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9Epic ‘Journey of Hope’ sails off 21

Lebanon gagaover Clooney engagement 45

Famous bidders already lining up for LA Clippers

Workers paint the world redWorkers paint the world red

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L o c a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Local Spotlight

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

Ihope this article will be a wakeupcall for the importance of civil IDs,and keeping them safe and protect-

ed. In case of theft, the holder shouldreport it to the police at once. A civilIDs is a valuable document not only toprove your identity, but right now itseems to be the only ID that all officialand private departments recognizeand approve in order to process yourneeds and businesses, including hospi-tals .

We all need civil IDs everywherehere and for Kuwaitis, they also cantravel to any Gulf country just by show-ing this little card. I think this is danger-ous and more tools are needed toensure traveler identity. The fact is allGCC citizens can travel around the sixcountries easily by just showing this lit-tle magic card!

An expatriate can easily be taken inpolice custody if he/she fails to have avalid ID card. Because of all these rea-sons, civil IDs have fuelled the appetiteof thieves who use them to steal moremoney from companies and places inwhich these cards are accepted, liketelecommunications companies.

Recently, some thieves have special-ized in stealing civil IDs from Asiansand use them to deal with telecommu-nication companies.

Police investigations showed thatabout 80 complaints have been madeover stolen IDs. The illegal acts werecommitted by persons who purchasedtelephone lines and expensive cell-phones and failed to pay the install-ments. Most probably, they sold thesecell phones to a new buyer and thechain goes along!

Now it is not easy to get a newreplacement civil ID. The procedure isbecoming strict to ensure ID cards donot fall in the hands of the wrong peo-ple. Conditions include the presenceof the applicant in person and a KD 10charge to issue a new one, along witha 60-day wait period from the date ofloss. You will need to keep your pass-port with you at all time.

My tip for the day: Keep your civil IDin a safe place.

The magic cardthat opens doors

W A N T E DEditors & Reporters

Full time, must bein Kuwait, havetransferrable 18visa and writing

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L o c a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Conspiracy Theories

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

By Badrya Darwish

What is the link between chocolates, sweets andcakes eaten even on sad or unhappy occasions?I noticed that when people say goodbye to

someone and throw a farewell party, they all bringsweets and cakes. Though the departure of the person isnot a happy occasion, we still celebrate it with food,especially sweets.

The other day we said goodbye to an editor in ouroffice and she brought sweets, though being sad andcrying. We also brought sweets. It was a cake party. Thatreminded me of other ceremonies where people bringsweets. In some parts of the world, many people offersweets. You go to a funeral or a wake to give your con-dolences to the family, wearing black head-to-toe andno make-up at all - unless you are an inconsiderate per-son - but overall women come without any make-up.You are weeping and crying but are still offered a cake orsweets when you enter.

The amazing part is that some of the Arab familiesoffer the well known sweet kunafa accompanied byArabic coffee at funerals too. I am sure many other coun-

tries in the world do the same. Funerals and farewells ingeneral involve sweets. There are rich buffets and greatselection.

I understand the sweets for weddings, birthdays ornice occasions like getting a degree, or graduations andpromotions, delivery of babies etc, etc. Be it born or be itdead, you are celebrated with sweets. But I cannot com-prehend why for farewells we also have slices of cake?

Food is a big part of our traditions whether we are sador celebrating something. Maybe sweets have a certaineffect on us. It is scientifically proven that chocolatemakes us happier. It makes the endorphins in our bodycirculate faster, making us jubilant. When you are angry,you will eat sweets but then you will have to face thetragic aftermath of the weight you put on. And that willbe your business how to deal with it. The idea is thatsweets are for all occasions.

Have a nice weekend and don’t overdose on sweets,especially in Kuwait where the weather is harsh and itwill be impossible to take a stroll!

@BadryaD

Sweets for all seasons

Olive oil soaps are displayed at the Palestinian IndustriesExhibition at the Kuwait International Fairground inMishref. The four-day expo ends today. — Photo byYasser Al-Zayyat

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

4L o c a l

Accident leads to disability, stronger willpower

Taking the plungeA

car accident changed his life but it did not stop him from fulfilling his dreams and more importantly taught him how to overcome challenges. Faisal Al-Musawi, 28, had a car accident that left

him with a permanent disability. Since that fatal day, Musawi has been in a wheelchair – a development in his life that he says has made him stronger and more determined to carry Kuwait’s name internationally.

By Nawara Fattahova

Five years ago, Musawi took up diving, and now has become the world’s sole diver with a disability and five certificates. Musawi started diving in 2009 with the Kuwait Diving Team as the only disabled mem-ber. “Before the accident, I had a phobia of water. After my accident, I lost the fear and I developed a stronger will. So I decided to learn diving as I fell in love with the sea and deep water,” he said, explaining that he learnt swimming with only half his body.

He was the first diver with disabilities to go on a diving safari in the Maldives. Six months ago, Musawi was diving in one of the top 10 global diving destinations - Sipadan Island in Malaysia - making him the first disabled diver to reach that far.

Each diving trip has different adventures. “The dive in the Mal-dives was a safari, where we stayed onboard a yacht for a week away from land. This is difficult and dangerous for people with disabilities because there is no healthcare provider,” he said, adding that during the week they dived three times a day. “This needs great physical ef-fort which is hard for us,” he said. “The way to reach Sipadan Island in Malaysia is very difficult. The water there is very clean and clear, and visibility is about 30 meters,” he said. But Musawi prefers diving off Garouh Island in Kuwait.

“The biggest obstacle I face when diving are strong water currents because this kind of water needs great physical effort to resist,” he said, elaborating that the diving team is teaching him how to deal with the dangers of marine life. “Swimming is very useful for people who have disabilities and I consider it half the treatment,” he explained.

LicensedCurrently, Musawi holds diving licenses for open water diving, ad-

venture diving, advanced diving, night diving and Nitrox diving, which

Kuwait has been through a series of very difficult chal-lenges and changes this past decade. In 2004, the coun-try was just coming to terms with the fall of Saddam

Hussain in neighboring Iraq and what it might mean. Optimismabout the future was fueled by the expectation that peoplecould now invest in their homeland and see Kuwait blossom ashad several of its Gulf Arab neighbors like Dubai or Qatar.

Those hopes were dashed, however, when political infight-ing and turmoil led to stagnation in the economy. After sever-al parliamentary dissolutions, grilling, reshuffles and snappolls, Kuwait was growing less optimistic about its prospectsfor the future.

Then the 2008 credit crunch washed on our shores andsuddenly all the remaining buoyancy and hope was drainedaway in lost jobs, bankruptcies (or near bankruptcies) andpanic. This was not Souq Al Manakh and thanks to years ofexceptionally high oil prices and multibillion dollar budget

surpluses, the government could easily step in to stop theeconomy from flat-lining.

But confidence had been lost. Hope had dwindled andover the course of the next five years, Kuwait sort of muddledthrough, lurching from political crisis to street protests totroubled companies to political crisis. Nothing much hap-pened and definitely not much to suggest a sea change inoutlook.

In mid-2013, however, a pro-government parliament wasfinally elected after years of turmoil and a small pick-up intenders and contracts could be seen that added some muchneeded verve to the local economy.

Even before this, local groups and activist began takingthe lead in social and community matters. Groups likeQortubame came together to improve the quality of life inKuwait’s parks and public spaces, soup kitchens like BibiAlayoub’s offer charity and help to impoverished low wage

workers, groups like Alnowair encourage a positive outlookthrough workshops and seminars and Weoritu (pronouncedWhere to?) produce fun videos like #HappyQ8 to spread posi-tive vibes.

These efforts alone represent only individuals or smallgroups of people. Collectively, however, they reflect a wide-spread dissatisfaction with Kuwait’s doldrums. It’s difficult forpeople to reconcile the fact that Kuwait is one of the wealthi-est countries on the planet with the reality they see everyday.

Choosing to pursue a positive outlook isn’t only aboutchanging your mindset but also your circumstances and sur-roundings. Creativity comes through limits. People in Kuwaitmay not be able to solve its political disagreements but theycan rehabilitate a local park and in the doing, create some-thing new that matters - a greater movement and demandfor change, for improvement and for a happier Kuwait.

L o c a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Scribbler’s Notebook

By Jamie Etheridge

etheridge@kuwaittimes.net

The changing nature of Kuwait

9L o c a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

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

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: After years of preparation, the‘Journey of Hope’ sailed off yesterday fromMarina Crescent in Salmiya with a globalhumanitarian message for the benefit ofthe mentally challenged. Under the patron-age of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-JaberAl-Sabah, the expedition to Washington DCand back will cover 26,000 km and take 7months. The locally made vessel under thesupervision of certified internationalgroups will stop in 39 ports in 19 countriesand return to Kuwait in Dec 2014.

The idea was conceived by a group ofparents with successful experiences deal-ing with their mentally disabled childrenincluding those suffering from Down syn-drome, autism, learning difficulties and oth-er conditions. The group has worked since2003 under the title ‘The special team forsporting, social, media and cultural activi-ties dedicated to the mentally disabled’ inand outside Kuwait. More than their per-sonal initiative, the aim of the journey is tobring to light Kuwait’s contributions andadvances in special needs care and interna-tional awareness to the country’s initiativesas a whole. The ceremony was attended bythe Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-

Mubarak, State Minister for Cabinet AffairsSheikh Mohammed Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah,Minister of Communication Essa Al-Kandari,Housing Minister Yaser Abul, Minister ofJustice Nayef Al-Ajmi, and other officials.

Sheikh Jaber lauded the efforts made bymembers of the expedition in illustratingKuwait’s approach, advancement and carededicated to those suffering from mentaldisabilities. The premier stressed the impor-tance of encouraging this section of thesociety to achieve their best by providingthem with the necessary care and attentionand eliminating obstacles they mightencounter Sheikh Mohammed said thisjourney was a very remarkable event. “Thisoccasion connects the present and past ofKuwait. It reminds me of the old times ofour fathers in the pre-oil era when theywent out for many months pearl diving. Iwish that the passengers of the Journey ofHope come back safe after delivering theirmessage, as our fathers used to come backsafe from peal diving,” he said during theceremony.

Faisal Al-Hajji, head of the expedition,noted that this journey adopts the dreamsof the disabled. “We aim to improve theirskills and creativity and involve them in thecommunity. We also aim to highlight their

achievements in addition to providingthem a decent life. Taking care of them isour responsibility and not a luxury,” hepointed out. The journey also includes nine

marine forces officers and seven civiliansincluding those with special needs. Theywill participate in 20 activities during thejourney.

Epic ‘Journey of Hope’ sails off

HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and other officials see off theexpedition.

10L o c a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

KUWAIT: MPs Riyadh Al-Adasani,Abdulkarim Al-Kandari and HusseinQuwaiaan, carried out their threat yester-day and officially submitted their resigna-tions in protest against the NationalAssembly’s rejection of their grillingagainst the prime minister. In a joint writ-ten letter, the three lawmakers cited therejection of the grilling, violation of theconstitution and the government’s domi-nation over the Assembly. They also criti-cized Speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem for hishandling of the Assembly sessions, claim-ing he was interrupting them when theyspoke.

The resignations were the first in theKuwaiti parliament for dozens of years. Inthe 1960s, around 15 MPs resigned ontwo occasions in protest against allega-tions of vote rigging and the Cabinet. Afew years ago, former Shiite MP HusseinAl-Qallaf submitted his resignation, butlater withdrew it. Ghanem told reportersthe resignations will be studied by theAssembly office next week and will bedebated by the Assembly on May 13. TheAssembly has the right to reject the resig-nations but the lawmakers can still insist

on them. The speaker expressed hopethat the three MPs will withdraw their res-ignations and continue in the Assemblyuntil the end of the current legislativeterm in July 2017.

The three lawmakers stressed in theirresignation letter that the Assemblyaction in rejecting the grilling against theprime minister will go down in history asthe “most flagrant violation of the consti-tution”. They said that the Assembly hasprevented them from practicing theirconstitutional monitoring and supervi-sion of the government’s performance,which is a clear violation of certain articlesin the constitution. The lawmakers saidthat the Assembly and the governmenthave failed to take action against majorcorruption scandals by resorting to inef-fective probes.

The liberal Kuwait Democratic Forummeanwhile strongly criticized theAssembly for rejecting the grilling againstthe prime minister, while another liberalgroup, the National Democratic Alliance,said the controversy over the constitu-tionality of grillings requires an amend-ment to the internal charter of the

Assembly. The alliance accused parlia-mentary and political sides of acting onbehalf of members of the ruling familyand influential forces to end democracy inKuwait.

In another development, the publicprosecutor yesterday freed prominentopposition leader and former MPMussallam Al-Barrak without bail follow-ing interrogation over allegations hemade during a television interview lastweek. Barrak said after the interrogationthat he did not deny any part of the inter-view and told the prosecutor he wasresponsible for what he said. The formerlawmaker was interrogated on the basisof a complaint by the ministry of informa-tion.

Barrak said in the interview that thebank account of a former senior officialswelled from $235 million in June 2007 toa massive $23 billion in Dec 2013. He pro-vided no names. Barrak strongly criticizedthe Assembly for asking the governmentto refer him to investigation for what hesaid, adding that the current (pro-govern-ment) Assembly has nothing to do but toreject grillings against the prime minister.

3 MPs officially submit resignationsProsecution frees Barrak after interrogation

KUWAIT: MPs Riyadh Al-Adasani, Abdulkarim Al-Kandari and Hussein Quwaiaan are seen at the National Assembly inthis April 29, 2014 photo. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

News

7,200 landline cables damaged in Shuwaikh

KUWAIT: Some 7,200 landline cables weredamaged inadvertent ly by roadworks inShuwaikh, Ministry of Communicat ionsUndersecretary Hamid Al-Qattan said onWednesday. The ministry is conducting round-the-clock maintenance in order to bring thelandlines back in operation, with its represen-tatives currently at the site, the official toldKUNA in a statement. Landline failures werereported to the ministry by residents of thearea, and after investigations into the incident,it was revealed that the cause was due todamage inflicted on the cables by a contractoremployed by the Ministry of Public Works, heexplained. The Ministry of Communicationswill be taking necessary action against thecontractor and the Ministry of Public Works,added Qattan.

Kuwait planning to ‘deport’ stray dogs

KUWAIT: The Public Relations Director at thePublic Authority for Agriculture Affairs andFish Resources Shaker Awadh said the authori-ty plans to sign a contract with companies toharbor, rehabilitate and treat stray dogs aftercatching them from residential areas. Awadsaid the PAAAFR has a plan to send stray dogsto countries wanting them after treating andrehabilitating them according to an interna-tional treaty on treating animals humanely. Hesaid the authority will supervise these compa-nies. He said the project includes removingthe dogs from the streets in addition specialplaces and providing everything necessary fortheir treatment before sending them out ofthe country, reported Al-Rai.

Classified documents retrieved from UN

GENEVA: The chairman of the public authorityfor assessment of compensation for damagesresulting from the Iraqi aggression reportedthe retrieval of all classified documents thathad previously been put at the disposal of UNexperts in relation to the Kuwaiti compensa-tion dossier. This was due to an MoU signedwith the UN Compensation Commission,Khaled Ahmad Al-Mudhaf revealed yesterday.Mudhaf noted that “the commission honoredthe request to retrieve the documents, whichare highly sensitive, after Kuwait insisted allfiles be returned with the end of the experts’mandate regarding the Kuwait-Iraq dossier,and that it was entirely unacceptable for thedocuments to remain outside Kuwaiti territoryany longer.” He added the documents couldstill be made accessible to UN authoritiesshould they have need to view them in thefuture. That, however, shall be arranged afteran official request by the entity requiringaccess, and the documents would be accessedin presence of representatives of both the UNand Kuwait.

in brief

KUWAIT: (Left) Three Arab children died after they were admitted in the intensive care unit in Adan Hospital following a firein an Egaila house. (Right) Firemen rescued an Arab girl stuck between an elevator cabin and the wall. The elevator seemedto have moved while the girl was stuck but she was unharmed. Firemen cut the power and freed the girl, who was in goodhealth. —By Hanan Al-Saadoun

14US executions -from hanging toinjection 16 17

A race againstwind in Californiawildfire fight

Gerry Adams heldover notoriousIRA murder

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

JERUSALEM: Israeli police yesterday challenged Washington’s inclu-sion of Jewish extremist attacks on Palestinians in a global terrorreport, saying such incidents could not be likened to militant attacks.For the first time, the State Department’s 2013 Country Reports onTerrorism, published Wednesday, included a reference to a growingwave of racist anti-Palestinian vandalism, euphemistically known as“price tag” attacks. “Attacks by extremist Israeli settlers againstPalestinian residents, property, and places of worship in the WestBank continued and were largely unprosecuted,” the report said, cit-ing UN and NGO data.

But Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the incidentswere far from the global terror threats outlined in the report. “There’sno comparison whatsoever between criminal incidents with nation-alistic motives and terrorist-related incidents,” Rosenfeld said. The USreport noted that “the UN Office of the Coordinator for HumanitarianAffairs reported 399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers that resultedin Palestinian injuries or property damage. “Violent extremists,including Israeli settlers, vandalized five mosques and three churchesin Jerusalem and the West Bank.”

Defining price tag attacks as “property crimes and violent acts byextremist Jewish individuals and groups in retaliation for activity theydeemed to be anti-settlement,” the report said that over the year, thephenomenon had spread into Israel from the occupied West Bank. It

acknowledged that Israeli police had set up special units to pursuesuch cases and the government had designated groups responsibleas “illegal associations,” giving authorities broader powers to actagainst them. “There are a number of ongoing investigations,”Rosenfeld said, saying that four settlers suspected of involvement ina racist graffiti attack on a mosque in northern Israel last month, weretaken for questioning on Wednesday and later placed under housearrest.

Earlier this week, more racist graffiti was sprayed on the wall of amosque in Fureidis near the northern port city of Haifa. The town’sname means “Paradise” in English. “It is vandalism with nationalisticmotives but these are not nationalistic attacks on Palestinians,”Rosenfeld said. “You cannot compare whatsoever between terroristacts, the cold-blooded killing of Israelis, and... vandalism on that lev-el.” Another recent attack targeted shrines at Tabgha on the shore ofthe Sea of Galilee, where Christians believe Jesus performed the mir-acle of the loaves and fishes, Roman Catholic officials said. Churchofficials said a group of religious Jews in their early teens had dam-aged crosses and attacked clergy.

Tehran raps US In another development, Iran rejected an annual US report that

keeps Tehran on a list of state sponsors of terrorism as reflecting

double standards, media reports said yesterday. The foreign min-istry was reacting to a State Department report releasedWednesday that kept Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan on its list of so-called state sponsors of terrorism. The report also highlightedwhat it said was Iran’s role in supporting and funding the regimeof President Bashar Al-Assad in its fight against Syrian rebels.“Accusing Iran of supporting terrorism is politicized and based ondouble standards,” ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said ina statement reported by the official IRNA news agency. She ques-tioned Washington’s anti-terrorism intentions, recalling “innocentpeople who fall victim” to US drone attacks in the region as well as“the turning of a blind eye to Zionist (Israeli) crimes against thePalestinians.”

She also took issues with what has been the progressiveremoval from international terror l ists of the People’sMujahedeen of Iran, an exiled opposition group that says it seeksthe overthrow of Iran’s Islamic regime through peaceful means.Banned in Iran, Tehran has listed it as a terror group for carryingout bombings and assassinations. Britain struck the group off itsterror list in 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 andthe United States in 2012. That, Afkham said, “also poses a seri-ous challenge to the claim of US statesmen in combating terror-ism.”— Agencies

Israel police challenge US ‘terror’ reportUS keeps Cuba, Iran, Syria, Sudan on terror list

WEST BANK: Palestinians throw stones towards Israeli security forces (unseen) during clashes after houses were demolished by Israeli authorities who said they were built without municipalpermission near the Al-Aroub Palestinian refugee camp. — AFP

COLUMBUS: The botched execution of an Oklahoma inmate is cer-tain to fire up the debate over what constitutes cruel and unusualpunishment - the phrase written into the US Constitution and definedby the courts, piece by piece, over two centuries. Convicted killerClayton Lockett, 38, began writhing, clenching his teeth and strainingto lift his head off the pillow Tuesday evening after he was supposedlyrendered unconscious by the first of three drugs in the state’s newlethal injection combination.

The execution was halted, and Lockett died of a heart attack abouta half-hour later, authorities said. While officials later blamed a rup-tured vein - not the drugs themselves - the case is raising questionsabout the ability of states to administer lethal injections that meet theEighth Amendment requirement that punishments be neither cruelnor unusual. Death penalty opponents such as the American CivilLiberties Union called for moratorium on capital punishment. And theWhite House said the procedure fell short of the humane standardsrequired when the death penalty is carried out. In light of other appar-ently bungled executions around the US in recent years, Jen Moreno,staff attorney at the Berkeley School of Law Death Penalty Clinic, saidthe risks are clear. “To say that they’re isolated incidents is mischarac-terizing them, and what they really are is foreseeable consequences ofusing an inherently dangerous procedure,” she said. The US SupremeCourt upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection in 2008 in a caseout of Kentucky. As part of that decision, the high court said there isno constitutional right to a painless execution.

The “Constitution does not demand the avoidance of all risk ofpain in carrying out executions,” Chief Justice John Roberts said. Thatdecision involved a three-drug method that many states no longeruse because certain drugs have been cut off by European suppliers.More recently, attorneys making the cruel-and-unusual argumenthave targeted the newer drug combinations adopted around thecountry, their reliability and their suppliers, but have had little success.Making that argument has always been difficult. The Supreme Courthas never declared a method of execution unconstitutional on thegrounds that it is cruel and unusual. Over the past 135 years, it upheldthe firing squad (1879), the electric chair (1890), and then lethal injec-tion. The court made it clear over the years that the EighthAmendment prohibits inflicting pain merely to torture or punish aninmate, drawing a distinction between a method like electrocutionand European practices such as drawing and quartering. TheConstitution prohibits “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain,”the court said in 1976. It has also held that “an isolated mishap” duringan execution does not violate the Eighth Amendment, “because suchan event, while regrettable, does not suggest cruelty or a ‘substantialrisk of serious harm,’” according to a 1947 decision allowing Louisianato return an inmate to the electric chair after a botched attempt a yearearlier.

That suggests that an isolated episode - say, one bungled execu-tion in Oklahoma - might not be enough to bring the issue before theSupreme Court. But if it can be shown that there’s a pattern, “at somepoint the court’s going to have to look at it,” said Dale Baich, a federal

public defender in Arizona who has represented death row inmates.States have botched several executions previously, leading at times tochanges in execution policies but no widespread prohibition.

In 2000, Florida switched from the electric chair to injection afterbungled electrocutions raised concerns that the state’s death penaltywould be declared unconstitutional. Ohio executioners in 2006 need-ed more than an hour to put Joseph Clark to death because of troublewith his veins. Later that year, it took Florida killer Angel Diaz 36 min-utes to die, with an autopsy showing showed that the needles thatwere used to send the lethal drugs into his veins had penetrated hismuscles. In 2009, Ohio abandoned an execution attempt after RomellBroom was pricked 18 times with needles. Broom remains on deathrow, challenging the state’s right to try again.

In January, an Ohio inmate snorted and gasped during the 26 min-utes it took him to die. The state said this week it doesn’t believeDennis McGuire suffered, but it also announced it would increase thedrug dosages “to allay any remaining concerns.” Also in January,Oklahoma death row inmate Michael Lee Wilson said during his exe-cution: “I feel my whole body burning.” The use of custom-mixed, orcompounded, drugs by Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, SouthDakota and Texas has opened a new line of attack for defense attor-neys, who have demanded to know the identities of the drug suppli-ers. They have argued that deficiencies in the purity and potency ofthe drugs could cause a slow and torturous death.

Bolstering this argument: Compounding pharmacies are not regu-lated by the federal government, and a 2012 meningitis outbreak thatkilled 64 people was linked to contaminated drugs from one suchbusiness in Massachusetts. But courts so far have rejected those argu-ments in a number of states. Legal issues aside, one problem with thecruel-and-unusual argument is the difficulty in measuring pain inunconscious people, whether surgical patients or death row inmates.Doctors can rely on heart monitors or blood pressure machines tomeasure reaction in sedated patients, but those methods are not fool-proof. Such machines aren’t used in death chambers. — AP

I n t e r n a t i o n a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

COLUMBIA: A noose hangs in the execution chamber atthe Caldwell Parish Courthouse in Columbia, La in this filephoto. — AP

Botched execution could renew ‘cruel’ challenges

Victim died of heart attack a half-hour later

US states and the federal government have updat-ed execution methods several times in efforts tofind more humane ways to put condemned crimi-nals to death.

