Capturing the Crimea MPs vote Pistorius weeps ‘noncitizens to join Russia, US as shooting scene of Kuwait’4 unveils10 sanctions horror44 recalled

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www.kuwaittimes.net NO: 16097- Friday, March 7, 2014 Qatar defiant

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Conspiracy LETTER TO KUWAIT TIMES Theories

Dear Ms Darwish, Badrya Darwish responds: Younger or wiser?

found your article on the haunting of the Philippine Dear Mr Dado, Embassy unusual. I have often been warned about Thank you for your entertaining note about a topic Ithese ghosts. I had also waited for men in black robes that Kuwait Times covered in an article in the last Friday and women in white to appear in my office, but so far the Times. As it was light material, you noticed that we pub- ones that visit me are either friends in thaubs or nurses lished it in our tabloid issue on Friday. Even my maids, who apply for passports. who are from the Philippines of course, found the material By Badrya Darwish Holy men of different faiths have told me not to mind amusing. One of them even commented that this subject these ghosts. For people of deep faith, spirits are a part of matter was suitable for teenage kids in high school and life. I am sure your article will get a good second reading many others of different ages. on Halloween. I will certainly recommend it to my Nevertheless, many people believe in such stories. The teenage daughters, who can add it to their cherished story was done by a Filipino reporter who spoke to many [email protected] Twilight stories and Vampire Chronicles. girls in the shelter of your respected embassy. In our In the meantime, we will continue our work for the paper we carry different views by different people. Some Filipino people, who are our treasures. Since the embassy of them might be rather bizarre, but that is life. We ast week, it was my birthday but don’t dare ask me how represents our government, the embassy is their home. respect people’s views. Thank you for reading the article Lold I turned. There are two questions I never answer - Yours faithfully, and for taking the time to comment on it. Please stay in my birthday and my weight. These are taboo. Anyways, Raul Dado touch. I stopped celebrating my birthday years ago because I want- Consul General Badrya Darwish ed to forget that I am getting older. Embassy of the Philippines in Kuwait When my youngest son came to wish me Happy Birthday right after midnight the other day, my immediate reaction instead of telling him thank you was to attack him because he reminded me that I am a year older now. My son sympa- In my view thetically told me: “Don’t despair. I know you are a year older but much wiser.” I told him that I do not care that I was wiser because I prefer to be younger. Who cares about wiser? Only in Kuwait Does everybody feel the same way? Is this a woman feel- ing or do men also go through such kinds of feelings and experiences? I wondered if I was the odd one out so I asked the girls in the office. Most of them said: “Of course, I want to By Talal Al-Ghannam be younger.” My favourite answer was shared by one of the female editors who said: “What shall I do with wiser?” Our American editor shocked me that she prefers to be wiser. Americans like to be odd, no surprise. I understand the American mentality. She thought: “Why do I have to work all [email protected] these years all over again to get to where I am now, but if I have a chance to be thinner, I don’t mind.” hese are the things you won’t find in other modern be respected. Typical American. No hard feelings, guys. I love the Tcountries or even ones that are poorer, but only in 10. Only in Kuwait you need three months to get an American people. This is what the girls felt like. Kuwait. appointment in a hospital unless you are really sick. Our male Kuwaiti editor surprised me by saying that he 1. Only in Kuwait people APPEAL to the government 11. Only in Kuwait the majority of Kuwaitis travel out wanted to be younger so he can correct the mistakes and to apply the law. of town when there is a two-day holiday. things he has not done, such as buying a house when the 2. Only in Kuwait handicapped parking places are 12. Only in Kuwait the majority of employees get sick prices were lower. He recalled coming back on holidays from seized by ordinary people. suddenly when there is a holiday coming up. the university and seeing ads about houses sold for 3. Only in Kuwait many people like to park on the 13. Only in Kuwait we see people spitting or urinating pavement and on green landscapes. in the streets. KD120,000. Today, he says jokingly, you cannot even build a 4. Only in Kuwait you could get killed for a parking 14. Only in Kuwait we see maniacs driving on the room with that money.” The guys has a point. space. shoulder of the road, throwing up gravel to break your Another male editor from India said he was dying to have 5. Only in Kuwait you could get beaten if you did not car’s windshield. a little white hair so that he looks more mature. Of course, he let a maniac driving behind you to pass. 15. Only in Kuwait some Kuwaitis say ‘kaifi ana talks like this because he is still young. He also preferred to 6. Only in Kuwait policemen are beaten by mobs. Kuwaiti’, meaning I am a Kuwait, I can do whatever I be wiser. 7. Only in Kuwait many policemen play with their want. Give them 10 to 15 years and throw the same question smart phones rather than monitor the roads. 16. Only in Kuwait you see many Kuwaitis able to again. Let’s see if they will give me the same answer then. I 8 .Only in Kuwait many police stations have only one deport expatriates. am positive they would then prefer to be 100 times younger. policeman. I will rest my pen for now until the next article. What about you, guys? Do you feel the same way? 9. Only in Kuwait you need a fancy car on the road to @BadryaD Child jailed in Kuwait Local Spotlight

rance, violence and contradictions abound. It is very normal in and social relations. By Muna Al-Fuzai the Arab world to see many people at protests and demon- For example, how many people vote for someone in the strations without knowing why and who is leading them? I election just because he is their relative, even if they know that know some think this is craziness and ignorance. But who says he is not good or suitable to speak on their behalf? We have a we are highly modern and civilized societies when it comes to mix of tradition, customs, misunderstanding and mispercep- customs, tradition and leadership? tion of ideas and self interests. That is why we have people like [email protected] Stop the illusion and see the reality. Yes, many people go to Habib go to protests but are not aware of the reason or the demonstrations to support their family members or spiritual consequences. li Al-Habib, a 13-year-old bedoon in Kuwait was kept in leaders. They may not be in full agreement with his ideas but I was annoyed that Habib was kept in police custody. I’m Apolice custody for participating in the recent bedoon they go to these demonstrations even if it means breaking the not sure of the impact of jail and police atmosphere on him demonstrations. He was set free after several attempts law. The reason for this is because blood and social ties are and his behavior, thinking and ideas. I’m not in favor of by his lawyers and pressure by the media. The juvenile public stronger than any law or regulation. restricting anyone’s freedom because he expressed an opin- prosecution released the boy on KD 200 bail after listening to When any country disregards the enforcement of laws and ion. He may not be a Kuwait citizen but respecting his human a statement by officers in charge of the case. He did not deny fighting corruption, then it is normal that many would find in rights are essential. I’m relieved that he is out now and I hope the charges or being part of this demonstration, but claimed their family and social roots the secure umbrella to protect to see more social and political activists lead awareness cam- that he was not aware of the purpose of the demonstration. If and help them. When the law doesn’t give people the protec- paigns for the families of the bedoons to enlighten them of that is true, I believe him. Welcome to the Arab world! tion and security they need, it is normal they look for it some- their rights and duties to avoid being in such situations. We are amidst the bloody Arab Spring where chaos, igno- where else and in our societies, these are in the family, blood Local FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 CapturingCapturing thethe ‘noncitizens‘noncitizens ofof Kuwait’Kuwait’ oneone portraitportrait atat aa timetime

By Jamie Etheridge

hey stand on street corners or sit on Tcurbs. Their hands are often dirty, their clothes old and careworn. They work as street cleaners and garbage collectors, mechanics and maids, tea boys and construc- tion laborers. There are literally hundreds of thousands of these low-income laborers working and living in Kuwait. They are seldom discussed in parlia- ment - unless there is a debate about deport- ing foreigners - and they subsist on salaries middle-income earners spend on a one-way (Whatever by me) - reflects more of a still life ticket to Dubai. They are, for the most part, perspective, with a picture of a wall or an emp- invisible. ty chair. Another series, 9aba7 al khair (Good Seeing what other people miss, however, is morning), is from his early morning jaunts. A what Faisal Al-Fouzan does best. The young third series, ‘Ana Ensan (I’m a human), I’m not street photographer captures the ‘invisibles of Yellow’ focuses on street cleaners. Kuwait’ in a series he calls the Noncitizens of Kuwait. Showcasing his work on Instagram The invisibles and through exhibitions and competitions, The portraits of the Noncitizens of Kuwait Fouzan is known for his scenes of everyday life generally capture the people on the streets of in Kuwait. Kuwait. “Few Kuwaitis walk in the street; most of those walking the streets are foreigners. I wanted to shoot the ones others don’t see. They are invisible,” Fouzan said. “But I see them with my camera, I capture what they are experiencing: ‘Look at me, I’m human’ - that’s what I want my photographs to say,” Fouzan explains. “The portraits convey the character of each individual I meet. These add a human touch and help people notice them and acknowledge them.” An advocate of visual documentation and a Begun in 2011 as a hobby without my camera, I try to observe things and news junkie, Fouzan views his work as a way of while out walking, Fouzan’s street then come back to it. Most of my photography documenting the lives and experiences of photography has become a cen- (photograph excursions) takes place on the Kuwait’s migrant workers. His photo walks tral aspect of the young weekend; I divide the places I want to visit into take him around the city including into the Kuwaiti’s creative life. “The cam- zones, and visit and walk through each one at industrial areas of Shuwaikh. He has also visit- era is an extension of my eye a time while scouting places for photographs.” ed workers’ housing in areas like Bneid Al-Gar, and what I call my third hand,” Fouzan’s work has evolved and he has sev- Sharq and Farwaniya with the intent of docu- explains Fouzan. “Even now, eral series running at once. Ayshay by me menting their living conditions. “In the single men accommodation or housing, six to ten men may be sharing one room,” he said. “I was surprised to find such diversity and tolerance. Christians and Muslims and Hindus and within these groups, I have now started Shiites and Sunnis all living together. It’s kind of symbolic - as it is there’s tension in Kuwait taking photos with one between the two sects. But in these small workers’ accommodations, they are living har- focal length, the 50mm. moniously. Everyone wants to live and let It makes you focus on live.” Arts and photography the frame rather than Not everyone is keen on having their por- if you are using trait taken, however. Fouzan has captured someone digging through piles of garbage a zoom lens. and sometimes they accuse him of being from the police or the Baladiya (Municipality). Alternatively, others ask to have their pictures taken and to have them published in the newspaper. “Sometimes I get their consent Local FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 through a nod and sometimes I ask for their light conditions. I have now started taking permission. Sometimes people approach me photos with one focal length, the 50mm. It to take their pictures,” he said. “But I also get makes you focus on the frame rather than if many refusals and people who get angry.” you are using a zoom lens. Also, it is good for Having studied at the Arab Open close-ups because it makes the photo more University, Fouzan has a strong interest in arts, realistic and intimate.” film and photography. “To me education and Realistic and intimate are techniques of the learning is a lifelong process. I’m curious and I storyteller and in capturing the ‘Non Citizens like to travel and read and learn.” of Kuwait’, Fouzan is documenting the story of Fouzan uses a Canon 5D Mark 3 on his pho- this invisible community through his lens. “In to walks and continues to teach himself about my work, I am telling a story,” he explains. “I photography. “I’m a self-taught photographer, like fiction, so I want people to imagine the and have a growing collection of books by story. In literature and films I like open end- masters of photography. ings. Sometimes I put photos without any cap- I read into the pictures, analyzing their tions so that each person can interpret the composition and how they deal with different pictures as they like.”

Few Kuwaitis walk

in“ the street; most of those walking the streets are foreigners. I wanted“ to shoot the ones others don’t see. They are invisible. /redbulletin

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Paan thrives despite ban

Illegal leaves sold under the counter at baqalas, salons

By Nawara Fattahova consumed in many other Asian countries and elsewhere in the “But I have read about this drug online, and I showed the world by some Asian emigrants, with or without tobacco, in an importer the information and he couldn’t say a single word,” nergy boosting’ and ‘performance enhancing’ leaves addictive and euphoria-inducing formulation with adverse Jassem said. “Interestingly, consuming this powder which is ‘Ethat are part of the South Asian culture can be found in health effects. burned does not appear in blood tests. So the consumer is Kuwait’s baqalas under the counter. Although illegal, Paan is similar to qat that is native to East Africa and south- released after being arrested and the drug is confiscated,” he paan - known to have a light stimulating effect when chewed - ern Arabia. Leaves of the qat shrub are typically chewed and said. can be found across Kuwait in baqalas, barber shops and even held in the cheek, like chewing tobacco, to release their stimu- in the desert areas of Nuwaiseeb. lant chemicals. Chewing qat leaves is reported to induce a state An Asian tailor said that he has been chewing paan for over of euphoria and elation as well as feelings of increased alert- 20 years as an energy-booster, claiming that it helps him get ness and arousal. The effects begin to subside after about 90 the energy to continue working into the wee hours of the minutes to three hours, but can last 24 hours. night. According to him, paan is widely available in several baqalas around Kuwait for the meager price of 200 fils. It is Homegrown sold, according to the tailor, to customers who are known to According to Jassem, a police officer working shop assistants. “Strangers cannot walk into the baqala and with the customs department at a land border, buy paan,” he said. paan leaves may be planted locally or smug- gled with other vegetables as unidentified Banned stimulant leaves. “I remember confiscating large Paan, like all narcotic substances, is illegal in Kuwait. It is quantities of paan from smugglers banned from importation and cannot be sold in the local mar- who were sent to the criminal investi- ket. And yet it seems to be widely available, albeit on the black gation, but they weren’t jailed market. “We have found paan in various baqalas on many because paan is not considered a occasions, but this is not the only place where these leaves can light drug and is treated as unli- be found,” said Mohammed, an inspector at the Ministry of censed medicine,” he said. Commerce and Industry, the authority that ensures that no ille- “Sometimes we find drugs or gal goods are sold in shops in Kuwait. hashish in open areas and we According to him, paan can be found at barber shops too. don’t know who it belongs to, “It is kept in drawers and sold to regular customers,” Mohamed because some drivers when noted. “Some Asian expats also sell it in desert areas such as they know they will be Nuwaiseeb and others,” Mohammed explained, adding that checked just throw it before when the team from the ministry makes surprise checks into the checkpoint,” he explained. different shops and find paan or other illegal products, they Jassem said Kuwait has confiscate it and send a report to the prosecutor, who decides lately become a destination of the sanctions against the violator. According to Mohammed, newer, more dangerous drugs. paan is mainly available in Sharq, Mirgab, Qibla and is mostly “Zeos (loratadine) is a new kind the drug of choice for South Asian communities. of light drug that has entered Kuwait and is now widespread,” What is paan? he said, elaborating that some Paan is a stimulating and psychoactive preparation of betel people order it online and get it leaf combined with areca nut and/or cured tobacco. Paan is at their doorstep. “This is due to chewed and finally spat out or swallowed. Paan has many vari- the ignorance and lack of informa- ations. Slaked lime (chunnam) paste is commonly added to tion of the customs department offi- bind the leaves. Some South Asian preparations include katha cers,” he said, adding that many-a- paste or mukhwas to freshen the breath. times he has faced a situation when Paan is originally from and native to India/Pakistan but it has somebody imported a huge quantity of spread to other countries like Burma and Vietnam. Paan is also Zeos and claimed it was not drugs. Local8 FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

KUWAIT: Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah and Secretary General of the International Civil Defence Organisation (ICDO) Dr Vladimir Kuvshinov ‘cut a hose’ to open the 12th Fireman Day Festival at Souq Sharq yesterday. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyar Firefighting festival highlights successes

By Nawara Fattahova Ansari concluded. On this occasion, KFSD invited international guests including Dr KUWAIT: The 12th Fireman Day Festival Vladimir Kuvshinov, Secretary General of from March 6-8, 2014 at Souq Sharq the International Civil Defence Organisation includes an exhibition of firefighting vehi- (ICDO), who appreciated his first visit to cles and equipment and products and serv- Kuwait and attending the 3rd International ices of participating institutions. Conference and Exhibition that concluded Documentaries about the fire department yesterday. “This conference discussed vital and major accidents are also being shown. subjects such as high-rise buildings and Children can enjoy too with cartoon charac- challenging environment, crisis manage- ters, a play and contests with prizes for win- ment systems and hazardous materials, ners between 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm. managing threats and specialists’ respons- “The KFSD cooperates with the Kuwait es. All of these subjects are important and I army, National Guard and the oil sector to hope that the outcome of this conference protect human lives and environment from will add great value to firefighting services harm caused by nature or humans. The across the world,” stressed Kuvshinov. main goal of this event is to increase aware- ness among the public to protect them- Bridging Experiences selves and help others, as well as help lower One of ICDO’s goals is to bridge experi- the daily fire accidents and rescues,” said ences and methods from all over the world. Maj Gen Yousef Al-Ansari, Director General “The ICDO also assists states by developing of Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD) systems that provide protection and assis- during the opening ceremony yesterday. tance to the population, property and envi- KFSD held 172 symposiums, 42 fairs and ronment from natural and manmade disas- 178 school visits in cooperation with various ters. “It would be highly appreciated if institutions and companies last year. Kuwait organized international training for “Firefighting is a dangerous profession and firefighters from several states,” he added. through his event we want to show their He also commemorated the ‘World Civil work. A total of 172 firefighters were injured Defence Day’ and the ‘Firefighters Day’. “We last year on duty to ensure safety of people, have to pay tribute to those who died on so they deserve to highlight their achieve- duty, and call upon all countries to recog- ments,” he added. nize them as role models for generations to “(In 2013), firefighters dealt with 12,389 come. I would also like to wish prompt accidents and registered a record by arriv- recovery to firefighting, civil protection, civil ing within five minutes. They dealt with 99 defense and emergency services person- personnel. Today the Kuwait fire service is that protects population from disasters. percent of the accidents within 20 minutes. nel,” stated Kuvshinov. an example for all countres that really care “Today the ICDO is a big family that includes They helped decrease fires in 2013 com- “Everything I saw here proves that to protect the population against natural 53 countries, 17 observer states and 22 affil- pared to 2012 by 19 percent. They also pro- Kuwait’s fire service has reached the highest and manmade disasters. I believe that it’s iate members. We are very pleased to hear vided 1,704 high-standard public humani- level. The ICDO admires its modern equip- necessary to learn and transfer your experi- that Kuwait is now undertaking procedures tarian services. In addition, they also printed ment and technologies, as well as the level ence to ICDO member states,” he explained. to be a member of ICDO’s family,” conclud- some publications to serve as reference,” of professionalism and preparedness of its ICDO is one of the oldest organizations ed Kuvshinov. Local FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Kuwait won’t recall envoy from Qatar Doha ‘will not alter foreign policy’

KUWAIT: A high-ranking senior official at stop its practice of playing host to members of Kuwait’s ministry of foreign affairs denied rumors the Muslim Brotherhood, including Youssef Al- about Kuwait’s intention to recall its ambassador Qaradawi, an influential Sunni cleric and a vocal in Qatar. “Our ambassador will remain in Qatar,” critic of authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. he told Al-Jarida daily, noting that Kuwait has “Since the day Qatar was founded we decided to always been keen on working on ending GCC or take this approach of always welcoming anyone Arab rifts and it would continue mediation efforts who seeks refuge in our country, and no amount to achieve reconciliation and bridge the gaps. of pressure will make us kick these people out,” The official also denied any relation between the said the source close to the government. A recent bombing in Bahrain and the three Gulf source at the foreign ministry said: “It’s the right states’ (Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain) decision of every sovereign state to have its own foreign to withdraw their ambassadors from Doha . policy.” The source also suggested that Qatar had Yesterday, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs no differences with fellow Gulf Arab states on Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah empha- Gulf matters. sized in a press statement Kuwait’s keenness on promoting solidarity and unity among member Airtime for Preacher states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. He under- The dispute “is more about differences in for- scored Kuwait’s commitment to contain any rift eign policy approaches”, the source added, refer- that may befall states of the GCC, noting it has ring to issues in the Middle East such as the been Kuwait’s position to always contain any crises in Egypt and Syria. Saudi Arabia and the such rifts that may pit one or more members of UAE clearly do see Qatar as at odds with them on the GCC states against another. Gulf issues. They are fuming especially over In this courtroom sketch, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (center) is flanked by his legal team on He said that the chief mediator in such situa- Qatar’s support for the Brotherhood, an Islamist March 3, 2014. — AP tions is HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- movement whose political ideology challenges Sabah. “It is not abnormal for contentions to the principle of dynastic rule. They also resent occur among members of one big family,” he the way Doha has sheltered Qaradawi and given Abu Ghaith was Laden’s said, stressing that the leaders of the GCC were him regular airtime on its pan-Arab satellite tele- up to the task of ironing out any differences vision channel Al Jazeera, and on Qatari state tel- right-hand man: Trial among them. evision. Meanwhile, Qatar will not bow to demands The GCC, which normally keeps its disputes from three Gulf states to alter its foreign policy, under wraps, is a pro-Western alliance of monar- NEW YORK: The son-in-law of Osama bin Laden mer of 2001 speaking to hundreds of young Al- sources close to its government said, suggesting chies set up in the 1980s to counter Iranian influ- acted as the Al-Qaeda leader’s right-hand man Qaeda recruits at Afghan training camps, prepar- Doha is unlikely to abandon support for Egypt’s ence in the Gulf, and includes several of the and appeared alongside the terror mastermind ing them for war and earning his stripes. Then Muslim Brotherhood and Syrian Islamists. In an world’s biggest producers and exporters of oil in a propaganda video just one day after the car- after the 9/11 attacks, his job changed. “Literally unprecedented move, Saudi Arabia, the United and gas. Qatar’s new Emir Sheikh Tamim bin nage of the 9/11 attacks, US prosecutors said hours after the attacks, Osama bin Laden turned Arab Emirates and Bahrain recalled their ambas- Hamad Al-Thani, who took over from his father yesterday. Launching the most prominent 9/11- to this man,” said Lewin, standing behind the sadors from Qatar on Wednesday, saying Doha in June last year, said Qatar would not “take related terror trial held in New York to date, fed- defendant and pointing at him. had failed to abide by an accord not to interfere direction” in foreign affairs, suggesting he would eral prosecutors said Suleiman Abu Ghaith had The Al-Qaeda terror chief wanted this “impor- in each others’ internal affairs. continue his father’s habit of pursuing policies at been one of bin Laden’s key lieutenants in the tant religious scholar” and “inspirational and Hours later Qatar’s cabinet voiced “regret and odds with those of most other GCC states. He days and months after the September 11, 2001 charismatic speaker” to recruit men globally for surprise” at the decision by the fellow-members has yet to comment publicly on the latest ruckus. attacks which left 3,000 people dead. jihad, he added. “Osama bin Laden asked that of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Since the start of the Arab Spring, the tiny The Manhattan trial is taking place just streets man to deliver Al-Qaeda’s murderous decree to but said Doha would not pull out its own envoys Gulf state has used its wealth to back Islamists from where the World Trade Center was reduced the world,” Lewin told the court. “What did the and that it remained committed to GCC security. throughout the Arab Spring revolutions in to burning rubble by two airliners hijacked by Al- defendant do? He agreed. You don’t sit outside a Yesterday, a source close to the Qatari govern- Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria. With ambitions to Qaeda suicide attackers. Abu Ghaith is on trial for cave on September 12, 2001 with the most ment suggested Qatar would not comply. “Qatar mediate in conflicts in the region, Qatar has been conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to pro- wanted man on earth unless you’re inside Al- will not let go of its foreign policy, no matter a welcoming host to members of the vide support and providing material support to Qaeda at the very, very top,” added Lewin. Abu what the pressures are. This is a matter of princi- Brotherhood, other Islamist groups and the terrorists. The 48-year-old from Kuwait pleads Ghaith “sat at the right hand of Osama bin ples which we will stick to, no matter the price,” Afghan Taleban. Al Jazeera says it is an inde- not guilty to all three charges. He faces life in Laden,” Lewin said, quoting liberally from Abu the source said. pendent news service giving a voice to everyone prison if convicted. He is the most senior alleged Ghaith’s proclamations threatening a “storm of The source also suggested Qatar would not in the region. — Agencies Al-Qaeda member to face trial in a US federal airplanes”. court rather than at Guantanamo Bay, which the Married to bin Laden’s daughter Fatima, US White House has promised to close. prosecutors say Abu Ghaith worked for Al-Qaeda Wearing a dark suit, he sat impassively as until 2002, when he fled Afghanistan after the US prosecutors played the video in which he sat invasion for Iran. He appeared in follow-up Weight loss surgeries next to bin Laden and the current leader of Al- videos in October and November 2001, an AK-47 Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, in Afghanistan on assault rifle at his feet, threatening further up sevenfold in 10 yrs Sept 12, 2001. He was similarly unmoved as the attacks in a “storm of airplanes.” court watched a clip of him lecturing and gestic- KUWAIT: The number of weight loss sur- The three-event conference is held as a ulating, dressed in a black turban in Afghanistan. Shoe Bomb Evidence Key geries have increased sevenfold over the part of the Ministry’s activities to counter He spoke only to confirm when asked by Key will be evidence linking him to the Dec last ten years in Kuwait, said Director of the spread of non-communicable diseases Judge Lewis Kaplan that he understood pro- 2001 shoe bomb plot, which the defense says Catering and Nutrition Services including obesity in implementation of ceedings, and listened to simultaneous transla- does not exist. Defense attorney Stanley Cohen Department of the Kuwaiti Health Ministry the declaration adopted by the UN in Sept tion provided on an ear piece. His salt-and-pep- on Wednesday suggested to the 13-women and per beard was neatly trimmed and although five-men jury that the prosecution case was fan- Dr Nawal Al-Hamad. Hamad cautioned that 2011 and relevant WHO resolutions, balding, dark curls tapered into his neck.By the tasy: “You’ve just been to the movies.” Gently this trend will have serious consequences if Hamad said. He noted that the Catering afternoon session he had removed a blue silk tie touching his client on the shoulder Cohen said: no measure is taken to tackle it. She was and Nutrition Services Department is and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. “This is not Osama bin Laden”. “This is Suleiman speaking at a press conference to interested in conducting research, sharing Abu Ghaith is not accused of involvement in Abu Ghaith. He’s a Muslim. He’s an Arab. He’s announce the second nutrition and health expertise, transferring and benefiting from the 9/11 attacks, but of recruiting personnel for from Kuwait. He’s a husband and a father. Yes conference from March 10-12. the latest medical and technological Al-Qaeda, or what the prosecution called its he’s an imam, a talker. An ideologue. At the end Hamad pointed out the conference will developments in the field of obesity pre- “very lifeblood”. The prosecution also claims he of the day there’s really no evidence,” Cohen be held in Kuwait under the auspices of the vention and treatment. was complicit in the Dec 2001 shoe-bombing said. Minister of Health Ali Al-Obaidi and super- For her part, feeding specialist and plot to bring down an airliner flying from Paris to The first key witness will be 33-year-old Saajid vision of the catering and nutrition services head of the nutrition section Fatima Al- Miami. Badat, a convicted co-conspirator in the shoe- department. The conference aims to Kandari said a number of workshops will bomb plot who will testify by video from London review the latest researches in the field of be held on the sidelines of the confer- ‘Trusted’ Al-Qaeda Insider on Monday. The trial is expected to run for most obesity treatment. She added that medical ence. She called on doctors in primary US prosecutor Nicholas Lewin described Abu of March. It is one of a series of terror cases trans- and nutrition professors and experts from care centers to participate in the confer- Ghaith as a “trusted” Al-Qaeda insider who ferred to New York as Obama has promised to the United Kingdom, Canada and the US ence due to their significant role in reduc- quickly met bin Laden after leaving Kuwait for close down the military prison at Guantanamo will contribute to the conference sessions. ing obesity. — KUNA Afghanistan in spring 2001. He spent the sum- Bay. — AFP FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Niger hands Sarkozy, Bruni Pakistani over fugitive trying to woman on a Gaddafi son block secret mission to to12 Libya tapes15 educate17 kids

