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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Hamas �plotting
to assassinate’
Lieberman
Kuwaiti designer
works her way
to the top
3
150 Fils
MUHARRAM 29, 1436 AH
9
No: 16350
Kuwait kicked
out of Gulf Cup
after 5-0 defeat
48
Questions linger as
Saudi battles MERS
808 infected, 346 killed in Saudi Arabia
Min 15Вє
Max 29Вє
News
i n
b r i e f
Giraffes on plane?
NAIROBI: Have you seen a man who loaded live giraffes into a
Tanzanian military plane for delivery to Qatar? If so Interpol would
like to speak with you. The international police agency Interpol
recently began a Most Wanted campaign of suspects who have carried out such environmental crimes as wildlife trafficking, illegal
fishing, illegal logging and trading in ivory. Interpol is asking for the
public’s help in tracking down nine suspects on that list. Ioannis
Kokkinis, an Interpol criminal intelligence officer, said in a statement
that a new clue can rack open a dormant case. Among the nine
most wanted is Ahmed Kamran. Interpol says Kamran allegedly
paid for the transport of live giraffes and impalas by military plane
from Kilimanjaro International Airport to be delivered to Qatar.
Ultra-rich getting richer
WASHINGTON: A bare 0.004 percent of the world’s adult
population controls nearly $30 trillion in assets, 13 percent of
the world’s total wealth, according to a new study. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the study by the Swiss bank UBS and luxury industry consultant Wealth-X said the concentration of
money in the hands of the ultra-rich is growing. The report
said 211,275 people qualify as “ultra-high net worth” (UHNW)
- those with assets above $30 million. Of them, 2,325 have
more than $1 billion. Their numbers grew 6 percent over the
past year, but their wealth grew 7 percent, as asset markets
like stocks and property soared in many places around the
world. The fastest growth, indeed, came in the “demi-billionaire” group worth a half-billion to a billion dollars apiece, the
study said. “Even amidst geopolitical conflicts, socio-economic strife, and volatile currency markets, the world’s equity
markets displayed strong performances, thereby enabling
UHNW individuals’ wealth to increase and their influence
across industries and sectors to grow-from their importance
in wealth management to their consumption of luxury
goods,” it said.
�Jihad’ at summer camp
NANTERRE: Four group leaders at a French summer camp are
under investigation after a series of photos were discovered of
them mimicking hostage executions and acts of torture, local
authorities said yesterday. A man on his knees, a knife to his
throat, surrounded by “jailers” in balaclavas, is pictured in one of
about 20 images uncovered by the municipality of Colombes,
just outside Paris, which organized the camp. “We filed a complaint on Thursday. They have also been suspended from their
jobs and disciplinary action is under way,” said Colombes mayor
Nicole Goueta. The photos were taken during the camp in August
on an island in Brittany in northwest France. The municipality was
putting together an exhibition of images from summer camps
when they stumbled upon the pictures on a USB key. It is unclear
whether any of the 45 children at the camp, aged between eight
and 12, were involved in the staged scenes. One of the pictures
showed a child sitting in a corner looking scared but it was
unclear whether “he was witnessing a horrific scene or if he was
being punished,” said Goueta.
RIYADH: Asian workers wear masks while on duty during a football match at the King Fahad stadium, in Riyadh. — AFP
LONDON: Saudi Arabia has not yet traced the source of a
mysterious camel virus, leaving many questions about a disease that has killed 346 people in the Kingdom. The lack of
scientific evidence about how camels contract the virus,
which causes an often fatal illness called Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in people, echoes wider concerns about the threat posed to human health by animalborne pathogens, including the Ebola virus.
There is no cure or vaccine for MERS-a severe respiratory
disease which causes cough, fever, breathing problems and
can lead to pneumonia and kidney failure. Yet studies of
both camels and people infected with MERS in Saudi Arabia
have given preliminary results that are helping authorities
curb the disease’s spread, according to the scientist overseeing the work. “Coming into close contact with the nasal
secretions of camels is a major risk factor,” said Tariq
Madani, head of the scientific advisory board of the Saudi
health ministry command and control centre (CCC) set up in
June to handle the outbreak. “The main transmission is actually human to human,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
MERS was first identified in humans in 2012 and is caused
by a coronavirus from the same viral family as the one that
caused a deadly outbreak of SARS in China in 2003. Some
808 people in Saudi Arabia are known to have been infected
with it since it was discovered, and 346 of them have died.
The World Health Organization and leading global health
specialists have criticized Saudi Arabia for failing to properly
investigate the causes of MERS. Critics said Saudi delays
contributed to the virus taking hold and spreading via travelers to some 20 countries around the world.
Madani, who was appointed after the former Saudi
health minister and his deputy lost their jobs amid discontent about their handling of the outbreak, said analysis
showed most people were infected in hospitals. “We found
out that 97 percent of the cases were healthcare associated,” he said. “And 3 percent of them were primary cases
who probably acquired the infection from contact with
camels.” Tighter infection controls in hospitals have contributed to a significant drop in cases recently, but he
warned sporadic primary cases will still pop up.
Tests of nasal and rectal swabs from camel imports arriving from the Horn of Africa-the source of the majority of
camels traded and farmed in Saudi-found no traces of the
MERS virus, Madani said, with 71 animals tested so far. “Until
now the camels we have examined have proven to be negative-and this is really very unexpected,” he said. Asked
whether this suggested the camels were being infected
within Saudi Arabia’s borders, Madani said it was too early
to reach conclusions, but said tests on imported camels will
continue alongside studies of wild animals such as bats and
monkeys that may also be harboring the virus.
Meanwhile, studies of 12 camels with which MERS
patients had contact showed six had the virus circulating in
their noses, but tests of their milk and urine were virus-freesuggesting the risk to humans from drinking camel milk is
far lower than from direct contact with nasal secretions.
Another study found that among a group of 36 workers in a
camel slaughterhouse, 58 percent had MERS antibodiesindicating they had been infected with it at some point.
“None of them recalls having a severe infection or pneumonia,” Madani said. “And this indicates that you get some sort
of immunity as a result of repeated exposure to camels and
the virus.” — Reuters
LOCAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Labor law offers additional
protection for expatriates
KUWAIT: Director-General of the public authority of workforce
Jamal Al-Dosary has reaffirmed commitment of the authority
to protect expatriate workers under provisions of the labor law
No 6/2010. “The law provides a range of benefits for workers
such as increasing the number of paid annual leave days,
including the sick, pilgrimage and maternity leave as well as
the national holidays,” he said in a press release. “The Kuwaiti
Cabinet also approved a decree to form an inter-agency panel
to organize the situations of the foreign workers in the private
sector, including housemaids,” Al-Dosary pointed out.
He noted that each governorate has a labor affairs department mandated to solve any disputes between employees
and employers in a mutually-acceptable way, otherwise the
complaint can take the issue to court. “The authority works to
compel an employer to meet their financial commitments to
foreign employees under the contract, including the provision
of a decent accommodation, or cover the costs of the return
home of any sacked employee,” Al-Dosary added, noting that
the authority welcomes any complaints relating to worker
rights. — KUNA
Substandard
products
confiscated
By Hanan Al-Saadoun
KUWAIT: Shuwaikh Port authorities recently confiscated a
cosmetics shipment that did not match the standard specifications. The products include dangerous components.
Security sources said that although the state of origin
marked on the consignment referred to a country in
Europe, the shipment was arriving from one Asian country.
Asians arrested for forgery
4 Asians were recently arrested for forging residency
visas. An Asian was arrested after he arrived at the Kuwait
airport with a fake visit visa. He confessed that some of his
relatives had sent him the visa. Detectives found out that
an Indian had been forging visas for KD800 each. An
undercover agent was sent to make a deal with the suspect. He was later arrested after he agreed to make visas
for the secret agent. He then led the detectives to three of
his accomplices. Security operatives searched the apartment of one of the suspects and found some fake immigration stamps. In a similar incident, security sources said
that a gang of five Asians were also arrested for forging
health certificates.
Saudi policeman detained
Jahra security director, Maj General Ibrahim Al-Tarrah
recently ordered the arrest of a Saudi policeman for reckless driving, resisting arrest and assaulting policemen, said
security sources. Case papers indicate that a Jahra police
patrol had stopped a reckless driver who turned out to be
a Saudi policemen working in the police training center in
Khaitan. He resisted arrest and drove off - hitting one of
the policemen. The suspect was later apprehended.
Drug dealer nabbed
A bedoon was recently arrested in Mahboula for the
possession of drugs. Detectives also seized the scale he
used to weigh the hashish. Case papers indicate that a
police patrol suspected the man who refused to pullover.
After he finally stopped the policemen searched his car
and found a large bar of hashish, a scale and rolling paper.
Zain and Huawei officials
Regional telecom chiefs focus on
how innovation has changed life
KUWAIT: During this week’s annual Zain
Technology Conference 2014, senior
executives and experts from Huawei-a
leading global ICT solutions providerhave outlined how upcoming innovations in mobile broadband technology
are likely to impact the Middle East in the
coming year as the digital era brings people, ideas, and businesses closer together.
The three-day Zain Technology
Conference 2014 brought together Zain’s
global partners to outline their latest services in the telecommunications and IT
field while at the same discussing opportunities of mutual interest between the
Zain’s numerous partners and service
providers.
The opportunities presented by
Huawei at this year’s conference focused
on the areas of the Smart Home, the
Efficient Office, and the Future Networkthree domains where the company anticipates life to be changed through technology innovations in the Middle East. “At
this year’s conference Huawei teamed up
with Zain to look at how life is changed
with innovation. This means looking
beyond specific technology solutions to
the impact that our industry is having on
everyday life, on businesses, and on
national economies,” says Pan En, Vice
President of Solution Sales & Marketing,
Huawei Middle East. “An important part
of this process is developing initiatives
that build a better connected world. In
that future, Huawei is committed to working with Zain to create more efficient,
integrated information and communication systems that connect people, things
and ideas more freely.” “ZTC is growing
bigger with every passing year, reflecting
the development of the dynamic
telecommunications industry, where
today’s innovations are tomorrow’s differentiators. Together with longstanding
partners like Huawei, technology innovation and its implementation to enhance
our customer’s mobile experience lies at
the heart of what Zain is doing,” says
Scott Gegenheimer, Zain Group CEO.
One of the key features of this year’s
conference was Huawei demos of its latest work on 4.5G & 5G mobile broadband
technology, which is set to open up massive connection capacity for operators
and pave the way for operators to deliver
richer multimedia services with fewer
delays. The advancements of 4.5G will
also provide operators with the chance to
adopt new innovations in service-oriented network architecture prior to 5G
mobile broadband being commercialized
in 2020.
For several years Huawei has been
working closely with leading operators to
carry out trials and tests on future technologies including 4.5G and 5G broadband. A new series of Huawei 5G base sta-
tions were even previewed at this week’s
conference. According to the company,
the commercialization of 4.5G will start
becoming a reality by 2016 as both an
evolved and advanced mobile communication standard. To meet that ambition
Huawei is making great investments in
the future that will include a minimum of
USD$600 million in 5G research & development by 2018.
To support Zain’s ICT strategy to
explore new services in consumer and
enterprise fields, Huawei also introduced
its next-generation data center solutionDistributed Cloud Data Center (DC≤)-a
new data center reference architecture
based on cloud and SDN networking. This
architecture can unify and manage separated data centers, and provide customers
self VDC service with application intelligent awareness and SLA guarantee by
resource pool across data centers. All of
these capabilities will help Zain shorten
the service time to market and provide a
variety of integrated services to their end
user. Huawei and Zain have a long history
of collaboration in the Middle East across a
wide range of telecommunication services. Since 2010 Huawei has been a steadfast partner in the rollout of mobile broadband for Zain across all its operations
including the recent launch of a Joint
Innovation Center in Kuwait earlier this
year.
LOCAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
VIVA celebrates Lebanon Independence Day with special promotion
KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing and most
developed telecom operator, announced yesterday the launch of a special promotion for its prepaid and postpaid customers in celebration of the
Independence Day of Lebanon. VIVA’s postpaid
and prepaid customers can make calls to families
and friends in Lebanon for 50 fils per minute, after
the first three minutes of the call. This promotion
is valid for the 24 hours of 22 November, 2014.
This promotion was designed by VIVA for this special occasion and in an effort to grant its fellow
Lebanese citizens the opportunity to speak to
their loved ones and share the joys of this celebrated day.
VIVA congratulates the Lebanese community on
this occasion and reaffirms its commitment
towards offering all that is pioneering and
advanced in the telecom industry, and to continue
presenting its customers with an exceptional experience. To find out more about VIVA’s numerous
competitive promotions, products and packages
visit any of the 58 VIVA branches or visit the website at www.viva.com.kw , or contact its 24 hour
call center at 102.
Kuwaiti-funded �Humanitarian
Leader’ village unveiled in Turkey
Kuwaiti designer
partakes in FGI 2015
Trend presentation
NEW YORK: Working her way to the international fashion
industry, Kuwaiti designer Montaha Al-Ajeel was part of the
Fashion Group International Summer 2015 Trend
Presentation. Presenting her latest collection, Al-Ajeel
expressed her happiness for being part of the event, where
she was able to display her latest creations among other fashion designers. Wearing her Kuwaiti Flag badge, designer AlAjeel said that she has worked hard to reach this point of her
career, and she is proud to raise Kuwait’s name on such international arenas. “Being part of this international gathering,
makes me proud to illustrate the capability of Kuwaiti designers to be juxtaposed among other well-established names in
the industry.”
Out of passion and creation, Al-Ajeel used different colors
and fabrics that portray her creativity and middle eastern
roots, as well as the incorporation of western icons such as the
Mona Lisa and Audrey Hepburn. On her part, Evie Evangelou,
the President and Global Chairman of Fashion 4 Development
(F4D) which were part of the event, told KUNA that Al-Ajeel’s
collection has amazing potential, and described her as a “creative and talented” designer. She was amazed by the workmanship and craftsmanship of the collection, and said that
they are of quality.
“We are working hard to introduce her and her designs to
the US market,” she added. Yet, she stressed that if it is “too
cultural it not’s really acceptable.” Therefore, her designs need
to adapt to the market, Evangelou said. The F4D, she said,
work to preserve culture, and provide opportunities for up
and coming designers. “With Al-Ajeel, we will be working to
broaden her production,” she concluded. Evangelou founded
F4D’s global awareness campaign, and the First Ladies and
Fashion 4 Development initiative, which were inspired by her
exuberant career on the international arena of cultural diplomacy and international relations, specializing in entertainment, arts, fashion, beauty, travel, tourism and trade.
The Fashion Group International is a global, non-profit, professional organization with 5,000 members in the fashion
industry including apparel, accessories, beauty and home. The
FGI mission is to be the pre-eminent authority on the business
of fashion and design and to help its members become more
effective in their careers. To do this, FGI provides insights on
major trends in person, online and in print; access to business
professionals and a gateway to the influence fashion plays in
the marketplace.—KUNA
VAN: International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO)
Chairman and Amiri Diwan’s Advisor Abdullah Al-Maatouq yesterday opened the Kuwaiti-funded “Humanitarian Leader” village in the eastern Turkish city of Van. In 2011, a destructive
earthquake hit the city, located on the eastern shore of Lake
Van. It has a long history as a major urban area. The IICO built
the village at the behest of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah
Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to help victims of the quake, AlMaatouq, who is also the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy for
Humanitarian Affairs said. He added that the “Humanitarian
Leader village project was financed by the State of Kuwait and
supported by Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation. The village was set up on two phases, the first of which included prefab houses to provide rapid shelters for the people afflicted by
the quake. The second stage includes four apartment blocks
with 64 flats,” he said.
Al-Maatouq highlighted the historical Kuwaiti-Turkish ties
“which offer a role model for international relations,” saying the
Van village implies keenness by the Kuwaiti government to
boost them. On his part, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Turkey
Abdullah Al-Thuwaikh said the humanitarian project embodies
the decade-long bilateral relations. He highlighted the UN honoring of His Highness the Amir as a “Humanitarian Leader” and
Kuwait as a “Humanitarian Center”, paying tribute to the IICO
Chairman and board members for the quick response to the
mayhem of the quake victims. Al-Thuwaikh stressed the wide
Head of Humanitarian Relief Foundation presents a commemorative gift to Chairman and
Amiri Diwan’s Advisor Abdullah Al-Maatouq
Kuwaiti investments in Turkey, both official and private.
Kuwait has always been in the vanguard of the countries
responding to relief calls and has had a leading role in the humanitarian projects in Turkey, Van Governor Aydin Nezih Dogan said.
He expressed gratitude to His Highness the Amir, referring to the
good relations between the two countries. Turkey’s Humanitarian
Relief Foundation Chairman Bulent Yldrm expressed gratitude to
His Highness the Amir and the Kuwaiti people for their help to
assist the victims of the Van quake, saying the city includes Turkish
and Kurdish citizens. Yldrm offered Al-Maatouq a souvenir in
appreciation of his efforts in setting up the Van “Humanitarian
Leader” village. Turkish officials and members of the visiting
Kuwaiti delegation took part in the inauguration ceremony.
Meanwhile, many of Van inhabitants expressed their gratitude
to His Highness the Amir and the Kuwaiti people for the humanitarian village, which helped them find a shelter. “I lost my husband
in the quake that hit the region in late 2011, and I have five children. I cannot afford a new house,” an old Turkish woman told
KUNA. She said that the new village will help her care a lot. Many
others expressed their deep gratitude to His Highness the Amir
and Kuwait, wishing the country a flourishing future, safety and
security. The Kuwaiti delegation then left to the southern Turkish
town of Kilis near the borders with Syria where they visited a
Kuwaiti-financed model village set up for the Syrian refugees, with
1,000 mobile houses, four schools, two mosques and two medical
centers. —KUNA
LOCAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Kuwait commemorates 50 years of
diplomatic relations with Italy
Italy, Kuwait eye greater medical cooperation
ROME: Minister of Health Dr Ali Al-Obeidi pictured with
Giuseppe Novelli, president of the University of Rome Tor
Vergata and ambassador Sheikh Ali Al-Khalid Al-Sabah.
Kuwait’s Minister of Health and the president of the
University of Rome Tor Vergata yesterday discussed
avenues of cooperation in the treatment of diseases
prevalent in the Kuwaiti society. — KUNA
Crime
R e p o r t
Liquor factory busted
KUWAIT: Ahmadi detectives recently raided a home-made
liquor factory in Sabah Al-Ahmed Area. Security officers found
7,205 bottles of locally made liquor in addition to several
brewing barrels and brewing equipment. Police patrol suspected someone who stood suspiciously by a car in an open
yard - on approaching him, he ran away on foot - entering an
uncompleted building. The policemen followed him and discovered the factory.
4000 bullets found
Security forces have been dispatched to the Shidadiya
University construction site where 4000 bullets were
found during excavation. Security sources said that the
bullets were abandoned by the retreating Iraqi forces during the 1991 war.
�Indecent’ Kuwaiti girls arrested
Two Kuwaiti girls have been arrested by a Vice Squad for committing an indecent act in public in Salmiya. Case papers indicate that a police patrol spotted a couple kissing inside a car
in Salmiya. One of them was found to be a �tomboy’.
MILAN: Kuwait’s General Consul in Milan and Northern Italy
Abdulnasser Bukhadhour met with a representative of the
Italian government on Thursday. During the meeting, the
Kuwaiti diplomat presented the Prefect of Milan Francesco
Paolo Tronca with a commemorative medal in appreciation of
50 years of diplomatic ties between Kuwait and Italy, Kuwaiti
General Consulate said in a statement.
The two sides pointed out the two countries’ historic bilateral friendship and solid relations, particularly Italy’s supportive stand by Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion in 1990. They
also discussed Kuwait’s forthcoming participation in “Expo
Milano 2015”, set to kick off on May 1st, 2015, in which
Bukhadhour affirmed Kuwait’s commitment to a quality representation to contribute in making this international event a
success. Meanwhile, Tronca confirmed his government’s readiness to provide facilities to Kuwaiti participants at Expo Milano
2015, wishing them all success.
Medical cooperation
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Minister of Health Ali Saad Al-Obaidi
met his Italian counterpart Beatrice Lorenzin on Thursday to
discuss ways to promote medical cooperation and benefiting
from the long experience of the Italian healthcare sector. The
meeting, attended by Kuwait Ambassador to Italy Sheikh Ali AlKhaled Al-Sabah, was held on the sidelines of the Second
International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2).
Al-Obaidi leads Kuwait delegation to the conference being
co-organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and the World Health Organization (WHO) at FAO HQ here
between November 19 and 21. The talks between Al-Obaidi
and Lorenzin focused on prospects of Kuwait benefiting from
the Italian experience to enhance Kuwait’s healthcare sector,
Assistant Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Health Ministry Dr
Majdeh Al-Qattan said.
“Foremost among the topics of the discussions were the
treatment of hereditary diseases, the latest diagnostic labs and
tools, and bone marrow transplantation techniques,” she
revealed, noting that Italy is one of the world’s most advanced
countries in these areas.
“The two sides also discussed the possibility of increasing
the visit exchanges among the health institutions of both
countries in order to help build the capacity of the national
medical cadres of Kuwait,” Dr Al-Qattan noted. She added that
Minister Lorenzin stated readiness of Italy to meet Kuwait’s
needs in this regard and agreed to continue consultations
with Ambassador Sheikh Ali on the enhancement of medical
cooperation.
MILAN: Kuwait’s General Consul in Milan and Northern
Italy Abdulnasser Bukhadhour meets the Prefect of Milan
Francesco Paolo Tronca.
Fake items seized
Nuwaiseeb custom inspectors recently seized a shipment
containing 70000 clothing items that were all fake replicas
of some famous brands.
Indian found dead
An Indian was found dead in his Salmiya apartment. Security
sources said that the man’s neighbors perceived bad smells
coming out from the man’s apartment and then reported to
police. On breaking into the place, the man’s decomposing
corpse was found. Investigation has been launched.
�Under gun point’
A car rental clerk reported that a citizen who had rented a
vehicle from his office returned it after he smashed the
car. The Kuwaiti then pulled out a gun and forced him to
write an affidavit clearing him of any damage. Fearing for
his life, the employee had to sign the affidavit and then
informed the police.
Construction worker dies
An Iranian construction worker was instantly killed when he
lost control and fell from a height at a construction site in
Jaber Al-Ahmed area, security sources said. In another development, three workers were injured when a fire broke out in a
restaurant they worked at in Saad Al-Abdullah area. Also, a
woman was instantly killed and her infant baby was injured
when a speeding vehicle driven by a female citizen hit them
in Fahaheel.
First traffic detour on Jamal
Abdul Nasser Road opened
KUWAIT: The Ministry of Public Works
announced the opening of the first traffic detour on the Jamal Abdul Nasser
Road Development Project at the intersection with Ghazali Road (under the
bridge) yesterday. The detour will
replace the current interchange located
under the bridge with a large 3-lane
roundabout, equipped with traffic
lights to be used when necessary to
control the traffic flow, as per the
instructions of the Ministry of Interior as
represented by the General
Department of Traffic. New entrances
and exits have also been developed,
designed and constructed especially for
the new roundabout to accommodate
the expected high traffic flow in the
area leading towards the roundabout.
This will contribute to increasing the
road capacity and maintaining a
smooth flow of traffic in the area, which
is considered one of the most heavilycongested in the country due to the
large number of institutions and organizations in the area serving the public.
The Ministry of Public Works advised
road users to adhere to the traffic laws
and abide by the speed limit when
using these detours, to ensure both
their personal safety and the safety of
the crew working on the project, as this
will also help complete the project
within its projected timeline and with
the least amount of disturbance possible for the public.
As announced earlier this week, the
new detour is one of a series of detours
planned to be opened in the area, as
required by the major works taking
place at the project. This detour aims to
provide the space needed for the construction taking place on the right of
way of the road as dictated by the
Kuwait Municipality. It will also provide
the space needed for the contactor to
move ahead with the project works,
including digging, the construction of
piers and ramps, the erection of precast bridge segments and the relocation of all utilities and facilities.
The Ministry of Public Works also
stated it has been coordinating with
the Ministry of Interior regularly on all
necessary matters. The General
Department of Traffic, represented by
the Department of Engineering, has
inspected the detour to determine its
compliance with safety and security
standards and ensure the alternative
route includes all the necessary road
utilities, such as light posts and traffic
signs, as per the official standards for
alternate routes and to ensure smooth
redirection of traffic. The Ministry of
Public Works has also been working
with all other relevant departments on
matters such as coordinating on the
time to begin diverting traffic and the
issuance of all approvals and permits
needed to open traffic flow on the temporary road.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Hamas militants �plotting
to assassinate’ Israeli FM
9
Egypt closes schools in
two restive Sinai towns
9
CIA chief weighs dramatic
overhaul of US spy agency
10
TUNIS: Unemployed Tunisians sit on the steps of the theatre in Tunis on Habib Bourguiba Avenue. Tunisia has now more than 600,000 unemployed (15 percent of the working age population), of which about 240,000 are graduates from higher education institutions, according to official statistics. —AFP
Jihadi wave tests Tunisia’s young democracy
Tunisia is major source of jihadi fighters in Syria, Iraq
SOUSSE: Tunisians were used to seeing Nidhal Selmi belting around a stadium, proudly sporting his country’s red and white colors as a defender on
the national football squad. So it was a shock when he appeared in a camouflage jacket with a Khalashnikov rifle across his thigh in a photograph
from Syria posted online shortly before he was killed fighting there. While
Selmi’s shift from sports star to jihadi martyr may be striking, the death of a
young Tunisian in Syria is far from it: Tunisia is one of the main sources of
foreigners in the ranks of extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria.
By government estimates, more than 3,000 Tunisian nationals have
joined the Islamic State and other Al-Qaeda-linked groups in the civil war
that has pulled in young men from Europe, Asia and Africa just like the Iraq
and Afghanistan wars did before. How Selmi, a middle-class footballer with
a bright future whose family said had everything from a BMW car to the latest boots, fell into fighting an overseas war illustrates the complex draw of
jihad on North Africa’s youth.
“It didn’t take long for him to change, a matter of months,” said Sami
Mssoli, who coached him from the youth ranks of local club Etoile
Sportivede Sahel. “I really don’t know what happened to him, but it’s a serious phenomenon, and more are taking this route.” The wave of jihadis, and
their possible return home as veteran combatants, creates yet another complication for Tunisia, poster child for the Arab Spring, as the small North
African country tries to complete its democratic transition.
A crackdown on extremists has brought the government accusations of
repression from ultra-conservative Islamists, despite a new constitution that
is a model for religious tolerance and progressiveness in the Arab world.
And its armed forces are already fighting a low-intensity campaign against
Ansar Al-Sharia, one of extremist Islamist groups to arise in the early free-fall
days after the uprising that ousted autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
North Africans, particularly Tunisians, long participated in foreign wars
from Chechyna to Iraq. Baghdad jail cells still hold Tunisians who fought
there, and Abu Iyad, the fugitive leader of Ansar Al Sharia Tunisia, is a veteran of Afghanistan. But every week now, Tunisian newspapers carry death
notices of another young man killed in Syria, Iraq and even Libya, a tragic
sign of how Tunisia’s relatively trouble-free political transition allowed a
hardline religious undercurrent to surface.
Many were students, unemployed and middle class, rather than desperately poor. Some lived in marginalized rural communities, and most were
taken in by extremist recruiters who found fertile ground in Tunisia’s post
revolutionary freedom. Many families blame the first, Islamist government
for lax control of extremists, who took over mosques and spread their radicalizing message during the early days after uprising that ended Ben Ali’s
regime. Many Islamists jailed under Ben Ali were freed after the revolt. “It’s
not about money, those who want money go to Italy,” said Mohammed
Ikbel Ben Rajeb, whose organization, RATTA, provides help to families of
young men in Syria and Iraq. “Those who go to Syria really believe they are
going there to find their eternity, their paradise.”
Extremism draws the poor
Selmi’s hometown of Sousse is an odd mix. A tourist town, it is perhaps one of Tunisia’s most liberal places, where luxury hotels mean
money is not scarce and the beach scene is thriving. But unemployment
is stubborn and dozens of young men leave to join jihad from the surrounding region. According to his former trainer and team mates, Selmi
was always joking, and like any other young men, played cards, hung
out at cafes and talked about girls.
He showed little inclination to religious extremism or politics, they say.
Football was his life, and he was well on his way to becoming a star, with
coaches interested in moving him from the second national team to the
first. Team mates say he started to change last year after spending more
time with ultra-conservative salafists at a local mosque. He grew a beard
and became reluctant to discuss his new ideas with friends. Then he disappeared to Syria at the start of 2014. His Facebook page maps his change:
September 2013, there is a photo of him laughing at a water fun park. On
February 2014, he posted an image of the jihadi’s black flag. Only occasionally did he speak to team mates by messenger from Syria.
“He said he would stay there, that he was fine,” said Chiheb Hadj Fredj,
who played with Selmi on the Etoile squad. “He just said we would see each
other again in paradise.” Selmi’s father Fethi says he learned last month of
the death of his son, who he said wanted for nothing, owning an apartment
as well as a BMW car and the best clothes. His face drawn, he smiles only
when talking about his son’s career. He says he believes Selmi left to fight
after becoming angered at internet videos of the violence committed by
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
“He died for his conviction,” he said sitting with his two younger sons on
the sofa in the family home. “It is not something everyone his age would do,
to leave behind everything and chose another way.” At the other end of the
social spectrum, relatives of young jihads from the rural town of Oueslatia,
near the historic religious city of Kairoaun, say they were inspired by hardline
local preachers and extremist internet broadcasts. A sense of marginalization
was another factor, according to local store owner Jebnani Najib: “We have
nothing for them here except alcohol or the mosque.” —Reuters
INTERNATIONAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Islamic State attacks Iraq provincial capital
Mosques broadcasts call for defenders
BAGHDAD: Islamic State fighters attacked a
government complex in the heart of Ramadi
yesterday, local officials said, part of an apparently coordinated assault to seize full control
of the provincial capital west of Baghdad.
Gunmen fired from rooftops at the buildings,
which house the Anbar governorate building
and police headquarters, while security forces
and tribal fighters tried to prevent the militants from advancing. Mosques broadcast
appeals for reinforcements to prevent the
Sunni militants taking full control of Ramadi,
which would be a major setback for government forces after they broke an Islamic State
siege of Iraq’s biggest oil refinery this week.
Most of Ramadi, about 90 km west of
Baghdad, and the surrounding Sunni Muslim
province of Anbar is already held by Islamic
State. It also seized much of northern Iraq from
the Shiite-led government in June, plunging
Iraq into its worst security crisis since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Air strikes
by the United States and its Western and Arab
allies since August contained an Islamic State
offensive against Kurdish forces but have not
seriously challenged its control over much of
Iraq’s Sunni Arab territory. In Anbar the group
has continued to make advances, capturing
the town of Hit last month. However in
Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad, Iraqi
security forces broke a months-long Islamic
State siege of Baiji refinery on Tuesday.
Mosques appeal
In Ramadi yesterday gunmen fired at the
government complex from nearby rooftops,
using the height of the buildings to get a clear
shot at the area surrounded by concrete blast
walls, said provincial council member Hathal
Al-Fahdawi. “Mosques are asking anyone who
can carry weapons to confront the attackers,”
Fahdawi said. The fighting inside the city
occurred as militants launched coordinated
attacks to the east and west of Ramadi.
Fahdawi said Islamic State fighters attacked
the village of Al Shujairiya, about 20 km east of
Ramadi, and also ambushed and killed a local
police commander as he left his home yesterday morning.
Yesterday’s attacks started around 3 am
(midnight GMT), he said. Officials in the city
also reported heavy clashes to the west of
Ramadi and fighting to the north and south.
They came a day after a suicide bomber blew
up a lorry on a bridge over the Euphrates near
Ramadi, killing at least five people. — Reuters
Egypt closes schools
in restive Sinai towns
ISMAILIA: Egypt has indefinitely shut schools in two border towns
in northern Sinai as the army prepares to intensify a battle with
Islamist militants that turned the daily trip to lessons into a “journey of death”. Local people say children’s education has fallen victim while the military stages air strikes against jihadists, who are
targeting soldiers and police, and have started beheading army
informers. “We are putting our lives at risk on a daily basis,” said
Mohamed, a teacher who lives in the town of Sheikh Zuweid.
“Sometimes there is fire between gunmen and the armed
forces and sometimes stray bullets hit some of us.” Militancy has
surged in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, Gaza and the
Suez Canal, since the army ousted an elected Islamist president
last summer. At least 33 security personnel were killed last month
and one Sinai-based group has pledged its loyalty to Islamic State,
which has overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq.
Army checkpoints dot the main roads in northern Sinai which
residents fear is turning into an all-out war zone. This made the
daily school run arduous, and dangerous if militants targeted the
troops manning them. “We’ve started calling the trip to and from
school the journey of death,” said another teacher, declining to be
named. Since the militant attacks on Oct 24, Egypt has imposed
emergency rule in parts of Sinai, evicted hundreds of families and
demolished their homes to create a buffer zone along the Gaza
border about 350 km northeast of Cairo. The government hopes
that by clearing the 1 km-deep area of residents, buildings and
trees, it can stem the flow of arms via tunnels from Gaza to the
Sinai-based jihadists. “The buffer zone is a principal part of the
solution,” President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said in an interview with
France 24 television on Thursday. “This should have been done
years ago ... There was an understanding with the residents about
the need for Egypt’s security.” Not everyone agrees with him, and
the heavy-handed approach is breeding resentment among local
residents who have long complained of neglect by Cairo.
Near standstill
A night time curfew has brought life to a near standstill while
extended internet and phone disruptions aimed at breaking the
militant’s communications also cause problems. Local people say
they cannot even call an ambulance to pick up casualties or
inform police if they spot militants nearby. Ten civilians were killed
in their home this week during clashes between the army and militants. Security sources said insurgent mortars hit the house but
had earlier raised the possibility of an army air strike gone wrong.
