Political Figures and Famous People in Kuwait, Such As Moral and Religious Standards for Yourself,” He Added

A local artist New Saudi Ivorians ease explains his King reshapes into Nations love of caricature4 policy10 team Cup45 final

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www.kuwaittimes.net NO: 16425- Friday, February 6, 2015

Central Bank chief rejects allegations

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Local Spotlight Just kiddin’, seriously UN goodwill The Kuwait weight gain ambassadors

By Sahar Moussa

By Muna Al-Fuzai

[email protected]

[email protected] osing weight is an endless struggle and a topic every part of the country and they deliver whatever you both men and women are obsessed with. I have need at your doorstep, sparing you from moving out of hey are called goodwill ambassadors or peace Lnever sat with women and not listened to their your house. messengers. But this title has no diplomatic sta- views about how they are gaining weight and the meth- So, basically this luxurious life is actually reducing our tus, like the one held by the ambassadors of ods that are being used to lose weight. Just the other physical activities in one way or other and makes us T day, when I was at a hair salon, I heard two expat women indulge in a slothful and lazy lifestyle, right? No it’s countries. The objective of this designation is to assist express their dismay at gaining weight inexorably since wrong. in various issues tackled by the United Nations, the day they reached Kuwait. The duo became trio and I don’t want to be a hypocrite and put the blame on whether social, humanitarian, economic, health or soon it was a bunch of women grappling with the insol- the luxurious life I’m living. Instead I will be grateful for food-related. Goodwill ambassadors are usually uble dilemma they are facing. Each one of them was all this and blame no one but myself and these women singers or actors. The purpose of using celebrity fame sharing her own experience with diets she tried, exer- who do nothing but nag about their weight problems. is to spread awareness and support towards these cise, pills and even gadgets that presumably help them Because I have seen a lot of women, (I am one of them) issues. The mission is clear, but the UN is missing one in losing weight. It was really sad to see all these women who actually pay money to go to gym but don’t go. I key point, especially in the Arab world. are struggling with the crisis of ‘gaining weight’. don’t know why they think that if they actually join the What is the basis of the selection of these people For people who don’t live in Kuwait, I will try to gym they would lose weight magically. And if they actu- explain a bit about Kuwait’s lifestyle. Kuwait’s weather is ally go to the gym, their food consumption jumps dou- and why most of them, if not all, are artistes or ble-fold, and visiting the gym is as an excuse to eat singers? Who says they should be role models? This very hot. In summer, especially in August, the mercury could reach up to 57 degrees Celsius making it impossi- more. may be true in some communities where an actor is As for others who don’t have enough patience to ble to roam around the city and enjoy the sunlight something near holy, but certainly this is a wrong per- exercise, schedule an appointment to do a liposuction unless you want to risk a sunstroke and get admitted in a surgery to shed a few pounds. Ironically, they eat glutto- hospital. So, basically if you want to go anyplace, you nously as if they are going to starve before the proce- need a car, and not any car, a very good air-conditioned dure. My favorites are the lot who eat all kinds of junk car. and fattening food, but wonder why they are getting fat! The malls are your number one choice in summer since it is air-conditioned, movie is number two, any well It is not very hard to lose weight. Consider the follow- air-conditioned ‘diwaniya’ is number three, and rented ing tips: Is there a committee to evaluate ‘chalet’ is number four. This means, you need an air-con- 1) Have a strong will and shut your mouth their jobs? Do we, the people, have ditioned place or it will be better for you to stay home. In 2) Say no to junk or fattening food. summer, only a few depend on public transport system 3) Eat healthy food. an opinion over their achievements while a vast majority use their own cars. Almost any- 4) Eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. or contributions? I don’t think so. where you go there is valet parking. Food here is deli- 5) Exercising your mind is a good thing, but what if you cious, juicy and fattening. Nearly every month a new actually move your bum and go to exercise your body for a restaurant is opened and you cannot resist the tempta- change. tion not to try it. If not a restaurant, a new pastry or ice- 6) Quit sodas and drink natural fruit juices instead. cream shop is opened, and guess what? Yes you cannot 7) Unless you have a back problem try to carry your own fight the urge. Talking about food and desserts I cannot stuff to the car. fail to mention that you can order food from any restau- 8) It is okay if you park your car far and use your feet to ception here, especially in the Gulf countries. How rant, while you are sitting in the comfort of your home. walk. 9) Last but not the least, drink as much water as you can much efforts have they made and how can we meas- Even if you go to a ‘jamiah’ (supermarket), a quarter dinar will bring a porter to carry your stuff to your car. and be healthy. ure their support? Is there a committee to evaluate Salam their jobs? Do we, the people, have an opinion over Similarly, there are ‘baqalas’ (minimarkets) in almost their achievements or contributions? I don’t think so. Humanitarian, environmental and ethical crises are gripping the world and it seems that we cannot find a country devoid of crisis, public anger, hunger or misery. At the same time, most of the countries of the world occupy a seat at the United Nations and each of them has a national issue that needs to be addressed by its own people. The UN focuses on singers to be role models in the community, but there are many young people, especially young girls, who may be struggling to work in important areas such as IT and public awareness to help the needy, and they deserve this label to shed light on the importance of their work for the community more than anyone else. Those who bring about real change are considered good ambassadors of their nations and the causes they work for. I believe the countries that are committed to their contributions to the United Nations should have a say through a national committee composed of educated young people to work on the selection of goodwill ambassadors, especially in the field of environment and climate awareness. A pretty face is not enough to resolve complicated issues like these nor bring solutions or end the suffering of many. KUWAIT: One of Kuwait’s marine fire rescue boats in a drill in Kuwait City yesterday. — Photo by Joseph Shagra

Local FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 The art of exaggeration

By Ben Garcia ently. “I don’t want pressure - I work at my own pace and perspective. You give me a theme and I’ll draw it for you, olitical cartoons and religious caricatures are contro- and no amount of pressure can change that,” he asserted. versial around the world, the most recent evidence Currently, he teaches intermediate students at a public Pis the horrific attack on the French satirical weekly school in Mahboula. “I love teaching. I am a teacher by pro- Charlie Hebdo. But a local caricaturist, Mohammad Al- fession and teach English to students, but at the same time Qahtani is prepared to face the challenge. The 29-year-old impart this passion to them,” he said. “I tell them there is budding artist has a passion for drawing caricatures of nothing wrong in making caricatures as long as you set political figures and famous people in Kuwait, such as moral and religious standards for yourself,” he added. actors. “I want to be part of the change in my society. I studied “I am against any form of violence and hatred. But let English at Kuwait University for seven years and took some me express my opinion of Charlie Hebdo. There is always a English practical courses in London so that I could share limit when it comes to expressing thoughts in public. You with students in Kuwait the knowledge I gained. I want to can freely express your opinion, but make sure to consider be part of the revolution of change for my people, so I am a the feelings of others. I have my own sets of standards and proud teacher,” Qahtani said. boundaries for everything,” Qahtani said. He also makes charcoal and watercolor paintings, por- Qahtani isn’t an active political cartoonist yet, but he’s traits of people and landscapes. But drawing cartoons is aware of the pressure and acceptance by people, especial- something he excels in doing. “I do public caricaturing if ly in Kuwait. “In Kuwait, not everyone accepts their faces the venue allows me to do so, like in malls. At expos I coop- and figures to be distorted as cartoons. They think we’re erate with other artists, but nowadays, I do it alone if making fun of them, but our objective is to portray a there’s a chance,” he added. lighter side of them,” he explained. His passion for caricaturing started when he was a child. First Love “I drew various cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Qahtani went through a period of turmoil due to family Tom and Jerry when I was small. I usually kept plain paper troubles in his early university days. “There was a phase in in my bag to draw something for my classmates. They liked my life when I didn’t want to draw anything, when I was it very much, and I was fascinated by the response of my having some family problems. Maybe it’s the same with adoring fans,” he quipped. other artists. But I was able to recover from that episode, When he was 11, Qahtani bagged the grand prize in a and Alhumdulillah, my passion for drawing returned. I cartoon contest in elementary school. “I got a cash prize believe in the saying that one’s first love never dies,” he and was sent to Egypt to represent Kuwait in a drawing said. contest. Unfortunately, I stood fourth, but I wasn’t disappointed at all, knowing I had represented my country in an international competition, plus I met various well- known Arab artists and experienced people,” he said. “So I had already tasted fame when I was a little boy!” Fresh from that achievement, he got many invitations to showcase his artistic prowess. He also participated in various school competitions and art contests organized by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters.

A Proud Teacher He now wants to work independ- FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Local

“Sometimes I am paid for my work, but most of the time I do it because I love making caricatures of people, and I give it to them as a gift,” he said. At the very end of his conversation with Kuwait Times, Qahtani showed a caricature of this writer, which he made in just a couple of minutes. Chevron, Zain Telecom, and Gust Kuwait Times Student Art Competition under the slogan of “Kuwait Beautiful and Green”

A country’s progress rests on its young citizens’ shoulders. What is the best way to get the youth involved in national development than asking them how we can protect Kuwait’s environment and save it from destruction. To this end, Kuwait Times has organized an open art competition for school students on the topic “Kuwait Beautiful and Green”. The theme of this art competition was chosen keeping in mind the need for immediate action to protect our beautiful country from pollution and environmental damage. The art competition is targeting around 15,000 students with the objective of generating awareness of the environment by giving them an opportunity to express their thoughts about protecting the environment on paper. The selected winners stand to walk away with exciting prizes. “Kuwait Beautiful and Green” is sponsored by Saudi Arabian Chevron Inc. Zain, and Gust. Local FRIDAY,FEBRUARY 6, 2015

An open letter to the bus drivers of Kuwait

By Aakash Bakaya they made public transportation is to help reduce traffic on the roads. Passengers you fail ou might not know me, and how could to deliver are forced to take cars, adding to the Japan pulls out of Kuwait, you? While I was waiting patiently for problem of more traffic! Yyour bus to take me to work, you decid- As I was getting off your bus, I turned Qatar Open over security ed to speed by without a second glance at me around and said, “This is not your bus, you or the other three would-be passengers wait- work for a company. Do they know that you TOKYO: Japan’s table tennis chiefs said yes- association said in a statement. ing at the designated bus stop. Now I realize are kicking out five paying customers and even terday they have pulled out of events in “Considering the latest situation, the that you might have been running late. And I more potential passengers on your route?” To Kuwait and Qatar because of safety con- association decided to cancel the plan to think your stipends depend on how quickly which you replied, “What can I do? I can’t fly cerns following the murder of two Japanese send the team to the Kuwait and Qatar you complete your routes. But did you stop to over the traffic, I’m not a plane.” men by Islamist extremists. In an indication Open tournaments.” Tokyo has long avoid- think that the people you so cruelly ignore Sadly, this is just one example of horrid cus- of the national nervousness provoked by ed getting embroiled in tinderbox conflicts have their own salaries to earn? Or that our pay tomer service, incompetence and pure negli- the killings in lawless Syria, the Japan Table across the Middle East and had never been might get cut because you make us late for gence on the part of many bus drivers in Tennis Association said it would not be the target of Islamic extremists until the work? Kuwait. Passengers are regularly ignored at bus sending anyone to the events, which are killing of journalist Kenji Goto and self- I’ve been a passenger on your buses for stops as drivers race to make a too-tight route part of the World Tour. The Kuwait Open styled contractor Haruna Yukawa. Their bru- more than 15 years now and the truth is noth- deadline. Or else drivers fail to stop for groups will start on Wednesday next week and the tal murders has shocked this often insular ing has changed with the bus system in of teen boys. They have been known to let the Qatar Open on February 17. “As media country, which frequently struggles to dif- Kuwait. Yes, more routes have been added and bus roll so that you have to run to catch and reported, Japanese nationals were abduct- ferentiate events in other parts of the world, some buses even have Wi-Fi. But there remains jump to get on. ed and murdered in the Middle East while and has a tendency to lump far-flung places a general lack of common courtesy and Bus drivers often cut off cars as they race unsavoury messages were sent out,” the together as “abroad”. — AFP respect toward passengers. along the roads. I’ve seen buses flying at 100 Let me give you an example. A few days km on Airport Road, nearly knocking other cars ago, as I was getting onto bus number 51 on off the highway. I’ve seen buses racing two my way to the newspaper, I overheard you abreast in what looks like a competition of driv- ‘Lesbian activity’ shuts telling the passenger in front of me that you ers to reach the bus stand. Everyone in Kuwait will not travel all the way to Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh who rides a bus knows that there is no guaran- mall restrooms (which is the last stop on your appointed tee a bus - including the one designated for route). Confused, I asked why, and if you would that route - will stop at any given bus stop. KUWAIT: Female visitors to one of unclear exactly what was meant by that. at least go to Shuwaikh. “No, there’s too much Bus drivers, we know you don’t have it easy. Kuwait’s most popular malls may be Females visitors at the mall asking to use traffic in Shuwaikh at this time,” you replied. I We passengers understand that you are under shocked to find that they will not be able to the restrooms were told by staff that they couldn’t believe my ears. I’ve heard many a lot of pressure and that the traffic only makes use the bathrooms in the early morning would be opened by 10am only. They were excuses from bus drivers here, but this one was it worse. But it is your job to care for your pas- hours. According to officials at the informa- further advised by staff to use the men’s impossible. sengers - not ignore them, or worse run them tion desk, the bathrooms have been locked restroom and have another female stand Too much traffic?! You are a bus! The reason down. due to ‘lesbian’ activity, though it was guard. Local FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Spanish Speaker hails ties with Kuwait Crime Report MADRID: Speaker of the Spanish Congress of Deputies (Parliament) Jesus Posada Moreno lauded the excellent bilateral ties with the State of Kuwait, Reckless Kuwaiti yesterday, as First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah driver arrested Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is visiting the country. After meeting with the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Moreno highly praised By Hanan Al-Saadoun the visit as it will push bilateral ties to higher levels and will boost cooperation KUWAIT: A 26-year-old citizen was arrested for recklessly driv- in all domains, especially in the political ing his vehicle and doing dangerous stunts regularly at the and diplomatic ones, pointing out that junction near Qurtoba flyover at late nights. Taking a tip from a a friendship parliamentary committee is social media site video, MOI’s security media department said in formation to enable the exchange of that the suspect was also spotted on MOI surveillance cameras parliamentary visits between the two and that traffic police were immediately despatched to the countries. scene and arrested the driver, confiscated his vehicle and with- During his meeting with Sheikh drew his driver’s license and vehicle registration. Sabah Khaled, the Spanish Speaker dis- for his sympathies on the death of a with international coalition to achieve cussed current issues in regional and Spanish peacekeeper during an peace and stability in the region. international arenas, as well as, those exchange of fire on the Israeli-Lebanon Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, and his 420 traffic violations concerning combating terrorism. border a week ago. accompanying delegation, arrived in During a comprehensive inspection campaign, Hawally Moreno thanked Sheikh Sabah Khaled He also lauded Kuwait’s cooperation Spain yesterday. — KUNA security recently managed to file 420 traffic citations and confiscated 80 vehicles for various traffic violations. Citizen with counterfeit currencies arrested Colleague rapes Filipina in Abu Halifa

KUWAIT: A citizen was recently arrested Mubarak had been tipped off concerning Asians arrested with KD1,500 worth of counterfeit the departure of a banned citizen who Two Asians were recently arrested in Kuwaiti dinars, 1,800 worth of fake Saudi was arrested on return and confessed Jleeb with the possession of 85 home- riyals and a machine for manufacturing that the suspect let her out without made liquor bottles, said security sources. counterfeit currencies, said security stamping her passport or registering her A police patrol noticed that a driver sud- sources. The citizen also had in his pos- departure in the system. A case was filed denly sped off from a street on spotting session one-and-a-half kilos of ICE, 30 and further investigations are in progress. the police and that his vehicle was grams of heroin, 700 psychotropic pills, a chased until it stopped. The two suspects gun, two shotguns and a big quantity of GCC nations killed stepped out of the car making the best different caliber ammo. Two GCC nationals were instantly use of their legs. Chasing them on foot Palestinian arrested Narcotic detectives had been tipped killed and three others injured when four for half-an-hour, police apprehended the A Palestinian was recently arrested in Mahboula with the pos- off regarding the suspect’s activity and vehicles collided along Al-Salmi highway, two suspects and brought back to search session of 18 ICE bags, a bar of hashish and KD 700 cash, said that on raiding his house, the police said security sources noting that one of their vehicle where the liquor was found. security sources noting that the suspect’s residency visa was found the illegal items. A case was filed the injured, who was rushed to Jahra also expired. A case was filed and further investigations are in and further investigations are in progress. hospital for treatment, was in a critical Orphanage tenant found dead progress. condition. A 21-year-old tenant of the state-run orphanage was recently found dead in Citizen with firearms held Grocery looted his bedroom, said security sources noting Jahra detectives recently arrested a An Iranian grocer in Andalus reported that initial medical examination of the citizen with the possession of firearms that two unidentified people entered his body showed that the direct cause of and drugs while driving a stolen vehi- store brandishing a clover at him and death was an acute circulatory collapse cle, said security sources. Case papers stole KD 467 before fleeing in a black resulting from a drug overdose. indicate that a police patrol spotted vehicle, said security sources. the vehicle that had been reported stolen and on stopping and searching Colleague rapes Filipina Armed robbers held it, detectives found a Kalashnikov A Filipina recently reported that a col- Three citizens, an Arab expat and a machine gun, two guns, ammunition, league of hers had raped her inside the bedoon were recently arrested for six magazines, a clover and three bags warehouse of the food products compa- involvement in multiple armed robberies of ICE. A case was filed and the suspect ny they both worked for in Abu Hlaifa, in Ahmadi camping area, said security was referred to relevant authorities. said security sources. She explained that Bangladeshi arrested sources. Noticing an increase in robberies the suspect lured her into the ware- A Bangladeshi was recently arrested on arrival at Kuwait around the camps (around 20 cases), house where he raped her despite her International Airport with the possession of 2,000 psy- Three citizens arrested detectives stopped a vehicle the suspects resistance. A case was filed and further chotropic pills he hid in grooves inside some shoes he Three citizens wanted in a case involv- used and searched them. They found investigations are in progress. brought along. A case was filed and the suspect was ing a financial crime worth KD 85900 many mobile phones, IDs, wallets and a referred to relevant authorities. were arrested, said security sources. The gun. The suspects admitted that they had two suspects were stopped at a check- formed a robbery gang and robbed many Wanted criminal nabbed point and were found without any IDs. camps. A case was filed. A wanted person was recently arrest- On checking their fingerprints, one was ed at Al-Salmi land border point while found wanted for KD 65,000 financial Held for drug abuse trying to leave the country using his fraud and the other for KD 15,000 claim. A citizen with a criminal record was brother’s passport, said security sources. The third suspect was arrested separately recently arrested in Salwa for drug abuse at another checkpoint and found wanted and driving vehicle producing noise pol- Attempt to rape Filipinas for KD 5,900. lution, said security sources. On stopping Two Filipinas reported that four uniden- the suspect for the loud noise his vehicle tified people had stopped them in Jabriya Passport officer arrested made, he was found fully drugged and claiming as police detectives. They told An airport passport officer was recent- some drugs were beside him on the front them that they were being taken to the ly arrested for assisting a female citizen passenger seat. police station. The two girls reported that banned from travelling to leave the coun- Another citizen was arrested for smok- the suspects tried to sexually molest them try, said security sources. Case papers ing hashish inside a vehicle parked in an during the trip and when they refused, the indicate that the airport security chief, Lt open yard at night in Salwa with its head- suspect just threw them out of the vehicle. Colonel, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al- lights on, said security sources. —Al-Anbaa/ Al-Qabas/ Al-Rai Local FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Central Bank chief rejects allegations

DUBAI: Kuwait’s Central Bank Governor local bank “many years ago” before he held Mohammad Al-Hashel rejected claims that a senior central bank post and before the he had conducted any illicit share trading, CMA was created, but had not traded those after a local Arabic newspaper alleged the shares for a long time. Hashel subsequently securities regulator had decided to refer subscribed to a capital increase in which him to prosecutors on suspicion of violat- the bank’s shareholders had priority, buying investment rules. ing 2,172 more shares, but the purchase The newspaper Al-Jarida , quoting did not involve using internal information unnamed sources, reported yesterday that or any conflicts of interest, he said. the case related to an investment that Repeated calls to the CMA by Reuters yes- Hashel had made in a Kuwaiti bank, which terday were not answered. the report did not name. Hashel, who has publicly criticized It said Hashel was allegedly suspected wasteful government budgets and big of violating Capital Markets Authority rules increases in state spending, became central because, as a senior official, he was able to bank governor after being promoted in see private confidential financial details of 2012 from his position as deputy. He is 40, the bank that were not available to other unusually young for a top official in Kuwait. shareholders. In a statement to the state The Gulf state has suffered bouts of news agency KUNA, Hashel said he had political tension in recent years amid accu- never traded shares in any listed company sations of corruption and mismanagement during his years in senior posts at the cen- leveled at senior government members tral bank, and that data from the Kuwait and loyalists, including members of the rul- Clearing Company confirmed this. KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Central Bank Governor Mohammad Al-Hashel during the unveil- ing family, by former members of parlia- He said he had bought 7,000 shares in a ing of new Kuwait currency in this file photo. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat ment and opposition politicians. — Reuters Assembly panel completes law on domestic helpers Court to consider replacing judges in storming case

By B Izzak reduced from two years. of the articles in the law serve the interests of review, adding that this was the first time that He said that the bill stipulates tough penal- maids, sponsors and recruitment offices. such a large number of recommendations KUWAIT: The National Assembly health and ties for violators that include a fine of up to KD have been issued for Kuwait. labor committee yesterday completed the dis- 10,000 and jail terms not exceeding five years. Rights record He said that Kuwait must now have answers cussion of a draft law to regulate the affairs of Hammad said the committee decided to vote Ten MPs meanwhile submitted a request to the UN Council on June 29 when its file will domestic helpers but the panel delayed voting on the draft law at a later meeting and also calling to allocat two hours in the Assembly’s be reviewed. In another development, the on the legislation until a further meeting, head decided to delay discussing a law to set up a next session to debate the recommendations Court of Appeals yesterday postponed the of the committee said. public shareholding company to recruit maids Kuwait has received while discussing its case of 70 opposition activists and former MPs MP Saadoun Hammad said that the original to replace the private offices which are human rights record at the United Nations accused of storming the National Assembly bill consisted of 73 articles but the committee accused of committing violations. Human Rights Council in Geneva last week. building more than three years ago. deleted a number of them and added others. But MP Kamel Al-Awadhi, a former head of Head of the National Assembly Human Rights The postponement came to allow the judge He did not provide details. Hammad said that the immigration department, said the one- Committee MP Abdulhameed Dashti said the to study a request by defense lawyers calling the main features of the law is regulating the year ban on transfer contradicts international request shows that the National Assembly is on the judge to retire from the case under the recruitment of domestic helpers, which is treaties that Kuwait has already signed. interested in human rights issues and in doing claim that he had expressed views in public being carried out by private offices, and bar- Awadhi expected that this and several oth- what is needed to fulfill those recommenda- against the storming. The criminal court had ring domestic helpers from transferring their er articles will witness heated arguments when tions. acquitted all the 70 defendants saying those residence permits to other sponsors before the the bill comes up for debate in the Assembly. Dashti said that Kuwait received a record who entered the building did not have a crimi- lapse of at least one year which the committee The lawmaker however said he believes most 278 recommendations on its human rights nal intent and that they made no damage. Defense Minister lauds Kuwait-UK ties

KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah stressed here yesterday the depth of Kuwaiti-UK relations, and mutual willing- ness to develop bilateral cooperation in various domains particularly military. Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah made the remark during talks with visiting UK Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Tobias Elwood, the Defense Ministry’s Moral Guidance Department said in a statement. Both sides discussed cooperative relations between Kuwait and the UK and several issues of mutual interest, it added. The talks were attended by Kuwaiti Army Chief of General Staff Lieut. Gen. Khaled Al- Khuder, Undersecretary of the Defense Ministry Jassar Al-Jassar and several other KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah with visiting UK Minister for the Middle East army officials, it added. — KUNA and North Africa Tobias Elwood. — KUNA FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Jordan jets pound France struggles to Coalition-scarred, Islamic State, vows find answers one Britain’s Liberals a harsh12 response month13 after attacks battle15 for survival

RIYADH: In this file photo, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (2nd right first row) poses with Shura members at consultative Shura Council in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s new monarch isn’t wasting time. Since assuming the throne Jan 23, King Salman has elevated some of his closest relatives and sidelined previous power-brokers, tightened decision-making and promised lavish payouts designed to win early goodwill. — AP New Saudi King reshapes policy team King Salman elevates his closest relatives

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s new monarch isn’t wasting Mohammed bin Nayef, who helped to establish a The king elevated another son, Abdulaziz bin kingdom. Salman also has overhauled policymak- time. Since assuming the throne Jan 23, King center for rehabilitating former jihadists, survived Salman, to deputy oil minister as the kingdom ing by dissolving a dozen advisory bodies and Salman has elevated some of his closest relatives a 2009 assassination attempt - a suicide bombing weathers a severe slump in the value of its most replacing them with two new ones. and sidelined previous power-brokers, tightened orchestrated by Al-Qaeda’s branch in neighboring precious commodity. The long-serving oil minis- One of those sidelined in that shake-up is decision-making and promised lavish payouts Yemen. ter, Ali Naimi, is one of few Cabinet ministers not Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who had led a National designed to win early goodwill. While his new He studied in the US state of Oregon and has to lose his job in the shake-up. He oversees the Security Council created by King Abdullah in 2005. administration gives greater prominence to worked to strengthen American-Saudi ties. management of the energy giant’s nearly 270 bil- Bandar, the former intelligence chief who was US younger generations, it remains to be seen Shortly before King Abdullah’s death, Mohammed lion barrels of oil reserves and leads the kingdom’s ambassador from 1983 to 2005, received no posi- whether the swift housecleaning will lead to bin Nayef held talks with President Barack Obama negotiating team at OPEC meetings, where Saudi tion in either of the two new panels: the Council of greater political rights and other reforms in the in the Oval Office focused on fighting terrorism policy dominates. Abdulaziz bin Salman’s promo- Political and Security Affairs, and the Council of ultraconservative kingdom. and other security issues. Simon Henderson, direction increases the chances that the prince could Economic and Development Affairs. Mohammed One clear winner in the shake-up is Prince tor of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at The succeed Naimi. Salman also opted to retain long- bin Nayef leads the first committee, Abdulaziz bin Mohammed bin Nayef, who has been interior min- Washington Institute, described him as “Mr serving Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal to lead Salman the second. Mustafa Alani, an expert on ister since 2012 and spearheads counterterrorism Security” with favorable reviews from US officials. diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran, security and terrorism at the Geneva-based Gulf efforts. King Salman named the 55-year-old as Another rising star is one of the king’s sons, Prince Saudi Arabia’s main regional rival. Research Center, said he expects the changes to deputy crown prince in one of his first acts as king. Mohammed bin Salman, who is in his mid 30s. Al-Faisal last year invited Iranian Foreign promote better decision-making with an infusion That’s a historic change, because for the first time Salman named the prince as his replacement as Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Saudi of new political blood as Salman confronts security it puts a grandson of Saudi Arabia’s founder, King defense minister hours after taking the throne. Arabia, but later accused Iran of fomenting unrest challenges in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Iran. “Look at Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, on course to rule. He becomes Mohammed bin Salman also oversees royal proto- throughout the Middle East. Zarif finally visited the map,” Alani said. “You can see the situation second in line to the throne behind Salman’s half col and is a special adviser to the king, increasing shortly after King Abdullah’s death, and expressed surrounding the country. ... For this sort of envi- brother Crown Prince Muqrin, who is 69. his influence in the royal court. hopes of greater cooperation with the Sunni-ruled ronment, you need a new team.” —AP

International FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Jordan jets pound IS

