7th Oct

CR IP TI ON BS SU

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

Massive blaze in Mina Abdullah

www.kuwaittimes.net

THULQADA 21, 1433 AH

Chelsea cement top spot after Norwich rout

24 5Turkey hits back at Syria NO: 15591

after Erdogan warning

44 PAGES

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Rebels resist troops in Homs, Aleppo

Kuwait’s mobile firms to offer 4G LTE services KUWAIT: The Minister of Communications and acting Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Salem AlOthaina adopted yesterday a decree authorizing Kuwait’s three mobile-providers to introduce 4G LTE high-speed data technology to their customers.

Under the decision, the three telecommunication companies — Zain, VIVA and Wataniya Telecom — will operate the system via their respective frequencies within the range of 1,800 MHz against a license fee of KD 250,000 to be paid in advance.

The introduction of the system is a quantum leap in the information and communication technology (ICT) market in Kuwait, according to a press release by the Ministry of Communication. The system provides unprecedented high-speed flow of data, the statement quoted the minister as saying.

The decision, made after meticulous study and analysis of the frequencies of the three communication companies, demonstrates the determination of the Kuwaiti government to tap into the world’s latest ICT standards, he added.

Al-Othaina noted that he has also adopted a decree to realign the frequency range for mobile companies of 900 MHz and to increase the frequencies allocated for each of Wataniya Telecom and VIVA to 10 MHz, and to decrease that of Zain to 14 MHz. The decision ensures equitable distribution of the frequencies among the companies and puts an end to Zain’s dominance of the frequencies in this regard, due to the fact that the company was the first mobile operator in Kuwait. — KUNA

ALEPPO: A Syrian rebel runs across a heavily damaged street to dodge sniper fire during clashes with government forces in the Saif Al-Dawla district of the northern city of Aleppo yesterday. — AFP

One killed in French terror sweep

CANNES: A policeman of the GIPN (French national police intervention groups) stands guard in front of a building as other GIPN members conduct an anti-terrorist operation yesterday in Cannes. — AFP

Yemen foils car bomb attack on US air base ADEN: The Yemeni army foiled yesterday a car bomb attack on the Anad air base used by US soldiers in the southern province of Lahj to train local forces in combating terrorism, officials said.

“We foiled an attack by a car packed with explosives that managed to breach several security checkpoints

leading into the air base,” said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said “Americans on the base were the target of the attack.” According to the official, some “15 American soldiers have been on the base for two months Continued on Page 17

PARIS: A man was shot and fatally wounded yesterday in the eastern French city of Strasbourg while being arrested by police in a nationwide anti-terrorist operation, judicial and police sources said.

President Francois Hollande had talks with Interior Minister Manuel Valls about the operation, which the Elysee Palace said netted seven people.

Police sources said the sweep was directed at a suspected Salafist network and linked to an attack last month on a Jewish grocery near Paris. The roundup targeted suspects in several cities around France. Hollande stressed “the full determination of the state to protect French people against all forms of terrorist threats,” the presidential palace said. According to initial reports, when police entered the suspect’s home in Strasbourg he shot at them.

The Elysee statement said he died as a result of return fire, without giving further details. But a source close to the inquiry said the 33-year-old man was seated on a couch in his living when the police entered and he fired several shots at them with a powerful handgun before he was killed.

Three police were slightly wounded, one being hit in the head and another in the chest, but they were protected by their helmets and bullet-proof waistcoats. The dead man’s woman companion was arrested. Another man arrested in the Paris suburbs was said to have been armed and “dangerous” but did not use his weapon.

Police swooped simultaneously in several cities, among them Cannes in the southeast, where a man was detained without offering resistance. The police operation was part of the investigation into an incident on September 19 when “a minimally powerful explosive” was hurled into a kosher grocery store in Sarcelles, in the Paris suburbs, a judicial source said.

That incident left one person slightly injured but triggered strong reaction in the town’s large Jewish Continued on Page 17

Max 41º Min 21º High Tide 02:49 & 17:12 Low Tide 10:00 & 21:27

ISTANBUL: Turkey returned fire after Syrian mortar bombs landed in a field in southern Turkey yesterday, the day after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Damascus that Turkey would not shy away from war if provoked.

It was the fourth day of Turkish retaliation for firing

by Syrian forces that killed five Turkish civilians on Wednesday. The exchanges are the most serious crossborder violence in Syria’s conflict, which began as a democracy uprising but has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones. They highlight how the crisis could destabilize the region.

NATO-member Turkey was once an ally of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad but turned against him after his violent response to an uprising in which more than 30,000 people have died, according to the United Nations. Turkey has nearly 100,000 Syrian refugees in camps on its territory, has allowed rebel leaders sanctuary and has led calls for Assad to quit. Its armed forces are far larger than Syria’s.

Erdogan said on Friday his country did not want war but warned Syria not to make a “fatal mistake” by testing its resolve. Damascus has said its fire hit Turkey accidentally.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday that parliament’s authorization of possible cross-border military action was designed as a deterrent. “From now on, if there is an attack on Turkey it will be silenced,” he said in an interview with state broadcaster TRT. Western powers have backed fellow-NATO member Turkey over Syria but shown little appetite for the kind of intervention that helped topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. Turkish calls for a safe zone in Syria would require a no-fly zone that NATO states are unwilling to police.

Continued on Page 17

Abu Hamza among 5 extradited to US Terror suspects to face trial NEW YORK: An ailing extremist Egyptian-born preacher and four other terrorism suspects arrived in the United States from England early yesterday under tight security to face trial, with two of them facing a quick appearance in a Connecticut court.

The preacher, Abu Hamza Al-Masri,

was taken to a lockup next to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan to face charges that he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and that he helped abduct 16 hostages, two of them American tourists, in Yemen in 1998.

Continued on Page 17

KUWAIT: People attend a meeting called to support the rights of bedoons at Irada Square, Kuwait City last night. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

in the

news

Israel shoots down unidentified drone JERUSALEM: The Israeli air force shot down an unarmed and unidentified drone yesterday after it entered the country ’s airspace from the Mediterranean Sea, an army spokesman reported. “An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was identified penetrating Israeli airspace this morning, and was intercepted by the IAF at approximately 10:00 am (0800 GMT),” a military spokesman said. Soldiers are currently searching the area where the drone was downed, in open areas in the northern Negev, to locate and identify it, the spokesman added. Army radio said that the aircraft was not carrying explosives.

Bahrain activist on hunger strike DUBAI: Bahraini rights activist Nabeel Rajab has gone on hunger strike, a local rights group said yesterday, just two days after he was briefly released from jail to attend his mother’s funeral. Rajab, 48, who is serving a threeyear sentence for participating in illegal demonstrations, was allowed out of jail for one day to bury his mother.

After the funeral, Rajab was taken back into custody and barred from attending the three-day condolence gathering where friends and relatives pay their respects. “In An Israeli army helicopter searches for the remains protest against this unjustified punishment, (Rajab) of an unarmed and unidentified drone in the north- started a full hunger strike (on Friday),” said the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR). ern Negev. — AFP

India denies trading risk after ‘flash crash’ MUMBAI: India said yesterday its financial markets were safe from “systemic risk” after a more than 900-point “flash crash” in the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty index caused by erroneous trading orders. The Nifty index fell 920 points on Friday with shares in big financial stocks particularly hard hit after a rash of wrong orders forced a brief halt to trading. “I was assured there was no systemic risk,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in financial hub Mumbai after meeting senior officials of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Friday’s fall was compared by market watchers to a “flash crash” in US stocks in May 2010 in which the Dow Jones plunged 1,010 points-about nine percent-before recovering losses within minutes.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

LOCAL

Opposition plan to challenge poll result if law is amended Cabinet under pressure KUWAIT: The opposition has assigned a legal team to prepare a challenge against the election results if the Cabinet changed the electoral law before the next ballot vote took place, a local daily reported yesterday.

According to Al-Qabas, the Majority Bloc believed that the existing law - which divides Kuwait into five constituencies and entitles each citizen with up to four votes - was now immune after the Constitutional Court ruling that rejected the Cabinet’s challenge to its constitutionality.

Meanwhile, oppositionist lawmaker Dr. Waleed Al-Tabtabaei said that if a decree to dissolve the parliament was made and new elections were called, public protests would come to an end as candidates would then shift towards their election campaigns.

However, according to Al-Tabtabaei, if the electoral law was changed, the 34 members of the Majority Bloc who formed a coalition after dominating the majority seats in the annulled parliament elected in last February, would boycott the elections.

The electoral law was upheld two weeks

‘Kuwaiti packages’ at Cairo Airport released

KUWAIT: The staff of Petrochemical Industries Company recently visited elderly care homes to mark the International Day of Older Persons. The visit is an annual tradition and part of the PIC’s commitment to play a significant role in serving society and taking care of people with special needs and senior citizens, Abdulhadi Al-Hajeri, president of Communications and Services Group said in a press release.

Kuwait becomes consumer of drugs KUWAIT: Drug traffickers were targeting the Kuwaiti society due to various factors, including a relatively high per capita income and presence of expatriates from countries where drugs were produced, a senior state official said recently.

Brig Gen Saleh Al-Ghannam, the Acting General Director of the Drug Control General Department, said this was why drug traffickers could make

large profits in Kuwait. “Kuwait has transformed from being a transit station for drugs due to its geographical location, to becoming a consumer state itself,” AlGhannam, who had recently attended an anti-drug conference in Tunisia, told Al-Qabas.

Al-Ghannam also said that fighting the challenge of drugs was a “collective responsibility shared by the family, school and police force.”

KUWAIT: A number of packages were held back for hours at the Cairo International Airport after they landed from Kuwait but were later released when an official letter confirmed that they contained stuff belonging to Egypt’s Vice President Mahmoud Mekki, a Kuwaiti daily reported yesterday.

Speculations had been rife about the contents of the 18 packages which were released after authorities at the Egyptian airport received an official letter from Egypt’s presidential office.

“The packages contained VP Mekki’s belongings from his apartment in Kuwait which he had rented before assuming his current post,” sources close to President Mohamed Morsi’s office told Al-Rai. Customs officials at the Cairo Airport confirmed that the packages were released after a search, and were exempted from customs duty “in accordance with the law pertaining to items that belonged to the state’s sovereign institutions.”

The authorities had initially refused to release the packages, which mostly contained electric appliances, unless they received an official intimation from the office of the Arab Republic’s President.

ago by the Constitutional Court which rejected the Cabinet’s challenge to its constitutionality on the basis that it breached equality with regards to demographic distribution within constituencies.

The Cabinet forwarded a motion to dissolve the 2009 parliament - reinstated by a key ruling last June - to HH the Amir last Tuesday, and dissolution was expected as early as today or sometime this week. (Qabas) Meanwhile, sources close to the Majority Bloc told Al-Rai that the opposition was “cautiously anticipating” the cabinet’s next step “while having reasons to show distrust given the history of their experience with the Cabinet.”

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also indicated that the bloc was set to discuss during a meeting this week “the mechanism to act against attempts to tamper with the electoral system”.

The recent updates came as the Cabinet found itself under pressure from pro-government MPs who believed that reducing the number of votes per voter to a single vote was

necessary to prevent the opposition’s domination of the parliament. “After the present system proved to be a failure, altering the electoral system has become a necessity,” MP Adnan Al-Mutawa’a said in a statement to AlJaridah.

Article 71 of the Kuwaiti Constitution gives HH the Amir the authority to release emergency decrees while the parliament is inactive, addressing subjects considered of high importance. The said laws are viewed by the elected parliament during its first session, and MPs have the authority to overrule them. The opposition believes that the Cabinet seeks to change the electoral law and come up with a system that favors pro-government candidates in order to prevent oppositionists from taking control of majority seats.

The pro-government MPs, who felt marginalized in the 2012 parliament, were pushing for an amended electoral law in which the number of votes per voter would be reduced, which in their opinion would reflect more accurate results of citizens’ orientation. —Al-Qabas, Al-Jarida

No transportation facilities for expat students KUWAIT: School administrations have been instructed to exclude expatriate students from the use of school buses, sources in the Education Ministry said.

Sources said that the buses were sanctioned only for the wards of Kuwaiti citizens and the ministry was under no obligation to provide transportation facilities for expat students. They said buses were being withdrawn from areas with high density of expat students while one or two buses would be retained exclusively for expats.

The expat parents, when informed by the school administrators about the new instructions, expressed disappointment with the decision, saying that the expat students allowed to study in government schools were children of teachers, doctors, imams and university faculty.

Sources said the decision was rather peculiar since traffic jams marred the roads during working hours, and withdrawing these buses would only lead to an increase in such jams.

Taima protests illegal, incite hatred KUWAIT: The protests that have been taking place in Taima Area in Al-Jahra Governorate since 2011 are illegal and have negative consequences because of riots and violence accompanying the protests, the interior ministry said yesterday.

Demonstrators chanting with ‘nazi’ slogans and calling for ignoring instructions of calm by the interior ministry officers, the ministry said in a statement.

It added that demonstrators sent inaccu-

rate messages and information, fabiracated footages of protests as well as issuing publications without official licenses all designed to tarnish reputation of Kuwait and its people. The protesters were also inciting fear and panic among the inhabitants of Taima, it added.

Media and social media network were used to trigger feelings under pretext of ‘tragic conditions’ and alleged lack of services, it said. — KUNA

3

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

LOCAL

US Ambassador Mathew H Tueller at the Expo listening to one of the students.

A student at one of the booths.

The booth of the Amideast. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

US education fair in Kuwait ‘big success’ ISN holds one-day fair

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Those interested in studying in the United States had the opportunity to visit the one day event of the International Student Network Tour (ISN) held at the Regency Hotel on Thursday. The International Student Network Tour visited Kuwait to promote US colleges and universities. Representatives from more than 20 US universities and colleges were at hand to answer questions from Kuwaiti and expat students and their families.

The US embassy staff from the consular and cultural sections was also present at the event to promote education in the United States and answer questions about the visa process and student advising services.

Recruiters from the ISN provided information about

admission standards, financial aid opportunities, summer programs, and student life at different US universities. Some of the US universities that were represented at the event included Drexel University, the University of San Francisco, Pace University, Drury University, Northern Arizona University, Concord University, Fontbonne University, Illinois Institute of Technology, John F. Kennedy University, Moore College of Art and Design, National University, the American University of Rome, and many others.

This event was part of the ISNs tour in the region. It has already held its expo in all of Jordan, United Arab Emirates including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Bahrain. It was held in response to an increasing demand for US universities and colleges.

This year, the visitors were able to learn about scholarship opportunities at the participating colleges and universities. The representatives were able to determine the feasibility of admission and scholarship eligibility for those who had brought along their documents.

EducationUSA is a global network of more than 400 advising centers supported by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) promotes mutual understanding between the United States and other countries through personal and professional ties between private citizens in the United States and abroad, as well as by presenting U.S. history, society, art and culture in all of its diversity to overseas audiences.

The US and foreign students alike can prepare for leadership roles in today’s world through an international education.

Whether seeking an undergraduate, graduate, English language, or short-term/exchange program, international students will traverse their way through these different steps. At EducationUSA, they aim to broaden the reach of what their advisers on the ground can do by providing these useful, interactive guides online to better prepare students for the road ahead and to propel them closer to achieving their dream of US study.

Additional information about studying in the United States can be found at the website http://www.educationusa.state.gov/.

Panel formed to study school fees increase KUWAIT: The board of directors of Kuwaiti private schools union has formed a committee to study the increase in fees in Arabic, Pakistani and Indian schools, and also set up a special committee for foreign schools, bilingual schools and special needs schools.

The board is currently busy holding extensive meetings to study the private education law.

The issue will then be taken up with the legal department and private education administration, along with the suggested articles proposed by the union and neces-

Municipality holds cleaning campaign

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The capital municipality carried out a large inspection campaign at Qadesiya area at the instructions of Ministry of Electricity and Water, State Minister of Municipal Affairs.

The campaign was part of a plan laid down by the municipality to end the practice of dumping garbage and scrap material in the open and display of cars for sale in areas not approved by the municipality in the capital governorate.

Such practices destroyed the Kuwaiti environment and lead to eye sores in municipality areas.

Eng Faleh Al Shimmary, capital branch director, said that the campaign was aimed at making the capital governorate look beautiful.

He said all streets and yards would soon look clean.

He said during the campaign, 18 cars were found abandoned in the streets and were on offer for sale in the Qadesiya area. The cars were sent to the detention center at Amghara.

The director of cleaning administration, Ahmad Rashed Al Azmi, said the campaigns will continue to

stop such violations and law will apply equally to everyone.

Supervisor Mishaal Fahad Al Azemi said that center supervisors will continue to work round the clock to identify problematic areas as per the timetable prepared for all centers to end all such violations.

GCC meeting outcome satisfactory: Al-Hajraf RIYADH: Kuwait Minister of Finance Nayef Al-Hajraf expressed satisfaction yesterday with the outcomes of the meeting of the GCC financial and economic cooperation committee.

Al-Hajraf, who also doubles as acting minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education, was speaking to KUNA and Kuwait TV before leaving here after attending the 94th meeting.

He said the meeting primarily aimed to further reinforce GCC cooperation over vital issues, mainly capital market authorities, single monetary policy and a planned Gulf monetary union.

The agenda of the meeting also included the suggested uniform Gulf customs union, joint Gulf stock market and railway project, the Kuwaiti minister pointed out. — KUNA

sary amendments relating to new issues in the private education sector.

The board discussed the council of ministers’ decision no.

1104/2008 about percentage of national labor at 11 percent for Arabic schools and 8 percent for schools that have foreign syllabus.

The board decided to hold several extended meetings to negotiate and consult with owners of private Arabic schools and foreign schools to discuss the issue and take their views into considera-

tion. The issues under discussion would include urgent requirements, availability of national labor and number of vacancies.

The board reviewed the labor law applicable in the private sector and the system of unified contracts in the light of what was discussed with the ministry of education and other concerned stakeholders and the eventual effect of the law on private schools.

The union also announced setting up of its website to help all private schools to know about the latest issues.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

LOCAL Local Spotlight

The column

Role of govt in the 21st century

Bedoons: Who made them?

By Muna Al-Fuzai

By Fouad Al-Obaid

muna@kuwaittimes.net

fouad@kuwaittimes.net Twitter: @Fouadalobaid

I

am a Kuwaiti, born in the mid-sixties. All my life I have lived among fellow Kuwaitis and all kind of expats. The expats I knew were aware of their roots and the kind of citizenship they held. They knew where they came from, all the way up to their grand-grand fathers. This talk about bedoons is something new to me and my Kuwaiti circle.

In fact, this term seems strange and unacceptable to many Kuwaitis because they feel that one is either a Kuwaiti or not. Nevertheless, the Kuwaiti government has turned a blind eye towards the issue, neither solving it nor ending it and leaving it to heal with time. The bedoons, too, are human beings and they claim to be Kuwaitis and want their rights just as any other ordinary citizen. This issue will not get solved on its own. It is not a trifling love tale, but a serious issue and putting it off will not help anyone, certainly not anymore. Who in the Kuwaiti government is not aware of this reality?

For many years, the Kuwaiti government has not paid enough attention to this issue and we are now reaping the harvest of such a stance. The bedoons are protesting virtually every week, claiming they are being abused, not able to work or support their families. Their list of complaints is long and all they expect from the Kuwaiti government is to grant citizenship to those who deserve it and deport the others who don’t. Those against whom the Kuwaiti government claims to have enough proof should be kicked out of the country immediately without any sense of shame or hesitation.

Does it behove us to see our security forces using force against the protesters, sending a message to the rest of the world that we Kuwaitis are abusing human beings?

Why are we trying to attract such an allegation?

I think every Kuwaiti must contribute his mite via Twitter to put pressure on the Kuwaiti government to do something about these daily protests. I know that the Kuwaiti government will say it was doing its best.

Well, in that case, the best is not good enough since nothing is happening on the ground.

I think when an issue reaches a stage where it turns into an issue of security and safety, then it becomes too serious to be stopped simply by choosing to remain silent and calls for serious efforts to resolve it. The Kuwaiti citizens have not created this problem and they must not ignore it simply because we have no personal interest in it. We have. The bedoons live in our country and deserve our attention.

W

In my view

Dailies used to serve personal agendas

By Mohammad Al-Mutairi

W

hen the parliament passed the press law back in 2006, allowing many new newspapers to start publishing, the general feeling was that it would lead to better quality in news as a result of more competition instead of a situation where the competition was restricted to just five old Arabic dailies. Many people, especially those in the media, thought the law would be an opportunity to enrich the local scene with up-to-date news as dailies would race to scoop news.

Little did we know then that the reality was going to be different, and the competition among a majority of newspapers which started publishing after the law was enforced would be based who reported more “scandals” and inaccurate news.

Such an approach led to an environment in which rumors thrived. Eventually, some private TV channels, too, adopted a similar approach, and had to be curbed by the Information Minister’s decision to

prosecute some of them for violating the laws governing audiovisual media.

What makes me even more sad these days is to see one of the old newspapers, which was supposed to profess better professionalism judging by its long history, focusing on relentlessly attacking the opposition by any means necessary, even by reporting false accusations or urging the government to “save the people” from the alleged sufferings imposed by the opposition.

Hence, I believe it is time to reconsider the press law. Many owners who managed to get a license for their newspapers are using it to serve personal agendas, attack their enemies or damage the society, thanks to an outside financier.

It would now be the responsibility of the next parliament to save the society from the harm that such unprofessional publications are wreaking upon us. — Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

Protect children from maids

By Jassim Al-Tunaib

W

e, the people of the Arabian Gulf, are living in times of unprecedented luxury and have become completely dependent. We have reached a point when people are ready to spend millions on a camel, tens of thousands on a pigeon and KD 70,000 on a sheep. The people in the GCC have now become an example of extravagant luxury.

In fact, things have reached a point where we are harming our own children by hiring such domestic help from Asian countries who have no fear of God. As a result, our children are being killed or attacked in our own homes.

What was the crime of a four-year-old girl who was killed with an axe? Why was a girl slaughtered with a knife and a young man axed, and what explains the many other incidents that have started happening of late in the Gulf since its gates were opened wide?

All of this has been happening because of our own doings, not anyone else’s. Our state of luxury, a lazy lifestyle and complete reliance on others has made us oblivious to the risks that we face in our homes because those employed as domestic help are indulging in sorcery in our homes while the owners are in deep sleep and have no idea what is going on. This is in addition to all those sinful acts that are committed by these domestic helps in the Gulf homes in the absence of the owners who are at work, trying to earn their living so that they can take care of their children.

Times have changed and everyone is now preoccupied with parties, business matters and markets, without knowing what these domestic helps are doing back home.

May Allah help those children who are left in the care of such domestic servants, that is if they have been lucky enough to escape their wrath and not exposed to a “catastrophe” already in their early age. How many families have lost their children at the hands of their domestic help, who came to work though they hated the employers? It was the hardship that forced them to come here. If something bad happens in their country, they vent their frustration on children or the people of the house where they work. Many crimes have taken place in the houses of their sponsors, including domestic aides committing suicide by various means, sometimes even to settle a score among themselves.

We hope that Kuwaiti families wake up and protect their children and do not leave them in the hands of these people employed as their domestic help. The GCC member states’ governments must pay attention to such crimes that are on the rise and protect their people since it is becoming a major source of worry. These governments should reconsider whether they want to continue to allow such domestic help workforce to come to our Gulf countries after an increase in such crimes. We must rethink the way we live so that we can keep our society secure from the impact of those we employ for domestic help. — Al-Watan

ith the ongoing political chaos in Kuwait, a fundamental question needs to be asked; what is the role of government, or rather, what should the role of government be? In attempting to answer such a daunting question, one needs to think about the structure of society and the need to regulate and/or control society which would lead to two differing notion of governance.

In the case of liberal societies, the trend is emerging of a government that is there to regulate life in a way that is both acceptable and coherent to the citizenry populace who through direct elections voice their concerns by electing officials that best represent their ideals, and in instances where no one is there to represent them, they opt to run themselves for public office.

In such a model the more liberal the society the more ‘just’ it tends to be. An example would be the Nordic countries. The other major government tendency is control, better known as authoritarian whereby the role of government is to peeve into the lives of its citizenry populace and attempt to restrict their lives as much as possible demanding complete obedience without any tangible benefit to be derived. Such countries are often not very well off, and you rarely plan on visiting them lest you are a sadomachist looking for inspiration!

Kuwait today is lost in between these two diverging trends. On the one hand it has liberal attributes when it comes to accumulation of wealth, and the pursuit of happiness. On the other it has a system of government that may not have the best interest of its citizens at heart inherently. Those that might not understand what I mean; Kuwait has a very generous social welfare system that most citizens hold dear to. Yet, it is this very system that has created the political chaos and deadlock that we today suffer from.

The ongoing competition to squander the hydrocarbon wealth is most shocking. The lack of proper oversight has left us with a situation where unaccountable officials are wasting funds on projects without truly creating meaningful opportunities for economic growth. In fact we remain so dependent to the price of the barrel of oil which has been hovering around the $100 threshold that should the price collapse or fall, we would be in for one hell of an economic downturn.

For the enlightened amongst us, the question today is not when will we reach peak-oil, rather it is at what moment will we come to realize that the party we are now in has ended? When will we come to realize that every dinar squandered is gone? When will we realize that poor investments today will lead to terrible consequences tomorrow? What makes matters worse is that the same government that is unable to properly invest in its own economy prides itself is shoring up foreign governments creating millions of economically meaningful jobs, whilst unable to do just that at home!

This begs the question, what is the role of government in the 21st century to help its own country and create sound meaningful economic decisions acting as a regulator involving all parties through adequate taxations? Or is it to squander wealth, repress against its own populace, and loose one opportunity after another?

kuwait digest

Electoral law amendment

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij

T

he Article 65 of the Kuwaiti Constitution gives the Amir the right to initiate, sanction, and promulgate laws. This means that if the Amir wishes to initiate a law through the ministers or the present Cabinet, the parliament would be obligated to discuss it while retaining its right to accept or reject it.

However, the parliament does not have the right to refuse to discuss the law, or prevent the Amir from exercising his right as specified in Article 65 of the constitution, which all politicians in Kuwait claim to be defending.

Now, let us assume that HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah wishes to propose a new election law, or amend the existing law as per Article 65 of the constitution. In that case, the new law must be presented to the parliament which will decide its fate.

The parliament elected in 2009, reinstated by a Constitutional Court ruling, naturally has the right to address this proposal. However, the fact that the parliament is not able to convene stands between the Amir and him presenting his proposal to the parliament. Now, let us also assume that HH the Amir feels that it is “necessary” to amend the electoral law. After all, the opposition often blames the current law for producing a “parliament of shame”, a term it used to deride the 2009 parliament. How can we be sure that the same system will not usher in a corrupt majority?

Or even worse, how can we ensure that it will not bring an oppositionist majority as happened in case of the 2012 parliament?

Let us say that in order to avoid such scenarios, the Amir feels that it is better to bring in a new electoral law through an emergency decree as per Article 71 of the constitution. What is wrong with that?

Where is the question of any violation of the constitution or its tempering in all of this? As per the constitution, the MPs can either reject the law during a parliamentary session, or comply with Article 71 that allows the Amir to promulgate laws through emergency decrees. — Al-Qabas

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

local

Kuwait trying to prevent abuse of budgetary surplus Investing in the future

KUWAIT: The volunteers of the Popular Youth Campaign met the assistant undersecretary for traffic department, Lt General Dr Mustafa Al Zaabi, in his office to provide their observations for a document under preparation to solve the traffic jam problems in Kuwait. The document will be later presented to His Highness the Amir.

Massive blaze in Mina Abdullah

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Firefighters on Saturday brought under control a massive blaze in Mina Abdullah without any casualties.

The operations room received reports about a large fire at Mina Abdullah scrap yard at 7 pm on Saturday night. The fire centers at Mina Abdullah, Shuaiba industrial area, Al Zour, the Mubarak Al Kabeer fire center for dangerous materials and the support center were asked to respond.

The fire was spread over an area of 300 square meters. The first group of firemen arrived within four minutes. In order to prevent the fire from spreading, the firefighters split themselves in multiple teams.

The site of the fire had used tires, timber and construction materials apart from 400 drums of used car oil.

It took firefighters four hours to bring the blaze under control. There were no casualties.

News

in brief

Population growth data KUWAIT: There were discrepancies in Kuwait’s population growth data when it came to calculating requirements housing, education and health services, social care, power, water, roads, water drainage and communications sector, Dr Hashim AlTabatabae, Advisor to the chairman of the technical committee studying development projects and initiatives, has said. He said while population structural plan estimates predicted the number of nonKuwaitis to reach 1.7 million in 2006, their number at that time turned out to be 1.9 million. Similarly, the structural plan pegged the number of nonKuwaitis in 2015 at 2.37 million while the results of the general economic model, on which the current plan was based, predicted the same number to be 3.11 million in 2014.

Debtors seeking new loans KUWAIT: The Finance Ministry has received many complaints from delinquent debtors who are now seeking new loans as their salaries have increased recently, a source said. The source the central bank refused to grant loans to those registered with the Delinquents Fund, while the law stipulates that new loans and facilities can be granted to beneficiaries from the fund during the settlement period in case the remaining percentage for the customer increased over 50 percent of his regular salary.

Comprehensive employee system KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior launched a comprehensive employee system last Thursday at the service center at the Liberation Tower. The system allows citizens to make different transactions at a single location, including those pertaining to traffic, migration, citizenship, and sentences execution departments, in addition to transactions related to other ministries such as the Ministry of Communication and Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. The program is part of a comprehensive updating policy led by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah.

Finance ministers’ meeting RIYADH: The 94th meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Committee (the ministers of finance) kicked off here yesterday with the participation of Kuwaiti Minister of Finance Nayef Al-Hajref. In an opening speech at the meeting, Saudi Minister of Finance and chairman of the committee Dr. Ibrahim al-Assaf indicated that chief among issues to be discussed today by the convening GCC ministers would be the proposal by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz that GCC states should progress from a status of cooperation to that of confederation. Also on the table of discussion will be proposals for a GCC common market, a unified tariffs system, and a unifed GCC currency, said Dr. al-Assaf. In a similar speech at the meeting GCC secretary general Dr. Abdullatif al-Zayyani urged the committee to come up with results to their meeting that would directly enhance cohesion among the nations of the GCC states.

KUWAIT: The government has announced plans to increase allocations to a key investment fund although there are still questions on how this move will affect state spending at home. The decision to strengthen the investment fund comes at a time when the government is also seeking to boost the domestic economy through its latest five-year National Development Plan (NDP).

On Sept 17, the Kuwaiti government revealed it is planning to more than double the percentage of state revenues placed in the Future Generations Fund, raising the contribution from 10% to 25% of state revenues for the 2012/13 fiscal year.

Managed by the Kuwait Investment Authority - the country’s sovereign wealth fund - the Future Generations Fund is used for offshore investments intended to generate long-term income. The fund is part of the government’s strategy of providing revenue to support Kuwaiti society when the oil reserves are depleted to the point where they can no longer meet the fiscal requirements of the state.

According to Nayef Al Hajraf, the finance minister, the cabinet determined the increase in the fund’s allocation as part of wider deliberations on the economy.

Rola Dashti, the state minister for development affairs, later told local media that increasing the allocation to the Future Generations Fund would help balance government expenditure and investment. It would also prevent excessive spending and depletion of the state’s oil revenue, she told the daily Al Rai on Sept 19. While measures to curb excessive spending may be wel-

come, there have been some concerns raised that the shift in fiscal focus could mean the government would scale back its domestic investment programme, as set out in the NDP. This long-term economic strategy, unveiled in 2010, foresees expenditure of more than $100bn to expand transport, utilities and communications infrastructure, strengthen the oil industry, reinforce education and health services and increase employment opportunities for Kuwaitis. A number of these projects are running behind schedule, with some big-ticket developments having been delayed by parliament.

On Sept 18, the finance minister moved to allay these concerns, saying that the increased allocation would not come at the expense of other investment. The move was aimed at encouraging savings and the plan would not distract the government from dealing with problems in the economy, Al Hajraf said.

One question the minister did not answer was whether the increase in the allocation to the Future Generations Fund was a one-off, or would be a permanent part of Kuwait’s budgetary planning. Al Hajraf did give a clue, however, saying that he hoped the increased contribution would continue into the following fiscal year.

Such increased commitments might mean that the government could struggle to keep to its domestic investment schedule, especially if oil prices dip below present levels, eating into the budgetary surplus, which amounted to $47bn for the 2011/12 fiscal year that ended on March 31. One proponent of the move to bolster foreign investments is Bader Al-Humaidi, a former

finance minister, who told Reuters on Sept 18 that the cabinet decision indicated a shift in state policy.

“This move shows the state is aware of the need to put financial surpluses into reserves rather than having increases in salaries and handouts,” Al Humaidi said.

This view was echoed by Mohammad Al-Saqqa, a professor of economics at Kuwait University, who sees higher spending on salaries, allowances and state support eating into funds that could otherwise be allocated to investments in incomegenerating assets for the future.

“We have clearly failed to turn our oil revenues into frameworks and infrastructure that would support a productive prosperous economy,” he said on Sept 23. “The current generation is largely embracing aggressive recreational spending and giving in to boasting so that our oil is turned into luxurious cars, trips and vacations abroad, and high-end luxury goods.”

Describing the government’s decision to raise the allocation to the Future Generations Fund as prudent, Al-Saqqa said that Kuwaitis should be better educated to guarantee wiser and more productive spending rather than abuse any budgetary surplus.

With some of the details of the new arrangements for the Future Generations Fund unclear, it is hard to say what the short- or long-term impact of the government’s policy shift will be. However, the government does appear to be banking on oil revenue remaining high enough to keep its domestic development scheme afloat while also topping up its overseas asset fund. — Oxford Business Group

Groups reject opposition’s proposal

By A. Saleh KUWAIT: Three political groups rejected an opposition petition calling for rejecting any change to the electoral system through an emergency decree released by the Cabinet after the parliament is dissolved.

“The National Democratic Alliance, the Democratic Forum and the Islamic Salafist Assembly pointed out that they have already released statements expressing

their opposition to any amendment to the law made outside the parliament,” sources privy to the developments said while explaining the reasons behind the rejection.

Also, the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the three groups did not wish to sign the Majority Bloc’s petition “as a show of protest against the bloc adopting double standards as far its position regarding the judiciary was concerned.”

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

LOCAL

Traffic police officer in net for Filipina’s rape Uniform used to facilitate crimes KUWAIT: A traffic police officer was arrested after he was identified as the suspect involved in the case of kidnap-rape attempted murder of a Filipina woman that was reported last week. The suspect, a Lance Corporal in the Traffic Police Force, also confessed that it was not the first crime that he committed using his uniform to deceive victims. His latest victim, who was found in West Mishref near South Surra on Monday in a critical condition, had described her attacker as a man dressed in police uniform, leading detectives to speculate that it could be someone posing as an officer. However, investigations by Hawally detectives led them to the real culprit who was arrested late Thursday.

He confessed to stabbing the woman with an intention to kill her after becoming aware that she had read his car’s license plate even as he was trying to flee. The injured victim, who was rushed to the intensive care unit of the Mubarak Hospital, later told the investigators that she got into the patrol vehicle thinking she would be taken to the police station for allegedly violating residency laws. Instead, the suspect drove to a remote location where he assaulted her both sexually and physically, and then stabbed her repeatedly, leaving her to die.

The suspect officer had arrested the woman at the parking lot of a mall on the Sixth Ring Road after finding out that she carried an article 20 residency registered for domestic workers, according to the victim’s testimony. The arrested officer later confirmed the woman’s version of the events during his interrogation. He would remain in custody pending legal action.

Investigations are on to find out further details of crimes he committed in the past.

Murder threat A Kuwait University professor has accused a relative of his of issuing a murder threat and verbally assaulting him. The complainant filed the case recently at the Sulaibikhat police station, telling the officials that all this happened over the phone.

The man cited ongoing disputes as the reason behind his Saudi relative’s tirade.

Investigations are on.

Unwelcomed guest A man was arrested after he entered a house by mistake under the influence of alcohol. The police rushed when a Kuwaiti resident reported a stranger entering his house through the front door. The family members kept the Indian man under control until police arrived and arrested him.

He was taken to the relevant authorities while a bottle of homebrewed liquor that he was carrying was sent for tests.

Fugitive nabbed A fugitive sentenced to ten years in prison was arrested during a recent patrol mission in Qortuba. The patrol officers grew suspicious when the man became too nervous after being pulled over. They put him under arrest after a verification of his identity papers revealed that he was wanted to serve a jail term.

Drug possession Two people were arrested in Sabhan recently for possessing drugs. The suspects, one a Kuwaiti and the other a Gulf national, were pulled over during a patrol mission for Mubarak Al-Kabeer police. They were placed under arrest after 65 drug pills were found in their possession during a search. They were referred to the Drug Control General Department to face charges. — Al-Watan, Al-Rai

KUWAIT: Twenty one Touristic Enterprises Company employees underwent a training course on staff evaluation, organized recently at the Yachts Club in cooperation with the International Quality Training Institution. The four-day course focused on defining standards of performance assessment as well as increasing trainee’s abilities to diagnose problems and come up with suitable solutions.

Now developing, Kuwait’s future ‘difference makers’ KUWAIT: “I have great dreams for this country. I am good with words. I learn very quickly. I listen and I am also persuasive. I know that I am capable of making a difference in Kuwait.”

A girl applying for a seat in the Kuwait Leadership Mastery (KLM) program, which I am directing, sent me that statement.

Here’s another one from a young man: “I am very motivated and passionate about bringing change in our society. I would love to improve my leadership skills to motivate members of my society to change the world.”

Take heart, Kuwait! If anyone ever thought that our country’s youth were indifferent to Kuwait’s future, I have a stack of applications that proves otherwise. Kuwait has many young men and women, citizens as well as expats, who love this country (it is their home, after all) and who are determined to help lead Kuwait into a new world that will surprise and delight everyone. Fifty of these young people will be selected to develop and

enhance their leadership skills in KLM, a series of four seminars funded by the US Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). Applications for KLM are being accepted until 15 Oct at www.kuwaitleadershipmastery.com and young men in the 17-24 years age group and women of any age from across Kuwait are urged to apply. We are seeking the best and the brightest of Kuwait’s young adults for this program. Participants do not have to pay any fee, thanks to MEPI’s funding.

KLM will teach life-long skills including goal setting, decision-making, team development, oral and written communication, persuasiveness, and more.

Applicants must explain why they should be selected for the program. Two-thirds of the participants will be Kuwaitis. Participants will work in teams to create a Campaign for Change in Kuwait. Each team will develop a different campaign in areas such as government, sports, education, leadership, citizenship, etc. Teams will also work with local mentors.

Next April, KLM participants will showcase their

campaigns before the media and will receive special certificates at a graduation ceremony hosted at Gulf University for Science & Technology.

This type of program has not been taught in Kuwait earlier and KLM participants will form an ongoing leadership club to help young adults develop leadership skills in the future. One of the applicants, an expat male, wrote, “If I develop leadership skills, I believe I can motivate the expat community to collaborate with the Kuwaiti people more positively for the betterment of Kuwait.” A Kuwaiti woman wrote, “Kuwait needs leaders who are trustworthy and who you can count on, someone strong who tries to help in any possible way to make a better future for our beloved country. I can be that person.” Do you get the sense that she can?

I do. Unfortunately, with limited funding, KLM has only 50 seats, and we will fill them with the most capable and passionate young people in Kuwait.

Eventually, these new leaders will become Kuwait’s “Difference Makers.”

Key role for Kuwait Energy in ‘Green Wall’ initiative BAKU: Kuwait News Agency Director General and Board Chairman Mubarak Duaij Al-Ibrahim Al-Sabah met here yesterday with Director General of Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency Aslan Ahmad Aslanov on the sideline of the second Baku International Humanitarian Forum. The meeting focused on bolstering media training, cooperation, and relations between the two agencies on the basis of the joint agreement signed in 2009.

Expo Pakistan 2012 sees Kuwaiti participation KARACHI: A Pakistani trade official indicated here yesterday that various Arab and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and trading companies, including Kuwait, are taking in the 7th Expo Pakistan 2012, currently held at the Karachi Expo Centre.

Abdul Kabeer Kazi, secretary of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), explained, in an interview with KUNA, that international buyers and guests from over 70 countries have taken interest in Pakistani-made products such as textile, handicraft, construction, agriculture, and food.

“The expo has benefited Pakistan’s relations with other countries, especially Arab and GCC countries,” Kazi noted, adding that “there were no delegations last year from Kuwait. This year; however, honourable guests from Kuwait are visiting us and I believe they would carry the message to Kuwait that this is the place for trade, and this is how it is going to multiply in the Arab world.”

Furthermore, he noted that this year there are more Pakistani companies that are taking part in the expo, showcasing various “Made in Pakistan” products, as well as over 530 international buyers who were already in the country prior to the opening of the expo.

“This Expo actually shows our commitment to further exploring the export potential of Pakistan. It also shows we have around 350 Pakistani exhibitors who are displaying local made products in all six halls of the expo, and we are so thankful to international guests, who are here and now visiting those halls.

Therefore, I’m sure that this kind of activity is going to further improve the export potential of Pakistan,” said Kazi “There are more Pakistani exhibitors and more products displayed in the expo now. I believe the figure is going to go up this year. It was around USD 518 million.

This year it should go beyond USD 700 to USD 750 million,” added the Pakistani official. In addition, he disclosed that his country’s government is now preparing a follow-up mechanism in place, with the assistance of Pakistani trade officers

abroad, to monitor trade agreements and contract procedures between international buyers and Pakistani companies.

“If there was a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between a buyer and a manufacturer, we would follow it up whether it materializes or not.” said Kazi.

The 7th Expo Pakistan 2012 kicked off last Thursday with participation of around 2,500 of local and international exhibitors, as well as delegates and guests from over 70 countries around the world.

Many international companies are taking part in this year’s expo, representing countries such as China, Japan, UK, USA, France, Brazil, Greece, Argentina, Belgium, South Africa, South Korea, Poland, Russia, Malaysia, Nigeria, New Zealand, India, Panama, Hong Kong, Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Syria, and Egypt.

Around 12 Kuwaiti companies from different fields of trading are participating in Expo Pakistan 2012, including Food Centre for Foodstuff Company, Global United Company, Kalendar International Trading Company, Universal Al-Abrar for Foodstuff and Meat Trading, Hussain & Qaiser International LTD, Mujezat Al-Shifa General Trading Company, Bait Al-Eman Electrical, AlEman Control Air Condition & Elevator Maintenance Company, Nusaiba Contracting FST, Queen Istanbul EST, Lmar Home Furnishing Company, and AlYusra Company.

The four-day event is Pakistan’s biggest international trade fair. It displays the country’s finest export merchandise and services, as well as provides international exhibitors an opportunity to showcase and launch their products on a large scale.

The first two days of the event were booked for trade visitors, while the final two days would be open to the public.

Fashion shows were, also, featured during the first two days of the exhibition, in which Pakistan’s textile products and designer lawns were promoted and showcased. —- KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwait Energy, one of the fastest growing Middle Eastern independent oil and gas exploration and production companies, yesterday extended its support to the Kuwait Oasis Team in Kuwait’s largest voluntary environmental initiative.” The Kuwait Green Wall” project aims to plant 315,000 trees on a stretch of 420 km on the borders of the country in a call to implement effective solutions to the rising environmental and climate issues.

Planned over a ten-year period and with a triple-layer of trees, the “Kuwait Green Wall” is set to help manage climate change and raise awareness in the society about the importance of controlling rising temperatures, pollution, and the preservation of the ecosystem, as well as encourage a country-wide contribution to plant three rows of trees covering the southern and northern Kuwaiti borders.

Kuwait Energy Chief Executive Officer, Sara Akbar, said, “The Kuwait Green Wall initiative promises to bring positive impact to Kuwait’s environment. Planting as many as a tree a day will make immense change years ahead. It is time for us in Kuwait to take action.

“We at Kuwait Energy are committed to the cause and to contributing in raising awareness in Kuwait about environmental challenges that have multiplied over the last two decades. We look forward to renewing our partnership in the years to come.”

Kuwait Energy has also offered to expose the Kuwait Oasis Team and its initiative to other countries where it operates in order to pave the path for possible replication of the Green Wall.

The Kuwait Oasis Team is a non-profit organi-

KUWAIT: Kuwait Energy CEO Sara Akbar planting a tree at the borders with Kuwait Oasis Team founder Khaled Al-Kulaib. zation that stems from the Environmental Voluntary Foundation (EVF), a non-government organization licensed by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs. The Team also received full backing from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior to fulfill the project.

Throughout the lifetime of the program, the Kuwait Oasis Team will measure all environmental variables and indicators and compare them at different stages including the levels of oxygen, carbon dioxide, humidity, rainfall, birds’ migratory patterns and other valuable data.

Data will be gathered through state of the art Environmental Data Stations.

Kuwait Energy, which operates in eight countries namely: Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Ukraine, Latvia, Russia and Pakistan, is an active supporter of social initiatives and programs within local communities, with a focus on countries where it operates. The company invests and supportsprograms that target education, health, small businesses, women’s initiatives, environmental initiatives and organizes supplies distribution to the underprivileged.

NBK conducts in-house dental checkup for its employees KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait has recently conducted in-house dental checkups for all its employees, in corporation with Maidan Dental Clinic. Maidan’s mobile dental clinic was available at NBK’s Head Office and Arraya building for two consecutive days offering NBK staff free dental checkups, in addition to providing consultations

and advice in order to raise the employees’ awareness about their dental health.

The in-house medical checkup initiative comes as part of a comprehensive program aiming at building up health awareness amongst NBK employees. NBK goes far beyond banking to serve the community in myriad ways. This initia-

tive demonstrates NBK’s lasting commitment to the community.

NBK strongly supports health care awareness.

Throughout the years, NBK also organized several social awareness programs including blood donation drives and breast cancer awareness campaigns.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

Chavez’s fate lies in divided barrios

N Korean shoots officers, defects Page 10

Page 15

VATICAN: Pope Benedict’s former butler Paolo Gabriele (C) leaves after the verdict in his trial at the Vatican yesterday. Paolo Gabriele got 18 months in prison for stealing secret documents from the Vatican that reveal fraud and intrigue in the tiny state. Presiding judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre gave the ex-butler three years but immediately reduced the sentence to 18 months on the grounds of his past service rendered to the Catholic Church and his apology to the pope for betraying him. — AFP

Pope’s butler gets 18-month sentence Pope Benedict will ‘most likely’ pardon Gabriele VATICAN CITY: A Vatican court convicted Pope Benedict’s former butler of stealing sensitive documents and sentenced him to 18 months detention yesterday, at the end of one of the most sensational trials in the recent history of the Holy See. A Vatican spokesman said the pope, who reigns as a supreme monarch in the world’s smallest city state, would “most likely” pardon Paolo Gabriele. Until such time, he will serve his sentence under house arrest in his Vatican apartment and not go to an Italian jail as is foreseen by bilateral agreements due to the Vatican’s lack of any such facility, his lawyer Cristiana Arru told Reuters.

She said the house arrest provision had been approved by the Vatican’s promoter of justice, or prosecutor, after the verdict. Gabriele, wearing a grey suit, remained impassive as the court delivered its verdict after two hours of closed-door deliberations that followed closing arguments by the prosecution and defence. Gabriele had admitted being the source of

leaks of highly sensitive papers, including letters to the pope that alleged corruption in the Vatican’s business dealings and defended his actions in a final appeal before the court retired.

“What I feel most strongly inside myself is the conviction that I acted exclusively out of love, I would say a visceral love, for the Church of Christ and its visible representative,” he said in a flat voice that betrayed no emotion.

“If I have to repeat it, I am not a thief,” he added dryly. The prosecution had asked for a three-year sentence while the defence asked the court to reduce the charges from aggravated theft to misappropriation, and for him to be freed.

The head of the three-judge panel, wearing a black robe with gold tassels, read the verdict with the opening words: “In the name of Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, gloriously reigning, the court, having invoked the Holy Trinity, has reached the following sentence.”

The court also ordered Gabriele to pay the cost of the trial out of his own pocket but a Vatican spokesman was unable to quantify it.

The judge said he had given Gabriele a lighter sentence than sought by the prosecution because he had no previous criminal record and because he had “acknowledged that he betrayed the trust of the Holy Father”.

The court was told how Gabriele, who served the pope his meals and helped him dress, photocopied sensitive documents under the nose of his immediate superiors in a small office adjacent to the papal living quarters in the Apostolic Palace.

He then hid more than 1,000 copies and original documents, including some the pope had marked “to be destroyed,” among many thousands of other papers and old newspaper clippings in a huge armoire in the family apartment inside the Vatican walls.

The prosecution tried to portray Gabriele as a simpleminded man with “illusions of grandeur” who was easily influenced by others but said there was no proof that he had accomplices.

Arru told Reuters in an interview she did not plan to appeal because she felt the sentence was “a just one”. “He is a serene man. He placed himself before justice and is ready to accept any of the consequences,” she said after visiting the Gabriele family in their apartment in the Vatican. “He put his life in the hands of divine providence first and human justice second. He is a man who has no fear,” she said, adding that the Vatican prosecutor had agreed that Gabriele would be permitted to take walks in the Vatican gardens under escort and receive relatives.

— Reuters

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

i n t e r n at i o n a l

Tehran demands release of Iranians in Syria TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry yesterday appealed for the release of 48 of its citizens held hostage by rebels in Syria and threatened with execution one by one unless Syria’s army withdraws from an area in Damascus province.

The statement, relayed by the official news agency IRNA, described the captives as “pilgrims.” The Syrian rebels, in an August 5 video, showed the Iranians and said they were members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conducting a military mission in support of Syria’s regime.

On Friday, a rebel commander told AFP via Internet that the regime had until late yesterday to withdraw its forces from the embattled Eastern Ghuta area of Damascus province. “We also have other secret, military demands. If the regime does not fulfill them we will start finishing off the hostages,” warned the commander, Abul Wafa, of the rebels’ Revolutionar y Militar y Council in Damascus province.

The Iranian statement, by foreign ministr y spokesman Ramin

Mehmanparast, said: “The hostage takers of the Iranian pilgrims in Syria as well as those supporting them are responsible for their lives.”

The statement called on “international organisations to prevent such acts and to do everything to obtain the immediate liberation of all the pilgrims and Iranian nationals.” Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, on August 8 said “retired” Revolutionary Guards members were among the hostages, but he denied they were on active service in

Syria. The head of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, told a September 16 news conference in Tehran that Iran has no “military presence” in Syria. He said “a number of (the Guards’ external special operations) Quds Force members are present in Syria and Lebanon” but purely to provide Syria’s government with “counsel and advice.”

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman the next day stressed that “Iran does not have any military presence in the region,

especially in Syria,” and said any suggestion to the contrary was “not in any way valid.” Tehran has said it is extending economic and humanitarian help to its Damascus ally. It has repeatedly warned against foreign interference in the Syrian conflict, while accusing Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia of providing military support to the rebels.

Human rights monitors have accused both the Syrian regime and rebels of committing war crimes, including extrajudicial executions. — AFP

Tunisia calls to set up task force on immigration European, Arab leaders meet in Malta, urge cooperation

TEHRAN: In this file photo taken on Saturday, June 21, 2003, the building of Tehran’s nuclear research reactor is seen at the Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization’s headquarters, in Tehran, Iran. In a bid by Iran to ease international concerns over its nuclear program, more than a third of Tehran’s most highly enriched uranium has been converted into a powder that is used to run a research reactor but difficult to reprocess for possible weapons production, experts and UN monitors say. — AP

Iran denies offering new plan on nuclear impasse DUBAI: Iran denied yesterday a US media report that it had offered a “nine-step plan” aimed at solving its stand-off with the West over its disputed nuclear programme. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Iran had proposed a plan to European officials that required the West to lift harsh oil and economic sanctions in return for the eventual suspension of uranium enrichment by Tehran.

It reported Iranian officials tried to gather support for the proposal during a visit last month to the United Nations. Several rounds of negotiations over the nuclear programme between Iran and world powers - the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany, known collectively as the P5+1 - have failed to secure any breakthroughs.

The powers fear that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb. Tehran says its programme is for peaceful purposes. The Iranian plan described by the New York Times would likely be a non-starter, as the six powers have demanded Tehran halt its 20 percent enrichment of uranium; ship any stockpile out of the country; close down an underground enrichment facility, Fordow; and permit more intrusive UN

inspection of its work.

Tehran has refused to meet those demands unless economic sanctions choking its oil exports are lifted first, and denied on Saturday that it had made any new offers to the West to break an impasse that has lasted nearly a decade.

“No new offer outside of the framework of the P5+1 negotiations during the last meeting of the United Nations has been made, and the claims of some American news organisations in this regard are baseless,” Mehr news agency on Saturday quoted Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, as saying.

