Observer & Busness 3 Mar 2012 - Oman Daily Observer

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Fears for safety By Shingo Ito TO some of the men who earn as little as $100 a day to work inside Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi, the plant at the centre of a year-old nuclear disaster is far from safe — despite the official line. Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEP- CO) and the Japanese government say the tsunami-crippled reactors are all in a “state of cold shutdown” and are keen to give the impression that there is just cleaning up to do. They acknowledge it is the work of a few decades — perhaps 40 years — but nonetheless insist things are under control. But that is not how those who spend their days inside the plant see it. “I can clearly say it’s not safe at all,” said one worker in his 50s. The man did not want to be identified for fear of losing the 8,000 yen ($100) daily paycheck he receives. “There are many spots where radiation levels are extremely high,” said. In the height of summer with the mercury rising to 38 degrees Celsius, workers had to go for up to three hours at a time without water because they were unable to take off their masks. There have been deaths on site — a 60-year-old subcontractor’s fatal heart attack in May was put down to overwork, according to a labour standards inspector — although TEPCO says none related to radiation exposure. Chie Hosoda, a spokeswoman for the utility, admits conditions at the plant were unacceptable in the past, with the radiation exposure of some workers left unmeasured because of a shortage of dosimeters. “But working conditions have improved now and we are strictly checking the radiation exposure of all workers,” Hosoda said. Three of the four reactors at Fukushima Daiichi went into meltdown after the tsunami swamped their cooling systems last March. Fuel began to overheat and the day after the waves struck, an explosion — the first of several — ripped through a reactor building. Emergency workers tried to cool the rapidly heating rods with any water available, including from the sea. A month on, Tokyo finally upgraded its assessment of the severity of the nuclear emergency to a maximum seven on an international scale — equal with Chernobyl. Reform calls By Kevin Yao and Chris Buckley CHINA’S leaders face a parliament meeting next week likely to bring into focus a deepening worry that they have squandered their chance for reform because of fears of instability ahead of a leadership transition. The annual session of the parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), opens on Monday. It appears likely to take little action while the ruling Communist Party wards off disruptions to preparing its successors to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that brings in non-party groups, meets in parallel with the parliament. It will sit from today. Behind the ceremony in the Mao-era Great Hall of the People, however, officials and delegates could use the meeting over 10 days or so to voice concerns that leaders have let problems pile up untreated, policy-advisers and researchers said. “There are a lot of complaints that problems are building up in Chinese society. China is doing well compared to other countries, but no social group seems happy,” said Zheng Yongnian, the director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. “It will definitely be reflected in the NPC in calls for more debate about reform and more pressure for the government to act.” China’s party-run parliament is a regimented show of unity that affirms, rather than debates, policies. This year’s session should stick to that pattern, but could also expose more impatience about the direction of the country in speeches and legislative proposals, said Zheng. Hu and Wen are due to retire from their party posts late this year, and to step down from the presidency and premiership at next year’s parliament, when Vice-President Xi Jinping is likely to be named president and Li Keqiang premier. When they hand over power in late autumn, China could be headed for its slowest full year of growth since Hu and Wen took office a decade ago. The economy ended 2011 with its slackest quarter of growth in 2-1/2-years at 8.9 per cent. This year’s session will not reveal the economic and social policy shifts that Xi and Li could embrace, but could give a taste of the challenges they will be left to grapple with. Battling poverty By Yuriko Wahl-Immel CRAMPED, dirty conditions and violence are the order of the day for millions of poor families living in overcrowded urban slums, without proper access to clean water and