10th Jun

CR IP TI ON BS SU

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

US, Pakistan beginning to look more like enemies

Sharapova makes history with French Open win

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NO: 15474

150 FILS

13 40 PAGES

www.kuwaittimes.net

RAJAB 20, 1433 AH

Sheikh Nasser again skips summons, blasts Mislem Justice Bloc to grill awqaf minister over blasphemy bill

Max 46º Min 32º High Tide 04:48 & 15:29 Low Tide 09:45 & 22:14

By A Saleh

Iran slams Kuwait oil ‘violations’ TEHRAN: Sanctions-hit Iran yesterday blasted fellow OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates as oil quota “violators”, accusing them of depressing global crude prices by over-pumping. Iran’s OPEC representative, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, said Tehran had officially protested to the cartel that Saudi Arabia was “saturating the market” under pressure from the United States and the European Union, according to the official IRNA news agency.

“It is not right that two or three countries compensate for a country that is being sanctioned. OPEC members should not work against each other,” Khatibi was quoted as saying. Iran is the second-biggest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia. It has repeatedly lashed out at Saudi Arabia, a US ally, for opening oil spigots to make up for a shortfall in the market resulting from a cut in Iranian crude sales because of Western sanctions.

In the first quarter, Saudi output swelled by 250,000 barrels per day to 9.9 million bpd from a year earlier, according to OPEC estimates. At the same time, OPEC said Iranian production dropped by 300,000 bpd to 3.2 million bpd, its lowest level in 20 years. Iran disputes that, saying its output has increased to 3.8 million bpd.

Continued on Page 13

LVIV, Ukraine: Portuguese midfielder Raul Meireles vies with German forward Lukas Podolski (right) during the Euro 2012 championship football match Germany vs Portugal yesterday at Arena Lviv. — AFP (See Page 20)

Shabab mock US bounty, offer camels for Obama MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-allied Shabab rebels yesterday mocked a US offer of up to $33 million for tip-offs enabling the arrest of its top leaders, saying they would give 10 camels to anyone who helped locate Barack Obama. The highest price put up by the US State Department on Thursday was for Shabab chief Ahmed Abdi aw-Mohamed - more commonly known as Godane or Abu Zubayr - with a $7 million bounty for information on where he is hiding. “I can assure you that these kind of things will never dissuade us from continuing the holy war against them,” said another senior Shabab leader, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, or “Shongole”, in a message carried on several websites.

“There is nothing new in the fact that infidels pay to have Muslim leaders killed. They already did that by offering camels for the head of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and the dollar is

the camel of today,” he said. He was referring to an offer of 100 camels made for Muhammad (PBUH) when he was fleeing Makkah for Madinah. Khalaf added: “Whoever informs the mujahideen fighters of the place where Obama can be found will get 10 camels and for (US Secretary of State Hillary) Clinton, we will offer 10 roosters and 10 hens.”

The State Department said in a statement announcing the bounty for seven Shabab leaders that “the group is responsible for the killing of thousands of Somali civilians, Somali peace activists, international aid workers, journalists and African Union peacekeepers”.

The Shabab still control large parts of southern Somalia, but African Union troops, government forces and Ethiopian soldiers have clawed back several key bases from the insurgents in recent months. — AFP

Syrian army shells towns Russia lobbies for conference including Iran DAMASCUS: Army shelling and gunfire killed at least 28 civilians in protest towns yesterday, a watchdog said, as Russia pushed its idea of an international conference including Iran to end the bloodshed in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also stressed that Moscow would “not sanction the use of force at the United Nations Security Council”. His proposal came as worldwide anger grows over the crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime on a revolt in which more than 13,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since March 2011.

Nine women and three children were among 17 people killed in a pre-dawn bombardment of a residential neighbourhood in the southern city of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Dozens more were wounded, some of them seriously, in the city which was the birthplace of the uprising against Assad’s rule, the Britain-based watchdog said. In nearby Jordan, hundreds of Syrian refugees demonstrated in the border town of Ramtha to protest against the deaths in Daraa, Jordan’s official Petra news agency reported.

Continued on Page 13

TAMRA: Arab-Israeli protesters hold signs against the Syrian regime during a demonstration in this northern Arab-Israeli village yesterday. — AFP

Flashlight bombs puzzle US police PHOENIX: Flick the switch on these flashlights and they don’t light up. They blow up. Three of these bombs have exploded within the last month in the Phoenix area, causing minor injuries to five people and raising fears of more serious ones. Police still have no idea who is behind them and have taken the unusual step of putting up 22 billboards across the sprawling metro area to warn residents about discarded flashlights. “The nature of the bombings are so random,” said Tom Mangan, a special agent at the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix.

Mangan said the agency has ruled out any connection to terrorism because the targets have been random and there have been no messages or demands.

The ATF said the bombs appear to have been made by the same person or people because their design was identical. An explosive was placed inside the flashlights with a smaller battery and rigged so that turning it on would send an electrical current that triggered the blast, Mangan said. He declined to identify the explosive material.

The first bomb was spotted by a passerby on May 13 in a suburb just west of Phoenix. It was sitting behind a palm tree in a strip mall and blew up when it was clicked on. The next day, about 10 miles away, a landscaper found a flashlight in an irrigation ditch. It, too, exploded when he flicked the switch, authorities said.

The third bomb exploded on May 24 at a Salvation Army distribution center near downtown Phoenix and about 11 miles from the first one.

Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: For the second time in a row, former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed yesterday did not show up before a parliamentary committee investigating foreign transfers made by him. In an official letter he sent to the speaker of the National Assembly Ahmad Al-Saadoun, Sheikh Nasser explained that the committee chairman (MP Faisal Al-Mislem) himself had been indicted for revealing confidential banking information concerning the secrecy of his bank accounts and this raised questions about the committee’s objectivity and neutrality. Sheikh Nasser also stressed that the committee had unconstitutionally interfered in judicial as well as executives’ authorities.

Last month too, the former prime minister refused to appear in front of the parliamentary panel probing allegations of graft made against him, saying the summons issued towards him were illegal. Sheikh Nasser resigned as prime minister last November following youth-led street protests, which deepened after allegations of corruption were made against him in August and September of last year.

Separately, well-informed sources said that in reaction to rejecting a bill on executing blasphemers of Allah, the Prophet (PBUH) and his wives, the Justice Bloc intends to revive a grilling motion against the Minister of Awqaf and Justice Jamal Al-Shehab. The sources explained that the bloc had previously threatened to grill Shehab for approving the surveillance of husseiniyas and that it changed its mind when the minister annulled a decision on monitoring imams and khateebs. “Now since the law was rejected, bloc members Mohammed Hayef, Osama Al-Menawer, Mohammed AlHatlani and Bader Al-Dahoum will pick any chance to grill the minister”, added the sources.

PHOENIX: One of twenty public service announcement billboards on display across the Phoenix metro area along highways are warning citizens about picking up discarded flashlights Thursday. — AP

Oman detains poet, blogger DUBAI: A poet and a blogger were among 10 people arrested in Oman in the past two weeks in what one source said was a police crackdown on dissent amid rising discontent in the small US ally sitting near key Gulf shipping routes. Activists said yesterday that six people arrested on Friday night included blogger Hassan Rukaishi, authors Hammoud AlRashedi and Nabhan al-Hanashi and poet Hamad AlKharusi. Another four were arrested in separate incidents in the past two weeks, bringing the total to 10, activists said. Local activists wrote on a Facebook page of the Omani Group for Human Rights that three of them were being held by the police’s “special section”, but gave no further details.

“The arrest campaign affected six people in one go, including authors and bloggers, and without a specific charge, a warrant or a court decision,” a Facebook page of the Gulf Discussion Forum, a group of human rights activists in the Gulf region, said. “The arrests come after the general prosecution threatened to take appropriate legal action against defamatory writings or anyone making incitement calls under the pretext of freedom of expression,” the group added.

Officials were not immediately available to comment on the report, which was confirmed by sources in Oman who declined to be identified. One source said the six arrested on Friday were being Continued on Page 13

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SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

LOCAL

KUWAIT: Dr Reem Qanawati and Sheikha Shaikha Khalif Al-Sabah awarding Ayman Al-Sharea, the marketing manager of Sebamed. (Center) Ayman Al-Sharea (right) at the Sebamed booth. (Right) Spanish dance by girls from the Kids Academy nursery.— Photos by Joseph Shagra

Childhood most important phase in human life ‘Our Kids are a Trust’

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Pediatric Consultant Dr Reem Qanawati held a training conference titled ‘Our Kids are a Trust’ yesterday at Movenpick Al Bida’a Hotel. This conference was held under the patronage of Sheikha Shaikha Khalif Al-Sabah on the occasion of the book release ceremony celebration of ‘The Healthy Kid with Dr Reem’. During the conference, various issues related to medical, education and modern raising of kids were discussed. It was addressed mainly for parents and those working in this field. The conference also included entertainment activities where kids from different nurseries presented dances and folk shows. The sponsoring companies were also awarded for participating in

this conference. “Early childhood is the most important phase of our children’s life, which is reflected on their future and the future of the country as well.

Everybody has a goal, and aims to realize it, and the most valuable of these goals is the raising and education of kids to be useful for their families and country,” said Sheikha Shaikha. “So all related parties should cooperate to reach this result. Investing in kids - which are precious treasures - need strategic plans.

Family is the first institution responsible for preparing the child to enter the social life,” she pointed out. Dr Qanawati agreed that childhood is the future-making phase and the most important in a human’s life. “In this phase the personality of the child forms, which then draws his future life. This

Investment firms asked to recall funds KUWAIT: The Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) sent notices to local investment firms directing that assets invested in funds be recalled as soon as possible, a daily reported yesterday.

Speaking to Al-Jarida on condition of anonymity, sources indicate that the companies asked for a four-month grace period to show that liquidation of assets is necessary.

“As a shareholder in many investment companies in Kuwait, the PIFSS is aware of the fact that many companies face obstacles that make them unable to liquidate assets,” a source explained.

The PIFSS, along with another state-

owned Kuwait Investment Authority, are major contributors to local funds investing in the stock and real estate markets.

“Sources questioned the reason behind this step, given the impact it will leave on the value of assets in the local market, given the lack of liquidity,” Al-Jarida’s report reads.

The PIFSS adopts a long term investment strategy in funds and shares of local firms. Sources argue that the recent request could be part of a new strategy that the institution is preparing for the future “such as reconstructing investment or redistributing liquidities in the local market,” reported Al-Jarida.

Kuwait signs accords with Italian universities ROME: Head of the Kuwaiti cultural office in Paris Dr Abdulrahman AlRadwan signed scientific cooperation and cultural accords with two Italian universities.

The diplomat told KUNA in an exclusive interview that during his four-day visit to Italy, he managed to sign the accords with the second Naples and Tor Vergata universities.

The official affirmed that the accords would help Kuwaiti students seeking

education in Europe, excluding students in Great Britain and Ireland, adding that the signed documents would also help boost cultural and educational ties with Italy. The accords will enable Kuwaiti students to pursue higher education in Italian universities by learning the Italian language which will help Kuwaitis enormously, said the official. He also said that the deals will help exchange visits between Kuwaiti and Italian educational staff and students. — KUNA

phase affects the behavior and health of the person, and the environment where he lives affects his development and growth. And if this environment suffers from shortages, it will cause him different problems,” she stated.

There were many reasons behind organizing this conference. “Today I released my book in which I put my experience. It is the first of its kind in the world, as it provides health awareness for parents towards their kids. It shows them the importance of medical observation for the child by visiting pediatric clinics including the important medical checkups that should be done in every visit. The book also includes detailed explanations about the healthy daily nutrition program since the child is born till he is 12. It also includes many recipes for

each stage, in addition to measures of average growth and mental development. The reader will also find suitable games for each age signifying the importance of parents’ participation in their playing to develop the kid’s skills and talent,” explained Qanawati.

“I believe that raising the child well in early age is a very important issue that should be highlighted and studied. It’s not just about human emotions it’s a responsibility and trust. The environment and culture where the child is raised affects his future personality, behavior, and mental health. Scientists mention that psychological disorders and social problems including violence and aggressive behavior are affected by the first years of life, when the child’s personality is formed,” she concluded.

Zain shares its success factors with Zakat House KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunication company in Kuwait, hosted a visit by officials from Zakat House as part of the organization’s cooperation with local institutions aiming to demonstrate the experience that makes Zain a leader in the telecommunications sector.

The visit aimed to demonstrate Zakat House’s call centre the unique business model applied by Zain’s customer service center (107), the company said in a press statement.

Zakat House officials were introduced to the system of operation and the network growth of communication devices on the server. The officials were also shown the database and the screens and the way drafting of timely reports is done. They also experienced how to prepare and take advantage of these tools during staff evaluation.

During the visit, Zain hosted a lecture focused on the mechanism of the call center (107) and its great success in taking up the leading position among its counterparts in the region.

Zain noted that Zakat House officials were introduced to the organizational structure of Zain’s contact center, starting from the entry passes, to the staff job description, and the log with the overall system and delays. Also, the visitors were guided on how to set up a database to receive calls and determine the best ways of dealing with customers.

This visit created a good opportunity for

KUWAIT: Zakat and Zain officials pose for a group photograph. the Zakat House officials to experience the level of service Zain provides to its customers.

In turn, the visitors expressed their admiration for the high level of services and for the high standard in following the company’s operational model and state-of-the-art equipment and systems. Zain stressed on the priority given to the customer and the motivation to get

the highest mark for customer satisfaction both being drawn from the company’s operational strategy.

Zain is keen to convey its experience in the telecommunications sector to all organizations willing to identify the operational model on all service level. Zain is committed to share its success.

Dive team removes three ships out of Kuwait waters KUWAIT: The Kuwait Dive Team at the Environmental Voluntary Foundation has successfully lifted three sunken ships off Doha seashore as part of its ongoing endeavors to protect the marine environment and secure marine passages.

Marine operational chief Waleed Al-Shatti said yesterday that the operation was completed with the help of Kuwait Ports Authority, Marine Pollution Department, Kuwait Coast Guard and the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources.

Interior Ministry to install cameras on road speed violations on roads KUWAIT: The Minister of and monitor roads at certain Interior has accorded priority distances to ensure that drivon updating different secers abide by speed limit. The tors of the ministry to speed monitoring system update work in accordance installed at First Ring Road with latest technologies, differs from other roads, with remarked Lt Gen Mustafa Alcameras placed at the road’s Zaabi, assistant undersecrestarting point and at the tary Ministry of Interior and end. director of Traffic All vehicles movements Department.

Accordingly, the Traffic Lt Gen Mustafa Al-Zaabi will be recorded along with the time taken to cover the Department is working toward elevating safety on roads to reduce distance. If abiding by speed limit, then traffic accidents. In this respect, test phase time needed is known. If the vehicle covers for speed cameras usage system (point to the distance in less time, it means it has point) along the First Ring Road has con- exceeded speed limit. The system monitors speed along the length of the road without cluded and it will be enforced on June 15.

The system is being used to detect merely detecting speed limit.

During the past two years, more than 50 ships were removed and tons of harmful waste were cleared. Al-Shatti called on sea goers and ships owners to help the voluntary team in keeping the environment clean and secure. — KUNA

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

LOCAL

Panel representatives may meet former PM Cash transfers case KUWAIT: A proposal will be put forward to send two members from the panel probing the cash transfers case to meet former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad AlSabah who faces corruption allegations over the issue. “If Al-Mohammad refuses to attend meetings of a committee headed by MP Faisal Al-Mislem, this problem can be overcome by sending one or two members to meet and obtain his testimony regarding information received,” MP Dr Obaid Al-Wasmi said in a recent statement.

In the meantime, head of a parliamentary committee probing the cash deposits case announced that the panel is set to hold a ‘crucial meeting’ on Wednesday with Central Bank Governor Dr Mohammad Al-Hashil. “ The meeting will decide the future course of investigations since the Central bank has far ignored questions posed by the committee over the case,” said MP Musallam Al-Barrak on Friday.

Al-Barrak also announced that investigations have revealed that “a former MP has deposited KD 9.7 million during the period between January 1, 2011 and August 1, 2011, when relations between the previous Parliament and Cabinet remained tense.” The committee is investigating allegations that pro-government lawmakers received large deposits from unknown sources, hinting that political bribery might be involved. The case, along with the other case in which the former

premier has been accused of sending millions of public funds to private accounts overseas, fueled public pressure that ultimately led to the Cabinet’s resignation and dissolution early this year, reported Al-Qabas.

In other news, lawmakers who face charges over the incident in which the Parliament’s building was stormed following a mass protest late last year will reportedly be defended by ‘at least 120 lawyers’ in a trial set for June 25. This was announced by MP Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, who was reportedly scheduled yesterday (Saturday) to host a meeting at his diwaniya for the nine accused MPs to discuss preparations for the trial day. “I believe that MPs and citizens who stormed the Parliament’s building will be not be found guilty of charge by the court,” Al-Tabtabaei predicted.

Meanwhile, Al-Tabtabaei addressed the Cabinet’s decision to reject a draft law passed by the Parliament to set capital punishment as the penalty for blasphemy. “We have two options to deal with the case - the first of which is to vote on the draft law again during the current parliamentary term,” the Islamist lawmaker said. The draft law requires a twothird majority in the Parliament after being rejected by the Cabinet. “Or we can wait until the next parliamentary term when the law can be passed using an ordinary majority,” AlTabtabaei said.

Separately, the Parliament’s Health and

Social Affairs Committee works compiled a report regarding amendments proposed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor(MSAL) on sports regulations. “Additional meetings will be put on the committee’s schedule to finish the report before June 19 session,” said repporteur MP Dr Mohammad Al-Kandari. The report details the committee’s examination that the government requires before approving regulations passed earlier by the Parliament to ‘reform’ the sports sector.

Al-Rai also reported quoting anonymous sources that “a number of MPs plan to submit a proposal to compel the government to provide monthly reports to the Parliament about the condition of Kuwaitis jailed abroad, especially in the Guantanamo Bay prison.”

Meanwhile, another report published by Al-Rai yesterday indicates that the Development and Reform Bloc(DRB) aims to “maintain stability of the legislative authority” through proposals that include amending constitutional articles that regulate the Parliament’s dissolution process. On that regard, sources close to the bloc who spoke on the condition of anonymity insist that these efforts “are not made to dispute the authorities of HH the Amir” who has the sole constitutional right to dissolve the Parliament.

“The amendments aim to give the Parliament enough time to assess their level of productivity on the legislative and monitoring fields [before dissolution]”, a source explained.

Citizens arrested in drug trafficking case

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Two citizens were arrested with the possession of 4kg of hashish, said security sources. Case papers indicate that narcotics police were tipped off about the activities of a citizen who has a history in drug trafficking. The suspect was placed under close surveillance before being nabbed along with a Kuwaiti drug addict.

The two suspects were in possession of joint of hashish and resisted arrest. Upon searching the main suspect’s place of residence, four k ilograms of hashish was found. A case was filed and the suspects were referred to higher authorities.

Syrian drowns A 29-year-old Syrian drowned

while swimming off Zour beach, located to the south of Kuwait City.

Street fight A 26-year-old Nepalese sustained a facial injury during a fight with others behind Far waniya police station, said security sources.

The man was admitted to Farwaniya hospital for treatment.

KUWAIT: As thousands of high school students head to their final exams today, a senior Ministry of Education official believes that at least 90 percent of them are expected to pass this year “as questions were set to meet the average student ’s level”. Meanwhile, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Education Mohammad Al-Kandari said that some tests can include “hard questions to distinguish outstanding students from average ones”.

Speaking in an interview published yesterday by Al-Rai daily, Al-Kandari insisted that the ministry will not tolerate any cheating during the finals. “Any student caught cheating at any time during the finals will be prohibited from taking the remaining exams,” Al-Kandari said, reiterating a rule already included in the ministry’s regulations against cheating.

Nearly 33,500 12th grade students in public and private schools start their finals today at more than 360 “examination committees” prepared and supervised by the Ministr y of Education across Kuwait, Al-Kandari said in separate statements to Al-Jarida daily. “The expected number of students taking the exams reach 15,847 in the science sector and 17,696 in the arts sector,” AlKandari said, adding that results will be announced on June 27th and 28th.

Students will not be allowed to take their cell phones inside the examination hall as part of the ministry’s plans to counter cheating. Al-Kandari also confirmed that the ministry follows “strict security procedures” at its printing facili-

ty to prevent any leak of test papers.

Meanwhile, the Kuwait University’s council meets today in order to discuss the admission policy for the school year 2012/2013, said Kuwait University’s official spokesman and public relations manager Faisal Muqaiseed. The meeting, to be chaired by Minister of Education Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf as well as KU Rector Dr Abdullatif Al-Badr, “is set to focus on the important topic of KU’s capacity of students”, which involves setting the maximum number of seats allowed for freshmen to be admitted next year.

The KU’s Council of Deans had recommended following an earlier meeting that the university accept a maximum of 7,090 new students next year, based on the maximum capacity of the state’s lone public university.

The recommendation is not obligatory for the KU’s council to follow, as it is widely expected to set a maximum that is higher than the one proposed. The ministry’s plans to accommodate the expected number of high school graduates includes increasing the number of students sent on scholarships abroad as well as to private universities in Kuwait.

Kuwait University was forced to take an overcapacity of new students last summer after thousands of high school graduates were initially left without admission despite meeting the conditions to apply to KU. Many other students were granted scholarships, exceeding the numbers originally put by the Ministry of Higher Education for last year.— Al-Rai, Al-Jarida

Opinion varies on dues collection

Hit and run case A 23-year-old female Asian suffered a head injury after being run over by a vehicle in Zahra, said security sources. She was admitted to Farwaniya hospital.

Citizen stabbed A 14-year-old citizen was stabbed in the back while being involved in a fight with others in a polyclinic in Ahmadi. He was admitted to Adan hospital for treatment.

90% high school students expected to pass finals

KUWAIT: The drugs seized by narcotics police yesterday.

—Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Lawmakers and citizens’ opinions varied with respect to outstanding dues that ministries failed to collect, while private companies have been promptly collecting their dues.

There has been reluctance among government employees to collect dues.

Many believe privatization is the solution to most issues.

They said that many citizens and expats ‘consume state services’ and refuse to pay. The former minister of

MEW, Mohammad Al-Aleem said that authorities have reported that power and water connections should not be disconnected.

However, the private sector is more profit-oriented. Ex Undersecretary MEW Yousuf Al-Hajery said that suitable solutions should be formulated like facilitating payment in installments.

Nabeel Ben Salameh, former MEW and MoC minister said that all situations are under control.

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

LOCAL

Letters to Badrya

Increasing fees on govt services Dear Ms Badrya, Greetings.

F

irstly, please accept my sincere thanks and utmost respect for your thoughts on traffic discrimination. As I read your words, it gave me a sense that not everyone sees the world in same way. Every single expatriate makes a valuable contribution to build and develop Kuwait. A long-term plan should be made to solve and resolve issues without sidelining people who have equal rights like us. That’s what Islam teaches us.

I think that everybody will use Kuwait as a transit point for their future, knowing that there is nothing that can cut them off from the rest of the world. If Kuwait does not change its perspective, I am afraid it will remain a transit point forever.

Thank you once again for writing on behalf of all the expats.

Sincerely, Hussain Karim Jafaq Dear Madam, I happened to read the subject mentioned in the article today. I fully agree with your viewpoint and suggestions regarding incresing fees on various government services. In fact, such a proposal from the government appears to be ridiculous! Appreciate your frank opinion regarding this topic. As an expatriate mechanical engineer staying here with family, Kuwait has been kind to us by offering all facilities. In fact, it is with the money we earn here that we support ourselves and even our parents back home.

The recent turn of events and the various proposals appear to be expat unfriendly. It looks as if the entire blame is being shouldered by the expat community for all the negativity in Kuwait. For any country to develop and grow, the media’s constructive criticism is very essential. The first and foremost rule is that laws of the land need to be implemented and enforced strictly, irrespective of nationality and without favoring anybody. A set of rules that are applicable to citizens and another set of rules targeting expats in a country like Kuwait is the first step to disaster and instability.

We thank the Almighty and the wisdom of the rulers of this blessed country for offering the stability a nation requires, considering all the disturbances going on in the region. We must be wise enough to observe and learn from these incidents around us and protect this great nation from tests like those. I am sure no citizen or expat would want instability for Kuwait as it endangers survival. Kuwait has been blessed with all possible comforts under the able guidance of the visionary rulers and should serve as a role model to everybody within the GCC. This is a nation where one sees a perfect blend of culture, traditions and modernity. We have not disposed of traditions, beliefs, principles and culture in the name of development and modernity. Kuwait has not had a history of being ultra conservative. This perfect blend and balance is what makes this nation great to the world outside and

stands at a level much higher. The existence of a Parliament is itself testimony to this perfect balance and blend. We sincerely pray that this great nation will move ahead and grow by maintaining this balance. It is this balance that makes this place heaven-like for expats.

As you rightly pointed out, any developed nation faces infrastructural problems. These issues need to be addressed with good sense and wisdom.

Responsibilities need to be shouldered by one and all in this nation, and there should not be any loopholes within the system.

If residency violations are identified, strict action must be taken irrespective of nationality. If traffic violations arise, then fines collection need to be strictly implemented.

Collection of electricity bills, telephone bills need to be strictly implemented to ensure that excellent services are rendered. The fear of services being disconnected will force everybody to fulfill their obligations as well. If we do not pay our bills for our mobile phone, and it goes dead, wont we rush to settle the dues as first priority? The only point to be remembered is to offer facilities to the consumer to settle these dues without hassle and in a safe manner. Introduction of online services for all these services would be the key to resolve many issues. Issuing visit visas, renewal of residencies, payment of bills of telephones, electricity connections and essential services will ensure reduction of rush in the various ministries. People should visit the ministries for only specific problems and routine procedures should be simplified. Unfortunately, lack of knowledge of Arabic, ignorance of rules and paper work required for various services, makes it difficult for the expat to actually avail of these services, by making them dependent on middle men who make some money out of this. Eventually, the expat consumer is the loser and sufferer. In conclusion, studies and surveys (unbiased) should be undertaken to identify areas where correction is needed. It requires the will of leaders to actually implement it. No law can achieve the desired result unless it is implemented effectively. With regard to this new proposed rule, if it comes into effect, simply means larger financial burden on the expat. The existing house rents, school fees and various other factors are a problem for the expat community here in Kuwait. They have made Kuwait a home away from home and love this country no less than their own motherland. Given a choice to move to Dubai or Qatar where pastures appear greener, expats like me would still continue to live in Kuwait, irrespective of whatever package or facilities are provided in those developed and modern countries, simply because Kuwait offers the perfect blend of culture and modernity. Until now, we are confident that our children are safe and secure in a country like Kuwait. Let us hope good sense prevails.

Regards, T K Thomman

Dear Madam, First of all, I would like to thank you for considering our feelings on the new proposal. Your article does have good suggestions. I pray that someone from the MoI will read and consider it. I just felt like thanking you for your efforts.

Have a nice day.

Best Regards, Mohammed.

Hi Badrya, I read your column every day. Today’s topic is about traffic. You suggested some feasible solutions. I am a resident in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. It is a small residential area where most Indian families reside. Most of the Indian Schools are located here. For example, the United Indian School which has more than 4,000 students, and the school is being expanded to an annex residential building. Just opposite this school, a Kuwaiti school for girls is situated. The Indian Central School, Indian Public School, Pakistan International School, Indian Integrated School, Indian English Academy School, Bhavans School, one or two Filipino schools are also located in the vicinity. This is the reason why so many Indian families reside in this area. It is also interesting to note that, most Indians are paramedical staff (nurses). In the morning, between 6 to 8 am, the traffic is unbelievable. My office time begins at 7:30 am and I leave home between 5:30 to 5:45 am.

If I ever leave after 6:00 am, I will not be able to reach my workplace at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research by 7:30 am. This just one example, so are many others. I hope the authorities look into your suggestions.

Best regards.

S. Kuriakose Greetings, Madam, I like to express my gratitude for your unbiased and bold opinion. Every country faces traffic related problems. They develop infrastructure to solve it. It is sad to see that for every problem, targeting the expatriate community is the only solution here.

The government should seriously focus on HH Amir’s vision of transforming the state into an ‘economic hub’ of the region. This will make country less dependent on oil revenues, inshallah.

Expats play a key role in the development of the country. Expatriatesare not asking any charity from the government. But please do not discriminate!

Thanks Best Regards Mohammed Mubeen Madam, I hope you are fine and are doing well with the grace of Allah Almighty. I am a Pakistani expat here in Kuwait and a regular reader of columns. I love your writing, and it gives some relief that at least there is

someone who raises expats’ voice. Keep it up. May Allah bless you more Ameen Sajjad Naveed Hello Ms. Darwish, I found your article about licenses quite interesting (My actual response was “OMG, she’s my soulmate!).

As an expat, and not forgetting being born and raised in Kuwait and seeing what my parents went through as a child, and to see expats in certain areas being treated the same way, amazes me. It actually hurt. I feel there is no respect.

With all due respect to this country and the ministry/ government, I find it unfair that folks who have lived here all their lives are still being mistreated.

Two weeks ago, I was at the Jabriya Moroor to get my license papers sorted. Everyone at the counters kept pointing at each other instead of actually opening their mouth to tell us what we need to do. My dad and I were going about like headless chickens. When I finally reached the counter where someone was to just sign my papers (not to mention, the rude attitude - smoking in his office while entertaining customers) throws my papers and constantly kept sending me to different counters within his office.

I have waited so long to get my license sorted. I have major bad luck with it since I was 18. Ten years later, I am still struggling to get it sorted out here in Kuwait with all the different rules and regulations every single time.

I know a lot of people in Kuwait who pay as much as KD 1,000 to get a license because of desperation. I would have done this as well, but what next. I would not have money to live the way I do now. Same goes to people and their residency permit, not to mention visit visa issues. Why are we always targeted?

If the ministry wants to ‘solve’ the traffic chaos why not start with having parents use school buses for their children to avoid the extra cars on the roads in the morning? If there are a bunch of sensible people out here in Kuwait who live in the same area and work for the same company, why not just pool into a car and head to work? But no, no one wants to do that. I would. In fact, I do. My sisters and I work nearby. If it means having to wake up early to avoid the drama - we’d do that. There are so many families who own a zillion cars! For what joy? Again, why are people like me suffering because of others’ wrong doings?

It is just like when the 9/11 happened, and Muslims in certain areas in the world were suffering because of people like Osama Bin Laden. Maybe not all that similar.

But to me to a certain extent, it is that way. Its unfair.

Very unfair. I am sorry if I have been side tracked on this email. But thank you, Badrya for being our voice. We are never heard. You are like a Guardian Angel.

Once again, thank you Badrya.

Best Wishes, Sameera

kuwait digest

Kuwait human development

Local Spotlight

Sports situation worrisome

By Iqbal Al-Ahmad

G

iant billboards can be seen across Kuwait these days announcing plans to launch “the beginning of Kuwait’s future”, with pictures showing future mega projects such as the Jaber Hospital, Al-Jahra motorway and others.

It makes me very sad to see this large media campaign focusing on future projects that is restricted to construction, yet overlook the very important aspect of human development. The future of Kuwait depends in the most part on Kuwaiti citizens; who lost so much since the Iraqi Invasion crisis including values such as tolerance, commitment to the law, respect to all people regardless of their social status, contentment, giving, and appreciation to others regardless of their backgrounds or beliefs.

The Kuwaiti human being today needs restoration, no, reconstruction after their psychological structure became violently shaken, costing them the ability to trust which resulted in an attitude that looks to make more gain with any means necessar y. This paved the way for dishonesty, hypocrisy and corruption to spread in society where honesty and wisdom became the abnormality today.

It takes one, two or even three years to construct a building, but building human beings take decades. Constructing buildings need concrete, steel and bricks, while constructing humans needs knowledge, culture and freedom.

Kuwait’s future isn’t guaranteed by skyscrapers, bridges and tunnels, but by the good care of its children and respect of values and regulations.

Kuwait of the future needs a responsible generation willing to sacrifice in their love to their country, and not a generation that considers migration after growing desperate of not finding solutions to the bureaucracy and other problems.

Kuwait’s future needs building a Kuwaiti generation that is brought up on the values of tolerance, love and respect of others regardless of their nationality or religion, and that from the early years of school. Kuwait’s future requires citizens who don’t know frustration by enjoying open job opportunities, security and political stability; which are things that cannot be achieved by building bridges and roads.

Constructions are an essential part of the development process, yet they should come after reconstructing the Kuwaiti citizen who lost the sense of responsibility in many fields. Responsibility means duties, and duties are met with rights. it is wrong however to see rights increase in society on the expense of duties, rendering people feeling less responsible towards their society. I am not pessimistic, I just know like many others do that Kuwait’s future lies in its people, not constructions.

I hope that one day we can see billboards across Kuwait reading “the beginning of reconstructing citizens for Kuwait’s future”. — Al-Qabas

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

K

uwait’s sports situation is worrisome.

Although sports should have nothing to do with politics, sports is seen as a field where politicians are involved and give opinions or make allegations. No one seems to know for sure!

Sports is still a public department undertaking. So, as long as all sports clubs in Kuwait are under the power of the Public Authority for Youth and Sport (PAYS), a government body that was established by a decree in 1992, I see a way out from all the typical problems that all government bodies face! No wonder every politician in town has no clue about how football and basketball are different, it is normal!

Now, why have sports clubs freed themselves from governmental authority? How desperately do we need to give the government and the National Assembly the upper hand on sport in Kuwait? Why do we let some MPs, who are ignorant about sports, decide about our participation in international matches?

I believe it is time to privatize all sports clubs in Kuwait. Yes, those that can afford to cover all expenses of running and managing a club should be entitled to do so without interfering at all.

The problem here in Kuwait is that that many want to live with the perception that they will be taken care of (cradle to grave) by the government. They mistakenly believe that a socialist society is great because it provides them with all the services needed without making efforts.

The socialist system has brought no good to its people. This is why all communist governments failed dramatically in other parts of the world. I believe it is time to move out all the departments that should not be part of the government.

I think if sport clubs were to solve problems, no improvement will take place. Of course, all complaints regarding slow decision making process and going backward in sport would be natural. These days, some new MPs have realized this and are calling for privatizing this important sector in Kuwait.

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

local

Kuwaiti students in US excluded from quota rule WASHINGTON: The students quota regulation at US universities would not apply on Kuwaiti students, said an official at National Union for Kuwaiti Students (NUKS) US-branch here yesterday.

Head of the Administrative committee to the branch Nasser Ali bin Nasser said that the achievement came after a NUKS delegation met with Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf and other ministry officials, adding that the ministry under-

stood the issue at hand and did its best to bypass the regulation so that it would not apply on Kuwaiti students.

With the regulation being carried out by several US universities, NUKS and the Ministry successfully excluded Kuwaiti students from the regulation, said bin Nasser who indicated that the number of Kuwaiti students have been increasing in recent years which made it important that such regulation, mainly applying American students, would not apply on them. —KUNA

KUWAIT: The Minister of Information, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, highlighted the role played by the Kuwaiti Journalists Association in serving journalism and journalists in Kuwait. Speaking on a visit to KJA, on which he met with the chairman of the KJA, Ahmed Yousif Behbehani, Secretary Faisal Al-Qenae and Treasurer Adnan Al-Rashid, the minister discussed KJA’s needs.

Father, brothers held for killing 19-year-old girl Pedestrian hurt in accident

Wataniya sponsors graduation ceremony KUWAIT: Based on its ongoing support to the education sector and its pioneering CSR strategy program, Wataniya Telecom recently announced its sponsorship of the Allied Health Sciences College’s graduation ceremony. This sponsorship arises from its ongoing support to the education sector and in accordance with its pioneering CSR strategy program. The graduation ceremony, which took place on Wednesday, was held at the Regency Hotel under the patronage of the minister of Health Dr. Ali Al-Obaidi and attended the dean of Allied Health Sciences College Dr. Saoud AlObaidi and the dean’s assistant Dr. Ali Dashti. The event was also attended by academic officials, professors and the proud parents of the graduating students.

Commenting on this sponsorship was PR Director at Wataniya Telecom, Abdulaziz

Al Balool, who congratulated the students on their successful graduation and achievement, wishing them the best of luck in the work field, as a future advocate of the country’s development.

Al-Balool added “Wataniya Telecom makes every effort to support the education sector and youth’s activities. This sponsorship is only a minor part of our CSR program, especially since Wataniya Telecom understands the importance of the Allied Health Sciences College in developing the health sector of Kuwait. We are also very happy to be here sharing the joy of these students success in such a special day, as Wataniya offers Kuwaiti manpower great employment opportunities, which contributes to reinforcing the private sectors role, and in turn developing the economy as a whole.”

KUWAIT: A case in which police helped reunite a missing girl with her family ended tragically after she was found dead less than 48 hours in an ‘honor killing’ crime. Investigations went underway a couple of days ago after Salmiya police received information that the 19-year-old Syrian girl went missing again after being united with her family on Wednesday. During interrogations, the girl’s father, a Ministry of Interior serviceman, admitted that his daughter fled the house again on Wednesday. Police then questioned her four brothers who eventually admitted to killing their sister the same day on which she was returned, and buried her in Al-Salmi desert. Criminal investigators found the victim’s body late Friday night wrapped in a blanket at the location where she was buried. The men along with their father were charged with first degree murder and were referred to the Public Prosecution Department.

Road accident A woman was hospitalized after she being run over in Al-Farwaniya by a motorist’s vehicle.

He was taken in custody by local police.

Paramedics and police rushed to a street in the area where the accident was reported, and found the Indian victim in pain. She was diagnosed with a broken leg and several bruises at the Farwaniya Hospital. According to eyewitnesses, the woman in her forties was crossing the street when the Kuwaiti driver accidently hit her despite slowing down in an attempt to

avoid an accident. The suspect was referred to the area’s police station for investigations.

Attempted rape A shopkeeper in Salmiya was summoned for investigations after a female resident filed a complaint with local police. The Filipina woman told police that the Iranian old man shut the door of his baqala (small grocery store) located at the Amman Street soon after she entered it.

However, she managed to escape after resisting his advances.

Son in custody A Firdous resident in his thirties was arrested recently after physically assaulting his mother at the family house. Police rushed to the scene recently following an emergency call made by the suspect’s sister. He apparently assaulted their old mother who refused to lend him money. The man was taken to the area’s police station after being charged with domestic abuse.

He is being held pending legal procedures.

Shooting suspect A search is ongoing for a shooting suspect who disappeared after injuring a Saudi teenager at a Taima house recently. Local police were approached late Thursday night by a citizen who wielded a handgun that was fired recently. The man reported that he saw the suspect shooting randomly at a home he rushed into. The suspect was reportedly put under control by a person

inside the house, who then put him inside his car and drove to an undisclosed location, leaving behind the gun used in the incident. Security officers rushed to the scene after finding out that the suspect is a neighbor who carried out this attack over previous disputes. Police also learnt that a teenager was seriously injured in the incident and was taken by his family to AlJahra Hospital.

Teen injured A Kuwaiti teenager was injured after falling off from a height in an apparent accident reported in Saad Al-Abdullah. The victim was diagnosed with a concussion and several fractures at the nearest medical facility. His family told officers during investigations that he fell accidently from the roof of their house. A case was filed.

‘Revenge theft’ Five suspects were arrested recently after ransacking an apartment in Al-Farwaniya. The suspects argue that they only wanted to free their friend who was locked up at the apartment. Officers rushed to the scene after receiving a report from three Sri Lankan residents that reported to police and stole phones, wallets.

Investigators identified a prime suspect who admitted that he and his four accomplices freed their female friend and carried out thefts to ‘punish her kidnappers.’ The five, who are also Sri Lankan, were referred to higher authorities to face charges. —Al-Watan, Al-Qabas, Al-Rai

World Bank holds anti-corruption meeting WASHINGTON: The World Bank Group hosted in the American capital the second biennial meeting of the International Corruption Hunters Alliance (ICHA) to engage members on new technological tools and resources that can support the collective fight against global corruption.

Over 300 senior anti-corruption officials and heads of enforcement organizations from across the world participated in the meeting at the World Bank headquarters, including the Kuwait Audit Bureau, which was represented by Director of the Second Depar tment for Companies Auditing Fahad AlMubaraki.

The meeting this year, which was entitled “Leading with Integrity: Innovations and New Frontiers” had two objectives; to demonstrate and discuss progress on the priority actions and to advance global fight against corruption with a focus on technological innovations.”

This year’s meeting focused on three themes, which were “international cooperation, national enforcement and innovations in the uses of technology in the fight against corruption.”

In his opening address in the event, World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said that “technology can help us move faster and with greater accuracy to detect and catch fraud and corruption.”

He stressed that “we could develop a compendium of resources that support integrity in financial centers which could serve as a useful information resource for all members of the Alliance.”

The ICHA 2012 program focused on the introduction of new approaches such as “crowd sourcing and citizen engagement, the use of open source data to support forensic investigations and evidence gathering, as well as bringing a corruption prevention perspective through the experiences of a number of countries and international organizations.”

The program this year was struc-

tured to ensure that groups with similar profiles have the opportunity to discuss shared interests and future commitments.

The participants were also given the oppor tunity to meet with counterparts from the same region to discuss local priorities.

Parallel sessions, workshops and panels were also held on the sidelines of the event. Also the George Washington University (GWU) Law School co-hosted along with the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) a two-day training workshop on “operational skills for international corruption hunters.”

This workshop is considered an “active learning” exercise that focuses upon enforcement capabilities and requires countries affected by corruption to work together with financial-center countries to resolve obstacles commonly encountered in tracing and recovering the assets of corruption.

Building on the network of corruption fighters that was launched

in 2010, ICHA 2012 is “driving the fight against corruption to a new level defined by technological tools, new bilateral and multilateral partnerships, a broader range of enforcement action and a wealth of investigative, forensic and preventive knowledge that is now accessible to all Alliance members.”

“Our focus this week was to learn from each other and prioritize the challenges and opportunities that can trigger collective action against global corruption,” said Stephen Zimmermann, Director of Operations at the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency.

He added “our work with members of the Alliance will continue to ensure that we are one step ahead and that our progress in fighting crime is not undermined.”

In conjunction with the core program, the World Bank Group also hosted a Technology EXPO to showcase technology that can be tailored to the specific needs of corruption fighters. —KUNA

Kuwaiti health program accredited internationally KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti researcher and academician made an unprecedented international accomplishment; his nutrition and diet program was accredited by a renowned international journal for treatment of obesity.

Dr Ahmad Rashed Al-Haifi, a consultant at the Health Sciences College of the Public Authority for Applied Sciences and Training, said that his television program, the “Sound Diet,” after being transformed into a scientific paper, was accepted by the international journal, Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity.

The thesis will promoted by the journal as an international reference for specialized television programs on nutrition and physical exercise, prescribed for losing weight.

His screened program involves a sample of 14 obese teenagers who are subject to a six-month supervision to aid them lose weight, through changing eating habits, increasing activity and acquiring new behaviors that contribute in reaching this purpose.

It has succeeded in enabling some members of team who suffer from 6 to 26 kg of extra weight to shed some 10 percent of fat in a specific short period of time and minimum effort.

The program involves boosting power will, organizing recreational trips and activities and hosting celebrities.

According to figures of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health, more than 80 percent of adult women suffer from extra weight, and 45 percent of the teenagers aged between 14 and 20 have the same condition.— KUNA

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

Prince Philip leaves hospital after 5 days

Bomber kills 4 French troops in Afghanistan Page 11

Page 10

CAIRO: Egyptian protesters gather in central Cairo’s Tahrir Square on June 8, 2012 to demonstrate against presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq. Thousands of people demonstrated in Egypt to demand Hosni Mubarak’s last premier Ahmed Shafiq be banned from a run-off presidential election.—AFP

Mob attacks women at Egypt anti-sex assault rally Assaults organized attempt to drive women out: Victims CAIRO: A mob of hundreds of men have assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. From the ferocity of Friday’s assault, some of the victims said it appeared to have been an organized attempt to drive women out of demonstrations and trample on the pro-democracy protest movement.

The attack follows smaller scale assaults on women last week in Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year. Thousands have been gathering in the square last week in protests over a variety of issues - mainly over worries that presidential elections this month will secure the continued rule by elements of Mubarak’s regime backed by the ruling military. Last week, an Associated Press reporter witnessed around 200 men assault a woman who eventually fainted before men trying to help could reach her.

Friday’s march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined to hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters saying, “The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser,” and chanted, “The Egyptian girl says it loudly, harassment is barbaric.” After the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into the group of women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.

The marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them and male supporters tried to protect them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter, shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. The male supporters fought back, swinging belts and fists and throwing

water. Eventually, the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building with the mob still outside until they finally got out to safety. “After what I saw and heard today. I am furious at so many things. Why beat a girl and strip her off? Why?” wrote Sally Zohney, one of the organizers of the event on Twitter. The persistence of the attack raised the belief of many that it was intentional, though who orchestrated it was unclear. Mariam Abdel-Shahid, a 25 year-old cinema student who took part in the march, said “sexual harassment will only take us backward.”

“This is pressure on the woman to return home,” she said. Ahmed Mansour, a 22 yearold male medical student who took part in the march, said there are “people here trying to abuse the large number of women protesters who feel safe and secure. Some people think it is targeted to make women hate coming here.” “I am here to take a position and to object to this obscene act in society,” he said. Assaults on women Tahrir

have been a demoralizing turn for Egypt’s protest movement. During the 18-day uprising against Mubarak last year, women say they briefly experienced a “new Egypt” taking place in Tahrir, with none of the harassment that is common in Cairo’s streets. Women participated in the antiMubarak uprising as leading activists, protesters, medics and even fighters to ward off attacks by security agents or affiliated thugs. They have continued the role during the frequent protests over the past 15 months against the military, which took power after Mubarak’s fall on Feb. 11, 2011.

But women have also been targeted, both by mobs and by military and security forces in crackdowns, a practice commonly used

by Mubarak security against protesters. Lara Logan, a US correspondent for CBS television, was sexually assaulted by a frenzied mob in Tahrir on the day Mubarak stepped down, when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians came to the square to celebrate.—AP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

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

Libya to postpone June election: Vote officials TRIPOLI: Elections in Libya for a constituent assembly, originally set to be held by June 19, are to be postponed for logistical reasons, electoral commission members said yesterday. One commission member, on condition of anonymity, said the postponement until July or later had been decided mainly to allow time for appeals from candidates who had been ruled out of the contest. “Several dates have been proposed, but most discussions are pointing to July 10,” the official said.

The chairman of the electoral commission, questioned by AFP, would say only that “an announcement will be made tomorrow (Sunday) at a news conference.” Another member of the electoral commission said the postponement had been decided in consultation with UN officials working with the commission who had “proposed a date during the first week in July.”

“But if we are not ready by that date, the election will be postponed for the month of August also,

until after Ramadan,” the Muslim holy fasting month, the official cautioned. Rumours have abounded in the Libyan capital that the constituent assembly election will be put off, despite the authorities insisting it will go ahead on time, despite no actual polling day being announced.

More than 2.7 million Libyans, or around 80 percent of eligible voters, have registered to participate in what marks the first national poll after four decades of dictatorship under Moamer Kadhafi,

toppled last year. The ruling National Transitional Council, having declared the country’s “liberation” three days after the October 20 capture and killing of Kadhafi, launched a roadmap to a new Libya with a 20-month countdown to elections.

A transitional government was to organise within eight months the election of a 200-member assembly, or “general national congress.” The NTC is to step down once the congress holds its first session. —AFP

Israel to decide on settlement university Upgrade strong signal of creeping annexation of territory

TUNIS: Two Kalashnikov rifles, ammunition, components used for making explosives, passports and a holy Quran are shown to the press in Tunis yesterday, before the trial of two Libyan operatives of Al-Qaeda’s North African wing over the killing of two Tunisian army officers last year. — AFP

Clashes, air strikes in south Yemen, 13 killed ADEN: Yemeni troops battled Islamist militants in overnight clashes and air strikes that continued into yesterday, local officials and residents said, as part of a US -backed drive to retake territory held by insurgents.

The Yemeni army is trying to recapture towns in the southern province of Abyan that were seized by Al-Qaeda-linked militants last year during a popular uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who formally stepped down in February.

The month-old offensive has cut off supplies of food and medicine and forced thousands to flee their homes, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday. Washington, which helped engineer Saleh’s replacement by his deputy in February, is backing the offensive and has stepped up its campaign of drone strike assassinations of alleged al Qaeda members it says plot attacks from Yemen.

A local official and residents said at least 10 militants were killed in heavy fighting east of Jaar, in the southern province of

Abyan, which continued until yesterday morning. Three soldiers also were killed.