SEVASTOPOL: A Russian military ship sails in Sevastopol bay yesterday. Ukraine’s premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk yesterday dubbed as ‘illegitimate’ a request by the local parliament in Crimea to become part of Russia. — AFP Crimea parliament votes to join Russia A dramatic escalation of Ukrainian crisis

SIMFEROPOL: Crimea’s parliament voted to join back to their bases. It was not immediately clear will feel much more comfortable there.” member nor a recognized candidate for mem- Russia yesterday and its Moscow-backed gov- what impact the Crimean moves would have. bership. ernment set a referendum within 10 days on the European Commission President Jose Tension high After meeting European Parliament decision in a dramatic escalation of the crisis Manuel Barroso said in a Twitter message: “We Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov President Martin Schulz, Yatseniuk appealed to over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula. The sud- stand by a united and inclusive #Ukraine.” refused to meet his new Ukrainian counterpart Russia to respond to mediation efforts. The den acceleration of moves to bring Crimea, French President Francois Hollande told or to launch a “contact group” to seek a solution European Commission announced an aid pack- which has an ethnic Russian majority and has reporters on arrival at the summit: “There will be to the crisis at talks in Paris on Wednesday age of up to 11 billion euros ($15 billion) for effectively been seized by Russian forces, for- the strongest possible pressure on Russia to despite arm-twisting by US Secretary of State Ukraine over the next couple of years provided mally under Moscow’s rule came as European begin lowering the tension and in the pressure John Kerry and European colleagues. The two it reaches a deal with the International Monetary Union leaders gathered for an emergency sum- there is, of course, eventual recourse to sanc- men will meet again in Rome yesterday. Tension Fund, entailing painful reforms like ending gas mit to seek ways to pressure Russia to back tions.” The new Ukrainian government has was high in Crimea after a senior United Nations subsidies. Diplomats said that at most, the 28- down and accept mediation. The Crimean par- declared the referendum illegal and opened a envoy was surrounded by a pro-Russian crowd, nation EU would condemn Russia’s so far blood- liament voted unanimously “to enter into the criminal investigation against Crimean Prime threatened and forced to get back on his plane less seizure of the Black Sea province and sus- Russian Federation with the rights of a subject Minister Sergei Askyonov, who was appointed and leave the country on Wednesday. The EU pend talks with Moscow on visa liberalization of the Russian Federation”. The vice premier of by the region’s parliament last week. The summit in Brussels seemed unlikely to adopt and economic cooperation, while threatening Crimea, home to Russia’s Black Sea military base Ukrainian government does not recognise his more than symbolic measures against Europe’s further measures if Putin does not accept medi- in Sevastopol, said a referendum on the status authority or that of the parliament. biggest gas supplier, because neither industrial ation efforts soon. They were expected hold would take place on March 16. A Crimean parliament official said voters will powerhouse Germany nor financial centre back from tougher steps both in hopes of a The announcement, which diplomats said be asked two questions: should Crimea be part Britain is keen to start down that road. diplomatic breakthrough and out of fear of a tit- could not have been made without Russian of the Russian Federation and should Crimea The United States has said it is ready to for-tat trade war with Russia, a major economic President Vladimir Putin’s approval, raised the return to an earlier constitution (1992) that gave impose sanctions such as visa bans, asset freezes partner of Europe. France has a deal to sell war- stakes in the most serious east-west confronta- the region more autonomy? “If there weren’t on individual Russian officials and restrictions on ships to Russia that it is so far not prepared to tion since the end of the Cold War. Far from constant threats from the current illegal business ties within days rather than weeks. cancel, London’s banks have profited from facili- seeking a diplomatic way out, Putin appears to Ukrainian authorities, maybe we would have Russia’s rouble currency weakened further yes- tating Russian investment, and German compa- have chosen to create facts on the ground taken a different path,” deputy parliament terday despite central bank intervention due to nies have $22 billion invested in Russia. Before before the West can agree on more than token speaker Sergei Tsekov told reporters outside the what analysts at VTB Capital called the political the summit, European members of the Group of action against him. EU leaders had been set to parliament building in Crimea’s main city of risk premium. The short, informal EU summit will Eight major economies will meet separately, warn but not sanction Russia over its military Simferopol. “I think there was an annexation of mostly be dedicated to displaying support for diplomats said, in an apparent effort to coordi- intervention after Moscow rebuffed Western Crimea by Ukraine, if we are going to call things Ukraine’s new pro-Western government, repre- nate positions towards Russia, due to host the diplomatic efforts to persuade it to pull forces in by their name. Because of this mood and feeling sented by Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, who next G8 summit in Olympic venue Sochi in Crimea, with a population of about 2 million, we took the decision to join Russia. I think we will attend even though Kiev is neither an EU June.—Reuters

International12 FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Niger hands over fugitive News Gaddafi’s playboy to Libya in brief MERS death toll rises to 62 in Saudi Arabia Saadi - Failed footballer son of slain dictator RIYADH: Saudi health authorities said yesterday a man has died from the MERS coronavirus, bringing the death TRIPOLI: Niger has turned over to Tripoli a son of Libya’s late toll from the respiratory disease in the worst-hit country dictator Muammar Gaddafi after he fled across the desert dur- to 62. The 55-year-old national, who died in Riyadh from ing the 2011 uprising that ended his father’s four-decade rule. the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, was suffering The government said Saadi Gaddafi, who escaped to Niger from “chronic illness,” the health ministry website said. during the revolt that saw rebels capture and kill his father, The ministry also announced a new case in the province was now in Libyan custody. The Tripoli Revolutionaries of Riyadh, bringing the total number of cases in Saudi Brigade, a militia made up of former rebels, released five pho- Arabia to 150 people since the virus first appeared in tographs on Facebook of a disconsolate-looking Saadi wear- September 2012. Experts are struggling to understand ing a blue jumpsuit getting his head and beard shaved. The 40-year-old was pictured kneeling on the floor as his hair was the disease, for which there is no vaccine. A study last removed by a man wielding an electic razor. month said the virus has been “extraordinarily common” Libya’s government said he would be held in accordance in camels for at least 20 years, and may have been with “international standards regarding the treatment of pris- passed directly from the animals to humans. MERS is oners”. A spokesman for the attorney general said Saadi faces considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of several charges, including “crimes to keep his father in power”. the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected Seddik Al-Sour told AFP the charges include involvement in 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died. The World the 2005 murder of a former coach of Tripoli football club Al Health Organization said at the end of February that it Ittihad. He is also accused of “seizing goods by force and has been told of 184 cases of MERS infection worldwide, intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation”. including 80 deaths. Saadi Gaddafi was best known as the head of Libya’s football federation and a player who paid his way into Italy’s top divi- Al-Qaeda executes sion. alleged ‘informer’ When he was 20, he trained with Italian clubs Juventus and ADEN: Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen executed one of Lazio. He was a shareholder in Juventus, and also tried to buy their own yesterday after accusing him of spying for the Lazio in 2002 after the collapse of the Cirio food empire, which United States, a security official said. The man was exe- owned the club. Despite not playing at the level required for cuted by firing squad and his body was displayed at a Italian first class football, he was recruited by Perugia in 2003 football stadium near Shehr in the southeastern for marketing reasons. But he had barely kicked a ball when he Hadramawt province, an Al-Qaeda stronghold, the was suspended after testing positive for nandrolone, an ana- source said. Yemen is the ancestral home of Osama bin bolic steroid. The playboy footballer, born in May 1973, had Laden and the home base of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian been off the radar since fleeing in a convoy to Niger across Peninsula (AQAP), which Washington views as the glob- Libya’s southern desert in September 2011. After hanging up al jihadist network’s most dangerous franchise. When his football boots, Saadi had forged a military career, heading police arrived at the scene, the man was hanging with an elite unit. the Al-Qaeda black and white flag alongside a banner reading: “A US spy in the Arabian Peninsula,” the official Interpol ‘Red Notice’ said. A statement was also found in which AQAP threat- Despite initial setbacks suffered by his father’s forces in the TRIPOLI: A photo released by the Libyan Prison Authority, ened to execute “any intruder who infiltrates among uprising, Saadi vowed that any territory lost would be shows one of the sons of the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Muslims, places chips in their vehicles and their wed- regained “sooner or later”. Interpol had issued a “Red Notice” Saadi Gaddafi, having his head shaved following his extradi- ding convoys and gets them killed in return for a few for Saadi, for “allegedly misappropriating properties through tion from Niger to the Libyan capital Tripoli. —AFP dirhams,” according to the source. “These spies are the force and armed intimidation when he headed the Libyan striking force by which the crusader US enemy reaches Football Federation”. Libya had repeatedly called for Saadi’s International Criminal Court but detained by a militia at Zintan us,” it added. The American military flies drones over extradition from Niger, which had granted him asylum on in western Libya. “humanitarian” grounds, saying it had insufficient guarantees Former Libyan Olympic Committee chief Muhammad and Yemen in support of Sanaa’s campaign against Al- Libya’s new rulers would give him a fair trial. Saadi is subject to Hannibal, who made headlines during scandal-packed Qaeda and has killed dozens of militants in a sharply UN sanctions, including a travel ban and assets freeze. European holidays, are believed still to be in Algeria, as is the intensified campaign in the past year. A US drone strike Three of Gaddafi’s sons were killed in the 2011 uprising, fallen tyrant’s widow Safiya and daughter Aisha. Around 30 in northern Yemen on Wednesday killed four suspected including Mutassim, who was killed by rebels in Sirte on the senior regime officials are believed to have entered Niger at Al-Qaeda members, including one who had fought in same day as his father. Their bodies were later put on public the same time as Saadi, but the authorities in Niamey have not Iraq. display in Misrata, on the coast between Tripoli and Sirte, said how many remain in the country. More than two and a before being buried at a secret location in the desert. Another half years after Gaddafi’s downfall, Libya’s transitional authori- US adds 6 fighters for son, Seif Al-Arab, was killed in a NATO air raid in April 2011, ties have struggled to integrate former rebels into the police NATO Baltics patrols just months before his brother Khamis died in combat in force and army. Security forces are regularly attacked, espe- VILNIUS: The United States will send six additional F-15 August at the height of the revolt. Several key members of the cially in the east, and the presence of rival ex-rebel groups, fighter jets to step up NATO’s air patrols over the Baltic Gaddafi clan survived, however, including the dictator’s erst- heavily armed with weapons looted from Gaddafi’s arsenals, states, mission host Lithuania said as West-Russia ten- while heir apparent Seif Al-Islam, who is wanted by the could yet push Libya into civil war.— AFP sions simmered over Ukraine. “I have had confirmation that the air police missions will be reinforced by six addi- tional F-15 fighters,” Defense Minister Juozas Olekas 20 years on, Rwanda’s reconciliation - step by step said. The move is a response to “Russian aggression in Ukraine and additional military activity in the CYENDAJURU: In the years that followed Habyarimana was shot down over the capi- try, and one promoted heavily by the gov- Kaliningrad region,” Russia’s exclave bordering the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Immaculee tal Kigali, an event that served as the spark ernment of President Paul Kagame, a Tutsi Lithuania and Poland, he said. “We have witnessed Mukankundiye would hear nothing of the for a genocide that had been months in and former rebel leader whose army ended increased military activity in Kaliningrad. Today it is less- word reconciliation. The 56-year-old lost preparation. Over the next 100 days, at the killings. The issue is particularly felt on er than three or four days before,” he added. The jets her husband and three children to Hutu least 800,000 people, the overwhelming a daily basis in rural areas, were victims and will land yesterday at 1140 GMT at the Zokniai Air Base, extremists, who happened to be neighbors majority of them members of the ethnic killers who lived side by side in peace for once the home of Red Army troops near the northern in her village of Cyendajuru near the south- Tutsi minority were murdered-by soldiers, years before the genocide now have to live Lithuanian town of Siauliai, ministry spokesman ern city of Butare. “I thought it would be Hutu extremist militia and even ordinary together again. Genocide survivor Laurent Vaidotas Linkus added. Lithuanian President Dalia impossible to find reconciliation, to forgive people armed with little more than a Sarambu, 57, regularly passes relatives of Grybauskaite told reporters in Brussels that the jets are a my neighbour who killed my children,” she machete. The southern province of Butare the people who killed his two daughters sign that “NATO is responding promptly and fast”. said. But in 2007, she joined the Modeste was home to around a quarter of the small and who also took part in the killings but “Europe still is not able to understand what is happen- and Innocent Association (AMI), a Catholic central African nation’s Tutsis, and for the have been released from prison after serv- ing,” she said. “Russia today is dangerous. Russia today is group set up to promote reconciliation first 15 days of the genocide was largely ing their sentence. “I didn’t want to speak unpredictable.” Since January, four US F-15 fighter jets between victims and killers. untouched. When the killers finally to them or see them, and if I had had the have been assigned for air patrols over Estonia, Latvia Mukankundiye says she has now been able descended on the area, around 200,000 chance I would have even taken revenge,” and Lithuania-three ex-Soviet Baltic states which are to forgive. people were killed. he said. “At first everyone stayed in their members of NATO and but which lack sufficient aircraft On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Twenty years on, the question of recon- corner, but slowly, little by little, some kind to patrol their skies. Rwanda’s Hutu president Juvenal ciliation is still a central issue in the coun- of unity has returned.”—AFP International FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Mombasa’s Musa mosque at Pope very popular in US VATICAN CITY: One year after his election, Pope openness to reforming some Church doctrines heart of Kenya war on terror Francis is “immensely popular among American seems to have raised US Catholics’ expectations of Catholics,” a survey said on Thursday, but there is fundamental changes in coming decades, judging MOMBASA: Branded by Kenyan authorities mosque. There was no recruitment,” no sign of a “Francis effect” inspiring more to by responses to the poll. as an epicenter for the indoctrination and Abubaker Shariff Ahmed, one of the attend Mass or do volunteer work. The The biggest jump concerned allowing the now recruitment of Islamic militants, the Musa mosque’s leaders said. Ahmed is known Washington-based Pew Research Center said 85 celibate clergy to marry. Some 51 percent thought mosque in Mombasa has become a primary more commonly by his nickname percent of Catholics in the United States viewed priests would be able to marry by 2050, compared target of the country’s escalating war on ter- “Makaburi”, or “grave” in Swahili. “The the Argentine-born pontiff favorably, with 51 per- to 39 percent who thought that a year ago. Some ror. But this war is also causing controversy, mosque was filled with undercover police- cent reporting a “very favorable” view of him, while 56 percent expect artificial birth control to be amid allegations of state-sponsored assassi- men, anyway nobody will go and recruit only 4 percent expressed a negative opinion. allowed by 2050, a slight rise from 53 percent last nations, heavy-handed raids and fears that people in an open mosque, where anybody Among Catholics, 68 percent thought he repre- year, and 42 percent expected to see women these tactics could be helping and not hinder- can walk in. Nobody will go and teach peo- sented “a major change for the better,” a view priests, up from 37 percent. “Regardless of their ing radical Islam. ple how to use guns in an open mosque, it shared by 51 percent of the non-Catholics respond- expectations about what the Church will do, large In August 2012, the mosque’s radical doesn’t make sense,” he insisted. “It was not ing to the poll in telephone interviews of 1,340 majorities of Catholics say the Church should allow Imam, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, was gunned a jihadi convention. It was a convention deal- Americans from Feb. 14 to 23. Catholics to use birth control (77 percent), allow down, and in October last year his successor, ing with issues concerning jihad, putting But the poll also found the rock-star status of priests to get married (72 percent) and ordain Sheikh Ibrahim Ismail, met the same fate on a things right on issues about jihad, all the the pope, whose simple style has attracted record women as priests (68 percent),” the survey wrote. road near the steamy port city, again sparking issues discussed there about jihad are in the crowds to the Vatican and won Time magazine’s “Half of Catholics say the Church should recognize riots. For their followers, the two men-long Koran, in the Sunna, and they are not illegal Man of the Year title for 2013, has not clearly trans- the marriages of gay and lesbian couples,” it added. accused of supporting Somalia’s Al-Qaeda- to talk about, in a mosque or anywhere else lated into greater lay participation in the church linked Shebab rebels-were simply murdered in Kenya.” Makaburi denies any links with since his surprise election on March 13, 2013. Some disappointment by Kenyan authorities, an opinion that Shebab, although he was placed on a 2012 “There has been no measurable rise in the percent- These responses were roughly in line with appears to be largely shared by many inde- UN sanctions list naming him as a “leading age of Americans who identify as Catholic,” the sur- results reported in Germany and several other pendent observers, despite government facilitator and recruiter of young Kenyan vey said. “Nor has there been a statistically signifi- European countries last month to a Vatican survey denials. Muslims for violent militant activity in cant change in how often Catholics say they go to on sexual morality being taken for a major synod of Last month the mosque was yet again the Somalia”. Mass.” Forty percent of Catholics said they were world bishops on family policy due in October. scene of another deadly incident, when However, he does support “the implemen- now praying more often and 26 percent were Most national bishops conferences have not pub- armed police launched a massive raid on the tation of Sharia Law anywhere in the world”, “more excited” about their faith, but their frequen- lished their results for the Vatican survey, but the mosque to put an end to what officials said does not hide his admiration for Al-Qaeda cy of going to confession or volunteering at church few reports released in Europe indicated a wide was a “jihadist convention” and Shebab founder and late leader Osama bin Laden, has not changed. gap between Church teaching on sex and the recruitment exercise taking place inside its and accuses Christian-majority Kenya’s “un- views that many Catholics actually hold. white and green walls. Well over 100 people Islamic” leaders of “extrajudicial killings” that Rising expectations Some disappointment rang through in com- were arrested in the raid, with dozens then target those who preach “true Islam”. But “If there has been a ‘Francis effect’, it has been ments on how Francis is doing his job. In his lowest charged with being members of Shebab, support for the Musa mosque among most pronounced among Catholics who already rating, only 54 percent said he was addressing the which is fighting Kenyan forces in southern Mombasa’s Muslim community is not total, were highly committed to the practice of their clerical sexual abuse scandal well. US Catholics rat- Somalia and which claimed responsibility for according to Sheikh Ngao M Ngao Juma, the faith,” the survey concluded. Francis’s 85 percent ed the abuse scandal the most important issue for last year’s carnage at Nairobi’s Westgate chairman of the Kenya Muslims National favorable rating lags behind the 93 percent the late the new pope in a Pew survey in March 2013. By shopping mall. Several people were killed in Advisory Council, or Kemnac. “These clerics Pope John Paul scored in 1990 and 1996. Pope contrast, 81 percent thought he was spreading the the raid, and at least one of those arrested has are doing business. It’s business, human traf- Emeritus Benedict’s rating reached 83 percent in faith well and standing up for traditional moral val- since been reported missing. ficking, slavery. They’re trying to brainwash 2008, just after his only visit to the United States, ues. Some 76 percent credited him with addressing the youths using Koranic verses,” he said. but it was mostly in the 70s. The survey said the needs of the poor. The survey said 22 percent ‘Spate of executions’ “The jihad they are teaching is contrary to the women were slight more favorable to Francis than of Americans identify as Catholics and 40 percent “The invasion of Musa mosque was illegal. meaning of jihad in the Koran. The meaning men and Catholics aged 40 and older were more of them reported they attended Mass weekly or Nothing illegal was happening in that of jihad is distorted.”—AFP likely to have a very favorable view than younger more often. Another 42 percent of self-identified believers who came of age under the more dog- Catholics went to church only occasionally and 18 matic popes John Paul and Benedict. Pope Francis’s percent never. — Reuters

International FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

California gold discovery spurs rush of theories

LOS ANGELES: Word last week that a Northern California at any United States Mint facility,” mint officials said in a David McCarthy, Kagin’s chief numismatist. Another coin, couple found $10 million in gold coins while walking their statement issued Tuesday. dated 1876, was in such pristine condition that it wouldn’t dog has set off a Gold Rush of theories over who left Although Trout acknowledges he can’t prove his theo- have been there either. “It doesn’t have a single marking behind all that loot. One is that Jesse James’ gang deposit- ry, he still thinks he’s right. “There is no real direct proof, on it,” McCarthy said. “That coin couldn’t have sat in a bag ed it in hopes of someday financing a second Civil War. but I am getting more research in on this,” he told The in the San Francisco Mint and looked like that. It would Another postulates that the gold originally belonged to Associated Press by phone Tuesday from Chile, where he have had what we call ‘bag marks’ all over it.” gentleman robber Black Bart, who wrote poetry when he lives part of the year. Dimmick is said to have spirited six As for some of the other theories: The Jesse James one wasn’t sticking up stagecoaches. But the theory gaining sealed bags - each filled with 250 $20 gold pieces - out of fails to account for the fact the Missouri outlaw died 12 the most traction this week is that the hoard is made up of the mint, where he was the chief cashier. The Saddle Ridge years before the last coin was struck and was born the most of the $30,000 in gold coins that Walter Dimmick Hoard contains 1,400 $20 gold pieces, 50 $10 gold pieces year the first one was. Black Bart robbed stages only stole from the US Mint in San Francisco in 1901. The coins and four $5 gold pieces, with a range of dates beginning between 1877 and 1883, when he was caught and sent to were never recovered. in 1847 and extending to 1894. prison. The finders, who have chosen to remain anony- That theory, from fishing guide and amateur coin his- Don Kagin is a rare coin dealer who represents the cou- mous, have their own theory. They’ve done some torian Jack Trout, set off a flurry of calls to the US Mint after ple who stumbled upon the coins, which have a face value research, Kagin said, and believe their property in it was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on of about $28,000. He said the San Francisco Mint heist was California’s Gold Rush country was occupied at the time Monday. The Northern California couple’s coins are called one of the first possibilities he and his staff checked out. by someone in the mining industry. That person must the Saddle Ridge Hoard after the area of the couple’s land Even if the mint had coins on hand covering a span of 47 have squirreled away the coins over time. Why the owner where they were discovered. “We do not have any infor- years, which is unlikely, those in the hoard include some never came back for the coins, well, that’s another mys- mation linking the Saddle Ridge Hoard coins to any thefts so badly worn that they wouldn’t have been there, said tery. — AP

CIA investigates whether officers spied on Senate

WASHINGTON: The CIA is investigating whether its officers improperly monitored members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which oversees the intelligence agency, US officials said Wednesday. The CIA inspector general is looking into the circum- stances surrounding the committee’s investigation into allegations of CIA abuse in a Bush-era detention and interrogation program, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D- Calif, told reporters. The allegations include whether CIA officers improperly monitored Senate investigators and possibly accessed the computers they were using, two officials familiar with the inves- tigation said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly. The allegations come at a time when the Obama administration is trying to regain public trust after classified details about widespread sur- PARIS: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy leave a cinema. — AFP veillance of Americans were disclosed by a former National Security Agency systems analyst. The most recent allegations do not involve the NSA spying on Americans. But they do raise questions about the Sarkozy, Bruni trying fundamental oversight of US spy agencies by Congress and whether there were efforts to thwart it. The allegations were first reported by McClatchy Newspapers and The New York Times. At issue is whether the CIA violated an to block secret tapes agreement made with the Senate Intelligence Committee about monitoring the committee’s use of CIA computers, according to McClatchy’s account. The CIA provided the computers to congres- Tapes could contain compromising ‘smoking gun’ sional staffers in a secure room at its headquarters so that the com- mittee could review millions of pages of top secret documents in PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni yesterday launched Sarkozy is also revealed to have been rude about some of his minis- the course of its investigation into the CIA’s use of torture during a legal bid to prevent any further publication of tapes secretly ters. the Bush administration, it said. recorded during his 2007-12 term as French president. In a move The CIA declined to comment. The Justice Department would that will inevitably fuel speculation the tapes could contain a seri- Comeback ambitions neither confirm nor deny that the CIA inspector general referred the ously compromising “smoking gun”, lawyers for Sarkozy said they But that will hardly have come as a surprise to French voters giv- allegations to the Justice Department for investigation. The topic of would be filing a request with a Paris court for an emergency en his reputation for volcanic eruptions. Overall, nothing has the CIA’s compliance with a law used to prosecute computer break- injunction against further distribution or publication. emerged so far that is likely to derail his plan to return to frontline ins was recently raised without any context during a January Senate The tapes are thought to contain hundreds of hours of Sarkozy’s politics in time for the 2017 presidential election. The decision to Intelligence Committee hearing. “Does the Federal Computer Fraud private conversations with Bruni and close aides. They were record- launch legal action will however inevitably fuel speculation that the and Abuse Act apply to the CIA? Seems to me that’s a yes or no ed by a political advisor, Patrick Buisson, without the couple’s tapes contain something more serious that could prove fatal for his question,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked CIA Director John knowledge. Some extracts-without any really explosive content- comeback ambitions. Buisson, 64, is a former historian and journal- Brennan.Brennan did not have an immediate response. But in a Feb have already been published, by satirical weekly Le Canard ist and a self-styled royalist with links to the far right. He was 3 letter to Wyden, Brennan said the agency is indeed bound by that Enchaine and news website Atlantico. The revelation of what blamed by many in Sarkozy’s UMP party for pushing his boss too law. Brennan also said that the law does not prohibit hacking in the Buisson was doing whilst working as a close confidante of the cen- far to the right, particularly on issues of crime, race and immigra- course of a lawful investigation. It would be extraordinary, however, tre-right president has sent shockwaves through the French politi- tion, making the president appear as a divisive rather than a unify- for the CIA to assert that it was itself conducting a lawful investiga- cal class. Lawmakers across the political spectrum have denounced ing figure. That shift in the latter years of Sarkozy’s term is credited tion of the Senate Intelligence Committee, since the Justice what they have described as an unprecedented act of treachery by many analysts as being a key factor in his defeat by the Socialist Department traditionally handles investigations of members of and, in some cases, a potential threat to national security. Party’s Francois Hollande in the 2012 presidential election. Buisson Congress. In a statement to AFP, Sarkozy’s lawyers said the former presi- is currently being investigated by an examining magistrate over Wyden is known for his informed questioning of senior mem- dent and his supermodel wife had no option but to take legal suspicions that his company was illegally awarded lucrative con- bers of the intelligence committee during public hearings. His ques- action. “The protection of private and secret conversations consti- tracts for carrying out opinion polls by Sarkozy’s office. tions in March of last year about whether the NSA collects data on tutes one of the foundations of a democratic society and they can- The initial legal action over the tapes is restricted to preventing millions of Americans offered hints that were later confirmed not accept comments made in private being recorded and pub- their further diffusion or publication. But criminal proceedings through disclosures made by former NSA systems analyst Edward lished without their consent,” the lawyers said. The taped conversa- could follow and the offences allegedly committed carry a maxi- Snowden. Sen Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary tions which have been made public so far contain some slightly mum penalty of one year in prison and a 45,000 euro ($61,000) fine. Committee, said he was concerned that the CIA may have inappro- embarrassing material. Bruni is heard joking about Sarkozy being a Buisson has confirmed that he made the tapes but insists he did so priately accessed computers used by Senate investigators. “These kept man and teasing him that her status as first lady has prevent- purely to help him in his work. His lawyers say most of the record- allegations have serious constitutional implications that go to the ed her from signing lucrative deals to promote wrinkle-creams, ings were destroyed and those that survived and have now been heart of the separation of powers,” Leahy said Wednesday.—AP unlike actresses Julianne Moore, Julia Roberts and Sharon Stone. made public must have been stolen. —AFP International FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Trafficking abuse of Rohingya spreads to Malaysia Some Thai officials collaborating with traffickers