regular power supplies. In East Africa, many people from impoverished rural areas flock to the ever-growing cities hoping to find work. But jobs are limited and unskilled migrant labourers often end up in the dilapidated slums. For children life can be exceedingly difficult, and many leave school to help supplement the family income — or just to survive, if they have no relatives. Elisa, aged 13, has been living on the streets of Rwanda’s capital Kigali for three years. In Nairobi, it is the same story. Instead of going to class, 15-year-old John combs through the Kenyan capital’s biggest rubbish tip every day. It is these children who need help, the United Nations says. It has launched a new project which plans to use new technology to map out the areas, which in turn should enable people to get better services. The first spot the project has started to map is Kibera — the largest slum in Kenya. “Kibera is just a dot on a map and the public does not pay any attention to it. That’s ridiculous as between 500,000 to 700,000 live there,” says Michael Klaus, a Unicef worker in Kenya’s largest slums. Other estimates have put the number of residents even higher- but no one really knows for sure as a proper survey has never been carried out. The project also aims to gather socio-demographic data, in order to determine how many women, children and vulnerable people live in the slum. Unicef has started giving youngsters GPS devices and laptops and is training them to use the equipment. The teenagers go around the slum’s narrow, unnamed allies collecting data for maps. There is now even a map which “shows all the dangerous places, which are best avoided,” says Klaus. He admits that even with good mapping and demographic data the government will still have to step up and do a better job of providing basic services. “We can determine their needs exactly. Then it’s a question of getting the authorities to set up health centres or feeding points at certain places,” says Klaus. Around 151 out of 1,000 children in Kenya’s slums die before their fifth birthday from malnutrition, diarrhoea or pneumonia, according to the UN, which fears that the growth of the cities will exacerbate the plight of the children. By Susan Cornwell VERBAL sparring between the United States and Russia has taken on an ugly tone lately, and Vladimir Putin’s determination to reclaim the Kremlin in a presidential election on Sunday does not augur well for a fresh start with Washington. In one recent US-Russian spat, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called “despicable” the Russian veto of a UN resolution backing an Arab League plan for transition of power in Syria, where President Bashar al Assad’s forces have brutally attacked demonstrators. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded that the Western criticism of the veto verged on “hysteria.” Serious strains in US-Russian ties date to the start of political turmoil in Russia last year, and Russia 12 ANALYSIS/OPINION OMAN DAILY Observer SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 US-Russia ties strained during Putin campaign MEMBER of Irish party Sinn Fein, Alex Maskey (R) and representatives of the African National Congress ANC Robert McBride (C) and Kopeng Obed Bapela (L) attend a political meeting called by the Basque Patriotic Left, former Batasuna, recently in the Northern Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian. — AFP Long road to heal wounds By Sinikka Tarvainen YOU stole my adolescence, an unidentified Spaniard tells an unidentified member of the Basque separatist group ETA. “Do you know how I was left when you killed my father? You did not only kill him, but you left me completely empty. I was full of life, and now I live without strength. I am no longer myself. I am someone else.” The meeting between the imprisoned separatist and the child of his victim — described by the daily El Mundo without giving the names of the participants — is part of a healing process that Spain is facing after ETA ended its 43-year armed campaign in October. More than 10 such meetings have taken place, partly on the initiative of jailed ETA members trying to face up to the immense pain the group masde by killing about 850 people during its campaign for a sovereign Basque state. ETA targeted mainly army and police officers, politicians, judges and others seen as representatives of the Spanish state. But its bombings and By Park Chan-Kyong NORTH Korea’s new leaders, hungry for food aid ahead of a landmark anniversary, have bought time in a deal with Washington but show no sign of actually renouncing their nuclear bargaining chip, experts say. Under