Old banknotes to be withdrawn by Oct 1 - Kuwait Times

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Old banknotes to be

withdrawn by Oct 1Four oilfields found • Kuveyt Turk first Islamic bank in Germany

KUWAIT/BERLIN: The Central Bank of Kuwait has decidedto withdraw all old Kuwaiti banknotes from trading by Oct 1,Governor Dr Mohammad Al-Hashel announced yesterday.The Central Bank’s board, with consent of the minister offinance, has taken the decision to withdraw the fifth editionof the Kuwaiti currency. Hashel said yesterday the remainingvolume of these old banknotes constituted only seven per-cent of the original amount that had existed before the sixthedition entered circulation on June 29, 2014, estimated atKD 1.4 billion.

The decision has been taken in line with Article 10 of theLaw 32/1968, as well as its amendments, regulating the ban-knotes’ withdrawal and banking, the governor said, indicat-ing that the old notes must be out of trading during bankworking hours on Thursday, Oct 1. Holders of the old notesmust exchange them for the new editions at local banksahead of the abovementioned date, he said, warning thatnotes that are retained would lose their value as “legal ban-knotes” and would no longer be tradable. Nevertheless,those who fail to exchange the old ones for the new ban-knotes as scheduled may do so solely at the Central Bankwithin 10 years, but after this period, it would no longer bepossible to make the exchange.

Meanwhile, four new oilfields have been discovered inthe north and west of the country, a top oil official was quot-ed as saying by state news agency KUNA yesterday. Kuwaitplans to boost oil output capacity by a third by 2020.Hashem Hashem, the chief executive of state-run Kuwait OilCo (KOC), did not give production rates of the new oilfields,but said exploration activities have moved ahead despite oilprices dropping nearly 50 percent since last June.

Continued on Page 13

By Nawara Fattahova and Agencies

KUWAIT: More than 30 percent of young Arabs arejobless because of unrest in many Arab nations andnot enough investment, a top labor official said yes-terday. “The unemployment rate among Arab youthuntil the age of 30 years exceeds 30 percent,” theDirector General of the Arab Labor OrganizationAhmad Mohammed Luqman said. “Unrest and a lackof investments have boosted the number of jobless.”He said many graduates fail to find employmentbecause their specializations are not needed by pri-vate sector.

“Due to unrest in several Arab nations, the numberof Arabs without jobs has jumped two million since2011, making the total number of unemployed Arabsat 20 million,” Luqman said on the sidelines of the42nd Arab Labor Conference at the JumeirahMessilah Beach Hotel, which also celebrated ALO’s50th anniversary. Luqman told the opening session ofthe five-day gathering in Kuwait City that unemploy-ment in the Arab world hit 17 percent last year, “threetimes higher” than the global average.

“It appears that jobless numbers will rise this yearand the next,” Luqman added, without providing spe-cific figures.

Continued on Page 13

More than 30% of Arab youth jobless

KUWAIT: Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyad Yassin (right), Kuwaiti Minister of Social Affairs and Labor andPlanning Hind Al-Subaih, and Kuwaiti deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh SabahAl-Khaled Al-Sabah (second left) attend the opening ceremony of the annual Arab Labor Conference yes-terday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

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KUWAIT: Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister SheikhSabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah yesterday reaffirmedKuwait’s backing to Yemen’s constitutional legitimacy.

Speaking at a meeting with visiting Yemeni ForeignMinister Riyadh Yaseen, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled also reiterat-ed his country’s support for ongoing efforts to restore Yemen’ssecurity and stability and to safeguard its sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity in line with relevant UNSC resolutions, GulfInitiative and its Executive Mechanism. Several senior officialsat the Foreign Ministry attended the meeting.

In other news, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled received yesterday

the visiting Singapore Minister of Home Affairs and Minister ofForeign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli bin Masagos Mohamad to cel-ebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomat-ic relations between the two countries. During the meeting,the two sides discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relationsin all fields in addition to issues of common concern.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled also received Guy Ryder, theInternational Labor Organization’s (ILO) Director-General.Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled’s Office Chief Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah and several other senior officials of theForeign Ministry attended the meeting. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Saudi-led coalition’s ‘OperationDecisive Strom’ seeks to recover normality andconsolidate legitimacy in Yemen, a seniorForeign Ministry official said.

As it is, the situation in Yemen is grave,Undersecretary of the Ministry of ForeignAffairs Khalid Suleiman Al-Jarallah toldreporters yesterday on the sidelines of the ‘LatinAmerica Week’ which he opened at KuwaitUniversity’s Faculty of Social Sciences. SeveralLatin American diplomats attended the eventtogether with the College’s professors and offi-cials.

The campaign is an attempt to enforce theGulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) Initiative and

the outcomes of the Yemeni National Dialogue,as well as the UNSC resolutions, Jarallah noted.The senior diplomat expressed hope that theattempt would bear fruits as the current situa-tion in Yemen “poses threats to security and sta-bility of the region, not to mention, devastationof the country and people’s sufferings.” Hepointed to serious moves on the GCC level toprovide relief aid to the Yemeni people, refer-ring to a $274 million donation offered bySaudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Meanwhile, the exhibition held as part ofthe Latin America Week opens a window onthe “history and civilization” of the continent“with which we have strong historical ties and

where we enjoy regular diplomatic presence,”according to Jarallah.

Kuwait has six diplomatic missions there,and in the meantime hosts 10 Latin Americanones, a good signal of the size and nature ofbilateral ties, he said. Repeatedly exchangedvisits between both manifest mutual keennesson promoting ties. The Latin American Week,19-23 April, aims to enhance students’ cul-ture bout the region, Dean of College ofSocial Sciences Professor Abdulredha Assirisaid. This is part of the University’s message,namely reaching to other cultures, civiliza-tions values and political, social and eco-nomic systems. — KUNA

Decisive Storm aims to reinforce

legitimacy in Yemen: Jarallah

Khalid Al-Jarallah speaks to reporters.

Kuwait reiterates support for

Yemen’s constitutional legitimacy

KUWAIT: Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khalid Al-Jarallah is pictured while touring anexhibition held as part of the Latin American Week at Kuwait University (KU).

Khalid Al-Jarallah at Venezuela’s pavilion.— KUNA photos

KUWAIT: National SecurityApparatus (NSA) Chief SheikhThamer Al-Ali Al-Sabah held talkswith ambassadors of France andAustralia to Kuwait on coopera-tive relations. Sheikh Thamer dis-cussed with AustralianAmbassador Warren Hauck bilat-eral relations and several issuesof mutual interest, the NSA saidin a press statement yesterday.Sheikh Thamer and FrenchAmbassador Christian Nachleconsidered bilateral ties and waysof promoting them as well as keyissues of common concern in theregion, it added. — KUNA

GCC judicial

ties praised

RIYADH: Kuwait’s Acting Undersecretary of the Ministryof Justice Bader Al-Zamanan yesterday praised positiveoutcome of the 6th annual GCC Justice Undersecretaries’meeting held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The participantsexpressed their will to enhance mutual cooperation inthe field of judiciary and justice, Zamanan at the conclu-sion of the meeting yesterday. The Undersecretaries dis-cussed coordination among all GCC justice and judicialbodies to provide citizens working in this field with spe-cialized training courses, he noted.

He added that the conferees also discussed a reportby the technical committee on studying the constituentlaw of the judicial and economic authority and a reportprepared by chiefs of judicial training institutes.Moreover, the topics that were debated included areport by the international cooperation commissions atthe GCC justice ministries, a draft treaty regarding extra-dition of accused and convicts among the Council mem-ber countries, a proposal by the Saudi Ministry of Justiceto carry out a joint training program in the judicial field,Zamanan added. — KUNA

RIYADH: Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry ofJustice Bader Al-Zamanan is pictured during the meet-ing. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah meets Singapore Ministerof Home Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwait hosts today the second meeting of theMinisters of Economy, Trade and Investment in the memberstates of the League of Arab States and Turkey. The meetingaims to shed light on the volume of the Turkish-Arab coopera-tion in various economic fields.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a state-ment that the meeting aims to discuss aspects of cooperationin industry, tourism, energy, water and food security sectorsand study proposals to encourage two-way trade and invest-ment between the Arab states and Turkey.

It added that the one-day meeting will determine theadvantages and shortcomings as well as future challenges ofthe joint Turkish-Arab investments and expand trade circle

with a highlight on sectors available for public and privateinvestment on both sides.

It said that the meeting is an important opportunity toexchange ideas on increasing the volume of trade exchangesand determine the best ways and means to enhance econom-ic relations between Turkey and Arab countries, including theexchange of experience in the field of small and mediumenterprises development.

The statement explained that the meeting will includesuggestions and practical recommendations to encouragejoint investments and raise the level of Turkish-Arab trade andwill work to promote the common dialogue and cooperationin global commerce platforms. — KUNA

NSA chief, envoys mull closer ties

KUWAIT: National Security Apparatus (NSA) Chief Sheikh Thamer Al-Ali Al-Sabahmeets Australian Ambassador Warren Hauck. — KUNA photos

Kuwait hosts Arab-Turkish

commerce meeting


By Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: The Chinese government has been actively pro-moting the building of the ‘Silk Road and Belt’ to enhancecommunication and consultation and advancing practicalcooperation with countries along the route. This wasemphasized by outgoing Chinese Ambassador to KuwaitCui Jianchun during a press conference yesterday at theembassy in Yarmouk. The Chinese envoy bid goodbye andthanked the people of Kuwait for a wonderful three andhalf years’ stay here as China’s representative. He noted theSilk Belt and Road initiative project has been makingprogress in all fronts, which can benefit and help promotethe economic prosperity of about 65 countries around it.

“Vision and actions on jointly building the Silk Roadeconomic belt and the 21st century maritime Silk Road hasbeen making progress on all fronts. The project has startedand the Silk Road economic belt will help as many as 3 bil-lion people around it,” the envoy said. The plan connectsAsia, Europe and Africa, linking vibrant East Asia and bring-ing together China, Central Asia, Gulf states and theMediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean and beyond. “Workhas started in China, and countries around it have theirindividual plans on how to proceed. Like Kuwait, they cancontribute positively to the Silk Road and maritime route.China and Kuwait are working on how to move forward,”Cui asserted.

Boubyan IslandThe envoy said Kuwait could be the ‘intersection’ of this

project, and Boubyan Island could be the location ofKuwait’s new financial and commercial hub, honoring HHthe Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’svision. “Kuwait has a lot of advantages because it is at the

end of the Arabian Gulf, and its strategic location is impor-tant,” he said. “Now it is a question of how Kuwait andChina can translate the Silk Road project into reality,” hetold reporters. “We are currently preparing the project, lay-ing the foundation and paperwork. The plan for the SilkCity here is really excellent and very meaningful forKuwait’s economy. The Kuwaiti side has prepared the gen-eral plan of the project, and I think it will be ready by 2035,”he revealed.

Cui said the project’s major objectives would be toboost political relations and infrastructure and increase theflow of commercial commodities, which will generateincome and encourage people-to-people interaction. Healso said Kuwait was the first Asian country to join theAsian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which has 57members now, and focuses on infrastructure projects inAsian countries.

HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah visited China last June and attended theSino-Arab Cooperation Forum. During the visit, Kuwait andChina signed 10 cooperation agreements in differentdomains like energy, finance, communications and culture.Trade exchange between the two countries reached $13billion in 2014.

Friendly stayOn his tenure as the eleventh Chinese ambassador to

Kuwait, Cui emphasized the smooth and very friendly stayin the country. “I have learned a lot from Kuwait as mycountry’s representative. This was my first assignment as anambassador and I am very happy and contented, havinglots of cherished memories here that I will value and treas-ure for life,” he added. “I am happy and proud of myachievements intended to boost bilateral relations. Mynew successor will be Ambassador Wang Di and he will behere by the second half of next month.

On Yemen, Cui said his country ‘understands’ the deci-sion by the GCC and the UN, but China favored a politicalsolution to all conflicts and was very concerned about thesecurity threats posed by terrorism. Saudi Arabia is leadinga coalition against the Houthi militias in order to protectthe Yemeni people and restore the legitimate leadership ofPresident Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun and Meshaal Al-Enezi

KUWAIT: A shepherd was critically injured after he wasattacked by a lioness before Jahra police killed the animal.A Taima police patrol rushed to a location in Salmi desertyesterday based on an emergency call reporting that aman was under a wild animal’s attack. The officers weregiven orders to rescue the man and kill the lioness if neces-sary, which they did. An investigation revealed that the ani-mal escaped from a Kuwaiti man’s property and ran intothe victim who was present nearby. The animal’s owner isbeing summoned for questioning.

Suicide bid thwartedFintas rescue forces were recently dispatched to stop a

woman from committing suicide, said security sources.They noted that the woman had no ID on her and justifiedher attempt by saying she was having problems with her‘sponsor’. The attempt was foiled and a case was filed.

The lioness pictured after it was killed.

The victim is carted away by paramedics.

Man wounded in

lioness attack

Kuwait to benefit from ‘Silk

Road’ project: Chinese envoy

Wang Di named new ambassador

KUWAIT: Chinese Ambassador Cui Jianchun speaks duringthe press conference yesterday. — Photo by Joseph Shagra

Amnesty International

demands Barrak’s release

KUWAIT: In advance of a Court of Cassation hearing scheduled fortoday, Amnesty International calls on the government of Kuwaitto release former parliamentarian, Musallam Al-Barrak and to dropcharges against him relating to a speech he made in October2012. The organization also calls on the government to dropcharges against the approximately 67 others who have facedcharges or who have been convicted in connection with repeat-ing parts or the entirety of the speech.

Amnesty International echoes repeated international recom-mendations for Kuwait to bring its laws and practices on freedomof expression in line with the international standards the govern-ment has pledged to uphold, notably the International Covenanton Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The government of Kuwaitshould end the practice of criminal prosecution for defamation orinsult and replace it with a legislative provision that allows theaggrieved person(s) to seek redress through a civil suit.

Amnesty International believes that the statement made byMusallam Al-Barrak did not incite to violence or hatred and repre-sented his conscientiously held beliefs. He is a prisoner of con-science and must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Musallam Al-Barrak was arrested on 29 October 2012. He wasdeemed to have “insulted” and “undermined the status of theAmir”. The authorities released him on bail four days later, amidstnationwide protests. On 15 April 2013, a lower Criminal Courthanded down a five-year prison sentence in connection with hisspeech. He remained on bail pending his appeal. On 17 April2013, a solidarity rally was held at his family residence wheresome 67 people recited the speech before those assembled weredispersed. In January 2015, an appeal court reduced the sentenceto two years. On 1 March 2015, Musallam Al-Barrak handed him-self to the authorities. He has been held since then as bail wasrefused. The Court of Cassation, Kuwait’s highest court, will deter-mine whether the legal basis of the conviction will stand.

Amnesty International calls on the authorities to likewise dropcharges against the approximately 67 people who recited the2012 speech at the rally held in support of Musallam Al-Barrak inApril 2013. The 67 people sought to assert their freedom ofexpression in Kuwait by taking part in the mass recitation of thespeech. Those facing charges include members of a Kuwaitihuman rights group, the National Committee for MonitoringViolations (NCV), including Munther Al-Habib, Abdullah Al-Rafdiand Rana Al-Saadoun, who did not take part in the rally butuploaded the recitation to a social media website. The 67 individu-als are being tried in at least five separate groups.

NOTE: Parts of the report were edited out in compliance withKuwait’s publication law.

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti opposition yesterday filed a petitionto the constitutional court challenging a major law thatsent many opposition activists to jail and threatens dozensothers, an opposition figure said yesterday.

Hakem Al-Mutairi, leader of the Islamic Ummah Party,said that the petition against the state security law wassubmitted by a lawyer and if the challenge is accepted,activists will no longer be sent to jail on state securitycrimes.

A large number of opposition and online activists havebeen tried and sent to jail on the basis of the state securitylaw which considers scores of violations as state securityoffenses punishable by long jail terms.

In the meantime, the National Assembly’s legal and leg-islative affairs committee yesterday rejected amendmentsto the election law calling to reduce the voting age from 21to 18 and for allowing servicemen and women to vote inthe parliamentary elections.

The committee however decided to delay taking anydecision on a number of other issues related to the elec-tion law including the voting system or voting when theelections fall in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan andthe establishment of the election commission. Head of thecommittee MP Mubarak Al-Harees said that because suchissues are important and sensitive, the committee decided

to delay its decision on them until a future meeting.

Wage systemIn another development, the national assembly human

resources development committee yesterday discussedwith the Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh details of the gov-ernment-proposed new wage system for governmentemployees with the aim to remove discripancies betweenvarious employees.

Saleh said that he briefed the committee on theimproved system for government wages. But MPs spoke ofmajor differences between the government and thenational assembly on the issue. Head of the committee MPKhalil Abdullah said that the government plans to amendcertain aspects of the civil service law in order to be able toimplement the new wage system.

But he added that the committee still has many ques-tions about the new system and that the panel will notvote on it before getting the full details to ensure that allemployees are treated fairly and equally.

Abdullah said that the government is serious about thenew system and MPs want to complete the issue beforethe summer recess at the end of June. But rapporteur ofthe committee MP Ahmad Al-Qhudaibi pointed out thatthe government is not serious about the wage systembecause the government is still issuing and backing lawsthat contradict the proposed wage system.

Stolen car foundA Saudi was recently arrested in Saad Al-Abdullah

while driving a vehicle he admitted he had stolenfour months earlier from Andalus. The man said thatin order to avoid being caught, he had the vehiclerepainted blue.

Fireworks smuggling attempt busted

Shuwaikh port customs inspectors recently foiledan attempt to smuggle in 1,722 cartons of fireworksarriving from China, said security sources noting thatthe shipment was found inside a 40-feet container.

Former Malaysian

PM to speak

in ‘leadership’

conference

KUWAIT: Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Businessand Employment Services (Kani) Majid Al-Tarkeetsaid the keynote speaker at the “Leadership inTroubled Environment” conference to be held inKuwait on May 11 and 12 at the Sheraton Hotelwill be former Malaysian Prime MinisterMahateer Mohammad. Tarkeet said Dr Mahateerwill present his personal experience in leader-ship in troubled environments, through whichhe succeeded to lead his country to achieve thehighest growth rate at the time and placed itamong the economically advanced countries inless than two decades. He said a delegationfrom Kani group including Chairman of theBoard Jamal Al-Shihab and himself visitedMahateer last week and handed him the invita-tion and conference topics. He said Dr Mahateerwas the fourth prime minister of Malaysia from1981 until 2003, and transformed Malaysia froman agricultural country that relied on producingand exporting raw material into an advancedindustrial country where the industrial and serv-ice sectors contribute by 90 percent of the grossdomestic product. The percentage of exportedmanufactured products is 85 percent of totalexports, and the country produces 80 percent ofthe vehicles that are driven on Malaysian streets.

Opposition challenges

security law jailing activists

Govt, MPs differ on new payscale system

KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait concluded its 4th Annual ‘Ya Zain Turathna’ (our beautiful heritage) culturalcampaign, which targeted introducing the young generation to the Kuwaiti heritage and their ancestors’ simplelifestyle. Bank officials and staff visited several schools during the campaign.

KUWAIT: The Court of Appeal recentlyacquitted an Asian man of child molesta-tion charges. The verdict overruled theCriminal Court’s ruling which sentenced thesuspect to five years in prison with labor.

The suspect, a grocery storekeeperwas accused of molesting the 12-year-old Kuwaiti boy inside the store. Theteen’s father said in the police report thatthe suspect molested his son seventimes, and added that the suspectescaped when he came to the store andconfronted him about the case.

The suspect’s defense, represented byattorney Mohammad Kamal, pressedthat there was no clear evidence againsthis client. He argued that the storekeepercould never have committed his crimeinside the store during the day as statedin the police report. He further arguedthat the fact that the boy was accompa-nied by his 13-year-old friend at the timeof the alleged crime further supports hisclient’s innocence plea. Eventually, thecourt ordered to overrule the storekeep-er’s jail sentence. Attorney Mohammad

Kamal

Storekeeper acquitted

of child molestation

Musallam Al-Barrak


Teacher wins

photo contest

KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti teacher won a gold medal atthe Vienna International Photo Awards contest,in the category of trees images. Ma’aali Al-Dbayyan said yesterday that the contest is oneof the most prominent competitions in the field,with a total of 70,000 photographs taken by par-ticipants from various parts of the world wereshown during the event. Dbayyan is the firstfemale Arab photographer who wins an interna-tional photography competition. —KUNA

KUWAIT: A new complex housing offices of theDirectorate General of Civil Aviation’s control and themeteorological center is being equipped anddesigned according to international standards, saidthe Director General Yousef Al-Fozan. Fozan visitedthe project’s construction site examining ongoingwork, including particulars and specifications, ensur-ing they match international standards, the authoritysaid in a statement yesterday. —KUNA

Arab Media Forum set

KUWAIT: The Arab Media Forum’s 12th session is dueon April 25-27, to be held under sponsorship of HisHighness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-MubarakAl-Sabah. The forum will discuss electronic communi-cations, and will include seminars dealing with variousissues, namely ‘youth dialogue.’ Information and YouthAffairs Minister Sheikh Salman Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah andenvoy of the UN Chief for Humanitarian Affairs DrAbdullah Al-Maatouq will speak on reasons that led tothe UN designation of HH the Amir as HumanitarianLeader, and Kuwait as Humanitarian Center. — KUNA

Photoo f t h e d a y

KUWAIT: The sign reads in Arabic: Assembly point for Ministry of Oil employees. It designates the spot where ministry workers would gather to be transferred from the ministry headquarters back to theirlodgings. It was used during the 1970s and was located in Fahad Al Salem Street near the Kuwait Municipality Park. The Ministry of Oil used to be part of the Ministry of Finance and thus was housed alongwith the Finance Ministry until it was moved to its new headquarters in Shuwaikh. — Photo by Mahmoud Zakaria Abdulraheem

In Brief

Aviation control

center examined

KUWAIT: As part of its comprehensive CorporateSocial Responsibility Strategy, Burgan Bankannounced its year-long sponsorship of theMinistry of Health’s ‘Capital School Oral HealthProgram’. The announcement was made duringthe program’s opening ceremony held at MarinaHotel on 16 April 2015. The ceremony was heldunder the patronage of Minister of Health Dr AliAl-Obaidi, and coincided with the sixth GCC OralHealth Unified Week. The event was attended byseveral GCC’s Ambassadors and a number of

Ministry of Health officials.Through this year-round partnership, the

bank will extend its full support to work along-side the Ministry of Health in spreading aware-ness of maintaining a healthy dental lifestyleamongst school students. This will be imple-mented through a series of school visits, activa-tion and awareness programs in clinics, hospi-tals, and malls in efforts of enriching the entirecommunity’s dental health knowledge.

The Capital School Oral Health Program is a

comprehensive school-based/linked programproviding Oral health Education, Prevention andTreatment to almost 270,000 Kuwaiti school chil-dren. Such community interactions further rein-forces Burgan Bank’s leadership and social dedi-cation to the wellbeing of the society. The bankhas pledged to support initiatives that work onfamiliarizing the public with the benefits ofmaintaining a healthier lifestyle in an interactiveand informative manner in collaboration withgovernmental and recognized entities.

Burgan Bank sponsors ‘Capital

School Oral Health Program’

Hessa Al-Najadah, Senior Officer Public Relations at Burgan Bank, with the organizers during the opening ceremony.

KUWAIT: Burgan Bank recently announced RandAhmed Saud Al-Sumait as the 9th winner of thenew Youth Account draw that entitles young cus-tomers to double their student allowances andwin an additional KD 200 every month after trans-ferring their allowance to the ‘Youth’ account.

With the introduction of the Youth Accountdraw, customers transferring their studentallowances to the bank will be automaticallyenrolled into a draw, whereby for every KD 20 intheir Youth Account, customers will be given achance to win a cash prize of KD 200 everymonth. Customers wishing to take part in thisdraw are advised to transfer their educationalallowance to Burgan Bank’s Youth account and

enjoy their multiple chances of winning.The bank’s Youth Account was launched for

young individuals, around the ages of 15 to 25,who seek to attain a successful future. There isno KD limit to open an account, and no mini-mum balance required to maintain it.Furthermore, account holders receive free pre-paid card and an ATM card which entitles themto discounts at selected merchants. To find outmore about Burgan Bank’s Youth Account aswell as the latest promotions, customers arerequired to visit their nearest Burgan Bankbranch or contact the call center on 1804080.For more information, customers can visit thebank’s website on www.burgan.com.

Burgan Bank announces

Youth Account winner

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Dive Team is plan-ning to exhibit its works, namely opera-tions to preserve and rehabilitate themarine environment. The project is to belaunched in coordination with theCharitable Society for Social Solidarity inline with a previously-signed protocol,said Walid Al-Shatti, chief of marine oper-ations at the team. The program wouldfeature cinematic shows, publications andsome other various educational work-shops, he added.

The team, which is affiliated with theEnvironmental Voluntary Foundation(EVF), will exhibit diverse activities, suchas saving marine creatures entangled inabandoned fishing nets, creation of coralreefs, lifting waste and various materialsdumped into the sea. A hall has been pre-pared at the society headquarters to per-form the exhibitions, to be addressed tocitizens of various occupations, includingstudents. — KUNA

Kuwait Dive Team to exhibit marine protection activities


Minister downplaysswine flu threat

By Faten Omar

KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr Ali Saad Al-Obaidi yester-day said the incidence of swine flu in Kuwait is nothing toworry about, according to WHO global health estimates,stressing the ministry’s keenness to speak frankly with citi-zens and residents about all similar situations.

Speaking after opening the Haya Abdulrahman Al-MujilKidney Center yesterday, Obaidi said the ministry is seekingto apply the strategies and protocols developed by WorldHealth Organization (WHO) in order to ensure the safety andhealth of citizens and residents. He explained that swine fluhas been widespread since 2009, adding that the number ofcasualties began to decline after a global fight against thevirus. He said the ministry of health is taking all preventiveprecautions to halt the spread of infection, pointing to thesuccess of the ministry’s efforts in dealing with more seriousdiseases such as Ebola and MERS. The minister said flu vacci-nations given in August and November have reduced muchof the incidence of the disease.

KD 2 millionObaidi said that the total cost of the kidney center

amounted to two million Kuwaiti dinars “It is a generousdonation from the Al-Mujil family, and shows how theKuwaiti people loyally support health projects and initia-tives. He pointed out that after the opening of this center,the total number of kidney centers in Kuwait has reachedseven. He noted that the center includes doctors, nurses,technicians and administrators, adding that the ministry’sfuture plan includes bringing in specialists in kidney dis-ease through a fellowship program at the Kuwait Institutefor Medical Specialties and a scholarship plan for universi-ties and centers around the world. Fahd Al-Mujil, from thedonor’s family, said: “This center has emerged from aKuwaiti citizen’s responsibility and his role in contributingto nation-building institutions”. He added the Center isnow receiving dialysis patients, pointing to other projectsby the family of the late Abdulrahman Al-Mujil, with theNasser Abdul Rahman Al-Mujil center for special needs inKhalidiya set to start its work.

No fee hike for privateschools in 2015/2016

By Meshaal Al-Enezi and A Saleh

KUWAIT: All private schools in Kuwait have been warnedagainst collecting fee increases for the 2015/2016 schoolyear. Fahad Al-Ghaiss, acting assistant undersecretary forprivate education at the Education Ministry, explained thata 3 percent increase approved last year was not collectedby all schools due to the lateness of the approval and thoseschools would be free to add the 3 percent fee hike.

Ghaiss also noted that schools would likely receiveapproval to hike fees again in 2016/2017. Ghaiss said thatprivate school teachers’ salary hikes were suspendedbecause they cannot be paid unless the tuition fees wereincreased. “I am not defending private schools here butonly being fair,” he underlined.

Second sessionMeanwhile, Minister of Education and Higher Education

Dr Bader Al-Essa made a decision that could help eliminatethe controversy surrounding the second session finalexams. The new decision requires including topics taughtin the second semester only in the second session finals.The second session exams are tests taken by students whofail a maximum of three subjects in the final, effectively giv-ing them a second change to pass. According to a decisioncirculated to all concerned MOE departments, studentswho had been regularly attending school since the begin-ning of the school year will have the opportunity to beexamined in the third and fourth period topics whereasthose who miss the fourth period exams would be testedin the whole curriculum. The ministry also set May 7th asthe end of classes at public schools this year.

Contracts terminatedThe Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) recently

announced terminating the contracts of two companiesfor violating the terms of the contracts. One of the compa-nies is specialized in checking meters and calculating con-sumption, while the other is specialized in connecting anddisconnecting the current. The ministry announced thatthe contracts would be given to other companies accord-ing to standard rules and procedures.

KUWAIT: Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi (second from right), Fahd Al-Mujil (third from right) and min-istry officials inaugurate the center. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

The Haya Abdulrahman Al-Mujil Kidney Center

Special discountsat Khairan Resort

KUWAIT: The Touristic Entertainment City announced spe-cial offers at Al-Khairan Resort during Ramadan, including

a 50 percent discount on weekdaysand a 20 percent discounts onweekends. The offer is part of TEC’sspecial preparations for the 2015summer season, Acting PublicRelations and Marketing ManagerSaqr Al-Badr said. More specialrecreational programs for visitorsof TEC facilities will be announcedthroughout the summer, Badradded.Saqr Al-Badr

F r o m t he A r a bic pr e s sMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

Singer Marcel Khalife’s statement on his Facebookaccount, which was published by Al-Rai newspaper,was as follows: “I was heading to Kuwait upon an

invitation to sing in Kuwait but an extremist lawmakerobjected to my visit, and thus I was banned from enter-ing Kuwait. Therefore, I urge the Kuwaiti government, if ithas no objection to my visit, to apologize for what hap-pened and welcome my visit”.

This is how a genuine artist who believes in hisnation’s causes should act, that is, if Khalife insists ondemanding an apology to the very end. Art’s and cul-ture’s dignity cannot be subject to the authority’s moodi-ness, fears and worries that a sheikh minister will getknocked out of the Cabinet because of a grilling motioncampaign that might possibly be launched by this orthat extremist lawmaker who wishes to custom-tailor thewhole state and its people according to his and hisgroup’s ideas regardless of their numbers and influence.

Khalife conveyed a message to their excellencieshere, that is, if they listened while bobbing from onestance to another according to retrograde conservativewaves. The message stressed that an artist has as muchdignity and pride as your ego and snobbishness. That afree artist should not be considered a pawn in any politi-cal games and that committed art has a supreme mes-sage that goes high above policy swamps in a countrythat is helpless to take any step forward towards moder-nity, liberty and real human development. A countrythat sums up all its policies to the old royal orders of‘Give him a sack of money!’

No, you government of phobias and eternal worry!Marcel is not a ‘poet laureate’ who would dance andjump on your desperate stages to please you in returnfor a ‘sack of money’. Frankly speaking, we are fed up andfeel sick with your performance, incompetence and hesi-tation. Except for deploying special forces out on yardsto strike peaceful opposition members and prosecutethem, you are good for nothing, especially where eco-nomic reform is concerned and badly needed or whentalking about a real project to end the state of flabbinessand indifference in your administrative bodies, whentalking about atavistic voices in a parliament that onlynaive people thought would be a bridge to progress anddevelopment. What we only ended up with is banningthinkers like the late Nasser Hamed Abozaid and othersby previous parliaments all the way to today’s ‘progres-sive’ parliament that banned Khalife!

A word to NCCAL Chairman Ali Al-Youha who saidthat the concert was cancelled for administrative rea-sons: I would like to advise you to at least be as frank asyour predecessors, who were much more important andinfluential, and confess that “This is higher policy andorders and I have nothing to do with it”. What are youstill in your jobs for then? Do us all, and yourselves, afavor - quit and go home!

— Translated by Kuwait Times

You’d better quit

Al-Jarida

By Hassan Al-Essa

As I have repeatedly mentioned, a tribe is a respectfulsocial entity based on race, kinship and blood bonds.It is not a political organization open to anyone who

agrees to its line of ideology and political agenda regard-less of his origin and race, while he preserves the right toquit whenever he wishes to do so. A man with tribal originsremains holding his tribe’s name and stays affiliated to itforever as it is the roots of his larger family.

In tribal life, there are followers and subjects of the tribeor clan chief while in a modern constitutional state, alltribes, sects and families integrate in one national bodywhere equal constitutional citizenship is the base and allare free constitutional citizens who are equal before the lawin terms of rights and duties. Accordingly, none of them issuperior to another except by powers of the law. Therefore,we might see members of one tribe or even family belongto different parties, professional societies, syndicates orNGOs that might also be competing against one another.

In modern states, individuals resort to the law and stateinstitutions in seek of protection and their rights.Therefore, a tribe’s role stays limited to optional social soli-darity amongst its followers. It has no political role.Moreover, meddling in politics with all the maneuvering,deals, concessions and alliances this involves not onlyjeopardizes a tribe’s solidarity, but also threatens nationalcoherence and unity.

So a tribe is a pre-state formation and social entity andusing it in political conflicts, be that by the authority, whichhas happened many times, or by any of the other parties aswhat is currently happening for clear political reasons, is asetback to pre-modern state times. It also harms the tribeitself and contributes to create more division in a societythat already has enough problems created by successivebad governments!

It is true that there are developmental and democraticsetbacks, social injustice, exclusion of citizens with tribalorigins, tyranny and selectiveness in law enforcement andsluggishness in democratization, and it is also true thatsome substantial circumstances result from the state’s fail-ure to do its basic duties and forming anti-constitution andanti-democratization corrupt powers that are actually try-ing to divide the society according to sects.

Tribalism or sectarianism do not solve modern lifeproblems and only get the tribe deeper into muddlingand games and eventually make things worse and hin-der reform political and democratic demands to build amodern, just democratic state where all sociopoliticalsects coexist.


Tribes and policymuddling

Al-Jarida

By Dr Bader Al-Daihani

He introduces himself as a people’s minister fromthe people who works for them, one who sharesactivities with them, and you see him suddenly

getting in the backseat of a police patrol and some oth-er times you may find him suddenly visiting servicecenters to help get people’s transactions done, in addi-tion to coming up with some outdated ‘moves’ that areno longer fruitful in the age of electronic media thatallows everybody to comment, criticize and evenexpress dissatisfaction with behaviors many people seeas being fake or staged.

I am talking here about Interior Minister SheikhMohammed Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, who assumed thesame position after a long interval and believes Kuwaitdid not change during his absence. He still believesprinted journalism has the upper hand and thus keepsacting in the same old manner, having the press coverhis tours as ‘sudden’ ones that no other minister makes.Well, I cannot understand how these visits are suddenwhen a photographer or a reporter is always presentaround!

However and regardless of the minister’s clearlyexposed moves, I will never care for such moves if theminister was keen on law enforcement and committedto it. Yet, it is clear that the minister, the ministry andthe government in general have a different law subjectto moodiness and fear - two elements that, once pres-ent, are enough to break all laws and regulations.Everybody is banned to enter Kuwait without due legalreason the moment a Shiite shouts here, a Sunni shoutsthere or they both shout together to ban a clergymanbelonging to either doctrine or ban a thinker, a singeror a painter from entering Kuwait. The minister wouldconsequently fear such shouts and calls and ban theconcerned people!

Recently, a certain body had organized an activitytitled ‘I Respect Life’ to boost traffic awareness, whichincluded a concert where Kuwaiti and a foreign singerswould sing. The concert had already got all permissionsand licenses from the ministry of information andunlimited support form MoI’s security media, until atweet popped up demanding banning the concert twodays before it was due, which made MoI and the infor-mation ministry yield and ban the concert that hadbeen approved!

Would this concert be banned if the same happenedin Dubai and would Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashidyield to similar calls? I believe the answer is known andthat he would not fear any calls as long as all proce-dures were legal. This is the difference because statesthat respect their laws and are committed to imple-menting them are more respected and attract thewhole world, whereas those that retreat in fear ofshouts or calls do not value or respect their own lawsand nobody will!

We really need statesmen capable of confrontationswhen enforcing the law - ones who do not ban anactivity without due legal cause or insult a visitorbecause of some howling here and there.Unfortunately, we have lacked such type of statesmen,at least for the past two decades. Finally, YourExcellency the interior minister, have your tours pho-tographed as you wish and do as many staged ones asyou wish, but do enforce the law and be more commit-ted to it without fear or moodiness.


The people’sminister

Al-Jarida

By Ali Khajah

CrimeR e p o r t

Man breaks brother’snose in Jahra

KUWAIT: A Gulf national who works at the Interior Ministrywas beaten up by his brother. The man sustained a brokennose during the fight in Jahra area. The victim told Jahrapolice that his brother stormed the house and beat himand submitted a medical report of his injuries resultingfrom the attack. Police are investigating.

Airport taxi strikeAirport taxi drivers carried out strikes in protest againstprivate cars owners who compete with them, bearingin mind that there were fights previously with thosedrivers. They demanded that authorities should banprivate cars owners from carrying out this activity.Airport taxi drivers are all Kuwaiti citizens and theyhold the monopoly on airport taxi rides, with faresstarting at not less than KD 8.

Deportation threatA Syrian man threatened to deport an Egyptiannational following a fight between the two over aparking spot at Mubarak hospital. Both were detainedover exchanging blows.

Drug user arrestedFarwaniya police arrested a citizen with drugs andparaphernalia as well as forged IDs, and was sent todetectives department for questioning.

Son beats motherA man beat his mother in her Waha house and left herbruised over most of her body. The woman had to be takento hospital for treatment.

Indian hurt in fallAn Indian man who works for the Information Ministry fellfrom the roof of a mosque in Al-Seddeeq area while he wasbusy with live broadcast preparations. He suffered variousfractures and internal bleeding.

Boat rescueSea rescue rescued a family of seven from drowning aswater leaked into their boat, and no injuries werereported. — Al-Rai

Al-Jarida

Expats medicalfees to increase

KUWAIT: Fees for medical servicesfor expatriates will significantlyincrease, and while the ministryundersecretary refused to revealthe new amounts, he confirmedthat the committee studying therise completed its work and sub-mitted a report to minister Dr AliAl-Obaidi. Dr Khalid Al-Sahalawi,the ministry’s undersecretary, said“medical services for expats in allgovernment sector facilities will be20 percent less than the private sector, while there are servicesthat will be free including emergencies and accidents”.

He said current fees are much less than the private sector,which is a squandering of public funds and causes congestions inx-ray and laboratory departments. Sahalawi said the health insur-ance hospitals company will care for expats and will build threehospitals and 15 health centers to treat them instead of going tohealth ministry hospitals, which will reflect positively on the serv-ice given to Kuwaiti citizens. — Al-Rai

Dr Khalid Al-Sahalawi

KUWAIT: Well-informed sources saidthat the Cabinet has urged the SupremePlanning Council, the housing authority,the ministerial legal committee, theFatwa and Legislations Department andthe initiatives apparatus to quickly finisha bill on Silk City so that it could bereferred to the parliament, discussedand passed.

The sources added that the govern-ment asked these bodies to get helpfrom local or foreign experts so that thebill could be the first to be approved andpassed in the next parliamentary term.Notably, Silk City is planned to be builtover an area of 250 sq km at an estimat-ed total cost of KD 25 billion. It will pro-vide 400,000 job opportunities, includeresidential, investment, touristic andrecreational sectors and is planned to actas a global commercial hub. — Al-Jarida

Govt demands finalizing Silk City law

KUWAIT: Following the recent amend-ments of the civil services law whichwere passed by the parliament andpublished in the official gazette Al-Kuwait Al-Youm, new conditions forappointing senior officials took effectyesterday. According to the new condi-tions, a minister should name threecandidates for specific vacancies, eachcandidate should present a full plan onhow he/she would run the post anddevelop it, set timelines for achievinggoals, have good command of English,be computer literate, at least hold auniversity degree and have a minimumof 22 years of experience (that matchesthe degrees they hold) for those to beappointed in top positions, 20 years forundersecretaries, 16 years for assistantundersecretaries and passing specialtraining courses to be qualified foreach senior position.

The new conditions also state thatin case two candidates identicallymatch the conditions, those working

in the same ministry or body wouldbe prioritized. The conditions exempt-ed those appointed at the Amiri

Diwan, Crown Princeís Diwan, PrimeMinisterís Diwan and the Cabinetíssecretariat general. — Al-Jarida

New conditions forappointing senior officials

Kandari’s fatedetermined soon

KUWAIT: Abdullah Al-Kandari,brother of KuwaitiGuantanamo detainee FayezAl-Kandari, said the periodicalreview session that will decidethe fate of his brother has beenset for April 25, 2015, addingthat this date can change like ithappened with Kuwaitidetainees before. Kandari saidthe review session will discusswhether to recommend Fayez’sreturn to Kuwait or to keep himat Guantanamo, adding that it is not necessary for themeeting to come out with the decision during the samesession, and there may an addition session. — Al-Rai

Saleh to ‘sweep’ out ‘broke’ companies

KUWAIT: Minister of financeand acting minister of com-merce and industry Anas Al-Saleh said he has given clearinstructions to make an inven-tory of all companies that havelost their capital or most of it,or those who lost at least 75percent of it and have notupdated their data with theministry for over three years, sothat they could be subjected tothe law by either liquidation orlegalizing their statuses. “Doingso, we are imposing law number 25/2012 equally on allcompanies, especially after the ministry recently won law-suits against companies that had entirely lost their capi-tals,” he explained, pointing out that the commerce min-istry intends to ‘sweep’ all such violating companies out ofthe local market. — Al-Rai

Fayez Al-Kandari

Finance Minister AnasAl-Saleh

K U WA I T: The Fat wa andLegis lat ion Dept a l lowed theappointment of a woman as “may-or” in an answer to a request forits opinion asked by the interiorministry.

The fatwa relied on article 29 ofthe Kuwait constitution that states“people are equal in human dignityand are equal in front of the law inrights and public duties, and nodiscrimination should be made

among them due to gender, origin,language or religion.” The depart-ment said if a woman meets theconditions of being a mayor, thenthere is no reason for not appoint-ing her in this post. — Al-Qabas

Female mayors allowed

Newsi n b r i e f

Firemen accused of using‘artificial’ fingerprints

KUWAIT: Director General of Kuwait Fire ServiceDirectorate (KFSD) Lt Gen Yousuf Al-Ansari said that somefiremen used an artificial fingerprint device to check in forwork. He said all of the firemen in question received strictpunishment that varied between pay deduction and warn-ings, as per civil service laws. Ansari described this manipu-lation of systems as ‘strange,’ adding that KFSD will equipall fingerprint systems with cameras to picture the employ-ee logging a fingerprint. — Al-Anbaa

Jaber hospitalKUWAIT: Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi said thereis coordination between health and public worksministries for initial operation of Jaber Hospital,adding that several dental activities will begin soon.He said dental clinics at Jaber Hospital will beopened after receiving them from the public worksministry, adding that all equipment for the clinics arein Kuwait. — Al-Rai

Legislative flawKUWAIT: The criminal court revealed a critical legislative flawwhich may cause cancellation of punishment of many suspectsin various cases for breaking the public prosecutor’s ban onpublication. The court said after declaring five suspects inno-cent who appeared on a satellite channel and spoke about acase that the part of the text to punish those who violated theban is not available in the audiovisual law with regards to satel-lite channels, and only available in the print and publicationlaw, which includes newspapers. The court said that in imple-mentation of the “no punishment without text” principle, inter-pretation of penal laws has to be accurate, and that when thelaw’s expression is very clear, then it must be considered a trueexpression of the legislated will and cannot be deviated fromthrough interpretation regardless of the motive. The courtadded that it is not possible to improvise towards the clarity ofthe law’s text that must be implemented. —Al-Qabas

The Civil Service Commission’s building

IS shows purported executions in Libya of Ethiopian Christians

Page 8

Enigmatic Gandhi fires up opposition at farmers rallyPage 12

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

MESSINA: Migrants are seated, surrounded by emergency relief workers aboard a vessel at the Italian port of Messina, Saturday, as migrants prepare to be processed at the quayside. UNHCR said yesterday, the search and recoveryrescue operation is under way after a boat carrying migrants overturned north of Libya. — AP

ROME: As many as 700 migrants were feared drownedyesterday after their packed boat capsized off Libya inwhat was described as the deadliest such disaster todate in the Mediterranean.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and Italy’s coast-guard said only 28 people had survived the wreck. Theirtestimonies suggested there had been about 700 peo-ple on board the 20-metre (70-foot) fishing boat, offi-cials said.

“It seems we are looking at the worst massacre everseen in the Mediterranean,” UNHCR spokeswomanCarlotta Sami said.

The European Union announced an emergencymeeting of foreign and interior ministers to discusswhat Amnesty International blasted as an avoidable“man-made tragedy”.

Coastal authorities in Italy and Malta picked up a dis-tress signal from the stricken vessel around midnight(2200 GMT) on Saturday, when it was about 70 miles(126 km) off the Libyan coast and 110 miles (177 km)south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The Italian coastguard instructed a nearby merchantship to go to the scene and it was when thePortuguese-registered King Jacob arrived at the scenethat the fishing boat capsized, most likely as a result ofthe terrified passengers stampeding to one side in theirdesperation to get off, the UNHCR’s Sami said.

A total of 17 boats scoured the area for survivors yes-terday but only 24 bodies had been recovered so far,the coastguard said.

Worst tragedy yet The disaster was the latest in a growing catalogue of

mass drownings of migrants attempting to reachEurope on overcrowded, unseaworthy boats run bypeople smugglers who are able to operate out of Libyawith impunity because of the chaos engulfing the northAfrican state.

The most serious incident prior to yesterdayoccurred off Malta in September 2014. An estimated500 migrants drowned in a shipwreck caused by traf-fickers deliberately ramming the boat in an attempt toforce the people on board onto another, smaller vessel.

In October 2013, more than 360 Africans perishedwhen the tiny fishing boat they were crammed ontocaught fire within sight of the coast of Lampedusa.

That horrific tragedy was described at the time as awake-up call to the world but 18 months later there isno sign of a let-up in the numbers attempting the per-ilous crossing in search of a better life in Europe.

The latest disaster comes after a week in which twoother migrant shipwrecks left an estimated 450 peopledead.

If the worst fears about yesterday’s tragedy are con-firmed, it will take the death toll since the start of 2015to more than 1,600.

More than 11,000 other would-be immigrants have

been rescued since the middle of last week and currenttrends suggest last year’s total of 170,000 migrantslanding in Italy is likely to be at least match in 2015.

Avoidable deaths? Pope Francis yesterday led calls for European Union

leaders to act to stem the loss of life.“These are men and women like us, brothers seeking

a better life,” he said in his weekly address to the RomanCatholic faithful in St Peter’s square, urging leaders to“act decisively and quickly to stop these tragedies fromrecurring.”

Amnesty’s John Dalhuisen called yesterday’s acci-dent a “man-made tragedy of appalling proportions.”

“These latest deaths at sea come as a shock, but nota surprise.”

Amnesty is among NGOs calling for the restoration ofan Italian navy search-and-rescue operation known asMare Nostrum which was suspended at the end of last

year.Italy scaled back the mission after failing to persuade

its European partners to help meet its operating costsof nine million euros ($9.7 million) a month amid divi-sions over whether the mission was unintentionallyencouraging migrants to attempt the crossing.

Mare Nostrum has been partially replaced by a muchsmaller EU-run operation called Triton which has a frac-tion of the assets and specialist manpower previouslydeployed by Italy.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was expected to make astatement on the tragedy later Sunday following anemergency meeting with ministers involved in manag-ing the migrant crisis.

The migrants seeking to reach Europe with the helpof people smugglers are generally fleeing conflict orpersecution in places such as Eritrea, Afghanistan andSyria, or poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa andSouth Asia. — AFP

700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean Amnesty calls shipwreck ‘man-made’ tragedy

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


PARIS: The first French weapons from a $3billion Saudi-funded programme will arrivein Lebanon today as allies seek to bolsterthe country’s defences against the IslamicState group and other jihadists pressingalong its Syrian border.

Anti-tank guided missiles are set toarrive at an air force base in Beirut, over-seen by French Defence Minister Jean-YvesLe Drian and his Lebanese counterpart,Samir Mokbel. France is expected to deliver250 combat and transport vehicles, sevenCougar helicopters, three small corvettewarships and a range of surveillance andcommunications equipment over fouryears as part of the $3 billion (2.8 billion-euro) modernisation programme.

It is being entirely funded by SaudiArabia, which is keen to see Lebanon’sarmy defend its borders against jihadistgroups, particularly the Islamic State groupand Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra, instead ofleaving the job to Hezbollah militants, whoare backed by its regional rival, Iran.

The contract also promises seven years

of training for the 70,000-strong Lebanesearmy and 10 years of equipment mainte-nance. “This project is to help us re-estab-lish a Lebanese army capable of respond-ing to new security realities,” said a Frenchdefence official.

Since the conflict in neighbouring Syriabroke out in 2011, Lebanon has facedmounting spill-over threats, first from themillions of refugees pouring across theborder and increasingly from jihadists.

“There are an estimated 3,000 armedmilitants based on our border, waiting forthe moment to penetrate into the Bekaavalley,” said Hisham Jaber, a former generalnow at the Middle East Centre for the Studyof Public Relations in Beirut. “They haven’tcome for tourism or to go skiing.”

‘Good fortune’ Former colonial power France is actually

a late-comer to the conflict, with almost allLebanon’s international support comingfrom the United States and Britain in recentyears. France only won the contract to sup-

ply the Lebanese army, argued analystAram Nerguizian, because Saudi Arabiahad been frustrated by US and Britishrefusal to attack the Syrian regime in 2013.“It was good fortune for the French, butthey have a lot to prove. The momentum ofthe US and UK defence programmes inLebanon is far more consolidated,” saidNerguizian, a senior fellow at the Center forStrategic and International Studies inWashington.

The challenge has been to find Frenchmilitary equipment that Lebanon actuallyneeds, he said, and to ensure it can be inte-grated with their existing weapon systems.Nerguizian said Lebanon had turned downFrance’s Gazelle attack helicopter, Leclerctank and larger warships, either becausethey were too expensive to maintain or notsuited to the combat environment. Instead,the focus is likely to be on radar capabili-ties, and command-and-control systems,which the Lebanese army currently lack, aswell as transport aircraft. “We urgentlyneed helicopters. We are currently trying to

transport elite units by truck,” said Jaber.The Cougar helicopters and corvette war-ships must first be built, and the first arenot expected for at least 30 months.

‘Night and day’ A key problem has been France’s unex-

plained reluctance to discuss the details ofits modernisation programme with the USand Britain, said Nerguizian.

“They have perplexed their UK and USpartners by not being clear about what ison the list,” he said. “They need to be com-plementary or it becomes a problem.”

Washington has provided around three-quarters of Lebanon’s foreign military aidover the past decade-some $700 million-aswell as Special Forces teams to train its eliteunits, according to IHS Jane’s, a London-based think tank.

Britain has provided training facilities aswell as watch towers and forward operat-ing bases along the border with Syria.

This has led to a dramatic improvementin the Lebanese army’s capabilities, said

Nerguizian. “Compared with just threeyears ago, it’s like night and day. They havegone from a constabulary police force tobeing the only military in the world that isdefending its frontiers against ISIS,” he said.But working with Lebanon is never simple.The sharp divisions between its religiousand ethnic communities have been deep-ened by conflicting views on the Syrianwar. Hezbollah, which is a powerful politi-cal force in Lebanon, sent its fighters tosupport Syrian President Bashar al-Assadlast year, but many Lebanese still deeplyresent the Assad regime which effectivelycolonised the country up to 2005.

Meanwhile, Israel remains concernedabout any military assistance that mightbolster a regional rival or fall into the handsof Hezbollah, which fought a short andbrutal war against Israel as recently as2006. “The Lebanese army is already well-infiltrated by Hezbollah,” said an Israeli offi-cial on condition of anonymity. “But weunderstand the necessity of reinforcing thecapacity of the Lebanese army.” — AFP

France provides first weapons to Lebanon for IS fight

TRIPOLI: The Islamic State group yesterdayreleased a video purportedly showing the exe-cution of some 30 Ethiopian Christians capturedin Libya.

Addis Ababa condemned the reportedkillings and said its embassy in Egypt was tryingto verify the video to ascertain if those murderedwere indeed Ethiopians.

“We strongly condemn such atrocities,whether they are Ethiopians are not,” EthiopianCommunications Minister Redwan Hussein toldAFP. The 29-minute IS video purports to showmilitants holding two groups of captives,described in text captions as “followers of thecross from the enemy Ethiopian Church”.

A masked fighter in black brandishing a pistolmakes a statement threatening Christians if theydo not convert to Islam.

The video then switches between footage ofone group of about 12 men being beheaded bymasked militants on a beach and another groupof at least 16 being shot in the head in a desertarea. It was not immediately clear who the cap-tives were or how many were killed. Before thekillings, the video shows purported footage ofChristians in Syria, saying they had been giventhe choice of converting to Islam or paying aspecial tax, and had decided to pay.

The video bore the logo of the IS media armand was similar to past footage released by thejihadists, including of 21 Coptic Christiansbeheaded on a Libyan beach in February.

Feeding on the political chaos and unrestthat has wracked Libya since the 2011 uprisingthat toppled dictator Moamer Gaddafi, severalLibyan jihadist groups have pledged allegianceto IS. Addis Ababa says IS which seized chunks ofSyria and Iraq and won support of jihadistgroups across the region despite a reputation forbrutality, has also gained a foothold in Ethiopia.

“There are elements of IS around Ethiopiawho are already carrying out operations, eventhough under a different name,” said Redwan,referring to the Shebab group. “We will keep onfighting them.”

Fears for Christians Since the 2011 revolt, Libya has been awash

with weapons, has rival governments and parlia-ments and is on the edge of all-out war as armedgroups battle to control its cities and oil wealth.

