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NO: 15603- Friday, October 19, 2012

Ex-MPs in hot water See Page 9

KUWAIT: (From left) Former MPs Bader Al-Dahoum, Falah Al-Sawwagh and Khaled Al-Tahous are seen after they were arrested yesterday. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Just kiddin’, seriously

Kuwait’s my business

Kuwait: What a lot of gas!

Kuwait’s MLS: Who will start it?

By Sahar Moussa

sahar@kuwaittimes.net ccidents and mistakes happen. We are all human beings and I accept that. But what I don’t accept is absolute negligence by people who are supposed to be responsible for people’s safety.

Kuwait Times reported the gas leak that happened on Wednesday while drilling an oil well at the AlRawdhatain oilfield. The Kuwait Oil Company and security sources said that the pungent and repulsive smell of hydrogen sulfide reached Kuwaiti City, as reported by many residents.

The leak took place approximately by noon, and people started to smell sulfur gas around 8 or 9 pm. At first nobody knew what was happening; some thought it was a gas leak at home and others thought it was just a bad stench coming from the roads but nobody actually knew what happened until their friends who work in the oil sectors started broadcasting about the leak on BBM and Whatsapp. Thank God, I work in a newspaper and was among the first to know.

Though the gas started leaking at noon, the Ministry of Information or whoever was responsible for alerting people didn’t do anything about it. It was-

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n’t broadcast on the radio, television or even alerted through sirens or SMS to warn people about what was happening till late at night!

Although it was reported that the gas density in the air had not reached dangerous levels, it does not take away from the fact that hydrogen sulfide is very dangerous and poisonous. Regardless of the density level, I believe that people had the right to know what was happening to take the right precautions.

Since we are living in a country like Kuwait that is filled with oilfields and gas wells, serious accidents can easily occur. The Ministry of Information must launch an awareness campaign to teach the people what needs to be done during an event such as this.

Do I have to wait for someone to broadcast that I have to cover my mouth with a wet washcloth, eat something with Vitamin C or E or drink cold milk to know how to reduce the ill-effects of the gas? Or maybe I should be related to a doctor instead!

What happened yesterday actually posed a big question mark whether it is safe to live in Kuwait, though we are in the 21st century.

I don’t think that safety is given the importance it should get.

By John P Hayes

local@kuwaittimes.net

s there a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for real estate in Kuwait, and I missed it? If the MLS doesn’t exist here, and there are no objections to launching one, why doesn’t an entrepreneur start one? It may be the best new business idea in a long time. If you want to buy a vehicle in Kuwait, new or used, you can begin shopping online with a similar MLS for cars and trucks. You can use these online sites not only to compare features, but also to get multiple views of the vehicle that’s for sale. Why can’t we do the same when we’re shopping for a place to live?

A real estate MLS would provide photos and information about the many apartments for rent across Kuwait. People could use the listings as a starting point and visit only those properties that seem to make sense. Apartments would rent faster with an MLS, resulting in happier landlords and tenants. About a month before moving to Kuwait, I started searching online for apartments. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy without MLS (which rules the real estate industry in the USA). Instead of going to one site and finding all the available listings, I had to contact numerous real estate agents.

I had lined up 12 agents who were eager to show us their properties. “Their” was a key word because they could only show properties for which they held the listing. Unfortunately, they didn’t know about any other properties. Nor would they get a commission if I rented another agent’s property (but with MLS they would!).

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Four weeks after landing in Kuwait we were still searching! My dozen agents had dwindled to two who really understood what we required and worked diligently to find us the perfect place. But the process took much longer than needed for everyone. An agent told me the way to find a rental is to drive around at night looking for lights in vacant properties. He said that’s the way local landlords advertise their rentals. . . . Really? No one minds strangers knocking on their door at night?

Imagine if an agent could learn about all of the properties for rent in an area and match those properties to their clients! Agents still work hard with MLS, but they work smarter armed with knowledge.

They have online access to all properties, indexed by area, size, rent amount, and more. Imagine if landlords could add their properties to the MLS and thereby let all of Kuwait’s agents know that they needed a tenant! Suddenly they’d have dozens of agents working for them. And just think about the savings in electricity, not to mention keeping strangers from showing up on their doorsteps!

Imagine if a prospective renter could call just one agent and a few days later rent the perfect property in Kuwait. . . . Well, I just did! So who’s going to start Kuwait’s MLS? NOTE: Dr John PHayes is a marketing professor at Gulf University for Science & Technology. Contact him at questions@hayesworldwide.com or via Twitter @drjohnhayes.

A general view shows the National Assembly (top left) and the National Museum (top right) on the seaside in Kuwait City on Oct 7, 2012. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Local Spotlight

Who makes peace?

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

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eace does not come by itself and that is why nations go through wars and years of civil conflicts till they reach an end and succeed in finding peace. After all the bloodshed and arguments, bickering nations start thinking about their future and development but only after they achieve peace.

Unfortunately, people only start thinking about damages when it is either too late or many lives have already been lost. Amidst the chaos, no one pauses to think about peace but as bloodletting and killings rise, people start getting tired and fed up with all that fighting, particularly if the opposing sides are both from the same nation, related to each other. This takes time, but it is difficult to predict how much time it would take in any particular case. If the conflict has a religious angle, it could take months or even years.

Modern societies in the West have decided not to allow more conflicts in their homelands and among their citizens but that did not stop them from being part of certain conflicts in regions where there is dictatorship or where there are people ready to indulge in a civil war to prove their point.

They hear about democracy and have a limited access to it but they do not know how to use it for development and progress. It is like giving someone a machine which he does not know how to use and yet, instead of reading the manual and learning, he keeps jumping around with the machine, thus finally learning the hard way how to use it. He perhaps even ends up breaking the machine by the time he learns.

Why don’t we, the Arabs, take the easy way by trying to see how the west was able to develop democracy and use the tools that brought them freedom? I urge here not to copy and paste the same ethics and lifestyle but, the least we need to learn is to hear voices from both sides.

We need to listen to the silence in the air and to look at those who have shed blood for many years and how they regret it all now and the time that they have spent suffering. The World Wars are the best example, and now the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians. There is no winner here. Look at the bloodbath in Syria and who is actually gaining from it.

In Kuwait, the opposition is calling for distribution of wealth. What wealth are they talking about at a time when this country is taking care of its people from cradle to grave? Is taking care not part of a country’s strategy to give its people the wealth, just like a rich country? I have not heard of an opposition that seeks government positions for their family members? As far as I know, the opposition seeks reforms and development or bread for poor citizens.

Man makes peace only when he sees there is no other way, but not Taleban groups or conservatives who see this life as a path to kill and get killed. Those who raise the flag of democracy and freedom should not be abusing others who are not in agreement with them. This way they will not rest until everyone is dead and then they would probably kill themselves too. Peace will not come easily or quickly with such people around.

Peace is an outcome and not an income. Peace is an effort where sense and silence wins over murders and maniacs. That is why I fear that this democracy in the Arab world is in danger of being hijacked and abused and peace is our only hope.

KUWAIT: PIGEONGATHERING: As Kuwait cools down birds are more visible flocking in outdoor areas downtown. — Photo by Joseph Shagra

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Pugilist dons greasepaint

By Nawara Fattahova

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world champion in the Gladiators Fighter Championship (GFC) in the 91 kg category, Abdullah Al-Tulaihi believes kickboxing can be his ticket to Hollywood. He won the world championship title at the GFC championship held at the International Fair Ground in Mishref on Sept 30, 2012.

The 30-year-old Kuwaiti champion is now waiting for a chance to play a role in some international action movie, similar to the ‘Rocky’ movies that starred Sylvester Stallone. He said the movie does not necessarily have to be an American one.

Tulaihi is a young Kuwaiti actor, who started his career in TV in 2009. “I came across an advertisement in the press where they were talent scouting for actors for an Arabic soap opera to be telecast on MBC satellite channel. I applied and was selected by the committee to play a role in the ‘Al Sira’a’ soap opera. The producer found me so good that he offered to cast me in 22 episodes, but I was still new to the field and asked for a shorter role to begin with, and thus acted in just five episodes,” he told Kuwait Times.

Just a month later, he received an offer to play the lead actor’s role in another soap opera called ‘Lil hub zaman akahr’, consisting of 25 episodes. “By this time, I was already used to facing the camera, so the fear of being a first timer was not there. After this, I played the main role in an 85-episode long soap called ‘Bin al madi wil hub’. “The promos of this soap opera attracted the attention of the owner of MBC Sheikh Waleed AlIbrahim to my talent and he offered me the job of a TV host,” said Tulaihi.

Tulaihi then hosted the ‘Lil zaman thaman’ contest on TV in April 2011. “This was a two-month long program, and immediately after that, I shot another soap opera titled ‘Banat sukar nabat’. I then moved on to present the popular TV show ‘Arab Idol’ that was also aired on MBC. Arab Idol was watched by hundreds of thousands all across the Arab countries and made me famous like never before. While the first show was recorded, the second was live, and there was no way we could afford a mistake. Today, I am ready to take on any show,” he said.

Abdullah Al-Tulaihi with his mother He is working on a new soap opera called ‘Mutalaqat sagheerat’, which will be shown on the Dubai satellite channel. “My role in this soap opera is different from all the past roles, as this time I will be playing the good guy who is very nice, while the characters I have been playing till date were evil or mean,”

he explained.

Working in the public sector, Tulaihi is a victim of the bureaucracy that prevails in the sector. “I am working in the public sector while my work in the media and sports are just hobbies. My work keeps me busy and I am unable to participate in many activities. For instance, I will not be able to participate in Arab Idol 2 as it will be a four-month long venture and I cannot

one knows about him because the game is not very popular in Kuwait or the larger Arab world. Meanwhile, the seven-time world champion in boxing Wladimir Klitschko went on to become a Hollywood star, and so did many other boxers who gained stardom in Hollywood in the past, he said .

afford to be away from my work for that long a period.

Similarly, I am not able to participate in kickboxing championships that are held abroad as it does not figure among official sports in Kuwait. So I end up participating only in boxing championships.”

He started practicing kickboxing and boxing nine years ago. “I started training at a private club as kickboxing is not available in public sports clubs in Kuwait.

My trainer was the world champion Wade’a Bealbaki who trained me hard. I participated in all the local kickboxing championships. Also, I participated in local and Arab boxing championships and won a gold medal,” Tulaihi said.

GFC championship title was a dream come true for Tulaihi. “It was the first time for Kuwait to host the GFC championship. A total of 24 local, Arab, and international players participated in this championship in which 12 games were held. I won the golden belt in the 91-kg heavyweight class. This world championship was the first professional joust in which I had participated. For me this was a dream, and I am happy I was able to realize it,” he said.

“In acting as well as in media, my entire family is very supportive but when it comes to sports, my mother is against it as she finds it very aggressive and dangerous.

There are players who have succumbed to injuries sustained in the ring. Whenever I go into the ring, I have to sign a vow that I alone will be responsible for any injuries that I may suffer during the match. I do not practice any other sports as I like only the aggressive sports,” stated Tulaihi.

For two hours thrice a week, Tulaihi trains with amateurs in the ring. However, two months before any championship, he increases the number of such training sessions to five a week. Not a believer in diet control, he happily admits to eating two plates of rice. After all, with such an intense sport, the extra calories are easy to burn.

Tulaihi said individual sports are not backed by authorities as much as team events. “For instance, everybody cares for football but nobody pays any attention to individual sports although we achieve better results than the team games. For example, the world champion in boxing for 2006 was Yousif Shahin, but no

Abdullah Al-Tulaihi after he won the championship

Abdullah Al-Tulaihi

Abdullah Al-Tulaihi with an actress

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Kuwaiti men in dishdashas sit in a small cafe in Souq Mubarakiya in this Jan 31, 2012 photo. — AFP

Dishdashas

survive sartorial swings

By Ben Garcia

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ith the new generations becoming more and more attracted and attached to the modern Western look, sales of dishdashas over the last 10 years have dropped considerably. However, according to Hany AlElwani, founder of Dishdasha Express Co, the traditional dishdasha is not going to become extinct anytime soon, despite its declining appeal among younger generations. In fact, his company continues to educate Kuwaitis about the importance of the traditional clothes which they usually wear during formal occasions.

“Traditional dishdasha is still very appealing as elegant, respectable and fashionable attire for men. So we are motivating younger generations to wear traditional dishdashas and be proud of it,” he said. “We are trying to educate our customers about the importance of the dishdasha and changing the mindset of newer generations. We target these generations of Kuwaitis through use of various social media such as Facebook, Twitter (@dishdashaXpress) and most recently instagram (@dishdasha),” Elwani added.

While the new generations of Kuwaitis are becoming more and more attracted to signature brands, dishdashas will nevertheless be around for many generations to come. “Take note that branded clothes are far more expensive than the traditional dishdasha. So it balances the appetite versus the desire of the youth and is an answer to the pressure to own an impressive piece of attire,” he said.

“We can proudly say that we have created vast amounts of dishdashas over the last two years, and the numbers are growing. We don’t see dishdashas becoming extinct any time in the near future. It is still the traditional wear and always will be part of Kuwait’s heritage that has been passed down from our grandfathers as we will pass it down to our children. This is what makes us proud and inspires us to keep manufacturing the dishdashas,” he said.

As it is the official formal wear for any ceremony or special events such as weddings, Eid gatherings, governmental or social gatherings, funerals, etc, Kuwaiti men are invariably seen wearing the traditional dishdasha. “If you ask any anybody today in Kuwait, which apparel gives them the most respect and prestige, they

will always say it is the dishdasha. No matter what brand of clothes you wear to work or any formal gathering, the dishdasha along with right head wear (ghutra, gahfeya and egal) will always elicit respect from others, as this is the formal local wear,” Elwani said.

Corporate Social Responsibility Contributing to less fortunate/less privileged people is part of their business too. “We strongly believe in contributing a part of our services to those less fortunate. That does not mean limiting our contribution to just the local people, as it is mostly people internationally who are most in need. We choose different charities, but mostly work with our uncle who knows how to reach those who are most in need. They could be from neighboring countries in the Middle East, or those living under extreme circumstances in Asian countries. We make sure that all clothes that are in a good condition find new homes,” he opined. Elwani believes that all medium and large businesses should do charitable work, whether by contributing a part of their sales or a part of their services towards those who are less fortunate. Living in a world where information is

after cleaning, washing, ironing and packing them well as this is a gift to those in need. Just because you are giving it for free does not mean you can neglect them,” he explained.

Dishdasha Express looks forward to more old dishdasha contributions in the near future, and to possibly keep track of their donations from 2013 onwards and publishing the data on its website. “This will inspire those who otherwise discard their old dishdashas.”

Dishdasha Express is a Kuwaiti established company that was co-founded in 2010 by four cousins who wanted to set high standards in tailoring the traditional Middle Eastern man’s dishdasha. “We see our business as a passion, and it is clearly reflected through our highly experienced staff. Our unique branding techniques are reverberated through truly creative and inspirational ideas, and with the help of our clients we enjoy nothing better than seeing them turned into elegantly crafted, perfectly fitting accoutrements,” he said.

Dishdasha Express is the first official tailoring service where specially trained staff comes as per the comfort of their client whenever and wherever they are.

Appeal declines among young Kuwaitis, but the national garb isn’t going to be extinct anytime soon easily passed through media (TV, radio, newspapers, Internet, etc) as well as by word of mouth, Dishdasha Express responded to many narratives from unfortunate and marginalized people, and its efforts brought such a good response that it decided to never give up the art of giving (charities).

“Along with our strong belief in corporate social responsibility, we have received a lot of recommendations from our clients, who strive towards helping those who are in need with their old dishdashas. Most contributions are from clients who wear a dishdasha 3-4 times only. Besides wishing or praying for them, they seek to take action as words can only take you so far. So far, most of the dishdashas we have received are from small contributors, and need a little mending or no work at all. We always recommend that people should donate clothes

Dishdasha Express is under the management of young ambitious Kuwaiti businessmen with a mission to achieve distinction for their luxurious quality of tailoring from the rest. “We are bespoke outfitters making some of the best dishdashas available in the region,” Elwani beamed. Dishdasha Express supplies premium quality fabrics which are manufactured to a high level of technical specification to meet their clients’ needs. Dishdasha Express depends upon its tailors for giving its dishdashas the luxury distinction that men look for in today’s modern lifestyle, but at affordable prices.

“At Dishdasha Express, we always cherish our legacy of high quality standards over price.

From the entire tailoring construction of your bespoke dishdashas to the quality of the fabrics, we can proudly say that we produce some of the finest custom made dishdashas Kuwait has to

offer to fulfill our clients’ tailoring needs and help them succeed in their projects.”

Asked why they chose this business rather than going in for restaurants or any other business, he said, “There are no high standard tailors out there in the market that give the traditional Middle Eastern attire the quality it really deserves and make it into a brand. By providing extra services to fully customize your dishdasha along with our home delivery service, we aim to set a high bar for those around us. We look at our business with a passion to grow and be the best at what we do.”

Dishdasha businesses in Kuwait are mainly being run by Iranians, Indians and Pakistanis.

“They all do produce some of the best tailored dishdashas in the market, but they do not have high standards as all the shops look and feel the same. Till date, you can haggle with the tailor, whether you want your dishdasha for KD 4, KD 5 or KD 6. We have fixed our rates to make it fair for all our clients as we believe in treating all our customers equally,” he said.

Like any business should, Dishdasha Express also looks towards expanding its reach. “We have a plan to grow in the market, both locally and internationally. Once we feel that we have conquered the market in Kuwait by expanding in many locations in different areas, we look forward to move on to neighboring countries. The plan also involves providing a larger collection of fabrics along with our tailoring services. With the help of the Internet, we believe these landmarks can be easily achieved,” he said. Elwani admitted that with the global economic troubles still hovering around, the prices of fabrics have been affected. “Most of our fabrics come from either European countries such as Spain, Italy, Switzerland, England and Germany or Asian countries such as Japan. The crises lead to a higher price when purchasing these high end fabrics, often accounting for an increase of approximately 30 percent of the cost. During the tsunami which took place early last year in Japan, most of the factories faced devastating losses in raw materials as their stocks were all damaged. Some well known factories also faced bankruptcies and were forced to shut down. The European market is extremely linked to the euro.

When the euro is strong, purchase of fabrics is also affected,” Elwani concluded.

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Cutting through the snarls Le Mita Za7ma seeks to solve traffic problems

By Nawara Fattahova

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he never-ending traffic snarls in Kuwait and the ineffective solutions proposed so far has inspired a group of 10 young Kuwaitis to launch a campaign called ‘Le Mita Za7ma’ (Till

When the Jam) in May 2012. Soon after its launch, the campaign became popular and people started responding.

“Through our campaign, we aim to address the complex and intractable traffic situation,” said Yousif Al-Hizami, a member of the Le Mita Za7ma

Campaign. He explained that the founder of the campaign, Husain Ashour, advertised for volunteers who then joined the effort. “We don’t have any official authority to cite anyone for a wrong or penalize the violators. We are only working to collecting the solutions at one place and opinions that can help solve the problem finally,” Hizami said. The campaign comprises of three phases.

The first phase which ended on June 20 was aimed at changing the perception of the problem from a personal one to a public issue. The second phase ended in the beginning of August, during which the organizers gathered together all the opinions and solutions contributed by the people.

“We are now working on the third and final phase.

In this, we are compiling and registering the solutions that we have received in a final dossier that will be presented to the highest power in the country, His Highness the Amir,” added Hizami.

He explained that they have completed 65 percent of the work and are still in the process of meeting some officials and specialists from the field every week, including the engineers working in the public sector. “The dossier will also include the revocation or application of some old laws and regulations and approval of some new laws,” he further said.

There is no last date for the campaign. “We are almost done but we are waiting to set a date for a meeting with HH the Amir to hand over our file.

We are optimistic that our work will bring good results. Most people here are aware of the problem and have many good ideas, especially those

who travel around the world as they have experience of other countries,” stressed Hizami.

According to him, the lack of communication among different public institutions dealing with traffic is one of the main reasons for the traffic problem. “For instance, when the construction work on a main road was stopped due to a cable found under it, the ministry in charge of that work contacted the Ministry of Communication. But it responded only after six months, and finally found that the cable did not belong to it. This caused so much delay and inconvenience to drivers,” he said. He pointed out that traffic is further exacerbated by construction works that are done at the same time, which causes overload on the roads.

Furthermore, the penalty clauses are not applied to the companies executing public projects. There are many projects that took much longer time than was necessary such as the UN Roundabout at the end of the Fourth Ring Road, the First Ring Road, and many others,” he explained.

Hizami lamented the lack of cooperation and support from the public institutions and the private sector as well. “The Social Development Office at the Cabinet and the Ministry of Interior are the only two authorities cooperating with us.

We corresponded with other ministries but they did not even reply to us. Also, private companies failed to respond to our request to support us.

Only the Kuwait Investment House Holding company has supported us,” he rued.

You can follow the campaign on Twitter and Instagram: @Le_Mete_Za7ma

Trash is Heidi’s treasure Colorado woman in Kuwait enjoys crocheting plastic

By Sunil Cherian

S

he compares Kuwait with the United States less-jokingly, more-seriously over the use of plastics. Heidi Schmidgall, 27, an environment-friendly humanitarian says she is reminded of her country when she sees the amount of plastic bags used and thrown all over Kuwait. She said she had not

Earthy, organic and vegetarian Heidi Schmidgall demonstrate the art of crocheting plastic, making rugs, hats and bags out of plastic bags.

realized the importance of recycling and reusing until she went to Nepal after her schooling. “There I saw the line between what is waste and what is not was incomparable,” she said.

Many of the things that were thrown back home were considered for permanent use in Nepal. After going back to Colorado, her home state, she started crocheting with plastic bags, making hats, bags and curios. She taught school kids how to make crafts from plastic materials and continues to do till today. Last week, she held a crocheting session at Kuwait Bilingual School, Jahra, where her mother Beth works as a teacher.

Looking back, Heidi said, she learned the art of crocheting when she was 22. She was going to school at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado and from watching a documentary on plastic bags and their environmental damage, she got inspired to learn to crochet. Her first project was a bag - a strong, durable one. “I continued to make more bags. I have made rugs, coasters, a hat and many bags”, she said.

Heidi has the active face of a humanitarian too. She worked for Durango Nature Studies, a non- profit organization that instructs students about their local environment and ecology.

“We made several art projects from recycled goods and many of them were used to beautify their classrooms and the hallways of their school. The older kids found the art of crocheting to be difficult but exciting. It encouraged deeper conversations with students about the environment and the part we play in protecting our natural and surrounding landscapes,” she said.

At first students were disgusted by the idea of reusing

trash, Heidi said. And that is true of Colorado, Kathmandu and Kuwait. “But my experience is they all found excitement in the product they could create. It doesn’t require a lot of money to do these crafts. All it takes is a crochet hook and plastic bags, and we all know there is not a limited supply of these.”

Heidi’s next craft in line? To make hooks out of toothbrushes. “I will melt the end of the toothbrush and mold it into a hook,” she said.

A lot of throwaways can be turned to showpieces, according to Heidi. “It takes 100s of plastic bags to make one recycled curio bag”, she said.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Airstrikes in northern Syria kill at least 43

Turkish pianist faces the music for insulting Islam

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British vigil for shot Pak schoolgirl Malala

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DHAKA: Bangladeshi Quazi Ahsanullah displays a photograph of his son Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis as he weeps in his home in the Jatrabari neighborhood in north Dhaka yesterday. — AP

Plot to blow up Fed Reserve Suspect’s family shocked at NY ‘conspiracy’ DHAKA: Just a few hours before he was arrested in an FBI sting operation, a Bangladeshi man accused of trying to blow up New York’s Federal Reserve building calmly spoke via Skype with his parents back home and updated them on his studies, his family told The Associated Press. They were stunned yesterday morning to find out that the banker’s son from a middle-class Dhaka neighborhood was accused of trying carry out a terror attack. They denied he could have been involved. “My son couldn’t have done it,” his father, Quazi Ahsanullah, said weeping.

“My brother may have been a victim of a conspiracy,” said Fariel Bilkis. The FBI arrested 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis on Wednesday after he tried to detonate a fake 1,000-pound (454-kilogram) car bomb, according to a criminal complaint.

Prosecutors said Nafis traveled to the US on a student visa in January to carry out an attack.

Hours after his arrest, Bangladeshi detectives were at his family’s three-story home in the Jatrabari neighborhood in south Dhaka.

“We are just collecting details about Nafis from his family,” one officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Nafis family said he was incapable of such actions and he went to America to study business administration, not to carry out any attack.

Nafis was so timid, he couldn’t even venture out onto the roof alone, his father said.

“He used to take someone to go the roof at night. I can’t believe he could be part of it (the plot).” “He is very gentle and devoted to his studies,” he said, pointing to Nafis’ time studying at the private North South University

in Dhaka. However, Belal Ahmed, a spokesman for the university, said Nafis was a terrible student who was put on probation and threatened with expulsion if he didn’t bring his grades up. Nafis eventually just stopped coming to school, Ahmed said.

Ahsanullah said his son convinced him to send him to America to study, arguing that with a US degree he had a better chance at success in Bangladesh. “I spent all my savings to send him to America,” he said. Nafis attended Southeast Missouri State University during the spring semester, which ended in May, in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, university spokeswoman Ann Hayes said.

He requested a transfer of his records in July and the university complied, Hayes said, though she couldn’t say where the records were sent. Mohammad Arif Akunjee, a child-

hood friend, said Nafis wanted to be a businessman. Just a few hours before his arrest, Nafis talked to his mother over Skype to update her on his plans, Bilkis said. “My brother told my mother that he was doing well in studies in the US and was transferring to a college in New York,” said his sister.

Early yesterday, a relative living in Switzerland called to tell the family Nafis had been arrested. “We woke up with this terrible news. We just can’t believe it,” she said.

Ahsanullah called on the government to “get my son back home.” Bangladesh does not have the same record of involvement in global terrorism as Pakistan, with which it once formed a nation before winning its independence in 1971. At least one Bangladeshi was among those detained by the US at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. —AP

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

In signal to Iran, US and Israel forces to stage drill Air defense drills largest exercise in history WASHINGTON: The United States and Israel are set to launch a major military exercise in a show of unity aimed at Iran, despite friction between American and Israeli leaders over how to counter Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. The air defense drills, dubbed “Austere Challenge 2012,” will unfold later this month and last about three weeks, with 3,500 US troops and 1,000 Israeli forces taking part, officers said Wednesday.

“This is the largest exercise in the history of the longstanding military relationship between the US and Israel,” said Lieutenant General Craig Franklin, 3rd Air Force Commander, who is overseeing the drill along with his Israeli counterpart, Brigadier General Nitzan Nuriel.

“This exercise will improve the cooperative missile defense of Israel and will promote regional stability and help ensure a military edge,” Franklin told reporters in a teleconference. But the drill is about more than missile defenses.

The elaborate exercise takes place at a politically-charged moment, amid speculation about a possible Israeli pre-emp-

tive attack on Iran, a hotly-contested US presidential election weeks away and parliamentary polls expected in Israel within a few months.

The drill’s “scenario is to deal with threats from all fronts,” Nuriel, the Israeli commander, told the same phone conference. “Anybody can get any type of message he wants from this exercise.

The fact we are practicing together and working together is a strong message by itself.” Although Israel faces rocket attacks out of Gaza and missile threats from Syria and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, the main worry for the Jewish state is Iran’s growing arsenal of ballistic missiles. In a report this year to Congress, the Pentagon warned that Iran’s missiles could hit Israel and Eastern European countries, including an extended-range version of the Shahab-3 and a medium-range ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers.

The missile threat, combined with the crisis over Iran’s disputed nuclear program, prompted Israeli authorities in August to test a SMS public alert system designed to warn the population of an

imminent attack.

In the works for two years, the joint exercise originally was scheduled for April but was postponed at Israel’s request, without an official explanation.

