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Saudi ‘hijab Judoka’ out in 82 seconds

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Attacks leave 33 dead in Iraq

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Emsak: Fajer: Shoruk: Dohr: Asr: Maghreb: Eshaa:

Pakistan court strikes down contempt law

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

RAMADAN 16, 1433 AH

No: 15529

Ban scolds world powers on Syria as fighting rages UN General Assembly condemns Syrian government

KUWAIT: People cover their faces as dust storm hits Kuwait. Activities in Kuwait were paralyzed yesterday as dust storm wreaked havoc with low visibility. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Max 47º Min 37º

ALEPPO: UN chief Ban Ki-moon told world powers yesterday they must overcome their rivalries to put an end to the “proxy war” in Syria, as deadly fighting raged in Damascus and the country’s second city Aleppo. Ban spoke ahead of a UN General Assembly vote that overwhelmingly condemned the Security Council for its failure to act and criticized President Bashar Al-Assad’s use of “heavy weapons” in the nearly 17-month civil war. Shells rained down on rebel positions in Aleppo as fighting was reported in Syria’s commercial capital and in Damascus, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting at least 19 people killed across the country.

At the same time, new weekly anti-regime protests were held across Syria in solidarity with the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, which troops have pounded for weeks. The day’s slogan was “Deir Ezzor-victory comes from the east,” and the Observatory reported claims that 70 percent of the strategic oil-producing province which borders Iraq is now in rebel hands. In Aleppo, hundreds gathered in Al-Shaar neighborhood chanting: “The people want the execution of Bashar!” and “The people want freedom and peace,” an AFP reporter at the scene said.

As jet fighters and helicopter gunships swooped over Aleppo, the Observatory reported demonstrations in several neighborhoods and fierce clashes in the rebel-held Salaheddin district. A Syrian security source said troops were “testing the terrorists’ defense systems... before annihilating them by carrying out a surgical operation.” In Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry expressed serious concern over rebel attempts to gain control of Aleppo and condemned foreign nations for providing the opposition with military supplies.

Continued on Page 7

in the

news

Attacks on Egyptian Christians on the rise

Bahrain’s police, protesters battle

UAE ‘won’t harm’ detained activists

CAIRO: A senior Egyptian Coptic bishop said yesterday attacks on Christians are on the rise and criticized the inclusion of only one Copt in Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s government.

“The general climate is turning against Christians,” said Bishop Morcos. “Assaults on Christians have increased. It’s not just a matter of having one ministry,” he said. On Wednesday, Muslims attacked a church and Christian homes in a village outside Cairo, leading to clashes that injured 16 people after a Muslim man died of wounds from a fight with a Christian. A day later, President Morsi, who had pledged to include Coptic representatives in his government, swore in a new cabinet with only one Christian, the scientific research minister from the outgoing government. “There is a difference between promises and implementation,” said Morcos. “Perhaps there were obstacles in implementing the pledge, or the promise is one thing, and the actual implementation is another.” Dozens of Copts have died in sectarian clashes since a popular uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak early last year.

ABU DHABI: The daughter of a prominent Bahraini opposition activist and 40 other people were arrested early yesterday, hours after security forces used tear gas and birdshot to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding political reforms, activists said. At least 45 people were injured in the security forces’ operation to break up the three separate protests across the Gulf Arab island kingdom late on Thursday, they said. Bahrain crushed an uprising led by majority Shiite Muslims last year, after successful popular revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, but protest marches and rallies continue, leading at times to clashes between police and Shiite youths. Bahraini Shiites say they have long been marginalized in political and economic life, which the government denies.

Bahrain’s Sunni rulers have rejected the main opposition demand - an elected parliament with full powers to pass laws and form governments. The head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, Mohammed Al-Maskati, said activist Zainab Al-Khawaja was arrested early yesterday when she tried to hold a solitary protest sit-in at Al-Badei street close to the capital Manama.

DUBAI: The ruler of the UAE emirate of Sharjah said authorities will not “harm” arrested activists, whom he accused of plotting to form an organization abroad, media reported yesterday. Earlier this week, Amnesty International urged UAE authorities to release 50 activists held since March, many of them Islamists, or to provide them with fair trials. It also voiced concern that 35 of them, arrested in July and whose whereabouts are still unknown, might be “at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.”But Sharjah’s Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi said: “Every mother whose son is in custody must excuse me personally... We will not cause him harm even though he has committed a mistake,” according to Dubai’s Al-Bayan daily. “The measure taken was not a punishment but a treatment,” Sharjah-based Al-Khaleej daily quoted him as saying. “God willing, this Eid will not pass without everything being resolved,” he said, referring to Eid Al-Fitr, the feast marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan which would fall later this month. He accused those arrested of plotting to set up an organisation abroad.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

LOCAL

KUWAIT: Zain organized a Girgian event at the Women’s Socio-Cultural Association Thursday, featuring several activities and competitions held for children and their families. — Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

LOCAL

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Govt blamed ‘for damaging society’ KUWAIT: The opposition bloc slammed the government for “causing damage to society” in light of reports that hint at plans to rework the constitutionality of the state’s electoral system. These remarks were made in a statement which was also issued on the wake of the arrest of controversial political figure Mohammad AlJuwaihel for posting insults against the Mutair tribe on Twitter.

Members of the opposition bloc, a coalition of oppositionists who controlled the majority seats in the 2012 parliament, issued their statement after holding a meeting Wednesday at the

dewaniya of speaker of the annulled parliament Ahmad AlSaadoun. The document as quoted by Al-Rai daily yesterday also hints about the oppositions’ plan to hold public seminars starting next week. “We plan to reject all destructive schemes aiming to violate the Constitution, spread sectarianism in society and tamper with the choice of people,” the bloc explained.

Meanwhile, opposition figure Dr Obaid Al-Wasmi argued that the public ‘no longer has faith in the law or [the state’s] institutions,” as he indicated that discussions about changing the current

electoral system “are made to predict the public’s reactions.”

Al-Wasmi, a member in the 2012 parliament, made these statements during a seminar held by the oppositionist Popular Action Bloc recently. “The elections law is a type of regulation that is legislated in the parliament, and changing it outside the parliament’s building would be considered an act of tampering with it”, he added.

The 2012 parliament was rendered null and void by a Constitutional Court verdict in June which reinstated the 2009 parliament. The reinstated parliament was scheduled to convene last Tuesday, but a lack of quorum prevented that from taking place. Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi is set to convene a new session this Tuesday; which is widely expected to feature the same fate, after which Al-Khorafi reportedly will refer the issue to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to take whatever action necessary.

While the government expressed on multiple occasions that the 2009 parliament will end up being dissolved, several constitutional experts argue that the Cabinet formed last month must swear-in before a dissolution can be made constitutionally. The pro-government majority in the 2009 parliament reportedly refuse to attend a session held as a prerequisite for dissolution. The opposition bloc is vehemently opposed to the notion of reinstating a parliament that was dissolved following public pressure.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet looks to avoid falling into another constitutional dilemma by studying the constitutionality of the current electoral system which divides the state into five constituencies and enables each citizen to vote for four candidates at once. The Cabinet is expected to refer the issue to the Constitutional Court, but an actual date is yet to be determined. The opposition, on the other hand, launched a petition at the beginning of Ramadan for boycotting future elections both in nomination and voting if the current system is changed, in addition to demanding that procedures to dissolve the 2009 parliament not be prolonged. The petition is made available to the public through a number of pro-opposition dewaniyas around Kuwait, and have so far gathered ‘thousands of signatures’ according to the opposition. In the meantime, constitutional expert and Kuwait University professor Dr Mohammad Al-Feeli told Al-Qabas daily that the Cabinet can “take its chances” of dissolving the 2009 parliament based on an urgent decree if the assembly fails to convene due to lack of quorum. The constitutional law professor further warned from “consequences as a result of the ongoing dilemma,” adding that the Cabinet will eventually find itself forced to find a mechanism to enforce the state’s general budget. — Al-Rai, Al-Qabas

Wataniya Telecom offers Iftar meals KUWAIT: In the spirit of staying connected to all members of the community while celebrating the virtues of the month, Wataniya Telecom has taken the initiative to distribute Iftar meals to fasting Muslims during the entire month of Ramadan.

In a statement released by Wataniya Telecom, the company announced that it is collaborating with Al-Salam and Al-Seddiq Co-Op by providing daily Iftar meals at the tent they have specially set up for this occasion near AlRashid Mosque in South Surra.

Wataniya’s Ramadan program includes visits to hospitals, elderly and orphanage homes as well as sponsorship of many athletic, social and cultural activities. Wataniya looks forward to investing further in programs that lead to the growth of the Kuwaiti community and that benefit different members of the society. In addition, customers can now get their own free copy of the Quran CD in the voice of Sheikh Fahad Al-Kanderi at any of the company’s branches around Kuwait.

NO: 15529

16

RAMADAN 16, 1433 AH

Whish Sura is full of mentioning Allah?

Al Mujadila Al Zukhraf Al Najm

LOCAL

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

KUWAIT: The funeral of Sgt Yousuf Talaq Muraizeeq Al-Rashidi, 22, was held Thursday afternoon at the Sabhan cemetery. Al-Rashidi died in an accident that took place earlier in the morning. Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, as well as senior Kuwait Fire Service Department officials attended the burial.

Sharp increase in number of power, water complaints Soaring temperatures, high humidity KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water(MEW) received nearly 15,000 calls last week reporting power outages and water supply disconnection across different places in Kuwait, a local daily reported yesterday. “The [ministry’s] center for receiving consumers’ inquiries and complaints on the hotline number 152, received nearly 15,000 last week, which is the largest number since the center’s inception,” said sources.

The number reportedly stood at 7,300 by the end of Monday, but climbed to 15,000 by the end of the week. “The soaring temperatures which sometimes exceeds 50 C degrees has led to increase in demand on electricity and water, which resulted in overload on transformers that caused the blackouts,” sources explained.

The MEW ran a comprehensive mainte-

KRCS sends relief aid to displaced Syrians KUWAIT: Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) announced yesterday that it will send six trucks loaded with 130 tons of food to displaced Syrians in different areas near the Syrian border with Jordan.

Barjas Hmoud Al-Barjas, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KRCS told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that it has agreed with its Jordanian counterpart to facilitate the entry of trucks to aid the displaced, adding that KRCS volunteers would work on distributing humanitarian supplies to displaced Syrians.

Al-Barjas said that the first batch will be sent to Jordan and carry about 130 tons of food, hoping more batches will be sent in the near future.

He said that it would be difficult to gain access to areas where displaced Syrians in Lebanon and Turkey live. This is because access by road is difficult, indicating that KRCS would buy food from Lebanon and distribute it to them under the supervision of its volunteers and in agreement with the Lebanese Red Cross, saying that this also applies to the displaced Syrians in Turkey. Al-Barjas also warned of a possible famine in Yemen, calling on citizens and residents to lend a hand as soon as possible to the Yemeni people to reduce the suffering they face. — KUNA

nance operation before the beginning of June to prepare transformers and distribution cables in Kuwait for the summer.

The ministry’s plan failed to fully prevent disconnection in electricity and water supply due to temperatures exceeding normal rates combined with high consumption during Ramadan, according to sources. Maintenance teams are put on high alert for immediate response to reported disconnection incident and repair faults as soon as possible, the sources added. Soaring temperatures and high humidity resulted in electricity consumption rates breaking records in July, amidst concern that demand will continue to soar with around two weeks remaining until the end of Ramadan. According to reports published by the local press a few days ago, a new record has been set

on July 15, 2012 when it reached 11,610 megawatts, breaking the previous record of 11,400 megawatts recorded on June 18, 2012. According to a ministry insider, high consumption has resulted to the overload responsible for multiple blackouts reported in Kuwait since the beginning of Ramadan.

Kuwait has been struggling for years to maintain enough electricity and water supply to meet demand that usually peaks at two times of the year; the period between July and August when temperatures reach their highest records, and during Ramadan. Keeping in mind that the two periods are coinciding this year, the ministry took measures to keep the local electricity production level well over the 12,000 megawatts a day barrier throughout the summer. These efforts include

operating the Subiya power plant which uses a new gas turbines technology developed by General Electric, with its full capacity to produce atleast 2,000 megawatts a day.

In other news, the Central Tenders Committee has reportedly informed the MEW to ‘reconsider’ a project to install photovoltaic panels on top of the MEW and Ministry of Public Works buildings due to “incomplete data on awarding procedures,” Al-Jarida reported yesterday, quoting sources with knowledge of the deal. The project would supply the MEW and MPW buildings with electricity through solar energy. It is considered the beginning of a larger project through which the government hopes to utilize renewable energy to feed government buildings with power. — Al-Rai, Al-Jarida

25 vehicles impounded in Ahmadi KUWAIT: At least 25 vehicles were impounded and 67 speeding tickets were issued during a series of inspection operations carried out by Ahmadi security patrol in the governorate, the Ministry of Interior(MoI) announced yesterday in an official statement. The operations targeted Al-Gous street where reckless drivers reportedly race illegally with their sports cars. Also, traffic police arrested six drivers in connection with conducting illegal racing during an operation held between Huteen and Al-Salaam areas.

At least 11 cars were impounded and 12 traffic tickets were issued. Also, three cars were impounded and 100 traffic tickets were issued in a campaign held at Restaurant Street in Salmiya. Also, citations were issued in Al-Zahraa and Khaitan.

FM lauds embassies’ soccer tournament KUWAIT: The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah lauded the good entertainment that was provided by the third football tournament held by 24 teams of different diplomatic missions in Kuwait held last week.

After the conclusion of the event on Thursday, the patron of the event Sheikh Sabah told KUNA that the Foreign Ministry is always interested in providing sports, social and cultural entertainment for families of diplomats.

Sheikh Sabah congratulated the Saudi team for winning the tournament after defeating Jordan with penalty kicks 4-2. Head of the organizing committee Sheikh Ali Al-Khalid Al-Sabah noted that the teams’ participation and the crowds’ presence every night made this sporting event a ‘success.’ Such events always provide a venue for families of the diplomats to socialize and bond, he added. Sheikh Ali, in conclusion, thanked all sponsors of the event; especially, the Public Authority for Youth and Sports(PAYS) and Al-Qadisiya Sports Club. —KUNA

LOCAL

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Trapped workers saved from blaze KUWAIT: Firefighters saved a group of workers that were trapped in a farm where a fire broke out, damaging four chalets on Thursday morning. The incident was reported in Sulaibiya after firefighters from three different fire stations reached the scene. They formed two task forces - one to evacuate people trapped in the farm, and the other to tackle the fire which spread over an area covering 1,000 square meters. No injuries were reported. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire.- Al-Qabas

NBK announces winners of Ramadan campaign KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) announced the first seven winners of its innovative campaign for the holy month of Ramadan. The campaign aims to reward all NBK Credit Cardholders with a chance to win cash prizes every day when using their credit cards at selected Co-ops and Supermarkets in Kuwait. Every KD 10 spent at selected Coops and local supermarkets using any NBK Credit Cards (Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club) will give the customer one chance into the weekly draw. This exclusive promotion runs until Aug 21.

13 beggars arrested Thirteen people were arrested recently for begging and committing other violations during campaigns held in different areas as part of efforts to tackle the spread of this trend during the holy month of Ramadan. According to a security source, four women were arrested for begging while nine Asian men were detained for selling pirated multimedia items. During search operations in Salmiya, Farwaniya and Khaitan, detainees were referred to the Criminal Investigations General Department building. — Al-Qabas Missing girl’s escape Jabriya police arrested a girl who was reported missing by her family, along with a citizen who reportedly attempted to help her flee to Iran. Search operations went underway on Thursday after a GCC national filed a missing person complaint with police. The girl was eventually located at a chalet, where she and a citizen were preparing to leave to Iran via boat. Police arrested them just as the couple were preparing to leave. — Al-Qabas Body found An Arab man’s corpse was found in a farm in Al-Wafra.

According to preliminary examinations, it was a result of natural causes. Security officers accompanied by paramedics and crime scene investigators reported to the scene after receiving a report about finding a dead body. The body was removed for an autopsy after the man was pronounced dead. No evidence of foul play was found on the scene.

Tire burning Four people were arrested in Amghara in connection with burning used tires and electric cables in the area’s scrap yard. The suspects, three Egyptians and one Iranian, were caught by a Kuwaiti army unit that was patrolling nearby. Jahra police reached the scene shortly after the servicemen reported the incident. The four were taken into custody for investigations during which they explained that they sought to extract copper from the burned tires and cables to sell them as junk. They remain in custody pending investigations.

Drunk teenagers Five teenagers were arrested in Sulaibiya for intoxication and consuming food in public. The suspects were in a car that was pulled over for reckless driving, and were found with possession of food, drinks and cigarettes. Moreover, police found that the five juveniles, one citizen, one Syrian and three bedoons were under the influence of alcohol.

They were taken in custody to face charges. -Al-Anba Drug possession A man was arrested recently in Taima for drug possession, while search is ongoing for his accomplice who managed to avoid arrest. The two Bedoon suspects had left their car and ran away as soon as Patrol officers pulled their car over in the area for reckless driving. Police managed to bust one of the suspects but his accomplice managed to escape. The man was taken in custody after 250 captagon pills were found in the car.

NO: 15528

15

RAMADAN 15, 1433 AH

How many Suras (chapter) are there in the Holy Quran?

114 Suras 113 Suras 115 Suras

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Parents found guilty of murdering daughter in UK

10

Mongolia jails former president for corruption

12

Pakistan’s court strikes down contempt law

14

ALEPPO: Syrians drive past destroyed trucks in the northern city of Aleppo yesterday. Shells rained down on rebel positions in Aleppo ahead of a UN vote to deplore both the Syrian regime’s use of heavy arms and world powers for failing to agree on steps to end the conflict. — AFP

Covering Syria: Sifting fact from fiction ALEPPO: As an autocratic regime and a disorganized opposition seek to steer the message their own way in coverage of the Syria conflict, journalists face an almost impossible task in sifting the truth from the “facts” presented by both sides. Journalists are basically faced with two choices: enter Syria illegally as most do, through the largely rebel-held north and under their escort, or try to obtain a visa from the trickle that are issued by the government. As under every autocratic regime, “official” reporters must be accompanied by a ministry of information “guide” at all times, which seriously limits contact with the opposition and discourages people in the streets from speaking freely.

And if the journalist has the bright idea of trying to lose this minder, the likelihood is high of being stopped and interrogated by any one of the many intelligence service agents roving the streets. If for any reason work by such a journalist displeases the authorities, his or her press visa will be revoked and any future trip will then have to be made clandestinely. Because of such restrictions, the bulk of daily coverage on the conflict in Syria is based on information gleaned from social networks, activists contacted via Skype or from official media sources, which are often removed from reality.

As the conflict has spread, media outlets are often forced to rely on freelancers whose reliability must be tested over time. Since the beginning of the revolt that broke out in mid-March last year, journalists have been trying to sift through and authenticate a daily flood of information that arrives at their desks by email and YouTube. Confronted by both regime propaganda and the sometimes biased narratives of activists, many have come to rely on the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which counts on a wide network of activists, doctors and lawyers, among others.

Rami Abdel Rahman, who directs the Britain-based NGO, said that its daily death toll and other information is gathered from different sources in the same cities, from people who do not know one another. So far, the Observatory does

not appear to have made any major blunder with its counts, although the death toll among rebels does appear to be unrealistically low. The United Nations stopped providing a toll at the end of 2011, making it even more difficult to come up with an independently reliable count.

The sectarian dimension-When it comes to reports of massacres, the work of journalists is even more delicate: figures often differ considerably between activists, the Observatory and sometimes international organizations. It is especially difficult to authenticate the circumstances of such killings, especially when a sectarian dimension-often present-is added into the picture. In the Houla massacre in central Syria, where around 100 people were killed, the opposition accused Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam, of slaughtering the inhabitants of the Sunni village, while the regime spoke of “terrorist” gangs.

For journalists, there was no real way of proving which version was correct. Sources include those in the highest echelons of the security services, with regime officers providing information about imminent attacks or “a victory against the terrorists.” While such tip-offs must be treated with the utmost caution, they do sometimes overlap with information from the opposition. Those who enter the country without a visa, aided by “smugglers,” often rely on the rebels to transport them to where the action is taking place. This not only restricts a journalist’s freedom of movement, but also leaves him or her exposed to attack on the rebels by regime forces.

Just getting around is a major obstacle in itself. While large swathes of northern Syria are in rebel hands, also in their midst are towns or checkpoints controlled by the military or by proregime “shabiha” militiamen. To reach one town that was otherwise nearby, an AFP team was forced to zigzag past certain villages and navigate back roads to circumvent an army-controlled zone, all under the cover of night. Fuel and electricity shortages have to be taken into account, as well as Internet and mobile phone cuts. — AFP

Ban scolds world powers...

Continued from Page 1 It said the latest evidence showed that “illegal armed formations” were trying to make Aleppo into a base for future attacks on Assad’s troops. “Moscow is very worried by the dangerous development in the situation, the violence and provocations aimed at expanding the scope and the cruelty in the civil war,” the ministry said. It added that Russian officials were receiving reports of foreign nations supplying the rebels with portable surface-to-air missile launchers “that can be used against civilian targets.”

The Observatory also reported protests in the Kurdish region of Hasakeh, Daraa province in the south and in the northwestern province of Idlib, where one demonstrator was shot dead. Also in Idlib, five rebels were killed in an army ambush, the Observatory said, adding that 15 people were killed nationwide.

The official SANA news agency said regime forces killed 17 “terrorists” in Aleppo.

There was also fighting in Damascus, where six civilians were killed as loyalist forces moved on rebels a day after shelling killed 21 civilians at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, the Observatory said. It also reported shelling of the Jdaidet Artuz district southwest of Damascus as fighting erupted around Marj aAl-Sultan military airport. In his address to the General Assembly, Ban

evoked the UN’s failure in the Srebenica massacre in Bosnia and warned the divided Security Council that “the immediate interests of the Syrian people must be paramount over any larger rivalries of influence.”

The secretary general said growing radicalization and extremism had been predicted at the start of the conflict in March 2011. “The next step was also forewarned: a proxy war, with regional and international players arming one side or the other. All of these dire predictions have come to pass,” Ban told the General Assembly. He turned his fire on the Security Council, which he said had become “paralyzed” by divisions over Syria. “Now, with the situation having worsened, they must again find common ground,” Ban said.

After his address, the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a Saudi-drafted resolution criticizing the Security Council’s failure to act and condemning Assad’s use of heavy weapons. The resolution said members deplored “the Security Council failure to agree on measures” to make the Syrian government carry out UN demands to end almost 18 months of fighting. It condemned “the Syrian authorities use of heavy weapons including indiscriminate shelling from tanks and helicopters” and demanded that the government refrain from using its chemical weapons. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Iraq summons Turkey envoy to protest over visit BAGHDAD: Iraq made a formal protest to Turkey’s envoy in Baghdad yesterday after the Turkish foreign minister made a surprise visit to an oil-rich Iraqi city claimed by both the central government and the country’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

The episode, the latest in a series of diplomatic spats and tit-for-tat summonings of envoys between the neighbouring countries, is likely to worsen already strained relations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had travelled to Kirkuk on

Thursday after visiting the regional president in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. But Iraq’s foreign ministry accused Turkey of violating its constitution with the visit, saying that Davutoglu had neither asked for nor obtained permission to enter Kirkuk.

A junior minister at Iraq’s foreign ministry had handed Turkey’s charge d’affaires a protest letter on Friday, a strongly-worded statement from the foreign ministry said. “The note also included a demand by the Iraqi government (for an) urgent explanation from the Turkish government,” it

added. Relations between Iraq, close to Shi’ite Iran, and Sunni Muslim regional power Turkey, were tested after U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq last year and the government immediately tried to arrest one of its Sunni vice presidents.

He fled first to Kurdistan and later to Ankara, where he was given refuge. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri alMaliki and Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan then traded public insults. Baghdad’s Arab-led central government and ethnic Kurdish officials are locked in a protracted dis-

pute over who controls territory and oilfields along their internal border.

Kirkuk, which possesses huge crude oil reserves, is one of those areas.

Iraq and Turkey are also at odds over the worsening conflict in Syria.

Turkey has become one of the main backers of the rebels, while Baghdad has refused to support calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step aside. Iraq is Turkey’s second largest trading partner after Germany with trade reaching $12 billion last year, more than half of which was with the Kurdish region. — Reuters

Iraq attacks kill 33 Gunmen killed seven soldiers

MAFRAQ: A Syrian refugee and her children stand at the entrance to their tent in the Zaatari Syrian Refugee camp, in Mafraq, Jordan. Jordan is host to the largest number of Syrian refugees at 142,000, including hundreds of army and police defectors and leaders in the rebel Free Syrian Army, fighting in the civil war that erupted in March 2011. — AP

Iran blames US, others for failure of Annan’s plan DUBAI: Iran blamed Western and Arab countries yesterday for the failure of Kofi Annan’s Syria peace plan, the official IRNA news agency said yesterday, a day after the former UN secretary general quit as international envoy.

Annan said on Thursday he was stepping down, frustrated by “finger-pointing” and a stalemate at the UN Security Council while the armed rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was becoming increasingly bloody.

“Mr. Annan’s reference to a lack of unity at the Security Council is not a reference to China and Russia. The Americans make projections and try to suggest their own opinion instead of the reality,” IRNA quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.

“In general, Western countries and some regional countries did not want Mr. Annan’s plan to succeed because in that case, they would not reach their goals,” Salehi said.

Iranian officials have repeatedly voiced support for Annan’s attempt, centred on an April ceasefire that never took hold, to resolve the spiralling crisis that opposition activists say has killed some 18,000 people since March last year. Shi’ite Muslim Iran backed popular uprisings which removed leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen but has steadfastly supported Assad, who is a member of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

Annan repeatedly said regional power Iran should be involved in efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Syria crisis despite the West’s firm rejection of any role. But in an editorial published by the Financial Times, Annan said Russia, China and Iran “must take concerted efforts to persuade Syria’s leadership to change course and embrace a political transition ... It is clear that President Bashar alAssad must leave office.”

Iranian leaders have accused the West of plotting with Arab countries to overthrow the Syrian leadership and bolster the status of Israel in the region through backing extremist militant groups. — Reuters

BAGHDAD: Iraq attacks mainly targeting security force personnel killed at least 33 people late on Thursday, officials said, after government figures showed July was the bloodiest month in almost two years. At least 39 people have been killed in violence in the first two days of August, which have seen a number of attacks on security forces and their facilities, including a prison, a military site and checkpoints.

At least nine people were killed and at least 32 wounded in a car bombing in the Husseiniyah area of north Baghdad, medical officials said.

In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, militants attacked the home of a Turkmen family, cutting the throats of a father, mother and two daughters, an AFP correspondent reported.

Gunmen killed seven soldiers and wounded 11 others in three separate attacks south of the city, according to security and medical officials and Shalal Abed Ahmed, mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, where one of the attacks took place.

Gunmen also shot dead four police in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, while three

members of the Sahwa anti-Qaeda militia were killed by a bomb near Balad, also north of the capital, security and medical officials said.

And gunmen attacked a checkpoint near a police station northeast of Samarra, killing one police and one Sahwa member, a police captain and a hospital source in Samarra said. An army officer said that gunmen attacked a checkpoint near Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing a soldier and kidnapping four others.

And Colonel Obeid Ibrahim alKataa was killed along with two other police in clashes with gunmen who tried to take control of a checkpoint in Al-Rutba, in the far west, police officers said. In the Euphrates Valley, a police major said a patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in Haditha, wounding four police, while three police were wounded in another attack by gunmen on a checkpoint east of the town.

South of Kirkuk, six gunmen wearing explosive belts tried to attack a military site but five of them were killed and the sixth seriously wounded and the attack failed, Staff Brigadier

General Mohammed Khalaf Saeed alDulaimi said.

And a police captain said that three gunmen, one of them wearing an explosive belt, tried to attack a police checkpoint in Baiji, north of Baghdad, but all three were killed. Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq has said it will look to retake territory in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in an offensive slammed by Washington as “cowardly”, and appealed for Sunni Arab tribes to send fighters in a recording posted in the name of its leader, Abu Bakr alBaghdadi. The message posted on various jihadist forums said the ISI would begin targeting judges and prosecutors, and try to help its prisoners break out of jails.

The latest violence comes a day after official figures put the number of people killed in attacks in July at 325, the highest monthly death toll since August 2010. While violence has decreased compared to its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks remain common across Iraq. There were attacks on 27 of the 31 days in July. — AFP

JERUSALEM: Palestinian women wait to cross through an Israeli checkpoint on their way to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, on the third Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan near Ramallah, West Bank, yestertday. — AP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Mali’s ‘forgotten crisis’ threatens regional security GENEVA: The international community must help resolve the “forgotten crisis” in Mali or risk seeing the situation spiral out of control into neighbouring countries, the UN refugee agency chief said yesterday.

“If a political solution is not found the chances of this developing beyond Mali are enormous,” said Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “On the other hand because this has been a forgotten crisis ... we have the opportunity to witness that not only UNHCR but also World Food Programme and all the NGOs working with us are struggling with a dra-

matic lack of resources.”

Speaking to reporters in Geneva following a mission to Burkina Faso, Guterres said that the five-month old Mali conflict involving a rebellion by warring groups in the north of the country had forced 260,000 Malians to flee to neighbouring countries. “(Given) the complexity of the Sahel situation with the number of movements and the actors that are intervening there is a very serious threat for the whole region, but in my opinion with global implications,” he said.

Refugees had been warmly welcomed

by neighbouring countries Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, but the stable situation could not last given the “very serious food shortages” faced by all countries in the Sahel, he added.

Inside Mali, Guterres said almost 200,000 people were affected by the fighting. They were subject to human rights violations with almost no chance of receiving outside help. US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Anne Richard, who accompanied the High Commissoner to Burkina Faso, said “people were voting with their feet” in

response to the implementation of strict sharia law by Islamic groups in northern Mali.

“What we saw was that people were voting with their feet ... we met one young man who had fled because the imposition of sharia law and his concern that if you didn’t wear the right length of pants or if you were seen walking with your sister you could get into trouble”, she said.

The UNHCR budget for the region is $163 million (133 million euros) but the agency expects to receive just $60 million, said Guterres. — AFP

Belarus expels Sweden’s envoy Swedish FM calls expulsion ‘scandalous’

DORTMUND: Police officers walk into the house where a flat burned down in which three children died early morning yesterday in Dortmund, western Germany. — AFP

Russian media magnate Lebedev seeks Russia exit MOSCOW: Russian tycoon and London media magnate Alexander Lebedev said yesterday he intended to wind down his Moscow holdings because of unrelenting pressure from Kremlin-run security services.

The Independent and London Evening Standard owner has seen his main Russian bank raided repeatedly by the police in the past two years and has in the past accused corrupt state officials of trying to run him out of business.

But the flamboyant 52-year-old former foreign intelligence officer refused to blame the Kremlin directly, despite his past criticism of President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

“This is all too much. There is a well-planned campaign being waged against me,” Lebedev told the Gazeta.ru website. “I am not saying ‘the Kremlin’-I am saying ‘security service officers’. That is what they (the security officers) tell me themselves: that this is an ordered attack.”