Egyptian officials say extraordinary measures such as the
school shutdown are necessary for both national security and residents’ safety. Schools in Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, both on the
border with Gaza, would remain closed while the army secured
the surrounding areas, North Sinai governor, General Abdel Fattah
Harhour, told state news agency MENA on Thursday. An army
spokesman declined to comment on the military’s plans or
whether they were related to the school closures. However, security sources said the army was planning major operations in the
coming days and did not want children caught in the crossfire.
With neighboring Libya in chaos and Islamic State trying to
establish a cross border “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, Egypt is determined to regain full control of Sinai. But its battle is growing more
complicated. Last week, five navy seamen were wounded and
eight declared missing after what the army called a “terrorist incident” at sea. This was about 50 km (30 miles) from Port Said, the
Mediterranean entrance to the Suez Canal which is a major international shipping route and revenue earner for Egypt. —Reuters
Al-ARISH: Egyptian schoolgirls pass by a sign in Arabic reading “no passing, will open the fire’’ in the Sinai peninsula.
With soldiers firing warning shots to herald the nightly curfew and jihadist militants beheading informants, Sinai’s residents find themselves caught in the middle of Egypt’s “war on terror”. — AFP
Hamas militants �plotting
to assassinate’ Israeli FM
Jerusalem Muslim prayers calm as riot hits Hebron
JERUSALEM: Israel has arrested four
Palestinians suspected of planning to kill
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with
an anti-tank rocket while he drove to his
Jewish settlement in the occupied West
Bank, Israeli officials say. The alleged
Hamas plot was hatched during the JulyAugust war in Gaza. Its disclosure comes
as ties fray between Israel and US-backed
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,
who is based in the West Bank, over a contested Jerusalem shrine. A statement by
Israel’s domestic intelligence service Shin
Bet identified three of the detainees as
Hamas members and, citing their confessions under interrogation, said they had
hoped killing Lieberman “would relay a
message to the State of Israel that would
bring about an end to the Gaza war”.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip
although it is formally under Abbas’ rule,
neither confirmed nor denied the allegations. “We have no information about this
issue. However, we stress that leaders of
the Occupation (Israel) who are responsible for the killing of children and women
and for defiling the sacred sites are legitimate targets for the resistance,” Hamas
spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. The four
Palestinians live near Nokdim settlement,
where Lieberman has a home. They had
carried out surveillance on the far-right
diplomat’s convoy and tried to obtain a
rocket-propelled grenade to attack it, the
Shin Bet said.
The Shin Bet described the alleged plot
as a sign that Islamist Hamas, which
Abbas’s forces had suppressed in the West
Bank after a 2007 Palestinian civil war,
were stepping up their activities in the territory and adjoining East Jerusalem.
Hamas militants abducted and killed three
Israeli youths in the West Bank in June,
triggering the murder by Jews of a
Palestinian teenager from Jerusalem.
Shortly afterwards, Israel launched a 50day offensive against Hamas in the Gaza
Strip with the stated aim of stopping rocket fire out of the enclave.
Riot hits Hebron
Meanwhile, weekly Muslim prayers at
Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque
went off without incident yesterday
despite high tensions in the Holy City, but
stone-throwing Palestinians rioted in the
West Bank city of Hebron. After Israeli
authorities dropped age restrictions for
attending Friday prayers for the second
week running, tens of thousands of peo-
ple made their way to the Al-Aqsa mosque
compound in occupied Arab east
Jerusalem. Police were out in force to prevent a repeat of clashes, led by young
Palestinians, that have rocked the city for
months.
“The police are on stand-by in different
areas to respond if necessary to any disturbances... There are extra units in and
around the Old City,” police spokesman
Micky Rosenfeld said. Men and women of
all ages shuffled into the compound, holy
to both Jews and Muslims, as police carefully checked the identity cards of younger
worshippers. Clashes at the site are usually
led by younger Palestinian men. Earlier
this month, some of them hurled rocks
and firecrackers at police, who entered the
compound and the Al-Aqsa mosque itself.
The Palestinians have been infuriated
by a far-right Jewish campaign for prayer
rights at the compound that threatens an
ultra-sensitive, decades-old status quo
under which Jews can visit but not pray.
Police had tried to preempt unrest by limiting male entry to those over 35.
But Israel eased the restrictions last
week after US Secretary of State John
Kerry announced an agreement on steps
to reduce tensions. — Agencies
INTERNATIONAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
CIA chief weighs dramatic
overhaul of US spy agency
Reorganization would dismantle barriers
ROCHESTER: UK Independence Party (UKIP) party leader
Nigel Farage speaks to a journalist in Rochester, Kent yesterday, a day after the party won a second seat in
Parliament in a by-election. — AFP
Anti-EU party takes
second seat in a
blow for Cameron
ROCHESTER: Britain’s UK Independence Party (UKIP) celebrated
winning its second parliament seat in a blow for the government
that further fragments the political landscape ahead of next
year’s general election. Mark Reckless was re-elected in Rochester
and Strood in southeast England, after defecting from Prime
Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party to UKIP, which
wants Britain to leave the European Union and put strict quotas
on immigration. Furious campaigning by the Conservatives failed
to stem the UKIP advance and their candidate lagged behind on
35 percent with Reckless at 42 percent.
Cameron promised to “throw everything” at Thursday’s byelection battle and visited the constituency himself five times to
campaign. Reacting to the defeat, the prime minister vowed he
was “absolutely determined to win” the seat back in next year’s
national vote, but UKIP leader Nigel Farage insisted he was
“absolutely confident” his camp would hold it. In his acceptance
speech, Reckless made an appeal to all voters to make UKIP the
kingmaker at the general election in May 2015 in the increasingly
likely outcome of a hung parliament in which no party has an
overall majority.
“Whatever constituency you live in, whatever your former party allegiance, think about what it would mean to have a bloc of
UKIP MPs at Westminster large enough to hold the balance of
power,” Reckless said. “If you believe that the world is bigger than
Europe, if you believe in an independent Britain, then come with
us and we will give you back your country.” Farage hailed a
“huge, huge victory”. “They (the Conservatives) threw the kitchen
sink at it, but despite their boasts, we have beaten the ruling party of the day in this life and death struggle,” he told Sky News.
�Not supposed to win’
It is the second seat snatched by UKIP after another
Conservative defector, Douglas Carswell, won UKIP its first elected seat in the national parliament in a September by-election in
Clacton. Speculation over further defections to UKIP swirled after
Reckless suggested two more Conservative lawmakers could
switch-an idea quickly dismissed by senior Conservative politicians. Cameron has already promised a referendum on Britain’s
EU membership if his party wins next year’s general election and
has taken a harder stance on immigration in a bid to reassure
wavering voters. The opposition Labor Party has been forced to
do the same as polls show rising pro-UKIP sentiment among disgruntled former supporters. Experts said the latest vote result
could prove a key moment in the history of British politics, proving UKIP can attract a broad range of voters. “UKIP was not supposed to win this by-election,” said Matthew Goodwin, politics
professor at Nottingham University.
�Never been as uncertain’
The growing support for UKIP is likely to make it harder for
either the centre-right Conservative Party or the centre-left
Labour Party to win an outright majority in what is set to be
closely-fought election in May. “All bets are off for the general
election next year, literally anything could happen,” said Farage.
But some commentators questioned whether Thursday’s by-election might be a protest vote that could wane as the general election approaches. —AFP
WASHINGTON: CIA Director John
Brennan is weighing a dramatic overhaul of the leading US spy agency that
is likely to meet fierce opposition from
veteran agents, current and former
intelligence officials said Thursday. The
reorganization would dismantle the
long entrenched separation between
spying and analysis divisions in the
agency, possibly replacing them with
units focused on geographic areas or
specific threats, said ex-intelligence officials familiar with the review.
In a September 24 message to
employees of the Central Intelligence
Agency, Brennan said it was time “we
take a close and honest look at ourselves” and examine whether the spy
service needed to be restructured. “I
have mentioned several times over the
past year that I have become increasingly convinced that the time has come
to take a fresh look at how we are
organized as an agency and at whether
our current structure, and ways of doing
business, need adjustment to ensure
our future success,” Brennan said in the
message, portions of which were
released to reporters.
The shake-up being contemplated
would be “by far the most sweeping
change in the organization and culture
of the CIA in its history,” said Bruce
Riedel, a former agency officer.
“This would be a reorganization that
fundamentally alters decades of how
the organization has worked,” said
Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution.
Brennan in late September asked
several experienced intelligence officers
“to conduct an in-depth review to
determine whether the agency is optimized for enduring mission effectiveness, specifically in the areas of integration, agility and resilience,” CIA
spokesman Dean Boyd said. Boyd said
the officers carrying out the review are
still “in the information gathering stage”
and it was soon to say what possible
options might be in play.
Skeptical spies
Scrapping the traditional separation
between analysis and the spying side of
the agency-known as the clandestine
John Brennan
service-would represent a ground-shaking event for the CIA, a former intelligence official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity said. “My guess is that it
would be resisted pretty hard by the
clandestine service, which has a definite
esprit de corps that they don’t want to
see lost,” the official said. “A reorganization of this magnitude, which is disrupting divisions that have been in existence for more than a half century, is
going to be a very traumatic event even
in the best of circumstances,” the official said. The idea has been floated in
the past but shot down on each occasion by senior officers. Brennan’s possible reform would seek to replicate the
agency’s Counter-Terrorism Center,
which was credited with tracking down
Osama bin Laden and praised for the
way it combines spy operations and
analysis.
The review was first reported by the
Washington Post, which said the impetus for the potential move came in part
because Brennan had become frustrated with efforts to bolster intelligence on
Syria, where American warplanes are
now bombing Islamic State jihadists
even as a complex civil war rages in the
country. But Boyd said no crisis in particular prompted the review. “There was
not a singular event or singular threat
that triggered the review,” Boyd said.
“We’re in a time when there an incredible number of diverse threats, ranging
from cyber to threats in the Middle East,
to Ukraine, and others. “We need to
periodically evaluate ourselves so we
are best positioned to meet these and
future challenges.”
Slow-footed
The CIA has been criticized as slowmoving and accused by some lawmakers of failing to grasp the importance of
Arab uprisings at the outset or the
strength of Islamic State jihadists in
Syria and Iraq. Some former intelligence officers worry the CIA has
become pre-occupied with paramilitary
operations-such as drone strikes on AlQaeda extremists-at the expense of traditional intelligence gathering and
analysis. In his note to “colleagues,”
Brennan-who himself worked as an
intelligence officer-said he has been
struck by how technological advances
now enable the agency to leverage data
and expertise “in a real-time fashion.”
The agency needs to take full advantage of the new technology to ensure
the CIA carried out its mission “with the
speed, agility, and efficacy that are
expected of us,” he wrote. — AFP
Qaeda vows to punish Houthis
DUBAI: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, reacting to the loss of its
strongholds to Shiite Houthi fighters,
has accused its opponents of acting
as a proxy for the United States and
threatened renewed violence against
them. In an audio message on jihadist
websites, Al AQAP’s military commander Qassim Al-Raymi called the
Houthis “the new rented gun for the
enemies of Islam”. “You have to know
that the mosques of Muslims that you
blew up along with their homes and
schools, will not just pass unnoticed
and you will pay the price dearly,” he
said.
The Houthis’ Ansarullah movement has become the main political
force in Western-allied Yemen since it
captured the capital Sanaa in
September and then pushed into the
Sunni Muslim heartland of Al-Bayda
province, where Ansar Al-Sharia, the
local AQAP affiliate, has allied itself
with tribes. Houthi fighters backed by
government forces drove Ansar AlSharia from one of its last strongholds
in central Yemen last week. Raymi’s
message - which Reuters could not
immediately verify signaled more violence between the Sunni militants
and the Houthi fighters, whom AQAP
view as heretics.
“The account is long and it has not
yet been opened. So be prepared to
pay for it with your souls and selves.
Do you think that your crimes will
pass by without judgment or punishment?” He said that Al-Bayda and
Sanaa had been handed over to the
Houthis under orders from the United
States. Yemen has been in turmoil
since 2011, to the dismay of neighboring Saudi Arabia and Western
powers, who want to prevent instability in the Arabian Peninsula threaten-
ing their oil supplies or giving AlQaeda a base for overseas attacks.
AQAP militants have launched
attacks from there against the West.
Washington regards Yemen as an
important ally in its fight against
Islamist militants and has used drones
there. Separately, an AQAP official
criticized the leader of the Islamic
State group and rejected his selfdeclared caliphate, the SITE monitoring service said. Harith bin Ghazi AlNadhari, AQAP’s top Sharia official, in
a speech circulated on jihadist websites, also reaffirmed the group’s allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman AlZawahri and Taleban chief Mullah
Omar. Last month AQAP had
expressed support for Islamic State
against what it described as a “crusade alliance”, referring to the US-led
air strikes on the insurgents in Iraq
and Syria. — Reuters
INTERNATIONAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Hindu �Modi-fication’ of education raises concern
Head of India’s research body comes under fire
NEW DELHI: Indians were flying aeroplanes, carrying out stem
cell research and may even have been using cosmic weapons
5,000 years ago, according to the chairman of India’s leading
historical organization.
Professor Y Sudershan Rao, the head of the Indian Council
of Historical Research, has been criticized by fellow historians
for comments that Hindu epics are adequate to understand
the ancient world, rather than relying on evidence or research.
The Hindu nationalist government appointed Rao to the prestigious academic post soon after winning the biggest landslide in three decades, fuelling concerns of a push to teach the
superiority of Hindu values and mythology at the cost of academic rigor, and cutting against the grain of secularism that
runs through multi-faith modern India.
“We have so many proofs that these events happened,”
Rao, 69, said in an interview, describing events in the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epics
about love and war, truth and deceit, that feature characters
using inextinguishable fire and weapons with the destructive
power of a nuclear arsenal.
Similar views have won support from Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and in part reflect a belief that India’s history
books are beholden to colonial powers, foreign invaders and
Marxists. While there is debate over the exact age of the Hindu
epics, historians say they were probably written at least two
millennia ago. Rao says this in itself is proof the texts are factual because humans did not develop the art of fiction writing
until a few centuries back.
Many academics are horrified by such views, and describe
his appointment as a blow for the history organization set up
four decades ago to guide research and hand out grants. They
point to signs of a broader plan to bring more Hinduism to the
classroom through changes to the curriculum.
Two Indian states run by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party
have recruited controversial Hindu nationalist Dinanath Batra
to advise on writing textbooks. In June, thousands of schools
in Gujarat were given textbooks by Batra that claimed cars
were invented in ancient India and told children to draw an
enlarged nation to include countries including Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Teachers at Batra’s organization say they want the books to
be in every school. “The lessons from today’s history books are
that Indians are nothing and good for nothing,” said Atul
Kothari, secretary of Batra’s Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, or
Save the Education Movement. “The truth is that historically
we have been a far superior race.”
Education Minister Smriti Irani, a former soap actress,
declined to comment on what revisions will be included in a
review of the curriculum planned next year.
The last time the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was in power
a decade ago it began to rewrite school books in line with
Hindu-nationalist orthodoxy. When the rival Congress party
came back to power it rewrote the books again. Academics
say the loser in all this are confused, and sometimes illinformed, school children. Modi is the first prime minister to
publicly back the view that holy texts show many discoveries
of modern science were made by ancient Indians. He told an
audience of doctors last month that the Hindu god Ganesh’s
head was evidence of ancient plastic surgery. A warrior the
Mahabharata describes as born outside his mother’s womb
was a test-tube baby, Modi said. “These claims can be interpreted as signs of an inferiority complex,” said Romila Thapar,
a leading scholar on ancient India. “The most disturbing thing
is that many people accept this without questioning it,” said
Thapar, whose books one BJP leader has said should be
burned. —Reuters
Police search
Indian guru’s
ashram after arrest
NEW DELHI: Indian police yesterday searched the sprawling
ashram of a holy man who was arrested on suspicion of murder
and criminal conspiracy after a deadly siege at his fortress-like
compound.
Sant Rampal, a 63-year-old former engineer, had ignored
orders to appear in court for questioning in a 2006 murder case.
But when police moved in to arrest him Tuesday, they clashed
with thousands of devotees who were packed inside his heavily
fortified ashram in northern India.
His supporters said he was too ill to make the 250-kilometer
(155-mile) journey from his ashram to the court in Chandigarh, the
Haryana state capital.
Some of his followers were armed with rocks, guns and small
bags of acid, according to police. By the time of his arrest
Wednesday, he faced additional charges related to the siege,
including murder, sedition and criminal conspiracy. At least six
people - five women and an 18-month-old child - died during the
standoff. Officials were still working to determine the causes of
death, police official Anil Kumar said.
About 200 people were injured, including security forces.
Rampal, who says he is the reincarnation of an Indian poet and
mystic, is one of many gurus and Hindu holy men who command
huge followings in India. The enormous power wielded by selfstyled holy men has led to scandals in which some have been
accused of exploiting devotees. —AP
INTERNATIONAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
China tries top journalist, scholar in closed hearings
BEIJING: Closed-door court hearings of a
prominent journalist and a noted minority scholar held yesterday were sharply
criticized for violating due process and
chilling freedom of expression as Chinese
authorities tighten oversight of public
speech. Journalist Gao Yu, 70, denied that
she had leaked state secrets on the first
day of her trial, her lawyer said. Police and
plainclothes agents blocked journalists
from accessing the Beijing No 3 People’s
Intermediate Court. She faces a maximum penalty of death, lawyer Mo
Shaoping said.
Across the country, in the tumultuous
Xinjiang region, a sealed jailhouse court
upheld the separatism conviction and life
sentence for Ilham Tohti, a noted scholar
from China’s Muslim Uighur minority
who frequently criticized the government while advocating ethnic pride and
greater economic opportunity.
Both proceedings highlight tensions
between China’s vision of rule of law, a
top priority of President Xi Jinping, and
Western notions of judicial fairness. “The
Chinese judicial authority handed down
the verdict in accordance with the facts
and law. China’s judicial sovereignty
must not be questioned,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at his daily
news briefing in response to a question
about Ilham Tohti’s appeal.
To human rights groups, the trials are
part of the Communist Party’s redoubled
efforts to consolidate control, cracking
down on dissidents, corruption and free
speech, as China embarks on a difficult
path of economic transformation and
confronts new challenges in governing
an increasingly well-informed and sometimes restive population. “These cases fly
in the face of China’s written commitment to improve the rule of law in China,”
said Nicholas Bequelin, a senior
researcher in the Asia Division of Human
Rights Watch. “This is because there is a
misunderstanding of what these reforms
really entail. They were never intended to
improve the rights of the defense in politically sensitive cases or cases in which
there was overwhelming evidence of
guilt. What the government wants is for
the police not to torture innocent people.
Torturing guilty people they have no
problem with.”
Activists fear authorities are using
state secrets charges to silence critics like
Gao, who also is one of the best-known
intellectuals to have been imprisoned for
supporting the 1989 Tiananmen prodemocracy protests. She was detained in
April on charges of illegally obtaining a
Communist Party document and providing it to an overseas website for publication, according to previous official
reports.
State media did not identify the document, but it appeared to refer to a strategy paper - known as Document No. 9 that reportedly argued for aggressive
curbs on the spread of Western democracy, universal values, civil society, freedom
of the press and other ideological concepts the party believed threatened its
legitimacy. —AP
China minister
brushes off fears
over military growth
BEIJING: China’s defense minister yesterday sought to soothe
concerns over the country’s growing armed forces, saying its
military modernization is rooted in both past humiliations
and a present need to combat threats including terrorism.
“The remarkable growth of China’s comprehensive national power, and the continued progress in national defense
modernization, have become a focus of international attention in recent years,” General Chang Wanquan said in a
speech.
Among the reasons he cited for the makeover were
China’s “wretched modern history” as a victim of aggression
and the “practical need to secure its own territory”, catch up
with other militaries and cooperate internationally to combat
“terrorism, extremism and separatism”.
China’s military “lags far behind those advanced military
forces elsewhere in the world,” he added in the address at a
conference sponsored by the China Association for Military
Science.
China has consistently stressed that the growth and modernization of its armed forces-the world’s largest by manpower, with approximately 2.3 million active duty troops as
of last year-pose no threat to any other countries or international order. But Beijing’s growing assertiveness over territorial disputes in the East and South China seas has stoked concerns, as have commentaries in official media questioning
the decades-long security role of the United States in the
region.
Chang’s speech came a day after a US commission
warned that potential China-US military confrontations risk
escalating into a “major political crisis”, amid Beijing’s maritime disputes with Japan and the Philippines, both US allies.
Increased Chinese military spending and the country’s
expanding naval capabilities are among developments
“enabling China to challenge decades of air and naval dominance by the United States in the Western Pacific”, Dennis
Shea, chairman of the US-China Economic and Security
Review Commission, told reporters Thursday.
Chang spoke at the Fifth Xiangshan Forum, a military
affairs conference Beijing has hosted every other year since
2006 and is upgrading to a higher-level dialogue in which
defense officials also participate alongside scholars and
experts.
Besides Chang, other defense ministers attending included those from Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Singapore and
Tajikistan. South Korea sent its deputy defense minister for
policy, while Chinese ally North Korea appeared not to have
dispatched anyone, based on a list of delegations distributed
to participants. No current US Department of Defense officials were included on the list, though at least one uniformed
military attachГ€ from the US embassy in Beijing was present.
Gary Roughead, a retired admiral who during his career
served as chief of US naval operations as well as commander of the US Atlantic and Pacific fleets, attended the
conference. —AFP
TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at his official residence in
Tokyo yesterday. —AFP
Japan PM dissolves lower
house for early election
Dec 14 poll could be a referendum on �Abenomics’
TOKYO: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved
the lower house of Japan’s parliament yesterday, forcing an early election in an apparent
bid to shore up support for his scandalplagued government so he can pursue his policy goals. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party,
which has been in power for most of the postWorld War II era, may lose some seats but is
likely to retain a solid majority with its coalition
partner in the 480-seat lower house.
The election on Dec 14 follows Abe’s decision to postpone a planned sales tax increase
after data released Monday showed the economy slipped into recession. He is portraying the
election as a referendum on his economic revitalization policies, known as Abenomics, and
the postponement of the tax hike - from the
current 8 percent to 10 percent - that had been
set for next October. “The question is whether
we should pursue Abenomics or not,” Abe told
a news conference. “That’s what this election is
about. Through the election I will ask the public
whether our policies are right or wrong.”
The early poll, however, has puzzled many
voters as Abe has been prime minister for only
about two years and the lower house was only
halfway through its four-year term. Calling an
election right after the release of negative economic data is also not usually considered wise.
Media polls this week showed the majority of
voters were opposed to dissolving the lower
house. But Abe may see it as a chance to win a
fresh mandate for his rule and to clean house
after recent scandals involving Cabinet members dragged down his approval ratings,
experts said. Two ministers have resigned and
others have come under attack for alleged
campaign finance and election law violations.
Divided opposition
“It was certainly to prolong his life as prime
minister,” said Mieko Nakabayashi, a former
lawmaker who teaches at Waseda University
in Tokyo. With the opposition parties in disarray, Abe can be confident voters will give the
LDP a victory that will keep him in office for
another four years. The focus is on the economy, and few voters oppose delaying the tax
increase.
Also, the December vote will come before
Abe has to tackle contentious issues next year
that could erode support for his government,
including legislation to expand Japan’s military role and restart nuclear power plants.
“It’s like pushing a reset button,” said Koichi
Nakano, an international politics professor at
Sophia University in Tokyo. “Once the election
is over, Abe is likely to claim that he’s got a
popular mandate and now practically has a
blank check from the people to continuing to
govern for another four years.” The official
campaigning starts Dec 2. “The battle is now
starting,” Abe told party members yesterday.
“We’ll make an all-out fight in this battle so that
we all can come back here to resume our
responsibility to make Japan a country that
shines in the center of the world.”
Abe got a rare second shot as prime minister after stepping down just a year into his
rocky first term in office in 2006-2007. His support ratings started out high as share prices
surged in early 2013, but fell recently as parliament squabbled over the campaign finance
scandals. The main opposition Democratic
Party of Japan, which led the country for three
years until the end of 2012, deeply disappointed voters with its failure to achieve promised
goals. While Abe isn’t wildly popular among
the general public, voters appear to be more
willing to trust him and the LDP, which ruled
Japan through its high-growth era in the
1960s and into the booming 1980s.
On Monday, Japan said its economy - the
world’s third-largest - unexpectedly shrank in
the third quarter, its second straight quarterly
contraction, which is the common definition
of a recession. —AP
INTERNATIONAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Obama spurns Republicans with immigration orders
Move to spare 5 million from deportation
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama unveiled expansive
executive actions on immigration Thursday night to spare nearly 5
million people in the US illegally from deportation, setting off a
fierce fight with Republicans over the limits of presidential powers.
In a televised address to the nation, Obama defended the
legality of his actions and challenged Republicans lawmakers to
focus their energy not on blocking his measures but on approving
long-stalled legislation to take their place. “To those members of
Congress who question my authority to make our immigration
system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where
Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill,” Obama said,
flexing his presidential powers just two weeks after his political
standing was challenged in the midterm elections.
As Obama spoke from the White House, immigration supporters with American flags draped over their shoulders marched on
Pennsylvania Avenue outside carrying signs that read, “Gracias,
Presidente Obama.”
The address marked the first step in the White House effort to
promote the executive actions to the public. On Friday, Obama
will speak at a campaign-style rally in Las Vegas.
Despite Obama’s challenge to Republicans to pass a broader
immigration bill, his actions and the angry Republican response
could largely stamp out those prospects for the remainder of his
presidency, ensuring that the contentious debate will carry on
into the 2016 elections.
Republicans, emboldened by their sweeping victories in the
midterms, are weighing responses to the president’s actions that
include lawsuits, a government shutdown and in rare instances,
even impeachment.
“The president will come to regret the chapter history writes if
he does move forward,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is soon to
become the Senate majority leader, said before Obama’s address.
While Obama’s measures are sweeping in scope, they still leave
more than half of the 11 million people living in the US illegally in
limbo. The president announced new deportation priorities that
would compel law enforcement to focus its efforts on tracking
down serious criminals and people who have recently crossed the
border, while specifically placing a low priority on those who have
been in the United States for more than 10 years. The president
spent months trying to gain a House vote on the Senate bill, frustrating immigration advocates and some Democrats who wanted
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama leaves the
podium after speaking during a nationally televised
address from the White House in Washington on
Thursday. —AP
him to instead take action on his own. While Obama had long
insisted that his powers to halt deportations were limited, the
White House began seriously exploring options for unilateral
action.
Still, that process has been beset by delays, especially Obama’s
decision to hold off on announcing the executive orders until after
the midterms. Some Democrats had feared that thrusting the
immigration debate to the forefront of the campaign would hurt
their chances of keeping control of the Senate, though the White
House’s delay ultimately did little to stem their defeats.
The main beneficiaries of the president’s actions are immigrants who have been in the US illegally for more than five years
but whose children are citizens or lawful permanent residents.
After passing background checks and paying fees, those individuals will soon be able to seek relief from deportation and get work
permits. The administration expects about 4.1 million people to
qualify.
Obama will also expand eligibility to people who arrived in the
US as minors before 2010, instead of the current cutoff of 2007,
and will lift the requirement that applicants be under 31. The
expansion is expected to affect about 300,000 people.
Immigration-rights activists gathered at watch parties around the
country to listen to the president announce actions they have
sought for years.
“This is a great day for farmworkers. It’s been worth the pain
and sacrifice,” said Jesus Zuniga, a 40-year-old who picks tomatoes in California’s Central Valley and watched the speech at a
union gathering in Fresno. In New York City, however, a couple of
protesters held “no amnesty” signs outside a New York union
office where advocates of the president’s plan were gathering to
watch him and celebrate.
“We have a lot of unemployed Americans right now, and I
don’t understand why unemployed Americans can’t be hired to
do the jobs these illegals are doing,” said John Wilson, who works
in contract management. —AP
INTERNATIONAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Powerful US pro-Israel lobby holds fire as Iran deadline looms
WASHINGTON: As the United States and other powers
negotiate down to the wire on a nuclear deal with Iran,
one voice has been unusually quiet - the main pro-Israel
lobby in Washington.
Israel deeply distrusts the attempt to reach a deal at
talks in Vienna that would lift harsh international sanctions on Iran in return for limits to its nuclear program,
aimed at preventing it from developing an atomic bomb.
But its staunchest US supporters, represented by the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC,
lobbying group, have been holding back. They failed earlier this year in a full-scale push for further sanctions that
the White House said would have derailed the talks.
With growing signs that Monday’s deadline for an Iran
deal may be extended, AIPAC is looking past these talks
and weighing how to respond to the outcome amid a
changing political environment in Washington. “There’s
nothing to lobby for ... until we see what’s addressed in
Vienna,” said a source close to AIPAC. “But after that, the
question is whether you’ll see an intense push to engage
with Congress. It could be the lull before the storm.”
A Republican sweep in this month’s US congressional
elections has already spurred new threats from hawkish
lawmakers to seek further sanctions against Iran. AIPAC is
likely to find the Republican-led Congress that takes
office in January more receptive to tougher measures
against Tehran and President Barack Obama less likely to
have the votes to sustain a veto against fresh sanctions.
In February, Obama was able to block a campaign
backed by AIPAC to get Congress to impose new sanctions, marking the group’s biggest political defeat in
years.
Army of AIPAC lobbyists
AIPAC, which has about 100,000 members, is widely
credited with helping to ensure that Israel remains a top
recipient of US foreign aid and is accustomed to seeing
most congressional measures it favors pass almost unopposed. —Reuters
Woman, three children
shot in New Jersey
TABERNACLE: One of two bodies are taken from the scene of a shooting on Thursday in Tabernacle, New Jersey.
The shooting at a home in a secluded wooded area of southern New Jersey left two children dead and a woman
and another child wounded, state police said. —AP
Residents fear floods and
roof collapses in Buffalo
Snow ends as death toll rises to 12
BUFFALO, New York: A snowfall that
brought huge drifts and closed roads in the
Buffalo area finally ended yesterday, yet residents still couldn’t breathe easy, as the looming threat of rain and higher temperatures
through the weekend and beyond raised the
possibility of floods and more roofs collapsing under the heavy loads.
More than 30 roof collapses, most involving farm and flat-roof buildings, were reported overnight, officials said yesterday, after
snow Thursday brought the Buffalo area’s
three-day total to an epic 7 feet or more.
Little or no snow was expected yesterday,
and the forecast called for a chance of rain
on Saturday and more on Monday, along
with temperatures approaching 60 degrees.
Homeowners and store employees
around the region climbed onto roofs
Thursday to shovel off the snow and reduce
the danger. “It’s getting heavier,” said
Cheektowaga resident Thomas Mudd Jr, who
with his wife spent several hours shoveling 4
to 5 feet off their roof. “It’s supposed to
warm up and we’re supposed to get rain on
the weekend, which will make it even heavier. So I didn’t want my roof collapsing.”
12 deaths
The storms were blamed for at least 12
deaths in western New York, mostly from
heart attacks and exposure. The most recent
victims were two elderly residents of a nursing home that was evacuated amid concerns
of a roof collapse, Deputy Erie County
Executive Richard Tobe said yesterday.
“No matter how you cut it, this event will
end up in the top five for the Lake Erie area,”
said National Weather Service Director Louis
Uccellini. More than 50 people were evacuated from several mobile home parks in suburban Cheektowaga and West Seneca because
roofs were buckling. Bellevue Fire
Department Lt. Timothy Roma said more
than a dozen buildings and carports collapsed, as did a metal warehouse operated
by a Christmas decorations company, where
damage was estimated in the millions.
Local media reported that about 180 residents of a Cheektowaga assisted living facility were evacuated after staff members
noticed the ceiling bulging under the weight
of the snow.
With roads impassable, driving bans in
effect and the Buffalo Bills’ stadium buried in
snow, the NFL decided to move the Bills’
Sunday home game against the New York
Jets to Monday night in Detroit.
National Guardsmen drove nurses to
their hospital shifts. State troopers helped
elderly residents trapped in their homes.
State officials assembled 463 plows, 129
loaders and 40 dump trucks from across the
state for a massive cleanup effort.
Some Buffalo-area schools were closed
for the fourth day, burning through snow
days with winter still a month away. A stretch
of the New York State Thruway through
western New York remained closed, with
more than 300 truckers idled at truck stops
and service areas, waiting for the highway to
reopen. —AP
TABERNACLE, New Jersey: A shooting at a home in a secluded wooded area of southern New Jersey left two children
dead and their brother and their mother critically wounded,
state police said Thursday. Officials said they were not prepared to say whether the shooting in Tabernacle was considered a murder-suicide, but they did say there was no threat to
the public and no active search for a shooter.
State police said 44-year-old Jeaninne LePage was in critical condition Thursday evening at Cooper University Hospital
in Camden. A boy injured in the shooting also was in critical
condition. Police did not release the names or ages of the
children.
State police said they received a call from another relative
in the home at about 9:15 am reporting that the mother and
children - believe to be middle-school and high-school aged had been shot.
The woman had a single shot to her head; officials would
not say where the children had been shot. All were found in
the same room, and a handgun believed to be the only
weapon used was found, police said. Five other people live in
the home, but authorities say none reported hearing any
shooting. The reason for that was another issue that officials
said they couldn’t explain yet. “It’s going to be a long time
before we know exactly what happened,” state police
Detective Geoff Noble said.
Authorities said all the other residents of the home had
been accounted for. State police had a section of the road
closed Thursday evening as investigators continued searching
the property. They were seen looking through three cars in
the driveway. Just before 5 pm, authorities brought out the
bodies of the two children. Duke German, 50, of Tabernacle,
said his son goes to school with one of the boys who lives at
the house and said the boy wasn’t on the school bus Thursday
morning.
The Burlington County community is located in the sparsely populated New Jersey Pinelands, about 30 miles east of
Philadelphia. Neighbors said they did not know the residents
of the house and did not hear any commotion Thursday
morning until troopers arrived and helicopters began hovering overhead. “It’s very quiet, peaceful,” said Mike Watson,
who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. “You can hear
a pin drop.” —-AP
More arrests as protesters
await Ferguson grand
jury decision
FERGUSON, Missouri: Riot police arrested at least two
demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, for a second night running as tensions simmer ahead of a grand jury decision in the
case of a white officer who shot dead an unarmed black
teenager in August. The grand jury is deciding whether to
charge officer Darren Wilson in the slaying of 18-year-old
Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb in a case that has
exposed fresh strains in often-troubled race relations in the
United States.