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Human traffickers have kept hundreds of Abdul Hamid, a 23-year-old motorbike mechanic from Border chaos Rohingya Muslims captive in houses in northern Malaysia, Sittwe, in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, recalled similar conditions The surge of Rohingya trafficking activity in Malaysia fol- beating them, depriving them of food, and demanding a ran- at the compound where he was imprisoned for a week with lowed a series of raids to harass human smugglers and drive som from their families, according to detailed accounts by the more than 200 others in Penang. About 16 guards kept watch them from illegal camps dotted across remote areas of victims. The accounts given to Reuters suggest that trafficking over them in two shifts. The traffickers’ boss, a man in his 30s southern Thailand. In two raids in January, Thai police res- gangs are shifting their operations into Malaysia as Thai known as “Razak” who wore a suit and steel-rimmed specta- cued and detained more than 600 Rohingya and authorities crack down on jungle camps near the border that cles, regularly kicked, beat and threatened the cowering pris- Bangladeshis. Abdul Hamid and several other witnesses have become a prison for the Muslim asylum seekers fleeing oners, Hamid said. “They said we don’t have money to give described chaotic scenes on the Thai side of the border in persecution in Myanmar. you food. You need to get money if you want to be free,” recent weeks as their captors moved them from camp to Police in the northern Malaysian states of Penang and Hamid told Reuters in Kuala Lumpur following his release in camp and hurried them over the border before they had Kedah have conducted several raids on the houses in recent mid-February. time to secure payments from their relatives. “The guards months, including an operation in February that discovered Malaysia, a labor-short country with an estimated two mil- said the police would come and drop a bomb on the camp four Rohingya men bound together with metal chains in an lion undocumented workers that offers higher wages than its and that we had to move into Malaysia,” Hamid said. apartment. But Reuters’ interviews reveal a trafficking network on a far bigger scale than authorities have acknowledged so far, with brokers herding groups of hundreds of Rohingya at night over the border and holding them captive in the Southeast Asian country. The abuse in Malaysia is the latest oppression against the Rohingya. They are mostly stateless Muslims from western Myanmar, where clashes with majority Buddhists since the middle of 2012 have killed hundreds and forced about 140,000 into squalid camps. Many of the tens of thousands of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar by boat have fallen into the hands of human traffickers at sea who then hold them hostage in remote Thai camps near the border with Malaysia until rela- tives pay thousands of dollars to release them, according to a Reuters investigation published on Dec 5. Some were beaten and killed, others held in cages where they suffered malnutrition. The Reuters investigation found Thai authorities were sometimes working with the traffickers in an effort to push the Rohingyas out of Thailand because immigration detention camps were getting overwhelmed with asylum-seekers. In January, Thai police said they rescued hundreds of Rohingya Muslims from a remote camp in south- ern Thailand, a raid they said was prompted by the Reuters investigation, and had launched a manhunt for the “kingpins” who routinely smuggle humans through southern Thailand to Malaysia with impunity. The intensified trafficking of Rohingyas into Muslim-majori- ty Malaysia threatens to undermine its anti-human-trafficking record, which is at imminent risk of being downgraded by the United States to a par with North Korea. It also highlights the porous state of Malaysia’s 500 km-long northern border, with thousands of Rohingya entering unhindered at a time when the government has taken a tough public stance against ille- gal immigration. For the desperate Rohingya, Malaysia is the promised land, where at least 30,000 already live. The country does not give them full refugee rights, but has allowed them to stay and register with the United Nations. Thousands have picked up work at the bottom rungs of the informal economy. SITTWE: Vendors wait for customers at Sittwe market, Rakhine state western Myanmar. The impoverished state has been left scarred and deeply divided by widespread communal violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims that sparked in 2012 ‘Now we don’t have land’ and left 140,000 people displaced, mainly Rohingya Muslims. — AFP Mohamed Einous, a 19-year-old Rohingya from Buthidaung township, felt relief sweep over him as he scrambled over a neighbors, has long struggled with a reputation as a haven for Increasingly overcrowded and deadly conditions in the border wall in a group of 270 refugees in mid-February, about human trafficking. Like Thailand, Malaysia is at risk of being makeshift jungle camps in Thailand could be another reason a month after he left Myanmar. The crossing took place at downgraded in the US State Department’s annual Trafficking for the shift of operations into Malaysia. “We couldn’t get night using two ladders supplied by his captors. “I believed I in Persons report from the Tier Two watchlist to the lowest enough food or water. People were dying with terrible pains could make money here,” Einous said. His hope of freedom rank of Tier Three. The scale of the problem appears to have in their body,” said Eisoup, a 20-year-old from Sittwe, who was short-lived. Handed to a new gang of brokers on the surged in recent months. “It is definitely increasing,” said Chris estimates that 45 people died in 15 days at his camp in Malaysia side of the border, the Rohingya were packed into Lewa, coordinator of Rohingya advocacy group Arakan January. Many of those involved in Rohingya trafficking are vans and driven to a house with blacked-out windows the traf- Project, who regularly interviews those who make the journey. Rohingya themselves, according to Reuters’ interviews and fickers said was in the border town of Padang Besar. “In more and more stories I have heard recently they the Arakan Project’s Lewa. Once there, the brokers beat Einous with long wooden (Rohingya) have been detained in Malaysia.” Mohamed Aslom’s arms bear cuts and burn marks from sticks and threatened to kill him if he did not secure a pay- Several of the 10 witnesses cited the brokers as telling where he says cigarettes were stubbed out on him by ment of $2,000 from his parents in Myanmar. Distraught at them they had bribed Malaysian immigration officials to turn a Rohingya brokers during seven days he spent in captivity in Einous’ cries over the telephone, his parents sold their family blind eye when they crossed the border. Reuters found no a locked, dark room in Penang with about 20 other victims. home for $1,600 and borrowed the rest from relatives, Einous direct evidence of corruption by Malaysian officials. Five immi- The 21-year-old former shopkeeper said he was then sold to said. “There are no words to express how sorry I feel,” Einous gration officials were arrested in 2009 for working with a another group of brokers who drove him and three others told Reuters on Feb. 21, just hours after the brokers dumped smuggling syndicate to traffic Rohingya into the country. “We across Malaysia to the east coast town of Kuantan, where him near a market in the town of Bukit Mertajam in Penang, didn’t see any officials on the Malaysia side,” said Korimullah, a the torture continued for four days in a three-storey house. ending his eight-day nightmare in the house. “Now we don’t 17-year-old from Maungdaw township, who spent more than Finally, he saw a chance to escape. When one of his captors have land. My parents have nowhere to live.” Einous said the three months in Thai camps and was then held by traffickers went to the toilet, he said he rushed the remaining one and brokers in Thailand had told him he could pay a much smaller in a house in the northern Malaysian city of Alor Star. “The bro- bolted into the street. “It feels worse when those from amount (“whatever I wanted”) to be released once in Malaysia. kers said they had already given money to them.” Officials Rakhine (state) hurt us - they are our own people,” said He said the refugees only received rice once a day in the from Malaysia’s immigration department, the prime minister’s Aslom, speaking in Kuala Lumpur days after his brother house and were packed so tightly into two rooms that they office, and police in Penang and Kedah states did not respond picked him up from Kuantan. couldn’t lie down. to requests for comment. — Reuters 17 International FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Malaysia’s Anwar back 60 Indian students to in court over sodomy face sedition charges PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian opposition leader reporters. Government lawyer Shafee Abdullah Students accused of cheering Anwar Ibrahim returned to court yesterday for a said a lower court judge had erred in freeing government appeal against his sodomy acquit- Anwar. “The appeal has got to be allowed. The Pakistan’s victory over India tal, putting at risk his bid to contest an impor- respondent must be found guilty,” he told the LUCKNOW: Some 60 students from Indian- They have fought two wars since 1947 over the tant state by-election. The 66-year-old veteran court. The defense has unsuccessfully sought to administered Kashmir may face sedition northern Himalayan territory. Since 1989 politician, who was cleared in 2012 of having disqualify Shafee and maintains that DNA evi- charges for cheering Pakistan’s victory over Indian forces have been fighting militant sex with a young male former aide, slammed dence was compromised. In his earlier ruling, a India in a recent cricket match, police said yes- groups seeking independence or the merger the appeal, saying it was a political ploy to tar- Kuala Lumpur High Court judge said controver- terday. Police were investigating the students of the territory with Pakistan, with repressive nish his image in the conservative Muslim- sial DNA evidence submitted by the prosecu- following a complaint from university officials policing and human rights abuses feeding into majority nation. tion was unreliable. Mohamad Saiful Bukhari in the northern city of Meerut over celebra- local anti-India resentment. “There is absolutely no case for them. This is Azlan accused Anwar in 2008 of having had sex tions following Pakistan’s win on Sunday in an Many Kashmiris associate more with clearly seen to be political,” Anwar told AFP in with him. Asia Cup clash. The students, all enrolled at the Pakistan, a Muslim-majority Islamic republic, the packed Court of Appeal in the country’s Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia and punishable Swami Vivekananda Subharti University than with Hindu-majority India which is offi- administrative capital of Putrajaya. A rights by up to 20 years in jail. Anwar has denied the (SVSU), have been suspended and were escort- cially secular. Indian Kashmir chief minister group described the government appeal as a charges as a political ploy intended to send him ed from campus following the match due to Omar Abdullah said any sedition charges “travesty of justice.” Anwar plans to contest a to jail and damage his reputation after opposi- concerns about violence with other Indian stu- would be “unacceptably harsh.” “Sedition seat in the central state of Selangor surround- tion gains in 2008 elections. It is not the first dents, university sources said. “The SVSU charge against Kashmiri students is an unac- ing the capital on March 23. He is expected to time the former deputy premier has faced administration on Wednesday submitted a ceptably harsh punishment that will ruin their win and subsequently take over the powerful sodomy charges. In 1998 he was sacked from written complaint against unknown persons futures & will further alienate them,” Abdullah post of state chief minister, in an attempt to the number two post in the ruling party by then- for indulging in anti-national activities and cre- said on Twitter. “I believe what the students boost his political career and restore unity in his ruling strongman Mahathir Mohamad, and jailed ating a ruckus on the university campus,” did was wrong & misguided but they certainly party. But his lawyer Karpal Singh said any on sodomy and corruption charges. The Meerut police chief Omkar Singh told AFP. didn’t deserve to have charges of sedition Appeals Court conviction before the state elec- sodomy charge was later overturned, and he was “We have registered a case and the probe is slapped against them.” Pakistan’s foreign tion would bar him from running for the seat. released from prison in 2004 to take over the on,” Singh explained. “If evidence is estab- office spokesman said sedition charges A verdict is however unlikely before March opposition, posing the first real challenge to the lished against the accused, there is a set legal against the students would be “very unfortu- 23. If the court finds Anwar guilty after the by- Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition which procedure to be followed in such cases. The nate.” “If the Kashmiri students want to come election, it will not immediately affect his posi- has ruled since independence in 1957. In elec- law will take its own course,” he said, adding and pursue their education in Pakistan, our tion until the highest court rules on the case. “I tions in May last year, the opposition lost again. It that any charges would be ones of sedition. hearts and academic institutions are open to hope the judiciary will maintain its independ- alleged that fraud in marginal seats swayed the Muslim-majority Kashmir is divided between them,” Tasnim Aslam told reporters in ence (to uphold the acquittal),” Anwar told result and cost it an historic victory. — AFP India and Pakistan but each claims it in full. Islamabad.— AFP

Pakistani woman on a mission to educate children KARACHI: Humaira Bachal knows first- ties, Bachal’s family didn’t want to edu- hand how lack of education hurts her cate their daughter. She finished primary community. She had a cousin that died school, but her father forbade her to con- because his mother couldn’t read the tinue, preferring his eldest daughter get expiration date on a bottle of medicine. married. She knows women in her neighborhood With her mother’s help she studied in who died giving birth at home because secret, hiding her school uniform and their families didn’t know to send them to books at a friend’s house. This went on for the hospital. “These things are breaking nine months until a day of reckoning she my heart and every time I am raising the remembers as one of the most important question ‘Why are people doing this?’” of her life. She was preparing to go to said the 26-year-old Bachal. “Maybe when school for a test, but her father came my people are educated these problems home early and questioned where she would be reduced.” was going. When he discovered she had So at the age of 13, she began teach- been secretly going to school, he was ing other girls what she learned in school. livid and slapped her cheek. A showdown Those classes at home between friends ensued between her parents with her grew into her life’s work - bringing educa- father beating her mother and her moth- tion to children in the working-class er defiantly telling Bachal to go to school. Muwach Goth neighborhood on the out- “I just ran from the house and went to the skirts of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, school and did my exams. I was worried where families often keep their girls out about my father beating my mother. I of school and where even boys struggle didn’t know what was happening in my KARACHI: Pakistani students gather around Humaira Bachal, the founder of a to get decent learning. Through hard home,” she said. charity school as she teaches them in a classroom in Karachi, Pakistan. —AP work and a sweet-but-stubborn attitude, Eventually her father agreed to let her Bachal has gone from a teenager who hid continue her education as long as she had joined as teachers into a rented dents at Bachal’s school and their parents her schoolbooks from her father, who married whomever he chose. She has yet building. At the same time, she lobbied say she personally visited their families to opposed her education, to running a to marry but she certainly pursued her families in her neighborhood to send convince them. And many of the mothers foundation that teaches 1,200 boys and studies. She graduated from high school, their children to school although the are sending their daughters there over girls at her Dream Model Street School. got a bachelor’s degree, is studying for reception wasn’t always great. She said the opposition of the men in their fami- Hers is a story about the power of one her master’s, and learned English. Her local elders asked her family to move, say- lies. woman to change not only her own dedication draws comparisons to 16-year- ing they weren’t a good influence. “I thought it might be God’s help that future but the future of people around old Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girls’ The owner of the building she was she came to the door,” said Salma Haji, a her - even in a society like Pakistan where education proponent who survived being renting tried to lock them out once. So teacher who volunteered to help at the entrenched rules restrict women’s ability shot in the head by a Taleban gunman in they held classes in the street in front of school after Bachal visited her home and to affect change. 2012. Bachal said she hasn’t faced any the building until he relented. “The com- who takes teacher training courses with With help from domestic and interna- violence, just stiff resistance from com- munity is made up of laborers and people the foundation. One parent, Ashraf tional donations - Madonna has given munity elders. who are non-skilled workers. So she’s had Khattoon, said her father and uncle taunt money - the foundation is building a new She started out at 13, with help from to convince them why education is her for getting her daughters an educa- 18-room home for the school, which has her younger sister Tahira, with a important to begin with,” said Academy tion, insisting instead they should marry. grown to 33 teachers. It will be a massive makeshift classroom in her house, teach- Award-winning Pakistani filmmaker But Khattoon wants her daughters to be improvement from their current site, a ing about 10 of her girlfriends who were Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who’s made a “civilized” and “not like me, I am illiterate.” rented one-level, cinder-block building not able to go to school. Within two film about Bachal’s school. “Here are peo- Bachal’s sister Tahira, who is studying where curtains divide the classrooms. years, she had moved her now-150 stu- ple who have 8 or 10 children, and they accounting, is the principal of the Dream Like many in Pakistan’s poor communi- dents, Tahira and three other girls who want their children to work.” Many stu- Model Street School. —AP 18 International FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Karzai’s brother withdraws from Afghan election KABUL: The brother of President now on, both teams will fight for victo- Hamid Karzai yesterday dropped out of ry... and I’m sure with the blessing of Afghanistan’s election and endorsed God, and the support of the people, we former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul, will win.” an announcement widely seen as sig- President Karzai, who is constitu- naling the current leader’s preferred tionally barred from standing again successor. The first major move in the after serving two terms, has pledged election campaign before voting on not to publicly endorse any candidate April 5 came as a US air strike in the in the elections. But his brother’s sup- east of the country accidentally killed port for Rassoul is likely to be taken as a five Afghan soldiers. Relations between signal that Rassoul is the president’s the US and Afghanistan have become choice. One senior diplomat told AFP severely strained as NATO combat that Rassoul’s campaign was being troops prepare to withdraw by the end “propelled” by the palace. Qayum of this year, and the latest “friendly fire” Karzai’s withdrawal leaves 10 candi- incident is set to worsen ties further dates in the race, including opposition ahead of the election. leader Abdullah Abdullah, who came The new president will face a testing second in the chaotic and fraud-riddled term in office as the final 55,000 NATO 2009 election, and former finance min- troops exit and the Afghan army and ister Ashraf Ghani. police are left to fight the Taleban The NATO combat mission in insurgency alone, 13 years after the Afghanistan ends in December, KABUL: An Afghan supporter of presidential candidate and former Islamist Islamists were ousted from power. “I though a small number of US troops warlord Abdul Rasul Sayyaf takes a photograph with a smart phone during and my team, we consider ourselves as may stay on for training and counter- an election rally in Kabul yesterday. — AFP a key part of this new alliance and terrorism operations if a long-delayed declare my support for Doctor Zalmai security deal is signed with dition, despite billions of dollars of mil- of public disputes, with President Rassoul,” Qayum Karzai told a press Washington. More than a decade after itary and development aid pouring Karzai launching regular verbal conference. Rassoul, a softly-spoken the fall of the Taleban in 2001, into the country. Afghanistan and assaults against Washington as the loyalist of Hamid Karzai, said: “From Afghanistan remains in a parlous con- United States have engaged in a series NATO withdrawal gathers pace.—AFP NATO air strike kills US seeks talks, trade five Afghan soldiers to rebuild India ties PULI ALAM: A NATO air strike in eastern Afghanistan accidentally killed five Afghan soldiers yesterday, officials said, the latest incident likely to worsen already fraught relations between Kabul and the US-led coalition. NATO offered its condolences over India key focus of Obama’s the deaths and promised action to avoid further such mistakes, while President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman said an investigation had been launched into the attack. ‘rebalancing’ towards Asia Karzai, who is currently on a state visit to Sri Lanka, has often used botched air strikes in the past to launch bitter criticism of the international military effort in Afghanistan. NEW DELHI: The United States a trillion dollars. That is roughly operating under licence in India Civilian casualties have been one of the most sensitive issues of the war and a key sought yesterday to rebuild the size of last year’s US trade are producing for the home mar- reason cited by Karzai for not signing a deal that would allow several thousand US rocky ties with India, while stress- deficit. Relations have remained ket but also undercutting them troops to stay in Afghanistan after this year. “At 3:30am this morning, due to a NATO ing it would tackle differences fraught, however, with India’s with cheap exports whose quali- air strike in Charkh district, Logar province, five service members of the Afghan “head on” in pursuit of its drive trade minister accusing ty has been called into question. national army were martyred and eight others were wounded,” defence ministry to quintuple bilateral trade in a Washington of “very high and The Indian government was spokesman Zahir Azimi said on his Twitter account. Khalilullah Kamal, the Charkh dis- decade. Rows over drug patents, unacceptable protectionism” on forced yesterday to issue a rebut- trict governor, told AFP he had visited the site of the attack, which he said was from a US drone. “The post is totally destroyed,” he said. “The Americans used to be in that solar panels and software piracy the day that Biswal arrived in the tal of what it called “factually post but since they left, the ANA (Afghan national army) took over. The post is on a have blighted relations of late, country. The ruling Congress par- incorrect and largely unsubstan- hilltop. The attack was conducted by drones.” amid heated exchanges over the ty government does not want to tiated reports” in the Indian and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) issued a statement confirm- arrest and strip search in New be seen as bowing to US pres- foreign media that cast into ing that at least five Afghan soldiers had been killed accidentally. “An investigation is York last December of an Indian sure on trade ahead of a general question the quality of its drugs being conducted at this time to determine the circumstances that led to this unfortu- diplomat who was suspected of election that starts on April 7 and regulator. The Economic Times, nate incident,” it said. “Our condolences go out to the families of the ANA soldiers visa fraud. That spat forced a trip that, according to opinion polls, an Indian daily, further highlight- who lost their lives and were wounded... we will determine what actions will be taken to India by Assistant Secretary of it is likely to lose. ed differences by reporting that to ensure incidents like this do not happen again.” Karzai, who is due to stand down State Nisha Biswal, Washington’s the government wanted the after a presidential election on April 5, in an interview this week expressed his point person for South Asia, to Drug drama United States to review a whistle- “extreme anger” at the United States as it prepares to end its 13-year war in his coun- be rescheduled. Visiting New Biswal, in her speech, said that blower policy that, it believes, try. Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said that Karzai had spoken to the defence Delhi after a two-month delay, India’s use of domestic content creates an incentive for drug minister about Thursday’s early morning attack. “It was not a joint operation and no she focused on finding ways to requirements was hitting inward company managers to denounce air support or no air strike was asked by Afghan security forces,” Faizi told AFP. “NATO agree. investment, inhibiting innova- employers. No comment was has to bring clarity about this incident.” “Like any trading partners, we tion and holding the country immediately available from the Accidental casualties stir anger do have our differences, but the back. The issues of tax trans- government on the report. Last NATO’s vast fleet of fighter jets, attack helicopters, unmanned drones and trans- willingness to talk about them parency, regulatory approvals for year, Ranbaxy pleaded guilty to port aircraft have supported ground troops in operations against the Taleban. But indicates that we are indeed con- projects, contract enforcement US felony charges of shoddy while air strikes have been an important weapon in the fight against the insurgents, fident, mature partners,” Biswal and the protection of intellectual manufacturing practices and data they have also proved hugely controversial since they have led to numerous civilian said in a speech to an invited property needed to be tackled. falsification and agreed to pay deaths. In January the president, who has ruled since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, audience. President Barack “We are addressing these con- $500 million in civil and criminal accused the United States of killing seven children and a woman in an air strike in Obama wants to bring about a cerns head on, as good partners fines, after a former Ranbaxy central Afghanistan. strategic “rebalancing” towards do,” she said. “The solution here executive blew the whistle on the Late last year Karzai made a surprise decision not to promptly sign the bilateral Asia and expand trade with the is to talk and to trade.” company. The former executive, security agreement (BSA) with the United States, leading to the threat of a complete region of more than 4 billion India worries that strong Dinesh Thakur, received $48.6 withdrawal of NATO troops by the end of 2014. The BSA would see 8-12,000 US people that Washington believes enforcement of patent protec- million as the whistleblower in troops remain in Afghanistan to provide training and assistance in the battle against could account for half of global tion on proprietary medicines the case. “There is probably a lot the Taleban after the NATO combat mission ends in December. Signing the agree- economic output by 2050. will deprive its 1.2 billion people, of speculation that doesn’t help ment is also a precondition for the delivery of billions of dollars in Western aid. Vice President Joseph Biden, many of them poor, from access the situation,” Biswal said in Afghanistan’s army and police have developed rapidly in the past four years, but the on a visit to India last year, called to life-saving treatment. US drug answer to a question on differ- country risks slipping into turmoil without foreign assistance if Islamist militias and for bilateral trade to grow five- companies, meanwhile, are con- ences over regulation of the warlords vie for power.—AFP fold over the next 10 years to half cerned that generic drug makers drugs sector.— Reuters Business

FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Bitcoin exchange’s CEO S Africa hit by power cuts found dead in Singapore PAGE 20 Page 21

GENEVA: A Mc Laren 650 S is displayed at the British carmaker’s booth during the press day of the Geneva Motor Show.— AFP Gulf’s rift over Qatar may slow investment Joint economic policies, projects may flounder