Lebedev, who according to Forbes magazine is estimated to be worth $1.1 billion has stood out among other oligarchs for voicing occasional criticism of Putin’s 12-year domination of Russia. He has also funded the Novaya Gazeta opposition newspaper, a critical voice whose corruption reporter Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in 2006. He most recently used his 15-percent stake in national flag carrier Aeroflot to push through the candidacy of anti-Putin protest leader Alexei Navalny to the board of the state-held firm. But Lebedev said that the campaign against his Russian holdings had only intensified in the months since Putin’s May 7 return for a third Kremlin term.

“More than 80 percent of my workers have quit,” he said. “They are working with specific people, trying to scare them by saying that if they do not quit now, they will never be able to find work again.”

Reports of the Federal Security Service-the main successor to the KGB Putin once headed-working with specific tycoons to squeeze their rivals out of business have circulated in the Russian media for years.

Lebedev never mentioned a specific business interest that might benefit from his downfall. But he said the campaign had made it almost impossible for him to sell his interests because potential buyers were seeking prior approval from the state-a vote of confidence that Lebedev said had not been issued. —AFP

MINSK: Belarus yesterday expelled Sweden’s ambassador, saying he sought to “destroy” ties with the former Soviet state run by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. The move came after Swedish activists illegally flew a plane into Belarus early last month and dropped hundreds of teddy bears attached to little parachutes carrying signs calling for freedom of speech and human rights.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt called the expulsion “scandalous”, and said he had consulted with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton about the row. Bildt conceded the expulsion could be linked to the widely-reported teddy-bear incident.

Lukashenko dismissed the country’s top border control official and the top air force commander after the incident, purportedly orchestrated by a Swedish advertising firm.

Belarus foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh denied that Stefan Eriksson was expelled, saying instead in more diplomatic language that “a decision was made not to renew his creden-

tials.” Eriksson’s “activity was aimed not at strengthening Belarusian-Swedish relations but destroying them,” he said.

The European Union in February recalled all its ambassadors to Belarus after Minsk decided to expel two of them in retaliation for new sanctions imposed by the bloc over the country’s rights record.

Eriksson was among the first to return to Minsk, in April. Belarus is under a raft of sanctions by the European Union over the plight of political prisoners in the country. The EU voiced deep concerns about reports of torture and inhumane jail conditions for political prisoners, including former presidential candidates Andrei Sannikaw and Mikalay Statkevich and activists Dzmitry Bandarenka, Dzmitry Dashkevich and Mikalay Awtukhovich.

“The Lukashenko regime’s expulsion of Sweden’s ambassador to Belarus is a serious breach of the norms for relations between states,” Bildt said in a statement, calling Belarus’s charges “without foundation”.

“That Sweden is broadly committed

to democracy and human rights in Belarus is no secret, and Ambassador Eriksson has represented this Swedish policy in a creditable and important way,” he said.

“Ambassador Eriksson will continue his work with an even clearer focus on the work for democracy and human rights in Belarus,” he added.

Bildt also said Stockholm would not welcome a new ambassador named by Minsk to replace an envoy who left the post several weeks ago. Bildt said on Twitter earlier that the expulsion was “scandalous” and “shows the nature of the regime”.

He told a telephone news conference that Eriksson, who took up the post in Minsk in 2008, was expelled because of meetings he has held with the Belarus opposition. Belarus on Friday also threatened to take further action if needed. “We are ready to make efforts to remain constructive in our ties,” the statement said. “At the same time, if the Swedish side seeks to exacerbate the situation, we would be forced to react accordingly.” — AFP

BUDAPEST: Hungarian children take part in a military camp organised by a Hungarian businessman who loves the life of soldiers, in Mogyorod, near Budapest, on June 23, 2012. The children can try the whole military training in one week in real military camp with replica or neutralized guns. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

US nuns consider response to Vatican censure American nuns accused of straying far from Roman Catholic doctrine will decide at a national meeting next week whether they should accept or resist a Vaticanordered overhaul. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 US sisters, will gather for the first time since the Vatican said the sisters have been promoting “radical feminist themes” about the priesthood, artificial contraception and homosexuality. The report, issued in April, prompted an outpouring of support for the sisters nationwide, including parish vigils, protests outside the Vatican embassy in Washington and a resolution in Congress commending the sisters for their service to the country.

The nuns will discuss their next steps in private sessions at the assembly, which starts Tuesday in St. Louis. “One of our

concerns is that questioning is seen as defiance. It’s not healthy as a church,” Sister Pat Farrell, president of the Leadership Conference, said in a phone interview with reporters. “Our intention, our sense of our own fidelity, is that we continue raising and responding to questions according to our own consciences and according to new information arising.” The Vatican’s orthodoxy watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, began its review of the religious sisters’ organization in 2008, following years of complaints from theological conservatives that the nuns’ group had become secular and political while abandoning traditional faith and ignoring key issues such as abortion.

After the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, many religious sisters shed their habits and traditional roles as they sought to more fully engage the modern

world. The nuns said prayer and Christ remained central to their work as they focused increasingly on Catholic social justice teaching, such as fighting poverty and advocating for civil rights.

Vatican investigators praised the nuns’ humanitarian work, but said the conference had “serious doctrinal problems.” Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain has been appointed to oversee a fullscale reform of the conference, including rewriting the groups’ statutes, reviewing its plans and programs, approving assembly speakers and ensuring the group properly follows Catholic ritual.

Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, who oversaw the Vatican doctrinal review and will help with the overhaul, has said “there’s been a lot of just denial” by the conference about its problems. In an interview last week with National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” program, he

said there was no “middle ground” on core church teaching.

The sisters face a limited range of options for how they can respond since the Vatican created the organization.

Farrell would not discuss details of what the sisters will consider, since the conference makes decisions as a group.

Sartain offered to travel to the meeting but was told “it would not be helpful,” said a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sister Mary Ann Walsh. As is customary, a representative of the Vatican office for religious orders, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, will attend.

Sartain is expected at a board meeting of the sisters’ organization immediately after the full meeting. The sisters are expected to announce the outcome of their discussions yesterday. — AP

Sudan, S Sudan must strike ‘compromise’ deal: Clinton Warns of significant challenges

CHESTER: This is an undated Cheshire Police handout photo of murdered teen-ager Shafilea Ahmed. A British court yesterday found a mother and father guilty of murdering their teenage daughter Shafilea Ahmed in a so-called honor killing. (Right) Farzana Ahmed the mother of murdered teenager Shafilea Ahmed. — AP

Parents found guilty of murdering daughter in UK LONDON: A jury found the Pakistani parents of a teenage girl guilty of murder yesterday - a conviction that came after the girl’s sister turned against her parents, telling a jury how her mother and father suffocated 17-year-old Shafilea with a plastic bag in a so-called honor killing.

Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed face life in prison for killing their daughter in 2003. The Chester Crown Court found that Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed killed her daughter in 2003 and dumped her body. Shafilea’s sister Alesha told the jury that her parents pushed Shafilea and then she heard her mother say, “just finish it here.” British authorities investigated hundreds of cases of forced marriages last year. Some of the cases have ended up in so-called honor killings where relatives believe girls have brought shame on their families - sometimes for refusing marriage, other times for becoming too westernized.

Shafilea was only 10 when she began to rebel against her parents’ strict rules, according to prosecutor Andrew Edis.

Schoolmates described how she would wear western clothes and change before her parents picked her up. Those same schoolmates also reported that Shafilea often went to school crying, describing how her mother would slap her and throw things at her. But it was the last year of her life that was to be the most traumatic, the court heard. Shafilea began seeing boys, which prompted her parents to keep her at home more. Despite multiple reports to social services, Shafilea’s file was closed in 2002.

Between November 2002 and January 2003, Shafilea told friends and teachers there had been an increase of assaults.

In February 2003, she ran away with her boyfriend Mushtaq Bagas and told council officers she needed emergency accommodation as her parents were trying to force her into an arranged marriage with her cousin. —AP

JUBA: The two Sudans must strike an urgent compromise deal to end bitter disputes and resume oil production, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday, warning the newly separated nations they “remain inextricably linked.”

Sudan and South Sudan “will need to compromise to close the remaining gaps between them,” Clinton said, after meeting South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir. “It is urgent that both sides, North and South, follow through and reach timely agreements on all outstanding issues, including oil revenue sharing, security, citizenship and border demarcation,” she added.

Clinton, the most senior US official to visit since South Sudan’s independence last year, highlighted Washington’s concern over the bitter dispute between Juba and Khartoum. South Sudan’s government has yet to agree on a raft of issues with Sudan, left unresolved after they split in July 2011, including border demarcation and contested areas in oilrich regions.

Long running African Union-led talks in the Ethiopian capital have so far failed to produce a deal, with Khartoum rejecting Juba’s offers, and demanding that border security must be ensured before any economic accord.

The UN Security Council gave the two countries, which earlier this year came close to a return to all-out war, until August 2 to reach a deal or face sanctions. That deadline elapsed Thursday. At independence, the land-locked South took with it two thirds of the region’s oil, but the pipelines and processing facilities remained in the North.

In January, Juba cut off all oil production, despite it providing some 98% of the South’s revenue, crippling both economies, after accusing Khartoum of stealing its crude. “You have made your point, you have brought Sudan to the negotiating table,” Clinton said, standing

JUBA: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton(C) and South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial, far left, walk to a vehicle as the Secretary arrives for her first visit to South Sudan at Juba International Airport in Juba, South Sudan, yesterday. — AFP

alongside Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial, stressing the importance of getting the oil to start “pumping again.”

“An interim agreement with Sudan over oil production and transit can help address the short term needs of the people of South Sudan, while giving you the resources and the time to explore longer term options.”

Clinton warned that “significant challenges” face the world’s youngest nation, with “persistent poverty in a land rich with natural resources.” Those include “continued violence along the border with Sudan, unresolved ethnic tensions, gaps in infrastructure and the rule of law,” she told reporters.

“Continued progress hinges on South Sudan’s ability to overcome these challenges,” Clinton added. “While South Sudan and Sudan have become separate states, their fortunes remain inextricably linked,” she said.

“The promise of prosperity rests on the prospects for peace. And South

Sudan’s ability to attract trade and investment depends on greater security on both sides of the border.” Clinton is expected to spend around three hours in the steamy heat of ramshackle Juba-a rapidly growing city largely made up of simple tin-roof huts strung out alongside the White Nile river-before flying to Uganda.

“There must always come a point where we look forward and recognize the need to stop fighting over past wrongs so we can build toward a new future,” she said. “It’s time...to dig wells instead of graves,” she added, quoting a South Sudanese bishop. “Time to reach an agreement that allows both countries to prosper.”

Clinton’s 11-day, seven-nation Africa tour is focused on the Obama administration’s new Africa strategy of promoting development by stimulating economic growth, while advancing peace and security and strengthening democracy. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Senator ends hold on Air Force chief nomination WASHINGTON: The White House pick for Air Force chief of staff headed toward Senate confirmation Thursday as members of Congress continued to press the service for answers about the widening sex scandal at a Texas base.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, ended his hold on the nomination of Gen. Mark Welsh after meeting with the nominee to discuss the scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, which has been roiled by accusations that instructors sexually assaulted female recruits.

“It’s clear General Welsh shares my grave concerns over the situation at Lackland,” Cornyn said in a statement. “General Welsh demonstrated a genuine resolve to improving Air Force-wide policies to prevent a

recurrence of the grossly unacceptable conduct that took place at Lackland.” Among the steps Cornyn sought were a review of current Air Force policy and training on sexual assault prevention, fraternization between service members and the organization of basic military training units at Lackland, with special attention to the ratio of officers to trainees.

The Senate was expected to approve the nominee Thursday.

President Barack Obama had tapped Welsh to replace Gen. Norton Schwartz as the head of the Air Force this month. Lackland is where every American airman receives basic training, with about 475 instructors for approximately 35,000 airmen who graduate each year. About 1 in 5 recruits are female, while most

instructors are male.

Last month, a former instructor was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a military jury after he was convicted of rape and sexual assault.

Military officials said last week that the number of instructors under investigation total 15 and the number of alleged victims had increased by seven to 38.

Across the Capitol, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley; Lt. Gen. Richard Harding, who is the judge advocate general; and Maj. Gen. Leonard Patrick faced questions from members of the House Armed Services Committee about the ongoing investigation at Lackland.

“We expect the Air Force to be open and transparent with the results of its investigations. Today’s briefing

is a good step in that direction, but this committee expects to be fully informed as this issue evolves,” the committee chairman, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., and the top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, said in a statement.

But one of the 11 members who attended the session was frustrated with the lack of information. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said the secretary and two generals were unable to answer fundamental questions about the inquiry.

“They didn’t have answers as to whether they (the women at the base) are being surveyed or interviewed. They didn’t have answers as to how many investigators were handling these cases. — AP

Megabus crash in Illinois leaves at least one dead Four flown by helicopter to trauma center

ARLINGTON: US President Barack Obama holds a campaign rally at Loudoun County High School yesterday in Leesburg, Virginia. The president campaigned earlier in the day in Florida. — AFP

Lula legacy at risk in Brazil corruption trial BRASILIA: Brazil’s biggest ever bribery trial began Thursday with dozens of former officials facing vote-buying charges in a case that could tarnish the legacy of popular ex-leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In what the media has dubbed “the trial of the century,” 38 former ministers, lawmakers, businessmen and bankers face prosecution before the Supreme Court over alleged vote-buying in Congress between 2002 and 2005.

Supreme Court Justice Carlos Ayres Britto opened proceedings by naming each defendant and detailing the charges, which range from embezzlement and money laundering to corruption and fraud. Those found guilty face up to 45 years in prison.

Britto quickly slapped down a defense claim that the court did not have jurisdiction in the case. Known as “Mensalao” (big monthly payments), the scandal embroils senior members of Lula’s Workers Party (PT) and Brazil’s ruling coalition, but more broadly sheds light on the nowreviled practices of the entire political establishment.

Lula, the founder and leader of the leftist party who first took office in January 2003, is not among the defendants.

He was followed in office by fellow PT member Dilma Rousseff in January 2011. According to charges that first surfaced in 2005, during Lula’s first term, PT members allegedly offered bribes to members of Congress in exchange for their votes. Prosecutors allege that the bribe money was skimmed from the advertising budgets of state-owned companies through a company owned by businessman Marcos Valerio de Souza, one of the accused.

None of the 38 accused have been arrested, and none of them were in court. Lula, now 66 and recovering from throat cancer, said Thursday that he would not follow the proceedings. “The attorneys are the ones that have to be there,” he told reporters in Sao Paulo. — AFP

LITCHFIELD: A packed double-decker Megabus blew a tire and slammed head-on into a concrete bridge support pillar on an Illinois interstate Thursday, leaving at least one person dead and more than two dozen others injured, officials said.

Illinois State Police Trooper Doug Francis said at least one person was killed in the afternoon wreck of the discount charter bus, which was traveling from Chicago to Kansas City. He didn’t immediately have other details about the death.

At least four other people were flown by helicopter to a trauma center. Another closer hospital treated more than 20 other patients from the crash. Numerous emergency vehicles could be seen on footage shot by a television helicopter flying above the bus, which sat with its crumpled front end smashed up against the bridge support as rescue crews climbed ladders to reach inside. Some passengers could be seen being tended to along the side of Interstate 55, which was shut down in both directions.

“We received a report it had blown a tire which caused it to run off the road,” Francis said. “The bus did stay upright.” MegaBus spokeswoman Amanda Byers said the bus was at full capacity, carrying 81 passengers, when it crashed near Litchfield, about 55 miles northeast of St. Louis. It also was to stop in St. Louis and Columbia, Mo. Memorial Medical Center spokesman Michael Leathers said its trauma center in Springfield, Ill., treated a total of six patients, including four who were airlifted. He said he didn’t know their conditions.

Brian Reardon, a spokesman for St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield, said that hospital has treated more than 20 patients, including some who were treated and released. Reardon said

others had moderate injuries, “such as bone fractures.” He said two other nearby hospitals also are treating patients.

About 36 passengers were taken on two school buses from the crash site to the community center in Litchfield, said Janis Johns, transportation director of Litchfield Community Unit School District 12.

The passengers were either uninjured or mildly injured and included some children, Johns said. One woman was brought on a stretcher in the school bus. The school district sent a third school bus to the crash site, but it wasn’t needed, Johns said.

“We’re close to the highway. We try to help out when we can,” Johns said.

The Red Cross will be notified and coolers of water will be provided, she said. “It was very warm out there,” she said, and some crash survivors were overheated.

Federal transportation officials said they had been notified of the crash. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is aware of the incident and will work with local authorities who are investigating the crash to determine if there are safety implications that merit agency action,” said a statement from the agency. — AP

LITCHFIELD: First responders work the scene of a charter bus crash on Interstate 55 near Litchfield, Ill. Thursday. The double-decker Megabus carrying 81 passengers blew a tire and slammed head-on into a concrete bridge support pillar. Four people injured in the crash were flown by helicopter to a trauma center, others were treated at local hospitals. — AP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

N Korea’s new leader makes diplomatic debut SEOUL: North Korea’s new leader hosted a dinner in Pyongyang for senior political officials visiting from China, state media said yesterday, in what marked Kim Jong Un’s diplomatic debut and a sign that he is turning his attention to foreign affairs.

Kim held talks with a Chinese delegation led by Wang Jiarui, head of the Communist Party’s international affairs office, and then invited the group to a dinner attended by North Korea’s political elite, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Kim told Wang that the North Korean government is focused on boosting the economy, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

The meeting marks Kim’s first official

diplomatic foray since he took over as leader following the December death of his father, Kim Jong Il. Kim, who is believed to be 29, has been swift in moving to build loyalty among North Korea’s 24 million people and to establish control over key institutions such as the military and ruling Workers’ Party. He also has been quick to show his rule will differ in focus and style from that of his father, who kept his personal life out of the state media, rarely traveled abroad and met only selectively with foreign dignitaries.

After gaining the new title of marshal and shuffling the military leadership last month, Kim Jong Un made the surprise introduction of his wife, Ri Sol Ju. At Thursday’s talks with the

Chinese, he reiterated his government’s focus on building the economy, according to Xinhua. Seated next to him was Vice Premier Kang Sok Ju, the seasoned diplomat who accompanied Kim’s father to China last year.

“Developing the economy and improving livelihoods so that the (North) Korean people lead happy and civilized lives is the goal the Workers’ Party is struggling towards,” the news agency reported Kim as telling Wang.

Photos showed the two men standing shoulder to shoulder as they posed for a group portrait, Wang in a Western-style suit and Kim in a dark blue Mao jacket with the pin bearing his father and randfather’s portraits affixed to his chest.

China, which sent troops to support North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, remains Pyongyang’s main ally and biggest benefactor.

That relationship has deepened in recent years as North Korea increasingly turns to China to provide muchneeded food, oil and trade and oil.

While North Korea founder Kim Il Sung welcomed a string of foreign guests and traveled overseas regularly until his death in 1994, Kim Jong Il met few visitors during his later years and rarely traveled abroad - though only by train. However, he made an exception for neighboring China, traveling by train four times during the last two years of his life on trips focused on learning about the country’s new market economy. — AP

Philippine mine shut as storms cause spill MANILA: A Philippine gold mining firm said yesterday waste had leaked from one of its mines due to heavy rains, forcing the government to shut down production. Chief mining regulator Leo Jasareno said the government was assessing the potential hazards posed by the tailings spill at the Padcal mine, though Philex Mining, the country’s top gold mining firm, denied the discharge was toxic.

“We have issued a suspension order on the mine,” Jasareno told AFP by telephone as he drove to the mine, located near the northern mountain resort of Baguio. There were no reported casualties.

“Philex is exerting its maximum effort to address the accidental discharge, and has mobilised the requisite resources in this regard,” the company said in a statement. Philex vice president for corporate affairs Mike Toledo said bad weather was hampering company efforts to assess the extent of the damage and said it had no timetable for resuming operations. “I think we’ll still be able to reach our (production) targets,”

Toledo told AFP when asked if the shutdown would affect the company’s profitability. The listed company’s shares plunged 6.71 percent to 20.15 pesos (48 US cents) in morning trading Friday as it disclosed the suspension of mine operations. Padcal is Philex’s only producing gold mine.

Typhoon Saola induced widespread flooding across the northern Philippines this week that claimed at least 37 lives according to the government’s updated toll. The accident comes amid an intense public debate in the Philippines on the mining industry.

The Philippines is believed to have some of the biggest mineral reserves in the world-the government estimates the country has at least $840 billion in gold, copper, nickel, chromite, manganese, silver and iron ore deposits.

However, the minerals have been largely untapped, partly because of a strong anti-mining movement led by the influential Catholic Church, while poor infrastructure and security concerns have also kept investors away.— AFP

ITOGON: This file photo taken on May 27, 2006 shows the mine tailing treatment pond operates at the ore milling plant of Philex Mining Corp., in Itogon, northern Benguet province. Philippine gold mining firm Philex mining said yesterday, waste has leaked from one of its mines due to heavy rains, forcing the government to shut down production. — AFP

ULAN BATOR: This picture taken on June 17, 2012 shows former Mongolian leader Nambar Enkhbayar (R) waving to his supporters after his corruption trial ended in Ulan Bator. A court in Mongolia has jailed former president Nambar Enkhbayar for four years after finding him guilty of corruption charges that he has called politically motivated, it was reported yesterday. — AFP

Mongolia jails former president for corruption ‘I never thought I would be accused groundlessly’ ULAN BATOR: A court in Mongolia has jailed former president Nambar Enkhbayar for four years after finding him guilty of corruption charges that he has called politically motivated. Enkhbayar, 54, served as prime minister and then president for almost a decade until losing office in 2009. He was arrested in April in a dawn raid broadcast live on national television.

On Thursday, a Mongolian court found him guilty of misappropriating gifts intended for a monastery and illegally privatising a hotel along with other corruption charges, in a hearing broadcast to the nation.

The court originally sentenced him to seven years, but reduced it by three years, citing an amnesty law. Enkhbayar, who was barred from running in Mongolia’s June parliamentary elections, called the charges “groundless”.

“I served the posts of president, prime minister and speaker of parliament. I never thought I would be accused groundlessly,” Enkhbayar said in his testimony. His lawyer said they would appeal the verdict. Enkhbayar formed a breakaway Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party last year, splitting from the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), the oldest in the country which held power

during the Soviet era. For much of the past decade the MPP shared power with the Democratic Party, but the latter left the coalition in January to prepare for June elections. Enkhbayar’s MPRP joined forces with another party to form the Justice Coalition, which in June won 11 of 76 parliamentary seats, considered a relative success for the new coalition.

They have agreed to cooperate closely with the DP, which won the largest share in parliament with 31 seats, while the MPP won 25. The election results are still being contested, however, with charges of vote-buying and other disputes.

Accusations of vote-rigging in 2008 parliamentary elections sparked riots that left four people dead.

The MPP and DP have pledged to improve the distribution of wealth across the vast nation, which covers an area three times the size of France but has a population of just 2.8 million people.

Mongolia is ranked 120 out of 182 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by the watchdog group Transparency International, tying with Bangladesh, Iran and Kazakhstan. Mongolia is one of Asia’s poorest nations but has increasingly lured foreign investors with its rich deposits of copper, gold, uranium, silver and oil. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Wife of China’s Bo Xilai to be tried on Aug 9 BEIJING: The wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai will be tried for the murder of a British businessman on August 9, a lawyer for the family told AFP yesterday. State media said last week that Gu Kailai, a former international lawyer, had been charged with intentional homicide in the death of Briton Neil Heywood and would face trial in the eastern city of Hefei.

Yesterday the family’s lawyer Shen Zhigeng told AFP by telephone that the trial would take place on August 9. No one at the court could be reached for comment. China’s official news agency Xinhua said last week there was “irrefutable and substantial” evidence that Gu and Zhang Xiaojun, who worked for the Bo family, had poisoned Heywood.

Heywood was found dead in a hotel

room in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing in November and his death was initially blamed on excessive alcohol consumption. Investigation results showed that Gu had clashed with Heywood over “economic interests” and he had threatened her son, according to Xinhua.

If convicted, she faces the death penalty, although this is often commuted in high-profile cases. Bo was the Communist Party leader for Chongqing and one of China’s most prominent political leaders until his downfall earlier this year, which sent shockwaves through China.

The case burst into the open in February when Wang Lijun, Chongqing police chief and Bo’s right-hand man, went to a US consulate in southern China to seek asylum and told diplomats of his

suspicions about the charismatic politician and his family.

The scandal rocked the highest echelons of power in China and dashed Bo’s hopes of promotion to the politburo standing committee-the Communist Party’s highest body. Bo, the son of a revered communist revolutionary, had earned a national profile with a draconian crackdown on criminal elements in Chongqing and a “red revival” campaign marked by the mass singing of old Maoist-era songs.

The rapid unravelling of his fortunes has exposed a harsh factional reaction against the charismatic and ambitious leader, and the affair has been seen as a huge embarrassment for the party. He is thought to be under house arrest and is being investigated for corruption. He has been stripped of his senior positions

with the ruling Communist Party, although he remains a member.

Last week’s announcement that Gu would face trial came after Patrick Devillers, a French architect said to have been close to the former lawyer, travelled to China to assist in the official inquiry. Devillers, 52, is understood to have been a business associate and friend of Bo and his wife, although his exact role is unclear.

He was detained in Phnom Penh, where he had been living, on June 13 at Beijing’s request and boarded a flight to China after he was released by Cambodian authorities. Cambodian officials and the French foreign ministry have stressed it was Devillers’ own choice to help Beijing with its investigation. China has so far made no comment. — AFP

Former US president Truman’s grandson meets nuke survivors ‘A good first step towards healing old wounds’

JAKARTA: Muslim protesters hold banners during a rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, yesterday, calling for an end to the violence against ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State of Myanmar. Communal violence in western Myanmar between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas prompted a government crackdown in the region last month. — AP

Jailed cleric threatens Myanmar over Rohingya JAKARTA: Jailed Islamist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir threatened to wage war if Myanmar continues to harm Muslim Rohingyas, in a letter to the country’s president Thein Sein seen on a website yesterday. The 74-year-old is widely regarded as a spiritual leader of radical Islam in Indonesia-the world’s most populous Muslim country-and is currently serving a 15-year-jail term for funding terror. “We’ve heard Muslims screaming in your country because of your acts of evil...you have taken them out from their homes and are killing them,” he wrote in the letter dated July 22, which was passed on to followers and published on the website voaislam.com.“If you neglect these calls, by Allah our Lord, you have witnessed the fall of proud and conceited countries in the hands of our mujahideen soldiers,” he added. The letter was confirmed as authentic by Son Hadi, the spokesman for Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), a group founded by Bashir in 2008 and labelled a terrorist organisation by the United States.

An outspoken supporter of violent jihad, Bashir was convicted in 2010 of financing a teror cell in Aceh province. Earlier this year, the country’s top court overturned a lower court’s decision to cut his 15-year term.

“You must know that we are brothers as Muslims. Their pains is our pain, their sorrows are our sorrows, and their blood that you shed is our blood too,” Bashir wrote. “By the will of Allah, we can destroy you and your people.” Son Hadi said yesterday that the letter was submitted on Monday to the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta. The embassy was not reachable for comment.

About 100 Muslim extremists from the Indonesian branch of pro-Caliphate organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir protested yesterday outside the Myanmar embassy and vow a Jihad to stop the “Muslim cleansing”. “We are ready to die to help our fellow Muslims in Myanmar. A Jihad is the only way to stop this massacre,” one of the protesters on loudspeaker told the crowd, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest). —AFP

TOKYO: A grandson of former US president Harry Truman, who authorised the atomic bombing of Japan during World War II, met survivors in Tokyo yesterday, calling it “a good first step towards healing old wounds”.

Clifton Truman Daniel, 55, was in Japan to attend 67th anniversary ceremonies of the bombs falling-on August 6 in Hiroshima and August 9 in Nagasaki-the first Truman relative to attend the annual events in the southern Japanese cities.

Tens of thousands of people come out every year to remember the 1945 atomic bombing, estimated to have killed more than 200,000 people, either instantly or from burns and radiation sickness following the blast.

Truman’s grandson, a former journalist who was invited by an anti-nuclear group, talked with a handful of survivors and students at a Tokyo University forum yesterday.

“The meeting was great,” Daniel told reporters following the two-hour conversation during which he mainly listened to survivors who are now in their 70s and 80s. “The most impressive thing is that survivors and students and all of us can come together and talk, and they can share their stories,” said Daniel, who lives in Chicago.

In a separate interview with AFP, Daniel added that “it’s a good first step toward healing old wounds. We are looking at this... as a good first step to talk and to better understand each other”. The survivors who attended the forum generally welcomed Daniel’s visit. “It’s good to meet the grandson of Mr Truman as we have not had a chance to meet him before,” said Nobuo Miyake, 83, who survived the Hiroshima bombing and now lives in Tokyo.

Kohei Koba, another male survivor, 79, said: “Since he is a grandson, he has no direct responsibility. Rather, I felt as if I met a distant relative.” But

TOKYO: Clifton Truman Daniel (C), a grandson of former US president Harry Truman who authorised the atomic bomb drops 67 years ago, looks at Hiroshima A-bomb survivor Nobuo Miyake (L), 83, as he speaks at a symposium at the University of Tokyo yesterday. — AFP

Reiko Yamada, a 77-year-old female survivor, said: “I would like him to know that some of those who lost their family members in the bombings will never forgive (the United States) no matter what.”

Masashi Ieshima, another survivor in his 70s, said: “I’m not sure we could have sufficient communication in such a limited time. I hope he will learn about the real tragedy when he visits Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

During his stay in Japan, Daniel is scheduled to hold talks with the mayors of the two cities and meet more survivors of the bombings. Asked if he plans to publicly express his sympathy to survivors, Daniel said only: “I certainly can feel terrible for what hap-

pened to them. It’s obviously a difficult subject.” While opinions remain divided over whether atomic bombs were necessary to end the war, Daniel defended his grandfather, who ordered their use after Japan refused to surrender. “I can’t second-guess my grandfather... (but) there is no right decision in war,” he said. “My grandfather always said that he made that decision to end the war quickly. That’s what he believed. “(He) was horrified by the destruction caused by those weapons and dedicated the rest of his presidency trying to make sure that it didn’t happen again. “I hope that I can do the same, to work to hopefully rid the world of nuclear weapons,” he said.— AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

In Indonesia, calls for change to mosque loudspeakers JAKARTA: For Beringin Kusuma whose living quarters are only a short distance from a mosque, the Muslim month of Ramadan is not only a time for fasting, but also for plugging his ears before bed every night.

Year-round, like most urban dwellers in the world’s largest Muslim nation that boasts 800,000 mosques, the 22-year-old university student has to contend with the “azan” that begins at dawn and calls worshippers to prayer five times a day. But during Ramadan the mosques go into overdrive. Their crackling speakers blare out not only the azan, but also calls to worshippers to wake before the pre-dawn sahur breakfast that begins the day-long fast, and Koran recitations that go on almost all day and night.

“It’s worse during Ramadan,” complained Kusuma, who for the past three years has lived in a rented room only 20 metres (65 feet) from the closest mosque. In Indonesia, Ramadan-a time of year when Muslims forgo food, drink and sex between dawn and dusk-started on July 21. Eid al-Fitr, the feast marking the end of the fasting month, falls on August 19. Dates may vary elsewhere.