The drill highlights US-Israeli cooperation just as President Barack Obama seeks to deflect criticism from his Republican rival Mitt Romney, who has accused him of neglecting America’s ally and rebuffing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Obama and Netanyahu disagree over the urgency of the perceived threat posed by Iran, with the US president favoring more time for diplomacy and international sanctions to rein in Tehran’s uranium enrichment work.

Netanyahu has publicly aired his differences with the Obama administration over the Iran issue, scolding Washington for failing to set its own “red lines” that would trigger military action against Tehran. The West believes Iran is secretly pursuing plans to develop a nuclear weapons capability, but Tehran insists its program is designed purely for peaceful purposes to generate electricity.— AFP

Turkish pianist faces the music for insulting Islam

NEW DELHI: This combo of screen grabs taken from pool video shows Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (center) walking and then stumbling down during a visit yesterday. — AFP

Aus PM falls head over heels in India SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has a history of losing shoes and another footwear fumble that saw her take an embarrassing tumble in India grabbed the headlines yesterday.

The nation’s first female leader, who last week won international attention for a stinging speech about sexism and misogyny, had just laid a wreath at a Gandhi memorial in New Delhi Wednesday when she fell in front of the cameras.

She was walking towards reporters for a press conference when her high heel got stuck in soft grass and she landed flat on her face, but quickly got up and laughed it off. “For men who get to wear flat shoes all day every day, if you wear a heel it can get embedded in soft grass and when you pull your foot out the shoes doesn’t come,” said the prime minister. “And the rest of it is as you saw.” The clip of her falling was played repeatedly in Australia yesterday and also used on US news shows and social media. Sydney’s tabloid Daily Telegraph put the tumble on its front page under the headline “PM’s fall from grace”, while its gossip columnist analysed how grass and high heels do not mix.

“Grass-can’t walk across it gracefully in heels, can’t face-plant on it in a cream jacket and get up without stains,” said the newspaper. “The good news is, Ms Gillard wasn’t bleeding and at least had the style to brush herself off-and have a laugh.” — AFP

ISTANBUL: A top Turkish pianist and composer appeared in court yesterday to defend himself against charges of offending Muslims and insulting Islam in comments he made on Twitter. Fazil Say, who has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and others, is on trial for sending tweets that included one in April that joked about a call to prayer that lasted only 22 seconds.

Say tweeted: “Why such haste? Have you got a mistress waiting or a raki on the table?” Raki is a traditional alcoholic drink made with aniseed. Islam forbids alcohol and many Islamists consider the remarks unacceptable. Prosecutors in June charged Say with inciting hatred and public enmity, and with insulting “religious values.” He faces a maximum 18 months prison term, although any sentence is likely to be suspended. Say, who has served as a cultural ambassador for the European Union, rejected the charges and demanded his acquittal, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. The private Dogan news agency said the trial was adjourned until Feb 18.

The prosecution has caused anger among intellectuals in Turkey and escalated concerns over freedom of expression in the country. Hundreds of his fans, supporters and human rights activists went to the courthouse in Istanbul in a show of solidarity, holding up signs that read: “Fazil Say is not alone” and “Free Art, Free World” Say, 42, is a strong critic of the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim who has preached conservative values, alarming some secular Turks who fear the government plans to make religion part of their lifestyle. Some have drawn parallels between Say’s case and that of the Russian

band Punk Riot who staged an impromptu punk performance at Moscow’s main cathedral in February in protest against President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy. The three women were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, but they insist that their protest was political in nature and not an attack on religion.

Turkey has a history of persecuting its artists and writers, and the European Union has long encouraged the nation to improve freedom of speech if it wants to become a member of the bloc one day. In a report on Turkey’s progress toward membership issued last week, the EU criticized Turkey for “recurring infringements of the right to liberty and security and to a fair trial, as well as of the freedom of expression.” It said

restrictions on media freedoms and an increasing number of court cases against writers and journalists remained “serious issues.” Turkey’s Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has been prosecuted for his comments about the mass killings of Armenians under a law that made it a crime to insult the Turkish identity before the government eased that law in an amendment in 2008. In 2007, ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who received death threats because of his comments about the killings of Armenians by Turks in 1915, was shot dead outside his office in Istanbul. Yesterday, Egemen Bagis, the minister in charge of relations with the EU, suggested the case against Say should be dismissed saying the court should regard Say’s tweets as being within “his right to babble.”—AP

DAVOS: In this file photo, Turkish pianist Fazil Say (center) stands during a performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. — AP

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Palestinians hold municipal elections RAMALLAH: Palestinians in the West Bank go to the polls today in long-delayed municipal elections that have already highlighted deep divisions in the occupied territory and stoked complaints about a lack of leadership. The Oct 20 ballot will hold up a cracked mirror to a political landscape clouded by financial crises, failure to reconcile the major Palestinian factions and stalemate in peacemaking efforts with Israel.

The powerful Islamist group Hamas is boycotting the election and preventing voting from taking place in the Gaza Strip, leaving the field largely clear for the mainstream Fatah party in the race to take charge of 94 West Bank towns and villages.

But, as has happened so often in the past, President Mahmoud Abbas’s nationalist Fatah movement has failed to present a united face, with party rivals presenting their own candidates.

“The sound basis for any election to take place is a healthy, political atmosphere ... which is clearly lacking here,” said Issam Abdeen, a legal consultant at Palestinian Human Rights group Al-Haq. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there is voter apathy.

Streets and roundabouts across the West Bank are plastered with posters of hopeful candidates promising everything from cleaner streets and better transport to jobs and free Wi-Fi. The familiar old Palestinian slogans calling for liberation and resistance are noticeably absent, as voters focus on their immediate needs at a time of austerity, with cash-strapped authorities struggling to pay public sector salaries.

“This is an exciting opportunity to make changes and see new people enter the local councils,” said Samer Hamdan, working in a coffee shop in Ramallah, the

Palestinian administrative capital.

Divide and rule Hamas shot to prominence in the last local vote in 2005, unexpectedly taking control of many municipal councils in both the West Bank and Gaza. It went on the next year to sweep legislative elections, to the shock of the Fatah old guard. The Islamists seized control of Gaza after a civil war in 2007, splitting the Palestinians both politically and geographically. They have refused to take part in Saturday’s vote, accusing Fatah of harassing their West Bank members.

Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but maintains a tight blockade on the enclave.

The Israeli military remains in charge of the West Bank, allowing the Palestinians limited self-rule in certain areas, including the major urban centres. The continued divide

between Hamas and Fatah has proved a source of upset and anger for ordinary Palestinians, who fear it undermines their fight for an independent state.

“I don’t understand how we can have elections in just half the territory,” said Neda Ahmad, a young woman walking through central Ramallah. “I don’t even know who’s running.” With Hamas not standing, analysts say the best way to measure support for the party will be to look at voter turnout.

Last time around, turnout was estimated at some 80 percent, so a sharp fall-off would show Hamas voters had stayed at home.

Whatever the turnout, pro-Western Fatah could still lose what should have been an easy victory. It is being challenged by an array of independent candidates, including the West Bank’s first all-female political party which is standing in the city of Hebron. — Reuters

Airstrikes in northern Syria kill at least 43 Rebels blow up two oil, gas pipelines

SIRTE: A Libyan man walks past graffiti of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte, 450 kms east of the capital Tripoli. — AFP

Gaddafi hometown angry over price it has to pay SIRTE: Thousands of buildings with collapsed walls and missing storeys still beg for reconstruction in the Libyan city of Sirte, where Muammar Gaddafi made his last stand a year ago. Resentment bristles at what many residents see as revenge by the new government against their desert city overlooking the waters of the Mediterranean which was the jewel of the Gaddafi regime. The veteran dictator lavished millions on his hometown, building conference centres, university buildings and villas, but much of what was not levelled in the fighting that culminated in his capture and killing still awaits repair and residents blame the government.

“People are fixing their homes and shops on their own-paying for the repairs out of their pockets,” said housewife Amal Mohammed, who has settled into a seaside villa with her family because her own was destroyed. “We keep hoping that things will get better but the new government hasn’t offered us anything,” she complained, worried that she will be evicted without notice from her temporary abode.

A father of three, who gave his name as Abu Saleh, told AFP bluntly: “It’s revenge. The negligence of Sirte by the authorities is an act of revenge.” Along the main commercial thoroughfares, shops have reopened but many are functioning only from their ground floor shopfronts, their upper storeys having been blown away by shelling. “People are trying to restore things and live a normal life again but the government offers no help,” said Mohammed Mansur, 40, who re-opened his convenience store just three months ago.

He says it cost him 7,000 Libyan dinars ($5,600) and more than two months of labour to repair just the front part of his shop where rickety shelves offer a limited selection of drinks, food and cleaning products. Builders merchants are the only businesses that are turning a real profit in a city where an estimated 11,000 homes were partially or completely destroyed.— AFP

BEIRUT: Government airstrikes on rebel areas in northern Syria killed at least 43 people and leveled buildings, forcing residents to search mounds of rubble for bodies trapped underneath, anti-regime activists said yesterday. The strikes late Wednesday and early yesterday hit at least five towns in Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

One video purportedly filmed after an airstrike yesterday on the Idlib city of Maarent Al-Numan shows a man holding up two child-sized legs not connected to a body. Another man walks by carrying an arm. Yet another video shows 18 white cloth bundles holding the remains of those killed. Other videos from the city of Aleppo show the aftermath of an airstrike on a mosque late Wednesday. While some men carry away bodies, others work to dig out a survivor whose legs are buried in debris. Activist claims and videos cannot be independently verified due to restrictions on reporting in Syria. But all videos corresponded to activist reports and appeared to have been filmed where they said they were.

The footage provides a window into the carnage wrought by the Syrian military’s increasing reliance on airstrikes to fight rebels waging a harsh civil war to topple President Bashar Assad. Rights groups say the airstrikes often hit civilian areas. And this week, Human Rights Watch accused Syria of using cluster munitions, which the New York-based group says endanger civilians.

The regime contends that it is fighting terrorists backed by foreign powers who seek to destroy Syria. It also denied using cluster munitions. An Aleppo-based activist who gave his name as Abu Raed said men were arriving for Wednesday evening prayers when a fighter jet dropped a bomb on the Light of the Martyrs Mosque in the Shaar neighborhood. The blast destroyed a room used for ritual washing and part of the prayer hall itself, he said via Skype.

He said at least 10 people had been

killed, though the number could be higher, either because bodies were still trapped in the rubble or because people were buried before being recorded. “There were people who took the dead and wounded away before the cameras showed up,” he said. Videos that activists said were shot soon after the attack show a block-wide expanse of rubble surrounded by buildings whose facades had been blown off. Men scour the rubble, occasionally finding bodies and carrying them off.

Rebels and regime forces have been

remains of those killed. Airstrikes also hit three nearby villages on Wednesday, killing 15 people, said activist Fadi Yassin.

Nine of those were in Kafar Nubul, while others died in the villages of Kafrouma and Hass.

Rebel brigades from the surrounding area have poured in to defend the town, which stands along the main highway linking Aleppo to other large Syrian cities further south. Online videos have shown them firing mortars at regime troops, and they claimed to have shot down a govern-

MAARET AL-NUMAAN: Syrian men react following an airstrike by Syrian government forces in Maaret al-Numaan yesterday. — AFP clashing for months in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Regime aircraft also pounded Maaret Al-Numan and surrounding areas on both days. The area has seen heavy fighting since rebels seized the city last week. One strike hit a neighborhood near the rebel field hospital on yesterday in Maaret Al-Numan, Yassin said via Skype.

He said it was too early to know how many people had been killed. A video posted online later showed 18 white cloth bundles activist said contained the

ment helicopter on Wednesday.

As a sign of how little months of international diplomacy has done to stop the bloodshed in Syria, a number of nations and the UN envoy to the Syria conflict are pushing for a temporary cease-fire during a Muslim holiday later this month. Joint UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has called on the Syrian government to take the first step in observing a truce during the four-day Eid Al-Adha holiday that begins on Oct 26. — AP

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

SHARQ Indian Mughlai Cuisine

Sharq - Near Al-Hamra Mall - Opp. Marriott Courtyard Hotel

Timings: Open on all days from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm. then 6:00 11:30 midnight

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

9/11 mastermind delivers anti-US diatribe at Gitmo US prez ‘can legislate assassinations under security’

BIRMINGHAM: Women and children light candles as they hold a vigil for Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai yesterday. —AFP

British vigil for shot Pak schoolgirl Malala BIRMINGHAM: British campaigners staged a vigil for Malala Yousafzai yesterday as doctors said the 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban remained in a stable condition.

The teenager is being treated at a hospital in Birmingham, central England, having been flown to Britain on Monday for specialist care. “Malala Yousafzai’s condition remains stable. She spent a third comfortable night in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and doctors are pleased with her progress so far,” the hospital said in a statement. “The various specialist consultants from both the Queen Elizabeth and Birmingham Children’s hospitals continue to assess her on a daily basis.”

Her family remain in Pakistan, added the hospital, which also treats British soldiers wounded in Afghanistan. Malala was shot on a school bus in the former Taleban stronghold of the Swat valley last week as a punishment for campaigning for the right of girls to an education, in an attack which outraged the world.

In Birmingham city centre, a dozen activists from Women2Gether and Amina Women’s Group staged a vigil outside the main local authority buildings. Participants held small cardboard placards reading “I am Malala”, lit white candles, and laid two bunches of pink and yellow flowers on the ground.

An Amina Women’s Group member told reporters: “Brave Malala said what so many of us wish to say but we are too afraid.

“A girl of 14 spoke out for the rights of women and girls in a region where fundamentalism is fighting to take hold. “For this she was shot in the head. Like so many around the world, we are moved and inspired by her bravery and wish her and her friends a speedy recovery.”

Birmingham has a 100,000-strong ethnic Pakistani community-a tenth of the city’s population. The Birmingham Mail newspaper said people in Britain’s second city had offered up their homes to Malala’s family while she is being treated. A Queen Elizabeth Hospital spokesman told the daily: “People are offering every kind of help that they can think of. Doctors from around the world are wanting to help medically at the hospital. — AFP

US NAVAL BASE AT GUANTANAMO BAY: Wearing a military-style vest, self-declared 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed delivered a scathing antiAmerican diatribe at a military tribunal Wednesday in what the judge called a “one-time occurrence.” The US president “can legislate assassinations under the name of national security for American citizens,” the Kuwaiti-born Pakistani said during the third day of a pre-trial hearing at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Often considered a provocateur, Sheik Mohammed-known by his initials KSM was allowed to speak with a 40-second time delay that would have enabled his comments to be censored had he touched on sensitive issues. Sheikh Mohammed was detained in a secret CIA prison from 2002 to 2006, and the government has acknowledged that he was subjected to waterboarding 183 times.

“Every dictator can choose” his definition of national security, he said. “With this definition, many can invade the rule and go against it, many can kill people under the name of national security, many can torture people under the name of national security and detain children under the name of national security, under-aged children.”

Sheikh Mohammed spoke calmly in Arabic and waited until each of his sentences had been translated into English. Having studied in the United States, he sometimes paused to correct the interpreter.

“The president can take someone and throw him under the sea under the name of national security,” he said in an apparent reference to Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden killed by the United States in Pakistan a year ago. Donning a thick beard dyed with henna and a white turban, Sheikh Mohammed, who was regarded as one of bin Laden’s most trusted and intelligent lieutenants, concluded with “our blood is not made of water.”

Following his diatribe, Judge James Pohl alerted him that he would not be allowed to speak again. “I didn’t interrupt you ... this is a one-time occurrence” Pohl said. The hearings are in preparation for a 9/11 trial

to be held at some point next year. Sheikh Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the hijacked airliner plot that left 2,976 people dead, while his alleged Al-Qaeda accomplices are charged with providing funding and other support for those who crashed the planes. All five face the death penalty if convicted.

In addition to felling the Twin Towers, the trained engineer claims to have beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 with his “blessed right hand,” and to have helped in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six. Sheikh Mohammed, who considers himself a prisoner of war, appeared Wednesday wearing a military-style camouflage vest over a white tunic.

The prosecution has dubbed the defendants “unlawful combatants,” and sought to deny them the right to military-style clothing on security grounds, but Pohl dismissed this concern. Sheikh Mohammed and the other defendants also have the right to stay in their cells and not attend the

hearings. KSM had planned to attend Wednesday, then asked to be taken back to his cell, only to change his mind again and appear at the hearing, the judge said.

In the end, Sheikh Mohammed showed up during a break in the proceedings.

During the five-day pre-trial hearing which runs through Friday, the defense is seeking to prevent President Barack Obama’s administration from arguing that the treatment and alleged torture of the defendants during interrogations in secret CIA prisons before being sent to Guantanamo in 2006 is classified for national security.

A portion of Wednesday’s exchanges were blurred when a lawyer made a “specific reference to a classified hypothetical interrogation technique,” the judge explained when the transmission resumed.

“If I beat you, I’m not providing you information, if I chain you to the ceiling, I’m not providing you information,” said the lawyer in question, Kevin Bogucki, saying that only information and not a memory or an experience can be classified. — AFP

EGELSBACH: Sunflowers stand on a field near southern Germany yesterday. Meteorologists forecast temperatures up to 24 degrees for the coming days in southern Germany. — AFP

Twitter blocks German neo-Nazi account BERLIN: Micro-blogging site Twitter said yesterday it had blocked a neo-Nazi group’s account at the request of German police in what it called a global first for the company. In a move pitting censorship concerns against national laws on hate speech, Twitter said it had deployed the tool developed this year to comply with the request by the German authorities.

“We announced the ability to withhold content back in Jan (January),” Twitter’s chief lawyer Alex Macgillivray said in a tweet posted on the website. “We’re using it now for the first time re: a group deemed illegal in Germany.”

Twitter’s spokesman in Germany, Dirk Hensen, confirmed the decision in an email to AFP. In a separate tweet, Macgillivray posted a link to a letter from the police in the northern German state of Lower Saxony asking Twitter to block the account of Besseres Hannover, a far-right outfit which was outlawed last month.

The account is still visible on Twitter with the handle @hannoverticker and calling itself “Das nationale Informationsportal aus Hannover” (The national information

portal from Hanover). But no message since the date of the ban, September 25, is visible in Germany, and the group’s website has also been blocked or deleted. Prosecutors in Lower Saxony have launched a probe against around 20 members of Besseres Hannover on charges of inciting racial hatred and creating a criminal organisation.

The group is in particular suspected of sending a link to a threatening video by email to the state’s social affairs minister, Aygul Ozkan, who is of Turkish origin. Macgillivray said in a further tweet that Twitter aimed to restrict as little as possible on its website while complying with the law.

“Never want to withhold content; good to have tools to do it narrowly & transparently,” he said.

He posted a link to the company’s policy on “CountryWithheld Content” explaining the line it draws between free speech and legal compliance. “With hundreds of millions of Tweets posted every day around the world, our goal is to respect our users’ expression, while also taking into consideration applicable local laws,” the California-based company said. “Many countries, including the United States, have

laws that may apply to tweets and/or Twitter account content. “In our continuing effort to make our services available to users everywhere, if we receive a valid and properly scoped request from an authorised entity, it may be necessary to reactively withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time.”

It said once it received an official request to withhold content, it would notify users immediately explaining why their posts could pose legal problems for Twitter, and noted that users may challenge the decision.

Twitter said it was working with an anti-censorship group called Chilling Effects to publish such requests by authorities except in cases where it is legally prohibited from doing so. “We strongly believe that the open and free exchange of information has a positive global impact, and that the tweets must continue to flow,” the company said.

The letter from the Hanover police department posted in English and German on the Chilling Effects website is dated September 25 and cites the ban on the extremist group by the interior ministry of Lower Saxony.— AFP

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

China newspapers slam detention for dissent Paper says it highlighted case because of microblogs BEIJING: Chinese government-controlled newspapers have openly criticised the detention of a village official who called for the end of Communist Party rule, an extraordinary move that some media experts see as a sign that Beijing is granting more leeway on free speech. The campaign is all the more remarkable because Ren Jianyu, 25, was sentenced to a labour camp for posting online messages that called for the downfall of the party’s “dictatorship” - sentiments that would normally mark him out for harsh treatment by China’s media, assuming they gave any coverage at all.

But several outlets - including the influential Global Times tabloid, owned by Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, and The Beijing News newspaper - have criticised Ren’s two-year sentence and called for more freedom for people to criticise authorities. “It’s worrying that people can still be punished for expressing or writing critical thoughts in modern China,” Yu Jincui wrote in a Global Times commentary last week.

“Being sentenced for negative expressions was a political tradition that prevailed in some countries before the 20th century,” Yu wrote. “It’s outdated and goes against today’s freedom of speech and rule of law. Some free-speech advocates hope the coverage is a sign that Beijing wants to ease social tensions by allowing more public debate, and that t h is could be a priority of China’s incoming new leadership team set to be unveiled next month.

“Somebody high up wants to see these reports happening,” said Doug Young, professor of journalism at Shanghai’s Fudan University and author of an upcoming book on the media in China. “The fact that this is happening, that you see this call for freedom of expression so close to a leadership transition, is unusual,” he added, referring to next month’s party congress where Vice President Xi Jinping is set to take over as party leader.

“If you’re an optimist, you would see it as a positive sign that the incoming government will make expansion of freedom of speech a priority under the administration of Xi Jinping.” Ren forwarded photographs of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao online with the words: “Down with the Chinese Communist Party” on them after the July 2011 deadly high-speed train crash near the eastern city of Wenzhou, said Ren’s lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, adding that Ren had wanted to criticise the Chinese leadership for the poor official response to the crash. Ren also forwarded messages that said: “End one-party dictatorship, long live freedom and democracy”. He also posted a photo of Li Keqiang, set to be China’s next premier, with the words “Mafia leader” written on it, Pu said.

One-off or a trend?

No one is suggesting Beijing will allow unfettered domestic media coverage of government or top officials. Even searching the name of President Hu Jintao on Chinese microblogs is banned. Li Datong, a former journalist sacked for challenging censorship, suspects Ren’s case is a one-off, saying media criticism could have been sanctioned in this instance because it involved authorities in Chongqing, the southwestern municipality formerly ruled by disgraced senior politician Bo Xilai.

“At the very most, we can talk about it now because it happened in Chongqing and Bo was thrown out of office. It doesn’t indicate a reform of any kind,” Li said. Bo, a populist who had ambitions to join the top rung of Xi’s incoming administration, made enemies in Beijing. He was expelled from the party last month on accusations that he took bribes and that he tried to cover up the murder of a British businessman by his wife. Bo’s critics also accuse him of rights abuses in Chongqing.

However, others within Chinese media say Ren’s case could be part of a trend, pointing out that criticism of his treatment came as Beijing said it would reform the “re-education through labour” system, which empowers police and other agencies to detain people to up to four years without a court process.

A Global Times journalist , who spoke on condition of anonymity, said domestic media outlets were also reflecting the increasing influence of the Internet on the news agenda.

The journalist said the newspaper took up Ren’s case because it had run hot on China’s Twitter-like service Sina Weibo, commonly used to expose abuses of power among lower-level officials. Criticism of top leaders, however, remains off limits on Weibo.—Reuters

YEONPYEONG ISLAND: South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak (left) talks to Marines from the K-9 155mm self-propelled howitzer artillery company yesterday. — AFP

S Korea prez visits island near N Korea SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak made a surprise visit yesterday to an island near the tense border with North Korea that was shelled by Pyongyang two years ago. Stressing the need to defend the maritime border “to the last man,” Lee said the 2010 attack on Yeonpyeong island was an example of North Korea’s tendency to launch isolated, provocative assaults out of the blue.

His visit and comments are likely to fuel cross-border tensions, already raised by a series of niggling maritime confrontations, defections and a new US-South Korean deal to nearly triple the range of the South’s missile systems. “The reason that we build up (the military) is not only to bolster our means to retaliate but to prevent the North’s provocation,” Lee was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

“If North Korea provokes us, we have to retaliate strongly. We always have to remain vigilant,” he said, as he inspected an anti-artillery radar unit and artillery company on the island.

“If the North makes any (conciliatory) gesture, it is just a ruse and at such times we have to keep up our guard all the more,” he added. There are widespread concerns in the South that Pyongyang may try to instigate a military clash that would temporarily destabilise the Korean peninsula in the run up to South Korea’s presidential election in December. The North shelled Yeonpyeong-near the disputed maritime border in the Yellow Seaon November 23, 2010, leaving two South Korean soldiers and two civilians dead.

The South retaliated with its own artillery bombardment on two targets in the North, triggering fears that the incident could provoke a wider conflict. The de-facto maritime boundary between the two Koreas-the Northern Limit Line-is not recognised by Pyongyang, which argues it

was unilaterally drawn by the US-led United Nations forces after the 1950-53 Korean War. Lee’s visit came on the day that South Korea announced an annual, large-scale military exercise aimed at countering threats from North Korea. The week-long Hoguk exercise beginning October 25 will involve 240,000 army, navy, air force and marine corps personnel, along with police officers, a spokesman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP. About 500 US soldiers will also take part. Some 28,500 US personnel are stationed in the South-a legacy of the Korean War that ended with a ceasefire but not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war. “The exer-

cise will feature drills against infiltration, regional provocations or an all-out war by North Korea,” a defence ministry spokesman told reporters.

Cross-border ties have been generally icy since Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing one of its warships in March 2010 with the loss of 46 lives. The North denied involvement but went on to shell a border island that left four South Koreans dead in November of the same year. President Lee is making something of a habit of symbolic island visits before his term of office expires. In August he infuriated Tokyo by making the first ever presidential visit to a set of isolated, disputed islands claimed by both South Korea and Japan. — AFP

Suspected US drone strikes kill 7 militants SANAA: Suspected US drone strikes killed at least seven Al-Qaeda-linked militants in southern Yemen yesterday, Yemeni security officials and witnesses said. The officials say at least three strikes targeted a gathering of militants at a farm outside the town of Jaar, a one-time Al-Qaeda stronghold. The officials say the attacks followed tips of an imminent Al-Qaeda attack on the town. Resident of the area who came to the site after the attack said they saw vehicles burning, as thick black smoke billowed into the sky and explosions rocked the areas. They declined to be identified, fearing reprisals. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Government forces deployed to the area and the number of the dead could

rise since body parts were found but not counted, the officials said. The strikes come one day after Yemen’s Defense Minister Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed’s visited Jaar and vowed to hunt down Al-Qaeda militants in their hideouts.

A US-backed Yemeni military offensive in June pushed out Al-Qaeda from many southern areas the militants seized during last year’s uprising.

Washington considers the terror network’s Yemen branch, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to be its most dangerous offshoot. Since the offensive drove them from the towns, militants have sought refuge in nearby mountain areas and retaliated with assassinations of top security and military officials as well as deadly suicide bombings.— AP

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Karzai: NATO can speed up handover of security Afghan prez warns against foreign ‘interference’

QUETTA: A relative of ethnic Hazara, Ali Raza Qurban, holds his portrait in Quetta, Pakistan.— AP

Persecuted Hazaras flee Pakistan; some die trying QUETTA: As he knelt in prayer to mark one of Islam’s holiest days, Ali Raza Qurban saw a childhood friend and dozens of others die in a suicide attack on their Shiite mosque. Sunni militants were again targeting minority ethnic Hazaras in this city of narrow streets and wide-open hatreds. Qurban decided it was time to leave. He found an agent who would hook him up with a smuggler in Indonesia and, for $8,000, get him to Australia.

But he never made it to Australia. He disappeared on Dec. 17, 2011, aboard an overcrowded, rickety wooden boat that capsized within hours of leaving the Indonesian shore. Four months had passed since the suicide bombing at the mosque in Quetta, where the violence has spawned a vibrant human smuggling business. The smugglers operate out of small, unidentified shops.

Selling promises of a safe and better life in Australia, they largely capitalize on the fear and desperation of the Hazara, a largely Shiite community that is facing attacks not only here but in neighboring Afghanistan.

In Quetta, Shiite leaders say many of the attacks against Hazaras are carried out by the Sunni militant group Lashkar-eJanghvi, which they contend is backed by elements within Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI. Pakistan’s Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry and a panel of three judges last month ordered authorities to investigate allegations that vehicles illegally imported by the ISI were used in suicide bombings targeting Shiites.