Yemeni warplanes struck areas held by insurgents inside and near Jaar, residents said, adding that the number of casualties was not immediately known. Western and Gulf Arab countries have watched with mounting alarm as political crisis in Yemen gave al Qaeda-linked militants the opportunity to develop a base from which to launch attacks around the world.

The United States and Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, have come to regard Yemen based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, as the network ’s most dangerous wing.

Concerned about the humanitarian and security crisis in Yemen, Gulf Arab states and the West pledged more than $4 billion in aid to the impoverished state last month. About 40 percent of Yemenis live on less than $2 a day. Aid agencies said in May that almost half of them lack enough to eat. — Reuters

Bombs target Iraq oil pipelines, exports not hit KIRKUK: Two bombs exploded yesterday close to minor oil pipelines carrying crude from a major oilfield near Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk, according to security and oil sources who said exports to the Ceyhan port in Turkey were not affected. The attack occurred near pipelines which carry oil from Bai Hassan oilfield to a degassing station in Kirkuk, an oil ministry spokesman and officials at state-run North Oil Company said.

“Two bombs blew up near two oil wells in Bai Hassan oilfield without causing a fire. We are assessing the damage and a technical crew has started repairs.

Exports were not affected,” Asim Jihad, a spokesman for the oil ministry, said. The explosion occurred early yesterday and

was caused by bombs placed under two oil pipelines around 45 km (25 miles) northwest of the oil city, an oil police official in Kirkuk said. “ We managed to defuse four more bombs in the same area,” the official said on condition of anonymity. Energy installations are frequently targeted by insurgents more than nine years after the 2003 US -led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

The bulk of Iraq’s oil is exported from the southern terminals of Basra but around 400,000-450,000 barrels - a quar ter of all expor ts - is pumped through the strategic Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Ceyhan port in Turkey. The pipeline has a capacity of 1.6 million barrels per day. — Reuters

Australian lawyer for Seif al-Islam arrested in Libya ZINTAN: Libya has arrested one of the defence lawyers for Seif al-Islam, the detained son of slain leader Muammar Gaddafi, accusing her of trying to pass “dangerous” documents to him, sources said yesterday. The lawyer, Australian Melinda Taylor, works with Xavier-Jean Keita, the defence attorney appointed by the International Criminal Court, which is seeking to try Seif and Kadhafi’s former intelligence chief for crimes against humanity.

“During a visit (to Seif on Thursday), the lawyer tried to deliver documents to the accused, documents that have nothing to do with his case and that represent a danger to the security of Libya,” said Ahmed al-Jehani, Libya’s representative to the ICC. Jehani said Taylor is “under house arrest in Zintan, not in prison,” and is being questioned. Also arrested was an unidentified woman said to be acting as Taylor’s interpreter. The visit was authorised

by Libya’s chief prosecutor, and the complaint is that Taylor had tried to deliver the documents without first declaring them. The ICC’s spokesman in The Hague could not be reached for comment, but a source said a statement was forthcoming.

Jehani did not say what documents Taylor was carrying, except that they had been sent

by Mohammed Ismail, Seif’s former right-hand man, who has been on the run since the revolt. Ajmi al-Atiri, commander of the Zintan brigade that arrested Seif, confirmed at a news conference in the town that there had been “a security breach” during the visit and that the lawyer had been detained for questioning. He said the delegation came on Thursday and that Taylor visited Seif with a female interpreter, who had claimed to be a

nurse and was found to be in possession of a camera when searched by a policewoman. He did not elaborate.

There had been an attempt to exchange documents, including an unsigned letter from Seif to the ICC saying “there is no government or law in Libya” and that he was being “illtreated.” There was also a blank document signed by him, Atiri said. Meanwhile, Atiri said the brigade had been “surprised” that National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil had made telephone calls requesting the “immediate release” of the detainees. For his part, a foreign ministry official said Libya will request that the ICC waive the lawyer’s immunities so that formal investigations can begin.

“I think the woman will be with us for a while until the waiver is granted by the International Criminal Court so we can formally start the investigations,” Mohammed Abdulaziz told AFP. He added that the delegation should have formally declared the documents. “It is an act that is jeopardising the national security of Libya and we are taking it very seriously,” he said. Seif, 39, has been in custody in Zintan since his arrest on November 19 in the wake of the uprising that toppled his father after more than 40 years in power. The ICC wants both Seif and his late father’s spymaster, Abdullah Senussi, for crimes against humanity committed while trying to put down last year’s bloody revolt.

Tripoli and the ICC have been at loggerheads since Seif al-Islam’s capture over where he should be tried, with Libya arguing it could put him in the dock before a local court. On May 1, officials asked the court’s judges to quash a surrender request and throw out the case. —AFP

JERUSALEM: In the fraught atmosphere of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, an approaching decision on whether to award coveted university status to a college has taken on powerful political overtones. For critics of Israel’s policy of settling Jews in the West Bank, the upgrade of the “Ariel University Center of Samaria” into a permanent university would be a strong signal of what they say is creeping annexation of the hilly territory.

For its supporters, upgrading the institution will be a crowning jewel of the government’s commitment to holding the West Bank, the heartland of biblical Judaism, captured by Israel along with east Jerusalem in the 1967 war. “Most dramatically, this has a symbolic significance that no settlement has,” said political scientist Yaron Ezrahi of Hebrew University. “It’s an attempt to legitimize the occupation.”

Of Israel’s more than 120 Jewish settlements, Ariel holds special significance. With 19,000 people, it is one of the largest settlements built on occupied territory claimed by the Palestinians.

Positioned deep in the West Bank, its removal is seen as essential to the viability of a future Palestinian state, since annexing it to Israel would also take a significant wedge of land with it to connect with Israel proper. But its huge population and developed infrastructure, including a theater, sports complex and four-lane highway, would make it extraordinarily difficult to uproot. An upgrade to the college would give a symbolic depth to the feeling of permanence.

“Ariel is here to stay. There’s no reason to treat it differently from Tel Aviv,” said settler leader Naftali Bennett. “Long ago, it should have become a university.” A government committee headed by the education minister is expected to decide next month on the upgrade. The Ariel institution has operated for 30 years in some form, ultimately growing into a college of some 12,500 students. It is open to all Israeli citizens, including Arabs. But like other Israeli universities, it is closed to the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank.

The school was given temporary university status five years ago, according to school officials, with a July 15, 2012, deadline to make a decision on giving it permanent recognition. In the meantime, its faculty was tasked with proving that it could produce university-worthy education. Permanent status would give the institution access to additional state funding and allow more collaborative work with other Israeli universities. Most critically, though, it would be a symbolic victory in the school’s struggle for recognition.

Israel Education Minister Gideon Saar favors the upgrade, according to his spokeswoman, Lital Apter-Yotzer. She said he would support the application as long as it meets academic requirements and doesn’t take away existing funding for the country’s other universities. “From the academic point of view, we are eligible to get permanent status as a university,” Yigal CohenOrgad, the school’s dean, said proudly.

WEST BANK: In this Jan. 9, 2011 file photo, students enter the Ariel University Center in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel. A decision on whether to award the college university status is expected next month. —AP But the decision will not rest on academic considerations alone: An upgrade would likely trigger international condemnations and enrage the Palestinians. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegitimate and a chief obstacle to Palestinian statehood.

“Any step of this kind would be a further consolidation of illegal settlements,” said Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib.

Settlements are at the heart of the current impasse in Mideast peace efforts. Talks broke down more than three years ago, and the Palestinians have refused to return to negotiations while Israel continues expanding its settlements. More than 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians.

Joining Israeli academia would put the Ariel school in some prominent company. All but one of Israel’s eight universities rank in the world’s top 500, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, a respected ranking service.

But some, including professors at other Israeli universities, fear it will tarnish Israeli academia and perhaps jeopardize international funding, staff and research exchanges. Pro-Palestinian activists say if the institution is recognized, they will push harder than ever for a boycott of Israeli academia by firmly demonstrating links between the country’s military occupation and academia. The symbolism of a university, the activists say, is more powerful than a mere college.”It will open the doors even more widely to the general boycott of Israel and all its institutions that are part of its system of oppression,” said Omar Bargouti, a Palestinian activist in the global movement to promote boycotts and

sanctions against Israel. The movement’s chief concrete success so far was to influence the University of Johannesburg in South Africa to cut its institutional agreements to Israel’s Ben Gurion University in March 2011. It has also promoted boycott debates onto Western campuses.

A petition condemning the upgrade plans drew some 1,000 signatures from Israeli academics, said Nir Gov, associate professor of chemical physics at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, and a sharp critic of Israel’s policies against Palestinians. Academics fear tens of millions of dollars of European and U.S. research grants might be at stake if they are compelled to work with a future Ariel University. They cite the case of Israeli theater companies that were forced to perform in Ariel’s year-old theater. At that time, hundreds of artists protested against the move, saying they did not agree with Israel’s settlement policy. The culture minister responded by threatening to cut the funds of any theater company that did not comply.

The European Union will not fund projects based out of West Bank settlements, said EU spokesman David Kriss. A U.S. spokesperson did not comment. Even if there is no official boycott, Israeli academics may be less likely to be accepted at international conferences, their scholarly articles could be rejected, and so could their applications for sabbaticals in prestigious universities abroad, said Menahem Klein, political science professor at Bar Ilan University. “Of course it will not happen overnight,” Klein said.

“It might take a few years, but ... it may lead to very bad consequences for Israeli universities.

This will make a connection between academia and occupation.” — AP

Turkish alleged coup plotters linked to Christian murders ISTANBUL: A Turkish prosecutor has linked a shadowy group the government suspects of being coup plotters to the 2007 murders of three Christian missionaries, media reports said yesterday. The three members of a Bible publishing firm, including a German national, were tortured and killed in April 2007 in the eastern town of Malatya. Nine people are already on trial for the murder, of whom six are in jail.

The prosecutor in Malatya has filed a bill of

indictment against 19 other people, the Anatolia news agency reported. Heading the list is former general Hursit Tolon, a key figure in investigations into the so-called Ergenekon network-a shadowy group the government has blamed for a variety of violent acts. Turkish authorities accuse the ultranationalist network of being behind several plots to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The 761-page indictment accuses Tolon of

“heading a terrorist organization” and also names retired colonel Mehmet Ulger, Anatolia said. It says other cells linked to the organization were involved in the 2006 murder of Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro in the northeastern city of Trabzon and the killing of a journalist of Armenian descent, Hrant Dink, the following year in Istanbul. In both cases, the killers were given lengthy sentences and judges ruled out organized crime being behind the murders. — AFP

IDLIB: A handout image released by the Syrian opposition’s Shaam News Network yesterday, shows Syrians carrying the body of a youth allegedly killed in a Syrian government offensive, during his funeral in the town of Kfar Nubul in Idlib province on Friday. — AFP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

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

Brazil grants asylum to Bolivian senator LA PAZ: Brazil announced on Friday that it was granting asylum to a Bolivian opposition senator who has holed up in its embassy in La Paz claiming political persecution and saying he feared for his life. The decision about Sen. Roger Pinto came in a one -sentence email that did not explain Brazil’s reasoning for granting the request. Pinto, a member of Bolivia’s small right-wing opposition bloc in congress, has been living in the embassy since May 28 and accuses President Evo Morales’ government

of corruption though he has provided no evidence.

He says he sought asylum after he and his family received telephoned death threats. But Bolivia’s government says Pinto’s exile is an opposition smear campaign against Morales.

It accuses Pinto of corruption and wants him on criminal charges including economic damage to the state from when he was governor of the northern state of Pando, which borders Brazil. Pinto did not make any statement but one of his colleagues,

Sen. Geanine Anez, said Brazil had confirmed Pinto’s accusations.

Tovar Munes, a spokesman for Brazil’s Foreign Ministry in Brasilia, said Pinto remained in the embassy in La Paz. Despite winning asylum, Pinto will not be allowed to travel to Brazil until the Bolivian government agrees with Brazil’s action, Munes said, citing rules within a 1954 convention on diplomatic asylum. If the Bolivian government decides it will not allow Pinto to leave, “he could give up his asylum request and leave the

embassy, or he could stay for a long period of time at the embassy,” said Munes.

The spokesman added that Pinto’s is alone in the embassy that his family is not with him. Pinto is the first opponent of Morales from Bolivia’s weak, splintered opposition to obtain asylum in Brazil. O thers have obtained it in Peru and Paraguay, where former Tarija state Gov. Mario Cosio fled after being charged with corruption. Pinto was allied with Cosio and three other lowlands oppo-

sition governors who rebelled against Morales in 2008.

But Morales won a referendum the following year that quashed the rebellion. That’s when the prosecutions of opposition leaders for alleged corruption began. Pinto is a close political ally of former Pando Gov. Leopoldo Fernandez. He has been in jail pending trial for more than three years, charged with instigating a crackdown in September 2008 that claimed the lives of nine indigenous Morales supporters.—AP

Protesters, police clash in Montreal Police fire pepper spray into crowd

ATLANTA: In this Wednesday, Nov 7, 2007 photo, Rev. Creflo Dollar gives his Wednesday night service at World Changers Church International, in College Park, Ga. Dollar has been arrested after authorities say he slightly hurt his 15year-old daughter in a fight at his metro Atlanta home. —AP

Megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar arrested ATLANTA: A prominent megachurch pastor and televangelist - who has drawn scrutiny for his flashy lifestyle and preaching that prosperity is good - was arrested after authorities said he slightly hurt his 15year-old daughter in a fight at his metro Atlanta home. Fayette County Sheriff ’s deputies responded to a call of domestic violence at the home of the pastor, Creflo Dollar, in unincorporated Fayette County around 1 am Friday, said investigator Brent Rowan. The pastor and his daughter were arguing over whether she could go to a party when Dollar “got physical” with her, leaving her with “super ficial injuries,” Rowan said.

The 15-year-old was the one who called authorities, and her 19-year-old sister corroborated the story, Rowan said. Dollar faces misdemeanor charges of simple battery and cruelty to children. He bonded out of Fayette County jail Friday morning. “As a father I love my children and I always have their best interest at heart at all times, and I would never use my hand to ever cause bodily harm to my children,” Dollar said in a statement released by his lawyer Nikki Bonner. “The facts in this case will be handled privately to further protect my children. My family thanks you for your prayers and continued support.”

Dollar will make no further comments since he’s involved in the ongoing criminal matter, but he is expected to preach Sunday, Bonner said. The 50-year-old leads the Creflo Dollar Ministries and is the pastor for World Changers Church

International in the Atlanta suburb of College Park, which serves nearly 30,000 members, according to the church’s website. World Changers Church-New York hosts over 6,000 worshippers each week, the website says. Four satellite churches are located in Georgia along with others in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Washington, Cleveland, Dallas and Houston.

He and his wife Taffi, a co-pastor at the church, have five children, according to the website. Dollar is a native of College Park and says he received a vision for World Changers Ministries Christian Center in 1986. He held the first service, in front of only eight people, in the cafeteria of Kathleen Mitchell Elementary School in College Park, the website says. His ministry grew quickly, moved into a modest-sized chapel and was renamed World Changers Church International. The church moved into its present location, an 8,500-seat sanctuary called the World Dome, on Dec. 24, 1995. Dollar said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press that he renounced his salary from the church, and his income only comes from personal investments, including a real estate residential property business and horse breeding company called Dollar Ranch. He’s published more than 30 books, focusing mostly on family and life issues, including debt management. “I stopped taking a salary,” he said. “But no one ask the question, ‘Where are you getting your money from?’ Well, I have boxes of invitations to speak. At first, I was glad to preach for anyone. —AP

MONTREAL: Small groups of protesters clashed late Friday on the streets of Montreal amid festivities leading up to today’s race for Formula One’s Grand Prix.

Protesters tried all night to approach the large tent erected in downtown Montreal for the festivities. Montreal police, backed by riot officers, fired pepper spray into the crowd in order to force the protesters to disperse. Lines of police officers blocked all access to the stands of the Grand Prix, which many student protesters consider an “elitist event.” The protesters, dressed in black and red, demonstrated not only against the Grand Prix but also against a special law passed by the Quebec government restricting the right to protest.

Special Law 78 requires organizers to give police at least eight hours advance warning of times and locations of protest marches, with hefty fines imposed for failing to do so.

The measure was passed on May 18 in an effort to quell the demonstrations sparked by a plan to increase university tuition, but so far it has only served to galvanize opposition to the government. Students have rejected a government offer to reduce the tuition hike by Can$35 ($34) per year, which would bring the total increase to Can$1,533 ($1,473) over seven years instead of Can$1,778 ($1,708).

A small group carried a large black banner: “We can no longer express ourselves? That’s why we let pots and pans do the talking!”

Police arrested 12 people, accord-

MONTREAL: Policemen watch over a demonstrator during a student protest in Montreal on Friday.

Students protested against university tuition fee increases and Law 78, a measure passed last week requiring activists to notify police ahead of demonstrations.—AFP ing to a statement. Five of them will face criminal charges that the police did not specify. Student leaders vowed to target the Grand Prix, the city ’s biggest annual tourist event, when talks in Quebec broke down last week after students rejected a government offer to reduce the planned tuition hike.

Since February, hundreds of protesters have been arrested and clashes have erupted sporadically as more than 165,000 stu-

dents have refused to attend class and tens of thousands have taken part in nightly demonstrations. Earlier Friday, ex-Formula One champ Jacques Villeneuve said he had received death threats after lashing out against the student protests. The 1997 Formula One world champion, who was born in Quebec near Montreal, said he had received “a bundle of abusive, insulting and even some threatening emails,” that included “death threats,”

Attorney General appoints 2 attorneys to lead leaks probe

SC sheriff’s race marred by kidnapping allegation SENECA: Voters choosing a sheriff in one South Carolina county can pick from four men accused of doing something wrong, including a former Secret Service agent accused of trying to kidnap someone and a second man investigated by state agents. If neither suits their fancy, voters also can pick from a former deputy who was fired last year after his bosses accused him of lying on his time sheets, or the current chief deputy, who was the No 2 man at the agency when a former office manager stole more than $500,000 forfeited by drug dealers. All four men deny any wrongdoing.

“It’s a travesty for all the people of Oconee County,” said Jeff Bright, an engineer who backed the ex-Secret Service agent facing the felony charge, James Bartee. To top it all off, they will all have to conduct write-in campaigns or get back on the ballot in November through collecting signatures. All four were kicked off the ballot Wednesday because of mistakes filing campaign paperwork, just six days before the Republican primary. No Democrats were running for the seat.

Most people expected an intense campaign after 20-year Sheriff James Singleton announced his retirement. But the ugliness has become unsettling: Salacious allegations with little to back them up are swirling on Facebook, and the candidates frequently trade copies of court documents and personnel files at forums.

The sheriff’s office is typically an important seat of power in South Carolina, where strict incorporation laws mean 65 percent of the state’s residents don’t live in cities or towns. Sheriffs often control jails, can hire and fire anyone and have tight control over finances - in Oconee County, the sheriff ’s office gets nearly 15 percent of the $43 million budget for the county of about 74,000 people. They also choose what their deputies concentrate on, meaning drugs

may be a focus in one county while it’s traffic control in another.

Oconee County is a rural area of haves and have-nots: Wealthy retirees attracted by the beautiful waters of Lake Keowee and the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from lakeside mansions contrast with the remnants of mill villages where nearly a third of households make less than $35,000 a year, according to US Census figures. Candidates are willing to spend big bucks to get the job, too. With weeks left before what was supposed to be the election, campaign finance documents showed the four Oconee County candidates spent a combined $130,000, or about $3 per registered voter, for a job that pays anywhere from $68,000 to $103,000 a year depending on experience.

Leading the spending was Bartee, who has loaned more than $34,000 to his own campaign. He spent more than two decades with the US Secret Service, and his website shows him on the presidential protection details for Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He also, for the first time in his life, is facing a felony charge.

The State Law Enforcement Division said Bartee was taped asking someone to arrange the kidnapping of a former judge so he would miss a court hearing questioning whether Bartee has the proper credentials to be sheriff. Bartee was hauled off to jail in the middle of that hearing, which has been suspended, and charged with solicitation of a felony. Bartee vigorously maintains his innocence, saying he was trying to stop the kidnapping. The tone of his campaign has changed. On the billboards he bought months ago is the slogan: “Businessman.

Gentleman. Lawman. Your Man.” Recently, as he held a fundraiser in a karaoke bar for his defense, he spent a lot of time explaining the arrest and telling people, “it’s time to get the pigs out of the water.”—AP

according to La Presse newspaper. “For people who laud the right of free expression,” the daily quoted him as saying of student protesters he believed to be behind the messages, “I find it ridiculous that I wouldn’t have the right to say what I think.” He went on to say that if the protesters make good on promises to block access to subway lines to the main Grand Prix event today, “it would be a blatant act of terrorism.”—AFP

CARACAS: A man paints a mural depicting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas on Friday. — AFP

Venezuela court decisions shake up 2 small parties CARACAS: Venezuela’s Supreme Court has issued decisions shaking up the leade r s h i p o f t wo s m a l l p o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s, potentially preventing them from backing o p p o s i t i o n p re s i d e n t i a l c a n d i d a te Henrique Capriles. The court’s decisions, which call for immediate changes to the leadership of the parties Podemos and PPT, drew a sharp rebuke on Friday from one prominent party leader as well as criticism by the opposition.

Ismael Garcia, who was pushed aside as leader of Podemos, blamed President Hugo Chavez for the court’s actions. “The government isn’t going to expropriate us,” Garcia said in a televised speech as supporters cheered, saying party members still back Capriles regardless of the court’s ruling.

Capriles condemned the legal decisions, saying that Chavez’s government is resorting to desperate tactics to keep the two parties from supporting his candidacy. Both used to be pro-Chavez but have moved to the opposition.

Chavez’s critics have repeatedly accused the president of wielding undue influence over the judiciary and using it to go after his adversaries. Chavez has denied those accusa-

tions. “They’re judicial tricks, the use of power to politically favor one option,” Capriles said Friday in an interview with the TV channel Venevision. “Why does the court have to be deciding on organizations and political parties?”

In the case of Podemos, Capriles said, “in the end the decision is to prohibit them from nominating Capriles as candidate for president. That was the only objective of that decision.” Capriles had said Thursday on Twitter that most members of the two parties will remain with him regardless of the decisions.

The Supreme Court said in a statement on its website Thursday that it had decided to recognize former pro-Chavez state governor Didalco Bolivar as the leader of Podemos, rather than established leader Garcia, a vocal government critic.

A similar ruling in the case of PPT was announced by the court on Wednesday. It voided the party’s most recent internal elections, which were carried out in October, and ordered it to hold new elections within 90 days. The decisions could prevent the parties from backing Capriles before a Monday deadline for parties to specify the presidential candidate they will support.—AP

WASHINGTON: Two US attorneys are taking over separate FBI investigations into leaks of national security information that critics have accused the White House of orchestrating to improve President Barack Obama’s re-election chances, a claim Obama calls “offensive” and “wrong.”

Recent news articles contained details of US involvement in a partially successful computer virus attack on Iran’s nuclear program and on the selection of targets for counterterrorism assassination plots. The leaked information generally painted Obama as a decisive and hands-on commander in chief. “The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive. It’s wrong,” Obama told reporters at a news conference Friday. “And people I think need to have a better sense of how I approach this office and how the people around me here approach this office.” Obama promised investigations into the source of leaks about US involvement in cyberattacks on Iran and drone strikes on suspected terrorists.

“We’re dealing with issues that can touch on the safety and security of the American people, our families or our military personnel or our allies, and so we don’t play with that,” he said. Hours later, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that two US attorneys will lead a pair of criminal investigations already under way into possible unauthorized disclosures of classified information within the executive and legislative branches of government.

Holder said he was confident the prosecutors would follow the facts and evidence wherever they led. “The unauthorized disclosure of classified information can compromise the security of this country and all Americans, and it will not be tolerated,” he said. Holder assigned Ronald Machen, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, and Rod Rosenstein, the US attorney for the District of Maryland, to direct separate probes that are already being conducted by the FBI. Three weeks ago, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the bureau had launched an investigation into who leaked information about an Al-Qaida plot to place an explosive device aboard a US-bound airline flight. Separately, calls from Capitol Hill have mounted urging a leak probe into a New York Times story a week ago about US involvement in cyberattacks on Iran. Obama said his administration has “zero tolerance” for such leaks and that there would be an internal administration probe.

“We have mechanisms in place where if we can root out folks who have leaked, they will suffer consequences,” the president said. “In some cases, it’s criminal. These are criminal acts when they release information like this. And we will conduct thorough investigations, as we have in the past.” Leaders of the Senate and House intelligence committees said Thursday they were drafting legislation to further limit access to highly classified information and possibly impose new penalties for revealing it. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said he will investigate recent leaks.—AP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

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

Nigeria crash comes despite air safety efforts LAGOS: Nigeria saw its worst air crash in nearly two decades when a passenger airliner slammed into a denselypopulated neighborhood in the country’s largest city, killing 153 on the plane and more on the ground, despite efforts in recent years to improve air safety and global recognition of the efforts. Aviation experts say it is too early to tell the cause of Sunday’s crash of the Dana Air MD-83, but they hope Nigeria will continue reforms it started after a series of fatal crashes more than five years ago.

“There’s no question that we know a lot has gone on and I think you have to attribute some of this really good record up until now to that,” said William R. Voss, president and CEO of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Flight Safety Foundation. “I don’t know what will come out of the investigation. Were

there lapses and oversights? We’ll find out.” The weather was clear and sunny at the time of the crash nine kilometers (five miles) north of Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The airplane’s pilot radioed the tower minutes before the plane slammed into the ground, saying both engines had failed on the aircraft.

Officials at Dana have said the plane, once owned by US-based carrier Alaska Airlines, had no major problems before Sunday. In a statement Friday, the airline said MyTechnic, a Turkish company, did routine maintenance on its aircraft.

The Spanish airline Iberia, now owned

by International Consolidated Airlines Group, conducted maintenance on the Dana aircraft for certification until 2010, airline spokesman Santiago de Juan said. MyTechnic in Istanbul later took over that responsibility as well, said

Andy Holdsworth, a Dana spokesman based in the United Kingdom.

The Dana crash was the first major commercial airliner disaster in Nigeria since Oct. 29, 2006, when an Aviation Development Co. flight from Abuja to Sokoto crashed, killing 96 people, including the top spiritual leader for the nation’s Muslims. In the time since, Nigeria embarked on an aggressive attempt to take aging aircraft out of its skies. The nation revoked certifications for all airlines, allowing new airlines to take flight under increased scrutiny by a newly formed civilian aviation body, Voss said.

The country also sought to repair its image abroad, especially as the US once put a six-year ban on direct flights from Murtala Muhammed airport in the 1990s over security concerns. Slowly, international authorities began notic-

ing, culminating in an August 2010 announcement by the US Federal Aviation Administration to grant Nigeria its top air-safety rating, known as Category 1. That allows Nigerian airlines to fly their own aircraft directly to the US Local carrier Arik Air Ltd. has direct flights to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

“That was not something that the FAA did with great eagerness or had a political or economic incentive to do,” Voss said. “Clearly, this was something that was real.”

Since the crash Sunday, civil aviation authorities in Nigeria have come under increasing political and public pressure. However, aviation experts like Tony Tyler, the director-general and CEO of International Air Transport Association, have cautioned against the government throwing out officials over

the growing anger.

“Safety is a constant challenge everywhere in the world,” Tyler said in a statement. “In Nigeria, as elsewhere, this important work must continue without political interference.” Though Nigeria’s moves impressed many abroad, those who live within the country always maintained a healthy skepticism of the airlines.

Carriers routinely have financing problems or purported ties to top politicians and businessmen in a nation analysts often describe as having one of the world’s most corrupt governments. Engineers have been on an offand-on strike at carrier Air Nigeria, a one-time darling of the country when billionaire Richard Branson helped create it as Virgin Nigeria several years ago.

The airline continued its flights during the strike. —AP

7 UN peacekeepers, 8 civilians dead in I Coast Hundreds of villagers flee region near Liberian border

SPLIT: Gay Pride activists wave rainbow flags as they participate in a Gay rights march in the Adriatic port of Split yesterday. More than 300 people — many carrying rainbow flags, a symbol of gay activism — marched through the city while some 900 riot police secured the parade. —AFP

Prince Philip leaves hospital after 5 days LONDON: Britain’s Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, left hospital yesterday after five days of treatment for a bladder infection that sparked concerns for the 90-year-old’s health. The prince shook hands with staff, smiled and nodded when asked if he was feeling better as he walked out of King Edward VII Hospital in central London just in time to celebrate his 91st birthday today.

Britain’s longest-serving consort was taken to the hospital on Monday with a bladder infection in the midst of huge celebrations for the queen’s diamond jubilee, less than six months after treatment for a blocked coronary artery. Wearing a sports jacket and beige trousers and a pink patterned tie, he walked slowly but without help from the hospital yesterday to be whisked away in a Land Rover with police escort, seemingly in good spirits. But it was unclear whether he would be able to carry out a hectic schedule of royal engagements in the coming week, and he appeared fragile as he entered the vehicle, grimacing before recovering to smile and wave at well-wishers. Using the prince’s formal title, a spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: “The Duke of Edinburgh was released from hospital this morning. “He continues to make a good recovery and will continue his convalescence at home, and will be spending it privately.”

He was to travel to Windsor Castle just outside London, the BBC reported.

The palace said earlier in the week that the prince was being treated with antibiotics. His illness forced him to miss the final two days of celebrations for 86-year-old Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne, including a spectacular pop concert outside Buckingham Palace tomorrow.

Crowds at the concert cheered and shouted “Philip! Philip!” after heir to the throne Prince Charles suggested, “If we shout loud enough, he might just hear us in hospital.” He also missed an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace tomorrow, at which more crowds of revellers cheered the queen and fellow royals.

But Prince Philip had been at the Queen’s side for a huge jubilee river pageant last Sunday, travelling with her on a sumptuous red and gold royal barge down the Thames in London accompanied by a flotilla of 1,000 boats.

Doctors told British media the hours of wind, rain and chilly temperatures might have worsened his infection, but the prince had appeared well during the pageant, laughing and pointing out sights to younger royals.

The couple’s granddaughter Princess Eugenie, 22, told Britain’s Sky news in an interview broadcast yesterday, “They are the most incredibly supportive couple to each other.”

On the jubilee, she added: “Grandpa was unfortunately taken ill

and for Granny to come and do that alone was probably quite testing. “And I think he is her rock, really, and she is his.” Philip suffered chest pains in the Christmas break and underwent a medical procedure for his blocked coronary artery. His health has generally been good but he said before his 90th birthday he would scale down his engagements.

It was not yet known whether he would be able to keep to his busy schedule of events next week, the spokesman said. Philip is due to give a garden party with the queen at Sandringham House in Norfolk, eastern England, on Tuesday and both are scheduled to attend a jubilee picnic in neighbouring Lincolnshire on Wednesday. More events follow in the week for the royal couple and Philip is also to chair a conference for senior regimental colonels and hold a dinner at Buckingham Palace on Friday.

Prince Philip has been a constant by his wife’s side throughout her 60 years as queen, having given up a promising naval career to be a full-time consort when she acceded to the throne in 1952.

He shares her sense of duty and tradition but not always her diplomatic skills. He is known for his off-the-cuff japes that have famously strayed into the politically incorrect. Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark was born on a kitchen table on Corfu on June 10, 1921, the only son of prince Andrew of Greece and princess Alice of Battenberg. He was formally introduced to princess Elizabeth in 1939, but it was not until July 1947 that their engagement was announced. They married on November 20 at Westminster Abbey, with Philip giving up his Greek and Danish titles. Besides their four children, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward, the royal couple have eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. — AFP

LONDON: Britain’s 90-year-old Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, leaves the hospital in central London yesterday after five days of treatment for a bladder infection. —AFP

ABIDJAN: Ivorian government forces will launch a military operation to hunt down the men responsible for an ambush that killed at least seven peacekeepers in an unprecedented attack on UN forces in the countr y.

Officials said yesterday that at least eight civilians also were killed in the area. Hundreds of villagers were fleeing the region near the Liberian border, though authorities were unable to confirm any additional casualties yesterday because of the remoteness of the area in southwestern Ivory Coast.

While Ivory Coast’s political crisis after the November 2010 election led to violence that left some 3,000 people dead, Friday’s attack was a rare assault on the United Nations, which has had a peacekeeping mission here since 2004. “This is the first time we have ever had such a type of attack in Ivory Coast. It’s a very tough time for the whole mission here right now,” said Sylvie van den Wildenberg, acting spokeswoman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast.

An Ivorian Cabinet official who was briefed on the matter said President Alassane Ouattara requested helicopter gunships from the UN and expected them to arrive by Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Ivory Coast’s deputy defense minister Paul Koffi Koffi said government forces, along with Liberian and UN forces, will launch an operation on June 15 to find the men responsible, whom he described as “militiamen or mercenaries.”

Koffi Koffi said they could not respond sooner because it would take time to gather equipment and prepare the forces. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms,” saying he was “saddened and outraged” about the deaths of the peacekeepers, all from Niger. He urged the government of Ivory Coast to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Later on Friday, the UN Security Council released a press statement condemning the attack. Bert Koenders, the UN envoy to the West African nation, said the peacekeepers were part of a patrol south of the town of Tai, an area the UN mission recently reinforced because of threats of attacks against the civilian population. The ambush involved a large group of armed men, a UN official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

“Their colleagues are still in danger,” Ban told reporters. “Even tonight, after the attack, more than 40 peacekeepers remain with the villagers in this remote region to protect them from this armed group.” The mayor of Tai, Desire Gnonkonte, told AP that hundreds of villagers were fleeing the area. Van den

Wildenberg said several vehicles were on a reconnaissance patrol near the village of Para on the southern axis of Tai to follow up on “rumors of movement of armed people in the area and threats on the security of civilians.”

“There were several vehicles on the patrol and the leading vehicles were strongly hit,” van den Wildenberg said. “The area is densely forested and very tough terrain.” Once a stable nation, the world’s largest cocoa producer was split into a rebel-controlled north and government-controlled south after an attempted coup sparked civil war in 2002. A peace deal in March 2007 brought key rebel leaders into the administration and offered hope for a single government after years of foundering accords and disarmament plans.

groups in Liberia who supported Gbagbo have killed at least 40 civilians in cross-border raids into Ivory Coast since July. The deaths have all been near Tai, Human Rights Watch said. “In the four cross-border attacks since June 2011, the motivation appears to have been both political vengeance and related to land conflict - issues that overlap in Ivory Coast’s volatile west. Those killed or whose houses were burned predominantly belong to ethnic groups that largely voted for president Ouattara,” the group said in its report.

Matt Wells, West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, told AP that the organization hasn’t confirmed details of the attack but “pro-Gbagbo militants have conducted repeated raids from Liberia into this region of

TAI NATIONAL PARK: A file photo taken on March 19, 2008 shows villagers living on the outskirts of the Tai national park gathering. Eight civilians died in southwestern Ivory Coast in the attack that killed seven UN peacekeepers, the United Nations said yesterday. —AFP But the country headed to the brink of civil war after a presidential runoff in early 2011 when then-president Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat after losing to Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the election. Gbagbo was arrested with the help of UN and French forces in April 2011, and is now facing charges of war crimes at The Hague. Ouattara was sworn in as president soon after.

Following Gbagbo’s arrest, many of the mercenaries and militiamen who fought for him fled across the porous border into Liberia’s forests, or clandestinely, into its refugee camps. Western Ivory Coast has remained particularly unstable, and Human Rights Watch said earlier this week that armed

Ivory Coast.” “The Gbagbo camp often resorted to inciting rhetoric against UN personnel during the Ivorian crisis, though today’s deadly attack is the first of its kind during the recent Ivorian crisis,” Wells said “Liberian and Ivorian authorities need to quickly work together to bring to account those involved in this heinous act,” he said.

At the end of April, the UN said there were about 9,400 peacekeeping troops, 200 military observers and 1,350 international police in the mission along with civilian staff.

Over 40 countries are contributing military personnel. Burke repor ted from Accra, Ghana. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. —AP

Putin’s hard line against protests to be tested MOSCOW: Helmeted riot police round up hundreds of protesters, including some whose only apparent crime is wearing white ribbons of opposition. A teacher who spoke out about election rigging is dragged into court and fined. Now a new law signed by President Vladimir Putin raises fines for participating in unauthorized protests 150-fold, to nearly the average annual salary in Russia. Putin has cracked down on the opposition since returning to the presidency, and he seems to be betting that by threatening demonstrators with prison time and harsh fines he can quash the street protests that have posed an unprecedented challenge to his 12-year rule.

Putin said Friday the law is designed to safeguard Russians from “radicalism.” “In guaranteeing citizens’ right to express their opinion, including in street rallies, society must protect other citizens, the general public, from radicalism,” he said in televised remarks. He added, however, that the law may be amended if necessary. His strategy faces a major test on Tuesday when the opposition plans its first mass demonstration since he began his third

presidential term on May 7. Some opposition leaders contend that the tough line will help their cause by fueling anger and bringing more people out for next week’s protest. Others say the repression will scare away the middle -class protesters who turned out in the tens of thousands for peaceful demonstrations this winter. Putin, for his part, is refusing any talks with the opposition.

“He understands only one language, the language of force, and therefore he perceives any normal discussion and any rational compromise as personal weakness,” said Yevgenia Chirikova, an environmental activist who has campaigned against Kremlinbacked road construction that is destroying a forest outside Moscow. Chirikova and Ilya Yashin, who recently spent 15 days in jail for leading unsanctioned protests, were among a group of opposition leaders who met Thursday in Moscow to discuss the implications of the new law, which jacks up fines to 300,000 rubles ($9,000).

Yashin tried to ease worries, saying protest leaders would collect donations for those pun-

ished, as was done within hours when St. Petersburg teacher Tatyana Ivanova was fined 30,000 rubles ($1,000) last week. Ivanova was found guilty of damaging the reputation of an education department official she had accused of pressuring her and other poll workers to falsify the December parliamentary vote.

The anti-Putin protests broke out after the December election, which observers said was riddled with fraud in favor of Putin’s party, and continued in the run-up to the March presidential vote. As many as 100,000 people turned out in the frigid cold for demonstrations demanding free elections, and the streets of Moscow rang with cries of “Russia Without Putin” and “Putin Is a Thief.”

Although he was denied a majority in Moscow, Putin won the election to return to the Kremlin post he had held from 2000 to 2008 before moving into the prime minister ’s office to avoid violating a constitutional ban on more than two consecutive terms. With the election over, the protest movement seemed to fade. But on the eve of Putin’s inauguration, an opposition march and rally drew tens of

thousands, far more than either the organizers or the police had expected. The demonstration turned violent after police restricted access to the square where the rally was to be held.

Bottles and pieces of asphalt were hurled at police, who struck back by beating protesters with truncheons and detaining more than 400. Some demonstrators were dragged away by their hair.

Opposition leaders claim the clash was provoked by proKremlin thugs.

In the days that followed, police chased opposition activists around the city, detaining hundreds. Then the crackdown eased, as the authorities allowed the opposition to set up camp on a leafy boulevard. But there were strings attached: The organizers could not put up placards or make political demands, since that would technically turn the camp into an unsanctioned protest.

The authorities tolerated the camp for about a week before getting a court to rule that the activists were creating a mess in t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d, gi v i n g police the legal right to disperse them. — AP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

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

US official in Islamabad for border blockade talks ISLAMABAD: US assistant defence secretary Peter Lavoy has arrived in Islamabad in a fresh attempt to bring an end a six-month blockade on NATO supplies crossing into Afghanistan, officials said yesterday. Lavoy’s visit comes days after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Pakistan that the United States was running out of patience over Islamabad’s refusal to do more to eliminate safe havens for insurgents.

“The US assistant defence secretary arrived here Friday to meet with a broad spectrum of people,” acting US embassy spokesman Robert Raines told AFP. “He will be discussing bilateral issues with the officials,” he said without elaborating on the agenda for the two-day visit. A Pakistani government official told AFP ahead of the trip that “talks will focus on re-opening the NATO supply route, ways to promote border coordination and settle the

issue of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF)”.

Pakistan-US relations hit a new low six months ago when US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border. Islamabad responded by imposing a blockade on NATO supplies crossing overland into Afghanistan. Analysts believe there is little chance of a breakthrough during Lavoy’s trip. “He will try and persuade Pakistan to re-open the route but it

seems Pakistan wants to play tough at this stage,” analyst Hasan Askari told AFP. “I am not very hopeful that the US and Pakistan will agree to re-open the route in the near future despite the fact that Washington wants a middle way solution to the issue.” Askari said Panetta’s strong remarks, which came after talks with Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak on Thursday, were designed to put pres-

sure on Pakistan. Panetta singled out the Haqqani network, a Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked faction that has bases in Pakistan’s lawless tribal district of North Waziristan and which has been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks of the 10-year war in Afghanistan. Pakistan sits on the frontline of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda and since July 2007 has been gripped by a local Taleban -led insurgency, concentrated largely in the northwest.—AFP

Bomber kills 4 French troops in Afghanistan Hollande plans to recall troops by 2012 end

ASSAM: Flood affected villagers row past a flooded house in Panikhaitee area on the outskirts of Gauhati, India yesterday. Incessant rainfall in catchment areas during the last week have led to a rise in the water level of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, inundating vast tracts of farmlands and villages in several districts of both Upper and Lower Assam, according to news reports. —AP

India targets Swiss-based arms firm in corruption probe NEW DELHI: An Indian businessman was charged yesterday with attempting to bribe government officials in connection with allegations that Swiss-based Rheinmetall Air Defence AG paid him $530,000 to use his influence to stop the company from being blacklisted.

Abhishek Verma and his wife were arrested on Friday after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched raids on 10 properties in and around New Delhi, including the home of a former Rheinmetall representative in India. The CBI said in a statement that it was investigating both Verma and the company.

Verma and his wife, Anca Neacsu, were charged in a New Delhi court under the Prevention of Corruption Act and face up to five years in prison if convicted. The magistrate ordered the couple to remain in custody for seven days for further questioning. Earlier this year Rheinmetall Air Defence, part of Rheinmetall AG, a German automotive parts and defence group, was placed on a blacklist of arms firms banned from doing business in India following corruption allegations that it strongly denied.

India’s Defence Ministry has put in place strict guidelines for arms deals in an effort to crack down on bribery and corruption at a time when Asia’s thirdlargest economy is on a weapons-buying spree to modernise its military. India is the world’s largest arms buyer.

Documents provided to the CBI by C. Edmonds Allen, an American and a former business associate of Verma, show a $530,000 credit transfer from Rheinmetall to a New York bank account belonging to a U.S.-based company, Ganton Limited, which the CBI alleges was owned by Verma.

The documents, which have been made public, include a purchase order for “consultancy services” from Rheinmetall for the same amount. A representative of Rheinmetall in New Delhi told Reuters she would seek an official company response to the CBI investigation but that it would be difficult to get because it was the weekend. There was no immediate response from Rheinmetall officials in Switzerland or Germany. The company said in March it was willing to cooperate fully with the Indian authorities and would “do everything in its power” to refute the corruption allegations. It complained that India had yet to give it details about the alleged wrongdoing that led to it being blacklisted. The CBI said in a statement that Verma had contacted Rheinmetall after the agency accused it of “adopting corrupt and illegal means” to obtain a contract to supply the Indian military with a 35 mm revolver gun air defence system. He had assured them that he could influence government officials to stall the blacklisting process, it said.—Reuters

Karzai says US failed to consult Afghans on airstrike KABUL: Afghanistan’s president said yesterday that the United States failed to consult Afghan forces when calling in an airstrike that killed 18 civilians, and warned that in the future his government will consider such actions as violating the country’s pact with Washington. In the east, meanwhile, a Taleban suicide bomber disguised as a woman wearing a burqa killed four French soldiers when he blew himself up in a market.

Both Karzai’s condemnation of the US operation and the French deaths as that country rushes to pull out its combat forces were reminders that the international exit from Afghanistan is going to be far from orderly. As more agreements are signed promising Afghan sovereignty and more NATO troops are assigned the role of trainers or advisers, the international mission in the county is becoming increasingly muddled.

Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said that President Hamid Karzai met with investigators earlier in the day and concluded that US troops had called in Wednesday’s strike without coordinating with Afghan units. The incident occurred during a nighttime raid on militants taking cover in a village. These raids are a major irritant in Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s relationship with the international military coalition. Karzai says the raids put civilians at risk of injury or death. Military officials say such operations are key to capturing and killing Taleban leaders.

The US and Afghanistan signed an agreement in April that put the Afghan government in charge of such operations a move designed to resolve some of the longstanding tensions. But when villagers in Logar province displayed the bodies of 18 civilians killed in a US airstrike on Wednesday, Karzai quickly called on the international coalition to explain itself. Faizi said that the investigators told the president that Afghan forces had surrounded the house in question but that the US troops decided not to wait for them to try to flush out the militants and called in aircraft instead. They only discovered later that there had also been women, children

and old men inside.

“This airstrike was a one-sided decision, and not coordinated with Afghan security forces,” Faizi said. He said that Karzai and his advisers decided after hearing the investigators’ report that they would consider such actions in the future as a breach of the special operations pact. “The continuation of uncoordinated operations and civilian casualties are against the recent decisions made between Afghanistan and the United States,” Faizi said. He said the Afghan government felt that the United States was betraying the promises it made in the night raids pact and a larger strategic partnership agreement signed afterwards.

“The expectation of the Afghan government and the Afghan people was that a new page would open between Afghanistan and the United States,” Faizi said. The US commander in Afghanistan apologized for the civilian deaths on Friday and a NATO investigation ruled that the coalition forces were responsible for the unintended deaths of civilians. However, NATO officials have not said that they acted against the special operations agreement.

NATO forces officials in Afghanistan could not immediately be reached for comment. A US spokesman declined to comment on whether the pact on special operations had been violated in the Logar incident.

The attack on the French forces took place as they were responding to a report of a bomb planted under a bridge in the main market area of Kapisa province’s Nijrab district, said Qais Qadri, a spokesman for the provincial government. The bomber walked up to the soldiers and detonated his explosives, Qadri said. France’s defense ministry confirmed the nationality of the dead and said another five French troops were wounded in blast. The ministry said they were on an operation supporting the Afghan army but did not provide details.

Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an email. Qadri said four Afghan civilians were also wounded. The Kapisa bombing was the second deadly attack on NATO troops reported yesterday. —AP

KABUL: A suspected Taleban suicide bomber wearing a burqa killed four French soldiers and wounded five others yesterday in an attack on a convoy of NATOled troops in eastern Afghanistan, officials said. Three of the injured were in a critical condition after the attack in Kapisa province, where most of France’s 3,500 soldiers in the country are stationed, French President Francois Hollande’s office said in a statement.

“It is with the greatest emotion that I share the grief of the families,” Hollande said. “Today all of France is affected.” The presidential palace said Hollande would make a “solemn statement” on the attack, the first fatal incident since he took over as head of state last month, at 1300 GMT. He had also asked Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to head to Afghanistan today.

The president plans to recall French combat troops by the end of 2012, a year earlier than Paris initially planned, and two years before NATO allies, raising fears over security. On a visit to Kabul last month, Hollande said 2,000 combat troops would leave in a coordinated withdrawal this year but vowed not to abandon Afghanistan. NATO allies have downplayed the effect of their early departure, saying Afghan troops are ready to take over. And US General John Allen, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, has said there will be no drop in safety in Kapisa.

Taleban militants claimed responsibility for yesterday’s suicide attack in a text message sent to reporters. Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told AFP the attacker was on foot and

KAPISA: In this photograph taken on January 28, 2011, French soldiers from the 7th Mountain Infantry Battalion (7eme bataillon de chasseurs alpins BCA) use their weapons during target practice at a firing range at Forward Operating Base Tagab-Kutschbach near Tagab in Kapisa Province. At least four French soldiers were killed and several wounded yesterday in a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan, officials said. —AFP wearing a burqa. “This morning a suicide bomber on foot disguised as a woman with a burqa on approached the French troops who were on patrol in Nijrab. He detonated his explosives that caused some fatalities,” he said.

Three civilians were wounded in the attack, he added. Kapisa, which controls part of the access to Kabul from Taleban flashpoints on the Pakistani border, has proved a tough fight for the French, troubled by turf wars between the Islamist insurgents and drug dealers. But these are the first French deaths since January 20, when an Afghan sol-

dier fired on unarmed French trainers, killing five and wounding 15. With the latest deaths, France has now lost 87 troops in Afghanistan. Kapisa has been included in the third of a fivephase transfer, which Afghan officials say could take as little as six months, but which ISAF has timetabled at 12-18 months.

The relatively quiet Kabul district of Surobi, where French troops are also based, was handed over to local control in April.