AMMAN: Jordan said yesterday it had launched air strikes against the Islamic State group, after vowing a harsh response to the burning alive of one of its fighter pilots. “The Jordanian air force launched raids against positions of the Islamic State group,” said a government official, who did not want to be named. He did not disclose where the strikes took place, saying the military would release a statement on the operation later. Jordan has conducted regular raids against IS in Syria as part of a US-led campaign against IS, which has seized swathes of the country and of neighboring Iraq. The gruesome murder of airman Maaz Al-Kassasbeh, who was captured by IS when his F-16 fighter plane went down in Syria in December, has boosted support in Jordan for increased military action against the jihadists. Jordanian King Abdullah II personally paid his condolences yesterday to the pilot’s family in his hometown of Karak, 120 kilometers south of the capital. Abdullah cut short a visit to the United States and flew back to Amman on Wednesday after the harrowing video emerged of Kassasbeh’s killing. “The blood of martyr Maaz Al-Kassasbeh will not be in vain and the response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” he said after- wards. On Wednesday, Jordan executed two Iraqis on death row-female would-be suicide bomber Sajida Al-Rishawi and Al- Qaeda operative Ziad Al-Karboli-in response to the killing of the AI: A Jordanian Air Force fighter jet flies over the village of Ai as Jordanian King Abdullah II visits to offer his condolences 26-year-old pilot. — AFP to the tribe of the slain Jordanian pilot, Lt Muath Al-Kaseasbeh at their home village near Karak, Jordan yesterday. Jordan’s king vowed to wage a “harsh” war against the Islamic State group after the militants burned a captive Three die after Islam Jordanian pilot in a cage and released a video of the killing. — AP Army issues warning Brotherhood exiles see DAMASCUS: Rocket attacks killed three people in Damascus and wounded at least 35 yesterday, state news agency SANA said, in what appeared to be the second hope in new Saudi king heavy bombardment by insurgent group Islam Army in less than two weeks. Shells thought to have been fired from the east of the capital could be heard exploding in Morale rising among Islamists based in Qatar the city, a witness said. Local media reported that Islam Army was behind the attack on several residential areas. SANA said only that “infidel terrorists” carried out the DOHA: The accession of King Salman in Saudi Arabia has caused Brotherhood activists, a position that appeared to be unpopular bombardment. It showed a photograph of a blackened car glimmers of hope among Muslim Brotherhood exiles in Qatar that the inside the kingdom. Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds of with its trunk blown off. State television said three missiles Middle East’s political winds have started to shift in their favor, poten- Brotherhood supporters to death since Sisi was elected president last hit areas around the Umayyad Mosque, one of the largest tially giving the Islamist group more space to act. King Salman is year. Abdullah also declared the Brotherhood an illegal organization in the world, located in the capital’s Old City. Insurgents more sympathetic to religious conservatives than his predecessor a year ago, adding it to an official list of terrorist groups and imposing and the Syrian military are battling for control of eastern Abdullah and is seen as less hostile to the group, but analysts and prison terms of five to 30 years for anyone who gave it moral or mate- diplomats in Riyadh say any adjustment to Saudi policy towards the rial support. “I don’t believe Salman will hold relations with Qatar areas close to the capital, and the air force has carried out Brotherhood is likely to be minimal. hostage to the issue of the Muslim Brotherhood, but I also don’t regular bombardments there, including on the Ghouta dis- Brotherhood members in Doha already appear to have started believe he will change Saudi policy towards the Brotherhood inside trict where Islam Army is based. testing how far Salman and his security team are willing to tolerate Saudi Arabia or in Egypt,” said an Arab diplomat in Riyadh. Salman Formed by a merger of rebel factions in 2013, the group renewed activity by the group there, after a recent hiatus that fol- has not yet spelled out his main foreign policy priorities, but in a follows an Islamist doctrine and has received backing in lowed pressure on Qatar from Riyadh. “There’s a growing sense of reshuffle last week he created a new super committee for security the past from Saudi Arabia. Its leader said on Tuesday that hope now, things are changing around us with new leaders coming and political issues under the control of Interior Minister Prince it would target the Syrian capital, which is under govern- to power and it’s time we have a voice again and clarify to the world Mohammed bin Nayef. “Prince Mohammed sees the Brotherhood as a ment control. An estimated 200,000 people have been who we really are,” said an Egyptian Brotherhood member living in threat to the whole region, but not an imminent or major one. killed in Syria’s civil war, which pits the government of Qatar who declined to be named. Compared to the issues of Iran and Islamic State it’s not a priority, or President Bashar Al-Assad against a range of groups The Brotherhood, the most influential Islamist group in the world, is, at least, manageable,” said Alani. including mainstream rebels, Islamist brigades and hard- is seen as a threat by some Gulf Arab monarchies because it chal- line jihadists like Islamic State and Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front. lenges the principle of their dynastic system of rule, but some promi- Fiery sermons US-led forces are bombarding Islamic State in both Syria nent members have been given shelter by Qatar. One sign that Brotherhood members in Qatar may feel under less and Iraq. Yesterday the Syrian air force struck areas north- Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have led opposition to pressure came from influential Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi, an east of the capital including Douma city and Arbin town, Qatar’s support for the group, arguing that it poses an insidious Egyptian-born cleric resident in Qatar with close ties to the Islamist killing 12 and wounding around 100, the Syrian threat to regional stability through its activities in Egypt and other group. He had stopped delivering fiery Friday sermons when Saudi Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. A Arab countries. Doha, for its part, regards the Brotherhood as impos- Arabia and the UAE put pressure on Qatar last year, but two days after video posted by the media arm of rebel fighters in the sible to remove from the Arab political scene and believes its influ- Abdullah’s Jan. 23 death, he lashed out against Sisi’s “unjust” rule in a south showed huge clouds of smoke rising between build- ence is so extensive that it makes sense to work with it instead of video and called Morsi Egypt’s “legitimate leader”. ings in what a voiceover said was Douma. There have been attempting to eradicate it. The argument was behind a damaging rift “The new king doesn’t have to take the Brotherhood off the terror- several attacks on Damascus itself since the start of the among Gulf Arab states last year, when Saudi Arabia, the UAE and ist list, but he can choose to override or ignore the decision that was year. Islam Army struck with at least 38 rockets on Jan 25, Bahrain pulled their ambassadors from Doha and only returned them taken just to please the Egyptian leadership,” said a Qatari political killing seven people, the Observatory said, in one of the after it said it would not let the Brotherhood use Qatar for its activi- analyst who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic. heaviest attacks on the city in over a year. ties. “I think the general attitude could be more relaxed. In terms of Qatar’s ruling family also appears to hope that Saudi Arabia’s new On Sunday, a bomb claimed by Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front practical policy I don’t think the Saudis will put their weight onto a king will favor the country over the UAE and Egypt. “Unlike Egypt and tore apart a bus carrying Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims crackdown or take action,” said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst with the UAE, Saudi’s leadership understands that you can’t just cut a off in Damascus. A witness in Damascus yesterday heard links to the Saudi Interior Ministry. the Brotherhood. An ideology can’t be removed by force. That’s why more than 30 bombardments in quick succession. Local communication is essential,” said a Qatari source close to the govern- radio Sham FM said the projectiles had hit at least five Terrorism accusations ment. Salman’s external challenges of containing violence in Yemen, areas of the capital. People posted images on social media Any shift in Riyadh’s policy towards the Brotherhood - whether in Syria and fighting IS, meant Qatar could make a good ally for Saudi said to show plumes of smoke rising above the city. A Qatar or elsewhere - could have implications for its ties with Egypt, a Arabia through its close relations with Islamists, said Ali Hussein message on a Twitter account thought to belong to Islam country regarded by both Salman and his predecessor as a vital secu- Bakeer, an independent Gulf analyst. “Under King Salman I don’t Army’s leader Zahran Alloush said the attack was a taste of rity ally. King Abdullah strongly backed Egypt’s army when it took think Qatar will fall into a rift with Saudi Arabia again especially now what the Syrian military had done to Ghouta. He described power in July 2013 following protests against then president because Qatar is a useful political partner in the region,” he said. Damascus as a “military zone” in a statement earlier this Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member who had won the country’s Doha’s goodwill gestures to help end the breach with Gulf Arab week, and said his group would respond to air force first election after the Arab Spring. neighbors included pushing seven senior Brotherhood figures to strikes. — Reuters The late king also gave full-throated backing to Egypt’s then army leave in September and ending the broadcasts of an Egypt-focused leader, now President Abdel-Fatteh al-Sisi, in his severe crackdown on affiliate of its Al Jazeera television channel. — Reuters International FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 A month after attacks, France struggles to find answers

PARIS: Maxence Hamard never used to spend guard-part of some 15,000 security forces deployed much time thinking about French society, but all around sensitive sites nationwide-Nathalie that changed dramatically one month ago when Mehessen, from the eastern Alsace region, has Islamist attackers wrought terror in Paris over three, come to pay her respects. She runs a creche attend- long days. “Now, I change my mind all the time on ed by children from different origins and religions, all sorts of issues,” the 23-year-old student says in a and feels kids have to be taught to live together in cafe near the site of the first attack on satirical mag- harmony from an early age. azine Charlie Hebdo, where flowers, cartoons and The government has announced measures to messages form a makeshift shrine. “I’m a little lost.” rally children who feel excluded on religious and He’s not alone. Stunned, the country has done ethnic grounds around the French values of “liber- much soul-searching as to how three Frenchmen ty, equality, fraternity” and secularity. But Prune could kill 17 of their countrymen and women. Hebert, a teacher at Camille Jenatzy high school in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, crippling inequalities, Paris, feels the government should focus more on “apartheid-like” suburbs, education... Suddenly social inequalities. Many of her students are born in long-neglected societal problems are on every- France to immigrant families, and still cannot read one’s lips. well or write a basic letter by the time they reach high school, she says. “The social ladder is com- Fears of Islamophobia pletely blocked at the bottom. If we get it working At the foot of a barricade near the white build- again, if we give fundamental skills to these stu- ing where the Kouachi brothers burst into Charlie dents, then all those values have meaning. And not Hebdo’s offices on January 7 and shot 11 people, the other way round,” she says. VITORIA: A woman walks past snow covered bicycles in the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz fol- including famous cartoonists, a red pinwheel flut- lowing heavy snow storms in northern Spain yesterday. — AFP ters in the breeze, the words “la vida” (“life”) stuck in ‘Apartheid’, ghettos the centre. Not far away, a mound of flowers marks Much has also been said about the difficult the spot where one of the brothers killed Ahmed upbringing of the Kouachi brothers and their Snowstorm wreaks havoc Merabet, a policeman who tried to stop them. “I am accomplice Amedy Coulibaly, who shot dead a Arab, I am Muslim, I am a victim, I am Charlie,” reads policewoman on January 8 and held up a Jewish in Slovenia, northern Spain one sign pinned onto a fence that overlooks the supermarket the next day, killing four shoppers. pavement where he fell, a reminder that Islam Coulibaly grew up on a notoriously violent estate in should not be blamed for the jihadist killings. the Paris suburb of Grigny. Prime Minister Manuel SPAIN: A heavy snowstorm has snarled traf- ices between Leon and the northern coastal But in the 25 days after the attack, 147 anti- Valls sparked a furore by denouncing the “territori- fic in northern Spain and Slovenia, with region of Asturias. In Slovenia, authorities Muslim incidents had been reported to authorities al, social and ethnic apartheid” in parts of the coun- scores of motorists needing to be rescued. closed three border crossings to truck traffic in France, not including Paris and its surrounding try. But for Mehdi Bigaderne, who grew up in Police and military services said yesterday to prevent road pileups. Slovenian authori- region-more than for the whole of 2014. “Our state Clichy-sous-Bois where violent riots erupted in they had rescued some 400 people from ties told people to stay indoors if possible. of mind is one of fear, and also of anger,” says Fateh 2005, Valls is spot on. “When I was a kid, we would vehicles stuck on roads cut off by heavy Schools were closed yesterday in two Kimouche, the creator of Al-Kanz, an influential have fun giving names to estates, the Bamako tow- snowfalls across northern Spain. Spain’s municipalities in the west, and more closing blog for Muslims. “I’m a Frenchie but I feel like I am er, the Istanbul tower,” says Bigaderne, founding in hostile territory,” he adds. Back at the Charlie member of a co-operative representing working- state rail company, Renfe, suspended serv- were expected today. — AP Hebdo offices, where armed policemen keep class areas. —AFP 13 killed as gunmen attack Libya oil field

TRIPOLI: Gunmen in Libya killed 13 people, including five foreigners, in an overnight attack on a oil field partially owned by France’s Total, a chief security officer said on Wednesday. “Eight Libyans, three Filipinos and two Ghanaians were killed in the attack” at the Al-Mabruk field, said officer Hakim Maazzab, the head security guard at a nearby oil complex. “All of them had their throats slit apart from one Libyan, who was shot dead.” Previously, the state-owned National Oil Company had said staff were evacuated from the field. “An unidentified armed group attacked the field but personnel were evacuated in time,” NOC spokesman Mohamed Al-Harari said. A spokesman for the guards at Libya’s oil installations, Ali Al-Hassi, accused militants loyal to the Islamic State group of carrying out the attack, without providing details. Al-Mabruk sits some 100 kilometers south of the coastal city of Sirte, the hometown of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi. French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll earlier said Paris was seeking to confirm casualties in the attack but added that “no Westerners” had been killed. “We have been informed that an armed group has attacked the Mabruk site,” a spokes- woman for Total said, adding that the company had previously withdrawn all of its personnel. “Total is not the operator. The site is operated by the Mabruk Oil Operation, which is managed by the NOC,” she added. Since Gaddafi’s overthrow in a NATO-backed revolt in 2011, Sirte has become a stronghold of extremist groups, including Ansar Al- Sharia, which is blacklisted by the United Nations and the United States for its links to Al-Qaeda. There was no production from the Al-Mabruk field at the time of the attack because of restricted export capacity at terminals on the coast. An Islamist-backed militia alliance, which controls the capital TRIPOLI: Fighters from the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) militia hold a position during clashes with forces loyal to Libya’s interna- Tripoli and third city Misrata, launched an offensive in tionally recognized government as they fight for the control of the area in Al-Aqrabiyah area, some 170 kilometers west of the December to try to capture the export terminals from forces capital Tripoli. — AFP loyal to the internationally recognized government, causing significant damage. Oil is Libya’s main natural resource, with a pre- of budget revenues. But production fell to around 350,000 bpd chunks of Iraq and Syria is thought to have gained a foothold in revolt output of about 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), in December when the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) alliance attacked Libya and claimed last month’s attack on a luxury hotel in accounting for more than 95 percent of exports and 75 percent the terminals. The jihadist Islamic State group that has seized Tripoli that killed nine people, including five foreigners. — AFP International FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Oil tankers run gauntlet in Nigeria’s ‘pirate alley’

LONDON: A pirate attack that killed a supertanker crewman off the director of the piracy-tracking International Maritime Bureau said the coast of Nigeria this week has highlighted a growing threat off oil-rich waters off Nigeria are now the deadliest in the world “by any length”, West Africa, as vessels carrying millions of barrels of crude traverse a despite attention still focused on Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. “(The News region that has become known as “pirate alley”. The 2 million barrel Gulf of Guinea) is not perceived as bad as it is,” Mody said. Mody said in brief Kalamos Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) was heading to Nigeria’s incidents in the region were hugely underreported due to fear of fur- main oil terminal when it was attacked late on Monday, leaving the ther attacks, concerns over insurance or a belief that information on ship’s Greek deputy captain dead and three crew members taken vessels is sensitive or proprietary. US drone strike kills hostage. Security experts say the waters off Nigeria are now the dead- Oil tankers make relatively easy targets for Nigerian-based pirates top Qaeda militant liest on earth, surpassing Somalia on Africa’s east coast, which gained who usually want hostages to ransom, but will also sell stolen fuel. DUBAI: Al-Qaeda said yesterday that one of its top mili- notoriety due to months-long hijackings, high-cost ransoms, and US- Security experts say the pirates have emerged from militant groups in tants, Harith Al-Nadhari who threatened more attacks led rescue missions such as the one that inspired Hollywood movie Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta, such as the Movement for the on France after the Charlie Hebdo killings, died in a US “Captain Phillips”. Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). These groups have long tar- drone strike in Yemen. Nadhari and three other mili- “It’s referred to as pirate alley - kidnap alley,” said Ken Johnson, geted oil infrastructure and foreign companies in the region, arguing tants were killed in a January 31 “crusader American regional analyst with Dryad Maritime, referring to the stretch of West the Niger Delta has been left impoverished despite production of drone strike against their car” in Shabwa province of African coast from the Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria to as far south as almost 2 million barrels of oil per day in Nigeria. The situation is fur- southern Yemen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Angola’s capital Luanda. Johnson, who provides operations and intel- ther complicated by the government’s ban on foreign armed guards said on Twitter. AQAP named the three others as Said ligence advice to the shipping industry, said there was another deadly in its waters - a method that has been used to deter pirates off Bafaraj, Abdelsamie Al-Haddaa and Azzam Al-Hadrami. attack on a ship in the region last month when pirates killed a Somalia and Yemen. Security experts said most companies know the Tribal sources had said four suspected militants were Nigerian naval seaman aboard the oil support vessel MV Jascon. risks in the region well. “It hasn’t stopped or slowed down trading,” left charred in their car in a drone strike that day in Another attack last year on an oil products tanker, the SP Brussels, said Johnson at Dryad. The danger is already priced into premiums Shabwa. Nadhari had threatened France with further killed one crew member, Johnson said. that insurers charge for entering the region, said Dominic Enderby, attacks like those in Paris on satirical magazine Charlie Neither Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited marine hull practice leader for Marsh, a global insurance broker. While Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket that killed 17 people (BPCL), which chartered the Kalamos tanker that was attacked this costs varies widely, the premium is generally “a few thousand dollars” between January 7 and 9. “It is better for you to stop week, nor the manager of the vessel, Greek shipping firm Aeolos per voyage - not enough to increase costs significantly for a tanker your aggression against the Muslims, so perhaps you Management, returned calls for comment. Cyrus Mody, assistant that may carry more than $100 million worth of crude. —Reuters will live safely. If you refuse but to wage war, then wait for the glad tiding,” Nadhari was quoted saying in a January 10 video after the attacks in France. Another of the group’s ideologues, Nasser bin Ali Al-Ansi, claimed the attack on Charlie Hebdo on behalf of AQAP four days later.

Saudi executes 4 killers who dressed as women RIYADH: Saudi Arabia yesterday executed four robbers who dressed in women’s clothing to lure their victim and kill him, the interior ministry said. Their beheadings bring to 25 the number of people executed in the kingdom this year, according to an AFP tally. The sentences against the four, all Saudis, were carried out in the eastern town of Qatif, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. They were convicted of luring their Saudi victim, stealing from him and killing him. The use of the death penalty in such cases is part of an effort to maintain security and “justice”, the ministry has said. Saudi Arabia has faced con- stant international criticism over its human rights record, including its use of the death penalty. The kingdom executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013, according to an AFP tally. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all GAMBORU: A picture shows motorcycles left by Boko Haram Islamist militants in Gamboru, after Chadian soldiers took punishable by death under its strict version of control of the Nigerian border town. — AFP Islamic sharia law. Boko Haram kills more 20 killed as Myanmar soldiers, rebels clash than 100 in Cameroon YANGON: Heavy fighting between Myanmar soldiers and ethnic insurgents this week has killed at least 20 people near the northeastern border with China, the Militants slit throats and shoot residents government and an organization representing the rebel groups said yesterday. Various rebels groups have YAOUNDE: Boko Haram fighters have killed more than 100 peo- Union last week authorized a regional force of 7,500 troops to fought the central government in Myanmar since inde- ple in the north Cameroon town of Fotokol, murdering residents fight the militants. pendence in 1948. While the government has struck inside their homes and a mosque, a local civic leader said yester- Chad’s army and state television said it had “completely wiped ceasefires with almost all of the factions, clashes often day. The massacre comes amid a major regional offensive against out” Boko Haram bases at Gambaru and Ngala in northern Nigeria flare up. Myanmar’s Information Ministry said on its the Islamic group, which has kidnapped hundreds and killed on Tuesday, killing more than 200 militants. Nine Chadian soldiers Facebook page that nine soldiers and 11 rebels were thousands in neighboring northern Nigeria and has mounted died, they added. Chadian TV footage on Wednesday showed killed in a series of clashes from Monday in northern increasingly bloody cross-border raids. “Boko Haram entered jubilant Chadian soldiers cheering near to the bodies of what it Shan and Kachin states. The United Nationalities Fotokol through Gambaru early in the morning and they killed said were two Boko Haram fighters. Chad and Cameroon are Federal Council (UNFC), which represents 11 ethnic more than 100 people in the mosque, in the houses and they deploying thousands of troops and Niger has reinforced its bor- rebel groups, confirmed the fighting in both states, but burned property,” said the civic leader Abatchou Abatcha, der against the militant group which has been fighting for five said that around 30 government soldiers had been reached by telephone. years to create an Islamist emirate. killed and about four rebels had died. The latest fight- The militants shot and killed one of his sons during the raid, But analysts say they are facing an uphill battle against a sect ing broke out after the UNFC sent a letter to President he added. Many of the dead were found with their throats slit, that has already seen off major offensives by Nigeria’s military. Thein Sein asking the government to sign an agree- according to Cameroon’s L’Oeil du Sahel newspaper. “Whether through intimidation, opportunism or genuine support ment to work towards a federal union. Khu Oo Reh, the Cameroon’s information minister Issa Tchiroma declined to for the radical Islamist cause, local communities continue to swell UNFC general secretary, said an agreement to create a comment on the massacre. He said the Cameroon army Boko Haram’s ranks,” said Roddy Barclay, senior Africa analyst at federal union would pave the way to signing a national pushed Boko Haram out of the border town after heavy fight- consultancy Control Risks. Chad, reputed to have one of the ceasefire, but recent fighting could undermine such ing, which killed 50 militants and six of its own soldiers. The region’s best militaries, has carried out air strikes on insurgent efforts. “It could delay or it could derail the process,” he Sunni Muslim jihadist group is seen as the main security threat positions over the last few days. Former colonial power France is said. to Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and top oil producer also sending aircraft from its base in the Chadian capital to carry which holds a presidential election on Feb 14. The African out surveillance missions in the border area. — Reuters International FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Coalition-scarred, Britain’s John Baird Liberals battle for survival Symptomatic of slide, Clegg’s own seat under threat

SHEFFIELD: Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister has two battles to win by May. Not only must he win back voters who feel betrayed by his support for big public spending cuts, but he also has to hang on to his own parliamentary seat. Nick Clegg’s centrist Liberal Democrats will have been in coalition government with the centre-right, anti-welfare state Conservatives for five years when the next general election comes around. For many of his former supporters, another five years is out of the question. “I’ve voted Lib Dem before, but I’m so fed up with Mr Clegg I don’t know what I’m going to do this time ... Sometimes I could slap him!” retiree Elizabeth Craghill told canvassers braving a blizzard to knock on doors in Clegg’s constituency of Sheffield in north England. The fight is a hard one. But with neither the Conservatives nor Labour forecast to win the election outright, Clegg still hopes he can win five more years in coalition at the helm of the world’s sixth-largest economy by calibrating his manifesto to let him cut a deal with either party. If he is successful, the Liberal Nick Clegg Ally’s departure Democrats could nudge Britain towards the centre ground with their creed of staying in the European Union and promoting fiscal policy complicates Canada that blends tax rises with spending cuts to eliminate the budget “He got a lot of the student vote secured on the basis of his policy deficit. about student fees, and then once he got into power he just said it PM’s reelection bid The challenges Clegg faces to even get to the negotiating table wouldn’t be possible,” said Lucas Busetto, a 22-year old student study- are crystallised 160 miles (260 km) north of London in Sheffield, a ing in Sheffield. He said the Lib Dems would be “completely off the once-mighty industrial city that has struggled to adapt to the decline radar” for him at May’s vote, adding that he was considering voting OTTAWA: The sudden resignation of Canada’s foreign minister of its world-famous steel mills. “People here are incredibly frustrated for Labour or an anti-austerity party. Should Clegg lose his seat, his has revealed strains inside the ruling Conservatives and com- that they voted for a man who then turned his back on the promises likely successors range across the ideological spectrum, potentially plicates their bid to extend a decade in power in elections this he made,” says Oliver Coppard, the 33-year-old local man who is making coalition negotiations more difficult. One potential future October. John Baird - a key ally of Prime Minister Stephen standing for Labour candidate and hoping to oust Clegg, a leader, Danny Alexander, has been criticised for “going native” on the Harper and an experienced campaigner - quit on Tuesday, say- Cambridge-educated, former European bureaucrat. Coppard has right of the party alongside his Conservative colleagues. Another, Tim ing he wanted to do something else after 20 years in politics. gained national attention for his campaign since a surprise poll in Farron, represents a sizeable left-leaning contingent. But insiders said Baird had become increasingly frustrated with November showed Clegg’s lead had shrunk to 3 percent. A poll pub- officials in Harper’s office, both on major issues and also over lished on Thursday by Survation on behalf of Labour’s trade union Local strongholds what he saw as excessive micro-management. backers Unite, now says the Liberal Democrats are 10 percent behind In Clegg’s Sheffield Hallam constituency, where the Labor-con- Baird, the sources said, unsuccessfully pushed for tougher trolled city housing estates turn into a prosperous suburb in the measures against Moscow last year. He was also upset that Labour in the constituency. Nationally, the Liberal Democrats’ share of Harper’s office would not allow him to use government jets the vote has slumped to less than 10 percent, down from the 24 per- rolling countryside of a national park, the party is defending a large more often when on official travel. Just as significantly, two cent they won at the 2010 election. Polls show Clegg has gone from majority of 15,000 votes. “In 2010 we had a much lighter campaign by people familiar with Baird’s thinking said he had concluded the the most popular party leader in 2010 to the least liked in 2015. this stage. We were so far ahead we didn’t need to do much,” says low-tax tough-on-crime Conservatives did not have a good Andrew Sangar, a Liberal Democrat councilor responsible for Clegg’s chance of winning another majority in the next election. “It’s Alienated voters local campaign. “This is more about working it hard, not taking it better to leave now rather than being one of 35 ex-cabinet Clegg’s declining personal rating reflects the struggle to adapt the easy.” One voter, solicitor Tim Gaubert, told canvassers that he was ministers suddenly seeking a job after the election,” said one of party to its new role as part of the establishment. At past elections Lib switching to Labor because he was disappointed the Liberal the people, who declined to be named citing the sensitivity of Dems had three main sources of support: wavering voters from cen- Democrats had not done more to oppose criminal and justice system the matter. tre-left Labour and centre-right Conservatives, and protest votes from reforms pushed through parliament by the Conservatives. The signs of dissent are highly unusual, since Harper - seek- those fed up with a two-party system that has dominated British poli- “It’s much easier for us to defend party policy, but when it’s coali- ing to win a rare fourth consecutive election - has kept a very tics for years. Since then however protest voters have been swayed to tion policy we have to accept it is what it is and that some people find tight grip since coming to power in early 2006. Baird’s loss is a parties like the right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the left- it difficult,” councilor Sangar said, walking away from Gaubert’s house. political and strategic setback that comes at a tricky time. wing Green Party. Others, objecting to the LibDem’s choice to enter a Nonetheless, party activists are optimistic they can remain a party of Although the party has risen in the polls in recent months, it is Conservative-led coalition, have turned to Labor. government, holding on to enough seats to become a viable coalition still only neck-and-neck with the opposition Liberals of Justin Chris Bowers, a Liberal Democrat candidate in the south coast partner. A senior Liberal Democrat source said Clegg had put the Trudeau and looks on course to lose its parliamentary majority town of Brighton told Reuters the campaigning strategy in his area “cleverest man in the party”, politician David Laws, in charge of mak- in the October polls. Surveys suggest Trudeau’s party, which was not to include Clegg’s face on any campaign material and focus ing sure the 2015 manifesto could be delivered in partnership with Harper paints as too soft on issues such as fighting terrorism, on local issues. That approach is a far cry from 2010, when the media either Labor or the Conservatives. “He’s literally going through every would only need few more percentage points in support to coined the term “Cleggmania” to describe 48 year-old Clegg’s popu- line: ‘Is it credible? Is it deliverable?’” the source said. form a minority government. larity after successful televised debates against Labor’s then-Prime The party is also concentrating campaign resources into building Harper’s office, asked on Wednesday to respond to media Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron, who local strongholds rather than winning thinly-spread national reports of tensions with Baird, pointed to the prime minister’s subsequently became Prime Minister. “Never heard of it,” says 21 approval, hoping to upset the polls that put the party in fourth or statement on Tuesday praising the minister as a man who had year-old Sheffield student Sophie Robinson when asked about the fifth place nationally. Activists say their efforts dealing with impor- “always been willing to do a lot of heavy lifting”. The feisty 45- term. “I watch the news quite a lot and I never see Nick Clegg on the tant local issues like street lighting and road repairs will help them year-old operated almost as a de facto deputy to Harper, who telly, I just see David Cameron and I forget it’s a coalition.” She wants get over the line in Sheffield and other party seats across the coun- trusted him with some of the toughest files in government. Labor to win the election. Activists can reel off a list of the Liberal try. “That’s the only reason I vote for the Lib Dems - because I think After the Conservatives took power in 2006 he pushed through Democrats’ achievements in government: increased income tax relief, they do a brilliant job locally,” conceded Elizabeth Craghill to can- an act designed to curb the influence of money in Canadian funding for disadvantaged school children and childcare reforms. vassers in the end. Then she sighed and said: “I’m still not sure about politics and later served as environment minister, even though Voters, on the other hand, can often only recall one: a broken promise Mr Clegg. But we’ll probably end up voting for him...just to keep the he opposed the Kyoto climate change protocol.—Reuters to oppose a rise in university tuition fees. others out.”— Reuters