Officials have repeatedly warned that Libya

could become a jihadist haven on Europe’sdoorstep unless the violence stops and a nation-al unity government is formed.

Yesterday, UN envoy for Libya BernardinoLeon said after weeks of brokering talksbetween rival factions that they had reached adraft accord which is “very close to a final agree-ment”. Speaking to reporters in Morocco, Leonalso said preparations were under way for armedgroups to hold direct talks to end the conflict.

Referring to the IS video and fighting in Libya,Leon said: “We know that the enemies of peace,the enemies of the agreement, will be active andbe even more active in the coming days andweeks.” The IS execution of Copts in Februaryprompted retaliatory air strikes from Egypt, withPresident Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pushing for thecreation of a joint Arab military force to battlejihadists. Arab military chiefs will meet onWednesday in Cairo to discuss how the force willbe created, its role and financing, an Arab

League official said. A US-led coalition ofWestern and Arab nations is already waging anair war against IS in Syria and Iraq. IS has carriedout atrocities against minorities-includingChristians and Yazidis-sparking fears for the fateof vulnerable communities in mostly Muslimnations. Yesterday, the head of the Church ofEngland, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby,was in Egypt to offer his condolences over thebeheadings of the Copts in Libya.

Almost two-thirds of Ethiopians areChristians, mostly Orthodox Copts, who say theyhave been in the Horn of Africa nation since thefirst century AD. There are also large numbers ofprotestants. Ethiopia is Africa’s second largestnation in terms of population, but large num-bers of its more than 90 million people travelabroad to work in menial jobs so they can sendmoney home. Many go to Libya, using the NorthAfrican nation as a stepping stone for the per-ilous crossing to Europe. — AFP

IS shows purported executions

in Libya of Ethiopian Christians

Addis Ababa condemns reported killings

This undated image made from a video released by Islamic State militants, yesterday,appears to show the killing of a group of captured Ethiopian Christians in Libya. The 29-minute video released online yesterday purportedly shows two groups of captives. It saysone group is held by an IS affiliate in eastern Libya and the other by an affiliate in the south.A masked fighter delivers a long statement before the video switches between footage thatpurportedly shows the captives in the south being shot dead and the captives in the eastbeing beheaded on a beach. — AP

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) walks in to the weeklycabinet meeting escorted by government military secretary Eyal Zamir (L) in hisJerusalem office, yesterday. — AFP

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu is to make a formal request forextra time to piece together a new govern-ment, the president’s office said yesterday.

After a surprise election victory,Netanyahu was on March 25 tasked byPresident Reuven Rivlin with forming the nextgovernment and given four weeks to do so.

With the deadline fast approaching, theIsraeli leader was to formally request anextension of up to two weeks at a workingmeeting with Rivlin today morning, the presi-dent’s office said in a statement. “At the con-clusion of the meeting, the prime ministerwill request an extension of the time allocat-ed to him to form the new governing coali-tion,” a statement said.

“According to the Basic Law: ... the presi-dent has the power to extend that (initialfour-week) period for a maximum of a further14 days.” If he still cannot form a coalition,Rivlin can assign another party leader to thetask - again with a 28-day deadline.

If that fails, he can select a third personwho has just 14 days to complete the task. Ifthat does not work, the president calls a newelection. Despite nearly four weeks of inten-sive negotiations, Netanyahu has not yetmanaged to reach agreement on the govern-ment he was hoping to form - which wouldcomprise six rightwing and religious partiesand have a majority of 67 in the 120-seat par-liament.

Since the outset, Netanyahu has beenexpected to form a coalition which wouldcomprise his rightwing Likud (30 seats), thefar-right Jewish Home (eight), the hardlineanti-Arab Yisrael Beitenu (six), the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas (seven) and UnitedTorah Judaism (UTJ, six) and the centre-rightKulanu (10).

But as the talks have dragged on, therehas been increasing talk about him turning tothe centre-left Zionist Union to form a nation-al unity government, although its leader,Isaac Herzog, has denied reports of a secretmeeting with Netanyahu, scotching rumoursof a deal. “I said after the election resultscame in that we were headed to the opposi-tion. That’s not by default. That is our prefer-ence,” he said late Saturday in remarks widelypicked up by the Israeli press. “Netanyahuneeded to decide who he was forming a gov-ernment with, and it is clear that he prefers arightwing-religious government ... Our placeis in the opposition. We will replace the Likudgovernment.” The coalition will have to hit theground running in order to shore up shat-tered ties with the administration of USPresident Barack Obama and address divi-sions at home.

It will also have to handle an emergingnuclear deal with Iran, vehemently opposedby Netanyahu, as well as the imminent threatof Palestinian legal action at the InternationalCriminal Court. — AFP

Israel PM to request extra

time for forming new govt

CAIRO: Egypt’s ex-president MohamedMorsi faces being sentenced to death tomor-row on charges of inciting the killing of pro-testors in the first verdict against him nearlytwo years after his fall from power.

He also faces the death penalty in twoother trials, including one in which he isaccused of spying for foreign powers, andescaping from prison during the 2011 anti-Mubarak revolt. Separate verdicts in thosetwo cases are due on May 16. A death sen-tence on Tuesday against Egypt’s first freelyelected president cannot be ruled out,experts say, especially since judges havealready passed harsh verdicts against leadersof his blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.

Morsi was toppled by the then armychief-and now president-Abdel Fattah al-Sision July 3, 2013 after mass street protestsagainst his year-long rule.

The new authorities then launched asweeping crackdown on his supporters inwhich more than 1,400 people were killedand thousands jailed. Hundreds have beensentenced to death after speedy mass trialswhich the United Nations called “unprece-dented in recent history”.

The authorities have also targeted secularand liberal activists who spearheaded the2011 uprising against long-time autocratHosni Mubarak, Morsi’s predecessor.

In November, a court dropped murdercharges against Mubarak in his own trial overthe deaths of hundreds of protesters in 2011.Sisi ’s regime is widely popular amongEgyptians tired of more than four years ofpolitical turmoil, but rights groups say it ismore repressive than under Mubarak.

Tom’s verdict involves a case in whichMorsi and 14 other defendants, seven ofwhom are on the run, are charged with thekilling of three protesters and torturing sev-eral more during clashes in front of the presi-dential palace on December 5, 2012. The

protesters were demonstrating against aMorsi decree that put him above judicialreview when they clashed with his support-ers. Defence lawyers say there is no proofMorsi incited the clashes, and that most ofthose killed were Brotherhood members.

‘Justice highly politicised’ Even if Morsi escapes the death penalty,

he could still face life in jail. “Justice is highlypoliticised and verdicts are rarely based onobjective elements,” Karim Bitar from theParis-based Institute of International andStrategic Relations told AFP. Morsi’s support-ers were the target of a government “witch-hunt”, he added. I f a death sentence ispassed, it is unlikely to be carried out, said HA Hellyer of the Washington-basedBrookings Centre for Middle East Policy. “Theexecution of Morsi would represent an esca-lation by the Egyptian authorities that theydo not appear willing to engage in,” saidHellyer.

“Internationally, it will be received badlythat an elected president overthrown via amilitary incursion into politics, even if thatmilitary is popular, is then dealt a harsh judi-cial sentence.” The verdict is also open toappeal. A harsh sentence will neverthelessbe a nail in the coffin of the Brotherhood, asSisi has vowed to “eradicate” the 85-year-oldmovement that staged major electoral gainsbetween Mubarak’s fall and Morsi’s presiden-tial victory in May 2012.

Almost all of its leaders face harsh sen-tences, and in December 2013 the move-ment was designated a “terrorist group,” withthe authorities blaming it for near dailyattacks on the security forces.

In a country where the army has been inpower for decades, Sisi’s May 2014 presiden-tial victory crushed hopes raised since thepopular anti-Mubarak revolt of a civiliandemocracy. —AFP

Morsi faces possible death

penalty in first verdict SANAA: The political party of Yemen’s formerlongtime autocrat said yesterday that it wel-comes a UN resolution calling for a cease-fire inthe country, urging all involved in the conflict,including a Saudi-led Arab coalition, to observeit. In a statement issued yesterday on its website,Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congresssaid that it would “respond positively” to the UNSecurity Council resolution issued last week.Pro-Saleh forces have been fighting alongsidethe Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who haveseized the capital, Sanaa, and other cities.

“(The party) welcomes the UN Secretary-General’s call to for a cease-fire from all sidesand a return to dialogue under the auspices ofthe United Nations,” it said. It added that it urgedparties “inside and outside” the country torespond to the call. The resolution demands thatall Yemeni parties, especially the Houthis, endviolence and return swiftly to UN-led peace talksaimed at a political transition. It makes no men-tion of the Saudi-led airstrikes targeting therebels and pro-Saleh forces.

The combat intensified in late March whenthe Saudi-led coalition of majority Sunni coun-tries began launching airstrikes against therebels, who are battling forces loyal to exiledPresident Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Yesterday, fighting and Saudi-led airstrikestargeting Shiite rebels struck across Yemen, offi-cials said, as the United Nations said that SaudiArabia had agreed to completely fund a $273.7million appeal for emergency humanitarian aidto the county.

In the southern port city of Aden, Yemen’ssecond largest, pro-Hadi forces regained controlSunday of part of the coastline that had beenheld by forces loyal to rebel leader Abdul-Malekal-Houthi and former president Ali AbdullahSaleh, the security officials said. The gained posi-tions allow them to attack the rebel-held airportand cut off supplies to anti-Hadi forces, they

said. Rebel forces also made another push totake the Dar Saad area, just north of Aden, butfailed, the officials added, speaking on conditionof anonymity because they were not authorizedto brief journalists.

Later in the day, pro-rebel television stational-Masirah said that leader al-Houthi wouldspeak Sunday night, which would be his firstcomments since the airstrikes began.

Meanwhile in Amman, the United Nationssaid Saudi Arabia had agreed to fund completelya $273.7 million appeal for emergency aid toavoid a humanitarian catastrophe inside Yemen.

The UN issued the urgent appeal last week, say-ing it was needed to save lives and protect some7.5 million people affected by the conflict and indire need of medical supplies, safe drinkingwater, food assistance, emergency shelter andlogistical support.

Purnima Kahsyap, humanitarian coordinatorfor the UN aid effort in Yemen, said that the UNwas thankful to Saudi Arabia for covering theentire appeal cost, but urged all other partnersto continue to provide assistance. A Saudi-ledcoalition launched an air offensive againstYemen’s Shiite rebels on March 26. — AP

Ex-Yemen leader’s party

welcomes cease-fire

TAEZ: Armed Yemeni tribal gunmen of the Popular Resistance Committees loyal to fugitivePresident Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, gather in a street of the southern city of Taez duringongoing clashes with Shiite Houthi rebels yesterday. At least 27 people were killed in Taez inclashes between loyalists and rebels and Saudi-led coalition air raids in a day that claimed 52lives, medics said. — AFP

I N T E R N AT ION A LMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

BOSTON: Convicted Boston Marathon bomberDzhokhar Tsarnaev is set to return to court tomorrowfor the next phase of his trial, when prosecutors willargue that he should be sentenced to death for his rolein the deadly attack in 2013.

In sharp contrast to the guilt phase of the trial, whenlawyers for the ethnic Chechen defendant did not con-test that their client had killed three people and injured264 in the bombing, the next four weeks are expectedto feature emotional testimony from both sides asTsarnaev fights for his life.

The question of whether Tsarnaev, 21, should live ordie is highly controversial around Boston. Polls haveshown that a plurality of area residents, 49 percent,prefer a life sentence, and family members of two ofthe people he killed have also spoken out against exe-cuting him. Citing Al Qaeda materials found onTsarnaev’s computers, and a note suggesting the April15, 2013 attack was an act of retribution for U.S. militarycampaigns in Muslim-dominated nations, prosecutorscontend Tsarnaev wanted to “punish America” in anattack that showed a callous disregard for human life.Defense attorneys have tried to paint Tsarnaev, whoimmigrated from Russia a decade before the attack, asadrift and under the influence of his older brother, 26-

year-old Tamerlan, who died following a gunfight withpolice hours after the pair shot dead an officer. “You’regoing to see more emotion in the testimony” in the tri-al’s next phase, said David Weinstein, a lawyer in privatepractice in Florida who brought death penalty cases inprior work as a state and federal prosecutor. “You canpush the envelope a lot more in terms of what you’representing during sentencing.”

Who will they call?Neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers have said

publicly who they will call as witnesses during the trial’snext phase. Prosecutors are likely to call more peoplewho personally knew the victims, including the threekilled by the bombs, 8-year-old Martin Richard, Chineseexchange student Lingzi Lu, 23, and restaurant manag-er Krystle Campbell, 29, as well as the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology police officer shot dead by theTsarnaevs, Sean Collier, 26.

Richard’s parents and Collier’s sister have recentlyspoken out publicly against the effort to put Tsarnaevto death. The defense is likely to call witnesses who areable to discuss the relationship between the twobrothers, whose family moved to the United Stateswhen Dzohkhar Tsarnaev was 8 years old.

While Tsarnaev’s parents returned to Russia beforethe attacks, his sisters, Bella and Alina, and Tamerlan’swidow, Katherine Russell, live in the United States.

Tsarnaev’s sisters visited him in prison, according tocourt filings, but no members of his family have attend-ed his trial.

One hint of the sort of witnesses Tsarnaev’s lawyerscould call came in a court filing Thursday by federalprosecutors objecting to a defense suggestion that thejudge ask the jurors to “look deep inside” themselveswhen considering whether they believe the testimonyof foreign witnesses. Family members could testify inperson or by videotaped deposition, said Walter Prince,a Boston defense lawyer. “Outside of the family mem-bers, friends, relatives, neighbors and other expertscould talk about the domineering influence of the old-er brother,” Prince said. “Just about anything that canshed light on why this young man should not be exe-cuted is going to be offered.”

Few federal executionsOne thing that Tsarnaev has going for him is that

very few people are executed on federal charges in theUnited States. Just three out of 74 people sentenced todeath since the reinstatement of the death penalty for

federal crimes in 1988 have been executed, accordingto the Death Penalty Information Center. The threewere Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, drugtrafficker Juan Raul Garza and Louis Jones Jr., a Gulf Warveteran convicted of raping and murdering a femalesoldier in 1995.

Carried out between June 2001 and March 2003,those are the only federal executions the United Stateshas seen in the past half a century.

While McVeigh was also found guilty of terror-relat-ed charges, others who were convicted of politicallymotivated violence have been sentenced to life inprison without the possibility of parole. They includeZacarias Moussaoui, one of the conspirators in theSept. 11, 2001, attacks, and shoe-bomber Richard Reid.

Moussaoui and Reid are serving their sentences atthe federal “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado,where Tsarnaev will likely be sent if sentenced to liferather than death.

That suggests that even if the jury sentencesTsarnaev to death, he may still serve a life term inprison while his lawyers appeal the sentence, saidBoston College Law School professor Robert Bloom.“The likelihood of him actually getting death is mini-mal,” Bloom said. — Reuters

Life or death? Boston bomber’s trial turns to sentencing

WASHINGTON: This time, Hillary RodhamClinton wants to be on liberals’ good side. As apresidential candidate in 2008, she opposed gaymarriage, equivocated on granting driver’slicenses to people who were living in the US ille-gally and endured heavy criticism from rivalBarack Obama over her stance on campaignfinance.

During the opening week of her second pres-idential campaign, Clinton showed she hadretooled her positions to line up with the viewsof progressive Democrats. Today, she called for aconstitutional amendment that would limit“unaccountable money” in politics. Days later,she said through her campaign that she sup-ports same-sex marriage being recognized as aconstitutional right in a pending Supreme Courtcase. After that, her campaign said she now sup-ports state policies awarding licenses to peoplein the country illegally.

Such do-overs are part of an effort by Clintonto rectify past missteps and assure the liberalwing of her party that in 2016, she will bechange they’ve been waiting for. While Clintonenters the race in a dominant position, she facesskepticism from some Democrats who questionher commitment to tackling income inequality.

“Equal opportunity and upward mobilityhave been very central to her political idealsfrom the start,” said Robert Reich, who wasPresident Bill Clinton’s labor secretary and hasknown Hillary Clinton since college. “I just don’tknow how courageous she will be in fighting forthem.” Clinton devoted the first week of her cam-paign trying to put such concerns to rest. Shevisits New Hampshire today and tomorrow,returning to the state that handed her a 2008primary victory early in the bruising nominationstruggle won by Obama.

Aides spent much of the first 72 hours reach-ing out to union leaders, party officials and otherinterest groups. But for some who have met withher campaign staff, they wonder not aboutwhether Clinton will tack to the left, but how farher proposals will go.

Wage difference“There’s a big difference between a $9 or $10

minimum wage versus a $15 wage,” said AdamGreen, a liberal activist who has talked with thecampaign over the past months. “The big ques-tion we anticipate is, will they go big or will theygo small?”

So far, at least a few are encouraged. At heropening event in Iowa, Clinton took on CEOsand hedge fund managers, saying the “deck isstill stacked in favor of those already at the top.”At the Statehouse, her support for universal pre-K earned some of the biggest applause fromDemocratic lawmakers, according to people in

the room. When she returned to New York,Clinton had words of praise in Time magazine forMassachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a liberalstalwart some have hoped would challenge theformer secretary of state. “She never hesitates tohold powerful people’s feet to the fire: bankers,lobbyists, senior government officials and, yes,even presidential aspirants,” Clinton wrote.

News also leaked that Clinton had recruitedformer federal regulator Gary Gensler as hercampaign’s chief financial officer, a sign that shemay be preparing to take a tougher positiontoward regulating financial firms.

Potential rivals have jumped at the chance toquestion Clinton’s record and say she has shiftedher positions on matters important to liberalvoters. “I’m glad Secretary Clinton’s come aroundto the right positions on these issues,” said for-mer Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is con-sidering running for the Democratic nomination.“Leadership is about making the right decision -and the best decision before sometimes itbecomes entirely popular. “ She’s faced thisbefore. In 2008, Clinton’s hold on the nominationlooked unshakeable. Then Obama capturedDemocrats’ imagination and proved a far moredurable candidate than expected.

CommentsClinton’s supporters say her recent com-

ments, particularly on inequality, do not reflect a

shift in position. In her 2008 primary campaign,Clinton stressed the need to help families strug-gling economically and she criticized hedgefund investors, oil company profits, drug compa-ny subsidies and trade agreements.

“She’s been an advocate for these issues ofeconomic equality, fairness and playing by therules for her whole career,” said Tom Nides, aClinton confidant and Morgan Stanley vicechairman. Clinton is not in the clear with liber-als yet. Liberal organizations say they plan tocontinue their push to draft Warren, andDemocrats in early voting states say Clinton haswork to do if she wants to be assured of win-ning the nomination.

Her decision to accept political donationsfrom lobbyists - something Obama refused -may undercut her efforts to change the cam-paign finance system. Obama’s push for a tradepact with 11 Pacific nations will put Clintonbetween the centrist wing of her party andunion leaders who oppose the deal. On Friday,her campaign said she would be “watchingclosely” efforts to negotiate a final agreement.

“There’s probably been some modicum ofreassurance, but I wouldn’t push it too farbecause it’s just too early,” said Jared Bernstein,former economic adviser to Vice President JoeBiden and now a senior fellow at the Center onBudget and Policy Priorities. Biden is consideringa White House run. — AP

Clinton patches relations with

liberals at campaign’s outset

Rivals jump to question Clinton’s record

MARSHALLTOWN: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, second fromright, visits with local residents at The Tremont in Marshalltown, Iowa. This time around,Clinton wants to be on liberals’ good side. — AP

PARIS: The timing could not have been worse.Daggers were already drawn in a father-daughter duelwithin the far-right National Front when a judicialinvestigation began circling closer and closer to theparty leadership.

The probe, one of three currently targeting theNational Front or its alliances, has reawakened imagesof anti-Semitism and jack-booted followers that partyleader Marine Le Pen has worked hard to scrub away.

She is hoping to transform the National Front froma political pariah into a voter-friendly alternative totraditional parties amid a fight for the movement’ssoul between Marine Le Pen and her father, Jean-Marie, whose anti-Semitic remarks set off the familyfeud. These three investigations could end up outingprofessional and personal secrets and tarnish therespectable veneer Marie Le Pen is applying to theparty she inherited in 2011. Under the elder Le Pen’sfour-decade leadership, the National Front becameemblematic of France’s dark past, from anti-Semiticcollaboration with the Nazis in World War II to the bru-tality of the French colonial war to keep Algeria.

A truce of sorts between father and daughter mayend the family bloodletting. But the justice system isbeyond the National Front leader’s control as she setsher sights on the 2017 French presidential elections.

The investigations are uncovering a tangled webof alleged illegal financing in Paris and at theEuropean Parliament. The Paris case raises questionsabout a more extremist side of the National Frontunder Marine Le Pen, who still works with old universi-ty acquaintances with unsavory backgrounds.

Allegations of fraud, money laundering and illegalfinancing targeting National Front-linked communi-cations company Riwal highlight Marine Le Pen’s long-standing ties with the principal target in that case,Frederic Chatillon. He was a figure in the extreme-right GUD, or Union Defense Group, known for vio-lence when it was active decades ago.

Today, Chatillon runs Riwal. He is among those fac-ing preliminary charges in the case, prosecutor’sspokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said. He, aswell as one other person under investigation, recycledhimself from his GUD past into a successful business-man. His company has a branch in Syria, where heonce hobnobbed with other figures from the extremeright and the Syrian elite of Bashar Assad’s regime.

Two photos carried in the investigative online pub-lication Mediapart show Chatillon in Syria with,among others, Dieudonne, the French comic convict-ed of anti-Semitism. Chatillon is seen again in Paris

with Dieudonne and Robert Faurisson, convicted sev-eral times for denying the Holocaust.

Marine Le Pen, in turn, is seen in photos withChatillon on official party business. Far-right expertssay that Chatillon and Le Pen became acquainted atAssas University in Paris, where she attended lawschool. Also under investigation is Axel Loustau,another former GUD member. Loustau is treasurer atan organization that raises funds for the NationalFront. He also owns a security company used by theNational Front for major events such as the party’sannual May Day march. —AP

WILLIAMSBURG: The last man to shoot anAmerican president now spends most of theyear in a house overlooking the 13th hole of agolf course in a gated community.

He takes long walks along tree-lined paths,plays guitar and paints, grabs fast food atWendy’s. He drives around town in a silverToyota Avalon, a car that wouldn’t attract asecond glance. Often, as if to avoid detection,he puts on a hat or visor before going out.

These days, John Hinckley Jr. lives much ofthe year like any average Joe: shopping, eat-ing out, watching movies at a local RegalCinemas. Hinckley was just 25 when he shotPresident Ronald Reagan and three others in1981, and when jurors found him not guilty byreason of insanity they said he needed treat-ment, not a lifetime in confinement. The ver-dict left open the possibility that he wouldone day live outside a mental hospital.

For the past year, under a judge’s order,Hinckley has spent 17 days a month at hismother’s home in Williamsburg, a smallsoutheastern Virginia city known for its colo-nial roots. Freedom has come in stages andwith strict requirements: meeting regularlywhile in town with both a psychiatrist and atherapist, getting a volunteer job. It has allbeen part of a lengthy process meant to rein-tegrate Hinckley, now nearing 60, back intosociety. On Wednesday, court hearings are setto begin on whether to expand Hinckley’stime in Williamsburg further. His doctors’ rec-ommendation isn’t yet public, but the latestplan could see him living here permanently.

It’s not unusual for most of the small num-ber of defendants found not guilty by reasonof insanity to ultimately return to a communi-ty. Still, in Hinckley’s case, that leaves some inthe place he’d call home wondering: Is he real-ly ready for life on the outside? And are theyreally ready for him?

Still an American citizen“We can’t prevent him from being here. He

is still an American citizen,” said Bryan J. Hill,administrator of James City County. On thejob now for seven months, Hill was surprisedwhen contacted by The Associated Press tolearn that Hinckley is a frequent visitor. Hisname hasn’t come up in meetings with publicsafety officials, although every time there’s ahearing in Washington, D.C., about his poten-tial release, it does make the local news.

“I’m not saying that we should forgive orforget,” Hill said. “We have to monitor, andhopefully it doesn’t happen again.” A two-and-a-half-hour drive south of Hinckley’s institu-tional home of St. Elizabeths Hospital in thenation’s capital, Williamsburg is both a touristdestination and a retirement mecca. It’s hometo the College of William and Mary and theBusch Gardens amusement park. Nearby isColonial Williamsburg, where on a recentweekday visitors could catch a reading of theDeclaration of Independence at 1 p.m. andsee a military reenactment at 5.

Residents call it small-town living, the kindof place where people wave at their neigh-bors. Whether it is also a place that will wel-come a would-be assassin is less clear. Localreal estate agent John Womeldorf, who callshimself “Mr. Williamsburg,” always points outthe street where Hinckley’s mother lives if he’sshowing a house in the same resort communi-ty. He doesn’t want new homeowners to besurprised after they’ve moved in.

“I just matter-of-factly ask them ‘Do youremember the guy that shot PresidentReagan?’ And usually they do. And I say, ‘Wellhis mother lives here and he gets released anumber of times a year and comes and stays

with his mom,’” Womeldorf said.The news has deterred maybe one or two

buyers in the more than a decade he’s been anagent in the community, he said. “It’s been anon-issue.” Not so for others here. Some havegriped about Hinckley in the local paper, TheVirginia Gazette, which has a section called“Last Word” containing anonymous commentsabout city life. Cabot Wade, a musician whoonce gave Hinckley guitar lessons anddescribed his singing voice as Kenny Loggins-like, said he never personally felt that Hinckleywas violent or dangerous. Nevertheless, hesaid, “Nobody will touch him with a 10-footpole.” Hinckley’s doctors have said for yearsthat he is no longer plagued by the mental ill-ness that drove him to shoot Reagan outside aWashington hotel in an effort to impressactress Jodie Foster, whom he grew obsessedwith after seeing her in the movie “Taxi Driver.”

Among those wounded was PressSecretary James Brady, who was shot in thehead and left partially paralyzed. When Bradydied last year, the Virginia medical examiner’soffice ruled his death a homicide, but prosecu-tors said legal barriers including the length oftime between the crime and Brady’s deathprevented them from pursuing additionalcharges against Hinckley.

In hearings before US District Court JudgePaul L. Friedman, doctors have testified thatHinckley’s original diagnosis - psychosis andmajor depression - has been in remission fordecades and that while he still has a narcissis-tic personality disorder, its effects have dimin-ished. He takes Zoloft for anxiety and, beforebed, one milligram of the antipsychotic drugRisperdal.

Not dangerousPsychological testing designed to predict

violence shows Hinckley’s dangerousness riskis “decidedly low,” Hinckley’s longtime lawyer,Barry Levine, said during the most recent setof hearings over his release that started in late2011 and continued intermittently through2013. “This man is not dangerous. The evi-dence shows that he is not dangerous,” Levinetold Friedman, who was assigned the case in2001 after the previous judge overseeing itdied. For decades, Hinckley spent all of histime at St. Elizabeths. Then, in 2003, Friedmanruled he could have day visits with his parentsoutside of the institution, followed byovernight visits within a 50-mile radius.

Starting in 2006, Hinckley was allowedthree-night trips to Williamsburg. Eventuallythat went to four nights, then more. In late2013, the judge upped Hinckley’s time to thecurrent 17-day stretches. Friedman said hewas persuaded that Hinckley was not a dan-ger and that the longer duration might “pro-vide new opportunities for employment andstructured community activities.”

In new hearings set to begin Wednesday,St. Elizabeths and Levine are expected to urgethe judge to give Hinckley even more free-dom. That could mean 24 days a month,which was previously requested, or full-time,year-round “convalescent leave” in town.

Prosecutors have consistently opposedHinckley’s release, arguing he has a history ofdeceptive behavior. They have pointed to a1987 journal entry in which he claimed hispsychiatrists would “never know the true JohnHinckley.” “Psychiatry is a guessing game and Ido my best to keep the fools guessing aboutme,” he wrote. Prosecutors have also saidHinckley’s relationships with women remaintroubling. They took issue with some of theromantic relationships he formed with a fewpatients at St. Elizabeths. —AP

Reagan shooter finds rejection,

indifference in future home

WILLIAMSBURG: In this photo taken March 19, 2015, golfers enjoy the 14th hole infront of a luxury home in the Kingsmill resort in Williamsburg, Va. John Hinckley Jr.the last man to shoot an American president now spends most of the year in a houseoverlooking the 13th hole of a golf course in a gated community. He takes long walksalong tree-lined paths, plays guitar and paints, grabs fast food at Wendy’s. — AP

Extremist past mars makeover

of France’s far-right party

BUJUMBURA: Burundi has charged 65 protestorswith rebellion after they were arrested during clash-es with police while calling for the president not toseek re-election, a prosecutor said.

Tensions are high with opposition parties con-cerned at incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza’sexpected bid for re-election in June despite theconstitutional limit of two terms. Nkurunziza hasnot yet confirmed whether he intends to try stay inpower, but his supporters say he has every right todo so. Police arrested scores of protestors on Friday,and on Saturday charged 65 of them with “partici-pation in an insurrectionary movement”, state pros-ecutor Arcade Nimubona said late Saturday.

Some stones were thrown at police, whostopped protests using tear gas and water cannon.Those charged face a possible life sentence if foundguilty of armed insurrection.

In April, a court handed life sentences to 22

young activists for “armed insurrection” followingviolent clashes with the police in Bujumbura.

Rights activist Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, presi-dent of Burundi’s influential campaign groupAprodeh, condemned the charges.

“It is political issue, because these people wereabout to exercise a right under the constitution” toprotest Mbonimpa said.

A large crowd of opposition activists gathered tosing songs outside court to support those whowere charged. “All this is done to discourage us, butwe want to tell Nkurunziza we will not give up, wewill continue to protest until he says he will not run,”said one protestor, asking not to be named.

Burundi, a small landlocked nation in centralAfrica’s Great Lakes region that emerged in 2006from a brutal 13-year civil war, holds general elec-tions in May to elect lawmakers before a presiden-tial poll in June. —AFP

Burundi charges 65

protesters with rebellion

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

MONDAY, APRIL 20 , 2015

LONDON: The knives are already being sharpened forthe leaders of Britain’s political parties, several ofwhom could see their careers brought to a brutal endif they fail to deliver at the May 7 election.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, hisLiberal Democrat deputy Nick Clegg, leader of themain opposition Labour party Ed Miliband, NigelFarage of the anti-EU UK Independence Party-all runthe risk of being kicked out.

“All four are fighting for their political life,” saidSteven Fielding, professor of political history atNottingham University. In an unusually fragmentedpolitical landscape, it is no longer enough simply towin the most seats. After years of dominance by theConservatives and Labour, Westminster these days ismore complicated than that.

David CameronHe arguably has the most to lose. He became

prime minister in 2010 after 13 years of Labour gov-ernment but the Conservatives failed to win enoughHouse of Commons seats to govern alone.

The result: a coalition government with the Liberal

Democrats which was deeply unpopular with his par-ty. “If Cameron is not prime minister, he will go,” saidSimon Hix of the London School of Economics (LSE).

He could even be pushed out if he has a chance ofremaining prime minister but would have to form anew coalition or minority government to do so.

“Cameron, I think, is unpopular-and of course, hehasn’t won an election,” said Stephen Ingle, emeritusprofessor of politics at Stirling University.

“The Conservative party is always, always aboutwinning. He had everything for him in 2010 and hedidn’t win. So I don’t think he’s secure.”

Tony Travers of the LSE added: “The Conservativesare more ruthless than Labour in getting rid of theirleaders.”

Cameron has already raised the prospect of hisown departure in a few years, saying he would notseek a third term in office and naming three possiblesuccessors, including charismatic London Mayor BorisJohnson.

BoJo, as Johnson is nicknamed, “is willing to doanything to be the leader of the Conservative partyand to be PM”, said Fielding.

The mayor, though, insists he has more chance ofbeing “reincarnated as an olive”.

Ed MilibandHe became Labour leader in 2010 under circum-

stances which could be straight out of a Greektragedy. Miliband unexpectedly beat older brotherDavid to the job-or “stabbed his own brother in theback”, in the words of Defence Secretary MichaelFallon this month.

But he has struggled to persuade the country andsome in his own party that he is prime minister mate-rial. “If he doesn’t win a majority and Labour is still notthe largest party, many backbenchers will want to getrid of Ed Miliband. They will say he should have wonthis election after five years of austerity,” Hix said.

Ingle added: “I think the great majority of MPswould prefer his brother and they would have pre-ferred his brother at the last leadership election.”

Nick CleggIt all looked so promising for Clegg in 2010 — he

led the Liberal Democrats into government for the

first time and became Cameron’s deputy prime minis-ter. But “Cleggmania” did not last and the party’s sup-port plummeted as it was forced into a series of awk-ward compromises in power.

He is at serious risk of losing his own House ofCommons seat in Sheffield, northern England, whichwould effectively put him out of a job. Even if hekeeps that seat, “I would have thought that if the partydoes badly then he is almost certain to go,” said Ingle.

Whatever happens to Clegg, the Liberal Democratscould stil l end up propping up a minorityConservative or Labour government-or even forminga new coalition.

Nigel FarageThe beer and tobacco-loving eurosceptic has been

clearer than any of the other leaders about his future.If he fails to win the seat he is fighting in southeastEngland, Farage has promised to step down.

“Was I supposed to brief UKIP policy from theWestminster Arms (a pub near Parliament)? No-if I failto win South Thanet, it is curtains for me,” he wrote ina book this year. — AFP

Bloodbath of the leaders at UK general election?

PRETORIA: South Africa yesterday vowed to huntdown those behind a wave of attacks targeting immi-grants, saying 307 people had been arrested over vio-lence that has left at least seven people dead. Thegovernment stepped up its response to unrest inJohannesburg and the eastern coastal city of Durban,with Home Minister Malusi Gigaba resolving to end“all acts that seek to plunge our country into anarchy”.Rioting and looting over the last two weeks haveexposed tensions between South Africans and immi-grants from across the continent, includingZimbabwe, Somalia, Ethiopia and Malawi.

President Jacob Zuma on Saturday cancelled astate visit to Indonesia to deal with surge in violence,and pleaded with foreigners to stay in South Africa.

Heightening public concern over the attacks, theSunday Times published front-page pictures of aMozambican man being stabbed to death in broaddaylight in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra.The photographs showed Emmanuel Sithole beingattacked early Saturday by a man in jeans wielding aknife.

Sithole was taken to hospital but died of hiswounds, the paper reported. “Perpetrators are beingarrested, charged and prosecuted,” Gigaba told apress conference in Pretoria. “So far 307 suspects havebeen arrested in connection with attacks on foreignnationals and public violence.

“We want to issue a stern warning to those wholend themselves to acts of public violence. We willfind you-and you will be dealt with to the full might ofthe law.” Sporadic violence erupted again overnight inJohannesburg and Durban, where an AFP photogra-pher said that one Zimbabwean’s house had beenpetrol-bombed and his two cars torched.

The spate of attacks has revived memories ofxenophobic bloodshed in 2008, when 62 peoplewere killed in Johannesburg’s townships, shakingSouth Africa’s post-apartheid image as a “rainbownation” of different ethnic groups.

Repatriation plans Immigrants are often the focus for anger among

South Africans hit by a chronic job shortage and thelimited progress made by many poor blacks sincewhite-minority rule ended in 1994.

Regional relations have been strained by theunrest, with Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambiqueorganising for some worried citizens to return home.Buses to Malawi were due to leave later, andZimbabwe said about 700 citizens were expected tobe ferried out by bus within days. Zimbabwe hasabout one million mostly-illegal immigrants in SouthAfrica, many of them working in the service sector, onconstruction sites and as casual labour.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees saidmost victims of the xenophobic attacks wererefugees forced to leave their own countries due towar and persecution. It said 5,000 migrants hadsought refuge in makeshift camps, but local authori-ties said the figure was lower.

Zuma on Saturday travelled to Durban to visit onecamp, where he faced a hostile reception from thecrowd, which yelled “go home, go home” and “toolate, too late”. He vowed to end the unrest and soughtto assure the crowd there was a place for foreigners inSouth Africa.

“Even those who want to go home, they mustknow that when we have stopped the violence theyare welcome to come back,” Zuma said. The violencehas been largely blamed on a speech last month byKing Goodwill Zwelithini, traditional leader of theZulus, in which he blamed foreigners for South

Africa’s high crime rate and said they must “take theirbags and go”.

He has since said his words were misinterpreted.South Africa’s economy grew by just 1.5 percent lastyear and unemployment is at around 25 percent-

soaring to over 50 percent among young people.Gigaba stressed that foreign companies were still wel-come to invest in South Africa.

“Everything is being done to restore peace andorder,” he said. — AFP

Zuma vows crackdown against

anti-immigrant attacks

5,000 migrants seek refuge in makeshift camps

CHATSWORTH: Hundreds of foreign nationals queue to board buses back to Zimbabwe, at a temporary refugee camp in Chatsworth, south of Durban, yes-terday. The repatriation of the 700 Zimbabwean refugees wanting to leave South Africa in the wake of xenophobic attacks is under way after PresidentJacob Zuma said a day earlier that,” preparations for those wanting to leave the country will be made”. — AFP

YEREVAN: Armenians prepare to commemoratea hundred years since 1.5 million of their kin weremassacred by Ottoman forces, as a fierce disputestill rages with Turkey over Ankara’s refusal torecognise the mass murder as genocide.

Hundreds of thousands are expected to flockto the towering genocide memorial in Armenia’scapital Yerevan on Friday for an emotional cere-mony to mark the centenary of the start of atragedy that still stirs deep divisions.

Ex-Soviet Armenia and the huge Armeniandiaspora worldwide have battled for decades toget the World War I massacres at the hands of theOttoman forces between 1915 and 1917 recog-nised as a targeted genocide.

But for modern Turkey-the successor to theOttoman empire-hundreds of thousands died onboth sides as Ottoman forces battled TsaristRussia and describing the events as a “genocide”is a red line it cannot cross. Armenian PresidentSerzh Sarkisian has said the centenary will beused to remind the world of the struggle torecognise the massacre as genocide.

“This is an important date for the Armenianpeople and international community not only tolook back and think over historical facts but tosay ‘never again’,” Sarkisian said in a recent speech.

But the spotty guest list for the event high-lights the lack of international consensus on theissue. The presidents of Russia and France-two ofless than two dozen countries to formally recog-nise the genocide-are expected to be among ahandful of world leaders to join the crowds at thememorial, but others are shying away for fear ofupsetting Ankara.

Meanwhile, Turkey has sparked ire by sched-uling a major event for the 100th anniversary ofthe Battle of Gallipoli, usually marked on April 25,for the same day, in what Armenia says is aneffort to steal attention from what they call theirgenocide commemorations.

In Istanbul a small gathering will be held tomark the day now chosen to mark the start of theatrocity when a hundred years ago Armeniancommunity leaders were rounded up in thenConstantinople.

Around the globe Armenians in the largediaspora-dispersed far and wide by the slaughterthat followed-are planning to hold their ownmemorials from Los Angeles to Lebanon.

A day ahead of the commemoration,Armenia’s influential orthodox Apostolic Churchwill hold a ceremony to officially canonise all thevictims of the killings.

Pope’s recognition In the run-up to the centenary, the potent

tensions over the century-old killings were laidbare as Pope Francis this month sparked blister-ing condemnation from Turkey after he referredto the massacres as “genocide” at a Vatican mass.

“We recall the centenary of that tragic event,that immense and senseless slaughter whosecruelty your forebears had to endure,” Francissaid. “It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honourtheir memory, for whenever memory fades, itmeans that evil allows wounds to fester.” TheEuropean Parliament also urged Turkey to usethe centenary of Ottoman-era massacres to“recognise the Armenian genocide” and helppromote reconciliation between the two peo-ples.

Last year Turkish President Recep TayyipErdogan offered an expression of condolences toArmenians but this has not been followed by anyfurther steps, with rhetoric sharpening even fur-ther. In Turkey a Turkish-Armenian advisor toPrime Minister Ahmet Davutogou “retired”, daysafter he caused a furore within the ruling partyby describing the mass killings as genocide.

For presidents in the United States-home to alarge Armenian community the issue has alwaysbeen a particular thorny one. Barack Obama-whopledged before he won the presidency to recog-nise the genocide-has sidestepped the con-tentious term by using the Armenian term MedzYeghern, meaning great catastrophe.

The United States this month again called fora “full, frank” acknowledgement of the facts sur-rounding the mass murder of Armenians inWorld War I, but shied away from calling it “agenocide.”—AFP

Armenians to mark

genocide centenary

Finns vote, expected

to oust governmentHELSINKI: Finns voted yesterday in legislativeelections expected to oust the coalition left-rightgovernment after a campaign that focused onhow to lift Finland from a three-year economicslump.

Public opinion polls have predicted a resound-ing victory for the liberal-agrarian Centre Partyleader Juha Sipila, a 53-year-old IT millionaire andnewcomer to politics.

Polling stations across the country opened at9:00 am, and were to close at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT)when the results of advance voting-by whichmore than one-third of the electorate cast theirballots-were to be released.

Campaigning heavily on his business know-how, Sipila has vowed to get the economy backon track after three years of recession and stagna-tion, austerity and failed reforms.

“Our country deserves better,” Sipila wrote onhis blog Saturday. “Politics must be returned to aclimate of trust.”

Elected to parliament in 2011, Sipila becameparty leader in 2012 when he was still virtuallyunknown to most Finns. In opposition since 2011,the Centre Party has recently been credited witharound 24 percent of support.

Voters interviewed at the polls agreed theeconomy was top priority. “The main point in thiselection is the bad economic situation in Finland,so I voted for people I believe are experts in the

economy,” Jorma Mahonen, a 64-year-old votersaid after casting his ballot in central Helsinki.

“I leave it to them to find a solution. I don’thave the answer myself but there will be somecutting involved,” he added.

Rafael Donner, 25, was however less optimistic.“I don’t think this election is going to changemuch. Society won’t accept that GDP can’t growforever,” he said.

“I believe we in Finland have enough. I look atmy friends and they all have iPhones, go on holi-day to nice places, and have brunches every week-end,” he said.

If a Centre victory is confirmed on Sunday,Sipila’s first task will be to pick his coalition part-ners. Tradition dictates that the largest party takesthe post of prime minister and forms a govern-ment with the other largest parties to obtain amajority in parliament.

Several weeks of thorny negotiations areexpected before Sipila is able to present a coali-tion. Faced with the country’s economic woes, “thegovernment programme will be quite difficult tocreate,” Helsinki University political history profes-sor Juhana Aunesluoma predicted.

Three parties are fighting for second place,hovering between 14 and 17 percent in the polls:Prime Minister Alexander Stubb’s conservativeNational Coalition Party, the Social Democrats andthe right-wing eurosceptic Finns Party.—AFP

HELSINKI: Advance votes of the Finnish parliamentary elections are being counted inHelsinki, Finland, yesterday. Finns voted yesterday in legislative elections expected to oustthe coalition left-right government after a campaign that focused on how to lift Finland froma three-year economic slump. — AFP

NICOSIA: Turkish Cypriot voters in breakawaynorthern Cyprus went to the polls yesterday toelect a leader who will head peace talks with theGreek Cypriots on the divided island.

Seven candidates including incumbentDervis Eroglu, president of the self-declaredTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC),were contesting the election. Polls have suggest-ed no candidate will emerge with a clear majori-ty, sending the election to a runoff next Sundaybetween the top two in the first round.

“I voted for someone who can resolve theproblem” of the four-decade division of Cyprus,said Hussein Ors, a 57-year-old civil servantemerging from a polling station in northernNicosia.

“We hope every time but always end upbeing disappointed,” said another voter, HulyaTozake, also 57, blaming both the Greek Cypriotside and Ankara. Eroglu’s main challengers areSibel Siber-the sole woman candidate, the headof parliament and a former prime minister-andMustafa Akinci, an independent and formermayor of northern Nicosia.

Polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0500GMT) and were to close 10 hours later, with thefirst results expected late on Sunday. About176,000 people are eligible to vote in the break-away TRNC, which occupies about a third of theeastern Mediterranean island. In 1974, inresponse to an Athens-engineered coup seeking

a union with Greece, Turkish troops invadednorthern Cyprus, with the TRNC later unilaterallydeclaring independence in 1983. Only Turkeyrecognises the TRNC, which relies on Ankara toprovide one third of its annual budget. Whoeverwins the election, Cyprus will be hamstrung by ageopolitical snarl that generations of leadersand successive UN chiefs have failed to untan-gle.

The island has been split since 1974, withabout 1,000 peacekeepers monitoring a cease-fire line that cuts through the heart of Nicosia,Europe’s last divided capital. Decades of talkshave failed to unify the island, including a planby then-UN secretary general Kofi Annan whichwas approved by Turkish Cypriot voters in 2004but overwhelmingly rejected by Greek Cypriotsin separate referenda.

Cyprus joined the European Union that yearstill a divided island and, although the north istechnically part of the bloc, Turkish Cypriots aredenied nearly all of the benefits of EU member-ship. UN peace envoy Espen Barth Eideannounced on April 7 that peace negotiationsare set to resume after the vote.

But many Turkish Cypriots have lost faith intheir leaders’ ability to reach a deal and open theTRNC to the rest of the world. “People have beenborn, lived, had children and families, and diedwaiting for them to resolve something,” saidhuman rights lawyer Ermine Colak. — AFP

Turkish Cypriots

vote for new leader

NICOSIA: A woman receives a ballot paper before voting for the presidential elections inthe self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) at a polling station yes-terday in the northern part of Nicosia. — AFP

I N T E R N AT ION A LMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

MULTAN: A Pakistani man and his father have beenarrested in the country’s latest so-called “honour killing”after they set the son’s wife alight for leaving the housewithout asking his permission, police said yesterday.Muhammad Siddique became enraged on learning thathis wife, Shabana Bibi, 25, had visited her sister withoutfirst asking him if she could go out, her brother

Muhammad Azam said.Siddique and his father then beat Bibi before dous-

ing her with petrol and setting her on fire in CentralPakistan’s Muzaffargarh district on Friday, Azam said.

Bibi had been married to Siddique for three years,during which time she had suffered repeated domesticabuse for the couple’s inability to have children, Azam

said. Suffering burns to 80 percent of her body, Bibi diedof her injuries in hospital on Saturday. “We have arrestedthe husband and father-in-law of the deceased womanand charged them for murder and terrorism,” districtpolice chief Rai Zameer-ul-Haq told AFP. The charge of“terrorism” is regularly applied in such cases so as toexpedite the legal process.

Hundreds of women are murdered by their relativesin Pakistan each year through domestic violence or onthe grounds of defending family “honour”.

The Aurat Foundation, a campaign group that worksto improve the lives of women in Pakistan’s conservativeand patriarchal society, says more than 3,000 womenhave been killed in such attacks since 2008. — AFP

Husband sets wife on fire in Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Indian Congress Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi (L), Congress President Sonia Gandhi (C) and former prime minister of IndiaManmohan Singh wave to supporters during a rally in New Delhi yesterday. Beleaguered opposition leader Rahul Gandhi led a rally of thou-sands of farmers in the Indian capital, against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial overhaul of laws on land-buying. — AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s Rahul Gandhi led a largefarmers rally yesterday that focused ruralanger toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’spolicies, in the first public appearance inmonths for the elusive scion of the country’smost famous political family.

In what seemed like a stage-managedappearance, the opposition leader spoke tothousands of villagers brought to New Delhion special trains and buses, vowing to blockModi’s plan to make it easier for business toforcibly acquire farm land. “Modiji wants togive your land to industrialist friends,” said ahoarse-voiced Gandhi, addressing some70,000 farmers in the large ‘Ram Lila’ ground.

Anger at the land bill, bad weather and lowcommodity prices have dented Modi’s popu-larity in the countryside, his first major politi-cal challenge since taking office last year.

Gandhi, 44, landed in India on Friday after

a mysterious eight-week foreign break thatled to rebellious grumbling from party col-leagues that the great-grandson of India’s firstprime minister was a part-timer with dulledpolitical instincts. The rally was Gandhi’sattempt to regain momentum and put thegovernment on the defensive about its sup-port for farmers suffering after bad weatherdamaged crop.

AmendmentsModi’s government is determined to push

through amendments to a land acquisitionlaw passed when the Gandhis were last inpower, saying the law has made it almostimpossible to buy land for industrial develop-ment. Flanked on stage by his mother, partypresident Sonia Gandhi and former primeminister Manmohan Singh, Gandhi said Modiwas undemocratic in using a decree to imple-

ment the new land rules. The governmentmust now pass the amendments in parlia-ment, which convenes on Monday.

“We are not against the land acquisition,but this should happen with the consent offarmers at a good price” said Muktar Singh, a66-year old farmer who came from Jhajjar dis-trict of Haryana, about 65 kilometers awayfrom the capital city.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party hit back,with Ravi Shankar Prasad, communication andtelecom minister at the Modi-led government,saying the new land rules were pro-poor.

The government hopes the oppositionCongress Party will agree to a middle path,but the Gandhis vowed on Sunday to standtheir ground, setting the stage for a bruisingshowdown in parliament that could slow thepassage of a major tax reform bill also slatedfor this session. — Reuters

Enigmatic Gandhi fires up opposition at farmers rally

Modi seeks reform in parliament

BEIJING: The most prominent of five recentlyreleased Chinese women’s rights activists feelsher dedication to the cause has grownstronger after spending 37 days in detentionwith interrogators who blew smoke onto herface and insulted her sexual orientation, hergirlfriend and her lawyer said.

Li Tingting, 25, an openly lesbian cam-paigner for women’s issues, has been at thecenter of an international outcry over China’sdetention of activists. Her girlfriend, whospoke to The Associated Press on conditionshe be identified only by her English name ofTeresa, relayed comments from Li for the firsttime since the activist’s conditional releasefrom a Beijing jail last Monday. Teresa spoke inthe presence of Li’s lawyer Wang Yu, who alsoconfirmed Li’s comments.

“‘Feminism is my soul,’” Teresa quoted Li assaying. “‘I thought a lot and came to believewhat I do cannot be wrong. My belief is firmer.Feminism will surely be inseparable from me.’”Li and four other women, ranging in age from25 to 32, were detained in a criminal investiga-tion for their plans to hand out stickers andflyers denouncing sexual harassment, in acase reflecting the Chinese leadership’s deepdistrust of any efforts to organize civil actionin a group outside the ruling CommunistParty’s control.

Known for colorful, high-profile protests -from “potty parity” sit-ins to street theaterdenouncing spousal abuse - the five womendrew what has been, for recent years, anunusual amount of attention overseas.Foreign governments, rights groups and lumi-naries including U.S. presidential candidateHillary Clinton criticized the arrests as an over-reaction by a repressive Chinese government,and urged Chinese authorities to drop theinvestigations against the women.

China’s Foreign Ministry has responded bysaying the detentions are an internal affairbeing handled according to law, and urgingforeign countries not to interfere.

The five were released, but remain underinvestigation and have been told not to traveloutside their home cities or meet journalists.AP reporters traveled to Li’s home village ofHongtongying, a community of wheat fieldsand willow trees on Beijing’s outskirts, butwere trailed by unidentified vehicles. In anearby town center, the journalists were ableto see Li with Teresa as they walked arm-in-arm from a tea house to a hospital, but couldnot interview Li. Her friend and the lawyersaid Li would abide by state security officials’demands that she grant no interviews. Theyalso released a written statement by Li, inwhich she pleaded innocence.

“What I have done does not provoke trou-ble, but is mild advocacy that does notamount to any crime,” Li wrote. “I demandpolice dismiss the case immediately, removecoercive restrictions on me and return inno-cence to me.”

No interviewsThe lawyer said the demand that Li hold

no interviews has no basis under Chinese law.“The activism by Li Tingting not only complieswith Chinese law, but should be laudedbecause she is promoting the law,” Wang said,referring to China’s law, policy and declara-tions championing equal rights for women.

“She should not have been treated so ille-gally by authorities. For a young woman whois able to do what she’s done, I think sheshould be considered a hope for China,” Wangsaid. Li will need some time to readjust buthas been in good spirits despite her ordeal,her friend and the lawyer said. In the state-ment, Li said she was deprived of sleep andhad cigarette smoke blown onto her facewhile she was restrained in an iron interroga-tion chair. “It made my nostrils and eyes dryand uncomfortable,” Li wrote. “I could notmove at all and felt my dignity was greatlyinsulted.” Interrogators shone strong light intoher eyes and repeatedly called her homosexu-ality “sickening” and “shameless,” Li wrote. Herlawyer Wang said the acts by interrogatorsamounted to torture.

Teresa, who also was briefly detained bypolice but said she didn’t want to give her fullname out of fear for her personal safety, saidLi was “delighted” to learn of the support shereceived from Clinton and from one of heridols, Eve Ensler. Author of the “VaginaMonologues,” Ensler called for people aroundthe world to protest in front of Chineseembassies and consulates in support of Li andthe four other Chinese women’s rightsactivists. She and other rights advocates haveattributed the early release of the five to theinternational pressure on the issue, whichthreatened to embarrass China ahead of a keyanniversary in September of a high-profilewomen’s rights conference in 1995.

Born just weeks after Chinese troopscrushed student pro-democracy protests inthe heart of Beijing, Li grew up in a working-class household. She came out early as a les-bian to her parents, who reacted badly to thenews. She found her tribe in college where shejoined other activists working on HIV, genderequality and gay and lesbian issues. With her atthe helm, the activists began staging tongue-in-cheek, media-friendly public protests, whichshe called performance art. —AP

Chinese activist more determined after lockup

BEIJING: In this April 18, 2015 photo, Chinese activist Li Tingting, left, points as sheholds hands with her girlfriend, who wished to be identified only by her Englishname of Teresa as they walk along a street in suburban Beijing. Li, one of five recent-ly released Chinese women’s rights activists feels her dedication to activism hasgrown only stronger after spending 37 days in detention with interrogators whoblew smoke onto her face and insulted her sexual orientation, her girlfriend and herlawyer said. — AP

TEHRAN: Afghanistan and Iran announcedyesterday plans for enhanced security coop-eration to combat threats from the IslamicState group, including possible joint militaryoperations.

