Carlisle 14 3 5 Exeter 14 3 5 Stockport 14 3 5 Brighton 14 3 4 Southampton 14 5 6 Tranmere 14 3 1 Wycombe 14 1 5 Note: Southampton deducted 10 administration. League Two Bournemouth 14 10 1 D&R 14 8 4 Rochdale 14 8 2 Notts County 14 7 4 Rotherham 14 7 4 Barnet 14 7 3 Shrewsbury 14 7 3 Chesterfield 14 7 2 Bury 14 7 2 Aldershot 14 6 3 Burton Albion 14 6 3 Bradford 14 5 5 Port Vale 14 4 7 Accrington Stanley 14 6 1 Northampton 14 5 3 Macclesfield 14 4 5 Lincoln City 14 5 1 Crewe 14 5 0 Hereford 14 3 6 Cheltenham 14 3 6 Morecambe 14 1 9 Torquay 14 2 5 Grimsby 14 3 1 Darlington 14 1 2 Standings in Scottish soccer Premier League Rangers 9 5 4 Celtic 8 5 2 Hibernian 9 5 2 Dundee United 9 4 4 Motherwell 9 3 5 St. Mirren 9 3 3 Aberdeen 9 2 5 Kilmarnock 9 2 3 Hearts 9 2 3 St. Johnstone 9 1 3 Hamilton 8 1 2 Falkirk 9 0 4 First Division Dundee 11 6 4 Ross County 11 6 3

3 19 4 13 5 15 3 14 4 19 5 19 5 16 5 15 7 20 7 15 6 15 6 14 6 13 7 15 3 23 10 11 8 13 points for

10 21 14 20 14 19 18 19 17 18 18 17 18 17 17 17 23 15 26 15 20 14 23 14 22 14 24 13 16 11 29 10 22 8 entering

3 2 4 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 3 7 6 5 8 9 5 5 4 7 10 11

20 27 24 31 21 21 24 22 18 25 21 21 16 20 23 16 9 21 16 17 19 16 12 6

9 16 14 12 14 14 18 20 19 19 20 22 14 21 24 22 17 25 20 24 28 22 28 24

31 28 26 25 25 24 24 23 23 21 21 20 19 19 18 17 16 15 15 15 12 11 10 5

0 1 2 1 1 3 2 4 4 5 5 5

15 15 14 12 11 12 7 8 9 13 5 4

6 7 8 7 9 12 7 9 12 20 15 13

19 17 17 16 14 12 11 9 9 6 5 4

Burnley’s Tyrone Mears (left), vies for the ball against Wigan’s Hugo Rodallega during their English Premier League soccer match at Turf Moor, Burnley, England, Oct 24. (AP)

1 2

16 14

10 10

22 21

Stirling Albion Brechin

Queen of the South Partick Raith Inverness Dunfermline Morton Ayr Airdrie

11 6 2 11 5 4 11 5 3 11 4 4 11 4 2 11 3 0 11 1 4 11 0 4 Second Division 11 7 3 11 6 1

3 2 3 3 5 8 6 7

21 18 14 18 12 7 8 6

11 9 9 14 13 21 20 17

20 19 18 16 14 9 7 4

Cowdenbeath Alloa Peterhead East Fife Dumbarton Clyde Arbroath Stenhousemuir

1 4

17 16

9 11

24 19

East Stirling Albion

11 5 3 11 4 3 11 4 3 11 3 5 11 4 2 11 3 2 11 3 2 11 2 4 Third Division 10 6 2

3 4 4 3 5 6 6 5

17 9 12 11 15 11 10 10

9 9 14 12 20 14 18 12

18 15 15 14 14 11 11 10

2

14

12

20

Albion Rovers Livingston Berwick Forfar Annan Athletic Queens Park Stranraer Elgin Montrose (Agencies)

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

5 6 5 4 3 3 3 1 0

4 1 2 4 3 2 2 5 3

1 3 3 2 4 5 5 4 7

11 15 12 17 6 8 8 14 5

4 9 9 12 8 10 11 17 18

19 19 17 16 12 11 11 8 3

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

SPORTS

42

Champions Manyaman-Barako celebrating their victory.

First runners-up Maki.

2nd runners-up Jade Garden.

3rd runners-up N-Dash Slashers.

Triumphant Qiblers.

Q1 Qabandi’s Glenda Sterling receives FWVL championship trophy from Caroll Ong.

Qiblers overcome Triggers 66-60

Resilient Manyaman-Barako grab FMVL title By Jose Gabriel Special to the Arab Times

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: Some mouthwatering volleyball games were witnessed Friday in the championship finals of the 3rd Filipino Men’s Volleyball League (FMVL) Goodwill Games Conferences and the same was the case in the one basketball game of the 18th Filipino Basketball League (FBL). Manyaman-Barako, formerly known as Wild Force , collected the 3rd FMVL crown when they edged defending champions Maki Team in 5 exhausting sets 21-25, 21-25, 25-21, 21-13, 15-11 while Jade Garden finished 2nd runners-up when they beat N-Dash in 2 sets 25-20, 26-24. There was a single game in FBL with Qiblers brushing aside Triggers 66-60 while the other game saw Al Razi win by default against Desert Fox whereas Frost Real Estate and Papa John’s match has been re-scheduled since one of the hoops was damaged and is under repair. This event is being officiated by Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP)-Kuwait Chapter led by Commissioner Demos Arienda along with Baylon Tenorio, Toots Apostol, Marc Lester Roan, George Panganiban, and Joel Acuna. FMVL

A Wild Force tries to force the ball past a Maki.

A ‘Qibler’ tries to steal the ball from a ‘Trigger.’

short on his spikes while Slashers put a lot of focus into their game and scored through Sinarembo that brought another tie 21-21. On the other hand, it seemed that overwhelming energy of Jade Garden reached its peak with an outside spike from Wilton that tied the game 24-24 and resulted in an extension. Jade Garden were determined to win the game and a good toss from JM saw a good drop shot from Wilton while the last point came from an error by the Slashers which saw Jade Garden win 26-24 in the 2nd and final set of the game. The awarding ceremony followed shortly after the game, The championship trophy and medals were given to Manyaman-Barako, 1st runners-up Maki Team, 2nd runners-up Jade Garden and 3rd runners-up N-Dash Slashers. Special awards were given to the “Mythical 6”, namely Wilton Baccay from Jade Garden team, Noel “Ella’ Bibit and Ricardo “Ric” Cabral from Maki along with Joven Belleza, Jay-Jay Cruz and Lou Gaabon of Manyaman-Barako. On the other hand, the Rookie of the Conference award was given to one of the best players of Manyaman-Barako Jeric Cruz while the highest honor of Most Valuable Player of the Conference was given to Nickson Pedrigal. Meanwhile, BAP Commissioner Demos Arienda handed a plaque of appreciation for support from Metrobank Marketing Manager to Kuwait Caroll Ong for sponsorship of Filipino sports events. FBL

Manyaman-Barako vs Maki

Qiblers vs Triggers

The best game of the day was the final when an exhausting and heart- pounding match concluded with Manyaman-Barako taking this season’s crown when they managed to hold off a tough Maki team 21-25, 21-25, 25-21, 21-13, 15-11. The initial stages saw both teams warmed up with overwhelming power resulted a number of service errors. But one of the brightest Maki players Ella showed his skills with hard spikes and aces but from the other side of the courts the combination of Jay-Jay’s aces, spikes from Lou and Jeric and drop shots from Joven saw them level 11-11 at one point. But it appeared that Maki were full of energy and once again took the game to their opponents through Glenn, Gino and Ella while on the other side of the bench the “small and glamorous” brothers Jay-Jay and Jeric hit some solid spikes although they stayed behind by 2 points 18-20. On the other hand, the combination of Glenn and Ric of Maki blocked their opponents shots that took their lead to 23-19 while from the other side of the courts Lou and Jeric managed a spike and ace that brought them within 2 points 21-23 but Ella and Glenn hammered firm spikes that saw Maki take the first set 25-21. In the 2nd set a number of errors from Manyaman-Barako handed some easy points to Maki backed by spikes from Gino while an astonishing performance from ManyamanBarako’s “Rookie” Jeric brought loud cheers from audience when several times he “dived” to the ground to keep the ball alive that resulted in both the teams being level 7-7. Awesome spikes driven from Jeric and Jerome brought errors from the other side that kept them tied 9-9.A tussle for supremacy lingered in the arena with once again the teams tied 14-14 but when Maki team pressed on the accelerator through Ella, Gino and Jhay-R they managed to move ahead by 4 points 19-15. On the other hand, Manyaman-Barako came up with a game plan to match with their rivals through the combination of Joven, Jeric and Lou but they still came out short while Jhay-R pulled off the last point to give Maki the 2nd set 25-21 for a 2-0 lead in the match. Intense pressure was on ManyamanBarako as the 3rd set could decide their fate since the match was best of 5 sets and if Maki triumphed again it would be the end of the game. Meanwhile, a new set of members from Maki were introduced, but this did not hinder them from performing at the same level

Qiblers showed some brilliant defense and shooting prowess when they overcame Triggers 66-60. The initial quarter saw both teams on an equal footing when they were tied 12-12. But some good work was done by Qiblers finest players #8 Manzano, #34 Duat and #5 Libiran as they moved 7 points ahead 31-23 by the end of the 1st half. Meanwhile, passion for the game kept Qiblers in control although their opponents tried as hard as they could to level their opponents shooting prowess and a strong line of defense but Qiblers stayed in control for a 9 point 49-40 advantage by the end of the 3rd quarter. The strong-willed team of Qiblers were never at any point complacent, although it appeared the Triggers never failed to put in their best . But time fell short for Triggers that resulted in a 6-point 66-60 victory for Qiblers.

Mythical 6 (left to right), Ric, Wilton, Ella Ong (center), Jayjay and Lou.

Vanquished Triggers.

FBL Standings

Al Razi team.

which resulted in the teams being tied 6-6 through Ruel, drop shots from Ric and aces by Ella while Manyaman worked well through Lou, Abel and Jeric to lead 16-11 as their opponent hit a number of shots that landed out of the courts. Maki fought back through good services from Ric while Ella hit firm spikes that saw them only 2 points behind 18-20 and resulted in Manyaman-Barako taking a time out. Manyaman came with out strong defense through blocks from Abel and Jeric that saw them ahead by 4 points 22-18, while Maki’s finest Glenn, Jhay-R and Ella gained points that brought them to 21 points. However, one of Manyaman’s best Jay-Jay again whipped up a number of points for Manyaman to take the set 25-21. Confidence was seen in ManyamanBarako in the 4th set while it appeared that Maki failed to focus on their game that handed the advantage to their opponents who scored through some blocks, Lou spikes and drop shots that put them ahead 8-3. Meanwhile, Manyaman made a number of

errors while on the other side of the bench Ella drove simultaneous spikes that brought about more deadlocks 8-8, 9-9. However, Manyaman put their game together and through Jeric and Joven unyielding spikes they went ahead by 6 points 16-10. Manyaman never at any point played easy when they realized that they needed to win in order to level the match 2-2 and with drop shots from Jeric and Abel’s spikes pushed the lead to 24-13 but the last point was a service error from Ric that saw Manyaman win and push the game into to a 5th deciding set. The final set put the observers on the edge of their seats when both teams moved their game up a gear as the title was at stake. . Maki scored once again through Ella, Ric aces and Glenn while from the other side of the courts Jeric worked well for Manyaman but were behind by 2 points 6-8 before Jeric hit some drop shots before another ace from Joven leveled the set 9-9. On the other hand, various errors were made by Maki resulting in their rivals leading 13-11 before more drop shots from Abel for

MVP Nickson Pedrigal with Ong.

Manyaman got them the points they needed to beat Maki 15-11 to win the set and the match for the title.