the deal announced on Wednesday, the communist state now led by the young and untested Kim Jong-Un agreed to suspend nuclear and long-range missile tests, and its uranium enrichment programme. The United States — which analysts said was keen to remove at least one strategic headache in an election year — agreed in return to provide North Korea with 240,000 tonnes of desperately needed food. Implementation will be the key, however, after watchers say it is unclear whether Sunday’s presidential election, which Putin is expected to win, and its aftermath, will ease them. The warming trend under President Barack Obama’s “reset” policy with Moscow cooled markedly in December after Clinton asserted that Russian parliamentary elections were neither fair nor free, drawing accusations from Putin that she had instigated street protests in Russia. If a similar cloud develops over the results of Russia’s presidential election, with allegations of ballotstuffing to get Putin back in the Kremlin, the former KGB spy could remain under pressure domestically, especially if street protests against him continue. Putin has helped stoke anti-Americanism as part of his election campaign emphasising a strong Russia. He has warned the West not to inter- shootings also left hundreds of ordinary people dead, such as drivers or family members of the targets, or passers-by. Its ranks decimated by police crackdowns, its violence opposed by the overwhelming majority of the Basque region’s more than 2 million residents, ETA finally ended Western Europe’s last armed nationalist campaign. Faith is now growing in Madrid that the peace is definitive, and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government is preparing to steer Spain towards normality after decades of bloodshed. The main political parties in the Madrid parliament recently signed an agreement calling for the dissolution of ETA and for steps to heal the social divisions left by the conflict. Officially, the government excludes making any policy changes as long as ETA still exists. But, behind the scenes, it is believed to be considering some concessions to radical separatists linked to ETA. More than 500 ETA activists are in Spanish jails. Those who repent of their acts of terrorism could be moved to prisons closer to home, while the almost two decades of nuclear negotiations and broken agreements amid mutual accusations of bad faith. Peter Beck, Korea representative of the Asia Foundation, likened the deal to “a second marriage — the triumph of hope over experience”, but also said that pragmatism had prevailed in Washington and Pyongyang. “At this point the best that can be done is to freeze the nuclear programme,” he said. North Korea under Jong-Un’s late father Kim Jong-Il repeatedly offered to bargain over its nuclear programme, only to renounce negotiations and press ahead with atomic and missile tests once new aid was secured. But for now at least, the deal appears to be the best that could be hoped for by both sides as US President Barack Obama grapples for re- fere in Syria or Iran, and accused the United States of “political engineering” around the world. Putin might scale back the strong words if he wins, some analysts say. But he does not understand that his harsh rhetoric, coming as the United States is also going into a presidential election campaign, “just strengthens the hand of those people (in the United States) who are critical of cooperation with Russia,” said Stephen Hadley, national security adviser to former President George W Bush. Looking beyond the rhetoric, Putin may be arguing for continuity in foreign policy, said James Collins, a former US ambassador to Russia. Despite Putin’s criticism of the US missile defence programme, for example, he has not ruled out Russian co-operation with it, Collins said. The Russian attacks on Clinton are short-sighted but something of sentences of some who are in poor health could be relaxed, the daily El Pais reported. At the same time, Madrid will no longer seek to ban radical separatist parties close to ETA. The group’s political wing, Batasuna, was outlawed in 2003 and its successors were prohibited. But the new radical party Bildu now governs about 100 Basque municipalities, while like-minded Amaiur entered the national parliament in the November elections. Attempts are underway to get the banned party Sortu legalised as well. Rajoy’s government, however, wants to avoid appearing lenient in order not to alienate its most conservative supporters, who stress the suffering of ETA’s victims, analysts say. Spanish mainstream political leaders do not want to lend an ear to Amaiur or Bildu, who