Standing alongside visiting Afghan leaderAshraf Ghani, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhanisaid the tumult hitting the region meantintelligence must be shared. His commentscame after IS, which holds swathes of Syriaand Iraq, said it was responsible for a suicidebombing in Afghanistan’s eastern city ofJalalabad which killed 33 people.

The attack on Saturday at a state-ownedbank where government workers were draw-ing their salaries was the first in Afghanistanclaimed by IS. More than 100 people werealso wounded.

Ghani’s two-day visit to Iran is his firstsince taking over from president HamidKarzai in September, and he was accompa-nied on the trip by his foreign minister andminister for oil and mines. The Afghan leaderhas repeatedly raised the prospect of IS mak-ing inroads in his country, though the jihadistgroup has never formally acknowledged hav-ing a presence in Afghanistan. A formerfinance minister and World Bank technocrat,

Ghani said IS presented “a serious danger anddifferent form of terrorism”.

“People die daily, we face barbarism,” hesaid at a joint press conference, promptingRouhani to nod in agreement. “And withoutgreater cooperation a macabre phenomenonsuch as Daesh cannot be contained,” Ghanisaid, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Rouhanisaid: “We have agreed to cooperate further inthe fight against terrorism, violence andextremism in the region, especially in borderregions. “We need intelligence sharing and, ifnecessary, cooperation in operations becausethe problems that exist are not restricted andgradually spread throughout the region,affecting everyone.” The two leaders did notspecify further what they thought could bedone to confront IS, which swept into Iraqfrom Syria last June. The group holds Mosul,Iraq’s second city. Iran has been central in theBaghdad government’s fightback against IS,coordinating Shiite militias and providingmilitary advisers from its power fulRevolutionary Guards Corps.

The largest such operation saw IS clearedearly this month from Tikrit, a city north ofBaghdad and the childhood home of execut-ed Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. —AFP

Iran, Afghanistan announcesecurity cooperation against IS

SEOUL: South Korean police clashed withthousands of protesters, blocking their way tothe presidential palace, where they hoped todemand a more vigorous governmentresponse to a ferry disaster that claimed morethan 300 lives a year ago.

About 13,000 police and 470 police buseswere deployed in the area around Seoul’s mainceremonial thoroughfare and 100 protesterswere arrested, an official of the SeoulMetropolitan Police Agency said.

Saturday’s rally, organised by a group repre-senting families of the victims, was the largestin recent weeks as the country marked the firstanniversary of the April 16 disaster.

Police said they used buses to barricademarchers’ route to the presidential Blue House,and deployed water cannon and pepper spray.Several police buses were damaged.

A fire department official said nine protest-ers and three police were taken to hospitalwhile three protesters received first aid at thesite. The rally began at midday, with a crowddemanding the government allow an inde-pendent inquiry into the disaster and make animmediate decision to raise the Sewol ferry.

The ferry was on a routine journey fromIncheon to the southern island of Jeju when itcapsized making a sharp turn and sank.Among the 304 victims were 250 students on aclass trip.

It was later found to have been structurallyunsound and overloaded with cargo. Angerstill runs high among the families of victims.They say the government let them down againthis week, by failing to announce a plan toraise the ferry by the first anniversary of theevent.

President Park Geun-hye said on Thursdaythe government would begin preparing toraise the 6,800-tonne ship, her clearest indica-tion yet of a retrieval plan, before she left on an11-day trip to Latin America.

The country’s umbrella labour federationjoined the rally and vowed to join forces withvictims’ families to continue protests, callingfor more rallies next weekend, a federationspokesman at the protest said. — Reuters

South Korea police clash with protesters over ferry disaster

SEOUL: In this Saturday, April 18, 2015, photo, protesters struggle with police offices after arally to commemorate the first anniversary of the Sewol ferry sinking in Seoul, South Korea.South Korean police say they’re questioning dozens of protesters after violence broke out at arally denouncing the government’s handling of the ferry disaster that killed more than 300people a year ago. — AP

MUZAFFARABAD: Hundreds of people inPakistani Kashmir burnt India’s flag and an effigyof its prime minister yesterday in protest at acrackdown on separatists in the Indian part ofthe divided region. Refugees from Indian-ruledKashmir rallied under the banner of “Pasban-e-Hurriyat” (Protectors of Freedom) inMuzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistani side.

Many children also took part, displaying plac-ards reading: “Go India Go back (from Kashmir)”and “Release Kashmiri leaders”.

Police in Indian Kashmir shot dead a 16-year-old boy on Saturday during a demonstration onthe outskirts of its main city Srinagar, as a sepa-

ratist strike shut down the Himalayan region ona second day of violent clashes.

Indian police said they had arrested two offi-cers accused of shooting the teenager a fewhours after the incident.

A preliminary investigation showed one ofthe officers fired his rifle on the directions ofanother officer “in violation of laid down SOP(Standard Operating Procedure)”, a police state-ment said.

Security was heavy on Sunday in the westernpart of the Kashmir Valley where the shootingoccurred, while shops were shuttered and fewresidents were seen on the streets. —AFP

Protesters burn Indian flag in Pakistan Kashmir

N E W SMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

Continued from Page 1

“The (new) fields will be developed and production willstart briefly,” he said, adding that the new discoveries hadbeen announced after two years of exploration activitieshad proved positive.

Two reservoirs for unconventional oil in the north of thecountry were also discovered, Hashem said. The gradesfound in the fields were both light and heavy oil, with pre-liminary results showing “huge commercial volumes”, KUNAquoted Hashem as saying. Kuwait plans to boost its oil andgas drilling rigs by 50 percent by early 2016 as it seeks toboost crude and gas production despite low oil prices,Hashem said in February. Most of Kuwait’s production isfrom Burgan, the world’s second largest, which is in thesoutheast of the country.

Kuwait’s current output potential is around 3 million bar-rels per day, but the country wants to lift this to 4 millionbpd by 2020. The country expects a big boost from itsnorthern fields, planning later this year to invite internation-al oil firms to bid for technical service agreements in thearea. Separately, the Kuwait Turk Bank (Kuveyt Turk) is set to

become the first-ever Islamic financial institution inGermany from July as a first step intended at offering sharia-compliant retail banking services. The bank, which recentlygot the license from German competent authorities, willoperate in the cities of Frankfurt, Berlin and Mannheim. Thebank, which operates under guidelines that conform toIslamic sharia, already has a branch operating in Mannheim.But the regulator’s approval would allow it to work as a fullyoperational bank.

As for success opportunities, the bank’s ManagingDirector Kemal Ozan told KUNA: “We want to show that thebanks can make profits on the one hand and abide by ethi-cal values on the other”. He added that the bank seeks toattract Muslims and non-Muslims in the country, noting thatthe size of economic trade between Germany and the GulfCooperation Council (GCC) countries would boost opportu-nities to help the bank make profits. The bank intends toopen up to 10 branches in Germany within 2015, he madeclear. The bank set up a financial service branch in Germanyin 2010 and applied for a full banking license last March. TheKuwait Finance House (KFH) owns a 62 percent stake in thebank. — Agencies

Old banknotes to be withdrawn by Oct 1

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This high percentage is greater than the abilities ofthe governments to face it, he warned. ALO is playing agreat role in this and other issues and has issued manyresolutions to improve the development process, inaddition of establishing a fund to support small busi-nesses, he added.

Guy Ryder, director general of the InternationalLabour Organisation, warned that the youth unemploy-ment problem is a threat to stability. “Arab countriesface the urgent and unavoidable task of responding toan acute crisis of unemployment,” he told the confer-ence. “Failure to provide them with opportunities fordecent work is a potent threat to the stability of oursocieties.”

Hind Al-Subaih, Minister of Social Affairs and Laborand State Minister for Planning and Development, saidKuwait is paying attention to regional and internationalorganizations that are working for people’s welfare. Shegave a speech on behalf of HH the Amir Sheikh SabahAl-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, saying Kuwait is commit-ted to its responsibility to joint work that respects mem-ber countries and counters the challenges facing Arabcountries in all fields.

“The ALO has many achievements during its func-tioning since it was founded in 1965. The results ofthese achievements are visible in the Arab and interna-tional markets, in Arab international relations, in therights of the disabled and many other fields such as

health, social security, small businesses and many oth-ers,” said Subaih.

Saqer Ghabash, Labor Minister of the UAE and theChairman of ALO, noted that paying attention to boththe employer and employee when issuing recommen-dations has supported the joint work and brought ben-efits to all parties. “After 50 years since its founding, ALOhas a leading role in dealing with the changes takingplace in the Arab world and to preserve the interests ofpeople,” he said.

Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, representative of the ArabLeague, said that the region is facing many challenges,out of which poverty and unemployment are the mostserious. “Poverty and unemployment are phenomena inthe Arab community. We will have sessions on thesesubjects and we hope that this conference will reachsolutions to decrease the negative effect of these prob-lems. We will also discuss solutions such as establishinginstitutes and support small projects that will providejob opportunities and others,” he added.

Since 2011, uprisings have swept over Tunisia,Egypt, Libya and Yemen, forcing out veteran strong-men. Protests calling for change have also shakenBahrain in the Gulf. In Syria, the uprising aimed at oust-ing President Bashar Al-Assad has become a civil warthat has k il led more than 220,000 people. Arabeconomies are estimated to be growing at between 2-3percent, but annual growth of around 6.0 percent mustbe achieved if unemployment and poverty are to becontained.

More than 30% of Arab youth jobless

RIYADH: An electronic billboard at an upscale Saudi mallflashes an advertisement for a designer fragrance beforeswitching to images of soaring F-16s and King Salman salut-ing the troops. “The response has come to you who threatenthe nation,” the caption says. “To those who test me, take thiswar as a reply.” The message is directed at the Iranian-alliedShiite rebels in Yemen who have been the target of a three-week Saudi-led air campaign. The nationalist fervor whippedup by the war has put calls for reform in the kingdom onhold as people rally behind their king, the troops and thestatus quo.

State-run newspapers, radio talk shows and TV programsare almost entirely focused on the war against the Yemenirebels, known as Houthis, with local media portraying it aspart of a regional struggle against Tehran and its allies inSyria, Iraq and Lebanon. Saudi human rights activists whoconsistently speak out about the need for political and soci-etal reforms declined to speak to AP or did so only on condi-tion of anonymity, saying they fear arrest in the current cli-mate. In neighboring Bahrain, at least three people havebeen detained for criticizing their country’s participation inthe Saudi-led campaign.

One Saudi rights activist said she and a group of academ-ics were planning to launch a campaign and release videosthis month challenging Saudi Arabia’s male guardianshiplaws, which give men powerful sway over women’s lives andrequire females to seek a male relative’s permission to travelabroad or undergo certain medical procedures. The projectwas indefinitely suspended, with those in charge of itsresearch saying that it was inappropriate to talk about suchissues while the country is in a state of war.

Another political activist, who is facing trial, said peoplefear being seen as traitors if they question aspects of the waror press for reforms. For average Saudi citizens likeMohammed Abu Ali, a man in his 60s selling traditionalswords in an open-air Riyadh market, the royal family is the

glue that keeps the country together. “From the day that(King) Abdulaziz unified the country there’s been security,until the final hour,” he said.

SecuritySaudi Arabia was largely spared from the popular upris-

ings that swept the region starting in 2011, but has beenalarmed by the expansion of Iranian influence and the rise ofradical groups like the Islamic State. It is taking part in US-ledairstrikes against the IS group in Syria and is a leading backerof Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Al-Assad, a close ally of Iran. Riyadh says its aim in Yemen is torestore the internationally recognized president, who fled toSaudi Arabia last month, and to halt the power grab by theHouthis. Iran has provided political and humanitarian sup-port to the rebels, but denies arming them.

As the kingdom has moved to counter perceived threatsacross the region it has increasingly cracked down on dis-sent at home. Last year, Saudi Arabia approved sweepinganti-terrorism legislation that has been applied to civil rightsactivists, including human rights lawyer Waleed Abul-Khair,who is serving a 15-year sentence on charges related to hispolitical activism.

King Salman has made security his top priority sinceassuming power three months ago. In keeping with tradi-tion, he pardoned a number of prisoners after ascending tothe throne, but not political activists. His late predecessorKing Abdullah, after being crowned in 2006, had pardonedthree prominent reformers who had been serving lengthysentences for criticizing the government. In one of his firstmoves as king, Salman named his nephew, Interior MinisterPrince Mohammed bin Nayef, to the post of deputy crownprince, placing him second in line to the throne. The kingalso named his son as defense minister. Both were given topposts in a powerful council in charge of all political and secu-rity affairs. — AP

RIYADH: In this photo taken April 15, 2015, shoppers stroll through a mall beneath an electronic billboardsupporting the Saudi-led coalition’s military action in Yemen. -— AP

Saudi wartime climate puts

calls for reform on hold

WASHINGTON: With conflicts raging across theMiddle East, the US is seeking to reassure its Gulfallies that it has a regional strategy which will be bol-stered, not shredded, by any Iran nuclear deal. The USadministration appears increasingly caught in a gameof whack-a-mole as it confronts a series of complexchallenges, with Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen just thelatest complication in a regional tinderbox pittingSunnis against Shiites, and even Sunni against Sunni.From the war in Syria, to the collapse of Libya’s gov-ernment, the battle against the Sunni Islamic Statemilitants and the conflict in Yemen, the so-calledArab Spring has unleashed decades of pent-up sec-tarian and tribal tensions.

“The growing complexity of the various strugglesthe United States now faces have all the focus andsimplicity of a kaleidoscope, and it is unclear that theUnited States and its allies have any clear strategicoptions that offer a credible response,” wroteAnthony Cordesman, expert with the Center forStrategic and International Studies. As a June 30deadline for a deal with Iran on its nuclear programnears, US President Barack Obama has convened asummit of Gulf leaders seeking to allay their fearsover any US rapprochement with the Shiite Islamicrepublic, and to brainstorm on how to tamp downregional fires.

The talks at the White House and the woodedpresidential retreat of Camp David on May 13 and 14will “discuss how we can further strengthen our secu-rity cooperation while resolving the multiple conflictsthat have caused so much hardship and instabilitythroughout the Middle East,” Obama said earlier thismonth. The US administration contends that reiningin Iran’s suspect nuclear program will make theregion inherently safer, removing an imminent threatof an atomic bomb, and perhaps bringing the regimea step closer to international reintegration. But it isalso taking a gamble that during the 10-15 year dura-tion of any comprehensive deal, there could bedomestic changes which may see a fundamental shiftin Iran’s regional ambitions.

Restraint It’s a claim viewed with skepticism by critics who

believe a nuclear deal may just embolden Iran,already blamed for meddling across the Middle East:backing Houthi Shiite rebels in Yemen, supportingthe regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad andarming Hezbollah and Hamas militants. “For Iran tobe a valuable member of the international communi-ty, the prerequisite is that it accepts restraint on itsability to destabilize the Middle East and challenge

the broader international order,” former secretaries ofstate Henry Kissinger and George Schultz wrote inThe Wall Street Journal. “Absent the linkage betweennuclear and political restraint, America’s traditionalallies will conclude that the US has traded temporarynuclear cooperation for acquiescence to Iranianhegemony.”

While Obama has proved unwilling to commithuge military resources to either Syria or Iraq, the USis leading coalition airstrikes against IS jihadists, pro-viding vast amounts of humanitarian aid and seekingto train and shore up local security forces.Washington is also giving intelligence support to theArab-led coalition seeking to dislodge the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi militias in Yemen. Some believeObama’s support was compensation for US indeci-siveness in Syria. Saudi-US ties frayed badly last yearamid dismay in the Sunni majority Gulf kingdom atthe lack of US action in Syria.

But analysts warn against “outsourcing” the fight,particularly against the IS militants, to “a hodge-podge” of non-state actors and militias, some backedand openly guided by Iranian military forces. If themilitias win in Iraq, “what it will have done is every-one, including the US, will have taken part in under-mining the central state even further,” said YezidSayigh, expert with the Carnegie Endowment forInternational Peace.

Regional Competition Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, during a key vis-

it to Washington this week, demanded all military assis-tance should go through his government, andbemoaned what he called “a regional competition forcontrol” alluding to Saudi Arabia and Iran. AnotherCarnegie expert, Fred Wehrey, argued Obama shouldpress his Gulf allies to ensure real political reforms as an“antidote to the Shiite-Sunni split”. “Identities flare upwhen people feel they have no protection from thegovernment,” Wehrey said. “Iran and Saudi Arabia... arepouring the gasoline on that.”

State Department acting spokeswoman Marie HarfFriday acknowledged the Gulf countries’ concern. “Thisis their backyard. This is their neighborhood. But thereare things we can do to reassure them of our capabili-ties and what we can do to help them feel more secure,”she insisted. The question is whether any US strategymay come too late, and whether it has already created ahuge “credibility gap” by “reacting tactically to theimmediate pressure of events in the Middle East... with-out any clear goals or direction,” said Cordesman. Theadministration “cannot afford to simplify, spin or ignore”any of the challenges confronting it, he argued. — AFP

US seeking to allay Gulf

fears amid regional chaos

By Maya Gebeily

Young Syrian men in regime-controlled areas are usingany means necessary, including violent protests, toavoid military conscription - even if they support the

government. More than 80,000 soldiers and other pro-regime fighters have been killed in the four-year-old conflict,out of a total of roughly 220,000 dead, according to theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights. “I’m with the regimebut I am a deserter, because military service in Syria meansdeath,” said George, a Christian student from Damascus.“Very few young men accept to enlist because at our age, noone wants to die.”

As the territory that has fallen out of regime control ispredominantly Sunni Muslim, the government is heavilyrecruiting from among the Druze, Christian, Alawite, andIsmaili minorities. Now these communities feel they havepaid a heavy price to defend President Bashar Al-Assad’s ruleagainst deadly opponents including Al-Qaeda-linked mili-tants and the Islamic State jihadist group.

“Even if they support the army and the regime, they’renot willing to serve its flag,” said Sema Nassar, a humanrights activist from the northwest province of Latakia, aheartland for the Alawite sect from which Assad hails.“Everyone without exception is discontent. After four yearsof an ugly war, who isn’t unhappy?”

‘Comb through Neighbourhoods’ Faced with a “war of attrition... the government must use

considerable coercion” to replenish its ranks, said JoshuaLandis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at theUniversity of Oklahoma. “The rebels speak about being ableto outlast the Alawites and kill their young men. They proba-bly can if the war goes on long enough,” Landis said. SunniMuslims make up about 80 percent of Syria’s population,while Alawites constitute roughly 10 percent. Syrian men bylaw are required to serve a two-year military service, whichcan be extended for much longer.

Hit by defections and desertions, Syria’s 300,000-strongmilitary has halved in size since 2011, according to AramNerguizian, a military affairs expert from the Centre forStrategic and International Studies. To reverse the trend andsnare draft dodgers, military police have redoubled theirefforts. “They set up checkpoints at the entrances to citiesand check the buses coming through them for young men,”said Omar Al-Jeblawi, an activist from Jeblah in Latakiaprovince.

He said security forces also stand guard at universitygates to screen male students and teachers. “They combthrough neighbourhoods and take all of the guys, 18 andup,” Jeblawi told AFP by phone. According to George, desert-ers are also caught when they seek a government service,like getting married.

Druze Resistance To avoid the draft, some have fled the country while oth-

ers have paid exorbitant bribes to officials. In Damascus,“young men enrol in university just to get a waiver”, saidGeorge. Others, including Sunnis, join local pro-governmentmilitias like the National Defence Forces to avoid being sta-tioned in distant provinces, Jeblawi said. He said young menin Latakia had also set up guards around houses theythought may be raided by security forces.

But the most significant resistance took place in Sweida, asouthern bastion of Syria’s Druze minority. In April, in thetown of Salkhad, Abdallah Abu Mansur was arrested by localpolice for deserting the armed forces, a resident said.Relatives and friends then held a violent protest outside thepolice station. It was the latest of many similar incidents inthe province. In December, residents of another town took aman hostage and broke into the office of local securityforces and released a relative. In November, a mob attackeda military patrol after it had forcefully recruited someone.

And in the summer of 2014, Druze religious leadersstopped a military patrol from arresting another youngdeserter. In all these cases, the deserter being held wasreleased - some say due to political considerations. “The gov-ernment doesn’t dare respond brutally, as it fears that theDruze will change sides and join the opposition,” the resi-dent said. —AFP

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A N A L Y S I SMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

Claims that the Islamic State group carried out a dead-ly suicide bombing in Afghanistan raise questionsabout whether the culprits are the real deal or

Taleban turncoats now waving the IS black flag. Either way,war-weary Afghans seem to be in for the bloodiest fightingseason in a decade. The bomb on Saturday ripped througha crowd of government officials waiting to draw theirsalaries outside the Kabul Bank in the eastern city ofJalalabad, killing at least 34 people and wounding morethan 100.

It was the most lethal bombing in the country to beclaimed by insurgents allegedly allied with IS, which hascaptured swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq but neverformally acknowledged having a presence in Afghanistan.Afghan President Ashraf Ghani repeated the claim by theattackers in a speech on Saturday, intensifying fears thatthe IS’s brutal reign of terror was creeping into Afghanistan,already in the grip of a fierce Taleban insurgency.

But analysts - and even some officials within the Ghaniadministration - view the claim with caution. It remainsunclear whether the self-styled IS attackers have the officialsanction of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimedcaliph of the Islamic State. “There are two type of IS,” deputyAfghan intelligence chief Hesamuddin Hesam told parlia-ment yesterday. “One that operates in Syria and one that isin Afghanistan. In Afghanistan they are the same oldTaleban who have swapped their white flag with black,and have become more swift and deadly.”

The Taleban, which distanced itself from Saturday’sattack, have seen defections in recent months - with someinsurgents apparently adopting the IS flag to rebrandthemselves as a more lethal force as NATO troops depart.“We’ve known that IS has been in Afghanistan for sometime. (Saturday’s) attack... may just reflect IS’s desire toappear active while it is under pressure in Iraq and Syria,but if we see follow-on attacks, a pattern may emerge,” saidJ M Berger, analyst and co-author of “ISIS: the State ofTerror”. “However, I think caution is in order until we get astatement from one of IS’s official media foundations,”Berger told AFP.

In February a US-led NATO drone strike killed MullahAbdul Rauf Khadim, a former Taleban commander and aGuantanamo detainee who led around 300 men suspect-ed of links to IS in the volatile southern province ofHelmand. And in March Hafiz Waheed, a successor toKhadim, was killed along with nine others in the Sangindistrict of Helmand, according to the Afghan defence min-istry. It is not known whether the men had the official sanc-tion of IS, which announced its presence in South Asia ayear ago but has struggled to expand its footprint as it didin the Middle East.

“Afghanistan is both geographically - and ideologically -far away from the Islamic State,” said Graeme Smith, a sen-ior analyst with the International Crisis Group inAfghanistan. Islamic State espouses a brand of Salafism atodds with the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam in Afghanistan,Smith pointed out. “It’s not clear how high Afghanistan fig-ures in the Islamic State’s priority list,” he said.

‘Psychological Warfare’ Ghani has repeatedly raised the ominous prospect of IS

making inroads into Afghanistan, without offering evidence.Some local observers accuse him of grabbing world atten-tion by playing up the IS threat in the face of dwindling for-eign aid and as international troops depart. Barely 12,000NATO troops remain in Afghanistan - from a peak of 130,000- to train and support local security forces. “IS in Afghanistanis more psychological warfare, more myth than reality,” saidformer Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh.

“Has Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi claimed the Jalalabadbombing? No. Apart from the statement (from insurgents)does Afghanistan have anything to back up that IS wasbehind it?” But whatever the colour of the flag, the brandsof terrorism remain the same, said Saleh. Saturday’s attackbore chilling similarities to a Taleban suicide attack onKabul Bank in Jalalabad in 2011, which killed nearly twodozen people as police officials were collecting their pay-checks. “So we have mass murder exhibit A and mass mur-der exhibit B. It shows the same dirty and lethal tactics byinsurgents operating with different brand names and flags,”Saleh said.

An upsurge in attacks has taken a heavy toll on ordinaryAfghans, bracing for the Taleban’s annual spring offensive -which security analysts expect to be the bloodiest in adecade. Already in the first three months of 2015 civiliancasualties as a result of ground fighting were eight percenthigher than during the same period last year, a recent UNreport said. —AFP

Issues

IS or Taleban? Either way, fear stalks Afghans

Pro-regime Syrians dodging draft

By Anuj Chopra

By Aidan Jones

Thailand’s top cop says his task is to revivetrust in a graft-tainted force, but observersbelieve his real brief is to be a hatchet man

for a junta trying to tame the police - and theirpatron, billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.For decades the fortunes of the Thai police andmilitary have waxed and waned depending onwho is in government, with money, rank and pow-er bestowed upon the institution of the hour.

Until last May’s coup, the stock of the policeforce had soared under successive electedShinawatra governments, vexing an army whoseprimacy is normally assured by its massive budget,ties with the royalist establishment and penchantfor seizing power when things are not going itsway. Now it is in charge, the junta appears deter-mined to bring the police to heel.

After sweeping the 2001 election, Thaksin, aformer mid-ranking police officer turned business-man, dropped his pointmen into key policingposts. Those appointments buttressed his family’spolitical base - especially in the country’s north -reaching deep into local communities, where evenlow-ranking police wield substantial authority. Hisenemies say Thaksin crafted a network of policefiefdoms fuelled by corruption and indebted to hisbillionaire family, wedding the force’s fortunes tohis own long after he was toppled by the army in2006.

Junta-leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who markedsix months as prime minister on April 17, has been

busy severing that alliance. Amid an immediatepurge of senior officers, Prayut made Police-General Somyot Poompanmoung his commission-er, sweeping aside an incumbent picked byYingluck Shinawatra - Thaksin’s younger sister,who led the administration felled by last year’scoup. Somyot, who has continued to sidelineShinawatra loyalists, bemoans the “shadow of poli-tics” historically cast over the 200,000-strong force- although he now sits in Thailand’s junta-selectedNational Legislative Assembly. “Political partiesinterfere with the police and some police officershave served politicians in the hope of progressing,”the 59-year-old Somyot told AFP from behind ahulking wooden desk at police headquarters inBangkok. “We are ready for a change.”

Good Cops, Bad Cops Thais routinely complain that their police are

better at hoovering up streetside bribes thandetective work. Somyot, who declares his assets atover $11.5 million - including income from advis-ing companies as well as property holdings andinvestments - has vowed to transfer, arrest or pros-ecute all graft-tainted officers. True to his word, hehas nailed several senior policemen, including thehead of Thailand’s elite Central InvestigationBureau - jailed with his deputy in January fordefaming the royal family while running a criminalempire from inside the police. “In any big organisa-tion there are good and bad people,” Somyot says.“My aim is to improve the public’s feeling towardsthe police. If I can do it, even a little bit, I will havebeen a success.” But analysts say Somyot’s focus isto do the bidding of an army that craves control ofthe police and, by extension, the Shinawatras - afamily whose pro-poor policies won them everyThai election since 2001, along with the hatred ofthe Bangkok elite. Somyot’s task is “to redesign thepolice in a way that will long make it into a mecha-nism of the military”, according to Paul Chambers,director of research at the Institute of SoutheastAsian Affairs in Chiang Mai. “And (to) eliminateinfluence from local politicians such as Thaksin,” headds.

To do so, Somyot has called for the restructur-ing of the Royal Thai Police board, currentlychaired by the prime minister, to prevent premiersselecting future police chiefs. The police are alsoabout to be sheared, according to a draft of a newjunta-backed constitution, with marine and forestpolice among the units to be moved to govern-ment departments. On April 8 the junta furthertightened the screws, empowering soldiers to car-ry out the routine police work of searches, investi-gation and arrest. The order allows “military offi-cers to interfere in the work of the police”, saysPuangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert atChulalongkorn University.

Money, Money, Money Whatever the motivation, police reform is an

often-heard refrain which never sticks, accordingto Chuwit Kamolvisit, a former massage parlourimpresario who named and shamed cops on hispayroll before turning to politics. The cash-for-jobs culture within the police is too deep touproot, he says, alleging low-rank officers earn-ing just $460 a month tap the public for bribes,or solicit protection money from dodgy busi-nesses, to top up their salaries and buy promo-tions. “Rank and status is everything in Thailand...when you are a small policeman to go up, youneed to have the right boss,” and preferably oneat a “golden police station - near a casino or

entertainment venue”, he explains.Thaksin also still draws loyalty from the police

rank-and-file as well as a large portion of the elec-torate. The role of Thai police chief is a famouslyprecarious given the kingdom’s fast-changingpolitical winds. Somyot is already scheduled toretire in September when he hits 60, althoughthere are rumours he may not last that long. Andthe merry-go-round of Thai politics - the countryhas seen 19 successful or attempted coups since1932 - dictates that some form of Shinawatracomeback cannot be ruled out, and with itrewards for loyalists and retribution for enemies.“Police are politicians... they always survive,”Chuwit adds. —AFP

Thai top cop graft-buster or hatchet man?

By Ivan Couronne

Barack Obama is weak and RonaldReagan exuded power, Republicans say.But while conservative White House

hopefuls revere the 1980s president as a for-eign-policy icon, oversimplifying Reaganismmay mask nuances of his diplomacy.Appreciation for the ex-president, who died in2004, is nothing new. Buttons and postersbearing his countenance are common at con-servative gatherings. Nostalgia peaks at thelaunch of each presidential campaign, as can-didates jostling for prime position invoke hispopular legacy.

Reagan is the most admired Republicanleader of the post-Second World War period.According to pollster Gallup, 61 percent ofrespondents in 2013 rated him as outstandingor above average, behind only Democrat JohnF Kennedy who received 74 percent. “Reagan’selection and my grandfather’s allegiance tohim were defining influences on me politically.I’ve been a Republican ever since,” wrote MarcoRubio, who last Monday launched his presi-dential campaign along themes emblematicof the man long known as “the Gipper”.

“Ronald Reagan was... arguably one of thebest presidents for foreign policy,” opinedWisconsin Governor Scott Walker who isexploring a White House run. Ex-Florida gover-nor Jeb Bush, who could become the thirdBush to win the White House, said when he cuthis political teeth in the 1980s it was theReagan doctrine of “peace through strength”that dominated.

Bush, Rubio, Walker and 2016 candidates

Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul all use - andsometimes overplay - the Reagan card, callingfor a return to the “shining city on a hill” thatReagan invoked a generation ago.Unconcerned with sounding anachronistic,they say they want to counter Iran, push backagainst Russia and defeat the Islamic Stateextremist group much like Reagan broughtthe Soviet Union to its knees.

Negotiating with the Enemy The Reagan who entered the White House

during the Cold War was an unrepentant anti-Communist. He pledged a strong military,sweeping aside the “detente” strategyembraced by predecessors in order to repelthe Soviet threat in nations like Nicaragua andAfghanistan, where his administrationfinanced the Contras and the mujahideen,respectively. But after his 1984 reelection,Reagan changed. He met with Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev and negotiated a historicUS-USSR agreement to reduce nuclear arse-nals.

“He was inflexible about ends, but flexibleabout means,” Philip Hughes, briefly a memberof Reagan’s National Security Council, told AFP.“Despite his deceptively simple exterior,Ronald Reagan is a very complicated figure,” headded. “Ronald Reagan isn’t a religion,” andcandidates should not claim the “definitiveinterpretation” of the man. It would also bedangerous to compare the 1980s to 2015,Hughes warned. The monolithic Soviet men-ace was different from the current nature ofmultiple and decentralized threats, oftentinged with Islamist radicalism. —AFP

Reagan still reference point for GOP hopefuls

Somyot Poompanmoung

CHICAGO: Kris Bryant drew a standing ovationafter hitting an RBI single for his first majorleague hit, and reached base five times Saturdayas the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres7-6 in 11 innings. A day after the Cubs’ prizedprospect went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in hisMajor League Baseball debut, Bryant went 2 for3 with three walks.

Bryant let Wil Myers’ bouncer leading off thegame to kick off his glove at third base for hisfirst major league error. In the 11th, Bryantreached on an infield single against CraigKimbrel (0-1), moving Anthony Rizzo to thirdwith one out. Pinch-hitter David Ross walked toload the bases, bringing up Starlin Castro. SanDiego brought in Myers from center field as afifth infielder and, with all five playing in, Castrosingled past third baseman Will Middlebrooks.Zac Rosscup (1-0) allowed one hit in two score-less innings.

PHILLIES 5, NATIONALS 3Odubel Herrera had three hits and scored

twice, Aaron Harang pitched six innings and thePhiladelphia Phillies ended a six-game losingstreak, beating Washington.

Freddy Galvis had two RBI singles forPhiladelphia, which had scored 13 runs over itslast six games. Bryce Harper hit a long home runfor Washington, which had won three straight.Ian Desmond added three hits, but the short-stop continued to struggle in the field, makinghis eighth error.

Harang (2-1) gave up three runs and sevenhits. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for histhird save. Jordan Zimmermann (1-2) allowedtwo earned runs and four hits over 6 1-3 innings.

CARDINALS 5, REDS 2Carlos Martinez pitched six strong innings

and Jason Heyward hit his first home run, lead-ing the St. Louis Cardinals over Cincinnati fortheir fourth straight win.

Zack Cozart homered for the Reds, who havelost three in a row and six of seven. BillyHamilton left in the eighth inning after beatingout an infield single, and is day-to-day withgroin irritation.

Martinez (1-0) gave up one run on three hits.Trevor Rosenthal picked up his fourth save in asmany opportunities. He struck out Joey Vottowith two on to end the game.

Homer Bailey (0-1) allowed five runs and ninehits in 5 2-3 innings. He made his first start afteropening the season on the disabled list whilerecovering from surgery on a torn flexor tendon.

WHITE SOX 12, TIGERS 3Jose Abreu hit a grand slam, Adam LaRoche

added a three-run homer and four RBIs and theChicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers.

Chicago, which set a season high for runs,scored 11 runs in the third and fourth inningscombined and collected a season-high 17 hitsfor the game. Abreu and LaRoche had three hitsapiece, and Melky Cabrera matched a careerhigh with four hits and knocked in two runs.

JD Martinez homered for Detroit, which lostfor the second time in 11 games this season.Chris Sale (2-0) cruised to the win, allowing tworuns on four hits in six innings. Anibal Sanchez(1-2) gave up nine runs on nine hits in 3 1/3innings.

INDIANS 4, TWINS 2Danny Salazar matched his career high with

10 strikeouts while pitching into the seventhinning of his season debut, leading theCleveland Indians over Minnesota.

Roberto Perez had a home run among histhree hits for the Indians, and Jason Kipnisstopped an 0-for-16 slide with a two-out, RBI sin-gle in the seventh that prompted the Twins topull starter Phil Hughes (0-3). Salazar (1-0) gaveup two runs and six hits. Cody Allen pitched ahitless ninth for his third save in as manyattempts.

BLUE JAYS 6, BRAVES 5Josh Donaldson hit his third home run in two

days, a leadoff shot in the 10th inning that liftedthe Toronto Blue Jays over the Atlanta Braves.

Donaldson’s drive into the second deck of theleft-field stands was his third hit of the after-noon. He hit 29 homers last year with Oakland,was traded to Toronto in the offseason andlaunched his first two home runs Friday night inan 8-7 loss. Donaldson connected on the secondpitch from Sugar Ray Marimon (0-1), handingAtlanta its first road defeat of the season.Toronto reliever Brett Cecil (1-1) picked up thewin after working a scoreless 10th.

YANKEES 9, RAYS 0Masahiro Tanaka (2-1) allowed two hits over

seven innings, struck out eight and walked nonein his best start this season. Tanaka gave up asingle to David DeJesus leading off the first, thenretired 15 in a row before Brandon Guyer’s dou-ble opening the sixth. David Carpenter andBranden Pinder completed a three-hitter.

Brian McCann hit a go-ahead, two-run triplein the sixth off Jake Odorizzi (2-1), and ChrisYoung hit grand slam against Grant Balfour in aseven-run seventh.

METS 5, MARLINS 4Jacob deGrom (2-1) struck out eight in seven

shutout innings, Travis d’Arnaud and WilmerFlores homered and New York won its seventhstraight, the Mets’ longest since an eight-gamerun in June 2010. Juan Lagares and EricCampbell each had an RBI single to help theMets (9-3) open their home schedule with sixwins in a row, equaling the club record set in1985. Alex Torre struck out Christian Yelich with arunner aboard for his first major league save.

Dee Gordon went 5 for 5 with three RBIs forthe Marlins, who lost their third straight anddropped to 3-9. Mat Latos (0-3) gave up two runsand six hits in five innings.

PIRATES 6, BREWERS 2Starling Marte homered for the second game

in a row and drove in a career-high five runs.Milwaukee lost its fourth straight game and is offto their worst start since also going 2-9 in 2002.

Marte hit a two-run single to cap a three-runfirst inning that included an RBI double by GregoryPolanco. Marte’s three-run fifth-inning homermade it 6-1. Jeff Locke (2-0) tied a career-high bypitching eight innings, allowing one run. KyleLohse (0-3) was tagged for six runs and six hits insix innings and has lost his first three starts of a sea-son for the first time in his 15-year MLB career.

ASTROS 4, ANGELS 0Dallas Keuchel (2-0) allowed two hits in six

innings and combined with three relievers on athree-hitter. Chad Qualls struck out the side inthe seventh, Pat Neshek followed with a one-hiteighth and Luke Gregerson struck out his firsttwo batters in a 1-2-3 ninth.

George Springer homered off C.J. Wilson (1-2)and Robbie Grossman hit a three-run drive offMike Morin. Angels batters struck out a season-high 13 times. Collin Cowgill was ejected afterhe was called out on strikes, ending the seventh.

ATHLETICS 5, ROYALS 0Josh Reddick hit a three-run homer, and Jesse

Hahn (1-1) and Jesse Chavez combined for a sev-en-hitter. Chavez pitched 3 2-3 innings for thesave, completing Oakland’s fifth shutout in its

first 12 game. Yordano Ventura (2-1) gave up allfive runs in the fourth inning, right before hittingBrett Lawrie with what appeared to be a retalia-tory pitch for an incident the previous night.Lawrie slid hard and late into second base andwiped out Alcides Escobar.

The Royals shortstop sprained his left knee inthe collision and said before Saturday night’sgame that he thought the slide was dirty. The A’shave outscored their opponents 47-1 in their sixvictories.

DODGERS 6, ROCKIES 3Zack Greinke (2-0) won his 14th straight deci-

sion against a National League West divisionrival, allowing three runs and five hits in 6 2-3innings. He is 20-1 with a 1.95 ERA in 30 startsagainst NL West teams since signing with theDodgers in December 2012. Adrian Gonzalezdrove in three runs Gonzalez, who led themajors last season with 116 RBIs, has 14 in hisfirst 11 games and is batting .523 (23 for 44). JoelPeralta pitched a hitless ninth for his third save.Jordan Lyles (1-1) gave up four runs, five hits andfive walks in six innings.

GIANTS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1Chris Heston (2-1) gave up five hits in 7 2-3

innings, Brandon Crawford hit a two-run homerand the World Series champions stopped aneight-game losing streak on the night playersreceived their championship rings. Joe Panik hadthree hits and drove in a run as the Giantsstopped their longest slide since losing nine in arow from July 23 to Aug. 1, 2006. Santiago Casillapitched the ninth for his fourth save. Rubby DeLa Rosa (2-1) gave up four runs - three earned -and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings.

MARINERS 3, RANGERS 1Felix Hernandez (2-0) struck out 12 in seven

innings to reach double digits for the 34th timein his career. He allowed one run and two hits.

Mike Zunino hit his first home run this sea-son, a fifth-inning drive off Colby Lewis (1-1) thatgave Seattle a 2-1 lead. Brad Miller added a two-out RBI triple in the sixth. Fernando Rodneyworked a perfect ninth for his third save. — AP

S P O RT SMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

HILTON HEAD ISLAND: Unheralded American Troy Merritt moved one stepcloser to his maiden PGA Tour title by claiming a three-stroke lead afterSaturday’s third round of the RBC Heritage in South Carolina. Merritt, ranked249th in the world and making his 86th tour start, followed his course record-tying 61 in the second round with a 69 for a 54-hole total of 14-under-par 199on the Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island.

The 29-year-old began the round with a four-shot lead and birdied the sec-ond and third before running into trouble at the par-four eighth.

“I was hitting the ball just fine all day and then I tugged a six-iron andwatched it sail into the water and make a sensational splash,” said Merritt, whomade double-bogey.

“I felt good over the putts and I hit some good ones that didn’t go in. It waspretty stress free for the most part.” Tied for second on 11 under par weredefending champion Matt Kuchar, who shot a 68, and fellow AmericansBrendon Todd (63) and Kevin Kisner (67).

Kuchar, who made six birdies, was held back by a bad ricochet at the par-three seventh. “I played some pretty good golf but got a bad break,” he said. “Ihit a beautiful shot in but it caught a limb and it ended up costing me a dou-ble bogey.” One more shot back were 2010 winner Jim Furyk (68), BriceGarnett (65) and Branden Grace of South Africa (66).

Masters champion Jordan Spieth stayed in the hunt, shooting a 68 for a204 total, five shots off the pace along with Bo Van Pelt (67), despite startingthe tournament with a 74. — Reuters

Merritt leads RBC HeritageLONDON: Yaya Toure is being made a scapegoat for Manchester City’s poor sea-son and underfire boss Manuel Pellegrini is a “weak manager”, according to theIvorian midfielder’s agent Dimitri Seluk.

Champions City have faded dramatically since the turn of the year, falling tofourth in the Premier League, and were knocked out of the FA Cup, League Cupand Champions League without reaching the quarter-finals. Toure, a dominantforce in City’s title march last season, has borne the brunt of the criticism andPellegrini said last week he was unhappy with the 31-year-old’s performances.

“Some people at City are trying to blame Yaya for what hashappened this season,” Seluk told the Sunday Mirror. “Theproblem is that City want Yaya to do everything. They wanthim to score goals, they want him to assist goals, and theywant him to defend.

“It is also interesting that City could not win a matchwhen Yaya was away at the African Nations. He cannot do itall on his own. It seems the answer for everything at City isto blame Yaya.”

Seluk said some blame for City’s struggles, whichhave brought just four wins from their last 10 leaguematches, should be attributed to the club’s senior man-agement. —Reuters

AMSTERDAM: An emphatic win for PSV Eindhoven to clinch the Dutch leaguetitle on Saturday confirmed their dominance this season and brought a greatsense of relief to the club. PSV beat Heerenveen 4-1 at home to move out ofreach of second-placed Ajax Amsterdam and reclaim the crown they last wonin 2008. The victory ended a frustrating run of six season without success andwas heartily celebrated in Eindhoven yesterday, with the city again able toproclaim to be the capital of Dutch football following a 22nd league title forPSV. Although the achievement of taking a largely home-grown squad of inex-perienced youngsters to the title was cause to celebrate, the post-match focushas been on the club ending a long period of under achievement.

“PSV shake off years of frustration,” said the website of theAlgemeen Dagblad newspaper while the De Volkskrant saidthere was “intense relief after seven years’ drought”. PSV coachPhillip Cocu engineered this success less than two years afterinitiating risky change.

At the start of last season he adopted a policy of using asmany players as possible who were developed within the

club’s youth structures. The move threatened toimplode as PSV struggled but suddenly theygelled and the team finished last season strongly,even after Cocu had to take the final months off

to undergo surgery on a back tumor. —Reuters

PSV end title drought Toure targeted by City

American LeagueEastern Division

W L PCT GB Boston 7 4 .636 - Baltimore 6 5 .545 1 Tampa Bay 6 6 .500 1.5 Toronto 6 6 .500 1.5 NY Yankees 5 6 .455 2

Central DivisionDetroit 9 2 .818 - Kansas City 8 3 .727 1 Chicago White Sox 4 6 .400 4.5 Cleveland 4 6 .400 4.5 Minnesota 4 7 .364 5

Western DivisionOakland 6 6 .500 - Houston 5 6 .455 0.5 LA Angels 5 6 .455 0.5 Texas 5 7 .417 1 Seattle 4 7 .364 1.5

National LeagueEastern Division

NY Mets 9 3 .750 - Atlanta 7 4 .636 1.5 Washington 5 7 .417 4 Philadelphia 4 8 .333 5 Miami 3 9 .250 6

Central DivisionSt. Louis 7 3 .700 - Chicago Cubs 6 4 .600 1 Cincinnati 5 6 .455 2.5 Pittsburgh 5 6 .455 2.5 Milwaukee 2 9 .182 5.5

Western DivisionLA Dodgers 8 3 .727 - Colorado 7 4 .636 1 San Diego 7 5 .583 1.5 Arizona 6 6 .500 2.5 San Francisco 4 9 .308 5

MLB results/standings

Philadelphia 5, Washington 3; Toronto 6, Atlanta 5 (10 Innings); Chicago White Sox 12, Detroit 3;Cleveland 4, Minnesota 2; St. Louis 5, Cincinnati 2; Chicago Cubs 7, San Diego 6 (11 Innings);Baltimore 4, Boston 1; Pittsburgh 6, Milwaukee 2; NY Mets 5, Miami 4; Oakland 5, Kansas City 0;Houston 4, La Angels 0; NY Yankees 9, Tampa Bay 0; San Francisco 4, Arizona 1; Seattle 3, Texas 1;LA Dodgers 6, Colorado 3.

Cubs edge Padres, Phillies roll

CHICAGO: Kris Bryant No. 17 of the Chicago Cubs†hits his first MLB hit during the fifth inningagainst the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field. — AFP

MESA: Michael Phelps competes in the 200m Individual Medley Final during day fourof the Arena Pro Swim Series at the Skyline Aquatic Center. — AFP

MESA: Michael Phelps closed out theArena Pro Swim Series meet with a win inthe 100 meter freestyle on Saturday, andalso finished third in the 200-meter individ-ual medley behind fellow Olympic champi-on Ryan Lochte.

Phelps, competing for the first time thisweek following a six-month ban for a drunkdriving conviction, finished strong over thefinal 50 meters of the 100 to finish in 49.72seconds at the Mesa, Arizona meet. Lochte,who won the 200 individual medley in1:58.70, finished five-hundredths of a sec-

ond behind Phelps in the 100 free.“Tonight was the best night of racing I

think I’ve had since I was here (a year ago),”said Phelps. Phelps is competing for thefirst time since last August with an eyetoward returning to glory at the 2016Olympic Games in Rio.

In the 200 individual medley, he finishedthird, behind Lochte and Conor Dwyer.Phelps is the most decorated Olympian ofall time, with 18 golds and 22 total medals,while Lochte has eleven medals, five ofwhich are gold. — Reuters

Phelps, Lochte win at Mesa

LONDON: Snooker great Steve Davisbelieves China’s Ding Junhui can becomeAsia’s first world champion, provided hehas a friendly face by his side.

Ding, still only 28, begins his ninthattempt to win snooker’s most presti-gious prize when he faces Mark Davis atSheffield’s Crucible Theatre in northernEngland on Monday.

Although he has twice won the UKChampionship, the sport’s second-mostimportant tournament, Ding’s best run atthe World Championship was a semi-finalappearance back in 2011.

Despite snooker’s growing popularityin Asia, the bulk of the sport’s top playersare still from Britain and Ireland. As ateenager, Ding uprooted himself from hisnative China in order to forge his profes-sional career in England.

And Davis believes a lack of support isthe only thing holding back Ding fromrealising his world title dream. Davis wonsix world titles in the 1980s with managerBarry Hearn, now world snooker’s topadministrator, by the Englishman’s side.

But not even Davis carried the hopesof as many millions as Ding, one of thestarts of modern-day Chinese sport.Ding’s career has contained plenty ofhighlights-only Ronnie O’Sullivan, MarkWilliams and John Higgins among cur-rent competitors at the Crucible havewon more major ranking events-but hehas unable to match the trio’s achieve-ment of lifting the World Championshiptrophy. “Sometimes you can complicatethings by over-analysing, doing toomuch, having too many people around

you,” Davis said yesterday. “He could dowith having a mate with him, like me andBarry, having a good laugh as much asyou can between matches, and trying toenjoy the challenge rather than try toohard.” “With Ding, you felt he was going togo from strength to strength and pushthe barriers up, but you don’t know whenyou’re going to hit a brick wall or a ceilingand he’s hit a ceiling where he hasn’tbeen able to dominate.” Ding has sufferedseveral first-round defeats this season,although there were signs of a return toform when he reached the semi-finals ofthe recent China Open.

“When he beat me in the 2005 UKChampionship final, I did feel he wasgoing to become the player that every-one couldn’t beat,” Davis said.

“What I would say in his defence is thatunlike other sports like golf or tenniswhere they don’t have a WorldChampionship as much as majors orgrand slams, we have one tournament ayear called the World Championship, andto be able to try to guarantee victory inone event is quite difficult. You can’t real-ly.” Davis added: “It might be that he’sunder too much pressure from backhome. He’s never got the balance right,so we all keep waiting for it to happen.”Iwould still be astonished if the firstChinese world champion wasn’t him, butit could happen. “The trouble is that theharder you try, the worse it gets. Themodern-day way is to go down the roadof sports psychologists with a view togetting yourself ready for it, mind, bodyand soul.” —AFP

Davis gives Ding world title advice

China's Ding Junhui lines up a shot in this file photo.


KUWAIT: Kuwait national hockey team defeatedSingapore 5-3 in the Division I of the Asian hock-ey tournament, Challenge Cup of Asia, onSaturday. Kuwaiti player Abdulaziz Al-Shutailscored three goals, his teammates Ahmad Al-Ajmi and Abdullah Al-Maraghi each scored oneeach. The tournament organized by theInternational Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) kickedoff yesterday and will run until April 24, with theparticipations of six teams.

Oman beat India 6-5, while Kyrgyzstan defeat-ed Malaysia 6-5. Three games will be played onlate yesterday. With these results, Kuwait takesthe pole position for the championship. The tour-ney is held under the auspices of DirectorGeneral of the Public Authority for Youth andSport Sheikh Ahmad Mansour Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Dr. Hamoud Fulaiteh, deputy of SheikhAhmad, said that hosting this event showsKuwait’s support to sports and reflects its distin-guished position on the sports map in Asia.

Being aware of its responsibility towardsbacking sports, the authority has a strategy tosupport all sports games, including the ice hock-ey, in collaboration with the Kuwait WinterGames Clubs, Fulaiteh said in a speech delivered

by him during the inauguration ceremony onbehalf of Sheikh Ahmad.

Fulaiteh conveyed all greetings of Minister ofInformation and Minister of State for Youth

Affairs Sheikh Salman Al-Sabah and SheikhAhmad to all members of the participatingteams. For his part, Chairman of Kuwait WinterGames Clubs Fehaid Al-Ajmi said that all winter

games have been developed, thanks to sincereefforts of the lovers of these games, lauding theauthority’s efforts aiming to support this game.The Division I matches in Kuwait are part of the

Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia tournament,organized during the 2014-15 season and heldon the Russian island of Sakhalin, Taipei City andKuwait City. — KUNA

Kuwait defeat Singapore in Challenge Cup

CHICAGO: Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler (right) and guard Derrick Rose (left) bat-tle for the ball against Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Cartre-Williams (center) dur-ing the first half in Game 1 of the NBA basketball playoffs. — AP

CHICAGO: Derrick Rose had 23 points and sev-en assists in his first postseason game in threeyears, Jimmy Butler scored 25 points, and theChicago Bulls opened the playoffs with a 103-91 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks onSaturday night.

Rose was at his fearless best, driving hard tothe rim in the early going, and mixed in three3-pointers in the second half. The Bulls believethey are poised to make a run now that theyfinally have Rose playing in the postseason.The last time they had him for the duration ofthe playoffs in 2011, he led them to theEastern Conference finals.

The Bulls won despite committing 19turnovers. They outrebounded Milwaukee 52-41, with Pau Gasol grabbing 13 and JoakimNoah and rookie Nikola Mirotic 11 apiece.Chicago hosts Game 2 today. Khris Middletonscored 18 points and Zaza Pachulia had 15, butMichael Carter Williams finishing with nine on4-of-13 shooting as the sixth-seeded Buckscame up short after jumping from 15 wins to41 this season.

WARRIORS 106, PELICANS 99Stephen Curry scored 34 points and Golden

State went up big before holding off NewOrleans in their playoff opener. Klay Thompsonadded 21 points, and Draymond Green andAndrew Bogut dominated down low as theWarriors looked every bit like the NBA’s topseed - at least for three quarters.

They smothered Anthony Davis and thePelicans with the league’s best defense,thrilling a gold shirt-wearing sellout crowd of19,596. The Warriors led by 15 after the firstquarter, 18 at the half and 25 late in the third.The Pelicans pulled within four in the finalminute behind Davis, who scored 20 of his 35

points in the fourth quarter, to make the con-test seem closer than it really was. Game 2 ofthe series is tonight in Oakland, where theWarriors have won 19 straight.