About a dozen protesters gathered again outside the
police station in Ferguson in frigid conditions, sometimes
blocking vehicles as they waved placards and chanted
“Whose streets? Our streets!” and “Killer cops have got to go!”
Officers in helmets and shields were deployed after a commander told protesters not to block traffic. Brief scuffles broke
out and at least one woman and a man were handcuffed and
taken away.—Reuters
China CB surprises with
rate cut to spur growth
16
17
Long �to do’ list for Modi
as clock ticks on reform
Business
20
CEOs in 10 big mergers
to get $430m: Study
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
BMW 5 Series blazes
onto Kuwaiti asphalt
19
FRANKFURT: The President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi is on his way to the European Banking Congress in Frankfurt yesterday. — AP
ECB throws door to QE wide open
Draghi sees no stronger euro-zone recovery in coming months
FRANKFURT: European Central Bank President
Mario Draghi threw the door wide open yesterday
for more dramatic action to rescue the euro-zone
economy, saying “excessively low” inflation had to
be raised quickly by whatever means necessary.
Draghi said there was now no sign of economic
improvement in the months ahead and that the
ECB would expand and step up its program to
pump more money into the currency bloc if its current measures fell short of lifting inflation. “We will
continue to meet our responsibility - we will do
what we must to raise inflation and inflation
expectations as fast as possible, as our price stability mandate requires of us,” Draghi said in a speech
at an annual banking congress.
“If on its current trajectory our policy is not
effective enough to achieve this, or further risks to
the inflation outlook materialise, we would step up
the pressure and broaden even more the channels
through which we intervene, by altering accordingly the size, pace and composition of our purchases.” “Draghi all but announced that the central
bank will step up monetary easing soon. Mr Maybe
has become Mr Definitely,” said Nick Kounis, an
economist with ABN Amro. “We think the ECB
would exhaust other alternatives before moving to
sovereign QE.” Draghi had said on Monday further
measures could involve large-scale purchases of
government bonds, also known as quantitative
easing - a step that is particularly opposed in the
bloc’s largest economy, Germany, for fear of mutualising risks. The head of Germany’s powerful
Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, in his speech at the
same event, avoided the subject of monetary policy and instead spoke about banking regulation.
“We can’t be constantly commenting on one
another,” Weidmann told reporters as he left the
event shortly after his speech. Draghi’s comments
pushed 10-year government bond yields in Italy,
Ireland and Austria to new all-time lows. The euro
fell 0.8 percent against the dollar and was down
1.1 percent against the yen.
Dramatic
Draghi’s remarks were almost as dramatic as his
“whatever it takes” speech in the summer of 2012
with which he pulled the euro-zone back from the
brink. Having earlier in the week pointed to early
signs of improvements, Draghi yesterday said the
economic situation remained difficult and the latest business survey suggested a stronger recovery
was unlikely in the coming months.
“Over shorter horizons, however, indicators
have been declining to levels that I would deem
excessively low,” he said. The euro-zone economy
has been mired in low growth and weak inflation
for months. The ECB is trying to unblock lending to
households and companies by flooding the market with billion of euros through purchases of
securitized private debt.
But should these not be enough to bring inflation - now at 0.4 percent - back to its medium-term
target of just below 2 percent, Draghi said the ECB
would recalibrate the size, pace and composition
of our purchases as necessary. “This is why the
Governing Council has tasked ECB staff and the relevant Eurosystem committees with ensuring the
timely preparation of further measures to be
implemented, if needed.”
This could include the purchasing of sovereign
bonds. The ECB would be the last of the major central banks to deploy QE, though several policymak-
ers have raised concern that the costs of such a
tool would outweigh the benefits.
Borrowing costs of euro-zone governments
have fallen to record lows since Draghi’s 2012
speech, which leads some observers to doubt the
impact of QE in the euro zone because one key QE
effect would be to weigh on long-term interest
rates. “It has never been cheaper for countries such
as France to borrow. Buying state bonds could
influence the price of state bonds, but wouldn’t
have much impact on the economy,” said Michael
Heise, the chief economist of Allianz. Draghi
acknowledged the different financial structures in
the euro zone, Japan and the United States, but
stressed QE may still have an effect via the currency channel as banks would be expected to shift
into assets outside the euro-zone.
“There is evidence that both the various Large
Scale Asset Purchase programs of the Fed as well
as the Bank of Japan’s Quantitative and Qualitative
Easing program led to a significant depreciation of
their respective exchange rates, even in a situation
in which long-term yields were already very low, as
in Japan,” Draghi said. — Reuters
BUSINESS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Tokyo investors
cautious next week
SHANGHAI: Clothes hang out to dry outside residential homes in Shanghai yesterday. Growth in foreign investment into
China slowed in October, the government said, amid a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy and concerns
over business risks. — AFP
China CB surprises with
rate cut to spur growth
TOKYO: Tokyo investors are likely to be cautious next
week about a possible market downturn, analysts said yesterday, while political developments in Japan will be a
focus ahead of an election next month.
“The market continues to show all the signs of being
technically overbought and potentially ready for a pullback,” said Masayuki Doshida, senior market analyst at
Rakuten Securities.
On Friday, the Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock
Exchange reversed early losses to end 0.33 percent, or
56.65 points, higher at 17,357.51. The Nikkei lost 0.76 percent over the week.
The Topix index of all first-section shares edged up 0.18
percent, or 2.54 points, to 1,400.18. It eased 0.02 percent
over the week. The Nikkei hit a seven-year high last week
after the Bank of Japan expanded its monetary easing program on October 31, sending the yen into a freefall.
A weak yen is generally positive for Japanese exporters,
but the unit won back some ground yesterday. “The dollar
had been bid so high so quickly that a sudden, deep selloff would be totally logical,” said Daisuke Uno, strategist at
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
“Still, the longer-term direction of the dollar remains
higher, perhaps to the 120-125 yen range. Investors see
the current recession, the delay in next year’s sales tax,
and particularly the Bank of Japan’s stalwart stance for
aggressive monetary easing as simply too powerful to bet
heavily against.”
On forex markets, the dollar bought 117.87 yen, down
from 118.22 yen in New York, where it nearly broke 119
yen for the first time since August 2007. Japanese finance
minister Taro Aso said Friday that the yen’s steep slide
over the past week had been “too fast”. —AFP
Move comes as economy stalls
BEIJING: China cut interest rates unexpectedly yesterday, stepping up efforts to support the world’s second-biggest economy
as it heads towards its slowest expansion in nearly a quarter of a
century. The cut, the first in over two years, came as factory
growth has stalled and the property market, long a pillar of
growth, has remained weak, dragging on broader activity and
curbing demand for everything from furniture to cement and
steel. “It’s comes right after China’s disappointing PMI figures
showing that manufacturing activity is getting dangerously close
to contraction,” said Alexandre Baradez, chief market analyst at IG
in Paris, referring to a private factory survey this week which
added to worries about slowing global growth.
“China’s central bank is now following the path of the Fed, the
ECB and the BoJ. Central banks are really driving markets,” he
said. Just a few weeks ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping had
assured global business leaders that the risks faced by China’s
economy were “not so scary” and the government was confident
it could head off the dangers. In a speech to chief executives at
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, Xi
said even if China’s economy were to grow 7 percent, that would
still rank it at the forefront of the world’s economies. The People’s
Bank of China said it was cutting one-year benchmark lending
rates by 40 basis points to 5.6 percent. It lowered one-year benchmark deposit rates by less - just 25 basis points. The changes take
effect from today. “The problem of difficult financing, costly
financing remains glaring in the real economy,” the PBOC said.
LIMITING THE IMPACT
The central bank also took a step to free up deposit rates,
allowing banks to pay depositors 1.2 times the benchmark level,
up from 1.1 times previously.
“They are cutting rates and liberalizing rates at the same time
so that the stimulus won’t be so damaging,” said Li Huiyong, an
economist at Shenyin and Wanguo Securities.
Recent data showed bank lending tumbled in October and
money supply growth cooled, raising fears of a sharper economic
slowdown and prompting calls for more stimulus measures,
including cutting interest rates. But many analysts had expected
the central bank to hold off on cutting interest rates for now, as
authorities have opted instead for measures like more fiscal
spending, as they also try to balance the need to reform the economy. Chinese leaders have also repeatedly stressed they would
tolerate somewhat slower growth as long as the jobs market
remained resilient. —Reuters
HANOI: Electricity workers using a long bamboo ladder to
fix an electrical cable in downtown Hanoi. World Bank has
recently approved a loan of $500 million to Vietnam to
improve the country’s capacity, efficiency and reliability
of electricity transmission system in key areas including
Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta and the
Central Region. —AFP
China commits $45.6bn projects for Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: The Chinese government and banks will
finance Chinese companies to build $45.6 billion worth
of energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan over
the next six years, according to new details of the deal
seen by Reuters yesterday.
The Chinese companies will be able to operate the
projects as profit-making entities, according to the deal
signed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a visit to
China earlier this month.
At the time, officials provided few details of the
projects or the financing for the deal, dubbed the
China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC). The deal further
cements ties between Pakistan and China at a time
when Pakistan is nervous about waning US support as
troops pull out of Afghanistan.
Pakistan and China, both nuclear-armed nations,
consider each other close friends. Their ties are underpinned by common wariness of India and a desire to
hedge against US influence in South Asia.
Documents seen by Reuters show that China has
promised to invest around $33.8 billion in various energy projects and $11.8 billion in infrastructure projects.
Two members of Pakistan’s planning commission, the
focal ministry for the CPEC, and a senior official at the
ministry of water and power shared the details of the
projects. The deal says the Chinese government and
banks, including China Development Bank, and the
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC),
one of China’s �Big Four’ state-owned commercial
banks, will loan funds to Chinese companies, who will
invest in the projects as commercial ventures.
“Pakistan will not be taking on any more debt
through these projects,” said Pakistan’s minister for
water and power Khawaja Asif. Major Chinese companies investing in Pakistan’s energy sector will include
China’s Three Gorges Corp, which built the world’s
biggest hydro power scheme, and China Power
International Development Ltd.
Sharif signed more than 20 agreements during his
trip to China earlier this month, including $622 million
for projects related to the deepwater, strategically
important Gwadar port, which China is developing.
The port is close to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane. It could open up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf across Pakistan to western China that
could be used by the Chinese Navy - potentially upsetting rival India.
Pakistan sees the latest round of Chinese investments as key to its efforts to solve power shortages
that have crippled its economy. Blackouts lasting more
than half a day in some areas have sparked violent
protests and undermined an economy already beset
by high unemployment, widespread poverty, crime
and sectarian and insurgent violence. —Reuters
BUSINESS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Malaysia axes fuel subsidies as oil prices drop
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s government
said yesterday it will completely withdraw fuel subsidies from next month following the plunge in global oil prices.
Domestic Trade Minister Hasan Malek
said fuel prices will now be set at the end
of every month based on a monthly average price under a “managed float” system from Dec 1.
He said the move will allow
Malaysians to enjoy the full benefits of
the fall in global crude prices. Last year,
the government spent 23 billion ringgit
($6.7 billion) on fuel subsidies. The world
oil price has plummeted 31 percent in
just five months, a sharp drop after a
four-year period of prices near or above
$100 a barrel. On Thursday, benchmark
US crude was about $76 a barrel.
Neighboring Indonesia on Monday
sharply raised fuel prices, saying costly
government subsidies would be better
spent on infrastructure and development. Economists welcomed Malaysia’s
move, which was unexpected. “Subsidy is
a major price distortion in the economy,
so it’s a big thumbs-up,” said Wan
Suhaimi Saidie, economist with Kenanga
Investment Bank. “The timing is right,
there is no other better time than now to
do this. The impact will not be as painful
for the man on the street.”
Currently, gasoline is fixed at 2.30
ringgit (69 cents) a liter and diesel at 2.20
ringgit (66 cents) a liter.
Hasan said fuel prices could be even
cheaper based on the managed float
system. For example, he said the average gasoline price from Nov 1-19 was
2.27 ringgit (68 cents) a liter. While saving on subsidies, economists said the fall
in oil and commodity prices was negative for Malaysia, which is a major
exporter of oil, palm oil and rubber. The
economy has already been under pressure due to rising domestic debt, a
swollen fiscal deficit and a shrinking current account surplus. — AP
Foreign firms
challenge Poland
over mine permits
SILIGURI: An Indian fisherman uses a net rig to catch fish at the Mahananda river on the outskirts of Siliguri yesterday.
The labor sector of the Indian economy consists of roughly 487 million workers, the second largest after China, and of
these over 94 percent work in unincorporated, unorganized enterprises ranging from pushcart vendors to home-based
diamond and gem polishing operations. — AFP
Long �to do’ list for Modi
as clock ticks on reform
Govt faces tough 2014/15 deficit targets
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has a long list of progrowth measures to implement over the
next four months, but time may have
already run out to breathe enough life into
the economy to meet the tough 2014/15
fiscal deficit target without cuts.
Modi’s election victory in May
unleashed a rush of money from foreign
portfolios betting the reformist prime minister would drive a quick recovery. That
has yet to materialize, with both factory
utilization and capital spending low.
Parliament convenes on Monday for a
month-long session in which the government is confident of passing legislation to
allow more foreign investment in the
insurance industry, despite hostile opposition parties. Other bills, including labor
and land reform, will face stiff opposition.
After the session ends on Dec 23, focus
will turn to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s
second budget, due in February and seen
as a chance for the government to address
criticism it has not moved quickly or boldly enough on the economy.
“They are quite aware of the urgency,
that this cannot just be an incremental
budget,” said author and commentator
Gurcharan Das, a former CEO of Proctor
and Gamble India. “They think of this as a
transformative budget.” Jaitley set a tough
fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of GDP in
his maiden budget. Slack tax revenues and
the challenge of raising a record $9.5 billion target from asset sales could force
him to cut spending, risking a fragile economic recovery.
Jaitley acknowledged yesterday that it
will be hard to hit tax revenue targets this
financial year, saying the lack of pick-up in
manufacturing was affecting indirect tax
receipts. “India looks set to miss its fiscal
target this year, even in the optimistic case
that the government fully delivers on its
plans to sell stakes in state-owned companies,” Capital Economics’ Shilan Shah said
in a research note. Shah said missing the
target would not be such a bad thing, given that looser fiscal policy could help the
economic revival.
GDP looming
After moving slowly on economic policy, including the asset sales, in his first six
months in office, Modi has now picked up
the pace. Last week the government
announced it would auction dozens of
coalfields by February as well as allow foreign firms to mine coal for the first time.
Asset sales should begin with the sale of a
stake in oil firm ONGC in early December.
Even if such moves were implemented
straight away, one senior government
source said, their impact would take
months to be felt. GDP data due on Nov 28
will give a clearer picture of how the economy fared in the quarter to September,
but with factories running nearly 30 percent below capacity, few expect a big
rebound from the worst slowdown since
the 1980s. — Reuters
WARSAW: Two foreign-owned mining firms have challenged the
Polish government over what they see as the unfair allocation of
copper and potash extraction permits to state-controlled miner
KGHM. Poland’s environment ministry, which allocates concessions, denied it gave preferential treatment to KGHM over
Canadian Miedzi Copper, which has filed a lawsuit, or British firm
Darley Energy, which has submitted an appeal. KGHM, Europe’s
second-largest copper producer and an industrial champion for
Poland, is 31.8-percent owned by the state. It said it did not limit
competition. Whatever the outcome, the row could rattle foreign
investors at a time when Poland’s resource sector, struggling with
low prices on the world market, badly needs investment. The
government is also anxious to bring investors into shale gas,
which it hopes will reduce its reliance on imported Russian gas.
But a number of firms have pulled out, citing difficult geology
and unclear regulations.
The founders of Darley also control 3Legs Resources , which
earlier this year sold its Polish shale gas business in which it was
partnered with ConocoPhilips. Miedzi Copper told Reuters it had
filed a case with a local court after two copper concessions were
awarded to it and then withdrawn following a challenge from
KGHM. The ministry said the bidding would be rerun as bidders
had insufficient information. KGHM said the permit granted to
Miedzi Copper was part of a deposit it had previously invested in.
“The only other place where I had such a negative experience
was Russia,” Ross Beaty, the main shareholder in Miedzi Copper,
told Reuters. “I’ll never go back to Russia and I’m afraid that I’m
starting to feel the same with Poland right now.”
LATE BID
Darley Energy told Reuters separately that it had submitted an
appeal to the ministry over the decision to deny it a permit to
mine for fertiliser ingredient potash, in favour of KGHM. It said it
had also instructed lawyers to prepare to lodge a complaint with
the European Commission.
In the Darley case, the ministry said KGHM won because its bid
was stronger, and denied manipulation. It is expected to reply to
Darley’s appeal by Dec 12. KGHM declined to comment on
Darley’s allegations of irregularities.
Darley bid for a potash mining concession in the Baltic coast
town of Puck in 2012 and says it should have been granted
access by May last year. It was initially the only bidder.
But it said the process was delayed beyond the timetable set
out under Polish rules, which allowed KGHM to enter the race later and win. The environment ministry spokesman said an offer
from KGHM was picked because it envisaged a wider scope as
KGHM planned to mine copper, silver and salt in Puck, in addition
to potash. It declined to comment on Darley’s allegations of irregularities about the timing of the bidding process.
On Miedzi Copper, KGHM said it was down to the environment ministry to explain why Miedzi was given access to a concession where KGHM had already done work.
“It came to be accepted in this sector that grown-up mining
organizations do not cross each other’s paths,” Artur Tarnowski,
head of KGHM’s investor relations, said “Competition is welcome
in our opinion. But let it work on a healthy basis.” Environment
ministry spokesman Pawel Mikusek said the bidding process was
invalidated because companies taking part were not given necessary details about what the state required.
He said KGHM often loses out to rivals in bidding for concessions, proving it was not being given preferential treatment.
“When we award each concession, we treat all entities equally,”
said Mikusek. —Reuters
BUSINESS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
French tax fraud
probe targets
HSBC: Report
ATHENS: Greek Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis (center) leaves the Greek Parliament in Athens yesterday after submitting the 2015 budget. The revised budget plan confirmed the 2015 growth forecast of 2.9 percent. — AFP
Greece spurns objections
from EU/IMF lenders
PARIS: HSBC Private Bank, the Swiss subsidiary of
British banking group HSBC, said yesterday it had been
placed under formal investigation as part of a French
tax fraud probe. The bank said magistrates were
“examining whether the bank acted appropriately
between 2006-07 in relation to certain clients of the
bank who had French tax reporting requirements, as
well as in relation to the way the bank offered its services in the country.” In France, being placed under formal
investigation is the nearest equivalent to being
charged, and occurs when an examining magistrate
decides there is a case to be answered. The bank said it
had been asked to deposit a bail bond of 50 million
euros ($62 million), and would “continue to cooperate
with the French authorities to the fullest extent possible”. Le Monde daily reported that French investigators
have calculated that the bank had assisted over
100,000 people and 20,000 companies hide some 180
billion euros in 2006 and 2007.
A judicial source told AFP earlier this year that the
bank was suspected of “benefiting from the gains of
tax fraud” and “laundering funds of an illicit origin by
allowing thousands of clients to hide them”.
The source said the bank had used numerous trusts
and shell companies to help wealthy clients conceal
their assets. The same subsidiary was charged this
week in Brussels with fraud and money-laundering
worth hundreds of millions of euros, mainly for helping
diamond dealers in the industry’s international hub of
Antwerp evade Belgian taxes.
The charges were the latest in a series of international investigations into major banks looking at practices ranging from rigging of interest and currency
exchange rates as well as mis-selling products. — AFP
Athens sticks to 2015 budget plan
ATHENS: Greece’s government yesterday pushed ahead with plans for a nearbalanced budget next year, ignoring
objections from its EU/IMF lenders who
say Athens is set to miss its deficit forecast. Athens and its foreign lenders have
been at loggerheads over the projected
deficit for next year, with the lenders
arguing Greece will miss the 0.2 percent
target because of a new payback plan for
austerity-hit Greeks who owe money to
the state.
The Greek government, however,
stuck to the forecast in its updated 2015
budget plan that was submitted to parliament without the approval of the
lenders, marking its first near-balanced
budget in over three decades. “We are
fighting for it,” Finance Minister Gikas
Hardouvelis told reporters. “There is
some convergence but they are pushing
us on the budget.”
Athens - which says it has no more
room for punishing Greeks with austerity
- has struck an increasingly defiant tone
as it haggles with the EU/IMF inspectors
on what is expected to be the final
review under its 240 billion euro bailout.
The government is in talks with
EU/IMF lenders to exit its bailout package at the end of the year, more than a
year ahead of its scheduled end in early
2016. It wants to wrap up the current
bailout review by Dec. 8 but says talks
are “tough”. After nearly five years on
EU/IMF aid that has come at the price of
painful austerity measures, Greece has
made progress in getting its finances
back on track and its economy has
begun to grow again. The budget confirmed the economy would grow 0.6 percent this year and 2.9 percent in 2015. It
also predicted the budget deficit for this
year would be larger than previously
estimated, standing at 1.3 percent from
0.8 percent forecast in the October draft
budget.
Athens also lowered its target for a
primary surplus - which excludes interest
payments - this year to 1.8 percent from
2 percent previously and slightly raised
the target for next year to 3 percent from
2.9 percent. Athens, which has been
emboldened by two successful forays
into debt markets this year after a fouryear hiatus, also confirmed plans to continue tapping the bond markets.
Investors, however, have punished
Greek bonds in recent weeks over fears
Greece is on track for a new political crisis when lawmakers elect a new president in spring next year, which could
trigger snap polls. — Reuters
PARIS: A sign of HSBC private bank in the center of
Geneva. HSBC Private Bank, Swiss subsidiary of British
bank HSBC, was placed under investigation yesterday
in Paris for alleged money-laundering and illegal
sales, according to a spokesperson. — AFP
Gold rallies to 3-week high after China rate cut
LONDON: Gold climbed back above $1,200 an ounce
yesterday after a surprise rate cut by China fuelled
expectations demand could rise in the world’s biggest
gold consumer.
China cut its benchmark interest rates for the first
time in more than two years yesterday to lower borrowing costs and lift a cooling economy that is on track for
its slackest annual growth in 24 years.
“Any measures that accelerate the spending power of
the Chinese public are bound to be positive for gold,”
Mitsubishi analyst Jonathan Butler said. “(This could
mean) additional spending power for Chinese consumers to buy jewellery and investment products.”
Spot gold was up 1.1 percent at $1,207.10 an ounce
at 1312 GMT, while US gold futures for December delivery were up $15.20 an ounce at $1,206.10. Earlier spot
gold touched its highest in three weeks at $1,207.70. A
sharp drop in the euro versus the dollar had pressured
gold to a session low of $1,186.84 an ounce, after
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said inflation
expectations were declining to levels that were very low,
keeping the door open for further monetary easing
soon.
Gold is priced in the dollar and tends to fall when the
US currency strengthens. A rally in the dollar index earlier this month knocked gold to a 4-1/2 year low at
$1,131.85. “Overall the dollar continues to be leading the
way, therefore I have to say that despite the demand for
physical, I would think that because of the weakness in
the euro, we have a chance of testing the lows again,”
MKS head of trading Afshin Nabavi said.
Traders were also digesting news of central bank
sales and purchases. Ukraine slashed its gold reserves by
more than a third in October, data from the International
Monetary Fund showed, as the near-bankrupt country
reels from fighting a pro-Russian separatist movement in
the east. Russia raised its gold holdings for a seventh
straight month in the same period. Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.4 percent at $16.16 an
ounce, while spot platinum was up 0.3 percent at $1,212
an ounce and spot palladium was up 0.8 percent at
$774.25 an ounce. — Reuters
BUSINESS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
BMW 5 Series blazes onto Kuwaiti asphalt
Best-selling model for Ali Alghanim and Sons is equipped with stunning
design features, engine variants and technological innovations
KUWAIT: Ali Alghanim and Sons has confirmed that the BMW 5 Series has reached
new success benchmarks in Kuwait with continuous and soaring market demand. With a
host of innovations across both design and
engineering, this best-selling model is set to
further build on its dominance and extend its
lead in the executive saloon segment.
Since its launch in 1972, the BMW 5 Series
has been the undisputed global leader in the
executive car segment. This success is echoed
in Kuwait with 5 Series being the best-selling
model in 2014.
The BMW 5 Series is the fifth BMW model
to be available with specific design packages:
BMW Modern Line and BMW Luxury Line.
With the BMW Lines, customers can enjoy two
distinctive personalities which shine the spotlight on selected facets of the car’s character
to great effect. Both Lines include LED fog
lamps, 18-inch or 19-inch light-alloy wheels,
B-pillar trim and exterior mirror bases in highgloss black, illuminated door pulls with
chrome trim and matching illuminated door
sill strips with aluminium inserts bearing BMW
lettering. �Luxury’ or �Modern’ badges can also
be found on the front side panels.
The BMW 5 Series is available in a range of
different engine variants: BMW 520i, BMW
528i, BMW 535i and BMW 550i. The new generation of the V8 engine with BMW
TwinPower Turbo technology found under
the bonnet of the BMW 550i takes to the
stage armed with a 10 per cent rise in output
yet also significantly reduced fuel consumption. The multi-award-winning straight-six
engine delivers 225 kW/306 hp to the BMW
535i. The engine powering the BMW 520i
develops 135 kW/184 hp, while the unit
offered for the BMW 528i from the launch of
the new BMW 5 Series boasts revisions to various details and delivers 180 kW/245 hp.
In the cockpit, the range of on-board BMW
ConnectedDrive technology in the new BMW
5 Series expands on an already impressive
network of driver assistance systems and
mobility services designed to enhance safety,
convenience and in-car infotainment. A suite
of office functions turns the model into a
mobile workplace - underpinned by either the
customer’s mobile phone or the car’s integrated SIM card. Emails, appointments, contacts, calendar entries and notes are displayed
on the cockpit’s central screen.
BMW Apps guide the user through the
large and ever increasing number of services,
which can be accessed using the customer’s
phone or internet connection. BMW Apps
includes features such as a web radio function, access to your personalised music library
and in-car use of Facebook and Twitter. This
service is constantly expanding to include
new apps, which can be uploaded into the car
via the SIM card or a smartphone.
BUSINESS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
UK retailers look to US Black Friday for Christmas lift-off
LONDON: Next week’s “Black Friday”, a traditional discount day for US retailers, looks set to be the biggest
ever for British shops as more join in the promotional
event to kickstart Christmas sales.
The Friday following the Thanksgiving Day holiday
was named Black Friday because spending would
surge and it would indicate the point at which
American retailers began to turn a profit for the year,
or go “into the black”. A survey commissioned by
Barclays found that 65 percent of Britain’s multi-channel retailers plan Black Friday promotions this year on
Nov. 28. Amazon introduced Black Friday discounts to
Britain in 2010 and last year major UK store groups
such as John Lewis , Dixons and Asda joined in. Sales
updates published in January showed it had a significant impact on Christmas trading. John Lewis reported
an early peak in sales last year, which it said was driven
by Black Friday, followed by a surge in the last 10 days.
Visa Europe forecasts that 518 million pounds ($810
million) will be spent online on Visa cards on Nov. 28,
making it the biggest day ever for e-commerce in the
UK. It expects a further 500 million pounds will be
spent on the following Monday, Dec. 1 — dubbed
Mega Monday as prior to the rise of Black Friday it was
the busiest online shopping day of the year as people
spent their November pay packets.
“Following a jump last year, retailers are making a
bigger Friday push this time round,” said Visa Europe’s
UK MD Kevin Jenkins.
Last year Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, had Black
Friday promotions online. This year it will extend the
event to selected stores. Asda’s Black Friday event last
year proved popular but was marred by fights breaking out among shoppers chasing limited stock in some
crowded stores. Sainsbury’s, Britain’s No. 3 supermarket, plans to take part this year for the first time, with
discounted prices on 13 product lines, including TVs,
tablets, audio products and kitchen electricals in 485
stores. “It’s a competitive market, so it felt right to be
part of the mix this year,” said Sainsbury’s retail director Roger Burnley.
Official data published on Thursday showed spending by British consumers is growing less strongly than
earlier this year.
Whether embracing Black Friday makes commercial
sense for UK retailers remains open to debate. Analysts
say it can delay autumn sales, pull forward Christmas
sales that store groups would otherwise have made at
full price, can blunt sales in subsequent weeks and
also leaves consumers expecting more pre-Christmas
promotions. — Reuters
CEOs in 10 big mergers
to get $430m: Study
�Shareholders won’t benefit from corporate mergers’
SACRAMENTO: Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said a
steadily improving economy will buffer California’s budget from a drop in revenue expected when temporary tax
hikes begin to expire in the coming years, during a news
conference in Sacramento, California. — AP
Insurers see rates
falling up to 15%
as competition bites
LONDON: Competition in the global insurance market is
driving commercial rates down by as much as 15 percent,
senior industry participants said on Thursday, as some look
to new products such as cyber insurance to boost revenues. Low yields in major markets have encouraged a
move away from traditional insurance and towards insurance-linked securities such as catastrophe bonds, which
offer a high return. Some hedge funds have also started
offering reinsurance to share the insurance burden of hurricanes and other costly natural disasters, and their aggressive approach has stolen business from traditional players.
A lack of natural disasters in recent years has also
reduced global demand for insurance to protect property.
“This is a soft rate environment, with an average 10-15 percent decrease across the board,” Dominic Burke, chief executive of broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson told a conference.
“It’s a good time to be a buyer of insurance.”
Many companies renew insurance policies in the fourth
quarter while reinsurance renewals are concentrated in
January. Burke said even the aviation insurance market has
seen price increases of only around 13 percent during the
current renewal round, despite significant losses this year
such as the downing of a Malaysian Airlines plane over
Ukraine.
Darren Redhead, chief executive of specialist insurance
fund manager Kinesis Capital Management, said alternative
insurance products had sliced 15-20 percent from the profits of traditional players in the property catastrophe reinsurance market.
But other speakers at the conference said they saw a
smaller decrease in insurance rates. In the hunt for new
business, underwriters in the specialist Lloyd’s of London
market, where anything from rockets to body parts might
be insured, have started to focus on protecting companies
from the effects of cyber crime. —Reuters
NEW YORK: This year’s flurry of corporate
mergers may not pay off for shareholders in
the long run, but one thing is for sure: The
bosses who are selling their companies will
do just fine.
The CEOs who’ve decided to sell in the 10
biggest US deals this year are set to rake in
an estimated $430 million in “golden parachute” payments, according to a study done
by pay-tracking firm Equilar at the request of
The Associated Press. Translation: It would
take the typical American household 847
years of work to get what the average CEO
will receive in one fell swoop.
The payoffs are often negotiated when
CEOs are hired. They’re designed to compensate chief executives for losing their jobs and
years of big pay so they won’t stand in the
way of a sale that is good for shareholders.
But some critics say the packages are so lavish, they can be an incentive to strike iffy
deals. Among the grab-bag of goodies in
some packages are selling bonuses, cash for
agreeing not to join a rival, severance, cash
to help pay taxes, and lump-sum compensation for giving up corporate cars and other
corner-office perquisites. The biggest haul is
in the form of stock that the CEOs arguably
could have gotten if they didn’t sell. But they
would have had to run their companies for
several more years and, in many cases, hit
certain performance goals.
Numerous studies have shown that many
M&A deals are bad for shareholders of the
combined companies in the long run. Since
the financial crisis six years ago, big companies have mostly resisted the urge to merge.
But not recently. On Monday alone two deals
worth a combined $100 billion were
announced: Halliburton’s bid for rival oilfield
services company Baker Hughes and Actavis’
offer to Botox-maker Allergan.
So far this year, about $3.2 trillion worth
of deals have been announced globally, the
most since 2007, according to data provider
Dealogic.
Some of the payouts in the 10 big deals
this year kick in only if the CEOs of the selling
companies lose their jobs after the deals are
complete. Some of the deals are still in negotiation, and most haven’t closed yet.
A breakdown of CEO pay in the biggest
mergers in 2014: Allergan’s David Pyott: $100
million. Most of the money is in the form of
stock options he was awarded in previous
years. Those options have rocketed in value
as Allergan shares have more than doubled
in 12 months. Without the deal to sell to
NEW YORK: Allergan CEO David Pyott (left) and Actavis CEO Brenton Saunders
are interviewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Pyott is set to
rake in an estimated $100 million in “golden parachute” payments, according
to a study done by pay-tracking firm Equilar at the request of The Associated
Press. —AP
Actavis, Pyott would have had to wait four
years for all the options to “vest,” which
allows him to claim ownership and convert
them to shares. If he loses his job after the
deal closes, he gets to own them right away.
Time Warner Cable’s Robert Marcus: $77
million. Marcus, who has been CEO for 11
months, will get the biggest severance payment in this list - $20 million, assuming his
deal to sell to Comcast goes through. He also
will receive $40 million worth of “restricted”
shares meant to keep him working hard on
the job for years.
Normally, Marcus would have had to wait
five years to pocket all the shares. Covidien’s
Jose Almeida: $49 million. His pay for selling
to rival medical device maker Medtronic will
be mostly in the form of stock awards. He
also will get $84,000 in “perquisites and benefits,” including 12 months of outplacement
services.
Biomet’s Jeffrey Binder: $45 million.
Nearly all the pay is in stock awards that he
would have had to wait years to receive if he
didn’t sell the orthopedic products company.
He gets this money even if he keeps his job,
what’s known to pay experts as a “single trigger.” The April sale to rival Zimmer is still
pending.
Lorillard’s Murray Kessler: $45 million if
his deal to sell to rival tobacco maker
Reynolds American is completed. The pay
includes $11 million in severance.
Sigma-Aldrich’s Rakesh Sachdev: $34 million. The biggest contributor is stock options
valued at $13 million that would vest immediately if his deal to sell to Germany’s Merck
goes through. Sigma-Aldrich makes chemicals and other materials used in laboratories.