HangingThe primary method in US states through the

19th century. If done correctly, an inmate’s neckbreaks instantly upon the body’s drop, but it canalso lead to prolonged strangulation. Threeinmates have hanged in the country since 1976,and the method is still an option in New Hampshireand Washington.

Electric chairFirst used by New York State in 1890, it was

used throughout the 20th century to execute hun-dreds and is still an option in eight states. Since1976, 158 inmates have been executed by electro-cution. It was considered humane on its introduc-tion but resulted in many horrific executions overthe years.

Firing squadUsed mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, it

was also used in 1977 in Utah to execute GaryGilmore, the first inmate put to death after the USSupreme Court allowed capital punishment toresume, and two other Utah inmates. Some expertsconsider it the quickest and least painful method.

Gas chamberIntroduced in 1924 by Nevada. At least three

states still have it as an option, including Arizona,Missouri and Wyoming, with 11 inmates executedby gas since 1976.

Lethal injectionFirst proposed by the Oklahoma state medical

examiner, it was quickly adopted by states as apainless way to put inmates to death, first with athree-drug mixture, then often with a single doseof a powerful barbiturate. It was used first on aTexas inmate in 1982. Since 1976, 1,203 executionshave been performed by injection. — AP

US executions - from hanging to injection

TEXAS: A microphone hangs over the gurney in the Texas death house in this file photo. — AP

LOS ANGELES: A computer glitch at a California air traffic controlcenter disrupted flights in the United States for about an hourWednesday, authorities said. Shortly after 2100 GMT, the US FederalAviation Administration ordered the halting of departures from andto the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and all other airportsin southern California. “The FAA’s Los Angeles Center air traffic con-trol facility experienced technical issues and stopped acceptingadditional flights into the airspace managed by the facility forabout an hour,” the FAA said in a statement. “Some flights werediverted and the agency issued a nationwide groundstop for flightsheading into the airspace managed by the center.”

The groundstop was lifted shortly before 2230 GMT but signifi-cant delays were expected to last for some time, especially in LosAngeles and San Diego. Roughly 10 aircraft bound for Los Angeleswere rerouted, airport authorities said, while about 30 planes werekept from taking off due to the technical issue. Some passengersalready on board grounded flights were allowed to disembarkwhile the problem was taken care of. LAX is the third busiest airportin the United States and hosted more than 66 million passengers in2013, according to official figures. Some East Coast airports such asWashington’s Dulles International also saw delays Wednesday dueto wet weather. — AFP

Computer glitch disrupts US flights

I n t e r n a t i o n a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

DONETSK: Policemen guard a regional Ukrainian prosecutor’s office in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. A crowd of some300 pro-Russian militants attacked the prosecutor’s office in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk yesterday. — AFP

DONETSK: Pro-Russian militants who have overrun public build-ings in more than a dozen towns in eastern Ukraine haveencountered little resistance from police, prompting Kiev to levelcharges of law enforcement “inaction” and “treachery”. But formany of the low-paid officers ordered to confront insurgentsand large crowds by a distant government they don’t trust, thereal issue is one of mixed loyalties.

As a result, when the rebels come knocking, often the policeare not even there to put up a fight. Or, as in the city of Luganskthis week where a squad of riot police found themselveshemmed in by crowd of 2,000, they find themselves over-whelmed. In a rare successful defense, a hardy group of interiorministry officers later managed to prevent Lugansk’s regionalpolice headquarters falling to the armed insurgents. But therewas a price to pay: their superior had to bow to the crowd’sdemand for his resignation. In most areas though police havejust stood aside while buildings were occupied. Kiev has reactedby dismissing police chiefs, deepening the sense of grievancenursed by officers. The inaction has also given rise to the impres-sion that law enforcement forces support the pro-Russian mili-tants. “It’s simple,” Sergei Harmash, an activist in the city ofDonetsk in favour of Ukrainian unity, told AFP. “Most police inthe region back the separatists. “They share their ideas. The ranksof the pro-Russians include several ex-policemen and soldiers,they all know each other and are sometimes even related. Andeven when that’s not the case, they are waiting to see which sidewill end up in power.”

‘They do nothing’A reluctance to intervene led to fourteen pro-Ukraine

demonstrators being badly wounded on Monday, when a marchin Donetsk was attacked by pro-Russian thugs wielding knives,bricks and bats. The riot police meant to protect the rally let themilitants through and only half-heartedly moved to try to stopthe beatings. “When we get set upon, we contact the police.They write down the complaint and then do absolutely noth-ing,” Harmash said. “They have the resources to stop them or toprotect us but they choose not to.” In the town of Torez, south ofLugansk, where a flag of the self-declared “People’s Republic ofDonetsk” hangs over the town hall, rebels said the police arecooperating with them.

“We are working very well with the police here. We are work-ing together to stop the fascists and criminals from Kiev cominghere,” said the local rebel chief who gave only his first name,Vladimir. For Vadim Karasev, an analyst at the Kiev-basedInstitute for Global Strategy, “security officials in the easternregions don’t want to defend the central government. Theydon’t consider them as ‘their’ authorities.” Many police officersfrom the east were sent to Kiev when street protests against theKremlin-backed then-president Viktor Yanukovych started togather pace last November. They were told then that the pro-EUdemonstrators were their enemy.

Yet the government installed after Yanukovych fled thecountry in February is derived, in part, from that protest move-ment. That has left eastern officers confused-and bearing theblame for the brutal violence used to try to repress the protests,which included shooting into the crowd. But Karasev said a morebasic motivation could also be persuading police in the east toside with the pro-Russian militants. “According to available infor-mation, some ‘emissaries’ recently offered them a salary of $200-$300 (150-210 euros) more than they have now for joining theRussian side,” he said. — AFP

Mixed loyaltiesfor police inUkraine’s east

KIEV: Ukraine said yesterday it had detained Russia’s militaryattache to Kiev on suspicion of spying and ordered him toleave, as the ex-Soviet republic wrestles with an armed upris-ing it says is orchestrated by Moscow. In a statement, Ukraine’sForeign Ministry said the unnamed diplomat was detained onWednesday while undertaking “intelligence activities”.Ukraine accuses Russia of orchestrating the fall of towns andcities across its industrial east to pro-Russian separatists overthe past month, spearheaded by well-organized gunmen inmasks and military fatigues. Russia denies having any part inthe rebellion, but has warned it reserves the right to interveneto protect ethnic Russians - following its annexation of Crimeain late March - and has massed tens of thousands of troops onits western frontier with Ukraine.

“The military-naval attachÈ of the embassy of the RussianFederation in Ukraine is declared persona non grata in connec-tion with his actions, which are not in accordance with his diplo-matic status,” the ministry said. The diplomat was ordered toleave, though the statement mentioned no deadline. There wasno immediate response from Moscow, which like Kiev is observ-ing the May 1 holiday. Ukraine’s pro-Western leaders concededon Wednesday they were “helpless” to counter the fall of gov-ernment buildings and police stations to the separatists in theDonbass coal and steel belt of eastern Ukraine, source of arounda third of the country’s industrial output.

ProvocationsHaving seized key buildings in the capital of the eastern-

most province, Luhansk, on Tuesday, gunmen took control atdawn on Wednesday in the nearby towns of Horlivka andAlchevsk. In Donetsk, the biggest city to fall, mainly Russian-speaking separatists have declared a “People’s Republic ofDonetsk” and called a referendum on secession for May 11,threatening to undercut a planned presidential election inUkraine two weeks later.

Ukraine hopes the presidential poll will help restore orderafter five months of civil turmoil that saw Moscow-backedpresident Viktor Yanukovich toppled after street protests andgun battles in central Kiev, and Russia’s subsequent annexa-tion of the Crimean peninsula. Pro-Western authorities thattook power with Yanukovich’s ouster accuse Russia of plan-ning to disrupt the presidential election, create instability andfrustrate the new government’s hopes of Western integration.

Overnight, the state security guard, responsible for secur-ing key government sites and officials, carried out a small drillin central Kiev. Four armored personnel carriers trundledthrough the streets to parliament, where several dozen troopstook position as if responding to a threat. The guard’s com-mander, Valery Galetey, said they were training for possible“provocations” during the May 25 election. On Tuesday,Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine’s acting president, said thearmed forces were on full alert for a Russian invasion. Thatprompted a return volley from Moscow, where the ForeignMinistry demanded that Kiev “immediately ceases the belli-cose rhetoric, which is aimed at intimidating its own popula-tion”. — Reuters

Ukraine detains Russian military attache for spying

Diplomat declared persona non grata

KIEV: Pro-Kremlin rebels, who the West believe are backed byMoscow, are holding more than a dozen towns and cities ineast Ukraine. The places where the insurgents are most activeare:

SlavyanskThe epicentre of rebel activity and the scene of much of the

reported violence and abductions. On April 12, pro-Russiangunmen seized the police building in this town of an estimat-ed 120,000 to 140,000 people, raiding its arsenal. They thentook over the town hall and the SBU security services buildingthe same day. The interior ministry in Kiev estimates 30-50Ukrainian security services personnel are held there, as well asseven Europeans from the OSCE.

DonetskThis city of one million people is the hub of the Donetsk

region, which includes Slavyansk, and is the heart of whatrebels call their “Donetsk Republic”. The regional administrativebuilding was seized April 6 and the city hall on April 16. Violentscenes on April 28 when men armed with knives, baseball batsand iron bars attacked a pro-Kiev rally.

LuganskThis city of 465,000 inhabitants, which is also the regional

heart of the Lugansk region, is proclaiming itself the core of aself-styled “Lugansk Republic”. Its SBU security services build-ing was grabbed on April 6 by some 1,000 pro-Russian protest-ers. On April 29, a crowd of hundreds, with gunmen leading,

took over the regional administrative building, prosecutor’soffice and local television station. They laid siege to regionalpolice headquarters but withdrew when the police chief agreedto resign.

KramatorskJust next to Slavyansk and 100 kilometers (60 miles) from

Donetsk, this town of 160,000 inhabitants saw its town hall tak-en over on April 12 during a rally by more than 1,000 pro-Russian demonstrators. On April 15, a bomb alert that turnedout to be false cleared the building, but militants took over thenearby SBU building. On April 21, pro-Russian militants forciblytook back the town hall. A Ukraine military base lies outside thetown and has fended off several attacks.— AFP

Pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine hold more towns

I n t e r n a t i o n a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

FLORIDA: People survey the damage on Scenic Highway after part of the highway collapsedfollowing heavy rains and flash flooding in Pensacola, Florida. — AFP

MIAMI: Streets collapsed and flights weredelayed as heavy rains lashed the US East Coastas far south as usually sunny Florida Wednesday,after tornadoes ripped through other parts ofthe country leaving dozens dead. Boston, NewYork and Washington were all drenched, while innorthern Florida authorities rescued people fromthe roofs of their submerged houses, as forecast-ers reported up to 22 inches (55 centimeters) ofrain soaked some neighborhoods in just a fewhours.

Florida Governor Rick Scott instructed theNational Guard to deploy 24 high-water vehi-cles to impacted counties to help with rescueand recovery operations. “This is a slow movingweather system that will continue east throughour state, and families should take precautionsto secure essential supplies should they losepower or can’t use the roads,” he said. Wetweather delayed scores of flights at several air-ports, including at Philadelphia International,

New York’s JFK and Washington’s Dulles. InBaltimore, streets collapsed, washing awaycars, The Washington Post reported. At least 36people were killed earlier in the week whentornadoes tore through six states west ofFlorida.

A 67-year-old woman was added to thegrowing death toll when the vehicle she wasdriving in became submerged in floodwaters inthe Florida city of Pensacola, local mediareported. “It went on and on and on. It wasrelentless,” Cheryl Clendenon, who was strand-ed in her home in Pensacola Beach until afriend picked her up, told NBC News. TheNational Weather Service said the weatherwoes would continue into yesterday. “A fewthunderstorms may approach severe levelsWednesday night into yesterday along the east-ern seaboard with strong winds as the primarythreat, although a few tornadoes cannot beruled out,” it said.— AFP

Rains drench US East Coast

ANKARA: Barred by sanctions from buying Western air-liners since the 1970s, Iran has pent-up demand for 400new planes, Tehran’s top aviation official was reported assaying, offering potential billions to manufacturers suchas Airbus and Boeing. Iran won limited relief fromWestern sanctions after agreeing to curtail its nuclearactivities for six months under an interim accord withworld powers which took effect in January. A completelifting of sanctions would require a comprehensive dealto end a decade-long stand-off over what Tehran main-tains is a nuclear program for peaceful energy purposes.

“Iranian airlines will be ready to buy 40 passengerplanes every year for 10 years if sanctions are lifted,” saidAli Reza Jahangirian, head of Iran’s Civil AviationOrganisation, the Ettelaat newspaper reported yester-day. The 400 figure confirmed the top end of a rangereported by Reuters in November citing a senior Iranianofficial. Boeing and Airbus, which took orders for morethan 2,800 aircraft from airlines and lessors in 2013,would likely lead the battle for Iran’s business.

Canada’s Bombardier, Embraer from Brazil andRussia’s Superjet could also secure orders for the smallerairliners they produce along with engine makers GEAviation and Rolls-Royce. Jahangirian said out of Iran’s250 commercial planes, about 150 were flying while therest are “not functional” due to a lack of spare parts. “Wehave got very positive signals from Western companies,including Boeing Co. and General Electric Co (GE) aboutgetting new spare parts for our planes,” he said.

The current, preliminary deal allows for the limitedsale of commercial plane parts and services to Iran,whose fleet includes vintage Boeing and Airbus airliners.GE has won US Treasury approval to service 18 enginessold to Iran in the late 1970s. They will be serviced atfacilities owned by GE or Germany’s MTU Aero Engines,which is licensed to do the work. Iran’s four largest carri-ers - Iran Air, Iran Aseman Airlines, Mahan Air and Iran AirTours - all have average fleet ages above 22 years, Iranianmedia have reported. They serve a market of 76 millionpeople in a country whose vast oil and gas reservescould help draw foreign companies once sanctions arelifted.

President Hassan Rouhani was elected last year on apromise to improve Iran’s relations with the outsideworld. He has invited Western companies to seize invest-ment opportunities in the Islamic state. Tehran has alsorepeatedly said it was determined to reach a compre-hensive nuclear deal with major powers so it can devel-

op its battered economy. Iran will resume negotiationswith the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Chinaand Russia in Vienna on May 13 aimed at a long-termdeal. The American embassy seizure in Tehran in 1979led to US sanctions on Iran, which have been broadenedin the past decade over Iran’s perceived nuclear ambi-tions. — Reuters

Iran plans to buy 400 new planes if sanctions lifted

Iran wins limited relief from Western sanctions

A race against wind in California wildfire fight

RANCHO CUCAMONGA: Firefightersbattling a smoky blaze in the foothillseast of Los Angeles hoped to takeadvantage of a brief respite from thefierce, hot winds that initially pushedthe fire into the path of more than1,500 homes. As the winds that hadgusted to 80 mph on Wednesdayeased up during the evening, manda-tory evacuation orders for 1,650once-endangered homes were can-celed.

The winds were forecast to returnbefore dawn yesterday, however,which prompted officials to orderfour high schools near the blaze toremain closed. The fire eruptedaround 8 am Wednesday in thefoothills of the San BernardinoNational Forest and quickly burnedacross 1,000 acres of brush. Althoughthe US Forest Service continued tocite that figure late Wednesday night,indicating the fire hadn’t grown forseveral hours, no containment esti-mate was given either.

Meanwhile, more than 700 fire-fighters remained on the front lines,

fighting the blaze with 55 fire enginesand four bulldozers. High winds pre-vented them from using aircraft. Attheir peak, the Santa Ana winds hadgusted to 80 mph, with one gustrecorded as high as 101 mph. More ofthe same conditions were predictedfor today, accompanied by tempera-tures that forecasters said could top100 degrees. The National WeatherService issued a red-flag warning ofextremely dangerous fire conditionsfor Los Angeles, Orange and Venturacounties until 8 pm yesterday.

As the flames raced throughheavy brush on Wednesday, some ofwhich last burned a decade ago,homes not even in the blaze’s pathwere threatened. A blaze fanned bygusts “tends to throw embers andbrands ahead of itself, sometimes amile,” said US Forest Servicespokesman Chon Bribiescas. “That’sthe insidious part of a wind-drivenfire.” That’s why officials decided tokeep Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga,Alta Loma and Etiwanda high schoolsclosed yesterday. —AP

CALIFORNIA: Froylan Dominguez uses a garden hose in front of hishome as the wind driven Etiwanda fire approaches his home in RanchoCucamonga, California. — AFP

Florida jail blastleaves two dead

PENSACOLA: An explosion rocked a jail in theFlorida Panhandle late Wednesday, killing twoinmates, injuring more than 100 other people,and causing the building to partially collapse,according to a county spokeswoman. The blasthappened about 11 pm CDT at a booking facili-ty at the Escambia County Jail, and as many as150 inmate and corrections officers wereinjured, said Kathleen Castro, the countyís pub-lic information manager. About 600 inmateswere in the Pensacola building at the time, andthe uninjured were taken to jails in neighboringcounties, she said. The Pensacola area wasdrenched by rains and severely floodedWednesday as part of a large storm systemmaking its way across the US, but Castro saidshe didnít know whether that was a factor inthe explosion.

Victims were taken to four hospitals inPensacola and nearby Gulf Breeze. Sacred HeartHospital treated 31 patients with mostly neckand back injuries, spokeswoman Vicki Brookssaid. West Florida Hospital treated 37 inmatesin the emergency room, and all have beenreleased back into the custody of the EscambiaCounty Sheriffís Office, spokesman KendrickDoidge said. Fifty patients were taken to BaptistHospital in Pensacola, with 12 treated andreleased by Thursday morning, spokeswomanLiz Branch said. At Gulf Breeze Hospital, 13 ofthe 31 patients from the explosion were treatedand released. The names of the two inmateskilled in the explosion werenít immediatelyreleased. — AP

17I n t e r n a t i o n a lFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

China bombing shows new level of militancyURUMQI: A bombing in western China that killed three peopleand wounded 79 has raised concerns about the apparent sophis-tication and daring of the attack, possibly timed to coincide witha visit to the heavily Muslim region by President Xi Jinping.Unidentified assailants used explosives and knives in their assaulton a railway station in Urumqi on Wednesday, the first bombattack in the capital of Xinjiang region in 17 years, at a time oflikely heavy security and soon after the arrival of a train from amainly Han Chinese province, state media said.

Yesterday, dozens of black police vans were parked aroundthe station, while camouflaged police with assault rifles patrolledits entrance. Despite the security, the station was bustling andappeared to be operating normally. The government blamed theattack on “terrorists”, a term it uses to describe Islamist militantsand separatists in Xinjiang who have waged a sometimes violentcampaign for an independent East Turkestan state - a campaignthat has stirred fears that jihadist groups could become active inwestern China.

Initial accounts of the attack came almost exclusively fromChinese state media, which did not say if any of the attackers hadbeen killed or captured. Nor did they say if Xi, who was wrappingup his visit, was anywhere near Urumqi at the time. Pan Zhiping,a retired expert on Central Asia at Xinjiang’s Academy of SocialScience, described the attack as very well organised, saying it wastimed to coincide with Xi’s visit.

“It is very clear that they are challenging the Chinese govern-ment,” he said. “There was a time last year when they were tar-geting the public security bureau, the police stations and thetroops. Now it’s indiscriminate - terrorist activities are conductedin places where people gather the most.” There has been noclaim of responsibility for the attack. But the language used bythe government to describe the incident, with the reference tothe assailants as “terrorists”, implies that it was carried out byUighurs, the Muslim people who call Xinjiang home, many ofwhom chafe at government controls on their culture and religion.

Act of defianceNicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher at New York-based

Human Rights Watch who closely follows developments inXinjiang, called the attack “an unprecedented act of defiancefrom Uighurs who oppose the Chinese state”. “It’s hugely signifi-cant and it’s extremely politically embarrassing for Xi Jinping whohas taken a very hard stance on the Xinjiang issue, and made abig show while visiting Xinjiang that Xinjiang is safe for the Han,”he said. The attack was the first bombing in Urumqi since bombson buses killed nine people in 1997. It was also the largest mili-tant attack there since the government blamed Uighurs for stab-bing hundreds of Han Chinese with needles in 2009.—Reuters

URUMQI: A man and child on a bicycle past by an armored paramilitary police vehicle parked outside a hospital wherevictims of Wednesday’s explosion receive treatment in Urumqi in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur AutonomousRegion. — AP

BELFAST: Northern Ireland police havearrested Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adamsas part of an investigation into one ofthe province’s most controversial mur-ders, a move that sent political shock-waves through Belfast and Dublin. Theman reviled in Britain as the spokesmanfor the Irish Republican Army in the1980s, Adams reinvented himself as aNorthern Ireland peacemaker and thenas a populist opposition politician in theIrish parliament. His Sinn Fein party saidhe was arrested by police investigatingthe 1972 abduction and murder ofmother of 10 Jean McConville onWednesday evening and could be heldfor up to 48 hours without beingcharged.

Adams, who has always denied mem-bership of the IRA said he was “innocentof any part” in the killing, which he saidwas “wrong and a grievous injustice toher and her family.” “Well publicized,malicious allegations have been madeagainst me. I reject these,” he said in astatement. Sinn Fein deputy leaderMary-Lou McDonald said the decision tomake the arrest weeks before electionsacross Ireland, was influenced bydemands from political rivals and “ele-ments of the old guard” within theNorthern Ireland police service. “Thetiming as far as we are concerned ispolitically contrived,” she said.

Body on beachMcConville’s body was found in 2003

on a beach in county Louth, whichAdams now represents in Ireland’s par-

liament. The IRA suspected McConvilleof being an informer, a charge her familyhas always denied. She was suspected ofhaving gone to the aid of a British sol-dier serving in the province, which wastorn by violence between Catholicrepublicans and pro-British Protestantsfor three decades. The investigation intoMcConville’s killing has been revived bythe release of a series of taped inter-views given by former fighters from the

Northern Ireland conflict for a researchproject at Boston College in the UnitedStates. The Northern Ireland police tooklegal steps to acquire the interviews,parts of which have already beenreleased after one IRA interviewee died.

1980s media banAs head of the political wing of the

Irish Republican Army, Sinn Fein, Adamswas a pariah in 1980s Britain, bannedfrom speaking on British airwaves, forc-ing television stations to dub his voice

with that of an actor. Former PrimeMinister John Major once said thethought of sitting down with him“turned his stomach”. Adams emergedfrom the political cold in October 1997when he shook hands with Labor PrimeMinister Tony Blair at their first meeting.

A year later Adams helped broker apeace deal that largely ended threedecades of violence between Catholicmilitants seeking union with Ireland andmainly Protestant militants, who wantedto maintain Northern Ireland’s positionas a part of Britain. Since that peace dealAdam’s role as a statesman has grown.He is a regular visitor to the White Houseand was a guest of honor at the funeralof Former South African president andanti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela lastyear. But the murder of McConville, hashaunted him and has been repeatedlyraised in interviews during his career asa member of the Irish parliament.

Fragile peaceNorthern Ireland’s fragile peace has

been shaken by investigations into his-toric crimes in recent years, with probesinto pro-British militants widely seen asone of the sparks for some of the 2013street violence that was the worst foryears in the province. It is unclear whataffect the arrest might have on NorthernIreland’s power-sharing government,whose deputy first minister, former IRAcommander Martin McGuinness, is alsoa member of Sinn Fein. He has reinvent-ed himself as a statesman, meeting theBritish Queen in 2012.—Reuters

Gerry Adams held over notorious IRA murderEx-head of IRA political wing denies involvement

Irish republican leader Gerry Adams

One dead in bomb blasts at Indian train station

CHENNAI: Twin bombs planted on a train killed one person andwounded 14 others in the southern Indian port of Chennai yes-terday, the latest attack during ongoing national elections, offi-cials said. The low-intensity blasts occurred in carriages of anovernight train from Bangalore as it pulled into Chennai centralstation shortly after 7:00 am. A 22-year-old woman working at IToutsourcing firm TCS was killed when one of the devices whichhad been placed underneath her seat exploded, said RakeshMisra, general manager of the southern region for IndianRailways. “Civil police... are investigating what kind of bomb itwas and why anyone would have placed the bomb,” he toldreporters at the scene.

Another 14 people were injured, Chennai police chief JKTripathi said, at least two of them seriously. Security forces cor-doned off the blood-splattered platform where a large crowd ofonlookers and delayed passengers gathered, while searches bybomb detection teams were stepped up in other stations.Tripathi said that they were yet to detain any suspects, despitelocal media reports of one or two people being questioned overthe crude explosives. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh con-demned the attack, saying that “such barbaric acts targetinginnocent men, women and children only highlight the despera-tion and cowardice of those responsible”.

