18th Jun

CR IP TI ON BS SU

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

21 dead in Nigeria church blasts, rioting

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RAJAB 28, 1433 AH

Pro-bailout parties win knife-edge Greek polls

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Fire kills 13 in southeast Turkey prison mutiny

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www.kuwaittimes.net

Germany and Portugal into quarters; Dutch, Danes crash out

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Prince Nayef laid to rest in Makkah

Amir attends burial • Prince Salman set to become successor

MAKKAH: (Left) King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia prays with other royal family princes during the funeral of his brother Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz inside the Grand Mosque yesterday. (Right) Saudi members of the royal family carry the body of Prince Nayef, wrapped in an ochre-coloured shroud. (Inset) HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah attends the funeral. — AP/AFP

Egypt waits for president Qaeda calls to cancel Israel treaty CAIRO: Egyptians began an anxious wait for their first freely elected president yesterday after two days of voting that was to be the culmination of their Arab Spring revolution but which many fear may now only compound political and economic uncertainty. With polling stations closed at 10 pm (2000 GMT), aides to both candidates in the

runoff - Ahmed Shafiq, a former general who was prime minister when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, and Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist from the long suppressed Muslim Brotherhood - were claiming their man seemed to be ahead.

Counting was underway but, in a country unused to free elections, it was unclear how soon any indica-

CAIRO: Egypt’s veteran comedian Adel Imam casts his vote at a polling station yesterday. — AFP

tion of the result would emerge.

After a first round of voting last month, which knocked out several popular candidates, it took several hours. Today, the new president, whether Mursi or Shafiq, will be told, along with the rest of the country, what powers he will have by the ruling generals. Military and legal sources told Reuters the military council would take back legislative powers for now from a new, Islamist-dominated parliament that it has dissolved following a court ruling voiding an earlier election.

Turnout, only 46 percent in the first round of the presidential vote, appeared to electoral officials to have been no higher for the decisive head-to-head contest. Many of the 50 million eligible voters were dismayed by an unpalatable choice between a man seen as an heir to Mubarak and the nominee of a religious party committed to reversing liberal social traditions. Some cast a ballot against both men in protest.

“I’ll cross out both Mursi and Shafiq because neither deserve to be president,” said Saleh Ashour, 40, a shopkeeper in the middle-class Cairo Continued on Page 13

LA riots beating victim Rodney King dead at 47 LOS ANGELES: Rodney King, whose beating by police 24-48 hours. in 1992 sparked one of the worst urban riots in US hisIn 1991, King was severely beaten by four white tory, was found dead in his swimming pool early yes- police officers who struck him more than 50 times terday. He was 47. Police officers dived into the pool, with their wooden batons and used a stun gun followstill wearing their uniforms, to recover ing a high-speed car chase. The officers the body of the man who became a symwent on trial for use of excessive force bol of racial tensions and police brutality but were acquitted on April 29, 1992, in America after his beating by batontriggering days of deadly rioting in Los wielding LA police was caught on camAngeles that left more than 50 people era. Police Captain Randy Deanda told dead and caused around one billion AFP that King was found “unresponsive” dollars in damage. As Los Angeles was at the bottom of the pool at his home in ripped apart by crowds who looted Rialto, California after a 5:25 am (1225 businesses, torched buildings and GMT) call from his fiancee Cynthia Kelley. attacked one another, King made a perHe did not respond to resuscitation sonal plea for peace. “People, I just want efforts from police and firefighters, and to say, you know, can we all get along?

Rodney King was pronounced dead at the Arrowhead Can we get along?” he asked on the Regional Medical Center at 6:11 am (1311 GMT ). third day of rioting, going off script from the state“Preliminarily, there do not appear to be any signs of ment planned by his lawyers. foul play,” Deanda added, noting that police were conSpeaking ahead of the 20th anniversary of the ducting a drowning investigation and that the coro- riots, King said racism still has to be challenged. ner’s office would perform an autopsy within the next Continued on Page 13

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MAKKAH: Saudi Arabia yesterday buried Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz during a sombre ceremony in Islam’s holiest city, as Defence Minister Prince Salman appeared poised to become the new heir apparent. The 79-year-old Nayef died on Saturday of “cardiac problems” at his brother’s residence in Geneva, a medical source in the Swiss city said. The ceremony was held late afternoon at the Grand Mosque in Makkah in western Saudi Arabia and attended by a grieving King Abdullah, members of the royal family and a number of heads of states from Islamic countries, including HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

Prince Nayef’s body, which arrived earlier in the day in the city of Jeddah on board a Saudi aircraft from Geneva before being driven to Makkah, was wrapped in an ochre-coloured shroud during the ceremony and later buried in a cemetery next to the Grand Mosque.

Tributes for Nayef, Saudi’s long-serving interior minister, poured in from around the world. “Crown Prince Nayef devoted his life to promoting the security of Saudi Arabia,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, while US President Barack Obama praised his cooperation in the fight against terror that “saved countless American and Saudi lives”. French President Francois Hollande said his country had lost a “friend” and the president of the Swiss Confederation, where Nayef died, offered Bern’s “deepest condolences”.

Nayef’s death, just eight months after he replaced his late brother Sultan as crown prince, raises the issue of succession because of the advanced age of the first line of apparent heirs, in a time of turmoil rocking the Arab world.

Continued on Page 13

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

LOCAL

JEDDAH: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah arrived in Jeddah yesterday to attend the funeral for Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Prince Nayef passed away on Saturday at the age of 78 in a Geneva hospital, during treatment he was receiving there. Receiving HH at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport were Jeddah Governor Prince Mishal bin Majid bin Abdulaziz, Kuwait’s Consul General to Jeddah Saleh Al-Sagubi, the acting Charge d’Affaires in the Kuwaiti Embassy to Saudi Arabia Thiyab Al-Rasheedi and embassy officials.

Saudi embassy to receive sympathizers today KUWAIT: Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Kuwait Dr Abdulaziz Bin Ibrahim Al-Fayez mourns with distress, the demise of the kingdom’s Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdulaziz. The Saudi embassy said in a statement released yester-

day that the diplomat would receive sympathizers for three days starting today from 9 am till noon at the embassy’s premises in the district of Al-Daiyah.

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet

Affairs, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad AlSabah, expressed on Saturday his deepest condolences on the passing of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdulaziz. Sabah said in a statement that the State of Kuwait has

Increase in air pollution KUWAIT: Pollution rates have risen in areas south to the country that have been affected by factory and oil refinery emissions, in addition to locations in the Hawally and Capital governorates due to car and power plant emissions respectively, a local daily reported yesterday.

Quoting the Environment Public Authority(EPA) Pollution Index report for the fiscal year 2011/2012, Al-Rai reported that factories operating without valid licenses in addition conducting oil refining activities “continue the increase air pollution in the southern parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the index mentions “notable increase in air pollution levels” in Al-Rumaithiya, Salmiya and Salwa due to car emissions, and attributed it to the increase in traffic jam rates.

Furthermore, the report shows that Al-Sulaibikhat, Al-Doha, Ghernata and Al-Andalus continue to suffer from sulfur pollution with the use of heavy fuel at Al-Doha power generation and water desalination plants.

Sources familiar with the studies based on which the report was prepared indicate that pollution rates at certain areas ‘exceeded permissible limits,’ posing a ‘real

danger to public health.’ “Pollution rates may continue to rise as long as heavy fuel continues to be used at power plants,” sources warned, adding that EPA’s pollution detection devices detected sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, tropospheric ozone and hydrogen sulfide among “at least seven highly hazardous substances” that have been polluting Kuwait’s air.

The EPA insiders criticized the lack of cooperation between oil companies and the Ministry of Electricity and Water “to supply power plants with cleaner fuel or work toward eliminating the sulfur pollution problem.” — Al-Rai

‘Defence minister cannot be held accountable now’ KUWAIT: It is not possible to hold Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, Defence Minister accountable for his actions before the current term comes to an end, owing to a lack of coordination among majority bloc lawmakers. The coordinating committee fixed a date to meet with the

Minister so that certain questions could be posed to him. However, some influential MPs group asked the coordination committee to cancel the meeting so as to avoid a possible showdown with Al-Khalid AlSabah.

Sources said that a majority

backed out from grilling the Minister because the Ministry of Defence reviewed their accusations that violations had taken place in an arms deal, in addition financial misappropriation in ministry projects.

It was found that such claims were false. — Al-Shahed

lost, “a dear brother and a faithful supporter.”

Sheikh Sabah paid tribute to Prince Nayef’s contributions to Saudi Arabia, noting that his meetings with the late Prince when he was Kuwait’s Ambassador in Riyadh reflected his “valued vision.” Prince Nayef made many con-

tributions in boosting security and stability in the Arab Gulf countries, he said. Sheikh Sabah extended his condolences for the Saudi leadership, government and people.

Kuwait declared a three-day mourning period in light of the passing. — KUNA

Shortage of workers widespread, stressed, over-worked staff rise Kuwaitization, economic downturn blamed

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: The ongoing anemic financial cycle, Kuwaitization policy and labor restrictions have caused turbulence in Kuwait’s work environment. Kuwait is mak ing changes by introducing flexible company restructuring, reshuffling between departments and reworking people’s job descriptions.

Although many financial analysts say global economic crisis is nearly over, the impact of the downturn is being felt throughout the world today. Kuwait has not been exempted. One of the many results was the relentless sky-rocketing cost of living which, some in Kuwait argue, is ‘unbearable.’ In fact, many employers trim the work force and overburden those who are on a paycheck. As a result, staff are overworked and overstressed and demand higher wages, bonuses and holidays.

A human resource specialist admitted, on condition of anonymity, that employers and workers’ attitudes in Kuwait have been changing. “The general attitude of employers and employees nowadays is changing because of the prevailing condition financially, and some related circumstances,” the Human Resource Manager told Kuwait Times.

In Kuwait, he said, reality states that there are shortages of staff in almost all sectors. Many factors have contributed to the dearth - 1.] financial crisis, 2.] Kuwaitization, 3.] major restrictions placed on hiring staff. “So the attitude of employers has shifted to making the most out of what [staff ] they have instead of hiring new workers. They are now doing all they can to utilize their remaining manpower to continue functioning,” he added. “The attitude now focuses on quality not the quantity. If a company can make the efficiency of one person equal to two or even more, they would do that,” he said illustrating his words with examples of staff shortage in the hospitality industry. “Even the Ministry of Health faces the same issue. There are shortages, and people inside the establishment know it, the management knows it,” he said adding that this situation is not related to the financial crisis.

“Some of them exist because of greed, and some because they cannot give the desired salary to workers,” he said.

In his words, companies reshuffle staff if they think one field does not demand many employees. An employee will be used in another

department instead. That is how they are trying to utilize their staff and so that their revenues will not be affected,” the human resource manager said. Explaining further, the burden now lies in the hands of manager in-charge or the employer himself. “The burden lies on the shoulders of the manager incharge or the employer. For one company, to cope with the financial crisis, it needs to stop hiring or do some other cost- cutting expenses. Another will continue to operate with what they have got,” he said.

Though many see the end of the financial crisis approaching still felt across the board. A well-known establishment was forced to stop hiring new employees in order to cope with the drastic change in

come. “I have been hearing about our shortage of staff since last year.

When I demand extra pay they are unwilling to dos so,” the men said.

The number of expatriates in Kuwait dropped by 19 percent last year, according to official statistics.

Local repor ts suggest that the decline was largely driven by government attempts to deport illegal migrants, who live and work in Kuwait without valid visas, as well as those who are involved in criminal activities. Another manager of a popular fast food chain company admitted that staff shortage is not related to financial constraints.

“Some business sectors are feeling the financial pinch, I don’t think we are suffering the same. If we do, we would not be able to open more restaurants in Kuwait.

KUWAIT: A group of expatriates working in Kuwait. The number of expatriates in Kuwait dropped by 19 per cent last year, according to official statistics. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat customers. “If the employer told you they cannot pay the salar y they offered previously and if they open the door for your departure, you cannot do anything but balance the scenario of not having anything or start a new job with another company,” one worker said.

“I will stay for a while but if an opportunity knocks along the way, I will probably leave the company.

That is because I need to survive and so does my family,” he said.

In another economically-stricken company, the manager convinced workers to stay and return after a prolonged non-scheduled vacation. Their second option was to reshuffle their staff in order to cope with the shor tage. “I was hired from the Philippines as a cashier.

I am doing many things here ranging from packaging to storing, even attending to customers’ concerns,” said a staff member. “My salary is the same but I am working extra hours without overtime,” he said elaborating that the company ’s employees were forced to endure the pain because they are waiting for staff that will never

Installation of hi-tech imported CTX devices halted KUWAIT: The world’s latest inspection devices known for their accuracy in detecting weapons, explosives and drugs, which were imported from the US three years ago following intensive negotiations with the Congress, are still trapped in a warehouse.

Sources revealed that Kuwait was originally the fourth country worldwide to own such devices.

The sources added that the devices, which are worth $12 million, are still trapped in the warehouse because of a disagreement between the Civil Aviation Authority and the interior ministry on how the cost of the carousels required should be covered. The sources added that even when the MOI agreed to pay the cost of purchasing and installing the carousels, installation was delayed because of budget problems.

The problem is salary. When the staff leave [for vacation], many do not return. The salary is primary concern. KD 100 is not enough to feed a family back in the Philippines considering the skyrocketing cost of living. But my job is to retain him by reminding him of the reality back home. I would tell him that if he goes back and not return, what job they can do in the Philippines. I would tell him that he is still lucky to have a job,” said the man. “ We were able to convince some to return, but there are a number of workers who fail to return, leaving our store with very limited manpower,” he admitted.

A recruitment agency told this reporter the reason why there is a shortage of workers. It stated that his company is no longer allowed to hire [by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor] staff from outside the country. “That is why we are trying to recruit staff locally.

The problem is to hire staff from Kuwait. Many workers have issues themselves and so transferring their visas from one company to another is a very difficult task,” revealed the agency.

Theft in Thailand: Embassy’s inaction irks victims KUWAIT: A number of citizens vacationing in Thailand have reported to being robbed of their belongings, including cash and passports, said sources noting. Although 15 days have elapsed, Kuwait’s embassy has allegedly been ignoring their complaints, with embassy officials avoiding their telephone calls.

When a few citizens returned to the hotel, they found that their rooms were broken into and cash worth $3,000, a passport and some clothes were stolen.

According to the hotel security investigation and surveillance camera footage, an Algerian was caught taking the room key from the reception desk. He was later seen exiting the hotel a while later. The thief was later arrested and confessed to delivering the booty to an accomplice. However, upon reporting the matter to the embassy, and asking that a lawyer and a translator be appointed on their behalf, no action was taken. Commenting on the incident, the father of one of the victims demanded that the Foreign Ministry intervene to help his son and his friends. — Al-Watan

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

local

Travelers must abide by border regulations KUWAIT: Assistant Undersecretary Lt Gen Anwar Abdul Razzaq Al-Yaseen urged people travelling by land this summer to follow up on the safety and security regulations they should take before starting their trip.

He added that all border points are prepared to handle the increase in travelers. Citizens and expats must ensure that their passport, residency permit and visas are valid before setting off.

They should also ensure that there is no travel ban registered against them.

Lt Gen Anwar Travelers must Al-Yaseen also check that their vehicles meet safety standards, avoid overloading their cars, make sure that they have their vehicle ‘Tripticket’ with them and remember to keep a fire extinguisher in the vehicle.

Al-Yaseen added that all of the basic requirements listed above should be covered by the traveler. He noted that anyone wishing to travel to GCC states using their civil ID should make sure that their ID is the “smart ID” version which includes a photograph of the holder.

Upon leaving, they must use the same identification they used to enter. In case of loss of identification documents, travelers should report their case immediately to the concerned authorities.

Concerning housemaids, Al-Yaseen noted that they should be accompanied by their sponsor and in possession of a valid passport and residency, with both being valid for at least six months. Failing to adhere to the conditions may result in travelers being denied entry at the border.

Al-Yaseen noted the importance of abiding by speed limits and taking regular rest to avoid becoming drowsy at the wheel, which can result in fatal accidents.

News

in brief

Soldier allowances to be reviewed KUWAIT: Sources revealed that a meeting shall be held this week to approve the formation of a work team to unify military systems and review some allowances due for soldiers in various sections (Army, Ministry of Interior, National Guards and Firemen). The sources noted that the issue concerns allowances in light of new developments since the approval of the original allowances systems in 2004. The sources added that a four man military committee intends to propose to the supreme defense council to increase the retirement salary ceiling for military men to KD 2000. They will also call for an increase in the end of service reward to two years. Sources revealed that this suggestion has been agreed upon by committee members, but the Ministry of Finance has reservations due to the high financial costs associated with it.

Minister visits evaluation centers KUWAIT: The Minister of Education Dr Nayef AlHajraf inspected centers where examination papers are being evaluated. He took note of the preliminary results of high school exams for some subjects - Philosophy and Islamic Studies.

He said that the results were satisfactory, with a high percentage passing examinations. Al-Hajraf appreciated teachers that were on exam duty, working in different shifts and even on holidays.

Mohammad Al-Kandari, Assistant Undersecretary said that the final results will be announced on June 27.

Airport passenger traffic KUWAIT: More than 91,000 passengers passed through Kuwait International Airport since the beginning of last week, a local daily’s report revealed yesterday following comment from a senior airport official, with 661 flights landing or departing during the week. “51,300 travelers departed Kuwait in the past week, but just 39,780 arrived during the same period,” explained Essam Al-Zamel, the Operations Manager at the Directorate General for Civil Aviation, who further indicated that three flights were added to the daily 328 scheduled departing flights, in addition to the 333 scheduled arriving flights. Al-Zamel further told Al-Qabas that Dubai, Turkey, London, Bangkok, Bahrain and Beirut lead tourists’ destinations so far.

Foul play in Amghara fires?

KUWAIT: Sources revealed that the security parties investigating the fires in the Amghara area have finalized their report. According to the sources, the report indicates that the fire was intentionally started by selected owners of the sites in order to secure insurance payments. The sources further added that the report noted various insurance companies and officials by name, suggesting that there may be cooperation between the parties. The damages from the workshops burned by the fires reaches, in some cases, more than KD one million. The sources noted that the fires at Amghara are rising rapidly, especially after demands to transfer the scrap to new locations in order to benefit from insurance compensation as much as possible.

Asian ‘legal’ residents fall victim to wrongful arrests Sponsor blasts officials’ negligence

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: At least 1,500 individuals were arrested in Jleeb Al-Shuyouk h in a recent raid held by the Ministr y of Interior there. Most South Asians reside in the locality. However, according to eye witness report, most of those arrested are in possession of a valid residence visas. An Asian driver fell victim to this wrongful arresting spree. He was employed at a Kuwaiti household. He was detained for about eight days and would not be released unless his sponsor did not vouch for him personally.

The sponsor related officials’ negligence to the Kuwait Times: “I spent two days trying to release our driver after he disappeared for two days. He had gone to spend two days with his brother who lives in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. When he failed to turn up on the third day, I became suspicious and called him up on his mobile, but he was not reachable.

After asking around and connecting his disappearance with the raid, I was sure he was arrested by mistake. I know that he has a valid residence permit,” said Salah, a 28-year- old citizen living in Rawda.

“I first went to Jleeb police station in search for the driver. The officer advised me to approach Hasawi police station. I went there and received the same answer, and was then asked to go to a school in Hasawi, where many depor-

tees are lodged. They asked me to approach Talha prison also located in Jleeb, and I did not find him,” he added.

Finally, he landed at the Asima Investigation Depar tment ( The Deportation Department). “The officer denied that he was present there and asked if the driver called me. When I replied that he did not, he asserted that the driver was not present there. Then used wasta to get a signed letter from Brig Abdulfatat Al-Ali, General Director of Security Directorate of Ahmadi Governorate, stating that the driver should be released because was arrested by mistake,” stressed Salah. “ The officer at the Depor tation Department first said he would call me if the driver was present there. He also said he could not find his file. When I insisted that the driver was present there, he checked the files again.

He asked me to produce my civil identification card. When he learnt that my grandmother is the driver’s official sponsor, he demanded that a power of attorney be presented.

When I explained that my grandmother is too old, he agreed to release the driver if proved that I am the sponsor’s grandson. He was released after I submitted a birth certificate proving that the sponsor is my grandmother,” he explained.

“This is bureaucracy at an all time low and the driver was arrested by mistake.

Such incidents damages Kuwait’s reputation,” he concluded. The arrested driver said that he, along with 300 others, were lodged in a cell that had one toilet.

He stated that about 250 inmates were legal residents. He said that he was

allowed to make one phone call from the station. As he did not remember any phone numbers by heart, he could not place a call to his sponsor (mobile phones cannot be used). He added that inmates are given food and medical care.

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Science Club announced yesterday that Kuwaiti student Howra Al-Qallaf won the American Society for Audio Sciences special award for her project on BAS. Along with other KSC students, Howra had participated in the Intel competition held in the United States.

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MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

LOCAL

Local Spotlight

kuwait digest

A conflict of opposites

Parliamentary Dissolution

By Dr Hassan Abbas o matter how much we try to merge the two, the difference between these political systems are different in essence and principle. The Islamic and democratic doctrines are poles apart and cannot simply co-exist. The former is based on the fundamental premises that absolute rule is for God Almighty, while the other is based on the idea that people have the power to rule themselves.

The Islamic and democratic systems move in two separate directions when the basis of their rule cannot be changed. Ever since the Western world created the ideology of democracy, the West has experienced sweeping changes and developments, the most salient of which is the replacement of religious rule with liberalism. The West only applied their own theory in political ideology by separating religious practice from politics, and individuals’ day to day affairs.

Muslim communities are incapable of adopting the democracy endorsed by the West, and to say that a community can establish an ‘Islamic democracy’ is simply a paradox. The difference between the two lies in ideology.

Both systems are generated by a ‘religious’ standpoint; one recognizes God’s right of absolute power and the other does not, making them travel in two separate political directions. The differences are as stark as summer and win-

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Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

I kuwait digest

Prove your argument to the public

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij

I am not saying that failed attempts to create a hybrid Islamic-democratic rule is the reason for political woes in Muslim communities, but it is also the reason why Arab countries will never emerge from these woes. It is not because Arabs are ‘barbaric,’ ‘bloodthirsty’ or ‘follow their leaders blindly,’ It is because of the dualideology created in minds of Arab societies living in a case of denial.

ter, inside and outside, existence and non-existence, religion and atheism.

I am not saying that failed attempts to create a hybrid Islamic-democratic rule is the reason for political woes in Muslim communities, but it is also the reason why Arab countries will never emerge from these woes. It is not because Arabs are ‘barbaric,’ ‘bloodthirsty’ or ‘follow their leaders blindly,’ It is because of the dual-ideology created in minds of Arab societies living in a case of denial. They are yet to accept the fact that Islamic and democratic systems cannot be merged. This dual-ideology creates a case of schizophrenia within the Arab man whose mind and behavior is always influenced by the conflict of opposites: Heaven and Hell, eternal suffering and paradise, right and wrong, belief and non-belief, creator and creation.

Conflict of political opposites in Arab societies creates two sectarian groups that can never co-exist when everything they see is either black or white, and end up engaging in deadly infighting in the name of God. —Al-Rai

hile I do sympathize with MP Obaid Al- tic statements against the judiciary will not help AlWasmi after the court ruling that acquitted Wasmi or other MPs that support him. I do not officers, I do not agree with his unprofes- believe it is a coincidence that lawmakers are guilty sional and unlawful position in questioning the court of making these statements. They will benefit from and the entire judiciary. First of all, the court has intimidating the court system into passing reduced issued a primary rule that can still be overruled at the sentences against them.

Appeals or Cassation courts. Even if a final verdict is MPs explain that they are against the ruling in Alissued, Al-Wasmi should have Wasmi’s case because securicriticized it by expressing his ty offices are not allowed to own point of view on the subuse violence against the pubject if he wanted to promote lic. I do not know whether political, social or even lawthe lawmakers live in their related gains. own utopia or believe that Just like how every individual citizens earned an exclusive Just like how every individual has his own perspec- has his own perspective on right of being protected from tive on things and base his things and base his judgment humiliation simply because judgment accordingly, the accordingly, the primary ruling of their nationality. Perhaps primary ruling is based on our MPs forgot that people in certain perspectives as per is based on certain perspectives all democratic countries the information and facts as per the information and facts around the world demonbrought to court. In Al- brought to court. In Al-Wasmi’s strate. The demonstrations Wasmi’s case, the judge could case, the judge could have made are often violent, and police have made a bad judgment force use water cannons and or the error could be in the a bad judgment or the error tear gas to break up a situainformation provided to could be in the information pro- tion that is getting out of court. That does not mean vided to court. That does not control. It appears that MPs that Al-Wasmi himself could mean that Al-Wasmi himself Musallam Al-Barrak, Waleed not be wrong.

Al-Tabtabaei and company If the verdict in Al-Wasmi’s could not be wrong. have forgotten that they case is not overruled in the have been approving the future, then he is required to Ministry of Interior’s annual provide an argument to conbudget every single year; a vince the public about his budget that includes funds to point of view, before probuy batons, rubber bullets, ceeding with legislative steps to ‘correct’ the course water cannons and tear gas grenades. If they of the trial itself, and more importantly ‘improve’ the approve of the purchase of these things, who do work of the judicial authority. they think the Ministry of Interior will use these Otherwise, making strong accusations and sarcas- against? —Al-Qabas

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kuwait digest

kuwait digest

What if Islamists form a government?

Please explain your visions

By Dr Hassan Abdullah Jouhar

By Thaar Al-Rashidi he question to be asked today is: what if a government is formed comprising majority MPs, as per demands put forward by the majority bloc? What will happen next?

First: Two scenarios can be expected, the first is political, with its influence on reality. The second is the effect on parties from the ruling family that fight for influence.

We cannot highlight one scenario and ignore the other because they are inter-connected.

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When the majority bloc gets nine ministerial posts, the government will comprise sheikhs and majority MPs. The talk about efficiencies and similar things will be forgotten. What is due here, is nothing but political power.

In general, this will not be a big case since most government posts were distributed to those who are more loyal.

What can happen is that the majority bloc will exercise complete control over ministries, grilling motions will no longer be initiated, and any such initiatives from the opposition will be thwar ted to maintain a dalliance with the majority bloc. Only vague grilling motions will be filed which are nothing but

s a parliamentary dissolution imminent? Many citizens have been asking this. In fact, it is a matter of speculation. Today, I want to examine the reasons behind this.

The final results of elections in Kuwait has resulted in Islamists gaining power. With the exception of a few names, many lawmakers have been subject to arguments and heated debate among citizens. Some lawmakers have even made racist calls, wanting to create a Kuwait that belongs exclusively to Kuwaitis.

I personally would never vote for someone that is racist. I have sense to realize that Kuwait was built by Kuwaitis and non- Kuwaitis alike, and it continues to be so.

Many non-Kuwaitis have been living in Kuwait for ages, and love Kuwait more than their native land. Many non-Kuwaitis have made a life here, and work for the benefit of the local economy by running successful businesses too. I believe that these people are not any less enterprising than citizens.

So, who really wishes to see the National Assembly’s dissolution? Islamists’ victory was not a pleasant sur-

empty shells, without a single live bullet! The opposition will not be able to make any real maneuvers.

Wielding full control over most ministerial posts, we will see popular decisions being made. AlMuaizry’s entry to the Cabinet is nothing but a futile exercise, merely monitoring what most ministers will do in each ministr y. When the majority bloc gets nine ministerial posts, the government will comprise sheikhs and majority MPs. The talk about efficiencies and similar things will be forgotten. What is due here, is nothing but political power.

In general, this will not be a big case since most government posts were distributed to those who are more loyal.

In the second scenario’s case, effects will be noticed only behind the curtains. If it is accepted that ministerial posts be allocated to the majority bloc, ripples will be felt by ruling family members, as some ruling family members will rise at the expense of others, spelling an end to the power exercised by two main players.

In my personal opinion, when the majority group demands nine seats or even six seats, they think that their demands will not be accepted and the proof is that no one has been nominated to take up any por tfolios, if the demand is accepted.

NOTE: In case nine seats are reserved, the businessmen will be the main losers. The clear winner will be the Islamists. —Al-Anbaa

mid expectations that the Cabinet will resign and that the situation will revert to how it was previously, one will have to consider the discussions held, and their results which are natural in a democratic country. However, our political culture seems to reject the concepts of democracy, parliamentary representation and rules.

Take the current Parliament and the majority that won 70 percent of seats. While comparing it to any parliamentary system worldwide, you would find that they are constitutionally entitled to form a government.

Nevertheless, we still have our special Kuwaiti way and many shortcomings in our democracy that deter the execution of a political project.

This is because we have no integrated parties that have enough mettle to run state affairs. Many MPs do not have enough executive experiences.

At the same time, many of the official apparatuses suffer from administrative corruption, bureaucracy issues and legislative hollowness in appointing senior officials, placing the majority in a political stalemate.

In addition, lack of confidence and trust among various sects within the Kuwaiti society, fears of so many people that the fragile parliamentary blocs have no national agenda, and that they only have limited views that might lead the country into the unknown, resulting from various parliamentary statements and suggestions made by some of the lawmakers around the clock.

A

Therefore, I believe that the safest thing is to allow them take part in forming a new ‘national unity cabinet’ that will prioritize restoring Kuwaiti identity and adapting a new vision to rebuild the country.

We still have our special Kuwaiti way and many shortcomings in our democracy that deter the execution of a political project. This is because we have no integrated par ties that have enough mettle to run state affairs. Many MPs do not have enough executive experiences. At the same time, many of the official apparatuses suffer from administrative corruption, bureaucracy issues and legislative hollowness in appointing senior officials, placing the majority in a political stalemate.

Hence, we urge HH the PM on the one hand, and the majority bloc on the other to explain their visions and an exceptional four-year program. This is so that we, the people, can evaluate both teams and decide which will be trusted more by citizens. —Al-Jarida

Anything can happen during any election. The regional situation and public attitude is not something that cannot be completely relied upon! The high tension will result in people making their choices based on how they feel about different issues. This is how the Sunnis and Shiites voted. This is what happened in the recent elections. If another election is held now, the same scenario could be repeated, bringing in more lawmakers with ultra-conservative or racist ideas. That will surely will not be good. prise for the liberal groups. So, they would wish to see it dissolved soon because they hope or think that the majority bloc does not need to be comprised of so many Islamic representatives.

Anything can happen during any election. The regional situation and public attitude is not something that cannot be completely relied upon! The high tension will result in people making their choices based on how they feel about different issues. This is how the Sunnis and Shiites voted. This is what happened in the recent elections. If another election is held now, the same scenario could be repeated, bringing in more lawmakers with ultra-conservative or racist ideas. That will surely will not be good.

Will there be a dissolution? The National Assembly will take its summer recess, only to convene again in October. There may be less tension on that front, and we could expect a new chapter to begin. Possibly, a dissolution can be taken into consideration. Right now, I think calls for a dissolution will not bring any good to any.

In my view

Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee

By Labeed Abdal

local@kuwaittimes.net he United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee celebration was a historical moment, given the friendly relations that the country shares with the rest of the world.

The jubilee celebrations and people’s anticipation were signs of genuine love and involvement on the part of citizens and other visitors to London.

The people of the world, celebrated with the 86year-old queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, a year after her grandson Prince William married Kate Middleton, the new Duchess of Cambridge.

Although some liberals protested, calling for putting an end to monarchy, UK’s masses expressed their affection to the queen.

Yet the challenge, will remain in the succession issue, which will need a capable individual to hold responsibility for the next century. Ther are different issues present in the new world order, multi- polarity, e-world peace and security, global economic reconstruction and power shifts.

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MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

Local

8,000 bedoons to become ‘illegal residents’ soon Red tagged identification card KUWAIT: Color-coded identification cards will be distributed to stateless residents in Kuwait (bedoons) in the upcoming days, including the nearly 8,000 who have failed to produce their original passports. Quoting a source from the Central Agency for Illegal Residents, Al-Anba reported yesterday that nearly 8,000 identity cards with a red tag will be distributed to bedoons whose census documents date only to 1980, in addition to “nearly 1,000 residents that have criminal records, automatically disqualifying them from being naturalized.”

A red tagged identification card, the only form of identification stateless residents hold, indicates that the individual has been registered in state records as an Arab descendant who disposed of original passport after reaching Kuwait. If a bedoon fails to ‘legalize’ their status within a year, they will be treated on par with expatriates residing illegally in Kuwait, and will be deported if arrested.

According to a source, the Agency has collected proof that stateless residents that will be

given the red tagged cards “disposed their original citizenships after coming to Kuwait,” some as early as “a few years ago.” The source urged bedoons case to contact “embassies of their home countries and obtain new passports so that they can continue to live legally in Kuwait.”

Kuwait’s large community of stateless residents are being categorized according to their status so that only the deserving will be naturalized. An a green tag identification card will be distributed to bedoons who meet all conditions, and whose procedures to receive citizenship is pending a further study. It is valid for five years. Meanwhile, a card with a yellow tag will be distributed to bedoons whose background need to be verified further, and will be notified later. This card is valid only for three years. Another card with a blue tag, will be distributed to bedoons who reportedly issued fake passports , and are required to issue passports legally within a year.

Kuwait’s nearly 100,000 stateless residents, who live in different places in the country but is

largely concentrated in Al-Jahra and AlAhmadi, demand citizenship as well as civil and social rights. They argue that obstacles like illiteracy and lack of awareness on the importance of adequate documentation prevented their Bedouin ancestors from filing for Kuwaiti citizenship after the country obtained independence more than fifty years ago. In an attempt to resolve this issue, the government established the Central Agency for Illegal Residents a couple of years ago to determine if those living in Kuwait before the earliest census was carried out in 1965 are eligible for naturalization, in addition to residents who allegedly came afterwards and disposed of passports to seek citizenship in the oil-rich country.

Last year, the agency adopted measures to grant bedoons several rights that include obtaining marriage, birth and death certificates. The agency was given a five-year ultimatum to resolve the decades long issue that has invited the wrath of international human rights groups.

Minister hopes ‘voice of reason’ help defuse political turmoil KUWAIT: Members of the executive and legislative authorities in Kuwait are required to consult the voice of reason in order to save the relationship between the cabinet and parliament, and protect the country from potential uncontrollable crises. This was stated by a veteran Kuwaiti minister during a recent inter view in which he described the country’s Constitution as “the safety valve” in settling any disputes or problems.

“Conflicts between MPs and Cabinet members are common in parliaments around the world since each party has a set of specialties and duties based on which their work is organized”, Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Development Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar told Al-Qabas daily, arguing that working for the good of Kuwait “which can come with several confrontations” is a positive thing.

Dr Safar, who takes the development

portfolio after serving as municipality minister in addition to the public works minister in the past cabinets, sees little changes between the Cabinet led by Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, and the Cabinet headed by the former premier, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah.

“The executive body is the same, as the level of effor t and hard work at state departments remain the same regardless of changes in ministers’ lineup”, he said, adding that achievements, while slowly, still happen.

The minister answered worries after the parliament rejected the proposed schedule to carry out projects listed in the third fiscal year of the development plan, by assuring that state departments are carrying out their projects currently as scheduled “while coordination is ongoing with MPs who the Cabinet regards as true partners in development”.

Kuwait hosts GCC meeting KUWAIT: GCC information and media officials were discussing ‘new media’ and documentaries in Kuwait yesterday, said Kuwait’s Information Minister, who chairs the GCC Joint Program Production Institution. The issue of new media has taken major priority, Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdallah Al-Sabah told attendees of the meeting, while producing documentaries aimed at promoting the concept of the GCC to the outside world is another.

New media is a term used to define modern media interaction between host and receiver anytime and in any place on digital devices as well as other media tools. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Planning and Development, Dr Fadhel Safar and other officials pictured during the inspection tour of the project.

Boubyan bridges 95% completed: Safar KUWAIT: Two bridge projects for automobiles and trains linking mainland Kuwait and the island of Boubyan are 95 percent completed, Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Planning and Development, Dr Fadhel Safar revealed yesterday.

Safar stressed that his ministry is keen on abiding by deadlines in completing the construction of major projects in Kuwait.

The bridges will link the island to the northern desert area of Sabbiyah and will transport passengers and goods as part of the country’s state development plan, he told reporters during an inspection tour of the project.

The ministry also plans to implement

a series of ambitious projects on the island, including residential facilities, an airport and a railway station.

Moreover, Al-Sabbiyah will accomodate a “Silk City” as the country plans to expand economically as well as socially.

Meanwhile, the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Major Projects Adel Al-Turki revealed that a three -week deadline has been set for the auto highway bridge of the project.

An extension of the bridges will also link the planned Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, while the railway part of the bridge will link up to a track running through the northern region right down to the southernmost border regions of the country. —KUNA

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

local

Kuwait is less peaceful than last year, shows new report Global Peace Index ranks Kuwait 47th KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait’s Regional Director Lina Darwish (left) hands over a check to Al-Rumaithiya Co-operative Society’s Chairman Ali Al-Faili and Vice Chairman Khalid Jermen over the weekend to fund a project to improve the area’s walkway.

KAC executives discuss promotion of services KUWAIT: Abdullah Al-Qaissy, the head of Kuwait Airways’ marketing and sales, said that the airline dedicates special attention to its external branches as they are important channels for increasing revenues.

Al-Qaissy said in a statement yesterday that the of marketing and sales team held

Abdullah Al-Qaissy

their annual meeting Dubai in attendance of managers of the KAC branches, stations and external sales, for revision and consultation regarding means of overcoming hurdles.

The corporation holds such meetings twice a year for the external sales stations, which are major channels of income. The meetings aim to improve the promotion of services and bolster the corporation status among international companies, he said.

Participants in the meeting discussed marketing plans to enhance services and preserve the accomplishments of the corporation, Al-Qaisy said, adding that the discussions also dealt with sales plans, topics related to the 2012-2013 fiscal year, and plans for slashing expenditures without affecting the level of the services for the clients.

The meeting also discussed the latest innovations in the aviation field. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Through its decline in peacefulness the Middle East and North Africa is now the least peaceful region globally, says the 2012 Global Peace Index which was published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an international non-profit research organization dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive, achievable, and tangible measure of human well-being and progress. The report which was published last week gauges ongoing domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and militarization in 158 countries by taking into account 23 separate indicators.

Kuwait fell one place to 47 following the United Arab Emirates (46). Bahrain has dropped drastically in the latest edition of the Global Peace Index “as a result of months of unrest” to 118th place out of 158 covered after being placed 62nd back in 2007. Qatar ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa region and among the top 20 most-peaceful countries on 12th place. Saudi Arabia was placed 106th.

According to the report, Iceland is the country most at peace for the second successive year and Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time is not the least peaceful region. Syria tumbles by largest margin dropping over 30 places to 147th position. Somalia remains world’s least peaceful nation for second year running.

According to the report, improvements in the Political Terror Scale and gains in several indicators of militarisation arising from austerity-driven defence cuts were the two leading factors making the world more peaceful in 2012. This reverses two consecutive years where the GPI has shown a decline in global peace. If the world had been completely peaceful, the economic

benefit to the global economy would have been an estimated $9 trillion in the past year (equal to the size of the German and Japanese economies combined.)

The GPI is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). All regions apart from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) saw an improvement, with Sub-Saharan Africa lifting off of the bottom spot for the first time since the GPI was launched in 2007. Madagascar, Gabon and Botswana experienced notable improvements over the past year and the region also shows the largest improvement in ‘Relations with Neighbouring States’ from 2009 to 2012.

Through its decline in peacefulness the Middle East and North Africa is now the least peaceful region globally. The drop largely reflects the upheaval and instability driven by the Arab Spring. Indeed the five indicators that deteriorated the most across the GPI last year were measures of safety and security in society, and appear to reflect turbulence that has shaken the Arab world since December 2010. Syria’s descent into civil war caused it to fall by the largest margin, followed by post-revolution Egypt and Tunisia respectively.

“What comes across dramatically in this year’s results and the six year trends is a shift in global priorities. Nations have become externally more peaceful as they compete through economic, rather than military means. The results for Sub Saharan Africa as a whole are particularly striking - regional wars have waned as the African Union strives to develop economic and political integration.” said Steve Killelea, founder and Executive Chairman of the IEP. “Peacefulness has returned to approximately

the levels seen in 2007, but while external measures of peacefulness have improved, there has been a rise in internal conflict. This is particularly noticeable in the rise in fatalities from terrorist acts which have more than trebled since 2003.”

According to the report, the Asia Pacific region’s overall score improved by the largest extent from last year and included three of the top five risers. Sri Lanka experienced the greatest improvement in its overall peacefulness following the ending of its civil war. Bhutan showed robust gains to enter the top 20 for the first time mainly as tensions eased surrounding ethnic-Nepali refugees. The Philippines also showed a robust rise across a number of indicators.

For the sixth consecutive year, Western Europe remains markedly the most peaceful region with the majority of countries ranking in the top 20. While Norway dropped out of the top 10 for the first time to 18th position, three Nordic countries stay ranked in the top 10, with high levels of safety and security indicating broadly harmonious societies free from conflict.

North America experienced a slight improvement, continuing a trend since 2007. Canada jumped three places in this year’s rankings as a result of fewer casualties among its troops stationed in Afghanistan. The United States’ overall score also improved slightly thanks to reductions in the percentage of jailed population, although it slipped a number of places as a result of larger gains made by other countries.

Latin America also experienced an overall gain in peacefulness, with 16 of the 23 nations seeing improvements to their GPI scores.

— www.visionofhumanity.org

Rio Earth Summit to kick-off with participation of Kuwaiti delegation RIO DE JANEIRO: The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as the Rio Earth Summit or Rio+20, will kick-off here on June 20, marking the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

Over 130 world leaders are expected to attend Rio+20, in addition to thousands of business executives, mayors, civil society groups, youth and indigenous peoples.

Chairperson of Kuwait’s Volunteer Work Center Sheikha Amthal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah will be representing the State of Kuwait and heading a delegation to the Summit.

The summit represents “another milestone in ongoing international efforts to accelerate progress towards achieving sustainable development globally and aims to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assess the progress to date and address new and emerging challenges.” The Earth Summit 2012 is taking place 20 years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, where countries adopted Agenda 21, which is a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection.

One of the most important commitments to come out of the summit will be a political document to be agreed by the UN’s 193 member states that accelerates action on the sustainable development agenda.

Rio+20 will also launch many initiatives and commitments by governments, businesses, civil society groups and others. These commitments will include action on food, energy, water, oceans and sustainable cities.

The opening day of the conference will include remarks by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil,

UN General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nassir and Rio+20 Secretary-General Sha Zukang, as well as special messages from astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station and by the winner of a special contest for young people.

The objective of the conference is to “secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assess the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development, and address new and emerging challenges.”

It will also focus on two themes, which are “a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and the institutional framework for sustainable development.” In addition to the discussions in the plenary and in any subsidiary bodies that may be established, the conference will feature four consecutive high-level roundtables, parallel meetings including a partnership forum and learning centers, as well as special events.

The four high-level round tables will have a common theme, which is “Looking at the way forward in implementing the expected outcomes of the conference” and they will be held in parallel with the plenary meetings.

In addition to the outcome of the formal negotiation process, governments, businesses, civil society and international organizations will launch initiatives and announce commitments to tackle global sustainability challenges through partnerships. Potential initiatives will tackle challenges that include food, energy, oceans, water and livable cities.

Meanwhile, the US State Department announced, last week, that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will head the US delegation to the Conference and that she also “plans to meet with key world leaders while at the conference.” — KUNA

KUWAIT: Firefighters in action after fire broke out in Salmiya and Shuwaikh yesterday. —Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Two bootleggers in police custody treatment on the site. Furthermore, investigations are in progress to determine the cause.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Two bedoons were arrested in connection with alcohol sale. Case papers indicate that narcotics detectives were tipped off concerning the suspects’ activities. An undercover agent struck a deal with them to purchase a bottle of liquor.

While delivering the contraband, one of them was arrested at a parking lot in Al-Rai. After raiding his house, the second suspect, his brother, was arrested and detectives confiscated 60 more bottles. A case was filed and the suspects were referred to relevant authorities.

Fire incidents A huge fire broke out at a sponge factory in Shuwaikh. Four firefighting teams from Shuwaikh, Al-Shohada, hazardous materials squad were dispatched to the scene. The fire engulfed a warehouse that covered an area of 700 square meters where paints, plastic materials, sponge and other flammable materials were stored. Firemen tackled the fire to prevent it from spreading to other parts of the factory.

Another fire broke out at dawn in a Slamiya building near the Marina Mall. Firefighters responded to the report in a record time of three minutes.

The fire began at the building’s yard, the ground and the first floor, necessitating the evacuation of all residents. Four residents were administered

10,377 citations Traffic police held an inspection campaign all over Kuwait that resulted in 10,377 citations being issued, including 361 for using mobile phones while driving. Sources explained that 2,473 tickets were filed in the capital and 150 vehicles were impounded. Atleast 1,134 tickets were filed in Ahmadi and seven vehicles were impounded; 621 tickets were filed in Mubarak Al-Kabeer and 27 vehicles were impounded; 1,494 tickets were issued in Farwaniya. Also, 37 vehicles were impounded and 477 tickets were issued in Jahra and 29 vehicles were impounded.

minor injuries in an accident that took place in Sulaibikhat. They were admitted to Al-Sabah hospital.

In another car accident, a 41-year- old Syrian fractured his right knee and thigh and an 18-yearold citizen fractured his right thigh bone and suffered a head injury. They were admitted to Adan hospital for treatment.

Hit and run case A 40-year-old citizen suffered multiple bruises after being run over by a speeding vehicle in Al-Rai near the Iranian market. A 40-year-old Fillipino suffered chest and shoulder injuries after being run over by a vehicle in Sabhan. He was admitted to Adan hospital for treatment. A 29-year-old Bangladeshi fractured his right leg after being run over by a speeding vehicle in Hawally, noting that the man was admitted to Mubarak hospital.

Car accidents Two citizens (aged 33 and 21) sustained

KUWAIT: The two bedoons who were arrested for liquor trading yesterday.

Foul play suspected in woman’s injury Two held in insurance scam KUWAIT: Investigations are ongoing to unravel the circumstances that led to a female citizen being gravely injured. She was found bleeding from a neck injury. Police reached the Mubarak Hospital after the victim was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit. Her husband told officers that he found his wife in this state after returning to their Hawally apartment. Preliminary investigations indicate that the woman attempted to end her life. Police are trying to determine if she was attacked.

Cultural diwaniya helps to promote Korean culture KUWAIT: The Embassy of the Republic of Korea last Wednesday hosted the 4th Korean Cultural Diwaniya under the topic of Korean language (Hangeul), and Korean calligraphy.

The event started with displaying a video about the Korean language, Hangeul. The participants enjoyed an overview of the styles of Korean calligraphy, and were be able to try it using hanji (traditional Korean paper). With the help of some members of Korean community in Kuwait, the participants were introduced to the Korean alphabet called “Hangul” and taught how to spell and write their names and some words in Hangul by using handbrushes, Korean Hanji papers, inks, water and ink sticks.

The participants had chances to learn Korean language through creating Korean name for

their own. And also they showed the Koreans during the event how to write their names in Arabic calligraphy, which added more excitement and fun to the evening. All attendees also enjoyed a nice mix of traditional Korean and Arabic food and conversation.

The event was very successful for all. The Embassy of the Republic of Korea is planning to organize the next Diwaniya after the end of the summer vacation, probably in September.

However, during summer, special event such as Gurgaian for Korean community is also planning to be hosted by Kuwaiti members. The embassy staff hopes that the event constituted an opportunity to promote the Korean culture among the Kuwaiti society and solidify the bilateral ties between the Republic of Korea and Kuwait.

Suicide attempt Police successfully coaxed a domestic worker out of her suicide plan. She was then safely escorted from the top of an Al-Oyoun building.

Major Ghunaim Al-Thufairi, Head of the Taima police station counseled the Sri Lankan woman for an hour and a half after threatening to leap from her employer’s roof top. The woman was taken to the area’s police station for investigations. Al-Rai. Meanwhile, an Ethiopian woman in a comatose was hospitalized after a suicide attempt at her employer’s home in Al-Qadsiya.

Medical tests revealed that the domestic worker suffered poisoning after ingesting a highly toxic substance, likely to be cleaning bleach. Police are waiting for the woman to regain consciousness so that investigations can be launched.

Two in custody A junior officer was arrested along with a

stateless resident (bedoon) in connection with stealing thousands of dollars from an insurance company. Salwa police launched a probe after being approached by an insurance company’s legal representative and requested an investigation into an alleged car accident for which his company was to pay the owner KD 18,000. The company reportedly grew suspicious when it discovered that no case was filed on the accident, based on which the claim amount was paid. The owner only provided a document stamped from the police station authorizing the insurance payment. However, regulations stipulate that the company be provided with a copy of the accident’s investigation report which can be used to demand a compensation from the other driver involved in the accident through legal action. A forgery case was confirmed after the chief investigator whose stamp was used on the document denied knowledge of the accident. Police summoned the owner of the damaged car for investigations, during which he eventually confessed of working with a junior officer to forge a document stating that his luxury car was completely damaged. The suspect reportedly decided to buy the damaged car upon learning that it is fully insured. His accomplice, the officer, explained that he stealthily entered the detective’s office during a prayer break and stamped a blank paper which he later filled with the desired information. The two remain in custody pending legal procedures.

Car vandalized A police officer faces arrest after admitting to vandalizing a vehicle owned by a woman he is romantically involved with. The incident took place after he entered into an argument with the middle -aged woman. She repor tedly caught her ‘lover’ cheating on her. According to a security source, the woman approached officers at a police station in the Hawally governorate, reporting that the suspect damaged her car after an altercation. “The woman, a widow with a huge fortune, was very generous to her boyfriend during their relationship and trusted him until a friend approached her and divulged details about his infidelity,” the source said.

Following his arrest, the man in his twenties did not deny the accusations, but argued that he grew desperate after trying to get rid of her “as she refused to stay away from him since they met six years ago.” The officer, who was stripped of his badge, remains in custody pending legal procedures Illegal residents At least 31 expatriate residents were arrested in Maidan Hawally and Salmiya during a recent four-hour campaign that targeted illegal residents. According to a security source, many detainees were caught working illegally in local markets. All detainees remain in custody pending deportation procedures.— Al-Rai, Al-Qabas

International MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

Greece holds key ballot

Suu Kyi to make return to Oxford Page 10

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KADUNA: People gather outside a church following a blast in Kaduna, Nigeria yesterday. Three church blasts rocked a northern Nigerian state officials said, prompting protests in a state that has previously been strained by religious tensions. —AP

21 dead in Nigeria blasts, rioting Christian youths kill Muslims in retaliation KADUNA, Nigeria: Multiple church bombings in Nigeria and subsequent rioting by Christian youths targeting Muslims killed at least 21 people yesterday, officials and residents said. Bomb blasts struck three churches in the northern Kaduna state, the latest in a string of attacks that has threatened to ignite wider sectarian strife across the religiously-divided country. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bloodshed but the attacks were likely to be blamed on Boko Haram, an extremist group bent on creating an Islamic state and responsible for scores of recent attacks.

Two churches were attacked in the city of Zaria and one in Kaduna City, killing at least 16 people, according to a police statement. Explosions were also reported in Nassarawa and Barnawa. After news of the blasts spread, Christian youths took to the streets of the main motorway that connects Kaduna City to Nigeria’s capital Abuja, attacking motorists who looked Muslim. An AFP reporter said he saw the bodies of 10 people killed by the rioters being taken to the morgue.

“The official figures from medical personnel on the total deaths from the bombings and protests are 21 deaths and 101 injured,” said an official

from the National Emergency Management Agency who requested anonymity. Kaduna state authorities immediately imposed a 24-hour curfew. The blasts happened in the Wusasa and Sabongari districts of Zaria at the Christ the King Catholic Cathedral and ECWA GoodNews Church, residents and NEMA said. “A total of 16 persons have so far been confirmed as a result of the explosions within the three churches,” police said in a statement.

Several residents in Sabongari said the Catholic church was badly damaged by the blast.

“I went close to the church but could not access it due to heavy police and military security deployed around it,” resident Mahmud Hamza told AFP. “From where I stood I could see a badly destroyed church still burning from the explosion.

It is obvious there were deaths from the scale of the damage and the fire,” he added.

Another resident spoke of bodies being taken out. Residents of Wusasa district spoke of many injuries but could not confirm any deaths at the ECWA GoodNews Church. “Many people in the church were injured but I have not seen any dead bodies,” a woman who was in the church in Wusasa at the time of the explosion said by tele-

phone from her hospital bed. NEMA officials said the third attack hit the Sharon Church in Kaduna city and that there were two other bombings in the Christian-dominated towns in the south of the state. Emergency officials reported attacks in Nassarawa and Barnawa in the south of the same state but police did not confirm them and the targets remained unclear. Southern Kaduna is some four kilometres from Kaduna city and about two hours by car from Zaria.

The bomb blasts triggered violent protesting

by Christian youth mobs, who barricaded roads in the towns of Trijania, Gonin Gora and Sabon Tasha, attacking motorists who looked Muslim. “I cancelled my trip to Abuja because of the huge number of rioters that have taken over the roads,” one man told AFP. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the latest in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, by the church blasts resembled those previously claimed by Boko Haram. The Islamist group claimed a suicide bombing at a church in Bauchi State that killed at least 15 earlier this month. The group is responsible for more than 1,000 deaths since mid-2009. — AFP

Libya gives green light for political campaign TRIPOLI: Political campaigning for a national assembly begins today, a milestone in Libya’s troubled path to democratic elections after four decades of dictatorship under late dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The electoral commission announced late on Saturday that candidates have 18 days to campaign, June 18 to July 5 inclusive.

It said 2,501 independents and 1,206 political association candidates were eligible to stand after vetting.

A total of 142 political associations are fielding candidates, it added. Nuri al-Abbar, head of the electoral commission, urged candidates “to conduct an honorable competition and live up to their responsibilities.” Campaign guide-

lines published by the electoral commission called on candidates to avoid conducts that foster the outbreak of conflicts between voters, hurt national unity and sow discrimination or hatred.