Jade Garden vs N-Dash Slashers The Jade Garden team wasted no time to beat N-Dash Slashers for 2nd runners -up award in 2 easy sets 25-20, 26-24. The initial set saw service errors from Jade Garden that handed a 3-point lead to Slashers 3-6 but Wilton solid spikes made them level 6-6 and eventually Jade Garden moved ahead to 12-8 through aces by Wilton and service errors from N-Dash. Meanwhile, after sometime a new face in the arena from N-Dash Slashers left-handed Sinarembo smacked solid spikes that handed them some points while Araneta sent a couple of aces that saw them behind by only 2 points 15-17.However, when Jade Garden’s members Choi and JM made service errors the score was tagged 19-19. On the other hand, Jade Garden’s finest player Wilton kept up with his excellent performance that saw his team move ahead 2119 although the other side of the bench fought

Photos by Hamdy Shawke

Rookie Jeric Cruz (right), gets a hand shake from Ong.

back but with Wilton and Pedro’s blocks they maintained the advantage and stretched the lead to 24-20 before an error from Slashers gave them the 1st set victory. The 2nd set saw that Jade Garden in their best form as Wilton delivered more aces from the service area while Choi was back with his witty drop shots. Meanwhile, N-Dash Slashers tried to find the proper antidote to match their rivals and exerted massive efforts through Sinarembo and Edward that saw the game tied 6-6. However, Wilton was back in the mood to drop and whack some solid spikes while JM did not seem to be in the mood to play his best that handed the advantage to their rivals who collected points through Dennis which resulted in another deadlock 11-11. A number of errors were made by Jade Garden while their opponents got some spikes from Sinarembo and also executed some blocks that tied the game 13-13. Meanwhile, when the combination of Choi and Wilton revealed their true colors, accompanied by aces from Pedro , JM seemed to fall

Awtar Libnan Rest Qiblers Frost Real Estate Papa John’s Habchi & Chalhoub Entrecote Triggers Shrimpy Fiftyniners Al-Razi Desert Fox Dash Knights

GP 11 11 6 10 8 10 9 9 3 9 10 8

W 9 7 6 6 5 5 4 3 2 2 2 1

L 2 4 0 4 3 5 5 6 1 7 8 7

FMVL Awards Recipients: Champion 1st runners-up 2nd runners-up 3rd runners-up MVP of the Season Rookie of the Season

Mayaman-Barako Maki Jade Garden N-Dash Slashers Nickson Pedrigal Jeric Cruz

Mythical 6 Wilton Baccay - Jade Garden Noel “Ella” Bibit - Maki Ric Cabral - Maki Joven Belleza - Manyaman Barako Jay-Jay Cruz - Manyaman Barako Lou Gaabon - Manyaman Barako FMVL and FWVL organizers would like to announce that registration is now open for men’s and women’s volleyball teams to join the upcoming conference on Nov 20. For details contact: BAP Commissioner Demos Arienda 6608-2238. FBL, FMVL and FWVL organizers would like to thank their supporters, Metrobank Super Bilis Padala, Western Express Cargo and Red Bull Energy Drink for supporting their events. Special thanks to Alma Cabral for providing the awarding photos.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

SPORTS

43

Kite looking for first home-state win stays a stroke behind

Clearwater, Cochran share Champion Tour lead SAN ANTONIO, Oct 24, (AP): Champions Tour rookies Keith Clearwater and Russ Cochran and shot 5-under 66s to share the first-round lead on Friday in the AT&T Championship, the final full-field event of the season. Tom Kite, looking for his first homestate win as a professional, was a stroke back along with fellow Texan Ben Crenshaw, Mark O’Meara and Andy Bean. Clearwater, who won his two U.S. PGA Tour titles in 1987, is making his fifth Champions Tour start after turning 50 in August. He eagled the par-15th hole and had five birdies and two bogeys on the Oak Hills Country Club course. “I feel like my game is great, but I need a few more times to play,” Clearwater said. Clearwater “My putting is noncompetitive right now, but it’s just a matter of playing and getting my instincts back. ... I still think I’m better than most people think. I still think I’m as good as anybody and I’m working hard to prove it.” Cochran, the left-hander who won the 1991 Western Open for his lone U.S. PGA Tour title, had six birdies and a bogey. He was third in the U.S. Senior Open and has three top-five finishes in 14 events this season. Kite birdied Nos. 14-17 to move up the leaderboard. “You always want to play well near your friends,” he said. Two-time defending champion John Cook

Pucay closes in on Rai at Iskandar Johor Open JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia, Oct 24 (Agencies): Mars Pucay of the Philippines posted a second round seven-under-par 65 Saturday to close in on India’s Himmat Rai at the Iskandar Johor Open. Rai, who finished his second round Friday, continues to hold on to his lead with his two-day total of 13-under-par 131 at the Royal Johor Country Club in Malaysia’s southern city of Johor Bahru. The $1 million tournament heads into the third and final round Sunday after two consecutive days of heavy rain prompted officials to reduce the event to a 54-hole competition. K.J. Choi of South Korea and Australia’s Darren Beck also held on to their tied second positions on 132 while Taiwan’s Chang Tse-peng remains among the mix in fourth position on 133.

Pucay, who has come close to winning on the Asian Tour several times, added a 65 to his opening 69 for tied fifth position alongside Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat on 134. “I have been knocking on the door for so many times, so hopefully I can hit my big first. I am hitting the ball and putting well so I feel that I have a huge chance for a crack at the title,” he said. Starting from the back nine, Pucay opened his campaign with three consecutive birdies starting from the 11th hole. He continued his surge up the leaderboard when his chip from 20 feet found the hole for birdie on 16. He added another birdie on 18 to make the turn in 31. Pucay fired another three birdies on two, three and four before dropping a shot on the fifth hole. Leading round two scores on Saturday

from the Iskandar Johor Open: 131 — Himmat Rai (IND) 64-67 132 — K.J. Choi (KOR) 68-64, Darren Beck (AUS) 68-64 133 — Chang Tse-peng (TPE) 65-68 134 — Chapchai Nirat (THA) 69-65, Mars Pucay (PHI) 69-65 135 — Kodai Ichihara (JPN) 66-69 136 — Rahil Gangjee (IND) 69-67 137 — Chan Yih-shin (TPE) 65-72, Panuwat Muenlek (THA) 67-70, Chinnarat Phadungsil (THA) 68-69, Noh Seung-Yul (KOR) 69-68, Jason Norris (AUS) 72-65 138 — Lin Wen-tang (TPE) 67-71, Sattaya Supupramai (THA) 69-69, Chris Rodgers (ENG) 70-68, Anirban Lahiri (IND) 69-69, Lin Wen-hong (TPE) 69-69, Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 69-69, Juvic Pagunsan (PHI) 70-68.

opened with a 68. “I’ve been comfortable here,” Cook said. “It’s just a course that fits my eye.”

Tillinghast-designed Oak Hills. The top 30 on the money list after the event will advance to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship next week in Sonoma, California. Scores Friday from the AT&T Championship, a $1.7 million Champion Tour event at 6,735-yard, par-71 Oak Hills Country Club: First Round Keith Clearwater 33–33–66; Russ Cochran 32–34–66; Tom Kite 35–32–67; Andy Bean

35–32–67; Ben Crenshaw 35–32–67; Mark O’Meara 32–35–67; Bob Tway 34–34–68; David Eger 34–34–68; Mike Goodes 35–33–68; Jay Haas 33–35–68; John Cook 33–35–68; Scott Simpson 32–36–68; Craig Stadler 36–32–68; Mike Reid 33–35–68; Tim Simpson 33–35–68; Keith Fergus 33–36–69; Jeff Sluman 35–34–69; Dan Forsman 34–35–69; James Mason 34–35–69; John Morse 36–33–69; Tim Conley 33–36–69; Jeff Roth 37–32–69; Joe Inman 33–37–70; Bernhard Langer 36–34–70; Jim Thorpe 35–35–70; Allen Doyle 36–34–70.

GOLF Jay Haas, Bob Tway, David Eger, Mike Goodes, Scott Simpson, Craig Stadler, Mike Reid and Tim Simpson also shot 68s. Haas won the 2005 event and took the U.S. PGA Tour’s Texas Open in 1982 and 1993 at A.W.

Scott Simpson makes a tee shot on the 17th hole during the first round of the PGA Champions Tour AT&T Championship at the Oak Hills Country Club on Oct 23, in San Antonio, Texas. (AFP)

Fowler, Owen share lead Leonard stays in contention SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, Oct 24, (AP): Rickie Fowler, in his second US PGA event since turning pro, shared the lead with Englishman Greg Owen halfway through the Frys.com Open on Friday. Both shot 6-under 64s in the second round in ideal conditions on the Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club to reach 11-under 129. Justin Leonard also shot a 64 and was one behind at 10 under. First-round leader Nick O’Hern (68) and Ryan Moore (65) were 9 under in the third stop of the US PGA Tour’s Fall Series.

Heath Slocum was in a group of five at 8 under. Troy Matteson shot a 61 and was in a pack with Tom Lehman (65) and Rocco Mediate (66), among others, at 7 under. The 20-year-old Fowler, who helped the United States beat Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup last month, tied for seventh in his first US PGA Tour start as a pro last week in Las Vegas at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He was even for the round through five holes on Friday, then kicked his game into high gear with an eagle on the par-4, 345-yard sixth. “I swung out about as hard as I could and hit it about as hard as I could and it went about as straight as a ball could go,” Fowler said. “I ended up about 12 feet behind the hole and rolled in a good putt to kind of get things jump started.” The youngster was unflappable throughout the round, which ended with a birdie on No. 18. This wasn’t all new to him. He noted he had played “a few tour events” as an amateur, including two US Opens. He also played stops on the minor Nationwide Tour and two Walker Cups. “So I feel I’ve been through plenty of experiences to make me feel comfortable out here,” Fowler said. “You know, what you’re seeing is pretty much how I feel. I just feel like I’m going around and having fun. Right now the game feels good, so that makes it even more fun.” He plans to go to US PGA Tour qualify-

GOLF

Martin Laird of Scotland hits a tee shot on the ninth hole during the second round of the Frys.com Open at Grayhawk Golf Club on Oct 23, in Scottsdale, Arizona. (AFP)

Frys.com Open Scores SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, Oct 24, (AP): Scores Friday from the Frys.com Open, a $5 million US PGA Tour event at 7,125yard, par-70 Grayhawk Golf Club:

Second Round Greg Owen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rickie Fowler . . . . . . . . . . . . . Justin Leonard . . . . . . . . . . . . Nick O’Hern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ryan Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Stroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heath Slocum . . . . . . . . . . . . Bryce Molder . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tim Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Ames . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Weir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Crane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Tomasulo . . . . . . . . . . . Jamie Lovemark .. Rocco Mediate. . . . . . . . . . . . Webb Simpson . . . . . . . . . . . D.J. Trahan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pat Perez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tom Lehman . . . . . . . . . . . . . Troy Matteson . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill Lunde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott McCarron . . . . . . . . . . . Nicholas Thompson . . . . . . . . Steve Lowery. . . . . . . . . . . . . Alex Cejka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Vranesh . . . . . . . . . . . . Bo Van Pelt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stuart Appleby . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Garrigus . . . . . . . . . . . Nathan Green . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Wilson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chad Campbell . . . . . . . . . . . Ryan Palmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vaughn Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . Matt Jones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jonathan Byrd . . . . . . . . . . . . Andres Romero . . . . . . . . . . . Billy Mayfair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.J. Henry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D.A. Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

65-64-129 65-64-129 66-64-130 63-68-131 66-65-131 67-65-132 64-68-132 67-65-132 68-64-132 66-66-132 66-67-133 66-67-133 68-65-133 69-64-133 67-66-133 68-65-133 69-64-133 66-67-133 68-65-133 72-61-133 66-67-133 67-67-134 66-68-134 67-67-134 67-67-134 68-66-134 67-68-135 70-65-135 70-65-135 69-66-135 68-67-135 68-67-135 69-66-135 69-66-135 67-68-135 70-66-136 68-68-136 66-70-136 69-67-136 65-71-136

Jeff Klauk. . . . . . . . Tom Pernice, Jr. . . . Paul Goydos . . . . . Fred Couples . . . . . Ricky Barnes . . . . . Tim Herron. . . . . . . Tim Petrovic. . . . . . Bob Heintz. . . . . . . Rory Sabbatini . . . . Carl Pettersson . . . Chez Reavie . . . . . Chris DiMarco . . . . Steve Flesch . . . . . Chris Riley . . . . . . . Brian Davis . . . . . . John Merrick . . . . . Arron Oberholser . . Peter Lonard . . . . . Spencer Levin . . . . Colt Knost . . . . . . . Brett Quigley . . . . . John Mallinger . . . . Johnson Wagner . . Charlie Wi . . . . . . . Kent Jones . . . . . . Glen Day . . . . . . . . Parker McLachlin . . Brad Faxon . . . . . . Jason Gore . . . . . . Ted Purdy . . . . . . . Greg Chalmers . . . Mark Calcavecchia. Michael Bradley . . . Steve Elkington . . . Matt Bettencourt . . Martin Laird . . . . . . Aron Price . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

66-70-136 67-69-136 66-70-136 67-69-136 66-70-136 68-68-136 66-71-137 64-73-137 65-72-137 70-67-137 70-67-137 68-69-137 69-68-137 70-67-137 70-67-137 72-65-137 68-69-137 69-68-137 66-71-137 71-66-137 68-70-138 70-68-138 68-70-138 69-69-138 71-67-138 70-68-138 70-68-138 69-69-138 70-68-138 72-67-139 70-69-139 71-68-139 70-69-139 68-71-139 69-70-139 67-72-139 70-69-139

Failed to qualify Michael Allen . . . . . Darron Stiles . . . . . Mathew Goggin . . . Charley Hoffman . . Cameron Beckman George McNeill . . . Marc Turnesa. . . . . Kevin Streelman . .

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. . . . . . . .