Multiple low-intensity explosions are typically the hallmark ofthe Indian Mujahideen, a home-grown militant network which isthought to have been weakened by the recent arrests of seniorfigures. Sixteen people were killed in February 2013 when bombsstrapped to bicycles exploded in the southern city of Hyderabadin an attack blamed on the network. India’s election, which endson May 16 with results, has seen repeated attacks by Maoistrebels based in the forests of central India who have killed at least25 so far, according to an AFP tally. —AFP

O p i n i o nFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

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

In this city’s Grand Bazaar, sellers along labyrinthine passagewayshawk carpets, jewellery and souvenir knick-knacks to tourists.Turkish police believe that until recently, the area around the mar-

ket also sat at the centre of an audacious, multi-billion-dollar schemeinvolving bribery and suspect food shipments to Iran. To date, no onehas been charged. But a recently leaked police report - which containsallegations of payments to top Turkish government officials includingcash stuffed into shoeboxes - has added fuel to a growing corruptionscandal that has shaken the highest levels of Turkey’s political estab-lishment.

A review by Reuters of the report’s 299 pages, as well as interviewswith currency and precious metals dealers, offer colourful new detailsof how what police call a “crime organisation” allegedly helped Iranexploit a loophole in the West’s sanctions regime that for a timeallowed the Islamic Republic to purchase gold with oil and gas rev-enues. While the gold trade was then legal, the police report allegesthe purported crime network bribed officials in part so it could main-tain control of the lucrative business. Then, when the West last Julyprohibited the gold trade as a sanctions violation, the police reportalleges the network concocted records of shipments of food at pre-posterous volumes and prices to continue giving Iran access to for-eign currency. The police report - which includes transcripts of wire-tapped conversations and surveillance photographs - was preparedfor prosecutors. Reuters confirmed its authenticity with EkremAydiner, the current chief prosecutor in charge of the case.

Turkey’s Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, has called the policeinvestigation a foreign-orchestrated plot without legal merit. In recentmonths, Turkey’s judiciary removed several prosecutors from the case.That has raised questions about whether Turkish law enforcementauthorities will continue to pursue it. Aydiner said the matter remainsunder active investigation. In many ways the plot described in thepolice report resembles a made-for-TV crime series: A cop who isthought to have tipped off tax authorities finds himself transferred toa distant outpost by the Black Sea, a plane that arrives from Ghanacarrying 1.5 tonnes of gold with no clear owner, and millions of dollarsin payoffs to various officials to block rivals and gain valuable favourssuch as fast-track Turkish citizenship for members of the purportedcrime network and their families.

The report presents a wealthy young businessman of Iraniandescent named Reza Zarrab as the ringleader. Zarrab grew up inTurkey, holds citizenship, resides in a manor on the Bosphorus andgoes by the Turkish name Riza Sarraf. He is well known on Istanbul’scelebrity circuit, and is married to Turkish pop star Ebru Gundes, whois a judge on a popular television talent show. Following her hus-band’s detention in December - he was released from jail two monthslater without being charged - she tearfully told viewers, “God willing, Ihope these dark days will pass quickly.”

When Reuters reporters recently visited his residence, they weregreeted by about a half-dozen security guards who said he was out oftown. His attorney, Seyda Yildirim, later declined to comment. In aninterview published on April 19 with Sabah, a Turkish newspaper,Zarrab said, “The trade I do is completely legal.” He later said in aninterview on Turkish television that he had helped to reduce thecountry’s current account deficit.

Gold RushThe police report states that its investigation found evidence of

bribery, fraud and gold smuggling. Although not central to the policeinvestigation, the West’s economic sanctions on Iran provide thebackdrop of the alleged scheme. As financial sanctions tightened in2012, both Turkey and Iran had pressing needs: Turkey required oiland gas for its fast-growing economy, while Iran desperately neededhard currency to pay for new automobiles and other foreign imports.

Under the sanctions - imposed by Washington and Brussels tocontain Iran’s nuclear ambitions - Turkey was permitted to purchaseoil and gas from its neighbour. But it was required to pay in Turkishlira, a currency that is of limited value for buying goods on internation-al markets. All payments were to be deposited in an Iranian bankaccount at Turkey’s state-controlled Halkbank.

In 2012, Turkey purchased from Iran more than $10 billion worthof oil and gas, according to Reuters’ calculations based on data fromTurkey’s energy market regulation board and Turkish officials. Onecommodity that Iran was permitted to purchase with its money wasgold. A veritable Turkish gold rush ensued with bullion shipped to Iranin everything from couriers’ rucksacks to airplane cargo holds. Turkishgold exports to Iran exploded from one tonne in 2011 to 125.8 tonnes

in 2012, worth $6.5 billion, according to the Turkish statistical institute.Another 85 tonnes, worth $4.6 billion, were exported that year to theUnited Arab Emirates, a known transshipment point to Iran.

The police report alleges that Zarrab and a network of companieshe controlled were running much of the gold trade with Iran, some-times via Dubai. “It is understood that, to overcome sanctions andmove money to Iran, Riza Sarraf used Turkey as a stepping stone,” thereport states. To keep the business running smoothly, the reportalleges, Zarrab’s network paid bribes to Zafer Caglayan, Turkey’s econ-omy minister; Muammer Guler, the interior minister; Egemen Bagis,the European Union Affairs minister; and Suleyman Aslan, Halkbank’schief executive. All three ministers, who have since either resigned or

been dropped from the cabinet, have denied wrongdoing; none havebeen charged. Caglayan declined to comment; Guler could not bereached for comment. Lawyers for Bagis and Aslan did not return callsseeking comment. Halkbank has denied violating any domestic orinternational laws. A spokesperson declined to answer questions butdid say the bank is not under any investigation by Turkey’s police orjudiciary.

According to the police report, many of the payoffs were allegedlypicked up in a building on a row of jewellery dealers near the GrandBazaar. Police also tracked the shipment of a Swiss watch the networkallegedly gave to Caglayan, the economy minister, that cost about$340,000. Bagis, the EU Affairs minister, at one point allegedlyreceived $500,000 cash delivered in a chocolate box, along with a sil-ver plate. In an intercepted phone conversation about the plate, thereport quotes Zarrab as telling an associate, “Don’t make it too expen-sive.” The report alleges that Aslan, the former head of Halkbank, andCaglayan received a percentage of the Iranian money transfers, result-ing in bribes that totalled tens of millions of dollars. In December,police raided Aslan’s house and seized $4.5 million stuffed in shoe-boxes, according to local media reports. Aslan told police the cash wasa charitable donation from various businessmen to build an Islamicschool, the media reports said.

The police report alleges the bribes bought the network perkssuch as reduced commissions from Halkbank for money transfers,authorisation to drive along highway emergency lanes and assistancein preventing rivals from participating in the lucrative trade. OneIstanbul gold and currency trader told Reuters, “I went to the bankabout 18 months ago and tried to open an account, saying I wantedto sell goods to Iran and that I was going to pay via Halkbank. But theydid not let me. There has been unfair competition in terms of usingthis bank.”

The bribes also secured the network police protection, the reportalleges. Suspecting at one point that a local police officer had initiateda tax audit of some of Zarrab’s companies, the interior ministerarranged to have the officer transferred to Zonguldak, a Black Seacoastal town about 200 miles (320 km) east of Istanbul, the reportalleges. According to the report, a wiretap allegedly picked up Gulertelling Zarrab that “we have sent him into exile.”

The network also allegedly received special assistance when, inJanuary 2013, a plane carrying 1.5 tonnes of gold bullion arrived atIstanbul’s Ataturk airport from Ghana without proper paperwork. Thereport cites wiretapped phone calls between Zarrab and Caglayan’soffice allegedly showing that Caglayan intervened at Zarrab’s requestto prevent customs officers from seizing the shipment. The cargo washeld up for days, but ultimately released.

The circumstances surrounding the Ghanaian gold shipmentremain murky. An Iranian billionaire businessman named BabakZanjani, who is accused by the United States and European Union ofviolating sanctions on Iranian oil, recently posted a statement on thewebsite of his company, Sorinet Group, stating he was the original

purchaser of the gold from Ghana. “This type of trade was completelylegal,” he wrote.

Yet Zanjani boasted last year in an interview with Aseman, anIranian magazine, of violating sanctions. “This is my work - sanctions-busting operations,” he was quoted as saying. He is in jail in Tehran oncharges of owing the government more than $2.7 billion from oilsales; he denies any wrongdoing. In the website posting, Zanjani saidhe had met Zarrab “a few times” but that they had not done any busi-ness together. Zarrab said in the television interview earlier thismonth he had met Zanjani twice, but “I am neither friends nor part-ners with him.”

Fake FoodWashington closed the gold loophole last July. In the television

interview, Zarrab said he stopped trading gold and “shifted to foodand medicine,” which were still permitted. In a four-month period, hesaid, that trade totalled about $1.6 billion. But the police report allegesthat some of the food shipments never actually took place, but con-sisted of counterfeit invoices submitted to Halkbank that should haveraised plenty of red flags at the bank. The documentation includedbills of lading that purportedly showed that cargoes “of 150,000tonnes were being carried in vessels with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes,”the report alleges.

In another case, the report includes an alleged copy of an invoicefor a shipment to Iran of about five tonnes of raw brown sugar. Thecost? A whopping $250 a pound, more than a hundred times the mar-ket rate. The report also quotes from a wiretapped conversation withZarrab in which an associate allegedly tells him about the food ship-ment records, “The documents we are giving are wrong. I mean, theyare documents that do not exist in reality.”

Following their investigation, the police staged a series of raidsand detained dozens of suspects in December. Later that month, oneof the prosecutors on the probe was removed from the case. Heaccused police of refusing to comply with his orders to detain evenmore suspects. “Suspects have been allowed to take precautions, fleeand tamper with the evidence,” the prosecutor, Muammer Akkas, saidin a statement to Turkish media. Reached by Reuters this month, hedeclined to comment.—Reuters

How an alleged Turkish

crime ring helped Iran

Golden loophole

In this Oct 9, 2012 photo, a technician prepares 1 kg gold bars of 995.0 purity to pack for delivery at the Emirates Gold compa-ny in Dubai.—AP

Lebanon in frenzy over

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

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L i f e s t y l eFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

A general view picture shows the village of Baaqlin the hometown of Amal Alamuddin.

Word that Beirut-born Amal Alamuddinhas stolen the heart of Oscar-winningheartthrob George Clooney has

caused a frenzy in Lebanon, where citizens aremore used to bad news. In Baakline, the leafyhome district of Alamuddin’s father in theLebanese mountains, Ramzi Sabbagh couldhardly contain his enthusiasm. “She has madeLebanon and Baakline proud, given that she isoriginally from here,” he told AFP. Despite theexcitement, few of Baakline’s residents actuallyknow Alamuddin, 36, whose family fled forBritain during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Alamuddin, who was just three at the time,now holds British citizenship and is an attorneyspecializing in international law and humanrights. Soon after People Magazine broke thenews of her engagement to Hollywood’s mostcoveted bachelor, Lebanese internet usersbegan expressing their delight. “Clooneyengaged to a Lebanese woman is proof thatwe’re the best,” one user wrote on Twitter.“Only a Lebanese woman could make a hus-

band out of Clooney,” added another.For others, the news was a chance to mock

Lebanon’s perennial political paralysis. “Let’svote George Clooney president of Lebanon,”wrote one wit, as the country’s parliamentwrangles over the choice of the next head of

state. A satirical site, in a nod to tensionsbetween Israel and Lebanon, which technicallyremain at war, joked that Clooney’s decision towed an Arab had raised Israel’s ire. “Israel press-es for military action against Clooney after heproposes to Lebanese girlfriend,” it wrote.

‘Cousin George’ In tiny Lebanon, where family ties are all-

important, some Lebanese lost no time inreferring to Clooney as “cousin George”-a verypopular name among the Christian communi-ty. Tongue-in-cheek, many Internet users won-dered if Clooney’s impending nuptials mightsee him switch his allegiances from theNespresso coffee brand he promotes toLebanon’s famed brew. “Clooney ditchesNespresso to become face of Cafe Najjar,” asatirical site wrote.

Another photo circulated showed Clooney

under the slogan “Mate, what else?” in refer-ence to the yerba mate beverage loved by theDruze community that Alamuddin’s familyhails from. The Druze are a heterodox offshootof Islam whose faith is largely secret. Theymake up around five percent of Lebanon,which has 18 official sects, and the communityis gradually shrinking. The engagement hasn’tescaped the attention of the community’sinfluential leader Walid Jumblatt, who joked toAFP that “maybe Clooney will make a movieabout the Last of the Mohicans here: theDruze!”

Contacted by AFP, Alamuddin’s parentsdeclined to comment. “We don’t want as afamily to comment on our children’s privatelife,” said her mother Baria, a well-known jour-nalist for the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, based inLondon. Alamuddin’s father Ramzi taughttourism at the American University in Beirut,and her sister Tala currently lives in Singapore.She has two half-brothers from her father’s firstmarriage. A source close to Alamuddin’s familysaid Clooney and the Lebanese beauty are“madly in love,” adding that her family had metthe actor in the United States and liked him.The news that Clooney, almost as famed for hisbachelor lifestyle as his acting, is to marry hascaused an international media frenzy, with out-lets clamoring for details of the lady who has“tamed” him. The tall brunette, who is fluent inArabic, French and English, studied at theFrench school in London and holds degreesfrom Oxford and New York University.

She worked with the international tribunalexamining the assassination of formerLebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and assist-ed ex-UN head Kofi Annan in efforts to makepeace in Syria. She also represented Ukraine’sformer president Yulia Tymochenko and thecontroversial founder of Wikileaks, JulianAssange. Beirut’s Daily Star newspaper, quot-ing a source close to the couple said Clooneyand Alamuddin are to wed in London inSeptember. But not everyone is enthused. “It’sdifficult to accept that she’s marrying a non-Druze,” grumbled a young man in Baakline.Another resident looked blankly when askedabout the subject. “George Clooney? Who’sthat?.” — AFP

Lebanon in frezy over Clooney-Alamuddin engagement In this Feb 4, 2014 file, director and actor

George Clooney attends the premiere of‘The Monuments Men’ at the ZiegfeldTheatre in New York. — AP/AFP photos

Lawyer Amal Alamuddin is pictured duringa press conference in London onNovember 5, 2012.

A picture shows the family house of Amal Alamuddin.

Ramzi Alamuddin, father of AmalAlamuddin, the Lebanese-born Britishattorney.

L i f e s t y l eFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Riding hat worn by Empress Elisabeth fetches $186,500

Ariding hat believed to have been worn byAustro-Hungarian Empress Elisabeth,called “Sisi” by family and friends, fetched

134,500 euros ($186,500) at a Vienna auction,more than 50 times higher than expected.Elisabeth was the wife of Emperor Franz JosephI, a selection of whose personal items were alsohighly sought-after at Wednesday’s sale of impe-rial memorabilia. “The hat I think is the mostinteresting object, although we are not sure if itbelonged to Sisi or her daughter,” said GeorgLudwigstorff, the auction specialist in charge.

“There is always high interest in theHabsburgs’ personal items - especially those ofElisabeth,” Ludwigstorff said. The auction atAustria’s Dorotheum took place as Vienna pre-pares to mark 100 years since the June 28, 1914assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heirto the Austro-Hungarian throne, which lit thefuse for World War One. Katrin Unterreiner, cura-tor of the Plachutta Kaiserhaussammlung, thebiggest private Habsburg imperial collection,was thrilled to acquire Sisi’s ermine muff for3,750 euros.

“I was very surprised. I actually excepted it togo higher. But that’s the exciting thing aboutauctions. You never know what will happen,”Unterreiner said. Sisi, a beauty and free spiritwho continues to intrigue biographers, novelistsand film makers, was assassinated by an Italiananarchist in 1898. Beyond her riding hat, asketch that the 10-year-old future empress drewof a child hugging a dog sold for 11,000 euros,while her dinner bell fetched 15,000 euros.

Elements of her wardrobe, including a collec-tion of ermine garments, are on display inVienna at an exhibition commemorating the10th year of the Sisi Museum. Personal itemsbelonging to Emperor Franz Josef also com-manded higher-than-estimated prices.Unterreiner bought for the Plachutta collectiontwo of the emperor’s imperial cigars for 34,500euros, 16 times their expected price.

A lock of his blond hair, taken from futureemperor at the age of three, was hotly contest-ed, reaching 15,000 euros. His monogrammedimperial underpants barely surpassed thereserve price at 2,500 euros. The assassinatedarchduke’s cigarette lighter and case fetched2,750 and 4,000 euros respectively. Around 200items were on sale at the Dorotheum, foundedin 1707 and the largest auctioneer in continentalEurope. It conducts an annual sale of imperialmemorabilia. — Reuters

Former Austrian Empress Elisabeth’s blueCorfu gown, worn on Habsburg vacations tothe Greek island, is on display at Sisi muse-um in Vienna April 23, 2014.

The team of the cultural theatre

center Funaro (fromleft) Massimiliano

Barbini, Lisa Cantini,Veronica Caggia,

Mirella Corso, Paolobarboncelli,

Antonella CarraraFrancesca Giaconiand Elisa Sirianni

pose in Pistoia. —AFP photos

Atheatre centre in an off-the-beaten pathcorner of Tuscany has become a creativehub for the spians from around the

world, offering residencies for established dra-ma professionals and courses for aspiringactors. The Funaro complex in Pistoia includesformer blacksmith and carpenter workshopsturned into apartments, two 100-seat theatresand a cafeteria which acts as the main socialcentre.”I needed a shelter that was also full oflife,” said Cristiana Morganti, a dancer and cho-reographer from the late Pina Bausch’s Tanz the-ater Wuppertal in Germany, who has recentlyfinished a one-month residency. “It’s like a con-vent here. It’s calm but is also very invigorating

on a human level because it has classes full ofchildren and people of all ages,” she said.Morganti has been working on the storyline andchoreography for her latest contemporary work“Jessica and me”, which will be premiering in thenearby theatre of Reggio Emilia in October.

As an Italian performer who has made herentire career abroad, Morganti said she was“proud” that Italy had managed to create a placelike the Funaro, complaining that many of herdancer compatriots are forced to do “three jobsat the same time” just to survive. “This showsthere is hope, that there are little hubs that workeven as they aim for quality,” she said. The

Funaro can host 12 artists at a time and usuallyresidents come with their families. In the cen-tre’s corridors, sounds of “Ha, Hi, Ho!” ring out asstudents take part in an exercise, batting thevocals to one another, arms thrashing. LuisaBardelli, an 18-year-old fascinated by the theatreworld, has enrolled in one of Francesca Giaconi’s

courses which sees her competing with class-mates to perform an improvised “monkey” jive.“I love the ambiance here, the way of teaching.Francesca puts a lot of passion into it. In othercourses, we worked most on our voices, it wasboring. Here we work on improvisation and thebody,” she said. —AFP

In deepest Tuscany, a global theatre hub takes root

People walk onthe main squareof the city ofPistoia.

An aerial view shows the city of Pistoia.

Artists and employees of the culturaltheatre center Funaro share a lunch inPistoia.

L i f e s t y l eFRIDAY, MAY 2 , 2014

Amajor exhibition of paintings and etchingsby James McNeill Whistler opens inWashington this weekend-but don’t expect

to see his mother there. “An American in London:Whistler and the Thames” spotlights the 19th cen-tury American artist’s many years in the British capi-tal and his fascination with the storied river thanruns through it. Starting with his vivid depictions oflife along the Thames, the show-at theSmithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries on theNational Mall-progresses to the moody, virtuallyabstract twilight images, or Nocturnes, thatWhistler began creating around 1871.

That’s the same year he painted his“Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1,” betterknown as “Whistler’s Mother,” in which she appearsseated and unsmiling, wearing a white bonnet, astudy in Victorian prudery. “I doubt very much wecould have made an argument for having it here atthe show,” said University of Glasgow art historyprofessor Margaret MacDonald, who co-curated

the exhibition with colleague Patricia de Montfort.“It would have thrown it,” she told AFP, “and wewanted a coherent story.”

Washington is the third stop for the exhibitionthat explores Whistler’s vision of the Thames, itsmany bridges and the folks who lived and workedalong its muddy banks, at a time when London-thethrobbing hub of the British Empire-was undergo-ing dramatic change. The show has previouslyappeared at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in Londonand Addison Gallery of American Art inMassachusetts. But it has been enhanced by piecesfrom the Freer’s own substantial collection of theartist’s work-a collection that grew out of Whistler’sclose friendship with his most important patron,Detroit industrialist Charles Lang Freer, who found-ed the museum.—AFP

At 75, Ariane Mnouchkine has not given up on changingthe world. “And for some people that can be very tir-ing,” smiles the half-English, half-Russian visionary

who, in between hunger strikes for Bosnia and campaigns forthe homeless, has left her own indelible stamp on the worldof French theatre. Mnouchkine is the founder and indefatiga-ble driving force behind the Theatre du Soleil (Theatre of theSun), a workers collective born of the heady idealism of the1960s that, half a century later, is still flourishing.

Perhaps even more remarkably, it has prospered whilestaying true to the egalitarian principles on whichMnouchkine and a group of like-minded Parisian drama stu-dents established it on May 29, 1964. Mnouchkine, born toan English mother from a theatrical family and a Russianfather, is the undisputed leader of the troupe. But she takeshome the same salary-a modest 1,800 euros ($2,500) permonth-as everyone else in the company. On show nights shecan still be found at the entrance to the company’s home onthe outskirts of Paris, ripping up tickets and directing thepublic to their seats in the way she has now done for the bestpart of five decades.

“We have proved that utopian does not have to meanunrealistic,” Mnouchkine told AFP in an interview. “In termsof equality of salaries, the standards we set and the volumeof work I expect from each and every one of us, we haven’tchanged anything since we started.” A tiny exception to therule: actors no longer have to contribute to the preparationof communal meals. But the anti-star system means leadingmen and leading ladies can still be called upon to help buildsets or clean the toilets.

Squat becomes home Six years after it was founded as a “Workers Production

Cooperative”, Mnouchkine and co. moved in 1970 into theircurrent home, an abandoned armoury in the Vincennes woodthat marks the eastern boundary of the French capital.

In keeping with the spirit of the times, the building wassquatted and smashed windows had to be boarded up withtarpaulin. But the show went on and it kept going on, “evenon December 26, 1970 in the depths of one of the coldest win-ters of the century,” Mnouchkine recalls. Their first major pro-duction, the French revolution-based “1789”, attracted morethan a quarter of a million spectators.

Since then the Theatre has built an international reputationwith its mix of original productions, many of them inspired byMnouchkine’s love of Asia; regular revivals of Shakespeare andother works from all over the world. “It is like an island in thetheatrical ocean, a place of profound freedom,” says the actorMaurice Durozier, a veteran of the theatre who, after an 11-year break, has returned to the fold to play Duncan in a pro-duction of Macbeth that Mnouchkine is putting on to mark the50th anniversary.

Extremely obsessive “To me it’s home. I realised this was where I belonged.

Between us, as actors, and Ariane there is something that isunique. Perhaps it is a question of friendship, Ariane’s wholeidea of theatre is founded on this.” The affection she feels forher fellow workers does not prevent Mnouchkine from being afamously exacting director. The opening of Macbeth was post-poned because she was unhappy with some key scenes, trig-

gering memories of how, in 1999, another production “Drumson the Dike” was delayed for three months before she was sat-isfied it could be presented to the public. “There are timeswhen she exasperates with her nitpicking. She can beextremely obsessive,” says Helene Cinque, who has beeninvolved with the Theatre since she was first introduced to itas a six-year-old by her actress mother.

“You do things her way or you leave. But the place wouldnot be the same if she was not like that.” Mnouchkine may bethe first among equals, but the creative process remains a col-lective one: works come together in rehearsals for which noroles have been attributed, scripts being reworked andenriched through improvisation.”There are times when ascene can be ripped up into tiny pieces,” says Helene Cixous,the writer behind some of the Theatre’s epic productionssuch as “The Terrible but Unfinished Story of NorodomSihanouk, King of Cambodia”, which was staged for the firsttime at the Cartoucherie, in 1985. For “Drums on the dike”,Cixous went through 27 script drafts. Such painstaking per-fectionism has led to critical acclaim but, even with the helpof a state subsidy of 1.6 million euros, the Theatre’s financesremain precarious. Its future is also clouded by the questionof who will take the place of the woman around whom it hasall been built. “It will need someone with the same presenceand the same belief in what she is doing,” says Cixous. “I thinkshe is irreplaceable.”— AFP

Exhibition explores US artist

Whistler’s London years

Margaret MacDonald, art history professor at the University of Glasgow in Scotland,discusses a painting of the River Thames in London by 19th American artist JamesMcNeill Whistler in Washington, DC. — AFP

A person works at the Cartoucherie theater mask creatorErhard Stiefel’s workshop in the Bois de Vincennes inParis.— AFP photos

People work on set’s elements outside ‘Le Theatre du Soleil’of the Cartoucherie theater in the Bois de Vincennes, in Paris.