Sanctions have begun to take a serious toll on Iran’s economy, with its currency the rial dropping by around a third in value against the dollar in less than two weeks.

The United States Congress is considering expanding American economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not ruled out using force to halt the nuclear programme. The United States, Israel’s main ally, says it will not allow Tehran to produce the bomb, but sanctions should be given more time to work before force is considered. — Reuters

Egypt hardline Islamist party heals rift, for now CAIRO: Leaders of Egypt’s largest ultraconservative Islamist party have put aside their differences, settling - at least temporarily a leadership dispute that threatened to break up the country’s second-largest political bloc, spokesmen said yesterday.

The Al-Nour Party emerged from nowhere following Egypt’s 2011 uprising to take 25 percent of the seats in last year’s parliamentary elections, trailing only the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s bestorganized political force. But a schism erupted last month after some of Al-Nour’s political leaders tried to shake off the control of clerics. At the heart of the feud is who should control the party, a dispute that is symptomatic of Islamist politics as the ultraconservative movement struggles to reconcile democratic maneuvering with religious ideology.

The issue has split Al-Nour into two rival camps, one of which is led by the party’s founder and chief, Emad Abdel-Ghafour, who advocates separating the party from the movement’s main clerical oversight board, the Salafi Call. Such a move would give Abdel-Ghafour and his political wing the ability to maneuver away from the edicts of the religious leaders.

The second camp opposes splitting the party from the sheiks, and is closely linked to a heavyweight Salafi cleric, Yasser Borhami. Several prominent party figures are in this camp, including former spokesman Nader Bakkar, who was removed from his post by Abdel-Ghafour.

As the internal party election began last month, the second camp put forward a rival candidate, Mustafa Khalifa, for the party’s top job. Abdel-Ghafour responded by suspending voting and accusing his rivals of forgery to pack party posts with their loyalists. This left the party split between two leaders.

After a long meeting Friday night, Bakkar and spokesman Yousry Hammad of the original leadership said in separate statements that the party had mended the rifts and agreed to keep Abdel -Ghafour as leader.

Hammad said Abdel-Ghafour held talks with party members on both sides of the divide and that they managed to forge an agreement after a meeting with the body of clerics.

“Confidence was renewed in AbdelGhafour as party leader,” Hammad wrote in a statement posted on his Facebook page.

“An agreement was reached on all the problems that surfaced recently.” A meeting of the party’s general assembly is scheduled for Thursday to select new leaders. Details of the agreement were not immediately available and it was not clear whether the issue of leadership has been settled for good. Hammad confirmed the statement to The Associated Press in a text message. But he insisted that AbdelGhafour will remain as party leader.

Bakkar didn’t respond to phone calls. On his Twitter account, he wrote that AbdelGhafour will stay on as the head of Al-Nour and his challenger has agreed to step down. He also said he was reinstated as party spokesman, and said internal elections would take place as scheduled. It was not immediately clear whether he agreed that Abdel-Ghafour would remain in his post.

Abdel-Ghafour is currently serving as an advisor to President Mohammed Morsi, of the Brotherhood. The agreement between the rival camps came a day before a state committee was to mediate the dispute, in an apparent attempt to diffuse the threat to the party. The committee could have also ruled to suspend the party over the internal fighting. — AFP

VALLETTA: Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki called yesterday for the creation of a regional task force to deal with the “humanitarian disaster” which has killed thousands of desperate African migrants trying to reach Europe in small, unseaworthy boats.

Speaking at the conclusion of a meeting of European and north African leaders in Malta, Marzouki said the task force would have to coordinate work already being done by foreign and interior ministries as well as regional bodies.

“We don’t want this to be a military operation, we want this to be a humanitarian operation,” he said.

“We cannot accept having hundreds and thousands of people drowning in the sea.”

But he warned that a solution to the problem at the heart of the crisis, instability, persistent poverty and destructively high youth unemployment in Africa, was still a distant prospect.

“We need time, we cannot do miracles in a few months,” he told a news conference at the end of the meeting.

“Independent systems have been badly damaged, the security system, the health system, the judiciary system have all been badly damaged,” he said.

The succession of small, overcrowded migrant boats that still attempt the dangerous crossing from north Africa to Sicily, Malta and other islands has long reflected the pressure being created by

poverty in the region. While the problem is now less intense since Western governments stepped up cooperation with North African countries in the wake of the Arab spring revolutions, migrant boats still regularly show up in southern Europe. As recently as last month, dozens of people are believed to have died when a boat sank near Lampedusa off Sicily. Marzouki’s

comments underlined the pressing desire of the newly established governments in countries like Libya and Tunisia for support from the European Union as well as worries in Europe about the potential spread of instability.

The killing of US ambassador Christopher Stevens in Libya and the sacking of the U.S. Embassy in Tunis last month in protests over an

VALLETTA: Tunisia’s President Moncef Marzouki, left, talks with Morocco’s Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane during the closing press conference of a Mediterranean summit of southern European and North African countries, in Valletta, Malta, yesterday. The Malta summit of five European and five African nations is expected to focus on fighting terrorism and lawlessness in North African as well as France’s push for a military intervention in Mali, where Islamist rebels have taken control in the north. — AP

5 Bahrain policemen hurt in clashes DUBAI: Five Bahraini policemen were injured in clashes with protesters late Friday at a memorial service in a Manama suburb held for a young demonstrator who died in custody, a government statement said.

Bahraini Shiite rights activist Nabeel Rajab, meanwhile, went on hunger strike from Friday, a rights group said, just two days after he was briefly released from jail to attend his mother’s funeral.

The Bahraini government said five policemen were injured and “several rioters” were arrested during protests that turned violent late Friday. The clashes followed a confrontation that erupted at a memorial service held in the Manama suburb of Jad Hafs for a young Bahraini who died in custody Tuesday.

The Bahraini was jailed for his participation in the February 2011 anti-government uprising and died in custody after he was hospitalised for treatment of a hereditary disease.

“After the funeral ritual in Jad Hafs for Mohammed Mushaima who died from complication from sickle cell disease, a large number of people formed an illegal rally,” the government said.

It said the protesters “blocked traffic and attacked policemen with petrol bombs, iron rods and rocks ... five policemen sustained injuries and a police jeep was gutted by fire.”

The government statement said that “legal procedures were taken to arrest (the

rioters).” It did not specify how many people were arrested. Witnesses at the scene said riot police, who were heavily deployed in the area, used tear gas, water cannon, sound bombs and buckshot to disperse the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, Rajab, 48, who is serving a three-year sentence for participating in illegal demonstrations, went on hunger strike after he was allowed out of jail for a day to bury his mother but barred from attending a three-day condolence gathering.

“In protest against this unjustified punishment, (Rajab) started a full hunger strike (on Friday),” said the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).

Bahraini authorities say Rajab was barred from attending the condolence gathering because he “delivered a speech inciting mourners to stage illegal protests” when he was briefly released to attend the funeral. “Because of his actions, Rajab has had the privilege to attend further mourning gatherings revoked,” the authorities said. The BCHR said that Rajab called on mourners to “continue their struggle for rights and democracy,” and argued his speech was a “peaceful expression of opinion.”

The courts have merged Rajab’s three separate cases of “incitement and illegal assembly” into one single appeal.

Rajab led anti-government protests following a crackdown on Shiite-led demonstrations against the Sunni Al-Khalifa regime in March 2011. —AFP

WEST BANK: An electoral campaign poster hangs on a street pole as a Palestinian man buys juice from a vendor in the West Bank city of Ramallah on the first day of campaigning for the local council elections yesterday. — AFP

anti-Islamic video provided a sharp reminder of how fragile the situation remains in the region.

The first meeting of leaders from the so-called 5+5 group of countries since the “Arab spring” revolutions, produced few concrete decisions and was billed mainly as a forum for dialogue between countries in the western Mediterranean.

Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia form an informal smaller group of countries alongside the 43-member Union for the Mediterranean launched by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008.

With the southern European countries struggling to stave off their worst financial crisis since World War Two, there was little prospect of any immediate financial assistance from the meeting in Malta on Friday and yesterday.

On the European side, interest was divided between the tantalizing but still distant hope of creating a stable, prosperous region across the Mediterranean and the immediate problem of containing instability. “If we can succeed in avoiding a transformation of the Arab spring into an Arab autumn or even a freezing winter, that will be a great investment in the European economy,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said. A statement issued after the meeting condemned the violence in Syria and called for broader cooperation across the region. — Reuters

News

in brief

130 maids poisoned AMMAN: One hundred and thirty Sri Lankan domestic workers who had taken refuge at their embassy in Jordan have been hospitalised with food poisoning, a security official said.

Colonel Farid al-Sharaa, in a statement, said their condition was “stable” after having fallen ill from food ordered from a restaurant. The women were taken to three hospitals in Amman after receiving first aid, he said. The women had taken refugee at the Sri Lankan embassy after rows with their employers and were awaiting repatriation or a settlement to return to work.

Magistrates stage sit-in RABAT: Hundreds of Moroccan magistrates held a sit-in yesterday outside the Court of Cassation in Rabat demanding an end to corruption in the judicial system, an AFP photographer reported. In the first such action of its kind in Morocco since Arab Spring protests erupted across the region, some 800 magistrates from across the country gathered outside Morocco’s highest court waving banners. “Justice without corruption,” and “We demand the independence of the judiciary,” some of them read, while others called for an “urgent improvement” in the working conditions of magistrates, as promised by King Mohammed VI. Since early last year, Morocco has witnessed sporadic social unrest, spearheaded by the February 20 protest movement demanding action on a wide range of social grievances and calling in particular for an end to corruption. The king has vowed to press ahead with reforms, including strengthening the judiciary’s independence and battling corruption, after constitutional changes he introduced last year in a bid to contain the Arab Spring-style protests.

Roadside bombs kill 5 BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities say roadside bombs have killed five people in and near Baghdad. Police officials say that the first explosion went off around noon yesterday, targeting an Iraqi army patrol in the Sunni town of Taji just north of the capital, killing one soldier and wounding three others.

Meanwhile, another bomb exploded near vendors selling vegetables and fruits in a main street in Baghdad’s southwestern neighborhood of Saidiyah, also a Sunni area, killing four people including a woman, the officials said. Eleven others were wounded including three women, they said.Health officials in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualties. Violence has dropped in Iraq since the height of the insurgency a few years ago but deadly attacks still take place almost daily.

Islamists march SIDI BOUZID: Hundreds of supporters of Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party marched yesterday in the town of Sidi Bouzid, a day after police dispersed anti-government protesters using tear gas, an AFP journalist reported. Some 250 people marched through the centre of the town, birthplace of the uprising that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year, shouting their support for the Ennahda party and for the regional governor Mohamed Nejib Mansouri. On Friday, Tunisian police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in Sidi Bouzid who were demanding the governor’s resignation and who tried to break into the regional government headquarters.The police evacuated the governor from his office. Separately, a general strike was observed in Meknassy in the Sidi Bouzid region on Friday, called by Tunisia’s main UGTT trade union to protest the absence of development projects.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Mexico finds 50 skulls in sacred Aztec temple MEXICO CITY: Mexican archaeologists said they uncovered the largest number of skulls ever found in one offering at the most sacred temple of the Aztec empire dating back more than 500 years. The finding reveals new ways the preColombian civilization used skulls in rituals at Mexico City’s Templo Mayor, experts said. That’s where the most important Aztec ceremonies took place between 1325 until the Spanish conquest in 1521. The 50 skulls were found at one sacrificial stone. Five were buried under the stone, and each had holes on both sides - signaling they were hung on a skull rack.

Archaeologist Raul Barrera of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said the

other 45 skulls appeared to have just been dumped on top of the stone. The team of archeologists unearthed the skulls and jaw bones in August. They stumbled on them as they were renovating a section of the Templo Mayor in the heart of Mexico City.

Barrera said they believe the 45 skulls were those of women and men between 20 and 35 years old and could have been dug up from other sites and reburied. Last August, the Mexican government announced exper ts had found an unprecedented human burial at another spot in the same temple in which the skeleton of a young woman, possibly sacrificed personifying a goddess, was surrounded by piles of nearly 1,800

bones. Another unusual finding this summer was a “sacred tree,” which looks like a battered oak trunk emerging from a well and which experts say was brought from a mountain region for a ritual.

The skulls shown to the media Friday were in good condition but cracked on each side of the head, possibly because of the wooden stake that ran through them so they could be placed in a skull rack.

Barrera said the key in the discovery was the sacrificial rock, which looks like a gray headstone.

“Underneath the sacrificial stone, we found an offering of five skulls. These skulls were pierced with a stick,” he said. “These are very important findings.” University of Florida archaeologist Susan

Gillespie, who was not involved in the excavation, said it caught her attention that the skulls that had been on the rack, called tzompantli, were buried separately.

“It provides rather novel information on the use and reuse of skulls for ritual events at the Templo Mayor,” Gillespie said in an email. Also, the common belief about Aztec sacrificial stones is that a person being sacrificed was killed by cutting open the chest and pulling out the heart.

“We normally associate (it) with heart removal rather than decapitation,” she said. “It ultimately gives us a better understanding of how the Aztecs used the human body in various ways in their ritual practices. — AP

Chavez’s fate lies in divided barrios ‘If Chavez wins, I’m thinking of leaving the country’

TUSCON: Cmdr. Jeffrey Self, of US Customs and Border Protection, flanked to his left

by Acting Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla, releases a statement on Friday, at the Tucson Sector Headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. A preliminary investigation has found friendly fire likely was to blame in a shooting that killed US Border Patrol Agent Nicholas J. Ivie and wounded another along the Arizona-Mexico border, the FBI said Friday, shaking up the probe into an incident that re-ignited the political debate over security on the border. — AP

Friendly fire likely in border shootings PHOENIX: A preliminary investigation has found friendly fire likely was to blame in a shooting that killed one federal agent and wounded another along the Arizona-Mexico border, the FBI said Friday, shaking up the probe into an incident that reignited the political debate over border security.

“There are strong preliminary indications that the death of United States Border Patrol Agent Nicholas J. Ivie and the injury to a second agent was the result of an accidental shooting incident involving only the agents,” FBI Special Agent in Charge James L. Turgal Jr. said in a statement.

Turgal didn’t elaborate on the agency’s conclusions but said the FBI is using “all necessary investigative, forensic and analytical resources” as it investigates the Tuesday shooting about five miles north of the border near Bisbee.

Ivie was killed after he and two other agents responded to an alarm triggered by a sensor aimed at detecting smugglers and others entering the US illegally. One of the other agents was shot in the ankle and buttocks, but was released from the hospital after surgery. The third agent was uninjured.

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, which is assisting the FBI in the probe, said federal investigators used ballistic testing to determine the shootings likely were the result of so-called friendly fire among the agents.

Jeffrey D. Self, commander of Customs and Border Protection’s Joint Field CommandArizona, said investigators were making progress and noted the initial findings that the shootings appeared to be accidental didn’t diminish the fact that Ivie “gave the ultimate sacrifice and died serving his country.” “The fact is, the work of the Border Patrol is dangerous,” Self said during a news conference Friday in Tucson. While federal authorities declined to offer details of the shooting, George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said the three agents split up as they investigated the sensor alarm, noting they all fired their weapons.

“Coming in from different angles, that is more than likely how it ended up happening,” McCubbin told The Arizona Republic of the shootings. A Mexican law enforcement official said Thursday that federal police had arrested two men who may have been connected to the shootings. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said it was unclear if there was strong evidence linking the men to the case.

Mexican authorities on Friday didn’t immediately respond to telephone messages from The Associated Press. After a meeting of border governors Friday in Albuquerque, N.M., Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer stood by the criticism she leveled earlier this week in response to the shootings in which she said a political stalemate and the federal government’s failures have left the border unsecured and Border Patrol agents in harm’s way.

“It’s the federal government’s responsibility to secure our border, and they need to do that, and then we can deal with all the other issues that have come about because our border hasn’t been secured,” said Brewer, who plans to attend Ivie’s funeral Monday in Sierra Vista.

The Border Patrol couldn’t immediately comment on the frequency of friendly fire shootings involving its agents. But such incidents appeared to be extremely rare, if they’ve ever occurred at all.

“I know of absolutely none in the past, and my past goes back to 1968,” said Kent Lundgren, chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, citing the year he joined the agency. “I’m not saying it never happened. I’m just saying I’ve never heard of it.”

Also Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano traveled to Arizona to express her condolences to Ivie’s family and meet with authorities. Ivie’s death marked the first fatal shooting of an agent since a deadly 2010 firefight with Mexican bandits that killed US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010 and spawned congressional probes of a botched government gun-smuggling investigation.

Terry’s shooting was later linked to that “Fast and Furious” operation, which allowed people suspected of illegally buying guns for others to walk away from gun shops with weapons, rather than be arrested.

Authorities intended to track the guns into Mexico. Two rifles found at the scene of Terry’s shooting were bought by a member of the gun-smuggling ring being investigated.

Critics of the operation say any shooting along the border now will raise the specter that those illegal weapons are still being used.

Twenty-six Border Patrol agents have died in the line of duty since 2002. Associated Press writers Brian Skoloff in Phoenix, Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M., and Olga R. Rodriguez in Mexico City contributed to this report. — AP

Three bodies pulled from submerged car NEWPORT: The bodies of three women were pulled Friday from a car that had been in Newport Harbor for hours after it plunged off a pier and landed on its roof, police said. Part of the Hyundai Accent was sticking out of about 4 feet of water when it was discovered around 6:30 a.m. at the Newpor t Shipyard, a privately owned marina near several of the tourist city’s largest hotels and vacation condo complexes, Newport police Capt. Fred Gonsalves said. A fuel deliveryman saw the car and alerted authorities, Gonsalves said.

He said police are still investigating when the car went into the water and why, but said they did not suspect foul play.

The car had Rhode Island plates, and Gonsalves said he did not know whether it was a rental car or was owned by one of the women in the car.

The car was hauled out of the water by

a crane around 8:30 am. Newport police Capt. Russell Hayes told The Newport Daily News that one of the victims was from New York state and the two others live overseas. He said emergency personnel were notifying the victims’ families and no other information was available.

The driver apparently missed a righthand turn, Hayes told the newspaper. “I’m not sure if they intended to take the turn here and missed it because it was dark and because of weather conditions,” Hayes told the paper.

A dense fog advisory was in effect in Newport until 9 am. The car went into the water near an area called the Travelift pit, the place in the marina where boats are lifted in and out of the water. Among the services the shipyard provides are dockage for luxury yachts and sailboats, as well as services for their owners, such as showers and workout facilities. —AP

CARACAS: The last time he ran for re-election, President Hugo Chavez won comfortably in Petare, one of Latin America’s biggest slums with nearly half a million people. This time around, as Venezuelans vote today, he may not.

Challenger Henrique Capriles - known as “El Flaco,” or “Skinny” - has built a surprisingly large following in what was once clear Chavez territory across Venezuela. The fervent support for the president among the working poor he’s graced with state largesse has eroded. “‘El Flaco’ owns the street!,” Maria Hernandez, 62, shouts from her pane-less window as three foreign journalists climb steps through a warren of red brick homes in a 1,500-family slice of Petare known as Jose Felix Ribas.

The barrio, planted on a steep hillside, is run by a community council of Chavez loyalists who provide special care for the handicapped, register the elderly for pensions and parcel out government handouts, from free food for the needy to subsidies for home improvements.

But such services, delivered through what the government calls “missions,” long ago stopped translating into solid allegiance for Chavez, who is seeking a third six-year-term. The neighborhood is divided, owing in some degree to mismanagement by pro-Chavez mayors and governors who were voted out of office in 2008 and 2010, respectively.

The replacement governor was Capriles, who tried to create parallel organizations to rival the Chavista communal councils but largely failed because the central government, master of Venezuela’s oil riches, controlled far more funds.

Farther up the hillside, orange flags of one of the parties backing the 40-year-old opposition candidate fly from a second-floor window of Ivana Villamizar’s home.

“If Chavez wins, I’m thinking of leaving the country,” she says. “I really don’t want my children’s future to be in a country in this condition.”

The 25-year-old nurse, a mother of 5-year and 18-month-old boys, has spent more than half her life under Chavez’s rule and says she thinks Chavez has done a lot of good.

But she lists several of the most oft-cited reasons for why she wants him gone: spiraling violent crime, the bloating of government payrolls with Venezuela United Socialist Party acolytes in do -nothing jobs at a burgeoning list of government ministries, and unchecked corruption that she says extends to the communal councils.

“What hurts Chavez are the people who surround him. They don’t help because they are a band of thieves,” she says. “The police are themselves crooks.” Villamizar is especially upset because the local communal council hasn’t given her funds to replace her leaky old zinc roof, which is held down by loose bricks and planks.

“That’s not the government’s fault,” interrupts in her neighbor, Jacinto Suarez, a 69-year-old former beer truck security guard. Oh yes it is, she

CARACAS: This combo photos shows six voters in Caracas Venezuela yesterday. On the streets of Venezuelaís capital, six people explain their choices to vote for either President Hugo Chavez or his challenger Henrique Capriles today. Top row, from left to right, are Gustavo Chourio, Yoalda Molina and Carlos Riera. Bottom row, from left to right, are Marly Velasquez, Omar Cruz and Jorge Rueda. — AP says, because Vice President “Elias Jaua is behind the communal councils and the president is behind him.”

The councils allow Chavez’s political machine to bypass local and state governments, sometimes controlled by the opposition, and reach the grass roots.

Suarez is a committed Chavista, and his house is being rebuilt. During Friday’s visit by Associated Press journalists, two laborers were plastering the brick and mortar that replaced the rickety wood and cardboard walls.

“For me, if ‘El Flaco’ wins the missions will go away. We’ll all die. We’ll all die of hunger,” Suarez says. “He’s with the bourgeoisie.” Nonsense, Villamizar retorts. “They will continue,” she says of the missions, “because if they don’t it will be a horrendous mess.”

Venezuelans, whose oil-export driven economy produces little else, have become more dependent than ever under Chavez on state handouts and Capriles has expressed no intention of weaning them from government aid.

He has painted himself a center-leftist, promising to keep the missions and not to thin public

payrolls. Capriles is, however, solidly backed by Venezuela’s right and that has stoked fears of a huge purge of Chavez loyalists if he wins.

The fears have fueled sporadic violence. Little has been lethal, but two Capriles supporters were shot dead last weekend in the president’s home state of Barinas, and some blamed Chavez supporters.

Two days ahead of voting, Villamizar echoed a widespread feeling that the race is so close that the election will be decided by a large pool of voters, perhaps 10 percent, making up their mind in the voting booth.

Opinion polls have varied widely and are largely considered unreliable, so intuition is getting a workout. “There are so many Chavistas, so many people who live in this barrio ... who are public employees and have been obliged to attend government rallies,” she said. “But when it comes to the moment of truth are not going to vote for Chavez,” she said.

“And there are others who will do the opposite.” Villamizar said she had no idea what would happen today. “I’ll tell you, I don’t know. I just don’t know. Let it be what God wills. “ — AP

Cuba seeks seven years for Spaniard involved in crash BAYAMO: Cuban state prosecutors have asked for a seven-year jail sentence for a Spaniard charged with vehicular homicide in the death of leading Cuban rights activist Oswaldo Paya, calling him “reckless.” Isabel Barzaga of the Interior Ministry said Friday Angel Carromero, who was at the wheel of the car at the moment of the crash, was “frankly a reckless person.” “It was not an isolated lapse,” Barzaga continued. “It is normal behavior for him. He behaves like a rule breaker.”

Earlier, Carromero denied that he was speeding at the time of the accident. He testified that he felt “profound sorrow” over the July 22 car crash near this town in eastern Cuba, which claimed the life of Paya, 60, a 2002 recipient of Europe’s Sakharov prize for defense of human rights. Another Cuban dissident Harold Cepero, 31, was also killed in the crash. Dressed in a white shirt and beige slacks, Carromero, who runs the youth wing of Spain’s ruling Popular Party, told the court he felt “profound sorrow for the unfortunate accident that took place.”

Authorities say the Spaniard was behind the wheel, driving above the speed limit, when his rental car hit an unpaved section of road outside Bayamo, causing him to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a tree.

He was injured in the accident, as was a Swedish activist who was a passenger in the car.

Madrid’s consul general to Havana, who was at the courthouse Friday, said he was “optimistic” about the outcome of the trial.

“We’re hoping for justice. Let’s see what happens,” said Spanish diplomat Tomas Rodriguez Pantoja. Shortly before the start of the trial, Cuban authorities briefly detained celebrated blogger Yoani Sanchez and her husband, who had traveled

to Bayamo to write about the proceedings. Both were released after spending about 30 hours in detention. “We are grateful to everybody who have raised their voices and their tweets so that we could return home,” Sanchez said in a tweet after she was set free. Sanchez, 37, began commenting on daily life in Cuba on her Generacion Y blog in 2007, but ran foul of the regime for criticiz-

ing Fidel and Raul Castro.

Last week, Sanchez filed a complaint against Cuba with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission for repeatedly refusing her permission to leave the country, according to her attorney, who said she has been unable to leave Cuba since 2007 although she has requested permission to do so on some 20 occasions. —AFP

BAYAMO: Spanish citizen Angel Carromero, center, enters a vehicle as he leaves the courthouse after his trial in Bayamo, Cuba, Friday. Authorities accused Carromero of speeding and charged him with the equivalent of vehicular manslaughter, and prosecutors asked the court for a seven-year sentence. — AP

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

Ambassador’s message

A picture-perfect place called Spain

Angel Losada Ambassador of Spain to Kuwait

Kuwait-Spain relations at highest cultural level

O

n the occasion of the Spanish National Day, I would like to extend, on behalf of the Spanish Embassy in Kuwait, my sincere gratitude to the government and to the people of Kuwait for their constant friendship and support. The links between Spain and Kuwait have been extremely close, further illustrated by frequent visits of the King of Spain to Kuwait and high level encounters. Moreover, I would also like to highlight Real Madrid’s visit to Kuwait last June, under the patronage of the Amir, which proved to be a great success and helped to highlight yet again the high level of mutual interests and friendship between our two nations. The excellent level of our bilateral relations on the official side is reinforced by the increasing number of Kuwaitis that have chosen to travel to Spain, not only for their holidays but also for commercial reasons.

As we all know, Spain is currently under economic and financial difficulties, both part of a global situation which is affecting the euro-zone and the sovereign debt of the euro-zone countries. However, the Spanish government is tackling the economic crisis by implementing a diverse array of reforms (banking, labor and energy markets) aimed at boosting future growth and by adopting austerity measures to comply with the deficit target agreed with the European Union.

Public finances are sustainable in the long term: the public debt ratio is below the EU and the euro-zone average, and it is expected that the public sector will be close to primary surplus (excluding interest payments) in 2013. In the real estate and construction sector (one of the former engines of economic growth) the decrease in property prices is offering investors good opportunities to purchase high quality properties at a good value in a stable and attractive environment.

The crisis is also proving to be a challenge for Spanish companies, which are expanding their businesses overseas in order to find new commercial opportunities in foreign markets.

Many of them have the necessary know-how, market experience, technical capacity and excellent human resources. In addition, exports of goods and services are offsetting the decline of domestic demand and are growing at a considerable pace.

Kuwait is a country with excellent business opportunities and many Spanish companies are aware of this fact. Some have been granted important contracts, other are still taking part in tenders, all in partnership with local companies. They are big names in the Spanish business: INECO, OHL, HERA, FCC, INDRA, ISOLUX CORSAN, ARIC, GRUPO SAN JOSE, in the engineer, construction and technological sectors. Seat, in the car industry, not forgetting the relevant premium fashion brands we can see in the Kuwaiti shopping malls, such as: Zara, Massimo Dutti, Uterque, Bershka, Oysho and Pull & Bear (Azadea Group); Stradivarious, Women’s Secret and Tous (D&H); Pronovias and Bimba Y Lola (Dagher Company); Cortefiel and Mango whose products are designed and manufactured in Spain. And last but not least, the Duty Free shops of Aldeasa and many other products from Spain that you can find in supermarkets like renowned Spanish Olive oil and olives, the prestigious bottled water Solan de Cabra.

Relations on the cultural ground are also at a high level and it is our sincere wish to boost them further. As proof of that, the Director General of Casa Arabe -Bait Al-Arabiwill visit Kuwait and accomplish an agenda of contacts with Kuwaiti cultural counterparts.

The increasing presence of Spanish expatriates, Spanish culture, companies and products in Kuwait, added to the increasing number of Kuwaiti tourists can only bring us even closer as the years go by. It is clearly evident, and I myself have experienced it personally, that Spanish people feel at home in Kuwait and Kuwaiti people feel at home in Spain.

S

pain straddles the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula that juts out at the south-western tip of Europe. With a surface area of 505,955 square kilometres, it ranks as the third largest country in continental Europe, after Russia and France.

Most of this surface area (493,484 sq km) consists of mainland Spain, to which must be added the island groups of the Balearics to the east (4,992 sq km) and the Canaries (7,447 sq km), lying over one thousand kilometres to the south, just off North Africa’s Atlantic coast. Lastly, there are the two city enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, perched on the shores of North Africa itself.

Seen within a European context, the position of the Iberian Peninsula gives it a certain closeness to Africa, from which it is separated by a mere 14 kilometers, and - on the Atlantic side - to America, thus lending it is a special strategic value. This explains why it has been such a crucial crossroads in the history of cultures and civilizations. Spain is therefore an integral part both of the southern European mainland and, in a somewhat special way, of the Mediterranean world.

Population With 40 million inhabitants, Spain has an average population density of around 80 inhabitants per square kilometre. The uneven distribution of the population has created an imbalance between regions, which register different and widely contrasting density levels.

Major cities excepted, there is a growing trend towards concentration along the coastal strip and depopulation of inland areas, as a consequence of the twin processes of industrialisation and urbanisation.

Political structure Under the terms of the 1978 Constitution, Spain is a democratic State subject to the Rule of Law, politically structured in the form of a parliamentary Monarchy. The country’s capital is Madrid, which is the seat of both the royal family and the government. Also centred here are the legislative (Senate and Lower House) and judicial branches.

At present, Spain is made up of 17 Autonomous Regions (comunidades autonomas) and two city enclaves - Ceuta and Melilla - each governed by a Statue of Autonomy. The range and scope of the respective Autonomous Regional Authorities is determined by the constitution, with the Constitutional Court designated as the competent body for settling any conflicts which may arise between the central administration and the regions.

The regions Every region has its share of Spain’s richly diverse array of geography, climate and scenery, and, to boost their individual tourist industries, they at times join forces to highlight their common features and attractions. Thus it was that Green Spain came into being, born out of the combined efforts of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country to enhance the shared traits of their countryside, climate, cuisine and tourist attractions, namely, sea and mountains, sports and rural tourism.

The best developed sea-and-sun tourist areas are Andalusia, Murcia, the Valencian Region and Catalonia, which are endowed with a wide range of top-quality facilities, while other regions of Inland Spain, such as Aragon, Castile & Leon, Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura, hold out the promise of historic cities - many of which are officially designated World Heritage sites - artistic and monumental treasures, delicious food and settings of great natural beauty. Other autonomous regions, such as La Rioja, Madrid and Navarre, possess the appeal and charm of towns and villages positively alive with tradition and character, offering the visitor a wealth of cultural and scenic attractions. Island Spain is, without doubt, one of the top tourist destinations: the Balearic Isles, in the heart of the Mediterranean, offer visitors a splendid coastline for beach-going and water sports, while the Canary Islands, lying out in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa, are a genuine paradise, with their beaches, volcanic National Parks

and exceptional year-round climate.

The city-enclaves of Ceuta, on the North African coast astride the Strait of Gibraltar, and Melilla, on the African shore of the Mediterranean, are equally attractive propositions, thanks to good connections from the mainland which put their beaches and bargain-priced goods within easy reach.

Languages Spanish is Spain’s lingua franca and official language of State.

Other languages usually spoken and granted co-official status in the country’s regions are Catalan in Catalonia and the Balearic Isles, Galician in Galicia, Basque in the Basque Country and part of Navarre, and Valencian in the Valencian Region.

Time zones On the Spanish mainland and Balearic Isles, local time is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time in winter and two hours ahead in summer. The Canary Islands are on GMT, except during the changeover to summer time when the clocks are put forward one hour, with the result that island time is always one hour behind mainland and Balearic time.

Religion Freedom of worship is guaranteed under the Spanish Constitution, though the great majority of the population are nominally Catholic.

Passports and visas On entering Spanish territory, travellers are required to present a passport or, in its absence, an identity or travel document recognised by international conventions, in accordance with standard reciprocity criteria. Presentation of a National ID Card will suffice in the case of citizens of EU Member States, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and the Principalities of Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein.

In compliance with the regulations of the European Union, of which Spain is a member, visitors proceeding from a certain number of countries are required to hold a standard visa, application for which must be made at the Spanish Consulate in the applicant’s country of residence.

Drivers from all non-EU countries except Switzerland, must hold a Green Card, the insurance policy covering the cost of assistance in case of accident. There are 17 border crossing points from France, with the busiest being Irun on the west, Puigcerda in the Eastern Pyrenees, and La Jonquera and Portbou to the east.

The Seu d’Urgell border-crossing is the most popular with visitors proceed from Andorra from north to south, while the Tui, Verin, Fuentes de Onoro, Caya, Valencia de Alcantara (Badajoz) and Ayamonte frontier points are the most popular for travellers passing between Spain and Portugal. Apart from a few specific dates, formalities are handled swiftly and smoothly, enabling travellers to cross from one country to the other effortlessly and without any unnecessary waste of time.

Transport & communications Telephone A sophisticated telephone system provides coverage nationwide. Apart from booths (locutorios), there are the standard street-corner public telephones, from which calls can he made to any part of the world, using coins or phone credit cards which can be bought at all branch post-offices (estafeta de correos) and tobacconists (estancos).

Internet use is widespread in Spain and access is now available in a great number of hotels.

Mail The Spanish Post Office possesses a network of over 10,000 branch offices located around the country (in cities, railway stations, airports and harbours). At any branch Post Office, the visitor can send mail, receive correspondence by simply hiring a P.O.

Box (apartado postal), and send or receive money orders, parcels and any other kind of mail item. Similarly, most branch offices also provide telegram, telex and fax services. In all towns and cities there are corner pillar boxes (yellow or red) where letters can be posted for collection.

In Spain, the sale of postage stamps and bills of exchange, along with cigarettes, cigars and the like, is channelled through shops known as estancos which are found throughout the country.

Land In addition to an extensive road grid covering close on 340,000 kilometres, Spain has a complete network of high capacity thoroughfares which is scheduled to expand from its existing 8,000 kilometres to over 13,000 kilometres and so make it one of Europe’s most modern highway networks by 2010. This highway network, a great part of which is toll-free, makes it possible for the visitor to drive in comfort from the Pyrenees all the way down to Andalusia, either along the Mediterranean coast or, alternatively, inland via Madrid, the nation’s communications node by virtue of its central position. A comprehensive network of petrol stations and roadside rest areas offer the widest possible range of en-route services.

The public coach service is comfortable and efficient, with different lines covering long-distance routes on a regular timetable. There is also a good network of bus and coach companies catering for short-distance travel and sightseeing trips.

Taxis are subject to the fare shown on the meter. In sonic cities there is a luxury-style service, known as grandes turismos, charging higher rates. For this type of hire, it is advisable to settle the fare in advance.

Air Spain’s strategic geographical situation, taken together with its tourist industry, explains the importance of international passenger travel. In Spain there are 47 airports, most of which are international. Domestic air traffic tends to concentrate on Madrid-Barajas Airport, linked via a shuttle service to Barcelona.

The busiest routes, apart from the shuttle, are the MadridBalearic and Madrid-Canary Island runs. The growth of low-cost airlines in Europe has increased international connections with smaller-sized airports.

Sea Seaborne passenger transport is of relevance in ports, such as Algeciras, Ceuta and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Trasmediterranea company runs a regular ferry service between the mainland and: North Africa, (from Almeria and Malaga to Melilla; and from Algeciras to Ceuta and Tangiers, with daily sailings); the Balearic Isles (from Barcelona and Valencia. with daily sailings); and the Canary Islands (from Cadiz, with weekly sailings).

Rail The Spanish rail network has 15,000 kilometres of track, part of which corresponds to the high-speed Madrid-Seville (AVE) and Madrid-Lleida (AVE) links. Another high-speed train is the Talgo 200, which covers the Madrid-Malaga, and Madrid-Cadiz and Huelva routes. As in the case of the road grid, the rail lid work takes the shape of a spider web centred on Madrid, with the main lines radiating out to cover the country and a series of interconnecting transversal lines (the most important being the Mediterranean and River Ebro corridors). Depending on the season, there is a series of special fares, thanks to which rail travel becomes a far more attractive proposition.

A tourist card exists, exclusively available to non-residents, giving unlimited travel on all routes, with the possibility of reserving a seat, at a price set on a sliding scale according to the length of the period of validity. The Euro rail system is similar, giving the tourist the right to travel from the country of origin, with no limit as to mileage.

Among the special rail itineraries for tourists, mention must be made of the Al-Andalus Express, which operates from April to October (excluding July and August) and, over a five-day period, takes passengers on an attractive tour of Andalusia, complete with classic, luxuriously appointed carriages and the full complement of services, side-trips and meals; the Strawberry Train (Tren de la Fresa), from April to October, linking Madrid with Aranjuez; the Cervantes Train which runs between Madrid and Alcala de Henares; and, lastly, the narrow-gauge Transcantabrico (Ferrocarriles de via estrecha-FEVE), from May to September, with its scenic run along the North of Spain from Donostia-San Sebastian across to Santiago de Compostela.

Customs Travellers to Spain are permitted to bring in certain personal effects, a video camera or, alternatively, two still cameras with ten rolls of film for each. Similarly, sports equipment for personal use, personally owned jewellery, and camping, hiking and sports equipment are allowed in. An official receipt may be requested which must then be shown on leaving the country.

Pets Spain enforces no quarantine period. Nevertheless an international certificate, issued by a vet, is required, stating that the animal in question is in good health and, in the case of dogs, cats and ferrets, that it has been vaccinated against rabies.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

Where thesun meets thesea Valencia

Barcelona

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Architecture buffs should make a beeline for Barcelona. The medieval and Roman buildings in the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic) provide quite a contrast to Antoni Gaudi’s fanciful architecture, which you’ll find all around the city. A visit to his still-unfinished Church of the Sacred Family (Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia) is a must.

ou’ll find plenty of orange trees here, but the fruit known as the “Valencia orange” was actually developed in California. Travelers interested in local food should focus on paella instead. While the city contains many monuments, Valencia’s modern crown jewel is the City of Arts and Sciences, a futuristic complex of museums, cinemas, theaters, and more.

Salamanca

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nown as Spain’s “golden city,” Salamanca is rich in architectural, religious and gastronomic culture. Marvel at the La Casa de las Conchas (house of shells) and the 18th century Plaza Mayor, then pore over the fresh produce of the Central Market. Both the Old and New Cathedrals of Salamanca are celebrations of Renaissance and Gothic styles.

Benidorm

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ask on four miles of golden beaches, hit the Mediterranean Sea on water skis or stroll along Benidorm’s promenade and revel in its seaside charms; it’s a true Spanish beauty of the Costa Blanca.

Originally a fishing town, the city’s historic center wows with its blue-domed 18thcentury church and picturesque alleyways.

Panoramic views reward those who climb into the surrounding Canfali hills, and nearby rocky coves reveal underwater riches for scuba enthusiasts. End a day in the sun with a feast of local seafood.

Granada

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ravel into Spain’s Moorish and Christian history with every step you take in compact, walkable Granada. The famous Alhambra fortress is a required visit, as are the Alcaiceria (marketplace), the Cathedral and too many architectural sites to name. Wander through Granada’s fascinating Moorish old quarter, the labyrinthine Albaicin; then plan to head out again by night, because the nightlife here is particularly lively.

Seville

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Madrid trolling through Madrid is a great way to see the lavish Royal Palace, the 16th-century Puerta del Sol (Sun’s Gate) marking the center of Spain, the old Moorish quarter of Moreria and much more. Art enthusiasts flock to the famous Prado, ThyssenBornemisza and Reina Sofia museums. Families enjoy boating in Retiro Park and visiting the zoo and the amusement park in Casa de Campo. After eating paella and tapas and watching flamenco, night owls can dance at clubs that are open until dawn.

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ituated on the river Guadalquivir, southern Spain’s largest city has been home to Carmen, Don Juan and Figaro, and its Gothic cathedral is the resting place of Columbus.

Muslim art can be seen throughout the Reales Alcazares. It’s a contagiously romantic city whose celebratory ambiance pervades Seville’s winding streets and spills out of the bars and tapas parlors of Santa Cruz and Plaza Alfalfa. Make sure to climb the Giralda tower for a spectacular view of the city.

Marbella

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n the chic, sun-drenched Costa del Sol town of Marbella, hints of its former Moorish occupation mingle with modern-day resort amenities. Bask on the sands of famous La Fontanilla beach or ricochet among the area’s family-oriented water, wildlife and theme parks. Experience the Andalusian charm of the historic quarter, filled with whitewashed buildings, remnants of a ninth-century Arab fortress and fragrant orange trees. End a relaxing day with a dish of the cold almond soup ajoblanco. — www.tripadvisor.com

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

Spain’s football heroes eyeing the future S

ergio Ramos dashed past, the last man out of the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, carrying the Henri Delaunay trophy. A Spain flag was folded up on its top and a medal hung round his neck. “Sorry,” he shot with a smile as he passed an Italian friend. Photos.

Handshakes. Embraces. More smiles. Everyone wanted a glimpse of the trophy. And yet people were already thinking about another one: the 2014 World Cup. The relentless search for the next challenge, the desire to move the story on before anyone has even digested what just occurred, had begun. It was their job now to slow everyone down, to pause a little, to enjoy it and to comprehend it.

“I’m not sure we’re conscious of what we have done yet,” Cesc Fabregas said. Others had already wondered if they could do it again. It was ever thus. “Four years ago, when we won the Euros, people asked us to win the World Cup,” Iker Casillas said. “When we won the World Cup, they said we had to win the Euros again. I’ve just left the dressing room here and people are already asking for the World Cup again.”

There was a pride in his voice but also a certain exasperation. The problem with always winning is that you must always win. Spain’s players denied it but there was a curious sense of obligation about this tournament.

Obligation fulfilled, another one was placed before them.

There was something different about the celebrations here. Spain’s dressing room was full of kids. Vicente del Bosque’s son Alvaro, who has Down’s Syndrome and has become almost symbolic of this team, embraced the squad. His father’s emotions showed at last. David Villa and Carles Puyol, men who had been so important in 2008 and 2010 but missed Euro 2012 through injury, joined them. Puyol had insisted on paying for his match ticket; the Spanish Federation refused to let him. Both men tried to hang back; Del Bosque refused to let them, dragging them into the heart of the celebrations.

These celebrations were quieter than the previous two, a reflection of expectation and obligation, the moment in which Spain find themselves. “The first title brings the most euphoria, the most emotion, because it comes after so many years of waiting,” Gerard Pique said.

“The second brings a little less and the third is a kind of internal satisfaction. And now? Now for the World Cup qualifiers. This happiness gives us the energy to go on fighting and trying to win more things.”

Del Bosque had said something similar on the eve of the final. “What will you do on Tuesday?” he was asked.

This had after all been a draining month, a difficult one, a month in which, in his own understated way, the Spain coach had felt the need to speak out in defence of his team. And in doing so send a message to his players too.

“On Tuesday?” he replied. “Prepare for the World Cup qualifiers.”

There was a contradiction there. Del Bosque had previously complained that, while he had witnessed other teams celebrating their passage beyond the group, arms aloft, Spain’s players had barely reacted. As if it was nothing. He wanted them, and the rest of us, to appreciate the achievement, to value it. After the final the discourse from the players was similar. Slow down, savour this.

Appreciate it. This is historic, whatever comes next. Even if nothing comes next ever again. “The culmination of everything we’ve done,” as Andres Iniesta put it. “Now, what we have to do is enjoy the moment.”

He was right, of course. The trouble with “culmination” is that it sounds like the end and no one here wanted to say that it was the end. Even as they tried to make this moment linger, even as they rebelled against being dragged into more obligation, even as they sought to escape the assumption that this was somehow easy, it was inevitable that they would look ahead. The question was inescapable: can this team keep winning? Can this astonishing, unique run be continued?

The evidence until now suggests that they can. No one really expected them to come this far. No one expects any team to. But beyond the talent this is also an extremely competitive group. “Success normally diminishes hunger,” Del Bosque said before the final, “but they have not lost one iota of their competitiveness or humility.” There is a quiet determination exhibited by the coach and his players. “Vicente is the embodiment of quiet composure and credibility, the foundation of our success,” Pique said. There is also an identity now, a pathway to follow. Spain’s philosophy is not some moral crusade, even if it can feel like it is; it is a means of competing. Tiki taka too is pragmatic.

“Everyone thought that we were finished after the World Cup,” Fabregas said. “They thought we might ease up but here we are again. We will try to continue. We

believe in what we do and we have been proven right.

We can’t play long balls. Iniesta is not [physically] strong, I am not strong, Silva is not strong. We have to combine.

This is the way we have to play and the way we enjoy playing.”

There is one issue. Xavi Hernandez has embodied Spain’s self-discovery, its identity. He is the ideologue. He is also 32. The next World Cup may be a step too far. “I don’t think he will give it up yet,” Fabregas said. “[And] there will be a before and after Xavi.” His departure will be the end of an era. Yet the After Xavi period no longer looms quite so darkly as it once did; transition can perhaps avoid trauma.

“It looks like some people will go but the new generation are exactly the same,” Fabregas continued. “They are humble, they really want to work hard, they believe in our project, the same style, and we’re proud of that.

We have Jordi Alba and Busquets, me, Pique, players who are 23 or 25. Iniesta too.”

Of Spain’s team only three are over 30: Xavi, Casillas and Xabi Alonso. By age, Iniesta has at least two tournaments left in him, Cesc three, Alba four. Del Bosque has quietly carried out a generational renewal already and has laid the foundations for more players to come into the squad over the next two years. The transition has been smooth. The idea and the key personnel have remained the same but there has been a quiet evolution.

Of this squad only 11 were involved in 2008. Spain’s second string, players who played few minutes, would surely start for other countries. Eventually they will start for Spain. Juan Mata, Javi Martinez, Fernando Llorente and Pedro got less than an hour between them. Thiago Alcantara, Ander Herrera and Iker Munian did not even get in the squad. Last summer they were European champions at Under-21 level. It is a well-trodden path.

Casillas and Xavi, two emblems of this seleccion, of the unity and philosophy, won the 1999 World Youth Championships together. “We learnt to win,” Casillas said.

The problem is loading Spain’s emerging players, or even their already established young players, with responsibility and obligation; assuming it will be easy and leaving a legacy of suffocatingly unrealistic expectation. This is a unique generation and should be judged as such. The next generation, too, must be judged on its own merits. How can it be fairly measured against the most successful international team ever?

“Time goes by for everyone,” said Casillas. “As a goalkeeper I can carry on for a bit longer but there are people below us pushing us hard. Us veterans have the responsibility to give way to the players coming through. We have got used to winning from a very young age. We won the Under-16s, the Under-19s, the Under-20s. Almost everyone here has been through those categories. But I tell you something: in a couple of years there will be new players and, although it is true that we have a great Under-21 team, you still have to unite that group and make it work.”

There is ‘work’ and there is repeating this treble. That is a near-impossible task for anyone. That was the point Spain’s captain was most keen to get across: this is not normal, even if the criticism, treating a third successive final as if it was not sufficient, made it appear so. “I wouldn’t say the criticism was unfair,” Casillas said. “But the thing is, this team set the bar so, so high that the sec-

ond we drop a few centimetres people say we’re not the team that we were. What I will say is that I think it is very hard for any Spanish team in the future to do what we have done again. I really hope it happens but it is not easy. I would love to see it.”

The raw material may be there, the identity too, and they will certainly try. “It is not easy to keep winning but we have done that,” Iniesta said. “Now we have a challenge: to carry on.”“This is a unique, unforgettable generation but we can’t stop now,” Pique said. “We have to try to keep winning until the day our bodies give up and say: ‘no more’. Then we’ll retire. And then we’ll look back and we’ll realise what we have done.” www.guardian.co.uk

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

international

South Koreans evacuated after toxic leak SEOUL: Dozens of South Korean villagers evacuated to a temporary shelter yesterday following a toxic chemical leak in the southeastern city of Gumi as officials assessed the extent of the damage. About 70 elderly residents left their village, Bongsan-ri, in Gumi by two buses to Baekhyeon-ri, about six kilometres (3.7 miles) away, to avoid the fallout from the

September 27 leak of about eight tons of hydrofluoric acid.

“We decided to get out of this village to avoid health risks,” village leader Park Myung-seok told journalists, demanding local government authorities provide them with proper shelters. The village is home to about 300 people, and the disaster management office in Gumi said the remaining

residents would be evacuated in stages. People in nearby Imcheon-ri village are also demanding evacuation, Yonhap news agency said. According to health officials more than 600 people, including local residents and firefighters, have required treatment following the leak of hydrochloric acid at chemical maker Hube Global’s factory in Gumi.

Five people were killed in an initial explosion that led to the leak as workers were unloading acid from a tanker.

But the fallout from the incident may have been far more damaging than originally thought, and a 26-member team of experts and government officials began a three-day probe Friday to gauge the severity of the situation.

Crops and fruit on more than 90

hectares (222.3 acres) of land have withered, and some 1,300 livestock animals have been exhibiting symptoms similar to a cold, Yonhap news agency said.

The government has considered designating the affected area as a disaster zone, which would mean residents could be eligible for financial aid, tax cuts and compensation. —AFP

N Korean shoots officers, defects Gunshots heard before crossing

HONG KONG: Buddhists take part in a ceremony for the 39 victims killed in a boat collision in Hong Kong yesterday. The death toll from a ferry collision off Hong Kong rose to 39 on October 5, as the search for survivors was formally called off four days after the accident, the government said. —AFP

Heavy rain cause landslide in China BEIJING: Persistent rain was the primary cause of a mudslide that killed 18 elementary students and one villager in southwestern China, the official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday. All 18 elementary school students buried in a landslide were confirmed dead Friday, while one other person also died after a hillside collapsed and smothered part of a village in mountainous southwestern China.

Xinhua said that it had rained continuously in the region since Sept. 1 and that when the mudslide occurred, the accumulated precipitation was more than 297 millimeters (11.7 inches), three times the normal level from previous years,.

The hillside used for farming was steeply sloped and had loose soil saturated with rainwater, which triggered the mudslide, said Xinhua, quoting experts from an ad-hoc investigative group. The Tiantou Elementary School was buried Thursday when the hillside collapsed in Zhenhe, a village in Yunnan province, the Yiliang County government said on its website.

All 18 students who were buried in the school were confirmed dead, the government said. The official Xinhua News Agency said the body of a 19th victim was found Friday. It gave no details,

but the county government said earlier that a person was missing from a house that had collapsed.

The government also said that a person injured in the landslide was hospitalized. The landslide blocked a river, causing its water to pool 15 meters (45 feet) across and 7 meters (21 feet) deep around the buried area, hampering rescue efforts and forcing the evacuation of 800 other people, the government said. Rescue teams removed the blockage and the water was subsiding. A series of quakes last month left 81 people dead and devastated parts of Yiliang county, which are still recovering.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Yiliang shor tly after the quakes in September and made a second trip there on Friday, when he visited some victims’ families and offered condolences, Xinhua said.

Local authorities have released names of the 18 students, and state media have distributed the full list. Thursday was a holiday across China, but the students who were killed had been attending school to make up for days missed after the quake, Yiliang officials said. Xinhua said their school was damaged in the quake and they were sent to Tiantou temporarily. —AP

SEOUL: A North Korean soldier defected to the South yesterday through the heavily militarised border, apparently shooting dead two superior officers in the process, the South Korean military said.

It is only the fourth such defection reported in the last 10 years, with none of the past incidents involving fatal shootings, and could raise already heightened tensions ahead of the South’s presidential election in December.

“Six gunshots were heard and our guards spotted a North Korean soldier crossing the military demarcation line,” a spokesman for Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters.

“Through loudspeakers, we confirmed he wanted to defect to the South and we led him to safety,” the spokesman said, adding the soldier was being held in protective custody.

Under initial interrogation, the soldier said he had shot and killed his squad and platoon leaders before making his escape. There was no independent confirmation of any casualties, but Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified military official as saying two North Korean soldiers had been seen “lying on the ground”.

There was no immediate comment from Pyongyang. Military defections across the land border between the two Koreas are rare, with the last reported crossing by a North Korean soldier in 2010, and previous instances in 2008 and 2002.

Once described by former US president Bill Clinton as “the scariest place on Earth”, the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that divides the Korean peninsula between North and South was created after the 1950-1953 Korean War. Four kilometres (2.5 miles) wide and 248 kilometres long, it is a depopulated no-man’s land of heavily-fortified fences, bristling with the landmines and listening posts of two nations that technically remain at war.