WIZARDS 93, RAPTORS 86Paul Pierce scored five of his 20 points in

overtime, Nene had 12 points and 13rebounds, and Washington beat Toronto inGame 1 of their first-round playoff series.Pierce hit a 3-pointer, his fourth of the game, tobegin the extra session, further tormenting aRaptors team he eliminated with Brooklyn inlast year’s playoffs, then derided this week bysaying, “I don’t feel they have the ‘It’ that makesyou worried,” in an interview with ESPN.Bradley Beal scored 16, while John Wall andKevin Seraphin each had 10 for the Wizards.Amir Johnson scored 18 points and DeMarDeRozan had 15 for the Raptors, who have yetto win the opening game of a first-round seriesin seven postseason appearances. Torontohosts Game 2 on Tuesday night.

ROCKETS 118, MAVERICKS 108James Harden had 24 points and Corey

Brewer scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourthquarter to lead Houston past Dallas in Game 1of the Western Conference series.

Brewer made three 3-pointers in about 3minutes in the fourth to keep the Mavericks atbay. He added another three points when hemade a layup and a free throw to give Houstona 109-95 lead with 3 minutes left. Houstonwon the opener in the best-of-seven seriesafter losing both home games last season in afirst-round loss to Portland. Game 2 is Tuesdaynight in Houston. Dirk Nowitzki had 24 pointsfor the Mavericks. They are in the playoffs forthe 14th time in the last 15 seasons. — AP

Bulls charge past Bucks

SHENZHEN: Thailand’s KiradechAphibarnrat captured the inauguralShenzhen International yesterdayafter rallying in regulation with aneagle on the 17th hole and beatingChinese teenager Li Haotong in aplayoff. Kiradech and Li shared thelead after the turn, but the 19-year-old Chinese player looked to be head-ing for the biggest title of his careerwhen he birdied the 17th andKiradech bogeyed the par-4 15th toopen up a two-stroke lead.

Kiradech rebounded, however,with an eagle on the par-5 17th topull even with Li again and force theplayoff. He had a chance to win onthe 18th, but his birdie putt skirted tothe right of the hole. On the playoffhole, Kiradech hit his approach shotto the middle of the 18th green andmade a birdie, while Li two-putted forpar. The 19-year-old Li shot a 5-under67 in the final round, while Kiradech,the overnight leader, had a 72. Bothfinished at 12-under 276. Kiradechsaid he couldn’t have pulled throughwithout the encouragement if hiscaddie. “When we were two behindon the last two holes, he said youhave not lost, we have not signed thescorecard yet and he was completelyright and I just got the job done,” hesaid. Tommy Fleetwood was third at11-under 277. Kiradech had only wonone previous title on the EuropeanTour at the 2013 Malaysian Open. Hewas coming off a joint-sixth place fin-ish at the Arnold Palmer Invitationallast month on the U.S. PGA Tour.

Li has been improving over thepast year. He won the last two tourna-

ments on the PGA Tour of China lastyear to earn a card on the U.S.-basedWeb.com Tour, where he has madefive cuts this year. He’s also risen toNo. 194 in the world rankings - sur-passing established players LiangWenchong and Wu Ashun to becomethe highest-ranked Chinese player.

Fleetwood played steady all week,carding 70, 69, 69 and 69 in his fourrounds. The 24-year-old Englishman,who had been aiming for his secondEuropean Tour title, pulled within astroke of Li with a birdie on the 17th,but could get no closer. France’sJulien Quesne also had an eagle onthe 17th and a birdie on the 18th toshoot a 65.

“My long game was very good. I’vegot some trouble with putting, but Imade some putts at the end. So, it’s agood week for me,” he said. “I do mybest to make the birdie at the end tobe minus-10, to be maybe top 5 ortop 10.” Quesne finished in a tie forfourth with Marco Crespi, HuangWenyi, David Howell, Tom Lewis, Y.E.Yang, and Peter Uihlein.

Two-time Masters championBubba Watson finally seemed to accli-mate to the conditions after threesubpar rounds, making eight birdiesto shoot a 7-under 65. It was the firsttime he’d broken 70 this week. “I wishI would have putted better the firstthree rounds,” he said. “I putted goodthe last round, but all in all, it was agood test. It shows what I need towork on. It shows me that I can playoutside the US, especially today.”Watson finished in a tie for 29th placeat 5-under 283. — AP

Kiradech captures Shenzhen title

VERONA: Lucas Matthysse won a majority deci-sion against Ruslan Provodnikov in a 12-roundsuper lightweight bout Saturday night.Matthysse landed the majority of the punches inthe first round and opening a cut nearProvodnikov’s left eye early in the second.

Provodnikov (24-3) put Matthysse on theropes late in the third round and landed twohard right hook-left hook combos in the fourthbefore Matthysse (37-3) regained control in thefifth. He continued to use his three-inch reach

advantage to keep Provodnikov at bay, givinghim room to dodge the Russian’s powerful lefthook.

Provodnikov (24-3) put Matthysse on theropes late in the third round and landed twohard right hook-left hook combos in the fourthbefore Matthysse (37-3) regained control in thefifth. He continued to use his three-inch reachadvantage to keep Provodnikov at bay, givinghim room to dodge the Russian’s powerful lefthook.

Provodnikov landed several punches in thelater rounds but couldn’t knock down hisArgentine opponent down, although he didstagger Matthysse in the 11th.

“He did, he hurt me,” Matthysse said througha translator. “But I was able to withstand theonslaught. He’s a very tough fighter. He’s verystrong. He just keeps coming forward.”

Don Ackerman scored the fight as a draw114-114, but Glenn Feldman and John McKaieboth scored it 115-113 in favor of Matthysse.

“To me, he was better today,” Provodnikovsaid through a translator. “He was the better manin the ring and, you know, it was a close fight buthe won and I hope everybody enjoyed it.”

The night’s undercard was quickly decidedwhen Patrick Teixeira (25-0, 21 KOs) won with asecond-round knockout of Patrick Allotey (30-2)in their middleweight bout.

The sellout crowd then had to wait more thanan hour for the main event, watching the TV feedof Terence Crawford beating Thomas Dulorme

for the vacant WBO junior welterweight title inAustin, Texas. WBO president Paco Valc?rceltweeted he would like to see Crawford defendhis title against Matthysse, but the Argentinianhad his sights set higher.

“For right now I just want to rest,” Matthyssesaid. “I got my daughter, my family waiting forme back home. I want to rest. I want to go backthere and see them so much and let’s see whathappens with (Manny) Pacquiao and (Floyd)Mayweather.” — AP

Matthysse wins decision in lightweight bout

SHENZHEN: Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand holds his trophy afterwinning the inaugural Shenzhen International golf tournament. —AP

KAPOLEI: Sei Young Kim holed out from 154 yardsfor eagle to win the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championshipon the first hole of a playoff Saturday with InbeePark. “This is probably the second most memorableshot for me,” Kim said through a translator. “In 2013, Iwon a tournament, which had the biggest prizemoney on KLPGA. I won that tournament by makinga hole-in-one on 17, so that was probably my mostmemorable shot. Sorry.” Her third most memorableshot might have come on the 18th in regulation.Moments after sinking a sneaky par putt on 17 tostay even with Park, Kim hit her drive into the water.

“I saw the ball go into the hazard and I thought,‘What have I done to deserve this fate?’” Kim said.“Then the gift came right back after that. I still can’tbelieve what just happened.” Kim’s approach shot inregulation barely cleared the water, but stayed in thefringe fronting the green. After Park hit a brilliant lagputt to inches for a par to stay at 11 under, Kim

chipped in from 18 feet to force the playoff. She heldboth hands high, stared into the sky and grinned forthe first time after 5 hours of immense pressure, slap-ping hands with her caddie. “I just focused on gettingit to the hole because that was my only chance,” Kimrecalled as she was interviewed on TV - so excitedthat for the first time all week she spoke to the mediain English. In the playoff, staring into the setting sunat breezy Ko Olina, Kim hit an approach that barelygot over the water again, then bounced twice anddropped into the hole for eagle.

“I was thinking I was between a 7- or 8-iron,” Kimsaid. “And then I was choosing between a cut or anormal shot, so I chose 8 normal, and it was goodchoice.” Kim couldn’t see the ball go in and neithercould Park, but the roar from the crowd made it obvi-ous. Park’s attempt to match Kim’s shot, and win her14th LPGA title, came up short.

“Inbee said two things to me,” Kim grinned. “How

did you get that in? And congratulations.” It was anastonishingly quick ending to a draining day. Kimclosed with a 1-over 73 in wind gusting to 30 mph tomatch Park at 11-under 277. Park finished with a 71. I.K Kim bogeyed the final two holes for a 74 that lefther two strokes back. The three players were tied forthe lead with two holes left in regulation. I.K. Kim, try-ing to win an LPGA event for the first time since2010, bogeyed the 17th, three-putting after convert-ing clutch putts all day. Park sank her par putt from20 feet to get up and down from a bunker, and SeiYoung Kim drained a twisting downhill 16-footer tokeep pace. “I told myself, ‘This is probably the lastopportunity I have to stay in this tournament,’” SeiYoung Kim said. It turned out to be the next-to-lastopportunity, and when she saved par on the 18th toforce the playoff, she wasted no time taking the$270,000 first prize that bumped her to No. 1 on themoney list. —AP

Kim triumphs in Hawaii


DHAKA: Tamim Iqbal smashed a second consecu-tive century to steer Bangladesh to their first everone-day series win over Pakistan with an emphat-ic seven-wicket victory in Dhaka yesterday. Theleft-handed opener hit an unbeaten run-a-ball116 as the hosts, chasing Pakistan’s 239 for six,cruised home in the 39th over to take an unbeat-able 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

The new-look Pakistan, with just four WorldCuppers in their ranks and led for the first time ina series by Azhar Ali, needed a massive improve-ment after their 79-run defeat in Friday’s openingmatch. But a top-order collapse pushed them in acorner and left the tourists seeking a consolationwin in the third and final match at the same Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, whohad missed the opening match due to a one-match ban for his team’s slow over-rates at theWorld Cup, wanted his team to push for a 3-0whitewash.

“The boys are obviously very happy, but thejob is not done yet because we have one morematch to go,” he said. “This one was almost a per-fect match for us and we want to continue likethis. “Tamim and Rahim have been brilliant withthe bat in this series and Shakib has led from thefront with the ball.” Pakistan’s Ali said the twogames so far were were a learning exercise for hisyoung, inexperienced team. “I don’t think 240 wasenough on this good wicket and that wasbecause we did not bat well at the top,” he said.“But as everyone knows, Pakistan are in theprocess of rebuilding. The boys will learn from thisand help them come back strongly. We have totrust the younger players and be patient withthem.” Saad Nasim and Wahab Riaz hit unbeatenhalf-centuries to lift Pakistan to a seemingly com-petitive score after they were reduced to 77-5 bythe 22nd over of the day-night international.

Tamim, who made 132 in the previous match,made a mockery of the target after racing to hishalf-century off just 31 balls.

Junaid Khan removed fellow-opener SoumyaSarker cheaply for 17, but Tamim calmed thehome supporters’ nerves with three successiveboundaries off both Saeed Ajmal and Wahab Riaz.By the time Ajmal bowled Mahmdullah for 17 togive Pakistan their second wicket, Bangladeshhad taken control of the game by reaching 100 injust 14 overs.

Mushfiqur Rahim, who also hit a century in thefirst game, continued his good form with 65 off 70balls as Bangladesh ended their series droughtagainst Pakistan with 71 ball deliveries to spare.

Shakib Al Hasan hit the winning run soon afterTamim, who struck 17 fours and six, completedhis sixth one-day century by gliding Junaid tofine-leg. Earlier, Nasim was unbeaten on 77 inonly his second international and Riaz struck 51off 40 balls as Pakistan crossed the 200-run markon the slow pitch.

Nasim began the rescue act by adding 77 forthe sixth wicket with Haris Sohail, who made 44.Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed put on an opening stand of36 before the top-order crumbled in dramaticfashion. Mortaza, playing his 150th one-day inter-national, claimed one wicket when he took areturn catch to end Sohail’s resistance. Pakistanwill also play a Twenty20 match and two Tests ontheir month-long tour of Bangladesh. —AFP

Tamin stars in Bangladesh historic win over Pakistan

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal celebrates after scoring hundred runs during the secondone-day international cricket match against Pakistan. —AP

Pakistan:Azhar Ali c Rahim c Shakib 36Sarfraz Ahmed c Soumya b Rubel 7Mohammad Hafeez b Sunny 0Haris Sohail c & b Mortaza 44Fawad Alam b Nasir 0Mohammad Rizwan lbw b Shakib 13Saad Nasim not out 77Wahab Riaz not out 51Extras (b2, lb2, w5, nb2) 11Total (for six wickets, 50 overs) 239Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Sarfraz), 2-37 (Hafeez), 3-58 (Azhar), 4-59 (Fawad), 5-77 (Rizwan), 6-154(Haris)Bowling: Mortaza 8-0-52-1 (1nb), Taskin 8-1-41-0 (1w), Sunny 10-0-41-1 (1w), Rubel 7-2-27-1 (1w, 1nb), Nasir 5-0-17-1 (1w), Shakib 10-0-

51-2, Mahmudullah 2-0-6-0 (1w).

Bangladesh:Tamim Iqbal not out 116Soumya Sarkar c Sarfraz b Junaid 17Mohammad Mahmudullah b Ajmal 17Mushfiqur Rahim c Fawad b Rahat 65Shakib Al Hasan not out 7Extras (lb2, w15, nb1) 18Total (for three wickets, 38.1 overs) 240Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Sarkar), 2-100(Mahmudullah), 3-218 (Rahim).Bowling: Junaid 9-0-61-1 (4w), Rahat 7-0-57-1(2w), Wahab 8-0-36-0 (7w, 1nb), Ajmal 9.1-1-49-1 (1w), Azhar 3-0-20-0 (1w), Nasim 2-0-15-0Bangladesh won by seven wickets, lead three-match series 2-0

SCOREBOARD

DHAKA: Scoreboard of the second one-day international between Bangladesh and Pakistanat the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka yesterday:

ANAHEIM: Jakob Silfverberg scored thetiebreaking goal with 21 seconds to play asthe Anaheim Ducks rallied from another third-period deficit for a 2-1 victory over theWinnipeg Jets on Saturday, taking a 2-0 leadin their first-round NHL playoff series.

Patrick Maroon scored the tying power-play goal midway through the third periodand Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for thetop-seeded Ducks, who came back from afinal-period deficit for the second straightgame and the 14th time this season.

Silfverberg sealed it moments before over-time, taking a puck off the boards and wheel-ing into the faceoff circle for a shot pastOndrej Pavelec, who stopped 37 shots in anoutstanding performance. Game 3 tonightwill be the first NHL postseason game inWinnipeg since 1996.

RANGERS 4, PENGUINS 3Sidney Crosby scored twice and Pittsburgh

evened its first-round playoff series with NewYork. The Rangers won Game 1 by makingCrosby virtually invisible and keeping EvgeniMalkin out of the danger zone. On Saturday,the Penguins forced turnovers in the decisivesecond period, shut down the Rangers’ powerplay and generally controlled the pace to geteven. Game 3 is tonight in Pittsburgh.

Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 23 savesfor the Penguins, while Henrik Lundqvist had18. Brandon Sutter and Chris Kunitz alsoscored for Pittsburgh, and Derek Stepan,Derick Brassard and Rick Nash (with 5.1 sec-onds to go) had goals for New York.

LIGHTNING 5, RED WINGS 1Tampa Bay’s Ben Bishop stopped 24 shots

for his first NHL playoff victory, a win overDetroit that evened their opening-roundEastern Conference series at one game apiece.

Tyler Johnson had two goals for theLightning, who dropped Game 1 while out-playing the Red Wings for most of a 3-2 loss.Alex Killorn and Andrej Sustr scored in secondperiod before Johnson’s breakaway goal fin-ished a three-goal flurry that put Tampa Bayup 4-0.

Bishop lost his bid for a shutout when

Detroit’s Tomas Tatar scored at 5:49 of thethird period. Despite the loss, the Red Wingsreturn home for Game 3 tomorrow feeling for-tunate the series is tied. They did not play par-ticularly well in either of the two games inTampa Bay, but escaped with the openerthanks to an outstanding playoff debut byyoung goalie Petr Mrazek.

The 23-year-old Mrazek was pulledSaturday after Tampa Bay’s three-goal secondperiod, replaced by the struggling, but muchmore experienced Jimmy Howard, who gaveup Tampa Bay’s final goal to Valtteri Filppulaon a power play in the closing minutes.

BLUES 4, WILD 1Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals in the

first period and then had an empty-netter forhis first career playoff hat trick, leading St.Louis to a victory over Minnesota that evenedthe Western Conference series at a gameapiece.

Tarasenko had an assist and no shots in a 4-2 loss in Game 1, but responded with animpressive performance more in line with hisplay in the regular season. The dynamicwinger ran his playoff total to seven goals innine games. Patrik Berglund’s unassisted goalpast Devan Dubnyk made it a two-goal cush-ion with 1:58 to go for the Central Divisionchampions, who will carry momentum toMinnesota for Game 3 tonight. Jake Allenmade 24 saves for St. Louis.Marco Scandellascored for Minnesota. — AP

MARSEILLE: Two-time defending champi-ons Toulon will bid for an unprecedentedhat-trick of European titles againstClermont after beating Leinster 25-20 fol-lowing extra-time in yesterday ’sChampions Cup semi-final.

Toulon’s Welsh full-back LeighHalfpenny kicked six penalties and convert-ed a Bryan Habana interception try for apersonal haul of 20 points in an ultimatelythrilling match that went to extra-timeafter finishing 12-12 after regulation time.

Leinster had Ian Madigan to thank forfive penalties, while Sean O’Brien scored alate try that made for a nerve-racking cli-max. Man-of-the-match Halfpenny heapedpraise on his teammates. “The character ofthe boys was outstanding,” Halfpenny toldSky Sports. “To close the game out and winit is a fantastic feeling. “As a player youwant to be involved in the big games andthe latter stages of competitions, and to beinvolved in the European semi-final and tohave won is great.”

Toulon’s Australian playmaker MattGiteau said the French giants had “made ittough” for themselves. “But in the biggames you’ve just got to find a way to winand we did just that,” Giteau said. LeinsterNo.8 Jamie Heaslip said his team hadproved many pundits wrong. “A lot of peo-ple didn’t give us a shout,” he said. “100minutes of rugby, that rarely happens andwe went right to the wire.

“You get punished for slight errorsthroughout the game... and we’ve comeout second best today.” Turnovers, ruckpenalties and handling errors saw out atight if uninspiring, pressure-laden first-halfduring which Toulon failed to convert theirterritorial domination into points.

Halfpenny bagged two penalties tothree from Madigan in the opening 40 min-utes at Marseille’s packed Stade Velodrome.Halfpenny missed a third penalty effort ear-ly in the second period, but was then onhand to snuffle out a Jimmy Gopperthcharge-down in Toulon’s 22m area asLeinster pressed.

The Wales and British Lion full-backeventually pulled the scores level after 56

minutes with a penalty as blue skiesreplaced the rain of the first half. It wasthen Madigan’s turn to miss a penalty,Toulon immediately into action as GuilhemGuirado charged down Madigan’s clear-ance kick, with only desperate defencestopping the red surge towards the white-wash.

Gopperth was penalised for not rollingaway a minute later, Halfpenny kicking hisfourth three-pointer to take the lead. ButToulon’s Juan Fernandez Lobbe committeda stupid infringement in front of refereeWayne Barnes’s eagle eye, toe poking theball out of a ruck. Madigan made no mis-take from long range to draw the scoreslevel again.

With two minutes to play, Gopperthsent a snap drop-goal just wide, and RobKearney sent one just short from the result-ing 22 kickout in a nerve-racking finish.Delon Armitage then had a chance to endthe game with a 55-metre penalty, but hiseffort fell well short, meaning extra-time.Two minutes in, the Toulon scrumdestroyed their Irish counterpart andHalfpenny booted his fifth penalty to putthe pressure on Leinster. But once again,Madigan came straight back with one ofhis own after dangerous play by replace-ment lock Jocelino Suta. Suta’s boilerhousepartner Ali Williams was then shown a yel-low card for making contact with DevinToner in the air. But Toulon did not sit backdespite being down to 14 men, Halfpennynailing his sixth penalty as the irrepressibleChris Masoe tried to force a turnover.

And then Springbok winger Habanaintercepted Madigan’s long looped passand sprinted away for a try converted byHalfpenny.

But Leinster heads did not go down,Sean O’Brien being driven over for a tryGopperth failed to convert to make for ashaky end to the game. On Saturday,Australian Brock James was the architect ofClermont’s 13-9 victory over Saracens inthe first semi-final, sweet revenge for the46-6 thumping the English club handedthe Top 14 side at the same stage of thecompetition last season. — AFP

FRANCE: Leinster’s and Toulon’s forwards take part in a scrum during the EuropeanChampions Cup rugby union semi-final match. — AFP

Toulon in European final

VALKENBURG: World champion MichalKwiatkowski of Poland claimed his firstone-day victory of the year in winning thefirst of three Ardennes Classics, the AmstelGold Race yesterday.

Kwiatkowski finished the 258km racefrom Maastricht to Valkenburg ahead ofAlejandro Valverde of Spain and Australia’sMichael Matthews.

It was the 24-year-old’s first win in amajor Spring Classic race, this the first ofthree Ardennes Classics in the space of asingle week. His only previous victory thisyear had been in the Pris-Nice stage raceprologue. Kwiatkowski was fifth at Amstel,the biggest race in the Netherlands, lastyear, also securing third-placed finishes atboth Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

He was part of a small group that brokeclear on the final Cauberg climb, the apexof which came 1.8km from the finish.

Portugal’s Rui Costa, whom Kwiatkowskisucceeded as world champion, camefourth ahead of Belgium’s Greg Van

Avermaet and Tony Gallopin of France,while last year’s winner Philippe Gilbert, athree-time Amstel champion, could man-age only 10th.

But 2014 Tour de France winnerVincenzo Nibali created some excitement30km from home when he broke away withthree-time world timetrial king Tony Martinand Australians Simon Clarke and DavidTanner. They were caught with 15km left,although Clarke battled on for a further7km before the inevitable happened.

Belgian Gilbert, who won all threeArdennes Classics in 2011, briefly distancedall but Matthews on the Cauberg climb butalthough the pair crested it clear, a smallgroup caught them in the run-in to the fin-ish. Matthews and Van Avermaet, whosebuild-up had been blighted by his implica-tion in a doping scandal and the disap-pointment of third-placed finishes at both‘Monument’ cobbled classics-Paris Roubaixand the Tour of Flanders opened theirsprints first but Kwiatkowski poweredthrough to take the win. — AFP

Kwiatkowski wins Amstel Gold Race

VALKENBURG: Michal Kwiatkowski celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the 50thedition of the Amstel Gold race. — AFP

Ducks get past Jets asRangers down Penguins

ANAHEIM: Winnipeg Jets center Mathieu Perreault (left) knocks Anaheim Ducks right wingJakob Silfverberg to the ice during the first period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey play-off series. — AP


BAHRAIN: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain (left) holds the trophy after winning the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix at the FormulaOne Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. At his right is third place Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany. — AP

MANAMA: Defending world champion LewisHamilton extended his lead in this year’s title raceyesterday when he drove to a near-flawless victoryin the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The 30-year-old Briton, starting from the 42ndpole position of his career, led from lights to flagapart from two spells around the pit-stops to claimthe 36th win of his career and his third in four racesthis year. Hamilton came home 3.3 seconds clear ofFinn Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari who stole secondahead of Nico Rosberg when the second Mercedesdriver suffered a braking problem on the penulti-mate lap.

It had seemed that the 29-year-old Germanwould hold off Raikkonen’s late challenge, but bothMercedes lost their brakes in the final laps,Hamilton just hanging on to win.

Hamilton’s victory lifted him to 93 points in thechampionship, giving him a clear lead ahead ofRosberg, on 66 points.

Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams finished fourthafter resisting a late attack from German SebastianVettel in the second Ferrari.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth forRed Bull, his engine blowing up as he crossed theline ahead of Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotusand Mexican Sergio Perez of Force India.

Russian Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull wasninth and Brazilian Felipe Massa, was 10th in thesecond Williams. After another sweltering day atthe Sakhir Circuit, the race began as the floodlightsreplaced the sunshine with a calm Hamilton mak-

ing a perfect departure from the 42nd pole posi-tion of his career. At the other end of the grid,Briton Jenson Button’s wretched weekend wascompleted by his failure to start the race, McLaren-Honda having been unable to resolve their elec-tronic problems.

Brazilian Felipe Massa started from the pit laneafter failing to start the formation lap in hisWilliams, but he made light of that in the openinglaps behind a field led in confident fashion by theMercedes of world champion Hamilton.

Raikkonen made a fast start, as did Rosbergwho attacked Vettel, and this lifted him into thirdwhen the Mercedes’ man slipped back after hisfailed assault on seizing second place.

But Rosberg fought back to regain third andsqueeze inside Vettel’s Ferrari at turn one on lapnine. Hamilton opened up a six-second lead beforeVettel was the first of the leading group to pit fornew rubber after 14 laps, swiftly followed byRosberg. When Hamilton pitted, two laps later,Raikkonen led until he followed suit on lap 18. Thisgave the lead back to Hamilton, but Mercedes’need to give Rosberg the first stop had clearlyreduced the Briton’s control and lead at the front.

This was shown when Hamilton rejoined fromhis first stop just ahead of Vettel as Rosberg passedthe Ferrari to take second.

By lap 24, a lead that was six seconds wastrimmed to just 2.2 with Vettel less than a secondadrift and Raikkonen, on the ‘harder’ medium tyre,closing.

Hamilton pushed to extend his lead to 3.9 sec-onds by lap 30 with Vettel a further 4.3 adrift andRaikkonen, 4.1 seconds further back, holding astrong fourth on mediums ahead of Bottas.

Vettel made his second stop to switch to themedium tyre after 33 laps. Hamilton followed a laplater for the same and then Rosberg, who lost hisplace to Vettel, who clocked a fastest lap of1:37.547 to regain second. All this left Raikkonen,running a different strategy, out in front ofHamilton with one more stop due, as Rosbergfought back against Vettel, taking second again asVettel ran wide at Turn 14, damaging his frontwing. Vettel had to pit for a new nose and re-joinedfifth. As Raikkonen struggled on his worn tyres,Hamilton swept past to lead at the start of lap 40,both men avoiding an incident with Hulkenberg’sForce India as the German came out of the pits.

Ferrari finally called Raikkonen in for lap 41, put-ting him on soft tyres for a closing dash after theMercedes men and a potential podium finish.

With 15 laps to go, Hamilton led Rosberg bynearly five seconds and Raikkonen, clocking fastestlaps, was adrift by 18 seconds in third.

The Finn cut into Rosberg’s advantage as thelaps unfolded with Hamilton staying ahead ofthem both as the leading trio cut their waythrough lapped traffic on the closing laps. Seekinghis first podium finish for 26 races, Raikkonenbecame ever more animated. “Come on! Blue flags!”he shouted over the team radio. “They just don’tmove those people.” — AFP

Hamilton wins Bahrain GP

SOCHI: Elena Vesnina and AnastasiaPavlyuchenkova beat Sabine Lisicki and AndreaPetkovic in the deciding rubber of the Fed CupWorld Group semi-final against Germany onSunday to put Russia into the final. Vesnina andPavlyuchenkova won 6-2, 6-3 in one hour 24 min-utes to earn a pass into the title match against theCzech Republic, who beat France in the othersemi-final.

“I was a bit nervous at the start but I knew thattogether with Nastia (Pavlyuchenkova) we’re agood team,” Vesnina said. “I watched Lisicki andPetkovic playing at Indian Wells last month andwas ready for some of their moves.

“Besides, Nastia also played well even thoughshe came on court right after her singles match.”The Russian duo looked confident from the start,producing three breaks in the opening set, whichwas over in 38 minutes.

The second set was almost a carbon copy of

the first as the Russians broke their opponentsserve on three more occasions sealing their victo-ry with an ace by Pavlyuchenkova.

Earlier yesterday, Germany’s Angelique Kerberbeat Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-0 to level the matchat 2-2. “I was obliged to win. Therefore I was nerv-ous at first. But then I started winning my points,”Kerber said. “The title which I won last weekallowed me to feel confidence. That victory cameat the right time.” The 27-year-old Kerber, winnerof the Charleston WTA event last week, looked incommand from the start, breakingPavlyuchenkova’s serve twice to take the openingset in just 25 minutes before starting the secondwith yet another break before sending the tie intothe decisive fifth rubber.

In yesterday ’s opening match Petkovicreduced the arrears with a straight-sets victory 6-2, 6-1 over Svetlana Kuznetsova.

“Yesterday’s rest really played a big role for

me,” Petkovic said. “I don’t know how I would haveplayed yesterday, but I know that two (successive)days of play for me is not possible.

“The score tells nothing about this match.Some games in the first set were very close. Bothof us showed very good clay court tennis duringthe first set.” Petkovic, who is 11th in the WTArankings, started confidently, breaking her oppo-nent’s serve on three occasions to take the open-ing set in 41 minutes.

In the second Petkovic underlined hersupremacy on the red clay court of Sochi’s AdlerArena as she produced two more breaks to chalkup her team’s first point. “I failed to adjust myselfcompletely for the clay courts, that’s the main rea-son for my defeat today,” Kuznetsova said. OnSaturday Kuznetsova beat Goerges 6-4, 6-4 to putRussia into the lead, while Pavlyuchenkova battledback from a set down to defeat Sabine Lisicki togive her country a comfortable 2-0 lead. —AFP

MONTE CARLO: Novak Djokovic continued hisawe-inspiring run of form to claim the MonteCarlo Masters title yesterday with a 7-5 4-6 6-3win over Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych.

The Serbian world number one became thefirst player to clinch the opening three Masterstitles of the season after he triumphed in IndianWells and Miami, notably seeing off nine-timesFrench Open champion Rafa Nadal in Saturday’ssemi-final.

Berdych, however, was no pushover in thefinal of the first tournament of the Europeanclaycourt season, which will culminate at RolandGarros from May 24-June 7. Coming into thematch with a 2-18 win-loss record againstDjokovic, Berdych had little to lose and he start-ed brightly, stealing the Serbian’s serve in thefirst game with a nice backhand winner downthe line, allowing his opponent only two pointsin the first two games.

But the Czech started to make unforcederrors and in no time Djokovic had moved from3-1 down to 5-3 up. Berdych kept battling andlevelled for 5-5 after reeling off six points in arow in a see-saw contest that left Djokovic’scoach, Boris Becker, sliding back into his seat.

The Serbian’s rhythm, however, was toomuch to handle for Berdych, who saved two setpoints before cracking on the third, sending abackhand into the net after Djokovic had senthim chase the ball in every corner of the court.

Berdych had his chance in the fifth game ofthe second set as he set up three break pointsbut he wasted two of them with unforced errorsand Djokovic saved the third with a service win-ner. He won that game and the match was inter-rupted by rain for about 70 minutes. Berdychbroke for 4-3 on his third opportunity after put-ting Djokovic on the back foot and he took theset after winning 15 of 19 points on his first

serve. His form then nosedived as Djokovicraced to a 4-0 lead in the decider, but Berdychthen clawed back one of breaks and even hadanother chance to break in the seventh game.But once again, the Czech made unforced errorsand was powerless to stop Djokovic from clos-ing it out on his serve. Meanwhile, althoughcomprehensively beaten by Novak Djokovic onthe Monte Carlo semi-finals, claycourt king RafaNadal believes he is on the right path as hisbeloved French Open looms.

The Spaniard, looking to clinch a record-extending 10th title at Roland Garros, lost 6-3 6-3 to the world number one in the European clay-court season opener.

The third seed’s defence was sometimesimpressive but he never managed to take con-trol of the contest. But Nadal, who has had anbelow par start to the season, notably losing toFernando Verdasco in the third round at theMiami Masters, was not worried. “The way that Iplayed yesterday (against David Ferrer) and formoments today is the way that I want to play,”he told a news conference. “Just with morematches playing like this, I will be enough confi-dent to play. “I go into the next tournament withthe feeling that I made a big improvement in mygame. I hope this tournament is a key momentfor my season.”

Nadal, who usually wears down his oppo-nents, especially on clay, the slowest surface,admitted he had trouble coping with the physi-cality of the game. He took a great start, enjoy-ing a 2-0 lead in the opener and setting up abreak point in the third game, before gradullayfading away.

“I get a little bit tired and a little bit too early.Then when you get little bit tired, you play a lit-tle bit shorter. Then it is impossible against him,no?” he explained. —Reuters

Djokovic adds another Masters to his series

MONACO: Novak Djokovic of Serbia (right) holds his cup after defeating TomasBerdych of Czech Republic (left) in their final match of the Monte Carlo TennisMasters tournament. — AP

OSTRAVA: Petra Kvitova sent holders the CzechRepublic into their fourth Fed Cup final in fiveyears after breezing past France’s Caroline Garciain straight sets here yesterday.

On the hardcourt of the CEZ Arena in theeastern Czech city of Ostrava, the left-handedworld number four beat 29th-ranked Garcia 6-4,6-4 in an hour and 32 minutes to give the hostsan unbeatable 3-0 lead. The Czechs, who wonthe Fed Cup title in 2011, 2012 and 2014, willtake on either Russia or Germany in the final. Inyesterday’s clash of the teams’ number one play-ers, the 25-year-old Kvitova showed she wasback in shape after a month-long break from thesport as she won the 25th of her 31 Fed Cup sin-gles rubbers. The first set offered aggressive ten-nis with Kvitova earning two breaks against onefor Garcia who tossed her racket and slammedthe ball into the ground in frustration.

In the second set, the 2011 and 2014Wimbledon champion showed her dominanceover the 21-year-old French youngster, taking a5-1 lead which Garcia only managed to narrow.“It was definitely hard,” Kvitova said after thegame. “I knew what to expect, I played againsther last year so I knew how to play and it worked.“She likes to play fast, long balls into the body sothe rival wouldn’t have time. “I tried to play thesame, go for it from the first ball after the serve

so she would have to run and wouldn’t havetime to dictate the pace,” she added, praisingGarcia’s “very solid performance.” Garcia said thegame was “a high-level one”. “It was close today,she handled her chances a bit better than I did. Itried to do my best,” she said.

In the dead doubles rubber on Sunday,France’s Kristina Mladenovic and PaulineParmentier beat Lucie Safarova and BarboraStrycova 0-6, 6-3, 10/8 to round off the final scoreat 3-1. On Saturday, world number 13 and Czechnumber two Safarova beat Garcia 4-6, 7-6 (7/1),6-1. Kvitova then saw off 58th-rankedMladenovic 6-3, 6-4.”I saw Garcia play with Lucieon Saturday and I could see she gave her a hardtime on the court so I’m happy I managed a bitfaster and without the nerves that Lucie had,”said Kvitova.

Czech captain Petr Pala, who has been withthe team since 2008, said the tie with France wasfar from easy. “You may say it was 3-0, but it wasterribly close,” he said. “Lucie made a great come-back from five match points against her in thefirst rubber and Petra had to play great today tosucceed. It’s tough on Caroline, but she hasplayed two great rubbers. “Petra did a great job,she must have been terribly nervous on Saturdaybecause her break (from tennis) was quite long,but she handled it like a great player.” — AFP

Kvitova takes Czechs past France into final

OSTRAVA: Petra Kvitova from Czech Republic celebrates after defeating CarolineGarcia from France during the Fed Cup semifinal tennis match. — AP

Russia storm Fed Cup into final

ARGENTINA: Reigning double world championMarc Marquez stormed to his 24th pole positionin just 39 MotoGP races in Argentina onSaturday.

The Spanish Honda rider will line up along-side compatriot Aleix Esparago (Suzuki) andItaly’s Andrea Iannone (Ducati) on the front rowof the grid.

The 22-year-old flew around the scorchingThermes de Rio Hondo circuit in 1min 37.802secto snatch pole for the second year in a row here.

“I am happy today, because we were able tofight for pole and eventually got it,” saidMarquez. “It was important to start from thefront tomorrow, because the track is quite dirtyand that makes it harder to overtake. “We’ll see

what happens, we expect a pretty tough racewith even higher temperatures than today.”Iannone may be on the front row but he admit-ted to having concerns about his tyres for therace. “I am pleased because the front row wasone of our aims and we managed to achieve it,but together with my team we still have to tryand find a solution to get the best out of the softtyre,” he said.

“For sure tomorrow it will be important to geta good start and I must try not to stress the reartyre too much, in particular because we do nothave the extra-hard compound.”

Britain’s Carl Crutchlow (Honda), Spain’s for-mer world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)and Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) will start

on the second row. Italian legend ValentinoRossi, who won the first race of the season, couldmanage only eighth fastest on a Yamaha. Evenso, Marquez identified the seven-time worldchampion and two-time laureat Lorenzo as histwo main rivals for the race.

Rossi said: “I am very upset for the qualifyingbecause I feel I could do better. Our strategy wasnot perfect, we arrived in traffic and unfortu-nately it was not possible to improve.

“On the other side, with the hard tyres thebike works well and I have a good pace, that ismost important for the race. “We have to workin some places as we still have some issues tosolve, we will try to improve and do the best wecan in the race.” — AFP

Marquez takes pole in ArgentinaARGENTINA: Spain’s biker Marc Marquez rides his Honda during the MotoGP of the Argentina Grand Prix. — AFP


MILAN: Carlos Tevez has left doubts hanging overhis future at Juventus despite coach MassimilianoAllegri’s belief the Argentinian star will honor hiscontract with the Turin giants.

Tevez took his Serie A goals tally to 18 for theseason with Juve’s opening goal in a 2-0 home winover Lazio which stretched their lead to 15 points atthe top of the table with seven games remaining.

But a celebratory ‘chicken dance’-which he firstperformed while playing for Argentinian giantsBoca Juniors against bitter rivals River Plate in 2004as well as comments by Boca president DanielAngelici earlier this week claiming Tevez wanted toreturn to the club ahead of next season, have leftfans wondering. Angelici set the rumour mill spin-ning earlier this week when he claimed Tevez wouldquit Juventus a year before his contract expires, in

June 2016, to return to Boca, where he camethrough the youth ranks.

He was quoted by Gazzetta dello Sport as sayingthat Tevez’s “idea is to return, after so many yearsaway, wear our shirt and play for two or three years”

Angelici added: “He wants it and his family wantit. In the space of a year and a half, a lot of thingscan change. But right now, that’s his idea.”

Tevez told reporters after the game: “There’s a lotof talk about me right now, but all I want to focuson is Juve. We are in great form and it’s not the righttime to discuss my future.”

But he added: “When I make a decision about myfuture, the fans will be the first to know.”

Tevez has already admitted he will finish hiscareer at Boca, saying: “I’ve already said I want toretire wearing a Boca shirt, it’s my dream as well as

my family’s.” But a return to Argentina at this stagewould be surprising for a player who, at 31 yearsold, “still has plenty to offer to European football”,according to Juventus coach Allegri.

Since joining the Old Lady in time for the 2013-2014 season, Tevez has revived his career havingendured a turbulent end to his three-year spell atManchester City. While piling up the goals for Juve,Tevez has earned a recall to the Argentina squad.He has also been instrumental as Juventus continuetheir quest to reach the latter stages of theChampions League for the first time in over adecade. On Wednesday, Juventus will book theirplace in the semi-finals if they secure a draw awayto Monaco in the second leg of their quarter-final.

Juventus have been keen to keep a lid on anytransfer talk concerning Tevez, who has scored 26

goals in all competitions this season.“Talking about transfers right now doesn’t make

sense,” said Allegri after Saturday’s win. “Tevez isfocused, I think we will stay with us because he likesit here and he still has so much to offer football inEurope.” The Argentinian claimed his celebratorychicken dance on Saturday was a “promise tofriends” but it did little to quell rumours of his returnto Boca. Tevez performed it 11 years ago after scor-ing for Boca against River Plate in the semi-final ofthe Copa Libertadores-South America’s ChampionsLeague equivalent-and both clubs will soon faceeach other in the last 16 of the competition.

Tevez said the celebration “had nothing to dowith the upcoming game. “I celebrated like thatbecause I had made a promise to some friends, andI’ll do the same if I score at Monaco.” — AFP

Tevez chicken dance fuels Boca move rumors

MILAN: A third-minute penalty by Francesco Tottifailed to make the difference as depleted Roma’sChampions League hopes suffered a blow in a 1-1draw with Atalanta yesterday.

Roma knew a win would hoist them back up tosecond place after Lazio’s 2-0 defeat at leadersJuventus on Saturday. But despite dominatingthroughout, Roma failed to break down a stubborndefence, Atalanta hanging on for a valuable pointthat left them seven points clear of the relegationzone. Along with city rivals Lazio, Roma are 15points behind Juventus. Coach Rudi Garcia wasfurious at his side’s failure to seize, at least tem-porarily, the league’s second automatic ChampionsLeague qualifying spot. “Today, I can’t be anythingother than unhappy. We didn’t play well at all,especially in the first half,” said Garcia. “As soon aswe scored the penalty, we went to sleep.”Roma’splayers before the game drove past dozens of fansdemonstrating against club president JamesPallotta’s decision to ban several “racist and violentsupporters” from the stadium. To make mattersworse, Garcia was also without Daniele De Rossiand Kostas Manolas, both suspended, whileMiralem Pjanic, Gervinho, Douglas Maicon, KevinStrootman and Leandro Castan were all missingthrough injury.

Totti was handed the chance to give the hostsan early lead when Adem Ljajic was fouled byGuglielmo Stendardo, who also handled the ball inthe area, and the Roma captain stepped up to sendgoalkeeper Marco Sportiello the wrong way.

But barely 20 minutes later, Atalanta were backon level terms, German Denis firing past MorganDe Sanctis from the spot after Davide Astori hadtripped Dutch midfielder Urby Emanuelson.

Roma were jeered off the pitch at half-time aftermissing several chances to restore their lead, andthe fans’ mood didn’t improve after the break asStendardo stopped Totti from reaching AlessandroFlorenzi’s low cross in front of goal before RadjaNainggolan’s long range effort was charged downas Atalanta held on for a share of the spoils.

Elsewhere, Fabio Quagliarella struck from thespot as Europa League-chasing Torino grabbed aprecious point from a 1-1 draw away to Sassuolo,who opened the scoring through a DomenicoBerardi penalty on the stroke of half-time.

A Cesar Bostjan own goal secured a point forUdinese in a 1-1 away draw at Chievo, who hadSergio Pellissier’s sliding back post effort to thankfor their 39th minute opener. Algerian internationalIshak Belfodil came off the bench to net a 73rdminute leveller as crisis-hit basement side Parmagrabbed a point from a hard-fought 2-2 draw atEmpoli, although Roberto Donadoni’s men, dockeda further four points in midweek for financial irreg-ularities, look doomed to relegation. The only winof the day so far came at Palermo, whereArgentinian sensation Paulo Dybala turned creatortwice to set up Ivaylo Chochev for a brace of goalsin a 2-1 win over Genoa. Dybala has been linked

with a move to Juventus, Manchester United,Arsenal and Liverpool, with club president MauroZamparini declaring last week the 21-year-oldwould be “sold before the end of April”. Palermocoach Giuseppe Iachini, meanwhile, said: “Paul’s ayoung lad who has come on leaps and bounds thisseason. “He did great to set up the two goals... butthe whole team played great, I can only congratu-

late them.” Napoli, meanwhile, had no trouble clos-ing the gap on Lazio and Roma to five points afterJose Callejon, an own goal from Antonio Balzanoand a Manolo Gabbiadini strike secured a 3-0 winaway to relegation-threatened Cagliari. Inter Milanhost AC Milan in the city derby in yesterday’s lategame, while Fiorentina are in action today whenthey host Verona in Florence. — AFP

Atalanta draw dent

Roma’s CL hopes

Juventus 31 22 7 2 59 15 73Lazio 31 18 4 9 58 30 58Roma 31 15 13 3 42 23 58Napoli 31 15 8 8 53 37 53Sampdoria 31 12 14 5 38 31 50Fiorentina 30 13 10 7 43 34 49Genoa 31 11 11 9 43 36 44Torino 31 11 11 9 36 33 44AC Milan 30 10 12 8 44 37 42Inter Milan 30 10 11 9 46 37 41

Palermo 31 10 11 10 44 45 41Sassuolo 31 8 12 11 37 46 36Chievo 31 9 9 13 23 32 36Udinese 31 8 11 12 34 42 35Empoli 31 6 16 9 32 38 34Verona 30 8 9 13 36 53 33Atalanta 31 6 12 13 27 42 30Cesena 31 4 11 16 28 53 23Cagliari 31 4 9 18 35 61 21Parma 31 5 5 21 26 58 13

Italian League results/standings

Sassuolo 1 (Berardi 45pen) Torino 1 (Quagliarella 59-pen)+ADs- Chievo 1 (Pellissier 39) Udinese 1(Cesar 71-og)+ADs- Empoli 2 (Maccarone 32, Tonelli 45) Parma 2 (Lodi 19, Belfodil 73)+ADs-Palermo 2 (Chochev 9, 30) Genoa 1 (Falque 52)+ADs- Roma 1 (Totti 3-pen) Atalanta 1 (Denis 23-pen)+ADs-Cagliari 0 Napoli 3 (Callejon 24, Balzano 45og, Gabbiadini 59)

BERLIN: Bayern Munich could wrap up athird straight Bundesliga title next week-end after second-placed Wolfsburg neededa late Kevin de Bruyne equaliser to seal yes-terday’s 1-1 draw against Schalke.

Pep Guardiola’s Bayern finished theweekend 12 points clear after their 2-0 winat Hoffenheim and with five games leftthey could have their title confirmed with ahome win over Hertha Berlin on Saturday ifother results go their way.

At Wolfsburg’s Volkswagen Arena,defender Ricardo Rodriguez hit the cross-bar early in the second-half from a free-kickin the hosts’ best clear chance.

But Schalke took a spectacular leadagainst the run of play as Germany under-19 left winger Leroy Sane won the ball onthe edge of his own area, then sprintedaway before beating two Wolves defendersto fire home on 53 minutes.

Having also earlier gone close with afree-kick, Belgium international De Bruynerescued the hosts when he hit the bottomright-hand corner from 20 metres out toclaim his 10th Bundesliga goal of the sea-son on 78 minutes. Wolfsburg could havesnatched the three points at the death asFrance midfielder Joshua Guilavogui blast-ed a late volley over the bar.

Earlier, bottom side Hamburg sufferedtheir fifth straight defeat and are headingtowards an historic relegation fromGermany’s top flight after their 1-0 defeatto Werder Bremen in the north Germanderby. Bremen’s Argentine striker Franco diSanto claimed his 13th goal of the seasonby netting an 84th-minute penalty justafter Hamburg’s Swiss midfielder ValonBehrami was sent off-on his 30th birthday-for pulling down Werder’s Zlatko Junuzovic.

Bremen are one of the league’s successstories this season having gone from lastplace in December to finish the weekendfour points adrift of a Europa League spot.

In contrast, hapless Hamburg have justfive games to close the four-point gap tosafety as Bruno Labbadia suffered defeat inhis first game since being appointed asHamburg’s fourth coach this season onWednesday. “To lose a game with a penaltylike that is bitterly disappointing,” saidLabbadia, who is in his second stint asHamburg boss.

“For me that was never, ever a red card.”The only side to have never been relegatedfrom Germany’s top flight, Hamburg onlyavoided the drop last season by winning aplay-off.

Meanwhile, leaders Bayern sealed ahard-fought win at Hoffenheim, but havefresh injury worries for Tuesday’s crucialChampions League quarter-final, second-leg against Porto as they look to over-turna 3-1 deficit. Left-back Juan Bernat had tobe helped off after a bone-crunching first-half tackle in Hoffenheim, but coach PepGuardiola said the Spaniard was only takenoff as a precaution.

“We didn’t want to take any risks,” headded. Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a 3-0victory at home to Paderborn to climb toninth in their first game since coach JurgenKlopp announced he would be leaving atthe end of the season to be replaced by ex-Mainz boss Thomas Tuchel next season.After Borussia Moenchengladbach’s goal-less draw at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday,Bayer Leverkusen took Gladbach’s place inthird, and amongst the automaticChampions League berths, with a 4-0 maul-ing of Hanover 96. — AFP

Wolves’ stumble

to Schalke

Bayern 29 23 4 2 76 13 73Wolfsburg 29 18 7 4 63 31 61Leverkusen 29 15 9 5 56 31 54M’gladbach 29 15 9 5 44 22 54Schalke 04 29 11 9 9 38 32 42Augsburg 29 13 3 13 36 37 42Bremen 29 10 8 11 44 57 38Hoffenheim 29 10 7 12 43 47 37Dortmund 29 10 6 13 38 37 36Frankfurt 29 9 9 11 51 57 36Mainz 05 29 7 13 9 40 41

Cologne 29 8 10 11 29 35 34Hertha 29 9 7 13 34 45 34Freiburg 29 6 11 12 29 39 29Hanover 96 29 7 8 14 32 49 29Paderborn 29 6 9 14 25 56 27Stuttgart 29 6 8 15 32 53 26Hamburg 29 6 7 16 16 44 25

Note: Parma deducted three-point andfour-point penalties for financial irregulari-ties and non-payment of salaries.

German League results/standings

Playing later (GMT)Inter Milan v AC Milan (1845)

Italian Serie A table ahead of yesterday’s lategame (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for,goals against, points):

Werder Bremen 1 (di Santo 84-pen) Hamburg 0; VfL Wolfsburg 1 (De Bruyne 78)Schalke 1 (Sane 53) German Bundesliga table after yesterday’s matches (played, won,drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

GERMANY: Wolfsburg’s Andre Schuerrle (right) and Schalke’s Roman Neustaedter(left) challenge for the ball during the German Bundesliga soccer match. — AP

FRANCE: Lille’s Senegalese midfielder Idrissa Gueye (right) vies with Bordeaux’s Uruguyanforward Diego Rolan during their French League football match. —AFP

ITALY: Roma’s forward Victor Ibarbo from Colombia (right) vies with Atalanta’s midfielderGiulio Migliaccio during the Italian Serie A football match. — AFP

PARIS: Nolan Roux was on target as Lil legrabbed their third consecutive Ligue 1 victorywith a 2-0 win over Bordeaux yesterday to closeon European places.

Montpellier also climbed back into con-tention with a rain-soaked 1-0 home win overCaen, where increasingly large puddles cameclose to seeing the match called off.

If Paris Saint-Germain win the French Cupthen the fourth to sixth placed sides in Ligue 1will all qualify for the Europa League, whichright now would be Marseille, Saint-Etienne andBordeaux. But Montpellier are just two pointsback in seventh, and resurgent Lille are a furthertwo back in eighth with fifteen points still toplay for. Lille’s 27-year-old forward Roux headedin his fifth goal of the season, benefiting froman incisive run by Sofiane Boufal and a defen-sive mistake by Mariano after just 13 minutes ofplay.

Boufal was once again key in the dying min-utes of the game, the young midfielder pickingoff Bordeaux on the break and playing inAdama Traore to calmly slot home.

“We’ve had a positive momentum for a whilenow and it was important to keep it up,” saidLille coach Rene Girard. “We produced someinteresting football and we’re not giving up. Wehad 20 difficult minutes at the start of the sec-ond half but we gave away nothing. We need tocontinue like that.”

It was Bordeaux’s second league defeat sinceJanuary 16, a 12-game run that includes tri-umphs over PSG and Marseille.

Montpellier can thank their 37-year-oldBrazilian defender Vitorio Hilton, who followedup his goal, a powerful near-post header on thefourth minute, by sliding joyously and chestdown through a huge puddle. On Saturday,Paris Saint-Germain bounced back from theirChampions League humbling against Barcelona

Lille, Montpellier keep

European dreams aliveby beating Nice 3-1 in their bid for a hat-trick ofLigue 1 titles. PSG temporarily moved a pointahead Lyon at the top of the table ahead ofSunday’s derby against Saint-Etienne. Monacoremain in third place as they refocus on over-turning a 1-0 first-leg deficit at home to

Juventus in the second leg of their ChampionsLeague quarter-final in midweek.

But crucially, they failed to fully exploitfourth-placed Marseille’s continued slump asMarcelo Bielsa’s side went down to a 1-0 defeatat Nantes on Friday night. — AFP

MADRID: Sevilla’s push for a ChampionsLeague place suffered a major blow as theycould only manage a 1-1 draw at relega-tion-threatened Granada.

Diego Mainz scored at both ends as heheaded the hosts in front after just 15 min-utes, but could only turn Aleix Vidal’s crossinto his own net 21 minutes from time.

The result leaves Sevilla six points adriftof third-placed Atletico Madrid and still twopoints behind Valencia in fourth with justsix games remaining.

Sevilla boss Unai Emery made sixchanges to the side that beat Zenit StPetersburg 2-1 in the Europa League onThursday and, possibly fatigued by theirefforts in midweek, the visitors startedsluggishly.

Mainz nodded home the opener as he

escaped the attentions of GrzegorzKrychowiak from Daniel Candeias’s free-kick. Granada have only won one of theirlast 11 La Liga games to slip into the rele-gation zone, but they were nearly gifted asecond when Diogo Figueras sliced a cor-ner onto his own post. Mainz’s eventfulafternoon continued when he turnedCarlos Bacca’s goalbound header off theline. However, the defender was desper-ately unlucky when neat interplay betweenJose Antonio Reyes and Vidal released thelatter down the right and Mainz deflectedhis cross beyond Roberto in the Granadagoal. Earlier, Rayo Vallecano maintainedtheir outside hopes of a Europa Leagueplace by moving up to 10th as goals eitherside of half-time from Antonio Amaya andMiku sealed a 2-0 win over Almeria. —AFP

Sevilla slip-up at Granada

NEWCASTLE: Harry Kane made it 20 goals for thePremier League season as he capped a 3-1 win forTottenham Hotspur away to Newcastle Unitedyesterday that kept the London club in the huntfor European football. Newcastle, still not safefrom the threat of relegation, had to contend withtheir lowest Premier League crowd of the seasonas a result of a planned protest against ownerMike Ashley and those home fans who did turnup witnessed the club’s sixth straight leaguedefeat.

