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SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

Kuwait Radio receives part of its archives from Iraq

Islamists destroy Timbuktu shrines

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SHAABAN 11, 1433 AH

Iconic Atari turns 40, tries to stay relevant

Serena soars, Rosol falls back down to earth

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US drops charges against Kuwaiti at Guantanamo Long road to freedom for Kandari and Odah

Morsi sworn in as president CAIRO: Mohamed Morsi was sworn in as Egypt’s first freely elected civilian president yesterday and formally received a transfer of power and pledge of support from the military, which has ruled since last year. “I swear by the Almighty God to sincerely preserve the republican order and to respect the constitution and law, and completely care for the people’s interest,” said the 60-year-old Morsi in a ceremony at the constitutional court. The swearing-in, aired lived on national television, was delayed because of a dispute between Morsi, who did not want it broadcast, and judges, who insisted on it, one of the judges told the state’s Al-Ahram newspaper. Morsi had also wanted to take the oath before the Islamist-led parliament, but the military dissolved it earlier this month following a court order in what the Muslim Brotherhood described as a “soft coup”.

In the handover at Cairo’s Hike Step base, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi pledged to support Morsi, who had been a senior Brotherhood figure until resigning from the movement after his election and with whom the army has had uneasy relations. “We will stand with the new president, elected by the people,” the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said in a speech after an honour guard parade and a helicopter fly-past. He saluted Morsi and awarded him the highest military honour, “the shield of the armed forces”. Morsi thanked the military and pledged to support it. “I accept the transfer of power,” Continued on Page 13

Hasawi close to Nottingham Forest deal

By A Saleh KUWAIT: Former chairman of Kuwait’s Al-Qadsiya Sports Club Fawaz Al-Hasawi was yesterday finalizing the purchase of British football club Nottingham Forest after fulfilling the conditions set by the previous owners, informed sources said, noting that the total value of the contract was still undeclared. “I promise to do my best to maintain the club’s standard in the English league”, promised Hasawi, announcing that he would sign contracts with new European and international players once the deal was finalized. “The future on-field and off-field success of Nottingham Forest is at Fawaz Al-Hasawi the heart of our plans which we will of course announce in due course,” a statement from the Al-Hasawi family read.

“The Board of Directors of Nottingham Forest can confirm that the estate of Nigel Doughty has granted an exclusive period of negotiation to Messrs Fawaz, Abdulaziz and Omar Al-Hasawi over the potential purchase of the club,” a statement from Nottingham Forest read. “Advisors on behalf of the Al-Hasawi family are conducting the usual buyer’s due diligence, assisted by the estate and senior management at the football club. At this time we ask fans to ignore all media speculation and we will update supporters as soon as there is anything material to report.”

CAIRO: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi (center) takes the oath of office during his swearing-in ceremony as he stands next to Faruq Sultan (left), head of the presidential election commission, at the Constitutional Court yesterday. — AFP

Max 48º Min 32º High Tide 08:23 & 22:32 Low Tide 01:35 & 15:47

MIAMI: The Pentagon dropped war crimes charges against a Kuwaiti prisoner at Guantanamo on Friday and a US official said the United States and Kuwait were in talks about the possibility of repatriating the last two Kuwaitis held there. Kuwait is a US ally and the state’s parliament has condemned the continued detention of its citizens, Fayez Al-Kandari and Fawzi Al-Odah, at the Guantanamo Bay US military base in Cuba, where both have been held for more than a decade.

Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA reported on Friday that a Kuwaiti delegation had held talks with US officials seeking their return.

Kuwait’s ambassador to the United States Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber AlSabah told KUNA yesterday the latest measure will not lead to release of Kandari Fayez Al-Kandari because it was “a technical procedure” related to the laws of the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon). The Kuwaiti diplomatic mission in Washington is diligently pursuing efforts with relevant US authorities for the release of Kandari and Odah, Sheikh Salem affirmed in the remarks to KUNA. A senior US official confirmed that a Kuwaiti team had recently visited Washington to discuss the matter but suggested the talks would be long and challenging.

Continued on Page 13

World powers agree Syria deal Assad’s fate left open • Forces batter Damascus suburb GENEVA: World powers agreed yesterday to a plan for a transition in Syria that could include current regime members, but envoy Kofi Annan doubted if Syrians would pick leaders “with blood on their hands”. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that Washington did not see any role for President Bashar AlAssad in the new regime, even though there was no explicit call for him to cede power. “Assad will still have to go. He will never pass the mutual consent test,” said Clinton. While Annan did not name names and said it was up to the Syrians to decide who they want in a unity government, he added: “I would doubt that Syrians... would select people with blood on their hands to lead them.”

The deal came despite initial pessimism from participants about the prospects of the Geneva talks due to deep divisions between the West and China and Russia on the future of Assad. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following the meeting that Moscow had convinced other parties to accept that the transition would be decided by Syrians and that no party should be excluded from the process.

“How exactly the work on a transition to a new stage is conducted will be decided by the Syrians themselves,” he said. “There are no demands to exclude from this process any one group. This aspect had been present in many of our partners’ proposals. We have convinced them that this is unacceptable,” Lavrov said. A long-time Syria ally, Russia is loathe to cast Assad aside, even as relations between Moscow and Damascus have cooled.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also stressed that “outsiders cannot make decisions for the Syrian people.”

Continued on Page 13

GENEVA: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (left) shakes hands with Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, next to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, prior to a meeting of the Action Group for Syria at the European headquarters of the United Nations yesterday. — AP

Ice hockey on rise in Mideast It’s splitsville for ‘TomKat’ ABU DHABI: Khalid Al-Suwaidi was mesmerized when he first saw Canadian and American expatriates playing ice hockey at the only rink in Abu Dhabi. Suwaidi, who like many Emiratis grew up playing football, had never seen anything so fast and physical. Without a coach or even friends to teach him, the 20-year-old started spending more time at the rink and turned to the Internet to find YouTube videos offering techniques and basic rules of the sport. “When I saw my first hockey game, I said ‘I need to play this game,’” said Suwaidi, who has been with the United Arab Emirates national team for the past decade. “When I spoke with a lot of guys about the hard position in hockey, they said goalie. So I said I’d become goalie.”

Ice hockey would seem a tough sell in the Gulf, where temperatures routinely Continued on Page 13

ABU DHABI: In this May 31, 2012 photo, Emirati and Kuwaiti officials watch an ice hockey match between Oman and Kuwait. — AP

LOS ANGELES: It always seemed more than a little weird, didn’t it? The whirlwind romance of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes with its very public, very emphatic proclamations of love. It all occurred too quickly and too loudly to seem real. Now, after nearly six years of marriage, Holmes is divorcing Cruise. She filed the papers on Thursday, said Cruise’s lawyer Bert Fields. The two share a daughter, 6-year-old Suri, who’s been featured in celebrity media nearly as frequently as her parents.

Theirs was a bond that never really made sense on paper, despite Cruise’s famously

euphoric couch-jumping on “The Oprah Winfrey” show and Holmes’ starry-eyed confession that she’d had a crush on the “Top Gun” star when she was a girl. Cruise turns 50 on Tuesday, Holmes is 33. They’d kiss passionately for the benefit of photographers on red carpets and were all-too happy to share the romantic details of their engagement: He popped the question at the Eiffel Tower in Paris early one morning in June 2005. The wedding itself in Nov 2006 was a fairytale, Alist extravaganza at a 15th century Italian castle before a Church of Scientology minister.

— AP (See Page 40)

ROME: In this Nov 18, 2006 file photo, actor Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes pose in their wedding attire at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle overlooking Lake Bracciano. — AP

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SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

LOCAL

KUWAIT: The Minister of Electricity and Water, Abdul Aziz Al-Ibrahim recently made an unscheduled visit to Amghara. The inspection was made to ensure that the Municipality is carrying out the recommendations put forward by the Public Authority for Industry(PAI) and Kuwait Fire Services Directory(KFSD) pertinent with removing abandoned vehicles. The visit also covered Rehayya, where used tires had caught fire. After the incident, tires were divided into piles with wide passages created in order to facilitate fire engine movement. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Bedoon students’ details registered incorrectly High percentage of success in exams

KUWAIT: The ‘Seventh Annual Summer Cultural Festival’ in progress.

KUWAIT: Top high school graduates celebrated during a live press conference held on Wednesday when Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Nayef Al-Hajraf announced final results. The list of graduates contained students belonging to different nationalities, but the names of a number of bedoon students who were among the top fifty were omitted.

To refute any speculations why stateless students were deprived of being honored on national television, a top MoE official announced that when they met with some impediments while trying to contact the stu-

dents. “There were errors in the numbers registered in our records,” said Mohammad AlKandari, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Education. “We tried to reach the students but to no avail because the numbers provided are incorrect.”

Al-Kandari insists that bedoon students were not intentionally left out of the ceremony in which top students were invited to a press conference for the first time.

Furthermore, he urged them to receive their reward, including a cheque presented by the National Bank of Kuwait(NBK) from MoE headquarters’ building.

The ministry official also commented at the unusually high percentage of success, which stood at almost 95 percent in the science stream. “I do not see what is stopping Kuwait from having geniuses. Students have to study well for final exams,” Al-Kandari said, adding that 10,000 Kuwaiti students graduated with an average of 85 percentage and above.

Al-Kandari rejected the notion that the good results came about owing to easy testing method, insisting that the exams varied in intensity “to enable outstanding students to stand out.” — Al-Rai

‘Academic curriculum must be changed’

Cuban musicians mesmerize Kuwaiti spectators at festival

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters hosted Cuban musician ‘Sonoridad’ on Thursday at the National Museum as part of their ‘Seventh Annual Summer Cultural Festival’ being held in Kuwait from June 26-July 17.

The festival, which seeks to strengthen cultural ties between countries, showcased cultural performances featuring various prominent artistes from various genre. The Cuban group was the second to perform, after Egyptian musicians, at the National Museum. The Cuban musicians mesmerized the audience during the two-hour concert attended by NCCAL officials, ambassadors and dignitaries from different countries.

Sonoridad is made up of seven members playing piano, trumpet, guitars and drums.

The group was formed in 2009 and presented works from some of Cuba’s most prominent composers. Other NCCAL activities include concerts by renowned artistes from

India, multiple Kuwaiti cultural bands, an Omani cultural group, a Jordanian singer, storytelling, a stage play, poetry, a seminar about the on-going archeology excavation in Kuwait which focuses on Christian artifacts found on Kuwaiti islands, and screenings of films from Argentina and Brazil.

Following the concert, Cuban Ambassador to Kuwait Manuel Pardinas Ajeno said: “It was an amazing performance from our side, as I heard from many people who attended the event tonight, including various ambassadors and NCCAL officers. I was really glad to hear that.” Ajeno said the event was the result of strong cultural ties between two countries. “Cuba and Kuwait are really growing from strength to strength, if I may be allowed to use those words.

For two countries that are far away from each other geographically, you see how much we understand each other through songs. Music was really an amazing instrument.”

KUWAIT: A number of Kuwait University professors emphasized on the importance of changing academic curriculum to meet with technological advancements taking place in the world.

They said that the present curriculum fails to prepare students to cope with the realities of the world, with rote learning being the only technique learnt with the intention of answering examination questions.

Political Science professor Dr Shamlan Al-Essa said that curriculum needs to be updated with follow-up action taken on an annual basis, especially in science, where new theories or new laws are expounded frequently. He pointed out that the current curriculum is weak because it is old and no changes have been made to it in several years.

He pointed that the problem does not lie entirely with curriculum. — Al-Shahed

GÈant Easy supermarket comes to Hawally KUWAIT: GÈant Easy, a smaller version of the giant GÈant Hypermarket, was inaugurated in Hawally area by Khalifa Tarawa, Vice -President, Iskan Housing Finance Company, in the presence of top company officials, on Friday.

With an area of over 10,000 square feet, the fifth branch of GÈant Easy in Kuwait is conveniently located in Block 10, Building 12 on Al Sharhabeel Street, opposite to Al Mastourah showroom. The location of the new outlet, with its easy access to and from the Fourth Ring Road, makes it an ideal venue providing accessibility to residents in Hawally, as well as to shoppers in surrounding suburban areas.

Remarking on the decision to open the fifth branch of GÈant Easy in Kuwait, Arif Shaikh, Group Managing Director of BMA, the UAE based retail conglomerate that represents global retail giant GÈant in the GCC markets of Bahrain, UAE and Kuwait, said, “Since opening GÈant Hypermarket at 360 Mall we have witnessed a phenomenal uptake to the GÈant brand in Kuwait. Especially the GÈant Easy format, which we launched in 2010, continues to receive amazing footfall at all the locales where we launched.” He added that appreciation and dedication of customers to the brand is encouraging them to open several more GÈant Easy outlets across the country in the coming months.

Expounding on the customer benefits of shopping at GÈant, Mohammed Ashfaq, Group Business Development Manager, said that the ongoing currency volatility of the Euro, and the economic upheavals observed in Europe, are indirectly good news for GÈant shoppers in this region.

“Over 50 percent of our food item imports and close to 20 percent of our non-food merchandize are

sourced from the Eurozone.

Current lower procurement prices from the Euro block gives us leeway to offer competitive prices in the market and pass on the cost benefits to our customers.”

Speaking on the new branch opening, Nicolas Panse, Group Country Head, said, “By opening GÈant Easy outlets in niche locations and bringing world-class shopping experience closer to customers, we offer quality products, great bargains and a wonderful shopping experience to our cus-

tomers. At our new branch in Hawally, we hope to replicate the same overwhelming success that we are witnessing at our existing four outlets in Kuwait.”

Along with the fifth branch opening in Hawally, and their existing four outlets operating successfully since August 2010 in Salmiya, from September 2011 in Souk Jleeb, since February 2012 in Egaila and from March 2012 in Sulaibikat, GÈant Easy plans to open more supermarkets in different parts of the country by the end of 2012.”

Building catches fire

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A huge fire broke out at a building under construction that belonged to the Ministry of Education in AlShoada. Fire fighters from four fire stations tackled the blaze

after rumors surfaced that Jaber Al-Ahmed hospital caught fire. The fire destroyed the upper floors of the building that was due to be handed over to the Ministry of Education in two years. A construction worker was admitted to the hospital after suffering a case of smoke inhalation.

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

LOCAL

KUWAIT: The funeral of Jasem Al-Qatami yesterday.—Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Kuwaiti political activist Al-Qatami laid to rest KUWAIT: One of Kuwait’s most prominent political and parliamentary activists was laid to rest yesterday amid tributes, eulogies and tears. Hundreds of Kuwaitis gathered at the Sulaibikhiya Mosque to take part in prayers and attend the funeral of Jasem Al-Qatami, 83, who died on Friday at the Amiri Hospital. “He was not in any way an ordinary person,” local Arabic daily Al Jareeda said.

“He was a national icon who devoted himself and his life to serving Kuwait and its peo-

ple. He invariably sided with people, democracy and freedom.”

Al-Qatami was born in 1929 and was educated in Quranic and in formal schools. In 1948, he left for Egypt where he submitted separate applications to study medicine and to join the police academy. He eventually went to the academy. Upon graduation, he went back to Kuwait and was appointed the first police chief in 1954. However, when he was asked in 1956 to disperse demonstrators who were protest-

ing the attack on Egypt, he refused and resigned.

He also made his mark in sports. He was named the first head of the football association in 1957. In 1962, he became an undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

One year later, he ran in the parliamentary elections and won a seat in the fifth constituency. He later gave up his seat to press for reforms in the nascent nation. In 1975, he ran again in the parliamentary elections and won a

seat in the second constituency. In 1985, he won a seat in the third constituency.

Following the dissolution of parliament, he hosted the first of two meetings by lawmakers pushing for a resumption of the constitutional activities, Al-Jareeda reported.

He was well-k nown for his pan-Arab activism and was in 1983 a co-founder of the Arab Organization of Human Rights, offering financial support and deploying outstanding effor ts. He also helped found the Kuwaiti

Opposition bloc to help new MPs in next polls ‘Political and reform campaign’ KUWAIT: The opposition blocs intend to support members who debuted in the 2012 Parliament by allowing them to run as part of ‘lists’ in the upcoming elections, a member from the annulled parliament said in a statement on Friday. “There is an agreement among majority bloc members to open the door to legislators who had little chance to work in the [2012 parliament] by participating in the bloc’s election lists,” said Ammar Al-Ajmi, rapporteur of the coordination committee for the bloc that represents the coalition of 35 oppositionists. Leading opposition bloc members Dr Faisal Al-Mislem had announced earlier that it plans to compete in each of the country’s five constituencies, while nominating four candidates.

Former legislator Mohammad Al-Khalifa indicated that the opposition will run a ‘political and reform campaign’ as opposed to an election campaign. “The majority bloc looks to realize this program regardless of whether it reflects positively or negatively on members’ election victory chances,” Al-Khalifa said. The parliament that swore-in last February was annulled when the Constitutional Court passed a verdict a couple of

weeks ago ruling the dissolution of the 2009 parliament last December as being unconstitutional, requiring the former parliament to be reinstated. The ruling was not welcomed by the opposition who played a major rule in the public pressure that forced then prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad AlSabah to resign last November, and the subsequent dissolution of the pro-government dominated parliament. In addition, Riyadh Al-Adasani, an independent MP in the 2012 parliament, said that the 2009 parliament “failed publically and politically especially after many members made it clear that they do not wish to attend any session.”

It is projected that the 2009 parliament will hold at least one session to allow the to-be-formed Cabinet to swear-in before lawmakers pass a dissolution decree constitutionally. It is not certain whether the Parliament will be able to convene with many lawmakers planning to boycott a session held as a prelude. The concept suggests that a lack of quorum provides an excuse to the Cabinet to file a no- cooperation movement, remaining a debatable issue despite the fact that some consti-

tutional experts say that this step is legally valid. On the other hand, pro-government MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said that the opposition “deliberately seeks to clash with the government in order to achieve popularity that boosted their chances during elections,” arguing that the government “has learned its lesson on avoiding this pitfall,” reported Al-Qabas.

But Khalid Al-Sultan, a veteran oppositionist and deputy speaker of the 2012 parliament believes that the if the bloc really sought conflict with the government, it would have pressed to remove all operational procedures from the Constitutional Court’s verdict. “However, we accepted the status quo and only made a statement about our opinion,” he said on Friday. Al-Sultan also criticized an incident in which a person made derogatory remarks against a state figure during a public demonstration at the Iradah Square last Tuesday. MP Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaei told Al-Rai that Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah “is going to be assigned Monday to form a new Cabinet which is expected to be ready within a couple of weeks,” reported Al-Rai.

Organization of Human Rights. The Arab Organization named him honorary president for life in appreciation of his remark able achievements and contributions.

Al-Qatami again made history in Kuwait by becoming the first lawmaker to draft a bill to empower women politically.

He was a co-founder of the Kuwaiti Democratic Tribune alongside Ahmad Al Khateeb, Sami Al -Munayyas and Abdullah Al Nibari.

Eminent academics call for strategy against extremism KUWAIT: Prominent educational experts have called for mapping out media strategies against fanaticism, urging authorities to promote moderate religious thoughts.

Dr Saad Al-Shuraie,’ Head of Basic Education at the Faculty of Education of Kuwait University, and Professor Ali Watfa, made the call in a study saying such a strategy is necessary “to place curbs on some media practices that contribute to spread of extremism.” They also called on the Ministry of Awqaf to “promote religious thoughts to counter sectarianism in the society.”

The academics also called for holding a broad national convention to examine “the phenomenon of fanaticism and draw up necessary strategies to uproot radicalism.”Most of members of a sample of students, chosen for the study, expressed readiness to cooperate against extremism. They also called for conducting comparative studies about this phenomenon in communities of the Gulf and Arab countries.—KUNA

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SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

LOCAL kuwait digest

kuwait digest

Which road we are taking?

Disastrous mistakes

By Hassan Al-Essa hat do the majority want? What is the program for the coming days?

It is unclear as to whether it will be gatherings, speeches and crowds or is the intention to calm things down and wait? Wait for the ruling powers to move towards forming a parliament of members and then submit a request to dissolve the 2009 assembly, then for there to be elections which take into consideration the constitutional procedures!

These questions must be put forward so we know and understand which road we are taking. We need to know what is realistic during these difficult times, and what is not possible. So far it seems that the authority (the Sabah ruling family) is going along with the majority demands and it is agreeing to everything. This is a similar situation when the cancelled assembly approved most of the proposed laws from the religious powers which control the ways of the majority. That was until the final days of the assembly, but now, following the constitutional court ruling... what is required then?

The statements from those present at the Tuesday gathering confused the neutral observer. As an example: The popular Bloc, represented by Al- Saadoun, called for a Constitutional Emirate and a full parliamentary system. This would mean a popular Prime

By Thaar Al-Rashidi

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The statements from those present at the Tuesday gathering confused the neutral observer. As an example: The popular Bloc, represented by AlSaadoun, called for a Constitutional Emirate and a full parliamentary system. This would mean a popular Prime Minister as well as popular ministers for the interior, defense, foreign affairs.

Minister as well as popular ministers for the interior, defense, foreign affairs. It would also mean the freedom to form political parties.

In other words, the Sheiks of the country would only have their bights (Abaya), as one opposition minister was heard to whisper! Meanwhile, although he joined the Tuesday gathering, Khalid Al-Sultan’s challenge to the Salaf general direction is based on historic ideology that says “An ignorant ruler is better than a permanent strife”. Yet Al-Sultan has said many times that he wants the family ruling and the regime to stay.....so why did he join the gathering? Did he wear the clothes of the brotherhood, having discarded those of the Salaf bloc? Or that of the Salaf revolutionaries like Al-Tabatabae and Mohammad Hayef...?

Neither was it clear what the brotherhood group wanted, even though they were the loudest there.

They oppose the ruling of the constitutional court and doubt it, then at other times reflect the respect for the ruling and the necessity to respect it. Do they want a full constitutional emirate or keep things as they are? They seem to be unsure of where they stand, and would appear to be taking the middle ground, although they do play politics very well... is this their time?

So lets go back to the beginning: what does the majority want, and are the members in agreement over one political method and one political goal...or are they indifferent and lost...while the country gets lost and cannot find its way because of this loose situation? — Al-Anbaa

r Mohammad Al-Mishaan was relieved of his post as director for the administration of treatment abroad. Yet the very next day, 70 files for treatment abroad were sent from the ministerial office to the special committees for treatment abroad, for passing and not for investigating.

Here one must ask a question: Has the Ali Baba cave been opened once again for treatment abroad? The day after the departure of Al-Mishaan another 70 files for treatment abroad came for “passing”. All of those files came in after the NA Council was dissolved and before the new director for the treatment abroad administration took his job.

It is not logical for a government working for reform to oust a man who saved millions for the state during his work as director for the administration, and recovered millions from the treatment

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kuwait digest

Revolutionary changes?

By Dr Ghanim Al-Najjar think that an exit from the current crisis is clear ally going in that direction, including the elected without the need for excitement or an under- government, which does not need a constitutional standable confusion. The government, no matter amendment, all the way to a constitutional emiwhat it is called, should ask for the dissolution of rate. What took place since 2003, starting with the the 2009 Assembly, not tamper with electoral con- separation of the Crown Prince post from the prestituencies, then call for new elections. Let whoev- miership, which allowed the grilling of the Prime er, win or lose, because we may soon be seeing the Minister, all the way to H.H. The Amir taking power in the National Assembly in 2006, along with other 5th elections in less than seven years.

Of course, anyone can apply political pressure structural reforms, all points in this direction.

It is for sure that not all amendments resulted in on the government to reach those goals. However, what was expected from to oppose the ruling of them, such as reducing the constitutional court, The constitutional court’s ruling the number of connot through certain comments on the ruling itself was strange, yet have not all events stituencies to five. after the reducbut through transforming since 2006 also been strange? Dealing However, tion, are those who politicians into judges, is with the constitutional court ruling is demanded the reduction something those who adopt it should realize is dealing with different legal opinions, satisfied with the results? not the same peodangerous and threatens and whether we agree with them or pleArewho were happy, to destroy the structure of not, the thing that we must accept is including me, with the a state that is already constituencies, shaky. the constitutional court ruling, no five demanding one conThe constitutional matter whether we like it or not. It is stituency after less than 6 court’s ruling was strange, regrettable that we lost concentration years of implementation? yet have not all events Who among us can since 2006 also been in the midst of the argument. guarantee that the one strange? Dealing with the constitutional court ruling is dealing with different constituency is the ideal solution? The truth is that legal opinions, and whether we agree with them or our political elite, both government and opposinot, the thing that we must accept is the constitu- tion, are just a group of amateurs who are practictional court ruling, no matter whether we like it or ing politics as a social custom, not as a responsible not. It is regrettable that we lost concentration in group running a country.

The deep-rooted revolutionary change is not the midst of the argument and we lost the opportunity to fix a true gain on the road to a constitu- valid in a confused country that is unable to take a tional emirate. The authority of the constitutional decisive opinion towards a ruling, or not ready to cour t can cancel Amiri decrees and political respect its constitutional institutions. There are no revolutionaries among us, because of us, all 95% actions.

In fact, there are those who supported the con- are government employees and the government stitutional court ruling in 1986, which rejected its job does not cause a revolutionary change, no matexpansion, although the entire constitution was on ter how good are the intentions. Yet if those intenhold then. What is good for Kuwait is gradual con- tions become bad, then our small country will no sensual change. It would seem that things are actu- longer be here! — Al-Jarida

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It is not logical for a government working for reform to oust a man who saved millions for the state during his work as director for the administration, and recovered millions from the treatment abroad outside Kuwait. He even organized a treatment abroad administration, which was before he joined like a market for mediators “Wasta”. abroad outside Kuwait. He even organized a treatment abroad administration, which was before he joined like a market for mediators “Wasta”.

Your Highness, Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak, from the early weeks of taking your position, we have sensed reform in your actions in all parts of the state and we know that the ones who make mistakes will be held accountable and the good ones will be rewarded.

Is it logical that a man who caused all this constitutional confusion still enjoys his post, yet a man like Mohammad Al-Mishaan, who saved millions for the state budget, is transferred to a consultant post in a ministerial office? Is it this principle you want to establish: work hard and we shall make you a consultant; make disastrous mistakes and we shall not bother to you. Is that what you want?

Going back again to the treatment abroad file.

This was reorganized by Dr. Mohammad Al-Mishaan and changed from a mediators department into a real medical department. It created alternative treatment inside Kuwait. I think with the expected elections, the treatment abroad files will be opened once again, and I suggest to you that in less than two months, the problem of treatment abroad will be back. I really hope that I am mistaken, and that the new director is responsible and continues with the procedures started by Dr. Al-Mishaan. Until then, I have nothing more to say, but we shall wait and see. — Al-Anbaa

kuwait digest

Two-faced opposition

By Dr Hassan Abbas t’s fine if someone feels proud of himself, and ly, from a technical standpoint, how the project is s p e a ks w i t h p r i d e a b out t he t hi ngs he’s a failure? Can they explain to the public why losachieved. That would be especially good if this ing two billion dollars is still better than going person speaks from a standpoint of wanting to through an allegedly failed project? That is if we influence positive change to society, through a can find them after they avoid taking any responsuccessful approach. But what if that person had sibility.

However, this is nothing new with the opposino accomplishments based on which he positions himself as the savior, leading the public towards tion. It is the same group which claim protection of the constitution, but object to a ruling made by the path of reform?

It is obvious that I’m talking about the opposi- the Constitutional Court whose verdicts are final.

It is also the same group tion, and it is also obviwhich promised the ous that they ’ve gone too far with their empty The K-Dow project, if allowed, Ku w a i t i p e o p l e re fo r m that was never realized threats and promises. would have left Kuwait facing many once they were in the driThey deafen our ears possibilities and those include loss or ver ’s seat in the parliawith their nonstop talk about ‘heroism’, while profit. But the opposition’s decision to ment. Perhaps they could have passed legislations, if their know-it-all attitude cancel the deal left us with only one they had any time lef t costs us billions of dolpossibility: a loss exceeding $2 billion after spreading divisions lars in canceled projects.

Even I, a longtime critic as per an international court order. At in society.

I t ’s obvious that we of the opposition, was the time of negotiation, the opposi- deal with a t wo faced convinced as a result of tion pressured to have the deal can- opposition that calls for the opposition’s pressure that the government celed on the pretext that the project respecting the law and the constitution if the court wasn’t clear regarding was a failure. makes a ruling in their the K-Dow project at the favor, while leading mass time of negotiation. And now after the damage is done, they play innocent demonstrations when the rulings are made and put the blame on others. Is there a greater against them. As soon as the Constitutional Court ruled to reinstate the 2009 parliament, the oppoescape than this?

The K-Dow project, if allowed, would have left sition was quick to announce that they can never Kuwait facing many possibilities and those accept being part of a parliament they accuse of include loss or profit. But the opposition’s deci- having a corrupt majority. But during the trial last sion to cancel the deal left us with only one possi- week for the parliament’s raid incident, they conbility: a loss exceeding $2 billion as per an inter- firmed being members of the 2009 when the national court order. At the time of negotiation, judge asked them; leading the judge to abstain the opposition pressured to have the deal can- from pressing charges due to the immunity they celed on the pretext that the project was a failure. have as members of the 2009 parliament. This is Can any of them come out now and explain exact- the two faced opposition we have. —Al-Rai

I

5

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

LOCAL

Kuwait Radio receives part of its archives from Iraq Tapes include large group of original programs

JAKARTA: Omar Suleiman Al-Qenai and Le Hoang Quan yesterday discussed finding the best means of enhancing bilateral cooperation in all domains. — KUNA

Kuwaiti envoy discusses boosting bilateral relations with Vietnam JAKARTA: Kuwaiti Consul General in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City Omar Suleiman Al-Qenai met with the city’s Governor-General Le Hoang Quan and discussed with him finding the best means of enhancing bilateral cooperation on all domains.

Al-Qenai said yesterday that the meeting tackled Kuwait’s possibility of funding some of the development projects in the city of Ho Chi Minh, especially those concerning the health care sector.

“Kuwait is very much interested in boosting cooperation with the City in all fields,” he pointed out. He further clarified that, during the past four months, he

exerted tremendous efforts to attract many commercial Kuwaiti companies to invest in the Vietnamese markets.

His efforts have paid off, he noted, since there are many Kuwaiti businesses that are willing to work with Vietnamese companies.

He added that there is an agreement to set up an exhibition for Vietnamese companies in the state of Kuwait to showcase their work and products. A delegation from the chamber of commerce and industry of the Ho Chi Minh city will visit Kuwait in November to discuss preparatory measures for holding the exhibition. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwait Radio has finally regained 27 boxes of its archival tapes from Iraq, the country’s Ministry of Information said. Kuwait’s radio archives were stolen by Saddam Hussein’s regime during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The regained radio archives include a large group of original programs that were produced by Kuwait Radio, together with Kuwaiti and Arab original songs, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information for Radio Yusof Mustafa told KUNA yesterday. The move, which came in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions, took place during a meeting held at the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the presence of UN and Iraqi officials, he said.

Kuwait has regained, over four months, the archives of the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait AlYoum (official Gazette) and Al-Anbaa daily newspapers and Kuwait Radio from the Iraqi government, Mustafa added. The Kuwaiti official appreciated the Iraqi move as a positive step in the right direction.

Hailing Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations, he said: “Kuwaiti-Iraqi ties are not only restricted to the political level as the relationship with the brothers in Iraq are firm and deep-rooted in both media and cultural domains.”

The meeting was attended by several Kuwaiti officials, including Chief of the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry’s International Organizations Department Jassem Al-Mubarki, as well as Iraqi Ambassador in Kuwait Mohammad Bahr Aloloom. Al-Mubarki lauded the Iraqi move as a good step forward, hoping that the Iraqi government would send back soon the archives of the Amiri Diwan, HH the Crown Prince’s Diwan and Foreign Ministry. “It is a positive step which we hope to be followed by other positive steps,” he said. For his part, the Iraqi ambassador to Kuwait said a joint Iraqi-Kuwaiti panel had been already created for the purpose. The panel has sent letters to all Iraqi agencies asking them to return all Kuwaiti properties, if there. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Chief of the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry’s International Organizations Department Jassem Al-Mubarki (center) and Iraqi Ambassador to Kuwait Mohammad Bahr Aloloom (left) are seen with the returned tapes. — KUNA

CBK launches new marketing campaign KUWAIT: As part of its endeavor to reward customers, the Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK ) has announced, in cooperation with Carrefour Company, the launch of a new marketing campaign which will provide special offers to the Bank’s customers when using any Al-Tijari credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, prepaid card) for shopping at Carrefour Hypermarket during the period from 1/7/2012 to 31/8/2012.

The new marketing campaign will enable the Bank’s customers to benefit

back up to 10 percent of the value of their purchases throughout the campaign period.

Ramzi Sabboury, Executive Manager, Marketing and Sales Department said, “ This marketing campaign was launched based on customers’ interest, in view of their proactive interaction with the offers and marketing campaign, in addition to the great success the Bank has achieved with its partners.”

“These exceptional marketing campaigns launched by the Bank come as

part of a series of continued marketing programs tailored for the Bank’s customers to render the best services to customers and provide numerous chances for shopping along with rewarding customers by obtaining cash back of the value of purchases during the period of campaign that will be credited to their accounts, in addition to encouraging them to take advantage of the best offers and enjoy shopping at a number of retail outlets,” added AlSabboury.

KUWAIT: In line with the Ministry of Interior’s instructions, Col Khalid Yousuf Al-Haqqan, director of Officers Club paid a visit on Friday afternoon to Omran Salah Al-Kandari, a child who was accidentally shot while present at the Club’s pool. He was admitted to Adan Hospital. A medical team said the boy is on a path to recovery and will leave the hospital within two days.

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

local

Drunk driver arrested with loaded firearms Multilingual parrot stolen

Al-Herz wins NBK campaign draw KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) announced the first winner of the ‘Transfer Your Salary and Win’ campaign. Abbas Abdulwahab Tahir Al-Herz won a year’s salary after transferring his salary to NBK. All new customers who set up a salary account at NBK are eligible to enter a monthly draw to win a year’s salary. One winner will be selected each month. New NBK account holders who transfer their salary to NBK starting in February will enter the monthly draw which runs till December 2012.

Abbas Al- Herz, winner of June’s draw said, “Winning came as a complete surprise. I

want to truly thank NBK for its great services and offers, and for always being number one in the market.”

NBK pioneered many firsts in both the local and regional markets by offering innovative products and value added services.

Today, NBK has the largest local and overseas banking network encompassing more than 176 branches, representative offices and subsidiaries strategically located within the main international and regional financial centers. For more information please contact Hala Watani 1 801 801 or log onto www.nbk.com.

Kuwait plans to invest more in Malaysia, Jordan KUWAIT: Conscious that the economy is currently highly dependent on oil and closely tied to markets that continue to face economic uncertainty, Kuwait’s government is looking further afield to new investment destinations as well as moves to stabilize oil prices. In the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent Article IV consultation with Kuwait, the fund said that it expected economic recovery to strengthen in 2012, with non-oil economic activity projected to grow by some 5.5 percent over the course of the year. While the country’s overall economic growth continues to expand on the back of hydrocarbons revenues, this non-oil economic expansion bodes well for Kuwait’s continued economic diversification efforts.

Other indicators reported by the IMF appear favorable as well - inflation is expected to moderate slightly, to about 4.4 percent, while banks reported better liquidity conditions compared to 2010.

The IMF did note in its report, however, Kuwait remains dangerously exposed to the European debt crisis. The government is already taking action to address this point in an attempt to further diversify the country’s revenue streams.

In the largest move since it invested $800m in an initial public offering (IPO) by the Agricultural Bank of China in 2010, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) announced in June it would be investing $150 million into a Malaysian IPO. This move is expected to take advantage of growth in south-east Asia. The IPO by IHH Healthcare, a Malaysian health care firm is set to launch in July. Predicted to raise around $2 billion, it will be the country’s second-biggest IPO for 2012.

Reuters reported that the KIA “has been lately keeping its powder dry amid volatile

markets,” noting that this investment shows a new tone for the authority. KIA will be IHH Healthcare’s largest foreign investor and the second-largest overall, after EPF, a Malaysian pension fund.

Kuwait’s efforts abroad appear not to be stopping at Malaysia. In mid-June, the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development said it would likely invest in a number of alternative energy projects within Jordan, according to local media.

While visiting Kuwait in June, Jordan’s prime minister, Fayez Al- Tarawneh, praised the role of Kuwaiti investments in the Jordanian economy, currently valued at around $14.1 billion. Tarawneh also met with HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad AlSabah, Prime Minister of Kuwait, to discuss continued economic cooperation. Jordan’s trade minister, Shabib Ammari, said during the visit that he hoped further investments from Kuwait would finance small- and medium-sized businesses in Jordan.

While the government continues to explore investment opportunities overseas, it is also acutely aware of its economic dependence on hydrocarbons revenues. Hani Hussein, Kuwait’s minister of oil, has highlighted the need for OPEC ministers to examine the latest developments in the oil market. The price of oil deteriorated significantly in the first part of June, with Kuwaiti crude losing more than $4 a barrel in a single session, and futures contracts for US oil hitting their lowest level in eight months. “Some of the [OPEC] members are concerned about the prices and what’s happening,” Hussein told local press before an OPEC ministerial meeting in Vienna in early June. “There are some concerns about what direction prices are taking and production.” —Oxford Business Group

Warba Insurance observes human resources week KUWAIT: As part of the First Human Resources and Administration Week 2012 held by the human resources management and administration department of Warba Insurance Company, Kuwait’s fastest growing national insurance company - a lecture was held on 24 June to communicate effectively and directly with all employees of the company. The lecture dealt with bettering the department and defining its role in the development of a mechanism for all related company activities. The lecture also shed light on the important role of human resources in the management and organization of the institutions work, which will carry a positive effect on the productivity of the staff throughout their work responsibilities.

During the lecture, a review of various programs of the administration was conducted by both Hisham Abdel-Moneim and Khalid AlBarak- HR Coordinators. They noted the efforts made by department in human resource development and the evolution of the different methods of management training and their importance.

Both speakers stressed on the importance of training leaders and staff to perform their work and master their tasks to the best of their abilities, and stressed that progress will not come about without the attention being paid to the process of training and integrating management development for all sectors of the company.