Yesterday’s defection occurred at the only functioning transport link across the land border, a narrow road-and-rail corridor between the South and an industrial zone where

southern companies have invested on the northern side.

South Korean soldiers in the area, on the western part of the frontier, were put on alert afterwards. More than 23,500 North Koreans have escaped and resettled in the South since the end of the Korean War, but virtually all cross the North’s border

to the December 19 presidential election in the South.

“Apart from anything else, this is a real embarrassment for the North as the soldiers deployed along the border are supposedly the most loyal to (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-Un,” said Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North

PAJU: This file picture taken on May 17, 2007 shows South Korean soldiers opening a gate for a train to train pass near Dorasan Station close to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of Panmunjom, in Paju, north of Seoul. A North Korean soldier defected to the South yesterday through the heavily militarised border, telling Seoul military personnel that he had shot dead two officers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. —AFP with China and most travel on to Southeast Asia in the hope of eventually reaching Seoul.

They face repatriation if discovered in China. The latest defection comes at a sensitive time, with both Koreas trading accusations of provocative behaviour in the run up

Korean Studies in Seoul.

“The North will demand the soldier’s immediate repatriation and the situation could easily escalate. In terms of any impact on the presidential election, it really depends how the South handles it,”Yang said.

Last month, Seoul’s navy fired

Japan ex-PM to meet South Korean leader to mend ties

BEIJING: Frank Hsieh visits a gallery in Beijing yesterday. Former Taiwan premier Frank Hsieh left for China for a trip which makes him the most senior politician ever from the China-sceptic opposition party to visit the mainland. —AFP

Communist rebel leader captured in Philippines MANILA: Philippine troops have captured a senior communist rebel leader who had received military training in Libya and had a $135,000 bounty for his arrest, a military spokesman said yesterday. New People’s Army regional chief Benjamin Mendoza and three other suspected insurgents were arrested in the early hours of Saturday outside their hideout in suburban Quezon City, said Col. Generoso Bolina.Mendoza is a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines and also heads a regional party group south of Manila, Bolina said. One of the other suspects, Josephine Mendoza, is an executive committee member of the regional party group. It was not immediately clear how she is related to the rebel leader, Bolina said.

He said Mendoza underwent commando, heavy weapons, bomb-making and sniper training in Libya in the early 1980s.

Mendoza planned several successful raids and ambushes against soldiers and police,

Bolina said. In one raid, guerrillas freed nine detained rebels from a jail in Batangas province south of Manila, he said.

Mendoza, 61, started as a student activist in the 1970s and rose through communist rebel ranks, heading the security unit for the central committee before becoming one of its members. The 43-yearold communist insurgency is one of Asia’s longest-running. The rebels’ armed force has been reduced from a peak of about 25,000 fighters in the mid-1980s to about 4,000 due to battle losses, surrenders and internal conflicts.

The International Crisis Group, which monitors conflicts around the world, said more than 40,000 rebels, police, soldiers and civilians, have been killed in the fighting.

Peace talks brokered by Norway have been stalled over disagreements between government and rebel negotiators seeking the release of about a dozen other senior party leaders currently held in detention. —AP

warning shots to turn back North Korean fishing vessels after a series of incursions over their disputed Yellow Sea border.

A week later, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak warned Pyongyang against any attempt to sway the presidential ballot and said the South’s military would

TOKYO: Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is planning to meet South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak in a bid to mend ties soured by a territorial dispute, reports said yesterday.

Relations between Tokyo and Seoul were badly damaged in August when Lee made a surprise visit to the Dokdo islands, which lie between the two countries. Japan claims them as the Takeshima islands.

Aso, of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, will visit Seoul from Sunday to attend a two-day conference of the Japan-Korea Cooperation Committee, which includes parliamentarians and business leaders, Kyodo News and Jiji Press said, citing unnamed political sources.

He is planning to meet Lee on Monday.

The reports came as Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said Friday Tokyo has protested to Seoul over South Korea’s invitation of a group of foreign media to the disputed islands “as it is irrelevant to our country’s position”.

The two nations have long been at odds over Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea, and they had been working to repair relations in recent years. Before ties took a dive, Japan and South Korea were on the verge of signing a landmark intelligence-sharing pact.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Lee held informal talks last month on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The visit by Aso, who is close to LDP leader Shinzo Abe, is believed to be aimed at boosting the opposition party’s profile before a general election expected as early as later this year, Kyodo said.

Aso was prime minister from September 2008 to September 2009. Japan is also locked in a separate dispute with China over Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China

Sea. Meanwhile, Japan will name a career diplomat as its ambassador to China-with the neighbours in a bitter territorial rowafter the newly appointed envoy fell ill and died last month, reports said yesterday.

Masato Kitera, 59, will be chosen to succeed Uichiro Niwa next month and become Tokyo’s point man in the dispute over an island chain in the East China Sea, Japanese dailies Asahi, Yomiuri and others reported.

Japan initially picked Shinichi Nishimiya, another career diplomat, for the post but before he could take up the role he fell ill in a Tokyo street last month and was taken to hospital, dying a few days later.

The death had “nothing to do with any accident or anti-Japanese demonstrations” in China, a foreign ministry official has told AFP. Kitera, now an aide to the prime minister’s office, served as the secretary general for African affairs at Japan’s foreign ministry and led a Japan-UN joint African aid conference in 2008. He has also had a stint in the ministry’s China section.

Niwa, his predecessor in Beijing, raised hackles at home when he said a plan by Tokyo’s nationalist governor to buy the islands could cause a crisis between China and Japan, jeopardising economic ties.

Japan administers the chain and calls them Senkaku, but China claims them under the name Diaoyu.

Anti-Japanese demonstrations in China have forced Japanese firms to scale back their operations in the country, and for weeks Chinese government ships have been plying the waters near the islands.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde said this week the shaky global economy needs Japan and China to be fully engaged, warning the world could not afford to have the two distracted by the dispute. —AFP

“retaliate strongly” against any provocative acts.

A few days later, a spokesman for the North’s powerful National Defence Commission accused Lee’s ruling conservative party of “war-mongering” in order to win votes. —AFP

Malaysian duo charged with abusing Indonesian maid KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian couple has been charged with beating, scalding and exploiting their Indonesian maid in the latest such abuse case in Malaysia despite new rules to better protect domestic workers, a prosecutor said yesterday.

A series of cases involving the abuse of Indonesian maids by their Malaysian employers has strained ties between the Southeast Asian neighbors.

Indonesia this year lifted a three-year ban on sending maids to Malaysia after the countries agreed to better protect the workers, including giving them one day off per week.

Prosecutor Chuah Shyue Chien said Mohamad Shukur Suradi, 28, and his wife, Daeng Norulasyikin Bachok, 27, pleaded not guilty Friday to causing grievous harm to their 21-year-old maid, Marsini, who like many Indonesians uses one name.

Chuah alleged that the couple used a knife, a golf club, a clothes hanger and a belt to hit Marsini and scalded her with hot oil and water between July and Sept. 23 at their home in southern Johor state.

The car salesman and his teacher wife also were charged under the Anti-Human Trafficking Act with exploiting Marsini by making her work long hours and working against her will, Chuah said.

They face up to 35 years in jail and whipping if convicted for both offenses. Chuah said Marsini, who started working for the couple in January, managed to escape from her employers and lodged a police report. He said she is currently in a shelter home to nurse her injuries.

The couple has been freed on bail, with a court date set for Oct. 16. Indonesian Embassy officials could not be reached immediately for comment.

More than 200,000 Indonesian maids work in Malaysia. Indonesian officials say hundreds complain every year of mistreatment, overwork and unpaid salaries. —AP

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

i n t e r n at i o n a l

US: Haqqani tie to Afghan insider attacks possible KABUL: The Haqqani insurgent network, based in Pakistan and with ties to alQaida, is suspected of being a driving force behind a significant number of the “insider” attacks by Afghan forces that have killed or wounded more than 130 US and allied troops this year, American officials say. Until now, officials had said the attacks seemed to stem either from personal grievances against the allies or from Taleban infiltration. The Taleban has publicly claimed to be orchestrating the campaign to subvert the US-Afghan alliance.

New data provided to The Associated Press this week also reveal that in addition to 35 US and allied troops killed in insider attacks last year, 61 were wounded. Those included 19 in a single attack in the eastern province of Laghman on April 16, 2011, in which six American servicemen were killed. Thus far in 2012 there have been 53 killed and at least 80 wounded, the figures showed.

Haqqani involvement in the plotting would add a new dimension to that group’s insurgent activity, which has been marked largely by spectacular attacks against targets inside Kabul. Haqqani leaders have pledged allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, but the group largely operates independently. The two groups have a shared interest in evicting foreign forces. In an illustration of Haqqani links to

the Taleban, the US-led military coalition announced Saturday that a senior Taliban leader had been arrested in the eastern province of Paktia. It said he is “suspected of maintaining working relationships with multiple Haqqani senior leaders” and of planning and directing attacks on Afghan and coalition forces, smuggling weapons, and placing roadside bombs in the neighboring province of Logar.

The US officials said Friday that although there is no hard evidence tying the Haqqanis to specific insider attacks, the pattern of shootings and the movements and backgrounds of some of the shooters - including travel into Pakistan shortly before the shootings - point to a likely connection to the group Washington last month officially labeled a terrorist organization.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss inferences drawn from internal US military analyses of a string of murderous attacks over the past two years that have angered the allies, embarrassed the Afghan government and threatened to undermine the war effort. The officials were not authorized to make the comments publicly.

The US-led military coalition recently slowed, temporarily, its partnering with some Afghan forces, partly in response to a recent spike in insider killings.

The data on the attacks provided to the AP reveal that shootings in 2012 have been concentrated more in the Pashtun south and the swath of Pashtun territory that forms the southern approaches to Kabul. In 2011 the attack pattern was more dispersed, although the largest number occurred in the south and the east. The internal military analyses, based in part on that data, indicate that a number of shooters were recruited into the Afghan army or police forces from Pashtun areas in eastern Afghanistan - including the provinces of Paktika, Paktia and Khost - where the Haqqanis wield great influence, the officials said.

In some cases these Afghans - most of whom had served in uniform for six months of less - returned to those areas on leave from their army or police duties, or briefly crossed into Pakistan, shortly before turning their guns on American or allied soldiers, the officials said. Officials say the Afghan government is now watching such movements more closely and taking other steps to prevent additional insider attacks, although the US believes they will not end.

Of the 38 reported attacks so far this year, 10 happened in Kandahar province, the spiritual and traditional home of the Taliban, and 10 happened in neighboring Helmand province, also a heavily Pashtun

area. Ten others were in or near a Haqqaniinfluenced swath of territory along the southern approaches to Kabul, including the latest attack on Sept. 29 in which Army Sgt. 1st Class Daniel T. Metcalfe, 29, of Liverpool, NY, and a US civilian were killed

by Afghan soldiers. They were killed in the same district of Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, where a July 3 attack by a rogue Afghan soldier wounded five American soldiers.

“The truth of it is, the removal of this threat completely would be extremely difficult because of the varying nature of the motivations” of the attackers, said Australian Brig. Gen. Roger Noble, a senior operations officer on the staff of the Kabul-based international coalition.

Noble said that while he knew of no Haqqani ties to the attacks, the killings are a means of dividing the Afghans from their allies that is “right up their alley.”

Jeffrey Dressler, an analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, who has extensively studied the Haqqani network, said Friday that U.S. suspicions may be well-founded.

“If we accept the notion that a proportion of the ‘insider attacks’ are due to infiltration, then it is absolutely plausible to assume that the Haqqanis are responsible for a portion of those,” Dressler said in an email exchange. “The tactic of ‘insider

attacks’ is certainly a potent one, so I would also suspect that the insurgency is doing all it can to increase the frequency and lethality of the incidents.”

The Haqqani network has the backing of elements within the Pakistani security establishment and is regarded as one of Afghanistan’s most experienced and sophisticated insurgent organizations.

The network maintains a safe haven in North Waziristan, Pakistan, across Afghanistan’s southeastern border. The Pakistani Army has consistently refused to launch a military operation in North Waziristan despite the presence there of al-Qaida senior leaders.

Australian Maj. Gen. Stephen Day, the plans chief for the international coalition’s joint command, said in an interview that the Haqqanis are a more troublesome military challenge than the Taliban.

“They represent the most dangerous threat because they are the best trained, best resourced opponent we have.” Day said Thursday.

He was not speaking about the question of a Haqqani link to insider attacks.

When the number and lethality of insider attacks began to accelerate early this year, US and coalition officials were reluctant to release details, including those cases in which the shooter missed or wounded but did not kill his target. — AP

Imran Khan leads US drone protest in Pakistan Govt says Taleban plan to attack rally

ISLAMABAD: In this Thursday, Jan 19, 2012 file photo, Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik waves as he leaves the Supreme court in Islamabad, Pakistan. The court in recent months has targeted Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, on the citizenship issue. Malik resigned his Senate seat, renounced his British citizenship and won his seat back in a special election, but the court is still looking at prosecuting him for allegedly not revealing his full status when he first held the seat. —AP

Pakistani lawmakers’ citizenship under scrutiny ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court is demanding the nation’s lawmakers disclose whether they are also citizens of other countries, a status that could cost them their seats. Already, around a dozen legislators on the federal and provincial levels have been pushed out, and that might be just the beginning.

The developments suggest institutional power struggles are deepening in Pakistan ahead of an election season that some say could produce an even weaker government than the one in charge now. The dispute also adds to political instability in a nation the United States considers a crucial, though unreliable, ally in the battle against Islamist extremists as it winds down the war effort in Afghanistan.

“The judiciary is using all possible means to stretch its power,” said Hasan Askari-Rizvi, a Pakistani political analyst. “This is going to be a serious issue, and it is quite possible that different political parties will get together to frame a law through parliament to save their skin.”

Experts agree that the law forbids Pakistanis who hold other nationalities from holding elected office. Nonetheless, amid all of Pakistan’s other problems, the laws were largely ignored for years.

During the 1990s and 2000s, when there was a military coup and other political turbulence, many in Pakistan’s political elite left for Britain, Australia, the United States and other countries, where some obtained citizenship.

The return of civilian rule in 2008 drew many of them back to Pakistan, eager to win elected posts.

The government, led by the Pakistan People’s Party of President Asif Ali Zardari, has been in a power struggle with the military ever since it took office nearly five years ago. In recent months, the Supreme Court, too, has emerged as a forceful player, using various legal tools to pursue politicians and,

in some cases, the military.

Among the first to be targeted on the nationality issue was Farahnaz Ispahani, a member of parliament and wife of the former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani. He resigned last year after becoming a target of the high court in a separate affair.

Ispahani, who also holds American citizenship, called the decision to strip her of her seat earlier this year political. “Once again, unelected individuals are trying to overturn the result of elections,” she said in an email to The Associated Press. Supreme Court justices in Pakistan are appointed following vetting by multiple bodies.

In recent months the court has also targeted Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik. He resigned his spot in the Senate, renounced his British citizenship and then recaptured the seat, but the court is still looking at prosecuting him on suspicion of not revealing his full status when he first won the seat. Overall, around a dozen lawmakers have been disqualified and face criminal action on charges such as giving false statements, said Syed Sher Afgan, a senior official with Pakistan’s Election Commission.

At the direction of the court, the commission has sent requests seeking declarations of citizenship from more than 1,100 federal and provincial lawmakers. Election officials had hoped to get a sense later this month about how many lawmakers were ineligible, but this week it emerged that some legislative bodies asked to obtain the declarations from members are resisting the request.

Opinions among lawmakers are divided about the principle of letting people with other nationalities run for office, and consensus on what to do about the existing law may be tough to achieve. A government attempt to change the law to allow foreign citizenship-holders to contest office has stalled.— AP

NEW DELHI: Indian air force’s Air Warrior Drill team performs during rehearsals for Air Force Day at the air force station in Hindon, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, yesterday. Air Force Day will be marked tomorrow. — AP

MIANWALI: Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan led Western activists and thousands of supporters yesterday on a defiant march to the tribal belt to protest against US drone strikes.

Crowds lined the road to greet Khan, and scrums of media and well-wishers thronged his 4X4 as the convoy of more than 100 vehicles embarked on the 440-kilometre (270-mile) drive from Islamabad to South Waziristan.

But it appeared increasingly unlikely the protesters would be allowed to reach their destination, considered a Taleban and Al-Qaeda stronghold, and often called the most dangerous place on earth. The government says the Taleban plan to attack the rally, authorities told AFP it was not safe for Khan to enter the semi-autonomous tribal belt and television broadcast footage of shipping containers closing the road into South Waziristan.

“I condemn the hypocrisy of the government, who tried their best to make this march fail,” Khan told around 5,000 supporters at a brief halt on the outskirts of the Punjab town of Mianwali, his former parliamentary seat.

“They are saying that Taleban have sent nine suicide attackers. If (President Asif Ali) Zardari sends even a 100 suicide attackers this march will not stop,” added Khan, who leads the Tehreek-eInsaaf (PTI) or Movement for Justice party.

Missiles fired by US drones routinely target militants in the semi-autonomous area in what US officials say is a key weapon in the war on terror. Peace campaigners condemn the strikes as a violation of international law, Pakistanis as a violation of sovereignty that breeds extremism, and politicians including Khan as a sign of a government complicit in killing its own people.

Khan, who is hoping to win a landslide victory in general elections next year, has made opposition to the drone programme a key plank of PTI policy.

Critics accuse him of merely trying to further his own career and of ignoring both atrocities blamed on Islamist militants and abuses by the Pakistani army.

And while he is a growing political force, challenging feudal and industrial elites who traditionally dominate in Pakistan, there is huge scepticism about his ability to translate popularity into seats.

Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who defected from the main ruling party to PTI this year, insisted the march would not be a failure if the authorities stopped it from reaching Waziristan.

“The point is it’s symbolic,” he said.

“The government is saying we are against drones. The people are saying they are against

drones. What are they afraid of? Why are they blocking us?” Khan is accompanied by around 30 US campaigners from the group Code Pink and the British head of legal lobby organisation Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith.

Akhtar Syal, 63, from Sargodha in Punjab, told AFP he had joined the protest because drones were destroying lives and that he was ready to die for the cause.

“It is a great thing that Imran Khan has raised his voice against it, so I am going to make his voice stronger and join him,” he said. “I am ready to die over there. If our brothers are being killed I will happily accept it.”

The PTI plan to spend the night in the town of Dera Ismail Khan and on Sunday continue to Kotkai village in South Waziristan to hold a demonstration. Kotkai is notorious as a place where Taleban commander Qari Hussain, said to have been killed in a drone strike in 2010, used to train suicide

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ex-cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, center, is surrounded by his supporters as he arrives to lead what organizers are calling the “peace march,” in Islamabad, Pakistan, yesterday. Hundreds of Pakistanis, joined by dozens of American activists, set off yesterday on a motorcade “march” to protest against US drone strikes, hoping to reach a militant-riddled Afghan border region that has been the focus of many such attacks. — AP

US defense chief blasts Karzai over troop deaths LIMA: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has voiced frustration with Afghan President Hamid Karzai preferring to “criticize” American troops, rather than acknowledging the sacrifices they have made. Panetta, who arrived in Peru late Friday to begin a Latin American tour, told reporters aboard the military plane taking him to Lima that Karzai should remember that more than 2,000 US troops have died in Afghanistan.

The angry riposte came after Karzai said on Thursday that the United States was failing to go after militants based in Pakistan, another charge that Panetta chose to hit back at. Speaking at a press conference in Kabul, Karzai accused the United States of playing a “double game” by fighting a war against Afghan insurgents rather than their backers in Pakistan where, in Karzai’s words, “terrorism is financed and manufactured.”

The Afghan president also lamented what he described as NATO’s refusal to supply Afghanistan with modern weapons necessary to fight its enemies. But a visibly displeased US defense secretary suggested the Afghan president had focused on the wrong things.

“We have made progress in Afghanistan because there are men and women in uniform who are willing to fight and die for Afghanistan’s sovereignty and their right to govern and secure themselves,” Panetta said.

“We’ve lost over 2,000 US men and women,

bombers for the Taleban who have killed thousands in Pakistan since 2007.

Kifayetullah, the commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan who uses one name, said it was “out of the question” that the protesters would enter Waziristan. “Security will be provided to the rally but roads beyond Dera Ismail Khan will be blocked because there are threats of IED, sniper and bomb attacks. We have to protect the lives of everyone,” he told AFP. Although leaked US cables have revealed tacit support for the drone strikes from Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders, Islamabad has increasingly condemned the programme as relations with Washington have deteriorated.

A report commissioned by Reprieve last month said casualty figures are difficult to obtain but estimated that 474 to 881 civilians were among 2,562 to 3,325 people killed by drones in Pakistan between June 2004 and September 2012. — AFP

ISAF has lost forces there and the Afghans have lost a large number of their forces in battle. “Those lives were lost fighting the right enemy, not the wrong enemy. And I think it would be helpful if the president, every once in a while, expressed his thanks for the sacrifices that have been made by those who have fought and died for Afghanistan rather than criticize.”

The outburst was rare for Panetta and the remarks came as relations between the United States and Afghanistan are under strain in the wake of several deadly and high-profile attacks on US troops by their local comrades.

In Afghanistan, the United States has also seen its image tarnished among ordinary Afghans this year by the burning of Qurans at a military base, the abuse of corpses and a massacre of civilians by a rogue American soldier. An unprecedented number of Afghan security personnel have turned their weapons against their allies, killing at least 51 NATO soldiers this year. Despite this, many Afghans, particularly in the cities, fear the departure of the Western troops in 2014 from a country where the government of Karzai is widely seen as corrupt and dependent on foreign support.

In Lima, Panetta will meet President Ollanta Humala and Defense Minister Pedro Cateriano, Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters.— AFP

Tibetan burns himself to death in China protest BEIJING: A writer who spoke out against Chinese repression towards Tibet has burned himself to death, a rights group said, the 53rd person to set themselves ablaze protesting Beijing’s rule. The International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement that Gudrub, 42, called for freedom for the region and the return of the exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama while flames engulfed him in Tibet’s Nagchu county on Thursday. Gudrub, who was only identified by one name, was taken to a local hospital by authorities where he was pronounced dead, the London-based group said, citing multiple exile Tibetan media outlets.

Calls to authorities in Nagchu on Saturday went unanswered. China’s Tibetan-inhabited areas have seen an explosion in such protests since February 2009, with at least 53 Tibetans setting themselves alight, mostly since March last year, the campaign said. “Tibetans who are concerned about the welfare of the people are subjected to arbitrary arrests and beatings,” Gudrub wrote earlier this year in an essay translated by the Tibetan service of the US-based Voice of America.

“Tibetans who refuse to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama or accept China’s rule (of ) Tibet are secretly killed or made to disappear.” As a result, Gudrub added, Tibetans “are sharpening our non-violent movement (and) declaring the reality of Tibet by burning our own bodies to call for freedom in Tibet.” Gudrub’s death comes after a 27-year-old Tibetan man named Yangdang self-immolated on September 29 in Dzato county, a Tibetan-inhabited region in northwest China’s Qinghai province, the campaign said.

The recent incidents come after the prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile last week called on the international community to resist growing pressure from China and stand up for human rights in his homeland. — AFP

NEWS

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

Yemen foils car bomb attack on US air base Continued from Page 1 training Yemeni forces in combating terrorism.” The car was “disarmed” and an investigation launched, he said, without reporting any arrests, though the army “suspects Al-Qaeda” was likely to be responsible.

The defense ministry confirmed the incident and accused the militant group for planning an assault on the base. “The military police defeated an afternoon attack on the Al-Anad base,” the ministry website quoted Lahj governor Ahmed Abdallah Al-Majidi as saying. “The vehicle belongs to Al-Qaeda,” Majidi said, adding that its seizure led to the discovery of a “large quantity of explosives, gas cylinders and anti-tank rockets and clothes for female drivers.”

The car was found yesterday in a wooded area of the air base though it had apparently been “smuggled in several days ago,” the military official added.

“The attack was to be implemented today (Saturday).”

He did not explain why the attackers failed to detonate the explosives immediately after the car was smuggled into the base.

Taking advantage of the weakening of central gov-

ernment control by an Arab Spring-inspired uprising last year, Al-Qaeda overran most of southern Yemen’s Abyan province, seizing its capital Zinjibar and several other towns. On May 12, under orders from President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, the army launched a massive offensive to recapture territory lost to the militants.

Western diplomats at the time said US experts were assisting the army in their battle to destroy AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the network’s local branch, considered by Washington to be the deadliest and most active. The United States also continues to target militants using unmanned drones against AQAP. On Thursday, a drone strike blasted two cars carrying suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen in the southern province of Shabwa, killing five of them, a tribal chief and witnesses said.

In other developments yesterday, six people were hurt when a cluster bomb exploded as youths were tampering with it, witnesses said. The incident occurred in Mudia, in Abyan province, after the explosive device had been found in the nearby village of AlMaajala, where AQAP is still active. — AFP

One killed in French terror sweep Continued from Page 1 community. A source close to the inquiry, asked about the readiness of extremists to carry out other attacks against places frequented by Jews, advised caution. But he said that the suspects had “a list of objectives” and the inquiry had to determine whether plans were well advanced or had simply been discussed among the suspects. The Interior Ministry meanwhile said Valls had postponed a trip to Qatar for a security fair in order to keep an eye on developments. Investigators have declined to link the Sarcelles attack to the recent anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims” which triggered global protests or

the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) by a satirical French weekly.

Moshe Cohen-Sabban, a local Jewish community leader in Sarcelles, said after the incident that there were no “special” religious tensions in the working-class area with a population of about 60,000 and large numbers of Muslims and Jews, many of the latter immigrants from North Africa in the 1960s and their descendants.

But the council representing Jewish institutions in France (CRIF) said it feared a link to the violence surrounding the anti-Islam film and Israel’s ambassador to France, Yossi Gal, condemned the incident as an “anti-Semitic attack”. — AFP

Abu Hamza among 5 extradited to US Continued from Page 1 Just hours after their arrival in America, Syed Talha Ahsan, 33, and Babar Ahmad, 36, pleaded not guilty in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut. They were jailed until trial, and their lawyers declined to comment. Authorities say the men are charged in Connecticut because an Internet service provider there was used to run websites that sought to raise cash, recruit fighters and seek equipment for terrorists, including Al-Qaeda members.

Al-Masri, a one-time nightclub bouncer, will be housed in Manhattan along with Khaled Al-Fawwaz, 50, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, and Adel Abdul Bary, 52, an Egyptian citizen, who will face trial on charges that they participated in the bombings of two US embassies in Africa in 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. They were indicted in a case that also charged Osama bin Laden.

Al-Masri, Al-Fawwaz and Bary were scheduled to make an initial appearance Saturday in federal court in Manhattan.

US Attorney Preet Bharara called the extraditions “a watershed moment in our nation’s efforts to eradicate terrorism.”

He added: “As is charged, these are men who were at the nerve centers of Al-Qaeda’s acts of terror, and they caused blood to be shed, lives to be lost, and families to be shattered.”

In the 1990s, Al-Masri turned London’s Finsbury Park Mosque into a training ground for extremist Islamists, attracting men including Sept 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and “shoe bomber” Richard Reid.

Al-Masri is not the first ailing Egyptian-born preacher to be brought to Manhattan for trial. A blind sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 1995 in a plot to assassinate then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and in another to blow up New York landmarks, including the United Nations and two tunnels and a bridge linking New Jersey to Manhattan. AbdelRahman has numerous health issues, including heart trouble.

In England, lawyers for the 54-year-old Al-Masri, who has one eye and hooks in place of hands he claims to have lost fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, said he suffers from

depression, chronic sleep deprivation, diabetes and other ailments.

The overnight trip to the United States came after a multi-year extradition fight that ended Friday, when Britain’s High Court ruled that the men had no more grounds for appeal and could be sent to the US immediately. The men have been battling extradition for between eight and 14 years.

“I’m absolutely delighted that Abu Hamza is now out of this country,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said.

“Like the rest of the public I’m sick to the back teeth of people who come here, threaten our country, who stay at vast expense to the taxpayer and we can’t get rid of them.”

“I’m delighted on this occasion we’ve managed to send this person off to a country where he will face justice,” he added. Al-Masri has been in a British jail since 2004 on separate charges of inciting racial hatred and encouraging followers to kill non-Muslims.

While Al-Masri has been portrayed in the British media as one of the most dangerous men in the country, the case against Ahmad in Connecticut has raised concerns among legal experts and human rights advocates.

Some lawyers and lawmakers have expressed concerns because Britain agreed to extradite him even though his alleged crimes were committed in Britain and British courts declined to prosecute him for lack of evidence. Ahmad and Ahsan are accused of running websites that sought to support terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Authorities say the websites included Azzam.com, which investigators say was used to recruit members for the al-Qaida network, Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime and Chechen rebels.

In prison since 2004, Ahmad, a London computer expert, has been held without charge for the longest period of any British citizen detained since the Sept 11 attacks.

In a statement read on his behalf outside court in London Friday, Ahmad said his case had exposed flaws in US-UK extradition arrangements. “I leave with my head held high, having won the moral victory,” he said. His father, Ashfaq Ahmad, said he would continue to fight for his son.

“It’s not just one Babar Ahmad. Tomorrow there will be another Babar Ahmad and another one,” he said. — AP

ORLANDO: Volunteers present a T-shirt to Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, during her surprise appearance at the Republican party of Orange County Victory Office yesterday in Orlando, Florida.— AP

In big boost to campaign, Obama takes in $181m WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama raised $181 million in September, his campaign said yesterday, in a huge boost for his re-election bid following a limp debate performance against White House rival Mitt Romney.

The haul was the biggest monthly cash take by Obama of the 2012 race, and was revealed just a day after supporters disappointed by the debate got another fillip with news that the US unemployment rate dipped below eight percent.

It means Obama will have ample money to splash on an advertising blitz in the countdown to the election, exactly a month away on November 6, and with 1.8 million donors in the month is an impressive display of grass roots muscle. Republican nominee Romney has yet to reveal his monthly fundraising figures for September, but early predictions that he would outspend Obama by a distance appear to have been unfounded.

Romney however does have the support of an array of SuperPAC independent fundraising committees financed by rich donors and corporations, that can spend unlimited sums to attack Obama and outnumber similar Democratic organizations.

Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina alerted supporters to the fundraising coup for the re-election effort and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in an email yesterday morning. “I have some huge news, and I want you to be the first to hear about it,” Messina said. “We not only surpassed 10 million donations so far in 2012 to the campaign and the Democratic Party-a historic record for grassroots politics.

“We also raised $181 million in September from 1.8 million Americans-more than 567,000 of whom gave for the first time. That’s by far our biggest month yet.”

Messina said the average donation was $53 and 98 percent of contributions amounted to $250 or less and also boasted that the Obama political machine was in full swing ahead of the election.

The September figure was just short of the $193 million piled up by Obama and the DNC in the equivalent month of the 2008 election campaign. He said the campaign opened its 100th field offices in both Ohio and Florida last month and last week registered 10,000 voters in Florida in a single day.

In early voting in Iowa, Messina said that 105,000 people had already cast ballots, 62 percent of whom were Democrats. The release of the fundraising figure came on the second successive morning of good news for the Obama campaign after the president was com-

prehensively outfoxed by Romney in the first of three head-to-head debates.

On Friday, new Labor Department data showed that the unemployment rate had dropped to 7.8 percent, the lowest level since the president walked into the Oval Office in January 2009. Obama seized on the news to rebut Romney’s criticisms of his economic strategy and warned that after having come so far, America could not afford to go back to Republican economic policies that had triggered a crisis.

But in his weekly radio address Saturday, Obama acknowledged that too many Americans were “still looking for work or struggling to pay the bills” and urged Congress to act to alleviate their plight. He said lawmakers needed to extend tax cuts adopted under former President George W Bush for the overwhelming majority of working American. The tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year.

Romney, banking on a turnaround in the polls after the debate in Denver, claimed Friday that the Obama economy was not in a “real recovery.” “If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force, the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent,” the Republican challenger said as he stumped for votes in the battleground state of Virginia.

Romney was yesterday in another vital state Florida, practicing for the next debate showdown with Obama on October 16. Obama was off the trail, but he will head out on a campaign and fundraising swing through California today.

Poll watchers were meanwhile keeping an eye on new opinion surveys to gauge if Romney had cut into the narrow lead held by Obama in the national race and in key battleground states. The full impact of the debate and the jobs figures are not likely to be felt in surveys until the middle of next week, though there was signs in some early polls that Romney had made headway in Virginia.

The two campaigns meanwhile took their latest hits at one another in new advertising, with the Obama team accusing Romney of being “dishonest” in the Denver debate on his true taxation plans. Romney’s punch meanwhile featured a woman called Melanie McNamara who said she voted for Obama in 2008 but was now going Republican because she believed the former Massachusetts governor was the best bet to restore prosperity.

“I am disappointed in Barack Obama as my president because he promised to bring us all together, that we are all going to be able to prosper. I don’t see the prospering,” said McNamara. — AFP

Turkey hits back at Syria after Erdogan...

Continued from Page 1

NEW YORK: A reporter reports live outside Manhattan federal court yesterday in New York. An ailing extremist Egyptian-born preacher and four other terrorism suspects arrived in the United States from England early yesterday under tight security to face trial. — AP

Davutoglu said international mediator on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi would come to Turkey before Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Ankara within the next 10 days. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby called Brahimi’s Syria mission “virtually impossible”, in a newspaper interview.

Asked about the efforts of the Egypt-Saudi-TurkeyIran quartet to solve the crisis, Elaraby said: “The solution must comprise Iran. The important thing is that matters get moving.”

The 18-month-old Syrian revolt increasingly pits a Sunni Muslim opposition against Assad’s Alawite minority, an offshoot of the Shiite Islam that dominates in Iran, whose government backs Damascus.

Rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo said government troops tried to storm the Sakhour district yesterday but were pushed back after heavy clashes. Activists across Syria said there was fighting in several cities and towns including the central city of Homs and in Damascus countryside.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 60 people, including 36 government soldiers, were killed across the country yesterday in clashes. Syrian rebel forces are riven by divisions but Syrian government forces appear to lack the numbers to land a knockout blow and permanently hold rebellious areas.

US President Barack Obama on Sept 25 accused Iran of helping keep Assad in power but has refused to arm Syria’s rebels, partly for fear some of those fighting Assad’s rule are Islamist radicals equally hostile to the West.

Iran yesterday called for the immediate release of Iranians held captive by Syrian rebels and said it would hold the rebels and their supporters responsible for their lives. Syrian rebels seized a busload of 48 Iranians in early August on suspicion of being military personnel. Tehran says they were pilgrims visiting a Shiite

shrine in Damascus.

At least three rounds fired from Syria landed inside Turkey’s Yayladagi district yesterday, the office of the governor of the Turkish province of Hatay said.

It said the fire appeared to have been aimed by Syrian forces at rebels along the border. There were no casualties. Turkish border troops fired back mortars in response. There were two similar incidents in Hatay on Friday, when Erdogan issued his warning.

“Those who attempt to test Turkey’s deterrence, its decisiveness, its capacity, I say here they are making a fatal mistake,” he said in a bellicose speech to a crowd in Istanbul.

“We are not interested in war, but we’re not far from war either. This nation has come to where it is today having gone through intercontinental wars,” he said.

Turkish artillery bombarded Syrian military targets on Wednesday and Thursday, killing several Syrian soldiers after Syria’s initial fatal bombardment. The UN Security Council condemned the original Syrian attack.

Russia, a staunch ally of Syria, said it received assurances from Damascus the strike on Turkey was an accident but Erdogan dismissed them, saying Syrian fire had repeatedly hit Turkey.

Wednesday’s Syrian strike on the town of Akcakale was of a different magnitude to previous incidents, a Turkish official told Reuters. “Wednesday was different.

There were five or six rounds into the same place.

That’s why we responded a couple of times, to warn and deter. To tell the (Syrian) military to leave. We think they’ve got the message and have pulled back from the area.”

Syria has since ordered its warplanes and helicopters not to go within 10 km (six miles) of the Turkish border and artillery units not to fire shells close to the border, according to Turkish broadcaster NTV. Syria has not confirmed this.

Turkey’s state-run Anatolian news agency said a large number of Turkish troops had been sent to the Oncupinar border area of Kilis province. — Reuters

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Focus

Morsi dogged by own promises in first 100 days gyptian President Mohammed Morsi has won grudging respect from detractors in his first 100 days by sending the army back to barracks faster than anyone expected and raising Egypt’s international profile in several newsmaking visits abroad.

Yet his political fortunes and those of the Muslim Brotherhood which propelled him to power may well depend on his delivering on more mundane issues such as easing traffic congestion and bread and fuel shortages

by Oct 7 as promised.

The image of the bespectacled civil engineer as Egypt’s “accidental president”, forced into the election by the disqualification of the Muslim Brotherhood’s preferred choice, has faded as the self-imposed deadline approaches. Major tests have included managing the aftermath of violent protests at the US embassy in September triggered by a film that denigrated Islam.

Diplomats felt his response was slow, but it was apparently effective - damage to ties with Egypt’s biggest benefactor was minimal while Morsi earned credibility at home for appearing sensitive to popular anger.

Morsi has also mostly avoided getting bogged down in contentious issues such as the role Islamic law will play in the government and laws of post-Mubarak Egypt. That debate, which pitches secular-minded Egyptians against Islamists, is going on within the body writing a new constitution. But Morsi’s successes have often been overshadowed in the Egyptian media by domestic problems, including industrial action that has served as a reminder of the deep economic problems that fuelled the uprising against predecessor President Hosni Mubarak.

“The expectations that he would deal with all injustices quickly created an atmosphere of hopes that are very high and unrealistic,” said Hassan Abu Taleb, a political consultant at the Al-Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies. Meeting those expectations could prove crucial to the Brotherhood’s performance in a parliamentary election expected by early next year or sooner.

But there are no quick fixes in a nation with a sprawling bureaucracy riddled with corruption and health and education systems in need of overhaul. Egypt is ranked 101 out of 169 countries in the UNDP Human Development Index. Two-fifths of the 83 million population live around the poverty line and depend on subsidies that are straining the treasury; one of Morsi’s first moves to was to seek a $4.8 billion IMF loan to support state finances.

Easing Cairo’s traffic was always a tall order, for example, and not helped by the fact that public transport workers were among those to go on strike. “We voted for him on the basis that he would restore our rights,” said Ibrahim Awadallah, seeking relief from a state loan he grumbled taxi drivers were forced to take on to finance their new white cabs. “It’s time for him to meet his promises.” Doctors in the run-down public health system are the latest workers to go on strike. Their demands include a pay rise in a sector where a graduate doctor can earn as little as 200 Egyptian pounds ($30) a month. “We see no reason for delay,” said Sameh Abdel Azeem, one of the strike organizers.

According to the online “Morsi Meter”, on day 97 the new president had achieved just four of 64 pre-election promises he said would be delivered on in his first 100 days in power.

Brotherhood politicians say the assessment is unfair.

Even some of Morsi’s opponents say there has been a noticeable but hard-to-measure improvement in law and order, for example.

Morsi’s government has been trying to focus on the long term, seeking investment for mega-projects such as the Suez Canal corridor - aimed at increasing income from the waterway by turning it into a logistics and services hub. “There are improvements, even if to a small degree. But the volume of the administrative corruption and the obstacles are greater than anyone can imagine,” said Walid Abdelghaffar, an engineer and member of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party recruited by the government to coordinate the canal plan.

Economists say the climate for such investment has improved since Mubarak-era generals who positioned themselves as a rival source of authority to Morsi were neutralized. Even Morsi’s critics were impressed by the speed with which he was able to sideline Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s defense minister for two decades and head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that pushed him aside in February, 2011.

Tantawi and other top generals were sent into retirement in a surprise decree by Mursi just six weeks into his term.— Reuters

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Romney the challenger, indeed

By Ben Feller epublican Mitt Romney was fiery and having fun.

President Barack Obama came off as the professor without much pop. And while Democrats grudgingly conceded that Romney did well in Wednesday’s first presidential debate, what matters is whether he changed the dynamic of a race that he appeared to be losing. The best answers will come over the next few days: Did the debate help Romney close his polling deficit in a must-win state such as Ohio? Or take a polling lead in Florida, Virginia or the other toss-up states where Obama holds a slender lead? The judging is best done in view of what Obama and Romney set out to do. By that measure, Romney may not have changed the game, but he sure played it well. Obama avoided any gaffes but looked surprisingly lackluster at times.

And he kept in his pocket one of the strongest weapons of his political arsenal, Romney’s secretly videotaped remarks to donors that “47 percent” of Americans see themselves as a bunch of entitled victims and that he could not convince them to “take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

The video has undermined Romney’s bid for the presidency and gone to the heart of Obama’s case of how differently the two men see the role of government and the people it serves. The president never mentioned it over the 90-minute debate, even though he talks about it daily in his campaigning.

Obama’s campaign disputed the notion that the president missed an opportunity. They argued that Romney’s own words, which the Obama campaign is using in television ads, are more effective.

The president’s biggest trouble seemed to be that he got caught up in exactly what he wanted to avoid -

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engaging Romney time and again on the challenger’s accusations instead of turning each answer into a clear, coherent argument about how he would help people over the next four years. Wednesday night was a rare chance for Obama in this election year to reach millions of people directly, yet the debate’s jerky pace and sub-

ject detours made it hard for him to break through.

In the midst of the dense debate that lacked much discipline, something important appeared answers on how the two men would run the country differently. But

good luck to the undecided voter who had to sort that out. The debate often got bogged down with complicated and contradictory versions of the candidates’ plans and of the truth, with a distracting dose of insider Washington references. Even voters clamoring for specific differences may have found themselves wondering why all the talk about “Bowles-Simpson” (a debt commission) and “Dodd-Frank” (a Wall Street reform law).

It did not help that moderator Jim Lehrer lost control of the debate to the point that the planned six 15minute segments got reduced to five, a sign of how long both men took to answer questions.

“Excuse me. Excuse me. Just so everybody understands, we’re way over our first 15 minutes,” Lehrer said at one point. “It’s fun, isn’t it?” Romney said.

Following tradition, Romney stood to gain simply by standing next to the president and holding up well.

Romney needed a commanding performance. He needed people to see him as a president, unflinching next to the guy who currently has the job.

In 10 battleground states, which don’t reliably vote Democrat or Republican, none of the nonpartisan polling since before the recent Democratic and Republican conventions has found Romney holding a lead. Romney’s mission was to come across as having a better and clearer economic revival plan than Obama; to undermine the president’s standing, particularly on the economy, without being petulant; to get people thinking that four more years of Obama would make their lives worse; to score that one memorable moment.

“Mr. President, you’re entitled as the president to your own airplane and to your own house, but not to your own facts,” Romney said during one of the flare-ups, this on one education. Romney clearly had his lines ready.

Two more debates await. — AP

The trend line Obama was looking for

By Jim Kuhnhenn eptember’s lower unemployment rate breaks the 8 percent psychological and political barrier that has stubbornly dogged Barack Obama through his presidency, halting the kind of stagnant high joblessness that has weighed down past presidents seeking re-election in economically troubled times. For Obama, the trend line now looks more like Ronald Reagan’s in his successful re -election in 1984 than Jimmy Carter’s in his losing effort in 1980. The 0.3 percentage point drop to 7.8 percent unemployment last month comes at a welcome time for Obama, one month before Election Day and less than 36 hours after he delivered a lackluster debate performance that reinvigorated the campaign of Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

“The main effect of this particular number is going to be primarily political,” said Bruce Bartlett, an economist in President George H W Bush’s administration. “It gives Obama a talking point, something to get people’s attention off his debate performance.”

“As long as people are seeing improvement,” Bartlett added, “at least some voters are going to say to themselves, ‘Well, best not to switch horses in the middle of the stream.’”

A recent AP-GfK poll found that the vast majority of voters already have settled on a candidate, but 17 percent of likely voters are considered persuadable - either because they’re undecided or showing soft support for Obama or Romney.

Roughly 56 percent of persuadables approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, but fewer, 47 per-

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cent, approve of his handling of the economy. Moreover, a Pew Research Center survey in September found only two issues rated as “very important” for more than 80 percent of voters: 87 percent rated the economy that way and 83 percent placed jobs in that category.

John Sides, a political scientist at George Washington University who has examined the intersection of economic data and politics, said Obama could benefit simply from the good media coverage the jobs numbers might get after a debate where his per formance was panned. “It changes the story line, but that may be what affects voter behavior in the end,” Sides said. “A small number of undecided voters may be sensitive to good news and bad news about the two

candidates. In that way the good economic news is helpful for Obama.”

The new threshold, which drops unemployment to a level unseen since Obama took office in January 2009, carries more political than economic weight. The Labor Department reported that employers added 114,000 jobs in September, slightly better than expected but still below levels needed to sustain a reduction in unemployment. The longterm unemployment rate was little changed at 4.8 million.

Jobs have been a central theme in this election. The words “job” and “jobs” were among the most frequently mentioned in Wednesday ’s debate in Denver, uttered at a rate of more than once every two minutes in a 90-minute showdown.

US President Barack Obama walks from Marine One to the White House in Washington, DC. — AFP

Carter lost his re-election bid to Reagan in 1980 as unemployment climbed from 6 percent in October 1979 to 7.5 percent in October 1980.

George H W Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992 in the midst of rising unemployment, which went from 6.9 percent September 1991 to 7.6 percent in September 1992.

Obama can now hope he is more like Reagan in 1984, who won re-election with a jobless rate of 7.3 percent in September of that year, after dropping from 8 percent nine months earlier. The jobs news also had the effect of overshadowing a new estimate that put the deficit for the just-completed 2012 budget year at $1.1 trillion, the fourth straight year of trillion-dollar deficits under Obama’s tenure. If Obama had a silver lining, Romney saw darker signs in the data. “This is not what a real recovery looks like,” Romney declared, focusing on a lesser noticed detail in the report that showed that rate of people employed or actively seeking employment has dropped from when Obama took office.

It will take new polling, and ultimately the election results, to determine whether this new unemployment report will affect the election. Obama and Romney entered Wednesday’s debate running about evenly among those most likely to vote, with most polls in the last couple of weeks putting Romney a few points behind nationally. Several battleground states were neck and neck, but Obama appeared to hold comfortable leads in New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Past, bleaker monthly reminders of joblessness had not markedly altered the trajectory of the presidential campaign.— AP

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

sp orts Sun down Fever in Eastern finals opener UNCASVILLE: A pair of Olympians took control on both ends of the court in the second half to help the Connecticut Sun pull away from the Indiana Fever and win 76-64 in Friday’s opener of the WNBA Eastern Conference finals. Tina Charles scored 18 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked four shots, while Asjha Jones played lock-down defense on Tamika Catchings, holding the Fever’s star to just two field goals and seven points. Charles, the WNBA’s MVP, had just four first-half points but came alive in the third quarter, scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds as the Sun broke open a 30-30 game.

She brought the crowd into the contest with an offensive rebound, putback and free throw to highlight a 14-2 run that gave the Sun control.

Connecticut led 54-43 after three quarters and by as many as 16 in the fourth. — AP

WELLINGTON: Italian great Alessandro Del Piero was greeted by cheeky chants of “What a waste of money” from Wellington fans on his A-League debut yesterday as his Sydney side slumped to a 2-0 defeat to the Phoenix.

The 37-year-old played more than 500 games in 19 seasons with Italian giants Juventus before joining Sydney in the off-season on a contract reportedly worth A$2 million a year.

A-League and Sydney FC officials touted the contract as the biggest in Australian professional sport and predicted his arrival to have an impact similar to that of former England captain David Beckham’s move to the LA Galaxy in the United States.

However, Del Piero made a quiet start for Sydney and was overshadowed by Wellington’s Belgian striker Stein Huysegms and teenager Louis Fenton, who scored either side of half time for the home side in front of more than 12,000 fans.

Apart from playfully questioning the size of Del Piero’s contract, Wellington’s ‘Yellow Fever’ fans also harangued him at every opportunity, asking “Who are ya?” when he took two corners in the first half. Much like his performance on the pitch, Del Piero’s arrival in New Zealand’s capital on Friday was low-key, greeted by only a small group of fans at the airport while other passengers appeared bemused as to who was attracting so much attention. —Reuters

Disputed call takes spotlight in Cards win ATLANTA: Worried that more debris could fly out of the stands, St. Louis players scrambled off the field and launched a wild-card celebration in the safety of their clubhouse. Players danced in a happy huddle. Champagne was sprayed. Then someone yelled “Infield fly!” Those were words that only the Cardinals could celebrate on this night. Matt Holliday homered and St. Louis rallied from an early deficit, taking advantage of three Atlanta throwing errors - the most crucial of them by the retiring Chipper Jones - to beat Kris Medlen and the Braves 6-3 in a winnertake-all wild-card playoff Friday.

The defending World Series champion Cardinals will open their best-offive division series against the Washington Nationals on Sunday in St. Louis. The Braves were one and done in this shortest of postseasons. The Braves outhit the Cardinals 12-6 but stranded 10 baserunners, including three in a crazy eighth inning that included a disputed infield fly call by left field umpire Sam Holbrook.

Holbrook’s call sparked immediate outrage from the sellout crowd of 52,631. As if given a go-ahead countdown to litter, fans tossed cans, bottles, cups and other debris from all corners of Turner Field.

The game was halted for 19 minutes while workers cleared up the mess. “It was crazy,” said St. Louis right-hander Kyle Lohse, who gave up two runs on six hits in 5 2-3 innings. “You hate to see the fans lose control like that.

Luckily nobody got hurt.” The loss ended the Braves’ record streak of 23

ATLANTA: St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday runs to a ball hit by Atlanta Braves’ Andrelton Simmons during the eighth inning of the National League wild card playoff baseball game. —AP straight wins in games started by Medlen. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said he decided during the delay if his team could close out the win, it should leave the field as quickly as possible. An on-field celebration before Braves fans would not be a good idea. “So we made it very clear if we could finish that thing off, let’s get inside the dugout as quick as we can, and go up to the clubhouse,” Matheny said. Braves manager Fred Gonzalez argued Holbrook’s call on the field, but after the game he also spoke strongly against the fans’ actions.

“I think we have very passionate fans here in Atlanta, and I think I’m a little disappointed with the reaction of throwing bottles and beer cans and you name it,” Gonzalez said. “For me, that’s uncalled for. “I understand the disappointment. But we can’t do that.

As Atlanta Braves and people from Georgia, it doesn’t look good, and I’m a little disappointed in our fans from that point. You get people injured out there.”

The barrage left Holbrook fearing for his safety. “When cans are flying

SC high school football player collapses, dies

Del Piero makes quiet debut

past your head, yeah, a little bit,” Holbrook said. Braves president John Schuerholz apologized for the actions of the crowd, saying a “small group of those fans acted in a manner that was uncharacteristic and unacceptable.”

The Braves played the game under protest. Major League Baseball executive Joe Torre said the protest was denied. Then Braves general manager Frank Wren withdrew the complaint.

It was another heartbreaking loss in the playoffs, especially for the 40-yearold Jones. He managed an infield hit in his final at-bat but threw away a double play ball in the fourth, which led to a three-run inning that wiped out Atlanta’s 2-0 lead behind Medlen.

“Ultimately, I feel I’m the one to blame,” Jones said. But this one-anddone game will be remembered for disputed call in the eighth. The Braves thought they had the bases loaded with one out after the ball fell between two fielders. But Holbrook called Andrelton Simmons out under the infield fly rule - even though the ball landed at least 50 feet beyond the dirt.

Holbrook defended the call, even after he looked at the replay. “Once that fielder established himself, he got ordinary effort,” he said, referring to shortstop Pete Kozma calling for the ball, then veering away at the last moment as left fielder Holliday drifted in. “That’s when the call was made.”

The stoppage only delayed the inevitable. When play resumed, Brian McCann walked to load the bases but Michael Bourn struck out to end the threat. Dan Uggla grounded out with two aboard in the ninth to finish it, leading to one more wave of trash throwing as the umps scurried off the field.

The infield fly is a complicated rule, designed to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping a popup with more than one runner on base and perhaps get an extra out.

No one could ever remember it being applied like this. And, after past postseasons dotted by contested calls, this play will certainly lead to another slew of October cries for more instant replay. “I was under it,” Kozma said. “I should have made the play. I took my eyes off it. I was camped under it.”

Added Matheny: “Guys could have made the whole thing a lot easier if we made the play.”

Holliday homered in the sixth off Medlen, who had been baseball’s most dominant starter over the final two months. The Braves had not lost a start by the diminutive right-hander since May 23, 2010 at Pittsburgh. The Braves haven’t won a playoff round since 2001. Since then, they’ve gone 0 for 7 including six decisive losses at Turner Field. David Ross, starting in place of the slumping, ailing McCann hit a tworun homer in the second inning off Lohse. On the 1-2 pitch before the homer, Ross asked for time just before Lohse’s delivery. Ross then swung and missed, but umpire Jeff Kellog granted the timeout.

