ARAb StAtES diSMAyEd At WESt'S cOMPlAcENcy - Kuwait Times
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ARAb StAtES diSMAyEd At WESt'S cOMPlAcENcy - Kuwait Times

ARAb StAtES diSMAyEd At WESt'S cOMPlAcENcy - Kuwait Times ARAb StAtES diSMAyEd At WESt'S cOMPlAcENcy - Kuwait Times

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SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013 BUSINESS MOGADISHU: A Somalian porter carries a sack of imported noodles on his head, in the sea port in Mogadishu from a foreign vessel like many of which have been captured along with their crews in the last five years by sea-going Somali pirates for ransom. — AFP Jobs wanted: Somali ex-pirates seek pay MOGADISHU: For a fearsome pirate, even one in selfdeclared retirement, there is a notable lack of what literature has led one to expect: cutlass, eye-patch, hook or even a parrot. Instead, Mohamed Abdi Hassan, one of Somalia’s-if not the world’s-most notorious pirate chiefs, appears far more businessman than sea bandit, as he explains why he now wants to end the murderous hijacking of ships. Hassan, better known as “Afweyne” or “Big Mouth”, whose men once terrorised vast stretches of the Indian Ocean-generating millions of dollars in ransoms from seized ships-now claims to have renounced piracy. “The young men need to be trained, to get skills and get integrated into society,” Afweyne said, pulling out of his briefcase an official letter apparently nominating him as an “anti-piracy officer”. Afweyne, who says he earned his nickname as a child “because I would cry a lot”, claims to have persuaded almost a thousand young pirates to quit. “We are convincing the youths to give up piracy... I have influence, and have been mobilising the community... to keep the men from the water,” he told AFP over a cup of tea in an upmarket hotel in Somalia’s war-ravaged capital Mogadishu. Last year a United Nations report described Afweyne as “one of the most notorious and influential leaders” in Somalia. Pirate attacks have in recent years been launched as far as 3,655 kilometres (2,277 miles) from the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean. The World Bank last month calculated between $315 million and $385 million (242- 295 million euros) has been paid in ransoms since 2005, a figure dwarfed by the estimated $18 billion that piracy costs the world economy annually. But Afweyne, a soft spoken and portly man in his fifties with an apparently kindly manner, shuns descriptions of himself as a pirate, and especially the Somali translation of “burcad badeed”, literally, the “scum of the sea”. “Perhaps you have heard a lot about this ship or that ransom... but 90 percent of what you hear in Somalia is false,” he said, opening his arms wide and chuckling to laugh off any suggestion he was dangerous. “I’m not saying I was not involved, for I was the one who initiated the fight,” he said, claiming he took up piracy after his fishing company was ruined by foreign fleets off Somalia after the country spiralled into civil war in 1991. “It was legitimate because there was no government, we were like orphans without a father,” he added. Afweyne, whose son is reportedly a feared pirate chief, was involved in the 2008 capture of the Saudiowned Sirius Star oil supertanker, released for a ransom of several million dollars. His or his son’s men were also involved in the 2008 capture of the MV Faina, a Ukrainian transport ship carrying 33 refurbished Sovietera battle tanks, which was released after a 134-day hijack for a reported three million dollars. —AFP US jobs data points to sluggish economy Unemployment rate to hold steady at 7.6% WASHINGTON: US employment growth likely picked up in April, but probably not by enough to counter other signs that suggest the economy has lost a step in recent weeks. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased by 145,000 jobs, according to a Reuters survey of economists, after braking to a nine-month low of 88,000 in March. Taken together, the job creation pace over the past two months would still be far below the average of 200,000 for the first two months of this year. “That would be consistent with an economy that’s losing growth momentum but hasn’t fallen out of bed,” said Millan Mulraine, a senior economist at TD Securities in New York. Although the economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual pace in the first quarter, data on construction spending, retail sales and trade suggested it ended the period with less speed. Factory data for April imply the loss of momentum persisted early in the second quarter, setting the stage for a replay for a third straight year of what economists have called the spring swoon. Economists say uncertainty over the full impact of higher taxes and deep government spending cuts on already sluggish demand was making businesses reluctant to hire. A 2 percent payroll tax cut ended at the start of the year, and $85 billion in federal budget cuts went into effect on March 1. The forecast job