Obama finds bipartisan support for first ‘Big Data’ privacy plan

WASHINGTON: The White House is working with bipartisan card data at companies such as Target and Home Depot, said top statement. “I’m glad to work across the aisle to find the appropri- sponsors on a bill to protect data collected from students through Obama adviser John Podesta. “I think there’s much more pres- ate balance between technology in the classroom and a parent’s educational apps - the first of President Barack Obama’s “Big sure now to move legislation and we’re certainly going to use all right to protect their child’s privacy.” Data” privacy plans to gain traction in the Republican-controlled of the resources we have, including the president’s time, to The lawmakers have long worked on the issue with privacy Congress. Obama has pushed to do more to protect privacy in an ensure that the Congress takes this up,” Podesta told Reuters in advocates and more than 100 companies including Microsoft , age when consumers leave a trail of digital footprints through an interview. Google, and News Corp subsidiary Amplify to develop a privacy smart phones, personal devices and social media - information In the next couple of weeks, Indiana Congressman Luke pledge to prevent misuse of data collected in classrooms. The bill, that can be collected, analyzed and sold. Messer, the chairman of the House of Representatives Republican still being finalized, will go a step further to ensure data collected He has proposed action on a series of laws to address “Big Policy Committee, and Democrat Jared Polis of Colorado, an from students is used only for educational and legitimate Data” concerns, but most have yet to find momentum. That Internet entrepreneur who founded a network of charter schools, research purposes. “Legislation is the best way to address could change, given public concerns over privacy and cybersecu- will unveil a student privacy bill. “Protecting America’s children parental concerns, while encouraging new developments in indi- rity that have been amplified by high-profile hacking of credit from Big Data shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” Messer said in a vidualized learning,” Polis said in a statement.—Reuters International FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 16 Iraq PM lifts decade-old Baghdad curfew

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al- war,” his spokesman Rafid Jaboori said, that are a major source of irritation for In the north, forces from Iraq’s Abadi has ordered an end to a years-old referring to the battle against the Islamic Iraqis and often follow lax security proce- autonomous Kurdish region are also mak- nightly curfew in Baghdad in a bid to ease State jihadist group. This is “part of the dures that are unlikely to hamper the ing gains against IS, and evidence of atroc- restrictions on daily life despite persistent response to terrorism and the war against movement of militants. ities likely committed by the group has violence, officials said yesterday. Lifting the it,” he said. The hours the curfew has been in force been found in retaken areas. Gains by curfew is a major change to a longstanding A statement from Abadi’s office said he have varied over the years, but it has most security forces have not stopped militants policy aimed at curbing violence in the had also directed that important streets in recently lasted from midnight to 5:00 am. from carrying out attacks in Baghdad, capital by limiting movement at night, the capital be opened “to facilitate the The decision to lift it comes as Iraqi forces which they were able to do even when which has failed to stop the frequent movement of citizens,” and that the battle to regain ground from IS, which violence was at a low ebb in 2011-20112. bombings that hit Baghdad. “The prime Adhamiyah and Kadhimiyah neighbor- spearheaded an offensive that overran Bombs still ripped through markets, cafes minister ordered that the curfew in the city hoods of north Baghdad be “demilitarized large areas north and west of Baghdad last and crowded intersections, and militants of Baghdad be completely lifted starting zones.” It did not provide details on which June. It was initially feared that Baghdad also frequently targeted security forces in from tomorrow,” said Brigadier General streets would be opened, or on what the itself could be attacked by the militants. the capital. Scrapping the curfew does Saad Maan, the spokesman for the plan for the two adjacent neighborhoods- But federal troops that initially wilted under away with a measure that restricted the Baghdad Operations Command. Abadi the former mainly Sunni, the latter Shiite- the offensive have regained significant ter- lives of ordinary people while doing little wants there “to be normal life as much as entails. The army and police checkpoints ritory with support from Shiite militiamen, to stop the near-daily attacks they have possible, despite the existence of a state of across Baghdad cause massive traffic jams Sunni tribesmen and US-led air strikes. suffered for years. —AFP

Nuns rounded up as Indian Christians clash with police NEW DELHI: Catholic priests yesterday accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of failing to protect religious minorities as some 200 Christian protesters clashed with police in the capital. Police pulled demonstrators-including several nuns and priests-onto buses after they gathered outside one of New Delhi’s largest cathedrals to demand action over a series of recent attacks on churches. Carrying crucifixes and placards that read “rights for all religions”, the protesters demanded Modi’s Hindu nationalist government speak out against the attacks in the capital. Television footage showed one nun lying on the ground outside Sacred Heart Cathedral as officers tried to drag her onto a bus while another was seen shouting from the bus door. “We are feeling insecure since this new government has come. The government and police haven’t given any proper response to these attacks,” Father Lawrence, a Catholic priest from south Delhi said. “Five churches have been attacked in Delhi in the last two months without any proper response from the PM or any other central minister,” he NEW DELHI: Minority Indian Christians demonstrate outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral following recent added. attacks on churches in New Delhi yesterday. —AFP The latest attack occurred on Monday when someone stole ceremonial items from a Catholic church, while another in north Delhi was hit by an arson attack in December. Familiar foe bids to halt Modi Protesters accused hardline Hindu nationalists of carrying out the recent attacks on the churches, although police say there is no evidence. “Our only demand is we want justice Bandwagon; New Delhi votes and we want protection for all our churches. We want to be safe and secure. We are not demanding as Christians, we are Indian PM faces the first real test of popularity demanding as citizens of India,” Delhi Catholic archdiocese spokesman Father Savarimuthu Shankar told NDTV. “You (the government) are not able to protect a small NEW DELHI: India’s Prime Minister Narendra out his big guns to prevent the former taxman round he has tried to cut a more sombre figure, municipal minority, how are you going to protect the whole Modi faces the first real test of his popularity from returning to power. Modi put his two top insisting he can be relied on to form a stable gov- of India?” Critics say Hindu hardliners have felt emboldened tomorrow when voters in Delhi elect a new state lieutenants-BJP president Amit Shah and ernment to guarantee cheap utility bills and since Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stormed to power government, with a self-styled anarchist bidding Finance Minister Arun Jaitley-in charge of the deliver on pledges such as free wifi. But his main at general elections last May. Hardliners have been accused to stall the premier’s bandwagon. The results, to campaign while a former top policewoman selling point remains as the underdog taking on be announced on Tuesday, could also prove to Kiran Bedi was handpicked as the choice for the establishment-not unlike Modi’s own pitch in recent months of trying to convince Muslims and be a new low for the long-ruling Congress party chief minister. last year. “My fight is your fight. Who am I? An Christians to convert to Hinduism, sparking outrage from which suffered a landslide defeat to Modi’s ordinary man fighting all your battles,” Kejriwal political opponents in parliament. US President Barack Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in May’s general TV cop said at a rally in northwest Delhi last week. Obama urged India to promote religious tolerance during a election. Since May, Modi has been the master of Bedi’s selection has opened a can of worms, visit to Delhi last month, saying it “will succeed so long as it all he surveyed as his Hindu nationalist party with many BJP activists furious at having to cam- ‘Backstabber’ is not splintered along” religious lines. romped to victory in a string of state elections. paign for the 65-year-old who has a history of Rattled by Kejriwal’s popularity, Modi himself Police defended their detention of around 100 of the But Delhi, which the BJP surprisingly failed to win disparaging the BJP. A former reality TV show has taken to the campaign trail, portraying his peaceful protesters after they tried to march on the residence in December 2013, could prove elusive once host, Bedi is a seasoned media performer. But rival as a “backstabber” who betrayed voters last of Home Minister Rajnath Singh. “They did not have any per- more and deliver the first real reverse for the pre- Kejriwal has proved his pulling power among time round by quitting so early. Speaking to AFP mission. They cannot hold a protest on the public road,” mier who has been enjoying an extended hon- working class and minority voters, with even during a roadshow in east Delhi, Bedi also tried to Delhi joint police commissioner Mukesh Meena told NDTV. eymoon with voters. impromptu appearances drawing thousands. dismiss Kejriwal as a publicity junkie. “People are Singh promised “an impartial inquiry” into the recent attacks Standing in his way is a familiar foe: Arvind The 46-year-old, who has been dubbed now fed up of this drama, spectacle. They don’t and “proper” security of churches, after meeting with protest Kejriwal who quit after a chaotic 49-day reign as ‘Mufflerman’ after spending much of the cam- want it any more,” she said. “They want stability, leaders later. “The minister told the group (of protest leaders) Delhi chief minister but whom opinion polls say paign swaddled in scarves, has frequently apolo- serious governance and progress, which only we that the government would not tolerate any discrimination could return to power. Kejriwal, leader of the gized for quitting and leaving the city without an can give.” Manoj Joshi, of Delhi’s Observer on basis of caste, color or religion,” Singh’s office said on anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party, failed to pre- elected government for nearly a year. Research Foundation think-tank, said the contest Twitter. While Hindus account for more than 80 percent of vent Modi from winning the parliamentary seat Kejriwal famously declared himself an anar- was too close to call but said a defeat for the BJP India’s 1.2 billion population, the country is officially secular of Varanasi in May. But he could deliver fresh chist during his brief tenure and staged several would be a serious blow to Modi given how and is home to sizeable numbers of Muslims, Buddhists and embarrassment to the Indian PM who has rolled protests outside government offices. This time much he invested in the campaign. —AFP Christians. —AFP International FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 17

Wary of sanctions, N Korea woos money-laundering watchdog

TOKYO: North Korea, long accused by the Drugs and Crime. North Korea remains one independent Financial Intelligence Unit, the isn’t a high bar - the group’s policy is to US and others of engaging in counterfeit- of just two countries on the task force’s ratification of an international covenant on maintain contact with non-members to ing, drug trafficking and even online gam- blacklist, the other being Iran. financing terrorism and revisions of its exchange useful information. But becoming bling scams, is trying to repair its interna- In a rare interview this week in penal code. To “intensify cooperation with a full member would require North Korea to tional image by courting a little-known but Pyongyang with an AP Television News the Financial Action Task Force,” he said, a participate in a mutual peer review system influential body that fights money launder- crew, the deputy governor of North Korea’s National Coordinating Committee on the to determine its level of compliance with ing and terrorist financing. Most main- central bank said the country has taken sev- issue was created in August, made up of international standards. stream financial institutions won’t go near eral measures to cooperate with the task members from the Cabinet, law enforce- Experts doubt that the North, officially North Korea, which is isolated by UN sanc- force since July, when Pyongyang ment organizations, the central bank, the known as the Democratic People’s Republic tions over its nuclear weapons program announced it had joined the 41-member Financial Intelligence Unit and the min- of Korea, intends to make dramatic changes and by accusations it uses illegal activities to Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering as istries of finance and foreign affairs. to its financial system to satisfy the interna- prop up its anemic economy. an observer. The official, Jang Sam Ryong, “We thought it was necessary to correct tional community. “I would imagine the So many North Korea watchers have said the moves are aimed at countering the misunderstanding of member nations DPRK has joined for two reasons,” said been surprised and puzzled to see it engag- attempts by Washington to “disgrace the brought about by the US and promote James Hoare, a former diplomat who estab- ing with the Asian affiliate of the Paris- image of our country by abusing this organ- mutual understanding by responding to lished the British Embassy in North Korea based Financial Action Task Force on ization.” the organization’s continual requests for and now teaches at the University of Money Laundering, a key body supported negotiation,” he said. The task force has London. “One, to learn what is going on by the Organization of Economic International covenant welcomed Pyongyang’s moves, while not- and what others are doing and, secondly, Cooperation and Development, the World Jang said North Korea has already taken ing they are only a first step. Gaining and probably more important, to make sure Bank and the United Nations Office on measures that include the creation of an observer status in the Asia/Pacific Group that its own interests are protected.” —AFP China frees Canadian woman; husband held on spy charges BEIJING: China has released on bail a Canadian woman under investigation for undermining state security while her husband has been held on spying charges, Beijing said yesterday, six months after they were detained. Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt, a Christian couple who ran a coffee shop in the Chinese city of Dandong, on the border with North Korea, were seized last August, prompting an international diplomatic row. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Julia Garratt was “granted bail pending trial” on Tuesday by national security authorities in Dandong. Kevin Garratt was placed in criminal detention the same day “on the charge of spying and stealing state secrets”, Hong said, adding that both Garratts are suspected of “committing activities undermining China’s state security”. “The relevant case is under investigation. The Chinese government will protect their lawful rights and interests in accordance with law,” Hong added. A spokesperson for the Dandong public security bureau said he had no information on the case. The Garratts first moved to China in the 1980s and have been active in helping send humanitarian aid to impoverished North Korea, where authorities are deeply sus- picious of Christian proselytising and punish it harshly. Kevin TAIPEI: In this combination photo, a series of images taken from video show a commercial airplane clipping an Garratt has told congregations in Canada: “God said, in a elevated roadway just before it careened into a river in Taipei, Taiwan. —AFP prayer meeting, go to Dandong and I’ll meet you there, and he said start a coffee house. “We’re China-based, we’re North Korea-focused, but we’re Jesus-centered.” Taiwan pilot hailed as hero for

‘Mission Impossible’ The probe into the couple was announced one week after pulling plane clear of buildings Canada accused China of hacking into its research and development arm, prompting accusations that Beijing was Crash death toll rises to 31 investigating them as retaliation against Ottawa. It has strained ties with Canada, which threatened to cancel a visit TAIPEI: Taipei’s mayor hailed the pilot of a this kind of situation.” head of Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics to Beijing by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in November crashed TransAsia Airways plane a hero yes- Aerospace analysts said it was too early Administration, Lin Tyh-ming, has said Liao over the issue, although he ultimately relented. Beijing has terday for narrowly avoiding buildings and to say whether the pilots intentionally pulled had 4,914 flying hours under his belt and the rejected Ottawa’s cyber-espionage claim as “groundless ditching the stalled aircraft in a river, likely the plane above the buildings, and noted co-pilot 6,922 hours. Taiwanese media speculations and accusations” and denies that the Garratts averting a worse disaster. At least 31 people that the crew may have been aiming for the reported that Liao, the son of street vendors, were detained as punishment for the allegation. were killed when Flight GE235 lurched river to reduce casualties. A more conclusive passed exams to join the air force. He later Yet the ruling Communist Party has previously taken between buildings, clipped a taxi and an picture will emerge only when authorities flew for China Airlines, Taiwan’s main carrier, action against foreign nationals during heated international overpass with one of its wings and crashed release details from the plane’s cockpit voice before joining TransAsia. spats, spurring criticism that it has sought to use such indi- upside down into shallow water shortly after and flight data recorders, which were recov- The aviation regulator ordered TransAsia viduals as leverage in larger political battles. In 2010, with take-off from a downtown Taipei airport on ered on Wednesday. “He’s missed the build- and Uni Air, a subsidiary of EVA Airways Beijing infuriated by its longtime rival Tokyo’s detention of a Wednesday. ings but it is premature to make an analysis Corp, to conduct engine and fuel system Chinese fishing captain in a disputed area of the East China There were 15 known survivors and 12 of what happened on this flight. We have to checks on the remaining 22 ATR aircraft they Sea, Chinese authorities detained four Japanese construc- more unaccounted for. “He really tried wait for the data from the cockpit voice still operate. TransAsia’s shares closed down tion workers in the northern province of Hebei. The men-the everything he could,” Taipei Mayor Ko recorder and flight recorder,” said aviation 6.9 percent on Wednesday, its biggest per- last of whom was released 20 days later-were accused of vio- Wen-je said of the pilot, his voice breaking analyst Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of centage decline since late 2011, and were lating Chinese law by filming a military site in a prohibited with sobs. Amateur video recorded by a car airlineratings.com down another 3.3 percent on Thursday. The area. dashboard camera showed the plane nose- The pilot and co-pilot of the almost-new crash was the latest in a string of aviation Charles Burton, an expert on Sino-Canadian relations at up as it barely cleared the buildings close to turboprop ATR 72-600 were among those disasters in Asia in the past 12 months and Brock University in Ontario, said attempted retaliation against Taipei’s Songshan airport before crashing killed, Taiwan’s aviation regulator said. TransAsia’s second in the past seven the cyber-spying charges was “the only explanation that into the river. “The pilot’s immediate reac- TransAsia identified the pilot as 42-year-old months. Macau’s Civil Aviation Authority makes sense to us” for the Garratts’ detention. Under President tion saved many people,” said Chris Lin, Liao Chien-tsung. Taiwanese media reported said the engines of the plane had been Xi Jinping China has mounted a crackdown on Christian mis- brother of one of the survivors. “I was a that it appeared Liao had fought desperately replaced at Macau Airport on April 19 last sionaries, but Burton said: “The idea that they are involved in pilot myself and I’m quite knowledgeable to steer his stricken aircraft between apart- year, during its delivery flight, “due to such a serious crime seems incredible to us. —AFP about the immediate reaction needed in ment blocks and commercial buildings. The engine-related technical issues”. —Reuters International18 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Somewhere homeward bound: Settling Tanzania’s refugees

NYARUGUSU: In a small windowless room in close to the shared border, has been her in their gardens and keep livestock, study and Uwimana Domatha, 32, has been a the far west of Tanzania, 23-year old Paskazia home ever since. She doesn’t remember life start small businesses, they play music in refugee her entire life. Both of her parents Mwenebato sorts through a pile of lentils, before the camp where her daughter was bands and football in the evening, raise fami- were killed during one of Burundi’s bouts of dreaming of a life outside a refugee camp. In born and has just started kindergarten. With lies and send their children to school. People ethnic violence. She fled to Rwanda a year Nyarugusu, Tanzania’s last major refugee eastern DR Congo still suffering chronic inse- are born and buried here. before the 1994 genocide and then escaped camp, the government and United Nations curity Mwenebato says she will not return, But the camp also has its problems. Rape again, to Tanzania, where she met and mar- are trying to end a rootless life for generations despite the struggle of life as a refugee. is common, children rarely complete even pri- ried a fellow Burundian refugee and war of people living-and many born-in exile. In “When I live in safety and at peace, I don’t mary education, resources are strained and orphan. Now she is looking forward to reset- October, Tanzania said it was granting citizen- think I’ll worry about anything. Obviously services limited-queues for basic necessities tlement in Canada. “I am very happy that I ship to some 200,000 refugees from neigh- people are never totally free from problems, like soap and flour are always long, and food am finally leaving behind this refugee life,” boring Burundi, a move hailed by the UN but I’ll find a way to tackle them,” she said. is always in short supply-adults face few job said Domatha. “I believe where I am going I refugee agency UNHCR as “unprecedented”. “But if I live in a place full of violence, I can’t.” prospects and many restrictions. “People will have a good life, and raise my children But many in Nyarugusu dream of a new life have lived within a rather narrow perimeter well and live well with my husband.” abroad, with around 30,000 of the total Generations in exile for many years without the possibility of full Resettlement abroad is a dream, but for 57,000 population due to leave over the next Nyarugusu’s existence is the result of the freedom of movement,” said Joyce Mends Domatha’s 14-year-old son, Niyonzima Frate, five years. persistent regional conflict in DR Congo, Cole of UNHCR. “For people who would like the prospect of leaving everything he knows Mwenebato, born in neighboring where more than five million people have to live out their lives with greater potential, is daunting. “I have lived here a long time Democratic Republic of Congo, was swept up been killed in the last two decades. It is more it’s not a situation that we’re happy about. and made friends,” Frate said. “I’m not sure if in the country’s civil war, fleeing with her fam- like a town than a refugee camp. Like many That’s why we’re working so hard to try to I will see them again because I’m going so far ily when she was five years old. Nyarugusu, other rural settlements, residents grow crops find solutions to this protracted situation.” away.” —AFP

China starts dredging at reef in disputed waters MANILA: China has started dredging around the disputed Mischief Reef in the South China Sea, a Philippine navy commander said yesterday, signaling Beijing may be preparing to expand its facilities in the area. Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping tried to set Southeast Asian minds at ease over the country’s regional ambitions, but Beijing’s reclamation work in the Spratlys underscore its drive to push claims in the South China Sea and reassert its rights. China has already undertaken reclamation work on six other reefs it occupies in the Spratlys, expanding land mass five-fold, aerial surveillance photos show. Images seen by Reuters last year appeared to show an airstrip and sea ports. China has claims on almost the entire South China Sea, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims on the sea where about $5 trillion of ship-borne trade pass every year. Rear Admiral Alexander Lopez, commander of the Philippine military’s western command, told reporters yesterday a Chinese dredging ship was spotted at Mischief Reef, about 135 km southeast of the island of Palawan. “We don’t know what they KIEV: People pass by a tank in Kiev that has been used by pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east and then plan to do in Mischief,” he said. “They have long been doing brought to the Ukrainian capital as a symbol of the current conflict. —AP that, only that it was Fiery Cross that got a lot of attention because that was on a bigger scale.” IHS Jane’s said in November images it had obtained showed the Chinese-built German, French leaders island on the Fiery Cross Reef to be at least 3,000 meters (1.9 miles) long and 200-300 metres (660-980 ft) wide. Lopez did not say when China started the dredging work or give any details on the extent of reclamation at Mischief Reef, float Ukraine peace plan saying only the work had been “substantial”. Surveillance photos that were taken of Mischief Reef last October showed no US defense nominee favors sending arms reclamation work in the area. The photos, seen by Reuters, showed two structures, including a three-storey building sitting on an atoll, equipped with wind turbines and solar panels. PARIS: The leaders of Germany and France world leaders at a security conference over Ukraine.” The Kremlin confirmed the visit. China occupied Mischief Reef in 1995, building makeshift huts, launched a new diplomatic initiative over the weekend at which Ukraine is expected to Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news which Beijing claimed provided shelter for fishermen during Ukraine yesterday, announcing they would fly be the main subject. “Together with Angela agencies the leaders would discuss concrete the monsoon season. But, China later built a garrison in the together to Kiev and Moscow with a proposal Merkel we have decided to take a new initia- steps to resolve the conflict. area, deploying frigates and coast guard ships. to resolve the conflict that could be “accept- tive,” Hollande told a news conference. “We NATO says Russia has sent weapons, In 2002, Southeast Asian states agreed with China to sign able to all”. The coordinated trip by will make a new proposal to solve the conflict funds and troops on the ground to assist the an informal code of conduct in the South China Sea to stop Chancellor Angela Merkel and President which will be based on Ukraine’s territorial rebel advance, undermining the five-month- claimant states from occupying and constructing garrisons in Francois Hollande comes as rebels steadily integrity.” He and Merkel would meet old ceasefire in eastern Ukraine where war the disputed Spratlys. Last year, the Philippines and Vietnam advance on a railway hub held by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev yesterday has already killed more than 5,000 people. protested China’s reclamation work as a violation of the infor- troops after launching an offensive that scup- and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Moscow the fol- Moscow denies involvement in fighting for mal code. North of Mischief Reef, China yesterday defended pered a five-month-old ceasefire. Washington lowing day. “For several days Angela Merkel territory the Kremlin now calls “New Russia”. the actions of a coast guard vessel in the Scarborough Shoal has begun openly talking of arming Ukraine and I have worked on a text ... a text that can The remarks by President Barack Obama’s after the Philippines accused it of ramming three fishing boats. for the first time. US Secretary of State John be acceptable to all,” Hollande said. nominee for defense secretary were “China’s coast guard sent a dinghy to drive them away and Kerry also flew to Kiev yesterday, although he He warned about risks of escalation in Washington’s clearest signal yet that it is con- slightly bumped one of the fishing vessels,” Chinese Foreign had no plans to go to Moscow. His likely cabi- Ukraine: “Now we are in a war, and in a war sidering arming Ukraine. Carter told his Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily news briefing in net colleague, defense secretary nominee that could be a total war.” Merkel’s Senate confirmation hearing he would “very Beijing. “We ask that the Philippines strengthen education and Ashton Carter, told lawmakers on Wednesday spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a state- much incline” toward supplying arms. “The indoctrination of its fishermen to prevent such incidents from that he favored arming Ukraine’s forces. ment: “In view of the escalating violence in nature of those arms, I can’t say right now,” happening again.” A Philippine military spokesman, Colonel Peace talks collapsed on Saturday in recent days, the chancellor and President Carter said. “But I incline in the direction of Restituto Padilla, described China’s action as “alarming” saying Belarus, EU leaders are expected to consider Hollande are intensifying their efforts, which providing them with arms, including, to get the local fishermen were trying to seek shelter due to bad punishing new economic sanctions against have been going on for months, for a peace- to what I’m sure your question is, lethal weather. —Reuters Moscow next week, and Germany hosts ful settlement to the conflict in eastern arms.” —Reuters Heard Amber weds Depp Johnny

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 www.kuwaittimes.net Page 20 in Hollywood,California.—AFP miere of‘3DaysToKill’atArclight Cinemas actress AmberHeardattending theUSpre- File photoshowsactorJohnny Deppand Lifestyle FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Oscar-tipped ‘Leviathan’ gets major release in Russia defying criticism ussia’s Oscar-tipped “Leviathan” got a belated release at expected,” a number comparable to a mainstream commercial home yesterday, showing on hundreds of screens in a cen- release. Rsored version following harsh criticism from officials and “The film has taken on a life that maybe we haven’t dreamt of Orthodox clerics. Andrei Zvyagintsev’s bleak social drama, widely since the Perestroika era,” he said at a news conference, referring predicted to win best foreign-language film at this month’s to the Soviet period when cinema began to freely show social Oscars, is getting a major cinema release on 650 screens across problems and sex. The sweeping drama tells the story of a small- Russia, several months after it came out in the West. town mechanic in northern Russia, played by Alexei Serebryakov, The film was set for November release in Russia but delayed who wages a legal battle with the grossly corrupt local mayor to due to a new law banning swearing in cinemas that forced save his family house. changes to its expletive-littered dialogue. In Russia, the movie, It shows the authorities loyal to President Vladimir Putin hand- which is banned for anyone under 18, is being shown with all the in-glove with police and courts, while Russian Orthodox clerics swear words cut from the soundtrack without beeps, the charac- turn a blind eye to official wrongdoing in order to boost their ters silently mouthing them. Despite its Oscar hopes and last standing. The film “has been discussed even by those who month winning Russia’s first Golden Globe since the 1960s, the haven’t watched it and don’t plan to,” wrote Vedomosti business film has faced accusations it is “anti-Russian” and slanted to win daily. Afisha listings magazine called it “the biggest Russian film Western prizes. of the decade... discussed for a whole month by everyone, from Outspoken culture minister Vladimir Medinsky-whose ministry ministers to angry milkmaids.” The film was leaked online and the partly funded the film-complained of its “existential hopeless- makers estimated it had been watched by 3-6 million people ness” and lack of “positive hero.” Orthodox Church spokesman ahead of its Russian release. — AFP Vsevolod Chaplin slammed the film as “pessimistic” and “anti- Christian.” Producer Alexander Rodnyansky admitted the heated debate over the film had “attracted far more cinemas... than we

This May 5, 2014 file photo shows actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard arriving at the Costume Institute Benefit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. — AFP photos Johnny Depp weds Amber Heard ollywood superstar Johnny Depp has married actress Amber Heard in secret at their home in Los Angeles, US Hmedia said Wednesday, ahead of a larger bash at the weekend. Depp, 51, and Heard, 28, got engaged in 2012 and plan a bigger wedding this weekend on Depp’s private island in the Bahamas, People magazine reported, citing a source. Depp, a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild winner, was married previously to Lori Anne Allison and has dated a string of glamorous and famous women including Winona Ryder, his co- star in “Edward Scissorhands,” British model Kate Moss and French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis. Depp has two children with Paradis. He and Heard, who tied the knot on Tuesday, met on the set of the film “The Rum Diary” in 2011. — AFP

A man walks past a billboard of “Leviathan” film in central Moscow on February 5, 2015. — AFP