Baker Hughes’ Martin Craighead: $29 million. The package includes $3.2 million in
“long-time incentive” pay, based on 2013 figures in the company’s regulatory filings. If
negotiations to sell to Halliburton fall
through, Craighead would have to hit certain
performance goals over three years to get all
the money.
Beam’s Matt Shattock: $28 million for selling the company that makes Jim Beam
whiskey to Suntory Holdings in a deal that
closed in May. The pay package included $8
million severance.
DirecTV’s Michael White: $22 million. The
package includes $5.5 million if he doesn’t
jump to a competitor in two years after the
sale to AT&T is completed.
Forest Laboratories’ Brenton Saunders:
Zero. Saunders had a “golden parachute”
entitling him to $53 million, the third biggest
haul on the list. But his payout required what
compensation experts call a “double trigger”:
He had to both sell his company and lose his
job. In an unusual move, Saunders took over
as boss of his acquirer, Actavis. — AP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
www.kuwaittimes.net
SEE PAGE 28
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Kim Kardashian West has an e� ven
better body’ after giving birth
T
he �Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ star - who had 17-month-old North West in June last year feels “very confident” about her figure. She said: “[I have] an even better body after having the
baby than I did before. “I’m very confident about [my body].” The 34-year-old television personality - who recently posed nude for Paper magazine in a bid to “break the internet” - has hinted that she
wants another child. Speaking about the shoot, she explained: “It was just a little token before I have to
go through [pregnancy] again.” Kim also revealed that there were “a few medical difficulties” during
her first pregnancy but then jokingly added that it could have been food related too. She told
Australia’s 2DAY FM: “Maybe it was [also] the 10 boxes of Krispy Kremes I would eat all the time. “I’m
going to try to control that [next time].” Meanwhile, earlier this year, Kim revealed she wanted another
two children with her 37-year-old husband, Kanye West. She previously said: “I’m gonna have to go
through the pregnancy again, which mine was a really difficult [...] It was a really difficult pregnancy.
So, it’s tough. “Of course I would love to have another child. I would love two more, but, we’ll see. I’m
gonna have one more and see what it’s like.”
Beyonce �rescued’
her sister’s wedding
S
olange tied the knot with videographer
Alan Ferguson last Sunday but the nuptials nearly resulted in a disaster when the
�Losing You’ hitmaker reacted badly to the
seafood. The bride’s mother, Tina, said:
“[Solange] went through the wedding and the
sit-down dinner and she was just fine, and then
they had a second line in the streets of New
Orleans and she was dancing so hard, I think
she just got overheated. “And the seafood - she
had a reaction to it. So her face broke out in
welts.” The 28-year-old bride disappeared from
the festivities for two hours, whilst Beyonce
gave her an allergy tablet. Tina explained:
“[Beyonce] took her back to the hotel and gave
her Benadryl and in two hours she showed up
at the reception and did the dance with her
son and just had a ball.” Tina, 60, continued to
gush about the “heartfelt” wedding. She told
Entertainment Tonight: “There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. “[The couple] were just so heartfelt and I just think
the wedding epitomised Solange as a person, and her and Alan’s artistic flare.” Meanwhile, sources revealed
that Beyonce and Jay Z had a great time at the wedding, too. An insider previously said: “Beyonce and Jay Z
were totally into it and so affectionate. They both kept putting their hands on each other’s butts and they were
dancing up a storm. “Beyonce and Jay Z were so friendly to everyone and very gracious. They seemed so genuinely happy. They were having the best night.”
FKA twigs doesn’t
want to be famous
T
he �Two Weeks’ hitmaker - who has been dating �Twilight’ star
Robert Pattinson since September - has revealed that she doesn’t
want to be photographed everywhere she goes. She said: “I don’t
want to be in front of the camera forever. “I’m not thirsty. I’m not a pop
star. I don’t want to reign over all forever.” The 26-year-old singer whose real name is Tahliah Barnett - admitted that just the thought of
being famous makes her feel sick. She explained to Rolling Stone magazine: “I don’t want to be famous! “It makes me feel sick, the thought of
being a famous person. It’s just not me. I’m the happiest when I’m in
the studio, not on a beauty parade.” Meanwhile, Tahliah has opened up
about the online abuse she received after her and the 28-year-old hunk
went public with their relationship but insists that it is “worth it”. She
said: “I really enjoy the fun of putting something out and people liking
it or hating it or talking about it, but vacuous attention, it feels disgusting. It’s like a hangover. “It’s weird, I know that’s not really because of
me or what I’m doing, [but] the positivity that I get from [my relationship] makes the more challenging aspects ... very worth it.”
Mark Wahlberg’s wife thinks he
looks like an older Harry Styles
R
hea Durham - who has been married to the �Ted’ star since 2009 is pleased he is cutting off his locks for charity so he doesn’t
resemble an older version of the �Steal My Girl’ hitmaker.
Speaking in a video to promote the �Buzz For Kids’ campaign, Mark said:
“We’re challenging every single person out there to buzz their hair. “My
wife will actually be happy because she says I look like an old Harry
[Styles] from One Direction. “I’m challenging every other celebrity,
sports star in the world to pitch in too”. The 43-year-old actor has
vowed to cut his hair after he has finished filming �Ted 2’, �Deepwater
Horizon’, and �Daddy’s Home’ to raise money and awareness for cancerstricken children in America. Meanwhile, Mark - who has four children:
11-year-old Ella, Michael, 8, Brendan, 6, and 4-year-old Grace - recently
revealed that his early gym sessions are getting him in “big trouble”
with his wife. He explained: “My wife is getting upset because my kids
are waking up at 4:30 in the morning on school days to come and hang
out with me in the gym. “The teacher’s writing notes saying, �[At] 1
o’clock they’re falling asleep in the classroom. What’s going on?’ So I’m
in big trouble for that.”
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Ben Affleck will spend
Thanksgiving with Matt Damon
T
he �Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ star - who has been friends with
Matt since their school years - will celebrate the holiday next week
(27.11.14) in Brentwood, Los Angeles, alongside their wives, children and
Ben’s mother. Speaking of their plans, Ben said: “My mother is staying with us
now and we’ll all go down the street to Matt Damon’s house. “We’re all invited.
Matt and my family are all like one big extended family for Thanksgiving. I’m
looking forward to it a lot.” Ben and Jennifer, both 42 - who have three children
together: Violet, 8, Seraphina, 5, and Samuel, 2 - usually spend the Thanksgiving
holiday with Jennifer’s younger brother, Casey. She explained: “This year we’re
going to Matt’s house, but usually I cook and Casey and his family come over.
“This year Casey is going to be in Boston and we’ll be home.” Meanwhile, the
�Draft Day’ star also revealed that the couple wouldn’t be showing up to Matt
and Luciana Barroso, his wife’s, party empty handed with Jennifer cooking a
family favourite. She told Us Weekly: “I’ll still cook some stuff. “Ben and the kids
want me to take my grandmother’s sweet potato pudding so I’ll make that.” Her
husband added: “I know I’m not cooking! “I’ll bring some wine for sure - wine
will be flowing - but I’ll be focused on the turkey. I know I’ll be eating a lot of
turkey at Matt’s house.”
Justin Bieber wants to �surprise’ Selena Gomez
T
he �As Long As You Love Me’ hitmaker - who has dated the 22-year-old singer on-and-off since
2010 - is keen to show up to the American Music Awards on Sunday to see his ex-girlfriend,
despite his friends thinking it’s a bad idea. A source revealed: “He came back to LA because he
wants to see Selena. “He’s even talking about showing up at the AMA’s to see her. No one on his
team thinks that’s a good idea but Justin’s going to do what he wants to do.” The 20-year-old singer
is believed to be “struggling” following his split from the �Come And Get It’ hitmaker. The source
continued to HollywoodLife.com: “He really wants to be with Selena, he feels like that’s the only
thing that will make him happy. He’s struggling big time. “He’s got his friends trying to talk to her,
he just wants to see her face to face because he’s convinced that if she sees him they can work it
out. But so far she’s shutting him out completely.” Another insider recently revealed that Justin was
feeling “heartbroken and depressed” because of his separation from Selena. They previously
explained: “Justin has been really depressed. Nothing he’s doing so far to get Selena back is working and it’s put him in a really dark place. “He went to New York for a change of scene to try and find
new perspective; he’s hoping Selena will come and meet up with him.”
Taylor Swift will be �heartbroken’
if Harry Styles wants to be friends
T
he �Shake It Off’ hitmaker and the 20-year-old One Direction star - who split in
2013 after a brief romance - have reportedly become friends again, with insiders
revealing that Taylor wants more. A source said: “If Harry is just trying to be
friends and he has no plan to actually date her again, this is going to be hard for her.
“She’s going to get her heart broken all over again. She’s just so sensitive and she
does still like him a lot.” However, Taylor may be disappointed as another insider has
explained that Harry just wants to
keep his relationship with the 24year-old singer platonic. They
told HollywoodLife.com:
“There’s not a chance in hell
that Harry will date Taylor again.
He’s a nice guy and wants to be
friendly. “He holds no grudges,
but he doesn’t want to be in a
relationship with Taylor again.
“It didn’t work out and wouldn’t
work out if they tried it again.
He knows that it would be a disaster.” Rumours that the pair are
reuniting started when reports
surfaced that the �Steal My Girl’
hitmaker sent his ex 1,989 red
roses to congratulate her on the
success of her new album.
Sources also confirmed that the
pair “have become pals” again
and Taylor was even believed to
have bragged “to her trainer
and celeb friends that she and
Harry are talking again”.
Angelina Jolie would
a� bsolutely’ give up acting
T
he award-winning actress - who recently directed World War Two film, �Unbroken’ has admitted that she has always felt “uncomfortable” in front of the camera. When
asked if she’d ever give up acting, she said: “Absolutely.” She added to Du Jour
magazine: “I’ve never been comfortable as an actor; I’ve never loved being in front of the
camera. “I didn’t ever think I could direct, but I hope I’m able to have a career at it
because I’m much happier.” Meanwhile,
the 38-year-old actress and director
recently admitted that “it’s not
easy” directing herself and husband, Brad Pitt, in �By the Sea’. She
previously said: “The tricky thing is
directing myself and directing
Brad. It’s hard, dramatic material,
and we’re balancing. “It’s a heavy
film, and it’s not easy for us. But
even as you struggle through it,
you’re in the trenches together
and you don’t expect it to be easy.
We’re challenging each other and
that’s a really good thing.” Despite
wanting to focus on directing,
Angelina revealed that she plans
to star in “a few more” movies
before switching to directing full
time. Discussing her future as an
actress, she said: “I’ll do a few
more.”
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Parallel lives
in small
town America
GEORGETOWN: (Left) The exterior of the El Mercado Market in what is locally known as “Kimmeytown”, an area of Georgetown. (Right) The La Quetzalteca restaurant in Georgetown, Delaware. The restaurant is owned by Gerson Guox, a Guatemalan native who came to Georgetown in 1993, and is named after the Guatemalan
currency quetzal. —AFP photos
T
he historic heart of this small US town
was trimmed in patriotic red, white and
blue for “Return Day,” but only a part of
the community celebrates this 200-year-old
tradition marking the end of elections.
People from longstanding Delaware families gathered to hear results from the town
crier and eat roast ox sandwiches, but a few
blocks away from the historical trappings it
was just another day at El Mercado.
The supermarket serves the immigrant
families who have transformed the small
community of Georgetown in the past 20
years.
As a man bought chicken feet from the
butcher counter and Spanish-language news
played on a television in the back, the
teenage girl running the cash register asked:
“What’s �Return Day’?”
Today, almost half of Georgetown’s 6,400
residents identify as Hispanic, and many still
speak Spanish. Most are from Guatemala and
have arrived since the early 1990s.
The small town reflects how immigration is
changing the face of the US, which is thought
to be home to some 11.3 million illegal immigrants-mostly from Mexico and Central
America.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama
pledged to overhaul what he called America’s
“broken” immigration system by offering protection from deportation to some five million
undocumented migrants, a move the
Republicans have vowed to fight.
In Georgetown, there was resistance from
some in the traditional community when the
influx began, and some ugly incidents. But
the two groups now live parallel lives, side-byside but largely separate.
“We’ve still got some people that are old
school, who don’t want to change,” said
Mayor Bill West. “But I’m telling people, �we’ve
got to change.’ They’re here to stay. Let’s
make this work.”
In 1990, the census recorded just 75 people of Hispanic origin in Georgetown, but now
the small town boasts one of the highest concentrations of Guatemalans in the United
States.
In the fall of 1993, tensions rose when a
Guatemalan, driving drunk and without a
license, hit and killed a teenage girl. The incident left a sense of distrust that lingered for
years, according to Delaware historian Roger
Horowitz.
Fighting intolerance
Gerson Guox, who fled Guatemala’s
bloody civil war in 1990, remembers getting
kicked out of a restaurant on the edge of
town when he tried to have dinner with his
brother.
Angeles in 1993, part of a wave of Latin
Americans drawn by jobs in the booming
poultry industry.
“I always wanted to get a better life, follow
the American dream,” said Guox, who lived in
the shadows until he was granted political
asylum and then US citizenship.
He worked in poultry plants and restaurants, trying to make a new life with his wife,
an immigrant from Mexico.
A few years ago he bought the premises
GEORGETOWN: Local boys play soccer on a dirt field behind the Perdue chicken
processing plant in what is locally known as “Kimmeytown”, an area of
Georgetown, Delaware on November 6, 2014. Home to more than 2,500
Hispanic residents, it became a Guatemalan enclave beginning in the 1990’s
being within walking distance of a Perdue chicken processing plant, which
employs a large number of the Latin Americans who live in town.
“We walked in the door, and the owner of
the restaurant told us we were not allowed to
be in there,” he said. Guox called the police,
but the owner refused to back down.
He told the story with a laugh, sitting in
the same building more than a decade later.
Guox arrived in Georgetown via Los
from which he was once barred and turned it
into “La Quetzalteca”, a Mexican restaurant
named after the Guatemalan currency the
quetzal.
But Guox still has the police report from
that night, a reminder of how far he, and the
town, have come.
Over the past two decades a number of
restaurants, stores and services have opened
in Georgetown catering to the growing
Hispanic population.
�A classic immigration story’
The Kimmeytown neighborhood has
become a vibrant Little Guatemala where residents can buy a quinceanera dress, grab a
copy of the newspaper “Hoy en Delaware” or
get a taste of home.
Organizations like La Esperanza community center, Habitat for Humanity, and La Red
Health Center have also set up shop in
Georgetown. Immigrants are buying houses
and starting families.
“It’s a classic immigration story,” Horowitz
said. “There’s a lot of chaos, then the community stabilizes.”
But a more recent wave of newcomers has
forced the town to adapt once again. Earlier
this year more than 100 young migrants were
placed in Delaware by the federal government, a handful of the 68,000 unaccompanied
minors who crossed the border into the US
and made headlines over the summer.
The arrival at Sussex Central High School of
at least 70 new students, many who spoke no
English, took the school district by surprise.
“It’s an exponential problem,” said school
board member Donald Hattier.
“If you’ve already planned your budget for
a certain number of kids, and all of a sudden
somebody drops that many kids on you, it
takes resources away from kids that are
already here.”
Responding quickly, Indian River School
District in September launched a program
designed for the new students, and is making
plans in case there are more unexpected
arrivals.
At La Quetzalteca, it’s hard to imagine a
time when Hispanics were not welcome. One
of Guox’s daughters darted in and out of
booths where diners are greeted in Spanish
and English.
“When I get up every day, I say to myself,
�Gerson, act like this is your first day in
America’,” Guox said. “�But use everything you
have now, and compare it to what you had
when you came over here’.” —AFP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
CAIRO: In this Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 photo, Fatma Mansour editor-in-chief of Shakmagia, holds a copy of the comic magazine at a coffee shop in Cairo. (Inset)
Fatma Mansour, editor-in-chief of Shakmagia magazine, poses for a photograph in Cairo. Cartoons and political satire go back more than 100 years in Egypt, and are
a staple in newspapers that have often lampooned social mores and officials in public office. But a new generation of young comic artists is finding alternative space
to express what is often a hard sell in mainstream media. —AP Photos
NEW EGYPT COMIC ARTISTS
push limits of expression
A
new feminist comic book, the Jewelry Box, has
emerged in Egypt, the latest addition in a
blossoming scene of alternative comics, as
artists seek freer outlets of expression in a country
where independent voices are finding it harder to
speak.
Cartoons and political satire go back over a hundred years in Egypt, and are a staple in newspapers
that have often lampooned social mores and officials
in public office. But a new generation of young comic artists is finding space to express what is often a
hard sell in mainstream media. Building on the
region’s spirit of rebellion over the past four years,
they are experimenting with new and more subversive style to look at Egypt’s realities.
This month’s first issue of Shakmagia, which
means “Jewelry Box” in Arabic, focused on sexual
harassment and violence, so endemic in Egypt that
finally the government this year had to toughen
penalties against perpetrators. A dozen artists presented stories depicting how women endure harassment and how men get away with it so easily when
most people turn a blind eye.
Other new magazines feature vignettes, often
presenting slices of life among young people.
The most successful is an alt-zine named TokTok,
where stories deal with love, joblessness, the attitudes of their elders and the authorities or the chaos
of Cairo. Sometimes the approach is humorous,
sometimes dark, and sometimes surreal.
“Doors on new worlds have opened,” said Muna
AbduRahman, a 27-year-old scientist who after the
2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak took a
leap and started as a newspaper cartoonist. She contributed her first story to Shakmagia, published by
the Nazra Center for Women’s Studies.
“People started to care about new art as a way to
connect with the changes taking place in the country,” she said. Jonathan Guyer, a Cairo-based scholar
researching Egyptian comics, compares the new
zines to the founding of Mad magazine in the 1950s
in the United States, with underground stories challenging the status quo.
Prominent
Often, he said, that doesn’t mean literally
addressing politics, but instead looking at social
issues behind the 2011 revolution - dignity, justice,
economy and class. “They are teasing out all these
difficult issues and often through a backhand way.”
With changing politics, the space for cartoonists
has shifted. Satirical cartoons were prominent during
the 2011 protests. After Mubarak’s fall, interim military rulers bristled at criticism, putting journalists
under investigation and pressuring editors to tone
down criticism. Newspapers pushed back some: One
independent daily ran a cartoon of military boots
stamping down on pencils.
After the election of Islamist President
Mohammed Morsi, TV political satirist Bassem
Youssef was briefly detained and questioned for his
lampoons. But cartoonists had a field day mocking
the Islamist leadership. Since Morsi’s June 2013
ouster by the military, newspapers have largely bent
to demands by the newly elected president, former
army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to mute criticism. In
Censorship
“We are not back to 2010. More like the Middle
the streets of Cairo. Launched in early 2011, the quarterly is considered a success. It just put out its 12th
issue, printing 2,000 copies each edition - a high
number in Egypt’s prolific publication market.
“The idea is to open up and change the way people think,” Shennawy, another TokTok founder, said.
“Not just on political issues, but in thinking about
what’s around us, relationships, girls, social relations
and love.”
That can mean just straight-up gags. One character created by Shennawy is street parking attendant a well-known figure around Cairo, grubbing for tips
as he finds parking for drivers. In one strip, he parks
Ages,” Hagrassy said. He and several others in the
magazines go only by their artists’ names.
Andeel, another of the genre’s rising stars, quit
his newspaper last year. It wasn’t only because of
censorship but he wanted to try something more
“confrontational” artistically.
“There was always constant pushback against
any attempt to experiment or get out of the familiar,”
said the 28-year old artist, known for his dark, heavystroke drawing style.
Andeel was among the founders of TokTok,
named for the three-wheeled rickshaws that crowd
the tanks of the extremist Islamic State group as it
invades Cairo, only to be beheaded when the militants’ vehicles are booted.
Or stories can be more complex, like one depicting the travails of a man on his motorcycle trying to
make it home through Cairo’s monstrous traffic to
see his dying grandmother.
Andeel calls it starting a dialogue at a time when
the culture of dialogue is missing.
“The regime fears the idea that someone has an
opinion to express ... even if it is about zucchini or
onion.” —AP
general, voices of dissent have been hounded out
the media and dozens of pro-democracy activists
have been arrested for protests, while the government also wages a fierce crackdown on Islamists. The
red lines are not always clear, but comic artists know
again that Egypt’s leader is off limits. Hagrassy, one
of the country’s promising comic artists, said his
newspaper stopped running cartoons altogether
after el-Sissi’s election. Recently, the paper asked
them to restart, but nothing has been published yet.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards
US politics takes center stage at Latin Grammys
E
Calle 13 performs during the 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards. —AFP
Sergio George poses with the trophy for Producer of the
Year. —AFP
Juanes poses with the trophy. - AFP
Singer Fonseca poses with the trophy during the 15th
Annual Latin Grammy Awards. —AFP
Puerto Rican TV personality Laura Aleman arrives at the
15th annual Latin Grammy Awards. —AP
nrique Iglesias and Uruguayan singer
Jorge Drexler were the big winners at
the annual Latin Grammys in a ceremony where US immigration politics played a
prominent role.
Iglesias won three Latin Grammys, including song of the year, while Drexler and
French-Chilean singer Ana Tijoux won record
of the year for their song “Universos
Paralelos”.
Late Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de
Lucia, whose album “Cancion Andaluza” won
album of the year, won two Latin Grammys,
the Latin music industry’s top honors. The
renowned musician died of a heart attack in
February at age 66.
But US politics and President Barack
Obama’s new immigration order that could
allow about 5 million undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the country was as
much the focus as music during the televised
ceremony in Las Vegas.
The start of the ceremony was preempted
by Obama’s speech announcing a new immigration order, a core issue for US Hispanics.
The audience applauded the conclusion of
Obama’s speech, and Iglesias added his perspective while accepting the song of the year
award for “Bailando” via video link from Paris.
“Tonight is not only an historic night for all
Latino artists, but for all Latinos who live in
the United States,” the 39-year-old Spaniard
said. Colombian singer Carlos Vives, who won
two awards, concluded his acceptance
speech for best contemporary tropical album,
“Mas + Corazon Profundo,” by dedicating the
award to Obama.
The 15th Latin Grammys, broadcast in the
United States on Spanish-language network
Univision, was hosted by Mexican actors
Jacqueline Bracamontes and Eugenio Derbez.
The winners are chosen by voting members
of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and
Sciences.
Venezuelan-born singer Mariana Vega won
best new artist, and Spanish singer Joan
Manuel Serrat, 70, won the person of the year
honor given for career contributions.
Eclectic Puerto Rican group Calle 13 also
won two awards. Top-line performances during the show included Ricky Martin performing his song “Adios” and a duet with Mexican
band Camila performing the ballad “Perdon.”
US-Mexican guitarist Carlos Santana performed “Oye 2014” - a remixed version of his
band’s hit “Oye Como Va” - with US rapper
Pitbull.
Pitbull took the stage again with R&B
singer Chris Brown to perform the song
“Control” with Puerto Rican reggaeton singer
Wisin in a robot-themed rendition. —Reuters
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards
Ricky Martin performs during the 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards. —AFP
Guitar great De Lucia
honored at Latin Grammys
L
ate guitar great Paco de Lucia and superstar Enrique Iglesias won top prizes
Thursday at the Latin Grammys, which
took a political edge as artists cheered
President Barack Obama’s plan to help immigrants.
The top award night for the Spanish- and
Portuguese-language music industry paid
homage to De Lucia, a Spanish legend of the
flamenco guitar, who died in February at age
66.
De Lucia posthumously won Album of the
Year for “Cancion Andaluza,” which also was
declared Best Flamenco Album. De Lucia’s widow said that the album was a passion for De
Lucia, who dedicated the last months of his life
to it.
Iglesias, who has built a fan base cross language lines through his crossover pop, won
three awards including Song of the Year with
the Cuban artists Descemer Bueno and Gente
de Zona for their collaboration “Bailando”
(“Dancing”).
The three artists, who did not attend the
ceremony in Las Vegas, dedicated the award to
the Cuban people in a video message.
Uruguayan singer Jorge Drexler expressed
Mariana Vega poses with the trophy
for Best New Artist. —AFP
Pepe Aguilar accepts the Grammy for Best Ranchero Album during the 15th
Annual Latin Grammy Awards. —AFP
“massive surprise” as he won the prestigious
Record of the Year for “Universos Paralelos,” a
Colombian-inspired song. He dedicated the
award both to Colombia and his grandfather.
Obama in focus
The Latin Grammys came with an unexpected political undertone as Obama delivered a
national address on immigration just as the
ceremony was set to begin.
The audience at the Mandalay Bay arena
watched on a giant screen as Obama, who flies
to Las Vegas yesterday, announced plans to
protect some five million undocumented
migrants from deportation.
While main US television networks declined
to air Obama’s speech, Spanish-language
broadcaster Univision delayed its broadcast of
the Latin Grammys to US East Coast viewers to
show first the president’s remarks.
Carlos Vives dedicated his Latin Grammy for
Best Contemporary Tropical Album to Obama,
who won two elections with strong support
from US Latinos but faces heated political
opposition over his unilateral move.
“I’ve never heard any United States president speak about our Latinos as Obama has,”
said Vives, who is Colombian.
The New York-born Puerto Rican superstar
Marc Anthony also paid a nod to Obama as he
voiced surprise at winning the Latin Grammy
for Best Salsa Album.
“Long live the Latin race!” he exclaimed as
he accepted the prize for the album “3.0.” The
Latin Grammys also marked the red carpet
debut for Marc Anthony and his new wife,
Venezuelan model Shannon De Lima. The couple married earlier this month, soon after Marc
Anthony finalized his divorce from fellow
music giant Jennifer Lopez.
Tribute to Spanish legend Serrat
Obama’s immigration initiative was not the
only issue on the minds of the artists. Calle 13,
which won for Best Urban Music Album,
implored Mexican authorities to resolve the
case of 43 university students who are missing
and feared to have been massacred.
“This is a disaster that cannot go unpunished. This is a matter of human rights,” said
Rene Perez, the Puerto Rican duo’s singer.
“We cannot tolerate this. This cannot
become an example,” said Perez, sporting a
shirt with the name of the young men’s
Ayotzinapa teacher-training college.
The Latin Grammys closed out with a tribute to Spanish singing great Joan Manuel
Serrat, one day after a concert in Las Vegas
honored his half-century career.
Serrat, accepting a Person of the Year
award, offered thanks to his mother, his
teachers and to “the public, that anonymous entity that carries us throughout our
artistic life and without which we could not
be.” —AFP
Marc Anthony, left, and his wife
Shannon De Lima. —AP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Bill Cosby’s lawyer calls
allegations �ridiculous’
A
ttorney for Bill Cosby slammed the numerous accusations of sexual assault against his client, saying the fivetime Emmy-winner has been the victim of a “media-driven feeding frenzy.”
“People are coming out the woodwork with fabricated or
unsubstantiated stories about my client,” Martin Singer said in
a lengthy statement. He also released the criminal records of
one of Cosby’s alleged victims, Linda Joy Traitz, which includes
charges for criminal fraud and possession of several drugs,
including cocaine, Oxycodone and marijuana.
“This continued pattern of attacks has entered the realm of
the ridiculous,” he said. The statement came shortly after three
new accusers came forward on Thursday claiming that Cosby
assaulted them years ago, including Lou Ferrigno’s wife, a “One
Flew Over the Cuckcoo’s Nest” actress and a nurse in Florida.
68-year-old Louisa Moritz, who played Rose in “One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” told TMZ late Thursday that Cosby
forced her to perform oral sex on him in 1971 before an
appearance on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”
According to Moritz, she was waiting for her appearance in
the greenroom when Cosby knocked on her door. After he
implied “that he was going to see to it that [she] will become a
major star through his direction,” she said he forced on her.
Moritz, like other accusers, said she kept her story to herself
until the recent accusers came up. Singer issued a statement
on Thursday specifically targeting Moritz accusations, attacking
her creditability. “We’ve reached a point of absurdity,” the
statement reads. “The stories are getting more ridiculous.
Now this woman is claiming that something occurred more
than 40 years ago and that while she was waiting in the dressing room to appear on the �Tonight Show,’ my client forced
into her. I think people are trying to come up with these wild
stories in order to justify why they have waited 40 to 50 years
to disclose these ridiculous accusations.” “The credibility of
these stories is belied by the fact that Ms. Moritz claims that she
is now a practicing lawyer, according to her official website and
her iMDB page, but she is actually prohibited from practicing
law after she admitted violating the Rules of Professional
Conduct in her legal practice and was disciplined with public
reproval by the State Bar to protect the public.”
Greer Grammer attends the press conference where she was
named Miss Golden Globe 2015.—AP
Kelsey Grammer’s
daughter is
Forcefully
Carla Ferrigno told Rumorfix that Cosby forcefully kissed
her in 1967 when she was a teenager. “He attacked me,” she
said. “He grabbed me.” She said she told no one of the
encounter, but eventually confided in her husband five years
ago. The other accuser to come forward on Thursday, a Florida
nurse, says the comedian raped her in 1976, according to the
Huffington Post. Therese Serignese, a 58-year-old nurse from
Boca Raton, Fla., said she met Cosby 38 years ago when she
was 19. She says she was headlining a show at the Las Vegas
Hilton, where she met Cosby at the Hilton gift shop while looking at jewelry with her sister. “Somebody came up to me and
put their arm around my neck from the back and said: �Will you
marry me?’” Serignese told HuffPost. “And I turned around to
see who it was, and it was Bill Cosby.”
Serignese claims she was escorted to the greenroom after
the show by one of Cosby’s people. Once she and Cosby were
alone, he pulled out two white pills and a glass of water, telling
her to “take these.” “The next memory I have, was, I was in a
bathroom and I was kind of bending forward and he was
behind me having s.. with me,” she said. “I was just there, thinking �I’m on drugs, I’m drugged.’ I felt drugged and I was being
raped and it was kind of surreal. My frame of mind was that it
would be over soon and I could just get out of there.”
After the incident, Serignese said she felt she could not go
to the police because she blamed herself. “How did I let that
happen?” she said. “You blame yourself. You now are a victim;
you’re embarrassed. Nobody would have believed any of us if
we stood there back then in the �70s and said that [Bill Cosby
had assaulted us].”
Confided
She did, however, confide in her mother, who encouraged
her to call Cosby in hopes that he might take care of her. The
comedian put her up in a penthouse at the Hilton for three
weeks, but reportedly kicked her out after she feared she was
pregnant. Serignese maintains that she continued contact with
Cosby for years after, and reached out to him around 1985,
after she had gone through a divorce. She says Cosby went to
Michigan, where she lived at the time, and she called him to go
see his show. He apparently sent a limo to take her to the show,
and she said he “assumed” they were going to have sex. When
asked if he had given her drugs during this encounter, she said
he intimidated her.
“I would say he made me take drugs,” she said. “I really
don’t think that I ever had consensual sex with him, ever. It was
an intimidation thing; it was a vulnerability. I put myself in the
wrong place many times and then I paid the consequences.”
After sustaining a car accident in 1996, she said she accepted two payments from Cosby, including a check for $5,000
from his agent. But she did not come forward with the accusations until she heard of Andrea Constand’s 2005 lawsuit, where
the former director of operations for the Temple University
women’s basketball team accused Cosby of drugging and
molesting her in 2004. —Reuters
Miss Golden Globe
K
elsey Grammer’s daughter Greer is the new Miss Golden Globe.
Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Theo Kingma made
the announcement Thursday night at a party in her honor. It’s been
a Golden Globe tradition for 50 years to have the daughter or son of a past
winner help hand out statuettes during the ceremony.
Kelsey Grammer has been nominated for nine Golden Globes and won
three, Kingma said. Greer Grammer is an actress best known for playing
Lissa in the MTV series “Awkward.” She also has a recurring role on the ABC
Family show “Melissa & Joey.” Grammer had to leave the party at Los
Angeles restaurant Fig & Olive early to film an episode of that show.
Meanwhile, the 22-year-old actress said she’s “freaking out” about
being named Miss Golden Globe and is already looking forward to her
duties. First up is participating in the nominations announcement Dec. 11.
“That’s so exciting to me,” she said. She’s also thinking about her dress
for the ceremony. She said she’s been clipping photos since she learned of
the honor last week. “It still doesn’t feel real,” Grammer said. Previous Miss
Golden Globes have included Laura Dern, Melanie Griffith and “Fifty
Shades of Gray” star Dakota Johnson.
Grammer aims to follow in their footsteps with her own acting career. “I
hope to be a Miss Golden Globe who gets to come back and win a Golden
Globe,” she said. “That’s the end goal.” The Golden Globe Awards are set to
be presented Jan. 11. —AP
In this April 10, 2011 file photo, Bill Cosby, foreground, and the cast of “The Cosby Show,”
from left, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Phylicia Rashad, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Raven-SymonГ© and
Sabrina Le Beauf accept the Impact Award at the 2011 TV Land Awards in New York. TV Land
will stop airing reruns of “The Cosby Show,” after another woman came forward claiming that
the once-beloved comic had sexually assaulted her. Cosby has never been charged in connection with any of the allegations. —AP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Miss Tunis wins World Muslimah Awards
Winner of the 2014 World Muslimah Awards Fatma Ben Guefrache of Tunis gives a victory sign in Yogyakarta yesterday. An
eclectic mix of women from around the world competed in the final of a pageant exclusively for Muslims in Indonesia yesterday, seen as a riposte to Western beauty contests. The women, who include a doctor and computer scientist, are set to
parade in glittering dresses against the backdrop of world-renowned ancient temples for the final in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. —AFP
M
Winner of the 2014 World Muslimah
Awards Fatma Ben Guefrache of Tunis
holds her throphy. —AFP
iss Tunis Fatma Ben Guefrache won
the World Muslimah Awards yesterday in Indonesia.
An eclectic mix of women from around
the world will compete in the finale of a
pageant exclusively for Muslims in
Indonesia yesterday, seen as a riposte to
Western beauty contests.
The women, who include a doctor and a
computer scientist, are set to parade in glittering dresses against the backdrop of
world-renowned ancient temples for the
contest in the world’s most populous
Muslim-majority country.