Erhard Stiefel, mask creator for ‘Le Theatre du Soleil’ poses inhis workshop at the Cartoucherie theater in the Bois deVincennes in Paris.

French theatre’s Sixties rebel child still going strong 50 years later

25FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

24

Japan

Get a ta

ste of

DID YOU KNOW?

The typical Japanese meal consists of a bowl of rice (gohan), a bowl of miso soup (miso shiru), pickled vegetables

(tsukemono) and fish or meat. While rice is the staple food, several kinds of noodles (udon, soba and ramen) are cheap and very

popular for light meals. As an island na-tion, the Japanese take great pride in their seafood. A wide variety of fish, squid, octo-pus, eel, and shellfish appear in all kinds of dishes from sushi to tempura.

Servings: 2-4

Ingredients:Wasabi Sauce1 teaspoon wasabi powder

or 1 teaspoon dry hot mustard1 teaspoon water1 tablespoon rice vinegar2 tablespoons mayonnaise1 garlic clove (crushed)Tuna1 tablespoon soy sauce1 tablespoon vegetable oil½ teaspoon wasabi powder

or ½ teaspoon dry hot mustard2 fresh tuna steaks (1 ½ lbs

total, 1 ½ inch thick)

Directions for sauce: 1. In a bowl mix wasabi and

water to make a paste.2. Let stand 10 minutes.3. Stir in vinegar, mayon-

naise and garlic.4. Set aside.Directions for tuna: 1. Prepare grill with medi-

um-hot coals.2. In a cup, mix the soy

sauce, oil, and wasabi powder.3. Brush on tuna.4. Grill for 3-4 minutes on

each side for rare tuna.5. Thinly slice the tuna and

serve with the Wasabi sauce.

WASABI GRILLEDTUNA

STICKY CHICKEN

Servings: 4

Ingredients:¼ cup sugar

¼ cup soy sauce½ cup water

1 tablespoon garlic, minced8 chicken thighs

Directions:1. Mix sugar, soy sauce, white wine,

water, and garlic in 6 quart pan.2. Heat until sugar melts at me-

dium heat.3. Add chicken and cover.

4. Reduce heat so that it still sim-mers.

5. Cook for 1 hour.6. Uncover and cook 30 minutes

longer.

CHICKEN TERIYAKIServings: 4-6

Ingredients:½ cup chicken broth4 tablespoons soy sauce2 tablespoons sugar2 tablespoons oil2 tablespoons minced garlic½ teaspoon ground ginger4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Directions:1. Mix all marinade ingredients in shallow dish.2. Place chicken in marinade and refrigerate for 1-1/2 hours.3. Preheat broiler.4. Broil chicken 5 inches from heat for about 15 minutes, turning with marinade often.

GOMAE - JAPANESE STYLE SPINACH SALAD

Servings: 2

Ingredients:Dressing2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted2 tablespoons water1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce½ teaspoon sugarSpinach1 pinch saltBoiling water1 (120 g) packet spinach, washed

Directions:1. Toast sesame seeds until slightly brown, you will smell the scent of the sesame seeds

when it’s ready.2. Reserve small amount of the sesame seed for the garnish.3. Place the rest on a plate and crush (you could do this in a processor as well), then

place in a bowl.4. Add water, soy, sugar into the bowl with the sesame seed. (If you are using the food

processor then add these ingredients into the processor). Set aside until spinach is ready.5. To cook the spinach: Add a pinch of salt into a pot of boiling hot water. Mix and then

add spinach for one minute.6. Pour the spinach and water into a colander and run cold tap water to cool down the

spinach; this will stop it from cooking more.7. Squish the spinach with your hands, until all the moisture is out of the spinach.8. Place spinach in serving bowls and drizzle the dressing onto the spinach. Add re-

served sesame seed as garnish.

SUSHI RICEServings: 4

Ingredients:2 cups short-grain rice or 2 cups sushi rice 2 ¼ cups water4 tablespoons sushi vinegarSushi vinegar1/3 cup rice vinegar (or white vinegar)2 tablespoons sugar1 teaspoon salt

Directions:1. Bring water to a boil.2. Pour in rice and boil for one minute, uncovered.3. Cover and reduce heat to simmer.4. Simmer for 20 minutes.5. Let sit for 10 minutes, uncovered.6. Put into large non-metal bowl and cut in sushi vinegar with a wooden spatula.7. Let the rice cool further.8. Stir until dissolved and remove from heat.

Why isn’t a good old fashioned button or switch acceptable anymore?

Technology ‘advances’

that made life more annoying

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

26Te c h n o l o g y

We’ve all had a love/hate relationship with technology for most of our lives. Most of the time things work perfectly and don’t tend to annoy you, although there’s always that occasional time where everything breaks and turns against you,

causing your life to resemble something more of a living nightmare. Around the world brand new ideas for technology are being thought up almost every minute, causing a global saturation of gear with an electronic pulse.

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

27

Will they actually be useful to me or anyone else? We are quite lucky that we live in a world where all of this new and shiny technology is so readily available, but could it be a victim of its own success? At some point we will be engulfed by technology which is already ‘outdated’ before it even hits the shelves. So with all these advances in technology, are any of them useful? Or are they just going to annoy us even further?

Using iPad cameras at eventsThe iPad is a strange item. It wasn’t the first tablet to ever go on sale, but

because of its Apple sticker and brushed aluminum finish it sold very quickly indeed. Some called it a fat phone without being able to call anyone, others the greatest thing since the wheel. Phones have slowly been integrating cam-eras for the last few years to mixed success as their quality is often terrible and is seldom used, except when you are using Snapchat or Instagraming your food of course. For photo quality the public will generally buy a camera separately as it has one primary function, to take pictures. An iPad thinks it can conquer 100 jobs in one slightly-too-large-to-fit-your-hand package. The part which is the most annoying is the camera though. It’s a useless aspect of the device because it’s just another feature to add to the specification list – rather than a core aspect of the product. The main hunting ground

of iPads is at gigs and concerts, as instead of someone holding up a digital camera to grab a snap of their favorite band, people are holding aloft a sea of iPads to film or photograph something in the stage’s general direction. If the camera isn’t going to be an integral part of the product, why put it in there as an afterthought?

On screen non-QWERTY keyboardsSince the 1870’s and the times of a typewriter (way before the Inter-

net, kids) the QWERTY layout has become a standard layout on keyboards throughout the world. So why, with the advances in Smart TV’s and games consoles do they insist on having the keyboard laid out on screen in alpha-betical order? In a world where we have evolved with the QWERTY layout on computers, phones and anything else with letters on it, why persist in confus-

ing us with the keyboard laid out incorrectly? It ends up wasting more time as you misread where letters should be, ending up

with the completely wrong TV show to watch, and that’s only after you’ve failed to enter your password again and

again. Should they go back to a simpler time when we could plug a small inex-

pensive keyboard directly into consoles, or perhaps have a

full QWERTY keyboard slide out from under-

neath the remote? Any of these would be better than see-ing letters put into alphabetical order.

—www.whatculture.com

Te c h n o l o g y

Pleasestop the music!

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

28M u s i c

Bands that really need to call it a day

Whether it be the result of lingering egotism from their distant heyday or complete ignorance of any sentiment with which to ground them

in reality, the musical landscape is littered with bands clawing onto past successes and yearning after halcyon days where their popularity was referred to in the pres-ent tense. Just imagine if music’s most luminary figures – your Cobain’s, your Morrison’s and your Joplin’s – were conducting their umpteenth greatest hits tour which sees them reeling off the big songs night after night, year after year rather than bowing out by getting their 27 Club membership card. Would the world remember them with such fondness and reverence?

Let’s face it, Blink-182 helped define the era of American Pie films and commercialized pop-punk. ‘Take Off Your Pants And Jacket’ and ‘Enema Of The State’ are juvenile yet infinitely enjoyable masterstrokes. 2011?’s ‘Neighborhoods’ on the other hand, well,

the less said about that the better.

Blink-182

Bon Jovi The masters of overblown pop-rock, Bon Jovi have been churning out blue collar anthems for 30 years in a never-ending cycle of gigantic stadium shows that gross enough to largely diminish the severity of the global

poverty crisis. New Jersey native Jon Bon and his denim-clad bandmates pres-ent no shame in playing “Livin’ On A Prayer” on a nightly basis to tens of thou-sands of middle-aged mothers who assemble on an annual basis to witness the once poodle-haired arena rockers reel off the classics for the millionth time.

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

29M u s i c

Green DayIt’s a familiar story: A

bunch of snot-nosed youths get together and

unleash a tirade of angst-laden vitriol that is a huge hit with a disaffected youth, eventually landing them a major label deal.

Puddle Of Mudd

Post-grunge is a sub-genre that has produced abso-lutely nothing of any lasting merit. From the hor-rendous Cobain-aping whine of Nickelback, to the

paltry, watered down angst of Seether and the embarrassing mightier-than-thou disposition of Nickelback, it seems to be consumed exclusively by fans of WWE. Every band assem-bled under the post-grunge moniker lined up to offer their best Eddie Vedder impression while representing everything that grunge had so vehemently defined itself against.

Guns N’ RosesAn extended residency at a Las Vegas casino and hotel is prob-

ably the most solid indicator that an act has shed itself of every morsel of cultural relevancy or usefulness other than

providing evening entertainment for a few thousand tourists in-between extended bouts of otherwise uninterrupted gambling.

U2In the mid-80’s, U2 produced some of the era’s definitive albums in ‘The Joshua Tree’ and ‘War’. The regularity with which

they would mete out anthemic rock songs that bristled with a seething political discontent was rather laudable. But, like the Edge’s hairline, the antagonism has continued to recede while the band’s collective egos have bloated to such vol-

umes that they are transported to every stadium show in individual trucks.

—www.whatculture.com

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

30B e a u t y

Get ready for a steamy summer! This year’s hottest lip colors are a smokin’ color saturation that’s sure to go to your head. If a color is bold, bright and daring, it’s sure to be on-trend, so try one or try

them all to figure out which of summer’s hottest lip colors is right for you.

Going crazy for coralCoral lip colors range from a subtle orangey coral pink to a fiery hot red-or-

ange that calls to mind a summer sun setting over the ocean. These variations provide ample opportunity for you to test coral lip colors until you find the right fit. Start with something simple like the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Bolero, and work your way up to a flaming hot lip color like the Carmine color developed by Besame, the vintage-inspired makeup line used in Mad Men.

Peach A juicy shade of peach is one of the ultimate lip colors for summer, because

it gives off a beachy, laid-back vibe that will get you into vacation mode, pronto. Complete your look with two coats of waterproof mascara, and you’ve got the perfect summer beauty routine.

LilacThis shade of purple may seem a little out-of-the-box at first, but don’t be

scared. A pale shade of lilac transitions seamlessly from a day at the beach to a hot summer’s night out in the city. Plus, this gorgeous lip color will brighten up your complexion and make you glow.

Pepto PinkAn ultra bright pink is such a joyful shade, and it’s one of the quintessential

summer lip colors. Pale pink is nice for spring, but an electric shade is perfect for summer. As long as you keep the rest of your makeup routine minimal, don’t be afraid to go for a loud lipstick.

TangerineTangerine is one of those colors that was just made for summer. If you love

the color of peach but want to dial up the drama a bit, then tangerine is your go-to summer lipstick shade.

Fire Engine RedA red hot lip is clearly a perfect choice for summer because it is the color

most closely associated with heat and fire. Instead of wearing a darker brick color in the summer, it’s best to go for a truly bright shade, like fire engine red.

—www.totalbeauty.com

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L e i s u r eFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

ACROSS1. A member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala.4. Finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper.11. A sudden minor shock or meaningless interruption.15. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).16. The great hall in ancient Persian palaces.17. Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort.18. Brown algae with rounded bladders forming dense floating masses in tropi-cal Atlantic waters as in the Sargasso Sea.21. Perceive sound.22. A mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path.24. Egyptian statesman who (as President of Egypt) negotiated a peace treatywith Menachem Begin of Israel (1918-1981).25. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.27. A boy or man.29. German organist and contrapuntist (1685-1750).30. A Formosan language.32. Large brightly crested bird of Africa.33. A midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region.34. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.35. A complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to whichoxygen binds.38. Worthless or oversimplified ideas.40. A unit of information equal to one million (1,048,576) bytes.42. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.45. A federal agency that supervises carriers that transport goods and peoplebetween states.46. A green transparent form of beryl.49. Of or relating to or containing or derived from gold.52. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial point measured westwardalong the celestial equator from the zenith crossing.53. A genus of Psittacidae.54. Fortification consisting of a low wall.56. Sweet pulpy tropical fruit with thick scaly rind and shiny black seeds.57. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policyfor the sale of petroleum.60. Italian actress best known for her performances in tragic roles (1858-1924).61. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity andthe equipment for power generation and distribution and the control ofmachines and communication.62. Designating a solution containing 1 mole of solute per 1000 grams of sol-vent.64. A genus of Ploceidae.67. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.69. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.70. A way of regarding situations or topics etc..71. An ugly evil-looking old woman.76. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.77. Being without a bone or bones.79. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.80. Having undesirable or negative qualities.81. Trees or shrubs of the families Ebenaceae or Sapotaceae or Styracaceae orSymplocaceae.82. Minor or subordinate.

C R O S S W O R D 5 3 5DOWN

1. The eleventh month of the Hindu calendar.2. A fit of shivering.3. The capital and largest city of Equatorial Guinea on the island of Bioko in theGulf of Guinea.4. The sound made by corvine birds.5. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting (especially in cases of drug over-dose or poisoning).6. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titansin ancient mythology.7. Compulsively or physiologically dependent on something habit-forming.8. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts inuranium ores.9. Take or catch as if in a snare or trap.10. A hard gray lustrous metallic element that is highly corrosion-resistant.11. To work at or to absurd length.12. Soviet physicist who worked on low temperature physics (1908-1968).13. (Old Testament) The second patriarch.14. The state capital of Western Australia.19. Intentional deception resulting in injury to another person.20. North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states inNorth America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the HawaiianIslands in the Pacific Ocean.23. Syncopated music in duple time for dancing the rumba.26. (Akkadian) Mother of the gods and consort of Apsu.28. An informal term for a father.31. In societies practicing shamanism.36. A dull persistent (usually moderately intense) pain.37. Singing jazz.39. A superior grade of black tea.41. The organic process of bearing flowers.43. A small nail.44. A thick sweet sticky liquid.47. (the feminine of raja) A Hindu princess or the wife of a raja.48. Anticonvulsant (trade name Depokene) used to prevent some kinds ofseizures.50. Being or moving higher in position or greater in some value.51. Any of several plants of the genus Manihot having fleshy roots yielding anutritious starch.55. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).58. Being one more than ten.59. An esoteric or occult matter that is traditionally secret.63. Nocturnal badger-like carnivore of wooded regions of Africa and southernAsia.65. The process of gradually becoming inferior.66. (sometimes followed by `of') Having or showing realization or perception.68. A small cake leavened with yeast.72. An anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and suchsymptoms as tension or sweating or trembling of light-headedness or irritabili-ty etc that has lasted for more than six months.73. The compass point that is one point east of due south.74. (folklore) A small grotesque supernatural creature that makes trouble forhuman beings.75. Syndrome resulting from a serious acute (sometimes fatal) infection associ-ated with the presence of staphylococcus.78. A toxic nonmetallic element related to sulfur and tellurium.

Yesterdayʼs Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

S t a r sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Afghanistan 0093Albania 00355Algeria 00213Andorra 00376Angola 00244Anguilla 001264Antiga 001268Argentina 0054Armenia 00374Australia 0061Austria 0043Bahamas 001242Bahrain 00973Bangladesh 00880Barbados 001246Belarus 00375Belgium 0032Belize 00501Benin 00229Bermuda 001441Bhutan 00975Bolivia 00591Bosnia 00387Botswana 00267Brazil 0055Brunei 00673Bulgaria 00359Burkina 00226Burundi 00257Cambodia 00855Cameroon 00237Canada 001Cape Verde 00238Cayman Islands 001345Central African Republic 00236Chad 00235Chile 0056China 0086Colombia 0057Comoros 00269Congo 00242Cook Islands 00682Costa Rica 00506Croatia 00385Cuba 0053Cyprus 00357Cyprus (Northern) 0090392Czech Republic 00420Denmark 0045Diego Garcia 00246Djibouti 00253Dominica 001767Dominican Republic 001809Ecuador 00593Egypt 0020El Salvador 00503England (UK) 0044Equatorial Guinea 00240Eritrea 00291Estonia 00372Ethiopia 00251Falkland Islands 00500Faroe Islands 00298Fiji 00679Finland 00358France 0033French Guiana 00594French Polynesia 00689Gabon 00241Gambia 00220Georgia 00995Germany 0049Ghana 00233Gibraltar 00350Greece 0030Greenland 00299Grenada 001473Guadeloupe 00590Guam 001671Guatemala 00502Guinea 00224Guyana 00592Haiti 00509Holland (Netherlands)0031Honduras 00504Hong Kong 00852Hungary 0036Ibiza (Spain) 0034Iceland 00354India 0091Indian Ocean 00873Indonesia 0062Iran 0098Iraq 00964Ireland 00353Italy 0039Ivory Coast 00225Jamaica 001876Japan 0081Jordan 00962Kazakhstan 007Kenya 00254Kiribati 00686

Kuwait 00965Kyrgyzstan 00996Laos 00856Latvia 00371Lebanon 00961Liberia 00231Libya 00218Lithuania 00370Luxembourg 00352Macau 00853Macedonia 00389Madagascar 00261Majorca 0034Malawi 00265Malaysia 0060Maldives 00960Mali 00223Malta 00356Marshall Islands 00692Martinique 00596Mauritania 00222Mauritius 00230Mayotte 00269Mexico 0052Micronesia 00691Moldova 00373Monaco 00377Mongolia 00976Montserrat 001664Morocco 00212Mozambique 00258Myanmar (Burma) 0095Namibia 00264Nepal 00977Netherlands (Holland)0031Netherlands Antilles 00599New Caledonia 00687New Zealand 0064Nicaragua 00505Nigar 00227Nigeria 00234Niue 00683Norfolk Island 00672Northern Ireland (UK)0044North Korea 00850Norway 0047Oman 00968Pakistan 0092Palau 00680Panama 00507Papua New Guinea 00675Paraguay 00595Peru 0051Philippines 0063Poland 0048Portugal 00351Puerto Rico 001787Qatar 00974Romania 0040Russian Federation 007Rwanda 00250Saint Helena 00290Saint Kitts 001869Saint Lucia 001758Saint Pierre 00508Saint Vincent 001784Samoa US 00684Samoa West 00685San Marino 00378Sao Tone 00239Saudi Arabia 00966Scotland (UK) 0044Senegal 00221Seychelles 00284Sierra Leone 00232Singapore 0065Slovakia 00421Slovenia 00386Solomon Islands 00677Somalia 00252South Africa 0027South Korea 0082Spain 0034Sri Lanka 0094Sudan 00249Suriname 00597Swaziland 00268Sweden 0046Switzerland 0041Syria 00963Taiwan 00886Tanzania 00255Thailand 0066Toga 00228Tonga 00676Tokelau 00690Trinidad 001868Tunisia 00216Turkey 0090Tuvalu 00688Uganda 00256Ukraine 00380United Arab Emirates00976

Some of your demons may come back to haunt you today, Aries.You could find yourself battling some of those same old doubtsand insecurities that you thought you'd left behind. Your desirefor a higher standard of living will have you preoccupied withmoney concerns in the middle of the day. These concerns willpass, so take a deep breath and try not to worry too much.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

It might seem like you no longer completely believe in whatyou're doing, Taurus, perhaps because you've been going alittle too quickly in your quest to get what you need. It'svery possible that your social life has slowed down a lotnow - just when you decided to go full speed in thisdomain. Surprising what the astral energy can do, isn't it?Don't get upset. You can't do a thing about it.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Today's planetary energies will be very demanding, Gemini. Asyou agonize over whether or not you're up to “standard," theplanets, in a very cheeky way, respond that you are not! That'sbecause you're moving too quickly. The change in directionthat you're making at the moment is profound, yet you're try-ing to take it lightly. Dare to slow down and go deeper.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

You seem to want to become old and wise before your time,Cancer. Today's aspects will take you by the hand and lead youback into the heat of the action, experiencing life in all its inten-sity. Yes, we know you're really afraid of all this. But if you don'tget back into action, you'll stay alone in your little corner. Theworld needs you. Don't stay at home!

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

There is some probability that you'll want to escape from real-ity today, Leo. You aren't anxious to face a situation thatdemands that you commit yourself. Is this because you'reafraid that you lack the ability to assume this new responsibil-ity? This is an honest-to-goodness chance to fulfill yourdreams of success. There can be no question of evading it!Get busy!

Leo (July 23-August 22)

You face a day of some conflict, Virgo. Nevertheless, the discordwill prove quite useful. This is probably one of the best opportu-nities in recent weeks to become aware of some family matters.These matters may have been occurring behind your back forsome time now. News about a bit of past personal history couldsurprise you, and perhaps even upset you for a short time.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

If you admit you've made a mistake, people are more likely toforgive you. You have a confrontational day ahead, Libra.There's no doubt that you're in a stationary position concerningyour career. That may be crimping your style somewhat, finan-cially speaking, but you'll make better progress if you assumeyour responsibility and see your mistakes. However, don't betoo critical of yourself! It's all part of the learning process.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

You may have been wishing for some recognition and appreci-ation lately. Perhaps you had your eye on a promotion at work.The day ahead will show you which path will be the most pro-ductive. In order to succeed, Scorpio, you have to plan every-thing carefully and focus on one goal. You should be sure youhave support for that goal. There's a long, hard climb ahead,but you're bound to make it!

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

If you happen to be training for a new trade, learning a newtechnique, or perhaps you're being evaluated after an intern-ship period, you can expect these pursuits to conclude on ahigh note. You may have been somewhat afraid that those inauthority would frown upon your originality, Sagittarius. On thecontrary, it seems the people in charge appreciate it more thanyou know.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

Today's energy will be making you think only about your relation-ships, Pisces. It isn't easy to have relationships with others, as youmay have noticed. The respective demands of each one in a rela-tionship can be difficult to understand. Moreover, the demands ofothers can obscure your path or cause you to detour from it.Consider that the less we ask for in a relationship, the more flexibleand deeper it becomes!

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Today the celestial energy will be trying to teach you some-thing, Aquarius, specifically, how to share with others. But firstyou must get to a place where you truly want to share some-thing of yourself. Have you examined your tendency to runaway? You seem to be afraid that they'll overwhelm you or thatyou'll owe them something. This isn't the case, Aquarius. Whynot give other people a chance to get to know you?

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

COUNTRY CODES

Today you might read a book on exercise or nutrition thatseems a bit unsettling, Capricorn. According to the book,you're doing everything wrong! Remember that what theauthor is probably outlining is a certain practice thatworked for him or her. Everyone is different. Don't changeyour habits for practices that don't feel right. Consult aprofessional if you're still concerned. Such a person is morethan capable of discerning what's right for you.