Swift joins elite group as ‘1989’ tops Billboard chart again aylor Swift’s “1989” regained the top spot in the weekly streaming services. Jumping back into second place ahead of Billboard 200 album chart, giving the pop star the distinc- the Grammys on Sunday is nominee Ed Sheeran’s “X,” followed Ttion of being the second woman in history to have two by other favorites to win awards on the music industry’s biggest albums hit No. 1 for at least 10 weeks, Billboard said on night. Meghan Trainor remained at No. 3 with “Title,” and Sam Wednesday. Swift’s milestone puts her behind the late Whitney Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” rebounded to No. 4 from No. 9. The Houston, who had three albums top the charts for at least 10 only new release in the top 10 was R&B singer Ne-Yo’s “Non- weeks, Billboard said. Swift’s second album, “Fearless,” spent 11 Fiction,” debuting at No. 5. weeks at the top. Last week’s No. 1, “American Beauty/American Psycho” from By tallying 101,000 sales units, including 71,000 albums and rock group Fall Out Boy, dropped 75 percent to 55,000 units, 302,000 song downloads, “1989” - the best-selling album of putting it in sixth place. Singer Bruno Mars and producer Mark 2014 - marks its tenth non-consecutive week at the top in the 14 Ronson’s hit “Uptown Funk!” was the top downloaded song for weeks since its release, according to figures from Nielsen the fifth consecutive week with 365,000 in sales, a 7 percent rise SoundScan for the week ended Feb 1. Swift also became the from last week. — Reuters seventh act overall to have at least two albums top the charts for so long, joining the likes of the Beatles and Elvis Presley. The reformulated Billboard 200 considers album sales, song downloads and online streaming to compile an album’s total sales units. Swift famously does not allow her work to be on Lifestyle FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Rap mogul Knight still hospitalized a day after court hearing ap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight remained hospitalized on Wednesday, one day after he was admitted for treatment Rafter pleading not guilty to murder and other charges in a fatal hit-and-run incident, authorities said. A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s spokesman said he did not know what medical condition Knight, 49, was suffering from or when he might be released from the hospital. The music executive’s attorney, who appeared with him at an arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court in Compton on Tuesday, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Knight, co-founder of influential hip-hop label Death Row South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, US producer Martha De Laurentiis, US director Matthew Weiner, French actress Audrey Records, was charged with murder, attempted murder and two Tautou, Jury president Darren Aronofsky, Peruvian director Claudia Llosa and German actor Daniel Bruehl, from left, pose for a counts of felony hit-and-run following the altercation in a burger photograph during the international jury press conference at the 2015 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin yesterday. — AP shop parking lot last week in which prosecutors said he ran over two men with his pickup truck, killing one of them. Attorneys for Knight said he was attacked in the parking lot and was fleeing in fear when he accidentally struck the two men Arctic-bound Binoche with his vehicle. A lawyer for the second man struck by Knight’s vehicle, Cle “Bone” Sloan, told the Los Angeles Times that Sloan had been released from a hospital but had not recovered from opens Berlin film festival his injuries. “He’s really not doing well at all,” attorney Michael Shapiro he 65th Berlin film festival opened yesterday with Oscar Hollywood screenwriter in a love triangle with two women (Cate told the paper. “I don’t see how the guy lived.” Sloan’s attorneys winner Juliette Binoche starring as an early 20th-century Blanchett and Natalie Portman). “Taxi”, the third picture by dissi- have said he is considering filing a civil lawsuit against Knight. TArctic explorer in Spanish director Isabel Coixet’s period dent Iranian director Jafar Panahi since he was slapped with an Authorities said the incident began when Knight and one of the drama “Nobody Wants the Night”. Set in the forbidding reaches official filmmaking ban in 2010, will also have its first screening in victims began throwing punches at each other through the win- of Greenland’s frozen tundra, the film is based on the true story of the German capital. dow of the rap tycoon’s Ford F-150 Raptor pickup before he put Josephine Peary, the headstrong wife of Robert Peary, an Panahi, who has also been barred from travelling abroad, will the vehicle in reverse, knocking the man to the ground. American adventurer who led several drives to reach the North not be able to attend the premiere, his Paris-based sales company Knight then pulled forward, running over one man and strik- Pole. Celluloid Dreams told AFP. US television director Andrew Haigh ing the second before leaving the scene, according to the sher- The French actress plays Josephine, who embarks on a dan- will join the race with the surreal drama “45 Years” starring iff’s department. Knight, who previously served time behind bars gerous trek in 1908 to find Robert (Gabriel Byrne) with the help of Charlotte Rampling as a woman who sees her time-tested mar- for violating terms of past sentences, was shot and wounded at a young Inuit woman Allaka, who she learns is her husband’s mis- riage start to unravel. In a strong year for women-driven pictures, Los Angeles nightclub last year. He pleaded not guilty in tress. Japan’s Rinko Kikuchi, who was nominated for an Academy Lea Seydoux, the latest Bond girl in the British spy movie fran- November to a charge stemming from accusations he stole a Award for her work in the 2006 drama “Babel”, plays Allaka. The chise, stars in French veteran Benoit Jacquot’s adaptation of the camera from a celebrity photographer. He was free on bail in that picture was partly shot in a remote region of western Norway groundbreaking 1900 novel “Diary of a Chambermaid”. case at the time of the parking lot altercation. — Reuters which previously stood in for the ice planet Hoth in “The Empire Latin American cinema will be out in force with Chile submit- Strikes Back”. Film stills show the two women swaddled in animal ting “The Club” by Pablo Larrain and the documentary “The Pearl skins against the bone-piercing cold. Button” by Patricio Guzman. Peter Greenaway will be showing his “Nobody Wants the Night” is one of 19 films vying for the festi- Mexican co-production “Eisenstein in Guanajuato”, and val’s Golden Bear top prize, to be awarded at a gala ceremony on Guatamala will send its first competition entry, “Ixcanul Volcano” February 14 by jury president Darren Aronofsky, the US director by Jayro Bustamante. Last year saw Asian movies sweep most of of “Black Swan”. It will be the seventh film Coixet has presented at the main awards including best picture and best actor for Diao the Berlinale, as the event is known, following features including Yinan’s cop thriller “Black Coal, Thin Ice”. “My Life Without Me” in 2003 and “Elegy”, the 2008 adaptation of This time Jiang Wen will fly the flag for China with his latest, a Philip Roth novel starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley. the 1920s gangster comedy “Gone with the Bullets”, while Japan’s Coixet is only the second woman to hold the festival’s coveted Sabu will present his other-worldly love story “Chasuke’s opening-night spot and one of three female directors in competi- Journey”. And Vietnamese festival favourite Phan Dang Di will tion at the Berlinale, Europe’s first major film festival of the year. premiere “Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories”. Journalist Aronofsky hailed the arthouse flavour of the Berlin cinema show- Anke Westphal, who has covered the festival for more than two case, saying at a press conference that the “benefit of festivals is decades, said she thought organizers had struck the right balance that they bring attention to films that have a hard time creating between the Berlinale’s trademark hard-hitting political fare and space in this world”. top-notch releases by cinema heavyweights. “The competition program looks really promising,” she told AFP. “The Berlinale tried Women-driven pictures in the past to boost its profile by discovering young, lesser-known Among the other contenders at the 11-day event are German directors-now it’s back with major auteurs.”— AFP In this Friday, Jan 30, 2015 file image from video, Death Row director Werner Herzog, who will unveil “Queen of the Desert” Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight, right, walks into the starring Nicole Kidman as British archaeologist and spy Gertrude Los Angeles County Sheriffs department in the early morning Bell, opposite “Twilight” heartthrob Robert Pattinson as T.E. in connection with a hit-and-run incident that left one man Lawrence. Reclusive US filmmaker Terrence Malick will premiere dead and another injured. — AP the keenly awaited “Knight of Cups” starring Christian Bale as a

Rapper Snoop Dogg’s son In this Feb 5, 2005 file photo, Rap artist and actor Snoop Dogg, to hit gridiron at UCLA left, talks to his son Cordell Broadus, 7, a ordell Broadus, the son of rap music star Snoop Dogg, this past season for Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, which won member of the the signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play collegiate the Nevada state high school championship for schools its Snoop All-Stars youth CAmerican football at the University of California at Los size. football team, before Angeles (UCLA). The recruitment of the high school receiver Broadus was among hundreds of top players to select col- their game against with the famous father had been the subject of a mini-series leges on the first day prep star athletes could finalize their the Jacksonville All- on ESPN and Snoop Dogg, a well-known fan of UCLA arch- university choices, a major time for US college coaches and Stars in Snoop Bowl rival Southern California, was even wearing a UCLA jersey at their multi-million-dollar gridiron programs. US colleges are at Raines High School his son’s announcement. the prime talent producers for National Football League in Jacksonville, Fla. “UCLA is the best fit for me,” Broadus said. “I had a great teams. — AFP connection with the coaches. I just want to play in front of my —AP family and keep ballin’ on the field and get a great degree.” Broadus caught 39 passes for 602 yards and 11 touchdowns Lifestyle FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Smith’s stardom Grammy predictions secure, but legacy Beyonce? Sam Smith? Sia? Pharrell?

a work-in-progress ill Beyonce reign as queen of the Brandy Clark; Haim; Sam Smith. s one of only a handful of artists to be nominated for four Grammys, or will the pop diva be Moody: I mean, is this even a competition? of the top Grammy Awards in a single year, 22-year-old Wdethroned by newcomer Sam Smith? Sam Smith. ABrit singer Sam Smith seems primed for a coronation on The AP makes educated guesses at who will Fekadu: Who dat? Who dat? Not I to the G- music’s biggest night. But whether he can make the jump to last- dominate music’s biggest night Sunday, when G-Y. Sam Smith will take this one. ing stardom once the Grammy afterparties die down remains an Smith, Beyonce and Pharrell are the top con- Pop Solo Performance: “All of Me (Live),” open question. What’s beyond question is Smith’s status as tenders with six nominations apiece. The John Legend; “Chandelier,” Sia; “Stay With Me 2014’s obvious breakout star. His June debut, “In the Lonely Grammy Awards will air live on CBS at 8 pm (Darkchild Version),” Sam Smith; “Shake It Off,” Hour,” stood as the year’s third-bestselling release in the US, EST. Here’s how we think the night will go: Taylor Swift; “Happy (Live),” Pharrell. behind only the twin juggernauts of Taylor Swift and “Frozen.” Album of the Year: “Morning Phase,” Beck; Fekadu: Pharrell’s No.1 hit was released Three of his singles charted in the top 10; his first US headlining “Beyonce,” Beyonce; “X,” Ed Sheeran; “In the too early for eligibility and voters didn’t care tour has him playing such massive venues as LA’s Forum and Lonely Hour,” Sam Smith; “G I R L,” Pharrell. New York’s Madison Square Garden; and his six total Grammy Fekadu: We all thought “Beyonce” was a noms are equaled only by Beyonce. Smith is an unlikely superstar shoo-in for this award because of its epic for a number of reasons. Openly gay and a self-professed roman- release and because Adele didn’t drop an tic naif, he hardly cuts the album. But then enters Adele’s baby brother: figure of a swaggering tradi- soulful British crooner Sam Smith, singing his In this Aug 24, 2014 file photo, tional R&B star. He also big ballad, sad love songs, releasing back-to- Beyonce backstage at the MTV Video got his start as a featured back radio hits and going platinum. Smith may Music Awards in Inglewood, Calif. share some of Beyonce’s fans now, but come vocalist on electronic dance Fekadu: Yonce all on his mouth like liquor. music tracks, working in a Sunday, the Beyhive will turn on him. Moody: As a card-carrying member of the Moody: Even with the cringe-worthy Anna genre that usually treats its Mae reference, Jayonce wins this. studio knob-twirlers as stars Beyhive, I can assure you all the ire will be at the Recording Academy. Look, Sam Smith had Rap Song: “Anaconda,” Nicki Minaj; and its singers as the hired “Bound 2,” Kanye West featuring Charlie help. (Just ask Romanthony, a gorgeous album that tugged at our heart- strings and he is the real deal. But Beyonce not Wilson; “i,” Kendrick Lamar; “We Dem Boyz,” John Martin or Sam Martin, Wiz Khalifa; “0 to 100 / The Catch Up,” Drake. all of whom sang lead on only had the best album of the year (said in Kanye voice), she turned the industry on its Moody: Kanye West’s rants against the enormous dance hits with- In this Dec 14, 2012 file photo, musi- Grammys probably won’t help him here, and out most record buyers head and truly innovated with her surprise release and the visual album. That should cian Beck poses for a portrait at his voters probably won’t want to reward the even knowing their names.) song best remembered for him simulating sex Yet Smith somehow count for a Grammy win. But the Grammys will home, in Malibu, Calif. likely be enamored by the blue-eyed soul and with wifey Kim Kardashian on a motorcycle. eased his way from featured Kendrick Lamar, on the other hand, has an spots on Disclosure’s British aspect of Sam Smith, marveling that he does soul music so authentically and overlook- uplifting song and Grammy voters probably “Latch” and Naughty Boy’s remember how he got robbed last year when “La La La” straight into the ing a queen who has mastered it, and pop music in general, for almost two decades. And Macklemore inexplicably won over him. They’ll confessional coffeehouse make it up to him this year. File photo, Sam Smith per- that will be a travesty. soul of his debut, a transi- Fekadu: Kendrick Lamar is under the forms on stage at the 42nd tion that could have easily Record of the Year: “Fancy,” Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX; “Chandelier,” Sia; “Stay India.Arie effect: You lose all seven in your annual American Music gone awry. For one, while debut year, but you win two the following Awards at Nokia Theatre LA. new old-school Brit With Me (Darkchild Version),” Sam Smith; “Shake It Off,” Taylor Swift; “All About That year. Poetic justice, indeed! R&B femmes like Adele Country Album: “Riser,” Dierks Bentley; (Smith’s most obvious predecessor), Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Bass,” Meghan Trainor. Moody: “Fancy” and “All About That Bass” “The Outsiders,” Eric Church; “12 Stories,” Corinne Bailey Rae found varying degrees of success in the US, Brandy Clark; “Platinum,” Miranda Lambert; their male counterparts have had it far tougher. Aussie soulster seem to be the obligatory “yes we’re in touch with the Snapchat generation” nomination - “The Way I’m Livin’,” Lee Ann Womack. Daniel Merriweather tore up the Blighty charts with his 2009 Fekadu: Women have it tough in country debut “Red,” but sales fizzled on these shores. Michael Kiwanuka nice nod to the kids, but they won’t win. It’s between Taylor, Sia and Sam; Sia’s song didn’t music, so it’s great to see the Recording was a critics’ fave in 2012, but found a Stateside breakthrough Academy acknowledge three wonderful elusive. Josh Newman has yet to make his name nearly three resonate with as many people and Taylor’s years after his first UK No. 1. So what explains Smith’s success? He may be too catchy for her own good. Look for certainly owes a debt to Frank Ocean, who helped pave a path Sam to grab this category too: It’s a smoldering for such emotive vulnerability and fluid sexuality in contempo performance too hot not to reward. R&B. But more essentially, Smith represents a perfect post- Fekadu: Normally I would say a song like In this Dec 5, 2014 file photo, Ed ”Glee” pop star. A musical theater veteran himself, Smith’s album “Bass,” despite being one of the year’s biggest is less a meditation on heartbreak than a mimetic dramatic reen- hits, wouldn’t win hit, mainly because it’s from Sheeran performs at the KIIS FM’s actment. It favors plainspoken directness in its lyrics-there’s hard- a new artist. But, at the same time, how could Jingle Ball at the Staples Center in ly a single metaphor or figurative image to be found-and tunes you imagine 2014 without the addictive track? Los Angeles. like “Leave Your Lover” seem custom-fitted to be Act 2 show- And because Trainor is a skilled songwriter, fol- stoppers in some swooning high school musical. lowed the song up with another hit and No. 1 enough to nominate its live version for record album, it’s only fitting she walk away with the of the year. There’s no way he’s losing this hon- Album of the year win. or, though. Smith’s m.o. and cross-generational appeal clearly made him Song of the Year (songwriter’s award): Moody: I think that the academy will feel catnip to Grammy voters, who have seemed increasingly willing “All About That Bass,” Meghan Trainor and like they gave Pharrell all the love he needed to look to the upstarts. Long criticized for eternally playing Kevin Kadish; “Chandelier,” Sia and Jesse last year; this year, the Grammy darling is Sam catchup-Bob Dylan, Steely Dan and Eric Clapton were three Shatkin; “Shake It Off,” Taylor Swift, Max Martin Smith, and he’s got this on lock. and Shellback; “Stay With Me (Darkchild Rock Album: “Ryan Adams,” Ryan Adams; decades or more into their careers before winning a major cate- In this Dec 7, 2014 file photo, singer Version),” Sam Smith, James Napier and “Morning Phase,” Beck; “Turn Blue,” The Black gory-the awards made a decided youthful shift of late, willing to Sia Furler attends the world premiere reward the likes of Swift, Adele and Mumford & Sons with William Phillips; “Take Me to Church,” Hozier. Keys; “Hypnotic Eye,” Tom Petty & the Fekadu: Tay Tay and Trainor’s songs seem Heartbreakers; “Songs of Innocence,” U2. of “Annie” at the Ziegfeld Theatre in album of the year honors for sophomore records. New York. Citing Smith’s two recent predecessors in earning all four too playful to win this award. Hozier’s hit may Moody: I’m guessing Grammy voters are be too new for voters, leaving Sia and Sam. Sia iTunes users and perhaps didn’t appreciate major nominations-best new artist, record, song and album of the female voices in this category. Lambert, year-as providing road maps to the future, one isn’t likely to be of deserves this award, not only for “Chandelier,” that free U2 gift of music either. But I also think but for writing songs for female pop stars from they love all things Beck, and Beck - who won’t though, has dominated all of the country much help; Winehouse claimed best new artist, song and record awards shows - and there are plenty of them laurels in 2008, but never had a chance to release a follow-up. The Rihanna to BeyoncÈ to Kylie Minogue. Good win in the mainstream category - gets his tro- thing she’s not into showing her face these phy here. (too many, actually) - and she will do the same trio Fun had another opportunity in 2013, winning for new artist at the Grammys. It is shame “Platinum” wasn’t and song, and at least two of the band’s members have days because Smith will take the win here. Fekadu: I wanted to think Beck would win Moody: Hmmm ... I’m torn. I agree Sam because he’s nominated for album of the year, nominated for album of the year. ensconced themselves in the pop music firmament since, co writ- Moody: Eh, things might not be ideal but ing hits for Pink and Swift. Were Smith to win all four awards in Smith has a strong shot at winning - could you but I think the Grammys will reward Petty for look in those doleful eyes and say no? But an outstanding year, which included a No. 1 women are coming on strong and giving the the same year, he’d be the first to do so since Christopher Cross in boys a run for their money, and Lambert is a 1981. The early-peaking Cross would seem an obvious cautionary since this is a songwriting award, methinks the album on the pop charts. Recording Academy will take this opportunity R&B Performance: “Drunk In Love,” great example. She likely will dominate here, but tale here, and one who bears more than a passing resemblance to I wouldn’t be surprised if Clark sneaks up and Smith. Boasting a similar regular-guy image and heart-on-a-sleeve to reward Sia for not only “Chandelier,” but her BeyoncÈ featuring Jay Z; “New Flame” Chris years of masterful songwriting for herself and Brown featuring Usher and Rick Ross; “It’s Your grabs it from her - her trailblazing as one of the sensitivity, Cross’ music fell out of fashion remarkably quickly, and few out gay people in country may win her a few his Grammy record eclipses his body of music. —Reuters others, including BeyoncÈ’s “Pretty Hurts.” World,” Jennifer Hudson featuring R. Kelly; Best New Artist: Iggy Azalea; Bastille; “Like This,” Ledisi; “Good Kisser,” Usher. admirers, and perhaps even a trophy. — AP

24 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Food

An easy, customizable chocolate

treat for Valentine’s Day

By Elizabeth Karmel

ometimes it takes just a few simple ingredients to win my heart. That’s what fellow Southerner Ben Mims recently did. And he did it with candy. Truth is, I’m generally not the sort of person who makes candy at home. It can be a bit fussy and time-consuming and I don’t find the process nearly as satisfying Sas landing a slab of something meaty over an open fire. But I’m still a sucker for a good sweet, and as I paged through Mims’ recent cookbook, “Sweet and Southern: Traditional Southern Desserts,” I was smitten with one of his simplest recipes. It was his Aunt Barbara Jane’s pretzel-peanut chocolate candies. Crunchy, salty and sweet, these chocolates are similar to bark, but easier. You simply mix everything together, then spoon it onto waxed paper to set up. Of course, I’m never happy to just let things be. My mind was immediately racing with ideas for riffing on this. Such a simple and versatile recipe could be taken in so many directions. I made Mims’ pretzel-peanut-semi-sweet chocolate version, but I also did cashew-coconut-chopped dried mango and dried cher- ry-toasted almonds-chopped candied ginger versions. They were all delicious! And what a perfect idea for Valentine’s Day. Even the kids could do this. Looking for other combinations? Mix whatever intrigues you; just stick to the proportions in the recipe and you should be fine. Or try these combinations:

Ingredients the mix-ins are roughly the same size. Pretzels or ly melted and smooth. Stir in the mix-ins of your Pistachios, dried cherries and milk chocolate chips should be broken into smaller pieces, while choice, making sure they are evenly distributed and Toasted hazelnuts, raisins and dark chocolate larger dried fruits such as apricots should be coated with melted chocolate. Using 2 teaspoons, Cornflakes, butterscotch chips and milk chocolate, chopped. And if you like, the chocolates can be drop large spoonsful of the mixture onto the pre- White chocolate, dried apricots and cashews Mini sprinkled with nonpareils before they set up. pared baking sheet. Let cool completely. Place in marshmallows, toasted almonds and dark choco- Start to finish: 30 minutes small decorative cupcake wrappers and store in an late, Dark chocolate, orange zest, crystallized ginger Makes 40 clusters airtight container for up to 3 days, or refrigerate for and pecans, Crumbled cooked bacon, peanuts and up to a week. — AP milk chocolate, Chocolate Candy Clusters Preparation 10-ounce bag bittersweet chocolate This recipe readily adapts to your tastes. Just 3 cups mix-ins (see ideas above) stick with the proportions set out below and you Line a baking sheet with kitchen parchment. can mix in whatever you like. But a good rule of Place the chocolate in a medium microwave-safe thumb is to offer a contrast of textures and flavors - bowl. Microwave on high in 10- to 15-second bursts, crunchy and soft, salty and sweet, etc. It also helps if stirring in between, until the chocolate is complete- 25 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Food Recipe for sausage and butternut squash personal lasagnas

By J.M. Hirsch

he notion that a great Valentine’s Day dinner should be fancy or somehow over-the-top is way overrated. I’ll take Tdelicious comfort food over a fussy meal any day, regardless of the romance quotient. And when I want real comfort - deep down, rich, winter night snuggling comfort - I want noodles and cheese. Now that is a romantic combination. How to pare them for this special dinner, however, requires some thought. A basic mac and cheese could be a little too pedestrian (particularly if your partner is hoping for at least a little pizzazz). And most red sauce pasta dishes rely on that great killer of romance - garlic. I liked the idea of lasagna, but a giant baking dish of lasagna tends to radiate “potluck” more than “intimate dinner.” So I decided to downsize this meal, using individual springform pans to create personal lasagnas. They are easy to assemble, cook faster than a whole lasagna and look great on the plate. For dessert, keep it simple. In a small saucepan, stir together a few tablespoons of strawberry jam with a splash of bal- samic vinegar and a bit of black pepper. Heat until just warm, then drizzle over vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Crumble almond biscotti over the top and call it a night. Sausage and Butternut Squash Personal Lasagnas Start to finish: 1 1/2 hours (30 minutes active) Servings: 2

Ingredients: pureed squash evenly over the bottom of each springform 2 cups cubed butternut squash Preparation: pan. Set 1 pasta round over the squash in each pan. Spread 2 Kosher salt and ground black pepper Heat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with foil, then tablespoons of the ricotta mixture over the pasta, then spoon 6 ounces loose Italian sausage mist it with cooking spray. Also mist the bottoms and sides of 3 tablespoons of the sausage mixture over it. Sprinkle with 1 medium yellow onion, diced two 4-inch round springform pans. mozzarella cheese, then top with another round of pasta. 3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese Arrange the squash on the prepared baking sheet in a sin- Repeat the layering process until both pans are full. Finish 1 egg gle layer. Mist with cooking spray, then season with salt and each lasagna with a final round of pasta, a generous amount 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese pepper. Roast the squash until lightly browned and tender, of squash puree and a liberal sprinkle of mozzarella. 1/4 teaspoon dried basil about 25 minutes. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Set the pans on a rimmed baking sheet, then bake on the 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, com- oven’s middle shelf for 40 minutes, or until lightly browned 1/2 cup heavy cream bine the sausage and onion. Saute until the sausage is cooked and bubbling. Cool for 10 minutes before setting each lasagna 6 ounces fresh pasta sheets (three 6-by-8 1/2-inch sheets) and the onion is tender and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. on a serving plate and removing the sides of the pans. —AP 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta, egg, Parmesan, basil and oregano. Set aside. Transfer the cooled squash to a blender, then add the cream. Puree until smooth, then taste and adjust seasonings. Set aside. Use a round biscuit cutter that fits just inside the springform pans to cut 8 rounds from the sheets of pasta. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the Feature FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Ask a Designer: Improving the kitchen in small (or big) ways

nother holiday season has passed, and with cream color, and another that will have dark, olive- it the marathon cooking and baking ses- green cabinets and a textured, black-stone coun- Asions. The hours spent using every kitchen tertop.”Homeowners are also getting more creative appliance and inch of counter space had a poten- and saving money with materials like concrete. tial benefit more lasting than a good meal: When Concrete tile is “an inexpensive material that we really use our kitchens, we discover what does comes in an incredible array of colors and pat- and doesn’t work in this very important room. terns,” Burnham says, and “it works for backsplash- Remodeling a kitchen can be expensive and es or kitchen flooring, and really makes a state- challenging, but you can make substantial cosmet- ment.” Try mixing affordable elements with higher- ic changes with just the help of a painter and elec- end ones: “Basic butcher block is my favorite coun- trician, says interior designer Betsy Burnham of tertop because of its classic appeal, and it’s insane- Burnham Design in Los Angeles. And if you’re ly affordable. By juxtaposing it with a unique back- ready for even bigger changes, it’s still possible to splash, like a mosaic marble or rustic stone, it looks stay on budget and create a gorgeous kitchen with more high-end,” Flynn says. “My biggest splurge on a minimum of stress. kitchens is usually my lighting and backsplashes.” Step one is deciding what really needs to be And choose colors and materials you’ll be hap- done. Can you work with the appliances and cabi- py with long-term, rather than something trendy. nets you’ve got, or is it time for a full-scale remod- “Classic and simple is where it’s at,” says Burnham. el? Step two is the budget, coming up with a realistic estimate for each expense, says designer Brian Seating Patrick Flynn of Flynnside Out Productions. Then, A new table and chairs can update a kitchen’s the fun can begin. Three areas where a little look and make it more comfortable. But it’s tempt- improvement can go a long way: ing to sacrifice function for style. Don’t. “We all live in our kitchens,” says Kleinhelter, “so it is important Storage to have comfortable and durable seating.” A smoothly functioning kitchen has space for Stools are popular, and Burnham says designers everything to be stored away, within reasonable in her office love the simple, clean look of a row of reach. Can you achieve that with your current cabi- stools arranged along a bar or kitchen island. But, nets? If so, Flynn suggests keeping them and just she says, comfort is key: “We find most clients like replacing or refinishing the doors. “Cabinetry seats with backs and arms.” installation adds a lot to a budget,” he says, “so sav- Also, choose seating that’s easy to clean and ing by simply reusing what you’ve got can be a durable. “I love to use vinyls or faux leathers,” says massive help.” Kleinhelter, “because it is so easy to clean, but still If your cabinet doors are stained wood, consider looks polished.” Burnham’s favorite for seating: the painting them. Then, change the hardware. Drawer natural texture and style of rattan. Whether you’re pulls and cabinet door handles “can make or break simply buying a new table and chairs or beginning the look of the space,” says Lee Kleinhelter of the to plan a full kitchen remodel, Flynn offers one last Atlanta-based design firm Pieces. Take time choos- piece of advice: Take time to choose the things you ing new ones. really want, and be patient if the project takes Flynn agrees: “I always use high-end hardware longer than you’d hoped. What matters is the final regardless of how high or low my budget is,” he result, not how many weeks or months it took to says. “Adding an interesting metal and finish to get there. — AP your doors just really adds character and unique- ness. You can never go wrong with dull black pulls and knobs, and I’m also a huge fan of antique brass. When it comes to silver tones, I try to stay classic and go with polished nickel.” If you do need to add or replace cabinets, Burnham suggests having them custom-made. It can be expensive (Flynn This undated photo provided by Burnham Design shows a prep kitchen where the design estimates that ready-made cabinets cost about firm used Sherwin Williams “Olive Grove”/SW7734 paint in a satin finish, in Beverly Hills, one-third as much as lower-end custom designs). Calif. — AP photos But they are worth the investment, Burnham says. “You’ll get well-made pieces, built to your needs, that will last through time, kids and tons of use.” Rather than adding cabinets with doors, she suggests installing drawers. “Deep drawers provide excellent storage for pots and pans, and even over- size plates,” Burnham says, “and banks of drawers just look cool.”