On his visit to Afghanistan last month, Hollande explained his decision to recall French combat troops by the end of 2012. “It’s a

sovereign decision. Only France can decide what France does,” he told soldiers at Nijrab Base. There are about 130,000 NATO troops fighting alongside Afghan government troops in Afghanistan against a Taleban insurgency.

US-led forces toppled the Taleban regime in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks. Analysts have expressed concern about NATO’s withdrawal, pointing out that Afghan forces have a mixed record at best and questioning whether a security vacuum will only heighten violence if not hasten a return to civil war.—AFP

Pakistan rejects Panetta’s remarks on safe havens ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday branded US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s remarks on insurgent safe havens in the country as “misplaced and unhelpful”. Panetta warned Pakistan on Thursday that the US was running out of patience over Islamabad’s refusal to do more to eliminate hiding places for insurgents, who attack US troops fighting a 10-year war against the Taleban in Afghanistan.

Panetta made the comments after talks with Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak during an Asian tour that took him to Pakistan’s arch-rival India, but not Islamabad in a sign of dire US-Pakistan relations. “Pakistan strongly rejects the assertions made recently by US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta regarding ‘safe havens’ in Pakistan,” foreign ministry spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan said in a statement. “ We feel that the Secretar y of Defense is oversimplifying some of the very complex issues we are all dealing with in our efforts against extremism and terrorism.” Panetta

singled out the Haqqani network, a Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked faction that has bases in Pakistan’s lawless tribal district of North Waziristan and which has been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan has repeatedly said that it will not allow its territory to be used against any country, nor will it allow any safe havens on its territory,” the spokesman said. He stressed that Pakistan was fighting terrorism and extremism in its own national interest and “nobody should doubt our resolve and determination in this regard”. “Our sacrifices remain unparalleled and our resolve unshakable,” he said. “We strongly believe that such statements are misplaced and unhelpful in bringing about peace and stability in the region.”

The statement came as US assistant defence secretary Peter Lavoy visited Islamabad in a fresh attempt to bring an end a six-month blockade on NATO supplies crossing into Afghanistan.

Islamabad’s closure of the Afghan border to

QUETTA: Pakistani rescue workers bring the lifeless body of a policeman, who was killed in a shooting attack by gunmen, to a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan yesterday. Police said gunmen shot and killed several police officers who were guarding a railway track in southwestern Pakistan after local authorities were alerted about plots to plant bombs targeting trains along the route. —AP

NATO following the November 2011 air strikes that killed 24 soldiers plunged relations with US to an all-time low after Pakistan was humiliated by a US raid that killed Osama bin Laden last May.—AFP

Afghanistan sacks five officials over prison break KABUL: The Afghan government yesterday sacked five officials for “negligence” after 32 prisoners, including members of the Taliban, escaped when gunmen attacked the jail. While 18 of the prisoners have now been captured, 14 are still on the run including four members of the Taleban and 10 criminals, ministry of interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told AFP. The police chief in the northern province of Sari Pul province where jail was located, the prison director, and three other prison employees have been fired and will be interrogated in Kabul, the spokesman said. “The initial investigation shows that the police chief and the director of the prison of Sari Pul have been negligent in their duties, and thus fired and summoned to Kabul,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

The attack started after a large explosion blew a hole in the wall of the prison in Sari Pul, the capital of the northern province of the same name, shortly after darkness fell on Thursday. “The explosive was taken inside the prison. We don’t how,” Sediqqi said. Taleban gunmen then attacked the jail, sparking clashes that left three inmates dead and 28 wounded, officials said. The Taleban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 170 prisoners, including their district governors and commanders, escaped. In a spectacular jailbreak in April last year, almost 500 mostly Taleban inmates made it out of a prison in southern Kandahar province through a 250-metre (270-yard) tunnel lined with lights and an air pipe.—AFP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

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

News

in brief

S Koreans head to Peru to help search for chopper SEOUL: South Korean company officials have left for Peru to help look for a helicopter that went missing with their fellow workers aboard.

The chopper disappeared Wednesday in Peru’s highlands with eight South Koreans and three Europeans aboard. The South Korean embassy in Lima says its nationals were exploring a potential hydroelectric project near Mazuco. Seoul’s staterun Korea Water Resources Corporation said in a statement on its website that its vice president left Friday for Peru to aid the search. A Samsung C&T official said his company also sent a team of workers to Lima on Friday. A Foreign Ministry official says Seoul has no plans to send its own rescue workers yet. The two officials declined to be named citing policy.

5 dead as van carrying Fukushima evacuees crashes TOKYO: Five people were killed when a van carrying elderly evacuees from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident collided head-on with a truck yesterday, local police and a report said. The van’s passengers were elderly evacuees in their 70s and 80s from Fukushima, where last year’s tsunami triggered a serious nuclear accident, Jiji Press said. The van driver and four passengers were killed in the collision, Jiji said. The passengers were on the way back from hospital to their temporary homes. A local police spokesman said the van and truck collided head-on in the city of Nihonmatsu, just outside of the no-go zone, but did not confirm further details. A couple in their 30s who were in the truck and were also Fukushima evacuees suffered minor injuries, Jiji said.

Communist rebels raid Philippine mining companies MANILA: The Philippine military says communist rebels have raided two mining companies in the country’s south, disarming guards and burning equipment. Army Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza said yesterday that New People’s Army guerrillas swooped late Friday on the Philex Mining Co. compound in Compostela Valley province. They torched two backhoes, two trucks and a drilling machine. Paniza says hours later guerrillas raided the Milagrosa Mining compound in nearby Maragusan township, disarming the guards and burning three electric generators. No one was hurt in both attacks. Last year the rebels stormed three mining companies. They destroyed equipment and seized weapons purportedly after warning the companies against destroying the environment and exploiting workers.

Beijing to share more of Great Wall with tourists BEIJING : Beijing will open two new parts of the Great Wall to tourists to meet high demand for one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions, state media reported yesterday. The municipal government will open the Huanghuacheng and Hefangkou sections of the Great Wall to the public and expand the popular Mutianyu and Badaling sites in the capital’s northern suburbs, the official Xinhua News Agency said. No specific dates were given. On weekends and holidays, the existing four public Great Wall sites often are crammed with tourists.

Xinhua said some tourists instead scale closed sections of the wall and cause damage to the historic structure. Kong Fanzhi, chief of Beijing’s cultural relics bureau, told Xinhua the new measures aim to ease the congestion at the open sections of the wall. Most of the wall in Beijing is in good condition, Wang Yuwei, a cultural relics protection official, was quoted as saying. The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications built throughout centuries to protect the country’s ancient empire. Wang said the city is building a Great Wall database, which will be open to the public.

China punishes 12 police officers over 11 murders BEIJING: Authorities have fired or disciplined 12 police officers - including two police chiefs - for inadequately investigating a series of murders in southwest China in which victims were dismembered and buried, state media reported yesterday.

Last month, authorities arrested Zhang Yongming on suspicions that he had killed 11 people since 2008 in Yunnan province. The 56-year-old also is accused of dismembering, burning and burying their bodies to destroy evidence.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said that the officers were punished for failing to meet their responsibilities. Among them were Jinning county police chief Da Qiming and Jincheng township police chief Zhao Huiyun, who were sacked last month, according to a statement posted on Yunnan Police’s official website.

Three more lost their jobs, and the remaining seven officers received administrative sanctions, state-run Yunnan Daily said yesterday. Local media reported last month that at least eight young people had gone missing from Jinning county and that relatives of the missing said police had ignored their pleas for help and prevented them from contacting the media. It is common for Chinese authorities to remove or demote officials after major incidents that spark public outcry.— AFP

Calm restored after rioting that killed seven: Myanmar Fear that trouble could spread YANGON: Security forces in western Myanmar have restored order after rioters burned hundreds of homes in sectarian violence that killed at least seven people, state- controlled media reported yesterday.

The rioting reflected long-standing tensions in Rakhine state between Buddhist residents and Muslims, many of whom are considered to be illegal settlers from neighboring Bangladesh. Although the root of the problem is localized - centering on resentment of the alleged cross-border outsiders - there is fear that the trouble could spread elsewhere because the split also runs along religious lines.

The state-run newspaper Myanma Ahlin said security forces had to open fire to restrain the rioters, while state television announced that army troops had been deployed to help police in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, where the mobs rampaged. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was applied and public gatherings of more than five people banned. According to the television report, seven people were killed and 17 wounded in Friday’s violence. It said 494 houses, 19 shops and a guest house were burned down.

Myanma Ahlin daily reported that about 1,000 “terrorists” were responsible for the rampage, which also saw some storm Maungdaw General Hospital. State media did not otherwise identify the rioters, but the area is 90 percent Muslim, and local residents contacted by phone said the mob’s members were Muslims. The dead were evidently all Buddhists, judging by the names of those victims who were mentioned in Myanma Ahlin, which added that those hurt had knife wounds.

The TV report said, without further elab-

oration, that Myanmar naval forces were taking security measures along the nearby coast on the Bay of Bengal. The Information Ministry’s website said camps have been opened at monasteries to shelter those who lost their homes, and the defense and health ministries had flown in doctors to tend to the injured.

The amount of information about the incident released by state media in a timely fashion is nearly unprecedented. Under the previous military regime, such incidents usually went unreported or were referred to only in brief, cryptic fashion. The elected though military-backed government of President Thein Sein has instituted reforms to try to reverse decades of repression, including allowing a much freer flow of information.

The trigger for the latest round of violence came with the rape and murder of a young Buddhist girl last month, allegedly by three Muslim youths. They have been put on trial, Myanma Ahlin reported yesterday. Some anti-Muslim pamphlets were circulated about the incident, evidently enflaming local Buddhists. On June 3, 10 Muslims were killed by an angry mob who attacked a bus carrying them from a religious gathering in Rakhine’s Taunggup town. In Yangon yesterday, a group of some 150 people from Rakhine state and some Buddhist monks went to the Shwedagon Pagoda - Myanmar’s most revered Buddhist shrine - to say prayers for the murdered girl and those killed in the clashes.

The group walked a circuit around the pagoda, made some speeches, and left.

Some carried placards that read “Defend the Rakhine State” and “Remove Bengali terrorists from Rakhine State right now.” On

YANGON: Ethnic Rakhine demonstrators hold a sign as dozens gather at the Shwedagon pagoda after unrest flared in the western Myanmar state and seven people were killed in two days of violence, in Yangon yesterday.—AFP

Tuesday, dozens of Muslims protested peacefully in front of a mosque in downtown Yangon calling for justice for the 10 dead and complaining about terminology used by state-run newspapers they said was derogatory. The “All Myanmar Islam Association” issued a statement carried in state newspapers yesterday asking Muslims to keep calm and condemning the “terrorizing and destruction of lives and property of innocent people.”

This past week the government announced it was establishing a special com-

mittee to investigate the bus incident and another unrelated case of violence in Rakhine that occurred the same day. The establishment of such a committee also breaks with past precedent. The problems in Rakhine state have long been overshadowed by the conflicts between the government and large ethnic minorities in other border areas who have been seeking greater autonomy. While Thein Sein’s government has concluded cease-fires with several ethnic guerrilla groups, it still face a bitter insurgency in the north by the Kachin ethnic minority. — AP

Guards quit, but fear lingers in China activist’s home village

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama meets with Philippine President Benigno Aquino, Friday, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. —AP

Obama supports sea freedom for Philippines WASHINGTON: The United States and the Philippines on Friday called for freedom of navigation in the tense South China Sea as the White House offered a robust show of support for President Benigno Aquino. President Barack Obama welcomed Aquino to the White House in the latest high-profile gesture to put a focus on US ties to Asia, where a number of countries are embroiled in territorial conflicts with a rising China.

Addressing reporters next to Aquino in the Oval Office, Obama said the two leaders spoke about “trying to make sure that we have a strong set of international norms and rules governing maritime disputes in the region.” In a joint statement released afterward, the two leaders “underscored the importance of the principles of ensuring freedom of navigation, respect for international law and unimpeded lawful commerce.”

Aquino and Obama called for diplomacy to resolve territorial disputes “without coercion or the use of force.” China claims virtually all of the South China Sea up to Southeast Asian nations’ shores and tensions have soared in recent years with both the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Philippines and China recently pulled back vessels after a standoff over the Scarborough Shoal, which lies near the main Philippine island of Luzon.

Aquino’s visit to the United States was closely watched in China, where some policymakers suspect-despite official US denials-that the United States is seeking to encircle the growing Asian power.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, toasting Aquino earlier Friday at a luncheon in his honor, credited Aquino with defusing tensions over the rock formation. The United States and the Philippines signed agreements to step up cooperation on science and technology and to boost the number of Peace Corps volunteers in the former US colony.

But Aquino’s visit was largely symbolic, with many US policymakers believing that the son of democracy heroine Corazon Aquino has revitalized an often overlooked relationship by tackling hard

issues. Aquino recently won a major battle in his campaign against corruption with the sacking of the country’s top judge. Aquino has also agreed to let more US troops rotate-but not be basedin the Philippines despite the historical baggage. “I’ve always found President Aquino to be a thoughtful and very helpful partner,” Obama said. “And I think that as a consequence of the meeting today in which we discussed not only military and economic issues, but also regional issues-for example, trying to make sure that we have a strong set of international norms and rules governing maritime disputes in the region-that I’m very confident that we’re going to see continued friendship and strong cooperation between our two countries,” he said.

Aquino said his meeting with Obama has “deepened and strengthened a very long relationship we have, especially as we face the challenges that are before both our countries in the current situation.” Clinton and Obama both voiced support for efforts by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to reach a code of conduct with China on managing disputes in the South China Sea, through which half of the world’s trade flows. ASEAN and China agreed in 2002 to negotiate a code of conduct. But there has been little progress, with a rising China preferring to negotiate with each country individually instead of dealing with the unified bloc.

In the statement, Obama also pledged US support for Aquino’s efforts to upgrade the notoriously antiquated Philippine military and build a “minimum credible defense posture.” The United States has stepped up militar y aid, including last year delivering a decommissioned coast guard cutter-which the Philippines rechristened the Gregario del Pilar and replaced a World War II-era vessel as its navy’s biggest ship. The Obama administration has focused on building relations in Asia. In the next week alone, the United States will separately welcome the foreign ministers of Cambodia, India, South Korea and Thailand.— AFP

DONGSHIGU VILLAGE: Residents in the northeastern Chinese village of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng are still too scared to be named, but they are opening their homes to foreign reporters - something that was impossible until only a week ago. The dozens of surly guards and the surveillance cameras that kept watch on Chen’s village have gone. The two guardhouses where his eldest brother, Chen Guangfu, said his sibling’s supporters were beaten up, were last weekend reduced to rubble on the ground.

For 19 months, local officials in the village of Dongshigu in Shandong province turned Chen Guangcheng’s home into a fortress of walls, cameras and guards, but from which he dramatically escaped in late April. After breaking free from house arrest, Chen Guangcheng sought refuge in the US embassy in Beijing, embarrassing the Chinese authorities and sparking a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Washington. He is now studying law in New York after China allowed him to go to the United States.

Despite the guards’ departure, many villagers were too scared to talk. Chen Guangfu said they feared reprisals from local officials who had warned them that anyone seen supporting a “traitor” like Chen Guangcheng would also be tainted. “It’ll take a very long time for the shadow cast by this case to disappear because the villagers are scared to their hearts, to their bones,” Chen Guangfu told Reuters on Saturday, speaking in his mother’s home. One ruddy-cheeked woman, who declined to give her name, said she was pleased the guards had left. “When they were here, it was very troublesome,” she said.

“There’s no interference now.” Despite this lightening of the atmosphere, local officials tailed Reuters reporters in the village. One of them was a man who was responsible for guarding Chen Guangcheng, according to Chen Guangfu.

Dongshigu, with a population of about 450, is surrounded by dirt roads and wheat fields being tilled. A resident of Dongshigu who was wearing a blouse with green dots said the guards had all gone. But when asked what she thought about it, she said: “I dare not say.”

Chen Guangcheng, a self-schooled legal advocate who campaigned against forced abortions, had been held in his village home since September 2010 when he was released from jail for charges that he and his supporters said were spurious. The extensive surveillance system in the village underscores the Communist Party’s willingness to mobilize enormous resources to stifle the dissent and protest that it fears could challenge its power, rights activists say.

The central government was aware of the allegations of harsh treatment of Chen and his family because diplomats had raised his case several times, activists say. They believe the central government, under international pressure

on its rights record, gives local officials a great degree of autonomy to stifle dissent - officials it can then claim acted without its permission.

Chen Guangfu said the removal of the guards may illustrate that Beijing has asserted its power over local officials, men he believes have come under pressure after his brother’s escape.

“Perhaps the ‘nation’ of Dongshigu has surrendered to Beijing or Beijing won the war against Dongshigu,” Chen Guangfu said. “The policies of the central government can finally be carried out here.”

“In the past it was like ‘the mountains were high and the emperor is far away’, this was a place where the law could not reach,” Chen Guangfu said. Chen Guangcheng has repeatedly urged Beijing to investigate the rights abuses he says he and his family have had inflicted upon them unlawfully. Until very recently no reporters, nor any of Chen Guangcheng’s backers, including “Batman” star Christian Bale, have been able to visit Dongshigu without being blocked by men in plain clothes. Many who did make the trip were beaten. A bespectacled man in a blue short-sleeved shirt, who identified himself as the First Secretary of the village told Reuters reporters to leave. “There’s nothing happening here, everything is peaceful,” he said. “Please go now for the peace of the village.”

NO PEACE Chen’s family members describe a relentless effort to deprive him of liberty and peace. A side from keeping him in his home, guards pinned up a metal sheet outside Chen Guangcheng’s bedroom window and repeatedly bashed it with a stick. “When the ordinary people asked them what they were doing, they said: ‘This is a task that the leaders told us to do’,” Chen Guangfu said. All the guards left behind are their poker cards, strewn across the dusty courtyard.

Officials told Chen Guangcheng they estimated well over 60 million yuan ($9.5 million) had been spent to keep him penned up, the activist said in a video released after his escape. Every day for the past one and a half years, three guards would tail Wang Jinxiang, Chen Guangcheng’s mother, from her home to the market, Wang said. Six of them would sit in the courtyard outside her house, while four surveillance cameras monitored all motion.

Wang wept when she recalled how dozens of guards forcefully prevented Chen Guangcheng from paying his last respects to his second brother, Chen Guanghui, who died in January as a result of an illness. Wang, a wrinkled and gap-toothed woman of 78, said she found out that her son had escaped only after she returned home on April 20. “If he didn’t run away, he would have died of persecution,” she said. — Reuters

SHANDONG: Local officials urge journalists to leave an area near the house where blind activist Chen Guangcheng was under house arrest, at the Dongshigu village, Shandong province, China, Friday. — AP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

NEWS

Animal-rights activists raise their hands covered in red paint during a protest against bullfighting in front of Las Ventas bullring in Madrid yesterday. — AFP

US, Pak beginning to look more like enemies ISLAMABAD: You know a friendship has gone sour when you start making mean jokes about your friend in front of his most bitter nemesis. So it was a bad sign this week when the US defense secretary joshed in front of an audience of Indians about how Washington kept Pakistan in the dark about the raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden a year ago.

“They didn’t know about our operation. That was the whole idea,” Leon Panetta said with a chuckle at a Q&A session after a speech in New Delhi, raising laughs from the audience.

The bin Laden raid by US commandos in a Pakistani town infuriated Islamabad because it had no advance notice, and it was seen by Pakistan’s powerful military as a humiliation.

The US and Pakistan are starting to look more like enemies than allies, threatening the US fight against Taliban and al-Qaida militants based in the country and efforts to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan before American troops withdraw. Long plagued by frustration and mistrust, the relationship has plunged to its lowest level since the 9/11 attacks

forced the countries into a tight but awkward embrace over a decade ago. The US has lost its patience with Pakistan and taken the gloves off to make its anger clear.

“It has taken on attributes and characteristics now of a near adversarial relationship, even though neither side wants it to be that way,” said Maleeha Lodhi, who was serving as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US at the time of the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks and was key in hurriedly putting together the two countries’ alliance. The latest irritant is Pakistan’s refusal to end its six-month blockade of NATO troop supplies meant for Afghanistan. Even if that issue is resolved, however, the relationship may be on an irreversible downward slide. The main source of US anger is Pakistan’s unwillingness to go after militants using its territory to launch attacks against American troops in Afghanistan.

On the Pakistani side, officials are fed up with Washington’s constant demands for more without addressing Islamabad’s concerns or sufficiently appreciating the country’s sacrifice. Pakistan has lost thousands

of troops fighting a domestic Taleban insurgency fueled partly by resentment of the alliance with the US. Panetta’s comments about the bin Laden raid may have been unscripted, but others he made while in India and Afghanistan seemed calculated to step up pressure on Pakistan. He stressed Washington’s strong relationship with India - which Islamabad considers its main, historic enemy - and defended unpopular American drone attacks in Pakistan.

He also said in unusually sharp terms that the US was running out of patience with Islamabad’s failure to go after the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, considered the most dangerous militant group fighting in Afghanistan. Many analysts believe Pakistan is reluctant to target the Haqqanis and other Afghan militants based on its soil because they could be useful allies in Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw, especially in countering the influence of India.

Pakistan lashed out at Panetta yesterday and denied the country was providing safe havens for militants.

Panetta “is oversimplifying some of

Flashlight bombs puzzle US police Continued from Page 1 An employee detonated the device while sorting through donations, forcing 120 people in the store to evacuate. Jon Bierd, production manager at the facility, said the worker suffered a small abrasion to his forehead. The Salvation Army stopped accepting donations of flashlights. Since the explosion, employees have not seen any flashlights matching the yellow one seen on the billboards. “If we have a flashlight that’s heavy or is not empty, then I’d call the Phoenix Police Department. No matter where it is, we do not touch it,” said Bierd, who is setting aside any flashlight that is donated.

In addition to the billboards, police are offering a $10,000 reward for tips that lead to an arrest or conviction. Police have received dozens

of calls reporting possible flashlight bombs that either turned out to be false alarms or hoaxes, including one from a Goodwill store.

Meanwhile, the bombings have stopped, though it is unclear whether there are more flashlights out there. The attention may have scared them off or they may gain confidence and strike again as the investigation stretches on without an arrest, criminal profiler Gregg McCrary said.

Details of the case lead the former FBI agent to think the culprit is either a man or two men, with one of them being a dominant leader and the other a follower. As for motive, whoever is responsible may be bombing at random for various reasons, said McCrary, who teaches at Marymount University in Virginia.

“Typically these things are about wanting to feel superior and

smarter than other people,” he said, adding that they also might revel in the news coverage. “There’ll be a vicarious thrill or excitement watching news coverage, and it’s kind of like: ‘Look what I’ve done.’ It’s a sense of empowerment that ‘I made all this happen,’” he said.

Mangan said the remnants of the bombs are at a laborator y and being studied for fingerprints and other DNA evidence. The ATF said it will try to trace the materials used in the bombs to see where they were bought. Mangan said his agency and others are concerned that the bombings will resume, possibly in a different container. They’re also worried that the injuries won’t be so minor next time. “Anytime any individual uses a bomb, their purpose is to create fear in the community and also to inflict serious injur y or death,” he said. — AP

Oman detains poet, blogger Continued from Page 1 investigated on suspicious of “incitement” but gave no further details. Another said the arrests may have been linked, among other things, to a recent protest in the capital Muscat, where activists had been pictured with signs deemed disrespectful to senior officials.

Protests inspired by Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt erupted in various parts of Oman last year demanding jobs and an end to corruption. Security forces moved against the protests, which ended after promises of reforms.

Omani activists say only a handful of the promised reforms has been

realised. Salim Al-Tuwayyah, a blogger who also works at a local newspaper, said anger was rising over what people see as the government’s failure to deliver on promises for better living conditions. “There is a lot of worry that this campaign may spread to other activists and bloggers,” Tuwayyah told Reuters by telephone from Oman. “There is an urgent need to try to find real solutions to the problems facing the country, raise salaries and put officials suspected of corruption on trial,” he added.

A series of labour strikes has gripped the Gulf Arab sultanate, a small oil producer which sits on the strategic Strait of Hormuz where a

third of the world’s seaborne oil exports pass. Omani media have reported that workers have walked out in recent weeks in the oil, health and education sectors to press for better pay and living conditions.

Authorities last month detained three activists visiting a desert oil field to document a protest, Omani media reported. The strike was later resolved by the intervention of Oman’s consultative Shura Council.

Activists said yesterday that two of the three - Habiba Al Hinai, a former Omani volleyball player, and lawyer Yaqoub Al Kharusi - had been released. The fate of the third activist, Esmail Al-Muqbali, was not immediately known. — Reuters

the very complex issues we are dealing with in our efforts against extremism and terrorism,” the Foreign Ministry said. “We strongly believe that such statements are misplaced and unhelpful in bringing about peace and stability in the region.” A senior US official described the relationship as “the worst it has ever been”. “This is from Washington’s point of view and from Pakistan’s point of view, and even among the real well-wishers on both sides who are appalled and befuddled that we can’t get past all of this and move beyond,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

After years of frosty relations caused by Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Washington and Islamabad were thrust together on Sept 11, 2001, when Al-Qaeda attacked New York and Washington.

The US demanded Pakistan support the war against bin Laden and his Taleban hosts in Afghanistan. The US directed billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan and sought to convince Islamabad it was not simply interested in a “transactional” relationship

based on counterterrorism cooperation, but wanted a long-term strategic partnership.

US officials have largely abandoned that argument over the past 18 months as the relationship has suffered repeated crises. “Because of the toxic atmosphere on both sides, the two countries cannot even work in a transactional way,” said Lodhi, the former Pakistani ambassador. In Jan 2011, a CIA contractor sparked outrage when he shot to death two Pakistanis in the city of Lahore who he claimed were trying to rob him.

Anger over the incident was still simmering when the US killed bin Laden in May. In November, American airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani troops at two Afghan border posts. The US has said it was an accident, but the Pakistani army claims it was deliberate.

Pakistan retaliated by kicking the US out of a base used by American drones and closing its border to NATO supplies meant for troops in Afghanistan. Negotiations to reopen the route have been hampered by Islamabad’s demand for much higher transit fees and Washington’s

refusal to apologize for the deaths of the Pakistani troops.

The US has attempted to bridge the difference over money by offering to repave highways used by the supply trucks, said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. But Pakistani officials have made clear the route will not reopen without some kind of apology. The US has expressed its regret over the incident but has refused to apologize for fear it could open the Obama administration up to criticism by Republicans upset with Pakistan.

A senior US defense official, Peter Lavoy, arrived in Pakistan on Friday to participate in the negotiations. But Panetta’s comments could complicate matters. Such statements do “water down the willingness to cooperate with the United States,” said Imtiaz Gul, director of the Islamabadbased Center for Research and Security Studies. President Barack Obama showed US anger over the supply issue at a NATO summit last month in Chicago by refusing a oneon-one meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. — AP

Iran slams Kuwait oil ‘violations’ Continued from Page 1 “Saudi Arabia, and two of its allies are the biggest OPEC (quota) violators,” Khatibi was quoted as saying, referring to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. He called that “the main reason for a drop in oil prices in the market.”

Saudi Arabia, he said, “is under pressure” from the United States and Europe to pump more ahead of a July 1 EU oil embargo on Iranian crude exports. The Iran-Saudi row was likely to color the next meeting of OPEC, to take place Thursday in Vienna, with Tehran expected to push for OPEC members to stick to their agreed quota levels. Global oil prices this year spiked high on fears of a US or Israeli military confrontation with Iran over the Islamic republic’s disputed

nuclear program. Prices fell back markedly when Iran agreed to hold talks with the so-called P5+1 - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany - but have inched back up as it becomes clear that those talks are faltering.

On Friday, Brent North Sea crude for July delivery was at $99.47 a barrel in London trade, close to the $100 target aimed for by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iran is more hawkish on prices, keen to earn more per barrel to offset the forced lowering of demand for its oil. “Iran and some other OPEC members, such as Venezuela and Algeria, are against” an increase in quotas, Khatibi said. In the OPEC meeting, Iran is also expected to push the nomination of a former oil minister, Gholam Hossein Nozari, for the top post of OPEC secretary general. — AFP

Syrian army shells towns Continued from Page 1 Meanwhile, UN observers who visited the village of AlKubeir, where at least 55 people were killed earlier this week, said they saw blood on the walls and “a strong stench of burnt flesh”. The Al-Kubeir incident prompted Western governments to launch a push for tough new sanctions against Damascus. But Russia, along with China, has already vetoed two Security Council resolutions against Assad.

In central Syria, government forces yesterday pounded several rebel neighbourhoods of Homs city with artillery and mortar fire, killing six civilians, the Observatory said. It said the army killed at least 28 civilians nationwide, while three soldiers died in clashes in northern Syria. Diplomats in New York said Britain, France and the United States would quickly draw up a Security Council resolution proposing sanctions against Syria following a grim report from the monitors on their visit to Al-Kubeir. “We will move fast to press for a resolution,” one UN diplomat told AFP. More than 20 unarmed UN observers were allowed into Al-Kubeir on Friday, a day after monitors were shot at and prevented from entering the village. “Inside some of the houses, blood was visible across the walls and floors. Fire was still burning outside houses and there was a strong stench of burnt flesh,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said in New York.

UN officials have made clear they believe government forces and their allies were behind the attack on the mainly Sunni Muslim village surrounded by an Alawite population loyal to

Assad. Damascus denied responsibility and blamed foreignbacked “terrorists”, as it has done repeatedly in the past.

Russia yesterday pushed the idea of an international conference on the more than 15-month-old crisis in Syria, with the Arab state’s ally Iran also given a place at the table despite US opposition. “We want this event to be effective,” Lavrov told reporters. “To say that Iran doesn’t have a place because it is already to blame for everything and it’s part of the problem and not part of the solution, this is thoughtless to say the least from the point of view of serious diplomacy.”

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, has called Iran a “spoiler” and said it is “part of the problem in Syria”. The United States has accused Iran of arming Assad’s forces. Russia has said a conference on Syria was needed to overcome differences over how the peace plan of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan should be implemented. Lavrov said permanent UN Security Council members Russia, the United States, France, Britain and China, Syria’s neighbours including Lebanon and Jordan, as well as the European Union and Arab League should take part in the conference. Moscow wants to hold the forum “as soon as possible”, Lavrov said, without elaborating. He again reaffirmed Russian opposition to the use of force. “We will not sanction the use of force at the United Nations Security Council,” he said.

Lavrov added that Moscow would be “glad” to support Assad’s departure but only if Syrians themselves agreed on it. — AFP

14

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

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Issues

Will Assad get away with murder?

By Bernd Debusmann ill Syria’s President, Bashar Al-Assad be allowed to get away with mass murder, like his father 30 years ago? Some of the ideas now under discussion could mean precisely that - a golden parachute into exile. No war crimes charges, no prosecution, no trial.

Unlike Egypt’s ousted dictator, Hosni Mubarak, who was sentenced to life in prison on June 2, and unlike Libya’s Muammar Ghaddafi, who was killed at the hand of antigovernment rebels, Assad would “transfer power and depart Syria.” That’s how US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it after a meeting of foreign ministers of Arab and Western nations in Istanbul.

That idea is known as the Yemeni Solution and was floated by US President Barack Obama at a meeting of the Group of Eight in May. It refers to a deal under which Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was granted immunity from prosecution for the killing of protesters. In return, he handed power over to his deputy and announced he planned to go into exile in Ethiopia.

No such deal would be possible in Syria without the involvement of Russia, the Assad regime’s chief armourer, and the two other pillars of his support - China and Iran. This is why Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General who is now peace envoy on behalf of the UN and the Arab League, has come up with the idea of a “contact group” to work out an end to a conflict that has claimed at least 10,000 lives so far.

The group would include the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council - where Russia and China have blocked tough measures against Syria as well as “countries with real influence on the situation, countries that can influence either side - the government of Syria and the opposition,” Annan said at the United Nations. “Iran, as an important country in the region I hope will be part of the solution.”

Clinton has poured cold water on that idea, saying Iran was helping to keep the Assad regime in power and therefore part of the problem. That, of course, also goes for Russia and China but involving Iran would take Washington on a collision course with its close ally Israel and open Obama to charges of being “weak on Iran,” a damaging label in his campaign for re-election. If the contact group idea would eventually lead to Assad’s departure - and that is a very big if - where would he go?

According to David Ignatius, a well-connected columnist for the Washington Post, Russia has offered him exile and there are rumors that Assad has already transferred $6 billion in Syrian reserves to Moscow.

Russia, not the US, holds the key here. As Middle East expert Volker Perthes, head of the German Institute for International Security in Berlin, put it: “Until such time as Assad is told by Moscow that the game is up and only a negotiated exit will guarantee him and his supporters safety, he is unlikely to feel genuinely isolated.”

The idea that the Syrian leader would leave with impunity is hard to swallow after 15 months of brutal crackdown on dissidents and a series of massacres that prompted outrage and a chorus of condemnation in terms that ranged from “despicable” and “vile” to “unspeakable barbarity.” But verbal outrage doesn’t topple dictators, economic sanctions have limited behaviorchanging impact as the case of Iran shows, and there is no appetite in Washington and elsewhere for military intervention. If Bashar did get away with murder, he would complete a family tradition. His father Hafez, from whom he inherited his power, enforced his rule with mass murder on a much larger scale. Even in a Middle East dotted with massacre sites, the way Hafez Al-Assad dealt with Moslem Brotherhood dissidents in the city of Hama stands out. On February 2, 1982, an army raid on a hideout of the outlawed Brotherhood sparked fighting throughout the city. The government responded by surrounding Hama with tanks and artillery and blasted the densely-populated centre in a 27-day assault that killed between 10,000 and 30,000 people, depending whose estimate you believe. The carnage went largely unnoticed, out of sight in an era before cell phone videos uploaded to the internet provide shocking evidence for all the world to see. In 1982, Syria’s Arab neighbors remained silent, reaction from the West was muted. His country pacified and cowed, Hafez ruled for another 18 years. He died peacefully in bed, of pulmonary disease.

His brother Rifaat, who ran the Hama operation, lives in comfortable retirement in London. By contrast a flurry of statements this week on two massacres in Syria as many weeks included calls for those responsible to be held to account. — Reuters

W

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Divisions stalk China-Russia unity

By Marianne Barriaux hina and Russia are presenting a united front against the West to boost their firepower on issues from Syria to Iran, but analysts say their alliance belies deep divisions. The two countries’ leaders used a regional summit in Beijing this week to put on a very public display of solidarity over the Syrian conflict, which has placed them at loggerheads with Western powers, and Iran’s nuclear drive.

But Beijing and Moscow have long had an uneasy relationship dating from when each jostled to dominate the communist world, and analysts say their closeness now marks a marriage of convenience as they look to counter Western influence.

“Both Beijing and Moscow are become increasingly negative about the United States and Europe,” said Jonathan Holslag, head of research of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies. “The West has elicited the increasing anger of Moscow on a number of issues, ranging from missile defence, the modernization of tactical nuclear weapons, to the intervention in Libya. “Beijing sees its interaction with the US souring on maritime

C

security and trade. It’s aversion to the West that drives them closer.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Beijing after pointedly cancelling a trip to the United States, told Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao this week their interests “align perfectly in a great many areas, including in cooperating on the world stage”. Hu said a vow to bolster cooperation in the United Nations - where veto holders China and Russia face pressure to act against Syria - would allow them to “set the global political and economic order in a more fair and rational direction”.

The United States has been a leading voice in pressuring Russia and China to do more on Syria - an ally of both states.

“Both China and Russia want to send a message to other greater powers, particularly the United States - ‘don’t push me too hard’,” said Zheng Yongnian, politics professor at the National University of Singapore. China and Russia declared they were “decisively against” intervention or regime change in Syria - where a bloody uprising has lasted 15 months - and opposed the use of force over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The display of unity also results from

unease over a US decision to focus more on the Asia-Pacific. Washington announced last week that it would base 60 percent of its naval forces in the region by 2020. “China and Russia seem to be coming under a lot of pressure from the United States, which is pulling out of Afghanistan and Iraq and putting more resources in the Asia-Pacific,” said Willy Lam, professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “So there is a need to display a common front... But China and Russia also have mutual suspicion - both are giants in the same region of the world, so they also see themselves as long-term strategic competitors,” he told AFP. Jean-Pierre Cabestan, politics professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, pointed out that the two countries displayed a common strategy “on issues that for them are quite easy”. “But there are lots of issues that divide them... particularly oil and gas prices and the completion of pipelines,” he said. The two sides, for instance, have for years failed to sign off on a huge natural gas deal that could see Russia supply 70 billion cubic metres of gas a year directly to China, due to pricing disagreements.

Lam said another indication of their

“mutual suspicion” was a marked fall in China’s purchases of Russian weapons over the years. China’s “PLA (People’s Liberation Army) is quite unhappy about the fact the Russians refuse to sell them the most sophisticated type of weapons”, he explained. Beyond a strategic keenness to counter US pressure, analysts say the two countries have an interest in cooperating on economic grounds. Energy-hungry China needs oil and gas from Russia, which in turn needs Chinese consumer goods and investment.

But there is scepticism that the relationship amounts to anything greater than political and economic expedience. “What makes us and China truly like-minded besides a (common) stance on Syria and hostility towards the USA?” said an editorial in Russia’s liberal newspaper Vedomosti on Thursday. “Allies are the countries which while pursuing their policies take into account each other’s interests, and if an ally is having problems they interfere to solve them,” it said. “There is and will be nothing of this kind between Russia and China. Not that Russia would not want it.

It’s just that China does not enter any truly binding alliances with anyone.” — AFP

Drive toward US fiscal cliff takes detour

By Donna Smith and Richard Cowan

f ever there was a case for putting off until tomorrow what could be done today, the deeply divided US Congress and President Barack Obama probably have solid ones when it comes to the “fiscal cliff” they face. It’s not that all 535 members of Congress and the Obama administration are sitting around, twiddling their thumbs until after the Nov 6 elections, especially with a scary European economic crisis threatening US growth. On any given day, a stroll through the halls of Congress will find lawmakers huddling with each other or with outside officials to discuss the Dec 31 expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, the Jan. 1 roll out of deep, automatic spending cuts and the early 2013 need to raise US borrowing authority or risk default.

These “gangs” of deficit-hawk lawmakers have been meeting informally for more than a year with little result. “It’s the bridesmaid group - always left at the altar,” said Ethan Siegal, who heads The Washington Exchange, a firm that advises institutional investors on US politics. The problem, it seems, is that “they can bring interesting, pragmatic and actually reasonable policy ideas to the table, but they don’t bring political juice to the table,” Siegal said. The missing “juice” would be the backing of the top four leaders - Republican and Democratic - of the House and Senate.

The gangs play a role nonetheless. Members believe Congress needs to be prepared for what is coming, and the loosely formed groups of lawmakers want to get legislation ready so it can be pulled off the shelf when needed. Nobody doubts the enormity of the task, as congressional aides commonly refer with dread t o the six months worth of work they will have to jam into a six-week “lame duck” post-election work session. So, as long as interest rates for borrowers remain low and the US economy avoids a nosedive this summer and early autumn, there are plenty of reasons - most of them political - for Democrats and Republicans to cool their heels and await the voters’ verdict before engaging in the hard bargaining that is certain to produce results at the end of this year.

A look at dueling remarks on Friday by Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner leaves little doubt that serious negotiating is nowhere at hand.

“Given the signs of weakness in world economies, not just in Europe but also some softening in Asia, it’s critical that we take the actions we can to strengthen the American economy right now,” Obama warned at a press conference. He then rattled off a list of must-do jobs programs and other stimulus steps that Republicans rejected months ago.

I

About an hour later, Boehner countered that “We have time to deal with this.” He then fell back on longheld talking points: “If you want to create more certainty for employers, let’s extend the tax rates, let’s stop the regulatory onslaught, and let’s deal with our debt.” Amid all the breathless pronouncements on Capitol Hill about the “fiscal cliff”, some senators do take a deep breath and advise a go-slow approach. “Most of us believe the reality is that unless there is a real crisis that affects things in a big way, probably the time (to act) is after the election,” said Republican Senator Bob Corker, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee. Corker was one of a number of senators from both parties who heard a blunt assessment of global economic worries from New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley and World Bank chief Robert Zoellick during a closed-door meeting at the Capitol on Tuesday.

The European crisis and poor US jobs numbers last month weighed on US stock prices earlier this week and helped push interest rates to fresh lows. But by midweek the mood on Wall Street was more upbeat and a big upward swing in stock prices kept any talk of early compromise on tax and spending issues at bay. When asked whether an economic crisis in Europe could force Congress to act sooner rather than later to avoid the fiscal cliff looming at the end of the year, Democratic Senator Max Baucus noted that the stock market was up more than 200 points that day. “What’s the worry,” he said.

It was a tongue-in-cheek response by the powerful Senate Finance Committee chairman, but it reflected the general feeling by financial analysts and lawmakers that as long as the US economy stays out of trouble, there is no reason to move from fixed political positions and compromise ahead of the election.

Enough cannot be said about hardball political calculations driving an end-of-year deal and not sooner.

• Last summer’s debt limit/deficit-reduction negotiation between Obama and House Republicans ended in so much bitterness and mistrust that the two sides refuse to engage each other with their jobs on the line on Nov 6.

• If Obama wins re-election, he knows he’ll be in a better bargaining position than he is now to win a longterm increase in Treasury Department borrowing authority, possibly averting the tortured negotiations Republicans put him through in 2011.

• If Obama is defeated, his administration could probably delay any debt-limit showdown until after Romney takes office in January 2013, leaving the new president

to thrash out a resolution with the small-government Tea Party wing of his own party.

• Victor or vanquished, Obama will still be president on Dec 31, 2012, when the Bush tax cuts expire. Either way, he’s in a position to dare Republicans to jeopardize tax cuts for moderate-income voters in order to preserve the tax cuts for the wealthy.

• Republicans, increasingly confident that they will win the White House and possibly take control of the Senate, also want to wait until after the elections to cut a deal. They would have far more leverage at that point to push for maintaining all of the tax cuts and diverting planned spending cuts away from the Pentagon and toward domestic programs. “What we’ll do before the election is create a fertile ground for the next president, number one, and number two work on our own proposals that we can suggest,” Republican Senator Lamar Alexander said. — Reuters

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

From Hiroshima to Hawaii, artist looks to Asia

By Madeleine Coorey

J

apanese-born artist Masami Teraoka remembers the bombing of Hiroshima as the day when he saw two suns rising - one in the east as usual, the other an orb burning eerily in the west. “Two suns, that’s for sure.

That’s my memory,” he explained from a Sydney gallery where his confrontational images of geishas ripping condom packets open with their teeth and naked women frolicking with priests are being exhibited. “I’m not looking at the mushroom cloud at all, but from a distance it looked like the sun. The diameter was the same size as the sun,” he said of the massive atomic explosion he viewed some 70 km from Hiroshima.

Teraoka has thought a lot about the reliability of his schoolboy recollection since that day in August 1945, but he believes it is possible that his memory, even then highly attuned to the visual, is genuine. “So I may not be totally crazy, I think this is totally right,” the chatty, long-haired artist said with a laugh. Teraoka left Japan when he was 25, after studying at Kobe’s Kwansei Gakuin University, and while he credits his move away as crucial to his development, he now sees Asia at the forefront of the contemporary art scene.

Back then, moving to the United States allowed him to follow his passion rather than run the kimono shop

owned by his father and grandfather.

He believes his move to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, where he studied at the Otis Art Institute, allowed him to develop. “Actually if I stayed in Japan, I would have become a businessman,” the artist, now in his mid-70s, said.

“Japanese culture is very much a conformist culture and I kind of doubt I would have blossomed the way I have blossomed and matured as an artist in the States.”

More than 70 solo exhibitions later, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Washington’s Arthur M Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution and San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, Teraoka said China is now tackling art on a scale unseen elsewhere. “I think Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai are leading contemporary arts scenes from now on,” he said. His art has also reflected the changing times - beginning with traditional Japanese ukiyo-e “floating world” drawings and prints, admittedly with a modern take such as his 1974 “Burger and Chopsticks” about creeping Western influence.

Since his move to the US in 1961, he has continued to marry East and West, with his paintings sometimes reminiscent of Northern European work from the late 15th century. His latest pieces, which focus on sex abuse among the clergy, feature full-figured nude women and bishops and priests

in large-scale paintings that subvert traditional religious iconography with modern symbols such as traffic lights, gyms, and IVF equipment.

“The themes that I am dealing with are pretty tough themes: religion and sexuality and ethics and human rights and also power against powerless people,” he explained. “So all these issues are underneath my clergy sex abuse issue paintings.

“What I am focusing on in my series is something that is not even recorded and documented but the more I kind of look into my references and historical books there are so many records... that there are many women who were abused.”

Based in Hawaii since 1990, Teraoka’s work is in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, London’s Tate Modern, and the Singapore Art Museum. His pieces on display in Sydney command prices of up to US$385,000. But he says Japanese geishas are now making a return to his work - including in an AIDS series in which they can feature as ghosts. “I haven’t really used the geisha image for a while,” he said. “But recently geisha is becoming part of the scenario or narrative, in a sense I might be coming back to Asia, or Japan, if you would like to say that. That might be part true.” — AFP

This photo taken on May 25, 2012 shows Japanese-born artist Masami Teraoka, aged 78, straightening his painting entitled ‘Namiyo at Hanauma Bay 1985’ at his exhibition in Sydney. — AFP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

sp orts Young England’s quiet joker

World Cup qualifiers

Ferdinand fears career is over

KRAKOW: Ashley Young smiled just once when he faced a room of reporters at England’s Euro 2012 city-centre media hotel yesterday.

When asked what he thought about stories claiming that the French central defenders he will face in Monday’s Group D opening clash are slow and overweight, the forward latched onto the invitation as if it was an opportunity to score. “I hope they are-it would give us a chance,” he quipped.

It was the only flash of the man behind the mask and the only natural answer that went beyond the control of media training exercises. But if any England player has a real chance to enhance a growing reputation at Euro 2012, it could be Young.

The 26-year-old Manchester United forward scored one goal and made the other in England’s two recent warm-up games against Norway and Belgium, the first of the ‘new’ Roy Hodgson era.

Playing ‘in the hole’ behind a centre-forward, or on the left wing, he has scored six goals in 21 appearances, four of those coming in his last five appearances.

The statistics confirm he has the ability to replace, albeit temporarily, the suspended Wayne Rooney as the fulcrum of England’s attacking play.

“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “We are feeling confident and, of course, I know Wayne and he is a world-class player... but I am hoping to do well for the manager, if I am selected.”— Reuters

FLORIDA: The United States and Mexico both opened their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaigns with 3-1 wins while Honduras suffered a surprise loss in the opening fixtures of the third round.

The Americans beat Antigua and Barbuda in their CONCACAF Group A encounter in Florida with captain Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey and Herculez Gomez all scoring.

Antigua replied with a goal from substitute Peter Byers but were unable to find the net again as the US sealed the win with Gomez’s strike after 71 minutes. “At the end of the day, I think the three points is the starting point that we wanted to have,” US manager Juergen Klinsmann told reporters.

Carlos Salcido and Giovani Dos Santos both scored inside the first 15 minutes as Mexico cruised to victory over Guyana in Group B. Mexico increased their lead when John Rodrigues scored an own goal but Guyana pulled one back when Mexico’s Hector Moreno deflected the ball into his own goal just after the hour mark. —Reuters

LONDON: Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has said he fears his England career is over after being overlooked for Euro 2012 by manager Roy Hodgson.

“You would have to say it might be over with England for me,” the 33-year-old told the Sun newspaper yesterday. “If I’m not getting picked now, especially when people are out injured, then it’s unlikely I will be picked again.”

Ferdinand, capped 81 times, has not played in a major tournament finals since the 2006 World Cup but said he would remain available until he stopped playing altogether. His last cap came in June 2011 and he has had injury problems since. “I must admit I didn’t expect 2006 would be my last competition,” said Ferdinand.

“I really hoped that I would get 100 caps — but for various reasons it hasn’t happened. It’s a disappointment but it just shows you can never take anything for granted in football.”

Ferdinand was left out of Hodgson’s original 23-man squad in what the manager said was a “footballing decision”. He was again snubbed when Gary Cahill was ruled out with a broken jaw, Hodgson calling up Liverpool right back Martin Kelly instead. —Reuters

Wallabies repel Wales ambush

MEMPHIS: Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits from the sand on the 17th hole during the second round of the St. Jude Classic golf tournament. — AP

McIlroy takes Memphis lead MEMPHIS: Rory McIlroy showed exquisite timing as he birdied three of his last four holes to surge into a one-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the St Jude Classic at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee on Friday.

The Northern Irishman, who had missed the cut in his last three tournaments, looks to be getting his game on track just in time for the defence of his US Open crown in San Francisco next week with a five-underpar 65 for a total of 133.