Candidates are obliged to disclose how their campaign was financed. The July 7 vote is for the North African nation’s first General National Congress. Once the newly elected assembly holds its first session, the interim ruling National Transitional Council is due to step down. The vote, which was initially slated for June 19 in line with a pledge by the NTC, was postponed for technical and logistical reasons.

Ian Martin, the United Nations envoy for Libya, told AFP that the

new timetable was doable and called the delay a “wise” move as it would give voters more time to familiarise themselves with the candidates. “It is still tight but our electoral team... believes this is a feasible timetable,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be a perfect election but it is a much needed election.” Martin said UN advisers were counselling the interior ministry on its security planning for the first national election since the 2011 popular uprising toppled Gaddafi’s regime.

“In a post-conflict situation it would be unrealistic to think that there would be no security problems at all, but I am very encouraged by the fact that there were no serious security incidents

around voter registration,” he said.

More than 2.7 million Libyans, or around 80 percent of the eligible electorate, have registered for the election. “Once there are competing candidates the mood can heat up a bit, but I believe that the capacity is there to address security problems if they arise,” Martin added.

He said that the new authorities have shown considerable capacity in mediating clashes, even though the nascent army remains weak and dependent on brigades of former rebels to help settle conflicts. The most recent clashes this month centred on the southern city of Kufra and in the Nafusa mountain region west of the capital Tripoli. — AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

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

Sudan police disperse student protest with teargas KHARTOUM: Sudanese riot police yesterday used tear gas and batons to disperse a student protest in Khartoum against the government and high prices, witnesses said. Such protests are rare in Sudan but anger has been rising over high food prices and government plans to cut fuel subsidies to plug a ballooning deficit - a move that would hit the poor. Inflation is running at 30 percent.

Around 200 students staged a protest at noon outside the main university campus in the centre

of the capital shouting “The people want lower prices” and “The people want to overthrow the regime,” witnesses said. Riot police fired tear gas and used batons when the crowd tried to spread out on the main street outside the campus, they said. Some students threw stones at the police.

The police were not immediately available to comment. A Reuters reporter who arrived after the protest ended saw police and security agents armed with iron rods detaining some stu-

dents and driving them away in trucks. There was a heavy security presence all over the city centre. Sudan has been in economic crisis since it lost three-quarters of its oil production - its main source of state income and hard currency when South Sudan became independent a year ago. The government wants to remove fuel subsidies to plug a $2.4 billion deficit.

Khartoum and other cities have seen some small protests against rising inflation recently,

but opposition parties have failed to capitalise on them. Authorities temporarily closed Khartoum University in December after more than a week of protests against the government.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will address parliament today, the state news agency SUNA said late on Saturday. It gave no details but a diplomat said Bashir was likely to announce details of the fuel subsidies and austerity measures.—Reuters

120 Sudanese leaving Israel under pressure Mass deportation starts JERUSALEM: Israel was forcing 120 South Sudanese to leave the country yesterday, starting what was to be a mass deportation of thousands of unauthorized African migrants who have poured into the Jewish state. Some 60,000 impoverished Africans, most from Eritrea and Sudan, have slipped into Israel across its southern border with Egypt since 2005, fleeing repressive regimes and seeking work. The influx has caused friction with Israeli locals and several inci-

ing citizens well. In all, it hopes to expel 4,500 Africans. In reality, the operation will only make a small dent in the total number of migrants.

Under an international treaty, Israel cannot deport those from Sudan, an enemy state, or to Eritrea, a country with a miserable human rights record, because they could face harm if they return to their homelands.

In addition, other Africans continue to flood into Israel. Interior Ministry spokeswoman

TEL AVIV: A South Sudanese refugee waves his national flag as they board a bus taking them to Ben Gurion International airport, near Tel Aviv, where they were deported to South Sudan yesterday.—AFP dents recently turned violent. Authorities, alarmed by the swelling numbers, say the migrants are a burden on the economy and threaten to undermine Israel’s Jewish character.

Facing a public uproar, the government launched a campaign last week to round up and expel migrants from South Sudan and other countries that have friendly relations with Israel, and therefore would be expected to treat return-

Sabine Haddad said that while Israeli authorities rounded up about 300 people over the past week, some 260 more Africans entered Israel illegally. Haddad said the people leaving yesterday had agreed to go after being threatened with arrest.

In all, more than 500 agreed to leave within the past week, and another flight is scheduled for next week, she said. Adults who sign the vol-

untary departure form will receive 1,000 euros ($1,300) apiece to help them resettle, and minors will be given 500 euros ($650) each, she said. The wave of migration has set off a heated debate in Israel. Some believe Israel, founded as a refuge for survivors of the Holocaust, has a special responsibility to help those in need. Others say the problem is not Israel’s alone to solve, and that the flood of migrants could undermine the country’s Jewish identity.

Many of the migrants have concentrated in impoverished neighborhoods, and their growing presence has created mounting tensions with locals who accuse them of rapes and other crimes. In an alarming recent development, several migrants and African homes and businesses have been attacked. Migrants’ advocates were appalled by the forced departures. “They (the migrants) tell the cameras, we are happy, we are proud, but in private conversations, they tell us they’re very afraid,” said Orit Marom of the Asaf organization. To Marom’s criticisms, Haddad replied that the cash the migrants would receive “is equal to more than a year’s salary” in South Sudan.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called the migrants “a national scourge,” told his Cabinet yesterday that the government has stopped allowing migrants to enter Israeli cities.

Instead, they are to be arrested at the border and put into detention. “Jews have a tradition of treating foreigners humanely, and even when we have to remove them from within our midst out of a state’s desire to rule its borders, we shall do it humanely and express ourselves with restraint and humanity,” he said.

A detention center the government had approved more than a year ago to hold thousands of migrants has not been completed, though Israel is working to build a fence along the Egyptian border meant to keep out both migrants and militants. In addition to the detention center, it plans to build a tent city to hold 20,000 other migrants. — AP

Iraq bombings kill five BAGHDAD: Bombings in Iraq killed five people and wounded 34 others yesterday, security and medical officials said, after a bloody week that cost the lives of more than 100 people. A car bomb targeting an army patrol killed one soldier and wounded three others in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, army Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Al-Obaidi from the Anbar Operations Command said.

A roadside bomb in Fallujah also killed a child and wounded three other people, Obaidi said. Doctor Assem al-Hadithi of Fallujah General Hospital confirmed the facility had received the bodies of the soldier and the child. In Al-Sharqat, 290 kilometres (180 miles) northwest of Baghdad, a car bomb that exploded near a police station among a line of cars waiting for petrol killed two people and wounded 26, a police colonel said. And a roadside bomb north of Kirkuk, a city in north Iraq, killed Murad Mohammed, an Iraqi employee of a Turkish security company, and wounded two others, a high-ranking security official said. The violence comes a day after 32 people were killed and dozens wounded in two car bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, while 72 people were killed and more than 250 wounded Wednesday in a wave of attacks across Iraq. —AFP

HEBRON: A Palestinian woman kisses the dead body of Naim Al-Najar during a funeral in the West Bank village of Idhna, near Hebron yesterday. An Israeli tow truck driver shot dead two Palestinians and wounded one during what Israeli police said was an attempted car robbery in the West Bank. —AP

ADEN: A Yemeni refugee child sits watching TV in the grounds of a public school in the port city of Aden on Saturday now being used as the living quarters for internally displaced families who had to flee their homes when Al-Qaeda militants swept into southern Abyan province. —AFP

Yemenis say Qaeda gave town security, at a cost JAAR: For 15 months, residents of the southern Yemeni town of Jaar lived under the watchful gaze of armed young men who swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda , woke people at dawn to pray, and chopped off the hands of thieves in the name of Islamic law. But the relief that they felt when government troops drove Al-Qaeda ‘s local allies out last week was tempered with worry, as looters ransacked abandoned houses in their wake.

In a town on the frontline of a US backed war on Al-Qaeda whose alleged members the Pentagon targets with drone strikes some wondered whether a state whose neglect was a main theme of Islamist rhetoric would now manage to govern. Although some of Jaar’s 100,000 people saw Islamist rule as a nightmare, they acknowledged it had also been a respite from the lawlessness that gripped Yemen during the uprising that eventually forced President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

“People felt secure and safe (under AlQaeda ),” said Mohammed Mohsen Bakr, a street vendor. “People would leave their shops open when they went to pray and when we came back our goods were untouched,” he added. Bakr said before Islamist militants took over Jaar, vendors like himself were forced to make regular payments to local gangsters in order to carry on their businesses, and that shakedowns resumed the day the Islamists fled.

Such crimes have been carried out regularly in other parts of southern Yemen, including its second city and port, Aden.

Early in last year’s uprising against Saleh, Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) seized three cities in Abyan province, taking its provincial capital Zinjibar after Jaar, which they renamed “the emirate of Waqar”.

They also captured the port town of Shaqra and Azzan, a town in the adjacent Shabwa province. The Yemeni army, backed by US air strikes, drove the militants from Jaar and Zinjibar last Tuesday after five weeks of fighting that killed hundreds on both sides, and captured their last Abyan stronghold on Friday.

The offensive appeared to end the experiment with Islamist rule in Jaar, one

of the areas Ansar al-Sharia seized with scarcely a fight from Saleh’s troops, some of whom had been withdrawn to parts of the country where protests were growing.

Inspired by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab across the Gulf of Aden, the militants set up sharia courts and trumpeted punishments given to robbers and murderers, to the satisfaction of some of the population in a conservative Muslim country.

“Al-Qaeda members made us feel safe, they cut off the hands of thieves,” said Jaar resident Ali Ba Ali. “This is part of sharia, those who steal should have their hands cut off.” It was not the first time Islamists claimed the right to rule territory in Yemen, where tribal and factional loyalties have often counted for more than the writ of the state, whose presence was negligible in Abyan. In the late 1990’s AdenAbyan Islamic Army, made up of jihadists who fought the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in 1980s, called for the establishment of an Islamic state in the impoverished country.

But in Zinjibar, a resident surveying the city’s bullet-riddled buildings and the destroyed tanks scattered across its main road ridiculed the Islamist claim of righteous government, asking: “What have they gained from causing this, what have they gained from cutting people’s hands?”

Salem Mohammed Bisher of Jaar was indifferent to the militants’ ideological claims, and worried more that a government which had never provided him essential services would fail where its Islamist foes had succeeded.

“We haven’t had water or electricity since the day before yesterday,” Bisher said, sheltering from the summer heat in the shadow of his house. “We have never had such disruptions under AlQaeda rule.” The province’s governor, who along with Yemen’s defence minister and the army commander in the south, toured a city filled with ruined buildings and unexploded ordnance, acknowledged the state now had to show it could deliver what its foes had.

“The big challenge is reconstruction and the return of water and electricity,” Jamal al-Aqel said.—Reuters

Iran, 6 powers both need success at nuclear talks MOSCOW: Iran and six world powers resume nuclear talks Monday no closer to progress than in previous rounds, and with the clock ticking on international diplomatic efforts to persuade Tehran to curb activities that could be used to make atomic arms. Diplomats from several nations meeting with Iran in Moscow depict the talks as crucial. They say it will likely be the last in a series and that, if negotiators fail to make headway in persuading Tehran to stop higher-grade uranium enrichment, it’s unclear if or when new talks would occur.

Iran insists all of its nuclear activities are peaceful. It denies interest in the nuclear weapons application of uranium enrichment, insisting it wants to make only reactor fuel and medical isotopes. While Iran wants the other side to recognize its right to enrich and blink first by easing sanctions, the six say the onus is on Tehran to show it is ready to compromise.

Such a stalemate makes the chances of substantial progress unlikely in Moscow.

The United States and its Western allies routinely warn that time is running out for a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

But this time such warnings carry more weight than before both for Iran and its negotiating partners - the US , Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. Iran would be most immediately hurt by a lack of progress in Moscow followed by a long hiatus in new negotiations. In addition to longer-term UN and other sanctions, Tehran is now being squeezed by a widening international embargo on its oil sales, which make up more than 90 percent of its foreign currency earnings. It desperately needs those sanctions lifted, but the six say it needs to make the first move on cutting back on uranium enrichment.

The White House also stands to lose. Failed talks at Moscow with no immediate prospect of new meetings would almost certainly expose President Barack Obama to criticism of weakness in dealing with Iran from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney - and from Israel, which has threatened to attack the Islamic Republic’s nuclear installations should diplomacy fail.

It is unclear if the Jewish state would actually make good on such a threat and, if so, when. But any military move would likely draw in the US , widen the conflict through much of the Mideast and further hobble countries already in economic tailspin by driving oil prices sky-high. All that should be avoidable, considering that each side is keenly interested in what the other has to offer. Western nations in particular are eager for Iran to stop enriching uranium at a level just a few steps from weapons-grade material.

Western nations also want Fordo, the underground Iranian facility where most of this enrichment is taking place, shut down and Iran to ship out its higher-grade stockpile. Fordo is of special concern because it might be impervious to air attacks - a possible last-resort response to any Iranian bomb in the making. Iran, in turn, wants sanctions lifted, particularly those eroding its oil sales. Sanctions levied by the US have already cut significantly into exports of Iranian crude - from about 2.5 million barrels a day last year to between 1.2 and 1.8 million barrels now, according to estimates by US officials. A European Union embargo on Iranian crude that starts July 1 will tighten the squeeze.

Iran denies it is hurting from the oil penalties, but in India last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said

the sanctions are “sending a decisive message to Iran’s leaders.” “Until they take concrete actions to satisfy the concerns of the international community, they will continue to face increasing isolation and pressure,” she said. Like canny chess players unwilling to expose their king, both sides have been waiting for the other to make the first move. But too long a wait could translate into opportunity missed.

“Having accumulated precious assets that bolstered their hand in negotiations, both parties are now loath to use the leverage they sacrificed so much to acquire,” the Brusselsbased International Crisis Group said of the standoff. The West insists that Iran is in the wrong by continuing to enrich uranium despite UN Security Council demands it stop doing so.

Iran says its right to do so for peaceful use is enshrined in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Repeating Iran’s mantra, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a senior Iranian cleric, said curbing uranium enrichment was not on the table. “The Iranian nation has withstood years of Western pressure and sanctions for the realization of its nuclear energy rights and it will not give them up now,” state TV quoted him as saying during Friday prayers in Tehran. Others are more conciliatory, reflecting the many and ever-changing voices of Iran on the nuclear issue. The talks are being convened by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and diplomats say Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili told her Monday that Iran was ready to discuss enrichment in Moscow. On Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine that his country is ready for “a positive step if the other side also takes steps.”

But the problem of who takes the first step remains - along

with whether that will be big enough to be followed by others.

The six are coming to Moscow prepared to ease restrictions on airplane parts for Iran’s outmoded, mostly US -produced civilian fleet and are offering technical help with aspects of Iran’s nuclear program that cannot be used for military purposes.

While not budging on lifting existing sanctions or those already decided upon, diplomats familiar with the talks told The Associated Press the six are also prepared to guarantee that no new UN penalties will be enacted if Tehran shows enough compromise. The diplomats demanded anonymity because that possible offer has not yet been formally made.

Washington has warned Tehran of the alternatives should it not be willing to meet the six powers’ demands. “The window for diplomacy is not indefinite,” a senior U.S administration official told AP. “There is tremendous international unity and (oil) sanctions will continue to ratchet up come the beginning of July when our bilateral ones and the EU’s come into full force. “So, these, too, can serve to affect Iran’s calculus and make them willing to finally meet its international obligations.

The onus is on Iran to take concrete steps or it will face mounting pressure and isolation.”

But the proposals from the six that already are on the table fall short of what Iran says it seeks, at least publicly - a move to ease pressure now by easing existing or looming sanctions.

“Temporary suspension of 20 percent enrichment in return for plane spare parts is like swapping gold for chocolate. It’s a joke,” said Esmaiel Kowsari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission who often speaks on the nuclear issue. “Effectively, the West wants Iran to surrender in Moscow. That will never happen.”— AP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

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

Four presumed dead after Mount McKinley avalanche ALASKA: Hitoshi Ogi was tied last in a line of five Japanese climbers making their way down one of the world’s most dangerous mountains when an avalanche struck. The rope snapped and the four people in front of him were swept away, either buried under three feet of snow or pushed into one of the deep hidden crevasses that pock the western face of Alaska’s Mount McKinley.

Ogi, 69, tumbled 60 feet into a shallow fault in the mountainside and climbed his way out. He later told park rangers he looked around but couldn’t

find any of his companions. Fourteen hours after Thursday’s accident, Ogi stumbled into base camp. He had only minor injuries. US National Park Service said Saturday that the four are presumed dead by either snow burial or injuries suffered in the fall.

Ogi’s survival came during the busiest season on Mount McKinley on its most well-traveled route. Search teams spent parts of Friday and Saturday looking for the other four climbers, all older than 50 and all members of the Miyagi Workers Alpine Federation in Miyagi, Japan. Recent

snow on the trail made the going hazardous, but the weather on Thursday was calm, said US National Park Service spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin.

“Where the avalanche occurred, the vast majority (of the new snow) was not on the main route,” McLaughlin said. “A small sliver of it was, and that’s what took them.” The West Buttress route snakes down the mountain from a 20,320 summit to base camp two and-a-half miles below. About twothirds of the way down is Motorcycle Hill, a windy ridge that serves as a convenient stop for climbers on their way

up to grin and take pictures.

That’s where the avalanche struck, taking 64-year-old Yoshiaki Kato, 50year-old Masako Suda, 56-year-old Michiko Suzuki, and 63-year-old Tamao Suzuki. McLaughlin called it “an unlucky, random event.” “Avalanches do occur in this vicinity, but it’s not common, she said. Snowfall and wind have impeded a search for the missing climbers. The climbers were attempting the busiest route, West Buttress, during the height of mountaineering season.

Climbers took the route on 92 percent of attempts on Mount McKinley in

2011. The Park Service said in a news release Saturday that nearly 400 people were currently on the Alaska mountain.

Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, is North America’s tallest peak. While not a particularly tall peak by global standards, its latitude makes for far thinner air than is found in mountains closer to the equator. That, combined with the weather and temperatures, makes it a particularly dangerous climb.

Four people died on the mountain in 2009 and again in 2010. At least five people died in 2011 on Mount McKinley. —AP

Wildfire destroys most homes in Colorado history At least 181 homes damaged by fire

OHIO: Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives for a campaign stop at Mapleside Farms yesterday in Brunswick, Ohio. —AP

Romney won’t say he’ll overturn immigration order BRUNSWICK: Mitt Romney is refusing to say that he would overturn President Barack Obama’s new policy allowing some young illegal immigrants to stay in the United States. The Republican presidential candidate tells CBS” “Face the Nation” that if he’s president, Obama’s executive order “would be overtaken by events ... by virtue of my putting in place a long-term solution.” Romney’s response underscored the challenge he faces of trying to appeal to Hispanics, the fastestgrowing minority group in the US , while not alienating conservatives who support tough immigration policies.

The former Massachusetts governor has tried to focus his campaign on America’s slow economic recovery, a potential weakness for Obama amid stubbornly high unemployment. But Obama’s announcement of the new immigration policy Friday forced Romney to veer from the jobs-and-economy talking points with which he is most comfortable.

Romney was asked three times in the interview if he would overturn Obama’s order, but he didn’t directly answer the question. Instead, he said would work to pass a law to help those young people who were “brought in by their parents through no fault of their own.” Romney said he doesn’t know why Obama “feels stop-gap measures are the right way to go.”

The candidate’s comments represent a further softening of his rhetoric on immigration since the Republican primary campaign to choose a presidential nominee ended. Back January, when he faced the challenge of winning over the right-

wing base of his party, he pledged to veto legislation backed by Democrats that would have created a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants brought to the US as children. Instead of emphasizing the plight of illegal immigrants, Romney focused on the consequences illegal immigration has for US jobs.

The Obama administration said the policy change announced Friday will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation.

Obama’s move bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the Democrats’ long-stalled legislation aimed at young illegal immigrants who went to college or served in the military.

Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be able to avoid deportation if they can prove they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a US high school or earned an equivalent diploma or certificate, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed.

The broadcast interview, conducted Saturday, also touched on a variety of topics, from Europe’s debt crisis to Obama’s health care law aimed at extending insurance coverage to tens of millions of Americans.

With the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the health care law expected this month, Romney described what he would do if the justices threw it out. — AP

Sandusky strategy emerges after trial’s first week BELLEFONTE: After a gripping, emotionally charged four days of testimony that saw eight men from 18 to 28 years old tell jurors that Jerry Sandusky sexually abused them as children, the former Penn State assistant football coach will soon get to tell his side of the story.

Sandusky himself could take the stand in his own defense at his criminal trial, but it’s not certain that will happen. During his first remarks to jurors, his lawyer Joe Amendola suggested he might, though the jury has already heard an audio recording of a stilted television interview Sandusky conducted shortly after his November arrest, denying the allegations against him.

Amendola’s opening statement, court documents and four days of witness cross-examination provide something of a road map to the defense’s strategy, which has been aimed at creating enough doubt in jurors’ minds to avoid a conviction that could send Sandusky to prison for life.

The defense has sought to show how the stories of accusers have changed over time, that they were prodded and coached by investigators and prosecutors, that some are motivated to lie by the hopes of a civil lawsuit jackpot, and to paint Sandusky’s interactions with children as misunderstood and part of a lifelong effort to help, rather than victimize them.

“Jerry, in my opinion, loves kids so much that he does things none of us would ever do,” Amendola said at the start of trial. Lawyers pursuing a credibility defense try to give jurors reasons to disbelieve the narrative presented by prosecutors, and a financial gain motive

or a changing story can be part of that, said University of Pittsburgh law professor David A. Harris.

“This is all standard procedure for building a reasonable doubt defense,” said Harris, who has worked as a defense lawyer and prosecutor. “What they don’t have here is any way to say, ‘OK, these kids have been molested, but somebody else did it.’” The first four days of testimony, however, may have already cast the die, if jurors have made up their minds about the credibility of the eight accusers, young men ages 18 to 28, six without a father in their lives, three who have never known their fathers. That doesn’t mean they can’t be swayed by defense evidence, and the judge will caution them to keep an open mind, Harris said. “But what we’re talking about is human nature here, and people have heard a lot already,” he said. In a large and crowded courtroom, with a crush of national media watching their every word, the accusers recounted in detail their experiences with the 68-year-old Sandusky, allegations that include severe sexual attacks of children too scared and too small to escape or fight back.

Their testimony is the heart of the case the government has been trying to prove, in the words of lead prosecutor Joe McGettigan, that Sandusky has been a predatory pedophile. The men said he plied them as children with gifts, dazzled them with the prestige of Penn State’s vaunted football program and then scaled up physical contact from a hand on the knee or a fatherly kiss to fondling, repeated oral sex and in some cases violent anal rape. — AP

DENVER: Crews in northern Colorado braced for powerful fire-fanning winds as they battle a blaze that has scorched about 85 square miles of mountainous forest land and destroyed at least 181 homes, the most in state history. The destructiveness of the High Park Fire burning 15 miles west of Fort Collins surpassed the Fourmile Canyon wildfire, which destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder in September 2010.

More than 1,630 personnel worked on the fire Saturday, officials said in a late-night news release. That was an increase of more than 100 firefighters from a day earlier. The lightning-caused blaze, which is believed to have killed a 62-year-old woman whose body was found in her cabin, was 45 percent contained, Cpl. Julie Berney of the Larimer County sheriff’s office said yesterday. The fire’s incident commander said full containment could be two to four weeks away.

Fire information officer Brett Haberstick said crews have made progress in containing a 200 acre spot fire that erupted Thursday afternoon north of the Cache La Poudre River, a critical line of defense against northward growth. “ Two 20-person hotshot crews worked throughout the day to secure lines around the perimeter of this spot fire,” the officials said in a release. Firefighters have extinguished other incursions north of the river, but the most recent one appeared to be more serious.

National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Fredin said some rain was expected in the fire zone Saturday evening, but it will not be enough to put the fire out. “We need a rain that will really last all day,” he said. “But it’s better than dry wind at this point.” Crews faced difficult conditions yesterday with wind gusts expected to hit 50 mph along ridge tops and in Poudre Canyon and temperatures in the 90degree range. The fire was reported June 9 and has since raced through large swaths of private and US. Forest Service land. It was 45 percent contained late Saturday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who oversees the Forest Service, met with fire managers in Fort Collins on Saturday and said “fighting this fire is going to

New laws stir political debate in Venezuela CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has approved a series of laws by decree, drawing criticism from the country’s opposition. Vice President Elias Jaua said in an appearance on television Saturday that the laws approved by Chavez include one giving local communities greater control over certain services, such as maintenance of schools and medical clinics, and providing them with more funding for such services.

Jaua said on Friday that 11 decrees were approved at a Cabinet meeting, and that they also included measures dealing with housing and farming loans, as well as restructuring the country’s investigative police force. Venezuela’s opposition coalition protested the decrees in a statement Saturday, saying that “Chavez wants to keep shattering the rule of law.”

Jaua said the laws were the latest of 54 decrees enacted by Chavez using a socalled “Enabling Law,” under which lawmakers temporarily granted the president special lawmaking powers in December 2010. Chavez mentioned some of the decrees on television Friday night and noted that his 18-month lawmaking period expires this weekend. The laws were enacted just as Chavez stepped up his public appearances following cancer treatment while running for re-election.

The measures didn’t appear to entail dramatic changes to government policies. Chavez’s government, for instance, has already organized neighborhood “communal councils” that receive government money for projects such as paving roads and fixing power lines.

The opposition coalition, however, expressed concern that the measure granting more funding and authority to neighborhood groups seemed aimed at weakening the powers of state and local governments, many of which are controlled by Chavez opponents. Jaua defended the decrees, saying one of the aims is to deepen what Chavez calls “participatory democracy.” —AP

require us to be aggressive, persistent and also patient. “We’re going to continue to work to make our forests more resilient. We’re going to continue to ensure that adequate resources are provided for fighting fires and we are going to continue to make sure that

winds sent embers more than a mile from the blaze’s end, causing the inferno to grow.

But officials released transcripts of the response on the Lincoln National Forest website that suggested firefighters were attacking the blaze as soon as it was a quarter of an

DENVER: A helicopter returns to Fort Collins, Colo., after dumping a load of water on hotspots of the High Park Fire on Saturday. —AP we encourage appropriate stewardship of our forests,” he said.

Vilsack praised Congress for allowing the government to contract additional aircraft particularly heavy tankers - to fight wildfires across the West. But he called on lawmakers for budget certainty to help plan for future fires. Vilsack is scheduled to hold a news conference with US Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell in Albuquerque yesterday.

Meanwhile in New Mexico, questions were being raised about whether bureaucratic red tape prevented firefighters from saving more homes affected by the Little Bear Fire after federal officials released transcripts of the firefighters’ response.

Congressman Steve Pearce said Friday in an interview with KOB-TV that he believed federal officials could have done more after lightning sparked the fire outside the resort town of Ruidoso on June 4. Days later, high

acre. The fire has destroyed 242 homes and commercial structures. It had burned 59 square miles and was 60 percent contained as of Saturday night.

Parts of the area received up to three-quarters of an inch of rain Saturday, aiding the firefight but causing flash flood warnings as a result of burned over forest. Lincoln County Emergency Services ordered an evacuation for residents in low-lying areas and around creeks or streams, but they were allowed to return home in the evening. In Arizona, a blaze in the Tonto National Forest that doubled in size to 3,100 acres. Officials said Saturday night that the fire was 15 percent contained and firefighters continued to battle unseasonably dry fuels, high temperatures and low humidity. On Friday, a crew member broke his leg fighting the blaze, which was burning in a remote, mountainous area about 70 miles northeast of Phoenix. —AP

Police: Murder suspect arrested at US border ALBERTA: The man wanted in a deadly armored car heist at a university in western Canada that left three armed guards dead was arrested at gunpoint by US border officials in Washington state, police said Saturday. Edmonton police Supt. Bob Hassel said in a news release that Travis Baumgartner was stopped near a border crossing in Lynden, Washington, southwest of Abbotsford, British Columbia. Officials said Baumgartner was in his pickup truck and was alone.

Police said a sum of money was found in the truck when Baumgartner was arrested.

Police had earlier called it a “significant” sum.

Baumgartner, 21, had been on the run since Friday when four armed guards were gunned down, three of them fatally. He faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Baumgartner was the fifth member of a G4S Cash Solutions crew that was re-loading bank machines at a University of Alberta mall and residence where the shooting happened, police said. The armored truck was found abandoned but running not far from the security company’s offices. Dead at the scene were Michelle Shegelski , 26; Eddie Rejano, 39; and Brian Ilesic, 35.

“We’re grateful to the border officials at Lynden, Washington, for their excellent work in arresting a man we believe was armed and extremely dangerous,” Hassel said in a statement. Canadian police officials were on their way to the US to bring Baumgartner back to Edmonton. Employees at the nearby dutyfree shop in Lynden said they watched part of the arrest from their front window. A worker who would only give her first name, Adrienne, said she saw two border patrol vehicles with lights flashing and officers standing outside with their guns drawn. She said she didn’t hear any shots fired.

“It’s pretty scary,” she said. “Luckily nothing here happened.” Police had launched an international manhunt to find Baumgartner. G4S Cash Solutions spokeswoman Robin Steinberg said the company would conduct its own investigation into the shooting.

Baumgartner had only been on the job for three months. “We applaud the dedication of the Edmonton Police Service, and other law

enforcement agencies in apprehending Travis Baumgartner today,” Steinberg said in a statement. “Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of the victims and also with the Baumgartner family.”

Baumgartner’s mother issued a statement Friday pleading for her son to surrender and apologizing for an argument they had. Such shootings are rare in Canada, where residents are nervous about anything that might indicate they are moving closer to US levels of gun violence. The oil boom town of Fort McMurray, Alberta, however, often has drugrelated shootings, and Vancouver often has gang shootings. Gunfire at Toronto’s most prominent mall this month left two dead and several injured and a shooting at an Edmonton club in 2006 left three dead.

Police said Baumgartner was driving his Ford F-150 truck with an Alberta license plate when he was arrested. Steven Munz, a close friend of Baumgartner, had said that Baumgartner had been on the job for only three months and wanted to eventually become a police officer, but said Baumgartner didn’t believe he had what it took. Munz said he had noticed a change in his personality in the last year, and that he had been irrational at times. In a profile on the dating website Plenty of Fish, Baumgartner bills himself as an armored car guard interested in video gaming. A photo shows him shirtless holding a cell phone. He says he has a laid back personality and a “10” physique. — AP

BRITISH COLOMBIA: Travis Baumgartner is taken out of a van by Canadian Border Services officers at the Aldergrove, British Columbia border crossing, Saturday,. —AP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

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

Socialists tipped to seal control in French vote PARIS: France’s Socialists were set to win control of parliament in a run-off vote yesterday, handing President Francois Hollande the precious majority he needs to push through his taxand-spend agenda. Hollande, who defeated right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy in presidential elections in May, has urged voters to give him the majority he needs to steer France through the eurozone crisis, rising unemployment and a faltering economy.

Opinion polls before the end of campaigning showed France’s Socialists winning between 287 and 330 seats in yesterday’s run-off votealmost certainly enough to secure a majority in the 577-seat National Assembly. With the Greens, who are close allies of the Socialists and already in government, expected to win up to 20 seats, Hollande is all but guaranteed to get the parliamentary backing he needs.

Casting their ballots under sunny skies in a working-class area of northeastern Paris, voters said they were backing the Socialists so Hollande could push forward with reforms. “I voted for the Socialist Party. It has been a long time since they were in power and they must be supported now,” said William Lameth, a 39-yearold waiter. “We need reforms in this country and with a majority Hollande will be able to do what needs to be done,” he said.

With the French voting for the fourth time in eight weeks, there was concern turnout would be less than enthusiastic, after a record low of 57 percent took part in the June 10 first round. Voter participation was down slightly to 46 percent as of 1500 GMT, from 48 percent at the same time in the first round, the interior ministry said. Already in control of the Senate and nearly all regional governments, a

parliamentary majority would give the Socialists a free hand to implement reforms, and the right has urged voters to check the left’s power in the vote.

The Socialists and other left-wing parties came out on top in the first round, winning 46 percent to 34 percent for Sarkozy’s UMP party and its allies. The election is also a key test for Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigrant and anti-EU National Front (FN), which took 13.6 percent in the first round-far above the four percent it won in the previous parliamentary election in 2007.

Le Pen, who claimed the result made her party France’s “third political force”, is hoping the FN will be able to take a handful of seats including one for her in a former mining constituency near the northern city of Lille.

Her niece, 22-year-old Marion Marechal-Le Pen, is hoping to win a

seat in the southern Vaucluse region.

Polling stations were to close in the main cities across France at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), when initial results are expected.

Casting his ballot in the northwestern city of Nantes, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault urged voters to give Hollande a “clear, coherent and strong majority”. “We will have to make choices that will sometimes be difficult... so we must be strong,” said Ayrault, who was among 36 candidates not facing a run-off after taking more than half the votes in the first round.

UMP leader Jean-Francois Cope, favoured to keep his seat in the Seineet-Marne area outside Paris, said the right was prepared for any result. “We are calm, we did everything we could during the campaign,” Cope said after voting. After a hard-fought presidential race, the campaign for the parliamentary elections was lacklustre, with

the only major excitement generated by an incendiary tweet fired off by the country’s new unofficial first lady.

The Twitter message by Hollande’s companion Valerie Trierweiler wished good luck to Socialist dissident Olivier Falorni, who is running against Segolene Royal-the president’s expartner and mother of their four children-in the western town of La Rochelle.

The UMP said the tweet was an inappropriate intrusion of Hollande’s personal life into politics, but analysts said that despite widespread media coverage it was unlikely the message would have much impact on the result.

Hollande will leave Monday for G20 talks in Mexico-the first of a series of summits with world and European leaders where he will seek to shift the focus of eurozone economic policy from austerity to growth.— AFP

13 inmates killed in Turkish prison fire Inmates set bedding on fire

BERGEN: Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (L) speaks to Naw Star Ri (R) during a meeting with Myanmar refugees in Norway at the Rafto Foundation, a human rights organization, in Bergen yesterday. —AFP

Suu Kyi to make return to Oxford LONDON: Before Aung San Suu Kyi was a prisoner of conscience and a political icon, she inhabited a world of children’s birthday parties, university libraries and bicycle-filled English suburbs. The leader of Myanmar’s democracy movement spent years in the university city of Oxford with her English academic husband and their two sons. She left one day in 1988 to care for her sick mother, thinking she would be gone for weeks. Almost a quarter of a century later, she is about to return for the first time.

Today, Suu Kyi begins a weeklong trip to Britain as part of a European tour. Her itinerary includes talks with Prime Minister David Cameron, an address to Parliament and a meeting with Prince Charles. But the most bittersweet moment will likely be her homecoming to Oxford, where on Wednesday the 66year-old will finally accept the honorary doctorate she was awarded in 1993, while she was under house arrest in Yangon.

Oxford looks much the same as when she left, a traffic-clogged jumble of spires and bridges and Gothic college buildings. But her children are grown and her beloved husband, Michael Aris, is dead.

“I’m sure within herself it’ll be an extremely emotional moment,” said Peter Popham, author of “The Lady and the Peacock,” a biography of Suu Kyi. “When she left in March 1988 she expected to be away for a while, possibly a few months, but certainly not 24 years.”

Suu Kyi arrived in Oxford in 1964 from a background marked by both privilege and tragedy. She had been educated at a convent school in New Delhi, where her mother was ambassador for the country then known as Burma. Her father, Gen. Aung San, a political leader who negotiated Burma’s independence from Britain, had been assassinated by political rivals in 1947, when she was 2. She studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University’s then-women-only St. Hugh’s College, a handsome collection of red brick Edwardian buildings set in extensive gardens.

Student friend Ann Pasternak Slater recalled a striking figure whose “firm moral convictions and inherited social grace contrasted sharply with the tatty dress and careless manners, vague liberalism and uncertain sexual morality” of her English counterparts. Suu Kyi was not a party animal - she tasted alcohol just once, to see what it was like - but did embrace other Oxford traditions.

In the essay collection “Freedom From Fear,” Pasternak Slater described her learning to operate a punt - Oxford’s characteristic flat-bottomed boats - and to ride a bicycle, swapping her traditional Burmese long skirt, the lungi, for a pair of white jeans. While at Oxford, Suu Kyi met Aris, a Himalayan scholar who later served as tutor to the children of the king of Bhutan. They married in 1972 - on condition that if her country ever needed her, she would go.

Neither imagined how high the price would be.”She thought she might go to Burma one day to set up a mobile library once the kids were grown and Michael

was retired,” said Rebecca Frayn, screenwriter of “The Lady,” a recent feature film about Suu Kyi. “They had a little dream that he would grow orchids.” The couple lived in Bhutan and London, then settled in Oxford when Aris got an academic post. Suu Kyi looked after sons Alexander and Kim and pursued doctoral studies.

Frayn said the future Nobel peace laureate embraced her role as academic wife and “utterly devoted mother.” “She was famed for her exquisitely organized birthday parties,” Frayn said. “The common thing is that she did whatever she did to the Nth degree.” In March 1988, Suu Kyi returned to Myanmar to nurse her dying mother, and found herself on the front line of mass pro-democracy protests that erupted soon after. The hospital where her mother was being treated was inundated with injured demonstrators.

As the daughter of a national hero, Suu Kyi was an instant emblem of the movement. She embraced her destiny and helped form the National League for Democracy - with the support of her far off husband. “From the outset, they knew it was a tough decision to go into politics,” Popham said. “But I don’t think any of them had an idea of how hard it was going to be. Michael thought the regime would collapse within months and they would be reunited by Christmas 1988.”

In fact, Aris saw his wife only a handful of times after she left Oxford. The NLD won elections in 1990, but was kept from power by the military junta. Suu Kyi spent much of the next 20 years under house arrest, finally being released in November 2010. In April, she won a seat in the country’s national assembly, and is campaigning for further reform. The couple’s predicament took a cruel twist in 1997, when Aris was diagnosed with what turned out to be terminal prostate cancer. The junta would have allowed Suu Kyi to leave Myanmar to visit him but she feared she would not be allowed to return. He applied 30 times for visas to visit her; all were rejected.

“He was adamant she shouldn’t come back,” Frayn said. “He was convinced (his visa) would be granted and he would die in her arms.” Aris died in Oxford on his 53rd birthday in 1999. He had not seen his wife in more than three years. Frayn said the years of separation had left a “complex emotional legacy” for Suu Kyi’s sons, now in their 30s.

Kim Aris lives in Oxford and has visited his mother several times since her release from house arrest. Elder brother Alexander - who at age 18 delivered the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize address on behalf of his mother - lives in a Buddhist community in Portland, Oregon. Neither has given interviews to the media. Suu Kyi, too, rarely speaks of her emotions - a reflection, Frayn said, both of her Buddhist faith and of her political convictions.

“She is surrounded in the National League for Democracy by people who spent many years in prison, and in some senses her context is that she got off lightly compared to a lot of her close political colleagues,” Frayn said. — AP

ANKARA: Inmates in a prison in southeast Turkey set mattresses and blankets alight, starting a fire that killed 13 prisoners, authorities said yesterday. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the inmates set their bedding on fire following a fight that broke out inside a ward housing 18 prisoners late on Saturday. Five of the inmates in the prison in the mostly-Kurdish and Arabic-speaking city of Sanliurfa were hospitalized but none was in serious condition.

The prisoners also barricaded the ward’s entrance using beds and other furnishings, hampering rescue efforts by guards, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin told reporters after he and other ministers visited the prison in the city near the border with Syria. The five survivors escaped serious injury after shutting themselves in the ward’s bathroom, he said.

Inmates in Turkey have in the past set bedding alight in riots to protest poor prison conditions, but authorities insisted the incident was not a mutiny. There was no explanation however, as to what sparked the dispute in the ward. Ergin said an investigation had been launched and its results would be made public. The fire, meanwhile, exposed the problem of overcrowding in some Turkish prisons. The Sanliurfa prison has a capacity of 600, but was holding some 1,000 prisoners, according to news reports. Ergin said the section where the fire broke out was designed to hold 12 inmates but was temporarily accommodating 18 convicts and jailed suspects still on trial.

“We have a capacity problem in Turkey’s prisons,” Ergin admitted, adding that the government was building 196 more prisons over the next few years to overcome shortfalls.

Authorities did not say whether the victims were burned or died of asphyxiation. Three guards suffered burns while trying to put out the blaze, while the prison director and eight other guards were treated for smoke inhala-

Swiss voters say no to yet more referendums GENEVA: Swiss voters decided yesterday that they have enough democracy already, overwhelmingly rejecting a proposal to hold more referendums on international treaties. A nationalist group in the already referendum-happy Alpine republic wanted voters to have an automatic say every time their government signs an important international agreement. However, not one of the country’s 26 cantons, or states, voted in favor of more referendums in yesterday’s referendum, and 75.2 percent of voters rejected the plan. Such proposals need a majority of both voters and cantons to pass.

Most major parties opposed the measure, saying it could gridlock Swiss democracy with constant ballot calls - as one prevote poster put it, “too much democracy kills democracy.” Switzerland already holds about half a dozen national referendums each year as well as local ones. The Action for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland group, which made the proposal, said it wanted referendums whenever Switzerland submits to a foreign law or cour t - par ticularly if it involves the European Union. Switzerland does not belong to the 27-nation bloc but is surrounded by it.

The right-wing Swiss People’s Party, the only major party backing the plan, said yesterday’s rejection “was predictable given the opponents’ massive campaign of fear.” As things stand, all it takes is 50,000 signatures to force a national vote on a new law or treaty in Switzerland, a country of more than 7 million people. The bar is higher - 100,000 signatures - if grassroots groups want to propose completely new legislation, but such measures also are voted on frequently and sometimes succeed.

Turnout in Swiss referendums rarely exceeds 40 percent. Yesterday, it was 37.8 percent. —AP

tion, Ergin said. The fire broke out in a section housing ordinary criminals and not terror suspects. A pro-Kurdish legislator, jailed for alleged links to an outlawed Kurdish rebel group, was not affected by the fire, the region’s governor, Celalettin Guvenc told reporters.

He said earlier that authorities had launched an investigation into the incident, including into possible delays by authorities or firefighters in responding to the fire. “Why (the firefighters) weren’t there on time, what caused the fighting, why were these people killed? All of these will be investigated,” Guvenc said. Erdogan said he would order an

investigation into possible overcrowding. “I have been told by the governor that the ward’s capacity may not have been suitable to house 18 people,” he told reporters before his departure to Mexico to attend a Group of 20 summit.

Meanwhile, police used pepper gas to disperse families and protesters who attempted to make their way through a road block to reach the prison, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The situation at the prison was calm yesterday and Guvenc said prison authorities would grant increased visiting rights for families concerned about their loved ones. — AP

SANLIURFA: Emergency service leaves from Sanliurfa city prison yesterday, in Sanliurfa.

At least 13 prisoners died from smoke inhalation after inmates started a fire during a mutiny in a jail in southeastern Turkey, officials said yesterday. —AFP

Small nation, big vote: Greece holds key ballot ATHENS: Greeks returned to the ballot box yesterday for an election that punched far above its weight - a vote that could propel Greece out of the eurozone and unleash an economic tsunami at home, in Europe and around the world. As central banks stood ready to intervene in case of financial turmoil, Greece held its second national election in just six weeks to try to select a new government after an inconclusive ballot on May 6. The two parties vying to win have starkly different views about what to do about the ?240 billion ($300 billion) in bailout loans that Greece has been given by international lenders. One wants to tear up the deals and void the harsh austerity measures demanded by lenders that have caused Greek living standards to plummet. The other backs the bailout deal but wants to amend it.

The choice - the most critical in decades could determine whether Greece abandons the joint euro currency used by 17 nations and returns to its old currency, the drachma.

But there are no rules governing a country’s exit from the eurozone, and a Greek exit

could spark a panic that other debtstrapped European nations - Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy- might also have to leave. That domino scenario - known in economic terms as contagion - could engulf the euro, causing a global financial panic not unlike the one that gripped the world in 2008 after the investment firm Lehman Brothers failed in the US. The vote yesterday was also coming after a difficult week for Spain and Italy, which saw their borrowing costs soar. Tens of thousands of Italian workers rallied Saturday in Rome to protest pension cuts, tax hikes and labor reforms. The big question yesterday was how far deep Greek anger at the bailout terms would propel the radical left, antibailout Syriza party led by 37-year-old Alexis Tsipras. The last opinion polls allowed before the election showed Syriza running neckand-neck with the conservative New Democracy party led by Antonis Samaras.

But no party is likely to win enough votes to form a government on its own, meaning a coalition will have to be formed to avoid yet another election. — AP

ATHENS: Media take pictures of an elderly woman who casts her vote at a polling station in Athens yesterday. —AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

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

Bangladesh jails 611 soldiers for 2009 mutiny DHAKA: A Bangladesh court jailed 611 border guards for their role in a bloody 2009 military mutiny, bringing the total number of soldiers imprisoned for the unrest to more than 4,000, a prosecutor said. Scores of senior army officers were killed during an uprising that began when soldiers at the Bangladeshi Rifles (BDR) headquarters in the capital Dhaka went on a killing spree, later dumping the bodies in sewers and shallow graves.

A special military court in Dhaka on Saturday

News

in brief

Grenade blast injures 5 Indian troops in Kashmir SRINAGAR: A hand grenade has exploded outside a paramilitary bunker in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, injuring at least five Indian soldiers. Police blamed anti-India militants for the attack yesterday in Sopore town. No rebel group has claimed responsibility, and no suspects have been arrested. Sopore police chief Imtiyaz Hussain says one of the wounded soldiers is in critical condition. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. The Indian-administered region remains tense after authorities suppressed a separatist uprising that began in 1989.

About 68,000 people died in the insurgency and ensuing crackdowns.

Teenagers arrested for skull scare stunt PANAJI: Police have arrested three teenagers in the Indian state of Goa for allegedly digging up a graveyard in an island village and lining up skulls along a main road to scare away “drunkards”. The incident was discovered when stunned residents came across the bizarre scene on Friday morning, and police then found that the graveyard of a local church had been vandalised. They have since arrested three local males aged 14, 18 and 19. “They have said that they did it to scare away the drunkards who are usually creating nuisance on the island every night,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Gajanan Prabhudesai told reporters on Saturday. The former Portuguese colony of Goa is a haven for tourists, with its long sandy beaches and laid-back atmosphere. It attracts around 400,000 foreign visitors a year. The island of Divar, where the crime occurred, is reached by a state-run boat service that runs until late at night.

found 611 border guards from the force’s 13th battalion guilty of joining the mutiny, state prosecutor Manjur Alam said. “Of the 621 soldiers charged, 10 were acquitted and 611 were handed out prison terms starting from four months to seven years. At least 55 soldiers were sentenced to maximum seven years in jail,” Alam told AFP. The mutiny spread from Dhaka to BDR posts across the country, with thousands of guards taking up arms against their commanding officers in the worst mili-

tary rebellion in Bangladesh’s history. Dozens of special courts-run by the military using a mix of martial and civilian law-were set up to prosecute mutineers, with the first verdict, convicting 29 soldiers, being handed down in April 2010.

More than 4,000 BDR soldiers have now been convicted, Alam said, in what prosecutors say is the biggest case in the country’s history. The courts headed by military officers do not allow defendants to have lawyers and there is no right of

appeal. Seven years in jail is the maximum penalty they can impose.

The BDR has since changed its name to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in an effort to distance itself from the mutiny. Soldiers accused of more serious offences-including murder-are being tried separately in civilian courts and could face the death penalty if convicted. “Of the 611 soldiers convicted on Saturday, 135 soldiers face murder charges and are being tried separately,” said Alam. — AFP

Pakistan’s tribesmen mourn victims of bomb Death toll rises to 29 PESHAWAR: Tribesmen in Pakistan’s troubled northwest mourned yesterday as the death toll from a bomb attack climbed to 29 after four blast victims died overnight in hospitals, officials said. Private markets and all bazaars remained closed as local tribesmen held funerals to bury the dead in different parts of Khyber tribal district along the Afghan border, witnesses said.”Four more critically injured died in hospitals overnight. The whole town is closed to mourn the deaths,” Raseed Khan, a local government official, told AFP. A car bomb ripped through a market area in the main bazaar of Landi Kotal in Khyber tribal district on Saturday, initially killing 25 people including three children, officials said, adding that more than 50 people were injured.

Prayers were held for the dead late Saturday and yesterday, with tribal police and paramilitary providing tight security, local officials and witnesses said.

Another bomb targeting a police van killed six officers and one civilian in the northwestern city of Kohat late Saturday, police said. Taleban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan in a telephone call to AFP claimed responsibility for the attack on police but disowned the bazaar blast. The Pakistani Taleban do not usually claim responsibility for attacks, most of which cause civilian deaths.

In the last five years attacks blamed on Islamist bombers have killed more than 5,000 people in Pakistan according to an AFP tally. US officials consider the country’s semi-autonomous tribal belt a safe haven for AlQaeda and insurgents fighting both in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan. — AFP

KOHAT: Pakistani relatives carry a coffin of a policeman who was killed in overnight bomb explosion during a funeral ceremony in the northwestern city of Kohat yesterday.—AFP

Australia creates largest area of marine reserves

COLOMBO: A file photo taken on March 24, 2012 shows former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed addressing the media in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. —AFP

Maldives’ Nasheed to be presidential candidate COLOMBO: Former Maldivian leader Mohamed Nasheed, who claims he was ousted in a military coup earlier this year, secured his party’s nomination yesterday to be its presidential candidate, the party said.

Nasheed stood unopposed in Saturday’s vote but Maldivian Democratic Party rules required him to get the endorsement of at least 10 percent of the 48,000strong membership. The former Maldivian leader had gained more than 22,000 votes with half of them counted yesterday, organiser Ibrahim Waheed told reporters.

“With the ballots counted so far, Nasheed received 22,375 votes endorsing him while 210 rejected him,” Waheed said, adding that the former president had clearly won the party’s nomination for the next presidential vote. The 45-year-old Nasheed insists he was forced to resign after 300 soldiers backed by Islamic radicals and local businessmen staged a mutiny that capped three weeks of anti-government protests in February.

The European Union as well as the United States and neighbouring India have called for early elections to end the political turmoil in the Indian Ocean archipelago which is best known for its tourism.

However, the new administration of President Mohamed Waheed has ruled out snap polls and said the earliest elections could be held under their constitution was by July next year. Nasheed became the first democratically elected leader in the Maldives following multiparty elections in October 2008.

President Waheed told parliament earlier in March that riots following Nasheed’s “resignation” cost the atoll nation of 330,000 Sunni Muslims an estimated 180 million rufiyaa ($11.8 million). The 54-member Commonwealth has voiced “disappointment and deep concern” over the failure of Maldivian parties to reach a political settlement that would pave the way for polls this year.— AFP

CANBERRA: Australia has created the world’s largest network of marine reserves and will restrict fishing as well as oil and gas exploration in a major step to safeguard the environment and access to food. With the expansion announced, Australia will protect 3.1 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) of ocean.

The reserves will encompass a third of the island continent’s territorial waters, which sustain more than 4,000 species of fish.

Australia is surrounded by the world’s third-largest ocean territory, which provides important habitat to threatened species of whales, sharks and turtles as well as spectacular corals. Previously only 800,000 square kilometers (310,000 square miles) of Australian waters were protected.

According to the Protect Planet Ocean website, only 2.85 million square kilometers (1.1 million square miles) of oceans worldwide were within marine protection areas before.

Environmental group WWF welcomed the 2.3 million-square-kilometer expansion as a “major advance in marine conservation” that hopefully will inspire other countries at the United Nations’ Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, which is under way in Rio de Janeiro.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said the government expects to pay an estimated 100 million Australian

dollars ($100 million) to compensate the fishing industry for new restrictions that will take effect late this year, with only a minor impact on most types of fishing.

While the public will be invited to lodge complaints before the sanctuaries are enshrined in law, the centerleft government faces no hurdles in imposing the new restrictions under existing environmental laws. But the conservative opposition has vowed to review the boundaries if it wins government at elections next year an outcome that opinion polls agree is likely. “I am instinctively against anything that damages the rights of recreational fishing ... and anything that will further damage the commercial fishing industry and tourism industry,” opposition leader Tony Abbott said.

The number of marine reserves off the Australian coast will rise from 27 to 60. Highly protected areas such as the Coral Sea off Australia’s northeastern coast and the adjoining World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef also will be protected from oil and gas exploration. Both areas, which cover a total 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000 square miles), have shallow reefs that support tropical ecosystems with sharks, coral, sponges and many fish species.

Burke said he wanted the reserves to set a benchmark for the world in environmental protection and food

security - the access to and consistent availability of food. The plan aims to guarantee future fish stocks by preventing overfishing. “We have an incredible opportunity to turn the tide on protection of the oceans and Australia can lead the world in marine protection,” he said.

Don Henry, chief executive of the environmental group Australian Conservation Foundation, said the plan will make Australia a global leader in ocean protection. But he warned that the remote northwest region where an offshore oil and gas industry is already established had been left vulnerable to the threats of further energy exploration. Rachel Siewert, a senator for the environmentally focused Greens party, which supports the Labor Party minority government, described the plan as a “cave-in to the oil and gas industry.”

She said allowing exploratory drilling beside some of the most highly protected zones off northwest Australia leaves critical habitats for threatened species, including humpback whales, whale sharks, flatback turtles and dolphins, vulnerable to contamination from oil spills. Judy Lynne, chief executive of the recreational anglers’ group Sunfish Queensland, said the ban on commercial operations in the most environmentally sensitive areas would result in more foreign trawlers fishing illegally.— AP

TEKNAF: Bangladeshi men pull a boat to dock in Teknaf yesterday. The government has relaxed its temporary ban on fishing and travel on the in Naf river on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border but operations of the Teknaf land port remains suspended. People of the Rohingya community, mostly Muslims, tried to enter Bangladesh following the past week’s violent sectarian clashes with the Rakhaines, who are mostly Buddhists. — AFP

Taleban praise India for resisting Afghan entanglement KABUL: India has done well to resist US calls for greater involvement in Afghanistan, the Taleban said in a rare direct comment about one of the strongest opponents of the hardline Islamist group that was ousted from power in 2001. The Taleban also said they won’t let Afghanistan be used as a base against another country, addressing fears in New Delhi that Pakistan-based anti-India militants may become more emboldened if the Taleban return to power.