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67-73-140 69-71-140 68-72-140 67-73-140 70-70-140 69-71-140 67-73-140 70-70-140

Kevin Sutherland . . . . . . . . . . 71-69-140 Leif Olson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71-69-140 Rich Beem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71-69-140 Brian Bateman . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-68-140 Harrison Frazar . . . . . . . . . . . 68-72-140 Dean Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70-71-141 Briny Baird. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69-72-141 Michael Letzig . . . . . . . . . . . . 71-70-141 Roland Thatcher . . . . . . . . . . 70-71-141 Jeff Maggert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76-65-141 Jay Williamson. . . . . . . . . . . . 71-70-141 Will MacKenzie . . . . . . . . . . . 70-71-141 Brad Adamonis . . . . . . . . . . . 66-76-142 James Nitties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-70-142 Casey Wittenberg . . . . . . . . . 71-71-142 David Mathis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68-74-142 Stan Utley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-70-142 Kris Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73-69-142 Jeff Overton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-70-142 Ryuji Imada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71-71-142 Aaron Baddeley . . . . . . . . . . . 75-67-142 Todd Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . 71-71-142 Cliff Kresge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70-72-142 Joe Ogilvie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-71-143 Tommy Armour III. . . . . . . . . . 74-69-143 Aaron Watkins . . . . . . . . . . . . 74-69-143 Eric Axley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70-74-144 Jeff Quinney . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-72-144 Fredrik Jacobson . . . . . . . . . . 70-74-144 Eric Meierdierks . . . . . . . . . . . 71-73-144 Daniel Chopra . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-72-144 Kirk Triplett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70-74-144 Jake Younan-Wise . . . . . . . . . 72-72-144 David Duval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70-75-145 John Rollins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73-72-145 Brendon de Jonge . . . . . . . . . 72-73-145 Jarrod Lyle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71-74-145 Bubba Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . 74-71-145 Richard S. Johnson . . . . . . . . 68-77-145 Brady Schnell . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-73-145 Brendon Todd . . . . . . . . . . . . 73-73-146 Matt Weibring . . . . . . . . . . . . 76-70-146 Derek Fathauer . . . . . . . . . . . 72-75-147 Dean Vomacka . . . . . . . . . . . 75-72-147 Ken Duke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74-76-150 Patrick Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . 78-75-153 Jimmy Walker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75-WD

ing school after this weekend. That would be unnecessary if he wins the tournament, though, because a victory would qualify him for next year’s full tour. Fowler seems a natural for the game. He says he hasn’t had a swing coach since high school. “Other than that, I’m basically on my own and doing my thing,” he said. Like Fowler, Owen played his round in the morning on the north Scottsdale course, not far from the site of February’s FBR Open. Owen entered the event 116th on the 2009 earnings list with $677,627. The top 125 automatically qualify for next year’s tour. “First of all, a good week would mean I’ve got a job for next year,” he said. Owen’s best US PGA Tour finish was a tie for ninth at this year’s John Deere Classic. Leonard is a 12-time US PGA winner and part of this year’s victorious US Presidents Cup team. Asked if he came to the tournament because he needed to just because he likes the Phoenix area, Leonard said “it’s kind of a combination.” “I played here two years ago and enjoyed the golf course and had a nice week,” he said. “I think the fact I had three weeks off after the playoffs and to really get rested up is another reason I am here.” Leonard said he spent part of those three weeks “analyzing the year and working on a few things, you know, toward next year. I like the way things are going so far this week.” The Australian O’Hern began the day with a two-shot lead after shooting a 63 on Thursday. Starting his round on the back nine, he had an eagle on his second hole — the par-5 11th — to go 9 under. Then came the 18th, when his second shot hit the water and he wound up with a double-bogey to fall back to minus-7. He regrouped for two birdies and seven pars on the final nine O’ttern holes. “It wasn’t a good way to finish that nine,” O’Hern said, “but as I said, I was happy with how I played the second nine just to get over that as quick as possible.” Defending champion Cameron Beckman shot his second 70 and missed the cut.

Chad Collins watches his tee shot on the second hole during the second round of the Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island on Oct 23, in Charleston, South Carolina. (AFP)

Garcia, Kaymer share second place

Jonzon leads in Spain CASTELLON, Spain, Oct 24, (RTRS): Sweden’s Michael Jonzon was eyeing the chance to get his career back on track after taking a one-shot lead in the Castellon Masters third round on Saturday. Jonzon, lying 158th on the European money-list and in danger of losing his playing card, kept tournament favourite Sergio Garcia in the shade with a sixunder-par 65 to surge to 16-under-par 197. Tournament host and defending champion Garcia (67) was a stroke behind, sharing second place with Germany’s Martin Kaymer (68). The revelation of the day, though, was 20-year-old British rookie professional Sam Hutsby, who is playing on an invitation from Garcia. The 20-year-old Englishman, runnerup in the British Amateur championship this year, finished only two shots off the pace in fourth place. Hutsby shared the lead for much of the round, only dropping back from second place by bogeying the last for a 66 in his third event as a professional. Garcia, who described his round as “hanging in on a tough day” is looking for his first win of the year on his home Mediterraneo course but the world number 10 said he would not mind if Hutsby took the title. “I’d be very happy for him,” Garcia told Reuters. “He’s a really good looking player with a bright future.” Jonzon said he was finding the form, especially his putting, that earned him his only individual tour title, the 1997 Portuguese Open. “There have been a lot of weeks when I’ve spent an extra 10 shots on the greens,” the leader told Reuters. “My position doesn’t show how well I’ve been playing. Tomorrow is a big day for me now.” Kaymer hit back from an early doublebogey to improve his chances of winning first time out following a nine-week layoff with a foot injury. “It was really tough walking on the back nine but I was really pleased with my comeback,” Kaymer, who will return to the top of Europe’s money-list if he

wins, told Reuters. “I’m looking forward to some rest before next week’s World Matchplay.” Hutsby, who turned professional after the Walker Cup in June, has not made a penny as professional. “I’ve seen how the top players excel around the greens,” he told Reuters. “I’ve learned how it takes so much pressure off you.” Colin Montgomerie fired a 64, his best round since carding a 63 in the Wales Open this year, to lie six shots off the lead but Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, who has steadily plunged down the world rankings to 254th, was still not happy. “It was only slightly encouraging,” Montgomerie told Reuters. “I still managed to turn a round of 60 into a 64. I’m putting well enough but I need to get the rest of my game sorted out. I want to stand in front of my team at the Ryder Cup opening ceremony having won a tournament. “

GOLF Leading third-round scores from the Castello Masters at the par-71 course in Spain on Saturday. 197 Michael Jonzon (Sweden)....64 68 65 198 Sergio Garcia (Spain)......63 68 67 Martin Kaymer (Germany)......63 67 68 199 Sam Hutsby (Britain) .......65 68 66 200 Peter Hanson (Sweden)..66 68 66 Christian Nilsson (Sweden) ....69 66 65 201 Robert Allenby (Australia)64 66 71 202 David Drysdale (Britain) ..68 68 66 Shiv Kapur (India)...................67 65 70 Maarten Lafeber ( N’lands) ....71 67 64 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain)..65 67 70 203 Andrew Coltart (Britain) ...70 64 69 Jamie Donaldson (Britain) ......71 67 65 Soren Hansen (Denmark) ......70 68 65 Colin Montgomerie (Britain)....70 69 64 204 Benn Barham (Britain).....68 66 70 Daniel Vancsik (Argentina) .....70 62 72 Simon Wakefield (Britain) .......70 69 65 Anthony Wall (Britain).............68 67 69 205 Darren Clarke (Britain) ....68 70 67 Robert-Jan Derksen (N’lands)71 66 68 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 68 69 68 Ignacio Garrido (Spain) ..........67 68 70 Justin Rose (Britain) ...............68 71 66 Alessandro Tadini (Italy) .........65 72 68 Danny Willett (Britain).............71 66 68

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

SPORTS

44

Italian more than half a second faster than Lorenzo

Rossi takes pole for Malaysia GP in title chase KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24, (RTRS): Valentino Rossi edged closer to winning his seventh premier class championship on Saturday by breaking his own pole record in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Italian, who leads by 38 points from Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, needs only to finish in the top four in Sunday’s race to successfully defend his championship. Yamaha rider Rossi’s lap of 2:00.518 seconds Rossi beat his previous mark set in 2006 at the Sepang circuit by 0.087 seconds and was more than half a second faster than Lorenzo, who clocked 2:01.087. “My target was go under 01.0 (2.01.00) but on the last lap I was able to go faster,” a beaming Rossi told reporters. “I see on the board 00.5 and I say ‘agh!’ — somebody beat me. But it was mine. So it’s great to start from the pole position tomorrow.” Honda rider Dani Pedrosa of Spain secured a front-row spot with the third

Malaysian Grand Prix Results SEPANG, Malaysia, Oct 24, (AP): Leading results from Saturday’s qualifying sessions for the Malaysian Grand Prix at the 3.45-mile (5.548-kilometer) Sepang Circuit (with rider, country, motorcyle and time): MotoGP 1. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Yamaha, 2 minutes, 00.518 seconds, 2. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain, Yamaha, 2:01.087. 3. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Honda, 2:01.254. 4. Casey Stoner, Australia, Ducati, 2:01.455. 5. Loris Capirossi, Italy, Suzuki,

2:01.716. 6. Toni Elias, Spain, Honda, 2:01.918. 7. Nicky Hayden, United States, Ducati, 2:01.980. 8. Randy de Puniet, France, Honda, 2:02.098. 9. Colin Edwards, United States, Yamaha, 2:02.195. 10. Alex de Angelis, San Marino, Honda, 2:02.274. 250cc 1. Hiroshi Aoyama, Japan, Honda, 2 minutes, 06.767 seconds, 2. Jules Cluzel, France, Aprilia, 2:07.099, 3. Mike Di Meglio, France, Aprilia,

2:07.232, 4. Hector Barbera, Spain, Aprilia, 2:07.301, 5. Alvaro Bautista, Spain, Aprilia, 2:07.371. 125cc 1. Marc Marquez, Spain, KTM, 2 minutes, 13.756 seconds, 2. Julian Smith, Spain, Aprilia, 2:13.811, 3. Bradley Smith, Great Britain, Aprilia, 2:14.209, 4. Sandro Cortese, Germany, Derbi, 2:14.231, 5. Nicolas Terol, Spain, Aprilia, 2:14.403.

fastest time, relegating Australian Casey Stoner to the second row in fourth position. Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi of Italy

at the Australian Grand Prix, was disappointed with second place on the grid after setting the pace during free practice on Friday. “For sure this day is not the happiest day of my life, but tomorrow is the race and we try to do the best we can,” he said. Japan’s Hiroshi Aoyama also set a pole record of 2:06.767 in the 250cc category to put the Honda rider in prime position to seal the championship on Sunday.

Aoyama, who leads champion Marco Simoncelli of Italy by 12 points, was joined on the front row by a pair of Frenchmen in second-placed Jules Cluzel and Mike Di Meglio in third. In the 125cc category, 16-year-old Spaniard Marc Marquez took his second pole of the season and his career ahead of second-placed compatriot Julian Simon, who secured the championship with victory at the Australian Grand Prix last Sunday.

MOTOR RACING qualified fifth and Spaniard Toni Elias sixth on a Honda. Lorenzo, whose championship hopes were all but dashed after he crashed out

Fiat Yamaha Team’s Jorge Lorenzo of Spain controls his bike during the second practice session at the Sepang international circuit, Sepang, Malaysia, Oct 24. (AP)

Crosby leads Penguins past Panthers for 7th straight win Avalanche Tucker injured in victory over Canes PITTSBURGH, Oct 24, (AP): Sidney Crosby found a lot of ways to score in his 300th career NHL regular-season game. Crosby had a power-play goal and a short-handed score in the third period, and had the only goal in a shootout to help the Pittsburgh Penguins win their seventh straight game, 3-2 over the Florida Panthers on Friday night. After erasing a two-goal deficit in the third period, Crosby beat Tomas Vokoun with a nifty deke in the shootout for the Stanley Cup champion Penguins, an NHL-best 9-1-0. Steven Reinprecht scored twice in the first period for Florida. The Panthers have lost six of seven to drop to 2-5-1.