They explained that there are those who believe administrative duties are not a specialized science, and insist that it is an application of technical experience and not an application of scientific principles to a wealth of experience, thereby requiring the need of participation of both management and employees in the administrative process.

In a statement, Saeed Dashti, Director of Human Resources and Administration Department said that work in the insurance industry in Kuwait and the region as a whole is the dominion of the exceptionally talented, forcing companies operating in this field to guide young people to hire experts from abroad to learn this specialized science.

He noted that the sovereignty of human resources lies is in employees it commands, it is the basis for everything in development, so it is imperative that all staff members are well informed of their role, their duties and responsibilities on the principle of ‘the right man in the right place’ and to consider the human element as the most important labor input.

The lecture concluded with a discussion between the audience of staff and the management of human resources and administration department on various subjects raised during the lecture in order to develop ways to work out the criteria for participation and cooperation of personnel from different sectors of the company.

KUWAIT: A man found driving under the influence of alcohol faces multiple charges in addition to possession of liquor and unlicensed weapons. The Kuwaiti man was ordered to step out of his vehicle after he was pulled over by police. The officers smelt the alcohol and found a number of liquor bottles in the car along with home brewed drinks.

He was immediately placed under arrest. The police also found an AK47, a hunting rifle and a third firearm, all of which were loaded. The man was taken to Hawally police station where he was questioned before facing charges.

Fatal accidents A woman was killed and her husband seriously injured in an accident on Friday on the Sixth Ring Road. Police and paramedics called to the scene reported a collision between a pick up truck and trailer. The driver of the pick up truck was rushed to Al-Jahra Hospital in critical condition. The woman was pronounced dead by the paramedics, and she was transferred to the forensics department. The trailer truck driver was not injured in the accident, which is being investigated. Meanwhile, a Saudi citizen was pronounced dead at Al-Salmi Road, where it is thought his car overturned. Criminal investigators took the body to the forensics department where there are ongoing investigations into the cause of the accident.

Parrot stolen An African parrot, which has the ability to speak words in Arabic, English and Japanese, has been reported stolen. Security offices along with criminal investigators headed to Jakhour (livestock farm) in Kabad where the owner reported his KD 12,000 multilingual parrot stolen. Fingerprints were lifted at the scene, where there were also a number of electronic appliances missing.

Shooter at large A five year old was injured by a stray bullet at the Police Club in Abu Al-Hassaniya on Friday. The Kuwaiti boy underwent emergency surgery to remove the bullet, which had entered his hand. The procedure was carried out at in Al-Adan Hospital.

His father found the boy crying and heavily bleeding after leaving the club swimming pool.

Investigations are under way after the father reported the incident to the local police.

Illegal relationship A woman recovering at Al-Jahra Hospital following an abortion is waiting to be medically cleared before being taken into police custody after admitting that she was involved in an illegal relationship. The Indonesian woman had arrived at the hospital in critical condition after suffering severe bleeding following an abortion. Police opened investigations after her condition stabi-

lized, during which she confessed that her pregnancy was the result of an illegal relationship with a Bangladeshi man. Investigations are ongoing in search of the man, who faces adultery charges.

Forgery case A man was arrested late on Thursday night in Amghara after being found in possession of a forged passport. Suspicions were raised when he appeared nervous when handing officers one of two passports he had in his hand. He was taken into custody when the passports were found to be Pakistani and German, but with different names. Investigations revealed that the German passport was a forgery.

Kids’ brawl Two children were seriously injured in a brawl in Al-Andalus, where armed children between the ages of 10 and 14 fought. The fight left one 12 year old boy with a stab wound in his back and another with a deep gash to his arm. The boy with the wounded arm left before the police arrived, but received helped at a nearby school. He told his helpers that he was attacked after arriving from Saudi Arabia. The police heard of his case after the medical staff reported the incident. A search is currently underway for the attackers, who escaped before the police arrived.

‘Babtain Foundation plays key role in spreading Arabic language’ MADRID: The Foundation of Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain’s Prize for Poetic Creativity plays a vital role in spreading the Arabic language and acquainting the public with the Arabic and Islamic culture, Dr Nader Al-Jallad, a representative of the Foundation in Spain noted yesterday.

Al-Jallad, an associate professor at the University of Cordoba, told KUNA that the Foundation has been making tremendous efforts in connecting bridges among different cultures by holding many events to keep the public as well as the academics engaged in various literary activities. These activities, Al-Jallad stressed, has eliminated many stereotypes and faulty common concepts about the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The Foundation’s activities in Spain are clearly seen in the ‘Andalusia Prize’ which was won by the Spanish researcher Jose Ramirez del Rio in May. The subject of his research focused on the civilization and the culture of Andalusia.

The Foundation’s efforts in spreading the Arabic language and culture can also be seen through holding many lectures, seminars and training courses at prestigious Andalusia universities such as University of Cordoba, University of Granada, University of Malaga and University of Seville.

These academic functioning, such as one-year programs of teaching Arabic language and short-terms ones that teach Arabic calligraphy, Arabic poetry and literature have attracted many Spanish people who are interested in this culture. Foundation of Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain’s Prize for Poetic Creativity was established in 1989. It is a private, cultural and non-profit organization that is exclusively concerned with poetry and boosting cultural dialogue across the world. —KUNA

MADRID:Dr Nader Al-Jallad (right) with some other dignitaries yesterday.

Ustad Shujaat Khan regales music lovers KUWAIT: The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), Government of Kuwait, in cooperation with the Embassy of India, Kuwait held an Indian musical concert by highly acclaimed Sitar maestro Ustad Shujaat Husain Khan on June 29, 2012 at Kuwait National Museum Auditorium.

It was a rare treat for music lovers cutting across nationalities in Kuwait. The vibrant and scintillating performance by Ustad Khan drew spontaneous applause from an enthusiastic audience in the Auditorium.

A large number of Kuwaiti dignitaries, distinguished Ambassadors and members of the Indian community in Kuwait attended the concert.

The audience gave the maestro and his accompanying musicians a standing ovation upon the performance’s conclusion.

Ustad Khan is the son and disciple of the great sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan and belongs to the Imdad Khan gharana. He began giving public performances at the age of six and has since performed in numerous prestigious musical festivals in India, Asia, Africa, North America and Europe.

KUWAIT: Ustad Shujaat Husain Khan’s sitar concert in progress.

KUWAIT: Indian Ambassador Satish C Mehta, NCCAL officials, Kuwaiti dignitaries and guests watch the sitar concert.

KUWAIT: Indian Ambassador Satish C Mehta and NCCAL officials with Ustad Shujaat Husain Khan and accompanying artists.

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

Mali Islamists destroy Timbuktu’s holy sites

Bangladeshi Hindu women fight for divorce rights Page 11

Page 9

Qaeda mines kill 73 in Yemen Governor cautions against rapid return to Zinjibar

JAAR: A general view shows the Yemeni town of Jaar in the southern restive region of Abyan. Landmines planted in Yemen’s southern province of Abyan by Al-Qaeda militants before they were driven out from the area have killed at least 70 people officials said. — AFP

News

in brief

50 dead, 42 missing in China mudslides BEIJING: China’s Civil Affairs Ministry says mudslides caused by heavy rains have killed 50 and left another 42 missing. The national agency said in an online statement Friday that storms have ravaged 11 provinces and regions - mainly in south China - since June 20 and triggered the deadly mudslides. The ministry says about 440,000 people have been relocated and that tens of thousands of homes are severely damaged. The death toll continues to rise. The state-run China News Service reported yesterday that four people were killed and another 37 missing from a severe mudslide in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. Mudslides are common in China’s mountainous areas.

US, Israel to hold joint military drill WASHINGTON: The United States and Israel are expected to hold a delayed, joint military exercise sometime around October or November, after postponing it earlier this year, the top US military officer said on Friday. Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he wasn’t sure what the final decision was on timing after high-level talks in Israel this week. “We rescheduled it for October-November time frame,” Dempsey said. “I really don’t know what the final decision was, but it is our expectation that that’s when the event will occur.” The air-defense drill, named “Austere Challenge 12,” was scheduled for the spring and had been expected to be the largest exercise between the two allies, who regularly hold joint military maneuvers.

Iran to deploy submarines TEHRAN: A semiofficial Iranian news agency says Tehran plans to deploy submarines in the Caspian Sea. Yesterday’s report by Fars quotes Adm Abbas Zamini as saying Iran plans to deploy “light submarines” to the oilrich sea that adjoins Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. He did not elaborate.

Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have soured in the past year. Iran accuses Azerbaijan of harboring antiIranian terrorists linked to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Azerbaijan in return says Iran supports Islamist dissidents. Both countries deny each other’s charges. Earlier this month Iran said it has begun the “initial stages” of designing nuclear-powered submarines. Iran has domestically built several small submarines over the past years.

Man stabbed to death LONDON: British police said yesterday they had arrested five people after a man was stabbed to death at a shopping centre that will be the main gateway to the London Olympics, a statement said. A 24-year-old man died in a fight between several men at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London, which took place as hundreds of invited guests were touring the nearby Olympic Park. Metropolitan police on Saturday said they believed some people had filmed the fight on their mobile phones and urged them to come forward. Media reports said it was a gang fight. The Times newspaper quoted witnesses as saying two groups of men had gathered and thrown chairs and shop units at each other. The shopping centre will provide the main access to the Olympic Park, with visitors facing airport-style security screening. Britain is mounting its biggest-ever peacetime security operation for the Olympics, which run from July 27 to August 12, deploying more than 40,000 security personnel.

SANAA: More than 50 civilians and 23 military personnel have been killed by mines sown by Al-Qaeda since the militants were chased out of areas of south Yemen on June 13, the defense ministry reported yesterday. “More than 50 citizens have been killed by mines planted by the terrorists before they fled Zinjibar, Jaar and other localities” in Abyan province, ministry website 26sept.net reported, citing the province’s deputy governor. The website quoted Colonel Said Ali Meshaal, head of a demining unit, as saying mines in Abyan had also claimed the lives of 23 soldiers, among them two officers. On June 23, local officials had put the death toll from mine blasts at 35.

The deputy governor, Ahmed Ghaleb Al-Rahwi, was quoted as saying that demining had allowed “60 to 70 percent of those displaced from Jaar and its suburbs to return home,” adding that electricity and water supplies had been restored.

However, he cautioned against a rapid return to Zinjibar, the provincial capital, from where 100,000 residents had fled to the port city of Aden, until “the thousands of mines placed there have been defused.” Taking advantage of a central government weakened by an Arab Spring-inspired uprising last year, Al-Qaeda-linked militants had overrun most of Abyan, capturing Zinjibar, Jaar, Shuqra and other villages. But on May 12, the military launched an all-out offensive to recapture the province.

US authorities have announced terrorism-related charges against a Vietnamese man suspected of helping militants in Yemen affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Minh Quang Pham, 29, was charged with traveling from Britain to Yemen in December 2010, where federal prosecutors said he pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The United States considers the Yemen-based group as a terrorist organization.

Pham spent a year in Yemen before returning to Britain, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday in Manhattan federal court.

While in Yemen, Pham is accused of receiving “militarytype” training and of helping with the group’s online propaganda. While in Yemen, he also worked alongside two unidentified US citizens, the indictment said. Pham, who is in custody in Britain, is charged with five criminal counts, including conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group. He faces a mandatory minimum of 40 years in prison if convicted on all counts. It was not immediately clear if and when he would be brought to New York to face the US charges.—Agencies

US urges UAE to free businessman ABU DHABI: The United States has urged the United Arab Emirates to release on bail an American businessman accused of embezzlement who has been on hunger strike for six weeks, and to deal with his case in a “transparent manner”.

Zack Shahin has been in detention since he was arrested in 2008 while at the helm of the Dubai real estate firm Deyaar.

There have been hearings in his case in Dubai, but no judgment.

“After more than six weeks, obviously there are serious concerns about Mr Shahin’s health,” the US charge d’affaires in the UAE, L Victor Hurtado, said in a statement. “We continue to urge the authorities to release him on bail, as has been approved but not carried out in the past. In addition, we urge that the several outstanding pending cases against Mr Shahin can be consolidated, allowing him to defend himself more effectively.” The United States is concerned, among other things, that Shahin, who was not formally charged for over a year, may have been treated worse than others accused of financial crimes in the UAE, Hurtado said.

US officials have repeatedly raised the case with UAE officials and urged the UAE to conduct the case in an “expeditious and transparent manner”, he added. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahayan met US President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday. — Reuters

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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

Burundi, Rwanda mark Belgian colonial past differently BUJUMBURA: As Burundi plans visiting royalty, marching bands and fireworks to mark 50 years of independence from Belgium, in neighboring Rwanda the ceremonies have a more somber tone. Burundi and Rwanda jointly gained independence from Belgium on July 1, 1962. Formerly German colonies, Rwanda and what is today known as Burundi were declared Belgian protectorates after the First World War. Only Bujumbura has invited representatives from the former colonial power for today’s celebrations. Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders, Prince Philippe and his wife Mathilde will attend. Kigali prefers to look inwards.

Since the beginning of the week, conferences have been held in the Rwandan capital to reflect not only independence, but also on the 18th anniversary of the coming to power of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front, which put a stop to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. According to local radio the Rwanda Defense Forces have organized a marching parade in front of a number of invited foreign dignitaries, but not Belgians. Brussels stands accused of having sowed the seeds of ethnic hatred in the country.

In a statement at the beginning of June, the Local Administration Ministry reminded the country that “independence was obtained from a

bloodbath and burning houses.” The statement alluded to the 1959 troubles that preceded Rwanda’s independence, where Hutus massacred their Tutsi neighbors, burned down their houses and killed their cattle.

Thousands of Tutsis opted for exile.

The RPF accuses Rwanda’s former colonialists of having supported the massacres that it says were a prelude to the 1994 genocide. “Colonization left us with a heritage of sectarianism, discrimination, bad governance, suspicion and distrust among the children of Rwanda,” read the statement.

In contrast to the muted celebrations in Kigali, residents of Bujumbura have repainted their houses, spruced

up their offices and filled in the numerous potholes in the streets of the city. Yesterday was given over to celebratory football matches, today to prayer followed by a firework displaythe most spectacular in 30 years.

Tomorrow will see the police and army march across town in brand new Chinese-made uniforms, estimated to have cost the country $1.5 million.

Joining in the celebratory mood, Beijing also donated a medium-sized jet to Burundi. Rwandan President Paul Kagame will be one of the guests of honor at tomorrow’s parade. “We want these celebrations to really shine,” said a source at the Burundian presidency. “That’s why we have invit-

ed no fewer than 11 heads of state and government.”

The party will last throughout July, with the inauguration of schools, sports centers and clinics. Bujumbura has a $2 million budget for the celebrations funded by the state, individuals and friendly states. Zephirin Maniratanga, who heads the organizing committee at the presidency, hopes the ceremonies will beef up national reconciliation in a country that has lived through decades of massacres and civil war. “President Pierre Nkurunziza hopes the 50th anniversary is a time for us to come together and celebrate to reinforce national reconciliation,” he said. —AFP

Sudan agrees to allow aid in rebel-held border areas US, rebels warn of impending famine ADDIS ABABA: Sudan has agreed to allow humanitarian aid to civilians in rebel-controlled areas of two war-torn border states where aid groups have warned of an impending famine, the African Union and Sudanese state media said yesterday. Fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes since last year, the United Nations and aid groups say. The clashes broke out between government forces and rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) around the time South Sudan declared independence last year.

Aid groups and the United States and have said the fighting has reduced the usual harvests in the two states, which could face massive food shortages as stocks dwindle. The African Union, United Nations and the Arab

CAIRO: Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi addresses tens of thousands of Egyptians in Cairo— AFP

Morsi eyes ‘civilian state’ CAIRO: Mohamed Morsi, sworn in yesterday as Egypt’s first civilian and democratically elected president, is also the first Islamist head of state in the Arab world’s most populous nation. Formerly a leader of the power ful Muslim Brotherhood from which he stood down after being elected, Morsi has pledged that under his leadership Egypt will be inclusive. In a rousing speech on the eve of his inauguration to tens of thousands of jubilant supporters thronging the revolution hub of Tahrir Square, he was careful to reach out to the Christian minority of some 10 percent. He promised a “civilian state” in an address to “the free world, Arabs, Muslims... the Muslims of Egypt, Christians of Egypt.”

The retiring, bearded and bespectacled Morsi has vowed to uphold the goals of the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak last year and to share power with other parties. However, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has sought to defang the post by granting itself sweeping powers. On Friday a defiant Morsi, whose predecessors as president have all been generals, threw down the gauntlet to the SCAF. “You are the source of power and legitimacy... there is no place for anyone or any institution... above this will,” he said, addressing the people directly. “I renounce none of the prerogatives of president.”

Morsi became the Brotherhood’s candidate only after its first choice Khairat El-Shater was disqualified. He beat Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last premier, with 51.73 percent of the vote. Many had written Morsi off as an uncharismatic substitute, saying he would be unable to muster widespread support. But the powerful Brotherhood mobilized its formidable resources and supporters behind Morsi, who was appointed last year to head its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. He has pledged an inclusive presidential institution that “includes all forces, presidential candidates, women, Salafis and our Coptic brothers,” and to end “discrimination against any Egyptian based on religion, ethnicity or gender.”

Morsi, who quickly claimed victory hours after polling in the second round of the election closed on June 17, has long held that Egyptians would not vote for a symbol of the old regime.

“Egyptians will never bring back Mubarak through the window after they kicked him out of the door,” he had told reporters. During his election campaign, Morsi offered a fiery stump speech, promising a presidency that would be based on Islam but would not be a theocracy. Initially awkward, he appeared to gain confidence as campaigning progressed, growing more comfortable in his new role as a potential head of state as he gave interviews and made speeches.

Born in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, Morsi graduated with an engineering degree from Cairo University in 1975. He received a PhD from the University of Southern California, where he was an assistant professor, in 1982. He was a member of an anti-Israel group, the Committee to Resist Zionism, but dedicated much of his time to the Muslim Brotherhood, which first fielded him in a parliamentary election in 2000.

In a 2005 election, which gave the Brotherhood one fifth of the seats in parliament, he kept his seat. But he was soon arrested and jailed for seven months after taking part in protests supporting reformist judges.

By the 2010 election, Mursi had become a spokesman for the Islamists and a member of their politburo. He was jailed again on the morning of January 28, 2011, a day after the Brotherhood announced it would join the protests that would topple president Mubarak almost two weeks later. Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders arrested at the time served only a few days before being sprung from jail in massive prison breaks across the country. The Brotherhood believes in establishing an Islamic state gradually and through peaceful means, but Morsi’s focus has been mostly on issues affecting the majority of Egyptians since the revolt, such as the deteriorating economy. Morsi is married, with five children and three grandchildren.—AFP

League proposed a plan earlier this year to secure the delivery of aid to both states, but Sudan had rejected the proposal, saying it had the humanitarian situation under control.

Yesterday, the state-linked Sudanese Media Centre reported the government had accepted the proposal in order to “relieve the distressed conditions in which citizens live in the areas under SPLM-N control”.

The African Union welcomed the deal in a statement and said it was willing to contribute monitors and other personnel and urged “all those responsible to ensure that it is effectively and fully implemented without further delay”.

The conflict in the two states is rooted in decades of north-south civil war in Sudan. The civil war ended with a 2005 peace deal that paved the way for South Sudan to declare independence last July. But partition left tens

of thousands of fighters who had battled against Khartoum north of the border. The rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile say they are fighting to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and end what they see as the marginalization of minority groups.

Khartoum accuses the rebels of trying to sow chaos on behalf of their former comrades in Juba - an allegation South Sudan denies, but which has hindered talks between the two countries on unresolved issues related to the partition. Malik Agar, head of the rebel umbrella Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) which includes the insurgents in Blue Nile and South Kordofan said this month dozens of people were dying each day due to lack of food and medicine. Sudan’s acceptance comes two days after it adjourned peace talks with South Sudan until July 5.—Reuters

1,000 held, hundreds hurt in Sudan demos KHARTOUM: About 1,000 people were detained and hundreds injured—many by tear gas-during anti-regime protests in Sudan, an activist group said.

“Some were arrested and released,” said an official from the Organization for Defense of Rights and Freedoms. The organization’s figures indicate a dramatic rise in the number of arrests on Friday, the 14th day of antiregime demonstrations sparked by inflation. “The figure of those arrested before yesterday (Friday) was about 1,000 in the whole country,” said the official who asked not to be identified because of the tense situation.

Many are still being held in prisons or “ghost houses,” the location of which is unknown, he alleged. “ They don’t tell you where they are. You are not even allowed to ask,” he said. One of those detained is Sudanese journalist Talal Saad, who had brought some freelance photos of the protests to the AFP bureau in Khartoum on Friday. Armed national security agents raided the bureau, ordered AFP’s correspondent to delete the photos and took Saad away. He has been unreachable for more than 18 hours. The Organization for Defense of Rights and Freedoms said “a few hundred” people were injured during protests on Friday.

Many elderly people were affected by tear gas but other injuries came from rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, or beatings, the official said.

Activists had called for a major day of protest on Friday. In one key disturbance, witnesses said police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of peaceful protesters who had gathered in Hijra Square beside

KHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir addresses a working women’s state organization in Khartoum, few days after protesters hurled stones, burned tyres and blocked roads in the Sudanese capital. — AFP the mosque of the opposition Umma party in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman. Police said the crowd numbered in the thousands. One witness said demonstrators carried Sudanese flags and banners reading. “The people want the regime to fall,” a slogan used by protesters during the Arab Spring uprisings against regional strongmen over the past year. They burned tyres and threw stones at police before running for cover, the witness said.

Similar running battles between protesters and police took place elsewhere in Khartoum, the witness added.

International criticism of Sudan’s crackdown increased on Friday

with Canada’s top diplomat expressing concern. “We condemn the arrests of bloggers, journalists and political activists that have taken place over the last week and call for their immediate release,” Foreign Minister John Baird said. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has urged the government to avoid “heavy-handed suppression” of protests and to immediately release those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression. Britain and the United States have also sought the release of those detained for peaceful protest.

On June 30, 1989, Bashir seized power from democratical-

ly elected leader prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, who currently leads the Umma party. Bashir was declared winner of a multipar ty election in 2010, but observers from the European Union and the US-based Carter Centre said the ballot failed to reach international standards.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide allegedly committed in Sudan’s western region of Darfur. He has played down the demonstrations as small-scale and not comparable to the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere, maintaining that he himself remains popular.— AFP

Ruling AK Party moves to scrap coup trial courts

ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (center), sits during a meeting with his deputy Besir Atalay (right) and independent Kurdish lawmaker Leyla Zana from the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir yesterday. — AFP

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s ruling party is pushing through parliament a reform abolishing the special courts used in coup conspiracy cases against hundreds of military officers, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said yesterday.

“The proposal is ready and will be submitted today,” said Bozdag, of the Justice and Development Par ty (AK Par ty), state -run Anatolia agency reported. The change in regulation was expected to take place today. However, the reform is not expected to affect the ongoing trials of hundreds of people accused of links to coup plots or to Kurdish militants. Turkish media reported the trials would run their course before the courts were abolished.

During his decade in power, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has been at loggerheads with the staunchly secular military, which distrusted his Islamist past. The special authority courts, established by Erdogan’s government in 2005 to replace state security courts, have pursued cases against alleged anti-government plots within the secular establishment, including the military. Critics say the trials have spiraled out of control, with many defendants spending years in custody with no verdict in sight. Public support for the courts dwindled as fears grew that prosecutors were using their powers to stifle dissent.

Many of the hundreds of suspects rounded

up and held in lengthy pre-trial detention belonged to the military. Others included academics, journalists and social activists. Earlier this month, Erdogan noted the public disquiet about the courts. He criticized special prosecutors for acting as if they were “a different power within the state” and said the courts had been useful at times but also harmful. However, the dismantling of the courts is likely to face opposition from advocates of the trials, including followers of the influential Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who see them as an important part of Turkey’s democratization. They say the courts call to account anti-democratic forces that once dominated Turkey. — Reuters

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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

New mum challenges Iceland’s president in election REYKJAVIK: Icelanders began voting yesterday to elect a new president, with a 37-year-old mother with a newborn and no political experience challenging Olafur Ragnar Grimsson as he seeks a fifth straight term. Some 236,000 people are eligible to vote, with opinion polls in the final days of the campaign suggesting the 69-yearold Grimsson was headed for a comfortable victory. Thora Arnorsdottir, a respected 37-year-old journalist with no political affiliation who interrupted her campaign briefly in May to give birth to her third child, has called for a change after Grimsson’s 16 years in power.

She has vowed, if elected, to return the presidency to its largely ceremonial role, after Grimsson’s unusually political, and at times controversial, approach. “I think we have all felt a strong need for a change in this country,” she said recently, describing herself as a consensus-builder.

Arnorsdottir, a striking blonde with piercing blue eyes, is seen as a fresh face at a time when many Icelanders clamor for a new breed of politicians to clean out the ranks following the country’s devastating economic crash

in 2008.

She decided to run after reading an official report on the crash and found

REYKJAVIK: Iceland presidential candidate Thora Arnorsdottir walks alongside her husband and children as she arrives to vote at a polling station in Reykjavik yesterday. — AFP that, especially when it came to “ethics and our political system, ... nothing had really changed.” Grimsson, a

EU ends police mission in Bosnia after a decade SARAJEVO: A European Union police mission in Bosnia ended yesterday after a decade of training local police forces and overseeing law enforcement agencies that were rebuilt almost from scratch after the 1992-95 war. The pullout of some 130 European Union Police Mission (EUPM) officials came as the small Balkan country is hoping to apply for EU membership this year.

Bosnia, which is lagging behind its west Balkan neighbors in the queue for EU membership, will have to show Brussels that its law enforcement officials are now capable of fighting widespread corruption and organized crime.

The EUPM, the first police mission set up by the EU, was deployed in 2003 and it initially comprised some 500 police officials in charge of training local police and monitoring law enforcement agencies. Over the years, the mission has been reduced to about 130 officials. The operation, replacing a United Nations police mission, was seen as a litmus test for the EU’s com-

mon defense policy. “We leave behind a system of police organizations and institutions in the criminal justice that have achieved a level of professionalism in providing security and the rule of law that makes them prepared for what is coming now,” said EUPM head Stefan Feller.

Bosnia is still struggling to build a viable state from the wreckage of the war. An international envoy and a peacekeeping force remain in place in the country, which since the war ended has been split into two autonomous regions. Bosnia’s progress toward EU accession talks remains hamstrung by rivalry between its Serb, Croat and Muslim communities, which took 16 months to agree on a central government after an election in October 2010.

Feller said some of the EUPM functions would be handed over to a new unit of the EU delegation in Bosnia, with Special Representative Peter Sorensen serving as mediator between local law enforcement agencies and EU counterparts.— Reuters

WikiLeaks founder faces tough choice WASHINGTON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faced a “difficult choice” in defying a British police order for extradition to Sweden, one of his lawyers said yesterday.

Assange was confronted with risks no matter which path he took and is gambling that Ecuador will look sympathetically at his request for political asylum, said Michael Ratner, a human rights attorney who is on Assange’s legal defense team.

The 40-year-old Australian refused to comply with a British police order to turn himself in for extradition to Sweden and instead walked into the Ecuadoran embassy in London on June 19, asking for asylum.

“He had two very difficult choices. I think he would go to Sweden immediately if he got assurances from the United States that there was not going to be a prosecution,” Ratner said. But the US government would have to provide a clear guarantee with no “minced words,” he said. The United States has said it has no role in the extradition dispute. Assange faces questioning in Sweden over sexual assault allegations but he denies the allegations and insists it is part of a politically-motivated effort to get him extradited to the United States, where he fears he could be put on trial for espionage or other crimes. Confronted with the option of being transferred to a Swedish prison without the possibility of seeking political asylum, Assange made an understandable decision, Ratner said.

“Neither (option) is very palatable,” said Ratner, president emeritus of the Center of Constitutional Rights who has represented detainees at the US-run prison at

socialist, says his political savvy is needed as Iceland, which is recovering rapidly from its crash and already

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “He made a very difficult choice for himself.” Assange’s concerns that he could be prosecuted in a US court for serious crimes were well-founded, given details that have emerged about a grand jury investigation, public warnings from top US officials and reported questioning of WikiLeaks associates, according to Ratner. US officials have refrained from making strident public comments about Assange in recent months, he said.

“I think they’re quiet now because there’s a grand jury or an indictment and they don’t want to prejudice any ultimate trial. That would be my best guess.”

Ratner said Assange could face difficult conditions in any “pre-trial confinement” in the United States, similar to those imposed on Army private Bradley Manning, charged with handing over a trove of secret files to Assange’s WikiLeaks website. WikiLeaks enraged Washington by publishing a flood of secret information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as more than 250,000 confidential US diplomatic cables.

His supporters paint him as a whistle-blowing hero but his critics denounce him as a traitorous anarchist.

His defense lawyer expressed cautious optimism that Ecuador would approve Assange’s request for asylum. “I’m very hopeful about it, I’ll put it that way. They have the ability and the president and the country have the guts to stand up to the United States,” said Ratner, citing Ecuador’s decision to close a US military base in 2008.

He added: “Of all the countries that would be one of the most favorable (to Assange’s request), it would be Ecuador.” —AFP

LONDON: Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gather outside the Ecuador Embassy, London on Friday, June 29, 2012. Assange had entered the embassy in an attempt to gain political asylum to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes, which he denies.— AP

returned to growth, tackles thorny EU membership talks and an October referendum on a new constitution.

“Iceland is now at a crossroads. Behind us are difficult years. Ahead are decisions on the constitution and our relationship with other countries in Europe,” the silver-haired president wrote in an article published in daily Morgunbladid on voting day.

“There is still turbulence in the continent’s economy and in many areas ...

The president ... shall assist the country in tackling the biggest issues; they will determine the fate of Icelanders for decades,” he wrote. Grimsson is, like a majority of Icelanders, opposed to EU membership for fear the North Atlantic nation will lose its sovereignty.

The left-wing government applied however to join the bloc in 2009 after the financial and economic crash that saw Iceland’s three biggest banks collapse and required a $2.1 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Grimsson was subsequently heavily criticized for befriending bankers during the boom years and hailing their entrepreneurial spirit, and was ridiculed for supporting what turned out to be a bubble that burst. But he vindicated himself in the eyes of the public with his refusal, twice, to sign a

bill to use taxpayers’ money to compensate Britain and the Netherlands for the 2008 collapse of online bank Icesave. While allowed to do so by the constitution, no president had exercised that right until Grimsson did so in 2004 over a controversial media law.

That has prompted debate in the election campaign on what sort of president Icelanders now want.

Arnorsdottir led in the polls initially, after Grimsson announced in January that he would not stand for re-election. But after a petition gathered more than 30,000 signatures-about a tenth of the population-urging him to reconsider, he announced in March he would stand after all, and has since then led in the public opinion. A former university professor who was first elected president in August 1996, Grimsson has served four four-year terms, but has to date only won two presidential elections: in both 2000 and 2008 he was the only candidate and was granted a new term without a vote. Polling booths opened at 9:00 am (0900 GMT) and were to close at 10:00 pm (2200 GMT ), and the first results were expected about an hour later.—AFP

Mali Islamists destroy Timbuktu’s holy sites Attacks come days after UNESCO danger warning BAMAKO: Al Qaeda-linked Mali Islamists armed with Kalashnikovs and pick-axes began destroying prized mausoleums of saints in the UNESCOlisted northern city of Timbuktu yesterday in front of shocked locals, witnesses said. The Islamist Ansar Dine group backs strict sharia, Islamic law, and considers the shrines of the local Sufi version of Islam idolatrous. Sufi shrines have also been attacked by hardline Salafists in Egypt and Libya in the past year.

The attack came just days after UNESCO placed Timbuktu on its list of heritage sites in danger and will recall the 2001 dynamiting by the Taliban of two 6th-century statues of Buddha carved into a cliff in Bamiyan in central Afghanistan. “They have already completely destroyed the mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud (Ben Amar) and two others. They said they would continue all day and destroy all 16,” local Malian journalist Yeya Tandina said by telephone of the 16 most prized resting grounds of local saints in the town. “They are armed and have surrounded the sites with pick-up trucks. The population is just looking on helplessly,” he said, adding that the Islamists were currently taking pick-axes to the mausoleum of Sidi El Mokhtar, another cherished local saint.

Ansar Dine has gained the upper hand over less well-armed Tuareg-led separatists since the two joined forces to rout government troops and seize control in April of the northern two-thirds of the West African state. “The mausoleum doesn’t exist any more and the cemetery is as bare as a soccer pitch,” local teacher Abdoulaye Boulahi said of the

ANSAR DINE: Photo shows Islamists rebels of Ansar Dine near Timbuktu, in rebel-held northern Mali. — AFP Mahmoud burial place. “There’s about 30 of them breaking everything up with pick-axes and hoes.

They’ve put their Kalashnikovs down by their side. These are shocking scenes for the people in Timbuktu.”

UNESCO APPEAL Local Timbuktu member of parliament Sandy Haidara also confirmed the attacks were taking place, adding: “It looks as if it is a direct reaction to the UNESCO decision.” Located on an old Saharan trading route that saw salt from the Arab north

exchanged for gold and slaves from black Africa to the south, Timbuktu blossomed in a 16thcentury Golden Age as an Islamic seat of learning, home to priests, scribes and jurists. Mali had in recent years sought to create a desert tourism industry around Timbuktu but even before April’s rebellion many tourists were being discouraged by a spate of kidnappings of Westerners in the region claimed by Al-Qaedalinked groups. UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee said this week it had accepted the request of the Malian government to place

Timbuktu on its list of endangered heritage sites. “The Committee ... also asked Mali’s neighbors to do all in their power to prevent the trafficking in cultural objects from these sites,” it said of the risk of looting. The rebel seizure of the north came as the remote southern capital, Bamako, was struggling with the aftermath of a March 22 coup. Mali’s neighbors are seeking UN backing for a military intervention to stabilize the country but Security Council members say they need more details on the mission being planned.— Reuters

Panetta urges US Congress to block new defense cuts Threat of cuts worries military families, workers WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has urged Congress to act soon to stop a new round of defense budget reductions next year, saying the threat of $500 billion more in cuts leaves military families and defense workers under a cloud of uncertainty. “Congress can’t keep kicking the can down the road or avoiding dealing with the debt and deficit problems that we face,” Panetta told a news conference. “The men and women of this department and their families need to know with certainty that we will meet our commitments to them and to their families.”

Panetta’s remarks come at a time of renewed focus on the looming across-the-board defense cuts, which would be carried out under a process known as “sequestration.” Industry officials met with House Democrats to discuss the cuts on Thursday and held talks with Panetta at the Pentagon on Tuesday. Senator Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Ser vices Committee, said this month that several different groups of lawmakers were holding talks on how to deal with the threat of sequestration.

Some lawmakers are pushing to delay the cuts by up to a year, well beyond the November election.

Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Friday accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, of

blocking efforts to halt the new round of cuts due to go into force on Jan. 2. They urged him to “put forward your own plan or stop obstructing plans others have already offered.” “Further cuts to the military don’t affect some faceless bureaucracy,” Republicans from the House Armed Services Committee said in a letter to Reid. “The White House has determined that sequestration will arbitrarily gut the funding to our troops who are putting their lives on the line.”

The Pentagon has said that unless Congress acts to change the law, it will have to implement the cuts on Jan. 2 by slashing all programs by the percentage needed to bring about the required spending reduction, regardless of strategic need. The potential new budget cuts come at a time when the Defense Department is already reducing projected spending by $487 billion over 10 years as required by the Budget Control Act passed by Congress last year. The act was an attempt to curb the government’s trillion-dollar deficits.

The cuts under sequestration were included in the act as part of an effort to encourage Republican and Democratic lawmakers to reach an alternative deal to cut spending by more than $1 trillion. But they failed to achieve a compromise and now the cuts are due to go into force.

Panetta and senior military commanders have warned that a new round of spending reduc-

tions under sequestration would be devastating to the military and would force the Pentagon to abandon the new strategy adopted in January as part of the budgeting process. But some analysts point out that the cuts being implemented come after a decade of rising defense spending and are far smaller proportionally than during previous military drawdowns. They predict defense spending eventually will be reduced by several hundred billion dollars more, with or without sequestration.

Industry leaders who met with Panetta this week warned that the Pentagon could face billions of dollars in contract termination fees and other costs when the new cuts go into force next year. Panetta said the industry executives shared many of the Pentagons fears about the cuts. “They’re very concerned about the impact that it will have on their companies and on their employees,” Panetta told the news conference. He noted that company executives faced legal requirements to notify their employees about possible terminations, letters that would have to go out just days before the November elections. “Both the companies as well as the Defenses Department are making very clear to Capitol Hill that this is a matter that ought not to be postponed, that it ought to be dealt with soon so that sequester ... will not happen,” Panetta said.—Reuters

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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

Suicide by poison suspected in Arizona court death PHOENIX: As the word “guilty” filled the silence of a Phoenix courtroom, defendant Michael Marin closed his eyes, put his head in his hands and appeared to put something in his mouth. He then took a swig from a sports bottle. Minutes later, the 53-year-old Marin was dead. Now investigators are tr ying to confirm their suspicion that Marin popped a poison pill after the jury found him guilty of arson, a bizarre ending to a case that began in 2009 when he emerged from his burning mansion in scuba gear.

Prosecutors said he torched his home when he couldn’t keep up with the payments. Marin, an attorney and father of four, faced seven to 21 years in prison. “This is one of the strangest cases I’ve seen in a long time,” said Jeff Sprong, a spokesman with the Maricopa County sheriff’s office. “We’re hoping to find out exactly what he was thinking and exactly what he took.” Detectives will get the liquid from the sports drink tested for poisons. An autopsy was being conducted Friday to determine if any poison was in Marin’s system, but results weren’t expected to be released for months.

Marin’s four grown children, who live in Arizona,

did not return requests for comment, nor did his attorney, Andrew Clemency, or prosecutor Chris Rapp Marin, a former Wall Street trader, had summited Everest and wrote on his Facebook page that he had scaled six of the world’s seven tallest mountains. He also was an art collector who had original Picassos. Prosecutors painted him as a desperate man who had $50 in his bank account in July 2009, down from $900,000 a year earlier. He also had a monthly mortgage payment on the mansion of $17,250 and an upcoming balloon payment of $2.3 million.