That call worked out for the Braves.

Ross homered on the next pitch. Carlos Beltran led off the fourth with the first hit of the game off Medlen, a bloop single to right. Holliday followed with a hard shot to third base. Jones made a nice backhanded scoop before making a wild throw over the head of Uggla, winding up in right field. The error put runners on second and third with no outs. Allen Craig lined a double off the left-field wall, cutting Atlanta’s lead to 2-1. Molina followed with a groundout that brought home another run and moved to Craig over to third. He trotted home on a sacrifice fly by David Freese, the hero of last year’s postseason. The Braves totally fell apart in the seventh, and Freese was right in the middle of things again. He led off with a routine grounder to Uggla, who bobbled it briefly, then unnecessarily rushed his throw to first. It wasn’t close, the ball sailing off behind home plate while Freese took second. Daniel Descalso bunted pinch-runner Adron Chambers over to third, and Chad Durbin replaced Medlen. — AP

HARTSVILLE: A South Carolina high school football player died Friday night after having to be helped off the field following a tackle and then collapsing on the sideline. Ronald Rouse, an 18-year-old senior lineman for the Hartsville Red Foxes, collapsed during the second quarter of Hartsville’s homecoming game against Crestwood at Kelleytown Stadium, the Morning News of Florence reported (http://bit.ly/RjQL7M ).

The the 6-foot-3, 320-pound Rouse was involved in a tackle and stayed on the ground afterward, Hartsville Mayor Mel Pennington wrote in an email. Team officials helped Rouse to his feet and he walked to the sideline, where he collapsed. EMS crews worked to revive Rouse and transported him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Pennington said. The teams played the remaining 3:39 of the first half, and with Hartsville up 27-7, the school conducted its homecoming celebration and crowned a king and queen. — AP

Orioles stun AL champion Rangers ARLINGTON: Buck Showalter thrust his arm into the air, then stood back and savored watching his surprising Baltimore Orioles celebrate on the field.

Champagne showers followed in the clubhouse after hugs from their manager following a 5-1 victory over the two-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers in the league’s first winor-go-home wild-card playoff Friday night.

“One of our biggest regrets of the year would have been if our guys couldn’t have a moment after the game like that,” Showalter said. “We came so close a couple times. We got in the playoffs and didn’t really get to.”

The Orioles were on a team flight from Baltimore to Tampa Bay last Sunday night when their first playoff berth in 15 years was clinched. Now they get to go home for another shot to overtake the New York Yankees, with a best-of-five division series that starts Sunday at Camden Yards.

For Texas, which twice came within a strike of its first World Series title last October, there is nothing to celebrate. The Rangers didn’t win a postseason game this time, even with Yu Darvish on the mound at home.

They lost nine of their last 13 games in the regular season, which cost them their AL West crown on the final day after being swept by Oakland and put them in an unexpected elimination game - especially after leading the division for a majors-best 178 days.

“To be honest with you, I never thought anything like this would happen,” manager Ron Washington said. “I don’t get pessimistic, I always stay optimistic, and when things like this happen, I am shocked. And right now, I’m shocked.”

Texas is starting its longest offseason in three years, while Joe

Saunders and the Orioles keep playing. Baltimore split 18 games this season with the East champion Yankees, the AL’s top seed.

Saunders, acquired by Baltimore from Arizona in late August, had lost all six of his previous starts with a 9.38 ERA at Rangers Ballpark. And the Orioles bullpen was already scrambling

was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, both on three pitches. He swung at the first pitch his other at-bats including the double play in the first and a comebacker to start the sixth. He struck out with a runner at second base to end the eighth, when it was still a 3-1 game.

The former AL MVP and batting champion is eligible for free

ARLINGTON: Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington (38) watches from the dugout in the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles in the American League wild-card playoff baseball game. —AP after Saunders, who hadn’t walked anybody his previous three starts, started the game by walking Ian Kinsler and giving up a single to Elvis Andrus.

But Saunders pitched effectively into the sixth. He also benefited from three double-play grounders, including Josh Hamilton’s in the first that sent Kinsler home with the only Texas run.

“Just an awesome experience.

It means everything,” Saunders said. “It’s special to prove people wrong. I’ve been telling people all along that I’ve pitched better than my numbers here. ... I love being the underdog. To knock off the defending two-time champs from the past couple of years is pretty amazing.” Hamilton wound up getting booed in what might have been his last home game in a Rangers uniform. The slugger

agency, and the Rangers might not be willing to pay the big money likely necessary to keep him.

“I hadn’t thought about it too much. I’m going to go home, spend some time with the family and figure out what’s going on,” Hamilton said. “I’d love to stay here. They understand it and know that. ... Even if you send me off with boos, I still love you.”

Four pitches into the game, the Orioles led against Darvish, who struck out seven while allowing three runs (two earned) in 6 2-3 innings.

Nate McLouth grounded Darvish’s first pitch toward first baseman Michael Young. The longest-tenured Rangers player got charged with an error when he tried to backhand the ball, which ricocheted off the heel of his glove and away from him.

McLouth stole second base on

the third pitch. J.J. Hardy then drove him in by grounding a hard single up the middle.

The O’s had consecutive singles to start the sixth before Adam Jones’ sacrifice fly made it 2-1. McLouth added an RBI single in the seventh and had a sac fly in the ninth, when the Orioles scored twice off Rangers closer Joe Nathan.

Jim Johnson, who set an Orioles record with 51 saves, allowed a walk and two hits in the ninth, including a two-out pinch single by 19-year-old Jurickson Profar that loaded the bases, before David Murphy’s seasonending flyball caught by McLouth in left field.

“Me and my teammates and the Rangers’ fans, I don’t think we all thought that it would end this early,” Darvish said through a translator. “I mean, right now, no. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do tomorrow.”

Darvish won 16 games in his rookie season in the majors, after the Rangers committed more than $107 million last winter to acquire Japan’s best pitcher. The 26-year-old right-hander was 8-2 with a 1.38 ERA in 11 postseason starts in Japan the past six seasons.

Showalter managed in Texas for four years before being fired and replaced by Washington after the 2006 season. Darren O’Day, the sidewinder who pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Saunders, is one of seven former Rangers players now with Baltimore - and advancing in the playoffs.

“I have a lot of respect for the Texas Rangers and what they’ve done these past few years and the opportunity they gave me,” said O’Day. “It was more satisfying just to make the playoffs with this group of guys. People thought we’d be making tee times right now.” —AP

50-year gap no big deal to Nationals Johnson, Harper WASHINGTON: Washington Nationals center fielder Bryce Harper is 19 and looks and sounds the part, from his Mohawkish haircut to his tattoos and well-documented “clown question” ‘tude.

His manager, Davey Johnson, is 69 and looks and sounds the part, from his graying hair and leathery skin to the near-whisper speaking voice that delivers tales of chatting with Ted Williams about hitting.

Yes, Johnson and Harper were born a halfcentury apart. One’s the oldest skipper in the majors. The other put together the best season by a teenage hitter since the 1960s. Able to meet somewhere in the middle, and united by a supreme sense of self-confidence, they helped Washington build the best record in baseball in 2012 - and both figure to get plenty of attention when the club’s NL division series starts today at defending World Series champion St. Louis.

“Davey has such a young mindset, and Harp is such a throwback. It works,” said Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, who selected Harper with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft, and turned to Johnson when then-manager Jim Riggleman abruptly resigned midway through last season. “It’s an amazing relationship that they have. It’s a father-son, mentor-type of relationship,” Rizzo said. “There’s great respect on Harp’s part for Davey, and there’s great affection from Davey to Harp.”

Spend some time talking with Washington’s strong contenders for NL Manager of the Year and NL Rookie of the Year, and the mutual admiration comes through immediately, perhaps because they see similarities. Between bites of a plate of berries, Johnson praised Harper - whose 22 homers this season are the second-most by a teen in big league history as “a very smart young man,” and noted, “He’s not just talented; he studies things, which is really impressive.” Harper relishes that Johnson, who won the 1966 and 1970 World Series as a

second baseman with the Baltimore Orioles and managed the New York Mets to the 1986 championship, “raked and hit homers.” “He’s been around the game for a long, long time.

Everybody knows that - and everybody’s going to listen to him,” Harper said. “That’s huge for the whole team.”

Harper also gets a kick from the way Johnson - the last ballplayer to get a hit off Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax - sounds like an oldtimer while yelling, “Whack-o!” in the dugout after one of the Nationals drives a ball over the wall.

“Every time he says that, when we hit a homer or something, everybody starts laughing. It’s from back when he played,” Harper said, chuckling at the thought. “He likes homers. Of course he does. Everybody does. But it’s relaxing to have a manager that is all for his team and lets you go through struggles and lets you play it out and lets you succeed.”

Their ages, both agree, are irrelevant. “It’s not how old I am. It’s how I treat him every day,”

NEW YORK: In this July 24, 2012 file photo, Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson high-fives Bryce Harper (34) after the Nationals defeated the New York Mets in a baseball game. —AP

Johnson said. “And he doesn’t want any special treatment. He wants to be treated just like everybody else.”

They first met several years ago, when Johnson was a guest speaker at a banquet and presented the still-in-school Harper with an award. “You could sense a little cockiness about him,” Johnson said, an undercurrent of admiration in his words. This is, after all, the manager who brazenly declared in spring training he deserved to be fired if the never-above-.500 Nationals didn’t reach the playoffs this year.

Not long after their initial encounter, Johnson was an assistant to Rizzo and wrote Harper’s name on a piece of paper submitted to Commissioner Bud Selig at the amateur draft.

Johnson got his first extended look at the kid from Nevada in spring training in 2011. By late last season, with Harper at Double-A Harrisburg, Johnson was convinced the player was ready to start 2012 in the majors, even if the college catcher still needed time to learn how to play the outfield.

“He had hardly any experience, so we sent him to Triple-A to get some at-bats. Also that way, if he struggled at first up here, that would eliminate people saying, ‘See? You rushed him,’” Johnson said. “Once he finally got here, it was like, ‘Whew, boy, am I relaxed now.’ And really, he hit the ground running. Hit the ball hard from the moment he got here.” Harper’s debut and first hit, a double - came against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 28, making him the youngest position player in the majors since Adrian Beltre in 1998. At the time, the Nationals made it sound as if Harper merely was around temporarily to aid a struggling offense dealing with injuries and might wind up returning to the minors.

Now Rizzo acknowledges: “We had a pretty good feeling he was ready.” By Harper’s fifth game, Johnson moved him to No. 3 in the batting order. He later settled into the second spot, behind Jayson Werth and in front of Ryan Zimmerman, and flourished. — AP

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

sp orts

Earnhardt Jr. racing for win at Talladega

COLOMBO: (From right) Women’s team captains Charlotte Edwards of England and Jodie Fields of Australia, and men’s captains Mahela Jayawardena of Sri Lanka and Darren Sammy of West Indies, pose with the winner’s trophies of the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup ahead of their finals in Colombo. — AP

World Twenty20 set for rousing finale COLOMBO: Clinical Sri Lanka will test their skills against the flamboyant West Indies when both sides battle for their maiden World Twenty20 title in a mouth-watering final in Colombo today.

A sell-out crowd of 35,000 at the Premadasa stadium will offer boisterous support as Mahela Jayawardene’s home team attempt to reverse fortunes after losing three finals in major meets since 2007. Standing in the way will be the destructive West Indies batting led by opener Chris Gayle, who crushed Australia in Friday’s semi-final with a scintillating 75 of 41 balls. The West Indies recorded their biggest T20 victory when they beat the Aussies by 74 runs after posting the highest total in this edition of 205-4. Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels made light of the slow pitch that was regarded as unsuited to aggressive batting, helping themselves to 55 runs in the final three overs.

Sri Lanka defeated the West Indies by nine wickets in a practice game before the tournament and again by the same margin in the Super Eights, but Gayle was confident of ruining the hosts’ party today.

“We’re definitely going to rock against Sri Lanka,” the swashbuckling Jamaican left-hander said. “We know what to expect-the atmosphere, the noise and everything else.

“We are definitely going to win this trophy here. I just feel confident about it. We are up against world class players in the Sri Lanka team, but it’s going to be good fun.”

Australia’s bamboozled captain George Bailey offered Sri Lanka good, if obvious, advice on how to beat the West Indies-get Gayle early.

“If Sri Lanka can get Gayle out for under 20, they will win. But if they don’t, the West Indies will prove too strong,” said Bailey. “With the West Indies attack, you can chase down 160. I am sitting on the fence a bit. But the two best teams got into the final.”

Hosts Sri Lanka, meanwhile, were quietly confident they can stop the rampaging West Indies batsmen to win their first major title since the 1996 triumph in the 50-over World Cup. Sri Lanka made the final of two successive World Cups in 2007 and 2011, and also the World Twenty20 in 2009, but were unable to cross the last hurdle when it mattered most.

Jayawardene said his team’s strategy on Sunday will be different from previous finals.

“They have all had to be approached in different ways,” he said. “One final was in Barbados (2007), one in England (2009) and one was in Mumbai (2011).

“But now we are playing in the Premadasa, so we will approach it differently. We have to adapt. It is all about handling tough situations better.” The classy Sri Lankans have lost just one of their six games in the tournament so far: a seven-overs-a-side rain-affected game against South Africa in Hambantota in the pre-

Kuwait’s jet ski team

liminary league. Jayawardene has himself led from the front with 210 runs, the fourth highest run-maker in the tournament behind Australian Shane Watson (249), Gayle (219) and Brendon McCullum of New Zealand (212).

Sri Lanka will be further boosted by the match-winning form of unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis, who shares the top spot among bowlers with Watson at 11 wickets apiece, and sling-arm fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who has eight scalps.

The ICC, meanwhile, named the retiring Simon Taufel of Australia along with Pakistan’s Aleem Dar as the two on-field umpires for the final. Jeff Crowe of New Zealand will be the match referee. — AFP

Shobukhova eyes Chicago Marathon CHICAGO: Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova will attempt to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive Chicago Marathon women’s title in today’s 35th running of the event.

Shobukhova, unbeaten in three Chicago starts, was unable to finish the London Olympic marathon in August due to stomach cramps but will be among the elite favorites in a field of 45,000 runners that will compete today.

“It was heartbreaking to withdraw from the Olympic Marathon after I had trained so hard and my preparation had gone so well,” Shobukhova said.

“But I am still very fit and in good health. I’m going to focus all my energy on a great performance at the Chicago Marathon.” Shobukhova ran the thirdfastest time in history last year to win in 2 hours 18 mins 20 secs.

“There’s no place that I feel more comfortable than when I am competing in Chicago,” she said. “I love the course and appreciate the support from the fans. I’m especially motivated to win for the fourth time in a row.”

The Russian’s rivals will include Kenya’s Lucy Kabuu, who owns a personal best of 2:19:34, and Ethiopians Ejegayehu Dibaba, last year’s runner-up in 2:22:09, and Weknesh Kidane, the 2003 world runner-up. On the men’s side, Kenya’s Wesley Korir, last year’s Chicago runner-up and this year’s Boston Marathon champion, will be a favorite.

Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede, third in the 2008 Olympic marathon, and Kenya’s Levy Matebo, whose 2:05:16 from last year in Frankfurt is the fastest time in the field, are also expected to contend for the men’s title.— AFP

TALLADEGA: Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows exactly what strategy he needs at Talladega Superspeedway. He needs to go for broke and get a win. His championship hopes fading, Earnhardt is among a handful of drivers who believe Sunday’s race could be the one that lifts them back into title contention. There’s some separation in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field, and three drivers at the front are pulling away after three races.

Earnhardt, who sits seventh in points, knows chipping away probably won’t get the job done.

He’s 39 points behind leader Brad Keselowski, with Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin keeping pace at the front. “We’re in a position where it really doesn’t matter . we can’t be conservative at all,” Earnhardt said. “We really got to, you know, take a lot of risks. With just a few races left, as good as everybody’s running, as good as Brad and Jimmie and the 11 car (Hamlin) have been running, we have to get pretty aggressive and that should play right into this race track’s hands.”

It’s the same attitude Clint Bowyer, the twotime defending race winner, will take into Sunday. He’s fourth in the points but thinks Talladega could shake up the standings and change the complexion of the Chase.

“We have to use this weekend to put ourselves back in the hunt,” Bowyer said. “There’s three cars that have been breaking away here and this is the one track, the one opportunity that can change things. I’m looking forward to going there and seeing how it all shakes out.

We all know what we’re getting into going into this race.

to be an odds-on favorite at Talladega, where he’s got five career victories. But the racing has changed, the strategy is different, and Earnhardt hasn’t won at Talladega since 2004.

He admitted Friday he doesn’t like riding around in the back waiting to make a late charge to the front, and the unpredictability of the race makes it difficult to plot a plan.

“You really don’t know what things are going to go down or what’s going to happen,” he said.

“Sometimes it happens with the usual suspects and sometimes it’s a surprise of even who would be involved in it. I’ve been on the receiving end of some wrecks here and I’ve started a few myself.

“So you just go out there and try to run as hard as you can and try to put yourself around people you like to work with and benefit from having people around you that you trust and that usually pays off.”

It hasn’t paid off for his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson, who has yet to finish a plate race this season. Johnson has two wins at Talladega, and Earnhardt pushed him to a victory here last year, but it’s his eight DNFs that stand out on his resume.

Part of the problem may be Johnson’s strategy of riding around in the back for much of the race - something Earnhardt said can cause problems. “Any time you’re cautious, you tend to get yourself into trouble,” Earnhardt said.

“And the guys that are a lot more aggressive seem to find themselves towards front of the mess when it all goes down and end up being the ones that cross the finish line with some type of reasonable finish.”—AP

Dale Earnhardt Jr

“This is a track that can really swing the points 20-30 points one way or another. So in my situation I have to use this as an opportunity. This is a race that can win the championship for somebody.”

Earnhardt hopes he’s that somebody. He used

Blixt, Brendon share Las Vegas lead LAS VEGAS: Jonas Blixt shot his second straight 7-under 64 on Friday for a share of the second-round lead with Brendon de Jonge in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

De Jonge followed his opening 62 with a 66 to match Blixt at 14-under 128 after two rounds in perfect conditions in the Fall Series opener.

“I think it’s a lot of things that makes me play well this week,” said Blixt, from Sweden.

“I got my family in town, my brother and my sister, a couple friends from overseas, which makes it really relaxed. We’re renting a house together and just having a good time. I don’t think about golf at all coming off the golf course. Just hang out with them. It’s easy to think about something else when you’re in Las Vegas, right?” He is winless on the PGA Tour. “I’ve been working a lot on my ballstriking the last few weeks when I’ve been off,” Blixt said. “It’s not really there yet, but I got a hot putter and it’s been helping me out a lot the last two days.”

Blixt birdied Nos. 15 and 16, made a double bogey on the par-3 17th, and finished with a birdie on 18. He also had an eagle on the par-4 seventh hole.

“First of all, I don’t know why they always put water on 17, on the par 3s,” Blixt said.

“Every single week we play on par 3s ... It’s a great hole, but if I miss it’s left, so that’s is why I don’t really appreciate it. But I just got a little fast and that’s why I missed. Tried to hit a little soft 6-iron in there.”

De Jonge, from Zimbabwe, also is seeking his first PGA Tour victory. “We got a long way to go, obviously,” de Jonge said. “I’ve played nicely for the first rounds, but to start thinking about winning right now would be jumping ahead a little bit.

“I’ve driven the ball well for the first two rounds. With as receptive as the greens are here, you’re going to have a lot of chances when (you drive well). That’s been the key.

I’ve been able to set myself up to score well from the fairways.”

Ryan Moore, the Las Vegas resident and former UNLV player who matched the TPC Summerlin record Thursday with a 61, was a stroke back after a 68.

“It was a good, solid round,” Moore said. “I definitely would have liked to have seen a few more of those putts drop. But I hit good putts all day. They were just burning the edges, lipping out. All in all, I like my posi-

tion going into the weekend.” Daniel Summerhays and Tim Herron were 11 under.

Summerhays had a 63, and Herron shot 68.

John Daly was 10 under after a 63, his lowest score of the year. At 132nd on the money list, the two-time major champion is trying to move into the top 125 to secure full playing privileges for next season. He

John Huh also were 10 under. Singh and Watney shot 66, Kirk had a 68, and Huh a 69.

Watney also lives in the area.

“It’s fun. It’s nice to play well at home,” Watney said. “I got a lot of friends and family out, so I’m looking forward to trying to put together a nice weekend.”

Singh had five birdies, an eagle and a

LAS VEGAS: Jonas Blixt of Sweden, hits off the ninth fairway during the second round of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open golf tournament. — AP had eight birdies, an eagle and two bogeys to match Summerhays for the best round of the day. “Today, I hit the ball really well and I putted good the last two days, which is good for me,” Daly said. “The greens are rolling really good, so it gives you an opportunity. If you hit it think decent, you can make some putts. ... But on any tour, any more, it’s just putting. If you make some putts you can play really well. This course gives you a lot more opportunities than most courses.”

Vijay Singh, Nick Watney, Chris Kirk and

Kuwaiti jet skiers win 14 medals in US KUWAIT: Kuwaiti champions taking part in the international jet ski tournament, currently hosted by the State of Arizona in US, have won 14 medals in the contests.

The team grabbed four gold medals, six silver and four bronze. Mohammed Bou-Rubei’ had the lion’s share, winning three gold and a silver in the professionals’ games. Another national champion, Khaled Bou Rubei’, won one gold and two bronze in the professionals’ category. Mohammed Al-Baz took three silver and one bronze in the same category.

Veteran jet skier, Ahmad Al-Dawwas, made his presence felt in the international games, winning one silver. Another was earned by his fellow citizen, Nawaf Al-Ferhan, while Abdul Wahhab AlEssa took a bronze — KUNA

double bogey on his final hole, the 444-yard, par-4 18th. “I putted better today,” Singh said. “I made some putts and had some good up and downs, and I made a bomb on No. 13 for eagle, so it kind of helps.”

Defending champion Kevin Na was 8 under after a 66. “I feel like I left a few out there, but on this course it’s easy to do,” he said. Casey Martin missed the cut with rounds of 71 and 74. The Oregon coach, playing on a sponsor exemption, is allowed to use a cart in competition because of a rare circulatory disorder in his right leg. — AP

Mohammed Bou-Rubei

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

sp orts

Vettel back on pole

BEIJING: Russia’s Maria Sharapova serves to Li Na of China during their women’s singles semifinal match of the China Open tennis tournament.—AP

Azarenka and Sharapova set up China Open final BEIJING: World number one Victoria Azarenka set up a final date with Maria Sharapova at the China Open after the top two seeds enjoyed comprehensive victories in their semi-finals yesterday.

Sharapova blew away home favourite Li Na 6-4 6-0 before top seed Azarenka saw off the challenge from France’s Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-2. Sharapova served three double faults to concede an early break to go 1-3 down in the first set against the Chinese number one Li but sailed through once she found her groove.

“It was a really high quality first set with a few ups and downs, and obviously she had the lead in that set, but I came back,” the Russian told reporters.

“There were a few key moments to that set and after I broke her in the last game, it was

important to take that momentum into the second set and keep going.” Sharapova, who lost in the quarter-finals of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last week, was happy to be back in contention. “I came into this tournament not playing extremely well in Tokyo, and I had a couple of days of practice here,” she said. “So I was hoping from the first round I’d really step it up and get better and I feel as the tournament has gone on I’ve been playing and moving better.”

Belarussian Azarenka, who withdrew before her quarter-final in Tokyo due to health issues, showed no signs of trouble as she powered past Bartoli.

Azarenka last won a title in March when she beat Sharapova in Indian Wells while the Russian is seeking her first trophy since winning the French Open in June.—Reuters

SUZUKA: Dominant double world champion Sebastian Vettel took pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix for the fourth year in succession yesterday, with Mark Webber to start alongside the German on an all-Red Bull front row.

Ferrari’s Formula One championship leader Fernando Alonso, who is 29 points clear of Vettel with six races to go, will start on the third row in sixth place, while Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi in a Sauber delighted the home crowd by taking third.

Vettel and Alonso were both called to the stewards afterwards and the German was reprimanded after being accused of impeding the Spaniard at the last corner in the dying seconds of a sunny session.

Vettel’s lap of one minute 30.839 denied title rivals McLaren, whose drivers had struggled with set-up problems, a fifth pole in a row for the season.

Jenson Button was demoted five places for a gearbox change to eighth while McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton will start ninth. Frenchman Romain Grosjean (Lotus) will line up in fourth ahead of Mexico’s Sergio Perez (Sauber) in fifth.

Vettel’s 34th career pole lifted the 25-year-old to third in the all-time list behind seven-times champion and compatriot Michael Schumacher (68) and the late Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna (65).

“We had a very smooth qualifying session, nearly perfect,” said Vettel, who has won two of the last three races at the figure-of-eight circuit overlooked by the giant fairground Ferris wheel.

“I couldn’t really ask for more. The car felt fantastic from the start.”

Vettel was also helped by Kimi Raikkonen, whose Lotus skidded off right at the end of the final session and brought out yellow flags before others could complete their final quick laps.

“What can I say, other than get angry about being unlucky? The yellow flags came at the worst possible moment, when I was coming into Turn 14,” said Alonso, who will leave Japan with the lead whatever happens today.

“Up until then, my lap was great and there was every chance of setting the fourth fastest time of the day, which would have then seen me start from third on the grid.”

JAPAN: Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany takes a corner during the third practice session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit.—AP Button, winner in Japan last year, qualified third but knew even before the weekend that he would have the penalty after a problem was detected in his car’s gearbox after the previous Singapore Grand Prix. “It hurts a little bit having the grid penalty but today was good,” said Button, who will start next to Raikkonen.

“It’s always great driving around here and it was a lot of fun but we just aren’t quick enough and I’m not sure what we can do about that.”

Hamilton, the 2008 champion who will replace Schumacher at Mercedes next year, qualified only ninth and was gloomy about Sunday’s prospects.

“With the pace that I have, who knows what will happen in the race. Long run pace wasn’t bad yesterday but the car ... I’m going to struggle with it tomorrow,” said the Briton, who will line up next to old Ferrari foe Felipe Massa.

Schumacher announced his second retirement at Suzuka on Thursday and will start his

last Japanese Grand Prix on the back row due to a 10-place grid penalty imposed for a collision with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne in Singapore.

The 43-year-old had only just sneaked through to the second part of qualifying with Grosjean fastest in Q1. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg suffered a five-place demotion to 15th place due to an unscheduled gearbox change following a crash in final practice.

Brazilian Bruno Senna — Ayrton’s nephew — was furious after Vergne blocked him in the first part of qualifying, leaving his Williams in 17th place on the grid.

The Frenchman was later handed a threeplace penalty, lifting Senna to 16th, but it was little consolation for missing out on the second phase of qualifying and the chance to progress higher up the grid. “He destroyed my lap. Now I have a long race tomorrow and hopefully with new tyres I’ll get back into the points, but it’s another one of those days,” said Senna.—Reuters

Camelot to deny Orfevre Japan’s holy grail

TOKYO: Milos Raonic of Canada returns the ball against Andy Murray of Britain during their semifinal match of Japan Open tennis championships.—AP

Raonic shocks Murray TOKYO: Andy Murray’s shock semi-final defeat to Milos Raonic at the Japan Open yesterday raised the same questions many thought had been answered by his Olympic gold medal and last month’s US Open triumph. Anguish etched across his face, the world number three crashed out 6-3 6-7 7-6 against the big-serving Canadian to lose his Tokyo title.

The slouching, hang-dog demeanour, wild-eyed screaming and racquet abuse were a flashback to the bad old days before he got his mental game under control and a grand slam under his belt.

Murray came into the event as the hottest player in the men’s game, having reached his first Wimbledon final, exacted revenge on Roger Federer to win Olympic gold in London and captured a maiden grand slam title.

But the demons that haunted him in losing his first four major finals resurfaced in Tokyo. Murray blew a 4-1 lead in the third set and then two match points with Raonic serving at 6-5 down, triggering a furious tantrum from the Scot. “There was always going to be a bit of residue from the last few months,” Murray told Reuters. “Ideally I wouldn’t have liked to start the match like that.”

After blowing away the cobwebs by beating Ivo Karlovic in his opening game, Murray had said becoming a member of the grand slam club had made him a more “responsible” player. “I was so obsessed with winning a grand slam, sometimes in certain matches I haven’t done myself justice,” said the world number three.

“I felt after the US Open (I needed to) reset

some goals. I was always focusing on the next grand slam rather than every tournament and every match I played.

“Now I feel like I can hopefully concentrate better, take more responsibility for my performances in every tournament throughout the year.” It failed to pan out that way in his first event since ending Britain’s 76-year wait for a men’s grand slam singles champion.

Murray, who beat Raonic 6-4 6-4 6-2 in the fourth round of the U.S. Open last month, had been accused of choking in the past, particularly after his first four grand slam finals.

It would be harsh to throw that accusation at Murray after losing a semi-final in his first event since New York but the way his game fell apart will worry him.

Murray tied to put it down to a few missed points but he allowed Raonic to bully him early, winning just 20 percent of his second serve points in the first set. “He started the match well and I was slow to get off the mark,” said the 25-year-old. “That made it tough for me.”

One of the game’s best counter-punchers, Murray sprayed makeable shots all over the Tokyo centre court, struggling to keep his temper in check as his game unravelled.

The Scot said he would quickly put things right in Shanghai. “I need to focus on Shanghai-it’s a big tournament,” Murray said.

“The Paris and then the (year-ending) Tour Finals in London. That’s the main goal.”

Losing his Tokyo title will have brought some welcome perspective and perhaps given him the wake-up call he needed after the bright lights of New York.—Reuters

Djokovic sweeps Mayer in China BEIJING: Top seed Serb Novak Djokovic brushed aside German Florian Mayer yesterday to set up a final clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the China Open.

World number two Djokovic beat Mayer 6-1 6-4 in the semi-final to stay on course for his third successive title in Beijing. “He’s been playing really well,” Djokovic said about his opponent for Sunday’s final. “There’s no secrets between each other, between us. I mean, we (have) played many times, played a lot of important matches on the big stage.

“He’s a very powerful player, big serve, big forehand, and if that works, he can win against anybody on any surface, to be hon-

est. “So there is no clear favorite, I think, in tomorrow’s match. We have both been winning quite comfortably. It’s going to be a good final hopefully for the tournament.”

Frenchman Tsonga kept alive his hopes of qualifying for November’s season-ending World Tour finals in London when he reached the final after Feliciano Lopez retired with a wrist injury while trailing 6-1 4-1 in the first semi-final. “I played really well,” third seed Tsonga told reporters after reaching his 15th Tour final. “I felt really good on the court. I’m just happy today with my game. I’m sure I will play good tennis in final.”—Reuters

PARIS: Camelot can break Japanese hearts and see off the challenge of their favourite Orfevre in Europe’s most prestigious race the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe here at Longchamp today.

Orfevre - Japan’s 2011 horse of the year - is the 13th challenger sent by the Japanese in the past 33 years to try and conquer a race they compare to the quest for the Holy Grail.

The Yasutoshi Ikee-trained star’s chances were boosted in the past week as three of his biggest rivals dropped out, led by last year’s brilliant German winner Danedream. However, Friday’s draw handed Orfevre a huge blow as he was drawn 18 of the 18 runners, a stall from which only the great Irish champion Alleged has previously won from in the first of his two victories in 1977. By contrast Orfevre’s main rival and cofavourite Camelot will launch his challenge from the much more favoured stall five.

Camelot too will have Italian great Frankie Dettori on board after trainer Aidan O’Brien hired him as O’Brien’s son Joseph is unable to do the weight.

While Joseph - who rode Camelot to his victories in the Epsom and Irish Derbies as well as the English 2000 Guineas - has the consolation of the ride on St Nicholas Abbey, Dettori is thrilled at the prospect of getting such an unexpected chance at landing a fourth Arc but first since 2002.

“It’s an honour for me to ride the horse,” said the 41year-old. “I think you want to judge the horse more on the Guineas and Derby runs. “In the Leger (he was second last month) he was ridden to stay and it was a stop and start kind of pace early on and I still think he quickened really well in the end.”

The Japanese, though, have left nothing to chance this time round. Ikee broke with tradition and for the first time ever it will be a non Japanese rider on board the challenger from Japan in the shape of two-time Arc winning rider Christophe Soumillon.

Like Soumillon Ikee, who first dreamed of winning the Arc when he worked for English trainer Sir Michael Stoute in the late 1990’s, believes his star is capable of winning.

“I believe he is getting better and better every day and I am confident,” said the 37-year-old, who will deploy a pacemaker in Aventino. “He is a winner, he has the spirit of a champion and he has adapted to the different terrain in France.”

Ikee, whose trainer father Yasuo suffered disappointment in the 2006 edition when favourite Deep Impact finished third and was later disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance, winning the Arc for Japan would be immense.

“To give Japan their first win in what is the most important race in the world would be truly magnificent,” said Ikee.

“It has been a dream of mine for nearly 20 years and for the Japanese people it has been even longer.” There are plenty of other dangers lurking, Andre Fabre can never be discounted given his record seven wins in the race, though, the last was in 2006, and he runs both Meandre — who was sixth last year — and Masterstroke.

Another French trainer to be double-handed is twotime winner Alain de Royer Dupre, whose main fancy is last year’s surprise runner-up Shareta and who has gone on to win two Group Ones this season.

“She is a ver y tough filly, who won the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp last month brilliantly,” said her 33-year-old jockey Christophe Lemaire. “This is the ideal distance for her.”

If the big guns are to be upstaged it could well be

by French Derby winner Saonois, whose trainer JeanPierre Gauvin has just 35 horses and trains in the unfashionable French racing backwater of Lyon.

Saonois will start from stall two, the same one as Danedream won from last year. “He (Saonois) has evolved during the season, he is a bit stronger physically and is good both in his head and his speed,” said his jockey Anthony Hamelin, who has been the riding revelation in his rookie season.—AFP

SOWETO: New Zealand’s Conrad Smith (left) scores a try as South Africa’s Zane Kirchner (center) and teammate Willem Alberts (right) follow play during their Four Nations Rugby Championship Test match.—AP

All Blacks fight back to defeat Springboks SOWETO: New Zealand scored 20 unanswered second-half points to complete a perfect Rugby Championship campaign yesterday with a 32-16 triumph over arch rivals South Africa at Soccer City.

Down by 10 points early on and trailing 16-12 at half-time, the All Blacks reclaimed the lead 22 seconds into the second half through a try from veteran inside centre Ma’a Nonu and never looked back.

Lock Sam Whitelock, scrum-half Aaron Smith and outside centre Conrad Smith also scored tries and fly-half Dan Carter kicked three conversions, a penalty and a drop goal.

Bryan Habana claimed his seventh try this season in the southern hemisphere championship early on to raise South African hopes, but that was the only time the green and gold crossed the line.

Fly-half Johan Goosen kicked the conversion and a penalty before retiring injured late in the first half and replacement Elton Jantjies landed two penalties.

Coach Heyneke Meyer warned the Springboks before the battle of the highest ranked teams in the world that nothing less than an 80 per cent place-kicking success rate would give his team a chance, and his words proved prophetic.

Youngsters Goosen and Jantjies missed two kicks each to leave South Africa with only a 50 per cent success rate and so the poor record continued when aiming at the posts during the Championship.

“We could not get our hands on the ball in the first half and you can put the fact that we were still in the match down to a wonderful bunch of guys who have been together for some time,” said All Blacks captain Richie McCaw. “It was much better for us during the second half and the boys were able to build pressure. What we worked so hard on during the week paid off,” added the bruised and cut flanker.

Springboks captain and inside centre

Jean de Villiers said: “We had to play catch-up rugby for too much of the game and that is pretty difficult against a quality team like the All Blacks.

“This is a young team and let us hope that we all learn from our mistakes. The team panicked at times in the closing stages and conceded some stupid penalties.”

While the South African pack held its own, there was a yawning gap in class between the back lines with New Zealand managing to score two first half tries despite being virtually starved of possession.

New Zealand defeated South Africa, Australia and Argentina home and away and also picked up two bonus points for a total of 26 — 14 more than South Africa, who could surrender second place if Australia beat Argentina later Saturday.

The All Blacks can now adjust their sights to creating two world records- the most consecutive victories by a top-tier rugby nation and by a rugby nation with a Test in Australia and an end-of-season tour to Europe looming.

Wins in Australia this month and in Scotland next month will lift them to 18 triumphs on the trot and a new top-tier mark, and success in Italy will take them to 19 straight successes.

Reigning world champions New Zealand share the top-tier record of 17 consecutive Test victories with the Springboks, while minnows Lithuania have won 18 Tests in a row.

The Soweto showdown took a decisive turn toward the All Blacks early in the second half as they attacked from the kick-off and No 8 Kieran Read gave the vital pass to Nonu before Jantjies fluffed two penalty attempts.

New Zealand stretched the advantage to 26-16 on 52 minutes when a passage of play that started with left wing Hosea Gear evading three tackles ended with Conrad Smith diving over after slick handling following a scrum.—AFP

22

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

S P ORT S

Ronaldo should edge Messi for Ballon d’Or PARIS: This time a year ago, the race between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the world player of 2011 award wasn’t a race at all, with the Argentine deservedly finishing as the runaway winner.

Twelve months on, choosing between these brightest of stars in football’s firmament is nigh-on impossible. As with James Bond actors - is Sean Connery or Daniel Craig your favorite? - splitting hairs between Messi and Ronaldo for the 2012 Ballon d’Or will be more a question of personal taste than of science.

For me, Ronaldo edges it - for the simple reason that in 2012 he loosened the stranglehold of brilliance that Messi has at the top of the game.

And what, I hear you cry, about Messi’s Barcelona teammate, Andres Iniesta? The stand-out performer in Spain’s European Championship-winning team, crowned in August as UEFA Best Player in Europe, of course should be on the shortlist of 23 Ballon d’Or contenders that will be unveiled on Oct. 30.

But the midfielder, always a delight to watch, hasn’t scored an otherworldly 158 goals in 154 matches - as Ronaldo has at Real Madrid. If Iniesta hadn’t been a driver

of Spain’s unprecedented defense of its European crown, his year would have been a letdown, with Barcelona failing to defend its Spanish league and Champions League titles. And what about Ballon d’Or contenders who aren’t forwards or who don’t play in Spain?

Well, the shortlist compiled by FIFA’s Football Committee and France Football magazine should include Joe Hart, whose miserly concession of just 29 goals was vital for Manchester City in winning the Premier League on goal difference over neighbor United. Spanish goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas also was outstanding at Euro 2012, as was Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo, carving open England in the quarterfinals and Germany in the semis with his passes, radar-like vision of the field and control.

But, again, Messi and Ronaldo were on another planet - pushing each other to seemingly impossible goal-scoring heights.

If the definition of the world’s best player is based on individual achievement alone, Messi should win for the fourth consecutive year. His tally of 73 goals in 60 games for Barcelona was monstrous, flabbergasting and historic, shattering the European club mark of 67 goals by Bayern

Munich’s Gerd Mueller in 1973.

With goal No. 233 on March 20, at age 24, Messi became the all-time record scorer in Barcelona’s illustrious 113-year history. All those numbers and eye-popping new marks - including his Champions League record of five goals in one game, against Bayer Leverkusen in March, and record total of 14 in the tournament - mean it wouldn’t be an injustice if he lifts the Ballon d’Or at the award gala on Jan. 7. The voters are the coaches and captains of national teams and journalists.

But because football isn’t an individual sport, players’ contributions to team success should be added to the mix in determining who among them was best. Here, Ronaldo pips Messi.

Barcelona and Madrid both fell in the Champions League semifinals. Both Messi, against eventual champion Chelsea, and Ronaldo, in the semifinal shoot-out against Bayern, fluffed penalties. In short, it can be argued that Messi’s and Ronaldo’s achievements and mistakes in that tournament canceled out each other.

The same was true in Spanish cup competitions. Barcelona ejected Madrid from the Copa del Rey quarterfinals in January,

despite Ronaldo scoring in both legs, and went on to win that trophy, with Messi scoring in the May final. But Madrid beat Barcelona for the Supercup in August, with Ronaldo and Messi both scoring in both legs. So all even there.

Barcelona also won FIFA’s Club World Cup in December, dismantling Brazilian side Santos 4-0 in the final, with Messi scoring twice. But Ronaldo amassed brownie points with two outstanding games at Euro 2012, scoring both goals in a 2-1 defeat of the Netherlands and a diving header against the Czech Republic to lead Portugal to the semifinals, where it lost a penalty shootout to Spain.

So choosing between Messi and Ronaldo comes down to their La Liga performances. Messi scored more goals - a league record 50, with a record eight hat tricks. Ronaldo wasn’t far behind, with 46 goals and seven hat tricks - both better than the previous league records of 40 goals and six hat tricks, which Ronaldo set in 2011. Both have scored six in six league games this season, too, with more hoped for when Madrid travels to Barcelona’s Camp Nou today.

But Ronaldo scored the more important

league goal last season, one of the most important of his Madrid career - a shot past Victor Valdes that gave Madrid a 2-1 win at Camp Nou on April 21. That right-footed strike in the 72nd minute, Ronaldo’s first league goal from open play against Barcelona, cleared the path for Madrid to win its first La Liga title since 2008 and break Barcelona’s three-year lock on the Spanish championship. That team success and Ronaldo’s vital part in it should give him an edge for the Ballon d’Or. But it’s wafer-thin. Ultimately, this could be about feeling. That Messi remains so low-key and seemingly humble makes him easy to like. Ronaldo’s preening self-importance makes him easy to dislike. For many, Messi will always be the better player, the best since Diego Maradona, perhaps the best ever.

But for breathing so heavily over Messi’s shoulder, for being the other half in their engrossing duel to outdo and outscore each other, for pushing Messi and himself so hard, and for his vital role in wresting away the Spanish league title from arguably the best club side in history, Ronaldo deserves full credit, in the shape of the 2012 Ballon d’Or. —AP

Preview

Fergie demands United show of defiance NEWCASTLE: Sir Alex Ferguson has demanded a show of defiance from his players as Manchester United look to get their Premier League title challenge back on track at Newcastle today.

United’s 3-0 defeat at St James’ Park last season put a severe dent in Ferguson’s title ambitions and the Scot knows his side can’t afford a repeat following last weekend’s sur-

“When you lose a game you have to recover,” Ferguson said. “ We lost a game to Tottenham, we have to recover again. It’s as simple as that.

“Hopefully we can get a result today, but it won’t be easy. “They will be buoyed up, the supporters are great up there. It will be a hard game, no doubt about that, but hopefully we can navigate it. “Of course it is always a diffi-

Sir Alex Ferguson prise home loss against Tottenham.

Ferguson’s third-placed team are already four points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea, who have a home fixture against struggling Norwich on Saturday, and could go into the international break seven points off the top if they stumble against Newcastle.

But Ferguson loves to defy the odds when critics start to write off United and he called on his players to show their true colors on Tyneside.

cult place to go and I think under (Alan) Pardew they’ve become a really committed team.”

Ferguson was full of praise for Magpies boss Pardew who was last week rewarded with an eight-year contract by Newcastle after their fifth-place finish last season.

“I think he’s done a great job, that’s obvious,” said Ferguson. “We all know he wasn’t anybody’s choice up in Newcastle, now he’s everybody’s choice.

Skipper Gerrard pledges his future to Liverpool LONDON: Steven Gerrard has pledged his future to Liverpool for the rest of his playing career saying he will never leave the club.

The 32-year-old Liverpool skipper, who has made nearly 600 appearances in all competitions since making his debut in 1998, told the BBC he had had opportunities to leave a number of times in the past few years but had no regrets about staying.

Steven Gerrard “I’ve had many opportunities to leave in the last five, seven years and I think everyone is aware that my head has been

turned on a couple of occasions but its never been enough to move.

“I have no regrets and I am really happy I have stayed and I am loving my football here. I am born in Liverpoool, I am a Liverpool supporter. I know what it means to play for this club as a supporter and I will never leave,” he said.

“The dream for me was always to play just the once for Liverpool, just to say I had played for the team I supported as a young boy.

“So to be approaching nearly 600 caps for Liverpool and nearly 100 caps (for England) at 32...I would have bitten their hand off.”

He also said that, despite a sluggish start to the season, a top-four finish in the Premier League and a trophy remained realistic aims.

Liverpool are currently 14th in the Premier League table after six matches and have three points from their first two Europa League matches but asked what their realistic target was, Gerrard told Football Focus: “Top four and a trophy.

“I think teams will find it really difficult to play against us and I’m confident we can go on a run of winning games.”

Gerrard has won the Champions League and UEFA Cup with Liverpool plus two FA Cups and three League Cups. He has played 98 times for England but is suspended from next week’s World Cup qualifier against San Marino. —Reuters

“He’s done it on the back of selling quite a few players at the time. Obviously they looked upon the financial position of some of the players and decided to cut the costs and bring in players on much lower salaries and they’re all performing.”

United will recall Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes into the squad after they all missed Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League win over Romanian outfit CFR Cluj, while Jonny Evans should be fit to play despite coming off in that game with a dead leg. However, Pardew feels Newcastle are running into form at just the right time ahead of United’s visit.

Despite a solid start to the season that sees them defeated only once in their opening 11 games, Pardew has been critical of performance levels, insisting they must improve.

An impressive 3-0 Europa League victory in midweek against French side Bordeaux suggests Pardew’s message has got through.

“I’ve been critical in the dressing room of some of our performances so far, but against Bordeaux we played with more verve and vision,” he said. Pardew went against his earlyseason policy by playing several of his more influential performers in the Europa League game. But such was the ease with which victory was sealed, he is confident the team he sends out less than 72 hours later will have the energy levels to repel the threat posed by United. “ We didn’t have to work as hard as I thought we’d have to against Bordeaux, so in terms of energy we should be fine against United,” he said.

“We wanted to show our fans we’re taking the competition seriously while still keeping some key bodies fresh for Sunday and I think we’ve done that.” Pardew is without injured defenders Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor and Ryan Taylor.

Former Manchester United full-back Danny Simpson makes his first Premier League start for more than a month after recovering from a hamstring problem. France midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, top scorer Demba Ba and Italy defender Davide Santon, who were all rested against Bordeaux, come back into the side. —AFP

Sunshine, Al Ahly share six-goal semi-final LAGOS: Six-time winners Al Ahly of Egypt were held to a thrilling 3-3 draw by Nigeria’s Sunshine Stars in their African Champions League semi-final first leg clash in Ijebu-Ode. Both teams created numerous chances and but for some good goalkeeping and the crossbar, more goals would have been recorded inside a half-filled Dipo Dina International Stadium.

Sunshine skipper Godfrey Oboabona was suspended after he received his second booking in the last group game at Esperance of Tunisia, while Mohamed Aboutrika is serving a two-month suspension imposed

by Ahly.

Ahly opened scoring in the 18th minute through striker Mohamed Nagy, whose shot from outside the box beat Moses Ocheje in goal. Mahdy El Sayed doubled Ahly’s lead on the half hour when he squeezed the ball home from a very tight angle.

On 40 minutes, Sunshine halved the deficit when Cameroon midfielder Tamen Medrano curled a shot from the edge of the box beyond Ahly goalkeeper Sherif Elkramy.

The home team restored parity in the 73rd minute from the penalty spot through Dele Olorundare after a goal-bound Ajani Ibrahim was upended by Mohamed Nagy.

However, the Red Devils from Cairo restored their lead a minute later when 25-year-old Nagy scored his second. Sunshine defender Precious Osasco ensured the spoils were shared in this encounter when in the 83rd minute he fired a free kick past Elkramy.

Nagy had a chance to complete his hat-trick three minutes from full time but his header off a corner went wide off target.

The second leg will be played in a fortnight in Cairo behind closed doors with the overall winners taking on either defending champions Esperance or TP Mazembe from DR Congo in the final. —AFP

Jose Mourinho

Real players have recovered their focus, says Mourinho MADRID: Real Madrid’s players are over their early season malaise and have regained their focus coach Jose Mourinho said yesterday ahead of the team’s trip to play La Liga leaders Barcelona.

The champions head off to the Nou Camp today eight points adrift of their arch-rivals after a wobbly start to the league campaign in which they have lost twice, the same number of games they lost over the whole of last season. “I have confidence in my players, as always,” Mourinho told a news conference. “When they work hard obviously I have more confidence in them, complete confidence.”

Mourinho was highly critical of the attitude of his players after their defeats at Getafe and Sevilla, but they have responded since then winning four matches on the trot in all competitions, netting 14 goals. “I think you can see the players have understood they had to change,” he said.

“They understood they had to be more motivated, to be more focused and that the way the team was, would have led to a negative end to the season. “It’s a credit to them. They have changed, and in this way it is easier for good things to happen.”

There have been a steady stream of media stories about rifts within the dressing room over the last month, with time

on the substitutes’ bench for Spain defender Sergio Ramos and Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil being reported as some kind of ‘punishment’.

In response, Mourinho said the decisions were all part of the normal routine of a team. “There is no need for drama when a player is on the bench,” he said. “There are 24 in the squad so that means there are 13 who don’t play, and every time there is someone on the bench there is a furor.

“I am paid to decide on the lineups, I try to do it to the best of my abilities. Full stop.” A defeat would leave Real 11 points behind a Barca side who dropped only 15 and 18 points respectively during their title winning campaigns in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Real dropped only 14 themselves last season.

“All I am looking for is continuity more than the result,” the former Chelsea and Inter Milan boss said. “I am worried about the way we play, the ambition, the commitment, the team performance and good individual performances.

“We need to get back to the level of last season, as you know it is difficult to maintain for months on end. We lost that level of play, and all I am worried about is recovering it, as we have been doing, and this game is important in this sense.” —Reuters

Hibernian top SPL GLASGOW: Hibernian moved top of the Scottish Premier League with a comfortable 3-0 win over basement side Dundee at Easter Road yesterday.

Leigh Griffiths had already come close for the home side before Eoin Doyle headed a Paul Cairney cross past Rab Douglas in the 29th minute. Hibernian were awarded a 51st minute penalty when Cairney was fouled in the box with Griffiths calmly dispatching his spot-kick.

David Wotherspoon sealed the win with a superb 74th minute strike when he played a one-two with Doyle and curled a shot into the corner of the net.

St Johnstone manager Steve Lomas celebrated being named manager of the month by leading his side to a 2-1 win over St Mirren at McDiarmid Park.

The home side went ahead when Nigel Hasselbaink slipped the ball home in the 22nd minute before they doubled their lead when Murray Davidson tapped home from a Gary Miller cross from the right with 37 minutes gone. St Mirren came back into it through a 49th minute Lewis Guy strike, but couldn’t find a leveller.

Aberdeen moved up to third as they came from behind at Kilmarnock to earn their first back-to-back Scottish Premier League wins this season.

Dons keeper Jamie Langfield spilled a third minute shot by Gary Harkins onto Ryan O’Leary who diverted the ball into the net.

However, Gavin Rae made the most of some poor Killie defending at the beginning of the second half to level the scores in the 46th minute.

Niall McGinn gave the Dons the lead after 55 minutes with a bullet header from a Ryan Fraser cross while Scott Vernon sealed the win with a stoppage time strike.

Meanwhile, Motherwell’s match with Dundee United was abandoned after kick-off was delayed due to a power failure.

Electricity went down in parts of Motherwell just before the game was due to start. And the Fir Park club were powerless to do anything except call off the match, said chief executive Leeann Dempster.

“The problem is not in the stadium. There

Eoin Doyle has been a major power failure in North Lanarkshire and we’ve been caught up in that,” she said.

“We are frustrated. We have generators which give us emergency power, to enable us to evacuate the stadium, but it’s not enough to run a full match, I’m afraid.”

Champions Celtic could return to the top of the table on Sunday when they host Hearts at Parkhead. —AFP

23

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

sp orts Soccer results/standings English Premier League results Chelsea 4 (Torres 14, Lampard 22, Hazard 31, Ivanovic 76) Norwich 1 (Holt 11); Man City 3 (Kolarov 5, Aguero 60, Milner 89) Sunderland 0; Swansea 2 (Michu 71, Routledge 78) Reading 2 (Pogrebnyak 31, Hunt 44); West Brom 3 (Morrison 5, Gera 22, Mulumbu 85) QPR 2 (Taarabt 35, Granero 90); West Ham 1 (Diame 21) Arsenal 3 (Giroud 41, Walcott 77, Cazorla 83); Wigan 2 (Kone 10, Di Santo 23) Everton 2 (Jelavic 11, Baines 87-pen).

Playing today Liverpool v Stoke, Newcastle v Man Utd, Southampton v Fulham, Tottenham v Aston Villa.