In the shootout, Crosby moved in slowly on Vokoun and made three moves to his forehand before finally tucking it into the net as Vokoun dove to his left. Crosby improved to 3-for-3 in shootouts this season with his 10th career game-deciding shootout goal. Brent Johnson stopped the Panthers’ Reinprecht, Ville Koistinen and Nathan Horton during the shootout and made 27 saves during regulation and overtime in winning for the first time as a Penguin. Pittsburgh won in the first game since All-Star defenseman Sergei Gonchar was lost for at least four weeks because of a broken bone in his wrist. “We were still in striking distance (heading into the third),” Crosby said. “We felt like even in the second half of the second period, we created some chances. Even though we were down 2-0 going into the third, we felt like we were pretty close.” Crosby tied it with 3:19 to play with his short-handed goal, one-timing a feed from Evgeni Malkin with a shot that appeared to deflect off a Florida player. The short-handed goal was the first in the NHL for Crosby. Crosby’s first goal of the game came a second after a 5-on-3 power play had expired 2:14 into the third after a diving effort to keep in the puck in the zone by Malkin. Malkin swatted the puck to Alex Goligoski, who fed an open Crosby in the right-wing circle. “We had a bad start, but after that we played better and did a good job in the third

ICE HOCKEY

Marek Svatos #40 of the Colorado Avalanche tries to control the puck while under pressure from Rod Brind’Amour #17, Tom Kostopoulos #29 and Jay Harrison #44 of the Carolina Hurricanes during NHL action on Oct 23, in Denver, Colorado. (AFP)

NHL Results/Standings NHL results on Friday. Pittsburgh 3 Florida St Louis 3 Minnesota Colorado 5 Carolina

2 1 4

Standings Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF Pittsburgh 9 1 0 36 NY Rangers 7 3 0 37 New Jersey 5 3 0 22 Philadelphia 4 2 1 25 NY Islanders 1 4 3 18 Northeast Division Buffalo 5 1 1 23

GA 21 26 21 22 31

Pts 18 14 10 9 5

14 11

Ottawa Boston Montreal Toronto

5 2 1 27 4 4 1 26 4 5 0 22 0 6 1 14 Southeast Division Washington 5 2 2 34 Atlanta 4 2 1 25 Tampa Bay 3 3 2 22 Carolina 2 5 2 22 Florida 2 5 1 18 Western Conference Central Division Chicago 5 3 1 31 Columbus 5 3 0 25 St Louis 4 3 1 23 Detroit 3 3 2 24

22 11 29 9 26 8 32 1 28 12 20 9 29 8 31 6 30 5 26 11 24 10 21 9 28 8

Nashville

3 5 1 18 31 7 Northwest Division Colorado 7 1 2 35 25 16 Calgary 6 2 1 36 31 13 Edmonton 6 2 1 36 26 13 Vancouver 4 5 0 26 27 8 Minnesota 2 7 0 19 30 4 Pacific Division Phoenix 6 2 0 21 12 12 Los Angeles 6 4 0 33 33 12 Dallas 4 2 4 33 31 12 San Jose 5 4 1 34 31 11 Anaheim 3 4 1 18 25 7 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L) (RTRS)

Diack to meet Dmitry at summit in Russia

IAAF president calls off trip to SA LONDON, Oct 24, (AP): The head of track and field’s world governing body has called off a visit to South Africa to discuss the results of 800-meter world champion Caster Semenya’s gender tests. IAAF president Lamine Diack put off the trip to South Africa this weekend because he received an invitation to meet the Russian president at a major sports summit in that

ATHLETICS country, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said. The IAAF, which has been criticized in South Africa for its handling of the Semenya case, said Diack still hoped to meet with South African officials once they have turned over the results of their own gender tests on the runner. “The South Africa trip may still take place, and if it does, the reason for it is very clear,”

Davies told The Associated Press. “The president would like to find a solution to this matter which puts the interests of the athlete first. To do this, he believes it is important to find a consensus.” The 18-year-old Semenya has been under intense international scrutiny since winning the women’s 800 at the world championships in Berlin in August. The IAAF ordered gender tests on Semenya before the final to determine whether she was eligible to compete as a woman. It is still reviewing the results, and has refused to confirm or deny Australian media reports that the tests indicate Semenya has male and female sex organs. The IAAF council is scheduled to consider the case next month in Monaco. In the meantime, Davies said the IAAF wants to compare its test results with those conducted by Athletics South Africa in Pretoria on Aug 7 before the championships.

“We have still not received any written results,” Davies said. He said the IAAF results have been analyzed by eight medical experts, four from inside the federation’s own medical commission and four from outside. “This is why the president is ready to talk to the South African sports minister,” Davies said. “We hope not only to have a group of approved experts ... but also the results from the Aug. 7 tests for obvious reasons — so that the results can be compared to the Berlin results. Once that is done, we hope to be able to discuss the results and any necessary consequences directly with Semenya.” Diack had planned to meet on Saturday with South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile. Instead, Davies said, Diack accepted an invitation to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a sports and economic conference in Kazan, Russia.

period,” Malkin said. “(Johnson) played very well.” Reinprecht scored twice in a 2:37 span. Florida entered the game with only one power-play goal in three road games this season, but scored one on its second opportunity 12:39 into the fist period when Reinprecht flipped a wrist shot past Pittsburgh backup goalie Brent Johnson. Reinprecht then scored for the fourth time in his past three games by tapping in a loose puck into a wide open net when Johnson couldn’t handle a shot from Nathan Horton. For a while, it appeared as if Vokoun would make that hold up. He made 41 saves, including stopping Malkin while on a power play 40 seconds into he third period with a glove save but the sequence included Rostislav Olesz’s hooking penalty that led to Crosby’s power play goal. This was only the third game this season Pittsburgh did not score first and also only the third time it trailed heading into the third period. The Penguins improved to 2-1 in each instance. Avalanche 5, Hurricanes 4 In Denver, after watching injured teammate Darcy Tucker leave the ice on a backboard, Milan Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski scored in quick succession to lift Colorado over Carolina. Tucker was checked into the boards by Carolina forward Tuomo Ruutu as he tried to play the puck in the second period. Tucker’s face hit the glass hard and he fell to the ice on his back unconscious. He lay motionless for several minutes as doctors attended. The team said Tucker was alert and taken to the hospital for treatment and evaluation. Ruutu was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct, and Hejduk scored on the subsequent power play. Forty seconds later, Wolski scored his fifth goal of the season. Blues 3, Wild 1 Tucker In St. Louis, David Perron had a goal and an assist for his first points of the season after getting shifted to the checking line, helping St. Louis beat Minnesota. Jay McClement also scored, and Chris Mason made 20 saves for St. Louis. Chuck Kobasew scored for Minnesota. The Wild have lost seven straight on the road, four shy of the franchise worst.

Chris Stewart #25 of the Colorado Avalanche delivers a hit on Joni Pitkanen #25 of the Carolina Hurricanes during NHL action on Oct 23, in Denver, Colorado. (AFP)

Loew calls off Williams clash

Pavlik says nearly died from an allergic reaction NEW YORK, Oct 24, (AP): An allergic reaction to medication caused middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik’s temperature to soar past 104 degrees (40 C), and his heart rate to 150 beats a minute. When he was finally admitted to the hospital, the sweat was pouring off his body, which had turned shades of red and purple. An infectious diseases specialist at the Cleveland Clinic told his father, Mike Pavlik, that the 27-year-old fighter had better keep fighting. The outlook was grim. “I’m not a medical man,” Mike Pavlik said, “but he was really close to the edge that day.” What began as a small staph infection on the knuckle of his left hand, where Pavlik had received a cortisone injection, had somehow spiraled to this: A strapping young man who makes his living relentlessly pushing his body to the extreme was bedridden, his wife Samantha keeping vigil over him while doctors learned what went wrong. Pavlik says he doesn’t remember everything that happened last month, only bits and pieces. He recalls a doctor telling him that he wasn’t going home right away, and that every step he took toward the emergency ward was more difficult than the last. He remembers his skin crawling, his heart feeling like it would jump right out of his chest. He doesn’t remember the steroids doctors gave him to make the reaction subside. “I don’t remember that day, that’s how bad it was,” Pavlik told The Associated Press. “They told me it was pretty serious. It was the worst form of reaction you could have.” It was also the lowest point in a summer of misfortune. The staph infection appeared after Pavlik defeated Marco Antonio Rubio, a tough but woefully overmatched opponent, before an admiring crowd in Pavlik’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. He was playing basketball on a warm March day when the knuckle split open. After a few minutes, Pavlik looked down to see a colorless ooze where there should have been blood, and a trip to the doctor confirmed the bacteria. A month went by and antibiotics weren’t doing their job, so Pavlik had surgery in Youngstown to clean out the infection.

When the stitches were removed, the hole was still there. Further tests revealed MRSA, a sometimes fatal strain of staph that resists broad-spectrum antibiotics. “I was ready to say right there, chop the hand off,” Pavlik said. In the meantime, months of tough negotiations had resulted in an agreement between Pavlik and feared puncher Paul Williams. They would meet in early October in Atlantic City, with Pavlik guaranteed millions and both getting the HBO exposure every fighter covets. The staph infection still wasn’t getting better, though, and the fight was pushed back to Dec. 5. Williams and his promoter, Dan Goossen, were willing to work with Pavlik after seeing optimistic test results from the clinic. Doctors believed the infection would clear up and Pavlik could begin punching in mid-October, giving him time

BOXING to prepare for the fight. Then came the allergic reaction and trip to the hospital, just before Pavlik was supposed to leave for New Jersey and a news conference to officially announce the fight. “We learned our lesson once already when he went into a fight not feeling well,” Mike Pavlik said, referring to his son’s loss to Bernard Hopkins, when he became ill a couple of days before the bout a year ago. “And we vowed we wouldn’t do it again.” Still, Pavlik said he felt obligated to go through with the Williams fight. People were counting on him, and he was told by doctors that he’d be fine, even if he wasn’t so sure. The infection had cleared up, but the surgeries were keeping Pavlik from closing his left hand. On Wednesday, trainer Jack Loew finally called off the fight. Williams will face another opponent on Dec 5, and Pavlik hopes he’ll be able to fight him early next year - “I’ll be nervous on the fifth,” he said. Until then, the WBC middleweight champion is left to ponder his summer of misfortune. “I want to fight, and people question because I’ve been inactive, but there’s goals I want to accomplish,” he said. “It does feel like wasted time, where I could be out accomplishing a lot. And one big fight could sum up that big accomplishment.”

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

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Aussies braced for strengthened India

Batsman Yuvraj doubtful for first Australia one-dayer VADODARA, India, Oct 24, (Agencies): Explosive India batsman Yuvraj Singh is a doubt for their opening one-day international against Australia on Sunday after failing to recover from a finger injury. Hard-hitting left-hander Yuvraj, who missed this month’s Champions Trophy with a broken finger, had been named in the 15-player squad in the hope he would be fit to start the series between the world’s top two ranked sides. “All I can say is that Yuvraj will surely be available for the second match,” India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni told a news conference on Saturday ahead of the seven-match series against the Yuvraj world champions. India suffered an injury scare to the skipper as well as batsman Suresh Raina at practice, but Dhoni said they were just niggles.

CRICKET Australia won a one-day series 4-2 on their previous visit two years ago. The other matches will be played in Nagpur (Oct 28), New Delhi (Oct 31), Mohali (Nov 2), Hyderabad (Nov 5), Guwahati (Nov 8) and Mumbai (Nov 11). In New Delhi, the return of two of India’s most explosive batsmen poses a threat to Australia’s efforts to build on impressive recent form when the two sides meet in the latest chapter of their escalating rivalry. Riding on the one-day form that has seen it win 11 of its past 12 one-day games, world champion Australia has arrived determined to avenge its loss at home in last year’s tri-series to Mahendra Dhoni’s India side.

With the seven-match limited-overs series that begins Sunday in the western city of Vadodara, Australia captain Ricky Ponting is confident of reproducing the form that saw his team win six of seven matches against England this year and then defend its Champions Trophy title. “We’ve been playing consistently good one-day cricket, I expect that to continue over the next couple of weeks in India,” Ponting said. Ponting’s team, however, is missing some key players: vice-captain Michael Clarke (back), in-form batsman Callum Ferguson, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (finger) and seasoned pace bowler Nathan Bracken (knee). Tim Paine, standing in for Haddin as wicketkeeper after Australia lost the Ashes test series in England, has displayed good form with the bat, while all-rounder Shane Watson’s successive centuries in the Champions Trophy provided a big boost. India was knocked out of the preliminary round in the Champions Trophy, but Ponting felt Dhoni’s side would be a different proposition on its home turf. “Confronting the Indian team in front of huge home crowds will be a big challenge,” said Australia coach Tim Nielsen, reminding his players not to “get too emotionally into it.” Ponting said the intensity of the contests between these two teams — currently No. 1 and 2 in ICC’s one-day rankings — had seen it develop into a genuine rivalry. Squads: India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra. Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Shane Watson, Cameron White, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, Jon Holland, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges.