DUBAI: A diplomatic split between Qatar and Politics domestic product, in the fiscal year to last Saudi market of about 30 million people. its wealthy Gulf neighbors may disrupt billions The Gulf countries’ decision to withdraw March. That means it can import the food, of dollars of investment in the region and slow their ambassadors was unprecedented in the technology and labor it needs from south Asia, Vulnerable efforts to make economies more efficient three-decade history of the six-nation Gulf Europe and elsewhere. Because Gulf countries If tensions eventually escalate into eco- through trade and transport reforms. Qatar’s Cooperation Council (GCC), and stemmed are focused on energy exports, they have rela- nomic sanctions, the single biggest point of vast natural gas wealth means the tiny coun- from deep resentment among Qatar’s neigh- tively few economic links between them, not- vulnerability for the Gulf would probably be try, with a population of about 2.1 million, bors about policies such as Doha’s support of ed Farouk Soussa, chief economist for the the Dolphin Energy pipeline carrying about 2 could probably continue operating indefinite- Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood. region at Citigroup. He said non-energy trade billion cubic feet of gas per day from Qatar to ly despite the displeasure of Saudi Arabia, the There was no sign of any economic sanctions between Qatar and the three other countries the UAE and Oman. Soussa at Citigroup said United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. being imposed, and some officials and busi- was only about 1 percent of total Qatari trade. he did not expect the gas supply to be used as But its growth may slow if its trade and nessmen in the region predicted governments But there would be some financial conse- an economic weapon, but it was a potentially investment ties with the big Gulf Arab would keep business separate from politics. quences from a prolonged period of diplomat- major one. Analysts estimate the gas flow rep- economies are scaled back. All the economies “The countries in our region do not involve ic tensions. Citizens of the Gulf Arab countries resents about 5 percent of total Qatari exports in the region could suffer in the long term if politics and business,” Akbar Al-Baker, chief are active investors in each other’s stock mar- and some 30 percent of the UAE’s gas needs. diplomatic tensions stall projects such as con- executive of state-owned Qatar Airways, told kets; these fund flows could start to pull back. “If anything were to happen to the pipeline, struction of a Gulf railway network and devel- reporters in Berlin. Economics does tend to be Analysts estimate non-Qatari GCC nationals it would be a difficult situation to manage on opment of a free-trade area. That could also shaped by politics in the Middle East, however, may own 5 to 10 percent of Qatar’s stock mar- both sides but mainly on the UAE side,” Soussa deprive foreign companies of billions of dol- partly because many top companies are state- ket, which has a capitalization of about $175 said. Qatar also has energy ties to the rest of lars worth of construction projects. controlled and Gulf governments have billion. The main Qatar stock index fell 2.1 per- the Gulf through OPEC, where it has tradition- Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain said on become used to using their oil wealth as a cent on Wednesday as news of the diplomatic ally supported Saudi Arabia’s policies as the Wednesday they were withdrawing their diplomatic tool. dispute emerged. dominant producer in the oil cartel. ambassadors from Qatar because Doha had Egypt has experienced this in the last few Nasser Saidi, president of Dubai consulting Self-interest may well prevent energy poli- failed to implement an agreement among Gulf years; it was shunned by Saudi and UAE busi- firm Nasser Saidi & Associates, noted that cy from becoming embroiled in the diplomatic Arab countries not to interfere in each others’ nesses under Islamist President Mohamed Qatar was a large investor in the UAE’s boom- dispute. “All gas projects and OPEC oil-related internal affairs. John Sfakianakis, chief invest- Morsi, but those states have given billions of ing real estate market, which could lose that relations with the GCC will not be affected,” a ment strategist at MASIC, a Riyadh-based dollars of aid to Cairo since Morsi was deposed source of funds if the dispute were prolonged. source at state energy giant Qatar Petroleum investment firm, said the diplomatic dispute last year, causing investment to resume. As Some big Qatari firms such as Qatar National said. Other joint initiatives between Qatar and would not immediately affect business in the the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural Bank are keen to expand in the Gulf, escaping its Gulf neighbors - some of them important Gulf but there would be an impact in the com- gas, Qatar is so rich that it does not need trade the limitations of their small home market, ing months and years if tensions did not ease. and investment from the rest of the Gulf for its and they could find that more difficult in for the countries’ efforts to create more private “Less investments, less capital transfers, fewer economic wellbeing, as long as it can continue future. Qatar Airways is set to start flying sector jobs and diversify their economies joint ventures, more negativity about Qatar” selling its gas to international markets. domestic routes in Saudi Arabia in the third beyond oil - could stall, however. This could may be the result if the country becomes iso- The government’s budget surplus was quarter of this year, after being one of just two deprive foreign firms of billions of dollars lated from the region, he said. $27.3 billion, or a huge 14.2 percent of gross foreign carriers awarded rights to service the worth of construction contracts.— Reuters 20 Business FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Qatar rebounds after govt commits to GCC security Weak Global Telecom Q4 pulls down Egypt DUBAI: Qatar’s stock market bounced back yesterday, leading ening the security and stability of the GCC” - an apparent ref- yesterday in its biggest one-day gain for six months. gains in a mostly upbeat Gulf region after the Qatari govern- erence to Qatar’s support of Islamist figures. “It’s too early to tell what the medium to long-term impact ment appeared conciliatory in its diplomatic dispute with But Doha responded by pledging its commitment to will be, but today is a reversal of the knee-jerk reaction to yes- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Those regional security policies and saying it would not withdraw its terday’s news,” said Amer Khan, senior executive officer at three countries decided to withdraw their ambassadors from own ambassadors, fuelling hopes that the dispute could be Shuaa Asset Management. “Historically, disagreements like Doha on Wednesday, saying Qatar had failed to honor a Gulf resolved. Qatar’s stock market, which fell 2.1 percent on these did not get publicized and this was a departure from Cooperation Council agreement not to back “anyone threat- Wednesday because of the dispute, rebounded 2.3 percent that.” Many analysts believe an escalation to the point where the GCC’s integrity is threatened, or where economic sanctions are imposed, is unlikely. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s bourse rose 1.0 percent to a near six-year high as banking and retail sector shares climbed. Trading volume on Wednesday was the highest since May 2012, and it remained high yesterday. Dubai’s measure also rebounded, rising 1.3 percent after slipping 0.5 percent in the previous session. However, it stayed in the range of the last three weeks and appears to have entered a consolidation phase after spectacular gains since the end of 2012. Volume this week was the lowest since early November, another sign of waning upward momentum. In Abu Dhabi, First Gulf Bank fell 4.2 percent as it went ex-divi- dend; the wider market slipped 0.8 percent.

Egypt In Egypt, weak earnings triggered profit-taking, taking the benchmark index down 0.9 percent to 7,950 points. The index has struggled to break decisively above psychological resist- ance at 8,000 points since rising above it on Feb. 23 for the first time in more than five years. Global Telecom, the Egypt- based group formerly called Orascom Telecom, fell 2.9 per- cent after its fourth-quarter net loss widened 59 percent. The firm took a multi-million dollar impairment charge on its Canadian business following the latter’s withdrawal from a 4G spectrum auction. “Global weighed on the market and it trig- gered profit-taking across the board, and the market couldn’t sustain above the 8,000 level,” said Mohamed Radwan, direc- tor of international sales at Pharos Securities. — Reuters S Africa hit by power cuts

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa imposed rolling power cuts for the first time since 2008 yesterday as it struggled to cope with coal shortages and technical problems caused by recent heavy rains. State-owned electricity firm Eskom said incessant downpours over the past week had flooded mines and left stockpiles too wet to use in its coal-fired power plants. The company, which supplies around 95 percent of the country’s electricity, called on major industrial customers to reduce usage by at least 10 percent, and domestic users to turn off swimming pool pumps, water heaters and other non- essential items. It said power interruptions will be limited to two hours at a time. “The whole country will be affected by load-shedding, but not every city or suburb will be affected by load-shedding simultaneously,” spokesman Tony Stott told AFP. Large companies and major hospitals resorted to genera- tors and emergency power supplies yesterday as the first cuts kicked in. Flights at Johannesburg’s main international OR Tambo airport were delayed and high-speed train services were partially suspended. “We did experience a power out- age. Our back-up power came on immediately and assisted us in terms of essential services but there were services that had to be operated manually and that resulted in some delays,” airport authority spokeswoman Unathi Batyashe-Fillis told AFP. South Africa last suffered widespread blackouts six years ago, causing factories and mines to close and costing the economy billions of dollars. The crisis contributed to a credit rating downgrade, a sell-off in the rand and an outflow of investment. The latest outages add to the country’s woes at a time when it is lagging behind some of its African peers, with the central bank cutting its growth forecast to a four-year low of 2.8 percent for this year. The cuts also come just two months before crucial general elections in which the ruling African National Congress faces a stiff fight to retain power. Eskom has struggled to keep the lights on in Africa’s largest economy while racing to construct new plants to meet rising demand. This is the fourth energy emergency declared in as many months and “the worst one so far,” according to an Eskom official who asked not to be named.—AFP 21 Business FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Bitcoin exchange CEO found dead in Singapore Police probe ‘unnatural’ death SINGAPORE: The 28-year-old American boss of a Bitcoin Above it was her comment: “Everything has its price.” ($464,000) from Silicon Valley-based technology firm Plug and exchange has been found dead at the base of a Singapore Radtke’s death comes as controversy surrounding the Bitcoin Play Tech Center. Singapore is Southeast Asia’s main hub for apartment block, police and reports said today, in the latest sector grows. After the MtGox exchange filed for bankruptcy technology startups as well as global computer and software misfortune linked with the troubled virtual currency. protection last month, Canada-based Flexcoin was also forced companies and financial institutions. Its central bank, the Singapore police said they were investigating the “unnatural” to shut down, saying that someone attacked its systems and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has cautioned that death of Autumn Radtke, chief executive of Singapore-based stole nearly $600,000 worth of Bitcoins. virtual currencies are not legal tender and those who deal in First Meta, on February 26, but that no foul play was suspect- First Meta last year secured funding of Sg$588,000 them should be aware of the risks. —AFP ed. A local technology website first reported she may have committed suicide, but later updated its report to say it was “unclear” how she died. Broadcaster Channel NewsAsia said on its website today that Radtke “was found dead at the bottom of an apartment block”. Her death comes as the virtual currency community is in turmoil after the collapse of Tokyo-based MtGox, one of the longest-established Bitcoin exchanges, due to a suspected theft worth nearly half a billion dollars. The Singapore Police Force said they received a call early on February 26 requesting assistance at a public housing block on the fringe of the central business district. “A woman in her 20s was found lying motionless,” they said in a state- ment. “She was pronounced dead at scene by paramedics. Police are investigating the unnatural death,” it added. “Preliminary investigations show that no foul play is suspect- ed.” The term “unnatural death” is used to refer to suspected suicides and other deaths not due to natural causes like an ill- ness. The cause of death is subsequently determined by a coroner. A US embassy official confirmed that Radtke is an American citizen and that it has provided assistance to her family. News of Radtke’s death first surfaced in the technology startup community, which has a thriving presence in Singapore. First Meta confirmed her death in a statement on its website but did not give a cause. “Our deepest condo- lences go out to her family, friends and loved ones. Autumn was an inspiration to all of us and she will be sorely missed,” it said in a statement.

Bitcoin controversy grows Zennon Kapron, the Shanghai-based managing director of Kapronasia, a financial consulting firm which deals with Bitcoin firms, described First Meta as one of the pioneers of virtual currency exchanges. “What happened to her is very unfortunate. I had the opportunity to meet her last year. She was somebody always very happy, outgoing, and had a way of bringing people together both within the virtual currency community and outside as well,” he told AFP. “Until we know what happened around (Radtke’s death), it is wrong to speculate on whether there is a relationship between that and the situation with Bitcoin as a whole.” He said Singapore’s openness to new payment methods, talent pool as well as its status as a financial hub made it a “natural place for Bitcoin firms to get a start”, along with Hong Kong. According to her profile on business networking site LinkedIn, Radtke began her career in enterprise cloud com- puting and in 2007 worked with Apple to supply the Aqua Connect server product to major companies. It said she “passed on an opportunity to work at Apple to stay in the fast- paced world of technology startups”. She moved to Singapore in 2012 to head First Meta, a web-based exchange for users to buy, sell and trade virtual currencies for real money. Sixteen days before her death, Radtke posted on her Facebook page a link to an article in Inc. magazine entitled “The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship” which talked about the inner strug- gles experienced by entrepreneurs before they achieve suc- cess.

SINGAPORE: A Bitcoin dispensing machine is seen at a shopping mall yesterday. —AFP 22 Business FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Winter storms hold Cash-rich African private back US economy equity on a learning curve WASHINGTON: A Federal Reserve survey shows severe weath- er held back economic growth in much of the US from January Investors pile in for better returns through early February. Even so, conditions strengthened in most regions, thanks to slight gains in areas such as employ- NAIROBI: Kenyan entrepreneur Ayisi based emerging markets private equity software businesses, they must under- ment and commercial real estate. Eight of the Fed’s 12 regions Makatiani scrapped his first effort to firm Actis, with $6 billion under manage- stand that these are long-term business- reported improved activity, according to the Beige Book survey launch a private equity fund 10 years ment, may have an edge over local, es,” he said. released Wednesday. The improvement was depicted as “mod- ago because his pitch to invest in Africa smaller rivals. They can draw on a broad- est to moderate.” New York and Philadelphia, two regions hard couldn’t raise enough cash to make it er pool of experience to identify attrac- Accelerated learning hit by winter storms and freezing cold, reported a dip in activi- work. Fast forward a decade and he is tive sectors and steer a target through a The lack of experience among local ty attributed to the weather. Retail sales, including auto pur- now managing partner of Fanisi Capital, turnaround or expansion. private equity firms means foreign firms chases, were depressed. So was manufacturing. Factories a $50 million fund that has investments continue to dominate the industry in reported power outages and delayed deliveries of supplies. across east Africa in agri-business, Inviting in a stranger Africa. “One of the challenges that many The Beige Book is based on anecdotal reports from busi- healthcare, retail and education. A sec- Describing his most recent invest- (local private equity) fund managers nesses and will be considered with other data when the Fed ond $100 million fund is on the way. ment in AutoXpress in Kenya, Turner face is the short supply of management meets March 18-19. The summary and the individual reports “The returns in Europe and the rest of points out that it was his South African talent,” said Kevin Njiraini, investment from each of the 12 regions were sprinkled with references to the world have been low so the only colleagues who prompted him to scout officer for private equity at the the harsh weather much of the country has endured this win- place where you get good risk-adjusted for a tire firm because they saw growth International Finance Corporation (IFC), ter. The report said retail sales had weakened in many districts returns is Africa,” US-educated in that sector in their market. And it was the World Bank’s private sector arm. because of winter storms. Nine districts - Boston, New York, Makatiani, 47, said from a swanky office an Actis specialist from Brazil with expe- A typical cycle in private equity runs Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St Louis block on Nairobi’s upmarket Riverside rience running a tire firm who helped over 10 years. The first three to four and Dallas reported that the severe weather had hurt factory Drive, where other new financial ven- “seal the deal” by explaining the poten- years are spent seeking out investments production and manufacturing sales. tures have set up a regional base. tial to the family owners. AutoXpress and the next three to four are spent The report said the weather had caused power outages, dis- Their expansion marks a turnaround had spurned other private equity growing them. The final period involves rupted supply chains and curtailed factory production sched- in attitudes to Africa, but masks many of approaches but Actis secured a 36 per- finding an exit, such as a strategic buyer. ules. Travel and tourism were reported to be strong across the emerging challenges for both new cent stake. Turner now sits on the board, In fast-growing Africa the kind of experi- most of the districts, with the heavy snowfalls benefiting ski and more experienced private equity but said such a move was a big leap for ence required over the cycle can be resorts in some parts of the country. When the Fed meets later firms on the continent. Private equity is any family firm. “It is like opening up lacking. The IFC is using its funding to still a relatively new financial vehicle on your house to a stranger,” he said. give new private equity managers an this month to consider the Beige Book, among other economic Africa’s landscape and challenges Many firms that have surfed Africa’s early leg up and accelerate the learning evidence, it will be the first meeting under the new Fed chair, include offering enough added value to fast growth began as a family trade. process. Janet Yellen. Last month, Yellen succeeded Ben Bernanke, who encourage family firms to open up to They range from retailers that have Its private equity investments include stepped down after eight years as chairman. external financing, finding local man- expanded from corner stores to super- backing Nairobi-based and Mauritius- The widespread expectation is that the Fed will continue agers with the skills to see a project market chains, such as Kenya’s Naivas or listed Catalyst Principal Partners. paring the monthly bond purchases it has been making to try from investment to exit and winning Nakumatt, to manufacturers that have Development institutions, such as the to keep long-term loan rates low to support the economy. In over African pension funds and other grown out of workshops such as IFC, accounted for about 70 percent of an appearance last week to deliver the Fed’s twice-a-year eco- local funding sources to create a more Interconsumer Products, which was funds raised for Principal Partners’ first nomic report to Congress, Yellen said recent data have pointed indigenous industry. “If it is only the snapped up by cosmetics giant L’Oreal $125 million fund launched in 2012. The to some weaker-than-expected gains in consumer spending money you need, there are other places last year. Private equity can bring a fresh rest came from individuals, insurance and job growth. She said the Fed will be watching to see you can get that,” said Michael Turner, perspective to help the family expand or firms and other sources. The fund is whether the slowdown proves only a temporary blip caused by Kenya managing director for emerging find an exit. But it doesn’t always work being invested across east Africa. The severe weather. Yellen said she was open to adjusting the pace markets specialist Actis Capital. “Private out. longer-term objective for African private of the Fed’s reductions if the economy should weaken. equity is about value added.” Kamal Budhabati, who heads Kenyan equity managers is to draw in more local A key piece of data likely to influence the March meeting The numbers suggest raising cash is software developer Craft Silicon, sought sources of funding, such as from pen- will be released today of the unemployment report for no longer the biggest challenge in Sub- financing to expand. He secured $3 mil- sion funds, who might also prefer locally February. Two months of tepid job growth have raised con- Saharan Africa - a region with economic lion from a local private equity firm. registered companies operating in the cerns about whether the economy might be losing momen- growth rates that are rivalled only by Within three years of that deal, he had local currency. For now, such funds are tum. In January, employers added 113,000 jobs after an even Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa drew $1.6 bil- bought back the investor’s stake as their cautious about private equity, partly smaller gain of 75,000 in December. lion of private equity investment in views collided. “For us the visions were because they are unfamiliar with the Both months were far below last year’s average monthly 2013, with east Africa - on the brink of not matching. They had a short-term concept. “There are challenges of under- gain of 194,000 jobs. Last week, the government estimated an oil and gas bonanza - seeing the goal, we had a long-term goal,” standing how private equity works and that the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, biggest rise in deal activity, data from Budhabati said, speaking at his Nairobi the risks involved, so that has tended to slowed to an annual growth rate of 2.4 percent in the October- the Emerging Markets Private Equity office complex, which with its green keep would-be investors away,” said December quarter. That was below the initial estimate of 3.2 Association shows. A bigger objective is lawns and a basketball court would look Kenneth Muchina, director of fundrais- percent and the 4.1 percent annual growth rate in the July- how to invest that cash successfully. at home in Silicon Valley. “The venture ing at Nairobi-based Fusion Investment September quarter. —AP That is where global firms like London- capitalists who want to put money into Management.— Reuters Latest video games target Japan’s silver generation

YOKOHAMA: At a nursing home in suburban Tokyo, world’s lowest birth rates and highest life expectan- 88-year-old Saburo Sakamoto darts his fingers ener- cies. “We offer entertainment so that elderly people getically to catch characters that appear on a touch spend the whole day playing, having fun, and get- screen in front of him. Peals of laughter erupt from ting really exhausted before returning to their the other side of the room full of octogenarians as home,” said Yoshiaki Kawamura, President of they wallop plastic alligators that appear from little Kaikaya Ltd, the wholly-owned unit of Namco holes or wield foam hammers to crush frogs as they Bandai Holdings. Day visitors, whose average age is pop up. “The ladies here are very agile, so it’s almost 85, have a choice of activities at this government impossible for me to beat them,” says Sakamoto as approved centre, including assisted bathing, physio- he catches his breath and watches several women therapy, lunch and a series of arcade and video easily outscore him on the game he is playing. games. “The video games are very much extra-cur- The nursing home is run by an offshoot of Namco ricular, voluntary activities... but clients look very Bandai, the company behind 1980s arcade phenom- animated when they are playing,” Kawamura said. enon PacMan, whose pill-popping escapades helped bring video games to a mass youth market. ‘Faces light up’ Now the firm is part of a small, but growing band of Facility staff try to motivate the elderly, tapping groups developing video games and home comput- into their competitive spirits by posting leader er entertainment for the so-called “silver genera- boards on the walls and running competitions to tion”-Japan’s burgeoning army of elderly people, see who is the “most vigorous” every few months. who are living longer and healthier lives than ever Among the titles on offer is “Dokidoki Hebi Taiji II” before. (Thrilling Snakebuster II), a game developed by Japan’s population has been declining since Namco Bandai in cooperation with Kyushu YOKOHAMA: This picture shows 88-year-old Saburo Sakamot playing a game at 2007 and the country is graying, with one of the University Hospital in western Japan. —AFP Kaikaya Ltd, a nursing home for the elderly. — AFP

Travel FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Cruising Alaska?

People using the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail downtown. Alternatives to pricey excursions t’s cruise season in Alaska, with more than 1 million Lumberjack Show, $35 (kids 3-12, $17.50) plus tax. Historic Icruise passengers expected between April and Creek Street, once a red-light district, now houses shops, September in port towns from Ketchikan to Seward. galleries, restaurants and Dolly’s House Museum, former Cruise passengers who sign up for shore excursions can home of madam Dolly Arthur, where visitors can learn spend hundreds of dollars, if not more in the case of fami- about Ketchikan’s bawdy past for a $5 admission. Off Creek lies, in each port they visit. Taking a helicopter to see Street along Married Man’s Trail, you can catch the salmon Juneau-area ice fields can easily run $1,000 for a family of running in the creek from mid-July into September. Free four for a one-hour trip. A nature tour near the tiny town of downtown shuttle buses stop near the docks. Ketchikan can run $89 for adults and $50 for kids. But there are many low-cost and even free things to do Sitka in Alaska port towns, from hiking to exploring glaciers to A must-see in this stunning town is the Sitka National learning about Alaska and Native culture. Here are some Historical Park. A national monument, it commemorates ideas from some of Alaska’s most visited ports. the 1804 Battle of Sitka between the Tlingit Indians and Just remember: Your ship won’t wait for you if you run Russians. Totems - many of them replicas - are scattered late from an outing you’ve organized on your own, so along the park’s two-mile (3.2-kilometer) wooded trail. allow plenty of time to get back to port for your ship depar- There’s also a visitor center, where you can see Native ture. artists working, and the Russian Bishop’s House, which the park service says is one of the last surviving examples of Ketchikan Russian colonial architecture in North America. The house This southeast Alaska town is now known more for tour is $4 (free for kids under 16). tourism than for its once-thriving timber industry. But tim- ber workers’ skills can still be admired at the Great Alaskan Juneau Alaska’s capital has a walkable downtown with muse- ums, shops, easy access to trails and the state Capitol, which offers free tours. The popular three-mile (4.8-kilome- Photo shows hot dog vendors, or in this case reindeer dog vendors. ter) Perseverance Trail is within walking distance from the port, though it requires a jaunt up steep streets. The trail, which forms a spine for a network of trails, features scat- famed Mount Marathon, site of an annual July 4 mad tered exhibits on the region’s mining history, along with scramble up and down the 3,022-foot mountain. A runner stunning views of rushing water, waterfalls and mountains. disappeared during last year’s race and several were You’ll likely see birds - possibly a bald eagle - and maybe injured. Instead, if you want to hike, try Jeep Trail. Locals even a mountain goat, black bear or porcupine. The trail is say it’s not too strenuous, and offers a view of the steep and narrow in sections and can be hot in the sun, so Anchorage Bowl. bring water. Hikers also can try the Mount Roberts Trail, though it’s an uphill trudge, muddy and mucky in spots. Whittier You can take the Mount Roberts Tram down for $10, or $31 Chances are you won’t spend much time in Whittier. round-trip (kids 6-12, $15.50). Chamber officials say 90 percent of cruise passengers leav- Another popular destination is Mendenhall Glacier, ing their ships immediately head to Anchorage, about 40 reachable by bus. The $16 round-trip rides, offered by MGT miles (64 kilometers) north. But passengers beginning their Blue Glacier Express, run every half-hour, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Alaska cruises here arrive about 1 pm. and have a few most days during the summer season. Hikes near the gla- hours to spend in town before departure. Also this year, cier include an easy stroll to Nugget Falls. one company is making a port call here every other Monday, giving passengers a chance to look around town. Seward It’s probably unlike any other they’ve seen. Whittier is Seward is a final stop for some Alaska cruises, and many the gateway to the fjords of Prince William Sound, but the disembarking passengers head straight to Anchorage, 110 U.S. Army saw another purpose. The Army saw Whittier’s miles (177 kilometers) away, by bus or train. But there are almost constant cloud cover as a perfect way to hide an plenty of reasons to spend a day or more here. A free shut- almost ice-free port. The Army left in 1960, and most of the tle runs every day in summer, taking people along a circuit town’s 180 year-round residents live in one of two former from the cruise ship terminal to the chamber of commerce garrisons converted to condos. There are a couple of sou- office to downtown. If you have time, rent a car or hire a venir shops, a few restaurants and cafes, a hot dog stand taxi to take you a few miles (kilometers) outside town to when lots of people are in town and a museum. Several Exit Glacier, located within Kenai Fjords National Park, for fantastic hikes can be done in two or three hours. The spectacular up-close views of the glacier. Horsetail Falls hike doesn’t disappoint, and offers views of The downtown historic area offers shops, cafes, the waterfalls above the tree line. The Portage Pass hike affords Seward Community Library and Museum in a new building, views of Portage Glacier. and the Alaska SeaLife Center, which is Alaska’s only aquar- Boats in the harbor of the tiny community of Whittier, ium ($20; $15 for ages 12-17, $15; $10 for 4-11). Anchorage Alaska. Chamber officials don’t recommend hiking the city’s No cruise ships are scheduled to sail to Anchorage this Travel FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

A man running in a tunnel along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail downtown. A bicyclist heading into a tunnel along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail in downtown, Anchorage, Alaska.

year, but many passengers wind up here by bus or train, if for nothing else to fly home. With nearly 300,000 residents, Anchorage offers attractions found in many big cities, as well as some that aren’t. Think wildlife. Moose and bear coexist throughout the municipality, and moose are a common sight around town. Downtown, you can rent bikes and enjoy a leisurely spin on the city’s 135-mile (217-kilometer) plus trail system. That includes the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, good for a bike ride, hike or run. It’s accessible from many points downtown, but parts will be closed for renovation this summer. If that sounds like too much work, you can rent a Segway. And if you prefer to see wildlife in a more secured setting, a free shuttle at Fourth and E streets downtown goes to the Alaska Zoo ($12; $6 for kids 3-17). The shuttle will also stops at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, a cul- tural center and museum ($25; $17 for kids 7-16). The Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center down- town features art, history and science ($15; $7 for kids 3- 12). A timeline exhibit of Alaska history includes a cross- section of the trans-Alaska pipeline and a twisted beam from the 1964 earthquake. The magnitude-9.2 quake was the biggest ever recorded in North America. If you want to go fishing, there’s no need for a charter. Heck, you don’t even have to leave town. A downtown bait shop at Ship Creek will rent you all the equipment you need to land a fish. There are also plenty of restaurants, cafes, coffee shops. And here’s your chance to eat Rudolph: Several ven- dors offer reindeer dogs. — AP

Tourists walking to Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park.