But while it is regarded as one of the most spiritual

periods in the Islamic calendar, for many it is also the most noisy. “Most people wake up just before 4:30 am for a quick sahur, but the speakers start calling the people to wake up at 2:30 am ,” said Kusuma.

“They repeat it many times, along with Koran recitations-and then comes the azan at dawn,” he said.

Kusuma compares the sound to “someone screaming in my ear” and says he usually tries to return home after 9 pm when at least the special evening Ramadan prayers are over.

“If it wasn’t for ear plugs, I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep during all of Ramadan.” ‘Devotion doesn’t need a loudspeaker’-With hundreds of thousands of mosques in this nation of 240 million people, most city and town dwellers are accosted every dawn by the intermingling cacophony blaring out of three or four mosques, each broadcasting its own azan.

For some people-especially non-Muslim foreigners unfamiliar with the routine and naive enough to rent a place without checking the distance from the closest mosque-it can all be too much. Two years ago, an American running a guesthouse near a mosque on the tourist island of Lombok snapped during a prayer read-

ing and yanked the wire connecting the speaker. He was sentenced to five months in jail for blasphemy.

Anita Rizki, a 22-year-old secretary at a private hospital in Jakarta, said the mosques were bad enough throughout the year, but became impossible during Ramadan, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.

“I feel guilty for my non-Muslim neighbours, because the noises keep them up all night,” said Rizki, who lives 100-metres from a large mosque. “People have different faiths. Our devotion doesn’t need to be broadcast through a loudspeaker. It only shows a lack of religious tolerance.”

According to ear specialist Ronny Suwento, “the noise level can reach dangerous decibels for those who live very close to mosques, and that can cause hearing loss over time.”

Historically, the prayer leader at a mosque would climb the minaret and deliver the call to prayer without amplification. Kusuma, the university student, said he believed that mosque loudspeakers are outdated.

“It doesn’t work at all in our times. Thanks to technology, we can now even download an alarm which plays the prayer call at its designated time.”—AFP

Pakistan’s court strikes down contempt law PM has no plans to write letter to Swiss authorities

NEW DELHI: India’s anti-corruption activists Anna Hazare, right, speaks to his aide Kiran Bedi during a protest in New Delhi, India, yesterday. Hazare will end his six-day-long hunger strike demanding strong anti-graft laws yesterday. — AP

Indian activist Hazare to end hunger strike NEW DELHI: Indian anti-graft activist Anna Hazare was set to end his “indefinite” hunger strike yesterday after six days, having failed to garner the mass support that spurred his anti-corruption drive a year ago.

Hazare, 75, announced his intention to end his fast when he addressed supporters Thursday at the protest venue in central New Delhi, where he begun refusing food last Sunday. His remarks also hinted at a possible entry into politics with an eye on India’s 2014 general elections.

“It is another two years to go to the polls. We have to go to people throughout the country in the next one-and-half years. Why waste time on fasts?” Hazare said. The veteran activist’s latest protest-which he had threatened to pursue “until death”-had sought to pressurise the government into strengthening a new anti-corruption bill currently pending a parliamentary committee hearing.

His campaign had also demanded a special probe into possible graft allegations against 15 ministers, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Hazare became an unlikely national

hero last August when he led countrywide protests that tapped into a rich seam of public anger at India’s endemic corruption and caught Singh’s grafttainted coalition government unawares.

During a 12-day hunger strike, he was feted as a latter-day Mahatma Gandhi and mobbed at a triumphal procession through the capital New Delhi. This time however, crowds have been far smaller and it quickly became clear that the campaign had lost much of its momentum since the heady days of last summer.

The media has also been less supportive, suggesting that Hazare overstepped the mark in insisting that parliament adopts his campaign’s input for the new anti-corruption bill. “We want a political alternative,” Hazare said Thursday. “People should decide who should be given tickets and how to achieve that alternative system.”

Campaign spokeswoman Aswathi Murlidharan said Friday that no decision had yet been taken on what political avenues would be explored.”It is not a political party that we are looking at right now,” she said. — AFP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court yesterday struck down a recently passed law to protect the prime minister from being charged with contempt of court and ousted from office, like his predecessor, for refusing to reopen an old corruption case against the president.

The ruling comes less than a week before the deadline set by the court for the current premier, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, to tell the judges whether he will obey their order to write a letter to Swiss authorities asking them to reopen the graft case.

The government and court have been locked in conflict over the issue since the beginning of the year, stoking political instability that has distracted from what many in the country see as more pressing problems, such as the struggling economy and a Taliban insurgency.

The court could repeatedly disqualify prime ministers over the issue, undermining the government and forcing an early national. Parliament passed the new law in early July after former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was convicted of contempt and forced to step down. The law provided greater protection to the prime minister and other senior government officials against contempt charges.

The court struck down the law because it violated the basic principle of equality among the country’s citizens, said Zafr Ullah, a lawyer who challenged the law. The government has refused to reopen the corruption case against Zardari, saying he enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office. His supporters have accused the court of relentlessly pursuing the matter because of bad blood between Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and the president.

The new prime minister, Ashraf, has also indicated he has no plans to write the letter to Swiss authorities.

If the court convicts him of contempt and orders his removal from office, the government would be forced to once again seek support in parliament to elect a new premier or call early national elections.

It’s unclear which option the government would choose. The ruling Pakistan People’s Party has been keen on holding elections as scheduled in early 2013 because it could then boast being the first civilian government to serve a full five-year term in the country’s 65-year history. Past governments have been toppled by the direct or indirect intervention of the army, often with the help if the judiciary.

The case against Zardari relates to kickbacks he and his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, allegedly received from Swiss companies when Bhutto was in power in the 1990s. They were found guilty in absentia in a Swiss court in 2003.

Zardari appealed, but Swiss prosecutors dropped the case after the Pakistani parliament passed an ordinance giving the president and others immunity from old corruption cases that many agreed were politically motivated.

The measure was criticized by many in Pakistan, who saw it as an attempt to subvert the law. The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 2009 and ordered the government to write to Swiss authorities requesting they reopen the case.

A Swiss prosecutor told the media last year that Geneva couldn’t bring proceedings against Zardari because he has immunity as a head of state. The Supreme Court has also said it would respect the president’s immunity, but it still wants the government to write the letter to the Swiss and is frustrated the government has long disobeyed its orders to do so. The court has ordered the government to declare whether it will write the letter by Aug. 8. — AP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan attorney general Irfan Qadir (C) leaves the Supreme Court building in Islamabad yesterday. Pakistan’s top court struck down a new law exempting members of the government from being tried for contempt, clearing the way for legal proceedings against the prime minister. — AFP

HTC profit down 58%

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

RBS sacks staff over Libor rigging scandal

Drought delivers blow to reeling Indian economy

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BARCELONA: Rail workers protest during a demonstration against the government’s privatization plans at Sants rail station in Barcelona yesterday. Hundreds of trains have been cancelled in Spain amid a one day strike by rail workers protesting against privatization plans. — AFP

Spain inches towards full EU bailout Liquidity position, funding costs remain manageable MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy inched closer yesterday to asking for an EU bailout for his country, but said he needed first to know what conditions would be attached and what form the rescue would take. His comments, at his first post-cabinet meeting news conference since taking office last December, came a day after the European Central Bank signaled it was preparing to buy Spanish and Italian bonds but only after EU bailout funds were triggered and countries had asked for help.

A source said separately that Spain would not decide whether to apply for several weeks. Buying bonds and providing aid would all be designed to bring down what have been prohibitive borrowing costs in the indebted countries. Rajoy said he was ready to do what is best for Spain, going far further than he did on Thursday when, during a press appearance with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Rajoy three times declined to say whether he would seek the aid.

“I will do, as I always do, what I believe to be in the best interest of the Spanish people,” Rajoy said yesterday. “We still don’t know what these measures are,” he said, reference to a comment by ECB President Mario Draghi

that the bank was examining non-conventional measures to defend the euro. “What I want to know is what these measures are, what they mean and whether they are appropriate and, in light of the circumstances, we will make a decision, but I have still not taken any decision,” he said.

A source familiar with Rajoy’s thinking confirmed this possibility was actively looked at and that Rajoy was ready to bear the political cost of a request. Spain has already asked for aid for its stricken banks. “People have said the main reason why he is not seeking help is because he is too proud. But this is not true.

He requested an assistance for the banks because it was the adequate instrument to solve a specific problem. There is no opposition to do it again,” the source said. An aid request would entail negotiating a memorandum of understanding with other euro-zone countries and would likely bear strong conditionality, something Rajoy wants to discuss in detail before moving forward.

TOUGH CONDITIONS Although Spain already complies with stringent EU and International Monetary Fund demands to reform its economy and has

announced a package of 65 billion euros ($79 billion) of tax hikes and spending cuts in July, the government fears it could now be asked to reform further the pension system. The measure is the last campaign pledge Rajoy has not been forced to break so far and could undermine even more the support for the government after it already fell sharply in recent weeks as hundreds of thousand of Spaniards took the streets to protests against austerity steps.

A euro-zone official told Reuters last week Spain had for the first time conceded at a meeting between Economy Minister Luis de Guindos and his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble it might need a full bailout worth 300 billion euros if its borrowing costs remain unsustainably high. Rajoy’s office however denied that talks on this issue had taken place. People who discussed the question with Rajoy explain that he may still hope to avoid making the request because he thinks by just knowing that the EU rescue funds and the ECB are geared up would be enough to shield Spain from market pressures. “The thinking is that the instruments need to be in place and possibly the risk premium will go down so much that there will be no need to

go any further,” said one senior politician.

BAILOUT INEVITABLE The indebtedness of Spain’s banks and regions, along with a shrinking economy, set to be in recession until well into next year, have all pushed debt costs to new record highs. Last week, its 10-year paper was trading at around 7.6 percent, a level seen unsustainable in the medium term. The yield went down by more than 100 basis points after the ECB’s Draghi said he would do whatever is necessary to defend the euro but picked up on Thursday as markets were disappointed by the lack of immediate action.

“Prior to today, the markets hoped a full Spanish bailout would not be necessary, now they have been told it is inevitable,” Marchel Alexandrovich, senior vice-president and European financial economist at Jefferies, said in a note, echoing the views of many other analysts. “The killer Q&A Draghi statement is that before the ECB comes in to buy Spain and Italy, first, a country need to ask for formal assistance. So there we go, what Draghi has basically indicated is that the problem in the bond markets has to get considerably worse before the ECB steps in to help.” — Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Eastern leaders urge EU cohesion as growth tool ABUJA: Nigerian oil production hit its highest level ever this week, reaching 2.7 million barrels per day, the state oil firm said yesterday, though hurdles remain to a sustained boost in production. Nigeria, home to Africa’s largest oil industry, has seen crude production rebound since a 2009 amnesty deal for militants in the Niger Delta region which led to a sharp decline in unrest there. It has been

producing between 2.0 and 2.4 million barrels per day in recent months, according to figures from the International Energy Agency. The head of state oil firm NNPC said production reached 2.7 mbd on Wednesday. “I am glad to report to you that in crude oil production (on Wednesday) we recorded an all-time high of 2.7 million barrels. This has not been recorded before,” Andrew

Yakubu said in a statement. Besides the improvement in security, French firm Total recently began long-awaited production at its offshore Usan field, with a capacity of 180,000 barrels per day.

But new investment has been limited in recent years in Nigeria due to uncertainty over a proposed sweeping overhaul of the oil industry that has been long in the works. President

Goodluck Jonathan forwarded a new version of the legislation to parliament in July. Sabotage and oil theft in the Niger Delta region to feed a lucrative black market also continues to be a major problem. Shell, historically Nigeria’s largest producer, said in April that there have been estimates that 150,000 barrels per day of oil and condensate is stolen in the country. — AFP

IAG to restructure Iberia; group slumps to H1 loss Shares down 4.3 percent

TOCOA: Peasants members of the MUCA (Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguan) agrarian movement working in the African palm harvest at La Confianza community near Tocoa, Colon department, 600 km north of Tegucigalpa. — AFP

African palm oil stoking land conflict in Honduras TEGUCIGALPA: Growing demand for African palm oil, a key ingredient in cosmetics and processed foods, is fueling deadly land disputes in the Honduran countryside, pitting large landowners against landless peasants. At least 78 people have been killed over the past three years as a competition for land heats up in Honduras’ rich Aguan Valley, the center of the country’s burgeoning African palm industry. Large landowners have turned extensive acreage to African palm cultivation as prices for palm oil have risen in international markets.

Those increases have been driven by global demand from the cosmetics and processed foods industries and more recently for its use as a biofuel. “There is a boom now with the African palm because, as oil prices rise, everyone wants to shift to biofuels,” said analyst Gilberto Rios.

Palm oil currently sells for about $950 a ton, double what a farmer can make from corn in the local markets. A farmer can make up to $4,000 a hectare raising African palms, which are easy to grow and require relatively little labor. Honduras exported $200 million worth of palm oil, making it the nation’s fourth export, behind coffee, bananas and farmed shrimp. But in the Aguan valley, the spread of large-scale African palm cultivation has also led to land grabs, less employment for farmworkers, and disruption to local supplies of staples such as corn and beans.

Thousands of families of farm workers are occupying some 7,000 hectares of land in the valley, challenging the hold of a small number of landowners who have put together huge tracts of land from what were once small plots. The growing tension this week prompted the Honduran

Congress to pass a law making it illegal to carry weapons in the northeastern department of Colon, where the Aguan valley is located. Police began enforcement operations Thursday, setting up checkpoints on roads to search cars for weapons.

Exempted from the ban were private security firms and law enforcement in the region, which also is dealing with drugrelated violence. “On the one hand, the disarmament is good because there is a lot of crime here,” said Arnulfo Lopez, 66, as he left his 13-hectare farm. “But those who go armed are the landowners’ guards because what the peasants carry are machetes.” The deputy director of the National Agrarian Institute (INA), Ramiro Lobo, recalled that it was the local government that first began encouraging farmers in the Aguan valley to shift to African palms in the 1980s. In 1992, the administration of Rafael Callejas paved the way for big business in the palm oil trade, passing the Agricultural Modernization Law, which allowed farmers to sell land they had received through agrarian reforms. Directors of farm cooperatives used the law to sell off arable land held by poor farmers to big landlords.

“Participants in the cooperatives were not aware of the sales, which is why they continue to insist that the land belongs to them,” Lobo said. Palm cultivation multiplied rapidly on the landlords’ newly acquired estates, leaving in its wake many people angry over the loss of their livelihoods. The leftist government of Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009) decreed that vacant land parcels owned by landowners would be redistributed to farmers, but after a June 2009 coup, the government annulled the decree, favoring the big landowners. —AFP

LONDON: The owner of British Airways and Iberia announced a wholesale restructuring of the underperforming Spanish airline as it tumbled to a first-half group loss and cut its full-year earnings guidance.

Willie Walsh, the head of International Airlines Group, said the Iberia reorganization would mean shedding jobs and reshaping its network. “Iberia’s problems are deep and structural and the economic environment reinforces the need for permanent structural change,” Walsh told reporters. “The plan should be completed by the end of September and will encompass every aspect of Iberia’s business.”

Against a background of soaring fuel costs, Iberia made an operating loss of 263 million euros in the first half of 2012, compared with a 13 million euro profit at BA. “It’s been a tale of two airlines and two cities with BA and London doing well and Iberia and Madrid struggling,” said Davy analyst Stephen Furlong. “Iberia has been hit by tough economic conditions in Spain, it has a high cost base and labor costs, Spanish airport charges have risen and it is struggling to compete with low-cost airlines.” Shares in IAG, Europe’s fourth-biggest airline group by market value, have fallen 10 percent in the last three months. They were 4.3 percent down at 152.3 pence by 0815 GMT, making it the top faller on London’s FTSE 100 and valuing the group at around 2.8 billion pounds.

CRISIS IMPACT European airlines are being hit by slower spending on air travel amid the euro zone debt crisis as well as by high fuel prices, and many have responded by shutting down unprofitable routes and limiting their spending. IAG’s European peers Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have embarked on cost cutting pro-

grams, trimmed profit forecasts and slashed plans to expand capacity and fleets this year after results were battered by high fuel costs and weakening consumer demand.

In recent years - amid weak economic growth, high unemployment and an uncertain outlook - companies and consumers have changed their attitudes on how much service and comfort they are willing to pay for, with many switching to low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet. But even budget carriers have had a tough time. Ryanair plans to ground 80 planes in the face of weaker demand. Earlier this year easyJet said it planned to cut flights to and from Madrid by 20 percent after ceasing to base aircraft and employees there. BA and Iberia sealed an $8 billion merger in 2010, a move that helped the pair stem huge losses following the worst industry downturn in decades.

CHANGING GUIDANCE IAG, which earlier this year predicted it would break even in 2012, expects to make a small operating loss for the year because of restructuring costs and the short term earnings drag from the bmi acquisition. IAG reported a group operating loss of 253 million euros ($307.6 million) in the six months to the end of June compared with a profit of 88 million euros in the same period a year ago. Group revenue rose 9.8 percent to 8.53 billion euros. IAG said its fuel costs rose 25 percent to just under 3 billion euros, while non-fuel costs jumped 9.5 percent to 5.8 billion euros. Earlier this year IAG predicted its annual fuel bill would rise by 1 billion euros. Combined with 90 million euros worth of restructuring costs stemming from its acquisition of bmi, Walsh said IAG would struggle to make any money this year. — Reuters

HTC profit down 58% TAIPEI: Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp reported yesterday a 58 percent drop in second quarter profit year-on-year, its third consecutive quarterly decline as intensifying competition from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co hurt sales. HTC said profit amounted to 7.4 billion New Taiwan dollars ($248 million) from revenue of NT$91 billion in the three months through June. It reported a 70 percent drop in the first quarter and a 26 percent drop in the final quarter last year. Looking ahead, HTC predicted third quarter revenue of NT$70-80 billion, down 41-48 percent from the same period last year.

HTC has grown on the strength of the design of its handsets, based on Google’s Android operating system. But its sales have declined in a market increasingly dominated by Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. The company had hoped to win back some of its market with the launch of “HTC One” series, which offers users a better camera and music experience. But following the huge popularity of Samsung’s Galaxy handsets, the model’s key US carrier, AT&T, recently slashed the prices of “HTC One” by

half, which could hurt HTC revenue.

Describing HTC as a young global company which only began building its own brand in 2006, HTC chief financial officer Chang Chia-lin said it “needed to work harder” to win consumer preference for its handsets in a volatile and competitive market. Chang said the US will continue to be an important market, but that China “will be a key driving force for our future growth.” He declined to comment on whether the Chinese market’s preference for low-end, low-priced handsets would drive down the company’s overall revenue. Last month, HTC announced it was selling half of the 50 percent stake it had bought of US headphone maker, Dr Dre’s Beats Electronics, raising concerns about the soundness of the company’s investment policy. Chang said the sale would create “a win-win situation,” giving Beats’ managers more flexibility to boost their product value. But he indicated the need for more caution in future investment. “We will continue to invest in the future,” Chang said. “But we will allocate resources to focus on key growth areas, such as product innovation, sales and marketing.” — AP

BUSINESS SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Decline of entrepreneurship blamed for Japan woes TOKYO: Worn out and resigned to its dwindling national status, Japan Inc. is said to be quietly shuffling off the world stage. But don’t tell that to Kenji Hasegawa who is ready to conquer the global auto market with his nifty innovation, a bolt that doesn’t need a nut.

Or Chiaki Hayashi who makes millions teaching big-name companies to be creative again. As different as they seem - Hasegawa runs auto-parts supplier Lock’n Bolt Corp and Hayashi is a rare woman to help found a Tokyo startup both highlight the potential of innovation and entrepreneurship in a nation that is often typecast as facing an unrelenting decline.

Of the decline, there is plenty of evidence. Long in the doldrums after its 1980s bubble economy burst, Japan was recently eclipsed by China as the world’s second-biggest economy. Many of its consumer technology companies have been overtaken by South Korean competitors and are racking up huge losses. The number of young Japanese choosing to study abroad has dropped.

And while Facebook lured hundreds of millions of members worldwide, management at Japanese social network

Mixi never looked to grow overseas.

Japan, according to the naysayers, is stagnating, only looking inward and squandering advantages such as its well educated workforce, low crime rate and a rich history of technological prowess.

But even while acknowledging big challenges that include its swollen national debt and rapidly greying population, Japan Inc.’s boosters say it can still rekindle the sparks of ingenuity that in the past delivered nifty network-connecting mobile phones years before the arrival of smartphones, and made “instant noodles” part of the global diet for the last four decades.

First though, Japan must recognize that what ails it is at least partly in the mind. “In order to have innovation, you must accept a certain amount of failure.

To the Japanese, this has become taboo,” said William Saito, a prolific technology inventor who now runs a company that identifies up-and-coming innovators and tries to match them with investors. Saito says conformist Japan frowns upon failures, and doesn’t allow for second chances. Worse, Japan appears to be wallowing, when what it needs is action, Saito and others say.

Asian markets hit by ECB disappointment HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly fell and the euro came back under pressure yesterday after the European Central Bank dashed traders’ hopes for strong policy actions to support troubled euro-zone economies.

Downbeat earnings reports from two of Japan’s biggest electronics firms also weighed on the Nikkei, with Sharp losing more than a quarter of its value in the morning session.

Tokyo fell 1.13 percent, or 98.07 points, to 8,555.11, Seoul shed 1.11, or 20.72 points, to 1,848.68, Sydney closed 1.12 percent, or 48.0 points, lower at 4,221.5 and Hong Kong shed 0.12 percent, or 24.02 points, to close at 19,666.18. But Shanghai ended 1.02 percent higher, adding 21.62 points to 2,132.80, after the country’s securities regulator said it would cut transaction fees on equity trading by 20 percent from September 1. Markets were deflated by the ECB’s decision to hold off any concrete moves to support the euro such as bond buying, which many had hoped for after bank chief Mario Draghi said last week it would do whatever was needed to save the euro.

On Thursday he reiterated that the ECB was ready to step into the bond markets-but not just yet. Draghi insisted the onus was on euro-zone governments, saying they must carry out promised reforms and turn to the region’s bailout funds before the ECB could step in.

In the face of growing pressure, the ECB “may undertake outright open market operations of a size adequate to reach its objective”, he said, but added that the details would be worked out “in the coming weeks”. Whatever the circumstances, Draghi said it was “pointless” to bet against the euro. “It stays. It stays. It stays,” he insisted.

However investors, who had sent global markets surging over the past week as they factored in some sort of action, were unimpressed and Spanish borrowing costs bounced back above the seven percent danger level. “As we had feared, Draghi failed miserably to live up to the heightened market expectations of significant new measures to match his pledge last week to do whatever is necessary to preserve the euro,” Daiwa Capital Markets said in a note, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The let-down came after the US Federal Reserve had said on Wednesday that it would take a wait-and-see approach before unveiling any stimulus for the world’s number one economy. — AFP

Even the rising yen, long cited as the death knell for an exporting economy such as Japan, should be reframed as an advantage, delivering bigger purchasing power for Japanese companies abroad.

For some, Japan’s revival can come from re-inventing what it has long known best - manufacturing, but with innovative ideas. As tiny as a nut-less bolt is it has the potential to make Hasegawa, the supplier, rich. Much of machinery, including cars, ships and factory equipment, uses bolts - untold numbers of them. And so a bolt that doesn’t require a nut is a big timesaver.

A nut-less bolt, based on the idea of a smaller bolt within a bolt, a patented secret, is also significantly lighter than a regular bolt, delivering cost-savings in fuel and raw materials and other perks like better mileage in a car.

Hasegawa is talking with a long list of interested companies, including Panasonic Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. He is looking into production outside Japan, perhaps Vietnam, he said.

Hasegawa says the key to Japan’s revival lies in breakthroughs such as his that developed because of a legacy in

“monozukuri,” which translates as “making things,” but is more akin to craftsmanship. Hayashi’s young business, Loftwork Inc., earned 900 million yen ($11 million) in annual sales taking a different but equally Japanese route as Hasegawa’s. She offers a service that stems from her diagnosis of the sickness at major companies - the loss of the innovative spirit. She hopes to start a kernel of creativity going at companies that “starts small but snowballs.”

Top Japanese companies have a load of talented hardworking people, but they have become so obsessed with rigidity like quality control in mass production that their thinking has grown static, and they can’t figure out where to start or how to change, she said. “The companies need our help because they’ve grown to be a giant Gundam robot that isn’t able to handle delicate innovations, which are like ants at its feet, and may instead squash them,” Hayashi said, referring to a Transformerlike robot. Saito, a son of Japanese immigrants to California, believes Japan Inc. has simply lost its entrepreneurial spirit.

His assessment underlines a growing view among experts here. —AP

Drought delivers fresh blow to reeling Indian economy More than half the farmland lacks irrigation MUMBAI: A summer drought makes a bad situation worse for an Indian economy already crippled by a sharp slowdown in growth, persistent inflation and a politically hamstrung government. Late on Thursday, New Delhi confirmed the first drought in three years as monsoon rains are likely to be less than 90 percent of the long-term average, dealing a blow to Asia’s thirdlargest economy, where more than half the farmland lacks irrigation.

“We already have a scenario in which growth is going down and inflation is going up, so it’s going to worsen this further,” said D K Joshi, principal economist at ratings agency Crisil. Weak rains in the four-month monsoon that started in June will drive up food prices and erode spending power in a country where more than half the population relies on the rural economy, crimping demand for goods from tractors and motorbikes to soap.

The economy grew at 5.3 percent in the March quarter, its slowest in 9 years, but headline inflation above 7 percent has prevented the central bank from cutting interest rates at its last two policy reviews. This increases pressure on the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps that will revive investment. Just over halfway through the season, rains are 20 percent below normal, and the weather office forecast that the El Nino weather pattern should reduce rains again in the second half. The states of Haryana and Rajasthan in the north, Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west, and Karnataka in south India are hardest hit.

The last drought, in 2009, saw rains that were 23 percent below normal and pushed up food prices that in turn sent headline inflation into double digits and triggered a series of 13 interest rate increases between March 2010 and October 2011. Besides

JAMMU: An Indian shepherd watches his goats nibble greens through a driedup paddy field on the outskirts of Jammu, India. — AP growth, drought also threatens to add to India’s already-high current account and fiscal deficits. The government has set a target of cutting its fiscal deficit to 5.1 percent of GDP this fiscal year, from 5.76 percent, but this is now looking over-optimistic.

Nomura expects a fiscal deficit of 5.8 percent of GDP. “Typically what we see in a drought year is that the imports go up, for instance pulses, sugar, edible oil, and exports of a lot of agri-products go down, so current account is negatively impacted,” said Sonal Varma, an economist at Nomura in Mumbai. Relief measures will add to a fiscal deficit that is already stressed by a politically constrained government’s inability to raise the price of budget-busting subsidized diesel.

“Government will focus on drought relief measures - more subsidies on pulses and sugar, more employment under the NREGA

program,” Varma said, referring to a rural jobs scheme.

ASSET QUALITY The drought also imperils asset quality for banks, with State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank, the two biggest state lenders, most exposed if the central bank allows crop loan payments to be rescheduled in the worst-hit states, said Manish Ostwal, banking analyst at KR Choksey. “Definitely some impact on asset quality of farm loans will be felt, especially in the states where the drought is more pronounced,” said P.K. Anand, executive director at state-run Punjab and Sind Bank. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India’s Planning Commission, told Reuters this week that the government may have to spend more in rural areas to shore up incomes if the rainfall remained deficient. —Reuters

BUSINESS SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2012

US job growth steps up Jobless rate rises to 8.3 percent WASHINGTON: US employers in July hired the most workers in five months, but an increase in the jobless rate to 8.3 percent muddled the near-term outlook for monetary policy. Nonfarm payrolls rose 163,000 last month, the Labor Department said yesterday, beating economists expectations in a Reuters poll for a 100,000 gain. That snapped three straight months of job gains below 100,000 and offered hope for the struggling economy. However, the unemployment rate rose from 8.2 percent in June, even as more people gave up the search for work and a survey of households showed a drop in employment.

The closely watched employment report comes two days after the Federal Reserve sent a stronger signal that a new round of major support could be on the way if the faltering recovery does not pick up.

Most economists had expected the Fed would launch a third round of bond purchases, possibly at its next policy meeting on Sept. 12-13. But the mixed employment report has muddied the picture a bit.

“This is a report that doesn’t give a clear read on what the Fed will do. We need to see another jobs report,” said Robert Dye, chief economist at Comerica in Dallas.

The Fed has held interest rates close to zero for nearly four years and pumped about $2.3 trillion into the economy. The labor market slowed sharply after strong gains in the winter, spelling trouble for President Barack Obama. A recent Ipsos/Thomson

ARABAL 2012 receive high profile sponsors DOHA: The Arab International Aluminum Conference (ARABAL 2012), which will be held in Doha 20th - 22nd November 2012, has received sponsorship from Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), Aluminum Bahrain (Alba), and Sohar Aluminum Company in addition to a number of regional and international aluminum companies, including HATCH, FATA, Kuwait Industries Company Holding, ABB, and WAHL. This collective sponsorship and the increasing interest reflects the importance of ARABAL, which is the premier trade event for the Middle East’s aluminum industry and the only conference in the world attended by every single primary aluminum manufacturer in the region. Therefore, it is the conference of choice for anyone interested in the Middle East aluminum industry.

The total production of aluminum smelters in the GCC countries will be 5 million metric tons a year when Maaden smelter reaches its full capacity. Annual capacity of the GCC smelters are 880 thousand tons a year in Alba, 1002 thousand tons in DUBAL, 370 thousand tons in Sohar, 600 thousand tons in Qatalum, 750 thousand tons in EMAL, and 740 thousand tons in Maaden.

The story of aluminum in the GCC countries goes back to the early 1970s, when Bahrain’s ALBA (Aluminum Bahrain) first blazed the trail, becoming operational in 1971. Dubai followed suit, bringing Dubai Aluminum, or Dubal, online in 1979. The last four years have seen a flowering of the GCC’s potential, with Oman’s Sohar in 2008, Qatar’s Qatalum and another smelter in Abu Dhabi in 2010, and Saudi Arabia’s smelter which is scheduled to start operations in 2013.

The 16th Arab International Aluminum Conference (ARABAL 2012) will be held at the Grand Hyatt Doha 20th 22nd November 2012, under the patronage of HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry, Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum.

This year’s edition of the conference will discuss a number of important issues related to aluminum industry, the technology in use, environmental effects, security and safety, manufacturing industries, market factors and their effects on aluminum prices, recycling, and many more important topics that will be addressed by over 30 renowned figures from various disciplines.

Reuters poll showed 36 percent of registered voters believe Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a better plan for the economy, compared to 31 percent who had faith in Obama’s policies. The unemployment rate has been stuck above 8 percent for more than three years, the longest run since the Great Depression. “The key question is now is will it be sustained? The backdrop remains challenged, seeing anything meaningfully better than this will in itself be a challenge,” said Tom Porcelli, chief US economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York. “We’re still in an environment where productivity is slowing, where profit growth is slowing, and we don’t think that is a robust environment to see meaningful job gains.” US stock index futures added to gains after the payrolls report while Treasury debt prices extended losses. The dollar gained versus the yen and pared its losses versus the euro. Fears of deep government spending cuts and higher taxes that are due in early 2013, and worries that Europe’s debt crisis could get worse remain major obstacles for the US economy. Economists say the biggest factor weighing on sentiment is fear that politicians in Washington will be unable to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff at the turn of the year.