Most of the Afghans who cross into Pakistan with the intention of going on to Australia and elsewhere are thought to be Hazara. “Every month hundreds of Hazaras leave Afghanistan for another country,” said Waliullah Rahmani, executive director of the Kabul-based Center for Strategic Studies, a privately funded think tank. In the last two months more than 20 Hazaras have died in targeted killings blamed on the Taleban, he said. Hazaras, who were massacred by Afghanistan’s ruling Taleban in the late 1990s, fear that the religious militia will return to power after the departure of US and other NATO service members in 2014, according to Rahmani.

“With 2014 getting closer, most of the Hazaras think that the history will repeat again,” he said. “So that is why they risk their lives for illegal immigrations to Australia and other places.”Many choose Australia because it already has an established Hazara community. The trip to Australia usually begins in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, stopping either in Thailand or Malaysia before arriving in Indonesia’s East Java province, according to testimony of survivors and local Malaysian authorities.

“Asylum seekers from Pakistan often fly either from Karachi or Lahore to Kuala Lumpur and sometimes enter through Malaysia’s northern border with Thailand,” said a Malaysian home ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. He said laws have been tightened in the last two years, sea patrols increased and cooperation has been stepped up with Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The people-smuggling groups that facilitate them are generally Pakistani, but Malaysians are sometimes hired for logistics to help in transportation,” said the official. Once in Indonesia’s East Java, asylum seekers are packed into boats bound for Australia. The booming business is confounding the governments of Indonesia, which has hunted down and arrested some smuggling kingpins, and Australia, which is being bombarded with more refugees than it is willing to accept. — AP

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai suggested yesterday that foreign members be removed from the country’s election watchdog, in a step that could be aimed at bolstering his grip on power. Two members of the five-member Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) are non-Afghan, a panel backed by the UN which threw out more than half a million votes cast for Karzai as fraudulent in the 2009 presidential poll.

“The presence of foreigners in the Electoral Complaints Commision is against the sovereignty of Afghanistan,” Karzai told a news conference alongside NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in the capital, Kabul.

“Foreign observers can still come to monitor the transparency or nontransparency of the election, but their interference in the election process is against Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”

This is not the first time Karzai has intervened in the operations of the ECC. In 2010, a year after he won a second five-year term as president, he changed a law to take control of the watchdog, allowing himself to appoint the panel members. But he left two foreigners in place on the body. Before that, three foreign members were chosen by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

“One of the reasons Karzai wants foreigners out of the ECC is because in the past it was the foreigners who spoke out about fraud,” Mohiuddin Mahdi, a member of parliament from northern Baghlan province, told Reuters by telephone. Karzai’s chief spokesman Aimal Faizi said “the meddling by some foreign countries and embassies in the 2009 presidential election was a good lesson for Afghanistan”.

“We will not allow the foreigners to be part of the election process,” Faizi told Reuters. Opponents of Karzai, who is barred from seeking a third term by the Afghan constitution, say they are worried the president is trying to install an ally or relative as his successor to maintain an influence on power. Karzai’s older brother, businessman Abdul Qayum,

has said he is interested in running for president. There is also widespread speculation in the Afghan elite that Abdullah Abdullah, who opposed Karzai in the 2009 poll, will make another bid. Fresh opposition to Karzai is raising the stakes.

Pressure for electoral reform Last month around 20 political parties formed the “Cooperation Council”, which could exert pressure on Karzai to commit to electoral reform and for a legitimate transfer of power when his term ends. Karzai this month stressed that the 2014 elections would be held on time and

forces. Further stressing his country’s sovereignty, Karzai said “Afghans are ready to expedite the process of (security) transition if necessary”.

But Rasmussen, who jetted into Afghanistan late on Wednesday with 28 NATO ambassadors, said the timeline for NATO’s full handover of security was unchanged. “Our strategy is working and our timeline remains unchanged. We are all committed to seeing our combat mission through by the end of 2014,” the NATO chief told reporters. Under plans endorsed at NATO’s Chicago summit in May, NATO-led troops will give Afghan forces the lead role in combat opera-

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai (right) meets NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the presidential palace yesterday. — AP he would step aside as mandated, denying speculation that the exit of foreign troops and security problems would delay the poll.

His increasingly unpopular government had for months considered a change in election timing to avoid overlapping with the drawdown of US-led NATO forces due to be completed by the end of 2014, when security is fully turned over to Afghan

tions across Afghanistan by mid-2013 before most foreign combat troops are withdrawn by the end of 2014.

Rasmussen and the 28 ambassadors, who sit on the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s main political decision-making body, went ahead with their trip even though a planned visit by the 15-member UN Security Council was postponed this month for security reasons. — Reuters

Maoist blast kills 4 police in India PATNA: A landmine attack by Maoist rebels in eastern India killed four policemen yesterday in a strike that targeted a convoy heading out on patrol before dawn. The blast in a forest area of Bihar state came following a lull in attacks on policemen since six officers were shot in May in an ambush in Chhattisgarh state. The Maoists have been fighting a deadly low-intensity war against authorities

for decades for what they say are the rights of tribal people and landless farmers.

“Four CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) were killed when their vehicle was blasted by an IED (improvised explosive device) set by Maoists in a forested part of Gaya district,” senior officer MK Sinha told AFP by telephone. Sinha said that three men died on the spot and one later succumbed

to his injuries.

“Four who were seriously injured are now being taken to hospital in Patna city and two others with minor injuries were admitted to a local hospital,” he said. The insurgency, which began in 1967, feeds off land disputes, police brutality and corruption, and is strongest in the poorest and most deprived areas of India, many of which are rich in natural resources. — AFP

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Dem convention used corporate cash RALEIGH: The Democratic National Convention relied on at least $5 million in corporate donations, despite repeated pledges by top party officials only to use money raised from individuals. Reports filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission show the convention’s host committee, Charlotte in 2012, raised $24 million, well short of its $36.7 million fundraising goal. To help make up for the shortfall, committee officials spent $5 million raised directly from corporations to rent the cavernous basketball arena used as the convention hall. They spent nearly $8 million more from a line of credit provided by Charlotte-based Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electricity provider.

Top Democrats, including Democratic Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had pledged prior to the 2012 convention not to raise money from special interests and to cap individual donations at $100,000. “This convention will be different,” Wasserman Schultz said last year at the convention kickoff event in Charlotte. “We will make this the first convention in history that does not accept any funds from lobbyists, corporations or political action committees.

This will be the first modern political convention funded by the grassroots, funded by the people.”

In addition to spending cash from corporate sponsors on direct convention expenses, records show much off the $24 million billed as being raised from individual donors came from special interest groups that employee lobbyists, corporate-funded foundations and the very wealthy. Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Melanie Roussell said Wednesday it is not illegal for convention host committees to raise unlimited corporate money and that the party had placed the fundraising restrictions on itself.

Republicans made no secret of raising unlimited corporate money for their convention in Tampa, Fla., which took in a reported $55.8 million. The core convention events in the Time Warner Cable Arena and Bank of America Stadium were overseen by the Democratic National Convention Committee Inc., a Washington-based nonprofit corporation affiliated with the Democratic Party.

The DNCC’s operations were funded with $18 million provided by American taxpayers who check the $3 political donation box on their federal tax returns. Security for the convention was funded by a $50-million grant from the Homeland Security Department. The Republican convention received identical government grants. To raise money for costs beyond what taxpayers provided, the DNCC contracted with Charlotte in 2012, a North Carolina-based nonprofit corporation.

The $5 million used to rent Time Warner Arena for the convention was raised from corporate donors by New American City, a separate nonprofit corporation set up by top officials at Charlotte in 2012. The rest of the $18.8 million in corporate money raised by the entity was used to support functions organizers considered to not be in direct support of the convention, such as the salaries of including paying the salaries of the 41 full-time host committee employees and their health insurance.

As for the money raised directly by Charlotte in 2012, the Democrat’s contract with the city’s host committee exempted millions in donations from unions and such in-kind corporate donations as office space, computers and furniture from the self-imposed limits. Still, many of the donors listed as giving to the Democratic host committee could hardly be classified as hailing from the grassroots.

All told, more than $7.2 million came from individual donors giving $100,000 or more, according to an Associated Press analysis of the disclosure report. According to the disclosure report, Thomas Steyer, the president of the San Francisco-based hedge fund Farallon Capital Management, gave $500,000 - five times the committee’s professed limit on contributions.

Constance Milstein, principal and co-founder of Ogden CAP Properties, gave $300,000, according to the report.

Ogden’s website describes Milstein’s firm as “New York City’s premier residential real estate owners.” Paul Egerman, CEO and co-founder of medical software company eScription, gave $200,000, according to the report. Roussell said the reported donations in excess of $100,000 were reporting errors and that the money came from the personal foundations of the listed individuals. Donations from charitable groups were not subject to the $100,000 cap, she said.—AP

Romney’s binder comment to rake in women’s vote?

Heated debate unfolds online ATHENS: An off-the-cuff comment by Mitt Romney about women job applicants went viral online Wednesday in a bizarre twist of a potentially decisive election duel for the hearts and minds of female voters. The gender row threatened to complicate the Republican’s push for a key segment of the electorate, and offered President Barack Obama a boost as he sought to stem Romney’s recent polling surge ahead of the November 6 election. In one exchange of their fiery debate on Tuesday, Romney said he reviewed “whole binders full of women” when looking for those qualified to join his cabinet as governor of Massachusetts.

A heated debate unfolded online and on US media outlets Wednesday over whether the comment suggested an antiquated view of women in the workplace. Obama was quick to respond on the campaign trail in Iowa and Ohio on Wednesday, the day after the debate. “We don’t have to order up some binders to find talented, qualified young women, to learn, to teach,” Obama said before a 14,000-strong crowd, many of them female, under fall foliage at Ohio University in Athens. Romney’s oddball phrase took on a life of its own, trending on Twitter and inspiring a “Binders Full of Women” Facebook page which drew 330,000 “likes.” Someone rustled up a blog-http://bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com-for fan art mocking the phrase.

One picture showed two white plastic binders with the words, “Binder full of women. If found please return to Mitt Romney.”

Another featured a shot of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying “No one puts me in a binder, I work for the president.” Vice President Joe Biden also waded into the mockery. “Whoa! The idea that he had

to go and ask where a qualified woman was, he just should have come to my house. He didn’t need a binder,” Biden said. Obama and Biden were keen to jump on Romney’s embarrassment because it offered them an opening to court the women’s vote following several recent polls suggesting their advantage in the so-called gender gap was fraying. The president beat Republican John McCain among women by 13 points in 2008, and in what is shaping up as an even closer election this time, may need an even wider gender gap to be safe.

Romney himself wasted no time courting female voters on Wednesday, telling a rally in Virginia: “This president has failed America’s women.” As he crisscrosses the nation, women ask him to bring down unemployment, improve schools and provide their children with better job prospects, Romney said.

“That’s what the women of America are concerned about. And the answers are coming from us and not Barack Obama.” Obama’s attacks built on Democratic assaults on Romney earlier this year when he highlighted conservative positions on abortion to court the more radical audience of the Republican Party primary.

The president’s senior advisor David Plouffe said women’s issues were going to become “increasingly important” in the dying days of the race, as both campaigns seek to drive up margins with core voters. A USA/Today Gallup poll caused a stir this week because it found that Obama only led Romney by one percent among likely female voters in swing states, after having a wide lead earlier this year.

Obama’s campaign disputed the poll methodology and said it was flagrantly inconsistent with surveys across the country.—AFP

LEESBURG: Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney greets a child during a campaign event at Ida Lee Park. — AP

Vital to treat meningitis early CHICAGO: US doctors in Baltimore said early diagnosis and treatment of patients at risk of fungal meningitis is vital, based on the case of an otherwise healthy woman who declined rapidly after receiving steroid injections for neck pain. Writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine, released online on Wednesday, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine describe the deterioration the unnamed, 51-year-old who sought care in an emergency room for a severe headache a week after receiving an injection with tainted medication on Aug 31.

The widening outbreak has killed 19 people and infected 245, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC has said it first learned about the fungal meningitis outbreak on Sept. 21 and health officials have linked it to tainted vials of injectable steroid methylprednisolone acetate made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Most of the cases have been linked to Exserohilum, a fungus associated with grass and rotting wood that appears to be especially aggressive in attacking tissues in the spine and brain stem.

Fungal infections typically only attack people with severely compromised immune systems, such as patients who have had bone marrow or organ transplants. Fungal spores can enter the lungs of

these patients and make their way into the blood stream, and eventually into the central nervous system.

In the case described by the team at Johns Hopkins, the injection was the woman’s first, and she had no medical history of having a compromised immune system, nor was she taking any longterm medications. Doctors found nothing and sent her home, but the woman returned the next day with more severe symptoms and was admitted to the hospital, where doctors tried a series of antibiotics and other drugs as the woman continued to decline.

Tests for a host of infections, including herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus which causes chicken pox and shingles, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and West Nile virus, were all negative, as were tests for cryptococcal fungi, a known cause of fungal meningitis.

The woman died 10 days after being admitted to hospital, the same day the team found evidence of Exserohilum in her spinal fluid. An autopsy showed massive tissue death in the brain stem, inflammation in the blood vessels and evidence of a stroke. Based on the case, the researchers urged doctors to be aware of the signs and symptoms of fungal meningitis and to seek rapid diagnosis and treatment to prevent “serious complications and deaths”.— Reuters

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Mexico border state is a snapshot of usual violence PROGRESO: Every Sunday, some 100 people gather for pick-up baseball games in a dusty open field marked only by a dirt mound and rusted bleachers. It’s the event of the week for this small northern Mexico town of 800 people where there is just one gas station and no supermarket, bank or high school. Despite the crowd, nobody is willing to admit they were there the afternoon of Oct 7 or saw the shootout just outside the ball field in the heart of Coahuila state. Mexican marines gunned down Heriberto Lazcano, a founder and top leader of the Zetas drug cartel and the biggest kingpin netted so far in President Felipe Calderon’s six-year assault on organized crime.

Days later, no one would even admit to playing in the game. “We don’t like sports,” said one teenager waiting for his school bus last week when an Associated Press reporter asked him and his friends if they had played that Sunday.

The players in the weekly games are largely in their teens.

Some townspeople do say they heard the explosions from grenades that Lazcano reportedly tossed as he ran for his life, but insist that they were home at the time and that they thought it was fireworks.

The reluctance to speak isn’t surprising. Cartel wars in neighboring states have made Coahuila a hideout for the Zetas, much like the remote “Golden Triangle” area of northwestern Mexico, where the world’s most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is rumored to seek cover.

“Coahuila is for the Zetas what the Sierra Madre is for El Chapo ... easily defensible, sparsely populated and relatively easy to get in and out of,” said security expert Samuel Logan, co-author of a recent book on the Zetas.

Silence and fear govern Coahuila’s rugged mining and agricultural terrain, home to 95 percent of Mexico’s coal reserves. The state provides the latest snapshot of a bloody drug war that’s killed well over 50,000 people since 2006 and the nation’s uncertainty as President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto brings Mexico’s old ruling party back to power when he takes office Dec 1.

“It used to be really quiet here. The women would bring out their rocking chairs and stay up late, talking and playing bingo,” said a 31-year-old local television reporter, who didn’t want to be quoted by name because he has received threats. “Nobody does that anymore.” Drug cartels have always operated in Coahuila. But its mountainous terrain made large-scale smuggling difficult and unattractive to cartels warring for major transport arteries through Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa.

As recently as 2006, the biggest narco news in Coahuila was a kiddie party in the town of Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass, Texas, allegedly sponsored by Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who sent bicycles, toys and a cake with “Happy Children’s Day, from your friend Osiel” written in icing.

Lazcano started out in organized crime working for Cardenas, with his band of former army special forces serving as assassins for the Gulf Cartel. The two gangs didn’t split until 2010. But as early as 2008, residents of Progreso and nearby towns say they started to notice the arrival of very young, strange men, who rode around in caravans of pickups with large-caliber weapons and vests marked “Federal Police.”

From their tattoos and beer drinking, locals knew the men weren’t police, especially when they started extorting used-car dealers, liquor stores, nightclubs and bars. Some farmers were even forced to grow marijuana for them. Now, the bloody headlines come almost daily. Earlier this month, a confrontation in Piedras Negras between state officers and suspected cartel members left five suspects dead, including the nephew of another top Zetas cartel leader, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales.

Hours later, gunmen shot down state Gov. Ruben Moreira’s nephew, who is the son of Humberto Moreira, a former Coahuila governor and former head of Pena Nieto’s party. He preceded his brother as part of the political dynasty that runs the state, known as “Los Moreira.” The body of the 25-year-old, Jose Eduardo Moreira, was discovered Oct. 4 inside his pickup truck on a rural road on the outskirts of Ciudad Acuna, a town across the border from Del Rio, Texas. —AP

Argentina’s Senate passes bill to lower voting age Skeptics see government-led reform as electoral ploy

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s Senate easily approved a bill on Wednesday to lower the voting age to 16 from 18 in time for a crucial midterm election that may determine whether President Cristina Fernandez can seek a third term. Fernandez, who backs the bill to extend voting rights, has given prominent state jobs to members of a youth group founded by her son, Maximo, and often praises young activists for their political fervor. Many young Argentines identify with the president’s defiant style and credit her unorthodox policies for a long economic boom that coincided with their entry into the labor market following a 2001-2002 financial crisis. The vote passed by 52-3 with two abstentions and is expected to receive lower-house approval and become law next month.

Fernandez’s supporters say the amendment will strengthen democracy and bring Argentina in line with nations such as Austria, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Brazil that have already extended voting rights to people as young as 16. “ We’re going through an extraordinary time in Argentina where we can discuss everything and we’re advancing in the extension of civil rights,” said Elena Corregido, a ruling party senator who co-authored the bill.

Despite the strong vote in favor of the reform, some opposition senators say it appears a thinly veiled vote-winning tactic aimed at bolstering waning support for the president before the legislative election scheduled for October 2013.

“We have a precedent of electoral reforms that have served to increase the ruling party’s chances rather than improve the electoral system, so this bill leaves me with many doubts,” said leftist opposition

BUENOS AIRES: Brazil’s former President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva (left) and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner pose before lunch at the Government Palace in Buenos Aires on October 17, 2012. — AFP Senator Norma Morandini, who abstained.

Controversy over the reform proposal has been heightened by speculation over whether Fernandez could follow in the footsteps of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez by trying to reform the constitution in order to run for re-election in 2015.

How much of an impact?

Fernandez currently has a working majority in both houses of Congress, but would need two-thirds’ congressional support to convoke an elected constitutional assembly. The president has been coy about the prospect of running for another term, even if permitted to do so, but any such

plan would hinge on the outcome of the midterm vote.

Most political analysts say lowering the voting age is unlikely to have a major impact on results - no more than 1 or 2 percentage points - although they agree that the government and leftist parties stand to gain the most. The change would likely increase the number of voters by up to about 1.4 million voters depending on turnout. Almost 23 million Argentines voted in last year’s presidential election. “We’re talking about a fairly small percentage and they’re not all going to vote for Cristina Fernandez,” said pollster and political analyst Graciela Romer.—Reuters

104-year-old architect hospitalized

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is greeted

by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (top) during a meeting with artists to support her campaign in this file photo. — AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, whose vision helped shape his nation’s futuristic capital Brasilia, is in hospital being treated for dehydration, his medical team said Wednesday.

Niemeyer, who is 104 and was hospitalized for three weeks in May with pneumonia, was admitted to Samaritano hospital in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday suffering from dehydration. “The patient is stable,” read a medical bulletin issued on Wednesday, quoting doctor Fernando Gjorup.

Niemeyer “is lucid, breathes without help of machines, and is being fed normally,” said the medical report, which was set to be updated yesterday. The centenarian, who in 1988 won architecture’s most prestigious honor, the Pritzker prize, is considered the father of Brazilian architecture. Niemeyer’s only daughter, Anna Maria Niemeyer, died of emphysema in June at the age of 82.

The famed Brazilian took part in the design of Brasilia in 1960, among 600 other works around the world over the course of his storied career. In the late 1940s he was a prominent figure-alongside the French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier-on the international panel that conceived the design of the United Nations headquarters in New York. In 1956, Niemeyer was appointed chief architect on the ambitious project to provide Brazil with a modern new capital in the Amazonian jungle-an achievement that was to make him one of the world’s best-known architects. Niemeyer was to create some 400 buildings in all, including the Serpentine Gallery in London’s Hyde Park, the Penang State Mosque in Malaysia, and the headquarters of the French Communist Party in Paris. The latter building was designed during a period of exile in France, where the architect, a lifelong Communist, fled in the 1960s when a military dictatorship seized power in Brazil. —AFP

Business FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Kuwait falls to four-week low on political tensions

Newsweek goes all-digital

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ATHENS: Protesters throw trash towards riot police, during the protest march marking the 24-hours general strike yesterday in Athens. Greece braced for a crippling general strike against austerity, as EU leaders were to tackle the eurozone’s ongoing economic crisis at a summit. — AFP

Striking Greeks protest austerity EU leaders meet to tackle eurozone crisis

ATHENS: Greek police clashed with anti-austerity protesters hurling stones and petrol bombs on the day of a general strike that brought much of the near-bankrupt country to a standstill. In the second major walkout in three weeks yesterday, almost 40,000 protesters marched in Athens in a bid to show EU leaders meeting in Brussels that new wage and pension cuts will only worsen their plight after five years of recession.

Tensions mounted when a small group of protesters began throwing pieces of marble, bottles and petrol bombs at police barricading part of the square in front of parliament, prompting riot police to fire several rounds of teargas to disperse them.

A 65-year old protester died of a heart attack, hospital sources told Reuters. Another three people were injured. Police detained about 50 protesters suspected of attacking them. Most business and public sector activity ground to a halt at the start of the 24-hour strike called by the country’s two biggest labour unions, ADEDY and GSEE. “Enough is enough. They’ve dug our graves, shoved us in and we are waiting for the priest to read the last words,” said Konstantinos Balomenos, a 58-year-old work-

er at a water utility whose wage has been halved to 900 euros and who has two unemployed sons.

It was the third time since late September that tens of thousands of Greeks have taken to the streets holding banners and chanting slogans to show their anger at austerity policies imposed by EU and IMF lenders in exchange for aid.

Some were carrying Greek, Spanish and Portuguese flags and shouted: “EU, IMF out”.

“Agreeing to catastrophic measures means driving society to despair and the consequences as well as the protests will then be indefinite,” said Yannis Panagopoulos, head of the GSEE private sector union, one of two major unions that represent about 2 million people, or half of Greece’s workforce.

Greece is stuck in its worst downturn since World War Two and must make at least 11.5 billion euros of cuts to satisfy the “troika” of the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF, and secure the next tranche of a 130-billion-euro bailout.

European Union leaders will try to bridge their differences over plans for a banking union at a two-day summit which starts on Thursday. No substantial decisions are expect-

ed, reviving concerns about complacency in tackling the debt crisis which exploded three years ago in Greece.

The austerity policies being pursued in Europe’s indebted Mediterranean countries at the behest of Germany and other rich euro zone members will drive the euro apart, protesters warned.

“This can’t go on. We sure need measures but not as tough as the ones (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel is asking for,” said Dimitris Mavronassos, a 40-year-old shipyard worker who has not been paid for six months.

The strike emptied streets and offices in Athens. Ships stayed in port, Athens public transport was disrupted and hospitals were working with emergency staff, while public offices, ministries, bakeries and other shops were shut.

Newspaper kiosk owners, lawyers, taxi drivers and air traffic controllers were among those protesting over the cuts, which include further drastic reductions in welfare and health spending.

Opinion polls show rising anger with the terms of the bailout keeping the economy afloat, and Greeks becoming increasingly pessimistic about their country’s future.

“The new, painful package should not be passed,” the ADEDY public sector union said in a statement.

“The new demands will only finish off what’s left of our labour, pension and social rights.”

But with Greece due to run out of money next month, Athens has little choice but to push through the austerity package being discussed with lenders.

Greece and inspectors from the troika say they have agreed on most issues. Athens is expected to secure aid needed to avoid bankruptcy given EU determination to avoid fresh market turmoil threatening bigger economies such as Spain and Italy.

But the protests are expected to increase pressure on Greece’s fragile three-party coalition cobbled together in June to implement the harsh austerity terms under its international 130-billion euro bailout agreed in March. Emboldened by the strikes, the main opposition Syriza party turned up the heat on the government. “Their time is running out,” said the party’s 38-year old leader Alexis Tsipras who took part in the march.

“People are taking matters into their own hands.” — Reuters

Business FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

UAE banks told to extend loan maturities ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates’ central bank has told lenders to extend maturities on certain personal loans held

by UAE citizens by more than four years, the latest initiative aimed at reducing their debt burdens.

In a circular sent to banks earlier this week, the regulator told banks to reschedule citizens’ loans by more than 48 months if the repayment exceeds 50 percent of gross salary and other income. The loans can be rescheduled

provided no fresh money is borrowed, the circular added. Banks were also told to segregate personal loans used to buy real estate, with the borrower’s consent, and set them up as separate loans.

Payments on those should also not exceed 50 percent of the total salary.

The UAE has taken a raft of steps to help citizens carrying high debt burdens.

In May, it announced plans to settle defaulted loans owed by its citizens - up to $1.36 million each - after a presiden-

tial decree, in the second such move this year. UAE citizens took out massive personal loans during the boom years between 2003 to 2008 but found themselves struggling to repay debt after the global financial crisis and property downturn across much of the country.

The central bank has brought in new regulations on personal lending by banks in the UAE, fuelled by concerns over the debts individuals were taking on. In May 2011, the central bank

capped personal borrowing at 20-times an individual’s monthly salary, with monthly repayments also capped at 50 percent of an individual’s salary and regular income. Personal loans could have a maximum tenor of four years.

This year, it also capped the interest rate banks charge on credit cards at 18 percent annually. Banks in the UAE previously charged between 27 percent and 36 percent a year, much higher than many other Gulf Arab states. —Reuters

Kuwait falls to four-week low on political tensions Gulf bourses mixed in quiet trading

NEW YORK: Specialist Brian Fairbrother, left, and trader James Riley work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. The US stock market headed slightly lower yesterday, following a leap in claims for unemployment benefits and weak results from American Express. — AP

Nokia posts loss, future hinges on new Lumia sales HELSINKI: Nokia reported smaller-than-expected losses for the third quarter but warned of tough times ahead, with investors saying the company’s survival depended on whether its new smartphones can claw back market share from Apple and Samsung. The Finnish phone-maker reported an underlying loss before one-off items of 0.07 euros per share on Thursday compared to a profit of 0.03 euros a year earlier. The market expected a loss of 0.11 euros, according to a Reuters poll.

While the results, boosted by strong profits at its telecoms equipment venture Nokia Siemens Networks, were above forecasts, investors said pressure was still on Chief Executive Stephen Elop who was hired in 2010 to turn the company around.

“I think Nokia will continue to have a rough ride,” said Inge Heydorn, fund manager at Sentat Asset Management. Once the world’s biggest mobile phone maker and a trail-blazer in the sector, Nokia has fallen behind Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy in the lucrative smartphone market.

Nokia is now pinning its hopes on the new Lumia 820 and 920 models, which come in vivid colours, have high-resolution cameras and run on Microsoft’s latest software. The new Lumias are due to hit the stores in November.

Nokia shares briefly rose as much as 10 percent on the results but fell back to trade flat at 2.20 euros by 1300 GMT. Jefferies analyst Lee Simpson warned investors were “in danger of buying a challenged product cycle”, warning that the company could keep burning cash for another year.

Net cash came in at 3.6 billion euros ($4.7 billion), ahead of market forecasts of 3.4 billion euros. But that was still down from 4.2 billion in June. Investors and analysts have said that if its cash position worsens and Lumia sales provide little bounce over the coming months, the company may need to change its strategy as well as its chief executive.

Nokia has cut spending and is selling assets such as its Vertu luxury handset unit to improve its finances. It is also considering selling and leasing back its waterfront headquarters in Espoo, a short drive from Helsinki.