“It’s nice to see my name on that part of the leaderboard,” the 23-year-old McIlroy told reporters. “It’s not nice when you’re struggling to make the cut on a Friday afternoon.

“It’s nice to be through to the weekend, obviously. It’s obviously even nicer to be leading and have a great chance.”

After dispensing the niceties, the world number two faced a tight third-round battle with three players tied for second on 134 and another trio two shots further off the pace.

Opening round co-leader Jeff Maggert, the 2006 winner here, shot a second-round 68 to share second place with fellow Americans J.B. Holmes (64) and Kevin Stadler (65).

Tied for fifth were Americans John Merrick (69), Chad Campbell (67) and Kevin Kisner (66), with U.S. Davis Cup captain Davis Love III, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, Noh Seung-yul of South Korean and American Ken Duke another shot away at 136. Another shot adrift was two-time major winner John Daly, who shot a second-round 69 on return to his former home course. McIlroy carded an eagle and five birdies to offset two bogeys, and narrowly

missed out on a second eagle when he lipped out a putt of less than four feet on the par-five 16th hole. The Briton found the groove on his drives and fired away at the pins, knocking several approach shots close.

“I saw a lot of positive things out there,” McIlroy said. “I felt like I drove the ball great on the last few holes and hit some great approach shots.” A birdie at the second hole followed by an eagle at the par-five third helped put McIlroy in the right frame of mind.

“Three-under through three holes gave me a little bit of a boost today,” he said.

Earlier, Holmes had tore up the front nine to sit pretty at the top of the leaderboard after the morning section of play.

The 30-year-old Kentuckian, who has returned well after undergoing brain surgery last September, birdied the second and third holes and ran off four straight birdies from the sixth.

“I knew being dizzy, having headaches and everything that I couldn’t keep my (tour) card, I couldn’t play out here anymore, so I had to get something done,” Holmes explained about deciding to have the surgery. “It was almost a relief to find out that the surgery was something that could help the symptoms and everything.”

Relief for McIlroy was turning around his run of form in time for his major title defence at the Olympic Club.

“The goal this week was obviously to see some improvement, to get some competitive rounds and get into contention and I’m right there heading into the weekend,” he said. “It’s going to be a great experience and a great way to prepare for the US Open next week.” — Reuters

BRISBANE: Australia defended grimly to weather a fierce second-half assault and prevail 27-19 over Wales yesterday in the first match of their three-test series.

Trailing 17-3 minutes after the break, Wales closed the gap to just a point after a try to winger Alex Cuthbert in the 58th minute and some accurate kicking in tricky conditions by fullback Leigh Halfpenny on a drizzly night at Lang Park.

But Wallabies inside centre Pat McCabe eased the pressure with a try 10 minutes later and the hosts made a series of desperate tackles to deny the tourists in front of a crowd of more than 42,000.

“We had a lot of fun out there it was great to play in front of a crowd like this,” Wallabies skipper David Pocock said in a pitchside interview. “There was a huge focus on the breakdown. Both teams did pretty well there.”

Although dominating possession and territory, the Wallabies appeared a bundle of nerves in the opening minutes, putting themselves under pressure with a clutch of errant passes, but an equally jittery Wales failed to capitalise.

The visitors made the first major incursion in the 10th minute with a break in midfield, but McCabe made a brilliant, lunging tackle to bring down opposing number Scott Williams 10 metres from the line, before a knock-on ended the movement.

McCabe turned from hero to villain four minutes later when he blew a certain try, sparking howls of condemnation from the stands, when he ignored winger Digby Ioane in support on the outside and made a dart for the left corner only to be tackled short of the line.

The Wallabies’ pressure eventually told and the Welsh defence buckled in the 15th minute when flanker Scott Higginbotham planted the ball next to the posts after a series of crashing drives by the forwards. Fullback Leigh Halfpenny steemed the bleeding with a penalty kick in the 23rd minute and kept the Wallabies scoreless to the break to trail 103, but scrumhalf Will Genia struck less than a minute into the second half when he danced past a

clutch of flat-footed defenders to cross beneath the posts.

With the floodgates straining, Wales counterattacked with abandon leaving casualties on both sides. A clash of heads between hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau and Williams saw both players trudge woozily off the field before winger Cuthbert scored just before the hour mark, snaffling a pass popped up from debutant replacement Ashley Beck before charging over near the right corner.

A rush of blood to the head four minutes later saw Wales blow a certain five-pointer when Rhys Priestland spilled a terrible pass over his head in front of the posts that beckoned to be moved

quickly where a two-man overlap waited.

Halfpenny slotted his fourth penalty to bring Wales to within a point, but McCabe burst through from 10 metres after taking a pass from Genia to ease the pressure and spark a roar from the crowd.

Wales desperately pushed to cobble a late try and successfully broke the Wallabies’ lines on several occasions, but were denied repeatedly by brilliant tackles. Higginbotham proved heroic as he brought down fleet-footed Cuthbert on the line near the right corner and Barnes made another try-stopping tackle moments later as Wales were left to ponder their winning drought back to 1969. — Reuters

All Blacks savage Ireland AUCKLAND: New Zealand coach Steve Hansen’s gamble on naming three debutants paid dividends yesterday as Julian Savea scored three tries to propel the All Blacks past Ireland 42-10 at Eden Park.

Hansen, after eight years as an assistant to World Cup winning coach Graham Henry, has stepped into arguably the most scrutinised rugby job in the world with a brief to balance the All Blacks’ high standards and build a side capable of defending the Webb Ellis trophy in 2015.

The former police officer gave Savea, scrumhalf Aaron Smith and lock Brodie Retallick their test debuts, with all three proving more than adequately they could make the step up to internationals from Super Rugby.

While Hansen praised the work of Retallick in the tight, Smith’s passing and decision making and Savea’s three tries, he reserved special praise for the 12 players in the starting lineup who were in the World Cup winning squad last year.

“They thing that pleased me the most of all was not the debutants, but the leaders in the team and our senior players,” Hansen told a media conference.

“They could have easily come in and been comfortable and all week they have displayed enthusiasm,

Pak ahead in New York NEW YORK: Hall of Famer Pak Se-ri of South Korea shrugged off the effects of a shoulder injury and pushed past a quartet of rivals to seize a one-stroke lead after 36-holes at the LPGA Championship in Pittsford, New York on Friday.

The 34-year-old Pak, winner of five major LPGA titles, shot a one-under-par 71 for a three-under-par 141 total on a windy day at a Locust Hill Country Club course lined with deep, unforgiving rough for the second women’s major of the year. “This week you come out, you don’t (have) very high expectation,” Pak told reporters. “Of course you really want it. My shoulder isn’t any problem at all.”

Pak is returning to action six weeks after suffering a partial tear to the labrum of her left shoulder in a fall down some stairs during a tournament in Mobile, Alabama. “I’m very happy about the finish today, the round, because I got a couple of great up and downs from the rough and some great putts too,” said the player who inspired a generation of South Koreans to excel at golf and make their way to the LPGA Tour. “I’m playing really well actually. I’m really happy about it.”

Tied one stroke behind Pak on 142 were 2010 US Open champion Paula Creamer, who shot level par 72, 2008 US Open winner Park In-bee of South Korea (70), 2010 Japan Women’s Open winner Mika Miyazato (72) and Sandra Gal of Germany (71).

Six players were bunched another shot back at one-under-par 143, including former champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway.

Pak had three birdies, including back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17 (her seventh and eighth holes) and two bogeys as she took aim for her 26th LPGA win and first major triumph since the 2006 LPGA Championship.

After consecutive LPGA Championship romps by Yani Tseng last year and Cristie Kerr the year before, the Locust Hill fairways were narrowed and the rough grown thick and players have struggled to make par.

Along with the punishing wind, that added up to a tough challenge for the field. A total of 73 players made the cut, set at seven-over-par 151.

World number one Tseng, who won the title last year by 10 strokes with a 19under-par total, made the cut without a stroke to spare after a three-over 75 that followed a 76.

“Before teeing off, we know it’s a lot tougher because we could see the wind blowing,” Pak said. “This golf course is a lot harder than the last couple of years.

“It’s very difficult because if you miss the fairway, the next shot is from the rough. You have to use really smart thinking.” Creamer agreed but said she liked playing courses where par is a good score, such as Oakmont, where she won her US Open. “I love this kind of golf,” Creamer said. “This is to me what it’s all about.

It’s hitting shots. It’s hitting fades, hitting draws, knock downs, everything.

“It’s not just trying to land it on a huge fairway. You have to golf your ball around out here and that’s what you have to do at Oakmont and that’s what you have to do at most majors and this is right up there with it. This is difficult.

This is a tough test of golf.” — Reuters

BRISBANE: Wales’ Bradley Davies (left) reaches across to try and slow Australia’s Stephen Moore during their rugby union test match. Australia won the match 27-19. — AP

excitement and a commitment to get the job done and they led the way.”

“We started the week out with one purpose and to have a performance we would be proud of and we have to be proud of what we did.”

The All Blacks had ended a 24-year wait for their second World Cup victory last October on the same ground and captain Richie McCaw had warned an expectant New Zealand public the team would not be perfect in their first outing of the season.

They were far from that. There were too many dropped passes and knock ons, some intercepted passes and a lack of accuracy and cohesion at the breakdown that produced a number of turnovers and penalties. The defensive screen that had guided them to their 8-7 win over France last October, however, was still intact, and in fact virtually impenetrable.

Ireland’s only try came when hooker Rory Best gathered a loose ball froma charge down and with every All Blacks player up in the attacking line, flyhalf Jonathan Sexton booted the ball down field for winger Fergus McFadden to find himself the only player within sight of it.

The visitors, who have arrived in New Zealand after a long season, were keen to move the ball at pace

themselves, often running it out from deep inside their own territory.

The All Blacks, however, kept driving them back in the tackle and when Ireland did kick downfield, there were plenty of black jersies there to run it back at them. At pace. Savea’s first try came from such a scenario when he was given an overlap down the left hand touchline, while his second typified the entire match. Ireland had been hot on attack, but aggressive defence from Conrad Smith and captain Richie McCaw forced a turnover and three passes and a clever kick later, the All Blacks had an attacking lineout five metres out.

The field position gave them the opportunity to attack from a quick ruck shortly afterwards and Savea smashed over in the tackles of prop Cian Healy and scrumhalf Connor Murray.

“They played well,” Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll said. “For a team that had not played since the World Cup final that was a good standard.

“They bring a real intensity and great tempo and try to keep the ball in play as much as they can. ...Some of their scores we didn’t help ourselves but they also constructed a few as well. “They were worthy winners.” — Reuters

Devils must rely on Rock to stay alive against Kings

PITTSFORD: Pak Se-ri smiles after she saved par from hitting out of the sand on the fifth hole during the second round of the LPGA Championship golf tournament. — AP

NEWARK: There was a time when home-ice advantage wasn’t the New Jersey Devils’ best friend. If either the rival New York Rangers or Philadelphia Flyers were in New Jersey, there would be as many of their jerseys in the crowd as Devils’ colors. Not anymore, at least not in the NHL playoffs this year.

The Devils have been tough at the Prudential Center, known as “The Rock,” and they need one more big effort on Saturday in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals to keep their championship dreams alive and prevent the Los Angeles Kings from capturing their first NHL title since coming into the league in 1967.

It’s a tough task. The Kings haven’t lost on the road since the playoffs started two months ago.

They are 10-0, including two overtime wins here in Games 1 and 2. A bounce or two here or there, and New Jersey might be the one leading the best-of-seven series 3-1.

That’s wishful thinking for Devils fans. The reality is New Jersey has some momentum coming off a 3-1 win on Wednesday, and they need to keep winning or else.

New Jersey is 6-4 in the playoffs here after winning 24 of 41 home games in the regular season. It’s gotten their fans behind them like never before. “We’re winning, that’s the bottom line,” Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said of the fan support. “I think we’ve played hard and got some success. It’s hard when you don’t win for our fans to be involved and do what they’d like to do, especially the last few years when we played the Rangers and Flyers (in the postseason). It’s tough in this area to play some rivals if you don’t have success, their fans take over the building. But we got the success this year and that made a big difference why we feel a lot more comfortable playing.” Coming into this season, the Devils had posted a 3-7 postseason mark at “The Rock,”

which opened for the 2007-08 season.

Veteran defenseman Andy Greene said the Devils are just a better team overall this season.

“I think going into the playoffs we were playing good hockey,” Greene said. “The few years before that, I don’t want to say we stumbled into the playoffs, but we probably weren’t where we needed to be heading into the playoffs. We’ve been playing the right way and the crowd has been great. We’re feeling their energy and feeding off it. It’s been great.”

It’s hard to say whether the Kings notice the opposing crowd. They won all three games in Vancouver in the first round, two in St. Louis in the second and three in Phoenix in the third.

They are 15-3 overall, with all three losses coming in potential series-clinching Game 4s at home. Now they get another chance to win on the road. And this one will be the biggest of all for a franchise that had only made the cup finals once before: 1993, losing to Montreal in five games. Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick, who might be the front-runner for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP, actually was funny when asked if he was familiar with the Prudential Center after two games.

“No, it’s like any arena,” he said. “You’ve got about 18,000 people that want you to lose no matter where you go.”

The odds are certainly against the Devils making a comeback. Only one NHL team has rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the finals to win. That was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings. Devils coach Peter DeBoer had an interesting take on his team’s plight.

“You know it’s going to happen again,” he said.

“So why not us? I think that’s the approach.

You’re not going to go 200 years without someone else doing it. So it’s been long enough, it might as well be us.” — AP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

sp orts

Douglas, Wieber tie in first night of nationals ST. LOUIS: Four years after Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson’s captivating rivalry at the Beijing Olympics, the Americans might have themselves another 1-2 punch.

Gabby Douglas pulled off something of an upset Friday night, tying world champion Jordyn Wieber after the first day at the US gymnastics championships. The two finished with 60.650 points, with Aly Raisman 0.45 behind.

The finals are today.

“We’re right where we need to be,” John Geddert, Wieber’s coach, insisted. “This one doesn’t count for a whole lot. Those who save some for later usually do well.”

He has a point. Only the winner of the Olympic trials June 28-July 1 in San Jose, Calif., is guaranteed a spot on the London team, with a selection committee picking the remaining four members. And Liukin was second to Johnson at both nationals and trials in 2008, only to leave Beijing with the biggest prize. Same for Athens Olympics champion Carly Patterson, who tied Courtney Kupets at the 2004 U.S. championships.

Still, with the way Wieber has routed the competition these last few years, it’s big news when anyone gets close to her, let alone matches her.

“I feel really awesome right now and all this hard work is paying off,” Douglas said. “I just have to not get cocky right now.” Liukin, meanwhile, has some work to do to make her second Olympic team. The Beijing all-around champion knows if she’s going to make the London

squad, it will be because of uneven bars, her signature event. But was her first time competing uneven bars since winning a silver medal on them at the Beijing Games - she and China’s He Kexin actually had the same score, but He won the gold on a complex tiebreaker - and the rust clearly showed.

She stalled on several of her pirouettes, and lost her rhythm after a big form break on the low bar. Though she’s been doing a dismount in training that would push her start value sky high - two forward somersaults, the last with a half-twist - it’s still a work in progress. She played it safe instead, doing one she mastered when she was, oh, about 10. That’s probably the last time she had a score this low, too: a 13.15 with just a 7.35 for execution.

“It wasn’t even about the score, it was more about my routine,” Liukin said. “I hit my foot on the bar, (made) just very uncharacteristic mistakes. My dad was like ‘What happened?’ and I honestly have no idea.” But Valeri Liukin, her father and coach, said he’s not concerned. All of her mistakes are fixable, he said, most the result of adrenaline.

“She’ll be better,” he said.

Douglas was something of a surprise when she made last year’s world championship squad, with scant international experience and seemingly little stage presence. But she blossomed in the spotlight, and with her bubbly personality and megawatt smile, she’s now got some serious star power to go with her skills. She actually beat Wieber

at the American Cup in March, but her scores didn’t count because she was competing as an alternate. This time, though, no asterisk is needed.

Martha Karolyi has dubbed Douglas the “Flying Squirrel” for her circus-like acrobatics on uneven bars. She soared so high on her first release, flipping herself up and back over the bar, her legs piked, that she could have reached out and touched her toes before grabbing the bar. She had the crowd oohing and aahing throughout the routine, and when she hit the mat with a solid thud, she threw up her arms, a big grin exploding across her face. There’s more to Douglas than simply uneven bars, though. Her legs looked as if they had springs in them, flying so high above the floor you could have driven one of those new little Fiats beneath her. And while other gymnasts look so robotic or wooden they may as well be using elevator music, Douglas makes her routine look like performance art. She gave a sassy grin as she waved her hands in time to the thumping techno music, and seemed to make eye contact with everyone in the arena.

When she came off the floor, she and coach Liang Chow slapped hands before he gave her a big hug. “I don’t think the goal is ever of winning, it’s just to go out there and do your best,” Douglas said. “If you think about winning, you put too much stress on yourself. Then you’re like ‘Oh (no), everybody’s looking at me to win. What if I mess up? What if they hate me?’ That type of pressure gets in

your mind.” And Douglas wasn’t perfect. She had several big wobbles on balance beam, and a big step off the mat left the door open for Wieber.

Wieber has lost one - count it, one - all-around competition since the 2008 season, and is considered the heavy favorite for London. Not only does she have some of the toughest tricks in the world, but she’s as fierce a competitor as you will find. One mistake from her is rare, two or three is practically unheard of.

But she had an uncharacteristically rough night, with unsteady performances on both vault and balance beam.

By the time she came to floor, her final event, she needed a 15.25 just to catch Douglas.

“My coach told me the score that I needed before I went out there,” Wieber said. “It made me want to squeeze every little tenth out of my routine.”

It showed. She got some serious hang time on her tumbling runs, but landed them so securely she had to have had sticky tape on the bottoms of her feet. She shimmied her hips to her peppy music, oozing so much charm and personality that Geddert was clapping his hands above his head. She punctuated the routine with a flawless landing, not budging an inch as she flashed a big smile. “It was one of my best floors,” Wieber said. “I definitely think I put everything I had in my routine and I just went out there and performed.” If she and Douglas keep this up, the show might not stop until London.—AP

Sky dump winless Shock ROSEMONT: Epiphanny Prince hit a 3-pointer to force overtime and added eight points in the extra session in the Chicago Sky’s 98-91 victory over the winless Tulsa Shock on Friday.

Prince, the WNBA scoring leader, finished with 32 points. She scored eight points in the final 29 seconds of regulation, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer for a 77-77 tie.

Tamera Young added 16 points, and Sylvia Fowles, Swin Cash and Courtney Vandersloot each had 14. Fowles also tied a career high with 21 rebounds for Chicago (5-1), off to its best start in franchise history. Scholanda Dorrell scored 25 points for the Shock (0-7).

points and Lindsey Harding added 14 in Atlanta’s victory over San Antonio. Sophia Young finished with 21 points and was the only player to score in double figures for the Silver Stars (24), who have lost two straight and four of five.

Atlanta (3-4) overcame 23 turnovers, matching a season high, to snap a two-game skid.

Sparks 90, Mercury 74 At Los Angeles, Nneka Ogwumike had season highs of 25 points and 12 rebounds, and

Candace Parker added 23 points and 10 rebounds to help Los Angeles defeat Phoenix.

The Sparks (5-1) have won four straight and are off to their best start since 2003. The 16point victory was their largest of the season.

DeLisha Milton-Jones scored 12 of her 21 points in the second half and made a 3-pointer after Phoenix climbed back to seven points down with 6:30 remaining. Charde Houston led Phoenix with 22 points and made four of five 3point attempts.—AP

Yohan Blake

Jamaican sprinter Blake aims to emulate Bolt NEW YORK: Jamaican world champion sprinter Yohan Blake would not mind if history repeated itself late yesterday at the New York grand prix meeting, a key Diamond League series test in the run-up to the London Olympics.

Usain Bolt used this meet at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island as his coming out party four years ago, setting his first world record with a startling time of 9.72 seconds in the 100 meters before going on to double Olympic glory in Beijing. Blake would love to emulate training partner Bolt, though he stopped short of world record predictions for late yesterday’s 100 metres, insisting his focus is strictly on winning hardware at the London Games.

“I don’t really think about world records. It happens. Given a good day, a good condition, I’m feeling great, anything is possible out here,” Blake told reporters at a news conference ahead of the meet. “I’m just thinking Olympics, I’m just thinking the gold.”

The meet on the small island in the East River across from the skyline of Manhattan features athletes from 42 countries including 72 Olympic or world championships medallists gearing up for the July 27-Aug. 12 London Games.

The women’s 100 metres also promises fireworks. American Carmelita Jeter, the reigning world champion, 2008 Olympic gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, world championship bronze medallist Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago and three-time world 200 metres champion Allyson Felix of the US comprise an impressive field. The 22-year-old Blake,

who considers the 200 metres his better distance, said he wants to follow in Bolt’s fast footsteps by doubling up at the Olympics.

Bolt won both the 100 and 200 metres in world record time at the 2008 Beijing Games, and Blake aches to add to his 2011 world championship win, which came after Bolt was disqualified for a false start. “Everybody wants to be that number one person. They don’t want to be that second guy,” Blake, who goes by the nickname “The Beast,” said about making his own golden Olympic memories.

“I already have a world championship. For me that don’t count. That was last year. This year is this year. This is going to be my first Olympics. I want to have a medal at the Olympics. That’s where I want my respect.”

Among those lining up against Blake will be Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago, the 2008 Olympic silver medallist, and American Trell Kimmons, this year’s U.S. indoor champion.

At the other end of the track spectrum, the women’s 5,000 metres offers a showdown between top Ethiopian runners.

World record holder and 2008 double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba (5,000 and 10,000 meters) will be going against rival Meseret Defar.

Defar, the 2004 Olympic 5,000 meters gold medallist and former world record holder, has not raced against Dibaba since 2009. Eight-time world cross country championships medallist Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia is also in the field.—Reuters

I’ll Have Another out of 144th Belmont Stakes I’ll Have Another, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, will not run in late yesterday’s 144th Belmont Stakes, trainer Doug O’Neill announced on Friday, ending the colt’s bid for a US Triple Crown sweep.

The chestnut horse, a 4-5 oddsmakers’ favorite, was retired on Friday after O’Neill chose to scratch him from the race following a veterinarian inspection that found left front leg swelling, a sign of tendinitis, after a workout.

“We didn’t want to take any chances,” O’Neill said. “This is extremely tough for all of us.

Though it’s far from tragic, it’s extremely disappointing. I feel so sorry for the whole team. We have had such an amazing run.”

The decision doomed I’ll Have Another’s chance of becoming the 12th horse to win all three US flat racing classics in the same year. Not since Affirmed in 1978 has a horse completed

ELMONT: Trainer Doug O’Neill kneels to wrap I’ll Have Another’s front left leg following a workout at Belmont Park. —AP

the treble sweep, with 11 other hopefuls in the 34 years since then unable to win at Belmont, the longest of the three races at 1 1/2 miles.

“He has done so much. It has been an incredible ride,” O’Neill said. “It is a bummer.” The decision steals most of the excitement from Saturday’s equine showdown for three-year-olds at Belmont Park.

In both the Derby and Preakness, I’ll Have Another chased down Bodemeister in the home stretch to claim victory. Bodemeister, twice a runner-up, was not entered in the Belmont Stakes. “It was a hell of a run,” I’ll Have Another owner J. Paul Reddam said. I’ll Have Another ran only three times last year before suffering a shin injury last September. He did not run again until this past February and then booked his trip to the Kentucky Derby by winning April’s Santa Anita Derby.

O’Neill had said earlier that I’ll Have Another’s routine was thrown off by the detention barn conditions, a new stall situation established for all Belmont Stakes horses by track officials.

But O’Neill made a point of saying that he did not think the detention barn played any role in I’ll Have Another’s tendon injury. “Absolutely not,” O’Neill said. “Just a freakish thing. He has been a little quiet but his legs have been great.”

O’Neill said he saw trouble in the front left leg on Thursday but treatment had helped and I’ll Have Another looked strong in a workout Friday morning.

“This morning he looked great,” O’Neill said.

“We did just an easy gallop with him. Cooling out, you could tell that swelling was back. At that point I didn’t feel very good.”

Veterinarians confirmed the worst fears, that I’ll Have Another was in the early stages of tendinitis and looking at a minimum of six months to recover. That was enough to convince O’Neill and Reddam to retire him to stud.

In a nod to his achievement, I’ll Have Another, with jockey Mario Gutierrez aboard, will lead the post parade of horses to the starting gates for the Belmont Stakes, then turn aside at the last moment.—AFP

Sun 89, Fever 81 At Indianapolis, Kara Lawson scored 18 points to help Connecticut beat Indiana, while WNBA Most Valuable Player Tamika Catchings missed part of the third quarter after she was accidentally elbowed in the face by Fever teammate Tammy Sutton-Brown.

Catchings left the game with 6:58 left in the third quarter. She went to the locker room with a towel over her face and had a bandage on her lower lip when she returned at the 3:38 mark of the quarter.

The Sun (5-1) went on an 8-0 run with Catchings out. Catchings finished with a seasonhigh 31 points for the Fever (4-2). Tina Charles added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Sun, and Asjha Jones had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Liberty 76, Mystics 70 At Washington, Cappie Pondexter scored 25 points as New York took control with a 30-5 firsthalf run and survived a frantic fourth quarter to beat Washington for its first road victory of the season. Leilani Mitchell hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points for the Liberty, winners of three straight after opening the season 0-5. The latest victory also snapped a five-game losing streak in Washington dating to the 2009 season. Crystal Langhorne led the Mystics (1-5) with 24 points.

Dream 60, Silver Stars 57 At Atlanta, Angel McCoughtry scored 16

INDIANAPOLIS: Connecticut Sun’s Renee Montgomery (21) is fouled by Indiana Fever’s Katie Douglas during the first half of a WNBA basketball game.—AP

Pacquiao prepares for Bradley LAS VEGAS: Manny Pacquiao barely escaped to fight another day, and would need 28 stitches to close the cut over his right eye. Juan Manuel Marquez had nearly ended his remarkable run, but that didn’t stop Pacquiao from singing at his post-fight concert and partying the night away with his huge entourage. He returns to the ring Saturday, determined to show his last outing was nothing more than a fluke. Little known Timothy Bradley will be his opponent in a fight that could either end Pacquiao’s lucrative career or revitalize it.

This time, though, there will be no concert, and no party. Win or lose, the only thing on Pacquiao’s postfight agenda is a Bible study session and some time with his wife.

He claims to be a changed man, and the people around him say he really is. What no one really knows, though, is how it will affect him in the ring, something that makes this fight a bit more intriguing than most.

“It’s 100 percent good,” insists Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach. “He’s much more focused now. From all the distractions he had, the trade-off is unbelievable.”

Oddsmakers aren’t so sure, making Pacquiao a relatively short 4-1 favorite against the unbeaten Bradley.

He was a 7-1 pick against Marquez, but was lucky to come away with a majority decision in a fight that

could have gone either way. Pacquiao said afterward that he just had problems with the style of Marquez.

Those close to him, though, said personal problems and marital discord troubled him through training camp all the way into the dressing room before the fight, when he was still so consumed by them that he failed to warm up properly.

There will be no excuses this time out. Pacquiao knows he not only needs to win but to win impressively if he is to retain his spot alongside currently jailed Floyd Mayweather Jr. as one of the two best fighters in the world.

“I want to prove that I’m still young and I can still fight,” Pacquiao said. “I feel I’m still hungry, I’m still OK.” Pacquiao risks a 15-fight winning streak when he defends his piece of the welterweight title against Bradley. He hasn’t lost in seven years and his recent fights have all been big pay-per-view events that made him millions. But the pressures of being at the top of his sport and both a national hero and congressman in the Philippines fueled a bloated lifestyle that couldn’t be sustained.

Pacquiao gave up drinking, and he gave up gambling. He gave away his cockfighting ranch in the Philippines and sold his interest in a casino there. He found a spiritual adviser, and now spends his spare

LAS VEGAS: Manny Pacquiao (left) and Timothy Bradley, face off after weighing in for late yesterday’s WBO welterweight title fight. —AP

moments reading and discussing the Bible. “The things I did over and over in the past, I stopped those,” Pacquiao said. “I know now if I die today I know where I’m going. It’s helped a lot in my personal life and my boxing life.”

Training in Los Angeles last week, Pacquiao seemed focused as he sparred six rounds with two sparring partners. He dismissed concerns that his new dedication to religion would somehow make him less aggressive in the ring, and said he doesn’t feel like he’s lost any of his speed or his power at the age of 33.

“This is my job,” he said. “I have a job to do in the ring.

I’m not underestimating him at all.”

Pacquiao weighed in Friday at the class limit of 147 pounds (66.7 kilograms), while Bradley - who is noticeably more muscle bound - weighed 146. It is the heaviest that Pacquiao has ever weighed for a fight.

Bradley, a 140-pound (63.5-kilogram) champion moving up in weight for his biggest fight yet, is the kind of fighter who could give Pacquiao trouble. He fights going forward, isn’t afraid to mix it up inside, and has yet to be beaten in 28 fights.

Yet Roach sees him as a mediocre fighter with limited skills. He said if Pacquiao loses or doesn’t look good against Bradley he will tell him it is time to retire.

“Timothy Bradley is made for Manny,” Roach said.

“He’s slow and he doesn’t punch hard, but he tries hard. Manny should eat him up as he comes forward.”

Bradley hardly seems overwhelmed by the hype that surrounds his biggest fight ever. He freely talks about his game plan for beating Pacquiao, and the motivation that has helped him win fights when he was in trouble.

He even brought an oversized replica of a ticket to the final prefight press conference announcing a rematch with Pacquiao on Nov. 10 after his win Saturday night. “It’s been a long journey but I knew someday I’d get here,” Bradley said. “I just didn’t know when or how.” Bradley said he must resist getting in a brawl with Pacquiao, but says he doesn’t believe Pacquiao has one-punch knockout power. He plans to counterpunch Pacquiao as he comes at him, a style that worked well for Marquez, and will go to the body early and often.

Bradley, who grew up boxing in Palm Springs, California has only 12 knockouts, but said he sees himself putting Pacquiao on the canvas at some point in the fight. People who criticize him as not being good enough to be in a big fight, he said, simply underestimate his heart.

“I’ve already been bashed in the media enough that it doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “I can accept criticism, but I just use it as fuel. I like it when people talk good about me, and I like it even better when they talk bad.”—AP

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SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

S P ORT S

Sharapova makes history with French Open crown PARIS: Russia’s Maria Sharapova became the 10th woman in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam titles yesterday when she defeated Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 6-2 in the French Open final.

In what turned out to be largely one-sided contest, the second seed and new world No.1 led from the start, fixing the 21st seeded Errani with her biggest shots and giving her little chance to employ her own, more considered game.

The French Open title for

continuing a run of straight sets finals that date back to 2001 when Jennifer Capriati defeated Kim Clijsters in a three-set thriller.

“It’s a magical moment in my career,” Sharapova said in French, before quickly reverting to English. “It has been such a journey for me to to get to this stage.

Eight years ago it was my first breakthough Grand Slam and eight years later here I am.

“No matter how many Grand Slams you win ... if it was my only

trasts were stark notably in height with the 1.88m tall Sharapova towering 24cm above the little Italian.

The 25-year-old Sharapova had the experience of winning three Grand Slam titles and has just been assured of regaining the world number one spot. Her global superstar status has made her the biggest-earning sportswoman on earth.

Errani, 10 days younger than her opponent, was little-known

FRANCE: Maria Sharapova of Russia kisses the trophy after winning the women’s final match against Sara Errani of Italy at the French Open tennis tournament. —AP Sharapova follows her Grand Slam triumphs at Wimbledon in 2004, the US Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008 and it crowns her return from a serious shoulder injury that nearly wrecked her career.

The 90-minute final though did little to restore the reputation of women’s tennis at Roland Garros,

one it would be just as special as it would be winning my fourth.”

Errani, when told that her runner-up finish would put her in the world top 10 for the first time, replied: “I don’t feel like top 10, but I will be top 10, so it’s incredible for me and I can’t believe it.”

It what was the first meeting between the two and the con-

outside of her own country until she won three claycourt titles in the buildup to Roland Garros in recent weeks. She then defeated two previous champions en route to a first appearance in a Grand Slam final.

Sharapova opened confidently on serve and then used her booming groundstrokes to pin

back a tight Errani, breaking serve when the Italian hit long.

The Russian, playing in her first final at Roland Garros at her 10th attempt, moved 3-0 up and then converted a third break point to take a 4-0 lead.

Sharapova had made a dream start, but once again her propensity to double fault struck again, with two of them in the fifth game. She then hit a forehand narrowly wide on break point.

That seemed to settle Errani, who was bidding to become the second Italian winner at Roland Garros after Francesca Schiavone in 2010, and she pumped her fist at her team in the player’s box after holding serve for the first time.

Errani saved two set points at 2-5 and 15-40 down on serve in the eighth game as she started to pull Sharapova from side to side, but the Russian, despite another double fault, served out for the set.

Sharapova broke again to open the second set and moved 2-0 up as the Roland Garros centre court faithful tried to lift the morale of the outgunned Italian.

She held serve to get to 2-1 down and then had a break point to level, only for Sharapova to hit the line with a forehand.

The fifth game of the set was crucial as Sharapova opened her shoulders to hit some big winners, converting her third break point to go 4-1 ahead when a netcharging Errani failed to deal with a hard, angled drive from the Russian.

Errani was not yet quite out of it however, as she won four points in a row from 30-0 down to break Sharapova’s service for the second time.

The Russian though put that aside to win the next two games, sealing her career Grand Slam on her third championship point when Errani failed to return an angled backhand. —AFP

EAST RUTHERFORD: Argentina’s Angel Di Maria (7) jumps into the arms of Lionel Messi to celebrate Messi’s goal against Brazil. —AP

Messi’s hat trick leads Argentina over Brazil EAST RUTHERFORD: Lionel Messi scored on three dazzling runs for his second international hat trick, finishing the season with a record 82 goals for club and country in Argentina’s 4-3 win over Brazil in a friendly yesterday.

With Brazil using a mostly young squad ahead of the Olympics, Romulo put them ahead in the 23rd minute. Messi gave Argentina a 2-1 lead with goals in the 31st and 34th on spectacular dashes that beat the defense, but Oscar leveled in the 56th and Hulk tapped in a corner kick dropped by goalkeeper Sergio Romero in the 72nd.

Argentina came back once again three minutes later when Frederico Fernandez scored off a corner kick by Sergio Aguero, who had just entered the game. Then with six minutes to go, Messi picked up the ball at midfield, dribbled and unleashed a left-footed shot from 21 meters that went in just under the crossbar, delighting a sellout crowd of 81,994 at MetLife Stadium.

Messi scored 73 goals in 60 games this season for Barcelona, breaking the previous European club record of 67 set by Bayern Munich’s Gerd

Mueller in 1973 and the world club record of 70 by Archie Stark of Bethlehem Steel in the American Soccer League in 1925. Messi had nine goals in nine games for Argentina in the same span. His first hat trick for Argentina was at Switzerland on Feb. 29. While this was Messi’s last formal match of the season, he has an upcoming charity game in Burkina Faso on June 16 and an all-star match in Miami seven days later.

There were nearly more late goals in the entertaining, wide-open match, Fernandez cleared a shot by Brazilian star Neymar off the goal line in the 81st. Goalkeeper Rafael Cabral made a diving stop on Messi’s free kick in the 84th.

There was pushing and shoving in injury time, when Argentina’s Ezequiel Lavezzi and Brazil’s Marcelo received red cards.

Bruno Ivini, a central defender, made his first international start following two substitute appearances in recent weeks. He took the place of Thiago Silva, who strained a thigh muscle last Sunday in Brazil’s 2-0 loss to Mexico in Arlington, Texas. —AP

Nigeria footballer abducted LAGOS: Nigeria international Christian Obodo has been abducted in Warri, southern Nigeria, his family confirmed yesterday.

The player’s family said Obodo, who last season played for Lecce in Italy’s Serie A, was driving alone in his car following a visit to a relative when he was taken by unknown gunmen.

“His whereabouts are unknown but his car was left behind by the kidnappers. We

are yet to receive any call demanding a ransom,” said a family member, under condition of anonymity.

Oil city Warri is in the restive Niger Delta, where kidnapping is commonplace.

Obodo was for several years a Nigeria international. Last season, he played on loan at Lecce from Serie A side Udinese.

Lecce were relegated to Serie AB on May 13 after finishing third from bottom of Italy’s top flight. — AP

Perera, Dilshan star in Sri Lankan victory

MONTREAL: Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany drives during the F1 Canadian Grand Prix auto race yesterday. —AP

Vettel on pole for Canadian Grand Prix MONTREAL: Sebastian Vettel secured his second pole position of the season and 32nd of his career yesterday when he clocked the fastest time during qualifying for today’s Canadian Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Red Bull driver, last year’s pole-winner, scorched to the front of the grid in dramatic style with a fastest lap of the Gilles Villenauve circuit in one minute 13.784 seconds.

That meant he wound up a third of a second faster than second-placed Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, closely followed by championship leader Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who was third quickest. Australian Mark Webber was fourth fastest in the second Red Bull followed by German Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.

Brazilian Felipe Massa followed in the second Ferrari ahead of Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus, Force India driver Briton Paul Di Resta and German Michael Schmacher in the second Mercedes.

Briton Jenson Button’s qualifying problems continued as he struggled to keep pace with rival drivers and will start 10th on the grid in the second McLaren.

Meanwhile, gearbox troubles left Jenson Button kicking his heels for much of Canadian Grand Prix practice on Friday while McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton went fastest in both sessions.

The contrast between the two Formula One champions was extreme but Button and the team remained optimistic after a difficult day for one side of the garage at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Button won a rain-hit race in Canada last year after a collision with Hamilton, who took his first win at the circuit in his 2007 debut season, left him having to fight from the back of the grid after a restart.

He did so in epic fashion, making six stops in total and reeling in his rivals before passing Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel for the lead on the last lap.

On Friday, the Briton did just 12 laps in the morning and 14 in the afternoon with mechanics having to carry out two long gearbox changes.

He made it out on track with just 18 minutes remaining in the second session and then hit traffic, but despite that was ninth fastest.

“It’s not a disaster. Obviously he knows the circuit, he’s a pretty experienced driver, he was pretty good here last year and I think we can recover the situation tomorrow and I’m sure we will,” said team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

“It’s nice to get the miles in, but Lewis was doing some good long runs and some good short runs so we’ve got quite a lot of data anyway within the team and that feeds across to Jenson.”—Agencies

PALLEKELE: Paceman Thisara Perera bagged a career-best 6-44 and Tillakaratne Dilshan hit a century as Sri Lanka posted an easy 76-run win over Pakistan in the second one-day international yesterday.

The hosts, who scored a challenging 280-4, bowled Pakistan out for 204 in the day-night match despite an impressive 96 by opener Azhar Ali to level the five-match series 1-1 in Pallekele.

Opener Dilshan top-scored with an unbeaten 119 for his 13th one-day hundred, hitting one six and 11 fours in his brilliant 139ball knock to help his team set a stiff target.

Azhar, playing only his sixth one-dayer, looked set to complete his maiden one-day hundred before he was bowled by paceman Nuwan Kulasekara. He cracked 12 fours in his 119-ball knock.

Man-of-the-match Perera got his first wicket when he held a superb one-handed return catch to dismiss Mohammad Hafeez (14) before removing Younis Khan (four) and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (27) to reduce Pakistan to 127-3.

He took three more wickets to complete his third haul of five or more wickets in an innings. Sri Lanka earlier rejigged their batting order after losing the opening one-dayer by six wickets on Thursday, with Upul Tharanga returning as an opener and skipper Mahela Jayawardene coming in at number five.

The hosts batted steadily after winning the toss as Dilshan added 70 runs for the third wicket with Dinesh Chandimal (32) and 86 for the next with Jayawardene (53), who opened in the last game. “ We swapped the batting order so we can be flexible. It’s good that we can keep changing,” said Jayawardene. “It was important that one of us stays till the end, so it was good Dilshan did so. Perera is brilliant and it’s great to have such all-rounders.”

Dilshan reached his century in the 43rd over when he pulled paceman Umar Gul for a single and then hit fast bowler Sohail Tanvir over mid-wicket for the first six of the match.

PALLEKELE: Pakistan’s batsman Sarfraz Ali is bowled out by Sri Lankan bowler Nuwan Kulasekara (unseen) during the second one day international cricket match. —AP Sri Lanka scored 56 runs in the last six overs, with Perera smashing two sixes and as many fours in his unbeaten 24 off just 14 balls.

Jayawardene was bowled by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal soon after completing his half-century, hitting eight fours in his brisk 45ball knock. “ The wicket was very good and they played really well. We

have to work really hard in all three departments,” said Misbah.

Off-spinner Hafeez, Tanvir and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi were the other wicket-takers for Pakistan. Tanvir struck in his fourth over when he had Tharanga (18) caught behind and then Hafeez held a return catch to remove Kumar Sangakkara (18) with his first delivery.

But there was no stopping

Dilshan, who continued to gather runs comfortably and completed his half-century with a four off Afridi. Pakistan made one change from the team which won the first match as they brought in debutant paceman Rahat Ali in place of injured Mohammad Sami, while Sri Lanka retained the side. The third one-dayer will be played in Colombo on Wednesday. —AFP

Scoreboard PALLEKELE: Complete scoreboard of the second one-day international between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Pallekele yesterday: Sri Lanka: U. Tharanga c Ahmed b Tanvir 18 T. Dilshan not out 119 K. Sangakkara c and b Hafeez 18 D. Chandimal lbw b Afridi 32 M. Jayawardene b Ajmal 53 T. Perera not out 24 Extras (b1, lb7, nb1, w7) 16 Total (for four wickets; 50 overs) 280 Fall of wickets: 1-37 (Tharanga), 2-84 (Sangakkara), 3-154 (Chandimal), 4-240 (Jayawardene).

Bowling: Gul 9-0-58-0, Tanvir 9-1-51-1 (nb1, w1), Afridi 100-50-1 (w3), Rahat 4-0-34-0 (w3), Ajmal 10-0-49-1, Hafeez 8-1-30-1.

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez c and b Perera Azhar Ali b Kulasekara Younis Khan c Sangakkara b Perera

14 96 4

Misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Perera 27 Umar Akmal c Sangakkara b Perera 3 Shahid Afridi c Sangakkara b Malinga 17 Sarfraz Ahmed lbw b Kulasekara 20 Sohail Tanvir c Tharanga b Perera 3 Umar Gul lbw b Perera 14 Saeed Ajmal c Sangakkara b Malinga 4 Rahat Ali not out 0 Extras (lb2) 2 Total (for all out; 46.2 overs) 204 Fall of wickets: 1-48 (Hafeez), 2-78 (Younis), 3-127 (Misbah), 4-139 (Akmal), 5-157 (Azhar), 6-165 (Afridi), 7-170 (Tanvir), 8-197 (Gul), 9-204 (Ajmal), 10-204 (Ahmed).

Bowling: Kulasekara 8.2-1-33-2, Malinga 8-1-40-2, Mathews 10-0-48-0, Perera 10-0-44-6, Herath 10-1-37-0.

Result: Sri Lanka win by 76 runs

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

19

SPORTS

Warsaw proud of safe carnival mood WARSAW: Warsaw’s mayor yesterday praised the safe party atmosphere in the city for the opening night of Euro 2012, during which some 140,000 people passed through the fan zone and police reported only a handful of incidents. “We have three weeks to go of course but we had huge crowds and football fans enjoyed themselves in a carnival atmosphere,” Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz told a news conference. Warsaw’s giant fan zone around the striking Palace of Culture and Science accommodates 100,000 fans,

and was full on Friday for Poland’s 1-1 draw with Greece and Russia’s 4-1 victory over the Czech Republic. Police reported only seven people were taken to a “sobering up” station.

“Warsaw was fantastic yesterday.

We should all be proud. We faced a great test and I think we passed it,” said Maciej Karczynski, police spokesman.

Police detained four topless activists from Femen, a Ukrainian women’s rights group. They were fined then released. The feminists

complain that the Championship will lead to increased prostitution in host cities. In Wroclaw stadium, venue of the second Euro 2012 match, four stewards needed hospital treatment after being attacked by Russian fans after the Russia-Czech Republic game, the head of the Polish company in charge of tournament coordination said. One person suffered a broken arm in Wroclaw when two trams collided because of fans blocking the tracks, Poland’s national PAP news agency reported. Warsaw will host its

next match on Tuesday when Poland play Russia. Mayor Gronkiewicz-Waltz said she would meet Russia representatives later yesterday after they requested assistance for a possible march through the city.

Warsaw authorities have said they had no plans to reject any request to stage a march on Tuesday, a national holiday in Russia, despite concerns that it could lead to violence because of tension between the two neighbors. The relationship between the two countries, already strained by

their common history, energy and security disputes, has been further soured by charges from Poland’s rightist politicians that Russia was at least indirectly responsible for a plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski two years ago. Russia blamed the pilots for the accident in which all 96 passengers and crew perished on April 10, 2010, in western Russia. Poland said some of the responsibility rested with the ground controllers at the tiny Smolensk airport.—Reuters

Spain say Barca, Real rift old news

LVIV: German football fans wait before the Euro 2012 championships football match against Portugal.—AFP

KHARKIV: Danish fans cheer before the Euro 2012 football championships match between the Netherlands and Denmark.—AFP

UKRAINE: Dutch fans stand dejected after the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group B match between Netherlands and Denmark.—AP

GDANSK: Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque and players Iker Casillas and Andres Iniesta said yesterday a potentially damaging rift between the team’s Barcelona and Real Madrid players is a thing of the past. The two Spanish giants are fierce rivals on the pitch and that spilled out into open animosity between their respective players.

And although Real goalkeeper Casillas acknowledges that it was a problem a year ago, he insists it’s all been cleared up now.

“It would have been a problem if we’d been playing the Euros last year but now this season we’re fine and we’re going to play,” said the Spain captain.

“Last year Barcelona and Real Madrid players were not on good terms but now this is a strong motivation for all of us, it doesn’t matter which club.

“Of course you’re going to get disagreements but you must look on the bright side. We have great relationships, we play for our teams but now we’re playing for the national side.” Barcelona midfielder Iniesta said it would be futile to rake up old dirt. “We don’t need to elaborate on this topic, it wouldn’t make sense to talk about it now, it would be stupid,” he said. “We’re all here to defend the same idea which is above all to play the best Euros we can.

“The atmosphere in the camp and our relationships are perfect, everything is going well.” Even coach Del Bosque was at pains to insist it was all water under the bridge.

“This is the past, it’s not a current topic. The atmosphere in the squad is great, they’re working together,” he said.

“This happens in a group, sometimes you have rivalry but we’ve got over it.” Reigning champions Spain open their Euro campaign against Italy in Group C today. They met at the quarter-final stage of this competition four years ago with Spain squeaking through on penalties. But back in August the world champions were upset 2-1 in Bari. “Italy have changed, they’ve changed players, they’ve changed coach and their style so this will be a fight for us,” said Del Bosque, referring to the differences since the teams’ meeting four years ago.

“We want to be the ones who have the initiative and play with dynamism. We have a strong team, we’re the world champions. “We met in Bari, they’re a very strong team and we’ll have to put everything into it.”

Italy played the entire qualifying campaign for this tournament under Cesare Prandelli with a regular back four but the coach is almost certain to switch to a system with three centre-halves against Spain, with Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi set to move back into a libero role.

And Del Bosque admits that has caused some uncertainty for him. “We have watched Italy and Prandelli’s style of play. We don’t know what he will play, we can’t say,” admitted the Spaniard.

“It has changed but De Rossi has already played in this position, it’s the coach’s decision and we have to react to it, but it’s not that important. “Our own task is to prepare tactically, mentally and physically in the best way we can. Our own style of play is the most important thing.”—AFP

Euro 2012 briefs Smell of success

BERLIN: German soccer fans celebrate the kick off of their team’s first game at the Euro 2012 at a public viewing zone called ‘fan mile’ in Berlin yesterday. —AP

French players allowed off Laurent Blanc’s leash to get acquainted with Donetsk patiently explained when asked by a reporter why they had piled into a store selling deodorant. Midfielder Alou Diarra laughed before revealing: “We didn’t have time to stock up beforehand. Actually, the players on the France team are very stylish. We take great care of our hygiene.”

‘Messi! Messi!’

German fans believe they may have hit on a way to annoy fans of opening group stage opponents Portugal. Congregating in Lviv for yesterday’s encounter several German supporters crowed “Messi! Messi!” when they came across their green and red-clad counterparts. Mention of the Barcelona star is red rag to a bull for Portugal’s star man Cristiano Ronaldo, who insists he is the man to succeed Messi as Ballon d’Or winner despite the Argentine outscoring him in their two-man bid to destroy every defence in La Liga.