LIMITED JOB DESTRUCTION “We are not seeing large scale layoffs, so job destruction is pretty limited,” said Scott Brown, chief

economist at Raymond James & Associates in St Petersburg, Florida. “The problem all along has been a lack of hiring and we expect that the uncertainty about the elections, the fiscal cliff and Europe may restrain the pace of hiring as well as capital spending,” Brown said.

Data last week showed the economy grew at an annual pace of 1.5 percent in the second quarter, far short of the 2.5 percent rate needed to keep the unemployment rate stable. The private sector again accounted for all the job gains, adding 172,000 new positions. Government payrolls dropped by 9,000, as cash-strapped local governments laid off teachers.

Construction employment dipped 1,000, despite a rise in home building. Manufacturing payrolls increased 25,000, largely because of fewer layoffs in the auto sector as manufacturers kept production lines running during the month.

Within the vast services sector, employment gains were fairly widespread. From retail to professional and business services, employers added workers.

Temporary help services increased 14,100 after rising 21,100 the prior month. But hiring in the utility sector was restrained by a strike at a power firm in New York last month. Average hourly earnings increased 2 cents last month, suggesting consumer spending will struggle regain steam after it slowed sharply in the second quarter. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.5 hours. — Reuters

NBK Al-Jawhara: Zahraa Hussain wins KD 125,000 KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) announces the winner for July’s KD 125,000 Al-Jawhara monthly prize, Zahraa Mashalla Redha Hussain. The draw was held at NBK Head Office under the supervision of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. NBK recently re-launched AlJawhara account offering customers more chances to win bigger prizes; KD 5,000 weekly, KD 125,000 monthly and a grand prize of KD 250,000 quarterly draw. Zahraa Mashalla Hussain, the winner of July’s KD 125,000 draw expressed her happiness in winning Al Jawhara monthly prize.

“Winning KD 125,000 came as a complete surprise. I truly thank NBK for its great services and offers and for always being number one in the market,” she said.

Al-Jawhara account offers numerous benefits to NBK customers. Not only is it an interest-free account with regular deposit and withdrawal privileges, but also entitles account holders to enter the weekly, monthly and quarterly Al-Jawhara draws. Each KD 50 in an Al-Jawhara

account entitles the customer to one chance in any of the draws. All prizes are automatically credited to the winners’ accounts the day after the draw. The more money held in your Al-Jawhara account, the greater your chances of winning. Al-

Jawhara accounts are available to both Kuwaitis and Expats and can be opened at any one of NBK’s branches around Kuwait.

For further information kindly visit www.nbk.com, or call Hala Watani at 1801801.

Sharp shares dive to near 40-year lows TOKYO: Shares in Japan’s Sharp dived almost 30 percent to their lowest level in nearly four decades yesterday, after the consumer electronics giant warned its annual loss would be bigger than first thought. The company’s shares slumped as low as 187 yen in earlier Tokyo trade after saying Thursday it lost 138.4 billion yen ($1.77 billion) in the April-June quarter, nearly three times more than the same period last year, and warned of a big full-year shortfall. It was the stock’s lowest level since November 1974, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The firm’s market capitalization

tumbled 88.8 billion yen ($1.1 billion) at one stage. Sharp’s stock recovered slightly by the closing bell yesterday, ending down 28.08 percent at 192 yen.

Adding to the bad news, Standard & Poor’s later yesterday lowered its credit rating on Sharp and said its financial situation had “worsened beyond our expectations”.

The global ratings agency said it cut Sharp’s credit rating by one notch to “BBB”-ninth on a 22-point rating scale-and warned of another possible downgrade. On Thursday, Sharp said it now expected a net loss of 250 billion yen for the fiscal year through March

2013, a huge increase from an earlier projection of a loss of 30 billion yen. It also said it would have to slash 5,000 jobs worldwide, its first cuts since 1950. Last year the firm posted a loss of 380 billion yen, blaming restructuring costs and delayed shipments of liquid crystal displays (LCD) used in mobile devices. The company, which has seen its mainstay television, LCDs and solar panel products struggle, said the job reductions were part of a bid to cut fixed costs by 100 billion yen to help its balance sheet.

Sharp currently employs 57,000 people globally. —AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Euro, shares gain on prospect of central bank aid LONDON: European shares and the euro surged and Spanish bond yields eased off their highs yesterday as investors decided the European Central Bank was committed to tackling the region’s debt crisis despite taking no action this week. US stocks were also poised for a firm start on Wall Street as markets awaited the July non-farm payrolls report, due at 1230 GMT, which will be key to short-term sentiment and are expected to show job creation running at weak levels.

The ECB had kept rates unchanged and dashed hopes of any immediate action to ease the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy on Thursday, although it did suggest that under certain conditions it would consider

purchasing bonds. “There are a lot of people out there taking a reassessment of what (ECB President Mario) Draghi said yesterday,” said Lutz Karpowitz, currency strategist at Commerzbank. “It’s rather difficult to believe they will really refrain from stepping into the market.” The prospect of a future policy response helped lift the euro by 0.6 percent to around $1.2260 after it had skidded by nearly three cents on Thursday to $1.21335 in initial reaction to the ECB announcement.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 1.5 percent at 1,070.93 points, on track for its ninth weekly gain in a row and extending its longest run

of weekly rises since mid-2005. The benchmark index was recovering from a drop of 1.2 percent made after the ECB’s decision, which had followed a promise from Draghi last week to do whatever it takes to save the common currency, within the bank’s mandate. “Draghi is keeping investors in suspense, he’s basically winning time. But at some point, we need a clear plan, not just threats, otherwise the market will remain very erratic,” said Alexandre Le Drogoff, fund manager at Talence Gestion, in Paris.

DEBT RELIEF The belief that the ECB was a step towards a new round of bond buying

encouraged some investors to buy shorter dated Spanish and Italian debt, bringing yields off their highs across the market.

Spanish 10-year yields were down 1.5 basis points on the day at a still elevated 7.07 percent and off early highs of around 7.4 percent. Equivalent Italian yields were about 22 basis points lower on the day at 6.11 percent, having risen as high as 6.45 percent in early trade. Spain has no bond sales scheduled before Sept. 6 and some analysts say once the ECB decides to intervene, it could do so forcefully, resulting in much lower costs of borrowing for these countries than would otherwise be the case. —Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Oracle agrees to $306 m settlement in SAP case NEW YORK: US business software giant Oracle said Thursday it agreed to accept a $306 million settlement from German rival SAP to shortcut the appeals process in a suit over massive copyright infringement. The agreement is a stipulation between the two firms to end the case in the lower courts and allow an appeal to proceed. Oracle was awarded $1.3 billion by a jury in November 2010 in the case in which SAP was accused of a massive scheme to download

and copy software from the Silicon Valley giant.

US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton slashed the amount in September of last year to $272 million, saying the amount was “grossly excessive.” Oracle rejected that and a new trial had been set before the settlement was announced. The case can now be immediately taken to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Oracle said that if the ruling stands, SAP must pay a minimum of $426

million, including attorneys’ fees.

“The conduct that led to this lawsuit and jury award is truly unprecedented,” said Oracle attorney Geoff Howard.

“SAP’s web scraper alone resulted in more than 10 million copies of Oracle’s downloaded software and support materials running on SAP’s servers. SAP’s executive management team, including former CEO Leo Apotheker and current executives, knew about this massive theft

all along and SAP had to concede infringement.”

Oracle filed suit against SAP in April 2007 and won the largest copyright jury verdict in US history. SAP also paid Oracle $120 million in attorneys’ fees.

SAP also settled US criminal charges in the case. SAP said in a separate statement that the new settlement was more than reasonable but that the case had dragged on long enough. — AFP

RBS sacks staff over Libor rigging scandal Shares up 4.6 percent JAKARTA: An Indonesian man sleeps on a sidewalk next to his cart in Jakarta. Indonesia said it recorded an all-time trade deficit in June, and that ongoing global worries might result in a full-year trade deficit for the Southeast Asian country. — AFP

Gold edges higher LONDON: Gold prices rose yesterday, recovering some ground lost in four straight sessions of declines as the dollar fell versus the euro, but they struggled for traction ahead of a key US jobs report due later in the day. A weaker-than-expected reading of the non-farm payrolls data, one of the most closely watched barometers of the US economic climate, could support expectations the Federal Reserve will have to take steps to further boost growth.

These could include another round of quantitative easing, which is seen as gold-supportive due to the pressure it would exert on long-term interest rates - which would keep the opportunity cost of holding bullion at rock bottom - and the dollar. “If there is a strong disappointment, there could be a positive reaction in gold, because that would revive speculation that in their September meeting the Fed will implement new measures,” Peter Fertig, a consultant at Quantitative Commodity Research, said.

However, a very positive figure could also boost gold if it sparks a broad-based rally in financial markets, he added.

“It could be a win-win situation for gold if it comes significantly above or below consensus,” he said. “If it comes at consensus, that could be a negative factor. That would indicate that we would have to wait longer for the Fed to move.” A Reuters survey of economists suggested US employers probably added 100,000 new workers last month, with job growth likely picking up only slightly from the previous month.

Spot gold was up 0.4 percent at $1,596.20 an ounce at 1140 GMT, while US gold futures for December delivery were up $8.80 an ounce at $1,599.50. The metal is down 1.6 percent this week, on track for its biggest weekly loss in six weeks, having erased most of the gains it made after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi boosted the euro last week by pledging to do whatever necessary to support the single currency.

Investors hoping for decisive action to combat the euro zone debt crisis were then disappointed by a policy statement from Draghi on Thursday. Some had hoped the ECB would immediately revive a sovereign bond buying program. A retreat in the dollar helped gold recover some lost ground yesterday. The euro rose 0.8 percent but gains looked fragile after Draghi’s speech on Thursday. — Reuters

LONDON: State-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland said yesterday it has dismissed employees over an interest rate rigging scandal, but gave no indication of whether it would reach a settlement soon with investigating authorities. Reporting a drop in first-half operating profit, RBS said it was co-operating with governments and regulators which are investigating the role of a number of banks in the setting of Libor and other inter-bank lending rates.

“The Libor situation is a stark reminder of the damage that individual wrongdoing and inadequate systems and controls can have in terms of financial and reputational impact,” Chief Executive Stephen Hester said.

RBS said it was being investigated by regulators in the United States, Britain and Japan and by competition authorities in Europe, the United States and Canada. However, it was not possible to measure reliably what effect the inquiries would have, including the timing and amount of fines or settlements. “I think that the regulators must decide how they want to deal with the situation,” Hester told reporters on a conference call. He added that he believed the Libor issue had been a result of “wrongdoing by individuals” rather than a “systemic problem” within the industry.

The announcement marked the first time RBS has confirmed it fired staff for misconduct in the Libor scandal, which has already cost Barclays chief Bob Diamond his job.

RBS has declined to name the dismissed staff. However sources with knowledge of the matter said last month that RBS had fired four traders.

They said Tan Chi Min, Paul White, Neil Danziger and investment adviser Andrew Hamilton were sacked at the end of last year. None was available for comment. New details from court documents and sources suggest that groups of

traders working at three major European banks, including RBS were heavily involved.

Tan, the former head of delta trading for RBS in Singapore, was fired in November for allegedly trying to influence the banks’ rate setters improperly.

He is suing RBS for unfair dismissal, alleging the practice of traders providing input to rate setters was widely known among senior managers at the bank. Rival Barclays was fined $453 million last month by US and UK regulators after staff reported false interbank rates - the interest charged when banks lend to each other - that were above or below the real rates. Rates reported by a panel of banks are used to calculate Libor. Thomson Reuters Corp is the British Bankers’ Association’s official agent for the daily calculation and publishing of Libor.

HESTER UNDER PRESSURE The Libor scandal has heaped pressure on Hester, who was appointed CEO four years ago to rebuild the bank and its reputation following a bailout in 2008. RBS, which is 82 percent-owned by the government, reported a first-half operating profit of 1.83 billion pounds ($2.8 billion), down from 1.97 billion in the same period last year. The bank made a statutory pretax loss of 1.5 billion pounds, which included a 2.9 billion pounds accounting loss due to a rise in the value of its own debt. Shares in RBS were up 4.6 percent to 213.8 pence at 1000GMT, with the Stoxx Europe 600 banking sector index up 3.1 percent. “We see this set of numbers as in line with expectations. With recent negative headlines, this may generate some amount of relief in the stock,” said analysts at Nomura.

Oriel Securities analyst Mike Trippitt said potential litigation charges and sanctions by regulators were “significant investment distrac-

tions”. “Until concerns over litigation risk (interest rate swaps) and regulatory sanction (Libor) have been comprehensively resolved, we retain a hold recommendation,” he said.

RBS said it had set aside a further 135 million pounds to compensate customers mis-sold loan insurance, taking its total provision so far to 1.3 billion pounds. It also set aside 50 million pound for claims by small firms wrongly mis-sold interest rate hedging products, a provision which Hester admitted could rise higher.

Britain’s banks are facing a bill running into billions of pounds to address claims of mis-selling various financial products. RBS also said it had taken a 125 million-pound hit from costs arising from a computer systems failure in June which prevented customers using their accounts, and could face additional costs when the full scale of the disruption becomes clear.

Regulators in Britain and Ireland were looking into the incident and RBS could face legal claims from customers affected by the glitch which resulted in payments not being processed properly. The bank has initiated an independent review into the fiasco and will publish its findings, Hester said.

The bank also said yesterday the planned flotation of its insurance arm, Direct Line, was on track and planned for October this year.

However, Hester told reporters there was flexibility to delay it if market conditions were prohibitive.

“We have flexibility in the timetables so if market conditions are not right we have the ability to wait,” he said. Direct Line has emerged as a target for private equity groups but Finance Director Bruce Van Saun said he believed an IPO offered better value than an outright sale.

British government sources told Reuters on Thursday that it had no plans to nationalize RBS fully, contradicting a report in the Financial Times. — Reuters

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012 www.kuwaittimes.net

Suri Cruise will attend a $40,000-a-year private school PAGE 22

A visitor enjoys stage diving at the Wacken Open Air (WOA) music festival yesterday. The small northern town is hosting one of the world’s biggest heavy metal festivals from August 2 to 4, 2012. — AFP

TJ Jackson emerges as Katherine’s co-guardian

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

T

he six-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes has been enrolled in Avenues, a new educational establishment opening in New York later this year. A source told Life & Style magazine: “Katie has eagerly been telling Suri all about the lunchrooms, basketball courts and different activities Avenues offers. Suri’s really excited about it.”

Katie and Suri have made a fresh start in the city following Katie’s split from Tom and the school is just a few blocks from their apartment in Chelsea. The building has a rooftop playground, along with a main gym that includes full-size basketball and volleyball courts. It is part of a series of “world schools” and will also have branches in China, India, Africa and Europe, along with other US cities. Suri’s dad is looking for a “secluded” property in ‘The Big Apple’ with a “suburban presence” so the youngster can play in private when she stays with him. A source previously said: “He wants something extremely secluded where Suri can play without paparazzi watching. There are lots of them in these towns.” Although the Hollywood superstar is keeping the couple’s former home in Beverly Hills - which he shares with his eldest children, Isabella, 19, and 17-yearold Connor - he is determined to have a permanent base in New York for his time with Suri.

T

he ‘Crazy In Love’ singer is to direct, produce and appear in the film which will include concert footage, backstage scenes and interviews with her and her loved ones about her life. The documentary will focus on the release of her 2011 album ‘4’ as well as her marriage to Jay-Z and the birth of the couple’s daughter Blue Ivy in January 2012. The former Destiny’s Child star has been presenting different Hollywood studios with 20 minutes of footage in a bid to find the right distributor.

Beyonce has had experience of directing in the past thanks to her MTV mini-documentary ‘Beyonce: Year of 4’ which showed her in the studio working on new tracks. The 30-year-old R&B superstar is now set to follow in the footsteps of Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus with the fly-on-the-wall concert movie. The star teased fans on her official website in July with a cryptic message ‘Leave Your Footprint On 19 August 2012’, which could be linked to the documentary. Beyonce has had numerous movie roles, including major parts in ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember’, ‘Dreamgirls’ and ‘Cadillac Records’ among others. Her next potential big screen project is a remake of ‘A Star Is Born’.

T

he Oscar-nominated actress used to freeze on film sets, but she has now trained herself to cope with her crippling nerves and insists her time away from movies helped her immensely. She said: “I discovered that a lot of what I was suffering from on film sets was stage fright. It’s easier for me now, and even if I do freeze, I know how to deal with it.”Keira will next be seen in a movie adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel ‘Anna Karenina’ - alongside Jude Law and Aaron Johnson - and she admits she loved getting to grips with the complex character for the film. The 27-year-old star - who recently got engaged to Klaxons musician James Righton - told

the Daily Mail newspaper: “She’s a wonderful character, but very strange and complex. She is needy and manipulative and then there are sides of her that are vulnerable and innocent, and I sometimes think it’s the innocence that pulls her down. “She will not see reality and when she does, it destroys her. I found her a challenging person. I wanted to shake her and tell her to pull herself together.”

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Madonna’s

T

he 53-year-old singer - who is renowned for her ever-changing style - is not always a fan of her 15year-old offspring’s decisions, especially shaving a panel into her hair, but admits she takes fashion advice from the teenager. She said: “My daughter has a very strong opinion and she knows what she likes. She has a good sense of style and I like the way she dresses.

Sometimes we disagree on things. I don’t like that she shaves her head, but she likes it. “Often it’s fun to collaborate with her and I can always look at her and say, ‘Does this look OK? Is this good? No? Shoes? No? High

T

he soccer star says he has “accepted” his condition - which sees sufferers compelled to undertake particular rituals and repetitive routines to stave off anxiety but needs everything to be “perfect” before he can carry on with his day. He said: “It’s not something I worry about. I’ve accepted it. I’m just very obsessive with certain things.

Everything has to be in order. That’s the way it is. “Walk into a hotel room and before I can get settled I have to unpack, everything has to be perfect; the magazines the right way, the drawers in the right way, or whatever. It is, it’s tiring. But it’s more tiring if it’s not done the right way.”

T

he 41-year-old actor is currently single and has never married and says he made a decision to put work first in his life after seeing many of his family - including his parents, who separated when he was 10 years old - go through divorces. He said: “I come from a large, large family with many divorces so I chose not to go down that route straight away. Instead I essentially got married to my career.” Just as he made a decision about marriage early on in his life, ‘The ‘Bourne Legacy’ star accepted his unconventional looks from a young age as he was always taught to think himself “beautiful”. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper, he said: “Aren’t we taught as kids that we’re beautiful because we feel beautiful and not because someone

else says so? “You don’t look like the model on the magazine cover but you can still be beautiful, so I can’t say I really want to change anything. I’m happy with the flaws I have.” Despite his current career successes, Jeremy is not concerned about what the future holds.

He said: “I don’t have a crystal ball, I don’t know what is going to happen. “I have never allowed myself to think into the future. I’ve never been good at that and I’m not good at looking backwards either. I’m just good at being in the present and staying here.”

— Bangshowbiz

waisted, low waisted? She’s a pretty good judge and very critical.” The ‘Girl Gone Wild’ hitmaker thinks women should be proud of who they are and what they look like, and never apologise for themselves. She told Britain’s Marie Claire magazine: “I think what makes a woman most beautiful is if she’s proud of who she is and the way she looks, if she owns herself and doesn’t try to hide things or change things, or make something up that doesn’t exist or apologise for who she is or what she looks like.”

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he 20-year-old model - who is known for covering Sports Illustrated twice in her short career - was shown a picture of his band One Direction, and picked the 18-year-old singer out as the cutest member of the British boy band. Next month, the pair will be meeting when they both attend the MTV Video Music Awards in September. Harry - who has previously dated TV presenter Caroline Flack, 32 - may be interested in reciprocating his feelings as he is known to be a fan of older women. A source told The Sun newspaper: “He may like older women but Kate’s in a different league.”

However, there may be some stiff competition for Kate, as Harry was recently found to have swapped numbers with Canadian singer Alyssa Reid when they both performed at the Liverpool Echo Arena in the UK. Alyssa who later posted a picture of herself with Harry and his bandmate Zayn Malik, who has a girlfriend, on twitter said: “Yes I have introduced myself and I may or may not have got a phone number. I never kiss and tell. I’m not telling you. I can’t tell. “I would never go for a taken man though, so he must be one of the single ones.”

Review

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Third ‘Wimpy Kid’ not so wimpy after all M

aybe it has to do with the lowered expectations surrounding something with “Dog Days” in its title being released during a traditionally less stellar time in the movie-going season, but the third installment in the “Wimpy Kid” franchise turns out to be not so wimpy after all. Although it paints everything with the same broad sitcom strokes as its predecessor, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” culled from the third and fourth books in Jeff Kinney’s wildly successful “novel in cartoons” series, proves nimbler and truer to its origins than last year’s “Rodrick Rules.”

Despite the fact that this “school’s out” edition is hitting theatres at a time when many kids in the country are getting ready to go back, the modestly budgeted Fox 2000 presentation should still come within spitball distance of the $53 million taken domestically by No. 2. It’s summer break in the Heffley household, and while the teenaged Greg (Zachary Gordon) is content to while away the sunny hours inside playing video games, his hapless

This undated film image shows Robert Capron (left) and Zachary Gordon in a scene from “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.” — AP dad, Frank (Steve Zahn) has other, father-son bonding ideas.

He’s initially able to dodge working as an intern at Frank’s office by pretending he already landed a job at the ritzy country club where his buddy Rowley

belongs - and where his crush Holly Hills (Peyton List) hangs out - but when his dad catches on to the ruse, Greg gets dragged off on an ill-fated camping trip.

David Bowers, who also helmed “Rodrick Rules” and incoming screen-

writers Maya Forbes (“The Larry Sanders Show”) and Wallace Wolodarsky (“Monsters vs. Aliens”) have brought the title character closer to those wimpier roots after Greg came across as a little too mean-spirited the last time out.

As again portrayed by Gordon, this time around there’s more vulnerability to temper that smart-ass streak, while the story as a whole feels less episodic.

You still won’t find the characters fleshed out any more substantially than Kinney’s stick figures, but Zahn’s unique way with a line reading or reaction keeps things benignly amusing. Also back are Rachael Harris as Greg’s justcoping mom, Devon Bostick as lazy bigbrother Rodrick, and red-headed Robert Capron as his big-hearted best pal Rowley. Shooting once again took place in Vancouver, shot back-to-back with the second film last summer, to ensure the wimpy kid didn’t look more like a wimpy man. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” a Fox 2000 release, is rated PG for some mild rude humor and mischief.

Running time: 96 minutes. — AP

TJ Jackson emerges as Katherine’s co-guardian T

J Jackson was one of Michael Jackson’s favorite nephews. An heir to the family’s musical talent and striking good looks, he is the son of Tito, one of the original Jackson Five.

Largely unknown to the American public until now, he has been anointed as co-guardian of Michael’s most prized treasures - his three children. Suddenly, TJ is the chosen Jackson, the one designated to work beside Michael’s mother to look after the welfare of his three cousins Prince, 15, Paris, 14 and Blanket, 10, who will inherit the King of Pop’s fortune. He’s stepping into a sensitive situation just days after a family feud went viral. But he appears to have only one interest at heart - the children. “He has been very dedicated to these kids since Michael Jackson’s death and he was involved with them before that,” TJ’s lawyer, Charles A. Schultz, said at a Thursday court hearing.

Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff, who appointed TJ to work with Katherine Jackson, said there is a strong bond between the 34-year-old TJ and the children. “They have a very significant relationship with TJ Jackson and they love him very much,” said the judge. “There are things about his past that the kids can relate to.” Schultz agreed, saying outside court: “He had a loss early in his life of a close personal relative and they can identify with that.”

In 1994, six years after his parents divorced, TJ’s mother, Dolores, died in a drowning at her home swimming pool. Her boyfriend was later convicted of causing her drowning and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. When Michael Jackson died in 2009, Dr. Conrad Murray was accused of causing his death and was convicted of manslaughter. He is currently serving a fouryear prison term.

Now, three years after his death, Michael’s children are at the center of a familial battle and TJ’s role has become even more important. Recently, Katherine Jackson was reported missing and Beckloff replaced her with TJ as the children’s guardian. Now she’s back, telling a story of having been held virtually incommunicado at a resort in Tucson, Arizona, unaware that she was the subject of a missing person’s report. In the court hearing Thursday, with neither of the parties present, the judge ruled that TJ and Katherine will share

guardianship on a temporary basis. The arrangement could be made permanent later.

Beckloff had appointed an investigator to look into the domestic situation at the suburban Calabasas mansion where the young Jacksons have been living with their 82-year-old grandmother. The result was a glowing report: “It appears from the report that Katherine Jackson has done a wonderful job and cares about the children very much,” the judge said. “I think the kids are in terrific hands.” No mention was made of the Jackson siblings who were at the center of a family dispute last week that broke into a public shouting match on the driveway of Katherine’s home. What one lawyer called “the chaos” ended with Jermaine Jackson calling for a truce.

TJ, who is movie star-handsome and has a band with his brothers called 3T, is named Tito Joseph for his father and grandfather. Always known as TJ, he This photo shows TJ appears to have Jackson, son of Tito emerged as a wel- Jackson, one of the origicome stable force in nal Jackson Five. —AP the family. When Paris began tweeting messages of distress over the temporary disappearance of her grandmother and the battles among Michael’s siblings, TJ tweeted to her: “I know it’s completely unfair for them to do this to you and your brothers. We will keep trying. I love you.” Added a second tweet: “Make your life an act of love.”

Thomas Mesereau Jr., the former attorney for Michael who knows the family, had high praise for TJ. “I met him some time ago and he was a very nice young man, very mature and very sincere,” said Mesereau. “It appeared to me that Katherine thought very highly of him.” But Mesereau said the current situation was unthinkable before

The late Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine Jackson (centre) arrives at the courthouse in Los Angeles in this November 29, 2011 file photo for the sentencing of Doctor Conrad Murray. — AFP Michael’s death. “Three years ago, these children had a father who loved them and gave them a wonderful upbringing,” the attorney said. “He wanted them to be highly educated, to learn about the world and the wonders of nature. It’s very tragic.”

TJ’s devotion to his uncle, Michael, has been evident. At his funeral, members of the family provided loving tributes in a glossy program. TJ’s entry read: “You taught me how to smile. You taught me how to dream. You taught me how to live. Uncle Michael, I will always cherish all of our special moments and blissful time together. I love you so much.” Michael’s ties to TJ and his two brothers was confirmed by his will, which named them among “contingent remainder” beneficiaries, who usually gain if the main beneficiaries pass away.

Like most of the Jacksons, TJ has lived among celebrities. The Internet was ablaze this week with reports that he was the first lover of Kim Kardashian when both were in high school. There was no comment from TJ but he has acknowledged that they were close and she consoled him

when his mother died. “We became extra close when my mom passed away,’ TJ told People magazine in 1995 of Kardashian. “She dropped everything to be with me.” TJ married his wife, Frances, in 2007 and has three children.

When he and his brothers, Taj and Taryll, formed 3T, they were encouraged by their uncle, Michael, who sang with them on their first records, The 3T group had significant success in Europe with three songs that reached No. 2 on British charts. Two of them, “Why” and “I Need You,” released in 1996, featured Michael Jackson’s voice. In 2010, the 3T group reprised Jackson’s “We Are the World’ with various famous voices to benefit Haiti relief efforts. The brothers also have appeared on reality TV shows with other members of the Jackson clan and have toured overseas. Last October, the family staged a tribute concert to Michael in Cardiff, Wales. But typically, the Jacksons were divided over whether it was appropriate to hold such a tribute during the Murray trial in Los Angeles. Janet, Jermaine and Randy stayed away. Jackie, Marlon, La Toya and Tito performed. So did TJ and his brothers. — AP

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

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n exhibit in honor of late pop icon Whitney Houston will open in Los Angeles next month, half a year after her lifeless body was discovered in a hotel bathtub.

The exhibit, titled “Whitney!” and organized in conjunction with the singer’s family, will open at the Grammy Museum on August 15. “Whitney! will provide an in-depth look at all aspects of Houston’s creative life,” the museum, located in downtown Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Items to be displayed include rare photos and footage of the Grammy-winning star, stage costumes, albums and career scrapbooks from her early career, as well as concert posters, tour books and fan memorabilia. The museum has also asked artists and musicians who worked with Houston or were influenced by her to share their thoughts on the pop diva. These will be shown in the form of short films.

Houston was found dead on February 11 in a luxury Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on the eve of

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the music industry’s annual Grammy Awards show. Coroners concluded she died by accidental drowning, with cocaine use and heart disease as contributing factors. She was 48.

Houston sold more than 170 million records during a near three-decade career, but in later years fought a long and public battle against substance abuse while trying to keep her performing talent alive. In 1992, she starred alongside Kevin Costner in the movie “The Bodyguard” for which she sang “I will always love you.” The exhibit is due to run through February 2013. — AP

Singer Whitney Houston performs onstage during the 2011 Pre-Grammy Gala & Salute to Industry Icons, with Clive Davis Honoring David Geffen at the Beverly Hilton in this February 12, 2011 file photo. — AFP

y the time Bobby Wilson met Wan Joon Kim, he’d been to 15 record stores. It was 1994, and no one would stock his cassette, “Comin’ From Watts,” with raps Wilson had written in prison and recorded himself upon his release. Wilson had a daunting resume: a decadelong membership in the Grape Street Watts Crip gang; five years incarcerated for attempted murder; the prison nickname “Kill Kill.” Just out on parole and desperate for money to support his wife and child, Wilson’s last stop was the Compton Fashion Center indoor swap meet.

Kim, the owner of the Cycadelic record stall, was in his 50s, spoke little English and liked classical music. But he stocked what sold: the music of young rappers who were chronicling the crack-and-gang-addled neighborhoods around them. He took a chance on Wilson. “I think he understood my struggle, more than anything,” said Wilson, 42. After all, “he’s in the heart of Compton.”

The cassette sold close to 15,000 copies over the next year. Wilson went on to become an underground rap star.

Kim “gave me my shot,” said Wilson. “It saved my life.”

While the world knows of the major LA gangsta rap figures who helped popularize the raw urban genre two decades ago - Suge Knight, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube - a far less likely figure pushed the music long before most folks knew it existed. If it came straight outta Compton, the birthplace of gangsta rap, often it first went through Wan Joon Kim. The LA riots of 1992 created an indelible image of Korean immigrant shop owners in urban neighborhoods often in conflict with their African-American customers, but that was hardly the whole story. “Most of my customers were the gangbangers and drug dealers, so I built a friendship with them,” said the now frail Kim, 79, in an interview interpreted by his son, Kirk. His son now runs the stall, selling Latin music to a changing demographic. Kim works there once a week. “They were good to me as I was good to them.”

Wan Joon Kim escaped his native North Korea in 1950, sailing down the coast to South Korea with his family in his

father’s fishing boat. In 1976, he and his wife, Boo Ja, and their three young children were among the first waves of immigrants who left South Korea for Los Angeles. At first, Kim and his wife sold women’s hair clips and barrettes at outdoor swap meets around Southern California. While selling at the Roadium Open Air Market in Torrance, Kim noticed that the man selling records always had a line.