Marin also owed $2,500 a month on a different home and owed $34,000 in taxes, prosecutors said.

On July 5, 2009, Marin told investigators that he escaped a blaze in his 10,000-sqaure-foot mansion in a posh part of Phoenix using a rope ladder and wearing scuba gear to avoid inhaling smoke. Fire investigators later determined that the blaze was intentionally set. As Marin was led off to jail, he told repor ters that he was innocent and “utterly shocked” that he was being arrested. On Thursday, a jury found Marin guilty of a felony count of arson of an occupied structure.

After the verdict, he appeared to put something in his mouth, according to video footage. Soon after, a bright-red Marin coughed, reached for a tissue, buried his face in his hands and appeared to sob, The Arizona Republic reported. Marin then began making noises that sounded like snores and whoops as he began convulsing and fell on the floor face -first, according to the newspaper.

Sprong, the sheriff’s spokesman, said an investigator in the courtroom tried to resuscitate Marin. He was pronounced dead soon after at a hospital.

Sprong said the department planned to interview his family and search his home. Records show that other defendants found guilty of arson of an occupied structure, on top of other serious charges and when other people’s lives were at risk, have received more lenient sentences than the one Marin faced.

For instance, a Phoenix man was sentenced to 10 years in prison and three years’ probation after being convicted on charges that included arson of an occupied structure. Prosecutors said he endangered 12 people, including six children. Franklin Zimring, a law professor at the University of

California, Berkeley, who specializes in criminal sanctions, said a sentence up to 21 years in prison seemed overly long in Marin’s case. “What makes the potential sentence both seem quite long and seem, in some sense, inappropriate is that the life that was put at risk was that of the offender,” he said. Zimring said Marin likely would have been eligible for a shorter sentence had he agreed to a plea deal.

Jerry Cobb, a spokesman for the Maricopa County attorney’s office, said talks about a plea deal had broken down and the case moved to trial.

He could not say which side was more responsible for the breakdown. Cobb said that after Marin was convicted, prosecutors would have sought a harsher sentence for him, anywhere between 10 1/2 and 21 years in prison. Among Marin’s last posts on Facebook, in November 2009, was a photo of his four children that said there was something more important to him than his Everest conquest. “More than anything else I may have accomplished in this life, this is what really matters to me: the blessing of knowing the amazing individuals I am privileged to call my children,” he wrote.— AP

Dangerous heat smothers eastern and southern US Heat-related deaths suspected in Arkansas, Missouri

WASHINGTON: People refresh themselves at the WWII memorial in Washington, DC, where temperatures have reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking a record high of 101 set almost 80 years ago.— AFP

‘Nuns on the Bus’ take US by storm HARRISBURG: Signing autographs along the way, a group of Catholic nuns is taking a road trip across America to stand up for the poor. The media-savvy “Nuns on the Bus” tour kicked off in the midwestern state of Iowa on June 17 and is making a slew of stops around the country to convey concern about social injustice. “Our bus is about a policy conversation ... to say we the people of the United States, we can be a better union,” organizer Simone Campbell said during a stop in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where the sister on Thursday hailed a historic US Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.

The idea for the trip, sponsored by the Catholic lobbying group Network headed

by Campbell, came about in May after the Vatican released a report that charged the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which represents most US nuns, of

“radical feminism” and not focusing enough on fighting gay marriage. Network, which did not back Catholic bishops in their opposition to Obama’s healthcare law, was taken to task by the Vatican for its links to LCWR. “It was like a punch in the stomach,” said Campbell, who was greeted with warm applause and autograph requests as she arrived in Harrisburg.

Describing herself as a strong woman and lawyer, Campbell, who is the executive director of Network, laughed off the notion that she was radical.

“It doesn’t seem radical to me, it’s not who I am-I am just a woman who cares passionately about people in poverty, that’s it,” she said. Following the Vatican’s rebuke, the sisters decided to ride the wave of media attention and draw attention to their cause.

When someone brought up the idea for a bus tour, they seized the opportunity and within 10 days had raised $150,000 for the cause. — AFP

NASHVILLE: Temperatures in the triple digits were causing misery in the eastern and southern United States on Friday, with the country music capital of Nashville, Tennessee recording an alltime record of 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Marked in pink on a Weather Underground map of the United States, a heat advisory spread like a rash over a third of the country, from Nebraska east to New York and south to Florida.

A heat advisory is typically issued when the heat index - a combination of temperature and humidity - exceeds 100 degrees and there is a risk of people and animals suffering heat exhaustion. As of mid-afternoon, the mercury had hit 105 F (41 C) in Baltimore, Maryland, 108 F (42 C) in Petersburg, Virginia and 107 F (42 C) in Columbia, South Carolina, according to Accuweather.com senior meteorologist John Dlugoenski. “We expect records to be broken from the mid-Atlantic down through the Carolinas,” Dlugoenski said.

Friday’s heat had spread east from the south central plains and Mid-Mississippi states, where temperatures continued to meet or break records Friday. Many areas of the country have received no break from days of high temperatures and little rain, which have contributed to deadly and destructive fires in Colorado. The heat itself has proved deadly. Earlier in the week, a 39-year-old construction worker died at the University of Arkansas. In Kansas City, Missouri, where the temperature rose to 105 F (41 C) Thursday, city health officials said two deaths were being investigated to determine if they were heat-related.

Chicago, where a thunderstorm tamped down temperatures, got some relief from temperatures which hit 100 F (38 C) Thursday. A strike by electrical workers could add to New Yorkers’ misery. Union workers at the power company Con Edison could go on strike at midnight Saturday, when a collective bargaining agreement expires, which could leave the company shorthanded to deal with power outages as residents crank up air conditioning. The weather is expected to stay hot through the weekend in the same areas of the country, according to Dlugoenski. “The areas of high pressure are going to break down just a little bit as we head into the first part of next week,” he said. “It will still be hot, but I think the record warmth will be more erratic.”

STAYING OFF THE STREETS In Washington, DC, where the mercur y reached 103 F (39 C) at Reagan National Airport at mid-afternoon, vendors of soft drinks and bottled water complained the heat and wilting humidity were keeping people inside and cutting into sales. “This is kind of slow, for real.

People aren’t spending like they used to,” said vendor James Hardy, wiping sweat from his face as lines of tourists passed his spot across the street from the National Museum of American History. “I can’t drink any more water,” said one man as he walked by, his T-shirt wet with sweat. Catherine Dee, 18, of Pomfret, Connecticut, stopped with friend Alana Cotto, 16, of Sandwich, Massachusetts, to buy water from a vending truck outside the museum.

“We just went to the aquarium, we thought that being around fish would cool us down for a while,” said Dee, a student. “It did, and we came out and we were swamped from the heat.

We weren’t expecting it to be this hot.” In Missouri, Governor Jay Nixon ordered the activation of the State Emergency Operations

Center in response to fires and the prolonged period of heat and drought. About 550 acres of the Mark Twain National Forest already have burned. In Tennessee, the temperature in Nashville on Friday reached 109 degrees, smashing an all-time record high for the city of 107 degrees, reached on July 27 and July 28, 1952.

The heat is bad for business, according to John Summers, who pilots biplane tours over the Nashville area. Friday he moved one appointment to early in the day and postponed two other tour flights that were scheduled for around midday. “It would have been uncomfortable flying around in an open-cockpit biplane,” said Summers. “I’m not getting the phone calls I’d normally be getting. It’s just too hot. The tourists are not going to do outside activities.” The entire state of Arkansas is in a drought, and many fireworks displays had been canceled for the week of the July 4 for fear of fire. Agriculture experts said cattle, fish and chickens through the state have died as a result of the heat.— Reuters

COLORADO SPRINGS: Destroyed homes sit beside a home left untouched by fire in a neighborhood affected by the Waldo Canyon fire yesterday in Colorado. — AFP

GOP plots 2013 strategy on health care

WASHINGTON: An uprooted tree block a street in the American University neighborhood of Washington yesterday after a violent storm swept through the area. — AFP

Violent storm leaves 2 dead in Eastern US VIRGINIA: Violent evening storms following a day of triple-digit temperatures wiped out power to more than 2 million people across the United States and caused two fatalities in Virginia - including a 90-year-old woman asleep in bed when a tree slammed into her home, a police spokeswoman said yesterday.

Widespread power outages were reported from Indiana to New Jersey, with the bulk of the service interruptions concentrated on Washington, DC, and the surrounding areas.

Earlier Friday, the nation’s capital reached 104 degrees - topping a record of 101 set in 1934.

More than 20 elderly residents at an apartment home in Indianapolis were displaced when the facility lost power due to a downed tree. Most were bused to a Red Cross facility to spend the night, and others who depend on oxygen assistance were given other accommodations, the fire department said.

The storms, sometimes packing 70 mph winds, toppled three tractor trailers on Interstate 75 near Findlay, Ohio. Fallen trees were blamed on both deaths in Springfield, Va - the 90-year-old woman in her home and a man driving a car, Fairfax County police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings said.

In addition, a park police officer was injured by an uprooted tree in the northern

Virginia county, and an 18-year-old man was struck by a power line, Jennings said. He was in stable condition after receiving CPR, she said. “Our officers and firefighters are out there with power saws, trying to clear the streets,” Jennings said. West Virginia Gov Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency after more than 500,000 customers in 27 counties were left without electricity. At least four utility poles fell on a road in Columbus, Ohio, making it too dangerous for people in four cars to get out, police said. One person was taken to a hospital. As of 1 am yesterday, Pepco was reporting 406,000 outages in the District of Columbia and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, Md. “We have more than half our system down,” said Pepco spokeswoman Myra Oppel.

“This is definitely going to be a multi-day outage.” In the Washington, DC, area, the Metrorail subway trains were returned to their endpoints due to the storms and related damage, officials said. “It has had a widespread effect on the region,” Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said early Saturday.

He said about 17 train stations were operating on backup power due to local power outages, but that he didn’t anticipate service being disrupted today.—AP

WASHINGTON: Turned away at the Supreme Cour t, congressional Republicans sketched a strategy yesterday to repeal the nation’s health care law in 2013 that requires a sweeping election victory carrying Mitt Romney to the presidency and the party at least to narrow control of the Senate. Romney sought to turn the court’s decision upholding the two-year-old law into a campaign battle cry, saying the 5-4 ruling had injected “greater urgency” into his challenge to President Barack Obama. “I think many people assumed that the Supreme Court would do the work that was necessary in repealing Obamacare,” he said, adding that the justices “did not get that job done.”

Several Republicans seized on a por tion of Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion that said the centerpiece of the law, a requirement to purchase insurance, was constitutional because it is based on Congress’ power to impose a tax. “Those who will end up paying the heaviest burden for not buying government-mandated insurance won’t be the wealthiest Americans, but the ver y middle class families the president claims to defend,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The White House said that was an argument it was happy to have.

Presidential press secretar y Jay Carney said Obama has signed legislation cutting middle class taxes repeatedly, that Republicans want to extend existing income tax cuts for the wealthy and then add “another $5 trillion...that would dis-

proportionately benefit” the same group. At the same time, the administration announced the latest in a series to steps to implement a law that already has curbed insurance company abuses and cut costs for seniors with high prescription drug costs. Officials said another round of financing was available for states to set up health insurance exchanges, the one-stop markets for consumers scheduled to open in 2014.

Polls find Obama and Romney in a close race four months before the election, with the economy the nation’s overriding issue. The battle for control of the Senate is also uncertain, and one day after the court’s ruling, the principal fallout was political. Romney, Obama and congressional candidates in both par ties raised campaign money from the ruling, in which Roberts unexpectedly joined four more liberal justices to uphold the law’s core component - a requirement that nearly all Americans purchase health insurance beginning in 2014.

The Republican- controlled House is planning to vote in a little more than a week to repeal the law.

But that is a symbolic vote, designed to show faith with opponents of what the GOP scornfully calls “Obamacare.” Party officials also hope to force some Democrats into a difficult vote on legislation that has never been popular with the public. The repeal measure is doomed in the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority.

Recognizing as much, Republicans were turning their attention to 2013 as their next realistic opportunity to erase legislation that they say gives

government control of health at the same time it raises taxes, cuts Medicare and swells deficits. “One thing is clear: we need the majority in the Senate,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky wrote in a fundraising email to supporters. “Every path to repeal depends on it.” A 60-vote majority is normally required to overcome adamant opposition to legislation in the Senate, but under limited circumstances, a mere majority can suffice. Democrats took advantage of that when they pushed the health care law to passage in 2010 when they controlled 59 seats. Sen Jon Kyl, R-Ariz, told reporters, “I think with a ... majority in the Senate, Republicans could do the same things.” The GOP currently has 47 seats in the 100-member Senate, and needs to gain three for effective control if Romney wins the presidential election. Any repeal scenario also assumes the Republicans maintain their House majority in the fall.

A little more than 24 hours after the ruling, Obama, Romney and congressional leaders quickly adjusted.

One effect of the decision was to make Romney’s election essential for tea party-aligned voters who fought his nomination in winter and spring but now need him in the White House if there is to be any real hope of repeal. In a fundraising pitch, the Tea Party Patriots addressed both Romney and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio., asserting “the American people are putting you on notice. We will not rest until this law is overturned.” The court’s decision also injected the health care issue

into congressional races.

Crossroads GPS, an independent group aligned with Republicans, introduced an ad in North Dakota noting that Democratic senatorial candidate Heidi Heitkamp “endorsed Obamacare.” The commercial says the law raises taxes, cuts Medicare and gives federal bureaucrats “the power to restrict seniors’ care.” It encourages viewers to lobby her to swing behind the repeal effor t.

Heitkamp’s opponent, Republican Rep. Rick Berg, favors repealing the legislation, although a spokesman said the lawmaker supports existing provisions that guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions, reduce prescription drug expenses for seniors and raise federal payments in North Dakota and other rural states for doctors and other Medicare health care providers.

The spokesman, Chris Pack, said he didn’t have any information how the provisions could be left in place between the time the current law was repealed and a new one was enacted. It’s a question Democrats raised repeatedly in recent days as they tried to position themselves politically for an anticipated defeat at the Supreme Court that didn’t come. Republican candidates ran on a slogan of “‘repeal and replace” in 2010, when they won control of the House and gained seats in the Senate. But they have yet to outline details for replacement legislation, and even before the court’s ruling, GOP officials said they had no plans to do so until after the election or perhaps 2013. Nor has Romney detailed what he would like to see included in a substitute law.— AP

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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

Bangladeshi Hindu women fight for divorce rights DHAKA: Unlike her Muslim compatriots, Tarulata Rani is unable to inherit anything from her family, cannot divorce and cannot claim maintenance from her absent husband-all because she is a Bangladeshi Hindu. Unlike Bangladeshi Muslims or Hindus in neighboring India and Nepal,

Bangladeshi Hindu women can’t divorce as the legal provisions do not exist and their marriages have not been allowed to be officially registered. “Is it a crime to be born a Hindu girl?” Rani, 22, who was married two years ago said. “I can’t inherit any property. I can’t divorce my husband and remarry even

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi couple performs wedding rituals according to Hindu traditions at the Dhakeshwari Temple in Dhaka, Bangladesh. — AFP

New PM defends Zardari immunity ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s new prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf defended yesterday President Asif Ali Zaradri’s immunity, saying it would end the day after he leaves office. His comments come after Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the new prime minister two weeks to indicate whether he would ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against the president. The issue has caused removal of Ashraf’s predecessor Yousuf Raza Gilani from office as prime minister on June 19 after the court convicted him of contempt in April for refusing to reopen the multi-million-dollar cases.

“He (Asif Ali Zardari) is the democratic elected President of Pakistan and as per law he enjoys the immunity as long as he holds the office,” Ashraf told reporters in the eastern city Lahore. When the new prime minister was asked what the government’s stance would be at the next Supreme Court hearing on July 12, Ashraf reiterated the presidential immunity. “All the legal experts have given us the same opinion... So we will see the matter from the same angle,” he said.

Analysts say the latest notice by the Supreme Court indicates the judiciary is unwilling to end a showdown with the government that could force elections before February 2013, when the administration would become the first in Pakistan to complete a full five-year mandate. The allegations against Zardari date from the 1990s when he and his late wife, ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, are suspected of using Swiss accounts to launder $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs inspection contracts. The Swiss shelved the case in 2008 when Zardari became president. But in 2009 the Supreme Court overturned a political amnesty that had frozen investigations into the president and other politicians, ordering that the cases be reopened. — AFP

Stop ‘harassing’ Sri Lanka media COLOMBO: An international rights group yesterday called on Sri Lanka to stop “harassing” media organizations, a day after police shut down opposition news websites and arrested nine workers. The New Yorkbased Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Friday’s crackdown against two websites linked to the island’s main opposition signaled that Colombo did not tolerate dissent. “Friday’s raid shows that President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government remains determined to silence opposition voices,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities should heed the many public appeals urging them to reverse this years-long policy of quashing media criticism of the government and military. The CPJ calls on Sri Lanka to immediately stop harassing news outlets.”

An opposition spokesman said the nine of the websites’ employees were detained by police overnight and told they were being held on suspicion of a “conspiracy against the government.” They were released on bail on Saturday, a court official said.

Seven local media groups, including the Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association, also condemned the closure of the Sri Lanka Mirror (web address: srilankamirror.com) and Sri Lanka X News (srilankaxnews.com). “The government action in using its security apparatus to crack down against the websites shows there is no media freedom in the country and there is no scope for independent journalism,” the groups’ statement said.

The two websites shut down have been highly critical of Rajapakse’s government. The government is already facing international censure over its human rights record and a string of unsolved murders of journalists and attacks on independent media. “The criminal investigations department sealed the offices of two websites carrying false and vulgar reports,” the government said on Friday. “People responsible for feeding information to the Internet through this office are being investigated,” it added, without giving details. Rights groups and employees said the Sri Lanka X News was the official news organ of the opposition United National Party (UNP), while the other website was closely linked to the UNP. They both shared the same office in Colombo.

Sri Lanka’s defense ministry said the website offices were raided and shut down after officials obtained a court order to conduct searches and seize computers.

The latest police crackdown comes three months after the defense ministry ordered all mobile phone operators to clear any security-related news reports before issuing them as SMS alerts. Sri Lanka lifted a state of emergency last year, but media rights groups have said journalists have been forced to self-censor their work amid fear of physical attacks. Some 17 journalists and media employees have been killed in Sri Lanka in the past decade, pro-opposition websites have been blocked and media organizations opposing government views have been attacked, according to rights groups.— AFP

though he left me for another woman and beat me all the time.”

Last month Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved a new law that will introduce official marriage registration for Hindus in Muslim-majority Bangladesh in a move designed to protect the rights of women like Rani. The legislation, expected to be passed shortly in parliament, has been welcomed by civil rights activists and many Hindu women. But critics say it is a token gesture that does not go far enough amid opposition from the religion’s hardliners, who see it as unnecessary political interference in their cultural traditions.

Bangladesh has a secular legal system except in matters related to inheritance, marriage and divorce, when Muslims follow sharia law and Hindus follow laws based on ancient un-codified customs. Under the new law, Hindus-who make up 10 percent of the country’s 152 million population-will be able to register their marriages with local councils or courts for the first time. “At the moment, when a Hindu man walks out on a marriage, the wife can’t sue him for alimony or maintenance because lack of marriage papers make it almost impossible to prove that they were married at all,” said lawyer Nina Goswami.

“Tens of thousands of Hindu men keep multiple wives, knowing that they can’t be

prosecuted,” added Goswami, who is director of the respected rights group, Ain O Salish Kendra. Goswami, herself a Hindu, has seen how lack of rights have driven many Hindu women to “unwanted jobs and extreme poverty” after they were dumped by their husbands. ‘These women don’t exist’-However she believes that the government’s new laws are only a token gesture to placate mainstream Hindu women without angering Hindu men, who generally vote for the Awami League, the current ruling party.

“Unfortunately, these women don’t exist in the government’s eyes and ears,” she said. “To our politicians, the Hindu community is a big vote-bank, made up of only males.” The government rejects such criticism and says that it is hamstrung by hardline Hindu activists who oppose changes to the law. Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said the new legislation would cut down on polygamy, which is increasing among the Hindu males, and ensure maintenance rights for women whose partners have left them. “We couldn’t reform Hindu personal laws further because of opposition by Hindu groups including some of their most educated people. Hardliners did not even want registration of their marriages,” Ahmed said.

Radical Hindu activists say they reject

any reforms that go against their scriptures or traditions, saying divorce could threaten the basic foundation of the Hindu family.

“We don’t mind optional registration because Hindu couples sometimes need the marriage certificate when they travel,” said Hiren Biswas, the president of the Samaj Sangskar Parishad group. “But we won’t accept mandatory registration, or divorce and inheritance rights to women because our scriptures and customs don’t allow them,” he said, alleging the new law was a conspiracy hatched by foreign-funded charities.

Muslim women in Bangladesh can divorce and seek damages for break-ups or sue their partners thanks to decades of legal activism by women and rights groups. But Bangladeshi Hindus, who have suffered widespread persecution and religious discrimination since partition of the subcontinent in 1947, were bypassed by the new rights. Despite the new laws, Hindu women face a long struggle as their community is split on whether women’s issues are the best battlefield to fight for wider equality.

For leading reforme-nsrs like Supreme Court lawyer Subrata Chowdhury, himself a Hindu, the battle must now move on. “Persecution

by Muslims, forcible conversion, eviction from land and stealing of our properties are more important now,” he said. — AFP

Some Taleban at Gitmo could go to Afghanistan Obama administration mulls new gambit WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is considering a new gambit to restart peace talks with the Taleban in Afghanistan that would send several Taleban detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a prison in Afghanistan, US and Afghan officials said.

Under the proposal, some Taleban fighters or affiliates captured in the early days of the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan and later sent to Guantanamo under the label of enemy combatants would be transferred out of full US control but not released.

It’s a leap of faith on the US side that the men will not become threats to US forces once back on Afghan soil. But it is meant to show more moderate elements of the Taleban insurgency that the US is still interested in cutting a deal for peace.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and others have said that while negotiations with the Taleban are distasteful, they are the best way to settle the prolonged war.

The new compromise is intended to boost the credibility of the US-backed Afghan government. President Hamid Karzai and US officials are trying to draw the Taleban back to negotiations toward a peace deal between the national Afghan government and the Pashtun-based insurgency that would end a war US commanders have said cannot be won with military power alone. The Taleban have always been indifferent at best to negotiations with the Karzai government, saying the US holds effective control in Afghanistan. The Obama administration has set a 2014 deadline to withdraw forces, and is trying to frame talks among the Afghans beforehand.

Under the new proposal, Guantanamo prisoners would go to a detention facility adjacent to Bagram air field, the largest US military base in Afghanistan, officials of both governments said. The prison is inside the security perimeter established by the US military, and is effectively under US control for now. It is scheduled for transfer to full Afghan control in September. Defense Secretar y Leon Panetta would have to sign off on the transfer and certify that the men did not pose a danger. He would not confirm details of the new proposal at a news conference Friday, but said discussions continue to try to promote a peace deal. “Any prisoner exchanges I have to certify are going to abide by the law,” Panetta said.

Any such transfer is unlikely to include the five most senior Taleban figures held at Guantanamo, the subjects of separate negotiations with the Taleban that have stalled, a senior US official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the transfer is still under discussion and no offer has been made. Afghan officials and other diplomats said it is not yet clear whether the new proposal could include those five, but said it has not been ruled out. Republicans in Congress bitterly opposed the plan to send those men to house arrest in Qatar, a Persian Gulf nation that has emerged as a key broker with the Muslim Taleban. The opponents feared the men would be set free and endanger the US. The latest proposal was a topic of recent discussions in Washington with members of Karzai’s peace committee, a group of elders charged with reaching out to the Taleban on the government’s behalf.

“The possibility is strong,” for a transfer to Afghanistan that includes the five top figures, said Ismail Qasemyar, international relations adviser for the Afghan High Peace Council. Afghans involved in the discussions were still angling to get all 17 prisoners, including the five most senior men, released or transferred. The Taleban has demanded release of all the Guantanamo detainees as a condition for talks.

LEXINGTON: The horse drawn caisson transporting 1st Lt Ryan Davis Rawl makes its way down Lexington Highway for funeral services at Saxe Gotha Presbyterian church yesterday in Lexington, SC. Rawl was one of three South Carolina National Guardsmen killed in action in Afghanistan. — AP The Taleban abandoned direct talks in March, accusing the US of reneging on several promises. The United States considers the talks suspended, not dead. The US and the Afghan government are pursuing several new avenues to restart talks, including the use of proxy emissaries to the Taleban, diplomats said. Karzai has long sought the return of all 17 Afghans imprisoned at Guantanamo, men he sometimes calls brothers, as a point of national pride. He has argued that their imprisonment at the detested Guantanamo prison undermines his credibility as a national leader, and that Afghanistan’s own institutions should deal with captured insurgents.

The US has said publicly that, in regards to the five senior Taleban, they would be transferred to another country’s control, not released. But terms for the proposed transfer to Qatar were fairly loose. Officials briefed on the discussions said the men would have to agree not to return to fighting, forswear any ties to Al-Qaeda, and submit to a ban on their travel. Beyond that it was not clear how closely they would be controlled by the Qatar government. The Taleban would have been asked to release Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only US prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict.

Qatar recently sent a letter to US officials with proposals to rekindle talks, a US official said, but it was not clear whether the new proposal for transfer to Afghanistan was among them. The latest Bagram proposal would appeal to the Taleban, Qasemyar said. “The High Peace Council could use that opportunity as a goodwill gesture,” he said in an interview. Qasemyar said that the proposal may have benefits for the US beyond boosting his organization’s bargaining power with the Taleban.

“What I gathered from what I heard in Washington is the US government was afraid that if they released a prisoner and he went back to fighting,” the Obama administration “would lose faith before the Congress or before the people of the United States,” he said.

A way around that concern, Qasemyar said, is “to send them to the Afghan government. Then that responsibility would be shifted to our side.” Karzai supports the new proposal, Qasemyar said, despite some concern in the Afghan government that the five could become a rallying point for ethnic tension in Afghanistan. Mullah Norullah Nori, for example, could be a problem for Karzai. He was a senior Taleban commander in Mazar-e-Sharif when the Taleban fought US forces in late 2001. He previously was a Taleban governor in two provinces in Northern Afghanistan, where he has been accused of ordering the massacre of thousands of Shiite Muslims. — AP

Suu Kyi returns home after triumphant European tour YANGON: Cheering crowds welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi home yesterday from her triumphant tour of Europe, where she won enthusiastic support for her role in Myanmar’s democratic transition and was celebrated like a head of state. Thousands of jubilant supporters packed into Yangon’s airport and lined the roads outside waving opposition party flags and holding banners, including one that said: “We are proud of you Mother Suu!” Others were clearly impressed by the honorary doctorate degree she was awarded at Oxford University, shouting: “Long Live Dr. Aung San Suu Kyi!” The 67-year-old opposition leader smiled and waved as supporters lavished her with floral bouquets and she was escorted into a waiting car, which inched through the crowd on the way to her lakeside villa.

During her two-week trip, Suu Kyi met with political leaders in Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Britain and France. Supporters said they closely followed Suu Kyi’s trip online or in the country’s private media, which splashed pictures of Suu Kyi from every stop of the tour across front pages. “Her Europe trip made this country proud,” said 45-year-old supporter Soe Aung, who waited hours for a chance to

see her at the airport. “Now, people on the other side of the world know Myanmar.”

The trip’s highlights included Suu Kyi’s long-awaited acceptance speech for the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, which she won while under house arrest in Myanmar. The former military regime kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 of 23 years. She was freed in 2010 after the military ceded power to a nominally civilian government. In Britain, she spoke before a joint session of Parliament, an honor usually reserved for heads of state. Her speech made her the only woman other than Queen Elizabeth II to address the British Parliament.

Throughout her tour, Suu Kyi called on Western countries to help Myanmar build its nascent democracy. She reiterated calls for “cautious optimism” in reforms under way and called for “democracy-friendly, human-rightsfriendly investments” so incoming foreign investment helps the impoverished country rather than the wealthy few. Suu Kyi’s trip did not receive any coverage by Myanmar’s staterun media, nor has the government of President Thein Sein commented on it. The massive attention Suu Kyi received during a recent trip to Thailand reportedly irked Thein Sein.— AP

YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (center) greets her supporters on her arrival at her residence in Yangon yesterday after flying in from her triumphant fivenation European tour. — AFP

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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

S Korea opens controversial new mini-capital SEOUL: After a decade of wrangling, South Korea is set to inaugurate a new mini-capital seen by supporters as a developmental triumph and by critics as a classic pork-barrel project. Sejong City will by 2015 house 16 ministries or agencies and 20 central government offices currently located in or near Seoul. More than 10,000 civil servants will work

there when construction is completed. The stated aim is to rebalance national development, in a country where Seoul and its satellite cities house almost half the population and account for almost half national output.

The new city, 120 kilometers south of Seoul, will formally open today, with an inauguration ceremo-

SEJONG: Photo shows a residential area of future mini-capital Sejong city, 120 kms south of Seoul. — AFP

ny tomorrow to be led by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-Sik. But some 10 state bodies including the president’s office, the foreign ministry, the defense ministry and parliament will stay in Seoul. Kim himself will commute from Seoul for a while even after his office relocates to Sejong City in September.

Critics say the split government will lead to wasted travelling hours and inefficiency. The new city covers 465 square kilometers. A total of 22.5 trillion won ($19.4 billion) - including 8.5 trillion won in state funds is being spent on infrastructure, government buildings and homes for incoming residents.

The concept of Sejong City-named after the revered 15th century king who developed Korea’s alphabet-came from Roh Moo-Hyun when he was running for president for the main left-leaning party in 2002. His stated aim was to ease overcrowding in Seoul by moving the national capital to the central Chungcheong region, traditionally the home of uncommitted voters wooed by both parties during elections. Roh won the presidency, thanks partly to Chungcheong’s support. But in 2004 the constitutional court, acting on a complaint from the conservative opposition, ruled that the capital must stay in Seoul.

Roh modified his plan, keeping some ministries in Seoul and describing Sejong as an administrative city rather than the new capital. Conservative President Lee Myung-Bak, who took office in 2008, wanted to scale down the project and make it a science, business and education hub instead of a government centre. But a rebel faction from his own party joined the opposition to derail his plans.

“There are people who have doubts about the city...

but the quality of life here will be so much better than in Seoul,” JK Oh, a spokesman for the city preparation committee said.

Housing costs are considerably lower than in Seoul, leaving more money for family and leisure activities, he said. Sejong City would revive the area’s previously moribund economy with a construction boom and new businesses catering to young and highly-educated incoming residents, Oh added. Construction is in its first stage. The government estimates the city’s population-currently about 120,000 - will rise to 150,000 by 2015, 300,000 by 2020 and 500,000 by 2030, with its economy expected to grow steadily. Critics say this is wishful thinking. The state Board of Audit and Inspection said in February that a lack of private sector investment was likely and the city could miss the 2030 population target.

“Sejong City will be remembered as a colossal disaster, created by populist politicians afraid of saying no,” said Cho Dong Keun, an economics professor at Myongji University. He said the division of ministries between Seoul and Sejong City would entail lengthy travelling time between the two locations, creating inefficiency and slowing decisionmaking. Because of the lack of leisure facilities and private cram schools for children in Sejong, Cho said most civil servants would leave their families in Seoul and return home at weekends-contributing little to the area’s economy. “These politicians kept saying that once a promise, forever a promise,” he said. “But sticking to a promise that is dumb, unviable and aimed at wooing voters in election season is worse than breaking one.” — AFP

Chinese leader’s visit sparks protests in HK Hong Kongers blast Hu Jintao HONG KONG: Police used pepper spray to disperse crowds of Hong Kongers demonstrating against Chinese President Hu Jintao yesterday, ahead of the 15th anniversary of the territory’s handover amid tight security. On the second day of his visit to the former British colony, hundreds of protesters demanding an investigation into the death of a leading Chinese dissident rallied near Hu’s hotel that was surrounded by giant barricades. Hundreds of demonstrators, who tried to breach the giant blue and white barriers, were targeted with pepper spray as protesters chanted anti-Beijing slogans and unfurled a huge banner with the Chinese character “injustice”.

Hu’s visit comes as discontent toward Beijing surges to a new high, and his visit has drawn sneers and ridicule from Hong Kongers. Some reporters, including three AFP journalists, at the scene were also hit by pepper-spray while another agency reporter was manhandled. One other local reporter was briefly held after asking Hu about the Tiananmen Square crackdown yesterday. There was palpable anger against the

death of Chinese dissident Li Wangyang, who was jailed for more than 22 years over the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests. He was found dead in his hospital ward in China earlier this month, where his family said he died under suspicious circumstances.

There is an unusually tight security cordon around Hu’s five-star hotel and a convention hall where key celebrations, including the inauguration of the city’s new leader, will be held. Police manned every intersection and building entrance nearby, part of an enhanced security presence visible around the city. The barricades are more than two meters high-a size last used during protests against the World Trade Organization in Hong Kong in 2005 - and are likely to defy Hu’s wish to “walk more” and “see more” in the city. Metal fences set up to keep potential demonstrators in a so-called “petition zone” and “protest zone” are so far away that Hu and his delegation are unlikely to see or hear any protests, a fixture of Hong Kong’s daily life.

“Are we celebrating the handover anniversary

HONG KONG: Protesters attempt to cross police blockades during a protest rally in Hong Kong yesterday. Protesters demanded a full investigation into the death of China’s labor activist Li Wangyang, who was released last year after serving 20 years in prison. — AP

or staging a war?” a Facebook user wrote. Other users said the Asian financial hub, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, had been turned into a “city of barricades”, while some likened the measures to the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall. “The Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany, let’s hope this wall of barricades can separate Hong Kong from China forever,” one user wrote, underscoring a sense of growing discontent among Hong Kongers toward Beijing.

“Get out of Hong Kong!” one writer told the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in a post on the Facebook page of the Hong Kong chief executive, which was flooded with anti-Beijing comments. The remarks came a day after Hu presided over a military ceremony that shed a rare light on the secretive PLA garrison stationed in Hong Kong.

Another, writing on the same page, said that Beijing was “really out of touch with HKers. Can’t blame... them, dictators care not, know not.” The right to protest is part of the cherished freedoms enshrined in the “one country, two systems” model that has applied to Hong Kong since its return to Chinese rule.

The city of seven million people maintains a semi-autonomous status with its own legal and financial system. Police said they would respect the right to protest during Hu’s visit, after they were criticized for heavy-handedness during a visit by Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang last year, prompting a special inquiry. The director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, Law Yuk-kai, criticized the security measures which he said was an attempt to shield the Chinese leader from any “embarrassing demonstrations” and that the city was “under siege”.

Yesterday Hu visited the site of a future cruise ship terminal in Kai Tak, where the city’s airport used to stand, but his highly choreographed visit was briefly disrupted by a question over the Tiananmen crackdown on June 4, 1989.

“President Hu, Hong Kong people want to see justice for June 4. Did you hear that?” a local journalist shouted repeatedly at Hu from behind the security cordon, before he was taken away briefly by security personnel. Hu’s first stop after arriving Friday was a parade in front of the massed ranks of China’s secretive military garrison-another subject of ridicule by Hong Kong netizens.— AFP

Natural riches at heart of Myanmar civil war MYITKYINA: Poring over pictures of bullet-riddled bodies and charred villages, peace mediators say Myanmar’s far north is writhing in the grip of a “resource war” with no end in sight.

Fighting in Kachin state has raged since a 17-year ceasefire between Myanmar’s army and ethnic minority rebels crumbled last June, displacing up to 70,000 people in an unwelcome distraction from sweeping political reforms.

A group of four local businessmen led by a prominent jade tycoon have brokered multiple rounds of negotiations since November, seeking an elusive ceasefire, following a presidential order to the army to stop fighting. But the mediators evince frustration as clashes have continued amid a massive troop buildup in the region-fuelling speculation as to whether the reformist president wields full control over the onceomnipotent army. “The president is like a referee in a boxing match.

Once he says ‘time’s up’, the sparring must stop,” peace mediator and jade tycoon Yup Zau Hkawng told AFP in an interview in late May. “But that has not happened.” In May the government overhauled its negotiating team, putting President Thein Sein at the helm of the process and eliminating some elements seen by Kachin Independence Army (KIA) rebels as being linked to army hardliners. The new team led

by Railways Minister Aung Min has since held three rounds of talks in an attempt to build trust, but the situation on the

ground has yet to show any tangible sign of improvement.

At a recent town hall meeting in the state capital Myitkyina there was a rare and impassioned outpouring of local grievances that observers say are fanning the conflict. Some asked for the constitution to be amended to provide more legislative and administrative powers to the state, a long-standing demand of the locals who chafe at central government’s stranglehold over the resource-rich region. “Timber, jade, gold... all of Kachin’s natural resources are used to develop lower Myanmar. Why not spend it on developing Kachin?” asked one local, according to two observers who attended the meeting.

The abundant wealth of resources in Kachin, wedged between India and China, is seen both as an impetus for war and an impediment to halting it. “Several multi-million-dollar projects are in the conflict zone and each party to the conflict has an economic interest in the outcome of the war. China is the elephant in the room,” said Matthew Smith, a consultant to Human Rights Watch and the author of a recent report on abuses and forced displacement in Kachin. The building of a twin oil and gas pipeline from western Rakhine state, across rebel-held territory, to China’s Yunnan province is currently in progress.

The government has allegedly sold off rights to timber and other valuable resources such as jade to Chinese companies and local businessmen seen as loyal to the regime.—AFP

ULAN BATOR: Electoral commission officials announce preliminary results of the Mongolian parliamentary elections in Ulan Bator. —AFP

Mongolia ruling party calls for new elections ULAN BATOR: Mongolia was facing political gridlock yesterday with the ruling party leading calls for fresh elections and rejecting a new voting system that was intended to bring more fairness to the polls. An electronic voting system was used for the first time in parliamentary elections on Thursday in an effort to avoid a repeat of the chaos of a manual count four years ago when corruption allegations triggered deadly riots.

However the automated system has been plagued with technical problems, and results of the elections that were intended to be released within hours of polls closing are still yet to be announced. The ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) and eight smaller parties signed a petition on Friday that said the new electronic voting system had “violated the constitution of Mongolia”. “We are demanding the traditional system of counting votes by hand in every election constituency across the whole country to end this confusion that the population has about the voting machines and automated systems,” MPP secretary Yangug Sodbaatar said.

