Epic ‘Journey Lebanon gaga Famous bidders of Hope’ over Clooney already lining up sails off 9 engagement21 for45 LA Clippers

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www.kuwaittimes.net NO: 16153- Friday, May 2, 2014

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WANTED Local Spotlight Editors & Reporters Full time, must be in Kuwait, have The magic card transferrable 18 visa and writing that opens doors experience Send CV, letters of reference and 3 writing samples to [email protected] By Muna Al-Fuzai

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hope this article will be a wakeup Recently, some thieves have special- Icall for the importance of civil IDs, ized in stealing civil IDs from Asians and keeping them safe and protect- and use them to deal with telecommu- ed. In case of theft, the holder should nication companies. report it to the police at once. A civil Police investigations showed that IDs is a valuable document not only to about 80 complaints have been made prove your identity, but right now it over stolen IDs. The illegal acts were seems to be the only ID that all official committed by persons who purchased and private departments recognize telephone lines and expensive cell- and approve in order to process your phones and failed to pay the install- needs and businesses, including hospi- ments. Most probably, they sold these tals . cell phones to a new buyer and the We all need civil IDs everywhere chain goes along! here and for Kuwaitis, they also can Now it is not easy to get a new travel to any Gulf country just by show- replacement civil ID. The procedure is ing this little card. I think this is danger- becoming strict to ensure ID cards do ous and more tools are needed to not fall in the hands of the wrong peo- ensure traveler identity. The fact is all ple. Conditions include the presence GCC citizens can travel around the six countries easily by just showing this lit- of the applicant in person and a KD 10 tle magic card! charge to issue a new one, along with An expatriate can easily be taken in a 60-day wait period from the date of police custody if he/she fails to have a loss. You will need to keep your pass- valid ID card. Because of all these rea- port with you at all time. sons, civil IDs have fuelled the appetite My tip for the day: Keep your civil ID of thieves who use them to steal more in a safe place. money from companies and places in which these cards are accepted, like telecommunications companies. Local FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Conspiracy Theories Sweets for all seasons

By Badrya Darwish

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hat is the link between chocolates, sweets and tries in the world do the same. Funerals and farewells in cakes eaten even on sad or unhappy occasions? general involve sweets. There are rich buffets and great WI noticed that when people say goodbye to selection. someone and throw a farewell party, they all bring I understand the sweets for weddings, birthdays or sweets and cakes. Though the departure of the person is nice occasions like getting a degree, or graduations and not a happy occasion, we still celebrate it with food, promotions, delivery of babies etc, etc. Be it born or be it especially sweets. dead, you are celebrated with sweets. But I cannot com- The other day we said goodbye to an editor in our prehend why for farewells we also have slices of cake? office and she brought sweets, though being sad and Food is a big part of our traditions whether we are sad crying. We also brought sweets. It was a cake party. That or celebrating something. Maybe sweets have a certain reminded me of other ceremonies where people bring effect on us. It is scientifically proven that chocolate sweets. In some parts of the world, many people offer makes us happier. It makes the endorphins in our body sweets. You go to a funeral or a wake to give your con- circulate faster, making us jubilant. When you are angry, dolences to the family, wearing black head-to-toe and you will eat sweets but then you will have to face the no make-up at all - unless you are an inconsiderate per- tragic aftermath of the weight you put on. And that will son - but overall women come without any make-up. be your business how to deal with it. The idea is that You are weeping and crying but are still offered a cake or sweets are for all occasions. sweets when you enter. Have a nice weekend and don’t overdose on sweets, The amazing part is that some of the Arab families especially in Kuwait where the weather is harsh and it Olive oil soaps are displayed at the Palestinian Industries offer the well known sweet kunafa accompanied by will be impossible to take a stroll! Exhibition at the Kuwait International Fairground in Arabic coffee at funerals too. I am sure many other coun- @BadryaD Mishref. The four-day expo ends today. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Local FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 4 Accident leads to disability, stronger willpower

Taking theBy Nawara Fattahova plunge car accident changed his life but it did not stop him from fulfilling his dreams and more importantly taught him how to overcome challenges. Faisal Al-Musawi, 28, had a car accident that left himA with a permanent disability. Since that fatal day, Musawi has been in a wheelchair – a development in his life that he says has made him stronger and more determined to carry Kuwait’s name internationally.

Five years ago, Musawi took up diving, and now has become the world’s sole diver with a disability and five certificates. Musawi started diving in 2009 with the Kuwait Diving Team as the only disabled mem- ber. “Before the accident, I had a phobia of water. After my accident, I lost the fear and I developed a stronger will. So I decided to learn diving as I fell in love with the sea and deep water,” he said, explaining that he learnt swimming with only half his body. He was the first diver with disabilities to go on a diving safari in the Maldives. Six months ago, Musawi was diving in one of the top 10 global diving destinations - Sipadan Island in Malaysia - making him the first disabled diver to reach that far. Each diving trip has different adventures. “The dive in the Mal- dives was a safari, where we stayed onboard a yacht for a week away from land. This is difficult and dangerous for people with disabilities because there is no healthcare provider,” he said, adding that during the week they dived three times a day. “This needs great physical ef- fort which is hard for us,” he said. “The way to reach Sipadan Island in Malaysia is very difficult. The water there is very clean and clear, and visibility is about 30 meters,” he said. But Musawi prefers diving off Garouh Island in Kuwait. “The biggest obstacle I face when diving are strong water currents because this kind of water needs great physical effort to resist,” he said, elaborating that the diving team is teaching him how to deal with the dangers of marine life. “Swimming is very useful for people who have disabilities and I consider it half the treatment,” he explained.

Licensed Currently, Musawi holds diving licenses for open water diving, ad- venture diving, advanced diving, night diving and Nitrox diving, which Local FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Scribbler’s Notebook

By Jamie Etheridge The changing nature of Kuwait

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uwait has been through a series of very difficult chal- surpluses, the government could easily step in to stop the workers, groups like Alnowair encourage a positive outlook Klenges and changes this past decade. In 2004, the coun- economy from flat-lining. through workshops and seminars and Weoritu (pronounced try was just coming to terms with the fall of Saddam But confidence had been lost. Hope had dwindled and Where to?) produce fun videos like #HappyQ8 to spread posi- Hussain in neighboring Iraq and what it might mean. Optimism over the course of the next five years, Kuwait sort of muddled tive vibes. about the future was fueled by the expectation that people through, lurching from political crisis to street protests to These efforts alone represent only individuals or small could now invest in their homeland and see Kuwait blossom as troubled companies to political crisis. Nothing much hap- groups of people. Collectively, however, they reflect a wide- had several of its Gulf Arab neighbors like Dubai or Qatar. pened and definitely not much to suggest a sea change in spread dissatisfaction with Kuwait’s doldrums. It’s difficult for Those hopes were dashed, however, when political infight- outlook. people to reconcile the fact that Kuwait is one of the wealthi- ing and turmoil led to stagnation in the economy. After sever- In mid-2013, however, a pro-government parliament was est countries on the planet with the reality they see every al parliamentary dissolutions, grilling, reshuffles and snap finally elected after years of turmoil and a small pick-up in day. polls, Kuwait was growing less optimistic about its prospects tenders and contracts could be seen that added some much Choosing to pursue a positive outlook isn’t only about for the future. needed verve to the local economy. changing your mindset but also your circumstances and sur- Then the 2008 credit crunch washed on our shores and Even before this, local groups and activist began taking roundings. Creativity comes through limits. People in Kuwait suddenly all the remaining buoyancy and hope was drained the lead in social and community matters. Groups like may not be able to solve its political disagreements but they away in lost jobs, bankruptcies (or near bankruptcies) and Qortubame came together to improve the quality of life in can rehabilitate a local park and in the doing, create some- panic. This was not Souq Al Manakh and thanks to years of Kuwait’s parks and public spaces, soup kitchens like Bibi thing new that matters - a greater movement and demand exceptionally high oil prices and multibillion dollar budget Alayoub’s offer charity and help to impoverished low wage for change, for improvement and for a happier Kuwait.

9 Local FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

KUWAIT: The ‘Journey of Hope’ sails off from Marina Crescent yesterday. — KUNA photos Epic ‘Journey of Hope’ sails off

By Nawara Fattahova Mubarak, State Minister for Cabinet Affairs achievements in addition to providing marine forces officers and seven civilians Sheikh Mohammed Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, them a decent life. Taking care of them is including those with special needs. They KUWAIT: After years of preparation, the Minister of Communication Essa Al-Kandari, our responsibility and not a luxury,” he will participate in 20 activities during the ‘Journey of Hope’ sailed off yesterday from Housing Minister Yaser Abul, Minister of pointed out. The journey also includes nine journey. Marina Crescent in Salmiya with a global Justice Nayef Al-Ajmi, and other officials. humanitarian message for the benefit of Sheikh Jaber lauded the efforts made by the mentally challenged. Under the patron- members of the expedition in illustrating age of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Jaber Kuwait’s approach, advancement and care Al-Sabah, the expedition to Washington DC dedicated to those suffering from mental and back will cover 26,000 km and take 7 disabilities. The premier stressed the impor- months. The locally made vessel under the tance of encouraging this section of the supervision of certified international society to achieve their best by providing groups will stop in 39 ports in 19 countries them with the necessary care and attention and return to Kuwait in Dec 2014. and eliminating obstacles they might The idea was conceived by a group of encounter Sheikh Mohammed said this parents with successful experiences deal- journey was a very remarkable event. “This ing with their mentally disabled children occasion connects the present and past of including those suffering from Down syn- Kuwait. It reminds me of the old times of drome, autism, learning difficulties and oth- our fathers in the pre-oil era when they er conditions. The group has worked since went out for many months pearl diving. I 2003 under the title ‘The special team for wish that the passengers of the Journey of sporting, social, media and cultural activi- Hope come back safe after delivering their ties dedicated to the mentally disabled’ in message, as our fathers used to come back and outside Kuwait. More than their per- safe from peal diving,” he said during the sonal initiative, the aim of the journey is to ceremony. bring to light Kuwait’s contributions and Faisal Al-Hajji, head of the expedition, advances in special needs care and interna- noted that this journey adopts the dreams tional awareness to the country’s initiatives of the disabled. “We aim to improve their as a whole. The ceremony was attended by skills and creativity and involve them in the HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and other officials see off the the Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al- community. We also aim to highlight their expedition. Local10 FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 3 MPs officially submit resignations Prosecution frees Barrak after interrogation News in brief

7,200 landline cables damaged in Shuwaikh KUWAIT: Some 7,200 landline cables were damaged inadvertently by roadworks in Shuwaikh, Ministry of Communications Undersecretary Hamid Al-Qattan said on Wednesday. The ministry is conducting round- the-clock maintenance in order to bring the landlines back in operation, with its represen- tatives currently at the site, the official told KUNA in a statement. Landline failures were reported to the ministry by residents of the area, and after investigations into the incident, it was revealed that the cause was due to damage inflicted on the cables by a contractor employed by the Ministry of Public Works, he explained. The Ministry of Communications will be taking necessary action against the KUWAIT: MPs Riyadh Al-Adasani, Abdulkarim Al-Kandari and Hussein Quwaiaan are seen at the National Assembly in contractor and the Ministry of Public Works, this April 29, 2014 photo. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat added Qattan. KUWAIT: MPs Riyadh Al-Adasani, on them. The speaker expressed hope Assembly. The alliance accused parlia- Abdulkarim Al-Kandari and Hussein that the three MPs will withdraw their res- mentary and political sides of acting on Kuwait planning to Quwaiaan, carried out their threat yester- ignations and continue in the Assembly behalf of members of the ruling family ‘deport’ stray dogs day and officially submitted their resigna- until the end of the current legislative and influential forces to end democracy in KUWAIT: The Public Relations Director at the tions in protest against the National term in July 2017. Kuwait. Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Assembly’s rejection of their grilling The three lawmakers stressed in their In another development, the public Fish Resources Shaker Awadh said the authori- against the prime minister. In a joint writ- resignation letter that the Assembly prosecutor yesterday freed prominent ty plans to sign a contract with companies to ten letter, the three lawmakers cited the action in rejecting the grilling against the opposition leader and former MP harbor, rehabilitate and treat stray dogs after rejection of the grilling, violation of the prime minister will go down in history as Mussallam Al-Barrak without bail follow- constitution and the government’s domi- the “most flagrant violation of the consti- ing interrogation over allegations he catching them from residential areas. Awad nation over the Assembly. They also criti- tution”. They said that the Assembly has made during a television interview last said the PAAAFR has a plan to send stray dogs cized Speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem for his prevented them from practicing their week. Barrak said after the interrogation to countries wanting them after treating and handling of the Assembly sessions, claim- constitutional monitoring and supervi- that he did not deny any part of the inter- rehabilitating them according to an interna- ing he was interrupting them when they sion of the government’s performance, view and told the prosecutor he was tional treaty on treating animals humanely. He spoke. which is a clear violation of certain articles responsible for what he said. The former said the authority will supervise these compa- The resignations were the first in the in the constitution. The lawmakers said lawmaker was interrogated on the basis nies. He said the project includes removing Kuwaiti parliament for dozens of years. In that the Assembly and the government of a complaint by the ministry of informa- the dogs from the streets in addition special the 1960s, around 15 MPs resigned on have failed to take action against major tion. two occasions in protest against allega- corruption scandals by resorting to inef- Barrak said in the interview that the places and providing everything necessary for tions of vote rigging and the Cabinet. A fective probes. bank account of a former senior official their treatment before sending them out of few years ago, former Shiite MP Hussein The liberal Kuwait Democratic Forum swelled from $235 million in June 2007 to the country, reported Al-Rai. Al-Qallaf submitted his resignation, but meanwhile strongly criticized the a massive $23 billion in Dec 2013. He pro- later withdrew it. Ghanem told reporters Assembly for rejecting the grilling against vided no names. Barrak strongly criticized Classified documents the resignations will be studied by the the prime minister, while another liberal the Assembly for asking the government retrieved from UN Assembly office next week and will be group, the National Democratic Alliance, to refer him to investigation for what he GENEVA: The chairman of the public authority debated by the Assembly on May 13. The said the controversy over the constitu- said, adding that the current (pro-govern- for assessment of compensation for damages Assembly has the right to reject the resig- tionality of grillings requires an amend- ment) Assembly has nothing to do but to resulting from the Iraqi aggression reported nations but the lawmakers can still insist ment to the internal charter of the reject grillings against the prime minister. the retrieval of all classified documents that had previously been put at the disposal of UN experts in relation to the Kuwaiti compensa- tion dossier. This was due to an MoU signed with the UN Compensation Commission, Khaled Ahmad Al-Mudhaf revealed yesterday. Mudhaf noted that “the commission honored the request to retrieve the documents, which are highly sensitive, after Kuwait insisted all files be returned with the end of the experts’ mandate regarding the Kuwait-Iraq dossier, and that it was entirely unacceptable for the documents to remain outside Kuwaiti territory any longer.” He added the documents could still be made accessible to UN authorities should they have need to view them in the future. That, however, shall be arranged after an official request by the entity requiring access, and the documents would be accessed in presence of representatives of both the UN KUWAIT: (Left) Three Arab children died after they were admitted in the intensive care unit in Adan Hospital following a fire in an Egaila house. (Right) Firemen rescued an Arab girl stuck between an elevator cabin and the wall. The elevator seemed and Kuwait. to have moved while the girl was stuck but she was unharmed. Firemen cut the power and freed the girl, who was in good health. —By Hanan Al-Saadoun

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 US executions - A race against Gerry Adams held from hanging to wind in California over notorious injection14 wildfire16 fight IRA17 murder

WEST BANK: Palestinians throw stones towards Israeli security forces (unseen) during clashes after houses were demolished by Israeli authorities who said they were built without municipal permission near the Al-Aroub Palestinian refugee camp. — AFP Israel police challenge US ‘terror’ report US keeps Cuba, Iran, Syria, Sudan on terror list

JERUSALEM: Israeli police yesterday challenged Washington’s inclu- acknowledged that Israeli police had set up special units to pursue double standards, media reports said yesterday. The foreign min- sion of Jewish extremist attacks on Palestinians in a global terror such cases and the government had designated groups responsible istry was reacting to a State Department report released report, saying such incidents could not be likened to militant attacks. as “illegal associations,” giving authorities broader powers to act Wednesday that kept Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan on its list of so- For the first time, the State Department’s 2013 Country Reports on against them. “There are a number of ongoing investigations,” called state sponsors of terrorism. The report also highlighted Terrorism, published Wednesday, included a reference to a growing Rosenfeld said, saying that four settlers suspected of involvement in what it said was Iran’s role in supporting and funding the regime wave of racist anti-Palestinian vandalism, euphemistically known as a racist graffiti attack on a mosque in northern Israel last month, were of President Bashar Al-Assad in its fight against Syrian rebels. “price tag” attacks. “Attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against taken for questioning on Wednesday and later placed under house “Accusing Iran of supporting terrorism is politicized and based on Palestinian residents, property, and places of worship in the West arrest. double standards,” ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said in Bank continued and were largely unprosecuted,” the report said, cit- Earlier this week, more racist graffiti was sprayed on the wall of a a statement reported by the official IRNA news agency. She ques- ing UN and NGO data. mosque in Fureidis near the northern port city of Haifa. The town’s tioned Washington’s anti-terrorism intentions, recalling “innocent But Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the incidents name means “Paradise” in English. “It is vandalism with nationalistic people who fall victim” to US drone attacks in the region as well as were far from the global terror threats outlined in the report. “There’s motives but these are not nationalistic attacks on Palestinians,” “the turning of a blind eye to Zionist (Israeli) crimes against the no comparison whatsoever between criminal incidents with nation- Rosenfeld said. “You cannot compare whatsoever between terrorist Palestinians.” alistic motives and terrorist-related incidents,” Rosenfeld said. The US acts, the cold-blooded killing of Israelis, and... vandalism on that lev- She also took issues with what has been the progressive report noted that “the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian el.” Another recent attack targeted shrines at Tabgha on the shore of removal from international terror lists of the People’s Affairs reported 399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers that resulted the Sea of Galilee, where Christians believe Jesus performed the mir- Mujahedeen of Iran, an exiled opposition group that says it seeks in Palestinian injuries or property damage. “Violent extremists, acle of the loaves and fishes, Roman Catholic officials said. Church the overthrow of Iran’s Islamic regime through peaceful means. including Israeli settlers, vandalized five mosques and three churches officials said a group of religious Jews in their early teens had dam- Banned in Iran, Tehran has listed it as a terror group for carrying in Jerusalem and the West Bank.” aged crosses and attacked clergy. out bombings and assassinations. Britain struck the group off its Defining price tag attacks as “property crimes and violent acts by terror list in 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and extremist Jewish individuals and groups in retaliation for activity they Tehran raps US the United States in 2012. That, Afkham said, “also poses a seri- deemed to be anti-settlement,” the report said that over the year, the In another development, Iran rejected an annual US report that ous challenge to the claim of US statesmen in combating terror- phenomenon had spread into Israel from the occupied West Bank. It keeps Tehran on a list of state sponsors of terrorism as reflecting ism.”— Agencies

International FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 US executions - from hanging to injection

US states and the federal government have updat- Firing squad ed execution methods several times in efforts to Used mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, it find more humane ways to put condemned crimi- was also used in 1977 in Utah to execute Gary nals to death. Gilmore, the first inmate put to death after the US Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to Hanging resume, and two other Utah inmates. Some experts The primary method in US states through the consider it the quickest and least painful method. 19th century. If done correctly, an inmate’s neck breaks instantly upon the body’s drop, but it can Gas chamber also lead to prolonged strangulation. Three Introduced in 1924 by Nevada. At least three inmates have hanged in the country since 1976, states still have it as an option, including Arizona, and the method is still an option in New Hampshire Missouri and Wyoming, with 11 inmates executed and Washington. by gas since 1976.

Electric chair Lethal injection First used by New York State in 1890, it was First proposed by the Oklahoma state medical used throughout the 20th century to execute hun- examiner, it was quickly adopted by states as a dreds and is still an option in eight states. Since painless way to put inmates to death, first with a 1976, 158 inmates have been executed by electro- three-drug mixture, then often with a single dose cution. It was considered humane on its introduc- of a powerful barbiturate. It was used first on a tion but resulted in many horrific executions over Texas inmate in 1982. Since 1976, 1,203 executions TEXAS: A microphone hangs over the gurney in the Texas death house in this file photo. — AP the years. have been performed by injection. — AP Botched execution could renew ‘cruel’ challenges Victim died of heart attack a half-hour later