The Magpies threatened to stop the rot whenJack Colback cancelled out Nacer Chadli’s 30th-minute opener just after half-time.

But Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen curledin a free-kick seven minutes later before Kanecompleted the win in stoppage-time to liftTottenham back up to sixth and level on pointswith fifth-placed Liverpool. Newcastle, on theother hand, are now just seven points above thedrop zone and have played an extra game morethan three of the teams below them includingnorth-east rivals Sunderland. There was a surrealatmosphere inside St James’ Park, with, unusually,visiting fans the noisiest given the large numbersof empty seats dotted around the ground.

More than 20,000 leaflets had been printed

and distributed among Newcastle supporterscalling for a boycott of the fixture and, as well asthose that stayed away, it did make for a moresubdued atmosphere. But after a bright start fromTottenham, Newcastle created the game’s firstreal chance.

Spanish striker Ayoze Perez forced a near postsave from goalkeeper Michel Vorm followingFrench forward Yoan Gouffran’s low cross fromthe right.

Mike Williamson also went close for Newcastlewhen he headed over Ryan Taylor’s free-kick fromthe same flank and a failure to take advantageproved costly.

Tottenham had looked dangerous when theymoved forward at pace and when Gouffran daw-dled in his own half in possession, the yellowshirts quickly swarmed him and that led to theopening goal.

Chadli, making the most of the freedom hewas afforded, darted at the Newcastle defence,rolled the ball on to his left foot and picked outthe bottom right corner of Tim Krul’s net with acrisp finish from 25 yards. That was the first goal aTottenham player had scored away from his club’sWhite Hart Lane ground in 232 minutes.

Newcastle, particularly winger Remy Cabella,looked to push forward even though Krul still hadto deny England striker Kane shortly before half-time.

That proved a particularly important stop inview of what happened after the restart.Newcastle coach John Carver made a double sub-stitution and Sammy Ameobi-brought on alongwith Gabriel Obertan-had an immediate impactby creating the equaliser inside 20 seconds.

Ameobi charged into the box and squaredtowards the penalty spot, where Daryl Janmaat’s

initial shot was blocked and fell invitingly forColback to side-foot powerfully beyond Vorm’sdiving right hand.

Tottenham though took just seven minutes toreclaim the lead. Colback brought down Eriksennear the touchline and the Dane’s inswingingfree-kick appeared to evade team-mate NabilBentaleb’s head and then bounced beyond Krul.

After that the Dutchman made several goodsaves to keep Newcastle in the game. The bestwas when he somehow stopped Kane’s close-range volley from crossing the line secondsbefore he also rushed out to stop Erik Lamelafrom scoring. —AFP

18Djokovic addsanother Mastersto his series


Atalanta drawdent Roma’s CLhopes

Tevez chicken dance fuels Boca move rumors Page 19

LONDON: Liverpool’s English midfielder Steven Gerrard heads towards goal during the FA Cup semi-final between Aston Villa and Liverpool at Wembley stadium. — AFP

LONDON: Fabian Delph destroyed StevenGerrard’s hopes of a fairytale Liverpool send-off by scoring the winner as Aston Villareached the FA Cup final with a 2-1 victoryyesterday.

Liverpool captain Gerrard, who turns 35 onthe day of the final, had hoped to bring downthe curtain on his Anfield career with a thirdFA Cup winner’s medal, but instead it is TimSherwood’s Villa who will tackle holdersArsenal on May 30.

Philippe Coutinho gave Liverpool the leadat Wembley with a deflected finish in the 30thminute, but in-form Villa striker ChristianBenteke equalised six minutes later beforeDelph snaffled a 54th-minute winner. “I’mdelighted. We were underdogs, but webelieved we could win it,” Sherwood told BTSport. “The final will be a great occasion. You

can’t win this cup with an easy route. If youwin it, you have to beat the best, and Arsenalare right up there.”

It is 15 years since Villa last reached an FACup final and 58 years since they achievedthe last of their seven successes in the tourna-ment, but victory was just reward for a sidewho have been transformed since Sherwoodsucceeded Paul Lambert as manager onValentine’s Day.

Liverpool, without a trophy since BrendanRodgers became manager in 2012, couldhave few complaints about the outcome.

And with seven points now separatingthem from the Champions League places inthe Premier League, Gerrard’s farewell beforehe joins the Los Angeles Galaxy would appearto be the last significant occasion on their cal-endar this season.

“You can always lose a game, but youhope you play well and give yourselves anopportunity. But we were second-best,”Rodgers said. “We looked as if the occasiongot to us. Sometimes you can want to win toomuch.” Villa’s tactic of looking to hit Bentekeat the earliest opportunity quickly forcedLiverpool back and Simon Mignolet wasforced to tip over a shot from CharlesN’Zogbia, who was deputising for the injuredGabriel Agbonlahor.

Mid-way through the first half, both teamsmade changes that contributed to the open-ing goal, with Jores Okore replacing theinjured Nathan Baker at the back for Villa andLiverpool reverting to a 4-2-3-1 formation.Minutes later, Okore’s failure to deal withJordan Henderson’s tame square passenabled Raheem Sterling to roll the ball into

the path of the onrushing Coutinho, whostole into the box and scored via a deflectionoff Okore’s knee.

Rodgers’s tactical switch had broughtimmediate dividends, but his side’s leadwould not last long.

With Liverpool still readjusting to the newsystem, Delph raided into space down Villa’sleft and cut the ball back for Benteke to steerhome his ninth goal in seven games.

Liverpool’s play was crying out for anattacking focal point and at half-time Rodgerssent on Mario Balotelli for Lazar Markovic,which saw Gerrard repositioned in front ofthe back four in another re-shuffle. But it wasVilla’s football that bristled with attackingintent and nine minutes into the second halfthey went in front with a neatly worked goal.

Benteke cantered down the left flank and

back-heeled the ball to Jack Grealish, Villa’sapparently nerveless 19-year-old playmaker,who rolled a pass into the box for Delph, andthe England man stepped inside DejanLovren before scoring with his right foot.

It should have been 3-1 just after the hour,but when the ball rolled into KieranRichardson’s path after Lovren had slid in tothwart Grealish, the former ManchesterUnited man miscued his shot.

Gerrard has made a habit of producingHollywood endings, but this time the occa-sion proved beyond him, with his goal-boundheader cleared off the line by Richardson fourminutes from time.

Liverpool might yet have snatched anequaliser, but Balotelli saw a goal ruled outfor a marginal offside call and with that,Gerrard’s dream evaporated. — AFP

Villa end Gerrard’s FA Cup dream

MANCHESTER: Sergio Aguero moved to thetop of the Premier League goalscoring charts ashis effort in a 2-0 win at home to West Ham yes-terday bolstered Manchester City’s hopes ofsecuring a top-four finish and ChampionsLeague football.

The Argentina international claimed his 20thgoal of the season, after a James Collins own-goal had gifted last season’s English championsthe lead, thus ending a run which had seen himfail to score a goal from open play at Eastlandssince November 2.

After a run of just four victories from theirlast dozen league games, culminating in lastweekend’s embarrassing 4-2 derby defeat atManchester United, the win was sorely neededby a City side looking to hold off Liverpool inthe chase for the top four.

City had already carved out half a dozenchances of note by the time they took a fortu-nate 18th minute lead thanks to a helping handfrom Collins.

Jesus Navas’s counter-attack down the rightended with him crossing towards the far post,his pass being intercepted by Collins who sentthe ball looping high over goalkeeper Adrianand into the goal via the underside of the cross-bar. It was a lucky, if deserved, lead for thehome team and one which killed off any sug-gestion of Sam Allardyce’s out-of-sorts side tak-ing anything from the game.

Just to make doubly sure, Aguero increasedCity’s advantage in the 36th minute with anoth-er goal on the counter-attack, although this onewas far better worked.

Yaya Toure intercepted a badly-hit StewartDowning pass deep in City territory and sentAguero racing away. The Argentinian fed Navasout on the right, receiving the return pass in hisstride and sweeping home an unstoppable fin-ish. In between the two City goals, there hadbeen glimmers of hope for the visitors, with JoeHart racing smartly off his line to close downCarlton Cole as he threatened just inside thearea before the England goalkeeper dealt com-fortably with a routine, low 20-yard shot fromEnner Valencia soon afterwards. Those minorconcerns aside, West Ham were perfect oppo-nents for under-pressure City to face as theLondon club arrived in Manchester with justone league win from their previous 11 matches.

David Silva threatened the Hammers’ goaltwice in the opening 10 minutes while, beforethe opener, Aguero first tested Adrian with ashot on the turn then fired over from a scrappycorner. The first half concluded with anotherflowing City move, and a drilled AleksandarKolarov cross which Collins did well to scrambleout of the six-yard area.

Nor did matters improve for West Ham afterthe break and it required a superbly-timed tack-le from Carl Jenkinson to halt Aguero as heappeared certain to convert from the corner ofthe six-yard box. Silva, similarly, looked capableof extending the lead for Manuel Pellegrini’steam only for Jenkinson to fling himself in thepath of his shot, although the Spaniard’s after-noon was brought to a premature end after 67minutes when he was stretchered off afterCheikhou Kouyate caught him in the face with aflailing elbow, the West Ham man earning acaution in the process. — AFP

Aguero stars in City win

Man City 2

West Ham 0Chelsea 32 23 7 2 65 26 76Arsenal 32 20 6 6 63 32 66Man Utd 33 19 8 6 59 31 65Man City 33 19 7 7 67 34 64Liverpool 32 17 6 9 47 36 57Tottenham 33 17 6 10 53 47 57Southampton 33 17 5 11 45 24 56Swansea 33 13 8 12 38 42 47Stoke 33 13 7 13 38 41 46West Ham 33 11 10 12 42 42 43Crystal Palace 33 11 9 13 42 45 42Everton 33 10 11 12 41 43 41West Brom 33 9 9 15 32 46 36Newcastle 33 9 8 16 34 54 35Aston Villa 33 8 8 17 24 45 32Sunderland 32 5 14 13 25 48 29Hull 32 6 10 16 29 45 28Leicester 32 7 7 18 34 51 28QPR 33 7 5 21 38 59 26Burnley 33 5 11 17 26 51 26

Manchester City 2 (Collins 18-og, Aguero 36) WestHam 0; Newcastle 1 (Colback 46) Tottenham 3(Chadli 30, Eriksen 53, Kane 90).

English Premier League table after yesterday’smatches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goalsagainst, points):

EPL results/standingsKane strikes sink Newcastle

Newcastle 1

Tottenham 3

BusinessMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

Saudi SABIC’s Q1 profit

plunges 39% over low oil

Page 22

China cuts bank reserve ratio

requirement as growth slows

Page 23Zain makes strategic

investment with MEVP

Page 26Dollar slides as Fed rate hike hopes fade

Page 25

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s bourse surged yesterdayafter the kingdom’s securities regulator said itwould open the market to direct foreign invest-ment from June 15, while many other markets inthe Middle East were weak. The main Saudi indexrose 4.0 percent, its biggest gain this year, to9,620 points on its highest volume in 11 months.It broke minor technical resistance at the lateMarch high of 9,377 points and stood above the200-day average, now at 9,572 points.

It has not stayed above the average on a sus-tained basis since last November; a clean breakabove it would be longer-term bullish technically.The kingdom announced last July that it wouldpermit direct foreign purchases of shares in thefirst half of 2015, as a way to expose companiesto market discipline, diversify the economybeyond oil and create jobs.

The Capital Market Authority announced afterthe close on Thursday that qualified foreign insti-tutions would be able buy shares from mid-Juneand that the final rules covering this would bepublished on May 4. Up to now, foreigners havebeen restricted to buying Saudi shares indirectlythrough swaps or exchange-traded funds.

Fresh fund flows into Saudi Arabia in the initialmonths may be moderate - perhaps only hun-dreds of millions of dollars a month - partlybecause share valuations are currently quite high.Saudi Arabia’s forward price-to-earnings ratio of16.2 is on a par with those of the Dow JonesIndustrial Average and FTSE 100, and well aboveother Gulf markets.

But the announcement nevertheless buoyedinvestor sentiment, as the market opening is like-

ly to start the process of incorporating SaudiArabia into major equity indexes such as thoserun by MSCI, which will eventually attract tens ofbillions of dollars.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), which isexpected to be a major target of foreign investorsas the country’s biggest listed firm, surged its dai-ly 10 percent limit yesterday. It reported a 39 per-cent drop in first-quarter net income yesterdaythat was not as large a fall as analysts had fore-cast.

SABIC made a net profit of 3.93 billion riyals($1.05 billion); analysts polled by Reuters hadpredicted, on average, that SABIC would make3.50 billion riyals. Low oil and petrochemicalprices dragged down its revenues. Shares in sev-eral other petrochemical firms such as SaudiKayan, Yanbu National and Saudi IndustrialInvestment Group also rose their daily 10 percentlimits yesterday.

Banking heavyweights Al Rajhi and NationalCommercial Bank jumped 3.7 and 3.4 percentrespectively.

UAE, EGYPTSeveral other Gulf markets fell as the United

Arab Emirates and Qatar pulled back after a fewstrong sessions. Dubai’s index fell 1.4 percentafter surging 8.1 percent in the three previoussessions, though property developer DAMACextended gains in its highest daily trading vol-ume on record.

The stock, which listed in Dubai in January,surged as much as 7.2 percent during the day,hitting a new all-time high of 3.11 dirhams. But it

gave up most of those gains and closed just 2.1percent higher at 2.96 dirhams.

Abu Dhabi and Qatar edged down 0.7 percenteach in broad declines. Kuwait added 0.7 percentand Oman’s bourse inched up 0.05 percent. SomeGulf investors may be cashing out of the UAE andQatar in order to invest in Saudi Arabia’s bourse.According to Doha bourse data, for instance, Gulfinvestors sold almost twice as many stocks asthey bought yesterday.

Unlike other foreigners, Gulf investors canalready trade Saudi stocks freely, so they may tryto profit from front-running foreigners, as theydid in the UAE and Qatar last year when the twocountries were upgraded to emerging marketstatus by major index compilers.

Egypt’s bourse fell 1.4 percent and JuhaynaFood Industries was the biggest loser, tumbling5.4 percent. Egypt is considering a 20 percent tar-iff on white sugar imports as it bolsters its ownsugar industry with a subsidized export push, aministerial statement and a filing at the WorldTrade Organization said on Thursday.

In the short term at least, the move wouldprobably hurt local food makers which use sugaras a key ingredient. Most other Egyptian stockswere also weak but El Arabia For Investment &Development rose 6.5 percent after last Thursdayasking its shareholders to approve the sale of itssubsidiary Cairo for Development and CarManufacturing to a strategic investor at a meet-ing on April 25. It did not disclose the price of thepotential deal. According to Prime Holding bro-kerage, the unit is the exclusive agent for thePeugeot car brand in Egypt. — Reuters

Saudi surges ahead of market opening MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

SHANGHAI: A worker cleans a Ferrari ahead of the 16th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai yesterday. China is crucial to foreign carmakers as the world’s biggest auto market, but slowing economicgrowth and a corruption crackdown are denting its appeal as they gather for the country’s premier industry show. — AFP (See page 23)

WASHINGTON: The world’s financial leaderssee a number of threats facing a global econ-omy still on an uneven road to recovery withUS and European officials worrying thatGreece will default on its debt. The financeministers and central bank governors endedthree days of meetings in Washington deter-mined to work toward “a more robust, bal-anced and job-rich economy” while admittingthere are risks in reaching that objective, thesteering committee of the InternationalMonetary Fund said in its communiqueSaturday.

Seeking to resolve Athens’ debt crisis,Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis held aseries of talks with other finance officials onthe sidelines of the meetings. The focus now

shifts to Riga, Latvia, where European Unionfinance ministers meet next week.

The head of the European Central Bank,Mario Draghi, said it was “urgent” to resolvethe current dispute between Greece and itscreditors. He said that while the internationalfinance system had been strengthened sincethe 2008 crisis, a Greek default would still putthe global economy into “unchartered waters”with its effect hard to estimate.

Draghi told reporters he did not want toeven contemplate the chance of a Greekdefault on its debt. But French FinanceMinister Michel Sapin said he thought anydamage would be confined to Greecebecause euro-zone countries had establishedmeasures to protect themselves from any

spillover effects. Seeking to assure financialmarkets, which fluctuated considerably onFriday over the possibility of a Greek default,Sapin said nothing had changed on the issueas a result of the weekend meetings. He said itwas up to the Greek government to presentcredible, assessable solutions to its economicproblems.

“The solution to the Greek debt crisis is inGreece,” he said. The head of the IMF, ChristineLagarde, who had rejected suggestions thatthe IMF might delay Greek debt repayments,said she had constructive talks withVaroufakis and that the objective remainedthe same: to restore stability for Greekfinances and assure an economic recovery.

Greece is negotiating with the IMF and

European authorities to receive the final 7.2billion euro ($7.8 billion) installment of itsfinancial bailout. Creditors are demandingthat Greece produce a credible overhaulbefore releasing the money. The country hasrelied on international loans since 2010.Without more bailout money Greece couldmiss payments due to the IMF in May and runout of cash to pay salaries and pensions.

The negotiations over Greece’s debt haveproved contentious, but all sides haveexpressed optimism that the differences canbe resolved. A number of countries directedcriticism toward the US for the failure ofCongress to pass legislation needed to putinto effect reforms that would boost theagency’s capacity to make loans and increase

the voting power of such emerging economicpowers as China, Brazil and India. AgustinCarstens, the head of Mexico’s central bankand chair of the IMF policy panel, said “prettymuch all of the members expressed deep dis-appointment” that a failure of Congress to actis blocking implementation of the reforms.The IMF panel directed IMF officials to explorewhether interim solutions could be put inplace until Congress acts.

The finance ministers urged central banksincluding the US Federal Reserve to clearlycommunicate future policy changes to avoidtriggering unwanted turbulence in financialmarkets. The annual meetings of the IMF andits sister organization, the World Bank, takeplace Oct 9 10 in Lima, Peru. — AP

Global economy faces threats: G20US, EU perturbed Greece may default on debt

WASHINGTON: With its huge new infra-structure bank and its ambitions for aglobalized renminbi currency, China isleading the upending of a 70-year-oldglobal order built on American economicpower.

Beijing’s rise was confirmed this week atthe Spring meetings of the World Bank andInternational Monetary Fund inWashington, the two institutions by whichthe economic vision of the United Stateshas been propagated across the worldsince their founding in 1944.

The US-selected president of the WorldBank, Jim Yong Kim, applauded China’s“bold step in the direction of multilateral-ism” for its new Asia InfrastructureInvestment Bank, even as many view it as arival to the Bank. Kim stressed though thathe expects the World Bank and the AIIBwill work “very closely” together.

That appeared to pull the World Bankaway from its major shareholder: togetherwith ally Japan, Washington has refused tojoin the AIIB even as nearly five dozen oth-er countries have applied to Beijing to bepart. Beijing moved on the AIIB, whichaims to support infrastructure develop-ment across the Asia region, as anotherChina-backed project announced in 2014,the BRICS bank, has stalled.

But that institution, planned with fellowemerging economic powers Brazil, Russia,India, and South Africa, was designed aswell as a challenge to the World Bank andIMF, where the old powers the US, Europe

and Japan dominate.Critics fear the new development banks

will challenge the World Bank in lending topoorer countries by offering them easierterms and fewer restrictions governing thesocial and environmental impacts of largeprojects, undermining standards estab-lished to protect vulnerable populations.

The Chinese approach is more pragmat-ic though, with each institution filling aneed, said Christophe Destais of CEPII, theFrench international economics think tank.Countries are searching for new opportu-nities in public works and energy, and alsofor their banks, he said, the latter possiblyexplaining why US ally Britain rushed tojoin the AIIB, he said. For its part, China isseeking “an outlet for its industrial overca-pacity” while at the same time aiming “toweaken US influence,” said Destais.

But China is not abandoning the US andEurope-dominated Bretton Woods systemof multilateral development banks set upin 1944, however imperfect it is, he said.“China finds it useful. It has the means toinfluence it, though still not to shape it,”especially since the US dollar remains theworld’s core currency.

But China’s growing power keepsWashington nervous. Even as new institu-tions like the AIIB emerge, US TreasurySecretary Jacob Lew said in a statementSaturday: “I would like to underscore thatthe IMF remains the foremost internationalinstitution for promoting global economicstability.” — AFP

How China is upsetting theold global economic order

Saudi’s Mouwasat Medical Q1 profit falls

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Mouwasat Medical Services Co,one of the Kingdom’s largest healthcare providers,reported a 3.5 percent drop in first-quarter profit yester-day that the firm blamed on losses from a Riyadh hospi-tal it opened in November. Mousawat made a net profitof 55.9 million riyals ($14.90 million) in the threemonths to March 31, down from 57.9 million riyals inthe prior-year period, it said in a bourse statement. EFGHermes forecast Mousawat would make a quarterlyprofit of 57.8 million riyals. Mousawat said the slightdrop in quarterly profit was due to a net loss of 6.8 mil-lion riyals from a Riyadh hospital it opened inNovember 2014.

US dollar at KD 0.301, euro up to 0.325

KUWAIT: The exchange rate of the US dollar againstthe Kuwaiti dinar was stable yesterday exchanging atKD 0.301 while the euro went up to KD 0.325 com-pared to Thursday’s exchange rates, said the dailybulletin of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK). The ster-ling pound exchange also went up to reach KD0.450, as well as the Swiss franc to KD 0.316 and theJapanese Yen remained unchanged at KD 0.002.Forecasts indicate that the United Stated Economy ispursuing stability during the second half of year2015, along with stability in the crude oil prices.

Newsi n b r i e f

Qatar’s Nakilat Q1 profit rises 7.7%

DUBAI: Qatar Gas Transport Co (Nakilat), one of theworld’s largest shippers of liquefied natural gas, posteda 7.7 percent rise in first-quarter net profit yesterday.The company made a net profit of 222.4 million riyals($61.1 million), it said in a statement. This is up from206.5 million riyals a year earlier. QNB Financial Servicesforecast Nakilat would make a quarterly net profit of233.5 million riyals. Nakilat’s quarterly revenue was873.2 million riyals, up from 860.2 million riyals in thecorresponding period in 2014.

Saudi PetroRabigh Q1 profit falls by half

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s PetroRabigh posted a 50.3percent drop in first-quarter net profit yesterday,blaming the fall on shrinking margins. The firm, ajoint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan’sSumitomo Chemical, made 205.4 million riyals($54.8 million) in the three months to March 31, itsaid in a bourse statement. This compares with anet profit of 413.1 million riyals in the year-ago peri-od. PetroRabigh said lower quarterly profit was dueto lower profit margins on its petrochemical prod-ucts. Saudi petrochemicals producers benefit fromsubsidized oil, while product prices are closelylinked to those of crude so the slump in oil priceshas narrowed margins at the kingdom’s variousmanufacturers. Last month, PetroRabigh signedloans worth 19.4 billion riyals ($5.2 billion) for theexpansion of its petrochemicals complex.

Egypt to impose 8% import tariff on steel rebar

CAIRO: Egypt will impose an eight percent importtariff on rebar - reinforced steel bars - for threeyears, the trade ministry said yesterday, extendingtemporary tariffs introduced last year to protect thedomestic industry. A ministry statement said Egyptwould also impose a 20 percent tariff on white sug-ar for 200 days, following a filing to the World TradeOrganization last week in which it sought to safe-guard domestic producers from a damaging surgein imports. The tariffs come at a critical time forEgypt’s steel industry, which is recovering from fouryears of political and economic turmoil, and for aglobal market struggling with low prices and over-capacity due to lackluster demand. Egyptian steelcompanies have been further pressured by energycosts and availability in a country where energyshortages have hit output and profitability.

B U S I N E S SMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not bethose who cannot read and write, but thosewho cannot learn, unlearn and relearn,” said

writer Alvin Toffler. Are you committed to lifelong learn-ing? Here the career experts at Bayt.com - the MiddleEast’s #1 job site - offer 5 tips for getting on the journeytowards building new skills and interests that may evenhelp you in the workplace:

1. Read job-related literature77.9 percent of respondents to a Bayt.com poll indi-

cated they read constantly, and 69.6 percent indicatedthey believe reading is vital to career progress. Manybooks are absolute business classics in a general sense;others may be very specific to your chosen domain.Consult book reviews and industry journals when uncer-tain, and always aim to stay ahead of the curve in yourcareer reading.

2. Develop interests in non-job related areasYou would be surprised at the value you can derive

both in your career and in your life in general from grow-ing your knowledge and skills and becoming an expertin a matter you are passionate about, even if it seemsunrelated to your career. Most skills are transferable, andyou are sure to find some way to incorporate your learn-ing in your job at some point. Even if you don’t, byindulging your learning interests you will become amuch more satisfied and fulfilled professional.

3. Attend seminars and workshopsIt’s great to sit back and listen to experts’ perspectives

and join in healthy classroom discourse in a structuredenvironment every now and then. If you cannot physical-ly attend courses, you may want to try online courses. ABayt.com online education poll showed that almost 4 in10 of professionals in the Middle East region say theywould consider pursuing an online course if given achance.

4. Join discussions Try not to be a passive learner all the time; ask and

answer questions, participate in discussions, and aim totruly understand and aid in the defining of best practice.Take advantage of the energies and synergies aroundyou, and aim to find and contribute to innovations andsolutions. Bayt.com Specialties is a great platform toengage with like-minded professionals on industry-relat-ed discussions.

5. Find a mentorA mentor or coach can be invaluable sources of

knowledge, as well as sounding boards and advisors. Picksomeone who has sufficient quality time for you. A men-tor should share your interests and have opinions andideas you really respect and value.

How to be a

lifelong learner

Bayt.com weekly report

EXCHANGE RATES

Bahrain Exchange Company

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

ASIAN COUNTRIESJapanese Yen 2.543Indian Rupees 4.858Pakistani Rupees 2.977Srilankan Rupees 2.261Nepali Rupees 3.036Singapore Dollar 225.670Hongkong Dollar 39.010Bangladesh Taka 3.885Philippine Peso 6.820Thai Baht 9.351

GCC COUNTRIESSaudi Riyal 80.672Qatari Riyal 83.111Omani Riyal 786.596Bahraini Dinar 803.510UAE Dirham 82.375

ARAB COUNTRIESEgyptian Pound - Cash 41.155Egyptian Pound - Transfer 39.558Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.412Tunisian Dinar 155.720Jordanian Dinar 426.700Lebanese Lira/for 1000 2.030Syrian Lira 2.156Morocco Dirham 30.920

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIESUS Dollar Transfer 302.400Euro 329.310Sterling Pound 455.110Canadian dollar 247.870Turkish lira 112.950Swiss Franc 319.490Australian Dollar 236.780US Dollar Buying 301.200

COUNTRY SELL CASH SELLDRAFTEurope

Belgian Franc 0.007888 0.008888British Pound 0.446550 0.455550Czech Korune 0.003911 0.015911Danish Krone 0.039874 0.044874Euro 0.322646 0.330646Norwegian Krone 0.035085 0.040285Romanian Leu 0.086745 0.086745Slovakia 0.009007 0.019007Swedish Krona 0.031313 0.036313Swiss Franc 0.310945 0.321145Turkish Lira 0.114665 0.121665

AustralasiaAustralian Dollar 0.228080 0.239580New Zealand Dollar 0.226912 0.236412

AmericaCanadian Dollar 0.242295 0.250795US Dollars 0.298300 0.303000

US Dollars Mint 0.298800 0.303000

AsiaBangladesh Taka 0.003543 0.004143Chinese Yuan 0.047398 0.050898Hong Kong Dollar 0.036904 0.039654Indian Rupee 0.004693 0.005094Indonesian Rupiah 0.000019 0.000025Japanese Yen 0.002465 0.002645Kenyan Shilling 0.003355 0.003355Korean Won 0.000270 0.000285Malaysian Ringgit 0.079458 0.085458Nepalese Rupee 0.003063 0.003233Pakistan Rupee 0.002817 0.003097Philippine Peso 0.006739 0.007019Sierra Leone 0.000067 0.000073Singapore Dollar 0.222032 0.228032South African Rand 0.019417 0.027917Sri Lankan Rupee 0.001857 0.002437Taiwan 0.009617 0.009797Thai Baht 0.009006 0.0009556

ArabBahraini Dinar 0.795659 0.803659Egyptian Pound 0.039285 0.042385Iranian Riyal 0.000084 0.000085Iraqi Dinar 0.000191 0.000251Jordanian Dinar 0.422509 0.430009Kuwaiti Dinar 1.000000 1.000000Lebanese Pound 0.000151 0.000251Moroccan Dirhams 0.021710 0.045710Nigerian Naira 0.001246 0.001881Omani Riyal 0.779442 0.785122Qatar Riyal 0.082350 0.083563Saudi Riyal 0.080003 0.080703Syrian Pound 0.001281 0.001501Tunisian Dinar 0.152135 0.160135Turkish Lira 0.114665 0.121665UAE Dirhams 0.081351 0.082500Yemeni Riyal 0.001367 0.001447

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

COUNTRY SELL DRAFT SELL CASH Australian Dollar 229.39Canadian Dollar 242.57Swiss Franc 316.56Euro 327.51US Dollar 301.30Sterling Pound 449.47Japanese Yen 2.56Bangladesh Taka 3.868Indian Rupee 4.820Sri Lankan Rupee 2.251Nepali Rupee 3.015Pakistani Rupee 2.954UAE Dirhams 81.91Bahraini Dinar 799.72Egyptian Pound 39.38Jordanian Dinar 428.11Omani Riyal 781.40Qatari Riyal 82.97Saudi Riyal 80.26

Rate for Transfer Selling RateUS Dollar 302.350Canadian Dollar 247.406Sterling Pound 451.816Euro 326.933Swiss Frank 288.209Bahrain Dinar 801.346UAE Dirhams 82.645Qatari Riyals 83.875Saudi Riyals 80.803

Jordanian Dinar 426.763Egyptian Pound 39.550Sri Lankan Rupees 2.264Indian Rupees 4.845Pakistani Rupees 2.978Bangladesh Taka 3.885Philippines Pesso 6.822Cyprus pound 742.159Japanese Yen 3.539Syrian Pound 2.599Nepalese Rupees 4.028Malaysian Ringgit 84.045Chinese Yuan Renminbi 49.187Thai Bhat 10.329Turkish Lira 113.136

GOLD20 gram 243.47010 gram 124.4305 gram 62.900

RIYADH: Saudi Basic Industries Corp facesheavy pressure on its profits due to cheapoil but will keep investing globally to boostcapacity in key areas, its acting chief exec-utive said yesterday after the companyreported a 39% plunge in first-quarterprofit.

SABIC, one of the world’s largest petro-chemicals groups and Saudi Arabia’s biggestlisted firm, said net profit sank to 3.93 billionriyals ($1.05 billion) in the three months toMarch 31 from 6.44 billion riyals a year earli-er. Its sales values were slashed by theplunge of oil prices, which has draggeddown petrochemical product prices.Revenues in the first quarter shrank 28 per-cent from a year earlier and 18 percent fromthe previous quarter to 35.56 billion riyals.

Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, who tookover from longtime CEO Mohamed al-Madyin February, said the fall in oil and petro-

chemical product prices was “out of control”,and that his company was continuing tolook at its cost base with a view towardspostponing non-vital spending.

But he also insisted SABIC would not cutback investments in strategic projectsaround the world, because it was lookingahead to an eventual upturn. He said areasof opportunity were chemicals in China,shale gas in North America, economicgrowth in Africa, and gross domestic prod-uct growth of about 4 percent expected inSaudi Arabia this year.

“We always don’t change the key strate-gic projects, because we understand this is acyclical market. We understand this is notgoing to stay forever, and we do not want tobe left behind when the market bounces -we want to be the first player ready to enjoythe upcycle.”

SABIC’s first-quarter profit was actually

higher than the average forecast of analystspolled by Reuters, who had predicted 3.50billion riyals.

The company’s shares soared their 10percent daily limit yesterday after the stockmarket regulator announced that it wouldopen the bourse to direct foreign invest-ment from June 15. As a top blue chip,SABIC is expected to attract a substantialchunk of the new foreign money.

Saudi Arabia, its state budget hit by lowoil prices, has pushed ahead with some con-troversial economic reforms since KingSalman took the throne in January. Someofficials have suggested raising subsidizedenergy prices; a hike in ultra-low domesticprices of natural gas may also become possi-ble at some stage. Such reforms, if they wentahead, would probably hurt SABIC’s bottomline. But Benyan said he did not expect anypolicy change that would hurt the petro-

chemical industry, which authorities hadalways supported.

“I am pretty sure and confident that thegovernment of Saudi Arabia will continue toprovide the policy and regulations that willsupport this direction,” he said.

“It may have a different flavor, a differenttweak, but I am confident it will remain withthe same spirit. I don’t see any changes atthis point.”

Benyan said the company had no plansat present to tap the debt market, and wasnot planning to refinance a $1 billion loanmaturing in June. The company is not in thebusiness of hedging currencies and that isnot on its radar, but it does its best to main-tain cash to meet its needs in Europe andminimize its exposure to swings in the euroexchange rate, he said in answer to a ques-tion about the impact of the euro’s weak-ness. —Reuters

Saudi SABIC’s Q1 profit

plunges 39% over low oil Company postpones non-vital spending, sees upturn

RIYADH: The headquarters of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) in Riyadh. Saudi petrochemi-cals giant SABIC yesterday posted a 39 percent decline in net profits in the first quarter of 2015 com-pared with a year ago before global oil prices plunged. —AFP

Mashreq posts

13% profit rise DUBAI: Mashreq, Dubai’s third-biggest bank by assets, yes-terday posted a 13.2 percent rise in first-quarter net profitas a rise in income from lending helped to offset a slightdip in returns from fees.

It is the second bank in the United Arab Emirates, afterDubai Islamic Bank, to release earnings for the quarter,with both lenders reporting double-digit profit growth.

“The banking industry and Mashreq in particular hasdisplayed a remarkable immunity to the resultant econom-ic turmoil in the region,” Mashreq Chief Executive AbdulazizAl-Ghurair. The banking sector has so far managed to with-stand much of the impact from lower oil prices, with evi-dence of a significant liquidity squeeze yet to emerge.

Mashreq made a profit of 651.1 million dirhams ($177.3million) for the three months to March 31, it said in a state-ment, up from 575.2 million dirhams for the same periodlast year. The main contributor was net interest income,which climbed 17.2 percent year on year to 804 milliondirhams. Contributing to the rise was a 6.4 percentincrease in loan volume and an improvement in the netinterest margin, the bank said. Net fees, commission andother income dropped by 1.1 percent to 688 milliondirhams. —Reuters

UAE telecoms

company Etisalat’s

Q1 profit up 7.6%

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi-listed Etisalat reported a 7.6 percent risein first-quarter profit yesterday, with its acquisition of amajority stake in Maroc Telecom having helped to lift rev-enue by nearly a third and its subscriber base by a fifth.Etisalat, which operates in 19 countries across the MiddleEast, Africa and Asia, made net profit of 2.18 billion dirhams($593.6 million) in the three months to March 31, the compa-ny said in a statement, against 2.02 billion dirhams a year ear-lier. Two analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that theGulf’s No.2 telecoms operator by market value would postquarterly profit between 2.16 billion dirhams and 2.47 billiondirhams.

The United Arab Emirates’ former monopoly generatedquarterly revenue of 12.91 billion dirhams, up from 9.9 billiondirhams a year earlier. Domestic revenue rose 11 percent to7.2 billion dirhams, while international revenue jumped by 69percent to 5.6 billion dirhams. The international increase wasbecause of Etisalat’s consolidation of Maroc Telecom after itbought a 53 percent stake in the African operator for 4.14 bil-lion euros last May, plus rising income from Etisalat’s opera-tions in Nigeria and Afghanistan. —Reuters

B U S I N E S S


SHANGHAI AUTO SHOW

SHANGHAI: A man cleans a Cadillac ahead of the 16th Shanghai InternationalAutomobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai yesterday. — AFP photos

Workers clean a Rolls-Royce ahead of the 16th Shanghai InternationalAutomobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai yesterday.

Three women stand next to Maserati cars ahead of the 16th ShanghaiInternational Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai yesterday.

SHANGHAI: Foreign automakers continue to plough moneyinto factories in China, the world’s largest car market, even asthe biggest economic slowdown in a quarter of a centurycrimps sales growth. Market leaders Volkswagen AG andGeneral Motors show no sign of letting up on their plannedinvestments, while Toyota Motor and Ford Motor are also pur-suing new China expansion plans.

That’s in spite of the economic slowdown further depress-ing the car market in January-March, when sales grew only 3.9percent, compared to 9.2 percent a year ago and way belowthe 7 percent growth that the China Association ofAutomobile Manufacturers (CAAM) predicts for this year.

Foreign automakers, many of which are expected to unveilnew products for China at this week’s Shanghai autoshow,including Ford’s redesigned Taurus sedan, aren’t fretting overthe first quarter slowdown. But if the fallout from the broadereconomic slowdown bleeds into the rest of the year, globalautomakers may need to reconsider their China expansionplans, said James Chao, Asia chief of IHS Automotive.

A handful of foreign automakers are still outperformingthe market, with Ford, for example, posting 9 percent salesgrowth in the first quarter.“It’s still a tale of two worlds, withdomestic manufacturers probably hovering around 60 per-

cent capacity and the international joint ventures at 80-85percent. It’s a big difference,” Chao said.

Anthony Lau, Shanghai-based research director for consul-tancy TNS Sinotrust, said even strong single-digit growth incar sales in China is much better than in markets elsewhere.China accounted for more than half the total industry spend-ing on new or expanded capacity last year, with plant invest-ments worth $12.7 billion, according to an annual Canadianstudy of automakers’ outlays.

ADDING CAPACITYForeign automakers are likely to hoover up more idle

capacity from smaller domestic firms, said Chao at IHS, as Forddid in acquiring a factory from Harbin Hafei Automobile thatwill add 200,000 vehicle per year capacity when upgrades arefinished in 2016.

That follows Ford’s launch last month of a new factory ineastern China’s Hangzhou, with annual capacity for 250,000vehicles. By the time these expansions come on-line, theyears of breakneck double-digit growth will likely be longgone: economists predict 7 percent GDP growth this year anda further notching down to 6.8 percent in 2016. — Reuters

Foreign automakers double down on China bets

SHNGHAI: A woman poses in front of a billboard for the 16th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition inShanghai yesterday.

By Hayder Tawfik

Over the last few years most central bankshave been indirectly pushing up stockand property prices but have failed to

stop inflation from falling short of their targets.While declining costs for everything from gaso-line to food prices can be good news for con-sumers, disinflation makes it harder for borrow-ers to pay off debts and businesses to boost prof-its. The greater danger comes when disinflationturns into deflation, which leads households todelay purchases in anticipation of even lowerprices and companies to postpone investmentand hiring as demand for their products dries up.

The recent small uptick in headline inflationnumbers in few places might be quite mislead-ing. The trend for inflation has been on thedownside. We cannot deny the fact that there isdefinitely a whiff of disinflation taking placeglobally. Central banks are trying to avert thedeflationary danger by pumping up theireconomies with lower interest rates and mone-tary stimulus. They are betting on higher stockand home prices that will ultimately feedthrough to the real economy and hopefullyboost consumer and corporate confidence andspur faster growth and higher inflation. The lat-est fall in oil and commodity prices might delayany inflation hope for a while.

What the central banks are doing is simplycreating a wall of liquidity that might ultimatelylead to asset inflation and finally to a bubble.Global inflation has hit the lowest in living mem-ory, amid high unemployment in developednations and slowdowns in emerging markets,including China and India. Deflationary tensions

have been buildingup for a while and inthe absence of realdemand growth inthe marketplace,everyone has beenbusy fighting fortheir market share.

The more inflationfalls the more aggres-sive central banks willbe in their monetarystimulus. Someeconomies like the

US has been saved by the aggressive policies ofthe Federal Reserve but the one that is most atrisk is the euro-zone economy. Euro-zone banksare still deleveraging and wages are falling innations including Spain. The European Centralbank already is turning more aggressive afterinflation slumped to a five year low of 0.3 per-cent. It is way below its target of 2 percent.

Prices may not pick up any time soon and

unemployment is a record 12.2 percent. Thisyear’s economic growth is anticipated to bejust below 1 percent. Deflation is not immi-nent, but it has to be on the mind of centralbankers. The central bank still needs to domuch more because if its Quantitative Easingdoes not work then a Japan like deflationover the past 20 years is more likely to hap-pen. Avoiding that fate may be hard.

The fall in inflation has not been bad forthe emerging economies. Emerging mar-kets, which have been in danger of over-heating, mostly have welcomed the fall inglobal inflation. I t enabled most of theircentral banks to take action to boost theireconomies. Most have started cuts in inter-est rates. China, India the biggest ones havedone so and most likely will continue to cuttheir rates. The fall in inflation in emergingmarkets also allows for more policy flexibili-ty. Something they need urgently to createfaster economic growth.

While the aggressive actions that centralbanks have taken haven’t done all that muchfor global growth, they have boosted assetvalues worldwide, pushing stocks, bondsand home prices throughout the world tolevels that may turn out to be unsustainable.Could another asset bubble be about toburst?

Central banks creating asset bubbles!

DIMAH CAPITAL WEEKLY REPORT

BEIJING: China’s central bank announced yes-terday it would cut the level of funds thatcommercial banks must hold in reserve byone percentage point, the second such movethis year to boost lending. The move, effectivetoday, comes days after the world’s secondlargest economy reported its worst quarterlygrowth figure for six years. In a statement onits website, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC)said it will give an additional one-percentage-point RRR cut to banks for agricultural servicesand a further two-percentage-point cut to theAgricultural Development Bank of China. Itwill also give a 0.5 percent cut to certain banksthat give agricultural or small-business loans.

The cuts will “further enhance the abilityof financial institutions to support restructur-ing,” the PBoC said. The reduction in thereserve requirement ratio (RRR) — theamount of cash banks must keep on hand-follows a similar move in early February,which was the first across-the-board cut sinceMay 2012. China’s gross domestic product(GDP) growth slowed to 7.0 percent in thefirst quarter from 7.3 percent in the final threemonths of last year, marking the worst resultin six years.

Growth in industrial output and retailsales slowed in March, while the figure forfixed asset investment also weakened inthe first three months of the year, raisingexpectations of further efforts to shore upthe economy. Reducing the RRR is a stimu-latory measure as it increases the amountof money banks can lend out and thus

helps to boost economic activity.Besides the RRR cuts, the central bank has

lowered benchmark interest rates twice sinceNovember as the Asian giant’s economicgrowth slowed last year to a 24-year low.

China’s economy expanded an annual 7.4percent in 2014, its worst performance since1990. Economic data have continued to dis-appoint this year, raising alarm bells thatgrowth is weakening too quickly, despiteauthorities’ acceptance of a more sustainablegrowth model that places greater emphasison consumer spending to drive expansion.

The PBoC carried out targeted RRR cutslast year, part of a series of “mini-stimulus”steps introduced from April when growthbegan to slow. Last month China lowered itsGDP growth target to “approximately sevenpercent” for this year from last year’s objectiveof about 7.5 percent. The PBoC cut bench-mark deposit and lending interest rates earli-er this year for the second time in threemonths, citing “historically low inflation”.Consumer inflation held steady at 1.4 percentin March from February. It struck a more-than-five-year low in January of 0.8 percent,but a further 4.6 percent plunge in factorygate costs-a leading indicator for retail prices-compounded nagging worries that Chinacould face debilitating deflation. Leaders inMarch also set the consumer price indexobjective at “around three percent” for thisyear, down from last year’s target of about 3.5percent. Actual consumer prices rose 2.0 per-cent in 2014. — AFP

SUZHOU: A woman works in front of reeling machines at a silk factory in Suzhou ineast China’s Jiangsu province. China’s Central Bank said yesterday that it will cut itsbank reserve requirement ratio by 1 percentage point to stimulate more lending intoa slowing economy. —AP

China cuts bank reserve ratio

requirement as growth slows

LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron and hismain opponent agree on one thing going intoBritain’s May 7 election: Voters should choose thenext leader based on the health of the economy.

The question is whether the patient is recover-ing or is still on life support after the global finan-cial crisis. After five years of budget cuts, Cameronis focusing on the headline numbers. Inflation isdown, employment is up and the economy isgrowing at the fastest rate among large industrial-ized nations. The Conservatives need five moreyears to cement the gains and ensure that bene-fits trickle down to everyone, Cameron says.

The opposition Labor Party is urging voters tolook behind the headlines. Real earnings arebelow pre-crisis levels, employment figures areinflated by low-skill jobs, and the safety net thatprotects the poorest in society has been gutted,Labor leader Ed Miliband says. The use of foodbanks has soared as economic insecurityincreased under Cameron’s government.

While politicians are crisscrossing the countrypromising to control immigration, protect theNational Health Service, build homes and improveeducation, the election boils down to a simplequestion: Did the Conservative-led governmentchart the right course through the worst recessionsince the 1930s?

“It’s about austerity and globalization,” saidJohn Curtice, a professor of politics at theUniversity of Strathclyde. “It is particularly, per-haps, about the consequences of austerity in thecontext of a globalized world.” While both partiespledge to continue cutting budget deficits, whichballooned during the financial crisis, theConservatives are focused on spending cuts.Labor says it will cut less and compensate by rais-ing taxes on the wealthy.

Ben Page of the IPSOS-Mori polling firm saidpeople aren’t focused on the specifics of deficitreduction. They are looking for someone to trust -to decide who is better suited to lead the United

Kingdom forward from the weakest recoverysince World War II.

Hard choice“Voters will be choosing between the

Conservatives, who are seen as being a bit meanbut efficient and effective, and the Labor Partythat is more caring but possibly less competent,”Page said of the perceptions. Complicating thisequation is the rise of smaller parties, which couldforce Cameron or Miliband to form a coalitiongovernment that would pull them toward theeconomic extremes.

The right-wing UK Independence Party prom-ises to leave the European Union and end inheri-tance taxes. At the other end of the scale, the left-leaning Scottish National Party, Greens and Welshnationalist Plaid Cymru party all oppose budgetcuts.

The Liberal Democrats, Cameron’s currentcoalition partners, are positioning themselves asthe moderate alternative, arguing they wouldsoften austerity in a second Conservative-led gov-ernment and enforce economic discipline in aLabor-led coalition.

While Cameron has succeeded in turningaround the economy, he has been less successfulin changing the perception of his party amonguncommitted voters, according to MichaelAshcroft, a pollster and former deputy chairmanof the Conservative Party. Growing numbers ofvoters see Labor as the party that’s “on the side ofpeople like me,” he said in a report last month.

Miliband emphasized this contrast when hereleased the Labor Party’s election program. “TheTories would have you believe low pay is neces-sary for Britain to succeed,” he said. “Friends, that iswrong. Low pay and insecurity stop us succeed-ing. They hold back working people and holdback our country.” The next day, Cameron prom-ised that good times were just around the corner.

“We have put our country on solid ground,” he

said. “But let me tell you: The next five years aremuch, much more important. The next five yearsare about turning the good news in our economyinto a good life for you and your family.” Cameronso far has struggled to convince voters this is areal prospect, given that real wages are almost 10percent below pre-crisis levels and newspapersare filled with stories about rich people and inter-national companies avoiding taxes.

By contrast, Labor’s poll numbers rose afterMiliband pledged to eliminate a loophole thatallows people with permanent homes abroad totrim their British tax bills, even though some econ-omists said the proposal actually would reduceincome for the Treasury.

Page said Labor “might win not because theyare brilliant at running the economy, but becausewhat they are deemed to be doing is fair.”

Complicating the picture, some economistswarn that even the headline economic figuresmay not be as good as they appear. While Britainis in a stronger financial position today than in2010 when Cameron rose to power, the recoveryhas been weak because of dismal productivitygrowth and lower wages, according to ErikNielsen, an economist at UniCredit. He saidBritain’s economy has grown faster than itsEuropean peers chiefly because it has deferredmany of the spending cuts deemed necessary tobring its budget deficits in line.

The government cut the primary structuraldeficit - the measure that excludes the nation’sposition in the business cycle - to 3.2 percent ofGDP in 2011 from 6 percent in 2010. But annualstructural deficits have fallen only 0.9 percentagepoints since then. “Although there’s been a lot oftalk of austerity in the UK, there hasn’t really beenmuch of it since 2011,” Nielsen wrote in a note toinvestors. “This matters because the big cuts - andthe associated fiscal drag - therefore lie ahead,which is the opposite of what you see in most ofthe euro-zone.” — AP

British election focused

on health of economy

SYDNEY: Australia is to work together withBritain to pursue multinational firms shiftingprofits offshore to avoid paying taxes, going“further and faster” than OECD plans,Treasurer Joe Hockey said yesterday. Hockey,who was in the United States for the G20meeting of finance ministers and centralbankers, said the two nations announced ajoint working group during the multilateralforum in Washington on April 16-17 thatwould build on London’s so-called “Googletax” on companies that divert profits over-seas.

The new initiative came amid increasedefforts by governments around the world,including Australia, to crack down on global

firms that use complex corporate structuresto lower their tax bills.

“The OECD (Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development), through itsbase erosion and profit-shifting program, istrying to set up consistent global definitionsand rules in relation to companies,” Hockeytold the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.“We are going for the next stage, which is togo after those companies, particularly indi-vidual companies, that are not paying theproper amount of tax where they earn theincome. “We obviously want to go further andfaster (than the OECD),” the treasurer added,without elaborating on what measures werebeing considered.—AFP

Australia, Britain to take

on firms avoiding taxes

B U S I N E S SMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

LONDON: The threat posed by Greece beyondits borders may have diminished but efforts toagree an economic reform program to free upbailout funds and avert default will captureworld attention this week. Euro-zone financeministers meet in the Latvian capital Riga onFriday with both sides saying time is runningshort to keep Greece afloat. But with Athensyet to produce a program of reforms that isdeemed acceptable, there is little confidence

they will pull off a deal.Germany said last week it was unrealistic to

expect euro-zone countries to be able to payout a new tranche of aid this month. “No onehas a clue how we can reach agreement on anambitious program,” Finance Minister WolfgangSchaeuble said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, electedon a promise to end austerity, is balking atpolitically sensitive reforms of the pension sys-

tem and labor markets and a privatization pro-gram to which his predecessor had agreed.

Athens is dangerously close to running outof cash. Officials told Reuters it will need to tapall the remaining cash reserves across its publicsector-a total of 2 billion euros-to pay civil serv-ice wages and pensions at the end of themonth.

Without a deal in Riga, Athens could soonbe forced to choose between making those

Another crunch week in Greek bailout sagaGLOBAL ECONOMY WEEK AHEAD

payments or meeting upcoming debtbills. Greece must pay almost 1 billioneuros in May to the InternationalMonetary Fund, which has made clear itwill accept no delay.

“We now put a 40 percent probabilityon a Grexit, coupled with a sense that thisis still rising with no clear sign of a rever-sal,” Nomura senior political analystAlastair Newton said.

“The main reason is what we see as thecontinuing propensity for rhetoric not justto dominate, but to overwhelm substancein the exchanges between Greece and itseuro zone partners.”

SHIFTING SANDSSoft economic indicators in the United

States and China last week buoyed finan-cial markets, with a weak Chinese GDPreading boosting expectations of mone-tary stimulus by Beijing while lacklusterUS data dampened prospects of an earlyinterest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

The International Monetary Fund said asurging dollar-and weaker euro and yen-should help the global economy byboosting Japan and Europe, wheregrowth has been weak. In its WorldEconomic Outlook, the Fund kept itsglobal growth forecasts unchanged, withfaster expansion in the euro zone andIndia offset by diminished prospects inother key emerging markets such asRussia and Brazil.

The latest evidence of the global stateof play will be provided by flash April pur-chasing managers surveys for the UnitedStates, China, the euro zone, Germanyand France.

With the money-printing pressesturned on full by the European CentralBank, euro zone prospects are graduallystarting to turn up. “We believe that thecombined stimulus from low oil prices,weaker euro and easing credit conditionsin the periphery will support steady,above-potential expansion at a pace ofapproximately 2 percent annualized,”economists at Unicredit said in a note.

Emerging markets have certainly felt asqueeze from the dollar’s rise. Turkey’scentral bank meets on Wednesday and isstill under political pressure to cut inter-est rates more dramatically despite highinflation and a tumbling currency whichhit a record low this week. Investors areworried about political meddling in mon-etary policy, the make-up of Turkey’s eco-nomic team after June elections and thepossibility that the ruling AK Party maynot be able to form a government on itsown.

Hungary has the opposite problem-a strong currency-so its central bank isexpected to trim interest rates by afurther 15 basis points to a new low of1.8 percent on Tuesday, responding tosub-zero inf lat ion and a buoyantforint. —Reuters

B U S I N E S S


NBK MONEY MARKETS REPORTKUWAIT: The US dollar started the week on astrong footing continuing to feed off expectations,fuelled by the latest Federal reserve minutes, thatthe central bank might raise rates as soon as June.The currency then reversed its gains and pushedlower against its major counterparts. The release ofdisappointing US data initiated concerns over thestrength of the economy, fuelling uncertainty overthe timing of a rate hike.

Additionally, the International Monetary Fundkept its forecast for global growth unchanged at3.5 percent for the current year, but warned thatthe recovery is “moderate and uneven”. That alsohelped subdue the greenback in the market.Although the dollar regained some of its losses bythe end of the week, it remained under pressureafter the release of soft inflation data.