However the Democratic Party, the main opposition group which believes it will eventually win Thursday’s vote, did not sign the petition and is backing the automated sys-

tem. In 2008, accusations of vote rigging among the major parties led to riots in which four people died. The MPP and the Democratic Party eventually formed an uneasy coalition in an effort to heal the wounds and ensure political stability in the resource-rich nation, which is in the midst of a stunning mining boom. The economy grew 17.3 percent last year because of the boom, which has seen some of the world’s biggest mining firms move into the country to exploit copper, coal and gold reserves estimated to be worth more than $1 trillion.

The Democratic Party quit the coalition in January to prepare for the elections, and the automated system was intended to be an important next step in the former Sovietruled country’s transition to a stable democratic state. The Mongolian Election Commission had no immediate response to the calls for a fresh vote using the old, manual system. But it said it had held a manual recount in some polling stations on Friday and the results had largely matched the automated tally. The technical problems have included being unable to transmit results from far-flung polling stations in Mongolia, which is three times the size of France but has just 2.8 million people. — AFP

China to lead talks on nuke definitions WASHINGTON: China will lead talks among the five original nuclear-armed states to define arms control terms, the group said yesterday, a first for Beijing and a step that might ultimately bring greater clarity about its nuclear arsenal and strategy. A working group of the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China is expected to launch talks this summer on a glossary of nuclear terms, an arcane but necessary step for wider talks on disarmament.

Of the five original nuclear-weapons states within the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, China is the most secretive about its arsenal, its stockpile of fissile material and its nuclear doctrine, analysts say. Under the treaty, which entered into force in 1970, the five committed to pursuing disarmament while the other signatories committed not to develop or acquire nuclear weapons. Rose Gottemoeller, the acting US under-secretary of state arms control and international security, said the United States and Russia have a far better grasp of each other’s nuclear posture than they do of China’s.

China’s leadership of the so-called P5 group, described in a statement issued by the five nations on Friday at the end of a three-day conference, could signal its greater interest in cooperating on these issues. A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said this was the first time China had chaired such a P5 group on nuclear issues. “It’s a very good step,” Gottemoeller said. “The fact that they are shouldering the responsibilities for this working group, I think, is a good sign of their interest of developing more mutual cooperation of this kind, leading to greater predictability and greater mutual confidence.”

Gottemoeller stressed the group’s aim was to achieve greater openness about all five countries’ programs. “(For) over 40 years with the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation we have been talking about important issues of nuclear doctrine, strategy and then some of the technical nitty-gritty that goes into an arms control treaty,” she said. “We really have a lot of history with the Russian Federation but certainly with China, we do not have that same depth.” Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association nonprofit group, said the United States has been the most transparent about its nuclear capabilities and Britain, France, Russia and especially China “have a long way to go.” “China ... has been the least forthcoming,” he said. “With transparency comes greater knowledge, greater understanding and more stability, more predictable reactions (by) others.”

According to Arms Control Association estimates, the United States has about 5,000 warheads, Russia 5,500, China about 240, France fewer than 300 and Britain up to 225.

Stephen Rademaker, a former senior State Department official under President George W Bush, said the United States may hope that the talks on definitions could be a first step toward greater clarity on China’s capabilities. “The United States for a long time has tried to initiate a comprehensive dialogue with China about nuclear matters and, unfortunately, China has resisted discussing those kinds of issues in any level of detail,” he said. “I am sure that the United States hopes that as part of this ... process, the kinds of conversations that have not ... made much progress bilaterally can finally begin,” he added.— Reuters

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

NEWS

A fisherman drives his boat on lake Lungerersee in the Swiss central canton of Obwalden near Lungern yesterday. — AP

Ice hockey on rise in Mideast

World powers agree Syria deal

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

reach 40 degrees for half the year. But a growing number of Emirati men and women are taking to the ice, inspired by the introduction of NHL games on cable television and the novelty of playing a winter sport in a desert region. The sport’s growth in the past decade has contributed to the rise of the UAE national team, which has gone from a laughing stock - once losing to Kazakhstan 38-0 - to one of the region’s emerging powers behind the likes of Japan, Kazakhstan and Israel. It won the Challenge Cup of Asia in March for the second time and finished third in the Asian Winter Games last year.

The UAE’s success also has inspired other Gulf nations to embrace ice hockey, with Kuwait now hoping to join the UAE in qualifying for the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Division III, and Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia starting their own national teams. Qatar also has started playing. “The Gulf region is definitely a region which has grown very fast in the past couple of years especially in the UAE,” said Harald Springfeld, the IIHF’s Asian sports development manager. “Ice hockey is one of the newer sports and different to all the other sports in the region.”

At a 1,300-seat stadium tucked away in an Abu Dhabi sports complex, the UAE showed why it is the best team in the Gulf. The Emiratis routed Bahrain 12-0 to reach the final of the second Gulf Cup this month and then dispatched Kuwait 3-1 to win a second consecutive final. They outscored their opponents 42-4. Except for the Arab pop songs blaring during the breaks, the fourteam tournament would have been familiar to anyone who has watched a high school game in North America.

There were moments of slick stick handling and sizzling slap shots from the dominant UAE side juxtaposed alongside signs of inexperience from the Bahrainis and Omanis, who occasionally struggled to stand up on their skates.

The crowds, while sparse for the semifinals, packed the arena for the final showing the sport is attracting a following in the UAE - though it remains far less popular than soccer, handball and volleyball. “We are on the right path after all the training we did over the past months,” said Ebraheem Budebs, a 31-year-old defenseman on the national team. “Winning the championship is something we are proud of,” he said of the Gulf Cup. “It will motivate the younger players and will help spread the sport in the UAE.” The Gulf countries still have plenty of work to do to grow the sport. Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait each have one rink that is shared with recreational skaters, while the seven in the UAE - including one in the country’s largest mall - are insufficient to keep up with demand and develop a new generation of players. “The big problem is the ice. We don’t have enough ice rinks,” said Mohamed Aref, sports director for the UAE Ice Hockey Association, which is considering deploying cheaper, synthetic ice rinks that could be outdoors. “Without ice

rinks, you will have limited number of players. If you’re limited in numbers, you will not grow the way you want.”

The sport also has struggled to get government support in the Gulf. The UAE is a rarity in that it sanctions a federation that provides financing to develop the sport, host tournaments like the Gulf Cup, and cover the cost of players attending training camps and overseas tournaments. UAE players also get a small, monthly stipend and bonus for winning tournaments. Kuwait, for example, had a thriving program from 1985 until 1992, but inactivity and political problems led to the country losing its IIHF membership until 2009. Sponsors are also hard to come by in the Gulf, forcing players to pay most of the cost of renting ice rinks and purchasing equipment, which can run into thousands of dollars.

“It’s a different sport and new sport. You’re playing on the ice in the middle of the desert,” said Bahrain team manager Mohammed Juma Al-Doy, who has seen the number of players drop from 45 to 15 since the national team was started in 2009. “It’s growing but we need support from the government. We need facilities, more support to arrange for the good coach.”

Similar complaints were heard from Oman team manager Qassim Talib, who started the first team in 2008. Talib has mostly bankrolled the team since then and watched the numbers of players climb from five to 42. He was happy the team beat Bahrain to finish third, but admitted there are limits to what one man can do.

“Everyone is saying that my team is growing up,” Talib said. “But we are missing so many things - sponsors, an association. Without an association, we cannot do anything. It’s very costly. This is all at my expense.”

In the UAE, the issue isn’t so much expenses as bridging the gap with traditional hockey countries. There are still only 532 Emiratis of all ages playing - up from 200 four years ago. But most of the senior players only took up hockey in their teens and are amateurs. “You have to keep in mind the mentality of the local people. It’s very difficult working here,” said UAE Coach Yuri Faikov of Belarus, who has coached and played in his native country at the top flight. “You have to repeat moments even 1,000 times. You have to show nonstop. You have to work, repeat each element a lot of times.” Despite the challenges, the stern-looking Faikov said the team is “getting results”.

After winning the Gulf Cup, the UAE is focusing on a qualifying tournament in October against Greece, Georgia and Mongolia that will determine which two teams return to the IIHF’s Division III. The UAE was demoted after failing to win a game in a Division III tournament in 2010. Suwaidi said he is confident the team will make it back and even dreams of the UAE becoming the first Arab team to challenge traditional powers in the 2013 world championship. But he admits there is only so much a team like the UAE can achieve at least in his playing career. “For the team, we hope to be best in world,” Suwaidi said. “But I don’t think in this life. It’s too hard man.” — AP

As divisions threatened to scupper talks earlier yesterday, Annan had warned at the opening of the meeting that history “will judge us all harshly” if world powers failed to bridge their gaps on how to end the bloodshed in Syria and chart a transition. A failure to unite also raised the spectre that the conflict that has claimed 15,800 lives over 16 months in the strategic Middle East country could spill over to the region and expose the world to fresh threats, said the former UN chief.

“History is a sombre judge - and it will judge us all harshly if we prove incapable of taking the right path today,” Annan told the five permanent Security Council members the United States, Russia, Britain, China and France - as well as regional powers Qatar, Turkey, Kuwait and Iraq. Notably uninvited were Iran, Syria’s closest regional ally, and Saudi Arabia, a foe of both Damascus and Tehran and leading backer of the rebel forces opposing Assad. Nor was anyone from the Syrian government or opposition represented.

Meanwhile fighting in Syria has only intensified in recent weeks as both government and opposition forces have received more weapons from their foreign backers. Rights monitors say at least 53 people, mostly civilians, were killed in violence across Syria yesterday, and hundreds more were trapped in Douma as regime forces stormed the town in Damascus province. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warned of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in besieged Douma, which “has been subjected to a fierce military campaign since June 21”. Violence has killed “scores and wounded hundreds” there since regime forces escalated attacks on the outlying suburb of Damascus, the group said. “More than 100 families remain in the town, unable to flee and forced to take refuge in shelters,” it said.

Syrian soldiers were carrying out

HOMS: The bodies of a Syrian man and two children who were killed by government forces during violence in the Al-Sultaniya neighbourhood in this restive central city are seen on Friday. — AFP searches in hospitals for dissidents pipeline in a rebel-held area of the and rebel fighters in Douma, eastern province of Deir Ezzor. The activists said. Electricity and water latest violence came a day after 73 were cut off. Abo Abdullah, 50, said people were killed nationwide, he and his five children left Douma among them 23 regime troops. yesterday morning fearing attacks While the violence rages there is by government forces. “I saw at least also mounting concern about the three bodies on a street corner, destabilising impact it has on the some houses were destroyed, oth- region, in particular Jordan and ers were on fire. Only a few people Lebanon.

And the Turkish-Syrian border remained inside the city. Those who can, leave,” he said. “I saw a body on remains a potential flashpoint. the side of the street and dogs were Turkey has sent tanks, troops and gathering around it.” State news missile batteries toward the frontier, agency SANA said security forces after Syria shot down a Turkish jet were raiding hideouts in Douma of last Friday. Meanwhile the head of “armed terrorist groups” and had the rebels’ Free Syrian Army told killed, wounded or arrested scores. AFP that 2,500 Syrian soldiers were Although the government routinely “massing 15 kilometres or slightly refers to its enemies as foreign-con- more from the Turkish border” on trolled terrorists, Assad himself con- Friday. Egypt’s President Mohamed ceded this week that the country Morsi - elected after a revolution with overthrew strongman Hosni was now in a state of war.

An explosion also rocked the Mubarak - yesterday called for an Qaboon district of Damascus yester- end to bloodshed in Syria, in his day and another blast hit the coun- inaugural address. “We support the try ’s second city Aleppo in the Syrian people. We want the bloodnorth. A further blast hit an oil shed to stop,” he said. — Agencies

Morsi sworn in as president US drops charges against Kuwaiti...

Continued from Page 1 “There are a great number of obstacles and this will be a lengthy and difficult process,” said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We are aware that they want them back. Because of legal restrictions and our own view of these people, this will be a protracted and difficult process.”

Sheikh Salem told KUNA that the meeting was part of a series of other meetings that were held, and would be held in the upcoming weeks with the Americans. He also said that these talks followed directives of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to find a quick solution to bring back the detainees to their homeland as soon as possible. The Kuwaiti envoy asserted that the file of the Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo Bay prison was a top priority for both the Kuwaiti and US governments.

The Kuwaiti delegation consisted of officials from the Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry and the Public

Prosecution. The Kuwaiti detainees’ defense attorney Abdulrahman AlHaroon was also present at the meeting.

Guantanamo prosecutors charged Kandari in 2008 with conspiring with Al-Qaeda and providing material support for terrorism.

They alleged he was an adviser to Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, that he made Al-Qaeda recruiting tapes, and that he was an instructor at a training camp in Afghanistan from June to Dec 2001. The charges were never referred for trial. The Pentagon appointee overseeing the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal, Retired Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald, dismissed them on Friday without explanation.

A Pentagon spokesman, Army Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale, said the charges were filed under a 2006 law that was amended in 2009. “Because of the changes to the applicable law, it is important that the prosecutors re-evaluate the case. At some future time, prosecutors may decide to re-charge him

under the 2009 Act,” he said.

Kandari, now 37, has denied ever meeting bin Laden or visiting any training camps and told an administrative review board at Guantanamo that he was in Afghanistan working for a charity.

Odah, 35, whose name appears in some Guantanamo documents as Fouzi Al-Awda, has never been charged with a crime. US military documents allege he was an AlQaeda and Taleban associate who carried an AK-47 and was captured

by Pakistani authorities while trying to leave Afghanistan through the Tora Bora mountains in Nov 2001.

He told a Guantanamo review panel that he never knew anyone associated with Al-Qaeda, never fought against anyone and could never kill anyone because he was a “chicken”.

Kandari and Odah both filed lawsuits in the US District Court challenging their detention and lost.

They are among 169 captives held at Guantanamo. Ten other Kuwaitis held there have already been sent home. — Agencies

Continued from Page 1 he said in his speech, at the same base where members of the once-banned Brotherhood had faced military trials under Mubarak.

Just after taking the oath of office, Morsi went to Cairo University to deliver a speech in which he pointedly mentioned the “elected parliament” several times and said the army should resume its normal role. “The elected institutions will return to fulfilling their roles.

And the great military will devote itself to the task of protecting the country,” he said. He then set out some of his international and domestic objectives, saying he would be a “servant of the people” in a “democratic, modern and constitutional state”.

Internationally, he said Egypt respected would back the Palestinians and called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria. “I announce from here that Egypt, its people and presidential institution stand with the Palestinian people until they regain all their rights,” he said. “We support the Syrian people. We want the bloodshed to stop,” he added. He repeated that Egypt would respect its international treaties, in an allusion to its 1979 peace accord with Israel. Morsi had spoken out forcefully in support of Palestinians during his campaign. The Brotherhood is vehemently opposed to Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad and supports the uprising against him.

But as president, Morsi is not expected to radically change his country’s foreign policy, especially towards Israel, in which the military is expected to exercise its clout. In a Friday speech before tens of thousands of

supporters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the revolt that ousted Mubarak, he said that he would insist on retaining all the presidency’s powers. “I renounce none of the prerogatives of president,” he told his supporters, adding: “You are the source of power and legitimacy. There is no place for anyone or any institution ... above this will.”

The SCAF assumed legislative powers after disbanding parliament and also formed a powerful national security council headed by the president but dominated by the generals. The military also reserves the right to appoint a new constituent assembly should the one elected by parliament be disbanded by a court decision expected on Sept 1. The Muslim Brotherhood insists that only parliament can appoint the assembly. Media reports said Morsi was consulting a cross-section of Egyptian society before appointing a premier and a cabinet made up mostly of technocrats.

In a meeting with newspaper editors reported by most dailies on Friday, he pledged there would be “no Islamisation of state institutions” during his presidency.

Morsi became the Brotherhood’s candidate to succeed Mubarak only after its first choice, Khairat El-Shater, was disqualified. He beat Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last premier, with 51.73 percent of the vote. Many had written him off as an uncharismatic substitute, saying he would be unable to muster widespread support. But the powerful Brotherhood mobilised its formidable resources and supporters behind Morsi, who was appointed last year to head its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. — AFP

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Issues

Some see Waterloo for troubled BlackBerry maker

By Rob Lever

lackBerry maker Research in Motion is now in a struggle for survival after its latest quarterly report underscoring its deteriorating position against other smartphone makers, analysts say. The firm, which is headquartered in the ironically named city of Waterloo, Ontario, appears on shaky ground. Not only did RIM report a widening loss of $518 million and steep slump in sales, but it also said it would cut 5,000 jobs, nearly one-third of its staff, and delay its important BlackBerry 10 platform until early 2013. The BB10 had been RIM’s effort - a last-ditch bid, according to some analysts to regain traction after losing ground to Apple and smartphone makers using the Google Android platform.

RIM shares tumbled 19 percent to close Friday at $7.39, their lowest level since 2003, and down more than 90 percent from their 2008 highs. Societe Generale analysts Andy Perkins and Peter Knox called Thursday’s RIM results “massively disappointing”. They said in a research note that the BlackBerry’s “aging handset portfolio is struggling to stay relevant” and that the company is now losing money on its phone for the first time. They rate RIM shares a “sell”, and say the only things that might help a turnaround might be “RIM switching to the Microsoft Windows operating system for its new products” or a bid for the “valuable” patents and other intellectual property.

A survey by the research firm IDC showed smartphones powered by Google’s Android software accounted for 59 percent of the global market in the first quarter of 2012, with 23 percent for Apple’s iPhones. That left just 6.4 percent for BlackBerry, compared with 13.6 percent a year ago. In the US market, only around five percent of smartphone buyers opted for BlackBerry in early 2012, according to a recent Nielsen survey. “RIM’s prospects appear to be turning from bad to worse,” said Tal Liani, a research analyst at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, in a note Friday. “In our view, the risk of total value destruction over the next few years is possible as at this point we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Michael Walkley and the investment firm Canaccord Genuity said he does not believe the BB10 will be able to turn around RIM’s fortunes, especially with a new iPhone and other devices expected to hit the market later this year. Walkley said RIM, which announced earlier this year a “strategic review”, will likely be sold to salvage any value for stockholders. “We do not believe BB10 devices will turn around its struggling business,” he said. He said the company could be worth $8 a share based on a “sum-of-the-parts analysis”.

RIM’s market value based on its recent share price is just $3.8 billion. But it has cash holdings of $2.25 billion, 78 million subscribers and a rich array of patents and other assets. But Daniel Ernst at Hudson Square Research urges investors to stay away, saying there may be little to salvage. “While the company’s global network and technology could represent strategic value, we do not believe that business could be well separated from devices,” he said in a note to clients.

Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum said the next few quarters will be even worse for RIM because of “rapidly deteriorating fundamentals” and a management team which fails to recognize this. “While all the key indicators continue to decline, management appears to be taking a ‘damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’ approach to running the business,” he said. “We fear that the company could be driving 100 mph straight into a brick wall. We also worry that no company can operate normally, let alone develop, launch and market a brand new, company-wide and globally impacting platform while laying off nearly one-third of its workforce - it’s just physically impossible from both a worker morale and a manpower talent point of view.” — AFP

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All articles appearing on these pages are the personal opinion of the writers. Kuwait Times takes no responsibility for views expressed therein. Kuwait Times invites readers to voice their opinions. Please send submissions via email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait. The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.

Why Roberts saved Obama healthcare law

By Joan Biskupic n the end, it all came down to Chief Justice John Roberts, the sphinx in the center chair, who in a stunning decision wove together competing rationales to uphold President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan. Roberts’ action instantly upended the conventional wisdom that he would vote with his four fellow conservative justices on the US Supreme Court and undercut the agenda of a Democratic president, who as a senator in 2005 had opposed Roberts’ appointment to the bench.

But Thursday’s extraordinary conclusion to the bitterly fought healthcare battle was quite ordinary in some ways.

Roberts hewed to a traditional Supreme Court principle that if the justices can find any constitutional grounds on which to uphold a law, they should do so. The 57-year-old chief justice also followed a stated principle of his own: narrowly deciding cases and trying to preserve the integrity of the judiciary in polarized Washington.

While he has voted consistently with the conservative bloc on social issues, such as abortion rights and racial policies, Roberts in his public remarks has suggested that he seeks, as chief, to transcend an ideological label. He routinely refers to the court’s place in history and has bristled at polls and public commentary that suggest the high court acts in the same political realm as the two elected branches of government.

Indeed, in his comments during oral arguments in the healthcare case, Roberts hinted that he could be open to siding with the government. He expressed concern that the court over which he presides might be seen as ignoring more than 75 years of precedent and rolling back U.S. law to the New Deal era. The last time the Supreme Court struck down a major act of Congress was in 1936, when the court invalidated a federal law that limited work hours and prescribed minimum wages for coal workers. “He is positioning the court as the one, competent, principled institution in Washington,” said Pamela Karlan, a Stanford University law professor. “The chief justice’s opinion is designed to appear thoughtful, measured. He is in this for the long haul.”

As the lone conservative standing with four liberals, Roberts defied recent history, most people’s expectations, and the deepest held hopes of the right-wing and Tea Party opponents of the law. He also rejected the prevailing view of Republican politicians, who had been his strongest backers when President George W Bush nominated him

I

five years ago. “The court avoided, despite an enormous amount of pressure to invalidate this law, staining itself as excessively partisan,” said Bradley Joondeph, a law professor at Santa Clara University. “Think of the people who supported Chief Justice Roberts, who put him on the court, who were rooting for him.”

On the Roberts court, the swing-vote role has often been played by Justice Anthony Kennedy, not the chief himself. For example, Kennedy, a conservative appointed to the court by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, was crucial to its 1992 decision to uphold the right to abortion.

Thursday’s case marked the first time that Roberts joined the liberal bloc as the deciding fifth vote in a major case. On Thursday, Kennedy fell in with the conservatives and read their joint dissent. In it, he took a swipe at Roberts’ claim that the court was acting cautiously. “The court regards its strained statutory interpretation as judicial modesty,” Kennedy wrote. “It is not. It amounts instead to a vast judicial overreaching.”

Roberts did hand the conservatives a pyrrhic victory. He rejected the Obama administration’s main argument that the core of the law, a mandate that requires most Americans to buy health insurance by 2014 or face a penalty, was covered by Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce. Roberts said that power, while broad, does not extend to “inactivity,” such as the choice not to buy insurance.

Whether this apparent limiting of the Commerce Clause will hinder Congressional power in the future remains to be seen. In their briefs and arguments, both sides characterized the health insurance mandate as distinctive, and it is unclear whether another Congressional regulation could be struck down under the Roberts “inactivity” rationale. Roberts’ judgment on the Commerce Clause issue was endorsed by fellow conservatives Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.

But in turning to another constitutional ground on which to uphold the mandate, Congress’ taxation power, Roberts embraced the Obama administration’s secondary argument - and delivered a victory to the President.

Roberts reasoned that even though Congress had shied away from calling the penalty for not buying insurance a “tax,” it effectively is one. Roberts stressed that the court was not endorsing the administration’s approach. “Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass on its wisdom or fairness,” he said.

As he read excerpts from the momentous decision Thursday, Roberts seemed to downplay the drama of the morning.

His voice was steady and even. He kept to his script. There were few rhetorical flourishes.

He occasionally looked out at the spectators. Among them was Justice John Paul Stevens, a liberal who had served with Roberts until he retired two years ago at the age of 90. Following the usual decorum in the white-marble and crimson-draped room, the nearly 300 people listening to the chief justice gave no audible response.

Roberts then named the justices who had joined him in various parts of the decision, and those who had not. All told, it took about 20 minutes. —Reuters

West struggles to understand Russia stance

By Peter Apps estern states trying to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are increasingly struggling to deal with, or even understand, Russia’s dogged support for him. Arms deals, Russia’s naval base in Tartus and fear of Islamist militancy in a post-Assad Syria are all held up as potential explanations. But Russian officials and some others say that misses the wider point. They say Moscow’s opposition to foreign-backed “regime change” reflects a fundamental disagreement with the West over sovereignty and the rights of states to deal with domestic instability by whatever means necessary.

“The Russian position can be explained by their hostility to any interference in the internal affairs of a country, especially in the current climate, because at home they have things to be worried about,” says Denis Bauchard, a former diplomat and expert on the Middle East at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI). Time and time again, Western officials have confidently briefed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was on the brink of dumping his long-term ally, only to be disappointed.

Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and counterparts from other major powers met in Geneva.

Once again, diplomats from several Western countries were predicting a shift. For the first time, they said, Russia had agreed with former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan and its requirement for a gradual transition of power. But late on Thursday, it emerged that Russia had put forward amendments that the United States, Britain and France said were unacceptable. At a Group of 20 summit in Mexico this month, British Prime Minister David Cameron was embarrassed after suggesting that Putin had agreed Assad should go, only to have Putin himself dismiss the idea. French President Francois Hollande talked at length about the importance of winning Russia over, but had an awkward press conference with Putin in May having clearly failed to do so.

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For every argument Hollande made before the assembled media, Putin had a counterargument. When Hollande asked if Russia would take Assad in exile, Putin replied that the Assad family had been invited to Paris much more often than to Moscow. While it is not clear that was true, Hollande still had to squirm. Putin said the ousting of leaders did not necessarily lead to peace. He cited the case of Libya, where Moscow believes it was tricked by the West into supporting military intervention.

“Has it become safer there? Where are we moving? Is there an answer?” he asked.

Western states are still hoping that a series of military reverses for Assad will begin to tip the balance and force Putin to drop him. But it may not be that easy. A death toll in Syria of well over 10,000 seems unlikely on its own to change Putin’s mind. Estimates vary widely of the number of dead in Chechnya - a conflict in which he was involved as prime minister and president - but often exceed 100,000. Rights activists and other witnesses say that conflict often involved artillery attacks on civilian areas, massacres and disappearances: potential war crimes now being reported in Syria.

Mindful of rising anti-Putin protests, not to mention separatist worries in the Caucasus, leaders in Moscow and perhaps also Beijing, which has its own worries about unrest in Tibet, northwest China and many other areas fear they might themselves have to adopt similar tactics again one day. But it is the growing suggestion that Western democracies in particular might intervene militarily or otherwise to help such uprisings that really unnerves Russia’s leaders, many believe. The ‘Orange’, ‘Rose’ and ‘Tulip’ revolutions in former Soviet Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have added to such concerns.

“Putin has spent the last decade obsessing about ‘colour revolutions’,” says Stephen Sestanovich, principal State Department officer for the former Soviet Union between 1997 and 2001 and now senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “He hates the idea that the

international community has anything to say about who holds power in a country whose leaders have done something awful. He tends to sympathise with those leaders.”

It can also be argued that the price of a revolution such as Syria’s is simply too high. “Russia probably knows the true cost of revolutions better than most other countries,” Lavrov wrote in the Huffington Post on June 15. “We are fully aware that revolutionary changes are always accompanied by social and economic setbacks as well as by loss of human life and suffering. This is exactly why we support an evolutionary and peaceful way of enacting long-awaited changes in the Middle East and North Africa.” Russian officials say they are not wedded to Assad but want stability to return, and have so far not seen a strategy that would achieve this. There is little doubt that the situation in Syria also feeds into wider Russian concerns. Many Western diplomats suspect Russia fears that Syria after Assad could become a haven for Islamists, not least those fighting Russia in Chechnya. While Russia’s naval base at Tartus is regarded as little more than a refuelling stop, it does give Russia a Mediterranean harbour that could prove valuable if trouble with Ukraine or Turkey obstructed the operations of its Black Sea Fleet.

In Alawite-run Syria, and perhaps to a lesser extent in Shiite Iran, Russia also has a regional counterweight to an increasingly vocal bloc of Sunni Muslim-led countries allied with Washington, primarily Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Some also suspect that Russia may see frustrating Western interests and embarrassing its leaders as an end in itself as it looks to reassert itself as a global power - or at least as a useful short-term tactic until a clearer picure emerges. “In the West we often exaggerate Putin’s dictatorial side,” says former U.S. official Sestanovich. “In Russia, many criticise him for indecisiveness. It may be that in Syria he’s actually confused about what to do, and is slowly concluding that Assad has had it. That’s the hopeful interpretation: Putin the conflicted ditherer.” — Reuters

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

sp orts Armstrong faces doping charges NEW YORK: The US Anti-Doping Agency has unanimously recommended filing formal doping charges against US cycling champ Lance Armstrong, the agency said in a statement on Friday. Armstrong, who has won seven Tour De France cycling titles, insists that he is innocent. The next step in the process is an arbitration hearing. Armstrong has said he will challenge the findings.

“USADA can confirm that the independent three person Anti-Doping Review Board (ADRB) has conducted a full evaluation and has made a unanimous recommendation to move forward with the adjudication process in accordance with the rules,” agency Chief Executive Travis Tygart said in a statement. The agency made some details of its case known in a letter to Armstrong, which was posted online by the Washington Post.

In the letter dated June 12, the agency said that it has Armstrong’s blood samples from 2009 and 2010 that are “fully consistent” with doping. —Reuters

Button eyes British GP

Indian cricketer banned MUMBAI: The Indian cricket board (BCCI) banned one uncapped cricketer for life yesterday and handed out lesser punishments to four others for involvement in corruption in domestic cricket.

The five uncapped Indian cricketers were provisionally suspended last month following allegations of corruption, made by a local television channel.

Footage from India TV appeared to show one cricketer negotiating a fee for bowling a no-ball, while another said he received under-the-table payments above his contracted fee.

A three-member disciplinary committee decided to ban fast bowler TP Sudhindra from all cricketing activities

for life after reading a report and hearing the cricketers’ defence.

“The committee held Sudhindra guilty of actually receiving a consideration to spot-fix in a domestic cricket match, and hence imposed exemplary penalty on him,” a BCCI statement said.

Paceman Shalabh Srivastava, who played in the IPL for the Punjab franchise, was banned for five years.

“Shalabh Srivastava was held guilty of agreeing to fix a match and negotiate terms for the same, even though no actual match-fixing or spot fixing took place,” the statement said. Mohnish Mishra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali were each handed one-year bans.—Reuters

LONDON: Jenson Button will be aiming to rediscover his best form and put an end to an unwanted record at his home British Grand Prix next weekend.

The 32-year-old Briton, who has struggled for pace with his McLaren car since April after an excellent start to the season, has never finished on the podium at his home event at Silverstone. Over the last decade and more, he has enjoyed some strong races and a few near misses, but has found success elusive, just as it has become in this extraordinary year of unexpected results.

Button, who won the drivers’ championship in 2009, said: “I always enjoy racing at home because the atmosphere is unbeatable, and while the race itself hasn’t always been too kind to me, I come here every year knowing I can count on the support of the many thousands of fans. “That really does make a difference and it would be great to repay that terrific support with a really good result.” Button believes that the unique circumstances at last weekend’s European Grand Prix at Valencia masked his progress in sorting out the problems he was experiencing with his car and tyres. —AFP

Reds down Giants 5-1 SAN FRANCISCO: Cincinnati’s Mike Leake pitched his first career complete game, steering the Reds to a 5-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Friday in a clash of National League divisional leaders. Leake added some sting by hitting a homer off opposing pitcher Matt Cain with two outs in the sixth. Zack Cozart hit the first pitch of the game from Cain for a homer, and just like that, San Francisco’s franchise-record streak of four straight shutouts was ended. Jay Bruce added a two-run double in the first for the Reds.

Cain (9-3) had his career-best eight-game winning streak snapped.

He allowed three runs in the first inning for the first time in two years.

Mets 9, Dodgers 0 In Los Angeles, R.A. Dickey pitched eight scoreless innings to become the major leagues’ first 12-game winner, guiding New York past Los Angeles. Dickey (12-1) had his fifth scoreless outing in a span of seven starts and struck out 10 while establishing a career high for wins.

Daniel Murphy drove in five runs for the Mets; a two-run double in the fifith and a three-run homer in the seventh. Dodgers starter Aaron Harang (5-5) gave up five runs in 5 2-3 innings.

NEW YORK: Chicago White Sox pitcher Leyson Septimo delivers the ball to the New York Yankees during the ninth inning of a baseball game. — AP

White Sox hammer Yankees NEW YORK: Chicago’s AJ Pierzynski homered twice, and Paul Konerko and Alexei Ramirez also went long as the White Sox pounded the Yankees so hard that New York brought in an outfielder to pitch in a 14-7 romp on Friday.

The White Sox made it a short and sour major league debut for Yankees starter Adam Warren, who didn’t last even three innings, though it was replacement David Phelps (1-3) who took the loss.

By the end, the Yankees brought in outfielder Dewayne Wise for his pro pitching debut, and he got the last two outs to close out Chicago’s fourrun ninth inning. White Sox starter Jose Quintana (3-1) fell behind 4-0 in the first inning, then hung in to give Chicago a fourth straight win in a matchup of American League division leaders.

Rangers 4, Athletics 3 In Arlington, Texas, Craig Gentry’s bases-loaded triple in the eighth capped a four-run rally that lifted Texas over Oakland.

Gentry, who entered in the seventh, lifted a fly ball that gave the Rangers a 4-2 lead. Yoenis Cespedes appeared to misjudge Gentry’s ball as he took a few steps in at first before it flew over his head.

Oakland reliever Grant Balfour (1-2) issued a bases-loaded walk to Nelson Cruz with two outs in the eighth before he was replaced.

Rangers starter Matt Harrison (11-3) threw a season-high 121 pitches over eight innings, allowing two runs. He joined Tampa Bay’s David Price as the AL’s only 11-game winners.

Blue Jays 7, Angels 5 In Toronto, Adam Lind hit two home runs and Yunel Escobar had a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning as Toronto defeated Los Angeles.

Promoted on Monday after more than a month in the minors, Lind hit a three-run homer in the third inning, then added a solo drive in the seventh. It was his first multihomer game this season and the eighth of his career. Escobar went 3 for 4 with two RBIs as the Blue Jays snapped a threegame losing skid and halted Los Angeles’ winning streak at four games.

Toronto’s Francisco Cordero (3-4) worked twothirds of an inning for the win. Jordan Walden (2-2) took the loss for the Angels.

Orioles 9, Indians 8 In Baltimore, Ryan Flaherty singled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning as Baltimore edged Cleveland. Matt Wieters hit a three-run homer and Xavier Avery went long as the Orioles did enough to beat an Indians team which had a season-high 16 hits.

Chris Davis started the seventh-inning with a two-out single off Joe Smith (5-2). After Wieters walked, Flaherty delivered an RBI single.

Xavier Avery hit his first major league homer in the eighth to make it 9-7. Baltimore’s Matt Lindstrom (1-0) got the last out in the top of the seventh to take the win.

Rays 4, Tigers 2 In St. Petersburg, Florida, Tampa Bay’s Desmond Jennings homered twice to power Tampa Bay past Detroit. Rays starter David Price (11-4) allowed two runs before leaving the game because of what the Rays described as lower back tightness after seven innings. He struck out seven and walked one.

Price has won three straight decisions for Tampa Bay, which ended a four-game skid. Jennings went deep against Justin Verlander (8-5) twice and Ben Zobrist also hit a solo homer off the Tigers starter, who allowed four runs over six innings.

Royals 4, Twins 3 In Minneapolis, Luis Mendoza allowed one run over a career-high eight innings to steer Kansas City past Minnesota and to its fourth straight.

Mendoza (3-4) retired the final 13 batters he faced. He struck out five in his first win since May 13, and first as a starter since April 26. Jonathan Broxton allowed two runs in the ninth, but earned the save.

Salvador Perez homered for the Royals, who are four games under .500 for the first time since April 16. Making his second start of the season, Minnesota’s Brian Duensing (1-4) allowed three runs and was removed after allowing three straight hits to start the fifth.

Red Sox 5, Mariners 0 In Seattle, Aaron Cook pitched a shutout to steer Boston over Seattle. Cook (2-1) walked none and needed just 81 pitches for his third career shutout and 12th complete game. In his previous two starts with the Red Sox this season, Cook failed to make it past five innings. Will Middlebrooks, Cody Ross and Daniel Nava all hit solo homers in the fifth inning for Boston.

The Mariners were shut out for the 10th time this season. Seattle starter Hector Noesi (2-10) became the first pitcher in the majors to reach 10 losses by dropping his seventh straight. — AP

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

American League Eastern Division W L PCT NY Yankees 46 30 .605 42 34 .553 Baltimore Tampa Bay 41 36 .532 Boston 41 36 .532 Toronto 39 38 .506 Central Division Chicago White Sox 42 35 .545 Cleveland 38 38 .500 Detroit 37 40 .481 Kansas City 35 39 .473 Minnesota 30 45 .400 Western Division Texas 49 29 .628 LA Angels 43 34 .558 Oakland 37 41 .474 Seattle 33 46 .418 National League Eastern Division Washington 44 31 .587 NY Mets 42 36 .538 Atlanta 40 36 .526 Miami 36 40 .474 Philadelphia 36 43 .456 Central Division Cincinnati 42 34 .553 Pittsburgh 41 35 .539 St. Louis 40 37 .519 Milwaukee 34 42 .447 Houston 32 45 .416 Chicago Cubs 27 49 .355 Western Division San Francisco 44 34 .564 LA Dodgers 43 35 .551 Arizona 39 37 .513 Colorado 30 46 .395 San Diego 28 50 .359

GB 4 5.5 5.5 7.5

Cubs 4, Astros 0 In Chicago, Paul Maholm pitched into the ninth inning to earn his first win in seven weeks as Chicago downed Houston.

Maholm (5-6) was in command for his 200th major league start, having been 0-4 with a 6.43 ERA over his previous eight outings.

Luis Valbuena hit a two-out solo homer for the Cubs off Bud Norris (5-5) in the second. Steve Clevenger belted a two-run shot in the fourth for his first major league homer, and Alfonso Soriano connected in the sixth.

Rockies 10, Padres 2 In Denver, Jeff Francis pitched six scoreless innings to steer Colorado to a comfortable win over San Diego. Francis (1-1) became the first Rockies starter to win since June 4. Michael Cuddyer and Wilin Rosario each hit two-run homers in the eighth inning to help secure the Rockies’ win. Pitching against his old team, Padres starter Jason Marquis (1-4) held Colorado to two runs through five innings before they scored four in the sixth. — AP

Nationals 5, Braves 4 In Atlanta, Michael Morse had four hits, including the go-ahead homer in the eighth inning as Washington recovered from blowing a four-run lead and edged Atlanta.