T V l i s t i n g sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

DROP ZONE ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

00:45 Whale Wars01:35 Untamed & Uncut02:25 Man, Cheetah, Wild03:15 Call Of The Wildman03:40 Call Of The Wildman04:05 Swimming With Monsters: SteveBackshall04:55 Animal Cops Phoenix05:45 ER Vets06:10 ER Vets06:35 Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors07:00 Escape To Chimp Eden07:25 Animal Maternity Ward08:15 Wild France09:10 The Wild Life Of Tim Faulkner09:35 The Wild Life Of Tim Faulkner10:05 Man, Cheetah, Wild11:00 Animal Precinct11:55 Escape To Chimp Eden12:20 Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors12:50 Animal Clinic13:45 Austin Stevens Adventures14:40 Man, Cheetah, Wild15:30 My Cat From Hell16:30 The Magic Of The Big Blue17:25 Too Cute!18:20 Bad Dog19:15 Tanked20:10 Treehouse Masters21:05 Lion Man: One World AfricanSafari21:35 Lion Man: One World AfricanSafari22:00 Tanked22:55 Treehouse Masters23:50 Animal Cops Phoenix

00:00 Chelsea Lately00:30 The Dance Scene00:55 The Dance Scene01:25 Style Star01:50 Style Star02:20 E!ES03:15 Extreme Close-Up03:40 Extreme Close-Up04:10 E!ES05:05 E!ES06:00 E!ES07:50 Style Star08:20 E! News09:15 Giuliana & Bill10:15 THS12:05 E! News13:05 Fashion Police13:35 The Fabulist14:05 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills15:00 Keeping Up With TheKardashians16:00 Keeping Up With TheKardashians17:00 The Drama Queen18:00 E! News19:00 The Fabulist19:30 Fashion Police20:00 Eric And Jessie: Game On20:30 Eric And Jessie: Game On21:00 Giuliana & Bill22:00 Hello Ross22:30 E! News

00:00 Cherry-1802:00 Grabbers-PG1504:00 The Money Pit-PG1506:00 Daddy Day Camp-FAM08:00 A Thousand Words-PG1510:00 Problem Child-PG12:00 The Money Pit-PG1514:00 Rookie Of The Year-PG16:00 Problem Child-PG18:00 A Kiss For Jed Wood-PG1520:00 Superbad-1822:00 Cherry-18

01:00 Bad Karma-1803:00 Out Of Sight-PG1505:00 Broken-PG1507:00 Teenage Paparazzo-PG1509:00 Stardust-PG11:15 Mad Love-PG1513:00 The Music Never Stopped-PG1515:00 Prosecuting Casey Anthony-PG1517:00 Mad Love-PG1519:00 Shadow Dancer-PG1521:00 Six Degrees Of Separation-1823:00 Best Laid Plans-18

01:00 The Pirates! Band Of Misfits03:00 The Happets04:30 Puppy In My Pocket: The Movie06:00 Free Birds08:00 Cinderella10:00 Curious George: Swings IntoSpring11:30 Madagascar13:00 The Pirates! Band Of Misfits14:30 Freddy Frogface16:00 Curious George18:00 Curious George: Swings IntoSpring19:30 Ben 10: Race Against Time21:30 Freddy Frogface23:15 Curious George

01:00 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded-1803:00 The Double-PG1505:00 Class-PG1507:00 Fastest-PG1509:00 The Three Stooges-PG1511:00 Beastly-PG15

00:00 IPL Highlights01:00 IPL Highlights02:00 IPL Highlights03:00 ICC Cricket 36003:30 IPL Highlights04:30 IPL Highlights05:30 IPL Highlights06:30 ICC Cricket 36007:00 IPL Highlights08:00 IPL Highlights09:00 ICC Cricket 36009:30 IPL Highlights10:30 IPL Highlights11:30 IPL Highlights12:30 IPL Highlights13:30 ICC Cricket 36014:00 IPL Highlights15:00 IPL Highlights16:00 IPL Highlights17:00 ICC Cricket 360

00:00 Doctors00:30 My Hero01:00 The Cafe01:25 Stolen02:55 Incredible Journeys With SteveLeonard03:45 My Hero04:15 The Weakest Link05:00 Boogie Beebies05:15 Little Human Planet05:20 The Green Balloon Club05:45 Poetry Pie05:50 Gigglebiz06:05 Boogie Beebies06:20 Me Too!06:40 The Green Balloon Club07:05 Gigglebiz07:20 The Weakest Link08:05 My Hero08:35 The Cafe09:00 Eastenders09:30 Doctors10:00 Incredible Journeys With SteveLeonard10:50 The Weakest Link11:35 The Cafe12:00 My Hero12:30 The World’s Toughest DrivingTests13:20 Eastenders13:50 Doctors14:20 The Weakest Link15:05 Incredible Journeys With SteveLeonard15:55 My Hero16:25 The Weakest Link17:10 Eastenders17:40 Doctors18:10 Casualty19:00 Saxondale19:30 The Vicar Of Dibley20:00 Incredible Journeys With SteveLeonard20:50 Getting On21:20 Bedlam22:00 Mad Dogs22:45 Alan Carr: Chatty Man23:35 Eastenders

00:30 Sons Of Guns01:20 Amish Mafia02:10 Extreme Smuggling03:00 You Have Been Warned03:50 Border Security04:15 Baggage Battles04:40 The Liquidator05:05 How It’s Made05:30 How Stuff’s Made06:00 Bear Grylls: Escape From Hell07:00 You Have Been Warned07:50 World’s Biggest Ship

00:00 Inside01:00 Dangerous Encounters02:00 World’s Deadliest Animals03:00 Pirate Patrol04:00 Blowdown05:00 Diggers05:30 Diggers06:00 Pirate Patrol07:00 Nat Geo Amazing!08:00 Inside09:00 Dangerous Encounters10:00 Brave New World11:00 Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey12:00 Stonehenge Decoded14:00 Family Guns15:00 None of the Above15:30 None of the Above16:00 Animal Autopsy17:00 Dangerous Encounters18:00 Street Monkeys

00:20 World’s Deadliest Killers01:10 Fish Warrior02:00 Built For The Kill02:50 World’s Deadliest: Jaws & Sins03:45 Shane Untamed04:40 Ultimate Animal Countdown05:35 Built For The Kill06:30 World’s Deadliest: Jaws & Sins07:25 Shane Untamed08:20 Ultimate Animal Countdown09:15 Let Elephants Be Elephants09:40 Wild Lab: The Shark Test10:10 World’s Wildest Encounters11:05 America The Wild12:00 Hooked12:55 World’s Deadliest13:50 That Shouldn’t Fly14:45 Shane Untamed15:40 Ultimate Animal Countdown16:35 Night Stalkers17:30 Wild Gabon18:25 Secret Life of Predators19:20 World’s Deadliest20:10 That Shouldn’t Fly21:00 Shane Untamed21:50 Ultimate Animal Countdown22:40 Night Stalkers23:30 Wild Gabon

00:00 Almost Human01:00 Necessary Roughness02:00 Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.03:00 Nip/Tuck04:00 American Idol06:00 Almost Human07:00 Betrayal08:00 Zero Hour09:00 Necessary Roughness10:00 American Idol12:00 Emmerdale

00:30 The Daily Show With JonStewart01:00 The Colbert Report01:30 Family Guy02:00 Brickleberry02:30 Weeds03:00 Last Man Standing03:30 New Girl04:00 Seinfeld04:30 The Tonight Show StarringJimmy Fallon05:30 My Boys06:00 Breaking In06:30 Friends07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers08:00 Seinfeld08:30 My Boys09:00 Last Man Standing09:30 The Mindy Project10:00 Brooklyn Nine-Nine10:30 Friends11:00 The Tonight Show StarringJimmy Fallon12:00 Breaking In12:30 Seinfeld13:00 My Boys13:30 Friends14:00 New Girl14:30 The Mindy Project15:00 Brooklyn Nine-Nine15:30 The Daily Show With JonStewart16:00 The Colbert Report16:30 Breaking In17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers18:00 Last Man Standing18:30 New Girl19:00 Enlisted19:30 The Michael J. Fox Show20:00 The Tonight Show StarringJimmy Fallon21:00 The Daily Show With JonStewart21:30 The Colbert Report22:00 It’s Always Sunny InPhiladelphia22:30 The League23:00 Weeds23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers

00:00 Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters02:00 Battlestar Galactica: Blood &Chrome04:00 One Life06:00 Pizza Man08:00 Zambezia10:00 Batman: The Dark KnightReturns Part Two12:00 Parental Guidance14:00 Zambezia16:00 Rewind18:00 Cash20:00 Gangster Squad22:00 Friends With Kids

00:00 The Veteran-1802:00 Virtuosity-PG1504:00 The Blood Bond-PG1506:00 The Speed Of Thought-PG1508:00 Drop Zone-PG10:00 The Philly Kid-PG1512:00 Abandoned-PG1514:00 Drop Zone-PG16:00 Armageddon-PG1518:30 Abandoned-PG1520:00 Shaft-1822:00 Grave Encounters-18

08:40 Fast N’ Loud09:30 Border Security09:55 Baggage Battles10:20 The Liquidator10:45 How It’s Made11:10 How Stuff’s Made11:35 Sons Of Guns12:25 Destroyed In Seconds12:50 Destroyed In Seconds13:15 Destroyed In Seconds13:40 Destroyed In Seconds14:05 Border Security14:30 Baggage Battles14:55 The Liquidator15:20 Bush Pilots16:10 Fast N’ Loud17:00 Ultimate Survival17:50 Wheeler Dealers18:40 You Have Been Warned19:30 Bear Grylls: Escape From Hell20:20 How It’s Made20:45 How Stuff’s Made21:10 Baggage Battles21:35 The Liquidator22:00 Fast N’ Loud22:50 Wheeler Dealers23:40 Extreme Car Hoarders

19:00 Doomsday Preppers20:00 Situation Critical21:00 Doomsday Preppers22:00 Doomsday Preppers23:00 A Traveler’s Guide To ThePlanets00:35 The Jonathan Ross Show

01:30 Emmerdale02:25 Coronation Street02:55 Come Dine With Me Ireland03:25 Four Weddings UK04:20 The Hungry Sailors05:15 May The Best House Win Abroad06:10 The Jonathan Ross Show07:05 Come Dine With Me Ireland07:30 Four Weddings UK08:25 The Hungry Sailors09:20 May The Best House Win Abroad10:15 Doc Martin11:10 Emmerdale12:00 Coronation Street12:30 The Jonathan Ross Show13:25 May The Best House Win Abroad14:20 Doc Martin15:10 Come Dine With Me Ireland15:35 The Chase16:00 Tom Daley Goes Global17:15 Blandings17:55 Come Dine With Me Ireland18:20 Doc Martin19:10 Coronation Street19:35 The Chase20:30 Tom Daley Goes Global21:25 Blandings21:55 Come Dine With Me Ireland22:20 Coronation Street22:50 Emmerdale23:45 Doc Martin

13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show14:00 Zero Hour15:00 Almost Human16:00 Emmerdale17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show18:00 Zero Hour19:00 Glee20:00 American Idol21:00 The Client List22:00 Survivor: Cagayan23:00 Nip/Tuck

00:00 Devil’s Bridge02:00 The Veteran04:00 Virtuosity06:00 The Blood Bond08:00 The Speed Of Thought10:00 Drop Zone12:00 The Philly Kid14:00 Abandoned16:00 Drop Zone18:00 Armageddon20:30 Abandoned22:00 Shaft

01:00 Old Stock03:00 Comes A Bright Day05:00 Atlas Shrugged07:00 Old Stock09:00 Kathmandu Lullaby10:45 Atlas Shrugged12:30 Quiet Flows The Don15:30 Carnage17:00 Hyde Park On Hudson19:00 Straight A’s21:00 Nobody Walks23:00 Locked In

13:00 Five-PG1515:00 Moonrise Kingdom-PG1517:00 The Three Stooges-PG1519:00 Celeste And Jesse Forever-PG1521:00 Cloud Atlas-18

01:00 Trans World Sport02:00 Premier League Darts05:30 NRL Full Time06:00 European tour weekly 06:30 Inside The PGA Tour07:00 Golfing World08:00 ICC Cricket 36008:30 Trans World Sport09:30 Seven World Series10:00 Total Rugby10:30 Live Super Rugby12:30 Live Super Rugby14:30 International Rugby League16:30 Live Snooker WorldChampionship20:00 Trans World Sport21:00 Live Snooker WorldChampionship

02:00 Live NHL05:00 WWE NXT06:00 Trans World Sport07:00 Sevens World Series Highlights07:30 Super League09:30 NRL Full Time10:00 Live International Rugby League12:00 Live Snooker WorldChampionship World Championship16:00 Super Rugby18:00 WWE NXT19:00 WWE Bottom Line20:00 WWE Smackdown22:00 Live PGA Tour

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Kuwait

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

112

SHARQIA-1SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 1:00 PMTHE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 3:00 PMBRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 3:45 PMSUN+TUE+WEDSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 5:45 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 8:00 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 10:15 PMBRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 12:45 AM

SHARQIA-2THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG-3D) 2:00 PMRIO 2 (DIG-3D) 4:45 PMTHE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 7:00 PMTHE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG-3D) 9:45 PMTHE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 12:30 AM

SHARQIA-3TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 1:30 PMTHE QUIET ONES (DIG) 3:15 PMTINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 5:15 PMTHE BAG MAN (DIG) 7:00 PMTHE QUIET ONES (DIG) 9:00 PMTHE QUIET ONES (DIG) 11:00 PMTHE BAG MAN (DIG) 1:00 AM

MUHALAB-1BRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 12:30 PMTINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 2:45 PMBRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 4:30 PMTINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 6:30 PMTHE QUIET ONES (DIG) 8:15 PMTHE QUIET ONES (DIG) 10:15 PMTHE QUIET ONES (DIG) 12:15 AM

MUHALAB-2THE BAG MAN (DIG) 12:45 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 3:00 PMTHE BAG MAN (DIG) 5:00 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 7:15 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 9:30 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 11:45 PMNO SUN+TUE+WED

MUHALAB-3THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 1:30 PMRIO 2 (DIG-3D) 4:15 PMTHE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG-3D) 6:30 PMTHE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 9:15 PM

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG-3D) 12:05 AM

FANAR-1SALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 1:00 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 3:30 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 5:45 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 8:00 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 10:15 PMSALEM ABO OKHTO (DIG) (Arabic) 12:30 AM

FANAR-2TINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 1:30 PMIN THE BLOOD (DIG) 3:15 PMTINKER BELL AND THE PIRATE FAIRY (DIG) 3:30 PMSUN+TUE+WEDRIO 2 (DIG) 5:15 PMIN THE BLOOD (DIG) 7:30 PMSNOWPIERCER (DIG) 9:30 PMIN THE BLOOD (DIG) 12:05 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

FANAR-3BRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 1:00 PMTHE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 3:00 PMBRICK MANSIONS (DIG) 5:45 PMTHE BAG MAN (DIG) 7:45 PMTHE BAG MAN (DIG) 9:45 PMTHE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (DIG) 11:45 PM

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BusinessFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Markets obscure Rouhani bid to rescue economy

PAGE 37India invites US to discuss IP rights, market access

BARCELONA: Demonstrators hold a placard reading “We will not be their subjects” during the May Day rally in Barcelona yesterday. — AFP

PAGE 39

ISTANBUL: Turkish police fired tear gas and watercannon to disperse May Day protesters in Istanbulyesterday, as millions took to the streets aroundthe world to mark International Labor Day.

About 100,000 workers paraded on Moscow’siconic Red Square for the first time since the 1991collapse of the Soviet Union as the annexation ofCrimea triggered a surge of patriotism.

Protesters were also out in force in Europeancountries including Italy and Greece, marchingagainst unemployment and austerity policies.Across Asia, workers took to the streets demandingbetter working conditions and salary hikes. In tenseIstanbul, hundreds of riot police backed up bywater cannon moved in on protesters in theBesiktas district as they tried to breach the barri-cades leading up to the symbolic Taksim square onthe anniversary of clashes that spawned a nation-wide protest movement. A reported 40,000 policeofficers as well as dozens of water cannon trucksand armored vehicles were deployed throughoutIstanbul, with roughly half that number draftedinto the centre to cordon off all the avenues,streets and alleys around the square. But the mostimpressive show was in Russia, where a huge col-umn of demonstrators waving Russian flags andballoons marched through Moscow’s iconic squarenear the Kremlin and voiced their support forPresident Vladimir Putin and his hardline stand onthe Ukraine crisis.

“Putin is right”, “Proud of the country” and“Let’s support decisions of our president” read the

banners carried by the smiling demonstrators, acolorful spectacle harking back to Soviet times.

Red Square rally draws 100,000 May Day was a key date in the Soviet calendar,

with elaborate celebrations involving ranks ofmarching athletes, soldiers and workers on theMoscow square, but in recent years the annualdemonstrations have been relegated to a city high-way. Trade union leaders said about two millionpeople had turned up for May Day rallies across

Russia. The tone was markedly different in Greecewhere thousands marched in the countries twomain cities of Athens and Salonika against an auster-ity drive following a disastrous debt crisis that led tomass lay-offs.

In Italy’s Turin, scuffles broke out between policeand hundreds of protesters. Activists lobbed smokebombs at police, who charged against demonstra-tors in the northern industrial city, which has beenbadly hit by a painful two-year recession. Rallies alsotook place across Asia, including in Hong Kong,

Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Taipei.In Cambodia, security forces armed with sticks

and batons forcibly dispersed dozens of May Dayprotesters near Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park,according to an AFP photographer.

Several people were beaten. The park, openedby the government in 2010 as a designated area forpeople to air their grievances, was closed off bypolice with barbed wire as the authorities sought toclamp down on protests against long-ruling strong-man Prime Minister Hun Sen.

In Indonesia, protestors carrying portraits of left-ist idols such as Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and thecountry’s first president Sukarno, marched to thestate palace in Jakarta. Some sang and danced asothers carried a three-metre-long toy octopus wear-ing a red hat with the words “Capitalist Octopus,Sucking the Blood of Workers.”

‘We are not slaves’ More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Hong

Kong’s landmark Victoria Park to walk towards thegovernment headquarters waving colorful flags andplacards, while singing a Chinese version of “Do YouHear the People Sing?” from the musical LesMiserables, while calling for better working condi-tions and wages. Domestic helper rights concerngroups, which made up a large portion of the rally,wore masks with a picture of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih,an Indonesian maid who was allegedly abused byher employer for months, while shouting: “We areworkers, we are not slaves”. —AFP

Tear gas at Turkish May Day protestsImpressive Red Square rally draws 100,000

ISTANBUL: A Turkish protester wearing a gas mask stands amid a fog of tear gas that was firedby riot police to disperse a May Day rally in Taksim Square in Istanbul yesterday. — AFP

B u s i n e s sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

DUBAI: A sharp drop in the rial currencyreveals heavy pressure on Iran’s economyas President Hassan Rouhani struggles todeliver higher living standards and shoreup domestic political support for a nucleardeal with world powers. The rial’s free mar-ket rate against the US dollar sank to 33,000this week, a fall of 9 percent from around30,000 in early April, according to Iraniancurrency trading websites. Central bankgovernor Valiollah Seif issued a rare publicstatement trying to calm the market. “Thecurrency’s fluctuation in recent days is notin line with positive signs regarding theeconomy,” Iranian media quoted him assaying last week. He blamed “opinions thataren’t based on correct information”, with-out elaborating.

Iran and six major world powers plan inmid-May to start drafting key elements of abroad settlement to the dispute over thecountry’s nuclear program, with the hopeof putting an end to a decade of tensions.The six want to ensure the program is cur-tailed enough that it would take Iran a longtime to assemble nuclear bomb compo-nents, if it chose to do so. The IslamicRepublic denies having such intentions butwants to end the tough economic sanc-tions that have hurt the economy.

The recent rial slide has not been as seri-ous as in 2012, when the currency lost athird of its value to nearly 40,000 after thelatest round of sanctions were imposed.Since he took office last August after alandslide election win, Rouhani has suc-ceeded in repairing some of the economicdamage which Iran suffered during years ofdirect confrontation with the West underhis predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The official inflation rate has comedown to 32.5 percent from above 40 per-cent in mid-2013. The economy seems tobe emerging from recession; gross domes-tic product will grow 1.5 percent this yearafter shrinking 5.6 percent in 2012 and 1.7percent in 2013, the International MonetaryFund estimates. But the rial’s renewedweakness suggests those gains remain vul-nerable and that Rouhani faces major polit-ical and financial pressures as he tries toreform economic policy and cut the influ-ence of some of his conservative enemiesover the economy.

Reasons for the rial’s drop remainmurky, but none are positive for Rouhani,whose success in stabilizing the currencywas one of his key early achievements afterthe election. Some traders and business-men in Tehran and Dubai speculate thatIran, its oil earnings slashed by Westernsanctions, may have run up against a freshshortage of foreign currency.

There is also talk that wealthy Iranianbusinessmen opposed to Rouhani’sreforms deliberately dumped rials, to warnhim not to go too far. Others believe ordi-nary Iranians scrambled to buy dollarsbecause they feared an imminent rise ingasoline prices, the result of his subsidyreforms, would boost inflation again.Thousands of foreign businessmen areexploring the possibility of returning to Iranif Tehran reaches an international agree-ment on its nuclear program by a July 20deadline. But the economic uncertaintiesmean many may return only slowly andcautiously, even if a deal is struck.

“Slowly but surely, the economy isrecovering. But overall it is going to take

time,” said Ramin Rabii , director ofTurquoise Partners, a Tehran-based invest-ment firm which has around $200 million ofassets under management. “There is stillstagflation, high inflation with very lowgrowth. This is not something one canescape from in a short period of time - itwould not be easy anywhere in the world.”

PoliciesIran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali

Khamenei, who oversees Rouhani, has spo-ken repeatedly this year of creating a “resis-tance economy” to mobilize the nation’sresources against foreign pressure. Far fromindicating a lurch towards more state con-trol of the economy, the rhetoric seemsdesigned to placate hardline conservativeswhile justifying Rouhani’s reforms, which inmany ways resemble policies of a centre-right European government.

Tighter fiscal and monetary policy are atthe top of the list. Growth in projectedbudget spending for the current fiscal yearwas slowed to 9 percent, well under infla-tion, in contrast to profligate spendingunder Ahmadinejad. Seif, appointed byRouhani, has begun to rein in the balloon-ing money supply growth which fuelledinflation and rial depreciation. This couldeventually permit a cut in the double-digitinterest rates hurting Iranian firms’ compet-itiveness.

Officials have spoken in principle of giv-ing the private sector more of a role in theeconomy; in a sign of possible reforms tocome, exports of steel products were liber-alized between January and June 2014 togive producers an incentive. Rouhaniappointed Mohammad Nahavandian, a for-mer head of the Iran Chamber ofCommerce, as his chief of staff. This hasraised hopes for pro-business changes tolabor rules and a cut in red tape which addsmonths to the process of establishing firms.The president has also taken aim at some ofthe powerful business interests, somelinked to the Revolutionary Guards, whoprospered under Ahmadinejad because ofpreferred access to state deals and hardcurrency rationed at cheap official prices.

A number of existing government con-tracts with the Guards have been chal-lenged by ministers, and officials have saidthey will move this year towards narrowing

the gap between the rial’s free market andofficial rates, reducing a key avenue for cor-ruption. Such policies could make the econ-omy more competitive and efficient. Rabiisaid that once sanctions were lifted, therewould be a major and immediate industrialboom in Iran as companies which wereoperating far below capacity, having beenstarved of imported parts and materials,became able to obtain them. “This is thelow-hanging fruit for growth when sanc-tions are eased,” he said.

ObstaclesThe rial’s slide, however, suggests that

fruit further up the tree may be hard topick. For one thing, Rouhani is finding itmore difficult than hoped to rationalizegovernment spending and divert it intomore productive uses. Last week’s subsidyreform boosted gasoline prices in Iran by

up to 75 percent but it was smaller than ini-tially expected - some officials had previ-ously talked of doubling prices - which sug-gested concern about the negative impacton inflation. In any case, the government ishaving to spend billions of dollars on cashhandouts to citizens in order to soften thesocial impact of the reform.

“The government is finding that achiev-ing the hoped-for cost savings is difficult,”said Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow atthe Saban Center for Middle East Policy inWashington, and a former US StateDepartment policy advisor.

“The benefits of some policies are erod-ed or absorbed by others.” The pressureson Rouhani can also be seen in authorities’handling of a mini-stock market crash thisyear. After soaring 132 percent last year,partly because of optimism about aRouhani presidency, the Tehran StockExchange index sank 16 percent betweenthe start of 2014 and mid-April. In mostcountries, such a pull-back would be con-sidered nothing more than a healthy cor-rection after a huge rise. But in Iran it ispolitically sensitive and in mid-April severalIranian banks and insurers, some state-owned, banded together with authorities’support to pledge as much as $2 billion to amarket stabilisation fund.Stocks have nowstopped falling, but the Rouhani adminis-tration’s free-market credentials look a littleless convincing. — Reuters

Markets obscure Rouhani bid to rescue economy

Costs, political implications are slowing reforms

President Hassan Rouhani

LONDON: CME Group Inc, the world’s largest futuresexchange operator, plans to launch a cocoa futures contractthis year, challenging rival Intercontinental Exchange’s domi-nance in the market, industry sources said. The exchange helda meeting in London on Wednesday with representativesfrom the cocoa industry including traders, brokers and choco-late makers to discuss its plans, sources who attended themeeting said yesterday.

CME declined to comment. The sources said that thoseattending the meeting were broadly supportive of the con-cept of the contract, although they wanted more clarity onthe details.

The new cocoa contract would rival Liffe’s London-basedcocoa market, acquired by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)in November last year. Traders and brokers on Liffe soft agri-cultural commodity markets have expressed concern thatICE’s takeover of their contracts created a near monopoly, asthe ICE and Liffe exchanges together account for the vastmajority of global cocoa, coffee and sugar derivatives trading.The two existing major global cocoa futures contracts, nowboth owned by ICE, are based in London and New York.