Sales of the existing range of Lumia smartphones fell to 2.9 million from 4 million in the second quarter as consumers waited for the newer models. Average selling prices dropped to 160 euros from 186 euros per phone.—Reuters

DUBAI: Kuwait’s bourse dropped to a four-week low yesterday because of rising political tensions, while other Gulf bourses were mixed in quiet trade ahead of the weekend.

Jittery investors have sold shares in Kuwait since protests on Monday which called for the emir to set a date for upcoming parliamentary elections. Worries about politics weighed on the market yesterday ahead of a cabinet meeting later in the day.

In some of the strongest remarks by an opposition figure, former lawmaker Musallam al-Barrak appealed directly to Kuwait’s Amir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah during the protests to avoid “autocratic rule”. His speech contained extremely rare criticism of the Amir, which analysts said might spark a strong reaction from the authorities.

The main stock index lost 0.5 percent yesterday, closing at its lowest level since Sept. 23. Volumes were focused in smaller caps, an indication the activity is mainly retail investor-driven. Gulf Investment House fell 3.6 percent, while Gulf Bank slipped 1.2 percent with two block trades accounting for 11 million shares in the stock.

In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai’s index climbed 0.7 percent to 1,654 points, a 25-week closing high. The index is in an uptrend channel dating back to June and this week broke above the 61.8 percent retracement of its drop from this year’s peak, a bullish signal.

“A clear break above 1,650-1,660 level (will) give a strong buy signal, leading the break towards 1,780 and even to 2,000,” said Musa Haddad, head of the MENA equity desk at National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

The index broke convincingly this week above its 200-week moving average, now at 1,635 points, which indicates a major move upward, he added.

Emaar Properties gained 1.4 percent and telecom operator du climbed 2.8 percent. Three analysts polled by Reuters expect Du to post a 36 percent rise in third-quarter net profit in coming days.

“We’ve seen a strong move in Dubai recently but things are turning a bit quiet before Eid holidays,” said Chahir Hosni, head of Gulf institutional sales at EFG Hermes.

“People are focused on Du - the Q3 numbers will justify the current price, which is being driven by good expectations.”

Gulf markets will close late next week for the Muslim holiday on Eid al Adha. Abu Dhabi’s measure slipped 0.1 percent on Thursday, easing away from Wednesday’s 14-month high.

Investors booked recent gains with large-caps and property stocks lower. Abu Dhabi National Energy fell 1.5 percent and telecom firm etisalat shed 0.1 percent. Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate declined 0.7 and 1.5 percent respectively. Elsewhere, Qatar’s measure ticked up 0.1 percent, losing momentum since Tuesday’s three-week closing high, and Oman’s bourse closed nearly flat.

Yesterday’s HIGHLIGHTS KUWAIT The measure declined 0.5 percent to 5,910 points.

DUBAI The index gained 0.7 percent to 1,654 points.

ABU DHABI The benchmark slipped 0.1 percent to 2,652 points.

QATAR The measure edged up 0.07 percent to 8,542 points.

OMAN The index ticked up 0.04 percent to 5,713 points.

BAHRAIN The measure slipped 0.2 at 1,067 points. — Reuters

BRUSSES: European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, left, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso participate in a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels yesterday. —AP

Business FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Gulf Islamic banks ready to step in, HSBC pulls back SYDNEY: Four days after HSBC Holdings said it would shrink its global Islamic banking operations, National Bank of Abu Dhabi revealed very different plans: it aims to triple the contribution of its sharia-compliant operations over the next eight years.

The contrast suggests that rather than being a sign of weakness in the Islamic finance sector, HSBC’s decision reflected its own business priorities - and to the extent that the British bank pulls back from the industry, local banks will gain an opportunity to expand.

HSBC announced early this month that except for wholesale banking operations, it would no longer offer Islamic products in Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Singapore and Mauritius.

It said it would focus its Islamic finance business on customers in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, while keeping a limited presence in Indonesia. Through its HSBC Amanah arm, headquartered in the UAE, HSBC was a pioneer in the industry and it operated the largest Islamic business of any Western bank, so the news sent ripples through the sector.

Some analysts speculated the decision reflected doubts about the long-term profitability of Islamic banking - perhaps dissatisfaction with costs that can be higher than conventional banking in some areas.

Frequent asset transfers can attract repeated taxation,

while buying the expertise to structure complex shariacompliant transactions is expensive.

The details of HSBC’s announcement, however, suggest the bank will not come close to pulling out of Islamic finance, and may even continue growing in some parts of the industry. The bank estimated it would keep about 83 percent of its Islamic business revenue after the move.

HSBC also stressed it would keep its wholesale Islamic banking operations, which are believed to be more profitable than retail and include its business of arranging issues in the Gulf’s booming sukuk market, where it is a leader. “The impact on the competitive landscape and the Islamic banking market as a whole will be minimal, as the closures affect only relatively small Islamic banking markets or countries where HSBC’s retail banking presence is limited,” said Alexander von Pock, principal at consultancy A.T. Kearney.

Faced with financial pressures in struggling European and US markets, and increased regulatory demands as Basel III global banking standards start to take effect, HSBC and other Western banks are being forced to prune their operations in both Islamic and conventional finance.

An HSBC spokesman said the decision on HSBC

Amanah followed a global strategic review, announced in May last year, which judged businesses on their compatibility with global strategy and the need to allocate capital efficiently.

“In conventional banks, an Islamic window is noncore business, and hence banks may be exiting to refocus on core business,” said John Chang, head of retail banking at Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank.

In fact, HSBC moved to scale back its Islamic business more slowly than it pruned its conventional operations; it has already divested assets in over 26 countries, including the United States, South Korea and Pakistan.

In the case of the Islamic operations, the decision was protracted, said a former HSBC Amanah director, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media.

Internally, the unit was able to argue that it was profitable but its weakness was that it lacked scale compared to HSBC’s huge conventional operations, the director said. “The retail business is profitable, but it is a very tiny business.” HSBC’s pull-out from Islamic retail banking operations in the UAE, the Arab world’s second biggest economy, is expected to put the biggest dent in its growth. But bankers and analysts said it made sense given regulation and funding trends faced by Western banks.—Reuters

Newsweek goes all-digital Magazine ends 80-year print run

MIAMI: In this Monday, Oct 14, 2012, shows a Bank of America branch in downtown Miami. Bank of America said Wednesday, that it narrowly turned a profit from July through September, good enough to beat Wall Street expectations. — AP

BoA says housing has ‘begun to turn’ NEW YORK: For banks, mortgage-making kept profits humming before the financial crisis, then blackened reputations and stamped out earnings when the crisis hit.

Now, the business of mortgage lending is more of a mixed bag. Bank of America, the country’s second-biggest bank, reported Wednesday that mortgage originations jumped over a year ago - up 18 percent to $21 billion. But the mortgage unit still lost money as the bank worked through problem mortgages issued before the crisis.

It’s the latest sign that five years after the housing bubble burst, mortgages remain thorny for the banking industry.

They still drive revenue, but banks are getting hit with expensive reminders of the risky mortgage lending of last decade, in the form of lawsuits, foreclosures and regulatory headaches.

Bank of America’s chief financial officer said Wednesday he thought the housing market had turned, noting that home prices are rising more consistent-

ly. His statements echoed what JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, the country’s two largest mortgage lenders, suggested last week.

“I think we’ve clearly begun to turn the corner,” Bruce Thompson said in a conference call with reporters to discuss the bank’s third-quarter earnings, which beat Wall Street expectations. Still, Thompson noted that any recovery is tenuous. He said he’d remain “a little bit cautious because there are headwinds out there.” “‘It’s obviously early in the cycle with home prices moving up,” Thompson said. “There are obviously certain questions that remain in the economy with respect to other matters.” On Monday, Citigroup executives showed wariness when asked about the housing market.

Citi’s chief financial officer wondered whether the US is creating enough jobs to support a sustained recovery. Bank of America is the last of the mortgageheavy mega-banks to report third-quarter earnings.—AP

WASHINGTON: Newsweek announced yesterday it would end an 80year run as a print magazine, taking the venerable publication all-digital in another sign of the woes of an industry struggling in the Internet age.

Like other US magazines and newspapers, Newsweek has been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online. Circulation has fallen from more than four million a decade ago to around 1.5 million last year, and losses were mounting.

“This decision is not about the quality of the brand or the journalism-that is as powerful as ever,” wrote Tina Brown, editor-in-chief and founder of the online Newsweek Daily Beast Company. “It is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution,” she said, insisting: “We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it.”

The last print edition in the United States will be the December 31 issue.

Brown’s note did not mentioning Newsweek’s international editions, except to say the new digital version would be a single, worldwide product.

Newsweek, which had a fierce decadeslong rivalry with fellow American coffee-table staple Time magazine, has in recent times been losing money steadily and struggling with the transition to online journalism.

“I think Newsweek lost its relevance and that is somewhat obscured by the digital transition,” said Ken Doctor, an analyst with research firm Outsell.

“They didn’t stand out as being a mustread, and you have to be a must-read in some way.”

Doctor said that, even though Newsweek is a strong brand, it has to be able “to stand out in the clutter” to survive in the digital world. Media analyst Rebecca Lieb of the Altimeter Group said Newsweek “has got to rein-

vent itself and it’s got to do so under very challenging circumstances.”

Lieb said Newsweek’s demise “is symptomatic of the format” of a weekly news magazine and warned: “Time Magazine could well be next.” The Washington Post sold Newsweek to California billionaire Sidney Harman for one dollar in 2010, ahead of a deal with IAC to merge the magazine with the online operation to become known familiarly as “Newsbeast.”

At the time of the sale in 2010, Newsweek had piled up more than $70 million in losses over the prior two years and had forecast more red ink. After Harman’s death in 2011, his family ended its contributions to Newsweek.

Dan Kennedy, journalism professor at Northeastern University, said the synergies expected from the print-digital combination never materialized. “The whole idea behind the Newsweek-Daily Beast merger was to marry print to digital. So it strikes me that if Newsweek is going to cease to exist as a print prod-

uct, then the idea failed,” he said.

But Kennedy said that positioning Newsweek as a paid digital publication “at least in theory gives (Newsweek) a chance” to build a revenue stream.

Brown acknowledged the merger of the print edition and the online Daily Beast operations, called “Newsweek Global,” would require layoffs “both here in the United States and internationally.” She said the all-digital publication “will be a single, worldwide edition targeted for a highly mobile, opinionleading audience who want to learn about world events in a sophisticated context.”

Newsweek “will expand its rapidly growing tablet and online presence, as well as its successful global partnerships and events business,” she said.

Barry Diller, chairman and chief executive at the conglomerate IAC, said in July that his firm was looking at new options now that its partner in the Newsweek/Daily Beast operation has pulled out.—AFP

WASHINGTON: This photo illustration shows news and blog site The Daily Beast and a copy of Newsweeek magazine in Washington on November 12, 2010. Venerable US magazine Newsweek announced yesterday its last print edition would be December 31, saying it would turn all digital to cut costs in an increasingly challenging media environment. — AFP

Business FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

China’s growth, Europe hopes boost Asia shares China economy slows for 7th quarter

KASHAGAN: This April 2012, photo provided by North Caspian Operating Company NCOC shows Kashagan offshore oilfield is in western Kazakhstan. The supergiant field, which is believed around 13 billion tons of recoverable oil, is expected to begin producing its first crude in 2013 after many years of delays. — AP

First oil nears for Kazakhstan’s supergiant field KASHAGAN OILFIELD: The manmade islands that are home to Kazakhstan’s mammoth Kashagan oilfield project rise like a mirage to the boats churning through the shallow waters of the Caspian Sea. Creating them has been a gargantuan feat but the real test is yet to come, as uncertainty persists on when the first oil will actually be drawn, although that’s expected sometime next year. When surveyors confirmed in 2000 that Kazakhstan had a new supergiant oil reserve, the world’s energy companies reacted with glee. It was the type of find that had no longer seemed possible. Nothing that big had been seen in four decades.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev branded the Kashagan field, which some believe holds up to 13 billion barrels of recoverable oil, as the great hope for the future of his fledgling Central Asian nation.

Yet developing a remote offshore site half the size of Delaware that is blighted by weather ranging from blazing to glacial has proven difficult. The northern section of the landlocked Caspian Sea is extremely shallow compared to most offshore energy projects. That makes transporting heavy equipment a problem, as deep-hulled vessels can’t be used. The area’s fragile ecosystem is also the site of spawning grounds for endangered sturgeon, birthing habitat for the rare Caspian seal and migratory sites for numerous birds.

Delays in the Kashagan project have also strained relations between the oil companies developing it - from Italy, France, Holland, the United States and Japan - and the government of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan, a mainly Muslim nation four times the size of Texas that borders Russia and China, gained independence after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. It’s a thinly populated steppe nation of 16.5 million people that has grown wealthy off of several major oil projects and other substantial mineral reserves. Many locals, however, complain that the country’s riches are poorly distributed.

Away from the politics, technicians on Kashagan’s hub island - two long, narrow mazes of wells and processing modules linked by a bridge to form what is known as D-Island - exude pride in what they have achieved.

“In 2004, when we first started, the island was just a small box,” said Giancarlo Ruiu, offshore project manager with Agip KCO, a subsidiary of the Italian oil giant ENI, which has led the work on Kashagan. Other companies in the consortium are Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, ConocoPhillips, Inpex and Kazakhstan’s state-owned KazMunaiGaz. The rocks and sand needed to build up D-Island and its four satellite islands were laboriously transported from the oncevibrant fishing port of Bautino, some 350 kilometers (217 miles) to the south.

But when the wind pushes the Caspian’s lime-green waters south, in effect tilting the entire sea to below-navigable levels, the 18-hour summertime boat trip can become impossible, forcing workers to rely on helicopters. In the winter, ice breakers are deployed to clear paths for convoys to make the stultifying 36-hour voyage. To protect D-Island from destructive ice drifts, a defensive ring had to be erected. — AP

HONG KONG: Asian markets climbed yesterday as dealers welcomed news that China’s economy grew in line with forecasts, while confidence was also lifted by more upbeat US data and hopes for the eurozone.

Soothing comments on the economy from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday also provided support, while dealers looked ahead to a European Union summit set to begin later in the day.

Shanghai rose 1.24 percent, or 26.07 points, to 2,131.69 while Hong Kong added 0.48 percent, or 102.07 points, to 21,518.71.

Tokyo closed 2.00 percent higher, adding 176.31 points to 8,982.86 as a weakening yen boosted exporters, while Sydney gained 0.69 percent, adding 31.2 points to 4,559.4 and Seoul advanced 0.20 percent, or 3.97 points, to 1,959.12.

China said its economy grew 7.4 percent in the third quarter to the end of September, easing for a seventh straight quarter and underscoring its weakest performance since the global financial crisis.

However, the figure matched expectations, while other economic data pointed to a possible bottoming out of the economy, which has been severely hit this year by troubles in its key export markets of Europe and the United States.

Growth in the quarter was the slowest since 6.6 percent recorded in the first three months of 2009 during the global financial crisis.

The economy grew 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012. But industrial output rose a better-than-expected 9.2 percent year on year in September, while retail sales, the main gauge of consumer spending, rose 14.2 percent in September.

The figures follow data at the weekend showing exports, which have seen a steep drop in recent months, surged almost 10 percent in September.

“The latest data supports our hypothesis that the economy may have bottomed and will turn for the better in the fourth quarter,” Zheng Pin, an analyst with Minsheng Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

“This gives the market newfound confidence,” he added. On Wednesday Wen said he was confident China’s economy was stabilising and that measures put in place would ensure it would continue to do so, adding that he expected Beijing’s target of 7.5 percent growth for the year would be achieved.

“We have confidence that with hard work we can realise the year’s economic and social development goals,” he added, although he also warned that the weak global economy would pose a challenge.

Regional markets were already higher yesterday morning as traders extended the previous day’s gains after Moody’s held off a downgrade of Spain’s credit rating, while hopes were growing that Madrid would ask for a bailout.

Concerns over Greece have also eased on rumours it will be given more time to implement crucial reforms that will help get the economy back on track.

News that US housing starts leaped 15.0 percent in September from August,

to an annual rate of 872,000, the strongest pace since July 2008, indicated that the world’s number one economy is gradually getting back on track.

On Wall Street, the news helped shares reverse earlier losses. The Dow ended flat, the S&P 500 gained 0.41 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.10 percent.

The safe-haven yen was down as dealers became more confident in buying up riskier assets.

In early European trade, the dollar rose to 79.24 yen from 78.97 yen in New York late Wednesday, while the euro hit 103.99 yen, up from 103.60 yen.

The single currency was also trading at $1.3116, compared with $1.3120.

Oil prices were mixed. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November dropped a cent to $92.11 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for December delivery added 21 cents to $113.43. Gold was at $1,743.40 at 1100 GMT compared with $1,749.60 late Wednesday. — AFP

BEIJING: Billboards for a new shopping mall under construction are seen beside the CCTV Tower in the Central Business District of Beijing yesterday. China said that its economy grew 7.4 percent in the third quarter of this year, slowing for a seventh straight quarter and underscoring its deepest slump since the global financial crisis. — AFP

Gold softens ahead of euro summit LONDON: Gold eased a touch yesterday as the euro failed to maintain gains made after a well received auction of Spanish debt, but prices remained in a narrow range ahead of a meeting of euro zone policymakers later in the day.

The single European currency rose to a session high against the dollar, close to the one-month peak struck on Wednesday, after good demand at an auction of Spanish bonds led to lower yields on Spain’s 10-year paper.

The euro quickly surrendered gains to drift lower, however. European shares also were little changed, with concerns over euro zone debt keeping investors on the sidelines as European Union leaders gathered in Brussels for a two-day

summit. Spot gold fell 0.2 percent on the day to $1,746.89 per ounce by 1030 GMT. US gold futures slipped $4.60 an ounce to $1,748.40.

Prices of spot gold dipped below $1,730 earlier in the week under the pressure of uncertainty over Spain’s bailout plan and improvement in US economic data, which triggered concerns about the extent of the latest stimulus measures.

“Gold seems to lack a little bit of momentum at the moment. We’ve seen some firmness, but it’s not the big moves that many have forecasted,” said Ross Norman, chief executive of bullion brokers Sharps Pixley.

“If there was fear, you would buy

gold, but there is uncertainty, so people tend to sit on their hands, trying to work out how things play out. The EU summit, the euro and the dollar will be the drivers in the next short period, and the expectations are that if anything comes out of it (the summit), there would be some euro strength and some gold firmness.” Norman said physical demand was also weaker than expected for the time of year, when festivals in India and the build-up to Christmas tend to ramp up physical buying.

Demand from gold importers in India appeared to wane yesterday as a weaker rupee drove up domestic prices in the world’s largest gold buyer for the third session in a row. — Reuters

THEY ARE THE 99!

99 Mystical Noor Stones carry all that is left of the wisdom and knowledge of the lost civilization of Baghdad. But the Noor Stones lie scattered across the globe - now little more than a legend. One man has made it his life’s mission to seek out what was lost. His name is Dr. Ramzi Razem and he has searched fruitlessly for the Noor Stones all his life. Now, his luck is about to change - the first of the stones have been rediscovered and with them a special type of human who can unlock the gem’s mystical power. Ramzi brings these gem - bearers together to form a new force for good in the world. A force known as ... the 99!

THE FASCINATING STORY OF THE 99 Baghdad lies in ruins, destroyed by the marauding armies of Hulagu Khan. The brave librarians of the great Dar Al-Hikma rush to save the glory of the ancient world’s accumulated wisdom, little knowing that centuries later their efforts will bear strange fruit. While the Noor Stones were created to save the library, their power has transcended that task and in our own time has provided extraordinary abilities to an international group of young people, the world’s newest superheroes known as… The 99.

The 99 ® and all related characters ® and © 2012, Teshkeel Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.the99.org

Analysis FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

How long can Google shares stay airborne?

By David Randall and Gerry Shih

G

oogle Inc’s shares have clung tenaciously near record highs after a three-month, 30 percent rally fueled by rising optimism about Internet advertising, but Wall Street fears it may be running out of steam. Google stock has hovered near an all-time high of $774.38 since touching that peak on Oct. 5. To break through that level, investors and analysts say it needs to run a gauntlet of risks that could undermine its status as technology’s second-most valuable company.

The most immediate concerns center on competition in the mobile arena, which is shaping up as the main battleground for tech supremacy among Google, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Facebook Inc. Investors point out that Google’s Android - despite being the world’s most-used mobile software - has yet to yield significant revenue growth. And the company has not yet articulated a coherent strategy in the wake of its $12.5 billion acquisition in May of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility.

In the longer term, a rising wave of regulatory scrutiny both at home and abroad could represent the single biggest risk to the Google story. Regulators are looking into whether Google is competing unfairly by favoring its own properties in its core search product, and whether it inappropriately uses sensitive personal data to target ads. To be sure, of 45 investment brokerages that cover Google, 36 rate it a “buy” or “strong buy”, with the median price target standing at $845 - up another 12 percent from current levels - and the most bullish target at $910. Among portfolio managers, at least one maintains a $1,300 target, after factoring in Google’s growing cash and securities pile. “Their business model alone makes them an incredibly easy target for a whole bunch of legal matters,” said Kim Forrest, an analyst and portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group who recently owned Google shares. “To date they’ve done well managing it,” Forrest said, referring to Google’s interactions with regulators. “But I think it’s their big risk. Most investors don’t fully understand that, professionals as well as retail.”

Antitrust Anxieties Google’s run-ins with regulators over the years have invited comparisons to Microsoft and IBM, two tech giants that were once distracted and constrained by long-running antitrust battles. “They seem to be well-positioned in display ads and mobile, which are nascent industries,” said Connor Browne, portfolio manager of the Thornburg Value Fund. “The biggest risk by far is regulators bringing an antitrust case, a la the Microsoft Internet Explorer suit that company faced. “Our expectations are nothing material for the stock, but that could be one of the reasons why the valuation is not higher now.”

Sources told Reuters last week that a majority of commissioners at the US Federal Trade Commission was poised to recommend, possibly as early as November, that the government bring an antitrust lawsuit against Google. Several companies, including Yelp Inc, have accused Google of tilting its search algorithm so that links to its own subsidiaries appear more often in its search results. Google processes twothirds of all Internet queries in the United States and roughly 90 percent in Europe.

But analogies to previous antitrust cases may be off-base, analysts say. The FTC is not likely to demand actions nearly as dramatic as the forced breakup of telecom giant AT&T in 1984, but the constant threat of antitrust investigations “makes it a more highly scrutinized company and therefore they need to tread more carefully than others,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W Baird & Co. “It becomes a perception issue” that could affect how aggressively Google tweaks its search algorithms, he added.

A High Bar The bar for antitrust enforcement remains high. Regulators must show that aside from stifling competitors, Google’s actions hurt consumers. Even if the FTC proceeds against the company, it is unlikely to try to alter its strategy of developing the Google+ social network, as well as its Maps and consumer review products, into a comprehensive, searchable database of people and businesses, analysts say. Rather, it is likely to press the company to disclose which search results are generated from Google properties, or seek other tweaks that the company has seemed willing to make, analysts say. “It’s miles from Microsoft,” said David Balto, a former FTC policy director and antitrust lawyer. “It would be fruitless to try to identify any consumer harm comparable to what Microsoft engaged in.”

More critical may be the search giant’s regular entanglements with privacy regulators, especially in Europe. Google, like Yahoo Inc and

Facebook, relies on the ability to track users while they surf the Web as an essential driver of its advertising business. This week, European Union authorities threatened Google with fines unless it amended its privacy policy after the company consolidated user data across its products, like Gmail and Google Plus, to better target advertising. The risk is that it could get ensnared in complex, pan-global privacy investigations that hamper its ability to collect user data. “Privacy is the bigger risk,” said Sebastian, the Baird analyst. “If Google were not allowed to target advertising, that would hurt monetization. It’s a headline risk that can cause choppiness in the stock.”

By The Numbers Google itself has been clear that its biggest priority for now is the mobile device battle with Apple, which Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt called the “defining fight” of the high-tech industry. The Android operating system accounts for 56 percent of the market, according to Strategy Analytics, but it is losing share to one-time partner Apple, which surged from 23.2 percent market share in the second quarter of 2012 to 33.2 percent a year later on the back of strong sales of its iPhone 4S. And the deal for Motorola, its largest-ever acquisition, will remain under scrutiny until the division can turn a profit. “It seems like every new business they’ve gone into has diluted their net income.

according to an Adobe Systems Inc study.

Google appeared to suffer a blip in the second quarter, when it reported a 16 percent decline in its search ads’ “cost per click” compared with a year ago, but analysts say the long-term forecast for Google’s mobile transition remains upbeat. With the help of its AdMob acquisition, completed last year, and the rise of video advertising on its YouTube platform, Google seems well-positioned. Rising advertising rates for mobile searches and earnings growth rates of over 20 percent over the next two years could make the company’s shares worth $1,300 in 2014, assuming a 15 times earnings multiple and factoring in cash, argued Browne, who owns shares in his $2.1 billion Thornburg Value fund.

He said desktop searches should account for about 70 percent of Google’s total ad revenue, followed by display ads at 15 percent and mobile searches at 10 percent. “We give them zero credit for Motorola, assuming no big profits and no big losses,” he said. While his estimate is not as lofty, Paul Meeks, an analyst at Saturna Capital who covers technology for the $2.2 billion Amana Growth Fund, said shares of Google should trade at $854, a 13 percent jump from Wednesday’s closing price of $755.49. He arrived at that price by assuming a 15 multiple on next year’s projected earnings of $49 a share - a tad above Wall Street’s current average expectations - and adding in $113 per share based on the company’s large cash position. “This is a company

This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google technician working on some of the computers in the Dalles, Oregon, data center. Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers that serve as its nerve center. The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled Wednesday. The site features photos from inside some of the eight data centers that Google Inc already has running in the US, Finland and Belgium. —AP Shareholders would like to know how they’re going to get paid,” said Forrest, who expects Google’s recent share gains to level out for the rest of the year. “The biggest beneficiary of people adopting Android is Microsoft, because they get paid an $8 license (per device) for their patents.”

Cost Per Click Some, however, see a lot to like in Google’s prospects. The company dominates search, and processes a full two-thirds of all Internet queries in the United States. Google also seems well-positioned to adjust to a sweeping change in consumer behavior that is afflicting its peers. People are spending increasing time on their smartphones and tablets, but advertising rates on mobile devices command only 56 to 71 percent the price of ads - or “cost per click” - on laptops and PCs,

that starts with essentially a monopolist position in desktop search, and now through Android they are capturing more than half of the mobile ad revenue dollars,” Meeks said.

But other investors in the company are preparing to pare back or sell their positions after the recent run-up. “The stock is more fairly valued now than it was when we picked it up in the fourth quarter of last year,” said Daniel Morris, who manages the $4.3 million Manor Growth fund. Google needs to show that it can wring profit from its growing number of searches for the stock in order to move higher, he said. The stock also tends to rise and fall with an advertising market that is in turn tied to investor sentiment, said Steve Sorrano, equities analyst for Calvert Investments. He said that latecomers might not want to jump on the investor bandwagon right now. “It’s easy to get hurt if you own that stock too late in the cycle,” he said. — Reuters

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 www.kuwaittimes.net

A sculpture created by Japanese artist Eiji Hayakawa entitled "Space" is displayed on the rock near Bondi Beach during the world's largest annual free-to-the-public outdoor art exhibition, "Sculptures By The Sea" in Sydney, Australia, yesterday. The sculpture made of stainless steel is worth AUS $40,000 (USD $41,500). —AP

Food FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

By Lauren Chattman

O

f all the back-to-school tasks on the agenda for September, packing school lunches always feels like the most burdensome. The same turkey sandwich, apple and cookie get boring fast. But do I really want to spend time planning interesting menus for lunchboxes on top of everything else I have to do?

My kids don’t want - or even appreciate - fancy preparations. But they do like variety. This year, I’m trying something new. To keep things quick and simple, I’ve made lists of the different categories of foods I want my children to eat. I’ll stock my refrigerator, freezer and pantry every weekend with items from the lists, and every morning I’ll improvise a new combination to satisfy their nutritional needs and tastes.