The Braves’ four-run seventh inning which erased the Nationals’ 4-0 lead but Morse had a quick answer, hitting the first pitch from Chad Durbin (3-1) over the wall in right field leading off the eighth.

Washington reliver Sean Burnett (1-1) gave up one hit in 1 1-3 scoreless innings.

Pirates 14, Cardinals 5 In St. Louis, Clint Barmes, Alex Presley and Garrett Jones each homered in a four-run sixth inning that powered Pittsburgh to a big win over St. Louis. In a game played in stifling heat, the Pirates notched a season-high 19 hits, including Andrew McCutcheon’s three-run homer off Marc Rzepczynski in the ninth.

St. Louis’ Carlos Beltran got his 2,000th career hit on an RBI single in the third against Kevin Correia (4-6). Barmes and Presley connected to start the sixth and chase Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (6-8).

D’backs 9, Brewers 3 In Milwaukee, Aaron Hill hit for the cycle for the second time in 12 days as Arizona defeated Milwaukee. Hill doubled for his 1,000th career hit in the first, singled in the third and hit a two-run homer in the fourth. All those hits came off Milwaukee starter Randy Wolf (2-6).

Hill tripled in the sixth inning off Livan Hernandez. His head-first slide into third easily beat the relay throw from the outfield.

Brooklyn’s Babe Herman is the only other major leaguer to hit for two cycles in one season since 1900, according to STATS LLC. He accomplished the feat in 1931. Diamondbacks starter Ian Kennedy (6-7) only allowed one run going into the sixth.

Marlins 6, Phillies 2 In Miami, Josh Johnson pitched six strong innings to help Miami win consecutive games for the first time in nearly a month, beating Philadlephia.

Johnson (5-5) allowed one run and struck out six, improving to 5-2 with a 2.91 ERA in his past 10 starts. Justin Ruggiano tied a career high with three hits and drove in two runs for the Marlins.

SAN FRANCISCO: Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake works against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of a baseball game. — AP

Stoner wins Dutch GP ASSEN: Australian Honda rider Casey Stoner won yesterday’s Dutch Moto GP here after a terrific battle with Spain’s Dani Pedrosa, also on a Honda.

Stoner started on pole but soon found himself behind Pedrosa before retaking the lead with nine laps remaining and surging clear to win by a comfortable margin. Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso finished third ahead of Ben Spies, the American who won here last year.

3.5 5 5.5 11 5.5 12 16.5

3.5 4.5 8.5 10 1 2.5 8 10.5 15 1 4 13 16

Amazingly, Phillies ace Cliff Lee (0-5) remains winless this season, having allowed six runs in 4 2-3 innings, falling to 0-2 with a 7.30 ERA in his past four starts.

ASSEN: Casey Stoner of Australia celebrates his victory during the podium ceremony after the MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix. —AP

However the race was overshadowed by an early crash involving Alvaro Bautista and Jorge Lorenzo that forced the world championship leader out of the race and denied him the chance of a fourth successive victory.

Lorenzo was furious after being taken out at turn one and the race direction later launched an investigation into the crash as the Spaniard was forced to watch Stoner join him at the top of the overall standings.

An apologetic Bautista said: “I was behind Dovizioso and I tried to go on his side and I missed the break point. “At the end I arrived so fast into the corner and I tried to stop the bike to stop Lorenzo from dropping out. I’m so sorry for him.”

Stoner, for whom this was a second win in Assen following his success here in 2008, admitted that his strategy of tracking Pedrosa and then pouncing paid off as he went on to win by a margin of almost five seconds.

“I didn’t see the crash (involving Lorenzo), I was just focused on the front,” the 26-year-old Australian told the BBC. “What a difference a day makes. This morning things weren’t looking too good, but the team put a bike under me that was capable of winning. Hats off to the team.

“I decided to follow Dani because I knew we were pulling away from the rest and I needed to save every ounce of energy.” Pedrosa, who moves to within 19 points of Lorenzo and Stoner in the overall standings, was gracious in defeat.

“I think I used a lot of energy in the beginning,” said the Spaniard. “I tried to pull away from Casey but he was very close to me all the time.

“He improved his rhythm. Basically I think he saved some energy driving behind. At the end I had some problems changing direction. I was maybe a little bit tired. I think he saw that and took advantage of it.” Dovizioso said that finishing on the podium was an “unbelievable” feeling, while Spies could also be pleased with what was his best performance of the season so far.

And Cal Crutchlow, who broke and dislocated his left ankle at Silverstone two weeks ago, came in fifth. However, seven riders failed to finish the race despite conditions that were a far cry from the rain that twice interrupted Friday’s qualifying session.

It was also a miserable day for Valentino Rossi, with the Italian seven-time world champion ending up at the back of the field after being forced into the pits to get a new rear tyre with ten laps remaining. — AFP

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

sp orts

Mahan leaves pack behind Tiger claws into contention

ROGERS: Michelle Wie walks off the second green after sinking a putt during the first round of the LPGA NW Arkansas Championship. — AP

Felibert takes Arkansas lead ROGERS: Veronica Felibert left the LPGA Tour event in Canada on Sunday with the intention of trying to qualify Monday for the NW Arkansas Championship.

The rookie from Venezuela and second alternate in the Arkansas tournament later found out she had made the field without needing to qualify.

Felibert made the most of her opportunity Friday, shooting a career-best 6under 65 to take the first-round lead at Pinnacle Countr y Club. The former Southern California player had seven birdies and needed only 27 putts.

The round is Felibert’s best in five official LPGA starts this season, topping her previous best of 71 in the second round of the Mobile Bay Classic in April. She entered this week No. 723 in the world rankings. “I’m enjoying it,” Felibert said.

“It’s like a dream to be on top all the time. It’s my rookie season, and I was trying to just play the best I could and that’s what I’m doing. And as long as I’m enjoying it, I’ll be happy.”

China’s Shanshan Feng, the LPGA Championship winner this month, was a stroke back and also needed only 27 putts. Feng was tied for the lead at 6 under entering the par-5 18th and reached the fringe in two shots, but a poor chip led to a three-putt and a 5under 66.

“I would say my chipping has been not very consistent recently, and I haven’t got a lot of chance to practice,” Feng said. “I would say that one, the green was a little softer than I thought, a little slower going up the hill, and I just didn’t give it enough and then it came back.”

Top-ranked Yani Tseng, the two-time defending champion and a three-time winner this year, opened with a 2-over 73, her fifth straight round over par. No. 2 Stacy Lewis, the former University of Arkansas star who has won twice this year, had a 70.

Felibert was among the early starters,

completing much of her round before temperatures soared into triple digits.

The Venezuelan teed off on the back nine and started quickly, with four birdies in her first seven holes - offsetting her only bogey on the par-4 13th, which played as the toughest hole on the course. She followed that with a near flawless front nine, making birdies on Nos. 2, 4 and 5.

Felibert nearly reached 7 under, but her 15-foot birdie putt on No. 9 - her final hole of the day - just missed to the left.

“I have been working really hard on my putter,” Felibert said. “I just switched a week ago, so this will be my second week with the new putter. I’m feeling pretty confident, and I would say that’s what made the difference.”

Felibert played on the Symetra Tour the last two seasons, also competing in the US Women’s Open in 2010. In her four previous official LPGA events this season, she only made the cut in Mobile where she tied for 70th and won $2,489.

Felibert found out Sunday evening that she had made the 144-player field this week as an alternate thanks to her 144th spot on the priority list - only after the tour’s Hall of Fame player exemptions weren’t used.

She hit 12 of 13 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation on Friday and said her experiences in college and on the Symetra Tour have prepared her to stay near the top on the weekend.

“Maybe I haven’t been in this situation yet on the LPGA, but I’ve played a few good tournaments last year,” Felibert said. “I’m kind of familiar, it’s not like I’m all of the sudden in this position.” Karine Icher, Inbee Park and Mi Jung Hur were two strokes back at 67.

Michelle Wie’s season-long struggles continued Thursday with a 1-over 72. Wie has broken par only three times in 22 rounds this year and has made only one cut. Juli Inkster, making her return to the tour after elbow surgery in January, shot a 7-over 78. —AP

Sun defeat Mystics WASHINGTON: Connecticut’s Asjha Jones tied her season-high with 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Sun cruised to a 77-64 win over the Washington Mystics on Friday, increasing their lead in the WNBA East standings to two games.

Tina Charles added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Connecticut, which never trailed. Monique Currie scored a seasonhigh 21 points for Washington, which lost its fifth straight.

Leading by four at halftime, Connecticut pulled away in third quarter, opening the half with a 12-0 run keyed by five points from Jones.

Mercury 84, Sky 81 In Rosemont, Illinois, DeWanna Bonner scored 27 points as Phoenix held off Chicago. Charde Houston had 16 points for the Mercury, which won despite being limited to just eight active players.

Swin Cash scored 16 points for the Sky, who have lost four straight since the best start in franchise history. Phoenix led by 14 points early in the third quarter, before Chicago chipped away and pulled to 82-81 with 13 seconds to play. Bonner made two free throws 6 seconds later to seal the Mercury’s win.

Dream 102, Shock 92 In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Angel Mc

Asjha Jones in action in this file photo.

Coughtry scored 24 points as Atlanta downed Tulsa and won its third straight.

Armintie Price added 19 for the Dream, which finished with its highest score of the season.

Ivory Latta and Glory Johnson scored 16 points each to lead Tulsa. The Dream led by 24 in the third quarter before the Shock used a 20-7 run to pull to 85-78 with 7:11 to go, but McCoughtry’s 3pointer and then a put back on the next possession pushed the visitors’ lead to 12. — AP

MARYLAND: Tiger Woods clawed his way back into contention at the AT&T National while Hunter Mahan took control with a blistering second round six-under 65 to open a two-shot lead at the Congressional Country Club in Maryland on Friday.

Mahan, who is seven-under 135 overall, captured the WGC Match Play event and Houston Open earlier this year and is seeking to become the first player to register three wins for the season.

Seven birdies and a lone bogey catapulted the American up the leaderboard, two clear of compatriots Robert Garrigus (67) and Jimmy Walker (69), and Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge (69), who are at 137.

Woods is three shots further adrift on two-under.

“I hit a lot of good shots. I hit so many fairways and greens, I made it easy on myself,” Mahan told reporters.

“This is a pretty punishing golf course if you get off line a little bit but I put myself in some great spots to make putts.” Mahan birdied the first but a bogey on the next halted his momentum until he picked up shots on four of his final six holes on the front nine to ensure his went out in 32.

A string of six pars followed before he sandwiched a clutch par save on 17 with birdies on the previous hole and the difficult last to pad his advantage out to two shots. Woods is tied 11th at the halfway mark after a solid three-under 68.

On a scorching day in Bethesda, conditions again proved tough for a majority of the field but Woods remained cool under the pressure, despite likening the layout to that of a major championship.

“It’s playing like a US Open, it really is. It’s quick, it’s dry. You shoot something in the 60s and I think that would have been a good score,” the former world number one said of the difficulty.

“I shot 68 today, which was a very good score. I’m only five back and I’m right there. “I was just trying to stay patient the whole day. That’s why I train, that’s why I run all those miles. If you’re carrying a little bit of body fat, it’s going to be a little insulation out there.

“This is when fitness does help, and I figured that’s one of the reasons why I’ve had the success I’ve had in the elements.” Woods started on the back nine and opened with six straight pars, two of which were impressive saves, before eagling the par-five 16th by sinking a 40-foot putt and celebrating with a trademark fist pump. His excitement was tempered on the first, where he carded a bogey five after twice finding the rough and missing a six-foot par putt.

A birdie putt from a similar distance on the fifth took him back to two under for the day before a pinpoint wedge approach on the eighth to within three feet put him in prime position to mount a weekend charge. — Reuters

BETHESDA: Vijay Singh, of Fiji, reacts after missing a birdie-attempt on the ninth green during the second round of the AT&T National golf tournament. — AP

Hurricanes edge Crusaders CHRISTCHURCH: New All Blacks flyhalf Beauden Barrett kicked a 73rd-minute penalty to secure the fifth lead change of a seesawing match and give the Wellington Hurricanes a 23-22 win over the Canterbury Crusaders in Super 15 rugby yesterday.

Barrett’s opposite, Crusaders flyhalf Tom Taylor, kicked five penalties and a conversion for 17 points to give the Crusaders a 2220 lead with 15 minutes remaining. But Taylor missed his final shot at goal five minutes from fulltime and his replacement, Tyler Bleyendaal, missed a long-range chance in the last minute to allow the Hurricanes to hang on for a crucial win.

Wellington’s ninth win from 15 matches and the reversal of their loss to the Crusaders earlier this season keeps them in the top six and in a close race for the playoffs while Canterbury’s challenge to the Waikato Chiefs for first place in the New Zealand conference suffered a heavy setback.

Hurricanes captain and All Blacks center

Conrad Smith scored two first-half tries and played a heroic role in defense as Wellington turned around their 42-14 first-round loss to the Crusaders to post a rare win in Christchurch.

Smith scored in the 17th and 39th minutes to give the Hurricanes a 17-16 lead at halftime after an evenly contested first half.

Canterbury emerged from the changing rooms determined to take control of the match in the second half and an improved territorial performance allowed Taylor to kick penalties that gave them a 22-17 lead after 55 minutes.

But Barrett, who made an outstanding All Blacks debut in last weekend’s third test against Ireland, kicked penalties in the 65th and 73rd minutes to wrest back the lead for Wellington at 23-22. Taylor then missed his final attempt, finishing with a 6-9 goalkicking record on the night, and Bleyendall missed a last-gasp attempt from halfway just as the fulltime siren sounded.

“It is pretty pleasing to see this after they

put 40 points on us and hurt us pretty badly up home (earlier in the season),” Smith said.

“To come out and win down here, this team keeps going from strength to strength and it’s great to see.”

Wellington came off a three-week layoff for the All Blacks’ mid-year tests against Ireland determined to sustain its challenge for a playoff place. They played courageously, never allowing the Crusaders more than the six-point lead they held after winger Zac Guildford’s first-half try.

The Crusaders were without internationals Dan Carter, Kieran Read and Israel Dagg who all suffered injuries during New Zealand’s series against Ireland.

“I think we probably played at the wrong end of the field for a while,” Crusaders captain Richie McCaw said. “We made mistakes, especially in that first half, particularly in our 22 and critically after we scored. It was just one of those games when we did some good things and we also did some dumb things.” — AP

Brumbies fend off Force PERTH: The AC T Brumbies rocked the Western Force with four first-half tries before clinging on for a 28-17 victory yesterday to move back ahead of the Queensland Reds in the race for the Australian Super Rugby conference title.

The Reds had pulled level with the Brumbies with a win in Melbourne on Friday but the Canberra-based side secured the allimportant bonus point before halftime and held off a spirited Force fightback in the second period.

The Force had been hoping to give lock Wallabies Nathan Sharpe a winning farewell in his final home match before retirement but a brace of tries from winger Nick Cummins and another from lock Toby Lynn proved too little, too late.

“I thought the way we played in the first half is what we’re capable of and we’ve just got to make sure we do it more often,” Brumbies skipper Ben Mowen said in a pitchside interview.

“We take away five points from Perth, which is not easy to do, and we move on to the next one.” Brumbies winger Jesse Mogg opened the scoring after only two minutes, fending off Force skipper David Pocock and rounding the last defender to score in the corner. Prop Ben Alexander was the next to cross nine minutes later when he bulldozed through the Force defence and when flyhalf Zack Holmes converted the Brumbies were 12-0 ahead.

Pocock’s customary fine work at the breakdown stymied a couple of Brumbies attacks but winger Henry Speight dived across the line in the 29th minute and Holmes added the fourth after cutting through the home defence with a neat sidestep.

The Force came out firing after turning around 22-0 down and started to throw the ball around to great effect with Cummins fin-

Nick Cummins

ishing well for tries in the same corner in the 43rd and 51st minutes.

Holmes notched his first penalty after 56 minutes but the Force were not done yet and Lynn forced his way over after a textbook catch and drive from a line-out with 12 minutes remaining.

All the momentum and most of the possession was with the Force in the last quarter and the visitors breathed a sigh of relief when

Holmes slotted his second penalty in the 72nd minute to stretch the lead to 11 points.

“It’s a bit disappointing to send Sharpie off with this result,” said Pocock. “But I’m proud of the resolve we showed in the second half.”

The Brumbies make the comparatively short trip to Sydney to face the New South Wales Waratahs next weekend before their final regular season match at home to the Auckland Blues. — Reuters

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

sp orts

The Globe will be where the world’s athletes hang out LONDON OLYMPIC VILLAGE: The world’s athletes will be thronging the London Olympic Village in a few weeks’ time and ‘The Globe’ will be there to greet them.

Forget William Shakespeare, and the bard’s thatched riverside theatre of that name, and think Party Central instead albeit a quieter, more considerate and neighbor—friendly one than most social hubs. This will be a place to celebrate victories, savor golden moments, drown sorrows and escape from the nightmare of sweaty roommates once the Games start on July 27. The Village ‘pub’ and club, with 10 pool tables, a bookable private cinema, bar, stage, computer gaming area and garden among its many attractions, The Globe was rocking on Friday night as Games organisers LOCOG tested the facilities for the first time.

Music pounded out across the evening air amid a hubbub of excited chatter as overnight guests, invited for what LOCOG chief executive Paul

Deighton dubbed the “first Olympic sleepover”, made the most of a free bar.

“Don’t get too comfortable, this place is popular,” declared a sign on the walls.

That will soon be even more the case, when up to 16,000 athletes and officials from more than 200 nations take up residence, but it will also be a lot less raucous. The bar will be alcohol-free, for a start, and noise levels will be monitored carefully.

For those fed up with living within elbow-scraping reach of one another most of the apartments in the 11 blocks are two beds to a room - it could be a refuge or just a place to make new friends.

“We wanted to have a space where they could come, have a game of pool, watch a film,” said Emily Brett, the athlete services manager. “This is for their enjoyment, we don’t want this to be a hub of noise.” The Olympic Village in Stratford, the east London one and not Shakespeare’s, cost 1.1 billion pounds

($1.73 billion) of public funds to build and is divided into ‘Countryside’, ‘Seaside’ and ‘Heritage’ zones. It is adjacent to the Olympic Park. “We always promised them they would be competitors not commuters,” Deighton told Reuters.

“We’ve been able to pay attention to the fine details and really look at the experience through the eyes of competing athletes. “When the athletes arrive, I think they’ll be really happy with what they find.”

There are sculptures and ornaments dotted around the park, a Truce Wall is going up and an ‘eco-awareness sustainability pod’. There will be karaoke and rockaoke - karaoke with a live band - in The Globe but no comedy acts due to language barriers.

A multi-faith centre will be created and there will be places in the Village Plaza for athletes to get fingernails painted in national colors, to have Olympic rings shaved on heads or buy flowers and get clothes dry cleaned. The 24-hour

dining area has 5,000 seats in an area big enough to park 880 double-decker buses, with LOCOG describing it as the world’s largest peace-time facility of its kind. By the end of the Games, it will have served an estimated 1.2 million meals and munched through 25,000 loaves of bread, 75,000 litres of milk and 2.7 million bananas.

There is halal food, cuisine from around the world and a ‘Best of Britain’ central area whose offerings include brown sauce and English mustard.

“We’ve all lived in villages and had good experiences and bad experiences,” triple jump gold medallist and LOCOG Athletes Committee chair Jonathan Edwards told Reuters, outlining the three core requirements: “It’s a good night’s sleep, the food that you want to eat, when you want to eat it and also the transport system.”

In Sydney, returning to the village in the early hours after countless media interviews following his success, the one

thing he had craved was an ice cream.

There were none.

Edwards has helped with the mattress specification and advised on everything from food to the blackout curtains in every bedroom.

The apartments are light, functional and airy with wi-fi, beanbags and television. There are no kitchens, which will be installed after the Games when the village is sold to form a new East Village community. And then there is the bed, decked out with a duvet carrying the words “excellence, friendship and respect” and decorated with sporting symbols. If it is good enough for Usain Bolt then it was certainly good enough for me, a reporter who can spend longer groping for his reading glasses on waking up than the towering Jamaican takes to run 100 metres.Who knows who the next occupant will be? I may not have the stuff of an Olympic gold medallist, but I have tried the mattress. I have slept in the bed of champions.—Reuters

Hafeez century gives Pakistan strong start SAN JOSE: Alexander Naddour competes on the parallel bars during the preliminary round of the men’s Olympic gymnastics trials.—AP

Wieber in charge at US gymnastics trials SAN JOSE: World all-around champion Jordyn Wieber lived up to her top billing by taking control with her customary power and consistency on the first day of women’s competition at the U.S. Olympic trials on Friday.

The petite 16-year-old, who claimed her second consecutive US all-around title earlier this month, kept her closest challenger, Gabrielle Douglas, at bay with a strong performance in her final routine of the night. Despite coming agonisingly close to stepping out of bounds on the floor exercise, Wieber delivered an otherwise superb display for a score of 15.400 in front of a near-capacity crowd of 12,220 at the HP Pavilion.

She ended her high-octane routine with a double twisting, double back mount as the fans erupted with ear-splitting applause.

That gave Wieber an overall total of 61.700 to head the standings in the two-day competition with Douglas second on 61.400 and Alexandra Raisman third on 60.300.

“Overall everything went pretty well today,” Wieber told reporters. “My main goal was just to come in and be confident and hit four strong routines and I feel like I did that.

“There were definitely some areas I want to improve on though. On beam. I had a few missed connections and some wobbles here and there. I know that routine has a lot more potential.”

Douglas, nicknamed the ‘Flying Squirrel’ due to her astonishing ability on the uneven bars, made an error on her favourite apparatus when she stalled on a pirouette but she somehow held on to the bar before earning 15.250.

Though she recovered well in the later routines, even she was surprised by how she managed to avert falling off in her first event of the evening.

“I just like stopped in mid-air,” said the bubbly Douglas, who finished second behind Wieber in the US all-around earlier this month. “And I’m like, ‘Come on, I’m still going to do this. “Man, I

was using every single muscle. I was like trying to pull my feet and then I made it and I was like, ‘Whoo! The routine is not over yet. There are five more skills.’ I just pulled it out of nowhere.”

With five spots on offer this week for the London Games, Kyla Price was fourth overall on 59.600 with Kyla Ross fifth on 59.400.

The winner of the women’s all-around competition will earn automatic Olympic selection and, for the first time since 2000, the rest of the team will be decided after the second day of competition today. Wieber, who was perhaps the only gymnast of the 14 who did not succumb to nerves on Friday, has all but sewn up the sole guaranteed spot.

“It definitely gives me a little confidence but at the same time knowing I still have another whole day of competition... I have to keep the focus going and try to improve on Sunday,” she said.

Douglas, widely touted as Wieber’s likeliest challenger for the all-around crown at the London Games, was also in upbeat mood.

“I am just feeling very confident,” said the 16year-old. “I obviously made a couple of mistakes here and there but we’re human and that’s what training is for.

“So I am going into tomorrow really strong and I’ll just polish up my skills. I do want the top spot very badly, but I’m trying not to think about being first.” Nastia Liukin, who won the 2008 Olympic all-around title, endured a difficult evening after earning just 14.050 from her first routine on uneven bars when she stalled on a handstand with her legs folding over.

Though she did not fall off, she lost momentum and crashed to the mat on her backside with her dismount. “Of course I didn’t have the best routines but I proved to myself that anything is possible,” said Liukin, who finished the opening day 13th in the overall standings.

“Whether or not it is my last competition, I’m just excited to be here.”—Reuters

Phelps and Lochte set up another showdown OMAHA: Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte set up one last clash before the London Olympics when they booked their places in the final of the 200 metres individual medley at the US trials on Friday. The pair, who split the 400 medley and 200 freestyle finals, set up a deciding third race late yesterday when they registered the fastest two times in the semis.

Racing in adjacent lanes, Lochte got his hand on the wall first in a time of one minute 55.51 seconds with Phelps easing up on the last lap to take second in 1:56.66.

“Tonight it was just about getting a lane in the final, but tomorrow’s going to be a dogfight,” said Lochte, who posted the fastest qualifying time in the 200m backstroke semis less than an hour before squaring off with Phelps.

Lochte has already qualified for two individual events and has the chance to add two more on Saturday, which would give him a total of five in London with the addition of the 4x200m freestyle relay. Phelps has already qualified for three individual events and in addition to the 200m medley he also has the 100m butterfly to come. The 14-time Olympic gold medallist will be an automatic selection in the three relays.

Nathan Adrian clinched his place in the team for London when he won the men’s 100m freestyle final in 48.10 seconds, ahead of Cullen Jones, Matt Grevers and Ricky Berens, who all made the 4x100m freestyle relay. Jason Lezak, the 36-yearold whose stunning anchor leg in Beijing was pivotal in Phelps getting his eight gold medals, finished sixth to force his way into the relay squad.

Lezak only got into the final when Lochte pulled out to conserve his energy for the back-

stroke and medley semis.

The US automatically picks the top six for the relays but can use a maximum of eight swimmers, four in the heats and four in the finals, from anyone on the team.

“It was a big race for me, I trained four years for this,” Lezak said. “It’s a pretty good accomplishment to get in there. Even though it’s sixth place, still made the team.

Natalie Coughlin and Amanda Beard, two of the stalwarts of the American’s women’s team, were both clinging to the hope they could also sneak on the team with one event left each.

Beard, bidding for a fifth Olympics, needs to finish first or second in Saturday’s 200m breaststroke final. She qualified fifth.

Coughlin qualified seventh fastest for the 100m freestyle final and needs to finish in the top six to make her third Olympics. “Life will go on. That’s why you don’t see me freaking out,” Coughlin said. “This meet is kind of a horrible meet. It’s super exciting for the people making the team, but there is so much stress and anxiety in the air.” Scott Weltz and Clark Burckle qualified for their first Olympics when they finished onetwo in the men’s 200 breaststroke final.

Seventh after the first lap, Weltz stormed home on the last length to win in 2:09.01 with Burckle (2:09.97) holding off cancer survivor Eric Shanteau and former world record holder Brendan Hansen, who qualified in the 100m breaststroke. “When I turned at the 100, I just said to myself ‘I can do this, I can do this,’ and I didn’t feel a thing after that,” Weltz said.

Cammile Adams won the women’s 200m butterfly final in 2:06.52 with Kathleen Hersey second in 2:07.72.—Reuters

COLOMBO: Mohammad Hafeez overcame his lean start to the tour of Sri Lanka by carving out a career best 172 not out as Pakistan reached an impressive 334 for one wicket at close of play on the first day of the second Test yesterday.

Hafeez, who started off on a cautious note with only 20 runs in the morning, shifted gears in the afternoon to score 80 off 86 balls and reach his century with 12 fours. By the close he had hit 18 fours and one six in his 281-balls innings.

The opener had managed only 105 runs, with a top score of 37, in his nine previous innings for Pakistan, who trail the three-match series 1-0.

Azhar Ali (92 not out) kept Hafeez company, the duo having added 256 runs for the unbroken second wicket after batting through the final two sessions.

Sri Lanka thought they had dismissed Hafeez on 101 in the over before the tea break when the batsman gloved a short delivery from seamer Angelo Mathews to wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene while attempting a pull shot. But umpire Ian Gould ruled it as a no-ball after consulting with the TV umpire. Hafeez also survived a scare on 65 when he lofted off-spinner Suraj Randiv to long off where Nuwan Kulasekera ran back, got both hands to the ball but failed to hold on to the catch.

Hafeez again rode his luck when, at 171 he edged a catch to Prasanna Jayawardene off Herath. Umpire Simon Taufel overruled the appeal although television replays showed an edge.

Earlier, opener Taufeeq Umar (65) hit an aggressive half-century and took the attack to the bowlers after Pakistan were put in to bat on a pitch which offered some help for the seamers.

The left-hander raced away to his half-century off 62 balls with the aid of eight fours and looked good for a hundred before he was out caught behind.

Umar attempted to cut Mathews but clipped a fine edge to wicketkeeper Jayawardene, who was standing up to the stumps.—Reuters

COLOMBO: Pakistan’s batsmen Mohammad Hafeez hits a ball as Sri Lankan wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardene (right) looks on during the first day’s play of the second Test. —AP

SCOREBOARD COLOMBO: Scoreboard at close on the first day of the second test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan yesterday: Pakistan first innings Mohammad Hafeez not out 172 Umar c P.Jayawardene b Mathews 65 Azhar Ali not out 92 Extras: (lb-3, nb-2) 5 Total: (one wicket, 90 overs) 334 Fall of wickets: 1-78.

Still to bat: Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Abdur Rehman, Aizaz

Cheema, Junaid Khan.

Bowling: Kulasekera 20-4-60-0, Mathews 121-45-1 (nb-1), Pradeep 13-3-52-0 (nb-1), Randiv 20-0-83-0, Herath 24-3-82-0, Dilshan 10-9-0.

Sri Lanka: T.Dilshan, T.Paranavitana, K.Sangakkara, M.Jayawardene (captain), T.Samaraweera, A.Mathews, P.Jayawardene, N.Kulasekara, R.Herath, N.Pradeep, S.Randiv.

Dillon rides to Nationwide victory SPARTA: Austin Dillon lived up to the legend of the No. 3 car, then had his victory called into question Friday night. No one had regularly driven the No. 3 car since Dale Earnhardt’s death on the track at the 2001 Daytona 500. On a warm night in the Bluegrass state, Dillon routed the field, only to have the car fail its postrace inspection.

Dillon took the lead early and was on top for 192 of the 200 laps to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway. “I love running the 3,” Dillon said. “It pressures me every week to give 110 (percent).” Roughly an hour after the trip to victory lane, the No. 3 failed the inspection for being too low in the rear. NASCAR announced it would issue a ruling early next week. Reached at the garage, Dillon’s crew chief, Danny Stockman, wiped sweat from his forehead as he left a meeting with officials. “We’ve had an issue before. We addressed it in a meeting,” Stockman said. “It should have been addressed. That’s the only comment I’ve got.”

A similar situation took place earlier this season at Iowa where a car also failed a postrace inspection. The crew chief was fined $10,000 and six points were subtracted from the team.

The No. 3, of course, was driven to fame by Earnhardt, who raced for the Richard Childress team. Childress is Dillon’s grandfather and also his team owner.

As Dillon was clinching the win, his grandfather said over the radio, “Dale would have been proud of that.” He added, “I couldn’t be prouder as a grandfather

and a team owner. I know Dale’s looking down smiling to see that 3 win tonight.”

It was the first Nationwide victory for Dillon, a rookie who captured the Truck Series title a year ago. “It takes a little off your back when you get that first win,” Dillon said with a broad smile while wearing a white cowboy hat with his black - what else? driving suit.

Dillon had asked to drive the No. 3 car, which has made it’s only appearances since Earnhardt’s death with Dillon behind the wheel in the Truck Series - and with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in three other races, including a victor y at Daytona in the Nationwide event two years ago.

Dillon has marked himself as one of the fastest rising drivers in the sport. Childress was careful in his reply when asked if he might ever back another team in the

Sprint Cup - the big leagues of stock car racing - in car No. 3.

“I don’t plan on running the 3.

Dale made that stylized 3 famous,” he said. Then, with a grin, he added, “We don’t have any intention of running that (stylized 3) in the Cup. That leaves an opening, doesn’t it?”

Dillon, a 22-year-old native of Lewisville, N.C., also tentatively took over the series lead with the victory. He came into the night just a point back of leader Elliott Sadler after seven top-five finishes: five fifths and two fourths.

Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch was a distant second, 9.828 seconds back. Third went to another Cup driver and the No. 2 qualifier, Kevin Harvick, who was followed

by Michael Annett and Justin Allgaier.

“Austin Dillon, he was just in his own zip code,” Busch said.

“Congratulations to him. It’s been

SPARTA: Austin Dillon does a burnout after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Kentucky Speedway.—AP

nice to see him develop.” Busch said he thought he had a car that could run down the pole-sitter, but that charge never materialized.

“He was just too strong tonight,” Busch said. “He just had that car dialed in. There was nothing we could do.” Harvick, who took over Earnhardt’s Sprint Cup ride after Earnhardt’s death, said he admired what he had seen out of the young Dillon.

“I’m proud to see Austin and those guys get their first win,” he said. “He works hard to make himself better and he’s a good kid.”

Asked what he thought of seeing the No. 3 car returning to victory lane, Harvick said, “I’m sure it’s important to Richard and his family. Richard started with the 3.

He and Dale had a lot of success with the 3. So I’m sure it’s important to them.”

The race was contested in ideal conditions after gusting winds earlier delayed qualifying for the Cup Series. Rounding out the top 10 were Sam Hornish Jr., Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Sadler and James Buescher, who won the Truck Series race on Thursday night. Keselowski won the Nationwide event a year ago in Kentucky.

The tributes to Dillon came from all quarters after the race. “I envy his first win,” said Danica Patrick, who finished 12th.

Childress beamed as he spoke of his relationship with Earnhardt and what might be for his grandson.

“Austin has come so far,” he said. “To watch him tonight, he’s so patient. You’d think he’s been racing a long time.”—AP

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

S P ORT S

Today’s Match on TV UEFA European Championship Final

18

Italy v Spain 21:45

Al-Jazeera Sport 1 HD Al-Jazeera Sport +9 Al-Jazeera Sport +10 Al-Jazeera Sport 2 HD Al-Jazeera Sport - Euro

Balotelli challenging minds with his feet KIEV: The ignoramus who scrawled “non sei un vero italiano, sei un africano nero” — “You are not a true Italian, you are a black African” — on a wall near the San Siro stadium in Milan. Did he, despite himself, leap off his sofa in delight when Mario Balotelli thumped home his goal for Italy with a powerful nod of his shaven black head and put their country into the final of Europe’s top football tournament? One hopes so.

And the hooligans in Rome who hurled a bunch of bananas into a bar where Balotelli and other young Italy players were relaxing a few summers back, prompting the owner to call the police. Did they, despite themselves, yell with joy as Balotelli celebrated his second goal against Germany in the semifinal, tearing off his blue Italy jersey to proudly show off his black torso of muscles and sinews ridged like thick rope? Again, one hopes so.

And the idiots — here at the Euros and back in Italy — who have booed and howled like apes at Balotelli because he is black. Did they, despite themselves, feel twinges of shame and were they moved when his adoptive mother cradled her boy in a long, tight hug after the game of his life, her white hand lovingly stroking the back of his neck and his Mohicanstyle strip of dyed-blonde hair?

Please, yes, one truly hopes so. One of the great virtues of sport has always been that it creates heroes who change the way people think or expose those who refuse to. With their exploits, their activism or both, Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius, Aborigine Olympic champion Cathy Freeman and other sports pioneers too numerous to name have rubbed the noses of bigots, sexists, homophobes and the otherwise smallminded in the dirt of their own ugliness, silencing some of them and enlightening others.

Balotelli, with his brilliance on the field and his dignity and good humor off it, is now doing that, too, by shining like no one else at the European Championship that has focused attention on the racism that still blights the continent’s favorite sport, and which climaxes Sunday with the final between Italy and Spain.

The role is not one Balotelli has lobbied for, wholeheartedly embraced or even is naturally suited for.

For starters, he’s young, just 21. Before this tournament, where he has impressed with his cool and earnestness, he often made news more for his immaturity than with his play.

Notable examples were when he tossed a dart in the direction of another player at Manchester City, his club in England, or when two fire trucks were called last October to his home south of Manchester to douse a blaze he said was caused by friends setting off fireworks in his bathroom.

Before these Euros, France Football magazine asked Balotelli about the thrown bananas in Rome in 2009. His response showed how deeply he has been hurt by abuse he’s endured since he first made his mark on football at Inter Milan but also perhaps suggested that he remains vulnerable to hot-tempered excesses and still has some growing up to do.

“I hope it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “If someone throws bananas at me in the street, I will go to prison because I will kill them.”

Balotelli’s life story is complicated, through no fault of his own. He was born in Sicily, to parents who emigrated there from Ghana. He was gravely ill as a baby, with a malformation of the intestine that required repeated surgeries, and spent months in hospital.

“I’ve had a lot of luck,” he told France Football of that period of his life. “We are all destructible. But me, I’m difficult to destroy.”

When he was 2 1/2 years old, a court — acting upon a petition from social services — assigned Mario to a foster family. Silvia and Franco Balotelli and their children - Corrado, Giovanni and sister Cristina, all much older than him — “looked after little Mario with all the love of a parent, brother or sister,” his website says.

When he turned 18, Mario formally applied to

Italy’s Mario Balotelli become the Balotellis’ adopted son, according to the sister.

He told France Football he does sometimes speak to his birth parents. Tournament organizers UEFA said before Euro 2012 he would have their name, Barwuah, on his Italy shirt, along

with Balotelli. But, for reasons unclear, that hasn’t happened.

Immigration is a relatively new phenomenon in Italy, which has struggled to accept and adapt to some of the changes brought by people from Africa, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe who came to do jobs that affluent Italians now reject - like picking crops, laying bricks or caring for the elderly.

Tens of thousands of kids, like Balotelli, who were born there of non-Italian parents must wait until they are 18 before they can claim citizenship. That, essentially, gives the impression they are second-class Italians, and it riled Balotelli.

“I’m very attached to my Italian passport. I should have gotten it straight away and not waited for my 18th birthday,” he told France Football.

But Balotelli’s exploits in football, a sport that ignites passions and admiration like no other in Italy, have fueled appeals for change, including from Giorgio Napolitano, the country’s president. Receiving the Italy squad last November, he called immigrants “the lifeblood for our country” and said their Italy-born children “feel completely Italian and they should be given citizenship as soon as possible.”

That moved Balotelli to tears. “It touched me. That’s my story,” he said. Again on Saturday, the eve of the final, the speaker of Parliament’s lower Chamber of Deputies, center-right leader Gianfranco Fini, appealed for reform, invoking Balotelli’s example in calling the children of immigrants “not a problem but a resource.”

But Premier Mario Monti is entirely focused on salvaging Italy’s stricken economy and says the citizenship question is a political issue that is not in the remit of his government to solve.

Previous calls also got nowhere, hitting a wall of opposition from the anti-immigrant Northern

Blanc leaves French hotseat PARIS: Laurent Blanc will not renew his contract as coach of France he and the French Football Federation (FFF) confirmed yesterday.