say ETA’s victims were not the only ones to suffer during the Basque conflict. Separatists say Spanish police and judiciary exercised heavy repression upon them. They also point to the GAL, government-sponsored death squads, which killed about 20 suspected ETA members in the 1980s. The suffering is difficult to heal. ETA has not apologized to people who lost their loved ones, and many of the victims feel they can never forgive. “Hatred destroys you, damages you, impregnates everything. I realised that this hatred was destroying me,” said Inaki Garcia Arrizabalaga, whose father was shot dead by ETA. Garcia Arrizabalaga is one in the handful of victims who have met with imprisoned ETA activists. Not all of them meet with the person who killed their relatives. Even a contact with another ETA member is thought to have a healing effect. Few of the ETA members apologise — but most of them cannot hold the victim’s gaze, according to media reports. Yet even if ETA dissolves and a reconciliation ensues, Spain’s Basque problem is far from over. Spain has consistently refused to discuss the subject of Basque independence. But the decline of ETA has gone hand in hand with the rise of new separatist parties, such as Bildu and Amaiur, which are expected to step up their campaign for independence. election and North Korea prepares to mark a symbolic date next month. “For the United States, the agreement lays the foundation for bringing the North’s nuclear issue under control for a while,” professor Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies said. Obama needs some progress on North Korea at least before facing US voters in November, especially when Iran and Syria present such challenges, Yang said. “For Jong- Un, he secured a practical gain in the form of food aid.” Yang said Kim Jong-Un needed massive food aid in the run-up to April 15, the 100th anniversary of the birth of his grandfather and North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il-Sung. The government has pledged to turn the impoverished nation, stalked by years of famine, into a “strong and a “freebie,” Collins said, because Clinton has let it be known she will step down as secretary of state after Obama’s first term ends next January. “They know they won’t have to deal with her.” Collins warned there could be further fallout if US and European officials portray Putin as something short of a legitimate head of state after the election. “It is not a perfect election, but this is a Russian question,” said Collins, the US envoy to Russia from 1997 to 2001, who now directs the Carnegie Endowment’s Russian programme. “I think it’s very important, personally, that the political leadership here and in Europe not get engaged in the business of making judgements about whether Mr Putin is president or not,” Collins said. While Putin is considered the favourite in the election, he is one of five candidates, and By Claire Rosemberg SERBIA took a “milestone” leap towards EU membership when Europe’s leaders granted Belgrade candidate status on Thursday, opening a new chapter in the troubled history of the Western Balkans. “European Council grants Serbia EU candidate status,” EU president Herman Van Rompuy said on microblogging site Twitter as the bloc’s 27 leaders ushered in Belgrade in recognition of its efforts to defuse tension with breakaway Kosovo. The decision to grant Belgrade official EU candidate status, a first but crucial step in an often long and rocky road to full membership, marks a historic leap for a country only 13 years ago the target of a Nato bombing campaign. Serbian President Boris Tadic welcomed the EU’s decision, saying it paves the way for “economic advance and prosperity”. However he warned that a “lot of work is ahead of us in order to launch the negotiations on the EU membership which is the next step after obtaining the status.” Serbia’s 2009 application, launched in the throes of the financial crisis and amid worries that the EU had expanded too far and too fast in its 2004 “big bang” enlargement, has been fraught with problems. Seen as a shoo-in for membership after last year’s arrest of Balkans war criminals Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic after almost two decades on the run, Belgrade had been suddenly held back and told to do more for regional peace by easing ties with Kosovo. While staunchly refusing to recognise Kosovo’s 2008 independence, Serbia joined an EU-sponsored dialogue with its former province a year ago, aimed at smoothing tensions and overcoming daily headaches caused by the border row — problems such as disrupted roads, railways and telecommunications. But