The Afghan Taleban have longstanding ties to Pakistan and striking a softer tone towards its arch rival India could be a sign of a more independent course. Direct talks with the United States - which have since been suspended - and an agreement to open a Taleban office in Qatar to conduct formal peace talks have been seen as signs of a more assertive stance. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta this month encouraged India to take a more active role in Afghanistan as most foreign combat troops leave in 2014. The Taleban said Panetta had failed.

“He spent three days in India to transfer the heavy burden to their shoulders, to find an exit, and to flee from Afghanistan,” the group said on its English website. “Some reliable media sources said that the Indian authorities did not pay heed to (US ) demands and showed their reservations, because the Indians know or they should know that the Americans are grinding their own axe.”

There had been no assurance for the Americans, Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters yesterday. “It shows that India understands the facts,” he said. India is one of the biggest donors in Afghanistan, spending about $2 billion on projects ranging from the construction of highways to the building of the Afghan parliament. It has also won an iron ore concession in a $11 billion investment. But New Delhi has avoided involvement in bolstering Afghan security, except for running courses for small groups of Afghan army officers at military institutions in India.

“No doubt that India is a significant country in the region, but is also worth mentioning that they have full information about Afghanistan because they know each other very well in the long history,” the Taleban said. “They are aware of the Afghan aspirations, creeds and love for freedom. It is totally illogical they should plunge their nation into a calamity just for the American pleasure.” India backed the Northern Alliance during the civil war and was frozen out of Afghanistan once the Taleban took over in 1996 until their ouster by US forces. It has since developed close ties with Kabul, prompting Pakistani fears of encirclement.

Pakistan has strong traditional links with the Afghan Taleban and other militant groups.

Islamabad denies that it uses them as proxies to gain leverage in Afghanistan ahead of any settlement to the war, or in case civil war breaks out after foreign troops leave. Vikram Sood, a former chief of India’s intelligence agency, said the Taleban statement held an implicit warning for India. “It’s more a gentle reminder asking India not to mess around in Afghanistan after the Americans leave,” he told Reuters. — Reuters

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

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

Police probe Canadian sisters’ holiday deaths in Thailand BANGKOK: Two Canadian sisters were found dead in their hotel room on a popular resort island in southern Thailand, but did not appear to have been murdered and their belongings had not been taken, police said yesterday.

Police were attempting to determine the cause of death of Noemi Belanger, 25, and her 20-year-old sister Audrey, whose bodies were found by a maid Friday at the Phi Phi Palm Residence Hotel on Phi Phi Island, said police Lt. Col. Jongrak Pimthong.

“Police determined they were dead for about 24 hours prior to that and only found a lot of vomit in the room,” he

said. The vomit, along with traces of blood on the women’s faces, could be signs of a toxic reaction, police said.

A team of investigators combed through the hotel room yesterday, Jongrak said by telephone. “ There were neither signs of fighting, nor robbery, but we found many kinds of over-the-counter-drugs, including ibuprofen, which can cause serious effects on the stomach,” he said.

Jongrak said the most important evidence would be an analysis of the contents of the victims’ stomachs. The bodies will be sent to the Central Forensic Institute in Bangkok for further examination, he said.

He said officials from the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok also visited the hotel yesterday. Canadian Foreign Affairs spokesman John Babcock said consular officials in Bangkok were providing assistance to the family and were in contact with local authorities.

Tourists’ deaths are not uncommon in Thailand, which was visited by about 19 million foreigners last year. The causes range from road accidents to foul play and drug overdoses.

The hotel, where the women checked in on Tuesday, is in an upscale area of the island, which is known for its partying and as the location where the movie “ The Beach” starring

Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. Thai media earlier quoted another police officer, Lt. Siwa Saneha, as saying the two went out to socialize on the night of their arrival. He said a hotel maid sought to clean their room on Wednesday and Thursday, but did not enter because she believed they were inside. On Friday, “the maid wanted to check if they wanted to stay at the hotel for another night but didn’t hear any response, so the hotel used a spare key to access the room,” Jongrak said. He recalled a similar incident on Phi Phi Island in May 2009 when two women from the United States and Norway died after suddenly falling ill

at a guesthouse. The victims in that case also suffered severe vomiting and stomach pains. Doctors determined the immediate cause of death as dehydration and shock, but it was not known what caused their sudden illness. Two other people with the same symptoms survived.

Another spate of mysterious tourist deaths last year in the northern city of Chiang Mai involved several visitors from different countries who stayed at the same hotel. The cause of death was not established, though some evidence suggested the chemical spray chlorpyrifos, used to kill bedbugs, may have been responsible. — AP

Philippine negotiators, rebels fail to break impasse Bloody clashes continue to rage in the country

BALI: Balinese Hindu line up to take a bath in holy water during Banyu Pinaruh, a Hindu procession which is to purity themselves and pray for wisdom and wits in Tampaksiring, Bali, Indonesia yesterday. —AP

Thailand’s yellow shirts regroup, seek comeback BANGKOK: The elderly man dressed in homespun cotton looks like a kindhearted grandfather from a rural Thai soap opera. But it would be unwise to underestimate Chamlong Srimuang, a key figure in Thailand’s turbulent recent history, or the “yellow shirt” army he commands. “We have successfully overthrown three prime ministers, which proves our track record is excellent,” says Chamlong, co-leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose yellow-clad members shut down Bangkok’s international airport in 2008.

“We have the ability to overthrow another government again if need be.”

That last claim might have rung hollow before June 1, when thousands of protesters from the long-dormant PAD blockaded the Thai parliament. That halted debate on a reconciliation bill which the yellow shirts b elieve will bring home their arch-enemy, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He was toppled in a 2006 military coup after months of PAD street protests and now lives in self-imposed exile. The PAD’s return brought back memories of a tumultuous 2008, when yellow shirts seized government offices, fought street battles with police, and occupied Bangkok’s main airports for eight days.

Amid that turbulence, two pro-Thaksin prime ministers were forced to resign by the courts.

The Asian Human Rights Commission accused the group in 2008 of “fascist qualities” and said it posed “grave dangers” to Thai democracy, but they kept a low profile after Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, became prime minister almost a year ago. A political novice, Yingluck traded on the name and populism of her brother, loved by Thailand’s rural and urban poor masses.

But the yellow shirts are seeeking a comeback now that Thaksin’s allies are gaining momentum for a national unity bill likely to clear his name, expunge his graft conviction and return $1.5 billion of his assets.

Opposition politicians and analysts warn of a “reconciliation war” if parliament passes two bills: one to grant an amnesty to political offenders, the other to amend a military-drafted constitution that Thaksin says is undemocratic. “We will give Yingluck’s government time,” says Chamlong, a former general who in May 1992 led a popular uprising against militar y dictatorship that claimed dozens of lives. “But if she wants to go ahead with her reconciliation plans, then she has to take responsibility for the consequences of her decision.”

Despite such fighting talk, blocking the bills would be a big undertaking for a PAD that seems fractured, less popular and struggling to remain relevant. “It’s too early to tell if the yellow shirts can attract the same suppor t they did before, but right now, they are weak,” said Kan Yuanyong, director of the Siam Intelligence Unit think tank. Crowdpulling yellow shirt leaders, such as media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, retain an almost cult-like following.

Sondhi sur vived an assassination attempt by mystery gunmen three years ago and his blood-splattered clothes are prominently displayed at the PAD’s Bangkok headquarters in a gold frame.

But he has since been caught up in

complex legal cases that include appeals against jail terms for multiple counts of securities fraud and defamation and charges of terrorism over the airport blockades. PAD supporters say Sondhi’s troubles have dented morale but not broken it. “Sondhi is not critical to the sur vival of the PAD,” says Saenkam Chonchadathan, a university student and member of the Young PAD group.

“Without him, the movement would still exist.”

Perhaps more essential to the yellow shirts are Thaksin’s powerful enemies in the royalist establishment and military, which refused government orders to tackle the PAD in 2008, two years after it overthrew Thaksin in a coup. It also needs the help of Bangkok residents, wearied by seven years of unrest that has hurt investor confidence and paralysed parts of the capital’s commercial and business districts. Many groups have splintered off from the core PAD movement, disagreeing with its ultranationalist tones. But they still see eyeto-eye with the yellow shirts on many issues.

Other sub-groups say they do not necessarily share the PAD’s anti-Thaksin sentiment but are ready to join forces if they feel their business interests or the country’s political and economic stability are under threat. The PAD has held rallies over a territorial dispute with Cambodia that fizzled out and its campaign call to back no one in the 2011 election backfired because the protest ballots were cast mostly by supporters of the then-ruling Democrat Party. This helped Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party romp to victory.

It also soured the marriage of convenience between the PAD and the Democrats. Today, they share a disdain for Thaksin and a similar support base, but little else. The two sides “have never been friends”, says PAD co-leader Chamlong. Even so, the yellow shirts may be forced to rekindle that relationship and get the Democrats’ supporters and their friends in big business behind another street campaign. “The yellow shirts need the Democrat party,” said Kan of the Siam Intelligence Unit.

“Otherwise they will not survive.”

A yellow shirt revival also raises the potential of conflict with a red-shirted pro-Thaksin movement that helped propel Yingluck to power. Formally known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, its months-long anti-government protest in Bangkok in 2010 ended with a military crackdown in which 92 people died. Parliament agreed this month to suspend debate on the reconciliation bill and a constitutional change bill until the new house session in August after the Democrats, Thailand’s main opposition party, complained the changes could undermine Thailand’s revered monarchy.

Tensions have temporarily eased, but the fate of the government’s constitutional change bill will be decided by the court next month. If given the green light to go ahead, anti-government groups will be ready to step in. “If parliament decides to debate this bill, the PAD will immediately protest at a level that will make the government sit up and listen,” said Parnthep Pourpongpan, the PAD’s spokesman. — Reuters

MANILA: Philippine government negotiators and communist rebels have failed to break a yearlong impasse in peace talks as bloody clashes continue to rage in the country, officials said yesterday. Government negotiator Alexander Padilla said the two sides met in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on Thursday and Friday to discuss differences that have stalled talks on settling the 43-year Marxist rebellion. Norway, which has been brokering the talks, arranged the meetings.

However, key differences, including a rebel demand for the release of jailed comrades, remained unresolved. The government and the guerrillas agreed to continue “meaningful discussions of concerns and issues” aimed at reviving the talks and attaining “a just and lasting peace,” they said in a statement after the meetings.

“We’re still far apart,” Padilla told The

Associated Press by telephone from Oslo. The Philippine government renewed a call for some form of cease-fire to foster negotiations similar to a truce that has held for years between Filipino troops and Muslim guerrillas in the country’s south, he said. In the latest violence, suspected communist New People’s Army guerrillas killed an army officer and wounded three soldiers in a land mine attack in southern Compostela Valley province late Friday, the military said.

The attack targeted an army truck carrying the soldiers near a church and school in Bantacan village and showed the rebels did not care if nearby civilians were exposed to harm, regional army spokesman Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza said.

Chief rebel negotiator Luis Jalandoni said the guerrillas are ready to resume talks if the government addresses several issues, includ-

ing the release of 14 rebel consultants who have been arrested in recent years. The rebels say the consultants are covered by a government guarantee shielding them from arrests during the talks.

The government said it refused to release the rebel consultants because the guerrillas have failed to produce proof they are covered by the immunity. A list of 75 rebel consultants was deposited in a Dutch vault in 1996 by both sides. It was discovered last year that two diskettes containing the list were damaged and the details could no longer be retrieved, officials said.

Battle setbacks, surrenders and infighting have weakened the Maoist rebels but the military still regards them as the country’s most serious security threat. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. — AP

N Korea accuses Clinton of ‘reckless’ criticism SEOUL: North Korea hit out at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday, addressing her by her first name and accusing her of “reckless” criticism of its human rights record. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman as saying recent comments by Clinton were “imprudent” and “a hypocritical act of causing illness”. At a joint news conference of US and South Korean defence and foreign ministers in Washington on Thursday, Clinton said North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un had a chance to “chart a different course for his people”.

The North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said: “...how foolish and ridiculous the US was in its attempt to meddle in the internal affairs of the DPRK (North Korea) over its ‘human rights issue’ and ‘people’s living’ and hurt its single-minded unity. “Hillary would be well advised to pay more attention to the issues of economic crisis and huge hordes of jobless people, which have become so serious that they may dash the hope of the administration of the Democratic Party for stay in power.”

The official also said North Korea would make “sustained efforts to bolster up its nuclear deterrent to guarantee the peace and security of the country and the nation as long as the US persistently antagonises it”.

Clinton had said there must be change in communist North Korea, “Because at some point people cannot live under such oppressive conditions, starving to death, being put into gulags and having their basic human rights denied.” — AFP

SITTWE: Children walk through damaged buildings in Sittwe yesterday.

Myanmar pledged to hunt down those responsible for the deaths of 50 people in communal clashes, as the relief effort was stepped up for tens of thousands displaced by the violence. —AFP

Myanmar vows ‘justice’ for victims of unrest

PYONGYANG: A young North Korean woman reads under the bright lights of a newly constructed development project in the Mansu Hill area of Pyongyang, North Korea on Saturday. —AP

6.1 quake rocks Philippines MANILA: A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of the main Philippine island of Luzon yesterday, US seismologists said, but there were no reports of casualties and no tsunami alert was issued. The US Geological Survey said the quake hit at a depth of 35 kilometres (22 miles) at 6:18 am (2218 GMT Saturday), 182 km northwest of the capital Manila.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology measured the quake at 6.0 magnitude. The quake was felt in some areas, including Manila, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, said civil defence chief Benito Ramos. The Philippines sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire-a belt around the Pacific Ocean dotted by active volcanoes and unstable ocean trenches. One fault line runs directly under Manila, a metropolis of more than 12 million people, and government seismologists have warned the city is unprepared for a major quake. In February, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake in the central Philippines triggered landslides that left more than 100 people dead or missing. — AFP

SITTWE: Myanmar pledged yesterday to hunt down those responsible for the deaths of 50 people in communal clashes, as the relief effort was stepped up for tens of thousands displaced by the violence. More than 30,000 people-both ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya-have been displaced after homes were set ablaze during riots and revenge attacks in the western state of Rakhine earlier this month, state media says.

The UN warned of the “immense hardship” faced by thousands of families, just as monsoon rains sweep in. Rice, water and shelter is being delivered to the state capital Sittwe, but there are mounting concerns about more remote areas. Both sides accuse each other of being responsible for the violence, which has torn apart communities that had lived together for many years and overshadowed recent reforms under the quasicivilian government.

After visiting the area, a senior Myanmar minister vowed the government “would bring about justice and prosecute offenders without bias”, state mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar reported yesterday. “Lawlessness is unacceptable,” the paper said, quoting Lieutenant-General Thein Htay, Union Minister for Border Affairs and Myanmar Industrial Development. “The government will bring offenders to justice and restore stability as soon as possible,” he vowed.

The unrest has prompted President Thein Sein to warn of the danger of disrupting the nation’s fledgling reform

process as Myanmar emerges from decades of military rule. But in Sittwe more immediate concerns dominate, with the United Nations estimating around 10,000 people are badly in need of temporary shelter and food following several days of violence. The military has been joined by non-governmental organizations and local donors in providing food, water and shelter, a Rakhine official said, as thousands spent another night in tents after fleeing their burning homes.

“Food is being distributed to the displaced people,” Thar Lu Chay, a Rakhine minister, told AFP in Sittwe, adding that the UN’s refugee arm is among those “providing bags of rice to the people.”

But there are fears insufficient relief has reached remote areas, particularly with the monsoon rains threatening Rakhine, where an uneasy calm was reported in Sittwe, with military and police enforcing a curfew overnight. Decades of discrimination have left the Muslim Rohingya stateless and viewed by the United Nations as among the most persecuted minorities on the planet. About 800,000 of them live in Myanmar, according to the UN, mostly in Rakhine.

The Myanmar government considers the Rohingya to be foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and view them with hostility. A Rohingya Muslim died in a Bangladesh hospital yesterday, police in Chittagong said, the second refugee fleeing violence in neighbouring Myanmar to do so after allegedly being shot by security forces. —AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

A night before election day, Greek presidential Evzoni guards perform a change of the guard in front of the Greek parliament in central Athens on Saturday. — AFP

Oppn cries for help as Homs pounded DAMASCUS: Syria’s opposition issued a cry for help yesterday as regime forces pounded rebel bastions in Homs province and activists warned that hundreds of civilians were trapped with little food or water. The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), meeting in Istanbul, also demanded the deployment of armed peacekeepers a day after a UN observer mission said it was suspending operations because of the relentless bloodshed. The mission chief, General Robert Mood, meanwhile, urged the warring parties to “allow women, children, the elderly and the injured to leave conflict zones, without any preconditions and ensure their safety.”

“I call on the parties to take immediate action to ease the pain of Syrians trapped in the violence and the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) stands ready to monitor their release, once the decision is taken,” he said. Violence cost at least another 37 lives on Sunday, taking the overall weekend death toll across the country to 108, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Regime forces pounded rebel areas of the Old City of Homs and outlying towns, including Rastan and Talbisseh, in a bid to crush armed insurgents, the watchdog said, with deadly violence also reported in other parts of Syria.

A civilian was killed in the Homs city rebel bastion of Khalidiyeh, which was “being shelled and shot at by regime forces” while six others were killed in assaults on Rastan and Talbisseh, the Observatory said. The situation in Rastan was also dire and most residents had fled to neighbouring villages, anti-regime activist Nidal Al-Hakim told AFP via Skype. Many people were “critically” wounded and there is a shortage of medication, while authorities have cut off electrical supplies and water from the besieged city, said Hakim.

“We couldn’t bury our martyrs in the cemetery because... it is targeted by Assad’s forces,” he added.

Abu Bilal, another activist speaking from the Old City of Homs, said the regime assault on several parts of the central city was “suffocating”.

“They are shelling us all the time. There’s very little food and water, and we’re running out of medication.” The Observatory has said that more than 1,000 families were stuck in the area, with dozens injured.

SNC chief Abdel Basset Sayda accused the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad trying to commit new “atrocities” in Homs and Rastan. “The country is under a violent attack, especially Homs,” Sayda told journalists in Istanbul. SNC spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani said the situation in

Homs city was growing increasingly desperate, citing food and water shortages. Towns, including Rastan, “are living through tragic hours and days.

We are calling for immediate humanitarian intervention in favour of the people of Syria”, she said.

Earlier the SNC issued a statement urging the United Nations to pressure Assad’s regime using Chapter VII of the UN charter, which allows measures to be imposed on a country under penalty of sanctions or force. The opposition specifically demanded that observers tasked with monitoring a UN-backed ceasefire - that has been flouted daily since going into effect on April 12 - be armed. — AFP

LA riots beating victim Rodney King dead at 47 Egypt waits for president Continued from Page 1 He published a memoir, “ The Riot Within: My Journey From Rebellion to Redemption,” to mark the anniversary. “There’s always gonna be some type of racism. But it’s up to us as individuals in this country to look back and see all the accomplishments that we have gotten to this far,” he told CNN. Asked about his feelings toward the police officers who beat him, he said: “I have forgiven (them), because America has forgiven me for so many things and given me so many chances.” “You get to have a second chance, and I’ve been given a second chance,” said King, who has had a number of brushes with the law since 1992. I have much respect for (the police), much respect... some of them went out of their way over the years to try to make it up to me. Not all of them is bad.”

In an earlier CNN interview, King recalled that he had been drinking despite being on parole after a 1991 robbery conviction and was headed home from a friend’s house when he saw a police car was following him and panicked, worried he would be sent back to jail. After fleeing by car, he tried to park in a public place when he realized police officers were catching up with him. “I saw all those apartments over there, so I said, ‘I’m gonna stop right there,’” he said. “‘If it goes down, somebody will see it.’”

King said as the officers beat him, they yelled, “We are going to kill you, nigger,” although police later denied using racial slurs. After the events that catapulted him into the spotlight, King had further run-ins with the law as he battled an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

“For a long time, sure, I was letting the pressure of being Rodney King get to me. It ain’t easy,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “Even now, I walk into a place wondering what people are thinking. Do they know who I am?

What do they think about what happened? Do they blame me for the all those people who died?”

King was arrested in 2005 for making threats to kill his daughter and his daughter’s mother after the two women got into an argument with his then-girlfriend.

Police also stopped him in 2003 for allegedly punching a girlfriend. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving earlier the same year after crashing his car into a house. In Nov 2007, he was treated in hospital after an incident in which he was shot and wounded in the face, back and upper torso, in the Los Angeles suburb of San Bernardino.

The four officers who beat King - Stacey Koon, Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Laurence Powell were indicted in the summer of 1992 on federal civil rights charges. Koon and Powell were convicted and sentenced to two years in prison, and King was awarded $3.8 million in damages. — Agencies

Prince Nayef laid to rest in Makkah Continued from Page 1 King Abdullah himself is 88, and nobody is officially in line to replace Nayef. His brother Prince Salman, 76, who took the defence portfolio after Sultan’s death, appears to be a strong candidate. “Prince Salman is the most likely successor,” Saudi political scientist Khaled Al-Dakheel said. “All expectations point to Prince Salman to succeed Prince Nayef for his experience in administration, security and politics,” agreed Anwar Eshqi, head of the Jeddah-based Middle East Centre for Strategic Studies. And Jane Kinninmont, a senior research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at London’s Chatham House, said Salman is “generally assumed to be the next in line.”

In 2006 the Saudi monarch established the allegiance council, a body of around 35 senior princes, as a new succession mechanism whose long-term aim was to choose the crown prince. But the new commission had not been activated when Nayef was chosen as crown prince, according to Dakheel, who argued

that naming his successor is a chance to bring the new body into play. The royal decree that established the council postponed its use until after Abdullah’s death.

“This is a chance to activate the allegiance council system... which provides a legal foundation for a peaceful power transfer within the family and leaves no room for surprises. This is important for state stability,” Dakheel said. Kinninmont argued that choosing the second in line to the throne, which is “likely to be signified informally by the title of second deputy prime minister, is more challenging”. King Abdullah did not name a second deputy after Nayef was promoted to first deputy after Sultan’s death.

Nayef was the middle prince of the Sudairi Seven, the formidable bloc of sons of King Abdul Aziz by a favourite wife, Princess Hassa AlSudairi. In addition to Salman, remaining Sudairis include Prince Abdul Rahman, Prince Turki and Prince Ahmed, deputy interior minister and likely to succeed Nayef as the oil powerhouse’s security chief.

Nayef, who spearheaded Saudi

Arabia’s clampdown on Al-Qaeda following a wave of attacks in the conservative kingdom between 2003 and 2006, became heir last October. He forced the jihadist group’s leaders and militants to flee to Yemen, from where they continue to be a thorn in the side of Saudi interests.

“He was one of the pillars of stability in the kingdom,” wrote AlJazirah daily. “He managed to overcome crises and navigate this country to the shores of safety.” Prince Nayef travelled abroad several times this year for medical reasons, and was shown on television in Geneva three days ago greeting supporters.

The nature of his illness was not made public. Seen as more conservative than King Abdullah, Prince Nayef was a staunch defender of the Saudi dynasty and resisted any opposition, especially from the Shiite minority in the eastern province. He also strongly opposed allowing women to drive. A planned protest yesterday by the Women2Drive group was postponed until Friday following Nayef’s death. -— AFP

Continued from Page 1 neighbourhood of Dokki as he went to vote. “I want to make a statement by crossing out the two names. “Just staying away is too passive.”

Shafiq, 70, had promised he had heeded the lessons of the revolution 16 months ago and offered security and prosperity. Mursi, 60, tried to widen his appeal beyond the Brotherhood’s committed and disciplined base by pledging to preserve a pluralist democracy and finally end a histor y of militar y rule. In the second city, Alexandria, computer engineer Sameh Youssef, 30, was wary of Islamist rule but wanted to honour the dead of an uprising launched by frustrated young urbanites: “I will vote Mursi,” he said. “Not because I like him but because I hate Shafiq. Between us and Shafiq there is blood.”

In Old Cairo, however, 56-year-old physician Khalil Nagih echoed the sentiments of many, including Christians like himself, whose mistrust of the Brotherhood and desire for an end to a year of chaos outweighed anxiety about the army’s role: “I chose Shafiq because he has experience of administration and was an officer. He is a straight talker and he speaks to all communities. He says he’ll solve our problems and I believe him. Mursi will bring a religious state and take Egypt backwards.”

Whoever wins, Egypt’s political landscape is hazy beyond one clear landmark - the 20 or so senior commanders around Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, whose Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) claimed sovereign power after easing out their brother officer Mubarak to appease the millions on the streets. In what opponents denounced as “coup”, the SCAF dissolved parliament after judges, appointed under Mubarak, ruled on Thursday that a legislative election over the winter breached legal rules and would have to be re-run.

The Brotherhood and hardline Islamist allies dominated the new chamber, and risk losing seats in any new vote, having alienated many outside their core support base. Among failings they are accused of was the inability to form a consensus body to draw up the new constitution Egyptians are hoping for. As presidential voting was ending, military and legal sources told Reuters that the military council would promulgate an amended constitutional decree yesterday returning to itself the legislative powers it handed to parliament this year.

“In the absence of parliament, legislative powers move back to the military council, which has been in charge of the country and will hand over presidential powers to the president soon,” a military source told Reuters. The decree would also define the new president’s powers: “The country’s head of state will have the power to appoint a prime minister and cabinet ministers,” the military source said. A lawyer who attended a meeting with the military council yesterday said: “The presidential powers which the military council held until now will now shift to the new president.”

The Brotherhood has rejected the army’s power to dissolve parliament and warned of “dangerous days”. But though some have compared events to those in Algeria 20 years which ended in civil war between the military and Islamists, many doubt that the Brotherhood has an appetite for violence at present. Many opponents of military rule have also complained that the Brotherhood has overreached itself in seeking both legislative and presidential power, limiting its broader appeal.

Egyptians massed in their millions against Mubarak in January last year in the hope that his removal would end poverty, corruption and police brutality. Many now seem tired of the social turmoil and political bickering that ensued. “Egypt writes the closing chapter of the Arab Spring,” read a headline yesterday in independent newspaper Al-Watan, which said the election offers a “choice between a military man who aborted the revolution and a Muslim Brother who wasted it”.

Monitors said they had seen only minor and scattered breaches of election rules by yesterday morning but not the kind of systematic fraud that tainted elections under Mubarak, despite mutual accusations of irregularities by the rival camps. A win for Shafiq may prompt street protests by the Islamists and some of the disillusioned urban youths who made Cairo’s Tahrir Square their battleground last year. Should Mursi prevail, he may be frustrated by an uncooperative military elite, for all the generals’ pledges to cede power by July Separately, Al-Qaeda’s leader has urged Egypt to cancel its peace treaty with Israel and to establish Islamic rule, according to an audio message released yesterday.

He said the goal was to stop Israel from turning Jerusalem into a Jewish city. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian, issued his 10th message to Egypt since taking over Al-Qaeda’s leadership after founder Osama bin Laden was killed in an American raid in Pakistan last year. His 47-minute audio recording was posted on jihadi websites.

“The continued crimes of the Zionists reveal the truth that these crimes could not have reached this level without taking Egypt out of the battlefield by the peace treaty signed by (late president Anwar) Sadat, the traitor,” he said. He said, “if we want to confront the Judaization of Jerusalem, there is no way other than applying shariah (Islamic) laws, exerting pressure on Israel and ending the treaty.” Egypt and Israel signed their peace treaty in 1979.

The fate of Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive and difficult issues in Israel-Palestinian peace efforts. Israel claims the whole city, while Palestinians want the eastern part, including its holy sites, for the capital of the state they hope to create.

Zawahiri charged that Egypt’s ruling military council takes orders from the United States. He said the United States helped its citizens flee Egypt after they were accused of being involved in illegal activities with groups that received money from foreign sources. “This is a clear proof of the military council’s subordination to the American wishes,” he said. The case, involving pro-democracy groups working in Egypt, caused a severe rift in USEgypt relations.

Zawahiri called on the Islamic movements to unite against what he described as “the secular American schemes that only seeks evil for Egypt”. He also praised militants in Egypt’s Sinai desert who repeatedly blew up Egypt’s pipeline carrying gas to Israel. In April, after the 14th attack on the pipeline since Mubarak resigned, Egypt canceled its natural gas contract with Israel, saying the company delivering the gas to Israel failed to pay for it. The Israeli company has sued for breach of contract.

The 20-year agreement was signed in 2005. Also in the message, Zawahiri denounced Pakistan’s demolishing bin Laden’s house to prevent it from becoming a shrine. Zawahiri said demolishing the house reflected the Americans’ “horror and fear of the sheikh (bin Laden), whether he is alive or dead.” — Agencies

14

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

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Crisis-weary Hungarians lose faith in govt

By Krisztina Than he deepening economic crisis is taking its toll on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government - two years after a landslide election victory his party’s support is crumbling and three-quarters of voters believe the country is on the wrong track. Growing disillusionment can be felt across the central European nation, whose economy is sliding into recession again after a sharp downturn in 2009, with the rising living standards that Orban promised when his party won power failing to materialise.

While still paying off a 2008 bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the government is seeking a new financing backstop to shield the indebted economy from the neighbouring euro zone’s mounting debt crisis. Negotiations with the IMF will be difficult, however, as Orban will be reluctant to give up or tweak his Fidesz party’s main policies, including a flat income tax and family tax breaks aimed to support the middle class, the party’s core voter base.

Orban has been at loggerheads with Brussels over several laws that critics say served to cement his party’s strong powers beyond the end of his term, while huge windfall taxes imposed on banks and selected business sectors eroded investors’ trust. “Orban is in a corner regarding his popularity: If he sticks to the status quo, the economy and living standards will be impacted. But if he does a U-turn, this will also be seen as implicit acknowledgement that his strategy was wrong,” said Mujtaba Rahman, analyst at think tank Eurasia Group.

The big game changer would be an escalation of the euro zone crisis, which could sharply weaken the forint currency and send Hungary’s markets plunging. That, say analysts, would quickly drive the government to embrace IMF support despite Orban’s earlier rebuff of the Fund in the name of sovereignty over finances and economic policy. When Hungarians gave Orban’s conservative Fidesz party a two-thirds parliamentary majority two years ago, they were hoping for a recovery, stability, and new jobs after years of successive Socialist governments.

Instead, most ordinary Hungarians, who have benefited little from the income tax cuts, feel life has turned into a grinding struggle as prices and taxes are rising. “Things may have improved for the rich, but those who are poor will remain poor,” said Erzsebet Pupos, 46, who is selling vegetables and mushrooms at one of Budapest’s main markets. “Nothing will change here, everything is just getting more expensive ... The biggest problem is that there are no jobs.” Discontent is palpable in the bustling market hall, with most people complaining about a surge in fuel and food prices. Inflation was running at 5.3 percent in May. The forint is trading near 300 to the euro, sharply weaker from levels of 265 when Fidesz took power, even though it has firmed from record lows of 324 hit in early January when Hungary’s debt rating was cut to “junk”.

According to a survey by pollster Median, Fidesz’ support dropped to its lowest in a decade at 22 percent last month, even though it still has a lead over the opposition Socialists, who stand at 16 percent. Far-right Jobbik hovers around 11 percent. The survey showed 76 percent of the people are pessimistic about the country’s outlook while another recent poll by Ipsos showed this rate even higher, at 81 percent. Half of Hungary’s 8 million electorate is undecided or would not vote if parliamentary elections were held now, although the next election is not due until 2014. “I have become so sceptical that I would not (vote) for anybody,” said Maria Gubicsak who sells pickled vegetables and complains her customers are spending less and less. “Unfortunately, people are getting poorer, the pensioners who used to buy a pound (of pickles) before, now ask for half a pound or less ... Those young people who work for a bank, have two degrees and speak 3-4 languages, and those in information technology (are fine).

But the rest are also suffering.”

Fidesz is still strong among its core voters and the opposition is fragmented. Orban’s strong anti-Brussels rhetoric, push for national sovereignty and combative style, which has turned him into a bugbear of Europe in the eyes of many, appeals to part of the population. But the rapid erosion of Fidesz’ support will put pressure on Orban to act, while his hands are tied on the fiscal front and markets are pushing him to secure a deal with the IMF after months of delays. “With the IMF or without the IMF, the government will be forced to keep the politically painful road of fiscal discipline, after six years of belt tightening, while the Hungarian public has developed a strong austerity fatigue,” said Peter Kreko, analyst at Political Capital. — Reuters

T

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Defence transparency and energy integration

By Dr Odeen Ishmael fter an extraordinary session of UNASUR’s Foreign Ministers in Bogota, Colombia, on June 11, the veteran Venezuelan politician and diplomat, Dr Ali Rodriguez Araque, was officially installed as the new secretary general of the South American union. He will exercise this role for one year and succeeds Maria Emma Mejia of Colombia who served for the first year of the shared two-year term. At their meeting, the Foreign Ministers adopted a number of new rules for the organisation and approved a $19 million dollar budget for the next two years. They also confirmed that UNASUR’s electoral council will mount its first mission to observe the Venezuelan presidential elections on October 8.

In preparation for his executive role in managing the continental body, Rodriguez on June 4, had earlier visited Asuncion, capital of Paraguay, where he met with Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, the current chairman of UNASUR. He later on the following day participated in the UNASUR Defence Council meeting in the Paraguayan capital. Speaking to the media after his meeting with President Lugo, Rodriguez said that the nations of the region have to protect and capitalise on the resources they possess, such as water, river energy, minerals and biodiversity. These, he opined, will contribute to reduce the state of poverty for millions of South Americans.

UNASUR itself, under the executive leadership of Maria Emma Mejia, continued during the first half of 2012 in executing its work program in pushing towards the objective of South American integration. This program included important meetings covering defence and energy issues which were convened during this period.

A

Defence Council meeting As a main aspect of the work agenda, the South American Defence Council, (comprising the continent’s defence ministers) met in Quito, Ecuador, 10 May for the release of a report by UNASUR’s Centre of Strategic Defence Studies (CEED) detailing each country’s military spending for the period 20062010. The CEED supports the work of the South American Defence Council which encourages cooperation in regional security

matters and transparency in military spending while providing assistance in peace missions and natural disasters.

The report reveals that during 2006-2010 UNASUR countries spent $126 billion on defence. Actually, spending increased sharply, from $17.6 billion in 2006 to $33.2 billion in 2010. Brazil, with the largest territorial space and population, headed the list, accounting for 43 percent of South America’s spending total. Colombia was second, with 17 percent, and Venezuela third, accounting for 10.7 percent. They were followed by Chile (9), Argentina (8.3), Ecuador (4.5) and Peru (4). According to CEED, the overall expenditure on defence in the region as percentage of GDP remains stable averaging 0.91 percent, thus placing South America’s military spending well below other regions of the world. Significantly, the report points out: “The evolution of UNASUR defence budgets does not register significant variations in the period analysed and does not enable to establish an armament tendency or a militarisation of the region.” Taking military budgets individually in 2010, Ecuador was the country which most invested in defence, 2.74 percent of GDP; followed by Colombia (1.89), Surinam (1.49), Bolivia (1.47), Chile (1.4), Guyana (1.31) and Uruguay (1.06). The rest of the countries were below 1 percent.

According to the Venezuelan news website, Venezuelanalysis.com, in 2009 Venezuela spent 1.4 percent of GDP on defence. Of the total expenditure, 58.7 percent of members’ military spending was to pay personnel, 23.5 for operations, 17.3 for investment, and 0.5 for research. In its analysis, the report shows that the average regional expenditure per person between 2006 and 2010 was $67.4 and the number of soldiers to the civilian population was 3 to every thousand.

The act of sharing this military information was regarded as “historic” by secretary general Maria Emma Mejia, who posited that the report broke the myths of Latin American militarisation and that military spending is detrimental to social development. She declared: “This spending supports the security and safety of South American citizens...because we can attend to citizens with logistics and emergency services. It is a benefit for social peace.”

Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patio, who hosted the meeting, said it would

always be important for member states share details of their defence spending in order to establish ties of mutual trust within the union. Significantly, at the conclusion of the meeting, the representative of the UN General Secretary for Disarmament, Angela Klein - a guest participant - stated that the sharing of military spending information by UNASUR was “an exercise in transparency unseen in any other region of the world and a fundamental step in the construction of regional trust.”

During the discussions, the defence ministers and other diplomatic representatives highlighted their intention to advance towards greater military integration through initiatives generating mutual trust, exchanging information and participating in joint military exercises. They also reiterated the objective of continuing military integration and proposed the establishment of a Citizen Security Council to coordinate the fight against transnational and organised crime.

A follow-up meeting of the Defence Council, held on June 5 in Asuncion, Paraguay, formalised the report and presented an analysis of the CEED report widely regarded as a gesture of transparency and an expression of the new defence policy. In Asuncion, the Council also addressed the situation of UNASUR’s cooperation with Haiti. It regarded as positive the on-going aid but felt that UNASUR must draw up a timetable for its gradual military withdrawal from the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) without neglecting aid to the Caribbean nation. General Catalino Roy Ortiz, Defence Minister of Paraguay, stressed the terms for the final withdrawal from Haiti will be based on the existing safe environment and lauded UNASUR’s aid to the government and people of Haiti to guarantee safety and stability.

Third UNASUR Energy Council meeting The third UNASUR Energy Council meeting took place on May 18 at the headquarters of state -run oil company, PetrÛleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), in Caracas. The Council agreed to create an ad hoc group, made up of appointees by UNASUR member states, to draw up proposals for a South American Energy Treaty and protect energy resources of the region. This group will work in coordination with experts in the energy sector and

will present joint reports to the South American Energy Council.

The Energy Council agreed to ratify proposals by its group of energy experts to continue working in cooperation with the Latin American Energy Organisation (OLADE) in activities aimed at energy integration in the region. The group of experts will also analyse the possibility of creating an investigations’ institute of UNASUR, which is intended to boost participation of the best talents in matters of energy in the region, including student exchange, in order to enhance the region’s technological training and development. The same group will set up a committee to handle energy planning aimed at identifying structural energy projects in South America. The Energy Council also agreed to hold in Caracas a forum of state-run oil and gas companies before the next UNASUR summit. Additionally, there will be a meeting of state-run electricity companies in Bogota, Colombia, in order to exchange experiences and boost “complementariness,” as well as another of energy technology in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to boost technology-energy exchange among the member states. The Energy Council reiterated the support and sovereign rights of member states to manage its natural resources, guaranteeing national energy security, as a public interest.

Other UNASUR Councils are due to meet during the second half of this year while there will be follow-up actions as agreed to by those which have already met. The UNASUR summit in Paraguay and the South American-Arab summit in Peru, both scheduled for the last quarter of this year, will also present their own special challenges. The new secretary general, Ali Rodriguez, certainly will find his tasks in managing all these activities very pressing, but based on his wide experience in public policy administration, including energy management, UNASUR countries will definitely bank on his enormous talent to direct the union’s integration policies and programs to the satisfaction all South American citizens.

NOTE: Dr Odeen Ishmael is Guyana’s ambassador to the State of Kuwait. He writes extensively on Latin American and Caribbean issues and is the author of several books including The Democracy Perspective in the Americas.

The views expressed here are solely his own.

Obama takes a risk on immigration front

By Charles Babington here’s not much US President Barack Obama can do to boost the economy in the next five months, and that alone might cost him the November election. But on a range of social issues, Obama is bypassing Congress and aggressively using his executive powers to make it easier for gays to marry, women to obtain birth control, and, now, young illegal immigrants to avoid deportation. It’s a political gamble that might fire up conservatives, many of whom remain cool to Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Democrats think it’s more likely to inspire enthusiasm among groups that were crucial to Obama’s 2008 victory - young voters, women and Hispanics.

In relatively good times, a first-term president’s wide array of powers can force his challenger to shift from issue to issue, hoping to find a gap in the incumbent’s armor. This year, that scenario is practically turned on its head. Romney is the playit-safe candidate, rarely straying from his jobs-and-economy talking points and sharply limiting encounters with national reporters. Romney took six hours Friday to offer a short and carefully worded comment that criticized Obama’s new immigration policy for not providing “a long-term solution”.

Romney didn’t say whether he would overturn it if elected.

But by noting “it can be reversed by subsequent presidents,” he might have sown doubts in the minds of some young illegal immigrants studying the policy.

Obama looks like the bigger risk-taker. He doesn’t have many options. He is constrained by a complex, interrelated and frail global economy, and by a Republican-run House.

Together, they severely limit his ability to influence the strug-

T

gling US economy, which Obama says needs more investments in education, renewable energy sources and other areas. With a single action, however, Obama can allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military; direct Catholicaffiliated employer insurance plans to cover contraceptives; and protect hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants from being deported.

Obama took that last step Friday. It delighted many Hispanic groups while prompting Republican officials to grouse more about the process he used than the actual policy.

Democrats enjoy a hefty edge among Hispanic voters, and some Republican strategists fear Romney is widening the gap.

During the primaries to choose a Republican presidential nominee, Romney criticized one rival, Texas Gov Rick Perry, for granting in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants. The former Massachusetts governor also distanced himself from opponent Newt Gingrich’s call for making it clear the United States will not deport illegal immigrants who have led stable, crime-free lives in the United States for many years. “This is the right thing to do,” Obama said as he outlined the new policy Friday. Sidestepping Congress, where immigration proposals have languished for years, Obama acted to make illegal immigrants immune from deportation if they were brought to the US before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a US high school or earned an equivalent diploma or certificate, or served in the military.

Millions of people in the United States, especially younger voters, rallied to Obama’s 2008 campaign because they saw it as a barrier-breaking crusade giving voice to those weary of the Iraq war and falling economic opportunities. Democratic

strategists hope to reignite some of that enthusiasm this year.

With significant economic gains so hard to achieve, a possible route is to be seen as expanding or protecting the rights of gays and lesbians, young Hispanics and young women.

In 2010, Congress ended the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibited gays from serving openly in the military. He won more praise from gay activists last month when he embraced same-sex marriage, even if the move was largely symbolic. The bigger legal step was his 2011 decision not to enforce a federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Some Republicans denounced Obama’s deportation decision as pandering. It’s “patently political and selfserving,” and will do nothing to change the fact that jobs and the economy will determine the Nov. 6 election, said Republican strategist Danny Diaz.

But Congress’s Republican leaders were silent on the matter. Republicans know that Hispanic voters are crucial in Florida, Nevada and Colorado, and could make the difference in tight elections in Virginia and North Carolina.

Many Democrats hailed Obama’s move. “It’s the right thing to do for the country, and the right thing to do politically,” said veteran strategist Matt Bennett.” If Republicans directly challenge the decision, he said, it puts them “in the position of saying we should be attacking, legally, innocent children who did nothing wrong”. Republican consultant Mike McKenna said Obama’s advisers “have obviously made a decision that they are going to win this election by energizing the base. Between this decision and the gay marriage emphasis, they have doubled down on their core and moved away from where most registered voters are.” McKenna said the strategy might inspire activists on both the left and right to turn out to vote. — AP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

sp orts Drogba mum on China offer NEW DELHI: Outgoing Chelsea striker Didier Drogba promised an imminent announcement of his “interesting” move to a new club but would not confirm heading for the big-spending Chinese team Shanghai Shenhua.

“The next step is going to be an interesting one and I think soon I’m going to announce it,” Drogba, on his first visit to India for a promotional event, told the moderator of a packed news conference yesterday. “For now, I’ll just ask you to wait a few moments.”

Organisers of the news conference would not take questions from reporters on Drogba’s move. Shanghai Shenhua coach Sergio Batista has confirmed the Chinese Super League club was negotiating with the prolific 34-year-old Ivory Coast international. “There is a big possibility he will come (to Shenhua) but it will depend on the hard work the club puts into bringing him here,” the former Argentina coach said on Thursday.—Reuters

IOC launches ticket probe LONDON: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is investigating a media report that National Olympic Committees and Authorised Ticket Resellers broke rules over the sale of London 2012 tickets.

The IOC is also referring the allegations to its independent Ethics Commission, it said on its website (www.olympics.org) on Saturday.

The early edition of the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper said several National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and Authorised Ticket Resellers (ATRs) were willing to break the rules by offering to buy or sell tickets outside their territories, to sell tickets at inflated prices or sell tickets to unauthorised resellers. “On being informed of

the allegations the IOC immediately convened an extraordinary meeting of its executive board and determined a number of actions - the convening of the Ethics Commission and asking for any evidence of wrongdoing to be provided to the Commission without delay,” said the IOC. “The IOC takes these allegations very seriously. Should any irregularities be proven, the organisation will deal with those involved in an appropriate manner. “ The NOCs are autonomous organisations but if any of the cases are confirmed the IOC will not hesitate to impose the strongest sanctions,” it added. The London Olympics start on July 27.—Reuters

Saina wins Indonesia Open JAKARTA: Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal defeated China’s Li Xuerui to win the Indonesia Open Super Series in Jakarta yesterday, sending out a strong message to rivals ahead of the London Olympics next month. The world number five took the women’s singles crown and $48,750 in prize money by beating world number four Li from a set down 13-21, 22-20, 21-19. Nehwal said winning her third Indonesia Open title was “special” and hoped for more success in the country. She won the tournament in 2009 and 2010 but lost the following year to China’s Wang Yihan.

“I’m happy to win the tournament today. But there are lots to be done (before the Olympics),” she said. “I think all the Chinese are really good... All of them are very strong, very hard working. They gave me lots of tough fights even in the quarter final,” she added.—AFP

Yankees roll over Nationals WASHINGTON: Mark Teixeira hit a two-run double in the 14th inning Saturday and the New York Yankees beat the Washington Nationals 5-3 for their eighth consecutive victory. Teixeira’s drive to the right-field corner off Brad Lidge (0-1) brought home Jayson Nix and Derek Jeter in the longest game by innings for either team this season.

Freddy Garcia (1-2) pitched two innings to get the win. Rafael Soriano finished for his 12th save, but only after allowing consecutive one-out singles to Jesus Flores and Steve Lombardozzi. The game ended when Soriano got Bryce Harper to ground out, ending an 0for-7 day for the Nationals’ teen sensation that included five strikeouts. Ian Desmond hit a solo homer for Washington.

ST LOUIS: Kansas City Royals pitcher Tim Collins dives after a bunt single by St. Louis Cardinals’ Rafael Furcal in seventh inning of a baseball game. —AP

MLB results/standings NY Yankees 5, Washington 3 (14 innings); Toronto 6, Philadelphia 5 (10 innings);Milwaukee 6, Minnesota 2; St Louis 10, Kansas City 7; Pittsburgh 9, Cleveland 2;Detroit 4, Colorado 1; Oakland 6, San Diego 4; Miami 4, Tampa Bay 3 (15 innings); Baltimore 5, Atlanta 0; Cincinnati 4, NY Mets 1; Texas 8,Houston 3;Boston 4, Chicago Cubs 3; LA Angels 2, Arizona 0; Seattle 7, San Francisco 4; Chicago White Sox 5, LA Dodgers 4.

American League Eastern Division NY Yankees Baltimore Tampa Bay Toronto Boston Chicago W Sox Cleveland Detroit Kansas City Minnesota Texas LA Angels Oakland Seattle

W L PCT 39 25 .609 38 27 .585 36 29 .554 33 32 .508 32 33 .492 Central Division 35 30 .538 33 31 .516 31 34 .477 28 35 .444 25 39 .391 Western Division 39 27 .591 35 31 .530 31 35 .470 28 39 .418

GB 1.5 3.5 6.5 7.5 1.5 4 6 9.5 4 8 11.5

Washington Atlanta NY Mets Miami Philadelphia Cincinnati Pittsburgh St Louis Milwaukee Houston Chicago Cubs LA Dodgers San Francisco Arizona Colorado San Diego

National League Eastern Division 38 25 .603 35 30 .538 35 31 .530 33 32 .508 31 36 .463 Central Division 37 27 .578 33 31 .516 34 32 .515 30 35 .462 27 38 .415 22 43 .338 Western Division 41 25 .621 37 29 .561 32 33 .492 25 39 .391 23 43 .348

4 4.5 6 9 4 4 7.5 10.5 15.5 4 8.5 15 18

HAIYANG: Enkhdelger Gerelttsolmon (right) of Mongolia competes for the ball against China in their women’s beach basketball match during the 3rd Asian Beach Games in Haiyang, Shandong Province. —AFP

Fever soar over Sky INDIANAPOLIS: Jessica Davenport scored 19 points to lead the Indiana Fever to an 84-70 victory over the Chicago Sky on Saturday night.

Katie Douglas had 15 points, Briann January added 14 and Tamika Catchings 12 to help Indiana (5-3) end a three-game losing streak. Catchings shot 3 for 12 from the field, but made 6 of 8 from the line to pass Lisa Leslie atop the WNBA’s career free throws made list with 1,478.

Davenport was perfect, shooting 9 for 9 from the field and making her only freethrow attempt. Sylvia Fowles scored 26 points to lead Chicago (7-2). Swin Cash added 15 points and Cour tney Vandersloot had 12.

Epiphanny Prince, the league’s leading scorer at 24.3 points per game, had seven points before leaving late in the second quarter with a right foot injury. She was

on crutches after halftime.

Silver Stars 98, Sparks 85 At San Antonio, Sophia Young and Becky Hammon scored 24 points each to lead San Antonio to an overtime victory against Los Angeles.

Danielle Adams added 18 points and Jia Perkins had 10 for the Silver Stars (4-4).

Young and Hammon combined for 11 points in the extra period as San Antonio outscored Los Angeles 15-2.

Candace Parker overcame a lethargic start to finish with 21 points for the Sparks (7-3), who shot just 1 for 9 in overtime and lost for the second straight night. Alana Beard had 23 points, Kristi Tolliver 16 and Jantel Lavender 10. The Sparks closed regulation on a 15-7 run to tie the score at 83 and force overtime. Hammon missed a 3pointer in the final seconds.—AP

Cardinals 10, Royals 7 At St. Louis, Matt Holliday homered and drove in five runs to power St. Louis to the victory. Yadier Molina also went deep and finished with four RBIs as the Cardinals won for the third time in four games. Mitchell Boggs (1-1) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings for the win and Jason Motte recorded his 14th save in 17 chances.

Holliday also doubled twice and singled.

Molina hit a tiebreaking two-run single off Greg Holland in the seventh inning. Kansas City had won four straight. Tim Collins (4-1) was charged with the loss.

utive victory.

Seth Smith also homered for the A’s.

Jemile Weeks and Collin Cowgill each drove in a run. Carlos Quentin hit a home run for the Padres, who have lost two straight since sweeping the Mariners. Will Venable had two RBIs. Sean Doolittle (1-0) pitched the seventh to pick up his first major league victory. Ryan Cook got three outs for his third save. Joe Thacher (0-2) took the loss.

Orioles 5, Braves 0 At Atlanta, Jason Hammel pitched a onehitter for his first career shutout, allowing only Jason Heyward’s two-out single in the seventh inning, and Baltimore beat Atlanta.

There have already been five no-hitters in the majors this season, including three this month, and Hammel made a strong bid to add to the list.

Hammel struck out eight and walked two, throwing 65 of 102 pitches for strikes. The Orioles have won six of seven. The Braves have lost five of six.

Brandon Beachy (5-5) left the game with right elbow soreness in the fourth inning. The major leagues’ ERA leader allowed no hits and one run, struck out five and walked one.

Rangers 8, Astros 3 At Arlington, Texas, Nelson Cruz hit a tow-

complete game of the season with two fly balls.

Joe Saunders (4-5) allowed eight hits in six innings while facing the Angels for the first time since they traded him to Arizona in 2010.

Marlins 4, Rays 3, 15 innings At St. Petersburg, Florida, Scott Cousins hit a tiebreaking RBI triple in the 15th inning and struggling Miami edged Tampa Bay. Justin Ruggiano doubled with one out and raced home when Cousins, playing his second game since being recalled from the minors, sent a pitch from Brandon Gomes (12) down the right-field line.

Ryan Webb (3-1) pitched three scoreless innings for the victory. Heath Bell struck out the side for his 14th save in 18 opportunities.

The Marlins beat their intrastate rivals for the first time in five meetings this year, ending an eight-game losing streak in the annual Citrus Series dating to May 2011.

Mariners 7, Giants 4 At Seattle, Jesus Montero and Casper Wells hit long first-inning homers off Tim Lincecum and Seattle rallied to beat San Francisco.

Franklin Gutierrez’s infield single in the sixth put Seattle ahead to stay as the Mariners ended a six-game losing streak.

Pirates 9, Indians 2 At Cleveland, AJ Burnett became the first Pittsburgh pitcher since 1990 to win six straight starts and Pedro Alvarez homered twice.

Burnett (7-2) gave up two runs over 6 2-3 innings. He extended the best stretch by a Pirates pitcher since Doug Drabek won six in a row during his NL Cy Young Award-winning season.

Casey McGehee homered and drove in four runs and Alvarez had three RBIs as the Pirates snapped a four-game losing streak.

McGehee broke a 2-all tie with a two-run homer off Ubaldo Jimenez (6-5) in the sixth.

Cleveland’s Michael Brantley went 0 for 3 with a walk, halting the majors’ longest hitting streak this season at 22 games.

Blue Jays 6, Phillies 5 At Toronto, Rajai Davis drove home the winning run with a two-out drive in the 10th inning that bounced over the wall and Toronto extended Cliff Lee’s winless streak to 11 starts.

Yunel Escobar connected for a solo homer among his three hits and also scored the winning run. Francisco Cordero (2-4) pitched one inning for the victory.

After Toronto scored three times in the eighth to make it 5-all, Escobar drew a leadoff walk in the 10th from Joe Saver y (0-2).

Escobar moved up on a balk, advanced to third on Mike McCoy’s groundout and scored when Davis hit a drive that hopped over the left-center field wall.

John Mayberry Jr. hit a three-run homer for the Phillies, who have dropped 11 of 14.