HEALTHY PROTEINS turkey low-salt ham lean roast beef peanut butter hard-boiled eggs hard cheese canned beans hummus or other pureed bean spread low-fat yogurt tuna packed in water

I plan to pack my kids’ lunch-box items in BPA-free bento boxes and containers I’ve purchased at The Container Store.

They keep sandwiches separate from salad without any environmental waste, and won’t leach chemicals into the kids’ food. And they’re fun to open up, especially if you never know what they’ll hold. I’ll put the containers in an insulated lunch box along with an ice pack to keep everything at a safe temperature for eating.

Store a selection of the following items in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer, and you will be able to come up with a different lunch-box combination for every day of the month.

Don’t forget to mix in leftovers - chicken, pizza, meatloaf whenever you have them.

FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES banana berries melon grapes pineapple chunks carrots celery edamame grape tomatoes salad greens SENSIBLE TREATS nuts and seeds dried fruit or fruit leather graham crackers oatmeal cookies trail mix whole-grain pretzels whole-grain tortilla chips or baked potato chips square of chocolate granola bar yogurt-covered raisins

baked tofu HEALTHY GRAINS whole-grain bread whole-grain pasta brown rice cakes whole-wheat tortillas mini pita breads or pita chips whole-wheat mini bagels whole-grain crackers whole-grain cereal croutons breadsticks

EXTRAS low-fat mayonnaise mustard salad dressing jam or jelly marinara sauce salsa pitted olives pickles and pickled vegetables other pasta sauces, such as peanut sauce and pesto Some combinations of lunch items make more sense than others. To get you started, here are two weeks’ worth of ideas. Increase portions for older children.

1. Mozzarella balls Grape tomatoes Breadsticks Square of chocolate 2. Whole-wheat pasta with pesto Grape tomatoes Olives 3. Sliced turkey or chicken chunks Romaine lettuce Caesar salad dressing Croutons Dried apricots 4. Hard-boiled eggs Carrots and celery Whole-grain crackers

Oatmeal cookie 5. Whole-wheat tortilla Sliced banana Peanut butter Dried cranberries 6. Hummus Whole-wheat pita Cucumber spears Yogurt-covered raisins 7. Cheddar cheese and crackers Grapes Pumpkin seeds 8. Cheese on whole-wheat bread Strawberries Pretzels 9. Tortilla chips and salsa Jack cheese Black beans Pineapple chunks 10. Roast beef on a mini bagel Salad dressing Salad greens Baked potato chips — MCT

Food FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

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ust to be clear: There is no coffee in coffee cake. Rather, it’s a cake generally so rich and gooey with butter and cinnamon and sugar - and, if a truly proper coffee cake, crowned with crumbly streusel - that it’s best nibbled with a mug of strong, steaming coffee within reach.

The origins of coffee cake are both familial and universal. No wonder that it’s a popular baking contest category at the Minnesota State Fair.

Many cultures have a tradition of a sweet cake for breakfast or for morning or mid-afternoon coffee breaks - evidence of the comfort found in the presence of butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon. Spicy, streuselly coffee cake seems especially American, though. It’s fair to speculate that many people’s idea about coffee cake came from the recipe that for years was on boxes of Bisquick.

Convenience is lovely, but baking from scratch is fulfilling, especially when the results are as scrumptious as this coffee cake. Just to be clear: You need four bowls, for the streusel, the filling, the batter and the flours. But each com-

ponent comes together in a trice, and the cake even can be assembled the night before and baked in the morning. This coffee cake can accommodate some personalization, as well: Add a layer of thinly sliced peeled apples to the filling, or a smattering of blueberries. If streusel for you means nuts, toast a handful of walnuts or pecans in the oven or a skillet, then chop and add to the topping. Frankly, though, it’s hard to beat the simple combo of cinnamon and sugar in its ability to elicit quiet sighs of satisfaction.

But don’t forget the coffee, at least to keep you from nodding off.

Serves 16 to 20 Note: This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour. We swapped in some whole-wheat pastry flour, available in coops, for some of the all-purpose flour, but you can make it using only all-purpose, if you prefer. We made ours in a tube pan with a removable bottom - crucial to being able to release the cake - but you also can make this in a 9- by 13inch pan, which takes less time to bake. (Check for doneness at 50 minutes with the oblong pan.) You can assemble this batter the night before, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Then bake as directed in the morning, adding 5 to 10 minutes to the time to account for the batter being chilled.

For streusel 1 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour 2 tsp cinnamon 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted For filling 1 cup dark brown sugar 1 tbsp. cinnamon For cake 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup dark brown sugar 1 tsp salt 2 tsp. vanilla 3 eggs 1 cup plain yogurt 3 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour 2/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup milk Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a tube pan with removable bottom or a 9- by 13-inch cake pan.

To make the streusel: Combine granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, whole-wheat pastry flour, cinnamon and melted butter. Mix well and set aside.

To make the filling: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix well and set aside.

To make the cake: In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, granulated and brown sugars, salt and vanilla

until well combined and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the yogurt and mix.

In a small bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat pastry flours and baking powder.

Add the flour mixture to the batter mixture alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the flour.

Spoon half the batter (a scant 3 cups) into the prepared baking pan, spreading to the edges. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter over the filling, spreading to the edges. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

Bake the cake until it’s a dark golden brown around the edges and springs back when pressed gently, about 50 to 60 minutes for the 9- by 13-inch pan, or 60 to 70 minutes for the tube pan. Cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Nutrition information per each of 20 servings: Calories: 306; Fat: 10 g; Sodium: 206 mg; Carbohydrates: 50 g; Saturated fat: 6 g; Calcium: 96 mg; Protein: 5 g; Cholesterol: 53 mg; Dietary fiber: 2 g. — MCT

Beauty FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

As fresh as a fruit!

Homemade face packs for instant glow F

ace packs are excellent for your face, easy to use, they nourish your skin and make your face glow within five to 10 minutes. It is really amazing to use fruits and vegetables on your face because the fresh juice of fruits and vegetables gets in touch with your skin and tones the skin beautifully and also provides enzymes that help to balance and cleanse the skin at the same time.

Fruit and vegetable face packs help to improve the blood circulation, cleanse, tighten the entire face naturally and most of all make your skin glow. The good news is that homemade face packs are very efficient and very easy on your pocket. The ingredients you need to make face packs are already there in your kitchen.

Honey and Banana Face Pack Make a mix of 2 tablespoons of honey and one banana. Apply it on your face and neck all over, very evenly. Wash it off after 10 to 15 minutes. The result is instant a smooth and glowing face in a jiffy. This face pack is a great a moisturizer and also helps to tighten the skin. Apt for dry skin.

Potatoes Face Pack For people with oily skin potatoes are a great remedy. Apply a grated raw potato as a face pack by rubbing the potato on your skin in circular movements. The potato juice will simply stick to your skin leave it on for 15 to 20 minutes and then rinse off with water. Potatoes help to absorb excess oil in your face and are

helpful in avoiding wrinkles too.

Papaya Face Pack Eat the papaya but do not throw the skin. Use the skin as a natural face pack .

Simply rub the inner part of the skin of a papaya on your face. And then let it dry.

Once it is dry wash your face with cold water and wipe dry. A time tested home remedy to make your skin glow beautifully.

Orange Face Pack Extract the juice of half an orange and mix it with two teaspoons of curd or milk.

Lightly massage onto your face in an upward direction. Let it dry. Then, wash your face with cold water and wipe it slowly. A great face pack for soft , smooth and shiny face.

Cucumber Face Pack Cucumber can be used if you have an oily skin. Grind half a cucumber and squeeze to remove the juice. Apply the juice on your face and leave it to dry. Then wash with water and pat dry. It helps refresh, tighten your skin and also makes it glow instantly.

Tomato Face Pack When running short of time, just cut a tomato into two halves and rub it directly on your face in circular movements. Let the tomato juice on your face for 5 to 7 minutes till it is completely dry. Wash with water and get a soft and glowing skin naturally.

Very good for oily skin.

Face packs for Wrinkle-prone skin

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ote for dry skin: Always wash your face with lukewarm water; do not wash with hot or cold water.

While making face packs do not add water as an ingredient, you can add rosewater instead of water. Do not use soap to clean the mask.

Almond facial mask: Take around four to five almonds and grind it well do not add water. Blend the almond power together with one tablespoon honey and one egg white. Apply to face and wash after15 minutes. Gently wipe off with a damp wash cloth. This is best for wrinkle skin.

Onion face mask: Though onion has harsh smell it is good for reducing wrinkles in your skin. Take a tablespoon of onion juice and mix with half tablespoon of honey.

Apply on face and neck, let dry and gently wipe off with a damp wash cloth.

Banana facial mask: Mash a ripe banana and add a table spoon of rose water. Apply on face and neck, let dry and gently wipe off with a damp wash cloth. For best results apply mask twice in a week.

Simply Water One of the easiest and simplest ways to get a glow on your face is by placing a hot towel on your face for 10 minutes and then splash your face with cold water at least 10 to 12 times. This is the most natural way to get that glowing look and is good for every skin type.

Tips to make your face glow Drink plenty of water every day and avoid eating lots of fried food. Try to eat fresh vegetables and salads as much as

possible and avoid frozen foods. Drink fresh fruit juices and eat fresh fruits. And most of all, once in a month detoxify your body and skin by eating just fruits and liquids all day.

Now you can easily make you face glow in the easiest and off course the cheapest way. So what are you waiting for? Get up and go in your kitchen and grab any fruit or vegetable to get instant soft, smooth and glowing face instantly. www.expertscolumn.com

Books FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

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enre fiction offers rewards akin to vacationing in the same spot summer after summer. You pick up a favorite author, reacquaint yourself with familiar characters and locales, and yet are ready to be surprised by any welcome changes rung on old formulas. All of the following mysteries are written by veterans of the form. Most are part of long-running series; all are standouts, either because of their distinctive literary delights or because of ingenious variations on familiar plots and characters.

By Charles Todd

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ne of these days, Charles Todd should take a break from writing mysteries and pen an advice book for warring parents and their adult children. That’s because Todd, as “his” fans know, is the pseudonym for an American mother-and-son writing team that has churned out 13 mysteries featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge, a battle-scarred veteran of World War I. What’s more improbable than the collaboration is how consistently clever and atmospheric the Ian Rutledge novels are. Even given Todd’s superlative track record, The Confession is a standout. It opens with a sly gesture to the classic noir film DOA, in which a dying man visits the police station to report a murder. (Watch the 1950 original with Edmond O’Brien, not the awful 1988 remake with Dennis Quaid.)

By Anne Perry

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he success of Downton Abbey seems to have had a ripple effect in the literary world, where all things even vaguely evocative of the world of British gentry and their great houses are au courant.

(Two of the latest manifestations: the publication of Sadie Jones’ offbeat Edwardian romp, The Uninvited Guests, and handsome new reprints of P G Wodehouse’s classic Jeeves and Bertie Wooster farces from Overlook.) Mystery dowager Anne Perry has been mining this gas-lit territory for many a year in her mysteries featuring married Edwardian sleuths Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. Dorchester Terrace, the 25th novel in the series, opens on a note of triumph: Thomas has diligently risen through the police ranks to ascend, finally, to the apex: head of the Special Branch. Unfortunately, he barely has time to bask in that honor before the sky falls. An eld-

In The Confession, a “walking skeleton” appears at Scotland Yard on an oppressive summer’s day in 1920 and tells Rutledge that he’s dying of cancer and wants to clear his conscience of a murder he committed five years earlier. A few days later, the guilty man’s body turns up floating in the Thames with a bullet in the back of his head.

Rutledge’s investigations into murders new and old lead him to one of the creepiest fictional villages in all of English detective fiction: Furnham, in Essex, home to disgruntled fishermen, smugglers and hardscrabble farmers - all with a strange aversion to the tourists who are eager to spread some much needed money around. By the time Rutledge figures out what’s bothering the cranky folk of Furnham and cracks the murder case, he’s also proved that there’s still lots of life in the golden-age formula for British murder-mysteries.

By Camilla Lackberg

erly woman and former spy named Serafina Montserrat becomes terrified when she realizes that her mind is faltering and that she may unwittingly divulge still-dangerous secrets. While Thomas is sussing out this security threat, he receives disturbing news from his own agents in the field: known anarchists have been spotted lurking around railroad crossings. The only dignitary due to arrive in England is a small fry, a minor Austrian duke. As Pitt tries to figure out whether the perceived threat to the British rail system and international relations is real, he must also contend with the snobbery of his betters in Her Majesty’s Service and the discovery of a mole within the Special Branch itself.

The plot of Dorchester Terrace moves along in deliciously serpentine fashion and, given that we readers know what horrors really did follow from the assassination of an Austrian archduke, Pitt’s dilemma has the pang of genuine urgency

By Reed Farrel Coleman

T

he Stonecutter, by Camilla Lackberg, is one of those mysteries that can ruin a vacation. Take it to the beach and your eyes will be so locked on its pages, you’ll never know there’s an ocean in front of you. Lackberg, who’s been hailed as “the Swedish Agatha Christie” for previous novels like The Preacher and The Ice Princess, is one of those Nordic wonders - like Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo - who craft taut suspense plots graced with disturbing psychological insights.

It must be something in all those meatballs they eat. The Stonecutter once again returns readers to Lackberg’s own seaside

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urt Machine finds Moe battling a life-threatening tumor in his gut as he’s preparing to celebrate his daughter Sarah’s wedding.

With his thoughts already circling in “life review” mode, Moe runs into his exwife and former P I partner, Carmella Melendez. Here’s Moe’s pithy pronouncement on their brief and tempestuous union: “Carmella Melendez and I had gotten married for all the wrong reasons, but with the best intentions.

Perhaps it might have worked out better the other way around.” The meeting isn’t accidental. Carmella begs Moe to investigate the stabbing death of her sister,

hometown of Fjallbacka. The first corpse turns up on the second page when a lobsterman hauls up a curiously heavy lobster pot and discovers the body of a little girl tangled in its lines. Local police detective (and exhausted new father) Patrik Hedstom arrives at the wharf and realizes to his horror that he knows the child’s family. Despite his weariness, Patrik pushes himself to work nonstop to solve the girl’s murder - a murder made even more grotesque when it turns out the child was drowned in bathwater, not seawater. The Stonecutter is an operatic novel, weaving together modern and turn-of-thecentury storylines, all of them having to do with dysfunctional families and the rancid legacies they bequeath.

Alta, a New York Fire Department emergency medical technician. By the time she was murdered, Alta had become an embarrassment to “New York’s Bravest.” Months earlier, Alta and her partner, curiously, had turned up in uniform at a swanky restaurant; circumstances became even more curious when the two EMTs ignored a restaurant worker who collapsed and died of an apparent stroke in front of their eyes. Plot lines infused with regret and impending mortality give Hurt Machine an uncompromising toughness. As Moe hustles all over Coney Island and environs trying to get to the bottom of Alta’s murder, the word “deadline” takes on a darker meaning. www.npr.org

Technology FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Setting the right tone: Laser printers for home use

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he days when laser printers were only for the office are long past. If you want a workhorse in your home that will spit out pages, you shouldn’t have to expect to pay more than about 100 euros (130 dollars), says Matthias Roessler, an editor with German computer portal chip.de. The charm is their ability to churn out crisp printed pages. “Laser printers trump when it comes to printing text,” says Dirk Lorenz of Stiftung Warentest, a German consumer goods testing group. “In a few minutes you can produce hundreds of pages with clear, sharp letters.”

Unlike items produced with ink jet printers, these printouts can survive contact with water. If the plan is only to print out documents, stick with a black-and-white laser printer to cut costs. But anyone who has to print graphics will likely need to opt for colour, which will mean about 300 euros.

One drawback is their inability to print crisp pictures.

“The pictures look pixellated, it’s a real weakness,” says Lorenz. Focus on the price per printed page when shopping. “A good laser printer can manage about 1 to 1.5 cents per page,” says Roessler. The price is set by seeing how many standard pages can be forced out of one toner cartridge.

“If two devices with similar set-ups have a significantly different price, customers should opt for the more expensive printer,” says Roessler. That usually means more highquality materials, which will later mean savings in toner and money. Of course, if the plan is only to print a few pages a month, there’s no harm in opting for the cheaper model.

Check connectivity. Network connections are always becoming more important. Having a wi-fi adapter will make it easier to link the printer with netbooks, tablets and smartphones. If you need a lot of two-sided printers, look for the Duplex function. This will usually cost about 50 to 100 euros extra.

“Some laser printers are really energy hogs,” warns Lorenz, who says some will keep on drawing power so long as the main power switch is on. There are also those who worry about health problems related to laser printers, as well as copiers and multi-function devices. Some who work with such machines have complained about a myriad of illnesses. There have also been concerns about the effects of printer dust on workers.

“The effects upon health have not been resolved as of today,” says Lorenz. To be on the safe side, he recommends always airing out a room after a lot of printing has been done. Also avoid handling freshly printed pages until the ink has had a chance to settle. Also be sure to wipe away excess toner when switching cartridges and not blow it away so it can float in the air. Other tips include thinking about where ventilation systems are in relation to printers and not eating and drinking around them. — dpa

Printing with smartphones and tablets E ven the most passionate advocate of smartphones and tablets often ends up reverting to the dreaded old PC when it comes time to print a document.

But wi-fi printers and the appropriate apps might soon bring an end to this throwback. The devil, of course, is in the details. One of the problems with printing from handheld devices is the fuss of dealing with various wireless printing standards, like Apple’s Airprint, or finding some way to push a print command through one’s home network.

It doesn’t help that there’s no USB port on most such devices.

A quick search through the download platforms of Google and Apple show that just about every printer manufacturer has created a free app to aid printing. But there are alternatives. IPhones and iPads support the Airprint standard.

“Most new printers with wi-fi are compatible with Airprint,” says Michael Wolf of Stiftung Warentest, a German consumer goods testing organization. Still, owners of Apple devices should check the details before rushing out to buy a new printer.

But Airprint doesn’t allow people to control specific settings, like print quality, notes Wolf. “You just

have to take what the printer spits out.”

Still, the results are often very reliable, but not always. If you really want control over the final printed product, you’ll need to edit or rework the document to be printed in another programme.

An alternative to Airprint, from Google, is Cloud Print. It lets users print directly from Chrome and the apps for Google Docs and Gmail. Its use is not just limited to Android systems, but multiple operating systems that support its apps.

But, just like Airprint, it only works if the printer supports its standard. Otherwise, users will have to fall back to relying upon a PC connected to the printer.

Tim Gerber from German computer magazine c’t says standards like Airprint are probably the best option. “This way, printing is just the way we’re used to it on PCs - the printer function is directly integrated into the operating system and can be called up from any app.” The only requirement is that the app maker has integrated the function.

On the other hand, apps directly from printer manufacturers need to be started up independently each time. And the app cannot handle every format. It’s usually not a prob-

lem with graphics, photos and PDF files, but often can be with Office documents.

Gerber sees another advantage with the Apple and Google options.”The chances are also higher that I’ll be able to print on a strange printer while I’m underway.” Conversely, anyone relying on manufacturer apps would theoretically need 10 different apps at the ready at all times.

Printing from a smartphone only works with devices that have wi-fi.

Both the printer and the smartphone need to be tapped into the same wireless network.

There are exceptions. Google’s Cloud Print actually sends the print command to a corporate server.

HP’s ePrint service is similar. That means the printer has to be assigned an e-mail address to which the print command can be mailed.

In the end, it’s still a fuss. But it’s a fuss that will need to be surmounted as more and more people begin to use tablet computers instead of PCs. — dpa

Lifestyle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

In this July 25, 1981 file photo, Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel as Lady Chatterly in the film ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’, in France.

A file picture taken on May 13, 1977 shows Dutch actress, model and singer Sylvia Kristel, posing as a ‘starlet’ on the Carlton Hotel beach in front of press photographers and fans, during Cannes Film Festival. — AFP photos

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utch actress Sylvia Kristel, whose iconic “Emmanuelle” role symbolized the sexual revolution of the 1970s and who spent years fighting drug addiction, has died aged 60 after a battle with cancer. “She died during the night during her sleep,” agent Marieke Verharen of Features Creative Management told AFP of the 60 year-old actress who had been admitted to an Amsterdam hospital in July following a stroke. Kristel was catapulted to fame in 1974 aged just 22 by her first movie, “Emmanuelle” which recounted the erotic adventures of a young woman in Asia.

A worldwide success, the French film was shown in a cinema on the Champs-Elysees in Paris for 13 years, and seen by at least 350 million people around the world, but Kristel never learned to live with her fame. The image used in the film’s promotional poster of Kristel sitting semi-naked in a wickerwork Peacock chair is seared into the minds of a generation of both men and women. With her short-cropped hair, innocent features and slender frame, she lured movie-goers with her “natural erotic attraction” and made “soft-core pornography acceptable”, Dutch media said,

In this May 22, 1975 file photo Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who played the role of ‘Emmanuelle’, poses for the camera on her arrival at the Cannes Film Festival.

A series of sequels followed, also starring Kristel, with “Emmanuelle 2” in 1975, “Goodbye Emmanuelle” in 1977 and “Emmanuelle 4” in 1984. She soon became typecast in erotic roles, and admitted to taking acting jobs in the 1980s simply to make money to feed her expensive cocaine habit. “I was a silent actress, a body. I belonged to dreams, to those that can’t be broken,” Kristel, who for years battled drug and alcohol addiction, wrote in her 2006 autobiography “Naked”.

Kristel was born on September 28, 1952 in Utrecht, where her parents ran a hotel near the train station. She relates in her autobiography how she was sexually abused at age nine by the hotel’s manager. Her parents sent her to a religious boarding school age 11 where she was described as a gifted pupil. But when she was 17 she turned to a career in modeling, winning the Miss TV Europe competition in 1973. Following that success, French director Just Jaeckin chose her to play the title role in “Emmanuelle”, which would become one of the biggest French box office successes ever.

Jaeckin told AFP in Paris that Kristel was “a wonderful woman, very pure, very innocent. But the mark that Emmanuelle left on her was very hard for her.”

“Unfortunately, I was expecting it,” Jaeckin said of her death. “I’m also relieved that she no longer has to suffer.”

Dutch film director Frans Weisz lamented Kristel’s death on national television, but added: “Sylvia and happiness for me was always an odd combination.” She played in several non-erotic films but was then forced to act in “Emmanuelle” sequences because of contractual obligations. Kristel is survived by a son, Arthur, who she had in 1975 with her then-husband Belgian author Hugo Claus, a man 24 years her senior whom she described as a “father lover”.

Claus was “the father that I would have liked to have had and the lover that I had dreamt of.” Kristel turned to painting in her later life, an activity she said was therapeutic, Dutch media quoting her as saying: “Self confidence for me is a fragile fleece.” In one of her last interviews broadcast on Dutch national television she said that although she had left her alcohol abuse behind her, she would “not say no to a glass of good champagne.”

She was first diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002 and underwent a number of chemotherapy treatments, it was reported.

This file picture taken on April 25, 1985 in Nice shows Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel.

Agent Verharen declined to say whether the world’s most famous Dutch actress died at home or at hospital.

The funeral will be private, she said. Kristel had a stroke following treatment for throat cancer. She was also suffering from liver cancer. “I don’t expect much from the afterlife, I think that I know very well what pain is,” Kristel said in a 2005 interview with Dutch newspaper Volkskrant. “When I think of the end of my life, I think mainly: I didn’t do anything, but I could have done more.” — AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

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ason Aldean will be making history at one of baseball’s most historic sites.

Aldean will be the first country music star to play a concert at Fenway Park, the iconic home of the Boston Red Sox. The July 13 appearance will be the initial stop on his first stadium tour. Aldean made the announcement yesterday in the shadow of the Green Monster with an assist from Red Sox President/CEO Larry Lucchino and members of the team who made a celebratory clip for the singer that played on Fenway’s video board.

The Georgia native released his fifth album, “Night Train,” this week. That title is an apt metaphor for his career, which has been steaming along on a steep trajectory.

About the only thing he hadn’t attained yet was a stadium tour, and he’s crossing that goal off the list. Aldean is one of country’s top draws, but the stadium tour will move him into rare company. Currently, only Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney have that kind of drawing power. But the hardrocking singer has earned the status, selling more than 1.9 million tickets on his yearlong “My Kinda Party” tour that wraps in Dallas on Oct 27.

Aldean will be joined in Boston next July by Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen and Thomas Rhett. The area has proven to be receptive to country music. Chesney and Swift have sold out Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, several times and Aldean has drawn enthusiastic crowds at smaller venues. The stadium tour isn’t the only sign Aldean’s career continues to pick up speed. The 35-year old singer is up for three awards, including top honor entertainer of the year, at the Country Music Association Awards on Nov 1. The first single from “Night Train,” “Take a Little Ride,” had the highest selling digital debut for a solo male country artist and was the fastest rising No. 1 on the country song charts this year. — AP

ock star Bruce Springsteen plans to hit the campaign trail with President Barack Obama yesterday as the White House race heats up in the final three weeks ahead of the election. “President Obama is our best choice because he has a vision of the United States as a place where we are all in this together,” Springsteen said in a statement distributed by the campaign. “We’re still living through very hard times but justice, equality and real freedom are not always a tide rushing in. They are more often a slow march, inch by inch, day after long day.

“I believe President Obama feels these days in his bones and has the strength to live them with us and to lead us to a country ‘where no one crowds you and no one goes it alone,’” he said, quoting his song “Long Walk Home.” The campaign said Springsteen would join Obama at a rally in Iowa, one of a handful of swing states expected to decide the November 6 election.

Several celebrities have come out to support Obama through fundraisers and ad appearances, including rapper Jay-Z, actress Eva Longoria and comedian Sarah Silverman.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney enjoys the support of action movie star Chuck Norris and rocker Kid Rock. The two candidates are believed to be running neck-and-neck after Tuesday’s debate, when an aggressive Obama appeared to rebound from his listless performance in their first face-off earlier this month. — AFP

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File photo shows musician Bruce Springsteen, left, with then Democratic presidential candidate Sen Barack Obama, D-Ill, at a rally at the Cleveland Mall in Cleveland, Ohio. — AP

cclaimed Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu, who said he “chose the camera instead of the gun” to make people listen in a career that began in pornography and ended in international awards, has died aged 76. He was declared dead on Wednesday, five days after being hit by a taxi in Tokyo, an aide said. Just two weeks ago he was named Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the region’s biggest film festival in South Korea for his contribution to independent cinema. Interviewed by AFP in Busan, the “Caterpillar” director had said he felt his films were undervalued in Japan, “so this is a great honor for me”.

“I am an independent filmmaker and this goes against the sys-

tem in Japan. But you have to make the films that are in your heart, not films other people want you to make,” he said. He was a critic of the way Japan’s film industry operates and called for government funding to be switched from commercial movies to independent flicks, which he said provided a voice. “The reason I became a filmmaker was to talk to the country,” he told AFP in Busan.

“One way to get attention is to shoot people with a gun, but I chose the camera instead of the gun. “I think cinema means freedom and through cinema, you are free to do whatever you want.”

Wakamatsu first came to international attention when “Secrets Behind The Wall” was featured at the 1965 Berlin International Film Festival. In a career that spanned more than 100 movies, he was as noted for his work exploring strong social themes as he was for his contribution to adult films. He was prominent in Japan’s “pink” or soft-porn genre with “Go, Go Second Time Virgin” (1968) and entered the mainstream through his involvement in the likes of the acclaimed 1976 erotic drama “In the Realm of the Senses”.

His 2008 “United Red Army” centred on the Japanese Maoist group of the same name that became involved in a protracted police stand-off after taking a woman hostage in rural Japan. The film won the Best Asian Movie Award at Berlin. Shinobu Terajima, who won the best actress award in Berlin for her role in “Caterpillar” on Thursday paid poetic tribute to a man she said had a “burning passion” for his art.”He disappeared so suddenly, the director who likes to surprise people. I want him to show up again, saying he’s just kidding.