Press man mugged

KIEV: Soccer fans from the Netherlands react during the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group B match against Denmark at the Fans Zone.—AP

Match on TV (Local Timings)

English sports journalist James Lawton, in Ukraine to cover Euro 2012, was mugged in Kiev he revealed. The 2011 Sports Journalist of the Year, who writes for ‘The Independent’ - recounted he was mugged in broad daylight on a city centre street after withdrawing money. “As muggings go, it was more adroit than violent, an arm dropping over the shoulder, a sharp push and then a successful lunge into a back pocket containing some cash,” wrote Lawton, who said an elderly Ukrainian tried to come to his aid.

Alert team UEFA European Championship Spain v Italy Aljazeera Sport 1 HD Aljazeera Sport +9 Aljazeera Sport +10 Ireland v Croatia Aljazeera Sport 1 HD Aljazeera Sport +9 Aljazeera Sport +10

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Lawton wrote: “Within 15 minutes of reporting the crime to the city police, my rented apartment was filled with detectives, uniformed police, special police, a paramedic concerned that I had been hurt (I hadn’t) and several officers armed with automatic weaponry with lapels that said in English “alert team” and at least one photographer.”

GDANSK: Spanish forward Fernando Torres takes part in a training session of the Spanish’s national football team.—AFP

Spain hold upper hand against Italy GNIEWINO: Spain will go into today’s Group C opener against old foes Italy with a swagger that was missing from past encounters after a pivotal moment in their rivalry four years ago.

It is widely accepted that the moment the Spanish turned from underachievers into an all-conquering outfit was when Cesc Fabregas stroked in the decisive penalty in the quarterfinal shootout against the Italians at Euro 2008.

Italy had been something of a bogey team for spain until then but, four years later and with continental and world titles under their belts, Vicente del Bosque’s side now hold the upper hand.

“I think it changed the mentality of the national team,” central defender Gerard Pique, who was watching Euro 2008 on holiday in Majorca, told a news conference at Spain’s training base in Gniewino, Poland on Friday. “Before Spain played to avoid losing but afterwards they played to win,” the 25-yearold said.

Striker Fernando Llorente, who also watched the match in Vienna on television from Spain, added: “It was a turning point.

“Beating Italy and getting to the

semi-finals made us believe in ourselves. After that, we knew we could win and do something historic.”

Neither side has had the ideal preparation for the 2012 edition co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine but it would still be a major surprise if either failed to get through a group that also features Croatia and Ireland.

Bidding to become the first nation to win back-to-back continental titles with a World Cup in between, Spain have lost record scorer David Villa and inspirational centre back Carlos Puyol to injury.

Villa’s likely replacement at centre forward, Fernando Torres, is still recovering from a spectacular loss of form over the past 18 months, while the central defensive pairing of Pique and Sergio Ramos is relatively untested.

Italy, meanwhile, are mired in yet another domestic match fixing scandal that has deprived them of Domenico Criscito after the defender was placed under investigation by police.

The disruption appeared to have affected their form on the pitch as they slipped to a 3-0 reverse against Russia in their final warm-up game on June 1, a third straight friendly defeat under coach Cesare Prandelli.

“It’s normal to be worried,” midfielder Thiago Motta told reporters on Thursday at Italy’s training base in Krakow. “Three defeats, even in friendlies, is not normal for a team like us,” added the former Barcelona player.

However, Pique dismissed suggestions that Spain will have an easy ride against Italy because of their off-field woes. “It seems that Italy is wounded but I don’t see it like that,” he said.

“In the past, it has often been the case that they have played best when they have been discounted. “We will have to be at 100 percent with all five senses focused on the game as we are talking about one of the greats in Europe and the world.”

The Barcelona defender picked out playmaker Andrea Pirlo as the key man for the Italians, while also praising the goal-scoring ability of unpredictable striker Mario Balotelli.

“I believe that a player like Balotelli can win you a match but a player like Pirlo can win you a championship,” he said. “Pirlo is a complete player. He knows when to attack, when to defend, when to close the game down and when to play on the counter. He is a superb player.”—Reuters

Ireland look to emulate Chelsea POLAND: Anyone who found the manner of Chelsea’s Champions League triumph hard to digest is advised to look elsewhere when rank outsiders Ireland face Croatia in their Euro 2012 opener today. Chelsea proved it is possible to overcome vastly more gifted opponents with well-organised blanket defence, the odd counter-attack and a generous portion of luck in their wins over Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

It remains to be seen how many of the 16 teams at Euro 2012 are tempted to emulate them, but Ireland are one side who will certainly try and do so.

Unbeaten in their last 14 matches, and having kept clean sheets in 11 of those, Ireland are likely to prove stubborn opponents for a Croatia team which features a number of ageing key players and can look slow and predictable against tough defences.

Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni has openly been calculating their chances of making the last 16 with only four points from their three games in a group which also includes Spain and Italy. “The first results will be important. If it’s two draws, then it might be possible to qualify with four points,” he told UEFA’s official website, making no apologies for their style.

“We want to win, to play and to score goals. But our opponents are strong.

“I think of the final of the Champions League. Bayern had a lot more possession, they deserved to win, but lost of

POZNAN: Irish goalkeeper David Forde practices during a training session on the eve of the Euro 2012 football championships match against Croatia.—AFP course and Chelsea created the best opportunity. Seventeen corners for Bayern, one corner for Chelsea — that is football.” Ireland at least have a valid excuse for their tactics as they can legitimately claim to be making the most of limited resources, whereas Chelsea had the backing of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Perhaps a fairer comparison would be with Paraguay, another small country whose team are anything but pretty to watch but traditionally make life very uncomfortable for bigger neighbours such as Argentina and Brazil. “We don’t have many creative players, but

very straightforward players,” said Trapattoni. “We have our own style of football. “We are not a Latin team, not a team who play technically superior. We are a team with our own characteristics, which I like very much, very direct and precise.” Paraguay scored only three goals and won only one game on the way to reaching the quarter-finals of the last World Cup. They also reached the final of last year’s Copa America without winning a single match, although that was only possible because two of the third-placed teams proceed from the group stage in the 12-team tournament. —Reuters

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

Spain hold upper hand against Italy Page 19

UKRAINE: Denmark’s Daniel Agger (right) and Robin van Persie from the Netherlands go for the ball during the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group B match. —AP

Danes produce first Euro shocker GDANSK: Denmark provided the first upset of Euro 2012 when they beat Netherlands 1-0 in Kharkiv yesterday in the opening game of Group B to leave the Dutch in a perilous position.

With Germany and Portugal, completing what is regarded as the toughest group at the finals, Netherlands have little margin for error after Michael Krohn-Delhi’s goal earned the Danes victory.

Dutch 18-year-old Jetro Willems became the youngest player ever to take the field at a European Championship but it was to be a losing debut as Denmark sealed a first win in open play over Netherlands since 1967.

It will revive memories of their unlikely triumph at the finals in 1992 when they arrived as rank outsiders but went on to lift the trophy in Sweden.

It also serves as a warning to the rest of the socalled favorites and backs up Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon’s claim that the “best don’t always”

win as he prepared for his side’s opening match against holders Spain today.

The second day of the tournament switched across the border from Poland to co-hosts Ukraine and, while there was again much to admire on the field of play, there were slight concerns off it with the first reports of crowd trouble.

Security organisers confirmed that four stewards had needed hospital treatment after being attacked by Russian fans in the stadium after the Russia-Czech Republic match on Friday.

“Such things can occur over the next 22 days. If it gets hot, drinks will be consumed and such things can happen. It’s a normal situation,” said Marcin Herra, head of the Polish company in charge of coordinating the finals told local television.

There was dismay for Greece central defender Avraam Papadopoulos who will miss the rest of the tournament after suffering a knee injury in their 1-1 draw in the tournament’s opening game against

Poland in Warsaw on Friday.

While most of the stadiums at the championship are sleek, modern edifices, Kharkiv’s Metalist is something of an oddity, with the blue metal supports that circle the ground making it appear like an enormous multi-legged insect.

It will host all three Dutch group matches but their opener was the stuff of nightmares.

Netherlands, winners of 23 of their previous 25 competitive matches, had their orange-clad legions of fans providing a familiar reassuring backdrop in the industrial city that once supplied the Soviet military but they lacked firepower as Denmark protected their early lead.

Krohn-Dehli needed no second invitation to surge into the Dutch area and blast a shot through the legs of keeper Maarten Stekelenburg after 24 minutes and, try as they might, the World Cup runners-up could find a telling reply.

The closest they came was Arjen Robben’s shot

which hit the woodwork before the break.

Netherlands return to the stadium next Wednesday to take on Germany when defeat could leave their hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals in tatters.

“Now it is clear we have to beat Germany,” said Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk. “We showed that we can play good football and create chances, while we proved in the past that we can beat Germany.” Despite Ukraine joining the party, the controversy over its human rights record refused to go away. Officials of Denmark and Netherlands met victims of alleged police torture in Kharkiv where opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko is jailed.

Sports ministers held three hours of talks on police brutality, homophobia and the need for an independent judiciary in the eastern city before the Group B match.

Ukraine is hoping that hosting the finals will boost its chances of joining the 27-state European Union. Government officials are already reeling

from bad publicity over Tymoshenko’s case and allegations of racism in the build-up to the tournament, the biggest sporting event in eastern Europe since the collapse of communism.—Reuters

WARSAW: European football’s governing body UEFA yesterday announced that it was taking action against Russia after crowd trouble during the country’s Euro 2012 opener. “UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against the Football Union of Russia for the improper conduct of its supporters at Friday’s UEFA Euro 2012 match against the Czech Republic,” a statement on the organisation’s website said. One person with knowledge of the case told AFP that the Russian football federation were most likely to be fined and it was unlikely the country would be docked points or blocked from competing in future tournaments.

UEFA said it took the decision after studying security reports and available images from the ground at Wroclaw, western Poland, where Russia were 4-1 winners against the Czech Republic on Friday. The proceedings, set to take place on Wednesday, would focus on “the improper conduct of its supporters (crowd disturbances), the setting off and throwing of fireworks and the display of illicit banners”.

The UEFA statement made no direct mention of claims from a watchdog group that Czech player Theo Gebre Selassie was subjected to racial abuse by Russia fans. Never Again, a Polish-based organisation part of the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network, said Selassie, who is black, heard monkey chats from some Russian supporters during the game. UEFA said only that they were “investigating this further and... working with FARE to collect more evidence”. Racism was seen as a concern even before the start of Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine-the first-ever edition behind the former Iron Curtain.

It has become a frontline issue since Dutch players were abused during a public training session in the southern Polish city of Krakow. Concerns have also been raised about “Russian Empire” flags waved by some fans at the stadium, seen as deeply provocative in parts of Eastern Europe that used to be under Moscow’s thumb. “The display of the Russian imperial flag in itself does not have to be seen as an incident,” said Rafal Pankowskim from Never Again.—AFP

when Ronaldo found space on the left.

With the Portuguese turning up the pressure, Badstuber was booked for a foul on Manchester United’s Nani with halftime approaching.

Madrid star Pepe came perilously close to putting Portugal ahead a minute before the break when his strike beat Neuer, but deflected down off the crossbar onto the goal-line to bounce away from danger. The second-half settled into a nervy affair and with 25 minutes left a great pass from Porto midfielder Joao Moutinho found Ronaldo in space, but Boateng responded quickly enough to snuff out the threat.

The German was later booked for fouling the Real star moments later. With Klose waiting on the sidelines to replace him, Gomez finally got the breakthrough he had earlier promised when he met Sami Khedira’s cross to place his header outside the reach of the diving Patricio on 73 minutes.

In the dying minutes, only desperate defending denied Portugal an equaliser as the German back line managed to snuff out a strike from replacement forward Silvestre Valera, who had the goal at his mercy. In Wednesday’s next round of Group B matches, Germany face Holland in Kharkiv while Portugal take on Denmark back here again in Lviv.—AFP

STATISTICS Match statistics for Germany’s 1-0 win over Portugal in their Euro 2012 Group B match at the Arena Lviv yesterday.

Germany Portugal Goals scored 1 0 Total shots 12 11 Shots on target 4 7 Corners 2 11 Offsides 1 1 Fouls committed 14 19 Yellow cards 2 2 Red cards 0 0 Ball possession (percent) 56 44

Match statistics for Denmark’s 1-0 win over the Netherlands in their Euro 2012 Group B match at the Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv yesterday.

Netherlands Denmark Goals scored 0 1 Total shots 28 8 Shots on target 8 8 Corners 11 4 Offsides 1 2 Fouls committed 8 12 Yellow cards 1 2 Red cards 0 0 Ball possession (percent) 53 47

Russia facing fine after Euro 2012 crowd trouble

Gomez heads Germany to victory over Portugal LVIV: A second-half header from striker Mario Gomez was enough to give Germany a 1-0 win over Portugal yesterday in their opening Euro 2012 match.

After victories both in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 and the third-place play-off at the 2006 World Cup, this was the German’s third straight win over Portugal in major tournaments to give Germany a winning start in Group B. For all that was written about the potent attacking threat posed by Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, the Real Madrid star had a subdued night by his own lofty standards and he rarely got the better of his marker Jerome Boateng.

After Denmark’s shock 1-0 win over Holland earlier, victory give Joachim Loew’s Germans an early advantage in the pool, which has been dubbed ‘the group of death’.

Loew sprang a surprise before kick-off by leaving out experienced centre-back Per Mertesacker for the match at the Lviv Arena, the smallest of the eight Euro 2012 venues, in front of 32,990 fans.

Bayern Munich’s Holger Badstuber partnered Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels in the centre of defence with captain Philipp Lahm at left-back and Bayern’s Boateng on the right.

Veteran forward Miroslav Klose, who turned 34 on Saturday, was left on the bench with goal-scorer Gomez starting as the lone striker. Portugal coach Paulo Bento opted for a 4-3-3 formation with Ronaldo leading the attack.

Germany had the better of the opening exchanges with Gomez’s header forcing Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio into a diving save and Arsenal-bound forward Lukas Podolski firing in a shot which the Benfica star struggled to collect.

Zaragoza forward Helder Postiga picked up the first booking of the game when he clattered Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and Portugal’s first attack came after 15 minutes

STATISTICS

Group B standings LVIV: Euro 2012 Group B table after yesterday’s games (Played, won, drawn, lost, for, against, points):

UKRAINE: Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger (left) and Portugal’s Joao Moutinho vie for the ball during the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group B match. —AP

Results Netherlands 0 Denmark 1 Germany 1 Portugal 0 Group B Denmark Germany Netherlands Portugal

1 1 1 1

1 1 0 0

0 0 0 0

0 0 1 1

1 1 0 0

0 0 1 1

3 3 0 0

Business

Carbon tax, Europe to dominate airline talks Page 23 S&P affirms US AA-plus rating Page 26

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

In push to cut spending, US House spares itself

Page 22

KIA Motors launches ‘Red Cube’ showroom Page 25

GAUHATI: Farmers carry crops on a buffalo cart in a flooded paddy field in Burha Mayong about 50 kilometers east of Gauhati, India yesterday. Incessant rainfall in catchment areas during the last week have led to a rise in the water level of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, inundating vast tracts of farmlands and villages in several districts of both Upper and Lower Assam. — AP

Europe is ‘at a crossroads’ Spain’s weak banks need 40 billion euros: IMF WASHINGTON: International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde has urged European leaders to act without delay to overcome the euro-zone crisis.

Speaking in New York, Lagarde said that five years into the crisis, the goal of a safer financial system has not yet been attained. “We are still at a great distance from our final destination,” she said. “And with the stakes rising by the day, we stand at a crossroads.”

Lagarde appeared to respond to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spoke about long-term plans of rebuilding Europe while other European leaders insist on quick solutions. “Policymakers need to lay out and follow a clear roadmap of how to finish the job-not just looking to the next five or ten years, but looking to the next weeks and months ahead,” Lagarde said. She noted at the same time that restoring the health of European banks was in the interests of all and would require a European solution.

“Let me be clear: The heart of European bank repair lies in Europe. That means more Europe, not less,” she said.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said Spain’s weak banks need at least 40 billion euros ($50 billion) in new capital to strengthen against severe financial shocks. Stress tests performed by the IMF on the country’s battered banking sector indicated the top two banks, BBVA and Banco Santander, were solid. But the rest of the banking sector could not measure up to official banking capitalization standards in the case of a sharp continuing contraction of the Spanish economy.

“Under the adverse scenario, the largest banks would be sufficiently capitalized to withstand further deterioration, while several banks would need to increase capital buffers by about 40 billion euros in aggregate to comply with the Basel III transition schedule,” the IMF said in a statement Friday. But that would not be enough to cover other restructuring costs and loan portfolio downgrades, the statement said. “Going forward, it will be critical to communicate clearly the strategy for providing a credible backstop for capital shortfalls-a backstop that experience shows it is better to overestimate than underestimate,” said Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, deputy director of the IMF’s Monetary

and Capital Markets Department and leader of the IMF’s stress test team.

Speaking on background, an IMF official said the banks would likely need a lot more to ensure there was a “credible backstop” in worst-case scenarios. “In our view the stress tests are a good indicator but they are basically a floor for what you would probably need,” the official said.

Often, the official said, in order to convince markets of the

strength of the banks they would need a buffer of 1.5 to two times the level of new capital mandated under the stress test. “Usually you come up with a buffer ... large enough to convince markets so that people don’t say, oh well, what if this happens, what if the growth is even worse?”

The stress test results were originally scheduled to be released on Monday, but were moved ahead as European

MADRID: Two women collect food from the garbage near Madrid’s main food market, one of the biggest in the world. — AFP

How Europe’s debt crisis is affecting US economy NEW YORK: Europe’s crisis is having a broad effect on the US economy. Some key areas: FALLING SALES FOR US COMPANIES Europe buys 22 percent of the goods US companies sell abroad.

And US companies have invested more than $2 trillion in European factories and operations. Among other companies, General Motors and Ford are losing money in Europe as middle-class Europeans cut back on auto purchases. US businesses could also suffer a credit squeeze if troubled European banks reduce lending in the United States and pull money back home.

BANKS US banks have gradually reduced their exposure to Europe. But investors are still concerned that a catastrophe in Europe could infect US financial institutions. What most spooks investors is the

worst-case scenario - the one that struck Wall Street in 2008: That banks would stop lending to each other over worries about each other’s solvency. Once international banks lose confidence in each other, fear tends to spread quickly across oceans. The weakest banks can topple as investors and creditors panic.

FINANCIAL MARKETS US stock prices have fallen sharply since early May, mainly over worries about Europe. Investors have focused on whether Spain will need a bailout, the consequences if Greece leaves the euro currency union and how American banks and other companies would be hurt by a prolonged European recession. May was the worst month for US stocks in two years as concerns about Europe escalated. Bank stocks have been the weakest performers in the past month: They’ve lost nearly 8 percent as a group.— AP

diplomats said Spain would likely move to begin crafting a deal for an EU rescue of its banks. The banks are hobbled with heavy losses mainly on real estate, with analysts predicting their asset values will continue to decline, and their recourse to commercial markets for capital have dried up.

As the banks rely heavily on short-term liquidity funding from the European Central Bank, Madrid’s own ability to provide them with long-term capital has also come under heavy strain. Ratings agency Moody’s warned Friday that even if there is a more direct rescue of the banks, it could possibly downgrade Spain’s credit rating due to the “increased risk to the country’s creditors.” The IMF tests challenged the banks to meet standards under the internationally agreed Basel III capital rules, in a severe recession scenario over the next two years-a 4.1 percent contraction this year and a 1.6 percent contraction in 2013.

Details of how each of the banks performed were not released, but the total needed to measure up to the standards in the study was 37.1 billion euros. The official said the IMF rounded the estimate up to 40 billion euros, adding that “stress tests... are not a science, they are indicative.” The IMF Executive Board, after reviewing the stress test report, commended Spain for moving quickly to consolidate the banking sector and launch into financial sector reforms. But, with Spain and the euro area still under crisis conditions, they urged Spain’s authorities “to act swiftly and spare no effort to restore confidence in the financial system and to preserve financial stability.”

Earlier Friday, US President Barack Obama called for urgent, decisive action by Europe’s leaders to beat back the economic crisis. Obama said the ongoing weakness in the euro-zone was a concern for the US economy’s own health.

But he was confident EU leaders appreciated the severity of a crisis, which also weighs heavily on his prospects of reelection in November. “The leaders understand the seriousness of the situation and the urgent need to act,” Obama told a press conference at the White House. “The decisions required are tough but Europe has the capacity to make them.”— Agencies

Saudi inflation eases to 5.1% JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation eased to a nine-month low of 5.1 percent in May, despite a slight rise in food and housing prices, official data showed yesterday. Consumer prices slowed to 5.1 percent in May from 5.3 percent in the same month a year earlier, while monthly inflation remained unchanged from April at 0.2 percent, data from the Central Department of Statistics (CDS) showed.

Food prices increased by 0.1 percent and housing and rental items rose by 0.2 percent.

Home repairs, fuel and water supply prices remained unchanged for the month while furnishing and kitchen appliances prices have declined by 0.3 and 0.1 percent, respectively. In

May, the central bank said in a report that it expects inflationary pressures to continue in the second quarter.

The CDS said in February that it expected relative price stability or even a slight decline in inflationary pressures in the near term. Saudi Arabia suffers from a housing shortage that drives up real estate prices. Last year the government promised to build half a million new homes at a cost of $67 billion. The largest Arab economy expanded by an officially estimated 6.8 percent in 2011; it is forecast by a Reuters poll of analysts to grow 4.0 percent this year, but that estimate could be exceeded if oil prices remain high and Saudi Arabia produces more oil. — Reuters

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

BUSINESS

Moody’s may lower European sovereign debt ratings NEW YORK: Moody’s Investors Service said it may consider downgrading debt ratings for some euro-zone nations if Spain seeks a bailout for its banking sector or Greece ends up dropping the euro as its national currency. The ratings firm said Friday it is assessing the implications of a bailout for Spain and is prepared to make rating changes to reflect any heightened risk for Spain’s government creditors. There’s growing speculation that Spain could decide within days or weeks to ask the European Union for a

problem is largely confined to that country and not likely to spill over to other euro-zone nations, with the exception of Italy - where the European Central Bank has already stepped in to buy government bonds as a way to help lower the country’s borrowing costs.

More nations in the region could be at risk of a ratings downgrade should Greece walk away from the euro, Moody’s said. A shrinking economy, untenable debt and a political backlash against austerity measures have made it

bailout for its banks, which have been crippled by soured real estate investments.

If Spain ends up asking for aid, that would make it the fourth country in the 17-member euro-zone to do so since the EU debt crisis broke out. Under Moody’s rating scale, Spain now has a rating of “A3,” which is still investment-grade. But the outlook is “negative,” which means there’s at least a 40 percent chance Moody’s will downgrade its ratings for Spain. Moody’s said Spain’s banking

increasingly likely that Greece could cease using the euro. Moody’s notes that would lead to substantial losses for investors in Greek securities. Some experts estimate a new Greek currency would lose half or more of its value relative to the euro, driving up inflation and sapping the purchasing power of the average person in Greece.

At the same time, the country’s economic output would drop, putting more people out of work where one in five is already unemployed. The prices of

imported goods would skyrocket, putting them out of reach for many. If Greece stops using the euro, that could threaten the euro’s continued existence, Moody ’s said. The ratings firm said nations at most risk of seeing their credit standing harmed by Greece’s departure are: Cyprus, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Moody’s already holds a negative outlook on those five countries.

Beyond those, Moody’s said it would review sovereign ratings for all eurozone nations. — AP

In push to cut spending, US House spares itself House budget flat at $1.23 billion after 2 years of cuts

JAMMU: An Indian boy eats a mango from fruit waste at a wholesale market on the outskirts of Jammu, India yesterday. India recognizes the mango as its national fruit and is the world’s largest mango producer with about 13 million tons each year, far exceeding all other countries. — AP

FDIC closes four banks in 4 states WASHINGTON: Federal regulators have seized 4 banks, one each in Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Oklahoma, bringing to 28 the number of US banks that have failed so far this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said yesterday that it closed Farmers and Traders State Bank in Shabbona, Ill; Waccamaw Bank in Whiteville, NC; Carolina Federal Savings Bank in Charleston, SC; and, First Capital Bank in Kingfisher, Okla.

Regulators estimate that the four bank failures will cost the insurance fund $80.8 million. The FDIC lined up other lenders to assume the deposits and some of the assets of each bank. Waccamaw Bank was the biggest. It had 16 branches and about $533.1 million in assets and $472.7 million in deposits, as of March 31. First Community Bank in Bluefield, Va., agreed to assume Waccamaw’s deposits and buy about $515.3 million of the failed bank’s assets. The FDIC also entered a loss-share transaction with First Community Bank on $330.6 million of Waccamaw Bank’s assets.

Farmers and Traders State Bank had two branches and roughly $43.1 million in assets and $42.3 million in deposits as of the end of March. First State Bank of Mendota, Ill., assumed all of Farmers and Traders’ deposits and agreed to buy essentially all of its assets. Carolina Federal Savings Bank had about $54.4 million in assets and $53.1 million in deposits. Bank of North Carolina in Thomasville, NC, agreed to assume all of the failed bank’s deposits to buy about $41 million of its assets. First Capital Bank had about $46.1

million in assets and $44.8 million in deposits as of March 31.

F&M Bank in Edmond, Okla., agreed to pay a premium of about 7.7 percent to assume all of First Capital’s deposits. It also agreed to buy about $40.7 million of the failed bank’s assets. The pace of bank closures has slowed sharply after ballooning as the financial crisis took hold in 2008. By this time last year, 45 banks had failed. In 2010, regulators seized 157 banks, the most in any year since the savings and loan crisis two decades ago.

Those failures cost the deposit insurance fund around $23 billion. The FDIC has said 2010 likely was the high-water mark for bank failures from the Great Recession.

Last year’s 92 failures cost an estimated $7.9 billion.

In 2009, there were 140 bank failures that cost the insurance fund about $36 billion, more than it paid out the following year because the banks involved in 2009 were bigger on average. Twenty-five banks failed in 2008, the year the financial crisis struck with force; only three were closed in 2007. From 2008 through 2011, bank failures cost the fund an estimated $88 billion.

The FDIC expects failures from 2012 through 2016 to cost $12 billion. The deposit insurance fund fell into the red in 2009. With failures slowing, the FDIC’s fund balance turned positive in the second quarter of last year. By Dec 31, it stood at $11.8 billion, about 50 percent higher than three months earlier, according to the FDIC. — AP

WASHINGTON: After seeking to impose substantial spending cuts on a wide range of nondefense programs this year, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Friday voted to keep its own administrative budget unchanged. House lawmakers then left Washington for a week-long recess. The $1.23 billion budget for fiscal 2013 House operations including staff salaries, member expenses and committee budgets - was approved on a 307102 vote as part of a $3.33 billion spending bill for the legislative branch of the federal government.

The House portion of the budget was kept unchanged after being cut the two previous fiscal years, marking a 10.5 percent reduction since 2010. The House has voted to make deep cuts to a number of social programs, such as food stamps and the Medicaid health care program for the poor, in order to protect defense spending from automatic spending cuts. The House has approved, on average, cuts of around 5 percent to federal agency budgets and other discretionary spending from last year.

Speaker John Boehner last week defended the House’s plans to keep its own budget unchanged. “Listen, the House has taken cuts two fiscal years in a row, and the Appropriations Committee went through a ver y detailed process of listening to members, listening to House officers, in terms of what the budget should be,” Boehner told reporters. “And I think a budget freeze is the appropriate course of action.” House leadership offices would see a cut of $5.8 million in salaries and expenses next year, but overall House expenses - including employee benefits, supplies and certain legal costs - would rise by $9.8 million.

VETO, SHUTDOWN THREATS President Barack Obama has threatened to

ment shutdown as the current fiscal year nears its Sept 30 close.

The overall legislative branch budget was $34.4 million below last year, but the bulk of that comes from a $52.4 million cut in the Capitol

veto all of the spending bills passed by the Republican-controlled House because they go below an overall $1.047 trillion cap on discretionary spending that was part of last summer’s deal to end a standoff over the US debt limit. The

WASHINGTON: House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, accompanied by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va, responds to President Barack Obama’s statements yesterday on the economy on Capitol Hill. — AP buildings and grounds budget. The House bill also rejected a request for $61.2 million to start a long-term project to rehabilitate of the Capitol’s iconic dome.

The Capitol Police, which provides security to the complex, would get a $20 million increase under the House measure. — Reuters

Senate has not yet passed any of its spending bills, including appropriations for Senate operations.

Bills approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee adhere to the budget deal cap, setting up a confrontation over government agency funding that could threaten a govern-

Samsung fights Apple move to block sales SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co said it will fight Apple’s move to stop US sales of its new Galaxy phone in the latest flare-up of an intellectual property battle between the world’s top smartphone makers. Samsung said it will vigorously oppose Apple’s request for a court to ban sales of the Galaxy S III smartphone and still plans to go ahead with the device’s scheduled release in the US on June 21.

The South Korean company said in a statement that it will “demonstrate to the court that the Galaxy S

III is innovative and distinctive.” On Tuesday, Apple Inc asked a US district court to temporarily ban sales of the S III smartphone before its launch in the United States. The maker of the iPhone accused Samsung of infringing two Apple patents. The request, if accepted by the US District Court for Northern California, would deal a blow to Samsung’s attempt to get a headstart on sales of Apple’s next iPhone.

The S III smartphone went on sale in Europe on May 29 and will be offered by around 300 mobile carri-

ers in Asia and North America later this month. The early launch puts Samsung in a favorable position to take a bigger chunk of the lucrative smartphone market. While Apple is keeping mum on its annual iPhone upgrade, many analysts expect the new iPhone to go on sale as early as July. Samsung has become the biggest threat to Apple’s clout in the mobile market as its Galaxy series of smartphones won popularity among consumers seeking an Android-powered device.

Most market research firms say

Samsung overtook Apple in smartphone shipments for the first time during the first three months of this year. Samsung and Apple have been embroiled in bitter patent lawsuits in North America, Europe and Asia since Apple accused Samsung of copying its iPhone in April 2011. Chief executives of the two companies met in San Francisco last month after a court instructed them to negotiate, but the talks didn’t produce a settlement.

Amid the legal battles, the two companies continue to do business with each other. — 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 Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2730000 .4300000 .3490000 .2900000 .2690000 .2760000 .0040000 .0020000 .0759320 .7397840 .3840000 .0710000 .7252260 .0040000 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2796000 GB Pound/KD .4325970 Euro .3512750 Swiss francs .2924530 Canadian dollars .2719580 Danish Kroner .0472610 Swedish Kroner .0388740 Australian dlr .2782300 Hong Kong dlr .0360380 Singapore dlr .2191220 Japanese yen .0035200 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0761540 Bahraini dinars .7419400 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0745800 Omani riyals .7265170 Philippine Peso .0000000

.2835000 .4400000 .3560000 .3000000 .2780000 .2820000 .0070000 .0035000 .0766950 .7472190 .4020000 .0770000 .7325140 .0072000 .0500000 .2817000 .4358460 .3539140 .2946500 .2740010 .0476160 .0391660 .2803200 .0363090 .2207680 .0035460 .0051350 .0021780 .0030030 .0034540 .0767260 .7475120 .3984440 .0751400 .7319730 .0065800

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. 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

280.800 2.979 5.098 2.160 3.429 6.550 76.555 75.035 746.500 46.498 440.000 2.990

Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

1.550 358.500 278.800 3.190

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

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

280.650 354.300 436.300 274.350 3.570 5.066 46.500 2.152 3.425 6.492 2.982 746.700 76.400 74.900

SELL DRAFT SELL CASH

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

281.12 275.93 296.06 353.32 280.40 436.24 3.61 3.430 5.055 2.151 3.185 2.986 76.41 746.61 46.47 399.48 729.77 77.43 74.98

288.50 279.50 296.50 354.00 281.50 441.00 3.65 3.550 5.330 2.400 3.850 3.200 77.50 745.50 47.85 396.00 730.00 77.55 75.25

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer

Selling Rate

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar

280.750 274.915 435.470 353.135 294.120 743.275

COUNTRY 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 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

SELL CASH 283.100 746.900 3.670 277.000 551.600 45.800 48.400 167.800 48.120 357.100 36.860 5.240 0.032 0.160 0.238 3.640 398.000 0.190 91.130 44.200 4.320 220.300 1.819 47.400 729.520 3.150 6.700 77.690 74.990 221.520 36.270 2.675 436.900 40.100 297.500 4.300

9.280 198.263 76.570 281.200 1.350

9.140 76.470 280.800

GOLD 1,710.860

10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 436.900 280.800

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Bahrain Exchange Company

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY

Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

76.415 77.060 74.825 395.200 46.438 2.155 5.091 2.987 3.431 6.520 688.675 4.530 9.015 5.910 3.255 88.595

SELL DRAFT 281.600 746.900 3.430 275.500

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Malaysian Ringgit

3.553 5.072 3.053 2.141 3.173 220.090 36.173 3.425 6.439 8.876 89.338 GCC COUNTRIES 74.883 77.158 729.380 745.850 76.464

221.500 46.524 355.600 36.710 5.090 0.031

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

397.960 0.189 91.130

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 48.250 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.466 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.309 Tunisian Dinar 176.65 Jordanian Dinar 396.190 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.884 Syrian Lier 4.899 Morocco Dirham 32.64

3.200 218.800 729.340 3.004 6.520 77.280 74.990 221.520 36.270 2.158 436.900 296.000 4.300

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 280.700 Euro 354.52 Sterling Pound 441.820 Canadian dollar 274.79 Turkish lire 152.400 Swiss Franc 295.01 US Dollar Buying 279.500 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

GOLD 293.000 148.000 75.250

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

BUSINESS

Zain’s ‘First Knowledge Conference’ inspires leadership KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunication company in Kuwait, organized the “First Zain Knowledge Conference” for employees - a forum that aimed to foster the organization’s strategy for internal growth, to enhance creativity and to serve as a platform for exchange of motivational success stories. It further targeted to instill Zain’s core values of Radiance, Heart and Belonging. During the two-day forum employees were introduced to the learning curve within various organizations and how applicable that could be in different corporate environments.

Speaking on the occasion of the conference, Yaqoub Khajah, Chief Technical Officr, Zain said, “We, at Zain, are firm believers that the success of every organization depends on the success stories of its team. Zain has many inspirational stories that we shared at the forum and that further motivated us to achieve even greater results.” Organized by Zain’s Human Resources Department, the twoday event was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The pivotal topics outlined at the forum were leadership development, cre-

ating and maintaining Zain coaching culture, sharing Zain employee success stories, and developing a learning curve within Zain.

The conference aimed to improve the leadership skills and to stimulate creativity. It encouraged employees to achieve success. It also served as a vehicle to enforce company loyalty. The forum aimed to break any structural barriers that could have impacted the implementation of a policy of empowerment. One of the major points of the event was to promote excellence and to provide an opportunity for the staff to meet global motivational leaders, local entrepreneurs and company leaders. The conference started with a motivational talk by Chris Fuller, a motivational speaker, personnel trainer and team-building coach. On day two of the event, Tony White, a worldknown trainer known as the “people skill specialist” presented a seminar on team leadership.

Various entrepreneurs from Kuwait and Zain’s leaders also dwelled on a host of success stories. Among those were: Abdullah Al Essa, the founder of Lofat

Group, Yaqoub Khajah, Zain Kuwait Chief Technical Officer, who boosts some 20 years in the field of technology, as well as Alaa Al-Dam, a leadership development expert. Other participants featured: Ghazi Al-Hajeri, owner of United Sports Company, Shamlan Al-Bahar ethical values promoter who aims to create growth opportunities for young Kuwaitis, as well as Darren Kamphuis, leadership development facilitator.

Other participants included Waleed Al-Khashti, Zain Kuwait Corporate Communications and Relations Department Manager, HR professional Salma, Hagop a banker who coached new employees on adapting to a corporate culture. Some of Zain’s business partners, NBK, Ernest and Young, and Equate also had representatives at the event. The event was held in sync with Zain’s strategy to place the growth of its staff as a top priority and consider its employees as a real investment for the company. Zain’s strategy is based on plans to develop the human resources and instill the passion that will later on develop into a company achievement.

China inflation eases Industrial output disappointing; Further stimulus ‘likely’

BEIJING: Visitors take pictures of a new Aero Coupe made by luxury British automobile brand Morgan on display at the China Luxury exhibition in Beijing yesterday. — AP

Japan’s finance watchdog calls for US brokerage fine TOKYO: Japan’s securities industry watchdog has called for the Financial Services Agency to slap a fine on US brokerage house First New York Securities for alleged insider trading. This is the first time the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) has recommended an overseas financial institution be fined over alleged insider trading tied to stock offerings.

It is the third time since March that the SESC has called for a fine in a case of insider trading linked to stock offerings managed by Japan’s biggest brokerage Nomura Securities, whose internal controls are the focus of an ongoing investigation. Late Friday the SESC called for the financial authority to impose a penalty of 14.68 million yen ($184,000) on New York Securities for trading Tokyo Electric Power shares based on inside information regarding a 2010 share offering. The SESC

also asked that a private consultant who conveyed information obtained from the principal underwriter Nomura, also be sanctioned.

Concerns about Japan’s flagging reputation for corporate governance has sparked renewed pressure for a crackdown on lax regulations. Last week the SESC recommended that Asuka Asset Management be fined for short-selling Nippon Sheet Glass shares after illegally obtaining information ahead of a stock sale that JPMorgan was underwriting. A sales executive for the US bank-which is already reeling from a shock $2.0 billion loss on derivatives trading-was the source of the leak, Dow Jones Newswires reported earlier, citing an unidentified source. Criminal convictions for trading on inside information are few and far between in Japan, with those caught often only receiving token punishments.— AFP

BEIJING: China’s inflation eased to 3.0 percent in May as other data released yesterday indicated a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy, giving Beijing more room to ease monetary policy to stimulate growth. It was the lowest rise in the consumer price index since June 2010, and below market expectations for a 3.2 percent rise, according to a poll of 15 economists by Dow Jones Newswires. Meanwhile industrial output grew at a slower-than-expected 9.6 percent year-on-year in May, a faster clip than the previous month but still near three-year-lows.

“The combination of falling inflation and weak industrial data will provide more room for the authorities to loosen policy,” Goldman Sachs economist Yu Song told Dow Jones Newswires. “There will remain room for the People’s Bank of China to further cut the (bank) required reserve ratio and interest rates.” While production from the country’s millions of factories and workshops was stronger than the 9.3 percent expansion seen in April, it was still lower than forecasts of a 9.9 percent gain in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of 14 economists.

Chinese exporters have been particularly hard hit by the crisis in Europe, their largest market.

In the first four months of 2012, Chinese exports grew just 6.9 percent, against 20.3 percent last year and 31.3 percent in 2010. According to HSBC, Chinese manufacturing activity contracted in May for the seventh consecutive month. Faced with these weak figures, Premier Wen Jiabao last month said greater priority should be given to growth, which slowed to 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012 year-on-year, its slowest pace in nearly three years. Hoping to spur growth, Beijing slashed interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday-its first cut in more than three years-and moved to allow rates to float more freely.

China has also cut bank reserve requirements three times since December as policymakers aim to boost lending to help growth. Analysts said the moves sent a strong message that China is willing to ease monetary policy to shore up expansion in the Asian powerhouse, which has played a key role in supporting the global economy in the current downturn. Alistair Thornton, Beijing-based China economist for IHS Global Insight, told AFP that further stimulus was likely in the coming months.

“Growth in China is slowing rapidly, as price pressures continue to come off. That should act as a spur for government policy to combat the slow-

down,” he said.

“We think it is very likely that there will be another interest cut through the rest of the year,” while there was “clearly a lot more room” for cuts in bank reserve ratio requirements. China has set itself a target of keeping annual inflation within four percent this year, fearing that surging prices carry the potential to cause social unrest as people grumble about paying more. But easing inflation should give the government more room to ease monetary policy to stimulate growth. “Inflation is easing as expected, or easing even faster than expected, which is mainly due to economic weakening not only in China, but also around the world,” said UBS economist Wang Tao. The disappointing figures came as Beijing seeks to boost economic growth to avoid a hard landing in the world’s second largest economy, with other data showing falling infrastructure investment and

BEIJING: Employees chat with visitors at their booth displaying Italian luxury furniture made by Loretta Caponi at the China Luxury exhibition in Beijing yesterday. — AFP

EU’s airline safety bans hinder Africa BEIJING: An airport crew member walks past an Air China plane taxiing at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. The head of the global airline industry trade group, International Air Transport Association says airlines need government support to lower the cost of biofuels and make them commercially viable. — AP

Carbon tax, Europe to dominate airline talks World’s airline bosses meet in Beijing BEIJING: The world’s airline bosses meet from today in Beijing, with talks likely to be dominated by a bitterly opposed carbon tax, the European debt crisis and the perennial headache of high oil prices. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual conference is likely to see airlines joining global calls for an alternative to the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme, industry analyst Barry Grindrod said. The European bloc has attempted to impose the controversial tax on all airlines, sparking a backlash from the United States, China, Russia and India as well as European carriers fearful of retaliatory sanctions.

Airlines flying to, from or within the European Union are required to monitor CO2 emissions for entire journeys and, if necessary, pay for exceeding their carbon allowances.

“This will be the mood of the IATA meeting, where I expect all carriers to support the global approach,” said Grindrod, chief executive of Orient Aviation, a leading industry magazine.

The health of the European economy is also likely to come under scrutiny amid fears of the debt crisis currently gripping the continent, despite figures showing a 5.6 percent on year growth in European passenger traffic in April.

“The European sovereign debt crisis is unresolved and we are seeing signs that it is starting

to affect Asia’s export-driven economies,” said Tony Tyler, director general of IATA. The ongoing high price of oil, meanwhile, continues to erode carriers’ profits, said Tyler, noting that fuel costs now represent roughly 34 percent of companies’ expenses compared to only 14 percent when the last IATA general assembly took place in China in 2002. The most recent forecast projected the cumulative net profit in the sector to have fallen this year to $3 billion (2.4 billion euros), or a margin of only 0.5 percent. Those forecasts, made in March, were based on a barrel of Brent Crude Oil at $115, but the price rose to an average of $118 over the past five months, said Tyler. In 2010, the cumulative net profit of airlines reached $15.8 billion, before plunging to $7.9 billion in 2011.

IATA is expected to publish its next financial forecasts Monday, with the Chinese and Middle Eastern markets expected to play a crucial role if profits are to pick up. “Last year, Chinese Airlines accounted for half of the industry’s global net profit. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are growing fast and start to capture a large share of the world market,” said Tyler. The companies that are currently growing fastest are from the Middle East, with a passenger traffic rise of 16.1 percent year-on-year to April 2012. Biofuels, an alternative to oil are also likely to come up.—AFP

a slowdown in consumer spending. “The turning point hasn’t come yet. Economic growth is still declining,” Citigroup economist Shuang Ding told Dow Jones Newswires. The producer price index, which measures the cost of goods at the farm and factory gate and is an indicator of future consumer prices, slipped 1.4 percent in May year-on-year, a sharper fall than April’s 0.7 percent slide.

Meanwhile, the government said urban fixed asset investment rose 20.1 percent in the first five months of 2012 on-year, weakening from 20.2 percent in the first four months and 20.9 percent in the first three. Fixed asset investment in the cities is a key gauge of government infrastructure spending, which has increased rapidly in recent years as Beijing has sought to cushion the impact of the global downturn. Retail sales rose 13.8 percent year-on-year in May, compared with a 14.1 percent rise in April and 15.2 percent in March.— AFP

BEIJING: Airlines have urged Western governments to do more to improve safety in Africa, and accused the European Union of failing to grasp the continent’s needs by banning dozens of carriers. The head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents most major airlines, said a list of operators banned from the EU included several that are safe, that and the EU failed to aid others needing practical help.

Plane crashes in Nigeria and Ghana have killed over 160 people in the past week, increasing concerns over Africa’s safety record. “The airlines on the EU blacklist are on it because the EU hasn’t adequate confidence in the safety oversight provided by regulatory authorities, so the airline can be perfectly safe but the EU decides the regulator isn’t doing its job,” said IATA’s Tony Tyler, director general of the Geneva-based airline lobby.

IATA says its members must pass a tough check-up called the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Airlines in the scheme, which also contains many non-IATA members, had a 53 percent better safety record last year than ones outside it, Tyler said. “This is why we think the EU banned list is a misguided approach. It is not helping anybody and it is not improving safety.” The latest EU blacklist includes 279 carriers from 21 states, 14 of which countries are African. The list includes a handful of IATA members including Sudan Airways and part of the fleet operated by Air Madagascar. IATA says African aviation safety improved from 2010 to 2011, but the continent’s accident rate is still the worst in the world. A Boeing McDonnell Douglas MD83, operated by privately owned Dana Air, hit an apartment block as it was coming in to land in Lagos last Sunday, killing 153 people in Nigeria’s worst air disaster for decades. The crash came 24 hours after a Boeing 727 cargo jet operated by Nigerian carrier Allied Air overshot the runway at an airport in the Ghanaian capital Accra and veered onto a street, killing at least 10. It was the first crash in decades in Ghana, whose airspace has a fairly strong safety record compared with other West African countries.

A spokesman for the European Commission defended the system of banning airlines in countries with poor a safety regime. “The safety performance of an airline depends on several factors, not only on the airworthiness of aircraft: for instance pilot and crew training and fitness and airline safety procedures,” he said.—Reuters

Japanese Brazilians seek new identity TOYOHASHI: For a century and more, Japanese and their descendants have migrated back and forth across the Pacific to and from South America in search of better lives for themselves and their children. Brazil’s economy, the growth of which in recent years has contrasted starkly with Japan, has driven the latest wave of such journeys, with a third of Japan’s Brazilian community leaving since the 2008 global economic crisis hit. For those left behind the change brings very particular challenges.

In April 2008 some 13,000 Brazilian workers and their families lived in Toyohashi, an industrial city in central Japan, 250 kilometers southwest of Tokyo. Only around 8,000 remain.

Many of the migrants look Japanese despite their Portuguese names and Brazilian passports, which should be a key help for integration, but at the same time many still know little of Japanese language and culture. With their numbers now in rapid decline the community has lost its self-sustaining critical mass, and those who choose to stay on are having to make extra efforts to bridge language and cultural divides.

Andrea Pereira moved to Japan with her husband more than 10 years ago, and their sixyear-old daughter Ellen was born into a family that spoke Portuguese at home, meaning she has never had the chance to properly learn Japanese. The Pereiras’ solution was to send her to a pre-school run by a local Brazilian association in Toyohashi, where she can learn about her host culture, and how to talk to those around her. “We hope that we can take away as much anxiety as possible,” said preschool teacher Tsuyuko Yokota, adding that the school would help the children make a “smooth and fun start” at elementary school.

“Although there are Brazilian schools here that teach in our mother tongue of Portuguese, I’d prefer a Japanese school,” said

Pereira, 30, a mother of three. “We prefer them to be learning what it’s like to be Japanese,” she said. Divided Identities-The families’ divided identities are a legacy of a complicated history. Thousands of Japanese went to South America at the start of the 20th century, accepting low wages and poor working conditions on coffee plantations after the abolition of slavery.

In the past 100 years, the number of Brazilians of Japanese descent has grown to around 1.4 million, according to official statistics. Another example of such populations lies in Peru, where the ethnic Japanese politician Alberto Fujimori was president for 10 years from 1990 until he fled to Japan-during a corruption scandal. Unlike many rich nations, ethnically homogenous Japan does not have a large immigrant population, and has shown itself to be unusually allergic to the idea of large influxes of foreigners. But when its economy boomed in the 1970s and 1980s, policymakers in Tokyo found the country was short of labor and turned to the emigrants’ descendants.

When Tokyo moved to allow people with Japanese heritage to come to work in Japan on renewable three-year visas, tens of thousands crossed the Pacific to return to their ancestral homeland and seek their fortunes.

But setting up home in Japan left some Brazilians struggling, with seemingly unbridgeable language and culture gaps meaning many simply retreated into their immigrant communities, creating pockets of Portuguese-speakers who had good jobs but little common ground with their wider surroundings. Since the global economic crisis hit four years ago, many short-term worker contracts have ended and the movement has been the other way, despite Brazil’s red hot economy slowing recently. —AFP

24

business

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

KSE-15 Index decrease by 0.21% KSE WEEKLY REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the red zone. The price index ended last week with a decrease amounted to 1.53%, while the weighted index declined by 0.73% compared to the closings of the week before, where KSX-15 Index decreased by 0.21%.