COLUMBUS: The botched execution of an Oklahoma inmate is cer- public defender in Arizona who has represented death row inmates. tain to fire up the debate over what constitutes cruel and unusual States have botched several executions previously, leading at times to punishment - the phrase written into the US Constitution and defined changes in execution policies but no widespread prohibition. by the courts, piece by piece, over two centuries. Convicted killer In 2000, Florida switched from the electric chair to injection after Clayton Lockett, 38, began writhing, clenching his teeth and straining bungled electrocutions raised concerns that the state’s death penalty to lift his head off the pillow Tuesday evening after he was supposedly would be declared unconstitutional. Ohio executioners in 2006 need- rendered unconscious by the first of three drugs in the state’s new ed more than an hour to put Joseph Clark to death because of trouble lethal injection combination. with his veins. Later that year, it took Florida killer Angel Diaz 36 min- The execution was halted, and Lockett died of a heart attack about utes to die, with an autopsy showing showed that the needles that a half-hour later, authorities said. While officials later blamed a rup- were used to send the lethal drugs into his veins had penetrated his tured vein - not the drugs themselves - the case is raising questions muscles. In 2009, Ohio abandoned an execution attempt after Romell about the ability of states to administer lethal injections that meet the Broom was pricked 18 times with needles. Broom remains on death Eighth Amendment requirement that punishments be neither cruel row, challenging the state’s right to try again. nor unusual. Death penalty opponents such as the American Civil In January, an Ohio inmate snorted and gasped during the 26 min- Liberties Union called for moratorium on capital punishment. And the utes it took him to die. The state said this week it doesn’t believe White House said the procedure fell short of the humane standards Dennis McGuire suffered, but it also announced it would increase the required when the death penalty is carried out. In light of other appar- drug dosages “to allay any remaining concerns.” Also in January, ently bungled executions around the US in recent years, Jen Moreno, Oklahoma death row inmate Michael Lee Wilson said during his exe- staff attorney at the Berkeley School of Law Death Penalty Clinic, said cution: “I feel my whole body burning.” The use of custom-mixed, or the risks are clear. “To say that they’re isolated incidents is mischarac- compounded, drugs by Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South terizing them, and what they really are is foreseeable consequences of Dakota and Texas has opened a new line of attack for defense attor- using an inherently dangerous procedure,” she said. The US Supreme neys, who have demanded to know the identities of the drug suppli- Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection in 2008 in a case ers. They have argued that deficiencies in the purity and potency of out of Kentucky. As part of that decision, the high court said there is the drugs could cause a slow and torturous death. no constitutional right to a painless execution. Bolstering this argument: Compounding pharmacies are not regu- The “Constitution does not demand the avoidance of all risk of lated by the federal government, and a 2012 meningitis outbreak that pain in carrying out executions,” Chief Justice John Roberts said. That killed 64 people was linked to contaminated drugs from one such decision involved a three-drug method that many states no longer business in Massachusetts. But courts so far have rejected those argu- use because certain drugs have been cut off by European suppliers. ments in a number of states. Legal issues aside, one problem with the More recently, attorneys making the cruel-and-unusual argument cruel-and-unusual argument is the difficulty in measuring pain in have targeted the newer drug combinations adopted around the unconscious people, whether surgical patients or death row inmates. country, their reliability and their suppliers, but have had little success. Doctors can rely on heart monitors or blood pressure machines to COLUMBIA: A noose hangs in the execution chamber at Making that argument has always been difficult. The Supreme Court measure reaction in sedated patients, but those methods are not fool- the Caldwell Parish Courthouse in Columbia, La in this file has never declared a method of execution unconstitutional on the proof. Such machines aren’t used in death chambers. — AP photo. — AP grounds that it is cruel and unusual. Over the past 135 years, it upheld the firing squad (1879), the electric chair (1890), and then lethal injec- tion. The court made it clear over the years that the Eighth Amendment prohibits inflicting pain merely to torture or punish an inmate, drawing a distinction between a method like electrocution Computer glitch disrupts US flights and European practices such as drawing and quartering. The Constitution prohibits “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain,” LOS ANGELES: A computer glitch at a California air traffic control The groundstop was lifted shortly before 2230 GMT but signifi- the court said in 1976. It has also held that “an isolated mishap” during center disrupted flights in the United States for about an hour cant delays were expected to last for some time, especially in Los an execution does not violate the Eighth Amendment, “because such Wednesday, authorities said. Shortly after 2100 GMT, the US Federal Angeles and San Diego. Roughly 10 aircraft bound for Los Angeles an event, while regrettable, does not suggest cruelty or a ‘substantial Aviation Administration ordered the halting of departures from and were rerouted, airport authorities said, while about 30 planes were risk of serious harm,’” according to a 1947 decision allowing Louisiana to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and all other airports kept from taking off due to the technical issue. Some passengers to return an inmate to the electric chair after a botched attempt a year in southern California. “The FAA’s Los Angeles Center air traffic con- already on board grounded flights were allowed to disembark earlier. trol facility experienced technical issues and stopped accepting while the problem was taken care of. LAX is the third busiest airport That suggests that an isolated episode - say, one bungled execu- additional flights into the airspace managed by the facility for in the United States and hosted more than 66 million passengers in tion in Oklahoma - might not be enough to bring the issue before the about an hour,” the FAA said in a statement. “Some flights were 2013, according to official figures. Some East Coast airports such as Supreme Court. But if it can be shown that there’s a pattern, “at some diverted and the agency issued a nationwide groundstop for flights Washington’s Dulles International also saw delays Wednesday due point the court’s going to have to look at it,” said Dale Baich, a federal heading into the airspace managed by the center.” to wet weather. — AFP International FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 Mixed loyalties Ukraine detains Russian for police in military attache for spying Ukraine’s east Diplomat declared persona non grata DONETSK: Pro-Russian militants who have overrun public build- ings in more than a dozen towns in eastern Ukraine have KIEV: Ukraine said yesterday it had detained Russia’s military most province, Luhansk, on Tuesday, gunmen took control at encountered little resistance from police, prompting Kiev to level attache to Kiev on suspicion of spying and ordered him to dawn on Wednesday in the nearby towns of Horlivka and charges of law enforcement “inaction” and “treachery”. But for leave, as the ex-Soviet republic wrestles with an armed upris- Alchevsk. In Donetsk, the biggest city to fall, mainly Russian- many of the low-paid officers ordered to confront insurgents ing it says is orchestrated by Moscow. In a statement, Ukraine’s speaking separatists have declared a “People’s Republic of and large crowds by a distant government they don’t trust, the Foreign Ministry said the unnamed diplomat was detained on Donetsk” and called a referendum on secession for May 11, real issue is one of mixed loyalties. Wednesday while undertaking “intelligence activities”. threatening to undercut a planned presidential election in As a result, when the rebels come knocking, often the police Ukraine accuses Russia of orchestrating the fall of towns and Ukraine two weeks later. are not even there to put up a fight. Or, as in the city of Lugansk cities across its industrial east to pro-Russian separatists over Ukraine hopes the presidential poll will help restore order this week where a squad of riot police found themselves the past month, spearheaded by well-organized gunmen in after five months of civil turmoil that saw Moscow-backed hemmed in by crowd of 2,000, they find themselves over- masks and military fatigues. Russia denies having any part in president Viktor Yanukovich toppled after street protests and whelmed. In a rare successful defense, a hardy group of interior the rebellion, but has warned it reserves the right to intervene gun battles in central Kiev, and Russia’s subsequent annexa- ministry officers later managed to prevent Lugansk’s regional to protect ethnic Russians - following its annexation of Crimea tion of the Crimean peninsula. Pro-Western authorities that police headquarters falling to the armed insurgents. But there in late March - and has massed tens of thousands of troops on took power with Yanukovich’s ouster accuse Russia of plan- was a price to pay: their superior had to bow to the crowd’s its western frontier with Ukraine. ning to disrupt the presidential election, create instability and demand for his resignation. In most areas though police have “The military-naval attachÈ of the embassy of the Russian frustrate the new government’s hopes of Western integration. just stood aside while buildings were occupied. Kiev has reacted Federation in Ukraine is declared persona non grata in connec- Overnight, the state security guard, responsible for secur- by dismissing police chiefs, deepening the sense of grievance tion with his actions, which are not in accordance with his diplo- ing key government sites and officials, carried out a small drill nursed by officers. The inaction has also given rise to the impres- matic status,” the ministry said. The diplomat was ordered to in central Kiev. Four armored personnel carriers trundled sion that law enforcement forces support the pro-Russian mili- leave, though the statement mentioned no deadline. There was through the streets to parliament, where several dozen troops tants. “It’s simple,” Sergei Harmash, an activist in the city of no immediate response from Moscow, which like Kiev is observ- took position as if responding to a threat. The guard’s com- Donetsk in favour of Ukrainian unity, told AFP. “Most police in ing the May 1 holiday. Ukraine’s pro-Western leaders conceded mander, Valery Galetey, said they were training for possible the region back the separatists. “They share their ideas. The ranks on Wednesday they were “helpless” to counter the fall of gov- “provocations” during the May 25 election. On Tuesday, of the pro-Russians include several ex-policemen and soldiers, ernment buildings and police stations to the separatists in the Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine’s acting president, said the they all know each other and are sometimes even related. And Donbass coal and steel belt of eastern Ukraine, source of around armed forces were on full alert for a Russian invasion. That even when that’s not the case, they are waiting to see which side will end up in power.” a third of the country’s industrial output. prompted a return volley from Moscow, where the Foreign Ministry demanded that Kiev “immediately ceases the belli- ‘They do nothing’ Provocations cose rhetoric, which is aimed at intimidating its own popula- A reluctance to intervene led to fourteen pro-Ukraine Having seized key buildings in the capital of the eastern- tion”. — Reuters demonstrators being badly wounded on Monday, when a march in Donetsk was attacked by pro-Russian thugs wielding knives, bricks and bats. The riot police meant to protect the rally let the militants through and only half-heartedly moved to try to stop the beatings. “When we get set upon, we contact the police. They write down the complaint and then do absolutely noth- ing,” Harmash said. “They have the resources to stop them or to protect us but they choose not to.” In the town of Torez, south of Lugansk, where a flag of the self-declared “People’s Republic of Donetsk” hangs over the town hall, rebels said the police are cooperating with them. “We are working very well with the police here. We are work- ing together to stop the fascists and criminals from Kiev coming here,” said the local rebel chief who gave only his first name, Vladimir. For Vadim Karasev, an analyst at the Kiev-based Institute for Global Strategy, “security officials in the eastern regions don’t want to defend the central government. They don’t consider them as ‘their’ authorities.” Many police officers from the east were sent to Kiev when street protests against the Kremlin-backed then-president Viktor Yanukovych started to gather pace last November. They were told then that the pro-EU demonstrators were their enemy. Yet the government installed after Yanukovych fled the country in February is derived, in part, from that protest move- ment. That has left eastern officers confused-and bearing the blame for the brutal violence used to try to repress the protests, which included shooting into the crowd. But Karasev said a more basic motivation could also be persuading police in the east to side with the pro-Russian militants. “According to available infor- mation, some ‘emissaries’ recently offered them a salary of $200- $300 (150-210 euros) more than they have now for joining the DONETSK: Policemen guard a regional Ukrainian prosecutor’s office in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. A crowd of some Russian side,” he said. — AFP 300 pro-Russian militants attacked the prosecutor’s office in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk yesterday. — AFP Pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine hold more towns

KIEV: Pro-Kremlin rebels, who the West believe are backed by Donetsk took over the regional administrative building, prosecutor’s Moscow, are holding more than a dozen towns and cities in This city of one million people is the hub of the Donetsk office and local television station. They laid siege to regional east Ukraine. The places where the insurgents are most active region, which includes Slavyansk, and is the heart of what police headquarters but withdrew when the police chief agreed are: rebels call their “Donetsk Republic”. The regional administrative to resign. building was seized April 6 and the city hall on April 16. Violent Slavyansk scenes on April 28 when men armed with knives, baseball bats Kramatorsk The epicentre of rebel activity and the scene of much of the and iron bars attacked a pro-Kiev rally. Just next to Slavyansk and 100 kilometers (60 miles) from reported violence and abductions. On April 12, pro-Russian Donetsk, this town of 160,000 inhabitants saw its town hall tak- gunmen seized the police building in this town of an estimat- Lugansk en over on April 12 during a rally by more than 1,000 pro- ed 120,000 to 140,000 people, raiding its arsenal. They then This city of 465,000 inhabitants, which is also the regional Russian demonstrators. On April 15, a bomb alert that turned took over the town hall and the SBU security services building heart of the Lugansk region, is proclaiming itself the core of a out to be false cleared the building, but militants took over the the same day. The interior ministry in Kiev estimates 30-50 self-styled “Lugansk Republic”. Its SBU security services build- nearby SBU building. On April 21, pro-Russian militants forcibly Ukrainian security services personnel are held there, as well as ing was grabbed on April 6 by some 1,000 pro-Russian protest- took back the town hall. A Ukraine military base lies outside the seven Europeans from the OSCE. ers. On April 29, a crowd of hundreds, with gunmen leading, town and has fended off several attacks.— AFP International FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 Rains drench US East Coast

MIAMI: Streets collapsed and flights were New York’s JFK and Washington’s Dulles. In delayed as heavy rains lashed the US East Coast Baltimore, streets collapsed, washing away as far south as usually sunny Florida Wednesday, cars, The Washington Post reported. At least 36 after tornadoes ripped through other parts of people were killed earlier in the week when the country leaving dozens dead. Boston, New tornadoes tore through six states west of York and Washington were all drenched, while in Florida. northern Florida authorities rescued people from A 67-year-old woman was added to the the roofs of their submerged houses, as forecast- growing death toll when the vehicle she was ers reported up to 22 inches (55 centimeters) of driving in became submerged in floodwaters in rain soaked some neighborhoods in just a few the Florida city of Pensacola, local media hours. reported. “It went on and on and on. It was Florida Governor Rick Scott instructed the relentless,” Cheryl Clendenon, who was strand- National Guard to deploy 24 high-water vehi- ed in her home in Pensacola Beach until a cles to impacted counties to help with rescue friend picked her up, told NBC News. The and recovery operations. “This is a slow moving National Weather Service said the weather weather system that will continue east through woes would continue into yesterday. “A few our state, and families should take precautions thunderstorms may approach severe levels to secure essential supplies should they lose Wednesday night into yesterday along the east- power or can’t use the roads,” he said. Wet ern seaboard with strong winds as the primary FLORIDA: People survey the damage on Scenic Highway after part of the highway collapsed weather delayed scores of flights at several air- threat, although a few tornadoes cannot be following heavy rains and flash flooding in Pensacola, Florida. — AFP ports, including at Philadelphia International, ruled out,” it said.— AFP Iran plans to buy 400 new A race against wind in planes if sanctions lifted California wildfire fight

Iran wins limited relief from Western sanctions RANCHO CUCAMONGA: Firefighters fighting the blaze with 55 fire engines battling a smoky blaze in the foothills and four bulldozers. High winds pre- ANKARA: Barred by sanctions from buying Western air- op its battered economy. Iran will resume negotiations east of Los Angeles hoped to take vented them from using aircraft. At liners since the 1970s, Iran has pent-up demand for 400 with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China advantage of a brief respite from the their peak, the Santa Ana winds had new planes, Tehran’s top aviation official was reported as and Russia in Vienna on May 13 aimed at a long-term fierce, hot winds that initially pushed gusted to 80 mph, with one gust saying, offering potential billions to manufacturers such deal. The American embassy seizure in Tehran in 1979 the fire into the path of more than recorded as high as 101 mph. More of as Airbus and Boeing. Iran won limited relief from led to US sanctions on Iran, which have been broadened 1,500 homes. As the winds that had the same conditions were predicted Western sanctions after agreeing to curtail its nuclear in the past decade over Iran’s perceived nuclear ambi- gusted to 80 mph on Wednesday for today, accompanied by tempera- activities for six months under an interim accord with tions. — Reuters eased up during the evening, manda- tures that forecasters said could top world powers which took effect in January. A complete tory evacuation orders for 1,650 100 degrees. The National Weather lifting of sanctions would require a comprehensive deal once-endangered homes were can- Service issued a red-flag warning of to end a decade-long stand-off over what Tehran main- Florida jail blast celed. extremely dangerous fire conditions tains is a nuclear program for peaceful energy purposes. The winds were forecast to return for Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura “Iranian airlines will be ready to buy 40 passenger leaves two dead before dawn yesterday, however, counties until 8 pm yesterday. planes every year for 10 years if sanctions are lifted,” said which prompted officials to order As the flames raced through four high schools near the blaze to heavy brush on Wednesday, some of Ali Reza Jahangirian, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation PENSACOLA: An explosion rocked a jail in the Organisation, the Ettelaat newspaper reported yester- remain closed. The fire erupted which last burned a decade ago, Florida Panhandle late Wednesday, killing two around 8 am Wednesday in the homes not even in the blaze’s path day. The 400 figure confirmed the top end of a range inmates, injuring more than 100 other people, reported by Reuters in November citing a senior Iranian foothills of the San Bernardino were threatened. A blaze fanned by and causing the building to partially collapse, National Forest and quickly burned gusts “tends to throw embers and official. Boeing and Airbus, which took orders for more according to a county spokeswoman. The blast than 2,800 aircraft from airlines and lessors in 2013, across 1,000 acres of brush. Although brands ahead of itself, sometimes a happened about 11 pm CDT at a booking facili- the US Forest Service continued to mile,” said US Forest Service would likely lead the battle for Iran’s business. ty at the Escambia County Jail, and as many as Canada’s Bombardier, Embraer from Brazil and cite that figure late Wednesday night, spokesman Chon Bribiescas. “That’s 150 inmate and corrections officers were indicating the fire hadn’t grown for the insidious part of a wind-driven Russia’s Superjet could also secure orders for the smaller injured, said Kathleen Castro, the countyís pub- airliners they produce along with engine makers GE several hours, no containment esti- fire.” That’s why officials decided to lic information manager. About 600 inmates mate was given either. keep Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga, Aviation and Rolls-Royce. Jahangirian said out of Iran’s were in the Pensacola building at the time, and 250 commercial planes, about 150 were flying while the Meanwhile, more than 700 fire- Alta Loma and Etiwanda high schools the uninjured were taken to jails in neighboring fighters remained on the front lines, closed yesterday. —AP rest are “not functional” due to a lack of spare parts. “We counties, she said. The Pensacola area was have got very positive signals from Western companies, drenched by rains and severely flooded including Boeing Co. and General Electric Co (GE) about Wednesday as part of a large storm system getting new spare parts for our planes,” he said. making its way across the US, but Castro said The current, preliminary deal allows for the limited she didnít know whether that was a factor in sale of commercial plane parts and services to Iran, the explosion. whose fleet includes vintage Boeing and Airbus airliners. Victims were taken to four hospitals in GE has won US Treasury approval to service 18 engines Pensacola and nearby Gulf Breeze. Sacred Heart sold to Iran in the late 1970s. They will be serviced at Hospital treated 31 patients with mostly neck facilities owned by GE or Germany’s MTU Aero Engines, and back injuries, spokeswoman Vicki Brooks which is licensed to do the work. Iran’s four largest carri- said. West Florida Hospital treated 37 inmates ers - Iran Air, Iran Aseman Airlines, Mahan Air and Iran Air in the emergency room, and all have been Tours - all have average fleet ages above 22 years, Iranian released back into the custody of the Escambia media have reported. They serve a market of 76 million County Sheriffís Office, spokesman Kendrick people in a country whose vast oil and gas reserves Doidge said. Fifty patients were taken to Baptist could help draw foreign companies once sanctions are Hospital in Pensacola, with 12 treated and lifted. released by Thursday morning, spokeswoman President Hassan Rouhani was elected last year on a Liz Branch said. At Gulf Breeze Hospital, 13 of promise to improve Iran’s relations with the outside the 31 patients from the explosion were treated world. He has invited Western companies to seize invest- and released. The names of the two inmates CALIFORNIA: Froylan Dominguez uses a garden hose in front of his ment opportunities in the Islamic state. Tehran has also killed in the explosion werenít immediately home as the wind driven Etiwanda fire approaches his home in Rancho repeatedly said it was determined to reach a compre- released. — AP Cucamonga, California. — AFP hensive nuclear deal with major powers so it can devel- International FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 17 China bombing shows new level of militancy

URUMQI: A bombing in western China that killed three people and wounded 79 has raised concerns about the apparent sophis- tication and daring of the attack, possibly timed to coincide with a visit to the heavily Muslim region by President Xi Jinping. Unidentified assailants used explosives and knives in their assault on a railway station in Urumqi on Wednesday, the first bomb attack in the capital of Xinjiang region in 17 years, at a time of likely heavy security and soon after the arrival of a train from a mainly Han Chinese province, state media said. Yesterday, dozens of black police vans were parked around the station, while camouflaged police with assault rifles patrolled its entrance. Despite the security, the station was bustling and appeared to be operating normally. The government blamed the attack on “terrorists”, a term it uses to describe Islamist militants and separatists in Xinjiang who have waged a sometimes violent campaign for an independent East Turkestan state - a campaign that has stirred fears that jihadist groups could become active in western China. Initial accounts of the attack came almost exclusively from Chinese state media, which did not say if any of the attackers had been killed or captured. Nor did they say if Xi, who was wrapping up his visit, was anywhere near Urumqi at the time. Pan Zhiping, a retired expert on Central Asia at Xinjiang’s Academy of Social Science, described the attack as very well organised, saying it was timed to coincide with Xi’s visit. “It is very clear that they are challenging the Chinese govern- ment,” he said. “There was a time last year when they were tar- geting the public security bureau, the police stations and the troops. Now it’s indiscriminate - terrorist activities are conducted in places where people gather the most.” There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. But the language used by the government to describe the incident, with the reference to URUMQI: A man and child on a bicycle past by an armored paramilitary police vehicle parked outside a hospital where the assailants as “terrorists”, implies that it was carried out by victims of Wednesday’s explosion receive treatment in Urumqi in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Uighurs, the Muslim people who call Xinjiang home, many of Region. — AP whom chafe at government controls on their culture and religion.

Act of defiance Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher at New York-based Gerry Adams held over Human Rights Watch who closely follows developments in Xinjiang, called the attack “an unprecedented act of defiance from Uighurs who oppose the Chinese state”. “It’s hugely signifi- cant and it’s extremely politically embarrassing for Xi Jinping who notorious IRA murder has taken a very hard stance on the Xinjiang issue, and made a big show while visiting Xinjiang that Xinjiang is safe for the Han,” he said. The attack was the first bombing in Urumqi since bombs Ex-head of IRA political wing denies involvement on buses killed nine people in 1997. It was also the largest mili- tant attack there since the government blamed Uighurs for stab- BELFAST: Northern Ireland police have liament. The IRA suspected McConville with that of an actor. Former Prime bing hundreds of Han Chinese with needles in 2009.—Reuters arrested Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams of being an informer, a charge her family Minister John Major once said the as part of an investigation into one of has always denied. She was suspected of thought of sitting down with him the province’s most controversial mur- having gone to the aid of a British sol- “turned his stomach”. Adams emerged One dead in bomb blasts ders, a move that sent political shock- dier serving in the province, which was from the political cold in October 1997 waves through Belfast and Dublin. The torn by violence between Catholic when he shook hands with Labor Prime at Indian train station man reviled in Britain as the spokesman republicans and pro-British Protestants Minister Tony Blair at their first meeting. for the Irish Republican Army in the for three decades. The investigation into A year later Adams helped broker a CHENNAI: Twin bombs planted on a train killed one person and 1980s, Adams reinvented himself as a McConville’s killing has been revived by peace deal that largely ended three wounded 14 others in the southern Indian port of Chennai yes- Northern Ireland peacemaker and then the release of a series of taped inter- decades of violence between Catholic terday, the latest attack during ongoing national elections, offi- as a populist opposition politician in the views given by former fighters from the militants seeking union with Ireland and cials said. The low-intensity blasts occurred in carriages of an Irish parliament. His Sinn Fein party said mainly Protestant militants, who wanted overnight train from Bangalore as it pulled into Chennai central he was arrested by police investigating to maintain Northern Ireland’s position station shortly after 7:00 am. A 22-year-old woman working at IT the 1972 abduction and murder of as a part of Britain. Since that peace deal outsourcing firm TCS was killed when one of the devices which mother of 10 Jean McConville on Adam’s role as a statesman has grown. had been placed underneath her seat exploded, said Rakesh Wednesday evening and could be held He is a regular visitor to the White House Misra, general manager of the southern region for Indian for up to 48 hours without being and was a guest of honor at the funeral Railways. “Civil police... are investigating what kind of bomb it charged. of Former South African president and was and why anyone would have placed the bomb,” he told Adams, who has always denied mem- anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela last reporters at the scene. bership of the IRA said he was “innocent year. But the murder of McConville, has Another 14 people were injured, Chennai police chief JK of any part” in the killing, which he said haunted him and has been repeatedly Tripathi said, at least two of them seriously. Security forces cor- was “wrong and a grievous injustice to raised in interviews during his career as doned off the blood-splattered platform where a large crowd of her and her family.” “Well publicized, a member of the Irish parliament. onlookers and delayed passengers gathered, while searches by malicious allegations have been made bomb detection teams were stepped up in other stations. Tripathi said that they were yet to detain any suspects, despite against me. I reject these,” he said in a Irish republican leader Gerry Adams Fragile peace local media reports of one or two people being questioned over statement. Sinn Fein deputy leader Northern Ireland’s fragile peace has the crude explosives. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh con- Mary-Lou McDonald said the decision to Northern Ireland conflict for a research been shaken by investigations into his- demned the attack, saying that “such barbaric acts targeting make the arrest weeks before elections project at Boston College in the United toric crimes in recent years, with probes innocent men, women and children only highlight the despera- across Ireland, was influenced by States. The Northern Ireland police took into pro-British militants widely seen as tion and cowardice of those responsible”. demands from political rivals and “ele- legal steps to acquire the interviews, one of the sparks for some of the 2013 Multiple low-intensity explosions are typically the hallmark of ments of the old guard” within the parts of which have already been street violence that was the worst for the Indian Mujahideen, a home-grown militant network which is Northern Ireland police service. “The released after one IRA interviewee died. years in the province. It is unclear what thought to have been weakened by the recent arrests of senior timing as far as we are concerned is affect the arrest might have on Northern figures. Sixteen people were killed in February 2013 when bombs politically contrived,” she said. 1980s media ban Ireland’s power-sharing government, strapped to bicycles exploded in the southern city of Hyderabad As head of the political wing of the whose deputy first minister, former IRA in an attack blamed on the network. India’s election, which ends Body on beach Irish Republican Army, Sinn Fein, Adams commander Martin McGuinness, is also on May 16 with results, has seen repeated attacks by Maoist McConville’s body was found in 2003 was a pariah in 1980s Britain, banned a member of Sinn Fein. He has reinvent- rebels based in the forests of central India who have killed at least on a beach in county Louth, which from speaking on British airwaves, forc- ed himself as a statesman, meeting the 25 so far, according to an AFP tally. —AFP Adams now represents in Ireland’s par- ing television stations to dub his voice British Queen in 2012.—Reuters Opinion FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 Golden loophole