Fresh colors and materials Painting kitchen walls can be “a quick, inexpensive solution to a kitchen remodel on a low budget,” Kleinhelter says, and “any color can work.” But she advises clients that kitchen decor “should work with the rest of the house.” Bring in colors that appear in nearby rooms, or stick to a neutral This undated photo provided by cour- palette. tesy of Coastal Living shows a remod- If you’re trying to update your kitchen’s look, eled kitchen in Coronado, Calif, that is Burnham says “there’s been a shift from the once- functional and chic with a large parsons- ubiquitous all-white kitchen toward gray-painted style island, pale grey-blue shaker cabi- cabinets, and we’ve found ourselves experiment- netry, and large industrial pendant This undated photo provided by Burnham Design shows the main kitchen in a residence ing with color.” Her office is currently designing lights, designed by Betsy Burnham of in Beverly Hills, Calif. one kitchen “that’s predominantly a sophisticated Burnham Design. Feature FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Getting his kicks: 16-year-old NY teen runs sneaker pawnshop

In this Jan 12, 2015 photo, a wall of collectable sneakers are displayed at Sneaker Pawn in the Harlem section of New Sneaker is displayed at Sneaker Pawn. York. — AP photos

16-year-old sneaker-loving teen is of the final sale price. Those looking to pawn using the footwear to get a different their sneakers have two months to redeem Akind of kick - he’s opened a pawnshop them for the amount of money the Reeds for- that uses high-end athletic shoes as collateral. warded them plus a storage fee. Shoes that Chase Reed and his father, Troy Reed, opened are being pawned are held in storage and not Sneaker Pawn on Lenox Avenue in Harlem displayed, until the owner either gets them looking to capitalize on America’s multi-bil- back or gives them up. lion dollar athletic footwear market and the Chase, as the sneaker aficionado, has the high prices sneakers can get being re-sold. final say on whether they buy a certain pair The idea started close to home, when from someone, and what prices they sell the Chase would ask his father to borrow money shoes at. He also customizes sneakers with his after Reed had spent a few hundred dollars own art. Since he’s still in high school, his on sneakers for his son. Reed would hold onto father handles the running of the store during a pair of his son’s shoes until he had gotten the weekdays. his money back. “My son said, ‘Dad, you’re Fourteen-year-old Harlem resident Chaise actually kind of making me pawn you my Mack shelled out a couple of hundred dollars sneakers,’” Reed said during a recent inter- for a pair of Air Jordan sneakers released in view at the store. “Once he said that, a light 2012 that sell online for at least twice the price bulb went off.” that he paid. The store, he said, “is amazing. You He told his son, “You don’t have no money, can’t really find sneakers like this downtown. but you got all these sneakers. Imagine how Most of the sneakers here are not in retail.” It’s many other kids got all these sneakers and been a learning experience for Chase, who’s probably need cash.” The duo decided to ren- had to put aside the re-building of his own col- ovate the space in Harlem, where they had lection. been living before moving elsewhere, into a Entrepreneurs Chase Reed, right, and his father Troy Reed pose for a picture in their store “Sadly there are a lot of size 14s that come retail location. And to pay for it all, Chase sold in the Harlem section of New York. through the store,” he said. “The nicest sneakers his own collection, bringing in about $30,000. the production run was, and how easy it is to ago, offers different options. People looking on Earth that come through the store and the “My father told me, certain things you have find a pair in good condition. Sneaker Pawn to just unload their sneakers - specifically bas- first thing I do is sell them.” He’s philosophical to sacrifice,” Chase said. Basketball sneakers carries shoes with price tags of more than ketball shoes - can offer them to the Reeds to about it. I “can’t let my sneaker high get in the can sell and re-sell for hundreds of dollars, $1,000. be bought outright, or on a consignment way of me making money, me being a busi- depending on the shoe model, how limited The shop, which opened about six months agreement which nets the Reeds 20 percent nessman,” he said. — AP

Chase Reed holds up a sneaker while talking to a reporter at Sneaker Pawn in the Harlem A wall of collectable sneakers are displayed at Sneaker Pawn. section of New York. Travel FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

LakeLake PlacidPlacid isn’tisn’t justjust forfor winterwinter loverslovers anymoreanymore Travel FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Trees are covered in snow in Lake Placid, NY.

People ice skate on the Olympic oval in Lake Placid, NY.

Perhaps it’s the fresh-baked cookie that’s offered to guests as they check into the Mirror Lake Inn, the village’s crown jewel of lodging. Or perhaps it’s how just about every quaint store and restaurant in town has some sort of reminder that miracles can, and have, happened there. Either way, it doesn’t take long upon arriving in Lake Placid to realize there’s something unique In this photo, lights decorate the Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid, NY. about the place. Travel FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Night falls over the Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid, NY.

nown for decades as a winter wonder- hues before the trees fall barren again for the “It is beyond a year-round destination,” to be than in Lake Placid in the summer and land and where the US Olympic hockey inevitable winter. said Lisa Weibrecht, who owns and operates the fall.” Still, its calling card might be winter, Kteam stunned the unbeatable Russians Bookstores, a little theater, an arts center the Mirror Lake Inn with her husband, Ed. as evidenced by the two Olympic medals that in 1980 in perhaps the most-celebrated sport- that lures kids from 100 miles (160 kilometers) “Winter is such a small part of Lake Placid. I hang behind the front desk at Mirror Lake. ing event ever, Lake Placid is not just for away, fishing, golfing ... some of those might would say definitely summer is the most rec- Those medals were won by the snowy fun anymore. The vacation haven in not all be available 12 months a year, but ognized season here between the lakes, the Weibrecht’s son, Andrew - at the last two the Adirondack Mountains is a town for all they’re all there. And many of those places are mountains, people leaving the city. This start- Olympic Winter Games. “People always say, seasons now, though the sights this time of connected by brick sidewalks where people ed as a summer resort and our population ‘Can you swim in the lake?’” Ed Weibrecht year are nothing short of Rockwellian. “It’s the can walk about unbothered and unworried, swells by three times during the summer. I said. “And I tell them, here, you can drink the place you never really think about coming to, even after nightfall. don’t think there’s any place more beautiful lake. It’s a wonderful place.”— AP and then you get here and you never want to leave,” said Scott Natter, a vacationer from Philadelphia who was touring the Olympic People ice skate Center - the arena where the 1980 Miracle On Ice happened - with two of his children on a recent snowy day. “For us, it’s an annual thing now. We say ‘vacation’ and our kids say ‘Placid.’” With a year-round population of about 2,500, Lake Placid has remained small but bustling. Tourism and continuing to tell the Olympic tales of 1932 and 1980 are the back- bone of the little community, where cell service can still be a touch spotty and few seem to mind. But with a mix of classic and new attrac- tions and amenities, there’s more to the place now than ever before. Whiteface Mountain still packs in skiers and snowboarders with arguably the best terrain in the East. Thrill- seekers can get their fix for speed and danger by taking a bobsled ride at Mount Van Hoevenberg. And those just looking to unwind can enjoy a maple sugar body scrub - yes, it is what it sounds like - at Mirror Lake Inn. Hikers looking to scale any or all of the 46 Adirondack peaks that stand 4,600 feet or higher tend to start visiting in the spring. In the summer, there’s a full-scale Ironman triathlon and a renowned horse show (which takes place in the shadow of the 1980 Olympic cauldron). Leaf-peepers pack the region in the fall, getting a look at the brilliant Leisure FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

2. An Indian nursemaid who looks after children. 3. A village in eastern Ireland (northwest of Dublin). CROSSWORD807 4. A mountain peak in the Andes in Bolivia (21,391 feet high). 5. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma. 6. A river in southeastern Australia that flows generally northwest to join the Darling River. 7. Limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent. 8. A hardy cabbage with coarse curly leaves that do not form a head. 9. Cast again, in a different role. 10. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots. 11. A state in east central United States. 12. At or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplane. 13. Related to or located at the back. 14. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography). 20. A quadrille for 8 or 16 couples. 22. Desert shrub of Syria and Arabia having small white flowers. 24. A city of central Russia south of Moscow. 26. Thickening of tissue in the motor tracts of the lateral columns and anterior horns of the spinal cord. 28. A tight-fitting headdress. 30. Not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied. 31. Having a circular shape. 33. The part of a garment that is attached at armhole and provides a cloth covering for the arm. 34. Capital and largest city of Iraq. 37. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light. 38. Having winglike extensions. 39. Submerged aquatic plant having narrow leaves and small flowers. 41. A genus of Viperidae. 43. A small cake leavened with yeast. ACROSS 49. A river in northeastern Brazil that flows generally northward to the Atlantic Ocean. 1. Annual grass of Europe and North Africa. 51. Put out or expel from a place. 4. An ancient language of India (the language of the Vedas and of Hinduism). 55. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down by ground con- 12. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. trol using precision approach radar. 15. 100 pyas equal 1 kyat. 57. Aromatic bulb used as seasoning. 16. Of or relating to Aram or to its inhabitants or their culture or their language. 58. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting (especially in cases of drug overdose or 17. A room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter. poisoning). 18. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium. 60. South African plant widely cultivated for its showy pure white spathe and yellow 19. A country on the island of Jamaica. spadix. 21. Green algae common in freshwater lakes of limestone districts. 61. An anti-inflammatory drug that does not contain steroids. Yesterday’s Solution 23. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper. 62. Very large white gannet with black wing tips. 25. (computer science) A system of world-wide electronic communication in which a 64. A member of the Shoshonean people of northeastern Arizona. computer user can compose a message at one terminal that is generated at the 65. A South American shrub whose leaves are chewed by natives of the Andes. recipient's terminal when he logs in. 66. Powdery starch from certain sago palms. 27. Less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so. 67. Wearing or provided with clothing. 29. Of or relating to the aorta. 68. A genus of Mustelidae. 32. A fine grained mineral having a soft soapy feel and consisting of hydrated magne- 70. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders. sium silicate. 71. Being one more than two. 35. A member of the Siouan people inhabiting the valleys of the Platte and Missouri 75. Half the width of an em. rivers in Nebraska. 36. The act of scanning. 40. A city in south central Mexico (southeast of Mexico City) on the edge of central Mexican plateau. Yesterdayʼs Solution 42. A line on a sphere that cuts all meridians at the same angle. 44. (botany) Of or relating to the axil. 45. Norwegian composer whose work was often inspired by Norwegian folk music (1843-1907). 46. Being one more than nine. 47. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 48. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively. 50. A unit of dry measure used in Egypt. 52. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh. 53. Any of various coarse shrubby plants of the genus Iva with small greenish flowers. 54. Having a sharply uneven surface or outline. 56. Above the surround or above the normal position. 59. An inflammatory disease involving the sebaceous glands of the skin. 63. An archaic name for Easter or Passover. 69. Ancient Athenian philosopher. 72. City in southwestern Colombia in a rich agricultural area. 73. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942). 74. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling). 76. Any culture medium that uses agar as the gelling agent. 77. A boy or man. 78. A state in midwestern United States. 79. The closing section of a musical composition.

DOWN 1. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the Challenging Maze sale of petroleum.

Daily SuDoku Yesterday’s Solution TV listings FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

01:20 Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen 18:00 Come Dine With Me 11:25 Street Outlaws 03:45 Art Attack 03:00 My Dog Ate What? Notebook: London 18:25 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 12:15 Hellriders 04:10 Jungle Junction 04:00 Big, Bigger, Biggest 01:45 Sweet Baby James 19:15 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 13:05 Auction Hunters 04:20 Jungle Junction 05:00 Ultimate Airport Dubai 02:10 Nigel Slater’s Simple Cooking 20:00 How To Cook Like Heston 13:30 The Liquidator 04:35 Jungle Junction 06:00 Secrets Of The Great Escape 02:40 Masterchef: The Professionals 20:20 Come Dine With Me: South 13:55 Auction Hunters 04:45 Jungle Junction Revealed 00:20 Swamp Brothers 03:05 Bargain Hunt Africa 14:20 Tethered 05:00 Art Attack 07:00 Caught In The Act 00:50 Mountain Monsters 03:50 Come Dine With Me 21:10 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 15:10 Fat N’ Furious: Rolling Thunder 05:25 Art Attack 08:00 One Ocean 01:45 Deadly Islands 04:15 Planet Cake 21:35 Masterchef: The Professionals 16:00 Fast N’ Loud 05:50 Mouk 09:00 The Indestructibles 02:40 Tanked 04:35 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 22:25 Bargain Hunt 16:50 How It’s Made 06:00 Kim Possible 09:30 The Indestructibles 03:35 Shamwari: A Wild Life 05:20 Food & Drink 23:10 Come Dine With Me 17:15 How It’s Made 06:25 Austin & Ally 10:00 Animal Autopsy 04:00 Shamwari: A Wild Life 05:50 Nigel Slater’s Simple Cooking 23:35 The Hairy Bikers USA 17:40 Dual Survival 06:50 Girl Meets World 11:00 Breakout 04:25 Deadly Islands 06:15 Sweet Baby James 18:30 Overhaulin’ 07:15 Liv And Maddie 12:00 Fight Science 05:15 Treehouse Masters 06:40 Masterchef: The Professionals 19:20 Kindig Customs 07:40 Jessie 13:00 Ancient Secrets: Witch Hunter’s 06:02 Call Of The Wildman 07:05 Delicious Iceland 20:10 The Liquidator 08:05 Dog With A Blog Bible 06:25 Call Of The Wildman 07:35 Planet Cake 20:35 Auction Hunters 08:30 Good Luck Charlie 14:00 Megacities 06:49 Shamwari: A Wild Life 08:00 Bargain Hunt 21:00 Overhaulin’ 08:55 Good Luck Charlie 15:00 Mega Factories: Supercars 07:12 Shamwari: A Wild Life 08:45 Come Dine With Me 21:50 Kindig Customs 09:20 Sonny With A Chance 16:00 Mega Breakdown 07:36 The Wild Life Of Tim Faulkner 09:10 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 00:20 Fast N’ Loud 22:40 Fantomworks 09:45 Sonny With A Chance 17:00 Live Free Or Die 08:00 The Wild Life Of Tim Faulkner 09:55 Food & Drink 01:10 Airplane Repo 23:30 Dual Survival 10:10 Suite Life On Deck 18:00 Hunter Hunted 08:25 Too Cute! 10:25 Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen 02:00 Street Outlaws 10:35 Suite Life On Deck 19:00 Mega Factories: Supercars 09:15 Shamwari: A Wild Life Notebook: London 02:50 Hellriders 11:00 That’s So Raven 20:00 Mega Breakdown 09:40 Shamwari: A Wild Life 10:50 Big Chef Takes On Little Chef 03:40 Auction Hunters 11:25 That’s So Raven 21:00 Live Free Or Die 10:10 Call Of The Wildman 11:40 Masterchef: The Professionals 04:05 The Liquidator 11:50 A.N.T. Farm 22:00 Hunter Hunted 10:35 Call Of The Wildman 12:10 Sweet Baby James 04:30 Auction Hunters 12:15 A.N.T. Farm 23:00 Breakout 11:05 Gator Boys 12:35 Bargain Hunt 05:00 How It’s Made 00:00 Violetta 12:40 Hannah Montana 12:00 Too Cute! 13:20 Come Dine With Me 05:30 How It’s Made 00:45 The Hive 13:05 Hannah Montana 12:55 Shamwari: A Wild Life 13:50 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 06:00 Tethered 00:50 Art Attack 13:30 Wizards Of Waverly Place 13:20 Shamwari: A Wild Life 14:35 Food & Drink 06:50 Fat N’ Furious: Rolling Thunder 01:15 Art Attack 13:55 Wizards Of Waverly Place 13:50 Treehouse Masters 15:00 Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen 07:40 Fast N’ Loud 01:40 Jungle Junction 14:20 Austin & Ally 14:45 Deadly Islands Notebook: London 08:30 Auction Hunters 01:50 Jungle Junction 15:00 Girl Meets World 15:40 Tanked 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon 15:30 Big Chef Takes On Little Chef 08:55 The Liquidator 02:05 Jungle Junction 15:20 Girl Meets World 16:35 Shamwari: A Wild Life Stewart 16:20 Masterchef: The Professionals 09:20 Auction Hunters 02:15 Jungle Junction 15:45 Liv And Maddie 17:00 Shamwari: A Wild Life 01:00 Modern Family 16:50 Sweet Baby James 09:45 How It’s Made 02:30 Violetta 16:10 Violetta 17:30 Sharkageddon 01:30 Family Guy 17:15 Bargain Hunt 10:10 How It’s Made 03:10 The Hive 17:00 Snow Buddies 18:25 Treehouse Masters 02:00 It’s Always Sunny In 10:35 Airplane Repo 03:20 Art Attack 18:40 Girl Meets World 19:20 Wild Things With Dominic Philadelphia 19:05 Girl Meets World Monaghan 02:30 South Park 19:30 Violetta 20:15 Tanked 03:00 New Girl 20:20 I Didn’t Do It 21:10 Gangland Killers 03:30 How I Met Your Mother 20:45 I Didn’t Do It 22:05 Treehouse Masters 04:00 Raising Hope 21:10 I Didn’t Do It 23:00 Wild Things With Dominic 04:30 The Tonight Show Starring 21:35 I Didn’t Do It Monaghan Jimmy Fallon 22:00 Suite Life On Deck 23:55 Gator Boys 05:30 My Boys 22:25 A.N.T. Farm 06:00 The Goldbergs 22:50 Shake It Up 06:30 Better Off Ted 23:10 Wolfblood 07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 23:35 Wolfblood 08:00 Raising Hope 08:30 My Boys 00:25 Eastenders 09:00 New Girl 00:55 Doctors 09:30 Community 01:25 Lark Rise To Candleford 10:00 Hot In Cleveland 02:20 The Mimic 00:00 Fashion Bloggers 10:30 Better Off Ted 02:45 Zen 00:30 Fashion Bloggers 11:00 The Tonight Show Starring 04:15 The Weakest Link 00:55 Extreme Close-Up Jimmy Fallon 05:00 The Green Balloon Club 01:25 Kourtney And Khloe Take The 12:00 The Goldbergs 05:25 Mr Bloom’s Nursery Hamptons 12:30 Raising Hope 05:45 Me Too! 02:20 E! News 13:00 My Boys 06:05 Jollywobbles 03:15 Giuliana & Bill 13:30 Better Off Ted 06:15 The Green Balloon Club 04:10 The E! True Hollywood Story 14:00 How I Met Your Mother 06:35 Mr Bloom’s Nursery 05:05 E!ES 14:30 Community 06:55 Gigglebiz 06:00 Keeping Up With The 15:00 Hot In Cleveland 07:15 The Weakest Link Kardashians 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon 08:00 Dad’s Army 06:55 Kourtney And Kim Take Miami Stewart 08:30 The Omid Djalili Show 07:50 Style Star 16:00 Modern Family 09:00 Eastenders 08:20 E! News 16:30 The Goldbergs 09:30 Doctors 09:15 Giuliana & Bill 17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 10:00 Lark Rise To Candleford 10:15 E!ES 18:00 New Girl 10:50 The Weakest Link 11:10 E!ES 18:30 How I Met Your Mother 11:35 Dad’s Army 12:05 E! News 19:00 Community 12:05 The Omid Djalili Show 13:05 Fashion Police 19:30 Hot In Cleveland 12:35 2 Point 4 Children 13:35 Fashion Bloggers 20:00 The Tonight Show Starring 13:05 Eastenders 14:05 Fashion Bloggers Jimmy Fallon 13:35 Doctors 14:30 Fashion Bloggers 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon 14:05 Lark Rise To Candleford 15:00 House Of DVF Stewart 14:55 The Mimic 16:00 Kourtney And Khloe Take The 21:30 Modern Family 15:20 Dad’s Army Hamptons 22:00 Silicon Valley 15:50 The Omid Djalili Show 17:00 Kourtney And Khloe Take The 22:30 Silicon Valley 16:20 The Weakest Link Hamptons 23:00 South Park 17:10 My Family 18:00 E! News 23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers 17:40 Doctors 19:00 Beyond Candid With Giuliana 18:10 Casualty 20:00 Giuliana & Bill 19:00 Blackadder II 21:00 Fashion Bloggers 19:30 Lead Balloon 21:30 Fashion Bloggers 20:00 Zen 22:00 E! News 00:00 Covert Affairs 21:30 Ideal 23:00 Fashion Police 01:00 American Idol 22:00 Live At The Apollo 02:00 24: Live Another Day 22:45 Watson & Oliver 03:00 Grimm 23:15 Blackadder II 04:00 American Idol 23:45 The Weakest Link 05:00 The Flash 06:00 Covert Affairs 07:00 The Fosters 00:00 One Ocean 08:00 Parenthood 01:00 The Indestructibles 09:00 American Idol 10:00 The Flash 00:10 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 01:30 The Indestructibles 11:00 Suits 00:55 Food & Drink LOCKOUT ON OSN MOVIES ACTION 02:00 Animal Autopsy TV listings FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

12:00 Emmerdale 12:00 A Good Day To Die Hard 10:00 Son Of Rambow-PG 10:45 My Last Day Without You-PG15 06:00 Marvel’s Ultimate Avengers II- 14:00 UIM Aquabike Champs 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 14:00 Summoned 12:00 So I Married An Axe Murderer- 12:30 Tales Of The Night-PG PG 16:00 Prizefighter 14:00 Parenthood 16:00 Stolen PG15 14:00 Reviving Ophelia-PG15 08:00 The Great Ghost Rescue-PG 19:00 NHL 15:00 Covert Affairs 18:00 Recoil 14:00 Held Up (1999)-PG15 16:00 The Last Harbor-PG15 09:45 Transformers-PG15 21:00 UFC Unleashed 16:00 Emmerdale 20:00 Police Story 16:00 Son Of The Mask-PG 18:00 Too Big To Fail-PG15 12:15 Vehicle 19-PG15 22:00 UFC 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:45 Iron Man 18:00 In A World...-PG15 20:00 Texas Killing Fields-PG15 14:00 Epic-PG 18:00 Parenthood 20:00 The Incredible Burt 22:00 Fruitvale Station-18 16:00 The Great Ghost Rescue-PG 19:00 Once Upon A Time Wonderstone-PG15 18:00 Dark Tide-PG15 20:00 Grey’s Anatomy 22:00 The Details-18 20:00 Drinking Buddies-PG15 01:30 Dubai World Cup Carnival 21:00 American Idol 22:00 The Counselor-18 01:00 Hummingbird-PG15 09:30 ICC Cricket 360 23:00 Grimm 00:00 Crush (2013)-PG15 03:00 Mandela: Long Walk To 02:00 Summoned-PG15 10:00 World Cup of Pool Freedom-PG15 04:00 Hellboy: Sword Of Storms-PG 11:00 World Cup of Pool 05:30 Call Me Crazy: A Five Film-PG15 12:00 World Pool Masters 06:00 Stolen-PG15 01:30 Golfing World 01:00 Emperor-PG15 07:00 Frozen-PG 08:00 Police Story-PG15 03:00 Live IRB Sevens World Series 21:00 World Cup of Pool 03:00 The Citizen-PG15 09:00 The Wolverine-PG15 10:00 A Good Day To Die Hard-PG15 12:30 Golfing World 22:00 World Cup of Pool 01:00 Good Morning America 05:00 Timer-PG15 11:15 Oggy & The Cockroaches: The 12:00 Summoned-PG15 13:30 Total Rugby 05:00 Good Morning America 07:00 The Glass Man-PG15 Movie-PG 23:00 World Pool Masters 14:00 Stolen-PG15 14:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 10:00 Emmerdale 09:00 The Butler-PG15 13:00 A Family Reunion-PG15 16:00 Recoil-PG15 15:00 Inside The PGA Tour 11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 11:15 Timer-PG15 14:45 Grace Of Monaco-PG15 18:00 Police Story-PG15 16:00 Snooker - The Masters 15:00 Live Good Morning America 13:00 Love And Honor-PG15 16:45 The Wolverine-PG15 19:45 Iron Man-PG15 19:00 Golfing World 19:00 Drop Dead Diva 15:00 Playing For Keeps-PG15 19:00 Ender’s Game-PG15 22:00 Lockout-PG15 20:00 IRB Sevens World Series 01:00 NHL 20:00 Chicago Fire 16:45 The Butler-PG15 21:00 Tinker Bell And The Pirate Fairy- 23:00 Live Super League 03:00 Bellator MMA 23:00 Justified 19:00 I, Anna-PG15 FAM 07:00 Monster Jam 21:00 The Pact-PG15 22:45 The Legend Of Hercules-PG15 23:00 Killing Season-18 09:00 The World’s Strongest Man 10:00 WWE Smackdown 00:00 Son Of Rambow-PG 01:00 NHL 12:00 NHL 02:00 RV-PG 00:00 Plunkett & Macleane 03:00 WWE This Week 14:00 WWE Raw 04:00 So I Married An Axe Murderer- 02:00 Crush (2013) 01:00 Metro Manila-PG15 06:30 Motor Sports 2013 17:30 Bellator MMA PG15 04:00 Summoned 03:00 Sense And Sensibility-PG 00:00 Legendary Amazons-PG15 09:00 WWE Bottom Line 06:00 All American Christmas Carol- 20:00 NHL 06:00 Hellboy: Sword Of Storms 05:15 Great Expectations-PG15 02:00 One Direction: This Is Us-PG 10:00 WWE Vintage Collection PG15 22:00 WWE Bottomline 08:00 Stolen 07:15 Bully-PG15 04:00 Vehicle 19-PG15 11:00 NHL 23:00 WWE Superstars 10:00 Police Story 08:00 Son Of The Mask-PG 09:00 The Last Harbor-PG15 13:00 Motor Sports 2013