Hirvonen roars into contention

Sebastien ‘heading’ for record sixth title in a row LONDON, Oct 24, (Agencies): Citroen’s times,” he said. “I’m trying but it’s just not Sebastien Loeb was heading for a record going anywhere. sixth successive world rally championship “In some places the car feels like it’s not after ending Saturday’s second leg of the turning in and it’s oversteering. It could be title-deciding British round with a lead of the driveshaft. I don’t know. more than half a minute. “I have a lot to do now. I have to keep The Frenchman, who will retain his pushing, that’s for sure.” crown on Sunday if he finishes in the The rally ends in Cardiff on Sunday. points and ahead of Ford’s Mikko Provisional standings after the six speHirvonen, ended the penulcial stages on day two of timate day with a 30.2 secthe Rally of Great Britain, ond advantage over the the last race of the 2009 second-placed Finn. World Rally Hirvonen had cut Loeb’s Championship, here on lead to just 2.9 seconds Saturday: after a wet and muddy 1. Sebastien Loeb opening stage of the day in (FRA/Citroen C4) 2hr South Wales but was pow32min 21.4sec erless to prevent his rival 2. Mikko Hirvonen roaring ahead after that. (FIN/Ford Focus) at 30.2 With just four stages 3. Dani Sordo remaining, Loeb looked in (ESP/Citroen C4) at 1min complete control while 20.1sec Hirvonen will have to go Sebastien Loeb of France and 4. Petter Solberg flat out and take plenty of co driver Daniel Elna of Monte (NOR/Citroen C4) 1:44.1 risks. 5. Sebastien Ogier Carlo drive a Citroen Total The Finn had a one- WRT car during a special (FRA/Citroen C4) 4:21.6 point lead in the champi- stage of the Rally of Britain in 6. Henning Solberg onship ahead of the sea- Crychan, Wales, Oct 24. (AP) (NOR/Ford Focus) 5:22.8 son-ending race but Loeb has more victo7. Matthew Wilson (GBR/Ford Focus) ries to his credit. 6:30.0 “The rain this morning made the roads 8. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN/Ford Focus) good for me. I had 8:02.5 plenty of grip,” Loeb 9. Conrad RALLYING told the official R a u t e n b a c h wrc.com website at (ZIM/Citroen C4) the midday interval. 12:00.1 Hirvonen, chasing his first title, was 10. Aaron Burkart (GER/Citroen C4) bewildered by his car’s lack of pace and 16:28.2 worried that he could be developing similar Special stage winners: driveshaft problems to the ones that sideLoeb (ES1, ES2, ES3, ES5, ES8, ES9, lined his team mates on Friday. ES11, ES12), Hirvonen (ES4, ES6, ES7, “For some reason I just can’t do the ES10)

Best of the Rest Kuwaiti referee wins award:

Flores to replace Resino: Struggling

Kuwaiti Taekwondo referee Faraj Al-Fadl won the most valuable referee award in the 19th World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) World Taekwondo Championships Copenhagen, Denmark. Treasurer at the Kuwaiti Judo and Taekwondo Federation Hani Al-Mershad told KUNA Saturday that winning the trophy was an honor for Kuwait Taekwondo, affirming that Al-Fadl was amongst the best Taekwondo practitioners in Kuwait and still is continuing his passion and commitment to the martial art through his role as an international referee. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑

Spanish league side Atletico Madrid on Friday named Enrico Sanchez Flores as their new coach, taking over from Abel Resino who was sacked earlier in the day. Former Spanish international “Quique” Flores, 44, has previously been in charge of Getafe and Valencia as well as Benfica where he coached for a season before leaving this year. Flores has signed a deal with Atletico which will see him through until the end of the season and will be officially unveiled on Monday. Resino’s assistant Santi Denia will take charge of the team for Saturday’s visit of Real Mallorca. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Moles quits as NZ coach: Andy Moles has resigned as New Zealand coach, the country’s national cricket board announced on Saturday. New Zealand reached the final of this month’s Champions Trophy in South Africa but domestic media has reported that unnamed senior players wanted Moles removed and NZC’s review had been critical of Moles’ performance. “Andy Moles has resigned as coach of the Blackcaps in the best interests of New Zealand cricket,” New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said in a statement on their website. “This follows a review of the Blackcaps performance upon their return from Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Time out for Nigerian league: The Nigerian Premier League (NPL) has been put on hold after five weeks of action as a result of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, which the country will host beginning Saturday. The NPL’s head of competitions, Tunji Babalola, announced that the league will resume on Nov 18, three days after the final of the international tournament whichy opens with the host team taking on Germany at the Abuja National Stadium. The other Group A match is between Argentina and Honduras. Officials disclosed that world ruling body FIFA have taken over all the eight stadiums designated for the tournament, meaning that several league clubs can therefore not host their home games at suitable venues. (AFP)

Belgian Olivier Rochus returns the ball on Oct 24, to Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci during the semifinal of the Stockholm Open in the Swedish capital. (AFP)

8th-seeded Schiavone to meet Govortsova in Kremlin Cup final Baghdatis advances after Soderling drops out MOSCOW, Oct 24, (Agencies): Francesca Schiavone of Italy and Olga Govortsova of Belarus advanced to the final of the dual ATP and WTA Kremlin Cup with straight-sets victories Saturday. Schiavone, seeded No 8, beat Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-0 to reach her second straight final in as many weeks, while Govortsova ousted Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 6-1 to reach her second career final. On the men’s side, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia advanced to his first final by beating Ukrainian qualifier Illya Marchenko 6-1, 64. Tipsarevich, seeded sixth, broke decisively in the seventh game of the second set. “I tried to change the rhythm and tempo in the match,” Tipsarevich said. “I got a huge boost and confidence in my game once I made the first break.” Tipsarevic will next play Mikhail Youzhny of Russia or Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin. “I have no experience of playing in the final - this is my first one,” Tipsarevic said. “So, I will play it point by point, like any other match.” Schiavone, the only seed left in the women’s tournament, is 1-10 in WTA Tour finals, winning her only title at the Gastein Ladies in 2007. The 24th-ranked Italian lost to Samantha Stosur of Australia in the final in Osaka, Japan, last Sunday. Schiavone, runner-up here in 2005, broke Bondarenko decisively in the 10th game of the first set and dominated the second set which she won to love to reach her third final this season. “I was more aggressive today,” Schiavone said. “At 5-2 she played too good, very good but then I was pushing and took my chance. I think I played better today.” Schiavone is now 4-2 against Bondarenko, who is ranked No 36 in the world. Bondarenko won her only title by beating the Italian in the final in Luxembourg in 2006. After an exchange of breaks, unheralded Govortsova broke Kleybanova two more times in the first set. The 67th-ranked Belarusian was 4-1 up in the second when Kleybanova called for a doctor to have her right shoulder and back massaged. At 5-2 and 40-15 down on her serve in the seventh game, Kleybanova saved four match points before Govortsova beat her with a forehand cross on the fifth deuce. “It was tough struggle in every game, though the score looks so impressive,” Govortsova said. “I’m happy with my play here.” Govortsova, who is 1-1 against

Schiavone, said she would have to play aggressively to beat the Italian. “Schiavone always plays good here because she plays passively with many slices and drop shots,” Govortsova said. The 20th edition of the Kremlin Cup has a weakened women’s draw because seven of the world’s top players had qualified for the Doha Championships before the Moscow tournament and opted to skip it. The seventh-ranked Vera Zvonareva of Russia, defending champion Jelena Jankovic and Agnieszka Radwanska, ranked 10th, were eliminated in the early rounds. Top-seeded Robin Soderling withdrew from the Stockholm Open semifinals because of an elbow injury, allowing Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus to advance to the final where he will play Olivier Rochus. The Belgian outlasted Tomaz Bellucci of Brazil 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 to reach Sunday’s final at Royal Tennis Hall. Soderling has been bothered by a sore right elbow since July, when he withdrew from the quarterfinals in Washington. A trainer treated him several times during the second set in the quarterfinals Friday against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain. “I felt so much pain when I played in Asia. I had an MRI Tuesday and they told me that I have to rest two, three weeks to get well,” Soderling said. Soderling is battling for one of the two remaining spots for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London next month. He has not decided if he’ll play upcoming tournaments in Valencia and Paris. “I haven’t withdrawn from any tournaments so far,” Soderling said. “I’ll just wait and see and have more medical examinations.”

The 10th-ranked Swede, a surprising finalist in the French Open this year, was the only seeded player left in the tournament. “I’m sorry for Robin first of all,” Baghdatis said. “It’s not easy to retire, especially when you’re playing at home. But obviously I’m happy to get through to the final. I need some points and my ranking is not so good right now. I knew it would not have been an easy match for me today. He was the favourite, playing with the home support and indoors. So I’m just happy to get through.” Baghdatis has played great all week long, not losing a set in his three matches. This is his best ATP Tour result of the year. Ranked 66th, Baghdatis has won two career titles. He’s looking forward to playing his practice partner on Sunday. “Rochus is playing great,” Baghdatis said. “He’s a good friend of mine and we’ve warmed up together every day this week. It’s nice to play a friend in the final.”

TENNIS “I played a good match,” he said. “I stayed positive and didn’t give up, that’s why I won.” The 87th-ranked Rochus, who also has two career titles, broke Bellucci’s serve twice early in the decisive set to lead 4-0. But Bellucci fought back. He broke back twice, cutting the score to 5-3, but Rochus then held his serve to close out the match, winning on his third match point. “In the third set, when I was leading 4-0, he was taking more risks and it was all working for him,” Rochus said. “But then he made a few errors and I played an

Francesca Schiavone of Italy returns the ball to Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine during their semifinal match at the WTA Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow on Oct 24. (AFP)

incredible last game to finish strong. It was a very good match, but tough physically.” Rochus has had a tough year following shoulder surgery. “My ranking was down at 120,” he recalled. “To finish near the top 50 is incredible for me. I’ve come back really well, playing a lot of Challengers. To come back from so far down is very pleasing and I hope I can continue playing like this next year.” In Vienna, with three weeks remaining in the regular ATP season, Croatian Marin Cilic, second-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek and French showman Gael Monfils, the number three, are all off the pace for the eight-man World Tour Final in London from Nov 22. But the mathematics give decent chances even to the late runners, with a total of 1,750 ranking points in play over the next 21 days through the final of the Paris Masters on Nov 15. Cilic, winner of two titles and finalist this month in Beijing to Novak Djokovic, stands provisional 12th in the chase for the last two spots in London. Stepanek, an alternate last year when the year-ender was played in Shanghai, trails on 14th while Metz champion Monfils is 16th. Andy Roddick clinched the sixth spot at the wrap-event last week as he rests a knee injury, joining Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro in the field. Next in the qualifying queue is Shanghai Masters champion Nikolay Davydenko, with Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and Swede Robin Soderling on his heels. Vienna took a box-office blow as the injured and disillusioned Del Potro, who has yet to show even hints of the form which won him the US Open title over Federer, withdrew injured, returning to South America. Cilic, 13th in the world will begin the first round at the Stadthalle with a qualifier, while Stepanek takes on Pole Lucasz Kubot, finalist last May on clay in Belgrade to Djokovic. Monfils, one of nine retirement victims in Shanghai last week, will hope his back problems have cleared when he starts with hard-courting Spaniard Guillermo GarciaLopez, beaten in the Stockholm quarterfinals this week by Soderling. The Frenchman lost the Vienna final a year ago to German Philipp Petzschner, who came out of qualifying rounds to the trophy. Finn Jarkko Nieminen will play for his last week at the ATP level before being forced to the Challenger circuit, the result of a ranking fall to 120th after his wrist surgery absence this season. American John Isner takes the eighth seeding with hopes that his big serve can see him through indoors. He faces a firstround match with Serb Janko Tipsarevic.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

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46

A group shot of the participating schools and officials.

UIS qualifies for Nationals India International School hosted the CBSE Inter School Basket Ball Tournament (Kuwait Cluster) from 18th October to 20th October. The Tournament was inaugurated by His Excellency the Ambassador of India Ajai Malhotra. He blessed all the players and

urged them to be exemplary sportswoman. The other dignitaries present were Dr P.A. Ibrahim Chairman of India International School who came from Dubai to attend this ceremony, Moosa Koya the Director of India International School, Fr. Lionel Braganza

Principal Indian English Academy and convener of Kuwait Cluster CBSE Schools, Sr. Marya Lytta Principal Carmel School and Sr. Serena Vice Principal Carmel School. The Principal Anis Ahmad welcomed all the dignitaries and wished Best of Luck to

Two-yr deal reached

NBA, referees end lockout NEW YORK, Oct 24, (AP): The regular referees made the call. They’re coming back to work. The referees union and the NBA agreed on a two-year contract Friday, ending a lockout of more than a month and saving the league from using replacements when the regular season starts. The officials voted to ratify the deal that was reached earlier this week. No details of the vote were provided, nor were terms of the agreement.