By Humeyra Pamuk, Steve Stecklow, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Can Sezer

n this city’s Grand Bazaar, sellers along labyrinthine passageways Ihawk carpets, jewellery and souvenir knick-knacks to tourists. Turkish police believe that until recently, the area around the mar- ket also sat at the centre of an audacious, multi-billion-dollar scheme involving bribery and suspect food shipments to Iran. To date, no one has been charged. But a recently leaked police report - which contains allegations of payments to top Turkish government officials including cash stuffed into shoeboxes - has added fuel to a growing corruption scandal that has shaken the highest levels of Turkey’s political estab- lishment. A review by Reuters of the report’s 299 pages, as well as interviews with currency and precious metals dealers, offer colourful new details of how what police call a “crime organisation” allegedly helped Iran exploit a loophole in the West’s sanctions regime that for a time allowed the Islamic Republic to purchase gold with oil and gas rev- In this Oct 9, 2012 photo, a technician prepares 1 kg gold bars of 995.0 purity to pack for delivery at the Emirates Gold compa- enues. While the gold trade was then legal, the police report alleges ny in Dubai.—AP the purported crime network bribed officials in part so it could main- in 2012, worth $6.5 billion, according to the Turkish statistical institute. The network also allegedly received special assistance when, in tain control of the lucrative business. Then, when the West last July Another 85 tonnes, worth $4.6 billion, were exported that year to the January 2013, a plane carrying 1.5 tonnes of gold bullion arrived at prohibited the gold trade as a sanctions violation, the police report United Arab Emirates, a known transshipment point to Iran. Istanbul’s Ataturk airport from Ghana without proper paperwork. The alleges the network concocted records of shipments of food at pre- The police report alleges that Zarrab and a network of companies report cites wiretapped phone calls between Zarrab and Caglayan’s posterous volumes and prices to continue giving Iran access to for- he controlled were running much of the gold trade with Iran, some- office allegedly showing that Caglayan intervened at Zarrab’s request eign currency. The police report - which includes transcripts of wire- times via Dubai. “It is understood that, to overcome sanctions and to prevent customs officers from seizing the shipment. The cargo was tapped conversations and surveillance photographs - was prepared move money to Iran, Riza Sarraf used Turkey as a stepping stone,” the held up for days, but ultimately released. for prosecutors. Reuters confirmed its authenticity with Ekrem report states. To keep the business running smoothly, the report The circumstances surrounding the Ghanaian gold shipment Aydiner, the current chief prosecutor in charge of the case. alleges, Zarrab’s network paid bribes to Zafer Caglayan, Turkey’s econ- remain murky. An Iranian billionaire businessman named Babak Turkey’s Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, has called the police omy minister; Muammer Guler, the interior minister; Egemen Bagis, Zanjani, who is accused by the United States and European Union of investigation a foreign-orchestrated plot without legal merit. In recent the European Union Affairs minister; and Suleyman Aslan, Halkbank’s violating sanctions on Iranian oil, recently posted a statement on the months, Turkey’s judiciary removed several prosecutors from the case. chief executive. All three ministers, who have since either resigned or website of his company, Sorinet Group, stating he was the original That has raised questions about whether Turkish law enforcement authorities will continue to pursue it. Aydiner said the matter remains under active investigation. In many ways the plot described in the police report resembles a made-for-TV crime series: A cop who is How an alleged Turkish thought to have tipped off tax authorities finds himself transferred to a distant outpost by the Black Sea, a plane that arrives from Ghana carrying 1.5 tonnes of gold with no clear owner, and millions of dollars in payoffs to various officials to block rivals and gain valuable favours crime ring helped Iran such as fast-track Turkish citizenship for members of the purported crime network and their families. been dropped from the cabinet, have denied wrongdoing; none have purchaser of the gold from Ghana. “This type of trade was completely The report presents a wealthy young businessman of Iranian been charged. Caglayan declined to comment; Guler could not be legal,” he wrote. descent named Reza Zarrab as the ringleader. Zarrab grew up in reached for comment. Lawyers for Bagis and Aslan did not return calls Yet Zanjani boasted last year in an interview with Aseman, an Turkey, holds citizenship, resides in a manor on the Bosphorus and seeking comment. Halkbank has denied violating any domestic or Iranian magazine, of violating sanctions. “This is my work - sanctions- goes by the Turkish name Riza Sarraf. He is well known on Istanbul’s international laws. A spokesperson declined to answer questions but busting operations,” he was quoted as saying. He is in jail in Tehran on celebrity circuit, and is married to Turkish pop star Ebru Gundes, who did say the bank is not under any investigation by Turkey’s police or charges of owing the government more than $2.7 billion from oil is a judge on a popular television talent show. Following her hus- judiciary. sales; he denies any wrongdoing. In the website posting, Zanjani said band’s detention in December - he was released from jail two months According to the police report, many of the payoffs were allegedly he had met Zarrab “a few times” but that they had not done any busi- later without being charged - she tearfully told viewers, “God willing, I picked up in a building on a row of jewellery dealers near the Grand ness together. Zarrab said in the television interview earlier this hope these dark days will pass quickly.” Bazaar. Police also tracked the shipment of a Swiss watch the network month he had met Zanjani twice, but “I am neither friends nor part- When Reuters reporters recently visited his residence, they were allegedly gave to Caglayan, the economy minister, that cost about ners with him.” greeted by about a half-dozen security guards who said he was out of $340,000. Bagis, the EU Affairs minister, at one point allegedly town. His attorney, Seyda Yildirim, later declined to comment. In an received $500,000 cash delivered in a chocolate box, along with a sil- Fake Food interview published on April 19 with Sabah, a Turkish newspaper, ver plate. In an intercepted phone conversation about the plate, the Washington closed the gold loophole last July. In the television Zarrab said, “The trade I do is completely legal.” He later said in an report quotes Zarrab as telling an associate, “Don’t make it too expen- interview, Zarrab said he stopped trading gold and “shifted to food interview on Turkish television that he had helped to reduce the sive.” The report alleges that Aslan, the former head of Halkbank, and and medicine,” which were still permitted. In a four-month period, he country’s current account deficit. Caglayan received a percentage of the Iranian money transfers, result- said, that trade totalled about $1.6 billion. But the police report alleges ing in bribes that totalled tens of millions of dollars. In December, that some of the food shipments never actually took place, but con- Gold Rush police raided Aslan’s house and seized $4.5 million stuffed in shoe- sisted of counterfeit invoices submitted to Halkbank that should have The police report states that its investigation found evidence of boxes, according to local media reports. Aslan told police the cash was raised plenty of red flags at the bank. The documentation included bribery, fraud and gold smuggling. Although not central to the police a charitable donation from various businessmen to build an Islamic bills of lading that purportedly showed that cargoes “of 150,000 investigation, the West’s economic sanctions on Iran provide the school, the media reports said. tonnes were being carried in vessels with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes,” backdrop of the alleged scheme. As financial sanctions tightened in The police report alleges the bribes bought the network perks the report alleges. 2012, both Turkey and Iran had pressing needs: Turkey required oil such as reduced commissions from Halkbank for money transfers, In another case, the report includes an alleged copy of an invoice and gas for its fast-growing economy, while Iran desperately needed authorisation to drive along highway emergency lanes and assistance for a shipment to Iran of about five tonnes of raw brown sugar. The hard currency to pay for new automobiles and other foreign imports. in preventing rivals from participating in the lucrative trade. One cost? A whopping $250 a pound, more than a hundred times the mar- Under the sanctions - imposed by Washington and Brussels to Istanbul gold and currency trader told Reuters, “I went to the bank ket rate. The report also quotes from a wiretapped conversation with contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions - Turkey was permitted to purchase about 18 months ago and tried to open an account, saying I wanted Zarrab in which an associate allegedly tells him about the food ship- oil and gas from its neighbour. But it was required to pay in Turkish to sell goods to Iran and that I was going to pay via Halkbank. But they ment records, “The documents we are giving are wrong. I mean, they lira, a currency that is of limited value for buying goods on internation- did not let me. There has been unfair competition in terms of using are documents that do not exist in reality.” al markets. All payments were to be deposited in an Iranian bank this bank.” Following their investigation, the police staged a series of raids account at Turkey’s state-controlled Halkbank. The bribes also secured the network police protection, the report and detained dozens of suspects in December. Later that month, one In 2012, Turkey purchased from Iran more than $10 billion worth alleges. Suspecting at one point that a local police officer had initiated of the prosecutors on the probe was removed from the case. He of oil and gas, according to Reuters’ calculations based on data from a tax audit of some of Zarrab’s companies, the interior minister accused police of refusing to comply with his orders to detain even Turkey’s energy market regulation board and Turkish officials. One arranged to have the officer transferred to Zonguldak, a Black Sea more suspects. “Suspects have been allowed to take precautions, flee commodity that Iran was permitted to purchase with its money was coastal town about 200 miles (320 km) east of Istanbul, the report and tamper with the evidence,” the prosecutor, Muammer Akkas, said gold. A veritable Turkish gold rush ensued with bullion shipped to Iran alleges. According to the report, a wiretap allegedly picked up Guler in a statement to Turkish media. Reached by Reuters this month, he in everything from couriers’ rucksacks to airplane cargo holds. Turkish telling Zarrab that “we have sent him into exile.” declined to comment.—Reuters gold exports to Iran exploded from one tonne in 2011 to 125.8 tonnes FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Get a taste of Japan Be bold, bright and daring Lebanon in frenzy over Clooney-Alamuddin engagement Available at The Sultan Centre & Carrefour Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

A general view picture shows the village of Baaqlin the hometown of Amal Alamuddin. Lebanon in frezy over In this Feb 4, 2014 file, director and actor George Clooney attends the premiere of Clooney-Alamuddinengagement ‘The Monuments Men’ at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York. — AP/AFP photos ord that Beirut-born Amal Alamuddin band out of Clooney,” added another. under the slogan “Mate, what else?” in refer- has stolen the heart of Oscar-winning For others, the news was a chance to mock ence to the yerba mate beverage loved by the Wheartthrob George Clooney has Lebanon’s perennial political paralysis. “Let’s Druze community that Alamuddin’s family caused a frenzy in Lebanon, where citizens are vote George Clooney president of Lebanon,” hails from. The Druze are a heterodox offshoot more used to bad news. In Baakline, the leafy wrote one wit, as the country’s parliament of Islam whose faith is largely secret. They home district of Alamuddin’s father in the wrangles over the choice of the next head of make up around five percent of Lebanon, Lebanese mountains, Ramzi Sabbagh could which has 18 official sects, and the community hardly contain his enthusiasm. “She has made is gradually shrinking. The engagement hasn’t Lebanon and Baakline proud, given that she is escaped the attention of the community’s originally from here,” he told AFP. Despite the influential leader Walid Jumblatt, who joked to excitement, few of Baakline’s residents actually AFP that “maybe Clooney will make a movie know Alamuddin, 36, whose family fled for about the Last of the Mohicans here: the Britain during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. Druze!” Alamuddin, who was just three at the time, Contacted by AFP, Alamuddin’s parents now holds British citizenship and is an attorney declined to comment. “We don’t want as a specializing in international law and human family to comment on our children’s private rights. Soon after People Magazine broke the life,” said her mother Baria, a well-known jour- news of her engagement to Hollywood’s most nalist for the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, based in coveted bachelor, Lebanese internet users London. Alamuddin’s father Ramzi taught began expressing their delight. “Clooney tourism at the American University in Beirut, engaged to a Lebanese woman is proof that Ramzi Alamuddin, father of Amal and her sister Tala currently lives in Singapore. we’re the best,” one user wrote on Twitter. Alamuddin, the Lebanese-born British She has two half-brothers from her father’s first “Only a Lebanese woman could make a hus- attorney. marriage. A source close to Alamuddin’s family said Clooney and the Lebanese beauty are “madly in love,” adding that her family had met the actor in the United States and liked him. Lawyer Amal Alamuddin is pictured during The news that Clooney, almost as famed for his a press conference in London on bachelor lifestyle as his acting, is to marry has November 5, 2012. caused an international media frenzy, with out- lets clamoring for details of the lady who has state. A satirical site, in a nod to tensions “tamed” him. The tall brunette, who is fluent in between Israel and Lebanon, which technically Arabic, French and English, studied at the remain at war, joked that Clooney’s decision to French school in London and holds degrees wed an Arab had raised Israel’s ire. “Israel press- from Oxford and New York University. es for military action against Clooney after he She worked with the international tribunal proposes to Lebanese girlfriend,” it wrote. examining the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and assist- ‘Cousin George’ ed ex-UN head Kofi Annan in efforts to make In tiny Lebanon, where family ties are all- peace in Syria. She also represented Ukraine’s important, some Lebanese lost no time in former president Yulia Tymochenko and the referring to Clooney as “cousin George”-a very controversial founder of Wikileaks, Julian popular name among the Christian communi- Assange. Beirut’s Daily Star newspaper, quot- ty. Tongue-in-cheek, many Internet users won- ing a source close to the couple said Clooney dered if Clooney’s impending nuptials might and Alamuddin are to wed in London in see him switch his allegiances from the September. But not everyone is enthused. “It’s Nespresso coffee brand he promotes to difficult to accept that she’s marrying a non- Lebanon’s famed brew. “Clooney ditches Druze,” grumbled a young man in Baakline. Nespresso to become face of Cafe Najjar,” a Another resident looked blankly when asked satirical site wrote. about the subject. “George Clooney? Who’s Another photo circulated showed Clooney A picture shows the family house of Amal Alamuddin. that?.” — AFP Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Riding hat worn by Empress Elisabeth fetches $186,500 riding hat believed to have been worn by Austro-Hungarian Empress Elisabeth, Acalled “Sisi” by family and friends, fetched 134,500 euros ($186,500) at a Vienna auction, more than 50 times higher than expected. The team of the Elisabeth was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph cultural theatre I, a selection of whose personal items were also center Funaro (from highly sought-after at Wednesday’s sale of impe- left) Massimiliano rial memorabilia. “The hat I think is the most Barbini, Lisa Cantini, interesting object, although we are not sure if it Veronica Caggia, belonged to Sisi or her daughter,” said Georg Mirella Corso, Paolo Ludwigstorff, the auction specialist in charge. barboncelli, “There is always high interest in the Antonella Carrara Habsburgs’ personal items - especially those of Francesca Giaconi Elisabeth,” Ludwigstorff said. The auction at and Elisa Sirianni Austria’s Dorotheum took place as Vienna pre- pose in Pistoia. pares to mark 100 years since the June 28, 1914 —AFP photos assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, which lit the fuse for World War One. Katrin Unterreiner, cura- tor of the Plachutta Kaiserhaussammlung, the biggest private Habsburg imperial collection, In deepest Tuscany, was thrilled to acquire Sisi’s ermine muff for 3,750 euros. a global theatre hub takes root theatre centre in an off-the-beaten path corner of Tuscany has become a creative People walk on Ahub for the spians from around the the main square world, offering residencies for established dra- of the city of ma professionals and courses for aspiring Pistoia. actors. The Funaro complex in Pistoia includes former blacksmith and carpenter workshops turned into apartments, two 100-seat theatres and a cafeteria which acts as the main social centre.”I needed a shelter that was also full of life,” said Cristiana Morganti, a dancer and cho- reographer from the late Pina Bausch’s Tanz the- ater Wuppertal in Germany, who has recently finished a one-month residency. “It’s like a con- vent here. It’s calm but is also very invigorating Former Austrian Empress Elisabeth’s blue Corfu gown, worn on Habsburg vacations to the Greek island, is on display at Sisi muse- um in Vienna April 23, 2014. “I was very surprised. I actually excepted it to go higher. But that’s the exciting thing about auctions. You never know what will happen,” Funaro can host 12 artists at a time and usually courses which sees her competing with class- Unterreiner said. Sisi, a beauty and free spirit residents come with their families. In the cen- mates to perform an improvised “monkey” jive. who continues to intrigue biographers, novelists tre’s corridors, sounds of “Ha, Hi, Ho!” ring out as “I love the ambiance here, the way of teaching. and film makers, was assassinated by an Italian students take part in an exercise, batting the Francesca puts a lot of passion into it. In other anarchist in 1898. Beyond her riding hat, a vocals to one another, arms thrashing. Luisa courses, we worked most on our voices, it was sketch that the 10-year-old future empress drew Bardelli, an 18-year-old fascinated by the theatre boring. Here we work on improvisation and the of a child hugging a dog sold for 11,000 euros, world, has enrolled in one of Francesca Giaconi’s body,” she said. —AFP while her dinner bell fetched 15,000 euros. Elements of her wardrobe, including a collec- tion of ermine garments, are on display in Vienna at an exhibition commemorating the 10th year of the Sisi Museum. Personal items Artists and employees of the cultural belonging to Emperor Franz Josef also com- theatre center Funaro share a lunch in manded higher-than-estimated prices. Pistoia. Unterreiner bought for the Plachutta collection two of the emperor’s imperial cigars for 34,500 on a human level because it has classes full of euros, 16 times their expected price. children and people of all ages,” she said. A lock of his blond hair, taken from future Morganti has been working on the storyline and emperor at the age of three, was hotly contest- choreography for her latest contemporary work ed, reaching 15,000 euros. His monogrammed “Jessica and me”, which will be premiering in the imperial underpants barely surpassed the nearby theatre of Reggio Emilia in October. reserve price at 2,500 euros. The assassinated As an Italian performer who has made her archduke’s cigarette lighter and case fetched entire career abroad, Morganti said she was 2,750 and 4,000 euros respectively. Around 200 “proud” that Italy had managed to create a place items were on sale at the Dorotheum, founded like the Funaro, complaining that many of her in 1707 and the largest auctioneer in continental dancer compatriots are forced to do “three jobs Europe. It conducts an annual sale of imperial at the same time” just to survive. “This shows memorabilia. — Reuters there is hope, that there are little hubs that work even as they aim for quality,” she said. The An aerial view shows the city of Pistoia. Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 2 , 2014

Exhibition explores US artist Whistler’s London years major exhibition of paintings and etchings the exhibition with colleague Patricia de Montfort. by James McNeill Whistler opens in “It would have thrown it,” she told AFP, “and we AWashington this weekend-but don’t expect wanted a coherent story.” to see his mother there. “An American in London: Washington is the third stop for the exhibition Whistler and the Thames” spotlights the 19th cen- that explores Whistler’s vision of the Thames, its tury American artist’s many years in the British capi- many bridges and the folks who lived and worked tal and his fascination with the storied river than along its muddy banks, at a time when London-the runs through it. Starting with his vivid depictions of throbbing hub of the British Empire-was undergo- life along the Thames, the show-at the ing dramatic change. The show has previously Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries on the appeared at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London National Mall-progresses to the moody, virtually and Addison Gallery of American Art in abstract twilight images, or Nocturnes, that Massachusetts. But it has been enhanced by pieces Whistler began creating around 1871. from the Freer’s own substantial collection of the That’s the same year he painted his artist’s work-a collection that grew out of Whistler’s “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1,” better close friendship with his most important patron, known as “Whistler’s Mother,” in which she appears Detroit industrialist Charles Lang Freer, who found- seated and unsmiling, wearing a white bonnet, a ed the museum.—AFP study in Victorian prudery. “I doubt very much we could have made an argument for having it here at Margaret MacDonald, art history professor at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, the show,” said University of Glasgow art history discusses a painting of the River Thames in London by 19th American artist James professor Margaret MacDonald, who co-curated McNeill Whistler in Washington, DC. — AFP French theatre’s Sixties rebel child still going strong 50 years later

t 75, Ariane Mnouchkine has not given up on changing Squat becomes home gering memories of how, in 1999, another production “Drums the world. “And for some people that can be very tir- Six years after it was founded as a “Workers Production on the Dike” was delayed for three months before she was sat- Aing,” smiles the half-English, half-Russian visionary Cooperative”, Mnouchkine and co. moved in 1970 into their isfied it could be presented to the public. “There are times who, in between hunger strikes for Bosnia and campaigns for current home, an abandoned armoury in the Vincennes wood when she exasperates with her nitpicking. She can be the homeless, has left her own indelible stamp on the world that marks the eastern boundary of the French capital. extremely obsessive,” says Helene Cinque, who has been of French theatre. Mnouchkine is the founder and indefatiga- In keeping with the spirit of the times, the building was involved with the Theatre since she was first introduced to it ble driving force behind the Theatre du Soleil (Theatre of the squatted and smashed windows had to be boarded up with as a six-year-old by her actress mother. Sun), a workers collective born of the heady idealism of the tarpaulin. But the show went on and it kept going on, “even “You do things her way or you leave. But the place would 1960s that, half a century later, is still flourishing. on December 26, 1970 in the depths of one of the coldest win- not be the same if she was not like that.” Mnouchkine may be Perhaps even more remarkably, it has prospered while ters of the century,” Mnouchkine recalls. Their first major pro- the first among equals, but the creative process remains a col- staying true to the egalitarian principles on which duction, the French revolution-based “1789”, attracted more lective one: works come together in rehearsals for which no Mnouchkine and a group of like-minded Parisian drama stu- than a quarter of a million spectators. roles have been attributed, scripts being reworked and dents established it on May 29, 1964. Mnouchkine, born to Since then the Theatre has built an international reputation enriched through improvisation.”There are times when a an English mother from a theatrical family and a Russian with its mix of original productions, many of them inspired by scene can be ripped up into tiny pieces,” says Helene Cixous, father, is the undisputed leader of the troupe. But she takes Mnouchkine’s love of Asia; regular revivals of Shakespeare and the writer behind some of the Theatre’s epic productions home the same salary-a modest 1,800 euros ($2,500) per other works from all over the world. “It is like an island in the such as “The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom month-as everyone else in the company. On show nights she theatrical ocean, a place of profound freedom,” says the actor Sihanouk, King of Cambodia”, which was staged for the first can still be found at the entrance to the company’s home on Maurice Durozier, a veteran of the theatre who, after an 11- time at the Cartoucherie, in 1985. For “Drums on the dike”, the outskirts of Paris, ripping up tickets and directing the year break, has returned to the fold to play Duncan in a pro- Cixous went through 27 script drafts. Such painstaking per- public to their seats in the way she has now done for the best duction of Macbeth that Mnouchkine is putting on to mark the fectionism has led to critical acclaim but, even with the help part of five decades. 50th anniversary. of a state subsidy of 1.6 million euros, the Theatre’s finances “We have proved that utopian does not have to mean remain precarious. Its future is also clouded by the question unrealistic,” Mnouchkine told AFP in an interview. “In terms Extremely obsessive of who will take the place of the woman around whom it has of equality of salaries, the standards we set and the volume “To me it’s home. I realised this was where I belonged. all been built. “It will need someone with the same presence of work I expect from each and every one of us, we haven’t Between us, as actors, and Ariane there is something that is and the same belief in what she is doing,” says Cixous. “I think changed anything since we started.” A tiny exception to the unique. Perhaps it is a question of friendship, Ariane’s whole she is irreplaceable.”— AFP rule: actors no longer have to contribute to the preparation idea of theatre is founded on this.” The affection she feels for of communal meals. But the anti-star system means leading her fellow workers does not prevent Mnouchkine from being a men and leading ladies can still be called upon to help build famously exacting director. The opening of Macbeth was post- sets or clean the toilets. poned because she was unhappy with some key scenes, trig-

A person works at the Cartoucherie theater mask creator People work on set’s elements outside ‘Le Theatre du Soleil’ Erhard Stiefel, mask creator for ‘Le Theatre du Soleil’ poses in Erhard Stiefel’s workshop in the Bois de Vincennes in of the Cartoucherie theater in the Bois de Vincennes, in Paris. his workshop at the Cartoucherie theater in the Bois de Paris.— AFP photos Vincennes in Paris. 24 a taste of Get 25 FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 DID YOU KNOW? CHICKEN TERIYAKI he typical Japanese meal consists of popular for light meals. As an island na- a bowl of rice (gohan), a bowl of miso tion, the Japanese take great pride in their Servings: 4-6 soup (miso shiru), pickled vegetables T seafood. A wide variety of fish, squid, octo- Ingredients: (tsukemono) and fish or meat. While rice is pus, eel, and shellfish appear in all kinds of ½ cup chicken broth the staple food, several kinds of noodles 4 tablespoons soy sauce dishes from sushi to tempura. 2 tablespoons sugar (udon, soba and ramen) are cheap and very 2 tablespoons oil 2 tablespoons minced garlic ½ teaspoon ground ginger WASABI GRILLED STICKY 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves Directions: 1. Mix all marinade ingredients in shallow dish. 2. Place chicken in marinade and refrigerate for 1-1/2 hours. TUNA CHICKEN 3. Preheat broiler. 4. Broil chicken 5 inches from heat for about 15 minutes, turning with marinade often.