However the 18 finalists are required to
wear the Muslim headscarf and will be
judged not only on their appearance, but
also on how well they recite verses from the
Koran and their views on Islam in the modern world.
“We want to see that they understand
everything about the Islamic way of lifefrom what they eat, what they wear, how
they live their lives,” said Jameyah Sheriff,
one of the organisers.
The World Muslimah Award first drew
global attention in 2013 when organisers
presented it as a peaceful protest to Miss
World, which was taking place around the
same time on the resort island of Bali.
While it remains popular in some countries, British-run Miss World has faced frequent accusations that it is degrading to
women, and a round in which contestants
pose in bikinis has been a lightning rod for
criticism.
In an effort to appease hardliners, Miss
World organisers axed the bikini round for
the Bali edition, but the event still sparked
demonstrations from Islamic radicals who
dubbed it a “whore contest”.
�Headscarves not scary’
British contestant Dina Torkia said she
hoped this year’s World Muslimah Award
would not only provide a contrast to
Western beauty pageants, but would also
dispel prejudices against Islam.
“I think the most important thing is to
show that we are really normal girls, we are
not married to terrorists. This scarf on my
head isn’t scary,” she told AFP.
However the 2014 pageant has faced
challenges, with seven finalists dropping
out and others struggling with Indonesia’s
complex bureaucracy to obtain visas.
Most who pulled out did so because their
families did not want them to travel alone,
Sheriff said.
The Indian contestant missed her initial
flight as she was being questioned by officials who were suspicious of a woman travelling alone and wearing a headscarf,
although she managed to get on a plane
later.
Others have gone to great lengths to
take part in the fourth edition of the event,
with Masturah Binte Jamil quitting her
teaching job in Singapore after her employer would not give her time off to participate.
Organisers hope to present positive role
models for Islamic women around the world
and the contestants, who are aged between
18 and 27, include a computer scientist
from Tunisia and a newly qualified doctor
from Bangladesh.
But not everyone was enjoying the final
rounds, with Britain’s Torkia saying her initial optimism had turned into disappointment.
“I came into this competition hoping
that I would leave with my faith increased,
but so far it’s been a lot about promotion
and media and looking nice,” she said.
Friday’s finale caps a lengthy process,
which included an online audition followed
by two weeks of events in Indonesia.
During their time in Indonesia, contestants have visited orphanages and nursing
homes, and had their pictures taken at
Borobudur, a famous Buddhist temple close
to Yogyakarta, Java’s cultural heart.
The finale takes place on a stage against
the backdrop of Prambanan, a ninth-century complex of Hindu temples on the island
of Java that is a UNESCO World Heritage
Site.
Hosting the event at a Hindu site was a
conscious decision to show that Muslims
are accepting of other religions, organisers
said. —AFP
Picture taken on November 20 shows finalists of the World Muslimah Awards,
Nazreen Ali (R) of India, and others reciting the Quran in Yogyakarta. —AFP
TECHNOLOGY
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
NSA director: China can
damage US power grid
Fear of mounting cyber attacks
WASHINGTON: China and “one or two” other countries are capable of mounting cyber
attacks that would shut down the electric
grid and other critical systems in parts of the
United States, according to Adm. Michael
Rogers, director of the National Security
Agency and head of US Cyber Command.
The possibility of such cyberattacks by US
adversaries has been widely known, but never confirmed publicly by the nation’s top
cyber official.
At a hearing of the House intelligence
committee, Rogers said US adversaries are
performing electronic “reconnaissance” on a
regular basis so that they can be in a position
to disrupt the industrial control systems that
run everything from chemical facilities to
water treatment plants.
“All of that leads me to believe it is only a
matter of when, not if, we are going to see
something dramatic,” he said.
Outside experts say the US Cyber
Command also has the capability to hack
into and damage critical infrastructure,
which in theory should amount to mutual
deterrence. But Rogers, who did not address
his offensive cyber tools, said the nuclear
deterrence model did not necessarily apply
to cyberattacks.
Only a handful of countries had nuclear
capability during the Cold War, he said, and
nuclear attacks could be detected and attributed in time to retaliate.
By contrast, the source of a cyberattack
can easily be disguised, and the capability do
significant damage is possessed not only by
nation states but by criminal groups and
individuals, Rogers noted.
In cyberspace, “You can literally do almost
anything you want, and there is not a price to
pay for it,” the NSA director said.
Roger’s remarks about critical infrastructure attacks came in response to questioning
from Republican Mike Rogers, who chairs the
intelligence committee. He asked the NSA
director about a private report detailing
China-based intrusions into the power grid
and other critical systems that appeared to
be precursors to attack. What other countries, the chairman wanted to know, have the
capability? “One or two others,” the NSA
director said, but he declined to name them,
saying the information is classified. “We’re
watching multiple nation states invest in this
capability.”
Rogers said the Obama administration is
seeking to establish a set of international
principles governing military cyber opera-
tions, such as banning attacks on hospitals.
“We need to define what would be offensive,
what’s an act of war,” he said.
The NSA’s Rogers also talked about the
national security damage from the ongoing
theft of intellectual property through cyberattacks.
Lawmaker Rogers opened the hearing by
saying that “China’s economic cyber espionage ... has grown exponentially in terms of
volume and damage done to our nation’s
economic future. The Chinese intelligence
services that conduct these attacks have little
to fear because we have no practical deterrents to that theft. This problem is not going
away until that changes.”
China formally denies stealing Western
intellectual property through government
sponsored hacking.
US networks would be better protected,
the NSA’s Rogers said, if Congress would
pass a long-pending bill to allow companies
to share malware signatures and other threat
information with one another and with the
government and be protected from liability
by doing so. But the disclosures of NSA spying by former agency contractor Edward
Snowden have made passage of such a bill
extremely difficult, lawmakers say. —AP
Help your selfie with some add-on gear
ATLANTA: Not all selfies are created equal. Some are blurry, are poorly
framed or miss the action entirely because you might be scrubbing your
thumb fishing for a virtual shutter button as the moment passes you by.
Although phone manufacturers are trying to help by building in tools for
better selfies, many of these have their limits. For better selfies, consider
some of these gadgets for yourself or your loved ones.
touch screen for a virtual one.
I had a lot of success using the Pixpro unattached to my phone as well.
It has a wide-angle lens that fits plenty of action into the frame. Some
phones are coming with better front cameras. The one on HTC’s new
Desire Eye is 13 megapixels, the same as the rear camera. There’s even a
front flash. You’ll still get sharper images with the Kodak attachment.
Halo/Hisy ($25):
This one is really simple. The Halo is a small plastic button that serves
as a wireless shutter trigger for your phone’s camera. Its only job is to trigger your phone’s shutter when you click the button. One function, one
result.
My tests with the Halo for my Android phone went smoothly. The
company makes an iPhone version called Hisy. You need to install its free
camera app, Shutter Panorama, as neither Halo nor Hisy works with the
regular camera app that comes with the phone.
Shutter Panorama doesn’t have too many manual settings or special
features. But the device does a good job in allowing me to place my
phone in places other than my hand. I got some nice shots of myself and
my dog by putting the phone against a rock in the front yard and sitting a
few feet away. It’s more elegant than setting the camera’s timer and running to get in the shot.
Kodak Pixpro SL25 ($300):
The Pixpro SL25 from Kodak is essentially a camera lens that mounts
onto your phone, allowing for higher resolution than what your phone’s
camera can capture. The Pixpro communicates with your phone over WiFi and lets you compose the image on the phone’s screen. Once the photos are snapped using the shutter button on the Pixpro, the phone serves
primarily to review and share the images to social media services. The
downside is you have a second device to carry around, which defeats the
purpose of taking selfies on the fly.
The upside is image quality. The Pixpro shoots sharp 16 megapixel
photos and full high-definition video at 1080p. This quality is common for
rear cameras, but not the front ones for selfies. As a bonus, the Pixpro
offers a zoom of up to 25 times, which is more helpful for regular shots
than selfies. It’s a real, optical zoom, not a software magnification phones
typically use.
The Pixpro has fold-out arms to attach to my phone, such that the two
devices act as one. That, in itself, isn’t different from using just the phone
for selfies. But I was able to hold the Pixpro and press the shutter in ways I
could not with my phone. For instance, I was able to have my finger rest
on a physical button on the Pixpro instead of searching on the phone’s
DECATUR: This Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 photo shows the
Satechi Smart Selfie Extension Arm Monopod. The item
is a telescoping pole that can extend to three feet and
hold a smartphone while operating the phone’s camera
controls via Bluetooth-connected buttons on the grip of
the pole. —AP
Satechi Smart Selfie Extension
Arm Monopod ($50):
This telescoping monopod from Satechi helps get more than just
yourself in the frame. Similar to the Kodak unit, this monopod has springloaded rubber pieces that grip the phone on its sides, holding it firmly in
place. From there, you simply extend the telescoping device out to its full
three feet and get lots of buddies or surroundings into the shot.
What really helps is that a shutter button on the grip of the pole connects to your phone via Bluetooth, allowing you to snap the selfie without reaching up to the phone. Once I paired the monopod to my phone
and launched my default camera app, I was able to easily snap various
selfies with a birds-eye view and other vantage points longer than my
arm. —AP
DECATUR: This Sept. 29, 2014 file photo shows the
Roku 3, a product for streaming popular video
services, apps and games in high-definition. —AP
Three ways to
watch streaming
video on TV
NEW YORK: Even casual viewers of online video will appreciate
the ability to watch it on a big-screen TV. For about $100, you can
get a great streaming TV device to do that. Or for about a third of
that, you can get a pretty good one. Content selection varies, but
all offer such basics as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. After trying out
10 streaming devices, I have three recommendations and an honorable mention:
AMAZON FIRE TV STICK
A “stick” is a cheaper, lightweight version of a regular streaming
device, often with poorer performance. That’s not the case with
the $39 Fire TV Stick, which is why I’m recommending it over the
$99 Fire TV. The processor isn’t as powerful, and there isn’t as much
working memory. But in my tests, video streamed well on both
devices.
The Stick lacks a remote control capable of voice search - you
type searches into the on-screen keyboard. Voice search costs $30,
or you can download a free app for your Android device. A version
for iPhones and iPads is coming too. The app isn’t as easy to use as
a real remote, but it does the job. The Fire TV devices stand out in
having voice search that works well. My lone complaint is that
you’re currently limited to content from Amazon, Vevo, Showtime,
Crackle and Hulu. No surprise that Amazon content is emphasized;
its two main rivals, Apple iTunes and Google Play are missing.
Unfortunately, the Stick is out of stock until mid-January, so your
loved one will have to settle for a promise. The regular Fire TV is
available immediately and is better for games.
ROKU 3
This device is agnostic on content providers. There are more
than 1,000 apps to download, many for services you have never
heard of and will never watch. Except for iTunes it has all the leading channels.
There are many Roku models. The $50 Roku Streaming Stick is
adequate for basic video, but painfully slow when rewinding and
forwarding. The top-end, $100 Roku 3 performs much better.
Some TVs have Roku built in, though you’ll better off picking the
TV you like and getting the Roku separately.
Even with the top-end model, Roku tends to give me the most
problems with video and audio improperly syncing. In many cases,
it’s subtle - something I can live with in exchange for more choices
in video content. It does have the best buffer, at least for Netflix
and Hulu streaming. That’s important when your Internet connection is spotty. Video kept playing for a few minutes after I
unplugged my cable modem. It lasted only 15 to 30 seconds on
Amazon and Google devices and roughly a minute on Apple TV.
APPLE TV
Apple TV, at $99, remains a solid device and is a great choice
for those who already have iPhones or iPads. Place one near the
Apple TV for easy set-up. Your iTunes account transfers over
wirelessly. You can’t download new apps as you can with the
others. Apple takes a “less is more” philosophy and curates Apple
TV with 45 or so outside services, including ABC, HBO and
Showtime. Apple is able to insist on consistency that way, so keyboards and menu layouts are similar from app to app. New services are automatically added through software updates. Amazon
and Google Play are missing, though you can “cast” content to
the TV indirectly. —AP
TECHNOLOGY
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Fireball videos
spark mystery
MOSCOW: A mystery “fireball” captured on amateur video in
Russia’s Urals has become an Internet sensation and sparked theories ranging from a meteor to a UFO to the military disposing of
explosives. In one video of the night sky, a red light flashes and
grows ever brighter and larger before disappearing seconds later.
Videos showing the fireball over a highway and from the window
of an apartment building have become hits on the Internet,
viewed more than 700,000 times on YouTube, and prompted
speculation on Russian national television.
The dazzling light, which was filmed Friday evening near the
town of Rezh in the Sverdlovsk region, 900 miles east of Moscow,
“is like from an atomic explosion,” a newsreader on Rossiya 24 television said Wednesday. The light appeared in the same Urals
region where a meteor in February last year blazed across the
sky, exploded and broke up into myriad pieces, damaging buildings and injuring more than a thousand people. In a video filmed
by a car’s windscreen camera, the fireball appears to be coming
from the ground, however, and meteorite researcher Viktor
Grokhovsky said in televised remarks he “doubted the theories
about a meteorite.”
Russia’s emergency ministry denied that there had been any
incident in the region. “In our region, there are no accidents,
there aren’t any incidents or disasters,” Natalya Zyryanova,
spokeswoman for the ministry’s Sverdlovsk region branch, told
Rossiya 24 on Wednesday. Local news site E1 went to the apparent site of the light and found that it was a closed zone where old
military armaments from an army base are being destroyed. E1
cited a military expert as saying that the light could be from the
destruction of old gunpowder, although this is supposed to be
carried out only during the day. —AFP
Minecraft video game
to get Tate art �worlds’
LONDON: Fans of the hugely successful Minecraft video game
will be able to play inside worlds envisioned in art from the collection of the Tate museums in Britain with free-download releases of two 3-D “Tate Worlds” starting on Monday.
Players in Minecraft, developed by Swedish company Mojang,
can build nearly anything imaginable block by block in a digital
world. “Minecraft is a wonderful game which embraces imagination and creativity,” Jane Burton, Creative Director of Tate Media,
said in a statement on Thursday.
“It has captivated millions of children and young people
across the world. In playfully reimagining art in Tate Worlds for
Minecraft we hope to introduce a new generation to inspirational works from Tate’s collection.” The first two paintings
inspiring the Tate worlds are Andre Derain’s 1906 “The Pool of
London” and Christopher Nevinson’s 1920 painting of New York,
“Soul of the Soulless City”. Derain’s painting is a scene of a cargo
ship and tenders with London’s famed Tower Bridge in the background, while the Nevinson shows skyscrapers with the tracks of
an elevated rail line starting in the foreground and running into
the distance. —Reuters
SPAIN: A man moves his finger toward SVH (Servo Electric 5 Finger Gripping Hand) automated hand made
by Schunk during the 2014 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots in Madrid. —AFP
Dancing, talking robots
show off in Madrid
MADRID: Hundreds of robotics experts and their whirring,
flashing robot creations gathered in Madrid on Wednesday for
a top world congress on humanoid technology.
“Hello human friends, I am Reem-C,” said one of the guest
exhibits, a 1.65-metre (five-and-a-half-foot) humanoid robot
weighing 80 kilos (176 pounds).
Robots big and small showed off their skills at dancing,
cooking and even training accident victims to walk again. The
2014 International Conference on Humanoid Robots runs until
Thursday at Carlos III University in the Spanish capital.
“There is quite a big explosion of robots currently,” said one
of the participants, Frederik Bengtsson, a Swedish student.
One of 430 participants from 31 countries, he entered a
competition at the congress to programme some of the
robots. “The technology is getting cheaper and faster so it’s a
really fast-growing area, like computing a few years ago,” he
said.
Researchers are now trying to programme emotional
responses in robots, said another expert, Santiago Martinez
from Carlos III’s Robotics Lab. “But making a machine that can
think is complicated,” he said. “We will not see it in the near
future.” —AFP
Mobile still a struggle for Intel, PC doing better
SANTA CLARA: Chip-making giant Intel Corp. is still
struggling to catch up in mobile computing but says its
personal computer business is performing better than
expected and its return to revenue growth this year will
continue into 2015.
“We were too slow in the past,” CEO Brian Krzanich
told analysts Thursday at Intel’s annual financial conference. “I think this year you’ll see things move much
quicker.”
His comments were echoed throughout the morning by several executives who acknowledged the company’s sluggish response to the mobile computing
trend. Intel is the world’s dominant maker of microprocessor chips that serve as the brains for PCs, but its
business has suffered as consumers have increasingly
turned to smartphones and tablets that mostly use lower-power chips made by other companies. While Intel
has promised for several years to expand its mobile
chip business, it lost more than $1 billion in that segment last quarter, in part because it pays subsidies to
device-makers to encourage broader use of its chips.
“I’m not going to tell you I’m proud of losing the
kind of money we’re losing but I’m also going to tell
you I’m not embarrassed by it, like I was a year ago
about where we were,” Chairman Andrew Bryant said.
“This is the price you pay for sitting on the sidelines for a
number of years and then fighting your way back into
the market.”
Krzanich, who took over as CEO in May 2013, did
strike an optimistic note on the global PC business. He
said the decline in PC sales appears to have leveled out,
based on the company’s own projections and recent
reports from independent market research firms. Intel’s
own PC business is on track to grow by 5 percent this
year, then dip just slightly again next year, according to
Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith. The company
expects to sell more chips for data center computers
and other devices, such as wearables and a wide range
of “smart” appliances.
After two years of overall sales declines, the company is forecasting annual revenue to grow 6 percent to
roughly $55.8 billion this year.
“We’re growing again and we expect to grow again
next year,” Smith added, saying he expects a revenue
increase in the “mid-single digits” in 2015. The upbeat
revenue forecast helped lift shares over 4 percent to a
52-week high of $35.82 on Thursday afternoon on
heavier-than-normal trading volume. The stock has
been on a run-up since May.
Intel will likely meet its goal of supplying chips for at
least 40 million tablets this year but expects to post a
loss for the business. Those losses will shrink next year
but mobile won’t be profitable until after 2016, Smith
said.
Intel recently announced plans to merge its PC and
mobile chip segments into a single division, saying the
lines are blurring between tablets and PCs. Some analysts have questioned whether the move is aimed at
making it harder to track Intel’s losses on mobile chips.
A spokeswoman said the company hasn’t decided how
it will report the division’s financial performance. The
company also said that it will boost its annual dividend
by 6 cents to 96 cents. —AP
TV listings
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
00:50 After The Attack
01:45 Untamed & Uncut
02:40 Animal Cops Phoenix
03:35 Shamwari: A Wild Life
04:00 Shamwari: A Wild Life
04:25 The Pool Master
05:15 Tanked
06:02 After The Attack
06:49 Untamed & Uncut
07:36 Animal Airport
08:00 Animal Airport
08:25 America’s Cutest Pets
09:15 Bad Dog
10:10 Extreme Animals
11:05 Biggest And Baddest
12:00 Treehouse Masters
12:55 Reign Of The Dinosaurs
13:50 Wild Things With Dominic
Monaghan
14:45 Wild Things With Dominic
Monaghan
15:40 Wild Things With Dominic
Monaghan
19:20 The Pool Master
20:15 Too Cute!
21:10 Preposterous Pets
22:05 Adrift: 47 Days With Sharks
23:00 Too Cute!
23:55 Preposterous Pets
Easy Food
01:20 Come Dine With Me: South
Africa
02:15 Come Dine With Me
03:05 Come Dine With Me
03:55 Holmes On Homes
04:40 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent
05:30 Come Dine With Me: South
Africa
06:25 Come Dine With Me
07:10 Holmes On Homes
08:00 Antiques Roadshow
11:25 Antiques Roadshow
12:20 Holmes On Homes
15:30 Bargain Hunt
16:15 Bargain Hunt
17:00 Antiques Roadshow
17:50 Antiques Roadshow
18:40 Antiques Roadshow
21:20 Holmes On Homes
22:05 Holmes On Homes
22:55 Holmes On Homes
23:40 Holmes On Homes
00:20 Extreme Car Hoarders
01:10 Fat N’ Furious: Rolling Thunder
02:00 Fast N’ Loud
02:50
03:15
03:40
04:05
04:30
05:00
06:00
06:50
07:15
07:40
08:30
09:20
10:10
11:00
11:50
12:40
13:30
14:20
15:10
16:00
16:50
17:40
18:30
19:20
20:10
21:00
21:25
21:50
22:15
22:40
23:05
23:55
Storage Hunters
What’s In The Barn?
Storage Wars Canada
How It’s Made
How It’s Made
Treehouse Masters
Dynamo: Magician Impossible
Magic Of Science
Magic Of Science
Close-Up Kings
Marooned With Ed Stafford
Deadly Islands
Dual Survival
Tethered
Tethered
Tethered
Tethered
Tethered
Tethered
Destination North Pole
Railroad Alaska
Railroad Alaska
Marooned With Ed Stafford
Deadly Islands
Dual Survival
Storage Wars Canada
Storage Wars Canada
Storage Wars Canada
Storage Wars Canada
Storage Wars Canada
Rattlesnake Republic
American Guns
00:00
00:40
00:50
01:15
01:40
01:50
02:05
02:15
02:30
03:10
03:20
03:45
04:10
04:20
04:35
04:45
05:00
05:25
05:50
06:00
06:25
06:50
07:00
07:15
07:40
08:05
08:30
Violetta
The Hive
Art Attack
Art Attack
Jungle Junction
Jungle Junction
Jungle Junction
Jungle Junction
Violetta
The Hive
Art Attack
Art Attack
Jungle Junction
Jungle Junction
Jungle Junction
Jungle Junction
Art Attack
Art Attack
Mouk
Dog With A Blog
Mako Mermaids
Fish Hooks
Fish Hooks
Gravity Falls
Jessie
Liv And Maddie
Gravity Falls
I Didn’t Do It
Dog With A Blog
Girl Meets World
Sabrina: Secrets Of A Teenage
Lemonade Mouth
Dog With A Blog
Mako Mermaids
African Cats
Girl Meets World
I Didn’t Do It
Sabrina: Secrets Of A Teenage
Gravity Falls
My Babysitter’s A Vampire
Mako Mermaids
Austin & Ally
Liv And Maddie
Girl Meets World
Good Luck Charlie
African Cats
Gravity Falls
Mako Mermaids
Spooksville
Wolfblood
Suite Life On Deck
Good Luck Charlie
A.N.T. Farm
Shake It Up
Wolfblood
00:00 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills
00:30 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills
00:55 Extreme Close-Up
01:25 THS
02:20 E! News
03:15 Kourtney And Khloe Take The
Hamptons
04:10 E! Investigates
05:05 THS
06:00 Keeping Up With The
Kardashians
07:50 Style Star
08:20 E! News
09:15 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills
09:45 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills
10:15 E!ES
11:10 E!ES
12:05 E! News
13:05 The Drama Queen
14:05 The Drama Queen
15:00 Giuliana & Bill
16:00 Giuliana & Bill
17:00 House Of Dvf
18:00 E! News
19:00 E!ES
20:00 Kourtney And Khloe Take The
Hamptons
21:00 Untold With Maria Menounos
22:00 E! News
23:00 The Soup
23:30 House Of Dvf
00:15 Hebburn
00:45 Friday Night Dinner
01:15 Doctors
01:45 Casualty
02:35 My Family
03:05 Michael McIntyre’s Comedy
Roadshow
03:50 Friday Night Dinner
04:15 The Weakest Link
05:00 Charlie And Lola
05:15 Woolly & Tig
05:20 Mr Bloom’s Nursery
05:40 Teletubbies
06:05 Garth And Bev
06:15 Charlie And Lola
06:30 Woolly & Tig
06:35 Mr Bloom’s Nursery
06:55 Teletubbies
07:20 Little Human Planet
07:25 The Weakest Link
08:10 Doctor Who
08:55 The World’s Toughest Driving
Tests
09:50 Outcasts
10:45 One Foot In The Grave
11:20 One Foot In The Grave
11:55 Doctor Who
12:40 Casualty
13:30 Eastenders
14:00 Eastenders
14:30 Eastenders
15:00 Eastenders
15:30 Doctor Who
16:15 One Foot In The Grave
17:25 Peckham Finishing School For
Girls
18:20 Outcasts
19:15 Doctor Who
20:00 Alan Carr: Chatty Man
20:45 Michael McIntyre’s Comedy
Roadshow
21:30 Ideal
22:00 Threesome
22:25 Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle
22:55 Doctor Who
23:40 Alan Carr: Chatty Man
00:00 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent
00:55 Lorraine’s Fast, Fresh And
08:55
09:20
09:45
10:10
Witch
10:35
12:15
12:40
13:05
13:30
13:55
14:20
Witch
14:55
15:20
15:45
16:10
16:35
17:00
17:25
19:30
19:55
20:20
20:45
21:10
21:35
22:00
22:25
22:50
23:10
VANISHING ON 7TH STREET ON OSN MOVIES ACTION
00:40 May The Best House Win
Abroad
01:30 Come Dine With Me Ireland
02:00 Lewis
02:55 Emmerdale
05:00 Coronation Street
07:05 Shetland
08:00 Lewis
08:50 Autopsy: The Last Hour Of...
09:45 I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of
Here
11:10 Come Dine With Me Ireland
13:15 The Jonathan Ross Show
14:05 The Jonathan Ross Show
15:00 I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of
Here
16:20 Celebrity Exposed:richard
Young’s Photography
17:15 Autopsy: The Last Hour Of...
18:05 Lewis
19:00 I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of
Here
20:30 Celebrity Exposed:richard
Young’s Photography
21:25 Autopsy: The Last Hour Of...
22:20 The Jonathan Ross Show
23:15 Coronation Street
00:00
01:00
02:00
03:00
04:00
05:00
06:00
07:00
08:00
09:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
World’s Deadliest Animals
Armageddon Outfitters
Crash Science
Mega Factories
Engineering Connections
Animal Mega Moves
America The Wild
Great Migrations
World’s Deadliest Animals
Armageddon Outfitters
Crash Science
Beyond Magic With Dmc
Helicopter Wars
Hard Time
Dogtown
Rescue Ink
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Naked Science
Inside
Rescue Ink
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Naked Science
Inside
Beyond Magic With Dmc
00:30 The Daily Show With Jon
Stewart
01:00 The Colbert Report
01:30 Married
02:00 It’s Always Sunny In
Philadelphia
02:30 Girls
03:00 The Neighbors
03:30 Last Man Standing
04:30 The Tonight Show Starring
Jimmy Fallon
07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers
09:00 The Neighbors
09:30 The Goodwin Games
10:00 New Girl
11:00 The Tonight Show Starring
Jimmy Fallon
14:00 Last Man Standing
14:30 The Goodwin Games
15:00 New Girl
15:30 The Daily Show With Jon
Stewart
16:00 The Colbert Report
17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers
18:00 Hot In Cleveland
18:30 Modern Family
19:00 Modern Family
19:30 New Girl
20:00 The Tonight Show Starring
Jimmy Fallon
21:00 The Daily Show Global Edition
21:30 The Colbert Report Global
Edition
22:00 Saturday Night Live
23:00 Girls
23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers
00:00
01:00
02:00
Show
03:00
06:00
Drop Dead Diva
Devious Maids
American Horror Story: Freak
Justified
Drop Dead Diva
TV listings
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Story-PG15
11:00 Before And After-PG15
13:00 Deadly Spa-PG15
15:00 Veronica Guerin-PG15
17:00 Eastwood Directs: The Untold
Story-PG15
19:00 Kramer vs. Kramer-PG15
21:00 Rachel Getting Married-PG15
01:00 Peace,
Love
&
Misunderstanding-PG15
03:00 Marvel’s Next Avengers: Heroes
Of Tomorrow-PG
05:00 Standing Ovation-PG15
07:00 The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn Pt. 2-PG15
09:00 Escape From Planet Earth-PG
11:00 The Legend Of Hercules-PG15
12:45 Pacific Rim-PG15
15:00 Dawn Rider-PG15
17:00 Escape From Planet Earth-PG
19:00 The English Teacher-PG15
01:00 Blue Elephant
02:45 Barbie In The Nutcracker
04:30 Tom And Jerry’s Giant
Adventure
06:00 Back To Gaya
08:00 The Legend Of Sasquatch
10:00 Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The
Mystery Map!
11:30 The Apple & The Worm
13:00 Barbie In The Nutcracker
14:30 Cinderella
16:00 Soccer Dog: European Cup
18:00 Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The
Mystery Map!
20:00 Marvel’s Hulk vs. Thor &
Wolverine
22:00 Cinderella
23:30 Soccer Dog: European Cup
BULLET TO THE HEAD ON OSN MOVIES HD ACTION
08:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
18:00
19:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
00:00
01:00
03:00
04:00
05:00
09:00
12:00
14:00
16:00
17:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
00:00
02:00
04:00
06:00
Chicago Fire
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Chicago Fire
Drop Dead Diva
Chicago Fire
Once Upon A Time
Graceland
Sons Of Anarchy
Justified
White Collar
Good Morning America
Breaking Bad
House Of Cards
Good Morning America
24
Criminal Minds
24
Live Good Morning America
Criminal Minds
24
Criminal Minds
White Collar
Breaking Bad
House Of Cards
2 Fast 2 Furious
Vanishing On 7th Street
My Soul To Take
Hellboy: Blood & Iron
08:00
10:30
12:00
14:00
16:00
18:00
20:30
22:30
The Rock
Hellboy: Sword Of Storms
Olympus Has Fallen
2 Fast 2 Furious
Into The Blue
The Rock
Olympus Has Fallen
Red Eye
00:00
02:00
04:00
06:00
08:30
10:00
12:00
14:00
16:00
18:30
20:30
22:00
Vanishing On 7th Street-PG15
My Soul To Take-PG15
Hellboy: Blood & Iron-PG15
The Rock-PG15
Hellboy: Sword Of Storms-PG
Olympus Has Fallen-PG15
2 Fast 2 Furious-PG15
Into The Blue-PG15
The Rock-PG15
Olympus Has Fallen-PG15
Red Eye-PG15
Bullet To The Head-18
00:00
PG
02:00
04:00
06:00
08:00
10:00
PG
Sister Act 2: Back In The HabitWhy Stop Now-PG15
Bean-PG15
Home Alone-PG
Ghostbusters II-PG
Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit-
12:00 4 Wedding Planners-PG15
14:00 Meet The Fockers-PG15
16:00 Ghostbusters II-PG
18:00 The Dream Team-PG15
20:00 Scary Movie 5-PG15
22:00 House Party: Tonight’s The
Night-18
01:00 The Company You Keep-PG15
03:00 Playing For Keeps-PG15
05:00 Between Us-PG15
07:00 Ain’t Them Bodies Saints-PG15
09:00 Temptation: Confessions Of A
Marriage Counselor-PG15
11:00 Between Us-PG15
13:00 Playing For Keeps-PG15
15:00 Emperor-PG15
17:00 Temptation: Confessions Of A
Marriage Counselor-PG15
19:00 Peace,
Love
&
Misunderstanding-PG15
21:00 The Impossible-PG15
23:00 Her-18
01:00
03:00
05:00
07:30
09:00
W.E.-18
Annapolis-PG15
Marie Antoinette-PG15
I, Anna-PG15
Eastwood Directs: The Untold
00:00
02:00
04:00
06:00
08:00
10:00
12:00
14:00
16:00
18:00
20:00
22:00
07:00
07:30
09:30
13:00
15:00
17:00
18:30
19:00
19:30
21:30
22:00
European Tour Weekly
Live Asian Tour Golf
Volvo Ocean Race
International Rugby Union
NHL
Volvo Ocean Race
Top 14 Highlights
Total Rugby
Live International Rugby Union
Volvo Ocean Race Highlights
PGA European Tour
00:30
08:00
09:00
10:00
17:00
18:00
20:00
World Cup Of Pool
Volvo Ocean Race Highlights
World Cup Of Pool
World Cup Of Pool
World Cup Of Pool
World Cup Of Pool
Trans World Sports
03:00 Hero Indian Super
Highlights
09:00 WWE Super Stars
10:00 WWE Smackdown
12:00 Hero Indian Super
Highlights
15:00 Hero Indian Super
Highlights
19:30 Hero Indian Super
Highlights
20:00 Hero Indian Super
Football
League
League
League
League
League
00:00 India v West Indies ODI
Highlights
02:00 ICC Cricket 360
02:30 Australia v South Africa T20I
Highlights
05:30 ICC Cricket 360
06:00 Champions League Twenty20
Highlights
07:00 ICC Cricket 360
07:30 Australia v South Africa T20I
Highlights
10:30 ICC Cricket 360
11:00 Champions League Twenty20
Highlights
14:00 ICC Cricket 360
14:30 Australia v South Africa T20I
Highlights
18:30 ICC Cricket 360
19:00 India v West Indies ODI
Highlights
20:00 India v West Indies ODI
Highlights
21:00 India v West Indies ODI
Highlights
22:00 India v West Indies ODI
Highlights
23:00 ICC Cricket 360
23:30 Australia v South Africa T20I
Highlights
00:45 The Face UK
01:35 Obsessive
Compulsive
Cleaners
02:25 Long Island Medium
02:50 Long Island Medium
03:15 Long Island Medium
03:40 Long Island Medium
04:05 What Not To Wear
05:00 What Not To Wear
06:00 Something
Borrowed,
Something New
06:25 Jon & Kate Plus 8
06:50 Jon & Kate Plus 8
07:15 Jon & Kate Plus 8
07:40 Jon & Kate Plus 8
08:05 Your Style In His Hands
08:55 Your Style In His Hands
09:45 The Next Great Baker: Road To
The Finale
10:35 Six Little Mcghees
11:00 Six Little Mcghees
11:25 Say Yes To The Dress
11:50 Say Yes To The Dress
12:15 Say Yes To The Dress
12:40 Say Yes To The Dress
Class-PG15
R.I.P.D.-PG15
Hot Rod-PG15
Run For Your Wife-PG15
Planet 51-PG
The Internship-PG15
R.I.P.D.-PG15
Turbo-PG
Planet 51-PG
Europa Report-PG15
Knuckle-PG15
Pain & Gain-18
02:30 Volvo Ocean Race
04:00 International Rugby Union
06:00 Futbol Mundial
06:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights
07:00 International Rugby Union
09:00 Volvo Ocean Race
10:30 European Tour Weekly
11:00 Live PGA European Tour
16:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights
16:30 Live Hero Indian Super League
Football
18:30 Trans World Sport
19:30 Total Rugby
20:00 Live International Rugby Union
22:45 Live International Rugby Union
00:00
02:00
02:30
03:00
06:00
WWE Smackdown
Total Rugby
Futbol Mundial
Live NHL
Trans World Sport
THE DREAM TEAM
ON OSN MOVIES COMEDY HD
WHAT’S ON
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
TIES Centre
T
he TIES Center cordially invites all those interested to Darlene’s lecture entitled, “The Healing
Power of Sleep & the Significance of dreaming in
our lives,” on Tuesday November 25th, 2014 at
7:00pm.