English Football League results Championship Birmingham 0 Huddersfield 1; Blackburn 0 Wolves 1; Blackpool 0 Charlton 2; Crystal Palace 4 Burnley 3; Derby 0 Brighton 0; Ipswich 1 Cardiff 2; Leeds 1 Barnsley 0; Leicester 2 Bristol City 0; Millwall 2 Bolton 1; Peterborough 0 Nottingham Forest 1; Sheffield Wednesday 0 Hull 1; Watford 1 Middlesbrough 2.

Division One Brentford 2 Crawley 1; Bury 0 Swindon 1; Coventry 1 Bournemouth 0; Crewe 2 Hartlepool 1; Doncaster 1 Shrewsbury 0; Leyton Orient 0 Sheffield Utd 1; Milton Keynes Dons 2 Portsmouth 2; Notts County 0 Tranmere 1; Oldham 3 Preston 1; Stevenage 1 Scunthorpe 0; Walsall 1 Carlisle 2; Yeovil 3 Colchester 1.

Division Two Accrington 2 Rochdale 3; Aldershot 0 Chesterfield 1; Bristol Rovers 3 Northampton 1; Cheltenham 2 Fleetwood 2; Dagenham and Redbridge 4 Bradford 3; Exeter 0 Port Vale 2; Morecambe 0 Burton 0; Oxford 0 Gillingham 0;

Plymouth 1 AFC Wimbledon 2; Southend 2 Barnet 2; Wycombe 2 Torquay 1; York 0 Rotherham 0.

Scottish Premier League results Hibernian 3 (Doyle 29, Griffiths 51-pen, Wotherspoon 74) Dundee 0; Kilmarnock 1 (O’Leary 3) Aberdeen 3 (Rae 46, McGinn 55, Vernon 90); St Johnstone 2 (Hasselbaink 22, Davidson 37) St Mirren 1 (Guy 49).

Playing today Celtic v Hearts Scottish Football League results First Division Airdrie 0 Hamilton 4; Falkirk 2 Dunfermline 2; Livingston 1 Cowdenbeath 1; Morton 3 Partick 1; Raith 2 Dumbarton 2.

Second Division Arbroath 3 Brechin 1; Ayr 2 Albion 1; Forfar 2 Alloa 3; Stenhousemuir 3 East Fife 0; Stranraer 0 Queen of the South 2.

Third Division Montrose 3 East Stirling 1; Peterhead 1 Berwick 0; Stirling 1 Rangers 0.

German Bundesliga results Bayern Munich 2 (Ribery 19, 47) Hoffenheim 0; Schalke 04 3 (Farfan 33, Afellay 46, Neustaedter 58) VfL Wolfsburg 0; Freiburg 3 (Makiadi 36, Caligiuri 90pen, Terrazzino 90 ) Nuremberg 0; Mainz 1 (Noveski 85) Fortuna Duesseldorf 0; Greuther Fuerth 0 Hamburg 1 (Son 17).

Playing today Borussia M’gladbach v Eintracht Frankfurt, VfB Stuttgart v Bayer; Leverkusen, Hanover 96 v Borussia Dortmund.

Matches on TV

8 7 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 4 3 3 3 4 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 0

2 2 3 1 4 4 3 2 2 3 6 3 6 5 4 1 3 5 5 4 1 2 2 3

1 2 2 4 2 2 3 4 3 3 2 4 2 3 4 6 5 4 4 4 7 6 7 8

20 25 18 20 17 14 19 19 16 17 15 15 14 15 15 14 14 15 12 9 13 10 10 7

7 12 10 16 14 12 14 15 13 13 13 14 13 15 16 21 17 17 16 16 24 16 17 22

26 23 21 19 19 19 18 17 17 15 15 15 15 14 13 13 12 11 11 10 10 8 8 3

Scottish Premier League table Hibernian 9 4 3 2 Celtic 7 4 2 1 Aberdeen 9 3 5 1 St Johnstone 9 4 2 3 Motherwell 8 3 4 1 Kilmarnock 9 3 3 3 St Mirren 9 3 3 3 Inverness 9 2 5 2 Hearts 8 2 3 3 Ross County 9 1 5 3 Dundee Utd 7 2 2 3 Dundee 9 1 1 7

15 13 11 11 13 13 15 18 9 8 7 3

12 7 8 11 10 11 14 17 9 11 10 16

15 14 14 14 13 12 12 11 9 8 8 4

West Brom 3

QPR 2

English Premier League table English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Chelsea 7 6 1 0 15 4 19 Scottish Football League tables Man City 7 4 3 0 15 8 15 First Division Everton 7 4 2 1 14 8 14 Dunfermline 8 6 1 1 20 5 19 West Brom 7 4 2 1 11 7 14 Partick 8 6 1 1 17 7 19 Arsenal 7 3 3 1 13 5 12 Morton 8 5 2 1 18 11 17 Man Utd 6 4 0 2 14 9 12 Raith 8 3 3 2 10 7 12 Tottenham 6 3 2 1 11 8 11 Cowdenbeath 8 3 2 3 13 12 11 West Ham 7 3 2 2 8 8 11 Livingston 8 2 3 3 11 12 9 Fulham 6 3 0 3 13 9 9 Falkirk 8 1 4 3 9 13 7 Newcastle 6 2 3 1 8 8 9 Airdrie Utd 8 2 1 5 10 16 7 Swansea 7 2 2 3 12 11 8 Hamilton 8 1 3 4 9 15 6 Stoke 6 1 4 1 6 5 7 Dumbarton 8 0 2 6 6 25 2 Sunderland 6 1 4 1 5 7 7 Liverpool 6 1 2 3 9 12 5 Second Division Aston Villa 6 1 2 3 6 10 5 Queen of South 8 7 1 0 19 2 22 Wigan 7 1 2 4 7 13 5 Forfar 8 5 1 2 19 10 16 Reading 6 0 3 3 8 13 3 Arbroath 8 4 3 1 16 15 15 Southampton 6 1 0 5 10 18 3 Alloa 8 4 1 3 15 10 13 Norwich 7 0 3 4 5 17 3 Stenhousemuir 8 3 4 1 16 13 13 QPR 7 0 2 5 6 16 2 Ayr 8 3 1 4 15 17 10 Albion 8 2 1 5 11 17 7 English Football League tables Brechin 8 2 0 6 6 17 6 Championship East Fife 8 1 2 5 11 15 5 Cardiff 10 7 1 2 19 11 22 Stranraer 8 1 2 5 7 19 5 Leicester 10 7 0 3 17 9 21 Wolves 10 6 1 3 14 9 19 Third Division Crystal Palace 10 6 1 3 18 17 19 Queen’s Park 6 4 1 1 11 4 13 Brighton 10 5 3 2 15 6 18 Peterhead 7 4 1 2 9 6 13 Huddersfield 10 5 2 3 15 11 17 Rangers 7 3 3 1 17 7 12 Leeds 10 5 2 3 18 16 17 Elgin 6 3 1 2 10 11 10 Blackpool 10 5 1 4 19 14 16 Clyde 6 3 0 3 6 9 9 Blackburn 10 4 4 2 16 13 16 Berwick 7 2 2 3 11 9 8 Hull 10 5 1 4 16 14 16 Montrose 7 2 2 3 11 13 8 M’brough 10 5 1 4 16 17 16 Annan Athletic 6 2 2 2 7 10 8 Nottingham 10 3 5 2 11 10 14 Stirling 7 2 0 5 10 14 6 Derby 10 3 4 3 15 13 13 East Stirling 7 2 0 5 9 18 6 Watford 10 4 1 5 15 18 13 Charlton 10 3 3 4 12 12 12 German Bundesliga table Burnley 10 3 2 5 21 22 11 Bayern Munich 7 7 0 0 21 2 21 Bristol City 10 3 2 5 18 19 11 E’ Frankfurt 6 5 1 0 16 8 16 Bolton 10 3 2 5 13 16 11 Schalke 7 4 2 1 15 7 14 Barnsley 10 3 2 5 12 15 11 Dortmund 6 3 2 1 16 8 11 Millwall 10 3 2 5 14 19 11 Hanover 6 3 1 2 14 9 10 Birmingham 10 3 2 5 10 17 11 Duesseldorf 7 2 4 1 6 3 10 Sheffield 10 2 2 6 14 21 8 Leverkusen 6 3 1 2 9 7 10 Ipswich 10 1 4 5 8 19 7 Hamburg 7 3 1 3 9 10 10 Peterborough 10 2 0 8 10 18 6 Mainz 7 3 1 3 7 8 10 Freiburg 7 2 2 3 11 10 8 Division One Bremen 7 2 1 4 10 13 7 Tranmere 11 8 3 0 26 6 27 Hoffenheim 7 2 1 4 10 14 7 Stevenage 11 6 5 0 17 10 23 Nuremberg 7 2 1 4 7 14 7 Sheffield Utd 11 5 6 0 15 9 21 Borussia 6 1 3 2 7 12 6 Swindon 11 6 2 3 15 9 20 Augsburg 7 1 2 4 5 11 5 Keynes Dons 11 5 4 2 15 8 19 VfB Stuttgart 6 1 2 3 5 12 5 Crawley Town 11 6 1 4 16 16 19 VfL Wolfsburg 7 1 2 4 2 13 5 Notts County 11 5 3 3 17 11 18 Greuther Fuerth 7 1 1 5 2 11 4 Preston 11 5 2 4 21 15 17 Brentford 11 4 5 2 15 11 17 Doncaster 10 5 2 3 13 9 17 Walsall 11 5 2 4 15 16 17 Carlisle 10 4 3 3 13 15 15 Yeovil 11 4 1 6 17 16 13 Leyton Orient 10 4 1 5 10 11 13 Crewe 11 3 4 4 10 15 13 (Local Timings) Oldham 10 3 3 4 10 10 12 Portsmouth 11 3 3 5 16 19 12 English Premier League Shrewsbury 11 2 4 5 11 12 10 Colchester 11 2 4 5 10 16 10 Coventry 11 2 4 5 10 16 10 Southampton v Fulham 15:30 Bournemouth 11 1 5 5 12 21 8 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Scunthorpe 11 2 2 7 7 19 8 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5 Hartlepool 10 1 3 6 9 19 6 Bury 10 0 4 6 8 19 4 Division Two Gillingham 11 Port Vale 11 Fleetwood 11 Exeter 11 Rochdale 11 Cheltenham 11 Burton Albion 11 Bradford 11 Accrington 10 Rotherham 10 Torquay 11 Southend 11 Chesterfield 11 York 11 Northampton 11 Oxford Utd 11 Morecambe 11 D’ and Redbridge11 Plymouth 11 Bristol Rovers 10 AFC Wimbledon 11 Wycombe 10 Aldershot 11 Barnet 11

West Brom pile more pressure on Hughes

Tottenham v Aston Villa Abu Dhabi Sports HD 6

17:00

Liverpool v Stoke Abu Dhabi Sports HD 4

17:00

Newcastle v Man United 18:00 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5 Spanish League Levante v Valencia Aljazeera Sport +2

13:00

Mallorca v Granada Aljazeera Sport +2

17:00

Bilbao v Osasuna Aljazeera Sport +9

19:00

Barcelona v Real Madrid 20:50 Aljazeera Sport +7 Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD Atletico v Malaga Aljazeera Sport +9 Italian League AC Milan v Inter Aljazeera Sport +1 Aljazeera Sport +5 Aljazeera Sport 1 HD

22:30

21:45

WEST BROMWICH: West Brom piled more pressure on QPR boss Mark Hughes with a 3-2 win that left the Londoners bottom of the Premier League and allowed the winners to celebrate their best home start to a top-flight season in almost a century.

West Brom are now fourth in the table, five points behind leaders Chelsea, while this defeat was Queens Park Rangers’ fifth in seven matches, leaving them on just two points.

James Morrison opened the scoring for the hosts in the fifth minute and midfielder Zoltan Gera made it 2-0 in the 22nd.

Adel Taarabt pulled one back for QPR in the 35th but Youssouf Mulumbu scored for the Baggies with five minutes remaining, before Esteban Granero added a consolation in the second

minute of injury time.

Hughes was able to bring defenders Jose Bosingwa and Anton Ferdinand back into the line-up after injury, while Taarabt made his first start since the opening match of the season.

Ferdinand, the man caught up in the John Terry racism row, was booed by some Albion fans.

QPR were being pulled apart in the first half-hour and it was no surprise when Morrison got the better of Ferdinand to head in a Shane Long cross. And it was Ferdinand’s slip that gifted an attempted clearance straight to Gera, who scored from 10 yards out.

Taarabt reminded the crowd of his technique and skill with a smart goal that gave QPR a lifeline. On the edge of the penalty box, the Morocco midfielder brought the ball under control and volleyed it beyond goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Rangers captain Park Ji-Sung was cautioned at the end of the first half for a lunge at Gera. The west London side emerged for the second half with much more

LONDON: West Bromwich Albion’s Zoltan Gera (front) celebrates scoring against Queens Park Rangers during the English Premier League soccer match at The Hawthorns. —AP purpose, forcing Albion boss Steve Clarke into replacing both his strikers to maintain their attacking threat.

Despite QPR threatening to equalise, the Black Country side sealed their victory when Mulumbu made it 3-1 following a

quick exchange of passes, meaning Granero’s injury time strike counted for little more than a consolation goal.

West Brom’s fourth win on their ground is the Black Country side’s best start to a top flight season at home since 1919. —AFP

Former Wigan star Baines grabs point for Everton Wigan 2

Everton 2

LONDON: Swansea City’s Ki Sung-Yueng (left) is tackled by Reading’s Nicky Shorey during the English Premier League soccer match. —AP

Swansea deny Reading victory Swansea 2

Reading 2 SWANSEA: Swansea staged a late fightback to deny Reading their first Premier League win of the season in a dramatic 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium yesterday.

Michael Laudrup’s side looked set for their fourth successive league defeat when goals from Pavel Pogrebnyak and Noel Hunt put the visitors 2-0 up before half-time. But Spanish midfielder Michu gave Swansea a lifeline with 19 minutes remaining and Wayne Routledge ensured Reading’s winless run would extend to six matches when he equalised seven minutes later. Swansea had made a bright start, creating several decent chances in the opening 20 minutes, with the best falling to striker Danny Graham who saw a header turned over the bar by Alex McCarthy.

Reading had shown little going forward, but took the lead in the 31st minute when Russian striker Pogrebnyak latched on to a through-ball from Jobi McAnuff and fired goalwards.

It should have been a routine save for Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm, but the Dutchman somehow let the ball sneak beyond him into the net.

Brian McDermott’s team struck again just before halftime when a McAnuff shot looped up off Angel Rangel and Hunt was on hand to lash the ball past Vorm.

Laudrup responded by sending on Luke Moore for Graham at the interval and the substitute made a big impact. Moore troubled the Reading defence immediately and McCarthy was forced to save with his foot when the striker went through on goal.

McCarthy then did superbly to push Moore’s header against the post and also turned Ki Sung-Yeung’s deflected low shot onto the woodwork. — FP

Chievo halt losing streak MILAN: Chievo Verona beat Sampdoria 2-1 yesterday to arrest their five-match losing streak in Eugenio Corini’s first match in charge of the Gialloblu.

Former midfielder Corini, who replaced Domenico Di Carlo earlier in the week, saw French striker Cyril Thereau give his side the lead in first-half stoppage time after a clinical counter-attacking move.

But Enzo Maresca, who joined Sampdoria from Spanish outfit Malaga over the summer, hauled the visitors level on 61 minutes when he curled in a sumptuous free-kick from 25 yards.

However, with a draw apparently on the cards, a goalkeeping blunder from Sergio Romero three minutes from time gifted Chievo all three points, the Argentine number one letting David Di Michele’s innocuous long-range effort slip through his fingers.

The win for Chievo propels them out of the relegation zone to 16th, while Sampdoria remain fifth after suffering a second successive defeat. —AFP

WIGAN: Former Wigan defender Leighton Baines struck a late penalty against his old club to earn Premier League highflyers Everton a point in an entertaining 2-2 draw at the DW Stadium yesterday.

Wigan were in front in the 10th minute when Arouna Kone netted from close range after sterling work beating off the Everton defence from Shaun Moloney as he charged into the box.

Kone was celebrating his third goal of the season but television replays showed Everton had been hard done by as the Ivory Coast international was clearly offside. The Merseysiders were back on level terms seconds later when Nikica Jelavic headed Steven Pienaar’s shot-turned pass into the Latics’ net by the far post.

This was the Croatian striker’s 13th goal in 16 Premier League outings. In a pulsating opening period Wigan regained the lead in the 23rd minute, with the pacy Kone once again playing a key part.

Getting the better of Everton defender Johnny Heitinga on the right he skilfully picked out Franco di Santo, the

Argentine striker shooting past Tim Howard. Di Santo went close to grabbing his second minutes later with a testing shot this time from the left which Howard did well to push away.

Everton manager David Moyes tinkered with his side at the start of the second half, replacing Heitinga with Sylvain Distin.

Everton’s Belgian forward Kevin Mirallas had two quick opportunities to level early in the second half, firing over the crossbar on the first and straight at Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi on the second. Phil Jagielka’s diving tackle shortly after was instrumental in denying Kone a certain goal from inside the box.

Everton had feverish appeals for a late penalty turned down by referee Kevin Friend after Jelavic took a tumble as he was linimg up a shot.

But three minutes from time Friend had no hesitation in pointing to the spot when Mirallas was felled by Maynor Figueroa, with Baines converting the penalty to earn Everton a share of the spoils. Maloney almost nicked an injury time winner, his shot deflected off an Ever ton player and narrowly going over the crossbar. Af ter Manchester City ’s earlier win over Sunderland lifted the champions into second the draw left Everton in third place on 14 points with Wigan down in 16th after picking up just five points out of a possible 21. —AFP

Ribery brace gets Bayern back to winning ways BERLIN: Bayern Munich bounced back from their midweek Champions League defeat in Belarus as France star Franck Ribery scored both goals in their 2-0 win at home to Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga yesterday.

Having lost 3-1 to BATE Borisov in Minsk on Tuesday-their first defeat in 10 competitive games this season-Bayern enjoyed a comforable win at the Allianz Arena with their seventh straight domestic league victory.

With second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt at Borussia Moenchengladbach today, Bayern took the chance to go five points clear at the top of the table. “The team played very smart, we were very clever,” said Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes. “Ribery was outstanding, not only because of the two goals, but because he has also back-tracked and won balls for us in defence. “If the whole team puts in work like that, then we are right where I want to be.” Ribery opened the scoring on 19 minutes after Thomas Mueller’s pass down the left.

The Frenchman beat Hoffenheim defender Andreas Beck and fired the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Koen Casteels from eight metres.

Then after some good build up play

between striker Mario Mandzukic and midfielder Toni Kroos, Ribery was the fastest to react and beat Casteels again on 47 minutes.

Both Bayern captain Philipp Lahm and Mueller picked up injuries ahead of Friday ’s World Cup qualifier against Ireland in Dublin.

Lahm finished the match with heavy bruising on his left shin while Mueller had to go off after 26 minutes following an accidental clash with team-mate Mario Mandzukic which left him with a cut cheek. There was no happy return to Gelsenkirchen for Wolfsburg’s ex-Schalke 04 coach Felix Magath as the Royal Blues enjoyed a 3-0 win.

Magath spent two years at Schalke before he was sacked in February 2011 when he returned to Wolfsburg.

Magath’s team were well beaten at Gelsenkirchen’s Veltins Arena thanks to goals by Peru striker Jefferson Farfan, Dutch forward Ibrahim Afellay and midfielder Roman Neustaedter. “We only fought for the first 45 minutes, then we gave the points away,” said Magath.

“At 2-0 down, the game was over as a contest. We were clearly inferior at that point, but at the moment we haven’t got the morale to come back.” — AFP

MUNICH: Bayern’s Franck Ribery of France (left) and Hoffenheim’s Andreas Beck challenge for the ball during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match. — AP

Vettel back on pole in Japan

World Twenty20 set for rousing finale

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

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20

Fergie demands United show of defiance

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LONDON: Chelsea‫؛‬s English defender John Terry (right) vies with Norwich City‫؛‬s English-born Welsh striker Steve Morison (left) during the English Premier League football match. — AFP

Chelsea cement top spot after Norwich rout Chelsea 4

Norwich 1

LONDON: Chelsea maintained their grip on the top spot in the Premier League with a 4-1 victory over Norwich City at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

Goals from Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic wiped away an early Norwich lead courtesy of Grant Holt.

And that meant neither John Terry or Ashley

Cole would be generating many new headlines on this occasion. Both defenders had been named in the Chelsea starting line-up after being the number one talking point in sport for the previous 24 hours.

On Friday, the Football Association had published the conclusions made by a three-man regulatory commission into a mid-game incident almost a year ago that saw Terry accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, the Queens Park Rangers defender.

Terry had already been told he faces a fourmatch ban and must pay a £220,000 fine and a 63page report explained the panel found his version of events “improbable, implausible and contrived” and that Cole’s evidence in support of his teammate had ‘evolved’.

Cole’s immediate reaction that day had been to insult the FA through his Twitter account, which led

to the post being deleted and an apology issued through his solicitor.

But both players were cheered throughout the game by the home fans, who have seen their favourites establish a four-point advantage over second-placed Manchester City.

Norwich, who have not won any of their Premier League fixtures this season, took the lead in the 11th minute through Holt.

Wes Hoolahan’s cross was met beyond the back post by Leon Barnett and his header was thumped low past goalkeeper Petr Cech for Holt’s second goal in as many games.

Chelsea were back on level terms four minutes later when Juan Mata’s back-heel allowed Ivanovic to cross from the right for Torres to head home.

Roberto Di Matteo’s side then took the lead in

West Ham 1

Arsenal 3

LONDON: Theo Walcott sent a message to Arsene Wenger as the Arsenal star came off the bench to inspire his side’s 3-1 win at West Ham yesterday.

Not for the first time this season Walcott found himself left on the substitutes’ bench, but the England international’s second-half introduction played a key role in Arsenal’s third Premier League win of the campaign.

Mohamed Diame had handed West Ham the lead in the first half before French striker Olivier Giroud ended his Premier League goal drought to equalise just before half-time.

Walcott, who is yet to sign a new contract after making it clear to Wenger he wants to be used as a forward rather than a winger, came on to put Arsenal ahead with a clinical finish in the second half before Santi Cazorla completed the win late on to lift the Gunners into fifth place.

Giroud, a £12 million signing from Montpellier, almost ended his wait for a first league goal when his low shot was pushed aside

by West Ham goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen inside two minutes.

he slid in to divert Hoolahan’s shot behind for a corner, but Chelsea pressed for a fourth and Ruddy dived to deny Brazil star Oscar.

Holt put headers wide either side of the break before referee Anthony Taylor decided Barnett’s collision with Hazard in the Norwich box did not merit a penalty.

Ruddy again had to save an Oscar shot before Mata tested him again with a shot from a move he had begun himself deep in Chelsea territory.

Lampard was replaced by Ramires as the game lost its previous competitive edge, with Norwich seemingly resigned to their fate and keen not to lose any more goals.

Chelsea’s fourth goal was thumped in by Ivanovic in the 76th minute after Mata had set him up with a clever flick. — AFP

Aguero repays Mancini’s faith

Walcott makes his point If that was warning sign, West Ham clearly hadn’t learned their lesson as they rode their luck to remain on level terms.

Another sweeping move carved West Ham open once again as Lukas Podolski’s first-time pass found Cazorla and the Spaniard’s shot was deflected narrowly wide.

But for all Arsenal’s superiority, it was West Ham who opened the scoring against the the run of play in the 21st minute.

George McCartney’s pass looked to have sent Diame down a blind alley, but the Senegal midfielder showed quick feet to drift inside Aaron Ramsey before curling home a fine opening goal.

Diame had been booked for his goal celebrations and the former Wigan midfielder threatened to go from hero to zero with a rash challenge on Mikel Arteta within minutes.

Referee Phil Dowd, however, let Diame off with a warning. But Arsenal wouldn’t have to wait long before they hauled themselves level.

Podolski’s teasing cross left James Collins in noman’s land and Giroud timed his run perfectly to volley home from close-range in the 41st minute.

It was the least the Gunners deserved, but they still looked shaky defending set-pieces.

That was evident when Kevin Nolan stole into yards of space, only to see his tame effort drift harmlessly wide on the stroke of half-time.

The pace of the game dropped in the second half and Ramsey’s air kick allowed Matt Jarvis time before the winger shot over on the hour. — AFP

the 22nd minute through Lampard’s low shot from the edge of the area after Russell Martin had blocked Torres’ overhead-kick attempt.

The goal made him Chelsea’s top scorer in top flight football, equalling Bobby Tambling’s total of 129 goals. Cole headed a good chance wide at the far post but it was not long before the European champions extended their lead through Hazard in the 31st minute.

Mata was the creator as he won possession in his own half from Hoolahan before advancing to set up the Belgian with a defence-splitting pass as potential challengers backed off.

Hazard, on the left of the penalty area, kept his cool to slot past goalkeeper John Ruddy for his second goal in a Chelsea shirt.

Terry came close to scoring an own goal when

Man City 3

Sunderland 0

LONDON: Manchester City‫؛‬s Spanish midfielder David Silva (left) vies with Sunderland‫؛‬s English defender Danny Rose (right) during the English Premier League football match. — AFP

MANCHESTER: Sergio Aguero justified Roberto Mancini’s decision to haul off Mario Balotelli as the Manchester City striker came on to score the crucial goal in his side’s 3-0 win over Sunderland yesterday. Argentina star Aguero was introduced by City boss Mancini as a 55th minute replacement for Balotelli, much to the disapproval of the controversial Italian, who took an age to saunter off the field and headed straight down the tunnel, rather than taking his position next to Mancini on the City bench. However, within five minutes, Aguero had scored for City, adding to an early goal from Aleksandar Kolarov, and leaving the outcome of the contest at Eastlands in no doubt.

There was still time for James Milner to add a late third goal for City, who won for just the second time in seven games in all competitions and kept their first cleansheet of the season at the 10th attempt.

After Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League added to their recent struggles, this was a far more emphatic performance from the Premier League champions.

Sunderland defender Carlos Cuellar helped their cause in the fifth minute with a terribly-timed, scything challenge on Carlos Tevez that gifted City a free-kick on the corner of the penalty area.

Serbian defender Kolarov punished the infringement from the set-piece, curling an unstoppable left-footed free-kick past Simon Mignolet for his third goal in four City games.

That was the springboard for an easy afternoon for City. Balotelli shot over from 22 yards before Tevez’s shot was blocked by Mignolet with Pablo Zabaleta’s follow-up save drawing a fine stop from the Sunderland goalkeeper.

The best chance of a second goal seemed to come from a high boot by Gardner which caught Balotelli in the face after 24 minutes, presenting Kolarov with another convertable free-kick although, this time, the Serbian saw his effort strike Seb Larsson.

Sunderland forced Joe Hart into his first meaningful action in the City goal, after 38 minutes, with the England keeper comfortably stopping a deflected Steven Fletcher shot.

The half ended with City again threatening, with Gareth Barry’s 20-yard shot, after good approach play from Milner and David Silva, whistling past the post.

Fletcher, the only player to have scored in the league for Sunderland this season, opened the second period with a first-time volley which struck his marker Micah Richards without troubling Hart.

And City were quickly back in control as Barry’s pass found Silva whose back heel, in turn, played in Yaya Toure for a thunderous shot which Mignolet did well to parry.

The champions maintained the pressure as a Milner cross was met by Richards who, having seen his header blocked, followed up with a goal-bound shot that Sunderland full-back Danny Rose cleared off the line.

Balotelli, with his final act before being replaced, slid in but failed to connect with a Kolarov cross and Richards’ powerful header from a Milner corner forced Mignolet into an acrobatic leaping catch. — AFP

Business

Myanmar bank urges calm after huge cash withdrawal Page 27

Steep drop in US jobless rate spawns conspiracy Page 27

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

NBK offers mortgage service for Dubai property

Rural outsourcer brings hope to remote village Page 26

Page 29

TEHRAN: Iranians make their way in the main bazaar in Tehran, Iran. Police have threatened merchants who closed their shops in Tehran’s main bazaar and launched crackdowns on sidewalk money changers as part of a push to halt the plunge of Iran’s currency, which has shed more than a third its value in less than a week. — AP

Iran imposes currency cap as rial sinks Money changers baulk at new currency cap TEHRAN: Iran yesterday sought to reverse a collapse of its currency by imposing a fixed dollar rate, days after protests erupted over the rial’s plunge, according to money changers who were refusing to comply. The order came as ordinary Iranians struggle with growing economic problems that have caused a big jump in daily prices. “We received an order from the Money Changers’ Association (under the control of the Central Bank) telling us to buy the dollar at 25,000 rials and sell at 26,000,” one exchange bureau employee said. “Nobody is selling at this price and we are not trading,” he said. The bureaux in the central Ferdowsi area of Tehran had opened for the first time since Wednesday’s protests, in which scuffles broke out between police and stone-throwing individuals.

Sixteen exchange market “disruptors” were arrested, according to prosecutors.

The dollar rate being imposed yesterday sought to strengthen the rial by 25 percent after it plunged 40 percent in value this week to around 36,000 in trade on Wednesday. But with licensed exchange bureaux baulking, illegal money changers walking in the street were looking to step in at a whispered rate of at least 30,200 rials to the dollar. In the nearby Grand Bazaar-a historic maze of shops whose owners collec-

tively enjoy political influence-stalls were also reopened. But gold coin vendors were refusing to sell because, they said, the currency market was still too volatile.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinehad has put the blame of the currency collapse on Western economic sanctions. But his hardline critics say the fault mostly lies with the monetary policies of Ahmadinejad’s government. The US government, which is leading the sanctions, has also pointed the finger at Iran’s economic management, but said sanctions relief could quickly occur if Tehran curbed its disputed nuclear program. Western countries have imposed their sanctions to stop Iran developing what they suspect is a nuclear weapons capability. Iran’s leaders, who insist their atomic program is exclusively peaceful in nature, have vowed never to yield to the pressure.

WOES MOUNT FOR IRANIANS Ordinary Iranians are divided in where the blame lies over the economic problems.

But many agree they expect Ahmadinejad’s government to take action to restore their decimated purchasing power. Saeed, a family man in his 40s who declined like others interviewed to give his full name, said his weekly grocery costs have relentlessly risen

this year. In March, his bill was “1,400,000 to 1,500,000 rials, in mid-summer (end July) it became 2,000,000 to 2,100,000 rials and on Friday we paid 3,000,000 rials,” he said. And some products, especially imported ones, “are no longer on the shelves.”

For poorer Iranians, chicken and red meat-normally staples of the Iranian diethave become unaffordable luxuries after rising three times in price since last year. The middle class, which enjoyed years of climbing revenues thanks to high oil prices last decade, is being squeezed too.

Roya, a 60-year-old owner who lives off the rent of three apartments she owns, said she had to scrap a planned trip to southeast Asia. “Due to the devaluation of the rial, it has become too expensive, not worth it.

Also, I can’t raise the rents.

There is a limit to what people can pay,” she said. Imported medicine, though technically spared from the sanctions, was getting difficult to find. “When you go to pharmacy, inexpensive medicine has become a rarity,” said Haleh, an ailing woman in her 30s. “The Iranian generics are also expensive, since the pharmacies say the key ingredients are imported with open market rate.

Some are not telling the truth,” she said.

Many who can still afford it-and who have another country’s passport or the nec-

US CBO tallies budget deficit at $1.1 trillion WASHINGTON: A new estimate puts the deficit for the just-completed 2012 budget year at $1.1 trillion, the fourth straight year of trillion dollar deficits on President Barack Obama’s watch. The result was a slight, $207 billion improvement from the 2011 deficit of $1.3 trillion. The bleak figures from the Congressional Budget Office, while expected, add fodder for the heated presidential campaign, in which Obama’s handling of the economy and the budget is a main topic. Friday’s release came as the government announced that the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent last month, matching the rate when Obama took office.

“President Obama once promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, but ... he’s broken that promise, and has presided over his fourth straight trillion-dollar budget deficit,” said Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan. “The President’s reckless spending habits have burdened the American people with another $5.4 trillion in debt while failing to bring a real recovery for the 23 million Americans struggling for work or the 15 percent of Americans living in poverty.” The 2012 deficit was 7 percent of the size of the economy, an unsustainably high level. The figure is lower than the first three years of Obama’s presidency, but higher than any other year since 1947.

The administration will release the official deficit numbers around mid-October, but they should line up closely with the CBO estimate, which showed that the government borrowed 31 cents for every dollar it spent. The CBO estimate predicts a modest 3 percent increase over 2011 in both income tax and payroll tax receipts, reflecting the sluggish economic recovery.

Corporate income tax receipts are way up - almost 34 percent - but most of that is a result of tax rules governing write-offs of business equipment. Spending fell across a broad array of categories, the CBO said, but not Social Security and Medicare. Social Security payments rose by 6 percent, while Medicare grew by 3 percent, slightly less than in prior years.

Lower war costs meant a 3 percent decline in defense outlays, however, and the cost of unemployment benefits dropped 24 percent because fewer people have been receiving benefits recently.

Medicaid costs dropped as well, because the federal government stopped paying a higher share of the program’s costs. Obama inherited an economy in recession and a deficit in excess of $1 trillion. He promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, but deficits have instead remained at eyepopping levels, including a record $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009 and deficits of $1.3 trillion in each of the past two years. In Wednesday night’s debate, Obama said he has a budget plan to shave $4 trillion from the deficit over the coming decade, but he counts $1 trillion from savings already accomplished in budget deals with Republicans last year and $848 billion from winding down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney promises to balance the budget within eight to 10 years, but hasn’t illustrated how he would do so. His budget claims are suspect as well since he promises to cut the overall budget by about $500 billion in 2016 alone, while also promising to sharply boost military spending and restore more than $700 billion in Democratic cuts to Medicare over the coming decade. Romney has ruled out increasing taxes.— AP

essary visas-are leaving the country, saying their savings and investments have taken too heavy a blow.

Hamid, a businessmen in the import sector, said “my apartment, which used to be worth $500,000 is now worth only $200,000.” He added that he was leaving Tehran this month to live in Dubai. The currency slide is also prompting a return of Iranians abroad: thousands of students whose parents can no longer afford to support them. Other families were having to choose where their diminishing money would go.

Mojtaba, a young doctor, said his father had dropped plans to help him buy the Tehran office apartment he was working out of “to channel more of his money to my sister, who is studying in Britain.” A senior analyst for the Eurasia Group that monitors political risks worldwide, Cliff Kupchan, said in a statement that, while the dissatisfaction in Iran over the economy would likely last, and the bickering in the regime was worth watching, “there is no evidence at this point that the temperature is reaching boiling point.” Repression against any further unrest was the most likely scenario as was the imposition of a “command economy” that would result in runaway inflation and a longterm threat to stability, he said.— AFP

Ikea’s founder ‘too busy to die’ GENEVA: The 86-year-old founder of Swedish furniture giant Ikea revealed he has no plans to retire and rejected any idea of the company going public in an interview published in Switzerland. “The company will never go to the market,” Ingvar Kamprad told the latest edition of Swiss business magazine Bilanz. “We want to keep strict self-financing.” Named by Swiss media in June as Europe’s richest man with an estimated fortune of $37.5 billion (28.8 billion euros) including holdings in the family-owned foundation, Lake Geneva resident Kamprad also rubbished recent reports that he intended to step down. “Oh, I have so much work to do and no time to die,” he said, in an apparent reference to reports in the Swedish media in September that he was about to pass the baton to his three sons Peter, Jonas and Mathias.

In the interview, Kamprad also spoke about alleged disputes with his sons, all of whom have key roles in the business that employs 131,000 people in 41 countries, according to Bilanz. “We do not

IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad always agree. But that’s normal in a family,” Kamprad said. Despite his enormous wealth Kamprad confirmed his reputation for frugality, saying he lived “humbly and privately.” Kamprad, who founded Ikea in 1943 in his home town of Aelmhult in southern Sweden, has faced harsh criticism in the past for his ties to the Nazi youth movement during World War II. He later described the period as the “folly of youth” and “the greatest mistake of my life.” — AFP

News

in brief

IMF sees sustainable growth in Gulf RIYADH: The head of the International Monetary Fund has predicted that the economies of the oil-rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council will grow at sustainable but reduced rates. Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, spoke at a news conference yesterday after attending a meeting of the six-nation GCC. Lagarde praised the GCC countries’ management of oil prices and reserves and said it contributed to the stability of the world’s economy.

In return, Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf praised the role of the IMF in dealing with regional economic woes in the wake of the Arab uprisings that replaced longtime leaders in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya and rattled local economies. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest donors to countries of the region and contributors to the IMF. Samsung targets $7.3bn profit SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co estimated yesterday that it made a record operating profit in the third quarter thanks to rising sales of its smartphones and despite a bitter worldwide patent fight with its rival Apple Inc. The world’s biggest maker of mobile phones and televisions said its operating profit was expected to jump 91 per cent year-onyear to 8.1 trillion won (7.3 billion dollars) and surpass its previous record, set in the second quarter, of 6.72 trillion won. The Suwon, South Korea-based company has set records for its operating profit in four-straight quarters. It estimated its third-quarter sales at 52 trillion won, which would represent an increase of 26 per cent from the same quarter a year ago. Sales of Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones have risen further with the May debut of its Galaxy S III. It sold 20 million of the smartphones in their first 100 days of sales, it said. It is selling more smartphones than Apple, whose iPhone 5 went on sale last month and saw a fewerthan-expected 5 million in sales in its first weekend. The Galaxy phones are the main target of Apple’s patentinfringement suits against Samsung, which has filed its own similar suits against Apple.

Rosneft to invest $18bn MOSCOW: Russia’s state oil company Rosneft plans to spend $18 billion on its refinery infrastructure over the next three years, a report said yesterday after the company’s chief met with investors. The oil company unveiled a $25 billion program to modernize its Soviet-era refineries, Interfax news agency reported, quoting data given by Rosneft president Igor Sechin to investors in London.

Sechin said $7 billion has already been spent on its refineries, and another $18 billion will be invested in their modernization before the year 2016. The program will make it possible to raise the share of light oil products from 56 percent to 78 percent of output, he was quoted as saying.

Rosneft has also applied to acquire licences to exploit for 14 new offshore deposits, to add to the 29 it already controls, the presentation said. The company invested $500 million into new offshore projects in 2012, it said. The London presentation by Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil firm, is seen as an attempt to attract foreign capital to buy British giant BP out of its Russian venture TNK-BP, a stake Sechin has called “very interesting”. Competing with the state company for the 50 percent stake are TNK-BP’s current Russian co-owners AAR, a group of tycoons who say they are preparing to make a bid to assume full control of the company, Russia’s third largest oil producer. BP has expressed keen interest in staying in Russia after it leaves TNK-BP and Rosneft is negotiating a share swap that could lead to joint exploration in the Arctic and other coveted offshore fields.

26

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

BUSINESS

Rural outsourcer brings hope to remote village Indian women put off marriage to support families SIMAYAL: They come together each morning from the sloping forests. Some walk for more than an hour along muddy footpaths past terraced farms stacked like soft green steps. Some race their new motorbikes down narrow, cracked roads cut into the hillsides. The team of young men and women wear ID cards on lanyards around their necks and have that rarest of commodities in rural India, a company job. They work mainly in data processing for a 3-year-old business called B2R that is using the spread of the Internet to transport India’s outsourcing boom from metropolitan Bangalore and the suburbs of New Delhi to this speck of a farming village in the Himalayan foothills.

Before B2R arrived, Simayal was being drained of its bright young men as they left for cities to search for work. Its women had little option but to wed right out of school.

Nearly everyone’s survival was tied to the whim of the rains and prayers for a strong harvest. Now, men are staying. Some who left have returned. Many women have put off marriage to work and are helping to support their families. Other new businesses are opening up. The 50 new jobs B2R created brought a “glimmer of hope” to the 110 families in this cluster of farming hamlets barely touched by India’s economic transformation over the past two decades, said VK Madhavan, who has spent the past eight years running Chirag, a local development organization.

Deepa Nayal’s two sons persuaded the 47-year-old widow to retire from her 1,890 rupee ($38) a month teaching job after they got hired. Mohan Singh Bisht, 20, helped his family build a six-room house. Khasti Fartiyal, 22, started paying for one of her sisters to go to college and bought an essential, expensive piece of gold jewelry for another sister’s wedding. Many bought refrigerators, new clothes and motorbikes. Many are proud just to help buy food. “There’s a buzz around the place that didn’t exist before,” Madhavan said.

The B2R staff in Simayal work above an old flour mill in a maze of rooms that had been intended as cramped housing for poor families. In the narrow, long central office, staffers sitting at small computer desks lining the walls work on a project for a legal publisher turning scans of court cases into

searchable databases. In another room, women take calls on behalf of a family planning group. In another, staffers collect sales data for cellphone companies. The kitchen has been turned into the server room.

Outside, a steady procession of women looking aged beyond their years and dressed in threadbare clothes walk by carrying on their heads immense stacks of firewood and animal fodder they collected during hours of foraging in the forest. Their husbands and fathers tend to the apple and pear orchards. B2R and a handful of similar firms are trying to offer an alternative road map for Indian economic growth. With nearly 70 percent of the population - 833 million people - living in rural areas and its cities already overburdened, there is a limit to how quickly the nation can urbanize.

In the meantime, rural youth need jobs and poor infrastructure makes it difficult for manufacturers to deliver them. But with an Internet connection, outsourcing companies can work anywhere. “You get work over the Internet, you work it over the Internet, you send it back over the Internet,” said Dhiraj Dolwani, CEO of B2R. “It’s a window to the world.” Less than 5 percent of rural Indians have ever used the Internet and many have never even heard of it, according to a recent study by the IMRB market research firm. Half the staff in B2R’s office here said they had never seen a computer before this job.

The government is trying to change that, spending $6.5 billion to lay fiber optic cable to each of the country’s 250,000 towns.

India’s innovation czar, Sam Pitroda, says it will open up a flood of rural development. It can bring telemedicine to villages without doctors, better teaching tools to remote schools and jobs in banking, insurance and other information fields to towns currently dependent on agriculture. The rural outsourcers are the pioneers. With just over 5,000 jobs, they make up a tiny fraction of India’s $16.9 billion outsourcing industry, but trade group Nasscom estimates they will account for 84,000 jobs in five years.

Rural Shores, one of the bigger companies, employs 1,300 employees in 12 centers across eight states. By 2020, CEO Murali Vullaganti dreams of employing 200 people in each of the nation’s 500 rural districts. “It may take a little longer, but that is our goal:

SIMAYAL: Employees exercise together at the beginning of their working day on the roof of B2R center in Simayal, India. — AP

for her eventual dowry. Dewan Singh Bisht said he turns to his daughter whenever there is a financial emergency. “I am very proud of her,” he said. Listening to her husband, Devki Bisht, 44, cries quietly as she squats over an electric stove, heating milk for tea. She wants her daughter to be independent, to have a better life. “It’s not just a man’s right to go out and work,” she said.

Though they have talked about marrying her off, Devki Bisht now says she is prepared to wait years for the right family, one that will let her daughter keep working.

B2R faced some resistance when it moved into Simayal. Some families didn’t want their daughters to work with men.

Local youth, angry they didn’t get jobs in the first round of screening, vandalized the office, Dolwani said. The company held a town meeting to ease the tension, and now holds similar gatherings before opening new centers. It hopes to attract clients by charging at least 25 percent less than urban competitors, Dolwani said. Rent here is 15 times lower than in the city, electricity is cheaper and with little competition for staff, turnover last year was just 4 percent. Urban outsourcers face 40 percent turnover, according to a report by the Monitor Group.

While workers in the Delhi suburbs make about 8,000 rupees ($160) a month, B2R’s start at about 4,700 rupees ($95). Dolwani said the lower salary is justified by the lower cost of living here, and many workers say they are still saving significant portions of their salary. The Monitor report puts that salary in line with that of other rural outsourcers and significantly higher than many other rural jobs. However, the report warns that future cost-cutting could create “digital sweatshops.” Bhuwan Butholia, 28, who used to make 8,000 rupees ($160) with overtime in an auto parts factory 150 kilometers (90

SIMAYAL: Women carrying bundles of wood on their head walk past the offices of B2R in Simayal, India. — AP 100,000 rural youth,” he said. B2R’s Dolwani men said they had been planning to leave said he is doing nothing more than pushing when a job opened up. Most of the women forward the entire premise of the outsourc- said that for the first time they had options ing industry: Moving the work to where it other than marriage. Families once wholly can be done cheapest. Growing disillu- dependent on the vagaries of the harvest, sioned with his former life as an executive at now had a reliable income. As she peels garurban outsourcing firms, Dolwani and a lic and watches field hockey on TV with her partner toyed with starting their own com- father and brother, Shoba Bisht, 20, straddles pany in the hills of the northern state of the traditional woman’s role of domestic Uttarakhand, where they had routinely vaca- labor and the man’s role of earning money and being doted on. tioned to escape the city.

Her mother packs her lunch for work and There was a ready supply of educated, frustrated youth, but could they do proof- gives her time to rest after, but Bisht still reading and data entry? Dolwani passed helps cook dinner. She does laundry on her around a book of short stories by American day off, but no longer collects wood in the teenage girls and gave an impromptu com- forest. Two years ago when she was offered prehension quiz to local youths, whose a B2R job, her brother laughed and told her mother tongue is Kumaoni, second lan- he would never let her take it. “In my family, guage is Hindi and who began studying girls are not allowed to go out for work,” said English in the sixth grade. They had poten- Bisht, whose last name is common in the tial, he said.

B2R rented the only building of any real size in town and Dolwani began what he assumed would be the long, costly process of connecting to a faraway Internet line. The fiber optic cable, they were told, was running right under their office, laid during an earlier program to spread Internet access, but never turned on, Dolwani said. “It was like a dead snake in the ground,” he said.

While he waited months for the state-owned telecom company to activate the line, he made do with achingly slow mobile data networks. Even now, he uses a wireless system that operates over radio frequencies as a backup.

They paid to upgrade the village’s phone and electricity systems, installed a generator to work through the daily power cuts, gave employees intensive English and skills training and opened for business three years ago.

SIMAYAL: Employees work on computers at the B2R center in Simayal, India. — AP They replicated that plan in four other villages in the region, and employ nearly 250 region. Her mother forced him to relent. miles) away, said the lower salary at B2R was people in total. The B2R workers begin each Since then, her family has added a wide a reasonable trade-off for being able to look morning with a prayer, a regimen of calis- brick kitchen and concrete living room to after his parents and live with his wife and 5thenics, the national anthem and an ever- the small two mud rooms of its house. They month-old baby. His mother disagreed. “We changing roster of games. Women once too bought a TV. She paid hospital bills for her were poor. We are still poor,” said Hira Devi, shy to speak in public in this conservative brother, kept her family from having to bor- 58. While Internet-based companies like B2R society, now tackle male co-workers and talk row money at 60 percent interest from a can provide some relief in poor farming trash during a raucous game of kabaddi. A loan shark and, in an incredible role reversal, areas, few believe it will eliminate India’s need to build up urban infrastructure and few wear jeans in place of the traditional helped pay for her brother’s wedding.

Perhaps more stunning in a society where attract more of its people to the economic baggy salwar kameez.

Jagdish Sanwal, who had left town to daughters are often viewed as an economic hubs in the cities. “It would go against work for Nokia, came back for B2R. Other burden, Bisht is putting money away to pay almost all patterns of settlement. — AP

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds

.2740000 .4500000 .3590000 .2960000 .2830000 .2900000 .0040000 .0020000 .0761350 .7417630 .3870000 .0720000 .7271670 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2804500 GB Pound/KD .4539780 Euro .3612900 Swiss francs .2988120 Canadian dollars .2853730 Danish Kroner .0484560 Swedish Kroner .0425660 Australian dlr .2917660 Hong Kong dlr .0361700 Singapore dlr .2282490 Japanese yen .0036110 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0763860 Bahraini dinars .7441950 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0748070 Omani riyals .7287250 Philippine Peso .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Malaysian Ringgit

3.616 5.358 2.968 2.184 3.340 230.290 36.384 3.438 6.757 9.170 92.220

.2860000 .4610000 .3650000 .3070000 .2930000 .2990000 .0058500 .0035000 .0769000 .7492180 .4100000 .0780000 .7344750 .0510000 .2825500 .4573780 .3639950 .3010490 .2875100 .0488190 .0428850 .2939510 .0364410 .2299580 .0036390 .0053290 .0021800 .0029940 .0034750 .0769580 .7497680 .3996460 .0753670 .7341820 .0067950

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

GCC COUNTRIES 75.257 77.543 733.010 749.570 76.846

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 47.550 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.211 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.317 Tunisian Dinar 180.250 Jordanian Dinar 398.140 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.893 Syrian Lier 4.923 Morocco Dirham 33.543 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 282.100 Euro 365.600 Sterling Pound 456.720 Canadian dollar 288.150 Turkish lire 157.400 Swiss Franc 302.260 US Dollar Buying 280.900 GOLD 331.000 167.000 86.000

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

50.400 731.720 3.090 6.970 77.920 75.210 229.890 36.370 2.683 458.100 43.400 304.000 4.100 9.450 196.263 76.810 282.100 1.350

10 Tola

GOLD 1,879.270

Sterling Pound US Dollar

731.540 2.985 6.762 77.490 75.210 229.890 36.370 2.180 456.100 302.500 4.100 9.360 76.710 281.700

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 456.100 281.700

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

SELL CASH

SELL DRAFT

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria

291.700 749.160 3.730 289.700 553.200 45.900 49.700 167.800 47.980 367.500 37.030 5.440 0.032 0.161 0.242 3.700 399.200 0.191 94.180 45.100 4.330 235.600 1.825

290.200 749.160 3.435 288.200

229.900 46.186 366.000 36.680 5.380 0.031

SELL DRAFT

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

291.18 292.20 307.78 370.26 281.25 457.71 3.65 3.449 5.443 2.194 3.419 2.963 76.64 748.87 46.17 400.69 731.98 77.67 75.21

SELL CASH

294.000 289.750 306.000 366.000 282.250 458.500 3.690 3.620 5.500 2.290 3.530 3.150 77.250 748.500 47.200 398.500 735.000 78.000 75.650

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 399.170 0.190 94.180 3.380 234.100

Rate for Transfer

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro

Selling Rate

281.850 286.925 455.460 361.975

299.360 746.190 76.715 77.365 75.125 397.310 46.261 2.180 5.332 2.966 3.444 6.732 691.380 4.615 9.225 4.370 3.425 91.600

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY

Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

281.600 2.964 5.386 2.189 3.449 6.795 76.775 75.250 748.625 46.140 459.600 2.990 1.550 369.000 291.900 3.395

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

281.300 368.400 457.700 289.400 3.610 5.450 46.150 2.181 3.440 6.795 2.950 749.050 76.600 75.100

27

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

business

Argentine women become bus drivers despite macho culture ‘Women at the wheel’ BUENOS AIRES: “Anda a lavar los platos!” (Go and wash the dishes!) - women in Argentina hear the sentence relatively often while driving their cars. That may be part of the reason why there are only 20 women among more than 20,000 bus drivers in Buenos Aires, a metropolis of over 12 million people. But some are actively trying to change that perception. In her exhibition Mujeres al volante (Women at the wheel), photographer Cecilia Estalles shows women and vehicles in a different light, with an air of self-confidence: a

young woman stands next to her green electric bicycle, another leans casually over an old Fiat at a workshop. “Men have always looked at me in wonder as I drove my 1970s Chevy,” the 30-year-old recalls. “Everyday I get a new comment.”

Estalles drew on her own experience with prejudice when she decided to seek out women who are willing to take the wheel.

Driving was for a long time men’s business, she notes. “And it’s hard to change that.”

Moreover, it continues to affect many levels

of life in the South American country, which by now even has a female leader, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. “Bus companies decide whether or not they hire women,” says a spokesman for the bus drivers’ trade union UTA. “For many, this is a job for men.” In the underground, things are quite similar. According to the trade union AGTSyP there are currently 30 female engine drivers. And out of a total of around 3,000 employees in the underground network, known locally as the Subte, only 600 are

women. According to a spokesperson, women have only had the chance to hold important jobs in the Subte, such as a train driver, for 15 years. Earlier, they were almost exclusively employed in ticket booths. Taxi driver Silvia Mazzoletti estimates that less than 1 per cent of her colleagues in Buenos Aires are women. There are currently just 400. Mazzoletti, 52, says she is not scared of working as a taxi driver, although in her 25 years in the job she has already been robbed three times. “Nowadays in Buenos Aires any-

thing can happen to you anywhere, whether you are a man or a woman, at home, in the bank or in the street,” she says. Prejudice about female drivers rests on several misconceptions, according to Estalles. “Driving was never a man’s thing,” she stresses. After all, it was Bertha Benz who managed in 1888 the first long-distance drive in a car, which had been invented by her husband. “My photos do not just show that women can drive. They make their own decisions about their lives, they control them,” Estalles says. — dpa

Myanmar bank urges calm after huge cash withdrawal Obama signs Myanmar finance bill into law

NEW YORK: A sign in a cafe window advertises employment opportunities in New York. — AFP

Steep drop in US jobless rate spawns conspiracy Ex-GE chief leads ‘fraud’ fury over jobs data WASHINGTON: Conspiracy theorists came out in force after the government reported a sudden drop in the US unemployment rate one month before Election Day. Their message: The Obama administration would do anything to ensure a November victory, including manipulating unemployment data.The conspiracy was widely rejected.