Servings: 2-4 Servings: 4 Ingredients: GOMAE - JAPANESE Wasabi Sauce Ingredients: 1 teaspoon wasabi powder ¼ cup sugar or 1 teaspoon dry hot mustard ¼ cup soy sauce 1 teaspoon water ½ cup water STYLE SPINACH SALAD 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 1 tablespoon garlic, minced 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 8 chicken thighs Servings: 2 1 garlic clove (crushed) Tuna Directions: Ingredients: 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1. Mix sugar, soy sauce, white wine, Dressing 1 tablespoon vegetable oil water, and garlic in 6 quart pan. 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted ½ teaspoon wasabi powder 2. Heat until sugar melts at me- 2 tablespoons water or ½ teaspoon dry hot mustard dium heat. 1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce 2 fresh tuna steaks (1 ½ lbs 3. Add chicken and cover. ½ teaspoon sugar total, 1 ½ inch thick) 4. Reduce heat so that it still sim- Spinach mers. 1 pinch salt Directions for sauce: 5. Cook for 1 hour. Boiling water 1. In a bowl mix wasabi and 6. Uncover and cook 30 minutes 1 (120 g) packet spinach, washed water to make a paste. longer. 2. Let stand 10 minutes. Directions: 3. Stir in vinegar, mayon- 1. Toast sesame seeds until slightly brown, you will smell the scent of the sesame seeds naise and garlic. when it’s ready. 4. Set aside. 2. Reserve small amount of the sesame seed for the garnish. Directions for tuna: 3. Place the rest on a plate and crush (you could do this in a processor as well), then 1. Prepare grill with medi- place in a bowl. um-hot coals. 4. Add water, soy, sugar into the bowl with the sesame seed. (If you are using the food 2. In a cup, mix the soy Japan processor then add these ingredients into the processor). Set aside until spinach is ready. sauce, oil, and wasabi powder. 5. To cook the spinach: Add a pinch of salt into a pot of boiling hot water. Mix and then 3. Brush on tuna. add spinach for one minute. 4. Grill for 3-4 minutes on SUSHI RICE 6. Pour the spinach and water into a colander and run cold tap water to cool down the each side for rare tuna. spinach; this will stop it from cooking more. 5. Thinly slice the tuna and Servings: 4 7. Squish the spinach with your hands, until all the moisture is out of the spinach. serve with the Wasabi sauce. 8. Place spinach in serving bowls and drizzle the dressing onto the spinach. Add re- Ingredients: served sesame seed as garnish. 2 cups short-grain rice or 2 cups sushi rice 2 ¼ cups water 4 tablespoons sushi vinegar Sushi vinegar 1/3 cup rice vinegar (or white vinegar) 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt

Directions: 1. Bring water to a boil. 2. Pour in rice and boil for one minute, uncovered. 3. Cover and reduce heat to simmer. 4. Simmer for 20 minutes. 5. Let sit for 10 minutes, uncovered. 6. Put into large non-metal bowl and cut in sushi vinegar with a wooden spatula. 7. Let the rice cool further. 8. Stir until dissolved and remove from heat. Technology FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 26 Why isn’t a good old fashioned button or switch acceptable anymore?

Technology ‘advances’ that made life more annoying

e’ve all had a love/hate relationship with technology for most of our lives. Most of the time things work perfectly and don’t tend to annoy you, although there’s Walways that occasional time where everything breaks and turns against you, causing your life to resemble something more of a living nightmare. Around the world brand new ideas for technology are being thought up almost every minute, causing a global saturation of gear with an electronic pulse. Technology FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 27

Will they actually be useful to me or anyone else? We are quite lucky that of iPads is at gigs and concerts, as instead of someone holding up a digital we live in a world where all of this new and shiny technology is so readily camera to grab a snap of their favorite band, people are holding aloft a sea of available, but could it be a victim of its own success? At some point we will iPads to film or photograph something in the stage’s general direction. If the be engulfed by technology which is already ‘outdated’ before it even hits the camera isn’t going to be an integral part of the product, why put it in there as shelves. So with all these advances in technology, are any of them useful? Or an afterthought? are they just going to annoy us even further? On screen non-QWERTY keyboards Using iPad cameras at events Since the 1870’s and the times of a typewriter (way before the Inter- The iPad is a strange item. It wasn’t the first tablet to ever go on sale, but net, kids) the QWERTY layout has become a standard layout on keyboards because of its Apple sticker and brushed aluminum finish it sold very quickly throughout the world. So why, with the advances in Smart TV’s and games indeed. Some called it a fat phone without being able to call anyone, others consoles do they insist on having the keyboard laid out on screen in alpha- the greatest thing since the wheel. Phones have slowly been integrating cam- betical order? In a world where we have evolved with the QWERTY layout on eras for the last few years to mixed success as their quality is often computers, phones and anything else with letters on it, why persist in confus- terrible and is seldom used, except when you are using Snapchat ing us with the keyboard laid out incorrectly? It ends up wasting or Instagraming your food of course. For photo quality the more time as you misread where letters should be, ending up public will generally buy a camera separately as it has one with the completely wrong TV show to watch, and that’s only primary function, to take pictures. An iPad thinks it can after you’ve failed to enter your password again and conquer 100 jobs in one slightly-too-large-to-fit- again. Should they go back to a simpler time your-hand package. The part which is when we could plug a small inex- the most annoying is the camera pensive keyboard directly into though. It’s a useless aspect of consoles, or perhaps have a the device because it’s just full QWERTY keyboard another feature to add slide out from under- to the specification neath the remote? list – rather than a Any of these would core aspect of the be better than see- product. The main ing letters put into hunting ground alphabetical order.

—www.whatculture.com Music FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 28 Please stop the music! Bands that really need to call it a day

hether it be the result of lingering egotism from their distant heyday or complete ignorance Wof any sentiment with which to ground them in reality, the musical landscape is littered with bands clawing onto past successes and yearning after halcyon days where their popularity was referred to in the pres- ent tense. Just imagine if music’s most luminary figures – your Cobain’s, your Morrison’s and your Joplin’s – were conducting their umpteenth greatest hits tour which sees them reeling off the big songs night after night, year after year rather than bowing out by getting their 27 Club membership card. Would the world remember them with such fondness and reverence? Blink-182 et’s face it, Blink-182 helped define the era of American Pie films and commercialized pop-punk. ‘Take Off Your Pants And Jacket’ and ‘Enema Of The State’ are juvenile yet Linfinitely enjoyable masterstrokes. 2011?’s ‘Neighborhoods’ on the other hand, well, the less said about that the better.

he masters of overblown pop-rock, Bon Jovi have been churning out blue collar anthems for 30 years in a never-ending cycle of gigantic stadium Tshows that gross enough to largely diminish the severity of the global poverty crisis. New Jersey native Jon Bon and his denim-clad bandmates pres- ent no shame in playing “Livin’ On A Prayer” on a nightly basis to tens of thou- Bon Jovi sands of middle-aged mothers who assemble on an annual basis to witness the once poodle-haired arena rockers reel off the classics for the millionth time. Music FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 29

Green Day t’s a familiar story: A Puddle Of Mudd bunch of snot-nosed Iyouths get together and unleash a tirade of angst- laden vitriol that is a huge hit with a disaffected youth, eventually landing them a major label deal.

ost-grunge is a sub-genre that has produced abso- lutely nothing of any lasting merit. From the hor- Prendous Cobain-aping whine of Nickelback, to the paltry, watered down angst of Seether and the embarrassing mightier-than-thou disposition of Nickelback, it seems to be consumed exclusively by fans of WWE. Every band assem- bled under the post-grunge moniker lined up to offer their best Eddie Vedder impression while representing everything that grunge had so vehemently defined itself against. Guns N’ Roses

n extended residency at a Las Vegas casino and hotel is prob- ably the most solid indicator that an act has shed itself of Aevery morsel of cultural relevancy or usefulness other than providing evening entertainment for a few thousand tourists in- between extended bouts of otherwise uninterrupted gambling.

n the mid-80’s, U2 produced some of the era’s definitive albums in ‘The Joshua Tree’ and ‘War’. The regularity with which they would mete out anthemic rock songs that bristled with a seething political discontent was rather laudable. But, like Ithe Edge’s hairline, the antagonism has continued to recede while the band’s collective egos have bloated to such vol- umes that they are transported to every stadium show in individual trucks. U2 —www.whatculture.com Beauty FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 30 , Be bold bright and daring

et ready for a steamy summer! This year’s hottest lip colors are a the color of peach but want to dial up the drama a bit, then tangerine is your smokin’ color saturation that’s sure to go to your head. If a color is go-to summer lipstick shade. Gbold, bright and daring, it’s sure to be on-trend, so try one or try them all to figure out which of summer’s hottest lip colors is right for you. Fire Engine Red A red hot lip is clearly a perfect choice for summer because it is the color Going crazy for coral most closely associated with heat and fire. Instead of wearing a darker brick Coral lip colors range from a subtle orangey coral pink to a fiery hot red-or- color in the summer, it’s best to go for a truly bright shade, like fire engine red. ange that calls to mind a summer sun setting over the ocean. These variations —www.totalbeauty.com provide ample opportunity for you to test coral lip colors until you find the right fit. Start with something simple like the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Bolero, and work your way up to a flaming hot lip color like the Carmine color developed by Besame, the vintage-inspired makeup line used in Mad Men.

Peach A juicy shade of peach is one of the ultimate lip colors for summer, because it gives off a beachy, laid-back vibe that will get you into vacation mode, pronto. Complete your look with two coats of waterproof mascara, and you’ve got the perfect summer beauty routine.

Lilac This shade of purple may seem a little out-of-the-box at first, but don’t be scared. A pale shade of lilac transitions seamlessly from a day at the beach to a hot summer’s night out in the city. Plus, this gorgeous lip color will brighten up your complexion and make you glow.

Pepto Pink An ultra bright pink is such a joyful shade, and it’s one of the quintessential summer lip colors. Pale pink is nice for spring, but an electric shade is perfect for summer. As long as you keep the rest of your makeup routine minimal, don’t be afraid to go for a loud lipstick.

Tangerine Tangerine is one of those colors that was just made for summer. If you love Leisure FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

DOWN 1. The eleventh month of the Hindu calendar. CROSSWORD535 2. A fit of shivering. 3. The capital and largest city of Equatorial Guinea on the island of Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea. 4. The sound made by corvine birds. 5. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting (especially in cases of drug over- dose or poisoning). 6. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology. 7. Compulsively or physiologically dependent on something habit-forming. 8. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores. 9. Take or catch as if in a snare or trap. 10. A hard gray lustrous metallic element that is highly corrosion-resistant. 11. To work at or to absurd length. 12. Soviet physicist who worked on low temperature physics (1908-1968). 13. (Old Testament) The second patriarch. 14. The state capital of Western Australia. 19. Intentional deception resulting in injury to another person. 20. North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. 23. Syncopated music in duple time for dancing the rumba. 26. (Akkadian) Mother of the gods and consort of Apsu. 28. An informal term for a father. 31. In societies practicing shamanism. 36. A dull persistent (usually moderately intense) pain. 37. Singing jazz. 39. A superior grade of black tea. 41. The organic process of bearing flowers. 43. A small nail. 44. A thick sweet sticky liquid. 47. (the feminine of raja) A Hindu princess or the wife of a raja. 48. Anticonvulsant (trade name Depokene) used to prevent some kinds of ACROSS seizures. 1. A member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala. 50. Being or moving higher in position or greater in some value. 4. Finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper. 51. Any of several plants of the genus Manihot having fleshy roots yielding a 11. A sudden minor shock or meaningless interruption. nutritious starch. 15. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey). 55. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling). 16. The great hall in ancient Persian palaces. 58. Being one more than ten. 17. Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort. 59. An esoteric or occult matter that is traditionally secret. 18. Brown algae with rounded bladders forming dense floating masses in tropi- 63. Nocturnal badger-like carnivore of wooded regions of Africa and southern cal Atlantic waters as in the Sargasso Sea. Asia. 21. Perceive sound. 65. The process of gradually becoming inferior. 22. A mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path. 66. (sometimes followed by `of') Having or showing realization or perception. 24. Egyptian statesman who (as President of Egypt) negotiated a peace treaty 68. A small cake leavened with yeast. with Menachem Begin of Israel (1918-1981). 72. An anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such 25. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad. symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling of light-headedness or irritabili- 27. A boy or man. ty etc that has lasted for more than six months. 29. German organist and contrapuntist (1685-1750). 73. The compass point that is one point east of due south. 30. A Formosan language. 74. (folklore) A small grotesque supernatural creature that makes trouble for 32. Large brightly crested bird of Africa. human beings. 33. A midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region. 75. Syndrome resulting from a serious acute (sometimes fatal) infection associ- 34. An official prosecutor for a judicial district. ated with the presence of staphylococcus. 35. A complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which 78. A toxic nonmetallic element related to sulfur and tellurium. oxygen binds. 38. Worthless or oversimplified ideas. 40. A unit of information equal to one million (1,048,576) bytes. Yesterdayʼs Solution 42. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity. 45. A federal agency that supervises carriers that transport goods and people between states. 46. A green transparent form of beryl. Yesterday’s Solution 49. Of or relating to or containing or derived from gold. 52. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing. 53. A genus of Psittacidae. 54. Fortification consisting of a low wall. 56. Sweet pulpy tropical fruit with thick scaly rind and shiny black seeds. 57. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum. 60. Italian actress best known for her performances in tragic roles (1858-1924). 61. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication. 62. Designating a solution containing 1 mole of solute per 1000 grams of sol- vent. 64. A genus of Ploceidae. 67. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 69. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables. 70. A way of regarding situations or topics etc.. 71. An ugly evil-looking old woman. 76. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 77. Being without a bone or bones. 79. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine. 80. Having undesirable or negative qualities. 81. Trees or shrubs of the families Ebenaceae or Sapotaceae or Styracaceae or Symplocaceae. 82. Minor or subordinate.

Daily SuDoku Yesterday’s Solution Stars FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Aries (March 21-April 19) COUNTRY CODES Libra (September 23-October 22) Afghanistan 0093 Kuwait 00965 Some of your demons may come back to haunt you today, Aries. Albania 00355 Kyrgyzstan 00996 If you admit you've made a mistake, people are more likely to Algeria 00213 Laos 00856 You could find yourself battling some of those same old doubts forgive you. You have a confrontational day ahead, Libra. Andorra 00376 Latvia 00371 and insecurities that you thought you'd left behind. Your desire Angola 00244 Lebanon 00961 There's no doubt that you're in a stationary position concerning for a higher standard of living will have you preoccupied with Anguilla 001264 Liberia 00231 your career. That may be crimping your style somewhat, finan- money concerns in the middle of the day. These concerns will Antiga 001268 Libya 00218 cially speaking, but you'll make better progress if you assume Argentina 0054 Lithuania 00370 pass, so take a deep breath and try not to worry too much. your responsibility and see your mistakes. However, don't be Armenia 00374 Luxembourg 00352 Australia 0061 Macau 00853 too critical of yourself! It's all part of the learning process. Austria 0043 Macedonia 00389 Bahamas 001242 Madagascar 00261 Bahrain 00973 Majorca 0034 Bangladesh 00880 Malawi 00265 Barbados 001246 Malaysia 0060 Belarus 00375 Maldives 00960 Taurus (April 20-May 20) Belgium 0032 Mali 00223 Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Belize 00501 Malta 00356 Benin 00229 Marshall Islands 00692 Bermuda 001441 Martinique 00596 It might seem like you no longer completely believe in what You may have been wishing for some recognition and appreci- Bhutan 00975 Mauritania 00222 you're doing, Taurus, perhaps because you've been going a Bolivia 00591 Mauritius 00230 little too quickly in your quest to get what you need. It's ation lately. Perhaps you had your eye on a promotion at work. Bosnia 00387 Mayotte 00269 very possible that your social life has slowed down a lot The day ahead will show you which path will be the most pro- Botswana 00267 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 now - just when you decided to go full speed in this ductive. In order to succeed, Scorpio, you have to plan every- Brazil 0055 thing carefully and focus on one goal. You should be sure you Brunei 00673 Moldova 00373 domain. Surprising what the astral energy can do, isn't it? Bulgaria 00359 Monaco 00377 Don't get upset. You can't do a thing about it. have support for that goal. There's a long, hard climb ahead, Burkina 00226 Mongolia 00976 but you're bound to make it! Burundi 00257 Montserrat 001664 Cambodia 00855 Morocco 00212 Cameroon 00237 Mozambique 00258 Canada 001 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Cape Verde 00238 Namibia 00264 Cayman Islands 001345 Nepal 00977 Gemini (May 21-June 20) Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Central African Republic 00236 Netherlands (Holland)0031 Chad 00235 Netherlands Antilles 00599 Chile 0056 New Caledonia 00687 China 0086 New Zealand 0064 Today's planetary energies will be very demanding, Gemini. As If you happen to be training for a new trade, learning a new Colombia 0057 Nicaragua 00505 you agonize over whether or not you're up to “standard," the technique, or perhaps you're being evaluated after an intern- Comoros 00269 Nigar 00227 planets, in a very cheeky way, respond that you are not! That's Congo 00242 Nigeria 00234 ship period, you can expect these pursuits to conclude on a Cook Islands 00682 Niue 00683 because you're moving too quickly. The change in direction high note. You may have been somewhat afraid that those in Costa Rica 00506 Norfolk Island 00672 that you're making at the moment is profound, yet you're try- authority would frown upon your originality, Sagittarius. On the Croatia 00385 Northern Ireland (UK)0044 ing to take it lightly. Dare to slow down and go deeper. contrary, it seems the people in charge appreciate it more than Cuba 0053 North Korea 00850 you know. Cyprus 00357 Norway 0047 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Oman 00968 Czech Republic 00420 Pakistan 0092 Denmark 0045 Palau 00680 Diego Garcia 00246 Panama 00507 Djibouti 00253 Papua New Guinea 00675 Dominica 001767 Paraguay 00595 Cancer (June 21-July 22 Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Dominican Republic 001809 Peru 0051 ) Ecuador 00593 Philippines 0063 Egypt 0020 Poland 0048 El Salvador 00503 Portugal 00351 You seem to want to become old and wise before your time, Today you might read a book on exercise or nutrition that England (UK) 0044 Puerto Rico 001787 Cancer. Today's aspects will take you by the hand and lead you seems a bit unsettling, Capricorn. According to the book, Equatorial Guinea 00240 Qatar 00974 Eritrea 00291 Romania 0040 back into the heat of the action, experiencing life in all its inten- you're doing everything wrong! Remember that what the Estonia 00372 Russian Federation 007 sity. Yes, we know you're really afraid of all this. But if you don't author is probably outlining is a certain practice that Ethiopia 00251 Rwanda 00250 get back into action, you'll stay alone in your little corner. The worked for him or her. Everyone is different. Don't change Falkland Islands 00500 Saint Helena 00290 world needs you. Don't stay at home! your habits for practices that don't feel right. Consult a Faroe Islands 00298 Saint Kitts 001869 professional if you're still concerned. Such a person is more Fiji 00679 Saint Lucia 001758 than capable of discerning what's right for you. Finland 00358 Saint Pierre 00508 France 0033 Saint Vincent 001784 French Guiana 00594 Samoa US 00684 French Polynesia 00689 Samoa West 00685 Gabon 00241 San Marino 00378 Gambia 00220 Sao Tone 00239 Leo (July 23-August 22) Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Georgia 00995 Saudi Arabia 00966 Germany 0049 Scotland (UK) 0044 Ghana 00233 Senegal 00221 Gibraltar 00350 Seychelles 00284 There is some probability that you'll want to escape from real- Today the celestial energy will be trying to teach you some- Greece 0030 Sierra Leone 00232 ity today, Leo. You aren't anxious to face a situation that thing, Aquarius, specifically, how to share with others. But first Greenland 00299 Singapore 0065 demands that you commit yourself. Is this because you're you must get to a place where you truly want to share some- Grenada 001473 Slovakia 00421 thing of yourself. Have you examined your tendency to run Guadeloupe 00590 Slovenia 00386 afraid that you lack the ability to assume this new responsibil- Guam 001671 Solomon Islands 00677 ity? This is an honest-to-goodness chance to fulfill your away? You seem to be afraid that they'll overwhelm you or that Guatemala 00502 Somalia 00252 dreams of success. There can be no question of evading it! you'll owe them something. This isn't the case, Aquarius. Why Guinea 00224 South Africa 0027 Get busy! not give other people a chance to get to know you? Guyana 00592 South Korea 0082 Haiti 00509 Spain 0034 Holland (Netherlands)0031 Sri Lanka 0094 Honduras 00504 Sudan 00249 Hong Kong 00852 Suriname 00597 Hungary 0036 Swaziland 00268 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Sweden 0046 Iceland 00354 Switzerland 0041 Virgo (August 23-September 22) Pisces (February 19-March 20) India 0091 Syria 00963 Indian Ocean 00873 Taiwan 00886 Indonesia 0062 Tanzania 00255 You face a day of some conflict, Virgo. Nevertheless, the discord Today's energy will be making you think only about your relation- Iran 0098 Thailand 0066 ships, Pisces. It isn't easy to have relationships with others, as you Iraq 00964 Toga 00228 will prove quite useful. This is probably one of the best opportu- Ireland 00353 Tonga 00676 nities in recent weeks to become aware of some family matters. may have noticed. The respective demands of each one in a rela- Italy 0039 Tokelau 00690 These matters may have been occurring behind your back for tionship can be difficult to understand. Moreover, the demands of Ivory Coast 00225 Trinidad 001868 some time now. News about a bit of past personal history could others can obscure your path or cause you to detour from it. Jamaica 001876 Tunisia 00216 surprise you, and perhaps even upset you for a short time. Consider that the less we ask for in a relationship, the more flexible Japan 0081 Turkey 0090 and deeper it becomes! Jordan 00962 Tuvalu 00688 Kazakhstan 007 Uganda 00256 Kenya 00254 Ukraine 00380 Kiribati 00686 United Arab Emirates00976 TV listings FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