“The director who is considerate, who sides with the weak and turns on the strong, who loves liquor and good food, who had a burning passion for film-making. Oh, where on earth are you?” she wrote on her blog. Wakamatsu’s last work was “Sennen no yuraku” (“The Millennial Rapture”), which featured at this year’s Venice International Film Festival. —AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

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elebrating his 50th birthday, James Bond has been learning some new tricks - but 3D isn’t one of them. Producers of the spy franchise say they have no interest in a making a Bond film in 3-D. The upcoming “Skyfall” is the first Bond film to be released since “Avatar” made 3-D a common and often lucrative practice for blockbusters. “3-D is fantastic for the right material, but we’re not sure Bond is the right way to go,” said “Skyfall” producer Barbara Broccoli in a recent interview. “With our movies, there’s a lot of challenges to 3-D, particularly when you’ve got a lot of action and a lot of quick cutting.”

Broccoli and her half-bro ther Michael G Wilson have shepherded the last seven Bond films, preserving the franchise as a family business. “Skyfall,” which premieres next week in the UK and opens Nov 9 in the US, follows 2008’s “Quantum of Solace” - released a year before James Cameron’s 3-D epic. “It has to be right for our story,” said Broccoli. “Unless you can do something as well as (‘Avatar’), it’s probably not worth looking at.” Wilson said there has

been interest in converting some of the old Bond films into 3-D, which he called “more of a novelty.”

Shooting in 3-D, which requires larger cameras, can be cumbersome, and quick action shots can be awkward because viewers’ eyes don’t adjust rapidly enough. But 3-D, for which higher ticket prices are charged, can also bring in more box office. Bond films, more classical in their 2-D, go for spectacle instead with IMAX. “Skyfall” will be released a day early, Nov. 8, in North America on IMAX screens. Still, Broccoli left the door open for things to change. Daniel Craig is signed for at least two more Bond films, which will be the 24th and 25th in the franchise.

Neither is currently being planned in 3D. “Who knows?” she said. “We’ll see if things change in the future.”

This film image released by Sony Pictures shows Daniel Craig as James Bond in “Skyfall.”

Celebrating his 50th birthday, James Bond has been learning some new tricks-but 3-D isn’t one of them. — AP

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Honoree Tom Hanks, left, Rita Wilson and Elie Wiesel attend The Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity’s Arts for Humanity Gala on Wednesday in New York.—AP

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hen two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks found out he was being honored by the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity at the New York Public Library, he remembered he owed a couple of books. “I’ve got to turn them in from 1977,” Hanks said on the red carpet before going into the gala event. Hanks, accompanied by his wife Rita Wilson, joked that when he got the call from the foundation, he responded, “No, this is the Hanks house,” followed by “really” and “why?”

Hanks posed on the red carpet with Wilson, his son Colin, of “Dexter” fame, and Wiesel too. Hanks’ consistent thoughtfulness and concern with his charitable endeavors earned him the honor. He holds it higher than his acting accolades, but also realizes that the two are connected. He’s proud of the work he does, and by virtue of being in a few successful movies, feels that put him in a position to be altruistic. “We work very hard in a business that deserves and earns every bit of ridicule that we heap upon it. But at the end of the day you got to wake up in the morning and try to make the world a better place,” Hanks said.

The 56-year old actor says that’s the way he was raised. “We’re American, and Americans take into account the common good. So in that regard, I feel very lucky and very blessed that I’ve

been able to do that, when I’ve been able to do that,” Hanks said. While Hanks says he recognizes the importance of philanthropic work, he feels that arts education still needs government support. “I believe any form of government, particularly ours in the United States of America, has been over and over again this engine for social change in a magnificent way when it gets around to doing the right thing. And right now, I think we’re putting a lot of emphasis on the idea that philanthropy can take care of everything, which is not the case,” Hanks said. He feels it’s up to elected officials to understand the good things that the arts can do for the future of our country.

“Sometimes that’s the arts, and sometimes it’s other things like taking care of folks that don’t have any way of fixing their teeth. That’s not bad, either,” Hanks said. — AP

yler Perry is one of the highest-earning AfricanAmerican male movie stars working today, and that’s apparently the only reason anyone thought it would be a good idea to cast him in a rebooted series based on James Patterson’s Alex Cross crime novels. As an actor, Perry has what Liam Neeson’s “Taken” character might call “a specific set of skills,” but those skills don’t include convincingly portraying a cop-slash-psychiatrist on the mean streets of Detroit.

Based on the character’s first adventure “Cross” (Morgan Freeman played Alex in two films based on later novels in the series), “Alex Cross” is essentially an origin story, the tale that transitions him from a Detroit police detective to an FBI profiler, complete with a Really Big Tragedy that will haunt the brilliant investigator throughout the rest of his life.

We originally see Cross chasing a perp through the sewers and capturing him with the help of his comrades Tommy (Edward Burns) and Monica (Rachel Nichols); the latter two are also, incidentally, doing a terrible job of hiding their non-regulation romance from their coworker. It’s not long before the movie unleashes its super villain, a bald, sinewy, tattooed hired killer known as Picasso (Matthew Fox). One imagines some agent somewhere assuring Fox that by starving himself for the role, this movie was going to be his “Christian Bale moment.”

And while Fox’s body-modification is certainly impressive, his mugging and overacting detract from the overall effect.

Anyway, Picasso has been hired to eliminate three higher-ups at a multinational corporation, with his ultimate target apparently being Giles Mercier (Jean Reno, jambon-ing it up); as Cross and his team attempt to foil Picasso, they soon find that they themselves, and their loved ones, have entered the assassin’s cross-hairs.

There’s plenty to find ridiculous in this latest overblown action epic from director Rob Cohen (“The Fast and the Furious,” “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”) from Tommy’s mullet to Cross’ discovering a clue by randomly turning one of Picasso’s charcoal sketches into a Mad magazine Fold-In to the pimp-garbed extra in an underground fight club to Cross’ dismissal of Picasso as a “statusseeking sociopathic narcissist.” (Wasn’t that a deleted verse from “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”?)

Cohen does manage to craft some nifty set pieces (which all appear to take place in the Motor

City even though shooting took place in both Detroit and Cleveland), but Picasso’s sniper shots are far more compelling than the hand-to-hand combat scenes, which feature at least as much shaky-cam and incomprehensible editing as “Taken 2,” if not more.

But the big problem here is Tyler Perry, woefully out of his league as an action hero. His cross-dressing performance in the recent “Madea’s Witness Protection” reeked of exhaustion, as though he couldn’t wait to bust out of the fat suit and the gray wig and show the world his other skills as a performer. Unfortunately, if you’ve seen “Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds” or “Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too,” you know that a non-Madea Perry barely registers on the screen.

Most of his work as Alex Cross is suffused with blandness, broken up only by the occasional moment of ridiculous overacting. (He has a phone call with Picasso that’s guaranteed to become a YouTube favorite.) Toward the end of the film, Cross gets angry with his police chief (John C. McGinley) and starts speaking quickly and in a higher pitch, and for a moment, you remember how outrageously entertaining Perry’s Madea can be. You may also find yourself rewriting the entire movie with her as the lead.—Reuters

Lifestyle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

A white satin and lace wedding dress by Howard Greer, from the 1934 production of ‘The Lake.’

Two designs by Margaret Furse and Germinal Rangel, from the 1975 ABC Circle Films production of ‘Love Among the Ruins.’

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A design by Irene, left, from the 1948 MGM movie ‘State of the Union,’ and one by Walter Plunkett from the 1949 MGM movie ‘Adam’s Rib.’

If you go Katharine Hepburn Exhibit: “Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen” at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza (65th Street west of Broadway), http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/katharine-hepburn-dressed-stage-andscreen.

A design by Jane Greenwood, from the 1976 production of ‘A Matter of Gravity’.

new exhibition is hailing the fashion sense of Katharine Hepburn, whose trademark khakis and open-collar shirts were decidedly unconventional in the 1930s and 40s, when girdles and stockings were the order of the day. The fiercely independent Hepburn famously once said: “Anytime I hear a man say he prefers a woman in a skirt, I say, ‘Try one. Try a skirt.’” But skirts and dresses abound in “Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen” at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which opened yesterday.

Hepburn, who died in 2003 at age 96, saved almost all the costumes from her long career that included four Oscars and such memorable films as “The Philadelphia Story,” “The African Queen,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “On Golden Pond.” Forty are on view at the exhibition, which runs through Jan 12. One of the first things visitors will notice is how slender Hepburn was - she had a 20-inch waist and a grouping of seven khaki pants artfully arranged on a pair of mannequin legs.

“The fact that she wore slacks and wanted to be comfortable influenced women’s ready-to-wear in the United States,” said Jean Druesedow, director of the Kent State University Museum, which was given 700 items from Hepburn’s estate. Kent State was selected because it’s one of the country’s only museums of performance clothes.

“That image said to the American woman ‘Look you don’t have to be in your girdle and stockings and tight dress. You can be comfortable. That was probably the first aspect of becoming a fashion icon,” said Druesedow, a co-curator of the exhibition.

The strong-willed actress known for taking charge of her career worked closely with all her designers to decide her performing wardrobe. “They understood what would help her characters, what she would feel comfortable wearing ... how it would support the story,” Druesedow said. Margaret Furse, an English designer who created Hepburn’s wardrobes for “The Lion in Winter,” “A Delicate Balance” and “Love Among the Ruins,” went shopping with the star and talked extensively about what kinds of things would set the scene.

Among the highlights is a stunning satin and lace wedding gown created by Howard Greer for her role as Stella Surrege in “The Lake.” The 1933 production was her first major Broadway role and also a huge flop. Writer and wit Dorothy Parker described her performance as running “the gamut of emotion from A to B.” The experience taught Hepburn to have a bigger say in what roles she accepted, said Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, curator of exhibitions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

When she really liked a costume she had copies made for herself, sometimes in a different color or fabric. A silk dress and coat by Norman Hartnell from “Suddenly, Last Summer”

Designs by Noel Taylor, from the 1986 television movie ‘Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry’.

and a green raw silk jumpsuit by Valentina from “The Philadelphia Story” were among the pieces she had copied.

Comfort was paramount to Hepburn - being able to throw her leg over a chair or sit on the floor. She always wore her ‘uniform’ - khakis and a shirt - to rehearsals and pant ensembles to publicity appearances.

A companion book, “Katharine Hepburn: Rebel Chic,” describes how RKO executives hid Hepburn’s trousers in an effort to persuade her to abandon them. “Her response was to threaten to walk around the lot naked. Though she only stripped down as far as her silk underwear before stepping out of her dressing room, she made her point - and she got her trousers back,” fashion writer Nancy MacDonell wrote in an essay for the book. But comfort didn’t mean sacrificing style - and she certainly knew how to be glamorous especially when a role called for it.

In her private life, she shopped at the major cutting-edge New York couturiers and worked with the best costume shops of the period, including Muriel King and Valentina, said Cohen-Stratyner. “She really appreciated good fabric and good construction,” she said. “Even her trousers are couture.” The exhibition is supplemented by film clips, movie posters, and archival photographs of Hepburn wearing the very costumes worn by the mannequins. Her false eyelashes, makeup trays and sensible shoes are also on display. Open Monday-Saturday noon to 6 pm and until 8 pm on Thursdays. Free. — AP

A display of slacks and jodhpurs.

Lifestyle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Models display creations by the French designer Jean Paul Gaultier during the Cali Exposhow fashion week in Cali, Colombia, Wednesday. —AP/AFP photos

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

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MATRIMONIAL Marthoma parents of male (29) Keralite engineer working in Kuwait (170cm, fair) invites proposals from parents of engineering graduates/ post graduates of other fields. M4M 2804610.

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PETS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Foster families nurture troubled pets

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beautiful German shepherd named Sweet Pea has visitors today who’d like to take her home with them.

Problem is, Sweet Pea doesn’t want to go. Stephanie Henshaw, the energetic foster coordinator here at Halfway Home Pet Adoptions, pokes her head in the lobby. “Give me one second,” she says. “‘Cause she is a little scared.”

Actually, Sweet Pea is a lot scared. Scared of people. Scared of other dogs. Scared of stairs. Pretty much everything. And don’t even think about trying to put a collar on her. The 6month-old dog arrived here, the place formerly known as the Kansas City, Mo. animal shelter, wearing a collar so tight it was embedded in her skin.

Sweet Pea doesn’t realize it, but she can start to trust humans again. Her visitors this Saturday morning - Tammy Andrews, 13-year-old daughter Amelia and family pooch Lilly Belle - are part of her new foster family. Over the next 20 minutes or so, in a tiny “meet and greet room” at the shelter, Sweet Pea will cower in a corner while officially meeting the family, who live in Stilwell in Johnson County. Then she’ll be dragged outside to the Andrewses’ vehicle, but not before trying to scoot under another car - and being scooped up by Henshaw, who’ll end up getting peed on.

None of this qualifies as a warm and fuzzy moment. But the shelter is betting that within a couple of months, maybe sooner, time spent in a nice home with nice people will transform this scared dog - a dog that was mistreated and then dumped - into someone’s perfect pet. If a foster family hadn’t stepped up, Sweet Pea probably wouldn’t stand a chance. At the shelter, after all, plenty of other more social animals are available.

“People would walk right by her,” Henshaw says.

The goal of pet foster parenting is always to make animals more adoptable, which should mean fewer dogs and cats euthanized. An animal might be put in foster care because it needs some basic obedience training - teaching a dog, for instance, not to jump up on every person it meets or chew on the sofa. It might be recovering from surgery or an illness and need one-on-one care. Some animals need a break from “shelter stress.”

Young animals that haven’t been fully vaccinated might get sick in a shelter. Plus, “young puppies and kittens appreciate a quiet atmosphere, so having them in a home is a really great opportunity for them,” says Robin Rowland, development director for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City shelter in Kansas City, Kan. It doesn’t have a formal foster program, but staff and volunteers take in foster pets.

Very old animals, too, do better away from the hubbub of a shelter. Often, though, a dog or cat (or bird or rabbit) just needs to learn what it’s like to be part of a family: get used to being around people, get along with other animals, learn a routine. An animal might put in two months at a shelter like

Wayside Waifs in south Kansas City, but experience with a foster family is likely to turn the tide.

“Instantly, within a couple of weeks (of being fostered), they get adopted,” says Kristin Sampson, foster program manager at Wayside, which claims to have the largest foster program in the city. Wayside placed about 800 animals in foster care last year. Another plus: Pets that come out of foster programs are less likely to be returned by adoptive families.

Foster parents can tell prospective adopters what the animal is like as a pet. Is Fluffy an aloof kitty or a lap cat? Is Bowser good with little kids? Scared of the vacuum cleaner?

Pet fostering, particularly with dogs, looks to be on the rise, says Michelle Jones, intake coordinator for No More Homeless Pets. Targeting free-roaming cats, No More Homeless Pets fosters only cats and kittens. The organization has a clinic (in Merriam) but not a shelter and has five active families now fostering about 30 cats and kittens. “It’s not busy kitten season yet,” Jones says.

Halfway Home has only about 10 animals in foster care, but Henshaw, who’s new on the job, plans to expand the program.

In a corner of Cheryl and Matthew Westra’s living room is a plaid cat bed chock-full of cats: mother Liza, a calico mix, and four 5-week-old kittens, who at the moment are having breakfast. Or maybe brunch.

Liza appears young to be a mother of four. She’s small and thin, but she and her kittens are healthy, thanks in part to the Westras, who live in the Hickman Mills area. They’re a Wayside Waifs foster family that has taken in at least 60 mother cats and kittens over the last four years.

Liza was pregnant when she arrived. She gave birth in a dresser drawer of 13-year-old Mieke’s. The family has named one of the kittens Amelia Earhart, because of her independent, explorer-like nature. Why do the Westras do this? “I have perpetual kittens,” says mom Cheryl, who, once the kittens are full and drowsy, can give Liza some personal attention on her lap.

“By the time they get to the annoying stage - climbing the curtains and walking on the window ledges - they’re big enough to go back, and I get a whole new batch of kittens. It’s heaven.”

Usually, anyway. The Westra kids are home-schooled, so they’ve seen kittens born. And die. It’s a valuable lesson. Still, “it’s hard on the kids,” Cheryl says. “It’s hard on me.” But mostly, fostering is a joyful experience. Cheryl says helping raise litter after litter makes her look altruistic without becoming “a crazy cat lady” with 100 cats. As it is, the family has two adult cats, one of which, “Uncle Roger,” has been known to try to nurse kittens. Despite the obvious.

A friendly black German shepherd mix named Hunter is the greeter at Deborah Kallevig’s home in downtown Overland Park, Kan, which has a heated two-car garage that’s gone to

the dogs. Besides kennels, this “dog living room” has a couple of couches, too. As they figure out how to behave in a home, the dogs will have more access to the rest of the house.

Kallevig’s foster charges qualify as “special needs” animals.

At the moment her menagerie includes Hunter, who’s recovering from an old spinal cord injury; Ribbons, a blind and deaf keeshond; and Scruffy, an 18-year-old black cat. Kallevig calls him “Old Black Cat.” Pet the keeshond and she’ll freeze; she’s not sure what’s happening. One way Kallevig communicates with her is by stomping her foot near the dog. If Ribbons happens to run into another dog, she’ll bounce off it like a pinball, Kallevig says.

Hunter the German shepherd was anxious and nervous in the shelter. He needs to put on weight and calm down, which will be easier in a home environment. Both dogs are about 12, and both have obviously lived in homes before and been trained. Kallevig, who fosters for the Pet Connection shelter in Mission, Kan., calls herself a foster addict.

Derek Westra, 9, cuddles with Katniss, a five-week- kitten.

Stars

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Aries (March 21-April 19) You have intuitive insights into work-related concerns.

It’s a favorable time for art, music, glamour, psychology, health, unions and institutions. At times, work objectives can be confusing and conditions can be oppressive and affect your health if you do not gain a focus. Try not to project your thoughts into the future or dredge up the past. You may desire greater security in your home and family now. You may also be looking for ideas to improve your housing situation. This afternoon you may involve yourself in some sort of group sports. Your moods may turn excitable. You are motivated to improve your life in many ways. Stay in the NOW, enjoy the DAY and . . . share that most positive attitude of yours with others.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You may desire greater political or professional security now. Current, important issues regarding public credibility, corporate ethics, product safety and secret or sensitive information are present. You may want to improve or remake the power structure and strategies of your business. This time is favorable for involvement in advanced ideas in information, communications and transportation. It could be an important day for sales or special deals. Your sense of responsibility is strong and you appreciate the confidence that others have in you. Ease up on the stress before the desire to escape from responsibility becomes too strong. You need emotional contact with others this evening.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) This time brings powerful pressures and forces into your life. You may find that these forces oppose you and test the validity of your lifestyle. Events today will force you to acknowledge invalid behavior patterns and situations that you do not need in your life. The best way to use this time is to make changes in your life in areas illuminated by conflicts. Confrontations with those who have authority and power over you are highly likely under this influence. If you handle such challenges well, you will derive great satisfaction from these conflicts and this will be a source of personal strength. Do not plan to start a new project that requires a lot of focus and determination, just now. Financially, this is a lucky time. Investments in the arts are favored.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) It’s a good time to develop your personal resourcefulness. Your awareness of psychological processes enables you to let go of old attachments and make important transitions in your growth. A sense of regeneration gives you an interest for leadership and improved recognition for your creative efforts. New discoveries will provide excitement for you. This will be very stimulating, but do not count on the day working out as you had planned. If you are not flexible, this could be a nerve-wracking time. Business and financial matters can be expensive. You may have unrealistic expectations concerning family, money, education or religion. You may tend to take too much for granted. Emotional insecurity can result in overeating—ease up and pace yourself.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You may contemplate a change in employment or a financial position that could motivate you to become more resourceful. You may have to reevaluate attitudes toward sharing and trust. As you do every year at this time, you tend to be productively involved with taxes, insurance, inheritance, pensions, investments, credit and jointly held resources. It’s also a good time to benefit from research or to direct your insight toward understanding other people’s motivations. You may have a desire to develop corporate strategy. This can be an important clearing-out period of elimination and recycling waste products. You may enjoy learning more about foreign cultures. Creating short stories, poetry or even a novel may be a favorable for a pastime.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) The goals you have chosen for yourself are within reach . . . it may be time now to begin to think on new goals. You develop the confidence, honesty, maturity and self-respect that can make you better able to handle authority and responsibility. It is a favorable time for seeking employment or promotion, as well as for learning new duties and travel related to your work. Let some impulses carry you away after work this afternoon. Just make sure that this impulsive action is not too far into “left field,” so to speak. You may desire greater freedom and excitement in your friendships, groups and associations. You make more friendships with interesting, unusual and original people. You may attend more parties and entertain or help to line up the entertainment.

COUNTRY CODES Libra (September 23-October 22) Spend some time studying or learning through group discussions this Thursday. Negotiations, planning and writing are favored. At work, you may have minor conflicts with your boss over issues of independence. This period increases communication between yourself and others, but it may also call for the need to slow down and reassess your relations in the workplace. A third party may help to give you all the information you need. Negotiations or contract discussions may be best left for another day. Travel under your own power this afternoon, perhaps with a friend. If possible, enjoy a bicycle ride, skates or walking. This is not a particularly good time to get too serious about anything, but rather a time to enjoy your loved ones.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You enjoy expressing your intellectual authority. You take pride in your ideas and may be influential to other people. Your business life is enhanced by building relationships with suppliers and customers, without an immediate business goal in sight.

Relationships of all kinds begun now will be beneficial for all involved.

People around you will respond favorably to this air of affection and this is the perfect time for doing group work in the home, as well as in the workplace. You may begin to concern yourself with making improvements to your home, especially in making it more beautiful.

Entertainment and some play activities with children increase. Romantic and creative involvement increases now.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) As you take on more responsibility in your profession, you will tend to choose partners and associates who share some of your goals and objectives. Your sense of justice intensifies as you become more sensitive to the needs and rights of others. You will consider all legally binding contracts and agreements to assure yourself that they meet your requirements. Learn how to sell your ideas. Gradually, you will learn how to negotiate successfully and reach acceptable compromise on important issues. You may entertain friends often within the next few weeks. An old friend may have moved to town. Family members are more agreeable. You have an interest in new or novel forms of architecture, food and domestic products and services.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Purchases today are likely to be a good investment over the long run. Spend the evening in the company of loved ones. Personal encounters will bring good surprises. These surprises may bring exciting changes to your life. The energies of this day may force you to take into consideration those things that you have buried or ignored. If you are feeling restless, take this as a sign that there is something you should examine within yourself. If you try to suppress these energies, you may be prone to a day full of frustrations—careful. This time also brings opportunities for regeneration through personal power.

Make it a point to bring the family together this evening. It is good to ask questions about their day and contribute positive input.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) This time is known for being quite lucky as you tend to be a magnet, drawing things to you such as money, fortunate circumstances, people and objects of beauty. If you are willing to relax today and just let life flow to you as it will, you could be in for some pleasant results. New encounters and new experiences are likely to expand your understanding of life. You can trade, sell, close a deal or negotiate an agreement. If you have been considering signing a contract or entering into a partnership, it is a good time to decide. Be your sweet self in public—arguments will only win you enemies. Go to a party or reception with your mate. Give a gift—send cards. You can strengthen your friendships and make new acquaintances. Enjoy a romantic evening.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) There are plenty of opportunities in real estate, farming, building and domestic or consumer products and services. This is a period of increased work responsibility. You may even decide to update your skills and expand your potential. You can easily expand your home environment and enlarge your family circle.

Participating in community religious, educational or cultural gatherings can be very rewarding. You enjoy inviting people into your home. You can improve your living conditions and family finances now. A bigger house, new additions or improvements to your living quarters or new furniture are all possible now. Do not be surprised if you have to spend a little more money than you had anticipated.

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 Republic 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 Somalia 00252 South Africa 0027 South Korea 0082 Spain 0034 Sri Lanka 0094 Sudan 00249 Suriname 00597 Swaziland 00268 Sweden 0046 Switzerland 0041 Syria 00963 Taiwan 00886 Tanzania 00255 Thailand 0066 Toga 00228 Tonga 00676 Tokelau 00690 Trinidad 001868 Tunisia 00216 Turkey 0090 Tuvalu 00688 Uganda 00256 Ukraine 00380 United Arab Emirates00976

L e i s u re

Yesterday始s Solution

C R O S S W O R D

8 3 1

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

ACROSS 1. Gone by.

4. An alloy of copper and zinc (and sometimes arsenic) used to imitate gold in cheap jewelry and for gilding.

10. A unit of force equal to the force that imparts an acceleration of 1 foot/sec/sec to a mass of 1 pound.

13. United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters.

14. Doglike nocturnal mammal of Africa and southern Asia that feeds chiefly on carrion.

15. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.

16. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

18. (usually followed by `of') Released from something onerous (especially an obligation or duty).

19. In such a manner as could not be otherwise.

20. Wheelwork consisting of a connected set of rotating gears by which force is transmitted or motion or torque is changed.

22. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

24. Tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar.

25. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

27. (Irish) Mother of the Tuatha De Danann.

29. Run away.

33. Used of a single unit or thing.

36. An achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of black and white.

37. Make high-pitched, whiney noises.

39. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

40. Someone who engages in arbitrage (who purchases securities in one market for immediate resale in another in the hope of profiting from the price differential).

42. A communist state in the Caribbean on the island of Cuba.

43. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

45. Away from the mouth or oral region.

47. A white linen liturgical vestment with sleeves.

49. Fallow deer.

50. (botany) Of or relating to the axil.

53. The sign language used in the United States.

56. A Russian river.

59. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

61. A member of a Slavic people who settled in Serbia and neighboring areas in the 6th and 7th centuries.

64. Step on it.

65. A parliamentary monarchy in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.

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

68. A doctor's degree in education.

69. Manufactured in standard sizes to be shipped and assembled elsewhere.

70. A close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities.

DOWN 1. Highly excited.

2. An expression of open-mouthed astonishment.

3. Evergreen trees and shrubs having oily one-seeded fruits.

4. The fifth day of the week.

5. A port in southwestern Scotland.

6. Injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration or mutilation.

7. English monk and scholar (672-735).

8. An associate degree in nursing.

9. An ancient country is southwestern Asia on the east coast of the Mediterranean.

10. A representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the dead body of Jesus.

11. An informal term for a father.

12. Immediately past.

17. The first decisive battle of the Hundred Years' War. 21. Seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain.

23. A federal agency established to regulate the release of new foods and healthrelated products.

26. The part of the nervous system of vertebrates that controls involuntary actions of the smooth muscles and heart and glands.

28. United States astronomer (1835-1909).

30. (informal) Exceptionally good.

31. An narrative telling the adventures of a hero or a family.

32. East Indian tree bearing a profusion of intense vermilion velvet-textured blooms and yielding a yellow dye.

34. The lowest brass wind instrument.

35. Wearing or provided with clothing.

38. A sensation (as of a cold breeze or bright light) that precedes the onset of certain disorders such as a migraine attack or epileptic seizure.

41. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

44. God of death.

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

48. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

51. Set down according to a plan.

52. In bed.

54. A rare chronic progressive encephalitis caused by the measles virus and occurring primarily in children and young adults.

55. The main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants.

57. A small cake leavened with yeast.

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

60. (informal) Informed about the latest trends.

62. A nucleic acid that transmits genetic information from DNA to the cytoplasm.

63. (Scotland) A small loaf or roll of soft bread.

66. A soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element of the alkali metal group.

Yesterday始s Solution

Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Lynx shake Fever, tie WNBA Finals MINNEAPOLIS: These WNBA Finals are not for the feeble.

Seimone Augustus and the Minnesota Lynx toughened up after a rare loss and a soft performance at home in the opener by wearing down the Indiana Fever. Augustus scored 23 of her 27 points in the second half to help the Lynx surge past the Fever 83-71 on Wednesday night to even the best-of-five series at one game apiece. “We’re going all out. We don’t want to look back on this situation and regret anything,” Augustus said.

Maya Moore pitched in 23 points and the defending champion Lynx forced the Fever into 24 turnovers, 15 after halftime.