STOLEN ON OSN MOVIES HD ACTION Stars FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Aries (March 21-April 19) COUNTRY CODES Libra (September 23-October 22) Taxes, investments and other financial ties or obligations Afghanistan 0093 Kuwait 00965 grab your attention today. This could mean you are helping tend to these Business dealings may be particularly fruitful today. Every Albania 00355 Kyrgyzstan 00996 matters on the professional level or it could mean you are getting these time you take a quick look at the clock, you are surprised at how quickly Algeria 00213 Laos 00856 the day moves along. Mental stimulation from others is positive and you Andorra 00376 Latvia 00371 things in good shape for your personal income tax filings. Opinions are make every effort to cooperate and compromise. The project for the day Angola 00244 Lebanon 00961 not enough for you now; they must be backed by authority or evidence should be a great success. You may schedule meetings with family mem- Anguilla 001264 Liberia 00231 and above all, they must have practical worth and application. This could bers this afternoon just to get different opinions of the changes you may Antiga 001268 Libya 00218 be a time of intense study and thought. In the workplace you could be have been thinking of taking on. This is a good time to try and foster a Argentina 0054 Lithuania 00370 teaching, lecturing or giving a demonstration. Your efforts are successful sense of togetherness. The need for emotional security is emphasized, Armenia 00374 Luxembourg 00352 and everyone will know just what you mean. You could find that you are though you should not pressure a person into doing things just to please Australia 0061 Macau 00853 appreciated for your ability to act and get things done. This is not a good you. The desire for intimacy and love with a partner is great at this time, Austria 0043 Macedonia 00389 time to take risks. with the expression of affection being most satisfying. 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 You can make a favorable deal for any business, financial or Benin 00229 Marshall Islands 00692 Bermuda 001441 Martinique 00596 legal ventures! Your mind is alert, your objectives are clear and your buoy- Do not let new circumstances change or throw you from achieving your goals. Foggy situations will become clear to you soon. You Bhutan 00975 Mauritania 00222 ant optimism will help win your way. Athletic energy also is high-a great will understand better how to handle an ongoing problem. There could Bolivia 00591 Mauritius 00230 time to jog around the park. You are well-disposed to others at this time be a certain degree of carelessness in your business dealings today. You Bosnia 00387 Mayotte 00269 and buoyed with confidence now to succeed at any project you attempt. should take care to examine all aspects of your dealings for it could lead Botswana 00267 Mexico 0052 Make sure both your expectations and abilities are realistic before diving to success. In order to pick up a bit of speed regarding your part in the Brazil 0055 Micronesia 00691 into something you may not be able to get out of without harm or business, look for popular and successful people in a similar business that Brunei 00673 Moldova 00373 embarrassment. Your desire to succeed, not only financially, but person- can influence your work for the positive. You may want to read articles or Bulgaria 00359 Monaco 00377 ally as well, is strong at this time. This is a time that signifies an interest in go to seminars. Look up important changes that your type of business Burkina 00226 Mongolia 00976 friends and family and an excellent time to get to know someone better. has made over time and how some succeed and other do not. You will Burundi 00257 Montserrat 001664 Hold fast to friends and family. have a foot up the ladder of success for yourself now. Cambodia 00855 Morocco 00212 Cameroon 00237 Mozambique 00258 Canada 001 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Cape Verde 00238 Namibia 00264 Cayman Islands 001345 Nepal 00977 Central African Republic 00236 Netherlands (Holland)0031 Gemini (May 21-June 20) Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Chad 00235 Netherlands Antilles 00599 Chile 0056 New Caledonia 00687 Today, your mind is clear and fertile and going a mile a Excitement! New discoveries, encounters and ideas should China 0086 New Zealand 0064 minute. You will enjoy communicating, with quick responses, writing let- make this a day to remember. You will not have to look for them; they will Colombia 0057 Nicaragua 00505 ters, playing mental games and puzzle solving-anything to give your find you. Perhaps an old problem can finally be resolved due to some Comoros 00269 Nigar 00227 active mind things upon which to think. Making your mark on the world original thinking. Chuck your routine or schedule and leave part of your Congo 00242 Nigeria 00234 has special significance for you. Achievement, ambition and authority are day open for surprises and new adventures. Expand your insights with Cook Islands 00682 Niue 00683 the things that take on a greater importance. Administering people and some fascinating nonfiction. Also, this is a time when you seek intellectual Costa Rica 00506 Norfolk Island 00672 projects will become central to your lifestyle. Those around you, or the sit- stimulation in both love and social activities. 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Denmark 0045 Palau 00680 Diego Garcia 00246 Panama 00507 Djibouti 00253 Papua New Guinea 00675 Dominica 001767 Paraguay 00595 Dominican Republic 001809 Peru 0051 Cancer (June 21-July 22) Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Ecuador 00593 Philippines 0063 Egypt 0020 Poland 0048 Your sensitive emotions have taken a short vacation, giving Emotions can affect your health-cultivate an attitude of El Salvador 00503 Portugal 00351 you some time to calmly reflect on where you are and where you are gratitude. It is best for now to take it easy and let others have their way. England (UK) 0044 Puerto Rico 001787 going. If something puzzles you, an older, wiser head may give guidance. Demanding what you want could lead to frustrations and ill feelings Equatorial Guinea 00240 Qatar 00974 If problems arise, you can handle them without panic. You may take com- among friends. Your mind is quick and may induce flashes of intuitive Eritrea 00291 Romania 0040 fort in the past, with its old ways and old solutions. If they worked once, brilliance. Today is a day to plan for the future and look at the big picture. Estonia 00372 Russian Federation 007 they will probably work again. This is an excellent time to sit down alone As you think on important issues, try to avoid being insensitive to others. Ethiopia 00251 Rwanda 00250 and get many things accomplished. You spend much time in contempla- You may experience abrupt changes in fortune, good or bad, in a relative- Falkland Islands 00500 Saint Helena 00290 tion this afternoon-tonight you are able to express your feelings to others ly short period of time. You will feel the urge for excitement and should Faroe Islands 00298 Saint Kitts 001869 in positive ways. This is a good day to step back and contemplate your consider traveling-avoid extravagance, however. You may have time this Fiji 00679 Saint Lucia 001758 Finland 00358 Saint Pierre 00508 next step. This is the time to use your energy constructively. It is time now evening to shop for a loved one. There are reasons to find a very special gift that will convey your feelings. France 0033 Saint Vincent 001784 to pull close to a loved one. French Guiana 00594 Samoa US 00684 French Polynesia 00689 Samoa West 00685 Gabon 00241 San Marino 00378 Gambia 00220 Sao Tone 00239 Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Georgia 00995 Saudi Arabia 00966 Leo (July 23-August 22) Germany 0049 Scotland (UK) 0044 Ghana 00233 Senegal 00221 You should enjoy great success and attention through your Future plans for your professional life are becoming more focused. Whether additional education or new paths up the corporate Gibraltar 00350 Seychelles 00284 profession. Today is a good day to do some serious thinking about work Greece 0030 Sierra Leone 00232 or a certain project; much benefit comes from this type of thinking. ladder are involved, you are willing and able to work hard for your goals. There are many paths that you can take to be successful in the Greenland 00299 Singapore 0065 However, you should be wary of making large-scale transactions during Grenada 001473 Slovakia 00421 business world now. Your skills, your educational background and the this time. You look to the social setting to improve your professional Guadeloupe 00590 Slovenia 00386 places you desire to live may all come together in this decision-making Guam 001671 Solomon Islands 00677 standing this evening and may find yourself networking and getting to process. If you can focus in on one goal, the other things you want to know a variety of new people. Your independent nature can be a threat Guatemala 00502 Somalia 00252 add to your success list will follow. Friends, co-workers and plain old Guinea 00224 South Africa 0027 to your loved one. Take some time to show your loved one that you care lucky circumstances offer encouragement and backing. You often get about his or her story. Set a date and a time for a night out and then . . . Be Guyana 00592 South Korea 0082 what you need, when you need it. You are motivated and may decide a Haiti 00509 Spain 0034 there, all dressed up and on time whether you are married, live together move is in the works. Holland (Netherlands)0031 Sri Lanka 0094 or just hang out from time to time; expand enthusiasm. 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 This is a good day to get things done. Your good eye-hand Your business day is full of paperwork; even if you don’t Indonesia 0062 Tanzania 00255 coordination and sustained effort make almost any task run well. Your usually have to fill out any papers . . . It is time to do the paperwork dance. Iran 0098 Thailand 0066 experiences now will be out of the ordinary and you will likely feel gener- Some new rule or necessary information needs updating. Finances come Iraq 00964 Toga 00228 ous. Great opportunities may emerge at work or in spiritual affairs. Your into play later today and you make sensible decisions about your Ireland 00353 Tonga 00676 growth as an individual is being stunted by some inhibition or constraint. finances. You should expend great zest in moneymaking efforts and Italy 0039 Tokelau 00690 Concentrate on work and career this morning; later today there will be show caution as to the type of activities with which you involve yourself. If Ivory Coast 00225 Trinidad 001868 Jamaica 001876 Tunisia 00216 time to enjoy activities with friends. A period of greater social involve- you decide to shop or enjoy an evening of entertainment after your work- Japan 0081 Turkey 0090 ment-especially with neighbors and brothers or sisters-sets in now. day, you are wise to surround yourself with good people that enjoy their Jordan 00962 Tuvalu 00688 Learning and teaching seem to satisfy an important need. You could take time away from work and home with healthy, fun activities. Perhaps din- Kazakhstan 007 Uganda 00256 in extra money as a tutor. Being more in touch with other people gives ner out and a play or comedy theater would be just the thing to lift your Kenya 00254 Ukraine 00380 you a sense of belonging. Life is good. spirits. Enjoy an evening with friends or a mate. Kiribati 00686 United Arab Emirates00976 Health FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Poor vision more common in China’s well-off kids

MIAMI: A study involving 20,000 children study. Doing well at math, which requires in China said yesterday that poor kids are intensive focus on a written page, was Smartphone far less likely to be nearsighted than their among the factors linked to higher inci- wealthier peers. Nearsightedness, or dence of myopia. can test for myopia, was twice as prevalent in the mid- Girls were also more likely than boys to dle-income province of Shaanxi-where stu- be nearsighted. One idea researchers had HIV, syphilis dents have greater access to books that is that the poorer schools’ use of black- require close-up focusing-compared to the boards as a teaching tool may have had MIAMI: US researchers have found a way to turn poorer neighboring province of Gansu, some protective effect against myopia, but a common smartphone into a quick and easy said research in Ophthalmology, the jour- this association disappeared when device to conduct field tests for HIV and syphilis. nal of the American Academy of researchers controlled for other factors Using an attachment that costs $34 to make-a Ophthalmology. such as family history and outdoor play. far cry from the standard $18,000 for diagnostic Researchers said the findings are based “We’re still on the hunt for a plausible tests-blood drops are tested for the diseases’ on one of the largest population-based explanation and think the results merit antibodies in minutes instead of hours, said the studies ever conducted on nearsighted- more study into whether using black- research led by Columbia University engineers. ness in children. The scientific team includ- boards versus books may be partially When plugged into a smartphone’s audio jack, ed Chinese government agencies and uni- responsible for protecting eyes against scientists said it mimicked the enzyme-linked versities and experts from Stanford nearsightedness, and what other factors immune osorbent assay (ELISA), a well-known University in California. They tested the may play a role,” said lead investigator test for HIV, and “performed almost as well.” vision of fourth and fifth grade students, Professor Nathan Congdon of the The initial study, involving 96 women in those in the nine- to 11-year-old range. Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat- Rwanda, is published in the journal Science More than 9,400 students were in sen University in Guangzhou, China. Translational Medicine. Experts hope that this Shaanxi, and more than 10,100 students in “What’s important is that we figure out lab-on-a-chip device could be a helpful tool, Gansu, the second poorest province in how lower-income Chinese students have especially in places where field clinics are set up China. Nearly 23 percent of youths in avoided nearsightedness so we can use to help remote or underserved populations. The MADRID: A man holds a placard dur- Shaanxi has clinically significant myopia, those same strategies to prevent more team, led by Samuel Sia, associate professor of ing a demonstration by Hepatitis C nearly twice that of the lower-income childhood myopia cases across Asia and biomedical engineering, is aiming for larger clin- sufferers and supporters outside US province of Gansu, which had a 12.7 per- perhaps even the world.” Myopia has been ical trials first. laboratory Gilead Sciences office in cent prevalence rate of myopia, said the rising rapidly in some developed parts of “Our work shows that a full laboratory-quali- Madrid yesterday. The arrival in findings. East Asia, where the prevalence of myopia ty immunoassay can be run on a smartphone Europe of better but pricier hepatitis C “Living in the middle-class area was has reached 80 to 90 percent of the popu- accessory,” said Sia. “Coupling microfluidics with drugs has raised pressure on Spanish associated with a 69 percent increased risk lation. Studies in Asia and Denmark have recent advances in consumer electronics can for nearsightedness, even after adjusting shown that nearsightedness is less com- leaders over health spending cuts make certain lab-based diagnostics accessible to for other risk factors, such as time spent mon in children who spend more time out- almost any population with access to smart- which sufferers say deprive them of reading, outdoor activity and whether the doors and are exposed to more natural phones. —AFP life-saving treatments. —AFP student’s parents wore glasses,” said the daylight. —AFP FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Kuwait KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (05/02/2015 TO 11/02/2015)

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

EU raises euro-zone growth NBAD expects boost for global sukuk mandates outlook, confirms deflation PAGE 38 Page 41

BERLIN: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (on podium left) and the Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis (on podium right) address the media during a joint press conference as part of a meeting in Berlin yesterday. —AP German, Greek FMs ‘agree to disagree’ Greece says ‘will not be blackmailed’ after ECB move

BERLIN: Greece’s new finance minister failed to statesman for whom European unity is a lifelong But he said that “some of the measures that a government source said, adding that the convince his skeptical German counterpart to project” - insisted that it’s not Athens’ intention have been announced ... don’t necessarily go in Greek banking system “was fully secure”. immediately back a new approach on Greece’s to default on its debts and that it wants to carve the right direction.” He also made it clear that In an announcement late Wednesday, the debt as the two met for the first time since the out a new compromise deal that will be to the it’s important to respect existing agreements, ECB said it would no longer allow Greek banks anti-bailout Syriza swept to power in Athens. mutual benefit of Germany and Greece. arguing that “reliability is the condition for con- to use government debt as collateral for loans. Germany’s Wolfgang Schaeuble said he and fidence.” Athens views this decision as “an act of political Greece’s Yanis Varoufakis, “agreed to disagree” Bridging program The discussions came as jittery investors pressure to enable the rapid conclusion of an at their meeting yesterday in the German capi- He said Greece would do everything to avoid dumped Greek shares after the European agreement” with Greece’s international credi- tal, and that a writedown, or haircut of Greece’s any default and said he was confident that Central Bank tightened the screws on the coun- tors, the government source said. debt, wasn’t on the negotiating table. “Greece Athens and its partners would “put the D-word try’s banking system, in a move that many in the “The liquidity and funding of Greek banks is belongs to the euro,” Schaeuble said. “But we out of court.” financial markets think piles pressure on the fully safeguarded by the ELA mechanism,” the don’t really agree on what we have to do now “We didn’t discuss Greece’s debt schedule for new government to swiftly conclude a compro- source added, referring to the ECB’s emergency despite a very intense, open discussion.” repayments, we didn’t discuss a (debt) haircut,” mise debt deal. liquidity assistance program that has been a Germany’s views matter as it is the biggest Varoufakis said. “We set the scene for delibera- Shares on the volatile Athens stock exchange financial lifeline for Greek banks. Greek Prime European contributor to Greece’s five-year tions that will lead to an approach that will put dived nearly 10 percent on opening, but later Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke with ECB chief bailout program. Germany is a staunch propo- an end to this seemingly never-ending crisis.” recovered a bit and were trading 3.3 percent Mario Draghi late Wednesday, after the bank nent of the strict fiscal discipline that Greece has Varoufakis said the Greek government is down in mid-afternoon trading. The interest rate announcement, government spokesman Gabriel to impose in return for the rescue money that looking for a bridging program between now on Greece’s 10-year Sakellaridis said. has prevented it going bankrupt. Still, the deep and the end of May to give room for talks on “a While declining to give details, he told pri- income and spending cuts hit the Greek econo- new contract” with the European Central Bank, No blackmailing vate Mega TV: “We are prepared to talk to all our my hard. It’s now around a quarter smaller than International Monetary Fund and European Greece said yesterday it would not be “black- creditors.” it was six years ago while unemployment, partic- Union. Schaeuble renewed offers to help Greece mailed” and insisted its banks were secure after “(We want) all sides to understand that ularly among the young, is near record-high lev- strengthen its tax system and said some things the European Central Bank moved to restrict Greece is being subjected to an irrational els. the new government has announced go in the Greek lenders’ access to a key source of cash. policy,” he said, adding that Athens wanted Varoufakis - who went out of his way to right direction - such as getting the rich to pay “The Greek republic does not intend to black- to find a solution “without a gun to our praise the veteran Schaeuble as “a European tax and combating corruption. mail anyone but will not be blackmailed either,” head”. —Agencies Business FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 38 NBAD expects boost for global sukuk mandates

LONDON: National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) expects to handle more international sukuk issuance for clients this year amid overall growth in the sector, according to the bank’s global head of debt Andy Cairns. The United Arab Emirates’ largest lender by assets is one of the key players for issuance of sharia-compliant financial instruments, or sukuk, to international markets. “I expect us to do more business in 2015 than in 2014. We were bookrunner on 13 international sukuk last year, raising $9.8 billion and representing 43 percent of total supply,” NBD’s Andy Cairns said on the sidelines of an event in London, adding that he hopes for closer to 20 deals this year. Looking at overall market volumes in international sukuk issuance, Cairns said he expected both volumes and numbers to grow, but with more corporates coming to market rather than sovereign issues by top-rated non-Muslim countries. Cairns said he is optimistic that there will be more corporate sukuk from Asia, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. The United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and South Africa all issued sukuk for the first time in 2014 in an effort to cement a foothold in the market and encourage corporate borrowers to follow suit, though none was expected to come ATHENS: People walk past Bank of Greece headquarters in Athens yesterday. Greece said yesterday it would back to the market this year. “not be blackmailed” and insisted its banks were “secure” after the European Central Bank moved to restrict “Last year we had 28 issuers in international Sukuk, and in Greek lenders’ access to a key source of cash. —AFP 2015 I expect there to be more,” Cairns said. The government of Abu Dhabi owns 70 percent of NBAD. —Reuters Dana Gas blames oil prices, Bahrain Petroleum Egypt charge for Q4 loss inks rare term deal for low sulfur diesel DUBAI: United Arab Emirates-based energy firm Dana Gas report- Abu Dhabi starts ed a fourth-quarter loss yesterday that the company blamed on SINGAPORE: Bahrain Petroleum Co (Bapco) has signed a lower oil prices and a fall in the value of its oil and gas assets in rare term deal for ultra low sulphur diesel with at least production at new Egypt. The Sharjah-based company, which operates in Egypt, the UAE one buyer for this year, joining other Middle East refiners Ruwais refinery units and Iraq’s Kurdistan region, made a net loss of 15 million dirhams competing to produce fuel that meets European stan- ($4 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, down from a profit of dards, traders said yesterday. SINGAPORE: State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co 128 million a year earlier. Dana’s Chief Executive Patrick Allman- Refiners such as Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National (ADNOC) has started production from its crude and second- Ward said in a conference call that should oil prices recover, the Oil Company and Qatar Petroleum produce and export company could reverse the $22 million impairment charge ary units at the newly expanded Ruwais refinery, industry the ultra low sulfur fuel, and with East African countries booked in the fourth quarter relating to its Egyptian assets. sources said on Thursday. tightening diesel specifications from this year, there is Brent was trading at trading at $53.39 a barrel by 0735 GMT now more incentive to adjust production to match The majority of supply from the enlarged refinery is yesterday, down 54 percent from 2014’s June high of $115.71 on expected to meet rising domestic demand, with the rest like- market oversupply and weak demand. demand. ly to be shipped to Europe, traders said. The refinery has start- Dana’s 2014 net profit was 457 million dirhams, down from 571 “It makes sense for them to do this if you look at the ed production at the crude unit and a hydrotreater and is million dirhams in 2013. main demand outlets like Europe and Africa. They are all producing oil products such as gasoil, jet fuel and naphtha, Its full-year gross revenue rose 5 percent to 2.5 billion dirhams on low sulfur,” a Gulf-based trader said. While Bapco has one of the sources said. as production in Egypt and Kurdistan increased. The company’s sold diesel with 10 parts per million (ppm) sulfur before, “The units are running smoothly and there are no issues average output in 2014 was 68,900 barrels of oil equivalent per this could be the first time it has signed a term contract right now, but it will take a while to evaluate,” the source said. day, up 6 percent from a year earlier. “Our short-term focus is on for this fuel grade, traders said. Bapco signed a January to It will likely start production at its gasoline-making residual increasing production further,” Allman-Ward said in a statement. December 2015 term contract with Emirates National Oil fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) unit next month, the source “Our long-term focus is on three new onshore and offshore blocks in Egypt and developing our Khor Mor and Chemchemal Company (ENOC), at a premium of about $2.50 a barrel added. to Middle East quotes, traders said, adding that another No further details were available on when the refinery gas fields in Kurdistan.” Total production will rise 10 percent, largely from a gas production enhancement agreement in Egypt and a buyer might also be involved. Bapco and ENOC do not would start exports of the oil products, but traders estimated gas project in the UAE, he said. typically comment on their business activities. The vol- that it could happen in the first half of this year. Allman-Ward said Dana was interested in taking part in a umes finalized for the deal could not be confirmed but The oil being produced is likely going into storage, the widely anticipated London conference later this year during sources said. The specification of the oil products being pro- are likely lower than Bapco’s term volumes for its 500 which Iran is expected to announce new oil and gas investment ppm sulfur gasoil grade, traders said. duced were not clear. The expansion is expected to more opportunities. “If this works out well, it could be something (Bapco) than double the capacity of the refinery from 415,000 barrels- “Iran is a country with huge hydrocarbon resources ... we would per-day (bpd)and will process Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude oil. be looking at, and interested in evaluating, opportunities in Iran,” will consider on a regular basis for next year,” a source Once fully commissioned, the expanded refinery is he said. Tehran wants Western oil companies to revive its giant, close to the matter said, referring to Bapco’s term exports expected to produce an additional 8 million tons a year of ageing oilfields and to develop new oil and gas projects. It has of 10 ppm sulfur diesel. diesel and 4 million tons a year of jet fuel. The refinery cur- been preparing a new investment model for oil contracts as part The Bahrain company has existing term agreements to rently produces 5 million tons a year of diesel and 6 million of its drive to win back Western business. sell 500 ppm sulfur gasoil for 2015 with several buyers. tons a year of jet fuel. Ruwais’ expansion comes at a time Iran is in talks with Western powers to reach a deal to limit its ENOC is likely shipping the fuel to its own system in the when new refining capacity from the Middle East, including nuclear program which could end sanctions on oil investment and United Arab Emirates. Its requirements for low sulfur diesel trade with Iran. The new deadline to reach a deal is June 30, 2015. two new refineries in Saudi Arabia, are pressuring Asian increased following a move towards Euro 5 standards in diesel margins as Asian barrels to the west are displaced, Last August, Dana said an international tribunal had issued a favorable ruling in the dispute over a natural gas supply contract the region in mid-2014, one of the traders said. —Reuters traders said. —Reuters between its affiliate Crescent Petroleum and Iran. —Reuters Business FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 39

Oil rises back towards $55, outlook still fragile LONDON: Oil rose towards $55 a barrel yesterday, recovering from part of the previous session’s slide after China took steps to pour liquidity into the world’s second-biggest economy, although traders and analysts said oil’s outlook looked weak. Crude snapped a four-day winning streak on Wednesday, when the US government said crude inventories increased by 6.3 million barrels, rising for a fourth consecutive week to hit a record high. The market gained support yesterday from optimism that steps by China’s central bank to pour in fresh liquidity would spur demand for energy in the second-largest oil consumer after the United States. Brent crude rose 83 cents to $54.99 a barrel by 1016 GMT, having fallen more than a dollar intra-day earlier and settling 5.5 percent lower on Wednesday. US crude added 60 cents to $49.05. “It will be some time yet before we see any sustained trend reversal in oil prices,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank. “There’s no basis for a sustained recovery at the moment.” The market remains highly volatile. Oil began to rise last week from near-six-year lows, in part due to a downturn in US rig activity that could eventually dampen rapid growth in shale oil production, only to tumble on Wednesday. Other participants said it was too soon to expect a sustained price rise. “I think prices will consolidate around these sorts of levels before moving lower,” said Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Jefferies Bache. “It takes a lot of time for fewer rigs to translate into lower oil production.” A workers’ strike in the United States at nine plants, including seven refineries accounting for 10 percent of the country’s ODESSA: Men employed in the oil industry wait in line for food at a service station in Odessa, Texas on refining capacity, added to concerns over crude demand. Wednesday. As crude oil prices have fallen nearly 60 percent globally, many American communities that The United Steelworkers union (USW) said a new contract became dependent on oil revenue are preparing for hard times. —AFP offer was made by lead oil company negotiator Royal Dutch Shell Plc on Wednesday, and that it will respond after considering the offer yesterday. —Reuters Oil majors fail to find reserves Britain says to to counter falling output introduce new banker Companies making investment cuts to counter low oil

rules imminently LONDON: Big oil companies had a poor record of finding and producing AG, said last week as he announced an around 30 percent reduction in oil and gas last year, according to figures out in the past week - and big investment in new projects. LONDON: New rules making senior bankers in Britain account- cuts in spending in response to falling crude prices could undermine their Oil executives play down worries about the sector’s fundamental able for their actions will be introduced soon and applied broadly plans to turn that around. health. They say lower production reflects an increased focus on returns, to help quell public anger towards the sector, British financial Four of the world’s six biggest oil firms by market value - Royal Dutch rather than output for its own sake, while falling reserves figures can be services minister Andrea Leadsom said. Shell, Chevron, BP and ConocoPhillips - released provisional figures show- misleading. “These (2014) reserve replacement numbers are a little lumpy Leadsom wants to push ahead, having only a few weeks left in ing together they replaced only two-thirds of the hydrocarbons they ... I am not too alarmed about this year’s down(turn),” BP boss Bob Dudley office before UK lawmakers go to the polls in May in what will be one of the most unpredictable elections in years. extracted in 2014 with new reserves. Combined, those four and industry told reporters this week. However, even executives accept that excessive Lawmakers called for the new rules, known as the senior per- leader Exxon Mobil posted an average drop in oil and gas production of pruning of investments can cost them barrels and profits in the long term. sons regime, after few bankers were punished following taxpayer 3.25 percent last year. “Many of the things that you may do out of excessive prudence basically bailouts of UK lenders in the 2007-09 financial crisis. All predict their output will increase and new reserves will be added in means that you lose them (the opportunities). They won’t come back Bankers’ job responsibilities would be explicitly laid out and coming years. But the 2014 results echo longer-term trends. Over the past anymore,” Shell CEO Ben van Buerden told investors last week. any failure to meet them could lead to intervention by regulators. decade, the biggest Western oil companies have seen reserves growth Van Buerden said he would cut less than rivals to ensure he did not “It’s imminent,” Leadsom said in an interview on Wednesday stall, production drop 15 percent and profits fall by almost a fifth - even as crimp Shell’s long-term prospects. Similarly, Exxon told investors on evening in parliament. oil prices almost doubled, a Reuters analysis of corporate filings shows. Monday that while it would monitor spending closely, it would not “My view is that I want it to happen as quickly as possible as I Analysts and industry executives have blamed the sector’s anaemic “forego any attractive opportunities”. Nonetheless, Shell has shelved proj- think a key part of rebuilding trust in banking has to be that... performance in that period, in part, on companies’ approach to spending ects and put off $15 billion of spending it might have committed to over individuals within banks are seen to be accountable.” on new fields and infrastructure, tending to ramp it up when oil prices rise the next three years. Analysts at Jefferies predict Exxon will announce a 13 Bankers warn the change will make recruitment harder, but and cut when prices plummet, such as in the late 1990s and after the percent drop in capex when it presents its strategy plans in March. Leadsom said the reform was not about “finding scapegoats” and 2008 financial crisis. The latest collapse has seen prices halve since June. In Martijn Rats, head of oil companies research at Morgan Stanley in should not be delayed because some don’t like accountability. recent months, the biggest oil groups on both sides of the Atlantic have London, said in a research note this week that overly aggressive cuts “It’s perfectly possible an individual might want to decide they announced sharp cuts in capital expenditure (capex) out as far as 2017, as could have long-term repercussions. The expertise needed to develop don’t want to be in that role anymore and so we need to take they seek to preserve cash to maintain dividends. new fields and infrastructure takes long periods to build up, he said. that into account. It won’t be overnight,” Leadsom said, indicat- Investors have largely welcomed the focus on dividends. But some say Hence, if companies lose this expertise, they may struggle to expand their ing transitional arrangements. the cuts could come back to bite the industry. “Capex can’t be cut forever. portfolios when oil prices recover. Britain’s regulators have indicated differing views on which Cuts in capex are only storing up problems for the sector down the road,” bankers should come under the net. said Will Riley, fund manager with the Guinness Global Energy Fund, “It’s essential for me that we make the scope broad and we DEPLETION bring it in as soon as possible. There is no doubt that there is still which holds shares in many of the big US and European oil firms. Executives say the risk is not only that companies may lose future rage amongst the public about the fact that there is a sense the The ability of oil companies to replace reserves has not been as much growth opportunities but also that existing reserves may not be fully bankers brought the economy to its knees and got away with it,” of a concern for some executives and investors in recent years due to the exploited. Production from oil fields falls over time, because reservoir said Leadsom, a former banker herself. shale oil boom. But the high cost of extracting shale oil makes doing so pressure drops as oil is extracted. Fields on average experience natural The government has also sought more competition in a sec- profitably a challenge where prices are low - making traditional and less depletion rates of around 15 percent per year, industry executives say, but tor where just five banks, Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, RBS and expensive reserves more relevant in a downturn. companies generally reduce this to 3-5 percent by sinking additional Santander UK, handle 80 percent of high street deposits and wells, injecting gas or by using other capital-intensive techniques. loans to smaller companies, she said. Several new banks have LOST OPPORTUNITIES Cutting capex will increase depletion rates, if past experience is an been set up with many more in the pipeline but Leadsom accept- BP and Chevron have announced around 13 percent cuts in capex for indicator. “That is a growing risk for the industry. If you go back to the ed that the “Big Five” market share looked “unassailable” and 2015, while ConocoPhillips last week upped its planned reductions in 2008 and 2009 period ... we saw an increase worldwide in decline rates for challengers would take time. Britain has also made it possible for spending for 2015 to 33 percent. Shell and Exxon have not issued budget all companies, basically for the entire industry, increase by a percent or high street customers to switch lenders within seven working plans yet. “We have to prioritize cash flow instead of growth for the time two. And that’s very significant,” Chevron CEO John Watson told investors days. —Reuters being,” Gerhard Roiss, chief executive of Vienna-based oil producer OMV last week. —Reuters Business FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 40