08:40 Fast N’ Loud 19:00 Doomsday Preppers 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 Five-PG15 09:30 Border Security 20:00 Situation Critical 14:00 Zero Hour 15:00 Moonrise Kingdom-PG15 09:55 Baggage Battles 21:00 Doomsday Preppers 15:00 Almost Human 17:00 The Three Stooges-PG15 10:20 The Liquidator 22:00 Doomsday Preppers 16:00 Emmerdale 19:00 Celeste And Jesse Forever-PG15 10:45 How It’s Made 23:00 A Traveler’s Guide To The 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 Cloud Atlas-18 00:45 Whale Wars 11:10 How Stuff’s Made Planets 18:00 Zero Hour 01:35 Untamed & Uncut 00:35 The Jonathan Ross Show 11:35 Sons Of Guns 19:00 Glee 02:25 Man, Cheetah, Wild 01:30 Emmerdale 12:25 Destroyed In Seconds 20:00 American Idol 03:15 Call Of The Wildman 02:25 Coronation Street 12:50 Destroyed In Seconds 21:00 The Client List 03:40 Call Of The Wildman 02:55 Come Dine With Me Ireland 13:15 Destroyed In Seconds 22:00 Survivor: Cagayan 04:05 Swimming With Monsters: Steve 03:25 Four Weddings UK 13:40 Destroyed In Seconds 23:00 Nip/Tuck 01:00 The Pirates! Band Of Misfits Backshall 04:20 The Hungry Sailors 14:05 Border Security 03:00 The Happets 04:55 Animal Cops Phoenix 05:15 May The Best House Win Abroad 14:30 Baggage Battles 04:30 Puppy In My Pocket: The Movie 05:45 ER Vets 06:10 The Jonathan Ross Show 00:20 World’s Deadliest Killers 14:55 The Liquidator 06:00 Free Birds 06:10 ER Vets 07:05 Come Dine With Me Ireland 01:10 Fish Warrior 15:20 Bush Pilots 08:00 Cinderella 06:35 Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors 07:30 Four Weddings UK 02:00 Built For The Kill 16:10 Fast N’ Loud 10:00 Curious George: Swings Into 07:00 Escape To Chimp Eden 08:25 The Hungry Sailors 02:50 World’s Deadliest: Jaws & Sins 17:00 Ultimate Survival Spring 07:25 Animal Maternity Ward 09:20 May The Best House Win Abroad 03:45 Shane Untamed 17:50 Wheeler Dealers 11:30 Madagascar 08:15 Wild France 10:15 Doc Martin 04:40 Ultimate Animal Countdown 00:00 Devil’s Bridge 18:40 You Have Been Warned 13:00 The Pirates! Band Of Misfits 09:10 The Wild Life Of Tim Faulkner 11:10 Emmerdale 05:35 Built For The Kill 02:00 The Veteran 19:30 Bear Grylls: Escape From Hell 14:30 Freddy Frogface 09:35 The Wild Life Of Tim Faulkner 12:00 Coronation Street 06:30 World’s Deadliest: Jaws & Sins 04:00 Virtuosity 20:20 How It’s Made 16:00 Curious George 10:05 Man, Cheetah, Wild 12:30 The Jonathan Ross Show 07:25 Shane Untamed 06:00 The Blood Bond 20:45 How Stuff’s Made 18:00 Curious George: Swings Into 11:00 Animal Precinct 13:25 May The Best House Win Abroad 08:20 Ultimate Animal Countdown 08:00 The Speed Of Thought 21:10 Baggage Battles Spring 11:55 Escape To Chimp Eden 14:20 Doc Martin 09:15 Let Elephants Be Elephants 10:00 Drop Zone 21:35 The Liquidator 19:30 Ben 10: Race Against Time 12:20 Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors 15:10 Come Dine With Me Ireland 09:40 Wild Lab: The Shark Test 12:00 The Philly Kid 22:00 Fast N’ Loud 21:30 Freddy Frogface 12:50 Animal Clinic 15:35 The Chase 10:10 World’s Wildest Encounters 14:00 Abandoned 22:50 Wheeler Dealers 23:15 Curious George 13:45 Austin Stevens Adventures 16:00 Tom Daley Goes Global 11:05 America The Wild 16:00 Drop Zone 23:40 Extreme Car Hoarders 14:40 Man, Cheetah, Wild 17:15 Blandings 12:00 Hooked 18:00 Armageddon 15:30 My Cat From Hell 17:55 Come Dine With Me Ireland 12:55 World’s Deadliest 20:30 Abandoned 16:30 The Magic Of The Big Blue 18:20 Doc Martin 13:50 That Shouldn’t Fly 22:00 Shaft 17:25 Too Cute! 19:10 Coronation Street 14:45 Shane Untamed 18:20 Bad Dog 19:35 The Chase 15:40 Ultimate Animal Countdown 20:30 Tom Daley Goes Global 16:35 Night Stalkers 00:00 Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 19:15 Tanked 02:00 Battlestar Galactica: Blood & 20:10 Treehouse Masters 21:25 Blandings 17:30 Wild Gabon 21:55 Come Dine With Me Ireland 18:25 Secret Life of Predators Chrome 21:05 Lion Man: One World African 00:00 Chelsea Lately 04:00 One Life Safari 00:30 The Dance Scene 22:20 Coronation Street 19:20 World’s Deadliest 22:50 Emmerdale 20:10 That Shouldn’t Fly 06:00 Pizza Man 21:35 Lion Man: One World African 00:55 The Dance Scene 00:00 The Veteran-18 23:45 Doc Martin 21:00 Shane Untamed 08:00 Zambezia Safari 01:25 Style Star 02:00 Virtuosity-PG15 21:50 Ultimate Animal Countdown 10:00 Batman: The Dark Knight 22:00 Tanked 01:50 Style Star 04:00 The Blood Bond-PG15 22:40 Night Stalkers Returns Part Two 22:55 Treehouse Masters 02:20 E!ES 06:00 The Speed Of Thought-PG15 23:30 Wild Gabon 12:00 Parental Guidance 23:50 Animal Cops Phoenix 03:15 Extreme Close-Up 08:00 Drop Zone-PG 14:00 Zambezia 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 10:00 The Philly Kid-PG15 04:10 E!ES 16:00 Rewind 12:00 Abandoned-PG15 05:05 E!ES 18:00 Cash 06:00 E!ES 14:00 Drop Zone-PG 20:00 Gangster Squad 07:50 Style Star 00:00 Inside 16:00 Armageddon-PG15 22:00 Friends With Kids 08:20 E! News 01:00 Dangerous Encounters 18:30 Abandoned-PG15 00:00 Doctors 09:15 Giuliana & Bill 02:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 20:00 Shaft-18 00:30 My Hero 10:15 THS 03:00 Pirate Patrol 22:00 Grave Encounters-18 01:00 The Cafe 12:05 E! News 04:00 Blowdown 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon 01:25 Stolen Stewart 13:05 Fashion Police 05:00 Diggers 01:00 Trans World Sport 02:55 Incredible Journeys With Steve 01:00 The Colbert Report 13:35 The Fabulist 05:30 Diggers 02:00 Premier League Darts Leonard 01:30 Family Guy 14:05 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills 06:00 Pirate Patrol 05:30 NRL Full Time 03:45 My Hero 02:00 Brickleberry 15:00 Keeping Up With The 07:00 Nat Geo Amazing! 06:00 European tour weekly 04:15 The Weakest Link 02:30 Weeds 00:00 Cherry-18 Kardashians 08:00 Inside 06:30 Inside The PGA Tour 05:00 Boogie Beebies 03:00 Last Man Standing 02:00 Grabbers-PG15 16:00 Keeping Up With The 09:00 Dangerous Encounters 07:00 Golfing World 05:15 Little Human Planet Kardashians 03:30 New Girl 04:00 The Money Pit-PG15 10:00 Brave New World 08:00 ICC Cricket 360 05:20 The Green Balloon Club 17:00 The Drama Queen 04:00 Seinfeld 06:00 Daddy Day Camp-FAM 11:00 Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey 08:30 Trans World Sport 05:45 Poetry Pie 18:00 E! News 04:30 The Tonight Show Starring 08:00 A Thousand Words-PG15 12:00 Stonehenge Decoded 09:30 Seven World Series 05:50 Gigglebiz 19:00 The Fabulist Jimmy Fallon 10:00 Problem Child-PG 14:00 Family Guns 10:00 Total Rugby 06:05 Boogie Beebies 19:30 Fashion Police 05:30 My Boys 12:00 The Money Pit-PG15 15:00 None of the Above 10:30 Live Super Rugby 06:20 Me Too! 20:00 Eric And Jessie: Game On 06:00 Breaking In 14:00 Rookie Of The Year-PG 15:30 None of the Above 12:30 Live Super Rugby 06:40 The Green Balloon Club 20:30 Eric And Jessie: Game On 06:30 Friends 16:00 Problem Child-PG 16:00 Animal Autopsy 14:30 International Rugby League 07:05 Gigglebiz 21:00 Giuliana & Bill 07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 18:00 A Kiss For Jed Wood-PG15 17:00 Dangerous Encounters 16:30 Live Snooker World 07:20 The Weakest Link 22:00 Hello Ross 08:00 Seinfeld 20:00 Superbad-18 18:00 Street Monkeys Championship 08:05 My Hero 22:30 E! News 08:30 My Boys 22:00 Cherry-18 20:00 Trans World Sport 08:35 The Cafe 09:00 Last Man Standing 21:00 Live Snooker World 09:00 Eastenders 09:30 The Mindy Project Championship 09:30 Doctors 10:00 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 10:00 Incredible Journeys With Steve 10:30 Friends Leonard 11:00 The Tonight Show Starring 10:50 The Weakest Link Jimmy Fallon 11:35 The Cafe 12:00 Breaking In 01:00 Old Stock 12:00 My Hero 12:30 Seinfeld 03:00 Comes A Bright Day 02:00 Live NHL 12:30 The World’s Toughest Driving 13:00 My Boys 05:00 Atlas Shrugged 05:00 WWE NXT Tests 13:30 Friends 07:00 Old Stock 06:00 Trans World Sport 13:20 Eastenders 14:00 New Girl 09:00 Kathmandu Lullaby 07:00 Sevens World Series Highlights 13:50 Doctors 14:30 The Mindy Project 10:45 Atlas Shrugged 07:30 Super League 14:20 The Weakest Link 15:00 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 12:30 Quiet Flows The Don 09:30 NRL Full Time 15:05 Incredible Journeys With Steve 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon 15:30 Carnage 10:00 Live International Rugby League Leonard Stewart 17:00 Hyde Park On Hudson 12:00 Live Snooker World 15:55 My Hero 16:00 The Colbert Report 19:00 Straight A’s Championship World Championship 16:25 The Weakest Link 16:30 Breaking In 21:00 Nobody Walks 16:00 Super Rugby 17:10 Eastenders 17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 23:00 Locked In 18:00 WWE NXT 17:40 Doctors 18:00 Last Man Standing 19:00 WWE Bottom Line 18:10 Casualty 18:30 New Girl 20:00 WWE Smackdown 19:00 Saxondale 19:00 Enlisted 22:00 Live PGA Tour 19:30 The Vicar Of Dibley 19:30 The Michael J. Fox Show 20:00 Incredible Journeys With Steve 20:00 The Tonight Show Starring Leonard Jimmy Fallon 20:50 Getting On 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon 01:00 Bad Karma-18 21:20 Bedlam Stewart 03:00 Out Of Sight-PG15 22:00 Mad Dogs 21:30 The Colbert Report 05:00 Broken-PG15 22:45 Alan Carr: Chatty Man 22:00 It’s Always Sunny In 07:00 Teenage Paparazzo-PG15 00:00 IPL Highlights 23:35 Eastenders Philadelphia 09:00 Stardust-PG 01:00 IPL Highlights 22:30 The League 11:15 Mad Love-PG15 02:00 IPL Highlights 23:00 Weeds 13:00 The Music Never Stopped-PG15 03:00 ICC Cricket 360 23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers 15:00 Prosecuting Casey Anthony- 03:30 IPL Highlights PG15 04:30 IPL Highlights 17:00 Mad Love-PG15 05:30 IPL Highlights 19:00 Shadow Dancer-PG15 06:30 ICC Cricket 360 00:30 Sons Of Guns 21:00 Six Degrees Of Separation-18 07:00 IPL Highlights 01:20 Amish Mafia 00:00 Almost Human 23:00 Best Laid Plans-18 08:00 IPL Highlights 02:10 Extreme Smuggling 01:00 Necessary Roughness 09:00 ICC Cricket 360 03:00 You Have Been Warned 02:00 Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. 09:30 IPL Highlights 03:50 Border Security 03:00 Nip/Tuck 10:30 IPL Highlights 04:15 Baggage Battles 04:00 American Idol 11:30 IPL Highlights 04:40 The Liquidator 06:00 Almost Human 01:00 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded-18 12:30 IPL Highlights 05:05 How It’s Made 07:00 Betrayal 03:00 The Double-PG15 13:30 ICC Cricket 360 05:30 How Stuff’s Made 08:00 Zero Hour 05:00 Class-PG15 14:00 IPL Highlights 06:00 Bear Grylls: Escape From Hell 09:00 Necessary Roughness 07:00 Fastest-PG15 15:00 IPL Highlights 07:00 You Have Been Warned 10:00 American Idol 09:00 The Three Stooges-PG15 16:00 IPL Highlights 07:50 World’s Biggest Ship DROP ZONE ON OSN MOVIES ACTION 12:00 Emmerdale 11:00 Beastly-PG15 17:00 ICC Cricket 360 FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

ACCOMMODATION FOR SALE

Khaitan - sharing spacious Sofa sets, center table, show- bed space available for case, TV stand, bed room decent Goan bachelor, from sets, dressing table, fridge 4 June beside the main road months old, dining table with and bus stop in C/AC build- chairs, other items. Contact: ing with internet and kitchen (C 4712) facility. Call 99402377. 97523316/22474516. 1-5-2014 (C 4710) 1-5-2014 For immediate sale in excel- lent condition 4 seater + 1 + 1, sofa, 32” Sony LCD TV, 38” CHANGE OF NAME LG LCD TV and one exercise bike. Please contact I, Kabir Taher Ali Yusuf, 60604565. (C 4708) Passport No: H8467312 want 28-4-2014 to change my name to Kabir Taher Yusuf. Address: Doctor Najampura, Sagwara, leaving Kuwait, excel- Dungarpur. Raj. lent condition, two sofas and (C 4711) two TVs. Phone: 99598324. 1-5-2014 (C 4707) 23-4-2014

Kuwait

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (01/05/2014 TO 07/05/2014)

SHARQIA-1 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG-3D) 12:05 AM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 1:00 PM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 3:00 PM FANAR-1 BRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 3:45 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 1:00 PM SUN+TUE+WED SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 3:30 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 5:45 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 5:45 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 8:00 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 8:00 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 10:15 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 10:15 PM BRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 12:45 AM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 12:30 AM Prayer timings Fajr: 03:40 SHARQIA-2 FANAR-2 Shorook 05:06 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG-3D) 2:00 PM TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 1:30 PM RIO 2 (DIG-3D) 4:45 PM IN THE BLOOD (DIG) 3:15 PM Duhr: 11:45 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 7:00 PM TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 3:30 PM Asr: 15:21 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG-3D) 9:45 PM SUN+TUE+WED THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 12:30 AM RIO 2 (DIG) 5:15 PM Maghrib: 18:25 IN THE BLOOD (DIG) 7:30 PM Isha: 19:42 SHARQIA-3 SNOWPIERCER (DIG) 9:30 PM 112 TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 1:30 PM IN THE BLOOD (DIG) 12:05 AM THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 3:15 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 5:15 PM THE BAG MAN (DIG) 7:00 PM FANAR-3 No: 16153 THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 9:00 PM BRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 1:00 PM THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 11:00 PM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 3:00 PM THE BAG MAN (DIG) 1:00 AM BRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 5:45 PM THE BAG MAN (DIG) 7:45 PM MUHALAB-1 THE BAG MAN (DIG) 9:45 PM BRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 12:30 PM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 11:45 PM TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 2:45 PM BRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 4:30 PM MARINA-1 TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 6:30 PM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 12:45 PM THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 8:15 PM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 3:45 PM THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 10:15 PM THE BAG MAN (DIG) 6:30 PM THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 12:15 AM IN THE BLOOD (DIG) 8:30 PM THE BAG MAN (DIG) 10:30 PM MUHALAB-2 THE BAG MAN (DIG) 12:30 AM THE BAG MAN (DIG) 12:45 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 3:00 PM THE BAG MAN (DIG) 5:00 PM MARINA-2 SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 7:15 PM THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 1:30 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 9:30 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 3:30 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 11:45 PM THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 5:30 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 7:30 PM SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 9:45 PM MUHALAB-3 THE QUIET ONES (DIG) 12:05 AM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 1:30 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED 24835616/7 ,24833199 RIO 2 (DIG-3D) 4:15 PM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG-3D) 6:30 PM MARINA-3 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 9:15 PM TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG-3D) 1:00 PM

Business FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Markets obscure Rouhani India invites US to discuss IP rights, market access bid to rescue economy PAGE 39 PAGE 37

BARCELONA: Demonstrators hold a placard reading “We will not be their subjects” during the May Day rally in Barcelona yesterday. — AFP Tear gas at Turkish May Day protests Impressive Red Square rally draws 100,000

ISTANBUL: Turkish police fired tear gas and water banners carried by the smiling demonstrators, a Russia. The tone was markedly different in Greece Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Taipei. cannon to disperse May Day protesters in Istanbul colorful spectacle harking back to Soviet times. where thousands marched in the countries two In Cambodia, security forces armed with sticks yesterday, as millions took to the streets around main cities of Athens and Salonika against an auster- and batons forcibly dispersed dozens of May Day the world to mark International Labor Day. Red Square rally draws 100,000 ity drive following a disastrous debt crisis that led to protesters near Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park, About 100,000 workers paraded on Moscow’s May Day was a key date in the Soviet calendar, mass lay-offs. according to an AFP photographer. iconic Red Square for the first time since the 1991 with elaborate celebrations involving ranks of In Italy’s Turin, scuffles broke out between police Several people were beaten. The park, opened collapse of the Soviet Union as the annexation of marching athletes, soldiers and workers on the and hundreds of protesters. Activists lobbed smoke by the government in 2010 as a designated area for Crimea triggered a surge of patriotism. Moscow square, but in recent years the annual bombs at police, who charged against demonstra- people to air their grievances, was closed off by Protesters were also out in force in European demonstrations have been relegated to a city high- tors in the northern industrial city, which has been police with barbed wire as the authorities sought to countries including Italy and Greece, marching way. Trade union leaders said about two million badly hit by a painful two-year recession. Rallies also clamp down on protests against long-ruling strong- against unemployment and austerity policies. people had turned up for May Day rallies across took place across Asia, including in Hong Kong, man Prime Minister Hun Sen. Across Asia, workers took to the streets demanding In Indonesia, protestors carrying portraits of left- better working conditions and salary hikes. In tense ist idols such as Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and the Istanbul, hundreds of riot police backed up by country’s first president Sukarno, marched to the water cannon moved in on protesters in the state palace in Jakarta. Some sang and danced as Besiktas district as they tried to breach the barri- others carried a three-metre-long toy octopus wear- cades leading up to the symbolic Taksim square on ing a red hat with the words “Capitalist Octopus, the anniversary of clashes that spawned a nation- Sucking the Blood of Workers.” wide protest movement. A reported 40,000 police officers as well as dozens of water cannon trucks ‘We are not slaves’ and armored vehicles were deployed throughout More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Hong Istanbul, with roughly half that number drafted Kong’s landmark Victoria Park to walk towards the into the centre to cordon off all the avenues, government headquarters waving colorful flags and streets and alleys around the square. But the most placards, while singing a Chinese version of “Do You impressive show was in Russia, where a huge col- Hear the People Sing?” from the musical Les umn of demonstrators waving Russian flags and Miserables, while calling for better working condi- balloons marched through Moscow’s iconic square tions and wages. Domestic helper rights concern near the Kremlin and voiced their support for groups, which made up a large portion of the rally, President Vladimir Putin and his hardline stand on wore masks with a picture of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, the Ukraine crisis. an Indonesian maid who was allegedly abused by “Putin is right”, “Proud of the country” and ISTANBUL: A Turkish protester wearing a gas mask stands amid a fog of tear gas that was fired her employer for months, while shouting: “We are “Let’s support decisions of our president” read the by riot police to disperse a May Day rally in Taksim Square in Istanbul yesterday. — AFP workers, we are not slaves”. —AFP Business FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 Markets obscure Rouhani bid to rescue economy Costs, political implications are slowing reforms

DUBAI: A sharp drop in the rial currency time,” said Ramin Rabii, director of the gap between the rial’s free market and reveals heavy pressure on Iran’s economy Turquoise Partners, a Tehran-based invest- official rates, reducing a key avenue for cor- as President Hassan Rouhani struggles to ment firm which has around $200 million of ruption. Such policies could make the econ- deliver higher living standards and shore assets under management. “There is still omy more competitive and efficient. Rabii up domestic political support for a nuclear stagflation, high inflation with very low said that once sanctions were lifted, there deal with world powers. The rial’s free mar- growth. This is not something one can would be a major and immediate industrial ket rate against the US dollar sank to 33,000 escape from in a short period of time - it boom in Iran as companies which were this week, a fall of 9 percent from around would not be easy anywhere in the world.” operating far below capacity, having been HARARE: Women sing and dance during Workers Day cele- 30,000 in early April, according to Iranian starved of imported parts and materials, brations at Gwanzura stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe yes- currency trading websites. Central bank Policies became able to obtain them. “This is the terday. — AP governor Valiollah Seif issued a rare public Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali low-hanging fruit for growth when sanc- statement trying to calm the market. “The Khamenei, who oversees Rouhani, has spo- tions are eased,” he said. CME plans cocoa futures currency’s fluctuation in recent days is not ken repeatedly this year of creating a “resis- in line with positive signs regarding the tance economy” to mobilize the nation’s Obstacles contract to rival ICE economy,” Iranian media quoted him as resources against foreign pressure. Far from The rial’s slide, however, suggests that saying last week. He blamed “opinions that indicating a lurch towards more state con- fruit further up the tree may be hard to LONDON: CME Group Inc, the world’s largest futures aren’t based on correct information”, with- trol of the economy, the rhetoric seems pick. For one thing, Rouhani is finding it out elaborating. exchange operator, plans to launch a cocoa futures contract designed to placate hardline conservatives more difficult than hoped to rationalize Iran and six major world powers plan in while justifying Rouhani’s reforms, which in this year, challenging rival Intercontinental Exchange’s domi- government spending and divert it into mid-May to start drafting key elements of a many ways resemble policies of a centre- more productive uses. Last week’s subsidy nance in the market, industry sources said. The exchange held broad settlement to the dispute over the right European government. reform boosted gasoline prices in Iran by a meeting in London on Wednesday with representatives country’s nuclear program, with the hope from the cocoa industry including traders, brokers and choco- of putting an end to a decade of tensions. late makers to discuss its plans, sources who attended the The six want to ensure the program is cur- meeting said yesterday. tailed enough that it would take Iran a long CME declined to comment. The sources said that those time to assemble nuclear bomb compo- attending the meeting were broadly supportive of the con- nents, if it chose to do so. The Islamic cept of the contract, although they wanted more clarity on Republic denies having such intentions but the details. wants to end the tough economic sanc- The new cocoa contract would rival Liffe’s London-based tions that have hurt the economy. cocoa market, acquired by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) The recent rial slide has not been as seri- in November last year. Traders and brokers on Liffe soft agri- ous as in 2012, when the currency lost a cultural commodity markets have expressed concern that third of its value to nearly 40,000 after the ICE’s takeover of their contracts created a near monopoly, as latest round of sanctions were imposed. the ICE and Liffe exchanges together account for the vast Since he took office last August after a majority of global cocoa, coffee and sugar derivatives trading. landslide election win, Rouhani has suc- The two existing major global cocoa futures contracts, now ceeded in repairing some of the economic both owned by ICE, are based in London and New York. damage which Iran suffered during years of CME Group, through its Chicago Board of Trade subsidiary, direct confrontation with the West under is the dominant exchange for trading in global grains and his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. oilseeds but is not prominent in cocoa, coffee and sugar. The official inflation rate has come Last year, however, CME hired a couple of soft commodity down to 32.5 percent from above 40 per- specialists who had in the past worked on contracts for NYSE cent in mid-2013. The economy seems to Liffe. At the time, the CME declined to comment on whether be emerging from recession; gross domes- the hires related to any plans it might have to expand in soft tic product will grow 1.5 percent this year President Hassan Rouhani commodity markets. — Reuters after shrinking 5.6 percent in 2012 and 1.7 percent in 2013, the International Monetary Tighter fiscal and monetary policy are at up to 75 percent but it was smaller than ini- Fund estimates. But the rial’s renewed the top of the list. Growth in projected tially expected - some officials had previ- DIB profit doubles weakness suggests those gains remain vul- budget spending for the current fiscal year ously talked of doubling prices - which sug- nerable and that Rouhani faces major polit- was slowed to 9 percent, well under infla- gested concern about the negative impact on strong economy ical and financial pressures as he tries to tion, in contrast to profligate spending on inflation. In any case, the government is reform economic policy and cut the influ- under Ahmadinejad. Seif, appointed by having to spend billions of dollars on cash DUBAI: Dubai Islamic Bank’s (DIB) net profit for the first ence of some of his conservative enemies Rouhani, has begun to rein in the balloon- handouts to citizens in order to soften the over the economy. quarter doubled, it said yesterday, as the booming local ing money supply growth which fuelled social impact of the reform. Reasons for the rial’s drop remain inflation and rial depreciation. This could “The government is finding that achiev- economy boosted revenue and cut bad debts. The result is murky, but none are positive for Rouhani, eventually permit a cut in the double-digit ing the hoped-for cost savings is difficult,” consistent with the trend of rising profits for United Arab whose success in stabilizing the currency interest rates hurting Iranian firms’ compet- said Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow at Emirates banks in the first quarter, benefiting from the was one of his key early achievements after itiveness. the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in local economy’s recovery after a real estate crash and debt the election. Some traders and business- Officials have spoken in principle of giv- Washington, and a former US State problems at Dubai government-linked entities. men in Tehran and Dubai speculate that ing the private sector more of a role in the Department policy advisor. DIB, the largest sharia-compliant lender in the UAE, Iran, its oil earnings slashed by Western economy; in a sign of possible reforms to “The benefits of some policies are erod- made 636.6 million dirhams ($173.3 million) in the first sanctions, may have run up against a fresh come, exports of steel products were liber- ed or absorbed by others.” The pressures three months of the year, it said in a statement to the shortage of foreign currency. alized between January and June 2014 to on Rouhani can also be seen in authorities’ stock exchange. This was up from 301.7 million dirhams in There is also talk that wealthy Iranian give producers an incentive. Rouhani handling of a mini-stock market crash this the same period last year. The average forecast of four businessmen opposed to Rouhani’s appointed Mohammad Nahavandian, a for- year. After soaring 132 percent last year, analysts polled by Reuters was for a net profit in the peri- reforms deliberately dumped rials, to warn mer head of the Iran Chamber of partly because of optimism about a od of 506.1 million dirhams. him not to go too far. Others believe ordi- Commerce, as his chief of staff. This has Rouhani presidency, the Tehran Stock DIB’s profits were boosted by higher income, partly nary Iranians scrambled to buy dollars raised hopes for pro-business changes to Exchange index sank 16 percent between driven by increased lending to both corporates and con- because they feared an imminent rise in labor rules and a cut in red tape which adds the start of 2014 and mid-April. In most sumers. Loans and advances had increased to 59.9 billion gasoline prices, the result of his subsidy months to the process of establishing firms. countries, such a pull-back would be con- dirhams by the end of March - up 6.8 percent on the figure reforms, would boost inflation again. The president has also taken aim at some of sidered nothing more than a healthy cor- at the end of 2013. The improved conditions of the local Thousands of foreign businessmen are the powerful business interests, some rection after a huge rise. But in Iran it is economy also helped asset quality, with bad loan provi- exploring the possibility of returning to Iran linked to the Revolutionary Guards, who politically sensitive and in mid-April several sioning in the first quarter of 2014 down 45.9 percent if Tehran reaches an international agree- prospered under Ahmadinejad because of Iranian banks and insurers, some state- year-on-year to 195 million dirhams. ment on its nuclear program by a July 20 preferred access to state deals and hard owned, banded together with authorities’ DIB plans to expand its operations into Indonesia, deadline. But the economic uncertainties currency rationed at cheap official prices. support to pledge as much as $2 billion to a Kenya and other African countries as it looks to diversify mean many may return only slowly and A number of existing government con- market stabilisation fund.Stocks have now its revenues away from its home market, chief executive cautiously, even if a deal is struck. tracts with the Guards have been chal- stopped falling, but the Rouhani adminis- Adnan Chilwan told Reuters in March. — Reuters “Slowly but surely, the economy is lenged by ministers, and officials have said tration’s free-market credentials look a little recovering. But overall it is going to take they will move this year towards narrowing less convincing. — Reuters Business FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 Yellen says Fed seeks to avoid undue regulations