Officials at the Labor Department said the jobs figures are calculated by highly trained government employees without any political interference. Democrats and even some Republicans said they also found the charges implausible.

Yet that didn’t stop the chatter. The allegations were a measure of how politicized the monthly unemployment report has become near the end of a campaign that has focused on the economy and jobs. The conspiracy erupted after former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, a Republican, tweeted his skepticism five minutes after the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate had fallen to 7.8 percent in September from 8.1 percent the

on CNBC. She called the claims of manipulation “ludicrous.” The BLS, the statistical division of the Labor Department, collected and analyzed data and calculated the unemployment rate before Wednesday night’s presidential debate. Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, said that it’s “not that unusual” for the rate to move by three-tenths of a percent in one month. It’s happened 12 times in the past 10 years.

“In other words, at least once a year, you should expect that large a move,” he said in an email to clients. It last happened 20 months ago, “so we were overdue. That is just the reality of the data.”

Romney didn’t discredit the government data. But plenty of conservatives did that work for him. Conn Carroll, an editorial writer at the Washington Examiner, tweeted: “I don’t think BLS cooked numbers. I think a bunch of Dems lied about getting jobs. That would have same effect.” Rick Manning, communications director of Americans for Limited Government and the former public affairs chief of staff at the Labor Department, said “anyone who takes this unemployment report serious is either naive or a paid Obama campaign adviser.” Rep. Paul Broun, a Maryland Republican, weighed in with a statement saying the report “raises questions for me, and frankly it should be raising eyebrows for people across the country.” Economists offered more plausible reasons for skepticism. A big chunk of the increase in employed Americans came from those who had to settle for part-time work: 582,000 Former General Electric chairman Jack Welch more people reported that they were working part-time last month before. “Unbelievable jobs num- month but wanted full-time jobs. bers..these Chicago guys will do anything. Conspiracy theories are nothing new for ..can’t debate so change numbers,” Welch Obama. He has been dogged by discredited tweeted, referring to the site of Obama claims that he wasn’t born in this country campaign headquarters. and that he is Muslim.

The drop in unemployment was “Stop with the dumb conspiracy theoannounced two days after Obama’s lacklus- ries. Good grief,” Tony Fratto, who worked ter performance in his first debate with for President George W Bush, weighed in on Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Twitter. It wasn’t just the political elite comRepublican Rep Allen West of Florida soon menting. Angelia Levy, a researcher at the announced via Facebook that he agreed Federal Judicial Center, the research arm of with Welch. “Somehow by manipulation of the federal judiciary, told her 588 Twitter data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent followers that Welch’s comments were unemployment, a month from the presi- “unbelievable.” “All of the sudden they’re dential election,” West wrote. “ This is questioning this data that’s been reported Orwellian to say the least.” The Obama for decades,” the Democrat said in a phone administration wasn’t given much time to interview. “It’s so hypocritical and ridicugloat about the strong economic improve- lous.” Justin Wolfers, a professor of business ment. Instead, it had to defend statisticians and public policy at the University of and economists against accusations made Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and without any supporting evidence. “No seri- research associate at the National Bureau of ous person ... would make claims like that,” Economic Research, went on Twitter to say said Alan Krueger, chairman of the White Welch “just labeled himself an idiot.” In a folHouse Council of Economic Advisers. low-up phone call, Wolfers said the econoThe jobs report is prepared under tight mists who calculate the monthly jobs security each month by a relatively obscure report “are nerds who spend their lives government agency - the Bureau of Labor crunching numbers for the public service.

Statistics - without any oversight or input To impute their integrity is outrageous.” from the White House. It is based on data The agency has been in the political collected by an army of census workers, glare before. In 1971, President Nixon took who interview Americans in 60,000 house- aim at it after a top official, Howard holds by telephone or door-to-door. Eight Goldstein, publicly attributed a steep drop days before the unemployment rate is in unemployment to largely technical facmade public, the bureau’s office suite goes tors. The administration reorganized the into lockdown. Tom Nardone, a 36-year vet- agency and installed several officials in eran at the agency who oversees prepara- newly created positions. That led to charges tion of the report, keeps crucial papers in a from Democrats that the GOP administrasafe in his office. tion was politicizing the bureau. Welch said A big reason for the security has nothing later in the day in a Fox News interview: “I to do with politics. The data could move don’t know what the right number is, but I’ll financial markets if it were released early. tell you, these numbers don’t smell right “These are our best-trained and best-skilled when you think about where the economy individuals,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said is right now.” — AP

YANGON: Myanmar banking officials yesterday sought to reassure nervous savers after rumors over the fate of the boss of the country’s biggest private bank saw account holders dash to withdraw their cash. Customers of Kanbawza Bank in Yangon pulled out around nine billion kyat ($10.5 million) net on Fridaymore than four times the maximum amount that would normally be expected-according to the bank’s vice chairman Than Lwin.

Rumours had spread across Myanmar’s main commercial city that the apparent disappearance of Kanbawza boss Aung Ko Winwho is believed to have connections to the country’s former junta-was because he had been arrested. “I don’t want people to believe such rumors because we have full backing from the central bank,” Than Lwin told a specially-convened press conference aimed at dampening the impact of the speculation. He said Aung Ko Win himself intended to attend the meeting but had been called away to the capital Naypyidaw by the country’s reformist president, former general Thein Sein.

Kanbawza has total capital of nearly 100 billion kyat ($117.6 million), according to Than Lwin. Win Thaw, deputy director general of the Central Bank of Myanmar, said his organization conducted daily checks to ensure the stability of the country’s banks. “There is no reason to worry at all,” he said, adding that the rumour was likely aimed at damaging Kanbawza, which with 79 branches holds a third of the market share. Trust in Myanmar’s banking system has never really recovered from a major crisis in 2003 that saw three banks completely collapse, exacerbated by the policies of the Central Bank such as recalling loans from borrowers.

People have also been hit hard in the past when authorities scrapped certain currency units as legal tender. A mass uprising against the military in 1988, which was brutally crushed, escalated from protests over a major episode of demonetization by the regime.

Thein Sein has vowed to put the economy at the centre of his next wave of reforms, following a series of dramatic political changes since decades of military rule ended last year. In April, the country began a managed flotation of its currency, overhauling a complex foreign exchange system in a bid to facilitate trade. A much-anticipated foreign investment law is

YANGON: Vice chairman of Kanbawza Bank, Myanmar’s biggest private bank, Than Lwin speaks to reporters during a press conference held at the Myanmar Bank Association building in Yangon yesterday. —AFP set to be debated in parliament in the coming weeks, while independence for the central bank is also expected.

MYANMAR FINANCE BILL In another development, President Barack Obama has signed into law a measure making it easier for the United States to back international financial institutions which support Myanmar’s reform drive. The legislation, passed by Congress last month, comes as the United States lifts financial and other sanctions on Myanmar, to reward a political opening engineered by President Thein Sein after decades of military rule. The US Treasury said that the move will support “stronger institutions to ensure sound economic policy and good governance in Burma” and would support development and help reintegrate the isolated state into the global economy.

At the order of the US president, American representatives will be empowered by the law to support financial assistance from international bodies for Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. “Implementation of this law will provide the United States with the ability to shape the policies and activities of these institutions in a way that advances reform, good gover-

nance, transparency and accountability in Burma,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin. Obama’s action came a week after the United States announced that it would ease a ban on imports from Myanmar, lifting its last major trade embargo against the former pariah state. The move, which will have to be carried out in conjunction with Congress, comes just over a week after democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi started a historic visit to the United States by calling for an end to sanctions.

Washington lifted sanctions on American investment in Myanmar in July, enabling a major US trade delegation to visit the country.

Global corporate giants from Coca-Cola to General Electric have already begun to vie for a share of an expected economic boom in the country. The United States has also lifted 2007 sanctions on Thein Sein and parliament speaker Shwe Mann. The Obama administration has been delighted by political developments in Myanmar under a new quasi-civilian regime that is the successor to the long ruling junta.

Sweeping changes have seen Suu Kyi, who spent years under house arrest, elected to parliament and included tentative ceasefires with several of the country’s major armed ethnic minority groups. — Agencies

How the US government compiles the jobs report WASHINGTON: The unemployment rate’s sharp fall in September, reported a month before the election, led some Republicans to question whether the numbers had been manipulated to benefit President Barack Obama. Current and former officials at the government agency that prepares the report rejected such assertions. They noted that the report is prepared under tight security with no White House input or supervision. Here are some details about how the report is compiled: WHO The numbers are crunched by several dozen people at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS is part of the Labor Department, although it was founded in 1885 and actually pre-dates the department. The only BLS employee appointed by the White House is the commissioner, who serves a fixed four-year term and operates independently of the White House. The job is vacant but is being handled by Acting Commissioner John Galvin, a career official who has worked at the BLS for 34 years. President Barack Obama has nominated Erica Groshen to be commissioner.

But she hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.

WHEN Census workers begin surveying households to find out how many people are unemployed several weeks before the report is released. About a week before the report is issued, the figures are securely transmitted from the Census Bureau to the BLS. The suite of offices where the report is prepared go into “lockdown.” Employees must have electronic access keys to enter the area. The economists and statisticians working on the report are required to lock up any paper copies of the report when they’re not at their desks, even to go to lunch. A final draft of the report is completed by Wednesday morning, two days before it’s released. Several committees then pore over the data to ensure its accuracy. The wording is scrutinized to make sure it’s free of anything that could be seen as political spin.

The final report is sent to the White House on Thursday afternoon. Only the president, his top economic adviser and a few other officials see it then. The labor secretary doesn’t find out what the numbers are until around 8 a.m. on Friday, a half-hour before their release.

HOW Roughly 2,000 Census Bureau employees survey 60,000 households to compile the data used in the unemployment rate. They do the interviews over the phone or in person. Using the data, BLS economists calculate the unemployment rate and other figures. A second sur-

vey is also conducted. This one focuses on businesses and determines how many jobs have been created or lost. The 141,000 businesses and government agencies that agree to participate in the survey submit their payroll information online or over the phone. A few still send it by mail. The payroll data rolls in throughout the month. Some of it comes in after the report is released. That’s a big reason the job totals are later revised. And for those who would like to double-check the agency’s work, the raw data is posted online about a week after the report is released. Many academics use the data for their own research. — AP

Obama calls on Congress to act on tax cut, housing WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama says a new report showing that the unemployment rate has dropped below 8 percent is a sign the still-sluggish economy is moving forward. But Obama says more needs to be done. He called on Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats on a plan to cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans and on another bill to help families refinance their homes at lower interest rates. Obama also said Congress should approve his plan for a veterans jobs corps to help former members of the military find work as police officers, firefighters and park rangers.

Obama is blaming congressional Republicans for not passing the legislation.

In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said Republicans in Congress “need to stop trying to refight the battles of the past few years and finally start doing something to actually help the middle class get ahead.”

Obama said the country has begun climbing out of the steep hole caused by the Great Recession of 2007-2009. “We’ve

come too far to turn back now. And we’ve made too much progress to return to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place,” he said. Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney have clashed over who will do the most to help the middle class, most recently during this week’s presidential debate in Denver.

Obama got much-needed good news Friday following his disappointing debate performance as the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent, the lowest level since Obama took office in 2009. Romney said Obama still has not done enough to create jobs. In the GOP response Saturday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Romney has a sensible plan to fix the economy, while Obama’s only plan is to repeat the same “failed policies that have buried the middle class” the past four years. After four years of chronically high unemployment, record debt and higher health care costs, “We need a new direction, because we can’t afford four more years like the last four,” Priebus said. — AP

28

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

BUSINESS

KSE ends in the green zone BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Tow of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the green zone. The price index ended last week with an increase amounted to 0.08%, and the weighted index advanced by 0.01% compared to the closings of the week before.

Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 24.40%, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD31.23 million, whereas trading volume average was 401.92 million shares, recording decrease of 3.59%.

Kuwait Stock Market witnessed

some activity last week included a reranking for many of its investment portfolios, as the sell operations on small-cap stocks were met by a random buy and hold operations on large-cap stocks. On the other hand, quick speculations on small-cap stocks were met by profit taking operations. Moreover, a conservative state was noticed on the market last week due to the traders’ expectance to the listed companies’ third quarter 2012 financial results.

For the annual performance, the

price index ended last week recording 3.11% annual gain compared to its closing in 2011, while the weighted index increased by 3.31%, and the KSX-15 recorded 0.51% increase compared to its value when it was launched. By the end of the week, the price index closed at 5,995.28 points, up by 0.08% from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 0.01% weekly gain after closing at 419.05 points. Moreover, the KSX-15 index closed at 1,005.10 points.

Sectors’ Indices Four of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the others three declined. Last week’s highest gainer was the Oil & Gas sector, achieving 2.21% growth rate as its index closed at 926.68 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Consumer Goods sector’s index closed at 1,004.59 points recording 1.59% increase. The Banks sector was the least growing as its index closed at 1,005.32 points with a 0.89% increase.

On the other hand, the Health Care

sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 4.86% to end the week’s activity at 961.983 points. The Financial Services sector was least on the losers’ list, which index declined by 0.15%, closing at 855.75 points.

Sectors’ Activity The Real Estate sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 785.07 million shares changing hands, representing 39.078% of the total market trading volume. The Financial Services sector was second

in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 37.84% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of 560.38 million shares. On the other hand, the Financial Services sector’s stocks where the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD50.50 million or 32.34% of last week’s total market trading value. The Real Estate sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover of KD36.63 million represented 23.46% of the total market trading value.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

business

Current account deficit improved in India KCIC WEEKLY ANALYSIS ON ASIA KUWAIT: So far in 2012, the Indian economy has been simultaneously hurt by slowing growth and high inflation.

The country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been forced to keep interest rates at high levels in order to keep a lid on inflation, at the cost of lower growth. Although Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at around 5.5% year-on-year in the quarter ending in June, it is much below the potential growth rate of 7-8% seen in the mid-2000s.

For growth to recover, inflation needs to ease and give the RBI more room to loosen their monetary policy.

India is a net importer, so its current account is systematically in deficit.

When global commodity prices rise, the current account deficit widens further as it takes more to pay for the same quantity of goods. This could have two serious negative impacts: higher inflation, as input costs rise, and lower growth, as demand weakens.

The current account deficit reached a historical high of 4.5% of GDP in the first quarter of 2012. The main reason for this jump was the wider trade deficit on (a) lower exports, due to reduced demand from the US and EU, and (b) a rise in imports, driven by high oil prices and the increase in gold imports, which is considered as a safe asset in times of distress. In the second quarter of 2012, the current account deficit improved to 3.9%, however on the back of lower demand and lower oil prices: the decline in goods’ imports was steeper than the one in exports.

The strong depreciation of the rupee also reduced the country’s purchasing power, hindering import demand as domestic consumption, in both vehicle and retail sales, and investments fell.

While the narrower current account deficit is a result of slowing domestic demand, the trend is a positive one in the sense that inflation should ease in line with the economy’s slowdown. The

rupee has already appreciated by more than 5% in the third quarter of 2012, which should ease external pressures on inflation.

The current account is made up of trade in goods and services, income (net earnings on foreign investments) and cash transfers. In India, the current account balance has been traditionally in deficit, averaging at 3.5% of GDP in the past two years. The major driver behind the shor tfall has been the deficit in goods trade, which averaged at 9.2% of GDP. This is mainly attributed to the country’s strong reliance on fuel imports-about 80% of the fuel consumed is imported. On the other hand, the surplus in the trade of services (averaging at about 3.2% of GDP) has been reducing the current account deficit, along with income and transfers (around 2.5% of GDP).

The current account deficit is exacerbated by high oil prices. Brent crude oil prices have been very volatile this year,

ranging between $90 and $125. During the first quarter, prices peaked leaving the current account deficit at historical highs, while prices hit 2012 lows in the second quarter, improving the goods’ trade deficit and hence the current account deficit. The rupee also has an important role in containing the current account deficit: by increasing the purchasing power, the appreciation of the rupee alleviates the high costs of oil imports.

India is one of the most domesticoriented economies in Asia. Therefore, in theory, the European crisis should have a less significant impact on the countr y than on its Asian peers.

However, the nation’s strong demand for energy from abroad affects the country in its own way. When the rupee weakens and the current account deficit widens, fuel subsidies weigh more on the government’s expenses deteriorating the fiscal deficit, creating the so-called twin deficit. In order to

narrow the structural twin deficits, India has undergone reforms in September, which include opening up to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail and aviation, cutting fuel subsidies and lowering the tax on foreign debt ownership.

As a result, increased investor confidence and the highest monthly inflow in the Indian stock market in seven months have driven the rupee higher in September. This should reduce inflation and improve the current account deficit. If India continues to show its commitment toward reforms, the rupee strengthens further and inflation eases, the RBI could start loosening their monetary policy. Despite the recent appreciation, the rupee is still relatively undervalued, and with further liberalization measures and public sector disinvestments looming, the Indian currency has a strong potential to appreciate and provide increasingly higher returns for investors.

US, Mexico gear for costly showdown over tomatoes US-Mexico tomato fight puts jobs, prices on the line

Jazeera Airways boosts Eid flights More flights to Dubai, Cairo, Amman, Istanbul, Sharm El Sheikh KUWAIT: Award-winning airline Jazeera Airways yesterday announced the addition of 22 more flights on its schedule for the upcoming Eid Al Adha Holiday, placing additional flights to Dubai, Amman, Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Al Najaf, Istanbul, Mashhad and Sharm El Sheikh from October 23 to November 1.

The airline operates a two-class cabin comprising of a Business Class and an Economy Class. Business Class travelers get both an upgraded experience and exclusivity, star ting with exclusive check-in lines and business lounge access, up to 60 kilograms in free baggage allowance, and an exclusive onboard cabin.

The airline’s Economy Class offers travelers free baggage allowance of 40 kilograms and free on-board meals with

a changing menu every month. Over the last year, Jazeera Airways has rolledout a series of value-enhancing customer-experience boosting initiatives.

The airline launched its easy and gimmick-free frequent flier program “Jazeerati”, easy and fast check-in alternatives, high-tech mobile book ing options, and an on-board duty free shopping service.

Jazeera Airways is also ranked the highest in on-time performance (OTP) in the Middle East in the month of August 2012, as measured by FlightStats, the US-based global OTP tracker. The airline’s OTP for August 2012 was 96%.

Jazeera Airways is an IATA-member airline and operates one of the youngest Airbus A320 fleets across the Middle East and North Africa.

NBK offers new mortgage service for Dubai property Financing up to 75% of the real estate value DUBAI: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) offers customers who want to buy a property in Dubai a new mortgage service, financing up to 75% of the property value. “In a simple and straightforward procedure, our customers can now easily apply for a mortgage in any NBK branch in Kuwait or in Dubai,” said Tareq Al Mudhaf, NBK Dubai’s General Manager. “We finance up to 75% of the property value with a long repayment period up to 15 years at competitive interest rates. We also help our customers to find, valuate, insure and register their properties.”

Al Mudhaf added: “The UAE’s real estate market is experiencing an increasing demand. NBK benefits from its presence in UAE and provides high quality services and diverse products.

We encourage our customers to take advantage of this opportunity.” NBK has established as well in Kuwait a dedicated center to assist its customers with their mortgage finance applications and all their overseas banking needs. The branch is located in the bank’s Ras Al Salmiya branch.

NBK has the largest international network between all banks in Kuwait, providing customers with the best investment opportunities and services. NBK’s international network consist of many of the world’s leading financial centers including London, New York, Paris and Singapore, as well as China (Shanghai).

Meanwhile, regional coverage extends to Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey.

NBK offers customers complete banking solutions, providing them with the freedom to manage their finances easily, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via NBK’s Mobile Banking application, Watani Online (www.nbk.com) or Hala Watani on 1801801.

MEXICO CITY: Mexico and the United States are gearing for a costly showdown over fresh tomatoes - a $3.5 billion business for the two countries - in a move that could boost the fortunes of some American tomato farmers but raise prices for US consumers. Growers in Florida have demanded cuts in imports from Mexico, and Washington appears inclined to support the Floridians and the few farmers from other states who have joined the complaint. That would require ending a 16-year-old trade agreement and endanger tens of thousands of jobs on both sides of the border, especially in border states, advocates for the Mexican tomatoes say.

It also would probably increase the cost to US consumers of fresh tomatoes, though it’s unclear by how much. Mexico provides the United States with about half the fresh tomatoes it consumes, and many of the rest are grown in Florida, the United States’ No 1 producer of fresh tomatoes, followed closely by California. In the past decade, Mexican growers have ramped up fresh tomato production. In 2000, fresh tomato exports totaled $412 million; by 2011, that figure had jumped to $1.81 billion.

US importers of the Mexican varieties say they are tastier, cheaper and more plentiful yearround. The Florida growers contend Mexico lowballs its prices and makes fair competition impossible, and they asked the US Commerce Department to intervene. Late last week, the department filed notice of intent to grant the Florida growers’ petition, a move that will allow them to formally accuse Mexican producers of illegal dumping. The decision, though preliminary, infuriated Mexico and a host of US companies supporting the Mexican tomato, including major grocer y and restaurant chains and California importers.

“We are very disappointed,” said Francisco de Rosenzweig, Mexico’s top foreign trade official.

He said Mexican producers were especially stunned because the Commerce decision came one day before an initial meeting the two sides were to have to discuss renegotiating the trade agreement. There are fears of a wider trade war if Mexico retaliates by trying to restrict the tons of US meat, poultry, grains or other agricultural products that Mexico buys. Mexico is the United States’ largest destination for exports overall, after Canada.

De Rosenzweig did not rule out reprisals.

“This is a time we need more commerce, not less, since less hurts jobs and economic recovery,” he said. Many in the pro-Mexican tomato camp suspect presidential election politics have had a role in the dispute, with the Floridians using their state’s status as a repository of swing votes to put pressure on the Obama administration. The Florida lobbyists have been pressing for an early decision from Commerce that would come before the US election next month; normally, the review procedure in this type of action takes nine months. But they say the reason for the haste is that growers need to make decisions now for the next planting season.

Mexico is blessed with lower labor costs, good weather and rich soil, and tomatoes are its largest legal agricultural export. The growth in sales of fresh Mexican tomatoes to the US has contributed to a thriving industry that employs 350,000 people in Mexico. At current production rates, Mexican earnings were on course to top $2 billion this year.

Some parts of Mexico, like the fertile, greenhouse-dotted Sinaloa region on the west coast, are so dedicated to the crop that the tomato is the symbol on the state license plate. Mexican production got a huge push in the years after World War II, when American businessmen were looking for ways to provide fresh vegetables to US consumers. Total US production of fresh market tomatoes was valued at $1.3 billion in 2009, the most recent data available.

Last week’s preliminary ruling was to suspend a pact between Mexican growers and the US Commerce Department, in force since 1996, that sets prices for fresh tomato imports and was meant to guarantee fair trade. Interested parties now have 40 days to file objections. “If they do this, it will be devastating for the (US) importing industry and for the Mexican tomato exporting industry,” said Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, an Arizona-based trade group that promotes the US import of produce from Mexico. “If they (Florida growers) can put protection measures on Mexican tomatoes, they will corner the market for themselves.”

Jungmeyer contends that Mexican techniques and practices have evolved over the years to produce a superior tomato. Mexican

farmers harvest vine-ripened tomatoes while many Floridians still pick tomatoes while green, then zap them with ethylene gas to turn them red. The Florida fruit is uniform in color and appearance but less flavorful than the Mexican version, Jungmeyer said. Siding with him were numerous US agricultural and retail organizations including the National Restaurant Association and Wal-Mart.

“A potential trade disruption with Mexico could have a devastating impact on US farmers, manufacturers, and service providers and their employees who collectively export hundreds of billions of dollars in goods and services annually to Mexico,” the US Chamber of Commerce wrote in a letter last month to acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank. The Florida growers, meanwhile, had their own booster club, including a bipartisan group of Florida legislators, who said in letters to Blank that the “predatory actions” of Mexican tomato growers were hurting domestic production. A similarly bipartisan group of Arizonans, led by Republican Sen John McCain, backed the Mexican tomato.

The Floridians welcomed the Commerce move. The “preliminary decision is welcome news to domestic growers and the workers who have suffered under an outdated and failed agreement governing trade in fresh tomatoes with Mexico,” Reggie Brown, executive director of the Florida Tomato Exchange, said in a statement. Some California growers also lauded the move. Donna Vaughan, a stakeholder in Live Oak Farms, a tomato grower in Merced County, said her firm had found itself competing against Mexican growers in recent years and that it was losing. Mexican growers have ramped up production in summer months, cutting into California’s tomato growing season.

“It’s been difficult to compete,” she said. “If the playing field was fair, I’d have no issues. But the playing field doesn’t seem to be fair.”

The 1996 agreement that the Commerce decision would scrap grew out of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which opened the door to more abundant tomato exports to the US from Mexico by eliminating tariffs. NAFTA also set up mechanisms for settling the many trade disputes that followed, and this latest spat over the tomato may yet end up being resolved that way.— MCT

Al Mazaya Holding Clover Centre in Cancer Awareness campaign Joyalukkas announces gold exchange promo KUWAIT: Joyalukkas has announced an exclusive gold exchange promotion at their showrooms across Kuwait. Between 4th and 13th October, 2012, customers can visit the store to exchange their old gold jewelry at zero deduction for dazzling new designs in gold, diamond, polki, precious stone or pearl jewelry. This offer is available at all Joyalukkas showrooms in Kuwait.

“With the festive season approaching, customers would like to refresh their jewelry collections. The gold rate being high, our offer enables them to get the jewelry of their choice, without too much expense,” explains John Paul Joy Alukkas, Executive Director, Joyalukkas Group.

“Plus, customers have the option of choosing diamonds, precious stones or pearls, if they like, without any loss in value.” Customers can exchange their 22k GCC gold for branded gold, diamond, polki, precious stone and pearl jewelry, at zero percent deduction. Customers can also exchange their 22k Joyalukkas gold for any new jewelry, at zero percent deduction. Since inception, Joyalukkas has launched various customer-centric initiatives at their showroom to excite the market. The response from customers has encouraged the renowned jeweler to continue and launch various fresh such initiatives to maintain the excitement and favorable response from jewelry lovers.

KUWAIT: Breast cancer patients have a good chance of recovery with early detection as early diagnosis and treatment are associated with higher rates of recovery and decreased morbidity and mortality. Women’s awareness of the disease and its symptoms are therefore crucial to prevent the spread of the disease. In this context, Anne Marie Doueihy, Assistant Marketing Manager at Al Mazaya Holding, remarked that breast cancer is one of the most common tumors in women and that while in the region of 15 percent are of breast tumors are benign, approximately 90 percent are in fact malignant. Breast cancer kills nearly 40,000 women each year in the United States out of approximately 180,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year in the USA. One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime according to US statistics.

She added that it is imperative for medical centers and complexes to be actively involved in spreading awareness about this disease by encouraging women to conduct comprehensive examinations on regular basis to diagnose the disease at early stage, allowing early treatment and follow up to be provided. She added that as part of preparations for October, which is International Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Al Mazaya Holding’s Clover Centre will participate in the awareness campaign through its breast cancer diagnosis clinics. “Clover Centre will build bridges of cooperation and trust with clients by providing special offers and discounts during the month of October.

On the occasion, Dr Arwa Al Shaeris offeringa 20% discount on medical consultations for heart diseases, preventive medicine and nutrition and Dr Hayan Obstetrics and

Gynecology Clinic a 35% discount on breast cancer examination. Dr Majida Kamikhis offering a40% discount on breast cancer detection screening, Dr Mohammed Mutawea, Tumors Specialist at Global Med Clinic a15% discount on medical advice, and DrYahyaSulaymana30% discount on MRI screening”, she said. In conclusion, Doueihy said that she hopes women will take advantage of the discount period and will conduct the necessary examinations to prevent the risk of this disease.

Anne Marie

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

business

Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive provide distinctive services KUWAIT: Ali Alghanim & Sons, the exclusive agent and distributor for BMW, MINI, Land Rover, Rolls Royce and McLaren is one of the most prevalent and exceptional providers of high-end service within the automotive field.

From the company’s eagerness to meet customers’ requisites and outlooks; the company has developed services and increased its propagation within the car sales particularly the used and approved ones. It comes as part of a strategy to meet demands of the Kuwaiti market which is witnessing an enormous growth in this sector according to the latest statistics and studies.

This also reiterates Ali Alghanim & Sons’ commitment to continue supporting and providing distinctive services to meet consumers’ desires of purchasing elegant, high quality luxury vehicles at competitive and suitable prices. The showroom is located at AlTilal Complex in Shuwaikh Industrial Area on Al-Jahra Street which is considered strategic due to its importance as an industrial and commercially active area.

It is worth mentioning that all the used cars at the showroom undergo rigorous inspection and multiple checks in accordance with the high quality standards stipulated by Ali Alghanim & Sons.

BMW Premium Selection (BPS) is the exclusive and specialized program of approved BMW used cars in which every car has to meet a strict set of criteria for approval.

A BPS vehicle should not exceed

Also available at the Showroom are used cars from other Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive brands such as McLaren and MINI. Additionally, used vehicles from other automotive brands are also available at the Tilal Complex showroom. The showroom operates in two shifts from 8 am till 1 pm and 4:30 pm till 8:30 pm everyday except Fridays.

For more information, please call 22255992 or 22255993.

Seven big-box stores shut down in China

Stewart Lockie details, please visit our website eahli.com or call Ahlan Ahli 1 899 899.

Burgan Bank gets approval for Eurobank Tekfen deal KUWAIT: Burgan Bank, one of Kuwait’s leading banks with a regional presence in Jordan, Iraq, Algeria and Tunisia, announced yesterday that it has received approval from the Central Bank of Kuwait on its Deal to acquire Eurobank Tekfen in Turkey from Eurobank EFG. The bank is still awaiting final approval from Turkey’s regulators to complete the deal. Earlier in 2012 (April), Burgan Bank announced that it has entered into a Share purchase agreement (SPA) with Eurobank EFG to acquire a 99.26% stake in Eurobank Tekfen.

Majed Essa Al Ajeel, Chairman of Burgan Bank said: “We thank the Central Bank of Kuwait for their continuous support and we are looking forward to receiving the approvals from Turkey’s regulators to move forward with the transaction. With this acquisition, Burgan Bank will gain access to the attractive Turkish banking market through an established franchise offering holistic banking services to Corporate, SME, Private banking and Retail clients. Our presence in Turkey will further enhance and support Burgan Bank’s regional expansion strategy.”

The Turkish economy and banking sector have continued to demonstrate significant positive performance and resilience throughout the global financial

that not only delivers total reassurance but also makes it a sound investment for the future.

The program includes a minimum of two years warranty and around the clock road assistance. Similarly, if you want to purchase a used Land Rover from the showroom be assured that it has been verified with great technical accuracy and has been approved through a number of world-class criterions.

Home Depot eschews global growth in favor of US sales

Discount at Sahara Kuwait Resort for ABK cardholders KUWAIT: Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait in cooperation with Visa is offering its ABK Visa Platinum cardholders a 10% discount from Sahara Kuwait Resort.

Stewart Lockie, General Manager of the Retail Banking Division commented “ABK are extremely pleased to offer such value added benefits, through our partnership with Visa, where your ABK Visa Platinum card, gives you a 10% discount on villa rates, restaurants, spa treatments, golf course activities and membership fees from Sahara Resort”. So go ahead and enjoy a getaway weekend at Sahara Resort with your ABK Visa Platinum Card For more

five years of age, should not exceed 100,000 km, all services must have been conducted at the dealer’s service centre and should pass a 75 point check set by BMW. The “Rolls-Royce Provenance Program” offers the same unrivalled peace of mind as when you purchase a new vehicle.

Every Provenance vehicle undergoes an uncompromising pre-delivery inspection and preparation procedure

Majed Essa Al Ajeel crisis and offer opportunities for continued long term expansion. “The consideration of acquiring Eurobank Tekfen reflects a unique opportunity to enter a key market with a fully operational and diversified banking platform.” added AlAjeel. “Burgan Bank’s strong balance sheet will enable us to self-finance the transaction once finally approved by the regulators in Turkey with manageable impact on our capital adequacy ratio, which will remain at adequate levels, and well above the central bank’s requirements,” concluded Al-Ajeel. Eurobank Tekfen was established in 1989 and enjoys an extensive geographic coverage within Turkey through its network of 60 branches.

ATLANTA: When the chief financial officer of Home Depot looks around the world, she doesn’t see an endless universe of potential stores. Instead, Carol Tome sees country upon country where the home improvement retailer just doesn’t belong - because of competition, demographics or simply a cultural mismatch. “If we look around the world, there aren’t very many places in the world that are very interesting” for expansion, Tome said.

“We have an obligation, first, to deploy capital in the highest returning way. We don’t have an obligation to look for growth outside the US.” Home Depot has made several forays outside this country, but only those in North America have been successful. The $90 billion company expanded into Canada with 180 stores and Mexico with 94. But earlier this month, it announced that it was closing its seven big-box stores in China, having entered the market with 12 in 2006. It’s not the first time Home Depot has pulled out of a foreign market. In 2001, Home Depot sold four stores in Argentina and five in Chile. It entered South America in 1998. “It’s very tough growing outside your own market,” Tome said. In addition to differences in culture, there are logistics to consider, time zones, currency rates, and a simple understanding of the calendar.

Thanksgiving and its subsequent Black Friday sales do not translate into other cultures, said Mike Matacunas, CEO of The Parker Avery Group in Atlanta.

Still, Tome said, Home Depot continues to be aware of opportunities around the globe.

Home Depot already has plans for another six stores in Mexico, and Tome sees a market for 25 additional stores. And in Central America, Tome said she sees the possibility for 18 to 20 stores, if Home Depot chooses to expand in that region. While there are no plans to open any stores in Brazil in the next three years, Home Depot’s current planning cycle, Tome said it is the “most interesting” area in South America. Brazil is a good fit for Home Depot, said Steven Kirn, executive director of the Miller Center for Retailing Education and Research at the University of Florida.

But, because China and India make up such

a large portion of the global population, companies like Home Depot are simply throwing away potential customers if they don’t entertain the idea of operating in those markets, he said. Tome said the company will study India, a large market with a lot of growth and newly loosened trading restrictions, “because we should.” In China, Home Depot is keeping two pilot stores open - one focused on paint and flooring, the other on its Home Decorators Collection. The company has short-term leases and specific milestones for its pilot stores in China to ensure that they are successful. “The China market is too big to be ignored,” Tome said.

While Home Depot is experimenting with some nontraditional stores in China, Tome said, it has learned that building stores is expensive, and Home Depot is better served by increasing sales without sinking large amounts of money into a country. To that end, the company is trying to improve its online offerings in China. Rather than creating its own website for Chinese customers, Home Depot is effectively putting a page up in an online mall. Customers in that country don’t want to watch how-to videos, or participate in remodeling forums. So, for Home Depot, it’s not worth the expense to create those options, when it only wants to sell products there.

If the China model works, Tome said, online sales may be added in other countries. Home Depot analysts and experts in international retail say Home Depot’s China closures are not surprising. “The company’s big box stores in China were never as productive as what the company initially expected, given the significant differences that exist in shopping behavior between US and Chinese consumers,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Scot Ciccarelli said in a research note. “Further, if the company couldn’t get the stores to work during one of the biggest real estate build outs seen in the last 50 years, it is unlikely they would work in what appears to be a cooling property market in China.”

When Home Depot entered China, Tome said, there was a sense that the retailer could change Chinese shopping habits from “do-it-

for-me” to “do-it-yourself.” That never came to pass. In a research note, International Strategy and Investment Group analyst Greg Melich estimated the Chinese Home Depot stores did less than a third of the annual sales of stores in the US. Those results show how a retailer can get it wrong when it comes to international expansion, said Robert Gregory, research director at Planet Retail in London. It has been a learning experience that Home Depot can use in its future expansion plans.

“When you try to import directly to a different market without understanding how it’s different, it’s sort of asking for trouble,” Gregory said.

Retailers are still experimenting with the best way to expand internationally, Matacunas said. “You don’t pick up a cookiecutter US business and put it anywhere else,” he said. Gregory said several retailers that made international pushes have started to scale back, deciding instead to focus on markets where they are a top player. While at one point, the focus was on being in as many countries as possible, some retailers are learning that they’re better off in some countries than others. The global economic situation is playing a role in that, Gregory said. So is the Internet. “It’s enabling retailers to become international without having the hassle and expense of establishing store networks in lots of different markets,” he said. “If it’s really successful, they can add stores at a later date.”

But Tome and Home Depot see the biggest chance to increase sales in the country that already has the most stores: the US. While the company will not build many new stores here, Tome sees an opportunity to improve sales off of an existing base. In 2006, without the impact of HD Supply, which was sold the next year, Home Depot’s annual sales were $79 billion. The recession caused net sales to drop to $66.2 billion in 2009. By the end of 2011, Home Depot’s sales were up to $70.4 billion.

The allure of regaining the sales lost when the housing market collapsed is strong. “It really drives a lot of our thinking, how to capture what we’ve lost,” Tome said. “The opportunities that are still here are the richest opportunities.” — MCT

Geely takes part in China National Day celebration KUWAIT: Kuwait Automotive Imports Co WLL (Al Shaya & Al Sagar), which recently launched GEELY cars in Kuwait and has since become the new sensation in budget cars, had the honor to participate in China National Day reception in Regency hotel organized by the Chinese embassy in Kuwait recently. Rexzcy Williams Brand Manager-Geely conveyed Greetings from the KAICO General Manager Ashish Tandon to HE Cui Jianchun on the occasion of the Chinese National Day. Thanks to the kind invitation and patronage of Cui Jianchun, Ambassador of China to Kuwait, KAICO had the great opportunity to display Geely’s flagship model Emgrand

EC8 at the event. The vehicle enjoyed a great deal of interest from all VIPs, dignitaries and press present at the reception.

Cui Jianchun was kind enough to give the maximum exposure to Geely and personally introduced the brand to many of the diplomats. EC8 is positioned as a “new competitive cross-class car”, targeting at the intermediate and senior auto market which needs higher requirements for quality.

It has been manufactured according to the most stringent European standards and designed according to European regulations in terms of safety, environmental protection, quality and other standards. The braking system matching is over the

European cars in the same class and the bumper and front beam reach the European ECE standards.

As to its appearance, EMGRAND EC8 collects together the outstanding elements of various excellent models. It is 4,905 mm long, 1,830 mm wide and 1,495 mm high, and its wheelbase is 2,805 mm, primarily the mainstream dimensions in its grade. It looks stable and generous as well as fashionable and dynamic.

EC8 is equipped with a large number of smart technologies such as centralized control of multi-function steering wheel, cruise control system, full-range audio and video entertainment broadcast system, GPS glob-

al satellite navigation system, Bluetooth mobile communication system, intelligent lighting system, three-zone double-loop combination instrument, automatic zoned air conditioning, luxury power windows, built-in power sunroof, sunshade, front and rear reversing sensors etc. EC8 has also adopted Mitsubishi’s 2.4L and 2.0L engine, and Mitsubishi 4AT transmission. Geely Holding Group completed the full ownership of Volvo Car Corporation from Ford Motor Company in August 2010. Ford bought the Swedish Volvo car business in 1999. So Geely has adopted the Swedish as well as the US car technologies into its own cars.

Geely Holding Group has also acquired DSI - the second largest automatic transmission company in Australia.

The group has collaboration with Johnson Controls - US & Dayee - South Korea for spare parts. With six car assembly & powertrain manufacturing plants all over China, 900 dealers, 1000 service outlets and over 19,000 employees in China, the company is planning to sell about 2 million units by the year 2015, with a 5.8% market share in China. Emgrand EC8 and the full range of Geely vehicles can be test driven at the Geely Showroom in Al Rai. For Test Drives and more info Anish Joy can be contacted at Tel- 50634600.

31

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Foxconn denies report of strike at iPhone plant BEIJING: Foxconn Technology Group said yesterday that production at its central Chinese factory that makes Apple’s iPhones was continuing without interruption, denying a labor watch group’s report that thousands of workers at the plant had gone on strike.

New York-based China Labor Watch had reported that 3,000 to 4,000 workers at the factory in Zhengzhou city went on strike Friday over increased quality control demands and having to work during an extended national holiday. Foxconn, a Taiwan-based electronic manufacturer, confirmed there were two isolated, small scale disputes

between production line workers and quality assurance personnel on Monday and Tuesday at the factory, but denied there was any strike or work stoppage. Foxconn did not specify what issues had caused the dispute, but said immediate measures were taken to resolve the problems, including adding production line workers.

The official Xinhua News Agency, quoting a spokesman for the management committee of the Xinzheng Comprehensive Bonded Area where the plant is located, said some production lines were halted Friday when workers persuaded quality inspectors to skip work to show their dissatisfac-

tion over higher quality standards.

Xinhua said Apple strengthened quality inspections of the iPhone 5 following consumer complaints regarding aesthetic flaws in the phone. In the Xinhua report, the spokesman - who was not named - characterized the incident as a worker-management dispute instead of a strike and was unable to provide a specific number of workers involved.

China Labor Watch said several iPhone 5 production lines at the factory were paralyzed after the workers found the new quality control demands difficult to meet and went on strike. The group said the workers also

were angry about being forced to work through China’s National Day Golden Week holiday, which ends Sunday. The iPhone 5, the latest in the line of the smartphones, debuted in September.

Foxconn said its employees in China who worked during the holiday did so voluntarily and were being paid three times their normal pay, in accordance with Chinese labor law.

China Labor Watch said workers also beat quality control inspectors, who carried out their own work stoppage after management ignored their complaints. According to China Labor Watch, Apple and Foxconn had

imposed stricter quality standards regarding indentations and scratches on the frames and back covers of the iPhones but did not provide workers with proper training to meet the new demands. Apple could not be reached immediately for comment.

In late September, a brawl involving 2,000 workers broke out at Foxconn’s factory in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan, highlighting chronic labor tensions in a country that prohibits independent unions.

Labor activists have said the rollout of the iPhone 5 has led to longer working hours and more pressure on workers. — AFP

Physical world presents a lot of challenges to digital technologies Wealth becoming more concentrated

SIMAYEL: This Aug 24, 2012 photo shows the countryside near B2R in Simayal, India. This village in the Himalayan foothills is benefiting from outsourcing of a different kind, using the Internet to bring jobs to the countryside that once could only go to the cities. Here the 50 newly created jobs vary from digitizing court documents to collecting data for a cellphone company. — AP

Alta Devices trying to find a solar solution

By David Rotman SAN JOSE: Alta Devices is a small but wellfunded startup located in the same nondescript Silicon Valley office building that once served as the headquarters for Solyndra, the infamous solar company that went bankrupt last year after burning through hundreds of millions of dollars in public and venture investments. Whether the location has bad karma is still not clear, jokes Alta’s CEO, Christopher Norris. But Norris, a former semiconductor-industry executive and venture capitalist, does know that the fate of his company will hinge on its ability to navigate the risky and expensive process of scaling up its novel technology, which he believes could produce power at a price competitive with fossil-fuel plants and far more cheaply than today’s solar modules.

On a table in Alta’s conference room, Norris lays out samples of the company’s solar cells, flexible black patches encapsulated in clear plastic. They look unremarkable, but that’s because the key ingredient is all but invisible: microscopically thin sheets of gallium arsenide. The semiconductor is so good at absorbing sunlight and turning it into electricity that one of Alta’s devices, containing an active layer of gallium arsenide only a couple of micrometers thick, recently set a record for photovoltaic efficiency. But gallium arsenide is also extremely expensive to use in solar cells, and thin films of it tend to be fragile and difficult to fabricate. In fact, Alta’s innovations lie not in choosing the material-the semiconductor has been used in solar cells on satellites and spacecraft for decadesbut in figuring out how to turn it into solar modules cheap enough to be practical for most applications.

The company, which was founded in 2007, is based on the work of two of the world’s leading academic researchers in photonic materials. One of them, Eli Yablonovitch, now a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, developed and patented a technique for creating ultrathin films of gallium arsenide in the 1980s, when he worked at Bell Communications Research. The other, Harry Atwater, a professor of applied physics and materials science at Caltech, is a pioneer in the use of microstructures and nanostructures to improve materials’ ability to trap light and convert it into electricity. Andy Rappaport, a venture capitalist at August Capital, teamed up with the two scientists to found Alta, recruiting fellow Silicon Valley veteran Bill Joy as an investor and, with the other cofounders, building a management team that included Norris.

The goal: to make highly efficient solar cells, and to make them more cheaply than those based on existing silicon technology.

It is at this point that many solar startups have gone wrong, rushing to scale up an innovative technology before understanding its economics and engineering challenges. Instead, Alta spent its first several years in stealth mode, quietly attempting to figure out, as Norris puts it, whether its process for making gallium arsenide solar cells was more than a “science experiment” and could serve as a viable basis for manufacturing.

Remnants of the science experiment are still visible in the modest lab at the back of Alta’s offices. Small ceramic pots sit on electric hot plates-relics of the company’s early efforts to optimize Yablonovitch’s technique of “epitaxial liftoff,” which uses

acids to precisely separate thin films of gallium arsenide from the wafers on which they are grown. Elsewhere in the lab the equipment gets progressively larger and more sophisticated, reflecting the scaling up of the process. Near a viewing window that allows potential investors to peer into the lab without donning clean-room coverings is one of the jewels of the company’s development efforts: a long piece of equipment in which batches of samples are processed to create the thin-film solar cells. It’s convincing evidence that the early work with pots and hot plates can be transformed into an automated process capable of the yields necessary for realworld manufacturing. When Bill Joy, a cofounder of Sun Microsystems and now a leading Silicon Valley venture capitalist, first saw the business plan for what became Alta Devices, he and his colleagues at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers were already looking for high-efficiency thin-film solar technology.

Joy keeps a running list-currently about 12 to 15 items long-of desirable technologies that he believes he has “a reasonable chance of finding.” Solar cells that are highly efficient in converting sunlight and that can be made cheaply in flexible sheets could provide ways to dramatically lower the overall costs of solar power.

Gallium arsenide technology was a natural choice for efficiency, but Alta’s economics were what really interested the investors.

“Their core competency was how to make it manufacturable,” says Joy, who joined Rappaport as an investor within a few months.

Gallium arsenide is a nearly ideal solar material, for a number of reasons. Not only does it absorb far more sunlight than silicon-thin films of it capture as many photons as silicon 100 times thicker-but it’s less sensitive to heat than silicon solar cells, whose performance dramatically declines above 25 C. And gallium arsenide is better than silicon in retaining its electricity-producing abilities in conditions of relatively low light, such as early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Key to reducing its manufacturing costs is the technique that Yablonovitch helped figure out decades ago. The semiconductor can be grown epitaxially: when thin layers are chemically deposited on a substrate of single-crystal gallium arsenide, each adopts the same single-crystal structure.

Yablonovitch found that if a layer of aluminum arsenide is sandwiched between the layers, this can be selectively eaten away with an acid, and the gallium arsenide above can be peeled off. It was an elegant and simple way to create thin films of the material. But the process was also problematic: the single-crystal films easily crack and become worthless. In adapting Yablonovitch’s fabrication method, Alta researchers have found ways to create rugged films that aren’t prone to cracking.

And not only do the thin films use little of the semiconductor material, but the valuable gallium arsenide substrate can be reused multiple times, helping to make the process affordable. Research by Alta’s founding scientists has also led to techniques for increasing the performance of the solar cells. Photovoltaics work because the photons they absorb boost the energy levels of electrons in the semiconductor, freeing them up to flow to metal contacts and create a current. But the roaming electrons can be wasted in various ways, such as in heat. — MCT

MICHIGAN: Are workers losing their jobs to machines? That was the question posed by Race Against the Machine, an influential ebook published last October by MIT business school researchers Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee. They looked at falling US employment and concluded that computer technology was partly to blame. Greater productivity is good, but the authors pointed out that wealth is becoming more concentrated, and more middle-class workers are getting left behind.

Technology Review spoke to McAfee at MIT’s Center for Digital Business, where as principal research scientist he studies employment trends and new definitions of the workplace.

MIT: How do you define automation?

McAfee: The obvious definition is one fewer job than there used to be, with the same amount of output. A tax preparer can get automated away by software like TurboTax and just not find work anymore. An assembly line worker could be flat-out automated away by a robot on the assembly line. There is a closely related phenomenon, which is the massive increases in productivity brought on by digital technology. An example is the legal discovery process. By one estimate we heard, one lawyer is now as productive as 500 used to be. You might not lay off 500 lawyers, but the next time you might hire a few people and some software to read documents.

MIT: Where is automation erasing jobs?

Others have done work showing that if you are a “routine cognitive worker” following instructions or doing a structured mental task, you have been under a lot of downward wage pressure for a while now. I think that is largely a technology story. Payroll clerks, travel agents-we don’t have as many of them as we used to. We don’t have as many people working in manufacturing, even though manufacturing is a growing industry.

MIT: What was the response you received to Race Against the Machine?

People accepted that technology was real-

ly accelerating and that there were going to be labor-force consequences. The broader discussion was between optimism and pessimism. Does it feel like we are heading into the kind of economy and society that we want, or the kind of economy and society that we don’t? A lot of people who commented said, “Look, if these guys are anywhere near right, we are heading into an economy that is going to be dire for a lot of people.”

MIT: What does the economy that we don’t want look like?

The spread between the haves and the have-nots continues to grow, and more importantly, the absolute standard of living of the people at the middle and the bottom goes down. That is the economy that I don’t want to head into.

MIT: What is the optimistic view?

Erik Brynjolfsson came up with a great phrase: “digital Athens.” The Athenian citizens had lives of leisure; they got to participate in democracy and create art. That was largely because they had slaves to do the work. Okay, I don’t want human slaves, but in a very, very automated and digitally productive economy you don’t need to work as much, as hard, with as many people, to get the fruits of the economy. So the optimistic version is that we finally have more hours in our week freed up from toil and drudgery.

MIT: Do you see evidence for a digital Athens on the street, in the real economy?

No. What we are seeing-and this was pretty much unanticipated-is that the people at the top of the skill, wage, and income distribution are working more hours. We have this preference for doing more work. The people who have a lot of leisure-I think in too many cases it’s involuntary. It’s unemployment or underemployment. That is not my version of digital Athens.

MIT: Which is more advanced, the automation of intellectual work or of physical tasks?

The automation of knowledge work is way,

way farther along. It’s really hard to get computers to do things that your four-year-old can do, like walk across the room and pick up a pen, and recognize it as a pen. So the physical world presents a lot of challenges to digital technologies.

But it feels to me as if we are starting to turn a corner. The data available to help a robot is big data, and it’s exploding. The sensors have been progressing along a Moore’s Law trajectory. And the physical pieces of a robot, the actuators and so on, have gotten a lot better too. So it seems the ingredients are all in place for the robots to start getting into the economy.

MIT: How should businesses react to the trend toward more automation?

I think the companies that succeed going forward are the ones that figure out what mix of human and digital labor is going to be the right mix. And I think that proper mix is going to involve more, and more types of, digital labor than we are using right now.

MIT: What is your advice to the individual, or to the parent educating a child?

To the parent, make sure your kid’s education is geared toward things that machines appear not to be very good at. Computers are still lousy at programming computers.

Computers are still bad at figuring out what questions need to be answered. I would encourage every kid these days to buckle down and do a double major, one in the liberal arts and one in the college of sciences.

MIT: Despite the glum view of changes in the labor market, you’ve used the word “cornucopia” to describe the results of innovation. What do you mean by that?

We have access to amazing digital resources. And a lot of it is all-you-can-drink, no matter what your income level is. Warren Buffett doesn’t have any more Google than I have, or the unemployed person has. When I see that there are five billion mobile-phone subscriptions in the world-well, hey, that is cornucopia. It is important not to lose sight of that. — MCT

Apple marks Jobs’ death anniversary SAN FRANCISCO: Apple paid tribute Friday to Steve Jobs a year after his death, with a video and homage to the man who co-founded and led the iconic technology company.

“Steve’s passing one year ago was a sad and difficult time for all of us,” Jobs’s successor as chief executive, Tim Cook, said in a message on the company website.

“I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.”

Apple posted a two-minute video with snippets of Jobs and the various products he introduced, from the early Apple computers to the iPhone.

Jobs died Oct 5, 2011 at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer.