UK grocery watchdog to probe Tesco’s practices

LONDON: Britain’s grocery industry watchdog industry’s code of practice. those by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office and the Tacon said she took the decision to launch an opened an investigation yesterday into She said there was evidence that breaches Financial Reporting Council in the wake of investigation after considering information Tesco’s relations with its suppliers, dealing a “were not isolated incidents, each involving a Tesco’s 263 million pounds ($400 million) submitted to her relating to Tesco’s account- further blow to the battered reputation of the number of suppliers and significant sums of profit over-statement. The firm is also facing ing irregularities. country’s biggest supermarket. money”. She will examine the existence and possible investor lawsuits in the United States. “This is the first investigation I have The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) extent of practices which resulted in delayed Dave Lewis, who became Tesco CEO last launched and it is a significant step for the Christine Tacon, set to be given the power to payments to suppliers. The inquiry will also September, has announced plans to cut GCA,” she said. Having discussed the practices fine retailers up to one percent of their annual look into payments made by suppliers to costs and sell assets to tackle the crisis he with Tesco, Tacon now needs more informa- UK turnover, said she had formed “a reason- secure more prominent places on shelves for inherited at Britain’s biggest retailer. Tesco tion from suppliers to determine what further able suspicion” that Tesco had breached the goods. The investigation comes on top of had UK sales of 48 billion pounds in 2013-14. action to take. —Reuters

Bundesbank chief warns Greece against crisis funding for banks VENICE: The head of Germany’s powerful Bundesbank warned Greece against using emergency funding to prop up its banks long- term and said countries must bear the impact of their decisions, further isolating Athens after it all but ditched a reform-for-aid deal. Jens Weidmann’s remarks follow the European Central Bank’s statement that it would no longer accept Greek government bonds as collateral for funding, shifting the burden onto Athens’ central bank to finance its lenders. The ECB’s move means the Greek central bank will have to provide its banks with tens of billions of euros of additional emergency liquidity in the coming weeks. However, Weidmann’s remarks call into question Athens’ freedom to use this emergency liquidity assistance (ELA). The ECB Governing Council can restrict such funding if a two-thirds majority agrees. “ELA should only be awarded for the short term and to solvent banks,” Weidmann, who also sits on the ECB’s Governing Council of decision makers, told business daily Boersen Zeitung. “As the banks and the state are closely bound in Greece, the economic and fiscal policy course that the Greek government follows plays an important role in this assessment,” he added. “Governments and parliaments must take decisions about whether and how to keep banks afloat, or wind them up.” Speaking later in Venice, Weidmann upped the ante, demanding that countries bear the consequences of their own fiscal decisions and warning that any move to bail out a euro zone peer could lead to the spread of solvency doubts. Singling out Greece’s refusal to cooperate with the troika of JAKARTA: The Jakarta city skyline at night. Indonesia growth slipped to its slowest pace for five years in inspectors from international lenders, he said there could be no shar- 2014, official data showed yesterday as political uncertainty and weak exports weighed on Southeast Asia’s ing of fiscal responsibility without first ceding sovereignty. top economy, but hopes are high for a rebound under the new reformist president. —AFP “Member states remain fully responsible for the consequences of their own autonomous fiscal decisions,” Weidmann said in Venice. “If market participants tend to see the monetary union as a system of mutual financial assistance in the event of serious trouble, doubts Indonesian growth about a country’s solvency could spread more quickly to the other member states.” Promising to end five years of austerity, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, are meeting senior touches 5-year low officials across Europe to seek support for a new debt agreement. But their campaign this week was rejected by European paymaster Germany, which refused any roll-back of agreed austerity policies, JAKARTA: Indonesia’s economy expanded at While his early moves have been praised, But investors have taken heart from the and by the powerful ECB. —Reuters its slowest pace for five years in 2014, official analysts warn that he faces a tough time to victory of Widodo, a reformist and former data showed yesterday, hit by political uncer- push through more reforms in a country businessman. His other early reforms have tainty and weak exports, putting pressure on plagued by corruption, where protectionist included the launch this month of a national the country’s new president to deliver much- instincts are still strong and parliament is “one-stop service” to simplify obtaining busi- Indian firms line needed reforms. Southeast Asia’s biggest dominated by the opposition. “Anything that ness permits. Previously, firms often had to economy expanded 5.0 percent year-on-year, requires legislation is going to be more diffi- seek licenses from numerous different agen- up for low-cost the statistics agency said, down from 5.8 per- cult,” said independent political analyst Paul cies and ministries before they could invest, a cent in 2013, and the weakest pace since Rowland. complex and time-consuming process. bank licenses 2009, at the height of the global financial cri- Wellian Wiranto, an economist from OCBC sis. The figures “help to underline the chal- Protracted slowdown Bank in Singapore, said the 2014 growth fig- MUMBAI: Top Indian firms, including Reliance Industries and lenge facing the country’s new president, Indonesia’s economy, long a bright spot ure looked like “quite a deceleration” com- Bharti Airtel, have applied for licenses to set up low-cost banks Joko Widodo, who despite a promising first among the Group of 20, has been slowing in pared to previous years and it would be hard that could bring millions more people into the formal banking few months in office faces a tough challenge”, recent years as the price of its key commodity for Indonesia to reach rates of above six per- sector, finance officials said. said Gareth Leather, Asia economist from exports are hit by weakening demand in cent this year. But he was positive about A total of 41 applicants submitted applications for “pay- Capital Economics. regional powerhouse China and other major future prospects. ments bank” licenses, while 72 applied for “small finance Widodo, who won office partly on a markets. With exports subdued, there were “From fiscal rationalization, involving bold bank” licenses, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), pledge to revive the slowing economy, has also worries about a stubborn current account subsidy cuts to infrastructure build-up, as well which is administering the scheme. The RBI, India’s central promised to woo investors by cutting red tape deficit and the impact of high interest rates as measures to pull in more (foreign direct bank, said on its website that it would set up a committee of and ploughing money into overhauling the put in place to shore up the rupiah, which has investment), these take time to bear fruit but experts that would include a former RBI deputy governor to country’s ageing infrastructure. He has tumbled against the dollar in expectation of will ultimately put the economy on a more evaluate the applications for the “niche” banks. already slashed crippling fuel subsidies that tighter US monetary policy. even keel,” he said. Before yesterday’s data, The scheme, which was first announced by the previous have in the past gobbled up 20 percent of the The economy was also dragged down by a the statistics agency had updated its base year Congress government, is designed to offer low-cost banking state budget, promising to divert the money long-running election season, which lasted six for GDP calculations from 2000 to 2010, which for people who either live in isolated rural areas or else have towards boosting the economy and helping months and led many firms to hold off invest- they said could lead to a small difference in balked at paying hefty charges for a range of services that the country’s poorest. ment until a successor was known. the final figure. —AFP they never use. —AFP Business FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 41 EU raises euro-zone growth outlook, confirms deflation Cheap oil, weak euro help growth

BRUSSELS: The EU raised its growth percent in 2015 instead of the 0.7 per- having a positive effects on confidence forecast for the euro-zone on the back cent it had forecast previously-allowing and access to credit,” Moscovici said at a of cheap oil and a weak euro, but Brussels and Paris to align a deficit fore- news conference, adding that he warned that with deflation taking hold cast of 4.1 percent of GDP for this year, believed inflation would be returning the bloc’s struggling economies must even if it is way over the 3.0 percent of towards the ECB’s target level of just keep up their reforms. Economic Affairs output limit. under 2.0 percent. Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said But Moscovici said France-the second The quantitative easing program is France must take further steps to reduce biggest economy in the euro-zone after meant to avoid the euro-zone falling The euro sign sculpture in front of the building that its budget deficit and that Greece’s new Germany-had to take “supplementary into a deflationary spiral in which busi- used to host the headquarters of the European government must respect its commit- measures” to cut its deficit and imple- nesses and households delay purchases, Central Bank ( ECB ) in Frankfurt am Main, western ments to its creditors as global alarm ment structural reforms. thus throttling demand, triggering a Germany. —AFP over the debt crisis mounts. Italy meanwhile should claw out of recession and causing companies to lay For the first time since 2007, all of the countries in the 28-nation EU are forecast to grow, said the European ECB draws Commission, the EU’s executive arm. The latest forecast published by the Commission predicted the economy line in sand across the 19 countries that use the euro will grow by 1.3 percent in 2015 instead of the 1.1 percent forecast in November. over Greece But it now sees consumer prices across the euro-zone falling by 0.1 per- FRANKFURT: By taking a tough line on Greece, the European cent in 2015, a situation that has already Central Bank is sending a signal that while it has repeatedly pushed the European Central Bank to charged to the euro-zone’s rescue in the past, it is no longer take unprecedented action to drive up willing to do governments’ work for them, analysts said yes- prices. terday. “The ECB has drawn a line. It is an attempt to remain “The fall in oil prices and the cheaper independent,” said Bert Van Roosebeke from the Centre for euro are providing a welcome shot in European Policy in Freiburg. the arm for the EU economy,” said During the long years of crisis, the ECB has never hesitated Moscovici in a statement. “There is still to take on the role of firefighter, cutting its key interest rates much hard work ahead to deliver the time after time and taking a series of controversial and jobs that remain elusive for millions of increasingly bolder unconventional policy decisions to prop Europeans.” up the euro-zone economy. The forecast said Greece should grow Nevertheless, all through such action, ECB chief Mario by 2.5 percent in 2015 and then 3.6 per- BRUSSELS: European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Draghi has consistently argued that in order to solve the crisis, cent in 2016, but stressed that was Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici unveils the European econom- governments must get their finances and economies in order based on the “full implementation” of ic forecast, Winter 2015, at the European Commission headquarters in and not hide behind the ECB. Hence, the ECB’s announce- the country’s international bailout pro- Brussels, yesterday. —AFP ment late Wednesday that it would no longer accept Greek gram, which the new government in government bonds-currently rated as junk-as collateral for Athens has promised to scrap. recession with weak growth of 0.6 per- off workers. The Commission said the loans would offer a taste of the ECB’s bitter medicine, analysts Greece’s new finance minister was in cent this year, the EU said. Cheaper effects of low oil would taper off this said. Berlin for tough talks with his German global oil prices are driving down infla- year and predicted positive, but still low, counterpart yesterday, after the tion in the euro-zone. In November, the inflation of 1.3 percent in 2016. Markets spooked European Central Bank piled fresh pres- Commission still believed prices would “The impact of stronger domestic The news certainly rattled investors. In early trading yes- sure on Athens by restricting Greek rise 0.8 percent in 2015 and the reversal demand, the depreciation of the euro terday, Europe’s stock markets were lower, with the Greek banks’ access to much-needed cash. is a significant one. and an assumed gradual recovery in stock market plunging more than nine percent, and the euro With decreasing prices now con- energy prices should push inflation also fell. At the same time, Greece’s borrowing rate soared France warned firmed, the ECB last month finally decid- noticeably higher,” the Commission said above the symbolic level of 10 percent. The growth forecasts were welcome ed to embark on a quantitative easing in the report. The Commission said that The ECB announcement came all the more as a surprise news for the governments of France and program involving the purchase of 1.14 unemployment would fall very slightly because it was issued just hours after Athens new Finance Italy, whose problematic spending plans trillion euros ($1.29 trillion) in sovereign in 2015, to 11.2 percent. Joblessness in Minister Yanis Varoufakis had met central bank chief Mario will face an EU verdict later this month. bonds. the single currency zone now stands at Draghi in Frankfurt, talks which Varoufakis himself had The EU said growth in France will hit one “This is an important program that is 11.4 percent. —AFP described as “fruitful” and “encouraging”. But despite the immediate shock, analysts said there was no danger, at least for now, of Greek banks facing a liquidity crisis. Greek debt has a junk credit rating and, under ECB rules, should not qualify as collateral for loans, anyway. Envoy wants India to do A special waiver to that that rule-accorded to Greece as long as it was deemed to be in compliance with the terms of its 240-billion-euro ($270 billion) EU-IMF bailout-had been more for Chinese firms scheduled to expire on February 28. So the ECB, which argued that it was “currently not possible to assume a successful conclusion of the program review,” had therefore NEW DELHI: Some Chinese companies face unusually tough forthright language, Le said it appeared that in some cases merely pulled the plug two weeks earlier. security reviews in India and are further hampered by visa Chinese firms had been unfairly singled out. “We are inspired But it insisted that Greek banks still had other means of restrictions, Beijing’s ambassador said, slowing the pace of by Prime Minister Modi’s projects (like) ‘Make in India’, ‘Clean financing at their disposal, such as the emergency liquidity investment despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise India’. We come and we meet a cold face in some ministries. assistance (ELA) facility. to roll out the red carpet. Some Chinese businessmen are very disappointed,” Le said in Le Yucheng told Reuters that work had begun on a $5 bil- an interview this week. No liquidity crunch lion industrial park in western India and a feasibility study on a He cited the example of telecoms group Huawei, which Analysts were therefore confident that Greek banks would high speed rail link through the heart of India worth up to $50 has not received security clearance two years after it began still be able to finance themselves. “It is not likely that Greek billion. Chinese companies lead both projects. But he cau- building a facility in the south to service the Indian market. banks will face immediate liquidity problems. Greek govern- tioned that Chinese firms were struggling through a thicket of That put it at a disadvantage to non-Chinese firms, according ment debt can still be used to access ELA,” said Natixis econo- bureaucracy, complicated procedures for land acquisition and to Le. mist Jesus Castillo. Greek banks had significantly reduced their difficult labor and tax policies that hampered a planned $20 In the past, India has temporarily blocked carriers from holdings of government bonds and did not heavily rely on billion push over the next five years, mostly in infrastructure. importing Chinese telecoms equipment over concerns it them as a source for collateral to secure ECB funding, anyway, Other countries with investment interests in India have could compromise communications security, a fear shared by the analyst noted. —AFP voiced similar concerns since Modi took over last May. But in some other countries. —Reuters Sports FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Klitschko sees unhappy ending for ‘Rocky Balboa’ opponent NEW YORK: Long-reigning world heavyweight on the front, looked like a kid brother as he stared champion Wladimir Klitschko likens his next chal- up at Klitschko for photographers. “I’m ready lenger, Bryant Jennings of Philadelphia, to the because I’ve got to be ready,” Jennings, 30, told Rocky Balboa character of film fame. But the tow- Reuters about measuring up to the task. “Size? In ering Ukraine who has ruled the division for nine the NBA at one point (former Philadelphia guard) years does not predict a happy ending for Allen Iverson was the most dominant player on Jennings in their April 25 clash at Madison Square the court and was amongst the smallest. “I bring Garden. “I think Bryant is Rocky Balboa,” Klitschko youth. I bring will. I bring heart. I bring speed. I said Wednesday referencing the lead character in have a fighting spirit. I’m relentless.” Klitschko, 38, Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky” series. says he takes fights one at a time, but could not “He’s from Philadelphia. He’s someone who help but think ahead to a clash with former spar- started late in boxing. He’s a top contender. I can ring partner and knockout artist Deontay Wilder. see the desire and will, the way he carries himself. Wilder owns the WBC belt previously held by Makes me think this fight is going to be exciting. Klitschko’s brother Vitali, who after retiring from This is his life chance.” But Klitschko likes his boxing was elected mayor of Kiev, Ukraine’s chances as holder of five heavyweight belts and a biggest city. Winning that belt would complete the 63-3 record. “As the champion, I am the Bad Man. I Klitschko collection. “We need to do it and we have am the Baddest Man on the Planet in boxing,” said to do it,” Klitschko said about a match with Wilder. Klitschko, who has made 17 title defenses during “There is certainly a reason why I’m back here and an uninterrupted reign started in 2006 for the sec- why I’m fighting on US television live on US soil,” ond longest heavyweight run behind legendary said Klitschko, who has fought in Europe exclusive- NEW YORK: World Heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine (left) Joe Louis. ly since his last Garden bout in 2008. “(Wilder) is the and US challenger Bryant Jennings pose for photographers during a news conference at Jennings is 19-0, but at 6-3, 225 pounds and most valuable opponent for me to fight and the the Madison Square Garden in New York. Klitschko will defend his WBA and IBF heavy- wearing a black tee shirt with “I MATTER!” lettered price is the title that he has.”— Reuters weight titles against Jennings on April 25 in New York. — AFP Sri Lanka bank on parting shot from Sangakkara, Jayawardene

SYDNEY: Sri Lankan batting stalwarts Kumar Sangakkara and 1996 50-over World Cup and finished runners-up at the last two Lasith Malinga has been a huge headache and the availability of Mahela Jayawardene are eyeing the perfect finish to their illustrious editions, will hope lightning strikes twice. “We may not have won the mercurial fast bowler is crucial to Sri Lanka’s prospects in 50-over careers by winning the World Cup next month after two those two tournaments, but reaching two successive finals showed Australia and New Zealand, where they have been drawn in Pool A near misses. While right-handed Jayawardene will quit all forms of we played consistently well,” Jayawardene, who has amassed over alongside the two co-hosts, England, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the game after the Feb 14-March 29 event, the left-handed 12,500 runs in ODIs, said. “Hopefully we can cross the line this Scotland. Sri Lanka lost a seven-match series 4-2 in New Zealand Sangakkara may yet continue to play test cricket. Their retirement, time.” Sangakkara is the highest run-getter for Sri Lanka in the for- last month after their bowlers allowed the hosts to recover from though, could be seen as a good omen. mat with 13,693 runs and will hope to continue his prolific form at precarious positions on more than one occasion. Chief selector When the duo, the leading active run-scorers in 50-over cricket, the showpiece event. Sanath Jayasuriya expressed his displeasure with the performance announced their intention to quit the shortest format of the game While the duo, along with captain and all-rounder Angelo of the bowling attack while praying for the return to full fitness of prior to the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup, Sri Lanka went on to win Mathews, will lead a strong batting attack, Sri Lanka’s bowling has the 31-year-old Malinga. “The bowling department is an area of the tournament in Bangladesh. The island nation, who won the looked weak in recent matches. The fitness of pace spearhead concern. —Reuters Co-hosts NZealand loom Scotland determined to break cricket as popular dark horses WCup duck

WELLINGTON: New Zealand are looming as the popular dark hors- is still one of the world’s most economical bowlers in limited overs SYDNEY: Registering their first victory in a World Cup match is es for the cricket World Cup with Brendon McCullum’s side eager to cricket, is expected to tie up one end while Tim Southee, Kyle Mills, the “realistic target” Scotland’s young and hungry team have set shake off the ‘nearly but not quite’ tag. The co-hosts have often Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan and fast bowler Adam Milne themselves in their third appearance in the biggest 50-over tour- punched above their weight at the global showpiece with the sum attack at the other end.— Reuters nament. In their two previous appearances in 1999 and 2007 of all parts proving to be stronger than the teams that have gone Scotland failed to win a match and have been drawn in Pool A into the tournament with one or two world beaters. New Zealand alongside joint hosts Australia and New Zealand, England, Sri have made the semi-finals six times in 10 editions but never made Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan this time. it to a final, falling to Sri Lanka in the last two tournaments. In their last World Cup campaign in 2007, Scotland were However, they beat Angelo Mathews’ side, albeit without the thrashed in a 203-run defeat to Australia and also suffered seven dangerous fast bowler Lasith Malinga, 4-2 in a recent series which and eight-wicket losses at the hands of South Africa and the should stand them in good stead if they meet again in the knock- Netherlands respectively. They also suffered heavy defeats in out stages after they face off in the opening game. It was the sec- 1999 but despite their dismal record, optimism is high within ond series victory over a team ranked higher than them at home in their camp that Scotland are on the verge of a successful World the past 12 months, having beaten India 4-0 last year, and follows Cup. Their success will, however, not be defined by fixtures their come-from-behind series win over Pakistan in UAE last against cricketing giants such as Australia, Sri Lanka and England December. Such is their progress in the past two years under cap- but rather against the relatively weaker opponents in Bangladesh tain McCullum and coach Mike Hesson several pundits have and Afghanistan. installed them as third favorites behind four-times champions Scotland will particularly fancy their chances against 50-over Australia and South Africa, who thrashed them in a series in New World Cup debutants Afghanistan, who they beat by 150 runs Zealand last October. last month in Abu Dhabi. “There is so much natural ability in this “New Zealand are certainly a team to look out for in this tourna- squad and we go to the World Cup aiming to do what no other ment,” former South Africa captain Graeme Smith told the Cricinfo squad has done before, and win games of cricket,” head coach website in late January. “A very exciting team and I think a team Grant Bradburn said in a statement while announcing his 15-man that other teams will say, ‘jeez, I don’t really want to come up squad last month. Former New Zealand spinner Bradburn will against them in a knockout game’.” The side’s attacking batting also have the experienced Paul Collingwood, England’s most lineup has been settled for a number of years with Martin Guptill, capped ODI player and second highest run scorer, as part of his Ross Taylor and captain McCullum to provide the bulk of the runs coaching staff. with Kane Williamson expected to be the glue that holds the While Scotland’s squad is mostly made up of young players, innings together, while South African-born Grant Elliott will bat at they also have the mix of experienced cricketers such as Kyle five. Coetzer, Iain Wardlaw and Majid Haq. The trio are three of the The 35-year-old, a surprise inclusion in the squad after not fea- most consistent and effective cricketers outside the 10 test-play- turing for 14 months, is a calm head and has a strong batting ing nations and are likely to spearhead Scotland’s charge. “We record at home, where he averages 46.37, compared to his career have set our targets for the World Cup and these include taking average of 32.62. Wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi who scored 170 not down a top-10 nation,” Bradburn told the Herald Scotland last out from 99 balls against Sri Lanka last month, has been tipped as month. “Our goals are lofty but realistic. —Reuters the man to guide the tail home. Former captain Daniel Vettori, who New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum Sports FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Tiger Woods at a crucial juncture in season

SAN DIEGO: Tiger Woods is at Torrey Pines and the center able, especially on a course like Torrey Pines. At the with his hard-to-watch short game, and the criticism and of attention, just like always. Just not like this. Woods was moment, that’s not the case. “Everyone out here is human,” analysis is only going to increase. Worse yet, his tourna- on the practice range Wednesday morning at the Farmers Rickie Fowler said. “We all understand the struggles out ments might decrease. Woods has plunged to No. 56 in the Insurance Open, working with swing consultant Chris here as far as good golf and bad golf and the ups and world and is not eligible for the World Golf Championship Como. Billy Horschel and Pat Perez looked on, not in awe, downs of the game. That’s just part of the process if you’re at Doral next month. He typically would play the Honda but as though they wanted to help. The pro-am was working on new stuff or just having a bad day.” Classic and Doral in consecutive weeks in south Florida, delayed two hours because of fog, which was only fitting. “I hope he turns it around,” Perez said. Woods was at take a week off, play Bay Hill and then have two weeks off Woods looks lost right now. the peak of his powers in 2008 when a caddie stood before the Masters. If he doesn’t qualify for Doral, he would At the very least, the view is blurred. And returning to a behind the 18th green at Torrey Pines to watch him finish have only three tournaments - all of them with 36-hole cuts golf course where he has won eight times, including a third up a 67 on the South Course in the opening round. The - before Augusta. “If I happen to play well enough to get US Open title in 2008, hasn’t raised anyone’s hopes - caddie said, “He just won two tournaments with one into Doral, then great,” Woods said. “I got four more rounds maybe not even his. It was rare to hear Woods talk so round.” Sure enough, Woods won the PGA Tour event by there. If I don’t, then still trying to peak for Augusta. ... But I openly about trying to get his game in shape for the eight shots that week, and then he won the US Open that have to go out and earn my way there (Doral). I’m just Masters, which is still two months away. “The whole idea is summer on a left leg that was in shambles. Even two years going to have to play better than I did last week.” The road to make sure that I’m ready for Augusta, so I got a lot of ago, Woods destroyed the field at Torrey Pines when he to the Masters has never looked like such an uphill climb. rounds to play between now and then,” Woods said. was leading by eight shots on the back nine until play Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner at Torrey Pines and the He is coming off an 82 at the Phoenix Open, the worst became so slow that he rushed his way in, dropped a few longest rival to Woods, isn’t quite ready to write him off. “I score of his career, to miss the cut by 12 shots. In his previ- shots and only won by four. That now seems like a long think that Tiger’s going to have the last laugh,” Mickelson ous competition at the unofficial Hero World Challenge, he time ago. Even though it’s February, Woods might be at a said Wednesday. “I think that his short game, historically, is tied for last in the 18-man field. Before that, he missed the critical juncture when the Farmers Insurance Open gets one of the best of all time. I think his golf game is probably cut at the PGA Championship. Woods used to look unbeat- started Thursday. Another poor performance, especially the best of all time.”—AP

Penguins fly past top Oilers 2-0

EDMONTON: Marc-Andre Fleury had 22 saves for his seventh shutout of the season, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. Evgeni Malkin and David Perron scored for the Penguins, who improved to 12-6-5 on the road this season. Viktor Fasth had 24 saves in the Oilers’ second loss in three games. After a scoreless first period in which there were few chances, Malkin got Pittsburgh on the score- board 24 seconds into the second. He picked up a loose puck during a scramble in front of the Oilers’ net and slipped in his 20th goal of the season. The Penguins doubled the lead with 0.4 seconds to go in the period as the rebound of Kris Letang’s shot hit Perron on the way toward the net and caromed in.