WASHINGTON: As the Federal Reserve works to ensure that the nation’s largest banks pose no undue threats to the finan- cial system, it will avoid imposing unnecessary rules on small banks, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said yesterday. In a speech to community bankers, Yellen said the Fed will consider any harmful effects that new regulations would have on smaller institutions. “We are taking a fresh look at how we supervise communi- ty banks and possible ways that supervision can be smarter, more nimble and more effective,” the Fed chair said in remarks to a policy conference sponsored by the Independent Community Bankers of America. Yellen said one area the Fed is examining is how to defuse threats resulting from some big banks’ over-reliance on short-term funding. She said it’s too early to say whether or how the Fed would address those risks. She noted that few community banks rely on the types of short-term funding that could pose threats. Yellen has indicated that current reg- ulations might not be enough to prevent the types of risk- taking that triggered the 2008 financial crisis. In a speech last month, she said the Fed was considering whether rules need STRONGVILLE: Workers assemble blender bases at the Vitamix manufacturing facility in Strongsville, Ohio. The Institute to be strengthened to ensure that non-banks such as money for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, issued its index of manufacturing activity for April yes- market mutual funds don’t engage in risky activities. terday. — AP In her comments yesterday, Yellen said conditions at smaller banks had strengthened in the years since the finan- cial crisis. “Asset quality and capital ratios continue to US applications for jobless improve, and the number of problem banks continues to decline,” Yellen said. “After several years of reduced lending following the recession, we are starting to see slow but benefits hit 2-month high steady loan growth at community banks.” Yellen said she viewed the loan growth as an encouraging sign that the economy was improving. — AP Consumer spending surged 0.9%

WASHINGTON: The number of Americans add new ones: Hiring remains well below pre- February to 0.5 percent from 0.3 percent. applying for unemployment benefits rose last recession levels. Still, the United States econ- Consumers spent more on manufactured week to the highest level since February, a omy generated a solid 192,000 jobs in March goods last month. Autos and furniture led dose of mixed news for an economy that is on top of 197,000 in February. The govern- much of the gains, according to a separate supposed to be gaining momentum. The ment reported Wednesday that the economy retail sales report released last month. Labor Department says a seasonally adjusted grew at an annual pace of just 0.1 percent Income rose 0.5 percent last month after ris- 344,000 people applied for jobless aid, up from January through March. Economists ing 0.4 percent in February. Higher spending 14,000 from the previous week and the most blamed bad weather for the slowdown, points to stronger growth ahead because since late February. Economists had expected which was worse than expected. Most expect consumer activity accounts for roughly 70 a drop. growth to pick up as the year wears on and to percent of the economy. During last quarter The less-volatile 4-week average rose by reach an annual rate of more than 3 percent as a whole, harsh winter weather curbed 3,000 to 320,000. The number of people from July through December. spending, and the economy barely grew at applying for jobless aid has now risen three The Federal Reserve was confident an annual rate of just 0.1 percent. But yester- straight weeks. Ian Shepherdson, chief econ- enough in the economy’s strength to day’s report suggested that last quarter’s omist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said last announce on Wednesday that it would con- slowdown was confined mainly to January week’s numbers might have been warped by tinue scale back a bond-purchasing program and February, before consumers stepped up the Easter holiday. “We think the underlying meant to keep long-term interest rates low spending in March. trend is falling, but only slowly,” he wrote in a and encourage more borrowing and spend- For last quarter overall, consumer spend- research note. ing. US consumers ramped up their spending ing did grow at a 3 percent annual rate. But WASHINGTON, DC: Federal Reserve Bank Chairwoman Unemployment benefits are a proxy for in March at the fastest pace in 41/2 years, a that gain was dominated by a 4.4 percent rise Janet Yellen holds a framed copy of the Senate certificate layoffs and have fallen to pre-recession levels sign that the economy is gaining momentum in spending on services, reflecting in part of her confirmation that she was given as a gift from since peaking at 665,000 in March 2009. after its winter slowdown. The Commerce higher utility bills during the unusually cold Independent Community Bankers of America President Another Labor Department report shows that Department said yesterday that consumer winter. Economists say warmer weather will and CEO Camden Fine (left) after she addressed the ICBA’s layoffs are running nearly 40 percent below spending rose 0.9 percent, the largest gain likely encourage people to make purchases Washington Policy Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel their peak in 2009. Though they’ve stopped since April 2009. The department also revised they had delayed because of snowstorms ear- yesterday in Washington, DC. — AFP cutting jobs, employers have been slower to up its estimate of the spending increase in lier this year. Du aims for double-digit revenue growth in 2014 UAE operator bullish despite slower growth DUBAI: Du, the UAE’s second-biggest telecoms operator, decide the amount at a later date, Sultan said. Du’s quarterly capital expenditure fell by more than two- aims to maintain double-digit revenue growth and pay a half- It paid a dividend of 0.22 dirhams per share for the first six thirds to 116 million dirhams, boosting its bottom line. Du’s yearly dividend in 2014, it said yesterday after posting sharply months of last year, its first half-yearly payout. Sultan said du shares fell 1.2 percent after the results. They have risen 15 slower growth in quarterly profits. Chief Executive Osman would target getting more subscribers onto monthly con- percent in the past year, underperforming a broader index Sultan was bullish on the company’s prospects despite net tracts to help increase revenue share - these account for near- rally of 138 percent which was driven by property stocks. profit growth of 4.5 percent in the first three months of this ly a tenth of its mobile customers and use three times as First-quarter revenue rose 13 percent to 2.96 billion year, the smallest increase since the company first broke even many call minutes as pre-paid customers. dirhams, but the company’s share of UAE telecom sector in 2008, excluding exceptional quarters when changes to But he said du would not fight a price war with Etisalat. revenue has been steady at about 30 percent over the past UAE tax rates affected results. Profits, however, did beat ana- “It’s a spiral ... you (should) offer great value to your cus- year, flattening out after a stellar first few years of opera- lysts’ expectations. tomers but not to the detriment of the value created for your tions. Analysts say a desire to protect shareholder value has “I would like to see double-digit growth for the year in shareholders.” Du made a net profit of 490.3 million dirhams led to little real competition in UAE telecoms, with the fed- revenue,” Sultan told a conference call for reporters. Du, ($133.5 million) in the three months to March 31, up from eral-run Emirates Investment Authority owning 39.5 percent which ended Etisalat’s monopoly of the telecoms market in 467.9 million dirhams in the year-earlier period, it said in a of du and 60 percent of Etisalat. The government nets divi- the United Arab Emirates when it launched in 2007, plans to statement. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a quarter- dends from the two operators and also levies heavy taxes pay a dividend for the first half of 2014 and its board will ly profit of 433 million dirhams. on the sector. —Reuters Business FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Lloyds boosts dividend case with higher profit

LONDON: Lloyds Banking Group’s pretax profit jumped 22 per- cent in the first quarter as costs fell and margins improved, strengthening the bank’s plan to pay its first dividend since it was rescued during the financial crisis. Lloyds, which is 25 percent- owned by the government, said yesterday it made an underlying profit of 1.8 billion pounds ($3 billion) in the first quarter, helped by a 5 percent fall in costs from a year ago to 2.3 billion pounds. Under Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio, the bank’s finan- cial performance has been turned around and it has slimmed down to focus on domestic lending and meet tougher regulatory requirements on the amount of capital it holds. “We are supporting and benefiting from the UK economic recovery and are delivering better underlying profitability as well as improved returns for shareholders, from a stronger, lower risk balance sheet,” Horta-Osorio said. The bank, which has cut costs by axing jobs and shutting many of its international businesses, needs permission from the Bank of England to restart dividends and said it would apply in the second half of the year to do so. “We will go into those discussions with confidence about the business and about our prospects,” Finance Director George Culmer told reporters on a conference call. Before the financial crisis Lloyds had a record of being one of the highest dividend paying stocks in Britain. It paid out just over half of its profit in 2005 and 2006 and the shares yielded between 6.5 and 7 percent. But the bank has not made a payout since the crisis hit, when NEW DELHI: Indian farmers harvest a ridge gourd crop to be sold at a market in New Delhi yesterday. Over 70 percent of the taxpayer pumped in 20 billion pounds to keep it afloat. That Indians depend on agricultural incomes and about 65 percent of India’s farms depend on rains that fall between June left Britain with a 41 percent stake, which the government has and September. — AFP started selling at a slim profit. Restarting dividends is seen as a key prerequisite for Britain to sell any of its remaining stake to retail investors, possibly later this year, and analysts said it could India invites US to discuss hand out to shareholders more than half of its future earnings.

Capital strength IP rights, market access Lloyds is building up capital and its core Tier 1 ratio - a key measure of its financial strength - stood at 10.7 percent at the end of the first quarter. Horta-Osorio said last month he expects New Delhi welcomes US trade decision UK regulators to require banks to hold 11 percent. Analysts say that, when Lloyds reaches that level, it will be in a position to pass on more of its future profit to shareholders. NEW DELHI: India said yesterday it would process of constructive dialogue, not by cal appointments and usually remain during “Capital build-up will be basically over by 2015 and from there hold trade talks on intellectual property holding a gun to the head.” With Indian mar- changes of government. India is in the mid- on assuming 4 percent loan growth ... the bank should be in a rights with the United States after its general kets on holiday, there was no price reaction dle of a five-week general election in which position to return about 70 percent back to shareholders every election, buying time to address friction over by drugs stocks. the ruling Congress party-led government is year,” said Chirantan Barua, analyst at Sanford Bernstein. drug patents until a new government is likely to suffer a severe defeat at the hands of formed. Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher Innovation vs access the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party Some analysts had expected Lloyds to pay a dividend for praised a decision by the US Trade The United States on Wednesday kept (BJP). Results are due on May 16. 2013, but those hopes were dashed when the bank warned in Representative not to label India with its India on its Priority Watch List along with The BJP’s candidate, Narendra Modi, was February it would need to take a further 1.8 billion pounds worst offender tag in an annual scorecard on China and eight other countries. It said it shunned by the United States for years after charge to compensate customers who had been mis-sold loan protecting US patents, copyrights and other would start a special review of India in the a deadly spasm of religious violence in insurance. Lloyds has set aside 9.8 billion pounds to deal with intellectual property. “It is a very sensible fall and address concerns with the next gov- Gujarat in 2002, early in his term as chief claims over mis-sold payment protection insurance or PPI, more decision,” Kher, India’s chief trade negotiator, ernment. minister of the state. Washington revoked than any other bank, and Culmer said he could not say for certain told Reuters, saying India was committed to Kher said he would meet his US counter- Modi’s US visa in 2005 and only recently sig- it will not have to pay out more. Analysts say further charges protecting copyrights and reining in piracy. part in June or July, with a bilateral meeting nalled he would be welcome to visit if elect- could dent its dividend hopes. “They know very well that India is in transi- between the two governments to follow. ed. It is not yet known what the BJP’s stance Shares in Lloyds were up 4.6 percent at 0845 GMT, compared tion.” But he defended India’s right to over- Top bureaucrats such as Kher are not politi- will be on global trade issues. —Reuters with a 0.5 percent rise in the European banking sector. Lloyds rule patents in special cases - a bone of con- also said it was on track to launch the stock market flotation of its tention between the US drugs industry and TSB Bank unit in the next eight weeks. It said it will sell a mini- New Delhi, which wants its 1.2 billion people mum of 25 percent and will offer shares to retail investors. to have access to affordable medicines. India Russia files WTO case Sources have said TSB, which has 631 branches and is expected and the United States set great store by the to be valued at about 1.5 billion pounds, is likely to float in mid- economic potential of bilateral ties, but their over EU energy rules June. Lloyds was ordered to sell the business by European regula- relationship has been troubled by diplomatic tors as a cost of taking taxpayer support. —Reuters and trade battles. GENEVA: Russia has accused the European they breach a range of international trade Their $100 billion annual trade is seen as Union of discriminating against gas and agreements, the WTO said. below its potential. Washington says it electricity providers from outside the bloc The move comes amid heightened ten- should be five times that. In 2012, India in violation of international rules, the World sions over the Ukraine crisis, with Gazprom issued its first-ever “compulsory license” to Trade Organization said yesterday. “The warning this week that new sanctions from domestic drugmaker Natco Pharma Ltd on a Russian Federation has notified the WTO the EU and others against Russia could kidney and liver cancer drug, Nexavar, Secretariat on April 30 of a request for con- leave Europe without crucial gas supplies. patented by Germany’s Bayer AG - allowing a sultations with the European Union over Talks were due to take place today in generic version to be made before the measures applied by the EU relating to the Warsaw between the EU, Russia and Kiev patent expired. so-called ‘Third Energy Package’,” the over the gas dispute. Compulsory licensing is compliant with organization said. Russia has threatened to cut supplies to the rules of the World Trade Organization Russian giant Gazprom has previously Ukraine over a $3.5-billion (2.5-billion-euro) and the deal on Trade Related Aspects of challenged those regulations, which ban unpaid gas bill, raising concerns of a repeat Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Kher said, the same company from owning both of 2009 when supplies to Europe that tran- emphasizing that such licenses would be the pipelines and distribution networks-seen sit through the former Soviet republic were exception and not the rule. “That should not as a move to boost competition and ease badly disrupted. But Russia’s chief WTO be construed to mean that India would be Europe’s dependence on the state-con- negotiator Maxime Medvedkov insisted taking compulsory license as a routine man- trolled firm. Russia accounts for about a Wednesday its claim before the body had ner of importing technology into the coun- quarter of all EU gas supplies and is the nothing to do with the Ukraine crisis. The try,” Kher told a news conference. dominant or sole supplier to some mem- EU energy sector regulations “create a seri- NEW DELH: Ford Motor Company Chief Operating Officer India’s drugmakers welcomed the easing bers of the 28-nation bloc, notably ex-com- ous obstacle to securing a solid supply of Mark Fields delivers his keynote address at the New York of near-term US pressure: “There is always munist countries. Moscow charges that the Russian gas to the European Union,” he International Auto Show, in New York’s Javits Convention scope for improvement,” said D.G. Shah, sec- EU rules discriminate against third coun- told the Interfax news agency, maintaining tries involved in the production, supply that Moscow for years had been attempt- Center. Ford says CEO Alan Mulally will retire July 1 and be retary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical and transmission of natural gas, and that ing to settle the matter bilaterally. —AFP replaced by Fields. — AP Alliance. “This can be done through a Business FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Weir pursuing M&A Buffett may face questions opportunities about performance today across all divisions

LONDON: British engineer Weir Group is pursuing a range of 30,000 shareholders gather for annual meeting acquisition opportunities across all its divisions, after a $5 billion bid for Finnish rival Metso was rejected last month, the compa- ny’s chief executive said yesterday. OMAHA, Nebraska: Warren Buffett’s failure There has been a flurry of deal-making in the past few weeks, to beat the stock market in four of the past including in the industrials sector where GE and Siemens are five years has raised the issue of whether involved in a politically sensitive bid for French engineering com- Berkshire Hathaway’s 83-year-old CEO has pany Alstom. “There are some interesting opportunities out there lost his touch. and in the main I’d have to say that price expectations of sellers Buffett is likely to face questions about are tending to be pretty sensible,” said Keith Cochrane, CEO of the conglomerate’s performance when more Weir - maker of pumps and valves for the mining, oil and gas than 30,000 shareholders gather for industries. Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, Weir’s plan for a tie-up with Metso ran into trouble almost as Nebraska, today. soon as it emerged on April 1. The Finnish state came out in It’s not the first time people have won- strong opposition of the takeover, which aimed to strengthen dered if Buffett is off his game. Criticism of the British company’s minerals division. Weir’s minerals division Buffett reached its peak during the 1990s is its biggest in terms of revenue. Its other divisions are oil and tech bubble because he refused to invest in gas and power. “I’m relatively relaxed whether it is large or small, dot-com businesses he didn’t understand. provided it hits strategy and the financial returns make sense,” Berkshire’s Class A stock sunk to roughly Cochrane said about potential acquisitions. His comments fol- $56,000 a share. When the tech bubble burst, lowed Weir’s first-quarter update, in which the company said it many of those businesses failed while remained on track for a return to growth this year as demand for Berkshire continued to prosper through oil and gas equipment and services outstripped sluggish mining acquisitions and investments. These days, orders in the first quarter. But adverse foreign currency move- Berkshire’s A stock trades at more than ments would impact results this year, the company said, with a $193,000 a share. stronger pound already knocking around 50 million pounds off Author and investor Jeff Matthews, who OMAHA: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett applauds during a seminar in first quarter revenue. wrote “Warren Buffett’s Successor: Who It Is Shares in Weir were down 3 percent in morning trade, losing Omaha. Buffett’s failure to beat the stock market in four of the past five years and Why It Matters,” says criticism of Buffett some of the momentum gained from an around 25 percent share has inspired debate about whether Berkshire Hathaway’s 83-year-old CEO has is a byproduct of where the overall market is price rise over the year so far on the back of a stronger outlook lost his touch. — AP for its oil and gas equipment market and the potential for deal- because Berkshire tends to trail a surging making in the sector. Total orders were 7 percent higher than the stock market. The Standard & Poor’s 500 but he still believes Berkshire will beat the the previous year. Even without those mostly same period last year. Orders for new equipment in the quarter index soared 30 percent in 2013 and has overall market. Bill Smead, founder of Smead unrealized gains, most of Berkshire’s roughly fell 2 percent but were offset by aftermarket (repair and mainte- nudged up another 2 percent this year. Capital Management, says most people have 80 subsidiaries are performing well. Berkshire nance) orders rising 13 percent compared to the first quarter “Buffett always looks less exciting when a hard time relating to someone who thinks subsidiaries include BNSF railroad, Acme 2013. Weir’s oil and gas division, which has a strong position in everyone else does great,” Matthews says. in terms of decades, and in his last share- Brick, Shaw Carpet and Home Services of US shale, enjoyed its strongest quarter since the end of 2011 with Many investors focus too much on recent holder letter, Buffett emphasized he thinks America. Berkshire also holds major invest- order input up 33 percent on last year. Mining orders by contrast history. Critics point out that Berkshire Berkshire subsidiaries like BNSF railroad and ments in American Express, Coca-Cola, and continued to struggle, down 7 percent on last year, with original lagged the market in four of the past five MidAmerican Energy will be thriving a centu- IBM. Andy Kilpatrick, author of “Of equipment orders falling as much as 27 percent. — Reuters years, based on Buffett’s own yardstick. That ry from now. Permanent Value: The Story of Warren measurement, Berkshire’s book value, gained “He is the ultimate long-duration thinker,” Buffett,” says he thinks Berkshire is set up to 18.2 percent in 2013, lagging S&P 500’s rise says Smead, who recently increased his firm’s consistently beat the S&P 500 by a narrow British regulator bans of 32.4 percent, including dividends. Berkshire investment. Smead says he expects margin. “The whole thing is up and running But that short-term view obscures the Berkshire will trounce the S&P 500 over the better than it ever has been,” Kilpatrick says. fact that Berkshire Hathaway has only trailed next five to ten years because so many of its Besides routine items, Berkshire investors will former UBS trader the S&P 500 10 times since Buffett took over subsidiaries thrive when the economy is vote on a shareholder proposal that would in 1965. And cumulatively, Berkshire has growing. “I don’t think people realize what a encourage the company to pay a dividend. over Adoboli losses delivered compounded annual gains of 19.7 machine he has created to milk the US econ- Berkshire’s board opposes the proposal. percent to the S&P 500’s 9.8 percent. omy,” Smead says. Last year, Berkshire’s prof- Buffett has said he believes that reinvesting LONDON: Britain’s financial regulator has banned a former Berkshire is also sitting on at least $48 billion it grew more than 31 percent to $19.48 bil- Berkshire’s cash is worth more for sharehold- senior UBS trader for failing to adequately supervise his junior in cash. Buffett has told investors for several lion on revenue of $182.15 billion. ers than they would receive in a dividend. colleague Kweku Adoboli, the “rogue trader” jailed in 2012 for years that the massive size of Berkshire Those figures include $4.3 billion in paper Since Buffett controls 34 percent of the vot- running up $2.3 billion in unauthorized trading losses. makes it impossible for him to match the gains on investments and derivative con- ing power, it’s difficult for proposals to pass Announcing its first ban from regulated financial jobs for such investment gains he delivered decades ago, tracts Berkshire holds, up from $2.2 billion without his support. — AP a failure, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said yesterday John Hughes had been aware of Adoboli’s actions but had failed to challenge, report him or act as a role model with “cat- astrophic consequences”. “Instead he ... allowed the desk’s profit and loss to be mis- stated over an extended period,” FCA enforcement and finan- cial crime division head Tracey McDermott said. “This failure contributed to Adoboli’s unauthorized trading continuing unchecked. Approved people should operate to the highest standards of integrity.” Between January and September 2011, Hughes was the most senior person on UBS’s Exchange Traded Funds desk at the London branch of UBS - a period during which Adoboli ran up such hefty trading losses that they that risked undermining the Swiss bank. Adoboli was sentenced to seven years in jail in November 2012 after being found guilty of two counts of fraud by abuse of position. Hughes - who was dismissed for gross misconduct weeks after Adoboli’s arrest - wept in court in October 2012 after reading an email in which his former colleague admitted to the trades. Part of the unauthorized trading involved creating and using a secret fund, dubbed the “Umbrella”, which had the effect of manipulating the desk’s reported profit and loss. The FCA said Hughes knew about the existence of the Umbrella, how it was being used, did not consider it to be hon- est and knew UBS would not have authorized its use. “Hughes’ conduct in relation to the Umbrella was dishonest and demon- strates that he is not a fit and proper person to perform func- YANGON: Blue-collar workers walk to work in the suburbs of Yangon, Myanmar. Like China, which relied heavily on tions in relation to any regulated activity carried on by an overseas Chinese in Hong Kong and elsewhere to finance its own industrial boom, Myanmar has high hopes its Diaspora authorized or exempt person,” the FCA said. — Reuters will help rebuild its economy and lift millions out of poverty. —AP Sports41 FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 Angels beat Indians 7-1, extend skid to 6 ANAHEIM: CJ Wilson pitched two-hit ball over eight innings, Hank Conger hit a go-ahead, two- run homer off Zach McAllister, and the Los Angeles Angels beat Cleveland 7-1 Wednesday to send the Indians to their sixth straight loss. Wilson (4-2) struck out eight, walked one and retired his last 18 batters after a leadoff double in the third by No 9 hitter Elliot Johnson. McAllister (3-2) threw 101 pitches over 4 1-3 innings and was charged with five runs, four hits and four walks.