CME Group, through its Chicago Board of Trade subsidiary,is the dominant exchange for trading in global grains andoilseeds but is not prominent in cocoa, coffee and sugar.

Last year, however, CME hired a couple of soft commodityspecialists who had in the past worked on contracts for NYSELiffe. At the time, the CME declined to comment on whetherthe hires related to any plans it might have to expand in softcommodity markets. — Reuters

HARARE: Women sing and dance during Workers Day cele-brations at Gwanzura stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe yes-terday. — AP

CME plans cocoa futures contract to rival ICE

DIB profit doubles on strong economy

DUBAI: Dubai Islamic Bank’s (DIB) net profit for the firstquarter doubled, it said yesterday, as the booming localeconomy boosted revenue and cut bad debts. The result isconsistent with the trend of rising profits for United ArabEmirates banks in the first quarter, benefiting from thelocal economy’s recovery after a real estate crash and debtproblems at Dubai government-linked entities.

DIB, the largest sharia-compliant lender in the UAE,made 636.6 million dirhams ($173.3 million) in the firstthree months of the year, it said in a statement to thestock exchange. This was up from 301.7 million dirhams inthe same period last year. The average forecast of fouranalysts polled by Reuters was for a net profit in the peri-od of 506.1 million dirhams.

DIB’s profits were boosted by higher income, partlydriven by increased lending to both corporates and con-sumers. Loans and advances had increased to 59.9 billiondirhams by the end of March - up 6.8 percent on the figureat the end of 2013. The improved conditions of the localeconomy also helped asset quality, with bad loan provi-sioning in the first quarter of 2014 down 45.9 percentyear-on-year to 195 million dirhams.

DIB plans to expand its operations into Indonesia,Kenya and other African countries as it looks to diversifyits revenues away from its home market, chief executiveAdnan Chilwan told Reuters in March. — Reuters

B u s i n e s sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

WASHINGTON: The number of Americansapplying for unemployment benefits rose lastweek to the highest level since February, adose of mixed news for an economy that issupposed to be gaining momentum. TheLabor Department says a seasonally adjusted344,000 people applied for jobless aid, up14,000 from the previous week and the mostsince late February. Economists had expecteda drop.

The less-volatile 4-week average rose by3,000 to 320,000. The number of peopleapplying for jobless aid has now risen threestraight weeks. Ian Shepherdson, chief econ-omist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said lastweek’s numbers might have been warped bythe Easter holiday. “We think the underlyingtrend is falling, but only slowly,” he wrote in aresearch note.

Unemployment benefits are a proxy forlayoffs and have fallen to pre-recession levelssince peaking at 665,000 in March 2009.Another Labor Department report shows thatlayoffs are running nearly 40 percent belowtheir peak in 2009. Though they’ve stoppedcutting jobs, employers have been slower to

add new ones: Hiring remains well below pre-recession levels. Still, the United States econ-omy generated a solid 192,000 jobs in Marchon top of 197,000 in February. The govern-ment reported Wednesday that the economygrew at an annual pace of just 0.1 percentfrom January through March. Economistsblamed bad weather for the slowdown,which was worse than expected. Most expectgrowth to pick up as the year wears on and toreach an annual rate of more than 3 percentfrom July through December.

The Federal Reserve was confidentenough in the economy’s strength toannounce on Wednesday that it would con-tinue scale back a bond-purchasing programmeant to keep long-term interest rates lowand encourage more borrowing and spend-ing. US consumers ramped up their spendingin March at the fastest pace in 41/2 years, asign that the economy is gaining momentumafter its winter slowdown. The CommerceDepartment said yesterday that consumerspending rose 0.9 percent, the largest gainsince April 2009. The department also revisedup its estimate of the spending increase in

February to 0.5 percent from 0.3 percent.Consumers spent more on manufactured

goods last month. Autos and furniture ledmuch of the gains, according to a separateretail sales report released last month.Income rose 0.5 percent last month after ris-ing 0.4 percent in February. Higher spendingpoints to stronger growth ahead becauseconsumer activity accounts for roughly 70percent of the economy. During last quarteras a whole, harsh winter weather curbedspending, and the economy barely grew atan annual rate of just 0.1 percent. But yester-day’s report suggested that last quarter’sslowdown was confined mainly to Januaryand February, before consumers stepped upspending in March.

For last quarter overall, consumer spend-ing did grow at a 3 percent annual rate. Butthat gain was dominated by a 4.4 percent risein spending on services, reflecting in parthigher utility bills during the unusually coldwinter. Economists say warmer weather willlikely encourage people to make purchasesthey had delayed because of snowstorms ear-lier this year.

STRONGVILLE: Workers assemble blender bases at the Vitamix manufacturing facility in Strongsville, Ohio. The Institutefor Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, issued its index of manufacturing activity for April yes-terday. — AP

US applications for joblessbenefits hit 2-month high

Consumer spending surged 0.9%

DUBAI: Du, the UAE’s second-biggest telecoms operator,aims to maintain double-digit revenue growth and pay a half-yearly dividend in 2014, it said yesterday after posting sharplyslower growth in quarterly profits. Chief Executive OsmanSultan was bullish on the company’s prospects despite netprofit growth of 4.5 percent in the first three months of thisyear, the smallest increase since the company first broke evenin 2008, excluding exceptional quarters when changes toUAE tax rates affected results. Profits, however, did beat ana-lysts’ expectations.

“I would like to see double-digit growth for the year inrevenue,” Sultan told a conference call for reporters. Du,which ended Etisalat’s monopoly of the telecoms market inthe United Arab Emirates when it launched in 2007, plans topay a dividend for the first half of 2014 and its board will

decide the amount at a later date, Sultan said.It paid a dividend of 0.22 dirhams per share for the first six

months of last year, its first half-yearly payout. Sultan said duwould target getting more subscribers onto monthly con-tracts to help increase revenue share - these account for near-ly a tenth of its mobile customers and use three times asmany call minutes as pre-paid customers.

But he said du would not fight a price war with Etisalat.“It’s a spiral ... you (should) offer great value to your cus-tomers but not to the detriment of the value created for yourshareholders.” Du made a net profit of 490.3 million dirhams($133.5 million) in the three months to March 31, up from467.9 million dirhams in the year-earlier period, it said in astatement. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a quarter-ly profit of 433 million dirhams.

Du’s quarterly capital expenditure fell by more than two-thirds to 116 million dirhams, boosting its bottom line. Du’sshares fell 1.2 percent after the results. They have risen 15percent in the past year, underperforming a broader indexrally of 138 percent which was driven by property stocks.

First-quarter revenue rose 13 percent to 2.96 billiondirhams, but the company’s share of UAE telecom sectorrevenue has been steady at about 30 percent over the pastyear, flattening out after a stellar first few years of opera-tions. Analysts say a desire to protect shareholder value hasled to little real competition in UAE telecoms, with the fed-eral-run Emirates Investment Authority owning 39.5 percentof du and 60 percent of Etisalat. The government nets divi-dends from the two operators and also levies heavy taxeson the sector. —Reuters

Du aims for double-digit revenue growth in 2014UAE operator bullish despite slower growth

WASHINGTON, DC: Federal Reserve Bank ChairwomanJanet Yellen holds a framed copy of the Senate certificateof her confirmation that she was given as a gift fromIndependent Community Bankers of America Presidentand CEO Camden Fine (left) after she addressed the ICBA’sWashington Policy Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotelyesterday in Washington, DC. — AFP

Yellen says Fed seeks to avoid

undue regulationsWASHINGTON: As the Federal Reserve works to ensure thatthe nation’s largest banks pose no undue threats to the finan-cial system, it will avoid imposing unnecessary rules on smallbanks, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said yesterday. In a speech tocommunity bankers, Yellen said the Fed will consider anyharmful effects that new regulations would have on smallerinstitutions.

“We are taking a fresh look at how we supervise communi-ty banks and possible ways that supervision can be smarter,more nimble and more effective,” the Fed chair said inremarks to a policy conference sponsored by theIndependent Community Bankers of America.

Yellen said one area the Fed is examining is how todefuse threats resulting from some big banks’ over-relianceon short-term funding. She said it’s too early to say whetheror how the Fed would address those risks. She noted that fewcommunity banks rely on the types of short-term fundingthat could pose threats. Yellen has indicated that current reg-ulations might not be enough to prevent the types of risk-taking that triggered the 2008 financial crisis. In a speech lastmonth, she said the Fed was considering whether rules needto be strengthened to ensure that non-banks such as moneymarket mutual funds don’t engage in risky activities.

In her comments yesterday, Yellen said conditions atsmaller banks had strengthened in the years since the finan-cial crisis. “Asset quality and capital ratios continue toimprove, and the number of problem banks continues todecline,” Yellen said. “After several years of reduced lendingfollowing the recession, we are starting to see slow butsteady loan growth at community banks.” Yellen said sheviewed the loan growth as an encouraging sign that theeconomy was improving. — AP

B u s i n e s sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

NEW DELHI: Indian farmers harvest a ridge gourd crop to be sold at a market in New Delhi yesterday. Over 70 percent ofIndians depend on agricultural incomes and about 65 percent of India’s farms depend on rains that fall between Juneand September. — AFP

NEW DELHI: India said yesterday it wouldhold trade talks on intellectual propertyrights with the United States after its generalelection, buying time to address friction overdrug patents until a new government isformed. Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kherpraised a decision by the US TradeRepresentative not to label India with itsworst offender tag in an annual scorecard onprotecting US patents, copyrights and otherintellectual property. “It is a very sensibledecision,” Kher, India’s chief trade negotiator,told Reuters, saying India was committed toprotecting copyrights and reining in piracy.“They know very well that India is in transi-tion.” But he defended India’s right to over-rule patents in special cases - a bone of con-tention between the US drugs industry andNew Delhi, which wants its 1.2 billion peopleto have access to affordable medicines. Indiaand the United States set great store by theeconomic potential of bilateral ties, but theirrelationship has been troubled by diplomaticand trade battles.

Their $100 billion annual trade is seen asbelow its potential. Washington says itshould be five times that. In 2012, Indiaissued its first-ever “compulsory license” todomestic drugmaker Natco Pharma Ltd on akidney and liver cancer drug, Nexavar,patented by Germany’s Bayer AG - allowing ageneric version to be made before thepatent expired.

Compulsory licensing is compliant withthe rules of the World Trade Organizationand the deal on Trade Related Aspects ofIntellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Kher said,emphasizing that such licenses would be theexception and not the rule. “That should notbe construed to mean that India would betaking compulsory license as a routine man-ner of importing technology into the coun-try,” Kher told a news conference.

India’s drugmakers welcomed the easingof near-term US pressure: “There is alwaysscope for improvement,” said D.G. Shah, sec-retary general of the Indian PharmaceuticalAlliance. “This can be done through a

process of constructive dialogue, not byholding a gun to the head.” With Indian mar-kets on holiday, there was no price reactionby drugs stocks.

Innovation vs access The United States on Wednesday kept

India on its Priority Watch List along withChina and eight other countries. It said itwould start a special review of India in thefall and address concerns with the next gov-ernment.

Kher said he would meet his US counter-part in June or July, with a bilateral meetingbetween the two governments to follow.Top bureaucrats such as Kher are not politi-

cal appointments and usually remain duringchanges of government. India is in the mid-dle of a five-week general election in whichthe ruling Congress party-led government islikely to suffer a severe defeat at the hands ofthe Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP). Results are due on May 16.

The BJP’s candidate, Narendra Modi, wasshunned by the United States for years aftera deadly spasm of religious violence inGujarat in 2002, early in his term as chiefminister of the state. Washington revokedModi’s US visa in 2005 and only recently sig-nalled he would be welcome to visit if elect-ed. It is not yet known what the BJP’s stancewill be on global trade issues. —Reuters

India invites US to discuss IP rights, market access New Delhi welcomes US trade decision

Lloyds boosts dividend case with higher profit

LONDON: Lloyds Banking Group’s pretax profit jumped 22 per-cent in the first quarter as costs fell and margins improved,strengthening the bank’s plan to pay its first dividend since it wasrescued during the financial crisis. Lloyds, which is 25 percent-owned by the government, said yesterday it made an underlyingprofit of 1.8 billion pounds ($3 billion) in the first quarter, helpedby a 5 percent fall in costs from a year ago to 2.3 billion pounds.

Under Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio, the bank’s finan-cial performance has been turned around and it has slimmeddown to focus on domestic lending and meet tougher regulatoryrequirements on the amount of capital it holds.

“We are supporting and benefiting from the UK economicrecovery and are delivering better underlying profitability as wellas improved returns for shareholders, from a stronger, lower riskbalance sheet,” Horta-Osorio said. The bank, which has cut costsby axing jobs and shutting many of its international businesses,needs permission from the Bank of England to restart dividendsand said it would apply in the second half of the year to do so.

“We will go into those discussions with confidence about thebusiness and about our prospects,” Finance Director GeorgeCulmer told reporters on a conference call. Before the financialcrisis Lloyds had a record of being one of the highest dividendpaying stocks in Britain. It paid out just over half of its profit in2005 and 2006 and the shares yielded between 6.5 and 7 percent.

But the bank has not made a payout since the crisis hit, whenthe taxpayer pumped in 20 billion pounds to keep it afloat. Thatleft Britain with a 41 percent stake, which the government hasstarted selling at a slim profit. Restarting dividends is seen as akey prerequisite for Britain to sell any of its remaining stake toretail investors, possibly later this year, and analysts said it couldhand out to shareholders more than half of its future earnings.

Capital strengthLloyds is building up capital and its core Tier 1 ratio - a key

measure of its financial strength - stood at 10.7 percent at theend of the first quarter. Horta-Osorio said last month he expectsUK regulators to require banks to hold 11 percent. Analysts saythat, when Lloyds reaches that level, it will be in a position to passon more of its future profit to shareholders.

“Capital build-up will be basically over by 2015 and from thereon assuming 4 percent loan growth ... the bank should be in aposition to return about 70 percent back to shareholders everyyear,” said Chirantan Barua, analyst at Sanford Bernstein.

Some analysts had expected Lloyds to pay a dividend for2013, but those hopes were dashed when the bank warned inFebruary it would need to take a further 1.8 billion poundscharge to compensate customers who had been mis-sold loaninsurance. Lloyds has set aside 9.8 billion pounds to deal withclaims over mis-sold payment protection insurance or PPI, morethan any other bank, and Culmer said he could not say for certainit will not have to pay out more. Analysts say further chargescould dent its dividend hopes.

Shares in Lloyds were up 4.6 percent at 0845 GMT, comparedwith a 0.5 percent rise in the European banking sector. Lloydsalso said it was on track to launch the stock market flotation of itsTSB Bank unit in the next eight weeks. It said it will sell a mini-mum of 25 percent and will offer shares to retail investors.Sources have said TSB, which has 631 branches and is expectedto be valued at about 1.5 billion pounds, is likely to float in mid-June. Lloyds was ordered to sell the business by European regula-tors as a cost of taking taxpayer support. —Reuters GENEVA: Russia has accused the European

Union of discriminating against gas andelectricity providers from outside the blocin violation of international rules, the WorldTrade Organization said yesterday. “TheRussian Federation has notified the WTOSecretariat on April 30 of a request for con-sultations with the European Union overmeasures applied by the EU relating to theso-called ‘Third Energy Package’,” theorganization said.

Russian giant Gazprom has previouslychallenged those regulations, which banthe same company from owning bothpipelines and distribution networks-seenas a move to boost competition and easeEurope’s dependence on the state-con-trolled firm. Russia accounts for about aquarter of all EU gas supplies and is thedominant or sole supplier to some mem-bers of the 28-nation bloc, notably ex-com-munist countries. Moscow charges that theEU rules discriminate against third coun-tries involved in the production, supplyand transmission of natural gas, and that

they breach a range of international tradeagreements, the WTO said.

The move comes amid heightened ten-sions over the Ukraine crisis, with Gazpromwarning this week that new sanctions fromthe EU and others against Russia couldleave Europe without crucial gas supplies.Talks were due to take place today inWarsaw between the EU, Russia and Kievover the gas dispute.

Russia has threatened to cut supplies toUkraine over a $3.5-billion (2.5-billion-euro)unpaid gas bill, raising concerns of a repeatof 2009 when supplies to Europe that tran-sit through the former Soviet republic werebadly disrupted. But Russia’s chief WTOnegotiator Maxime Medvedkov insistedWednesday its claim before the body hadnothing to do with the Ukraine crisis. TheEU energy sector regulations “create a seri-ous obstacle to securing a solid supply ofRussian gas to the European Union,” hetold the Interfax news agency, maintainingthat Moscow for years had been attempt-ing to settle the matter bilaterally. —AFP

Russia files WTO case over EU energy rules

NEW DELH: Ford Motor Company Chief Operating OfficerMark Fields delivers his keynote address at the New YorkInternational Auto Show, in New York’s Javits ConventionCenter. Ford says CEO Alan Mulally will retire July 1 and bereplaced by Fields. — AP

B u s i n e s sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

OMAHA, Nebraska: Warren Buffett’s failureto beat the stock market in four of the pastfive years has raised the issue of whetherBerkshire Hathaway’s 83-year-old CEO haslost his touch.

Buffett is likely to face questions aboutthe conglomerate’s performance when morethan 30,000 shareholders gather forBerkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha,Nebraska, today.

It’s not the first time people have won-dered if Buffett is off his game. Criticism ofBuffett reached its peak during the 1990stech bubble because he refused to invest indot-com businesses he didn’t understand.Berkshire’s Class A stock sunk to roughly$56,000 a share. When the tech bubble burst,many of those businesses failed whileBerkshire continued to prosper throughacquisitions and investments. These days,Berkshire’s A stock trades at more than$193,000 a share.

Author and investor Jeff Matthews, whowrote “Warren Buffett’s Successor: Who It Isand Why It Matters,” says criticism of Buffettis a byproduct of where the overall market isbecause Berkshire tends to trail a surgingstock market. The Standard & Poor’s 500index soared 30 percent in 2013 and hasnudged up another 2 percent this year.

“Buffett always looks less exciting wheneveryone else does great,” Matthews says.Many investors focus too much on recenthistory. Critics point out that Berkshirelagged the market in four of the past fiveyears, based on Buffett’s own yardstick. Thatmeasurement, Berkshire’s book value, gained18.2 percent in 2013, lagging S&P 500’s riseof 32.4 percent, including dividends.

But that short-term view obscures thefact that Berkshire Hathaway has only trailedthe S&P 500 10 times since Buffett took overin 1965. And cumulatively, Berkshire hasdelivered compounded annual gains of 19.7percent to the S&P 500’s 9.8 percent.Berkshire is also sitting on at least $48 billionin cash. Buffett has told investors for severalyears that the massive size of Berkshiremakes it impossible for him to match theinvestment gains he delivered decades ago,

but he still believes Berkshire will beat theoverall market. Bill Smead, founder of SmeadCapital Management, says most people havea hard time relating to someone who thinksin terms of decades, and in his last share-holder letter, Buffett emphasized he thinksBerkshire subsidiaries like BNSF railroad andMidAmerican Energy will be thriving a centu-ry from now.

“He is the ultimate long-duration thinker,”says Smead, who recently increased his firm’sBerkshire investment. Smead says he expectsBerkshire will trounce the S&P 500 over thenext five to ten years because so many of itssubsidiaries thrive when the economy isgrowing. “I don’t think people realize what amachine he has created to milk the US econ-omy,” Smead says. Last year, Berkshire’s prof-it grew more than 31 percent to $19.48 bil-lion on revenue of $182.15 billion.

Those figures include $4.3 billion in papergains on investments and derivative con-tracts Berkshire holds, up from $2.2 billion

the previous year. Even without those mostlyunrealized gains, most of Berkshire’s roughly80 subsidiaries are performing well. Berkshiresubsidiaries include BNSF railroad, AcmeBrick, Shaw Carpet and Home Services ofAmerica. Berkshire also holds major invest-ments in American Express, Coca-Cola, andIBM. Andy Kilpatrick, author of “OfPermanent Value: The Story of WarrenBuffett,” says he thinks Berkshire is set up toconsistently beat the S&P 500 by a narrowmargin. “The whole thing is up and runningbetter than it ever has been,” Kilpatrick says.Besides routine items, Berkshire investors willvote on a shareholder proposal that wouldencourage the company to pay a dividend.Berkshire’s board opposes the proposal.Buffett has said he believes that reinvestingBerkshire’s cash is worth more for sharehold-ers than they would receive in a dividend.Since Buffett controls 34 percent of the vot-ing power, it’s difficult for proposals to passwithout his support. — AP

Buffett may face questions about performance today

30,000 shareholders gather for annual meeting

OMAHA: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett applauds during a seminar inOmaha. Buffett’s failure to beat the stock market in four of the past five yearshas inspired debate about whether Berkshire Hathaway’s 83-year-old CEO haslost his touch. — AP

YANGON: Blue-collar workers walk to work in the suburbs of Yangon, Myanmar. Like China, which relied heavily onoverseas Chinese in Hong Kong and elsewhere to finance its own industrial boom, Myanmar has high hopes its Diasporawill help rebuild its economy and lift millions out of poverty. —AP

Weir pursuing M&A opportunities

across all divisionsLONDON: British engineer Weir Group is pursuing a range ofacquisition opportunities across all its divisions, after a $5 billionbid for Finnish rival Metso was rejected last month, the compa-ny’s chief executive said yesterday.

There has been a flurry of deal-making in the past few weeks,including in the industrials sector where GE and Siemens areinvolved in a politically sensitive bid for French engineering com-pany Alstom. “There are some interesting opportunities out thereand in the main I’d have to say that price expectations of sellersare tending to be pretty sensible,” said Keith Cochrane, CEO ofWeir - maker of pumps and valves for the mining, oil and gasindustries.

Weir’s plan for a tie-up with Metso ran into trouble almost assoon as it emerged on April 1. The Finnish state came out instrong opposition of the takeover, which aimed to strengthenthe British company’s minerals division. Weir’s minerals divisionis its biggest in terms of revenue. Its other divisions are oil andgas and power. “I’m relatively relaxed whether it is large or small,provided it hits strategy and the financial returns make sense,”Cochrane said about potential acquisitions. His comments fol-lowed Weir’s first-quarter update, in which the company said itremained on track for a return to growth this year as demand foroil and gas equipment and services outstripped sluggish miningorders in the first quarter. But adverse foreign currency move-ments would impact results this year, the company said, with astronger pound already knocking around 50 million pounds offfirst quarter revenue.

Shares in Weir were down 3 percent in morning trade, losingsome of the momentum gained from an around 25 percent shareprice rise over the year so far on the back of a stronger outlookfor its oil and gas equipment market and the potential for deal-making in the sector. Total orders were 7 percent higher than thesame period last year. Orders for new equipment in the quarterfell 2 percent but were offset by aftermarket (repair and mainte-nance) orders rising 13 percent compared to the first quarter2013. Weir’s oil and gas division, which has a strong position inUS shale, enjoyed its strongest quarter since the end of 2011 withorder input up 33 percent on last year. Mining orders by contrastcontinued to struggle, down 7 percent on last year, with originalequipment orders falling as much as 27 percent. — Reuters

British regulator bans former UBS trader

over Adoboli lossesLONDON: Britain’s financial regulator has banned a formersenior UBS trader for failing to adequately supervise his juniorcolleague Kweku Adoboli, the “rogue trader” jailed in 2012 forrunning up $2.3 billion in unauthorized trading losses.Announcing its first ban from regulated financial jobs for sucha failure, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said yesterdayJohn Hughes had been aware of Adoboli’s actions but hadfailed to challenge, report him or act as a role model with “cat-astrophic consequences”.

“Instead he ... allowed the desk’s profit and loss to be mis-stated over an extended period,” FCA enforcement and finan-cial crime division head Tracey McDermott said.

“This failure contributed to Adoboli’s unauthorized tradingcontinuing unchecked. Approved people should operate tothe highest standards of integrity.” Between January andSeptember 2011, Hughes was the most senior person onUBS’s Exchange Traded Funds desk at the London branch ofUBS - a period during which Adoboli ran up such hefty tradinglosses that they that risked undermining the Swiss bank.Adoboli was sentenced to seven years in jail in November2012 after being found guilty of two counts of fraud by abuseof position.

Hughes - who was dismissed for gross misconduct weeksafter Adoboli’s arrest - wept in court in October 2012 afterreading an email in which his former colleague admitted tothe trades. Part of the unauthorized trading involved creatingand using a secret fund, dubbed the “Umbrella”, which hadthe effect of manipulating the desk’s reported profit and loss.