The tiny community of Whittier, Alaska, where most of the 180-year-round residents live Tourists walking to Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park just outside Seward. in the tall condo in the back, a former Army garrison. 26 Opinion FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Amid carnage of war, Syria readies for Assad re-election

fter three years of grinding adorned with his face are once without informing us or anything,” dum two years ago mean that, for of the situation,” said Samir, a mid- Aconflict, the destruction of again on the streets, albeit in small- the mother of an 11-year-old boy the first time, rival candidates dle-aged man during a casual lunch whole city districts and an er numbers than the many thou- said. “If they inform us, they know would be able to stand against with his in-laws as the conversation exodus of refugees all triggered by sands who rallied in 2011 when that most parents would not send Assad - but only if they win the turned into political chitchat. “The an uprising against his rule, Bashar authorities were trying to counter their kids to school that day.” support of 35 members of Syria’s new constitution limits the number Al-Assad is quietly preparing to be the mass anti-Assad protests The mobilisation appears aimed pro-Assad parliament. of terms to two, which he’s already re-elected. The Syrian president sweeping the country. at reinforcing the government’s That would at least in theory had, so how can he run again?” said has not yet announced whether he Schoolchildren are bused in to long-standing assertion that Syrian mark a change from four decades a hairdresser, as she worked on a will stand for a third term, in defi- take part in marches, much to the citizens want Assad to stand. “It is of presidential votes when the only client during a home visit. ance of protesters, rebel fighters alarm of parents who say they are his personal decision ... but I assure options Syrians had were to sup- In one of the rebel-held areas, and Western foes who have port or oppose parliament’s nomi- Mouadamiya, an Assad opponent demanded he go; but in state-con- nation of Assad and, before him, voiced a frequently heard senti- trolled parts of Damascus prepara- his father Hafez Al-Assad. Monzer ment. “Assad plans to announce his tions for his candidacy are unmis- Akbik, chief of staff to opposition nomination on the eve of elections, takable. Public gatherings have National Coalition leader Ahmad and then of course he’ll win become platforms to urge the Jarba, said Syria had not held a real because only people in loyalist president to nominate himself, election since Assad’s Baath Party areas will be able to vote, and then despite a continuing civil war that seized power in 1963 and any vote he’ll say: ‘Oh look, the people want has killed more than 140,000 peo- held in current circumstances me’,” he said. ple, fractured the country and “would be a joke”. “If he does want destroyed any chance of a credible an election, he will make it a the- Patriot Colours vote being held. atre - with an orchestrated opposi- In government-held areas of Authorities are once again tion,” Akbik told Reuters in Turkey. Damascus, many people are start- organising demonstrations in sup- “Any serious opposition candidate ing to feel pressure to show sup- port of Assad, accused by oppo- would be immediately killed if they port. Members of Popular nents of massacres of civilians. were to go inside Syria. Who dares Committees - civilians recruited Shopkeepers are encouraged to run against Assad?” and armed by the government - show their support by painting Jarba’s coalition has held two have been making their rounds on national colours on their store- rounds of unsuccessful talks in motorbikes, demanding shopkeep- fronts. Some express their loyalty Geneva with government negotia- ers paint the Syrian flag on their in general displays of patriotism, tors, aimed at resolving the civil shutters. Since the start of Syria’s while others explicitly call on the war. The opposition and interna- uprising, the flag has become syn- 48-year-old president to announce tional mediator say the talks must onymous with government loyalty. he will stand in the vote, which is address a transitional government - Rebels use a different flag that pre- due to be held by July. Just 18 a phrase Assad’s opponents under- dates the current one. months ago, Assad’s grip over his stand to mean that he must go. But “They told me and other shops capital seemed to be slipping as Syrian officials have categorically on my street to paint the colours of rebels gained ground around ruled out that he might surrender the flag right away,” said one shop Damascus. Since then his forces any power. owner in the middle class neigh- have consolidated control in cen- bourhood of Rukn al-Din. He was tral Syria. Rebels still insist his Election Impossible? warned that the first offence would departure is precondition for any In response to the pro-Assad cost him a fine of 5,000 SP ($30). A peace deal, but having lost military mobilisation, an online campaign second offence would mean impris- momentum they are unable to dic- to nominate popular opposition onment. “I painted it the same day. tate terms. figure Moaz Alkhatib to run against I don’t want trouble,” he said. At a gathering in southern him was launched last week and In more upscale neighbour- Damascus last month to honour quickly snowballed into tens of hoods like Shaalan, where authori- victims of Syria’s conflict, local offi- thousands of supporters. Syrians ties are less inclined to issue direct cials and clerics turned the solemn inside besieged rebel areas as well orders to privately owned business- memorial into a political rally. After as exiled supporters from as far es, peer pressure is just as effective. handing out awards to widows and away as Australia and Ukraine have “Two weeks ago I came to work and grieving mothers in Sayida Zeinab, posted photos of themselves with found my neighbours had painted a suburb of the capital which has cards backing the former preacher the flag overnight,” said one shop been at the heart of Assad’s count- at the Umayyad Mosque in owner. “So I went ahead and paint- er-attack against rebels, they made Damascus. Alkhatib, currently ed mine. No one dares be the odd their case for a third term of Assad based in Qatar, welcomed the one out.” rule. “The president said: ‘If there is Internet campaign but echoed Some of the more bizarre mani- a popular demand for me to be Akbik’s objection to holding the festations of support for Assad nominated, I will run. I will not vote amid the turmoil of civil war include two Hummers, painted abandon my national duty’,” said and under the supervision of with the colours of the flag, that Shiite cleric Al Sayyed Fadi Burhan. Assad’s authorities. drive around town sometimes at “So I ask you to take advantage of “We will not give legitimacy or odd hours blaring loyalist music this large gathering ... and make it cover to any elections carried out and followed by several honking an opportunity to ask President by the regime, which aims only to cars. Young men and women have Bashar Al-Assad to nominate him- preserve its fast-waning existence,” also embraced a new fashion for self for another electoral term.” The he said in a post on his Facebook military fatigues and boots, part of crowd, mainly loyalists, cheered. page. Holding an election appears the militaristic fervour whipped up impossible while 2.4 million Syrians by Assad’s supporters. One woman Street Demonstrations are refugees in neighbouring coun- even dressed up her pet dog, a The scene is repeated across tries, many millions more are dis- small Chihuahua, in military camou- government-controlled districts of given no prior notice that their you that the Syrian street will pres- placed within Syria and Assad has flage, much to the distress of peo- the capital, such as the garrison children are being taken to demon- sure President Bashar Al-Assad to lost control of northern and eastern ple around her who thought the suburbs where military families strate while Syria’s civil war rages nominate himself for the presiden- Syria. authorities might take offence. live, many of them from Assad’s on. “Even though it can be very cy of the republic,” Information Even in Damascus, few believe “Don’t worry about it. I’ve already minority Alawite sect, an offshoot dangerous, they just put them on a Minister Omran Zoabi said in the vote will go ahead. “I heard that taken him through several check- of Shiism. Demonstrators waving bus and take them to a march dur- January. Amendments to Syria’s elections were going to be post- points, and they loved him, she portraits of Assad and flags ing their last period of the day constitution agreed in a referen- poned another year or two because said. — Reuters FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 FRIDAY, www.kuwaittimes.net

WESTWOOD: Actress Ariel Winter attends the premiere of Twentieth Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation's "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" at Regency Village Theatre on March 5, 2014 in Westwood, California. —AFP Careers FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Get dressed for success

What is power dressing all about?

ow you dress for a job interview will sure that they will be looking for this quality level of confidence will be seen by the inter- ring per hand. Avoid faux jewelry, and high Hreveal a whole lot of things about you - in the interview. Some may even make their viewer and perceived as a strong point in heels. possibly even much more than you decision to hire (or ignore) you based only on your favor. They will know that you take pride intend. In fact, your appearance will play a your shoes. in yourself and in your work. For men large part in whether you get the job or not. Going improperly dressed for an interview Shirts should be long sleeve. Make sure While clothing styles have changed consider- is one way to make an image that will be hard Clothing tips to ensure you your shirt fits around the neck - not too tight ably in society, they definitely remain largely to erase later - even if you do get hired. The present your best image and not to loose either. The fit of your shirt unchanged in the business world. Being best way to be prepared is to make sure you Dressing for success is a necessary key to dramatically effects how comfortable you dressed right for an interview is something follow the guidelines that the company winning the job - at least in jobs requiring look and feel. Select your tie with a conserva- that will certainly be expected of you and expects of its employees at the level you are business attire. Here are some tips to enable tive pattern - no outrageous patterns, colors, should not be taken lightly - at least if you are applying for - and then dress at least one level you to be prepared to give a winning impres- sports logo’s or hobby ties. . The Four-in-Hand serious about getting the job. higher (two may be better) for the interview. sion during your interview. knot is the all time classic of tie knots. Your tie You can check out clothing standards simply should end in front of your belt buckle. Dressing right is all about image by visiting the company you’re going to be For men and women Socks should be dark. Limited jewelry, no Creating the right image from the very first interviewing with in the morning when peo- Business colors are standard - solid navy earrings, or body jewelry; one ring per hand, impression you give to your interviewer is one ple are coming in to work and see how they blue, gray, or black. Conservative business and your watchband should not be fabric. way to show that you are top quality - even are dressed. You can do this on any day but suits need to be worn. To be absolutely clear, Nails need to be trimmed neatly, and clean. A before you utter a word. Kim Zoller at Image Friday, when companies may be more lax in we are not talking about suits you buy at the close shave gives a sharper appearance. A Dynamics says that as much as 55 percent of their standards. Gap or American Eagle, and definitely not briefcase or portfolio may be carried. what another person thinks of you is based on high fashion sweat suits. Instead, the goal is your appearance. Sharp dressers show they to get business suits like those sold at busi- For everyone John Molloy recognized this concept years understand business ness clothing stores or at the large and better Besides your appearance, remember that ago when he wrote his famous book that Companies - the same as at any time in his- department stores. White shirts or blouses everything about you is telling others about started the concept, “Dress for Success.” Often tory - are looking for sharp individuals who are considered best, but blue is also accept- you. This includes your body language, too. called “power dressing” now, most businesses realize that their purpose at work is to help able. Clothes should be clean and well Be sure to stand straight, greet your inter- today realize that people can dress their way build and promote the company and its pressed. Jewelry and scents need to be limit- viewer with a firm handshake and look them to success. image. Going to an interview dressed sharply ed. Shoes should be moderate, black or in the eye as you talk. How well you listen, sit, Power dressing is especially important in a conveys the idea that you are serious about brown. Hair should look professional and and respond to questions is all part of the business field where everyone is expected to working for them. Some companies have neat. Tattoos should be completely covered. interview process, too. Being on time is very look sharp because there is regular contact implemented written dress codes today Watches should look professional. important, no smoking right before or during with the public. An interviewer will definitely because they feel that, unfortunately, some the interviews, and don’t forget to remove the be looking you over from top to bottom dur- professionals have never been taught how to For women gum. Taking a little extra time to ensure you ing the process, and will see anything that is dress for success in business. Dressing sharply Skirts are much more likely to be accepted are dressed sharp for your job interview will not quite right. Even something like how well will tell the employers that you are interview- than pantsuits, or dresses. Nails should be also help the interviewer to want to talk to polished your shoes are will be noted, and a ing with that you understand the needs and manicured, with clear or no polish. Make-up you, too. If they like what they see - it may not lack of shine could prevent you from getting demands of business, and that you are ready should be kept to a minimum. Briefcases are take much more to persuade them that you the job. Many interviewers consider well- to work for them. Taking the time to dress allowable and preferred to purses. Hosiery are the right person for the job. shined shoes an indication that an individual sharply will also help you to be more confi- should be tan or light colored. Ties are option- www.ropella.com pays close attention to detail - and you can be dent during the interview process. This strong al. One earring per ear is OK, along with one Food FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Why you should go green! Making one simple change to your diet - adding a salad almost every day — can pay off with plenty of health benefits.

ave you had your salad today? Eating to eat more fruits and vegetables (especially salad almost every day may be one of dark green and orange vegetables) and Hthe most healthy eating habits you can legumes - all popular salad ingredients. David adopt and one of the simplest, experts say. Jacobs, PhD, professor of Public Health at the Eating salads is a super-convenient way to University of Minnesota, says in an email work in a couple of servings of vegetables interview that there is plenty of evidence that and/or fruit. Green salads are on the menu of nutrient-rich plant foods contribute to overall almost every restaurant. You can even buy a health. side salad (with Romaine lettuce, carrots and If you frequently eat green salads, youíll tomatoes, available with fat-free or reduced- likely have higher blood levels of a host of calorie salad dressing) for a buck at many fast powerful antioxidants (vitamin C and E, folic food chains these days. And you can make a acid, lycopene, and alpha- and beta- green salad at home in five minutes, armed carotene,) especially if your salad includes with a bag of pre-washed salad greens, a few some raw vegetables. Antioxidants are sub- carrots or other veggies, and a bottle of light stances that help protect the body from dam- salad dressing. Not only that, but salads are age caused by harmful molecules called free cool, crunchy, and fun to eat (lots of textures, radicals. colors, and flavors). Most people enjoy eating For years, researchers have noted a link salads - even kids! You can customize them to between eating lots of fruits and vegetables or less, enhances satiety (feelings of fullness) like lycopene from tomatoes and lutein from include the fruits and vegetables that appeal and lower risks of many diseases, particularly and reduces the total number of calories eat- dark green vegetables. A recent study from to you the most, and whichever ones you cancer. A recent study from the National en during the meal. Rolls, lead researcher of Ohio State University measured how well have on hand. Here are four health reasons to Cancer Institute suggests that people whose the study, suggests that ‘bigger is better’ as phytochemicals were absorbed by the body reach for a salad today: diets are rich in fruits and vegetables may long as the salad is bigger in volume, not in after people ate a salad of lettuce, carrot, and have a lower risk of developing cancers of the calories - which means more veggies and spinach, with or without 2 1/2 tablespoons of 1. Eat salads for the fiber head and neck - even those who smoke and less dressing and other fatty add-ons. ‘We avocado. Itís hard to believe that something we drink heavily. Foods found to be particularly saw reductions in consumed calories when The avocado-eaters absorbed eight times canít even digest can be so good for us! protective include beans and peas, string people ate salads that were 1 1/2 cups and 3 more alpha-carotene and more than 13 times Eating a high-fiber diet can help lower choles- beans, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, apples, cups in volume but around 100 total calo- more beta-carotene (both of which are terol levels and prevent constipation. Not nectarines, peaches, plums, pears, and straw- ries,’ she says. The 3-cup, 100-calorie salad thought to help protect against cancer and only that, says Barbara Rolls, PhD, author of berries. reduced the total calories consumed at the heart disease) than the group eating salads The Volumetrics Eating Plan,eating more fiber meal by about 55. without avocado. If you dress your salad with can help you feel fuller, eat less, and ultimate- 3.Eat salads to cut calories and increase a little olive oil, there may even be some addi- ly lose weight. satisfaction 4. Eat salads to get smart fats tional years in it for you. Italian research on If losing weight is your goal, you may Eating a little good fat (like the monoun- people aged 60 and older has suggested that 2. Eat salads for the health benefits of want to start your meals with a green salad. saturated fat found in olive oil, avocado and a diet that includes plenty of olive oil and raw fruits and vegetables Studies have shown that eating a low-calorie nuts) with your vegetables appears to help vegetables is linked to reduced mortality. Many experts agree that Americans need first course, like a green salad of 150 calories your body absorb protective phytochemicals, — www.webmd.com How to make Fattoush

1 head romaine lettuce seeds cool and crush lightly in a mortar and 1/2 red onion pestle or with the bottom of a small frying 4 tomatoes pan. Set aside. 1 cucumber 3. Tear or chop lettuce into bite-size pieces, 1 cup mint leaves (optional) wash and dry lettuce, put leaves in a very 1/2 cup cilantro leaves (optional) large bowl. 1/2 to 1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves (optional) 4. Thinly slice red onion and add to lettuce. 3 to 4 Tbsp. Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette or simi- 5. Chop tomatoes and add to lettuce. lar salad dressing 6. Peel cucumber, if you like. Cut in half 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional) lengthwise. Spoon out seeds, if you like, cut 12 to 24 Kalamata or similar black olives into thin half-moons, and add to lettuce. (optional) 7. Cut mint into ribbons, chop cilantro and Tahini (sesame paste) for drizzling (optional) parsley, and add to lettuce. attoush salad is a great mix of fresh depending on that magical combination of vegetables, a bright dressing, and your taste and what’s in your kitchen. Garlic Yogurt Dressing for drizzling (option- 8. Add pita pieces to lettuce. Drizzle salad Fpieces of crisp pita bread. Add feta al) mixture with Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette and cheese, olives, pepperoncini, and other fla- Prep Time: 20 minutes toss thoroughly. vorful items at will. Easy, light, yet filling - it’s Total Time: 20 minutes Preparation: 9. Divide salad between serving plates to a great addition to grilled dinners or as a Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1. Toast pita breads, cool, and break into arrange on a large platter. Top with crum- light dinner all on its own. Fattoush salad is bite-size pieces. Set aside. bled feta cheese and olives, if you like. endlessly flexible. Use the formula below Ingredients: 2. If using cumin, heat a small frying pan Drizzle with tahini and/or Garlic Yogurt (with its many options) as a starting point. 2 to 4 pita breads over medium-high heat and toast cumin Dressing, if you like. Sprinkle with reserved Tweak, add, and subtract ingredients 1 tsp cumin seeds (optional) seeds until fragrant, about 1 minute. Let toasted, ground cumin seeds, if you like. Health FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Upgrade your wheels with this multifaceted lower-body onslaught

here’s a fine line between overtraining your legs and not Ttraining them hard enough. And not surprisingly, most of us fall into one of the two camps. First you have the guy who spends 45 minutes doing squats at the power rack before moving on to the rest of his hard-hitting, 90-minute quad workout. Then you have someone who thinks a suffi- cient lower-body routine consists of a machine-only session in which he hardly breaks a sweat. “Most guys don’t realize that their leg training should prob- ably be more middle of the road,” says Hollywood-based train- The ultimate er Gunnar Peterson, CSCS. “They either try to do a pro body- builder workout once a week and end up hobbled like James Caan in Misery or do a leg extension/curl combo every three days and think they’ve trained legs. But you really should find a middle ground between the two so you train your legs with decent intensity twice a week. leg-training Multi-joint moves are key Following a split that has you train legs one day a week workout would cripple you with 20 sets at maximum weight and keep you from progressing the way you could.” Peterson has noth- ing against extensions and curls, but a solid leg routine needs to be centered around multi-joint moves such as lunges, squats or step-ups. These exercises not only hit the quads and Sets: 4-5, Reps: 8-12 each side Day 1, Exercise 3 hamstrings but also the glutes, a body part seldom discussed START: Grasp a light dumbbell in one hand, stand erect and One-Leg Extension With Angled Crunch (+ burnout) among men unless it concerns those of the opposite sex. “The place the top or toes of the same-side foot on a box or bench Sets: 4-5, Reps: 10-20 (Do 8-12 reps each of front and back glutes are one of the biggest muscle groups in the body and behind you, knee bent. Press the weight overhead so your arm squats.) to not train them is irresponsible,” Peterson says. “Read a is directly over your shoulder. START: Sit in a leg extension machine and adjust the roller women’s magazine - that’s the other team’s playbook. Women so it rests across the front of your ankles. look at your glutes long before they notice your guns. Plus, EXECUTION: Keeping your arm extended, bend your front training the glutes revs up your metabolism by stimulating knee and hips to descend straight toward the floor. When your EXECUTION: Perform a one-leg extension with your right such large muscles.” front quad comes parallel to the floor, press back up through leg while simultaneously crunching and twisting your torso to your front heel to return to the start. Repeat for reps, then bring your left pec over your right knee. Reverse the motion, Hitting all the angles switch sides. then repeat to the opposite side - extension with your left leg All body parts should be trained from a variety of angles to while crunching your right pec over your left knee. That’s one maximize muscle fiber recruitment. This advice becomes even GUNNAR’S TIP: “Stand tall throughout the movement. rep. After you complete all reps, finish the set with double-leg more important with legs since your quads are composed of There’s a tendency to tip forward as you descend, but you extensions to failure. four different muscles, the hamstrings are made up of three need to work on staying tall.” and a slew of fibers “come in from the north, south, east and GUNNAR’S TIP: “Don’t bounce the weight. On the exten- west” to form your glutes, Peterson says. “It’s not just about Day 1, Exercise 2 sion, really think about reaching that toe out and making that squatting and driving up,” he explains. “You can tweak your Kettlebell Swing With Flip to Squat leg as long as possible. Don’t just snap it up.” stance, and you can change where the load is by doing front Sets: 2-4, Reps: 8-15 squats, back squats and one-leg movements. A lot of people START: Grasp the handle of a kettlebell with both hands Day 2, Exercise 1 just do it by rote or don’t do it at all.” and stand erect with your arms hanging straight toward the Smith Machine Front Squat to Back Squat floor, feet roughly shoulder-width apart. Sets: 4-5, Reps: 8-12 (Do 8-12 reps each of front and back Engaging your core squats.) The routine Peterson designed hits all the major leg muscu- EXECUTION: Bend your knees to dip down while lowering START: Stand erect in a Smith machine with your feet shoul- lature via traditional squatting moves performed in novel fash- the weight between your legs. Keeping your arms extended, der-width apart, head up and the bar resting across your front ion. A good dose of core work is involved, too, and the reason explosively swing the kettlebell up by extending your knees delts, hands grasping the bar. is simple: You can’t build strong legs with intense workouts and hips, and lifting your arms. As the weight passes shoulder without a sturdy core, and many guys are weak in this area. level, quickly bend your elbows and knees to drop underneath EXECUTION: Descend into a squat, keeping your back flat “You’ve got to shore up the weakness,” Peterson says. “I know it (letting it flip over in your hands) and catch it in front of you and chest out, until your quads are parallel to the floor. Drive it doesn’t sound fun, but it’s crucial to maximizing the effec- in a full squat position. Stand up while pressing the kettlebell back up to standing and repeat for reps. Then rerack the bar, tiveness of your workouts, regardless of what muscles you’re overhead, then drop back down to the start. position yourself for back squats and complete the prescribed training. number of reps. GUNNAR’S TIP: “Stay focused on every part of the move- Day 1, Exercise 1 ment: exploding, the catch, lowering and driving up. You can’t GUNNAR’S TIP: “Try to focus on driving through your heels Dumbbell Overhead Bulgarian Split Squat phone this one in.” on the back squat so you get the most out of your hams and glutes.”

Day 2, Exercise 2 Lying Leg Curl to Hyperextension Sets: 4-5, Reps: 8-15 START: If it’s available, choose a leg-curl machine with an angled (not flat) bench. Lie facedown, position the backs of your ankles against the pad with your legs extended and make sure your knees are off the edge of the bench.

EXECUTION: Contract your hamstrings to bend your knees and pull your heels toward your glutes. At the top of the rep, contract your lower back muscles to perform a hyperextension (the range of motion will be very small). Lower your torso to the pad, then return to the start.

GUNNAR’S TIP: “Rise slowly on the hyperextension and go for the contraction. This is one you really want to feel; you don’t want to just knock them out.” — www.muscleandfitness.com Health FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Put your best leg forward These leg exercises will strengthen, tighten, and tone your glutes, hamstrings and calves

Trim your inner thighs Strengthen your thigh muscles in just minutes with this toning workout.

The Routine Summer’s staples (shorts, swimsuits, and slim-cut pants) put the inner thighs on display. To target these tricky-to-hit muscles (and the surrounding ones), use this routine by Matthew Hurst, owner of Training Zone, a gym in Atlanta. By Alissa Carpio Beginners should do each of the standing exercises 15 to 20 times; the intermediate and advanced can repeat them 25 to n today’s world, you’d be hard pressed to find a body part 30 times. Imore challenging for a woman to develop and shape than the Move 1: Wide-Stance Squat legs. Women are constantly seeking advice on how to build the muscles, downsize the legs, shape the glutes, etc. The truth is, (A) Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width the legs are not that challenging to build if you’re educated and apart and toes pointed out to 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock. motivated. (B) Slowly lower for two counts into a squat position. If a nice pair of gams isn’t the ultimate sign of a fitness fanatic, Hold the squat for one count, then straighten your legs for I’m not sure what is! A tight pair of glutes, a sweeping set of two counts to go back to the starting position. thighs, and firm, full hamstrings are the ultimate display of femi- Move 2: First-Position Plie Squat nine strength and beauty. The legs are one of the largest and ment should be equal and both should be full and round. most complicated parts of the whole body. They can best be bro- In relation to the upper body, the shoulders should be much Begin with heels touching and toes slightly turned out. (A) ken down into two major groups - the quadriceps and the ham- wider than the hips, and the flare of the lats should be repeated in Keeping heels together, rise up onto your toes. (Hold on to a strings. While not considered a part of the legs, no leg article the flare of the quads. For overall leg development, choose a wall if you feel wobbly, but maintain posture.) would be complete without covering the glutes! shoulder-width stance with toes slightly turned out. To empha- (B) Bend your knees into a half squat for two counts, size the outer quads, place feet close together with toes pointing then come back up in two counts, keeping heels together. Training at home forward. Finally, to hit the inner thighs, opt for a wider stance with Move 3: Squat With Ball If you want to train at home, get yourself a squat rack! toes turned out at a wide angle. Seriously, without an Olympic bar and rack, there isn’t much you (A) Position your feet shoulder-width apart with toes can do with heavy poundage at home. You can lunge and squat Isolation pointed straight ahead. Place a medium rubber ball (or a your heart out with little to no resistance, and likewise you’ll see If you wish to isolate one leg muscle over the other, you can knotted beach towel) between your legs just above the little to no results. do so with certain foot and weight placements. For overall quad knees. OK, I’m not really giving many options here. There are some development, you want to stick with a close-stance foot place- (B) Squeezing your inner thighs to keep the ball things you can do at home for legs, but you at least need heavy ment with toes pointing slightly outward. Concentrate on feeling steady, lower into a squat for two counts. Hold for one, then dumbbells and lifting straps if you have a weak grip. With those the quads doing the work throughout the movement, and really return to standing for two counts. items you can do heavy lunges, dead lifts, and plie squats. squeeze them at the top of the movement. You can even place a Move 4: Wide-Stance Arm Swing weight plate under your heels when doing these exercises to bet- Exercise variety ter stress the quads. (A) Place your feet just wider than shoulder-width Keeping your leg workouts varied is not difficult at all. There Just be sure to keep strict form and make sure your knees apart and point toes to 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock. Grasp a are so many compound movements and different variations for don’t travel past your toes as this puts undue strain on the knee dumbbell (three to five pounds for beginners, 8 to 12 for isolation movements. Keep the order and choice of your com- joints. To place more emphasis on the hamstrings during com- more advanced) vertically in front of your stomach. pound movements different for every workout. This ensures you pound movements, concentrate on driving the weight up (B) With arms straight, lift the weight to shoulder are adequately hitting the muscles from all angles with different through the heels. Visualize the hams doing the work and give height as you lower into a squat for two counts. Hold for one amounts of stress at different times. them a big squeeze at peak contraction. count, then slowly lower the weight and return to standing You can also affect how much stress is put on the desired mus- for two counts. Symmetry cle during isolation movements. To stimulate the quads during Move 5: Inner-Thigh Press With Rubber Ball Good leg symmetry is vital in physique competition, and is still leg extensions, be sure to fully extend your knees at the height of quite important to the non-competitor. You should have firm, the movement. You can even hold the peak contraction for as Lying on your back on a mat, bend your knees so that the round glutes, a nice wide sweep of the quad tapering out and long as you can. This is a great isolation movement that gives you soles of your feet are flat on the floor. Place a medium rubber back in at the knee, with the calves tapering slightly out and back an unbelievable burn! For overall development, be sure to keep ball (or a knotted beach towel) between your knees. Contract in at the ankles. From the side, your quad and hamstring develop- the toes pointing forward with the tops of the feet facing the ceil- your inner thighs to squeeze the ball for 30 seconds. Relax for ing. To emphasize the inner thighs, turn the toes and tops of the 10 seconds, then repeat the cycle four more times. feet slightly outward. — www.realsimple.com To stress the hams during leg curls, keep strict form and pre- vent the hips from rising off the bench to assist in the lift. Standing leg curls are great because they force you to keep your hips in place, putting more emphasis on the hams.