Then in 1985, a few Korean swap-meet vendors leased an empty Sears building in Compton, partitioned it, and renamed it Compton Fashion Center - thus inventing the indoor swap meet in Southern California, said Edward Chang, a UC Riverside ethnic studies professor, who has researched swap meets in the Korean business community. Later, dozens of indoor swap meets opened, virtually all of them Korean-owned, and became malls for the inner city. Their stalls were the doors through which thousands of new Korean immigrants entered the LA business world, without bank loans. Kim was selling barrettes at an outdoor swap meet one day when “the owners were coming around to individual vendors, saying they were going to open a bigger, nicer place,” he said.

Kim envisioned it as an easier way of doing business than traveling every day to a new swap meet, so he was third in line when Compton Fashion Center began leasing to vendors. He chose Stall Z-7, the spot nearest the building’s main entrance, with a monthly rent of $500. A wholesaler suggested he sell the R&B, gospel, funk and rap coming from New York, though he eventually developed an ear for black music - and his own customers’ tastes - aided by his second daughter, Jinna Grace, who worked the store and spoke English. When a song hit the radio, he drove quickly to wholesalers and had it in the store within hours.—MCT

Wan Joon Kim and his son Kirk work behind the counter of their music store stall at the Compton Fashion Center swap meet in Compton, California. — MCT

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

most memorable

5 MarilynMonroe performances Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, play a scene in “The Misfits” in this undated file photo. — AP

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here is the well-honed Marilyn Monroe screen persona - the breathy, girlish voice, the glamorous curves and the flirty sex appeal - and then there are the films that allowed her to stretch, or at least allowed her to try. A devout Method actress, Monroe took her craft seriously, dug deep in search of motivation and worked harder than her effortless screen presence would suggest. For a while, that is, until her demons took over. On the 50th anniversary of her death, here’s a look at five of her most memorable film performances, the ones that stand out over her prolific but sadly short career:

A detail of a picture of Marilyn Monroe by artist Cristiam Ramos created entirely from candy is on display at the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Museum in Hollywood, California August 1, 2012. — AFP

“Some Like It Hot” (1959): This was the first title that came to mind when I began pondering this list.

Maybe because it’s the best film she was ever in the Billy Wilder classic is listed as the greatest comedy ever by the American Film Institute - but also, the role of Sugar Kane Kowalczyk is just so quintessentially “her.” Monroe is totally magnetic, with innocence and sexuality in equal measure. As the lead singer of an all-girl orchestra, she gets to sing, dance, play the ukulele and show off her comic timing. Monroe finds a tricky balance between her otherworldly looks and a down-to earth charm, and plays beautifully off Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.

the way overzealous cowboy Don Murray carries her off and forces her into an engagement would merit a restraining order now. But Monroe also gets some quieter moments that reveal her vulnerability.

“The Misfits” (1961): A poignant pop culture time capsule: This is not just Monroe’s final film but Clark Gable’s, too. Co-star Montgomery Clift would be dead a few years later. Monroe’s then-husband, playwright Arthur Miller, wrote the script for her to give her a meatier role. But by all accounts, pills made her an absolute mess and she was frequently late to John Huston’s set. Given that her newly divorced character is drunk most of the time, along with the lost souls with whom she seeks solace in the Nevada desert, it’s hard to tell where the performance ends and real life begins. In an eerily ironic quote from Eli Wallach as he’s toasting Monroe’s character for her vitality, he says: “Here’s to your life, Roslyn. I hope it goes on forever.” — AP

“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953): Describing her performance as gold-digging Lorelei Lee as iconic would not be hyperbole. Her rendition of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” remains so enduring, it inspired Madonna’s “Material Girl” video, down to the blonde waves, candy-colored pink dress, admiring back-up dancers and tightly structured choreography. Monroe actually gets second billing behind Jane Russell in Howard Hawks’ musical comedy, based on the Broadway show about a couple of showgirls and best friends who travel to Paris, run into misadventures and revel in all the attention thrown their way.

“The Seven Year Itch” (1955): Here’s Monroe again at the center of one of film’s most famous images: standing over a New York City subway grate, letting the wind from a passing train send her ivory, pleated halter dress billowing all around her.

(The dress itself sold at auction last year for a whopping $5.6 million, including commission.) But the whole performance is a great example of her screen presence in a nutshell: naive, sweet, beguiling and irresistible. She’s such an idealized incarnation of classic female allure, she’s known only as The Girl.

Working for the first time with Wilder (who famously had difficulty with her), based on the George Axelrod play, Monroe plays the sexy upstairs neighbor who bewitches Tom Ewell’s character while his family is away for the summer.

In this file photo, tourists on a double decker bus photograph Seward Johnson’s 26-foot-tall sculpture of Marilyn Monroe, in her most famous wind-blown pose, on Michigan Avenue, in Chicago. — AP

“Bus Stop” (1956): A rare opportunity for Monroe to show some dramatic ability. But really, everything she can do is on display here: Joshua Logan’s film, based on the William Inge play, offers the full range of Monroe’s abilities. She stars as Cherie - that’s pronounced “Sher-EE,” not “Cherry “a lousy saloon singer toiling away in Phoenix until she can find a way to get to Hollywood. Yes, her Arkansas accent grates - and if we’re being honest,

In this 1953 publicity file photo, Marilyn Monroe is shown on set in the film, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” — AP

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Review

In ‘Celeste & Jesse Forever,’ fresh devolves into familiar

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n addition to the infamous “Bechdel test” about women and movies, cartoonist and author Alison Bechdel once noted that ending a relationship is like separating Silly Putty with your hands; sometimes it snaps cleanly in two, but other times it sags and stretches and becomes impossible to pull apart. The lead characters in “Celeste & Jesse Forever” are having a very saggy breakup, and the film’s exploration of two best friends learning to live apart starts out crisp but soon slogs down into very familiar territory.

Can we request a moratorium on movies about 30-somethings who belatedly enter adulthood? Or at least insist that this story be told in a new way?

Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) met as teenagers, became best friends and eventually got married. As the film begins, that marriage is essentially over, but they act as though nothing has changed: Jesse has moved into his studio out back, but the two still hang out, drive all over LA together and indulge in the same inside jokes and buddy-banter they’ve always enjoyed. But then Jesse starts dating, and he gets a woman pregnant, and it’s not until he begins to build a post-marriage life that Celeste, a type-A trend forecaster and oft-insufferable smartypants, realizes that it’s time for them both to move on. Cue the inappropriate blind dates, the drunken recriminations, the weepy preparations for a friend’s wedding and just about everything else you would imagine this brand of comedy delivering on a vintage, ironic platter.

It’s a shame that “Celeste & Jesse” plummets into conventionality in its second half - when I reviewed it at Sundance for The Wrap, I had hoped the film’s eventual distributor might tighten up the latter portions - because it starts out so promisingly. Jones (who co-wrote the screenplay with Will McCormack) and Samberg have a funny, prickly rapport that feels wonderfully weird and engaging.

(Just watch Paul Schneider and Olivia Munn’s scenes in this week’s “The Babymakers” for a reminder of how elusive that kind of screen chemistry can be.)

When movie characters have shared schtick and a personal language of their own, it can often come off as forced and precious. (See the “aboogeda-boogeda-boogeda-haha-ha!” scenes from “St. Elmo’s Fire,” for instance.) But when Jones and Samberg start reading dinner menus with German accents or doing unspeakable things to innocent tubes of lip balm, you get a read on them as witty people who share a long and intimate history. When the movie separates them, and the two characters have to go off and learn lessons about how to be a grown-up, “Celeste and Jesse” stops being interesting. It’s one thing for a film to start out comedically before exploring darker terrain, but that terrain has to be equally compelling.—Reuters

US actors Paul Dano (left) and Zoe Kazan from the movie “Ruby Sparks” pose at the photo call at the Locarno Film Festival Locarno, Switzerland, yesterday. The 65th Locarno Film Festival runs from Aug. 1 to 11, 2012. — AP

“D

ark Knight Rises” will take a third-week victory lap at the North American box office this weekend say industry analysts, who predict a $37 million three-day haul. But the focus will be on the “Total Recall” remake starring Colin Farrell. Sony, buoyed by a late surge in tracking, is looking for its redo of the 1990 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger to open at $30 million or a little lower. The analysts, who set their projections earlier, see it bowing at around $23 million.

That’s dangerously close to the weekend’s other wide opener, Fox’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” pegged for $21 million.

Hard to imagine Arnold getting beat up by a wimpy kid, isn’t it? That’s part of the intrigue going into the weekend, in which neither the Olympics’ second weekend nor the lingering effects of the Colorado shootings aftermath are expected to be much of a factor. The creative team and the marketing department at Sony faced the same conundrum with “Total Recall” all movie re-dos deal with: How do you offer a take fresh enough to attract new moviegoers without alienating devoted fans of the original?

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Actress Kristen Stewart (left) and director Rupert Sanders arrive at a screening of Universal Pictures’ “Snow White and The Huntsman” at the Village Theatre on May 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. — AFP

It can be done. Fox scored with last summer’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” which opened to $54 million in the US and went on to gross $177 million domestically and $482 million worldwide. But things can, as they say in sci-fi movies, go horribly wrong. Two recent updates on Schwarzenegger sci-fi films are prime examples. Last year’s “Conan,” with Jason Momo as the barbarian, bombed. And 2010’s “Predators,” with Adrien Brody stepping in for Arnold, didn’t fare much better.

Sony is opening the movie, produced

by Toby Jaffe and Neil Moritz and directed by Ben Wiseman (“Underworld”), in 3,600 locations. The action-heavy PG-13 film - the original was rated R - cost around $125 million to make and is the first of two big bets the studio is making on remakes of sci-fi classics. They’re rolling out a redo of “Robocop,” the 1987 hit starring Peter Weller, in August of next year.—Reuters

er relationship with Robert Pattinson may be on the rocks, but Kristen Stewart’s career is sailing along just fine, thank you. The “Twilight” actress is attached to star in the film adaptation of William Styron’s classic slice of Southern gothic, “Lie Down in Darkness,” Stewart’s publicist told TheWrap. Scott Cooper, who directed Jeff Bridges to an Oscar in 2009’s “Crazy Heart,” will slide behind the camera on the indie film. There’s no start date for the film, so it’s not clear when “Lie Down in Darkness” will hit theaters.

Styron’s novel centers on a dysfunctional and deeply unhappy Virginia family. If the film goes forward, Stewart will play Peyton Loftis, a suicidal woman who grows increasingly alienated from her emotionally repressive parents and loveless marriage. Vulture, which broke the story, reports that Stewart beat out Jennifer Lawrence (“The Hunger Games”) for the splashy role. Despite the fallout that greeted the paparazzi shots of Stewart necking with

This image shows actress Jessica Biel at special screening of the Columbia Pictures film, “Total Recall,” sponsored by InStyle and The Peggy Siegal Company at Chelsea Clearview Cinemas, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 in New York. — AP

Rupert Sanders, the married director of “Snow White and the Huntsman,” publicists told TheWrap last week that the actress’ career may even get a jolt from the scandal.

“Twenty years ago or 30 years ago controversy was a career killer,” Howard Bragman, the veteran industry publicist and vice chairman of Reputation.com, told TheWrap. “Now it can be career Viagra. We kind of embrace controversy.” For the time being, Stewart’s schedule is packed. In addition to gearing up for the November release of the final Twilight film “Breaking Dawn - Part 2,” she is set to star in the action comedy “Cali” for Nick Cassavetes.

She’s also attached to a “Snow White” sequel, although it’s not clear when cameras will roll on the fantasy follow up, and if Sanders will be the one manning them. — Reuters

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Preppy menswear W

worn well by Ellen DeGeneres

hat do you wear to an awards show where the average audience member is under the legal drinking age, the main attraction is the cast of the “Twilight” film series and the awards are rainbow surfboards? The correct answer is whatever you please. Young stars flooded the pink carpet at the recent Teen Choice Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in anything and everything from jeans and leather pants to cheeky cocktail dresses and skintight minis. Justin Bieber arrived in casual white pants and a camouflage tee, while girlfriend Selena Gomez sported a Dsquared2 Resort 2013 flirty pink pleated mini. On the dressier side were Choice Action Actress Zoe Saldana in a matching patterned crop top and skirt by Jonathan Saunders and “Glee” star Lea Michele, shining in a metallic Versace mini.

Power couple Ellen DeGeneres (who won the award for Choice Comedian) and Portia de Rossi stood out as a fun, stylish pair who looked chic but didn’t take themselves too seriously. DeGeneres chose a menswear-inspired look in a plain V-neck tee, black blazer, khaki pants and a Repp stripe tie belt. De Rossi appeared laid back but elegant in a black tunic tucked into shorts and strappy heels.

To get DeGeneres’ preppy menswear look, try the American Eagle Outfitters Boyfriend blazer in true black for $69.95 from Ae.com, the Bennett chino from JCrew.com for $79.50, the navy-andred Repp stripe tie belt from

Credbrand.com for $24.99, the DV Dolce Vita oxfords in clay from Bloomingdales.com for $79 and a wardrobe must-have staple, the Hanes classic three-pack V-neck tees for $24 from Kohls.com. These V-neck tees are perfect to have on hand for any occasion. For De Rossi’s more feminine, dressier ensemble try the Michael Kors’ peasant tunic top from Zappos.com for $70.99, the chino shorts for $15.99 from Lands’ End Canvas and the Kenneth Cole Reaction rise guy slingback sandal from Endless.com for $68.87. Try Ellen’s look for a backyard barbecue or go glam like Portia for your next party. Both looks are versatile enough to wear all summer long. — MCT

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Lakme India Fashion Week

Indian models display creations by various designers during the Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai, India yesterday. — AP photos

technology SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Ariane rocket with two telecom satellites lifts off PARIS: An Ariane 5 rocket carrying two telecommunication satellites launched from the Kourou space centre in French Guiana on Thursday, an Internet broadcast

by European operator Arianespace showed.

The fourth Ariane 5 launch this year,

and the 208th overall, began at 5:54 pm.

It will eventually place into orbit two geostationary telecommunication satellites-Intelsat-20 for international satellite operator Intelsat, and HYLAS 2 for European operator Avanti Communications.

KOUROU: This photo taken on the night of Thursday and photo provided by the European Space Agency shows the Ariane V rocket lifting off at the Kourou space base, French Guiana. — AP

Vodafone to open centre for technology stars of the future LONDON: A host of technology firms including Vodafone have announced new ventures in the government’s Tech City project. Vodafone says it will bring its expertise in helping innovative start-up businesses to the digital hub and plans to have it up and running towards the end of the year. The new centre is aiming to provide innovative businesses in the mobile internet and creative media industries with technical expertise, potential financial assistance, logistical support and access to more than 400 million Vodafone customers across more than 30 countries worldwide.

Vodafone says its decision to locate a new technology and incubation centre in Tech City builds on the success of Vodafone xone, which opened in Silicon Valley a year ago. According to Vodafone, it offers companies support from a team of professionals whose expertise spans business development, network and device architecture, consumer electronics, payment and billing mechanisms, data analytics and content delivery.

Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green said: “I warmly welcome Vodafone’s plans to open a technology lab and incubation centre in London’s Tech City.

“This announcement is an excellent reflection of Tech City’s success as a thriving hub of innovative technology companies, combined with ready access to Europe’s largest venture capital community.

“With the world’s spotlight on the UK this summer, we are working hard through the British Business Embassy programme to help technology companies capitalise on the unique opportunity we have in 2012 to secure new trade and investment.” Siavash Alamouti, Vodafone Group Research and Development Director said: “Vodafone is delighted to confirm its intention to set up a new R&D and incubation centre in Tech City.

This exciting new centre will build on our existing Vodafone xone facility in Silicon Valley, giving cuttingedge British high tech start-ups access to the expertise and global reach of Britain’s largest ICT company.

Intelsat-20, which weighs more than six tonnes, will provide a large number of telecommunication, video, telephone and data transmission services in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Asia.

The powerful satellite will replace Intelsat-7 and Intelsat-10, and has an

expected life span of 24 years. HYLAS 2 is the second satellite of new European operator Avanti Communications.

The 3.3-tonne satellite is to provide broadband services for eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East for more than 15 years. — AFP

KOUROU: People attend the launch of an Ariane-5 rocket, carrying two telecommunication satellites and blasting off from the European space centre of Kourou, French Guiana on Thursday. —AFP

Inventor challenges new US patent law Violation of rights TAMPA: An inventor claims in court that the America Invents Act of 2011 violates inventors’ rights, by replacing the “first to invent” patent system with a deficient “first to file” rule. Mark Stadnyk and his company MadStad Engineering sued the US Patent and Trademark Office, its director, David Kappos, and the United States of America, in Federal Court. Stadnyk says the America Invents Act (AIA), which took effect last year, is “special interest legislation” that favors big corporations at the expense of small businesses and individual inventors.

Under the new law, Stadnyk says, the first one to file a patent application gets exclusive rights to an invention, even if the applicant is not the original inventor.

“The AIA, signed into law by the president on Sept. 16, 2011, is a radical change that threatens the US economy and American jobs,” the complaint states. “It discards the ‘first-to-invent’ patent system crafted by the Constitution’s founders - a system that led the world in science, technology, and industry for more than two centuries - and substitutes a failed ‘first-tofile’ system.

“Traditionally, the US patent system has awarded patents to the first person to invent a new discovery. The AIA changes this long-settled approach.

Although the AIA is labeled as a ‘firstinventor-to-file’ system, that label is a smokescreen. Under the AIA, the patent will be awarded to the person who is first to file a patent application, regardless of whether the applicant was the actual first inventor of the technology in question. In fact, the AIA removes from the ‘conditions of patentability’ of Section 102 of the Patent Act (and thereby from the conditions of patent validity) the requirement that the named inventor actually invented the claimed subject matter.”

(Parentheses in complaint).

Stadnyk claims the first-to-file system violates the Intellectual Property Clause of the Constitution, which states that patents can be awarded only to original inventors.

The complaint states: “The Intellectual Property Clause prohibits Congress from vesting patents in anyone but actual ‘inventors’ of genuine ‘discoveries.’ Congress is not authorized to award patents to the winners of the race to file at the PTO [Patent and Trademark Office].

“The new ‘first-to-file’ approach will discourage innovation. Countries using a first-to-file approach have experienced a relative decrease in the number of inventions. One reason is that individual inventors, start-ups, small businesses, and research organizations

simply lack the resources to compete with big corporations in the race to file patent applications with the PTO. They will be unable to afford the expense of the multiple applications that are necessary to protect inventions, update a pending patent, and attract new sponsors and researchers.

“The AIA is special-interest legislation, pure and simple. It favors large corporations and multinationals, while discriminating against the small inventors - individuals, start-ups, universities, and independent research institutes that have always formed the backbone of US innovation. If the Act had been law in the twentieth century, the Wright brothers would have been denied a patent for the airplane, and the founders of Hewlett-Packard would have been denied a patent for the variable frequency oscillator. Not surprisingly, the AIA was passed over the vehement objections of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and patent law experts.

“The core issue facing the US patent system is the mounting backlog of over 700,000 patent applications at the PTO and the inexcusable delay in processing them. It now takes three years, on average, for a patent application to be processed. This situation is intolerable, but the AIA does nothing to fix it. — AP

technology SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Apple asks for verdict after Samsung ‘misconduct’ SAN FRANCISCO: With a major patent trial barely underway, Apple has asked a judge to rule against Samsung, saying lawyers for the South Korean firm improperly disclosed information excluded in court in a bid to sway jurors. An Apple court document released Thursday said Samsung issued a statement to the press with data excluded from the trial, which began in San Jose Monday on patent infringement over smartphones and tablet computers.

“Apple seeks a finding that Samsung and its counsel have engaged in bad faith litigation misconduct by attempting to prejudice the jury,” the motion to Judge Lucy Koh said. “Samsung apparently

believes that it is above the law, and that it-not this court-should decide what evidence the jury should see.”

According to court documents, Samsung provided media with a statement Tuesday expressing displeasure with the judge’s exclusion of evidence.

“Samsung was not allowed to tell the jury the full story and show the pre-iPhone design... in development at Samsung in 2006, before the iPhone,” said the statement from the South Korean firm. “The excluded evidence would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design.

Fundamental Fairness requires that the jury decide the case based on all

the evidence.” Apple said in its motion that releasing the statement represented “misconduct” because it could influence the jury. “Samsung already has been sanctioned four times in this case for discovery abuses,” Apple’s motion said.

“Most recently, Samsung was sanctioned for destroying evidence.

Litigation misconduct is apparently a part of Samsung’s litigation strategyand limited sanctions have not deterred Samsung from such misconduct.” Apple said it would not request a mistrial but instead ask the judge to rule in the case. “It is fully within the court’s authority to order judgment in Apple’s favor as a sanction for this misconduct,” it said,

adding the judge may also “instruct the jury that Samsung engaged in serious misconduct.” Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Philip Schiller, was to be on the stand when the trial resumes Friday.

Jurors on Tuesday began hearing the biggest US patent trial in decades, with billions at stake for the tech giants. Apple is seeking more than $2.5 billion in a case accusing the South Korean firm of infringing on designs and other patents from the iPhone and iPad maker. This is one of several cases in courts around the world involving the two electronics giants in the hottest part of the tech sector-tablet computers and smartphones. — AFP

NASA confident ahead of nail-biter Mars landing A two-year journey WASHINGTON: NASA said Thursday all was well ahead of its nail-biting mission to Mars, with its most advanced robotic rover poised to hunt for clues about past life and water on Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor. On a two-year journey to seek out signs of environments that once sustained life, the landing of the Mars Science Laboratory and the largest and most sophisticated rover ever built, Curiosity, is set for 1:31 am Aug 6 .

“The mission is going extremely well,” said Pete Theisinger, director of the Engineering and Science Directorate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“Everything is really on track... so we are really good to go three days out.” If all continues to go well, the unmanned rover will touch down in Gale Crater, one of the lowest points on Mars, where scientists believe the waters of ancient rivers flowing downhill once pooled.

The crater also contains a mountain that rises higher than any in the 48 continental US states, and should

provide loads of information about the past through its sedimentary layers. “When we do (land), we will have started an era of a whole new dimension of space exploration on the surface of another planet, and this is the dimension of deep time,” said John Grotzinger, project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory.

Describing Mars as a “planet that is kind of like our cousin,” Grotzinger said he was hopeful that many questions would be answered on the mission, including how the once wet planet became so dry.

The mountain, Mount Sharp, is near Mars’ equator and may hold as much as a billion years of history in its layers, dating back some three to four billion years ago “when the planet may have been more like Earth,” he told reporters. “We’ve got some cool geology to do ahead of us.”

A complicated rocket-powered sky crane maneuver to lower the one-ton (900-kilo) vehicle onto the surface will be tested in real conditions for the first time. Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program,

said the team would do its best to “stick the landing.” “This is a pretty amazing feat getting ready to happen,” he said.

Approaching Mars’ atmosphere at a speed of about 13,200 miles per hour, or 5,900 meters per second, the spacecraft must separate, a supersonic parachute must deploy, then a rocket-powered sky crane must activate to power the vehicle closer to the surface before lowering it with nylon tethers. “It looks a little bit crazy,” Adam Steltzner, chief engineer at JPL, said as he described the final moments before touchdown, which NASA has detailed in a video called “Seven Minutes of Terror.”

“I promise you, it is the least crazy of the methods you could use to land a rover the size of Curiosity on Mars,” Steltzner told reporters, adding that using airbags or trying a platform landing were ruled out. “We have become quite fond of it and we are fairly confident that Sunday night will be a good night for us.” One key concern is the single parachute on board, he added. — AFP

Cell phones in the classroom BATON ROUGE: Cell phones in the classroom? It’s now a state law. The new law makes it required curriculum for public schools starting in elementary, but some parents aren’t so sure it has a place in the classroom.

“It’s sort of a double edged sword. On the one hand, it has provided a ton of information to our kids, but on the other hand it exposes them to individuals who are not well intended,” said Domoine Rutledge, General Counsel for East Baton Rouge Schools. That’s why the state legislature passed the law that requires public schools to make sure kids know what they’re doing when they switch on those computers and cell phones.

In a grade and age appropriate manner, schools will teach kids safe ways to use social networking sites and email, help them understand how and what personal information to share online, and ways to avoid online sexual predators and cyber bullies. Some parents say this should

not be the focus in classrooms. “I think it’s crazy. That’s the parents’ responsibility, not the teachers’,” said Cheryl Ledbetter, a parent in New Orleans. “The teachers need to get these kids ready for the state testing, get them ready for exit exams, and prepare them for the outside world.”

Others say teaching this stuff at school will help to drive home the importance of being safe with technology.

“I always thought that schools and homes worked together, and I’m old enough to remember when we didn’t even have cell phones.

So I know it’s a new technology, and we do need to keep up with the times, or we’ll actually fall behind,” said Keith Williams, a Baton Rouge parent.

East Baton Rouge school leaders say that they hope this new law will help teachers and students stay ahead of the curve and away from the possible dangers in the cyber world.

Samsung vies for spotlight ahead of iPhone launch SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest mobile-phone maker, said yesterday it plans to show a new mobile device in late August, trying to stay in the consumer spotlight ahead of Apple’s expected release of the latest iPhone in September.

The move comes as Samsung is ensnarled in a closelywatched courtroom fight with Apple Inc. over smartphone and tablet patents. Each side is seeking billions of dollars in compensation or royalty payments.

The South Korean company said the new device will be unveiled Aug. 29 in Berlin, two days before Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show, IFA. The company declined to give more details.

But analysts said it is likely an update of the Galaxy Note, which has a screen bigger than smartphones but smaller than tablet computers and can be used with a stylus pen. “It is time for the new Galaxy Note,” said Kim Young-chan, an analyst at Shinhan Investment.

“Samsung’s strategy is to roll out a new product before Apple does, so there will be a new smartphone before the new iPhone.”

Analysts expect the new iPhone to arrive in September or October and go on worldwide sale during the fourth quarter. Releasing another mobile product will help Samsung fend off competition from Apple during the fourth quarter. Analysts believe sales of Galaxy S3 smartphones, released in Europe in May and in the U.S. in June, will hit a peak before Apple introduces a new iPhone. The Galaxy Note has a 5.3-inch display that is about twice as large as the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen diagonally. —AFP

TV listings SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

00:45 01:40 02:35 03:30 04:25 05:20 05:45 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 09:10 09:35 10:05 11:00 11:55 12:50 13:45 14:40 15:35 16:30 17:25 18:20 19:15 20:10 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:20 23:50

Crime Scene Wild Untamed & Uncut Deadly Waters I Was Bitten Monster Bug Wars Living With The Wolfman Animal Battlegrounds E-Vets: The Interns E-Vets: The Interns Karina: Wild On Safari Meerkat Manor Bondi Vet Corwin’s Quest Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Breed All About It Crocodile Hunter Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Wildlife SOS Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Wild France Wild France Killer Jellyfish Wildest Africa Cats 101 Great Animal Escapes Great Animal Escapes Untamed & Uncut

00:30 Come Dine With Me 01:20 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 02:05 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 02:55 Saturday Kitchen 2007/08 03:20 Saturday Kitchen 2007/08 03:50 Saturday Kitchen 2007/08 04:15 MasterChef 04:45 Living In The Sun 05:30 Living In The Sun 06:15 MasterChef 06:40 Saturday Kitchen 2007/08 07:10 Antiques Roadshow 08:00 Antiques Roadshow 08:50 Antiques Roadshow 09:45 Antiques Roadshow 10:35 Antiques Roadshow 11:30 Masterchef: The Professionals 12:20 Masterchef: The Professionals 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 Bargain Hunt 14:45 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 16:05 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 16:50 Come Dine With Me 17:40 Antiques Roadshow 18:30 Antiques Roadshow 19:20 Antiques Roadshow 20:10 Antiques Roadshow 21:00 Cash In The Attic 21:45 Cash In The Attic 22:30 Bargain Hunt 23:15 Bargain Hunt

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:15 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00

BBC World News America BBC World News America BBC World News London Live Newsnight BBC World News London Live Our World BBC World News London Live Collaboration Culture BBC World News London Live Mishal Husain Meets BBC World News London Live Worlds Of English BBC World News London Live Fast Track BBC World News London Live Working Lives BBC World News London Live Middle East Business Report BBC World News London Live Click BBC World News London Live Sport Today Collaboration Culture BBC World News London Live Mishal Husain Meets BBC World News London Live Mixed Britannia BBC World News London Live Newsnight BBC World News London Live Our World BBC World News London Live Spirit Of Yachting BBC World News London Live

THE KARATE KID III ON OSN ACTION HD 16:15 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:15 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:15 23:30

Sport Today Fast Track BBC World News London Live Dateline London BBC World News London Live Worlds Of English BBC World News London Live Click BBC World News London Live Working Lives BBC World News London Live Sport Today Fast Track BBC World News London Live Click BBC World News London Live Sport Today Dateline London

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:00 05:25 05:50 06:00 06:15 06:35 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15

Puppy In My Pocket Tom & Jerry Kids Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Flintstones Pink Panther And Pals Looney Tunes Popeye Classics Dexter’s Laboratory Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes The Scooby Doo Show Johnny Bravo The Flintstones The Jetsons Wacky Races Johnny Bravo Dexter’s Laboratory A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Bananas In Pyjamas Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing

08:40 Ha Ha Hairies 08:55 Pink Panther And Pals 09:15 The Garfield Show 09:40 What’s New Scooby-Doo? 10:05 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 10:30 Droopy: Master Detective 10:55 The Looney Tunes Show 11:20 Dexter’s Laboratory 11:30 Johnny Bravo 11:55 Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch 11:57 Johnny Bravo 12:20 Pink Panther And Pals 12:45 The Garfield Show 13:00 Wacky Races 13:10 Dastardly And Muttley 13:35 The Scooby Doo Show 14:00 Dexters Laboratory 14:15 Dexter’s Laboratory 14:40 The Garfield Show 15:30 Looney Tunes 16:20 Tom & Jerry 16:45 Tom & Jerry 17:00 Pink Panther And Pals 17:25 Pink Panther And Pals 17:50 Johnny Bravo 18:30 Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood 20:10 The Looney Tunes Show 20:35 What’s New Scooby-Doo? 21:00 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 21:25 The Garfield Show 21:50 The Flintstones 22:15 Droopy & Dripple 22:40 Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo 23:05 Popeye 23:20 The Jetsons 23:45 Duck Dodgers

00:30 Bakugan: New Vestroia 00:55 Bakugan: New Vestroia 01:20 Powerpuff Girls

02:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 03:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 03:25 Ben 10 03:50 Adventure Time 04:15 Powerpuff Girls 04:40 Generator Rex 05:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:55 Angelo Rules 06:00 Ed, Edd n Eddy 06:25 Casper’s Scare School 07:00 The Powerpuff Girls 07:15 Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi 07:40 Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island 08:05 The Amazing World Of Gumball 08:30 Adventure Time 08:55 Regular Show 09:20 Batman Brave And The Bold 09:45 Young Justice 10:05 Thundercats 10:35 Hero 108 11:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 11:50 Adventure Time 12:40 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 13:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 13:30 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 13:55 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 14:20 Courage The Cowardly Dog 15:10 Generator Rex 15:35 Ben 10 16:00 Ed, Edd n Eddy 16:50 The Amazing World Of Gumball 17:15 Adventure Time 17:40 Regular Show 18:05 Powerpuff Girls 18:55 Ben 10: Alien Force

19:20 19:45 20:35 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:00 22:50 23:15 23:40

Ben 10: Alien Force Ed, Edd n Eddy Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge Star Wars: The Clone Wars Redakai: Conquer The Kairu Grim Adventures Of...