“One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world was Apple,” Cook said.

“No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.” — AFP TAIPEI: Two Taiwanese performers play with a smartphone during a break at the Taipei Matsu Festival in Taipei yesterday. — AP

Facebook, Twitter more tempting than sex: Study

SEOUL: A man watches a movie on a Samsung Electronics’s product at a showroom of its headquarters in Seoul yesterday. Samsung Electronics Co. tipped all-time high quarterly operating profit, likely driven by strong sales of high-end smartphones that offset weak semiconductor orders. — AP

SAN FRANCISCO: A study arousing interest online Friday found that checking Facebook or Twitter is more alluring than sex for those immersed in Internet Age lifestyles.

The week-long poll conducted in Germany by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business classified checking social network tweets, pictures, comments and other posts as stronger than sex and cigarettes in terms of temptation.

“Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of their high availability and also because it feels like it does not cost much to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist,” Wilhelm Hofmann, the study’s

lead author, told the Los Angeles Times.

People ranging in age from 18 to 85 took part in the poll by using smartphones to regularly update researchers regarding their cravings to check in with online communities.

Study participants were also asked to track hankerings for sex, alcohol, cigarettes, or other gratification. Yearnings for fixes of Facebook, Twitter or other social networks were ranked as the hardest desires to resist, according to reports about the findings. The study also revealed that work was a fierce addiction. People able to stave off urges for sex, shopping sprees, or other temptations tended to cave when it came to working, the study showed. — AFP

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

health & science

SpaceX set for first NASA-contracted supply mission WASHINGTON: US firm SpaceX aims for its next big launch into orbit today-the first of 12 flights in its $1.6 billion contract with NASA to bring supplies to and from the international space station. The launch is the next step in American efforts to commercialize the space industry, in the hope of keeping down costs and spreading them among a wider group than governments alone.

SpaceX, owned by billionaire Paypal co-founder Elon Musk, is one of several private companies working with the US space agency to send flights to and from the space station.

NASA has been relying on Russian spacecraft for the last year, after retiring its fleet of shuttles. Today, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to fire at 8:35 pm to launch the company’s Dragon capsule from Florida’s Cape Canaveral into orbit, loaded with around 1,000 pounds of supplies.

However, the latest reports indicate that a 40 percent chance of unfavorable weather could push the launch back one or two days.

This is to be SpaceX’s second flight this year: in May, the company proved its mettle with a test flight to the ISS, conducting a near flawless nine-day trip to deliver cargo to the $100 billion orbiting outpost-the first time a commercial outfit had sent its own capsule there and back. Musk said he aims to massively expand the program. “Next year, we’re aiming to do probably four to six launches and then double it again the year after,” he said during an

online “hangout” on Google+. “The ultimate thing is to try to get spaceflight as routine as air flight. I don’t think it can quite get there but it can get closer than it has been in the past,” he said.

Like traveling by airplane, Musk said he hopes one of the payoffs will be that

everyday people, not just the rich, can one day afford a seat. “Right now there are a lot of people that buy seats on the Russian Soyuz,” he said. “If we could offer them at a lower cost, we could expand the market.” “Perhaps it can be brought down to being only 10 times more expensive” than a seat on an airplane,

he said. “It can happen. If we can make rapidly and fully reusable spacecraft.”

NASA administrator Charles Bolden added that part of commercializing the space industry will mean the private sector building new low-orbit destinations where companies can use the zero gravity environment for things like

CAPE CANAVERAL: This NASA photo shows technicians as they attach the Dragon capsule to a Falcon 9 rocket at the SpaceX facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, during preparations for the CRS-1 mission. —AFP

materials processing and pharmaceuticals research.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, is facilitate the true development of a real commercial industry where the government is an anchor tenant but not the primary source of income,” Bolden noted, during the Google+ chat. SpaceX says it has 50 launches planned-both NASA missions and commercial flightsrepresenting about $4 billion in contracts.

But the cargo on today’s launch is all government: the manifest lists supplies from the Japanese and European space agencies, in addition to ones from NASA. Jeff Foust, an aerospace consultant and the editor of TheSpaceReview.com said the industry is at the start of “a very slow transition” from something that is all government to something involving the private sector. “NASA can’t keep doing everything.

At some point it has to start turning over the things that are more routine,” like ferrying supplies to the space station. If today’s launch goes as planned, the Dragon capsule should reach the space station by Wednesday, where it should stay for two weeks. It is scheduled to return to Earth-splashing down off the coast of southern California-on October 28, carrying about 734 pounds of scientific materials. So far, SpaceX has only sent unmanned flights into orbit, but the company aims to send a manned flight within the next three or four years. It is under a separate contract with NASA to refine the capsule to make it crew-capable. —AFP

‘Abortion boat’ quits Morocco Government rejects NGO’s claim SMIR, Morocco: An 11-metre yacht dubbed the Dutch “abortion boat,” which was due to provide free treatment to women in Morocco, was escorted from Moroccan territorial waters, amid competing claims about its authenticity. Women on Waves, the Dutch group organizing the controversial trip, said they denied access to the boat that was docked in the Moroccan harbor of Smir for “several days,” after having said that it was due to arrive on Thursday.

The campaign group said the authorities searched the boat, and despite the fact that “no laws were broken... (and) they did not find anything incriminating,” the ship was escorted from the harbor by the navy. The interior ministry confirmed that the Dutch boat had left the harbor. But it said it was a diversion, created to distract

media attention from the failure of the real abortion ship to reach its planned destination.

The vessel at Smir Marina was in fact “just a yacht, measuring 11 meters by three meters, with two Dutch citizens on board, which arrived... on September 2 while on a cruise,” the ministry said in a statement. “The two Dutch citizens raised a banner on Thursday afternoon in a sign of solidarity with the boat in question, to try to deflect the media attention from, and cover up the failure of this operation,” it added. Women on Waves, which claimed earlier that the Moroccan navy was blocking the arrival of the so-called abortion ship, said the purpose of the visit was to help women induce “safe legal medical abortions” by offering medication and advice. It was to be the first such trip to a Muslim country.

Abortion is illegal in Morocco, a rel-

atively conservative Muslim society, and the health ministry had said that the ship was not authorized to operate on its territory, calling on the relevant authorities to prevent it from doing so.

At midday, up to 300 people gathered at Smir to protest against the visit, according to an AFP journalist. The demonstrators shouted slogans and waved banners, which read: “Life is a divine gift that must be preserved,” and “Abortion is an attack on the right to life,” the official MAP news agency reported.

In the past 11 years, a Women on Waves ship has visited Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain, sparking protests in each country from pro-life groups. The AFP journalist confirmed that the security forces, deployed in Smir since early morning, were restricting access to the harbor, which lies in the Mediterranean, around 40 kilome-

ters east of Tangier. The Dutch NGO estimates that between 600 and 800 illegal abortions take place every day in Morocco, but only around 200 of them are done properly, with most women resorting to cheap, unsanitary methods that put their lives at risk.

Rebecca Gomperts, the group’s founder said illegal abortions cause the deaths of 78 Moroccan women each year on average, citing statistics provided by the World Health Organization.

Moroccan pro-life groups dispute the figures, and throughout the week ordinary Moroccans have voiced strong opposition to the Women on Waves visit, which local youth group the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties helped to organize. The activists say the ship will stay near Morocco while they plan their next move. —AFP

Mediflow Waterbase pillow improves quality of sleep, reduces pain NEW JERSEY: The Mediflow Waterbase water pillow is the only therapeutic pillow clinically shown, in a published peer-reviewed study, to improve quality of sleep and reduce neck pain. Most people choose their pillows according to what feels comfortable. However, in order to maintain sleep and specifically a deeper, more rejuvenating sleep, a pillow must also provide support for the neck as you change positions during the night. For conventional pillows, these two requirements are in conflict. A soft pillow will not provide the support needed for the neck and shoulders and a firm pillow is typically unpleasant, making sleep difficult to attain.

The Mediflow pillow offers a customizable solution. The top layer of the Mediflow pillow is a plump layer of hypoallergenic polyester that feels soft and cloudlike when you lay your head on it.

This deluxe Dacron Hollofil polyester fiber has a special siliconized finish to keep it lofty and resistant to lumping up. The first truly unique feature that sets the Mediflow pillow apart from other pillows is its waterbase. The water level in the base can be adjusted by the user to provide a customized level of support. By simply adding or removing water, the user can adjust the support level to soft, medium, or firm.

Secondly, once the water base is adjusted to the optimum level, the Mediflow system is ready to support the neck and spine by actually adjusting as the user sleeps. The user sleeps on the cloudlike polyester with the non-compressible Waterbase indiscernibly shifting to maintain the support needed for cervical region and cradle the head.

Even as the user moves during sleep the waterbase responds to head movement greatly reducing the number of times the user wakes to adjust the pillow. Mediflow is proud to be a top selling pillow on Amazon.com. To date, over 4 million people trust their sleep to Mediflow.

MARS: This image shows patch of windblown sand and dust downhill from a cluster of dark rocks called the ‘Rocknest’ site, which has been selected as the likely location for first use of the scoop on the arm of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity. —AFP

Mars Curiosity about to really shake things up WASHINGTON: Mars Curiosity is about to take its first sip of the red planet’s sand. But only after NASA’s rover plays bartender to make sure the dry dust is shaken, not stirred. The rover’s scoop will dig into the sand. Then the action starts.

The end of the rover’s 220-pound arm will shake “at a nice tooth-rattling vibration level” for eight hours, like a Martian martini mixer gone mad, said mission sampling chief Daniel Limonadi said. “It kind of looks and feels like if you open the hood of your car with the engine running,” Limonadi said, making engine noises in a Thursday NASA telephone press conference.

That heavy shaking will vibrate the fine dust grains through the rover chemical testing system to cleanse it of unwanted residual Earth grease. That’s important for the sensitive scientific instruments that are the keystone to the $2.5 billion mission that launched last year. The rover landed in August and has

traveled three-tenths of a mile, taking pictures and analyzing the Martian air.

For the next week or two, Curiosity will scoop, shake and dump sand out three times, like a robotic version of cleaning its mouth out with mouthwash, Limonadi said. The fourth time, the rover will slowly pour “a half a baby aspirin pill of material” into the mobile lab to start a complex chemical analysis, he said.

There’s nothing that seems special about the sand that will be tested and that’s why NASA picked it out. It’s good to start with “boring safe Martian sand dune,” Limonadi said. The car-sized rover has a complex chemical lab, a scoop and a drill to look for the basic ingredients of life, including carbon-based compounds, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and oxygen.

This will be the first time the chemistry lab will be used. In about a month, after going to a newer more interesting location, the rover will start drilling into the ground for samples.—AP

CHICAGO: This undated photo made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a branch of the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. The fungus blamed for causing a meningitis outbreak in five states is widely distributed indoors and outdoors, but only very rarely makes people sick. —AP

Spine shots for steroids are usually safe: Medics CHICAGO: Millions of people get steroid shots in their backs to relieve pain. Now they are probably wondering if it’s safe. In 23 states, hundreds, possibly thousands, of back-pain patients are being warned to watch for symptoms of meningitis because of a custom-mixed steroid solution that may have been contaminated with fungus. Five people have died and more than 40 others have fallen ill.

Doctors who do these injections say they are extremely safe when done correctly with sterile drugs. And many doctors stick to medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration instead of relying on generally less-regulated “compounding pharmacies” like the Massachusetts company implicated in the outbreak.

“If I was a patient, I would definitely be concerned,” said Dr Michael Schafer, an orthopedic specialist at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He said Northwestern gets steroids from federally regulated pharmaceutical companies.

And in almost 40 years of experience, he has never had a patient develop an infection from these shots. He and others say patients should ask their doctors if their medications come from compounding pharmacies, which custom-mix and repackage creams, solutions and other drugs.

In fact, some doctors who rely on such places are rethinking that. Dr Michael Drass of Allegheny Pain Management, a clinic in Altoona, Pa, said he has pulled all drugs that came from the New England Compounding Center off his shelves - as the government has urged physicians to do - and is re-evaluating whether to rely on compounding pharmacies for the medicines he uses to treat patients. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years now, and I’ve done 50,000 injections over that course of time, and I’ve never seen or heard anything like this. It’s a real eye-opener for us in the medical practitioner community,” Drass said.

He said he has relied on the New England pharmacy and others like it because they sometimes have medications he can’t get elsewhere, sometimes because of drug shortages. Cost can also be a factor.

Some of these suppliers charge less than big pharmaceutical companies. Some clinics that use compounding pharmacies say they are a good source of preservative-free steroids, which are less likely to cause a nerve-related complication. The injections

are a common treatment for sciatica, which is pain from a slipped or ruptured disk that often radiates down the legs, and for spinal stenosis, an age-related narrowing of the spine sometimes caused by arthritis. It results in pain or weakness, usually in the neck and lower back.

Doctors often recommend injecting steroids into the spinal column for patients who don’t get adequate pain relief from aspirin, ibuprofen or other common medicines that reduce inflammation. The injections also are often used when physical therapy doesn’t work, or for patients whose pain is too great to even try physical therapy or other remedies. “The worst complication is it may not work,” Schafer said he tells patients. Patsy Bivins of Sturgis, Ky, is worried about the two steroid injections she got in her lower back in August to treat chronic pain from stenosis and fibromyalgia. She got a call Thursday from the outpatient center where she was treated, warning that she may have been given the tainted drug.

“Before I got the shots I was really suffering,” Bivins said. “It did help some. But now I don’t know what to do.” She added: “When I got the call I thought, ‘Here’s another thing.’ I don’t need nothing else wrong with me, especially that.” Doctors use a needle about 3 inches long to inject the drug into what is known as the epidural space surrounding the spinal cord. Patients are typically middle-age or older. Often, three injections are given over a few weeks, in pain clinics, surgery centers or hospitals.

Such treatments can cost several hundred dollars and last about 10 minutes, and patients can go home afterward. The effects may last for several months or longer, but patients often return for repeat treatment after a year. The drug involved in the outbreak, methylprednisolone acetate, is among the steroids commonly used in the procedure. Batches of the drug from other sources have not been implicated so far. Some patients swear by the treatments, but the scientific evidence is mixed. Some studies have found the injections work no better than dummy medicines, while others have found benefits. The injections work best for younger patients with fairly recent pain rather than chronic, debilitating pain that has lasted for several years, said Dr Steven Cohen, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins medical school. —AP

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

The art and science of guessing a Nobel Prize Guessing who will win a bit like forecasting stock market

TAIMYR: Researchers pose near the remains of mammoth found a few kilometers away from the Sopkarga polar station in the Taimyr Peninsula, Russia’s northernmost region. — AFP

Russia boy discovers wooly ‘mammoth of the century’ MOSCOW: An 11-year-old boy from Russia’s north has stumbled upon a wellpreserved wooly mammoth, in what scientists describe as the best such discovery since 1901. Yevgeny Salinder, whose family lives near a polar station in the northern Taimyr Peninsula, discovered the frozen animal when he was strolling along the banks of the Yenisei River in late August.

“He sensed an unpleasant odor and saw something sticking out of the ground it was the mammoth’s heels,” said Alexei Tikhonov, director of the Saint Petersburgbased Zoological Museum, who rushed to

the tundra after the boy’s family had notified scientists of the historic find. Tikhonov said the mammoth had died aged 15-16 around 30,000 years ago, adding his tusk, skin, an eye and an ear were clearly visible.

“His one-meter-long penis is also intact so we can conclude that this was a male,” Tikhonov said. Tikhonov said it was the best preserved adult mammoth discovered in more than 100 years. “So far we can say it is the mammoth of the century,” Tikhonov said. It took scientists five days to dig out the animal which was then transported to the northern city of Dudinka.—AFP

STOCKHOLM: Guessing who will win a Nobel Prize is a bit like forecasting the stock market: Experts don’t seem to do it any better than laymen. So if you hear professors and pundits predicting the “God particle” will be the theme of the physics prize next week, or that an American writer - finally - is due for the literature award, check their track record. “My top candidate has never won, and it’s the fourth year I do it now,” admitted Norwegian peace researcher Kristian Harpviken, one of the most prominent voices in the annual guessing game for the Nobel Peace Prize.

A week ahead of that announcement, the Irish online betting agency Paddy Power gave the lowest odds Friday to retired American scholar Gene Sharp, Afghan women’s rights activist Sima Samar and Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni. All have been among Harpviken’s top picks in recent years. Harpviken, who heads the PRIO peace institute in Oslo, admits his speculation is just that - speculation - based on current events, previous prizes and personal preference. “I think guessing is important in that it brings attention to what the Nobel Peace Prize should be about,” he said. “I would be very hesitant to speculate on a certain candidate who is absolutely undeserving.”

The secretive prize committees rarely drop any hints and Harpviken doesn’t have any inside information. Virtually none of the Nobel guessmakers do - but that doesn’t stop them from trying. The peace and literature prizes generate the strongest buzz, and are typically less difficult to predict than the awards for chemistry, physics, medicine and economics. The six award committees will announce one prize a day, starting with medicine on Monday and ending with the economics award on Oct 15.

The Nobel Foundation this year lowered the prize money 20 percent to 8 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million), citing turmoil on financial markets. All prizes will be handed out on Dec 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. It would have been easier to guess the winners if the Nobel committees had stuck to the will of the Swedish industrialist, who wanted the annual awards to reflect the greatest achievements “during the preceding year.” Instead, the Nobel statutes were changed so that committees can reward discoveries made decades ago, to make sure they have

stood the test of time.

“I think Alfred would have been OK with that,” said Per Carlson, chairman of the physics prize committee. Handing out a prize too soon increases the risk of jurors failing to identify the right scientists behind a discovery, Carlson said.

That happened in 1974, when the Nobel Prize in physics went to British radio astronomers Sir Martin Ryle and Antony Hewish. The latter was cited for the discovery of pulsars - rotating neutron stars though it later became clear that one of his graduate students deserved the credit.

The Nobel time lag could hurt the chances of the most talked-about scientific breakthrough this year: the identification of the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle also referred to as the “God particle.” Though British scientist Peter Higgs predicted the existence of the particle in the 1960s, it was only in July this year that scientists at an atom-smasher outside Geneva claimed to have identified it. Whether Higgs was even nominated is unclear - the deadline was in February and nominations are not revealed for 50 years.

Secrecy is paramount to the Nobel committees. Literature jurors have been known to use code words when discussing Nobel candidates and using fake book covers when reading their work. After suspected leaks ahead of recent announcements, the literature panel has taken additional measures this year. A press release declaring the winner will no longer be delivered by courier to the offices of major news organizations in Stockholm, including The Associated Press. And the panel’s permanent secretary, Peter Englund, has stopped giving his customary interviews in the weeks leading up to the prize. “We just think it’s better this way,” Englund told the AP in an email.

Betting on the literature prize is in full swing, with Ladbrokes offering 3/1 odds for Japanese writer Haruki Murakami and American singersongwriter Bob Dylan - an outsider whose name appears in the Nobel buzz every year though the committee has never given the prize to a musician - placing fourth at 10/1. The last American to win the Nobel Prize in literature was Toni Morrison, in 1993. In perhaps the most elaborate example of Nobel guesswork, the scientific division of news and financial information provider Thomson Reuters analyzes thousands of citations and papers in high-impact

academic journals to identify possible winners of the science and economics awards.

Even though they allow themselves three guesses for each of those four prizes, the Thomson Reuters analysts led by David Pendleton haven’t predicted a winner since the 2009 medicine award. Of the 158 scientists they have identified as potential Nobel laureates since 2002, 26 have won, but only nine in the year they had predicted. “If we do get any of these right it’s all the more remarkable, because we have no field expertise,” said Pendleton, whose academic background is in ancient history. The main difficulty in making forecasts, he said, is that “there are more people of Nobel class than there are Nobel Prizes to go around.”

The scholars and literature buffs speculating on Nobel Prizes may be different from the crowd predicting scores in sports bars, but the psychology is similar: they keep making their guesses known to others even though they know they are more likely to be wrong than right. When accurate guesses are rare, a person making an inaccurate guess can easily dismiss it by saying that most other people got it wrong too, said Jiao Zhang, a professor at the University of Miami who has studied the dynamics of guess-making.

“Whereas in the rare case when his guess is accurate, he can say to himself, ‘I’m among the few who got it right,’” he said in an email. “ Vindication and validation are sweet.”

Economics - which wasn’t in Nobel’s will but was tacked on to the other prizes by Sweden’s central bank in 1968 - is arguably the most difficult discipline to predict. Unlike Nobel-winning scientists who discovered things like X-rays or the AIDS virus, economics laureates are typically rewarded for abstract theories about market behavior.

Hubert Fromlet, a professor of international economics at Sweden’s Linnaeus University, each year offers a “narrow” list with the 10 economists he believes are most likely to win. He also provides a “relatively narrow” list with 20 names and a “broader” one with 40. But with 40 names, does it really count as I-told-you-so if one of them wins? “Of course I feel happy when I have someone in the Top 40,” Fromlet said. “But if you have someone in the top 10, it’s a little bit more fun. It’s not a competition. It’s just something I like to do.”— AP

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WHAT’S ON

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! This summer, let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

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Greetings

Italian ambassador inaugurates ‘Sartoria Italia’ boutique talian Ambassador, Fabrizio Nicoletti inaugurated on September 26 the “Sartoria Italia” Boutique at the Salhiya Complex in the presence of the owners JaafarBehbehani and Alain Roncoletta as well as prominent personalities and lovers of the high end Italian manufactures.

The boutique exclusively includes a number of Italian brands originally manufactured in Italian cities such as Florence, Castelli, Roma, Milano and other cities renowned for their handmade work. These works are dedicated to furniture, interior decoration in addition to ceramic arts and other material and equipments which demonstrated that they perfectly complement any space by adding a unique and exceptional touch.

Following the opening ceremony, Nicoletti and the invitees made a tour inside the boutique to check the displayed pieces and to have a closer look at their special manufacturing procedures knowing that these creations are available in Kuwait and the Arab countries exclusively in this boutique.

On this occasion, Jafar Behbehani, said: “we proud ourselves today to have such high standard of Italian manufac-

I t was a glorious moment at the Life Abundant International Fountain Church on Friday as family, friends and well-wishers celebrat with Tim and family as they dedicat their child Jayden to the Lord.

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ture in Kuwait and where we can acquire unique pieces that we feel satisfied of possessing as if we have purchased them directly from Italy”.

On his part, Alain Roncoletta expressed his utmost satisfaction for the opening of “Sartoria Italia” especially that “opening the boutique was only normal given the strong demand of our growing clientele in Kuwait and the region to

acquire the brands that are available. So, it was a natural step to gather all these creations under one roof to become a reference for the high end Italian manufactures” according to Roncoletta.

In the end, Nicoletti and the invitees wished all the success to “Sartoria Italia” expressing their desires to see the boutique expanding and growing its activities in Kuwait.

Moreover, Sartoria Italia has started its activities in Kuwait as of 2009 and has chosen this particular country given the distinctive relationship between both countries, Italy and Kuwait as well as the passion of the Kuwaiti people for the Italian manufactures and their deep knowledge about the high quality and excellence that distinguish the Italian products.

Samskritham Vada, Aduniko Bhava anskrit language occupies an exalted position amongst the numerous languages of the world, as it is not just a communication tool but is an entire ‘way of life’. Modern day scholars admit that Sanksrit could be older than 6,000 years at the least. There are many efforts being undertaken to restore Samskrita to its once held position of glory. Samskrita Bharathi, is one such non-profit organization that is working to bring Samskrita back into the mainstream.

They conduct courses, lectures, seminars, debates, discourses.etc with the objective of promoting the study of Samskrita language. The spoken Samskrita camps (Samskrita Sambhaashana Shibirs) conducted by them have helped bring Samskrita into people’s homes in short, simple steps. Basically, a person needs about 200-250 words to be able to effectively converse in any language on a simple day-to-day basis.

These shibirs provide an opportunity for everyone to learn basic communication skills in Samskrita, and have earned the admiration of many. To enable the large expat Indian population in the Middle-East to benefit from this endeavour, Samskrita Bharathi will be coming to our doorsteps soon. This month, a Samskrita Camp will be conducted in Kuwait jointly by Samskrita Bharathi, Vichar Bharati and the Department of Sanskrit, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Kuwait.

This is a golden opportunity for all Bharatiyas to dip into the vast ocean of the treasures we have inherited in the form of the ancient language of Samskrita, endeavouring in the process to regain our position of eminence in the world.

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ost wedding celebration of Carlito and Marnic. Best wishes from papa, mama, brothers and sisters Nanay Marlyn and Ate Mitch, Ate Vicky and Abu, friends and coworkers.

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UPCOMING EVENTS Football tournament uwait Goan Association (KGA) is pleased to inform you that the draw of the 4th Edition of Eslinda Alemao Memorial 7-a-side Football Tournament will be held on October 12, 2012 after the third match (half time period) at the MOH Grounds, Sabah Hospital, Shuwaikh, under the auspices of Kuwait Indian Football Federation.

The tournament will be held on the first day of Eid Al Adha (public holiday) at the MOH Grounds, Friday - October 26, 2012 and will he officiated by IFRA. For clubs who wish to field more than one team, may please email: kgakuwait@gmail.com

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KERA election on Oct 12 he adhoc committee has decided to carry out KERA’s unit general body elections for the year 2012-2013. As part of this, the unit general body elections for SALMIYA unit shall be conducted on Friday 12th October 2012 at 5 pm at Indian Public School-Salmiya. The election procedures shall be followed strictly & fully subjected to the draft bye-law formed by the ad hock committee, all members from the Salmiya area are requested to attend and make the election grand and successful.

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‘Leniency of Islam’ n 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.

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Focus Kuwait 6th annual day s a part of the 6th anniversary celebrations, Forum of Cadd Users (FOCUS Kuwait), a non-political, non-religious organization is set to stage a mega cultural event “Focus Fest-2012”. This mega event will be a blend of traditional and contemporary dance and musical extravaganza by renowned South Indian playback singers Jyotsna and Sudeesh. Scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, October 12, 2012, at the Al-Jeel Al-Jadeed School Auditorium, Hawally, the mega musical show, is expected to be a super-hit in Kuwait.

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IES host mini education expo xperience is one thing you can’t get for nothing.

Keeping this philosophy in mind, Indian Educational School (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan), Kuwait organized an Educational exhibition in collaboration with the American Universities in the school auditorium on 4th October 2012 for grade 12 students.

The institutions like Concord University , Fontbonne University, Northern Arizona University, Oklahoma City University, Pace University, National University, Moore College Of Art & Design, Living Arts College @ School Of Communication Arts, Portland Community College, The American University Of Rome, University Of Nevada, Reno, John F Kennedy University, University Of San Francisco and San Mateo County Community College District had their counters at the expo. The venue was properly organized to house these institutions in a way that the students do not have any difficulty in communicating with the resource persons.

The students were briefed by representatives from each individual institution about the courses and facilities offered by them. They were enlightened on all the details pertaining to the courses i.e. fee structure, hostel facilities and scholarships. After giving a detailed description, the

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students were given opportunities to clarify their doubts about everything related to the courses. This doubt clearing session helped many students clarify some misconceptions they had about the courses. For example, many students were of the view that if they were interested in game designing, they should opt for the course of graphic designing. But this was made clear to them after the session and now they know that both are totally different courses.

Xavier Muthu of American Embassy, one of the senior most Toast Masters in Kuwait, the coordinator of the programme Miss Kate McGannon and T Premkumar, the Principal of the school took the initiative and made sure that every student in grade 12 got benefit out of this rare and unique opportunity.

This 90 minute event gave an insight into the 12th graders about the top notch colleges and universities in various educational hubs around the world. This is the first time the American Universities in such large numbers visited an Indian School in Kuwait to conduct a mini expo and share the courses and facilities that they offer for international students.

Indian Consular Open House Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

onsular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizens on all workings days from 1000 hrs to 1100 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1530 hrs by the Consular Officer in the Meeting Room of the Consular Hall at the Embassy. For any unaddressed issues, Second Secretary (Consular) can be contacted.

Furthermore, the head of the Consular

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Wing is also available to redress grievances.

Indian workers helpline/helpdesk: Indian workers helpline is accessible by toll free telephone number 25674163 from all over Kuwait. It provides information and advice to Indian workers as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. The help desk at the

Embassy (Open from 9AM to 1PM and 2PM to 4:30PM, Sunday to Thursday) provides guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal and other issues. It also provides workers assistance in filling up labour complaint forms. For any unaddressed issues, the concerned attache in the Labour section and the head of the Labour Wing can be contacted.

OICC Onam, Eid celebration erala minister K Babu stated that Kerala’s ambitious project of Air Kerala will be practical by UDF ministry. Various level of discussions with Central ministry is going on for the implementation of this dream project, minister voiced after inaugurating the grand function conducted by Overseas Indian Cultural Congress (OICC) Kuwait in connection with Onam and Eid celebrations at Pravasi Auditorium, Abassiya, Kuwait.

Previously minister inaugurated the ONAM-EID SANGAMAM by lighting the lamp in the presence of grand gatherings including distinguished guests.

Minister also pointed out that the step-by-step banning of all types of liquors in Kerala is the policy of UDF ministry. Minister highlighted the Pravasi contributions to the financial growth of Kerala and also discussed Kerala Government’s various proposals in “Emerging Kerala” for the overall development of the State.

The meeting was presided by MA Hilal, OICC Chairman and General Convener Varghese Puthukulangara welcomed the gatherings. Rajan Danial, MK Pothan, Thomas Mathew Kadavil, Sharafudeen Kannath, Krishnan Kadalundy gave the felicitations. NORKA director Ismail Ravuther explained to the attendees about various activities conducted by NORKA.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

WHAT’S ON

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday.

Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

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Renowned BBQ nights back at Palms Beach Hotel & Spa he coming back of the cool autumn breeze and its fascinating nights brings along The Palms

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Beach Hotel & Spa famous BBQ Nights that aspire a unique look this season.

The spectacular shining event will take place every Wednesday Night at 8 pm to last till late after midnight.

This distinctive event of the Palms BBQ Nights to be held by the beach and around the swimming pool area surrounded by flowers, greenery and palm trees is considered one of the hotel’s essential and unique events. It is looked for and well anticipated not only by the Hotel’s guests, but also by all Kuwaiti people & expatriates that provides the ideal location for families, friends and gatherings with its great selection of food, fascinating ambience and atmosphere.

In addition to its rich buffet that abounds with delicious dishes from around the globe, there is the sumptuous BBQ of all kinds of meat and seafood that account for the event’s fame, with the famous live cooking sta-

tions which The Palms is well known for, starting form Seafood station, Iranian grilled station and tanour bread, Mongolian station, Shawerma station, BBQ station and more... where our experienced chefs will prepare the food right in front of your eyes while enjoying a selection of appetizers, salads, deserts and fresh juices.

“Our meticulous preparation takes the largest part to meet what the Palms BBQ Nights need, and Master Chefs at the Palms are working hard, using their long expertise to present innovative menu enriched with delicious food while exerting all possible efforts to satisfy our goal in serving our guests & clients even better...” Said Rabie AlSukhon - Palm Hotel’s General Manager.

Further he adds “Our dear guests & clients are most welcomed to experience a memorable time with us at The Palms Beach Hotel & Spa and to enjoy the Palms renowned BBQ nights with

their families and friends every Wednesday Night...”

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Rabie Al Sukhon

Kalashala holds Gandhi Jayanthi alashala Kuwait an association based and focused in social and cultural activities amongst Indians in Kuwait have observed and commemorated “Gandhi Jayanthi” the 143rd Birth day of Mahatma Gandhi the father of nation.

The executive committee members recalled that the significance of Gandhi Jayanti celebration transcends beyond

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commemorating Mahatma Gandhi’s birth and his life as followers renounce violence and entirely devote themselves to Gandhi’s philosophy and principles of living a life by following non-violence.

Association president Chessil Ramapuram presided the meeting, Advisory board members Adv. John Thomas, Adv. Thomas Panicker delivered the speech in remembrance of

Gandhiji. General Secretary Sam Nanthiyattu delivered the welcome address and Shaiju Kurain given the vote of thanks.

The association gathered to observe Gandhi Jayanthi began with a silent prayer followed with an innovative ways including lighting the lamp , offering flowers on Gandhi’s picture , and singing Gandhi’s favourite devotional

EMBASSY OF ARGENTINE The Embassy of Argentina requests all Argentinean citizens in Kuwait to proceed to our official email ekuwa@mrecic.gov.ar 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 Argentinean Government to contact and assist Argentineans living abroad in case of any emergency.

song “Reghupati Raghava Raja Ram” Association officials Nixon George , John Abraham , Anil Mathew , Roy John, Shaiju Kurian , Bibin Mathai, Deepak Panicker, Ajith Zackarias were leading the programs.

EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on short-stay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database.

Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS. ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF FRANCE The Embassy would like to inform that starting September 2nd, 2012, visa demands for France will be handled by the outsourcing company “Capago - MENA Company”. Capago - MENA’S Call Center will be operational starting Sunday August 26 for setting appointments beginning September 2nd (+965 22270555).

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TEMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed on OCT 24, 2012 -Wednesday-Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami) ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, Al-Salaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location. Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com.

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EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk.

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GIS excels in KQ Matters eter Nikhil David and Eshita Bansal of Gulf Indian School were the proud recipients of the Rolling Trophy (shared with the Indian Community School team) and the Cash Award for KQ Matters Quiz Competition organized by Indian Educational School, Kuwait. GIS has been achieving this honour for the past 3 consecutive years.

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ravasee Deseeya Congress (I) president Jacob Channapetta welcoming the visiting Kerala minister K. Babu along with other office bearers Adv Thomas Panicker, Tom Kalachery, Abdullah Thrikaripur, John Samuel and Georgi George.

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EMBASSY OF UKRAINE We’d like to inform you that in response to the increasing number of our citizens who work in the state and the need for 24-hour operational telephone in case of emergency the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait has opened “hotline telephone number” - (+ 965) 972-79-206.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

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

Animal Cops Phoenix Killer Whales Bad Dog Cats 101 Wildest Arctic Animal Cops Phoenix Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Wildlife SOS Talk To The Animals Dogs 101 Crocodile Hunter Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Breed All About It Natural Born Hunters The Really Wild Show Wildest Arctic Wild France Wild France Safari Vet School Safari Vet School Wild Animal Orphans Wild Animal Orphans Bad Dog My Cat From Hell World Wild Vet Max’s Big Tracks Into The Pride Wildest Arctic Speed Of Life The Magic Of The Big Blue I’m Alive

23:50 Animal Cops Houston 00:10 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 00:55 Bargain Hunt 01:40 Bargain Hunt 02:25 Antiques Roadshow 03:15 Antiques Roadshow 04:10 Antiques Roadshow 05:00 Antiques Roadshow 05:50 Antiques Roadshow 06:40 MasterChef Australia 07:30 MasterChef Australia 07:55 MasterChef Australia 08:40 MasterChef Australia 09:30 MasterChef Australia 10:20 MasterChef Australia 10:45 MasterChef Australia 11:35 MasterChef Australia 12:00 MasterChef Australia 12:45 MasterChef Australia 13:35 Twiggy’s Frock Exchange 14:25 10 Years Younger 15:15 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 15:55 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 16:40 DIY SOS 17:05 Holmes On Homes 17:55 Bargain Hunt 18:40 Bargain Hunt 19:25 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 20:10 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 21:00 MasterChef 21:55 MasterChef 22:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 23:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Edition 00:40 01:35 02:30 03:00 03:25 03:55 04:20 04:50 05:15 05:40 06:05 06:35 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:45 09:10 09:40 10:30 11:25 12:20 12:45 13:15 13:40 14:10 14:35 15:05 15:30 16:00 16:55 17:20 17:50 18:15 18:45 19:10 20:05 21:00 21:55 22:50 23:45

Hellriders Ultimate Cops How Do They Do It? How It’s Made How Do They Do It? How It’s Made How Do They Do It? How It’s Made How Do They Do It? How It’s Made How Do They Do It? How It’s Made How It’s Made How Do They Do It? X-Machines Crash Course Fifth Gear One Car Too Far Around The World In 80 Ways Deadliest Catch How It’s Made How It’s Made How It’s Made How It’s Made How It’s Made Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Dealers Border Security Border Security Border Security Border Security Border Security Mythbusters Mythbusters Superhuman Showdown Sport Under Threat Life On A Wire Life On A Wire

23:20 Surviving Disaster 00:35 Weird Or What?

01:25 Catch It Keep It 02:15 Things That Move 02:45 Morgan Freeman’s Through The Wormhole 03:35 Moon Machines 04:25 Stephen Hawking’s Grand Design 05:15 How The Universe Works 06:05 Morgan Freeman’s Through The Wormhole 07:00 Meteorite Men 07:50 Meteorite Men 08:40 Head Rush 08:43 Sci-Fi Science 09:12 Sci-Fi Science 09:40 Mega World 10:30 Things That Move 10:55 Things That Move 11:20 Moon Machines 12:10 Weird Or What?

13:00 Space Pioneer 13:50 Catch It Keep It 14:45 Tech Toys 360 15:10 Tech Toys 360 15:35 Things That Move 16:00 Head Rush 16:03 The Tech Show 16:32 The Tech Show 17:00 Morgan Freeman’s Through The Wormhole 17:50 Da Vinci’s Machines 18:40 Things That Move 19:05 Things That Move 19:30 How The Universe Works 20:20 Trek Nation 22:00 How The Universe Works 22:50 Trek Nation

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

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:45 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:30 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 09:55 10:20

Little Einsteins Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Special Agent Oso Lazytown Little Einsteins Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Special Agent Oso Lazytown Little Einsteins Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Imagination Movers Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Lazytown Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jake & The Neverland Pirates Doc McStuffins Doc McStuffins The Hive Mini Adventures Of Winnie The New Adventures Of Winnie The Art Attack Imagination Movers Lazytown Special Agent Oso Mouk Jungle Junction Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jake & The Neverland Pirates Doc McStuffins Doc McStuffins Mouk Art Attack New Adventures Of Winnie The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse The Hive Mouk Handy Manny Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jake & The Neverland Pirates Doc McStuffins Doc McStuffins Art Attack Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mouk Jake & The Neverland Pirates Imagination Movers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jungle Junction New Adventures Of Winnie The Jake & The Neverland Pirates Doc McStuffins Doc McStuffins Mini Adventures Of Winnie The A Poem Is...

Animated Stories Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Special Agent Oso New Adventures Of Winnie The Timmy Time Jungle Junction Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Lazytown Lazytown TNA: Greatest Matches M1 Selection 2010 Gumball 3000: 2010 Gumball 3000: 2010 Ed’s Up Ed’s Up Ed’s Up Ed’s Up Blood, Sweat And Gears Blood, Sweat And Gears Alli Presents Alli Presents Alli Presents Blood, Sweat And Gears Blood, Sweat And Gears X Games Heroes X Games Heroes Alli Presents Alli Presents Alli Presents I’ll Do Anything I’ll Do Anything Carpocalypse Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose Your Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose Your Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose Your Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose Your Formula Drift 2011 Formula Drift 2011 Gumball 3000: 2010 Gumball 3000: 2010 Jump The Brazilian Gap Clay Marzo: Just Add Water Mengejar Ombak

Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Best In Smoke Chopped Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Guy’s Big Bite Outrageous Food Charly’s Cake Angels Chopped Barefoot Contessa Barefoot Contessa Iron Chef America Barefoot Contessa Barefoot Contessa Charly’s Cake Angels Charly’s Cake Angels Jenny Morris Cooks Morocco Cooking For Real Cooking For Real

10:45 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 United Tastes Of America 12:00 Chopped 12:50 Guy’s Big Bite 13:15 Cooking For Real 13:40 Barefoot Contessa 14:05 Barefoot Contessa 14:30 Charly’s Cake Angels 14:55 Charly’s Cake Angels 15:20 Jenny Morris Cooks Morocco 15:45 Food(Ography) 16:10 Unwrapped 16:35 Barefoot Contessa 17:00 Barefoot Contessa 17:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 17:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:15 Guy’s Big Bite 18:40 Charly’s Cake Angels 19:05 Charly’s Cake Angels 19:30 Chopped 20:20 Iron Chef America 21:10 Food Network Challenge 22:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 22:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 22:50 Unwrapped 23:15 Unwrapped 23:40 Guy’s Big Bite 23:40 Guy’s Big Bite 00:30 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:30 Jones 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 Jones 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:15 13:40 14:30 Jones 15:20 15:45 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15 23:40

A Haunting The Haunted Ghost Lab A Haunting A Haunting True Crime With Aphrodite Mystery Diagnosis Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite Murder Shift Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Forensic Detectives True Crime With Aphrodite Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

Murder Shift Disappeared Forensic Detectives Mall Cops‚Äì Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Stalked: Someone’s Watching Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Evil, I Evil, I I Was Murdered I Was Murdered Fatal Encounters

00:15 The Ride: Alaska To Patagonia 00:45 The Frankincense Trail 01:40 Long Way Down 02:35 Wheel2Wheel 03:00 Wheel2Wheel 03:30 Treks In A Wild World 04:25 Food School 04:50 Food School 05:20 David Rocco‚Äôs Dolce Vita 3 05:45 David Rocco‚Äôs Dolce Vita 3 06:15 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 1 06:40 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 1 07:10 On Surfari 07:35 On Surfari 08:05 Bondi Rescue: Bali 08:30 Bondi Rescue: Bali 09:00 Bondi Rescue: Bali 09:25 Bondi Rescue: Bali 09:55 Bondi Rescue: Bali 10:20 Bondi Rescue: Bali 10:50 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 11:45 Roam 12:10 Don’t Tell My Mother 12:40 Gone to save the planet 13:05 Gone to save the planet 13:35 One Man & His Campervan 14:00 One Man & His Campervan 14:30 Market Values 14:55 Market Values 15:25 Dive Detectives 16:20 Bondi Rescue: Bali 16:45 Bondi Rescue: Bali 17:15 Bondi Rescue: Bali 17:40 Bondi Rescue: Bali 18:10 Bondi Rescue: Bali 18:35 Bondi Rescue: Bali 19:05 David Rocco‚Äôs Dolce Vita 3 19:30 David Rocco‚Äôs Dolce Vita 3 20:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 1 20:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 1 21:00 On Surfari 21:30 On Surfari 22:00 Bondi Rescue: Bali 22:25 Bondi Rescue: Bali 22:55 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 23:20 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 23:50 Kimchi Chronicles 23:00 Naked Science 00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:35 06:00 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:00

Python Hunters Caught In The Act Monster Fish Crocs Of Katuma Big Cat Odyssey Caught In The Act Wild Chronicles Wild Chronicles Swamp Men Swamp Men Cliffhangers Python Hunters Built For The Kill Caught In The Act Kingdom Of The Forest Monster Fish Mother Croc The Dark Side Of Elephants Sixgill Shark: Into The Abyss The Last Lions Kingdom Of The Forest Monster Fish Mother Croc The Dark Side Of Elephants Sixgill Shark: Into The Abyss Hunter Hunted

00:00 Saw VII: The Final Chapter-R 02:00 Gridlock’d-18 04:00 Biker Boyz-PG15

06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00 20:00 22:00

Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?-PG15 Vengeance-PG15 Taxi-PG15 The Eagle-PG15 Vengeance-PG15 Arlington Road-PG15 The Eagle-PG15 Devil-PG15 Go Fast-PG15 Fighting-PG15 Homecoming-18

01:30 Saturday Night Live 02:30 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia 03:00 Bent 03:30 Bent 04:00 Two And A Half Men 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 06:00 Friends 06:30 Til Death 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Two And A Half Men 08:30 Bent 09:30 The Simpsons 10:00 The Office 10:30 Til Death 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Two And A Half Men 13:30 Til Death 14:00 Bent 14:30 The Office 15:00 The Simpsons 16:30 Friends 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Happy Endings 18:30 Hot In Cleveland 19:30 The Office 20:30 Melissa & Joey 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 23:00 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 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

White Collar C.S.I. C.S.I. Miami Grimm House C.S.I. Miami White Collar Emmerdale Coronation Street Castle C.S.I. New York C.S.I. House Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Castle White Collar Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Castle House Unforgettable The Killing True Blood Grimm

00:30 03:15 05:15 07:00 09:00 PG15 11:00 13:00 15:00 PG15 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00 23:00

Saving Private Ryan-18 Biker Boyz-PG15 The Transporter-PG15 Dangerous Flowers-PG15 True Justice: Deadly CrossingThe Transporter-PG15 Hackers-PG15 True Justice: Deadly CrossingFour Brothers-PG15 Sniper: Reloaded-18 Go Fast-PG15 Puffball: The Devil’s Eyeball-R Luster-18

00:00 Youth In Revolt-18 02:00 No Strings Attached-18 04:00 The Marc Pease ExperiencePG15 06:00 The Beverly Hillbillies-PG15 08:00 Held Up (1999)-PG15 10:00 Prom-PG15 12:00 The American President-PG15 14:00 Joe Dirt-PG15 16:00 Prom-PG15 18:00 Beavis And Butt-Head Do America-PG15 20:00 Due Date-PG15 22:00 Big Fat Important Movie-18

01:15 Get Low-PG15 03:00 Biutiful-18 05:30 The King’s Speech-PG15 07:30 Pina-PG15 09:15 Oceans-PG15 11:00 The Natural-PG 13:15 Sunny And The Elephant-PG15 15:00 Oceans-PG15 16:45 Evita-PG 19:00 Never Let Me Go-PG15 21:00 Black Swan-18 23:00 Skirt Day-PG1523:30 Square Grouper-18 01:00 Made In Dagenham-PG15 03:00 Hemingway & Gellhorn-PG15 05:00 Oceans-PG15 07:00 Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story-PG 09:00 Monte Carlo-PG15 11:00 Courageous-PG15 13:15 The Tender Hook-PG15 15:00 Shrek Forever After-FAM 16:45 Monte Carlo-PG15 18:45 X-Men: First Class-PG15 21:00 Bridesmaids-18 23:15 Black Swan-18

00:00 Tom And Jerry & The Wizard Of Oz-FAM 01:45 The Three Bears: Dreadful Dangers-FAM 03:45 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. EvilPG 06:00 Rh+ The Vampire Of Seville-PG 08:00 Turtle Hero: Part I-FAM 10:00 The Nutty Professor-FAM 12:00 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. EvilPG 14:00 Marco Macaco-FAM 16:00 A Venetian Rascal Goes To America-FAM 18:00 The Nutty Professor-FAM 20:00 Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader-PG 22:00 Marco Macaco-FAM

KNCC PROGRAM FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (04/10/2012 TO 10/10/2012) SHARQIA-1 THE APPARITION :2D PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) DARLING COMPANION :2D THE WORDS :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D THE WORDS :2D THE APPARITION :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED SHARQIA-2 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED SHARQIA-3 ARBITRAGE :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D SILENT HOUSE (2D- Digital) SUN+TUE+WED WON’T BACK DOWN :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D ARBITRAGE :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED MUHALAB-1 ARBITRAGE :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D THE WORDS :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D THE WORDS :2D THE APPARITION :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED MUHALAB-2 PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) FRI AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM 1:30 AM

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM 1:00 AM

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 3:30 PM 5:15 PM 7:45 PM 10:30 PM 1:00 AM

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM

2:00 PM 1:15 PM 4:00 PM 6:45 PM 9:30 PM 12:15 AM

MUHALAB-3 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D DREDD :3D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

FANAR-1 DARLING COMPANION :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:45 AM

FANAR-2 WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D BAIT (3D- Digital) WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D DREDD :3D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 1:00 AM

FANAR-3 ARBITRAGE :2D ENGLISH VINGLISH :2D (Hindi) ENGLISH VINGLISH :2D (Hindi) ARBITRAGE :2D ARBITRAGE :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:30 PM 7:15 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

FANAR-4 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

FANAR-5 PREMIUM RUSH THE WORDS THE APPARITION THE WORDS THE WORDS THE APPARITION THE APPARITION NO SUN+TUE+WED MARINA-1 THE APPARITION :2D ARBITRAGE :2D THE WORDS :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D THE WORDS :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D THE APPARITION :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED MARINA-2 PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) FRI WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED MARINA-3 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D DREDD :3D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-1 AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D

1:15 PM 3:15 PM 5:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM 1:00 AM

12:30 PM 2:15 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:15 PM 1:30 AM

1:30 PM 1:00 PM 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 8:45 PM 11:30 PM

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:15 PM 1:15 AM

12:30 PM 3:15 PM 6:00 PM 8:45 PM

AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

11:30 PM

AVENUES-2 ARBITRAGE :2D THE APPARITION :2D ARBITRAGE :2D THE APPARITION :2D ARBITRAGE :2D THE APPARITION :2D PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-3 WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 1:00 AM

AVENUES-4 WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 1:00 AM

AVENUES-5 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

AVENUES-6 BAIT (3D- Digital) DREDD :3D BAIT (3D- Digital) DREDD :3D DREDD :3D BAIT (3D- Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:15 PM 1:15 AM

AVENUES-7 WAR OF THE DEAD (2D-Digital) ENGLISH VINGLISH :2D (Hindi) BARFI! (Hindi)(2D-Digital) ENGLISH VINGLISH :2D (Hindi) WAR OF THE DEAD (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 3:45 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-8 ROBOT & FRANK (2D- Digital) SILENT HOUSE (2D- Digital) TETA RAHIBA(2D-Digital) ROBOT & FRANK (2D- Digital) TETA RAHIBA(2D-Digital) SILENT HOUSE (2D- Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-9 DARLING COMPANION :2D 1:30 PM RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION (3D-Digital)3 : 4 5 PM DARLING COMPANION :2D 6:00 PM DARLING COMPANION :2D 8:15 PM DARLING COMPANION :2D 10:30 PM DARLING COMPANION :2D 12:45 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-10 PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) THE WORDS :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-11 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

360 º- 6 DREDD :3D DREDD :3D DREDD :3D DREDD :3D DREDD :3D DREDD :3D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

360 º- 7 THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

360 º- 8 AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

360 º- 9(VIP-1) AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

360 º-10(VIP-2) TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

360 º- 11 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

360 º- 12 WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D SILENT HOUSE (2D- Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 8:30 PM 11:00 PM 1:30 AM

360 º- 13 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-IMAX) RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:45 AM

360 º- 14 TETA RAHIBA(2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA(2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA(2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA(2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA(2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

360 º- 15 THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) WAR OF THE DEAD (2D-Digital) BARFI! (Hindi)(2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) WAR OF THE DEAD (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM 12:45 AM

AL-KOUT.1 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

360 º- 1 ROBOT & FRANK (2D- Digital) ROBOT & FRANK (2D- Digital) BAIT (3D- Digital) ROBOT & FRANK (2D- Digital) BAIT (3D- Digital) ROBOT & FRANK (2D- Digital) BAIT (3D- Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

360 º- 2 DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.3 DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D THE APPARITION :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

360º- 3 ARBITRAGE :2D THE APPARITION :2D ARBITRAGE :2D THE APPARITION :2D ARBITRAGE :2D THE APPARITION :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

AL-KOUT.4 THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D THE WORDS :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D THE WORDS :2D AL SULTAN AL FATIH (Turkish) :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:45 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

360º- 4 PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 12:45 PM PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 2:45 PM RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION (3D-Digital)4 : 4 5 PM PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 6:45 PM PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 9:00 PM PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 11:15 PM PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 1:15 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED

BAIRAQ-1 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D DREDD :3D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D BAIT (3D- Digital) TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

360 º- 5 ENGLISH VINGLISH :2D (Hindi) FRI+SAT ENGLISH VINGLISH :2D (Hindi) ENGLISH VINGLISH :2D (Hindi) ENGLISH VINGLISH :2D (Hindi) NO SUN+TUE+WED

BAIRAQ-2 DARLING COMPANION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D THE APPARITION :2D DARLING COMPANION :2D THE APPARITION :2D THE APPARITION :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

2:30 PM 5:30 PM 8:30 PM 11:30 PM

AL-KOUT.2 WON’T BACK DOWN :2D ARBITRAGE :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D WON’T BACK DOWN :2D

1:15 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:30 PM 11:00 PM

Classifieds SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

ACCOMMODATION Apartment to share decent working ladies, Salmiyah, restaurant street, exactly behind Platinum. Contact 66920590. (C 4161) 7-10-2012 Sharing accommodation available, near Jabriya Indian School, Jabriya, central A/C flat. Decent Muslim couple or two working ladies only. Call 66795253.

(C 4156) 3-10-2012

SITUATION WANTED Australian Engineer with two-Engineering (Civil/Elect) & four Master Degrees (Engg/Prog Mgmt/ Education/MBA). 23 years experience in Dubai/ Qatar/

Australia, looking project Mgr / QHSE Mgr job.

Contact: 65695468.

(C 4160) 7-10-2012 PMP certified, IT Project Management, Software Testing Professional with 7 year experience including 3 year in UK, Postgraduate.

Looking for executive level job. Call 69905419.