The Euro started the week on a soft footing asthe European Central Bank’s bond buying stimulusprogram continued to pressure the currency lower.Additionally, uncertainty over Greece’s bailout con-tinued to weigh on the currency pushing it to aone-month low. However, a dollar sell-off com-bined with positive remarks from the ECBPresident helped the euro close the week higheragainst the greenback. The euro reached a high of1.0848 and closed at 1.0806.

Similarly, the sterling pound extended lossesagainst the dollar at the start of the week, sliding tofresh five-year lows as uncertainty ahead of nextmonth’s elections combined with unchanged con-sumer prices continued to weigh. By the end of theweek, the sterling rose back to a high of 1.5053 aspositive data from the labor market joined withlower data from the US. The currency closed theweek at 1.4962.

The Yen started the week on a very volatilenote, first strengthening on across the board USDbuying and then dropping sharply on commentsfrom Koichi Hamada, Japan Prime Minister ShinzoAbe’s advisor. Hamada has been reported stating

that the Yen is weak at 120 given purchasing pow-er parity and would be appropriately valued ataround 105. The comments helped push the pairbelow the 120 level at mid-week. The US dollarcontinued to drop against the yen as sentimentsremained vulnerable pushing the greenback to athree-week low. The Japanese Yen closed the weekat 118.90.

The Australian dollar initially dropped as disap-pointing trade data emerged from China, thecountry’s biggest trade partner. The Aussiedropped to 0.7580, closing in on a 6-year low of0.7534. Data showed China exports tumbled 15percent in March, missing forecasts of a rise of 12percent. Additionally, the report adds speculationthat the Reserve Bank of Australia might cut ratessooner than expected. Similar to other majors, thecurrency gained against the US dollar as employ-ment data from Australia pushed the currencyhigher. The Aussie reached a high of 0.7830 andclosed the week at 0.7783.

Retail sales Retail sales rose at a slower than expected pace

in March, signaling consumers are not ready tospend despite the savings resulting from cheaperfuel prices. Purchases increased 0.9 percent, thefirst gain in four months, after a 0.5 percent drop inFebruary whereas expectations were for a 1.1 per-cent advance. The figures show Americans remainfocused on shoring up savings even as employ-ment and confidence firm and inflation remainslow. Previous figures were subdued after unusuallyharsh weather slowed the economy in the firstquarter. Core retail sales, which exclude autos, rose0.4 percent in March as economists expected a 0.7percent rise.

Mixed data from housing marketThe number of building permits issued in the

US fell sharply in March, while housing starts issuesmissed expectations. The number of building per-mits issued in March declined by 5.7 percent lastmonth to a seasonally adjusted 1.04 million unitsfrom February’s total of 1.10 million. Analystsexpected building permits to fall by 2.0 percent to1.080 million units in March. The report alsoshowed that US housing starts rose by 2.0 percentin March to hit a seasonally adjusted 926,000 unitsfrom February’s 908,000 units, below expectationsfor an increase of 15.9 percent to 1.05 million.

Mixed signals The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manu-

facturing conditions contracted unexpectedly inApril, adding to concerns over the strength of theeconomy. The Federal Reserve Bank of New Yorksaid that its general business conditions indexdecreased to -1.2 this month from a reading of 6.9in March. Analysts had expected the index to inch

up to 7.0 in April. Additionally, Industrial produc-tion fell by 0.6 percent in March, worse than theexpectations for a drop of 0.3 percent and previous0.1 percent increase in February. Meanwhile, man-ufacturing activity in the Philadelphia-regionexpanded at the fastest pace in four months inApril, easing slightly concerns over the country’seconomic outlook. The Federal Reserve Bank ofPhiladelphia said that its manufacturing indeximproved to a reading of 7.5 in April against lastmonth’s reading of 5.0. Analysts had expected theindex to rise to 6.0 in April.

Unemployment claimsThe number of people who filed for unemploy-

ment assistance in the US last week rose more thanexpected, dampening optimism over the strengthof the labor market. In a report, the US Departmentof Labor said the number of individuals filing forinitial jobless benefits in the week ending April 11increased by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted294,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000.Continuing jobless claims fell to 2.268 million from2.308 million in the previous week. Analysts hadexpected continuing claims to rise to 2.312 million.Meanwhile, the four-week moving average was282,750, an increase of 250 from the previousweek’s total of 282,500. The monthly average isconsidered a more accurate gauge of labor trendsbecause it reduces volatility in the week-to-weekdata.

The Consumer Price Index increased 0.2 percentin March on a seasonally adjusted basis, came inline with the expectations at 0.2 percent. Over thelast 12-months, the all items index dropped 0.1percent before seasonal adjustment, beating theforecasts of 0.00 percent. The annualized declinewas mainly due to the energy index, whichdropped 18.3 percent, more than offsettingincreases in the indexes for food up 2.3 percentand all items less food and energy up 1.8 percent.

Furthermore Core CPI came in line with the fore-cast at 0.2 percent.

Consumer Sentiments IndexThe University of Michigan’s Survey of

Consumers confidence increased in April to thesecond-highest level in more than 8-years asAmericans held more favorable views of the eco-nomic outlook and inflation. The University ofMichigan index of sentiment climbed to 95.9 thismonth from 93.0 in March, above the forecasts of93.8. The gain is also likely a sign that relative jobmarket weakness in early March did not persistinto early April.

ECB acknowledges improvementsLast week, the European Central Bank kept its

monetary policies unchanged, as widely expectedin the market. Almost six weeks into its EUR1.1 tril-lion bond-buying program, the ECB is claimingsome early successes as the economy picks up andlending recovers. In a press conference after themeeting, the ECB president said, “there’s clear evi-dence that the monetary policy measures we’veput in place are effective.” In addition, he expressedoptimism for “the economic recovery to broadenand strengthen gradually.” He also pledged to con-tinue with the current quantitative easing programuntil September 2016 or until there is “sustainedadjustment” in inflation.

Greek credit ratingGreece continues to be burdened with debt

payments from its 240 billion euro rescue loanfrom creditors including the InternationalMonetary Fund, European Central Bank andEuropean Commission. As part of a Februaryextension of Greece’s bailout, the cash-strappednation needs to submit economic reforms forfinance ministers of the currency bloc to considerwhether to release more funds to keep the countryafloat when they meet on April 24.The ongoingissues have fueled fears that Greece will default onits obligations, prompting a possible “Grexit,” ordeparture from the euro-zone.

The deterioration in the Greek debt situationhas prompted Standard & Poor’s to cut the coun-try’s credit rating to “CCC+” from “B-” with negativeoutlook, saying it expected Greece’s debt to be“unsustainable.” The ratings agency cited thepotential for dissolving liquidity in the Greek gov-ernment, banks and economy. S&P wrote that out-look for full-year economic growth looked “highlyuncertain.”“Without deep economic reform or fur-ther relief, we expect Greece’s debt and otherfinancial commitments will be unsustainable,” S&Pwrote in a release. Greek bond yields were underpressure, with yields soaring on short and mediumterm bills. The 10-year yield on Greek debt reachedas high as 12.8 percent.

At the ECB press conference, President MarioDraghi said he was “not ready to discuss” a poten-tial Greek default. He noted that there is currentlyno end date to the emergency liquidity assistance(ELA) the central bank has extended to Greece. TheECB recently increased its ELA to Greek banks to73.2 billion from its previous 1.2 billion.

Inflation remains unchanged Consumer price inflation in the UK held at the

lowest level since records began in March, fuellingconcerns over deflationary pressures. In a report,the UK Office for National Statistics said that therate of consumer price inflation held steady at aseasonally adjusted 0.0 percent last month, in linewith expectations and unchanged from February.

UK employment risesThe number of people in work in Britain

jumped by its biggest amount in almost a year inthe three months to February and the unemploy-ment rate fell to its lowest in nearly seven years.The last official data on employment and earningsbefore a national election on May 7 also showedthe pace of growth in workers’ pay generallyslowed in the three months to February. The reportalso stated that the number of people employedrose by 248,000, the biggest increase in a three-month period since April 2014, to a record 31.049million. It said that the employment rate of 73.4percent showed an unusually big jump to hit anew all-time high.

Additionally, the UK’s unemployment rate fell to5.6 percent, its lowest level since July 2008 anddown from 7.9 percent at the time of the last elec-tion. Finally, total average weekly earnings in thethree months to February, including bonuses, rose1.7 percent compared with the same period a yearearlier, slowing from 1.9 percent in January.

Australia unemployment lower Australian unemployment unexpectedly fell in

March, indicating the central bank’s effort to shoreup confidence with record-low interest rates isshowing signs of paying off. The local currencysurged. The jobless rate dropped to 6.1 percentfrom a revised 6.2 percent. Similarly, the number ofpeople employed advanced by 37,700.

China slowsChina’s economy expanded at the weakest pace

since 2009 last quarter, with output, investmentand retail data pointing to a deepening slowdown.Gross domestic product rose 7 percent in the threemonths through March from a year earlier.Additionally, data for the month of March showedindustrial production was also weaker than expect-ed. In recent months, the government has relaxedhome-purchasing rules, cut interest rates twiceand reduced the reserves banks must set aside inan effort to stimulate growth. the data fuels expec-tations that the People’s Bank Of China might easepolicy further.

China exports drop Last month’s trade performance left China with

a surplus of $3.1 billion, much smaller than theexpected $45.4 billion. China’s export sales con-tracted 15 percent in March while import ship-ments fell at their sharpest rate since the 2009global financial crisis, a shock outcome that deep-ens concern about sputtering Chinese economicgrowth. The tumble in exports - the worst in abouta year - compared with expectations for a 12 per-cent rise and could heighten worries about how arising Yuan has hurt demand for Chinese goodsand services abroad. Meanwhile, imports into theworld’s second-biggest economy shrank 12.7 per-cent last month from a year ago, a sign thatdomestic demand was also slow.

KuwaitKuwaiti dinar at 0.30155The USDKD opened at 0.30155 yesterday morn-

ing.

Dollar slides as Fed

rate hike hopes fade

KUWAIT: The latest IMF World EconomicOutlook (WEO) released in April-15 high-lights the uneven regional economicgrowth underlying the overall globalgrowth expectations that remainsunchanged for 2015 at 3.5 percent and aslightly higher 3.8 percent for 2016.According to the new estimates, the out-look for advanced economies is improvingbut there is no change in the growthexpectations for 2015 and 2016.

On the other hand, growth expectationwithin the emerging markets and develop-ing economies has changed drasticallyfrom the January-15 expectations. Thebiggest change is recorded forCommonwealth of Independent States(CIS) that are now expected to contract at ahigher rate of 2.6 percent in 2015 followedby a marginal growth of 0.3 percent in2016.

MENA economies are expected to growat a slower pace of 2.7 percent this year and3.7 percent in 2016 led by weaker activityin some major oil exporters because of thesharp drop in oil prices. Meanwhile,Emerging and Developing Asia is expectedto grow at a slightly faster pace whereasLatin America & Caribbean are expected todecelerate. Nevertheless, emerging mar-kets and developing economies continueto account for more than 70 percent ofglobal growth in 2015.

In addition to legacy issues from thefinancial and the euro area crises that led toweak banks and high levels of public, cor-porate, and household debt, two major fac-tors i .e. the decline in oil price andexchange rate movements, that have beenlingering since the second half of 2014,continue to dominate current economic cli-mate. Lower oil prices are expected to pro-vide a boost to growth globally and inmany oil importers but will weigh on activi-ty in oil exporters whereas the swing inexchange rates across major currenciesthat came as a result of lower oil prices andthe subsequent changes in monetary poli-cies, should be beneficial to the global out-look especially for countries with more dif-ficult macroeconomic conditions and lesspolicy space.

Subdued growthThe IMF expects modest improvement

in economic growth in the MENA region in2015 as against a backdrop of tepid growthin 2014 due to declining oil prices, ragingconflicts, and continued policy uncertainty.However, estimates for oil exporters hasseen substantial downward revision due tothe large losses from lower oil prices, whichrequires most oil exporters to recalibratetheir medium-term fiscal consolidationplans. Across the region, lower oil pricescreate conditions for continuing subsidyreforms to build fiscal space for growthenhancing spending. Moreover, as seenfrom recent budget announcements, wedon’t expect the region’s oil exporters todrastically cut their spending plans in thenear term. More specifically, the GCCeconomies are expected to rely on theirlarge buffers of fiscal surpluses made dur-ing the last five years.

Forecasts for Saudi Arabia has beenrevised up by 20 bps as compared to

January-15 estimates; however, it is downby almost 150 bps relative to the October-14 WEO half of which is due to the rebasingof real GDP data whereas the remainingchange is due to oil price weakness whichcould also result into fiscal deficit in 2015and 2016 for the Kingdom. Estimates forthe remaining GCC economies have alsobeen revised downward relative toOctober-14 WEO, with the steepest GDPrevision for UAE that is down by 130 bps for2015 and 2016 to 4.5 percent and 4.4 per-cent, respectively. Meanwhile, Qatar isexpected to be the fastest growing econo-my on the back of infrastructure invest-ments. On the other hand, Kuwait isexpected to see slowest GDP growth in theGCC at 1.7 percent in 2015 down by 10 bpsfrom previous estimates, and 1.8 percent in2016 in-line with the previous estimates.

Oil price key factor OPEC oil price has declined by almost 50

percent from its 2014 peak primarily due todemand/supply factors further affected bygeopolitical tensions. According to the IEA,even with aggregate demand develop-ments taken into account, oil demand hasfallen short of expectations. Oil prices areexpected to remain well below the October2014 WEO baseline into the medium term(projected prices for 2019 declined from$93 to $73 a barrel). At the same time,uncertainty about the future path of oilprices adds to the significant downside riskto expected economic growth.

The significant movement in exchangerate over the past several months high-lights the changes in expectations aboutgrowth and monetary policy across majoreconomies as well as the large decline in oilprices. Movements in real effectiveexchange rates in recent months havebroadly reflected changes in growth fore-casts as well as differences in the exposureto lower oil prices. Among major curren-cies, the USD has appreciated remarkablyagainst the currencies of major advancedeconomies implying that most countriesexperienced a somewhat smaller decline inoil prices relative to the headline USD fig-ure. The renminbi and the Swiss franc haveappreciated substantially whereas the euroand the yen have both depreciated.

Inflation expectations Inflation is projected to decline in 2015

in both advanced economies and mostemerging market and developingeconomies, reflecting primarily the impactof the decline in oil prices. In fact, headlineinflation turned negative in the Euro area inDecember-14 stabilizing somewhat afterthe ECB’s recent actions. With regard toemerging markets, lower prices for oil andother commodities (including food, whichhas a larger weight in the consumer priceindex of emerging market and developingeconomies) have generally contributed toreductions in inflation, with the notableexception of countries suffering sizableexchange rate depreciations, such asRussia. Similarly, in the GCC, as highlightedin our recently published QuarterlyEconomic Report, inflation seem to bemoderating amid cooling of prices ofessential commodities in the region.

MENA economies seen growing

at 2.7% in 2015, 3.7% in 2016

KAMCO EVENT UPDATE ON Economic Outlook

BRUSSELS: The EU is hoping future gasimports from Iran can break its dependenceon Russia as prospects grow for a nucleardeal that would include lifting sanctions onTehran.

The European Union is betting on so-called Southern Corridor pipelines to supplygas to southern Europe via Turkey from fieldsin Azerbaijan and nearby countries, includ-ing Iran.

“It’s one of our priorities,” EU commission-er for Climate Action and Energy MiguelArias Canete said Wednesday in the Latviancapital Riga when referring to the gas route.

Due to be operational in 2019, the projectis expected in an initial stage to deliver 10billion cubic metres of gas per year toBulgaria and Greece.

“That will not be enough,” conceded asource in the European Commission, theexecutive of the 28-nation EU. But withIranian gas flowing after an eventual liftingof the sanctions, “capacity could be increasedto 40 billion cubic metres of gas per year andthat would be substantial,” a European offi-cial told AFP on Friday on condition ofanonymity.

Europe is desperately seeking to diversifyits energy suppliers and supply routes as theUkraine crisis strains ties with Russia tobreaking point.

The 28-nation bloc depended on importsfor more than half its needs at a cost of some400 billion euros ($430 billion) in 2014.

Russia alone supplies about a third of itsrequirements-it bought 125 billion cubicmetres from Russia’s state gas operator

Gazprom, with half that amount goingthrough pipelines that cross Ukraine, whichprovides the country with a major source ofrevenue.

But transit through Ukraine has becomeincreasingly unpredictable because of theendless financial disputes between Gazpromand Naftogaz, the Ukrainian operator.

The war pitting Kiev government troopsagainst pro-Moscow rebels in easternUkraine has only increased tensions.Gazprom chief Alexei Miller is threatening toput an end to the supply of gas throughUkraine in 2019.

He had bet on the South Stream pipeline,which would have skirted Ukraine to supplygas to Bulgaria under the Black Sea, butRussian President Vladimir Putin scrappedthe plan in December as relations withBrussels nose-dived.

Avoid new dependence He then launched what is known as

Turkish Stream, a pipeline to replace SouthStream with capacity of 63 billion cubicmetres-the same volume as transits Ukraine.

The Europeans will have to assume thecosts to connect with Turkey and lay theinfrastructure needed to deliver purchasesfrom this country.

The Russian side is convinced that theSouthern Corridor will never be viable forlack of gas, while the EU believes that TurkishStream will never materialise. Constructionbegan last month of the section of thepipeline that will deliver gas from Azerbaijanto Turkey, but plans for the pipeline that will

take it through Greece and Albania into Italyare further behind with the first pipes to belaid only next year.

Greece has expressed interest in theTurkish project but “nothing has been signedyet, no contract has been concluded,” aspokesman for the European Commissionsaid. The investment needed will be “consid-erable,” a European official added.

Experts said Iranian and European gasinterests converge if Iran seals a deal in Junewith the United States and five other powersto curb its nuclear program in return for alifting of years of sanctions, but expressedguarded optimism. “Actually the Iranians aredesperate for investment. They are desperatefor hard currency. They are desperate tomodernize the infrastructure,” JudyDempsey, a Berlin-based analyst for theCarnegie Europe think tank, told AFP by tele-phone.

“And the Europeans are desperately eagerto go into Iran to get a share of the pie,” shesaid.

“It ’s definitely an alternative but theEuropeans need to be very careful not to putall their eggs in the Iranian basket,” Dempseyadded. Daniel Gros, director of the Brussels-based Center for European Police Studies,told AFP “it will take a long time before Iranbecomes a ‘solid’ alternative to Gazprom” ifand when sanctions are lifted. It will taketime to build new pipelines and other infra-structure for Iranian gas, while, through itsexisting pipelines, “Russia will remain thecheapest supplier for the EU for some time tocome,” he said. — AFP

EU dreams of Iranian gas to

break reliance on Moscow

B U S I N E S S


KUWAIT: Zain Group, a leading innovator of mobilecommunications in eight markets across the MiddleEast and Africa, announces its first foray in venturecapital investment through a strategic anchor partici-pation in Middle East Venture Partners’ (MEVP) latestfund. The Dubai based MEVF II fund will invest in earlystage technology companies with proven traction inthe MENA region and will focus its investment onthree verticals: Web and mobile digital plays; e-mar-ketplaces; and B2B companies.

This investment by Zain builds on the establish-ment of the Zain Digital Frontier and Innovation(ZDFI) business unit in 2014, which is charged withlaunching Zain into the digital space with the view togrowing the company through new innovative busi-ness streams that add to Zain’s customer service offer-ings. ZDFI focuses on the areas of innovation; digitalservices; corporate venturing; and smart cities.

Founded in 2010, MEVP is the Arab world’s leadingindependent venture capital firm with more than 25investments in the digital space since inception.MEVP’s assets under management have reached inexcess of $100 million, conducting business acrossthree offices in Beirut, Dubai, and Silicon Valley.

Commenting on the strategic investment, ZainGroup CEO Scott Gegenheimer said, “By investing inMEVP’s latest fund, Zain is increasing its exposure tothe digital economy and becoming an active partici-pant in this new digital age. We believe there is signifi-cant growth potential for digitally-focused companiesand this investment showcases our intention toremain at the forefront of innovation.”

On his part Emre Gurkan, Zain Group ChiefStrategy and Business Development Officer said,“MEVP’s fund will invest in promising Arab entrepre-neurs dedicated to building the region’s best technol-ogy companies, and we aim to leverage the develop-ment of these start-ups in several ways, whichincludeZain bringingunique and life-enriching digitalproducts and services to its customers.”

Walid Hanna, Founder and Managing Partner ofMEVP said, “Our portfolio companies will be thrilled toknow that telecom operators, with Zain at the fore-front, are finally investing and becoming activelyinvolved in MENA’s digital start-up scene. Most of our

portfolio companies are looking to leverage telecomoperators’ infrastructure and customer base to acti-vate new markets and scale, and so the synergiesexpected are significant with Zain.”

MEVP’s investment philosophy is to back superiorentrepreneurs in solving sizable pain points usingtechnology. The Fund has already identified fourprime opportunities that it will invest in:• YouGotAGift.com (YGAG) is the leading online

marketplace specialized in digital gift cards in theMENA region. Based in Dubai, YGAG offers e-giftsthat are redeemable at 100s of stores to con-sumers and businesses across the region.

• AlTibbi.com is the largest Arabic medical websiteand mobile app that provides users with easy andfree access to medical information as well asdirect e-connections to more than 5,000 doctors.Based in Amman, Al Tibbi reaches over4 millionunique Arab users per month.

• TheLuxuryCloset.com is the region’s largest andfastest growing online market place where usersbuy, sell, and consign pre-owned luxury bags andaccessories at a heavily discounted price. Based inDubai, The Luxury Closet provides customers withthousands of pre-owned high-end luxury itemsand offers up to 70% discounts, authenticationand instant item return guarantees.

• Lamsa World is a leading interactive educationalsmartphone and tablet app providing qualityArabic e-content to children aged between 1-7years of age. Based in Abu Dhabi, Lamsa offerschildren more than 100 e-books and educationale-content all updated on a regular basis.

With more than 25 investments in the tech spacesince inception, MEVP has pioneered venture capitalinvestments across the Middle East and has backedsome of the region’s best web and mobile companies.Recently, MEVP announced its first successful invest-ment exit by selling Shahiya.com, the leading Arabicrecipe website, to Japanese-based Cookpad, theworld’s leading online recipes service. The exit reflect-ed a 600% return for MEVP validating the venturecapital firm’s strategy of investing in companies withthe potential to become MENA leaders in their ownvertical markets.

KUWAIT: Malabar Gold & Diamonds, theleading jewellery retailers opened its 131stoutlet in Abu Dhabi. Bollywood ActressKareena Kapoor Khan inaugurated thisshowroom on 16 April 2015 in the presenceof Shamlal Ahamed, Managing Director-International Operations; Abdul Salam K P,Group Executive Director; other Directors;personalities from media and other well-wishers.

Conveniently located in Shabia, Mussafah,this new showroom will take the total num-ber of Malabar Gold & Diamonds showroomin UAE to 25. Apart from this showroom, thejewellery group already operates 4 outlets inAbu Dhabi and this showroom was openedowing to the consistent increase in the num-ber of customers, especially family cus-tomers. The customers will surely be delight-ed to have another Malabar Gold &Diamonds outlet in this locality, which willoffer them more comfort and convenience.

This new showroom will showcase metic-ulously crafted unique collection of classic,contemporary and stylish designs in gold,diamonds and precious gems to suit the spe-cific budget of every customer. The astound-ing creation of Malabar Gold & Diamonds’branded jewellery segment; Era- UncutDiamond Jewellery, Ethnix- Hand CraftedDesigner Jewellery, Mine- DiamondsUnlimited, Divine- Indian Heritage Jewellery,

Precia- Precious Gem Jewellery, and Starlet-Kids Jewellery will also be available in theshowroom.

Their branded jewellery segment includesEthnix - Handcrafted Designer Jewellery, Era- Uncut Diamond Jewellery, Mine -Diamonds Unlimited, Divine- Indian HeritageJewellery, Precia - Precious Gem Jewelleryand Starlet - Kids Jewellery.

Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan will inaugu-rate three more showrooms in Qatar at LuluHypermarket, D Ring Road, Doha on 23 April2015 at 6.30 pm. She will be inauguratingtwo more showrooms in Malaysia andManama- Bahrain on 9 May 2015 and 14 May2015 respectively.

Like all their outlets in GCC andSingapore, their new outlet in Abu Dhabi willalso take part in their festive campaign- ‘TheGreat Gold Rush’, giving their customers a lifechanging opportunity to win a whopping 25kilos of gold until 30 June 2015 with specialfacilities such as free home delivery, advancebooking etc.

With every purchase of gold jewellerywith AED 500, the customers get a chance toenter raffle draws to win 1 kg of gold each inevery 10 days. Those who buy diamond jew-ellery worth AED 500 will get 2 rafflecoupons and double the chance to win.

The customers can also avail a free onegram gold coin for every AED 5,000 spend

on diamond jewellery until 25 April 2015.Keeping the convenience of their customersin mind, they also offer advance bookingfacility, where the customers can book theirornaments in advance by paying a certainpercentage of the total cost. They also givetheir customers a unique opportunity to buydiamond jewellery of their choice and getfree home delivery in UAE on Akshaya TritiyaDay. The customers also get a fabulouschance to buy 8 gm gold coins withabsolutely no making charges from any ofMalabar Gold & Diamonds outlets in GCCduring this period.

Moreover, any old ornaments purchasedfrom GCC can be updated with the brandnew enticing collection of Malabar Gold &Diamonds without any loss during this peri-od. Any 22ct old gold ornaments purchasedfrom GCC can be exchanged with MalabarGold & Diamonds designs by paying onlymaking charges ensuring they don’t lose anyvalue on the rate of gold.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds operates 54international showrooms in GCC andSingapore. They are planning to come upwith more showrooms in UAE, Qatar,Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia inthe coming months. They are also all set toexpand their presence in the Far East marketby opening their first outlet in Malaysia nextmonth.

Zain makes strategic

investment with MEVPInvestment marks Zain’s first foray into venture capital funds

Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor

Khan inaugurates Malabar Gold &

Diamonds’ 131st outlet in Mussafah

Burgan Bank

announces 9th winner

in monthly SMS draw

KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the winner of its monthlySMS draw Majdy Naseraldin Azeb Mohammed who won the newiPhone 6 for subscribing to the bank’s SMS service.

The selection of the prize came to offer customers the latest smart-phone device available in the country as a symbol of gratitude for theirtrust in the bank’s services. Burgan Bank’s customer-centric strategywas designed to provide customers with far beyond than financialsolutions and services, thus, the bank continuously works towardsaccommodating customers’ needs in all possible ways. The Bank urgescustomers who are interested to take part in the monthly draw, to sub-scribe to the bank’s SMS service for KD 10 per year, and enjoy multiplechances of winning the latest iPhone 6 device.

Burgan Bank’s SMS service is the quickest way for customers to stayahead and be informed about their latest transactions. With BurganBank’s SMS service, customers can choose between signing up for oneor more automatic alerts or for pulling the information they need totheir mobile devices in Arabic or English languages.

For detailed information and subscription, customers are advised tocall Burgan Bank’s call center on 1804080 or visit the nearest BurganBank branch to fill in an application with the required details.

Established in 1977, Burgan Bank is the youngest commercial Bankand second largest by assets in Kuwait, with a significant focus on thecorporate and financial institutions sectors, as well as having a growingretail, and private bank customer base. Burgan Bank has five majorityowned subsidiaries, which include Jordan Kuwait Bank, Gulf BankAlgeria, Burgan Bank - Turkey, Bank of Baghdad, Tunis InternationalBank, in which Burgan Bank owns a majority stake. Burgan Bank Grouphas one of the largest regional branch networks with more than 231branches across Kuwait, Turkey, Jordan, Algeria, Iraq, Tunis, Lebanonand Palestine.

The Bank has continuously improved its performance over the yearsthrough an expanded revenue structure, diversified funding sources,and a strong capital base. The adoption of state-of-the-art services andtechnology has positioned it as a trendsetter in the domestic marketand within the MENA region. Burgan Bank’s brand has been created ona foundation of real values - of trust, commitment, excellence and pro-gression, to remind us of the high standards to which we aspire.‘People come first’ is the foundation on which its products and servicesare developed.

KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait held the Al-Najma Account draw yesterday. The draw was heldunder the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce &Industry represented by Abdulaziz Ashkanani.

The winners of the Al-Najma daily draw are:-Razqeiah Khaierallah Farhani — KD 7000, Awatef Ateeq Al-Salem — KD 7000, Omran Hafeez Mohammad— KD 7000, Ali Abdullah Al-Merry— KD 7000, Ali Morad Qasem— KD 7000.

The Commercial Bank of Kuwait announces thebiggest daily draw in Kuwait with the launch of thenew Najma account. Customers of the bank can nowenjoy a KD 7,000 daily prize which is the highest inthe country and another 4 mega prizes during theyear worth KD 100,000 each on different occasions:The National Day, Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al-Adha and on the19th of June which is the date of the bank’s establish-ment.

With a minimum balance of KD 500, customers will

be eligible for the daily draw provided that the moneyis in the account one week prior to the daily draw or 2months prior to the mega draw. In addition, for eachKD 25 a customer can get one chance for winninginstead of KD 50.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait takes this opportunityto congratulate all lucky winners and also extendsappreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industryfor their effective supervision of the draws which wereconducted in an orderly and organized manner.

Al-Tijari announces winners of the Al-Najma Account

KUWAIT: Kuwait Financial Centre“Markaz” has launched, in a pressconference held yesterday at FourPoints Hotel, MawazeenInternational Fund, a globally diversi-fied open-ended investment fundthat seeks to achieve capital growthwhile maintaining a low risk profile.Mawazeen will invest in licensedinvestment funds in internationalstock exchanges and will distributeits investments between equity andfixed income instruments.

Mawazeen is an actively man-aged fund that may be suitable forinvestors looking to make an assetallocation into global equity andfixed income markets, and benefitfrom potential enhanced risk adjust-ed returns. Investors in this fundshould have a medium risk profilewith at least a three to five yearinvestment horizon. Mawazeenoffers investors the opportunity todiversify their assets from local mar-kets that are highly dependent uponthe price of a single commodity.

Gopal Menon, Executive VicePresident - International InvestmentsDepartment at Markaz stated: “Wewould like to draw our investors’attention to the international mar-kets with a view to diversify theirinvestments and obtain betterreturns at an average risk level, andso we are keen to offer balancedinvestment solutions rangingbetween equities and fixed incomeinstruments”.

Abdullatif Waleed Al-Nusif, VicePresident - Private BankingDepartment at Markaz added:“Markaz always seeks to provide thebest investment solutions that fit thelocal and international needs of theinvestors. Mawazeen InternationalFund is perfectly suitable forinvestors who are looking to invest

in the medium to long term with lessvolatility rate compared to tradition-al stock markets”.

Markaz is one of the first institu-tions to invest in ETFs in the region.In 2005, Markaz launched its AtlasETFs portfolio, giving our Clientsaccess to a new low-cost, diversified,and highly liquid asset class. Sincethen, Markaz has incorporated ETFsinto several of our new and pre-existing products in order to reducerisk, maximize returns, and gainaccess to previously inaccessiblemarkets, sectors, and strategies.

In 2014, Markaz received “BestAsset Manager in Kuwait” awardfrom Global Investor Magazine forthe fifth consecutive year, as well asfrom EMEA Finance. Markaz alsowon two “Best Investment Bank inKuwait” awards from Euromoney,Global Finance and EMEA Finance.These awards were based ondemonstrated breadth of capabili-ties and excellence in execution ofclient mandates across debt markettransactions, equity transactions,mergers and acquisitions, and advi-sory work.

In December 2014, CapitalIntelligence, the international ratingagency, affirmed the rating ofMarkaz debenture bond at ‘BBB’. Therating reflects Markaz’s well estab-lished franchise and its conservativebusiness model, supported byMarkaz’s good liquidity position, itslow leverage and its improved earn-ings in both 2013 and for the ninemonths to end Q3 2014. The agencyclassified the outlook on the ratingas ‘Stable’, based on Markaz’s trackrecord of building solid performingfunds across asset classes and thereputation for being the best per-forming fund manager on a risk-adjusted basis.

LONDON: HSBC and Standard Chartered arelooking at the viability of quitting London for anew home in Asia because a big jump in a tax onUK banks makes staying in Britain increasinglypainful. Several investors told Reuters they wantthe two banks to do a thorough analysis onwhether it makes sense to move after Britainraised the bank tax by a third last month.

Some are expected to quiz bosses on it atshareholder meetings, including at an investorgathering in Hong Kong today. “There is a veryclear risk that HSBC and StanChart reach a painthreshold where they think it is no longer worthstaying in the UK,” said Richard Buxton, head ofequities at Old Mutual Global Investors, whichowns HSBC shares and who said the bank wasreflecting on a move. The tax has increased eighttimes since being introduced in 2010 to ensurebanks make a “fair contribution” after the finan-cial crisis. The latest rise was seen as a popularmove ahead of Britain’s May 7 election.Aberdeen Asset Management, the secondbiggest shareholder in Standard Chartered, withan aggregate 9.4 percent stake, said the bankshould consider the option.

Senior management are already assessingthe situation, people familiar with the mattersaid. Four years ago, HSBC said it would reviewits domicile in 2015, although the bank declinedto comment if or when any review might occur.

“It’s a live conversation internally because it’san issue being raised by investors and sell-sideanalysts,” said a person close to one of the banks,who asked not to be named as the discussionsare private. The banks, who make most of theirprofits in Asia, face a combined $2 billion bill thisyear under the annual UK bank tax, up from $1.5billion last year and almost double what theypaid in 2013. The opposition Labour Party plansto increase it by 800 million pounds to 4.5 billionpounds ($6.8 billion) a year for the bankingindustry as a whole, if it wins power, to pay forchildcare for three and four year olds. Labour isneck and neck with Prime Minister DavidCameron’s Conservatives in polls.

Another hefty rise could be the final catalystand force banks to move, Bernstein analystChirantan Barua said. HSBC, which has describedthe levy as a tax on staying in London, faces a billof $1.5 billion this year, about 7 percent ofexpected profits. Standard Chartered is set topay $500 million, or about 9 percent of earnings.

“TOO MANY MOVING PARTS”HSBC says it has two “home” markets, Britain

and Hong Kong. It moved from Hong Kong toLondon in 1993 when it bought Midland Bankand its most likely move would be back to its for-mer home, one of the few places that could han-dle its $2.6 trillion balance sheet.

The bank began life in Hong Kong 150 yearsago, with roots as a financier of trade betweenEurope and Asia. It issues most of the territory’sbank notes and has made $24 billion in profitsthere over the last three years, compared to a $4billion loss in Britain over the same period.

London has been home to StandardChartered since it was formed in 1969 and itsmost likely new home would be Singapore, fromwhere most of its businesses are already run.Analysts said the cost of moving could bebetween $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion per bank.HSBC told UK lawmakers in February, before thelevy increase, the best location was still Britain. Ithad postponed a review in 2011 because ChiefExecutive Stuart Gulliver said there were toomany moving parts to make a rational decision.

Industry sources said that could still be thecase for both banks. They are trying to improveprofitability, cut costs, sell businesses, deal withold misconduct issues and simplify. StandardChartered also gets a new CEO next month, BillWinters, who may want to raise capital.

“On a 10 or 15 year view, I’d be surprised ifboth of them are still here. But I don’t think it’san issue for the short-term, they have biggerpriorities,” John-Paul Crutchley, UBS bankinganalyst, said. Yet it could be worth it. JPMorgananalyst Raul Sinha estimated the higher UKbank levy will cut Standard Chartered’s earn-ings by 13 percent in 2017, while a move awayfrom Britain could lift its return on tangibleequity, a key profitability measure, by 1.6 per-centage points to 12.7 percent. Britain is alsoforcing banks to separate domestic retail oper-ations by 2019, so if HSBC is serious about mov-ing, it could spin off its UK business at the sametime, analysts said. But the complexity of all theissues in the mix make a decision difficult.These include Europe’s pay rules for staff, therisk of losing staff, how capital and leveragerules in places like Singapore compare, accessto capital, political stability, credit ratings andthe risk of regulatory change in any new juris-diction.—Reuters

The winner receives the iPhone 6 from Haneen Al-Rumaihi,Burgan Bank Head of Marketing Management.

Markaz launches

Mawazeen

International Fund

UK’s bank tax jump threatens to

push HSBC, StanChart to new home

t e c hnolo g yMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

SHANGHAI: Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk has launchedspacecraft into orbit, but popularizing his Tesla electric carsin China is proving to be tougher than rocket science.PayPal billionaire Musk-co-founder and chief executive offi-cer of Tesla as well as chief of rocket maker SpaceX-visitedChina last month, and admitted sales in the world’s largestauto market were below expectations.

“China is the only place on Earth that we have excessinventory,” Musk told Chinese media, blaming “speculators”for ordering cars amid the early media hype and then nottaking delivery. When China’s premier auto show opens onMonday in commercial hub Shanghai, Tesla will be amongthe 2,000 exhibitors vying for the eyes-and wallets-of themassive market.

‘World’s biggest polluter’ China is the world’s biggest polluter, but analysts say

electric vehicles face key challenges: consumer reluctancedue to perceived problems with safety, reliability and accessto charging facilities. Tesla has never announced sales tar-gets for China, but the launch of its cars generated wide-spread media coverage and an enthusiastic initial response.Now, though, it has more than 2,000 unsold vehicles,according to Chinese media reports, and confirmed lastmonth that it was cutting jobs in the country.

“Elon Musk and his team had a very limited understand-ing of the China market,” said Professor Gong Yan of theChina Europe International Business School. “The fanaticalreaction at the time caused a misjudgement of the Chinamarket by his team. For example, sales targets were raisedtoo quickly,” he said.

To help sales, Tesla is giving every buyer a free chargingdevice and free access to its mainland China network ofmore than 50 “supercharging” facilities — the equivalent ofa petrol station, although they take an hour to do the job.Beijing is keen to promote the use of “new energy” vehicles,out of both concerns over pollution and as part of a broaderpolicy to build up the domestic auto industry.

State-backed power companies are building chargingstations around the country, but even Neo Wang, thefounder of Chinese charging facility network builderChargerLink, admits it is an issue. Formerly an Intel execu-tive, he bought his first Tesla because “in the eyes of peoplein my industry, technology is fashion”, but liked his car somuch he joined forces with the manufacturer.

When he drove it the thousands of kilometers from thenorthern capital Beijing to the southern boomtown ofShenzhen, he said refueling every 350 kilometers was a“headache” and he had to turn to hotels along the way tohelp. “The biggest concern about an electric car for mostpeople is charging and the distance it can go,” he told AFP.“Electric cars cannot develop if the charging service is insuf-ficient.” At a Tesla “experience centre” in Shanghai, nearlyempty on a weekday, a staff member explained: “Peoplehave a lot of questions about electric cars.”

Hybrid vigor Ahead of its launch, Tesla stressed that the base price for

its cars would be the same around the world, with retail dif-ferences only due to shipping costs and tax issues. Even sothe Model S costs from 685,000 yuan to 953,000 yuan($112,000 to $156,000) in China, according to Tesla’s officialwebsite, significantly more than in the United States. Whilethe Chinese government offers subsidies to electric car buy-ers, they do not apply to imported vehicles such as Teslas.

Musk alluded to the issue when visiting last month, say-ing Tesla plans to localize production in the country inthree years-which will require a Chinese partner. Stricteremission and fuel consumption standards, along with freeplates in some areas that limit conventional cars-includingShanghai, where vehicle licenses can fetch as much as$12,000 at auction-have potential to support electric vehi-cle sales. But the market remains small for now. Electric andhybrid vehicle sales in the country reached 26,581 in thefirst quarter of this year, three times the same period in2014 but still accounting for less than one percent of totalsales, according to the China Association of AutomobileManufacturers.

“There is always a niche in the market for certain prod-ucts,” said Namrita Chow, London-based principal analystfor IHS Automotive, but added that Tesla’s high-end vehiclesface competition from German automaker BMW, whichoffers the electric BMW i3 and hybrid BMW i8. Hybrids com-bine an electric engine along with a conventional combus-tion one. Data analyst Shen Zhe, who already owns a “Qin”hybrid made by Chinese automaker BYD, said he plans toupgrade to a fully-electric Tesla in the future. “Conventionalcars cause noise and pollution,” he said. “I’m consideringbuying a Tesla within the next two years. Tesla is a hi-techproduct that I’m happy to accept.” — AFP

SHANGHAI: This picture taken on March 17, 2015 shows a Tesla Model S car on display at a showroom. — AFP

Tesla struggling to kickstart China car marketElectric cars proving to be tough sell

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo and Microsoft will keep workingtogether on Internet search, but Yahoo is getting more controlover the how the search results are presented. An agreementannounced Thursday extends a search partnership that YahooInc. and Microsoft Corp forged in 2009 while they were beingled by different CEOs. Current Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer hadthe option of terminating the relationship under a clause trig-gered earlier this year.

The two are trying to chip away at Google’s dominance ofInternet searches. They haven’t had much success so far. Googlestill controls two-thirds of the US search market and holds aneven larger share in Europe. Mayer spent 12 years helpingGoogle build its lucrative lead in before becoming Yahoo’s CEOin 2011. As has been the case since the companies formed theiralliance, Microsoft’s technology will power most of the searchresults on Yahoo’s sites. In return, Yahoo will receive most of therevenue from the ads posted alongside the search results on itssites. The original deal called for Microsoft to pay 88 percent ofthe search revenue to Yahoo. The ad commission rose to 90 per-cent in late February, according to regulatory filings. The com-panies said their economic arrangement won’t change underthe revised agreement.

The revised contract gives Yahoo more control over the howits search page looks and works. There will be a few differencesin how the companies sell ads under the new agreement.Investors evidently don’t think much is going to change.Yahoo’s stock gained 5 cents to close Thursday at $45.78 whileMicrosoft shares shed 10 cents to close at $42.16. — AP

Yahoo chooses to stay with Microsoft inupdated deal

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo President and CEO MarissaMayer delivers the keynote address at the first-everYahoo Mobile Developer Conference. — AP

PALO ALTO, California: In a quest to be greener, Applesays it is investing in Chinese solar power and preservingforests that make environmentally friendly paper. The ini-tiatives come as the tech giant this year met a self-imposed goal of powering all its US operations withrenewable energy to reduce carbon emissions - initiativesthat have won high marks from environmental groups.

On Thursday, Apple announced a new focus on usingpaper from trees harvested under environmentally soundconditions. It’s also promising to use more renewablepower overseas, where Apple relies heavily on contractmanufacturers - and where a top executive acknowledgedthe company can do more.

“It’s important to us to tackle climate change every-

where we are,” Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for envi-ronmental initiatives, told The Associated Press. “Whenyou talk about China, you’re talking about manufacturingpartners. We’re looking to bring the same innovationthere. This is the start.”

Powering everythingThe new solar project in China has a capacity of 40

megawatts, which is smaller than some projects Apple hasannounced in the United States. By comparison, Apple isspending $850 million for rights to nearly half the outputof a 280-megawatt solar facility planned for constructionsouth of Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters. Thatproject will produce enough energy to power all of

Apple’s California offices, a computer center and 52 retailstores.

Still, the Chinese project will produce more than theamount of energy consumed by Apple’s 19 corporateoffices and 21 retail stores in China and Hong Kong,Jackson said. She added that Apple uses renewable ener-gy for 87 percent of the power at its facilities worldwide.That figure, however, doesn’t include substantial powerconsumption by contract manufacturers. With the newproject in China, Apple is looking to improve its own oper-ations first.

“Before we go somewhere else and start asking andeventually requiring clean energy, you want to make sureyou show folks how to do it,” said Jackson, who was US

Environmental Protection Agency administrator duringPresident Barack Obama’s first term. Apple and other techcompanies have drawn criticism in the past for use of toxi-cs in manufacturing and data centers powered by electric-ity from coal. But Apple’s moves away from those practicesin recent years have won accolades from groups likeGreenpeace, which issued a statement praising theChinese project Thursday.

Jackson declined to say how much Apple is investing inthe Chinese project, which is being built in partnershipwith US energy company SunPower and four Chinesefirms. Although China is known for heavy reliance on coal,its government has set aggressive goals for solar, windand hydroelectric power.—AP

SAN FRANCISCO: If you’re planning on buying the new AppleWatch, don’t expect to walk into a store and leave with onenext week. Apple, which began accepting advance orders forthe watch last week, had previously said it would be “avail-able” for sale in stores on April 24, at least for customers whomade reservations to come in for a personal demonstration.But with supplies limited, Apple’s retail chief has told storeworkers that the watch will continue to be sold only throughonline orders for at least the next several weeks.

That’s a departure from the way the way Apple haslaunched other new products, such as its popular iPhones,which have been offered for sale in stores to customers whooften arrived hours early and lined up outside before the firstday of a new release. But Apple has adopted a new strategyfor the watch, which Apple executive Angela Ahrendtsdescribed this week as “not just a new product but an entirelynew category for us.” Apple stores have had watches on dis-play since last week, and the company is offering in-persondemonstrations for customers who want to try different mod-els.

Ahrendts wrote in a memo to workers this week that, “dueto high global interest, combined with our initial supply, weare only taking orders online right now. I’ll have moreupdates as we get closer to in-store availability, but weexpect this to continue through the month of May.” Thememo was first obtained by the tech blog 9to5Mac and itsauthenticity was verified by The Associated Press. Apple hasnot said how many watches have been ordered to date. Themarket research firm Slice Intelligence estimated nearly 1 mil-lion people placed orders on April 10, the first day Applebegan accepting them. Apple says customers who placedearly orders will have their watches delivered starting Friday.Watches ordered in recent days may take several weeks toarrive. Ahrendts said the company can fill orders more quicklyonline. That doesn’t mean the company will start using thisapproach with all new products, Ahrendts said. She wrote:“We all love those blockbuster Apple product launch days -and there will be many more to come.” — AP

Apple turns green with solar forest projects

LOS GATOS: This file photo shows the Netflix company logo at Netflix headquarters. — AFP

Apple Watchstill limited

SAN FRANCISCO: Netflix is enthralling viewers andinvestors alike as popular original programmingsuch as “House of Cards” lure subscribers at a quick-ening pace. Netflix said that it gained 4.9 millionsubscribers in the first three months of the year,more than any other quar ter since the videostreaming service’s debut eight years ago. About 2.3million of the new customers were in the US, whereNetflix’s subscriber count surpassed 40 million forthe first time.

The results were far better than management hadanticipated. Netflix had been hoping to add about 4million subscribers in the quarter, which typically is abusy period because winter weather keeps peopleindoors more frequently. The company is on such aroll that it now expects to add another 2.5 millionsubscribers during the April-June quarter, traditional-ly its slowest time of year. Netflix’s big quarter coin-cided with the return of “House of Cards,” an Emmy-winning political drama starring Kevin Spacey as aconniving US president. The February release of theseries’ third season attracted more viewers than ever,Netflix said, though the company didn’t provide spe-cific audience sizes.

Attracting new customers Two other made-for-Netflix series, “ The

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Bloodline,” alsohelped the company retain existing subscribers andattract new customers curious about the programs.Netflix plans to spend more money advertising itsexpanding lineup of original programs while alsousing its recommendation system to pinpoint moresubscribers likely to enjoy certain series that areunavailable on other services. “In this particular quar-

ter, we had some amazing content,” Netflix CEO ReedHastings said in a video review of the company’sfirst-quarter financial results. “All of that compound-ed to push us forward.”

Original programming is becoming increasinglyimportant for Netflix as it faces more competitionfrom other services, including an Internet-onlyoption that pay-TV channel HBO recently started sell-ing this month for $15 per month. That price is wellabove Netflix’s streaming service, which typicallycosts $9 per month. Hastings said HBO’s price under-scores what a bargain Netflix is. All told, Netflix end-ed March with 62.3 million subscribers in more than50 countries. They watched more than 10 billionhours of video collectively during the first threemonths of the year - an average of nearly two hoursa day for each subscriber.

Despite the growth, Netflix missed analyst’ earn-ings targets as the company invested in an ongoinginternational expansion that is supposed to be com-pleted by the end of next year. Netflix also was hurtby the stronger dollar, which lowered its revenueoutside the US Investors didn’t seem to mind.Netflix’s stock soared $53.04, or 11 percent, to$528.50 in extended trading after the numbers cameout. If the shares follow that trajectory in Thursday’sregular trading session, the stock will break the $500barrier for the first time.

The price may not stay that high much longerbecause Netflix is getting ready to split its stock forthe first time since 2004. A split lowers the tradingprice of a stock by issuing more shares. Netflix is hop-ing the split will drum up even more interest in itsstock by making it more affordable to a wider pool ofinvestors. — AP

WASHINGTON DC: This file photo shows a customer try-ing on an Apple watch. — AFP

Netflix enthralls viewerswith original programs

H E A LT H & S C I E N C EMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

WASHINGTON: There’s been no breakfrom the globe’s record heat - the firstthree months of 2015 have set new hightemperature marks. The NationalOceanic and AtmosphericAdministration said last month’s averagetemperature of 56.4 degrees (13.6degrees Celsius) was the hottest Marchon record, averaging 1.5 degrees above

the average for the 20th century. It brokea record set in 2010.

For the first three months of 2015, theglobe was 55.6 degrees (13.1 degreesCelsius), breaking the record set in 2002.Records go back to 1880. NOAA climatescientist Jessica Blunden said 2015 prob-ably will break 2014’s hottest year mark ifconditions persist. The first three months

of 2015 were nearly a tenth of a degreehigher than the old record and four-tenths of a degree warmer than Januarythrough March of last year, which turnedout to be warmest year recorded.

Much of the most abnormal heat hasbeen in the Pacific Ocean and places nearit. Seven western US states set records fortheir hottest first three months of the

year, while New York and Vermont setrecords for the coldest start of a year. Thenortheastern United States has been oneof the few colder-than-normal spots onthe globe with entire continents of Asia,Europe, Africa and Australia coming insolidly warmer than normal. Californiawas a special hot case. Not only was thestate’s January through March average

temperature 7.5 degrees warmer thannormal, it smashed the old record, whichwas set just last year, by 1.8 degrees.Blunden blames the record heat on acombination of El Nino, a blob of recordhot water in the Northeast Pacific Oceanand human-caused climate change.None of them show signs of slowingdown, she said. —AP

Planet’s record heat to continue rising in 2015

KANNAUJ: In this photograph taken on April 13, 2015, a young Indian laborer packs bidis into colorful conical packets and boxesat The New Sarkar Bidi Factory. —AFP

KANNAUJ: Zainab Begum Alvi and her band ofyoung helpers hunch over baskets filled withtobacco flakes and dried leaves, trying to roll athousand dirt-cheap cigarettes a day at thebehest of India’s powerful bidi barons. “I haveto do it, no matter what, even if I’m not well. Ihave no other choice,” says Alvi, who earns 70rupees a day, a little over a dollar, for her 12hours of toil hand-rolling the bidis. “There is noother work than this, so if I don’t do it, I can’t doanything else,” added Alvi, a tiny and gauntwoman from the impoverished northern stateof Uttar Pradesh who says she is in her 50s.

Around 70 million Indians smoke the hand-rolled bidis, which are nimbly bound togetherby workers such as Alvi and her young relativeswith khaki-colored tendu leaves and cottonthread. The bidis outsell their filtered, paper-bound rivals by eight to one, giving the indus-try’s bosses a financial and political clout thatcritics say accounts for the recent shelving ofplans for larger health warnings on packets.

‘No link to cancer’ Three lawmakers from the ruling Bharatiya

Janata Party on a parliamentary committeelooking into the issue were widely condemnedwhen they cited a lack of evidence that smok-ing caused cancer as a reason for stalling themeasure.

“There is no medical evidence that bidiscause cancer,” said Shyama Charan Gupta, oneof the three lawmakers on the committee andwho heads a company that produces one of theindustry’s best-selling brands. “It is misinforma-tion created by NGOs, a few doctors and theanti-bidi lobby.”

Bidis have long been marketed as a “natural”product, wrapped in a leaf with no additives orprocessing. But campaigners such as Prakash C

Gupta argue they can be more dangerous thannormal cigarettes as they are smoked in greaterquantities, with more frequent and deeperpuffs. “The bidi industry has huge politicalclout. Bidi industrialists are in political circles atvery high levels in all parties,” said Gupta, aleading researcher into the health impact oftobacco.

Up to 900,000 Indians die every year fromcauses related to tobacco use, according togovernment figures, and researchers havewarned that figure could reach 1.5 million bythe end of the decade without more deter-rence. While a packet of 20 normal cigarettescan cost in excess of 150 rupees, a bundle of 15bidies can sell for as little as five rupees, theirprice kept low by favorable tax rates.

Most bidi smokers are poor men living inrural areas, but they are not alone in riskingtheir health for the small sticks. Up to 90 per-cent of the roughly 5.5 million bidi rollers arefemale, according to the All India Bidi, Tobaccoand Cigar Workers Federation, with the govern-ment estimating up to a quarter are children.

Most of the rollers are non-smokers. Butcontinuously exposed to tobacco dust, manysuffer from high rates of respiratory diseasesincluding tuberculosis and asthma, as well asskin and postural problems, studies haveshown. A 2010 study of bidi rollers in the stateof Bihar found that more than 70 percent of theworkers suffered from eye, gastrointestinal andnervous problems while more than half suf-fered from respiratory problems.