While we are sleeping the sensory world is essentially revolving around us without our knowledge.
The power of the human body to literally heal itself
through sleep occurs, while we are unconsciously
taken into a cycle of dreaming. What happens during these stages is phenomenal. This presentation
will take you onto a journey into the biological, scientific and meta-physical world of human sleep
states and the dream world we mysteriously
encounter night after night. If you are interested in
the topic, TIES Center is the best place to visit on
November 25 at 7 pm.
Darlene Haddad is a highly qualified expert in psychology, with a Master’s Degree in Communications
and Human Relations. Her BA is sociology. She is currently working for the Kuwait Counseling Center.
For more information, please call: 25231015/6 or
log onto: www.tiescenter.net
Australia Embassy
A
ustralian Visa Application Centre, Level 25, Al Tijaria
Building Al Soor Street, Opp. Al Shuhada Garden
Sharq, Kuwait City. Working hours and days: 09.30 17.30 Sunday - Thursday. Submissions of new applications
can be made until 16.30 each day. The last hour of opening is
for decision letter collection only.
Website Address: www.vfs-au-gcc.com. Information email
ID: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com Telephone: +971 4
2055900.
Contacts page on VFS website for Kuwait: (including map)
http://vfs-au-gcc.com/contactus_KBOQ.html.
Visa options for lodgement with VFS: (to download forms,
checklists, fee list) http://vfs-au-gcc.com/allaboutvisa.html
Pravasi Bhartiya Divas
T
he Government of India has decided to hold the next
Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD-2015) at Mahatma
Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat in January 2015. The
effort would be to have more meaningful and interactive
sessions that would address the issues and concerns of the
overseas Indian community effectively. Since 2015 marks
the hundredth anniversary of the return of the greatest
“Pravasi”of all, Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa, it is
desired that PBD-2015 would be celebrated in a grand
way.
The detailed programe of PBD-2015 is being prepared
and will be uploaded on the Embassy’s Website in due
course.
More detailed information on Pravasi Bhartiya Divas
(PBD-2015) can be accessed at the Ministry of Overseas
India Affairs’ website (http://www.moia.gov.in).
What’s On - Submission Guidelines
All photos submitted for What’s On
should be minimum 200dpi.
Articles must be in plain text and
should include name and phone
numbers. Articles and photos that
fail to meet these requirements will
not be published.
Please send them to
news@kuwaittimes.net
Pakistan Employment Forum Kuwait
organized oral health care seminar
P
akistan Employment Forum Kuwait
(PEFK), Medical Assistance Division,
organized Oral Health Care Seminar
on 10th November for young students in
Pakistan Oxford School Jaleeb Al
Shoyoukh with coordination of Mrs.
Ghazala Bano, Principal of Oxford School
Jaleeb Al Shoyoukh. PEFK Medical
Assistance Division prepared and conducted the event led by Dr Attiya Anjum,
Akhtar Naveed & M Younas Shahid. PEFK
Medical Assistance Division is dealing
with career assistance, guidance and
counseling in medical field for job seekers and students.
Mrs Bano, Muhammad Irfan Adil,
Founder President of PEFK, Akhtar
Naveed, Head of IT & Web Publication,
Muhammad Younas Shahid Executive of
Event Management & Planning and
Khalil chief editor Paighame Subha
Kuwait from media along with school
staff graced the event.
Seminar began by reciting verses of
Holy Quran. She introduced PEFK &
Medical Assistance Division to young student, Muhammad Irfan Adil welcomed all
and invited Dr Attiya Anjum for the presentation. Dr Attiya delivered comprehensive & informative presentation on oral
health topic, which showed different
ways to tackle dental issues. Students
participated with full enthusiasm and
showed their interest towards presentation and asked several questions in Q/A
session. At the end, students were shown
different techniques of brushing through
presentation & on-spot activities.
At the end, Adil thanked the audience,
students & principal of school of giving
Kuwait especially among Pakistanis. PEFK
is a non-political & non-governmental
organization. It is a social welfare group
which was inaugurated on January 27,
2012 with a vision to provide career guidance to jobseekers & students, mainly
Pakistani citizens residing in Kuwait, and
opportunity to conduct seminar. He
briefly explained about Pakistan
Employment Forum Kuwait and stated
that PEFK is a premier & first ever
Pakistani Forum of its kind in Kuwait
which is purely designated to provide
assistance for job seekers and career
counseling for students residing in
help those in need of assistance in their
career development, with no limitations
of religion, nationality, race or ethnicity.
We are here to serve humanity and the
career of all humans is precious to us. We
aim to provide the best career development counseling and job hunting guidance to our community in Kuwait.
Kuwait Times Calendar of Events
November
22 - Kuwait Textile Association Bazaar - Held
at Sadu House on November 22.
22 - Kuwait English School Annual Bazaar - At
KES in Salwa, block 11 on November 22.
Tables are KD 20.
22 - Kuwait Textiles Arts Association holds its
annual holiday bazaar at Sadu House from
10am to 5pm.
- Kuwait English School holds its Winter
Bazaar from 10:30am to 4pm at main school
campus in Salwa, block 11, street 9.
- Equate is organizing a Scavenger Hunt from
10am to 1pm in Qortuba, block 3, street 5,
house 19.
- The Embassy of the Republic of Korea, in collaboration with Korean-Kuwaiti (Han-Kut)
Culture Diwaniya, is organizing a special
event for “Chuseok” (Korean Thanksgiving
day) on 22 Nov (Sat), between 11:00 and
15:00 at the Embassy premise in Mishref.
Traditional Korean food, games and handicraft workshop.
- Visit the Secret Garden in Baghdad Park, on
Baghdad street in Salmiya, with your kids to
help grow the garden, dig in the dirt, plant
flowers and other fun gardening time.
28 - British Ladies Society Bazaar - at BSK on
November 28.
28 - Nominations are invited for �Pravasi
Kalashri Award’ instituted by the Kerala
Sangeetha Nataka Akademi (KSNA) for the
year 2015 from Malayalam theatre personalities in Kuwait. Non-resident Keralites with
more than 15 years of expatriate life in
Kuwait and have contributed significantly
and comprehensively to Malayalam theatre
may apply.
28 Friends of CRY Club (FOCC), announces
plans for 2014 Chess Tournament for children
of all ages upto high-school. “CRYchess 2014”
will be held at the Salmiya Indian Model
School (SIMS), Salmiya, Kuwait,on Friday, 28th
November 2014, from 0930 - 1630 hrs. Visit
www.focckwt.org or contact FOCC members.
28-29 - Street Fest 2014 will be held at a parking lot in AlShaab AlKhaled area on Friday
and Saturday from 3pm to 10pm. Instagram
@streetfestkuwait Website:
http://www.streetfestkuwait.com/
29 - 10K Charity Run organized by FSRI at the
Marina Crescent. Register at www.runq8.org
Email: info@runq8.org
December
5 - Science International Forum (SIF) Kuwait
Sastra Prathibha contest in two categories,
Junior (Class 6,7,8) and Senior (9,10,11), 1
hour, 100 objective type questions. 50% of
the questions from syllabus provided, 40%
from the existing academic curriculum, 10%
from GK. Contest is in January 2015. Last date
for entry is December 5. sifkwt@gmail.com
8 - The 2nd Japanese Speech Contest cosponsored by Embassy of Japan and Kuwait
University has been rescheduled from
October to Monday, December 8th, 2014 at
the auditorium of National Library of Kuwait.
For futher inquiry contact Mrs Yasmin /
Omaima 25309458/25309400.
culturalsection@kw.mofa.go.jp
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
WHAT’S ON
ICSK senior celebrates Children’s Day
T
he Indian Community School Kuwait, Senior branch celebrated
Children’s Day at the school campus on Thursday, 13th
November, since November 14th, the birthday of Jawaharlal
Nehru that is celebrated as Children’s Day all over India, befell on a
holiday. The celebrations spirited the young minds with zest and
enthusiasm inspiring them to preserve childhood in their minds
throughout their life. A special assembly was organized on the day by
the teachers of ICSK Senior as a tribute to the pristine purity and innocence of childhood. Each and every student was welcomed at the
school gate by the team of teachers under the leadership of the
Principal Dr V. Binumon. Well begun is half done as the students
enjoyed the special attention that flowed throughout the day.
Jithesh, a renowned cartoonist from India, was the guest of honour
for the day. The programme was attended by the Honorary Secretary
to ICSK Board Vijay Karayil and distinguished members of Parent
Advisory Committee.
Dr V. Binumon welcomed the gathering urging the students to
enjoy every small step that takes us ahead in life. Vijay Karayil, the
honorary secretary, addressed the students and wished them a happy
children’s day. Prayer, music and thoughts enriched the minds of the
children reinforcing the values taught and followed. One teacher did a
convincing impression of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime
Minister of India and rendered a dazzling speech to conscientise the
students upon the need to be proactive in the present scenario.
The programme turned picturesque as Jithesh, a genius cartoonist, exhibited his excellent skills of sketching cartoons. His speed
sketching enthralled the audience. Musical extravaganza and dance
renderings presented by the teachers further made the special
assembly memorable. Chocolates sprinkled with good advice and
love distributed to all the students created the right mood of happiness throughout the day imprinting the happy memories in minds of
all the children.
Bangladesh army major Quadir visits military contingent
E
ngineer in Chief of Bangladesh Army Major General Md Abdul Quadir paid an official visit to Kuwait from 8-10 Nov 2014. During the visit he
called on Chief of Staff, Kuwait Armed Forces Lieutenant General Mohammad Khaled Al Khadar. He also called on Commander Ali Al Sabah
Military College, Assistant Chief of Staff (Administration and Manpower Department) and Ambassador of Bangladesh to Kuwait Major General
Mohammad Ashab Uddin, ndc, psc. He visited Bangladesh Military Contingent (BMC) to Kuwait and was briefed by the Commander BMC Brigadier
General S M Shamim Uz Zaman, BSP, ndc, psc about the activities of BMC to Kuwait. He visited different working sites of BMC and different institutions of Kuwait Armed Forces.
Greetings
H
appy birthday to our dearest
son Mohd Jabidul Islam
Sawbuj, who celebrates his
12th birthday today. May Almighty
Allah bless him with good health
and a bright future. Best wishes
come from father Mohd Jalal
Uddin, mother Bethe Begum, relatives, and friends in Bangladesh
and Kuwait.
HEALTH
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Scientists study rare tapeworm living in man’s brain
LONDON: Scientists in Britain removed
and studied a rare tapeworm that lived
in a man’s brain for four years,
researchers said yesterday.
The parasite travelled five centimetres (two inches) from the right side of
the brain to the left.
The tapeworm causes sparganosis, an
inflammation of body tissues that can
cause seizures, memory loss and
headaches when it occurs in the brain.
Surgeons removed it and the patient
is now “systemically well”, the Wellcome
Trust Sanger Institute said.
It was the first time the tapeworm,
Spirometra erinaceieuropaei, was reported in Britain. Only 300 cases have been
reported since 1953.
The tapeworm is thought to be
caught by accidentally eating small
infected crustaceans from lakes, eating
raw amphibian or reptile meat, or by
using a raw frog poultice which is a
Chinese remedy for sore eyes.
“We did not expect to see an infection of this kind in the UK, but global
travel means that unfamiliar parasites do
sometimes appear,” said Effrossyni
Gkrania-Klotsas of the department of
Infectious Disease at Addenbrooke’s
NHS Trust.
The team managed to sequence the
rare parasite’s genome for the first time,
allowing them to examine potential
treatments.
“Our work shows that, even with only
tiny amounts of DNA from clinical samples, we can find out all we need to identify and characterise the parasite,”
Gkrania-Klotsas added.
The doctor said the DNA study underlined the importance of a global database of worm genomes, to help identify
and treat parasites. —AFP
Soaring generic
drug prices draw
Senate scrutiny
WASHINGTON: Nov. 18, 2014 photo shows William Byrd High School students as they hold up their X marked hands
in solidarity of ending modern day slavery with Ken Morris , (center) founder of Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives.
Morris great-great-great- grandson of both Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington was guest speaker at
Globalize 13. at the school in Vinton, Va. —AP
FDA approves new
hydrocodone pill
First hard-to-abuse version of the painkiller
WASHINGTON: Federal health regulators approved
the first hard-to-abuse version of the painkiller
hydrocodone, offering an alternative to a similar
medication that has been widely criticized for lacking such safeguards.
The Food and Drug Administration approved
Purdue Pharma’s Hysingla ER for patients with
severe, round-the-clock pain that cannot be managed with other treatments. The once-a-day tablet is
designed to thwart abuse via chewing, crushing,
snorting or injecting. The FDA said the medication is
difficult to crush, break or dissolve.
Purdue Pharma’s new drug poses a direct commercial challenge to Zogenix’s much-debated drug
Zohydro, a twice-a-day hydrocodone tablet
approved by the FDA last year.
Doctors prescribe opioids for a range of ailments, from post-surgical pain to arthritis and
migraines. Deaths linked to abuse of the medications have quadrupled since 1990 to nearly 17,000
annually, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Medical experts disagree
over the appropriate role of opioids in treating pain,
with some arguing that they should only be used for
the most severe cases, such as cancer pain or end-oflife care. The FDA has been under intense public
pressure to combat the national epidemic of prescription opioid abuse.
The agency’s approval of Zohydro last year
prompted a wave of criticism from elected officials,
law enforcement and anti-addiction groups who
said that the pill should have been reformulated to
discourage abuse. The extended-release painkiller
was the first FDA-approved pure form of
hydrocodone, the most abused prescription drug
ingredient in the country. Previously hydrocodone
was only available in lower-dose combination pills
like Vicodin. Initially, news of Purdue’s abuse-resistant hydrocodone led to speculation that the FDA
might remove Zogenix’s drug from the market,
since it lacked anti-abuse features. But FDA officials
said Thursday they plan to monitor rates of abuse
and misuse with Zohydro and compare them to the
new alternative.
Criticised
“If we determine that the drug is no longer
shown to be safe and effective the FDA can initiate
proceedings to remove that drug from the market,”
said Dr. Douglas Throckmorton, a deputy director
with the FDA’s drug center.
While FDA officials highlighted their commitment to approving harder-to-abuse pain relievers,
the agency’s critics questioned why regulators didn’t
bring the new drug before a public advisory meeting. The FDA’s approval of Zohydro was widely
critized, in part, because it came despite an 11-2 vote
against the drug by its outside experts.
“Precisely because the approval of opioids is so
controversial the FDA is bypassing its advisory committee meetings,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction treatment and
leads the group Physicians for Responsible Opioid
Prescribing. Kolodny also warned that Hysingla
could potentially be more dangerous than Zohydro
since the maximum dose per pill is 120 milligrams of
hydrocodone, more than twice the dose contained
in a 50-milligram pill of Zohydro. Drug abusers have
developed various methods for unlocking the timerelease formulations of prescription pain relievers
and releasing the entire dose at once.
Purdue Pharma’s Hysingla is only the fourth
drug ever approved by the agency with claims that
it discourages abuse and tampering. Purdue markets two of the other drugs, including a crush-resistant version of its oxycodone pill, OxyContin, and a
combination pill, Targiniq, which includes an extra
ingredient designed to block the effects of oxycodone if the tablet is crushed. These drugs, along
with Hysingla, can still be abused when swallowed
intact - the most common method for abusing
painkillers. —AP
WASHINGTON: Some low-cost generic drugs that have helped restrain
health care costs for decades are seeing unexpected price spikes of up
to 8,000 percent, prompting a backlash from patients, pharmacists and
now Washington lawmakers.
A Senate panel met Thursday to scrutinize the recent, unexpected
trend among generic medicines, which usually cost 30 to 80 percent
less than their branded counterparts.
Experts said there are multiple, often unrelated, forces behind the
price hikes, including drug ingredient shortages, industry consolidation
and production slowdowns due to manufacturing problems. But the
lawmakers convening Thursday’s hearing said the federal government
needs to play a bigger role in restraining prices.
“If generic drug prices continue to rise then we are going to have
people all over this country who are sick and need medicine and who
simply will not be able to buy the medicine they need,” Vermont Sen.
Bernie Sanders, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Primary
Health and Aging. Sanders is a political independent who usually votes
with the liberal wing of the Democratic party.
Sanders introduced a bill that would require generic drugmakers to
pay rebates to the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs when
prices of their medications outpace inflation. Those payments are
already mandatory for branded drugs, but have never applied to
generics.
Last month, Sanders and House Rep. Rep. Elijah Cummings, DMaryland, sent letters to the makers of 10 generic drugs that have seen
price increases of over 300 percent or more in recent months. The price
for one of those, the antibiotic doxycycline hyclate, rose more than
8,280 percent during a six-month period from $20 per bottle to $1,849
per bottle.
The Generic Pharmaceutical Association said in a statement
Thursday that the 10 drugs cited by lawmakers do not reflect the
broader US market, which includes 12,000 generic medications that
have reduced drug costs by billions.
Few isolated cases
But pharmaceutical experts testifying said the price spikes reflect
broader price increases for generics, which have traditionally fallen over
time. An analysis of 280 common generic drugs by Professor Stephen
Schondelmeyer found that roughly a third recorded prices increases in
2013. The University of Minnesota researcher said those numbers show
that generic price increases are not limited to a few isolated cases.
“The markets are broken and we need to do something to fix it,” he
told the panel. “I think the government needs to step in and develop
and monitor solutions.”
Dr. Aaron Kesselheim of Harvard Medical School recommended
several new government policies, including allowing the Food and
Drug Administration to accelerate the clearance of generic drugs for
which there are few manufacturers. He also said that federal officials
should be notified of all drug price increases greater than 100 percent.
In previous cases where drug shortages have led to price spikes, FDA
has approved emergency imports of extra supplies from foreign
sources.
The lower prices of generic drugs make them the first choice for
both patients and insurers. Generic drugs account for roughly 85 percent of all medicines dispensed in the US, according to IMS Health.
Typically, generic drug prices fall as more companies begin offering
competing versions of the same drug.
But recent examples suggest the market forces that have kept
generic prices low are not working properly. The average price of
albuterol sulfate, a common asthma treatment, shot from $11 per bottle in October 2013 to $434 per bottle in April, an increase of over 4,000
percent, according to data from the Healthcare Supply Chain
Association cited by the Senate subcommittee. —AP
HEALTH
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Turkey launches crackdown on synthetic drug �bonzai’
ISTANBUL: Turkey is launching an “all-out
war” against the use of bonzai, a synthetic
drug which has become a serious social
problem in the country, the health minister
said yesterday. Bonzai, which has become a
craze in some parts of low income Turkish
society, has come under the spotlight
recently after a spate of deaths of young
men caused by the abuse of the drug.
The health ministry unveiled an “emergency plan” that includes forming a “social
media team” to monitor the online sales of
the bonzai, Health Minister Mehmet
Muezzinoglu told Milliyet daily yesterday.
Muezzinoglu said that more than 230
people lost their lives due to drugs in
Turkey last year, most under the age of 25.
“We won’t wait for the deaths to increase
day by day. We won’t show any more tolerance. Each death is a tragedy for us. We
should save our youth from this evil with an
all-out war.” The majority of the deaths
were caused by bonzai, known as “the
poor’s man’s heroin” because of its low cost.
The drug can be bought online for just 2-3
Turkish liras (approximately $1). Under the
measures, which will come into affect in
2015 in 11 “high-risk” provinces, including
Turkey’s largest city Istanbul, anti-narcotics
officials will regularly launch raids on internet cafes, schools and even homes. To do
so, they will seek help from parents, teachers, doctors, school bus drivers and local
officials, Muezzinoglu added. Students and
soldiers will be educated about the dangers
of the drug, which is highly addictive and
has been spreading around Turkey at an
alarming rate since 2009. Sophisticated Xray machines that look like tomography
scanners will be set up on each border gate
as well as airports. Abandoned buildings
occupied by drug addicts will be demol-
ished. In some countries the bonzai is sold
under the name “phenazepam”, a pharmaceutical drug developed for the treatment
of several neurological diseases.
Bonzai is an entirely chemical substance
that can cause a rapid increase in blood
pressure and heart rate and hunger pangs,
thirst, loss of memory, temporary blindness
and temporary paralysis.
The most common cause of death
linked with the abuse of bonzai is heart
attack. The drug takes its name from the
Japanese bonsai miniature tree, which is
spelt bonzai in Turkish. — AFP
Great apes facing
�direct threat’ from
palm oil farming
KUALA LUMPUR: The destruction of rainforests in
Southeast Asia and increasingly in Africa to make way for
palm oil cultivation is a “direct threat” to the survival of
great apes such as the orangutan, environmentalists
warned Thursday. They said tropical forests were tumbling
at a rapid rate, with palm plantations a key driver, despite
efforts by the industry’s Roundtable on Sustainable Palm
Oil (RSPO) to encourage sustainable cultivation.
The concerns were voiced at the sidelines of the annual
RSPO meeting, held this year in Malaysia and which concluded Thursday. “Orangutan and ape habitats are being
destroyed,” said Doug Cress, from the UN Environment
Program’s great ape protection campaign. “The destruction
of rainforest in Southeast Asia and increasingly now in
Africa is a direct threat to the great apes.” In Southeast Asia
alone, up to one million hectares of forest-nearly the size of
Jamaica-is lost annually to agricultural expansion like palm
oil, said Adam Harrison, agriculture policy specialist with
the WWF.
“(Land clearing for plantations) has been high. Some of
them are in high-quality forests which will have an impact
on climate change,” he said. “The orangutans will become
extinct within a few decades. In Borneo island we are
already seeing that there are only a handful of rhinos left. It
is not a viable population and it will go extinct,” Harrison
added. Borneo is shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
The problem is most acute in leading palm oil producers
Malaysia and Indonesia, which account for 85 percent of
world production, conference participants said.
Habitat destruction
In Southeast Asia, palm oil is a versatile and cheaply
farmed cash crop promoted to eradicate poverty. In return,
the growers who live on allocated land become a strong
vote bank for the ruling government. But it is now also a
looming threat in even more poorly regulated Africa, where
the industry is set to “explode”, according to Cress.
Derived from the fruit of the oil palm, its use has skyrocketed in recent years and it is now a key ingredient in a vast
range of every-day products, from lipstick to instant noodles, shampoo and ice cream. The RSPO, bringing together
stakeholders including producers, end-user manufacturers,
and environmental groups, was formed in 2004 as concern
over the ecological impact of mushrooming palm cultivation took off. It seeks to promote production that is environmentally sustainable and respects native land rights,
but the organization’s efficacy has increasingly been questioned as forest destruction has continued.
Palm plantations, along with other drivers of deforestation, have been linked to the destruction of habitats critical
to endangered species such as orangutan, Asian rhinos and
tigers. Harrison cited as an example Tesso-Nilo National
Park in Indonesia, which was set aside as a preserve for tiger
and elephant habitats. “Half of the national park was
cleared for palm oil by small-holders. The small-holders
then sold the fruits to RSPO members. This is unacceptable,” he said. Harrison said if deforestation continued at
current rates, tiger and elephant populations in Southeast
Asia could be wiped out within in a decade. — AFP
GENEVA: In this photo taken Thursday and provided by Geneva International Airport, Cuban doctor Felix Baez Sarria,
second from left, who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone, is helped off an airplane to a specially outfitted ambulance
before being transported to the Geneva University Hospital (HUG) where he will be treated, at Geneva International
Airport, in Geneva, Switzerland. — AP
Cuban doctor arrives in
Switzerland for Ebola aid
BERLIN: A Cuban doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone arrived in
Switzerland for treatment and was
able to walk off the transport plane, a
Geneva medical official said yesterday.
Felix Baez Sarria arrived on a flight
overnight and was transported in a
specially outfitted ambulance with a
police escort to Geneva University
Hospital.
Geneva canton (state) Chief Medical
Officer Dr. Jacques-Andre Romand
told The Associated Press the 43-yearold Baez wore a protective suit and
mask as he got off the plane and
climbed onto a gurney before boarding the ambulance.
“He looked like a cosmonaut,”
Romand told the AP in a telephone
interview. “He wore that just before he
left the plane so that outside the plane
no contamination was possible.”
Romand said doctors will decide on
a treatment regime for Baez, which
could include experimental drugs.”As
soon as we know what is going on, if
there is medication that will help him
we will give it to him,” Romand said.
Also yesterday, a Spanish medical
aid agency flew one of its health care
workers home from Mali after she accidently pricked herself with a needle
used on a person suffering from Ebola,
which is spread through direct contact
with the bodily fluids of sick patients.
Spanish Health Ministry spokesman
Fernando Simon said the woman has
not shown any symptoms but is being
treated as a “high-risk” case. Baez, a
member of the 165-person medical
team Cuba sent to Sierra Leone to help
with the Ebola outbreak, caught the
disease when he rushed to help a
patient who was falling over. Cuban
state media said that Baez came down
with a fever on Sunday and was diagnosed with Ebola the following day.
His treatment in Switzerland was
organized through the World Health
Organization. Ciaran Giles contributed
to this story from Madrid. — AP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Kuwait
SHARQIA-1
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CHANGE OF NAME
I, Akther Begum (old name)
R/o. D. No. 3/154, Kotha
Bazar, Railway Kodur, YSR
Dist., A.P. changed my name
as Patan Doulath (new name)
(C 4859)
I, Shaik Imam Bee (old name)
R/o. D. No. 3/154, Kotha
Bazar, Railway Kodur, YSR
Dist., A.P. changed my name
as Patan Imam Bee (new
name). (C 4859)
I, Shaik Khader (old name)
R/o. D. No. 3/154, Kotha
Bazar, Railway Kodur, YSR
Dist., A.P. changed my name
as Patan Khader Khan S/o.
Patan Abdulla Khan (new
name). (C 4859)
I undersigned Shaikh Chand
Khaja holder of Indian
Passport No. Z1923722
issued at Kuwait on
30.10.2011, residing address
at: D. No. 3/154, Kotha Bazar,
Railway Kodur, Kadapa Dist.,
A.P. I wish to change my
name to Patan Chanu Khan.
(C 4859)
LOST
Press notification. It is notified that my original qualifying examination certificate of
main secondary examination
of year 2011 and roll no.
8105491 issued by CBSE has
been actually lost. Osama
Vahid, street 81, building
132, Farwaniya, Kuwait. Ph:
66904671.
(C 4858)
15-11-2014
ACCOMMODATION
One big full furnished room
available for one bachelor or
couple (without children),
attached bath. Room
includes bed, cupboard, TV
satellite dressing table. Salwa
block 9, near Sultan Center, 3
BR central A/C flat. Rent KD
130. Call 98007972.
51066770.
(C 4680)
19-11-2014
Prayer timings
Fajr:
04:54
Shorook
06:17
Duhr:
11:34
Asr:
14:31
Maghrib:
16:51
Isha:
18:11
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
information
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION
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Arrival Flights on Saturday 22/11/2014
Flt
Route
574
Mumbai
239
Amman
267
Beirut
539
Cairo
413
Amsterdam/Dammam
772
Istanbul
069
Dubai
1084
Doha
642
Amman
637
Dammam
441
Lahore
858
Istanbul
211
Bahrain
853
Dubai
553
Alexandria
526
Chennai/Abu Dhabi
067
Dubai
305
Abu Dhabi
612
Cairo
6507
Istanbul
643
Muscat
1076
Doha
401
Alexandria
546
Alexandria
503
Luxor
770
Istanbul
170
Bahrain
157
London
563
Sohag
416
Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta
412
Manila/Bangkok
204
Lahore
053
Dubai
1086
Doha
352
Kochi
382
Delhi
302
Mumbai
206
Islamabad
855
Dubai
344
Chennai
362
Colombo
284
Dhaka
125
Sharjah
301
Abu Dhabi
1186
Tehran
055
Dubai
1070
Doha
213
Bahrain
553
Alexandria
405
Sohag
165
Dubai
1188
Mashhad
341
Damascus
871
Dubai
241
Amman
4815
Mashhad
610
Cairo
157
Al Najaf
779
Jeddah
680
Alexandria
526
Mashhad
672
Dubai
1078
Doha
5483
Mashhad
472
Jeddah
057
Dubai
742
Dammam
175
Dubai
3508
Jeddah
470
Jeddah
221
Bahrain
788
Jeddah
462
Madinah
127
Sharjah
857
Dubai
3504
Jeddah
051
Dubai
460
Riyadh
535
Cairo
251
Alexandria
562
Amman
357
Mashhad
1072
Doha
303
Abu Dhabi
640
Amman
1180
Mashhad
510
Riyadh
215
Bahrain
4161
Mashhad
Time
00:10
00:25
00:30
00:40
00:40
00:45
00:55
01:00
01:05
01:15
01:30
01:35
02:30
02:35
02:45
02:50
02:55
03:10
03:10
03:20
03:25
03:45
04:05
04:10
05:25
05:35
05:40
06:40
06:45
06:45
07:10
07:45
07:45
07:50
08:10
08:15
08:20
08:25
08:40
08:45
08:45
08:50
09:00
09:20
09:40
09:40
10:00
10:40
11:15
11:25
11:30
11:45
12:00
12:50
12:55
12:55
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13:20
13:35
13:40
13:50
13:55
14:05
14:20
14:25
14:30
14:45
14:45
14:55
14:55
15:00
15:40
15:45
15:45
15:45
15:55
16:00
16:00
16:10
16:15
16:20
16:30
16:40
16:55
16:55
17:00
17:15
17:30
17:45
JZR
UAL
SVA
UAE
JZR
KAC
KAC
FDB
ABY
CLX
QTR
KAC
KAC
KAC
GFA
KAC
KAC
IRA
KAC
KAC
JAI
MSR
JZR
OMA
FDB
KNE
ABY
DLH
KAC
ALK
MEA
ETD
FDB
UAE
GFA
QTR
KNE
JZR
KLM
ETD
FDB
AIC
MSC
UAL
JZR
AGY
THY
FDB
777
982
500
875
177
542
118
063
121
856
1080
774
618
674
217
176
502
669
104
614
572
618
189
647
061
474
123
634
786
229
402
307
073
859
219
1074
480
135
415
309
059
975
403
981
185
684
764
071
Jeddah
IAD
Jeddah
Dubai
Dubai
Cairo
New York
Dubai
Sharjah
Luxembourg
Doha
Riyadh
Doha
Dubai
Bahrain
Geneva/Frankfurt
Beirut
Mashhad
London
Bahrain
Mumbai
Alexandria
Dubai
Muscat
Dubai
Jeddah
Sharjah
Frankfurt
Jeddah
Colombo
Beirut
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Dubai
Bahrain
Doha
Taif
Bahrain
Amsterdam
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Chennai/Goa
Sohag
Bahrain
Dubai
Sohag
Istanbul
Dubai
Airlines
AIC
JZR
PIA
FDB
JAI
KLM
DLH
SAI
THY
PGT
UAE
FDB
ETD
KKK
MSR
OMA
QTR
MSC
QTR
THY
FDB
JAI
JZR
RJA
JZR
GFA
THY
JZR
FDB
BAW
QTR
JZR
KAC
ABY
KAC
KAC
UAE
JZR
ETD
KAC
Departure Flights on Saturday 22/11/2014
Flt
Route
976
Goa/Chennai
562
Sohag
240
Sialkot/Islamabad
072
Dubai
573
Mumbai
413
Amsterdam
637
Frankfurt
442
Lahore
773
Istanbul
859
Istanbul
854
Dubai
068
Dubai
306
Abu Dhabi
6508
Istanbul
613
Cairo
644
Muscat
1085
Doha
406
Sohag
1077
Doha
765
Istanbul
070
Dubai
525
Abu Dhabi/Chennai
164
Dubai
643
Amman
240
Amman
212
Bahrain
771
Istanbul
778
Jeddah
054
Dubai
156
London
1087
Doha
534
Cairo
671
Dubai
126
Sharjah
101
London/New York
787
Jeddah
856
Dubai
174
Dubai
302
Abu Dhabi
561
Amman
17:55
17:55
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22:05
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23:15
23:35
23:45
Time
00:05
00:05
00:40
00:45
01:10
01:55
02:15
02:30
02:55
03:25
03:50
03:55
04:05
04:10
04:10
04:15
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05:15
05:40
06:30
06:35
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07:05
07:15
07:15
07:30
07:55
08:25
08:45
08:50
09:15
09:25
09:40
09:50
09:50
09:55
10:10
10:20
10:25
JZR
FDB
IRM
QTR
KAC
KAC
GFA
KAC
RBG
KAC
JZR
MSC
SYR
IRM
JZR
MSR
MRJ
UAE
IAW
AGY
IRC
KAC
KAC
QTR
FDB
KAC
TBZ
KNE
JZR
GFA
KNE
KAC
SVA
KAC
ABY
KNE
KNE
SVA
FDB
JZR
NIA
QTR
JZR
UAE
ETD
RJA
IRM
SVA
GFA
JZR
IZG
JZR
JZR
UAL
ABY
SVA
UAE
QTR
FDB
GFA
CLX
KAC
IRA
KAC
MSR
JAI
JZR
KNE
KAC
ABY
KAC
FDB
OMA
DHX
KAC
ALK
KAC
ETD
MEA
FDB
GFA
UAE
KNE
KAC
ETD
QTR
KLM
KAC
KAC
MSC
FDB
356
056
1181
1071
541
165
214
741
554
501
776
402
342
1189
176
611
4814
872
158
685
527
673
785
1079
058
617
5484
473
188
222
471
773
9607
613
128
463
481
9603
052
266
252
1073
538
858
304
641
1187
511
216
184
4162
238
134
982
121
505
876
1081
064
218
856
283
666
361
607
571
554
475
331
124
351
062
648
171
381
230
301
308
403
074
220
860
461
205
310
1075
415
543
411
404
060
Mashhad
Dubai
Mashhad
Doha
Cairo
Rome/Paris
Bahrain
Dammam
Alexandria
Beirut
Jeddah
Alexandria
Damascus
Mashhad
Dubai
Cairo
Mashhad
Dubai
Al Najaf
Sohag
Mashhad
Dubai
Jeddah
Doha
Dubai
Doha
Mashhad
Jeddah
Dubai
Bahrain
Jeddah
Riyadh
Jeddah
Bahrain
Sharjah
Madinah
Taif
Jeddah
Dubai
Beirut
Alexandria
Doha
Cairo
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Amman
Tehran
Riyadh
Bahrain
Dubai
Mashhad
Amman
Bahrain
Bahrain
Sharjah
Jeddah
Dubai
Doha
Dubai
Bahrain
Hong Kong
Dhaka
Esfahan
Colombo
Luxor
Mumbai
Alexandria
Jeddah
Trivandrum
Sharjah
Kochi
Dubai
Muscat
Bahrain
Delhi
Colombo
Mumbai
Abu Dhabi
Beirut
Dubai
Bahrain
Dubai
Riyadh
Islamabad
Abu Dhabi
Doha
Dammam/Amsterdam
Cairo
Bangkok/Manila
Sohag
Dubai
Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)
10:30
10:35
10:50
11:00
11:05
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11:55
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20:15
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20:50
21:05
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21:15
21:15
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21:20
21:50
22:00
22:10
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22:15
22:20
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22:30
22:50
22:50
22:55
23:00
23:05
23:15
23:20
23:30
23:45
23:55
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
C R O S S W O R D 7 3 2
Yesterday’s Solution
ACROSS
1. An operating system that is on a disk.
4. Someone who gets in (to a party) without an invitation or without paying.
11. (British slang) Cafe.