Belgrade’s hopes of prosperous” state to mark the anniversary. Officially at least, Pyongyang and Washington are committed to a six-nation agreement of September 2005, under which the North would scrap all nuclear programmes in return for major diplomatic, security and economic benefits. But many analysts doubt whether the government will ever abandon a decades-old atomic drive that is vaunted as one of the Kim’s dynasty’s greatest achievements. “For now, the agreement is a welcome development. Talking is better than not talking and a freeze is better than an unfettered nuclear programme,” Beck said. But he added that the North would not give up its nuclear programmes and it was “highly unlikely” that any significant progress could be made if he does not get 50 per cent, there will be a runoff later in March. His critics, fuelled by fears that Putin will rig the election, shun reform and mire Russia in Soviet-style stagnation if he comes back as president, are expected to keep up street demonstrations if Putin is declared the winner. A return of Putin to the presidency could spark more criticism of Russia in the US Congress this year during an expected debate on whether to grant Russia permanent normal trade relations by revoking a Cold War provision known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment. Some US lawmakers in both parties are deeply sceptical of Russia due to concerns about Putin’s KGB background and human rights record. They do not like Moscow’s relations with Iran, which the West seeks to isolate because of its nuclear programme. A ‘historic’ leap into EU a subsequent EU pat on the back at a December summit were dashed notably by Britain and Germany, among 22 EU nations to have recognised Kosovo. More was demanded from the Serbia- Kosovo dialogue. Other EU nations fretted over the friendship with Russia enjoyed by one of the last ex-communist states of eastern Europe still outside the bloc. But last week, Serbia and Kosovo, both keen to inch closer to the bloc, staged a key breakthrough. In an 11th-hour deal days before the EU summit deadline, Belgrade agreed to allow Kosovo to speak under its flag in regional meetings and to sign international agreements like any other fully recognised nation. The two sides also agreed to jointly manage their flashpoint border, scene of recurrent clashes in past months between Nato peacekeepers and Serbs who make up the majority in northern Kosovo but refuse to recognise Pristina’ independence. “Serbia deserves candidate status,” said European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. A summit statement also said the EU would study the feasibility of a trade and political accord with Kosovo, known as a Stabilisation and Association agreement. “We have reached an important milestone,” Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said on Thursday. A decision on Serbia’s bid had been expected earlier this week at EU ministerial talks but was blocked when Romania wielded its veto against opening the EU door to Belgrade — a decision requiring a unanimous vote. Removing a last potential hitch, Serbia did a deal with Romania ahead of Thursday’s summit to mutually respect the rights of each other’s minority groups. “The status of candidate will not bring us much in direct and fast benefits,” said former premier Zoran Zivkovic this week. But “it is a historic event, strategically linking the future of small and poor Serbia with the huge European family”. North Korea buying time with US nuclear deal on denuclearisation any time soon. North Korea abandoned the sixnation talks in April 2009 and conducted its second nuclear test the following month. There have been months of diplomatic effort to revive them, culminating in US-North Korean talks in Beijing last week that agreed the latest deal. Yang said that if things go as planned, six-party negotiations may resume in the first half of this year. Richard Bush, a senior researcher at the US Brookings Institution, said Wednesday’s agreement could be an initial step towards serious negotiations. “Or they could simply be a ploy to get nutritional assistance and meddle in South Korean politics,” Yonhap news agency quoted him as saying. “North Korea’s record suggests the latter, but we shall see.”