ATHLETICS 12, RANGERS 1 Jesse Chavez allowed one hit in seven score- less innings, Eric Sogard matched his season total with three RBIs and the Athletics complet- ed a three-game sweep with a rout of the sloppy Rangers. Yoenis Cespedes had two doubles, scored twice and drove in two runs for the A’s, who scored 10 runs combined in the third and fourth innings to answer a three-game sweep by the Rangers in Oakland last week. The Rangers matched a season high with four errors, includ- ing one of two by shortstop Elvis Andrus on what could have been an inning-ending double play in Oakland’s seven-run third. Chavez (2-0) PHOENIX: Miguel Montero #26 of the Arizona Diamondbacks is surrounded by teammates after hitting a walk off solo home-run against walked one and struck out eight, allowing only the Colorado Rockies in the MLB game at Chase Field on April 30, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona. —AFP Prince Fielder’s soft line-drive single to right- center field in the first inning. Robbie Ross (1-2) gave up 11 hits and 10 runs in 3 1-3 innings. Cards thump Brewers 9-3 ROYALS 4, BLUE JAYS 2 Alcides Escobar delivered a two-run double ST LOUIS: After failing to hold three-run leads in first, Reynolds hit a two-run shot in the second and the first give games and appeared to be in control in the seventh inning, and the Kansas City Royals two straight games, Allen Craig and the St. Louis Adams answered in the third with his second of the after Lyles pitched six effective innings. But the held on for a tense victory over the Toronto Blue Cardinals put their series final against Milwaukee season, estimated at 439 feet, for a 4-3 lead. Rockies lost the lead after Brothers struggled to put Jays. Eric Hosmer drove in the other two runs out of reach. Craig homered on a four-hit day that away hitters and the game when Montero hit a 1-2 for the Royals, whose bullpen blew a 2-0 lead for included three RBIs, and Matt Adams hit a three- Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 4 fastball over the wall. Nolan Arenado extended his young starter Yordano Ventura before holding run homer as the Cardinals beat the Brewers 9-3 Miguel Montero took two mighty swings, trying majors-best hitting streak to 20 games with a single on to beat Toronto with a late rally for the sec- Wednesday. “It’s nice to see some big production to end the game on both. He failed, so for the third, in the sixth inning for Colorado, which had three ond straight night. Kelvin Herrera (1-1) stranded that we know is going to come from certain guys” he shortened up, trying to protect the plate. That hits after the third inning. “We had the game in runners on second and third in the seventh. said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, who slept ball ended up going out and, boy, did the Arizona control it looked like for most of the game, so it was Drew Hutchison (1-2) allowed all four runs on on his office couch after an 11-inning loss Tuesday Diamondbacks need it. Montero hit a leadoff a tough one to lose,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss five hits in seven innings for Toronto. night. Jon Jay had three hits and a walk his first homer in the 10th inning after Martin Prado hit a said. “It is always tough when you don’t put games four trips to the plate. two-run single in the ninth, helping the away.” The Rockies beat up on Arizona’s pitching INTERLEAGUE The Cardinals avoided a three-game sweep Diamondbacks end a four-game losing streak with the first two games of the series, with 13 runs and DODGERS 6, TWINS 4 against the team with the best record in the major a 5-4 win over the Colorado Rockies Wednesday 23 hits, including 12 for extra bases. Zack Greinke pitched six strong innings, Juan leagues. “I’ve been feeling pretty good at the plate night. “I was swinging hard, trying to launch one,” Uribe had two RBIs and the Dodgers earned for a little while now, hitting some balls hard,” Craig Montero said of his first two swings. “It’s a pretty Cubs 9 Reds 4 their 10,000th win in franchise history, beating said. “Frustration’s part of it. Things are going to funny game. It was the last pitch I was thinking Nate Schierholtz drove in three runs and the Twins. Greinke (5-0) struck out six and didn’t turn around.” Shelby Miller (3-2) worked around about in that count and it was a short swing, I was Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer, rallying the allow an earned run through drizzling rain and homers to Mark Reynolds and Carlos Gomez, allow- kind of quick on it. That protect swing was pretty Chicago Cubs over the Cincinnati Reds 9-4 temperatures that dipped into the 30s. With the ing three runs and six hits in six-plus innings. “Kind good.” And a good thing for the Diamondbacks. Wednesday night. Starlin Castro went 3 for 4 with bases loaded and the Twins trailing 5-1 in the of little rough early on,” Miller said. “It’s always nice Stuck in a rut, Arizona appeared to be in trouble two doubles for the Cubs, who have won two of seventh, reliever Chris Withrow got Trevor to have a lot of runs scored for you, but at the same after Colorado went up 4-0 after three innings on three following a four-game losing streak. Brayan Plouffe to pop out to shortstop on a 3-0 pitch to time, you’ve got to act like it’s a close game no mat- Carlos Gonzalez’s two-run homer and pitcher Pena hit a solo homer for the Reds, who have lost end the threat. The Dodgers join the Giants, ter what.” Milwaukee is 20-8, a franchise record for Jordan Lyles’ leadoff shot in the third. It took some four of five. Edwin Jackson (2-2) beat Cincinnati for Cubs and Braves as the only franchises to win wins through the season’s first full first month. time, but the Diamondbacks worked their way the second time this year, allowing four runs and 10,000 games. Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier Matt Garza (1-3) joined the lengthy list of back into it. After struggling early, Josh Collmenter five hits in 5 2-3 innings. Brian Schlitter, Wesley and Yasiel Puig each added two hits and an RBI. injured Brewers when he was removed in the quieted the Rockies’ bats over his final four innings Wright, Neil Ramirez and Hector Rondon combined Kyle Gibson (3-2) allowed five runs in 6 2-3 fourth inning because of a bruised right thumb and Trevor Cahill did the same while getting six for two hit relief. With the score 3-3 in the fifth, the innings. from getting jammed on an at-bat to end the third. outs. Paul Goldscmidt gave Arizona’s offense a little Cubs loaded the bases with no outs against reliever He said there was no doubt he’d be ready for his life in the eighth inning, hitting a solo homer off Nick Christiani (0-1). Mike Olt hit into an RBI force- WASHINGTON 7, HOUSTON 0 next start. “I’m going to make sure I’m OK by then,” Adam Ottavino. out, and Schierholtz followed with a sacrifice fly. Anthony Rendon finished a triple shy of the Garza said. “I’m not here to skip a start, I’m pre- In the ninth, the Diamondbacks strung together Schierholtz added a two-run single off Sean cycle and had four hits, Jordan Zimmermann pared to pitch. I want to get right back out there.’” a string of two-strike hits to load the bases against Marshall against a drawn-in infield in a four-run pitched smoothly into the seventh inning and Ryan Braun (oblique) and Jean Segura (cut on Rex Brothers, and Prado tied it at 4 with a two-run ninth. Chicago needed just three batters to take a the Nationals beat the Astros. Rendon connect- head) didn’t start during the series, and Aramis single up the middle. Addison Reed (1-2) kept the 2-0 lead in the first on Emilio Bonifacio’s leadoff sin- ed for a two-run double in a four-run fourth and Ramirez (elbow) was out the last two games for Rockies in check by stranding a runner at third in gle and Rizzo’s 426-foot, opposite-field homer to added a solo home run in the sixth. The Houston Milwaukee, which batted light-swinging Scooter the 10th inning and Montero, after a couple of left-center. Todd Frazier tied the score with a two- native added a double in the first and a single in Gennett third. Segura and Ramirez are expected misses, ended it with his first career walkoff hit, a out, two-run double in the half. Pena, signed by the the third but flew out to left in the eighth. to return for the start of a four-game series at towering homer to right off Tommy Kahnle (2-1). Reds as a free agent in November, gave the Reds a Zimmermann (2-1) scattered seven hits in 6 1-3 Cincinnati, though Braun remains day to day. Montero was mobbed as he crossed the plate and 3-2 lead when he homered leading off the second - innings. He struck out seven to earn his 45th win Manager Ron Roenicke said Braun will not start was treated to a dirt bath - an Arizona walkoff tradi- his first home run since Aug 11. His previous NL with the Nationals, making him club’s ningest Thursday and added, “In a couple days, he needs to tion - that was a nice release for a team that had homer was for Atlanta against the Marlins on April pitcher since the Montreal Expos moved to be ready to go.” Segura played the eighth at short- won two of its first 13 games at Chase Field. “We 13, 2007. Castro’s single tied the score in the third. Washington in 2005. Denard Span and Kevin stop and doubled in the ninth. It was 50 degrees at needed that,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. “It Cincinnati starter Tony Cingrani gave up three runs Frandsen each had two hits and Danny Espinosa game time. The sun popped out of the clouds a was good that the guys hung in there.” and six hits in four innings. Brandon Phillips had an also had two hits, including a solo home run in few times, each time getting a big cheer. Matt The Rockies certainly didn’t want to end their RBI single in the fifth, his eighth hit in his last 46 at the fifth that chased Brett Oberholtzer (0-5).—AP Holliday’s RBI single put the Cardinals in front in the six-game road trip this way. Colorado won four of bats (.174).—Agencies 42 Sports FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2013 Marquez braced for Yamaha Spanish surge

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO: Photo shows view from curve N2 of the start of the Moto3 race of the Argentina Grand Prix in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. —AFP

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA: Marc Marquez eyes a fourth win in four races this season in Spain on Sunday but faces a Yamaha challenge from Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo who have F1 fans commemorate eight elite class MotoGP wins between them at Jerez. World champion Marquez, lining up for his 100th race in all cate- gories, has swept all three grands prix so far at Qatar, the Senna’s death at Imola United States and Argentina. Last weekend in Argentina, Marquez finished just ahead of IMOLA: Thousands of Formula One ered in a raft of changes to improve F1 injured, was F1’s blackest weekend. Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa with Lorenzo, who led the fans gathered for a commemoration safety. Football club Corinthians from And all this week emotional tributes race in the early stages, eventually finishing almost four sec- yesterday at the Imola circuit - 20 years Sao Paulo, the city where three million have been paid to the 1988, 1990 and onds off the pace in third. Rossi was close to five seconds to the day after Brazilian champion people turned out for Senna’s funeral, 1991 champion. “He was an incredible behind the world champion. But despite Honda’s domination Ayrton Senna was killed here in the paid tribute to their local hero by wear- legend,” said 2008 champion Lewis of the 2014 campaign, Marquez isn’t getting carried away by sport’s darkest day. Dozens of enthusi- ing crash helmets with the Brazilian Hamilton. “You like to think that one his chances of a fourth successive season triumph at a circuit asts drove their own cars around the flag colors before kick-off in a match day you may be recognized as some- where he has yet to win. Nine-time world champion Rossi, in Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit to mark against Nacional-AM on Wednesday. one that was able to drive similarly to contrast, has six wins in the MotoGP class at Jerez with the tragic anniversary of the 1994 San The Senna anniversary is made all the him,” added the Mercedes driver. Yamaha teammate Lorenzo, two. Furthermore, Pedrosa won Marino Grand Prix. Ferrari drivers more poignant as another great F1 “On my schoolbooks I didn’t have in 2013 as well as 2008. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen driver, seven-time champion Michael pictures of girls, obviously I was too “In Jerez, I know Dani and Jorge are very strong,” admitted were due to attend a ceremony later Schumacher, continues his fight for life young but I had Ayrton there and the Marquez, who was second last year after clashing with for the man seen as one of the greatest after the German’s skiing accident on same in my room,” said 2005/06 champi- Lorenzo in the early stages. “The crowd and atmosphere is drivers of all time. “Our hearts sank December 29. Ironically, it was on Alonso. Senna’s sister Viviane, told very special and it gives you special motivation to perform at when they told us the news,” said Schumacher who went on to win the AFP this week that her brother’s legacy is your maximum level.” Rossi was fourth in Jerez in 2013 but Marco, a 31-year-old Italian Formula Imola race 20 years ago. alive and well through the Ayrton Senna stands at third in this season’s world title race, albeit 34 points One fan who was at Imola as a young Institute which she chairs. She recalls a Incredible legend behind Marquez. “Jerez is one of the most special and impor- boy on the day of the crash. Marco conversation she had with him weeks tant Grand Prix weekends of the season, the track is fantastic wore the same type of helmet that Senna’s death, 24 hours after before his death when he told her how and there will be a lot of fans so the target is to improve and Senna had on that day and was taking Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger he wanted to contribute to a better make the podium,” said the Italian. his car around the circuit. Daniela, 39, was killed and two days after his fellow future for Brazil by helping to open up from Belo Horizonte in Brazil said: Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was opportunities for children.—AFP “We have to work a lot, the bike is good but we have some “What moves me about Senna was his weak points which we have to improve to go faster so we can humility, his enormous charisma. He is fight with the Hondas.” Lorenzo, who will be racing in his in our hearts like family”. 200th grand prix on Sunday, is down in seventh spot in the Another Brazilian fan, 57-year-old world championship on 22 points, 53 off the lead having seen Renato said: “His will to win was what I last week’s third place finish in Argentina come as a welcome liked about Ayrton. “He proved that a boost after his hopes in Austin had been shattered by a jump- Brazilian could be internationally start. The 2010 and 2012 world champion admitted in known and that was a great encour- Argentina that the Hondas were comfortably the early-season agement for us.” Marco, 34, who wore powerhouses with Yamaha struggling to match the pace and a chequered flag around his shoulders, performance of their fellow Japanese factory team. said simply: “He was the best driver “We come back to Europe and I’m so excited to race at ever”. A Catholic priest led a memorial home, in Jerez, in front of the Spanish crowd, especially after service on Wednesday at the I’ve got my first podium of 2014 now,” said Lorenzo who will Tamburello corner where the triple be 27 on Sunday. “The taste of that podium was really great world champion’s Williams careered off and sweet after two difficult races. “The track is always amaz- into a concrete barrier on lap seven at ing not only because of the layout but also the atmosphere; 190mph (307km/h). He was airlifted to that is so magical. Obviously this race is going to be tough Bologna hospital but was pronounced because both Honda riders are in a very good shape as we dead at 18:40 local time on that ill-fat- saw from Qatar, although Jerez is normally good for Yamaha it ed Sunday. is also a special place for Honda. “I think I have to improve my The ceremony comes after a week IMOLA: Formula One Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen (center) pays tribute to physical condition a little and also we need to improve as best of commemorative events held to Brazilian’s F1 driver Ayrton Senna during a ceremony to commemorate the as possible our bike and be patient and wait for our moment mark the tragic accident, which ush- 20th anniversary of his death yesterday in Imola. — AFP that for sure will come.”—AFP Sports FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 43 IOC official Coates backtracks on Rio attack

SYDNEY: IOC vice-president John Coates or Eduardo Paes, the Brazilian government yesterday backtracked on his scathing criti- and the Local Organizing Committee all had cism of Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic prepara- the IOC’s full support in the race to host a tions, insisting the city could deliver “excel- successful first Olympics in South America. lent” Games as he moved to defuse tensions. “As I said, there is no plan B. We have to “Following my statements about the upcom- make this happen by working together over ing Games in Rio I want to underline that I the next two years,” said Coates. still believe that the Rio Organizing Committee and the people of Brazil can ‘Critical concern’ indeed deliver an excellent Games in 2016,” The Australian, who has made six visits to he said in a statement. Rio as a member of the IOC Coordination His toned-down comments came two Commission overseeing the Games, on days after he criticized the preparations as Tuesday painted a dire picture of the “the worst that I’ve experienced” in 40 years progress being made, which he said was of of being involved with the Olympics, remarks “critical concern”. He told a forum in Sydney that attracted worldwide attention and that the IOC had been forced to take sparked a swift rebuttal from Rio. Coates said “unprecedented” action, embedding experts since his initial criticism he had been in con- in Rio’s organizing committee to ensure the tact with IOC executive director Gilbert Felli, sporting spectacle proceeds. “The IOC has a senior troubleshooter sent to the host city formed a special taskforce to try and speed last week to help tackle the construction up preparations but the situation is critical RIO DE JANEIRO: View of a mural depicting the final match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, delays and soaring costs that have caused on the ground,” he said, adding it was “the Brazil vs Uruguay, in Rio de Janeiro. — AFP concern. worst I have experienced”. His comments Despite this, worrying signs remain. Work vents. A further embarrassment for Rio has “He has provided me with a positive forced the Games organizers to issue a state- at the Olympic site in Rio’s Deodoro district been the closure of the Engenhao stadium, update of progress and the support and pos- ment that they would deliver their “historic was due to start last year but was now built just seven years ago and set to host itive response he is receiving from the organ- mission” with IOC support. expected to start in September. And a athletics but which has structural problems izing committee. Time is of the essence but “We have a historic mission: to organize recent strike by workers at the Barra da with its roof. There, also, repairs are run- things are moving in the right direction,” he the first Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tijuca district in western Rio, which will ning behind schedule. Coates’ initial criti- said. “Rio 2016 is addressing the specific con- Brazil and in South America. We are going host a slew of events, also caused delays. cisms echoed those leveled at Brazil by cerns of the 17 international federations that to achieve this,” the local organizing com- Beyond construction issues, the city FIFA over the World Cup, which is due to were raised with the organizers at a meeting mittee said. “In 2016, Rio will host excellent must also work on cleansing sewage-conta- start in June. With barely six weeks to go, in Turkey in April regarding their venues and Games that will be delivered absolutely minated water in Guanabara Bay, which is work still has to be completed at four stadi- the progress overall.” He added that Rio may- within the agreed timelines and budgets.” slated to host sailing and windsurfing ums.—AFP

Fruity feel as Thai Floyd Mayweather plans to coconut picks neutralize Maidana’s power Championship lead LAS VEGAS: Floyd Mayweather returns to his belt. Maidana used the news conference comments Sterling made to his girlfriend SINGAPORE: Thailand’s Panuphol ‘coconut’ Pittayarat took the ring for the first time since his demoli- to try and dispel the belief that he is just were made public. Mayweather says he’s advantage of a soft and short Laguna National course to fire tion of Canelo Alvarez seven months ago another one of Mayweather’s handpicked interested in joining the long list of suitors a nine-under-par 63 to lead The Championship by one shot looking to add another welterweight belt opponents designed to pad the American’s seeking to buy the Clippers if Sterling is after yesterday’s first round. Heavy rain and a lightning to his list of titles. The 37-year-old undefeat- 18-year-long undefeated record.”I trained indeed forced to sell. threat delayed the start of play at the European and Asian ed American will defend his World Boxing harder for this fight than I ever trained Mayweather told the Las Vegas Tour event, with preferred lies employed meaning the Council 147-pound crown tomorrow before,” said Maidana, speaking in Spanish. Review-Journal that he would only do it if world number 451’s bogey-free round would not count as a against the World Boxing Association “I earned this opportunity for myself.” he gets a sizeable share in a consortium, “I new course record. It was of little concern to the 21-year- champ Marcos Maidana in a unification His language got more colorful as he can’t come in here talking about old, given the nickname coconut by his father who is also bout at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. boasted he would be the first to beat Mayweather only going to get three per- his caddie, after a sparkling performance featuring only 22 Pound-for-pound king Mayweather said Mayweather, energizing the news confer- cent or four percent.” Mayweather says he putts. “I was very happy with how I played. I didn’t see it Wednesday that the key to dethroning the ence as he declared: “Me vale madre! (I often accepts invitations from Sterling to coming,” Panuphol told reporters before explaining his power-punching Maidana is to use his ring don’t give a shit!)” Mayweather’s focus on attend Clipper games and sits next to the fruity name. “Its common to have nicknames back home in smarts to avoid getting hit by the the fight hasn’t stopped him from noticing owner. He says he has never seen the side Thailand. I have got a brother nicknamed ‘tamarind’ and a Argentinian’s knockout blow. “It takes more the drama erupting around the Los Angeles of Sterling that was featured in the audio sister named ‘lemon’.” than just power to beat me,” Mayweather Clippers and owner Donald Sterling, who tape, telling his girlfriend “don’t bring Panuphol missed the cut in each of his three events on told a news conference at the Hollywood was banned for life by the NBA after racist blacks” to his games. —AFP the Asian Tour this year but he went bananas with birdies Theatre inside the MGM Grand on on Thursday to lead Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, American Wednesday. “You got to dig deep and be David Lipsky and South Korea’s Kim Byung-jun by one. The mentally strong, not just physically strong. $1.5 million event was due to be hosted in the homeland of “You have never seen me on the canvas Kim, the joint worst ranked player in the field at 1,529 in the and I have been hit by some of the biggest world, but the European and Asian Tour announced the punches.” switch of venues to Singapore last month after “staging Tomorrow’s fight at the Grand Garden issues”. Singaporean Quincy Quek, playing the course the arena will unify Mayweather and Maidana’s wrong way around, finished with two birdies to join the 147-pound (67 kg) titles. It is also the third group at eight-under as a number of Asian Tour players of the 30-month, six-fight deal worth $200 made a strong start to the event lacking Europe’s elite. million-plus that Mayweather signed with Another Thai, Arnond Vongvanij, known as ‘bank’ Showtime. In his last fight, Mayweather (45- because he was born the night after his mother took her 0, 26 KOs) became the unified super welter- exams for her Masters degree in financial banking, briefly weight world champ by dominating threatened golf’s golden number of 59 before settling for Mexico’s Alvarez on September 14, 2013. a 65. Arnond opened his round with four birdies as he Asked if he expects a fight similar to his reached the turn in 30. He added further birdies to reach 2012 decision over the hard-hitting Miguel eight-under after 11 holes only for a double-bogey five at Cotto, Mayweather said he doesn’t know his penultimate hole dumped him down into a share of until he feels Maidana’s punches in the ring. seventh under fading light. Asian Tour Order of Merit “I am looking to win,” Mayweather said. leader Anirban Lahiri of India was tied 16th after a 67, “He is going to come straight ahead. Even while defending champion Brett Rumford was well down though he has an 80 percent knockout the field after carding a two-under 70. A score matched ratio I can’t say if his punches will be harder LAS VEGAS: WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (left) and WBA by last week’s China Open winner Alexander Levy of than Cotto.”The 30-year-old Maidana (35-3, champion Marcos Maidana pose during a news conference at the MGM Grand France. — Reuters 31 KOs) will be making the first defense of Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. — AFP Sports44 FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 Kings cap historic comeback

LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Kings capped a historic comeback by beating the San Jose Sharks 5-1 to reach the sec- ond round of the NHL playoffs in one of three games sevens on Wednesday. Goaltender Jonathan Quick made 39 saves for the Kings who joined a select group by becoming just the fourth team in league history to rally from 3-0 series deficit to win in seven. Daniel Carcillo and Benoit Pouliot scored second-period goals as the New York Rangers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 to win their first round series. Nino Niederreiter scored twice, includ- ing the series clincher in overtime, as the Minnesota Wild defeated Colorado 5-4 to edge the Avalanche four games to three. The Kings joined the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1975 New York Islanders and the 2010 Flyers as the only teams to complete the shocking comebacks. Quick, a former Conn Smythe winner as the most valuable player of the playoffs, showed why he is the Kings’ best player. Quick was on his game Wednesday after getting off to a slow start in the series.Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli, Dustin Brown and Tanner Pearson all scored for the Kings, who advanced to take on the cross-town rival Anaheim Ducks. Game one is set for Saturday. Matt Irwin scored the only goal of the CALIFORNIA: San Jose Sharks’ Brad Stuart (7) battles for the puck against Los Angeles Kings’ Tanner Pearson (70) during the first peri- game for the Sharks, who lost a game ods of Game 7 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series on Wednesday. — AP seven for a second year in a row to the Kings. The Sharks led 1-0 on Wednesday for game six. In Denver, Dany Heatley and the Swiss national team member Blackhawks in the second round. Nick before the Kings scored five unanswered began the play that led to Niederreiter’s ripped a shot past goalie Semyon Holden, Jamie McGinn, Paul Stastny and goals. San Jose also went zero-for-six on clincher with a long lead pass from his Varlamov with just over five minutes Erik Johnson scored for the Avalanche. the powerplay. Antti Niemi was back in own defensive zone up to Wild team- gone in the extra session. Patrick Roy’s first season on the bench net for the Sharks after getting pulled in mate Kyle Brodziak. Brodziak got it over Mikko Koivu and Jared Spurgeon also for the Avalanche ended the same way games four and five and being benched to Niederreiter for a two-on-one break scored for the Wild who next face the his Hall of Fame goaltending career did - defending Stanley Cup champion with a loss to the Wild in Game 7. Roy Chicago Blackhawks. Ilya Bryzgalov surrendered the winning overtime goal picked up the win after stopping the in 2003. lone shot he faced through 13:15 of action. He subbed for Darcy Kuemper, RANGERS 2, FLYERS 1 who left the contest late in the third peri- Daniel Carcillo and Benoit Pouliot od for an undisclosed reason after allow- scored second-period goals as the New ing four goals on 21 shots. Rangers York Rangers advanced to the second goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 of 27 round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a shots as the New York took their record 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in in decisive game sevens at Madison Game 7 on Wednesday. The Rangers Square Garden to 6-0. The Rangers will shook off a 5-2 thrashing in Philadelphia face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the sec- on Tuesday and knocked out the Flyers ond round. The final second round series about 24 hours later, improving to 6-0 in is an Original Six matchup between the Game 7s at Madison Square Garden. New Boston Bruins and the Montreal York will face another Metropolitan Canadiens. Division rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the next round starting today. Henrik WILD 5, AVALANCHE 4 Lundqvist made 26 saves, allowing only a Nino Niederreiter scored his second third-period goal to Jason Akeson 4:32 goal of the game at 5:02 of overtime and into the final frame. He protected the Ilya Bryzgalov made a big save filling in one-goal lead at 7:25 when he made an for an injured Darcy Kuemper, leading awkward save against Flyers captain Minnesota to the victory in Game 7. Claude Giroux. It’s the first playoff series win for the The Rangers mobbed Lundqvist after Wild since 2003. Minnesota trailed 4-3 the final buzzer, while the Flyers con- before Jared Spurgeon scored on a nifty soled their goalie Steve Mason. Mason, play with 2:27 left in regulation. who didn’t start until Game 4 because of Spurgeon waited for a clear look at the injury, was sharp in stopping 31 shots, goal, and then shot it over Semyon but he couldn’t will his club to a com- Varlamov’s shoulder and off the left post. plete comeback after the Flyers fell into a DENVER: Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Moulson (26) hangs his head as members of the Mikko Koivu and Dany Heatley had the 3-2 series hole. The Flyers dropped to 9-7 Colorado Avalanche celebrate a Paul Stastny goal during Game 7 of an NHL hockey first- other goals for the Wild, who will face in Game 7 after winning their previous round playoff series on Wednesday. —AP the defending Stanley Cup champion three.—Agencies Sports45 FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

NBA sets wheels turning for Clippers sale; Oprah in wings

LOS ANGELES: Several luminaries from sports and show business, Oprah Winfrey among them, signaled interest on Wednesday in buy- ing the Los Angeles Clippers as the NBA set a first meeting to weigh removing Donald Sterling as owner over racist remarks attributed to him. A day after Sterling was banned for life from the National Basketball Association, two of the league’s 29 other team owners, including the governing board’s chairman, said they expected to reach the three-fourths majority vote needed to expel Sterling fully, a move unprecedented in NBA history. The advisory finance commit- tee of the board scheduled a meeting on Thursday to review the next steps for forcing a sale of the Clippers, as urged on Tuesday by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, a league spokeswoman said. Sterling, who bought the Clippers in 1981 for $13 million when the team was based in San Diego, has not indicated whether he would relinquish ownership without a fight. Experts have estimated that the franchise, which moved to Los Angeles in 1984, could now be worth as much as $800 million. Moreover, some experts said Sterling’s fellow owners might be hesitant to support action they felt could set a precedent jeopardizing their own property rights in the future. Still, the move to expel Sterling from the league altogether fanned speculation about potential buyers. Winfrey’s spokeswoman, Nicole Nichols, said the talk show host turned media mogul was in talks with leading Hollywood executive David Geffen and the chief executive officer of computer technology firm Oracle Corp, Larry Ellison, to bid for the team if were to become available. Geffen, who started two record labels and co-founded the DreamWorks film studio, has expressed interest in the Clippers in the past but never tendered an offer. Winfrey’s holdings already include stakes in a cable network and a magazine. Geffen, whose net worth has been estimated by Forbes magazine at $6.2 billion, told sports network ESPN on Wednesday that he and Ellison would run the team, while Winfrey would be an investor. “She thinks it would be a great thing for an important black American to own (another) franchise,” Geffen was quoted as saying. TORONTO: Toronto Raptors’ Jonas Valanciunas (left) drives at Brooklyn Nets’ Paul Pierce during the first half of Game 5 “The team deserves a better group of owners who want to win. ... of the opening-round NBA basketball playoff series in Toronto on Wednesday, April 30, 2014.— AP Larry would sooner die than fail. I would sooner die than fail. Larry’s a sportsman. We’ve talked about this for a long time. Between the three of us, we have a good shot.” Other names floated as possible suitors include former NBA Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin “Magic” Rockets stay alive; Johnson, a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team who once had a stake in the Lakers and has built a media empire catering to African-American consumers. “If the time is right, my partners at (investment group) Guggenheim and I will sit down to Spurs, Raptors win discuss it,” he told a financial conference in Beverly Hills on Wednesday. “The fans have spoken they want us to own the team, SAN ANTONIO: Dwight Howard scored make certain shots that we needed. We The Spurs promptly got a three-pointer but we’ll just have to wait and see how it works out.” Two of boxing’s 22 points and pulled down 18 rebounds didn’t get the big stops down the from Parker at the other end. “Every run biggest names, world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr and promoter on Wednesday as the Houston Rockets stretch.” The winners of the series will that we made, they answered back,” Oscar De La Hoya, have also expressed designs on the team since stayed alive in the NBA playoffs with a face either the San Antonio Spurs or Carter said. “It’s tough.” Tuesday. “What better face than my face,” De La Hoya said on CNN. 108-98 victory over Portland. Houston Dallas Mavericks in the second round. “I’m stepping up to the plate and I’m letting the world know that I’m came into the contest trailing 3-1 in the The Spurs pushed the Mavericks to the RAPTORS 115, NETS 113 obviously interested.” tight series, in which three of the first brink of elimination with a 109-103 vic- Kyle Lowry scored a career playoff- four games went to overtime. tory in San Antonio on Wednesday. high 36 points, including the go-ahead Potentially lengthy process Wednesday’s game was also close, but The victory gave the Spurs a 3-2 lead 3-pointer after Toronto had blown a 26- Although Silver said he would seek to force a sale of the Clippers Houston closed it out with an 8-0 scor- in a series in which they had trailed 1-2. point lead, as the Raptors took a 3-2 immediately, the process could take weeks. According to NBA ing run to narrow the gap in the series The Spurs will try to seal the victory in lead in their first-round series. DeMar bylaws, Silver must present a written copy of any allegations against to 3-2. The Blazers will try again to close game six on Friday in Dallas. Point DeRozan had 23 points, Jonas Sterling within three days, and Sterling would have five days to it out when they host game six on guard Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23 Valanciunas scored 16 and Greivis answer. A special hearing of the Board of Governors, consisting of all Friday. “We’ve been good at home all points, despite playing on a sprained Vasquez added 15 for the Raptors, who the owners, will be held on a date no more than 10 days after year, so now, go back home and take left ankle that had his participation in would advance to face Miami in the Sterling’s reply. Sterling was stripped of his seat on the board as part care of business,” Portland’s LaMarcus doubt until Wednesday. Parker was second round with a victory in Game 6 of the lifetime ban imposed by Silver for the “deeply offensive and Aldridge said. Rockets star James also a little short of sleep. He’d been up on Friday in Brooklyn. Joe Johnson harmful” racial views Sterling was said to have expressed in audio Harden endured another tough shoot- most of the night awaiting the birth of scored 30 points and Mirza Teletovic recordings released over the weekend.—Reuters ing night, but came through with some his first child, a son who was welcomed had 17 for the Nets, who scored 44 key baskets down the stretch. Harden by Parker and his fiancee early points in the fourth quarter but lost missed nine of his first 12 shots, but Wednesday morning. Tiago Splitter and their final chance when Andray Blatche scored eight of his 17 points in the final Tim Duncan contributed double-dou- fired a pass well over Deron Williams’ four minutes. bles for San Antonio, Splitter recording head into the backcourt for a turnover. Jeremy Lin chipped in 21 points and 17 points and 12 rebounds and Duncan Toronto led 94-72 on a 3-pointer by Chandler Parsons added 20 for the posting 16 points with 12 rebounds. Vasquez with 11:23 remaining, but Rockets, who out-scored Portland in the The Spurs never trailed in the con- Brooklyn scored 15 of the next 18 paint by a 60-40 margin. Wesley test, although the Mavericks kept them points, including a four-point play by Matthews scored a game-high 27 in their sights. Vince Carter, whose Alan Anderson, to make it 97-87 with points, and Damian Lillard added 26 buzzer-beater won game three for the 7:15 remaining. Johnson later convert- with eight rebounds and seven assists Mavs, scored a game-high 28 points, ed a three-point play, then made a 3 to for the Trail Blazers, whose reserves connecting on seven of nine three- tie it at 101 with 3:16 left. Two free contributed only five points. Aldridge, point attempts. Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 throws by Blatche and a 3 by Teletovic who came in averaging over 35 points points for Dallas, 14 of them in the tied it at 106 with 1:23 left, but Lowry per game in the series, finished with fourth quarter. The Mavericks’ German made a 3, then followed a layup by just eight on 3-of-12 shooting.”They star had hit seven of eight shots in the Blatche with a driving hook shot, put- made plays,” Aldridge said. “We had fourth and had an open look to cut the ting the Raptors up 111-108 with 27 Oprah Winfrey opportunities to make shots. We didn’t Spurs’ lead to one basket only to miss. seconds remaining.—Agencies Sports46 FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Juventus poised to claim third straight Serie A title

ROME: Juventus are ready to finally celebrate a third successive Serie A crown that has been practically in the bag for months when they host Atalanta on Monday (1900). Despite spirited opposition from AS Roma, Juve will be crowned champions for the 30th time if they beat Stefano Colantuono’s Europa League-chasing side. Antonio Conte’s side could find themselves walk- ing out at the Juventus Stadium against Atalanta with the title already secured if Roma, eight points behind with three games to play, fail to win at bottom club Catania on Sunday (1300). Since Juve thumped Roma 3-0 in January this season’s scudetto been more of question of when rather than if, despite an astonishing cam- paign from Roma that has seen Rudi Garcia’s side establish a club record points total of 85. They have won nine games on the bounce, playing a scintillating style of football that has put the troubles of the past few years long behind them. Garcia has already made clear his intention to stay at Roma and build a team that can pose an LONDON: Chelsea’s Brazilian defender David Luiz (2nd right) goes for an overhead kick during the UEFA Champions League even bigger threat to Juventus next season, and semi-final second leg football match between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge on April 30, 2014. —AFP has managed to ruffle some feathers by suggest- ing that teams facing relegation were not trying as hard against Juve as you might expect of a Atletico can seal title team facing the drop. Yesterday’s Milan derby (1845) features two clubs struggling to find an identity and fighting for the Europa League if Barca, Real slip up scraps, with Inter Milan in fifth on 57 points and almost sure of a place in Europe and AC Milan lying way back in 10th, six behind their local MADRID: Atletico Madrid can crown a was a key member of the 1996 team, Barca won La Liga with a record- superb week and wrap up what would who also won the King’s Cup that sea- equalling points haul of 100. rivals. be a remarkable La Liga title triumph if son, and the commitment and intensity The derby will be Javier Zanetti’s last as an they win at Levante on Sunday and he showed as a player seems to have Survival fight Inter player after 19 years at the club, with presi- Barcelona and Real Madrid lose at home rubbed off on his current charges. They Vilanova died aged 45 on April 25 dent Erick Thohir already lining up backroom to Getafe and Valencia. Diego Simeone’s have maintained their challenge in La and the Barca players, several of whom, role for the 40-year-old Argentine. “For now he outperforming Atletico side set up a Liga and Europe’s elite club competition including Lionel Messi and Cesc needs to concentrate on the pitch, and then he Champions League final clash against despite having a relatively thin squad Fabregas, had known him since their will need to learn English and management. It’s Real with a 3-1 comeback win at Chelsea compared with far richer rivals Barca teens, will be desperate to honour his not enough to just about the sport,” said Thohir on Wednesday, the latest in a series of and Real and a gruelling calendar. “The memory by pushing Atletico all the way brilliant performances that have trans- team has known how to cope when it is in La Liga. May 1 marks the 25th on Wednesday. The derby is also playing second formed the club into a genuine force in suffering the whole way through the anniversary of the match in which fiddle to tomorrow’s Italian Cup Final (1900), Spain and Europe. season,” left back Filipe Luis told Guardiola and Vilanova, both products which will see thousands of Napoli and Victory at Levante (1500 GMT) would Spanish television after the win at of the club’s academy, made their play- Fiorentina fans descend on the Italian capital to put Atletico on 91 points with two Stamford Bridge. ing debuts for Barca under coach Johan support teams looking to a positive end to very games left, while defeat for second- “We will try to beat Levante as it is Cruyff in a friendly against Banyoles. different seasons. placed Barca against Getafe tomorrow the next match and the most important Madrid-based Getafe, meanwhile, are Napoli’s second cup victory in three years (1400) would leave them stuck on 84 one for the time being,” added the fighting for their top-flight survival, one and end their bid for a fifth title in six Brazilian. While Atletico and Real were spot above the relegation places. would be some consolation for Rafael Benitez’s years. Barca host Atletico on the final busy in Europe, Barca, eliminated by Midfielder Angel Lafita is confident they side, who were tipped to challenge for the title day of the season. Even if they lost on Atletico in the Champions League quar- can get something from the Nou Camp but are a whopping 24 points behind Juventus. Sunday, Real, third on 82 points and ter-finals, were quietly preparing for if they believe in themselves. “We For Vincenzo Montella’s Fiorentina it would be a with a game in hand, could still draw their game against struggling Getafe shouldn’t turn down any opportunities sweet reward after a difficult season battling level with Atletico if they win their last and mourning the death of former because you never know where the with long-term injuries to strikers Mario Gomez three games and their city rivals lose coach Tito Vilanova. Vilanova was Pep points that save you can come from,” and Giuseppe Rossi. American-born Rossi should their last two. However, Atletico’s supe- Guardiola’s assistant during four trophy- Lafita told a news conference on be on the bench and could even feature for the rior head-to-head record means they laden years between 2008 and 2012 Wednesday. “It is possible to beat would seal their first La Liga title since before stepping up to the top job when Barcelona but you have to be focused first time since Jan 5, with the Italy international 1996. Real host Valencia on Sunday Guardiola, now at Bayern Munich, decid- and believe,” he added. “I was in a simi- keen to impress Italy coach Cesare Prandelli (1900) and play their match in hand at ed to take a sabbatical year. Diagnosed lar situation at Real Zaragoza and we ahead of the World Cup finals in Brazil.— Reuters Real Valladolid on Wednesday. with throat cancer, Vilanova stepped went to the Bernabeu and beat Real Former Argentina captain Simeone down after one season in charge, when Madrid 3-2.”— Reuters Hamburg seek salvation against wounded Bayern

BERLIN: Bayern Munich president Franz tomorrow’s encounter. struggled to edge out a poor Manchester United 17th-placed Nuremberg, a point behind, and Beckenbauer believes relegation-threatened The Bavarians lost 5-0 on aggregate to the side in the Champions League quarter-finals bottom side Eintracht Braunschweig, who are a Hamburg SV could not have wished for a better Spaniards to relinquish their hold on the before losing both legs to Real Madrid. further point adrift. time to be facing the Bavarians than after this Champions League trophy at the semi-final But with only two matches remaining, A Hamburg victory combined with defeats week’s 4-0 Champions League humiliation at stage as they maintained their disturbing dip in Hamburg are running out of chances to main- for the teams below them tomorrow would home to Real Madrid. “If Hamburg do not use form since winning the Bundesliga title with tain their proud Bundesliga record as the only secure a playoff spot no matter what happens this chance to beat a team like Bayern, that is so seven matches to spare. After claiming the team never to have been relegated. A win on the last matchday. Two wins could also see hurt at the moment, then they truly belong in domestic crown in late March, Bayern have won against visitors Bayern would ensure they them overhaul 15th-placed Stuttgart, who are the second division,” Beckenbauer said ahead of just two games out of five in the league and remain in the relegation playoff berth ahead of five points ahead.—Reuters Sports47 FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 Mourinho rues Courtois friendly fire

LONDON: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was left to rue the performance of the club’s own goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after their Champions League semi-final elimination by Atletico Madrid. Belgian international Courtois, 21, has been on loan at Atletico from Chelsea since 2011 and he produced a save in Wednesday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge that Mourinho identified as the key moment in the tie. With Atletico ahead on away goals after Adrian Lopez had cancelled out Fernando Torres’s 36th-minute opener for Chelsea, Courtois plunged to his left to block a header from home skipper John Terry. Moments later Diego Costa put Atletico 2-1 up from the penalty spot after he had been fouled by Samuel Eto’o and a late Arda Turan effort completed a 3-1 victory that set up a showdown with city rivals Real Madrid in the final in Lisbon on May 24. “The difference was one minute in the second half, where the Atletico goalkeeper makes an impossible save from John Terry’s header,” said Mourinho, whose side had drawn 0-0 in last week’s first leg. “Instead of 2-1 for Chelsea, a few seconds later, there is a penalty, which I’m happy people tell me was a penalty, and they scored the 2-1. “That minute was crucial. After that, they had complete control and we had the feeling the game was lost. “They had the feeling the game was in their hands and after that they were very solid, very mature, a real team. I knew before they were a real team, and I congratulate them.” Courtois was making his first appearance at Stamford Bridge, but Mourinho said that he was not frustrated by the knowledge that Chelsea had effectively been denied by one of their own players. “No, no, no,” he said. “He’s the Atletico LONDON: Atletico Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (left) catches the ball as he jumps behind Chelsea’s Spanish striker goalkeeper, he plays for Atletico, and he did his Fernando Torres during the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg football match on April 30, 2014. — AFP job.” Atletico coach Diego Simeone, meanwhile, was evasive when asked if he would like to keep Courtois at the Vicente Calderon for a fourth season. “I’m just experiencing this moment, try- European exit exposes ing to relish this moment,” he said. “I’m sure in the future the directors will decide what’s best for this young lad and whether he will stay at the club or not.” Chelsea’s limitations

‘Chelsea will get better’ LONDON: Chelsea’s supposed tenderness has real shortcomings though, and while Chelsea half, but instead it was the visitors who made Simeone has worked wonders in his two and been used as a smokescreen by manager Jose were made to pay for some costly defensive the early running. Mark Schwarzer had to save a half years at Atletico, guiding the club from Mourinho this season, but their Champions errors, Mourinho’s tactical approach was, for from Arda Turan and Tiago Mendes, and 10th place in La Liga to their first European Cup League elimination by Atletico Madrid proved once, not beyond reproach either. The although John Terry then forced Thibaut final since 1974 and to the brink of a first league they remain a work in progress. The claim Portuguese had been lauded, if begrudgingly, Courtois into a fine save at the other end, title since 1996. Mourinho, in contrast, is less that Chelsea are not yet ready to challenge for after masterminding a counter-attacking 2-0 Diego Costa’s 60th-minute penalty effectively than a year into his second stint at Chelsea and major honours has at times provided a con- win at Liverpool last Sunday, but against ended the tie. he said that it would take time for him to pro- venient excuse for Mourinho, who is fond of Atletico Chelsea needed to take the initiative, “Chelsea needed to score,” said Atletico duce the same results. Asked for the difference depicting his lavishly assembled squad as a and they struggled.With the score 1-1 at half- coach Diego Simeone. “We knew they’d prob- between the two teams, he replied: “The differ- group of eager novices. time and Atletico ahead on away goals, the ably bring on another striker, which allowed ence between one year and three. It’s a big dif- Wednesday’s 3-1 semi-final loss revealed onus was on Chelsea to attack in the second us to bring in five midfielders. It left us a lot ference. “One year is one year, three years are more space to control the game.” While three years. I think Atletico are a very, very good Chelsea possess plenty of talented attackers, side, very adapted to the ideas of their manager. they have been schooled almost exclusively in It looks like every player fits his idea of how to the art of the counter-attack, and when the play.” circumstances demanded an onslaught, they Chelsea are currently two points below seemed to freeze. “Chelsea aren’t made for Premier League leaders Liverpool with two playing football, but for playing on the count- er-attack, like Real Madrid did against Bayern games to play, but Mourinho does not believe Munich,” winger Eden Hazard told French that it is realistic for his team to aim for trophies broadcaster beIN Sports. “It’s pretty much our at this stage of their development. “We are real- tactic that works the best.” Chelsea were also istic, but at the same time we are optimistic,” he the architects of their own downfall in said. “When things go in a certain direction, defence, where errors played a part in all three there’s a moment where you dream and you Atletico goals. think things are possible, even if things are not so realistic. “Because we did well in the Costa in Chelsea’s sights Champions League and in the Premier League, The Spaniards’ equaliser came after Ashley there was a moment where we felt we could do Cole allowed Juanfran to ghost into space it.” He added: “Next season will be better than behind him before dispatching a volleyed this season. That’s our objective, the objective of cross that Adrian Lopez converted. Costa won everybody. “Our young players will be better, the penalty after a clumsy swipe by Samuel hopefully we will have a couple of players to LONDON: Chelsea’s Eden Hazard looks at his boots as he sits on the ground following a Eto’o and for the third goal, Cesar Azpilicueta improve our team, and we will try to do better fall during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Chelsea lost sight of Juanfran, who crossed for Turan next season.”— AFP and Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge stadium in London.—AP to score at the second attempt.—AFP FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

LONDON: Chelsea’s John Terry looks dejected at the end of the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge Stadium in London on Wednes- day, April 30, 2014.—AP • Oprah eyes LA Clippers Page 45

European exit exposes Chelsea’s limitations Page 47