The FCA said Hughes knew about the existence of theUmbrella, how it was being used, did not consider it to be hon-est and knew UBS would not have authorized its use. “Hughes’conduct in relation to the Umbrella was dishonest and demon-strates that he is not a fit and proper person to perform func-tions in relation to any regulated activity carried on by anauthorized or exempt person,” the FCA said. — Reuters

41S p o r t sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

ANAHEIM: CJ Wilson pitched two-hit ball overeight innings, Hank Conger hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Zach McAllister, and the LosAngeles Angels beat Cleveland 7-1 Wednesdayto send the Indians to their sixth straight loss.Wilson (4-2) struck out eight, walked one andretired his last 18 batters after a leadoff doublein the third by No 9 hitter Elliot Johnson.McAllister (3-2) threw 101 pitches over 4 1-3innings and was charged with five runs, four hitsand four walks.

ATHLETICS 12, RANGERS 1Jesse Chavez allowed one hit in seven score-

less innings, Eric Sogard matched his seasontotal with three RBIs and the Athletics complet-ed a three-game sweep with a rout of the sloppyRangers. Yoenis Cespedes had two doubles,scored twice and drove in two runs for the A’s,who scored 10 runs combined in the third andfourth innings to answer a three-game sweep bythe Rangers in Oakland last week. The Rangersmatched a season high with four errors, includ-ing one of two by shortstop Elvis Andrus onwhat could have been an inning-ending doubleplay in Oakland’s seven-run third. Chavez (2-0)walked one and struck out eight, allowing onlyPrince Fielder’s soft line-drive single to right-center field in the first inning. Robbie Ross (1-2)gave up 11 hits and 10 runs in 3 1-3 innings.

ROYALS 4, BLUE JAYS 2Alcides Escobar delivered a two-run double

in the seventh inning, and the Kansas City Royalsheld on for a tense victory over the Toronto BlueJays. Eric Hosmer drove in the other two runsfor the Royals, whose bullpen blew a 2-0 lead foryoung starter Yordano Ventura before holdingon to beat Toronto with a late rally for the sec-ond straight night. Kelvin Herrera (1-1) strandedrunners on second and third in the seventh.Drew Hutchison (1-2) allowed all four runs onfive hits in seven innings for Toronto.

INTERLEAGUEDODGERS 6, TWINS 4

Zack Greinke pitched six strong innings, JuanUribe had two RBIs and the Dodgers earnedtheir 10,000th win in franchise history, beatingthe Twins. Greinke (5-0) struck out six and didn’tallow an earned run through drizzling rain andtemperatures that dipped into the 30s. With thebases loaded and the Twins trailing 5-1 in theseventh, reliever Chris Withrow got TrevorPlouffe to pop out to shortstop on a 3-0 pitch toend the threat. The Dodgers join the Giants,Cubs and Braves as the only franchises to win10,000 games. Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethierand Yasiel Puig each added two hits and an RBI.Kyle Gibson (3-2) allowed five runs in 6 2-3innings.

WASHINGTON 7, HOUSTON 0Anthony Rendon finished a triple shy of the

cycle and had four hits, Jordan Zimmermannpitched smoothly into the seventh inning andthe Nationals beat the Astros. Rendon connect-ed for a two-run double in a four-run fourth andadded a solo home run in the sixth. The Houstonnative added a double in the first and a single inthe third but flew out to left in the eighth.Zimmermann (2-1) scattered seven hits in 6 1-3innings. He struck out seven to earn his 45th winwith the Nationals, making him club’s ningestpitcher since the Montreal Expos moved toWashington in 2005. Denard Span and KevinFrandsen each had two hits and Danny Espinosaalso had two hits, including a solo home run inthe fifth that chased Brett Oberholtzer (0-5).—AP

Angels beatIndians

7-1, extendskid to 6

ST LOUIS: After failing to hold three-run leads intwo straight games, Allen Craig and the St. LouisCardinals put their series final against Milwaukeeout of reach. Craig homered on a four-hit day thatincluded three RBIs, and Matt Adams hit a three-run homer as the Cardinals beat the Brewers 9-3Wednesday. “It’s nice to see some big productionthat we know is going to come from certain guys”said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, who slepton his office couch after an 11-inning loss Tuesdaynight. Jon Jay had three hits and a walk his firstfour trips to the plate.

The Cardinals avoided a three-game sweepagainst the team with the best record in the majorleagues. “I’ve been feeling pretty good at the platefor a little while now, hitting some balls hard,” Craigsaid. “Frustration’s part of it. Things are going toturn around.” Shelby Miller (3-2) worked aroundhomers to Mark Reynolds and Carlos Gomez, allow-ing three runs and six hits in six-plus innings. “Kindof little rough early on,” Miller said. “It’s always niceto have a lot of runs scored for you, but at the sametime, you’ve got to act like it’s a close game no mat-ter what.” Milwaukee is 20-8, a franchise record forwins through the season’s first full first month.

Matt Garza (1-3) joined the lengthy list ofinjured Brewers when he was removed in thefourth inning because of a bruised right thumbfrom getting jammed on an at-bat to end the third.He said there was no doubt he’d be ready for hisnext start. “I’m going to make sure I’m OK by then,”Garza said. “I’m not here to skip a start, I’m pre-pared to pitch. I want to get right back out there.’”Ryan Braun (oblique) and Jean Segura (cut onhead) didn’t start during the series, and AramisRamirez (elbow) was out the last two games forMilwaukee, which batted light-swinging Scooter

Gennett third. Segura and Ramirez are expectedto return for the start of a four-game series atCincinnati, though Braun remains day to day.Manager Ron Roenicke said Braun will not startThursday and added, “In a couple days, he needs tobe ready to go.” Segura played the eighth at short-stop and doubled in the ninth. It was 50 degrees atgame time. The sun popped out of the clouds afew times, each time getting a big cheer. MattHolliday’s RBI single put the Cardinals in front in the

first, Reynolds hit a two-run shot in the second andAdams answered in the third with his second of theseason, estimated at 439 feet, for a 4-3 lead.

Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 4Miguel Montero took two mighty swings, trying

to end the game on both. He failed, so for the third,he shortened up, trying to protect the plate. Thatball ended up going out and, boy, did the ArizonaDiamondbacks need it. Montero hit a leadoffhomer in the 10th inning after Martin Prado hit atwo-run single in the ninth, helping theDiamondbacks end a four-game losing streak witha 5-4 win over the Colorado Rockies Wednesdaynight. “I was swinging hard, trying to launch one,”Montero said of his first two swings. “It’s a prettyfunny game. It was the last pitch I was thinkingabout in that count and it was a short swing, I waskind of quick on it. That protect swing was prettygood.” And a good thing for the Diamondbacks.Stuck in a rut, Arizona appeared to be in troubleafter Colorado went up 4-0 after three innings onCarlos Gonzalez’s two-run homer and pitcherJordan Lyles’ leadoff shot in the third. It took sometime, but the Diamondbacks worked their wayback into it. After struggling early, Josh Collmenterquieted the Rockies’ bats over his final four inningsand Trevor Cahill did the same while getting sixouts. Paul Goldscmidt gave Arizona’s offense a littlelife in the eighth inning, hitting a solo homer offAdam Ottavino.

In the ninth, the Diamondbacks strung togethera string of two-strike hits to load the bases againstRex Brothers, and Prado tied it at 4 with a two-runsingle up the middle. Addison Reed (1-2) kept theRockies in check by stranding a runner at third inthe 10th inning and Montero, after a couple ofmisses, ended it with his first career walkoff hit, atowering homer to right off Tommy Kahnle (2-1).Montero was mobbed as he crossed the plate andwas treated to a dirt bath - an Arizona walkoff tradi-tion - that was a nice release for a team that hadwon two of its first 13 games at Chase Field. “Weneeded that,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. “Itwas good that the guys hung in there.”

The Rockies certainly didn’t want to end theirsix-game road trip this way. Colorado won four of

the first give games and appeared to be in controlafter Lyles pitched six effective innings. But theRockies lost the lead after Brothers struggled to putaway hitters and the game when Montero hit a 1-2fastball over the wall. Nolan Arenado extended hismajors-best hitting streak to 20 games with a singlein the sixth inning for Colorado, which had threehits after the third inning. “We had the game incontrol it looked like for most of the game, so it wasa tough one to lose,” Rockies manager Walt Weisssaid. “It is always tough when you don’t put gamesaway.” The Rockies beat up on Arizona’s pitchingthe first two games of the series, with 13 runs and23 hits, including 12 for extra bases.

Cubs 9 Reds 4Nate Schierholtz drove in three runs and

Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer, rallying theChicago Cubs over the Cincinnati Reds 9-4Wednesday night. Starlin Castro went 3 for 4 withtwo doubles for the Cubs, who have won two ofthree following a four-game losing streak. BrayanPena hit a solo homer for the Reds, who have lostfour of five. Edwin Jackson (2-2) beat Cincinnati forthe second time this year, allowing four runs andfive hits in 5 2-3 innings. Brian Schlitter, WesleyWright, Neil Ramirez and Hector Rondon combinedfor two hit relief. With the score 3-3 in the fifth, theCubs loaded the bases with no outs against relieverNick Christiani (0-1). Mike Olt hit into an RBI force-out, and Schierholtz followed with a sacrifice fly.

Schierholtz added a two-run single off SeanMarshall against a drawn-in infield in a four-runninth. Chicago needed just three batters to take a2-0 lead in the first on Emilio Bonifacio’s leadoff sin-gle and Rizzo’s 426-foot, opposite-field homer toleft-center. Todd Frazier tied the score with a two-out, two-run double in the half. Pena, signed by theReds as a free agent in November, gave the Reds a3-2 lead when he homered leading off the second -his first home run since Aug 11. His previous NLhomer was for Atlanta against the Marlins on April13, 2007. Castro’s single tied the score in the third.Cincinnati starter Tony Cingrani gave up three runsand six hits in four innings. Brandon Phillips had anRBI single in the fifth, his eighth hit in his last 46 atbats (.174).—Agencies

PHOENIX: Miguel Montero #26 of the Arizona Diamondbacks is surrounded by teammates after hitting a walk off solo home-run againstthe Colorado Rockies in the MLB game at Chase Field on April 30, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona. —AFP

Cards thump Brewers 9-3

42S p o r t sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2013

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

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA: Marc Marquez eyes a fourth win infour races this season in Spain on Sunday but faces a Yamahachallenge from Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo who haveeight elite class MotoGP wins between them at Jerez. Worldchampion Marquez, lining up for his 100th race in all cate-gories, has swept all three grands prix so far at Qatar, theUnited States and Argentina.

Last weekend in Argentina, Marquez finished just ahead ofHonda teammate Dani Pedrosa with Lorenzo, who led therace in the early stages, eventually finishing almost four sec-onds off the pace in third. Rossi was close to five secondsbehind the world champion. But despite Honda’s dominationof the 2014 campaign, Marquez isn’t getting carried away byhis chances of a fourth successive season triumph at a circuitwhere he has yet to win. Nine-time world champion Rossi, incontrast, has six wins in the MotoGP class at Jerez withYamaha teammate Lorenzo, two. Furthermore, Pedrosa wonin 2013 as well as 2008.

“In Jerez, I know Dani and Jorge are very strong,” admittedMarquez, who was second last year after clashing withLorenzo in the early stages. “The crowd and atmosphere isvery special and it gives you special motivation to perform atyour maximum level.” Rossi was fourth in Jerez in 2013 butstands at third in this season’s world title race, albeit 34 pointsbehind Marquez. “Jerez is one of the most special and impor-tant Grand Prix weekends of the season, the track is fantasticand there will be a lot of fans so the target is to improve andmake the podium,” said the Italian.

“We have to work a lot, the bike is good but we have someweak points which we have to improve to go faster so we canfight with the Hondas.” Lorenzo, who will be racing in his200th grand prix on Sunday, is down in seventh spot in theworld championship on 22 points, 53 off the lead having seenlast week’s third place finish in Argentina come as a welcomeboost after his hopes in Austin had been shattered by a jump-start. The 2010 and 2012 world champion admitted inArgentina that the Hondas were comfortably the early-seasonpowerhouses with Yamaha struggling to match the pace andperformance of their fellow Japanese factory team.

“We come back to Europe and I’m so excited to race athome, in Jerez, in front of the Spanish crowd, especially afterI’ve got my first podium of 2014 now,” said Lorenzo who willbe 27 on Sunday. “The taste of that podium was really greatand sweet after two difficult races. “The track is always amaz-ing not only because of the layout but also the atmosphere;that is so magical. Obviously this race is going to be toughbecause both Honda riders are in a very good shape as wesaw from Qatar, although Jerez is normally good for Yamaha itis also a special place for Honda. “I think I have to improve myphysical condition a little and also we need to improve as bestas possible our bike and be patient and wait for our momentthat for sure will come.”—AFP

Marquez braced for Yamaha Spanish surge

IMOLA: Thousands of Formula Onefans gathered for a commemorationyesterday at the Imola circuit - 20 yearsto the day after Brazilian championAyrton Senna was killed here in thesport’s darkest day. Dozens of enthusi-asts drove their own cars around theEnzo and Dino Ferrari circuit to markthe tragic anniversary of the 1994 SanMarino Grand Prix. Ferrari driversFernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonenwere due to attend a ceremony laterfor the man seen as one of the greatestdrivers of all time. “Our hearts sankwhen they told us the news,” saidMarco, a 31-year-old Italian FormulaOne fan who was at Imola as a youngboy on the day of the crash. Marcowore the same type of helmet thatSenna had on that day and was takinghis car around the circuit. Daniela, 39,from Belo Horizonte in Brazil said:“What moves me about Senna was hishumility, his enormous charisma. He isin our hearts like family”.

Another Brazilian fan, 57-year-oldRenato said: “His will to win was what Iliked about Ayrton. “He proved that aBrazilian could be internationallyknown and that was a great encour-agement for us.” Marco, 34, who worea chequered flag around his shoulders,said simply: “He was the best driverever”. A Catholic priest led a memorialservice on Wednesday at theTamburello corner where the tripleworld champion’s Williams careered offinto a concrete barrier on lap seven at190mph (307km/h). He was airlifted toBologna hospital but was pronounceddead at 18:40 local time on that ill-fat-ed Sunday.

The ceremony comes after a weekof commemorative events held tomark the tragic accident, which ush-

ered in a raft of changes to improve F1safety. Football club Corinthians fromSao Paulo, the city where three millionpeople turned out for Senna’s funeral,paid tribute to their local hero by wear-ing crash helmets with the Brazilianflag colors before kick-off in a matchagainst Nacional-AM on Wednesday.The Senna anniversary is made all themore poignant as another great F1driver, seven-time champion MichaelSchumacher, continues his fight for lifeafter the German’s skiing accident onDecember 29. Ironically, it wasSchumacher who went on to win theImola race 20 years ago.

Incredible legendSenna’s death, 24 hours after

Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenbergerwas killed and two days after his fellowBrazilian Rubens Barrichello was

injured, was F1’s blackest weekend.And all this week emotional tributeshave been paid to the 1988, 1990 and1991 champion. “He was an incrediblelegend,” said 2008 champion LewisHamilton. “You like to think that oneday you may be recognized as some-one that was able to drive similarly tohim,” added the Mercedes driver.

“On my schoolbooks I didn’t havepictures of girls, obviously I was tooyoung but I had Ayrton there and thesame in my room,” said 2005/06 champi-on Alonso. Senna’s sister Viviane, toldAFP this week that her brother’s legacy isalive and well through the Ayrton SennaInstitute which she chairs. She recalls aconversation she had with him weeksbefore his death when he told her howhe wanted to contribute to a betterfuture for Brazil by helping to open upopportunities for children.—AFP

IMOLA: Formula One Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen (center) pays tribute toBrazilian’s F1 driver Ayrton Senna during a ceremony to commemorate the20th anniversary of his death yesterday in Imola. — AFP

F1 fans commemorateSenna’s death at Imola

43S p o r t sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

SYDNEY: IOC vice-president John Coatesyesterday backtracked on his scathing criti-cism of Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic prepara-tions, insisting the city could deliver “excel-lent” Games as he moved to defuse tensions.“Following my statements about the upcom-ing Games in Rio I want to underline that Istil l believe that the Rio OrganizingCommittee and the people of Brazil canindeed deliver an excellent Games in 2016,”he said in a statement.

His toned-down comments came twodays after he criticized the preparations as“the worst that I’ve experienced” in 40 yearsof being involved with the Olympics, remarksthat attracted worldwide attention andsparked a swift rebuttal from Rio. Coates saidsince his initial criticism he had been in con-tact with IOC executive director Gilbert Felli,a senior troubleshooter sent to the host citylast week to help tackle the constructiondelays and soaring costs that have causedconcern.

“He has provided me with a positiveupdate of progress and the support and pos-itive response he is receiving from the organ-izing committee. Time is of the essence butthings are moving in the right direction,” hesaid. “Rio 2016 is addressing the specific con-cerns of the 17 international federations thatwere raised with the organizers at a meetingin Turkey in April regarding their venues andthe progress overall.” He added that Rio may-

or Eduardo Paes, the Brazilian governmentand the Local Organizing Committee all hadthe IOC’s full support in the race to host asuccessful first Olympics in South America.“As I said, there is no plan B. We have tomake this happen by working together overthe next two years,” said Coates.

‘Critical concern’ The Australian, who has made six visits to

Rio as a member of the IOC CoordinationCommission overseeing the Games, onTuesday painted a dire picture of theprogress being made, which he said was of“critical concern”. He told a forum in Sydneythat the IOC had been forced to take“unprecedented” action, embedding expertsin Rio’s organizing committee to ensure thesporting spectacle proceeds. “The IOC hasformed a special taskforce to try and speedup preparations but the situation is criticalon the ground,” he said, adding it was “theworst I have experienced”. His commentsforced the Games organizers to issue a state-ment that they would deliver their “historicmission” with IOC support.

“We have a historic mission: to organizethe first Olympic and Paralympic Games inBrazil and in South America. We are goingto achieve this,” the local organizing com-mittee said. “In 2016, Rio will host excellentGames that will be delivered absolutelywithin the agreed timelines and budgets.”

Despite this, worrying signs remain. Workat the Olympic site in Rio’s Deodoro districtwas due to start last year but was nowexpected to start in September. And arecent strike by workers at the Barra daTijuca district in western Rio, which willhost a slew of events, also caused delays.

Beyond construction issues, the citymust also work on cleansing sewage-conta-minated water in Guanabara Bay, which isslated to host sail ing and windsurfing

vents. A further embarrassment for Rio hasbeen the closure of the Engenhao stadium,built just seven years ago and set to hostathletics but which has structural problemswith its roof. There, also, repairs are run-ning behind schedule. Coates’ initial criti-cisms echoed those leveled at Brazil byFIFA over the World Cup, which is due tostart in June. With barely six weeks to go,work still has to be completed at four stadi-ums.—AFP

IOC official Coates backtracks on Rio attack

RIO DE JANEIRO: View of a mural depicting the final match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup,Brazil vs Uruguay, in Rio de Janeiro. — AFP

LAS VEGAS: Floyd Mayweather returns tothe ring for the first time since his demoli-tion of Canelo Alvarez seven months agolooking to add another welterweight beltto his list of titles. The 37-year-old undefeat-ed American will defend his World BoxingCouncil 147-pound crown tomorrowagainst the World Boxing Associationchamp Marcos Maidana in a unificationbout at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.

Pound-for-pound king Mayweather saidWednesday that the key to dethroning thepower-punching Maidana is to use his ringsmarts to avoid getting hit by theArgentinian’s knockout blow. “It takes morethan just power to beat me,” Mayweathertold a news conference at the HollywoodTheatre inside the MGM Grand onWednesday. “You got to dig deep and bementally strong, not just physically strong.“You have never seen me on the canvasand I have been hit by some of the biggestpunches.”

Tomorrow’s fight at the Grand Gardenarena will unify Mayweather and Maidana’s147-pound (67 kg) titles. It is also the thirdof the 30-month, six-fight deal worth $200million-plus that Mayweather signed withShowtime. In his last fight, Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) became the unified super welter-weight world champ by dominatingMexico’s Alvarez on September 14, 2013.Asked if he expects a fight similar to his2012 decision over the hard-hitting MiguelCotto, Mayweather said he doesn’t knowuntil he feels Maidana’s punches in the ring.

“I am looking to win,” Mayweather said.“He is going to come straight ahead. Eventhough he has an 80 percent knockoutratio I can’t say if his punches will be harderthan Cotto.”The 30-year-old Maidana (35-3,31 KOs) will be making the first defense of

his belt. Maidana used the news conferenceto try and dispel the belief that he is justanother one of Mayweather’s handpickedopponents designed to pad the American’s18-year-long undefeated record.”I trainedharder for this fight than I ever trainedbefore,” said Maidana, speaking in Spanish.“I earned this opportunity for myself.”

His language got more colorful as heboasted he would be the first to beatMayweather, energizing the news confer-ence as he declared: “Me vale madre! (Idon’t give a shit!)” Mayweather’s focus onthe fight hasn’t stopped him from noticingthe drama erupting around the Los AngelesClippers and owner Donald Sterling, whowas banned for life by the NBA after racist

comments Sterling made to his girlfriendwere made public. Mayweather says he’sinterested in joining the long list of suitorsseeking to buy the Clippers if Sterling isindeed forced to sell.

Mayweather told the Las VegasReview-Journal that he would only do it ifhe gets a sizeable share in a consortium, “Ican’t come in here talking aboutMayweather only going to get three per-cent or four percent.” Mayweather says heoften accepts invitations from Sterling toattend Clipper games and sits next to theowner. He says he has never seen the sideof Sterling that was featured in the audiotape, telling his girlfriend “don’t bringblacks” to his games. —AFP

SINGAPORE: Thailand’s Panuphol ‘coconut’ Pittayarat tookadvantage of a soft and short Laguna National course to firea nine-under-par 63 to lead The Championship by one shotafter yesterday’s first round. Heavy rain and a lightningthreat delayed the start of play at the European and AsianTour event, with preferred lies employed meaning theworld number 451’s bogey-free round would not count as anew course record. It was of little concern to the 21-year-old, given the nickname coconut by his father who is alsohis caddie, after a sparkling performance featuring only 22putts. “I was very happy with how I played. I didn’t see itcoming,” Panuphol told reporters before explaining hisfruity name. “Its common to have nicknames back home inThailand. I have got a brother nicknamed ‘tamarind’ and asister named ‘lemon’.”

Panuphol missed the cut in each of his three events onthe Asian Tour this year but he went bananas with birdieson Thursday to lead Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, AmericanDavid Lipsky and South Korea’s Kim Byung-jun by one. The$1.5 million event was due to be hosted in the homeland ofKim, the joint worst ranked player in the field at 1,529 in theworld, but the European and Asian Tour announced theswitch of venues to Singapore last month after “stagingissues”. Singaporean Quincy Quek, playing the course thewrong way around, finished with two birdies to join thegroup at eight-under as a number of Asian Tour playersmade a strong start to the event lacking Europe’s elite.

Another Thai, Arnond Vongvanij, known as ‘bank’because he was born the night after his mother took herexams for her Masters degree in financial banking, brieflythreatened golf’s golden number of 59 before settling fora 65. Arnond opened his round with four birdies as hereached the turn in 30. He added further birdies to reacheight-under after 11 holes only for a double-bogey five athis penultimate hole dumped him down into a share ofseventh under fading light. Asian Tour Order of Meritleader Anirban Lahiri of India was tied 16th after a 67,while defending champion Brett Rumford was well downthe field after carding a two-under 70. A score matchedby last week’s China Open winner Alexander Levy ofFrance. — Reuters

Fruity feel as Thaicoconut picks

Championship lead

Floyd Mayweather plans to neutralize Maidana’s power

LAS VEGAS: WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (left) and WBAchampion Marcos Maidana pose during a news conference at the MGM GrandHotel/Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. — AFP

44S p o r t sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

Kings cap historic comebackLOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Kingscapped a historic comeback by beatingthe San Jose Sharks 5-1 to reach the sec-ond round of the NHL playoffs in one ofthree games sevens on Wednesday.Goaltender Jonathan Quick made 39saves for the Kings who joined a selectgroup by becoming just the fourth teamin league history to rally from 3-0 seriesdeficit to win in seven. Daniel Carcilloand Benoit Pouliot scored second-periodgoals as the New York Rangers defeatedthe Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 to win theirfirst round series.