Prioritization If legs are a weak body part for you, train them on day one of your training split so that you can hit them with renewed motiva- tion and a higher level of energy. Focus on making every rep count - perfect form, challenging poundage, feeling the move- ment, squeezing the muscles, and training with killer intensity - to guarantee you’ll be getting the most out of your training sessions. I highly recommend alternating your workouts every other week between the power building exercises (squats, dead lifts) in the low rep range, and traditional compound and isolation move- ments in a higher rep range. This gives you the best of both worlds - stimulation for ultimate power and strength from one workout, and high-intensity movements for size and shape in another.

www.bodybuilding.com Books FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Stitched Up: The anti-capitalist book of fashion

etting up the terms of her polemic against the fashion ‘Ethical fashion’ guise of novelty - so that a catwalk collection is immediately Sindustry, Tansy Hoskins defines fashion in utilitarian She goes for the high end. So while her book reminds us ripped off and copied by a mass-market retailer, and made up terms as “changing styles of dress and appearance that Stefan Persson, the owner of H&M, bought a whole vil- in a factory in Dhaka in appalling conditions. She is good on adopted by groups of people”, and the industry as one in lage in Hampshire in 2009, it dwells on the luxury conglomer- the question of “size zero”, on advertising and on racism, too. which there is “a shrinking distinction between high fashion ates, the richest and most ruthless of which is LVMH (Louis Is Fashion Racist? asks one chapter heading. Of course it is. and high street fashion”. She does acknowledge that the Vuitton/Moet Hennessy), an intricate nest of companies that Hoskins reminds us of the Navajo nation suing Urban whole business is both “glorious and enthralling, as well as includes among its brands Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Outfitters, in a case that is still to be settled, for using its name exasperating and terrible”, though she doesn’t come close to Celine. In the course of her convincing denial of the possibility on a range of products in 2012. Urban Outfitters’ response was conveying its appeal as well as Diana Vreeland once did: of “ethical fashion”, Hoskins tells the story of Edun, the cloth- to argue that the tribe’s federal trademark registration should “Fashion must be the most intoxicating release from the ing line started by Ali Hewson and her husband Bono. It began be cancelled. She could also have reminded us of Dolce and banality of the world.” with the intention of manufacturing in sub-Saharan Africa, but Gabbana’s “blackamoor” earrings for its spring 2013 collec- As fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar and then as editor of after a poor initial reception, LVMH bought a 49 percent stake tion, a surprising revival of an art deco jewellery fad. And Vogue, Vreeland was once the ultimate fashion insider. in the company in 2010 and immediately moved 85 percent of Vogue India’s “Slum Dwellers” shoot in 2008. Hoskins is an interested outsider, determined to change its manufacturing out of Africa - mainly to China. minds. So even though her intention is to show us what Karl At the other end of the scale, LVMH lost patience with Fantasy world Lagerfeld has to do with Karl Marx, she never represents fash- Christian Lacroix, selling the house in 2005. The couturier filed Stitched Up explores and analyses the existing industry, ion as the sigh of the soul in a soulless world. Stitched Up for bankruptcy in 2009 and (like a select club of designers, but also has another aim. The final three chapters - Resisting Fashion, Reforming Fashion and Revolutionizing Fashion - take on a strangely programmatic tone, which can best be Tansy E Hoskins’s book suggests the entire fashion industry conveyed by the final chapter, in which Hoskins “imagines a post-capitalist society where capitalism has been overthrown is a dangerous trick, and needs to be overturned and the world is in a state of permanent revolution”. This reads rather like a pamphlet written by Central Committee. Perhaps it is enough to say that the garment industry vs vivid- instead disapproves of the idea of fashion itself. And for good such as Martin Margiela and Jil Sander) no longer has the ly how the capitalist system works, and that labor is anything reasons: it focuses on the social consequences of the industry, rights to his own name. As Hoskins says a little gleefully he but immaterial in parts of the world where “our” clothes are from the conditions of workers to its disastrous environmental “now designs interiors and uniforms for train companies and made. costs, collecting a number of useful, at times horrifying, facts collaborates with high-street chains”. The great value of Stitched Up as polemic lies in its in one place. In 2012, Johann Rupert, the CEO of the much smaller reminder that while very few of us can take the blame for the It is nearly a year since 1,133 garment workers died and Richemont (owner of Chloe and Dunhill) said: “I feel like I’m deaths of the three crocodiles needed to make an exclusive 2,500 were injured in Bangladesh, when a poorly constructed having a black-tie dinner on top of a volcano.” Western luxury handbag (if you’re tempted, there’s a grim description), it is factory collapsed just north-west of the capital, Dhaka. The brands are very worried about China, in particular what will harder to absolve ourselves from other crimes of the global discovery of the labels of western manufacturers in the rubble happen when a Chinese label becomes as prestigious as, say, industry - from, for instance, the squandering of water to irri- highlighted long supply chains and the practice of subcon- Givenchy. Ever-resourceful LVMH has been buying Indian gate cotton crops that has led to the disappearance of the Aral tracting at every stage. Amid the shocked reactions, some of brands, and in 2012 bought a stake in the Trendy International Sea in Uzbekistan. The fashion industry is sizeist, it’s racist, it’s the retailers could plausibly claim that they had no idea their Group, a Chinese company specializing in casual wear. So for exploitative. Yet will it ever be overthrown? Do people want it clothes were made at Rana Plaza, or about the state of a build- the time being at least, there is no immediate threat to the to be? Even when its veils are stripped away, as they are in this ing they didn’t know existed. What happened in Bangladesh is dominance of the brands who show in New York, Milan, book, we still so easily succumb to fashion’s glamour and its a perfect starting point for Hoskins’s attack, but she hasn’t set London and Paris - especially given the way they are struc- fantasies of self-transformation. As Vreeland said: “I think fan- out only to condemn the consumers of cheap fashion; she tured: 55 percent of Chanel’s profits, for example, come from tasists are the only realists in the world. The world is a fantasy. wants to show how the entire system is a trick to divert atten- perfume and cosmetics. But change will inevitably come. Nothing’s remarkably real.” tion from how clothes are made, who actually wears them, Hoskins is quite clear that high-end fashion is guilty of cov- and who makes all the money. ering up a system of imitation and exploitation under the — www.theguardian.com Lifestyle FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Stephen King returns with sequel to ‘The Shining’

on’t ask horror writer Stephen King and violence”, he works in a hospice where he where he gets his ideas from. He does- draws on his paranormal powers to help peo- Dn’t know. But the American author ple achieve a peaceful death. But his past is who has written over 50 novels and sold 350 reawakened when he encounters a telepathic million copies worldwide does remember child, Abra. King, 66, said he did not usually how he came up with the plot for his 1977 book “The Shining”. King and his wife, who were living in Colorado at the time, had gone to the mountains for a weekend at the end of the holiday season and were the only guests in their hotel. “We were very much fish against the current because everyone else was checking out and we were checking in,” he said. “It was creepy because the wind was howl- ing outside... and all the chairs were up on the tables,” he said. After dinner, King’s wife went up to their room at the Stanley Hotel leaving the writer in the deserted dining hall where he “soaked up the atmosphere”. “Then (as) I went back to the room I passed one of those the character “never really left my mind”. “I read in their lives,” he said. “And I’ll say ‘well canvas fire hoses on the wall and I thought got curious and that doesn’t happen to me yes, you were 14 years old, you were away at ‘gee, what if that turned into a snake and very often,” he said, adding that little by little summer camp and you were reading with a came after you’.” what happened next to Danny “started to flashlight under the covers. Of course I scared “By the time that I got back to the room I form in my head”. “I felt that because addic- you, you were easy!’ “Now they are all grown had the whole story in my head,” he said. “The tion is something that tends to run in families, up and you know no matter what you write Shining” tells the story of Jack Torrance who I thought I would go ahead and let him be an there will be a contingent who say ‘well that takes a job as an out-of-season caretaker at a alcoholic and see if he could do a better job wasn’t very scary’”. remote hotel and eventually attempts to mur- than his dad.” A recovering alcoholic himself, Although he is at a loss to explain the gen- der his wife and son. The book was made into who was drinking heavily at the time he esis of his ideas, King says how to scare peo- the 1980 film of the same name directed by wrote “The Shining”, King said that when he ple is easier to define. “The key to it is to cre- Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson. write sequels. “When I get to the end of a sto- started writing he was wary of producing a ate characters that people care about. If you Now, over 35 years after the book was first ry, I’m done with these people, not because I “tract on alcoholism”. care about them and they are in jeopardy published, King has written a sequel. don’t like them any more, but because I don’t Another challenge, he said, was how to then you are afraid for them,” he said. As for In “Doctor Sleep”, King picks up the charac- know what happens next,” he told journalists write something capable of terrifying readers what scares the author himself, King-like his ter of the son, Danny Torrance, the child with in Paris on Tuesday. who were now older and facing the really readers-no longer has to look to he paranor- psychic powers in the original book, as a mid- frightening things in life such as cancer and mal for that. “I’m afraid of Alzheimer’s,” he dle-aged alcoholic drifter. Haunted by his Haunted characters death. “A lot of people think of “The Shining” said. “Declining mental ability, that scares the dead father’s “legacy of despair, alcoholism In Danny’s case, however, King said that as one of the most scary books that they’ve heck out of me.” — AFP Ban ‘Noah’ movie, says Mardi Gras parade Egypt’s top Islamic body gypt’s top Islamic body said yesterday the big budget Hollywood biblical epic “Noah” starring Russell Crowe was Eirreligious and should not be screened in the country. Al- Azhar institute, one of the region’s main Sunni Muslim authorities, said the movie, slated to open in Egypt on March 26, violated Islam by portraying a prophet. The film has already angered some Christian institutions in the United States, with Crowe’s report- edly unconventional por- trayal of Noah. Al-Azhar can play an advisory role on censoring The King’s Jester movies and books in Egypt, float makes its way but does not have the final toward the Canal say. Portraying a prophet Street turn on dur- “contradicts the stature of ing a Mardi Gras prophets and messengers... parade in New and antagonizes the faith- Orleans. ful,” the institution said in a — AP photos statement. Egypt’s censor- ship board must approve any movie before it is shown, but it was not immediately clear whether it has approved “Noah” yet. The Paramount Pictures website said the film would be released on March 26 in Egypt, and Jack Laborde, a day later in other Middle Eastern countries. Egypt has censored king of other movies in the past, including the blockbuster “The Da Vinci Carnival, Code” after protests from the Orthodox Coptic Church. But it did Members of greets his sub- allow the screening of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ”, which the Krewe of jects on Mardi depicts Jesus being crucified. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet Zulu march Gras during and was not crucified. — AFP during Mardi the Rex Gras day. parade. Lifestyle FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 ‘Game of Thrones’ hip-hop mix tape seeks ‘multicultural’ audience atch the Throne,” meet “Game of Thrones”: HBO has of HBO overall. Last year, the audience for its third season was It was created by a team of producers at New York’s Launch “Wcommissioned rappers including Wale, Common 13.2 percent African-American, 9.2 percent Hispanic and 76.6 Point Records, who sampled music from the show’s score and and Outkast’s Big Boi for a mix tape devoted to its white, according to Nielsen figures. Overall, HBO’s overall audi- snippets of dialogue. Other rappers involved include reggaeton hit fantasy series. On one “Catch the Throne” track, Wale raps ence last year was 16.8 percent black, 12.3 percent Hispanic and star Daddy Yankee and rapper Bodega Bamz. Unfortunately about bringing “that Khaleesi heat” and decapitating other MCs. 72.9 white. Maybe it’s because the cast is so overwhelmingly absent are Kanye West and Jay-Z, the pair behind “Watch the The unlikely seeming enterprise is all part of an effort to reach the white? Throne.” “muticultural” audience of “Game of Thrones,” HBO told The Wall HBO notes that African-Americans and Latinos are overrepre- The “Game of Thrones” foray into hip-hop isn’t the show’s first Street Journal. sented in its subscriber count relative to their numbers in the collaboration with popular musicians: Both “The Hold Steady” and “Our multicultural audiences are a very important part of our population at large, and says Nielsen’s numbers don’t account for Gary Lightbody, lead singer of Snow Patrol, have sung the song subscribers, and we don’t want to take them for granted,” platforms like HBO Go. “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” for the show. The song is said to Lucinda Martinez, HBO’s senior vice president for multicultural HBO declined to say how much the campaign cost or how be one of the most popular in Westeros. — Reuters marketing, told the paper. Actually, the Journal found, the audi- much it paid the artists who took part in the 10-song mix tape, ence for “Game of Thrones” is a little less multicultural than that which will be released Friday. A Broadway musical

reaches a bloody milestone ying onstage has been remarkably easy for Broadway’s “A DGentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder.” The musical come- dy reached a bloody milestone at Wednesday’s matinee when star Jefferson Mays was knocked off for the 1,000th time since the show opened, believed to be a record for the fastest a leading actor has reached that number of deaths. The show is about an impoverished man, played by Bryce Pinkham, who discovers he’s ninth in line to inherit a fortune, so he decides to eliminate the eight heirs of the D’Ysquith family standing in his way. Mays plays all eight victims - two women and six men. Since the show opened Nov 17, Mays has been mur- Singer Akon arrives for the Breaking The Silence, dered eight times in each show or 64 times each week at the Beating The Drum concert event at United Nations Walter Kerr Theatre. At a press conference after the matinee, Headquarters. — AP Pinkham presented Mays with an honorary “death certificate” on behalf of the entire cast. It listed Mays’ marital status and age as “various” and listed his cause of death as Bryce Pinkham. Akon looks to bring “I’ve had the pleasure of working with some wonderful actors over the years, but there is no one I’d rather murder over and over and over than this man,” said Pinkham. “Even Sir Laurence electricity to homes in Africa Olivier and Richard Burton never had to die more than once an evening.” Mays, who won a Tony for “I Am My Own Wife,” was rammy-nominated singer Akon has a goal of gracious in return: “Thanks so much for this. At the risk of sound- Gbringing solar-powered electricity to 1 million ing gleefully genocidal, here’s to the next thousand D’Ysquith homes in Africa by the end of the year, and the deaths.” “A Gentleman’s Guide” features a book by Robert L. singer is using millions of his own dollars for the cause. Freedman, rousing music by Steven Lutvak, and wry, wonderful Akon started an initiative called “Akon Lighting Africa” lyrics by Freedman and Lutvak. — AP this month. The singer, who was born in the US of Senegalese parents and was reared in both countries, said he was “pained” after seeing people in the continent without electricity. “How could you build any infrastruc- ture with no lights?” he said in a recent interview. Kevin Costner to receive “Without electricity, you can’t even operate the machines to build roads or bridges. ...That’s what created the initia- tive.” ‘CinemaCon Icon Award’ Akon’s project aims to install solar equipment in households to improve energy sufficiency. He’s partnered evin Costner, whose career is showing new signs of life, with Give1 Project, ADS Global Corporation SA and pub- Kwill receive the “2014 Cinema Icon Award” at lic-private solar energy companies. The Senegalese- CinemaCon this month. The annual show-and-tell finds American also met with government leaders about the studios hawking their upcoming slates to theater owners and project in Senegal, Gambia, the Ivory Coast and other unfolds in Las Vegas. Costner won an Oscar for directing countries. “After certain hours, it’s completely pitch- “Dances with Wolves” and was one of the biggest stars in the black,” he said. “Even for myself, as a child growing up in world thanks to such hits as “The Untouchables” and “Bull Africa, it wasn’t that bad, but I know how life could be so Durham.” much easier if they had those necessities.” His career went into decline following box office disap- So, far, Akon said his initiative has financed 10 light pointments such as “Waterworld” and “The Postman.” posts and power for 100 homes in Mali and Guinea However, he recently scored a small screen hit and won an Conakry. The economic and trade company China Emmy for History Channel’s record-setting mini-series “The Jiangsu International will pre-finance all of the light Hatfields and McCoys: An American Vendetta” and had a posts, the singer said. “I saw what simple lights did to memorable supporting role in “Man of Steel.” This winter, those people there,” he said. “It was like a huge festival Costner appeared in “3 Days to Kill” and “Jack Ryan.” He next when that light switch was hit. Now, kids can study dur- stars in the sports comedy “Draft Day.” He will be presented ing the afterhours. It’s a luxury. It touched me.” Akon has with this special honor at at an awards ceremony on March 27, had more than a dozen Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot in The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. — Reuters 100 chart, including “Smack That,” “I Wanna Love You” and “Locked Up.” He recently released a new single “So Blue,” and said he is working on new music. He also wants to hold a concert at the end of the year in Africa to celebrate the initiative. — AP Kevin Costner Lifestyle FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 The abs strike back in ‘300’ sequel

he glistening abs are back in “300: Rise of an Empire,” and Tthey’ve been doing crunches. Like its forerunner, the 2007 hit “300,” “Rise of an Empire” again plunges us into bloody, hyper-stylized Greek history: mythology with muscles. The com- puter-generated warfare franchise is now a third of the way to a six-pack. Made clearly to capitalize on the popularity of “300,” “Rise of an Empire” is something like collected behind-the-scenes from the Persian invasion featured in “300.” Whereas the first film chronicled, ab by ab, the Spartans’ heroic stand in the Battle of Thermopylae against Xerxes’s Persian invasion, “Rise of an Empire” is about the concurrent naval fight, the Battle of Artemisium. This may be war by sea, but the ingredients of “300” are largely unaltered. An outnumbered band of Greeks staves off a tyrannical Persian army below roiling skies of red and gray. Manly honor is fetishized to a comical degree. Blood spills like soup. These two films, very much intertwined, provoke a number of questions: Did everyone forget their shirts? Is this a workout video? Or is this just the most absurdly ridiculous thing ever? Yes and no. In “Rise of an Empire,” Zack Snyder moves from the director’s chair to producer (and co-screenwriter with Kurt Johnstad), leaving Noam Murro to helm the film. But Snyder’s imprint is unmistakable, with his visual style carried over, mimick- ing the extremes of Frank Miller’s comic book illustrations (the inspiration of both movies). These are easy films to make fun of. It’s why perhaps the best thing to come out of “300” was the viral This image released by Warner Bros Pictures shows Eva Green in “300: Rise of an Empire.”— AP video “It’s Raining Men,” a clip of the movie’s Mediterranean men in various states of brotherly togetherness, set to the disco tune. back as the bronzed Xerxes are easily outdone by the females. “300: Rise of an Empire,” a Warner Bros Pictures release, is rat- But they’re also precisely the movies they seek to be: Some There is Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey of “Game of Thrones”) lordly ed R by the Motion Picture Association of America for “strong kind of grandly warped, excessively heightened dream of mythi- presiding over Sparta. But as Persian commander Artemisia, Eva sustained sequences of stylized bloody violence throughout, a cal battle. It’s as if Douglas Sirk made a combat video game. At Green rules ferociously over the film. She drives the Persians with sex scene, nudity and some language.” Running time: 102 min- least it’s the women who reign in “Rise of an Empire,” though one a warrior’s desperate thirst for revenge and a stare that makes the utes. One and a half stars out of four. — AP wouldn’t expect that given its seconds into the film when naked men of her army cower. It’s like a reckoning of the macho multi- breasts make their first gratuitous appearance. The male actors tudes of “300.” She single-handedly spoils the landscape of manly here - Sullivan Stapleton as the Greek hero Themistokles, Santoro, torsos.

‘Mr Peabody and Sherman’ Review: Amusing cartoon might delight adults more than kids

he Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,” Mr Peabody and Sherman’s ful twists on real-life personages is faultlessly calibrated to make both “Tfirst home, was a cartoon for adults, and the new big-screen adults and children happy. adaptation of their adventures is too. Solidly assembled if Mr Peabody’s near-perfection is a surprising delight; there’s a par- fundamentally soulless, “Mr Peabody and Sherman” is a gift to parents: ticular pleasure in watching people (or a beagle, in this case) exercise a shiny, never-dull chunk of edutainment for “Baby Einstein” grads their talents, whether it’s fencing with Robespierre or escaping an elab- that’ll keep the kids amused with pratfalls and butt jokes while reassur- orate death trap in a pyramid through geometry. ing their moms and dads that not even a Nobel Prize-winning, Sherman, on the other hand, isn’t any more interesting than his TV Olympic medal-collecting time-machine inventor can get something counterpart. That’s because the seven-year-old is presented as any as hard as parenting right. child would be from his parents’ perspective: he’s a doofus-in-distress In the 1959-1964 TV series, Mr Peabody was aloof and professorial - who’s too young to get the simplest of jokes, yet he occasionally dis- so much that his fur should’ve turned to tweed - who adopted the ter- plays the emotional maturity and tactical genius of a chess master. minally dorky Sherman as a pet. Director Rob Minkoff and screenwriter It’s easy enough to see why Mr Peabody would think Sherman’s an Craig Wright sand down this edge for the film, realigning Mr Peabody everyboy, a dummy, and the smartest kid in the room, but the script’s and Sherman as father and son. That was probably a necessary choice, strained efforts to juggle these different facets inevitably result in an ScHoolboy Q knocks ‘Frozen’ and one that neatly lends itself to the movie’s subtle argument for the inconsistent character who’s hard to track from scene to scene. validity of nontraditional families. Sherman’s contradictions ultimately rob specificity, and thus poignan- from top spot on Billboard 200 Significantly nicer but still a proud know-it-all, this new incarnation cy, from the father-son tension coursing through the plot. of Mr Peabody (voiced by Ty Burrell) is an adoptive father who has Once the universe’s least likely time travelers return to the present ip hop artist ScHoolboy Q knocked Disney’s juggernaut taught his son too well. Sherman’s (Max Charles) smarts make him day, the gentle satire in the historical adventures gives way to a Hsoundtrack “Frozen” from the top spot of the Billboard instant bully-bait on his first day at school; when Sherman literally bites squishy standoff against Ms Grunion (Allison Janney), the bigoted, anti- 200 album chart on Wednesday. “Oxymoron,” the third back at his tormentor Penny (Ariel Winter), Mr Peabody is called into dog social worker trying to take Sherman away. That leads to an intri- studio album from ScHoolboy Q and the first to be released the principal’s office to justify his adoption and custody of his son. cate climax whose whole is considerably less than the sum of its parts: through a major label, Universal Music Group’s Interscope So far, so grown-up. But the fun starts soon enough when Mr there’s just too many of the jokes we’ve already seen and heard before. Records, sold 139,000 copies in its first week, according to figures Peabody invites Penny and her parents (Leslie Mann and Stephen “Mr Peabody and Sherman” could have touched its audience’s hearts, from Nielsen SoundScan. The “Frozen” soundtrack, which fea- Colbert) to his lavishly mod penthouse (which would score a zero on but it settles for a tickle. — Reuters tures the hit Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” and previously any baby-proofing test) for a charm attack. He makes “Einstein on the topped the Billboard chart for five non-consecutive weeks, Beach” cocktails while encouraging Sherman to make nice with Penny, dropped to No. 2 this week with 91,000 copies. a plan that somehow leads to the kids taking the Way-Back Machine to The Walt Disney Co film still performs strongly at the global ancient Egypt, where Penny becomes King Tut’s fiancee. box office, recently crossing the $1 billion mark in ticket sales Convincing her to break off the engagement is easy enough: worldwide. ScHoolboy Q led six new entries in the Top 10 of the Mr Peabody plainly informs her that when the boy-king dies in a Billboard 200 chart this week. Los Angeles alt-rocker Beck landed few years, she’ll be vivisected and her skin and bones mummified. But at No. 3 with his latest studio album “Morning Phase.” Rapper Kid getting back to the present isn’t so easy, which means detours to Cudi notched No. 4 after the release of “Kid Cudi Presents Leonardo Da Vinci (Stanley Tucci) in Renaissance Italy and to the Greek Satellite FL” last week. Latin music star Romeo Santos came in at soldiers (led by Patrick Warburton as Agamemnon) at the final battle of No. 5 with “Formula Vol. 2.” the Trojan War. (Disappointingly, no one in the present or the past is Country music star Dierks Bentley’s “Riser” debuted at No. 6, ever the least bit freaked out by the existence of a talking dog.) while pop-rock group The Fray rounded out the new entries with Mr Peabody’s rat-a-tat narration of historical details is more faithful “Helios” at No. 8. Overall album sales for the week ending March 2 to the past than on the TV series - rest assured, the kids are learning totaled 5.1 million, down 12 percent from the comparable week something - and the balance between exciting chase scenes and play- in 2013, Billboard said. — Reuters Lifestyle FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 ‘Must-see’ Louis Vuitton show wraps up Paris fashion

icolas Ghesquiere’s “must-see” debut On the catwalk for autumn/winter Nfor Louis Vuitton on Wednesday 2014/15, Ghesquiere rang the changes with a wrapped up Paris fashion in a grand collection of logo-free clothes with a retro finale that opened a new chapter for the luxu- feel. And in contrast to showman Jacobs- ry brand after the departure of Marc Jacobs. famed for turning his shows into spectacles- Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, one of Asia’s there wasn’t a carousel or mini-train in sight. biggest stars, Catherine Deneuve, Princess Leather featured not just in the bags but also Charlene of Monaco and one-time mentor in pieces worked into the clothes in a wintry Jean Paul Gaultier were among the VIPs on palette of black, beiges, browns and splashes the front row to see the prodigiously talented of Ghesquiere’s favourite “sporty” red. former Balenciaga designer’s first collection. “Don’t try talking to anyone in fashion for The new casualness the next half hour at least,” tweeted one Ghesquiere’s skirts were short, gently woman just before the show, which started flared and cinched at the waist. Trousers were with a letter to guests from Ghesquiere left on tight-fitting. Everything was high-waisted and every seat. “Words cannot express exactly teamed with strappy or patent ankle boots. how I am feeling at this moment. Above all, Outlining his vision backstage after the show, immense joy at being here in the knowledge Ghesquiere said he had in mind a woman that my stylistic expression is at one with the who was at home mixing pieces in a way that Louis Vuitton philosophy,” said the designer was both modern and effortless. who parted company with the fabled “I didn’t want to do a theme or a story or Balenciaga fashion house in November 2012. be very dramatic. I think I have this vision of Vuitton as multiple propositions.... it is a woman who is talented at mixing clothes, more than having a (single) look,” he said. “It’s that modernity that I love with Vuitton. It’s this easiness that you have comfortable func- tional pieces, embellished pieces, it’s the way you mix it together, this new casualness that I am interested in,” he added.