Fur thermore, last week ’s average daily turnover decreased by 23.37%, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 18.45 million, whereas trading volume average was 234.70 million shares, recording decrease of 23.08%.

Despite its losses, KSE managed to set a resistance level for its retreating path, after crossing couple of support levels during the past two weeks before the last week, as some buying deals were done on several stocks, especially those which suffered previous excessive losses. As far as the annual Indices performance, two of the market main indices recorded losses, while the Price index recorded gain of 4.90%, in spite of its losses during the last weeks. On the other hand, the weighted index recorded loss amounted to 0.96% and KSX-15 index retreated by 3.26%. By the end of the week, the price index closed at 6,099.3 points, down by 1.53% from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 0.73% weekly loss after closing at 401.7 points.

Moreover, the KSX-15 index recorded 0.21% weekly loss after closing at 967.4 points.

SECTORS’ INDICES All of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the red zone except for one sector. The Insurance sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 6.65% to end the week’s activity at 1,043.53 points. The Basic Materials sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 3.56%, closing at 953.33 points, followed by the Banks sector, as its index closed at 959.68 points at a loss of 2.42%. The Oil & Gas sector was the least declining as its index closed at 948.63 points with a 0.57% decrease. On the other hand, the Industrials sector was

last week only gainer, which index grew by 1.03%, closing at 942.72 points.

SECTORS’ ACTIVITY The Financial Services sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 571.34 million shares changing hands, representing 48.69% of the total market trading volume. The Industrials sector was second in terms trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 21.21% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of 248.92 million shares. On the other hand, the Financial

Services sector’s stocks where the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 30.45 million or 33.02% of last week’s total market trading value. The Real Estate sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover of KD 20.25 million represented 21.96% of the total market trading value.

MARKET CAPITALIZATION KSE total market capitalization declined by 0.82% during last week to reach KD27.30 billion, as all of KSE’s sectors recorded a decrease in their respective market capitalization except for one sector. The Health Care sector headed the decliners list as its total market capitalization reached KD 219.99 million, decreasing by 2.20%. The Basic Materials sector was the second in terms of recorded decline with 2.10% decrease after the total value of its listed companies reached KD 637.54 million.

The third place was for the Technology sector, which total market capitalization reached KD 78.48 million by the end of the week, recording a decline of 1.47%. The Telecommunications sector was the least declining with 0.04% recorded decrease after its market capitalization amounted to KD 3.80 billion. On the other hand, the Oil & Gas sector was last week’s only gainer as its total market capitalization increased by 0.86% to reach, by the end of the week, KD 384.50 million.

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

LOCAL

KIA Motors launches ‘Red Cube’ Showroom KUWAIT: In the presence of the President of KIA Regional Headquarters for the Middle East & Africa, M K Kim, KIA Sales Manager from Regional HQ, S H Yang, Counselor & Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the State of Kuwait, Eunjeong Kim, and representatives from the Embassy of The Republic of Korea, KIA Kuwait distinctive guests & Business partners, National Agencies Group, the official dealer of KIA Motors in Kuwait, launched its fully renovated ‘Red Cube’ showroom in Al Rai on Wednesday, June 6th, 2012.

The distinctive new landmark along the Fourth Ring Road is part of KIA’s global initiative to express the brand’s highest values in the most innovative way. “The new KIA showroom is a perfect reflection of our endless pursuit to further enhance the trust between National Agencies Group, KIA Motors and our valued customers. Now at the KIA showroom, visitors can discover a human-centric shopping environment based on advanced technology and distinctive service,” explained Chairman & Managing Director of National

Agencies Group, Ahmed Al-Mutawa.

Designed according to the same principles as KIA award-winning cars, the showroom exterior employs cubes to convey ‘trustworthy’, ovals and straight lines to portray ‘dynamic’, while the interior is inspired by drift line techniques to emphasize the ‘fun’ aspect of the KIA brand. All of the above is designed to give the customer a comfortable, comprehensive & pleasurable shopping experience. The launch of the new showroom is seen as a milestone in KIA’s dramatic transformation into a highly respected and dynamic automotive brand.

In the last four years, KIA has introduced 11 all-new models carrying KIA’s bold new design language, resulting in more than six red dot Design Awards among many others.

The new look is characterized by sporty and modern designs boasting with the signature front grille, dubbed the Tiger Nose. “This is a powerful direction for the KIA brand, and with the help of trusted local partners such as Abdulaziz Al-Ali Al-Mutawa Group, this bold concept now takes the form of a firstclass showroom,” said President of KIA

Regional Headquarters for the Middle East & Africa, M K Kim. At the event, Ahmed commemorated the prized relationship between National Agencies Group and KIA Motors Corporation. “We assure our gratitude and pride for the trust granted to us by KIA Motors Corporation to represent the KIA name in the state of Kuwait.

The relationship between National Agencies Group and KIA Motors Corporation goes back many years & we are doing our best to continuously raise the KIA Brand in Kuwait.

Ahmed also announced the purchase of a new major KIA comprehensive facility incorporating a car showroom, after sales service & spare parts. The 5,625 square meter property will reinforce the company’s infrastructure and keep pace with today’s unprecedented demand for KIA cars in Kuwait. It is expected that the facility will be operational within the coming weeks. National Agencies Group is a subsidiary of Abdulaziz Al-Ali AlMutawa Group of Companies, and has been the official dealer of KIA Motors in Kuwait since 1997.

Obama prods Europeans to fix economies - for US’ sake Crisis could send shock waves across the Atlantic

NEW YORK: Trader Peter Tuchman (center) works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. — AP

Rally’s stamina hangs on Europe Wall St Week Ahead NEW YORK: Investors celebrated US stocks’ best week in 2012 on Friday, but a cloud hangs over Wall Street, and it’s what may happen in debt-plagued Europe this weekend. Spain is expected to ask the euro-zone for help with recapitalizing its banks, a deal that could ease markets’ most immediate concern about the region’s financial crisis. The euro-zone’s finance ministers will hold a teleconference to discuss the request, which at minimum could cost $50 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund. “All eyes are on what will happen with Spanish banks over the weekend. The level of uncertainty is high and the fear in the market has certainly elevated,” said Amy Wu, equity derivatives strategist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

Wu noted that the volatility skew in options, which had decreased gradually throughout the week, has moved back up.

Volatility skew, which is affected by sentiment and the supply-demand relationship, measures the premium for downside puts compared to upside calls. Investors and US policymakers worry Europe’s political and financial woes will threaten the fragile US economic recovery. Besides Spain’s weakened banks, parliamentary elections are scheduled in Greece on June 17. The results could decide whether the country continues austerity measures it agreed to as part of an international bailout or whether Greece leaves the euro-zone.

BAD NEWS PRICED IN Wall Street has been hit hard by other concerns, including signs of a slowdown in US

growth and shrinking demand in China, the world’s No 2 economy. But some market participants said investors have priced in bad news out of the euro-zone. “I don’t think a lot more downside is in the cards at this point” unless there is another shock, said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management in Bethesda, Maryland, whose firm manages about $13 billion in assets. The broad S&P 500 index fell 6.3 percent in May, its largest percentage drop since September.

The Dow’s 6.2 percent drop and Nasdaq’s 7.2 percent loss in May were their largest monthly declines in two years. On June 1 the S&P 500 ended below its 200-day moving average for the first time this year, but the index clawed its way back above the key level and rallied later in the week on hopes Europe would find solutions to its problems.

“The market has been basically expecting bad news since earlier this year, so we have been pretty well hedged to the downside.

Now, it’s the rally that is scaring people.” Wu said. “You don’t want to be that person having to explain to your boss why you missed the rally.” For the week, the Dow advanced 3.6 percent, the S&P 500 rose 3.7 percent and the Nasdaq jumped about 4 percent. The upcoming US economic calendar includes data on producer prices and retail sales on Wednesday. Reports on the consumer price index and initial weekly jobless claims are set for Thursday. Data on Friday includes Empire State manufacturing and US industrial production. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: Europe’s economic crisis could send shock waves roaring across the Atlantic that would drag down the fragile US economy and threaten President Barack Obama’s hopes for a second term. The president demonstrated Friday just how deeply he’s worried about that - and how little he can do to prevent it. Obama used an impromptu news conference to prod European leaders to quickly and vigorously deal with their crisis.

Along with that rare cross-Atlantic jawboning, he accused congressional Republicans at home of holding back a US rebound. The president held forth, unprompted, on what European leaders could and should do to fix their economic woes, though he insisted he was not “scolding them or telling them what to do.” He never mentioned his election opponent, Republican Mitt Romney. But the campaign seemed to be an important factor in the day’s events.

Powerless to take on the economic mess overseas by himself, Obama tried to show Americans he was nonetheless engaged in trying to help by offering ideas and advice. At the same time, he was sending a message to his European peers to be resolute and move firmly. “Now, the good news is there is a path out of this challenge,” Obama said. “These decisions are fundamentally in the hands of Europe’s leaders, and, fortunately, they understand the seriousness of the situation and the urgent need to act.”

Weighing in late Friday on the US economy, the rating agency that downgraded the government’s longterm credit last year renewed its assessment, asserting that leaders aren’t addressing the federal debt burden. Still, Standard & Poor’s said the United States has an “adaptable and resilient” economy and many other governments hold dollar reserves, a sign of confidence. Demonstrating his limited direct influence in Europe at the same time he’s being thwarted at home by Republicans on his domestic agenda could reinforce a sense of presidential powerlessness not an image an incumbent seeking re-election wants to project.

But Obama tried to tie the two issues together to his advantage.

Along with a specific recommendation that Europe inject much-needed mon-

ey into its banking system, he said European leaders must focus on economic growth and job creation, not just “cutting and cutting and cutting” spending to deal with debt problems.

That’s the same point he’s trying to make to Congress - and to voters back home. Obama did not go as far as to say Republican lawmakers were rooting for economic failure to undermine him, as his aides have suggested.

But he did suggest they may be stalling on his jobs proposals simply because it’s an election year.

continue.” He contends those problems overseas are because European countries “waited too long to deal with their debt problem and their spending problem,” a notion that Romney embraces on the campaign trail. That runs directly counter to arguments by Obama and many European leaders that the austerity programs forced in place in countries like Greece only made matters worse, adding to joblessness, further suppressing growth and arousing voter anger.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama talks about the economy in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. — AP American voters will decide whether Obama or Romney will be the next president for the next four years.

But they’re not the only ones. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who leads Europe’s strongest economy and needs to be part of any major rescue effort; will be a factor, too. And, here at home, so will Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

Boehner has presided over a GOP majority which time after time has torpedoed Obama’s economic and jobs legislation, even bills that have garnered some bipartisan support in the Senate. Obama says one reason more jobs haven’t been produced in this country is because of this GOP roadblock.

Boehner sees it differently. He says, “What’s going on in Greece, and the effect it’s having in Spain ... it’s quite likely that this contagion is going to

It all mirrors the split in the United States between Republicans who want deep spending cuts and Democrats including Obama who want to promote more growth - even if it temporarily means more government spending - until the economy recovers enough to move to serious deficitreduction. “Europe has clearly proven that austerity was the wrong policy to pursue during a recession,” says Rep. Maurice D Hinchey, D-NY, a member of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. “I’m surprised that with such strikingly different recoveries occurring between the United States and Europe that so many United States lawmakers will continue to support the same types of policies that are utilized by Europe.”

Many European countries have already slipped back into recession.

Greece’s June 17 election could result

in the country quitting the euro.

International economists are not sure what would happen next. The economy of Greece is tiny, and its withdrawal alone would not have much impact on the global economy. On the other hand, it could trigger investor panic into pulling money out of bonds of other weak European countries such as Spain, Portugal, even Italy.

“Europe is on the precipice. And the odds are uncomfortably high they go over the ledge,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. He’s hopeful European countries will bury their differences and work together to keep the euro-zone from shattering.

“But if they don’t, then the European economy will sink deep in recession and take the rest of the global economy with it, including our own.” The European Union, composed of the 17 countries that use the euro and 10 others, is the world’s biggest trading entity, bigger than either the United States or China, the world’s two biggest single economies.

And that could have dire consequences for Obama and other incumbents running for re-election. Michael Froman, Obama’s adviser for international economic affairs, said he’s optimistic some consensus can be reached that doesn’t emphasize austerity as much as measures to “spur on further demand to help make sure that the recovery is secured.” He said the eurozone crisis is sure to be a top topic at a summit of the world’s 20 leading economies in Mexico later this month.

He said he expects to see there “an overwhelming consensus that the focus is on growth.”

Obama said Friday he has been in constant contact over the past two years with Merkel and other European leaders about the crisis. But there are no immediate plans for any influx of American cash. Romney and his campaign aides agree that Europe is in bad shape, but they say it’s due to excessive spending on social programs and not enough fiscal discipline. Obama’s policies on spending and taxes will “take America on the path to Europe,” Romney tells campaign audiences. “It’s not that we don’t think that this president is trying. I think he is. It’s just that his policies are not working,” said Romney campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom. — AP

$3.5 million: Cost to dine with Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett

OMAHA: The cost to dine with investor Warren Buffett has apparently spiked in value, with one deep-pocketed bidder forking over nearly $3.5 million during a charity auction Friday night. The annual auction for a private lunch with the Nebraska billionaire closed following a flurry of activity in the final hours. In the end, the highest bid was a record-breaking $3,456,789. The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, which helps the homeless in San Francisco. Buffett has raised more than $11.5 million for the group in 13 past auctions. The event provides a significant portion of Glide’s roughly $17 million annual budget that pays for social services to the poor and homeless.

“We just had a most amazing, shocking experience occur in our great city,” Glide’s founder, the Rev. Cecil Williams, said in a statement Friday night. “We are shouting, dancing, rejoicing and celebrating.”

The organization said Friday’s winner bidder wished to remain anonymous. Williams said 10 people actively engaged in bidding.

Buffett became one of the world’s richest men while building Berkshire Hathaway into a conglomerate. But he says most of the questions he gets at the lunches aren’t about investing.

As in past auctions, the bids didn’t reach astronomical levels until

close to the end. Within the final hour of the auction’s 9:30 pm CDT closing, bids jumped from $1 million to the final $3.46 million.

Buffett has supported the San Francisco organization ever since his late first wife, Susan, introduced him Williams. Buffett says Williams is a key reason why Glide has been able to help so many people after the world had given up on them. “He’s changed thousands of lives that would not have been changed otherwise,” Buffett said before the bidding closed.

The previous four winning bids have all exceeded $2 million with records set every year. Last year’s winner, hedge fund manager Ted Weschler, paid $2,626,411. In fact, Weschler paid nearly $5.3 million to win both the 2010 and 2011 auctions, and he wound up getting hired by Buffett last year to help manage Berkshire’s investment portfolio. Buffett says he doesn’t expect to find another new hire through the auction. Buffett’s business brilliance and remarkable record of investment success as Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive is a big part of the draw for bidders, though he won’t talk about potential investments.

And Buffett has also made a mark on the world of philanthropy,

so past winners of the lunch have also wanted to discuss giving.

Buffett has slowly given away his fortune since 2006, and he plans to eventually divide most of his shares of Berkshire stock between five charitable foundations. The largest chunk will go to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett and Gates have also been encouraging other wealthy people to give away at least half of their fortunes. Nearly 80 of the nation’s wealthiest families have signed the pledge. The Glide auction’s winners traditionally dine with Buffett at New York’s Smith and Wollensky steak house. The restaurant donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the auction lunch.

Past winners of the auction have said they believe the time with Buffett was well worth the price they paid in the auction. The lunches often continue for several hours as Buffett answers their questions. Buffett says many of the questions he gets at the lunches are about non-business subjects such as family and philanthropy.

Buffett’s company owns roughly 80 subsidiaries including insurance, furniture, clothing, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants and natural gas and corporate jet firms, and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co and Wells Fargo & Co. — AP

26

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

BUSINESS

Burgan Bank launches innovative Youth Account KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the launch of its ver y first Youth Account. This interest-bearing account is targeted at young individuals between the ages of 15 and 25 who wish to attain a successful future. With its new dynamic and vibrant logo, the Youth account will cater to the young people in Kuwait by empowering talented youth with creative ideas. There will be no minimum balance charges on the account, and account

holders automatically receive a free prepaid card and ATM card upon opening the account. Use of the ATM card provides discounts at selected merchants across the country, such as Nike, Second Cup, Wagamama, Carbon Fiber & many more.

Along with the launch, Burgan Bank is also announcing a raffle draw which will be held in December 2012 where one winner will receive the grand prize, a free

trip to London for two with full boarding and a cash prize of KD 1,500 to shop in major stores in London. In addition to the grand prize, nine account holders will win a KD500 voucher each from Electrozan. “ We at Burgan Bank recognize that youth today are financially savvy and need the flexibility that can only come with a multifaceted account such as the Youth Account,” said Haneen Al Rumaihi, Head of the Marketing Management at

Burgan Bank. “The beauty of this account, besides the many perks it offers, is that it comes with a free pre-paid card which youth customers can use for online shopping.” To find out more about Burgan Bank’s Youth Account as well as the latest promotions, customers are encouraged to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch or contact the call center on 1804080. For more information, customers can visit the bank’s website on www.burgan.com.

Concerns over China’s growth plaguing investors once again KCIC WEEKLY ANALYSIS ON ASIA KUWAIT: Concerns over China’s growth have been plaguing investors once again, after the two barometers of China’s manufacturing sector indicated a sharper than expected deceleration.

The first is called the Flash HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers Index (HSBC PMI) - it’s designed to give the first reading of the state of China’s industrial sector before the official PMI. The early release declined to 48.7 (lat-

er revised to 48.4 in the final revision) in May from prior’s 49.3, below the 50 mark, which indicates a month-on-month (MoM) contraction.

The official Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), declined to 50.4 from 53.3 in April. The decline was sharper than the analysts’ 52.0 estimate.

Still, the NBS reading is close to 50, which indicates that the MoM growth in the sector is almost stagnant but not yet contracting.

Manufacturing activity in China has decelerated in response to weak global demand and easing domestic consumption.

The difference in the two PMI’s is attributed to the difference in the respective survey’s samples.

The proportion of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the HSBC PMI survey is larger than that of the NBS sample, and these companies tend to be located in the east-coast provinces, making the HSBC PMI more representative of the trade industry. The export sector is slowing the most because the debt crisis in the

Euro-zone and weak US growth is hurting demand.

The components of the NBS PMI showed that managers are witnessing a very sharp decline in new orders, as this component recorded a49.8 in May, down from 54.5 in April. The employment component is softening as well, but, on a positive note for China’s domestic consumption, the input prices index improved; the materials used are getting cheaper and could translate to lower consumer prices, hence easing inflation.

The PMIs results are in line with China’s slowing growth trend; the fears of slowdown are unwarranted because China is expected to

experience a robust growth of 7.5%-8% in 2012 due to resilient domestic consumption and government spending. The government has expressed that it will pursue growth stabilization measures, which means increased fiscal spending in certain sectors so that growth does not fall below target.

The PMI is an index composed from data based on monthly questionnaires answered by pur-

chasing executives in different sectors. The index monitors seasonally adjusted month-onmonth changes in the managers’ views on business conditions (ie business conditions are better, the same, or worse than last month). A reading of above 50 means that more than 50 percent of managers see conditions as better than last month, hence an expansionary business environment.

The HSBC flash estimate is released a week before the beginning of the month, when official and final HSBC PMI are released, and it covers 85 to 90 percent of the data included in

the final HSBC PMI reading. The manufacturing PMI is often used as a lead indicator on the condition of the economy, since China’s industrial sector is approximately half of the economy. The precarious situation of the Euro-zone debt crisis dampens the global economic outlook. For a global economy that is in desperate need of support from the industrial powerhouse of the world, slowing economic activity in China is worrying.

However, risks of a sharp decline in economic growth in China are low. The official PMI has been easing, but the pace is steady enough to guarantee a “soft landing” of the economy, hence easing market fears of a crash. The government is weighed with the responsibility to protect its economy from the adverse affects of slowing global economy and to keep inflation under control. Inflation has eased from its highs, it is now below the central bank’s target rate, thereby low enough to start loosening credit conditions; but the government will not loosen the liquidity too fast, otherwise inflation will shoot up once again.

We believe that China will continue to tweak its policy towards easing monetary conditions for SMEs that, according to HSBC, employ a majority of Chinese workers in the industrial sector, and may ease the requirements on bank’s reserves. We believe the chance of an interest rate cut is higher towards the end of the year, but the monetary authority in China will remain cautious until it is sure that inflation is fully under control. Investors awaiting market rallies based on massive stimulus from China will probably not witness such an event this year.

Gulf Bank’s Cardholders offered complimentary travel insurance Bank partners with Chartis MEMSA Insurance Company

Aly Shalaby

KUWAIT: As the summer season approaches, Gulf Bank’s credit cardholders will be able to gain free travel insurance for themselves and their families upon purchasing airline tickets using their Gulf Bank credit cards. The Bank has partnered with Chartis MEMSA Insurance Company to offer this travel insurance promotion. Aly Shalaby, General Manager - Consumer Banking Group at Gulf Bank said: “This summer, in par tnership with Chartis MEMSA we are offering our credit cardholders this travel insurance package to enable them to have peace of mind when planning their holidays.

At Gulf Bank, we continuously

strive to provide our customers with diverse offers that cater to their needs, as well as maintain our continued commitment to providing them with the best service in Kuwait.” Gulf Bank’s free travel insurance can be availed once airline tickets are purchased using any of Gulf Bank’s credit cards, giving the credit cardholder, their spouse, and dependent children under the age of 18, the opportunity to benefit from this offer and enjoy their travels. Gulf Bank’s credit cardholders interested in acquiring an insurance certificate can request it from the Bank by providing their airline tickets to ensure authorization.

Char tis is a world leading property-casualty and general insurance organization, with more than 70 million clients around the world. Known for their world-class talent with knowledge to assess vulnerability and underwrite the most complex risks, Chartis enables its commercial and personal insurance clients to manage almost any risk with confidence. To find out more about Gulf Bank’s travel insurance policies and other credit card offers, customers are advised to visit any one of Gulf Bank ’s 56 branches, call the Bank’s hotline on 1805805 or log online to Gulf Bank’s website on www.e-gulfbank.com.

KUWAIT: (Left to right) Qadriya Al-Marshoud, Branch Manager at Gulf Bank’s Jabriya Branch congratulates Mohammed Hassan Musaad Ibrahim - one of Al Danah’s weekly winners as Haneen Al-Ghanim- Assistant Manager, Consumer Banking at Gulf Bank looks on.

Gulf Bank announces 10 Al Danah winners KUWAIT: Gulf Bank held its twenty-second Al Danah weekly draw on June 3rd, 2012, announcing a total number of ten Al Danah weekly prize draw winners, each awarded with prizes of KD 1,000.

The 22nd Al Danah Weekly Winners are: Shareefa Abas Ali Sarkhoh; Mohammed Hassan Musaad Ibrahim; Abdulrazaq Abdullatif Al-Nesef; Amal Hassan Saleh Mohammed; Afaf Sayed Juber Al-Jafi; Ali Abdulreda Ali Ghloum; Saeed Glam Ali Ebrahemei Dargh; Ameerah Ayman Abass Al-Khodhari; Sheikh Khalifa Abdullah AlJaber and Al-Sabah Rola Khaled Fahim.

Gulf Bank encourages everyone in Kuwait to open an Al Danah account and/or increase their deposits to maximize their chances of becoming a winner in the upcoming weekly (KD1,000 each for 10 winners). Gulf Bank’s Al Danah allows customers to win cash prizes and encourages them to save money.

Chances increase the more money is deposited and the longer it is kept in the account.

Al Danah also offers a number of unique services including the Al Danah Deposit Only ATM card which helps account holders deposit their money at their convenience; as well as the Al Danah calculator to help customers calculate their chances of becoming an Al Danah winner. To be part of the Al Danah draws, customers can visit one of Gulf Bank’s 56 branches, transfer on line, or call the Customer Contact Center on 1805805 for assistance and guidance. Customers can also log on to www.e-gulfbank.com, Gulf Bank’s website, to find all the information regarding Al Danah or any of the Bank’s products and services or log on www.egulfbank.com/aldanahwinners, to find out more about Al Danah and who the winners are.

NBK’s IAB Chairman grabs highest honor Japan Emperor honors Sir John Major KUWAIT: Sir John Major, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and present Chairman of the National Bank of Kuwait’s (NBK) International Advisory Board (IAB), was recently awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. This honor, that is the highest that can be awarded to foreign nationals, comes in recognition of his invaluable contribution to Anglo-Japanese relations through his work not only in the political and economic arena but also in promoting mutual understanding.

Sir John Major was elected UK Prime Minister on November 28, 1990 and held office until May 1997. In the General Election of April 1992, he led the Conservative party to an unprecedented fourth term in office. As a Prime Minister, Sir John Major focused his efforts upon securing peace in Northern Ireland and upholding Britain’s position in the world community as a political, social and economic leader. He was Prime Minister throughout the Gulf War and, at home, instigated long-term reforms in education, health and public services.

On 1 May, 1997, he handed over the strongest economy any incoming Government had inherited. On New Year’s Day 1999, The Queen appointed him a Companion of Honour in recognition of his initiation of the Northern Ireland Peace Process. On St George’s Day 2005, he was appointed a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of

the Garter and is a Vice-President of The Friends of St George’s Chapel. Sir John Major chairs NBK’s International Advisory Board since its establishment in 2007.

NBK is the only Arab bank to form an International Advisory Board.

The 21 member board includes world

Sir John Major recognized political leaders, businessmen, bankers and economists including [note this is obvious since he is chairman] HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, Emeritus Senior Minister and Former Prime Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong, World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, PIMCO CEO and co-CIO Mohamed El Erian, Senior Advisor and Former Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup Bill Rhodes, and Reliance Industries Limited Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani.

S&P affirms US AA-plus rating; Outlook negative NEW YORK: Standard & Poor’s said it expects US lawmakers to set aside their differences to prevent a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts from hurting the economy in early 2013. The rating agency affirmed the AA-plus rating of the world’s biggest economy, but cautioned that its outlook remains negative. That means the country could face a new downgrade in a six- to 24-month time frame, extending out to 2014.

“One thing we do expect Republicans and Democrats to agree on - given an unemployment rate of about 8 percent and continued risks to the US economic recover y - is avoiding sudden fiscal adjustment,” the agency said in a statement. The United States lost its top-tier AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor’s last August. That cut came in the wake of a bruising fight in Congress over lifting the government’s debt limit.

“We expect that a sudden fiscal adjustment could occur if all current tax and spending provisions, set to either expire or take effect near the end of 2012, go forward in accordance with current law,” S&P said on Fri day. Bush- era tax cuts are to expire on Dec 31, deep, automatic spending cuts roll out on Jan 1, 2013, and US borrowing authority must be raised early in the year to avoid the risk of default. A stalemate over how

to avoid a hit to growth - the scheduled tax hikes and spending cuts have been dubbed the ‘fiscal cliff ’ would likely push the US economy into recession in the first half of next year, the Congressional Budget Office warned last month.

S&P said the US economy still faces “significant” risks, adding that “we believe the risk of returning to recession in the US is about 20 percent.” In affirming the rating, S&P cited the

resilience of the economy, its monetary credibility and the dollar’s status as the world’s key reserve currency.

The United States is rated AAA by Fitch Ratings and Aaa by Moody’s Investors Service, both with a negative outlook. Earlier this week Fitch said it would cut its sovereign credit rating for the United States next year if Washington cannot come to grips with its deficits and create a “credible” fiscal consolidation plan. —Reuters

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

iPad owners love video, smartphone owners shrug Whether you’re Ridley Scott, Matthew Weiner or Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes, the latest study from comScore reveals the tablet will be central to the future of your television shows, films and other video. In tracking tablet usage over the first few months of the year, the analytics company found that 53 percent of tablet owners watched video at least once a month and almost 10 percent of them watched video “almost every day.” Tablet ownership and usage has ballooned ever since the introduction of the iPad, and

Cyber experts warn of ‘intelligent weapons’ TALLINN: Quick advances in cyber war technologies could soon lead to a new generation of so-called “intelligent cyber weapons” which top global IT defense experts warn could be virtually unstoppable.

“Rapid developments in cyber (technology) might lead to intelligent cyber weapons that are hard to control and it’s practically impossible to use formal methods of verifying the safety of intelligent cyber weapons by their users,” Enn Tyugu, IT expert at Tallinn’s NATO Cyber Defense Centre said at its fourth annual conference.

He also warned that programs developed to counter attacks by malwares like Stuxnet can act independently and could possibly themselves spark conflicts. “They are quite autonomous, and can operate independently in an unfriendly environment and might at some point become very difficult to control... that can lead to cyber conflict initiated by these agents themselves,” Tyugu said. “Stuxnet and Flame have shown the side of cyber of which the average user does not think of but which will bring a lot of challenges to all experts who deal with critical infrastructure protection issues - IT experts, lawyers, policy makers,” Ilmar Tamm, Head of the NATO Cyber Defense Centre said.

“The number of cyber conflicts keeps rising and it is important to understand who the actors in these events are, how to classify these events and participants, and how to interpret all that,” Tamm said, noting Western leaders have been slow to become aware of even existing cyber threats. Experts at the conference noted that both China and Russia have significantly upgraded their cyber-defense capabilities in recent years by creating new IT units.

“But the most powerful weapon today in cyber space is still the propaganda, the chance to use the Internet to spread your message,” Kenneth Geers, US cyber defense expert told some 400 top IT gurus attending the meeting Thursday. Keir Giles, head of Oxford University’s Conflict Studies Research Centre, noted that some Russian leaders seemed to “sincerely believe that the recent opposition rallies after the presidential elections in Russia were initiated by the US in cyberspace.”— AFP

Project’s cost blamed as NASA kills X-ray telescope CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA has killed a new X-ray telescope mission, two years before its planned launch. The Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer mission, or GEMS for short, was supposed to blast off in 2014 to study black holes and neutron stars. But external reviews found the project would likely come in considerably over budget.

GEMS was selected under a strict cost cap, NASA officials said, unlike the price-busting James Webb Space Telescope to be launched in 2018.

“That cost cap is a very important aspect of the development of the project,” said Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division. Webb “is different.” Billions over budget and years behind schedule, Webb is NASA’s largest science project and considered the successor to Hubble Space Telescope. Both Webb and GEMS are managed by Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Adjusted for inflation, GEMS was supposed to hold at $119 million, not counting the rocket, but independent reviews estimated the final cost at 20 percent to 30 percent above that, Hertz said.

Hertz said in a news conference that the technology needed for the instrument took longer to develop than expected, and that drove up the price. It will cost NASA an estimated $13 million to close out the project, Hertz said.

After adding in the money already spent on GEMS, the final tab for the space agency will be $50 million. No rocket had yet been purchased for the mission, and the telescope itself had not yet been built. A number of existing observatories can address some of GEMS’ science questions, Hertz said, including the NuStar telescope due to lift off next week from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific.

Mars odyssey orbiter Meanwhile, a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars is in safe mode after it detected a problem. The Mars Odyssey, which has been circling the red planet since 2001, noticed something odd with one of its gyroscope-like devices that helps control its orientation and entered standby mode as a precaution Thursday evening. It’s a common action for spacecraft to take when something unexpected occurs. In safe mode, Mars Odyssey ceases science activities but is in contact with Earth. “The spacecraft is safe, and information we’ve received from it indicates the problem is limited” to that one part, mission manager Chris Potts of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement Friday.

Engineers are troubleshooting the problem and drawing up a plan to resume normal operations before August when NASA’s newest rover, the one-ton Curiosity, was scheduled to land near the Martian equator to begin a two-year investigation. The longest-running Mars spacecraft, Mars Odyssey has gone into safe mode several times in the decade it’s been in operation. Unlike previous instances, it didn’t have to reboot its computer this time because the issue was limited to the gyroscope-like device.

Besides snapping pictures of the Martian surface, one of Mars Odyssey’s main jobs is to communicate with spacecraft on the ground. NASA planned to use Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to monitor Curiosity’s landing. — Agencies

those numbers suggest watching video is a core experience for the tablet audience.

The same cannot be said for mobile, where just 20 percent of owners watch video each month and less than three percent each day.

“Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go, and perhaps most notably, in the home,” Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of Mobile said in a

statement. “It’s not surprising to see that once consumers get their hands on their first tablet, they are using them for any number of media habits including TV viewing.”

Making this boom in video streaming on the tablet more significant is the fact that the most avid tablet users come from the demographics advertisers covert. Almost 50 percent of tablet owners are between the ages of 25 and 44, and about 75 percent are between the ages of 18 and 55. They are also big earners, with 37.7 per-

cent of tablet owners earning more than $100,000 a year.

Media companies have been searching for the ideal recipe to capitalize on the proliferation of video online. Is it producing video for portals like YouTube and Yahoo? Is it licensing content to Netflix? Is it setting up standalone apps like HBO Go? The answer remains unclear - and it could be a combination of the above. Whatever the strategy, the opportunity in providing quality video for the tablet is more evident than ever. — Reuters

Accidents involving ‘pedtextrians’ on the rise People who hurt themselves texting won’t admit it at the ER BALTIMORE: The night started out rightgood friends, carousing, the lead-up to an out-of-town wedding. But between festivities, after Nicole King popped into her hotel room to change clothes and was heading back out, she wanted to text her pals to find out where to meet them. Hurrying along in the dark, punching letters into her phone, she tripped over a heavy decorative bench. “My face hit the bench on the way down,” the University of Maryland Baltimore County professor says. “It was bad.”

It was six stitches from nose to lip bad.

Big, ugly black eye bad. And yet — somehow — not quite bad enough for King to stop walking and texting. “The moral of the story is don’t text while walking,” she says. “But I still do it ... all over Baltimore.”

Just as people are doing it and doing it and doing it nationwide — to the point that they’ve earned a derogatory name: pedtextrians. The Urban Dictionar y defines the noun as): “Someone who’s texting while walking, and is completely oblivious to what’s going on around them. These people have a tendency to walk into things like parking meters, light poles and fall down stairs.” To see the most legendary klutzes, just peek on YouTube. Behold the woman in the mall so caught up in her texting that she tumbles face-first into a fountain. Or the young lady who leaves a building, texting away, and fails to notice the steps.

Her tumble is captured by a TV news crew doing a live spot.

And who could forget the guy who’s texting his way down an alley and nearly runs smack into a wayward bear. And we’re not talking teddy. He missed a fullgrown, burly, brown bear. Though researchers and lawmakers have spent considerable time and energy worrying about distracted driving, distracted walking is low on the radar, but possibly beginning to get a little bit of attention as both an annoying menace and possible danger. What’s apparently the only serious study on the topic came out of Ohio State in 2008. Researchers found the number of emergency room visits attributed to walking and texting injuries doubled every year since 2006. The professor who led the study, Jack Nasar, told The Sun that unpublished follow-up data showed that the numbers continued to double through 2010.

A related study, done more recently at the University of Mar yland Medical Center, looked at pedestrians who got hurt while wearing headphones. They

found 116 deaths or injuries between 2004 to 2011 — mostly to men younger than 30 in urban areas. Baltimore, with its relatively light pedestrian traffic, isn’t seeing the number of pedtextrian mishaps as true walking cities like Manhattan, or even DC. That’s according to Dr Leigh Vinocur, an Owings Mills, Md, physician who’s spent 15 years working in emergency rooms and is a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

BALTIMORE: Nicole King suffered injuries while texting. — MCT

She has another theory, too: That people who hurt themselves texting and walking won’t necessarily admit it at the ER. “There’s a big embarrassment factor to it,” Vinocur says. “They’ll say, ‘I rolled my ankle’ or ‘I tripped in a hole’ or ‘I cut my face walking into a pole.’ I’m like, ‘How do you walk into a pole?’” When they don’t put their phones down-even as she’s treating them-the unspoken becomes pretty clear. In just the last few weeks, the walking and texting phenomenon has flared in the news media a couple of times. First, out of Philadelphia, officials set off a frenzy in April by announcing what they said was a first in the nation: a sidewalk lane for cell phone users.

Turns out it was an April Fool’s Day prank by the city. But plenty of folks were

Hybrid ‘ultrabooks’ blur line between tablets and laptops TAIPEI: Slide it, flip it or snap it on and off.

The way keyboards are connected to touch screens on the latest generation of computing devices is making it tough to differentiate a tablet from notebook or an ultrabook. Microsoft Corp, which has long been the dominant force in PCs but has fallen far behind in the tablet race, is set to unveil its Windows 8 operating system later this year, designed to run on super-thin laptops called ultrabooks and tablets powered by Intel Corp’s chips.

The impending launch has prompted PC vendors to come up with a rash of hybrid designs, featuring touch screens and myriad configurations of moving or detachable keyboards. “In future, it’ll be a blur in the definition of an ultrabook and a tablet because of convertibles with either detachable or sliding keyboards,” said Tracy Tsai, a Taipei-based analyst at research firm Gartner. At Computex Taipei, the world’s second largest computer show, visitors flocked to the booths trying out every twist and turn that converts an ultrabook into a tablet.

Lenovo Group Ltd’s IdeaPad Yoga and Asustek Computer Inc’s Taichi have screens that bend all the way back.

Samsung Electronics’ Hybrid becomes an ultrabook when the tablet clips onto a keyboard with magnetic hinges. One tablet-ultrabook convertible that garnered attention was Asustek’s Taichi, whose dual-sided screens can run different applications at the same time. “There’s a lot of use cases on tablets and tablet convertibles that people might approach with lots of fun, content consumption type of activity, but want to pop into it and use a pro-

more than ready to believe. A city spokesman called it a laugh and told the Philadelphia Daily News that the city hoped the deluge of press it got raised some awareness. Then reports came out that the town of Fort Lee, N.J. was going to start ticketing people caught walking while texting. Turns out, story wasn’t quite right-Fort Lee is only going to start ticketing jaywalkers, many of whom are texting. But no one found that out until the story went viral, with smartphone

ductivity application and a desktop mode,” said Chris Walker, Intel’s director of microprocessor product marketing. “The great thing is people don’t have to make that choice.”

But will they fly?

Despite all the fanfare surrounding these hybrids from Microsoft, Intel and PC vendors banking on these gadgets to make up for lost time in the tablet sector, there remains some nervousness in the industry and uncertainty among consumers about whether they will take off in a big way. “Most of us have a laptop for work and an Android or Apple tablet now, so whether I’ll buy one of these hybrids will depend on the performance and price,” said one Computex attendee in his 30s. Prices for these touch-based ultrabook convertibles will not be announced until Windows 8 is formally released, widely expected to be in the fourth quarter.

But the hybrids are already prompting some analysts to ponder whether they should be classified as tablets or laptop PCs. “A way to settle the argument is by the size of the gadget. Anything that is 10 inches or smaller should be categorized as a tablet, while those that are 11 inches or bigger should be called an ultrabook,” said Ricky Liu, an analyst with KGI Securities.

Intel executives said they saw ultrabooks and its convertibles as laptops, while some PC vendors grouped such hybrids under tablets. “Anything with a detachable keyboard is a tablet,” said an Asustek executive as she clicked the Transformer screen back onto the keyboard at the company’s booth at Computex. — Reuters

addicts fuming and those annoyed with them toasting the town.

Though Baltimore bicycle messenger Eric Lipstein considers distracted drivers his No. 1 threat, he’s had regular run-insalmost literally-with texting pedestrians.

Once he was cycling past Lexington Market and someone with his nose in a phone emerged from between two parked cars, about to walk into the street.

The guy never saw Lipstein, who had to swerve to avoid hitting him. “I see them all the time, people just stopped in midstep to text or stopped in the middle of a crosswalk,” he says. “They’re just wandering off and almost into things.”

Just before lunch one day last week, the intersection of St. Paul Street and 33rd in Charles Village buzzed with activity-students and workers hurried across

the intersection from every direction as cars sped by toward downtown. If one couldn’t spot someone walking and texting, one wasn’t trying. Of those who weren’t messaging or chatting, most had phones poised in their palms ... ready.

Michelle May, a Johns Hopkins University junior was in the mix, heading south on St. Paul, pecking away at her pink smartphone. Asked about it, she smiled, a bit sheepishly, and said she had just finished exams and wanted to text everyone to see what they were up to.

The irony was, just a week or so earlier, at the university’s Spring Fair, she had signed a pledge to be a safe pedestrian in exchange for a T-shirt that said, “I Practice Safe X-ing.” May admits that she isn’t exactly living up to the motto, saying, “I guess I’m still walking and texting, so ...” Hopkins students tend to need a little Crosswalk 101 — and university officials are the first to admit it.

Recently someone posted a tonguein-cheek help-wanted ad on Craigslist, posing as Hopkins. It said the university was looking to fill two full-time faculty positions “to equip our students with the basic ability to cross a moderately busy street in an adult fashion.” When school officials saw the ad, they thought about complaining then figured, hey, maybe it could help.

“Most of us concluded that it was not only obviously fake but pretty funny,” said spokesman Dennis O’Shea. “So no one was going to be fooled by it and it might do some good.” After a recent history of pedestrian-vehicle accidents near the Homewood campus, university officials are desperate to improve students’ walking skills-and getting them to put down the smartphones is a key aspect.

It’s important enough that Hopkins plans to launch an expansive safe-walking campaign this fall. Students got a taste of it at Spring Fair, with the “I Practice Safe X-ing” shirts and little yellow stickers made to slap onto cellphones as a reminder not to use them on the move.

In the fall, the school will also be installing what O’Shea called “visible, dramatic reminders” at crossings. This isn’t about subtlety. “One of our employees tells me that right after the giveaway, he spotted a student crossing the street, texting, completely oblivious to everything around him _ and wearing one of the shirts,” O’Shea said. “We still have work to do.”— MCT

‘Anonymous’ hackers to protest Indian Internet laws NEW DELHI: Global hacking movement Anonymous has called for protesters to take to the streets in 16 cities around India yesterday over what it considers growing government censorship of the Internet. The call for demonstrations by the Indian arm of the group follows a March 29 court order issued in the southern city of Chennai demanding 15 Indian Internet providers block access to file-sharing websites such as Pirate Bay. The order has resulted in access being denied to a host of websites that carry pirated films and music among other legal content, including www.isohunt.com and www.pastebin.com. On Wednesday, the Anonymous forum fired an opening shot by attacking the website of state-run telecom provider MTNL, pasting the logo of the group-the mask of 17th century revolutionary Guy Fawkes-on www.mtnl.net.in.

In an open letter the same day, the group accused the government of trying to create a “Great Indian Firewall” to establish control on the web and issuing a “declaration of war from yourself... to us.” Internet users and supporters have been asked to join peaceful rallies in cities including the capital New Delhi and the tech hub of Bangalore, with detailed instructions issued online to participants. Tech website www.pluggd.in reported the demonstrators have been asked to wear Guy Fawkes’ masks, download a recorded message to play to police, and are to chant “United as one! Divided as zero! We are Anonymous! We are legion!”

Concerns about Internet freedom in India go beyond the court order in Chennai, however, and stem from an update to India’s Information Technology Act that was given by the IT and communications ministry in April last year. The new rules regulating Internet companies-providers, websites and search

engines-instruct them that they must remove “disparaging” or “blasphemous” content within 36 hours if they receive a complaint by an “affected person”. Groups such as the Center for Internet and Society, a Bangalore-based research and advocacy group, have waged a year-long campaign for amendments to the rules, which were quietly released in April.

Industry groups have also objected, saying they are unclear on the changes which are in any case impossible to implement when it comes to acting on individual complaints about specific content. “A lot of education is required in this field,” secretary of the Internet Service Providers Association of India S P Jairath said. The government has also become embroiled in a row with social networks after Telecoms Minister Kapil Sibal held a series of meetings with IT giants Google, Yahoo! and Facebook last year to discuss the pre-screening of content. The minister was said to have shown Internet executives examples of obscene images found online that risked offending Muslims or defamed politicians, including his boss, the head of the ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi.

Since these meetings, 19 Internet firms including Google, Yahoo! and Facebook have been targeted in criminal and civil cases lodged in lower courts, holding them responsible for content posted by users of their platforms. Anonymous is a secretive “hackeractivist” network and is thought to be a loosely knit collective with no clearly defined leadership structure. It has claimed dozens of online attacks on sites ranging from the Vatican to Los Angeles Police Canine Association, but is increasingly the target of law enforcement agencies who have arrested dozens of members. — AFP

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SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

health & science

Einstein was right, neutrino researchers admit GENEVA: Scientists said yesterday that an experiment which challenged Einstein’s theor y on the speed of light had been flawed and that subatomic particles-like everything elseare indeed bound by the universe’s speed limit. Researchers working at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) caused a storm last year when they published experimental results showing that neutrinos could out-pace light by some six kilometers per second. The findings threatened to upend modern physics and smash a hole in Albert Einstein’s

1905 theor y of special relativity, which described the velocity of light as the maximum speed in the cosmos.

But CERN now says that the earlier results were wrong and faulty kit was to blame. “Although this result isn’t as exciting as some would have liked, it is what we all expected deep down,” said the centre’s research director Sergio Bertolucci. “The story captured the public imagination, and has given people the opportunity to see the scientific method in action.

“An unexpected result was put up

for scrutiny, thoroughly investigated and resolved in part thanks to collaboration between normally competing experiments. That ’s how science moves forward.” The neutrinos were timed on the journey from CERN’s giant underground lab near Geneva to the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy, af ter travelling 732 k ilometers through the Earth’s crust.

To do the trip, the neutrinos should have taken 0.0024 seconds.

Instead, the particles were recorded as hitting the detec tors in I taly 0.00000006 seconds sooner than

expected, the preliminary experiment had shown. Researchers updated the science community on Friday at the International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, being held in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto. “ The previous data taken up to 2011 with the neutrino beam from CERN to Gran Sasso were revised taking into account understood instrumental effects,” the team said. “A coherent picture has emerged with both previous and new data pointing to a neutrino velocity consistent with

the speed of light.” The initial findings had been greeted with a combination of excitement and skepticism, even from those involved in the experiment, who urged other physicists to carry out their own checks to corroborate or refute what had been seen. “If this result at CERN is proved to be right, and particles are found to travel faster than the speed of light, then I am prepared to eat my shorts, live on TV,” Jim Al-Khalili, a professor of theoretical physics at Britain’s University of Surrey, declared at the time. — AFP

Young Americans get health insurance, but still have bills 6.6 million young adults newly under parents’ plans

MAPUTO: A family cooks with a common charcoal-fueled stove, in the Mozambican capital Maputo. — AFP

Carbon traders eye Mozambican stoves MAPUTO: Beaming with pride as she stirs a steaming pot of spinach and nuts, Maria Douca is one of the first in Mozambique’s capital to own an ethanolfired stove, burning fuel made from locally grown cassava. Betting that thousands of other city-dwellers will also switch from their charcoal stoves, a multi-national consortium plans to generate carbon credits to sell to greenhouse gas emitters on the other side of the planet.

Under the Cleanstar scheme led by Danish biotech giant Novozymes, Mozambican farmers sell surplus cassava that is converted to ethanol at a new facility near the central port city of Beira.

The fuel is then shipped to Maputo, where Cleanstar sells the stoves. They say they cannot keep up with demand. Some 200 stoves were sold in the first month and another 3,000 are on order. Douca has already bought two stoves despite the $25 (20-euro) price tag-easily a week’s income for her family of eight.

Simple, clean and compact, the appliance designed by Swedish company Dometic looks rather like a camping stove but does not produce smoke. For the first time in her life she can cook inside. “I had problems with my eyes when I was cooking on the ground. My eyes ran, I had asthma problems,” she said.

About 85 percent of Mozambique’s energy comes from wood and charcoal.

It is a leading cause of respiratory illness, and studies have shown that primitive cooking stoves kill more people per yearabout two million-than malaria.

Cleanstar hopes to capture a sizeable chunk of Maputo’s $153 million a year charcoal business. Ethanol sells at roughly the same price as charcoal - which has doubled in the past three years. Bank of America Merill Lynch has put $4 million into the project, which will generate carbon credits, based on the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

The credits can be sold to polluters under trading schemes in places such as the European Union or Australia. “I have seen a dozen different cook stove projects that economically haven’t made sense. This is the first one I’ve seen that is completely integrated,” the bank’s car-

bon markets portfolio director, Abyd Karmali said. “From an environmental standpoint it is delivering a very large greenhouse gas emission reduction.” A move by the European Union to accept new carbon credits only from the world’s poorest countries after 2012 has made countries like Mozambique more attractive to investors.

Replicate ‘10,000 times across Africa’-If successful, its investors believe the Cleanstar model could be replicated across the region. “The reason this is interesting is the potential to replicate it not only once but 10,000 times across Africa,” Novozymes president Steen Riisgaard said. “Every single link in the value chain should make good money for themselves or the whole thing will fall apart. Also a little money for us selling enzymes,” he added. The company’s enzymes help convert cassava chips into ethanol fuel at the Beira plant, the first of several planned facilities.