Codename: Kids Next Door Ben 10 Ben 10 Chowder

00:00 00:30 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 05:45 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:15 08:30 09:00 09:15 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:15 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00 23:30

Amanpour World Sport Piers Morgan Tonight World Report Anderson Cooper 360 Piers Morgan Tonight Quest Means Business CNN Marketplace Africa The Situation Room World Sport Inside The Middle East World Report CNN Marketplace Africa Backstory World Report CNN Marketplace Middle East Eco Solutions World Sport Living Golf The Best Of The Situation Room World Report Backstory The Brief Inside Africa World Report Cnngo Talk Asia Business Traveller News Special Backstory International Desk African Voices CNN Marketplace Europe CNN Marketplace Africa The Brief World Sport Mainsail International Desk Inside Africa International Desk Inside The Middle East The Best Of The Situation Room World Report News Special

00:15 Squeamish 00:40 Squeamish 01:10 Sons Of Guns 01:35 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior 02:30 Crash Course 03:00 Fifth Gear 03:25 How Do They Do It? Turbo Specials 04:20 Squeamish 04:50 Squeamish 05:15 How Do They Do It? 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 Extreme Loggers 07:00 How It’s Made 07:25 Battle Machine Bros 08:15 Mega Builders 09:10 Extreme Engineering 10:05 Man Made Marvels Asia 10:55 Man, Woman, Wild 11:50 Alone In The Wild 12:45 Ultimate Survival 13:40 Ultimate Survival 14:35 Flying Wild Alaska 15:30 Swamp Loggers 16:25 Extreme Fishing 17:20 Hillbilly Handfishin’ 18:15 Against The Elements 19:10 Finding Bigfoot 20:05 Gold Rush 21:00 Deadliest Catch 21:55 Hillbilly Handfishin’ 22:50 Extreme Fishing 23:45 Robson Green’s Extreme Fishing Challenge

00:35 01:25 02:15 02:40 03:05 03:35

Building The Biggest Extreme Bodies Game Changers Game Changers The Gadget Show Punkin Chunkin 2010

04:25 05:15 06:05 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:40 08:43 09:10 09:40 10:30 11:20 12:10 13:00 13:50 14:45 15:35 16:30 16:55 17:20 18:10 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

Joao Magueijo’s Big Bang Building The Biggest Extreme Bodies Game Changers Game Changers Sci-Fi Science Sci-Fi Science Head Rush Stunt Junkies Stunt Junkies Nextworld Smash Lab Smash Lab Smash Lab Smash Lab Smash Lab Engineering Ground Zero Building The Future The Tech Show The Tech Show The Science Of Star Wars Game Changers Scrapheap Challenge Curiosity: Can I Live Forever?

Futurecar Weird Or What?

Curiosity: Can I Live Forever?

Futurecar Engineering Ground Zero

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:05 03:30 03:55 04:20 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:25 06:40 Cody 07:05 07:30 07:40 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:10 09:35 10:00 10:25 11:55 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:40 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:00 18:20 18:45 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 22:20 22:30 22:55 Cody 23:20 Cody 23:45

Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Suite Life Of Zack And

00:30 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 09:55 10:20 11:10

So Random Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Jessie A.N.T. Farm Austin & Ally Camp Rock Have A Laugh Fish Hooks Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Jessie Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up So Random A.N.T. Farm Dadnapped Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Shake It Up Shake It Up Camp Rock Have A Laugh Fish Hooks The Suite Life Of Zack And The Suite Life Of Zack And Sonny With A Chance

Ghost Lab Dead Tenants True CSI On The Case With Paula Zahn Extreme Forensics Ghost Lab Dead Tenants Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared

TV listings SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

FBI Files Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared FBI Files Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared The Haunted Ghost Lab A Haunting

00:00 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00

Treks In A Wild World Banged Up Abroad Travel Oz Travel Oz Meet The Natives: USA Which Way To Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Travel Oz Travel Oz Weird & Wonderful Hotels Weird & Wonderful Hotels Which Way To Deadliest Journeys 2 Latin America On A Motorcycle Don’t Tell My Mother Wild Rides Wild Rides The Green Way Up The Green Way Up Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Travel Oz Travel Oz Weird & Wonderful Hotels Weird & Wonderful Hotels Which Way To Departures Treks In A Wild World City Chase Marrakech On The Camino De Santiago On The Camino De Santiago Travel Madness Travel Madness Gone to save the planet Gone to save the planet Somewhere In China

00:00 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00

Treks In A Wild World Banged Up Abroad Travel Oz Travel Oz Meet The Natives: USA Which Way To Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Travel Oz Travel Oz Weird & Wonderful Hotels Weird & Wonderful Hotels Which Way To Deadliest Journeys 2 Latin America On A Motorcycle Don’t Tell My Mother Wild Rides Wild Rides The Green Way Up The Green Way Up Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Travel Oz Travel Oz Weird & Wonderful Hotels Weird & Wonderful Hotels Which Way To Departures Treks In A Wild World City Chase Marrakech On The Camino De Santiago On The Camino De Santiago Travel Madness Travel Madness Gone to save the planet Gone to save the planet Somewhere In China

00:00 01:00 War 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00

Master of Disaster Apocalypse: The Second World Mega Bridges Fight Masters Hunter Hunted The Known Universe Untamed Americas

07:00 08:00 09:00 War 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Perilous Journeys Master of Disaster Apocalypse: The Second World Mega Bridges Aftermath Hunter Hunted The Known Universe Racing To America Departures Trapped Britain’s Greatest Machines Megacities Crash Science Alaskan Killer Shark Alaska State Troopers Sea Patrol Salvage Code Red

00:00 Wild Russia 01:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 01:55 Expedition Wild 02:50 Shark Men 03:45 Clan Of The Meerkat 04:40 Wildlife Rescue Africa 05:35 Wildlife Rescue Africa 06:30 Monster Fish 07:25 Monster Fish 08:20 Giant Panda 09:15 Caught In The Act 10:10 Africa’s Deadliest 11:05 Dangerous Encounters 12:00 The Living Edens 13:00 Killer Dragons 14:00 My Life Is A Zoo 15:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 16:00 Dangerous Encounters 17:00 Anaconda: Queen Of The Serpent 18:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 19:00 Monster Fish 20:00 Dangerous Encounters

21:00 Anaconda: Queen Of The Serpent 22:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 23:00 The Living Edens

00:00 The Haunting In ConnecticutPG15 02:00 Anaconda-PG15 04:00 Fade To Black-18 06:00 Rocky-PG15 08:00 The Karate Kid III-PG 10:00 Odysseus: Voyage To The Underworld-PG15 12:00 True Justice: Deadly CrossingPG15 14:00 The Karate Kid III-PG 16:00 Tracker-PG15 18:00 True Justice: Deadly CrossingPG15 20:00 District 9-PG15 22:00 The Rocketeer-PG15

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 PG15 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

The King’s Speech-PG15 The Borrowers-PG Yogi Bear-FAM The Third Wave-PG15 Coyote County Loser-PG15 Marley & Me: The Puppy YearsThe Dukes-PG15 True Story Of Puss’n Boots-PG Mars Needs Moms-PG Due Date-PG15 Home-PG15 Awaydays-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Friends

02:00 Friends 02:30 Seinfeld 03:00 New Girl 03:30 Melissa & Joey 04:00 Weird Science 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Weird Science 06:00 Friends 06:30 Dharma And Greg 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Weird Science 08:30 New Girl 09:00 Weird Science 09:30 30 Rock 10:00 Modern Family 10:30 Dharma And Greg 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Friends 13:00 Weird Science 13:30 Dharma And Greg 14:00 Melissa & Joey 14:30 Modern Family 15:00 30 Rock 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Friends 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:30 Perfect Couples 19:00 Mr. Sunshine 19:30 Mr. Sunshine 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 Seinfeld 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 Fairly Legal 01:00 Jane By Design

THE KINGʼS SPEECH ON OSN CINEMA

02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Bachelor Fairly Legal Desperate Housewives Good Morning America The Practice Castle The Ellen DeGeneres Show Desperate Housewives The View Jane By Design Fairly Legal Touch Live Good Morning America The Practice The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Drop Dead Diva C.S.I. C.S.I. New York C.S.I. Miami Desperate Housewives

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Criminal Minds Touch Revenge Fairly Legal Touch Revenge Criminal Minds Psych Touch Jane By Design Fairly Legal Psych Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Castle Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Necessary Roughness Drop Dead Diva C.S.I. C.S.I. New York C.S.I. Miami Revenge

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 PG15 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World-18 Jake’s Closet-PG15 The Devil’s Teardrop-PG15 I Am Number Four-PG15 All Star Superman-PG15 The Devil’s Teardrop-PG15 Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow-

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 PG15 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

The Extra Man-PG15 Held Up (1999)-PG15 Sgt. Bilko-PG Spud-PG15 Love And Mary-PG15 For Richer Or Poorer-PG The Beverly Hillbillies-PG15 My Best Friend’s Wedding-

01:15 03:15 05:15 07:15 09:00 11:00 12:45 15:15 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Of Gods And Men-18 Into The Night-18 Burlesque-PG15 My Enemy’s Enemy-PG15 Light It Up-PG15 Le Code A Change-PG15 Anna And The King-PG15 Light It Up-PG15 A Simple Twist Of Fate-PG15 Coyote Ugly-PG15 Babies-18 Chasing 3000-PG15

All Star Superman-PG15 Planet Of The Apes-PG15 Ip Man-PG15 The Rocketeer-PG15 Dorothy Mills-18

For Richer Or Poorer-PG Knucklehead-PG15 Letters To Juliet-PG15 Reach The Rock-18

01:00 It’s Kind Of A Funny Story-PG15 03:00 Lego: The Adventures Of

Clutch Powers-FAM 04:45 Pina-PG15 07:00 Stone Of Destiny-PG15 09:00 Michael Jackson: The Life Of An Icon-PG15 11:45 Glorious 39-PG15 14:15 Game Change-PG15 16:15 Backwash-PG15 18:00 Water For Elephants-PG15 20:00 12 Dates Of Christmas-PG15 22:00 The Adjustment Bureau-PG15

00:00 Gladiators: The Tournament-PG 02:00 Toyz Goin’ Wild-PG 04:00 The Adventures Of Don Quixote-FAM 06:00 Barbie: Princess Charm SchoolFAM 08:00 Free Birds-FAM 10:00 Cher Ami-PG 12:00 Barbie: Princess Charm SchoolFAM 14:00 Queen Of The Swallows-FAM 16:00 The Little Engine That CouldFAM 18:00 Cher Ami-PG 20:00 Hua Mulan-PG 22:00 Queen Of The Swallows-FAM

00:15 The Other Side Of The TracksPG15 02:00 The Bad News Bears (2005)-PG 04:00 Michael Jackson: The Life Of An Icon-PG15 06:30 The Hole-PG15 08:00 Altitude-PG15 10:00 Big Fat Liar-PG 12:00 Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader-PG 14:00 You Got Served-PG15 16:00 Altitude-PG15 18:00 Zookeeper-PG15 20:00 12 Dates Of Christmas-PG15 22:00 Hereafter-18

00:00 02:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 11:55 16:20 19:50 20:45

Live Olympic Men’s Hockey Cricket Test Match Super Rugby Highlights Trans World Sport Olympic Men’s Trampoline Live Olympic Athletics Live Olympic Men’s Handball Olympic Women’s Trampoline Live Olympic Athletics

01:00 03:30 05:30 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:30 10:25 13:00 21:00 22:55

Super League NRL Premiership Trans World Sport PGA European Tour Weekly Futbol Mundial Super Rugby Highlights Live NRL Premiership Live Olympic Badminton Live Test Cricket Live Olympic Women’s Fencing Olympic Badminton

00:35 02:30 05:30 06:30 07:00 10:20 14:00 14:20 22:55

Olympic Women’s Basketball AFL Premiership Golfing World Total Rugby Live AFL Premiership Live Olympic Women’s Hockey Live Olympic Tennis Live Olympic Sailing Live Olympic Beach Volleyball

00:00 Olympic Sailing 01:00 WWE SmackDown 03:00 WWE Bottomline 04:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 05:00 UFC Unleashed 06:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE SmackDown 09:00 Live V8 Supercars 10:00 WWE Bottomline 11:00 Olympic Sailing 11:55 Live Olympic Men’s Cycling 13:50 Live Olympic Men’s Football 16:30 Olympic Men’s Water Polo 17:55 Live Olympic Cycling 21:20 Live Women’s Hockey OR Men’s Handball

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Kuwait Banks Club hosts ghabqa

T

he Kuwait Banks Club hosted a ghabqa recently at the Mais AlGhanim restaurant for banking sector employees. The event was attended by senior KBC members, including treasurer Mohammad Al-Sane’a, secretary general Jassem Haidar, head of the social committee Reem Al-Wuqaiyan, and assistant general manager Abbas Al-Bloushi.

‘Leniency of Islam’ An unprecedented initiative of KTV2 (English channel) is the new program by the name ‘Leniency of Islam’ presented by Shaikh Musaad Alsane and directed by Hamid Al-Turkait. The program is mainly meant to address the expatriates living in Kuwait. Religious questions are received through the program email qislam@tv.gov.kw and sms can be sent to- 97822021 and answered by the lecturer and Imam in Awqaf Ministry Shaikh Musaad Alsane - a Master Degree holder in Sharia and fiqih from Kuwait University. So don’t forget to watch the program every Friday at 1:00 pm.

Registration for Ramadan STARS Squash Tournament begins Once again this year, the stage is set for the fourth annual ‘Ramadan STARS Squash Tournament’ to be held from August 3 to 9 at the Kazma Sporting Club, Adailiya. Abdulrahim AlAwadi, the Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee has announced that doors are now open for registration to all those who are interested in participating, stating that the deadline for registration will be August 1. The participation in this tournament is open to all and will fall under three categories this year. The first category is for amateurs from ages 17 and above, second category is for professional players from ages 20

and above and the third category is for ladies 17 and above.

Following its last three years of grand success, the 4th annual Ramadan STARS Squash Tournament is being organized during Ramadan for squash lovers who will have an opportunity to practice the sport while being encouraged to develop their skills in a healthy, competitive and social environment. All details pertaining to the tournament and means to participate can be found on the tournaments facebook page under ‘Ramadan Stars Squash Tourney’ or follow the official twitter page @RamadanStars for updates. The registration is taking place at GO SPORT store located at The Avenues Mall. Alawadi also pointed out the great interest the ‘Ramadan Stars Squash tournament’ received from the private sector, where companies took the initiative in sponsoring the tournament. Alawadi expressed his gratitude and thanks to Kazma Sporting Clun, Go Sport, Comtel, Vio, Unite Colors and Alawadi Photography guaranteeing unique prizes for all winners.

Aware Center Ramadan Diwaniya “The AWARE Center cordially invites you to its third Ramadan diwaniya presentation entitled, “The Fascinating and Delicious World of Dates,” by Claudia Al-Rashoud on Tuesday August 7th, 2012.

One of nature’s most perfect foods, the date holds a special place in the history, hearts, and homes of Kuwaitis. Dates were once a vital source of sustenance for desert travelers and a staple commodity of Kuwait’s seafaring trade. Today, the date is

still one of the most important cash crops in the region, with between 600 to 700 varieties grown.

Of all the traditional foods eaten during Ramadan, nutritious and delicious dates undoubtedly have the most benefits for those who are fasting. With this Ramadan coinciding with the local date harvest, now is the time to enjoy them, whether you are fasting or not. Join local photojournalist Claudia Farkas Al Rashoud for a diwanniya presentation that will immerse you in the fascinating world of dates on August 7th, 2012 at 8:00pm at the AWARE Center premises where you will learn about dates in local tradition, culture, cooking, and agriculture, and sample some of the different types of these healthy fruits of the desert.

Originally from California, Claudia Farkas Al Rashoud has enjoyed working as an author and photojournalist in Kuwait since 1979. She was the first female reporter/photographer for the Arab Times newspaper, and her photographs and in-depth feature articles continue to be published in this local daily as well as in many international publications. She has written a number of books, with photographs, about Kuwait which include Kuwait Before and After the Storm, Kuwait’s Age of Sail, Kuwait Kaleidoscope, Dame Violet Dickson (also available in Arabic), and a children’s book about Kuwait’s desert environment and the animals that live in it called What the Camels Said to Santa.

For more information, please call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF BRAZIL The Embassy of Brazil requests all Brazilian citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the website www.brazil.org.kw (Contact Us Form / Fale Conosco) in order to register or update contact information. The Embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the Embassy. The registration process helps the Brazilian Government to contact and assist Brazilians living abroad in case of any emergency. nnnnnnn

Al-Qadiri diwaniya bids farewell to Ambassador of Tunisia

O

n Sunday the 29th of July the Ambassador of Tunisia to the state of Kuwait, Mustafa Bahiya, visited the Al-Qadiri diwaniya in Mishref with his wife where he received a warm welcome from Mohammed Al-Qadiri and other members of the diwaniya. Bahiya gave a few congratulatory words to celebrate the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

On his part, Mohammed Al-Qadiri thanked the Ambassador for his visit, and on the eve of the end of his duty in Kuwait, he stressed the important role Bahiya played in encouraging the cultural and political exchange between Kuwait and Tunisia.

After his speech, Al-Qadiri presented the Ambassador with a painting by his wife, the formative artist and writer Thuraya Al-Baqsami, as a token of appreciation from Kuwait and his Kuwaiti friends.

The ceremony was attended by several foreign dignitaries and ambassadors with their wives, friends and local members of the diwaniya.

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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus would like to inform the public that from 3rd June 2012 the Consulate section located at the premises of the Embassy has started issuing Visas. Address: Salwa-Block 3, AlMutanabbi Street Building No. 35, Tel : (965)25620350, Fax: (965)25620470, Email : info@cyprus-embassy.org.kw Working hours 9:00am till 12:00pm everyday except Friday & Saturday Hence, The Honorary Consulate of Cyprus in Kuwait city will stop issuing Visas from the same date. nnnnnnn

IDAK meets Indian ambassador

A

small group from the Indian Dentists’ Alliance of Kuwait (IDAK) headed by the President Dr. John. J. Manappallil met with His Excellency Satish Mehta, Ambassador of India, at his office in the Indian Embassy. H.E. congratulated the new team while conveying his wholehearted support to various IDAK initiatives.

Further, he hailed the MOU in the medical field between India and Kuwait as an important milestone in relations between the two countries and said that cooperation was ongoing in this regard. His Excellency was briefed on the high standards of Indian Dentistry both in Kuwait and in India. A copy of the amended constitution passed by the IDAK general body in March 2012 was handed over to His Excellency by the Joint Secretary Dr. Jijan Sam Thomas. The General Secretary, Dr. Anil George briefed him on the various past activities as well as upcoming programs, including planned publications of IDAK. He extolled the new committee to continue to conduct the free dental

consultation camps which would be of benefit to the society, especially the lesser privileged members of the Indian community. The new committee promised to strive hard to further

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break.

Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.uae.gc.ca.

enhance and strengthen Indo-Kuwait relations. A floral bouquet and a dental reference book authored by the President were presented to the ambassador on behalf of IDAK.

EMBASSY OF KOREA The Embassy of the Republic of Korea wishes to inform that it has moved to Mishref. New Address: Embassy of the Republic of Korea Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic Area 2, Plot 6 The Embassy also wishes to inform that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Saturday to Thursday Morning: 8:00 am to 12:30 pm Lunch Break: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm Afternoon: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to request all Kenyans resident in or training through Kuwait to register with the Embassy.

We are updating our database. This information is necessary in order to facilitate quick assistance and advise in times of emergency. Kindly visit in person or register through our website www.kenyaembkuwait.com. The Embassy is located in: Surra Area Block 6 - Street 9 - Villa 3 Tel: 25353362 - 25353314; Fax: 25353316. nnnnnnn

(Left to right) Dr. Jijan Sam, Dr. Anil George Phillip, HE Satish Mehta, Dr. John J. Manappallil and Dr. Divya Susan.

EMBASSY OF MEXICO The Embassy of Mexico is pleased to inform that it is located in CLIFFS Complex, Villa 6, Salmiya, block 9, Baghdad street, Jadda Lane 7. The working hours for consular issues are from 9:00 to 12:00 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 14:00 to 15:00 hours for lunch break. The Embassy of Mexico kindly requests all Mexicans citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the e-mail: embkuwait@sre.gob.mx in order to register or update contact information. Other consultations or/and appointments could be done by telephone or fax: (+965) 2573 1952

HEALTH SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

MSL, EDL, huh? Guide to NASA’s Mars mission lingo PASADENA: Fascinated by NASA’s latest Mars mission and planning to tune in? Well, good luck understanding the space agency’s everyday lingo, which resembles a sort of Martian alphabet soup. In the highly specialized world of spacecraft engineering, there are many moving parts and pieces - not to mention processes. Names and descriptions are often reduced to acronyms and abbreviations, which are faster to string together in a sentence but can end up sounding downright alien.

So if you want to know if MSL will nail the EDL and what it can do on different sols, you have to learn the language. Even speakers admit the jargon is sometimes jarring. “It’s kind of our own slang,” explained Michael Watkins, mission manager of NASA’s $2.5 billion Mars project set to land tomorrow night. “It’s a shorthand way to talk about these very complicated systems.”

He added: “Even folks from other missions have no idea what we’re talking about.” There’s no getting around the reality that NASA scientists and engineers are an acronym-phile bunch. Let’s start with the rover’s name. In the halls of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it’s called MSL - short for Mars Science Laboratory.

Spacecraft typically have technical names before being rechristened by the public through naming contests

sponsored by NASA. For example: the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity that landed in 2004 were known as MER-A and MER-B for the longest time (MER is shorthand for Mars Exploration Rover.) MSL did not become Curiosity until 2009 when a sixth-grader from Kansas proposed the nickname. Still, there are some hardcores who continue to use the scientific moniker.

Curiosity is loaded with the most sophisticated instruments to study Mars’ environment - with convoluted names to match. “Mastcam” refers to the pair of 2megapixel color cameras on the rover’s “head.” “SAM” short for Sample Analysis at Mars - is the mobile chemistry lab designed to sniff for carbon compounds.

“ChemCam” stands for Chemistry and Camera, otherwise known as the rock-zapping laser. And “RAD”?

That’s the radiation detector.

Before Curiosity can start science experiments, it must first survive an intense EDL - entry, descent and landing or as NASA has come to call it: Seven minutes of terror.

Signals are received through the DSN, or Deep Space Network, a worldwide network of antenna dishes that communicates with interplanetary spacecraft. Nominal means A-OK. Not so for anomaly (translation: Houston, we have a problem.)

The dizzying naming system even extends to time. It takes Earth 24 hours to spin on its axis - the definition of a day. Mars spins more slowly than Earth - taking 24 hours and 39 minutes. To distinguish between Earth and Mars time, a Martian day is called a sol, Latin for “sun.”

Yesterday on Mars is yestersol. Newcomers often find there’s a steep curve to master the technical language. “It takes some time to pick it up,” said Ken Farley, a professor at the California Institute of Technology who is participating on his first space mission.

Luckily, Farley said new shorthand words are added to the mission’s internal website. Before Spirit and Opportunity launched, cultural psychologists worked with scientists to come up with a better way to communicate. The rules of Mars-speak put in place back then still lives on today. JPL scientist Deborah Bass, who worked on that mission, said it’s important to talk with precision.

But she said it’s also essential not to alienate fans. “We’re so jazzed about what we do,” Bass said. “We can forget that not everybody has the same fundamental background as we do.” Nowhere will extraterrestrial vocabulary fly faster than in the JPL mission control room on landing day. If you find it hard to keep up, just look for the cheers - or tears. — AP

Scientists treat ulcers with ‘spray-on skin’ Treatment accelerates wound closure

WILBUR: In this photo, crop circles are shown in a wheat field owned by Greg and Cindy Geib near Wilbur, Wash. — AP

Crop circles appear in Washington wheat field SEATTLE: Mysterious crop circles have appeared in an eastern Washington wheat field - not far from the nation’s largest hydropower producer - but area farmers preparing for the summer’s harvest find the distraction more amusing than alarming.

“You can’t do anything other than laugh about it,” said Cindy Geib, who owns the field along with her husband, Greg. “You just kind of roll with the theory it’s aliens and you’re special because aliens chose your spot.”

Friends called the Geibs on July 24 when the pattern of flattened wheat was spotted off Highway 174, about five miles north of the town of Wilbur. The field is about 10 miles south of the Grand Coulee dam, which the Bureau of Reclamation says is the largest hydropower producer in the United States.

The circles resemble a four-leaf clover and remind Cindy Geib of Mickey Mouse ears. The design knocked down about an acre of their wheat. Some of it could be salvaged by combines when the harvest starts in a week or two, she said, but some will be lost.

“Of course, we don’t have alien insurance,” she said. Crop circles have been a worldwide phenomenon for decades, and this is not the

first one in Lincoln County. Similar circular patterns were left in crops in the Wilbur area in 2010 and in 2008 or 2009, Geib said. Lynne Brougher, public affairs officer for the Grand Coulee dam, hadn’t heard about the latest crop circles but said the previous one was no cause for alarm.

“It seemed to be highly unusual,” Brougher said. “As I recall from a couple of years ago, there was no good explanation of how they got there.” Still, she added, “it wasn’t a concern.” The latest crop circle was first reported Tuesday by Spokane station KHQ-TV. There were no signs that anyone walked into the field.

“We’re trying to figure out how they got out there without breaking any of the wheat. It’s hard to walk through the crunchy wheat and not knock it down,” Geib said. “At the same time, it’s hard to think it’s aliens.

It’s a bizarre thing to wrap your brain around.” Geib’s daughter-in-law, Kelly Geib of Wilbur, says the crop circle has given the family something to ponder and chuckle about. “The kids all like to say the aliens have come, and we’re happy to indulge them,” she said. — AP

PARIS: Scientists said yesterday they had developed a revolutionary “spray-on skin” treatment for venous leg ulcers-a common ailment involving a shallow, open and stubborn wound on the ankle or lower leg. Using a spray of skin cells suspended in a mixture of proteins that aid blood clotting, the team treated 228 patients in the United States and Canada and found it greatly improved and accelerated wound closure. “The treatment we tested in this study has the potential to vastly improve recovery times and overall recovery from leg ulcers without the need for a skin graft,” said researcher Herbert Slade of Healthpoint Biotherapeutics in Texas.

The patients also had their wounds bound with compression bandages, the standard treatment. Venous leg ulcers affect about one person in 500 in the UK, but the rate increases sharply with age to one in 50 over the age of 80, said a media statement on the report published in The Lancet medical journal. The ulcers develop when

persistently high blood pressure in the veins of the legs damages the skin. They affect mainly people who are unable to move properly like the old and obese, and those with varicose veins.

Standard treatment involves compression bandages, infection control and wound dressing, but not all the wounds heal. Skin grafts are sometimes used, but these result in a new wound at the spot where the graft is taken from.

In a comment that accompanied the paper, scientist Matthias Augustin of the University Medical Center Hamburg said it was crucial to find new therapies as venous ulcers were common and burdensome to patients. “Non-healing ulcers are a substantial economic burden,” he wrote. “In Germany, for example, annual total costs of venous leg ulcers amount to about 10,000 euros per patient.” Spending more on treatment by including cell therapy would pay off in the long run by improving patient healing, he argued. — AFP

HANOVER: Red panda Ole explores his new open air enclosure at the zoo yesterday. The red Panda was brought to Hanover to meet three-year-old female red panda Shana and, as zookeepers hope, to become a couple. — AFP

CLASSIFIEDS

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Clinics Rabiya

24732263

Rawdha

22517733

Adailiya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Khaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Qadisiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

ACCOMMODATION One big room for couple or bachelor, Filipino only near Gulf Mart Farwaniya.

Contact: 94418396.

1-8-2012 Sharing accommodation available for bachelor in Farwaniya near Finger Print Office. Contact: 60375424/ 97220725 (C 4092) SITUATION VACANT A Kuwaiti family looks to hire an Indian or Filipino driver. Tel: 96156162 (Akram). (C 4093) 4-8-2012

REQUIRED

For a leading company - Salesmen - Salesladies - Drivers Email: job_vacancy55@yahoo.com Fax: 24753330 (M.Tech, B.Tech) with good family background Orthodox or Jacobite. Email: bsamuel@nascorporate.com (C 4094) 4-8-2012

Al-Madena Police Station

22434064

Al-Murqab Police Station

22435865

Al-Daiya Police Station

22544200

Al-Fayha’a Police Station

22547133

Al-Qadissiya Police Station

22515277

Al-Nugra Police Station

22616662

Al-Salmiya Police Station

25714406

Al-Dasma Police Station

22530801

FOR SALE

MATRIMONIAL Orthodox parents (Ex NRI) invite proposals for their daughter (22/166) B.Tech, fair from parents of professionally qualified boys

Al-Madena Al-Shohada’a Al-Shuwaikh Al-Nuzha Sabhan Al-Helaly Al-Fayhaa Al-Farwaniya Al-Sulaibikhat Al-Fahaheel Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh Ahmadi Al-Mangaf Al-Shuaiba Al-Jahra Al-Salmiya

Nissan Pathfinder model 2006, silver color, mileage 104,000 km, new tyres and battery, non-accident, price KD 3,600/-.