The 46-year-old said in a statement sent to AFP that he and the FFF president Noel Le Graet had not been able to reach an agreement on a new two year contract which would have come into force yesterday when his former one ran out. “During our discussions on June 28 (with Le Graet), we were unable to find common ground on the management of the French team for the next two seasons,” said Blanc, who ironically had rejected Le Graet’s suggestion to give him a four year contract in 2010 saying it was premature.

“Under these conditions and after reflecting on the matter, I could not but confirm to him, on this day Saturday June 30, my decision not to ask for my contract to be renewed by the FFF.” Blanc, who took over from the muchmaligned Raymond Domenech after the 2010 World Cup debacle, had achieved the minimum target set for Euro 2012 in reaching the quarterfinals where they bowed out 2-0 to defending champions Spain.

However, much of the credit he had accrued during his two-year tenure including a 23 match unbeaten run - which included a draw and a win in their first two group games in Ukraine - and his restoring of the shattered image of the French squad thanks to the events in 2010 disappeared by the end of the tournament.

The unbeaten run ended with a 2-0 defeat by already eliminated Sweden in their final group game and this sparked dressing-room discord with several players arguing among

themselves while Blanc and Hatem Ben Arfa had a lively row. This reawakened for some players like veteran Florent Malouda the demons of 2010 though the ramifications were nothing like as catastrophic.

By finishing second to England in the group it meant they had to face Spain the other

French football head coach Laurent Blanc option as it turns out would not have been any easier as runners-up in Spain’s group Italy have reached the final as well - and duly bowed out tamely with Blanc being criticised for selecting an overly defensive line-up.

The post-match outburst by volatile forward Samir Nasri ended the campaign on the worst possible note for the coach given the headlines that ensued. Rene Girard, coach of French champions Montpellier and assistant

to Roger Lemerre when France won the Euro 2000 title, said it was a pity Blanc had left but added he wasn’t too surprised. “He was not able to get the answers he wanted vis-a-vis the World Cup,” said Girard.

“Other possibilities are that a club offered him something and he took stock of the present squad who perhaps will struggle to achieve anything, and that it would be tough to transform them into winners.”

Blanc had held talks with Le Graet, who was not one of his biggest supporters in the first place, on Thursday and emerged saying they had gone well but that both parties needed 48 hours to reflect on their positions.

Bones of contention for Le Graet were largely based on what he saw as extravagant expenditure such as the 22-person backroom staff. Ominously one source close to the talks told AFP at the time: “Blanc wanted to hear ‘I am eager to work with you’ but this phrase was not uttered.”

As for successors the name of former Lyon, Rangers and Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen has been mentioned as has that of Blanc’s World Cup and Euro winning skipper Didier Deschamps, who is presently negotiating his departure from Marseille.

However, Deschamps would not come cheaply and like Blanc is represented by a bete noir of Le Graet’s Jean-Pierre Bernes, who also represents several of the players much to the annoyance of the Federation president.

France’s first 2014 World Cup qualifier is on September 7 against Finland in a group that also contains Spain while they have a friendly against Copa America champions Uruguay on August 15 at Le Havre. —AFP

League party that helped keep Monti’s predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, in power.

Still, Balotelli’s performances are focusing minds against racial intolerance. UEFA has fined Spain and Croatia a total of ?100,000 ($125,000) after their fans chanted abuse and monkey noises at him at these Euros.

Italy’s leading sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, also apologized after some readers protested about a cartoon that depicted Balotelli as King Kong. Even a Northern League lawmaker, Mario Borghezio, on Saturday hailed Balotelli as a northern Italian “with dark skin. And that’s absolutely fine with me.”

“Whether the racists like it or not, the joy that exploded the other night in the piazzas for the fantastic goals of our black son swept away, for a magic moment, decades of stereotypes,” Gian Antonio Stella, who chronicles Italian society, wrote in the daily Corriere della Sera, under the front-page headline, “Mario and the pride of the new Italians.”

Balotelli has not spoken at these Euros about the racism he has faced. But the image of him clenching his muscles like a bodybuilder, black and beautiful for all to see, after his second goal sank Germany seemed to speak volumes. The referee, as football’s rules demand, showed Balotelli a yellow card for going shirtless, but he was unapologetic. “If anyone is angry for my celebration, it’s because they saw my physique and they’re jealous,” he said.

With another goal today, Balotelli would become the top scorer of Euro 2012. His sister is flying to Kiev to join the rest of the Balotelli family. The eyes of the world will be on him challenging and hopefully sweeping away ignorance with his feats and feet. —AP

Brazil or bust for Loew?

WARSAW: With a contract until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, coach Joachim Loew has said Germany has a bright future despite their Euro 2012 semi-final exit at the hands of Italy.

German fans may need more convincing after the Azzurri left Germany’s European ambitions in tatters in Warsaw on Thursday as striker Mario Balotelli tore up the form book with two first-half goals to seal a 2-1 victory.

It means that by the time they go to Brazil provided they qualify - it will be 18 years since they won a trophy - the Euro ‘96 title.

Germany’s 15-match winning run in competitive matches was halted by Italy as midfield stars such as Mesut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger found themselves over-shadowed by Italy’s Andrea Pirlo and Riccardo Montolivo. “I have to say we’ve had two great years,” said Loew. “The team has really developed well and we have won 15 games in a row.

“We lost against an incredibly strong Italian team, so there’s not any reason to have any doubts creep in here.”

Having hammered England and Argentina en route to finishing third at the 2010 World Cup, the script was seemingly written for Loew’s team to take the next step and confirm their status as pre-tournament favourites by winning the Kiev final. With 57 wins, 13 draws and now 13 defeats from his 83 games in charge, Loew has an enviable record, but pressure remains on the 52-year-old to convert Germany’s undeniable potential into final success on the world stage.

While reaching the semi-finals for the fourth consecutive time at a major tournament is no mean achievement, Germany’s mission had always been to bring the Henri Delaunay trophy back to Berlin and Loew’s young team came up

short when it mattered most.

Qualification for the 2014 World Cup starts in September and after six years in the job, this is arguably Loew’s last chance to land a major crown. After convincing wins over Portugal, Holland, Denmark and Greece there were some positive points at Euro 2012. Borussia

Germany head coach Joachim Loew Dortmund-bound Marco Reus has confirmed he is one of Germany’s rising stars, while Jerome Boateng has made the right-back berth his own.

With an average age of just over 25, Germany had the youngest team of the 16 at Euro 2012, both Dortmund stars Reus and Bayern Munich’s Boateng will only be 25 at the next World Cup. —AFP

Spain against Italy: previous encounters KIEV: Over the years there has been little to separate Spain and Italy, who will contest the final of Euro 2012 today at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium.

Since a 0-0 draw in their first meeting in March 1924, there have been seven wins for Spain, eight victories for Italy, and 10 draws, including the 1-1 stalemate between the sides in their opening Group C match on June 10. AFP Sport looks back at some of the more recent encounters between the countries.

July 9, 1994 ITALY 2 SPAIN 1 (1994 World Cup quarter-finals) Roberto Baggio’s 88th-minute winner took Italy into the semi-finals at the 1994 World Cup, after Dino Baggio’s 25-yard strike in the first half had been cancelled out by Spain’s Jose Luis Caminero.

The match is perhaps best remembered for the moment late in the game when Italy ’s Mauro Tassotti swung his elbow into Luis Enrique’s face, breaking the Spaniard’s nose and later earning the perpetrator an eight-game ban.

Italy beat Bulgaria 2-1 in the last four before facing Brazil in the final, when their hopes of a fourth

World Cup crown were dashed by Roberto Baggio’s ballooned spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out.

March 26, 2008 SPAIN 1 ITALY 0 (friendly) A stunning left-foot volley from David Villa gave Spain victory in a pre-Euro 2008 friendly match in the Spanish town of Elche.

The Valencia striker fired a sumptuous volley into the top right-hand corner of Gianluigi Buffon’s goal in the 77th minute after Fabio Cannavaro had headed away a long ball.

Italy had their moments, with Luca Toni having a goal ruled out for offside in the first half and Mauro Camoranesi hitting the bar in the second, but it was Spain who prevailed to extend their unbeaten run to 14 matches.

June 22, 2008 ITALY 0 SPAIN 0 (Spain win 4-2 on penalties; 2008 European Championship quarter-finals) A turning point in the history of the Spanish national side, as Luis Aragones’ men secured a victo-

ry that gave them the belief to establish themselves as the world’s top national team.

A tight game at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium went to extra time and penalties, and after Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas denied Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale, Cesc Fabregas stepped up to put Spain in the semi-finals.

“This is an important victory for this young side,” said the Arsenal midfielder. “We have been waiting for this for a long time.” One week later, Spain beat Germany 1-0 in the same stadium to claim their first European Championship title since 1964.

August 10, 2011 ITALY 2 SPAIN 1 (friendly) Alberto Aquilani’s late goal in Bari gave Italy a 21 victory over the side who had succeeded them as world champions 13 months earlier.

Riccardo Montolivo rewarded Italy’s purposeful start to the game by putting the hosts ahead in the 11th minute, but Xabi Alonso replied from the penalty spot after Giorgio Chiellini was penalised for a foul on Fernando Llorente.

Aquilani claimed the winner with six minutes

remaining, his shot deflecting off Raul Albiol to wrong-foot Spain goalkeeper Victor Valdes, as Italy recorded their first win over La Roja in 17 years.

June 10, 2012 SPAIN 1 ITALY 1 (2012 European Championship group stage) The sides last met three weeks ago in their opening Group C match in the Polish city of Gdansk, which witnessed tactical innovations from both teams. While Spain coach Vicente del Bosque deployed Fabregas as a ‘false nine’ at the tip of a fluid 4-3-3 system, his Italy counterpart Cesare Prandelli lined his team up in an experimental 3-52 formation.“We were surprised (that Spain played with no recognised strikers),” said Prandelli. “But we decided to keep our system because we hurt Spain on the flanks.”

Di Natale put Italy ahead in the 61st minute, racing onto Andrea Pirlo’s pass before neatly beating Casillas, but Fabregas earned Spain a share of the spoils by equalising just three minutes later. —AFP

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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SPORTS

Spain: No regrets for not eliminating Italy KIEV: Two weeks ago, long before either team had earned a spot in the final, Spain had a chance to eliminate Italy from the European Championship.

In the final round of group matches, Spain played Croatia knowing that a 2-2 draw would send both teams to the quarterfinals - and send Italy home early for the third straight time at a major championship. It didn’t happen, and now it is Italy that will be trying to stop Spain from winning its third straight major championship on Sunday at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium.

“We’ll never regret not having drawn with Croatia to eliminate Italy,” Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said. “That wouldn’t have been good for the sport.”

The Italians will head into Sunday’s match as an unexpected finalist but looking very much like the kind of team that can finally knock Spain off its perch at the top of the football world.

In their opening Group C match, Italy held the defending champions to a 1-1 draw. Antonio Di Natale scored first, but Cesc Fabregas equalized in a game in which the Azzurri looked more similar to Spain than to the stereotype of a defensive Italian team.

“Italy and ourselves have come through a similar route and now we have to reach the maximum level that a final will require,” Del Bosque said. “In the group stage match, they were possibly better than us in the first half. They were the team that caused us the most problems.” Even if the route was similar, Italy’s path may have been more impressive.

They played needing a win against Ireland, at the same time that Spain turned in a 1-0 victory over the Croats on June 18, putting both through. The Italians then

struggled to finish against England in the quarterfinals but still advanced by winning a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw.

It wasn’t until the semifinals against Germany that Italy really showed its strength, controlling play throughout the match and holding on to beat the threetime champions 2-1 with two goals from striker Mario Balotelli.

“I am convinced that a team needs to have a specific system and style of play. He was part of this strategy,” Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said of Balotelli. “He made lots of forward runs, he was a target up front when we had to counterattack, and therefore he played a great match.”

The Spanish had less trouble against France in the quarterfinals, but their finishing then seemed to go fishing for the semifinal match against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal. Spain needed penalties to get through that one.

“Sure, our attack may not have been as aesthetically pleasing to watch as we would have liked, but we were always in control of all of our matches,” Del Bosque said. So heading into today’s match, it’s the Italians who are scoring more goals, leaving the Spanish to worry about the back line when the superstar midfield loses the ball. If the superstar midfield, which has been the key to Spain’s titles at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, does lose the ball. “(Our defensive) work has been fundamental to our game plan, especially in the last few games where our back line was always there when it needed to be,” Spain defender Sergio Ramos said. “We’re proud that our work is being valued and hopefully we don’t concede a goal in the final because that would be the ultimate compliment to our work.”—AP

KIEV: This combination of two recent pictures show Italian head coach Cesare Prandelli (left) and Spanish head coach Vicente Del Bosque.—AFP

Cool Prandelli to attack cautious Del Bosque KIEV: There are many similarities between the two coaches Cesare Prandelli and Vicente Del Bosque in the Euro 2012 final between Italy and Spain.

Both are quietly spoken and understated individuals who lack the brash confidence of Jose Mourinho or the dominant personality of Sir Alex Ferguson.

In contrast to that pair, they both had highly successful playing careers at the biggest and best teams in their respective countries. Prandelli spent six years at Juventus, winning three Serie A titles and the European Cup. Del Bosque spent the majority of his career with Real Madrid, winning the La Liga title five times, as well as four Spanish Cups.

But although each one played in the best domestic team of their generation, neither was a star in those outfits. Del Bosque was a defensive midfielder and although he played 18 times for Spain, he was by no means a household name outside his country.

Prandelli wasn’t good enough to play for Italy and he wasn’t always a first choice starter at Juve. But their modest roles at the top of their sport has meant that both are comfortable operating at the highest level yet humble enough not to actively seek the limelight.

Such an approach allows their players to take centre stage and feel important, all the while knowing that behind the scenes there is an astute tactician advising them.

But when it comes to tactics their differences are more pronounced. Prandelli may

come from the home of the door-bolt “catenaccio” system but he is a modern, attacking coach who believes in taking risks. His preferred system involves one or two deep-lying forwards with midfielders breaking beyond them and revolves around the brilliance of Andrea Pirlo to ping passes all over the pitch. When Prandelli played Giuseppe Rossi up front with Antonio Cassano, he relied much more on the midfield runners, but now that Mario Balotelli is in the side, the coach looks to his brazen, young talent to stretch the opposition by getting in behind them.

Prandelli regularly says his team must take risks and try to win games and there is no hint about settling for a 1-0 or, worse still, a 0-0 draw. He is also flexible and tried a 3-5-2 system for the first two group games here, with wing-backs who ran themselves into the ground and a libero in Daniele De Rossi who could push up into midfield.

A big similarity between his style and Del Bosque’s is the emphasis on midfield possession. That is where Spain, like Barcelona, are the undisputed kings of football. But unlike the Catalan giants, Del Bosque uses two defensive midfielders with Xavi, who likes to drop deep, sitting just in front of them. It means most of Spain’s possession lies at the feet of the back four and three central midfielders.

The number of goals they score or chances they create is relatively small in comparison to the amount of time they spend on the ball.—AFP

Iniesta keeps fighting the good fight KIEV: Amid all the surprising criticism that they have attracted during Euro 2012, finalists Spain can at least reflect happily on the universal admiration shown for Andres Iniesta.

In a team of compulsive passers, Iniesta is the one player who can be relied upon to provide the dribble or the sudden forward dash that can tear opposition defences asunder.

A shimmying, shimmering presence in the group phase, the Barcelona midfielder has been slightly less influential during the knockout rounds, but he remains Spain’s most consistent attacking midfielder.

In the quarter-final against France, it was his carefully delayed pass to Jordi Alba in the 19th minute that allowed the marauding left-back to deliver the cross from which Xabi Alonso put Spain ahead.

On Wednesday, against Portugal, Iniesta was the player who came closest to breaking the deadlock, with a close-range effort in extra time that forced goalkeeper Rui Patricio into serious action for the first time in the game.

Iniesta it was as well who steadied the reigning champions’ nerves in the ensuing penalty shoot-out, calmly tucking the ball past Patricio to put Spain 1-0 up after Xabi Alonso had failed with his first attempt.

“He’s had a difficult season with injuries, but he seems to be getting better and better with each match,” says Cesc Fabregas, Iniesta’s team-mate at both club and international level.

“He’s creative, he gives us something different, and he helps us drive the ball forwards. He takes responsibility during matches and the team looks to him because of that.”—AFP

KIEV: Giant pictures of a Spanish (left) and an Italian supporter (right) are set next to a poster bearing a photo of the Henri Delaunay trophy on a facade of the Olympic stadium, on the eve of the Euro 2012 football championships final.—AFP

Europe’s aristocrats clash in Kiev finale KIEV: Soccer’s aristocrats will compete for the continent’s crown yesterday when Spain seek to extend their domination of Europe against a revitalised Italy who threaten to end their reign.

Between them Spain and Italy have produced 25 European champions at club level but this will be the first time their national teams have met for the European Championship.

Few would question their places in the final have been earned. “The winners will be deserving champions,” said Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas. “I think we’ve been the two most consistent teams at the tournament.” Italy are four-times World Cup winners, most recently in 2006, while Spain are aiming for a unique achievement of three consecutive major titles following their wins at Euro 2008 and the World Cup two years ago.

While Vicente Del Bosque’s success with Spain has been built on a water-tight defence and impressive possession football, Italy have reached the final thanks to positive, dynamic play and a potent attack led by the temperamental talent of Mario Balotelli which saw them upset Germany in the semi-finals.

Spain’s, short passing ‘Tiki Taka’ method has brought remarkable results - no European team since West Germany in the early 1970’s have reached the final of three major tournaments in a row.

But the ‘Spanish era’ will in many ways be defined by how they cope with a surprisingly exciting Italian team today.

An unprecedented third title, with powerhouses Germany and the Netherlands having already been dispatched in finals, would secure Spain’s place among the greatest teams of all time.

But a defeat, at the end of a tournament in which they have rarely managed to raise the pulses of fans, would lead to a more modest evaluation of La Roja’s place in the game’s hierarchy. The teams arrive

in the Ukrainian capital in differing moods. While Spain scraped into the final via a penalty shootout win over Portugal after they were held to a 0-0 draw after extra-time, Italy are on a high after their surprise 2-1 victory over a highly-fancied Germany.

Following their European and World Cup successes, Spain have more experience at this level and more quality on paper but they have looked a little jaded and their Del Bosque acknowledged fatigue was an issue.

“The players are tired. We’re at breaking point. But they are used to

tions after their dreadful early exit from the World Cup in South Africa and some patchy pre-tournament displays. But coach Cesare Prandelli has managed to do what every national team coach hopes for in the short timeframe of tournament football - develop a club team spirit.

The two teams met in the group stage with the game ending 1-1 after Fabregas cancelled out Antonio Di Natale’s opener.

“We haven’t to be afraid of them,” said Prandelli noting his team was stronger than they were for the opener in Gdansk. “We have improved, both physically and psy-

es with Spain frequently playing without a recognised striker while Italy have a classic centre-forward in the form of Balotelli supported by the impish Antonio Cassano. With poacher Di Natale likely to start on the bench, the Azzurri have plenty of firepower which they will need against a team that have not conceded a goal in their last nine knockout stage games in the World Cup and European Championship.

Allied to that stingy defence, Spain so often control the midfield thanks to the majestic Xabi Alonso and Xavi but they will be up against one of the masters in the centre of

KIEV: This combination of two recent pictures show Italian forward Mario Balotelli (left) and Spanish forward Fernando Torres celebrating after scoring.—AFP this all season and I hope they get in shape for the final,” he said.

After an energetic display against Germany, the Italy have some recovery of their own to do, with one day less rest than Spain but their mood is one of exhilaration after Balotelli’s double earned them a place in the final that few predicted. The Italians came into the tournament with few expecta-

chologically”. While Spain’s superb passing ability frequently leads to games where they dominate possession, Portugal showed in the semi-final that hard pressing can knock them off their rhythm. Italy did exactly that against Germany and are unlikely to sit back and let the Spaniards dictate the tempo.

The final also provides an interesting contrast in tactical approach-

the park in Italy’s Andrea Pirlo.

“We have to try neutralise their midfield as Pirlo is the player that always takes control of the match,” said Fabregas.

Italy last won the European Championship in 1968 while Spain are looking for their third Euro title, following their first success in 1964, to add to their solitary World Cup.—Reuters

Platini ‘proud’ of trouble-free Euro KIEV: UEFA president Michel Platini has expressed pride and satisfaction over the organisation of Euro 2012, ahead of today’s final in Kiev between Italy and holders Spain.

Build-up to the tournament was dogged by concerns over the readiness of Poland and Ukraine to co-host the competition, with particular anxiety expressed over Ukraine’s infrastructure and the threat of fan violence.

However, apart from skirmishes between Russia and Poland fans prior to a group match in Warsaw and isolated incidents of racial abuse from supporters, the tournament has largely avoided controversy.

“The overwhelming feeling I have today is pride,” Platini told journalists at a press conference in Kiev yesterday. “Pride for Poland and Ukraine, so often decried but who proved they were up to the task by putting on such a great tournament. And pride for the people of Poland and Ukraine, who were such wonderful hosts.

“Good luck, France (hosts of the European Championship in 2016), because the bar has been set very high.” Platini also expressed satisfaction with the extra goal-line referees, despite a high-profile blunder in Ukraine’s 1-0 loss to England, when Marko Devic was denied a goal despite the ball clearly crossing the line.

“I know you will focus on the mistake, but the five-man refereeing system has been tested in over 1,000 matches without a single error,” said the former France international.

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino

revealed that the organisation’s executive committee have decided to officially recommend the adoption of the system, but it faces competition.

Rule-makers the International FA Board (IFAB) are scheduled to rule on goal-line technology

UEFA President Michel Platini trials in Zurich next week and Platini reiterated his opposition to the initiative.

“I am wholly against technology. But it’s not goal-line technology-I’m against technology coming into football to decide matches,” he said. “If tomorrow (in the final), someone stops the ball on the line with his hand, and the referee doesn’t see it, two days later people will say that we need sensors to see if someone’s handled the ball.

“In the match between England and Ukraine, there was a goal. It was a mistake; the referee didn’t see it. But it was already offside, so do we

need technology for offsides too?”

Concerning the fears of racism, Platini said the experiences of fans and journalists in Poland and Ukraine spoke for themselves.

“Everyone who was here to see can say that there have practically been no cases of racism in Poland and Ukraine,” he said.

“Journalists can bear witness to this and the national associations of Poland and Ukraine can testify to this. “Racism exists everywhere-in Ukraine, Poland, France, England-but we need to fight it. The European Championship will not change the world, but if we can help, we will.”

UEFA’s anti-racism stance appeared to be undermined, however, by an apparent inconsistency in fines issued for inappropriate behavior.

Croatian fans were fined 80,000 euros (£100,000) for racially abusing Italy striker Mario Balotelli, but Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner received a 100,000 euros ($126,000) fine for displaying a sponsor’s logo on his underpants.

Platini was asked to justify the disparity, but said the decision was nothing to do with him.

“You should ask the disciplinary commission, who are independent and who took the decision themselves,” he said. “I can do lots of things at UEFA but I can’t interfere with their decisions.

I can’t say anything.” The Frenchman, a European champion with France in 1984, also made a shock announcement that UEFA’s executive committee was considering a proposal for the 2020 European Championship to be hosted in cities right across the continent.—AFP

Balotelli challenging minds with his feet

Hafeez century gives Pakistan strong start

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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Europe’s aristocrats clash in Kiev finale

Page 19

WIMBLEDON: Serena Williams of the United States reacts after winning against Zheng Jie of China during a third round women’s singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships.—AP

Serena soars as Rosol falls LONDON: Serena Williams fired down a Wimbledon record 23 aces, Yaroslava Shvedova blitzed through a record 24 consecutive points and Lukas Rosol was heading back to a life of anonymity as the All England Club ushered in the AN — after Nadal — era yesterday.

Two days after brazen Czech Rosol turned tennis’s world order on its head by bludgeoning Rafa Nadal out of Wimbledon, four-times women’s champion Williams was in danger of falling through the same trap door. The American’s serve was on fire and she was never broken but she was lucky to escape unscathed as she subdued Zheng Jie’s charge with a 6-7 6-2 9-7 third-round win.

It was little wonder that Williams arched backwards to let out an almighty roar of relief after punching away a backhand volley on her third match point to complete a 6-7 6-2 9-7 win in just under 2-1/2 hours on a blustery and baking hot Centre Court. It was the same arena that Rosol had found to his liking on Thursday as his fero-

cious forehands and atomic aces destroyed Nadal’s title hopes. But 48 hours later, Rosol will be hoping he does not end up being a one-hit wonder as he headed back into obscurity after a less than spectacular 6-2 6-3 7-6 Court 12 drubbing at the hands of Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.

While Rosol will now have plenty of time to reply to the 150-odd text messages he received within minutes of jettisoning Nadal, Kohlschreiber was thanking his lucky stars for not having to face the Spanish world number two.

“I’m very happy that I’m not playing against Rafael Nadal, that’s for sure. If I would have gone into the match against Nadal, there would have been a 90 percent chances I would lose. Today was more 50/50,” the 27th seed said after reaching the last 16 here for the first time.

“If you play in the last 16 and you’re not facing Federer, Nadal, Murray, the big guys, it’s a great chance to reach the quarter-finals, for sure.”

Kazakhstan’s Shvedova will be looking to reach her second successive grand slam quarter-final when she takes on Williams on Monday but it is unlikely she will repeat the kind of run she enjoyed on day six of the grasscourt championships. The 24-year-old wildcard left French Open runner-up Sara Errani red-faced by becoming the first player to win a set in a grand slam tournament without conceding a point.

The first set disappeared in a 15-minute blur as Shvedova won 24 consecutive points - known as a golden set - on court three. Tenth seed Errani fought back in the second but was powerless to stop Shvedova wrapping up a 6-0 6-4 victory.

Williams, for one, was bemused by Shvedova’s achievement. “Hopefully I’ll be able to win a point in the set (on Monday),” she grinned.

“I never knew that (golden set) existed. I was like ‘What does that mean’? I immediately thought, she won all four in a row and the Olympics? I thought that wasn’t possible. That’s

the only golden thing I know of.”

Williams will be shooting for two gold medals when Wimbledon hosts the Olympic tennis event next month, but on Saturday her immediate concern was how to see off 2008 semi-finalist Zheng.

She survived all six break points she faced, served three times to stay in the match, was stretched to deuce in the final game and as soon as she had hit the winning point, she leapt up in jubilation before deafening the fans with her mighty war cry. Joining the 13-times grand slam champion in the second week were title holder Petra Kvitova, Australian Open victor Victoria Azarenka and former French Open champions Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone.

Kvitova walloped American Varvara Lepchenko 6-1 6-0, second seed Azarenka eased past Slovakian Jana Cepelova 6-3 6-3 and Schiavone thumped Czech Klara Zakopalova 6-0 6-4.

Andy Roddick’s chances of winning that elusive Wimbledon crown faded further into the sun-

Blake shocks Bolt in 100m

Cancellara powers into yellow jersey LIEGE: Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland won the race-opening prologue of the Tour de France here yesterday to claim the first leader’s yellow jersey of the 99th edition.

RadioShack rider Cancellara, who clocked a winning time of 7min 13.46sec for the 6.4km course, repeated his feat of 2004 on an almost identical course in the centre of Liege to boost what has been a disastrous season.

“It’s great. I’m really proud to have won here today eight years after my first Tour victory in Liege,” said Cancellara, who now has four prologue victories in the race.

“It hasn’t been the best season for me, but this really helps make amends. “You can’t ask for a better start. I left everything out on the road today and am very proud of what I’ve achieved.”

Britain’s Bradley Wiggins (Sky), the favourite for overall victory, was second at 7sec, less than half a second ahead of Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel of Omega-Pharma. “I’m really happy, the legs felt good and I stayed calm and relaxed,” said Wiggins.

“It’s a good start and the main thing was to stay upright, safe and trouble-free - it’s nice to get this first day out of the way. “Fair play to Fabian, he’s the best in the world at what he does and I think he proved

that again today.” Although only a short time trial, some yellow jersey contenders as well as a handful of outsiders hoping to challenge for the race’s big prize were left counting their gains and losses.

Defending yellow jersey champion Cadel Evans of Australia was last off the ramp and limited his losses on Wiggins by finishing 13th at 17sec behind Cancellara and 10 behind Wiggins.

“It was not good, but not bad,” said Evans, a two-time runner-up who in 2011 became the first Australian to win the race. “Of course I’d rather concede less seconds, you never want to lose time. “ There’s only one GC (general classification) rider ahead of me, but I was half expecting that with Wiggins, with his background in very short, flat efforts. “It’s 6.4 km out of 3500, so in that regard it’s a small comparison. The real racing starts tomorrow.”

Any disappointment from the BMC camp on Evans’ performance will be balanced out by Tejay Van Garderen’s promising fourth-place finish, at 10sec behind Cancellara.

The American, who is set to be one of Evan’s main helpers in the mountains, pulled on the white jersey for the best placed rider aged 25 and under.

Italian Vincenzo Nibali, considered by many as the man most likely

set when he was comprehensively outplayed in a 2-6 7-6 6-4 6-3 defeat by seventh seed David Ferrer.

Three times runner-up, Roddick has now failed to reach week two for the second year running and with his 30th birthday just a few weeks away, the resigned look on his face at the end of the match suggested that even he knew that his time was up. In stark contrast, fellow American Brian Baker has been providing the feel-good factor in the men’s game this week. The 27-year-old qualifier showed that it is never too late to mount a career comeback as he fought his way into the last 16 with a 6-4 4-6 6-1 6-3 win over Benoit Paire.

Baker’s tennis adventure seemed all but over in 2005 but after undergoing five reconstructive elbow operations he has slowly but surely been making his way back into the grand slam fold.

He began the year ranked 458th, arrived at Wimbledon as the world number 126 and is now expected to break into the top 80.—Reuters

LIEGE: A combo picture (shows from top, left to right) a face-painted Belgian fan, France’s Bradley Wiggins competing, Australia’s Cadel Evans competing and prologue’s winner, Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara, celebrating on the podium with his overall leader’s yellow jersey at the end of the 6,4 km individual time-trial and prologue of the 2012 Tour de France cycling race.—AFP to threaten Wiggins and Evans, did well to finish 14th just 11sec behind the Londoner and 1sec behind Evans.

Some outsiders, however, have already lost precious time.

Luxembourg’s Frank Schleck, who finished third overall last year, finished 135th at 38sec behind teammate Cancellara.

Movistar’s contender Alejandro Valverde of Spain, who is hoping for a podium spot, finished at 35sec.

Others who had been hoping to grab victory and start the race Sunday wearing the fabled yellow jersey suffered misfortune.

Slovakia’s Peter Sagan, heralded as a big challenger to Cancellara, did not get the start he expected and

lost more time when his foot came out of his pedal cleat as he negotiated a left hand bend.

The Slovakian eventually finished 52nd at 24sec behind. Germany’s Tony Martin, who succeeded Cancellara as world time trial champion in 2011, was firing on all cylinders until he suffered a puncture which probably cost him the yellow jersey.

He ended up finishing 44th at just 23sec behind the Swiss winner. “I was on a good time, but after my puncture I had to change bike. Without that I would have had an even better time,” said the Omega-Pharma rider.

“I’m disappointed, of course. I’ve been planning for this for a long time.”—AFP

KINGSTON: Yohan Blake delivered a shock that will be felt all the way to London by exploding past world record holder Usain Bolt to claim a stunning 100 metres victory at the Jamaican Olympic trials on Friday.

The showdown between triple Olympic champion Bolt and world champion Blake lived up to its billing as the highlight of the four-day meeting as ‘The Beast’ roared home in a dazzling 9.75 seconds, a personal best and fastest in the world this year.

The time also made Blake the fourth fastest man of all time behind Bolt (9.58), American Tyson Gay (9.69) and Asafa Powell (9.72).

“No pressure at all... everything is good. I’m just fortunate,” Blake said after eclipsing his personal best of 9.82. “I’m the national champion of Jamaica now, I go into the Olympics like this.”

Bolt, who was unable to reel in his training partner, settled for second in 9.86 followed by former world record holder Powell in 9.88.

All three men qualified for the Jamaican Olympic team and will line up against a formidable American contingent at the London Games starting on July 27.

There will be no rest for Bolt and Blake, however, who will return to the track on Saturday looking for a spot in the 200m. “We are right where we want to be going into London,” Glen Mills, who coaches both Blake and Bolt, told Reuters.

“We just want to keep them healthy. The strategy, we didn’t send him (Blake) to Europe and he is in far better shape than Bolt at this time.

“We have four weeks (until the Olympics) and we will take it in stride. We know what to do, so we’ll get there. “Bolt is a tough cookie and I think he will survive.”

The men were not the only ones delivering excitement as women’s 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce provided some magic of her own by blazing to victory in 10.70 seconds, equaling the seventh fastest time in

Yohan Blake the event. Only Americans Florence GriffithJoyner, Carmelita Jeter and Marion Jones have run faster. Veronica Campbell-Brown, a double Olympic gold medalist in the 200m, was a distant second in 10.82 with Kerron Stewart third on 10.94.

“I set a national record tonight and there is nothing else I could ask for,” Fraser-Pryce said.

“I’m looking forward to the Olympics and defending my championship. It has been in the works. My coach said I could break the record and I did it.

“I worked really hard for this. I am not afraid of anybody.” The Bolt-Blake showdown left a capacity crowd that included Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller on the edge of their seats with the high-speed drama building steadily throughout a calm, muggy evening.

The semi-finals got the vuvuzelas blowing and drums pounding before Fraser-Pryce set the stage for the evening finale with her electrifying run.

The race marked the first meeting between the training partners since last year’s world championships when Blake claimed Bolt’s crown after the latter was disqualified from the final for a false start.

There were no such gifts on offer on Friday but Blake showed the Daegu win was no fluke when he exploded from the blocks and could not be caught.—Reuters

Britain orders review of interbank lending rates Page 22

German parliament okays euro crisis-fighting tools Page 23

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

KSE bearish amid cautious trading Page 24

Sony unveils summer 2012 line-up of VAIO notebooks Page 25

BRUSSELS: European Central Bank President Mario Draghi (center) speaks with journalists in the main press room at an EU Summit in Brussels on Friday. Japan faces the same risks that plague financially-embattled European states, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda warned yesterday.—AP

Japan faces same risks as Europe: PM Noda pushes divisive tax bill to cut debt TOKYO: Japan faces the same risks that plague f i n a n c i a l l y - e m b a t t l e d Eu ro p e a n s t a te s, Pr i m e Minister Yoshihiko Noda warned yesterday, days after he pushed through a divisive tax bill to chip away at the country’s mountainous debt.

Noda’s statement comes a day after leaders from the 17 countries sharing the euro struck a deal to direct emergency measures at Italy and Spain and boost the ailing economy. “Countries like Italy and Spain have made desperate efforts” towards financial recovery, Noda said.

“But once markets start looking into a country’s fiscal condition and considers its government has no ability to enforce disciplined management, what would happen? We need to think about it very hard.” he told a forum in Tokyo.

The European accord paves the way for the eurozone’s 500-billion-euro ($630 billion) bailout fund to recapitalize ailing banks directly, without passing through national budgets and adding to struggling countries’ debt mountains. The euro-zone bailout funds would be used to stabilize markets by buying countries’ bonds to drive down high borrowing costs that in recent weeks have crippled Spain and Italy.

Japan also has accumulated a huge public debt, which at more than double the GDP, is proportionately the world’s largest, and Noda has warned that the future of the world’s third-largest economy rests on tackling it. Noda, who has staked his premiership on a tax rise widely believed to be a sensible way for Japan to begin plugging its fiscal hole, on Tuesday

Iran calls for extraordinary OPEC meeting TEHRAN: Sanctions-hit Iran yesterday called for OPEC to hold an extraordinary meeting to rein in output going over its agreed total quota because oil prices have dipped to a “critical level” under $100 a barrel.

“We have asked the secretary general to set up an extraordinary meeting as prices have become irrational,” Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi was quoted as saying on his ministry’s official news website Shana.

He stressed that the last Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting, on June 14, had decided the cartel’s overall quota would be 30 million barrels but “members’ production has reached 33 million barrels a day.” OPEC had agreed that “when the prices go below $100 a barrel, they have reached a critical level,” and therefore an extraordinary meeting was needed before the next scheduled OPEC meeting in December, he said.

Iran is suffering under tightened Western sanctions aimed at severely restricting its all-important oil exports. Those sanctions will get tougher from today, when an EU oil embargo-which will also block most insurance for tankers carrying Iranian oil anywhere in the world-comes into full effect.

Tehran had been banking on the sanctions to cause oil prices to spike higher, off-setting their impact. But quota-busting production by OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, coupled with the European Union’s debt woes and slowing growth in China have tilted the global oil supply-and-demand balance out of its favor.

Iran, along with Venezuela, an OPEC member that is also strongly anti-US, are pushing within OPEC for production to be cut to boost prices.

The price of Brent crude, a reference on the market, slipped from a four-year high of $128 a barrel in early March to less than $100 a barrel. On Friday, Brent North Sea oil for August delivery was selling for $97.80 a barrel-a big jump over previous days’ trading but still under the $100-a-barrel target set by OPEC. The price issue has exacerbated tensions in OPEC between top producer Saudi Arabia and Iran, the second-biggest producer. The two countries are also vying to grab the seat of the cartel’s secretary-general after the current holder of the post, Abdullah El-Badri of Libya, steps down this year.

Ecuador and Iraq have also put forward candidates for the job, which is to be decided in OPEC’s December meeting. —AFP

passed legislation to double consumption tax in the powerful lower chamber.

“Japan is now hanging on the edge of whether it can grab the chance of being a role model in the world by overcoming this challenge or becoming a Far Eastern state without vigor, where many old people live,” he said. Opponents of the planned tax rise from the current five percent to 10 percent by 2 0 1 5 , i n c l u d i n g a s i z a b l e re b e l l i o n i n h i s ow n Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), say any increase in household bills would derail Japan’s uncertain economic recovery.

The bill will now go to the upper house where it is expected to pass after deals Noda reached with opposition parties to navigate a chamber his party does not control. — AFP

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda

India’s monsoon picks up after slow start

Cyrus Mistry

Tata says successor has ability to ‘face challenges’ MUMBAI: Indian business icon Ratan Tata says his appointed successor, Cyrus Mistry, has the capacity and ability to lead the automobile-to-software group in the years to come.