BASKETBALL “We are pleased to reach this agreement,” NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement. “The negotiations extended further than either side had hoped, but when our regular season tips off on Tuesday we’ll have the best referees in the world officiating our games.” The referees union didn’t comment. The 57 referees were set to begin a three-day training camp Saturday and be ready when the regular season starts Tuesday night. The league used replacement officials during exhibition play. The referees’ contracts have usually been for five years, but the NBA consented to a twoyear deal at the request of the union, which hoped it could renegotiate sooner with the economy hopefully in better shape. The sides agreed on a salary structure that would give the refs a slight raise in the second year, but they remained apart on proposed changes to the referees’ pension and severance

Dallas Mavericks’ Drew Gooden (right), goes to the basket with Houston Rockets’ Carl Landry (left), on his back in the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game, Oct 23, in Houston. (AP)

packages, as well as a plan to develop younger officials by having them work in NBA games. The contract between the league and the National Basketball Referees Association expired Sept 1, and the league announced on Sept 18 that it was locking out the officials, saying they had rejected its final contract offer. The NBA decided to go with replacements late last month after the referees rejected a deal the league said its negotiators had already agreed to. That raised the possibility of the league starting the season with backup officials for the first time since 1995. But progress was made in a meeting this week at league headquarters that included Stern, who rejoined the talks this week at the request of the refer-

ees. He previously had withdrawn from negotiations after the referees’ lead negotiator Lamell McMorris criticized the commissioner’s behavior. “It was always our intention to make a deal and our hope. I thought that perhaps the rhetoric had gotten a little bit too heated and it would be better for me to withdraw,” Stern said earlier Friday during a conference call. “But it was requested by the other side that I return and that they were coming in to make a deal and they asked me to be there, and I thought I owed them out of my respect to them to honor that request.” The league used a roster of 62 replacements, mostly from the NBA Development League and WNBA, during the lockout. Stern said the backups “responded very well” and predicted that many would referee NBA games again. Replacement officials were criticized for calling too many fouls, though the amount decreased later in the exhibition season, which ended Friday night. “As the preseason went on, they were better,” Houston coach Rick Adelman said. “I don’t think they were arrogant, or anything like that. They gave the explanations, and they were doing the best they could. “The first couple (games) were just foul after foul and call after call, and there was no rhythm to the games,” Adelman added. “After that, I thought it settled down fairly well. They just called things differently than the normal officials. They’re pretty much going by the book.”

Best of the Rest Bobby Jackson retires: Bobby Jackson is retiring from the NBA. The 12-year veteran guard, who spent six seasons with Sacramento, made the announcement Friday night before the Kings’ preseason finale against the Utah Jazz. Jackson averaged 9.7 points per game in his career. He was the league’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2002-03 with averages of 15.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists. The former University of Minnesota star played for Sacramento last season but was not re-signed in the offseason. “It’s a tough day for me because I’m retiring from professionally playing the game I love,” he said. “But it’s also a happy day because I’m retiring on my own terms.” Jackson will work with the Kings as an ambassador, promoting the team in local appearances and handling some scouting. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Master trainer claims rich Cox Plate: Three-year-old colt So You Think won the $2.8 million W.S. Cox Plate on Saturday, providing another big race win for master trainer Bart Cummings. Less than a month before his 82nd birthday, Cummings added to his extraordinary training record by preparing a horse making only its fourth career start to win Australia’s most prestigious setweights race, beating a star-studded field of older horses. With his horse Viewed having won the previous weekend’s rich Caulfield Cup, few would be willing to bet against Cummings adding to his record tally of 12 Melbourne Cup victories when Australia’s biggest race is run on its traditional date of the first Tuesday in November. Jockey Glen Boss took So You Think to an early

lead in Saturday’s 2.04-kilometer (1.27-mile) race at the tight Moonee Valley track and the $14 chance was never headed in winning by 2-1/2 lengths from another three-year-old, Manhattan Rain. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Vancouver stadium to get new roof: The stadium hosting the opening and closing ceremonies of next year’s Winter Olympics will get a roof worth about a half billion dollars after the games. A retractable roof for the 60,000-seat BC Place Stadium is planned for 2011. It will replace the current air-supported dome. The CFL’s B.C. Lions play there. The roof is planned be the largest cable-supported, fully retractable fabric roof in the world at more than 10 acres (four hectares). British Columbia Minister of Tourism, Culture and Arts Kevin Krueger said on Friday the project will not interfere with the Olympics ceremonies. The design allows for the roof to retract, and be hidden inside a suspended, four-sided electronic video board without compromising sightlines. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Contador in contact with Caisse: Spaniard Alberto Contador has had contact with Caisse d’Epargne, Quick Step, Garmin-Slipstream and Liquigas about riding for them next year, the Tour de France champion was quoted as saying on Saturday. “Yes there are some (contacts) with those teams,” Contador told Spanish sports daily As. “They are all good options for next year.” Contador is currently waiting for legal advice before deciding whether to quit his Astana team. He is under contract with the Kazakh-funded outfit until 2010 but they have not yet been granted a ProTour licence by the International Cycling Union (UCI) for next year. (RTRS)

the teams. The IIS students presented spectacular dance when the Ambassador declared the tournament open. Mrs. Narender Kaur the vice Principal of IIS presented vote of thanks. United India School, Indian Community

School, Carmel School and Fahaheel Al Watanya Indian Private School teams reached the semi final stage. The final match was played between United Indian School and Carmel School. The United Indian School defeated Carmel

School and qualified for the Nationals to be held in India. The Trophy was given by Mr. Malayil Moosa Koya, the Director of the host school to the winning team. Best of Luck to UIS for the Nationals!

Orlando ends preseason campaign on perfect note Rockets fail to fly against Mavs ORLANDO, Fla, Oct 24, (AP): Vince Carter was 9 of 10 from the field and scored 26 points to lead the Orlando Magic to a 123-86 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night to cap the NBA’s only unbeaten preseason.

Jamison facing a long ‘lay-off’ CHICAGO, Oct 24, (AP): Antawn Jamison’s ailing shoulder will keep him off the court well into the regular season. The Washington Wizards announced an estimated recovery time for Jamison’s injury Friday, saying he’s likely to miss the first eight to 13 games. “The most important thing is it’s a long season,” he said. “We’ve got some guys who we added to the team and can help us out. I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do as far as rehab and get ready as quickly as possible.” The two-time All-Star forward partially dislocated his shoulder trying to block a shot in an exhibition game against Cleveland on Oct. 14. The Wizards originally ruled him out for the rest of the preseason until the injury could be reevaluated this week. “We can hold down the fort until he comes back, and we’re going to have to,” forward Caron Butler said before Friday’s game at Chicago. Team president Ernie Grunfeld said doctors have had a chance to look at the shoulder again, and that Jamison is expected to be out three to five weeks. Jamison said he feels “great” and that he’s able to lift weights and dribble the ball. He can’t shoot, and he can’t afford to aggravate the injury. “The biggest thing for me is to, even though I feel great, still continue to work, still stick with somewhat of a timetable,” he

The Magic (8-0) won their exhibition games by an average of 18 points. Carter, acquired in an offseason trade with New Jersey, made all five of his 3-point attempts. “If we are going to play for a championship, we wanted to hit the ground running,” Carter said. “We didn’t want to struggle at the beginning while everyone got acclimated to each other. So we worked hard early, and it’s paid off.” Dwight Howard, the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, had 25 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando. Jamal Crawford had 14 points for the Hawks (5-2). Ryan Anderson, who was in the trade that brought Carter to Orlando, had another strong showing, finishing with 18 points in 20 minutes. He scored the Magics first eight points of the game. He had 14 points and three rebounds in the opening 6 minutes when he outscored the Hawks by himself. Anderson is expected to take the starting spot that later will belong to All-Star forward

BASKETBALL Rashard Lewis, who will miss the first 10 games serving an NBA suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse program. Nuggets 119, Lakers 105 In San Diego, Rookie Ty Lawson had 29 points, six assists and five steals to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 119-105 on Friday night in the exhibition finale for both teams. The Nuggets (4-4) played without Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups after coach George Karl gave them the night off, while the Lakers (6-2) were without 7-footers Pau Gasol (strained right hamstring) and Andrew Bynum (strained right shoulder). Kobe Bryant played only 9:51, all in the first quarter, and scored six points for the Lakers, while Sasha Vujacic had 18 points. The game was punctuated by eight technical fouls and two flagrant fouls from the replacement officials. The Lakers’ Lamar Odom and Denver’s Chris Andersen had to be separated after a rebound battle led to a pushing and shoving match in the second quarter. Five technicals and both flagrant fouls were called in the second quarter, which ended with the Nuggets leading 57-49. J.R. Smith of the Nuggets had 16 of his 18 points and Kenyon Martin all 12 of his in the first half. Smith had seven assists in a gamehigh 40 minutes. Lawson, a 5-foot-11 guard from 2009 NCAA champion North Carolina, scored 16 points in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets pulled out to a 107-86 lead with 5:05 remaining. He was 8 of 12 from the field Smith and 13 of 16 from the free-throw line. Andersen added 15 points and nine rebounds and Arron Afflalo had 12 points for the Nuggets.

BASKETBALL

Philadelphia 76ers’ Jason Smith (right), battles for the ball with New Jersey Nets’ Sean Williams during the second half of a preseason NBA basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on the campus of St John’s University in New York, Oct 23. (AP)

Denver shot 57 percent from the field (45 of 79) while the Lakers hit 45.6 percent (36 of 79). Mavs 98, Rockets 94 In Houston, Dallas Mavericks are glad the regular season is finally here. They’re also pretty happy the regular referees are returning to work. Dirk Nowitzki scored 32 points then was ejected for arguing a call in the fourth quarter of the Mavericks’ 98-94 preseason victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday night. Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd both added 14 points for the Mavericks (5-2) and Drew Gooden added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Marion returned for the preseason finale for both teams after missing the last four games with a strained right calf. Carl Landry scored 22 points and Trevor Ariza added 17 for the Rockets (4-4). About the same time the NBA’s regular referees agreed on a two-year contract and ended a lockout, the replacement refs had their hands full in the fourth quarter in

Houston. First, Gooden dragged down Pops Mensah-Bonsu while the two were going for a rebound. When Mensah-Bonsu got up, Gooden shoved him, knocking MensahBonsu’s red headband askew. The referees conferred and issued technical fouls to both players. Gooden assumed he had been ejected and went straight to the locker room. But he had not been thrown out and returned to the court a few minutes later. “I was kind of confused,” Gooden said. “I asked my coaches, ‘Am I out?’ They said, ‘Yeah, you’re out.’ I was more happy coming back and the fans, to see how they were going to react after they gave me the nice booing as I went to the locker room. I wondered if they were going to cheer for me when I came back out. But I got booed again.” Nowitzki, who picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, returned with 4:01 left and Dallas leading 88-85. He was called for his sixth foul only 12 seconds later, fighting Mensah-Bonsu for a rebound.

said. “I feel good. I’ve been lifting, dribbling the ball. They won’t let me shoot yet, but I’m doing whatever the doctors tell me to do. But I feel pretty good.” Losing Jamison is another blow for a franchise that has had three straight seasons marred by injuries to marquee players. “You always want to be at full strength when you can,” coach Flip Saunders said. “It’s a good challenge for the rest of the guys on the team. We’re trying to be conservative with it. It’s not a situation where we think he’s going to miss extended time. Because of that, it’ll give other guys a good opportunity.” Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood barely played last season, and DeShawn Stevenson missed more than half of the games as the team finished 1963, one of the worst marks in franchise history. Jamison had a healthy year, missing only one game and leading the team in scoring at 22.2 points per game. He also averaged 8.9 rebounds.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009

SPORTS

47

Hosp injured, could miss season

Poutiainen spoils Zettel party in season opener SOELDEN, Austria, Oct 24, (AP): Tanja Poutiainen of Finland won the opening race of the ski season by the smallest of margins Saturday, edging Kathrin Zettel of Austria by just one one-hundreth of a second in the giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier. Poutiainen was trailing Zettel at the final checkpoint but used her experience to make up time on the flatter bottom section, clocking a Zettel two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 24.96 seconds for her ninth career victory. Opening-run leader Denise Karbon finished third, 0.32 back, and fellow Italian Manuela Moelgg, who stood second after the morning leg, fell in her second trip down. Two-time defending overall World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn placed ninth. American teammate Julia Mancuso, the Olympic giant slalom champion, fell shortly into her second run after placing 21st in the opening leg. Giant slalom is the only discipline Vonn has not won in, and this marked her first race since switching ski brands from Rossignol to Head in the offseason. The Minnesota native was skiing well on the top section but then lost more than half a second when she emerged from shadows covering the course’s midsection in her

Women’s World Cup Giant Slalom Results/Standings Results Saturday from a women’s World Cup giant slalom race on the Rettenbach course (run times in parentheses): 1. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 2 minutes, 24.96 seconds (1:12.14-1:12.82). 2. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 2:24.97 (1:12.40-1:12.57). 3. Denise Karbon, Italy, 2:25.28 (1:11.52-1:13.76). 4. Tina Maze, Slovenia, 2:25.80 (1:13.01-1:12.79). 5. Maria Pietilae-Holmner, Sweden, 2:25.84 (1:12.56-1:13.28). 6. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 2:25.91 (1:13.34-1:12.57). 7. Kathrin Hoelzl, Germany, 2:26.16 (1:13.32-1:12.84). 8. Viktoria Rebensburg, Germany, 2:26.28 (1:13.52-1:12.76). 9. Lindsey Vonn, United States, 2:26.35 (1:13.301:13.05). 10. Camilla Alfieri, Italy, 2:26.43 (1:14.731:11.70). 11. Stefanie Koehle, Austria, 2:26.50 (1:14.61-1:11.89). 12. Fabienne Suter,

Switzerland, 2:26.57 (1:13.43-1:13.14). 13. Tessa Worley, France, 2:26.63 (1:13.51-1:13.12). 14. Eva-Maria Brem, Austria, 2:26.67 (1:14.351:12.32). 15. Elisabeth Goergl, Austria, 2:26.71 (1:14.23-1:12.48). 16. Taina Barioz, France, 2:26.77 (1:13.56-1:13.21). 17. Andrea Fischbacher, Austria, 2:26.86 (1:13.86-1:13.00). 18. Maria Riesch, Germany, 2:26.90 (1:14.251:12.65). 19. Chemmy Alcott, Britain, 2:27.15 (1:13.83-1:13.32). 20. Giulia Gianesini, Italy, 2:27.24 (1:15.34-1:11.90). 21. Federica Brignone, Italy, 2:27.88 (1:14.41-1:13.47). 22. Olivia Bertrand, France, 2:28.15 (1:15.63-1:12.52). 23. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 2:28.40 (1:15.231:13.17). 24. Sarah Schleper, United States, 2:29.61 (1:16.04-1:13.57). 25. Marion Bertrand, France, 2:29.71 (1:15.45-1:14.26).