RANGERS 3, BRUINS 2 TOKYO: Female sumo wrestlers Shiori Kanehira (right) and Sayaka Matsuo (center) attend a training session at Nihon University’s sumo club in Cam Talbot made 18 saves in place of the Tokyo. — AFP injured Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Nash had a goal and an assist, and Derek Stepan snapped a second-period tie to lift the Rangers to their third Japan’s women wrestlers straight win. Talbot, whose previous start was a 3-0 loss at Boston on Jan 15, got the nod after Lundqvist was forced to sit out by a neck injury caused when he was struck in the throat by a take on sumo’s big boys shot against Carolina on Saturday. Lundqvist is day to day. Nash gave the Rangers a 1-0 edge in TOKYO: Nineteen-year-old Sayaka Matsuo lies on Shintoism champions-all three of the present “yokozuna” the first period with his NHL-leading 32nd goal, the tatami mat as a personal masseur works on her Opening up the sport to women is part of an (Grand Champions) are Mongolian, including and Derick Brassard and Derek Stepan scored in neck and shoulders to squeeze out the knots. But effort to legitimize sumo as a possible future record-breaking Hakuho, who, in January became the second. Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron this is no pamper package with relaxing music or Olympic event, Tokyo University’s Sumo Club the most successful wrestler ever after bagging his had goals in the first period for Boston, which detoxifying mist. Matsuo is warming up for a head- coach Toshiaki Hirahara said. But Hirahara is also 33rd tournament title. Establishing a parallel ama- was 8-1-1 in its previous 10. Tuukka Rask clashing bout of Japan’s national sport-sumo. quick to point out that the top-level wrestling mil- teur sport, with proper weight divisions could be a stopped 22 shots. Strapping her “mawashi”-loin cloth-over her lycra lions of Japanese watch on television needs to pre- good way to help boost sumo, says Hirahara. It bike shorts, she squats into position, her 60-kilo- serve its religious and spiritual origins. “I think the might also get around the negative associations FLAMES 3, SHARKS 1 gramme (132-pound) frame squaring off against a fact that women cannot enter the sacred national sumo wrestlers can have among Japan’s image- Kris Russell scored his first goal of the season, man more than two-and-a-half times her weight. dohyo (ring) is understandable as it is the realm of conscious women, who balk at the idea of eating Jonas Hiller stopped 28 shots, and Calgary The huge size difference is no obstacle for the gods,” he said. the whopping 20,000 calories a day like Hakuho, improved to 4-1-0 on its six-game homestand. Matsuo, whose determination and technique shuf- “But the amateur league has nothing to do with who tips the scales at over 150 kilograms. Jiri Hudler and Mason Raymond also scored for fle her massive opponent across and out of the gods, so let girls and boys do it equally.” Sumo “I want to remain in the under 65kg weight cat- the Flames. John Scott scored for San Jose, ring. “I started sumo as a hobby. I feel a lot of pres- traces its origins back 2,000 years to a time when it egory so I try to eat well-balanced food,” Matsuo which lost in regulation for the first time in its sure from my dad and my goal is to win the was an integral part of the rituals of Japan’s native says, although she admits she has a weakness for last five games (3-1-1). Calgary opened the scor- women’s Sumo World Championship one day,” she Shintoism, an animistic religion. But the sport’s “chankonabe”, a traditional sumo stew of vegeta- ing at 9:28 of the second period when Russell’s tells AFP. As the daughter of a former professional stock has fallen in recent years with claims of bout- bles, meat and rice. Fellow grappler Anna Fujita, 21, shot from inside the blue line was partially sumo-wrestler, whose ring name was Sadanohana, fixing, illegal betting and bullying, including the is also happy to stay on the lighter end of the sumo stopped by Alex Stallock but still squeaked Matsuo had a leg up into a sport not usually associ- death of a young apprentice wrestler in 2007.It has scale, and wrestles in the same under 65kg catego- through. It was the first of three consecutive ated with women, and started to wrestle at just five also struggled to slough off claims that it is linked ry. “If I get bigger I’ll fall into the heavyweight cate- goals for the Flames, who led 3-0. Calgary years old. Now she is part of a small, but growing to the Yakuza, the country’s home-grown mob. gory and have to fight against girls weighing more moved from the second wild card spot in the band of female grapplers who are turning the The sport’s popularity among the general public than a hundred kilograms,” she says. And eating Western Conference up to second place in the tables on one of Japan’s oldest boys’ clubs. has suffered because of Japan’s failure to produce lots is too expensive anyway. —AFP Pacific Division. — Agencies Sports44 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

German League Preview Dortmund in fight for survival against Freiburg BERLIN: Last season’s Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund could never have imagined that tomorrow’s league clash against strugglers Freiburg will be key in their battle to avoid relegation. But even the former European champions’ most hardcore fans woke up to the danger ahead when Dortmund lost 1-0 to visitors Augsburg on Wednesday to stay firmly in last place after their 11th loss in 19 games. They are now anchored in 18th spot on 16 points with Freiburg two ahead in 15th and if they are not to lose touch with the other relegation-threatened teams then they have to land their first win of the year. Since the season restart last week, Dortmund, champions in 2011 and 2012 as well as Champions League finalists in 2013, have managed just one point from their two games so far, continuing their disastrous season. “We keep making mistakes and we need to stop that instantly,” coach Juergen Klopp said. “We are fitter than in the first half of the season but we need to show a reaction against Freiburg. “We have to go there and show that we still operate as one unit.” Klopp will not have AC Milan’s coach Filippo Inzaghi midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz at his disposal after the Germany international picked up a thigh muscle injury on Wednesday. With fans’ patience quickly running out and some Dortmund players rushing to them after the ‘Europe or bust’ for defeat to talk to them, Klopp knows he needs results, and he needs them now. “What should the people do?” he said after his team was jeered off the pitch. “The fans are disappointed and angry. Some of them fear for the future Milan coach Inzaghi of the club. This is fully understandable.” At the other end of the table, Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich may still be eight points clear at the top ROME: It has been a mixed season for AC been added to an increasing injury list. beating Inter Milan with a late goal from but are also yet to win this year. There is no talk of any Milan’s rookie coach Filippo Inzaghi and Resurgent Napoli are third and only four Gonzalo Higuain. Sampdoria, still crisis at Bayern, who travel to lowly VfB Stuttgart, but his future at the club is likely to depend points behind Roma, having won three seething from Sunday’s 5-1 thrashing at Pep Guardiola’s team has so far failed to convince, on his ability to steer them into a games in a row. Rafa Benitez’s side, who Torino, face dangerous Sassuolo (Sunday slumping to their first league loss at VfL Wolfsburg last European qualifying spot. Milan, who host mid-table Udinese on Sunday 1400), while fourth-place Lazio play on week and drawing 1-1 at home against Schalke on face an ominous trip to play leaders (1400), booked a place in the domestic Monday (1945) against Genoa at the Tuesday. “We have been improving since the 4-1 at Juventus tomorrow, are eighth in Serie A cup semi-finals on Wednesday, after Stadio Olimpico. —Reuters Wolfsburg,” Bayern midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger after a campaign containing numerous said. “But now we will go to Stuttgart to win.” Second- highs such as home wins against Lazio placed Wolfsburg will keep up their hunt of Bayern with and Napoli and a scoreless draw at sec- Villa and Hull facing more new club-record signing Andre Schurrle in the squad ond placed Roma. against Hoffenheim. —Reuters Yet there have also been several low misery from Chelsea, City points including three losses in four games after the Christmas break, which LONDON: Things might well get a lot worse before they get any better for relega- has left them on 29 points five adrift of tion-threatened Aston Villa and Hull City who face title-chasing Chelsea and Sampdoria, who occupy fifth place and Manchester City in the Premier League tomorrow. Villa, who host leaders Chelsea, the final certain Europa League qualify- were accused of being “gutless” by former Villa striker Stan Collymore when they ing spot. If Inzaghi wants to hold on to were beaten 5-0 at Arsenal on Sunday, an unwanted club record sixth successive his job he has to find a way to make it league game without a goal. They have only scored 11 times in the league all sea- into the top five both owner Silvio son, and after being second in September are now 16th, three points above the Berlusconi and chief executive Adriano relegation zone and in danger of going down for the first time in 27 years. Galliani have implied in recent days. “We Manager Paul Lambert was given the full support of American owner Randy are hoping that Pippo (Inzaghi) will con- Lerner last week, but an unlikely win over Chelsea would do more to help get the tinue to mature,” Berlusconi told fans off his back. Similarly, a shock victory over City would be a huge boost for reporters at the inauguration of Sergio Hull boss Steve Bruce, whose team are in an even worse position than Villa-in the Mattarella as Italy’s new president on bottom three with two wins in 16 games and no goals or points from their last Tuesday. three. They were crushed 3-0 by Newcastle United on Saturday and unless they The manager most likely to replace improve soon, their second season back in the top flight could well be their last Inzaghi should he fail is Fiorentina boss for a while. Vincenzo Montella, whose teams have It would be a major upset if the top two did not collect three points each after produced the kind of attacking football sharing the spoils in a drab 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday that left that Berlusconi has always cherished. A Chelsea, on 53 points, five clear of City. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho added Milan victory at Juventus would certainly Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado to his squad for 26 million pounds ($39.6 mil- boost the team’s morale for the remain- lion) from Fiorentina on transfer deadline day and he could feature tomorrow. der of the Serie A campaign. The two City’s major new acquisition, striker Wilfried Bony, is on African Nations Cup duty sides traded blows in September until with Ivory Coast but even without him City look too strong for a fragile Hull side Carlos Tevez was able to break the dead- seemingly bound for the drop. lock in the 71st minute to hand victory to Tomorrow’s program gets underway at lunchtime when Tottenham Hotspur, DORTMUND: Augsburg’s midfielder Markus who are sixth, face arch-rivals Arsenal, who are one place and two points above Feulner (right) and Dortmund’s Italian striker the champions of the last three seasons. A win for Milan would also be a fillip for them in the north London derby at White Hart Lane. Everton host Liverpool in Ciro Immobile vie for the ball during the the Merseyside derby with the visitors seeking a fourth successive league win to German first division Bundesliga football match second place AS Roma, who visit Cagliari on Sunday (1400) and are seven points keep in the hunt for a Champions League spot after battling into the FA Cup fifth Borussia Dortmund vs FC Augsburg in the adrift after four straight draws in Serie A. round with a last-gasp 2-1 win at second tier Bolton Wanderers. Everton need a Signal Iduna Park stadium in Dortmund, west- Rudi Garcia’s Roma were eliminated in win to distance themselves from the battle at the bottom. Third-placed ern Germany on February 4, 2015. Augsburg the Italian Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday Manchester United on Sunday visit West Ham United where Wayne Rooney won 0-1. —AFP in a 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina since when scored one of the goals of the season from the halfway line last March. —Reuters recently-signed forward Victor Ibarbo has Sports FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 45 WCup adds spice to Wales England clash

Rugby Preview

CARDIFF: Wales versus England remains a Australia, nicely setting up today’s match as returns at tighthead having recovered from Ireland in the opening round in 2013), can rugby Test match that never fails to whet the both teams strive to consolidate and build a foot problem for his first Test appearance boast relative stability in their team. appetite and stir emotions, and this year momentum with one eye firmly on the in almost a year. The team, however, fea- Gatland has made two changes from there is the added spice of a World Cup World Cup. tures only nine survivors from the side that the side that beat South Africa 12-6 in largely on English soil in which the two long- For it is only eight months until Wales started the 26-17 victory over Australia at November, winger George North and hook- time rivals have been drawn in the same and England meet again in their crunch pool Twickenham in the climax to the November er Richard Hibbard both starting in place of tough pool. Bragging rights are up for grabs match at Twickenham on September 26 - program, and just five from the XV thrashed Liam Williams and Scott Baldwin. “England in today evening’s match at Cardiff’s crunch because the pool also includes the 30-3 by Wales in Cardiff two years ago. have so much strength in depth I don’t Millennium Stadium, where 10 years ago Wallabies and unpredictable Fiji, with only “While we have certain players unavail- think it matters who they pick,” Gatland said Gavin Henson nailed a long-range penalty two qualifying for the knock-out phase. The able through injury, it’s great to be able to of England’s supposed injury problems. that handed the Welsh victory over England English arrive in Cardiff ravaged by injuries welcome back guys who missed the “Last year they were able to go to New and opened the way to a first Grand Slam in to key players such as centres Manu Tuilagi, November series such as Dan Cole, Mako Zealand and push the All Blacks really close 27 years. Brad Barritt and Kyle Eastmond, fly-half Vunipola and Tom Youngs,” said Lancaster, in that first game (of the tour) and then After Warren Gatland took over in 2007, Owen Farrell, the lock trio of Joe who had his team training on Wednesday to make a number of changes the for second the Wales team then went on to clinch Launchbury, Courtney Lawes and Geoff the sound of hymns being blasted out over and third Tests.” Today’s match will be Grand Slams in 2008 and 2012 and the title Parling, backrowers Tom Wood and Ben loud speakers in a bid to get used to the England’s first at the Millennium Stadium in 2013, but have been unable to translate Morgan, and prop David Wilson. atmosphere awaiting them in Cardiff. “Their since the 30-3 defeat in 2013 which cost that form on a consistent level against the Coach Stuart Lancaster named Luther experience, alongside that of players like them the Grand Slam. The last English Southern Hemisphere giants of Australia, Burrell and Jonathan Joseph in a new mid- Tom Croft and Nick Easter, will be invaluable cleansweep in the Six Nations dates back to New Zealand and South Africa. They did field partnership and handed bench recalls against a strong Welsh team.” Wales, which 2003 when they went on to win the World manage to edge a weary-looking Springbok to the experienced pair of fly-half Danny has lost just one of their last nine Six Nations Cup, a precedent Wales will be seeking to team in November, as England beat Cipriani and No 8 Nick Easter. Prop Dan Cole matches at Millennium Stadium (22-30 to avoid come match day. —AFP

Tunisia refuse to apologize, face Nations Cup expulsion

BATA: Tunisia’s football federation are refusing to apologize to the Confederation of African Football after accus- ing them of cheating, a member of the federation’s executive committee was quoted as saying on Wednesday. In the wake of the violent scenes that followed Tunisia’s controversial elimination from the tournament by Equatorial Guinea last Saturday, the north Africans were fined $50,000. They were also ordered to say sorry for “insinua- tions of bias and lack of ethics against CAF and its officials, or to present irrefutable evidence to substantiate the accusations”. African football’s governing body gave Tunisia a deadline of midnight on Thursday to write a formal letter of apology or face the possibility of being disqualified from the next edition’s qualifiers, which start in June. Tunisia rejected this after a meeting of the federation’s executive committee in Tunis on Wednesday, the Tunisia agency ATAP reported. “Our investigation into the affair and the BATA: Democratic Republic of the Congo’s forward Dieudonne Mbokani (right) challenges Ivory Coast’s opinion of neutrals is that we suffered scandalous injustice defender Serge Wilfried Kanon during the 2015 African Cup of Nations semi-final football match between from referees. Not only in the match against Equatorial Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ivory Coast in Bata on February 4, 2015. —AFP Guinea but right from the start of the tournament,” committee member Hichem Ben Omrane was quoted as saying. “We will explain all of this to CAF at a meeting,” he Toure sparkles as Ivorians added. CAF fined Tunisia for what it termed “the aggressive attitude of some supporters in the stands, invasion of the ease into Nations Cup final pitch after the final whistle by players and substitutes of the Tunisian team-insulting the referee of the match and trying to physically assault him-and the regrettable behav- Ivory Coast chasing first title since 1992 ior of the president of the Tunisian Football Federation, Wadie Jary”. Jary went onto the field to remonstrate with BATA: Goals from Yaya Toure and Gervinho helped steer Ivory Coast into the box that was hit with ferocious power for the opening goal. Bony the African Nations Cup final in a 3-1 win over Democratic Republic of had been trying to weave his way through the defense but lost the ball the match officials. CAF also said Tunisia’s players broke a Congo in the Estadio de Bata on Wednesday. Toure, playing at a sixth which spilt in the direction of Gervinho but before he could get a foot on changing room door and a fridge. The governing body finals, blasted home a missile-like shot after 21 minutes to give the it, Toure came surging through to almost burst the net with sublime pre- suspended Mauritius referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn for Ivorians the lead but a handball allowed Dieumerci Mbokani to equalise cision. A careless handball from Eric Bertrand Bailly offered the his inability to control the match and took him off Africa’s from the penalty spot three minutes later. Congolese the chance for an immediate response from the penalty spot, elite panel. Gervinho had an effort cleared off the line in the 40th minute but the which Mbokani duly dispatched. Then came Gervinho’s header that hit Equatorial Guinea, who were also fined $5,000 after Ivorians won back the ball and caught the Congolese defense cold with the crossbar before Gabriel Zakuani cleared it while the Ivorians several spectators invaded the pitch to celebrate, beat Wilfried Bony setting up Gervinho to sweep home less than a minute lat- appealed that it had crossed the line. Tunisia 2-1 having equalized after being awarded a dubi- er. Defender Wilfried Kanon added a third midway through the second They regained their composure while DR Congo were caught ball ous penalty on the stroke of fulltime. They then scored a half with a rebound from a corner. Ivory Coast will play in Sunday’s final watching and Bony’s pass left Gervinho with little else to do but guide stunning free kick in extra time to claim an unlikely semi- in Bata against Equatorial Guinea or Ghana who meet in the second his effort home. Yannick Bolasie continued to offer a glimmer of hope for final berth. Their coach Esteban Becker was unsympathet- semi-final in Malabo yesterday. They overpowered their opponents, the Congolese with his mazy runs, having a 55th-minute effort saved. ic to Tunisia’s protests. “It’s logical that a team will be sad although coach Herve Renard said he had not been pleased with some But it was Gervinho, Bony and Toure who dictated terms in the second if they lose against a theoretically smaller team,” Becker of their sloppy play. “I had to keep reminding them we were playing in a half and a third goal seemed inevitable. “This is one step in our life, we said. “But that doesn’t justify things that don’t belong in semi-final with a goal of getting to the final,” he said. need to enjoy this night and be ready for the game on Sunday. It was football... Tunisia played a very dirty game; they tried to tough game, DR Congo were very fast but we were compact. All we care intimidate the smaller Equatorial Guinea players, this has Ferocious power now is about bringing the cup back home,” said Bony. Ivory Coast have no place in fair play.” —Reuters Toure showed the way in one of his better performances for the now reached two of the last three Nations Cup finals but their only previ- national team with a stunning shot on the half volley from the edge of ous success was in 1992.—Reuters Sports FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Real beat Sevilla to extend La Liga lead

BARCELONA: James Rodriguez headed the opener before going off injured in Real Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Sevilla on Wednesday which extended their lead at the top of La Liga to four points. Real warmed up for the Madrid derby against Atletico on Saturday with three points but it came at a cost with Sergio Ramos as well as Rodriguez going off injured in the first half. “I don’t think they will make it in time,” Real coach Carlo Ancelotti told a news conference. Marcelo will definitely miss the next game through suspension after picking up a yellow card but they will have Cristiano Ronaldo back after he completed his suspension against Sevilla. “We may be lacking experience. Ramos, Pepe and Marcelo are among the best players in the world but it doesn’t worry me,” Ancelotti said. “We have lost experience but we will have players with plenty of enthusiasm and that is also very important.” Colombia international Rodriguez nodded home a Marcelo cross after 12 minutes in a copy of the goal he scored last weekend against Real Sociedad. Sevilla caused plenty of problems for the Real rearguard, especially in the first half, and Vicente Iborra hit a post having been played in by Vitolo. They had injury concerns of their own as keeper Beto went off on the half hour after a collision with Karim Benzema. Jese, who had come on for Rodriguez, combined with Benzema and Isco before slotting the ball home Real’s second 10 minutes before the break. Substitute Iago Aspas continued his recent hot streak in front of goal with a goal for Sevilla from close range after 80 minutes but it was only to be a consolation. Real lead the standings by four points from Barcelona with Atletico seven points adrift. “It was a difficult game against a strong side. It was a step forward as we picked up BOLTON: Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho celebrates with team-mates Alberto Moreno (left) and Raheem Sterling important points,” Ancelotti added. Sevilla coach Unai Emery was after scoring his side’s second goal during their FA Cup Fourth Round Replay match at the Macron Stadium in disappointed his side did not take their chances. “The most impor- Bolton on Wednesday Feb 4, 2015. —AP tant thing is to create openings when you play in this stadium which is what we did but we didn’t finish them off,” he told a news conference. “We competed for the full 90 minutes but we didn’t get Gerrard’s FA Cup the goals that we deserved. I am satisfied with the work of the player and we showed that we were up to the task.” —Reuters dream still alive Atletico’s Godin angry at labeling Sterling, Coutinho send Liverpool through of team ‘violent’ BARCELONA: Atletico Madrid defender Diego Godin has hit BOLTON: Liverpool fought back to reach the FA Cup fifth round with a brilliant last-ditch tackle denied Sterling after he was put through on out at the media’s labelling of his team’s playing style as violent 2-1 victory over 10-man Bolton Wanderers to keep alive talismanic cap- goal, with Lonergan clawing away the curling effort from the Reds ahead of the crunch Madrid derby with Real where defeat tain Steven Gerrard’s hopes of a Wembley swansong. The Liverpool cap- youngster that followed. However, it was Bolton that struck a minute could well end their bid to retain the La Liga title. Diego tain turns 35 on the day of the FA Cup final and Reds supporters had before the hour when Martin Skrtel, unable to cope with Clough’s quick Simeone’s side have been playing well but the loss against seemingly already penciled a trip to Wembley into their diaries. But with feet, carelessly gave away a penalty with a cumbersome challenge. Barcelona last month means that they are seven points off Real Liverpool trailing with just four minutes of the 90 left in this fourth- Gudjohnsen confidently stroked the resulting spot-kick past Mignolet, at the top and three adrift of the Catalan side. They were also round replay at the Macron Stadium, the dream of Gerrard climbing the although Bolton’s hopes of hanging on to that lead for the remainder of knocked out of the King’s Cup by Barcelona where they tried to steps to lift the famous old trophy appeared to be in their dying embers. the contest diminished when Danns was shown a second yellow for unsettle their opponents with their physical game and criticism However, Raheem Sterling cancelled out Eidur Gudjohnsen’s penal- lunging at Joe Allen. Rodgers introduced Fabio Borini and Daniel of their style of play has resurfaced ahead of tomorrow’s show- ty before Philippe Coutinho scored a quite brilliant injury-time winner to Sturridge in an attempt to give his side more potency in the final third down with Real. Godin though feels that they have been seal a meeting with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the next round. and fellow substitute Henderson struck the post with a deflected shot unfairly treated in the media. “Of course all this talk is tiring and “You have to keep your patience and keep the width in the game, espe- while Emre Can rattled the crossbar. Liverpool’s relentless pressure we don’t believe these stories. I don’t know from who or where cially against 10 men,” a relieved Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers eventually told and Can was instrumental as he lifted a superb ball into they come from,” the Uruguayan told a news conference. told the BBC. “It was a great pass by Emre Can for the first goal and a the path of Sterling, who guided a left-foot volley through Lonergan’s “We compete and we have been doing so for several years. great finish for the second goal. “This is a competition we want to do legs and into the net with four minutes left. With extra time looming Everything that we have won has been the result of work, effort well in and thankfully we’re into the next round against Crystal Palace.” Coutinho then provided a moment of brilliance in added time to com- and being committed but not violent. This talk has to stop.” For His Bolton counterpart Neil Lennon, who has engineered a revival in plete Liverpool’s comeback when he struck a quite brilliant long-range years the Madrid derby was almost a foregone conclusion as the club’s fortunes since taking over in early October, was fuming over effort into the top-right corner of the net Atletico struggled to compete with their more illustrious rival the referee Roger East’s performance. “I’m not happy with the referee but Simeone has instilled a new belief that helped them win tonight at all,” stormed the 43-year-old Northern Irishman. “Neil Danns’ Kit deal with New Balance the championship last season and also reach the Champions first yellow card was not a booking and I’m not convinced that our In another development, Liverpool have agreed their biggest ever League final. They were beaten in the Lisbon final by Real but penalty was a penalty either.” Gerrard, who will leave Anfield for Major kit supplier deal with American sportswear company New Balance to they have had the better of Carlo Ancelotti’s side since starting League Soccer outfit LA Galaxy when his contract expires in the sum- manufacture the team’s official kit from next season, the Premier with a victory in the domestic Super Cup. mer, clocked up his 700th career appearance for Liverpool. League club said yesterday. The five-times European champions agreed They also came out on top in the league and knocked them Only Jamie Carragher (737) and Ian Callaghan (857) have worn a red a six-year-deal with Warrior Sports in 2012 but its parent company New out of the King’s Cup. “When I first came here we were not able shirt with the Liverbird on their chest more than Gerrard. With former Balance has agreed to take over the kit supply from the 2015/16 cam- to win but now we look at the games in a special way and with Liverpool striker Emile Heskey absent with a hamstring injury, Lennon paign. optimism,” added Godin. “The dynamic has changed in the last sprang something of a tactical surprise. Lennon deployed defender Boston-based New Balance has decided to lend their own name to few years. Atletico is more competitive and has been able to Matt Mills as a lone forward with veteran Gudjohnsen and rookie Zach all soccer clubs currently supplied by Warrior, meaning changes for fight against Madrid and Barca.” Atletico will aim to take advan- Clough just in behind as Wanderers mirrored Liverpool’s 3-4-2-1 system. Stoke City, Porto and Sevilla too. British media reports estimated the tage of Real’s injury woes with Sergio Ramos and James Sterling buzzed with intent in the early stages and on 15 minutes he new deal with Liverpool to be worth around 300 million pounds Rodriguez both limping off in their La Liga victory over Sevilla glided past David Wheater and into the area, forcing Bolton goalkeeper ($457.35 million). “We are thrilled to announce this partnership with one on Wednesday while Marcelo is suspended. With Pepe and Andrew Lonergan to make a diving save. Wheater threatened for the of the world’s leading sportswear brands, which is a record-breaking Luka Modric also in the treatment room, Ancelotti will have a Trotters at the other end when he got on the end of Liam Feeney’s free- deal for the club,” Liverpool’s chief commercial officer Billy Hogan said selection headache. Meanwhile, in-form Barcelona will be wait- kick into the box, but his header was straight at Simon Mignolet in the in a statement on the club’s website (www.liverpoolfc.com). “Like ing to pounce against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday to close the Liverpool goal. Liverpool FC, New Balance has more than 100 years of heritage and a gap at the top if there is a slip-up from Real. —Reuters Liverpool went close early in the second half and Dorian Dervite’s global footprint.” —Agencies Sports FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015

OAKLAND: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curr scrambles for a loose ball with Dallas Mavericks’ Al-Farouq Aminu during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb 4, 2015 in Oakland, Calif. — AP Warriors overpower Mavericks

OAKLAND: Stephen Curry scored a season-high keep Washington from its season-high fourth Milwaukee outlasted Los Angeles for its fifth the second quarter to help the Rockets build a 51 points and made a season-best 10 3-pointers, consecutive loss. consecutive victory. Knight, who returned to lead that the Bulls were unable to overcome. rallying the Golden State Warriors from an early the lineup after missing Monday’s game in The Rockets have won five of six. Derrick Rose 22-point deficit to down the Dallas Mavericks THUNDER 102, PELICANS 91 Toronto with a quadriceps injury, scored 12 scored 23 points, playing in his 12th consecutive 128-114 on Wednesday night. Curry connected Russell Westbrook tied his career high with points in overtime. Khris Middleton and OJ game for the first time since the 2010-11 season. on 10 of 16 shots from beyond the arc and 16 of 45 points and Oklahoma City overcame Kevin Mayo added 21 points apiece for Milwaukee. 26 overall. The All-Star point guard and MVP Durant’s absence to beat New Orleans. Carlos Boozer had 28 points for the Lakers, who SPURS 110, MAGIC 103 candidate put on a dazzling dribbling display to Westbrook had 25 first-half points, including a lost for the 11th time in 12 games - including Tim Duncan had 26 points and 10 rebounds match his streaky shooting stroke, helping the career best for a quarter with 19 in the first. eight in a row on the road. Ed Davis had 20 and San Antonio sent Orlando to its 10th NBA-leading Warriors (39-8) complete their Durant sat out for the fourth time in five games rebounds for Los Angeles. straight loss. Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points biggest comeback of the season in front of a because if a left big toe injury. Anthony Davis and Tony Parker had 15 to help the Spurs beat roaring sellout crowd. Chandler Parsons scored led New Orleans with 23 points and eight NETS 109, RAPTORS 93 Orlando for the seventh time in a row. Nikola 24 points, and Tyson Chandler had 21 points rebounds. The teams will meet again Friday Jarrett Jack scored 24 points, Alan Anderson Vucevic had 25 points and 12 rebounds for and 17 rebounds in a disappointing defeat for night in Oklahoma City. had 22 and Brooklyn handed Toronto its first loss Orlando, and Tobias Harris added 23 points and Dallas, which played without injured point in 10 games against Atlantic Division opponents 10 rebounds. guard Rajon Rondo again. The Mavericks led 40- TIMBERWOLVES 102, HEAT 101 this season. Playing for the second time since 18 in the first quarter before Curry carried Kevin Martin scored 30 points and Minnesota missing 11 games with a rib injury, Deron Williams GRIZZLIES 100, JAZZ 90 Golden State back. The Warriors improved to a overcame another monster game from Hassan scored 11 points in 33 minutes to help Brooklyn Zach Randolph had 18 points and 11 league-best 23-2 at home Whiteside to beat Miami. Thaddeus Young had avoid its first four-game road losing streak since rebounds to lead Memphis past Utah for the 16 points and five steals, Ricky Rubio added December 2013. Terrence Ross scored 23 points Grizzlies’ eighth straight victory. Marc Gasol had HAWKS 105, WIZARDS 96 eight points and nine assists in his first home for Toronto. The Raptors dropped their second in 23 points, and Mike Conley added 17. Trey Burke Jeff Teague scored 26 points, Al Horford game since Nov 1, and the Timberwolves erased a row after winning the previous six. led the Jazz with 21 points, and Enes Kanter had added 21 and the Atlanta Hawks rebounded a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter. 16 points and 10 rebounds. from their first loss in more than a month. The Whiteside scored a career-high 24 points, PACERS 114, PISTONS 109 East-leading Hawks were coming off a 115-100 grabbed 20 rebounds and set a Heat record by George Hill had 20 points and six assists in CELTICS 104, NUGGETS 100 loss at New Orleans that snapped their fran- making his first 11 shots. He finished 12 of 13. his return to Indiana’s starting lineup, helping Benched at the start for showing up late to chise-record, 19-game winning streak. They Luol Deng added 18 points, but Norris Cole the Pacers beat Detroit. Hill made just his fourth the shootaround, Jared Sullinger made two free made sure it didn’t turn into a different kind of missed an open 3-pointer in the closing start of the season, and first in six games after throws with 22.8 seconds left to break a tie in streak, overcoming a dismal third quarter to moments, allowing the Wolves to escape. being sidelined by a strained left groin. Slowed Boston’s victory over Denver. Coach Brad beat the Wizards for the third straight time this Dwyane Wade missed his fourth straight game by a knee injury, he has been limited to 11 Stevens kept Sullinger out of the lineup for the season. Teague finished off the Wizards with a with a strained right hamstring for the Heat, and games. Roy Hibbert had 16 points and 12 second straight home game after the forward drive to the basket, laying the ball in despite coach Erik Spoelstra said the star guard will not rebounds for Indiana. Andre Drummond had 18 was late for the afternoon shootaround. getting bounced to the floor by Marcin Gortat. play Friday at San Antonio. points and 16 rebounds for Detroit. On Sunday, he was late for a walkthrough. Teague sank the free throw to complete the Sullinger wound up scoring 14 points. Avery three-point play, giving Atlanta a 103-92 lead BUCKS 113, LAKERS 105, OT ROCKETS 101, BULLS 90 Bradley and Marcus Thornton each scored 17 with 1:54 remaining. John Wall had 24 points Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a career- James Harden had 27 points in Houston’s vic- points for Boston. Ty Lawson led the Nuggets and Bradley Beal 23, but it wasn’t enough to high 25 points, Brandon Knight had 24 and tory over Chicago. Harden scored 15 points in with 23 points and eight assists. — AP FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FEBRUARY FRIDAY, www.kuwaittimes.net WarriorsWarriors overpoweroverpower MavericksMavericks

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HOUSTON: Chicago Bulls’ Joakim Noah (13) passes the ball over Houston Rockets’ Corey Brewer (33) in the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Feb 4, 2015, in Houston. The Rockets won 101-90. — AP