15. Electrical conduction through a gas in an applied electric field.
16. (or in some classifications family Zosteraceae) Small genus of widely distributed
marine plants.
17. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some
special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography).
18. Fiddler crabs.
19. Tropical trees having papery leaves and large fruit.
20. A circumscribed inflammatory and often suppurating lesion on the skin or an
internal mucous surface resulting in necrosis of tissue.
21. An imaginary elephant that appears in a series of French books for children.
23. Filled with a great quantity.
25. Very light colored.
27. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).
29. Edible starchy tuberous root of taro plants.
32. A unit of dry measure used in Egypt.
34. The skin that covers the top of the head.
38. A facial expression of contempt or scorn.
39. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.
40. Being two more than fifty.
41. (Hindu) A manner of sitting (as in the practice of Yoga).
47. Committee formed by a special-interest group to raise money for their favorite
political candidates.
48. One of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof.
50. Sweet-potato whitefly.
52. A landlocked republic in central Europe.
54. A pass between mountain peaks.
55. A silvery malleable metallic element that resists corrosion.
56. An inactive volcano in Sicily.
57. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.
59. Greek mythology.
60. Type genus of the Anatidae.
62. The upper house of the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.
66. A region of southwestern France.
71. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.
72. In a linear manner.
75. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.
76. 32nd President of the United States.
77. Superior Bordeaux type of red wine from California.
78. A run that is the result of the batter's performance.
79. The sound made by a gentle blow.
80. Short account of an incident (especially a biographical one).
81. The dialect of Chinese spoken in Canton and neighboring provinces and in Hong
Kong and elsewhere outside China.
Daily SuDoku
DOWN
1. Material used to daub walls.
2. Predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin.
3. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.
4. A male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917).
5. Mythical bird of prey having enormous size and strength.
6. A rectangular block of hewn stone used for building purposes.
7. A pattern forming a unity within a larger structural whole.
8. Clothing for the head.
9. Any of several related languages of the Celts in Ireland and Scotland.
10. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.
11. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in
Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.
12. Type genus of the family Arcidae.
13. An intuitive awareness.
14. An agenda of things to do.
22. Fruit of the oak tree.
24. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.
26. Having undesirable or negative qualities.
28. A change in the electrical properties of the skin in response to stress or anxiety.
30. Remove salt from.
31. A Protestant layman who assists the minister.
33. An indistinct shapeless form.
35. By bad luck.
36. act between parties with a view to reconciling differences.
37. Small voraciously carnivorous freshwater fishes of South America that attack and
destroy living animals.
42. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.
43. Not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something.
44. Jordan's port.
45. An acute inflammatory disease occurring in the intestines of premature infants.
46. The capital of Lombardy in northern Italy.
49. An ancient branch of the Semitic languages.
51. A type of granular leukocyte that functions in the ingestion of bacteria.
53. Characteristic of false pride.
58. (Norse mythology) The heavenly dwelling of the Norse gods (the Aesir) and slain
war heroes.
61. A small island.
63. Tropical starchy tuberous root.
64. An association of people to promote the welfare of senior citizens.
65. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.
67. A river in central Italy rising in the Apennines and flowing through Florence and
Pisa to the Ligurian Sea.
68. A city in northwest Indiana on Lake Michigan.
69. (Babylonian) God of wisdom and agriculture and patron of scribes and schools.
70. A member of an Iroquoian people formerly living on the south shore of Lake Erie
in northern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania and western New York.
73. The compass point that is one point east (clockwise) of due north.
74. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to
reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.
YesterdayКјs Solution
Yesterday’s Solution
SPORTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Wild down Flyers, Leafs win
PHILADELPHIA: Jason Zucker scored with 45.4
seconds left to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.
Nino Niederreiter had a goal and an assist, and
Marco Scandella also scored for the Wild, who won
their fourth straight. Darcy Kuemper stopped 37
shots. Mark Streit and Claude Giroux scored for the
Flyers, who lost their fourth straight. Ray Emery had
27 saves. The Wild improved to 4-6 on the road and
earned just their second win in 10 visits to
Philadelphia (2-7-1).
MAPLE LEAFS 5, LIGHTNING 2
James van Riemsdyk scored two goals to lead
Toronto to a much-needed victory over Tampa Bay.
David Clarkson, Richard Panik and Roman Polak
added goals for Toronto, which scored early in the
first period and three times in the second to snap a
three-game losing streak.
Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos scored for
Tampa Bay, which has dropped two straight after
beating the Rangers in New York 5-1 on Monday.
The usually high-scoring Lightning couldn’t
break through Jonathan Bernier, who redeemed
himself after being pulled from Tuesday’s 9-2 loss
to Nashville after allowing three goals on 12 shots
in 20 minutes. Bernier recorded his sixth win of the
season, stopping 26 shots.
CANADIENS 4, BLUES 1
Max Pacioretty scored twice as Montreal beat
St. Louis. Dale Weise and Lars Eller also scored, and
Carey Price made 31 saves. Vladimir Tarasenko had
the lone goal for St. Louis. Jake Allen stopped 26
shots in defeat. Pacioretty netted the winner at
7:32 of the second - his team-leading ninth goal. He
got the better of Allen on a breakaway after taking
a stretch pass from linemate Pierre-Alexandre
Parenteau from his own zone. The Canadiens (15-51) stretched their lead atop the Eastern Conference
to three points. The Blues have lost consecutive
games after winning 10 of 11.
SENATORS 3, PREDATORS 2
Bobby Ryan, Alex Chiasson and Jared Cowen all
scored in the second period, Robin Lehner stopped
33 shots, and Ottawa topped Nashville.
Shea Weber and Olli Jokinen scored for
Nashville, and Carter Hutton - playing for just the
third time this season - stopped 16 shots.
Ryan’s power-play goal tied it 1-1 at 6 minutes
of the second period. Chiasson put Ottawa ahead
with 6:42 remaining in the period, scoring his fifth
of the season. Cowen made it 3-1 just 2:06 later.
Jokinen made it a one-goal game in the opening minutes of the third period, getting his first
point with the Predators. Nashville outshot Ottawa
16-3 in the third period.
RED WINGS 4, JETS 3
Tomas Tatar scored two goals and added an
assist as Detroit defeated Winnipeg. Justin
Abdelkader had the tying goal and an assist for the
Red Wings, and Johan Franzen scored his sixth of
the season. Dustin Byfuglien, Adam Lowry and
Mathieu Perrault had goals for Winnipeg. Ondrej
Pavelec made 23 saves. Detroit rested Jimmy
Howard after he was in net for the Red Wings’ 5-0
victory over Columbus on Tuesday. With backup
Jonas Gustavsson out because of a dislocated
shoulder, Petr Mrazek played in his 12th career
game and first this season, and made 28 saves.
STARS 3, COYOTES 1
John Klingberg, Cody Eakin and Jason Spezza
all scored in the third period, rallying Dallas past
Arizona. Ales Hemsky had two assists as Dallas ended a seven-game, home-losing streak (0-5-2). The
Stars won for just the second time in 11 home
games (2-5-4). Arizona has lost its last five games in
Dallas.
Klingberg and Eakin scored 33 seconds apart in
the opening minute of the third period. Klingberg’s
goal from the slot was his first in the NHL, in his
sixth game, and it tied it 19 seconds into the period. Spezza made it 3-1 with 4:18 remaining. Lauri
Korpikoski scored for the Coyotes with 5:39 left in
PHILADELPHIA: Darcy Kuemper No. 35 of the Minnesota Wild stops a shot by Mark Streit No. 32 of the Philadelphia Flyers in the second
period at the Wells Fargo Center. — AFP
the first period. Arizona’s Mike Smith made 24
saves. Dallas’ Kari Lehtonen stopped 26 shots.
CAPITALS 3, AVALANCHE 2
Alex Ovechkin scored late in the third period,
Braden Holtby stopped 27 shots, and Washington
outlasted Colorado. Nicklas Backstrom had a goal
and an assist, Jason Chimera also scored, and
Ovechkin added an assist for the Capitals.
Washington won the last two games of its threegame trip. Ovechkin broke a 2-all tie when he
poked his own rebound over the goal line with 5:56
left. It was his ninth of the season and first in four
games.The Avalanche played half the game without Alex Tanguay after he was hit in the face on a
shot by Ovechkin. Tanguay skated off the ice and
didn’t return because of a jaw injury.
BLACKHAWKS 4, FLAMES 3
Patrick Kane scored the tiebreaking goal in the
third period to help Chicago edge Calgary. With
the game tied 3-3, Kane’s unassisted goal at 9:12
came after goalie Jonas Hiller turned over the puck
behind his net. It was the seventh goal of the season for Kane, who has scored in three straight
games. He had scored only four times in the first 16
games. Adam Clendening scored his first in the
NHL, and Daniel Carcillo and Brent Seabrook added
goals for Chicago, who began a six-game road trip.
Paul Byron, Wideman and Sean Monahan
scored for Calgary, which had won seven of nine.
Corey Crawford made 24 saves for the win. Hiller
stopped 18 shots.
KINGS 3, HURRICANES 2
Tanner Pearson ended his 11-game goal
drought with the tiebreaking score, and Jonathan
Quick made 25 saves against Carolina in Los
Angeles’ NHL-best 10th home victory of the season. Jarret Stoll and Trevor Lewis also scored for
NHL RESULTS/STANDINGS
Minnesota 3, Philadelphia 2; Toronto 5, Tampa Bay 2; Montreal 4, St. Louis 1; Ottawa 3,
Nashville 2; Detroit 4, Winnipeg 3; Dallas 3, Arizona 1; Washington 3, Colorado 2; Chicago 4,
Calgary 3; Anaheim 4, Vancouver 3 (SO); Los Angeles 3, Carolina 2; Florida 3, San Jose 2 (SO).
Western Conference
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Pacific Division
Montreal
15 5 1
59 52 31
W L OTL GF GA PTS
Tampa Bay 13 6 2
75 59 28
Anaheim
12 4 5
58 53 29
Detroit
10 4 5
54 45 25
Vancouver
13 6 1
61 60 27
Boston
12 8 0
53 49 24
Los Angeles 11 5 4
53 44 26
Ottawa
9 5 4
50 47 22
Calgary
12 7 2
66 57 26
Toronto
10 8 2
63 62 22
San Jose
10 9 3
59 60 23
Florida
7 5 5
38 44 19
Arizona
8 10 2
49 62 18
Buffalo
5
13
2
34 69 12
Edmonton
6 11 2
48 65 14
Metropolitan Division
central division
Pittsburgh
13 3 1
64 35 27
Nashville
12 5 2
54 40 26
NY Islanders 12 6 0
59 52 24
St. Louis
12 6 1
50 39 25
Washington 9 7 3
55 52 21
Chicago
11 7 1
55 39 23
NY Rangers 8 7 4
52 58 20
Winnipeg
10 8 3
43 47 23
New Jersey 8 9 2
47 56 18
Minnesota
11 7 0
53 41 22
Philadelphia 7 9 2
53 58 16
Dallas
7 9 4
56 68 18
Carolina
6 10 3
45 58 15
Colorado
6 9 5
49 64 17
Columbus
6 11 1
44 64 13
Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in
the loss column (L).
the defending Stanley Cup champions, who have
won three straight. The Kings largely controlled
play with 39 shots, and they hung on through a
scoreless third period for their sixth win in eight
meetings with Carolina.
Jeff Skinner and Eric Staal scored for the
Hurricanes, who have lost four of five. Cam Ward
stopped 36 shots, but Carolina failed to build on
the momentum of its victory in Dallas on Tuesday
to open a five-game road trip.
DUCKS 4, CANUCKS 3
Corey Perry scored the shootout winner, lifting
Anaheim over Vancouver. Perry’s goal on
Anaheim’s first shootout attempt was the only one
the Ducks needed. They got another from Jakob
Silfverberg after Vancouver’s Radim Vrbata and
Nick Bonino failed to score.
The Ducks (12-4-5) earned their first win in five
games. The Canucks lost for the second time in
three. Anaheim also avenged a Nov. 9 home
shootout loss to Vancouver. The Canucks (13-6-1)
lost their first one-goal game this season, becoming the last in the NHL to do so. Rookie Bo Horvat,
with his first NHL career goal, Jannik Hansen and
Radim Vrbata scored for the Canucks in regulation.
Andrew Cogliano, Ryan Getzlaf, and Matt
Beleskey had goals for Anaheim. Former Canucks
center Ryan Kesler played his first game in
Vancouver since being traded to the Ducks in the
summer.
PANTHERS 3, SHARKS 2
Nick Bjugstad scored twice during regulation
and added the winning goal in the shootout as
Florida won its fourth straight in San Jose.
San Jose’s Patrick Marleau tied it with 33 seconds remaining in regulation, taking a pass from
Joe Thornton and firing it past Roberto Luongo,
who had stopped Marleau’s penalty shot earlier in
the third period.
Luongo stopped 28 shots and won for the
fourth time in his last five games against the
Sharks. The Panthers swept the season series.
Logan Couture ended a season-worst eightgame goal-less streak with a power-play tally for
the Sharks, who played at home for the first time in
two weeks. Antti Niemi made 26 saves for the
Sharks, who failed to win for the third time in their
last four at home. — AP
SPORTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Manning, Broncos suddenly look vulnerable
MIAMI: The Denver Broncos suddenly are looking fragile.
They need to end their November swoon quickly or they
might not make the NFL playoffs.
Peyton Manning and the defending AFC champions
played their two worst games in the past three weeks,
falling at New England and St. Louis.
On Sunday, they take on the Miami Dolphins, who are
6-4, winning four of their past five games, with the loss at
Detroit in the final seconds. “There definitely is a sense of
urgency,” Manning says. “What we’ve talked about offensively this week is everybody focuses on doing their job
better, and you hope that results in better offensive play.”
The Broncos were held to seven points by the Rams;
Manning usually can produce one touchdown in his sleep.
A well-rested Dolphins team is oozing conviction that it
can make a run to the playoffs.
“I feel like we are a good team. I feel like we have all the
pieces,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill says. “The defense is
playing really well right now, offense is continuing to get
better week in and week out. We certainly have momentum.” It seems to happen every year: The weather gets
cold and the New England Patriots get hot. They’ve won
six in a row and have the AFC’s best record. They easily disposed of two other conference contenders, Denver and
Indianapolis, in recent weeks. New England’s defense has
been reliable, the running game resurgent.
And there’s always Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and
Julian Edelman to deal with. Into Foxborough comes the
NFL’s stingiest defense; the Detroit Lions have allowed
only 156 points. “They’ve got a lot of guys up front that
make big plays,” Patriots left guard Dan Connolly says.
“They’re definitely disruptive.” For every person who has
challenged the Cardinals to keep proving themselves,
here’s the absolute best chance for Arizona to silence the
critics. A victory at the loudest and most intimidating NFL
venue would stamp the Cardinals not only as the likely
NFC West division champion, but as the NFC’s No. 1 team.
And remember, Arizona won in Seattle last year, the
Seahawks’ only home loss on their way to the league title.
The Seahawks already have more losses than in 2013. But
Marshawn Lynch, fined $100,000 this week for not speaking with the media, has rushed for 140 and 124 yards in
the past two games. Arizona has not allowed a 100-yard
rusher in 20 straight games.
Week 12 began with Oakland’s first victory of the season, a wet 24-20 decision over Kansas City. The Raiders
were the league’s last winless team, but they damaged
the playoffs hopes of their archrival Chiefs on Thursday to
end a 16-game slide dating back a calendar year. On
Sunday, there’s also Green Bay at Minnesota, Washington
at San Francisco, Dallas at New York Giants, Tennessee at
Philadelphia, Cleveland at Atlanta, Cincinnati at Houston,
Jacksonville at Indianapolis, St. Louis at San Diego, and
Tampa Bay at Chicago. A snowstorm has forced the
Buffalo-New York Jets game to move to Detroit on
Monday. The regular Monday game is Baltimore at New
Orleans. — AP
Tonga test, artifical pitch
spark Scotland concerns
KILMARNOCK: Scotland coach Vern Cotter has warned his players that they can expect an even tougher match against Tonga in
Kilmarnock today than they did when the Pacific Islanders
secured a shock victory against them two years ago.
That 21-15 loss at Aberdeen prompted Andy Robinson to
resign as Scotland coach and Cotter believes Tonga have
improved to the extent that they will provide the sternest challenge of their three November internationals.
The Scottish starting XV for a contest that will be played on an
artificial 3G pitch at the aptly named Rugby Park, home of
Scottish Premier League football team Kilmarnock FC, features
four survivors from the team beaten by Tonga two years ago-captain and scrum-half Greig Laidlaw, fullback Stuart Hogg, wing Tim
Visser and lock Richie Gray.
“The players who played two years ago know it’s going to be
tough,” said Cotter, who has made four enforced changes to the
Scotland team beaten 24-16 by New Zealand at Murrayfield last
Saturday. “We’ve viewed what Tonga have done recently and
they have improved and are going into the game very confidently. They play a structured game now. They’ll be a tough nut to
crack,” the New Zealander added. “We knew it would be the
toughest game of the November series for us mentally-getting
over the All Blacks game, performing well in front of 60,000 people and then moving from Murrayfield, coming to Kilmarnock to
play on a synthetic surface. We’ll have a better idea after this
game of where we are at.” Scotland opened their November campaign with an impressive 41-31 win against Argentina at
Murrayfield before registering their narrowest defeat against the
All Blacks for 23 years. Tonga are on course for their first-ever
clean sweep on a European tour, having beaten Georgia 23-9 in
Tbilisi on November 8, before overwhelming the United States
40-12 at Gloucester last Saturday. The Pacific Islanders have made
just the one change to their starting line-up, Latiume Fosita
replacing Kurt Morath at fly-half. They have five survivors from
the XV that claimed Scotland’s scalp for the first time in 2012 —
fullback Vungakoto Lilo, wing Fetu’u Vainikolo, lock Tukula
Lokutui and back rowers Nili Latu and Viliami Ma’afu. Asked
whether his players had a score to settle from the 2012 shock,
Cotter replied: “I think there is a genuine feeling among the
group following that game.”
WHITE INFLUENCE
Cotter added he was expecting “a rough, abrasive game”, but
suggested the influence of South Africa’s 2007 World Cup-winning coach Jake White, as a temporary technical adviser to Tonga
boss Mana Otai, had smoothed some of the rougher edges from
the tourists’ play. “I think Jake White’s had an influence on some
of their higher tackles and bigger hits,” said Cotter. “I think he
would like to keep 15 players on the paddock.”
Saturday’s match will the first major international to be staged
on a solely synthetic pitch and Cotter said he would have preferred to have faced the Tongans on a more conventional surface. “I would have quite liked to have put them on a muddy
pitch,” he said. “I’ve never coached a game on a 3G pitch.” Tonga
are captained by openside flanker Latu, who played under Cotter
for four years at New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty. “I know a bit about
Vern and the way he coaches and I can see that with Scotland at
the moment,” Latu told the Herald newspaper. “He was quiet,
but when he delivered his message you knew that he meant
business. It is Vern’s way or get out of the way.” — AFP
OAKLAND: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11) is sacked by Oakland Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson
during the third quarter of an NFL football game. — AP
Raiders stun Chiefs
KANSAS: The Oakland Raiders earned their
first win in more than a year on Thursday as
rookie quarterback Derek Carr rallied the
team with a late scoring drive to stun division rivals Kansas City 24-20. With the Raiders
(1-10) trailing 20-17 in the fourth quarter,
Carr marched the team 80 yards downfield in
a drive that took seven minutes off the clock
and culminated with a nine-yard touchdown
pass to James Jones.
Kansas City had little time to recover and
could only make it to their own 48 yard line
with their last possession, which ended with
Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith throwing an
incompletion on fourth down. It was
Oakland’s first win since beating Houston on
Nov. 17 2013 and snapped a 16-game losing
streak. “I don’t even know how to explain the
feeling,” Oakland linebacker Sio Moore told
reporters. “I’m just happy to see that on both
sides of the ball, we finished it.” The defeat
halted the Chiefs’ (7-4) five-game win streak
and saw them drop out of a tie for first place
in the AFC West.
The only sour note for the Raiders was the
loss of running back Latavius Murray, who
had dominated the first half with 112 yards
and two touchdowns but exited with a concussion in the second quarter. Murray had
just recently begun seeing more playing
time for Oakland, and he needed only four
carries to leave his mark in a performance
that included a 90-yard touchdown scamper.
“He did a great job and gave us a spark
taking the ball 90 yards,” said Raiders running back Darren McFadden. “We finally
came out and put the game together and
finished the way we’re supposed to.”
The Raiders led 14-3 at halftime and
moved ahead 17-3 in the third quarter. The
Chiefs began to seize the momentum when
Smith threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to
Anthony Fasano late in the third.
Jamaal Charles tied the score at 17-17 on
a sparkling 30-yard touchdown reception
with 12:20 remaining, and Cairo Santos
kicked a 25-yard field goal a few minutes later to put the Chiefs up 20-17. Charles finished with 80 yards rushing and 42 yards
receiving for the Chiefs, who have a big divisional matchup with the first-place Denver
Broncos on Nov. 30. — Reuters
NFL standings
American Football Conference
AFC East
New England
Miami
Buffalo
NY Jets
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Cleveland
Indianapolis
Houston
Tennessee
Jacksonville
Denver
Kansas City
San Diego
Oakland
W L T OTL PF PA PCT
8 2 0 0 323 218 .800
6 4 0 0 249 180 .600
5 5 0 0 200 204 .500
2 8 0 0 174 265 .200
AFC North
6 3 1 0 224 221 .650
7 4 0 0 288 263 .636
6 4 0 0 261 181 .600
6 4 0 0 216 195 .600
AFC South
6 4 0 0 310 253 .600
5 5 0 1 229 204 .500
2 8 0 0 168 250 .200
1 9 0 0 158 282 .100
AFC West
7 3 0 1 293 224 .700
7 4 0 0 261 195 .636
6 4 0 0 218 192 .600
1 10 0 0 176 285 .091
National Football Conference
NFC East
Philadelphia 7 3 0 0 299 251 .700
Dallas
7 3 0 1 261 212 .700
NY Giants
3 7 0 0 205 263 .300
Washington 3 7 0 0 204 256 .300
NFC North
Detroit
7 3 0 0 188 156 .700
Green Bay
7 3 0 0 330 225 .700
Chicago
4 6 0 1 215 290 .400
Minnesota
4 6 0 0 181 220 .400
NFC South
Atlanta
4 6 0 0 238 255 .400
New Orleans 4 6 0 2 261 252 .400
Carolina
3 7 1 0 215 300 .318
Tampa Bay
2 8 0 2 194 279 .200
NFC West
Arizona
9 1 0 0 237 176 .900
San Francisco 6 4 0 0 211 212 .600
Seattle
6 4 0 0 260 215 .600
St. Louis
4 6 0 0 185 258 .400
SPORTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Pakistan hold firm
to draw second Test
AUSTRALIA: Steven Smith of Australia bats during the
fourth One-Day International cricket match between
Australia and South Africa at the MCG in Melbourne. — AFP
Australia defeat
South Africa
MELBOURNE: Steve Smith smashed a brilliant century to lead
Australia to a series-clinching three-wicket win over South Africa in
their fourth one-day international yesterday.
Smith hit a career-best ODI total of 104 from 112 deliveries as the
Australians passed South Africa’s 267-8 with six balls to spare at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Australians were in deep trouble
after the top-order collapsed to 98-5 in the 25th over when Smith
and Matthew Wade turned things around.
The pair added 121 runs for the sixth wicket before Wade departed for 52 in the 45th over with the match still in the balance. But allrounder James Faulkner, who finished unbeaten on 34 off just 19
balls, shared a 48-run stand with Smith to tie the scores. Smith then
had the chance to hit the winning run but was bowled by spinner
Robin Peterson, trying to smash the ball out of the ground, leaving
Pat Cummins to seal the victory off the next ball. AB De Villiers earlier
fell just short of a deserved hundred after a masterful batting display
for the Proteas. De Villiers finished with 91 off just 88 deliveries and
David Miller hit a quick-fire 45 while six other South Africans made
double figures. Cummins and Faulkner bagged two wickets each for
the Australians, who wrapped up the series with a one match to go
despite the absence of injured captain Michael Clarke and strike
bowler Mitchell Johnson. —Reuters
SCOREBOARD
MELBOURNE: Scoreboard for the fourth one-day international
between Australia and South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket
Ground yesterday:
South Africa Innings
Q. de Kock c and b Maxwell
17
H. Amla c Cummins b Coulter-Nile
18
F. du Plessis c Wade b Cummins
28
A.B. de Villiers c Smith b Cummins
91
D. Miller c Smith b Faulkner
45
F. Behardien run out (Warner)
22
R. McLaren c Wade b Starc
13
R. Peterson b Faulkner
11
W. Parnell not out
3
D. Steyn not out
0
Extras (b5, lb5, w9)
19
Total (8 wickets; 50 overs)
267
Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Amla), 2-70 (de Kock), 3-77 (du Plessis), 4-199
(Miller), 5-230 (de Villiers), 6-246 (McLaren), 7-261 (Peterson), 8-262
(Behardien).
Did not bat: K. Abbott
Bowling: Starc 10-0-40-1 (3w), Coulter-Nile 3-0-16-1 (1w), Cummins
10-0-61-2 (5w), Maxwell 9-0-43-1, Watson 5-0-25-0, Faulkner 10-045-2, Smith 3-0-27-0.
Australia Innings
A. Finch a du Plessis b Parnell
22
D. Warner lbw b Abbott
4
S. Watson c de Kock b McLaren
19
S. Smith b Peterson
104
G. Bailey c de Kock b Steyn
16
G. Maxwell c Amla b Steyn
2
M. Wade c McLaren b Parnell
52
J. Faulkner not out
34
P. Cummins not out
1
Extras (b5, lb2, w6, nb1)
14
Total (7 wickets; 49 overs)
268
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Warner), 2-43 (Watson), 3-48 (Finch), 4-86
(Bailey), 5-98 (Maxwell), 6-219 (Wade), 7-267 (Smith)
Did not bat: N. Coulter-Nile, M. Starc
Bowling: Steyn 9-0-47-2, Abbott 10-0-43-1, McLaren 10-0-62-1 (1w),
Parnell 9-0-52-2 (1nb, 3w), Peterson 8-0-44-1 (1w), Behardien 3-013-0 (1w)
Result: Australia won by 3 wickets.
DUBAI: A defiant fifth-wicket stand of 74
between Younus Khan and Asad Shafiq
ensured Pakistan secured a draw in the second Test against New Zealand yesterday to
maintain a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Chasing 261 for victory, Pakistan were 196
for five when the teams agreed to a draw in
fading light, with Shafiq (41) and first-innings
centurion Sarfraz Ahmed (24) unbeaten at
the crease. “It was a very good test match... It
was the right result for both teams,” New
Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said at
the presentation ceremony.
Younus (44) fell late in the last session to
off-spinner Mark Craig, but had steadied the
ship after a mini-collapse threatened to
swing the match New Zealand’s way.
Pakistan were comfortably placed at 70
for one but were reduced to 75 for four in
the space of a few overs. Coming back to
bowl after a four-over spell in the morning,
left-armer Trent Boult dismissed opener Shan
Masood (40) leg before and then had captain
Misbah-ul-Haq caught behind in his next
over. Masood had added 62 for the second
wicket with Azhar Ali (24) before the latter
threw away his wicket, hitting a full toss from
Craig to James Neesham at cover.
“We were planning to chase it down, bat
normally till the 40-45th over and then promote Sarfraz,” Misbah said. “But we lost three
wickets in three-four overs and that changed
everything.”
The hosts had suffered an early jolt in
their chase when paceman Tim Southee
removed opener Taufeeq Umar for four in his
first over, the second of the innings. Younus
struck three sixes and two boundaries during
his 84-ball knock to calm Pakistan’s nerves.
Earlier, Ross Taylor completed his 12th
test century before New Zealand declared
their second innings on 250 for nine. Former
skipper Taylor, unbeaten on 77 overnight,
tapped paceman Ehsan Adil on the leg side
for a single to reach his mark, his innings
studded with 12 boundaries. The 30-year-old
right-handed batsman was stumped on 104
to give leg-spinner Yasir Shah his first fivewicket haul in tests. —Reuters
DUBAI: Pakistani batsman Sarfraz Ahmed (right) plays a shot as New Zealand
wicketkeeper BJ Watling (left) looks on during the fifth and final day of the second Test match. — AFP
SCOREBOARD
DUBAI: Complete scoreboard on the fifth and final day of the second Test between
Pakistan and New Zealand at Dubai International Cricket stadium yesterday:
New Zealand 1st innings 403 (T. Latham
137, M. Craig 43; Zulfiqar Babar 4-137)
Pakistan 1st innings 393 (Sarfraz Ahmed
112, Azhar Ali 75, Younis Khan 72; T. Southee
3-67)
New Zealand 2nd innings (overnight 167-6)
T. Latham c Shafiq b Shah
9
B. McCullum lbw b Babar
45
K. Williamson c Umar b Babar
11
R. Taylor st Ahmed b Shah
104
C. Anderson b Shah
0
J. Neesham b Babar
11
BJ Watling c Shafiq b Shah
11
M. Craig c Rahat b Shah
34
T. Southee c Ali b Babar
20
I. Sodhi not out
2
Extras: (lb3)
3
Total: (for nine wkts dec; 64.5 overs) 250
Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Latham), 2-63
(Williamson), 3-78 (McCullum), 4-79
(Anderson), 5-125 (Neesham), 6-166
(Watling), 7-226 (Craig), 8-228 (Taylor), 9-250
(Southee)
Bowling: Rahat 8-0-39-0, Adil 8-1-33-0, Babar
27.5-5-96-4, Shah 21-1-79-5
Pakistan 2nd innings
Shan Masood lbw b Boult
40
Taufeeq Umar c Watling b Southee
4
Azhar Ali c Neesham b Craig
24
Younis Khan c Watling b Craig
44
Misbah-ul Haq c Watling b Boult
0
Asad Shafiq not out
41
Sarfraz Ahmed not out
24
Extras: (b15, lb2, nb1, w1)
19
Total: (for five wkts; 67 overs)
196
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Umar), 2-70 (Ali), 3-73
(Masood), 4-75 (Misbah), 5-149 (Younis)
Bowling: Boult 10-6-12-2, Southee 11-3-21-1,
Craig 17-3-66-2, Sodhi 21-5-63-0, Anderson
3-1-4-0 (1w), Neesham 2-1-1-0, McCullum 30-12-0.
Result: Drawn
B’desh crush Zimbabwe
CHITTAGONG: Shakib Al Hasan starred
with bat and ball to lead Bangladesh to a
crushing 87-run victory in their first oneday international against Zimbabwe in
Chittagong yesterday.
Shakib scored 101 off 99 balls to lead
the team to 281-7 and then grabbed 4-41
as the home side dismissed Zimbabwe for
194 in 42.1 overs to take 1-0 lead in the
five-match series. Shakib shared 148-runs
in a record fifth-wicket partnership with
Mushfiqur Rahim to help Bangladesh recover from 4-70 to a competitive score after
they were put in to bat first. Shakib, who
also had a hand in Bangladesh’s previous
highest fifth-wicket stand of 119 runs,
against South Africa in Dhaka in 2008,
struck 10 fours.
Rahim made 65 off 72 balls with the
help of two fours and as many sixes.
Debutant Sabbir Rahman provided a late
sparkle hitting an unbeaten 44 off 25 balls,
which included three fours and three sixes.
Tinashe Panyangara claimed highest
three wickets for Zimbabwe at the expense
of 66 runs. Zimbabwe started their chase
positively, reaching 46 runs in the first seven overs, before Shakib put a brake on their
innings with two wickets in his second
over. —AFP
SCOREBOARD
CHITTAGONG: Scoreboard of the first one-day international between
Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in
Chittagong yesterday.