World Cup Giant Slalom Standings (After 1 of 7 races) 1. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 100 points. 2. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 80. 3. Denise Karbon, Italy, 60. 4. Tina Maze, Slovenia, 50. 5. Maria PietilaeHolmner, Sweden, 45. 6. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 40. 7. Kathrin Hoelzl, Germany, 36. 8. Viktoria Rebensburg, Germany, 32. 9. Lindsey Vonn, United States, 29. 10. Camilla Alfieri, Italy, 26. Overall World Cup Standings (After 1 of 34 events) 1. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 100 points. 2. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 80. 3. Denise Karbon, Italy, 60. 4. Tina Maze, Slovenia, 50. 5. Maria Pietilae-Holmner, Sweden, 45. 6. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 40. 7. Kathrin Hoelzl, Germany, 36. 8. Viktoria Rebensburg, Germany, 32. 9. Lindsey Vonn, United States, 29.

second descent. “I don’t think any of the top girls skied their best,” Poutiainen said. “It was very tough with the shadows. You couldn’t really see the bumps.” Poutiainen won her second World Cup giant slalom title last season and had fin-

and two-time overall champion Anja Paerson — were fifth and sixth, respectively. Another former overall winner, Nicole Hosp, fell in the opening leg and injured her right knee. She was airlifted to a local hospital in Innsbruck where she had ligament surgery. The Austrian team said she would miss the rest of the season. The Rettenbach is one of the steepest courses on the women’s circuit. It begins with a sharp pitch, then flattens out down the glacier to the finish arena — better known as the Gletscher Stadion (glacier stadium) — where 11,000 fans awaited the skiers. The start of each run was pushed back 30 minutes so organizers could clear 10 cen-

timeters (four inches) of freshly fallen snow off the course in the morning. Underneath the fresh snow conditions were challenging. “I think everyone had a difficult go at it this morning,” Vonn said. “It was pretty rough conditions. It was going from grippy ice to sheer ice to big ice chunks. It was hard to get the feeling for the snow and the terrain.” Vonn’s best finish in giant slalom was fourth in Aspen, Colorado, last season. A men’s giant slalom is scheduled for Sunday on the Rettenbach, then the circuit resumes on Poutiainen’s home course in Levi, Finland, with men’s and women’s slalom races Nov 14-15. “We’ve only been training giant slalom the last couple weeks, so now I have to find my slalom skis,” Poutiainen said.

SKIING ished second twice in Soelden — including last year — to go with two other top-five results. Poutiainen took silver behind Mancuso in giant slalom at the 2006 Turin Games and has won two silvers and two bronzes at world championships. Tina of Slovenia placed fourth and two Swedes — Maria Pietilae-Holmner

Finland’s Tanja Poutia9inen speeds down the course on her way to take the third place during the first run of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup giant slalom race in Soelden, Austria, Oct 24. (AP)

Olympic champ Plushenko triumphs after 3-yr lay-off Ando on top after free skating MOSCOW, Oct 24, (Agencies): Evgeni Plushenko won gold at the Rostelecom Cup on Saturday after a soaring and sinuous free skate in his first international event since becoming Olympic champion at the 2006 Turin Games.

Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China won the pairs title. Plushenko performed only one quad, something of a shortage by his old standards, but combined it with a triple toeloop to open his program with unquestionable brio. The 26-year-old Russian chose tango music for his flirtatious and challenging stop-start moves in the step sequences, playing up the confidence he projects on the ice. But he wasn’t inclined to let overconfidence undermine his discipline. “I have to work on my spins, work on my steps,” he said. Takahiko Kozuka of Japan took silver. Artem Borodulin of Russia won bronze, his first Grand Prix medal, after Johnny Weir’s error-infested program dropped him from third to fourth place. Kozuka, whose own quad was downgraded after he stepped out of it, was pleased with his program but felt Plushenko’s dominance even before the Russian started skating.

FIGURE SKATING

Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov, of Russia, perform their free program to win the silver at the Cup of Russia ISU Grand Prix figure skating event in Moscow, Russia, Oct 24. (AP)

Rostelecom Cup Results Results Saturday from the Rostelecom Cup, the second round of the International Skating Union’s Grand Prix figure skating series at Megasport Arena: Men Free Skate 1. Evgeni Plushenko, Russia, 158.40 points; 2. Takahiko Kozuka, Japan, 139.13; 3. Artem Borodulin, Russia, 129.48; 4. Brandon Mroz, United States, 127.30; 5. Kevin van der Perren, Belgium, 126.18; 6. Johnny Weir, United States, 125.98; 7. Shawn Sawyer, Canada, 118.20; 8. Adrian Schultheiss, Sweden, 117.08; 9. Florent Amodio, France, 111.70; 10. Ivan Tretiakov, Russia, 99.20; 11. Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari, Finland, 92.60. Final Standings 1. Evgeni Plushenko, Russia, 240.65 points; 2. Takahiko Kozuka, Japan, 214.63; 3. Artem Borodulin, Russia, 201.55; 4. Johnny Weir, United States, 198.55; 5. Kevin van der Perren, Belgium, 189.33; 6. Adrian Schultheiss, Sweden, 185.02; 7. Brandon Mroz, United States, 181.80; 8. Shawn Sawyer, Canada, 179.58; 9. Florent Amodio, France, 171.65; 10. Ivan Tretiakov, Russia, 164.30; 11. Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari, Finland, 149.91. Women Free Skate 1. Miki Ando, Japan, 114.75 points; 2. Ashley Wagner, United States, 108.81; 3. Alena Leonova, Russia, 103.28; 4. Alissa Czisny, United States, 100.66; 5. Mao Asada, Japan, 98.34; 6. Jenna McCorkell, Britain, 93.76; 7. Julia Sebestyen, Hungary, 90.56;; 8.

Amelie Lacoste, Canada, 87.57; 9. Oksana Gozeva, Russia, 77.44; 10. Katarina Gerboldt, Russia, 75.13; 11. Annette Dytrt, Germany, 72.98; 12. Anastasia Gimazetdinova, Uzbekistan, 66.16. Final Standings 1. Miki Ando, Japan, 171.93 points; 2. Ashley Wagner, United States, 163.9; 3. Alena Leonova, Russia, 160.06; 4. Alissa Czisny, United States, 158.30; 5. Mao Asada, Japan, 150.28; 6. Julia Sebestyen, Hungary, 148.50; 7. Amelie Lacoste, Canada, 139.39; 8. Jenna McCorkell, Britain, 134.70 9. Oksana Gozeva, Russia, 128.52; 10. Katarina Gerboldt, Russia, 117.77; 11. Annette Dytrt, Germany, 109.74; 12. Anastasia Gimazetdinova, Uzbekistan, 108.46. Pairs Free Skate 1. Pang Qing and Tong Jian, China, 125.93 points; 2. Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, Russia, 118.52; 3. Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov, Russia, 101.86; 4. Mylene Brodeur and John Mattatall, Canada, 101.77; 5. Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, United States, 99.21; 6. Nicole Della Monica and Yannick Kocon, Italy, 97.30; 7. Anastasia Martusheva and Alexei Rogonov, Russia, 86.23; 8. Maria Sergejeva and Ilja Glebov, Estonia, 83.74. Final Standings 1. Pang Qing and Tong Jian, China, 191.33 points; 2. Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, Russia, 180.14; 3. Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, United States, 160.55; 4. Vera

Bazarova and Yuri Larionov, Russia, 156.28; 5. Nicole Della Monica and Yannick Kocon, Italy, 150.86; 6. Mylene Brodeur and John Mattatall, Canada, 148.43; 7. Anastasia Martusheva and Alexei Rogonov, Russia, 138.1; 8. Maria Sergejeva and Ilja Glebov, Estonia, 128.62. Ice Dance Free Dance 1. Meryl Davis and Charlie White, United States, 101.102 points; 2. Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte, Italy, 83.26; 3. Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer, Russia, 82.07; 4. Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, Canada, 78.61; 5. Anastasia Platonova and Alexander Grachev, Russia, 77.41; 6. Ekaterina Riazanova and Ilia Tkachenko, Russia, 72.58; 7. Lucie Mysliveckova and Matej Novak, Czech Republic, 71.86; 8. Katherine Copely and Deividas Stagniunas, Lithuania, 71.11; 9. Carolina Hermann and Daniel Hermann, Germany, 66.51. Final Standings 1. Meryl Davis and Charlie White, United States, 201.10; 2. Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte, Italy, 168.57; 3. Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer, Russia, 163.32; 4. Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, Canada, 157.00; 5. Anastasia Platonova and Alexander Grachev, Russia, 153.22; 6. Ekaterina Riazanova and Ilia Tkachenko, Russia, 147.92; 7. Lucie Mysliveckova and Matej Novak, Czech Republic, 146.95; 8. Katherine Copely and Deividas Stagniunas, Lithuania, 146.76; 9. Carolina Hermann and Daniel Hermann, Germany, 134.69. (AP)

“The moment he took the ice, I knew there was a real champion in front of me,” said the 20-year Kozuka, whose free program to an electric guitar concerto showed impressive speed and tight-sit spins. Borodulin was close behind Weir going into the free skate and admitted that the possibility of beating the American, who has numerous fans in Russia, was daunting. “(In practice) I started to feel nervous ... but I got a bit of sleep and woke up completely calm,” Borodulin said. He opened with a solid triple axel-triple toe combo, then fell on a triple axel, but recovered his composure and included a triple-double-double cascade. Weir was in trouble from the opening seconds, when his planned toeloop was replaced with a triple flip. He doubled two subsequent triple axels and ended disconsolately, taking many seconds to raise himself from his ending kneeling position. He was sixth in the free skate. Brandon Mroz of the United States gave a mirror-image performance. His short program fell apart and he entered the free skate in last place. But his strong long program included a quad and was fourth best of the day. Pang and Tong, who led after the short program, opened their free skate with a pair of double axels and went on to show off a high triple twist and a throw triple loop so long that she seemed to hang in the air. Tong said he saw some mistakes “but overall we are pleased.” Russia’s Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov took silver despite making some obvious mistakes, such as landing her throws awkwardly, and the pair chose not to try the quad salchow that they’ve landed previously. But an exuberant legs-up lift and a dramatically low death spin made their waltzing program vivid and won them the silver. Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker of the United States held on for bronze despite a troubled program in which she fell twice, on a side-byside combination and a throw. In the women’s section, the world 2007 champion Miki Ando of Japan, who was third after short Plushenko programme, took top spot after the free skating. Ashley Wagner of United States finished second, eight points behind, while Alena Leonova of Russia was third.

Wembley fans more accustomed to going wild at the sight of David Beckham will get a chance to admire the skills of an NFL star Tom Brady, seen on Oct 11, often compared to English’s football favourite son. (AFP)

Pats play Bucs in London

Brady to follow in Becks ‘footsteps’ at Wembley LONDON, Oct 24, (AFP): Wembley fans more accustomed to going wild at the sight of David Beckham will get a chance on Sunday to admire the skills of an NFL star often compared to English’s football favourite son. While England midfielder Beckham is back in California plying his trade with the Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is in London ahead of the latest installment of the NFL’s International Series. Brady’s Patriots, Superbowl champions three times this decade, will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in front of an expected crowd of around 65,000 at Wembley this weekend. The fixture - designated as a ‘home’ game for Tampa – is part of the NFL regular season schedule and is the third such match to be played in London as part of the league’s attempt to broaden the sport’s appeal across the world. With basketball also targeting a global audience – the Chicago Bulls defeated Utah Jazz in an exhibition game at London O2 Arena earlier this month - NFL officials are keen to present the most attractive face possible. That is where Brady comes in. Like Beckham, the clean-cut 32-year-old is the good-looking poster boy of his sport and is also as likely to be pictured in the celebrity columns as the sports pages due to his high-profile wife – Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen. But, whereas Beckham has sometimes been accused of letting his showbiz lifestyle distract from his day job, Brady has always been all business. As if to underline the point, Brady stepped off the Patriots’ flight to London dressed in an immaculate grey suit, while the rest of his team-mates wore tracksuits.