Tamika Catchings led the way as usual with 27 points and eight rebounds, but the Fever’s defense faded after a dominant start that forced the Lynx to miss 11 of their first 14 shots.

They let the Lynx score 29 points in the third quarter and bring an already-loud crowd into the game even more. Catchings offered an alternate theory, though. “Seimone Augustus went against us. That’s what happened,” she said.

The series now moves to Indiana. Game 3 is today, and Catchings predicted an even more physical match. “It was pretty rough out there, and we’re going to have to adapt to that,” said Fever coach Lin Dunn, who called this the most physical game she’s seen in 42 years. “We’ll go home and we’ll be ready.” The Fever played without shooting guard Katie Douglas for the second straight game, the sprained left ankle she suffered at the end of the Eastern Conference finals still not ready for action. Then in the second quarter of this one, backup Jeanette Pohlen hurt her left knee and was taken to the locker room for further examination. She didn’t return, and the lack of depth hurt the Fever down the stretch.

Lynx reserve guard Monica Wright had five steals, and coach Cheryl Reeve said she changed the game with her defensive intensity. Inside, Rebekkah Brunson and Taj McWilliams-Franklin limited Erlana Larkins to three points on 1-for-6 shooting. She had 16 points and 15 rebounds in the opener. Dunn said she was disappointed in the effort. “We just have to go back to Indy and regroup,” Larkins said. The Lynx held a 24-3 edge in second-chance points and 17-2 advantage in offensive rebounds. But Augustus, named to the All-WNBA first team earlier in the day for the first time in her well-decorated career, was the primary difference maker.

She swished a 3-pointer with about 6 minutes left to give the Lynx a 71-57 lead, their biggest to that point after the sluggish beginning. Augustus, who missed six of her eight shots in the first half, flashed a big smile toward her teammates as they retreated on defense. “She has to have MVP-like performances in order for us to have a chance to be successful, and we saw that tonight,” Reeve said. Even Reeve showed some muscle in this one. After Lindsay Whalen tied the game at 48 with a reverse layup, Moore picked up her third foul on the other end. Whalen’s layup was blocked by Briann January when the Lynx got the ball back, and Reeve’s game-long lobbying boiled over.

Screaming for a whistle after her miss, Whalen was slapped with a technical foul by official Michael Price, who quickly tacked one on for Reeve. Then the coach really lost it, tearing her suit coat off and trying to escape assistant coach Jim Petersen’s long arms as he held her back from further confronting the refs. “We’ve got a lot of league people here. It’s the WNBA Finals. So we have to be really, really careful in the things that we say. Clearly, I wasn’t happy in that moment. I’m not happy about how the game was officiated, period, but that’s all I’m going to say about it,” Reeve said.

Former Minnesota Gov Jesse Ventura, decked out in a black and green Lynx jacket, agreed with Reeve from across the court, dismissively waving his hand in disgust at the officiating crew. Catchings made both free throws to give the Fever a two-point lead, but the Lynx were fired up after that.

Rebekkah Brunson soared for a rebound she tipped to Moore to retain possession. Moore pump faked then dribbled in for a layup that drew a foul and swished the free throw for a 57-55 lead. Augustus added a 3-pointer near the end of the period for good measure. “I thought as a team we didn’t step up to the plate when we needed to when we should’ve rallied and come closer together. It’s like we came apart a little bit, and we can’t afford to do that, not with the defending champ,” Catchings said. Whalen had the look in her eyes that she wasn’t going to let this one slip away, making a pull up jumper early in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to six and following that with a 3-pointer to put the Lynx up 66-57 with 7:21 left. “It’s the finals, so everyone is going at it aggressively,” Whalen said. “It’s a lot of fun.”— AP

Cardinals down Giants Missed opportunities doom Giants in Game 3 of NLCS ST LOUIS: The San Francisco Giants had every opportunity to grab control of the NL championship series Wednesday. The NL West champions had nine hits and five walks but stranded 11 runners during a 3-1 loss to St Louis that gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Cardinals were as opportunistic as the Giants were wasteful in a game delayed 31/2 hours by rain. St Louis scored its three runs on six hits and left only five runners on base in beating All-Star ace Matt Cain.

San Francisco went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, its lone run coming on Pablo Sandoval’s third-inning groundout. By contrast, St Louis was 2 for 4 with runners in scoring position.

Inning after inning, the Giants had opportunities. Six times they put at least two hitters on base in an inning. “We had our chances,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We left too many on base.”

Angel Pagan singled leading off the third and Marco Scutaro followed with a double. But after Sandoval’s RBI grounder and an intentional walk to Buster Posey, Hunter Pence hit into a double play.

The Giants had runners on second and third with two outs in the fourth, but Pagan flied out to center. Pagan failed to come through again with two on and two outs in the sixth, grounding into a forceout. Sandoval one-hopped the left-field wall with one out in the seventh, but Matt Holliday’s strong throw held him to a single. That was a big play because Posey followed with a single.

But reliever Mitchell Boggs came in to strike out Pence swinging and Brandon Belt looking. Pence was perhaps the biggest rallystopper for the Giants’ offense, stranding six runners.

“I’m the goat tonight. I just didn’t get the job done,” he said.

“He’s got to put this behind him like us, and be set tomorrow,” Bochy said. Cain was mostly solid but lost for the second time this postseason. Jon Jay looped a two-out single in the third and Matt Carpenter - playing only because Carlos Beltran was removed with a left knee strain - hit a 421-foot homer over the right-field bullpen. Before that, Carpenter was 4 for 4 in his career against Cain, all four of the regular-season hits for singles. “Really

there’s no explanation,” Carpenter said. Cain said he was trying to throw a tight slider to Carpenter, but didn’t get it in far enough. “I made a bad pitch and it cost us,” Cain said. Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse was unusually wild, walking a season-high five (one intentionally) and allowing seven hits while throwing 108 pitches over 5 2-3 innings. But he got the outs he needed.

“I think today he would probably say he didn’t have his best, but he was still out making pitches and figuring out how to get outs,” St Louis manager Mike Matheny said. The Cardinals managed just one runner after Carpenter’s homer until the seventh, when David Freese doubled with one out and Daniel Descalso was intentionally walked. Pete Kozma singled to load the bases and Shane Robinson - inserted in a double-switch in the top half of the inning grounded to second, scoring Freese just before a rain delay of 3 hours, 28 minutes.

Jason Motte got six straight outs for a two-inning save - the first of his career - after the stoppage. The Cardinals snapped the Giants’ five-game road winning streak in the postseason, three of them this year. Game 4 is in St Louis on Thursday night, with Adam Wainwright pitching for the Cardinals. The Giants are plucking two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum from the bullpen for a start in Game 4. Lincecum struggled through a 10-15 season with a 5.18 ERA but is 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA in 8 1-3 innings this postseason, all in relief.

“He’s the guy we want out there and he’s been throwing the ball well,” Bochy said. Scutaro seemed fine after taking a hard hit from Matt Holliday on a late slide to break up a potential double play in Game 2. Scutaro was 2 for 4 and ran well on his third-inning double. He is batting .500 in the NLCS with two RBIs. It was the third game delayed by rain this postseason and a fourth, Game 4 of the Yankees-Tigers ALCS, was postponed later Wednesday night. Two games between the Yankees and Orioles in Baltimore began late because of inclement weather.

The Giants entered 70-22 when scoring first, including the postseason. — AP

ST LOUIS: San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval dives after a ground ball by St Louis Cardinals’ Kyle Lohse during the fifth inning of Game 3 of the National League baseball championship series on Wednesday, Oct 17, 2012. — AP

Deccan Chargers lose battle to remain in IPL NEW DELHI: Cash-strapped Indian Premier League side Deccan Chargers yesterday lost another attempt to remain in the lucrative competition after a court backed their expulsion.

The Bombay High Court quashed an arbitrator’s order that had stopped the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from going ahead with its decision to throw the Chargers out of the Twenty20 league. “The arbitrator had no jurisdiction,” judge R D Dhanuka was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.

“No case is made out... for granting stay on termination.”

The BCCI, which owns the IPL, has already invited bids to set up a new team in place of the Chargers, who were removed for financial violations including its failure to pay salaries to

players. Deccan Chronicle Holdings, a media company that bought the Hyderabad-based team for $107 million before the inaugural IPL in 2008, had failed to submit $19 million as guarantee money-to prove it could pay its debts and players last week as ordered by the Bombay High Court.

The company’s assertion that it had agreed to sell the Chargers franchise to a Mumbai-based real estate firm and needed more time to pay the guarantee money was rejected by the court. The BCCI must now select a new franchise in the nine-team competition and also decide the fate of the players who were contracted to the Deccan Chargers. Bids for the new team must be lodged by October 25, with the sixth edition of the IPL scheduled for April-May next year.— AFP

Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Pedrosa to trim Lorenzo’s lead at Sepang KUALA LUMPUR: Title-hopeful Dani Pedrosa will attempt to snatch his third victory in a row at the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend as he battles Yamaha ace Jorge Lorenzo for his first ever MotoGP crown. With just three rounds remaining this season, including Sepang, Pedrosa trails his fellow Spaniard Lorenzo by 28 points following his impressive win in Japan as the Honda rider picks up crucial points for the title bid. Nonetheless, Lorenzo’s lead effectively means he can be assured of the title by finishing at least third in the last three races regardless of what Pedrosa secures. Pedrosa now has 282 points against 310 for Lorenzo.

The Motegi win was Pedrosa’s second consecutive victory after taking Aragon in September, and his fifth this season. He was a former 125cc and two-time 250cc world champion. It will be a very emotional return to the Sepang track, where the late Honda rider Marco Simoncelli lost his life during last year’s October 23 race. Riders would pay homage to Simoncelli and are expected to put on a tremendous display of motorcycle racing to honor the flamboyant Italian. Pedrosa is on a roll, though he likely needs to win every remaining race in order to stand a chance at taking the championship. With 75-points still on offer, Lorenzo is looking strong but seems unable to hold Pedrosa’s fast pace.

The Mallorcan however has said he will go to Malaysia to win.

Razlan Razali, Sepang International Circuit CEO said he expects a tough race in possible wet track conditions. “Pedrosa will aim for a strong win to further slim Lorenzo’s lead and keep his title race alive,” he said. The long Sepang circuit is physically demanding and a wet track would make the race challenging as it is noted for its sweeping corners. Razlan said the return of Australian Casey Stoner, who won here in 2007 and 2009, would add to the excitement and help organisers attract the target 70,000 spectators on race day. “There will be no holding back. The riders will go all out to win. It will be a fantastic race,” he said.

Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner have won all the 15 races out of the 18 among themselves so far. Stoner, who has 197 points, missed three races this season after injuring his right ankle in qualifying at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. He returned last weekend at Motegi and plans to retire at the end of this season. Lorenzo missed last year’s Malaysian Grand Prix race due to injury where 24-year-old Simoncelli was killed in a second lap crash. The race was subsequently cancelled. Razlan said at the memorial event, riders would walk towards turn 11 to pay their tributes before a bronze plaque. Sepang will be followed by the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island on October 28 and with the season ending race at Valencia on November 11.— AFP

Cecil is ‘the people’s blueblooded champ’ PARIS: Henry Cecil may come from an aristocratic background and have been knighted for his services to racing but the legendary trainer remains to the race-going public simply ‘Our ‘Enry’. It is a testament to his enduring popularity that a sell out crowd of 40,000 will be at Ascot on Saturday not just to see what is expected to be his unbeaten stable star Frankel’s 14th and last race but also because of the man himself. For despite an inherent shyness Cecil has managed to build a special bond with the average punter due to both his extraordinary ability and his courageous battle first with stomach cancer and latterly with throat cancer.

Increasingly frail the 69-year-old insisted on being present at York in August where Frankel won the International Stakes. The magnetic draw of the duo was evident in the crowd rising from 19,000 to 31,000. However, showing the determination that has been a feature of his life, those that turn up believing it may be the last they see of him as a trainer couldn’t be further off the mark. “I’m all right, and the only retirement I’m going to do is to have a good holiday,” he said last month after there were reports of his imminent retirement.

It is not the first time Cecil has had to battle physical and personal demons, with two divorces, his first to the immensely popular Julie, daughter of Noel Murless, whose stables Warren Place he took over in 1976 after being assistant to him and then training in his own right from 1969. Now happily married to Jane, who casts a protective shield round him, it is at Warren Place where he has been able to retire to and relax tending his beloved roses and from where the family pennant flies whenever a Group One winner was posted. — AFP

SEPANG: San Carlo Honda Gresini team members walk on the track during a tribute to Italian rider Marco Simoncelli, who died during an accident at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix, in Sepang. — AFP

Timberwolves star Love out for weeks MINNEAPOLIS: Kevin Love returned from the London Olympics determined to do what every one of his US teammates have already done - lead his team to the playoffs. The Minnesota Timberwolves will likely have to begin the first month of that pursuit without him. The two-time All-Star broke his right hand in a morning workout Wednesday and will miss six to eight weeks. Love broke the third and fourth metacarpals on his shooting hand in a workout before practice. It’s a crushing blow to the Timberwolves, who already will be without star point guard Ricky Rubio for what is expected to be at least the first six weeks of the regular season while he recovers from a torn ACL in his left knee.

The Timberwolves open the regular season at home against Sacramento on Nov 2. Team owner Glen Taylor, speaking to reporters at halftime of the WNBA finals game, acknowledged his initial “why us?” feeling when he first heard the news in the morning. But he tried to keep a positive attitude about the situation, expressing hope that Love will only miss a month of the regular season and confidence that Derrick Williams and Dante Cunningham will take advantage of the extra playing time to help the Wolves for the future.

“I think all of our fans anticipated this season with great enthusiasm. We knew we were going to have to wait for Ricky, and now we have two guys to wait for,” Taylor said, adding: “But again, I’m going to be positive about it and say we’ve got some young guys and let’s see them step up.” All the work David Kahn and the rest of the front office did to add veteran depth this summer is about to be tested more than they ever could have imagined. Love averaged 26 points and 13.3 rebounds last season, leading the team in both cate-

gories and emerging as the best power forward in the game. He signed a four-year contract in January worth more than $60 million, then played a key role in the United States’ march to the gold medal in London.

As the only member of the team who had yet to appear in the playoffs, Love came back brimming with confidence that this was the year the Wolves would break through for the first time since 2004. That already was going to be a challenge in the powerful Western Conference without Rubio, the dynamic point guard who quickly became the glue that held this young team together before injuring his knee in a game against the Lakers on March 9. But with veteran additions Andrei Kirilenko, Brandon Roy, Greg Stiemsma and Cunningham, Love was convinced they would be able to weather playing without Rubio better than last season, when they lost 20 of their last 25 games after he went down.

“We have a great training camp and we can get off to a good start and guys stay healthy, there’s really no telling what we can do,” Love said just before training camp opened. “I know a lot of teams in the Western Conference have loaded up, but I still feel we can knock those teams off and have a really good year.” Two weeks before the season has even started, the wishes for good health are already out the window.

Love, who scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a preseason win over Maccabi Haifa on Tuesday night, was scheduled to fly to New York for an examination by Dr Andy Weiland yesterday. He had a similar injury to his left hand in midOctober of 2009 and wound up missing the first 18 games of the regular season.

The injury likely means more playing time for Williams, last year’s second overall

pick. With Love at power forward, Williams worked diligently to lose some weight, reshape his body and work on his ball-handling to try to earn more minutes at small forward. Williams has always been more comfortable at power forward, so this could be the opportunity for him to make a consistent impact that coach Rick Adelman has been waiting to see from him. Williams impressed coaches with his physical conditioning and aggressive approach to practice when training camp began, but the playing time has still been sporadic.

He played just seven minutes Tuesday night against Haifa while Adelman took longer looks at the starting unit and Cunningham off the bench at power forward. Cunningham and Lou Amundson have both impressed Adelman with their tenacity and aggressiveness both in games and during practice. “I think he’s really an energy guy,” Adelman has said about Cunningham. “Very good defender. Does all the little things. Him and Lou are very similar. The things that maybe we didn’t do so well last year, running down loose balls, getting to the offensive boards, keeping the boards alive.” Adelman also has the versatile Kirilenko, who can play both forward positions, to lean on. He could choose to slide Kirilenko to power forward and use Chase Budinger at the small forward in another starting lineup. Love’s absence will also put more pressure on veteran shooting guard Brandon Roy’s knees to hold up. Roy was signed in the offseason after missing last year with chronic knee issues. He has held up very well so far in the preseason, and his scoring now becomes even more crucial to fill Love’s void. Taylor said he didn’t know any more specifics about how Love was hurt. He said “all options are open” for adding another player to the roster to fill in for now.— AP

Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Tseng seeks to end slump in South Korea SEOUL: World number one Yani Tseng will look to turn around a recent slump in form when she defends her LPGA title in South Korea this week against a pack of Koreans eager to perform before their home crowd. The Taiwanese fired a 14-under 202 in the three-round event in 2011, edging Choi Na-Yeon by a stroke and denying the South Korean a hat-trick of straight wins in the event. The $1.8 million LPGA KEBHanaBank tournament in Incheon, just west of Seoul, has proved fertile ground for local golfers, with South Koreans winning seven of the past 10 championships. Last year, Tseng mixed long drives with some creative shot-making on the back nine in a performance that

prompted Choi to declare no one would catch the Taiwanese in women’s golf for the foreseeable future. Tseng, who won seven LPGA titles in 2011, appeared to pick up right where she left off in early 2012, winning three of her first five starts. But the 23-year-old has been out of sorts since, with her last top-10 finish in stroke play coming in April in Hawaii.

Tseng has missed three cuts this year, after missing the weekend play only twice in 2010 and 2011 combined.

In the meantime, Choi and four other Koreans have claimed seven wins, including three of the four majors. The most recent tour winner is Park In-Bee, who erased Choi’s two-shot final round

Beauty queen to play in Ladies Indonesia Open JAKARTA: The winner of Miss Indonesia 2012 Ines Putri Tjiptadi will replace crown and gown with golf clubs and caddie to compete in the Ladies Indonesia Open, which teeed-off in Jakarta yesterday. The 23-year-old beauty queen is also a leading amateur golfer, winning the ladies Singapore amateur championship in 2010 and securing gold and silver medals in 2004 in Indonesia’s national championships.

She has been paired in the opening round with Australian star Stacey Keating, fresh from back-to-back Ladies European Tour wins, and Nontaya Srisawang from Thailand, who claimed the Thailand Ladies Open in February. “I am very nervous as I have hardly played for the last five months. I just hope I don’t finish last,” said Tjiptadi, according to a statement from the event organizers. “I have had a lot to do since winning Miss Indonesia in April including competing in Miss World. I am just aiming to have fun this week and learn from some of the best players.”

Tjiptadi is the first Balinese ever to win Miss Indonesia and she also made it into the top-13 at August’s Miss World in the Inner Mongolian city of Ordos in China. Her golf career is on hold this year but she plans to focus on it next season. “There is so much I want to do with golf. I really want to help promote the sport in our country and show that it is not a game only played by wealthy people. “I also want to get involved in television and host a golf show.

However, playing is what I love and I would still like to turn professional in a couple of years,” she said. The Enjoy Jakarta Ladies Indonesia Open is the most lucrative women’s national Open in Southeast Asia with the winner earning $30,000.— AFP

Hendry, Canizares upstage top draws PERTH: American Jason Dufner and South African Charl Schwartzel were both disappointed to shoot one-under 71s in the opening round of the $Aus2 million ($2.04 million) Perth International at Lake Karrinyup yesterday. Dufner’s effort around the par-72 layout left the world No.10 six strokes off first-round leaders, New Zealand’s Michael Hendry and Spain’s Alejandro Canizares. Hendry and Canizares both opened with seven-under 65. “I got off to a nice start,” Dufner said. “But I didn’t really finish it off. Thought I was going to put a good score on the board after 12 holes.

“But I just couldn’t make the par saves that I needed to.

“I’ve got a long way to go to get back up towards the lead, but the good thing is there’s three days left.” Schwartzel, the 2011 US Masters Champion, was also disappointed with his opening round. “I got off to a really good start. But I found it very difficult to judge the wind on this golf course,” Schwartzel said. “It feels very inconsistent, so it was hard to pull the right club. “But one-under is what it is. I really feel like I can shoot a low score out there. So just stay patient and see.” The South African is confident he can make up the leeway.—AFP

lead in Malaysia. Four of the top-10 players in the world rankings are from South Korea.

Park, who rose a spot to number five after Malaysia, leads the money list over Stacy Lewis of the United States.

Despite her final round hiccup in Kuala Lumpur, Choi said her confidence was running high and there was no need to search for motivation when it came to playing on home turf. “I am fired up for this tournament,” Choi said. “I can’t wait to go out there and start playing.”

Tseng was in equally confident mood ahead of tee-off Friday at the Ocean Course of the Sky72 Golf Club. “I always love being back here, and I always play well here,” she said. “I am kind of back

to where I was before. I am looking forward to this week.” Discussing her recent slump in form, Tseng said it had been a positive learning experience that would make her a stronger golfer in the future. “Over the last few months, I’ve been learning a lot from everything,” she said. “I kind of realize I just want to enjoy my life, enjoy every part of my golf. This is a game I’ve loved since I was young. “I feel I am happier, and enjoy life more instead of trying to worry about being number one and winning a tournament,” Tseng added.

“When you go up, you have to go down, and then you go up again. I think I will be stronger and tougher when I go up again.”— AFP

Woods to defend World Challenge CALIFORNIA: Tournament host Tiger Woods will be joined by two reigning major champions in what he regards as one of the deepest fields ever seen at the World Challenge, to be played from Nov 29-Dec 2 in Thousand Oaks, California. Masters champion Bubba Watson and US Open winner Webb Simpson were both named on Wednesday in the elite 18-man field for the $5 million invitational event at Sherwood Country Club. Also competing will be fellow United States Ryder Cup players Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Steve Stricker, plus England’s Ian Poulter, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Australian Jason Day. Twelve of the world’s top 20 golfers are lined up for Sherwood and Phil Mickelson, who likes to spend time with his family at the end of the year, is the only member of the 12-man 2012 US Ryder Cup team not playing. “It’s one of the deepest fields we’ve ever had,” defending champion Woods said on a conference call. “We’re very excited about having as many Ryder Cup players, and players who have won all around the world playing in this event.”

Woods has fond memories of his World Challenge victory at Sherwood last year because it was his first title anywhere since the 2009 Australian Masters and set the tone for a successful 2012 PGA Tour campaign highlighted by three wins. “It gave me a lot of confidence, there’s no doubt,” the 36year-old American said of his one-shot triumph over compatriot Zach Johnson, who will also be back at Sherwood in November. “One was winning it, yes, but also the way I did it and who I beat ... to go head to head with Zach like that, and Zach is not the kind of guy who’s going to go away.”

Woods came from one shot behind Johnson with two holes to play, birdies at the 17th and the last giving him a three-under-par 69 and a 10-under total of 278. “That gave me just a huge shot of confidence going into this year,” the 14-times major champion said. “One of the reasons why I think I was able to win early in the year, in March, is because of

Tiger Woods that.” Woods won his 72nd PGA Tour title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, then followed up with victories at the Memorial tournament and AT&T National.

Though he has not triumphed in the majors since the 2008 US Open, he is happy with the overall progress he has made with coach Sean Foley on the fourth swing change of his professional career. “We’re just working on exactly the same things we’ve done all sum-

mer,” Woods said. “I’m getting a little bit more comfortable with it, and it’s nice to actually start to putt well again.

“My short game has been solid. I’ve made a few changes there, and that’s been very nice to see the progress I’ve made. “We do have an off-season program in which we want to do some work ... and then I’ll start really focusing on next year and my preparation and lead-up to Augusta (for the 2013 Masters).”— Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Sacked British coach exonerated by Malaysian FA SINGAPORE: The Malaysian Football Association has torn up the case against British coach Peter Butler, overturned a six-month suspension and ordered his Terengganu club to buy him out of his contract, the ex-West Ham United player said yesterday. “I’ve won,” the 46-year-old said in a phone call minutes after being cleared by the FAM. “I’m just relieved it is all over. This is not about money, this is about my integrity and my reputation.”

Terengganu, who finished fifth in the 14-team top flight Super League this

season, were ordered to pay Butler the remaining 15 months of his salary, the Englishman said. Attempts to contact officials at the soccer club based in the North-eastern Malaysian state were unsuccessful, and messages were not returned.

Butler, a much-travelled coach in Southeast-Asia, was sacked by Terengganu last month after he had disciplined two players for breaking a team curfew before a match. Both players, Ismail Faruqi and Muslim Ahmad, admitted breaking the curfew but the

Depor, Celta hope to relive the glory days MADRID: Celta Vigo’s trip to Real Madrid and Barcelona’s visit to Deportivo Coruna tomorrow provide stark reminders of the contrasting fortunes of La Liga’s leading duo compared to many of their rivals.

Champions Real, who are fifth after a poor start to the campaign, trail leaders Barca by eight points but there is little doubting that come next May the world’s two richest clubs by revenue will be the only ones battling for the title. Ten years ago, Galician sides Depor and Celta were both up there competing for the top spot and finished third and fourth respectively. Vicente del Bosque’s Real team took the 2002-03 league title, with Barca finishing sixth.

That season, Depor triumphed 2-0 over Barca in the corresponding fixture at the Riazor, just a few months after beating Real 2-1 to win the King’s Cup final the previous season. Celta held Real 1-1 at the Bernabeu. A repeat of those results this time round would be considered major upsets. While Barca and Real have steadily increased their earnings up to the 500 million euro mark over the last decade, Celta and 2000 champions Depor have both crumpled under crippling debts. Depor, with a budget of around 40 million euros ($52.48 million) and a debt of over 100 million, are in a precarious position having just returned from a season in the second division.

After an opening day win, their coach Jose Luis Oltra is under pressure following a run of three draws and three defeats which has left them 18th in the standings.

Celta, operating on a budget of around 33 million euros, are in a slightly healthier position. Relegation in 2007 led to the club going into administration with a debt of around 70 million euros but their return after five years out of the top flight has started a little better.

NOTHING TO LOSE Under coach Paco Herrera, a former assistant to Rafa Benitez at Liverpool, they have taken nine points from seven games and lie 12th. Celta midfielder Borja Oubina was a member of the side that won on their last two trips to the Bernabeu in the 2005-6 and 2006-7 seasons before they were relegated. “The budgets of the two big teams are much larger now and it is tougher to beat them,” the 30-year-old told sports daily AS. “But we have nothing to lose and this could work in our favor.”

Jose Mourinho’s Real appear to have suffered the most from the break for internationals going into tomorrow’s game. Brazil defender Marcelo has been ruled out for three months with a fractured bone in his foot, while fellow full backs Fabio Coentrao and Alvaro Arbeloa also returned with muscle injuries. Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuian and Sami Khedira are all carrying knocks.

Unbeaten Barca visit Depor later tomorrow (2000) when any dropped points could see second-placed Atletico Madrid climb to the summit when they visit Real Sociedad on Sunday (1930). Diego Simeone’s side, La Liga’s only other unbeaten team, are kept off the top by goal difference from Barca.— Reuters

club banned Butler for six months and hit him with a 4,000 Malaysian ringgit ($1,300) fine for speaking to the media.

That six-month ban activated a clause in his contract under which the club termination his employment as head coach. A letter from the Terengganu Football Association to Butler, seen by Reuters, said the six-month suspension had been for issuing a press statement without prior approval from the club or the Terengganu FA. Butler, who insisted he had not contravened any club regulations,

appealed to the FAM who overturned the suspension and ordered Terengganu to honor his contract. “It has been a nightmare six weeks,” Butler said.

“Every credit to the FAM - they were really on the ball. “I knew I was in the right, and I am relieved they agreed and it is all over,” said Butler who has plied his trade in Britain, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia and Myanmar in a much-travelled career. “I am flying home tonight and will be back in Halifax tomorrow.” —Reuters

Serbia faces tough battle to eradicate intolerance BELGRADE: Even a ban from international soccer may not prove enough to rid Serbia of its perennial problems with racism and hooliganism, such is the deep-rooted intolerance among fans.