Nigaar to play vamp in Sapno Ke Bhanwar Mein FTER sharing screen space with her sister Gauhar AKhan in The Khan Sisters, actress Nigaar Z Khan is set to enter ction show Sapno Ke Bhanwar Mein in a negative role. Nigaar’s glamorous character will be called Rangoli. She is shown as one who has travelled the world, has a superiority complex, is rude and picks on people and their ways. “I simply love my character Rangoli in the show. It’s very interesting as my character will bring great conict in the show,” Nigaar said in a press statement. The actress, who has earlier featured in Mitwa — Phool Kamal Ke, will play the wife of Brij Bhushan, who falls in love with the protagonist Pooja. “I will enter just when Pooja and Brij confess their love for each other. I am very jubilant about Sapno Ke Bhanwar Mein,” she added. The show, which airs on Life OK, narrates the story of an ambitious small town girl Pooja, and how she gets embroiled in the dirty game of politics. — IANS Actress Nigaar Z Khan to enter Sapno Ke Bhanwar Mein Yoko Ono wins top Austrian prize OKO Ono, the widow of Beatle John Lennon has won the Y2012 Oskar-Kokoschka-Prize, Austria’s highest award for applied contemporary art. Tokyo-born Yoko Ono, 79, is an avant-garde artist who has shot a number of experimental lms and has been involved in writing music and singing. The Oskar-Kokoschka-Prize, named after an Austrian painter who died in 1980, is awarded every two years to a contemporary artist and is worth $26,600. Japanese-American artist Yoko Ono being awarded the Oskar-Kokoschka-Prize by Austrian Minister of Science Karlheinz Toechterle in Vienna. — AFP Spears lawsuit: Pop star Britney Spears has reportedly settled a sexual harassment lawsuit led by her ex-bodyguard Fernando Flores. According to tmz.com, Flores previously claimed at the Los Angeles County Superior Court that the singer sexually harassed him and abused her own children. The case is now of- cially closed. Britney is believed to have gone before a private mediator to end the lawsuit, but no details of the settlement have been disclosed as the terms are condential. Demi Moore out of rehab: Actress Demi Moore has reportedly completed her rehab stint and has gone on a vacation to an undisclosed place. The actress had checked into Cirque Lodge in Sundance, Utah, to deal with an eating disorder and addiction issues. “She’s in no rush to get back to LA. She’s on total lockdown and only talking to a small group of people,” E! News quoted a source as saying. Moore’s decision to seek treatment came after her hospitalisation after smoking an “incenselike substance” on January 23. 13 ENTERTAINMENT SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 The drape is reborn — sari gets a new avatar By Nivedita Sharma TIED low on the waist, pinned high on the shoulder, paired with a mismatching blouse, woven in traditional fabric or crafted in sexy chiffon, the six-yard drape called the sari is being reborn on the Indian fashion scene. Designers say experimentation with draping styles, endorsement by celebrities and an Indo-Western spin to this piece of clothing are popularising it among the younger lot of women. Designer Varija Bajaj describes it as “the sexiest and most evergreen outt that suits all body types”. “Over the past few years, designers and Bollywood have played a lot with sari drapes, embroideries and colours. However, the sari today, in its most sexy avatar, is targeting young girls”. And innovations are being made in draping styles and blouses. “Bikini blouses, backless choli styles, stitched saris, lehnga saris, cocktail versions like the one Priyanka Chopra wore in the Desi Girl song are all targeted at the youth and, of course, the look is irresistible,” Bajaj tells. Designer Debarun Mukherjee adds: “The sari has always been a favourite silhouette for women and with the attire emerging as big trend, it is surely one of the sexy avatars a girl can look out for.” If Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Malaika Arora Khan and Anushka Sharma have given the sari a llip by draping it with a modern twist, Vidya Balan is aunting the traditional ones. Niharica Rai, a 21-year-old PR consultant, tries different styles of draping a sari. “Nothing can make one look more feminine than a sari and I feel there’s a maximum possibility for me to showcase that oomph factor in a sari,” she said. “For me, the best way to wear one is to show the curves. The sari must be tied low on the hips, the pallu pleated tightly and pinned high on the shoulder to aunt the waist.” Thanks to designers, the sari has evolved and designer Nikhil Mehra conrms this saying it has seen a huge transformation from traditional to contemporary. “Earlier saris were styled in a traditional way, but now it has taken a more Indo-Western look and this transformation attracts young girls. “Last month Kajol wore a sari-inspired gown for Filmfare cover and now many youngsters are asking for the outt. Such saris are ideal for girls who want to look glamorous with no compromise on