California-born Brady – an avid follower of European football – is relishing the chance to play at such an historic venue as Wembley, but he is more concerned about keeping the Patriots on course for the NFL play-offs. “We’re all very excited to play in Wembley Stadium, as historic a stadium as there is in the entire world,” said Brady, who missed the whole of last season with a serious knee injury. “It’s an incredible stadium, I’ve seen it on TV and I’ve watched a lot of European soccer. “This is a game that we’ll be remembering for the next 40, 50 years of our lives, so we all want to go out and play as well as we can.” The form of the two teams going into the match could not be any more of a contrast.

FOOTBALL The Buccaneers have lost all six of their matches so far, while the Patriots, who also including star wide receiver Randy Moss in their line-up, have a 4-2 record and routed the Tennessee Titans 59-0 last Sunday. But Brady added: “We don’t underestimate anybody. Tampa Bay has not played the way they were hoping this year but every week is different.” Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris is desperate to ensure his team - the property of the Glazer family who also own Manchester United - don’t get used as Wembley whipping boys for Brady and company. “You are happy to take your game international and make it a bigger game than it already is, we’re excited about that,” he said.

Cotchery ruled out of Raiders clash NEW YORK, Oct 24, (RTRS): New York Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery will miss the weekend’s game against the Oakland Raiders through injury, the team confirmed on Friday. Suffering from a left hamstring problem, Cotchery will miss his second straight contest, according to announcement on the Jets website (www.newyorkjets.com). “I know he was getting better (but) in

the end we don’t want this to be happening all the time, each week wondering if he’s going to be up,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “If we can get him 100 percent or near it, that’s the best option.” Cotchery leads the Jets with 24 catches and 360 yards while helping to ease the transition for starting rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.

PRIME TIME

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009 sunday— (all times are kuwait local) 10:00 mlb ............................................................... fox 10:30 high octane ............................................ extreme 12:00 fim world motocross ............................... extreme 13:00 pga tour ........................................................ fox 15:00 euro tour ....................................................... fox 18:00 mexico x games ...................................... extreme 19:00 quattro int event .................................... extreme 20:00 nfl ................................................................ fox

48

Sports

sports sports sports sports sports sports sports sports

Lampard at double as Chelsea go top Spurs lose at home to Stoke LONDON, Oct 24, (AFP): Frank Lampard scored twice as Chelsea leapfrogged champions Manchester United into top spot in the English Premier League with a 5-0 rout of Blackburn Rovers at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. An own goal in the 20th minute from French defender Gael Givet, who turned Nicolas Anelka’s cross past goalkeeper Paul Robinson under pressure from Didier Drogba, put the Blues ahead. England midfielder Lampard scored his first Premier League goal since April when he fired home from Drogba’s pull back before Michael Essien wrapped up the points in the 52nd minute when he beat Robinson with a curving shot from fully 35 yards out. Lampard scored his second, and Chelsea’s fourth, from the penalty spot after Drogba was brought down seven minutes later by Rovers captain Ryan Nelsen, the New Zealand defender. The impressive Drogba then added a fifth in the 64th minute. Earlier, Tottenham Hotspur missed the chance to go level on points with United after losing 1-0 late on at home to Stoke City. The match was goalless until four minutes from time when Glenn Whelan, played in by Ricardo Fuller, struck against a home team a man down with England winger Aaron Lennon off the field after the north Londoners had used all three of their substitutions. Lennon took himself off and Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said: “I was hoping he could stay on but he couldn’t and suddenly we were down to 10 men. “We’re not sure what the problem is. He just said he couldn’t carry on and that was that.” Stoke boss Tony Pulis, once Redknapp’s assistant at

SOCCER Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Jody Craddock (left), and Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor battle for the ball during their English Premier League soccer match at Molineux, Wolverhampton, England, Oct 24. (AP)

Dundee Utd win at Aberdeen

Stack ‘stands firm’ to deny Rangers victory GLASGOW, Oct 24, (AFP): Hibernian had goalkeeper Graham Stack to thank as his man-of-the-match performance sealed a 1-1 draw with Rangers at Ibrox. Stack pulled off several great saves to leave Rangers frustrated as they failed to convert a host of chances. The goalkeeper could do nothing about Kris Boyd’s eighthminute opener before Anthony Stokes showed tremendous skill to score a second-half leveller as both sides had goals ruled out for offside. The draw leaves Rangers two points clear at the top of the Scottish Premier League, but rivals Celtic have the chance to leapfrog them on Sunday when they play Hamilton. “Hibs deserve credit for coming and playing to their strengths and it made for a good game right to the end,” said Rangers boss Walter Smith. Hibs manager John Hughes said: “There were plenty of chances for both sides and the two goalkeepers were magnificent. “Coming here and being adventurous in our system I am delighted we have got something from the game.” Hibs’ attacking 4-2-4 line-up didn’t take long to create a chance and within 50 seconds Derek Riordan sent a shot across goal which

SOCCER Allan McGregor was relieved to see go wide. Rangers immediately responded when Boyd turned Chris Hogg in the box and sent a low drive inches wide of Stack’s post. However, it only took until the eighth minute for Boyd to find the back of the net. Steven Whittaker’s floated cross was headed back across goal by Kyle Lafferty and Boyd was there to bundle the ball home from two yards out. Hibs continued to press forward and midway through the half a poor Steven Naismith pass allowed Merouane Zemmama through on goal but his shot was deflected behind off the feet of McGregor. The Edinburgh side thought they had equalised from the resulting corner when Stokes fired in the rebound after Moroccan international Zemmama’s shot cracked off the post but the Irishman had been flagged offside. Great goalkeeping from Stack then foiled Boyd’s shot from close range before Lafferty sent his weak curling effort straight into the arms of the keeper. McGregor, in his 151st appearance for Rangers, then pulled off a great save from Stokes before scrambling away a David Wotherspoon drive from 20 yards on the stroke of half-time. Rangers started the second-half strongly and Miller came close when his header from a Steven Smith free-kick clipped the crossbar. Hibs slowly found their way back into the game and equalised with a fantastic goal from Stokes. The Irishman showed tremendous skill to pull the ball down with his back to goal, got past Weir before volleying into the top righthand corner. Stokes and McGregor clashed minutes later and the former Sunderland striker was lucky to only receive a yellow card when he pushed the Rangers keeper to the ground. Elsewhere Kilmarnock defeated St Johnstone 2-1, Dundee United won 2-0 away to Aberdeen, Hearts and Falkirk was goalless and St Mirren drew 3-3 with Motherwell.

Bournemouth, said: “Ricardo’s pulled a genie out of the bottle again. That was terrific and Glenn finished it with aplomb.” At the bottom of the table, basement club Portsmouth were held to a goalless draw by fellow strugglers Hull. Meanwhile Birmingham beat their former manager Steve Bruce’s Sunderland side 2-1 and Colombia’s Hugo Rodallega scored twice as Wigan came from behind to end Burnley’s 100 percent home record this term in a 3-1 win. Elsewhere, Wolves drew 1-1 with Midlands rivals Aston Villa. Burnley took an early lead at Turf Moor when Steven Fletcher turned in Robbie Blake’s cross in the fourth minute. But Wigan equalised in bizarre fashion seven minutes later when Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen slipped as he came for a Mario Melchiot cross, allowing Rodallega to shoot into the unguarded net. Jensen went off injured moments later. Rodallega then made it 2-1 when he turned in Jason Scotland’s 51st minute cross before Emmerson Boyce scored from a corner. Wigan manager Roberto Martinez, who has seen Rodallega score in all of the Latics’ four wins this season, said of the striker: “His work rate was exceptional, but then he is a clinical finisher and to have that instinct in your play is a massive asset.” At St Andrews, in Birmingham’s first home game since Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung bought the club, the Blues went ahead eight minutes before half-time when Liam Ridgewell got on the end of a Sebastian Larsson freekick. And soon after the break Scotland striker J a m e s McFadden doub l e d Birmingham’s lead following Lampard good work by Larsson. But Sunderland game themselves a lifeline when Birmingham’s Scott Dann put through his own net eight minutes from time.

Results/Standings Page 41

Burnley’s Wade Elliott (left), vies for the ball against Wigan Athletic’s Hendry Thomas during their English Premier League soccer match at Turf Moor, Burnley, England, Oct 24. (AP)

Hoffenheim rout Nuremberg 3-0

Last-gasp Bayern Munich go 5th BERLIN, Oct 24, (Agencies): Belgian defender Daniel van Buyten made amends for his dismissal at Bordeaux in midweek by heading a late winner for Bayern Munich in a 2-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. The centre-back saw red in France last Wednesday in the 2-1 defeat to Bordeaux in the Champions League, but he came off the bench to score with a crucial 88th-minute header as the German giants came from behind. “We created several good chances

Atletico held by Mallorca

SOCCER against opponents who were very defensively minded,” said Bayern coach Louis van Gaal with his side now four points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen. “We couldn’t convert them into goals and Frankfurt scored through the first possibility. “I decided to bring on (Arjen) Robben and (Mario) Gomez and switched van Buyten for Luca Toni. I was very happy with the changes and in just eight days we have now halved the gap behind Leverkusen.” Eintracht took the lead at Bayern’s Allianz Arena when midfielder Alexander Meier timed his run through Munich’s offside trap to perfection and latched onto a pass from Patrick Ochs on 60 minutes before firing home. Bayern welcomed back play-maker Robben after three weeks out with a knee injury and the Dutchman marked his return with the equaliser. After Gomez won an aerial battle against Frankfurt goalkeeper Oka Nikolov, Robben pounced on the loose ball and slotted home on 70 minutes before van Buyten’s priceless goal which put Bayern in fifth place. Hoffenheim moved up to sixth after enjoying an impressive 3-0 win at home to Nuremberg when defender Christian Eichner slotted home a dream goal from 30 metres out before striker Vedad Ibisevic hit their second after 38 minutes. Then 19-year-old Argentinian striker Franco Zuculini, playing only his third Bundesliga game, unleashed a fierce shot from 20 metres out to add Hoffehneim’s third. Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel may have been given a vote of confidence by his board last week, but his position looks increasingly precarious after his side lost 1-0 at Hanover.

German Results Friday Bayer

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Dortmund

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Cologne’s Lukas Podolski (right), kicks the ball during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Moenchengladbach and 1. FC Cologne in Moenchengladbach, Germany, Oct 24. (AP)

2 PSG players hit by swine flu PARIS, Oct 24, (AP): Two Paris SaintGermain football players were diagnosed with swine flu on Saturday and won’t play at archrival Marseille in the French league. The club didn’t reveal the players identities but according to RTL radio they are midfielder Ludovic Giuly and defender Mamadou Sakho. Paris SaintGermain said in a statement that the French league decided against postponing the game at Marseille on Sunday Saturday Bayern Hoffenheim Hannover Borussia Mainz Bayer Hamburg Schalke Werder Bayern

2 Frankfurt 1 3 Nuremberg 0 1 Stuttgart 0 0 Cologne 0 3 Freiburg 0 Standings GP W D L GF GA Pts 10 6 4 0 19 6 22 9 6 3 0 20 8 21 9 6 1 2 13 6 19 9 5 3 1 16 6 18 10 5 3 2 17 9 18

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Hoffenheim Mainz Wolfsburg Frankfurt Dortmund Hannover Freiburg Cologne Stuttgart Mobach Bochum Nuremberg Hertha

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THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Editor-in-Chief AHMED AL JARALLAH

night. The league added that the Nice game against leader Lyon ahead despite a “suspected” case in the Nice team. Should this case be confirmed, a total of four swine flu cases will have been diagnosed in the French first division after Montpellier defender Emir Spahic contracted the virus in August. Marseille trails leader Lyon by only three points while PSG already lags well behind in ninth place after three draws and two losses in its last five games.

MADRID, Oct 24, (RTRS): Atletico Madrid’s miserable season took a turn for the worse on Saturday when they conceded a farcical late equaliser to draw 1-1 at home to nine-man Real Mallorca, a day after sacking coach Abel Resino. Diego Forlan missed one penalty in the first half but recovered to net another, only for teenage goalkeeper David De Gea to allow Borja Valero’s tame shot to deflect in off his legs in the final minute of normal time. Atletico, now with only one win in eight matches and down in 14th, were playing their first match since Resino’s dismissal on Friday and the players looked keen to impress his replacement, Quique Sanchez Flores, in the early stages. Their efforts appeared to have been rewarded in the 27th minute when the referee ruled defender Josemi had handled the ball in the penalty area and showed him a second yellow card. Forlan stepped up to take the spot kick but blasted wide of the right post. The Uruguay striker was given a second chance five minutes into the second half when Ivan Ramis handled in the area and was also shown a second yellow. Forlan sent Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu Aouate the wrong way, side-footing low into the bottom right, but Atletico were unable to press home their numerical advantage. Midfielder Valero picked up a deep cross at the far post in the 90th minute and when De Gea tried to clear his shot from a tight angle he only managed to send the ball into his own net.

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