Lee allowed five runs and 12 hits in sevenplus innings.

Brewers 6, Twins 2 At Minneapolis, Ryan Braun hit two home runs and Michael Fiers pitched seven strong innings for Milwaukee. Braun added a double and a walk to back Fiers (2-2), who gave up one run and four hits.

Aramis Ramirez and Cody Ransom also homered for the Brewers, who have taken the first two games in this interleague series.

Liam Hendriks (0-3) gave up five runs - two earned - and eight hits in five innings. Trevor Plouffe went 0 for 1 with three walks, ending his streak of four straight games with a homer as the Twins lost their fourth straight.

Tigers 4, Rockies 1 At Detroit, Doug Fister pitched six shutout innings in his return from the disabled list and Miguel Cabrera homered to lead Detroit to the win.

Fister (1-3) had been out since aggravating a ribcage strain on May 28. He missed a month after sustaining the original injury in his first start of the season.

Fister allowed three hits and struck out six, sending the Rockies to their ninth loss in 10 games. Cabrera hit his 14th homer in the first.

Colorado’s Christian Friedrich (4-3) gave up three runs, two earned, and three hits in five innings. He walked five and struck out four.

Athletics 6, Padres 4 At Oakland, California, pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes belted a two-run homer in the seventh inning to lift Oakland to its fifth consec-

ARLINGTON: Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuvel (left) can’t handle the pick-off throw as Texas Rangers Craig Gentry (23) steals second base during the seventh inning of a baseball game.—AP ering three-run homer the pitch after Adrian Beltre’s two-run single and Texas went on to beat Houston, making Justin Grimm a winner in his major league debut Saturday night.

Rookie Lucas Harrell (6-5) had held Texas scoreless until those consecutive one-out pitches in the sixth, right after a botched rundown loaded the bases instead of getting out the lead runner.

Grimm (1-0), whose contract was purchased earlier in the day from Double-A Frisco, allowed six hits and three runs over six innings. The 23-year-old right-hander struck out seven without a walk. After giving up a two-out solo homer to Jed Lowrie in the first, Grimm struck out five consecutive batters.

Red Sox 4, Cubs 3 At Chicago, Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered to back a strong start by Jon Lester, and struggling Boston beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3.

The Red Sox could breathe a little easier after dropping eight of the previous 11, even if things got tight toward the end.

Saltalamacchia had two hits, including a two-run homer off Jeff Samardzija in the fourth, and Boston was sailing along with a 40 lead when the Cubs made their push. Luis Valbuena belted a three-run homer in the seventh inning for his first hit with Chicago, but the rally stalled.

Angels 2, D’backs 0 At Anaheim, California, Ervin Santana took a per fect game into the seventh inning before finishing with a one-hitter, and Mark Trumbo hit a two-run homer in the Angels’ victory over Arizona.

Santana (4-7) bounced back from several rough outings by retiring Arizona’s first 20 hitters before Justin Upton’s two-out single to center in the seventh.

The Dominican right-hander then retired the next five Diamondbacks before pinch-hitter Miguel Montero drew a four-pitch walk in the ninth, but Santana finished up his first

Lincecum (2-8) was the focal point of the evening thanks to his career-worst five-game losing streak and his first start in Seattle.

Instead it became another night of frustration for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, who was unable to hold a 4-2 lead and was done just one batter into the sixth inning.

White Sox 5, Dodgers 4 At Los Angeles, Alexei Ramirez opened the scoring with a two-run single and scored the go-ahead run for the Chicago White Sox, who blew a lead to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second straight game before coming back to win. Philip Humber (3-4) threw 99 pitches over five laborious innings, but got the victory after allowing four runs and nine hits. The right-hander, one of 22 pitchers to throw a perfect game in the majors is 2-4 with a 7.47 ERA in 10 starts since his gem on April 21 at Seattle.

Addison Reed, the sixth Chicago pitcher, posted his eighth save in as many chances with a perfect ninth to help end a threegame slide by the AL Central leaders.

National League Reds 4, Mets 1 At New York, Homer Bailey pitched out of trouble for eight innings, Jay Bruce hit a three-run homer and Cincinnati beat New York Mets for their fifth straight victory.

Ryan Ludwick added an RBI single to help the NL Central leaders move a season-best 10 games over .500 at 37-27. Bailey worked his way through several early jams and took advantage of the ample dimensions at Citi Field. Though the fences were brought in before this season, David Wright hit two of four Mets drives that were caught within steps of the wall.

One night after Joey Votto and Wright were both hit by pitches, this time it was Bruce and Mets cleanup batter Lucas Duda.

But again, no trouble ensued.—AP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

sp orts

Identify the best, or embarrass them? Both SAN FRANCISCO: The real star of this US Open won’t swing a golf club even once this week. Most fans couldn’t pick him out of a lineup. No matter how aggravating The Olympic Club plays, he barely has enough hair left to pull any out.

He’s Mike Davis, who became executive director of the US Golf Association only last year, but has been responsible for setting up the US Open courses for a half-dozen years now. One of his predecessors in both jobs, Sandy Tatum, was asked during one of the toughest Opens ever - the so-called “Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974 - whether the USGA was trying to embarrass the world’s best golfers.

“No,” Tatum famously replied, “we’re trying to identify them.” Thanks to Davis’

handiwork alongside the Pacific Ocean this week, golf fans are getting to watch plenty of both.

There’s no question about the quality of the names playing musical chairs on the leaderboard - Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Graeme McDowell and Ernie Els, all of whom have won at least one US Open. But whoever winds up on the top by close of light Sunday will probably know exactly why the place has been nicknamed the “graveyard of champions.”

A year after Rory McIlory posted the lowest US Open score ever - 16-under 268 - while pummeling a Congressional Country Club course already softened by rain, one hand is more than enough to count the number of players under par after three rounds at Olympic’s Lake

Course. An even better testament to the Davis’ balancing act is that while fans thrill watching their heroes sweat over nearly every par, not a single player has labeled the setup unfair. And this from a notoriously whiny group known to complain when the interior of the courtesy cars clash with their outfits or the wrong brand of shampoo turns up in the locker room.

“Most people don’t understand, it doesn’t matter how you set up a course, if you give them the ability to know when the ball lands that it’s going to stop, it’s significantly easier. That’s what is going to make the US Open this year without us trying to retaliate - that much harder,” Davis said before the players arrived at Olympic.

“When it lands, whether it hits the

green or it’s in the fairway, it’s going to roll. You have to think about what happens when it lands.”

That last part of the puzzle befuddled both the No. 1 and 2 players in the world, Luke Donald and McIlroy, who missed the cut and like countless golf fans are probably burrowed into a couch in front of the TV with widening grins on their faces. Just before heading for the airport Friday, Donald was asked how much harder Olympic was than Congressional.

“What was Rory after two days?” he asked Told it was 10-under par - though it was actually 9 under - Donald brightened and said, “Probably about 10 shots harder then.” Make that 20 shots, since McIlroy was 10 over at the time, but who’s counting? Truth be told, more

than a few guys.

“Last year we were trying to make birdies in the US Open, and here,” said Kevin Chappell, “you’re trying to just survive.”

Exactly what makes it that depends on who you talk to, one more testament to Davis’ skill and the break he caught when four days of dry, sunny weather and light breezes made the course play just as firm and as fast as he envisioned.

“It just goes to show that firm greens scare the life out of professional golfers,” Padraig Harrington said. “Off the tee, it’s the most demanding,” Jordan Spieth said. “You’re trying to place a drive out there that’s going to carry 275 and land it in a 10-yard space.” “It’s the reverse cambers,” McIlroy said before departing.

Right. Whatever those are. —AP

Furyk and McDowell share US Open lead SAN FRANCISCO: Former champions Jim Fur yk and Graeme McDowell charged into a share of the lead in the third round of the US Open on Saturday, while Tiger Woods slipped down a congested leaderboard but still has a chance to end his major championship drought.

Furyk, the 2003 US Open winner, put himself in contention for a second major title after

Olympic Club. Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobsen also shot a 68 to finish alone in third, two shots behind the leaders, with England’s Lee Westwood (67), Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts (71), American Blake Adams (70) and South Africa’s Ernie Els (68) a shot fur ther back.

John Peterson (72) had a hole -in- one at the 180-yard 13th to join Webb Simpson (68),

on this golf course for sure.”

Seven different players had a share of the lead at some stage but it was Furyk and McDowell on top at the end of a riveting day’s golf in northern California.

Furyk rebounded from two early bogeys to birdie the 268yard seventh hole when he got up and down from a greenside bunker and then birdied the par-4 11th when he drained a

SAN FRANCISCO: Tiger Woods hits out of a bunker on 16 during the third round of the US Open golf tournament. —AP shooting an even-par 70 to remain at one-under heading into the final day, which has all the makings of a grandstand finish with more than a dozen players within five strokes of the leading pair.

McDowell, who won the 2010 US Open at nearby Pebble Beach, joined the American at the top af ter capping his impressive round of 68 with a birdie at the 18th at the

Jason Dufner (70), Kevin Chappell (68), Australia’s John Senden (68) and teenage amateur Beau Hossler (70) at threeover. Woods was tied for 14th at four-over following his 75. He had started the day tied for the lead at one-under with Furyk and David Toms, who fell to five-over after a 76.

“I’m definitely still in the ball game,” said Woods. “I’m only five back and that’s certainly doable

12-foot putt.

He dropped another shot on the 16th but two-putted the par-5 17th to get back in red numbers. “Graeme and I are tied for the lead, but there’s a bunch of people piled up and close to it,” said Furyk.

“But how we play tomorrow at the top of the leaderboard tremendously affects who is still in the tournament and what score needs to be shot to win.”

Woods, bidding to win his first major in four years, made a terrible start when he bogeyed four of the first eight holes then finished poorly with bogeys in two of his last three holes.

“I’m just going to have to shoot a good round tomorrow, and post early and see what happens,” said Woods. “There’s going to be a bunch of guys there with a chance.”

McDowell navigated his way through the treacherous first six holes with a string of pars but dropped a shot on the ninth when he hit his approach into the trees.

The Northern Irishman made amends with birdies on the 10th and 13th holes then picked up another shot at the last when he struck his approach to within five feet of the pin. “ There’s something about this sea air coming off the Pacific that feels a little bit like home to me,” said McDowell. “If this continues, I may have to be getting a little real estate out here or something.”

Westwood drained a monster putt on the final hole for his fifth birdie of the round to give himself a real chance of winning his first major after seven top-three finishes during his career.

“Every time you get yourself in contention you learn something new,” said Westwood. “I’ve picked little bits out of all of those, but the main thing is just to go out there and believe that I’m good enough.”

Els, who won the US Open twice in the mid 1990s, had the huge galleries roaring with excitement when he chipped in for eagle at the 17th after a terrible start to his round with three bogeys in the first five holes. “The shot on 17 is what dreams are made of,” he said. “I guess it was about a probably almost a 50 yard shot almost into the hole so it’s one of those one-in-a-thousand shots.” —Reuters

Lorenzo wins British GP SILVERSTONE: Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo won the British Grand Prix on a Yamaha yesterday to stretch his lead over Casey Stoner to 25 points in the MotoGP world championship.

Australian Stoner, the reigning world champion who had started on the front row, had to settle for second with Spanish Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa following a close third in his slipstream.

“I was fifth or sixth (after the start) and I didn’t want to make mistakes so I had to wait a little bit,” said the Spaniard, who ended the race doing a lap of honour with the Spanish flag fluttering from his shoulder. “This victory is fantastic, the season we are doing is just perfect, we can’t ask for more.”

Lorenzo has 140 points to Stoner’s 115 and Pedrosa’s 101.

British rider Cal Crutchlow, ignoring hospital advice to race with a broken ankle from the back of the grid after missing Saturday’s qualifying, took an extraordinary sixth place for Tech3 Yamaha through gritted teeth.

Spaniard Alvaro Bautista was on pole position for the first time in his MotoGP career on the Gresini Honda but finished

fourth after losing out at the star t to American Ben Spies, Lorenzo’s team mate.

Stoner then took charge of a race that had the home crowd as gripped by what was going on at the back of the field as at the

while Lorenzo moved up to third and then passed Spies for second before putting pressure on Stoner.

After duelling at close quarters with the Australian, Lorenzo made a move stick with nine laps

LONDON: Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo celebrates on the podium after winning the MotoGP race at the Silverstone circuit. —AP front.

With 14 laps to go, Crutchlow had passed I talian Valentino Rossi’s Ducati for 10th place

remaining and pulled away.

Stoner said he had realised the game was up from lap one when he saw how much more grip

Spies had on the Yamaha.

“Even when I went around to the grid the bike didn’t feel right so we made another change before the race and it was just horrible....we just struggled the whole race,” he added.

“I knew if they got past it was going to be one hell of a try to keep up and we just couldn’t,” he said. Pedrosa said he too had felt uneasy on the bike. “I felt like today I was not going to have a good Sunday,” he told the BBC. Crutchlow’s was perhaps the ride of the afternoon, lapping as fast as the leader and moving up to fourth in the overall standings after Italian team mate Andrea Dovizioso failed to score.

The Coventr y-born rider passed Ducati’s American Nicky Hayden for sixth on the final lap and revealed afterwards how much he had to battle just to get on the back of the grid.

“It’s been a tough weekend.

Missing two hours of track time to these guys is a disaster so I’m pleased. I’m just emotionally drained,” he said. “They told me I wasn’t allowed to ride, at the hospital. So I left the hospital, lied a little bit when we got to the circuit and the medical staff did great here.” —Reuters

Leander Paes

Paes ready to partner Bhupathi NEW DELHI: India’s Leander Paes is prepared to team up with friendturned-foe Mahesh Bhupathi for the London Olympics despite his personal preference to partner someone else, the doubles specialist said.

The All Indian Tennis Association (AITA) is grappling with a crisis of its own making after pairing Paes and Bhupathi together for London, uniting two men who are not even on speaking terms after a second acrimonious split last year.

Bhupathi had threatened to skip London if separated from his regular partner Rohan Bopanna, who incidentally was Paes’ preferred choice for the Games.

“I have always maintained that I will play with whoever the selection committee and AITA choose and this continues to be my stand,” Paes said in a statement late on Saturday.

“It is a well known fact that when asked by the AITA, I have expressed my preference to play with Rohan Bopanna as my partner in the Olympics 2012, based on his physical fitness and big serve,” added Paes, whose top-10 ranking gives him direct entry.

Bopanna is ranked 12th and Bhupathi 14th. Paes, who claimed

bronze in the singles event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Bhupathi formed a formidable partnership in the late 1990s, winning three grand slams.

Soon their relationship soured and they parted ways, playing together only when representing the country. Even though Bhupathi is adamant that India should field two doubles teams in London - saying he and Bopanna have qualified as a partnership based on their rankings - AITA is unlikely to budge.

“Mahesh should show some maturity,” AITA president Anil Khanna told reporters on Saturday. “They have to realise that nation comes much before (their) commitment to each other.”

M eanwhile, the I ndian Olympic Association (IOA) has asked the AITA to produce a report on their selection process. “As the contingent for the Olympics is going under IOA’s banner, I would appreciate it if you (AITA) could let me know the full details regarding this issue,” IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra wrote in his letter to Khanna.

“Our whole focus at the moment should be to send the best medal prospects and I strongly believe that we have very good chance of winning a medal in tennis this time.” —Reuters

Samoa defeat Japan to win Pacific Nations Cup TOKYO: Faatiga Lemalu scored two tries yesterday as Samoa defeated defending champion Japan 27-26 to win the Pacific Nations Cup. Hendrik Tui and Ayumi Goromaru ran in tries to help Japan take a 16-0 after 27 minutes. But Samoa came back late in the first half and cut the lead to 16-14 on tries by K ahn Fotuali’i and Lemalu.

Samoa took a 17-16 lead on a Ki Anufe penalty three minutes after the break and the visitors widened the lead to 24-16 when Lemalu ran in his second try and Lolo Lui added the conversion.

Anufe’s second penalty of the day in the 65th minute gave Samoa a 2716 lead. Japan got two tries from Takashi Kikutani and Toshiaki Hirose but Ryan Nicholas’ conversion drifted wide as Samoa held on for the win

and the title.

Samoa improved to 3-0 and won the PNC trophy for the second time, having previously won it in 2010. A win by Japan would have seen the title decided next weekend when Fiji hosts Tonga at Lautoka’s Churchill Park.

Samoa coach Stephen Betham made five changes to the 22 that beat Fiji last weekend. In the front row, Tii Paulo started at hooker with Wayne Olo Avei moved to the bench, while Logovii Mulipola was handed the No. 3 jersey.

Iosefa Tekori took over from Daniel Crichton in the second row and Kane Thompson replaced Ben Masoe at No. 8. The backs were unchanged with the exception of scrum half, where Fotuali ’i got the nod over Jeremy Sua. —AP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

S P ORT S

Disgraced Nalbandian disqualified from final

HALLE: Germany’s Tommy Haas poses with the trophy after he won the final match against Swiss Roger Federer at the Gerry Weber Open ATP tennis tournament. — AP

Haas stuns Federer in Halle HALLE: Germany’s Tommy Haas defeated second seed Roger Federer 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to win the Halle grasscourt tournament yesterday to become the ATP’s second oldest champion. Playing in front of his home fans, the 34-year-old wildcard added to his triumph at the same venue three years ago to take his 13th ATP title.

Swiss great Federer, the second seed, was seeking a sixth win at this Wimbledon warm-up event having booked his seventh final ticket with a straight sets semi-final win over unseeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Haas, a former world number two, secured his place in the climax with a defeat of compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber. After claiming the title Haas said: “This has been one of the best weeks of my career, but I reckon I won’t really appreciate what’s happened until this evening.

“If someone had said to me beforehand that I was going to beat Roger Federer, probably the best player of all time, I would have thought they were mad.

“It’s a special moment knowing that four months ago I didn’t know if I would be able to play at this level again. It’s a life lesson,” said the injury-plagued Haas, who only recently returned to the tour after a 14month absence. In that time, he underwent hip and right shoulder surgery which sent his ranking plummeting to 200.

He came into Halle at 87 in the world with Sunday’s victory expected to move him back into the world top 50. France’s Fabrice Santoro remains the oldest champion, winning the 2008 Newport tournament when he was 35.

“This would normally be the perfect time to retire, but I am not ready. I hope to play on for a long time,” added the German, who went through qualifying at the French Open last month before going onto to reach the third round.

He has also been awarded a wildcard into Wimbledon. Federer was magnanimous in defeat, saying: “Tommy has performed well throughout, I’m thrilled for him.” Federer, the record 16-time Grand Slam title winner, said he will head to Wimbledon “probably on Thursday”. “It would be great to win there for a seventh time,” he said.

Yesterday’s victory was Haas’s third career win over Federer after beating his betterfancied rival at Halle in the semi-finals in 2005 and 2006, against 10 defeats, the last in the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2009.

Federer broke to lead 3-1 in the opening set but proceeded to lose three successive games to find himself trailing 4-3. Haas went on to clinch the set on a winning serve in 50 minutes. In the second set, Haas broke to lead 5-4 and serve for the match, winning when Federer put a return long. — AFP

LONDON: Argentina’s David Nalbandian was sensationally disqualified from the Queen’s Club final yesterday for angrily kicking an advertising board at a line judge which left the official suffering a gashed and bloodied leg.

The fiery Nalbandian, who had won the first set 7-6 (7/3) against Croatia’s Marin Cilic, had just lost his serve to fall 4-3 down in the second when he reacted with a frustrated kick at the board, which was just in front of line judge Andrew McDougall.

A stunned and angry McDougall then rolled up his trousers to reveal a bloody gash on his leg before appearing to remonstrate with Nalbandian.

Play came to a halt and after a delay of several minutes, ATP supervisor Tom Barnes came onto the court to speak to umpire Fergus Murphy and Nalbandian.

It soon emerged that the 30-year-old’s petulant behavior had been punished with disqualification “due to unsportsmanike behavior” and Cilic was declared the champion.

Nalbandian responded by waving his arms in frustration while the 6,000-capacity crowd jeered, but the former Wimbledon finalist later returned to the court to apologise for his actions.

“I am sorry to do that. Sometimes we get very frustrated here on court. It is tough to control,” he said, before also launching into a rant against ATP chiefs.

“It is a tough moment to end a final like that.

Sometimes we feel the pressure from the ATP. It is a mistake and I have to pay for that. Everybody makes mistakes.

“There are a lot of rules and sometimes they don’t do anything. The rule book is very big and I can tell you the ATP do a lot to the players and nothing happens.”

Barnes, who confirmed he made the decision to eject Nalbandian as soon as he saw the line judge was hurt, said the Argentine had accepted the sanction and will be stripped of his runnersup cheque, worth 44,945 euros ($56,802), and 150 ATP ranking points, which he would have earned as a beaten finalist. He could also be hit with a 10,000 euro ($12,638) fine, which will be decided by ATP chiefs at a later date.

“He knows the rules and knew what was going to happen. He didn’t do it intentionally.

He lost control and a guy got hurt,” said Barnes. “I am not surprised by what he said about the ATP.” Nalbandian was understood to be unhappy with playing conditions at the Queen’s Club, a traditional warm-up event for Wimbledon,

where the schedule had been badly affected by rain all week. “The grass had been slippery.

Maybe he thought it wasn’t safe. But the courts were playable,” added Barnes.

Tournament director Chris Kermode told the BBC: “It’s one of those really unfortunate things.

“It was an unbelievable final. Best match all week. Nalbandian ran across in frustration and

LONDON: Argentina’s David Nalbandian (left) looks on after causing an injury to the line judge (right) and was disqualified during the Queen’s Club grass court championships final tennis match against Croatia’s Marin Cilic. —AP kicked a panel which went flying across and caught a line judge. He’s quite seriously injured.

A violation was called immediately. “Nalbandian clearly regrets what he’s done. It’s unfortunate.

These things happen.

“To have the match ending this way is disappointing, but we’re under the governance of ATP rules. David feels terrible. It was a pure accident.”

Cilic looked slightly bewildered as he lifted the giant silver trophy during a rather subdued post-match presentation on court.

It was the 23-year-old’s first ATP title since winning in St Petersburg in October last year and the triumph made him the first Croatian man to win on grass since Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001.

But the sixth seed admitted taking the title in

Hunter-Reay wins IndyCar race

FRANCE: The Audi R18 cars in action during the 80th 24 hours Le Mans endurance race in Le Mans, western France. — AP

Audi defend Le Mans title LE MANS: Audi defended their Le Mans 24 Hours endurance title yesterday with Germany’s Andre Lotterer taking the chequered flag for the second year in a row in a 1-2-3 finish for the dominant manufacturer. Audi’s 11th win in the last 13 years was a first for a diesel-hybrid car at the Sarthe circuit. They won last year with a diesel engine.

The number one Audi R18 - shared by Lotterer, France’s Benoit Treluyer and Switzerland’s Marcel Faessler - led for most of the race and denied Denmark’s Tom Kristensen a ninth win in the number two car. Germany’s Mike Rockenfeller, a winner for Audi in 2010, wrapped up a sweep of the podium places as he crossed the line in third place in the non-hybrid Audi ultra.

Audi overcame a scare with three hours to go when British driver Allan McNish slid the number two Audi into the barriers at the Porsche Curves only moments after Spaniard Marc Gene plunged his nonhybrid Audi into the tyres at the first chicane.

McNish’s car was quickly back on track, with the Scot handing over to Kristensen, but Gene’s number three car lost 20 minutes and finished in fifth place with Frenchman Loic Duval at the wheel.

Frenchman Nicolas Prost, son of fourtimes Formula One champion Alain, split the Audis by claiming fourth place for Rebellion Racing’s Toyota-powered Lola B12.

Scotland’s Peter Dumbreck and former Formula One drivers David Brabham and Karun Chandhok, the first Indian to race at Le Mans, finished a strong sixth in the JRM team’s HPD ARX 03a.

Audi’s works rivals Toyota saw their challenge fade overnight. They had snatched the lead after five hours of intense racing but their excitement turned to horror when Anthony Davidson, racing in one of the hybrid Toyotas, suffered a spectacular

crash. The Briton’s car tagged a Ferrari and took off, twisting 360 degrees in the air before plunging into the tyre barriers at Mulsanne Corner.

Davidson, who clambered out of the car before gesticulating for help from the medical team, will stay in hospital until today after fracturing two vertebrae in the incident.

“Well that was a big one! Feeling a bit sore today, but generally happy to be alive,” the 33-year-old, whose injuries are expected to take three months to heal, said on Twitter. Toyota later had to retire their second car when the engine failed.

“It was a real disappointment to end the race early; our dream was to see the chequered flag,” said Kazuki Nakajima, who was the last Toyota driver out on track.

Despite failing to finish, Toyota impressed after returning to sportscar racing for the first time in 13 years with a petrol-electric hybrid car. Before his exit, Nakajima ended the run of the experimental Nissan DeltaWing overnight when the Toyota pushed it off the road and into the barriers at the exit of the Porsche Curves.

The sleek car, reminiscent of a ‘Batmobile’, had been invited to race at Le Mans to showcase new technologies, including a smaller engine and four-inch front wheels.

“It hurt last night and it hasn’t got any easier,” said Marino Franchitti, younger brother of Indy 500 winner Dario and a cousin of Formula One racer Paul di Resta.

“But I’m very proud to show that this car works and what the future of motorsport could be. I hope this is only the beginning of this car.”

Ex-Formula One driver and 1990 Le Mans winner Martin Brundle paired up with son Alex for the first time and Spanish gamer-turned-racer Lucas Ordonez in a Zytek and finished 15th. The 80th edition of the race saw 35 drivers finish. — Reuters

WEST ALLIS: Ryan Hunter-Reay found his way back to victory lane at the Milwaukee Mile, holding off Tony Kanaan on Saturday. It was the sixth career victory and first this season for Hunter-Reay, who brought home a victory for the man who brought the historic but financially troubled Milwaukee track back to IndyCar - car owner Michael Andretti, who served as the race promoter.

“It really is amazing,” Hunter-Reay said.

“Milwaukee has been so important to IndyCar for so long, and I think this is a huge event for Milwaukee. These two belong together. So I really thank Michael for sticking his neck out, coming back here and really doing it the right way.”

Hunter-Reay also won at the track in 2004 in the now-defunct Champ Car Series. Kanaan was second, followed by James Hinchcliffe, Oriol Servia and EJ Viso. The start of the race was delayed about an hour and a half because of rain.

Scott Dixon, who came into the race second in the points, had to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping a restart and finished 11th. He questioned the penalty afterward. “I’m actually very excited to see what the hell they’re talking about,” Dixon said.

“I’m disappointed.” Last year’s Milwaukee winner, Dario Franchitti, started from pole position and dominated the early stages of the race. But he fell back in the field and then spun out and hit the wall on lap 195. Points leader Will Power finished 12th.

It was a boost for the Milwaukee track, which has been hosting racing since 1903 but originally was left off the 2012 IndyCar schedule after not hosting any major racing events in 2010 and drawing a lackluster crowd for IndyCar last year.

Milwaukee was put back on this year’s schedule after Andretti agreed to serve as the race’s promoter - and Andretti announced just before Saturday’s race that the event would return in 2013. “We’re going to be back here next year, and hopefully for

such a bizarre manner wasn’t the ideal way to conclude a successful week. “It was very bitter.

It’s definitely not the way I wanted to win,” Cilic said.

“To end like this is not easy. The match was getting hot and it’s tough to see the final finish like this. “I can’t change it, but I’m really sorry for the fans that it finished like this.” — AFP

a long time after that,” Andretti said.

Despite the race being a late addition to the schedule - and then the morning rain delay - the race drew a significantly better crowd than last year. Franchitti was untouchable in the early stages of the race, leading the first 60-plus laps before making his first pit stop. The race went green until Simona de Silvestro spun on lap 67, bringing out a caution.

Franchitti was shuffled back to fourth on the restart, after a few drivers were on pit road when the caution came out - including Viso, who took the lead on the restart.

Justin Wilson then blew an engine on lap 94, pulling to the inside wall and scrambling to get out of the car when it briefly caught fire. It was a tough reversal of fortune for Wilson, who won last week at Texas. After a round of pit stops under caution, Helio Castroneves - who didn’t pit after Wilson’s incident - took the lead. Then came the first significant crash of the day, when Takuma Sato and James Jakes tangled. Castroneves continued to lead as the race restarted, as Dixon had to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping an earlier restart, on lap 103. Franchitti continued to fade, barely hanging inside the top 10.

Hunter-Reay then passed Castroneves for the lead on lap 142, and Viso got past Castroneves for second. Castroneves made it all the way until lap 155 before pitting, hoping to make it to the end of the race without stopping. The race then briefly went under caution on lap 182, after some raindrops fell on the track.

Franchitti’s day ended when he spun and hit the wall on lap 195. Franchitti tangled with Australian Ryan Briscoe shortly before he spun, and said afterward that contact might have broken something on his car. “I was on Ryan’s inside, but he just kept coming down there,” Franchitti said. — AP

WEST ALLIS: Ryan Hunter-Reay celebrates as confetti flies after he won the IndyCar auto race at the Milwaukee Mile. — AP

Lemaitre claims French sprint triple ANGERS: Christophe Lemaitre, seen as Europe’s biggest hope to break Jamaican and US sprinting hegemony, wrapped up a French sprint triple here yesterday.

The 22-year-old added the 200m title to the 100m he won on Saturday in a windassisted 9.94 seconds, and was also part of his Aix-les-Bains club’s winning 4x100m relay team on Friday. In the 200m, Lemaitre clocked 20.31sec to finish ahead of Ben Bassaw, who claimed second in 20.58sec in a photo-finish with Jimmy Vicaut.

While the time was well off Usain Bolt’s world record of 19.19sec, it was a welcome boost for the Frenchman ahead of facing the likes of Bolt, compatriots Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell, and the American trio of Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Walter Dix. “I’m happy but I still haven’t got the reserves that I was able to draw on in Daegu,” Lemaitre said of his experiences in last August’s world championships when he finished fourth in the 100m and claimed bronze in the 200m.

“To do 20.31 by putting together races like that, it’s good. We’re in mid-June, the French champs were earlier than normal.

At the European championships, I have to be in form.” Arguably France’s biggest hope for gold at the London Olympics is, however, pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie, who has hit a fine run of consistent form ahead of the July 27-August 12 Games in the British capital.—AFP

Zimbabwe tame Tigers HARARE: A fine 62 from opener Hamilton Masakadza set up hosts Zimbabwe for an 11-run victory over Bangladesh in the opening match of a Twenty20 tri-nations tournament that includes South Africa. Masakadza slammed four sixes and six fours in a 35-ball stand and captain Brendan Taylor (38) offered good support as the home team reached 154-6 off 20 overs in clear, warm conditions. Bangladesh could make only 143-5 in reply and new coach Richard Pybus started with a loss in a country which has not proved a happy hunting ground for the Tigers as they lost a Test and a oneday international series there last year.

“I feared we were about 10 to 15 runs short of what we needed after our innings,” admitted Zimbabwe skipper Taylor, “but our bowlers did exceptionally well today.

“There is a lot of hard work ahead in this tournament, though, as we conceded too many boundaries at the start of the Bangladesh innings and our middle-order batting needs sharpening,” he said.

Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim said: “We were confident of reaching the target only to lose ground in the middle overs and what remains for us to do is learn from the mistakes of today.”

Tamim Iqbal gave Bangladesh a good start with a 38 that featured three fours and Ziaur Rahman (23) and Mohammad Ashraful (22) contributed good knocks and the visitors required 56 to win with 30 balls left.

However, tight bowling at the death by debutant Richard Muzhange and Malcolm Jarvis tamed the Tigers and even a penultimate-over boundary mix-up between Elton Chigumbura and Vusi Sibanda that cost four runs did not prove fatal.

The non-cap tournament resumes at the same venue Tuesday when Bangladesh face hot favourites South Africa and Zimbabwe will confront their southern neighbours the following afternoon.

Brief scores Zimbabwe 154-6 (20 overs) (H. Masakadza 62, B. Taylor 38, S. Matsikenyeri 18; A. Hasan 2-37) v Bangladesh 143-5 (20) (T. Iqbal 38, N. Hossain 29 not out, Z. Rahman 23, M. Ashraful 22; C. Mpofu 220).—AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

SPORTS

18 Euro 2012 briefs

Iniesta, Spain’s orchestra leader England’s Walcott injured England winger Theo Walcott suffered a hamstring injury in training and is doubtful for their final Euro 2012 Group D match against Ukraine, manager Roy Hodgson told the BBC yesterday.

Walcott, 23, inspired a comeback win over Sweden as a substitute on Friday, scoring England’s second goal and setting up Danny Welbeck for the third to seal a 3-2 victory.

“Unfortunately, he had a slight setback in training today so that’s the major concern for him,” Hodgson said. “He felt the hamstring that, of course, kept him out for so long at the end of last season and we were slightly concerned when he came to us. “It was a precaution to take him from the field because he felt a slight tightness there so really whether he is a real contender for a starting position will depend on what the medical people can tell me.”

Heads you win?

Headers are back in vogue - never before have so many goals — 14 of the opening 46 at Euro 2012 - come from aerial play. That translates to 30 percent of the total with England’s Andy Carroll, Ukraine’s Andrei Shevchenko and Germany’s Mario Gomez leaping like proverbial salmon to put crosses away.

All three took a leaf out of the book of Robert Lewandowski, who headed the first goal of the event for co-hosts Poland against Greece. The current percentage outranks any other previous Euros and also World Cups - only 17 percent of goals at South Africa 2010 were headers, with the figure 19 at Euro 2008.

Traditional Ukrainian shirt Zlatan Ibrahimovic may be going home early with Sweden but the giant striker can at least take home a souvenir of his time in Ukraine — even if his footballing happy memories are in short supply, save for a goal against Euro 2012’s co-hosts.

As the squad prepared to leave a press conference a young Ukrainian woman called out, “one second! one second!’ before offering him a traditional Ukrainian shirt. The giant AC Milan forward accepted the gift with a smile.

French bowling France, looking set for the quarter-finals of Euro 2012 after their win over Ukraine, were rewarded with a few hours off yesterday with a session of indoor bowling at a hotel in Donetsk.

The French squad left their base at Kirsha for the hotel near the Donbass Arena stadium with orders only to enjoy themselves before they tackle Sweden in Kiev tomorrow

GNIEWINO: Not sated by having helped Spain conquer the world in 2010 with his goal in the final, Andres Iniesta is once again proving his weight in gold for titleholders Spain at Euro 2012.

He may not have scored as yet leaving those duties and the resulting plaudits to Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and David Silva.

But the Barcelona dynamo is typically the lightning rod for danger when the Spanish are in full flow ‘the orchestra leader’ if you will as Ireland’s veteran Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni designated him.

After two full rounds of group games at the championship one would have to put Iniesta right up

alongside the likes of German pair Mario Gomez and Mesut Ozil as a candidate for player of the tournament even at this comparatively early stage.

Although Spain were not at their best against the Italians in their opening draw it was Iniesta, along with partner in tiki-taka rhyme Xavi Hernandez, who put the Spanish back on track in the second half after a staid opening.

Then in the 4-0 drubbing of Ireland it saw him lead not least Glenn Whelan a merry dance with his tight dribbling and repertoire of tricks.

His boundless energy means the 28-year-old appears in no way blunted by a long and in many ways disappointing season at Barcelona, who

ended up with only the consolation prize of the Spanish Cup for their pains.

Though he does not say so in so many words, Iniesta gives the impression of wanting to use Barca’s failure to best Real Madrid at home and Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final to spur him on, using those frustrations as an extra reason for wanting success here.

“I feel I am enjoying an ideal patch of form right now,” he insisted going into the tournament. Iniesta is at pains not to portray himself as a leader as such - merely a cog in an effectively turning machine.

“I have always tried to play my role in this team - but I do not feel myself a

leader - I simply feel comfortable in my position,” he says modestly.

Against Croatia today, the little Catalan, Xavi and Silva will once again combine as Spain look for the win which will confirm top spot in Group C. That would mean a potential quarter-final with England - or perhaps France. A draw would take the Spanish into the last eight in any case — but their winning mentality means they have ruled out a stalemate of convenience - not least knowing that Italy would cry foul as any arrangement, real or imagined, would put the latter out. With Iniesta and company in this form a draw will be asking a lot of the Croatians. —AFP

Lack of winning formula haunts Poles once again

ATHENS: Greeks gather at Omonia square to celebrate the country’s win against Russia in the Euro 2012 soccer tournament in central Athens, late Saturday. —AP

Greeks at best with backs to the wall WARSAW: Greece, cornered and faced with an early exit from Euro 2012, came up with the goods on Saturday, beating odds-on Group A favorites Russia 1-0 and proving once again they perform best in the face of adversity.

There are comparisons with their stunning Euro 2004 triumph when the Greeks came into the tournament as rank outsiders to snatch the trophy in one of the biggest upsets in international football. The will to win and succeed when everyone had ruled them out are the same but this time there is more to the story than just another upset.

“We managed to qualify despite everything, that is why the value of this qualification is great,” said captain and scorer Giorgos Karagounis who will miss the quarter-final through suspension.

The Greeks came into the tournament undefeated in 10 qualifiers and having conceded just five goals.

They had also lost only one match in their last 21 since the 2010 World Cup. Yet it was their defence which let them down in the first two group games, a 1-1 draw with Poland and a 2-1 defeat by the Czech Republic

with the backline in complete disarray at the start of each match.

Matters got even worse with central defender Avraam Papadopoulos injured in the first game and his partner Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off, leaving coach Fernando Santos with a makeshift backline against the Czechs.

They conceded two goals in the opening six minutes but reorganised and came close to clawing their way back for a draw as they had done against Poland.

The warning signs were there for Russia but it seemed they were still gloating over their 4-1 win over the Czech Republic and a dazzling performance first-half display against Poland who fought back bravely to claim a 1-1 draw. Russia coach Dick Advocaat even called them the best team in the tournament. Santos went back to basics against the quickfire Russians, picking the team he arguably should have fielded from the start of the tournament.

Sokratis was back and formed a natural partnership with 20-year-old Kyriakos Papadopoulos, whose immense talent has made him a starting fixture at Bundesliga club

Schalke 04 since he was 18.

Gutsy Giorgos Tzavellas was moved to the left with Vasilis Torosidis shutting out Russia’s Andrei Arshavin on the other side, while erratic Jose Holebas, poor in both previous games, was relegated to the bench.

Strong and solid at the back, Santos also came up with an effective attacking gameplan as his team had to win to stay in the tournament, with both Fanis Gekas and Dimitris Salpingidis in the lineup.

The diminutive forward duo added pace and control while also working hard to break up Russian attacks at an early stage.

The Russians failed to penetrate often enough and resorted to longrange efforts midway through the first half. Greece had five shots with two on target while their opponents fired a staggering 25 shots with 10 on goal but the majority of those were wild efforts from 25 metres or more out.

The Russians ultimately paid the price for thinking they were taking on a team who had come to the tournament to make up the numbers as they did in 2004. —Reuters

French look to end years of group hell KIEV: France are looking to end a six year hiatus of failing to qualify for the knockout stages of a major finals here tomorrow and get the result they need against already eliminated Sweden in their Euro 2012 Group D match.

The signs are positive for Laurent Blanc’s side that they will both achieve their goal and extend their unbeaten run to 24 matches against what could be a demoralised Swedish side, who are pointless after two successive defeats.

The French could even lose and go through should England, who they lead on goal difference in the group with both on four points, beat co-hosts Ukraine in Donetsk.

However, under Blanc’s wise and steady guidance — in comparison to the chaotic and rollercoaster ride under predecessor Raymond Domenech — this is not a concept they would entertain. They envisage victory and topping the group to set up a quarter-final against the runners-up of Group C, finishing runners-up would more than likely see them entertaining the unappetising prospect of defending champions Spain in the last eight.

Blanc, a member of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winning sides though he missed the former match because he was suspended, said getting the monkey off their backs of winning their first game at a finals in six years in Friday’s 2-0 win over co-hosts Ukraine would do

their confidence no end of good. “Every victory is good for confidence, both on a collective and an individual level,” he said at Saturday’s press conference.

“We know just how hard it is to win a match at a major tournament, so the fact we played well and looked secure at the back is a good thing. It’ll give us courage and a lot of confidence.”

However, Blanc said there was no question of slipping into a mindset that the game was already won and their place in the last eight assured - something the Russians seemed to have been fatally affected by in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the Greeks.

“We still need something from the third game,” he said. “We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. Let’s stay humble. We played well yesterday (Friday) and we beat Ukraine. That’s good, but it won’t change the way we prepare for the Sweden match.”

Blanc’s only worry appears to be with one of the goalscorers from the Ukraine game, Yohan Cabaye, who complained about a twinge at the back of his thigh and was taken off as a precaution in the second-half.

“I am not worried but we have to be aware of it,” said Blanc, whose selection of the other goalscorer Jeremy Menez in preference to Florent Malouda proved an inspired one.

“He had felt a little twinge behind his thigh in training, and he felt it again during the match. He then thought it best not to push his luck.” — AFP

WROCLAW: There is a famous Polish cartoon of a group of knights returning from battle, broken and defeated.

One says to the others: “Enough of these damn moral victories.”

It is a national theme, which returned to haunt the Euro 2012 co-hosts in a tame exit from the tournament on Saturday.

Brave and well-balanced in draws with Greece and Russia which belied their status as the tournament’s lowest-ranked side, Franciszek Smuda’s men had done enough to suggest the home support should drive them to victory against a young Czech Republic side.

But once their southern neighbors had ridden out a barrage of shots in the first 15 minutes, they did not have the guile, class or, dare one say it, character to progress.

As it was in Switzerland and Austria four years ago, the tournament will be weaker for the hosts’ early departure. Smuda, who set his team up perfectly to defend and counter against a slick Russian side, had given chapter and verse on how he could play the same game against a Czech team he insisted would not be able to restrain itself from attacking.

But after a handful of errors from a much-criticised Czech backline had offered some early hope, sticking with three essentially defensive central midfielders left the Poles’ main striker Robert Lewandowski too isolated.

The lack of pressure high up the pitch allowed the Czechs to keep the ball for long periods and when Smuda finally switched to a more attacking 4-4-2, the visitors picked off a tiring defence denied the protection of the extra holding midfielder.

It was all too much for the thousands of fans who had bounced into the ground calling for “Victory, Poles, only victory will do”.

Two decades of toil have given Poles prosperity most could never imagine under communism and Euro 2012 in many ways has been a coming out party for a nation whose population is almost as big as that in Spain or England.

Football, however, has not rewarded them in kind and Saturday was supposed to change that but didn’t.

As against Greece, when the game went awry Poland could not find the drive to turn it around and captain Jakub Blaszczykowski was unable to conjure up another wonder goal to match his effort against Russia.

That inability to respond will weigh on the minds of the thousands who headed off to Wroclaw’s bars and clubs to drown their sorrows, although the backlash Smuda faces will have been diluted by the news that his contract is not being renewed.

Why did attacking midfielders Adrian Mierzejewski and Kamil Grosicki not start against Greece - or at least not come on in the second half. Why did they not start on Saturday?

After the Greece game the coach, who prides himself on being his own man, said: “I have to do things my way and I always come out smelling of roses”. Not tonight. —Reuters

WROCLAW: Dejected Polish fans seen after the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group A match between Czech Republic and Poland. —AP

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

SPORTS

Today’s Matches on TV UEFA European Championship

Italy v Ireland

Group

C

19

Croatia v Spain 21:45

21:45

Aljazeera Sport 1 HD Aljazeera Sport +9

Aljazeera Sport + 10 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

Euro 2012 briefs

Shevchenko rages against dying of the light KHARKIV: Andrei Shevchenko knows that when he walks onto the pitch to face England in Donetsk tomorrow evening, he could be wearing the colors of the Ukrainian national team for the final time.

The 35-year-old’s brace in the 21 victory over Sweden had sparked hope of a glorious finale to his international career but after Friday’s 2-0 loss to France in Euro 2012 Group D, Ukraine no longer have any margin for error.

The calculations for the co-hosts are simple: to reach the quarterfinals, they must beat an England team buoyed by a thrilling 3-2 win over the Swedes and bolstered by the return from suspension of the swaggering Wayne Rooney.

With so much at stake, Ukraine will hope that its favourite sporting son can roll back the years once again and delivery a victory that will take the country into the last eight of a major tournament

for only the second time.

Shevchenko will bow out from international football once the Euro is over, but another two goals at the tournament would allow him to sign off with 50 goals in the yellow and blue of his country.

He already played a key role in Ukraine’s last quarter-final incursion, as the attacking spearhead of the team that reached the last eight at the 2006 World Cup before falling to eventual champions Italy.

Six years ago, however, Shevchenko was in his pomp. After seven prolific years at AC Milan, his name had become a byword for lethal finishing and his legacy was still to be tarnished by the disappointing three-year spell at Chelsea that began after the tournament.

Now, he is in the twilight of his career, and yet his match-winning headed double against Sweden proved that the goalscoring

instincts that saw him claim 175 goals in 322 games for Milan remain intact. The sight of Shevchenko wheeling away from the Swedish goal after scoring the equaliser in Kiev last Monday, an expression of unbelieving ecstasy etched across his face, is already one of the tournament’s defining images.

The catharsis was palpable. The knee and back injuries that dogged him last season tempered expectations about his capacity to make an impact at Euro 2012 and Shevchenko admitted last year that he was concerned he might “embarrass” himself.

Instead, he has rediscovered his role as the national hero and Sergei Rebrov, his strike partner in the Dynamo Kiev side that reached the Champions League semi-finals in 1999, says it should never have been in doubt. “Unfortunately, in Ukraine people think that if you are over 30 you should stop play-

ing,” he told the UEFA website.

“They have been saying it about Andrei for the past few years but every time he has proven otherwise. This season, and in other seasons, he has shown that it’s still too early to write him off. “He is a professional, he always does his best. This game (against Sweden) showed it. I know he has been working hard to be ready for the Euro and the first game showed that it was not in vain. He is a real leader and a captain.”

Shevchenko’s Dynamo contract is due to expire next month and although the club where he first made his name have suggested he could be offered a new deal, the player himself has hinted he could be tempted to move abroad.

His brace against Sweden proves he still has much to offer but before he can begin to think about an exotic final pay-day, he will want to finish the job properly with Ukraine. —AFP

Trap fires back Giovanni Trapattoni hit back angrily at Roy Keane after the Manchester United legend’s latest criticism of Ireland. Keane wrote in his column for a British tabloid that he would change the entire starting XI for the final Group C match against Italy here yesterday.

The former Ireland captain - who infamously walked out on the team in their pre-2002 World Cup finals training camp complaining of a lack of professionalism about their preparations - and now popular TV pundit in Britain has been highly vocal in his criticisms of his homeland’s poor showings at the Euros.

And he said that Ireland would be better off shipping out the old guard and bringing in some fresh new blood with a view to the future. But Trapattoni was having none of it.

Spain set for tough test against Croatia GDANSK: After thrashing an accommodating Ireland side 4-0, holders Spain may find Croatia a tougher nut to crack when they meet in Gdansk today in a game that will decide who tops Euro 2012 Group C. A 2-2 draw would put both sides into the quarter-finals even if third-placed Italy beat Ireland and a defeat would probably mean an early flight home.

Spain played sparkling football against Ireland when the recalled Fernando Torres scored twice but the world champions are wary of a dangerous Croatia side who are unlikely to stand around watching Iberian artistry.

In midfield playmaker Luka Modric, heavily linked with a move to Manchester United, and the tournament’s joint top scorer with three goals Mario Mandzukic, Croatia have the quality in key areas to cause problems for Spain.

“We watched the two matches they played here and they fully deserve the four points they have,” Spain defender Raul Albiol said on Saturday.

“Croatia have always had talented players and they are going to make it very tough for us.”

Only needing to avoid defeat to reach the last eight, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque will be toying with the decision about whether to retain Torres or revert to the strikerless line-up he put out in the 1-1 opening draw with Italy.

One thing is for sure, according to Albiol, neither side will be worrying about the maths of the group or play for the 2-2 draw that would suit both. “Of course 2-2 is one of the possible results in football but what is clear is that we will we go out to win,” he said. “There is not going to be any pact and each team will go out there focused on victory so they have their fate in their own hands. There has been a lot of talk (about a pact) but Spain has always gone out there to win and that’s what we will do.

“We want the seven points that will win us the group. The team will prepare for the game in the same way as the previous matches conscious of how important it is.”

Croatia, who have never played Spain in a competitive game and are unbeaten in open play in their last six European Championship matches, are

Caricature show A museum in Warsaw is hoping culture will lift the spirits of disappointed football fans who might ordinarily have drowned their sorrows at the bar, as the first teams from Euro 2012 prepare to pack up and head home.

“They can cheer up a little and dry their tears by stopping by our exhibition,” said Zygmunt Zaradkiewicz, director of The Museum of Caricature in the Polish capital, where light-hearted football-themed sketches are on display until September.

The two-room “The Ball is in Play” show includes some 160 colourful caricatures chosen from more than 1,200 submissions from across the globe.

GDANSK: Croatia head coach Slaven Bilic (top right wearing red) speaks to team players during the official training of his team, on the eve of the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group C match between Spain and Croatia. —AP an intrepid side.

They lost to Turkey on penalties at Euro 2008 and they will be bristling with intent against a Spain side unbeaten in 16 competitive matches.

“They are a grand team, but we have no fear of them,” said Mandzukic, who scored the equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Italy and two goals against Ireland.

“We’re ready to leave our hearts on the pitch, but we will need a little luck, too.”

One lucky omen for Croatia is that when they played the holders at the 1996 European Championship they effectively knocked them out with a 3-0 win over Denmark inspired by Davor

Suker and his infamous chip over goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.

The dilemma Croatia, who also have four points, face is that they must go for a win because a 0-0 draw would not be enough if Italy beat Ireland.

The very complicated scenario also means that a 1-1 draw might not be enough for Croatia if Italy beat Ireland by a two-goal margin other than 2-0.

Faced with the harsh prospect of going out with an unbeaten record, Bilic will implore his players to be bold. “I hope luck will be on our side too, though our players also need to play the match of their lives,” he said. —Reuters

Ireland plot Italy ambush

POZNAN: Italy’s Mario Balotelli (centre) smiles during the official training of Italy on the eve of the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group C match against Ireland. —AP

KRAKOW: Giovanni Trapattoni may be a proud Italian but he knows he has a professional duty as Ireland coach to try his hardest to deny Italy a passage into the Euro 2012 quarter-finals yesterday.

Italian media is obsessed with fears Spain and Croatia will play out a 2-2 draw in the other Group C game and knock out the Azzurri even if they beat the Irish in Poznan.

Such is 73-year-old Trapattoni’s standing in the game, though, that no one is questioning his loyalties.

Ireland have been eliminated after two heavy Group C defeats and today’s swansong in the final group match could be the last major tournament appearance for the likes of 31-year-old Robbie Keane who will not want to bow out with a whimper.

Trapattoni, who managed Italy at Euro 2004 when they suspected a never-proved fix when Denmark and Sweden drew 2-2 to eliminate them, will make sure his troops are motivated despite only having pride to play for.

“It would not be fair to the other countries in the group if I did not select my best team,” said Trapattoni. “With this team, and these players, I am proud.” Italy coach Cesare Prandelli is sure Ireland and Spain will be totally professional. “I know we have to believe right until the end. I don’t believe in any suspect goings on,” Prandelli said. “It all depends on us, we need to deserve the win, it won’t be easy.”

A victory would be enough for Italy to reach the

quarter-finals in second place if Spain or Croatia win the other match. However, an Italy win and a draw in the Spain game makes the situation complicated because all three teams would then be level on five points and head-to-head results come into play.

A ‘mini-league’ between the three would be the deciding factor, with Italy having drawn 1-1 with both. A 0-0 draw between Spain and Croatia means Italy would go through with a win while a 1-1 draw would bring group goal difference into play.

A scoring draw of 2-2 or higher between Spain and Croatia, though, and Italy are out whatever the do against the Irish. Prandelli is set to make changes with forward Mario Balotelli possibly being replaced by Antonio Di Natale and Alessandro Diamanti in the running for a spot in midfield or as a second striker after impressive form in training.

Defender Andrea Barzagli is almost fit after a calf problem. The Italy coach was annoyed that the players sat on their 1-0 halftime lead over Croatia last time out only for Mario Mandzukic to equalise. “It’s not a matter of fitness, it’s more a mental thing,” Prandelli said.

“This is the mentality we have to change. We are a good team, we’ve got to believe it a bit more.” Ireland winger Damien Duff may wear the captain’s armband to mark his 100th cap for his country while normal skipper Keane said the squad were determined to put on a show. “The mindset is we are not going home without any points,” Keane told reporters. —Reuters

‘Bring us Merkel’ Greek sports dailies yesterday were itching for a showdown with European powerhouse Germanyunpopular here over a huge EU-IMF economic bailout-after Greece advanced to the Euro 2012 quarter-finals. “Bring us (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel,” said Goal News after Greece shocked Russia 1-0 on Saturday to advance to the next round of the tournament.

“You will never get Greece out of the Euro, Europe once again delirious about bankrupted Greece,” the paper said. Germany-and Merkel personally-are identified in Greece with pressure for painful salary and pension cuts imposed in the past two years in return for rescue loans.

“This is how your debtors qualify, Angela get ready,” said Sport Day. “You IMF our Greece, we TNT your Euro,” added Metro Sport, adding there was “endless bliss and pride across the country.”

Five fans detained Police detained five Polish men after using tear gas to quell fighting among fans in the centre of the southern Polish city of Wroclaw where Poland lost 1-0 to the Czech Republic on Saturday to be eliminated from Euro 2012. “There was fighting between Polish fans.

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

Spain set for tough test against Croatia Page 19

KHARKIV: Dutch forward Robin van Persie (right) vies with Portuguese defender Rolando during the Euro 2012 football championships match. —AFP

KHARKIV: Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his second goal during the Euro 2012 football championships match against Netherlands. (Inset right ) Portuguese head coach Paulo Bento reacts during the match. — AFP

No great escape for Dutch Ronaldo’s brace sends Portugal through KHARKIV: Portugal beat the Netherlands 21 yesterday to set up a Euro 2012 quarterfinal with the Czech Republic and condemn the Dutch to a first group-stage European Championship exit since 1980.