responsibilities,” he says. Options are plenty, styles are exotic and designs are created keeping body shapes in mind. “Mermaid cuts and plain chiffon saris are best for the pearl-shaped body. If you have broad shoulders, it is best to opt for wide necklines and short-sleeved blouses with midriff-revealing saris,” says Bajaj. If you are skinny, “choose uffy or tissue saris with low cut blouses or corsets”, suggests Bajaj and adds, “Petite girls can go for georgettes and embrace long chunky necklaces and earrings.” When it comes to those six yards, innovation has become a key word. For instance, Kiran Uttam Ghosh, known for her elegant and glamorous designs, has come up with a modern avatar for her pret line — Chiconomics. “Today’s girl wants to do a lot of mix and match and keeping this in mind, I recently launched saris, which are very uid and light weight, giving today’s women the simplicity and drama of a well-cut ensemble,” says Ghosh. — IANS Carven’s young designer keeps it real IF my own friends couldn’t afford it, then something is wrong: that is the mantra adopted by Guillaume Henry, the young French designer who put the Carven fashion house back on the map. On Thursday the 33-year-old sent out a fresh-coloured, clean-lined collection, showcased inside a former Paris convent on day three of the French capital’s marathon of fashion shows for next autumn-winter. Like each season Henry created a complete wardrobe, though with a soft spot for dresses — which he describes admiringly as the only garment “that men don’t have, and that allows women to dress up in a single movement.” Short, ample-skirted dresses nipped the waist, but closed demurely at the neck, with ne slashes between the breasts that offered the tiniest glimpse of skin. Skirts and bodices, in velvety leather or lace, were cut out to suggest a cathedral’s stain-glass windows and there were ashes of fur, with coloured racoon collars or a caramel coat in lustrous rabbit. A 1970s-style orange print was inspired by the apocalyptic Garden of Earthly Delights, by the 15-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch — minus the “goriest” details, explained the team backstage. In-store, Carven’s clothes range from “affordable to special treat,” the designer, who took over at the brand in 2009, explained in an interview ahead of the show. “We are not talking inexpensive, of course, because a $400 dress, for the girls I know, is already a tidy sum. For a dress to wear for a very special occasion, we go up to 800 euros, but no higher.” So there are none of the 2,000- or 3,000-euro pieces that are common currency in the luxury ready-to-wear segment. And yet when it comes to creativity the brand is regularly put on a par with its high-end rivals. Designs by French designer Guillaume Henry as part of his Fall/Winter 2012-2013 women’s ready-to-wear fashion collection. — Reuters For Carven, Henry’s recipe has been a commercial success: the brand which didn’t have a single sales outlet in 2009, now counts more than 400 across the world, from the United States to Japan, Britain and Italy. When Henry joined its ranks, the French house’s haute couture was showing signs of age. He made the switch to ready-to-wear, but continued to rely on an in-house workshop of traditional seamstresses. “To bring out a collection in two months — from the idea to presenting it to the press, you’d better have an army at your disposal,” he said. “With an outside workshop, you waste a lot of time,” said the designer, who says he cannot imagine running a long-distance relationship with his suppliers, communicating over Skype to shape his clothes. “A fabric is a living thing, you have to see how it moves, how it falls,” he said. Working this way, he says, means “you are exchanging all the time. Sometimes it takes eight attempts to get something right — sometimes only two, and that’s when it’s magical.” But despite the luxury of working with an in-house team, the designer keeps a close eye on costs, in particular in his choice of fabrics, many of which he had factory-made to order this season “with our colours, our lines, our designs.” “Here, for instance, it is not silk but a mix of cotton and polyester,” he said, showing off a piece from his collection. “Bringing the price of the fabric down, allows us to keep clothes affordable — which means they sell better and the manufacturer is happy too.” — AFP My life is not perfect: Alba CTRESS Jessica Alba A(pictured) says she doesn’t have a perfect life. The 30-year-old, who raises two young daughters with husband Cash Warren, says she’d like to spend more time with her family but can’t because of work commitments. “It’s