Models present creations for Louis Vuitton during the 2014/2015 autumn/winter ready-to-wear collection fashion show, on March 5, 2014 in Paris. — AFP photos Lifestyle FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Jacobs was given a standing ovation Vuitton as a leather goods company, at Paris fashion week in October when because the bags are so strong and he bowed out after 16 years at the helm beautiful and fashion can be a little to concentrate on a stock exchange timid compared to that,” he said. flotation of his own brand. The US “(For me) it has to be a look. It has to designer-under whose stewardship be that when you get the bag you have “Vuitton mania” saw queues around to get the look, and when you get the department stores-is credited with tak- look you have to get the bag. It has to ing Vuitton from “stodgy luggage be an entire silhouette.” And he said he house” to one of the most sought-after was thrilled to be back designing after brands in the world, particularly in the his post-Balenciaga break from the lucrative Asian market. industry. “It was necessary to think and take a little distance and when you take ‘Get the look, get the bag’ distance you are so happy... (but now) After years of rapid global expansion, it’s super exciting. We are playing the Ghesquiere is expected to steer the game, we go for it and that’s the best,” brand towards a more upmarket, exclu- he said. — AFP sive image. The company, which marks its 140th anniversary in 2014, turned in sales estimated at 7.3 billion euros ($10 billion) in 2012 with leather goods esti- mated to account for 90 percent of sales. Vuitton is parent company LVMH’s most profitable brand, accounting for more than 70 percent of annual sales of its fashion and leather goods division which also includes the brands of Celine, Givenchy, Fendi and Kenzo. Ghesquiere said he would be work- ing to integrate the bags into clothes in one harmonious look. “Sometimes peo- ple have a tendency only to see Louis FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Kuwait KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (06/03/2014 TO 12/03/2014)

SHARQIA-1 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3:45 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 9:45 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 2:00 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) :00 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 12:15 AM POMPEII (DIG) 4:15 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 8:00 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 6:30 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 10:15 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 8:45 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 12:30 AM 360º- 3 REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 10:45 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED WER (DIG) 2:30 PM POMPEII (DIG) 12:45 AM WER (DIG) 4:45 PM MARINA-2 WER (DIG) 7:00 PM SHARQIA-2 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 12:30 PM WER (DIG) 9:15 PM WER (DIG) 11:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 12:30 PM PATRICK (DIG) 2:30 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 2:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 4:30 PM AL-KOUT.1 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 4:30 PM POMPEII (DIG) 6:30 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 2:00 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 6:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 8:45 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 4:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 8:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 10:45 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 6:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 10:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 12:45 AM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 8:45 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 12:30 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 10:45 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 12:45 AM SHARQIA-3 MARINA-3 NO SUN+TUE+WED NON-STOP (DIG) 1:15 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 1:30 PM WER (DIG) 3:30 PM FRI AL-KOUT.2 NON-STOP (DIG) 5:30 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 1:00 PM POMPEII (DIG) 1:30 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 7:45 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 3:30 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 3:45 PM WER (DIG) 10:00 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 5:30 PM POMPEII (DIG) 5:45 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 12:05 AM NON-STOP (DIG) 7:30 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 8:00 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 10:00 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 9:45 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 12:05 AM MUHALAB-1 NON-STOP (DIG) 12:05 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 1:30 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 3:30 PM AL-KOUT.3 AVENUES-1 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 5:30 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 12:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 7:45 PM POMPEII (DIG) 2:00 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 2:45 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 9:45 PM POMPEII (DIG) 4:15 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 5:00 PM PATRICK (DIG) 6:30 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 7:15 PM MUHALAB-2 POMPEII (DIG) 8:45 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 9:30 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) 2:00 PM POMPEII (DIG) 11:00 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 11:45 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) 4:00 PM POMPEII (DIG) 1:15 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED WER (DIG) 6:00 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 8:00 PM BAIRAQ-1 REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 10:00 PM AVENUES-2 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 12:30 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 2:30 PM MUHALAB-3 Seats-419 12:30 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 1:15 PM MATRIMONIAL POMPEII (DIG-3D) 2:45 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3:45 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 4:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 6:30 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 5:00 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 6:15 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 8:30 PM Marthomite NON-STOP (DIG) 7:15 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 8:45 PM parents invite 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 10:30 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 9:30 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 11:15 PM marriage proposal for their 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 12:30 AM daughter 26 years, fair (MD NO SUN+TUE+WED NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-1 Radiology) studying in a NON-STOP (DIG) 1:45 PM AVENUES-3 BAIRAQ-2 reputed Medical college in India. Looking for a suitable NON-STOP (DIG) 4:00 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 2:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 1:30 PM PATRICK (DIG) 6:15 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 4:45 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 3:30 PM proposal from God fearing NON-STOP (DIG) 8:15 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 7:00 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 5:30 PM family of professionally quali- NON-STOP (DIG) 10:30 PM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 9:15 PM MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) 7:30 PM fied doctors/medical student NON-STOP (DIG) 12:45 AM REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 11:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 9:30 PM (preferably MD). Interested 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 11:30 PM may contact at: Email: FANAR-2 AVENUES-4 [email protected] BAIRAQ-3 (C 4654) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 1:30 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 1:45 PM any interest in it should com- KHOUTAT GIMI (DIG) 3:45 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 4:00 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 1:15 PM 4-3-2014 municate with State Life NON-STOP (DIG) 3:30 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 5:45 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 6:15 PM Office Kuwait Tel: 22452208. NON-STOP (DIG) 5:45 PM (C 4655) KHOUTAT GIMI (DIG) 8:15 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 8:30 PM Christian Orthodox parents KHOUTAT GIMI (DIG) 8:00 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 10:15 PM NO THU from Central Travancore, 4-3-2014 NON-STOP (DIG) 10:00 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 12:30 AM Special Show “300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG)” residing at Tiruvalla invite NON-STOP (DIG) 12:15 AM proposals for their daughter NO SUN+TUE+WED 8:30 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED THU 25 years, 5’7” (M.Tech CHANGE OF NAME FANAR-3 NON-STOP (DIG) 10:45 PM PLAZA Structural Engineering from I, Vijaykumar MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) 1:00 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 1:00 AM 1983 (DIG) (Malayalam) 6:00 PM NIT Calicut) from well to do B. Painginkar MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) 3:00 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 8:45 PM and settled boys having R/O Goa, India, holder of MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) 5:00 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 10:45 PM M.Tech/B.Tech/CA/MBA. Passport No. F5608432 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) 7:00 PM 360º- 1 Preferably from reverted to Islam, do hereby WER (DIG) 9:00 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 12:30 PM LAILA Orthodox/Jacobite family. change my name to Yousef WER (DIG) 11:00 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 2:45 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 6:15 PM Interested may contact email Vijaykumar Painginkar. (C WER (DIG) 1:00 AM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 5:00 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 8:15 PM at [email protected]. 4657) NO SUN+TUE+WED 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 7:15 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 10:30 PM 2-3-2014 6-3-2014 NO THU AJIAL.1 FANAR-4 Special Show “300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D)” 1983 (DIG) (Malayalam) 6:45 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 1:30 PM 7:15 PM LOST FOR SALE 1983 (DIG) (Malayalam) 9:45 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 4:00 PM THU Cooker 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 9:30 PM Original Indesit gas 4 ring 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 6:00 PM AJIAL.2 document Policy with oven, Linen box, ironing 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 8:00 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 11:45 PM TOTAL SIYAPAA (DIG) (HINDI) 5:45 PM 633001470/633001464/6330 board, cloths hang rail with 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 10:00 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED TOTAL SIYAPAA (DIG) (HINDI) 8:00 PM 02341/633000763/63300082 shelf, dining table and 4 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 12:05 AM TOTAL SIYAPAA (DIG) (HINDI) 10:15 PM 8 of Muhammad Afzal chairs, sofa 3 seats, office NO SUN+TUE+WED 360º- 2 Mughal by the State Life desk, office chair, bookcase. 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 2:15 PM AJIAL.3 Insurance Corporation of Personal trainer CPS with MARINA-1 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 4:45 PM GULAB GANG (DIG) (HINDI) 6:30 PM Pakistan, Gulf Zone is report- heart monitor, dock station GULAB GANG (DIG) (HINDI) 9:30 PM for iPod, printer HP photos- REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 1:30 PM 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 7:15 PM ed to have been lost. Anyone mart, safe. Tel: 94400865. finding the same or claiming (C 4656) 39 Technology FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 A Mobile World of technology Mobile World Congress in Barcelona showcases the future now

2014 is still young but the largest show for way beyond what we’re used to from mobile mobile devices and technology - the Mobile devices, making the Z2 an interesting option World Congress in Barcelona - has just shut its for serious video-shooters. New software fea- doors which makes this a good point in time tures includes Timeshift Video which captures to look back at the most interesting new footage at 120 frames and allows you to slow products on show. down portions of your footage for dramatic In 2013 mobile imaging technology made effect and Background Defocus which simu- a massive leap forward. We saw the introduc- lates a shallow depth of field by capturing tion of bigger imaging sensors on volume two photos at different focus settings and models such as the Nokia Lumia 1020 or the blending them. Sony Xperia Z1. Optical Image Stabilization became a standard feature on Nokia’s Lumia The third manufacturer to announce a line and some Android high-end devices, such heavyweight device is LG. The Korean manu- as the HTC One or LG G2. On high-end models facturer launched the LG G Pro II just before 5-inch 1080p Full-HD screens became the the show. There’s bad news though: HTC One standard, making image framing, viewing and Max challenger will only be available in Asian editing more pleasant tasks, and we saw a markets. The G Pro II is a 5.9-inch phablet with slew of new camera app features introduced, a top-end specification and a promising-look- including Nokia’s Refocus and Google’s ing camera module that features a 13MP Photosphere. CMOS sensor and an improved version of the All those new features and technologies optical image stabilization that we’ve already mean that smartphone cameras can not only seen on the LG G2. compete with, but in some areas even surpass comes with a slightly downgraded specifica- and makes an ideal companion to Sony’s new dedicated compact cameras. With mobile Mid-end devices tion. The Snapdragon 400 SoC should provide Xperia Z2 smartphone. It comes with the imaging innovation going full speed ahead in While MWC 2014 was a comparatively qui- plenty of power for most apps but the 960 x same Snapdragon 801 SoC, Android 4.4 OS 2013, here at Dpreview Connect we were et show in terms of high-end devices we were 540 pixels resolution is a little lower than we and water-resistant housing as its smaller sis- hoping for the pace to be kept up in the new bombarded with launches in the mid- to low- would prefer. ter model and is only 6.4mm thin. If you like year. Let’s look at some MWC highlights! end segment. Devices in this bracket of the That said, at least the Latin American LTE taking pictures with your tablet you’ll be hap- market might not be announced with the version of the G2 Mini will come with the py to hear the Z2 Tablet features an 8MP rear High-end devices same glitz and glamour as their top-of-the- same 13MP camera module that we’ve seen camera that offers many of the functions we Let’s get started with the blockbusters. To line counterparts but nevertheless some of on the original G2, making the new device an are use to from the Xperia smartphones, such most observers, Sony Xperia Z2 was the them come with impressive spec sheets and interesting alternative for budget-conscious as HDR for both photos and video, Burst stand-out device of the show. The Sony can represent very good value for money for mobile photographers. Users in other regions Mode, Scene Recognition, Sweep Panorama, Xperia Z1 and Z2 come with a 1/2.3-inch sen- mobile photographers on a budget. Virtually will have to make do with an 8MP module Smile Detection, Face Detection and Touch sor, the Nokia Lumia 1020 even with a much all manufacturers, including HTC, Ascend, though. Focus. bigger 1/1.5-inch variant. Acer, Huawei, Lenovo, Sony and Alcatel had The Nokia XL will retail at only Ä109 but If you like the Sony’s 8MP shooter you’ll be The Sony Xperia Z2 is another top-end new models to show. We’ve picked the ones was still one of the most talked about devices enthused by the 13MP Sony BSI CMOS sensor device from a large manufacturer that was we found most interesting and had a closer of the show. The reason for that is simple. It’s that can be found in the Huawei MediaPad announced at the show. Its predecessor, the look. not the 5MP camera or 5-inch screen but the X1. This 7-inch device comes with a 1200 x Z1, was only announced in September last With its 6-inch screen the ZTE Grand Memo fact that the XL is the first Nokia phone which 1920 LTPS display and all around high-end year, so it makes sense that the new model is II falls firmly into the phablet category and to run Google’s Android OS, albeit a “forked” specs which makes it a serious alternative to a solid update but not brand new in every while its Snapdragon 400 SoC and 720p reso- version of it that makes use of Microsoft and Google’s Nexus 7, the Kindle Fire HD or even respect. The Z2’s full-HD display now meas- lution screen are not quite on par with high- Nokia services instead of the Google ones and the iPad Mini. Not only does the Huawei offer ures 5.2 inches and offers better viewing end models its camera module looks like it comes with its own App Store, similar to what full voice-calling capability, it also has by far angles than the Z1’s 5-inch equivalent. A new might be worth a closer look. The ZTE comes Amazon offers with its Kindle Fire tablets. First the best camera specs in the 7-inch segment. SoC (Snapdragon 801) and 3GB of RAM offer equipped with a 13MP Sony BSI CMOS sensor reports of Google Play running on the X-series So if you want your screens big and don’t plenty of processing power but the camera and a fast F2.2 lens. Boasting 5MP the front devices have surfaced on the web and mind carrying a 7-inch device you could even specification is as good as identical to the camera sports an unusually high pixel count according to Nokia any Android-app can be consider replacing your phone with the Z1’s. Images are captured by a 20.7 MP 1/2.3- and features the same aperture as its counter- side-loaded, so Nokia XL users will be able to MediaPad. inch CMOS sensor and the lens has a fast F2.0 part on the back which makes the Grand enjoy the same selection of apps as the users The Huawei MediaPad X1 is an attractive aperture. There is no optical image stabiliza- Memo II an ideal looking device for video of regular Android devices. looking device that takes on the Google’s tion on the Xperia Z2. callers and selfie-shooters. When first rumors about a Nokia phone Nexus 7, the Kindle Fire HD and iPad Mini in Most of the Z2’s new camera features are LG’s G2 Mini looks like an interesting with an Android OS started floating around the 7-inch segment. more interesting to videographers than still device for those who have not yet gotten the web many mobile photographers, includ- A quick glance at the spec sheet makes the photographers. The device is now capable of used to the large dimensions of today’s high- ing readers of our site, were hoping for an Yoga Tablet 10HD+ look like a fairly common recording 4K video and the STM10 external end phones. That said, the LG G2 Mini is not Android powered version of Nokia’s high-end mid-range tablet but visually the Lenovo 10.1- stereo-microphone promises sound-quality only smaller than the original G2 but also models, such as the Lumia 1020 or 1520. inch tablet stands out from the crowd. The However, it appears the Finnish manufactur- cylindrically-shaped battery allows for a firm er’s intention was to replace the aging soft- grip when holding the tablet or a slight tilt ware platform of its low-range Asha phones when placed on a surface. There is also a with the open source Android OS. So for now built-in kickstand that extends from the there won’t be any editing of Lumia 1020 tablet’s battery and lets you adjust it in an PureView images with Snapseed or VSCOCam upright position, without using any additional but we’ll have to wait and see if Nokia will stands or cases. The unusual shape also allows expand the use of Android to its premium for the use of a very large battery and accord- devices at some point in the future. ing to Lenovo with its 9000 mAh battery the the Yoga can be used up to 18 hours before a Tablets recharge is due. There wasn’t too much movement in the The Yoga Tablet’s unusual shape allows for tablet space at MWC 2014, arguably because the installation of a large battery adjustment quite a few models had already been of the screen at various angles. launched at the Consumer Electronic Show in Like the other new devices the Yoga Tablet Las Vegas in January. Nevertheless there were 10HD+ comes with a, for tablet standards, a handful of interesting new models at the well equipped camera. The rear module has show that are worth another look. an 8MP sensor and the SNAPit Camera app Sony’s Xperia Z2 Tablet is water resistant offers panorama, burst and low-light modes, and comes with an 8MP camera. filters and editing functions, including The Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet was arguably removal of unwanted objects and animated the most high-profile tablet launch at MWC GIF creation. www.connect.dpreview.com Stars FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

Aries (March 21-April 19) COUNTRY CODES Libra (September 23-October 22) Afghanistan 0093 Kuwait 00965 You might find yourself in a difficult situation when faced with a Albania 00355 Kyrgyzstan 00996 This is your day, Libra, so don't waste it. Being the helpful, Laos 00856 person who doesn't necessarily approve of how you're handling Algeria 00213 friendly person you are, you may find yourself catering to other Andorra 00376 Latvia 00371 yourself, Aries. It could be that someone misinterpreted one of people's needs and desires. Some could see you as the good Angola 00244 Lebanon 00961 your offhand remarks, and now is violently overreacting. Be care Anguilla 001264 Liberia 00231 - Samaritan who can offer advice with a friendly attitude. Be ful of shooting back caustic remarks that could only aggravate the Antiga 001268 Libya 00218 careful of draining away all your energy on others. This day situation and elevate it to a damaging level. 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Perhaps you exchange Bosnia 00387 Mayotte 00269 ideas about UFOs and life on other planets. Suddenly you're make sure that you do. There are many times when you get so Botswana 00267 Mexico 0052 looking at your life as if you were a character in a science- critical of the things you do that you end up punishing yourself Brazil 0055 Micronesia 00691 fiction novel. Exchange books and other literature with unnecessarily. Give yourself a treat for being good instead of Brunei 00673 Moldova 00373 chastising yourself for being bad. At all times, however, you Bulgaria 00359 Monaco 00377 those of a similar mindset. You may not be the only one Burkina 00226 Mongolia 00976 who thinks there is a conspiracy against them. must remember that you're perfect just the way you are. Burundi 00257 Montserrat 001664 Cambodia 00855 Morocco 00212 Cameroon 00237 Mozambique 00258 Canada 001 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Cape Verde 00238 Namibia 00264 Cayman Islands 001345 Nepal 00977 Gemini (May 21-June 20) Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Central African Republic 00236 Netherlands (Holland)0031 Chad 00235 Netherlands Antilles 00599 Chile 0056 New Caledonia 00687 China 0086 New Zealand 0064 Take your leadership abilities to a new level, Gemini. Gather If a friend or colleague seems to be in trouble, you may not Colombia 0057 Nicaragua 00505 some friends and plan a trip that you've long been considering want to interfere for fear of being too intimate. But this isn't a Comoros 00269 Nigar 00227 but were reluctant to act on. People will naturally look to you time to hold back, Sagittarius. It's likely that this person really Congo 00242 Nigeria 00234 for leadership and guidance, as you always seem to know how Cook Islands 00682 Niue 00683 does need your help. 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Finland 00358 Saint Pierre 00508 motion. France 0033 Saint Vincent 001784 French Guiana 00594 Samoa US 00684 French Polynesia 00689 Samoa West 00685 Gabon 00241 San Marino 00378 Gambia 00220 Sao Tone 00239 Leo (July 23-August 22) Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Georgia 00995 Saudi Arabia 00966 Germany 0049 Scotland (UK) 0044 Ghana 00233 Senegal 00221 Gibraltar 00350 Seychelles 00284 Decisions don't have to be as hard as you make them, Leo. You The surge of power within you is going to let others know that Greece 0030 Sierra Leone 00232 may feel as if a strong force is pulling you in a clear direction, so you mean business, Aquarius. Make good use of this fantastic Greenland 00299 Singapore 0065 don't resist it. You'll only drive yourself crazy trying to list all the boost of energy by conquering your own goals and demons Grenada 001473 Slovakia 00421 reasons why you should or shouldn't go the way you're des- instead of using it to wage war on anyone else. Other people Guadeloupe 00590 Slovenia 00386 should know to get out of your way when you have your mind Guam 001671 Solomon Islands 00677 tined to go. Make things easier on yourself by going with the Guatemala 00502 Somalia 00252 flow instead of letting your mind interfere with constant chat- set on doing something. If they don't, politely ask them to Guinea 00224 South Africa 0027 ter and resistance. move instead of steamrolling over them. Guyana 00592 South Korea 0082 Haiti 00509 Spain 0034 Holland (Netherlands)0031 Sri Lanka 0094 Honduras 00504 Sudan 00249 Hong Kong 00852 Suriname 00597 Hungary 0036 Swaziland 00268 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Sweden 0046 Iceland 00354 Switzerland 0041 Virgo (August 23-September 22) Pisces (February 19-March 20) India 0091 Syria 00963 Indian Ocean 00873 Taiwan 00886 Indonesia 0062 Tanzania 00255 Look at things from a more philosophical perspective, Virgo, Be more adventurous than usual, Pisces. Feel free to take a trip Iran 0098 Thailand 0066 instead of seeing everything from such an intensely emotional somewhere without bringing a map or having any specific desti- Iraq 00964 Toga 00228 Ireland 00353 Tonga 00676 one. You may have a constant fear that everyone is out to get nation in mind. The sheer excitement of the unknown should thrill Italy 0039 Tokelau 00690 you. More than likely, you're blowing small instances out of pro- and enthuse you, not frighten and confuse. Your enjoyment of the Ivory Coast 00225 Trinidad 001868 portion in your mind. Use your friends as a sounding board for situation has to do with your attitude toward it. You may not be Jamaica 001876 Tunisia 00216 your thoughts. More than likely, you'll understand the situation able to control the hand you're dealt, but you can certainly control Japan 0081 Turkey 0090 better by introducing this fresh perspective. how you play it. Jordan 00962 Tuvalu 00688 Kazakhstan 007 Uganda 00256 Kenya 00254 Ukraine 00380 Kiribati 00686 United Arab Emirates00976 Leisure FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

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A member of a nomadic Berber people of the Sahara. Challenge Maze 71. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling). 73. A primeval personification of air and breath. 74. United States mathematician who contributed to the development of atom bombs and of stored-program digital computers (1903-1957). 77. Preserve of crushed fruit. 78. Water chestnut whose spiny fruit has two rather than 4 prongs. 79. Difficult or labored respiration. 80. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. Resembling gass. 2. Large African forest tree yielding a strong hard yellow to golden brown lumber. 3. The capital and largest city of Ghana with a deep-water port. 4. Male red deer.