Needing to win by two clear goals to stand any hope of progressing, Holland took an early lead through Rafael van der Vaart but were undone by goals in each half from man of the match Cristiano Ronaldo.

From a Dutch perspective, the final score was rendered immaterial as Denmark’s 2-1 loss to Germany in the other Group B match meant they would not have qualified for the last eight even in case of victory.

Portugal, for whom Ronaldo belatedly reproduced his Real Madrid form at this tournament, will compete for a semi-final place against the Czechs in Warsaw on Thursday.

Runners-up at the World Cup two years

ago and top scorers in qualifying, the Netherlands leave Ukraine with their tails between their legs after three consecutive defeats.

“I think we started quite well today and we scored after about 10 minutes,” said Holland coach Bert van Marwijk. “But you saw that when we concede a goal, the uncertainty remains. If we’d scored a second, we might have been more sure of ourselves, but we didn’t take our chances.”

Mindful of the pressing need for goals, van Marwijk handed starts to both Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and van der Vaart, who replaced captain Mark van Bommel and inherited the captain’s armband from him.

Van der Vaart needed less than 11 minutes to vindicate his manager’s decision, collecting a pass from Arjen Robben and shaping a delightful 25-yard shot inside the lefthand post to put Holland ahead.

However, if the Dutch thought they were in for a comfortable evening, Portugal quickly had them on their toes with a flurry of chances sparked by Ronaldo drifting inside and brushing the post with a low strike.

Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg was allowed to shine on his 50th appearance, thwarting Helder Postiga following an errant back-pass by Gregory van der Wiel and then showing sharp reflexes to box away a Ronaldo header.

Holland failed to heed the warnings though, and in the 28th minute Ronaldo levelled, powering onto Joao Pereira’s incisive, stabbed pass and clipping the ball past Stekelenburg from close range.

Strangely, scoring the opening goal seemed to have inhibited the Dutch, and they were cowed even further by Ronaldo’s equaliser.

So often scorned for his international dis-

plays, Ronaldo was a man transformed, and after working Stekelenburg with an audacious dipping shot from 35 yards, he crashed a header narrowly wide from a corner.

Van Marwijk gambled in the second half, throwing on winger Ibrahim Afellay for leftback Jetro Willems, but still Portugal came, Nani spurning a good chance by firing at Stekelenburg after Ronaldo had rolled the ball across goal.

The Madrid man was not so forgiving when Nani returned the favour in the 74th minute, checking inside sharply to send van der Wiel sprawling and then calmly beating Stekelenburg at his near post.

Van der Vaart hit the post with a right-foot curler, but it was the only bright moment in what was a desperate second period for the Dutch, who saw Ronaldo wobble an upright in the final minute. — AFP

STATISTICS Match statistics for Germany’s 2-1 win against Denmark in their Euro 2012 Group B match at the Arena Lviv yesterday.

Denmark Germany Goals scored 1 2 Total shots 10 12 Shots on target 6 6 Corners 5 3 Offsides 4 2 Fouls committed 8 6 Yellow cards 0 0 Red cards 0 0 Ball possession (percent) 43 57

winner.

“Independent of the goal, that was my first start (for Germany), so it was something special,” beamed Bender.

“We were trying to get that second goal, I just saw the goal in front of me and it was a bit lucky. “I am not used to being in that position, but it felt good to be there.”

Having made his debut in the 2-2 friendly draw with Poland last September, the 23-year-old Bender was making only his ninth appearance for Germany, while twin brother Sven, who plays for Borussia Dortmund, was cut from the squad.

Both coaches made only essential changes to their start line-ups. Germany’s Joachim Loew opted for Bayer Leverkusen’s Bender at right-back for Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng, who was suspended after picking up a yellow card in their 2-1 win over Holland last Wednesday.

Likewise, Denmark’s Morten Olsen brought Jakob Poulsen into the midfield for veteran forward Dennis Rommedahl, who damaged his hamstring in their 3-2 defeat to Portugal.

The Germans started at pace and only a superb block

by Denmark goalkeeper Stephan Andersen from a Thomas Mueller low drive on six minutes denied the Germans.

Germany got the break through when Mueller fired his pass across the Denmark goal and Gomez let the ball roll for man-of-the-match Podolski to drill his shot home for his 44th international goal.

The Germans held the lead for five minutes before Bendtner headed back from a corner and Krohn-Dehli, who also scored in the Danes’ shock 1-0 win over Holland, got his head to the ball before the German defence.

It was 1-1 at the break, but midfielder Jakub Poulson, in for hamstring injury-victim Rommedahl, clipped the post with his shot on 51 minutes. The game’s tempo dropped noticeably in the second-half with Germany’s midfield star Mesut Ozil looking flat as the Danish defenders constantly thwarted the Germans. — AFP

Match statistics for Portugal’s 2-1 win against the Netherlands in their Euro 2012 Group B match at the Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv yesterday.

Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession (percent)

Portugal 2 22 8 7 4 17 1 0 41

Netherlands 1 13 5 5 1 12 2 0 59

Germans keep their cool

Bender puts Germany through, Danes go out LVIV: Germany advanced to the quarter-finals of Euro 2012 yesterday as defender Lars Bender scored his first international goal to seal their 2-1 win over Denmark which put the Danes out.

After Portugal’s 2-1 win over Holland in Kharkiv, another three points at Arena Lviv confirmed Germany as Group B winners with three victories while Portugal progress as runners-up from the so-called “Group of Death”. The Germans will now play Friday’s quarter-final against Group A runners-up Greece in Gdansk, their Euro 2012 base, while Portugal will play the Group A winners the Czech Republic in Warsaw on Thursday. Lukas Podolski, who was making his 100th appearance for Germany, celebrated his century with the opening goal on 19 minutes which was cancelled out by a Michael Krohn-Dehli just five minutes later before Bender’s late

STATISTICS

LVIV: Germany have often in recent years shown they can play fast and furious but yesterday they displayed another quality not necessarily associated with Joachim Loew’s team. They were cool.

In the 2-1 win over Denmark that sent the Germans into the Euro 2012 quarter-finals to face Greece, they showed they can operate under tournament pressure even when their qualification is on the line despite two opening group wins.

It was also the first time the Germans completed a European Championship group stage with a perfect record. Loew’s team had already set a German record in qualifying, winning all 10 games.

“There is a certain maturing process that has happened so far in this tournament,” a relieved Loew said. “We were not quite so good with the overall organisation. The team has gone through a good development process.”

It was that process that helped them maintain their composure after taking a 19th-minute lead through Lukas Podolski and conceding an equaliser five minutes later.

It was far from their best performance with the defence leaking at times, playmaker Mesut Ozil putting in another mediocre performance and forward Mario Gomez lacking his usual spark. — Reuters

Group A standings Final Euro 2012 Group B table after yesterday’s games (Played, won, drawn, lost, for, against, points): Results Netherlands 0, Denmark 1; Germany 1, Portugal 0; Denmark 2, Portugal 3; Netherlands 1, Germany 2; Portugal 2, Netherlands 1; Denmark 1, Germany 2

LVIV: Germany’s Lars Bender and Denmark’s Michael Krohn-Dehli vie for the ball during the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group B match. — AP

Group B Germany Portugal Denmark Netherlands

3 3 3 3

3 2 1 0

0 0 0 0

0 1 2 3

5 5 4 2

2 4 5 5

9 6 3 0

Business

Europe faces ‘make or break’ moment: Former Greek PM Page 23 Hollande seeks 120bn euro ‘growth pact,’ says report Page 25

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

Sudanese battle price hikes as economic crisis bites

US Airways leader sets his sights on American

Page 22

Page 24

FRANKFURT: The statues of bull and bear, symbolizing upward and downward market trends, can be seen behind sand bags piled up by anti-globalization activists during a protest against speculation in front of the stock exchange in Frankfurt western Germany, yesterday. — AFP

G20 leaders grapple with euro meltdown Greek vote crucial as heat turns on Merkel LOS CABOS, Mexico: The leaders of the world’s most powerful economies meet today for a G20 summit confronted by turmoil in the euro-zone, a critical election in Greece and worsening bloodshed in Syria. Some 27 heads of state and government are to gather in the sun-drenched Mexican beach resort of Los Cabos for two days of meetings, but the trip is anything but an escape from the crises threatening the global order. If Greece voted yesterday to reject the terms of its debt bailout, Europe’s plan to save the euro will be thrown into disarray and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel will come under huge pressure to change course.

US President Barack Obama comes to Mexico knowing that, if the euro-zone crisis continues to hurt global growth, America’s already faltering economy could stumble, undermining his own hopes for reelection. Obama also faces tense faceto-face talks in Los Cabos with his Russian opposite number Vladimir Putin, who is standing in the way of a united UN Security Council response to the worsening violence in Syria.

France’s new president, Francois Hollande, will come to his first G20 in the aftermath of yesterday’s legislative elections there, which will decide whether he has a working majority to develop his own response to the debt crisis.

The leaders will also be keeping an eye on developments in Egypt, the Middle East’s most populous country, where consti-

tutional wrangling has hurt hopes of democratic reform in the wake of the Arab Spring revolts.

But, for the world’s major developed and emerging economies Monday’s first order of business, after they are welcomed by their Mexican host President Felipe Calderon, will be to demand urgent action from Europe. The euro-zone leaders present-Merkel, Hollande and Italian premier Mario Montiwould prefer to solve their problems in-house at the European Union summit in Brussels at the end of this month.

But the imminent result of the Greek vote-due yesterdaywhich could see a victory by forces opposed to the stark austerity imposed by an EU and IMF-led bail-out of Athens’ debt, will concentrate minds in Los Cabos. “It is extremely important that tomorrow’s Greek elections lead to a result in which those who form the government say, ‘Yes, we want to keep to our commitments’,” Merkel told a regional meeting of her party on Saturday.

If Greece rejects its rescue package, under which voters facing poverty and joblessness were asked to accept harsh austerity measures, the country could default on its debts and find itself forced out of the single currency.

This in turn would send a signal to the bond markets that the European Union cannot guarantee all its members’ finances, thus driving interest rates still higher for larger but still vulnerable economies such as Spain’s.

Saudi rebounds, Qatar weak, Bahrain firm, Kuwait closed MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s main stock index rose yesterday, recovering the previous day’s losses as the death of the kingdom’s Crown Prince ceased to have an impact. Qatar’s index was again weak and Bahrain steady, while markets in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman were closed for a religious holiday.

Egypt was also shut for the country’s presidential election. Saudi Arabia’s benchmark rose 0.4 percent.

It fell 0.3 percent on Saturday, having been down as much as 2.6 percent intra-day in a knee-jerk reaction to Crown Prince Nayef’s death eight months after he became heir to the throne. The index is now down 14.8 percent from early April’s 3-1/2 year peak, as declines in oil and world equity prices have spurred local selling.

“Yesterday’s volatility was to be expected when we have this kind of news, but the market then recovered and I don’t think it will be major factor today - Prince Nayef was known to have had health problems so his death wasn’t a complete surprise,” said a Riyadh-based fund manager, asking not to be identified.

“The authorities will probably give some clarity on the succession soon and today’s trading will be more linked to what’s happening outside the region.”

Although Nayef was known for his strong management of security issues in the country, analysts see no reason to think foreign or political policies, much less economic policies, will change under his successor.

Gains in world markets on Friday helped support Saudi sentiment. Investors fear yesterday’s Greek elections could unleash fresh turmoil in the eurozone if the next government in Athens scraps Greece’s bailout deal, but this is offset by hopes that the world’s major central banks will make a coordinated response to ease any market dislocation.

In Saudi Arabia, shares in telecoms operator Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) climbed 2 percent and Saudi

Basic Industries Corp rose 0.8 percent. Saudi firms are expected to start announcing second-quarter earnings from early July. “Q2 results will help at least to stabilize the market, but these will be of secondary importance compared with what’s happening in Europe, which is flitting between risk-on and risk-off mode,” said the fund manager.

“We should see some buying in select names ahead of results, particularly petrochemicals - people are expecting bad results, but not as bad as recent price movements would justify.” The petrochemicals index climbed 0.4 percent, trimming its year-to-date losses to 4.7 percent. The sector has loosely tracked declines in oil prices, with crude seen as a key indicator for both petrochemical product prices and likely demand.

QATAR In Doha, the main index slipped 0.01 percent to its lowest close since Oct. 6. This took its 2012 losses to more than 6 percent, making it the worst performing Gulf Arab benchmark. About 1.83 million shares traded, the lowest total since July 2011.

“Volumes have been going down lately and I don’t think it will get better anytime soon,” said a Doha-based trader on condition of anonymity.

“Foreign investors have been selling aggressively to invest in other markets and Qatar trading has slumped - things look anaemic, with a lack of catalysts and better opportunities for investors elsewhere.”Vodafone Qatar fell 0.3 percent. The loss-making telecommunications operator is among the topperforming Doha-listed stocks this year, rising nearly 20 percent, but has fallen 2.5 percent since June 7, when it reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $35 million, missing an analyst’s estimate.

NBK Capital last week cut its rating on Vodafone Qatar to hold from accumulate. — Reuters

Some of Berlin’s European partners agree with those in Washington and Asia arguing Merkel should reduce the pressure on Greece by agreeing to more EU debt burden-sharing sovereign debts and looser austerity measures. But she is expected to stand firm, despite China, India and the United States made it clear that there will be no let-up in their pressure.

“No one can escape unscathed when the ship capsizes among severe economic storms. Countries aboard the ship should extend a helping hand to each other,” the official Chinese news agency Xinhua said in a commentary Saturday.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has seen his own emerging giant’s growth rate fall to its lowest in nine years, warned Europe’s woes will further dampen global markets and adversely impact our own economic growth” “It is our hope that European leaders will take resolute action,” he said. In Washington, Obama’s administration made their own concerns clear. Obama faces a tough presidential battle in November against Republican challenger Mitt Romney, and will be forced to defend his economic record even as the US economy struggles to create jobs.

US officials accept Europe is unlikely to unveil a comprehensive short and long-term plan to restructure its member states’ debts at Los Cabos, but say privately that they now believe Germany and its partners are serious. So, while the euro-zone

remains his main concern, Obama will also take the opportunity of the summit to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and to pressure Putin on Russia’s role in the Syrian conflict.

“Obviously, disagreements persist with regard to Syria, but it will be a good opportunity for the presidents to meet and work it through,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, referring to the Mexico talks.

Western and Arab nations have been pressing Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad to stand down and allow and allow a negotiated solution to the burgeoning civil war that has left more than 14,000 dead. Russia has so far stood beside its traditional ally and stymied attempts to agree a unanimous UN Security Council stance on the crisis.

Again, no breakthrough is likely in Los Cabos. But the conflict in once more at a critical turning point, following the United Nations’ decision to suspend its observer mission in the face of mounting attacks. Assad is engaged in the brutal repression of a pro-democracy revolt by his own citizens and attacks by rebel fighters, and monitors say he continues to shell opposition strongholds despite a nominal UN-backed ceasefire.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be at the G20 pressing for the Security Council to take a “new measure” on Syria in the wake of the apparent failure of the UN-backed peace initiative. — AFP

Lower growth for major Economies: New index RIO DE JANEIRO: Some large economies show significantly lower growth when natural assets such as forests and water are factored into growth indicators, an index showed yesterday, a few days before an international sustainability summit starts in Rio de Janeiro.

The Inclusive Wealth Index was unveiled by the United Nations University’s International Human Dimensions Program on Global Environmental Change (UNU-IHDP) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Scientists and environment groups have been pressuring governments to include the value of their countries’ natural resources - and use or loss of them - into future measurements of economic activity to show their true future growth prospects.

The idea of an expanded indicator known as GDP+ to include GDP and natural capital will be on the agenda of the Rio+20 summit from June 20 to June 22, when environment ministers and heads of state from around 200 countries will try to define sustainable development goals.

The index shows the “inclusive wealth” of 20 nations, taking into account manufactured, human and natural capital like forests, fisheries and fossil fuels, instead of relying only on gross domestic product (GDP) as a growth indicator.

The index assessed Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United States, Britain and Venezuela, from 1990 to 2008. Together, these countries accounted for almost three-quarters of global GDP over the 19-year period.

The index showed that 19 out of the 20 countries experienced a decline in natural capital. Six nations also saw a decline in their overall inclusive wealth, putting them on an unsustainable track, UNEP said. “Rio+20 is an

opportunity to call time on Gross Domestic Product as a measure of prosperity in the 21st century, and as a barometer of an inclusive green economy transition,” U.N. UnderSecretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said in a statement.

“It is far too silent on major measures of human well-being, namely many social issues and the state of a nation’s natural resources,” he added.

NATURAL CAPITAL The index showed that even though China, the United States, Brazil and South Africa experienced GDP growth, their natural capital was significantly depleted. When measured solely by GDP, the economies of China, the United States, Brazil and South Africa grew by 422 percent, 37 percent, 31 percent and 24 percent respectively between 1990 and 2008.

When their performance was assessed by

the IWI, China’s economy grew by 45 percent, the United States by 13 percent, Brazil by 18 percent and South Africa decreased by 1 percent, mainly due to the depletion of natural resources, UNEP and UNU-IHDP said in a statement. Six nations - Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, South Africa and Nigeria experienced negative growth under the IWI, whereas it was positive under GDP measurements.

Commenting on the report, John Sulston, chair of the Royal Society working group on population and Nobel Prize-winning scientist, said traditional measurements of wealth do not take into account the state of the world around us and the inclusive wealth index was a way of correcting this deficiency. “Applying the IWI to a sample of 20 countries reveals some that are considered good economic performers are actually in the environmental red, borrowing natural resources that they just can’t pay back,” he added. — Reuters

KSE index hits 4-month low KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange’s price index has slipped sharply in last week’s trading to hit its four-month low, a specialized economic report showed yesterday. The report, by Oula Wasata Brokerage Company, said the index continued shedding points until it reached 5,900 points, its lowest level since last February.

It went on to claim that the political uncertainty, particularly the circulated rumors of an imminent government reshuffle has put pressure on investors, who prefer to await further developments on the matter before making a decision.

The report added that investors are also concerned about the application of new financial market regulations. Last week’s trading was dominated by speculations on small to medium stocks, Oula noted. It explained that investment portfolios as well as individual traders focused on selling operations to gain liquidity - a move that has gravely impacted on the market.

Moreover, a segment of listed stocks and major groups have failed to survive sharp declines. The report pointed to other factors which negatively affected trading such as the absence of speculative purchasing power and incentives. — KUNA

22

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

BUSINESS

Sudanese battle price hikes as economic crisis bites

The euro’s strength hanging in the air French government for help in the form of subsidies. I am sure the rest will follow and the Germans will object to this, more crises on the way.

Other industries have not been immune. Look at the tourist industry in southern Europe also the housing industry and above all look at the banking industry. The long term damage has been done. It will take great and gutsy measure to reverse all of these but it will still take time to solve and the crisis will overwhelm everyone at the helm.

The behavior of the European Central Bank has been very disappointing. It has been hiding behind the politicians and not doing what it supposed to do. The Bank of England has just announced that it will pump more money into the system and will lend banks only on condition that they use the new money for lending. It is a small measure but I think will have an immediate impact. The ECB should not worry anymore about the big increase in money supply but should worry about the risk of deflation in Europe.

The Euro will definitely will weaken as the European economies enter negative growth or possible recession.

Eventually the ECB will have to ease its monetary policy much further given the pressures on the economies.

As we all know that economic crisis create investment opportunities for some and what we are witnessing now in Europe might be just one of those great investment opportunities.

There is no hurry yet as these crises will not go away quickly, but it is prudent to start testing the water. I see of those investment opportunities in the real estate markets in some prime areas in Europe such as big cities like Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome etc. Also, some of those top quality companies which are trading way below their intrinsic values. It will be a long process but the opportunity is already there.

By Hayder Tawfik

Students pour into Khartoum streets KHARTOUM: Iman is grateful at least that she is healthy. But the Sudanese mother of two says she struggles to feed her family and fears for the future, as an economic crisis bites and food prices soar. “Last year we used to buy meat three or four times a month. Now we buy meat just once per month, and sometimes we go without,” said the 35-year-old, who is pregnant with her third child.

“Praise be to God, I’m okay now because my health is good. But everything is getting more expensive. I’m very worried about the future,” Iman told AFP, as she shopped in a Khartoum market with her two-year-old son.

Sudan’s economy is reeling, hit by soaring inflation and a rapidly depreciating currency, following the loss of three -quarters of Khartoum’s vital oil revenues when South Sudan seceded last July. Since then, costly armed conflict in April on its southern border, which resulted in extensive damage to infrastructure at Heglig, Sudan’s main oil field, has accelerated the trend, with the government desperately searching for answers.

In a report late last month, the International Monetary Fund described the economic challenges the country faces as “daunting.”

Inflation officially hit 30.4 percent in May, compared with 28.6 percent in April, the central statistics bureau said last week, although some economists say the real figure could be more than 40 percent. Traders say the price of beef has more than doubled over the past 12 months, from around 15 Sudanese pounds ($2.7) last year to as much as 35 Sudanese pounds ($6.4) now.

One plate of “fool”, or stewed fava beans, a poor man’s fare in Sudan and across Arab countries, has gone up over the same period from two Sudanese pounds to four or five now. But the high prices hitting families in Sudan are set to jump if, as widely expected, the government follows through on a decision it has been mulling for weeks, namely to lift fuel subsidies which it can no longer afford. Shopping in another market in Khartoum, Sabir Jumaa, 50, says he has already cut back on what he buys for his family, including meat.

“But there are some things we cannot avoid paying for, like medicine for the chil-

dren and school expenses. If the government removes fuel subsidies, we will be in a critical position,” the private company employee added.

Analysts and some within the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) itself have been warning of the consequences of such a

past 10 years and its failure to diversify the economy. “It’s a very serious situation... There is no quick, easy substitute for that loss of oil revenue,” he said, adding that unless the government cuts its expenditure and increases its revenues, it will run out of money.

But scrapping fuel subsidies, although eco-

KHARTOUM: Sudanese pour into the streets in large numbers to protest against the rising food prices. move, which will affect Sudan’s burgeoning poor the most, and which could spark social unrest.

“There is concern among many members of the NCP that this move might cause people to come out onto the streets,” said Safwat Fanous, professor of politics at the University of Khartoum. Hundreds of students poured onto the street outside the University of Khartoum yesterday, chanting slogans and protesting against high food prices, an AFP correspondent reported, after a similar demonstration there the night before.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd and beat the protesters with batons before ordering all students to vacate the campus. Fanous argues that the financial problems facing Sudan’s government stem from its dependency on oil revenues over the

nomically “badly needed,” will also be politically “very dangerous,” as it drives up overall prices for people already experiencing serious hardship, Fanous argued. Even the finance minister, Ali Mahmud Al-Rasul, admitted during a speech in parliament last week that it was the policy of what he called a “bankrupt state.”

Mohammed el-Jak, professor of economics at the University of Khartoum, said that lifting fuel subsidies would drive up a wide range of commodity prices and could lead to “chaos.”

“Definitely the burden of this and the social cost of this will be borne by the low income groups and the poor... These are the people who will suffer,” he told AFP. “I think it will create some sort of chaos, will lead to strikes and pressure on the government.” — AFP

‘China’ fund raises stakes in Japan firms: Report TOKYO: OD05 Omnibus, an investment fund widely believed to be a Chinese government investment vehicle, has been increasing its stakes in Japanese companies including Toyota and Honda, a report said yesterday.

By the end of March, the OD05 Omnibus fund was the largest shareholder for 174 Japanese firms, the highest level ever recorded, the business daily Nikkei reported, citing its own survey of listed companies. It estimated the total market value of the fund’s stock holdings in Japan at about 3.58 trillion yen ($45 billion), also a

What will happen to the euro? Is it safe to hold the euro? Few questions constantly asked by all like of people. The birth of the Euro has been a blessing for some nations such as Germany and has been painful for some others such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. I always put it back to the people who ask about the euro. If the euro was a share representing a listed company, would anyone invest in the share? I think the Euro is going through a devaluation process and will continue to do so. Just ask the Greek and the Spanish. Asked them what has happened to their livelihood, about their wealth, their savings, their jobs and their homes? If you remove Germany from the Euro zone then it will devalue by at least 20% to reflect the reality of what is happening in the rest of the euro nations.

The Euro is getting an unexpected boost from the economic and political turmoil gripping Europe and not because it is worth it. Investors should be aware of this fact. It is trading more than 8% above the average against the US dollar since it was introduced back in 1999. But in reality investors would have been better off if they invested in US$ assets. My concern is that the reasons holding up the Euro are not good enough for me to invest in the currency. When central banks are cutting rates as they are in several countries, there is clearly not a great reason to be bullish on those currencies.

Unfortunately, European central bankers and politicians are trying to solve the day to day crisis but are not focusing on the long term damage which has already surfaced. Again, apart from the German auto industry which is surviving on the boom in China, the rest of the auto makers in Europe are crying for help. Renault and Peugeot have already asked the

record. The report, which highlights growing China-Japan economic ties, comes after China’s sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) reportedly said it will no longer buy European government debt.

CIC chairman Lou Jiwei told the Wall Street Journal this month that the giant fund has scaled back its holdings of stocks and bonds in Europe, saying “there is a risk that the euro zone may fall apart and that risk is rising.”

The ODO5 Omnibus, which is reportedly based in Australia, is established as an investment trust

and its owner is not known.

However, it is seen by market players as backed by CIC and charged with helping manage China’s foreign currency reserves of more than $3 trillion-the world’s largest.

The fund’s portfolio includes 1.9 percent of Toyota Motor’s total outstanding stock, making itself Toyota’s ninth-largest shareholder, and 2.2 percent of Honda Motor’s total outstanding shares, it said.

It also holds 1.9 percent of shares in camera maker Nikon, and it has also been buying shares of construction machinery maker Komatsu and Nissan Motor, Nikkei

said. China, Japan’s largest trading partner, in March gave approval for Japan to buy its government bonds, a move that analysts said appeared to be the first time a major economy had bought government bonds directly from Beijing.

Japanese officials hope the bond purchasing program will curb the yen’s appreciation, caused by China’s demand for the yen in order to buy shares in Japanese companies via purchases such as by its funds, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun has reported. — AFP

China offers Taiwan firms $95bn in credit be authorized to make the loans, he said.

Wang was speaking at the Straits Forum an annual meeting aimed at bolstering ties between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rebel province awaiting reunification. The new moves were aimed at boosting trade and tourism between the two sides, Wang said. China will also extend the validity of mainland residential permits for Taiwanese from one year to two years, he said in the speech that was posted on his office’s website. In addition Taiwanese professors will be given equal status to apply for work in mainland universities after receiving “educational permits”, he said, while Taiwanese students graduating from Chinese universities will be allowed to seek public sector jobs in China. — AFP

BEIJING: China pledged yesterday to offer up to 600 billion yuan ($95 billion) in credit to Taiwanese companies on the mainland as it furthered its campaign for reunification. China will also increase access to mainland universities for Taiwanese teachers and students and allow direct cross-strait flights to three more mainland airports, Wang Yi, head of the cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office said. “In order to help Taiwanese enterprises develop, mainland banks... will offer a 600 billion yuan credit ceiling over the next three to four years,” Wang said in a speech at a forum in southeast China’s Xiamen city.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and China Development Bank will

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 .4310000 .3490000 .2900000 .2700000 .2760000 .0040000 .0020000 .0758640 .7391240 .3840000 .0710000 .7245790 .0040000 .0430000

.2832500 .4420000 .3570000 .3010000 .2800000 .2860000 .0070000 .0035000 .0766270 .7465520 .4020000 .0770000 .7318610 .0072000 .0500000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2794500 .2815500 GB Pound/KD .4338040 .4370640 Euro .3515620 .3542040 Swiss francs .2926330 .2948320 Canadian dollars .2721030 .2741480 Danish Kroner .0473120 .0476680 Swedish Kroner .0398060 .0401050 Australian dlr .2783180 .2804100 Hong Kong dlr .0360190 .0362890 Singapore dlr .2181500 .2197890 Japanese yen .0035170 .0035440 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 .0050850 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 .0021330 Pakistan rupee .0000000 .0029960 Bangladesh taka .0000000 .0034560 UAE dirhams .0762090 .0767810 Bahraini dinars .7424700 .7480430 Jordanian dinar .0000000 .3987270 Saudi Riyal/KD .0746330 .0751930 Omani riyals .7270370 .7324930 Philippine Peso .0000000 .0066640

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Malaysian Ringgit

ASIAN COUNTRIES 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

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal/for 1000 Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira/for 1000 Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 48.250 46.466 1.309 176.65 396.190 1.884 4.899 32.64

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

Bahrain Exchange Company 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

SELL CASH 286.700 746.500 3.670 278.400 551.300 45.800 48.800 167.800 48.100 359.200 36.880 5.210 0.032 0.160 0.236 3.660 397.790 0.190 91.500 44.400 4.310 225.200 1.818

48.400 729.130 3.150 6.790 77.650 75.950 225.530 36.250 2.674 445.000 41.200 296.500 4.300 9.250 198.263 76.530 281.100 1.350

728.950 2.990 6.645 77.220 74.950 222.530 36.250 2.132 443.000 298.000 4.300 9.110 76.430 280.700

10 Tola

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 443.000 280.700

Sterling Pound US Dollar

SELL DRAFT 285.200 746.500 3.428 276.900

222.500 46.441 357.700 36.730 5.065 0.030

COUNTRY 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

SELL DRAFT 283.26 277.39 298.34 355.83 280.25 438.67 3.61 3.428 5.027 2.127 3.155 2.978 76.37 746.22 46.37 399.27 729.38 77.39 74.94

SELL CASH 283.00 277.00 295.00 356.00 281.50 438.00 3.65 3.550 5.200 2.400 3.700 3.200 77.00 746.00 47.75 397.50 732.50 77.75 75.25

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 397.750 0.189 91.500 3.180 223.700

Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar

Selling Rate 280.950 277.805 436.620 351.565 292.680 743.805

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

76.470 77.115 74.880 395.480 46.510 2.118 5.028 2.982 3.433 6.577 689.170 4.520 8.975 5.915 3.235 88.655

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

GOLD 1,709.940

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

GOLD 293.000 148.000 75.250

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Currency Rate per 1000 (Tran) US Dollar 281.000 Pak Rupees 2.973 Indian Rupees 5.050 Sri Lankan Rupees 2.130 Bangladesh Taka 3.433 Philippines Peso 6.615 UAE Dirhams 76.610 Saudi Riyals 75.090 Bahraini Dinars 747.000 Egyptian Pounds 46.506 Pound Sterling 442.600 Indonesian Rupiah 2.990 Yemeni Riyal 1.550 Euro 357.000 Canadian Dollars 279.100 Nepali rupee 3.190

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 280.600 Euro 357.500 Pound Sterling 442.750 Canadian Dollar 276.700 Japanese Yen 3.595 Indian Rupee 5.039 Egyptian Pound 46.410 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.126 Bangladesh Taka 3.417 Philippines Peso 6.625 Pakistan Rupee 2.978 Bahraini Dinar 746.300 UAE Dirham 76.300 Saudi Riyal 74.850 *Rates are subject to change

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

BUSINESS

Mexico calls on G20 to commit to strong Europe and IMF LOS CABOS, Mexico: The world’s biggest economies must commit to a strong Europe and open their wallets to boost the International Monetary Fund’s ability to contain fallout from Europe’s debt crisis, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Saturday. Calderon will host the Group of 20 leaders at a summit starting on Monday in Mexico’s Pacific resort of Los Cabos, with the meeting overshadowed by crucial elections in Greece and mounting worries about

Spain and Italy. “Even though we don’t expect to reach specific agreements on Europe ... I want to see language and promises which are much more oriented to a new, stronger Europe, a Europe of the 21st century,” Calderon told international news agencies.

Greece’s elections yesterday could help decide whether the country will remain in the euro zone, battling a debt crisis that has dragged on for 2 1/2 years. Calderon said it was important to be pre-

pared for any scenario in terms of the result.

But Mexico’s first priority for the summit was to finalize G20 members’ pledges to give the IMF more crisis-fighting resources, he said. In April, G20 countries pledged at least $430 billion in new loans to the IMF so it could help countries hit hardest by the debt crisis. But emerging market powers such as Brazil, China, Russia and Mexico itself have not yet said what specific amount they will contribute.

“I estimate that it could be a bigger capitaliza-

tion,” Calderon said, referring to the sum agreed to in April and adding it was “a pity” that Canada and the United States were not chipping in.

Calderon would not be drawn on specifics of Mexico’s contribution, which should be at least $8 billion given the country’s share in the IMF’s capital.

He said it would be more than $1 billion, but would not comment on whether it would exceed $10 billion, the amount Brazil has named as a yardstick for its contribution. — Reuters

Europe faces ‘make or break’ moment: Former Greek PM ‘Euro currency issue went beyond Greece’

Greece and ‘magnificent’ drachma: Back to the future?

ATHENS: The glorious voyage through the 2,500-year history of the drachma that the director of the numismatic museum in Athens organizes for school groups ends with a warning: fight to keep the euro. “I tell these children who have only known the euro that they have to do everything to keep it,” George Kakavas said, as he led a tour around the mansion once owned by German businessman and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.

He said he had a personal passion for the drachma-a “magnificent” currency once used in an empire stretching from Egypt to India under Alexander the Great-although he admits its more recent history has been less than glorious.

“When I was in London studying archaeology I remember I had drachmas in my pocket and I couldn’t go far,” Kakavas told AFP in an interview. And he admitted that with the recent round of austerity cuts that have hit Greece’s cultural heritage “the drachma museum is short of euros.”

The museum charts the history of the drachma from antiquity to when it was reintroduced in the 19th century following Greek independence to when it was finally phased out in 2001 in favor of the euro, a currency that an overwhelming majority of Greeks want to hold on to whatever the result of Sunday’s election.

The prospect of a Greek exit is an extreme but real one, and the global economic community has not excluded the possibility if the radical left wins power and tears up a widely-hated bailout agreement for Greece as promised.

At the market in Monasteraki at the foot of the Acropolis, Fanny Persitsa tries to make some money selling off old drachmas after the Bank of Greece ended all exchanges of the old currency with euros

in March. “We can’t find money any more.

Banks no longer lend. Friends and family are as broke as we are so we are selling everything we can,” the mother of two, who lost her job as a personal trainer in a gym during the crisis, told AFP. “If we didn’t have two children, I would have left Greece just like all the young people want to do,” she said, adding: “Life was cheaper before (the euro) but if we go back it will be worse. We would be stuck in this country.”

“We definitely have to make an effort to keep the euro,” she said. She takes out a handful of old banknotes and coins — 10,000 drachmas, or 30 euros at the former exchange rate. A merchant casts a quick glance and says: “That’ll be five euros. Not a euro more.”

At a stall nearby, Yiannis Psaltis is also trying to sell drachmas to tourists from his little folding table.

“It’s not going very well, maybe it’s too hot,” he said. A set of seven coins-the last drachmas to be minted in 2000 — are on sale for five euros in a scuffed plastic folder. He also shows a green banknote printed during the German occupation in World War II with a face value of five million drachmas. During hyper-inflation at the time there was even a 100-billion drachma note. Psaltis’s prize sale item is a 19th-century drachma note printed in Paris part of the first issue of the “modern” drachma minted in Paris and Munich in 1832 to replace multiple currencies in use at the time after the war of independence.

As he leads his tour, museum director Kakavas cannot resist a wry smile as he stops to ponder the new role that the two euro-zone powers will now play in mapping out its uncertain future. — AFP

LISBON: A woman carries a flag with Che Guevara’s face as she gathers around the Marques do Pombal statue along with thousands of workers taking part in a demonstration called for by the biggest Portuguese trade union CGTP against government austerity measures, in Lisbon, yesterday. — AFP

OECD urges ‘overwhelming force’ to halt EU crisis LOS CABOS, Mexico: The head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned G20 members they may need to deploy “overwhelming force” to confront Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. Speaking in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos ahead of the G20 summit of the world’s most powerful economies, OECD secretary general Angel Gurria said the eurozone’s response to the trouble had not been adequately coordinated.

“Europe has the means, the institutions, the vigor and the power ... but its will has not been transmitted in the correct way, because of the problems in the governance of its institutions,” he warned, at a news conference.

The European members of the G20 — Britain, France, Germany and Italy-are expected to come under pressure from all sides during Monday’s summit to commit to more debt burden-sharing to ease market pressure on Greece and Spain.

Interest rates for the weaker of Europe’s debt-ridden economies have soared amid fears on the bond markets that euro-zone members, starting with Greece, might default if stronger powers like Germany fail to back them up. Gurria said the world faces a “generalized slowdown” and if an institutional response to the problems triggered by the euro-zone crisis is not found the G20 might need to deploy “overwhelming force” to contain the fallout. — AFP

LONDON: Greece’s former prime minister George Papandreou said yesterday that Europe faced a make or break moment, adding that the euro currency’s problems went far deeper than those of his own country.

Speaking as his countrymen went to the polls in a historic election, Papandreou said closer banking union was needed across the EU, but that it would be “catastrophic” for Greece if it had to leave the euro-zone. “I think we’re at a make or break point in Europe,” Papandreou, who stood down as leader of the Pasok socialist party in March, told the BBC. “We must leave behind all this nationalistic rhetoric about who’s to blame, whether it’s about the southerners or the austere Germans or whatever. “We need to work together, we need to pool our strengths.”

Papandreou said Greece was merely a harbinger of the “deeper problems” in the European Union and the euro-zone, particularly the lack of a banking union, common fiscal policy and common economic policy. But he warned of the potential consequences of voting for parties that oppose Greece’s bailout conditions and could force the country out of the euro-zone, saying a “Grexit” could lead to a bank run and high inflation. “This would be a major catastrophe and this would have not only social but also political consequences, which I believe will make it much more difficult for Greece to reform,” he said.

Papandreou said there was also a risk that extreme political groups across Europe could

profit from the crisis, after the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn entered the Greek parliament in the inconclusive general election on May 6.

He said there was “ripe ground for populism, ripe ground for racist parties, neo-fascist parties and extreme political views, which will not only in Greece but in other countries tear apart the

fabric, the real values on which the European Union is based,” he said. Papandreou, who became prime minister in October 2009, was forced to resign late last year amid mounting discontent over the austerity measures he was trying to push through to help his country stave off bankruptcy. — AFP

MADRID: A man walks by a Bankia bank with its glasses covered by a graffiti reading “No sacrifice to save the economy. There is always crisis in the workers houses. Kill capitalism” placed by protesters against Bankia in Madrid yesterday. — AP

Chile opens access to its lithium reserves SANTIAGO: The government of President Sebastian Pinera has angered nationalists and political opponents by inviting private companies to mine lithium, long considered a strategic resource subject to state control.

Chile, together with Argentina and Bolivia, control 85 percent of the world’s known reserves of the soft, silverwhite metal used as a key component in electric cars, cell phones and computer batteries. Only two companies in Chile currently have access to the coveted mineral, thanks to exclusive joint ventures with the state. But the government changed course on June 12 and invited local and foreign companies to tender offers to mine the country’s lithium resources.

Successful bidders will be granted rights to extract up to 100,000 tons of the metal over a 20 year period, in exchange for royalties paid to the government equivalent to seven percent of the total yield. Under Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 military dictatorship, lithium was considered a “strategic resource” for its potential use in nuclear weapons and atomic energy.

The nuclear technology plans “did not happen nor are they expected to happen in the short term,” so changing the policy “is a good idea,” said analyst Jaime Gajardo of the Center for Copper Studies (CESCO).

Chile holds about 25 percent of the world’s lithium reserves. The mineral is found mainly in Atacama salt flats, in the mountains of far northern Chile. Bolivia has approximately half of global reserves, located mainly in Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, while Argentina holds about 10 percent. Opposition lawmakers and some experts however insist that lithium should still be treated as a strategic resource, and that the state should maintain a central role in its exploitation.

They pointed to Chile’s nationalization of copper mining as an example to follow. Prior to the 1970s, private companies controlled Chile’s copper deposits. But when the government nationalized copper production Chile became an important global producer. Today the stateowned CODELCO is the world’s largest copper producing company, and Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, accounting for 35 percent of the global supply.

The example is unlikely to sway Pinera, the first conservative elected president in Chile since the end of the Pinochet regime and an avid free-market advocate.

Critics, especially labor leaders, believe that Pinera intends to break up and privatize CODELCO, the crown jewel of state-owned companies. Jaime Alee, director of the Center of Lithium Innovation at the University of Chile, said that lithium is “extremely cheap and essential for car batteries,” and that in Chile it is a small industry “worth less than $400 million a year.”

Alee would like to see lithium batteries produced in Chile. “There will be a point when Chile will have to decide whether it wants to continue to sell its raw materials or start to produce manufactured goods. No country has grown exclusively by selling natural resources,” Alee told AFP. Chile is currently the world’s leading lithium producer, responsible for 43 percent of global production, according to COCHILCO, the state-run commission that advises the government on copper and mineral production. It is followed by Australia (23 percent), China (14 percent) and Argentina (14 percent), according to COCHILCO figures.

Socialist Senator Isabel Allende called for the government overturn its lithium plans. “We’re calling on the government to withdraw its call for bids and instead craft a policy that gives added value and contributes to Chile’s development,” she said. The call for bids would “end Chile’s control over its vast lithium deposits,” complained opposition Christian Democratic Senator Mariano RuizEsquide. — AFP

India to boost economic ties with Cuba: Diplomat HAVANA: India wants to strengthen economic ties with Cuba, the top Indian diplomat said Saturday on a trip to the Communist-run Caribbean island. “The purpose of my visit to Cuba is to promote economic relations between both countries,” S.M. Krishna said on state television after a meeting with the speaker of Cuba’s National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon. “Our political relations are excellent.”

Bilateral trade between the two states totaled $54 million in 2010, according to the latest official figures. The two countries also cooperate in the areas of biotechnology, information technology, education and sports.

India has also invested in oil exploration off Cuba’s coast in the Gulf of Mexico. Next month, India’s trade minister will visit Cuba to further foster good relations, Krishna added. In other comments, Krishna said he was “impressed” by recent developments in Cuba, billed as reforms by President Raul Castro. Castro has trimmed state payrolls and allowed a few crowd-pleasing changes such as allowing Cubans to stay in hotels that once were only for foreigners. But critics contend the 81-year-old has not launched any wholesale overhaul of Cuba’s decrepit centrally planned economy kept afloat largely by Venezuelan economic support. — AFP

FRANKFURT: Anti-globalization activists dressed as businessmen throw fake money around themselves during a protest against speculation in front of the stock exchange in Frankfurt yesterday. The demonstrators aimed to pronounce their approval for the introduction of a financial transaction tax. — AFP

US won’t send checks to Europe: Romney WASHINGTON: The United States will not bail out European countries if the euro-zone economy falls apart under a spiraling debt crisis, Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney said yesterday.

“We’re not going to send checks to Europe.

We’re not going to bail out the European banks.

We’re going to be poised here to support our economy,” Romney told CBS television’s “Face the Nation” program. He expressed hope that “regardless of what happens in Europe, that our banking sector is able to weather the storm,” noting that US banks are on a “much stronger basis” than during the last crisis.

Romney, who is seeking to oust Obama from the White House in a November elections, has accused the president of trying to create a “European-style entitlement society” in the United States. “I wish that over the last three and a half years that the president would have taken action to rebuild the basis of our economy... get it on such a strong footing that the challenges

in Europe if they occur wouldn’t have as significant impact as they might otherwise,” he said.

“But right now, we’re dealing with 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work or underemployed, homes are still bumping along the bottom, foreclosures are (at) very high levels, median incomes are way down; the president’s frankly made it harder for our economy to reboot.”

A collapse of the euro currency, or financial spillover that could spook US markets, could move closer after Greece’s election on Sunday and has the potential to further weaken the tepid US recovery before Obama seeks reelection.

Romney and other leading Republicans support US government austerity measures to help rein in runaway debt and balance the budget, policies similar to those pushed by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Europe’s biggest economy Germany, and that have triggered massive debate and protest in Europe. — AFP

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MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

business

US Airways leader sets his sights on American Wall St sees Parker bid this summer

ATHENS: Tourists are seen in front of ancient Acropolis hill in central Athens on Friday. Tourism and shipping are among the pillars of Greek economy. Both are under strain amid speculation about whether Greece will have to abandon the euro in a chaotic and possibly economically debilitating exit. —AP

Missouri businessman is stranded in China XIAMEN: In January, Steve Fleischli left his home in Labadie for a business trip to Xiamen, China. Nearly five months later, he is still there, stuck. Fleischli, until recently the Washington, Missouri-based chief executive of tent-maker NorthPole Ltd, says his passport was confiscated by a Xiamen court after getting stuck in the middle of a dispute between his Chinese suppliers and the global private equity fund that owns NorthPole. This month, he filed a suit in St Louis County Circuit Court in a bid to return home.

Fleischli’s dilemma highlights a risk for Western executives in China, especially when they are on the hook for debts they can’t pay.

Up close, it’s also about a globe-hopping businessman just trying to get home to his wife and 3-year-old daughter.

Fleischli, 37, has been with NorthPole for 11 years, working out of its sales office in Washington and traveling frequently to plants in China and Bangladesh. The company is little-known outside the sporting goods industry but is one of the world’s biggest makers of tents, airbeds and those fold-up camping chairs found in backyards nationwide. It’s a major supplier to retail giants such as WalMart, Target and Bass Pro Shops.

For more than a decade, it has been majority-owned by Warburg Pincus, a New York-based private equity firm that manages $35 billion in investments in more than 130 companies worldwide. About four years ago, they named Fleischli to be NorthPole’s chief executive, a job he held until May. Aside from a statement disputing Fleischli’s claims, the company declined to comment for this story.

While NorthPole is private and its financials not available, Fleischli says the company has been profitable under his watch. But, he says, those profits were taken out of the company mostly to pay down loans from other investors. That left no cushion last year when materials prices rose and retailers delayed their 2012 orders after a rainy spring slowed sales, Fleischli said. Cash grew tighter, and NorthPole had to juggle payments, said Fleischli; as debt grew, suppliers started getting nervous. At one point last year, Fleischli said, he personally lent the company $200,000 to keep it afloat, then got repaid after some cash came in.

But suppliers were still restless, and in

January, Fleischli flew to Xiamen to meet with some, he said. Things came to a head March 8, when he invited all the suppliers to a town hall meeting at the factory to explain NorthPole’s cash flow troubles.

He and three other executives wound up barricaded in a conference room for 36 hours, while protests raged outside, he said. Local newspaper reports from that day quoted suppliers angry about massive debts and showed demonstrators blocking traffic on the street.

Fleischli described people hurling full water bottles and chairs at the windows.

“It was a pretty nerve-wracking experience,” he said in a recent phone interview.

Eventually, with the help of riot police, Fleischli said, he was allowed to go. But as NorthPole’s legal representative in China, he had to hand over his passport. He has been in limbo ever since.

Fleischli says he was fired in May-Warburg accused him of “gross misconduct” over that $200,000 loan-and he can no longer use his company-hired lawyer in China. His email and Internet have been cut off, and he has just a few more weeks before the lease runs out on his company-funded apartment in Xiamen.

He spends his days researching his case, working with suppliers, meeting with whoever might be able to help.

“I have a lot of time to watch movies, unfortunately,” Fleischli said.

BACK IN LABADIE Then there’s what has back home in Labadie-a wife and 3-year-old daughter he hasn’t seen in five months. His mom, who lives up the street, is battling cancer, he says.

Fleischli’s wife, Tess, says she is used to him being gone for weeks at a time but not like this.

“This is going on five or six months,” she said. “And there’s no return ticket I can wait for.” And his daughter, Abri, misses Dad. The family talks every day or two through a video connection on cellphones, but it’s not the same as a dad putting his daughter down for nap time.

“She understands that he’s stuck there,” Tess said. “She doesn’t understand how. She just knows he’s in China and can’t come home yet.” The reason is Fleischli’s current status as NorthPole’s legal rep.— MCT

TEMPE, Arizona: This is the man who wants to run American Airlines.

Doug Parker, 50, got his start in the airline business in Fort Worth as a financial analyst at American, where he met his wife, Gwen. The father of three tries to make time to take his kids to concerts and sports activities.

He is the longest-running top executive in the airline industry, known for trying to buy other airlines out of bankruptcy. He merged America West with US Airways, made unsuccessful runs at Delta and United, and got arrested for drunken driving after one failed bid. He befriended Herb Kelleher, the legendary founder of Southwest Airlines, and picks his brain occasionally. In the Southwest tradition, he doesn’t mind dressing up as John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever for the company’s Halloween party.

Now Parker has set his sights on Fort Worth-based American, which filed for bankruptcy protection last November and is trying to restructure on its own. Parker is convinced that combining American with US Airways will create the nation’s pre-eminent airline.

“We can get this done now and build an airline that can be the greatest in the world again, just like everyone at American wants it to be and we can make that happen,” Parker said.

Wall Street is predicting that a bid from Parker could come this summer.

“A combined company may have a better chance of achieving revenue goals,” Maxim Group analyst Ray Niedl wrote in a note to investors Friday. He has given a US Airways/American merger a 90 percent chance of happening. “A merger is the most logical choice in our opinion.”

Getting into the business Growing up in Michigan, Parker was not an aviation geek. Initially, he majored in computer science at Albion College, a small liberal arts school, before realizing that he didn’t like it and switched to economics. In 1986, he received a master’s in business administration, focusing on finance, from Vanderbilt University.

American, which was establishing a hub in Nashville at the time, was recruiting at Vanderbilt, and Parker was intrigued by the carrier and its finance department. He was hired as a financial analyst and moved to North Texas.

Parker met Gwen, who was a flight attendant at American, through their mutual friend, David Cush, now the chief executive of Virgin America.

Gwen said they used to hang out

together after work, and the two were married in Dallas in 1990.

A year later, Parker left American for an executive position at Northwest Airlines. In 1995, he joined America West as chief financial officer. “I was drawn to the challenge of taking what I’d learned and using it

Doug Parker

to build something new,” Parker said in his commencement address to Albion’s graduating class of 2010. “I never set out to be a CEO or anything close to it.”

But at 39, Parker was named chief executive of America West, where he started on Sept 1, 2001, 10 days before the terrorist attacks.

Immediately, Parker was dealing with massive revenue losses as planes flew around empty. He spent the first few months lobbying Congress for the airline bailout and loan guarantees to keep America West afloat. “That is the most trying start you can have as a new CEO and I thought he handled that well,” said Kelleher, who met Parker in the wake of the crisis.

In 2005, he merged America West with bankrupt US Airways and two years later, he attempted to purchase Delta Air Lines. While he was sure

Wisconsin investment opportunities in industries that include biosciences, agriculture, energy, information technology and possibly spinoffs from state universities.

The goal is to have Wisconsin recognized as a “destination for overseas capital,” Jadin said.

PiYi has invested actively inside China’s domestic economy as a private equity firm for over a decade, riding China’s rapid growth. “But the firm is increasingly looking to global opportunities,” the firm says on its website. PiYi has more than $300 million under management.

China overtook Japan less than two years ago as the world’s second-largest economy behind the US China ranks as the largest foreign holder of US Treasury securities, making it the No 1 buyer of American debt.

And recent studies argue that China’s investors are beginning to project a new level of influence commensurate with the nation’s unrivaled trade surplus and the huge cash reserves accumulated through China’s exports.

A report last year called “ An American Open Door?” found that Chinese direct investment in the US more than doubles each year.

That study, by Asia Society’s Center on USChina Relations and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said China is moving beyond its previous role of the past decade, which saw it invest abroad mainly to secure commodities to fuel domestic industries. But the same report warns that the US may squander “immense opportunities for employment” by driving away Chinese investment with the same “political fear-mongering” that demonized Japanese investment in the US almost three decades earlier. Jadin concedes that political sensitivities accompany Chinese investment, particularly in instances involving majority stakes in Wisconsin-based industries.

“We are not looking at this group to be a majority investor in any of our development opportunities, so that’s one of the things we have to work through, which is to link them to appropriate existing investors” who are based in the US, Jadin said. PiYi said it wants to remove the stigma associated with Chinese ownership. “Demystifying Chinese investors and their motivations for outbound investment is a key feature of the 2012 Summit,” according to the webpage for the US-China Investors Week. — MCT

influence. He apologized to employees for his actions, pleaded guilty to the DUI and served his sentence of one night in a Phoenix jail.

“That was a huge lesson for our family and it was embarrassing,” Gwen Parker said, adding that her husband was disappointed by the failed Delta deal but did not dwell on it. “He’s the guy that will put that behind him and move forward and do what needs to be done to keep his business successful.”

While Parker also tried unsuccessfully to merge with United in 2010, colleagues say he’s not the type of executive who wants to grow for growth’s sake. Instead, he believes that the airline industry would be better off with fewer domestic carriers. With his finance background and years as the investors relations guy at Northwest Airlines, he has gained

credibility on Wall Street.

“He really wants to go for the long haul, to run an airline,” said Bob Herbst, founder of AirlineFinancials.com. “I don’t think he’s interested in running AT&T, if a better offer comes along, and I think his priority is to make US Airways a better, stronger airline.”

Parker has also been willing to buck industry trends. While his competitors have been bolstering their fuel hedging portfolios, US Airways has not entered into fuel hedging contracts. As a result, the carrier is paying less for fuel than other airlines and that has led to profits when the price of oil has dropped.

“He was willing to forward his position even when he was the only one in the room that felt that way,” Kelleher said. “He is a venturesome visionary and he flavors that with pragmatism.”

The importance of family While business is often foremost on Parker’s mind, his wife said he is good at leaving work at the office to spend time with their three kidsJackson, 17, Luke 14, and Eliza, 12 — at sports, rock concerts or church youth events.

“He does a really good job of making family things important and being sure that he is there for those important things,” Gwen said. Parker spends several days each month talking to employees, with regularly scheduled forums at the carrier’s Phoenix and Charlotte, NC, flight training centers. He said it’s the best way for him to learn what is going on at the airline.