not perfect. I’m constantly feeling I should be spending more time at home. I installed a kids’ corner in the ofce, and the baby is really easy right now. But every day is evolving and changing. If I’m not going to be home all day, I know I’ll be home at night,” showbizspy.com quoted Alba as saying. “I feel like I’ve nally come into my own and become the person I always should have been, or that I always wanted to be. I feel more grounded, free and comfortable in my own skin than I ever have,” she added Terence dances his way to Guinness record again: It was a crowd of almost 4,500 people, who gathered here, danced together to the tunes of Salman Khan’s song Dhinka chika and broke the Guinness World Record for the largest Bollywood dance. Choreographed by Dance India Dance (DID) mentor Terence Lewis, the threeminute song saw the huge crowd matching steps and creating history at KJ Somaiya College Grounds on Thursday. Choreographer Remo D’Souza, who is one of the mentors on DID, was also present to cheer the crowd. The previous record was 1,336 participants, set by Terence in Mumbai in 2011. This year it turned out to be three times more with 4,428 participants setting the record. And Terence is beaming with joy to have broken his own record. — IANS Rihanna spends £15,000 on hair rescue mission INGER Rihanna ended up blowing £15,000 to rescue S her tangled hair post a sauna session. The pop star ew her stylist rst class from Los Angeles to London because she didn’t want to experiment with a local hairdresser. Rihanna, 24, had gone for a swim at her hotel and used its steam room and sauna, which led to the situation. “When she got out, her hair were tangled and matted. She slapped a load of conditioner on but it didn’t get through the mass,” thesun.co.uk quoted a source as saying. Rihanna was due to shoot a chat show the next day so she called her stylist Ursula Stephen. “She didn’t want to take the chance on an unknown. Because they were on such a tight schedule, they had to get her on the rst ight. Rihanna didn’t care about paying a fortune,” the source added. She hid her hair with a cap as she left London’s Corinthia hotel and kept the cap on during rehearsals for the chat show. I can take punches: JLo JENNIFER Lopez appears on the current cover of V Magazine showing her more combative side and discussing her artistic career of almost two decades and her booming business activities. “I can take a lot of punches,” she said. “I can take a lot of punches and still keep going,” she said in an interview with the magazine. “I’ve been trained like a boxer to go 15 rounds.” The interview accompanies an eye-catching graphic report by Peruvian Mario Testino. JLo, who rocketed to fame in the mid-1990s with the lm Selena, posed for Testino’s camera dressed like a boxer with an aggressive look on her face, and showing once more that even at age 42 she continues to be one of world’s sexiest women. Mischa’s new clothing range ACTRESS Mischa Barton is launching a retro-inspired clothing and accessories range. The 26-year-old, who already has her own collection of handbags, has teamed up with her mother Nuala to launch the new line this year, reported contactmusic. com. Kunis to play Jacqueline? ACTRESS Mila Kunis might essay the role of Jacqueline Kennedy in a new movie. The actress is in talks to feature as the wife of the iconic US president John F Kennedy in the lm by director Lee Daniels. He has written a new screenplay called The Butler, about a staffer Eugene Allen, who served in the White House for 34 years, waiting on eight different presidents from 1952, reports dailystar.co.uk. Hugh Jackman, John Cusack and media mogul Oprah Winfrey have also been linked to the project. If Kunis signs on, she will become the latest actress to portray Jackie Kennedy. Earlier, Katie Holmes played her in the History Channel mini-series The Kennedys.
Page 1 and 2: HM greets Bulgaria President HIS Ma
Page 4 and 5: By A Staff Reporter MUSCAT — In a
Page 6 and 7: Sultanate’s pavilion getting read
Page 8 and 9: Pakistan starts Senate elections IS
Page 10 and 11: NEWS IN BRIEF Ratan Tata, Munda dis
Page 14 and 15: PORTA CABINS / TURNKEY CAMPS Our Se
Page 16 and 17: FLIGHT LIGHT SSCHEDULE CHEDULE ARRI
Page 18 and 19: MANCHESTER — Manchester United st
Page 20 and 21: Love leads, McIlroy lurks, Woods we
Page 22 and 23: Samsung launches new Dual SIM smart
Page 24 and 25: 24 OMAN/INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, MAR
Page 26 and 27: 26 SPOTLIGHT SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 201
Page 28: ON the penultimate day of the Extre

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