Contact: 99949612. (C 4091) 29-7-2012

22418714 22545171 24810598 22545171 24742838 22434853 22545051 24711433 24316983 23927002 24316983 23980088 23711183 23262845 25610011 25616368

112 Prayer timings Fajr: Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

03:35 11:54 15:30 18:42 20:10

information SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines QTR JZR SAI ETH PIA RJA GFA UAE ETD OMA FDB MSR QTR THY DHX KAC BAW KAC JZR KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD BAB GFA IRA UAE MSR IRM JZR MSR KNE QTR SVA KAC RJA KNE KAC QTR IRC IZG KAC JZR UAE JZR ETD UAE UAL SVA GFA JZR JZR ABY KAC KAC KAC BAB KAC KAC QTR

Arrival Flights on Saturday 4/8/2012 Flt Route 148 DOHA 267 BEIRUT 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 239 ISLAMABAD 642 AMMAN 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 555 ALEXANDRIA 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 284 DHAKA 362 COLOMBO 344 CHENNAI 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 436 BAHRAIN 213 BAHRAIN 3407 TEHRAN 871 DUBAI 618 ALEXANDRIA 5066 MASHAD 201 DAMASCUS 610 CAIRO 472 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 500 JEDDAH 562 AMMAN 640 AMMAN 476 JEDDAH 788 JEDDAH 134 DOHA 6791 MASHAD 4161 MASHAD 118 NEW YORK 535 CAIRO 4989 AL MAKTOUM INTERNATI 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 857 DUBAI 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 510 RIYADH 215 BAHRAIN 177 DUBAI 777 JEDDAH 127 SHARJAH 176 GENEVA 542 CAIRO 1744 JEDDAH 438 BAHRAIN 786 JEDDAH 104 LONDON 6130 DOHA

Time 0:20 0:50 1:30 1:45 2:05 2:10 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:50 3:10 3:20 3:25 4:35 5:00 6:15 6:30 6:35 6:40 7:15 7:30 7:35 7:50 8:05 8:15 8:20 8:20 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:20 9:30 9:35 10:00 10:10 10:45 11:25 11:55 12:30 13:30 14:15 14:25 14:30 14:30 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:15 15:25 15:45 16:00 16:00 16:10 16:20 16:35 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:30 17:40 17:45 17:45 18:15 18:25 18:40 18:40 18:45 19:00

MSR KAC KAC KAC JAI IRA AXB OMA MEA QTR KNE KAC KAC GFA KNE ALK KLM UAE BBC ABY SYR QTR FDB AIC KAC GFA UAL JZR DLH FDB MSR JZR THY DHX JAI

620 774 618 674 572 607 393 647 402 146 460 790 1794 221 474 229 415 859 43 129 341 136 61 975 1740 217 981 239 636 51 614 539 772 372 574

ASSIUT RIYADH DOHA DUBAI MUMBAI MASHAD KOZHIKODE MUSCAT BEIRUT DOHA MEDINAH MEDINAH JEDDAH BAHRAIN JEDDAH COLOMBO AMSTERDAM DUBAI DHAKA SHARJAH DAMASCUS DOHA DUBAI CHENNAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN BAHRAIN AMMAN FRANKFURT DUBAI CAIRO CAIRO ISTANBUL BAHRAIN MUMBAI

Airlines AIC UAL DLH JZR JAI KLM THY SAI ETH PIA UAE FDB OMA ETD MSR QTR QTR RJA JZR GFA THY BAW ABY JZR KAC KAC UAE QTR KAC FDB KAC ETD BAB

Departure Flights on Saturday 4/8/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA 981 WASHINGTON 637 FRANKFURT 554 ALEXANDRIA 573 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 773 ISTANBUL 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 240 SIALKOT 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 643 AMMAN 200 DAMASCUS 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 156 LONDON 126 SHARJAH 534 CAIRO 561 AMMAN 787 JEDDAH 856 DUBAI 133 DOHA 101 LONDON 56 DUBAI 107 GENEVA 302 ABU DHABI 437 BAHRAIN

19:10 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:35 19:50 19:55 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:25 20:25 20:30 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:05 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:30 21:35 22:05 22:25 22:25 22:35 22:40 22:55 23:10 23:30 23:35 23:40 23:40 23:40 23:50

Time 0:05 0:25 0:30 0:30 0:50 0:55 2:15 2:30 2:45 3:20 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 4:20 4:50 5:40 6:50 7:00 7:05 7:10 8:25 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:35 9:40 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:10 10:15 10:25

JZR GFA IRA KAC KAC JZR KAC UAE MSR KAC JZR IRM MSR KAC KAC KNE KAC RJA KNE KAC KAC SVA QTR IRC KAC IZG JZR ETD JZR UAE QTR UAE GFA ABY UAL SVA JZR KAC BAB MSR QTR JAI IRA KAC KAC OMA MEA KNE KAC GFA KNE KAC DHX ALK KLM KAC ABY KAC UAE SYR QTR KAC KAC FDB BBC AXB QTR GFA KAC JZR

356 214 3406 541 165 776 1743 872 619 785 176 5065 611 1793 673 473 617 641 461 773 789 505 135 6792 1739 4162 538 304 238 4990 141 858 216 128 982 511 266 283 439 621 6131 571 604 331 351 648 403 477 543 222 475 1741 171 230 415 1745 120 381 860 342 137 301 205 62 44 394 147 218 411 502

MASHHAD BAHRAIN MASHHAD CAIRO ROME JEDDAH JEDDAH DUBAI ASSIUT JEDDAH DUBAI MASHHAD CAIRO JEDDAH DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA AMMAN MADINAH RIYADH MADINAH JEDDAH DOHA MASHHAD JEDDAH MASHHAD CAIRO ABU DHABI AMMAN DUBAI DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH BAHRAIN RIYADH BEIRUT DHAKA BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA DOHA MUMBAI ISFAHAN TRIVANDRUM KOCHI MUSCAT BEIRUT JEDDAH CAIRO BAHRAIN JEDDAH JEDDAH BAHRAIN COLOMBO DAMMAM JEDDAH SHARJAH DELHI DUBAI DAMASCUS DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD DUBAI CHITTAGONG KOCHI DOHA BAHRAIN BANGKOK LUXOR

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

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C R O S S W O R D 7 5 7

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday始s Solution

ACROSS 1. The month following February and preceding April.

4. Type genus of the Anhimidae.

10. A label made of cardboard or plastic or metal.

13. How long something has existed.

14. Adorned by inlays.

15. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

16. Capable of existing or taking place or proving true.

18. Half the width of an em.

19. Open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart.

20. Type genus of the family Arcidae.

23. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

24. A Powhatan Indian woman (the daughter of Powhatan) who befriended the English at Jamestown and is said to have saved Captain John Smith's life (1595-1617).

27. A rotating disk shaped to convert circular into linear motion.

29. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

30. Any member of Athapaskan tribes that migrated to the southwestern desert (from Arizona to Texas and south into Mexico).

34. Tall feather palm of northern Brazil with hard-shelled nuts yielding valuable oil and a kind of vegetable ivory.

37. Hear or try a court case anew.

38. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

39. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.

41. American professional baseball player who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (born in 1934).

43. (Old Testament) The second patriarch.

46. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

52. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.

53. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

55. Of or relating to the Iberian peninsula or its inhabitants.

57. Type genus of the family Ulvaceae.

59. An unabridged dictionary constructed on historical principles.

61. A Bantu language.

62. The provision of money temporarily (usually at interest).

63. Understanding of the nature or meaning or quality or magnitude of something.

65. A rapid escape (as by criminals).

66. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

67. Spanish painter (born in Greece) remembered for his religious works characterized by elongated human forms and dramatic use of color (15411614).

68. A period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event.

DOWN 1. A woman of refinement.

2. 100 agorot equal 1 shekel.

3. Show a response or a reaction to something.

4. Aromatic bulb used as seasoning.

5. The compass point that is midway between north and northeast.

6. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 100 liters.

7. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy.

8. (British) A car that is even smaller than a subcompact car.

9. A public promotion of some product or service.

10. An official language of the Republic of South Africa.

11. A French abbot.

12. Mentally or physically infirm with age.

17. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

21. A numerical quantity measured or assigned or computed.

22. Greek mythology.

25. An associate degree in applied science.

26. A river of southwestern Africa that rises in central Angola and flows east and then north (forming part of the border between Angola and Congo) and continuing northwest through Congo to empty into the Congo River on the border between Congo and Republic of the Congo.

28. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

31. Large edible mackerel of temperate United States coastal Atlantic waters.

32. 10 hao equal 1 dong.

33. Bulky grayish-brown eagle with a short wedge-shaped white tail.

35. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

36. A small cake leavened with yeast.

40. All the New World monkeys except marmosets and tamarins.

42. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down by ground control using precision approach radar.

44. A white powder with a pleasant taste and odor.

45. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

47. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

48. (music) The speed at which a composition is to be played.

49. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

50. An avalanche volcanic water and mud down the slopes of a volcano.

51. (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious.

54. Scottish writer of rustic verse (1770-1835).

56. A small island.

58. British informal term.

60. To make a mistake or be incorrect.

Yesterday始s Solution

SPORTS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Surging Reds beat Padres WASHINGTON: Washington’s Ross Detwiler pitched seven scoreless innings as the Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 on Thursday, staying 2-1/2 games clear atop the National League East standings.

Detwiler (6-4) gave up just three singles and retired his final 14 batters. Adam LaRoche had a homer, three hits and two RBIs for the Nationals. Phillies starter Cole Hamels (11-6) allowed eight hits in seven innings. The All-Star has only one win in his past seven starts and has lost both outings since signing a $144 million, six-year contract last month.

REDS 9, PADRES 4 In Cincinnati, Todd Frazier hit a tworun homer to lead surging Cincinnati to its 13th win in 14 games, beating San Diego. Frazier had three RBIs to help push the Reds to 23 games over .500 (64-41) for the first time since Sept 4, 2010. Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto (14-5) gave up two homers for the first time in more than two months, but only allowed eight hits and one walk with nine strikeouts in 7 1-3 innings. The Reds chased Padres starter Ross Ohlendorf (3-2) while sending 12 batters to the plate during a six-hit, six-run second inning. Ohlendorf also was called for a run-scoring balk before leaving after just 1 2-3 innings, the shortest outing by a San Diego starter this season.

METS 9, GIANTS 1 In San Francisco, Ronny Cedeno

drove in five runs to match his career high, while Jason Bay had only his second multi-RBI game this year as New York beat San Francisco. In taking three of four from the Giants, the Mets won their first series in a month. New York starter Chris Young (3-5) allowed one run in seven innings. San Francisco starter Barry Zito (8-8) gave up seven runs in 4 1-3 innings.

BRAVES 6, MARLINS 1 In Atlanta, Chipper Jones and Freddie Freeman each hit two-run doubles as Atlanta scored six runs in the first two innings to beat Miami. The Braves are 6-1 on their 10-game homestand. Atlanta’s Cristhian Martinez (5-2) took over for starter Mike Minor in the fourth following a 42-minute rain delay.

Martinez allowed one run in three innings. Making his second start since coming to Miami in the trade that sent Hanley Ramirez to the Dodgers, Nathan Eovaldi (2-7) gave up six runs in two innings. It was the shortest of his 18 career starts.

ROCKIES 8, CARDINALS 2 In Denver, Tyler Colvin hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning and rookie Josh Rutledge homered in his fourth straight game as Colorado beat St Louis. The Rockies have lost their previous seven home games. With the bases loaded in the sixth, Colorado’s Rex Brothers (6-2) got Lance Berkman to ground into an inning-ending double play. Fernando Salas (1-4) took the loss. — AP

MLB results/standings Cincinnati 9, San Diego 4; NY Mets 9, San Francisco 1; Washington 3, Philadelphia 0; Minnesota 5, Boston 0; Atlanta 6, Miami 1;Texas 15, LA Angels 9; Kansas City 7, Cleveland 6 (11 innings); Colorado 8, St. Louis 2; Oakland 4, Toronto 1.

American League Eastern Division W L PCT GB NY Yankees 61 43 .587 Tampa Bay 55 50 .524 6.5 Baltimore 55 50 .524 6.5 Boston 53 53 .500 9 Toronto 51 54 .486 10.5 Central Division Chicago White Sox 57 47 .548 Detroit 55 50 .524 2.5 Cleveland 50 55 .476 7.5 Minnesota 45 60 .429 12.5 Kansas City 44 60 .423 13 Western Division Texas 61 43 .587 Oakland 57 48 .543 4.5 LA Angels 57 49 .538 5 Seattle 50 57 .467 12.5

National League Eastern Division Washington 62 42 .596 Atlanta 60 45 .571 2.5 NY Mets 52 54 .491 11 Miami 48 57 .457 14.5 Philadelphia47 58 .448 15.5 Central Division Cincinnati 64 41 .610 Pittsburgh 60 44 .577 3.5 St. Louis 56 49 .533 8 Milwaukee 48 56 .462 15.5 Chicago Cubs43 60 .417 20 Houston 35 71 .330 29.5 Western Division San Francisco56 49 .533 LA Dodgers 56 50 .528 Arizona 54 51 .514 San Diego 44 63 .411 Colorado 38 65 .369

0.5 2 13 17

DENVER: Starting pitcher Alex White #6 of the Colorado Rockies delivers against the St Louis Cardinals at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. — AFP

Rangers beat Angels ARLINGTON: Texas slugger Josh Hamilton drove in four runs to power the Rangers to a 15-9 win over the Los Angeles Angels in an American League run-fest on Thursday.

The Rangers broke an 8-8 tie by scoring four runs in the seventh, including Hamilton’s two-run double, and added three in the eighth. Ryan Dempster acquired from the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday - made his first Rangers start and had a fortunate no-decision after allowing eight runs in just 4 2-3 innings. Roy Oswalt (4-2) threw two scoreless innings in relief for the win. Angels reliever David Carpenter (0-1) took the loss.

ATHLETICS 4, BLUE JAYS 1 In Oakland, Josh Reddick hit a two-run homer as Oakland downed Toronto, moving above L.A. and into second place in the AL West, 4-1/2 games behind Texas.

Oakland starter Bartolo Colon (8-8) pitched eight shutout innings, extending his scoreless streak to 16 1-3 innings. Blue Jays starter Henderson Alvarez (7-8) ceded a season-high five walks, allowed runners on base in all but one of his five-plus innings, and struck out only one. Toronto has lost five straight, matching their season worst.

TWINS 5, RED SOX 0 In Boston, Samuel Deduno pitched six scoreless innings in his third straight strong performance, guiding Minnesota past Boston. Deduno (3-0), making his sixth major league start, has given up just two earned runs in 19 1-3 innings.

Brian Dozier had three hits for Minnesota, including a two-run homer in the ninth. Red Sox starter Jon Lester (59) had allowed 25 earned runs over his previous four starts but gave up only three in eight innings on Thursday but got no run support.

ROYALS 7, INDIANS 6, 11 innings In Kansas City, Alcides Escobar’s RBI single with two outs in the 11th inning gave Kansas City the win over Cleveland.

Escobar’s two-strike hit scored Eric Hosmer, who led off the inning with a single. The Indians had rallied from a six-run first-inning deficit, but lost their sixth straight, their longest losing skid for two years. Aaron Crow (2-1), the sixth Royals pitcher, worked a spotless 11th inning to pick up the victory. Reliever Esmil Rogers (1-1), the fifth of six Indians pitchers, took the loss. — AP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

CAF Cup giant killers Leopards eye another victim JOHANNESBURG: Congo Brazzaville football club AC Leopards hope to maintain their role as 2012 CAF Confederation Cup giant killers today when the minileague phase kicks off. They host mighty Moroccans Wydad Casablanca in the opening Group B fixture with Malian teams Stade Malien and Djoliba clashing one day later in a Bamako derby.

Sudanese sides dominate Group A with Al Ahly Shandy hosting Al Hilal and Al Merreikh enjoying home advantage over the lone ‘outsiders’, Angolan police outfit InterClube. Leopards are based in western city Dolisie and have reached the last eight of the second-tier CAF club competition at the third attempt after first round exits in the past two years. After an anticipated win over Tempete Mocaf of the Central African Republic in a preliminary tie last March, Leopards stunned two-time Confederation Cup title holders CS Sfaxien of Tunisia.

The star-less Congolese appeared doomed after a 21 loss at home only to turn the tie around through a 2-0 triumph far from home through a goal in each half by Eric Niamba. A surprise win over Heartland of Nigeria followed and the Congolese claimed another big scalp in the play-offs last month, eliminating defending champions Moghreb Fes of Morocco after a dramapacked second leg. Moghreb had four players sent off and the tie-clinching second Leopards goal came from a penalty kick converted by Yapo Guolelida five minutes into stoppage time.

Wydad finished runners-up to Esperance of Tunisia in the CAF Champions League last year, and edged African rookies AFAD Djekanou of Ivory Coast through a Yassine Lakhal goal to make the group phase.

Moroccan clubs have raised the Confederation Cup three times with FAR Rabat victorious in 2005, neigh-

bors FUS Rabat in 2010 and Moghreb last year after a penalty shootout against Tunisian side Club Africain.

Djoliba are on a domestic roll ahead of the clash with greatest rivals and 2009 Confederation Cup winners Stade having won the league title and made the Cup semi-finals.

Ahly versus Hilal in northern Sudanese town Shandy is a classic David and Goliath affair with the former playing in Africa for the first time this year while Hilal have been competing for decades without a trophy to boast of. Merreikh are the only side from the east African nation to lift a CAF trophy-the 1989 African Cup Winners Cup-while InterClube were unlucky losers to Moghreb in the semi-finals last year. Each club face their three group opponents at home and away and those coming first and second advance to the semi-finals of a competition carrying a $660,000 first prize. — AFP

Sharpshooter Clottey has Ahly in his sights JOHANNESBURG: Emmanuel Clottey takes the sharpest scoring boots in the 2012 CAF Champions League to Al Ahly of Egypt today as Berekum Chelsea from Ghana seek to extend a fairy tale debut season. The 24-year-old striker, a virtual unknown outside his homeland when the annual competition kicked off last February, has bagged 11 goals in six qualifiers and two group games ahead of the matchday three Cairo showdown.

He is only the third goal poacher after Nigerian Stephen Worgu and Malian Mamadou Diallo to reach double figures in the last 10 years and the first Ghanaian since leading 2000 scorer Emmanuel Osei Kuffour. Kuffour helped Hearts of Oak lift the Champions League over more fancied Esperance of Tunisia, but Ghana have had little to celebrate since with a string of early exits from the premier Pan-African club competition.

Chelsea are hoping to change that and have made a promising start to Group B with a win and a draw despite being the outsiders beside three clubs boasting 15 titles between them.

Group leaders Ahly have won the Champions League a record six times, fellow Cairo club Zamalek five times and TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo four times. But Chelsea have not been intimidated by such powerful opposition and came from behind twice to edge Zamalek 3-2 in an Accra thriller before wiping out a two-goal deficit to hold Mazembe 2-2 in Lubumbashi.

Clottey scored all five goals in those matches, including a stoppage-time winner against Zamalek, after bagging six in as many qualifiers that led to a last-eight slot and at least $400,000 prize money. The six included a hat-trick against three-time African champions Raja Casablanca of Morocco, a brace against Liberians LISCR and a vital away goal against 2008 Champions League runners-up Cotonsport Garoua of Cameroon. Hans van der Pluijm, the Dutch coach who guided Berekum into the group phase at the first attempt, praises the 1.78metre Accra-born striker who appears capable of surpassing the 13-goal haul of Worgu four seasons ago.

“Emmanuel does not need many chances because when he gets one he takes it. He is always relaxed in front of goal and that is important for us,” the coach told reporters. Ahly edged Mazembe and Zamalek to garner six points and will miss defender Ahmed Fathy, midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika and striker Emad Moteab, who are on Olympic Games duty, for a game behind closed doors at a military stadium.—AFP

River start where they left off in Argentina

CARSON: Alvaro Morata #23 of Real Madrid dives over Rafael Garcia #25 of Los Angeles Galaxy during the World Football Challenge at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. — AFP

Real thrash Galaxy 5-1 LOS ANGELES: Real Madrid opened their four-game tour of the US by routing Major League Soccer champions Los Angeles Galaxy 5-1 in an exhibition match Thursday at the Home Depot Center stadium. Real Madrid scored three times in the first half and twice in the second in the one-sided contest in front of a record Home Depot crowd of 30,317. The score could have been much higher as Real Madrid consistently broke through the hapless Galaxy defense but were unable to convert many of their scoring opportunities.

The Spanish champions started the game with several of their biggest names on the bench, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Mesut Ozil. They all came on in the second half but by then the outcome was already decided. Angel Di Maria assisted on Gonzalo Higuain’s opening goal after just 85 seconds. Di Maria made it 2-0 nine minutes later for Real Madrid. Other scorers were Jose Maria Callejon in the 36th minute, Alvaro Morata four minutes into the second half and Alex Fernandez late in the game. Real Madrid’s tour continues with games Sunday against Mexican champions Santos Laguna in Las Vegas and Wednesday against Italy’s AC Milan at Yankee Stadium.

They wrap up the tour against Scottish

champions Celtic in Philadelphia on August 11. David Junior Lopes scored the Galaxy’s only goal in the 23rd minute by converting a Omar Gonzalez header. The play started with a David Beckham free kick. Real Madrid wasted no time getting on the board as Higuain and Di Maria made it 2-0 in the 11th minute.

Di Maria made a nice cut and fired a shot through the legs of Galaxy defender Bryan Gaul that beat goalkeeper Josh Saunders.

Saunders was under fire so often in the first half that he took his frustrations out on his teammates, yelling at them for allowing Real Madrid so many scoring chances.

The Galaxy pulled their top stars, Beckham, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, out of the game in the second half as it became clear their side was headed for defeat.

Callejon finished off a nice passing play to make it 3-1 in the 40th minute and Alvaro Morata scored four minutes into the second half from an Esteban Granero chip. Fernandez tacked on a fifth with six minutes to go.

Ronaldo had two brilliant chances late in the game but his leaping backward kick missed the mark and then he hit defender Tommy Meyer who was the last player between him and the empty net. Real Madrid begins the Spanish season on August 18. — AFP

BUENOS AIRES: River Plate return to the top flight of Argentine football at the weekend after the indignity playing in the second division and will immediately face the team who sent them down a little more than one year ago. In a quirk soccer seems to have a habit of producing, the fixture list has paired River with Belgrano on the opening day of the season, the same team who beat them over two legs in a promotion/relegation playoff. River’s relegation sent shockwaves through the country as it was thought the Argentine Football Association (AFA) had engineered a system which made it impossible for any of the big clubs to go down.

Relegation is decided on a points-per-game average over three years, the logic being that while a big club may have one bad season, they are unlikely to have three in row.

However, beset by financial and organisational problems, River did exactly that and their woes ended with a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Cordobabased Belgrano in the 2010-11 playoff. Coached by Matias Almeyda and boosted by the signing of former France international David Trezeguet, who was raised in Buenos Aires, they won promotion at the first attempt last season. Their presence means the return of the River-Boca derbies, one of the soccer world’s great fixtures. Boca themselves will be coming to terms with the departure of talismanic playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who quit the club after they lost the Libertadores Cup final to Corinthians.

ONE WINNER For the first time since 1990-91, the season will have only one single champion. The last 21 seasons have been divided into two championships, known as the Apertura (Opening) and Clausura (Closing) with the 20 teams meeting once in each.

This time, the winners of each championship, which will be renamed ‘Inicial’ and ‘Final’, will meet in an end-of-season decider. It is still not the same as a European league system as the team which has the most points over the whole season may not necessarily win the title. The controversial relegations system remains in place. Despite the new format, Argentine soccer remains mired in problems with crowd violence, clubs in financial difficulties and the loss of promising young players to foreign clubs.

This, combined with the short championships, has led to a dramatic leveling out with smaller clubs such as Banfield, Lanus and Arsenal, the defending champions, all winning the title in the last five years. In an attempt to clamp down on violence, the Argentine government and the AFA announced earlier this week that fans would be electronically finger-printed as they entered stadiums for some games. —Reuters

SPORTS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

New T20 league to give Sri Lanka global reach LONDON: The inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) represents a golden chance to showcase the island nation to the world, said one of the organizers of this month’s inaugural Twenty20 tournament.

Sandeep Bhammer, chief executive of the little-known Somerset Entertainment Ventures group that has been given the rights to run the event for 15 years, told Reuters the SLPL would be beamed around the globe. “Sri Lanka has come out of a 30-year civil war and the idea is to showcase the country to the world,” Bhammer said in a telephone interview. “It is the only country among the 10 test-playing nations that doesn’t have its own version of Twenty20 and it is going to be televised in all

the cricketing nations.

“We are a complimentary product to the likes of the Big Bash in Australia and the IPL (Indian Premier League), not a competing product,” Bhammer added. Seven provincial teams from Sri Lanka will take part in the Aug 11-31 tournament. There are no players from India or England but several high-profile cricketers, most notably West Indies batsman Chris Gayle, Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi, Australian paceman Ryan Harris and South African seamer Albie Morkel, will be involved. Hardhitting opener Gayle will be the highest-paid player on $100,000 while Afridi is to earn $50,000. “We’ve got some of the best television platforms around the world,” Bhammer said.

YOUTUBE DEAL “We’ve also partnered with YouTube on the SLPL website and on a YouTube channel so that people have got access to watch the tournament even if they haven’t got access to television platforms that show cricket. “We are very excited,” Bhammer added.

“We are going to see the culmination and fruition of two years of hard work to deliver a world-class tournament in Sri Lanka.” Bhammer said the event would bring substantial financial benefits to the island nation. “It is going to generate almost 580 million Sri Lanka rupees ($4.40 million) of annual income for the Sri Lankan economy,” he added. “In addition to that, there is going to be almost 130 million rupees coming in from hotel accommodation

alone. There is a lot of employment that will be created.

“There are franchise owners who are coming and commentators, production crews and tourists.” Bhammer said Sri Lanka had been starved of international recognition for too long.

“This is really Sri Lanka’s time to bask in glory and we believe the world really needs to take notice of this beautiful island nation which has been so good to cricket in terms of delivering some of the finest talent,” he added. “It’s time for the world to give back to Sri Lanka what Sri Lanka has given the rest of the world,” said Bhammer in a reference to players like Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara. — Reuters

Querrey, Fish, Anderson into Washington quarters WASHINGTON: Top seed Mardy Fish shook off the lingering effects of an ankle injury to beat Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday and reach the quarterfinals of the Citi Open. Fish is still feeling the injury he picked up in Atlanta two weeks ago, saying there is discomfort but no restriction on his movement. “That’s a tough thing, because it needs rest and I’m just not going to give it rest,” Fish said.

“I can’t give it rest. I’m not going to miss these tournaments.” Fish already missed time this year after he underwent a heart procedure in May to correct an arrhythmia. Now he’s more concerned about regaining his match fitness than about his ankle. “I need matches,” he said. “I need to play.”

Fish’s quarterfinal opponent will be Xavier Malisse, who beat sixth-seeded Jeremy Chardy 63, 6-2.

The No 13-ranked Fish knows he isn’t at top form, but he also believes he’s not too far away. “I feel like I can go out against someone like I played tonight and not lose,” he said.

“That’s important. You’d be surprised, in years past I felt like I could really beat anyone, but I could also lose to anyone on any given day. And I feel like if I play relatively normal right now - I have the confidence, anyway, it might not be true - I have the confidence that I don’t lose many matches like that anymore.” His compatriot Sam Querrey finished off Benjamin Becker with his eighth ace of the match, winning 6-4, 6-3. The eighth-seeded Querrey, the Farmers Classic winner in Los Angeles on Sunday for his first title of the year, won all 24 of his first-serve points and on 22 of Becker’s 33 second serves.

“I returned really well,” Querrey said. “Especially on his second serves I was really aggressive, more so than normal, and it paid off,” Querrey will face third-seeded Kevin Anderson, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Florent Serra. In the women’s tournament, top-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova advanced to semifinals, beating Kai-Chen Chang 6-4, 6-4. Pavlyuchenkova was broken early and fell behind 4-1 before recovering to reach her first semifinal this year. “It wasn’t my best match today at all,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “She went out there and was playing really well. I kept going, and I kept trying to find my energy. I’m happy I pulled it out.”

The Russian reached the quarterfinals of the French Open and US Open in 2011, but struggled for much of this year. She reached the quarterfinals in Bastad, Sweden, in her last event.

“Now there’s a huge difference and I feel my game is much better than it was two weeks ago,” she said. “Maybe it’s just my mentality that I’m much more aggressive here.”

Pavlyuchenkova will face fourth-seeded Vania King. King beat No 7 Coco Vandeweghe 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

King broke Vandeweghe twice to take the first five games, and finished off the third set by breaking Vandeweghe for the fourth time. Magdalena Rybarikova advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over qualifier Jana Cepelova. She’ll play thirdseeded Sloane Stephens, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Eugenie Bouchard. — AP

Al-Roudhan Tournament: UAE’s Al-Nasr eliminated KUWAIT: Al-Nasr from the United Arab Emirates was eliminated from the Abdullah Al-Roudhan Tournament Thursday after losing to Holiday Inn 4-2. Al-Shahed scored its third consecutive victory after defeating the late Sameer Saied team 2-0.

Al-Shahed and Sameer Saied entered the match eyeing victory to claim the top spot of their group. The former came on top with two goals scored by Spanish forward Corbo, assisted by his compatriot Javier Rodriguez.

In the other match, striker Dow gave his team the Holiday Inn the advantage with two goals, while Abdullatif Kareem and Jea also scored for his team. Khalid Bahloul scored twice for Al-Nasr.

Also on Thursday, the Saied Ghadran team from Saudi Arabia defeated Manchester 4-0 with goals scored by Islam Abdurrahman (two goals), Talal Ma’shi and As’ad Al-Saad. Thursday’s competitions were attended by ambassador of the United States of America to Kuwait, Matthew Tueller, who expressed appreciation to the role that the Roudhan tournament and other Ramadanic competitions in utilizing youngsters’ efforts positively, and providing an example for meaningful youth gatherings.

London 2012 Olympic Games

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Oh ends S Korea’s long wait for gold LONDON: Oh Jin-hyek won South Korea’s first men’s Olympic individual archery gold medal after beating Takaharu Furukawa of Japan in the final at Lord’s cricket ground yesterday. Oh had survived a nerve-wracking single arrow shoot-off against China’s Dai Xiaoxiang to reach the final but left nothing to chance against the Japanese, closing out the victory in

four sets. Dai beat Rick van der Ven of the Netherlands to win the bronze, earning China their first men’s individual medal.

Oh’s win brought to an end South Korea’s long wait for the individual title.

The South Koreans have had the upper hand in the team competition, winning four of a possible seven, but the individual title had always eluded them. The 30year-old had tried to break into the mighty Korean Olympic team for more

than a decade and said he just had to bide his time to make his dream come true. “I was not as good at sports in my 20’s, but now I’ve turned 30 and I want to keep doing sports for a long time,” said Oh at a news conference.

“I was taking part in the national qualifications to participate in the Olympics since the Sydney Games. “I always hoped to get to the Olympics and now my first dream has come true, and on top of that I

Old gun and bullets inspire Martynov LONDON: Using a 13-year-old gun and bullets from the Soviet era, shooter Sergei Martynov easily won the men’s 50 meter prone rifle with a world-record score yesterday to give Belarus their first gold medal of the Olympics. The 44-year-old, who serves in the air force at home, scored 705.5 to finish ahead of Belgium’s Lionel Cox on 701.2 with Slovenia’s Rajmond Debevec third on 701. The mark bettered that of previous world record holder Germany’s Christian Klees, who scored 704.8 at the 1996 Atlanta Games. “I am absolutely delighted. This will mean everything to my country,” Martynov said through an interpreter, before going off to smoke a cigarette. “I have been over 15 years in this discipline and it is one of the best feelings.”

The Belarusian was using a 1999 rifle and rounds that were made in 1985, a combination that brought him bronze medals in the discipline at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Games. “A rifle isn’t a wife but you have to look after it and give it tender, loving care,” Martynov said of his prized possession. “I’m not exactly prejudice against any recently made rifles or rounds it is just when you choose you choose something that feels more comfortable,” Martynov told reporters. “I have a (new) rifle back at home but when you are getting ready for the Olympic Games it is too late to change anything so I am yet to lay my hands on it.”

The stone-faced Belarussian could probably give the new gun away, such was his precision yesterday. He equaled the world record in the 60-shot qualifiers where he scored a maximum 600 to finish one point ahead of Cox. Martynov then started the eight-man final, where shooters fire 10 shots aiming for a maximum score or 10.9 with each, strongly as he extended his lead over Cox to 3.2 after six rounds. With a lowest score of 10.2 in the final, Martynov showed a consistency that could not be matched by his opponents. He shot a maximum 10.9 in the ninth round to bring the crowd to their feet and afford himself the luxury of a massive 4.1 lead ahead of the finale.