Mistry, an existing director, was named last November to take over from Tata at the end of 2012, ending years of speculation over the future leader of one of India’s biggest and most influential groups.

“Cyrus has the capacity and the ability to lead this group in the years to come and face the challenges,” Tata told the annual meeting of Tata Consultancy Services, India’s leading outsourcer and one of the group’s crown jewels. “In my view, Cyrus embraces all the ethical values on which the Tata Group is built,” Tata added late Friday.

Tata retires at the end of December when he turns 75, making way for the much younger Mistry, who turns 44 in July. Tata, a trained architect and leading public figure from the minority Parsi religious group in India, had stipulated that his successor must uphold the company’s tradition of corporate responsibility. Asked by shareholders why he did not give them a special bonus as a parting gift, the industrialist replied: “You can remember me for being stingy!”

Tata, a bachelor with no children, took over the family business in 1991 and is credited with building it into an international behemoth. Mistry, an engineer with half a dozen years experience in Tata, is related to Tata by marriage. Tata won headlines as the driving force behind the creation of the Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest “people’s” car as well for the purchase in 2008 of luxury British cars Jaguar and Land Rover. — AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s crucial monsoon rains should pick up this month after a slow start over vast swathes of the country, which has threatened crops from rice to sugar, forecasters said.

Some 26 out of India’s 36 weather zones received “deficient” or “scanty” rains in the past week from the monsoon which typically sweeps the subcontinent from June to September, according to the weather office’s website on Saturday.

“The monsoon rains are expected to pick up in the latter half of next week,” Swati Basu, acting Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), told the semi-official news agency Press Trust of India late on Friday.

Basu forecast good rains this month which along with August are key months for planting and when India usually receives the maximum amount of rain. For the past week, monsoon rains were 18 percent below average while for June as a whole they have been 23 percent below average-fanning worried murmurs about a repeat of a drought that devastated Indian farmers in 2009.

“ The monsoon has definitely started off on a sour note,” economist Indranil Pan from the Indian investment house Kotak said in a note to clients.

The monsoon is dubbed an “economic lifeline” in the country of 1.2 billion people that is one of the world’s leading producers of rice, sugar, wheat and cotton.

India’s 235 million farmers still rely on the erratic rains to soak around 60 percent of the country’s farmland-despite calls for the government to improve irrigation and water-har vesting methods to ensure more stable crop output. The rains have been abundant in India’s northeast where raging floods have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee homes but weak in the vital northwestern grain bowl and oil seed-growing central regions.

“Meteorological conditions indicate an increase in rainfall activity over east, central and also over northwest India” in coming days, said the weather office forecast.

But still, authorities have told India’s 29 states to draft plans to shift from thirsty crops such as rice and sugarcane to others such as

beans and wheat which require less water if the monsoon does not become stronger by mid-July. The uncertain start to the rainy season means more worries for the beleaguered Congress government, already buffeted by corruption scandals and an economy growing at its slowest pace in nine years.

The monsoon season “will be crucial given the existing challenges to the economy,” said Kotak’s Pan. Farming’s contribution to India’s gross domestic product has fallen from 50 percent in the 1950s to around 15 percent. But it remains vital to the economy by supporting 700 million rural Indians and fuels demand for everything from TVs and refrigerators to motorcycles and gold. India this month said it would maintain its forecast for an average monsoon.

But the meteorological department was spectacularly wrong in its forecast in 2009 when it predicted a normal monsoon and the country suffered its worst drought in 37 years.

The drought sent food prices rocketing, causing huge hardship for the country’s hundreds of millions of poor. —AFP

Germany denies talk of Greece euro exit KREFELD, Germany: A deputy German Finance Minister dismissed a magazine report saying Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had told conservative members of parliament on Friday to prepare for a looming Greek bankruptcy and euro-zone exit.

‘This report is nonsense,’ Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter told Reuters on Saturday on the sidelines of a regional meeting of Christian Democrats in the western town of Krefeld.

Kampeter said that Schaeuble had spoken to the conservative MPs on Friday about the need for the austerity and reform measures in Greece to be implemented. German newsweekly Focus reported that Schaeuble had told MPs in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the sister party, Christian Social Union (CSU), to get ready for Greece leaving the euro zone and a Greek state bankruptcy.

The magazine said in an advance

of a report in its Monday edition that Schaeuble was talking to the MPs about the further development of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund. He said that an aspect that would be necessary was to have a setup for state bankruptcies.

Focus said that participants of the meeting heard Schaeuble say that in the view of many experts Greece would not make it ‘without an external devaluation.’— Reuters

22

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

BUSINESS

Staying relevant in the workplace

Britain orders review of interbank lending rates

Bayt.com weekly report

By Lama Ataya hat does “staying relevant” mean? In these days of outsourcing, cost-cutting and continuous radical shifts in the ways companies produce, communicate, interact and source candidates, it is crucial you remain attuned to demands, trends and developments in the marketplace and fine-tune your qualifications and skill-set accordingly and fast enough. The career experts at the Middle East’s #1 job site, Bayt.com, have some simple pointers to help you formulate a framework for this: 1.Understand the dynamics of the industry you operate in: Myopia serves no one. If you are too busy poring over spreadsheets day in and day out, as you have done for years, you may miss out on the fact that competitor companies have largely outsourced a key segment of their CRM systems for example, or imported new CRM systems that are far more efficient, or completely redefined standards and parameters for measurement and monitoring. Keep your eyes and ears open to developments both in your company and out so you are in the best position to understand if your own modus operandi is optimal and sustainable. Try to always understand the big picture not just your own particular set of tasks as the latter may be defined and redefined by factors that may be outside your control. Remember it’s not just about competency, it’s about optimal performance and purely “competent” players are always in danger of being outshone and even rendered redundant by professionals who have maximized efficiency, optimized performance and somehow carved a niche by raising, or better still, redefining the bar.

2. Be a lifelong learner: According to a Q2 2011 Bayt.com study, 30.5% of the MENA region’s respondents claim the willingness to learn is the most imperative quality required to succeed in one’s career. Seek to embrace learning in all its dimensions and embrace it as a lifestyle.

Learn by seeing, by doing, by reading, by taking physical and online courses, by asking questions and talking to people, by experimenting and innovating, learn by whatever means are at your disposal and in whatever learning method you prefer. Aim to stay ahead of the literature in your industry and pick up books that motivate and inspire you and benefit you in your overall career and general well-being.

3. Be flexible: Don’t be afraid of implementing what you learn and experimenting with new ideas. At a minimum you should improve your productivity and performance. Even better would be if you can truly innovate. Innovation requires firstly the willpower, courage and flexibility to try new things, secondly, the knowledge, research and analysis to adapt the experimentation to the needs of the marketplace plus the company’s own objectives, and finally the professionalism, energy and communication skills to get internal and external buy-in for the change. Seismic shifts in the way companies do business, partial-

W

Justice minister calls for banker prosecutions

ly attributable to advances in information technology (and the increased sharing and connectivity this has enabled), have brought home the need to innovate or to very quickly adapt to innovations in the industry effected by others, or else risk being rendered obsolete. As Ketan J Patel notes in his book ‘ The Master Strategist’: “To win in the field is inferior to transforming the field. Which is inferior to moving to a better field. Which is inferior to not being in the field”.

4. Work on your public professional brand: If you don’t have a CV and/or a public profile parked on your region’s leading jobsite you may be missing out on key opportunities. Remember the objective of a public professional brand is to get you noticed by the region’s employers and also by clients and peers, so make sure you choose the best platform to position your personal band and make sure it is truly professional and is always updated. If you are not visible in relevant circles and if your public profile is not accurate and attractive you may well risk not being in the running for top jobs in your industry and other lucrative career opportunities.

5. Network: Yes, we have all repeatedly heard that in today’s career world “who” we know and the quality of our relationships are as important as “what” we know. A Bayt.com online study in Q2 2011 revealed that 78.3% of polled respondents felt that regular networking is extremely vital for enhancing career growth. Try to maintain an active presence in relevant circles whether you are attending industry events, exhibitions, conferences, forums, courses or even socializing with peers in the industry. You will make good friendships, remain top-of-mind in the right groups and also pick up valuable fresh business pointers and insights which should serve you well in your own role.

Networking is a skill like any other and if you are the shy retiring type you need only do a bit of online browsing to pick up some essential tips on effective networking and find a networking style and strategy and comfort level that suits you.

6. Take a regular personal inventory: Take the time to sit back at regular intervals and determine if you are on the right career path and if your professional growth tangent and performance are as they should be. Examine your objectives, priorities, performance, competitiveness, skills, growth and development, relationships and any other variables related to your work life. Adjust your track based on this inventory assessment. If you feel you are at a career deadlock despite following a systematic and disciplined growth and learning programs and despite all measures don’t be afraid to seek professional help and guidance, either from your manager or a mentor. Also take advantage of all tools available to you whether it is self-assessment tests and career articles and guides or sophisticated career mapping, salary benchmarking and CV analysis tools such as those provided online for free by Bayt.com.

LONDON: The British government has ordered an independent review into the workings of interbank lending rates, known as the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR), a spokeswoman for Britain’s Prime Minister said yesterday.

The decision follows news earlier this week that US and British authorities fined Barclays $450 million for manipulating the rate at which banks lend to each other overnight.

More banks are expected to be drawn into the scandal as the investigation continues and the affair has fuelled public outrage at the culture and practices of the banking industry. No further details of the review were available.

Britain’s justice minister called yesterday for criminal prosecutions of bankers and stronger financial regulation after scandals erupted over rate manipulation and mis-selling by major lenders. “We are very bad at prosecuting financial crime in this country,” Justice Secretary Ken Clarke told BBC radio.

“I suspect financial crime is easier to get away with in this country than practically any other sort of crime. “This is still being investigated, no doubt, but once these investigations are complete, if they have committed criminal offences they should be brought to trial.”

Clarke said the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products, which on Friday led to banks including HSBC and Barclays being ordered to compensate businesses, amounted to “obtaining money by deception”. He added that Britain must resist anti-regulation pressure from banks, saying: “Let’s look at regulating stronger the banks as we are already planning to do... It plainly needs a cultural change.”

Clarke joins other heavyweight ministers and the governor of the Bank of England in demanding changes to the operation of the City of London, one of the world’s biggest financial centres, after a dire week. In the most serious blow, Barclays was hit with a record fine after it was found in an investigation by British and US authorities to have tried to manipulate interbank interest rates. Barclays was fined £290 million ($452 million, 362 million euros) while the investigation continues into suspected manipulation by several banks that help set the Libor and Euribor rates-benchmark reference figures compiled from rates that banks pay to each other for loans.

The Libor and Euribor play a major role in international financial markets, and are linked to the level of borrowing costs passed on by banks to businesses and consumers for products such as mortgage loans.

Billions have been wiped off Barclays’ market

value since the Libor scandal emerged, and it has fuelled public ire with an industry already resented for its role in the 2008 financial meltdown and big bonuses paid to top executives.

On Friday, in a separate case, regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said it had reached agreement with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) “to provide appropriate redress” for mis-selling interest rate hedging products.

It said the mis-selling of the specialist insurance had had a “severe effect” on many small and medium-sized businesses, which would be compensated.

Opposition leader Ed Miliband yesterday also called for criminal prosecutions along with a year-long public inquiry and new professional standards board. He accused banks of being “institutionally corrupt”. “There hasn’t been a proper reckoning for what happened in the banking crisis. The bankers told us, ‘It’s all fine, we’ve cleaned everything up’, and I’m afraid that just doesn’t hold water anymore,” Miliband, who leads the Labor party, told the Times newspaper.

“People are sent to prison for nicking £50 worth of goods from the supermarket. If you’ve

got somebody who’s making tens of millions of pounds in what is clearly a corrupt way, (and) then nothing happens, people will think, how is that possible?”

But business minister Vince Cable said such an inquiry would be expensive and long-winded, calling for quicker action to clean up the industry instead. The FSA does not currently have the power to impose criminal prosecutions for manipulating Libor but has said it is in discussions with Britain’s Serious Fraud Office over the case.

Finance minister George Osborne said on Thursday that manipulating Libor may be criminalized, while the law would also be changed to allow prosecution of “the directors of failed banks where there is proven criminal negligence”. The BBC reported yesterday, citing a source in the Conservative Partywhich leads the ruling coalition-that ministers were set to order an independent review into the operation of Libor. A computer problem at RBS, which is majority-owned by the British government after a bailout in the wake of the financial crisis, meanwhile left millions of customers unable to complete transactions for up to four days last week. — Agencies

LITTLE ROCK: A man moves a fuel hose into position to begin loading gasoline into a tanker truck, Friday at a North Little Rock, Arkansas fuel distribution terminal. Oil soared the most in more than three years, on Friday, after European leaders took surprisingly aggressive steps meant to halt a debt crisis that has undermined the regional economy. —AP

Kabul making progress on reforms: IMF WASHINGTON: Afghanistan has made progress on structural reforms despite a difficult environment, the IMF said as it approved the release of $18.2 million in new funds under its loan program.

The International Monetary Fund said Kabul had moved ahead on targets to draft a valueadded tax law, set a strategy to fight economic crimes, and strengthen the central bank’s capitalization framework. The IMF said it was releasing the second tranche of the $133.6 million loan program approved in November even though Kabul had not met a goal on fiscal revenues. “In a very difficult environment, Afghanistan has begun a transition toward greater macroeconomic stability and economic self-reliance,” IMF deputy managing director

Nemat Shafik said.

“The authorities have also reported on asset recovery from Kabul Bank where cash recoveries have increased following a presidential decree,” she added.

“Going forward, the program will continue to focus on safeguarding the financial sector, strengthening economic governance, and moving toward fiscal sustainability. While progress has been made on all these fronts, strong government ownership of the program remains crucial to resist opposition from vested interests.” The original IMF loan was held up for a year as foreign donors and the Fund pressed the government to deal with the massive Kabul Bank scandal, in which nearly one billion dollars were lost in a scheme involving

many powerful Afghan businessmen and officials. The bank, once Afghanistan’s largest, had to be taken over by the central bank in late 2010 amid accusations that powerful former executives siphoned off more than $900 million, some of which was used to buy luxury properties in Dubai.

The approval of the loan program last November opened the door for bilateral donors to begin releasing some $100 million through the World Bank-managed Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund.

Shafik said the Afghan authorities’ development strategy “rests on greater revenue mobilization and sustained strong donor support to meet large spending needs for security and development in the years ahead.” —AP

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

.2740000 .4330000 .3460000 .2880000 .2710000 .2800000 .0040000 .0020000 .0759050 .7395200 .3830000 .0710000 .7249670 .0040000 .0430000

.2830000 .4440000 .3560000 .3010000 .2800000 .2900000 .0070000 .0035000 .0766680 .7469520 .4010000 .0770000 .7322530 .0072000 .0500000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2796000 .2817000 .4343870 .4376490 .3474730 .3522830 .2892910 .2914640 .2723550 .2744010 .0467420 .0470930 .0394700 .0397670 .2814310 .2835450 .0360380 .0363090 .2186250 .2205670 .0035210 .0035470 .0000000 .0049650 .0000000 .0021120 .0000000 .0029890 .0000000 .0034570 .0761540 .0767260 .7419400 .7475120 .0000000 .3984440 .0745800 .0751400 .7265170 .7319730 .0000000 .0067010

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar

SELL CASH 286.000 747.170

SELL DRAFT 289.600 746.900

Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

10 Tola

Sterling Pound US Dollar

3.640 283.900 551.600 45.800 48.800 167.800 48.420 355.000 36.910 5.220 0.032 0.160 0.236 3.660 398.140 0.190 91.580 44.600 4.320 225.600 1.819 48.300 729.780 3.130 6.810 77.710 75.010 221.250 36.280 2.676 443.100 41.600 296.200 4.300 9.200 198.263 76.600 281.300 1.350 GOLD 1,684.610 TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 442.500 280.800

3.430 278.300

223.400 46.351 357.800 36.740 5.055 0.030

397.960 0.189 91.980 3.170 227.100

729.340 2.980 6.690 77.260 74.990 223.430 36.270 2.100 442.500 297.800 4.300 9.100 76.470 280.800

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

SELL DRAFT 283.26 277.39 298.34 355.83 280.25 438.67 3.61 3.428 5.027 2.127 3.155 2.978 76.37 746.22 46.37 399.27 729.38 77.39 74.94

SELL CASH 283.00 277.00 295.00 356.00 281.50 438.00 3.65 3.550 5.200 2.400 3.700 3.200 77.00 746.00 47.75 397.50 732.50 77.75 75.25

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

Selling Rate 280.750 278.155 438.550 351.875 292.990 743.276 76.415 77.060 74.825 395.200 46.304 2.091 5.050 2.976 3.431 6.634 688.675 4.530 8.895 5.910 3.165 88.595

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

280.000 2.969 5.019 2.100 3.429 6.680 76.555 75.035 746.500 46.360 443.300 2.990 1.550 360.600 280.500 3.130

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 280.700 357.600 442.300 278.100 3.575 5.050 46.355 2.110 3.423 6.645 2.970 746.800 76.400 74.900

*Rates are subject to change

23

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

BUSINESS

No alternative to oil for GCC countries KCIC WEEKLY ANALYSIS

By Francisco Quintana he Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have tried to reduce their dependency on oil exports since the 1970s. However, the opposite happened: in the last 20 years their reliance on oil increased, going from 35 to 50% of its GDP. This oil-exports-led model allowed significant increases in life standards, but governments, aware of its unsustainability, embarked on diversification programs in the late 70s. GCC countries invested large sums in the development of energyintensive heavy industry, like Saudi’s SABIC, created in 1976 to process oil related products, or Dubai Aluminum, founded in 1975. Some programs also aimed at the services sector. Bahrain promoted itself as an offshore banking hub from 1975 and Dubai created its free trade zones in the mid 1980s. The experience was partially successful but failed to attract local labor away from the public sector and created some distortions in sectors like real estate

T

due to the rapidity and intensity of the process. A second wave of diversification followed a similar path but tried to increase the involvement of the private sector by improving the business environment (labor market regulation, financial liberalization), and by opening up to foreign direct investment. Some competitive nonoil sectors were created, mostly in Dubai. However, many of the GCC countries are currently moving in the opposite direction, restricting the labor market to force the private sector to hire local workforce which might not be fully suitable in terms of skills or cost, in a desperate attempt to stop the pressure of the wage bill in their fiscal balances.

The graph shows the percentage of GDP coming from oil activities for all GCC countries and the region as a whole. Over the last twenty years, all countries have increased their dependency on oil. Their oil-GDP has grown faster than the non-oil GDP. In some cases, like Kuwait or Qatar, dependency almost doubled, from 30 to close to 60%. The only

regional example of a relatively successful diversification plan which maintained - not reduced - the same level of dependency is the UAE.

ence stems from the fact that it holds almost half of the world’s proven oil reserves. Regional instability could have dire consequences

The GCC has a population of 47 million and a nominal GDP of around $1.5 trillion, similar to the size of Canada. Its geopolitical influ-

on the world’s economy. These countries have chosen an economic and social model in which the authorities transfer to citizens part

of the wealth obtained from oil exports via salaries in the public sector and subsidies. This model has failed to create any competitive sector activity that could drive growth in the absence of a steady inflow of oil revenues. This pattern is not sustainable in the long run for several reasons. First, with the growing level of entitlements for the population, expenditures rise constantly while revenues are volatile. Oil exports account for more than three quarters of government income, as taxation is almost non-existent. Second, all other sources of growth (consumption, government expenditure and, to a lesser extent, private investment) depend on oil revenues.

An extended reduction in these revenues would lead to a collapse of the whole economy. Third, oil generates low levels of employment, and the GCC has a large and rapidly growing pool of unemployed youth that will generate fiscal and social tensions. Fourth, natural resources export-led growth prevents the development of a competitive local

manufacturing sector (the “Dutch disease”). Strong demand for the local currency makes imports cheaper and exports more expensive, weakening both domestic and external demand for local industries.

In summary, an economic system that is solely dependent on revenues from oil exports, will not be able to sustain an economy with a high level of income over time.

Worryingly, this lack of diversification also applies to other aspects of the region: as an insurance policy, GCC sovereign funds and private investors have been investing abroad part of their revenues to protect themselves from a hypothetical slump in oil revenues. Alas, they are massively exposed to a small group of countries, mostly US and UK, and a very specific type of businesses, like blue chips and real estate. In summary, diversification should be at the centre of the Gulf’s development and investment strategies.

— Francisco Quintana is an economist at KCIC, an investment firm specializing in emerging Asia investments.

German parliament okays euro crisis-fighting tools Berlin shows commitment to single currency

WARRANGAL: Indian laborers sow cotton seeds in an agricultural field ahead of anticipated monsoon rains in Warangal, some 140 kilometers from Hyderabad. Weather forecasters say India’s crucial monsoon rains that have been playing truant over vast swathes of the country - threatening crops from rice to sugar — should pick up this month. —AFP

Can EU deal lift stocks for more than a day?

WALL STREET WEEKLY OUTLOOK NEW YORK: US stocks finished the first half of the year with a bang as investors welcomed news that the euro-zone is a step closer to solving its 30month-long debt crisis. Now for the question: Is thi s rally strong enough to last for more than a day?

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their best daily percentage gains since December on Friday after an agreement by European leaders to stabilize the region’s troubled banks, a pact that helped remove some of the uncertainty that has plagued markets.

“That is the major question. Can this fuel a longer-term rally? It can, but only to some degree if, over the weekend and the course of next week, we don’t see any major push back or headlines that suggest that this deal is not going to happen,” said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial. “But I don’t think this is a major game changer. I do, however, think that this is really the first time we got a relatively immediate answer to what they (the euro-zone leaders) are going to do about the issue.” Under pressure to prevent a catastrophic breakup of their single currency, euro-zone leaders agreed on Friday to let their rescue fund inject aid directly into stricken banks starting next year and intervene in bond markets to support troubled member-states. They also pledged to create a single banking supervisor for euro-zone banks based around the European Central Bank in a landmark first step toward a European banking union that could help shore up struggling member Spain. Wall Street’s previous reaction to euro-zone bailout packages or other rescue plans had been somewhat muted. Initial gains would quickly disappear by the day’s end as investors realized that there isn’t a quick fix to the region’s problems. On Friday, it was a different story. The three major US stock indexes jumped 1.5 percent to 2 percent shortly after the opening bell on news of the euro-zone agreement. By the close, stocks ended at session highs with the major indexes up between 2 percent and 3 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 277.83 points, or 2.20 percent, to end at 12,880.09. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumped 33.12 points, or 2.49 percent, to finish at 1,362.16. And the Nasdaq Composite Index shot up 85.56 points, or 3.00 percent, to close at 2,935.05.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.9 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 2 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.5 percent. For the month, the Dow added 3.9 percent, the S&P 500 rose 4 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 3.8 percent. But for the second quarter, the Dow dropped 2.5 percent, the S&P 500 slid 3.3 percent and the Nasdaq lost 5.1 percent. Despite the weak second quarter, the three major U.S. stock indexes wrapped up the first half of the year with decent gains: The Dow was up 5.4 percent, the S&P 500 was up 8.3 percent and the Nasdaq was up 12.7 percent.

“The next question is whether the ESM/EFSF will have enough capital and assuming they don’t, will the ECB chip in by giving it a bank license, thus leveraging its size. That is yet to be determined,” said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller

Tabak & Co in New York.

“For now, party on and turn that hourglass over as more time has been bought. But only the symptoms are being fought as the underlying disease of excessive debt and lack of growth still remains.”

The leaders of the 17 European Union countries agreed on a series of short-term steps to shore up their monetary union and bring down the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy, seen as too big to bail out. To that end, the euro zone’s temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM) rescue funds will be used “in a flexible and efficient manner in order to stabilize markets” to support countries that comply with EU budget policy recommendations, a joint statement said.

Any market reaction to further developments next week could be exaggerated by lighter-thanusual volume. Wall Street trading desks may be more sparsely populated because it will be a short week. The US stock market will be closed on Wednesday, the Fourth of July, in observance of Independence Day. That could break any weekly momentum when Wall Street resumes trading on Thursday. The market’s focus shifts to the European Central Bank next week as investors wait to see whether it cuts interest rates to complement the measures taken by EU leaders to shore up banks and bring down borrowing costs for Spain and Italy.

Most economists polled by Reuters expect the ECB to cut borrowing costs o n Thursday, July 5, at its meeting, which takes place against a darkening economic backdrop. But internal resistance to the central bank reviving its bond-buying program remains high. The ECB has already loosened its collateral rules to make it easier for banks in Spain to access its funds.

“Investors have to be cautious because the market may be getting ahead of itself. We really don’t have any details. The big question is still what direction the ECB takes next week,” said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington.

“It’s (the EU deal) certainly not a silver bullet for the debt crisis, but the market is kind of acting like it is.

It may set us up for another push down in the weeks ahead.” Stocks had enjoyed a run earlier this month on hopes that global central banks would announce additional measures to stimulate economic growth, which has been tepid. On June 20, the Federal Reserve extended its “Operation Twist” program to sell short-term securities and buy longer-term ones to keep long-term borrowing costs down. But investors were disappointed when US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who spoke at a news conference after the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, gave few hints that further monetary stimulus was imminent, denting hopes of cheap money in the equities market.

European bond yields will be closely watched next week. Madrid will auction three-year, four-year and 10-year bonds at a primary auction on Thursday in another big test for Spanish yields that are still not far below 7 percent. —Reuters

BERLIN: The German parliament overwhelmingly approved two euro-crisis fighting tools rallying to a call by Chancellor Angela Merkel to show the world Germany’s commitment to the single currency.

Hard on the heels of a “breakthrough” EU summit, Merkel dashed back from Brussels to address lawmakers before the Bundestag lower house and Bundesrat upper chamber voted by a two-thirds majority to back new budget rules and a permanent bailout fund. “What we decide today is an important step to make clear to the world that we stand by the euro, we want it as our stable currency,” Merkel said earlier in her second speech to parliament on the euro crisis in three days.

As they have done since the start of the euro-zone debt crisis, members of the two main opposition parties backed Merkel who needed their support since the fiscal pact entails changes to the German constitution and thus required a two-thirds majority of lawmakers in both chambers.

Merkel also defended decisions

by EU leaders which included agreeing the EU’s new European Stability Mechanism (ESM) fund could recapitalize banks directly and that the bailout funds can buy up bonds of ailing nations. She said any use of the bailout funds would follow agreed guidelines, calling it a “good decision, a sensible decision” and stressed any changes or new functions would have to come before the parliament first.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Merkel had “defended and imposed exactly what had been German government policy for years”, namely firm conditions in exchange for aid.

“Today, with the adoption of the fiscal and ESM treaty in the Bundestag and Bundesrat, across party lines, Germany is sending an

important sign,” Merkel said before the votes.

“It is a sign of unity and determination, domestically and abroad, a sign of overcoming the European debt crisis, sustainably, and a sign that, for us, Europe means our future,” she added.

Late on Friday, in the Bundesrat representing Germany’s 16 regional states, 65, out of the 69 who vot-

turn” with regard to the ESM decisions in Brussels. To obtain enough votes, Merkel had to give some ground on SPD and Green party demands for growth measures, and secured support of regional leaders with measures to offset the impact on regional finances of new demands for budgetary rigor, among other things.

SPD chief Sigmar Gabriel said

lion) ESM is due to take over from the European Financial Stability Facility and cannot be established without Germany’s backing. The fund was originally to begin operations on July 1 but is now widely expected to be pushed back.

Germany is also facing a delay after President Joachim Gauck agreed to a request by the constitutional court to refrain from sign-

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, casts her vote about the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) at the parliament Bundestag in Berlin on Friday. —AP ed, approved both the fiscal pact and ESM. Weeks of horse-trading with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and ecologist Greens meant Merkel could be quietly confident of parliament’s approval, but the EU deal struck earlier rattled some lawmakers.

SPD budgetary affairs expert Carsten Schneider, earlier on the micro-blogging site Twitter, accused the government of a “U-

during the parliamentary debate ahead of the votes: “We are agreeing because Europe is more important to us than the party political profile.” The fiscal pact, of which Merkel was the main architect, has been signed by 25 of the EU’s 27 members and enshrines stricter budgetary rules aiming to prevent excessive public deficits that touched off the euro-zone turmoil.

The 500-billion-euro ($623 bil-

ing off on the two laws immediately after their parliamentary approval. The court said that it would need up to three weeks to examine a legal challenge by the far-left Linke party. Germany’s top court has a history of strengthening the role of the parliament on European issues. The Bundestag will likely be called on to vote on aid for Spain and Cyprus in the coming weeks. —AFP

World markets surge after Europe finds rescue plan NEW YORK: Financial markets around the world stormed higher on Friday after European leaders came up with a breakthrough plan to rescue banks, relieve debt-burdened governments and restore investor confidence.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 250 points, one of its biggest gains this year, and socks advanced even further in Europe, in strong and weak countries alike. The price of oil posted the biggest one-day increase in more than three years, and other commodities shot higher - signs of hope that a deal in Europe might remove a big barrier to a healthier world economy.

In Brussels, leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro appeared finally to have found a broad strategy to fight a debt crisis that has hounded European governments and world investors for three years. The leaders agreed to pump money directly into stricken banks, let some countries tap into rescue money without submitting to stringent budget requirements and, later, tie European governments closer in economic union.

David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds, said it was becoming clear that European leaders will compromise to solve the crisis. One of the biggest stock gains Friday came in Germany, which took a hard line in earlier negotiations.

“The whole language is positive here,” he

said. “Every time they’ve stared over the cliff into the abyss of a euro breakup, they’ve realized it’s much wiser to get closer together.”

There was a sign immediately that Europe’s latest plan was working: The cost for the troubled government of Spain to borrow money on the bond market fell dramatically, by more than half a percentage point, to 6.34 percent. Previous market rallies tied to progress in Europe have proved temporary. But for the day, at least, global stock markets were jubilant: In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average climbed as much as 251 points, its secondbest showing this year, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index soared more than 2 percent.

The rally left the S&P with a gain of almost 8 percent at the halfway mark for the year.

The benchmark stock index in Germany rose 4.3 percent, by far its best performance this year. Germany has the healthiest economy in Europe, and a warm reaction there was a crucial sign of approval for the plan.

Stocks hit their highest level in two months in Italy and Spain, two of the countries with the shakiest finances. Stocks also neared a twomonth high in Greece, another epicenter of the debt crisis.

Traders of other risky investments also rejoiced. They sold US Treasurys, sending the yield on the 10-year Treasury note up to 1.63

percent from 1.57 percent late Thursday, as demand decreased for ultra-safe investments.

Energy prices rose sharply because a cure for Europe’s debt problem would remove a big drag on global economic growth. The price of oil jumped 9 percent, its biggest gain since March 2009, to almost $85.

Gold gained more than 3 percent, rising $53 to $1,603 an ounce, and copper and silver both rose about 5 percent. Copper is a key ingredient of economic expansion because of its use in electrical wiring, pipes and machinery.

The euro gained 2.3 cents against the dollar, to $1.266. On Thursday, economic reports from the United States were discouraging, and the Dow fell as much as 177 points. But stocks staged a big comeback late in the day, partly because rumors swirled that European leaders were more conciliatory. News of the deal in Europe broke overnight, and on Friday, stocks soared from the open. The Dow swung more than 400 points between its Thursday low and the high it reached late Friday.

Some market analysts remained cautious. Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners LLC, a New York hedge fund, said he expects more sharp leaps and dives this summer as traders speculate about Europe’s future. “This Europe thing is going to trade up and down based on the news of the day,” Landesman said. —Reutes

24

business

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

KSE bearish amid cautious trading BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week with variance in its indices. The price index ended last week with a decrease amounted to 1.90%, while the weighted index increased by 1.07% compared to the closings of the week before where KSX-15 Index rose by 1.83%. Last week’s average daily turnover increased by 5.37%, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 17.50 million, whereas trading volume average was 184.98 million shares, recording a decrease of 3.32%. KSE witnessed a state of caution, as the traders are waiting for the listed companies’ results for the 6 months, in addition to the current political events. On the other hand, the time limit which Capital Markets Authority gave for 8 listed companies to correct its financial positions has ended without any announcement about the status of those companies.

As far as the annual indices performance, two of the market main indices recorded losses. While the price index recorded decrease of 0.43%, in spite of its losses during the last weeks; the weighted index recorded loss amounted to 0.82% and KSX-15 index retreated by 1.83%.

By the end of the week, the price index closed at 5,789.21 points, down by 1.90% from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 1.07% weekly loss after closing at 402.29 points. Moreover, the KSX-15 index recorded 1.83% weekly gain after closing at 981.74 points.

Sectors’ indices Most of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other Sectors recorded increases. The Financial Services

sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.29% to end the week’s activity at 829.94 points. The Technology sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 3.28%, closing at 1,079.12 points, followed by the Real estate sector, as its index closed at 897.95 points at a loss of 2.99%. The Banks sector was the least declining as its index closed at 946.91 points with a 0.33% decrease. On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Telecommunications sector, achieving 2.82% growth rate as its index closed at 904.14 points.

Whereas, in the second place, the Basic Materials sector’s index closed at 948.67 points recording 2.43% increase. The Consumer Services sector came in third as its index achieved

0.67% growth, ending the week at 949.58 points.

Sectors’ activity The Financial Services sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 457.65 million shares changing hands, representing 49.48% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 26.13% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of 241.66 million shares.

On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks where the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 26.75 million or 30.58% of last week’s total market trading value. The

Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover of KD 22.31 million represented 25.51% of the total market trading value.

Market capitalization KSE total market capitalization grew by 1.21% during last week to reach KD 27.37 billion, as seven of KSE’s sectors recorded an increase in their respective market capitalization, whereas the other five recorded declines. The Consumer Services sector headed the growing sectors as its total market capitalization reached KD 593.45 million, increasing by 4.15%.

The Telecommunications sector was the second in terms of recorded growth with 4.05% increase after the total value of its listed companies reached KD 4.03 billion. The third place was for the Basic Materials sector, which total market capitalization reached KD 607.76 million by the end of the week, recording an increase of 1.29%. The Industrials sector was the least growing with 0.03% recorded growth after its market capitalization amounted to KD 2.88 billion. On the other hand, the Technology sector headed the decliners list as its total market capitalization decreased by 2.89% to reach, by the end of the week, KD 72.09 million. The Real Estate sector was second on this list, which market value of its listed companies declined by 1.80%, reaching KD 1.32 billion, followed by the Health Care sector, as its market capitalization amounted to KD 219.99 million at a 1.11% decrease.

—Prepared by the Studies & Research Department Bayan Investment Co.

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

BUSINESS

Sony unveils summer 2012 line-up of VAIO notebooks Kuwait debut of latest VAIO T-series Ultrabook KUWAIT: Mohammad Hammour - Supplying Store Co (distributor of Sony, the leading consumer electronics brand), yesterday announced the unveiling of its thin, light and portable VAIO T-series Ultrabook. Smartly styled in tough magnesium and aluminum and loaded with the latest technologies from Sony and Intel, the Tseries offers the perfect blend of durability and performance.

The VAIO Ultrabook is part of the VAIO Summer 2012 line-up, which also includes the Z (15th anniversary edition) and S series.

VAIO T-series (VAIO Ultrabook) Available in 11.6-inch or 13.3-inch screen sizes, the VAIO T-Series Ultrabook boasts impressive productivity using the latest-generation Ultra Low Voltage Intel Core processors and ultra-fast SSD flash drives. The feature ensures file access is close to ten times faster than a standard hard disk drive. ‘Hybrid’ models offer the best of both worlds, using the new Intel Smart Response Technology (iSRT) that teams fast SSD cache memory with a high-capacity HDD drive for quicker boot times and larger storage space.

With the new Rapid Wake technology that will be available across the new summer line up, the user won’t need to shut down his unit. Additionally one can resume the VAIO T Series from sleep mode even after 30 days owing to long battery life. The VAIO T series also ensures that data security isn’t compromised. The VAIO T-series comes with full featured connectivity and a generous complement of interfaces including HDMI, VGA and RJ45 network ports plus an SD/MMC media slot. A light and portable laptop, it is equipped with Sony’s exclusive xLOUDTM and Clear PhaseTM sound technologies that boost volume levels without distortion for crisp and clear web chats, video clips and games.

Video chats are more rewarding with the built-in

‘Exmor for PC’ High Definition web camera and clear, bright LED screen (11-inch or 13-inch) with rich colors.

The New VAIO S-series and Z-series VAIO S Series provides the latest technologies needed for full mobile computing. Overall high performance is assured with the third generation Intel Core i7 Processor, as well as a Dynamic Hybrid Graphics System that uses two graphics processors to best suit the application being run; either a NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE GPU with dedicated VRAM or integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000. Furthermore, Dynamic Hybrid Graphics System with NVIDIA OPTIMUS Technology switches seamlessly between SPEED mode for faster performance and STAMINA mode for longer battery life. Solid State Drive (SSD) provides high-speed data storage and retrieval.

Available in four color variations including black, silver, pink and white, the PC is crafted to be carried in comfort. It weighs just 1.59 kg and measures a slim 22.8 mm with a full-flat body featuring a carbon lid.

The material is lighter than aluminum and offers enough durability for people on the go. The hexa-shell edge design provides the essential lightness and rigidity to the body to increase the PC’s mobility, while adding a unique character to its appearance.

The new VAIO S-series is available in either a 13.3inch LCD, or a full-size 15.5-inch LCD equipped with a numeric keypad. Overall, the VAIO S-series is the full featured mobile PC with powerful performance.

The New VAIO Z-series, top of the line in the VAIO line, is the 15th anniversary edition released by Sony VAIO and is available with “15th Anniversary Collector’s Edition - Made in Azumino, Japan” engraved on the hinge. The ‘full flat’ body of the VAIO Z-series measures just 330mm x 210mm, and is a mere 16.7mm thick. Weighing barely more than a kilogram, the VAIO Z is thinner and lighter than a standard

Ultrabook. Constructed from premium grade carbon fibre in a hexa-shell design, the result is an extremely thin, light and durable computer that delivers lightning-fast performance. The notebook is equipped with a high-resolution full High Definition 13.1-inch display with anti-reflective glossy finish.