Initially hesitant to support the sale of cassava-a basic food for many Mozambique’s government now embraces the project. “There is no contradiction between producing for food and producing for agro-industry. Our country is vast,” Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco said. Despite its fertile soils and favorable climate, Mozambique uses less than one tenth of its arable land-the lowest land use in southern Africa.

Farming occupies 80 percent of the workforce, most cultivating just one hectare. Few farmers have access to seeds, fertilizers or modern equipment.

Malnutrition is rife and the country is a net importer of staple foods. On the face of it, everyone is a winner-the makers of the stoves and the ethanol, the family that uses the new gadget and the climate itself. That would be some rare good news indeed for the environment, whose state is being debated at a UN conference in Rio de Janeiro this month.

Culminating in a forum of world leaders on June 20-22, the meeting is the 20-year follow-up to the 1992 “Earth Summit” that declared war on climate-altering greenhouse gases.

Even so, some observers are circumspect. — AFP

WASHINGTON: US healthcare reform likely enabled about 6.6 million young adults to join their parents’ health insurance plans last year, a report found on Friday, though problems with medical bills and debt remained an issue.

President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform law allowed young adults - who previously had the nation’s highest uninsured rate to stay on their parents’ private insurance plans through age 26. This provision is perhaps the single most popular element of the Affordable Care Act, the nation’s most sweeping healthcare legislation in nearly 50 years and Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.

Polls show Americans are sharply divided about the law ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on its constitutionality by the end of June.

The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit organization that analyzes healthcare issues, polled 1,863 adults between the ages of 19 to 25 and found 47 percent of them joined or remained on their parents’ plans between November 2010 and November 2011. This would translate into about 13.7 million young adults in the broader population.

Of those, 6.6 million would likely not have been able to be on their parents’ plans before the law’s passage, as they were not enrolled in college full time or had already graduated.

Most insurance plans already allow full-time college students to stay on their parents’ plans. The results compared to a US government survey that last year found about 21.6 million young adults had private health insurance - either through their parents, their jobs or other means - which was 2.5 million higher than before the law was passed.

But the Commonwealth Fund also found

36 percent of young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 - a slightly bigger group - had trouble paying medical bills or said they were paying off medical debt.

And among those without insurance, this group rose to 51 percent. Sara Collins, one of the study’s authors and vice president at the Commonwealth Fund, said some young people need maternity coverage, which is often

expensive but may not be provided by insurance plans. Young adults also have the highest rate of injury-related visits to the emergency room - even above children and the elderly - and may have other health conditions such as HIV or the human papillomavirus (HPV). The survey, conducted online, has an average sampling error margin of 3 percentage points. — Reuters

PHILADELPHIA: Deb Mirenda of Coatesville, Pa and her son Vincent, 9, listen to a speaker, during a protest against the Obama administration mandate that employers provide workers birth control coverage, at Independence Mall on Friday, June 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The event was organized by Stand Up For Religious Freedom. — AP

Ebooks, digital publishing in focus at NY book expo NEW YORK: The mood at this week’s giant Book Expo America was upbeat as publishers’ excitement over the growth of electronic books - or ebooks - and the future of digital publishing offset concern over sluggish sales of traditional books. Book publishing is undergoing a sea change that parallels the transformation of music publishing over the past decade, and book sellers are starting to feel their way forward. Borders Group, once the second largest US book retailer, which helped pioneer brickand-mortar book superstores, liquidated its 40year-old business in September of last year after failing to overcome competition from larger rival Barnes & Noble Inc. and online book seller Amazon.com Inc. Reflecting that change at the annual threeday gathering of writers, booksellers and publishing house executives, ebook publishers and technology companies were given more prominent space in the heart of the showroom. Star authors, including Zadie Smith, Jo Nesbo and Michael Chabon, also took the spotlight, and there were plenty of jokes about erotic fiction hit, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” But the future of the industry was the focus, and the general feeling was that writers and publishers are coming to a better understanding of electronic publishing and marketing.

“This year it felt like there was high energy,” said Todd Humphrey of Canadian digital book company Kobo, one of the ebook companies that was moved from the Expo’s corner, where most of them were previously placed, to the

middle of the floor next to major publishers like Random House. Random House, the world’s largest general interest book publisher, is owned by Bertelsmann AG of Germany. “Last year, the publishing industry as a whole felt like it was a bit on its heels. This year there were a lot more smiles,” he added. “People are realizing, things are moving to digital, people need to adjust.”

Things are not all sweetness and light on the ebook publishing front, though. The Justice Department sued Apple Inc. and several publishers over ebook prices in April, accusing publishers of conspiring to exert price controls over digital book downloads. Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster reached a settlement with Justice that requires them to allow retailers including Amazon and Barnes & Noble to reduce the prices of ebooks they sell. Apple, The Macmillan Group and Penguin Group did not agree to a settlement, and the Justice Department has promised to pursue the case against them vigorously.

GRADUAL EVOLUTION Digital publishing companies, many of which produce ebooks for traditional publishers to meet demand for Apple’s iPad, Amazon’s Kindle or Barnes & Noble’s Nook, said they had noticed differences in attitude from big publishing houses. Major publishers have been criticized in the past for being slow to embrace digital formats. Now they are reducing the

number of printed books as ebook sales increase. Ebook net sales revenue for 2011 was $21.5 million, a gain of 332.6 percent over 2010. Print sales in 2011 were $335.9 million, compared to $328.3 million in 2010, a paltry 2 percent increase, according to a May report from the Association of American Publishers.

“I don’t think any of the publishers have their head in the sand anymore,” said Mark Gaff, director of operations at My Tablet Books, which specializes in illustrated book printing conversions. “Last year, there were still some ... saying, ‘It’s not going to happen’.” He added that many publishers had shifted their concerns to how to improve the visual quality of ebooks. The growing use of digital self-publishing, as well as newer methods of promoting books on the Web, were also key topics owing, at least in part, to the huge success of E.L. James “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which was originally self-released.

This week, Kobo expanded its ereader business with a new self-publishing platform but, like others, Humphrey said direct marketing by authors was still evolving. David Shanks, chief executive of Penguin Group USA, said marketing was the biggest change on people’s minds this year, with the “discoverability” of books from traditional print media becoming “fewer and fewer.” “It feels like there is a momentum building online,” said Shanks. “More than ever, if you can get a digital buzz going, starting with this show, then we think we can replace some of the exposure that we are losing.” — Reuters

Kenya’s fragile Lake Turkana threatened by Ethiopian dam

LOIYANGALANI: A security guard powers his mobile phone with solar energy as he guards a site owned by Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) near Lake Turkana, northern Kenya. —AFP

LOYANGALANI: The fishermen and herders eking out an existence on the shores of the majestic Lake Turkana risk having their way of life destroyed by a giant dam under construction in Ethiopia, their neighbor to the north. Glittering jade under the scorching sun, Lake Turkana is a fragile jewel in an arid environment already hit by global warming.

At 250 kilometers long by 60 kilometers wide at its largest point, it is the world’s biggest desert lake. “This is a precious lake, an amazingly beautiful one and maybe in 60 years from now you will not see the people here, nor the fish and you will have a dead lake,” Joseph Lekuton, a local legislator, warns.

Flowing down from the north, the river Omo supplies Lake Turkana with 80 percent of its water. Since 2006, Ethiopia has been building a dam several hundreds of kilometers upstream that will on completion be Africa’s highest. The 243-metre-high Gibe III dam will create a reservoir covering 210 square kilometers. In 2006 Kenya, which struggles to cover its energy needs, signed an agreement with Ethiopia to import up to

500 MW produced by the dam. For the people living around Lake Turkana that was seen as an act of betrayal. UNESCO-which classes part of the lake as a World Heritage site-condemned the Ethiopian dam project.

China stepped in to finance the project and around 50 percent of the dam has already been built. Crusading environmentalist Ikal Angelei, who founded the Friends of Lake Turkana pressure group in 2008, estimates that water levels in the lake will go down by two to five meters as the dam’s reservoir fills up and will never return to normal. “We are really definitely duplicating the Aral sea (devastated since the 1960s when water was pumped out to grow cotton) - building a dam and now putting sugarcane and cotton plantations downstream in the Omo basin, all things that will reduce the amount of water flowing into the lake,” Angelei said.

The surface area of the lake has already shrunk by dozens of meters over the past few years as rising temperatures have led to increased evaporation. That is in a region where temperatures already climb to over

40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for most of the year. ‘Really scary to think what could happen’-Fighting between communities for control of watering holes for livestock and grazing land has become more common as water has become scarcer and a year ago Turkana was the area of Kenya hit hardest by the drought and famine that struck East Africa.

“We have adapted to the changes over the years and we have built a sense of resilience but now we have reached a tipping point,” said Angelei, who earlier this year won the prestigious Goldman prizeconsidered a sort of Nobel prize for environmentalists.

“Should we have an abrupt change, it is really scary to think what could happen,” she went on, raising the spectre of local people becoming dependent on food aid or being herded into displaced camps. Lake Turkana is “a very fragile ecosystem”, and data on the dam’s potential impact has been limited, according to Achim Steiner, executive director for the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Program. — AFP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

100 Amazon birds risk extinction RIO DE JANEIRO: The list of Amazon bird species facing danger of extinction has risen sharply because their rainforest habitat is being slashed to make room for cattle ranching and agriculture, a conservationist group said Thursday. BirdLife International said that globally, 1,331 types of birds, or 13 percent of the world’s 10,064 total bird species, were listed as at risk on this year’s Red List of Threatened Species issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

That’s up from the 1,253 species classified as threatened on last year’s list.

The biggest jump came in the Amazon, where 100 Amazon avian species are now on the Red List, three of them in the highest-risk, “critically endangered” category. Only 10 were listed last year. The sudden jump is due to new models of future deforestation, which predicted accelerating destruction over the coming decade. “We have previously underestimated the risk of extinction that many of Amazonia’s bird species are facing,” said Leon Bennun, BirdLife’s director of sci-

ence, in a news release from the organization, which is an umbrella group representing conservation groups around the globe.

“Given the weakening of Brazilian forest law, the situation might be even worse than recent studies have predicted,” he said, referring to Brazil’s new Forest Code, which loosens protections on the Amazon and is expected to take effect in the coming months. The Rio Branco antbird was catapulted to the “critically endangered” category this year from the “near threatened” category on the 2011 list, meaning the bird was of some concern but not considered at risk of extinction, to the top, “critically endangered” category this year. The antbird’s relatively long, 10-12 year life-span makes it difficult for the little black bird with delicate white markings on its wings to adapt to habitat destruction, said BirdLife spokesman Martin Fowlie. The hoary-throated spinetail was added to the critically endangered category due to its limited habitat range. The tiny, rusty orange bird with a brown-

and-white spotted throat lives exclusively in pockets of forest on the northern edge of the Amazon, near Brazil’s border with Guyana. With land there being cleared for cattle ranching and soy production, the spinetails’ numbers are expected to plummet by about 80 percent over the coming decade, according to BirdLife. Beyond the Amazon, Brazil’s Atlantic coastline is the other main habitat for the country’s total of 152 threatened birds. The number of threatened species in other regions remained largely flat overall, with some species taken off the list while others were added.

At-risk species elsewhere in the world include northern Europe’s long-tailed duck, which is now listed as “vulnerable” after its population plummeted by more than 1 million over the past two decades. The reason for its falling numbers is unknown, BirdLife said. In Africa, the white-backed and Rueppell’s vultures have been classified as endangered due to loss of habitat and poisoning. They had previously not

Mite helps virus destroy beehives

Toxic mushroom kills woman in Australia SYDNEY: A woman reported to be visiting Australia from China has died after eating a toxic Death Cap mushroom-the third such fatality in the southern nation this year. The woman, aged in her 50s, died Friday at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, two days after being admitted with severe poisoning due to ingestion of the fungi, which resembles the Paddy Straw mushroom, a popular delicacy in Asia.

Doctors at the hospital said the woman, who was of Chinese descent, fell ill after eating a meal containing mushrooms picked in a local park. She is the third person to die in Australia from eating the silky, white-green tipped Death Cap mushroom this year, after a Chinese chef and his kitchen-hand died in January after mistakenly eating the toxic fungi. All parts of the Death Cap mushroom are poisonous and eating just one can be fatal. About half of all people who eat them die of organ failure. The Death Cap is native to Europe, where it is widespread, and it can also be found as an introduced species across North and South America, in Australia and in parts of Africa.— AFP

been listed as threatened. Still, there were glimmers of hope. Another little black bird from Brazil, the Restinga Antwren, was downlisted from critically endangered to endangered after a state park was created last year to protect its habitat on a sliver of Altantic coastline northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

Another success story was the Rarotonga monarch, a grey-and-white flycatcher that lives on the remote, South Pacific Cook Islands. Previously one of the world’s rarest birds, with a population that had dropped to fewer than 40 individuals, the Rarotonga was downgraded from “critically endangered” to “vulnerable” on the success of measures to control invasive alien predators. Its population has bounced back to an estimated 380 individuals, BirdLife said. BirdLife International researches and develops the entire avian section of the Red List. The Red List now contains almost 62,000 species of plants and animals, whose status is constantly monitored by conservationists.—AP

RANTHAMBORE: A tiger yawns at the Ranthambore National Park, in India’s northwestern Rajasthan state. —AFP

India approves ‘tiger corridor’ MUMBAI: India has approved four new tiger sanctuaries and a “tiger corridor” in the latest of a series of measures designed to stem the decline of the threatened species.

Prithviraj Chavan, chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra, announced the steps that will add more than 500 square kilometers to the state’s protected forest area. “Many do move from one forest to another. That’s why tiger corridors are crucial. These new sanctuaries will help in strengthening tiger corridors,” Chavan told reporters.

About 170-180 tigers are believed to

remain in Maharashtra state. In an effort to crack down on poaching, the state’s forest minister said last month that action would not be taken against officials who fire on poachers caught hunting tigers. India is home to half of the world’s rapidly shrinking wild tiger population but has been struggling to halt the big cat’s decline in the face of poachers, international smuggling networks and loss of habitat. The country has seen its tiger population plummet from an estimated 40,000 animals in 1947, when it gained independence from British colonial rule, to just 1,706 in 2011.— AFP

WASHINGTON: Parasitic mites linked to the deaths of millions of bee colonies worldwide may have destroyed them by incubating a potent virus and spreading it through the hives, according to a new report. The findings, published Thursday in the journal Science, could help explain the mysterious collapse of bee colonies in recent years, a threat to plant life and agriculture, which depend on the honey-making insects for pollination.

The research was carried out in Hawaii, where the Varroa mite arrived five years ago but has not yet spread to all the islands, allowing the scientists to investigate its impact on the spread of Deformed Wing Virus (DWV). The team, led by Stephen Martin of the University of Sheffield, England, found that the “spread of Varroa has selected DWV variants that... allow it to become one of the most widely distributed and contagious insect viruses on the planet.” The mites

act as a “viral reservoir and incubator,” and inject the virus directly into the bees when they feed on their blood, “bypassing conventional, established oral and sexual routes of transmission.”

The sudden disappearance of bee colonies, known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), has not yet been seen in Hawaii, “but all of the associated pests and pathogens are present,” the researchers said. One theory that has been advanced by some experts is that the huge numbers of bees dying worldwide since 2006 is not due to any single factor. Parasites, viral and bacterial infections, pesticides, and poor nutrition resulting from the impact of human activities on the environment have all played a role in the decline. The mysterious decimation of bee populations in the United States, Europe, Japan and elsewhere in recent years has threatened agricultural production worth tens of billions of dollars.—AFP

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SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

WHAT’S ON Aware Diwaniya he AWARE Center cordially invites you to its diwaniya presentation entitled, “The Power of Water and Words,” by Sharifa Carlo on Tuesday June 12, 2012 at 7:00pm.

Dr. Masaru Emoto is a prominent Japanese researcher who has studied and documented the physical power of words.

His research uses water and crystal formation as stimulated by key words & phrases. Shariffa Carlo will explore Dr Emoto’s research into words and the physical effects they have on the world around us as it relates to teachings in the Holy Quraan and the traditions of the prophet Muhammad.

Shariffa Carlo is a Professor of English for Engineering at the Public Authority for Applied Education. She has a BA in English, a BS in International Relations, an MA in Composition & Rhetoric. Also she is ABD in Computer Applications of Linguistics. She has an Ijaza (traditional Islamic degree) in General Islamic Knowledge & has lectured world-wide from China to LA and many countries in between on Islamic & political topics as well as Computer Assisted Instruction, Robotic Artificial Intelligence, Rhetoric & other topics. She has published countless articles & researches and has 2 published books. And her most treasured accomplishment is that of a mother. For more information, call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

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Kindergarten graduation he Kids World Nursery and Kindergarten hosted a graduation ceremony for class of 2011/2012, featuring an operetta and other various activities. Headmistress Narjis Al-Shatty rewarded the graduate students at the end of the event.

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Art Sawa hosts exhibition n exhibition called Sense & Sensibilities will be held from May 30 till June 19 at Art Sawa by Hend Al-Falafly explores through her most recent and intimate works” Senses and Sensibilities” the different emotions expressed by the women, usually which are part of her daily life. She strongly uses body language to understand the meaningful silence carried over their experiences and different stories. Hend reflects all its semantic in the facial expressions and movements of the hands, the feet, the look, the clothes, and reveals then the tension, and the emotions repressed. “The pencils are my instruments, my tools, simply to express the intimate relationships of my social circle and, my work is mixed with strong realism which contains symbolism with very expressive meaning in the same time” she says. A different realism inspires her and has great impact in her works, which breaths from an inherent activity revealed through an incredible movement and light. No secret can be kept hidden, all is revealed. info@artsawa.com

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Kera Abbassiya election e are glad to inform you that the adhock 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 Abbassiya unit shall be conducted on Friday15th June 2012 at 5:30PM at successline hall(1st floor/Tandem Building,back side of United Indian school) abbassiya.

The election procedures shall be followed strictly & fully subjected to the draft bye-law formed by the adhock committee, all members from the abbassiya area are requested to attend and make the election grand and successful.

For more details please contact the following KERA officials for assistance.

Jomy Augustine (Mobile: 66874364), Subair Elaman (Mobile: 66900455), Sadashivan PM (Mobile: 66259587), Kalam. U.A (Mobile: 97845697)

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Announcements Open House for Indian citizens pen House for Indian citizens by the ambassador which is being held every alternate Wednesday has been found useful by the Indian community and the embassy. It will now be held on every Wednesday from June 2012 between 1500 hrs and 1600 hrs. in the embassy. During the month of June, 2012 the dates for the open house fall today, 13th, 20th, and 27th of the month. In case Wednesday is an embassy holiday, the meeting will be held on the next working day.

To ensure timely action/follow-up by the embassy, it is requested that, wherever possible, Indian citizens should exhaust the existing channels of interaction/grievance redressal and bring their problems/issues in writing with supporting documents. It may be mentioned that embassy of Indiaís Consular 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.

For any unaddressed issues, Second Secretary (Consular) could be contacted. Furthermore, the head of the Consular Wing is also available to redress grievances. Similarly, a labour wing Help Desk functions from 0830 hrs to 1300 hrs and 1400 hrs to 1630 hrs in the Labour Hall to address the labour related issues. There is also a 24x7 Help Line (Tel No. 25674163) to assist labourers in distress. For any unaddressed issues, the concerned attaches in the labour section and the head of the labour wing could be contacted.

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‘Leniency of Islam’ An unprecedented initiative of KTV2 (English channel) is the new program by the name ‘Leniency of Islam’ presented by Shaikh Musaad Alsane and directed by Hamid Al-Turkait. The program is mainly meant to address the expatriates living in Kuwait. Religious questions are received through the program email qislam@tv.gov.kw and sms can be sent to97822021 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.

Free Arabic course IPC is opening an Intensive Basic Arabic Course for ladies commencing from June 3 to July 8, 2012. The class will be from 5-7 pm for three days a week. Registration is on! For information, call 22512257.

Rahul Gandhi honored

by Cultural Congress (I) leaders in Kuwait ravasee Cultural Congress (I) president Jacob Channapetta and IOC General secretary Raju Zacriah led delegation to meet and honor the visiting Indian Parliament member and the India’s ruling congress (I) party general secretary Rahul Gandhi at Sheraton hotel pavilion yesterday.

Rahul Gandhi, the son of Late Rajiv Gandhi and the grandson of Indira Gandhi belongs to the family who ruled India in the past 6 decades. Visiting delegation member Kanishkar Singh, Indian Lawyer’s Forum president Adv Thomas Panicker, and PDCC (I) office bearers Joy Karavaloor, Abdulla Thrikkaripur, Jose Samuel, George Thomas, Jayesh Onaseril, Benny perikalethu, Achenkutty and Sebastian Purayidom also participated in the honoring meeting.

The cultural congress leaders discussed various community issues including recent Air India strike and urged to Rahul Gandhi to use his office’s good efforts to put an end the pilots strike in India.

The delegation also appealed to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and the parliament member to use his ability to create enough room in the law, that Indian passengers all over the world may not find traveling a nightmare.

The delegation requested to Rahul Gandhi also that to induct Pravasee congress leaders to AICC and Pradesh congress committees respectively.

Rahul Gandhi assured the delegation that he will look into the issues very positively.

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Farewell he organisation of the Physical Education Teachers of Indian Schools Kuwait organised farewell for Mr. Thomas Kutty, Physical Director of Indian Public School, Salmiya. Mr.Thomas Kutty hails from Alappuzha, Kerala is working for the past 30 Years in Kuwait in the field of Physical Education and sports. He was a well known weight lifter in Kerala in 1970s and 80s, many times Kerala university champion and also declared as the Strong man of Kerala university in 1980. He is a very well known sports†organizer†of various events in Kuwait. The farewell meeting was organised in the Indian Public School Auditorium, salmiya on 30 May 2012.

Mr.Kenneth Rodrigues, Principal, Indian Public School, Salmiya was the special guest in the meeting. Mr. Jacob Vaidyan of United Indian School gave a briefing about Mr. Thomas Kutty. Also Mr. Manpreet Singh and Mr. Sebastian Joseph speak about the senior teacher. Mr. D.K. Dileep of DPS Ahmadi delivered the Vote of thanks.

Mrs. Latha, Mrs. Kala Santhosh, Mrs. Seema, Mr. Prajeesh, Mr. Varghese, Mr. Ivan, Mr. Ramesh, Mr. Chandramouli, Mr. Sadeesh where present in the meeting. Mr. Thomaskutty thanked all the teachers, schools and students of Kuwait for their support to make his stay comfortable in Kuwait.

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Karate students graduate he Kuwait Banks Club hosted an event recently to reward fifty junior karate students who graduated from a recent training class organized for children of banking sector employees. The event was attended by senior KBC officials including Head of the Sports Committee Khalil Al-Blushi, and Head of the Social Committee Reem Al-Wuqaiyan, in addition to General Manager of the Kuwait’s Karate national team Mohammad Al-Sadeq.

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SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

WHAT’S ON

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

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AUK participates in REUSE 5.0 heAmerican University of Kuwait participated in the annual REUSE 5.0 exhibition, held this year on the premises of the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK).

During theexhibition, a number of AUK students and professors showcased their work under two categories; the Social Programs category and the Community category. The AUK exhibits included artwork made of reused or re-purposed materialsthat promote environmental conservation.The AUK delegation was led by Professor William Andersen of the Art and Graphic Design Program, andProfessor Charles Cangeofthe newly introduced Environmental Studies Minor Program at AUK. AUK’s Environmental Studies Program is the first of its kind in Kuwait.

Organized by the En.V Initiative, the 4day REUSE 5.0 featured a dynamic mix of art galleries, music, short films, a lounge, trendy eco- fashion, accessories andmore. The last day of the event celebrated Earth Day, bringing in the renowned Moroccan artist and photog-

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EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait.

Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.uae.gc.ca.

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rapher Hassan Hajjaj and the award winning Graphic Designer, TarekAtrissi, who both gave short inspirational talks on incorporating eco-friendly thought into creative art projects.

REUSE 5.0 serves as an opportunity for non-profit organizations, companies, professionals and aspiring creative talents to showcase their accom-

plishments in the fields of social responsibility and sustainability. REUSE aims to promote eco-friendly living and provide a platform for those who strive to incorporate this principle into their work.

The American University of Kuwait (AUK) is an independent, private, equal opportunity, and co-educational liberal

arts institution of higher education. The educational, cultural and administrative structure, methods and standards of AUK are based on the American model of higher learning. The language of instruction is English. More information on the American University of Kuwait can be found atwww.auk.edu.kw

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

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

EMBASSY OF KENYA

IIS name emblazoned on swimming pennant ndeed it’s a matter of immense pride for IIS as our students have excelled in swimming competition held at DPS, Ahmadi on 26th May 2012. Five of our outstanding students participated with sheer will power, determination and swimming prowess. It is impressive to proclaim that our students once again brought laurals and enlightened the glory of the school by achieving gold, silver and bronze medals.

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It was a remarkable achievement for Sahaj Bafna of class XII who won 3 gold medals in breast stroke and two gold medals in free style. It is amazing to know that he was declared the individual champion in swimming competition but also the longest and fastest swimmer in the gulf.

Adil of class XII secured second position in 50mts in Breast stroke and won silver medals, 100mts free style and won bronze

level. Mustafa Mal of class XII secured 3rd position in 100mts breast stroke and won bronze medal.

In the medley relay comprising of five students namely Sahaj Bafna, Adil, Mustafa Mal, Asad Moidu & Saad Moidu our school secured third position and won bronze medal.

It is exciting to know that IIS is not only grooming the students in terms of aca-

demics but also coaching them relentlessly in terms of sports under the auspices of sports teacher Prajeesh.

Director Malayil Moosa Koya and Principal FM Basheer Ahmed congratulated the winners for their tremendous performance and instilled motivation and confidence in the budding swimming champions to hone their potentials and display a sturdy resistance.

The Regency showcases myriad of exotic treats at its Asian Culinary Gems buffet ollowing the huge success of its unbeatable Friday Brunch, The Regency Hotel is keeping Kuwait’s foodies and families happy with the launch of a spectacular new Thursday buffet entitled Asian Culinary Gems.

As the name suggests, this sumptuous culinary selection covers a plethora of nations, with special focus on gastronomic favorites from India, South and Southeast Asia, to suit all ages and palates. The buffet offers an astonishing seventeen types

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lemongrass and lime leaves As usual, The Regency’s live stations will be cooking up a storm so that diners can enjoy a huge assortment of tastes and textures, such as the freshly made Vietnamese rice paper rolls; assorted Chinese-style, steamed dumplings; grilled vermicelli in Mongolian style and the

endless confectionary creations such as Nam Keng Sai - a Thai sweet, popular under different names in many Southeast Asian nations; it is shaved iced piled high with colorful sauces and toppings; a heavenly dessert in the Kuwait summertime!

Asian Culinary Gems launches Thursday May 31st and continues every Thursday

Regency has garnered a bevy of loyal patrons already, I am sure they will be excited by the range of new cuisines that we are showcasing at our Asian Culinary Gems buffet, we hope to also attract new guests for whom authentic Asian food is a highlight”.

In June, The Regency will also launch a

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

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

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

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, AlSalaam 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 ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF NEPAL The Embassy of Nepal has moved to a new location in Jabriya, Block 8, St. 13, House No. 514, effective from 15th April, 2012. Till the new telephone connections are installed, the Embassy may be contacted by email: info@nepembku.org ■■■■■■■

of starters that cover a range of spicy, sweet and zesty flavours. These delectable items include marinated pomelo in soyasesame dressing; minced chicken salad with lime and lemongrass and Tandoori lamb salad, with mint and coriander. For lovers of Japanese fare, there is the sensational raw tuna and kingfish tataki.

Expect a phenomenal variety of main courses too, the most popular being the roasted red snapper, salt and pepper mushrooms and grilled chicken with

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 crispy Japanese tempura.

Classic Indian delights abound too, from home-made Paratha to the homecooked Tandoori chicken. Meat lovers should not miss the soya- and honeyglazed roasted barbeque lamb racks and barbequed duck.

For those with a sweet tooth there are

from 7pm - 11pm, reservations are highly recommended! Reservations may be made on telephone 0096525766749 The Regency’s culinary team is headed by Executive Chef, Austen Reid who hails from Glasgow, Scotland, who has won an astonishing array of culinary awards.

Speaking at the event he said “The

In this file photo, Babu Chackola, Mangaf based drama activist presents a memento to late music director Johnson when the maestro came to Kuwait for a concert organized

by Kalpak theater group Kuwait. Babu Chakola is organizing a function in honor of the late musician on June 24 in his native Thrissoor where Johnson’s widow will be awarded. Playback singer Sudeep is also seen in the photo.

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fantastic Canadian lobster set menu, as well as celebrating the arrival of summer with a delectable pannacotta promotion and a unique range of smoothies both of which will be presented at Al Liwan. For more details on these culinary events, please call (965)25766749

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

EMBASSY OF THAILAND The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait, wishes to invite the Kuwaiti companies that deal business with Thai companies or those agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register their relevant information to be part of the embassy’s business and trade database. The Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6, Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 -25317531, Ext: 14.

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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, JUNE 10, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

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

Untamed & Uncut Into The Pride Whale Wars: Viking Shores Great Animal Escapes Great Animal Escapes Karina: Wild On Safari Karina: Wild On Safari Great Ocean Adventures Dogs 101 Escape To Chimp Eden Crocodile Hunter The Planet’s Funniest Animals Growing Up...

Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Project Puppy Dogs 101 Wildest Arctic Wildest Arctic Wildlife SOS Safari Vet School Safari Vet School Must Love Cats Wild Africa Rescue Wild Africa Rescue Max’s Big Tracks Austin Stevens Adventures Great Ocean Adventures Wildest Africa Wildwives Of Savannah Lane I Was Bitten Animal Cops South Africa

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

Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Cash In The Attic Cash In The Attic Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Cash In The Attic USA Cash In The Attic USA MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia 10 Years Younger Gok’s Fashion Fix Gok’s Fashion Fix DIY SOS DIY SOS Holmes On Homes Holmes On Homes What Not To Wear Gok’s Clothes Roadshow Gok’s Clothes Roadshow Celebrity MasterChef Celebrity MasterChef DIY SOS DIY SOS Holmes On Homes

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

Duck Dodgers The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Jetsons Puppy In My Pocket Popeye Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races The Flintstones A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Popeye Classics Wacky Races Pink Panther And Pals Dexter’s Laboratory

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

Bananas In Pyjamas Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Ha Ha Hairies The Garfield Show The Looney Tunes Show What’s New Scooby-Doo? Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Yogi’s Treasure Hunt Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch Wacky Races The Good, The Bad And...

Dastardly And Muttley Looney Tunes Scooby-Doo And ScrappyTom & Jerry Top Cat Top Cat Pink Panther & Pals The Garfield Show The Looney Tunes Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Scooby Doo Show Pink Panther And Pals The Jetsons Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries What’s New Scooby-Doo? The Garfield Show The Flintstones Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch Popeye Scooby-Doo And ScrappyWacky Races Dastardly And Muttley New Yogi Bear Show

00:30 Bakugan: New Vestroia 00:55 Bakugan: New Vestroia 01:20 Powerpuff Girls 02:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 03:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 03:25 Ben 10 03:50 Adventure Time 04:15 Powerpuff Girls 04:40 Generator Rex 05:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:55 Angelo Rules 06:00 Casper’s Scare School 06:25 Casper’s Scare School 07:00 The Powerpuff Girls 07:15 Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi 07:40 The Amazing World Of Gumball 08:05 Adventure Time 08:55 Regular Show 09:20 Evil Con Carne 09:45 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 10:05 Thundercats 10:35 Hero 108 11:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 11:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 11:50 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 12:15 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 12:40 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 13:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 13:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 13:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 14:20 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 14:45 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 15:10 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 15:35 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 16:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 16:25 Ben 10: Race Against Time 17:40 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 20:35 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 21:00 Star Wars: The Clone Wars 21:25 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 21:50 Cow And Chicken 22:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Ben 10 23:40 Chowder

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:15

Living Golf World Sport World Report Talk Asia World Report Amanpour CNN Marketplace Europe CNN Marketplace Africa

03:30 The Brief 04:00 CNN Presents 05:00 CNN Newsroom 06:00 Eco Solutions 06:30 Inside Africa 07:00 World Sport 07:30 Cnngo 08:00 World Report 08:15 CNN Marketplace Middle East 08:30 Talk Asia 09:00 World Report 09:15 CNN Marketplace Europe 09:30 Business Traveller 10:00 World Sport 10:30 Mainsail 11:00 African Voices 11:30 The Brief 12:00 World Report 12:30 World’s Untold Stories 13:00 CNN Presents 14:00 World Report 14:30 Inside The Middle East 15:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 16:00 State Of The Union With Candy Crowley 17:00 International Desk 17:30 Inside Africa 18:00 Global Exchange 18:15 CNN Marketplace Africa 18:30 Global Exchange 18:45 CNN Marketplace Middle East 19:00 World Sport 19:30 Living Golf 20:00 International Desk 20:30 African Voices 21:00 International Desk 21:30 Cnngo 22:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 23:00 World Report 23:30 World’s Untold Stories

00:40 Nothing Personal 01:35 Kidnap And Rescue 02:30 How It’s Made 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 How Do They Do It? 06:35 How It’s Made 07:00 How It’s Made 07:25 How It’s Made 07:50 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior 08:45 Desert Car Kings 09:40 X-Machines 10:30 Hillbilly Handfishin’ 11:25 When Fish Attack 12:20 How It’s Made 14:10 How It’s Made 14:35 Auction Hunters 16:00 Auction Hunters 16:25 Auction Hunters 16:55 Border Security 18:45 Border Security 19:10 Soul Food Family 20:05 Unchained Reaction 21:00 James May’s Man Lab 21:55 Curiosity 22:50 James May’s Man Lab 23:45 James May’s Man Lab`

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

Stuck With Hackett Stuck With Hackett Powering The Future Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger Sport Science Sport Science Sport Science Sport Science Sport Science Mega World Brave New World How Does That Work?

How Does That Work?

Engineered NASA: UFO Or No? Mega World Catch It Keep It Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger Scrapheap Challenge Weird Or What?

Patent Bending Patent Bending Future Weapons Sci-Fi Saved My Life Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger

A PERFECT GETAWAY ON OSN ACTION HD

18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:50 23:40

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

Brave New World Prophets Of Science Fiction The Science Of Star Wars Stuck With Hackett Stuck With Hackett Prophets Of Science Fiction The Science Of Star Wars Dark Matters

Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic A Kind Of Magic Stitch Stitch Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic A Kind Of Magic Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Suite Life Of Zack And So Random Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Halloweentown Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie A.N.T. Farm Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Austin & Ally Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Halloweentown 2 A.N.T. Farm Austin & Ally Shake It Up Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Jessie Halloweentown Phineas And Ferb Fish Hooks The Suite Life Of Zack And The Suite Life Of Zack And Sonny With A Chance

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:20 American Dragon 06:45 Incredible Hulk 07:10 Pokemon: Black And White 07:35 Phineas And Ferb 08:00 Iron Man Armored Adventures 08:25 Rated A For Awesome 08:50 Mr. Young 09:15 Kickin It 09:40 Phineas And Ferb 10:05 Pair Of Kings 10:30 Scaredy Squirrel 10:55 Zeke & Luther 11:20 I’m In The Band 11:45 Phineas And Ferb 12:10 Fort Boyard - Ultimate Challenge 12:35 Pair Of Kings 13:00 Motocrossed 14:35 Kickin It 15:00 Phineas And Ferb 15:10 Phineas And Ferb 15:25 Kick Buttowski 15:50 Pair Of Kings 16:15 Iron Man Armored Adventures 16:40 Zeke & Luther 17:05 Mr. Young 17:30 I’m In The Band 17:55 Rated A For Awesome 18:20 Kickin It 18:45 Phineas And Ferb 19:10 Scaredy Squirrel 19:35 Pokemon: Black And White 20:00 Zeke & Luther 20:25 Rekkit Rabbit 20:50 Kick Buttowski 21:15 Pair Of Kings 21:40 Phineas And Ferb 22:05 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 22:30 Kid vs Kat 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am KSA

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 THS 02:20 E! Investigates 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Then And Now 05:30 Then And Now 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Extreme Close-Up 09:45 Extreme Close-Up 10:15 THS 11:10 Ice Loves Coco 11:35 Ice Loves Coco 12:05 E! News 13:05 Style Star 13:35 Style Star 14:05 Keeping Up With Kardashians 15:00 Kourtney & Kim Take York 15:25 Kourtney & Kim Take York 15:55 Kourtney & Kim Take York 16:55 Behind The Scenes 17:25 Behind The Scenes 17:55 E! News 18:55 Kendra 19:25 Giuliana & Bill 20:25 Ice Loves Coco 20:55 Khloe And Lamar 21:25 Khloe And Lamar 21:55 Ice Loves Coco 22:25 Fashion Police 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With Kardashians

The New New New

The

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

Mysterious Journeys Ghost Lab The Haunted A Haunting Mysterious Journeys True Crime With Aphrodite

01:50 03:55 05:50 07:30 09:25 10:55 12:30 14:25 16:20 16:35 18:40 20:15 22:00 23:45

Who’ll Stop The Rain?

Knightriders-18 American Ninja 4-18 Silent Victim-18 K-9000-PG Mystery Date The Manhattan Project Play Dirty-PG Mgm’s Big Screen-FAM Khartoum-PG Dust Factory-PG They Call Me Mister Tibbs!-PG The Wilby Conspiracy-PG Flesh And Blood-18

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

Geo Sessions Geo Sessions One Man & His Campervan One Man & His Campervan Food School Food School Somewhere In China Racing To America Wedding Crasher: The Real

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

Mystery Diagnosis Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared American Greed American Greed Scorned: Crimes Of Passion

Food School Food School Somewhere In China Racing To America One Man & His Campervan One Man & His Campervan Which Way To The Frankincense Trail Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Wedding Crasher: The Real Food School Food School Somewhere In China Racing To America A World Apart Geo Sessions Geo Sessions Around The World For Free Departures Banged Up Abroad Adventure Wanted Into The Drink Into The Drink

Geo Sessions Geo Sessions One Man & His Campervan One Man & His Campervan Food School Food School Somewhere In China Racing To America Wedding Crasher: The Real Food School Food School Somewhere In China Racing To America One Man & His Campervan One Man & His Campervan Which Way To The Frankincense Trail Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Wedding Crasher: The Real Food School Food School Somewhere In China Racing To America A World Apart Geo Sessions Geo Sessions Around The World For Free Departures Banged Up Abroad Adventure Wanted Into The Drink Into The Drink

00:00 Air Crash Investigation 01:00 Taboo 02:00 Megastructures 03:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 04:00 Shark Men 05:00 Banged Up Abroad 06:00 Light At The Edge of The World 07:00 Departures 08:00 Air Crash Investigation 09:00 Taboo 10:00 Megastructures 11:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 12:00 Shark Men 13:00 Banged Up Abroad 14:00 Light At The Edge of The World 15:00 Departures 16:00 Situation Critical 17:00 Taboo 18:00 Megastructures 19:00 Megastructures

LETTERS TO JUIET ON OSN CINEMA 20:00 Nat Geo’s Most Amazing Photos 20:30 Nat Geo’s Most Amazing Photos 21:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 22:00 Sea Patrol 23:00 Air Crash Investigation

00:00 Wild Chronicles 00:30 Wild Chronicles 01:00 World Wild Web 01:25 World Wild Web 01:55 Great Migrations 02:50 Croc Labyrinth 03:45 Expedition Wild 04:40 Will Work For Nuts 05:35 Rescue Ink 06:30 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 07:25 Swamp Men 08:20 Monkey Thieves 08:45 Monkey Thieves 09:15 Snake Wranglers 09:40 Snake Wranglers 10:10 Africa’s Deadliest 11:05 The Living Edens 12:00 The Great Serengeti (aka Serengeti) 13:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 14:00 Monster Fish 15:00 Wild India (aka Secrets of Wild India) 16:00 How Big Can It Get 17:00 Snake Wranglers 17:30 Snake Wranglers 18:00 Animal Superpowers 19:00 Wild India (aka Secrets of Wild India) 20:00 How Big Can It Get 21:00 Snake Wranglers 21:30 Snake Wranglers 22:00 Animal Superpowers 23:00 The Great Serengeti (aka Serengeti)

00:00 Kill List-R 02:00 Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown-18 04:00 The Recruit-PG15 06:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 08:00 Odysseus: Voyage To The Underworld-PG15 10:00 Wild Bill-PG15 12:00 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 14:15 Odysseus: Voyage To The Underworld-PG15 16:00 Snake In The Eagle’s ShadowPG15 17:45 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 20:00 A Perfect Getaway-18 22:00 Avp: Alien vs Predator-PG15

01:00 St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold-PG15 03:00 Jumping The Broom-PG15 05:00 True Story Of Puss’n Boots-PG 07:00 Prom-PG15 09:00 St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold-PG15 11:00 Letters To Juliet-PG15 13:00 Tomorrow, When The War Began-PG15 15:00 Gasland-PG15 17:00 Africa United-PG15 19:00 District 9-PG15 21:00 Tamara Drewe-18 23:00 Awaydays-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 02:30 The Big C 03:00 Parks And Recreation 03:30 Bent 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Seinfeld 06:00 Dharma And Greg 06:30 10 Items Or Less 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:30 Parks And Recreation 09:00 Seinfeld 09:30 The Office 10:00 Breaking In 10:30 10 Items Or Less

11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Dharma And Greg 13:00 Til Death 13:30 10 Items Or Less 14:00 Bent 14:30 Breaking In 15:00 The Office 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Dharma And Greg 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 Last Man Standing 19:00 Two And A Half Men 19:30 Friends With Benefits 20:00 Whitney 20:30 Napoleon Dynamite 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 23:00 The Big C 23:30 Whitney

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

Criminal Minds C.S.I. New York Law & Order: Criminal Intent C.S.I. Rescue Me The View Good Morning America The Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Martha Stewart Show The View Criminal Minds C.S.I. Law & Order: Criminal Intent Live Good Morning America The Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street Covert Affairs Bones Burn Notice Top Gear (US) Rescue Me

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 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Psych Law & Order: Criminal Intent Criminal Minds C.S.I. New York C.S.I. Eureka Psych Emmerdale Coronation Street Charlie’s Angels Law & Order: Criminal Intent Criminal Minds C.S.I. Emmerdale Coronation Street Charlie’s Angels Psych Emmerdale Coronation Street Charlie’s Angels Covert Affairs Bones Burn Notice Top Gear (US) Treme

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

Malibu Shark Attack-18 The Recruit-PG15 Julia’s Eyes-18 Game Of Death-PG15 All Star Superman-PG15 Fatal Secrets-PG15 Behind Enemy Lines-PG15 All Star Superman-PG15 The Losers-PG15 Full Metal Jacket-18 Avp: Alien vs Predator-PG15 Luster-18

00:00 18 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00

The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who...Mystery Men-PG15 Snow Dogs-PG I’ll Be Home For Christmas-PG Paper Man-PG15 Marmaduke-PG Indian Summer-PG15 Not The Messiah: He’s A Very

Naughty Boy-PG15 16:00 Marmaduke-PG 18:00 Inspector Gadget (1999)PG15 20:00 Grown Ups-PG15

00:00 Live PBS Newshour 01:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 02:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 03:00 Live NBC Saturday Today Show 05:00 Live ABC 20/20 06:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 07:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 08:00 Live PBS Newshour 09:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 10:00 MSNBC The Dylan Ratigan Show 11:00 MSNBC Hardball W/ Chris Matthews 12:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 13:00 Live ABC 20/20 14:00 MSNBC Hardball Weekend 14:30 MSNBC Your Business 15:00 Live NBC Sunday Today Show 17:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 18:00 MSNBC Melissa Harris-Perry 20:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 21:00 MSNBC Hardball W/ Chris Matthews 22:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 23:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show

01:00 08:00 10:00 11:00 13:00 21:00 23:00

Test Cricket Live NRL Premiership Super Rugby Highlights International Rugby Union Live Test Cricket International Rugby Union Trans World Sport

00:00 International Rugby Union 02:00 Rugby Match Day 02:30 International Rugby Union 04:30 Rugby Match Day 05:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 Live NRL Premiership 09:00 International Rugby Union 11:00 International Rugby Union 13:00 Live International Rugby Union 15:00 Live Darts 19:00 NRL Premiership 21:00 Live Darts

01:45 AFL Premiership 04:15 NRL Premiership 06:00 Live Rugby Union Pacific Nations Cup 08:00 Live Rugby Union Pacific Nations Cup 10:00 Volvo Ocean Race 11:30 PGA European Tour Weekly 12:00 AFL Premiership 14:30 Live PGA European Tour 18:30 Volvo Ocean Race 19:30 AFL Premiership

00:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:15 14:45 16:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line UFC UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed WWE Vintage Collection Live AFL Premiership WWE Experience WWE This Week Mobil 1 The Grid Volvo Ocean Race Live Volvo Ocean Race WWE SmackDown WWE Experience V8 Supercars Highlights V8 Supercars Highlights UFC Prelims

Classifieds SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JZR QTR JZR JZR ETH RJA GFA UAE ETD DHX FDB MSR RBG QTR KAC THY CLX KAC DHX FCX JZR KAC BAW KAC KAC IRA FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR MEA FDB IRA ETD GFA IRC FCX MEA JZR MSR MSC JZR JZR AFR SYR KAC MSR GFA KAC FDB KAC KNE KAC QTR SVA RJA JZR KAC QTR JZR JZR ETD UAE UAL GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY KAC QTR KAC KAC KAC FDB MSR MSC JZR KAC KAC JAI KAC KAC AXB FDB OMA MEA QTR GFA JZR ALK KAC KLM JZR UAE ETD KAC ABY QTR DHX KAC AIC FDB GFA UAL JZR DLH MSR THY JAI PIA

Arrival Flights on Sunday 10/6/2012 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 539 CAIRO 267 BEIRUT 620 ADDIS ABABA 642 AMMAN 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 370 BAHRAIN 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 3553 ALEXANDRIA 138 DOHA 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 792 LUXEMBOURG 154 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 201 DUBAI 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 615 SHAHRE KORD 53 DUBAI 284 DHAKA 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 408 BEIRUT 55 DUBAI 603 SHIRAZ 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 6801 AHWAZ 203 DUBAI 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 618 ALEXANDRIA 401 ALEXANDRIA 561 SOHAG 201 DAMASCUS 6708 PARIS 341 DAMASCUS 742 DAMMAM 610 CAIRO 219 BAHRAIN 672 DUBAI 57 DUBAI 774 RIYADH 472 JEDDAH 538 SOHAG 140 DOHA 500 JEDDAH 640 AMMAN 257 BEIRUT 788 JEDDAH 134 DOHA 213 DEIREZZOR 535 CAIRO 303 ABU DHABI 857 DUBAI 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 177 DUBAI 777 JEDDAH 127 SHARJAH 502 BEIRUT 144 DOHA 542 CAIRO 786 JEDDAH 166 PARIS 63 DUBAI 624 SOHAG 405 SOHAG 787 RIYADH 618 DOHA 674 DUBAI 572 MUMBAI 102 NEW YORK 562 AMMAN 389 KOZHIKODE 61 DUBAI 647 MUSCAT 402 BEIRUT 146 DOHA 221 BAHRAIN 481 SABIHA 229 COLOMBO 514 TEHRAN 417 AMSTERDAM 135 BAHRAIN 859 DUBAI 307 ABU DHABI 172 FRANKFURT 129 SHARJAH 136 DOHA 372 BAHRAIN 678 MUSCAT 981 CHENNAI 59 DUBAI 217 BAHRAIN 981 BAHRAIN 239 AMMAN 636 FRANKFURT 614 CAIRO 772 ISTANBUL 574 MUMBAI 205 LAHORE

Time 0:15 0:20 0:30 0:50 1:45 2:10 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:55 3:10 3:20 3:20 3:25 4:10 4:35 4:55 4:55 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:15 6:30 7:15 7:30 7:35 7:45 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:10 9:20 9:25 9:30 10:00 10:15 10:30 10:55 11:05 11:25 12:00 12:25 12:30 12:35 12:35 13:25 13:30 13:40 13:40 13:45 13:45 14:15 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:15 15:30 16:00 16:35 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:30 17:40 17:45 18:00 18:05 18:15 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 20:25 20:35 20:55 20:55 20:55 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:05 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 JAI THY ETH UAE FDB DHX RBG ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR RJA JZR JZR GFA THY KAC CLX BAW FDB IRA KAC JZR ABY KAC JZR KAC KAC UAE JZR QTR FDB MEA ETD IRA KAC KAC GFA IRC KAC FCX MEA KAC JZR MSR KAC MSC KAC JZR JZR SYR AFR GFA FDB MSR KAC KAC KNE KAC KAC SVA RJA JZR QTR KAC ETD JZR JZR QTR UAE JZR GFA ABY UAL SVA JZR QTR FDB MSR MSC JZR KAC JAI FDB KAC KAC OMA MEA KAC GFA JZR DHX ALK KLM ABY ETD UAE FCX KAC QTR KAC KAC DHX JZR QTR AXB FDB GFA KAC KAC JZR

Depature Flights on Sunday 10/6/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 52 DUBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC 637 FRANKFURT 615 CAIRO 573 MUMBAI 773 ISTANBUL 621 ADDIS ABABA 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 3554 ALEXANDRIA 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 643 AMMAN 164 DUBAI 200 DAMASCUS 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 537 SOHAG 792 GIALAM 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 614 SHAHRE 171 FRANKFURT 256 BEIRUT 126 SHARJAH 117 NEW YORK 534 CAIRO 671 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 856 DUBAI 212 DEIREZZOR 133 DOHA 56 DUBAI 409 BEIRUT 302 ABU DHABI 602 SHIRAZ 741 DAMMAM 773 RIYADH 214 BAHRAIN 6802 AHWAZ 541 CAIRO 204 DUBAI 405 BEIRUT 501 BEIRUT 776 JEDDAH 623 SOHAG 103 LONDON 406 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 480 ISTANBUL 176 DUBAI 342 ALEPPO 6708 DUBAI 220 BAHRAIN 58 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 561 AMMAN 673 DUBAI 473 JEDDAH 677 MUSCAT 617 DOHA 503 MADINAH 641 AMMAN 786 RIYADH 135 DOHA 513 IMAM KHOMEINI 304 ABU DHABI 238 AMMAN 538 CAIRO 141 DOHA 858 DUBAI 134 BAHRAIN 216 BAHRAIN 128 SHARJAH 982 BAHRAIN 511 RIYADH 266 BEIRUT 145 DOHA 64 DUBAI 621 ALEXANDRIA 402 ALEXANDRIA 184 DUBAI 361 COLOMBO 571 MUMBAI 62 DUBAI 283 DHAKA 351 KOCHI 648 MUSCAT 403 BEIRUT 543 CAIRO 222 BAHRAIN 502 LUXOR 171 BAHRAIN 230 COLOMBO 417 DAMMAM 120 SHARJAH 308 ABU DHABI 860 DUBAI 102 BAHRAIN 343 CHENNAI 137 DOHA 301 MUMBAI 205 ISLAMABAD 373 BAHRAIN 554 ALEXANDRIA 147 DOHA 390 MANGALORE 60 DUBAI 218 BAHRAIN 411 BANGKOK 415 KUALA LUMPUR 528 ASSIUT

Time 0:05 0:10 0:25 0:30 0:35 0:50 2:15 2:45 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:05 4:20 4:50 5:40 6:00 6:50 6:55 7:00 7:05 7:10 8:05 8:15 8:25 8:25 8:35 8:55 9:00 9:05 9:05 9:10 9:20 9:35 9:40 9:45 10:00 10:05 10:10 10:15 10:25 10:25 10:25 10:45 11:15 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:15 12:25 12:30 13:00 13:10 13:15 13:20 13:35 14:20 14:25 14:25 14:30 14:40 15:05 15:15 15:25 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 18:50 19:05 19:25 19:55 20:00 20:05 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:45 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:30 21:35 21:45 21:50 21:55 22:05 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:00 23:10 23:10 23:15 23:30 23:40 23:50 23:50

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

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available for decent Kerala bachelor in Abbasiya near German Clinic. Contact: 66941892. (C 4039) 10-6-2012 Sharing accommodation for 2 months in Salmiya, block-3, for male bachelors, preferred Indian, vegetarians. Contact: 50181570.