England’s Danny Rose said he was racially abused by supporters in the Serbian city of Krusevac during Tuesday’s European Under-21 Championship qualifier, which ended in an on-pitch brawl after England won 2-0 on aggregate to reach next year’s finals.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have Maggie Thatcher,” Bosko Jaksic, a columnist for the popular daily Politika said Television in reference to the strong-willed former British prime minister. “This country hasn’t solved the problem of hooliganism at any scale at all and hence some Serbian fans think it’s legitimate to voice racist slogans because they think it’s no worse than booing or jeering their team’s opponents. “They don’t understand the difference, they don’t realize the real dangers of racism and we will have to face the consequences as well as learn some very tough lessons.”

Television footage from the fixture, which England won 1-0 with the last kick of the game, suggested Rose was the victim of incessant monkey chants by hundreds of Serbian fans who also pelted him and his team mates with missiles as they celebrated the goal.

Rose was sent off after the final whistle amid a melee among players and officials. The Serbian Football Association (FSS) denied the racism allegations and said in a statement that the home team were provoked by Rose’s “inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar manner towards the supporters”.

Soccer violence was rare in communist Yugoslavia, confined to sporadic punch-ups when Belgrade’s big two clubs Red Star and Partizan locked horns with Croatian rivals Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split, or Bosnian frontrunners Sarajevo. That changed in the run-up to the bloody Balkan conflicts and the fuse was lit when Red Star’s visit to Dinamo in May 1990 resulted in a mass riot which left 60 people seriously injured, some of them stabbed, shot and poisoned by tear gas. One of the backlashes to Serbia’s rapidly declining economy and political problems of the past 20 years was domestic soccer violence, which spiralled out of control with the

KRUSEVAC: Serbian players (in red and green) clash with England players after their 2013 European Under-21 Championship play-offin Krusevac, Serbia. — AP culprits often getting away with slaps on the wrist if they were punished at all.

French fan Brice Taton died in hospital after he was beaten by Partizan fans before a Europa League match against Toulouse in September 2009, two years after a Red Star fan attacked a policeman with a flare and was later jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of attempted murder. The landmark verdict, however, did not stop the hooligans from exporting their violence and Serbia had to play a Euro 2012 qualifier behind closed doors after an October 2010 riot in Italy, when their fans hurled flares onto the pitch. The game in Genoa was abandoned after seven minutes as Serbia fans, who also stormed their own team bus and attacked goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic before kickoff, ignored pleas from the players to behave. Rose, the English players’ association and former England captain Paul Ince have called on UEFA to ban Serbia from international competition and appeals for clemency by the FSS might also fall on deaf ears if the European soccer governing body decides it has had enough. UEFA President Michel Platini has previously said Serbia could face a ban from international or European club football if racist fan behavior continues.

Anti-racism campaigners have slammed UEFA in the past for only issuing fines.

At Euro 2012 in June, Denmark’s

Nicklas Bendtner was fined 20,000 euros more for exposing an illegal advert on his underpants than Croatia were for racist chanting by their fans. Ince, whose son Tom played in Tuesday’s match, said the scenes were “disgraceful”. “If it was me, they (Serbia) would be kicked out for the next five tournaments European, World Cups - but they will get a little ban and that will be it,” Ince told ESPN television. While Jaksic believes it would be unfair to punish the entire country for the misconduct of a minority, he also stressed a ban would send a loud and clear message to the government that they need to do more.

“It would be very tough because the whole of Serbia would be paying the price for what a bunch of hooligans did in the Krusevac stadium but a message has to be delivered that the Serbian authorities have to deal with hooliganism much more seriously,” he said.

“They’ve been tolerating the problem for years and now racism has come into the picture and it has to be stopped. “It is true that we are not a racist society and such punishment would in that context be harsh, but there is a general lack of tolerance in a number of other fields and as a result racism erupted when the Serbian and the British met in a football stadium.” UEFA said it was waiting for the referee’s report before deciding what action would be taken. — Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Italian League Preview

Juventus to host Napoli in top-of-the-table clash MILAN: Defending champion Juventus hosts Napoli tomorrow in a clash of two unbeaten teams at the top of the Serie A standings. Juventus striker Fabio Quagliarella, who left Napoli in 2010, is relishing the meeting with both teams entering the match on 19 points. “I’m doing well at the moment and the goals against Chelsea and Chievo have given me confidence,” he said. “It will be a really great game, but it is still too early to talk about games which will decide the season.

Napoli is growing and can fight for the title, it already showed that by reaching the Champions League quarterfinals last year.

“It will be a special game for me, but I will be calm. I know the passion of the Napoli fans, I always had a good relationship with them. They deserve to see their club like this, fighting for important goals. If I score, I won’t celebrate. We have to remain focused. Not for 90 minutes, but for 100.” Juventus is looking to make it 47 games unbeaten in Serie A, although Napoli’s victory in the Italian Cup final inflicted Juve’s only loss last season.

The defending champions have been hit by Gianluigi

Buffon’s muscle injury in his left thigh, which forced him to sit out Italy’s World Cup qualifier against Denmark, being deemed more serious than first thought.

However, defender Claudio Marchisio could recover from a shoulder problem. Strikers Mirko Vucinic and Sebastian Giovinco, and defender Paolo De Ceglie are also in doubt. Napoli has an added incentive as it still feels hard done by in losing the Italian Supercup at Beijing. The club refused to take part in the awards ceremony after losing the match in extra time following what it believed were harsh refereeing decisions. “After that game I felt a desire, a real desire, to quit,” Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri said, adding that is an option at the end of the season when his contract runs out. “I live one day at a time. On occasions I hear and see things that make me want to quit, to just give up.”

Also tomorrow, struggling AC Milan visits high-flying Lazio, with vice president Adriano Galliani denying coach Massimiliano Allegri will be fired if the Rossoneri lose again. After letting an entire squad’s worth of top players leave in the offseason, Milan has lost four of its

opening seven matches, marking the club’s worst Serie A start in 72 years. “However Lazio-Milan goes, it won’t be the last stop for Massimiliano Allegri,” Galliani said. “I expect a lot from the next game onwards, the team didn’t deserve to lose the derby. “Milan will be quicker in the next games and the squad will grow as a whole.”

Striker Robinho is injured again and will miss the match.

The Brazilian, who returned only at the end of September following a lengthy layoff, has hurt a muscle in his right thigh. However, Milan is hoping forward Alexandre Pato can make his first appearance of the season against Lazio. Lazio is third, four points behind Juventus and Napoli. Inter Milan is level on 15 points with Lazio after winning a controversial derby match, despite playing almost the entire second half with 10 men. It hosts Catania on Sunday. Newly appointed Cagliari coaches Ivo Pulga and Diego Lopez will be looking to extend the team’s impressive start at home to Bologna. After replacing Massimo Ficcadenti, they picked up the team’s first win of the season against Torino. — AP

Serie A returns with a bang MILAN: Serie A returns with a bang tomorrow as leading pair Juventus and Napoli, defending champions and Cup holders respectively, clash (1600 GMT), with the latter still smarting from their stormy Supercup defeat. Both teams are unbeaten with 19 points from a possible 21 and have the best scoring records in the league. Napoli were the only team to beat Juventus last season when they won the Italian Cup final 2-0, while Juventus completed the 38-match league campaign with an unbeaten record. Last week’s World Cup qualifiers, which led to a two-week break in the championship, have taken their toll on both teams with Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon nursing a thigh injury and midfielder Claudio Marchisio an injured shoulder. Napoli striker Edinson Cavani is likely to be feeling the effects of his long journey to play for Uruguay against Bolivia on Tuesday in La Paz, which is 3,600 metres above sea level. Buffon suffered his injury last Friday in the 3-1 win in Armenia, then missed Wednesday’s win over Denmark when, by a twist of fate, he was replaced

by Napoli’s Morgan De Sanctis.

That led to one of Italy’s famous conspiracy theories with Buffon having to defend himself against allegations that he was saving himself for the Napoli game. “Ours is a nation of conspiracy,” said Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta.

“Everything needs to be taken back to sport.

“There is nothing to say about Buffon. He is the captain of Juventus and of Italy and the allegations are unfounded. “Wearing the blue shirt of Italy is the highest aspiration for all players and Buffon is not the kind of guy to give up at the first sign of trouble. He didn’t play against Denmark because he thought he wasn’t ready.” Tension could still be simmering from the season-opening Supercup match in Beijing in August, which Juventus won 42 after extra time in controversial circumstances.

“Like all matches, there was some tension but controversy is part of the match,” said Juventus striker Fabio Quagliarella. “When you go on to the pitch, you don’t think of anything except winning.”

Napoli had Goran Pandev and Juan Camilo Zuniga sent off while coach Walter Mazzarri was dismissed for dissent and the team refused to take part in post-match ceremonies in protest. Milan, who have seven points after dismantling their team in the close season, have a tough visit to third-placed Lazio (15 points), also tomorrow (1845). Inter, fourth behind Lazio on goal difference, are at home on Sunday (1300) to a Catania side who have made a promising start with 11 points. — Reuters

French League Preview

Reims take aim at unbeaten PSG

DAKAR: Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba (right) is shadowed by Senegal’s Moussa Sow during an African Cup of Nations qualifier at Leopold Sedar Senghor stadium in Dakar. — AFP

Drogba to return as salary row rumbles SHANGHAI: Former Chelsea star Didier Drogba is set to return from international duty and into a row at his Shanghai Shenhua squad that has seen teammates reportedly refuse to practice over unpaid wages. Shenhua players were said

by Chinese media to have protested on Monday over the pay dispute, turning up late for practice at the club’s training ground and taking a leisurely stroll around a running track. Media reports have said payments to some players were skipped. However, the team will play its next game on Saturday as scheduled, club and league officials said yesterday, in comments suggesting the dispute had been laid to rest.

Training had returned to normal after the oneday protest, a club official said, declining further comment.

Drogba returns after scoring twice in Ivory Coast’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Senegal on Saturday that had to be abandoned in the second half because of rioting fans. A spokeswoman for the Chinese Football Association told AFP that a scheduled match

between ninth-placed Shenhua and Changchun Yatai, who are two places higher, would kick off as scheduled tomorrow. “The match will be on as planned,” he said. Chinese media have reported that Shenhua’s chief investor Zhu Jun has threatened to withhold salaries of players unless he is granted majority control of the club.

It was not clear whether the threat was the reason behind the reportedly unpaid wages.

In a posting on his microblog on Wednesday, the flamboyant online gaming tycoon said he “solemnly respected and understood” the action by the players on Monday. Previous reports had said that under a 2007 deal, Zhu’s 28.5 percent stake in Shenhua would to rise to around 70 percent if he invested more than 150 million yuan ($24 million). He has reportedly spent 600 million yuan. China’s Soccer News newspaper reported yesterday that the dispute was likely to be settled by the end of this year with major shareholders allowing Zhu’s share of the club to increase to above 70 percent. — AFP

REIMS: Stade Reims become the latest side to try and end Paris St Germain’s unbeaten start in Ligue 1 tomorrow (1500) and will not lack belief or confidence in the capital having settled in nicely after promotion. “We’re not going there to take pictures of the Parc des Princes,” coach Hubert Fournier told reporters. “Do we have nothing to lose in Paris? Well, we actually do. Did the League say no points were awarded in this game?”

PSG are second on 16 points, three points behind arch rivals Olympique Marseille, after eight matches. Reims are fifth, just two points behind big-spending PSG. “We’ve already quite a few points in our bag, it’s like a safety net,” said Reims defender Anthony Weber. “So we’ll just go out there to have some fun and try to cause an upset.” PSG have won four of their last five Ligue 1 games with Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic netting two spectacular goals in the 2-2 draw at Marseille in their last match.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti will have to make do with the absence of Italian holding midfielder Marco Verratti, who is suspended.

Marseille also take on another promoted side as they travel to Troyes on Sunday (1900). Unlike Reims, Troyes have found life difficult back in the top flight and are bottom on two points.

Marseille defender Rod Fanni said the leaders needed to be cautious. “They may feel they have nothing to lose,” the French international warned on his club’s website (www.om.net). “This game could be a trap.”

Coach Elie Baup is determined to keep his side grounded. “We played eight games.

There are 30 left,” he said. “Let’s stay united and we’ll get results.” Today (1845), sixthplaced Girondins Bordeaux look to extend their unbeaten start when they host Lille, who have won only one of their last five games in all competitions. Third-placed Olympique Lyon host Stade Brest on Sunday (1500) while Corsica gears up for a heated derby between AC Ajaccio and promoted Bastia (1200). — Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Spurs’ Villas-Boas to avenge Chelsea exit LONDON: Andre Villas-Boas can become the first opposition coach to plot Chelsea’s downfall in a Premier League match this season when his old club play his in-form Tottenham Hotspur side at White Hart Lane tomorrow (1145). The 34year-old Portuguese is gradually rebuilding his reputation at Spurs after enduring a traumatic nine-month spell that lasted for just 27 league matches at Stamford Bridge before his dismissal in March.

The London derby is the outstanding game of the weekend and offers him the chance of some personal revenge with extra spice added to the mix. Chelsea finished sixth last season, two places behind Spurs, but they took Spurs’ place in the Champions League after winning the final itself in Munich, consigning Spurs to the Europa League despite finishing in the top four. Chelsea became European champions under Roberto Di Matteo who went to Chelsea as VillasBoas’s deputy in the summer of 2011 and took over as boss when he left.

Chelsea go to Spurs as leaders on 19 points after winning six and drawing one of their seven games while Spurs have climbed to fifth on 14 points after winning their last four league games - including their 3-2 success at Manchester United, their first win at Old Trafford for 23 years. If Spurs were to halt Chelsea’s progress, Manchester United, champions Manchester City and Everton would all be looking to capitalize. United, second on 15 points, are at home to mid-table Stoke City, Manchester City third on 15, visit sixth-placed West Bromwich Albion and fourth-placed Everton face bottom-of-the-table Queens Park Rangers.

UNBEATEN RUN All eyes though will be focused on White Hart Lane tomorrow lunchtime where Spurs are seeking to extend their unbeaten run to 10 matches in all competitions since an opening day defeat at Newcastle United in August. Their last victory came two weeks ago before the international break when they beat Aston Villa 2-0 at home, a result that delighted “AVB”. “This gives us the opportunity to play the league leaders at home, undefeated for a while and with a good chance to go nearer the top,” Villas-Boas said. “It is obviously going to be a difficult game but we are showing a good level of competence.” Chelsea have not won at White Hart Lane in their last six Premier League visits but did beat them 5-1 in their last meeting, an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley last season. Villas-Boas is optimistic. “They have a lot of very young, dynamic players but so do we, and we are playing very well right now. This is a very good moment for us to play them.”

INTERNATIONAL BREAK With many players away on international World Cup duty over the past week, coaches will be waiting with baited breath to see who comes back fit and healthy, but Chelsea already have doubts about Frank Lampard (shin) and Ryan Bertrand (illness). Manchester United are still suffering a long injury list, but there is a chance that Ashley Young (knee) and Chris Smalling (foot) could be nearing a return.

Manchester City travel to The Hawthorns without David Silva, who is still struggling with a muscle injury and Jack Rodwell, who has a hamstring problem. They should have Mario Balotelli back and raring to go after he scored for Italy in their 3-1 win over Denmark on Tuesday and then said he was enjoying life at City, despite the club’s sporting director Brian Marwood criticizing his attitude and behavior. Balotelli told Italian TV station Rai: “I’m fine at Manchester City even though there are a people who like to talk to the newspapers rather than say things to my face. I don’t give a damn. “All is well with (coach) Roberto Mancini and we have a good relationship. We love each other.”

Arsenal have slipped back to seventh on 12 points, but are never out of contention for a top four place and should keep up the pressure on the leading pack when they travel to second-from-bottom Norwich City, still looking for their first League win of the season. Arsenal are likely to be without Theo Walcott, who suffered a chest injury playing for England against San Marino on Friday, but their France striker Olivier Giroud will be eager to repeat his recent scoring feats. He scored his first League goal for Arsenal in their 3-1 win at West Ham, and also scored for France with a last-gasp header to earn a 1-1 draw with world champions Spain in their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.— Reuters

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong isolated Ex-UCI chief denies support

PARIS: The former cycling chief accused of protecting Lance Armstrong yesterday distanced himself from claims that he still supported the shamed cyclist, as a doping scandal left the US rider increasingly isolated. Hein Verbruggen, who was president of the International Cycling Union (UCI) when Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times between 1999 and 2005, hit out amid anticipation of the shamed sportsman’s first public comments on the scandal. Dutchman Verbruggen, 71, and the UCI have been under pressure to respond to the failure to detect Armstrong’s activities, which were detailed in a devastating US AntiDoping Agency (USADA) dossier last week that sent shockwaves through sport.

One suggestion has been that Verbruggen saw Armstrong - who returned to cycling after battling lifethreatening cancer - as the standardbearer of a revived sport recently tarnished by a succession of doping scandals in the 1990s. But he said a report in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf “unjustly states that despite USADA’s dossier I still insist there is no proof”, also rejecting claims that he took a bribe to cover up a positive test by Armstrong in 1999. The bribery claims, he said, were “not worth an official statement”, reiterating that Armstrong, whom the USADA last week said was at the heart of the biggest doping programme in sports history, had never tested positive by a drug laboratory. “Therefore it could not have been hid-

den,” he added in a UCI statement.

Verbruggen’s statement emerged as Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport alleged that the USADA 202-page dossier on Armstrong and more than 1,000 pages of supplementary testimony had opened a “Pandora’s box” of shady dealings. Italian investigators probing a sports doctor said to have overseen Armstrong’s use of banned substances, Michele Ferrari, offered an “all inclusive package” to top athletes and cyclists on how to cheat the dope testers, the daily claimed.

Dozens of athletes were reportedly implicated in the so-called “Ferrari system” and sometimes entire cycling teams, with the network involving money laundering, tax evasion and secret Swiss bank accounts. The Italian probe could yet cause fresh controversy for the embattled sport, as sponsors, including sportswear giant Nike, torpedoed Armstrong from their marketing campaigns and the US rider stepped down from the cancer foundation he set up. Armstrong himself accepted that the adverse publicity could impact on the foundation.

Armstrong is set to speak at a gala fundraiser today in Austin, Texas, to celebrate Livestrong’s 15th anniversary, in what could prove to be an emotional first appearance in the spotlight since the scandal emerged. His speech will be witnessed by a nominally friendly crowd of Livestrong backers, with organisers releasing a video recording afterwards on YouTube - so there will be no tough ques-

tions about his fall from grace.

David Carter, a sports business professor at the University of Southern California and executive director of USC’s Sports Business Institute, said any Armstrong journey to reclaim public respectability must include a confession.

“The only way they come back is when they take personal responsibility and accountability for what they’ve done,” Carter said. “He has not taken responsibility.” That sets the stage for what could be a moment of truth for Armstrong. If not, there may be are hints about where the once-revered cycling legend goes from here.

Could Armstrong, who has denied any wrongdoing for years, suddenly now admit that he was at the heart of a massive doping scheme? Or might the sportsman lash out at his accusers, attacking the 11 former team-mates who testified against him as well as others as part of an epic conspiracy against the man they helped make a champion? A week of revelations has seen public opinion shift in the United States against Armstrong.

Investment advisor Eric Davis, 50, told AFP in Austin that he “wanted to believe” that Armstrong was innocent but with the recent reports “there’s no escaping the fact that he did it”. Others grudgingly admitted that their hero cheated, although also pointed out that the good he has done for cancer prevention, treatment and awareness mitigated his cheating. — AFP

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 , 2012

Deccan Chargers lose battle to remain in IPL Page 42

www.kuwaittimes.net

ELLICOTT CITY: In this file photo, Lance Armstrong competes wearing Nike gear in the Rev3 Half Full triathalon in Ellicott City, Md. Nike said that it is severing ties with Armstrong, citing insurmountable evidence that the cyclist participated in doping and misled the company for more than a decade. — AP

Armstrong isolated

Page 47

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

Slow response to gas leak slammed KUWAIT: Chairman of the Environmental Voluntary Committee (EVC) of Ali Sabah Al-Salem (Um AlHaiman) area, Ahmed Al-Shurai said that Wednesday’s leak of hydrogen sulfide gas from a Rawdhatain oil well was shocking for everyone. “All of a sudden, we realized that we lack environmental crisis management techniques and skills. We realized that the Environment Public Authority (EPA) was nothing but a useless body incapable of preventing such disasters,” he stressed.

Around 230 people were treated at the Jahra Hospital after they inhaled the gas that had leaked from the AlRoudhatain oilfield, the Health Ministry’s acting undersecretary Dr. Khaled Al-Sehlawi said. He said all the patients were discharged except five who continue to be hospitalized for further medical tests and follow up.

Sehlawi also assured all citizens and expatriates that the symptoms could be easily treated by washing with cold water.

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) yester-

day said that no one was injured in the gas leak. KOC told KUNA that the hydrogen sulfide percentage in the atmosphere was recorded as zero in the vicinity of the oil well, which means that the area is safe. Drilling operations will gradually return to normal, the statement said, KUNA reported. In a press release, EVC’s Shurai said that the ‘hush hush’ policy that the oil sector followed to cover up the dangerous leak of a toxic gas was tragic since the leak was only reported after some affected people were rushed to hospitals. He also slammed EPA’s silence despite having air quality measuring stations. “People only learnt about the gas leak when its level in the air reached 7000 BCI and it spread to various areas creating a state of panic among people,” he lamented.

Shurai explained that H2S is dangerous for the respiratory system and was highly toxic. He said it affects the eyes, nose and throat, and when absorbed into the body, affects the nervous system and completely paralyzes the respiratory system. Moreover,

Shurai blamed the PM Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak for the incident, noting that he was responsible for appointing the wrong people when he was the chairman of the Environment Supreme Council and yielded to wasta and influential people. “Today, we are reaping what he sowed in the form of health disasters,” he charged.

The chairman of the environmental Green Line Group (GLG) Khaled AlHajri called for dismissing oil minister Hani Hussein, KOC’s CEO Sami AlRasheed and EPA’s chairman Dr Salah Al-Mudhhei for their frequent travels abroad and ignoring local environmental issues. He added that the leak started at 2:00 pm and that oil officials kept it secret until the gas had spread everywhere and people started suffocating and had to be rushed to Jahra Hospital when it was officially declared at around 10 pm.

The hydrogen sulfide gas leaked from gas station number 131 at Rawdhatain oilfield, namely the rig connected to accumulation center number 15 to the north of Kuwait City

due to the poor condition of the gas pipes. The gas pipes could have corroded due to the use of ‘under balance drilling’ techniques that involve using mud which can corrode the pipes and cause underground leaks that result in the soil becoming over-saturated with the gas, explained informed oil sources.

The sources also said that in a bid to control the leak, the production of 800,000 barrels of oil was suspended, all the accumulation centers were shut down and the area surrounding the oilfield was evacuated. The sources explained that the gas leaked from well number 481 because of the high pressure that reached 7000 BCI. Due to the high pressure from the leak, firemen had to evacuate the area and move back 10 km before they could ignite the leaking gas to burn it out.

Informed oil sources said that the readings of the hydrogen sulfide gas levels in Kuwait’s air had reached 190 and that standard safety precautions recommend evacuating the affected area when it reaches as low as 45.

Police arrest 3 ex-MPs for criticizing Amir Barrak says KD 120 million paid to former MPs

By B Izzak WASHINGTON: Kuwait’s Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi visits the Kuwait Health Office— KUNA

Obaidi visits health office in Washington WASHINGTON: Kuwait’s Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi visited the Kuwait Health Office in Washington DC and met some of the patients receiving medical treatment in the US. Speaking to KUNA Wednesday, Obaidi said he visited the health office and was able to follow up on several matters and was apprised of some of the “challenges and problems” being faced in order to work on overcoming them. He praised the team at the office for the “major role” they play in tackling many issues to facilitate treatment of many Kuwaiti patients sent by the Department of Treatment Abroad at the Kuwait Health Ministry.

The minister reiterated the office was doing “great”, as the staff was able to address problems such as insufficiency of the allowance given to patients. Obaidi noted that the biggest challenges relate to the “direct interaction” between the patient and the health office and the means of communication between them, the mechanisms for depositing sums in patients’ accounts and sending and receiving reports of patients as promptly as possible. In this regard, the minister indicated that in the near future, an “electronic link” between the department of treatment abroad and the health offices will be set up, which will solve many of the problems and make forwarding of reports and follow-up on progress of treatment easier. The Kuwaiti Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah stressed the importance of the health minister’s visit, saying that a huge part of the embassy’s work through the health office is to follow up on our patients in the US. He added the minister personally checking on how things are going at the office was an important and appreciated gesture.

Director of the Kuwait Health Office in Washington Dr Abdullah Al-Wuteib told KUNA that Obaidi’s visit was “very successful”, and that he had met with the staff and listened to their remarks and their needs.— KUNA

KUWAIT: In yet another day of dramatic developments, police arrested three former opposition MPs who spoke at agathering last week and made remarks deemed critical of HH the Amir. Islamist MPs Falah Al-Sawwagh and Bader AlDahoum were arrested by state security detectives and taken to the public prosecution while former lawmaker Khaled AlTahous went himself to the prosecution after he was summoned. The three former MPs were speakers on Oct 10 at a gathering of the opposition and made remarks warning HH the Amir of the severe consequences that may result from amending the electoral constituency law. The remarks were allegedly considered to be in violation of the constitution under which criticizing the Amir is totally banned.

Activists said that two more warrants have been issued to summon former MPs Musallam Al-Barrak and Osama AlMunawer, but Barrak later denied that he had been informed of the warrant. The two were summoned on similar charges

after Munawer spoke at a gathering in Jahra last Saturday and Barrak gave a fiery speech on Monday at a huge rally that turned violent as elite special forces beat up young activists. Four activists were wounded and four others had been arrested and were still being interrogated by the public prosecution over charges of assaulting policemen and illegal procession. The public prosecution has started questioning the three former lawmakers and it will either detain them for further investigation or release them on bail pending trial. Activists and former lawmakers said they were rushing to the yard outside the Palace of Justice in solidarity with the arrested former MPs. Former Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei warned authorities over any mistreatment against the detained men and also warned of “a possible attempt to assassinate them if they were sent to jail”. Barrak appealed to all Kuwaiti people to show solidarity with the arrested former MPs as activists were expected to throng the Palace of Justice.

In another development, former MP Barrak told a press conference that the amounts of illegal deposits paid to 13 for-

mer MPs reached KD 120 million, more than what had been initially reported.

Barrak was the head of a probe panel formed by the scrapped 2012 Assembly to investigate allegations of bribery against the lawmakers who were members of the 2009 Assembly. The opposition leader said the decision Wednesday by the public prosecution to shelve the case for not finding an evidence of a crime “did not mean that the former MPs involved were innocent”. He said the public prosecution confirmed that the large deposits were paid in a span of few months but could not pursue the investigation due to insufficient legislation. Barrak said that during investigations conducted by the parliamentary panel, it was revealed that three MPs received money from a well-known businessman while four others got the deposits from a former senior government official. The liberal Kuwait Democratic Forum said yesterday that it will boycott the forthcoming election if the voting system was altered through an Amiri decree. This is an important addition to other opposition groups which have vowed to boycott the polls.

Kuwait to maintain partnership with Africa UNITED NATIONS: Kuwait has been and will continue to be an effective economic and developmental partner with African nations, Ambassador Bashar Ali AlDuwaisan said. “Kuwait is eager to retain the developmental partnership with Africa,” Duwaisan said at the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Duwaisan, a member of the Kuwaiti delegation to the UNGA meeting, described Kuwaiti-African relations as close and deeply-rooted. “Kuwait vows to continue its support to African nations through gov-

ernment or non-governmental organizations,” he added. He cited as examples of the distinguished relations between Kuwait and Africa; the participation of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in the African Union Summit, held in May in Addis Ababa; Kuwait’s membership in the African Union as a observer member; and Kuwait’s donation to finance the construction and the equipment of the African Union Commission headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.—KUNA

Bashar Ali Al-Duwaisan