Nino Niederreiter scored twice, includ-ing the series clincher in overtime, as theMinnesota Wild defeated Colorado 5-4 toedge the Avalanche four games to three.The Kings joined the 1942 Toronto MapleLeafs, the 1975 New York Islanders andthe 2010 Flyers as the only teams tocomplete the shocking comebacks .Quick, a former Conn Smythe winner asthe most valuable player of the playoffs,showed why he is the Kings’ best player.Quick was on his game Wednesday aftergett ing of f to a s low start in theseries.Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, TylerTof fo l i , Dust in Brown and TannerPearson all scored for the Kings, whoadvanced to take on the cross-town rivalAnaheim Ducks. Game one is set forSaturday.

Matt Irwin scored the only goal of thegame for the Sharks, who lost a gameseven for a second year in a row to theKings. The Sharks led 1-0 on Wednesdaybefore the Kings scored five unansweredgoals. San Jose also went zero-for-six onthe powerplay. Antti Niemi was back innet for the Sharks after getting pulled ingames four and five and being benched

for game six. In Denver, Dany Heatleybegan the play that led to Niederreiter’sclincher with a long lead pass from hisown defensive zone up to Wild team-mate Kyle Brodziak. Brodziak got it overto Niederreiter for a two-on-one break

and the Swiss national team memberr ipped a shot past goal ie SemyonVarlamov with just over five minutesgone in the extra session.

Mikko Koivu and Jared Spurgeon alsoscored for the Wild who next face thedefending Stanley Cup championChicago Blackhawks . I lya Bryzgalovpicked up the win after stopping thelone shot he faced through 13:15 ofaction. He subbed for Darcy Kuemper,who left the contest late in the third peri-od for an undisclosed reason after allow-ing four goals on 21 shots . Rangersgoalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 of 27shots as the New York took their recordin decis ive game sevens at MadisonSquare Garden to 6-0. The Rangers willface the Pittsburgh Penguins in the sec-ond round. The final second round seriesis an Original Six matchup between theBoston Bruins and the MontrealCanadiens.

WILD 5, AVALANCHE 4Nino Niederreiter scored his second

goal of the game at 5:02 of overtime andIlya Bryzgalov made a big save filling infor an injured Darcy Kuemper, leadingMinnesota to the victory in Game 7.

It’s the first playoff series win for theWild since 2003. Minnesota trailed 4-3before Jared Spurgeon scored on a niftyplay with 2 :27 lef t in regulat ion.Spurgeon waited for a clear look at thegoal , and then shot i t over SemyonVarlamov’s shoulder and off the left post.Mikko Koivu and Dany Heatley had theother goals for the Wild, who will facethe defending Stanley Cup champion

Blackhawks in the second round. NickHolden, Jamie McGinn, Paul Stastny andErik Johnson scored for the Avalanche.Patrick Roy’s first season on the benchfor the Avalanche ended the same wayhis Hall of Fame goaltending career did -with a loss to the Wild in Game 7. Roysurrendered the winning overtime goalin 2003.

RANGERS 2, FLYERS 1Daniel Carci l lo and Benoit Pouliot

scored second-period goals as the NewYork Rangers advanced to the secondround of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers inGame 7 on Wednesday. The Rangersshook off a 5-2 thrashing in Philadelphiaon Tuesday and knocked out the Flyersabout 24 hours later, improving to 6-0 inGame 7s at Madison Square Garden. NewYork wi l l face another Metropol i tanDivision rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins, inthe next round starting today. HenrikLundqvist made 26 saves, allowing only athird-period goal to Jason Akeson 4:32into the final frame. He protected theone-goal lead at 7:25 when he made anawkward save against Flyers captainClaude Giroux.

The Rangers mobbed Lundqvist afterthe final buzzer, while the Flyers con-soled their goalie Steve Mason. Mason,who didn’t start until Game 4 because ofinjury, was sharp in stopping 31 shots,but he couldn’t will his club to a com-plete comeback after the Flyers fell into a3-2 series hole. The Flyers dropped to 9-7in Game 7 after winning their previousthree.—Agencies

CALIFORNIA: San Jose Sharks’ Brad Stuart (7) battles for the puck against Los Angeles Kings’ Tanner Pearson (70) during the first peri-ods of Game 7 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series on Wednesday. — AP

DENVER: Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Moulson (26) hangs his head as members of theColorado Avalanche celebrate a Paul Stastny goal during Game 7 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series on Wednesday. —AP

45S p o r t sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

SAN ANTONIO: Dwight Howard scored22 points and pulled down 18 reboundson Wednesday as the Houston Rocketsstayed alive in the NBA playoffs with a108-98 victory over Portland. Houstoncame into the contest trailing 3-1 in thetight series, in which three of the firstfour games went to overtime.Wednesday’s game was also close, butHouston closed it out with an 8-0 scor-ing run to narrow the gap in the seriesto 3-2. The Blazers will try again to closeit out when they host game six onFriday. “We’ve been good at home allyear, so now, go back home and takecare of business,” Portland’s LaMarcusAldridge said. Rockets star JamesHarden endured another tough shoot-ing night, but came through with somekey baskets down the stretch. Hardenmissed nine of his first 12 shots, butscored eight of his 17 points in the finalfour minutes.

Jeremy Lin chipped in 21 points andChandler Parsons added 20 for theRockets, who out-scored Portland in thepaint by a 60-40 margin. WesleyMatthews scored a game-high 27points, and Damian Lillard added 26with eight rebounds and seven assistsfor the Trail Blazers, whose reservescontributed only five points. Aldridge,who came in averaging over 35 pointsper game in the series, finished withjust eight on 3-of-12 shooting.”Theymade plays,” Aldridge said. “We hadopportunities to make shots. We didn’t

make certain shots that we needed. Wedidn’t get the big stops down thestretch.” The winners of the series willface either the San Antonio Spurs orDallas Mavericks in the second round.The Spurs pushed the Mavericks to thebrink of elimination with a 109-103 vic-tory in San Antonio on Wednesday.

The victory gave the Spurs a 3-2 leadin a series in which they had trailed 1-2.The Spurs will try to seal the victory ingame six on Friday in Dallas. Pointguard Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23points, despite playing on a sprainedleft ankle that had his participation indoubt until Wednesday. Parker wasalso a little short of sleep. He’d been upmost of the night awaiting the birth ofhis first child, a son who was welcomedby Parker and his fiancee earlyWednesday morning. Tiago Splitter andTim Duncan contributed double-dou-bles for San Antonio, Splitter recording17 points and 12 rebounds and Duncanposting 16 points with 12 rebounds.

The Spurs never trailed in the con-test, although the Mavericks kept themin their sights. Vince Carter, whosebuzzer-beater won game three for theMavs, scored a game-high 28 points,connecting on seven of nine three-point attempts. Dirk Nowitzki scored 26points for Dallas, 14 of them in thefourth quarter. The Mavericks’ Germanstar had hit seven of eight shots in thefourth and had an open look to cut theSpurs’ lead to one basket only to miss.

The Spurs promptly got a three-pointerfrom Parker at the other end. “Every runthat we made, they answered back,”Carter said. “It’s tough.”

RAPTORS 115, NETS 113Kyle Lowry scored a career playoff-

high 36 points, including the go-ahead3-pointer after Toronto had blown a 26-point lead, as the Raptors took a 3-2lead in their first-round series. DeMarDeRozan had 23 points, JonasValanciunas scored 16 and GreivisVasquez added 15 for the Raptors, whowould advance to face Miami in thesecond round with a victory in Game 6on Friday in Brooklyn. Joe Johnsonscored 30 points and Mirza Teletovichad 17 for the Nets, who scored 44points in the fourth quarter but losttheir final chance when Andray Blatchefired a pass well over Deron Williams’head into the backcourt for a turnover.Toronto led 94-72 on a 3-pointer byVasquez with 11:23 remaining, butBrooklyn scored 15 of the next 18points, including a four-point play byAlan Anderson, to make it 97-87 with7:15 remaining. Johnson later convert-ed a three-point play, then made a 3 totie it at 101 with 3:16 left. Two freethrows by Blatche and a 3 by Teletovictied it at 106 with 1:23 left, but Lowrymade a 3, then followed a layup byBlatche with a driving hook shot, put-ting the Raptors up 111-108 with 27seconds remaining.—Agencies

Rockets stay alive; Spurs, Raptors win

TORONTO: Toronto Raptors’ Jonas Valanciunas (left) drives at Brooklyn Nets’ Paul Pierce during the first half of Game 5of the opening-round NBA basketball playoff series in Toronto on Wednesday, April 30, 2014.— AP

LOS ANGELES: Several luminaries from sports and show business,Oprah Winfrey among them, signaled interest on Wednesday in buy-ing the Los Angeles Clippers as the NBA set a first meeting to weighremoving Donald Sterling as owner over racist remarks attributed tohim. A day after Sterling was banned for life from the NationalBasketball Association, two of the league’s 29 other team owners,including the governing board’s chairman, said they expected toreach the three-fourths majority vote needed to expel Sterling fully,a move unprecedented in NBA history. The advisory finance commit-tee of the board scheduled a meeting on Thursday to review thenext steps for forcing a sale of the Clippers, as urged on Tuesday byNBA Commissioner Adam Silver, a league spokeswoman said.Sterling, who bought the Clippers in 1981 for $13 million when theteam was based in San Diego, has not indicated whether he wouldrelinquish ownership without a fight. Experts have estimated thatthe franchise, which moved to Los Angeles in 1984, could now beworth as much as $800 million. Moreover, some experts saidSterling’s fellow owners might be hesitant to support action they feltcould set a precedent jeopardizing their own property rights in thefuture. Still, the move to expel Sterling from the league altogetherfanned speculation about potential buyers. Winfrey’s spokeswoman,Nicole Nichols, said the talk show host turned media mogul was intalks with leading Hollywood executive David Geffen and the chiefexecutive officer of computer technology firm Oracle Corp, LarryEllison, to bid for the team if were to become available.

Geffen, who started two record labels and co-founded theDreamWorks film studio, has expressed interest in the Clippers in thepast but never tendered an offer. Winfrey’s holdings already includestakes in a cable network and a magazine. Geffen, whose net worthhas been estimated by Forbes magazine at $6.2 billion, told sportsnetwork ESPN on Wednesday that he and Ellison would run theteam, while Winfrey would be an investor.

“She thinks it would be a great thing for an important blackAmerican to own (another) franchise,” Geffen was quoted as saying.“The team deserves a better group of owners who want to win. ...Larry would sooner die than fail. I would sooner die than fail. Larry’s asportsman. We’ve talked about this for a long time. Between thethree of us, we have a good shot.” Other names floated as possiblesuitors include former NBA Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin “Magic”Johnson, a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball teamwho once had a stake in the Lakers and has built a media empirecatering to African-American consumers. “If the time is right, mypartners at (investment group) Guggenheim and I will sit down todiscuss it,” he told a financial conference in Beverly Hills onWednesday. “The fans have spoken they want us to own the team,but we’ll just have to wait and see how it works out.” Two of boxing’sbiggest names, world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr and promoterOscar De La Hoya, have also expressed designs on the team sinceTuesday. “What better face than my face,” De La Hoya said on CNN.“I’m stepping up to the plate and I’m letting the world know that I’mobviously interested.”

Potentially lengthy processAlthough Silver said he would seek to force a sale of the Clippers

immediately, the process could take weeks. According to NBAbylaws, Silver must present a written copy of any allegations againstSterling within three days, and Sterling would have five days toanswer. A special hearing of the Board of Governors, consisting of allthe owners, will be held on a date no more than 10 days afterSterling’s reply. Sterling was stripped of his seat on the board as partof the lifetime ban imposed by Silver for the “deeply offensive andharmful” racial views Sterling was said to have expressed in audiorecordings released over the weekend.—Reuters

NBA sets wheelsturning for Clipperssale; Oprah in wings

Oprah Winfrey

46S p o r t sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

LONDON: Chelsea’s Brazilian defender David Luiz (2nd right) goes for an overhead kick during the UEFA Champions Leaguesemi-final second leg football match between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge on April 30, 2014. —AFP

ROME: Juventus are ready to finally celebrate athird successive Serie A crown that has beenpractically in the bag for months when they hostAtalanta on Monday (1900). Despite spiritedopposition from AS Roma, Juve will be crownedchampions for the 30th time if they beat StefanoC o l a n t u o n o ’ s E u r o p a L e a g u e - c h a s i n g s i d e .Antonio Conte’s side could find themselves walk-ing out at the Juventus Stadium against Atalantawith the title already secured if Roma, eightpoints behind with three games to play, fail towin at bottom club Catania on Sunday (1300).Since Juve thumped Roma 3-0 in January thisseason’s scudetto been more of question ofwhen rather than if, despite an astonishing cam-paign from Roma that has seen Rudi Garcia’s sideestablish a club record points total of 85. Theyhave won nine games on the bounce, playing ascintillating style of football that has put thetroubles of the past few years long behind them.

Garcia has already made clear his intention tostay at Roma and build a team that can pose aneven bigger threat to Juventus next season, andhas managed to ruffle some feathers by suggest-ing that teams facing relegation were not tryingas hard against Juve as you might expect of ateam facing the drop. Yesterday’s Milan derby(1845) features two clubs struggling to find anidentity and f ighting for the Europa Leaguescraps, with Inter Milan in fifth on 57 points andalmost sure of a place in Europe and AC Milanlying way back in 10th, six behind their localrivals.

The derby will be Javier Zanetti’s last as anInter player after 19 years at the club, with presi-dent Erick Thohir already lining up backroomrole for the 40-year-old Argentine. “For now heneeds to concentrate on the pitch, and then hewill need to learn English and management. It’snot enough to just about the sport,” said Thohiron Wednesday. The derby is also playing secondfiddle to tomorrow’s Italian Cup Final (1900),w h i c h w i l l s e e t h o u s a n d s o f N a p o l i a n dFiorentina fans descend on the Italian capital tosupport teams looking to a positive end to verydifferent seasons.

Napoli ’s second cup victory in three yearswould be some consolation for Rafael Benitez’sside, who were tipped to challenge for the titlebut are a whopping 24 points behind Juventus.For Vincenzo Montella’s Fiorentina it would be asweet reward after a difficult season battlingwith long-term injuries to strikers Mario Gomezand Giuseppe Rossi. American-born Rossi shouldbe on the bench and could even feature for thefirst time since Jan 5, with the Italy internationalkeen to impress Italy coach Cesare Prandell iahead of the World Cup finals in Brazil.— Reuters

MADRID: Atletico Madrid can crown asuperb week and wrap up what wouldbe a remarkable La Liga title triumph ifthey win at Levante on Sunday andBarcelona and Real Madrid lose at hometo Getafe and Valencia. Diego Simeone’soutperforming Atletico side set up aChampions League final clash againstReal with a 3-1 comeback win at Chelseaon Wednesday, the latest in a series ofbrilliant performances that have trans-formed the club into a genuine force inSpain and Europe.

Victory at Levante (1500 GMT) wouldput Atletico on 91 points with twogames left, while defeat for second-placed Barca against Getafe tomorrow(1400) would leave them stuck on 84and end their bid for a fifth title in sixyears. Barca host Atletico on the finalday of the season. Even if they lost onSunday, Real, third on 82 points andwith a game in hand, could still drawlevel with Atletico if they win their lastthree games and their city rivals losetheir last two. However, Atletico’s supe-rior head-to-head record means theywould seal their first La Liga title since1996. Real host Valencia on Sunday(1900) and play their match in hand atReal Valladolid on Wednesday.

Former Argentina captain Simeone

was a key member of the 1996 team,who also won the King’s Cup that sea-son, and the commitment and intensityhe showed as a player seems to haverubbed off on his current charges. Theyhave maintained their challenge in LaLiga and Europe’s elite club competitiondespite having a relatively thin squadcompared with far richer rivals Barcaand Real and a gruelling calendar. “Theteam has known how to cope when it issuffering the whole way through theseason,” left back Filipe Luis toldSpanish television after the win atStamford Bridge.

“We will try to beat Levante as it isthe next match and the most importantone for the time being,” added theBrazilian. While Atletico and Real werebusy in Europe, Barca, eliminated byAtletico in the Champions League quar-ter-finals, were quietly preparing fortheir game against struggling Getafeand mourning the death of formercoach Tito Vilanova. Vilanova was PepGuardiola’s assistant during four trophy-laden years between 2008 and 2012before stepping up to the top job whenGuardiola, now at Bayern Munich, decid-ed to take a sabbatical year. Diagnosedwith throat cancer, Vilanova steppeddown after one season in charge, when

Barca won La Liga with a record-equalling points haul of 100.

Survival fightVilanova died aged 45 on April 25

and the Barca players, several of whom,including Lionel Messi and CescFabregas, had known him since theirteens, will be desperate to honour hismemory by pushing Atletico all the wayin La Liga. May 1 marks the 25thanniversary of the match in whichGuardiola and Vilanova, both productsof the club’s academy, made their play-ing debuts for Barca under coach JohanCruyff in a friendly against Banyoles.

Madrid-based Getafe, meanwhile, arefighting for their top-flight survival, onespot above the relegation places.Midfielder Angel Lafita is confident theycan get something from the Nou Campif they believe in themselves. “Weshouldn’t turn down any opportunitiesbecause you never know where thepoints that save you can come from,”Lafita told a news conference onWednesday. “It is possible to beatBarcelona but you have to be focusedand believe,” he added. “I was in a simi-lar situation at Real Zaragoza and wewent to the Bernabeu and beat RealMadrid 3-2.”— Reuters

Atletico can seal title if Barca, Real slip up

BERLIN: Bayern Munich president FranzBeckenbauer believes relegation-threatenedHamburg SV could not have wished for a bettertime to be facing the Bavarians than after thisweek’s 4-0 Champions League humiliation athome to Real Madrid. “If Hamburg do not usethis chance to beat a team like Bayern, that is sohurt at the moment, then they truly belong inthe second division,” Beckenbauer said ahead of

tomorrow’s encounter. The Bavarians lost 5-0 on aggregate to the

Spaniards to relinquish their hold on theChampions League trophy at the semi-finalstage as they maintained their disturbing dip inform since winning the Bundesliga title withseven matches to spare. After claiming thedomestic crown in late March, Bayern have wonjust two games out of five in the league and

struggled to edge out a poor Manchester Unitedside in the Champions League quarter-finalsbefore losing both legs to Real Madrid.

But with only two matches remaining,Hamburg are running out of chances to main-tain their proud Bundesliga record as the onlyteam never to have been relegated. A winagainst visitors Bayern would ensure theyremain in the relegation playoff berth ahead of

17th-placed Nuremberg, a point behind, andbottom side Eintracht Braunschweig, who are afurther point adrift.

A Hamburg victory combined with defeatsfor the teams below them tomorrow wouldsecure a playoff spot no matter what happenson the last matchday. Two wins could also seethem overhaul 15th-placed Stuttgart, who arefive points ahead.—Reuters

Hamburg seek salvation against wounded Bayern

Juventus poised toclaim third straight

Serie A title

47S p o r t sFRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014

LONDON: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho wasleft to rue the performance of the club’s owngoalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after theirChampions League semi-final elimination byAtletico Madrid. Belgian international Courtois,21, has been on loan at Atletico from Chelseasince 2011 and he produced a save inWednesday’s second leg at Stamford Bridgethat Mourinho identified as the key moment inthe tie. With Atletico ahead on away goals afterAdrian Lopez had cancelled out FernandoTorres’s 36th-minute opener for Chelsea,Courtois plunged to his left to block a headerfrom home skipper John Terry.

Moments later Diego Costa put Atletico 2-1up from the penalty spot after he had beenfouled by Samuel Eto’o and a late Arda Turaneffort completed a 3-1 victory that set up ashowdown with city rivals Real Madrid in thefinal in Lisbon on May 24. “The difference wasone minute in the second half, where theAtletico goalkeeper makes an impossible savefrom John Terry’s header,” said Mourinho,whose side had drawn 0-0 in last week’s first leg.“Instead of 2-1 for Chelsea, a few seconds later,there is a penalty, which I’m happy people tellme was a penalty, and they scored the 2-1.

“That minute was crucial. After that, they hadcomplete control and we had the feeling thegame was lost. “They had the feeling the gamewas in their hands and after that they were verysolid, very mature, a real team. I knew beforethey were a real team, and I congratulate them.”

Courtois was making his first appearance atStamford Bridge, but Mourinho said that he wasnot frustrated by the knowledge that Chelseahad effectively been denied by one of their ownplayers. “No, no, no,” he said. “He’s the Atleticogoalkeeper, he plays for Atletico, and he did hisjob.” Atletico coach Diego Simeone, meanwhile,was evasive when asked if he would like to keepCourtois at the Vicente Calderon for a fourthseason. “I’m just experiencing this moment, try-ing to relish this moment,” he said. “I’m sure inthe future the directors will decide what’s bestfor this young lad and whether he will stay atthe club or not.”

‘Chelsea will get better’Simeone has worked wonders in his two and

a half years at Atletico, guiding the club from10th place in La Liga to their first European Cupfinal since 1974 and to the brink of a first leaguetitle since 1996. Mourinho, in contrast, is lessthan a year into his second stint at Chelsea andhe said that it would take time for him to pro-duce the same results. Asked for the differencebetween the two teams, he replied: “The differ-ence between one year and three. It’s a big dif-ference. “One year is one year, three years arethree years. I think Atletico are a very, very goodside, very adapted to the ideas of their manager.It looks like every player fits his idea of how toplay.”

Chelsea are currently two points belowPremier League leaders Liverpool with twogames to play, but Mourinho does not believethat it is realistic for his team to aim for trophiesat this stage of their development. “We are real-istic, but at the same time we are optimistic,” hesaid. “When things go in a certain direction,there’s a moment where you dream and youthink things are possible, even if things are notso realistic. “Because we did well in theChampions League and in the Premier League,there was a moment where we felt we could doit.” He added: “Next season will be better thanthis season. That’s our objective, the objective ofeverybody. “Our young players will be better,hopefully we will have a couple of players toimprove our team, and we will try to do betternext season.”— AFP

Mourinho rues Courtois friendly fire

LONDON: Atletico Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (left) catches the ball as he jumps behind Chelsea’s Spanish strikerFernando Torres during the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg football match on April 30, 2014. — AFP

LONDON: Chelsea’s supposed tenderness hasbeen used as a smokescreen by manager JoseMourinho this season, but their ChampionsLeague elimination by Atletico Madrid provedthey remain a work in progress. The claimthat Chelsea are not yet ready to challenge formajor honours has at times provided a con-venient excuse for Mourinho, who is fond ofdepicting his lavishly assembled squad as agroup of eager novices.

Wednesday’s 3-1 semi-final loss revealed

real shortcomings though, and while Chelseawere made to pay for some costly defensiveerrors, Mourinho’s tactical approach was, foronce, not beyond reproach either. ThePortuguese had been lauded, if begrudgingly,after masterminding a counter-attacking 2-0win at Liverpool last Sunday, but againstAtletico Chelsea needed to take the initiative,and they struggled.With the score 1-1 at half-time and Atletico ahead on away goals, theonus was on Chelsea to attack in the second

half, but instead it was the visitors who madethe early running. Mark Schwarzer had to savefrom Arda Turan and Tiago Mendes, andalthough John Terry then forced ThibautCourtois into a fine save at the other end,Diego Costa’s 60th-minute penalty effectivelyended the tie.

“Chelsea needed to score,” said Atleticocoach Diego Simeone. “We knew they’d prob-ably bring on another striker, which allowedus to bring in five midfielders. It left us a lotmore space to control the game.” WhileChelsea possess plenty of talented attackers,they have been schooled almost exclusively inthe art of the counter-attack, and when thecircumstances demanded an onslaught, theyseemed to freeze. “Chelsea aren’t made forplaying football, but for playing on the count-er-attack, like Real Madrid did against BayernMunich,” winger Eden Hazard told Frenchbroadcaster beIN Sports. “It’s pretty much ourtactic that works the best.” Chelsea were alsothe architects of their own downfall indefence, where errors played a part in all threeAtletico goals.

Costa in Chelsea’s sightsThe Spaniards’ equaliser came after Ashley

Cole allowed Juanfran to ghost into spacebehind him before dispatching a volleyedcross that Adrian Lopez converted. Costa wonthe penalty after a clumsy swipe by SamuelEto’o and for the third goal, Cesar Azpilicuetalost sight of Juanfran, who crossed for Turanto score at the second attempt.—AFP

European exit exposes Chelsea’s limitations

LONDON: Chelsea’s Eden Hazard looks at his boots as he sits on the ground following afall during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Chelseaand Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge stadium in London.—AP

Page 47

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European exit exposes Chelsea’s limitations

•OpraheyesLAClippers

LONDON:Chelsea’sJohnTerrylooks

dejectedattheendoftheChampionsLeaguesemifinalsecondlegsoccermatchbetween

ChelseaandAtleticoMadridatStamfordBridgeStadiumin

LondononWednes-day,April30,

2014.—AP

FRIDAY,MAY2,2014