(C 4158) 3-10-2012

CHANGE OF NAME I, Koripelli Laxmi, Indian Passport No: G7568742, wife of Abdulkhader residing at D. No: 40-34-12, Dharmanagar, Kancharapalam, Visakhapatanam, has changed my name as NASIMBANU. (4165) 7-10-2012

I, Mohamed Haja Mohamed Sourcane, holder of Indian Passport No: E2780618 hereby change my name to Mohamad Saircane Mouhamad Hadja.

(C 4159) 3-10-2012

POLICE STATION

SITUATION VACANT

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

Need driver to work or houseboy, visa 18 or 20 ok.

Contact: 55400994.

(C 4155) 2-10-2012

TUITION A 22 years (moderator and examiner) highly experienced Math, teacher in IB, SAT ’s, IGCSE available.

Contact: 66920590.

(C 4162) 7-10-2012 LOST Indian Passport, name: Shaikh Ali, No: F3606335, date of issue: 10/05/2005, date of birth: 20/06/1981, has been lost, finder please contact: 69694619/ (C 4164)

FOR SALE

Used 2 sofa bed, color brown, good condition, in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. Price each KD 15. Call 66762737.

(C 4163) 6-10-2012

Ministry of Interior

Galant 1997 model, blue color, good condition, A/C, price KD 400, passing valid for one year. Contact: 96975726.

website: www.moi.gov.kw

Kawai Piano, Yamaha electric organ, Yamaha keyboard, household furniture. Please contact: 22661316.

(C 4157)

112 REQUIRED

Prayer timings

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net

The Public Institution for Social Security www.pifss.gov.kw

Ministry of Interior www.moi.gov.kw

Public Authority of Industry www.pai.gov.kw

Public Authority for Civil Information www.paci.gov.kw

Prisoners of War Committee www.pows.org.kw

Kuwait News Agency www.kuna.net.kw

Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.gov.kw

Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair www.islam.gov.kw

Kuwait Municipality www.municipality.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Oil) www.moo.gov.kw

Kuwait Electronic Government www.e.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Electricity and Water) www.energy.govt.kw

Ministry of Finance www.mof.gov.kw

Public Authority for Housing Welfare www.housing.gov.kw

Ministry of Commerce and Industry www.moci.gov.kw

Ministry of Justice www.moj.gov.kw

Ministry of Education www.moe.edu.kw

Ministry of Communications www.moc.kw

Ministry of Information www.moinfo.gov.kw

Supreme Council for Planning and Development www.scpd.gov.kw

Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation www.awqaf.org

Fajr:

04:26

Duhr:

11:36

Asr:

14:56

Maghrib:

17:27

Isha:

18:43

No:

- A cell phone technician capable of repairing all kinds of cell phone devices.

• Salary KD 200 per month, working days: 6 days a week.

• Transportation available (from home to the workshop and vice versa).

• Residency transfer handled by the company.

For more information please call: 65544484.

Email: mac.q8@me.com

15591

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JZR QTR JZR JZR ETH RJA GFA UAE ETD FDB MSR RBG QTR KAC THY CLX DHX JZR KAC BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY IRA QTR FDB IRA ETD GFA UAE MEA JZR IRC MSR MSC JZR SYR KAC MSR KAC KAC FDB KNE KAC QTR

Arrival Flights on Sunday 7/10/2012 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 539 CAIRO 267 BEIRUT 620 ADDIS ABABA 642 AMMAN 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 3553 ALEXANDRIA 138 DOHA 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 792 LUXEMBOURG 170 BAHRAIN 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 2006 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 352 COCHIN 284 DHAKA 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 615 SHAHRE KORD 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 603 SHIRAZ 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 871 DUBAI 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 6801 AHWAZ 618 ALEXANDRIA 401 ALEXANDRIA 561 SOHAG 341 DAMASCUS 742 DAMMAM 610 CAIRO 672 DUBAI 774 RIYADH 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 538 SOHAG 140 DOHA

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

SVA RJA KAC JZR QTR JZR ETD UAE UAL GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY KAC KAC QTR KAC KAC FDB MSR MSC JZR KAC KAC KAC JAI KAC AXB FDB OMA MEA GFA KAC ALK JZR KLM UAE JZR KAC ETD ABY QTR AIC FDB GFA UAL JZR DLH MSR THY JAI PIA

500 640 788 257 134 535 303 857 982 215 510 177 777 127 502 542 144 166 786 63 624 405 787 618 674 102 572 562 389 61 647 402 221 514 229 481 417 859 135 172 307 129 136 981 59 217 981 239 636 614 772 574 205

JEDDAH AMMAN JEDDAH BEIRUT DOHA CAIRO ABU DHABI DUBAI WASHINGTON DC DULLES BAHRAIN RIYADH DUBAI JEDDAH SHARJAH BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA PARIS JEDDAH DUBAI SOHAG SOHAG RIYADH DOHA DUBAI NEW YORK MUMBAI AMMAN KOZHIKODE DUBAI MUSCAT BEIRUT BAHRAIN TEHRAN COLOMBO SABIHA AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN FRANKFURT ABU DHABI SHARJAH DOHA CHENNAI DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN AMMAN FRANKFURT CAIRO ISTANBUL MUMBAI LAHORE

14:30 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:15 16:00 16:35 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:30 17:40 17:45 18:00 18:15 18:20 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:55 19:00 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:35 19:35 19:50 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:35 20:55 20:55 20:55 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:25 21:25 21:30 21:35 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:55 23:10 23:35 23:40 23:50 23:55

Airlines AIC FDB UAL DLH MSR DHX JAI THY ETH UAE FDB RBG ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR RJA JZR GFA THY KAC CLX BAW FDB KAC JZR ABY JZR KAC KAC IRA UAE QTR KAC FDB ETD IRA KAC KAC GFA KAC MEA KAC IRC JZR UAE MSR KAC MSC KAC

Depature Flights on Sunday 7/10/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA 52 DUBAI 981 WASHINGTON 637 FRANKFURT 615 CAIRO 373 BAHRAIN 573 MUMBAI 773 ISTANBUL 621 ADDIS ABABA 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 3554 ALEXANDRIA 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 643 AMMAN 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 537 SOHAG 792 GIALAM 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 171 FRANKFURT 256 BEIRUT 126 SHARJAH 534 CAIRO 671 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 614 SHAHRE-KORD 856 DUBAI 133 DOHA 117 NEW YORK 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI 602 SHIRAZ 741 DAMMAM 773 RIYADH 214 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 405 BEIRUT 501 BEIRUT 6802 AHWAZ 776 JEDDAH 872 DUBAI 623 SOHAG 103 LONDON 406 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH

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

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

JZR JZR SYR FDB MSR KAC KAC KNE SVA KAC RJA JZR QTR KAC ETD JZR JZR QTR UAE JZR GFA ABY UAL SVA QTR FDB MSR MSC JZR KAC JAI FDB KAC KAC OMA MEA GFA JZR DHX ALK KLM ABY ETD UAE KAC QTR KAC KAC AXB FDB GFA KAC KAC

480 176 342 58 611 561 673 473 503 617 641 786 135 513 304 238 538 141 858 134 216 128 982 511 145 64 621 402 184 361 571 62 283 351 648 403 222 502 171 230 417 120 308 860 343 137 301 205 390 60 218 411 415

ISTANBUL DUBAI DAMASCUS DUBAI CAIRO AMMAN DUBAI JEDDAH MADINAH DOHA AMMAN RIYADH DOHA TEHRAN ABU DHABI AMMAN CAIRO DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN SHARJAH BAHRAIN RIYADH DOHA DUBAI ALEXANDRIA ALEXANDRIA DUBAI COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI DHAKA KOCHI MUSCAT BEIRUT BAHRAIN LUXOR BAHRAIN COLOMBO DAMMAM SHARJAH ABU DHABI DUBAI CHENNAI DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD MANGALORE DUBAI BAHRAIN BANGKOK KUALA LUMPUR

13:15 13:20 13:35 14:25 14:30 14:40 15:05 15:15 15:45 15:45 15:50 15:50 16:15 16:25 17:20 17:30 17:40 17:45 18:05 18:20 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 19:20 19:25 19:55 20:00 20:05 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:45 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:35 21:45 21:50 21:55 22:05 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:10 23:15 23:30 23:40 23:50

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE 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

Kaizen center

25716707

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

ST TATE T OF KUW K WA AIT

Te el.: 161

DIRECTORA AT TE GENERAL GENE OF CIVIL AV VIA ATION T METEOROLOGICAL DEP PA ARTMENT

262 - 2630 Ext.: 2627

WWW.MET.GOV V..KW

Hot and relatively humid over coastal areas with light north westerly to light variable wind, with speed of 06 - 22 km/h

BY Y NIGHT:

Fair and relatively humid weather especially over coastal areas with light north westerly to light variable wind, with speed of 06 - 22 km/h No Current Warnings arnin a

WA ARNING

39 °C

29 °C

22451082

KUW WA AIT AIRPOR RT

41 °C

22 °C

Al-Mirqab

22456536

NUW WA AISEEB

38 °C

22 °C

Sharq

22465401

WAFRA A

40 °C

22 °C

Salmiya

25746401

SALMI

40 °C

25 °C

ABDAL LY

Jabriya

25316254

42 °C

24 °C

JAL ALIY YA AH

41 °C

25 °C

Maidan Hawally

25623444

FAILAKA A

37 °C

25 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

33 °C

27 °C

Mishref

25381200

UMM AL-MARADEM

35 °C

29 °C

W.Hawally

22630786

WARBA A A - BUBY YA AN

35 °C

21 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

ST TAT TION

SFC. CHART

06/10/2012 0000 UTC

4 DA AY YS FORECAST Temperatures DA AY

DA ATE T

WEA AT THER

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

Sunday

07/10

Monday

08/10

Hot+R.humid over coasts

41 °C

22 °C

VRB-SE

06 - 26 km/h

Hot+humid over coasts

40 °C

21 °C

VRB-SE

08 - 30 km/h

South Jahra

24775066

Tuesday

09/10

R.hot+humid+clouds

39 °C

23 °C

SE

15 - 38 km/h

North Jahra

24775992

Wednesday e

10/10

R.hot+humid+clouds

38 °C

22 °C

SE

12 - 35 km/h

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

23900322

PRA RA AY YER TIMES

AY AT KUW WA AIT AIRPORT RECORDED YESTERDA

Fajr

04:25

MAX. Temp.

40 °C

Sunrise

05:44

MIN. Temp.

20 °C

Zuhr

11:36

MAX. RH

65 %

Asr

14:58

MIN. RH

09 %

Sunset

17:28

MAX. Wind i

S 21 km/h

Isha

18:45

TOT TAL AL RAIINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

00 mm

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Dr. Salem soso General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Mousa Khadada Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

BY Y DA AY:

KUW WA AIT CITY

Al-Omariya

Al-Shohada’a

Expected Weeather for the Next 24 Hours

MIN. REC.

24892674

22418714

Fax: 24348714

MAX. EXP P.

Firdous

Al-Madena

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

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

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

40

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Niall Horan Rosie Huntington-Whiteley hates mornings he actress-and-model struggles to function in the early hours and always has to give herself extra time in bed before she gets up. She said: “I’m about as far from being a morning person as they come. I give myself 30 minutes extra before I get up and then spend it lying there awake, literally counting down the half-hour minute by minute. I’m pretty bad.” While she doesn’t like mornings, Rosie - who is dating actor Jason Statham - feels blessed with the opportunities she has been given. She

T

said: “I just think I’m on this planet to evolve. I feel really lucky that I’ve had these opportunities. It’s always funny when people say, ‘What do you want to do?’ and I say, ‘I don’t know. I’m just doing things!’ I honestly don’t know where I’ll be in 10 years’ time. I just take every day as it comes. “You have to try and make the best out of every situation you’re in; try to go for the gold, right?”

Brad Pitt treats neighbours to fish and chips he ‘Killing Them Softly’ actor has been living in Surrey, South England with his fiancee Angelina Jolie and their six children for the past few months while she shot the movie ‘Maleficent’ and he worked on ‘The Counselor’, and ‘World War Z’ and decided to splash out on the other residents of the neighbourhood before they left. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Brad and Angelina wanted to say thank you to their neighbours. “They normally go for posh dinners, but as Americans they love the traditional British stuff too. “It’s not like their normal diet but they fancied a bit of a change.” While Brad had two movies to work on during his time in England, he also discovered a love of cleaning. A source previously said: “Brad has always been an attentive father, but recently he’s becoming more domesticated, too.

“The couple have a lot of help around the home, but Brad’s started getting quite into sorting out the washing and doing the ironing himself. “He’s been pottering around the house a bit while Ange is away, and it helps to keep him occupied.

“He likes nothing more than doing a bit of housework before getting the kids to help him prepare dinner, which they love.

“He’s turned into a right Mr Muscle. He’s also been going to the local supermarket, and runs errands to the local dry cleaners in Camberley.”

attacked by a squirrel he One Direction star has to have an operation after tearing ligaments in his knee and he claims a rodent is to blame. Speaking on the Capital Breakfast Show with Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon, he said: “Yeah a squirrel attacked me. So, I got attacked by a squirrel in Battersea Park. They’re dangerous. It’s rare. I’ve torn most of the ligaments in my knee. So no football for me. “It’s early retirement now. I’ve got a floating knee-cap!” Niall recently revealed he wants to meet his dream girl, but doesn’t have the energy to go out on dates or look for a girlfriend because the band takes up so much of his time. The 19-yearold singer confessed: “I’m still single. Not necessarily looking, but obviously if the right person came along.... “I’m so lazy, that when we’re off I just want to sleep, I just like to chill, do nothing and sit on the couch for the weekend. “[My ideal girl would be] cute, nice eyes, nice smile and carefree like me. “Someone I can have fun with, and I know this sounds stupid, but someone you can hold a conversation with on a first date.

“It’s not the easiest thing to do if you’re having a dinner just looking at each other across the table, fiddling with your spaghetti.”

T

T

Helena Bonham Carter goes ‘overboard’ with costume he 46-year-old actress portrays eccentric jilted bride Miss Havisham in the forthcoming adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel and was excited to have input into the role. She said: “I went overboard. I had this idea that her veil would grow over the years, like her grief. It’s a bit pathological. Everything’s a bit overgrown.” Helena also admitted she was initially upset to be approached for the role by director Mike Newell because she is younger than the way the character

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is perceived to be. She said: “At the start I was like, ‘Huh. Already?’ But Mike kept on saying, ‘You’re the right age!” The actress also admitted she hated the way she was typecast as an “English rose” in the early days of her career as she didn’t feel she suited the image. She added to Time Out magazine: “I was never the wet and wilted Victorian ingenue. It was infuriating. I was young and shy.”

Gwyneth Paltrow terrified about turning 40 he actress - who has two children Apple, eight and six-year-old Moses with husband Chris Martin, 35 - admitted she was not looking forward to reaching the milestone age on September 27 but now that her birthday is over she feels “happy and content”. She told Us Weekly: “I was really worried about it, leading up to the day, but now I feel really happy and content with my life. I’m excited to move into the next phase. It’s much more exciting than I thought it would be. “I think I try to promote self-growth and reflection for myself every day.” Although she is an Academy Award winning actress with a rock star husband, Gwyneth insisted they are no different to any other family. She said: “We have a scrimmage soccer game in our yard every day after school. It’s so fun.

Though Moses prefers soccer, Apple has been really loving gymnastics. “I feel that mental happiness and physical happiness are so closely related, and especially for kids, because they have so much energy.”

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Lindsay Lohan is ‘not in a good place’ he troubled actress recently claimed she attacked by Christian LaBella after she confronted him for taking pictures of her in a New York City hotel room but her close pal Claus Hjelmbak, who was present when the incident occured, says Lindsay is having a tough time because people keep taking advantage of her. He told E! News: “She’s not in a good place. But it’s not because of health issues. She’s not in a good place, because people around her keep throwing her under the bus.” Claus claims Lindsay - who has spent time in rehab and jail - is just a “sweet girl” who people take advantage of and says she was horrified that someone would take pictures of her in a private setting. He explained: “Lindsay is a sweet girl and is very open and nice when people come over and talk. In this case, she thought it was somebody her friends know. “She was visibly shaken already at that point [when she discovered the pictures]. She was shocked. At that moment, you feel betrayed when you are in a private space and you realise someone has documented the entire night on the phone.” Police didn’t charge Christian, saying there was no evidence a crime had taken place, and Claus wishes people would focus on her work rather than her complicated personal life. He said: “Look at her art. And stop focusing so much on her private life.

That would be a big help to her getting back to a really good place.”

—Bangshowbiz

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Taylor Swift blows £50,000 on shopping spree he ‘Love Story’ singer dropped into antique dealer Alice’s on Portobello Road in London where she spent £30,000 on a variety of items before moving on to another shop and shelling out £20,000. A source told The Sun newspaper: “She wandered into Alice’s and dropped £30,000 then went up the road and spent another £20,000. “She was only in there for about five minutes. About half of what she bought was for her, the other for [her boyfriend] Conor Kennedy. “She bought a drawing of a shark, some old medicine bottles and a pinball machine for him.” Taylor recently revealed she has “always been fascinated” by love. The 22-year-old singer - who has previously dated a string of Hollywood hunks including Taylor Lautner and Jake Gyllenhaal before beginning a romance with 18-year-old Conor- has wanted to find her perfect man ever since she was a youngster. Speaking about love, she said: “[It is] something I’ve always been fascinated by, ever since I was a little kid.”

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41

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

LIFESTYLE M u s i c

&

Art collectors, dealers and the public view art works at the annual Manila Art Fair 2012 in Manila yesterday. The exhibition features more than 1,400 paintings and sculptures from more than 600 Filipino artists. —AFP

Film tells story of Japan’s pro-N Korean residents orean-Japanese filmmaker Yang Yonghi says she leaned on her own personal history and similar stories from her proNorth Korean community in Japan for her latest movie, the feature film “Our Homeland,” which made its South Korean debut yesterday at the Busan International Film Festival. “Our Homeland” tells the story of Sung Ho, a Japanese-born Korean who was among the estimated 90,000 people sent by their families to North Korea during a wave of repatriations from the late 1950s to the 1970s. He returns to Tokyo after 25 years away for a brief reunion with the rest of the family still living in Japan and medical treatment for his brain tumor.

The movie, which premiered at the Berlin film festival, was selected as Japan’s Academy Awards entry this year for best foreign-language film - a notable accomplishment for an ethnic Korean director from Japan, a country long accused of treating its ethnic Korean residents like second-class citizens. “Our Homeland” is among three films screening in Busan with connections to North Korea. Feature film “Comrade Kim Goes Flying” is a joint North Korean-European production about a coal miner with aspirations to become a trapeze artist, and “Choongshim, Soso” is a short South Korean-made film about a North Korean defector hiding in China.

Yang belongs to the ethnic Korean “zainichi” minority in Japan, many of them descendants of Koreans brought there during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea. The community is divided between those pledging allegiance to Pyongyang and those to Seoul; all are assigned Korean passports at birth, even if their families have lived in Japan for generations. “Our Homeland,” her first feature film, is based on her own reunion with a brother sent to North Korea at age 16 by their pro-North Korean father at a time when North Korea had a stronger economy than South Korea. Like many fathers of his generation, he believed life would be better for his son in North Korea than in Japan, where Koreans faced widespread discrimination.

Yang explored the same issue in two documentaries, “Dear Pyongyang” of 2005 and “Sona, the Other Myself” of 2009, both based on interaction with her family in North Korea. “Our Homeland” stars Arata Iura as the brother Yun Sung Ho who returns to Japan for a three-month visit. Sakura Ando plays Yun Rie, the sister who tries to stop her brother from returning to Pyongyang. The role of the North Korean agent assigned to trail the brother during his visit is played by South Korean actor Yang Ik-june, “Comrade Yang” who tells Rie that he and his brother have no choice but to live under orders from the government in Pyongyang “until the end of their lives.”“The story of every one of them deserves to be told,” Yang said at a news conference in Busan on Saturday. “We can’t turn a blind eye to their lives.”

Yang, who grew up with a North Korean passport, switched allegiances in recent years and is now a South Korean citizen living in Japan. South Korean film critic Kim Ji-seok said “Our Homeland” does a superb job of casting a light on the difficult and sometimes forgotten subject of repatriations. The repatriation of Japan’s ethnic Koreans marked a brief moment of cooperation between North Korea and Japan, providing much-needed labor for Pyongyang and easing a welfare burden for Tokyo, according to a 2009 paper by Tessa Morris-Suzuki, a professor of Japanese history at Australian National University.

But the division was tough for the families. In “Dear Pyongyang,” Yang captures her family preparing boxes of goods for the relatives in North Korea, where the economy stagnated for decades after such promising growth in the early years after being divided in 1945 into the Soviet-backed North and the capitalist South. “The real tragedy for the people who moved to North Korea is that they weren’t able to go back home after they realized the country was a far cry from a paradise,” Yang said. —AP

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M o v i e s

Young girls ride a sledge on a snow slope at a hotel in Tokyo yesterday. The hotel carried 25 tons of artificial snow from their Naeba ski resort on the first day of three consecutive autumn holidays for the promotion of the ski resort. —AFP

Controversial S Korea film highlights state torture controversial South Korean movie about state-sponsored torture premiered yesterday at the Busan film festival, with its director hoping it could influence the upcoming presidential election. Director Chung Ji-Young’s “National Security” highlights the often brutal treatment meted out under South Korea’s former military leadership installed by General Park Chung-Hee in 1961 which lasted beyond his assassination until 1987. Park’s daughter Park Geun-Hye is running in the December 19 election and last month apologised for the abuses which occurred under her father’s leadership.

“The character and the personality of the film made it appropriate that it was released before the December elections,” said Chung, speaking before the premiere at Asia’s biggest film festival. “I don’t know how it will influence the presidential elections but I do hope it does influence the way people vote. “As a filmmaker, if my work has social influence and if people are influenced by my message in the film, that that is the most rewarding moment a filmmaker can have.”

The film tells the story of democracy activist Kim Geun-tae, imprisoned and tortured by South Korea’s notorious Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) in 1985 over alleged ties to the North and a plot to overthrow the government. Starring Park Won-sang in the central role, it offers an unflinching look at the various torture

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methods used by the KCIA and has been greeted with a huge amount of interestand critical acclaim-here at the festival.

Director Chung made no apologies for the often graphic nature of the production.

“I have been a filmmaker for 30 years and this film gave me the most difficult time of my career,” he said. “If the audience has as difficult a time as I did, then I have achieved my goal.” “National Security” is based on Kim’s autobiography and Chung said he had invited Park to the premiere. Although the presidential hopeful was in the audience at the opening of the festival on Thursday night, it could not be confirmed whether or not she had accepted the invitation.

Chung had said before the festival that he “really wanted” Park to see the film and was unconcerned by the possibility it could be claimed the film revealed his own political leanings. “I don’t care how people look at it or label it,” he said. “Those who disagree with what I think, will look at it in a negative way for sure. But I don’t care.

Artists should unveil the irony of the society we live in. It is our duty.”

Park’s attempt to become South Korea’s first woman president had been hampered by demands that she go public with her opinion about her father’s 18-year rule, a time which still evokes strong and divided emotions across the country. Some credit Park Chung-Hee with ensuring South Korea’s economic rise following the 1950-

Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) shows one of the scenes in the movie National Security. —AFP 53 Korean War and say his autocratic methods were needed during tumultuous times.

But others see him as a brutal dictator under whose rule any opposition was suppressed using false imprisonment, torture, and extra judicial execution. Until last month’s statement - broadcast live from her New Frontier Party headquarters - Park’s ambiguous responses to such questions had helped allow her two rivals in the presidential race - the left-leaning Jae-In and

Calif artist wins $200K at ArtPrize A

This film image shows James Gandolfini (left) with writer-director David Chase during the filming of “Not Fade Away.” —AP

‘Sopranos’ creator Chase

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks to receive AFI life achievement honor t’ll be springtime for Mel Brooks when the American Film Institute presents him with its highest honor, the Life Achievement Award. The writer and director of comedy classics including “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein” and “History of the World: Part I” will receive the award at a gala tribute next June, AFI announced Friday. The 86-year-old Brooks is the 41st recipient of the honor, which has gone to Hollywood legends including Orson Welles, Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Morgan Freeman. He’s one of only 14 people to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award. The AFI ceremony will air in late June on TNT and Turner Classic Movies. —AP

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Ahn Cheol-Soo - to close the gap on her lead in the country’s leading opinion polls.

Director Chung is no stranger to controversy, with his previous production, last year’s box office hit Unbowed, revisiting the case of a Korean math professor who fired a crossbow at a judge. The Busan festival continues until October 13. —AFP

premieres ‘Not Fade Away’ D

avid Chase has returned with his first work since “The Sopranos” went black. The director premiered his debut film, “Not Fade Away,” at the New York Film Festival on Friday ahead of its red carpet gala yesterday. The ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll drama is his long-awaited follow-up to the venerated HBO mob drama he created and produced for six seasons.

The film is set around a suburban teenager (John Magaro) in New Jersey whose garage band aspires to be the next Rolling Stones, an ambition at odds with his traditional Italian father (former “Sopranos” star James Gandolfini).

In a press conference at Lincoln Center, Chase called the film, soundtracked by his favorite rock songs, “a compilation album.” “In ‘The Sopranos,’ one of my favorite parts of that - or maybe my favorite part of that whole

thing - was putting the picture and the sound together, putting the music in,” Chase said. “I wanted to continue that. I missed that once I was gone.”

The film, which Paramount Vantage will release on Dec 21, is about the revolutionary advent of rock ‘n’ roll, told not through its famous players but, as Chase said, from “the backstage” perspective the regular suburban kids inspired and moved by its spirit. “I don’t want to get into this thing, like I’m bragging about the ‘60s,” he said. “But the one thing I have to say: The music was great. ...

Music was, at the time, a way into everything, at least for me and for a lot of people I knew, too. That’s the way I first learned about art and poetry and fashion, humor, film. It all came from there.” The 67-year-old Chase has long aspired to make a feature film. His “Sopranos,” which con-

cluded in 2007, was imbued with movie-like storytelling that significantly raised the bar for television drama. “Not Fade Away,” while of very different and more tender substance, shares many unmistakable elements of “The Sopranos,” particularly the familiar swirl of family tension, pop culture, philosophy and suburban life.

Though Chase said the film is very personal to him, he insisted it wasn’t autobiographical. Chase, like the main character, played drums as a youngster, but he refused to even label himself and his friends “a band.”

“I never even bought a set of drums,” said Chase. “I played on cardboard boxes and stuff. We never got out of the basement.” —AP

donne Khare’s carbon pencil on paper drawing “Elephants” isn’t just a massive display of the lumbering yet beautiful mammals. It’s a long look - spanning across a 13-foot-by-8-foot canvas - at a part of her life. Khare, of Burbank, Calif, was awarded the top cash prize of $200,000 late Friday at the fourth annual ArtPrize international competition in Michigan.

Her piece was among entries by 1,517 artists from 56 countries and 45 states, whose work was displayed at venues across downtown Grand Rapids.

“The last year and half is documented in this story,” she told The Associated Press in an interview Friday night. “The birth of my daughter, connections we all have with each other, loss, sickness, happiness, symbols of my history connected.” The competition, which began Sept 19, awarded a total of $560,000 to artists of 16 installations. Winners were selected through public voting and panels of experts.

The 2012 event was the first year for the $100,000 Juried Grand Prize, which was awarded to a found-artifacts installation called “Displacement, 13208 Klinger.”

Items in the exhibit were collected over six days from a vacant Detroit home, which had the address 13208 Klinger, by Mitch Cope and his wife, Regina Reichert.

“There was 100 years’ worth of items a family would have,” Cope said. “We went through the house and grabbed all the things that were interesting that told the story of this house and the families that lived in it.”

The couple runs Powerhouse Productions, a nonprofit that transforms and rebuilds vacant and abandoned structures in an effort to stabilize Detroit neighborhoods through art. Their winning installation which features toys, tax receipts and about 25 televisions - was put together by the couple’s Detroit-based company, Design 99.

An estimated 400,000 people visited the exhibits, making this year’s ArtPrize the largest yet, according to organizers. More than 47,000 people cast over 412,500 votes. “The only way to discover good ideas is to generate lots of them by lots of people, and the ArtPrize Awards are designed to be a catalyst that helps generate thousands of ideas,” said Rick DeVos, founder and chairman of ArtPrize. “Our society needs more people to have ideas of all kinds, so we can make better things and make things better.”

Khare said she leaned about the competition from a friend who had competed in it before. She called ArtPrize “completely life-changing.”“There are a lot of people and a lot of things going on,” Khare said. “It’s this conversation that takes over the community. I had school groups sit with me and we would talk about art.” —AP

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

lifestyle

A miniature toy collection owned by late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is displayed.

Frida Kahlo, her real look, on display in Mexico T

he women on the cocktail circuit of the late 1930s were all curve-hugging dresses and gelled curls. Not Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo. She graced dinner par-

A mannequin wearing a skirt and blouse that belonged to late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo stands in an office before going on exhibit at the Frida Kahlo museum in Mexico City. — AP photos

ties and theaters from Paris to New York in ribbons, full skirts and loose peasant blouses embroidered with vividly colored flowers, and her uni-brow was a bold contrast to the pencilline eyebrows of the time. Over the years, Kahlo’s look has become as influential as her art, capturing the fancy of trendsetters from Madonna to singer Gwen Stefani and French designer Jean Paul Gaultier. There are YouTube tutorials on how to braid hair like she wore hers, and Vogue Italy lets readers know where to shop for Kahloesque skirts and jewelry.

“She has made stylistically a lasting impression on fashion and style in general because it had both: use of color and she was definitely an icon of the feminist movement,” said Misha Nonoo, a British designer who last month showcased her Spring 2013 collection with the concept of a fictional Kahlo visit to Havana.

Now, a full collection from her wardrobe is going on display in Mexico City after being locked away for nearly 50 years in her armoires and dressers: jewelry, shoes and clothes that still carry the scent of the late artist’s perfume and cigarette smoke or stains from painting.

“She had a tremendous self-confidence.

She was convinced that what she wore displayed who she was inside,” said Alejandra Lopez, art restorer for the painter’s home, now the Frida Kahlo Museum, where the collection will be shown starting Nov. 22 in an exhibit sponsored by Vogue Mexico. Yet Kahlo’s clothing was also an armor of sorts. It was her ally in disguising a life of pain, both physical and emotional. She had polio as a child, a bus accident maimed her at age 18, there were miscarriages, and she endured the countless affairs of her husband, renowned muralist Diego

Rivera.

Her long, full skirts hid a tiny, thin right leg, and loose blouses covered the stiff corsets she wore for back pain. “She described how she used her clothes to cover her body imperfections,” the exhibit’s curator, Circe Henestrosa, said during a sneak peek offered to The Associated Press. After Kahlo died in 1954, her husband ordered her clothes to be locked up for 15 years. He died three years later, leaving art collector Dolores Olmedo as the manager of his and Kahlo’s houses and she refused to give access to Kahlo’s archives of letters, clothes, jewelry and photographs. They were not unlocked until 2004, after Olmedo died.

Museum director Hilda Trujillo said three of Kahlo’s dresses created a frenzy when they were shown in 2007, featured in fashion stories across the world. “The story of Frida started to change with the discovery of her things,” Trujillo said. Her life of suffering was the subject of her paintings, and it inspired books, plays and the 2002 movie “Frida” starring Mexican actress Salma Hayek. Kahlo-mania outside Mexico started in the 1980s with the publication of her biography by Hayden Herrera that was widely read outside art circles. Fashion designers and photographers have since been captivated by Kahlo and have put together collections, such as Gaultier’s 1998 homage.

As recently as last month for Madrid Fashion Week, the spring 2013 designs of Maya Hansen featured corseted dresses, flowers and skeleton patterns. The show, “Appearances Can Be Deceiving: The Dresses of Frida Kahlo,” will include a black velvet short cape with lace border, a twist on the popular capelet of the time;

a worn silk blouse with square neckline of embroidered red, yellow and lavender flowers; and a purple cotton blouse with patterns of red and yellow squares. Also on display will be a long purple skirt with white flowers that look like poppies, a yellow long-sleeved ruffle shirt with a pattern of fall leaves and a muslin skirt of sangria color.

Poignantly, the exhibit will show the white corset that Kahlo featured in her self-portrait “The Broken Column.” And there will be an earring that was a gift from Pablo Picasso and was featured in another 1940 painting of herself.

Its mate has not been found. Restorers and the exhibit’s curator say many of Kahlo’s blouses were custom made. She bought the fabrics and took them to Indian seamstresses. Some were made of velvet cherry, the fabric often used for traditional elegant dresses in Oaxaca region known as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Henestrosa, the curator, said the Tehuana dress, named after Indian women of that region, was Kahlo’s signature piece of clothing.

She wore it with large gold earrings and flowers in her braided hair. “It is not a dress she chose by accident. The women run that society. The women symbolize power,” Henestrosa said. The dress became her signature look in her many self-portraits - copied by women worldwide. “This is going to amplify her influence much more,” said Trujillo, the museum director. — AP

In this April 14, 1939 file photo, painter and surrealist Frida Kahlo, who was the wife of noted Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, poses at her home in Mexico City.

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dios, Armani. Hasta la vista, Louis Vuitton.

The world’s most luxurious designer brands are abandoning Argentina rather than comply with tight new government economic restrictions, leaving empty shelves and storefronts along the capital’s elegant Alvear Avenue, where tourists once flocked to see the latest in fashion.

Kenzo is the latest to go. The Japanese label’s owner, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, issued a statement Tuesday blaming Argentina’s “complex economic context” for the closure of its store on Oct 10.

Government trade restrictions kept Kenzo from importing its spring and summer clothing lines, store employee Stella Christianopol said.

It joins a long list of top luxury brands pulling out of Argentina: Emporio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Escada, Calvin Klein Underwear, Polo Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and Cartier. The labels have become collateral damage as the government tightens its hold on the Argentine economy with measures aiming to encourage domestic production and capture more wealth to aid the poor.

For millions of Argentines it may make little difference: the Louis Vuitton handbags President Cristina Fernandez likes to carry would cost a month’s wages for a typical factory worker. But it is leaving hundreds out of work, and critics say it’s a

symptom of broader problems that are stalling the economy. “It’s a shame because Alvear is betting on becoming like 5th Avenue in New York or the Champs Elysee in Paris,” said Constanza Sierra, a consultant with 20 years’ experience marketing top name brands in Argentina. “So this damages the country’s image. That’s what to me seems the most sad,” she said. Argentina’s populist government isn’t sweating the loss. Tourism minister Enrique Meyer’s response boiled down to a “let them eat empanadas” swipe at the nation’s elite. He suggested the labels are overrated and said their departure would have minimal impact on Argentina’s economy. “Louis Vuitton is all over the place,” Meyer told Radio Mitre last week. “On the other hand, we have brands that keep on growing,” and cited Argentine labels Cardon (leather jackets, purses, and other clothing), Pampero (gaucho-style khaki pants and other sturdy clothing), El Noble Repulgue (meat pies) and Freddo (ice cream).

Most of these brands have little in common with the high-end labels fleeing Argentina, which by their nature are particularly exposed to an evertighter combination of import and currency restrictions imposed to protect domestic producers.

Sierra agrees that designer goods are bought by a tiny elite in the country of 40 million, but said

In this photo, a woman walks by a Cartier jewellery store along Alvear Avenue in the Recoleta neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. — AP

“there’s a ton of people who are losing their jobs, not only in stores but in advertising and events.

There are satellites that surround this.”

The fundamental problem is that Argentina’s currency is overvalued, said Ramiro Castineira, an economist with the Econometrica consulting firm in Buenos Aires. At 4.7 pesos to the dollar, it’s more profitable to import goods than produce them inside the country, he said. But rather than address this directly, Fernandez put bureaucrats to work holding up import licenses until businesses promise to match the cargo’s value by shifting an equal amount of production or investment to Argentina.

The import controls have reduced supplies to Argentine consumers who are desperate to spend or trade their pesos before they lose value, fostering an inflationary spiral and illegal currency trading, Castineira said. The black market for dollars effectively devalues the peso, which now trades informally at 6.2 or more to the dollar - a steep discount from the official rate, but still better than watching inflation of 25 percent or more a year destroy savings.

In response to the dollar frenzy, the government created still more controls, requiring companies and individuals to get tax agency approval before buying the foreign currencies needed to move money out of Argentina. Many businesses have managed to find ways of surviving in this climate: Christian Lacroix and Izod Lacoste have opened Argentine factories to finish goods using imported fabrics, and Research in Motion set up a plant where Blackberry smartphones are assembled.

Other companies found Argentine goods to export that have nothing to do with their core businesses, but satisfied the demand to foment domestic production.

Designer brands, though, are stuck because they have to import all their products: Escada’s fashions are supposed to flow from its headquarters in Luxembourg, after all, and who would buy Louis Vuitton knowing it’s stitched in provincial Argentina, rather than some glamorous corner of France? “Companies that directly import finished products will continue to face difficulties getting those goods to market,” Castineira warned.

Argentina should be able to maintain a positive trade balance of $10 billion next year given high soy prices, but the government isn’t expected to relax its control over the goods flowing in and money flowing out of the country. —AP

Getting suited up is a cinch

Top designer labels abandon Argentina

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ocialite and former reality TV star Olivia Palermo has become a fixture at fashion shows around the globe. She is routinely on best-dressed lists, appearing in outfits that are fashion-forward and that flatter her petite silhouette.

Palermo made the rounds at London Fashion Week, where she stopped by the Burberry spring-summer 2013 women’s wear show at Kensington Gardens in a menswearinspired outfit. She wore the label’s belted tweed topper, which she girlied up a bit with a cinched waist, and a pair of classic black slacks. She accessorized with a gold chain bracelet and crocodile clutch.

Want the look? For a plain pair of slacks to wear to the office, or dinner and drinks, try the studio stretch editor pant from Express.com for $69.99.

Stay cozy with the padded jacket from Zara.com for $89.99. For Palermo’s super-cinched waist, try the versatile Linea Pelle turn and tuck buckle belt for $119. Wear it over a blazer for fall or with a dress come springtime.

Palermo’s accessories add a bit of polish to her boys-of-fall look. For a similar clutch, try the Mundi crocodile clutch in brown from Kohls.com for $26.60, and add some bling with the chain link stretch bracelet from CharlotteRusse.com for $8.50. — MCT

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

lifestyle

In this photo, the “Carousel” hot air balloon is shown at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. — AP

Elvis among new balloon shapes at Mexico event A

giant Elvis, an ice cream cone and a child in a wheelchair are among the new shapes set to take to the sky at an annual hot-air balloon festival in New Mexico that’s expected to draw more than 700,000 visitors from around the globe. The 41st Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta was scheduled to begin yesterday with the launch of hundreds of hot-air balloons.

Fiesta officials hope for better weather at this

year’s nine-day affair after wind and rains sidelined balloons for a few events last year, cutting attendance by around 100,000 visitors. Still, organizers last year were able to break a world record by sending up 345 balloons at one time.

“There were some things we just couldn’t control,” director Don Edwards said. “But we still tried to put on a good show.”

Officials aren’t planning to break any records

this year, but more than 550 pilots have signed up to fly balloons at the fiesta, Edwards said.

That’s slightly higher than in most years, he said..

Last year, the event drew slightly more than 700,000 spectators. That was down from 800,000 visitors from 2010, officials said. The forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies in the area yesterday and today, with winds up to 12 mph.

Winds faster than 11.5 mph, less than three

miles visibility and clouds below 1,500 feet would postpone or cancel any launch of balloons.

However, winds vary near the Fiesta Park launch site because some are blocked by the Sandia Mountains.

Officials determine whether balloons can be launched by measuring wind speeds at the site.

Making its first appearance at the event this year is the Spain-made “Shining Star” balloon, which is

shaped like a child sitting in a wheelchair reaching for a star. Other balloons set to make their fiesta debuts include “Simba the Lion,” “Cosmo the Astronaut” and “Little Fireman,” a balloon shaped like a fire helmet. Officials said this year’s event will have more activities for the balloon pilots, with chances of winning a horseback-riding trip in New Mexico’s Sandia Mountains or a whitewater rafting trip on the Rio Grande. — AP

Quirky museums vie for attention with Vienna’s galleries

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Kim Kardashian arrives during the Spring 2013 MercedesBenz Fashion Week at Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal in New York. — MCT

Fashion lines take

a backseat to celebrity fans

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xtra! Extra! Read all about it! Fashion publicist slapped by angry editor over seating snafu at Zac Posen show, slaps back with $1 million lawsuit against the alleged slapper. Kimye (Kim Kardashian and Kanye West) cause rushhour paparazzi scrum arriving at Grand Central Station for Marchesa show. Celebrity divorcee Katie Holmes launches second act presenting Holmes & Yang collection for the first time in the big time, at fashion week hub Lincoln Center. A three celeb-pileup - Emma Stone, Amy Adams and Diane Kruger - dominates the hubbub at Calvin Klein.

The clothes? Who had time to look? New York Fashion Week was as much about tabloidish exploits and celebrity photo ops as it was about clothes. It’s an event where a humiliated Hollywood wife (model Liberty Ross) can come to find redemption, walking tall on the runway at Alexander Wang’s high-profile show and showing up her husband, director Rupert Sanders, and his young paramour, Kristen Stewart, while she was at it.

And it’s where Olympians can come to polish their personal brands, bringing their medals backstage to pose with designers (sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross with designer Lubov Azria at BCBG) and testing their reporting for media outlets.

(Ryan Lochte, the swimmer with questionable style chops, covered the runways for E! Entertainment.)

There were enough basketballers on the scene (Russell Westbrook, Chris Bosh) to play a pickup game. Tyson Chandler and wife Kimberly were reporting a story for Vogue magazine.

And Rajon Rondo (who had never been to a fashion show in his life before he popped up here last week) was deputized as GQ magazine’s fashion intern. It may have been the first time in fashion week history that an intern was guaranteed a frontrow seat. Fashion week, which started Sept 5, was up against the MTV Music Awards, the Democratic National Convention and the Toronto International Film Festival. And still, the celebrities came out in droves. Why? Well, who doesn’t love a fashion show? But there are other reasons, as well.

“It’s a symbiotic relationship,” Sasha Charnin Morrison, US Weekly fashion director, said of celebrities and designers. “The photographs of a celebrity at a show get live streamed, Tweeted and blogged about, which is invaluable for a designer.” You can have a clunker of a movie - or a marriage - but show up at fashion week and it can be elevating. “You have to get out there and work it if you want magazine covers and ad campaigns,” Morrison said. Susan Kaufman, editor of People StyleWatch, points to three categories of celebs who show up in the front row. —MCT

Actresses Kristen Wiig (left) and Rose Byrne take front row at Marc Jacobs Fashion Show held at the York State Armory. — MCT

ascinated by contraception, chimneysweeps, or magic boxes? Vienna has a museum for you. The city may be better known for its grand art collections, but it is filled with quirky or downright bizarre establishments, and Museum Night is their chance to shine. Far off the beaten track, in a grey residential area, stands Vienna’s hottest museum as it calls itself: the bright orange Brennpunkt-the Museum of Heating.

Gleaming pipes and large boilers share this colourful space with delicate old wood stoves, blackened iron bread ovens and century-old utensils for cooking and lighting fires from Tanzania to Borneo.

“We’re a small, humble museum and there are serious inhibitions to coming here, especially for women who think it will be very technical. But we can convince them otherwise,” the museum’s cheerful director Reinhard Indrak told AFP. Brennpunkt, German for “burning point”, emerged from Vienna’s switch to district heating when the city found itself with a mass of old coal and oil heaters on its hands and decided to preserve this part of its history.

And this is how many other small museums saw the light of day, from the Coffee Museum-filled with all manner of coffee grinders and espresso machines-to the Circus and Clown Museum and the Chimneysweep Museum, naturally packed with an array of round brushes. All began as private collections until their owners, or an association or business group, decided to share them with the public.

Entry costs a few euros, opening hours are limited and the exhibits often fill just a room or two, but thousands still go through their doors every year, especially

A mortician’s hearse is seen. used as pregnancy tests and that King Minos of Crete used a fish bladder as a condom as far back as 1200 BC. For those who prefer art on a smaller scale, the Look Magnet Museum offers a whirlwind tour of the world’s

greatest art collections ... in the form of refrigerator magnets, displayed in a miniature museum covering just nine square metres (around 100 square feet).

Unlike other exhibits, this one is open just one month every year around Lange Nacht time, and its creator is just 15 years old. The exhibit, which people peer into from above rather than walking around in, boasts famous works by Picasso, Monet and Giacometti, and once again expected some 700 visitors yesterday.

This year, some 680 museums all over Austria will take part in Museum Night, including 125 in the capital. One exception will be the popular Funeral Museum, a collection of 19th-century funeral clothes, unusual coffinsincluding a re-usable one with a hinged bottom-and a unique alarm system that was supposed to alert the undertaker if someone had been buried alive. In past years, people were invited to try out a coffin for themselves-which they did with delight, says the museum’s lively curator, Wittigo Keller. The surprisingly un-stuffy exhibit-”it’s groovy, with a touch of voyeurism and an unusual topic,” says Keller-will not feature in this year’s Lange Nacht for logistical reasons. Vienna’s curious little museums have no shortage of fans, as Andreas Engert, a tourist from Wuerzburg, Germany, testified. “We’ve already done all the standard tours,” he said drily, as he and a friend examined a 19th-century hearse. — AFP

Funeral urns are seen. on Museum Night (Lange Nacht der Museen), which Vienna will held yesterday for the 13th time. The event, which is also held in other major cities around the world on different dates, lets visitors explore countless exhibits in one evening, from 6 pm to 1 am, with a single ticket.

Coffin trials A visit to the dentist is not something people usually look forward to, but last year’s event attracted some 900 visitors to the Dentistry Museum. Dentist’s chairs dating back to the early 1800s, from uncomfortable-looking wooden seats to plush velvet-covered thrones, trace the profession’s history along with early ivory prostheses, gruesome wax moulds of diseased gums once used as teaching aids, and instruments that would not look out of place in a torture chamber.

Unable to draw the same large crowds as the prestigious Art History Museum, the Albertina or even the Planetarium, small collections often rely on school visits.

This is the case of the Contraception and Abortion Museum, a privately run exhibit opened in 2007 by a doctor who felt there was too little awareness of the subject. The only museum of the sort in the world, it welcomes many classes, especially students aged 13-18 who are happy to get honest information from someone other than their teacher, the museum says.

In the process, visitors also learn that frogs were once

A coffin inspired by Belgian painter Rene Magritte creation “Perspective: Madame Recamier de David” is seen.

Quirky museums vie for attention with Vienna’s galleries

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2012

Blaine goes for shock-factor with latest stunt

US Magician David Blaine stands under lightning bolts at the start of his latest performance, “Electrified”, in New York, October 05, 2012.— AFP

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aredevil stuntman David Blaine lit up New York’s Pier 54 on Friday for his latest high voltage feat. The illusionist is scheduled to spend three days and nights standing in the middle of a million volts of electric currents streamed by tesla

coils. The stunt is called “Electrified: One Million Volts Always On.” “Electrified” also is being streamed on YouTube, thanks to computing company Intel.

Viewing stations are located in London, Beijing, Tokyo and Sydney. Viewers at the stations are able to

control the coils. The 39-year-old Blaine is wearing a chainmail bodysuit as a barrier between himself and the electric currents. Blaine’s past stunts include hanging upside down over Central Park, being buried alive and encased in a block of ice. — AP

Tresses to treasure for Vietnamese hair trader

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ailed as a hero in his native Vietnamese village, Do Van Thu has become rich and transformed the lives of hundreds of families through the sale of a precious and unorthodox crop-hair. “We were very poor because we had hardly any farmland. This work has saved our lives,” said Thu, as women from Binh An village washed and sorted piles of tresses in a workshop at his opulent home.

The hair mogul, seen as something of a visionary among local people, said exports of Vietnamese locks sustain some 500 families-or 80 percent of the population in his area. They have also made him one of the richest men in Bac Ninh province, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of the capital Hanoi.

Globally, hair has become big business.

In addition to wigs and hair pieces, demand for hair extensions from fashion-conscious young women has exploded over the last decade.

“Each year, my family exports between 50 and 60 tons of hair to China.

We buy it from all corners of the country, as well as from Laos and Cambodia,” the 50-year-old entrepreneur told AFP, surrounded by sacks of carefully sorted hair.

The price per kilo varies from $45 to $250 depending on the quality of the hair-with long, natural hair being the most prized for extensions, according to Nguyen Van Tam, a 60-year-old villager.

“Our hair is 100-percent natural.... Hair that is 70 or 80 centimetres (about 30

inches) long is more expensive than hair that is 50 to 60 centimetres (about 20 inches) in length,” Tam told AFP, while sorting long hair into neat bunches secured by elastic bands. “This is from an elderly woman so we have to buy a product to dye the grey hair black,” he said, waving a silvery thatch.

Demand for hair is rising more quickly than local women can grow it back, and the Binh An hair collectors are forced to search for uncut locks-and owners willing to part with them-in ever more remote areas, he said. “Sometimes, my children travel 200 to 300 kilometres every day to collect just a few kilograms of hair.... We Vietnamese are very hardworking-if it brings in money,” he said.

From hair to prosperity Hair collectors set off on annual pilgrimages, travelling around the country searching for women willing to part with their locks for cash. They must often spend substantial chunks of time outside the village. Thu, who has become a millionaire in the 13 years since starting his first workshop, indicates the brick houses which have sprung up in the rural area as a sign of the prosperity that hair has brought to Binh An. “Each employee at my business is earning three million dong a month ($140, 110 euros),” he said-three times the average rural wage in Vietnam. Local people say their lives have been vastly improved by Thu’s hair enterprise.

This picture shows women sorting hair at a family hair workshop in Binh An village, in the northern province of Bac Ninh. — AFP

In this picture, models wear new creations by Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee during a fashion show in New Delhi. — AFP photos

Bollywood favourite pushes sari revival

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s the platform-heeled models sashay past the flash of cameras to the sound of U2, Sabyasachi Mukherjee surveys the progress of his campaign to drag the sari from the back of the closet onto the catwalk. “Too many women think of the sari as something that is very backward and not cool,” the award-winning Indian designer told AFP. “I want to tell them: ‘The sari is beautiful, it is forgiving, it is unique and it is exotic to the whole world’.”

Mukherjee’s efforts to modernise the sari by using unusual fabrics such as velvet while maintaining its iconic silhouette is fuelling a revival of the traditional drape. Arguably India’s most successful fashion designer-whose brand has an annual turnover of $11 million (8.5 million euros) — 38year-old Mukherjee is passionate about the garment. Young, career-oriented women had been pushing the sari to the back of their wardrobes, finding them difficult to tie and unsuited to their busy lifestyles. Having first made a name for himself for his mini-dresses, Mukherjee has more recently devoted his efforts to designing pre-pleated and easy-to-tie saris that are at the same time exquisitely embroidered. “When I was young I migrated to Western clothing,” he recalled. “It took me some time to realise that this is what I wanted to do, that I wanted to influence Indians to go back to wearing Indian clothes.”

From mini-dresses to saris The designer started his Kolkata-based company with a staff of two tailors in 2001, borrowing $400 from his sister. An immediate hit in Indian fashion circles, he used indigenous textiles to

design mini-dresses, which were stocked at leading London stores such as Selfridges. Despite his change of focus, his popularity has not waned and his most recent fashion show played to a packed house this summer.

After a popular Bollywood actress strolled onto the catwalk, dressed in a full-skirted tulle sari, a bevy of models appeared, many wearing pre-pleated saris covered with lace appliques and accessorised with high heels. It is all part of an effort to attract a younger, more style-conscious clientele, Mukherjee explained. “I am a purist at heart, I like traditional saris. But I often flirt with the sari to keep people interested, modifying it in little ways,” he said. He has also made substantial forays into Bollywood as part of his campaign to restore the garment’s supremacy in the Indian woman’s closet.

In addition to dressing leading actresses including Vidya Balan and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai for their red-carpet appearances, he has designed costumes for several Hindi films.

According to Shefalee Vasudev, an author and founding editor of Marie Claire India, Mukherjee is a fashion visionary. “He realised that in the storm of bling and global brands, nothing will stand out. If everyone has Louis Vuitton and Hermes, they are going to need something else to stand out from the crowd,” she told AFP. Today, his saris-which range in price from $130 to $9,260 — make up more than 50 percent of Mukherjee’s turnover.

Branding the sari: glamorous yet nostalgic At one of Mukherjee’s stores in Delhi, cotton, silk, tulle and organza saris are displayed against a backdrop suggestive of an India that no longer

exists, with dozens of antique clocks and vintage photographs lining the walls. “The traditional Indian sari is very difficult, you know, to understand and wear. It’s tedious to wear,” said long-time customer Kirti Sharma, 26 — but she added that she owns several Sabyasachi saris. —AFP