‘Back-breaking work’ “It’s back-breaking work with a huge num-

ber of health hazards and the compensation forthat is a pittance,” said Alok Mukhopadhyay,head of the Voluntary Health Association of

India (VHAI), which has researched the plight ofrollers. Laws enacted in the 1960s and 70s toimprove the welfare of workers only encour-aged manufacturers to fragment productioninto smaller units to escape regulation, cam-paigners say, with the added benefit of taxexemption for producers who report output offewer than two million bidis a year. Only a fewwork in factories while the vast of majority ofworkers being home-based and dependent ona sprawling network of small-scale contractorsfrom the major brands. While the set-up com-plicates calculations of the industry’s economicmight, estimates of annual production rangefrom 750 billion to 1.2 trillion sticks, suggestinga sector worth billions of dollars.

In backroom factories such as Alvi’s home inUttar Pradesh’s Kannauj district, children oftenwork alongside relatives to help them meetquotas. “I don’t like it,” said Alvi’s 14-year-oldniece Seema, pitching in after a morning atschool. “I want to go to school for longer, but Ican’t because of bidi rolling,” said Seema, whodreams of becoming a teacher.

Nearby at the New Sarkar Bidi Factory-a rag-tag operation in a derelict shell of a building-men and young boys work in near darknesspacking bidis at lightning speed, first intomountains of colourful packets and then intoboxes. General manager Quazi Naseem Ahmed,who says his company turns over 400 millionrupees ($6.4 million) a year from 16 factories,insisted the boys only appeared underage asthey had been weakened by years of hardwork. Speaking in his office, Ahmed acknowl-edged it was a tough life but also rejected talkof a link to cancer. “They are weak, they aredirty, they get tired, so they have low immunitybut they don’t get diseases like TB or cancer,” hesaid. —AFP

India’s bidi workers suffer

at the hands of politicians

900,000 Indians die annually from tobacco use

CHICAGO: She was born to a youngChicago couple, named Jennifer, and grewinto a beautiful long-lashed child withwavy dark hair, big brown eyes and ayearning, youthful desire to be just like allthe other girls. Only she wasn’t. Doctorsfirst noticed her slightly enlarged genitals,and then discovered she had testes insideher abdomen and male chromosomes.And so began a series of surgeries to makethings “right.” Jennifer Pagonis was bornintersex, an umbrella term for several con-ditions in which an infant’s reproductiveanatomy doesn’t conform to standard def-initions of male or female. The physicaleffects can be subtle, or very obvious.

A century ago, intersex adults were topdraws at circus sideshows. Then, as surgi-cal techniques for ambiguous genitalsevolved, doctors began performing sur-geries on affected infants and encouragedparents to raise children as the sex theyvisibly resembled. Many families kept theconditions hidden, fearing stigma andshame. Pagonis’ parents knew nothingabout the conditions - or about the surger-ies’ troubling risks, including damage tosexual function, satisfaction and psychelater on.

Now, efforts are underway to changethe way intersex children are treated. “Theway that we took care of things in the past... where there was a fair amount of secre-cy, where there was surgery done in theinfant state, and potentially irreversiblesurgery, is probably not the best way to goabout things,” said Dr Earl Cheng, who runsthe 2-year-old sex development disordersprogram at Chicago’s Ann & Robert H LurieChildren’s Hospital.

Gender-blurring evolutionThe program is one of several nation-

wide that employ a team of specialistsincluding surgeons, hormone experts,genetic counselors, psychologists andethicists. The team helps families weightheir options, including whether surgeryshould be considered at all. Intersex

activists advise against it and urge toler-ance for affected kids. There’s even anintersex character on television, intro-duced on this season on MTV’s “Faking It”series. It’s a fitful evolution and a sign ofthe times, perhaps the natural next step inthe gender-blurring evolution, with femi-nism and the gay- and transgender rightsmovements helping pave the way formore acceptance of people who don’t fitthe typical male or female mold.

Intersex conditions are often confusedwith gender identity issues, but they’re dif-ferent. Gender orientation refers towhether someone identifies as male,female, or something else; intersexinvolves reproductive anatomy. Someaffected children have typical male orfemale chromosomes, but genetic glitchesand hormonal problems that begin in thewomb, cause genitals to resemble those ofthe opposite sex. Others have a male-female blend of sex chromosomes andreproductive organs. Prevalence estimatesvary, from more than 1 in 1,000 newborns,which includes conditions that involvemildly atypical genitals, to about 1 in 5,000for more obvious cases. Experts say there’sno evidence numbers are increasing,although rising awareness has led morefamilies to seek treatment at specialty cen-ters like the one in Chicago.

The new treatment approach stemspartly from a 2006 consensus statementon intersex disorders by US and Europeanmedical specialists who advocated againstknee-jerk surgeries and said older patientsshould be involved in some decisions. Thatyear the American Academy of Pediatricsretired an old surgery-focused policy. Theevolution is part of a trend in US medicinetoward better communication and morepatient-focused treatment. With intersexconditions, these interactions can befraught with emotion and controversy,and not all families are ready to embracethe change. Some still choose surgery,fearing that without it, their children willbe considered freaks. —AP

Intersex surgeries spark move

away from drastic treatment

DENVER: Breaking from decades of “Just Say No”-typemessaging about marijuana use, Colorado law enforce-ment officials are starting a new campaign designed topromote safe marijuana use. The revised campaign start-ed this weekend, when tens of thousands were expectedat public rallies and concerts in observation of the 4/20

marijuana holiday. Here are a few things to know aboutthe new effort, along with some backstory.

Going to the sourceThe Colorado Department of Transportation is taking

its campaign to the demographic most likely to use pot

and then drive, according to surveys. That’s men aged 21to 34. The agency will be at cannabis festivals, concertsand celebrations this weekend. But instead of handing outwarnings, they’re handing out snacks branded withreminders to munch, not drive, after smoking pot. Thestate Department of Transportation also installed freearcade games at dispensaries loaded with messages notto drive after smoking.

Problem is still unclearIt’s far from certain whether legalizing marijuana

leads to more stoned drivers on the road. The data is solimited that both opponents and supporters of legaliza-tion are forced to make generalizations. Colorado didn’ttrack marijuana-related impaired driving arrests beforethe drug was made legal in 2012. Twelve percent of DUIsissued statewide last year were for marijuana impairment,not alcohol or other drugs, according to the ColoradoState Patrol. And of the 440 automobile fatalities inColorado, 54 drivers tested positive for marijuana. (A posi-tive result meant the driver had used marijuana recently,but not necessarily that they were driving while impaired.Pot can be detected by drug tests for weeks, whereaswater-soluble alcohol dissipates in the blood withinhours.) Nationally, more drivers appear to be using mari-juana and other drugs. In the nationwide 2013-14Roadside Survey for the National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration, 8.6 percent of weekend nighttime driverstested positive for marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient,THC. That was a 48 percent increase from 2007. State-by-state data was not available. —AP

Colorado law changes memo to safe pot use

DENVERF: Partygoers prepare an oversized joint from pot donated by members ofthe crowd on one of several days of the annual 4/20 marijuana festival, in Denver’sdowntown Civic Center Park. —AP

CHICAGO: Pidgeon Pagonis poses for a photo at her home. She was raised asa girl but has male chromosomes and now works as an activist opposingdrastic genital surgery for intersex children. —AP

NEW YORK: Teen smoking hit a new low lastyear while the popularity of electronic ciga-rettes and water pipes boomed, a govern-ment report shows. The number of highschool students who tried e-cigarettes tripledin one year - to more than 13 percent. Waterpipes or hookahs were used by 9.4 percent.But smoking of traditional cigarettes plum-meted to 9.2 percent from more than 13 per-cent. That means smoking in high school isnow less common than e-cigarette or hookahuse. The decline in cigarette smoking “is verydramatic and very encouraging,” said RobinKoval, president of Legacy, an anti-smokingorganization. The report released Thursday bythe Centers for Disease Control andPrevention mirrors the results of another gov-ernment-funded study issued in December.

The CDC report is based on a national sur-vey of about 22,000 students at middleschools and high schools, both public andprivate. Similar trends were found for middleschool but at lower levels of use. Studentswere asked whether they had smoked orused a tobacco product in the previous 30days; those who said yes were deemed cur-rent smokers Besides cigarettes, the reportfound continuing declines in the use ofcigars, chewing tobacco and snuff among

high school students. CDC Director Dr TomFrieden this week described the findings as“alarming.” He said the decline in use of mosttobacco products was more than offset bythe growth in nicotine-laden e-cigarettesand hookahs.

‘Is it a fad?’Some public health experts say the CDC is

taking an unusually hard stand against e-cig-arettes, at a time when scientists still trying todetermine how harmful they are. They startedselling in the US in 2006 and are oftendescribed as a less dangerous alternative tocigarettes. “The CDC has been very one-sidedon the e-cigarette issue,” said Kenneth Warner,a University of Michigan public health profes-sor who is a leading authority on smokingand health.

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devicesthat produce an odorless vapor that typicallycontains nicotine and flavorings. Scientistssay nicotine is harmful for the developingbrain. Frieden said e-cigarettes are a new wayof introducing kids to nicotine - and poten-tially hooking them on tobacco products inthe future. “The idea that kids are better offusing e-cigarettes is just the wrong way ofthinking about it,” he said. —AP

High school smoking falls

as e-cigarette usage rises

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

NIAMEY: More than 2.5 million peoplein Niger are suffering from food insecu-rity because of a shortfall in the cerealharvest due to bad weather and croppests, the agriculture minister saidSaturday. “A survey conducted sinceDecember 2014 indicated that 15.7 per-cent of the population, or 2,588,128people, are in a situation of food insecu-rity, including 410,297 in severe insecu-rity,” Maidagi Allambeye told MPs. The

situation has been aggravated by thepresence of some 200,000 refugees whohad fled attacks by Boko Haram andother militants. Food insecurity in thepoor Sahel country, which is plagued byrecurring food crises, is linked to a cerealdeficit of more than 230,000 tons at theend of the 2014 crop year, he explained.

The government attributed theshortfall to drought, floods and cater-pillar attacks. “We cannot say that Niger

is suffering chronic insecurity but this isstill very common,” said VignoHounkanli, a spokesman for the WorldFood Program in Niamey, which hashelped some 480,000 people sinceJune. “We are distributing food fromthe lean period onwards, when thegranaries are empty and there is noth-ing to eat,” he said.

The lean period between the deple-tion of the previous year’s crops and

harvesting the new lasts severalmonths in Niger. The presence insoutheast Niger of more than 150,000refugees who fled attacks by BokoHaram and more than 50,000 refugeesin the west of the country, from north-ern Mali that is beset by a Tuareg insur-gency and jihadist violence, was havinga further negative impact on the foodsituation, Allambeye said. In anattempt to reduce the cereal deficit, the

government has already launched aprogram to irrigate 130,000 hectares ofland to produce 500,000 tons of food,he said. A poor and arid country withrapid population growth, Niger is oftenplagued by food crises. In June, morethan one million children aged underfive years, or 14.1 percent of that agegroup, were suffering from acute mal-nutrition, according to a governmentstudy. —AFP

2.5 million facing food shortage in Niger

H E A LT H & S C I E N C EMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

Espresso maker designed for astronauts arrives at SpaceX

‘Lots of science and even coffee’

In this image from NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon-6 resupply capsule Friday April 17, 2015 as it holds at the grapple point,10 meters from the International Space Station as they cross over Asia. —AP

CAPE CANAVERAL: The SpaceX supply shiparrived at the International Space Station onFriday, delivering the world’s first espressomachine designed exclusively for astronauts.Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti cap-tured the Dragon capsule, which arrived threedays after its Florida launch, with the help of agiant robot arm. The cargo carrier holds morethan 4,000 pounds of much-needed groceries,experiments and equipment. Italy provided theespresso maker for Cristoforetti, who’s beenstuck with instant coffee since her missionbegan in November.

“It’s been just amazing,” Cristoforetti said aftersnaring the Dragon over the Pacific. “Lots of sci-

ence and even coffee’s in there, so that’s prettyexciting.” Within 2 1/2 hours of its capture, theDragon was bolted securely to the space station.The espresso machine is three months latebecause of the backlog created by last year’s lossof a supply ship in a launch explosion. Much lat-er and the espresso machine would have missedCristoforetti, who returns home next month. Shesays she can’t wait to try some space espresso.

The Dragon will remain at the orbiting labuntil around May 21, when it will be released fullof experiments and discarded equipment forreturn to Earth. It’s the only supply ship capableof bringing items back. Among the newly arrivedresearch are experiments for American astronaut

Scott Kelly, who is just a few weeks into a one-year mission, which will be a record for NASA.

SpaceX, meanwhile, released a video show-ing its first-stage booster landing on an oceanplatform shortly after Tuesday’s liftoff, then tip-ping over in flames. It was the California compa-ny’s third attempt to fly a booster rocket to theplatform stationed off Florida’s northeasterncoast. SpaceX chief Elon Musk said the platform -dubbed “Just Read the Instructions” - enduredjust minor damage. The next try will be in Juneon the next SpaceX supply run for NASA. Musk,a billionaire entrepreneur who also runs theTesla electric car maker, wants to reuse his rock-ets to bring down the cost of spaceflight. —AP

LOS ANGELES: California health authoritieson Friday declared an end to a largemeasles outbreak that started atDisneyland and triggered a national debateabout vaccinations. Disease detectives formonths raced to contain the highly conta-gious disease, which surfaced at Disneytheme parks in December and spread to ahalf-dozen US states, Mexico and Canada.

The outbreak sickened 147 people inthe US, including 131 in California. Therewere no deaths. Officials at the CaliforniaDepartment of Public Health said no newinfections have been reported for the past42 days - or two incubation periods - mean-ing the outbreak is over in the US.

“Having this measles outbreak behindus is a significant accomplishment,” said DrGil Chavez, state epidemiologist. Many whofell ill were not immunized against measles.Some cited personal reasons for refusingshots, and others were too young to getthe measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. TheDisneyland episode prompted state law-makers to introduce a bill that would barparents from seeking vaccine exemptionsfor their children because of personalbeliefs. The proposed legislation has stirredheated debates, and a committee delayeda vote until next week.

Isolating the sick Doctors said the outbreak could have

been worse if it wasn’t for the aggressivepublic health response, which included

tracking down thousands of people poten-tially exposed to measles-stricken patientsand isolating the sick until they were nolonger contagious. “It’s a lot of work, andit’s very expensive,” said Dr James Cherry,an infectious disease specialist at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, whohad no role in the measles investigation.While the Disneyland outbreak is over inthe US, it’s still a problem in the Canadianprovince of Quebec, where 159 peoplewere sickened after someone visited thetheme park and returned home. Mostbelong to a tight-knit religious communitywith a low vaccination rate.

Measles has been eliminated in the USfor more than a decade, but outbreaks stilloccur when travelers become infectedabroad and spread the virus among unvac-cinated populations in their home country.Authorities said they may never know whosparked the Disneyland outbreak butbelieve it was someone who caught thevirus overseas and visited the theme parkwhile contagious.

Forty-two people were exposed tomeasles while visiting or working atDisneyland or Disney California AdventurePark in Orange County in December. Theythen spread the illness to dozens of familymembers, health officials said. Otherscaught the virus in the community, includ-ing at hospitals, schools, malls and air-ports. About 20 percent had to be hospi-talized. —AP

Measles outbreak traced to Disneyland is declared over

ANAHEIM: In this Jan 22, 2015, file photo, people walk toward SleepingBeauty’s Castle at Disneyland. —AP

W H AT ’ S ONMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

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Quality Net sponsors Math contest

Quality net, the top provider of internet and information technology services in Kuwait, announced its sponsorship of Al-Khawarizmi Mathematics contest for fifth grade for schoolthat was held on April 16, 2015 at Lubabah bint Al-Hareth, in Hitteen area. The event was organized by the mathematics technical supervision in Hawally educational area.Quality net sponsored the event for the fourth consecutive year.

Swiss Belhotel Plaza Kuwait will bethe hosting accommodation ofthe Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of

Asia 2015. Teams from Singapore,Malaysia, Oman, Kyrgyzstan, India andKuwait will be participating in the 2015IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia, an annualinternational ice hockey tournamentheld by the International Ice HockeyFederation (IIHF). This year’s tourna-ment will be held from 18 to 25th ofApril at Kuwait City’s ice skating rink.

“We are extremely proud to havebeen chosen to host the teams duringthis edition of the tournament. Beingthe official hotel for multiple sportingevents in Kuwait city, the Swiss BelhotelPlaza Kuwait will be working with theorganizing committee to provide thebest service and accommodations tokeep up the good reputation of Kuwaitand its importance on the Asian mapfor hosting such big sports events” saidthe Public Relation Manager of SwissBelhotel Plaza Kuwait MohammadJawhar.

GUST and AUK students win debate league semi-finals

Shrouded under a competitive atmosphere, the GulfUniversity for Science and Technology (GUST) and theAmerican University of Kuwait (AUK) students won the

semi-finals of the Debate League for Institutions of HigherEducation (DLIHE) in English, after competing against KUand the Public Authority for Applied Education and Trainingstudents last Wednesday.

The teams corresponded on the subject “The Councilbelieves that one vote should be applied to all elections”.The winning teams will compete in the Final ChampionshipDebate League for Higher Institutions in English under thepatronage of KU’s Acting President, Prof Hayat N Al-Hajjiwith the support of the Ministry of State for Youth Affairsand the Qatar Debate Center, amidst the presence of a num-ber of educational institutions in Kuwait, under the slogan“Express Yourself and Persuade Others”

Furthermore, the Dean of Student Affairs, DrAbdulraheem Al-Theyab explained that KU, represented bythe Deanship of Student Affairs, has always been keen ondeveloping the Debate League initiative in English andArabic clarifying that the launch of the first edition of theleague was met with broad participation by institutions ofhigher education who not only demonstrated their exten-sive skills in the English language but also signified theirmature communication skills.

Moreover, he explained that a university educationshould not be confined to the classroom, but must run par-allel with the development of creative skills. Nevertheless,the Head of the Higher Committee for the first DLIHE inEnglish, Makkeya Al Sayegh, explained that the Deanship ofStudents Affairs is keen on organizing such activities toallow students’ to showcase their capabilities as well as pro-viding a chance for them to express themselves in many lan-guages. The FCDLHI in English will be held Wednesday, April22nd 2015, in Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jaber Theater at Shuwaikhcampus

Swiss Belhotel Plaza Kuwait hosting Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia 2015

The Palestinian Culture Center holds thefirst of its two annual exhibitions for 2015at Bayt Lothan. The show includes a large

collection of textile-based traditional hand-made cross-stitches as well as pottery fromHebron, posters and books about Palestine inEnglish and Arabic. It aspires to reaffirm thePalestinian national identity by its handicraftsand support education and families.

The Palestinian Culture Center is a non-prof-it organization that was established in Jordanin 1993. It aims to preserve the rich heritageand culture of Palestine, help empower womenand their families in the refugee camps

become while becoming economically inde-pendent and to sustain the needy Palestiniansin their homeland and in the Diaspora.

This year was an active year for the centerdue to the effects of the global financial crisiswhich placed a further strain on the poor.Furthermore, the on-going violence and war-fare in Gaza, Jerusalem and the rest of occu-pied Palestine, have made the situation inPalestine dire, and the need for aid even moreurgent.

As a result, the center has worked toincrease the salaries of the 550 or so womenwho do the embroidery work as well as pay for

their transportation (from the camps). Wemotivate the ladies by granting bonuses forexcellent quality work. We also provide sup-port to Palestinians in the homeland by provid-ing financial aid to needy families, health care,and university scholarships.

Some of the Center’s past accomplishmentsinclude the support of some of the vital insti-tutes such as Al-Maqased hospital in Jerusalemwhich was established in 1968 with substantialfinancial support from The State of Kuwait. TheCenter is also working on providing the neces-sary financing of the Water DesalinationProject in Gaza for producing potable water

and assisting Gaza area hospitals that werebombarded by Israel, such as Alshefa Hospital,to produce and store oxygen for medical pur-poses.

Exhibition HighlightsTraditional cross-stitch embroidery of dress-

es, linens, shawls, cushions, table runners,cards, frames, coasters, belts, purses, book-marks and more like a Food sale of traditionalPalestinian food such as thyme, sumaq, bakedgoods and other traditional plates and a recitalof Palestinian folklore “Dabkah” will be per-formed on and Thursday at 6:30 PM

Palestinian embroidery using needle andsilk thread is a manifestation of the Palestinianidentity as it has evolved over the ages. An ageold art, Palestinian ladies, young and old,would spend hours embroidering theirtrousseau, dresses, shawls and cushions. Thedresses are famous for their flowery designsand bold natural colors of indigo and red.Symbols of the ubiquitous cypress trees sur-rounding the orange groves, roses, jasmineand the famous olive tree are typical motifs inthese dresses. The exhibition will be held atBayt Lothan, Salmiya for 4 days startingMonday the April 27th till the 30th.

Palestinian Culture Exhibition at Bayt Lothan

First K-Pop Youth

Festival in Kuwait

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Kuwait isorganizing the first K-Pop Youth Festival in Kuwait aspart of the K-Pop World Festival 2015. ‘K-Pop World

Festival 2015 invites all K-pop fans around the world to par-ticipate. Preliminary rounds will be held in each region,including Kuwait to award one vocalist(s) and one perform-ance team. Selected 2 finalists in Kuwait could be invited toKorea in Oct for the final competition if they pass addition-al rounds.

W H AT ’ S ONMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

By Nawara Fattahova

The International Women’s Group (IWG)held a cultural, traditional and entertain-ing African night on Thursday evening at

the Radisson Blu Hotel. This is one of theGroups monthly events, and was attended bymost of the IWG’s members.

Senegal, Somalia, Algeria, Tunis, Chad, Liberia,Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Djibouti,Swaziland, and Benin were the 13 African coun-

tries that participated in this event. The spouseof each country’s ambassador presented sometraditional handcrafts from her country while thespouse of the ambassador of Tunis displayed avisual presentation about the history and cultureof the African continent.

The event also included a fashion show dis-playing some African traditional customs fromeach of the participating countries, followed byan African musical performance from Senegal.After, a group from Benin presented their tradi-

tional dances, which was followed by variousarts from Egypt representing different areas,including the popular skirt dance.

As food is always an integral part of culture,different African dishes were served during thisspecial night. Dessert was headlined by tradi-tional sweets presented by the spouses of theTunisian and the Algerian ambassador. The cele-bration was concluded by awarding the spousesof the ambassadors by the sponsor of thisevening Sheikha Mudhi Mubarak Al-Sabah, the

wife of the Ahmadi Governor. Also JosephineCole, the spouse of the Maltese Ambassador toKuwait, and the President of IWG, Narjis Al-Shatti,PR and Media, and Jameela Al-Linqawi wereawarded as well.

The members meet regularly and hold differ-ent events and activities. “These activities includedifferent celebrations and events such as visitingtraditional places, and others. In addition, itincludes other cultural activities such as thosepresented by the diplomat women from their

country. This month will be related to the issue ofnutrition,” Narjis Al-Shatti, Member of IWG andthe PR and Media told the Kuwait Times.

The IWG Kuwait chapter is a branch of theInternational Women’s Association residing inDenmark and has branches all over the world,where they organize similar programs and activi-ties. In Kuwait, the new wives of ambassadorswill meet with the other members to exchangeinformation about their country, tradition, food,culture and others.

IWG holds African night celebration

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DARKNESS FALLS ON OSN MOVIES ACTION HD

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD ON OSN MOVIES ACTION HD

00:05 How It’s Made: Dream Cars00:30 Sport Science01:20 How Do They Do It?01:45 How Do They Do It?02:10 Through The Wormhole WithMorgan Freeman03:00 Moon Machines03:48 The World’s Strangest UFOStories04:36 Space Pioneer05:24 Alien Encounters06:12 How The Universe Works07:00 Prank Science07:25 Gadget Show - World Tour07:50 Superships08:40 Food Factory09:05 Food Factory09:30 How It’s Made: Dream Cars09:55 How It’s Made: Dream Cars10:20 How The Universe Works11:10 How Do They Do It?11:35 How Do They Do It?12:00 Game Changers12:25 Gadget Show - World Tour12:50 Superships13:40 How It’s Made14:05 How It’s Made14:30 How It’s Made: Dream Cars14:55 How It’s Made: Dream Cars15:20 Through The Wormhole WithMorgan Freeman16:10 How Do They Do It?16:35 How Do They Do It?17:00 How The Universe Works17:50 Sport Science18:40 Food Factory19:05 Food Factory19:30 Battle Factory19:55 Battle Factory20:20 Moon Machines21:10 How Do They Do It?21:35 How Do They Do It?22:00 Battle Factory22:25 Battle Factory22:50 Through The Wormhole WithMorgan Freeman23:40 How It’s Made

00:00 The Soup00:30 The Drama Queen01:25 The Drama Queen02:20 E! News03:15 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills03:40 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills04:10 THS05:05 Beyond Candid WithGiuliana06:00 Kourtney And Kim TakeMiami06:55 Kourtney And Kim TakeMiami07:50 Style Star08:20 E! News09:15 Giuliana & Bill10:15 Giuliana & Bill11:10 Eric And Jessie: Game On11:35 Eric And Jessie: Game On12:05 E! News13:05 Extreme Close-Up13:35 Pop Innovators14:30 Style Star15:00 Kourtney And Khloe TakeThe Hamptons16:00 Kourtney And Khloe TakeThe Hamptons17:00 Who Wore It Better?17:30 Who Wore It Better?18:00 E! News19:00 Keeping Up With TheKardashians20:00 House Of DVF21:00 Fashion Bloggers21:30 Fashion Bloggers22:00 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills22:30 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills23:00 E!ES

January’s Next Chapter22:40 Long Island Medium23:05 Too Ugly For Love?23:55 Breaking Amish

13:30 Dukes Of Haggle13:55 Storage Wars Canada14:20 Alaska: The Last Frontier15:10 Kindig Customs16:00 Fast N’ Loud16:50 How It’s Made17:15 How It’s Made17:40 Close-Up Kings18:30 Gold Rush19:20 Gold Divers20:10 Dallas Car Sharks20:35 Storage Wars Canada21:00 Gold Rush21:50 Gold Divers22:40 Alaska: The Last Frontier23:30 Close-Up Kings

18:40 Liv And Maddie19:05 H2O: Just Add Water19:30 Violetta20:20 Binny And The Ghost20:45 H2O: Just Add Water21:10 Good Luck Charlie21:35 Wizards Of Waverly Place22:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place22:25 Sabrina: Secrets Of ATeenage Witch22:50 Sabrina: Secrets Of ATeenage Witch23:10 Wolfblood23:35 Wolfblood

00:00 Violetta00:50 Sabrina: Secrets Of ATeenage Witch01:15 Sabrina: Secrets Of ATeenage Witch01:40 Wolfblood02:05 Wolfblood02:30 Violetta03:20 Sabrina: Secrets Of ATeenage Witch03:45 Sabrina: Secrets Of ATeenage Witch04:10 Wolfblood04:35 Wolfblood05:00 Violetta05:50 Mouk06:00 Dog With A Blog06:25 Binny And The Ghost06:50 Girl Meets World07:15 H2O: Just Add Water07:40 Jessie08:05 Wizards Of Waverly Place08:30 Wizards Of Waverly Place08:55 Austin & Ally09:20 Austin & Ally09:45 Gravity Falls10:10 Gravity Falls10:35 Sabrina: Secrets Of ATeenage Witch11:00 Sabrina: Secrets Of ATeenage Witch11:25 Jessie11:50 Jessie12:15 Austin & Ally12:40 Austin & Ally13:05 Good Luck Charlie13:30 Good Luck Charlie13:55 Gravity Falls14:20 H2O: Just Add Water14:50 Evermoor15:20 Spooksville15:45 Girl Meets World16:10 Violetta17:00 Jump In!

00:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives00:30 Siba’s Table01:00 Siba’s Table01:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives02:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives02:30 Rev Run’s Sunday Suppers03:00 Siba’s Table: Fast Feasts03:30 Best In Chow04:00 Best In Chow04:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives05:00 Chopped06:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics06:30 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics07:00 Roadtrip With G. Garvin07:30 Roadtrip With G. Garvin08:00 Chopped09:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics09:30 Farm Kings10:30 The Big Eat...11:00 Mexican Made Easy11:30 Chopped12:30 Siba’s Table13:00 Guy’s Big Bite13:30 Guy’s Big Bite14:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives14:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives15:00 Guy’s Grocery Games16:00 Chopped17:00 Guy’s Big Bite17:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives18:00 Siba’s Table18:30 The Big Eat...19:00 Chopped20:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives20:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives21:00 Barefoot Contessa - Specials22:00 Jonathan Phang’s CaribbeanCookbook22:30 Jonathan Phang’s CaribbeanCookbook23:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives23:30 Chopped

00:45 Railroad Alaska01:35 Railroad Alaska02:25 Railroad Alaska03:15 Railroad Alaska04:05 Railroad Alaska05:00 Deadly Dilemmas05:30 Deadly Dilemmas06:00 Alaska: The Last Frontier06:50 Wheeler Dealers: Top 507:40 Fast N’ Loud08:30 Storage Hunters08:55 Dukes Of Haggle09:20 Storage Wars Canada09:45 How It’s Made10:10 How It’s Made10:35 Fast N’ Loud11:25 Misfit Garage12:15 Wheeler Dealers13:05 Storage Hunters

03:00 Art Attack03:25 Julius Jr.03:35 Calimero03:50 Henry Hugglemonster04:00 Zou04:15 Mouk04:25 Jungle Junction04:35 Art Attack05:00 Julius Jr.05:10 Calimero05:25 Henry Hugglemonster05:35 Zou05:50 Mouk06:00 Jungle Junction06:10 Art Attack06:35 Julius Jr.06:45 Calimero07:00 Jungle Junction07:15 Zou07:30 Calimero07:45 Loopdidoo08:00 Limon And Oli08:10 Jake And The Never LandPirates08:35 Doc McStuffins09:05 Art Attack09:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse10:00 Sofia The First10:25 Sheriff Callie’s Wild West10:55 Calimero11:10 Jake And The Never Land

Pirates11:35 Limon And Oli11:45 Loopdidoo12:00 Justin Time12:15 Sofia The First12:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse13:10 Sheriff Callie’s Wild West13:35 Zou13:50 Jake And The NeverlandPirates14:15 Doc McStuffins14:45 Limon And Oli14:55 Loopdidoo15:10 Sofia The First15:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse16:00 Cars Toons16:05 Lilo & Stitch16:30 Adventures Of TheGummi Bears17:00 Chip n Dale RescueRangers17:25 Ducktales18:00 Art Attack18:30 Sofia The First18:55 Cars Toons19:00 The Adventures Of DisneyFairies19:30 Jake And The Never LandPirates19:45 Doc McStuffins20:00 Adventures Of TheGummi Bears20:30 Sofia The First20:55 Cars Toons21:00 Chip n Dale RescueRangers21:30 Ducktales22:00 Lilo & Stitch22:25 Art Attack22:55 Limon And Oli23:05 Zou23:20 Mouk23:35 Jungle Junction23:50 Art Attack00:15 Julius Jr.00:30 Calimero00:45 Henry Hugglemonster01:00 Zou01:15 Jungle Junction01:25 Art Attack01:50 Julius Jr.02:00 Calimero02:15 Henry Hugglemonster02:25 Zou

00:20 Bear Nomad

01:10 World’s Deadliest

02:00 Built For The Kill

02:50 The Phantom Cat

03:45 Bear Nomad

04:40 Planet Carnivore


06:30 The Phantom Cat

07:25 Bear Nomad

08:20 Fish Tank Kings

09:15 Wild Case Files

10:10 Evolutions

11:05 Yukon Vet

12:00 Shark Men


13:50 Sumatra’s Last Tiger

14:45 Animal Intervention


16:35 Invasion Of The Killer

Whales

17:30 Evolutions

18:25 Yukon Vet

19:20 Animal Intervention


21:00 Invasion Of The Killer

Whales

21:50 Evolutions

22:40 Yukon Vet

23:30 Shark Men

03:25 Who’s Doing The Dishes04:20 Love And Marriage: A 20thCentury Romance05:15 The Chase06:00 Midsomer Murders07:30 Who’s Doing The Dishes08:25 Love And Marriage: A 20thCentury Romance09:20 Harry At 3010:15 May The Best House Win11:10 Emmerdale11:35 Emmerdale12:00 Coronation Street12:30 The Chase13:25 May The Best House Win14:20 Paul O’Grady: For The LoveOf Dogs14:45 Big Star Little Star15:30 Eggheads16:05 Eggheads16:30 The Doctor Blake Mysteries17:25 The Doctor Blake Mysteries18:20 The Chase19:00 Coronation Street19:30 Eggheads20:00 Eggheads20:30 The Doctor Blake Mysteries21:25 The Doctor Blake Mysteries22:20 Coronation Street22:50 Emmerdale23:15 Emmerdale23:45 May The Best House Win

00:00 D-Day Sacrifice01:00 Inside World War II02:00 Situation Critical03:00 Air Crash Investigation04:00 Wild Indonesia05:00 Britain’s Greatest Machines06:00 America’s Lost Treasures07:00 Money Meltdown07:30 Money Meltdown08:00 D-Day Sacrifice09:00 Inside World War II10:00 Situation Critical11:00 Wild Indonesia12:00 Wild Russia13:00 Banged Up Abroad14:00 D-Day Sacrifice15:00 Megastructures16:00 Money Meltdown16:30 Money Meltdown17:00 Family Guns18:00 Years of Living Dangerously19:00 Megastructures20:00 Money Meltdown20:30 Money Meltdown21:00 Family Guns22:00 Years of Living Dangerously23:00 Wild Indonesia

00:00 Enlisted00:30 The Daily Show With JonStewart01:00 Hot In Cleveland01:30 Getting On02:00 Getting On02:30 Friends With Better Lives03:00 Cristela04:30 The Tonight Show StarringJimmy Fallon07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers09:00 Cristela09:30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine10:00 Men At Work11:00 The Tonight Show StarringJimmy Fallon14:30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine15:00 Men At Work15:30 The Daily Show With JonStewart16:00 Hot In Cleveland17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers18:00 Cristela19:00 About A Boy20:00 Mulaney20:30 Enlisted21:00 The Daily Show With JonStewart21:30 Last Week Tonight With JohnOliver22:05 Girls22:30 Silicon Valley23:00 Togetherness23:30 Mulaney

08:00 Rake12:00 Emmerdale12:30 Coronation Street14:00 Rake16:00 Emmerdale16:30 Coronation Street18:00 Rake19:00 Red Band Society20:00 Revenge21:00 Helix22:00 Game Of Thrones

02:00 Good Morning America06:00 Good Morning America07:30 Coronation Street09:00 Royal Pains10:30 Coronation Street12:00 Covert Affairs14:00 Live Good Morning America16:00 Royal Pains17:00 Covert Affairs19:00 Royal Pains20:00 Covert Affairs22:00 Bates Motel23:00 The Assets

00:00 Shaft02:00 Darkness Falls04:00 Prisoners Of The Sun06:00 Tactical Force08:00 Recoil10:00 Brave12:00 Tactical Force14:00 Shadow Conspiracy16:00 Recoil18:00 Fatal Instinct20:00 Brave22:00 A Good Day To Die Hard

00:00 Darkness Falls-PG1502:00 Prisoners Of The Sun-PG1504:00 Tactical Force-PG1506:00 Recoil-PG1508:00 Brave-PG1510:00 Tactical Force-PG1512:00 Shadow Conspiracy-PG1514:00 Recoil-PG1516:00 Fatal Instinct-PG1518:00 Brave-PG1520:00 A Good Day To Die Hard22:00 Escape Plan-PG15

03:00 Live NHL07:00 Golfing World08:00 Snooker WorldChampionship12:00 Live NRL Premiership14:00 Golfing World15:00 Volvo Ocean Race16:30 Live Snooker WorldChampionship20:00 PGA Tour Highlights21:00 Live Snooker WorldChampionship

03:00 Snooker WorldChampionship10:00 Golfing World12:00 Live Snooker WorldChampionship18:00 Golfing World19:00 WWE Experience20:00 WWE Afterburn21:00 WWE This Week21:30 Volvo Ocean Race

08:00 Foodfight!10:00 Son Of The Mask12:00 Last Vegas14:00 See Spot Run16:00 The Life Aquatic With SteveZissou18:00 Imogene20:00 Life22:00 Go

01:00 Diana-PG1503:00 The Citizen-PG1505:00 The Trouble With Bliss-PG1507:00 Seven Days In Utopia-PG1509:00 The Magic Of Belle Isle11:00 The Trouble With Bliss-PG1513:00 There Be Dragons-PG1515:00 Stolen Child-PG1517:00 The Magic Of Belle Isle19:00 Every Day-PG1521:00 McCanick-PG1523:00 American Hustle-18

00:00 Close Encounters Of TheThird Kind: Directors Cut02:30 Heart Of The Country04:00 The Portrait Of A Lady06:30 As Good As It Gets09:00 Quiz Show11:30 Tales Of The Night13:30 The Portrait Of A Lady16:00 As Good As It Gets18:30 The Fifth Estate21:00 Prisoners

01:00 House Of Versace-PG1502:45 The Butler-PG1505:00 Grace Unplugged-PG07:00 Return To Nim’s Island-PG09:00 Planes: Fire And Rescue-PG11:00 Moms’ Night Out-PG13:00 The Pretty One-PG1515:00 Muppets Most Wanted-PG17:00 Planes: Fire And Rescue-PG18:30 Captain America: The WinterSoldier-PG1521:00 Escapee-PG1523:00 Riddick-18

01:00 Quest For A Heart02:45 Eleanor’s Secret04:30 The Olsen Gang In DeepTrouble06:00 Barbie And The Magic OfPegasus08:00 Krazzy Planet10:00 Fred 2: Night Of The LivingFred11:30 Garfield’s Pet Force13:00 Eleanor’s Secret14:30 Barbie As The IslandPrincess16:00 Space Dogs18:00 Fred 2: Night Of The LivingFred20:00 Back To The Sea22:00 Barbie As The IslandPrincess23:30 Space Dogs

14:00 Badges Of Fury-PG1516:00 Vamps-PG1518:00 Closed Circuit-PG1520:00 The Heat-PG1522:00 The Possession-PG15

01:30 Indian Premier League RPT :RCB v MI17:30 Live Indian Premier League :DD v KKR21:00 Indian Premier League H/L :RCB v SH22:00 Indian Premier League RPT :DD v KKR

TLC HD00:45 Secrets Of The High Street01:10 Secrets Of The High Street01:35 America’s Worst Tattoos02:00 Too Ugly For Love?02:50 Say Yes To The Dress03:15 Something Borrowed,Something New03:40 What Not To Wear04:30 Cake Boss05:00 Little People, Big World05:30 Extreme Couponing06:00 18 Kids And Counting06:25 Randy To The Rescue07:15 Say Yes To The Dress07:40 Something Borrowed,Something New08:05 Say Yes To The Dress: TheBig Day08:55 Kate Plus 809:45 Cake Boss10:10 Little People, Big World10:35 Extreme Couponing11:00 Toddlers & Tiaras11:50 Randy To The Rescue12:40 Randy To The Rescue13:30 The Next Great Baker14:20 Secrets Of The High Street14:45 Secrets Of The High Street15:10 Cake Boss15:35 Little People, Big World16:00 Toddlers & Tiaras16:50 Say Yes To The Dress17:15 Something Borrowed,Something New17:40 18 Kids And Counting18:05 Extreme Couponing18:30 What Not To Wear19:20 Secrets Of The High Street19:45 Secrets Of The High Street20:10 Your Style In His Hands21:00 Breaking Amish21:50 Born Schizophrenic:

03:00 True Crime WithAphrodite Jones03:45 Extreme Forensics04:30 Solved05:20 Forensic Detectives06:10 Forensic Detectives07:00 Deadly Affairs07:50 Fatal Encounters08:40 Murder Shift09:30 I Was Murdered09:55 Stalked: Someone’sWatching10:20 Forensic Detectives11:10 True Crime WithAphrodite Jones12:00 Blood Relatives12:50 On The Case With PaulaZahn13:40 Who On Earth Did IMarry?14:05 Who On Earth Did IMarry?14:30 True Crime WithAphrodite Jones15:20 Great Crimes And Trials15:45 Stalked: Someone’sWatching16:10 Murder Shift17:00 Blood Relatives17:50 Fatal Encounters18:40 Forensic Detectives19:30 On The Case With PaulaZahn20:20 The Will: Family SecretsRevealed21:10 Who On Earth Did IMarry?21:35 Who On Earth Did IMarry?22:00 True Crime WithAphrodite Jones22:50 Extreme Forensics23:40 Dates From Hell00:05 Dates From Hell00:30 I Faked My Own Death01:20 Nightmare Next Door02:10 True Crime WithAphrodite Jones

00:35 Mr Selfridge01:30 Celebrity Exposed: PhotosOf Richard Young02:00 Emmerdale02:25 Emmerdale02:55 Coronation Street

00:00 Ghost Dad02:00 Last Vegas04:00 The Life Aquatic With SteveZissou06:00 Admission

00:00 Celeste And Jesse Forever-PG1502:00 Maleficent-PG04:00 Europa Report-PG1506:00 Turbo-PG08:00 Vamps-PG1510:00 Quartet-PG1512:00 The Monuments Men-PG15

ClassifiedsMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

Kuwait

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

DIAL161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Arrival Flights on Monday 20/4/2015Airlines Flt Route TimeQTR 1084 Doha 00:05THY 772 Istanbul 00:15JZR 239 Amman 00:20JZR 267 Beirut 00:30DLH 637 Dammam 00:35FDB 068 Dubai 00:55JAI 574 Mumbai 01:30JZR 539 Cairo 01:30ETH 3403 Addis Ababa/Riyadh 01:35PGT 858 Istanbul 01:40RJA 642 Amman 01:45GFA 211 Bahrain 02:15UAE 853 Dubai 02:25OMA 643 Muscat 02:35QTR 1076 Doha 03:05ETD 305 Abu Dhabi 03:05CEB 7694 Manila 03:10FDB 067 Dubai 03:15MSR 612 Cairo 03:15SYR 341 Latakia 03:20KAC 1544 Cairo 03:35MSC 401 Alexandria 04:00THY 770 Istanbul 04:40DHX 170 Bahrain 05:10KAC 412 Manila/Bangkok 06:15BAW 157 London 06:35KAC 206 Islamabad 07:30KAC 382 Delhi 07:40FDB 053 Dubai 07:50QTR 1086 Doha 07:55KAC 302 Mumbai 07:55KAC 344 Chennai 08:15KAC 352 Kochi 08:15UAE 855 Dubai 08:25KAC 362 Colombo 08:30ABY 125 Sharjah 09:05IRA 667 Esfahan 09:05ETD 301 Abu Dhabi 09:10KAC 284 Dhaka 09:25GFA 047 Bahrain 09:35FDB 055 Dubai 09:40KAC 350 Kochi 09:40QTR 1070 Doha 10:00GFA 213 Bahrain 10:40UAE 873 Dubai 10:40IRC 6521 Lamerd 10:50MEA 404 Beirut 10:55MSC 405 Sohag 11:20JZR 561 Sohag 11:25AGY 680 Alexandria 11:40JZR 165 Dubai 11:50AXB 889 Mangalore/Bahrain 12:15FDB 075 Dubai 12:25UAE 871 Dubai 12:45MSR 610 Cairo 13:00THY 766 Istanbul 13:10KAC 620 Doha 13:10KAC 672 Dubai 13:55QTR 1078 Doha 14:05

KNE 460 Riyadh 14:10GFA 221 Bahrain 14:20FDB 057 Dubai 14:20SVA 500 Jeddah 14:30KNE 472 Jeddah 14:55KAC 538 Sohag 14:55KAC 788 Jeddah 15:00OMA 645 Muscat 15:05ABY 127 Sharjah 15:35UAE 857 Dubai 15:45RJA 640 Amman 15:55FDB 051 Dubai 16:10QTR 1072 Doha 16:20KAC 118 New York 16:30ETD 303 Abu Dhabi 16:50KAC 792 Madinah 16:50KAC 562 Amman 17:00SVA 510 Riyadh 17:15GFA 215 Bahrain 17:30JZR 177 Dubai 17:45JZR 777 Jeddah 17:50FDB 065 Dubai 18:05GFA 048 Istanbul 18:20KAC 786 Jeddah 18:35KAC 502 Beirut 18:35SYR 343 Damascus 18:45KAC 542 Cairo 18:55QTR 1080 Doha 18:55KAC 618 Doha 18:55KAC 104 London 19:00UAE 875 Dubai 19:05GFA 217 Bahrain 19:05FDB 063 Dubai 19:10KAC 614 Bahrain 19:10ABY 123 Sharjah 19:20JAI 572 Mumbai 19:35KAC 774 Riyadh 19:40FDB 061 Dubai 19:50AGY 684 Sohag 19:50OMA 647 Muscat 20:00KAC 674 Dubai 20:00KNE 480 Taif 20:10MEA 402 Beirut 20:15DLH 634 Frankfurt 20:20MSR 618 Alexandria 20:30ALK 229 Colombo 21:10ETD 307 Abu Dhabi 21:15UAE 859 Dubai 21:15FDB 073 Dubai 21:30QTR 1074 Doha 21:30GFA 219 Bahrain 21:45THY 764 Istanbul 22:10ETD 309 Abu Dhabi 22:10JZR 125 Bahrain 22:15AIC 975 Chennai 22:25FDB 059 Dubai 22:50JZR 185 Dubai 22:55JAI 526 Chennai/Abu Dhabi 23:00FDB 071 Dubai 23:35KLM 411 Amsterdam/Dammam 23:40PIA 205 Lahore 23:40

Arrival Flights on Monday 20/4/2015Airlines Flt Route TimeAIC 982 Ahmedabad/Hyderabad/Chennai 00:05BBC 044 Dhaka 00:10UAL 981 IAD 00:25JAI 573 Mumbai 00:25FDB 072 Dubai 00:30PIA 206 Lahore 00:40DLH 637 Frankfurt 01:35THY 773 Istanbul 02:05JAI 525 Abu Dhabi/Chennai 02:55PGT 859 Istanbul 02:55ETH 3403 Addis Ababa 03:05OMA 644 Muscat 03:35UAE 854 Dubai 03:45FDB 068 Dubai 04:00ETD 306 Abu Dhabi 04:05QTR 1077 Doha 04:05MSR 613 Cairo 04:15SYR 342 Latakia 04:20CEB 7695 Manila 04:40JZR 560 Sohag 05:00MSC 406 Sohag 05:00THY 765 Istanbul 05:05QTR 1085 Doha 05:20RJA 643 Amman 06:35GFA 212 Bahrain 06:50THY 771 Istanbul 06:50FDB 070 Dubai 07:05JZR 164 Dubai 07:15KAC 537 Sohag 08:20FDB 054 Dubai 08:30BAW 156 London 08:35QTR 1087 Doha 08:55KAC 671 Dubai 09:25KAC 787 Jeddah 09:30KAC 619 Doha 09:30ABY 126 Sharjah 09:45UAE 856 Dubai 09:50ETD 302 Abu Dhabi 10:00IRA 666 Esfahan 10:05GFA 047 Istanbul 10:20FDB 056 Dubai 10:40KAC 501 Beirut 11:00QTR 1071 Doha 11:00KAC 165 Rome/Paris 11:25KAC 561 Amman 11:25GFA 214 Bahrain 11:35IRC 6522 Lamerd 11:40MEA 405 Beirut 11:55KAC 791 Madinah 12:00KAC 541 Cairo 12:05UAE 874 Dubai 12:10KAC 103 London 12:10JZR 776 Jeddah 12:15MSC 402 Alexandria 12:20AGY 685 Sohag 12:40KAC 785 Jeddah 13:00JZR 176 Dubai 13:10FDB 076 Dubai 13:10AXB 890 Mangalore 13:15

MSR 611 Cairo 14:00THY 767 Istanbul 14:10UAE 872 Dubai 14:15QTR 1079 Doha 15:05FDB 058 Dubai 15:05GFA 222 Bahrain 15:05KNE 481 Taif 15:10KAC 617 Doha 15:15KAC 673 Dubai 15:20SVA 501 Jeddah 15:45KAC 773 Riyadh 15:55KNE 473 Jeddah 16:00KAC 613 Bahrain 16:00OMA 646 Muscat 16:05ABY 128 Sharjah 16:15RJA 641 Amman 16:55JZR 266 Beirut 17:05FDB 052 Dubai 17:10QTR 1073 Doha 17:25UAE 858 Dubai 17:40ETD 304 Abu Dhabi 17:40SVA 511 Riyadh 18:15JZR 184 Dubai 18:20GFA 216 Bahrain 18:20JZR 538 Cairo 18:40JZR 238 Amman 18:45FDB 066 Dubai 18:55GFA 048 Bahrain 19:05JZR 124 Bahrain 19:20SYR 344 Damascus 19:45GFA 218 Bahrain 19:50FDB 064 Dubai 19:50QTR 1081 Doha 19:55ABY 124 Sharjah 20:00KAC 361 Colombo 20:00UAE 876 Dubai 20:35JAI 571 Mumbai 20:35FDB 062 Dubai 20:35AGY 681 Alexandria 20:50KAC 1543 Cairo 20:55OMA 648 Muscat 21:00KAC 331 Trivandrum 21:00KAC 351 Kochi 21:05KAC 283 Dhaka 21:05KNE 461 Riyadh 21:10MEA 403 Beirut 21:15MSR 619 Alexandria 21:30DHX 171 Bahrain 21:50ETD 308 Abu Dhabi 22:05FDB 074 Dubai 22:10ALK 230 Colombo 22:20UAE 860 Dubai 22:25KAC 349 Kochi 22:30KAC 301 Mumbai 22:30KAC 381 Delhi 22:30QTR 1075 Doha 22:40GFA 220 Bahrain 22:45ETD 310 Abu Dhabi 23:00KAC 205 Islamabad 23:05KAC 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:25FDB 060 Dubai 23:50

SHARQIA-1CHILD 44 12:00 PMCHILD 44 2:45 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 5:30 PMCHILD 44 7:30 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 10:15 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 12:15 AM

SHARQIA-2PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 1:00 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 3:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 5:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 7:30 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 10:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 12:30 AM

SHARQIA-3LAST KNIGHTS 11:45 AMLAST KNIGHTS 2:00 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 4:15 PMLAST KNIGHTS 6:15 PMASWAR AL QUMAR- Arabic 8:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 10:45 PMLAST KNIGHTS 12:45 AM

MUHALAB-1BIG GAME 12:15 PMBIG GAME 2:15 PMBIG GAME 4:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 6:15 PMASWAR AL QUMAR- Arabic 8:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 10:30 PMBIG GAME 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-2CHILD 44 11:30 AMCHILD 44 2:15 PMLAST KNIGHTS 5:00 PMCHILD 44 7:15 PMLAST KNIGHTS 10:00 PMCHILD 44 12:15 AM

MUHALAB-3PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 12:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 2:30 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 4:30 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 7:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 9:30 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 12:05 AM

FANAR-1CHILD 44 11:30 AMCHILD 44 2:15 PMCHILD 44 5:00 PMASWAR AL QUMAR- Arabic 7:45 PMASWAR AL QUMAR- Arabic 9:45 PMCHILD 44 12:05 AM

FANAR-2BIG GAME 11:30 AMLAST KNIGHTS 1:30 PMBIG GAME 3:45 PMCINDERELLA 5:45 PMLAST KNIGHTS 8:00 PMBIG GAME 10:30 PMLAST KNIGHTS 12:30 AM

FANAR-3KILL ME THREE TIMES 12:45 PMPRESERVATION 2:45 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 4:45 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 6:45 PMPRESERVATION 8:45 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 10:45 PM

PRESERVATION 12:45 AM

FANAR-4PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 12:00 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 2:00 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 4:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 6:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 8:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 10:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 12:15 AM

FANAR-5PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 1:00 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 3:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 5:00 PMMR. X -Hindi 5:00 PMNO THU+FRI+SATFAST & FURIOUS 7 7:30 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 10:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 12:30 AM

MARINA-1CHILD 44 12:15 PMBIG GAME 3:00 PMCHILD 44 5:15 PMBIG GAME 8:00 PMCHILD 44 10:00 PMBIG GAME 12:45 AM

MARINA-2FAST & FURIOUS 7 1:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 3:45 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 6:30 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 9:15 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 12:15 AM

MARINA-3PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 12:45 PMLAST KNIGHTS 3:00 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 5:30 PMLAST KNIGHTS 7:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 9:45 PMLAST KNIGHTS 12:05 AM

AVENUES-1BIG GAME 12:00 PMBIG GAME 2:30 PMCINDERELLA 5:00 PMCINDERELLA 7:30 PMCINDERELLA 10:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 12:30 AM

AVENUES-2KILL ME THREE TIMES 11:45 AMKILL ME THREE TIMES 1:45 PMJUNGLE MASTER 3:45 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 5:45 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 7:45 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 9:45 PMKILL ME THREE TIMES 11:45 PM

AVENUES-3LAST KNIGHTS 11:45 AMLAST KNIGHTS 2:15 PMLAST KNIGHTS 4:45 PMLAST KNIGHTS 7:15 PMLAST KNIGHTS 9:45 PMLAST KNIGHTS 12:15 AM

AVENUES-4FAST & FURIOUS 7 11:30 AMFAST & FURIOUS 7 2:00 PMCHILD 44 4:45 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 7:30 PM

FAST & FURIOUS 7 10:15 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 12:45 AM

AVENUES-5PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 11:30 AMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 1:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 3:45 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 6:00 PMNO THUSpecial Show “PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2” 6:00 PMLAST KNIGHTS 8:15 PMSpecial Show “BIG GAME” 8:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 10:30 PMLAST KNIGHTS 1:00 AM

AVENUES-6PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 12:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 2:45 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 5:00 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 7:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 9:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 11:45 PM

360º- 1PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 11:30 AMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 1:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 3:45 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 6:00 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 8:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 10:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 12:45 AM

360º- 2BIG GAME 11:45 AMBIG GAME 2:00 PMBIG GAME 4:15 PMBIG GAME 6:30 PMBIG GAME 8:45 PMBIG GAME 11:00 PMBIG GAME 1:15 AM

360º- 3CYMBELINE 11:30 AMCYMBELINE 1:30 PMCAKE 3:30 PMCYMBELINE 5:45 PMCAKE 8:00 PMCYMBELINE 10:15 PMRUN ALL NIGHT 12:30 AM

AL-KOUT.1PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 12:45 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 3:15 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 5:15 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 7:30 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 10:00 PMFAST & FURIOUS 7 12:30 AM

AL-KOUT.2CHILD 44 12:00 PMCHILD 44 2:45 PMCINDERELLA 5:30 PMPAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 7:45 PMASWAR AL QUMAR- Arabic 9:45 PMCHILD 44 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.3BIG GAME 11:45 AMLAST KNIGHTS 1:45 PMBIG GAME 4:00 PMBIG GAME 6:00 PMLAST KNIGHTS 8:00 PMSKIN TRADE 10:15 PMLAST KNIGHTS 12:15 AM

Kncc Programme From Thursday To Wednesday (16/04/2015 To 22/04/2015)

Prayer timings

Fajr: 03:54Shorook 0517Duhr: 11:48Asr: 15:22Maghrib: 18:17Isha: 19:37

MATRIMONIAL

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CHANGE OF NAME

FOR SALE

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Tamilnadu 600019 hadembraced Islam andchanged the name asMOHAMMED JAVID. (C 4969)15-4-2015

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Stay in touch with your own sense of direction. Because of distractions from your-self or others, you could lose touch with what you really want to accomplish. You will find inspira-tion from the words of a friend. Some will be making plans to sign up for a course, a lecture or aseminar. You enjoy learning and creating opportunities to grow wise. You have a natural urge toget serious about taking care of yourself at many levels. This means diet, exercise and work areneeded to help bring about a balance in your life; you may consider a health group. Yourthoughtful ways have been noticed. Someone extends you a nice favor and you could even bereceiving something nice from a relative. If you are shopping this evening, compare prices.