Bangladesh Innings
Tamim Iqbal b Panyangara
5
A Haque c Chigumbura b Chatara
12
Mominul Haque b Nyumbu
31
Mahmudullah c Kamungozi b Chatara 1
S Al Hasan c Panyangara b Kamungozi 101
Mushfiqur Rahim c Mire b Panyangara 65
Sabbir Rahman not out
44
Mashrafe Mortaza b Panyangara
1
Arafat Sunny not out
1
Extras (lb1, w17, nb2)
20
Total (for seven wickets, 50 overs) 281
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Tamim), 2-26( Anamul),
3-31 (Mahmudullah), 4-70 (Mominul), 5-218
(Shakib), 6-246( Rahim), 7-264 (Mashrafe)
Bowling: Panyangara 10-1-66-3 (w2),
Chatara 10-1-48-2 (w3), Chigumbura 8-0-370 (w4, nb1), Mire 4-0-22-0 (w3), Nyumbu 70-40-1(w3), Masakadza 1-0-8-0,
Kamungozi 8-0-40-1(nb1), Raza 2-0-19-0
Zimbabwe Innings
H Masakadza lbw b Mahmudullah
42
S. Raza c Rahim b Shakib
15
V. Sibanda c Rubel b Shakib
0
B. Taylor c Rahim b Mortaza
54
R. Chakabva b Mahmudullah
9
E. Chigumbura c Sabbir b Mortaza
15
S. Mire b Shakib
11
T. Panyangara b Sunny
7
J. Nyumbu c Mahmudullah b Shakib
4
T. Chatara b Sunny
10
T. Kamungozi not out
12
Extras (lb 6, w-9) 15
Total (all out ; 42.1 overs)
194
Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Raza), 2-47 (Sibanda), 392 (Masakadza), 4-124 (Chakabva), 5-146
(Taylor), 6-153 (Chigumbura), 7-168 ( Mire),
8-170 (Panyangara), 9-180 (Nyumbu), 10194 ( Chatara)
Bowling: Mortaza 6-1-33-2 (w1), Al-Amin 20-21-0(w2), Sunny 9.1-2-22-2, Shakib 10-041-4, Mominul 1-0-11-0, Rubel 3-0-14-0 (w2),
Mahmudullah 10-0-402, Sabbir 1-0-6-0.
Result: Bangladesh won by 87 runs.
SPORTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Stenson surges, McIlroy falters in Dubai
DUBAI: Defending champion Henrik Stenson overcame
fatigue to punish hesitant play from overnight pacesetter Rory McIlroy, taking a two-stroke lead over the world
number one in the second round of the $8 million DP
World Tour Championship yesterday.
Stenson, who shot a tournament record 25-under
last year, picked up shots at holes one, two and five, and
the 38-year-old completed a flawless back nine peppered with four birdies for a round of 66 and a score of
10 under par.
“I felt like I hit the wall on 12,” Stenson told reporters.
“If it’s one or two holes left, you normally feel �okay, I can
hang on’. I had to focus hard and drag myself over the
finish line.” The stage had seemed set for McIlroy,
already crowned European money list winner for a second season in three, to assert his dominance, but the
Northern Irishman toiled despite a first-hole birdie.
McIlroy, 25, sunk 10 successive pars before bogeying
the par-four 12. He dropped another shot at 16, but
birdies at 14, 15 and 17 and a par on the 18th despite
finding water enabled the four-times major winner to
finish on 70 and an aggregate 136.
“I just didn’t quite have it,” McIlroy, 25 told reporters.
“It wasn’t quite as easy as it was yesterday, hopefully
that’s the bad one out of the way. I have 36 holes to
make ground up on Henrik. I can’t let him get too far
ahead tomorrow.”
Scotland’s Richie Ramsay (69) and England’s Danny
Willett (67) are tied with McIlroy in joint second on 136.
Five players are a stroke further back, including Lowry
(71), who bolstered a difficult round with a hole-in-one
at the 187-yard par-three 13th, and Spain’s Rafael
Cabrera-Bello (64).
The Spaniard made seven birdies in the first 10
holes before successive bogeys at 11 and 12 blunted
his charge, but an eagle 14th and a birdie on 17
added a final gloss to what was the lowest score of
this year’s event. “I played really good and it looked
simple,” the 30-year-old told reporters. “I know there
are also very tricky holes out there. I got a couple
bogeys myself, too, just blinking, really, so you have
to be very careful.” — Reuters
FIM gears for election,
promotes Moto Sport
KUWAIT: The city of Jerez in Spain will witness
the elections of FIM executive elections in which
Naser Al Attiyah, QMMF President, is competing
for the second time for the position of vice
President. Beside these elections, there will be
also the FIM General Assembly. The budget of
the federation will be discussed as well as a
number of investment projects. The agenda of
the meeting will also include the launch of new
championships in the Middle East, Asia, Africa
and Latin America under the promotion that
�Motor Sport is living nowadays’. Vito Ippolito,
current FIM President and the candidate for
another period said “I am happy to be part of
this organization. I have gained experience from
friends all over the world. We all work as a team
with a target - which is to promote Motor Sport
all over the world. Only history will remind us of
your achievements’.
Ippolito stated that Asia continent and
specifically Gulf area has a future for Motor
Sport and there is a strong desire to organize
many international championships here in the
Gulf. “Qatar (represented by QMMF) has
become an international indicator for the promotion of the game and with the support of
Nasser Al Attiyah. I completely realize that his
experience will help to activate the Motor Sport
in the Gulf area and Asia continent,” Ippolito
added. Wolfgang Srb, FIM Europe President said
that �Qatar is a good model to be followed.’
Tunku Datuk, Chairman of Automobile
Association of Malaysia lauded the prominent
role always played by Nasser Al Attiyah, adding
that the comparison between FIA and FIM is not
fair because FIA has more races than FIM.
SPORTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Bayern adjust to life without Lahm
BERLIN: Runaway Bundesliga leaders
Bayern Munich need to adjust to life without captain Philipp Lahm when they host
Hoffenheim today ahead of next week’s
Champions League match at Manchester
City. The 31-year-old Lahm has been ruled
out for the next three months after fracturing his ankle in training, depriving coach
Pep Guardiola of one of his key assets,
either at right-back or in the defensive midfield. “I was shocked when I heard the news
and we wish Philipp all the best, but there is
no place for mourning or sentimentality,”
insisted Bayern’s director of sport Matthias
Sammer.
“We need to shake it off and keep looking forward, some of the players in the
wings now have the chance to prove themselves.” Bayern are unbeaten in their last 15
league matches and are four points clear at
the top of the table, and Hoffenheim will
serve as a dress rehearsal for Tuesday’s
European clash in Manchester.
The Bavarians are already through to the
Champions League knock-out stage and
are confirmed group winners with two
matches to spare.
Guardiola will need to reshuffle his
defensive midfield alongside Xabi Alonso,
but there are rumours Germany star Bastian
Schweinsteiger could make his return from
the knee injury which has kept him out
since the World Cup final.
Bayern will have goalkeeper Manuel
Neuer available after he missed Germany’s
1-0 friendly win over Spain on Tuesday with
a knee strain. Hoffenheim forced a 3-3 draw
on their last league visit to the Allianz Arena
in March and are fifth in the table.
LATEST STAR
But coach Markus Gisdol reads little into
Bayern’s lengthy injury list with Javi
Martinez, Thiago Alcantara, Holger
Badstuber, plus both wing backs Lahm and
David Alaba all injured. “Bayern have the
Inter derby test
awaits Mancini
MILAN: The first Milan derby of the season provides Roberto
Mancini with his first test on his return to Inter while Lazio
host leaders Juventus looking for the win that could boost
the title chances of city rivals Roma. The black and blue half
of Milan is abuzz following Mancini’s return to the club he led
to a record three consecutive league titles, two Cups and two
Super Cups in his previous spell in charge from 2004-2008.
Despite leading Inter into an enticing San Siro clash barely
a week after succeeding sacked Walter Mazzarri, some
believe the former Manchester City and Galatasaray handler
has the edge over Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi. “Mancini has
the edge on Inzaghi,” wily veteran Zdenek Zeman, whose
mercurial Cagliari are away to a Napoli side who sit third, only
seven points adrift of Juventus and four behind Roma, told
Mediaset. “Inzaghi used to coach Milan’s youth side, but that
doesn’t necessarily tell us whether or not he’s ready for Serie
A.” Milan have failed to win their last four games, taking a
total of only four points to drop to seventh at 11 points
behind Juve and four behind Napoli in the third and last
Champions League spot. With Inter sitting in ninth a point
further adrift, Mancini is expected to deploy a 4-3-1-2 formation designed to plug holes in the defence as well as optimise
an attacking line that failed to spark in Mazzarri’s 3-5-2.
Former Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic
knows Mancini only too well, having finished second best to
City in 2012 when the Italian led them to their first league
title in 44 years.
Now the Inter defender is ready to embrace switching to a
back four and has hailed Mancini’s pragmatic approach to
training in his first week back at the club. “It’s the formation I
played in before so I’m used to it,” said the former Serbia
international. “A new coach always comes in with his own
ideas and philosophy. Mancini has shown us what he wants
and what he expects, which is great and also good fun.”
Milan will be without Nigel De Jong after the Dutchman
picked up an injury while on international duty last week. But
while Milan wait on their own former Premier League player,
Fernando Torres, to spark amid an underwhelming start to
the campaign for the Spaniard, Stephan El Shaarawy has
shown plenty of promise on his recent return to the fray.
Rossoneri midfielder Sulley Muntari, meanwhile, played
down the effect of Mancini’s return. “Mancini is a great coach
who has had success everywhere he has gone. He’ll be influential, but he won’t be playing on the pitch. It will be down to
the players,” said the Ghanaian. Ahead of tomorrow’s clash,
Roma have the chance to close their three-point gap to leaders Juve away to an Atalanta side sitting two points above the
drop zone. However Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has
heaped the pressure on Rudi Garcia’s men following repeated Giallorossi claims that this season’s title will be theirs.
“Roma are strong and have come off the back of a great
season in which they finished runners-up,” Allegri told
Gazzetta dello Sport. —AFP
sort of squad where it doesn’t matter who
plays,” said Gisdol. “If you lose 4-0, 5-0 or
even 6-0 in Munich, that is completely normal.” Hoffenheim are looking to bounce
back after losing their last two games, but
have Brazil’s latest star in their ranks, forward Roberto Firmino, who scored the winner in a 2-1 friendly victory over Austria on
Tuesday.
Bayern’s nearest rivals, second-placed
Wolfsburg, are chasing a sixth consecutive
victory at Schalke 04 today. Belgium winger
Kevin de Bruyne is in outstanding form, creating four goals in their last two matches.
Schalke are down to 11th in the table after
some erratic form this season, but
Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking, who has
seen all of their last three games live, is taking nothing for granted.
“I measure Schalke not on their 14
points and 11th ranking in the table, but on
what they can achieve,” he said. At the other end of the table, 15th-placed Borussia
Dortmund are set to welcome back
Germany winger Marco Reus after an ankle
injury as they attempt to pull clear of the
relegation places against Paderborn.
Reus missed Germany’s recent internationals, but should return as Dortmund look
to prove their 1-0 win over third-placed
Borussia Moenchengladbach, which broke
their five-match losing streak, was no fluke.
“We know about the difficulty of the game,
but we also see the chances that it possesses for us,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen
Klopp. He is without injured midfielders
Nuri Sahin, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Oliver
Kirch in Paderborn, while Sokratis
Papastathopoulos is suspended and fellow
centre-back Mats Hummels is also on the
injury list.
Werder Bremen’s caretaker coach Viktor
Skripnik is looking for his third straight win
in tomorrow’s north German derby when
his side are at Hamburg with both teams in
the bottom three. — AFP
Real giants enter land
of Eibar’s little people
MADRID: Real Madrid’s superstars, flying
high at the top of La Liga, enter the land of
Spanish football’s little people today when
they take on humble Eibar in the Basque
country.
Unlike Real’s cavernous, fabled
Bernabeu with its 85,000-capacity, Eibar’s
Ipurua stadium has room for just 5,000
fans-they have had to build temporary
seating to accommodate fans wanting to
see Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.
The contrast between the two adversaries is also highlighted by their respective budgets — 10-time European champions Real are worth 500 million euros.
Eibar, promoted last season, survive on 30
times less. Despite the gulf in class and
financial resources, Eibar have not been
intimidated in La Liga where they sit comfortably in mid-table. “At the Ipurua, we
can cause trouble for anybody,” said Eibar
midfielder Saul Berjon. However, Real are
expected to keep rolling on as they start
the weekend with a two-point lead over
Barcelona. They are undefeated in 13
matches in all competitions, scoring 52
goals and conceding just eight, although
their planning for the trip to Eibar hasn’t
been helped by a thigh injury to influential
midfielder Luka Modric.
He will be out for around three months
after picking up the injury while on international duty with Croatia. “It’s a big blow
for the club because Luka had been in
great form,” said German team-mate Toni
Kroos.
TESTING STRETCH
Barcelona host Sevilla, who are just two
points behind them, facing a potential crisis of confidence having seen a six-point
lead over Real disappear over the autumn.
Luis Enrique’s team now face a testing
stretch of games-after Sevilla, they travel
to Apoel Nicosia in the Champions
League, go to Valencia, face a derby
against Espanyol before completing their
European duties against Paris Saint
Germain. That game is likely to decide top
spot in Group F and a seeded spot in the
knockout round in the new year. “We must
get back to rediscovering beautiful foot-
SPAIN: Portugal’s striker Cristiano Ronaldo. — AFP
ball which characterises the team,” said where he said he wished to remain at the
Enrique, whose gamble on signing Luis Camp Nou but that “sometimes, things
Suarez has yet to pay dividends with the don’t go the way you want them to”. Messi
controversial Uruguayan striker still seek- is without a goal in three matches in La
ing a first league goal.
Liga but on Saturday he once again gets a
Superstar Lionel Messi did little to calm chance to go past Telmo Zarra’s record of
Barcelona nerves this week when he gave 251 goals to become the leading all-time
an interview to an Argentine newspaper scorer in the history of the league. —AFP
SPORTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
City boss Pellegrini still eyeing EPL title
MANCHESTER: Manuel Pellegrini remains confident
Manchester City can challenge for the English Premier
League title, despite currently trailing leaders Chelsea
by eight points.
Pellegrini’s team have made a stuttering start to the
defence of their league crown and play host to
Swansea City on Saturday, having won only one of their
last six matches in all competitions prior to the break
for international fixtures.
City’s form in the Champions League has also been
poor and they are on the brink of elimination after failing to win any of their opening four fixtures. However,
Pellegrini, is still upbeat about his team’s prospects on
both the domestic and European front.
“Now is not the moment to analyse what has happened in the season,” the City manager said Thursday.
“There are a lot of games to play in the Premier League
and Champions League.
“We have 27 more games to play and there are a lot
of points to be contested, so we will see at the end who
will be the best team this year,” the Chilean added.
Manchester City are likely to be without influential
playmaker David Silva for today’s match at the Etihad
Stadium, but club captain Vincent Kompany returned
to training this week following a calf injury. Kompany,
though, could be held back for City’s Champions
League clash at home to German giants Bayern Munich
on Wednesday,
Central defender Kompany suffered a calf strain on
international duty with Belgium, while Silva is recovering from a knee injury sustained against Newcastle last
month. City are set to be without Yaya Toure in January
and February after the midfielder helped the Ivory
Coast qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations.
That could prompt Pellegrini to renegotiate the
terms of Frank Lampard’s loan deal from US �sister club’
New York City FC. Former England midfielder Lampard,
36, is due to move to the United States in January but
the Major League Soccer season does not start until
March, giving City hope that his loan could yet be
extended.
SWANSEA YET TO PEAK
Meanwhile Neil Taylor is adamant high-flying
Swansea have yet to hit top gear in the league this season. Garry Monk’s fifth-placed men, currently just three
points behind City, humbled Arsenal before the international break.
Now they travel to the Etihad aiming to complete an
unlikely Manchester double in the opening three
months of the campaign following their opening-day
success at Manchester United.
Swansea’s Welsh international left-back Neil Taylor
said: “We are happy with how we are playing and we
have not even reached top form yet.
“We have not played the free-flowing football we
normally do. But we have tightened up defensively, we
are playing as a team, which we have not done in the
past and that gets you everywhere.”
Taylor added: “We are buzzing. It is always important to go into international breaks on a high and we
managed to do that by beating a very good Arsenal
side. “We are feeling good, things are going well on all
fronts, but we know football can bite you at times and
you need to keep working hard.” Swansea have also
been boosted by the news that Ivory Coast striker
Wilfried Bony has signed a new four-year deal with the
Welsh club to ward off advances from the likes of
Arsenal and Liverpool. — AFP
United manager relaxed
ahead of Welbeck reunion
Jose Mourinho
Fans to pass verdict on
Mourinho comments
LONDON: Jose Mourinho will discover whether his decision
to criticise the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge has had the
desired effect when his Chelsea side face West Bromwich
Albion in the Premier League today.
The Chelsea manager complained about the lack of vocal
backing from home supporters during the recent victory over
Queens Park Rangers.
Reaction to the Portuguese’s initial outburst was mixed
with some supporters quick to highlight a number of factorsincluding rising ticket prices-they believe have contributed to
changing the make-up of the Stamford Bridge crowd.
Since the QPR win, Mourinho’s side-unbeaten in all competitions so far this season-have travelled to face Maribor and
Liverpool and the visit of West Brom will provide the first real
test of how the manager’s comments have been received at
Chelsea’s west London home ground.
With the club sitting four points clear at the head of the
Premier League table and on the verge of qualification to the
knock-out stages of the Champions League, there is unlikely
to be much dissent.
Indeed, Chelsea’s impressive progress even prompted
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to question whether any
side was capable of catching them in the race for the English
title with less than a third of the season gone.
But while Mourinho and his players are expected to be
backed emphatically by home fans on Saturday, the Chelsea
Supporters’ Trust hope his words will trigger changes at the
club. Trust chairman Tim Rolls said: “The recent publicity following the manager’s comments about the lack of atmosphere at Stamford Bridge led to a healthy debate about the
reasons for this.
“The need for more affordable ticketing for young supporters, the desire for �Safe Standing’ to be introduced and concerns about over-zealous stewarding are all highlighted as
significant member concerns in the survey results, and support the CST board view on these matters.” —AFP
LONDON: Manchester United manager
Louis van Gaal has no regrets about selling
Danny Welbeck to Arsenal, he said as the
England striker prepares to face his former
club today.
Welbeck, 23, has scored 10 goals in 20
appearances for club and country since
being allowed to leave Old Trafford for ВЈ16
million ($25.1 million, 20 million euros) on
transfer deadline day in September.
The Manchester-born forward will
come up against his old team-mates for
the first time when United visit the
Emirates Stadium for the stand-out
Premier League clash of the weekend.
Dutchman Van Gaal attributes
Welbeck’s success at Arsenal to being a
regular in their first team, after he was
made to wait for opportunities during his
time at United. “I think that a player who is
playing mostly fixed in the team, he develops and always will,” Van Gaal said. “He
takes all the benefit from playing every
week. That was a question mark with
Manchester United. It’s good to see he’s
doing what I thought.”
Van Gaal accepted that Welbeck would
enjoy scoring against his old club, much
like United’s ex-Arsenal forward Robin van
Persie has when he has found the net
against the team he left in 2012.
“This is the football world,” Van Gaal
said. “Van Persie has scored already three
goals against Arsenal as a United player.
That’s life, believe me.”
United will have goalkeeper David de
Gea available at the Emirates, despite suffering a dislocated finger while on international duty with Spain.
Angel di Maria and Michael Carrick have
also recovered from minor injuries, but leftback Luke Shaw is a doubt after being hurt
during England’s 3-1 friendly win over
Scotland. Van Gaal last faced Arsene
Wenger’s Arsenal in 1999, when he was
manager of Barcelona.
GIROUD RETURNS
The teams drew 1-1 at Camp Nou
before the Catalan club won 4-2 at
Wembley Stadium-Arsenal’s adopted
home in Europe that season-in the
GLASGOW: England striker Danny Welbeck. —AFP
Arsenal had conceded a lead, after they let
Champions League group stage.
Van Gaal, 63, says he is aware of the a 3-0 lead slip to draw 3-3 with Anderlecht
rivalry between his current club and in the Champions League, and it left them
Arsenal. “It’s the first time I’m sitting on the 12 points adrift of Chelsea in sixth place.
Olivier Giroud will return to the Arsenal
bench against Arsenal as United coach,”
Van Gaal said. “I have faced them when I squad for the first time since breaking his
was with Barcelona, then Wenger was on leg at Everton in August to provide competition for Welbeck up front.
the bench.
Welbeck continued his run of scoring
“The way they play for such a long time,
he has an attacking way of playing, playing form for England with two goals in last
for the fans. The rivalry is normal in sport. It Saturday’s 3-1 win against Slovenia, taking
should be abnormal when it’s not like his tally to five goals in five games for his
country.
that.”
But with Welbeck having netted only
Wenger’s players, meanwhile, will want
to show their manager that he was wrong once in his last seven club appearances,
to write off his team’s title hopes. Arsenal Giroud’s unexpectedly early return could
signed off for the international break by prove timely. Mikel Arteta also returns to
losing 2-1 at Swansea City, prompting the squad after missing the trip to Swansea
Wenger to declare that no club currently with a hamstring problem. “Giroud and
looks capable of overhauling leaders Arteta are both available,” said Wenger.
“It’s just a question of how ready they are.
Chelsea.
It was the second time in a week that But they are available.” — AFP
SPORTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Pacquiao expected
to gobble up Algieri
Federer seeks Davis
Cup consecration
LILLE: Roger Federer leads the Swiss quest to win a first Davis
Cup title in Lille yesterday, taking on a powerful French quartet
spearheaded by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.
The 33-year-old tennis superstar will be playing in his first
Davis Cup final and as a partner will have long-time accomplice
Stan Wawrinka. Australian Open champion Wawrinka gets proceedings underway against Tsonga with Federer then taking on
Monfils in what promises to be a blockbuster of a match for the
capacity 27,000 crowd.
The buildup to the final has been dominated by the fallout
from last Saturday’s gruelling clash in London between Federer
and Wawrinka in the last four of the ATP Tour finals.
By the end of an extraordinary match Wawrinka was left
“destroyed” after letting slip four match points, Federer had hurt
his back, and they had endured an ugly spat over some inappropriate words from Federer’s watching wife Mirka.
The two have since buried the hatchet over the Mirka incident, but Federer admits that he will take an element of uncertainty into his opening rubber Friday against Gael Monfils due to
his back injury. Wawrinka, however, said that he is full of confidence despite his loss on the London hardcourt. “For sure, it was
tough to lose against Roger with four match points. But I took a
lot of positive from that week. I’m feeling great from London, a
lot of confidence from there. Playing really good tennis,” he said.
“I’ve had five days here to change surface, to play on clay. I did
what I could here with some good practice. I’m feeling ready for
the weekend. —AFP
Today’s
matches on TV
English Premier
League
Chelsea v W Bromwich 18:00
beIN SPORTS 1 HD
Everton V West Ham 18:00
beIN SPORTS 6 HD
Man City V Swansea
18:00
beIN SPORTS 11 HD
Leicester V Sunderland 18:00
beIN SPORTS 8 HD
Stoke City V Burnley 18:00
beIN SPORTS 10 HD
Newcastle V QPR
18:00
beIN SPORTS 9 HD
Arsenal V Man United 20:30
beIN SPORTS 1 HD
Spanish League
Atletico V Malaga
18:00
beIN SPORTS 2 HD
SD Eibar V Real Madrid 20:00
beIN SPORTS 2 HD
Barcelona V Sevilla
22:00
beIN SPORTS 2 HD
beIN SPORTS 14 HD
Sunday
Deportivo V R Sociedad 0:00
beIN SPORTS 6 HD
Italian Calcio League
Atalanta V AS Roma
20:00
beIN SPORTS 3 HD
SS Lazio V Juventus
22:45
beIN SPORTS 3 HD
German Bundesliga
Paderborn V Dortmund 17:30
beIN SPORTS 3 HD
B Munich V Hoffenheim 17:30
beIN SPORTS 4 HD
FC Koln V Hertha
20:30
beIN SPORTS 4 HD
French League
OGC Nice V Stade
22:00
beIN SPORTS 4 HD
MACAU: A rejuvenated Manny Pacquiao
will look to make short work of Chris
Algieri tomorrow to defend his World
Boxing Organisation welterweight belt
and raise his chances of a showdown
with Floyd Mayweather. Few believe the
eight-weight world champion, oozing
confidence and surrounded by a 300plus entourage in Macau, will be seriously troubled by Algieri.
The 30-year-old American (20-0) is a
capable and likeable former kickboxer
from Long Island with a master’s degree
and an ambition to be a doctor.
In June, he got up from the canvas
twice in the first round to shock Russia’s
formidable light welterweight champion
Ruslan Provodnikov and take the WBO
belt on a split decision.
Now he says he wants to pull off an
almighty upset and end the fabled career
of the 36-year-old Filipino icon and congressman from Sarangani province. The
last man to make such a bold prediction
was another American, Brandon Rios, at
the same venue a year ago. Rios instead
received a lesson in boxing, speed, agility
and power from “Pacman”. Pacquiao,
who once described Algieri as just an
“okay” fighter, remains dismissive of his
challenge. “I know my opponent is excited to win, but I won’t let that happen,” he
said at the Venetian Macau venue.
Pacquiao, whose record stands 56-5-2
with 38 KOs, had a questionable build-up
in which he made his professional basketball debut in the Filipino league last
month. But he says he his fight preparations have helped him regain the aggression and power that put away world-class
adversaries such as Oscar de La Hoya, Erik
Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan
Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton and
Shane Mosley in his younger days.
�MONEY’ MAYWEATHER
“I’m very happy with my training
camp because it was a new birth. It was
like back to the old days-my speed and
power and determination are back,”
Pacquiao said. Only by stopping Algieri
MACAU: This file photo taken on August 25, 2014 shows Philippine boxing
icon Manny Pacquiao attending a pre-fight press conference. — AFP
will Pacquiao prove the fearsome “fighter of the decade” in the 2000s is back,
two weeks before his 36th birthday. If he
does-and his Hall of Fame trainer Freddie
Roach has predicted a first-round knockout-then a potential $1 billion megafight
with “Money” Mayweather may become
closer to reality next year.
Pacquiao and Algieri will fight for the
WBO welterweight (147lb) title at a
catchweight limit of 144lb. A host of
celebrities will be ringside as promoter
Bob Arum aims to show tonight pay-perview audiences in the United States that
Chinese territory Macau is growing to
rival Las Vegas as a fight venue.
Hollywood superstars Sylvester
Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger
have already confirmed they will be
there. On the undercard they will see
another screen star.
Chinese double Olympic gold medallist flyweight Zou Shiming (5-0, 1 KO)
had a cameo role in the recent
“Transformers 4” blockbuster movie and
he will take on Thailand’s Kwanpichit
Onesongchaigym (27-0, 12 KOs) in a final
eliminator for a world title shot.
Kwanpichit is an uncanny Pacquiao
look-alike-dubbed �mini-Manny’ by the
media-and Zou will be hoping that the
similarity applies only to the Thai’s looks
and not his punching power.
Two other world title fights complete
the pay-per-view card. WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (21, 1 KO) and WBA super lightweight
champion Jessie Vargas (25-0, 9 KOs) will
defend their titles against Thailand’s
Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (52-1, 33 KOs)
and Mexico’s Antonio DeMarco (31-3-1,
23 KOs) respectively. — AFP
Hamilton clocks fastest in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI: World championship leader Lewis
Hamilton set a blistering pace ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in yesterday’s practice for the Abu
Dhabi season finale grand prix.
And the 29-year-old Briton was also quick to praise
his team for the car they prepared for the double points
climax to the season. “The car felt really great out there
today and the team has done an amazing job,” said
Hamilton, who hopes to seal his second world title
tomorrow. “It is the best car I have ever driven here at
this circuit.” Hamilton was fastest in the opening sunlit
session and in the evening twilight session set a best
lap of one minute and 42.113 seconds, 0.083sec ahead
of Rosberg. It was the 15th time in 19 races this year that
Hamilton had been the fastest driver in second practice
and gave him near-perfect preparation for Sunday’s 55lap race at the Yas Marina circuit.
Hamilton, who has a 17 points lead over Rosberg, will
be crowned champion again if he can win or finish second, whatever his arch-rival teammate achieves in the
race. Germany’s Rosberg has to do the same and hope
for some misfortune to hit Hamilton and permit him to
out-score him by at least 18 points.
“I’ve just got to drive the way I usually do and what
will be will be,” said Hamilton. “I feel good in the car.
Undoubtedly, there is more time to find so I’ve got to go
and chip away at it tonight.
“It’s just been nice to get in the car. I was so excited
to drive the car, like a kid at Christmas.” Hamilton said
he was still working on the set-up of his car for both
qualifying and the race. Hamilton’s performance boosted his hopes of claiming a third pole in Abu Dhabi, having achieved that feat for both the inaugural 2009 race
and again in 2012. Rosberg is seeking his first pole at the
track. His previous best qualifying performance was
third place on the grid last year.
“Pole is important for sure,” he said. “That will help a
lot for the race, but even being second, there’s still so
many chances. “I try and approach it as a normal weekend. Of course, it’s not, because of the opportunity, but
otherwise the approach is the same ... I’m just trying to
get the job done.
“We need to wait and see. The Williams was looking
pretty good at some points today and of course I’m
hoping they are closer!” Dane Kevin Magnussen was
third fastest for McLaren ahead of four-time champion
German Sebastian Vettel, who on Sunday starts his
113th and final race with the Red Bull team before leaving for Ferrari as successor to two-time champion
Fernando Alono.
The Spaniard was out of luck on Friday when his car
idled to a halt at the start of the second session with
possible electrical problems. It meant he was unable to
record a lap time.
Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams was fifth fastest ahead
of Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull,
Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari and Briton
Jenson Button, who was eighth in the second McLaren.
Red Bull-bound Russian Daniil Kvyat was ninth fastest
for Toro Rosso and Brazilian Felipe Massa 10th in the
second Williams, as the British team improved following
a trouble-hit session earlier in the day. The session
began in bright sunlight, with the sun setting over the
nearby city of Abu Dhabi, before the circuit floodlights
came on, illuminating the track for the only �twilight’
event of the year. — AFP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014
Sports
United manager
relaxed ahead of
Welbeck reunion
46
RIYADH: Kuwait’s Yousef Al-Sulaiman (center) tries to control the ball as Oman’s Ali Al-Busaidi (left) and his teammate Mohammed Al-Musalami defend during their Group B Gulf Cup football
match at the Prince Faisal bin Fahad stadium on Thursday. — AFP
Kuwait exit Gulf Cup after 5-0 loss to Oman
RIYADH: Kuwait national football team head coach
Jorvan Vieira on Thursday described his side’s 5-0
Gulf Cup defeat against Oman followed by an exit
from the group stage as “very bad.”
Speaking to reporters after the loss on Thursday
he apologized to Kuwaiti fans, saying Oman
deserve their victory due to a performance which
was of “high technicality.” Goals came in quick succession and Kuwait were not able to handle the situation, he added.
“The players gave up after three quick goals,” he
said, referring to Oman’s three earlier goals which
were scored in the space of four minutes at the end
of the first half.”And, the defeat is the responsibility
of us all, not only the team,” he added.
For his part, Oman coach Paul Le Guen said he
was delighted with the performance of his side and
the efforts they had demonstrated. The result is
one he had not expected, as Kuwait are an experienced and good side and their coach is good.
Meanwhile, Kuwait Football Association
President Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah
said he bears the responsibility of the heavy loss
inflicted on Kuwait which saw the nation’s Gulf Cup
exit on Thursday. At a press conference following
the national side’s 5-0 loss to Oman, he said “this is
football. It is God’s will. I want (to win) and you
want (to win), but God does what he wants.
“We all bear responsibility over the defeat, not
the head coach (Jorvan Vieira) alone.” The team
“completely lost their concentration,” he added.
The quick succession of goals in such a short
timeframe (minutes �44, �45, �48, �59, �90) pushed
the Kuwaiti side into a loss of control and organization, he suggested. Brazilian coach Vieira was not
able to deal with the loss, and the players were
“not up to the standards we have been used to seeing in the past,” he added. The backroom staff and
KFA officials “will resume their duties, and the
defeat does not mean the sacking of the coach or
anyone. “Everyone will continue (their role). Global
sides have exited the early rounds of international
competitions and this is normal in the world of
football,” he added. The KFA chief went on to congratulate the sides that progressed to the semifinal,
including Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi
Arabia and Qatar, expecting Oman to win the tournament, hosted by Saudi Arabia.
Oman’s Said Al-Ruzaiqi scored a hattrick and
Abdulaziz Al-Muqbali a brace, as both took turns to
terrorise a Kuwaiti defence in shambles.
Many had expected Kuwait to go through to
the final after the Group B side displayed bright
performances in a 1-0 win against Iraq and a worthy 2-2 draw against the UAE after being two goals
down. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Iraqi Football
Association AbdullKhaliq Masoud said the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA),
Joseph Blatter, is interested in lifting the ban on
Iraq at the next FIFA’s meeting. “Joseph Blatter
promised while attending the Gulf Cup opening
things will be positive towards the lifting of the ban
at the next meeting of the International
Federation,” Masoud told Kuwait News Agency
(KUNA). He expressed confidence in his country’s
federation to overcome all the obstacles that may
impede Iraq’s bids to host the 23rd Gulf Cup tournament, to be held in January 2016, stressing that
hosting the next GCC tournament is a legitimate
right for all Iraqis.
Masoud praised the good organization of the
Gulf Cup currently held in Saudi Arabia, stressing “it
is not uncommon that the brothers in the Kingdom
of masterminding good organization and offering
hospitality.” The heads of unions participating in
the Gulf Cup tournament agreed for Iraq to host
the next session of Gulf Cup in the city of Basra, in
case the (FIFA) lift the sports ban on Iraq during the
next three months, and to be presented at a meeting in December 2014. — KUNA

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