“This is what works for me,” Parker said. “I’m really bad at this ‘information is power’ and trying to figure out when to disclose what. I’m just terrible at that. What I find works well is, ‘Let’s lay all the cards on the table and talk about it.’”

Despite that approach, pilot groups from the former America West and US Airways unions have not been able to agree to a new contract, and the unions say Parker has been fine with the delays.

Pilots union spokesman James Ray said that Parker has not misled pilots and that the union always knows where he stands. However, the union sees his monthly employee meetings more as a carefully constructed corporate message to lower expectations than as a way to engage workers.

“He pays the pilots the least amount of all the airlines,” Ray said.

“He’s wanted to maintain this cost advantage and by stalling and delaying. He’s been able to do so.”— MCT

Golden chance for Indian expats

Chinese investors to tour Wisconsin industries NEW YORK: No longer content with its role as the biggest lender to the US government and America’s biggest trade rival, China and its newly wealthy class of investors increasingly want to invest directly in American industries.

And Gov Scott Walker is encouraging them to invest in Wisconsin.

A delegation of Walker administration officials, after returning last week from a tradepromotion mission to China, touted an agreement that obligates a fast-growing Beijingbased investment firm to include stops in Milwaukee and Madison as part of a five-state tour of the United States in September to scout prospects to acquire stakes in American industries. Under an agreement with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp, PiYi Investment Management Co agreed to organize its own entourage of Chinese “high-net worth individuals” and investment analysts to Wisconsin on Sept 26-27. Secretary of Commerce Paul Jadin said he signed a memorandum of understanding with PiYi while he was in Beijing.

PiYi’s Wisconsin junket will be part of a larger effort sponsored by PiYi called the US-China Investors Week, which is meant to broaden Chinese investment in the US Jadin, along with other Wisconsin government, university and business leaders, returned Wednesday from a 12-day trade mission that included Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Walker didn’t join the China mission but applauded the agreement. “This is another step to attracting more capital,” Walker said after the delegation returned. “I’m working on behalf of entrepreneurs in this state to find investment capital to fuel their innovations,” Walker said.

PiYi potentially is poised to channel “significant” investment to Wisconsin, Jadin said in an interview Saturday. “They are very ambitious in their plans for US investment,” Jadin said.

Telegraphing its ambitions to become a prominent player in the US economy, PiYi rented offices in the Trump Tower in Manhattan, Jadin said.

It’s too early, however, to talk about concrete investments, and bona fide investment decisions aren’t expected until September or later, Jadin said. In the run-up to the September visit, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. will assemble a portfolio of

that investors would see the value of a combined US Airways-Delta, management and employees fought off the bid with a campaign of “Keep Delta My Delta.”

The day Parker found out that Delta’s creditors had rejected his bid, he was arrested for driving under the

WASHINGTON: Yingying Xu, economist and council director at the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, speaks at a hearing of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on the evolving US-China trade and investment relationship on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday.— AP

UAE groups to invest in Nigeria DUBAI: The UAE’s leading businessmen have confirmed their interest in exploring Nigerian market by investing in various economic sectors following the fruitful discussions at a business network meeting with visiting high-profile trade delegation from the African country last week.

The exclusive meeting, hosted by Mulk Holdings and Icons Club and attended by 30 most prominent businessmen of the region, discussed the trade and investment opportunities in the lucrative markets of Nigeria. The business heads of at least 10 leading groups, who held one-to-one meeting with Nigerian trade team, showed the interest to expand their business in the African country. Mulk Holdings, Danube Building Materials and many other Icons members expressed their firm interest to invest in key economic sectors of Nigeria. Freddy Sidhwa of Seven Seas Ship Chandeliers will explore shipping; IP Khaitan, chairman, Khaitan Holdings, shows interest in mining and Arif Naqvi seeks to invest in airport management and duty-free venture.

Moreover, Fakhruddin Ajmal of Ajmal Perfumes, eyes perfumes manufacturing and setting up of distribution network, Hassan Darvesh will invest in building materials and Ashok Puri of MGT Group shows interest in government supplies and infrastructure development. Other leading business houses like ETA group represented by Salauddin and Arif Rehman, Vasu Shrof of Regal Group and Shyam Bhatia of Alam Traders, have also shown their keen interest to explore the Nigerian market to expand their businesses in Africa. “Icons will organize a local delegation’s visit to Nigeria by the end of August to take this business discourse to the next level,” Nawab Shaji Ul Mulk, chairman of Mulk Holdings and Icons, said.— MCT

ABU DHABI: It’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to invest back home in property as rupee depreciation against dollar will give more than 20 per cent discount to buyers, according to Navin M Raheja, chairman and managing director of Raheja Developers.

In addition to rupee depreciation, there is another big advantage of very high return on investment as there is a history of a significant increase in property value during the last three decades in India, Raheja told in an interview during his recent visit to Dubai. “There will be at least 25 per cent appreciation in property price that could go up to 40 per cent or more on average annually, depending on the location of the property in the next few years,” Raheja said, who is also founder of Raheja Developers.

Historically, the return on investment in property sector had been the highest in real terms during the last four decades compared to other investment tools in India such as stocks, fixed deposits in banks, and even gold, he said, adding: “Therefore, in the coming years growth rate in property will be probably higher than in the past.”

Talking about rupee’s free fall, he said there is an invisible discount of more than 20 per cent to property buyers because of rupee’s decline against dollar and UAE dirham as well for NRIs. Just a few months before the rupee was at 44 or 45 against the US dollar and now it’s more than Rs55.

By doing simple mathematics there is an inbuilt discount of over 20 per cent and investor will get benefit of it. “I don’t think so the rupee will stay at this level for a long period of time, so it’s a lifetime opportunity for NRIs to invest back home in property and get the advantage of rupee depreciation,” he said.

He mentioned that there is a huge gap between supply and demand in property sector and the demand will continue to rise in the next 2-3 decades as India has so many peoples and especially the largest bank of young people. Owning a house is a basic need of a human being and one of the necessities, so people will continue to look for home in addition to other services in the country, he added.

Raheja, who is also chairman of National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco), said NRIs should be very careful while investing in property sector in India. They should look at credibility, track record, capacity to execute and complete the project and financial position of the developer, Raheja advises NRIs

as a chairman of Naredco-the apex national body for the real estate industry.

Talking about more awareness among people through phone, TV and Internet, which was not there earlier in 2000, he said now everybody is very well-connected and knows how to move forward. Indians look for quality accommodation and they also look to upgrade on better quality, he added. Raheja don’t compromise on quality and that’s the reason Raheja Developers is the most awarded developer in the country, he said, adding that the company has bagged 38 prestigious national and international awards during the last two years including “the best developer worldwide

by OPP London” and “India’s best developer 2011 by Euromoney, UK.” Today ‘Team Raheja’ earns billions of rupees’ revenues, but its captain was not born with a silver spoon. The middle-class boy worked very hard to build a legacy of business environment and CSR (corporate social responsibility) and took it to higher global standards. Raheja understands business very well as he did his Master’s in Business Economics from Delhi University. He has around two-decade experience in real estate business. The company, which mainly focuses Northern India, is working in a diverse segments such as group housing projects, commercial complexes, malls, multiplexes, hotels, special economic zones, EWS mass housing, slum rehabilitation and development of townships. The developer has more than 20 projects either completed or at different stages of completion and value of the projects is more than $2 billion, according to Raheja. The company recently opened a sales office in India Property Mart (IPM) in Sharjah. The IPM is a permanent property showcase that brings under a single roof major developers and real estate companies from across India.

“At IPM, we are promoting a few very selective properties. We are not looking for any other sales office in the UAE as one in Sharjah is a permanent place,” he said.

Talking about some future projects, he said the company will launch the tallest residential tower in Delhi. ‘Navin 51’ will be the twice the size of any other tallest building in Delhi with 51 floors and estimated value of around $400 million.

He mentioned that the company is promoting Revanta, which is under construction and a majority of apartments have been booked. It’s being constructed by Arabtec India Limited-a subsidiary of Dubai-based Arabtec. —MCT

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business

India firm hopes to grow S African motorbike market JOHANNESBURG: The call on Alex FM radio is aimed at the residents in the overcrowded Johannesburg sprawl of shanties and houses: “Stop walking and start riding, it is time to get liberated!”

It’s made by the representative of the main Indian motorcycle manufacturer which wants to flood South Africa’s townships with cheap bikes, despite there being no local culture of two-wheelers which rule the road elsewhere in Africa.

“South Africa is a very particular market,” said Karan Patni, southern Africa marketing manager for Bajaj which has opened four outlets around Johannesburg to target the untapped bike market. “The black South Africans who live in townships, they don’t have their own means of transport. They have to walk to a taxi rank, take a taxi and probably take another one. They spend a lot of money, and waste a lot of time.”

Since the fall of apartheid in 1994, private car use has leaped in South Africa alongside a growing black middle class with more than 50,000 new and used cars sold in May alone this year. But the overwhelming majority

of locals are forced to use the privately run mini-bus industry which has a shocking record of deadly accidents and violence. Only one in 10 of 40 million blacks own a car, with massive unemployment and poverty pushing even a 70,000 rand ($8,300, 6,600 euros) budget Chinese model out of the reach of most.

In contrast, a basic 150cc motorbike costs around 10,500 rand. But South Africans so far have had little exposure to bikes or else snubbed the idea.

“All over Africa, motorbikes are a means of transport. They are selling like crazy,” said Quinton Prinsloo, national sales manager at Southern African Motorcycles. “But it is not working here. It is perceived as a toy, a luxury, it is not seen as a means of transport at the moment.” Most of the 350,000 motorcycles registered in South Africa are for weekend use and mostly ridden by whites.

“There are some black people who own motorcycles, for instance in Soweto, but not as a means of transport for commuting,” said well-known South African crime writer and biking enthusiast Deon Meyer.

While he thinks the push by the

Indian maker is a good idea, he also points out that owning a car is seen as prestigious.

“It has never been prestigious to own a motorcycle. You would be viewed as a poor, as a lesser person. In South Africa, if you own a car, you are somebody.” Transport specialist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Mathetha Mokonyama said Bajaj’s success would depend on how they punt the bikes.

“You have to consider that bicycles, and motorbikes as well, are generally rejected-people don’t want to be seen as poor,” he told AFP. “It depends on how they market it and how they advertise it. If they sell mobility and freedom, it could work.”

Hoping to swing a change, the company plans eight more outlets on top of the four opened in townships around Johannesburg, including a dealership in iconic Soweto.

“We are number one in Africa. Every year, we sell 400,000 motorbikes in Nigeria, 100,000 in Uganda, and 100,000 in Angola,” said Patni. “There is a huge potential for people who leave in the townships.” The company is pushing the pros of the bikes, that

ALEXANDRA: A worker moves a motorcycle in Alexandra. It’s made by the representative of an Indian motorcycle manufacturer which wants to flood South Africa’s townships with cheap bikes, despite there being no local culture of two-wheelers which rule the road elsewhere in Africa. — AFP they are light on fuel, sold with a guarantee, and are a cheap and independent travel option with a one-way taxi route from Alexandra to downtown Johannesburg costing 11 rands.

It is even offering driving lessons. But for now, the outlet in Alexandra has only sold two bikes in two months. “It is a start, let’s hope it picks up from here,” said manager Abu Daya. — AFP

Hollande seeks 120bn euro ‘growth pact,’ says report French president to leave today for G20 talks

LISBON: The leader of the biggest Portuguese trade union CGTP, Armenio Carlos, speak to thousands of workers taking part in a demonstration against government austerity measures, in Lisbon. Thousands of workers took part in the antiausterity protest. — AFP

Looming WTO entry breeds controversy in Russia MOSCOW: Russia’s upcoming entry into the WTO is hailed by its leadership and global trade chiefs as a long overdue integration into the world economy over 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But Oleg Podoyma, head of a poultry firm in the main Siberian city of Novossibirsk, is not so sure.

“We are not expecting a bright future,” he sighed. With customs duties set to be slashed on imported goods after membership “there will be competition not just with national producers but with the importers.”

“For the moment 90 percent of the poultry consumed in Russia is produced in Russia and just 10 percent imported,” he said. But Podoyma fears that after WTO membership the market will be flooded by US, Brazilian and European produce.

Russia is due to finally join the WTO later this summer, ending a sometimes torturous saga that required 18 years of negotiations and was marked by frequent snags and mutual recriminations.

After the World Trade Organization’s ( WTO) 153 members gave their final approval to Russian membership in December, the Russian parliament now just needs to ratify the accession documents, a move expected in late July.

Even with the process apparently over, WTO membership is controversial in Russia with some companies fearing they risk being destroyed by sudden exposure to foreign competition and others seeing it as a crucial step in modernization.

Podoyma has invested large sums in modernizing his firm’s machinery over the last years and fears he will not be able to repay loans if his market share drops after W TO membership.

Meanwhile he fears that the many Russian firms who have failed to modernize will not manage to survive and there will be “bankruptcies and a consolidation in the industry.”

Konstatin Babkin, president of the Rosagromash association which groups together producers of Russian agricultural machinery, fears that millions of jobs will be lost in the sector.

“We have already 40 million hectares of abandoned agricultural land. After we enter the WTO, huge numbers of villages are just going to die.” Babkin, whose group has emerged as one the loudest voices opposing W TO membership, slammed the conditions negotiated by Moscow with other members of the global trade body.

“Russia will not have the right to subsidize its agriculture by more than $4.4 billion a year. But Europe is spending $126 billion, that’s 30 times more than Russia.” The authorities, who over the last

years have launched a massive drive aimed at properly realising Russia’s under-exploited agricultural potential, also appear aware of the potential problems.

A source told the Vedomosti business daily that government members were holding meetings every week on the issue.

However not all small and mediumsized enterprises in Russia are so dubious. Anton Titov, head of Russian Shoes, a shoemaking firm also based in Novossibirsk, is more optimistic. His sector has been under a WTO regime since 2006 when customs tariffs on shoe imports from abroad were reduced to the same level as for other WTO members even before the accession agreement was made.

Since then, the market “has changed a lot in terms of quality. It became more transparent and predictable, more understandable for the investors.” Titov’s firm, which sold about one million pairs of shoes in 2011, has to import the leather and the plastic they need because the production of these primary materials is limited in Russia.

As a result, the reduction in customs duties on these products will be a boon for his business. In a report published in March, the World Bank said the reduction in customs duties would allow Russian firms to buy intermediate goods and technologies which are often produced abroad more cheaply.

It said that in the long term, the improvement in productivity for firms would win Russia gains worth 11 percent of GDP or $162 billion. —AFP

PARIS: Rashad Kaldany, vice president of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa poses in Paris. IFC is the World Bank’s private-sector investment arm. — AFP

PARIS: French President Francois Hollande has proposed a 120 billion euro ($152 billion) “growth pact” ahead of key talks with eurozone leaders, newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche reported yesterday.

In a letter sent to fellow European leaders on Thursday, a copy of which the newspaper said it obtained, Hollande proposed a series of measures including a financial transaction tax and investment to boost job creation.

It was sent as Hollande prepares to embark on a series of talks where he aims to shift the focus of euro-zone economic policy from austerity to growth, culminating in a European Union summit on June 28-29 in Brussels. “Measures to effect rapid growth, to the tune of 120 billion euros, should be decided by the European Council as of June,” Hollande wrote in the 11-page document, entitled “A Pact for Growth in Europe.”

“They should be developed before the end of the year, with in particular the creation of a tax on financial transactions. Finally they should be accompanied by measures for employment, in the first place for young people,” the newspaper quoted the letter as saying.

Funds for the pact would come from three sources, it said: 55 billion euros from unused European structural funds, 60 billion euros raised by the European Investment Bank and

4.5 billion euros in project bonds for infrastructure projects.

The newspaper also repor ted that Hollande had accepted Germany’s rejection of so-called eurobonds-mutualized eurozone debt-and was looking instead for “a road map for the next 10 years” to study the idea. France and Germany have been at loggerheads over euro-zone economic policy since Hollande defeated right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy last month, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisting that austerity should remain the key focus.

“From June, the European Council should adopt growth measures having a rapid impact and totalling 120 billion euros,” the newspaper cited Hollande as saying in the document, entitled “European growth pact.”

Hollande said the measures should be enlarged upon before the end of 2012 with the creation of a financial transaction tax and measures to create jobs, especially for young people.

The 120 billion euros would be made up of some 55 billion euros of unused EU structural development funds, some 4.5 billion euros in project bonds for infrastructure projects and 60 billion euros in capital that could be raised by the EIB if it were given an extra 10 billion euros in financing, the newspaper said.

Hollande, France’s first Socialist leader in

Spanish PM Rajoy pledges reforms after IMF warning MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy vowed reforms to make the economy “more flexible and competitive”, a day after an IMF warning following a huge bailout for Madrid’s stricken banks.

In a hard-hitting report less than a week after the euro-zone agreed on a banking rescue of up to 100 billion euros ($126 billion) for Spanish banks, the International Monetary Fund Friday listed a string of needed reforms to regain market confidence.

These included higher Value Added Tax, immediate legislation on future public wage cuts and separating “non-viable banks” from those that need no aid and those that are viable but need support.

“We must undertake reforms which will make our economy more flexible and competitive”, Rajoy told members of his Popular Party. “We have to prepare for the future,” he added, without elaborating.

Madrid has instructed banks exposed to the collapsed property market to strengthen balance sheets, restructured hardest hit Bankia, reformed labor rules and introduced new budget laws that include taking greater control over big-spending regions.

Thousands of drum-and-pan banging protesters gathered outside Bankia’s Madrid headquarters later on Saturday to decry the institution’s rescue. Demonstrators also put up posters saying: “This bank lied, cheated and threw people onto the streets”, a reference to homeowners who lost their houses after they could no longer repay their “toxic” loans. The markets, too, have not been impressed by Spain’s latest actions.

Spain’s risk premium, the extra interest rate investors demand for its 10-year bonds over their safer German equivalent, hit 5.54 percentage points Friday, the highest since the 1999 birth of the euro-zone.

The nation’s 10-year bond yields spiralled to 6.967 percent earlier in the week, another euroera record. Recession was deepening, unemployment was at 24 percent and rising, and homes and businesses trying to shed debt would likely mean falling output this year and next, the IMF said. Consumption and investment should recover “modestly” if financing conditions stabilize and as labor market reforms kick in, the Washingtonbased lender said. — AFP

17 years, is demanding that Europe complement a budget discipline pact agreed earlier this year with a growth pact, an idea so widely suppor ted that Berlin has come around to it.

Hollande has put himself on a collision course with the German government, however, with his push for the euro-zone to adopt new mechanisms to insulate member states and their banks from market turmoil, such as a joint fund to pay down debt.

Hollande discussed his ideas with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Rome on Thursday and also circulated them to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and others two weeks before the crucial June 28-29 summit.

The French president also wants the eurozone’s ESM permanent rescue fund to be given a banking licence to allow it to borrow money from the European Central Bank to bolster its firepower.

Hollande is to leave today for talks with fellow G20 leaders in Mexico and on Friday attend a meeting of the leaders of Italy, France, Germany and Spain in Rome, ahead of the EU summit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly opposes creating euro bonds in the near term or having Germany underwrite debt or guarantee bank deposits in the euro-zone. — Reuters

Crisis sends new migrant wave from Portugal, Spain to France BORDEAUX, France: The economic crises gripping Portugal and Spain have sent a new wave of job-seekers to southwestern France, following in the footsteps of past generations of Iberian immigrants. The bleak situation in Portugal, which has been in recession since late 2010, helped drive 50,000 people abroad last year, an annual rate that rivals that of the massive emigration wave of the 1960s and 1970s, when some 1.5 million Portuguese left the country.

France has more immigrants from Portugal than from any other European country-more than half a million-but the number of arrivals had been on an almost steady decline since the 1990s, according to the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED). Now that trend appears to be changing.

Alves Mar tinho, a 27-year-old Portuguese man who runs a masonry company in the French city of Bayonne, said not a day has gone by this year without a phone call from a fellow Portuguese national looking for work.

“A lot of calls come from Portuguese who were working before in Spain,” Martinho said. But Spain-itself in recession since the end of last year, and facing an unemployment rate of 24 percent-has little room for job-seekers from its neighbor on the Iberian Peninsula.

Faced with a minimum wage of 432 euros ($543) a month in Portugal and an unemployment rate of 15 percent, many people there are now turning to France.

“I didn’t have any choice,” said Silvia Goncalves, a 22-year-old nurse who in March left her family in the central Portuguese city of Coimbra to go work in a retirement home in the French city of Bordeaux, leaving behind a job that paid four euros an hour.

Vanessa Leal, a 39-year-old museologist, seized the chance of a European professional development grant to move to Bordeaux after growing weary of stringing together short-term jobs in Lisbon.

“I wanted to try my luck,” she said.

Ana-Maria Torres, a Bordeaux city councilwoman, said the profile of Por tuguese immigrants has changed since the last great wave, when northern Europe’s economies were booming and Portugal was an economically stagnant dictatorship.

“Forty years ago, the Portuguese who emigrated didn’t have any professional qualifications. Today, everyone is emigrating,” said Torres, who is in charge of the southwestern city’s relations with Portugal and Spain.

Torres said many Portuguese are driven abroad by heavy burdens of consumer and housing debt. The proximity of France makes it an easier destination than Britain or the booming former Portuguese colonies of Brazil and Angola, she said. Por tugal, which already had a consulate in Bordeaux, has re-opened a consular office in Bayonne, two hours to the southwest, to accommodate the influx. Spanish citizens are also increasingly looking abroad.

At the Spanish consulate in the French city of Pau, an official said that while a net 62,611 Spaniards left southern France last year, there have been more requests from Spanish citizens for information on job opportunities in France.

“Spaniards are traditionally attached to their country, but they are crossing back and forth,” said the official.

Pedro Luis Marin Babon, a 35-yearold butcher, is one such commuter, travelling between Bayonne and his native Valladolid in northern Spain.

“Working conditions are bad in Spain.

Last year I was making 1,200 euros a month and had a 55-hour work week.

It’s enough to make you cry.

This year, they wanted to cut my salary to 1,000 euros,” he said.

In France, he earns around 1,300 euros and has a 35-hour work week, making it easier to meet his steep mortgage payments, he said. “Here you can earn a little and live with dignity,” he added. — AFP

26

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

BUSINESS

NBK Int’l branches ready to serve customers during summer KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) international branches are ready to serve customers traveling abroad during the summer.

NBK international branches provide a wide range of services that address customers’ needs during their stay abroad, providing them with the freedom and control to manage their finances efficiently. NBK also provides its customers with valuable travel tips; Due to the fact that many countries recently require customers to enter their debit card PIN numbers instead of

ABK introduces new eStatement service KUWAIT: Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait introduced the ‘eStatement’ electronic service, that lets customers receive and check their statements online through their personal email address.

Othman Tawfiqi, Head of Delivery channels, Retail Banking, explaining the benefits of the new service, said “To avail this new service where the account statement arrives in your inbox, all the customer has to do is to register for the service through ABK’s website eahli.com.

Once they specify the period they then receive their account statements on their personal email id, without having to wait to receive the statement by regular mail or fax.”

Tawfiqi added, “ABK was keen on the ‘e statement’ service, especially to limit the use of paper required by traditional banking transactions, in order to support our environment-aware initiatives.”

He continued, “ABK’s new website with this new service and its other interactive features will bring the Bank closer to its customers, make their information more accessible, without any time lag or waiting period. In addition a spot on the website will be allocated to eStatement

Othman Tawfiqi service registration. I would like to add here that the customer need not fear data theft, due to updated security and privacy measures inbuilt in ABK’s application.” To register to the free electronic service please visit www.eahli.com or contact Ahlan Ahli on 1899899.

Burgan Bank announces winners of VISA London 2012 Olympic campaign KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday that two of its VISA cardholders are amongst the winners of the VISA London 2012 Olympic campaign. Anwar Al-Hufaiti and Samer Baroudi will be receiving a free trip for two to the London 2012 Olympic Games, including travel and accommodation. The winners will also receive a £150 Olympic branded pre-paid card. Burgan Bank’s winners were among 32 overall winners of the VISA London 2012 Olympic campaign.

By using their VISA cards during their purchases, they were automatically entered into a raffle draw.

The winners package consists of a 4 day 3 night program for 2 people, meet and greet service at London airports, hotel accommodation, daily breakfast, pre selected Olympic events, event transportation provided via London public transport & self-guided hop-onbus tour of London and attraction pass.

To find out more about Burgan Bank’s service as well as its latest promotions, customers are required to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch or contact the call center on 1804080. For more details, customers can log on to the bank’s website on www.burgan.com Established in 1977, Burgan Bank is the youngest commercial Bank based in Kuwait, with a significant focus on the corporate and financial institutions sectors, as well as having a growing retail and private bank customer base.

Burgan Bank has four majority owned subsidiaries: Gulf Bank Algeria AGB (Algeria), Bank of Baghdad - BOB (Iraq), Jordan Kuwait Bank - JKB (Jordan) and Tunis International Bank - TIB ( Tunisia), (collectively known as the “Burgan Bank Group”).

The Bank has continuously improved its performance over the years through an expanded revenue structure, diversified funding sources, and a strong capital base. The adoption of state-of-theart services and technology has positioned it as a trendsetter in the domes-

to take advantage of the competitive exchange rates on foreign transactions.

NBK continues to enjoy the widest banking presence in Kuwait with 69 local branches, which together with its growing international presence totals to 176 branches worldwide. NBK’s international presence spans many of the world’s leading financial centers including London, Paris, New York, Singapore, and China (Shanghai). Meanwhile, regional coverage extends to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey.

providing their signatures at the point of sale, NBK advises its customers to always check the expiry dates of their debit and credit cards before traveling, make sure to change the PIN numbers of the debit cards through any NBK ATM machine before traveling, and request new PIN numbers for their credit cards by calling Hala Watani call centre on 1801801, or by visiting any NBK branch.

NBK recommends its customers to pay in the local currency of their destination and not in their home currency (Kuwaiti Dinars)

tic market and within the MENA region.

Burgan Bank’s brand has been created on a foundation of real values - of trust, commitment, excellence and progression, to remind us of the high standards to which we aspire. ‘People come first’ is the foundation on which its products and services are developed.

Earlier this year, ‘Brand Finance’ - the international brand valuation companyrated Burgan Bank brand as AA with positive outlook. The rating places Burgan Bank Brand at 2nd amongst the most valuable bank ing brands in Kuwait.

Excellence is one of the Bank’s four key values and Burgan Bank continually strives to maintain the highest standards in the industry. The Bank was recertified in 2010 with the ISO 9001:2008 certification in all its banking businesses, making it the first bank in the GCC, and the only bank in Kuwait to receive such accreditation. The Bank also has to its credit the distinction of being the only Bank in Kuwait to have won the JP Morgan Chase Quality Recognition Award for twelve consecutive years.

Burgan Bank won the prestigious “Banking Web Awards” prize in the commercial and corporate Category for Kuwait. In 2010 Burgan Bank was awarded with the “Best Internet Bank ing Service award” from Banker Middle East Awards. Burgan Bank was recognized in 2011 as Kuwait’s “Best Private Bank”, by World Finance. The bank also won, in 2011, the coveted “International Platinum Star for Quality” award from Business Initiative Directions, and “The Best Technical Award” from Banking Web Awards. In 2012, Global Banking and Finance Review online magazine recognized Burgan Bank as the “Best Banking Group in the MENA” as well as the “Best Corporate Bank in Kuwait”.

Burgan Bank, a subsidiar y of KIPCO (Kuwait Projects Company), is a strongly positioned regional Bank in the MENA region.

Nissan Juke Nismo makes its world premiere at Le Mans The production version of Nissan Juke Nismo will make its global debut at the world’s most famous race, the Le Mans 24 hour this weekend alongside the pioneering Nissan DeltaWing and Juke-R. Previously revealed as a concept at the Tokyo and Geneva international Motor Shows, this is the first glimpse of Nismo’s legendary performance DNA which will make the eagerly awaited transition from racetrack to road in early 2013.

Nissan was a pioneer of the compact crossover segment in the automotive market with the launch of Juke in 2010; and is set to continue its leadership with the launch of its first radical performance crossover model - the Nissan Juke Nismo.

Nissan’s Nismo product range, developed by the brand’s motorsport and personalization division in Japan, offers distinctiveness and individuality as well as sports orientated handling, performance and excitement to standard Nissan cars starting with the Juke.

The Nissan Juke Nismo combines the current radical Nissan Juke design, with a unique blend of sports coupÈ lines and SUV styling, influenced by Nismo’s motor sport expertise. Nismo specialists have engineered a new aerodynamics kit, giving the Juke an even more efficient, dynamic and powerful design. The new model features lower front and rear bumpers, wider wings and sill side skirts, and a modified grille and tailgate spoiler which control airflow. These aerodynamic enhancements reduce front and rear lift without increasing drag

enhancing the Juke Nismo’s driving performance.

Stylish new 18-inch alloy wheels with wider tyres offer improved grip, and further boost the Juke’s on-road presence.

The Juke Nismo is enhanced with a tuned-up version of its 1.6-litre direct injection turbocharged petrol engine, inspired by the one installed in

Nissan’s revolutionary DeltaWing Le Mans race car.

As well as featuring stiffened suspension settings and new steering modifications for sportier direct handling and improved traction control, the new model will also be available with torque vectoring, a technology offering better grip and cornering capacity.

The Nismo treatment continues inside the cabin, where the steering wheel, pedals, gauges, gear

knob and door trims have been redesigned to boost the sporty feeling when driving. To further underline the performance personality of the car, special suede-trimmed Nismo sports seats with red stitching have been added for increased holding while cornering.

Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President Global Product Planning, says “The introduction of Juke Nismo further cements our dedication to provide innovation and excitement for everyone. The Juke, with its radical design and pioneering attitude, is the natural choice to be one of the first Nissan models to receive the legendary performance and distinctive design treatment from our Nismo specialists.”

The Nissan Juke performance story began late last year with the creation of the Juke-R - which, intended initially as a one-off concept, has now been put into limited production due to demand.

This weekend the new Juke Nismo will sit alongside the Juke-R, starting the next thrilling chapter for the compact sports crossover, as the Nismo badge begins its journey from race track to road.

The Juke Nismo will be built at Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK in Sunderland, alongside other members of the Juke family and sales in Europe are due to start early 2013. Further details and specifications will be announced closer to launch.

Juke Nismo will be available in Japan and USA at a later date.

India holds investment seminar in Kuwait KUWAIT: India is the secondfastest-growing major economy in the world. Its key strengths include the strong and stable growth prospects supported by high savings and investment ratios coupled with robust domestic demand, high degree of political stability and strong institutions, deep capital markets, strong and competitive private sector, significant foreign capital inflows and large foreign exchange reserves.

The government of India has taken a number of initiatives in recent times aimed at attracting higher foreign investment in India.

During interactions with various global investors and funds, it came

to light that they are not fully aware of the details of the new initiatives taken by the Government. The new liberalized investment norms provide an attractive opportunity for investors, and a great deal of interest has been generated especially by the novel Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) route.

Given the widespread interest in understanding the requirements and mechanism to access Indian capital markets through the QFI route, especially from large investors, the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, in cooperation with Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services held a very well attended Investor Conference in

Kuwait titled ‘India: The Incredible Investment Destination’ on June 13, 2012, at Hotel J W Marriott, Kuwait City. A high level delegation from Government of India, Ministry of Finance, led by Dr Thomas Mathew, Joint Secretary (Capital Markets), Department of Economic Affairs, participated in the conference with senior representatives from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Department of Revenue (Tax authorities) and Department of Disinvestments as part of the delegation.

Presence of senior officials from the Government and financial sector regulators who directly

addressed the questions and doubts of potential investors, proved to be of great value to the participants. This initiative will go a long way towards building comfort and confidence among the investor community in Kuwait, which has a long-standing economic relationship with India.

A similar conference was held in the evening on June 13, 2012, at Hotel Crowne Plaza, Kuwait, which was co-hosted by Indian Business Council (IBC), Kuwait, and BBKGeojit BNP Paribas, to enable the Non-Resident Indian Community in Kuwait to also directly interact with key government and regulatory officials.

Euro-zone worries weigh on war-weary Afghans KABUL: Kabul’s Shahzada money market and its crush of bearded traders thumbing crumpled piles of cash is a world away from Europe, but euro-zone worries and a meeting of rich nation leaders in Mexico cut through even Afghanistan’s decadelong insurgent war.

As polls opened in Greece for an election that could decide whether the heavily indebted country remains in the euro zone, currency traders and bankers in the three-storey warren of shops were trying to divine the single currency’s future.

“Most people are nervous. Right now, the people most afraid are the ones dealing in the euro currency,” said the market’s Afghan United Bank branch manager Muneer Zazai as beside him stacks of $100

bills blurred through a counting machine.

As one of the world’s poorest nations, with a third of the 30 million population living under the poverty line, Afghanistan is relatively isolated from events shaking markets elsewhere. But as Western countries look to pull most combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and aid worth almost $16 billion a year winds back, Afghans are worried about an economic meltdown both at home and abroad.

Afghans have for years locked their wealth in overseas banks and property, with Dubai and its man-made Palm Jumeirah island favoured locations. Some $8 billion is thought to be stashed away in the Arab emirate, with Germany also a favorite haven.

At the head office of the country’s most profitable private bank, Afghanistan International Bank (AIB), chief executive Khalil Sediq said his bank was watching the G20 and re-evaluating where to put its $700 million deposit base. “Our bank, we are worried because we are 85 percent liquid. It means that we have to place our liquidity overseas in foreign banks,” Sediq told Reuters. “In considering this crisis and that every month or every week, a major bank is downgraded, now we don’t know where is a safe place, how to place our liquidity somewhere so as to not be damaged.”

Afghanistan’s own banking system was shaken in 2010 when depositors pulled millions of dollars out of Kabul Bank, the country’s biggest private financial institu-

tion, after learning that senior executives had lost $300 million, mostly in failed real estate investments in Dubai.

Sediq, a former governor of Afghanistan’s Central Bank, said the worsening economic outlook in Europe, including discussion on a bailout for Spain’s troubled banks, had shaken his confidence even in AAA-rated investments.

“Very reputed banks, very credible banks, have been affected by that and are facing problems. We are not very much certain about the future of Europe, what will happen to Europe,” he said. “I believe there is no way but to bail out these banks.” And with his own bank sitting on assets worth more than $800 million, Sediq said he hoped Group of 20 wealthy

nation leaders meeting in Mexico would agree on a solution which would help calm jittery investment markets.

“As soon as they do it will be much better for the system, and it will bring more trust and assurances to the people. We are expecting that this G20 will come out with good policies and practical ways to solve the current crisis,” he said.

Najeebullah Akhtary, the Shahzada Money Market’s president for money exchange union, said as an importing country, the crisis overseas would worry mainly Afghanistan’s small pool of very wealthy investors.

“In general, our economy can be mostly affected by our neighboring countries Iran and Pakistan,” he said. —Reuters

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

technology

It’s ‘succeed or die’ for Nokia Observers say company slowly committing suicide

LOS ANGELES: “Batman Arkham City” is demonstrated at a Nintendo media briefing at the Nokia Theater at LA Live in advance of the E3 convention. — MCT

Video-game consoles add more non-gaming features LOS ANGELES: When Chris and Rebecca Rider sit down to watch a romantic movie together, they don’t pop in a DVD or turn on the DVR. They fire up their video game console. Once kept in rec rooms for a family’s gamers, Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360, Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Co.’s Wii are increasingly being used by people who have no interest in helping Mario save the princess or the “Call of Duty” soldiers win the war. The 31-year-old Chris Rider began playing video games on his family’s Atari in the early 1980s. He stood in line all night in 2005 to buy an Xbox 360 the day it went on sale.

But he knew things had changed in 2009 when he sent his wife a text message at 2 a.m. and discovered she was awake, using the Xbox to stream episodes of the Scott Bakula drama “Quantum Leap” via Netflix. Now the Los Angeles couple watches so many movies and television shows through their game console that Rider has considered canceling their DirecTV subscription. “Since I’m a gamer, I’m always going to need a console,” he said. “So why bother with anything else if I don’t have to?”

As nearly 50,000 industry professionals gather in downtown Los Angeles this week for the annual E3 video game conference, players like Rider are front and center in their minds. Instead of focusing just on hot new titles like “Halo 4” and “God of War: Ascension,” companies are also showing off applications that turn their game consoles into media machines.

Video game consoles are now the most common means through which people watch content from the Internet on a television set, according to a recent study by Leichtman Research Group. Microsoft recently reported that Xbox 360 owners spend more time online watching video and listening to music than playing games.

The potential audience is big enough to make most cable providers drool. More than 40 million people use the Xbox Live online service - and more than half of those pay to subscribe to premium services. And about 51 million PlayStation 3 consoles are connected to Sony’s free Internet offering.

Less than four years ago, playing video games was the only thing to do online with either device. But now people can use the consoles to access Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go, enjoy sports on ESPN and on Major League Baseball’s MLB.tv, and stream music through Last.FM and Sony’s Music Unlimited.

“Entertainment has always been part of our strategy, but it was in the background,” said Ross Honey, general manager of Xbox Live entertainment and advertising. “Now we have the content and user experience to legitimately tell a consumer, ‘This is the platform for all of your entertainment.’ “ At Microsoft’s news conference Monday kicking off the E3 convention, the tech giant announced applications from 35 new entertainment partners coming to the Xbox 360 in the next year. Among them: Univision, Nickelodeon, the NBA and the National Hockey League. ESPN is significantly expanding its offerings on the Xbox to include live feeds of all its channels, and Microsoft is launching a music service to compete with the likes of iTunes and Spotify. Most significantly, all of Microsoft’s digital entertainment efforts are being housed under the Xbox title. The company’s new music service will be called Xbox Music, and a group of applications that

help consumers enjoy media on multiple devices simultaneously — looking at a map of the mythical land of Westeros on a tablet while watching “Game of Thrones” on a TV set, for instance — will be called Xbox Smart Glass.

Some in the video game industry have envisioned these developments for more than a decade. Microsoft and Sony each justified their multibillion-dollar investments in video game consoles in large part by saying the consoles could enable them to “own” the digital living room.

“There was a singular focus from the beginning on building what would one day be a complete living room entertainment experience,” said Otto Berkes, a senior vice president of consumer technology at HBO who helped to launch the Xbox at Microsoft.

The turning point came in late 2008 when Netflix launched on the Xbox 360. It was the first simple way for millions of people to stream Netflix video on a television. “When Netflix got on the Xbox, that’s what ignited their streaming service,” said Jamie McCabe, 20th Century Fox’s executive vice president of video-on-demand and digital downloads.

Netflix soon became available on the PS3 and Wii. Today, game consoles are the most popular conduit, aside from PCs, used by the company ’s 23.4 million streaming video customers in the United States. Dozens of apps have since followed. It’s now unusual to find an online video or music service that isn’t available on the PS3 or Xbox 360. (The Wii has only Netflix.) “When digital retailers launch on these consoles, we can see sales jumps of more than 100 percent,” said David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures home entertainment. It may be a while before game companies pose a serious threat to cable giant Comcast Corp. or satellite service Dish Network. Services such as HBO Go and ESPN, in fact, require cable subscriptions to work on the consoles. And game consoles aren’t the only devices impinging on cable’s turf. Most new Blu-ray players, televisions sets and tablets come with services such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video built in.

To compete, the game companies are trying to do with digital video what they have always done best: make it interactive.

An upcoming “Sesame Street” app for the Xbox will use the console’s Kinect camera to scan a child’s clothing and have a character onscreen wear the same color. And playoff games, they say, are no longer meant to be enjoyed while simply lounging on a recliner.

“With our sports applications you can look up live stats or, during recorded games, zoom the camera around the field,” said Jack Buser, senior director of PlayStation digital platforms. “This points to the future of how we’ll enjoy and interact with our media.” Of course, the more broadly the game consoles try to appeal, the bigger the risk of losing their earliest, most loyal audience. To keep them excited, Microsoft showed off a number of bigbudget games at its news conference, including “Resident Evil 6” and “Gears of War: Judgment.” Sony was expected to do the same at its own event Monday evening. “We have to continue to make Xbox the best platform for games,” said Yusuf Mehdi, chief marketing officer for Microsoft’s interactive entertainment division. “But even the most hard-core gamer still watches TV.” —MCT

LOS ANGELES: Yusuf Mehdi, chief marketing officer, with Microsoft is seen during Microsoft’s E3 Media Briefing at the USC Galen Center. — MCT

HELSINKI: Nokia’s surprise announcement of massive new spending cuts and 10,000 more layoffs had observers cautioning the beleaguered mobile phone giant is at a crossroads that will determine if it sinks or swims. Nokia, which only recently lost the world number one ranking it had held for 14 years, dramatically changed its strategy a year and a half ago when the then new chief executive, Stephen Elop, warned it was “standing on a burning platform” and needed to immediately shift course.

But after the company on Thursday suddenly said new big spending cuts and another 10,000 job cuts would be needed on top of the some 12,000 layoffs already announced since the shift, some observers said the company appeared to be slowly committing suicide. “Nokia jumped from a burning oil platform and sank like a stone,” the STT news agency said, summing up Thursday’s announcement.

The Finnish company’s new strategy involved phasing out its Symbian smartphones in favour of a partnership with Microsoft. That alliance has produced a first line of Lumia smartphones, which Nokia is counting on to help it survive in a rapidly changing landscape marked by stiff competition from RiM’s Blackberry, Apple’s iPhone and handsets running Google’s Android platform.

“I believe it was the wrong strategy from the beginning,” Andalys Oy analyst Ari Hakkarainen told AFP, stressing though that now that Nokia had shifted course it was too late to turn the tanker around. “They have chosen this strategy and they have invested everything that Nokia has in the new strategy. Basically, they must succeed or die,” he said. “They are at a crossroads,”

agreed Pohjola Bank analyst Hannu Rauhala, adding that it was hard to predict Nokia’s future since “the visibility of the business is very poor.”

The company, which in 2008 enjoyed more than 40 percent of the global mobile phone market, was already struggling to maintain its leading position when it entered the Microsoft partnership. Since that deal it has been bumped

by Samsung as king on the hill and reportedly has just around 20 percent market share. “Nokia took a calculated risk and they knew that (the shift) would be very painful and that Nokia would lose market share in the short term, but in the long term of course, they have the reasoning that Nokia will bounce back,” Hakkarainen said.

The company’s announcement Thursday that it would implement an additional 1.6 billion euros ($2.0 billion) in cost cuts by the end of 2013, shutting down factories in Germany, Canada and Finland and letting go 10,000 more employees was meanwhile taken as a bad sign by many. “Perhaps they should have enacted these reforms earlier. Investors who are looking for long-term profit are not convinced that Nokia is a company that can deliver in the future,” Dividend House analyst Arje Rimon told AFP. Nokia’s stock price plunged by as much as 16 percent Thursday and on Friday, ratings agency Moody’s downgraded the company’s long-term credit rating to junk status, following in the footsteps of Fitch and Standard and Poor’s. “Today’s rating action reflects our view that Nokia’s farreaching restructuring plan ... delineates a scale of earnings pressure and cash consumption that is larger than we had previously assumed,” Moody’s said, adding though that it thought the

restructuring was “positive and necessary.”

Analysts too were caught off guard by the scope of Thursday’s announcement. “I thought it would be smaller... This shows the market situation is worse than we thought,” Rauhala said.

Many observers meanwhile applauded Nokia for its decision to slim down in a bid to improve its competitiveness. Juhani Risku, previously in charge of Nokia innovation, told AFP he thought it was “an excellent move to make the company smaller.”

“Hopefully, it will make the company more competitive, as it will have to sell fewer phones to cover its fixed costs,” agreed Nomura Securities analyst Richard Windsor. At the end of March, Nokia counted 122,148 employees worldwide, including the nearly 70,000 working for Nokia Siemens Network, but those numbers do not take into account the tens of thousands of layoffs announced but not yet put into effect.

As Nokia continues to trim down and in light of its share price-which since Elop announced the strategy shift has fallen from above 8.0 euros to below 2.0 euros-has meanwhile made the company a prime takeover target, observers say.

“That’s certainly possible,” Rauhala said, mentioning Samsung, Microsoft and Facebook as names circulating as potential buyers. “Nokia has many interesting assets (and) its brand is still very good,” he said. According to Andalys Oy analyst Hakkarainen, however, the company’s brand might be so strong that it would frighten off its direct competitors, which might not want to pay the price for another brand or want the hassle with regulators. “But if I was an Asian, or let’s say a Chinese manufacturer, I would be very interested,” he told AFP. —AFP

Tech

briefs

Headset suppresses bothersome noise BERLIN: A new Bluetooth headset, the Supreme HC from Jabra, reportedly lets users telephone without disturbances, even with noisy surroundings, thanks to an active noise suppressor that filters out distracting sounds. It also has an extendable microphone arm to further optimize speech quality. The Supreme HC works with all Bluetooth-compatible devices. There is also a wireless adapter for a USB port, allowing a connection to a PC without Bluetooth. In stores already, it sells for about 120 euros ($150).

BEIJING: Lava.cn Project Manager Zhu Wei Guang works at his computer at the Lava.cn offices in TusPark. — MCT

China looks West for help to build its own Silicon Valley BEIJING: Now at a critical juncture in its quest to become a superpower, China is turning to Western regions like the Silicon Valley for help with its next technical leap forward. China has been the land of me-too companies - startups that copy ideas hatched in the West - as it has emerged as the global leader in manufacturing of computer and electronic gadgets. But now, with its booming economy, bountiful reserves of cash, increasing technological infrastructure, laser-like focus on fostering innovation and the world’s largest number of Internet users and mobile-phone subscribers, China is raising the bar in hopes of becoming a technological giant.

“It’s a thorough, aggressive and strategic strategy to have China move from manufacturing to the lab,” said Marguerite Gong Hancock, associate director of the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“There is a very dense network of venture capital and entrepreneurship in Beijing that has evolved over the last 10 years that is very similar to what happened in Silicon Valley.”

Leaders of this nation of 1.3 billion believe it is critical to create a knowledge-based economy if the country is to expand its influence on the global stage and even challenge the United States. In a speech last fall at Tsinghua University, President Hu Jintao invoked “innovation” 35 times, recalled Ta-lin Hsu, founder and chairman of Palo Alto, Calif.-based H&Q Asia Pacific, who was in the audience.

“The key to whether China eventually becomes a world superpower - competing with the United States and Europe - is innovation,” said Hsu, a decades-long investor in Asia with ties to the country’s tech and governm-nt sectors. “It is my belief, and that of many people, that if China can have indigenous innovation, be an innovative society, then there is a future for it to be a very strong power.”

So Chinese leaders are looking west to help its national innovation business model. And many are racking up a lot of frequent-flier miles in their drive to move up the technology ladder. Chinese government and company delegations frequently take tours up and down California’s Highway 101 to wheel and deal with prominent Silicon Valley tech firms.

They are looking for commercial and research partnerships, as well as companies to invest in.

“We want to have a close collaboration with US universities, US firms,” said Cindy Xiao Shiato, an executive with the Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee. Suzhou Industrial Park, one of China’s many technology zones, is setting up an investment office on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif., home to the world’s most potent cluster of venture capitalists. In July, the prestigious College of Engineering at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley is scheduled to open a research and teaching facility in Shanghai’s sprawling

Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, which is building a 50,000-square-foot building for the university at no cost. It is also raising at least $10 million a year for five years to finance research between the engineering school and Chinese institutions.

Meanwhile, a recent study by the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship found that many of the investors who helped create some of Silicon Valley’s most important companies are now doing the same thing in China. That’s what Frank Wang, a seasoned entrepreneur, did.

After a successful career in the San Francisco Bay Area, Wang launched a startup in Beijing that has created software that enables mobile devices to quickly transfer video and share games. Beyond building his company, Dew Mobile, he and thousands of others like him are teaching Silicon Valley 101 to a new generation of Chinese engineers.

“The raw talent is here. In the last five, six years, they’ve really improved,” he said. When teamed with local managers who understand the Chinese market, the returnees have created some of the country’s most important tech companies, such as China’s search engine giant Baidu, said Wang Delu, president of Great Wall Strategy Consultants, an expert on the evolution of China’s tech sector.

“They come back here and create startups,” he said. “They become angel investors and venture capitalists.” While the San Francisco area can benefit from these increasing crossPacific networks, Richard Suttmeier, a University of Oregon expert on Chinese science policy, worries about whether America is giving away too much.

“When you think about the nature of our interactions with China in the high-tech fields it’s very broad,” he said. “It’s commercial. It’s academic. It’s governmental. I think the Chinese have a pretty good strategy on how to take advantage of all of this.”

At the very least, Suttmeier said, the US government should monitor this activity to have a better understanding of how much information is flowing east. He worries that the US government is not keeping a close eye on the exchange of information, and should do more to make sure America benefits from it and doesn’t lose its intellectual property or competitive edge. “I don’t think there is much of a coordinated effort to put the big pieces together,” Suttmeier added.

China’s quickly expanding middle class and wealth creation is a strong lure to institutions and companies. Indeed, Chinese officials, flush with cash, have more than handshakes and business cards to give potential partners. “The bottom line is, if there are resources in China, we would be foolish not to go there,” said TsuJae King Liu, associate dean for research at UCBerkeley’s College of Engineering.— MCT

Acer offers affordable notebooks BERLIN: Acer’s new Aspire VS series means a new selection of thin 15.6-inch notebooks is hitting stores.

The computers are about 23 millimetres thick and weigh about 2.3 kilograms. Customers have two choices: the V5-531 has a 1.3-gigahertz Pentium processor without a graphics accelerator and costs about 400 euros (500 dollars). The V5-571G costs about 200 euros more, but comes with an Intel dualcore i5-3317U processor and a Nvidia Geforce GT620M graphics chip. Both come with 4 gigabytes of RAM, an optical DVD drive and a USB 3.0 port. They are both expected in stores sometime in June.

New mobile loudspeaker can play up to seven hours of music BERLIN: Soundfreaq has come out with a new mobile Bluetooth loudspeaker with a built-in battery that can provide power for up to seven hours. Dubbed the Sound Kick, it comes with a USB cable and can also be used as a charger, for example for a smartphone. The loudspeaker box is foldable for easier transportation.

It also has a rubber stand to cushion against vibrations from music. The Sound Kick is set to go on sale at the end of June for about 120 euros ($150).

Dell makes its notebooks more robust BERLIN: Computer manufacturer Dell has reworked its Latitude series of notebooks to make them tougher.

Casings are now layered with aluminium and magnesium, while rubber isolation protects the hard drive from shocks. Buyers can also opt to have the laptops fitted out with an SSD hard drive, a Bluetooth adapter and a USB 3.0 port. All models use an Intel Core processor. It is not clear when the laptops will go on sale or for what price they will retail.

Toshiba Ultrabook now with cinema display format BERLIN:Toshiba is hoping to wow customers with a new Ultrabook that has a cinema-style format screen.

The 14.4-inch screen of the U840W has 1,792 X 768 pixel resolution and an aspect ratio of 21 to 9, while will be familiar to anyone used to movies. Additionally, the 21-millimetre thick and 1.6-kilogram-heavy computer comes with up to 10 gigabytes of working memory and a combination of a standard hard drive and an SSD one. Toshiba has made no statement about the likely price.

Medion presents new tablet BERLIN: The new tablet computer from Medion, the Lifetab S9512, has a 9.7-inch display, a dual-core processor and comes with Android 4.0. The 16-gigabyte memory can be expanded with an SD card. It can only access the internet with wi-fi - there is no UMTS adapter. The Lifetab S9512 weighs 580 grams and is only 9 millimetres thick. It sells for 299 euros ($370).

Asus Zenbook Primes comes with new processors and an SSD drive BERLIN: The Zenbook Prime series of Asus notebooks come with the new Ivy Bridge Intel processor, speedy SSD drives and an illuminated keyboard. They come to market in 11- and 13-inch models with full HD display.

Most differences between the models relate to the kind of processor they use or the size of the hard drive.

Asus promises the laptops will be ready for use within two seconds of being turned on, that the battery life will be significantly longer and that it can stay in standby mode for up to two weeks. The Zenbook Prime laptops should go on sale in mid-June and cost about 1,100 euros ($1,370). — dpa

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

Chinese spacecraft en route to orbiting unit ‘Everything is going according to plan’

NAIROBI: A giraffe grazes inside the Nairobi National park. The lions have found themselves under growing pressure as Nairobi, one of Africa’s fastest growing cities creeps onto ancient migration routes and hunting grounds.— AFP

Lions on the loose NAIROBI: When Danish author Karen Blixen penned her autobiography “Out of Africa”, she wrote of the fierce leopards and lions that prowled the coffee estate she farmed at the foot of Kenya’s Ngong hills. Today, that farm is a leafy upmarket suburb of the rapidly growing capital Nairobi, swallowed up by breakneck urbanisation that has turned a centuryold colonial railway yard into a traffic-clogged major city. But the sharp toothed big cats have remained, finding themselves under growing pressure as one of Africa’s fastest growing cities creeps onto ancient migration routes and hunting grounds.

“There have been no attacks on humansonly dogs-but as the encroachment increases the probability of attacks grows,” said Francis Gakuya, chief vet for Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), as captured lion cubs growled in the background. Pacing in a cage at the KWS headquarters in Nairobi, four orphaned cubs hiss and snarl at vets taking care of themthen give a surprisingly powerful roar for a two-month-old baby already the size of a small dog.

Wildlife rangers were forced to shoot dead the cubs’ mother after it was spotted in Nairobi’s Karen suburb and it charged before it could be darted. The cubs are now being looked after. But it is not the only recent case.

Conservationists warn of the growing likelihood of closer interaction between wildlife and humans if development is not managed in a sustainable manner. Another lioness captured last month later escaped back into the park, a 117 square kilometre (45 square mile) wilderness where buffalo and rhino roam just seven kilometres (four miles) from the bustling high-rise city centre.

Wildlife officials have issued warnings to residents near the park to call them “should they see another lion in their area as it is possible more than one lion had strayed from the park.” Traps are set out when a big cat is reported but the wily lions have so far avoided the baited cages - sparking concern in residents, fearful at night when guard dogs howl that a lion could be hunting in the back yard.