You may find yourself somewhat at odds with those around you today. You maybe unable to get the support you require or find that some of your supply lines have been dimin-ished or cut off for now. This is a good time to see just how self-reliant you can be. Someone maychallenge you-we are not talking dares, however. Don’t be afraid to say no. You can move pastold habits and encourage others through your example. You are in a serious but good frame ofmind and find yourself dealing with matters of much responsibility when it comes to decisionmaking. Later today you can take the opportunity to give yourself a break and go to the library, abookstore, or a video store. Just try to sit back and let your mind have some relaxation time.Laugh a little.

Charisma, self-transformation and the development of personal power are thethings that play a bigger role in your life. Remember that tiny causes can lead to

big effects. This is a time of profound changes in many areas of your life. New ideas and an inde-pendent or pioneering mental orientation take on importance. Sales in real estate can soon beprosperous-yes, even though sales have been slow lately. Work in import-export can be produc-tive and you may find sources on the internet a positive venue for a short while. You find yourselfin a very practical mood and working with, instead of against, yourself. A book review with afriend is fun this evening. Fun conversations and what-if scenarios may leave you wanting tochat about a few more books.

Honeysuckle or orange-blossom scents can be enjoyed in your home this morn-ing. These scents can be purchased if you do not have the plants available. Your energy workswell with these scents and can help you to relax. You are in the mood to beautify your surround-ings and may be looking at some ideas in magazines for new wallpaper or wall hangings. Yourfriends may want you to join them in some group gathering later today. General good feeling anda sense of support makes this a happy time. Your feelings are most positive today. Socially, youwill be meeting with more than one opportunity for good times. A business contact is an assetand you may be pleasantly surprised at the results of a little networking during these social gath-erings.

You will be putting a great deal of energy into family matters early this day. Bewilling to compromise and all sorts of positive things will happen. Do not take chances or risks justnow. Be satisfied with the ordinary and usual. Novel ideas or insights could be more damagingthan useful. You and your partner should concentrate on relaxation and garden-filled opportuni-ties this afternoon. This is a good time for your love life. If you are single, be prepared for a newlove. Children will want much attention over the next few months so, if there is any chance to giveover your afternoon to an energy filled youth-you may be pleased with the fun. Some special cui-sine later this evening will bring everyone together with words of appreciation.

You are able to get to the heart of a disturbing matter today with simple ques-tions. Revealing the cause of an underlying problem can bring about a clear message towardfuture steps. You could be stubborn about a matter today and it may be wise to think about yourown motives. You could find a hidden meaning in more than one thing today-careful. An abun-dance of motor skills is available for some form of team sports or group exercise this afternoon.Later in the day you just can’t seem to help becoming involved with lending a helping hand tocare for young people. Your expression is creative and you may find yourself teaching arts andcrafts to these young people. Everything seems to be working in a most positive way.

Today you may think you are inspired! A community organization has yourattention. You can demonstrate a great understanding and sensitivity about the needs ofothers. You are usually good about making yourself available to help others. You may want toencourage a friend to volunteer with you. Consider merging this volunteer work into your lifemore often-your service will be returned many times. A romantic interest and such creativepursuits as hobbies are outlets for much of your energy this afternoon. You may find yourselfat a hobby store or an art exhibit. You may decide to do a little shopping and add to your artor music supplies. A good book or movie is also a possibility. You are the attention tonight!

A co-worker may call or drop by to visit with you today. A request for youradvice or conversation would be best met with enthusiasm. There could be some banter andsomething witty will certainly make the two of you laugh. This visit may instigate the needfor research. Perhaps you will spend time in research this afternoon-perhaps the library. Youwill want to feel good about yourself and have energy to do the things you want to do. If youshow off your creative side you will find much pleasure from the results. Your talents aremany and if you gain a focus on some project you might want to tackle, your talent will be soobvious that others will gain a totally new view of you. Romantically speaking, the outlookpromises a deep love.

One of your greatest teachers is your own power of observation. Your power toabsorb impressions of the world around you gives you wonderful intuitive insights. When youlisten, your intuitive abilities will guide you toward successful opportunities. Timing is every-thing. Travel is favorable now and you may find yourself in a part of town that you had alwayswanted to investigate. Your energy is focused to succeed in matters pertaining to the family orhome. There may be a piece of property that benefits you and your family or a tourist attrac-tion that you kept putting off before today. A project around the home front will end success-fully. You may find yourself and a friend or part of the family enjoying a science fiction moviethis evening.

You may feel that you have grown by leaps and bounds lately. Progress in your lifeis easy to see. The habits and negative feelings of the past are truly behind you. Progressive peo-ple and idealistic groups or concepts play a more important role in your life now, as this new cyclebegins. This is a concern for something bigger than any one person-the good of the many out-weighs the needs of the few. You are coming into a time of experimenting with new mentallyentertained propositions-putting aside the old tried and true. This is certainly a good time to vol-unteer. You are at your most practical when it comes to dealing and working with others. Youknow what to do and can act without haste. You are asked to make use of your many talents.


Aries (March 21-April 19)

STAR TRACK

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Leo (July 23-August 22)

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

Libra (September 23-October 22)

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

CROSSWORD 878

ACROSS1. (informal) A bunch.5. On a ship, train, plane or other vehicle.12. One millionth of a gram.15. Type genus of the family Arcidae.16. Taxonomic kingdom comprising all liv-

ing or extinct plants.17. A river in north central Switzerland that

runs northeast into the Rhine.18. The mother of Jesus.19. A period marked by distinctive charac-

ter or reckoned from a fixed point orevent.

20. An oil port in southern Iraq.22. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomit-

ing (especially in cases of drug overdoseor poisoning).

24. A small ball with a hole through themiddle.

26. A baton used by a magician or waterdiviner.

27. A radioactive element of the actinideseries.

29. Avatar of Vishnu.31. A cut of pork ribs with much of the

meat trimmed off.35. Capital and largest city of Lebanon.39. An airfoil that controls lateral motion.41. The use of nuclear magnetic resonance

of protons to produce proton densityimages.

42. The month following February and pre-ceding April.

44. Injured by bites or stings.45. Perennial plant of Europe and America

having racemes of white or purplishflowers and intensely bitter trifoliateleaves.

47. (astronomy) The angular distance of acelestial point measured westwardalong the celestial equator from thezenith crossing.

48. A city in southern Turkey on the SeyhanRiver.

50. Title for a civil or military leader (espe-cially in Turkey).

51. A device (used by carpenters) thatholds things firmly together v 1.

54. A feeling of strong eagerness (usually infavor of a person or cause).

55. Swiss hotelier who created a chain ofelegant hotels (1850-1918).

57. In an idle manner.58. Lower in esteem.60. 10 grams.62. Strike with disgust or revulsion.70. A party of people assembled in the

evening (usually at a private house).72. The longer of the two telegraphic sig-

nals used in Morse code.73. A pass between mountain peaks.74. Surpassing what is common or usual or

expected.76. A religious belief of African origin

involving witchcraft and sorcery.77. A lipoprotein that transports choles-

terol in the blood.78. A river in northeastern Brazil that flows

generally northward to the AtlanticOcean.

79. Infectious disease caused by a speciesof chlamydia bacterium.

DOWN1. The language of the nomadic Lapp peo-

ple in northern Scandinavia and the KolaPeninsula.

2. Cloak that is folded or wrapped around aperson.

3. A unit of area (4840 square yards) used inEnglish-speaking countries.

4. Childcare during the day while parentswork.

5. An organization of countries formed in1961 to agree on a common policy forthe sale of petroleum.

6. The branch of information science thatdeals with natural language information.

7. African tree having an exceedingly thicktrunk and fruit that resembles a gourdand has an edible pulp called monkeybread.

8. Belonging to some prior time.9. Essential oil or perfume obtained from

flowers.10. An intensely radioactive metallic ele-

ment that occurs in minute amounts inuranium ores.

11. A young woman making her debut intosociety.

12. An independent group of closely relat-ed Chadic languages spoken in the areabetween the Biu-Mandara and EastChadic languages.

13. (Old Testament) Cain and Abel were thefirst children of Adam and Eve born afterthe Fall of Man.

14. One-hundredth of a right angle.21. Look forward to the probably occur-

rence of.23. Type genus of the Aceraceae.25. A Chadic language spoken south of

Lake Chad.28. Assets in the form of money.30. Australian operatic soprano (1861-

1931).32. (Russian) Small fruit or meat turnover

baked or fried.33. Lighted up by or as by fire or flame.34. Capital and largest city of Italy.36. Humorously vulgar.37. A plumbing fixture (usually attached to

the wall) used by men to urinate.38. Clinical neurological syndrome charac-

terized by muscular twitching andcramps and (when severe) seizures.

40. A painful emotion resulting from anawareness of inadequacy or guilt.

43. A wad of something chewable as tobac-co.

46. A shop where a variety of goods aresold.

49. Do something that one considers to bebelow one's dignity.

52. Towards the side away from the wind.53. A tricycle (usually propelled by ped-

alling).56. Polish labor leader and statesman (born

in 1943).59. A short high tone produced as a signal

or warning.61. Sluggish tailless Australian arboreal

marsupial with gray furry ears and coat.63. A Russian unit of weight equal to

approximately 36 pounds.64. Something that resembles a pill in

shape or size.65. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising

solely the razorbill.66. Being one more than seven.67. A material effigy that is worshipped as a

god.68. Open-heart surgery in which the rib

cage is opened and a section of a bloodvessel is grafted from the aorta to thecoronary artery to bypass the blockedsection of the coronary artery andimprove the blood supply to the heart.

69. A knife used as a weapon.71. A writing implement with a point from

which ink flows.75. A soft yellowish-white trivalent metallic

element of the rare earth group.

Yesterday’s Solution



WORD SEARCH PUZZLE

34s t a r s

Daily SuDoku

Do not shorten the morning by getting up late-this will be a busy day. Your mag-netic personality is showing and you could charm anyone you wanted. You may be dressed inyour best spring frock for a social occasion with your friends this afternoon. You can enjoy reveal-ing that inner child in you today and through the ongoing fun you may discover parts of you thathave been hidden for a long time. Engaging in serious conversations between you and a siblingor a close relative may create a healing now. Make it a point to find the appropriate opportunityto change the conversation around to a lighter mood. Your ties to others are good and you seekto promote harmony in the interaction between people. This evening brings dreams and visions.

This is a good time to sway others to your cause through speeches or clever argu-ments. Your thinking is most lucid and grasping. Be careful, though, of taking it to the extreme intrying to find a logical reason for every event that occurs, especially the actions of a loved one. Youare filled with energy that is best enjoyed through the company of friends this afternoon. Theremay be an opportunity for a party or other type of social gathering-like a reunion. Go for it!Marriage and other close relationships give rise to great expectations, as a new cycle gets under-way in your life. This is a time to enjoy and appreciate your ties to others and to seek and promoteharmony in the interaction between people. Everything seems to be working favorably.

inf or m at ionMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

Ahmadi Sama Safwan Fahaeel Makka St 23915883Abu Halaifa Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd 23715414Danat Al-Sultan Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd 23726558

Jahra Modern Jahra Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 24575518Madina Munawara Jahra-Block 92 24566622

Capital Ahlam Fahad Al-Salem St 22436184Khaldiya Coop Khaldiya Coop 24833967

Farwaniya New Shifa Farwaniya Block 40 24734000Ferdous Coop Ferdous Coop 24881201Modern Safwan Old Kheitan Block 11 24726638

Hawally Tariq Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St 25726265Hana Salmiya-Amman St 25647075Ikhlas Hawally-Beirut St 22625999Hawally & Rawdha Hawally & Rawdha Coop 22564549Ghadeer Jabriya-Block 1A 25340559Kindy Jabriya-Block 3B 25326554Ibn Al-Nafis Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St 25721264Mishrif Coop Mishrif Coop 25380581Salwa Coop Salwa Coop 25628241

OphthalmologistsDr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT)Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426

General PractitionersDr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501

UrologistsDr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427

For labor-related inquiries and complaints:

Call MSAL hotline 128

Sabah Hospital 24812000

Amiri Hospital 22450005

Maternity Hospital 24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital 25312700

Chest Hospital 24849400

Farwaniya Hospital 24892010

Adan Hospital 23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital 24840300

Al-Razi Hospital 24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital 24874330/9

Kaizen center 25716707

Rawda 22517733

Adaliya 22517144

Khaldiya 24848075

Kaifan 24849807

Shamiya 24848913

Shuwaikh 24814507

Abdullah Salem 22549134

Nuzha 22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh 24814764

Qadsiya 22515088

Dasmah 22532265

Bneid Al-Gar 22531908

Shaab 22518752

Qibla 22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla 22451082

Mirqab 22456536

Sharq 22465401

Salmiya 25746401

Jabriya 25316254

Maidan Hawally 25623444

Bayan 25388462

Mishref 25381200

W Hawally 22630786

Sabah 24810221

Jahra 24770319

New Jahra 24575755

West Jahra 24772608

South Jahra 24775066

North Jahra 24775992

North Jleeb 24311795

Ardhiya 24884079

Firdous 24892674

Omariya 24719048

N Khaitan 24710044

Fintas 23900322

GOVERNORATE PHARMACY ADDRESS PHONE

Plastic Surgeons

Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari 22617700

Dr. Abdel Quttainah 25625030/60

Family Doctor

Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists

Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians

DrAdrian arbe 23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272

Dr. Salem soso 22618787

General Surgeons

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart

Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3

Paediatricians

Dr. Khaled Hamadi 25665898

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard 25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar 22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof 25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare 23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew 24334282

Dermatology

Dr. Mohammed Salam Bern University 23845955

Dentists

Dr Anil Thomas 3729596/3729581

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar 22641071/2

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed 22562226

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer 22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan 22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash 22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan 25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari 25620111

Neurologists

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan 25345875

Gastrologists

Dr. Sami Aman 22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali 22633135

Endocrinologist

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924

Physiotherapists & VD

Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288

Rheumatologists:

Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart

DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital 25339667

Consultant Cardiologist

Dr. Farida Al-Habib 2611555-2622555 MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

Soor CenterTel: 2290-1677Fax: 2290 1688

[email protected]

Psychologists/Psychotherapists

PRIVATE CLINICS

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Kaizen center25716707

Noor Clinic23845955

INTERNATIONALCALLS

Afghanistan 0093

Albania 00355

Algeria 00213

Andorra 00376

Angola 00244

Anguilla 001264

Antiga 001268

Argentina 0054

Armenia 00374

Australia 0061

Austria 0043

Bahamas 001242

Bahrain 00973

Bangladesh 00880

Barbados 001246

Belarus 00375

Belgium 0032

Belize 00501

Benin 00229

Bermuda 001441

Bhutan 00975

Bolivia 00591

Bosnia 00387

Botswana 00267

Brazil 0055

Brunei 00673

Bulgaria 00359

Burkina 00226

Burundi 00257

Cambodia 00855

Cameroon 00237

Canada 001

Cape Verde 00238

Cayman Islands 001345

Central African 00236

Chad 00235

Chile 0056

China 0086

Colombia 0057

Comoros 00269

Congo 00242

Cook Islands 00682

Costa Rica 00506

Croatia 00385

Cuba 0053

Cyprus 00357

Cyprus (Northern) 0090392

Czech Republic 00420

Denmark 0045

Diego Garcia 00246

Djibouti 00253

Dominica 001767

Dominican Republic 001809

Ecuador 00593

Egypt 0020

El Salvador 00503

England (UK) 0044

Equatorial Guinea 00240

Eritrea 00291

Estonia 00372

Ethiopia 00251

Falkland Islands 00500

Faroe Islands 00298

Fiji 00679

Finland 00358

France 0033

French Guiana 00594

French Polynesia 00689

Gabon 00241

Gambia 00220

Georgia 00995

Germany 0049

Ghana 00233

Gibraltar 00350

Greece 0030

Greenland 00299

Grenada 001473

Guadeloupe 00590

Guam 001671

Guatemala 00502

Guinea 00224

Guyana 00592

Haiti 00509

Holland (Netherlands) 0031

Honduras 00504

Hong Kong 00852

Hungary 0036

Ibiza (Spain) 0034

Iceland 00354

India 0091

Indian Ocean 00873

Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098

Iraq 00964

Ireland 00353

Italy 0039

Ivory Coast 00225

Jamaica 001876

Japan 0081

Jordan 00962

Kazakhstan 007

Kenya 00254

Kiribati 00686

Kuwait 00965

Kyrgyzstan 00996

Laos 00856

Latvia 00371

Lebanon 00961

Liberia 00231

Libya 00218

Lithuania 00370

Luxembourg 00352

Macau 00853

Macedonia 00389

Madagascar 00261

Majorca 0034

Malawi 00265

Malaysia 0060

Maldives 00960

Mali 00223

Malta 00356

Marshall Islands 00692

Martinique 00596

Mauritania 00222

Mauritius 00230

Mayotte 00269

Mexico 0052

Micronesia 00691

Moldova 00373

Monaco 00377

Mongolia 00976

Montserrat 001664

Morocco 00212

Mozambique 00258

Myanmar (Burma) 0095

Namibia 00264

Nepal 00977

Netherlands 0031

Netherlands Antilles 00599

New Caledonia 00687

New Zealand 0064

Nicaragua 00505

Nigar 00227

Nigeria 00234

Niue 00683

Norfolk Island 00672

N. Ireland (UK) 0044

North Korea 00850

Norway 0047

Oman 00968

Pakistan 0092

Palau 00680

Panama 00507

Papua New Guinea 00675

Paraguay 00595

Peru 0051

Philippines 0063

Poland 0048

Portugal 00351

Puerto Rico 001787

Qatar 00974

Romania 0040

Russian Federation 007

Rwanda 00250

Saint Helena 00290

Saint Kitts 001869

Saint Lucia 001758

Saint Pierre 00508

Saint Vincent 001784

Samoa US 00684

Samoa West 00685

San Marino 00378

Sao Tone 00239

Saudi Arabia 00966

Scotland (UK) 0044

Senegal 00221

Seychelles 00284

Sierra Leone 00232

Singapore 0065

Slovakia 00421

Slovenia 00386

Solomon Islands 00677

Somalia 00252

South Africa 0027

South Korea 0082

Spain 0034

Sri Lanka 0094

Sudan 00249

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Tanzania 00255

Thailand 0066

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Tonga 00676

Tokelau 00690

Trinidad 001868

Tunisia 00216

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Tuvalu 00688

Uganda 00256

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USA 001

Uzbekistan 00998

Vanuatu 00678

Venezuela 00582

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Yemen 00967

Yugoslavia 00381

Zambia 00260

Zimbabwe 00263

36L I F E S T Y L EMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

G o s s i p

Henderson and O’Donoghuecollaboration

Ella Henderson and Danny O’Donoghue’s collaboration is an “emotional power ballad”. Last week, itwas announced that The Script frontman and the 19-year-old ‘Ghost’ singer recently met to workon a musical collaboration and it’s now been revealed that the song is going to be a “gushy” ballad.

Ella’s band member, Josh, told BANG Showbiz: “We listened to the song the other day and it is the per-fect emotional power ballad.”It sounds really good, it’s very pop but still soulful - You could say it’s prettygushy. “They are the perfect people to do a song together and it looks like this song will probably be thefirst in a few that they will do together. They really enjoyed it and they got on well.” The former ‘X Factor’contestant is currently working on her studio album, while the Irish pop singer, 34, recently admitted heis becoming more heavily involved in the song-writing side of the music industry. Danny said he isenjoying working with a variety of acts and producers behind the scenes. And speaking prior to hook-ing up musically together, Danny admitted: “[Ella is] an amazing vocalist.”

Evans asks Marvelbosses to be more sympathetic Chris Evans thinks Marvel bosses “need to sympathize” with

the pressure of muscle gain. The ‘Captain America’ actorconfessed that a “body can only take so much” and in

Hollywood, it’s tough to achieve the ultra buff body that Marvelproducers desire when a body may not naturally become thatbig. The 33-year-old star revealed: “One of the things I’ve alwayssaid to the higher-ups at Marvel, is they have to sympathize withthe fact that we’re all trying to put on as much muscle as wepossibly can, but these suits are so counterproductive.” What’smore, Chris revealed the specific problems with trying to main-tain his physique. He told Gay Times magazine: “Once you startfilming you’re only losing weight. It’s so hard to maintain yoursize, that’s why you try and get as big as you possibly can priorto filming because by the time you finish shooting you’re gonnabe about ten pounds lighter. “The second we’ve finished filmingI don’t even think about the gym for months. I’m actually justgetting back into it right now. I started picking up some weightsaround February. It takes about three months to get back whereyou were.”

Mumford and Sons wanted name change Mumford & Sons hate their name. The ‘I Will Wait’ hitmakers share songwriting duties and frontman Marcus Mumford doesn’t like the fact their moniker sounds like he is their

driving force and he admits they considered re-Christening themselves. He said: “I definitely regret the band name. If I’d known it was going to go this way I would have wantedto call it anything other than my last name. “It’s a ball-ache. We thought about changing it but it’s a bit late now.” The group have moved away from the folk sound of their first

two albums on new record ‘Wilder Mind’ and are relieved to have shed their tweed waistcoats and bow ties in favor of leather jackets, in keeping with their new image. Keyboard playerBen Lovett said: “I think it would be fair to say that we’ve noticed that in some of our old photos we look like absolute idiots. “There were so many car crashes. We look like us in our pho-tos now. I don’t even want to describe how we used to look.” However, Marcus insists they haven’t made a calculated attempt to change their style. He told NME magazine: “We didn’t sitdown and say, ‘Let’s wear leather guys’. Over an eight-year period you behave differently. You go to different places, you probably have different friends. You wear different clothes. “Wedidn’t hire a stylist and say, ‘Let’s rebrand ourselves.’ “

Al Pacino doesn’t shop Al Pacino hasn’t done his own grocery shop-

ping for 50 years. The 74-year-old screen leg-end - who has a grown-up daughter, Julie

Marie, with an ex-partner and 14-year-old twinsAnton and Olivia with former girlfriend BeverlyD’Angelo - admits he hasn’t been able to lead a nor-mal life since finding fame several decades ago. Hesaid: “I haven’t been in a grocery store or ridden asubway in 50 years.” The ‘Godfather’ star insists hedoesn’t mind being recognized when he is out andabout, though his kids find it harder to deal with. Hesaid: “I don’t mind [fame] but my kids have a difficulttime going out with me publicly.”I’m fine not havinganonymity, I’ve sort of learnt how to live with it.” The‘Danny Collins’ star will support his children if theydecide to follow in his footsteps because he thinksthey are already showing signs of talent. Asked if hewould encourage his kids into showbiz, he toldBritain’s HELLO! magazine: “If there is talent - whichthere is - I will. Who else is going to hire me when Iget old? “My youngest daughter made a video theother day - just like that - put it together, edited, didthe whole thing. Amazing.”

Stallone wants to be Jane BondSylvester Stallone wants to play Jane Bond. The

68-year-old actor doesn’t think he has what ittakes to play iconic British spy James Bond - who

is currently portrayed by Daniel Craig - but would liketo try a new take on the famous franchise. Asked if hewants to play Bond, he said: “Oh my God, maybe JaneBond. I don’t think James would work. My Englishaccent is not worthy of the kingdom.” The‘Expendables’ star thinks actors are not like “regularfolk” because they have such extreme mood swingsand big egos, but he thinks that masks low self-esteem. He said: “All actors are a little off-centre.They’re not regular folk - they’re very sensitive, mal-leable and impressionable. “They have mood swingsat times. The beauty of a good actor is that you canswing these moods when the camera requires. “Actorshave big egos but quite often it’s in a ‘he doth protesttoo much’ kind of way.” Though he has never won anOscar, the actor thinks his time will come one day. Hetold Britain’s OK! magazine: “It depends on the moodof Hollywood, it’s a cyclic thing. “Eventually, if you’rearound long enough, you get appreciated for longevi-ty, which to me is the greatest Oscar of all - workingand providing entertainment.” —Bang Showbiz

With the onset of summer, (the seasonof parties, travel, events), it’s thattime of year when a lot of people

gear up to hit the beach and get a nice tangoing for nice looking. Which also meansbeing exposed to the sun for prolonged peri-ods of time. As it is the case with most things,too much of the sun’s rays can prove to beharmful for us in the long run. So what can aperson do to get that sun-kissed glow withoutexposure to the sun’s damaging rays?

The demand for indoor tanning has beenat a constant rise since the past few years.Especially amongst the younger audiences.Not only is it a quicker and safer alternative, italso ensures that you can flaunt yourself in ashade of your choice.

Along with its range of the world’s finestbeauty products, Al-Jothen offers series ofLuxura tanning beds. Using some of the mostinnovative methods and advanced technolo-gy in the industry, Luxura, one of the leadingbrands in the world, gives customers a beauti-

ful natural tan without damaging the skin withits certified technology. Tanning beds use fluo-rescent bulbs that emit mostly UVA, withsmaller doses of UVB. The UVA radiation is upto three times more intense than the UVA innatural sunlight, and even the UVB intensitymay approach that of bright sunlight. This notonly ensures in an even tan, but also quickerresults. Indoor tanning helps your skin inbuilding a base that eventually protects youfrom sunburn. It does so with a sunscreen rat-ed SPF4. This way, tanning with LuxuraSunbeds is an excellent way to stimulate yourskin’s natural production of Vitamin D. VitaminD is essential to skin and bone health and hasbeen known to help reduce risk for severaltypes of cancer.

The attractive range of Luxura sunbeds isavailable in various versions, from basic mod-els for smaller spaces to bigger ones offeringabsolute luxury. There are horizontal and verti-cal models and even some fabulous color vari-ants. Luxura also offers a wide range of option-

al features. Customers can enjoy their favoritemusic in surround sound through 4 hi-fispeakers a sub-woofer. The Q-SENS technolo-gy ensures that the whole experience is natu-rally refreshing, with a gentle mist of fragrancesprayed across the body at regular intervals.Other features include ambient lighting sys-tem, SLi facial tanner, a balanced power sys-tem and much more. Some models even havea built-in changing room facility.

“Luxura is a revolution in sunless tanning.But we must keep in mind that overuse of thistechnology has its drawbacks”, saidMohammed Madi, President of Al-JothenGroup. “To truly enjoy the benefits and ease ofsunbed tanning, one must insure that it isdone in moderation.” Apart from being one ofthe safest ways to get a tan, Luxura Sunbedsalso make it easy to achieve the perfect tanand will help customers looking their bestwhen they want to hit the beach, or celebratea big event, or even just looking good andfeeling better every day.

Get sun-kissed and summer-ready: Al-Jothen introduces Luxura tanning sunbeds

37L I F E S T Y L EMONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

M u s i c & M o v i e s

Joan Jett couldn’t keep her rough rockeredge for long. Once she was inducted intothe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jett was

overcome by the moment and moved to tears.“I tried not to cry and be tough,” she said, herblack mascara starting to run. Jett and othermusic legends were welcomed into the Rockand Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday night, anevening made special with two of the Beatlesset to come together and play. Ringo Starr,previously enshrined with the Beatles in 1988,is being inducted along Jett and TheBlackhearts, pop punks Green Day, soulsinger-songwriter Bill Withers, underground-rock icon Lou Reed, bluesy guitarist Stevie RayVaughan and Double Trouble, The PaulButterfield Blues Band and The “5” Royales.

‘Bad Reputation’For the third time, the star-studded cere-

mony is being held at Cleveland’s legendaryPublic Hall, where thousands of fans werealready on their feet when Jett, wearing blackleather, opened the evening with a rip-roaringversion of “Bad Reputation.” She was thenjoined by Foo Fighters frontman and formerNirvana drummer Dave Grohl for a blistering“Cherry Bomb,” one of her hits with TheRunaways, a band that broke down barriers forwomen in rock. Miley Cyrus inducted Jett, say-ing “she’s what Superwoman really should be.The first to do many things, not just as awoman, but as a badass babe on the planet.”

Jett said music is what has always movedher. “I come from a place where rock and rollmeans something,” she said. “It’s more thanmusic, more than fashion, more than a pose.It’s a subculture of rebellion, frustration, alien-ation and the groove. ... Rock and roll ethic ismy entire life.” Sadly, Vaughan died at the

height of his blossoming career. Armed with asignature Stratocaster, the Texas bluesmanwas a dynamo on six strings. Best known forsongs like “Pride and Joy” and “Look At LittleSister,” he won a Grammy for his mesmerizingcover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing.”

John Mayer called it the “honor of a life-time” to induct Vaughan, whom he called “theultimate guitar hero.” “Stevie used his guitar tolead him out of town,” said Mayer. “He gave mehope because heroes give you hope. WhileJimi Hendrix came down from outer space,Stevie came up from below the ground. Hewas the ultimate guitar hero, and heroes liveforever.” Adored by fans, Starr was the steadybeat behind the world’s most celebratedgroup and the 74-year-old is the last of theBeatles to have his work outside the band rec-ognized. Starr is being inducted by PaulMcCartney, whose influence helped get his

former drummer enshrined. Starr put out astring of pop hits, including “It Don’t ComeEasy,” “Photograph” and “You’re Sixteen.”

Grunge soundHe didn’t have the musical chops or artistry

of McCartney or the late John Lennon orGeorge Harrison, but Starr managed to stay inthe limelight and still tours with his All-StarBand. Brash and belligerent, Green Day blast-ed onto the music scene just as Seattle’sgrunge sound was growing stale. Leadsinger/guitarist Billy Joe Armstrong, bassistMike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool borrowedtook riffs from punk pioneers like The Stoogesand Sex Pistols, flavored them with some pow-er chords and pop hooks and helped redefinea genre.

The trio’s album “Dookie” won a Grammyand Green Day went on to make “American

Idiot,” a punk-infused rock opera that laterbecame a Broadway hit. Withers was inexplica-bly left off the hall’s ballot for years, perhapsan unfortunate oversight. But the 76-year-old,who walked away from the music industry inthe 1980s, is now part of musical royalty with acatalog of timeless songs like “Lean On Me”and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Stevie Wonder willinduct the 76-year-old Withers, who may per-form publicly for the first time in decades.Reed was both daring and provocative as asongwriter and lyricist, pushing boundarieswith ballads about forbidden subjects likedrugs, prostitution and suicide. Reed’s songslike “Walk On The Wild Side,” “Vicious” and“Heroin” remain vibrant today. Although hedied in 2013, Reed continues to influence ayoung generation of musicians touched by hisrebel ways. HBO will broadcast the event onMay 30.—AP

Joan Jett emotional on induction into Rock HallJoan Jett speaks at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Saturday. —AP photos Joan Jett & the Blackhearts perform on stage.

Gary Ryan of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, speaks at the Rock andRoll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

Billie Joe Armstrong, Joan Jett, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starrperform on stage.

Miley Cyrus presents Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.

Music lovers lined up for blocksand sellers reported bumpertrade on Record Store Day, a

sign of the rebirth of vinyl in one brightpoint for the long-troubled recordingindustry. Some 3,000 independentstores Saturday in nearly two dozencountries put out new and reissuedrecords specially for the day, which wasconceived in 2007 to support business-es facing a twin onslaught from instantdigital music and corporate chains.

To mark the occasion, rock giantsthe Foo Fighters-accustomed to fillingarenas-played a concert for 150 peopleat a store in a strip mall of tiny Niles,Ohio, near the home of the grandmoth-er of frontman Dave Grohl. Third ManRecords, a Nashville store run by rockerJack White, put on sale a reissue of ElvisPresley’s rare first single, “MyHappiness,” in packaging resemblingthe 1953 original.

On one of the year’s first summerydays in New York, several stores hadwaits of more than an hour as fanssought to buy some of the 400 specialreleases on sale in the United States.Kim Gordon of alternative rock iconsSonic Youth and classic English punksthe Buzzcocks held signings at the NewYork branch of Rough Trade, which alsoput on artist events at its original Britishlocations and in Paris. Vinyl-only storeIn Living Stereo, which opened severalyears ago in Manhattan’s stylish Nohoneighborhood, welcomed shopperswith free cans of Pabst Blue Ribbonbeer and live bands as special editionssold quickly. “We are selling everything.This is bigger than any other year,” saidco-manager David McDaniel.

Major growth, but still niche Led by impassioned audiophiles

rather than casual listeners, vinyl-declared dead by many after theadvent of CDs and digital music-hassoared in recent years in Western coun-tries and Japan. The United States is byfar the largest vinyl market and saw 9.2million records sold last year, up 260

percent since 2009, according to indus-try tracker Nielsen. While much smallerin total, Australia witnessed the fastestgrowth in vinyl among major marketslast year, with revenue jumping 127percent since 2013, according to theInternational Federation of thePhonographic Industry.

Reissues have helped fuel thegrowth. The top-selling vinyl LP in theUnited States since 2010 has been areissue of the Beatles’ “Abbey Road.” Theboom has had an economic impact,with some 200 new record stores open-ing last year in the United States andCanada, according to an industrygroup. Despite the rapid expansionvinyl still counted for just two percentof the $15 billion global recordingindustry. Streaming-which allows

unlimited on-demand digital music-haswitnessed the biggest growth,although it remains controversial withsome artists who charge that the pay-out is paltry.

‘Experiencing’ vinyl Many audiophiles swear that vinyl

offers a greater sound quality and arewilling to pay prices than run signifi-cantly higher than CDs or digital music.Vinyl also offers an aesthetic value in anage where virtually all music can befound instantly online. “Music isn’tquantifiable, but when you have vinylyou can hold it and see it. It turns intomultiple media,” said Amy Barenboimas she waited outside Other Music, oneof New York’s best-known independentrecord stores. —AFP

Big turnout on store dayshows rebirth of vinyl

Ian Frances browses through records at the shop In Living Stereo inNew YorK.

Ben Affleck requested that the PBSdocumentary series “Finding YourRoots” not reveal he had a slave-own-

ing ancestor, according to emails publishedonline by whistleblower site WikiLeaks, andthe information never appeared on the pro-gram. PBS and Harvard scholar Henry LouisGates, host of the show that traces theancestry of well-known guests, said in sepa-rate statements that they didn’t censor theslave-owner details. Instead, more interest-ing ancestors of the actor emerged andGates chose to highlight them in October’ssegment featuring Affleck, they said in thestatements posted on the PBS website.

“For any guest, we always find far morestories about ancestors on their family treesthan we ever possibly could use,” Gates saidin an emailed statement to The AssociatedPress. He said finding slave-owning ances-tors was very common in the series, andnoted Ken Burns and Anderson Cooperwere two guests with slave-owner relatives.In Affleck’s case, “we decided to go with thestory we used about his fascinating ances-tor who became on occultist following theCivil War. This guy’s story was totally unusu-al: we had never discovered someone likehim before,” he said.

Affleck’s rep did not immediatelyrespond to an email request for commentSaturday. The award-winning actor andfilmmaker (“Good Will Hunting” and “Argo”)has also organized humanitarian work inAfrica. The email chain between Gates andSony Pictures co-chairman and chief execu-tive Michael Lynton was part of a trove ofhundreds of thousands of emails and docu-

ments from last year’s Sony hack thatWikiLeaks put into a searchable onlinearchive on Thursday.

What do we do?In their email exchange, Gates asks

Lynton for advice on how to handleAffleck’s request. “Here’s my dilemma: confi-

dentially, for the first time, one of our guestshas asked us to edit out something aboutone of his ancestors-the fact that he ownedslaves. Now, four or five of our guests thisseason descend from slave owners, includ-

ing Ken Burns. We’ve never had anyone evertry to censor or edit what we found. He’s amegastar. What do we do?” Gates wrote onJuly 22, 2014. Lynton replies that it alldepends on who knows that the informa-tion was in the documentary already.

“I would take it out if no one knows, butif it gets out that you are editing the materi-al based on this kind of sensitivity then itgets tricky. Again, all things being equal Iwould definitely take it out,” Lynton wrotethat same day. After going back and forth,the two seem to decide censoring the infor-mation is a bad idea, with Gates writing lat-er on July 22 that if the public learned of it,“It would embarrass him and compromiseour integrity. I think he is getting very badadvice” and adding: “Once we open thedoor to censorship, we lose control of thebrand.” Affleck is never mentioned in theexchange of emails between Gates andLynton; instead he’s referred to as a “megas-tar” and “Batman.” He was filming “Batman v.Superman: Dawn of Justice” in Detroit at thetime.

When the segment aired Oct 14, Gatesfocused on the occultist, a RevolutionaryWar relative and Affleck’s mother, who wasa “freedom rider” in 1964. A PBS spokes-woman said in an emailed statementSaturday that PBS did not know of theexchanges between Gates, Sony andAffleck and wasn’t part of editorial decisionsmade by Gates and his producers. “It is clearfrom the exchange how seriously ProfessorGates takes editorial integrity,” PBS said inthe statement posted on its website. —AP

Affleck asked PBS to not revealslave-owning ancestor

Ben Affleck testifying beforethe House Foreign Affairs,Africa, Global Health, andHuman Rights Subcommitteehearing in Washington. —AP

Mark Hamill knew he had to say yes when George Lucas toldhim about the plans to move forward with a new “Star Wars”trilogy. “It’s not like a choice. It’s like I was drafted,” Hamill

told a massive crowd Saturday night at Star Wars celebration of hisdecision to reprise his role as Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars: TheForce Awakens.” “Could you imagine if for some reason I said ‘I don’tthink I want to do it?’ I would have all of you surrounding my houselike villagers, angry villagers with lightsabers instead of torches,”joked the 63-year-old “Star Wars” veteran.

Hamill admitted he was caught off guard when Lucas invitedhim to lunch. When Hamill’s wife surmised that perhaps there was anew film in the works, Hamill laughed. Lucas had told him specifi-cally that he was done making “Star Wars” movies after the pre-quels. He assumed Lucas was going to announce a 3-D release orroll out another box set of the films, laughing about the number ofversions that have been made available. Still, his interest waspiqued when Lucas disinvited Hamill’s daughter. He knew thatmeant it must be big. —AP

Mark Hamill said he was ‘suspicious’ of JJ Abrams


l if e s t y l eF a s h i o n

The gray and black dress worn by Vivien Leigh whenshe played Scarlett O’Hara in the 1939 movie clas-sic “Gone with the Wind” has been sold at auction

for $137,000. According to Heritage Auctions in BeverlyHills, California the embroidered dress went for morethan double its starting price of $60,000 on Saturday.“Gone with the Wind” is a 1936 Civil War-era epic novel

by Margaret Mitchell that was then made into the multi-ple Academy Awards winning movie. O’Hara’s dress waspart of an extensive collection of memorabilia from thefilm gathered by James Tumblin, a former makeup artistfrom Universal studios.

In all, about 150 items were up for auction. The strawhat with green ribbons worn by O’Hara on the day of a

picnic at the start of the film fetched $52,500 and one ofher blouses went for $32,500. Among the other items onsale were a gray suit worn by the character Rhett Butler,played by Clark Gable, which fetched $55,000.-AFP

‘Gone with the Wind’ dress fetches $137,000 at auction An outfit worn in sev-

eral scenes of the 1939film ‘Gone With theWind’ by Vivien Leighas she played ScarlettO’Hara. — AP

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Models walk the runway wearing Houghton Bridal Spring/Summer 2016 at Industria Superstudio.

Models walk the runway at Oscar De La Renta Bridal Spring/Summer 2016 Runway Show at Oscar de la Renta Boutique in New York City. — AP/AFP photos


l if e s t y l eF e a t u r e s

Balancing on her hands, a young contortionist throws herlegs over her head and slowly draws back a bow with hertoes, before loosing off an arrow into a balloon covered

by a black shroud. The balloon bursts and the audience eruptsinto applause in recognition of the artistry of the feat, but alsoat the symbolic puncturing of the terrors of the murderousKhmer Rouge era that eviscerated Cambodia in the late 1970s.

Pin Phunam, 23, who plays the title role in the circus show“Sokha”, says every movement aims to tell the story of a periodof recent history she did not live through, but that hangs overher country. An estimated two million Cambodians died underthe Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979. “People don’t talk aboutthe Khmer Rouge, I don’t know why. Maybe it is too painful,”Phunam says before the show, which explores the country’sbloody past using a group of jugglers, acrobats and contortion-ists in the northwestern tourist town of Siem Reap.

On April 17 the nation marked the 40th anniversary of thetriumphant march of communist soldiers into the Cambodiancapital, ending a bloody civil war with a US-backed general. Butthe date also signaled the start of a hardline rule that turnedthe nation into a workhouse where starvation, murder andoverwork killed a quarter of the population. While the perform-ers from the circus troupe were born long after the regime fell,they have mesmerized audiences with their recreation of thatperiod since first staging Sokha two years ago. “Even though wedon’t have any experience of the Khmer Rouge regime, we cantell the story through our artistic skills,” Phunam told AFP.

From poverty to big top Instead, like many of the artists from the Phare Ponleu

Selpak Circus School, she draws on difficult experiences of herown. Phunam was born to a poor family in westernBattambang province and spent her childhood scavenging forjunk to sell. “I had a drunken and violent father... I saw my fatherfighting with my mum every night after he came back fromdrinking and gambling with friends,” she said. Then, when shewas just seven, Phunam joined the nearby Phare Ponleu Selpakschool run by former Cambodian refugees to help disadvan-taged local youngsters through art.

It was there she discovered her passion for contortion andthe expert help to hone her extraordinary skill. A free publicschool founded after the art centre now teaches 1,200 pupils.Just under half of them attend the specialist music, art, theatreand circus schools providing rare opportunities to children frompoor families in one of Southeast Asia’s least developed coun-tries. In 2013 Phare opened a circus in the tourist hub of SiemReap, home to Cambodia’s famed Angkor temple complex, togive its graduates a global stage. “We decided to open this BigTop (circus tent) as a professional venue for the artists whograduated from Battambang to earn a living,” said circus opera-tion manager Xavier Gobin.

‘Circus changed my life’ Gobin, a former ballet dancer from France who moved to

Cambodia eight years ago, has also taken the troupe on touraround the world from Japan to Italy. Tackling “social issues orthemes profound in Cambodian society” lies at the heart oftheir shows, he said. Circus performance in Cambodia datesback to the Angkorian period, which lasted from the ninth to

the 15th Century, with acrobatic performances etched intocarvings on the walls of temples at Siem Reap. Civil war and theKhmer Rouge destroyed the art and today performers likePhunam are determined to revive it. “The circus changed mylife... I can do difficult things that normal people cannot do,” saidthe contortionist, adding it was not only her livelihood but amedium to help her understand her own country.

Nearly 170 kilometers away at Phare’s circus school inBattambang, where Phunam first started her journey, dozens ofaspiring young artists are beginning their own. Perfecting som-ersaults or balancing their entire body weight on one hand, anew cohort are practicing mind-boggling tricks they hope willchange their lives. “I came here because I want to become aprofessional circus artist,” said 17-year-old orphan Phat Sreyleak.“I want to perform abroad... I want to show foreigners my tal-ent,” she said before returning to her trapeze. — AFP

An upstate New York woman has takenon the post-winter pothole problem inher hometown by filling in the eye-

sores with pansies. After months of severeweather left the streets of Schenectadypocked with pavement craters and city publicworks crews scrambling to fix them, someresidents began filling in the holes them-selves. Elaine Santore decided to take it a stepfurther by dumping dirt and pansies into pot-holes on two streets. She told The DailyGazette of Schenectady that she decided toplant the flowers to make a statement aboutthe problem and to make people smile afterwhat she called “a horrible winter.”

Of the 10 holes she filled with flowers overthree days starting Monday, Santore told TheAssociated Press on Friday that she believedall have now been fixed by city crews. When

she drove past on her way to work, most ofthe holes had been patched over with black-top, she said. “I knew something would hap-pen to them,” she said. “Either people wouldtake the flowers or they would be filled in.”Santore, the director of a local not-for-profitorganization that helps retirees remain intheir homes, said she wanted to do some-thing different to address her city’s annualpothole problem, one that has been particu-larly widespread thanks to a harsh winter.“The winter was so hard on everybody and sodepressing,” she said. “I wanted to do some-thing creative to solve a problem we haveevery year and bring a smile to people’sfaces.” — AP

France has many restaurants claiming the “bio”label, but only one to earn a star in the fabledMichelin Guide: Elsa, a Riviera eatery run by

an Italian chef, Paolo Sari. Sari boasts he takes thecredo to such lengths that his 40-seat restaurantbarely outside Monaco’s border is “the only certi-fied 100-percent bio establishment in the world”.Certainly he is inflexible in ensuring hisMediterranean cuisine, mixing French and Italianrecipes, is entirely organic and sourced from localand near-local producers.

That means his asparagus comes from a villagein Provence, his saffron from a mountaintop villagenear Nice, and seafood direct from fishermen. Hisalmonds come from Sicily and go to make a diabol-ically delicious souffle. Beef, though, is one ingredi-ent that doesn’t feature on his menu because thereis no organic cattle farm nearby. “Each ingredient,each supplier, even each transporter needs to havea certification,” Sari told AFP.

Organization is key, with records provided onevery menu and the percentage of dishes sold,“because an inspector could come to check at anymoment”. “I let the ingredients be the star, after afanatic search for good products,” the chef said. He

then adds his own “little touches”. Three years ofthat approach earned Elsa-which is part of a resortcalled Monte-Carlo Beach its Michelin star last year.

Higher prices Maintaining the all-bio standards, though, does-

n’t come cheap. Supplier costs are 20 percent high-er than for food coming from traditional sourcesusing industrial techniques. “In the beginning, itwas expensive. Scarcity makes for expense,” saidDaniele Gercelon, the director of Monte-CarloBeach. “Then we expanded the range of suppliersfor greater reliability, choice and volume.” Now, sheadded, she is looking to implement the bioapproach to the other eateries at the resort, whichis part of a bigger, Monaco-based group managingseveral restaurants and hotels.

The winter closure of the Elsa restaurantbetween October and March means Sari onlyneeds to find fresh seasonal produce in the warmermonths, when it is at its most abundant. He alsohas access to a three-hectare small, private farm inRoquebrune-Cap-Martin, the French village wherethe restaurant is located which butts up againstMonaco. It also relies on another two-hectare plot

of land in San Remo, a town just over the Italianborder 20 kilometers away.

Sari, 45, said his experience working in restau-rants in Japan, South Korea, China, Switzerland,London, New York, Los Angeles, Moscow andVenice gave him a broad range of influences, buthe preferred an Asian “simplicity” in the presenta-tion of his dishes. Among his fare is an entree ofgreen asparagus with generous slices of black truf-fle on a bed of potatoes. There is also a risottomade golden with saffron and a touch of bonemarrow, and roast lamb ribs coated with acaciahoney and accompanied by knob celery.

The drink, naturally, is all bio as well, with nearly100 choices to match the meals. Diners have achoice of desserts: a tarte tatin/creme bruleefusion, mini

crepes Suzette with caramelized pears, or-France and Italy united-a Saint-Honore puff pastrycake married with tiramisu. — AFP

Elaine Santore fills a pothole in the middle of North Center St with pansies inSchenectady. — AP photos

NY woman tackles pothole problem by

planting pansies there

Michelin-starred chef takes organic quality to ‘fanatic’ extremes

Italian chef Paolo Sari cooking.— AFP photos Sari, the only Michelin star awarded chef in France which prepares a 100%organic food.

Cambodian artists during a circus performance. A Cambodian artist doing a balancing act.

Circus troupe captures Cambodia’s contorted history

Cambodian artistsposing with for-

eign tourists fol-lowing a circus

performance.

Cambodian artists doing a balancing act.—AP photosA Cambodian artist drawing a bow and arrow using her feet.

39Circus troupe

captures Cambodia’scontorted history


A woman takes a photo of a garden of tulips during the first day of a tulip festival in Binzhou city in eastern China’s Shandong Province. — AP

Gripping tightly with her hands, her feet searching for afoothold, Salwa Khashan edges along a sheer rock facein the Israeli-occupied West Bank, urged on by friends

below. She and her fellow climbers are the first group ofPalestinians to win climbing certificates after graduating from athree-day “Wadi Climbing” course just north of Ramallah. “Ittaught me a lot,” said Khashan, who lives in Arab-dominatedeast Jerusalem, which Israel occupied with the rest of the WestBank in 1967. “I learned to push myself and to use my mentalstrength to find the way up, to deal with the physical pain andpush myself to the top,” she said.

For the 23-year-old and her small group of fellow climbers ithas been a voyage of discovery thanks to two young Americanswith a love of climbing and a determination to share their pas-sion with others. Will Harris of Chicago and Tim Bruns fromConnecticut, both 23, travelled to the West Bank with oneobjective in mind. “Tim and I came to Palestine to develop aclimbing community here,” Harris said.

“We were exploring a lot of Palestine and saw a huge poten-tial for outdoor climbing,” he said. They started off by doing afew test climbs with friends in the Ramallah area. After that,they organized several short excursions for Palestinians and for-eigners living in the area, and then decided to launch their“Wadi Climbing” project. They now work in two outdoor climb-ing areas near Ramallah and are developing the first Palestinianindoor climbing and fitness facility.

A climber’s high For Nadine Abu-Rmeileh, another 23-year-old from east

Jerusalem, it was her first time climbing and it affected herdeeply. “I can’t describe the feeling you have when you reachthe top,” she said. “You feel a great sense of achievement. At firstwhen I saw the cliff, I thought it would be impossible to climb it.But then when I raised my foot and I started to climb, I foundmyself at the top.” Under scudding clouds on an unseasonablycold and damp Friday morning, the group of 12 gathered at thefoot of the rock face and separated into three teams accordingto ability: beginners, intermediate and those taking a test.

Beginners are given specialist shoes after which they learn

the basics of knot tying, repelling and belaying, a key safetytechnique by which a person on the ground is linked to theclimber by rope and can support his or her weight in the eventof a fall. But the bolting-installing the metal pins into rock facesso that ropes can be attached to them-is only done by the train-ers. “It’s really scary,” admitted 22-year-old Omar Abu-Arra whocomes from Jenin, a town in the northern West Bank. “But youforce yourself to do something you have never done before,especially in this country.”

A sport for all Finding locations to climb in the West Bank brings its own

challenges. “Bolting in Palestine is kind of tough because youare confined to certain areas,” Bruns said. “So we wanted todevelop new areas that are accessible for Palestinians becauseyou have to take into account kind of access and where (theJewish) settlements are and where Israel parks are,” he said,referring to nature reserves where bolting is forbidden.

Eventually, the Wadi Climbing project established twoplaces for itself, one in Ain Qiniya and one in Yabrud, which arein an area of the West Bank under Palestinian civil control andIsraeli security control. What motivated them to travel to theWest Bank and set up the project was a glaring shortage ofaccessible leisure activities in the Palestinian territories. “Wewere shocked and saddened by the lack of recreational oppor-tunities,” Bruns said.

The two teach the course largely in English but with a smat-tering of Arabic which they learned in Jordan where they alsospent some time climbing. It was there they found that highcosts had made rock-climbing a sport for a small clique of therich. In the West Bank, they are hoping to broaden the sport’sappeal. With the backing of US, Palestinian and other private

donors they are seeking to make it accessible to all, charging 60shekels ($15/14 euros) for a day’s instruction - including shoehire.

Rami Zughayer, 27, from east Jerusalem, said he heard aboutthe project from his sister, who had done the course. “The firsttime she went, I thought it was just another stupid activity,” hesaid. “Then I saw photos of her climbing a cliff 15 or 20 metershigh and I told her: next time I’m coming too!”— AFP

Climbing high in the occupied West Bank

A group of Palestinians climb during a three-day ‘Wadi Climbing’ course in the West Bank village of Yabrud, just north of Ramallah. — AFP photos

Old banknotes to be withdrawn by Oct 1 - Kuwait Times

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