Daily SuDoku Yesterday’s Solution Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

India not giving up hope of Formula One return MUMBAI: India’s motor sports federation is optimistic concerns will be satisfied,” Akbar Ebrahim, the chair- overcome. A Jaypee spokesman declined to com- the tax problems that have jeopardised the country’s man of racing at FMSCI, told Reuters yesterday. “The ment when contacted by Reuters, but a source at the Formula One race will be resolved and the home good thing is that the International Olympic promoter said the problems should be resolved and Grand Prix will be back in 2016. Committee has recognised the International Formula One would return to India. Formula One commercial supremo Bernie Automobile Federation (FIA) and made it a full mem- India first hosted a Grand Prix in 2011 to positive Ecclestone told Reuters on Wednesday that the ber. “So once we have the recognition the drivers are reviews and have staged three races to date. Former Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi will not no longer going to be considered as entertainers but Formula One driver Karun Chandhok rued India’s loss be hosting a race next year after being dropped from as athletes.” Crediting race promoters Jaypee Sports of a glamorous sporting event. the 2014 championship. International for building a stellar circuit in India, “I’m not surprised, unfortunately. The situation Problems over taxation, with Formula One classi- Ebrahim was hopeful that the FMSCI would be recog- hasn’t changed from the government’s viewpoint fied as entertainment rather than a sport in India, as nised after the country’s general elections are over in despite the Jaypee group’s best efforts,” Chandhok well as the considerable bureaucracy governing the May. “The required paperwork that was asked for by told Reuters from London. “It’s a sad but predictable import of equipment have been seen as obstacles. the government of India has been already submitted outcome. “With the IOC recognising FIA, the recogni- The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) a month back,” Ebrahim added. “It’s a priority. tion for the sport body in India should be pretty auto- is waiting for a final clearance from the sports ministry “This recognition is not just for F1 but it is benefi- matic. “The teams and the drivers really enjoyed com- for recognition as a national sports federation and cial for the grass root level of Indian motorsports, ing to India. But unfortunately the Indian govern- hopes that will pave the way for the race’s return. too.” Ecclestone said in November that a deal had ment did not embrace Formula One or really under- “It’s unfortunate but once the government gives been done for the Indian Grand Prix to return in 2015 stand its penetration and reach worldwide. “It’s an the recognition I am very hopeful that Mr Ecclestone’s and for six years beyond that if tax problems could be opportunity lost.” — Reuters Lee cruises at All England

LONDON: It was a near perfect day for Malaysia’s world number one Lee Chong Wei at the All England badminton championships on Wednesday as he cruised through the first round while his main rivals struggled. Lee, a silver medallist at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, played within himself to dispose of Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-15 21-17 and book his place in the second round. While Lee was in cruise control, world number three Tommy Sugiarto was dumped out of the tournament by China’s Gao Huan. Gao took the first game 21-13 but Sugiarto smashed through the second 21-10. While many expected the Indonesian to go on to seal the win, it was Gao who took the decider 21-18. Another of Lee’s main rivals, Chen Long, also looked in danger of an early exit when he lost his first game 21-10 to Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen. Chen, who defeated Lee in last year’s final, found himself trailing in the second game but fought back to win 21-15, then completed the victory 21- 12 in the deciding game. CALGARY: Max Reinhart No. 59 of the Calgary Flames chases Cody Ceci No. 5 of the Ottawa Senators during an NHL Chen said he was not surprised there had been spectac- game at Scotiabank Saddledome. — AFP ular early upsets. “The All England championships is a tour- nament that has a lot of character and it is not a surprise to see a big upset caused by a lower ranked player to a high Canadiens drown Ducks ranked player,” he said. “It’s a really special tournament and it is unique and everyone wants to win it. “It was ANAHEIM: Andrei Markov scored in the sixth round of the FLYERS 6, CAPITALS 4 almost a bad result for me but I can handle losing, what I shootout as the Montreal Canadiens beat the NHL-leading Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek each had two goals, and cannot handle is playing badly.” Chen next plays Japan’s Anaheim Ducks 4-3 Wednesday for their sixth victory in eight Michael Raffl and Steve Downie also scored to lead Philadelphia. Takuma Ueda while Malaysian Lee plays compatriot Chong games. Andrew McDonald had an assist in his first game since he was Wei Feng. — Reuters Brendan Gallagher had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, acquired from the New York Islanders. The Flyers won for the sev- tying it late in the second period. Max Pacioretty got his 30th goal enth time in eight games. and captain Brian Gionta also scored in an impressive victory The Flyers chased Washington goalie Braden Holtby after tak- before the arrival of new acquisition Thomas Vanek. ing a 4-0 lead early in the second period. Holtby was replaced by Tim Jackman, Francois Beauchemin and Daniel Winnik scored Philipp Grubauer for the rest of the game - and could face some early goals for the Ducks, who had won three straight. Jonas Hiller competition the rest of the season. The Capitals acquired Jaroslav made 27 saves in Anaheim’s first loss since the Olympic break. Halak from Buffalo for backup goalie Michal Neuvirth and Dustin Tokarski stopped 39 shots in his debut for the defenseman Rostislav Klesla at the NHL trade deadline earlier in Canadiens, making several sharp saves in his eighth NHL appear- the day. ance. Alex Ovechkin, Joel Ward and Troy Brouwer nearly rallied the Capitals with three straight goals in the third. Brooks Laich also MAPLE LEAFS 3, RANGERS 2 scored. Tyler Bozak scored from a penalty shot and then got the win- ning goal 1:51 into overtime to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs over FLAMES 4, SENATORS 1 the Rangers, spoiling the New York debut of Martin St. Louis. Markus Granlund scored his first NHL goal as fellow Finnish Bozak got to a loose puck in front that bounced past Rangers rookie Joni Ortio picked up his first career victory to lead Calgary. defensemen Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh and slammed a Paul Byron, Joe Colborne and Mike Cammalleri also scored for shot past Henrik Lundqvist to snap the Maple Leafs’ three-game the Flames, and rookie Sean Monahan had two assists. Ortio, losing streak (0-1-2) and stretch New York’s skid to three (0-2-1). making his second start, finished with 30 saves to help Calgary Toronto built a 2-0 lead on Bozak’s second-period goal and win for the sixth time in its last seven home games. Kyle Turris Nazem Kadri’s tally in the third. The Rangers tied it on short-hand- scored his 20th goal of the season for Ottawa, which has lost four ed goals by McDonagh and Dominic Moore 1:19 apart. of its last five. Lundqvist bounced back from two straight losses in which he Granlund scored 2:04 into the first period and Byron doubled gave up 10 goals, finishing with 26 saves. Toronto’s Jonathan the lead at 9:12 of the second. Colborne made it 3-0 about 8 min- Bernier had dropped two straight after regulation while allowing utes later. Turris spoiled Ortio’s shutout bid just past midway Lee Chong Wei smashes in this file photo. nine goals. He stopped 35 shots. through the third period. — AP Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Blazers and Bobcats advance

PORTLAND: Nicolas Batum had 14 points and a and Joakim Noah had a triple-double as the career-high 18 rebounds as the Portland Trail Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons. Blazers downed Atlanta 102-78, a loss that Noah finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds marked the end of Hawks guard Kyle Korver’s and 11 assists for his sixth career triple-double, NBA-record streak of 127 games with a 3-point- including two in the last three games and three er. Korver had surpassed Dana Barros’ record of in the last month. Taj Gibson added 22 points off 89 straight, set from 1994-96, earlier this season. the bench, while Jimmy Butler had 18 points He was 0 for 5 from 3-point range against the and 12 rebounds in Chicago’s fifth win in six Blazers. Mo Williams added 15 points off the games. Greg Monroe led Detroit with 27 points, bench for Portland, which had six players in but the Pistons got only 12 points from their double figures. Portland, which led by as many reserves on 5-of-20 shooting. as 29 points, has won six of its last seven games while keeping pace as one of the teams battling KNICKS 118, TIMBERWOLVES 106 for the top four seeds in the West. Carmelo Anthony scored 33 points to help Cartier Martin had 16 points off the bench for the New York Knicks snap a seven-game losing the Hawks, who have lost four straight and 12 of streak with a victory over the Minnesota their last 13 as they fight to stay in the Eastern Timberwolves. Conference playoff picture. Tyson Chandler had 15 points and 14 rebounds and Amare Stoudemire added 18 BOBCATS 109, PACERS 87 points and eight boards for the Knicks, who had Al Jefferson scored 34 points in Charlotte’s not won since beating New Orleans on Feb. 19. victory over the Indiana Pacers that gave the Kevin Love had 19 points and eight Bobcats their fifth straight home win. rebounds, but scored just one point in the sec- Jefferson was 16 of 25 from the field and had ond half as the Timberwolves returned from a eight rebounds for the Bobcats (28-33), who successful West Coast road trip with a thud. equaled their combined win total from the pre- Kevin Martin had 12 points on 3-for-10 shooting vious two seasons. and the Wolves were 7 for 26 from 3-point Jefferson, whose 38-point, 19-rebound effort range. Monday night was overshadowed by LeBron PORTLAND: Atlanta Hawks forward Mike Scott (right) plays tight defense on Portland Trail James’ career-high 61-point outing, has scored Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge during the first half of an NBA basketball game. — AP KINGS 116, BUCKS 102 at least 20 points in 21 of his last 24 games. points each as the Golden State Warriors went a who teamed up for a run that padded the lead Isaiah Thomas scored 25 points and had six Charlotte became the first team since the 2009- season-high 14 games over .500 with a romp in the first half. assists to lead the Sacramento Kings past the 10 Knicks to play the NBA’s top four teams in over the Boston Celtics. Alec Burks scored 19 points, and Trey Burke Milwaukee Bucks. Rudy Gay added 22 points, consecutive games. They previously lost to San The Warriors scored the first six points, led added 14 to lead the Jazz, who have dropped eight rebounds and five assists, and DeMarcus Antonio, Oklahoma City and Miami on the road. 12-2 with just over five minutes gone and stayed the first four games of their six-game road trip. Cousins had 21 points, 10 rebounds and five Evan Turner had 22 points for the Pacers (46-15), ahead by at least 20 points throughout the sec- Their 7-24 road record is the worst in the assists for the Kings, who won their ninth road who lost back-to-back games for only the sec- ond half. Golden State had an easy time against Western Conference. game after finishing with an 8-33 record away ond time this season. one of the NBA’s worst teams one night after from home last season. Sacramento opened its beating one of the best. Thompson’s 12-foot NETS 103, GRIZZLIES 94 season-high seven-game, 12-day road trip by ROCKETS 101, MAGIC 89 turnaround with six-tenths of a second left had Joe Johnson scored 21 points, Marcus shooting 52 percent (43-for-82) from the field. James Harden scored 31 points, including 25 given the Warriors a 98-96 win at the Indiana Thornton came off the bench for 20 as the Brandon Knight finished with a team-high 25 in the second half, as the Houston Rockets dug Pacers, the league’s top team at home. Brooklyn Nets powered their way above .500 for points and six assists for Milwaukee, which was out of a double-digit, first-half hole to beat the Former Celtic Jordan Crawford had 15 points the first time this season by beating the trying to win consecutive games for the first Orlando Magic. and Stephen Curry added 14 for the Warriors Memphis Grizzlies. time since last March. The Rockets dominated inside, outscoring (38-24), who won for the seventh time in nine Deron Williams added 16 points and Paul the Magic 58-26 in the paint. Dwight Howard games. Kelly Olynyk scored 19 points for Boston Pierce 14 for the Nets (30-29), who have won NUGGETS 115, MAVERICKS 110 added 19 points and 14 rebounds in his second (20-41), which dropped its seventh game in its four in a row overall and six straight at home in Wilson Chandler scored 21 points and Ty trip to Orlando to face his former team. past eight. turning around a turbulent start. Jason Collins Lawson had 20 as the Denver Nuggets snapped Houston trailed in the second quarter by as played 17 scoreless minutes on the day he a six-game losing streak by beating the Dallas many as 14 points, but battled back to win for WIZARDS 104, JAZZ 91 signed his second 10-day contract. The matchup Mavericks. the 13th time in 15 outings. Arron Afflalo led the Trevor Ariza scored 26 points and Bradley between two of the NBA’s best teams in 2014 Kenneth Faried, Randy Foye and JJ Hickson Magic with 18 points. The Magic dropped to 0-2 Beal added 22 as the Washington Wizards took was a mismatch until the fourth quarter, when added 16 points apiece for the Nuggets, who this season against the Rockets. Orlando played an early lead and never lost it, shooting 54 per- the Nets had already led by 30. Memphis fell to have won all three meetings this season against without Jameer Nelson and Victor Oladipo. cent in a win over the Utah Jazz. 21-9 since Jan. 1, while the Nets’ 20-8 record is Dallas. Hickson scored 12 of his points in the Nelson was out sick and Oladipo missed his first John Wall had 14 points and 10 assists, and tops among East teams. Jon Leuer scored 19 and fourth quarter to help hold off the Mavericks, game of the season with soreness in his left Marcin Gortat had 16 points and nine rebounds Marc Gasol 18 for the Grizzlies, who were with- who play the Nuggets a final time this season in ankle. for the Wizards, who have won seven of eight. out Zach Randolph because of the flu. two weeks in Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points This one was noteworthy if only for substan- to lead the Mavericks, who lost their third in a WARRIORS 108, CELTICS 88 tial contributions from recent additions Drew BULLS 105, PISTONS 94 row. It’s their first three-game losing streak of Klay Thompson and David Lee scored 18 Gooden and Andre Miller, two thirty-somethings DJ Augustin scored 26 points off the bench the season. — AP In-form Pearson eyes title defence

SOPOT: Sally Pearson has bounced back from injury, for the world championships. “I knew I could make the podi- 2012 gold medal-winning run in Istanbul, was this season’s changed her coach and hit some timely form as she bids to um, hurdles is all about who’s the best on the day. fastest over the 60m hurdles, a feat she wanted to build on defend her world indoor 60m hurdles title with one eye on “I gave it everything I could in Moscow and thankfully with one eye on the July 23-August 3 Commonwealth Games the Commonwealth Games. came away with a medal.” Pearson stormed to the world 60m in Glasgow. “I don’t want another 2013! I want to stay healthy Pearson has been one of the most enduring stars of track indoor title two years ago in Istanbul, and said she was confi- and strong for this season, because for Australia and and field in recent years, claiming the world outdoor 100m dent in Sopot given her recent good form, something she Commonwealth countries, it’s a big year with the hurdles title in 2011 in Daegu and going on to win Olympic said was due to core body strengthening. Commonwealth Games,” she said. gold in London a year later. The 27-year-old Australian had a “I changed coaches at the end of last year. Our goal was to “I’m here, I want to win and I’m in good shape to do it. relative blip last year, however, with an injury-plagued sea- strengthen up my hamstrings, glutes and everything around “But the hurdles is very unpredictable, it’s all about who’s son during which she still managed to bag world silver in that area, which has also helped my back,” she said ahead of best on the day-the Americans are the strongest rivals that I Moscow. the world indoors which kick-off on Friday. have to race against.” US champion Nia Ali and long-jumper- “The thing that was the hardest last year was trying to get “We wanted to make sure everything was stronger before turned-hurdler Janay DeLoach Soukup will indeed offer stiff over two hamstring tears in the space of eight weeks to get we started heading back into hurdles and speed work.” She opposition for Pearson, having recently clocked lifetime ready for the world championships,” the Gold Coast resident added: “It’s been going really well this year. A couple of bests of 7.80 and 7.82 at the US Indoor Championships. said. “It was such a huge emotional rollercoaster for me, and I weeks ago I ran 12.59sec in the 100m hurdles in Perth and Germany’s Nadine Hildebrand and Great Britain’s Tiffany was just about ready to give up. But I kept going because I then 7.79sec in the heat in Berlin.” Porter, both of whom have run 7.91 this season, will also like- still felt I had a lot left in me training wise to get back in form That latter time, in her first indoor competition since her ly be medal contenders. — AFP Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh, gear up for Asia Cup final

DHAKA: Sri Lanka fought hard to beat hosts Bangladesh by three wickets in the last league match of the Asia Cup in Dhaka yesterday, gearing up for the final with an all-win record. Sri Lanka, who will meet defending champions Pakistan in the final on Saturday, kept Bangladesh down to 204-9 before overcoming early jitters to chase down the target in 49 overs. The four-time champions won all their four matches, this time with some PRETORIA: Oscar Pistorius, puts his hand to his face while tight bowling and resilient batting led listening to evidence from a witness speaking about the morning of the shooting in court on the fourth day of his by skipper Angelo Mathews who hit an trial at the high court in South Africa yesterday. — AP unbeaten 74. It was Mathews and Chaturanga de Silva (44) who lifted Sri Pistorius weeps as Lanka from a struggling 75-5 through their sixth wicket stand of 82 runs. witness recalls Mathews was in command through- out his 103-ball knock, hitting seven shooting scene horror boundaries and a six, while de Silva ably SCOREBOARD supported him during his 52-ball knock, PRETORIA: A weeping Oscar Pistorius shielded his ears as a smashing five fours. DHAKA: Complete scoreboard of the Asia Cup match between Bangladesh and witness in his murder trial yesterday gave harrowing evidence Despite two late wickets, Mathews Sri Lanka played at Sher-e-Bangla stadium on Thursday. about desperate attempts to save Reeva Steenkamp’s life kept his cool, hitting the winning after she was shot. boundary towards mid-wicket. Bangladesh: Sri Lanka: Rocking back and forth in the dock, Pistorius put his hands Paceman Al-Amin Hossain finished with A Haque c Thirimanne b Priyanjan 49 K. Perera c Anamul b Al-Amin 0 over his ears as neighbor and radiologist Johan Stipp recount- 2-42. Bangladesh, whose dreams of Shamsur Rahman lbw b Mendis 39 L. Thirimanne c Hossain b Sunny 33 ed how he entered his house to find the distraught reaching the final were shattered after Mominul Haque b Mendis 1 K. Sangakkara c Nasir b Al-Amin 2 Mushfiqur Rahim lbw b de Silva 4 Paralympian bent over, attempting to resuscitate his girl- Tuesday’s three wicket defeat against M. Jayawardene run out 0 friend. Stipp noticed a wound on Steenkamp’s right thigh, S Al Hasan c Mathews b Priyanjan 20 A. Priyanjan c Anamul b Rahman 24 Pakistan, had a sniff of a victory after Al- Nasir Hossain c Jayawardene b Lakmal30 right upper arm, and “blood, hair and what looked like brain Amin removed Kusal Perera (nought) A. Mathews not out 74 tissue intermingled with that” on top of the skull. Mohammad Mahmudullah b Lakmal 30 C. de Silva c Anamul b Mahmudullah 44 and in-form Kumar Sangakkara (two) in Ziaur Rahman b Thisara 12 Amid the scene of horror, Stipp said he quickly realised the T. Perera run out 15 29-year-old model’s injuries were too severe to be survivable. his first two overs. Arafat Sunny not out 2 Rubel Hossain b Thisara 0 S. Senanayake not out 7 “She had no pulse in her neck, she had no peripheral pulse, Mahela Jayawardene (nought), Al-Amin Hossain not out 0 Extras: (b4, w5) 9 she had no breathing movements that she made. She was Lahiru Thirimanne (33) and Ashan Extras: (b4, lb3, w10) 17 Total: (For seven wkts; 49 overs) 208 clenching down on Oscar’s fingers as he was trying to open Priyanjan (24) were also removed Total: (for nine wkts; 50 overs) 204 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Perera), 2-6 her airway.” before Mathews took over the responsi- Fall of wickets: 1-74 (Shamsur), 2-76 (Sangakkara), 3-8 (Jayawardene), 4-47 “I opened her right eyelid, the pupil was fixed dilated and bility of steering the team to winning (Haque), 3-87 (Rahim), 4-106 the cornea was milky, in other words it was already drying out, shores. (Priyanjan), 5-75 (Thirimanne), 6-157 (Anamul), 5-119 (Shakib), 6-174 so to me it was obvious that she was mortally wounded.” Bangladesh, who won the toss and (de Silva), 7-193 (Thisara) (Mahmudullah), 7-183 (Nasir), 8-203 During the testimony sobbing could be heard around the opted to bat, were left stranded after a Bowling: Al-Amin 10-2-42-2 (1w), (Rahman), 9-203 (Hossain) courtroom as Steenkamp’s family and friends sat arm in arm, Hossain 6-0-25-0, Shakib 10-0-27-0 good start. Spinners Priyanjan (2-11) Bowling: Lakmal 10-0-32-2 (1w), disconsolate. Stipp continued: “While I was trying to ascertain and Ajantha Mendis (2-55) put the Thisara 8-0-29-2 (1w), Senanayake 10- (2w), Rahman 10-0-34-1, Sunny 7-0- if she’s revivable, Oscar was crying all the time, he prayed to brakes on before Thisara Perera (2-29) 1-37-0 (2w), de Silva 10-0-33-1, Mendis 46-1 (1w), Mahmudullah 6-1-30-1 (1w) God to please let her live, she must not die.” and Suranga Lakmal (2-32) wrapped up 9-0-55-2 (6w), Priyanjan 3-0-11-2 Result: Sri Lanka won by three wickets “He said at one stage, while he was praying, that he will the middle and lower order. dedicate his life and her life to God if she would just only live Opener Anamul Haque, who scored and not die that night.” “I couldn’t do anything for her, she a brilliant hundred in Bangladesh’s was way too seriously injured for that.” highest one-day score of 326-3 against Stipp also said he wanted to locate Pistorius, fearing the Pakistan on Tuesday, was once again sprinter may have been a danger to himself. “Oscar was emo- the mainstay of the batting with an 86- tionally very, very upset and I didn’t know the situation in the ball 49. house so I thought maybe he was going to hurt himself.” Anamul and Shamsur Rahman (39) SCREAMS AND GUNSHOTS gave the home team a solid 74-run start Stipp’s evidence is the first eye-witness account of what before Mendis struck twice, dismissing happened inside Pistorius’s home that evening since the trial Shamsur and Mominul Haque (one) in began on Monday. Pistorius stands accused of murdering the 18th over. Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate. He claims Anamul hit two boundaries and a six to have shot her through a locked toilet door after mistaking during his 86-ball knock while her for an intruder. Shamsur’s 57-ball innings included six Stipp also testified to being woken by gunshots and hits to the fence.Nasir Hossain (30) and screams coming from Pistorius’s home on the night of Mohammad Mahmudullah (30) shared February 14, 2013, and then rushing over to see if he could an innings-repairing sixth wicket stand help. But the sequence of events appeared not to tally exactly of 55 to give the total some respectabil- with the evidence from three other neighbours who heard ity. Shakib Al Hasan made 20. screams then shots. Five-time champions India crashed Pistorius’s defence lawyer earlier accused one of those wit- out of the event on Wednesday after nesses of tailoring his evidence to fit his wife’s account in losing two of their four matches against order to “incriminate” the athlete. Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Bangladesh, “There is a design on your side to incriminate,” advocate who were runners-up to Pakistan in the Barry Roux said, claiming Charl Johnson’s evidence was made last Asia Cup in 2012, finished the event in collusion with that of his wife and fellow key witness, with four defeats in as many matches. Michelle Burger. “You desperately want her version not to form part of this Afghanistan was the fifth team who document,” said Roux, pointing at the witness. “You want to upset Bangladesh in their maiden DHAKA: Bangladesh’s wicketkeeper Anamul Haque (right) unsuccessfully extricate any suggestion that this version was also your wife’s appearance in the Asia Cup but lost appeals for an LBW dismissal of Sri Lanka’s Chaturanga de Silva during the version.” —AFP their remaining three matches.—AFP Asia Cup one-day international cricket tournament yesterday. — AP Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

A shooter in training. UAE shooter bin Futais Kuwait takes aim at shooting success

By Abdellatif Sharaa to Feb16 organized by the ISSF, and those officials are highly experienced through their KUWAIT: President of the Kuwait and Arab many participations in domestic and foreign Shooting Federations Eng. Duaij Al-Otaibi events. Al-Ruwaisan wished the referees the received several heads of delegations who best of luck in this international event that are participating in HH the Amir Third attracts the shooting fans and officials alike International Shooting Grand Prix which will from around the world. start tomorrow, as well as several sports offi- Japanese Coach Eto said the Japanese del- cials who are visiting Kuwait. egation is very happy to be in Kuwait to par- Al-Otaibi also received Director General of ticipate in this highly important event, where Public Authority for Youth and Sports Esam competition is strong and qualifies for the Jaafar, who along with Al-Otaibi and Secretary Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China this year. General of Kuwait and Arab Shooting Eto said Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic Federations Obaid Al-Osaimi toured the facili- Shooting Complex is one of the best around ties of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic the world and expressed appreciation for the Shooting Complex, where he inspected the reception, hospitality and organization, latest preparations and expressed his satisfac- adding that his shooters are looking forward tion at the shooting club. to make a good impression during the event. Jaafar appreciated the great efforts being United Arab Emirates shooter Saif bin exerted by the higher organizing committee Futais said it is very difficult to predict who to ensure that HH the Amir Grand Prix will win medals in HH the Amir Grand Prix achieves tremendous success that reflects the Duaij Al-Otaibi, Esam Jaafar and Obaid Al-Osaimi. because of the strong competition and high remarkable development of the sport of quality of shooters participating including shooting in Kuwait. He said that PAYS is keen zation committee faces. Arab countries based on the ISSF qualifica- Olympic and world champions. He said UAE’s on keeping contacts with the organizing com- Meanwhile the arrival of delegations par- tions. Head of the shotgun referees commit- team is keen on participating in the champi- mittee to keep in touch all organizational ticipating in the Grand Prix will be complete tee Hamad Al-Ruwaisan said Kuwaiti referees onship every year to gain experience which work related to the precious Grand Prix and today as delegations from 48 countries from reported to the club on March 2 to review the helps to further develop their shooting skills. the Asian Shooting Championship. He all continents with 780 shooters competing. rules and regulations as well as the amend- Bin Futais lauded the preparations made emphasized that the authority is ready to The Higher Organizing Committee select- ments to the law. He said referees went by Kuwait Shooting Sport Club at one of the remove all hindrances the work of the organi- ed Kuwaiti referees in addition to others from through a course that was held from Feb 12 best shooting facilities in the world.

Preview FA Cup holders Wigan look to shock City again LONDON: An immediate return to the Premier retain it - but Manchester City will be looking for Arsenal are boosted by the news Per Mertesacker League remains Wigan Athletic’s priority but the FA their revenge,” Wigan chairman Dave Whelan told and Tomas Rosicky had both signed new contracts, Cup holders are determined to repeat last year’s Sky Sports. “That said, our number one ambition while British media reported Welsh midfielder shock final win over Manchester City when they this season is promotion back to the Premier Aaron Ramsey would soon be committing his future meet in Sunday’s last-eight clash. League. The FA Cup is special, but the main priority to the club. Wigan stunned hot favorites City 1-0 at Wembley for us is the league, the finest league in the world. A lower league club is guaranteed a place in the with Ben Watson’s late header sealing the club their “We have a great team spirit at the moment, our last four on Sunday with Championship strugglers first major trophy. Celebrations proved short-lived, boys are full of confidence and hopefully we can Charlton Athletic travelling to play third-tier however, when defeat by Arsenal three days later get into the playoffs to give us a chance to return Sheffield United, who have beaten Premier League ensured Wigan became the first club to win the FA there.” sides Aston Villa and Fulham in this Cup campaign. Cup and suffer relegation from England’s top flight Spaniard Martinez, who left Wigan to join United are the lowest-ranked side to reach the in the same season. Everton in June, is looking to become the first man- quarter-finals since 1990. The fourth quarter-final After a poor start this season that cost manager ager to win the competition in consecutive seasons pits Steve Bruce’s Hull City side against his old club Owen Coyle his job six months after replacing with different clubs. Sunderland, whose strong cup form belies their bat- Roberto Martinez, Wigan have revived under former His side face a tough away quarter-final at tle to avoid relegation. Manchester City striker Uwe Rosler and sit sixth in Arsenal tomorrow and Belgium midfielder Kevin On-loan Sunderland striker Fabio Borini, who the Championship. Mirallas said the match was the biggest of their sea- scored the opener in the League Cup final, said he They travel to a City side who have lost one son. “Hopefully whatever the manager said to was determined to return to Wembley as well as league match in 12 at the Etihad Stadium this sea- Wigan last year, he can do it again with us at ensure the club’s top-flight survival. son, having scored 43 goals in the process, and Arsenal - he’s very lucky with this competition,” he “I want to go back there, to be at Wembley,” he thrashed Wigan 5-0 earlier in the League Cup, a told the Liverpool Echo. told the Sunderland Echo. “Scoring at Wembley is competition they won last Sunday against Martinez will make a late decision on captain Phil always special, especially for a foreign player. “If we Sunderland. Jagielka, who missed last weekend’s win over West can win against Hull, we’ll be going back again, “We are going to go there with intentions of try- Ham and England’s midweek friendly with Denmark which will be good. But the main thing is to get ing to stay in the FA Cup - obviously we will try to with a hamstring injury. points and start pushing up the league.” — Reuters

FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014

www.kuwaittimes.net

Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh, gear up for Asia Cup final

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DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Rubel Hossain jumps as he celebrates the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene during the Asia Cup one-day international cricket tournament. — AP