“Lions can hide invisible in the long grass so it’s frightening they could be around waiting to pounce,” said Mary Okello, who lives close to where recent lions were caught. Visit the park and one is rewarded by the bizarre sight of long-necked giraffes running through wide plains of yellow grass with the gleaming skyscrapers of Nairobi’s business district rising in the distance.

‘The lion loses out’ Although fenced in on the city side-some bars even have terraces where one can view animals over a cold drink-the park is opensided elsewhere else to allow the annual wildlife migration in search of grazing. Zebra

and wildebeest in the park migrate from the protected Nairobi national park through informal wildlife corridors, areas where pastoralist herders graze their cattle. But Kenya’s population is quickly growing.

The land is under threat from increasing urbanisation and more intensive agriculture, and the routes used by migrating herds in search of fresh grass-and the carnivores that follow for fresh meat-are growing narrower.

“Some can’t find their way through, and they get stranded,” said Nicholas Oguge, President of the Ecological Society for Eastern Africa.

“There is an urgent need for an effective land policy...without establishing formal wildlife corridors, Nairobi National Park will become like an island, a large contained zoo,” added Oguge, a professor at the University of Nairobi.

The situation has changed dramatically in recent decades. In the 1970s residents used to report roaming herds of wildebeest several hundred thousand strong. Today, in comparison, there are just a relative handful of wildebeest left. Conservationists say wildlife protection is a low priority for city officials struggling with multiple challenges in a grossly unequal capital of some 3.5 million people with overstretched basic services and infrastructure.

In Nairobi, lavish villas rub shoulders with squalid slums and cramped high rise apartments. “Nairobi National Park is a microcosm of what is happening elsewhere,” said Luke Hunter, president of the wild cat conservation group Panthera, noting that lions have lost over 80 percent of their historic lands across Africa. “In protected areas lions do well... but outside they are getting hammered.”

Kenyan wildlife officials and other conservation groups are working to support the establishment of a wildlife corridor, including mapping the key routes, but it is no easy matter, said Paul Mbugua, KWS assistant director.

“It would be good to have corridors in place, but we have a challenge as all the land to the south of Nairobi is owned by somebody,” Mbugua said. Land in Kenya is both increasingly expensive and a highly political issue.

Kenya plunged into violence after disputed 2007 elections, with land grievances a key contributing factor to the explosion of brutal killings, and demarcating protected corridors is harder than simply drawing lines on a map.

Lion attacks on livestock are reported, but there have been no recent attacks on humans in Nairobi, experts say, but contact will grow as the city expands. “Lions respect and fear people and try to get out of the way,” added Hunter. “But with development in areas important to lions, people and lions will mix more and more... and an individual lion can be incredibly dangerous. In that mix, inevitably it is the lion that loses out.” — AFP

SpaceX founder talks Mars with graduates PASADENA: Fresh off SpaceX’s historic return from the International Space Station, company founder Elon Musk said Friday that he would like to see humans settle Mars and become a “multi-planet species.” The 40-yearold entrepreneur reiterated his vision to graduates at the California Institute of Technology, a private university 10 miles northeast of Los Angeles known for its science and engineering programs. Musk said he hoped some of the newly minted graduates would work toward Mars colonization, either at SpaceX or another outfit.

PASADENA: SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk pauses during his commencement speech for Caltech graduates. — AP “You guys are the magicians of the 21st century. Don’t let anything hold you back,” he said. “Imagination is the limit ... go out there and create some magic.” Musk made headlines last month when SpaceX became the first private company to make a roundtrip supply run to the space station - a task that had been dominated by governments. With NASA’s space shuttle fleet retired, the space agency is outsourcing the job to private industry. SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon capsule

splashed into the Pacific on May 31 after a virtually flawless nine-day test flight that included docking with the multibillion-dollar orbiting outpost and delivering a load of food, clothing and equipment to the astronauts aboard. Earlier this week, Musk accompanied NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on a tour of the Dragon capsule that was plucked from the ocean and trucked to SpaceX’s factory in Texas. Save for a few scorch marks from the fiery re-entry, the bell-shaped capsule weathered its maiden journey.

Caltech board of trustees chair Kent Kresa called Musk an “inventor, entrepreneur, visionary and relentless dreamer.” Musk jokingly replied: “I’d like to thank you for leaving crazy person out of the description.” The audience cheered when Musk recounted the historic flight, which he called a “white knuckle event.” “It’s a huge relief. I still can’t quite believe it actually happened,” he said. SpaceX aimed to launch the next supply mission in September under a contract with NASA and has predicted that astronauts could hitch rides to the space station in as little as three or four years.

SpaceX planned to test the next version of the Dragon - designed to carry crews - later this year. The South African-born Musk, who made his fortune at PayPal Inc., founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp. a decade ago and has poured millions of his own wealth into the rocket startup. The company suffered three rocket failures before finally succeeding. Besides SpaceX, Musk also runs the electric car company Tesla Motors.

Musk’s ultimate goal is beyond Earth orbit.

To achieve that, the company needs a reusable spaceship capable of making the long trip to the red planet and complete with life support systems. Musk called the feat “right on the borderline of impossible” but one that’s on SpaceX’s to-do list. — AP

BEIJING: A spacecraft carrying China’s first female astronaut and two male crew mates made a planned course change yesterday en route to docking with an orbiting module, state television reported. The Shenzhou 9 capsule was launched Saturday on China’s most ambitious space mission yet in a step toward building a permanent space station. The spacecraft carried out the first of five planned orbit changes early yesterday, state television said. The capsule is to dock today with the Tiangong 1 module 343 kilometres (213 miles) above Earth.

Liu Yang, a 33-year-old air force pilot who is China’s first female space traveller; mission commander and veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, 45; and crew mate Liu Wang, 43, are to spend at least 10 days in space. “The astronaut crew are in good shape and everything is going according to plan,” China Central Television said in its midday news program.

Two of the astronauts will live and work inside the module while the third remains in the capsule in case of emergency. The astronauts are to conduct medical tests and other experiments before returning to earth. China is hoping to join the United States and Russia as the only countries to send independently maintained space stations into orbit. It is already one of just three nations to have launched manned spacecraft on their own.

Another manned mission to the module is planned later this year, while possible future missions could include sending a man to the moon. The space program is a source of national pride, reflecting China’s rapid economic and technological progress and ambition to be a global leader. The selection of the first female astronaut is giving the program an additional publicity boost. The Tiangong 1 is due to be

replaced by a permanent space station around 2020. That station is to weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA’s Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station.

China has only limited cooperation in space with other nations and its exclusion from the ISS, largely on objections from the United States, was one of the key spurs for it to pursue an independent space program 20 years ago. China first

launched a man into space in 2003 followed by a two-man mission in 2005 and a three-man trip in 2008 that featured the country’s first space walk.

In November 2011, the unmanned Shenzhou 8 successfully docked twice with Tiangong 1 by remote control. Shenzhou 9 is to dock with the module by remote control, then separate and dock again manually to test the system’s reliability. — AP

JIUQUAN: Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launches from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. — AP

Scientists to strap cameras to seals HO N O LU LU : Hawaiian monk seals need an image makeover.

Some fishermen blame the endangered species for stealing their catch. There are unfounded rumours that they devour and deplete fish stocks. And at least four of them have been killed by humans in Hawaii since late last year. To help correct the misconceptions, government scientists plan to glue submersible cameras onto the seals’ backs, using the footage to prove to fishermen the animals are not harming their way of life. It may even end up on reality TV. “It ’s following seals to have them tell their own story,” Charles Littnan, lead scientist for the N a t i o n a l M a r i n e Fi s h e r i e s S er vice’s Hawaiian M onk S eal Research Program. They expect to see the seals dive for eels and fish o n t he o cean f lo o r. Th e “Crittercams,” provided by the National Geographic Society, are the latest tactic to protect a population that is down to just 1,100 in Pacific Ocean waters around Hawaii. The killings were painful blows to a species on course to disappear in 50 to 100 years.

The deaths have come as resentment simmers while the species experiences a modest rebound around Kauai, Oahu and

other islands where Hawaii ’s humans live. There have been cases of people pestering seals: state officials found an Oahu teenager throwing rocks at a seal at a wildlife sanctuary in January.

On Friday, the state said a court fined him $1,000 and sentenced him to 80 hours of community s er v ice for tres pa s s ing a nd harassing the monk seal.

Archaeological evidence - like monk s ea l bones in a hu man trash pit dating between the 15th and 18th centuries - shows the s ea ls were a rou nd on thes e islands long ago. But most were hunted for their meat and fur by the early 1900s. The seals were then generally only found among tiny, remote atolls northwest of Hawaii’s main islands.

Their numbers started increasing about a decade ago around the main islands. Now, they regularly haul up on the sands of Poipu on K auai and the rock y shorelines of K aena Point in nor thwest Oahu. They ’ve even appeared amid throngs of sunba thing tou ris ts in Wa ik ik i.

Though the species is ancient and has inhabited Hawaii for millions of years, their growth is ma k ing them look like new arrivals to humans who haven’t seen them in their midst for more

than a centur y. Star ting this August, biologists will capture several seals, sedate them and use epoxy to attach the cameras to their hides. Littnan hopes the footage will prove several assumptions untrue. Some people think, for example, that seals operate like swarms of locusts tough to do when there are only 200 of them in the main Hawaiian Islands. Others believe the seals eat 600 pounds of fish a day - not plausible, since an adult weighs between 375 and 500 pounds.

“That’s not even remotely physically possible,” Littnan said.

The researchers are inviting fishermen and budding scientists at Hawaii high schools to join the research teams and watch the footage as it comes in. Students can submit essays to the Monk Seal Foundation by next month to win a spot on the research team. If the video proves compelling, the seals might see some T V spotlight. Crittercams have cha ng ed perceptions before.

When scientists first used the cameras to study Hawaiian monk seals, most believed the animals fed among coral reefs. But Crittercams showed them swimming to barren sandy areas, diving to the ocean floor, flipping over rocks and eating fish and

eels found underneath.

Res earchers only a tta ched cameras to seals in the nor thwestern Hawaiian islands that time. S ea ls a rou nd the main Hawaiian islands haven’t been studied in the same way. “Seeing what the animals really did rather than guessing about it was incredibly u s efu l,” s aid Kyler Abernathy, the National G eographic S ociet y ’s remote imaging direc tor of res earch.

Walter Ritte, a Native Hawaiian and longtime activist who has s poken a g a ins t monk s eal killings, said everything that can be done must be done to help the seals. But he’s not sure the research will change attitudes.

In a state with deep respect for Hawaiian tradition and elders who know it well, Ritte said, elders should more actively pass on cultural legends - like stories of the deity Kuulakai - that teach how to properly fish, care for the ocean and manage stocks. “All of that worked for thousands of years, and it’s the essence of our culture,” Ritte said. “We need to go back and remind the people who live here that that ’s the es s ence of who we a re in the state of Hawaii. It goes in a total opposite direction from what is happening with the seals.” — AP

Diet Care dietitian tackles five sports nutrition misconceptions KUWAIT: Most of us know that a good diet and physical activity is what we need to be healthy.

But what about the little sports nutrition facts we pick up from friends, family, and our infamous “know-it-all” buddies at the gym?

“They can definitely be misleading,” says Sarah Dimashkieh, expert dietitian at Diet Care.

“Our gym buddies who have fabulous bodies and an assertive tone can make you believe that the sports nutrition information they’re giving you is correct.” Not anymore! Dimashkieh sheds some light on the five most common sports nutrition misconceptions.

sources of carbs if you are exercising.”

Both proteins and carbohydrates are crucial elements of our daily intake. You need adequate amounts of protein to feed your muscles in order for them grow, and carbohydrates to give you energy for exercise. According to Dimashkieh, research indicates that it is important to consume carbs such as fruits 15 minutes after exercising to help restore muscle glycogen. “Have a cup of milk, a smoothie or even a whole wheat turkey sandwich within a window of 30 minutes to two hours after your workout. This is important because it helps improve your ability to train consistently,” Dimashkieh adds.

1: “Work out on an empty stomach, it helps you burn more fat and lose weight faster.”

On the contrary, you are likely to lose muscle by exercising on an empty stomach because you actually need energy to aid the workout. Energy is obtained by a healthy meal. To add, studies have shown that the body burns roughly the same amount of fat regardless of whether you eat before a workout or not. Exercise intensity and overall calorie burn will be reduced.

Dimashkieh says a pre-exercise meal is vital for good per formance during workouts.

Consume a main meal three to four hours before your workout, and a snack one to two hours before your workout. These meals should contain a combination of proteins, carbohydrates, and fibers to ensure they give you energy. “The bottom line: exercising on an empty stomach does not help you burn more fat.” Dimashkieh says. “When you’re low on energy, you’re likely lowering your endurance levels and shortening your exercise time causing you to burn less amount of fat.”

Here’s the breakdown: Low energy = lower endurance = shorter exercise period = lower fat burn + less calorie burnt.

2: “Eat a high protein diet, and avoid all

3: “Pineapple, kiwi, grapefruit, and other herbal mixes such as green tea help your body burn fat.”

“It’s a shocker,” reveals Dimashkieh. “But that is false, false, false.” This misconception has been vastly spread and believed, but in reality these foods and drinks don’t help you burn fat. So how do we know what’s right?

Dimashkieh does a little experiment. “Spread some butter on pealed and slicked kiwi or pineapple pieces. Does the butter disappear?”

The butter will melt, but not disappear. “This indicates that these fruits and others do not help burn body fat,” explains Dimashkieh. You can try it yourself.

4: “Drinking a lot of water will cause water retention and will increase your abdominal fat.”

Water is extremely important when you’re exercising. “Without proper hydration, your muscles and ligaments will likely become stiff during exercise,” explains Dimashkieh.

“Also remember that sodas, coffee, tea, and other beverages are not a substitute for water,” Dimashkieh says. “Sugar and caffeine actually cause the body to lose fluid, instead of hydrating our body.”

Sarah Dimashkieh

5: “Exercise prevents you from losing weight.”

“That’s false,” Dimashkieh assures. “Losing weight depends on the amount of calories you consume and burn each day. Eating more calories than you burn during exercise can lead to weight gain, while burning more calories than you eat can help you lose weight.”

Physical activity, especially aerobic exercise is crucial if you are trying to lose or maintain your weight. “Increasing the rate at which you burn calories actually increases your chances of losing weight,” Dimashkieh says.

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

10,000 germ species live in and on healthy people WASHINGTON: They live on your skin, up your nose, in your gut - enough bacteria, fungi and other microbes that collected together could weigh, amazingly, a few pounds. Now scientists have mapped just which critters normally live in or on us and where, calculating that healthy people can share their bodies with more than 10,000 species of microbes. Don’t say “eeew” just yet. Many of these organisms work to keep humans healthy, and results reported Wednesday from the government’s Human Microbiome Project define what’s normal in this mysterious netherworld. One surprise: It turns out that nearly everybody harbors low levels of some harmful types of bacteria, pathogens that are known for causing specific infections. But when a person is healthy - like the 242 US adults who volunteered to be tested for the project those bugs simply quietly coexist with benign or helpful microbes, perhaps kept in check by them. The next step is to explore what doctors really want to know: Why do the bad bugs harm some people and not others? What changes a person’s microbial zoo that puts them at risk for diseases ranging from infections to irritable bowel syndrome to psoriasis?

Already the findings are reshaping scientists’ views of how people stay healthy, or not. “This is a whole new way of looking at human biology and human disease, and it’s awe-inspiring,” said Dr. Phillip Tarr of Washington University at St. Louis, one of the lead researchers in the $173 million project, funded by the National Institutes of Health. “These bacteria are not passengers,” Tarr stressed. “They are metabolically active. As a community, we now have to reckon with them like we have to reckon with the ecosystem in a forest or a body of water.”

And like environmental ecosystems, your microbial makeup varies widely by body part. Your skin could be like a rainforest, your intestines teeming with different species like an ocean. Scientists have long known that the human body coexists with trillions of individual germs, what they call the microbiome. Until now, they’ve mostly studied those that cause disease: You may recall health officials saying about a third of the population carries Staphylococcus aureus harmlessly in their noses or on their

skin but can infect others. But no one knew all the types of microbes that live in healthy people or where, and what they do. Some 200 scientists from nearly 80 research institutions worked together for five years on this first-ever census to begin answering those questions by unraveling the DNA of these microbes, with some of the same methods used to decode human genetics. The results were published Wednesday in a series of reports in the journals Nature and the Public Library of Science.

First, the researchers had to collect tissue samples from more than a dozen body sites - the mouth, nose, different spots of skin, the vagina in women, and from feces.

Then they teased apart the bacterial DNA from the human DNA, and started analyzing organisms with some daunting names: Lactobacillus crispatus, Streptococcus mitis, Corynebacterium accolens.

Our bodies are thought to be home to about 10 bacterial cells for every human cell, but they’re so small that together microbes make up about 1 percent to 3 percent of someone’s body mass, explained Dr. Eric Green, director of NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute. That means a 200-pound person could harbor as much as 6 pounds of bacteria. There are about 22,000 human genes. But the microbes add to our bodies the power of many, many more - about 8 million genes, the new project estimated.

Those bacterial genes produce substances that perform specific jobs, some of which play critical roles in the health and development of their human hosts, said Dr. Bruce Birren of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, another of the project’s investigators. Genes from gut bacteria, for example, lead to digestion of certain proteins and fats. They also produce certain beneficial compounds, like inflammationfighting chemicals.

Another surprise: There isn’t one core set of bacteria that perform those functions. A wide variety can do the same jobs, the researchers found. That’s fortunate considering people carry a customized set of microbes, one that varies dramatically depending on where you live, your diet and a host of other factors. Your microbial zoos also can change, such as when taking

antibiotics that kill infection-causing germs as well as good intestinal bacteria that may be replaced with different but equally effective bugs.

“We don’t all have the same bacteria although they all seem to have been organized to do the same things,” Birren said. It may be that our lifestyle and environment “induces each of us to have arrived at a solution that works for us.” With this first snapshot of what normal looks like, studies now are under way to see how the microbes differ in people with certain diseases, in hopes of learning how to prevent or treat the illnesses.

Consider the intestinal superbug named C. difficile that people all too often catch while they’re in the hospital, and that sometimes kills. Washington University’s Tarr wants to know what mixture of gut bacteria can fend off the diarrhea-causing germ or make it more likely to infect - so that doctors might one day know who’s more vulnerable before they enter a hospital.

Also, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reported Wednesday that the kind of bacteria living in the vagina changes during pregnancy, perhaps to give the fetus as healthy a passage as possible. Previous research has found differences in what first bacteria babies absorb depending on whether they’re born vaginally or by C-section, a possible explanation for why cesareans raise the risk for certain infections.

All new information in some ways is humbling, because it shows how much more work is needed to understand this world within us, noted infectious disease specialist Dr. David Relman of Stanford University, who wrote a review of the project’s findings for the journal Nature. For example, the project included mostly white volunteers who live around Houston and St. Louis. Relman said more work is needed to define a normal microbiome in people with different racial, ethnic and geographic backgrounds. And there are many remaining questions about how these microbes interact with human genetics. “We are essentially blind to many of the services that our microbial ecosystems provide - and on which our health depends,” Relman wrote.—AP

SERVION: Two two-month old baby arctic wolves play in their enclosure in the zoo de Servion in Switzerland yesterday. — AP

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MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

WHAT’S ON

Rhythm Dance Group organises classical evening

KUVBS 2012 t. James, St. Johns and St. Peters Mar Thoma Sunday Schools, Kuwait are jointly organizing the Vacation Bible School (KUVBS 2012) for students at the National Evangelical Church, Kuwait (NECK). Rev. Binju Varghese Kuruvilla, Vicar of St Peters CSI Congregation, Kuwait officially inaugurated the VBS on 08 June in presence of Rev. A. V. Varughese, Vicar of St. James Mar Thoma Church, Rev. Chacko Thomas, Vicar of St. Peters Mar Thoma Church, Rev. C. V. Symon, Vicar of St. John’s Mar Thoma Church, the Sunday School Office bearers and a large number of students and parents.

Ninan Varghese from Mar Thoma Sunday School Samajam, Thiruvalla is the Director of the VBS. Students of age 4 to 17 are participating in the program which is filled with music, activities and learning and will run till June 22. 2012.

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mesmerizing show of Indian Classical Dances was organized

by Rhythm Dance Group on June 1, 2012. The event was hosted by Salmiya Indian Model School at its auditorium. The classical cultural evening was graced by number of guests and dignitaries. The Principal of SIMS, Sanjay Yadav inaugurated the event and Anis Ahmed, the Directorinaugurated the Souvenir which was published on the eve of the event.

Rina Deb, the director of Rhythm Dance Group, in her brief speech, thanked the guests and audience and inspired her students to get set for presenting which can be called a rare show of class, grace and elegance.

The classical evening was sculptured with some enchanting classical and contemporary dances. Some folk dances were presented beautifully by the tiny kids. A few evergreen songs were sung by local talented singers.

All the dances were well choreographed by the director, Rina Deb. Rhythm Dance Group is very much optimistic to organize a few such events every year.

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IMAX film program Today ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups The Last Reef 3D 10:30am, 8:30pm Space Junk 3D 11:30am, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 12:30pm, 10:30pm Journey to Mecca 6:30pm Tuesday: 19.6.12 ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Space Junk 3D 10:30am, 6:30pm, 8:30pm, 10:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 11:30am, 7:30pm Fires of Kuwait 12:30pm The Last Reef 3D 5:30pm, 9:30pm Wednesday: 20.6.12 ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Born to be Wild 3D 10:30am, 6:30pm Space Junk 3D 11:30am, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm The Last Reef 3D 12:30pm, 8:30pm, 10:30pm Thursday: 21.6.12 ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Space Junk 3D 10:30am, 6:30pm, 8:30pm, 10:30pm The Last Reef 3D 11:30am, 7:30pm Journey to Mecca 12:30pm Arabia 3D 5:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 9:30pm Friday: 22.6.12 Space Junk 3D 2:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm Journey to Mecca 3:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 5:30pm, 8:30pm The Last Reef 3D 6:30pm, 10:30pm Saturday: 23.6.12 ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Space Junk 3D 10:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, 5:30pm, 8:30pm, 10:30pm The Last Reef 3D 11:30am, 7:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 1:30pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm Journey to Mecca 2:30pm Arabia 3D 4:30pm Notes: - All films are in Arabic. For English, headsets are available upon request.

- “Fires of Kuwait” is in English. Arabic headsets are available upon request.

- Film schedule is subject to changes without notice.

For information call 1 848 888 or visit www.tsck.org.kw

VPA elects new office-bearers enmony Pravasy Association (VPA) Kuwait held its Annual General Body meeting on May 17, 2012 at Hi Dine Auditorium, Abbasiya elected its office bearers, advisory board members and executive committee for the period 2012-2013. Office Bearers, Patron: Rajan Daniel, President: Abraham Thomas, General Secretary: Ramesh Puthiamadom, Treasurer: George Mathew, Vice President: Thomas. Y, Joint Secretary: Shine Babu. The Advisory Board Members: Babu Varghese, Abraham David, Rajan K Mathew, Committee Members: Rajan K. John, Anil George, Geevarghese Thomas, George Varghese, Reji Iduculla, Varghese Koshy, Thomas Mathai, Vijayan N.S., Varghese M. C., Mathai Daniel, Praveen B. Nair, Jolly Rajan, Susy Geevarghese.

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Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

Farewell party ircraft superintendent Mustafa Shatti hosted a farewell to his colleagues aircraft maintenance engineers S. Margabandhu and Mahadevan Subramaniyan at his home in Kifan. It was co-ordinated by colleagues of aircraft maintenance section and was

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attended by Deputy Director Khalil Hammadi, Assistant Manager Khalid Sebzali, Superintendent Adil Munez, Supervisors Ibrahim Ramadan, Issa Sharafi, Dawood, RVR Raju, Engineers Adil Abul, Yousuf, Adil Sebzali, Khawar KhokharPeethambaram, Anthony

Alphaso, George Denis, Ex Staff Athroos, Khalid Bugath, Supervisory staff Hussam Al-Yousuf, Adnan Darwish, Fawwad, Sethu, Murthy and other officials from Upholstery and Planning department of Kuwait Airways Engineering. Invitees expressed gratitude for their association

and valuable services. Aircraft maintenance superintendent Mustafa Shatti extended hearty thanks to all dignitaries, invitees and subsequently hosted a lavish dinner.

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MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

WHAT’S ON

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian ConsulateGeneral in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm ■■■■■■■

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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EMBASSY OF BRITAIN

ASSE-GCC HSE Excellence Award 2012 onouring the private sector companies for their leadership, excellence and exceptional performance in the field of health, safety and environment in the Gulf region, American Society Of Safety Engineers Kuwait Chapter organised the ASSE-GCC HSE Excellence Award ceremony on May 24 at Kuwait Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The award program was started with Quran Recitation, Kuwait National Anthem and the welcome note from Subba Rao, President, ASSE-Kuwait Chapter. He also gave a brief about the Chapter activities and its objectives to the huge gathering. Fadhel Al-Ali, Chairman of ASSE in his welcome speech highlighted that, this evidence based award showcases successful business models from organizations that uphold HSE as a business value and excel in performance. He explained about the main slogan of the competition “You Perform We recognize”. He appreciated all the committee members for putting their efforts to make the program a grand success. There after Mohammad Riaz, Head, ASSE-GCC HSE

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Excellence 2012 Committee, briefed about the award program. He thanked all the companies participated in the award program and briefed the benefits of the award program which includes

Opportunity to contribute to corporate social responsibility, exceptionally high regional & international recognition for exemplary HSE performance.

Bader Al-Khashti, Managing Director,

Research & Development & HSE, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, State of Kuwait delivered the speech on behalf of the Chief Guest Farouk Al-Zanki, CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. He con-

gratulated the award winning companies and appreciated the initiatives of ASSE Kuwait Chapter. He highlighted the importance of HSE and the present day challenges with the oil sector and

other industries in Kuwait. His speech was very much encouraging and thought provoking and is an eye opener to all the companies and HSE Professionals, he continued to state that, HSE is about people, People are the reason that we are here, HSE is a process to make it real we have put it in action. Let’s all of us hand in hand create an opportunity for a safe environment for our people. There after awards were given to the winning companies by Chief Guest.

As part of the recognition ceremony, “An HSE Exposition” was also organised which featured some of largest and best known suppliers of health, safety, fire, security and environmental products and services in the region. Apart from vendors/suppliers, the award winning companies from Kuwait and other parts of GCC also participated in this exhibition. The expo was inaugurated by the dignitaries. This program is concluded with vote of thanks given by Vasudevan, Vice President ASSE-KC and visit to the HSE Exhibition followed by a grand gala dinner.

Please be advised that the British Embassy Consular Section will be starting online appointment booking for our consular customers from Sunday, July 1, 2012. All information including how to make an appointment will be available on the embassy website from June 24, 2012.

You will also be able to book appointments on the embassy website from June 24, 2012. Please be aware that from July 1, 2012, we will no longer accept walk-in customers. We will provide regular updates every Thursdays throughout June. For the latest FCO travel advice please visit: www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/middle-eastnorth-africa/kuwait ■■■■■■■

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 The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform Kenyan residents throughout Kuwait and the general public that with effect from June 1, 2012 the Embassy has moved from its current location to a new location in Surra Block 1, Street 8, Villa 303. Please note that the new telephone and fax numbers will be communicated as soon as possible. For enquiries you can contact Consular Section on mobile 90935162 or 97527306.

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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

AIS placed second in NESA competition merican International School students finished second among 350 schools worldwide in the Near East South Asia (NESA) competition for scientific research, after successfully overcoming scientific questions and debates supervised by a judging panel featuring representatives from nine American intentional universities specialized in science.

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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 ■■■■■■■

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 ■■■■■■■

IIS excels in Class XII CBSE exams ndia International School students have secured excellent results in the Senior Secondary Examinations for the academic year 2011-12 conducted by central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi. Out of the 28 students who appeared for this exam, 16 students are from science stream and 12 of them are from commerce stream. IIS rejoices in announcing

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the names of the school toppers.

In the Science stream, Muneera is the topper with an aggregate of 87 percent and in the Commerce stream, Mariyam Kanchwala achieved this distinction with an aggregate of 89 percent.

The subject toppers are as follows: English Mariyam Huda 95, Physics Ashitha 84, Chemistry Riya

Tomy 95, Maths Sulthan, Ashitha 67, Computer Asif 90, Biology Tharun 82, Informatics Muneera 98.

In commerce stream Mariyam Kanchwala proved her excellence in all subjects by achieving the top place in English (95 percent) Economics (86 percent), Business studies (91 percent), Accountancy (87 percent) and Informatics (86

percent). Director Malayil Moosa Koya, Principal FM Basheer Ahmed Vice-Principal Narinder Kaur and the staff congratulated the students on their performance.

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.

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

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

00:10 01:00 08:35 09:00 09:45 10:35 11:25 12:15 13:00 13:50 14:35 15:20 16:15 16:45 17:10 18:00 18:55 19:50 20:20 21:10 21:35 22:20 23:05 23:55

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 06:30 06:55 07:20 07:45 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:25 10:50 11:15 11:40

Untamed & Uncut Into The Pride Wildest Arctic Monster Bug Wars Wildest Africa Great Ocean Adventures Cats 101 Escape To Chimp Eden Growing Up...

Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Breed All About It Cats Of Claw Hill Cats Of Claw Hill Mutant Planet Animal Precinct Animal Cops Philadelphia Pet Passport Pet Passport Bondi Vet Wildlife SOS Mutant Planet Animal Kingdom Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Project Puppy Jeff Corwin Unleashed Dogs 101 Must Love Cats Wildlife SOS Bondi Vet Escape To Chimp Eden Animal Battlegrounds Mutant Planet Must Love Cats Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer Animal Cops Houston

Gok’s Clothes Roadshow MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Come Dine With Me 10 Years Younger Gok’s Fashion Fix Gok’s Fashion Fix Fantasy Homes By The Sea Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow DIY SOS The Boss Is Coming To Dinner Come Dine With Me Celebrity MasterChef Celebrity MasterChef Celebrity MasterChef Antiques Roadshow DIY SOS Gok’s Fashion Fix Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Come Dine With Me

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 Dexters Laboratory Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Ha Ha Hairies Pink Panther And Pals The Garfield Show Dastardly And Muttley A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Flintstones Duck Dodgers Tom & Jerry Kids Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races

12:00 12:15 12:40 12:55 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:25 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:30 17:55 18:10 19:00 19:15 19:40 19:55 20:20 20:35 20:55 21:20 21:45 22:10 22:35 23:00 23:20 23:45

Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Ha Ha Hairies The Garfield Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! Dastardly And Muttley Looney Tunes Puppy In My Pocket Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show The Garfield Show Dexter’s Laboratory Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Ha Ha Hairies Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Wacky 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 Eliot Kid 07:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 07:15 Adventure Time 07:40 Regular Show 08:05 Grim Adventures Of...

08:55 Courage The Cowardly Dog 09:45 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 10:10 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 10:35 Powerpuff Girls 11:25 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 11:50 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 12:15 Ed, Edd n Eddy 13:05 Ben 10: Alien Force 13:30 Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders 13:55 Camp Lazlo 14:45 Powerpuff Girls 15:35 Angelo Rules 16:25 The Marvelous Misadventures...

16:50 Grim Adventures Of...

17:15 The Amazing World Of Gumball 17:40 Adventure Time 18:05 Regular Show 18:30 Ben 10 18:55 Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge 19:20 Hero 108 19:45 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 20:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 21:00 Ben 10: Alien Force 21:25 The Powerpuff Girls 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 02:00 03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30

Living Golf World Sport World Report World Report Backstory Talk Asia Fareed Zakaria Gps CNN Newsroom Eco Solutions News Special World Sport Inside Africa

08:00 World Report 09:00 World Report 10:00 World Sport 10:30 News Special 11:00 World Business Today 12:00 Backstory 12:30 African Voices 13:00 World One 14:00 Fareed Zakaria Gps 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 Global Exchange 19:00 World Sport 19:30 African Voices 20:00 International Desk 21:00 Quest Means Business 22:00 Amanpour 22:30 CNN Newscenter 23:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson

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

Unchained Reaction Unchained Reaction Chop Shop Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Border Security Auction Kings How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Hillbilly Handfishin’ When Fish Attack River Monsters Border Security Auction Kings Ultimate Survival Hot Rod Apprentice: Hard Wheeler Dealers Gold Rush Mythbusters How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Border Security Auction Kings South Beach Classics Hillbilly Handfishin’ When Fish Attack River Monsters: Special

00:35 The Future Of...

01:25 Mega World 02:15 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 02:45 Alien Encounters 03:35 Mega World 04:25 Catch It Keep It 05:15 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 05:40 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 06:05 Scrapheap Challenge 07:00 Prophets Of Science Fiction 07:50 Head Rush 07:53 Bang Goes The Theory 08:20 Sci-Fi Science 08:50 Sport Science 09:40 Smash Lab 10:30 The Gadget Show 10:55 The Gadget Show 11:20 Mega World 12:10 Powering The Future 13:00 The Future Of...

13:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 14:45 Smash Lab 15:35 The Gadget Show 16:00 Head Rush 16:03 Bang Goes The Theory 16:30 Sci-Fi Science 17:00 Sci-Trek 17:50 Sport Science 18:40 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 19:30 Brave New World 20:20 Mega World 21:10 The Gadget Show 21:35 The Gadget Show 22:00 Brave New World 22:50 Mega World 23:40 Sport Science

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25

Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents

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

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 Fish Hooks Recess So Random Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Handy Manny The Hive Mouk Recess So Random Hannah Montana Fish Hooks Jake & Blake Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Recess Jessie A.N.T. Farm Fish Hooks Suite Life On Deck Shake It Up Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Jessie A.N.T. Farm Avalon High Jessie A.N.T. Farm Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie So Random Suite Life On Deck Jonas Los Angeles Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Kim Possible

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:20 American Dragon 06:45 Rekkit Rabbit 07:10 Pokemon: Black And White 07:35 Phineas And Ferb 08:00 Phineas And Ferb 08:25 Pair Of Kings 08:50 Kick Buttowski 09:15 Zeke & Luther 09:40 I’m In The Band 10:05 Phineas And Ferb 10:15 Phineas And Ferb 10:30 Kid vs Kat 10:55 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 11:20 Aaron Stone 11:45 Rekkit Rabbit 12:10 American Dragon 12:35 Kick Buttowski 13:00 Phineas And Ferb 13:25 I’m In The Band 13:45 Kid vs Kat 14:10 Pair Of Kings 14:35 Zeke & Luther 15:00 Pokemon: Black And White 15:25 Iron Man Armored Adventures 15:50 Rated A For Awesome 16:15 Kickin It 16:40 Lab Rats 17:05 Lab Rats 17:30 Scaredy Squirrel 17:55 Phineas And Ferb 18:20 Phineas And Ferb 18:45 I’m In The Band 19:10 Kick Buttowski 19:35 Pair Of Kings 20:00 Zeke & Luther 20:25 Phineas And Ferb 20:50 Kid vs Kat 21:15 Aaron Stone 21:40 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 22:05 Phineas And Ferb 22:30 Kid vs Kat 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am KSA

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 E!es 02:20 15 Unforgettable Hollywood Tragedies 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 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 10:15 THS 12:05 Kendra 12:35 Kendra 13:05 Dirty Soap 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:35 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 Style Star 15:30 E!es 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Giuliana & Bill 17:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 18:55 E!es 19:55 Khloe And Lamar 20:25 Khloe And Lamar 20:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:25 Ice Loves Coco 21:55 Ice Loves Coco 22:25 Scouted 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The

RESTITUTION ON OSN ACTION HD

00:30 00:55 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:10 04:30

Stalked: Someone’s Watching I Was Murdered American Greed American Greed Scorned: Crimes Of Passion Stalked: Someone’s Watching I Was Murdered On The Case With Paula Zahn

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

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

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Street Patrol Street Patrol Murder Shift Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

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

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared I Married A Mobster Scorned: Crimes Of Passion Deadly Women: Face To Face Dr G: Medical Examiner

01:45 03:50 05:30 07:15 08:45 10:00 11:35 13:30 15:05 16:50 18:25 20:20 22:00 23:50

Eureka Cold Heaven A Prayer For The Dying-18 Seduced By Madness-18 Just Another Story-PG Mystery Date Comes A Horseman-PG Joey-PG Ned Kelly-PG Dust Factory-PG Play Dirty-PG Rocky Marciano-18 Married To It-18 Mgm’s Big Screen-FAM

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

Keeping Up With The Joneses

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

Around The World For Free Departures Banged Up Abroad Adventure Wanted Into The Drink Into The Drink Keeping Up With The Joneses Around The World For Free Departures Banged Up Abroad Adventure Wanted Into The Drink Into The Drink Keeping Up With The Joneses Around The World For Free Departures Banged Up Abroad 62 Days At Sea Into The Drink Into The Drink Keeping Up With The Joneses Keeping Up With The Joneses Deadliest Journeys Destination Extreme Don’t Tell My Mother City Chase Marrakech Treks In A Wild World Endurance Traveller

Keeping Up With The Joneses Around The World For Free Departures Banged Up Abroad Adventure Wanted Into The Drink Into The Drink Keeping Up With The Joneses Around The World For Free Departures Banged Up Abroad Adventure Wanted Into The Drink Into The Drink Keeping Up With The Joneses Around The World For Free Departures Banged Up Abroad 62 Days At Sea Into The Drink Into The Drink Keeping Up With The Joneses Keeping Up With The Joneses Deadliest Journeys Destination Extreme Don’t Tell My Mother City Chase Marrakech Treks In A Wild World Endurance Traveller

00:00 Megastructures 01:00 Trapped 02:00 Situation Critical 03:00 Megastructures 04:00 Nat Geo’s Most Amazing Photos 04:30 Nat Geo’s Most Amazing Photos 05:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 06:00 Sea Patrol 07:00 Air Crash Investigation 08:00 Megastructures 09:00 Trapped 10:00 Situation Critical 11:00 Megastructures 12:00 Machines Of War 13:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 14:00 Sea Patrol 15:00 Air Crash Investigation 16:00 Megastructures 17:00 Trapped 18:00 Situation Critical 19:00 Megastructures 20:00 Fight Science 21:00 Hunter Hunted 22:00 Banged Up Abroad 23:00 Air Crash Investigation

00:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 01:00 Monster Fish 01:55 Monster Fish

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN ON OSN CINEMA 02:50 Secret Shark Pits 03:45 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 04:40 Tiger Man 05:35 Deep Jungle 06:30 Monster Fish 07:25 Secret Shark Pits 08:20 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 09:15 Prehistoric Predators 10:10 Built for the Kill 4 11:05 Animal Autopsy 12:00 Shark Nicole 13:00 Salmon Wars 14:00 World’s Deadliest Snakes 15:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 16:00 Prehistoric Predators 17:00 Built for the Kill 4 18:00 Animal Autopsy 19:00 Monster Fish 20:00 Secret Shark Pits 21:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 22:00 Prehistoric Predators 23:00 Built for the Kill 4

08:00 08:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Emmerdale Coronation Street The Martha Stewart Show The View Bones Covert Affairs Live Good Morning America The Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street Suits Justified The Closer Luck Lights Out

00:00 The Heavy-18 02:00 The Killer Inside Me-18 04:00 Arachnophobia-PG15 06:00 Ladder 49-PG15 08:00 Riddles Of The Sphinx-PG15 10:00 Warriors Of Heaven And Earth-PG15 12:00 Fighting-PG15 14:00 Riddles Of The Sphinx-PG15 16:00 Restitution-PG15 18:00 Fighting-PG15 20:00 Devil-PG15 22:00 Jackass 3.5-R

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 Top Gear (US) Burn Notice Bones Covert Affairs C.S.I. Miami Psych Emmerdale Coronation Street Body Of Proof Top Gear (US) Bones Burn Notice Emmerdale Coronation Street Body Of Proof Unforgettable Emmerdale Coronation Street Body Of Proof Suits Justified The Closer Luck 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

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

Blood Out-18 Arachnophobia-PG15 Blood Out-18 Attack On Leningrad-PG15 Last Breath-PG15 Wild Bill-PG15 Triassic Attack-PG15 Last Breath-PG15 Salt-PG15 Jason X-18 Talento De Barrio-PG15 Circle Of Eight-18

The Making Of Plus One-PG15 The Cry Of The Owl-PG15 Waiting For Superman-PG15 Spud-PG15 The Making Of Plus One-PG15 Home-PG15 Like Mike-PG The Nanny Express-PG15 West Is West-PG15 The Company Men-PG15 Vampires Suck-PG15 Fast Five-PG15

00:00 Napoleon Dynamite 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 02:30 Angry Boys 03:00 The Simpsons 03:30 Last Man Standing 05:30 Til Death 06:00 Dharma And Greg 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:30 The Simpsons 09:00 Til Death 09:30 Two And A Half Men 10:00 Friends With Benefits 12:00 Dharma And Greg 13:00 Til Death 14:00 Last Man Standing 14:30 Friends With Benefits 15:00 Two And A Half Men 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 Raising Hope 19:00 Traffic Light 19:30 Happy Endings 20:00 Community 20:30 King Of The Hill 21:00 The Daily Show Global Edition 21:30 The Colbert Report Global Edition 22:00 Louie 23:00 Angry Boys 23:30 Community

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00

Bones Burn Notice Top Gear (US) Covert Affairs Lights Out The View Good Morning America The Practice

00:00 Lottery Ticket-PG15 02:00 Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale-PG15 04:00 Hanging Up-PG15 06:00 Little Secrets-PG 08:00 Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale-PG15 10:00 Kung Fu Dunk-PG15 12:00 Love Hurts-PG15 14:00 Bubble Boy-PG15 16:00 Kung Fu Dunk-PG15 18:00 Cool Runnings-PG15 20:00 Hot Tub Time Machine-18 22:00 Tomcats-18

01:15 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 12:45 15:00 17:00 19:00 PG15 21:00 23:15

Double Cross-18 Indecent Proposal-18 Soapdish-PG The Eclipse-PG15 At Risk-PG15 Freestyle (2010)-PG15 Glorious 39-PG15 At Risk-PG15 The River-PG15 Le Dernier Pour LA Route-

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

The Birth Of Big Air-PG15 Lord Of The Dance-PG Call Of The Wild-PG15 Jumping The Broom-PG15 Marmaduke-PG Grown Ups-PG15 A Family Thanksgiving-PG15 Alabama Moon-PG15 Marmaduke-PG Takers-PG15 Brothers-18 Fast Five-PG15

Thelma And Louise-18 All Good Things-18

00:00 Older Than America-PG15 02:00 Thor-PG15 04:00 Slipstream-PG15 06:00 Relative Stranger-PG15 08:00 The Winning Season-PG15 10:00 The Birth Of Big Air-PG15 12:00 Thor-PG15 14:00 Legendary-PG15 16:00 The Winning Season-PG15 18:00 Spy Kids: All The Time In The World-PG 20:00 Hereafter-18 22:15 Across The Hall-PG15

00:05 Shaft 01:50 The Carey Treatment 03:30 Pick A Star-FAM 04:40 They Died With Their Boots On-FAM 07:00 It’s Always Fair Weather-FAM 08:40 Hot Millions-FAM 10:25 A Day At The Races-FAM 12:15 Crazy From The Heart-PG 13:50 Beau Brummell-PG 15:40 Meet Me In Las Vegas-FAM 17:30 Vengeance Valley-PG 18:50 Viva Las Vegas-FAM 20:15 Sunday In New York-FAM 22:00 Whose Life Is It Anyway?

00:30 International Rugby Union 02:30 NRL Premiership 04:30 NRL Premiership 06:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 07:00 IRB Junior World Championship 11:00 Trans World Sport 12:00 Live NRL Premiership 14:00 Masters Football 17:00 IRB Junior World Championship 21:00 NRL Premiership 23:00 Masters Football

01:00 IRB Junior World Championship 03:00 Darts 07:00 Trans World Sport 08:00 NRL Premiership 12:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 12:30 International Rugby Union 16:30 Futbol Mundial 17:00 NRL Premiership 19:00 Super Rugby Highlights 20:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 21:00 WWE SmackDown 23:00 IRB Junior World Championship

00:00 AFL Premiership 02:30 ATP Tennis Aegon Championships 04:30 Rugby Union Pacific Nations Cup 06:30 IronMan 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 ATP Tennis Aegon Championships 10:00 AFL Premiership 12:30 Golfing World 13:30 IronMan 16:00 Rugby League International Origin 18:00 Golfing World 19:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 20:00 ATP Tennis Aegon Championships 22:00 Golfing World 23:00 AFL Premiership

00:00 01:30 02:00 04:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 12:00 14:30 15:00 17:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

V8 Supercars Mobil 1 The Grid WWE SmackDown UFC Unleashed WWE Bottom Line WWE Experience Prizefighter V8 Supercars V8 Supercars Extra WWE SmackDown UFC Prelims UFC UFC 147 Countdown UFC Unleashed

Classifieds MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JZR QTR JZR ETH RJA GFA UAE ETD THY DHX FDB MSR QTR JZR KAC THY JZR DHX JZR KAC BAW JZR KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY KAC QTR FDB ETD BAB KAC GFA IRC MEA JZR MSR MSC JZR JZR MSR KAC GFA FDB OMA KNE JZR QTR SVA MEA RJA KAC JZR KAC QTR SYR KAC KAC ETD UAE UAL GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY QTR IRA KAC KAC BAB KAC FDB MSC MSR KAC KAC KAC JAI KAC FDB MEA QTR GFA FDB ALK JZR UAE JZR ETD BBC ABY QTR DHX JZR AIC GFA UAL JZR TAR DLH CMB MSR THY KLM PIA

Arrival Flights on Monday 18/6/2012 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 267 BEIRUT 620 ADDIS ABABA 642 AMMAN 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 768 ISTANBUL 370 BAHRAIN 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 503 LUXOR 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 1541 CAIRO 170 BAHRAIN 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 529 ASSIUT 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 284 DHAKA 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 436 BAHRAIN 344 CHENNAI 213 BAHRAIN 6521 LAMERD 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 618 ALEXANDRIA 401 ALEXANDRIA 561 SOHAG 201 DAMASCUS 610 CAIRO 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 57 DUBAI 645 MUSCAT 472 JEDDAH 535 CAIRO 140 DOHA 500 JEDDAH 406 BEIRUT 640 AMMAN 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 546 ALEXANDRIA 134 DOHA 341 DAMASCUS 118 NEW YORK 538 SHARM EL SHEIKH 303 ABU DHABI 857 DUBAI 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 177 DUBAI 777 JEDDAH 127 SHARJAH 144 DOHA 3407 TEHRAN 542 CAIRO 786 JEDDAH 438 BAHRAIN 104 LONDON 63 DUBAI 405 SOHAG 620 ASSIUT 618 DOHA 674 DUBAI 742 DAMMAM 572 MUMBAI 774 RIYADH 61 DUBAI 402 BEIRUT 146 DOHA 221 BAHRAIN 59 DUBAI 229 COLOMBO 135 BAHRAIN 859 DUBAI 241 AMMAN 307 ABU DHABI 43 DHAKA 129 SHARJAH 136 DOHA 372 BAHRAIN 539 CAIRO 975 CHENNAI 217 BAHRAIN 981 BAHRAIN 239 AMMAN 327 TUNIS 636 FRANKFURT 514 HAHN 614 CAIRO 772 ISTANBUL 411 AMSTERDAM 239 SIALKOT

Time 0:15 0:20 0:50 1:45 2:10 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:50 2:55 3:10 3:20 3:25 3:55 4:10 4:35 4:55 5:00 6:00 6:15 6:30 6:40 7:15 7:45 7:50 8:05 8:20 8:25 8:30 8:45 9:00 9:20 9:30 9:35 9:45 10:00 10:15 10:55 11:05 11:25 12:00 12:25 12:30 13:30 13:40 13:40 13:45 14:00 14:15 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:05 15:15 15:55 16:00 16:10 16:35 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:30 17:40 17:45 18:05 18:10 18:15 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:45 19:00 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:30 19:35 19:40 20:00 20:15 20:25 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:15 21:15 21:20 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:10 22:25 22:35 22:40 22:55 22:55 23:10 23:30 23:35 23:40 23:40 23:45

Airlines AIC UAL DLH MSR JAI PIA THY ETH THY UAE FDB DHX ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR RJA JZR JZR GFA THY JZR KAC KAC BAW FDB JZR ABY KAC KAC UAE QTR FDB ETD BAB GFA IRC KAC KAC MEA JZR MSR KAC MSC KAC JZR GFA FDB MSR OMA KAC JZR KNE MEA KAC SVA RJA JZR QTR KAC KAC SYR ETD JZR QTR UAE JZR GFA ABY UAL SVA QTR IRA FDB BAB KAC MSC JZR MSR KAC JAI FDB KAC KAC MEA FDB KAC GFA JZR DHX ALK JZR ABY ETD UAE QTR KAC KAC JZR DHX BBC QTR GFA KAC TAR JZR

Depature Flights on Monday 18/6/2012 Flt Route 982 AHMEDABAD 981 WASHINGTON 637 FRANKFURT 615 CAIRO 573 MUMBAI 206 PESHAWAR 773 ISTANBUL 621 ADDIS ABABA 769 ISTANBUL 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 643 AMMAN 164 DUBAI 200 DAMASCUS 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 534 CAIRO 545 ALEXANDRIA 537 SHARM EL SHEIKH 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 126 SHARJAH 671 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 856 DUBAI 133 DOHA 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI 437 BAHRAIN 214 BAHRAIN 6522 LAMERD 541 CAIRO 165 ROME 405 BEIRUT 776 JEDDAH 619 ASSIUT 103 LONDON 406 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 220 BAHRAIN 58 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 646 MUSCAT 673 DUBAI 538 CAIRO 473 JEDDAH 407 BEIRUT 617 DOHA 501 JEDDAH 641 AMMAN 240 AMMAN 135 DOHA 773 RIYADH 741 DAMMAM 342 DAMASCUS 304 ABU DHABI 238 AMMAN 141 DOHA 858 DUBAI 134 BAHRAIN 216 BAHRAIN 128 SHARJAH 982 BAHRAIN 511 RIYADH 145 DOHA 3406 MASHHAD 64 DUBAI 439 BAHRAIN 501 BEIRUT 402 ALEXANDRIA 184 DUBAI 621 ALEXANDRIA 283 DHAKA 571 MUMBAI 62 DUBAI 331 TRIVANDRUM 351 KOCHI 403 BEIRUT 60 DUBAI 543 CAIRO 222 BAHRAIN 502 LUXOR 171 BAHRAIN 230 COLOMBO 1540 CAIRO 120 SHARJAH 308 ABU DHABI 860 DUBAI 137 DOHA 301 MUMBAI 205 ISLAMABAD 554 ALEXANDRIA 373 BAHRAIN 44 DHAKA 147 DOHA 218 BAHRAIN 411 BANGKOK 328 DUBAI 528 ASSIUT

Time 0:05 0:25 0:30 0:35 0:50 1:10 2:15 2:45 3:40 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 4:20 4:50 5:40 6:00 6:50 6:55 7:00 7:05 7:10 7:30 8:10 8:20 8:25 8:25 9:00 9:05 9:20 9:35 9:40 10:00 10:05 10:15 10:25 10:45 11:15 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:15 12:25 12:30 13:00 13:10 13:20 14:25 14:25 14:30 15:00 15:05 15:10 15:15 15:35 15:45 15:45 15:50 15:55 16:15 16:25 16:30 16:55 17:20 17:30 17:45 18:05 18:20 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 19:05 19:10 19:25 19:30 19:30 20:00 20:05 20:10 20:15 20:35 20:40 20:50 21:05 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:45 21:50 21:55 22:05 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:30 23:40 23:45 23:50

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

SITUATION WANTED English speaking maid Indian, Keralite looking for good job, transferable residence. Contact: 99921269/ 99433167. (C 4046) 16-6-2012 Accountant M.Com, PGDCA with 9 years experience (4.5 years in UAE) looking for a suitable job, with residence visa (Transferable) and UAE driving license. Contact: 50295386, Email: jijojamesa@gmail.com (C 4042) Australian man just arrived in Kuwait, speaks Arabic, looking for a senior job in Automotive, Restaurant, Hotel, Overseas buyer building. Contact: 60976100.

(C 4043) 12-6-2012

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available for bachelors, families or executive bachelor in Farwaniya, on the 6th Ring road, opposite Sears.

Contact: 97337658, 50540846. (C 4047) 18-6-2012 Spacious bedroom with separate bathroom available for sharing accommodation from June last onwards for Keralite couples in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom flat near United Indian School, Abbasiya.

Contact: 66846299.

(C 4045) 14-6-2012 A decent bachelor needs accommodation with Pakistani family room.

Contact: 90926037.

(C 4044) 13-6-2012 Sharing accommodation available for decent bachelor non-smoking, Amman Street, opposite to AlRashid Hospital. Contact: 66232356 / 50223132.

(C 4041) 11-6-2012 Sharing accommodation available for decent Kerala bachelor in Abbasiya near German Clinic. Contact: 66941892. (C 4039) 10-6-2012

MATRIMONIAL Orthodox parents invite proposal for daughter (25/158) MBA (finance), Sr. Analyst, Deloitte, Hyderabad. Email: johnsyk2003@yahoo.co.in (C 4048) 18-6-2012 Financially-sound ex-NRI parents invite proposals for their son 28/180, fair, B.Com and MBA (Finance) from a respected institution, employed in a reputed bank in Kuwait, from parents of professionally qualified, God-fearing girls, preferably MBA (Finance), M.Com or engineers.