gains should be just enough to hold the unemployment rate at a four-year low of 7.6 percent, though the rate could even fall as older Americans retire and younger people give up the hunt for work in frustration. The labor force participation rate - the share of working-age Americans who either have a job or are looking for one - hit a 34-year low in March. “We need more than 3 percent growth on a sustained basis to make real inroads in reducing not only the number of those counted as unemployed, but the legions of those who are nowhere to be found in the labor force data,” said Patrick O’Keefe, head of Economic NEW DELHI: Emerging Asia needs to be on guard against “asset bubbles” as central banks globally loosen monetary policy, the Asia Development Bank’s managing director warned yesterday. Last month Japan’s central bank announced it would pump $1.4 trillion into the economy over the next two years, administering unprecedented financial shock treatment to end two decades of growth stagnation through bold monetary expansion. The US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have also embarked on more limited forms of “quantitative easing” or increasing the money supply to revive their economies. “The positive thing of quantitative easing out of Japan and other economies is that they will start to grow, but we have to be wary of building asset bubbles” Research at CohnReznick in Roseland, New Jersey. The Labor Department will release its April employment report on Friday at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT). High bar for Fed The continued sluggishness of job growth would likely bolster the resolve of the Federal Reserve to push forward with its efforts to spur a stronger recovery. On Wednesday, the US central bank said it would continue to buy $85 billion in bonds each month and keep on buying until the labor market outlook improved substantially. It even said it would step up purchases should the need arise. “They have sort of tied their hand here; they set a very high bar for what constitutes a satisfactory improvement in the job market,” said Robert DiClemente, chief economist at Citigroup in New York. “This number will be a reminder that we are not there yet.” Economists are divided on the impact government spending cuts may have had on employment in April. Some see a minor hit, arguing that the government has been reducing hours for workers instead of resorting to outright lay-offs. Others, however, say there have been job losses in industries such as defense contracting. However, firsttime applications for state unemployment benefits have shown no sign of a pick-up in lay-offs and rose in only one week in April. “At the margin, the sequester is having an impact. You might see it in the hours worked rather than payroll jobs,” said John Canally, an economist for LPL Financial in Boston. While reducing hours keeps more people on the payroll, it does cut into economic growth. The composition of job growth in April is expected to be fairly encouraging, although little change is anticipated in manufacturing employment, which fell in March for the first time since September. Construction employment is seen snapping back after being slowed by unusually cold weather in March. That would mark an 11th straight month of gains, thanks to a recovering housing market. Job gains in the private services sector are expected to have picked up from March‘s nine-month low, although the retail sector remains a wild card. Retail employment fell in March after eight straight monthly increases. —Reuters NEW YORK: In this photo, traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. —AP ADB flags danger of Asia ‘asset bubbles’ and economic overheating, said ADB Managing Director Rajat Nag. Nag noted inflationary pressures are already “on the uptick” in many countries in Asia as economies reach full manufacturing capacity. “The robust growth that we have seen in Asia so far has eliminated slack productive capacity, so price pressures will begin to mount,” Nag told reporters ahead of the formal start of ADB’s two-day meeting of the board of governors in New Delhi today. Nag said a currency war was unlikely in Asia as a result of the fall of the Japanese yen due to the easing. The emerging Asian economies, such as India, China, Indonesia, and Thailand but not Japan — were on track for solid growth of around 6.6 percent this year driven by domestic and regional demand, he said. — AFP

SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013 www.kuwaittimes.net Bollywood marks India’s century of cinema PAGE 25 This image shows actress Camilla Belle wearing a twotone Ferragamo Vara shoe in white and beige. — AP

SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013<br />

www.kuwaittimes.net<br />

Bollywood marks<br />

India’s century<br />

of cinema PAGE 25<br />

This image shows actress<br />

Camilla Belle wearing a twotone<br />

Ferragamo Vara shoe in<br />

white and beige. — AP

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