(C 4036) 7-6-2012 Sharing accommodation available for bachelor in two bedroom flat at Khaitan, near Kuwait Finance House.

Contact: 66141908. (C 4034) Sharing accommodation available for executive couple in Sharq near Amiri Hospital. Contact: 55238110, Email: tajtoyota@gmail.com

FOR SALE Furniture and accessories including wardrobe, computer table with bookshelf, IKEA double bed with mattress, servicing table, gas burner, chairs etc. for sale.

Please contact: 99546733 / 90032678. (C 4037) 9-8-2012

CHANGE OF NAME Gnanasegaran Rajendiran, son of Rajendiran and Rajendiran Jothi bearing an Indian passport No. G7703114 having an address 23, N.No. 18, Asanampattu Bethlegam, I street MU College RD Reddy THOP, Ambur Vellore 635 802, Tamilnadu had embraced Islam and changed the name as Muhammed Abdullah.

(C 4038) 9-6-2012

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

03:13 11:48 15:22 18:48 20:19

POLICE STATION 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

34

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 701

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) Your feelings need to be stirred before you can throw yourself wholeheartedly into any venture. Love, ideals and a strong sense of your own worth are vital to your well-being and ability to function. You enjoy life yourself and value the enthusiasm expressed from those around you.

Feelings are something you express with ease and you appreciate others doing the same. Emotional drama is respected and not avoided today. You may perceive these actions as learning experiences. Sports, outdoor activities and everything physical are high on your list of favorites. Love is important this evening. A love relationship is strengthened. There is optimism, faith and a tendency to take chances at the deepest emotional levels.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You may find yourself very active today. Perhaps some volunteer service or worship group is your choice at this time. You have a wonderful way of working with others, helping them to sense and feel the unity of life.

Your love of the spiritual and the eternal is clear to all who meet you. You will be sharing stories with friends today. Your dreams and ideals are very important to you, as you methodically go about putting them into practice. You may enjoy entertaining this evening. You are never more at home than when entertaining and carrying on in front of a group. Others sense that you have an interest in their welfare when they are with you today. You have a basic drive to appreciate and taste life. Romance is very possible this evening.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. A corporation's first offer to sell stock to the public.

4. A shot in billiards made by hitting the cue ball with the cue held nearly vertically.

9. A pilgrimage to Mecca.

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

14. United States comedian.

15. A city in northern India.

16. A fraudulent business scheme.

18. Type genus of the Anatidae.

19. A boy or man.

20. A Loloish language.

21. Any of various units of capacity.

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

25. A public promotion of some product or service.

26. An associate degree in nursing.

27. A Samoyedic-speaking person in northwestern Siberia.

31. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc..

34. Having a claw or claws.

36. The state of needing something that is absent or unavailable.

39. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

40. 10 grams.

42. A French abbot.

43. (informal) Exceptionally good.

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

48. Fiddler crabs.

49. A Loloish language.

52. Someone who is morally reprehensible.

54. Any of numerous ornamental shrubs grown for their showy flowers of various colors.

57. A port city in southwestern Iran.

61. The seventh month of the Moslem calendar.

64. A small cake leavened with yeast.

65. A benevolent aspect of Devi.

66. Filled with fear or apprehension.

69. Having leadership guidance.

70. The month following February and preceding April.

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

72. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.

DOWN 1. A gonadotropic hormone that is secreted by the anterior pituitary.

2. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

3. A strategically located monarchy on the southern and eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula.

4. One million periods per second.

5. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

6. In the Arabian Nights a hero who tells of the fantastic adventures he had in his voyages.

7. A burn cause by hot liquid or steam.

8. (Greek mythology) The winged goddess of the dawn in ancient mythology.

9. One who works hard at boring tasks.

10. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

11. Any of numerous low-growing cushion-forming plants of the genus Draba having rosette-forming leaves and terminal racemes of small flowers with scapose or leafy stems.

12. A string of more than 3,000 islands east of Asia extending 1,300 miles between the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific Ocean.

17. The sound made by a cat (or any sound resembling this).

22. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

24. Minor or subordinate.

28. (botany) Of or relating to the axil.

29. God of death.

30. A doctor's degree in education.

32. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

33. (Babylonian) God of wisdom and agriculture and patron of scribes and schools.

35. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

37. Counting the number of white and red blood cells and the number of platelets in 1 cubic millimeter of blood.

38. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

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

44. Offering fun and gaiety.

46. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.

47. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

50. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

51. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing.

53. A light touch or stroke.

55. The battle in 202 BC in which Scipio decisively defeated Hannibal at the end of the second Punic War. 56. Slightly open.

58. Surrealist Spanish painter (1904-1989).

59. In bed.

60. A quantity of no importance.

62. Electronic equipment that provides visual images of varying electrical quantities.

63. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

67. The syllable naming the fourth (subdominant) note of the diatonic scale in solmization.

68. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.

Yesterday’s Solution

Gemini (May 21-June 20) You are up and ready to tend to all the chores early this morning. You want to get the difficult items out of the way! You have a lot of optimism, faith and also, there is a tendency to take chances. You feel a love of order and law—an appreciation for responsibilities. Problems are seen as an opportunity to solve another puzzle and show off your expertise. You have problems today when you realize you have said yes to too many people and too many projects. This could certainly work at cross-purposes to your own best interests. This is a good time to step back and reevaluate your aims and goals. Give yourself some time on this. The rebel in you likes to ignore your dreams and ideals and just let come what may. You relish your freedom.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) There are insights into your dreams. This is a good time to reshape and renew your philosophy or religion, during which your imagination is at full tilt. Breakthroughs in relationships are possible. Getting your message across to others takes little time or explanation—others seem to understand just what you mean. Your timing should be perfect and those around you should find you most spontaneous. Your good management abilities are activated as well. You are not moved by the pretended emotions of another. You prefer concrete subjects to grand ideas and flights of fancy. Your love of groups and the social scene may find you less concerned about you as a person and more interested in relationships of all kinds.

NON SEQUITUR

Leo (July 23-August 22) When you love, you love with passion. You value personal contact, cutting through all the externals and getting to the heart of things. You understand and appreciate vulnerability and have no qualms about presenting your own sensitive spots to others. You enjoy working behind the scenes, getting at any secrets and hidden areas of the mind and psyche. There could possibly be the beginning of some positive changes and transforming experiences with loved ones today—an understanding. Your feelings need to be stirred before you can throw your whole heart into any activity, but you will be encouraged to become involved in some healing work today. Love, ideals and a strong sense of your own worth are vital to your well-being.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Positive feelings are prominent with you. You may even help to cheer others during the day. A trigger that would help to calm any tension would be good to repeat to yourself often. You could teach others this as well.

This mantra may simply consist of a beautiful memory that can be remembered quickly when frustrated. There is a ripple effect taking place in that instance, which may even work on ways to encourage others into a more peaceful frame of mind. Be open to the suggestions of others today. Your sense of values and sheer appreciation for life is what others see when they come to learn all about you. People value you for your warmth and dynamic qualities as much as for your ideas. You may be able to help organize a social gathering soon.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

This morning is a good time for making peace with the past and meditating. Someone may also need your attention today. You may have noticed lately, that almost everyone you know has been working on spiritual matters. Eventually, you will gain a bit of insight you have been seeking regarding a few life questions. Your thoughts gravitate to what is lasting, true or has real meaning.

Philosophy and religion are subjects that have occupied your mind lately. Perhaps you will be teaching a class in one of the subjects. Your ideas are always to the point and candid, never florid or superficial. You are expert at working with words that speak of mystical and mythological ideas. Tonight, young people enjoy the time you spend with them.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) A born psychologist, you may find yourself counseling and caring for the mental needs of others—perhaps the young people in your family. Your nurturing abilities extend to out-of-doors as you may decide to enjoy working in the vegetable or flower garden. It does not take long before you become a magnet and people from all over the neighborhood cross your path. This could mean that you are so good in the garden, people like to seek you for advice. You can also be a good conversationalist and may have to watch your time if there is any other business you want to pay attention to today. You know when to speak and when to listen—people just automatically want to be where you are. There is time for shopping this afternoon.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You may enjoy probing into some of your deeper thoughts with a friend. Perhaps you will talk about the time when you were kids and just where you thought you might be in life these days. You teach others through example of your actions and your actions show the expression of kindness and consideration to others; they treat you the same. A domestic project turns into a fun adventure this afternoon. Volunteer work in your neighborhood results in a great feeling of accomplishment. You find your spirits are high and you are very communicative. Always going beyond convention into whatever is new, exciting and spicy— you are happy when caught up in the variety and complexity of life. Inspire others as you are inspired.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

You may find yourself working today. Relationships; whether partnerships, personal ties or the social scene in general, are very important during this time and can have a very decided influence on your career as well as your personal life. You may find that a more impersonal attitude is the key. The work you do and the way you take care of health and other obligations are important keys to your best potential. Set up systems and schedules and stick to them! Others value you for your ability to make practical decisions—clear decisions affecting others could be made. This evening you may enjoy a good movie or book or feel like escaping from day-to-day realities for a while. Enjoy the stars with a loved one.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Don’t be surprised if you are not in top mental gear today. You could find yourself struggling to exchange a few words and trying to be understood. Hard words are possible with an older person if you are not patient.

Yes, you must be the one to be patient—things are happening that you will understand in time. This may mean there will be an opportunity to help someone move or adjust to a new situation—patience. Perhaps this would be a good day to catch up on your own chores. You may enjoy being by yourself a bit this afternoon—working in the yard or with some creative project—all forms of relaxation are beneficial to your mental and physical health. You have a strong need to find answers. You may feel the need to nurture and be nurtured.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Much can be accomplished today. You are very creative when it comes to your home and surroundings. Ideas of redecorating may be on your mind. You may enjoy involvement with any mental efforts today—puzzles perhaps. You could teach anything where substance and content are at issue—acting perhaps. You have such an outpouring of insights that having a conversation with you can be a real experience. Your mind works like lightning. Words and thoughts explode into a frenzy of creative expression, illuminating whatever subject is at hand. You really do have very different ideas and ways of expressing them. A born coach or teacher, you are at home in the physical and action areas of life. You are an inspiration and driving force for others.

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n

112 GOVERNORATE

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

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25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

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24892010

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23940620

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24840300

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24846000

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24874330/9

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4732263

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22517733

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24848075

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24849807

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24848913

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24814507

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22549134

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22526804

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24814764

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22515088

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22531908

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22518752

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22459381

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22451082

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25746401

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25316254

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25623444

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25388462

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25381200

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22630786

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24810221

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24770319

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24575755

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24772608

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24775066

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24775992

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24311795

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24884079

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24892674

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24719048

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24710044

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3900322

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

website: www.moi.gov.kw

Sabah Hospital

PHARMACY

Hawally

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net

The Public Institution for Social Security www.pifss.gov.kw

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Public Authority for Civil Information www.paci.gov.kw

Prisoners of War Committee www.pows.org.kw

Kuwait News Agency www.kuna.net.kw

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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

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

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25739272

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22562226

22618787

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22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

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25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

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22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

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25728004

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25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

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22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

25339330

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25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

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

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22418714

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22545171

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24810598

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22545171

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24742838

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22434853

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22545051

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24711433

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24316983

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23927002

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24316983

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23980088

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23711183

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23262845

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25610011

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25616368

INTERNATIONAL CALLS 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

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36

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

West win over

trying to

Jenner

anye West has bought a personalized car for Kim Kardashian’s mother. The 35-year-old rapper is said to be determined to impress Kris Jenner, who is also his girlfriend’s manager, and has bombarded her with gifts including the $200,000 Bentley in a bid to gain her approval. Kris is said to have been unhappy with Kim’s public romance having advised her to keep her personal life out of the spotlight following the breakdown of her marriage to Kris Humphries last October after just 72 days. A source told the Daily Star newspaper: “Kanye’s trying really hard to get Kim’s family on side. “Kim’s mum asked her to keep all her relationships out of the public eye following her disastrous 72-day wedding farce with estranged husband Kris Humphries. “She was disappointed her daughter went public with new boyfriend Kanye. “Kayne’s agreed to appear in upcoming episodes of ‘The Kardashians’ on E! and is laying it on thick to make her mum like him. “He’s

K

Jolie

picks wedding date with help of monk

ngelina Jolie has picked her wedding date with the help of a Buddhist monk. The 37year-old actress is expected to marry fiance Brad Pitt this summer and sources close to the star have revealed she will chose the top secret date with some spiritual help. A source said: “Angie has used Buddhist astrology in the past to help her pick the best or most auspicious days for important moments in her life. “She’s

A

been bombarding her with gifts like vintage bottles of wine, bouquets of flowers, jewellery and has now the expensive car. “It’s really bling. Kayne’s arranging to have Kris’s initials sewn into the upholstery, it also has a Swarovski Crystal gear knob.” While Kris is impressed by the car, she has told the couple it will take more than gifts for her to give their relationship the seal of approval. The source added: “Kris is very grateful, she loves bling, but has told Kim that Kanye’s money can’t buy her approval.” Kris isn’t the only person to be given a new car. Kim has splashed out $750,000 on a Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 for the ‘Stronger’ hitmaker as a 35th birthday present. However, Kanye who celebrated his birthday yesterday has not been able to get behind the wheel yet as he is currently touring Europe with Jay-Z.

relied on the Buddhist calendar to plan medical procedures and vacations for herself, Brad and the kids. She’s even used it for picking the dates of her movie openings. “That’s when Angie was completely converted to Buddhist astrology and she’s not taking that chance with Brad. Angie is convinced the date of their union will guarantee their future happiness.” According to pals, Brad with whom she raises six children with - is happy

to go along with whatever Angelina thinks and says she can take her time with choosing the date. The source added to the National Enquirer magazine: “Brad just goes with the flow. He told Angie to take as much time as she needs. After eight years and six kids together, they clearly aren’t rushing into marriage.”

Gary Barlow is to receive an OBE he Take That star is said to have been “surprised” by the news that Britain’s Queen Elizabeth wants to bestow the order of chivalry on him in recognition of his efforts for her Diamond Jubilee celebrations. A source told The Sun newspaper: “The Queen was delighted with Gary Barlow’s brilliant work and dedication. She made it clear he should be rewarded at the first available opportunity. “Mr Barlow was told of Her Majesty’s offer a few weeks ago. He was quite surprised, but he has accepted it.” The 41-year-old singer had spent over a year organising a star-studded concert at Buckingham Palace as part of the jubilee celebrations - with performers including Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams and Dame Shirley Bassey - and also toured the commonwealth to record ‘Sing’, a track he co-wrote with Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber to mark the occasion. Gary’s OBE is expected to be officially announced this weekend with the release of the queen’s birthday honours list. Following Gary’s recent work, fans had started a twitter campaign for him to receive a knighthood and his fellow judges on ‘The X Factor’ had even jokingly begun calling him Sir. A program source said: “‘The audience erupted into applause when Gary was introduced as ‘Sir Gary’ when the judges walked on stage and began to take their seats. “He was jokingly knighted by the warm-up man while Louis Walsh, sporting a new haircut, started calling him Sir Gary, too. The crowd then got behind him, chanting, ‘Get Gary knighted!”

T

Hill

responds to US tax evasion charges

eclusive singer Lauryn Hill says she hasn’t paid taxes since she withdrew from society to guarantee the safety and well-being of herself and her family. The eight-time Grammy Award winner and New Jersey resident was charged this week with willfully failing to file income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.

Federal prosecutors say she didn’t pay taxes on more than $1.5 million earned in 2005, 2006 and 2007 from recording and film royalties. Hill responded to the federal charges in a lengthy post on her Tumblr page Friday. She describes how she has rejected pop culture’s over-commercialization and cannibalization of the young. Hill started with the Haitian-American hip-hop band the Fugees. She began her solo career in 1998 with the critically acclaimed album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”

R

‘Django Unchained’ production designer

Riva

remembered

eteran production designer J. Michael Riva, who died Thursday after suffering a severe stroke while filming “Django Unchained” last week, is being remembered by many who knew him, including “Django” director Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Weinstein, “The Amazing Spider-Man” director Marc Webb and many others.

“Michael became a dear friend on this picture, as well as a magnificent, talented colleague,” Tarantino said. “Every member of our ‘Django’ crew family is devastated by this tragic loss as we persevere on his wonderful sets.”

The eldest grandson of screen legend Marlene Dietrich, Riva suffered a severe stroke Friday, June 1 in New Orleans, while preparing to head to the studio during filming of “Django Unchained.” He died Thursday afternoon while surrounded by his family. He was 63. Marc Webb, who worked with Riva on the upcoming “The Amazing Spider-Man,” remembers Riva as “a wonderful collaborator, brilliant designer, an emphatic perfectionist - but most of all he was a great friend. He was a gift from the universe and I will miss him like crazy.” Harvey Weinstein, whose company is releasing the western “Django Unchained” domestically, said that Riva’s “creativity enhanced every frame of the film. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.” Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal, who worked with Riva on “The Amazing Spider-Man,” and many other projects, called Riva “a great friend and a tremendous talent, able to tailor the look and mood of a story to the emotion in the script. We are stunned and saddened by his passing.”

V

Fire at De Niro’s NYC apartment; no injuries fire that broke out in Robert De Niro’s Manhattan apartment has been extinguished. A Fire Department spokesman said no residents were injured in the Friday afternoon fire on Central Park West. The fire was contained within an hour, and the cause was under investigation. A spokesman for De Niro confirmed that the actor lives in the building. The spokesman, Stan Rosenfield, said De Niro is out of the country.

Residents of the building told The New York Times the fire started in the laundry room of De Niro’s apartment. The newspaper said 95-year-old actress Celeste Holm and her husband, Frank Basile, who live in the building, were in their apartment as firefighters fought to contain the flames.

A Queen Elizabeth

does

her own washing up he 86-year-old monarch - who celebrated her Diamond Jubilee last weekend - likes to be quite hands-on when she’s entertaining her guests, as does her husband Prince Philip. Former BBC royal reporter Jennie Bond said: “We know she likes to have a supper tray while watching television, she likes simple food and she’s probably happier than when she hasn’t got a big dinner to go to in the evening. Probably not at Buckingham Palace but at Windsor Castle, she can relax. Or the long summer, when she’s up at Balmoral, is when she’s really happy. You can imagine her sitting in her tweed skirt, surrounded by dogs. “And when you have a barbecue or picnic with her in one of the cabins by the river. Prince Philip will do the barbecuing and she’ll always make a point of doing the washing up.” Jenny also revealed how the queen is quite funny, but doesn’t like to show her sense of humour to many people. She said: “I think she does have quite a dry sense of humour, but it’s not something she readily shares with journalist.” —Agencies

T

37

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

LIFESTYLE M u s i c

&

M o v i e s

Lindsay Lohan’s crashed Porsche lies on a flatbed tow truck after it collided with a truck on Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica, Calif, Friday. —AP photos

Lohan indsay Lohan emerged uninjured from a collision with a dump truck on a coastal highway near Los Angeles on Friday, returning to the set of her new movie hours after the accident left her sports car crumpled. Santa Monica Police Sgt Richard Lewis said there was no sign Lohan was impaired at the time of the accident and said his agency would continue to investigate who was at fault in the wreck. The truck’s driver was uninjured and that driver also showed no signs of driving under the influence, Lewis said.

Police are seeking witnesses to the crash, writing in a news release that detectives were trying to determine who was driving. Lohan was traveling with a male assistant to the set of her new film; the assistant was also uninjured. “We’re treating this as a regular accident,” Lewis said. The agency is accepting anonymous tips about the wreck, and offering a $1,000 reward if it leads to an arrest. The accident at around 11:40 am. Friday on the Pacific Coast Highway occurred while Lohan was on her way to film scenes for the Lifetime movie “Liz and Dick,” which chronicles the love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Lohan’s publicist Steve Honig said the actress was released about two hours

OK after wreck on coastal highway

L

Late-afternoon traffic moves past the site of collision involving actress Lindsay Lohan’s Porsche and a large truck on northbound Pacific Coast Highway. after the accident and was returned to the set to continue filming.

“Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in the accident,” he wrote in an email. Honig

declined further comment, including on who was driving, citing the pending investigation.

“First and foremost, we’re concerned about the well-being of Lindsay and anyone else

who may have been involved in the accident,” Lifetime spokesman Les Eisner said, adding, “Lindsay has been doing fantastic work on the set of ‘Liz and Dick.’” Production on the film started earlier this week and was expected to conclude around the end of June.

Lohan, 25, remains on probation in a necklace theft case, but is no longer being supervised by a judge or probation officer. The accident is the latest vehicular mishap for Lohan, who had her driver’s license restored in August 2010 after losing her driving privileges because of a pair of DUI arrests in 2008.

She is still being sued by three men who claim Lohan forced them to remain in a sport utility vehicle she commandeered and used to chase a woman she thought was her assistant on Pacific Coast Highway. That incident ended in the parking lot of the Santa Monica Police Department, where Lohan was arrested.

She is also being sued by a pedestrian who claims Lohan struck her in West Hollywood, Calif, in September 2010. That civil case is still pending. Friday’s accident comes after the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office last month determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue a case against Lohan in a

Photo dated April 27, 2012 shows US actress Lindsay Lohan at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington. nightclub manager’s claim that the actress struck him with her sports car. The prosecution said there was a lack of evidence in the case. —AP

Nashville airport promotes city’s music scene s the Nashville International Airport celebrates its 75th birthday, it’s also celebrating the city’s best known product: music. While McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas has its slot machines, Nashville International salutes guitars, honky-tonks and singers. “As the first and last impression of Nashville, we want our customers to taste, feel and see Music City when they are in the terminal,” says Emily Richard, the airport spokeswoman. The 4.4 million passengers who board planes annually at the airport get a dose of Nashville culture before they head to other points.

Near a down escalator heading to baggage claim, a sign for Nashville’s downtown honky-tonk area proclaims: “LIVE MUSIC all day & night. NEVER a cover charge.” The honky-tonks, in fact,

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This June 6, 2012, photo shows country musician Travis Dukes per forming in the Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tenn. —AP

even get a plug because of escalator repairs at the airport. A cardboard cutout of a smiling fellow in a brown cowboy hat and boots includes this assertion: “This (area) is closed, but the honky-tonks are open.” Tootsie’s, Nashville’s most famous nightspot, has a satellite site in the airport. On a recent Friday afternoon, four of the six seats at the bar were taken.

Photos of Hank Williams Sr and Jr and Patsy Cline hung from above.

Even the written word gets promoted, but of course there’s a music connection. A sign in the baggage claim area advertised Brad Paisley’s book “Diary of a Player.” Pat Finnegan of Colorado Springs, Colo., visiting Nashville with his family to check out Trevecca Nazarene College, said the airport has a strong personality. “You know you’re in Nashville when you get off the plane,” he

said while waiting at the car rental area. The Nashville airport has an average of 380 daily arriving and departing flights traveling to 70 locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Jamaica. The terminal has more than 50 shops and restaurants. Two of the eateries feature barbecue, one of Nashville’s signature treats.

The terminal blares recorded greetings from country music celebrities like Lady Antebellum, George Strait, Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker and Vince Gill: “Hi, I’m Vince Gill welcoming you to Music City and Nashville International Airport where live musical performances are held year-round for your listening enjoyment.” Singers entertain on a small stage in a waiting area with three microphones and a piano. Brad Hawkins, a spokesman for Southwest Airlines, said the termi-

nal allows travelers “to experience what Nashville is all about: Great music and amazing people.” Flight attendants have been known to don cowboy hats in honor of Nashville’s country music industry, before landing at the airport.

Nestled between Percy Priest Lake to the east and downtown Nashville to the west, it’s 15 minutes or so from downtown, depending on traffic. The airport was an American Airlines hub for 10 years until 1996 when the airline downsized and dropped it. A series of special events is scheduled in June to mark the birthday, including a cake cutting, art display and contest to win a trip to Nashville. Edward Martelle, a spokesman for American Airlines, said the airport “is a crucial economic engine for Middle Tennessee” and “continues to be a vital part of our route system.”

Just outside the airport, roadside banners salute it for “75 years of propelling Nashville forward.”

The movies “Two Weeks” and “The Prisoner” used the airport for scenes in 2005. Taylor Swift shot her video “Ours” at the airport last November. Recent TV shows shot at the airport include “Coming Home,” “Meet the Wilsons” and “World’s Strictest Parents.”

“Nashville is known for its vibrant, diverse arts and cultural communities, so Nashville International is a popular location for many film and music videos year-round,” Richard said. —AP

Spacek: ‘Hollywood gobbles up actresses like a piranha’ “H ollywood is like a piranha,” legendary actress Sissy Spacek told a crowd at the Seattle Film Festival on Thursday night, comparing her time as a leading lady to the challenges facing young actresses today.

“Hollywood gobbles up young actresses now,” the 64-year-old actress said at a tribute to her work, during an interview with Time critic Richard Corliss. “Hollywood is like a piranha. They don’t give you breathing room. You don’t have time to let your career breathe.”

“I had plenty of time to breathe,” she said. “Years, sometimes.”

Speaking to a full audience at the Cinema Uptown, Spacek told delicious anecdotes about her start in New York as a singer - living with a motorcycle-riding Rip Torn - and working on iconic movies like “Badlands” with some of the leading directors of the past half-century, including Terrence Malick, Robert Altman and David Lynch.

Born in Texas, Spacek was a rambunctious kid, who had a highschool drama teacher who thought she showed little promise. So after high school she headed to New York to pursue a career as a singer. She stayed with her cousin Torn who was married to Geraldine Page (postbox: “Torn-Page”), who she described as driving a motorcycle in Manhattan with Page on the back, and a metal

chain wrapped around his waist.

“I wanted to be Joni Mitchell,” she recalled. She ended up singing a novelty hit, “John You Went Too Far This Time,” about John Lennon breaking up the Beatles. That was 1970. In 1972 she met Malick, and made her first feature and his, “Badlands,” a

Sissy Spacek brooding tale set on the South Dakota landscape starring Spacek and Martin Sheen as ill-fated lovers on a murderous journey. Here are some of her reflections from a twohour talk: On “Badlands”: “It was the first time I realized that film could be art. I

became a filmmaker on that picture.

And I fell in love with Jack (Fisk, a set designer, her husband). Terry would give me tiny pieces of paper to read, and I’d read them and he’d laugh.

They cast me first, and then Martin Sheen read for the part. Terry said, ‘I’m just doing this as a favor to the agent. He’s too old. He’s not right.’

(But when he read for the role) Martin was Kit Carruthers.”

On Hollywood and actresses: “Hollywood gobbles up young actresses now. Hollywood is like a piranha. They don’t give you breathing room. You don’t have time to let your career breathe.”

On “Carrie”: “Brian de Palma didn’t like me. We were friends. I was auditioning for ‘Carrie,’ and I called him and said, ‘Tomorrow is the screen test, but I’ve got a commercial.’ He said, ‘Do the commercial.’ I didn’t.” On “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” for which she won the Best Actress Oscar: “Loretta Lynn was going on all the talk shows saying I was going to player her in the movie. I had a crazy idea not to do any more country roles I did not want to do ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter.’”“So I’d gone to see (Loretta) in concert to meet her and to ask her to stop saying I would play her. As soon as I met her I was so blown away I could hardly speak. I wanted to play her so badly.”

On David Lynch: “When I first met David Lynch he was living in the sta-

bles of the American Film Institute He’d work all night and have his crew lock him in during the day and he’d sleep.”

On her generation: “Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Sally Field ... There was endless talent around my age. But we didn’t feel we were competing with each other. We all got the films we were right for. I always felt I was competing to be the best I could be.”

On her talent: “I’m not Meryl Streep. My god - she’s the greatest actor that ever lived. It’s sad that ordinary actors like me are compared to her. Jessica Chastain is my favorite young actress, I adore her.”

On acting: “Actors don’t work alone. My performance has everything to do with other actors in the scene, the director, the cinematographer. That’s what I live for. In the scene, you become lost in that person. We’re trying to capture reality. I compare it to a train. You see it coming, you’re getting up to speed, you’re running alongside, and when the train comes, if you’re lucky you jump on. If you’re not ready, the train will hit you, and kill you. We live for those times when we are swept away in that magic.”—Reuters

Parineeti Chopra, winner of the Best Female Debut reacts during the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Singapore yesterday. —AFP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

Tacoma’s LeMay car museum

honors the American automobile Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin competes during the 2012 Miss USA Presentation Show on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 in Las Vegas. —AP

Miss Universe

Who says battery cars are new? Here’s a 1911 battery powered Baker Electric at LeMay car museum in Tacoma, Washington. — MCT photos

pageant fights back on rigging claim

T

he most important car in Tacoma’s spanking new LeMayAmerica’s Car Museum isn’t the 1930 Duesenberg Model J or the ice-blue 1951 Studebaker that welcomes visitors through the lobby like a gleaming, four-wheeled family pet. It’s the one that draws you to it for reasons you don’t quite understand at first. A latent childhood memory. A loved one. A time.

One glance and the back of your life opens up like a garage door.

And you’re gone.

“It’s the memories, the stories,” said Scot Keller, chief marketing and communications officer for the new museum.

“The audience experience is set up to stir the emotions, not the head.” Oh, but this shiny new shrine to the American automobile has been stirring up interest nationwide, and for years, as planning and funding have sputtered and restarted. On June 2, the best of the collection owned by the late wastemanagement magnate Harold E LeMay finally pulled into a new home that city and museum officials hope will draw some 425,000 visitors a year to Tacoma.

The four-story, 156,000square-ft LeMay-America’s Car Museum is set on nine acres of A Chrysler 300G land smack across the street from the Tacoma Dome. From the street between the two buildings, the LeMay looks like an upstart-a sleek, shiny, structure that is almost conical, but wider and flat on the bottom. “A quarter-panel? A hood scoop?” Keller said when asked to describe the building’s exterior. “It reflects ‘automotive,’ but you can’t define it.”

The inside clearly evokes the Northwest: High, rounded ceilings of exposed Oregon spruce that look both warm and industrial. LeMay, after all, has a long history here. Before he died in 2000, Harold LeMay turned a good part of his waste-disposal fortune into four-wheeled fancies. He bought practically everything that caught his eye-entire fields of metal, sometimes-eventually amassing some 3,000 cars and a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest privately owned automotive collection.

They were kept in all manner of storage just a few miles from here, on the grounds of the Marymount Military Academy. In 1998, LeMay and his wife, Nancy, established the Harold E. LeMay

Pictured is the main gallery, a line up of pre-WWII cars.

L

The front grille of a 1942 Lincoln Continental 2-door coupe, which had a V-12 engine.

Museum nonprofit and set about building a new automotive showpiece. But it was a frustrating venture that continued long after LeMay died in 2000. Both the state and the city of Tacoma had to approve plans for the $100 million project. Tacoma provided $10.7 million in land and improvements, and obtained a $1 million planning grant. The state provided $11 million for the museum. Ground broke on the nine-acre site in June 2010.

Meanwhile, museum officials worked hard to raise funding and find sponsors. Nancy LeMay, who still sits on the museum board, gave $15 million. The AAA car club gave $1.6 million.

Boeing is one of the 53 corporate sponsors, as is Napa car parts and State Farm Insurance, which has given enough to get its name on the museum’s theater.

The museum will house 700 automobiles, most of them LeMay’s and some on loan or on contract, according to CEO David Madeira. More importantly, the exhibits will be rotated to keep things fresh and interesting. “It’s a living, breathing entity,” Madeira said of the museum, which he hopes will be a destination similar to Disney’s Epcot Center or Universal CityWalk. —MCT

The radiator cap on a 1916 Pierce Arrow Brougham.

On display near the entrance is a gleaming 1947 yellow Lincoln convertible.

Volunteer Marion Bartholomew closes the hood of a 1942 Lincoln Continental 2-door coupe.

awyers for the Miss Universe Organization have filed an arbitration action that seeks monetary damages from a former contestant who claims this year’s Miss USA pageant was a sham, officials said Friday. The organization filed the action with a private dispute resolution entity over the former Miss Pennsylvania USA’s claim that another contestant spotted the list of finalists on a planning sheet hours before the event was held Sunday, outside counsel Scott Balber said.

A statement from the New York-based Miss Universe Organization said it is seeking remedies including monetary damages for her “ongoing defamatory statements.” Balber would not say how much money organizers are seeking. The pageant also released a statement from Miss Florida USA - the contestant Sheena Monnin claims saw the list - in which she disputes Miss Pennsylvania’s version of the events that prompted her to step down.

Monnin gave up her crown Monday, claiming in a Facebook post that the pageant had been rigged, with the top five finishers selected before the show was broadcast Sunday night from Las Vegas. Pageant organizers immediately denied Monnin’s allegation and claimed she had actually stepped down because she disagreed with the pageant’s decision to allow transgender contestants. Earlier Friday, Monnin told NBC’s “Today” show that she was standing by her claim that Miss Florida USA confided in her that she’d seen a list of finalists Sunday morning. “I know what I heard, and I know what I in turn witnessed come true based on what the contestant said she saw,” Monnin said.

Monnin claimed Miss Florida USA Karina Brez named the top five contestants in the same order they were called during the broadcast. “That’s just too coincidental to not be true,” she said. But a statement released Friday by Brez disputes Monnin’s account, saying Brez was only making a joke about a list of contestants that she saw. “The list I saw didn’t even have the eventual winner on it,” the statement read. This year’s Miss USA winner was Olivia Culpo of Rhode Island. Pageant officials maintain the judging was done fairly and under the watchful eye of auditor Ernst & Young. “(The) tabulation of the judges’ votes which determined the final five contestants did not occur until after the evening gown competition had been completed,” Ernst & Young said in a statement released Friday evening. A group of preliminary judges selects 15 top contestants before the telecast along with a 16th picked by fan vote. Those contestants are then whittled down by the telecast judges, who this year included celebrity chef Cat Cora and Arsenio Hall.

Monnin does not have a listed phone number and did not respond to Facebook messages seeking comment.

Attorneys for the pageant said they forwarded her the arbitration action directly because they did not know whether she’d retained a lawyer.

Balber said the action filed with the private arbitration company is confidential under the terms of the contestant contract, but that Monnin could release it if she wished. Earlier this week, pageant organizers released the text of Monnin’s resignation email; it doesn’t specifically mention rigging, but does mention organizers’ decision to allow transgender contestants into the competition. In the “Today” interview, Monnin did not deny the transgender contestant issue played a role in her resignation. “There are a myriad of reasons why I’m resigning,” Monnin said. She went on to point out that same email mentioned “fair play,” but didn’t elaborate what she meant at the time.—AP

LeMay-America’s Car Museum, displays her vintage 1958 Cadillac Coupe DeVille in front of the Tacoma, Washington museum.

Everest Sherpas swap danger for luxury watchmaking I

n a modern, airy workshop located in a fashionable Kathmandu shopping hub frequented by Nepal’s rich and famous, two skilled craftsmen assemble some of the world’s most exclusive luxury watches. For Namgel and Thundu Sherpa, the sedate, intricate world of precision watchmaking is about as far removed as possible from their previous lives as Himalayan guides working in deeply hostile, often life-threatening conditions. Their unlikely career change followed a stint as guides for British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Michael Kobold, founder of the US-based Kobold watch company who scaled Everest with his wife Anita in 2010.

“Namgel saved my life twice,” Kobold told AFP, recounting how the sherpa had corrected a critical problem with his oxygen supply in the “death zone” as they neared the Everest summit. On the descent, Namgel again intervened to prevent a summitbound climber unhooking Kobold’s carabiner from a safety line as they passed on a narrow ledge above a sheer 10,000 foot drop. An even more dire situation arose when they descended to Camp Two and

Kobold’s wife collapsed and stopped breathing. “A doctor declared her dead,” Kobold said. “But with the help of the doctor and Namgel and Thundu, we managed to get her back to life a few minutes later.

She is perfectly fine today thanks to their quick response.”

Keen to translate his gratitude into practical help, Kobold decided to act on an idea first suggested by Fiennes of providing Namgel and Thundu with a safer career. In 2008, Fiennes had observed the two sherpas watching Kobold, who had brought his tools and parts, assemble a watch at Everest Base Camp. “Their inquisitive nature and excitement over a mechanical watch were very much on display,” Fiennes told AFP. “This is when the thought occurred to me that maybe Mike could teach them how to make watches.” Kobold took Namgel and Thundu to the United States, housed them for a year with his family in Pittsburgh and trained them at a cost of more than $300,000 to make a “Made in Nepal” version of his high-end timepieces. A limited edition of just 25 of the new

Nepal range will contain elements collected from the Everest summit and retail at $16,500.

Compared to sherpas’ job, watchmaking ‘not so difficult The Sherpas recall a “challenging” year in the US, when they missed their families and had to learn enough information for a two-year course in just 10 months. “Learning to make watches in the US was very difficult at first because with a mechanical watch like this everything has to be perfect,” said Namgel, 27. “But our job as sherpas was very hard.

We had to carry a lot of things and we didn’t use oxygen until 8,000 metres. People would say we had big lungs and a big heart. So compared to that watchmaking for us is not so difficult.”

Namgel and Thundu, 38, have scaled Everest seven and nine times respectively. But their vast experience did little to soothe their families’ concerns each time they embarked on a new expedition. “I have one daughter and Thundu has two sons and our families were very worried about our job because it

was so dangerous,” Namgel said. “We feel lucky because we don’t have to climb anymore. I love climbing but I’m glad my family don’t have to worry anymore.” The parts for the Sherpa’s watches will be shipped from Kobold’s business in the US, but assembled from scratch in Nepal.

Namgel and Thundu will use the Kobold brand but the enterprise will be entirely theirs-they aren’t being charged franchising fees and will keep all profits. Kobold estimates they will have to sell just two watches a month to earn a respectable living with cash left over to gradually grow the business to a point where they will be able to manufacture their own parts in Nepal. The 33-year-old believes the high-pressure, high-risk lives of Himalayan guides has provided Namgel and Thundu with advantages in the their new career.” They are superior watchmakers in the sense that... their hands don’t tremble but are perfectly steady. “This is an obvious and considerable advantage when assembling mechanical watches that consist of hundreds of tiny little parts.” — AFP

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

‘Empress of the night’ puts cabaret costumes on sale

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rom French can-can dresses to fox capes, plumed headdresses to feather boas, the long-time owner of the Folies Bergere cabaret put a treasure trove of extravagant costumes under the hammer yesterday.

Nicknamed the “empress of the night”, Helene Martini ran the Folies Bergere Paris’s biggest music hall, founded in 1869 — from 1974 until last year when it was acquired by the Lagardere group. Over three decades the showgirl-turned-cabaret manager salvaged some 6,000 stage costumes in an outbuilding of her 19th-century chateau southeast of Paris, and in a storeroom in the Pigalle red-light district, where she still lives most of the time.

“It’s time for me to let it all go. I’ve worked enough! I am nearly 90 after all,” she told AFP in an interview ahead of the sale, saying she was keeping just two embroidered Hungarian dresses to wear for fun around the house. The Polish-born Martini landed in Paris aged 20 after the end of World War II, having lost much of her family, and narrowly escaped death herself. Starting out as a showgirl at the Folies Bergere, she went on to run half a dozen Paris nightclubs, first with her Syrian husband then alone after he died.

The Folies Bergere is perhaps best known for having launched the career of the AfricanAmerican Josephine Baker, who became an overnight sensation when she performed in 1926 wearing a skirt of artificial bananas and

little else. Most of Martini’s glittery collection, in European sizes 36 to 38, British sizes eight to 10, was designed and sewn in the music hall’s own workshops from 1970 to 2000.

A first batch of 600 lots, including dresses and accessories, went on sale to the general public at an auction was held over two days yesterday and today by Bailly-Pommery & Voutier in the former stock exchange building in central Paris. “The idea is to be able to take home a souvenir of the Folies Bergere, which are part of the history of Paris,” auctioneer Florent Magnin told AFP. Built in 1869 and renamed Folies Bergere in 1872, the music hall offered a mix of fare ranging from operettas to scantily clad showgirl revues, but also performances by top artists such as Frank Sinatra, Edith Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald. Each headline revue ran for five years, requiring hefty investments in costumes and stage sets, Magnin said.

For the public auction, he said reserve prices were set deliberately low “even though we expect some items to go for a lot more.”

Accessories start at just 20 euros ($25), little dresses at 100 euros, rising to 800 euros for huge-skirted crinoline dresses, the most expensive items in the sale-but still far short of the 5,000 euros each one cost to make. A second, larger sale will take place on Wednesday in the east of Paris, this time aimed at theatre companies and trade buyers. — AFP

People look at costumes from the Folies Bergere displayed at the Palais de la Bourse as part of the “Ventes de folie” auction in Paris on June 8, 2012. —AFP photos

People look at drawings from the Folies Bergere displayed at the Palais de la Bourse as part of the “Ventes de folie” auction.

‘Empress of the night’ puts cabaret costumes on sale

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

Old-fashioned vinegar-based ‘shrubs’ shaking up the cocktail scene

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hrubs-they’re not just for hiding in! Tart, acidic and weirdly, wonderfully refreshing, drinking vinegars known as “shrubs” are finding a savory home on a growing number of Los Angeles drink menus. Sometimes they’re added to soda water as an alternative to mainstream sodas, and sometimes they’re mixed with booze as a mouthpleasing alternative to predictable acids such as lemons and limes. Either way, they’re adding a welcome new dimension to the ever-evolving Los Angeles craft cocktail scene. “Shrubs give a deeper flavor profile to drinks,” says Jaymee Mandeville, the mixologist at Drago Centro in Los Angeles who is now serving several shrub cocktails, including a deconstructed stunner of a Bloody Mary named Night and the City, featuring gin, heirloom tomato shrub, black pepper squid ink syrup and Miracle Mile Candy Cap Mushroom bitters. “They’re just another tool to play around with.”

Shrubs, which are generally one part juice or fruit macerated with sugar and boiled with vinegar, were mixed with water in 18th century America for refreshment. Vinegar was also used as a preservative and for its supposed medicinal benefits.

These days, however, as mixologists strive to redisStrawberry & Kaffir Sweet cover historical tricks of the trade, you can find a slew of and Sour mix. —MCT summer shrub cocktails on Justin Pike’s menu at the Tasting Kitchen, a spiced cider shrub by Allan Katz at Cana Rum Bar, a celery shrub with mezcal by Julian Wayser at Playa, a tiki-inspired shrub made with coconut vinegar by Naomi Schimek at the Spare Room, a cider apricot bourbon shrub at the Hudson and many more.

At chef Josef Centeno’s new downtown restaurant, Baco Mercat, rows of clear glass jars filled with novel flavors of shrubs, including persimmon, tangerine-Szechwan, limechile and grapefruit-canela, take up an entire top shelf in a walk-in cooler. They glisten mischievously in the white-bulb light, daring you to taste them. You love vinegar on your spinach salad, but do you really want to drink it?

Strawberry-kaffir sweet & sour Total time: 20 minutes, plus several days marinating time Servings: Makes about 5 cups sweet & sour Note: From Josef Centeno of Baco Mercat. Kaffir lime leaves can generally be found in Thai and East Asian markets.

The sweet & sour syrup also can be used in cocktails.

3 cups strawberries 2 kaffir lime leaves 4 cups sugar Salt Soda water 1. In a large, 2-quart glass jar, mash the strawberries. Pour over the vinegar and cover with a non-metal lid. Place in a cool, dark place for 7 to 10 days.

2. Pour the strawberry mixture into a medium stainless steel pot and add the sugar, kaffir lime leaves and a pinch of salt. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.

3. Strain the mixture into sterilized jars and cool.

4. To serve with soda water, mix 1 part sweet & sour with 4 parts soda water over ice and serve immediately. — MCT

Author helps you savor food with savvy “Taste What You’re Missing: The Passionate Eater’s Guide to Why Good Food Tastes Good” What it is: Taste is more than just biting, chewing, swallowing. Author Barb Stuckey, who leads the marketing, food trend tracking and consumer research functions at Mattson, a Foster City, Calif.-based food and beverages development company, examines taste from all the angles — physical, emotional, creative and even the illusory.

Stuckey offers simple-to-do exercises using basic food products to train yourself to be a better taster.

Praises and quibbles: A 400-page book on taste can sound fun or ominous depending on your point of view. Yes, there are some geeky moments of science here where your head might seem ready to start spinning. Stick to it, the moment will pass quickly.

Stuckey has a knack for serving up information in digestible bites liberally larded with a lively sense of fun and common sense. She tackles each of the five senses used in eating and the various tastes we experience. Her section on umami, the elusive and often misunderstood fifth taste that evokes a sense of rich savoriness, is one of the clearest explanations I’ve ever seen.

Why you’ll like it: Taste is elusive, especially in the most concrete sense of that word. How many of us just mindlessly chow down on something, be it a ripe apple, stale popcorn or a just-right sirloin steak, and never give it another thought? How many of us can’t remember what we had for dinner last night? Or lunch today? Stuckey thinks about what’s she’s eating while she’s eating it, breaking down the various components of taste and checking for balance and a proper start, middle and finish. One of her chapters, aptly, is titled “Fifteen Ways to Get More from Every Bite.” Try following even a handful of these pointers and your enjoyment of food will increase markedly. — MCT

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