Contact: dr.matt32@gmail.com 13-6-2012

SITUATION VACANT Required English speaking nanny/maid. Please Contact: 99824597. (C 4040) 11-6-2012

No: 15482

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

03:13 11:49 15:23 18:50 20:22

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

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 709

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) Learning what makes people tick interests you. Your instinctive orientation at this time is toward getting down to basics and starting over from scratch—healing comes from destroying the roots of a disturbance. This may mean that you will soon be successful in calling a halt to a bad habit. If you are interested in traveling to far away places, travel by water is a possibility. You may seek to understand and improve situations. Inventions, perhaps in communications, computers and electronics may be possible. You bring order and organization to areas where new development is taking place—also emergency situations. You can teach and help others to understand this as well. You appreciate your particular situation and you enjoy receiving support.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Your ideas and images about the environment around you make it easy for you to work with and teach others. You will understand and perform well with young people today. You have what it takes to create a supportive environment. You handle words and tell stories with a great deal of skill— others love to hear you speak or entertain. You may find yourself settling a dispute that, by any other means, could get out of hand. You are fare-minded and aboveboard, always direct and honest in thought. Neighbors or brothers and sisters will likely bring all kinds of good experiences your way. This evening you will enjoy cooking your own meal, having deep thoughts or dabbing in a bit of artistic landscape painting—maybe a little music.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. A kind of person.

4. A cloth having a crisscross design.

10. The bill in a restaurant.

13. The syllable naming the fifth (dominant) note of any musical scale in solmization.

14. United States swimmer who in 1926 became the first woman to swim the English Channel (1903- ).

15. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

16. (Welsh) Lord of Annwfn (the other world.

18. A tax on employees and employers that is used to fund the Social Security system.

19. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

20. A large fleet.

22. Administer baptism to.

24. A bluish shade of green.

25. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

27. (pathology) An elevation of the skin filled with serous fluid.

33. A self-funded retirement plan that allows you to contribute a limited yearly sum toward your retirement.

37. Flightless New Zealand birds similar to gallinules.

39. In the Arabian Nights a hero who tells of the fantastic adventures he had in his voyages.

42. The mountain peak that Noah's ark landed on as the waters of the great flood receded.

43. Of or relating to or characteristic of Monaco or its people.

45. Any of various deciduous or evergreen ornamental shrubs of the genus Abelia having opposite simple leaves and cymes of small white or pink or purplish flowers.

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

53. The front limb of a quadruped.

55. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

60. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

61. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

62. An amount of time.

64. A member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala.

65. The cry made by sheep.

66. A river that rises in northeastern Turkey (near the source of the Euphrates) and flows generally eastward through Armenia to the Caspian Sea. 67. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. (Old Testament) The second patriarch.

2. A large low horse-drawn wagon without sides.

3. Botswanan statesman who was the first president of Botswana (1921-1980).

4. Have a tendency or disposition to do or be something.

5. A public promotion of some product or service.

6. (sports) The chief official (as in boxing or American football) who is expected to ensure fair play.

7. Relating to or characteristic of a tribe.

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

9. A less than average tide occurring at the first and third quarters of the moon.

10. A sock with a separation for the big toe.

11. By bad luck.

12. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria.

17. A baton used by a magician or water diviner.

21. A state in northwestern North America.

23. A crystalline metallic element not found in nature.

26. A gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number).

28. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

29. A room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter.

30. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

31. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages.

32. A serve that strikes the net before falling into the receiver's court.

34. The former capital and 2nd largest city of Brazil.

35. A former copper coin of Pakistan.

36. The front of the head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear.

38. Knocked unconscious by a heavy blow.

40. A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk.

41. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters.

44. A hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion.

46. A linguistic element added to a word to produce an inflected or derived form v 1.

47. A soft yellowish-white trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group.

48. Wild or domesticated South American cud-chewing animal related to camels but smaller and lacking a hump.

49. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

50. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

52. A small cake leavened with yeast.

53. Informal terms for a mother.

54. A member of the Siouan people inhabiting the valleys of the Platte and Missouri rivers in Nebraska.

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

57. An accountant certified by the state.

58. (Irish) The sea personified.

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

60. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

63. An honorary degree in science.

Yesterday’s Solution

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Close relationships are beginning to take on more emotional depth, power and importance. You have more than just the gift of gab this Sunday. Words and ideas can transport and enchant. The imagination and sense of what connects all of life is felt in everyone’s speech and in the way words are exchanged. You love a good story and a sense of the mystical pervades every one you hear or you tell. You are at home in the world of myths and dreams; your mind soars on wings of the imagination. Your dreams and ideals are very important to you and you methodically go about putting them into practice. You may also find that you develop a knack for being in the right place at the right time—and that can win you the admiration of others.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) As a new cycle gets underway in your life, marriage and other close relationships give rise to great expectations. This is a time to enjoy and appreciate your ties to others. You are happy in most settings these days and can do without the extras in life that others seem to think are necessities. You enjoy surviving without the extras that others enjoy. You like to show others how you save money and keep yourself within the necessities. You may teach survival techniques and you may also decide to live in the survival type of existence, perhaps to save money for some special item. Your love of simplicity is good for politics too—it brings out a sense of honesty in a group. You may find yourself interested in many activities these days.

NON SEQUITUR

Leo (July 23-August 22) You demonstrate understanding and sensitivity to the needs of others today. You are in a good position to converse about certain groups and society matters. Perhaps you are involved in some sort of service regarding your neighborhood or community. Helping to create an interest in improved parks or bicycle paths around your community are the likely activities with which you become interested. While shopping this afternoon, you may teach a young person the art of making good choices. You compare prices and purchase quality products. In an interesting exchange of communication, this young person may give you new reasons or ways to enjoy and appreciate life. There are much laughter and lighthearted conversations this whole day.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Friends, family and young people occupy most of this day with you. You are appreciated and admired for your talents. Taking chances can bring big wonderful rewards. You could receive some help or advice as a real drive toward realizing your inner self and your life ambitions. You are able to cut through much of what is unessential and continue on with some real plans for the future. Also, a special relationship may develop with an authority figure or teacher. You are in a mood to enjoy some form of entertainment that you can share with others. A sociable, congenial, slightly frivolous orientation sets in this afternoon. This is a day of communication—the more that people want to hear your ideas, stories, etc., the more you are encouraged to create.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Finally, you have time for family and friends. You may enjoy getting away from routine to do something completely different with your loved ones today. Lovers, children and other people dear to you are emphasized. You are delightful and always manage to enchant others with your words and manner. You bring a sense of the beyond and mystical to any conversation. It is important for you to feel safe and you are very domestic with the love of family, home and kids. Supportive and nurturing, you use your intuition and gut instinct over thought and deliberation. Fiercely loyal, you are a street fighter when protecting your own interests or those you love. A trip to the zoo or some tourist attraction may be of interest today.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You are a real guide or pathfinder for others and your sense of truth and direction is very clear. You understand how to accomplish and solve many problems—your analytical powers are superb most days, but particularly today. You enjoy finding new avenues of inner growth and this could mean a trip to the library. You could find some deep discussions with your loved ones concerning career choices. It may be time to review and update your own resume or help someone else with a resume. Relationships are very important and can have a very decided influence on other areas of your life. The less challenges the better. However, you are successful in finding the truth of most matters particularly if they are emotionally challenging.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Your mind tends to settle on issues of security—home and family at this time. Obtaining and exchanging information takes on emotional significance. You and your neighbors may share in the renting of an electronic marking tool for identifying ownership of valuables. Photograph the things that are not easily marked. Good for you and for encouraging the neighbors. An interest in history, the past and nostalgia may be lifelong and it seems your interest flows over to family today. This may mean you enjoy studying your family history and background.

Some sort of gathering in the family today will help you to obtain some of the answers for which you have been looking. You enjoy this day; experimenting in the kitchen adds to the fun.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) This is a very lucky day for making plans or decisions and finding your way through just about any situation that may occur. Good advice from a guide or older person may be available. You converse with perfect skill and it is stimulating just being with you. You may be attending a lecture or educational demonstration today. Your high degree of mental concentration makes you an excellent student, able to excel in speaking, writing and all types of communication skills. Obtaining and exchanging information is important to you. This evening you are more involved with neighbors. You are very painstaking when it comes to partnerships and relationships of all kinds. You tend toward long-lasting friendships and your loyalty shows.

To

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You like other people and they can tell. Others value you for your sense of discrimination and kindness. You will find yourself working with groups of people today. Perhaps you will be lecturing, guiding or teaching. You always manage to bring the searing truth to group situations. Penetrating psychological analysis is your expertise. You are perceived as so intense that your presence in a group has a very decided effect. Others may feel that nothing is a secret from you. You will, however, find it easier to be more open minded. You are considerate, helpful and courteous. You enjoy communication in all its forms—spoken, written, via computers, etc. Put any reservations you may have aside; you will be successful in reaching your goals.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

This is a productive day, chiefly with group-related projects. You will receive a little boost through your friends today. Some sort of extra support or recognition is available. You may feel that the lines of communication are open. There is a fierce sense of loyalty for loved ones. You are protective and security-minded. You are very skilled at implementing change and improving existing circumstances. You will seek to understand and improve a difficult situation today by finding new but secure ways to better working conditions. Inventions and discoveries, particularly in communications, computers and electronics, may be possible. Stop your hobby or some other personal activity early enough to enjoy your loved one(s) this evening.

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n

112 GOVERNORATE

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

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

ST TAT TE OF KUW K WA AIT

Tel.: e 161

DIRECTORA AT TE GENE GENERAL OF CIVIL AVIA V ATION T METEOROLOGICAL DEP PA ARTMENT DA AY: Y Sunday

Ext.: 2627 262 - 2630

Expected Weather e for the Next 24 Hours BY Y DA AY:

Veery hot with variable wind changing to light to moderate south easterly later on wind, with speed of 12 - 35 km/h

BY Y NIGHT:

Humid weather especially over coastal areas with light to moderate south easterly to southerly wind, with speed of 15 - 35 km/h No Current Waarnings arnin

WARNING A MIN. REC.

KUW WAIT A CITY

45 °C

37 °C

KUW WAIT A AIRPOR RT

48 °C

33 °C

NUW WAISEEB A

44 °C

32 °C

WA AFRA

49 °C

34 °C

SALMI

48 °C

31 °C

ABDAL LY

50 °C

32 °C

JAL ALIY YAH A

49 °C

32 °C

FA AILAKA

44 °C

31 °C

25316254

AHMADI POR RT

39 °C

37 °C

Maidan Hawally

25623444

UMM AL-MARADEM

38 °C

31 °C

Bayan

25388462

WA ARBA A - BUBY YAN A

42 °C

31 °C

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

DA AY

DA AT TE

WEA AT THER

Jahra

24770319

Monday

18/06

New Jahra

24575755

Tuesday

West Jahra

24772608

Weednesday

South Jahra

24775066

Thursday

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

SFC. CHART

17/06/2012 0000 UTC

4 DA AYS Y FORECAST Temperatures MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

very hot + raising dust

49 °C

34 °C

NW

22 - 42 km/h

19/06

very hot

48 °C

32 °C

VRB-NE

08 - 30 km/h

20/06

very hot

47 °C

30 °C

VRB-SE

08 - 30 km/h

21/06

very hot

48 °C

30 °C

VRB-SE

10 - 32 km/h

PRA RA AYER Y TIMES

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WA AIT AIRPORT

Fajr

03:13

MAX. Temp.

47 °C

Sunrise

04:49

MIN. Temp.

29 °C

Zuhr

11:49

MAX. RH

22 %

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Asr

15:23

MIN. RH

Al-Omariya

24719048

Sunset

18:49

MAX. Wind

N.Kheitan

24710044

Isha

20:22

TOT TAL AL RAIINF FALL A L IN 24 HR.

Fintas

3900322

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

04 % SE 32 km/h 00 mm

17/06/12 02:23 UTC

V1.00

T1.06

PRIVATE CLINICS

Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

3729596/3729581

Neurologists Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

07:00

Issue Time

Plastic Surgeons

Al-Shohada’a

WWW.MET.GOV V.KW .

MAX. EXP P.

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

22418714

Fax: 24348714

17/06/2012

ST TAT TION

Al-Madena

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Deacon wins Bafta award dam Deacon “never thought” he’d win a BAFTA Award. The ‘Payback Season’ actor was stunned when he scooped the BAFTA Rising Star accolade earlier this year and though he has always been confident with his work, he was still shocked to get the coveted prize, which is awarded to emerging acting talent.

He said: “It was mad. I never thought that would happen if I’m being honest. “A lot of other stuff in my career I wasn’t really shocked that I had done really well. With my film ‘Anuvahood’, not to sound arrogant with it, but I always knew that if I could make it exactly how I wanted to make it, there would be a good chance that people would come out and support it. “Something like the BAFTA I didn’t see it coming. It really threw me a lot, I always felt that there was a massive connection between me and the people out there but I didn’t always feel that from the industry and I just think that that was just a nice kind of pat on the back. It felt amazing.” Adam shot to fame after appearing in 2006 movie ‘Kidulthood’ and admits the period following its release was “surreal” because the cult classic became so big so quickly. It was quite a surreal period. When we made ‘Kidulthood’, firstly I didn’t even think it would get released in the cinema, we thought it would be one of those films that go straight to DVD. “Before that we weren’t getting recognized all the time, it was kind of an overnight thing It was weird, it felt massive.” Payback Season’ is out now on DVD and Blu-ray through Revolver Entertainment.

A

Houston hid drug habit hitney Houston hid her drug habit from her friends and family in the weeks before her tragic death. The ‘I Will Always Love You’ singer - who had a history of substance abuse - was found dead in the bath tub of her hotel room in February after suffering a huge heart attack partly brought on by her cocaine abuse but those close to her thought she had been clean for two years.

Whitney’s pal and entertainment consultant Raffles van Exel said: “Whitney was good at hiding her drug habit. I -honestly thought she was clean in the two years before she died. Yes, she would have the occasional drink. And I knew she was taking painkillers and the anxiety drug Xanax. But I never suspected she was using hard drugs. “It really shocked me when

W

I found that out. And actually it made me quite mad because I thought, ‘Whitney, you had us all fooled.’

Everyone thought Whitney was in a good place and we never -imagined anything like this was going to happen.” However, Raffles said 48-year-old Whitney who had been using cocaine at the time of death had a premonition she was going to die. He told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: “But looking back, Whitney seemed to have a premonition about her death. She started carrying a Bible around everywhere she went and would read from it all the time.

“Also, she kept talking about ‘leaving’ America. I thought she meant she was going to Switzerland, where she had talked about living, but now I realize she meant she was leaving this world.”

Pearce thinks fatherhood is difficult uy Pearce thinks he “blows too hot and cold” to be a father. The ‘Prometheus’ actor - who has been married to wife Kate since 1997 - believes his moods are too inconsistent for him to ever become a parent, although he admits having a child is “one of the most incredible things in the world”. He said: “I’m not consistent enough to be a parent - I blow too hot and cold. Kate jokes that we’d end up on the news for throwing a child out of the window. “I completely acknowledge that having kids has got to be one of the most incredible things in the world, but it’s also really hard work.”

The 44-year-old star - who shot to fame as Mike Young in Australian soap ‘Neighbours’ in the late 1980s - believes admitting your own mistakes is important to having a lasting marriage, and he doesn’t think couples who ever take a break during their relationship should get back together. He added: “The secret to marriage is being prepared to put your ego aside and say you made a mistake and that you are sorry.

“When people have small fights and break up, I think it’s because they subconsciously know they don’t really want to be together.”

G

Minogue believes it’s destiny ylie Minogue says it was her “destiny” to become a star. The ‘All The Lovers’ singer recently celebrated 25 years in the showbiz industry and she believes it was always her fate to be a famous pop star. Kylie - who first shot to fame as a teenager playing Charlene Ramsay in Australian soap ‘Neighbours’ - said: “I’ve survived with determination and a bit of luck. I feel like this is what I was put here to do and it’s my destiny. So I just try to keep going and this experience has been beautiful.” The 44-year-old beauty recently looked back at all the memorabilia from her career and she said it was very emo-

K

tional. She added: “I don’t think many of us look back. Maybe once a year at Christmas the photo albums come out and you all go, ‘Oh remember when...?’ But I don’t spend too much time doing that. So this year we’ve gone through a lot of photos, a lot of footage, and yeah, it brought that back to me and when I saw images from when I did my first record and my first album, I was like, you are such a baby! It was a whole lot of mixed emotions for me.”

Barlow awarded OBE ary Barlow has been awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth. The Take That star was honored in the British Queen’s birthday list on Friday for his services to the entertainment industry and charity. His appointment comes just days after the hugely successful Diamond Jubilee concert which he organized to celebrate the Queen’s 60 year reign. Gary, 41 - who is also a judge on ‘The X Factor’ - said: “I’m absolutely thrilled and feel very privileged to be in the company of so many brilliant people who I know have received an OBE. Growing up I never dreamt that one day I’d be getting one myself.

“I enjoy every minute of the work I do, with a lot of it being a reward in itself, so for somebody to decide I should get recognized for that is just amazing.” Actress Kate Winslet was also honored, being made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). She said: “I am both surprised and honored to stand alongside so many men and woman who have achieved great things for our country.” Fellow actor Kenneth Brannagh was knighted - making him a Sir - for services to drama and Northern Ireland. He said his heart was “fit to burst,” at the accolade. Other recipients included actress Amanda Redman, 54, who was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) and ‘There’s Nothing Like This’ singer Omar, who was given an OBE.

G

Spice girls still close el C insists she’s “cool” with all the Spice Girls. The singer says she’s close to her former bandmates Victoria Beckham, Mel B, Geri Halliwell and Emma Bunton - and despite claims of friction between some members; Mel gets on with them all. She said: “Of course we have fallouts occasionally, like any group of friends. But personally for me, I’m cool with all the girls and all the girls are cool with me, so that’s good.” Mel says the girls try and get together as often as possible, but it can be quite difficult as they all live in different places - she, Emma and Geri all reside in London, England, Victoria is in Los Angeles in the US while Mel B is currently living in Sydney, Australia.

She added: “The four of us without Melanie B all saw each other in January. I saw Geri yesterday and Emma last week.

It’s hard to get all five of us at one particular time, but I see all of the girls.”

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Cruise wanted a film for his family om Cruise wanted to film ‘Rock Of Ages’ because his family love musicals. The ‘Mission Impossible’ actor - who plays an egotistical 80s rock legend called Stacee Jaxx in his latest film - has revealed he was pushed into the role by wife Katie Holmes and six-year-old daughter Suri because they are huge fans of musicals. He told The Daily Mirror newspaper: “Kate sings and dances and we kind of went through the history of musicals together. “And Suri loves ‘Hairspray’. I have watched it 15 times with her.” Tom, 49, had five hours of vocal coaching and three hours of dance lessons per day, as well as having to learn the guitar in order to prepare for the demanding role. He explained: “I needed to find out if I could really sing. Then I had to learn how to play guitar. I’m very

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good at air guitar and air drums, but I had never played an actual guitar. “I needed to find my own Stacee Jaxx. It was like learning a new sport.” Tom’s role in the ‘Rock Of Ages’ alongside comedian Russell Brand and Welsh beauty Catherine Zeta-Jones marks a comeback after his popularity dip following his eccentric behavior and public support of Scientology. The three-time Oscar-nominee reflected: “That time was interesting. It was that moment when the internet had really spun out. It was a learning experience for all of us. All you can do is learn and say, ‘This is the way it’s going to go from now on.’ Tom has just finished filming thriller ‘Jack Reacher’ and will also appear in upcoming films ‘Oblivion’, ‘The Magnificent Seven’ and ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Mission Impossible’ sequels.

Ora gets advice from Beyonce he 21-year-old singer - who is signed to the former Destiny’s Child star’s husband Jay-Z’s record label, Roc Nation - thinks the ‘Halo’ hitmaker is “amazing” for the way she can juggle work with raising her five-month-old daughter Blue Ivy. Rita said: “Beyonce comes into the studio when I’m recording. Beyonce’s there for advice if I’m struggling with a lyric or concept for a song. “I saw her the other day and she had her daughter in one arm and was still multitasking. She’s amazing.” Rita would love to collaborate with her peer, but there are also a host of other female stars she’d like to sing with. She added: “I adore Gwen Stefani. I’d love to do a duet with her. Beyonce’s up there too, of course. She and Madonna are legends, icons.

They’ll release music forever, they can do no wrong. “I’ve met Rihanna a few times and it’s all good vibes. I’d definitely like to work with her”.

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MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

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Lindsay Lohan tweets about ‘cute’ paramedics after exhaustion bout ctress Lindsay Lohan has taken to Twitter to explain a bout of exhaustion that led paramedics to be called to her hotel room, and she joked that emergency medical service personnel dispatched in such instances should at least be “cute.” The incident on Friday set celebrity websites and Twitter buzzing with unconfirmed reports the 25-yearold Lohan, who has struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, was rushed to a hospital. Her spokesman denied she was hospitalized and said she was treated at the hotel for exhaustion and dehydration. In a humorous Twitter message posted on Lohan’s site early on Saturday morning, the actress gave further explanation. “Note to self: After working 85 hours in 4 days, and being up all night shooting, be very aware that you might pass out from exhaustion and 7 paramedics might show up at your door,” read the post. “Hopefully they’re cute. Otherwise it would be a real let down.” Lohan had been working on a television movie, “Liz and Dick,” about the storied romance of actors Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

In his statement on Friday, Lohan’s spokesman, Steve Honig, said the actress had been taking a nap and that producers called paramedics out of concern when she did not emerge from her room on Friday morning. —Reuters

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Stage collapse in Toronto kills one ahead of Radiohead show man in his 30s was killed when an outdoor stage raised in a Toronto park for a concert of the British group Radiohead collapsed, police said Saturday. “Shortly after 4 pm, a partial piece of stage at Downsview Park collapsed,” a Toronto police spokesman said. “There is one person deceased.” Three other people were injured, including a man in his 40s who was hospitalized. The accident struck at Downsview Park about three and a half hours before the show was to start.

The concert was canceled and offi-

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cials opened a probe into the cause of the accident. Contrary to early speculation, there were no strong gusts of wind at the time the stage collapsed.

Police said they would not release the identity of the deceased until his family was informed. The victims were all part of a team installing projectors and speakers on the stage and on the metal scaffolding above the stage.

Police said that the accident took place one hour before ticketholders were allowed to enter the groundsbut could have been much worse had a crowd been there and panicked.

Radiohead posted a message on Twitter saying that: “Due to unforeseen circumstances tonight’s (show) at Downsview Park has been cancelled. Fans are advised not to make their way to the venue.” According to Radiohead’s official website, the Toronto concert was sold out.

Downsview Park can accommodate up to 40,000 spectators. —AFP

U2 guitarist could get a second chance at Malibu mansions he California Coastal Commission rejected a controversial proposal last year by U2 guitarist the Edge to build five mansions on a scenic bluff above Malibu, saying that it would scar a rugged ridgeline and harm sensitive habitat. Now, some of the same powerful lobbyists and lawyers behind the musician’s quashed development are working the halls of the Capitol to push a bill that could give the rock star another chance at his dream compound. Environmentalists and state agencies say that if the legislation becomes law, it will undermine the commission’s position on his project and also extend to the character and development of the entire California coast and to state public lands.

At issue is how government agencies determine property ownership and how they use the findings in deciding whether to approve development. Currently, the Coastal Commission has discretion to approve projects in environmentally sensitive areas _ and the size and nature of those developments depend on ownership. The agency is more inclined, for example, to turn down a developer seeking approval for a multi-home project than a property owner trying to build a single-family house.

Developers at times try to skirt the issue by claiming each homesite has a different own-

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er. They shield the identities through formation of limited liability corporations.

In the case of the Edge, whose real name is David Evans, the agency denied his plans because it said he was attempting to bypass environmental rules and maximize development by submitting five separate applications, each under a different corporate name. Under the bill, state agencies would have to accept as fact that the person holding the deed is the property owner. If the state sought to challenge true ownership, it

Here in a 2006 photo, U2 guitarist Edge has a second chance to prevail in his plans to build five mansions on bluff-top property on the Malibu coast in Los Angeles, California. —MCT

would be held to the same evidentiary standards that apply in the court system. The Coastal Commission and others argue that the standard would hamstring public agencies because they have none of the court system’s tools of discovery: subpoenas, depositions and sworn testimony. Sarah Christie, legislative director for the Coastal Commission, said the result would be a chilling effect on public agencies’ abilities to carry out their missions, giving any developers who game the system more clout and potentially leading to “more fragmented, inappropriate development” along the coast. Environmentalists cast the bill as a power grab by developers and special interests, including Evans. “The forces who want to maximize their profit above all else are seeking to rewrite the rules in such a way that ensures the state government has limited ability to oversee and to take care of our public trust resources,” said Adam Keats, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. The bill’s author, Democratic Assemblyman Ben Hueso, said he introduced the bill to rein in what he sees as an overzealous bureaucracy that uses arbitrary standards to block development, a notion shared by the California Chamber of Commerce and other business groups. —MCT

Lindsay Lohan walks into the Beverly Hills Courthouse for probation status hearing on Tuesday, July 6, 2010, in Beverly Hills, California. —MCT

‘Lola Versus’: Breaking up is so very hard to do liked the way “Lola Versus” takes the Lego-piece building blocks of a New York City relationship comedy and turns it into something more asymmetrical and ironic and interesting. This is a movie about reaching a point in life when you don’t know what to do next and you hope falling in love solves that. Lola (played with very complex charm by Greta Gerwig) is 29 and ready to settle down. She lives in the nice Brooklyn apartment of her boyfriend, Luke (Joel Kinnaman), who proposes. Complications ensue, and Lola finds herself back in the dating pool, half-crazy with bewilderment, desire, frustration and hope.

Lola’s re-entry to single life sets off a cascade of inter-dating among her network (including snarky, self-dramatizing Zoe Lister-Jones and a nice, shaggy singer played by Hamish Linklater) with hilariously awful results.

Through it all, Lola cannot give up on Luke, because she knows that he will love her again because she needs him to. Writer/director Daryl Wein and his co-screenwriter Lister-Jones fashioned their delicious script out of their friends’ dating horror stories. The film finds a nice balance between the astringent zingers (which are plentiful) and reality. I haven’t seen a rebound affair as comically humiliating as the hook-up between Lola and Nick (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). He recites Ani DiFranco lyrics in bed. He works at the most appalling profession this side of embalming. He will give you the fullbody chills. But hey, a girl who’s revenge-dating can’t always be picky.

All the supporting roles are fully fleshed and full of spontaneous energy, including Bill Pullman and Debra Winger as Lola’s iPad-toting, kom-

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bucha-drinking parents.

The casting helps this story enormously. If the lead actors were major stars, their romance would be blessed by divine mandate: We would feel they were made for each other. The rightness of this pair as lovers is less over-

would devise obstacles to keep its stars apart for 90 minutes. Here, the challenge is to show why, other than inertia, Gerwig and Kinnaman should stay together. The social pressures favoring marriage have evaporated.

Far from celebrating lifelong commit-

Actress Zoe Lister-Jones, left, (Alice) and Greta Gerwig (Lola) are seen on the set of the Fox Searchlight Pictures movie, “Lola Versus.” —MCT whelming. Lola has brains and beauty to spare, but she’s kind of a schnook, insecure about her holding power.

Gerwig is fearless in showing us Lola, warts and all. Luke has manly-sensitive cred as a painter, and he rocks his tight T-shirts, but he’s emotionally reticent.

We’re not being pressured to fall in love with them. We’re being invited to recognize certain elements of ourselves in them. A traditional movie

ment, this smart, laugh-out-loud comedy embodies its improbability.

Sometimes love works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Until we find something better, what else is there to do? —MCT

After 25 years, Blues Traveler gets by with a little help from its friends ou could almost hear Blues Traveler lead singer John Popper channeling Cher’s 1990s megahit “If I Could Turn Back Time” as he described getting ready for his band’s hectic summer tour schedule. “The (hassle) about the Blues Traveler repertoire that everybody likes, like ‘Hook’ and ‘Run-Around,’ especially ‘Hook,’ is that I wrote it in the highest note I could sing to show off how high I could sing, not realizing I would be doing that for the next 25 years,” Popper said. “I would like to go back in time and beat the (expletive) out of myself.” Blues Traveler, which cracked pop music’s Top 10 charts in the 1990s, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year with a barnstorm tour of state fairs, summer music festivals, amphitheatres and pavilions. The fivemember band from Princeton, N.J., is a quarter-century older but it is also light years wiser, Popper says, as evidenced by the release of its latest album, “Suzie Cracks the Whip.” The curiously titled collection stays true to the Blues Traveler jam-rock sound, from Popper’s distinctive vocals - albeit in a more sustainable range - to his virtuoso harmonica solos. But the album represents a change for a band that was a fiercely self-contained unit that wrote, performed and produced its own songs.

For “Suzie,” Blues Traveler turned for the first time to a small crew of collaborators to assist with the songwriting and production duties. The cast of helping hands included Spin Doctors lead singer Chris Barron and Sam Hollander and Dave “Sluggo” Katz, who produced hits for Katy Perry. “In the past, our concept (at least in our minds) had always been to be

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like some misguided homage to the Beatles and write and produce everything in-house, but as the band progressed it felt like we were drawing from the same well over and over,” Popper said.

as a romantic endeavor, took on the feel of 9-to-5 workaday drudgery for Popper, guitarist Chan Kinchla, bassist Tad Kinchla, keyboardist Ben Wilson and drummer Brendan Hill. “Somebody in the

to that song, they were working on the next piece of music. Everyday I’d be in my car with a CD of what they did yesterday, writing up the songs. It becomes an assembly line and it was getting to the

The five-member band, Blues Traveler, from Princeton, New Jersey will tour this summer. —MCT “And somehow, because we’ve always done things our way, we’ve gotten sort of oblivious to what the music scene does. It was a mistake on our part to think we have to do everything by ourselves.”

Writing songs, which fans often imagine

band would bring some sort of musical idea, the band would go through this machinery where everyone would figure out their parts,” Popper recalled. “They would give it to me and I’d write words to it the next day. While I was writing words

point that the band and me would barely see each other.”

Letting fresh eyes and ears in on the creative process and trying a different approach in making their music was like discovering a “new vein” in what was

thought to be a tapped-out gold mine, Popper said “S (ASTERISK)A(ASTERISK)M(ASTERISK) and Sluggo helped remind us about what was cool about Blues Traveler in the first place,” Popper said. “It’s easy to forget what’s cool about yourself after so many years of being you.”

While the music-making process got stale for Blues Traveler prior to “Suzie,” performing live never did. The band lives for live shows and Popper prepared for this summer’s tour by putting his vices on the shelf to help preserve his throat for the punishment it will endure from singing and harmonica playing. “It’s a beating, especially when you’re trying to sing a repertoire that you’re known for doing since you were 24,” said Popper, 45.

“I can do it if I really hunker down and focus. That means not just giving up smoking cigarettes, but everything. I probably have to lay off the booze, too.

Basically, the image I’m going for is Steve McQueen in the prison cell in ‘The Great Escape’ where he’s bouncing a ball. After every show, I’m going to go to the back lounge and bounce a ball and just keep focused. In September, I get to go crazy again.”

The band’s front man has been more health-conscious since having angioplasty in 1999 to clear an artery that was 95 percent blocked. He’s dropped from a high of 436 pounds to his current svelte form following gastric bypass surgery. —MCT

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

lifestyle T r a v e l

By Carol Pucci

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here they make dough from scratch-enough for more than 100 pizzas-and chop mountains of local herbs and vegetables. Then, on Saturday morning, they pack up a trailer with firewood and a pizza oven fashioned from a propane tank cut in half and capped with a recycled mooring buoy. John Shelley calls their mobile pizza parlor a “no bank-loan restaurant.” Others might call it a business model for living your dream during challenging economic times.

With hundreds of local entrepreneurs working in backyards, home kitchens and on family farms to come up with new ways to sell everything from pizza to pickled vegetables, Washington state’s farmers markets are more than just places to pick up lettuce and strawberries.

Home cooks tempt with stands selling Ethiopian stews, Mexican tamales and Indian curries. Craftspeople arrive with scarves made from locally sourced lambs wool and wooden furniture stained with British tea. Take the time to chat, and you’ll find every vendor has a story. “Every farm and every family hammers out their own way of making it work,” says the Heirloom Cattle Company’s Dan Peplow, a fifth-generation Mennonite rancher in the Yakima Valley.

Feeling inspired, or just hungry? Grab an empty cooler or a picnic basket and plan a day trip to one of the state’s more than 150 farmers markets.

Here’s our take on five worth the drive: Port Townsend Farmers Market 620 Tyler St, in Uptown Port Townsend.

Hours: 9 am-2 pm Saturdays, April-December. (Also 3-6 pm, Wednesdays, June 20 through September; and in Chimacum, Jefferson County, 10 am-2 pm on Sundays, May 20 through October.) See www.ptfarmersmarket.org.

Drive time from Seattle: About two hours, including a 30-minute ride aboard the Bainbridge Island ferry from Seattle’s Pier 52.

What’s special: With 70 vendors, including cider makers, bakers, farmers and artists, this market earned the “Market of the Year” designation from the Washington State Farmers Market Association in 2011.

What to eat: Don’t leave without buying a cheese stick from Pane d’Amore. The footlong snack is like an adult version of a licorice twist, easy to hold and whittle down in seconds. Worth bringing home are goats-milk cheeses from Mystery Bay Farm on Marrowstone Island, jars of kimchi from Midori Farm and pastries from Romanian baker Anca Hasson.

Candles from Honey Bear Farm are for sale at the Olympia Farmers Market in Olympia, Washington. — MCT photos Making a day of it: Picnic on the beachfront at nearby Fort Worden State Park, or leave the car parked and walk to quiet Chetzemoka Park, with gardens and a kids’ play area.

Save time for a stop at the Finnriver Farm & Cidery tasting room in Chimacum.

Bainbridge Island Farmers Market Town Square at City Hall Park.

Hours: 9 am-1 pm Saturdays, mid-April through midDecember (until 2 pm July through Labor Day). See www.bainbridgefarmersmarket.com.

Drive time from Seattle: None. Just walk on the Bainbridge Island ferry. The market, with 40 food and craft vendors, is a 10-minute stroll from the Winslow ferry dock.

What’s special: The feeling of being in a rural village

Alison Metheny, left, and Scuff Acuff perform during the Scuff & Al Show at the Olympia Farmers Market in Olympia, Washington.

just 30 minutes from downtown Seattle. Out-of-town guests love this trip. They get a ferry ride, a waterfront stroll and a picnic lunch, all in a few hours.

What to eat: Bainbridge Island Barbeque’s Gregory Epstein starts the morning taking orders for 16 types of omelets. This year he’s adding a “Toss of the Day,” a salad composed of vegetables from market vendors. Fill your picnic basket with fresh-picked berries. Add chevre made from the milk of Nubian ewes raised on the Port Madison Goat Farm and Dairy, and bread from Terra Bella Farm, and you’ve got lunch.

Making a day of it: Picnic at Eagle Harbor’s Waterfront Park, then circle back to town for a browse through the galleries and shops along Winslow Way. Make a dessert stop at Mora Iced Creamery and a scoop of its signature blackberry ice cream.

Olympia Farmers Market 700 Capital Way N and Market Street.

Hours: 10 am-3 pm Thursday-Sunday, April-October; Saturday-Sunday, November-December.

See www.olympiafarmersmarket.com.

Drive time from Seattle: About an hour south on Interstate 5. Take Exit 105 toward Port of Olympia.

What’s special: With 90 vendors, this is one of the region’s largest markets, drawing farmers, bakers, chefs, musicians and artists from four counties. Most of the market is under cover, so no problems if it’s raining.

What to eat: There’s always a line at Wagner’s European Bakery for strawberry mounds, big squares of puff pastry filled with Bavarian cream and topped with fresh berries.

Johnson’s Smokehouse tempts with pepperjack-sausage sticks. Sullivans Homestead fills huge bins with apples and onions from Eastern Washington.

Making a day of it: Stop for a coffee tasting at Batdorf & Bronson roasters, then stroll the boardwalk along Budd Inlet or take a walk around Capitol Lake. Detour at a path that leads to the state Capitol and take a free tour.

Bellingham Farmers Market Depot Market Square, 1100 Railroad Ave. Hours: 10 am-3 pm Saturdays, April through Dec 22, (Also noon-5 pm Wednesdays in Fairhaven, June through Sept 26,) See www.bellinghamfarmers.org.

Drive time from Seattle: About 1.5 hours. Follow Interstate 5 north. Exit on State Street.

What’s special: The market celebrates its 20th anniversary with cooking demos, kids’ vending days and 20-percent discounts on the first Saturday of the month.

What to eat: Pick up spicy spring greens and strawberries from Gretchen Woody, who puts her sustainable-agriculture degree to work at Spring Frog Farm. Backyard Bees sells honey extracted from urban hives. Ethiopian-born Mulunesh Belay treats marketgoers to her mother’s recipe

for lentil stew.

Making a day of it: Stroll along a paved trail and picnic at Boulevard Park on Bellingham Bay. Cliff-hugging Chuckanut Drive makes for a scenic detour back to I-5.

Kittitas County Farmers Market Downtown Ellensburg, Fourth Avenue between Pearl and Ruby streets.

Hours: 9 am-1 pm Saturdays, May-October. See www.kittitascountyfarmersmarket.com.

Drive time from Seattle: About two hours. Follow Interstate 90 east to Exit 109 toward Ellensburg.

What’s special: The drive through the Cascade Mountains over Snoqualmie Pass into the flat, grassy plains that define Eastern Washington. This is cattle country and the place to stock up on grass-fed beef and lamb.

What to eat: Mennonite ranchers Dan and Sarah Peplow are back this year with frozen steaks from cattle fed on grasses and plants native to their ranch on the Yakama Nation reservation. Slabs of halloumi cheese and Greekstyle feta come from sheep and goats raised at the Tieton Farm & Creamery.Making a day of it: You’ll find shaded picnic areas and trails at Irene Rinehart Riverfront Park along the Yakima River. Just east of town is Puget Sound Energy’s Wild Horse Wind Farm, with a visitors center and free tours.

— MCT

Even if it’s pouring rain outside, it’s warm and dry inside the Olympia Farmers Market in Olympia, Washington.

Tulips for sale at the Olympia Farmer’s Market are from Independence Valley Farm in Rochester, Washington.

Professor Bamboozle tips his hat to Brenden Craig, 5, at the Olympia Farmers Market in Olympia, Washington. At left is Brenden’s nanny, Erin Meade.

Carly Thornburg, who works at Blue Heron Bakery at the Olympia Farmer’s Market in Olympia, Washington, practices juggling on a slow day at the market on April 12, 2012.

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

lifestyle T r a v e l

Two cyclists pedal along Lake Michigan in Chicago, during the early morning hours.

Visitors enjoy the Ferris Wheel and Wave Swinger at Chicago’s nearly century-old Navy Pier.

Cars of the Ferris Wheel are seen at Chicago’s nearly century-old Navy Pier. Admission is free and Navy Pier is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It is one of several free activities/things/places visitors can enjoy in Chicago. — AP photos

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t may be known as the Windy City, but cash need not go flying from your pockets when you visit Chicago. From the shores of Lake Michigan to the sidewalks along the Magnificent Mile, you can find outdoor family fun along with history and culture without spending a cent. Here are five free things to do.

The Mile A walk along the Magnificent Mile is a great, free way to take in Chicago’s history and architecture. Start at the bridge over the Chicago River on Michigan Avenue and walk 13 blocks north to Oak Street. Check out the historic bridge towers and take in the view of two of Chicago’s most famous skyscrapers, the Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower. Dozens of stones from around the world are embedded in the Tribune Tower, from places ranging from the Alamo to Egypt’s Great Pyramid to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The Chicago Water Tower, near the northern end of the Magnificent Mile, now serves as a city visitor’s center, but it’s also a historic landmark as one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The mile is also home to 460 stores (some of the ritziest in the country), 275 restaurants, 23,000 hotel rooms in 60 hotels and five museums.

A group of children admire the flamingos at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo.

By Josh Noel

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he first rule of shopping in the centuries-old markets of Istanbul is this: The asking price is merely a suggestion. In fact, it’s barely a suggestion. A price is equivalent to a declaration that a merchant is open for business. But you will not pay that number, and he-it is always a he-does not expect you to. The second rule is to walk away, because the mere act of turning is the most effective method of chipping away at that price.

Merchants expect you to walk away, and if you don’t, they probably pity you. For instance, a colorful brass lamp on sale for 30 Turkish lira, or about 16 US dollars, becomes 25 lira, then 20 lira and then 15 lira before you retreat five steps. When you truly have no interest in the lamp, you begin feeling guilty for having ever entertained the thought of buying it.

The third rule-and this is the most essential, maddening and amusing rule-is that you’re never done negotiating. You might think you are done; you might think you have won. You’re not done, and you haven’t won. Consider an afternoon spent walking through the historic halls of Istanbul’s most famous market, the teeming Grand Bazaar, amid throngs of people and past crammed stalls as merchants chirp, “Excuse me, lady, very nice!”

Or, “Here-for your mother-in-law!”

When my travel companions and I came upon the bazaar’s hundredth stack of brightly colored ceramic bowls that make ideal gifts for the folks back home, we got down to literal and figurative business. Our spiritual leader, a Manhattan mergers and acquisitions guy who has negotiated his way through countless Asian markets, did the talking, and he got the price down to what seemed reasonable: 3 lira apiece for 18 of the little bowls (down from the marked price of 7 lira) and 15 lira for three larger bowls (down from 25). By our math, it totaled 99 lira.

Then our salesman, a stylish man in his 20s with gelled hair and a thin beard, punched some numbers on a calculator and asked for 144 lira. “No,” I said, “that doesn’t seem right.” He punched the buttons again and came back with 129 lira. Then I took the calculator and did the math: 99 lira.

“Oh, yes,” he said. “I am very tired today.” From your first step onto the bazaar’s white marble floor, there is no mistaking where you are: a living, breathing nexus of sport-meets-history-meetsentertainment. You might want to buy a thing or two-knockoff Derrick Rose jersey? $10,000 rug? — but even if you don’t, the markets are an essential stop. Turkish markets are enjoyable like Las Vegas is enjoyable: The reward isn’t simply being a part of the crowd, it’s taking a step back to appreciate the crowd-the people, the doing, the unlikeliness of it all.

In this case, the unlikeness is shopping as sport, a sport barely disturbed by the outside world; when prayers echo through the city streets, as they do several times a day, no one in the markets seems to notice. Early in the day and during the week, you’re free to move easily between stalls, through the long hallways and beneath the photos of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s first president. The merchants consider eye contact an invitation to pitch

The Pier Chicago’s nearly century-old Navy Pier has transformed from a military training facility to a destination for 8.6 million visitors a year. The stretch of pier that juts into Lake Michigan features shopping, dining, theater and is the departure point for boat rides and cruises. The pier is home to the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Chicago Children’s Museum, an IMAX movie theater and a 150-foot tall Ferris wheel.

Navy Pier is also tourist central for Chicago, with bicycle rentals for lake parks and paths; a carousel and Segway tours; boutiques, carts and stores filled with souvenirs; and dining at popular chain restaurants as well as local favorites.

The Lakefront Looking to swim, bicycle, run, rollerblade, play volleyball or go sailing? Head to Chicago’s Lake Michigan shoreline. The Chicago Park District maintains 26 miles (42 kilometers) of lakefront property.

Beaches are free, open late May to early September, with lifeguards on duty 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Among the most popular of Chicago’s nearly two dozen beaches are Oak Street Beach and Ohio Street Beach near downtown.

Ten harbors also dot the Lake Michigan coast in Chicago with accommodations for about 6,000 boats. Cyclists, runners and rollerbladers will appreciate the Lakefront Trail, which runs paved for 18 miles from Hollywood Avenue on the North Side to 71st Street on the South Side. The trail offers parks, beaches, gardens and statues.

Visitors at Chicago’s Millennium Park enjoy the sculpture ‘Cloud Gate,’ also known as ‘The Bean’.

The zoo Families flock to the 49-acre (20-hectare) Lincoln Park Zoo a few miles (kilometers) north of downtown Chicago. It’s one of just a handful of free zoos in America, home to 200 species, from outdoor exhibits of tigers, monkeys and sea lions, to indoor pavilions for birds, penguins and reptiles.

There’s also a children’s zoo and an African-themed section with dwarf crocodiles, pygmy hippos, meerkats and warthogs. — AP

The Parks Chicagoans consider Grant Park and Millennium Park the city’s front yard. The parks comprise hundreds of acres along southern Michigan Avenue filled with gardens, public art and views of the city

their wares. The cheaper the wares, the more aggressive the pitch.

Later in the day, and particularly on weekends, the scene becomes elbow to elbow, with what appear to be some locals crushed alongside camera-wielding tourists. Everyone is looking for the same thing: deals.

The maze of stalls makes the number of options virtually uncountable, and the variety is vast-as is the quality. The $10,000 rug probably is worth the money (well, after you bargain it down a couple grand). But the stall crammed with an array of leatherperhaps I should say “leather”-Nike, Converse, Vans and Asics shoes-perhaps I should say “Nike,” “Converse,” “Vans” and “Asics”available for 50 or so lira per pair are worth skepticism. When the shoe merchant saw my intrigue fade, he squeezed my shoulders and said, “Why not, my friend?”

The real answer was that I was concerned about the quality of

Visitors check out a giraffe at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo.

lessly provide samples. It is more fun to discover your favorite flavors of Turkish delight-chocolate covered, yes, and poppy seed too-than haggle over a T-shirt.

We quickly settled on a clean, roomy stall recently updated with recessed lighting and clean glass shelves. Dried fruit, nuts and bright, colorful spices lined the walls. A round-faced man approached and introduced himself as Super Mario. When we said we were American, he said he lived in Laguna Beach, Calif, in 1975. “Today is my birthday!” he added. Super Mario gave us tastes of anything we wanted: half a dozen types of Turkish delight, pinches of spice and small handfuls of nuts. “You know where the almonds come from?” he asked. “California.”

I appreciated the honesty, even as one of his colleagues told another customer that, sure enough, it was his birthday too. We came to like Super Mario as he guided us to the three or four spices we bought, sealing the deal with several handshakes. The

The Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, satisfies the senses and samples are abundant.

the shoes. While a full-body green track suit bearing an Adidas logo (I was so tempted) or polo shirt featuring the Izod alligator might not be an unreasonable risk, shoes sourced from questionable roots seemed unwise. Instead I just said, “Today is not the day.” Before the man’s hands were off my shoulders, he said to the next customer, “Hello, my friend! How may I help you?”

Though the Grand Bazaar is Istanbul’s most famous market, partly because of its size, age and location in the central tourist district near the famed Blue Mosque, it is hardly the only one.

About half a mile from the Grand Bazaar is another famous stop: the Spice Bazaar. It’s among the most sensory experiences you can have in Istanbul, filling the nose with smells of zesty herbs and the mouth with flavors of which salesmen are happy to end-

If you go

Visitors to Chicago’s Millennium Park cool off by the Crown Fountain.

and Lake Michigan. Grant Park is home to the iconic Buckingham Fountain and hosts summer food and music festivals. It offers easy access to The Art Institute of Chicago, Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium.

Most afternoons Millennium Park is filled with children splashing at Crown Fountain or tourists snapping pictures of “Cloud Gate” - the reflective, shiny statue more widely known as “The Bean.”

Crowds gather under the crisscrossed canopy at Pritzker Pavilion on summer evenings to hear music and in winter for an ice rink.

A group of children are seen at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo.

next day, deciding we were still a few spices short, we returned to the Spice Bazaar and headed straight for Super Mario’s stall. He brightened at seeing us, and I asked if it was still his birthday.

“Again it is my birthday!” he said. We spent half an hour tasting more spices before selecting a few to have vacuum-sealed for the long flight home. “Super Mario, just give us your best price and we’re all set,” I said. Super Mario punched some numbers on a calculator and showed it to us. We paid it. He threw in a box of apple tea to say thanks.—MCT

Expect to haggle with vendors over every purchase at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey. — MCT photos

T

hough the Grand Bazaar is an essential stop for visitors to Istanbul, many markets are worth your time, and they’re in business every day of the week.

Carsamba Pazari (Wednesday Market) — In the city’s Fatih neighborhood, this market boasts more than 4,800 stalls and 2,500 mobile street vendors. It’s one of the city’s oldest and best-known markets.

Sali Pazari (Tuesday Market) — In the Kadikoy neighborhood, on the city’s Asian side, it is also one of Istanbul’s largest.

Cicek Pazari (Flower Market) — It sits beside the Spice Bazaar.

Horhor Bit Pazari (Flea Market) — It is several stories of more than 200 stores heavy on furniture and antiques.

— MCT

Stage collapse in Toronto kills one ahead of Radiohead show

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

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Olympic track and field athletes will wear uniforms at the London Summer Olympics that Nike says could shave up to 0.023 seconds off 100-meter sprint times - a difference that could have elevated Walter Dix from bronze to the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics. Dix still wouldn’t have caught the fastest man in the world that day. Usain Bolt of Jamaica simply ran away from the field in the final, setting a world record that he would later break again.

But maybe these uniforms, with dimples that mimic a golf ball, could help the Americans close the gap on Bolt and his training partner, Yohan Blake. The company said its tests showed an unexpectedly big difference in the 100-, 200- and 400 meter races. The outfits were unveiled Thursday evening in New York.

“We couldn’t believe the numbers,” said Martin Lotti, Nike’s Olympics creative director. “That’s not just the difference between first and second place, it’s about making the podium.” The added texture might seem counterintuitive, but the company studied the aerodynamics of golf balls and found the textures and dimples make it more efficient. Patterned patches are on the forearm and leg, the fastest-moving parts of the body. “The logical thing would have been to make it smoother or use lighter materials, but we challenged ourselves to think differently,” Lotti said. Spyder made a similar claim with speed suits in Vancouver for skiers - and the Americans had one of their best showings in Alpine. The Speedo LZR Racer that Michael Phelps and teammates donned for the 2008 Beijing Olympics made a mockery of world records.

“It’s a sport of hundredths and thousandths - there has been no great leap forward in track and field, like the suits swimming had,” said Jill Geer, chief communi-

cations officer for USA Track and Field. “But if there is a possible benefit of shaving some amount of time off of a performance, that’s fantastic.” Geer said Nike includes USA Track and Field athletes in the process and is serious about helping athletes perform at their best, but she said the athletes are just as focused on “having the letters U-S-A across their chests and representing their country.” “For an athlete who puts on the uniform, maybe the knowledge it might make them two-hundredths of a second faster, that information alone might be enough to make them run faster,” she said.

The shoe worn by marathon runners will also save about 19 percent of its old marathon shoe weight - or about the weight of a car over the 40,000 steps typically taken in a marathon, Lotti said. The shoe comes from a complete shift in the manufacturing process, which results in a single, seamless knit upper. A traditional sneaker is put together more like a puzzle piece, with multiple patches glued or stitched together. The glue or stitching adds weight, he says. Nike also wanted to create greener uniforms - the speedsuit’s material comes from the nylon from 13 recycled water bottles. The basketball uniform is made from 22 bottles. Nike also revealed three medal-stand uniforms for different athletes for the Olympics, which start next month.

Track cyclists, sailors and synchronized swimmers are among those who would wear a silver jacket and pant; basketball players and soccer players, as well as handballers and water polo players, would be in a navy, satiny tracksuit; and archers, equestrians and wrestlers would be in a bomber-style jacket that’s designed as a nod to a varsity letterman jacket. “The outfits should be celebratory,” said Lotti. “You don’t want it to be a standard training outfit. ... It’s an opportunity for athletes to

shine.” After soliciting input from athletes and getting to know their personal stories, Lotti said a one-size-fits-all approach wasn’t going to cut it for him and his design team for the London Games this summer. “It not how things are anymore,” he said.

Of course, the commonality among all Team USA members is their home country, so Americana also was to have a starring role. The flag is on the same spot on the arm for all of the athletes’ clothes, not just the winners’ jackets but on the uniforms, too. And “United States of America” is written on the back. But there is no cliche red, white and blue. “We wanted to elevate it. I think of it more like a Corvette, a pickup truck and a Cadillac. They’re all different and have different looks, but they are all distinctly American.” Designers also drew inspiration from another point of American pride: the image of astronauts as they walk as a “team” just before embarking on a mission. “It’s a moment when you are proud of your country and at the pinnacle of human potential,” Lotti says. Consumer versions of Olympic apparel and accessories will be available this summer. Ralph Lauren is designing Team USA’s opening and closing ceremony uniforms, as well as the casual clothes they’ll wear in the Olympic Village. — AP

ritish menswear designers added a modern twist to their usual classic tailoring on the second day of London’s first ever stand-alone fashion week for men, with clashing prints and bright jewel tones dominating the catwalks. Scottish designer Jonathan Saunders showcased his latest collection in an intimate setting, with models lounging on reflective benches sporting round colored glasses and slicked hair.

The designer said he was inspired by musician David Bowie’s bold use of color, texture and prints for his latest showcase, which featured classically-cut pinstriped blazers in tropical hues and geometric patterns emblazoned on shirts. “He is the coolest man ever. I think what’s interesting about him is that he managed to wear color and textiles and print, and things that were quite brave but still looked masculine and sexy,” Saunders told Reuters.

“It’s a tricky thing to do, to balance those ... elements, within the collection. I hope we managed it.”

The designer also added that he hoped his work reflected a fresher air of modernity rather than the usual heritage status associated with menswear in the UK. “I think it’s modernity as opposed to heritage.

There’s always an element of classicism. That is always a reference. But I think to be modern, as a man, is so crucial, and that where I aim to take the brand.”

Models at E. Tautz breezed down the catwalk in bright jewel tones of fuchsia, saffron and cobalt, dressed in sharply tailored suits and bold capes.

Musician Tinie Tempah finished the day with a intimate gathering on the rooftop of luxury department store Selfridges which featured a plush green carpet of fake grass and a giant glittering disco ball.

Celebrating his latest collection, collaboration with fashion brand MHI, Tinie Tempah told Reuters his inspiration for the range was based on trying to emulate Americana style with an English twist.

The musician added it was refreshing to see so many people in the menswear industry finally getting the recognition they deserved during the threeday event. “There are so many people that are doing so many incredible things, that never really saw the light of day before, and I think it’s great that all those people, even the people who are cutting the suits and putting them together, are getting the sort of attention they deserve.”—Reuters

Amapo

Lebanese-Ivorian designer Elien Kuame poses with a model on June 16, 2012 after presenting his collection at the 10th Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital. — AFP photos

Egyptian designer Titi

Morroccan designer Meireym Boussiko