After firing a 10.6 with his last shot, Martynov cracked a shy smile and punched the air in delight in front of a packed crowd in the indoor range at the Royal Artillery Barracks. Cox fired a 10.4 with his final shot to claim the silver and hold off a charge from 49year-old Debevec, who had started the final three points behind the Belgian. The 31-year-old Belgian was surprised as anyone to be

LONDON: Gold medalist Belarus’ Sergei Martynov competes in the 50m Rifle Prone Men’s final at the London 2012 Olympic Games yesterday. — AFP standing on the podium. “I will be back to my job as a public service inspector in two weeks’ time. I work full-time but I will stay until the end of the Games,” he told reporters. “I did not expect to make the final so I have not made any plans. I don’t know if I will do anything today but I am sure I will celebrate.” — Reuters

Wang crushes India’s hope LONDON: Top seed Wang Yihan deflated a nation of over a billion people when she thrashed India’s strong title hope Saina Nehwal to set up an all-China final in the women’s badminton singles yesterday. It was a happier day for Denmark, however, as their mixed doubles pair Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen hammered their Indonesian opponents to win the bronze medal decider. Nehwal’s run to the semi-finals raised a tidal wave of expectation in her home country but she admitted to suffering an attack of nerves as she crumbled 21-13 21-13, despite the overwhelming support of the Wembley Arena crowd. “I was struggling to move properly,” she told reporters. “I was feeling a little bit (nervous), I think. I was not playing my

strokes freely and I was just too much in a hurry. “She was playing excellent. I didn’t see her playing so well in the previous rounds but today she played really well.” China’s involvement in a match-throwing scandal that saw eight athletes disqualified this week has overshadowed the tournament and the second women’s semi-final between the team’s second-seeded Wang Xin and third seed Li Xuerui was played in a strangely subdued atmosphere. Li prevailed 22-20 21-18 to continue her stunning rise to the pinnacle of world badminton, having come from nowhere to win 30 straight matches in the leadup to the Games. The final will be played yesterday.

“I’ve been getting text messages from my parents back in Chongqing every day,” she told Reuters with a smile, referring to her home city on the Yangtze river. “They are

really nervous!” With China on course to sweep all five of the badminton titles, Danes Fischer and Pedersen put up a rare show of European defiance by belting Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir 21-12 2112 for the bronze. The fiery Fischer smashed a racket into pieces off-court after he and Pedersen’s tight loss in the semi-final to topseeded Chinese opponents Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei.

After sealing the bronze, he tossed another one to a courtside fan and threw his shirt to a roaring clutch of supporters. It was mission accomplished for Denmark’s barrelchested head coach Lars Uhre, who set a goal for his team to pinch a medal from badminton’s Asian powers and make another semi-final. “Very emotional feeling, that’s the moment I’ve been waiting for so long,” Uhre said, struggling to hold back tears. —Reuters

have a gold medal so really I’m a very happy man.” Both individual gold medals went to South Korean athletes at the 2012 Games as Ki Bo-bae won gold on Thursday.

The Korean women also won their seventh consecutive Olympic team gold in London while their male counterparts had to settle for bronze after winning the team title at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Games. —Reuters

New Zealand and UK rule at regatta DORNEY: Britain and New Zealand confirmed their dominance of the Olympic rowing regatta yesterday, with wins for the popular Katherine Grainger and Mahe Drysdale capping sparkling careers and finally making up for bitter losses in Beijing. Britain’s Grainger and her partner Anna Watkins powered to victory in the women’s double sculls in a commanding performance to give Grainger the gold she had craved after winning three silvers in consecutive Games.

Twenty minutes later, Drysdale held on for gold in the men’s single sculls following his loss four years ago when he was rowed through in the final stages of a race, having been brought low by illness. New Zealand also picked up a gold in the men’s pair with Eric Murray and Hamish Bond winning in one of the most comprehensive displays of racing seen at an Olympic regatta.

That adds to the gold medal won on Thursday by the men’s double and confirms New Zealand as one of the strongest rowing nations around. Britain, which won the women’s pair on Wednesday, picked up two bronzes yesterday and the Olympic hosts are favourite to add to that medal collection in three more events today. “I’ve been working for this for 12 years,” Drysdale told reporters on the side of the lake, still struggling to breathe and holding on to the rails for support. “Family and friends watching.

Amazing, I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.” Germany won the other Olympic gold up for grabs yesterday, beating a young Croatian crew in the men’s quad scull.

COMMANDING PERFORMANCES Britain’s Grainger was cheered as she crossed the line, with both women looking to the skies and raising their arms aloft in sunny conditions on Dorney Lake. As they stood on the podium the sound of the British national anthem drifted across the lake, roared by the standing 25,000 fans in the grandstands on the other side of the course as Grainger fought to hold her emotions together.

“Worth the wait,” she told the BBC after receiving a long embrace from her friend and five-times gold-winning British rower Steve Redgrave. “Steve promised me they’d be tears of joy this time, which they are. “I feel this medal of all of them is the people’s medal. I feel so many people have been behind me and supported me and wanted this for me as much as I have.” Grainger was in the first British women’s crew to win an Olympic medal when she won silver in a quad in Sydney but the silvers she won in Athens and, particularly Beijing, when she was pipped on the line, had meant the local fans were rooting for the 36-year-old to win.

They got off to a fast start and slowly pulled away from their nearest rivals, Australia, in a commanding performance that is likely to be Grainger’s last at an Olympic regatta. The final could also be the last Olympic appearance for the five-times world champion Drysdale who was another favorite with the crowd following his torrid time in Beijing. On Lake Shunyi he jumped out to a lead and held on until the final 100 meters of the 2,000 meter course before being overhauled by 2004 champion Olaf Tufte of Norway and Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic.

A vomiting Drysdale then had to be taken away for treatment and later helped on to the podium to receive his bronze medal. —Reuters

London 2012 Olympic Games

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Vijender to give India boxing a positive spin LONDON: Hard-hitting Indian middleweight Vijender Singh is preparing for a heavyweight collision outside the ring by taking on his country’s addiction to cricket.

The 26-year-old police inspector defeated America’s Terrell Gausha to move within one win of repeating his historic feat of four years ago when he collected India’s first ever Olympic boxing medal with a bronze.

Vijender has striven to try and get boxing more attention in a country where cricket is the sport that brings people together and attracts the financial muscle.

He is particularly riled that even with his success-he is also a former world bronze medalistand with the emergence of several other useful boxers like Manoj Kumar, that little has improved in terms of infrastructure. “Thanks to the media, people have started taking boxing seriously over the past two years,” he said.

“Everyone knows my name now because my achievements have been highlighted. But boxing is still not promoted in India. “We don’t have boxing academies, we don’t even have proper

boxing rings. I have lost count of the times I have approached the government and the sporting authorities for support, but nothing has happened.

“In this country, everyone is hung up on cricket. Forget about boxing, India is doing so well in other sports too. But where is the support for all of us?,” he told the Kolkata Telegraph. While Vijender has made the most of his celebrity status, appearing on countless quiz and dance shows, as well as developing his career as a model, he is still envious of how cricketers are given special treatment. “I still fail to understand why only cricketers are given perks like free land, and so on,” he told the Wall Street Journal prior to the Games.

“Come on, we boxers aren’t that bad either.

We’re smart, intelligent and decent looking too.

I’m working really hard to make my country proud. I hope someday my turn comes, too.”

Vijender’s chances of giving Indian boxing another huge shot in the arm rest on his being able to overcome the useful Uzbek Abbos Atoyev, who beat him in the 2009 world championship semi-finals. —AFP

Vijender Singh

Reeling US need a medal, any medal LONDON: An American team pinning their hopes on winning any kind of Olympic medal is a rarity, particularly one that has captured a record 48 boxing golds, but captain Jamel Herring has had a tough couple of days. The United States came to the Olympics with the biggest boxing squad of any country. Less than a week in, their numbers have more than halved, along with their chances of improving on a horrible Games four years ago when they won a solitary bronze.

After starting with four straight wins, the US have been beaten in seven successive bouts, losing five boxers on Wednesday and Thursday alone. Of the five remaining fighters, four have yet to even step into the ring.

“We’ve still got boxers here, we’ve still got a chance,” Herring, who lost in the first round of the light-welterweight class this week, told Reuters after watching another team mate

exit the competition late on Thursday. “If we just stick together, keep that family atmosphere, then these guys that are still in this tournament just might succeed. It doesn’t matter who it is, we just want to get America back on that podium, gold, silver or bronze.” “(Head) Coach Basheer Abdullah, he’s been around for a few Olympics, he’s always said that when teams fell apart, that’s when everything just crumbled.” Abdullah, who was head coach of the US army’s boxing program for 15 years, was brought in to lead the Olympic team only weeks ahead of the London Games, giving the boxers little time with his coaching staff. To complicate his task of reclaiming the glory days when greats such as Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard brought home Olympic gold, Abdullah is forbidden from being in his fighters’ corners or even at ringside because, having worked with professional boxers this year, he violates amateur boxing rules.—Reuters

LONDON: US Lebron James (center) shoots against Tony Skinn (left) and Al-Farouq Aminu (2nd right) of Nigeria during the men’s preliminary round basketball match USA vs Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympic Games. — AFP

US men trounce Nigeria LONDON: The US team had scored 100 points by the middle of the third quarter. It was that kind of night for the Americans.

They broke a few records, shattered others. They hardly missed. Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points, making 10 of 12 3-pointers, and the Americans rewrote the Olympic record book with a scintillating shooting performance and 156-73 win Thursday night, an epic blowout that seemed to send a message to the rest of the men’s tournament field.

Anthony set the US Olympic mark for points in a game - in less than three quarters.

The US also set the Olympic record for points in a game and points in a half (78). The Americans bettered the US records as well for 3-pointers (26), field goals (59) and field-goal percentage (71). Incredibly, they eclipsed the 100-point mark with 5 minutes left in the third. And when Andre Iguodala hit a 3-pointer with 4:37 left, the Americans had surpassed the previous Olympic record of 138 points set by Brazil against Egypt in 1988.

When the record was announced to the mesmerized crowd, all the players seated on the US bench got up and slapped hands with coach Mike Krzyzewski and his coaching staff.

The last group in England with this many records was The Beatles. “When we get hot, it’s a big problem,” Kobe Bryant said. “So you have all these guys on one team and then all get hot on the same night, it’s tough.” Bryant scored 16 points - 14 in the first quarter - for the Americans, who scored 49 points in the first and didn’t let up after scoring 78 in the first 20 minutes. Russell Westbrook finished with 21 points and Kevin Durant had 14 for the US, which play Lithuania today. Ike Diogu scored 27 to lead Nigeria (1-2).

Bryant was mostly a non-factor in wins over France and Tunisia, playing just 21 minutes and getting into early foul trouble. But from the outset against Nigeria, the two-time Olympian nicknamed the Black Mamba was as deadly as ever. He set the tone by scoring seven quick points as the US (3-0) raced to a 13-0 lead, a haymaker that stunned the Nigerians, some of whom had promised they wouldn’t be intimidated by the Americans.

But the US was scary indeed. Durant buried

three 3-pointers, Bryant and Anthony added two from long-range and when Kevin Love came off the bench and knocked down his first 3, the US team’s shooting gallery of stars had opened a 41-15 lead and made the p.a. announcer’s pregame comment that “anything is possible” seem prophetic.

He was talking about a possible upset. The only surprise in the first quarter was when the US missed. “We were looking forward to this game, playing against the US,” Diogu said.

“You know we wanted to use this to show the world what type of team we are. We just came out flat, turned the ball over too many times and they made us pay every time.”

After starting so sluggishly in blowout wins over France and Tunisia, the US came flying out of the gates, led by Bryant. The Americans seemed intent on breaking Nigeria’s spirit, and when that was accomplished with ease, they set their sights on making history.

Anthony, who made five 3-pointers in the first half, put on a shooting clinic in the third quarter. With the US bench standing in anticipation every time he touched the ball on the perimeter, Anthony made all five of his attempts, punctuating one that made it 9754 by turning and walking toward the other end of the floor, shrugging his shoulders. He was in a zone unlike any seen before. And, he wasn’t alone as the Americans made 29 of 46 3-pointers (63 percent), numbers that could stand for several more Olympiads. Although an Olympic rookie, Nigeria, with 10 players who played college ball in the US, also has its share of pro experience.

Diogu, who was born in Buffalo, NY, after his parents emigrated from Africa, has played for eight NBA teams and Al-Farouq, the No 8 overall pick in the 2010 draft, was traded last year by the Los Angeles Clippers to New Orleans in the deal for US guard Chris Paul. But there isn’t a team in the Olympics that can match the American’s celebrated roster with a combined 43 All-Star appearances, seven NBA titles and four league MVPs. Krzyzewski gave his players the day off on Wednesday, a chance to relax and enjoy the games. Anthony and James Harden went to see boxing. Durant watched beach volleyball. — AP

London 2012 Olympic Games

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Go girl! Women pushing to close sporting gender gap

Afghan female sprinter in countrywomen call

LONDON: The phenomenal speeds reached by the teenage Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen at the 2012 Olympics are raising questions about whether the gap between men and women in sport may one day disappear. Ye, who has so far won two gold medals and broken a world record at the London Games, clocked a time for the last, freestyle lap of her medley swim that rivaled the male champions. There’s plenty of evidence to show the gender gap exists, and has done ever since women have competed alongside men in international sporting events. Yet the gap has been narrowing over the decades - so will women one day catch the men? They’ll get close, says John Brewer, a professor of sports science at Britain’s University of Bedfordshire - but only in some events.

LONDON: Afghanistan’s only female athlete urged her fellow countrywomen to “come and join” her at the next Olympics after she set a personal best in the London Games 100m heats yesterday.

Tahmina Kohistani, who has overcome prejudice and huge difficulties to reach the Games, trailed in last in 14.42sec-the day’s slowest time by nearly half-a-second. However, she was overjoyed to run her best ever time in front of a packed Olympic Stadium. And she said more women should take up sport in Afghanistan, where such activities are often strongly opposed.

“I have a big message for the women of Afghanistan. Come and join me because I’m alone and I need your support,” Kohistani said.

“And we must be ready for the next Olympics. We should have more than one girl in the next Olympics.” Kohistani, dressed in a black headscarf topped with Afghanistan’s other national colors of red and green, and a long-sleeved, light blue top with long trousers, missed the next round’s qualifying time by a distance. But she said her mere involvement in the Games would inspire other women in her war-ravaged, deeply conservative homeland.

“I think when I’m here it’s a big reason for the other athletes of Afghanistan,” she said. “It makes them ready for the next Olympics and when I go back I’m going to have a lot of messages for them.

“And I’m going to say for all women of Afghanistan to join me, and I’m ready to say welcome and I’m ready to help you, and we should make a network for women’s sport in our country.” Kohistani comes from a country with few training facilities, and where many people are openly hostile to women playing sport. She ran on a day when judoka Wojdan Shaherkani, 16, became Saudi Arabia’s first ever female Olympian, and 400m runner Maziah Mahusin made the same breakthrough for Brunei.Kohistani is part of a six-strong Afghan team in London including Rohullah Nikpai, whose taekwondo bronze at Beijing 2008 was the country’s first ever Olympic medal. “It’s the most and best achievement for me to be here and to represent Afghanistan as the only female athlete... I did my best to have a medal but I can’t. I’m going to say sorry for my people,” she said.

She spoke of the challenges she faces in daily life as she trains in Kabul, the Afghan capital. “I train in Kabul but the situation is not good for me because whenever I train there are lots of people who want to disturb me,” she said, adding that her coach was “fighting with them all the time”. “There were a lot of times when the people were saying something very wrong to me, (like) ‘Just leave these things, it’s not good’. One day when I was coming (to training) when I get the taxi the taxi driver asked ‘where are you going?’

“When I said I am going to training because I am going to be in the London Olympics he said, ‘Get out of my taxi’.”

Kohistani, standing just five feet three inches (1.60m) tall, added that her time in the British capital had been happy-away from the pressures of home. “When I’m here I’m very happy because I had good training over here and... here I can do my best in training because there were no people to disturb me, there was no one to say something bad about me,” she said. —AFP

MORE WOMEN DOING MORE SPORTS Women first took part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 1900, four years after the first Games of the modern era in Athens. Female participation has increased steadily since then, with women accounting for around 45 percent of athletes at the 2012 Games, compared with 23 percent in Los Angeles in 1984 and just over 13 percent in Tokyo in 1964.

But women have not always been allowed to compete in all the sports at all the distances that men tackle. In more “mature” sports where women and men have been running, jumping or swimming alongside each other in international competition for many decades, the gap has stabilized, Brewer said. “But where the gap is still narrowing is in female sports that are less mature, like the endurance events - the marathon, the 10,000m, and long-distance swimming,” he said. Women have only been allowed to run the marathon at Olympic Games since 1984, while the 10,000 meter women’s running race was only introduced in 1988.

A study published in 2010 in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, which looked at the difference between men’s and women’s world records since the start of the modern Olympics in 1896, found that the gap narrowed consistently until about 1983, then stabilized. The average difference between men and women across all events is around 10 percent, but that ranges from 5.5 percent in the 800-metre freestyle swim to 18.8 percent in long jump. Experts point to important physiological differences between men and women.

MORE FAT, LESS MUSCLE “Females tend to have more body fat, which makes them more buoyant in the water, and that can sometimes help in terms of speed,” said Alexis Colvin, assistant professor of orthopaedics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “But on the flip side, women have less muscle mass and power, so the effect is cancelled out.” Men’s hearts are generally larger, allowing them to pump more blood for each heartbeat, and their lungs are able to take in more oxygen for each breath. The combination means their blood can take more oxygen to the muscles, making them stronger and more powerful.

The relative infancy of some disciplines for women and the Olympics means, however, that women could squeeze the gap as coaches, sports scientists and psychologists learn more about how to train, support and push women at elite level.

With so many more years of data to study, the science behind training is likely to be skewed towards men, and learning more about how elite women competitors train, improve and compete could help coaches get more out of them.

“Even though biology is responsible for a lot of things, we’re also learning a lot more about the most effective ways for women to train and recover,” Colvin told Reuters. “That might help us overcome some of the biological differences.”

Brewer thinks much of that women-specific knowledge has already been gained and implemented - something that could account for the rapid narrowing of the gender gap in some swimming and running events in recent years. “But while a very good female be able to beat a good male, at the highest level the very best females won’t be able to beat the very best males,” he said. “Sadly, in my view, the gap will never close completely.”— Reuters

LONDON: Afghanistan’s Tahmina Kohistani competes in the women’s 100m heats at the athletics event yesterday. — AFP

Ticket demand insatiable, 2.5m fans applying a day LONDON: About 2.5 million people a day are fighting to get their hands on Olympic tickets with pressure on the ticketing Web site running right through the night, organizers said. Demand appears to have been boosted by Team GB’s strong performance in the medals table and the start of the track and field events in the main stadium on Friday. Frustration with an online system that has been unable to cope with demand has been compounded by television footage of empty seats in so-called accredited areas set aside for Olympic officials, sports federations, national Olympic committees, athletes and the media.

London Olympic organizers (LOCOG) have asked those who do not intend to use their seats in these area to give them up, and have trimmed the seating in an effort to make more tickets available to the public. But one in five of the accredited seats remained empty on Thursday. LOCOG urged sports fans to persevere. “A lot of them are applying for the same things, so obviously as they get to the check-out, they find that someone else has pipped them to the post and the product is not there that they’ve ordered,” a spokeswoman told reporters on Friday.

She said 100,000 tickets had been sold during a 48-hour peri-

od, but tens of thousands remained. “So it is about persistence,” she said. “People are going into the system, they are successfully buying tickets, they are successfully attending the Games. “But the sheer volume of people on the site, all through the day, and all through the night, by the way, is vast.” LOCOG has reclaimed thousands of accredited seats, including 2,400 for athletics, and sold them within hours. The last-minute sales have boosted the occupancy rate in accredited areas from 60 percent on Tuesday to 81 percent on Thursday. No figures were available for earlier in the week, when vacancies were at their highest.

About 75 percent of the total 8.8 million tickets were sold to the British public. Spectator occupancy in all venues was 92 percent on Thursday. LOCOG put another 275,000 tickets on sale this week, mainly for soccer, which became available after logistics such as TV camera positions were sorted out. Friday and Saturday are expected to be the busiest days so far at the Games, with 200,000 people in the Olympic Park, up from 135,000 on Thursday. Westfield Stratford City shopping mall, the gateway to London’s Olympic Park, will be shut on these days to people without tickets to try and manage the crowds. — Reuters

London 2012 Olympic Games

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012

Lochte ends Olympics ‘pretty satisfied’ LONDON: Ryan Lochte said it was his time at the London Olympics.

He’ll have to wait until next time.

The swimmer who speaks like a laidback surfer dude concluded his third games with two golds, two silvers, one bronze and a fourth-place finish. Impressive, but not quite up to the high expectations Lochte had set for himself. Still, he said: “For the most part I’m pretty satisfied.” Lochte closed his meet Thursday night with a bronze in the 200-meter backstroke and a silver in the 200 individual medley behind Michael Phelps.

It was the last competitive race between the longtime rivals since Phelps is retiring after the Olympics. “Yeah, I wanted to get all golds in my events, but you know it didn’t happen,” Lochte said. “I’m going to have to live with that and move on and learn from it, and try not to make the same mistakes in the next four years.” Lochte plans to swim on to the 2016 Rio Games, but he’s going to make at least one important change. “I’m going to be training differently,” he said. “I got a birthday tomorrow. It’s definitely time to take it down a little.”

He turned 28 yesterday and his immediate plans included eating at McDonald’s, which is free in the athletes village. Lochte said he had the fastfood chain’s meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner over 10 days at the 2008 Beijing Games. “I witnessed that,” a smiling Phelps said. Lochte won one more medal in London than he did four years ago, when he had two golds and two bronzes.

“How many people walked out with five medals?

It’s way above average,” his coach Gregg Troy said.

“It’s just if you come with real high expectations sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t.”

Lochte opened the swimming competition this time with a dominating victory in the 400 IM, while Phelps straggled home in fourth. “That was definitely one of the greatest feelings, and knowing that my whole entire family was right there cheering for me was pretty amazing,” he said. Troy said he’s talked to his star swimmer about exploring some other events. “With him getting a little bit older, you take that 400 IM out of the program and everything looks a lot different,” Troy said. “His time last year in the 200 freestyle was better, but it was the first event of the meet.”—AP

LONDON: (From right) United States’ Michael Phelps, United States’ Ryan Lochte and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh pose with their medals for the men’s 200-meter individual medley swimming final at the Aquatics Centre in London. Phelps won gold, Lochte silver and Cseh bronze. — AP

Sun shines brightly in 1500m, rivals concede LONDON: Chinese world record holder Sun Yang set the marker for the Olympic 1500m freestyle gold medal with the fastest qualifying time in heats yesterday. Sun, who became the first Chinese man to win Olympic swimming gold with his 400m freestyle victory, clocked 14min 43.25sec to lead the distance field into Saturday’s closing day final.

Sun broke Australian Grant Hackett’s iconic 1500m freestyle world record with a time of 14:34.14 to win the world title in Shanghai last year-eclipsing a 10-year-old mark that had withstood the era of high-tech bodysuits. He was almost three seconds ahead of Tunisian defending champion Oussama Mellouli (14:46.23) with Canadian Ryan Cochrane another three seconds away in third place.

Mellouli, who is concentrating more on the open water race on London’s Serpentine next week, doesn’t rate his chances of catching Sun in the final. After a forgettable 2011, Mellouli has been hindered by a nagging shoulder injury in the build-up to his fourth Games. “I woke up this morning feeling mentally not very confident but the

race went well,” Mellouli said. “How far was it (gap to Sun), three seconds? That’s how far it’s going to be. “I’m really excited about the marathon but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow then we’ll get ready for the 10K.” South Korea’s Park Tae-Hwan was sixth-fastest into the final and is another not keen on his chances of stopping Sun for the gold medal. “No, not really, he is the medal athlete. Fo me it is the 200m and 400m, I am not so good over the 1500m,” Park said. But Cochrane clings to the hope that he can overcome the Chinese favorite in the final. “Sun Yang is beatable and all of us are vying for that spot. It’s going to be an exciting final,” the Canadian said. A significant absence from the final is Australia after their representative Jarrod Poort finished 18th (15:20.82). Australia has a rich tradition in the 1500m with Kieren Perkins and Hackett dominating the event through the 1990s up to 2008. “I couldn’t settle on my pace but it was an awesome experience to be out there racing,” Poort said. — AFP

LONDON: Medals table after 14 of 22 events yesterday.

Nation G S B Tot Mexico China 20 13 9 42 Canada US 18 9 10 37 Colombia Britain 8 6 7 21 Czech Republic South Korea 8 2 5 15 Sweden France 7 5 6 18 Denmark Germany 5 8 6 19 Belgium Italy 4 5 3 12 India North Korea 4 0 1 5 Indonesia Kazakhstan 4 0 0 4 Mongolia Russia 3 9 8 20 Norway New Zealand 3 0 3 6 Poland South Africa 3 0 0 3 Spain Japan 2 8 11 21 Croatia Cuba 2 2 1 5 Egypt Netherlands 2 1 3 6 Taiwan Hungary 2 1 2 5 Thailand Ukraine 2 0 4 6 Slovakia Australia 1 9 4 14 Azerbaijan Romania 1 3 2 6 Greece Brazil 1 1 3 5 Hong Kong Belarus 1 1 2 4 Moldova Slovenia 1 0 2 3 Qatar Georgia 1 0 0 1 Serbia Lithuania 1 0 0 1 Singapore Venezuela 1 0 0 1 Uzbekistan

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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Kromowidjojo bids for sprint double LONDON: Dutch flyer Ranomi Kromowidjojo is on course for the sprint double after posting the fastest qualifying time in the opening heats of the women’s 50m freestyle yesterday. The Netherlands’ newest swimming star backed up from her triumph in the 100m freestyle Thursday with the quickest time of 24.51sec in a Dutch one-two with Marleen Veldhuis into the night semis. Kromowidjojo, 21, of SurinamIndonesian heritage, holds the year’s fastest times in both the 50/100m freestyle and is looking to convert her supremacy on the clock into Olympic gold medals. She is in demand after her brilliant 100m victory in Olympic record time and got little sleep last night heading into the morning heats of the 50m. “I went to bed at

12 (midnight) and got up at 7 (am). I was just thinking about gold, gold, gold. It’s madness on my Twitter account,” Kromowidjojo said.

“Everybody in the Netherlands is so supportive.” Kromowidjojo is on track to become the new sprint queen as Olympic champion Britta Steffen (24.70) and world champion Therese Alshammar (24.77) were fourth and sixth fastest respectively. Steffen is under pressure as Germany continue to struggle in the pool at the Games, where they have not won a swimming medal and face the ignominy of not making a podium appearance for the first time at an Olympics in 80 years. “I knew that I had to give it my all, it doesn’t help to use tactics,” said Steffen, who beat American Dara Torres for the 100m freestyle gold in Beijing four years ago.—AFP

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012 LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s Wojdan Shaherkani (right) and Puerto Rico’s Melissa Mojica compete during the women’s 78-kg judo competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics yesterday. — AP

‘Hijab Judoka’ out in 82 seconds Judo fighter’s loss may be Saudi women’s gain LONDON: It was over in little more than a minute, but it will go down as one of the most memorable moments of the London Games. A young Saudi judo fighter’s decisive defeat on the mat yesterday is being hailed as a victory for women in the conservative Gulf kingdom, a step that would have seemed unimaginable if thousands of fans at the sprawling Excel Center and millions at home hadn’t seen it with their own eyes.

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani was one of just two women competing for Saudi Arabia at the games, the first time the Gulf state has sent female athletes at all. And she was only able to compete in judo after a compromise between Olympic organizers, the international judo federation and Saudi officials that cleared the way for her to wear a modified hijab. Even that was unacceptable to hardliners, who said she was dishonoring herself by fighting in front of men, including the male referee and judges.

The crowd roared as Shaherkani stepped onto the mat for her fight against Puerto Rico’s Melissa Mojica wearing judo dress and what appeared to be a tight-fitting black cap. The drama was not in seeing who would win. In a competition where everyone else holds a high level black belt, Shaherkani has only attained a blue. Her father, Ali, summed up the odds his daughter was facing.

“They are champions she is fighting, and my daughter, for her it is the first competition,” he said.

On the mat, the two heavyweights circled each other for about a minute before Mojica, the 24th ranked judo fighter in the world in her weight class, ended the contest in 82 seconds. Shaherkani looked tentative and unwilling to grab Mojica’s

uniform. Shaherkani was mainly on the defensive, swatting away Mojica’s attempts to get a grip.

Shaherkani seemed tentative and cautious on her feet and made little attempt to throw Mojica off balance.

Olympic gatecrasher apologizes for ‘error’ NEW DELHI: An Indian woman who gatecrashed the procession of India’s athletes at the opening of the London Olympic Games has apologized for an “error of judgment” that prompted a wave of criticism on social media sites. Madhura Nagendra was the subject of an official protest from India’s Olympic delegation after she appeared, smiling and wearing a red top, walking next to India’s flag-bearer Sushil Kumar at the opening ceremony.

Speaking to the NDTV news channel, the 27-year-old, who was one of 7,500 volunteers taking part in the opening ceremony, said she had become over-excited and spontaneously joined in the parade. “As an error of judgment, I landed up walking with the athletes,” she said in the interview broadcast yesterday after she returned to her home in the southern city of

Bangalore. “I understand that I’ve hurt people’s feelings. From my heart, I regret it,” she said.

The acting chef-de-mission of India’s Olympic delegation, Muralidharan Raja, said after the ceremony that the mystery gatecrasher had “embarrassed us in front of the world” and “hogged all the limelight”.

The incident provoked a storm of criticism from Indian Twitter users and spawned several Facebook pages, including one comprising photoshopped pictures of her “dropping in” on at iconic events such as US President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

“I actually didn’t know till I came back,” she said of the scale of the public reaction. “I’m a proud woman of India and I was taken aback seeing all the comments. I hope this will be forgiven,” she added. — AFP

Mojica eventually grabbed Shaherkani with a secure grip on her collar, flipping her onto her back for a match-ending throw. As she rose to her feet, Shaherkani gently reached for her head to make sure the hijab was still in place. It was, and the two women bowed to each other and left to a loud ovation. Afterward, the 18-year-old walked with her father past a scrum of journalists and television cameras. “I am happy to be at the Olympics,” she whispered in Arabic, her father holding both her arms. “Unfortunately, we did not win a medal, but in the future we will and I will be a star for women’s participation.” It didn’t take long for voices of support to pour in from the Middle East. “Saudi judoka Wojdan Shaherkani lost to her much more experienced competitor ... but many are proud of her,” Saudi blogger and journalist Ahmed Al Omran tweeted. Another Saudi resident, Alaa Al-Mizyen, added: “Wojdan remains a winner to me and millions of men AND women around the world.” A Saudi-born man who has a blog called Saudi Root wrote, “I’ll walk out later with the Saudi flag around my neck & my head up high as if we won the biggest gold medal in the history of the Olympics.”

Shaherkani’s opponent also had kind words, and said fears the hijab would get in the way, or even be dangerous, were overblown. “There was no problem at all with the hijab. I think everyone has a right to their religion and to be given an opportunity,” said Mojica. —AP