The new VAIO Z-series also comes with the super powerful Intel(r) Core i7 quad core CPU, which is usually used in large-screen notebooks or a desktop PC. The processor enhances the performance of the VAIO Z-series by up to 70 per cent as compared to a dual

core CPU. The VAIO Z is the ideal addition to a premium collection. It is truly ‘Beyond the Ultimate.’

Both the VAIO S-series and VAIO Z-series are embedded with the xLOUDTM and Clear PhaseTM audio technologies that switch to Dolby Home Theatre V4 for rich, cinema-style audio via speakers or headphones.

The VAIO T-series & S Series is available across leading electronics retailers in the Middle East from mid June 2012. The new Z series is expected to be available from mid-July.

Jazeera ranked No 1 on-time airline in Middle East in April April 2012 performance report

Abdulghani Shheal Talab receives his prize from Ahmed Al-Khader, NBK Assistant General Manager, Consumer Banking Group.

Abdulghani Talab wins KD 250,000 in NBK’s Al-Jawhara quarterly draw KUWAIT: Abdulghani Shheal Talab won KD 250,000, National Bank of Kuwait’s (NBK) AlJawhara quarterly prize. Talab, the second grand winner of the KD 250,000 prize this year, expressed his gratitude and appreciation, explaining that this gave him the chance to finally purse his dreams.

NBK re-launched Al-Jawhara account, offering customers more chances to win bigger prizes. NBK customers have chances to win KD 5,000 weekly, KD 125,000 monthly and a grand prize of KD 250,000 quarterly. Al-Jawhara account offers numerous benefits to NBK customers. Not only is it an interest-free account

with regular deposit and withdrawal privileges, but also entitles account holders to enter the weekly, monthly and quarterly Al-Jawhara draws. Each KD 50 in an Al-Jawhara account entitles the customer to one chance in any of the draws. All prizes are automatically credited to the winners’ accounts the day after the draw.

The more money held in your Al-Jawhara account, the greater your chances of winning.

Al-Jawhara accounts are available to both Kuwaitis and expats and can be opened at any one of NBK’s branches around Kuwait. For further information kindly visit www.nbk.com, or call Hala Watani at 1801801.

ABK offers free valet parking for Prestige, ABK Emirates World MasterCard holders KUWAIT: Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait now offers its Prestige and ABK Emirates World MasterCard holders free valet parking service in twelve different locations around Kuwait. This service comes as an added value to ABK’s customers in an already long list of benefits and exclusive services at their disposal.

Explaining the new service Stewart Lockie, GM Retail Banking at ABK stated, “We enjoy giving our loyal customers convenience services like these, which actually go a long way in easing their daily lives, and gives them an option that is much appreciated. Prestige being our luxury salary account, a service like this is tailor made for Prestige cardholders, and of course our World MasterCard users are pleased at one more attractive feature of the already popular card.”

ABK Emirates World MasterCard and Prestige cardholders can now enjoy free valet parking service by displaying their cards at the following twelve locations around Kuwait: The Avenues gate 9, The Avenues fifth ring road gate, Marina Mall at all 3 gates, Marina Crescent, PF Chang’s restaurant, Slider Station restaurant, The Fish

Market restaurant on the Arabian Gulf Road, Starbucks Keifan branch, Starbucks Jabriyah and and the Marina Hotel.

For more information about the advantages of the Prestige Account or World MasterCard please call Ahlan Ahli on 1899899 or visit our website www.eahli.com and chat live to one of our account managers via Ahli Chat.

Stewart Lockie

KUWAIT: Award-winning airline Jazeera Airways, the largest airline serving the Middle East out of Kuwait, yesterday issued its April 2012 operational performance report, which showed that the airline has continued to grab leading market shares on its network. The airline was also the leader in on-time performance in the Middle and North Africa as per FlightStats, the global flight and trip tracker, which scored the airline at 96.52% in ontime performance for the month.

The yesterday-issued report based on data from Kuwait’s Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA), showed that Jazeera Airways was the leading airline between Kuwait and Amman, and between Kuwait and five Egyptian cities: Alexandria, Assiut, Luxor, Sharm El Sheikh and Sohag.

The airline captured a 40% share on the Kuwait-Amman route during the month, a 35% market share on the KuwaitAlexandria route, a 47% market share on the Kuwait-Assiut route, a 64% on the Kuwait-Luxor route, a 56% market share on the Kuwait-Sharm El Sheikh route, and 39% market share on the Kuwait-Sohag route.

The airline also increases its market share on the KuwaitCairo route to 26%, an all-time high since it first launched the route on May 18, 2011. The report also showed that the airline was the leading Kuwaiti airline on routes between Kuwait and Beirut, Bahrain and Dubai.

Jazeera Airways grabbed a 37% market share on the KuwaitBeirut route, a 12% market share on the Kuwait-Bahrain route, and a 16% market share on the Kuwait-Dubai route.

Canon introduces latest printer models in Kuwait KUWAIT: Canon Middle East, a world leader in imaging solutions, has strengthened its lineup of Office Personal Products (OPP) and Office Imaging Products (OIP) to meet increased demand from the corporate sector in Kuwait. A series of product demonstration seminars aimed at retailers and distributors in Kuwait was conducted recently, as part of initiatives to further strengthen its presence in the country’s robust SI VAR and IT market.

The event was organized by Naser Mohamed Al-Sayer Communications Co, Canon Middle East’s authorized distributor in the country at Holiday Inn Salmiya and was attended by over 70 attendees. The highlight among the product demonstrations for its OPP and OIP range of products included the latest iSENSYS laser printers, as well as the imageRUNNER Advance copier

range. “Canon Middle East is committed to providing the highest standards of support in the industry, with a customer focused approach to both sales and service. The seminar provided an ideal platform for Canon to understand the needs of the country’s corporate segment and further consolidate our presence in this market. The event also helped attendees get an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the latest innovations within the Canon OPP and OIP range,” said Venkatasubramanian Hariharan, Sales Director, Canon Middle East.

Among the product specifications that received an enthusiastic response from the attendees include the solutions approach and new range’s space saving designs as well as its cost and security optimization features.

“Canon has always offered state of the art products that combine cutting technology and value for money along with meeting the expectations of the diverse consumers of the region. The Canon seminar provided the right platform for the country’s resellers and system integrators to understand the strong Canon range of products and how these can help drive their respective businesses,” said Nabil Isk andrani, General Manager, Naser Mohamed Al-Sayer Communications Co. The Canon seminar in Kuwait is the latest in a series of Channel events organized

by Canon Middle East and provides Tier Two partners with insight into the new Canon line up and forthcoming strategies relating to the new products, development of Channels and marketing initiatives.

26

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

BUSINESS

X-cite by Alghanim Electronics Facebook page wins ‘Best Interactive Award’ KUWAIT: In a ceremony held on June 19, 2012 in Amman Jordan, Xcite by Alghanim Electronics was announced as the winner of the Facebook Interactive Award for the electronics category in the GCC region. The event was held by the Pan Arab Web Awards Academy where representatives from all the GCC and MENA region were nominated in various categories. Pan Arab Web Awards Academy is a non-profit organization that aims to inspire and reward creators for their skills so that they continue to improve. The Facebook application award is an exciting new initiative

by Pan Arab that aims to develop an interactive community providing recognition to this e-sector in the most superlative way.

Elizabeth Linder from Facebook Europe, Africa and the Middle East was representing Facebook and distributed awards for the various categories. X-cite won this award for its interactivity with the audience, rich content, easy to navigate design

and the number of likes on its Facebook page Ali Maaz, Head of Product & Sales at xcite.com com-

out to our customers. We aim to lead and innovate all online mediums through our social media chan-

considered to be one of the most active electronic retail pages on the internet, effectively communicating

mented, “X-cite is honored to receive such a prestigious award that recognizes our efforts of using new innovative channels to reach

nels. I would also like to thank all our loyal fans who made winning this award possible.”

X-cite’s Facebook page has been

in both English and Arabic. The page was set up with an aim to connect and engage with fans in an ongoing conversation whilst build-

LG unveils premium personal TV series TVs feature industry leading IPS technology DUBAI: LG Electronics (LG) unveiled a new line-up of premium personal TVs which combine a TV and a monitor in a single unit.

On LG’s DM2752and M2752 monitors, users can enjoy a range of multimedia entertainment ranging from terrestrial HD broadcasting to any content served up by a PC at Full HD resolution.

Both personal TVs feature IPS panels, boasting lifelike color and

unique personal TVs designed to meet the needs of changing consumer habits, whether that customers’ passion is 3D gaming, internet browsing or simply watching their favorite sitcom.”

The personal TVs boast Picturein-Picture (PIP) capabilities, enabling viewers to open multiple screens simultaneously and watch TV while working on their PC. The personal TVs also feature Infinite

boot up times and enables users to view content such as movies, video clips and pictures quickly and easily.

LG personal TVs are equipped with In-Plane Switching (IPS) panels instead of conventional Twisted Nematic (TN) panels. IPS boosts color consistency and reduces 2color fluctuations, enabling the personal TVs to reproduce the most lifelike colors.

extremely wide viewing angles.

“With the integration of multimedia entertainment and the internet, LG is at the frontier of cutting-edge TV technology,” said D Y Kim, President of LG Electronics Gulf FZE. We are developing

Surround Sound for a full-depth surround sound experience.

Two HDMI ports are included, making it a snap to connect game consoles, set-top boxes and more.

In addition, a USB Quick View feature eliminates long computer

Smooth Color Change eliminates blur generated by rapid motion in action scenes, sports or video games resulting in extremely sharp and clear images. Thanks to an impressive wide viewingangle (178 degrees), viewers can

UAE’s ILegacy acquires Kuwait’s Bait Al Mal, Saudi ‘The Investor’ KUWAIT: ILegacy Global of the UAE has acquired Bait Al Mal Investment Company of Kuwait. Last week officials of both companies signed the final closing contract.

After receiving the approval of Kuwait Capital Markets Authority (CMA) for the transaction, the contract was signed in the presence of Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al-Sowaidi, the well-known Qatari businessman, who is Chairman and Managing Director of ILegacy Global, and

Adnan Abdul Aziz Al-Bahar and Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al-Sowaidi Adnan Abdul Aziz Al-Bahar, Chairman and Managing Director of The International Investor KSC in Kuwait. The signing took place in the presence of Sulaiman Al-Qimlas, CEO of Bait Al Mal Investment Company, and AbdAllah Yousuf Al-Saif, Member of the Board of ILegacy Global.

Commenting on the event, Khalid Bin Ahmad Al-Sowaidi said: “The Company has obtained the Kuwait CMA’s approval for the acquisition, which is consistent with the ILegacy Group’s strategy to expand in the region. Bait Al Mal Investment Company owns a majority stake in The Investor for Securities Company (INVESCO) of Saudi Arabia, awarded the title “Best Saudi Investment Company - 2012” from Arabian Business magazine.”

“The aim of the Bait Al Mal acquisition is to provide a solid foundation from which to develop an international Group specializing in providing integrated finan-

cial services to help unlock the hidden potential of the Awqaf sector. As well as financing and managing Waqf projects, services will include the provision of custodian and trustee services and promoting investment funds. Our objective is to provide a good yield to shareholders and investors, at the same time increasing the return on Awqaf assets for the benefit of Waqf beneficiaries” He continued.

ILegacy Group targeted a Kuwaiti company whose operations are conducted in strict compliance with Islamic Shari’a rules. The company has extensive experience of Investment Management in the GCC and Arab countries, and is an ideal platform from which to develop the Group’s services to the Awqaf sector. The Group had earlier decided that acquisition of a fully operational and profitable company from which to develop its Awqaf services was preferable to the lengthy time required in setting up an entirely new entity for this business and would enable dividends to be channeled to investors earlier than otherwise.

Al-Sowaidi expects the new Group to realize competitive returns for shareholders, as well as contributing to the benefit of the community at large by increasing the return on Waqf assets.” He added.

“The Group is the world’s first commercial entity established to allow governments and individuals to benefit from developing unutilized Awqaf assets. The implementation of this plan is in line with the State of Kuwait’s strategy to execute the Amiri vision of transforming Kuwait into a global financial and commercial center, as well as supporting the development plan projects.” He elaborated.

This plan is consistent with the interest of the Arabic and Islamic Governments in endowments and Awqaf, and for the benefit of Muslims at large. This is best evidenced by the special care given by the custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to develop Awqaf in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the Islamic world.

enjoy high quality images without any color shift - sitting, standing or lying down. The combination of all these technologies provides a rich, comfortable viewing experience.

With the newest in CINEMA 3D technology, the DM2752 premium personal TV offers comfortable 3D viewing with extremely light, flicker-free glasses. And the DM2752includes an easy-to-use 2D to 3D conversion engine so viewers can watch unlimited highquality 3D content on the fly. The 3D Effect Mode sharpens the converted images to offer a clearer and more immersive 3D experience. The conversion function works with or without a PC and engages automatically for games, delivering the ultimate 3Dgaming experience. What’s more, LG’s Dual Play function enables competing gamers to see two different full screen images at the same time on the same TV, making for incredible head-to-head action.

Europeans have taken notice of LG’s line-up of personal monitor TVs for their technology and versatility. According to a review conducted by CHIP, one of the most widely read computer publications in Germany, LG’s 23/24-inch premium M2382 was recognized as the top choice among all monitors reviewed with TV capability.

MasterCard, Jumeirah Group deal offers privileged access to world class luxury DUBAI: MasterCard Group yesterday announced a major deal to offer Platinum, World and regular MasterCard cardholders from around the world exclusive discounts and a range of special offers in the luxurious hotel rooms, restaurants and spas at selected UAE properties of the Jumeirah Group.

As per the deal, all MasterCard cardholders can avail the offers related to rooms, casual dining and spas, while signature dining is exclusive for World MasterCard cardholders and Ramadan offers for Platinum & World MasterCard cardholders.

The participating hotels are Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, Jumeirah Creekside Hotel in Dubai and Jumeirah at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi. A total of 26 restaurants within these hotels are included in the deal.

Piers Schreiber, Vice President Corporate Communications & Public Affairs said: “Jumeirah Group’s hospitality is known for its luxury and premium services worldwide. Our agreement with MasterCard provides resident and visiting cardholders a range of unique offers designed to complement their experience in our properties. These offers signify our continuous efforts to provide best-in-class hospitality, relaxation and entertainment. “ Eslam Darwish, Vice President, Marketing, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard Worldwide, said: “This major deal with one of the world’s most luxurious hospitality service providers, will offer MasterCard cardholders a wealth of lifestyleenhancing and value added benefits. MasterCard always seeks to create opportunities that enrich experiences and we just couldn’t find a better match than Jumeirah Group to reward our cardholders”.

(From left) Eslam Darwish, Vice President, Marketing, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide and Piers Schreiber, Vice President Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, Jumeirah Group.

ing awareness of X-cite’s activities.

X-cite’s Facebook fan page has more than doubled in the last 6 months with customers taking a keen interest to stay updated with the latest news and happenings about the regions largest retailer.

With the effective use of social media, X-cite’s online portal www.xcite.com which is the region’s largest consumer electronics and home appliances retailer has been actively expanding its customer reach. This in turn has enabled xcite.com to communicate, engage and satisfy the diversified segments on these trendiest platforms. xcite.com’s strategic communication through social media keeps customers updated about the latest offers, promotions, new arrivals, discounts and also exclusive prizes through various competitions and activities.

X-cite is the largest consumer electronics retailer in Kuwait and the Middle East. Headquartered in Kuwait, the award winning retailer

delivers a modern, dynamic and convenient shopping experience with the primary objective of delighting its customers. With touch and feel displays, cash and carry shopping, a highly trained multilingual sales staff and the latest gadgets and gizmos, shopping at X-cite is an unforgettable experience.

Operating a network of 17 stores in addition to the regions premier ecommerce electronics website, Xcite’s customers are offered an unparalleled shopping experience by providing access to amazing range of international brands under one roof. The X-cite experience is further enhanced by providing customers with Easy Credit, 24-hour shopping in select outlets and extended warranty programs with 24-hour free delivery and installation services. X-cite’s shopping experience is also available online at www.xcite.com in both English and Arabic where customers can browse and shop for the latest in technology products.

NBK’s Al-Shabab offers a brand new 2012 BMW X3 KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) rewards new and existing AlShabab customers who transfer their student allowances to Al-Shabab account with a chance to win a brand new 2012 BMW X3.

All new and existing Al-Shabab customers who transfer their student allowance to Al-Shabab account until the 31st of December 2012 will enter the draw for a chance to win the 2012 BMW X3.

“Al-Shabab account is a great way for students to save money and organize their finances,” said Abdul Mohsen AlRushaid, NBK Public Relations Manager.

“We encourage all college and university students to take this opportunity and transfer their allowances to NBK during this period.”

Al-Shabab is a youth account that

caters to the various financial, social and lifestyle needs of college and university

Abdul Mohsen Al-Rushaid students between the ages of 17-23 years. Students can open an Al-Shabab account by visit NBK branch in Kuwait.

Qatalum opens registration for ARABAL 2012 in Doha KUWAIT: Qatalum has announced the agenda of the 16th Arab International Aluminium Conference (ARABAL 2012), which will be held in Doha from the 19 - 21, November 2012.It will focus on future opportunities in the aluminum downstream industry in the Gulf region, as GCC countries contribute to over 13% of the world’s aluminum output, with an annual production of 3.6 million tons.

Qatalum noted that the region’s countries have the required infrastructure and appropriate components to establish any industry based on primary aluminum. The availability of this important material coupled with the investor-friendly regulations, energy resources and industrial infrastructure will further facilitate the establishment of advanced and sophisticated industries associated with aluminum, together with local or foreign investments.

Qatalum stressed that the aluminum production sector is closely linked to a number of other major industries, led by the transport and construction sector. According to statistics, the transport sector leads the way in aluminum consumption taking up half of all manufactured aluminum in 2011 with 11,869 thousand tons and is expected to reach a new level in 2012of12,753 thousand tons with a further 8% growth expected in 2013. The power generation sector comes third in terms of consumption with 5,574 thousand tons in 2011 and is expected to reach 5,857 thousand tons by the end of 2012 and to record a further

growth of 7% in consumption/demand by the end of 2013.

In a related development, Qatalum has launched the new ARABAL website: www.arabal.com, which provides full information about the conference, agenda, history and the host company - Qatalum, in addition to information about Qatar, to serve the participants and visitors. Qatalum has opened registration for the conference through the same website. The 16th Arab International Aluminium Conference (ARABAL 2012) will be held at the Grand Hyatt Doha 19th- 21st November 2012, under the patronage of H.E. Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry, Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum.

The Arab International Aluminum Conference (ARABAL) is the premier trade event for the Middle East’s aluminum industry and the only conference in the world attended by every single primary aluminium manufacturer in the region. Therefore, it is the conference of choice for anyone interested in the Middle East aluminium industry.

The ARABAL story began in 1983 with Kuwait Aluminum Co bringing together the leading figures in Middle East Aluminum to strengthen ties and discuss the issues of the day to provide an overview of the entire aluminum industry. Over the last 29 years, ARABAL has evolved to attract industry leaders from all over the world to attend, speak, and exhibit.

Gulf Bank shares safety tips with cardholders during travel season KUWAIT: Gulf Bank is raising awareness amongst its cardholders on how to prevent credit card fraud and misuse while travelling, through a set of guidelines and tips that have been specifically formulated for this cause. This initiative falls in line with the travel season, specifically during the summer, which witnesses the highest number of outbound travelers.

Gulf Bank advises its customers to call the Bank’s Customer Contact Center and provide the bank with their latest contact details prior to travelling, in order to prevent any fraudulent transactions that may occur while travelling abroad. In addition, to limit the number of fraudulent transactions and chargeback disputes, customers

are advised to update their mobile number for the Bank to send instant SMS notification. Before starting the journey, customers are encouraged to check the expiry dates of their cards and ensure the cards are activated. Finally, customers should observe surroundings when conducting an ATM transaction.

Gulf Bank’s Customer Contact Center will be directly in contact with customers to ensure their transactions are safely managed and to avoid the chances of fraud.

Credit card security and control is imperative at all times and raising awareness on this issue is a priority to the Bank as it considers itself responsible for its customers and their safety.

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Apple wins new US sales ban on Samsung Galaxy SEOUL: An American judge ordered Samsung Electronics Co. to halt US sales of its Galaxy Nexus smartphone while the court considers Apple’s claim that the South Korean company infringed its patents. In Apple’s second victory in a week against Android devices, the US District Court of Northern California said Friday that the Galaxy Nexus smartphone “likely” infringes four patents held by Apple Inc., including a patent used in the “Siri” voice-activated assistance available in the iPhone 4S. “Apple has clearly shown that it is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary injunctive relief,” Judge Lucy Koh wrote in the ruling available online. She ordered Apple to post a $96 million bond - an estimated damage sustained by

Samsung from the temporary sales ban - in case the iPhone maker loses to Samsung in a later trial, scheduled for 2014. The sales ban in the United States will be effective immediately when Apple posts the bond.

The Galaxy Nexus lawsuit is one in a series of legal battles between Apple and Samsung. The two world’s largest makers of smartphones together claimed more than half of the global smartphone market in the first three months of this year.

Samsung and Apple have been embroiled in multiple lawsuits in Asia, North America and Europe since April 2011 when Apple accused Samsung of copying its iPhone and iPad. Samsung shot back with claims that Apple is using its mobile technolo-

Iconic Atari turns 40, tries to stay relevant NEW YORK: A scruffy, young Steve Jobs worked at Atari before he founded Apple.

“Pong,” one of the world’s first video games, was born there, as was “Centipede,” a classic from the era of quarter-guzzling arcade machines. “Call of Duty” creator Activision was started by four of Atari’s former game developers.

The iconic video game company turns 40 years old this week, much slimmer these days as it tries to stay relevant in the age of “Angry Birds” and “Words With Friends.”

But Atari’s influence on today’s video games is pervasive.

Although it wasn’t the first company to make video games, Atari was the first to make a lasting impression on an entire generation.

At arcades - or at video game bars such as Barcade in the trendy Williamsburg section of Brooklyn nostalgic patrons still gather around such Atari classics as “Asteroids,”“Joust” and “Centipede.”

The Atari 2600, launched in 1977, was the first video game console in millions of homes, long before the Nintendo Entertainment System (1985), Sony’s PlayStation (1994) and Microsoft’s Xbox (2001).

Today’s younger iPhone gamers might not remember how “Pong,” that simple, two-dimensional riff on Ping-Pong, swept across living rooms and arcades in the 1970s.

But they might recognize elements of it in easy-to-learn, hard-to-master games based on simple physics - among them, “Angry Birds.”

“For tens of millions of Gen Xers, or kids who grew up in America in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Atari is a cultural icon, an intrinsic part of childhood,” says Scott Steinberg, tech analyst and author of “The Modern Parent’s Guide to Kids and Video Games.”

“Pong,” he adds, was in some ways the very first social video game, one designed to play in bars, at home or at an arcade, while spectators crowded around to watch the action.

Launched in 1972 from Atari’s Silicon Valley headquarters, “Pong” featured a basic black-and-white screen (that’s black and white only, no shades of gray here), divided by a dotted line. Short white lines on either side stood in for paddles.

Two players controlled them and tried to get a moving dot - the ball past their opponent.

With “Pong,” Atari introduced video games to the masses just as Apple and Microsoft ushered in the personal computer era by bringing computers to people’s desktops in the 1980s.

“It makes me think that I am getting really old,” says Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari.

“I’m 69, which means I was 29 when I founded Atari. It seems really young in retrospect.”

It doesn’t take much effort these days to see 20-something entrepreneurs in technology. Mark Zuckerberg was just 19 when he started Facebook in his Harvard dorm room. But back in the early ‘70s, Bushnell said, “no one in their 20s started companies. In some ways it paved the way for Apple, Microsoft and those guys.”

Bushnell said Atari succeeded early on because it nurtured ideas from its engineers and computer programmers.

“We dominated not because of our manufacturing and marketing prowess but because of creativity,” Bushnell says. “The lasting legacy: That creativity is a real weapon.

And in some ways Apple has shown that as well.”

Jobs was just 19 when Atari hired him as a technician, making $5 an hour. He worked the night shift because many of his co-workers didn’t get along with him and didn’t appreciate his refusal to wear deodorant, according to Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of the late Apple chief executive.

He wasn’t there for long - he left the company in 1974 to travel to India and co-founded Apple two years later, in 1976.

Dona Bailey, one of the creators of “Centipede,” recalls a notebook

that Atari had with maybe 30 ideas for games in it.

“Most of them were laser games,” says Bailey, who was the only female programmer in Atari’s arcade division when she was hired in 1980 and when she left in 1982. “I wasn’t really interested in war, or lasering anything, or violence.”

The only ideas in the notebook that didn’t have to do with “lasering things or frying things” were two sentences about a multi-segmented insect that walks out on the screen and winds its way down the screen toward the player, she says.

There was implicit shooting, as the player at the bottom had to destroy the insect before getting hit by it, but “it didn’t seem that bad to shoot a bug.”

Thus, “Centipede” was born.

Atari, Steinberg says, pioneered a lot of the concepts that are popular in gaming today: Games should be for both men and women, and they should be social by allowing many people to compete with each other.

Atari “defined games as not just a product but a social movement,” Steinberg says.

But there is a generational divide. For kids born in the ‘80s and later, Atari elicits a respectful nod as a retro video game icon at best and a clueless shrug at worst.

“It may rise again, but it remains to be seen whether Atari’s place is among retail giants (such as) Activision and Electronic Arts,” Steinberg says, “Or in a future that is defined by its own past.”

Activision, which now makes such hit games as “Call of Duty” and “Diablo III,” was founded in 1979 by four disgruntled Atari game designers who wanted more recognition for their work.

As Activision’s future rose, Atari’s faltered. Having cemented video games as a form of mass entertainment, Atari was sold to Warner Communications Inc. in 1976 and began to pile up big losses.

Warner, now part of Time Warner Inc., discontinued the Atari 2600 and fired Bushnell, says Stephen Jacobs, professor of interactive games and media at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y. Meanwhile, several companies tried to capitalize on Atari’s success, but flooded the market with terrible products. It was a gold rush, with little gold to be had.

Atari contributed to that decline in quality with “E.T. the ExtraTerrestrial,” still considered one of the worst video games ever made and that’s being generous.

“They tried to push something out in six weeks,” Jacobs says. “They pushed out a million units of a horrible game that they were sure was just going to be the bomb. And it ended up tanking Atari.”

That was the Christmas of 1982.

What followed is now referred to as the “great video game crash of 1983.” People stopped buying video games.

Companies began collapsing and Atari was soon sold to a man named Jack Tramiel. Over the next decade, Atari made computers, a game console called Jaguar and a handheld game machine called the Lynx. None were hits.

Atari was then passed to the toy company Hasbro, then to Infogrames Entertainment, a French company that owns it today.

Recognizing the promise of mobile devices and its best-known titles, Atari today makes such phone games as “Centipede: Origins” and “Breakout Boost,” a take on the game Steve Jobs worked on back in the day.

“The legacy is that Atari is essentially where it all began,” says Jim Wilson, the company’s current CEO. So is Atari living off its legacy?

“To a certain point almost all entertainment companies are doing a bunch of living on their legacy. That’s why we have ‘sequelitis’ in triple-A games, movies, books,” Jacobs says. “Why invest in new things when you can beat the old things to death and still make money out of them?” —- AP

gy without permission. The latest order from the Californian court follows Koh’s decision Tuesday to temporarily block the sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in the United States.

But it is “the first serious blow” Apple has dealt to Samsung and Google Inc., said Florian Mueller, a Germany-based patent analyst. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 was released more than a year ago and accounts for a small portion of Samsung’s mobile sales. The Galaxy Nexus smartphone was launched in the U.S. market in December 2011.

The Nexus is also the first smartphone to be powered by the most recent Android operating system called “Ice Cream Sandwich,” which includes a unified search feature that lets users search infor-

mation stored in various locations with a single input. As a result of the sales ban, Samsung and Google’s “co-developed flagship device for the current generation of Android will have to be stripped of some or all of its Siri-like functionality,” Mueller said in an emailed response. Samsung said it is disappointed with the court order and will take all legal measures. “We are currently working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google’s unified search function,” said Nam Ki-yung, a Samsung spokesman.

“Samsung will continue to take all available measures, including legal action to ensure the Galaxy Nexus remains available to consumers.” Apple did not return calls seeking comment. — AP

Weather alerts coming soon to smartphones New US govt system MINNEAPOLIS: Attorney Bob Burns already gets a lot of information from his smartphone, but he welcomes the prospect of getting a little more — free warnings about life-threatening weather from a sophisticated new government system. Beginning Thursday, the new Wireless Emergency Alerts system gives the National Weather Service a new way to warn Americans about menacing weather, even if they are nowhere near a television, radio or storm sirens. It sends blanket warnings to mobile devices in the path of a dangerous storm.

As he sat at a sidewalk cafe in downtown Minneapolis, working on both an iPhone and an iPad, Burns said he was open to getting the unsolicited messages.

“I spend enough time reading junk on my phone that’s of no real benefit to me. I might as well read something useful,” the Minnetonka man said. “It’s putting technology to use for the public good.”

Thursday was a quiet day for severe weather nationwide, so officials did not expect to send any immediate alerts, said Greg Carbin, the warning coordination meteorologist at the national Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. But in the future, the system will be used to notify people about approaching tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards and other threats. When a warning is issued for a specific county, a text-like message of no more than 90 characters will pop up automatically on the screens of newer smartphones in that area - primarily Android and Windows Phone devices - causing them to sound a special tone and vibrate.

Users do not have to sign up for the service or pay for the message. And people who prefer not to get the warnings can opt out of the system. “These alerts will make sure people are aware of any impending danger and provide them with the information needed so they can be safe until the threat is over,” said Amy Storey, spokeswoman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, an industry trade group that helped set up the system.

The system does not yet work with all smartphones or

in all areas. It is part of a broader alert network the Federal Emergency Management Agency launched in April that can also send public-safety warnings from the president and participating state and local governments. But the weather service estimates that more than 90 percent of the messages will be about storms.

The weather warnings will include tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, flash floods, extreme winds, blizzards and ice and dust storms. Designers were concerned about overloading users with too much information, so they deliberately limited the messages to warnings, not watches, and excluded severe thunderstorm warnings, weather service spokeswoman Susan Buchanan said. Wireless carriers serving almost 97 percent of U.S. subscribers have agreed to participate, including the biggest nationwide companies - AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T * Mobile USA. Each of the four offers at least some phones capable of receiving emergency alerts, with more on the way.

Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile say they offer the service nationwide. AT&T offers it only in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore., at the moment.

Spokesman Michael Balmoris said the company will add additional markets over time but declined to say which ones or when.

Government officials don’t have a good handle on exactly how many capable devices are already in use, but Damon Penn, assistant administrator for national continuity programs at FEMA, said the number is probably in the millions. He said smartphone users should check with their carriers to find out whether service is available and if their device is able to use it. He said many people own phones equipped to get the new alerts but don’t know it yet.

Sprint spokeswoman Crystal Davis said most Sprint smartphones now in use can receive the alerts thanks to recent automatic software upgrades. All new models will be equipped, as will all new tablet devices.

One unanswered question is when the legions of Apple iPhone users like Burns will be able to receive alerts.

Buchanan said iPhones are supposed to join the system in the fall, but she didn’t know if that means only new iPhones, or if software upgrades will make older models capable, too. Representatives of Apple Inc., which is highly secretive about its product upgrades, did not respond to several messages seeking details.

FEMA’s system carries three kinds of alerts: presidential alerts, which might deal with national security information such as terrorist attacks; imminent-threat alerts, which include weather warnings as well as public-safety messages from local authorities; and Amber Alerts issued by law enforcement agencies for kidnapped children.

Phone users can opt out of the imminent threat and Amber Alerts, usually just by changing their settings, but they can’t opt out of presidential alerts. Twenty-eight state or local emergency management agencies in about a dozen states are authorized to send imminent-threat alerts. Eighty-three others are in the process of getting certified. Agencies have different ideas for the system.

Minnesota is considering using it for chemical spills or nuclear accidents. In southern Florida’s Miami-Dade County, it might convey hurricane evacuation information.

Curt Sommerhoff, Miami-Dade’s director of emergency management, said the alerts will permit authorities to distribute urgent information to people in danger “whether you’re a resident, employee or visitor.”

The system doesn’t use the satellite-based global positioning system to determine a phone’s location.

Participating carriers just send an alert out from every cell tower in the affected county. Capable smartphones pick it up. So if a user from Minneapolis travels to Kansas City, Mo., that person would get local warnings for Kansas City, not their home city. That feature sets the system apart from weather apps that deliver information based on users’ ZIP code but don’t automatically update their locations when users travel.—AP

Wickr gives iPhone messages military grade protection

BEIJING: In this Friday photo, Chinese astronauts, from left, Liu Wang, Jing Haipeng and Liu Yang, wave with flowers after the re-entry capsule of China’s Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, back, landed in Siziwang Banner of northern China’s Inner Mongolia region. The Chinese space capsule with three astronauts aboard returned to Earth from a 13-day mission to an orbiting module that is a prototype for a future permanent station. — AP

Solar plane makes return flight to Rabat RABAT: An experimental solar-powered plane, flying without using any fuel, arrived late Friday in Rabat on a return journey to Switzerland after its successful flight over the Moroccan desert.

The Swiss-made Solar Impulse took off from Quarzazate in southern Morocco at 0733 GMT, and touched down in the Moroccan capital at 2320 GMT, to applause from the Solar Impulse team and Moroccan officials. “Magnificent, very nice flight” said Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg as he climbed down from the plane.

Borschberg had landed in Ouarzazate, about 550 kilometres (340 miles) from Rabat, on June 22 after having to abandon an attempt a week earlier because of strong winds and turbulence near the Atlas mountains.

That was the final stage of a trip that has taken him

from his native Switzerland to Spain and then to Morocco. The giant high-tech aircraft, which has the wingspan of a jumbo jet but weighs no more than a medium-sized car, is fitted with 12,000 solar cells feeding four electric motors driving propellors.

Last month, the solar-powered plane made the 2,500-kilometre (1,550-mile) journey from Madrid to Rabat, its longest to date and its first between continents, after an inaugural flight to Paris and Brussels last year. The plane’s next journey is set to be a return to its departure point Switzerland via Madrid. The exact date is not known.

The flights are intended as a rehearsal for the goal of a round-the-world trip in 2014 by an updated version of the plane. — AFP

BOGOTA: A young man takes part with his modded computer in the fifth edition of Colombia’s Campus Party, on Friday, in Bogota. The Campus Party is considered the biggest event of technology, innovation, creativity, leisure and culture in the digital network world. — AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: Celebrity scandals fueled by leaked text messages or emailed images inspired a new application to give users of Apple gadgets uncrackable communications that can be made to self-destruct.

The Wickr app has been downloaded thousands of times since the software crafted for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices hit the virtual shelves of Apple’s online App Store on Wednesday. The San Francisco-based startup behind the software is working on versions of Wickr for smartphones or tablets powered by Google-backed Android software.

“We think communications should be flipped on its head,” said startup co-founder Nico Sell, a key behind-thescenes figure at the infamous Def Con hacker gathering that takes place annually in Las Vegas.

“Now by default, all our personal and business communications are traceable,” she explained. “We think that by default your communications should be untraceable.”

Wickr was billed as a secure social network where people could send text or voice messages as well as pictures or snippets of video with security in place to thwart snoops.

Wickr encrypts files end-to-end and, unlike typical email services, so no copies are left to linger on computer servers used to route messages.

Wickr messages and their contents are set to selfdestruct, with senders getting to decide how long files continue to exist after being opened. “After you view a message or picture, the application erases the forensics on the phone so no one could go back and find a trace of that,” said co-founder Robert Statica, an engineering professor specializing security technology. “If someone wants to recover the data forensically, all they will get is garbage.”

Statica, who teaches at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, was at a San Francisco cafe with Sell last year when talk turned to headline-grabbing stories about athletes or film stars vexed by exposed text or email messages. “We were laughing so hard that we almost got kicked out of the cafe,” Statica recalled. “Before we left, we decided that (Wickr) was the way to go.” The startup’s founders include military network security veteran Kara Coppa and computer crime investigations specialist Christopher Howell.

Versions of Wickr are being developed for laptop and desktop computers and as Web browser “plug-ins” to augment popular email programs such as Gmail or Outlook with the security features. “The most secure file you can have is a file that doesn’t exist,” Statica said. “That is the point from which we designed all these things.”

Lawyers, doctors and others with professions inclined toward sensitive communications have shown strong interest in Wickr, according to the startup. “We are already one of the most popular social media apps,” Sell said on Friday. The startup’s plan was to always offer a free version of Wickr unencumbered by ads and rely on making money from users willing to pay for a premium version of the service with enhanced features. Wickr rolled out globally but in some countries, such as France, it was awaiting licensing required when implementing encryption software, according to Statica. More information about the application was available online at mywickr.com. —- AFP

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

WTO rules against US in meat labeling case Canada, Mexico complain about less livestock trade

SAN FRANCISCO: Ed Lu, Chairman of the B612 Foundation, shows the telescope of a model of the Sentinel Space Telescope during a news conference in San Francisco, Thursday.—AP

Asteroid hunters want to launch private telescope LOS ANGELES: Who will protect us from a killer asteroid? A team of ex-NASA astronauts and scientists thinks it’s up to them. In a bold plan unveiled Thursday, the group wants to launch its own space telescope to spot and track small and mid-sized space rocks capable of wiping out a city or continent. With that information, they could sound early warnings if a rogue asteroid appeared headed toward our planet.

So far, the idea from the B612 Foundation is on paper only. Such an effort would cost upward of several hundred million dollars, and the group plans to start fundraising. Behind the nonprofit are a space shuttle astronaut, Apollo 9 astronaut, former Mars czar, deep space mission manager along with other nonNASA types. Asteroids are leftovers from the formation of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago. Most reside in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter but some get nudged into Earth’s neighborhood.

NASA and a network of astronomers routinely scan the skies for these nearEarth objects. And they’ve found 90 percent of the biggest threats - asteroids at least two-thirds of a mile across that are considered major killers. Scientists believe it was a 6-mile-wide asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. But the group thinks more attention should be paid to the estimated half a million smaller asteroids - similar in size to the one that exploded over Siberia in 1908 and leveled more than 800 square miles of forest.

“We’re playing cosmic roulette. We’re flying around the solar system with these other objects. The laws of probability eventually catch up to you,” said foundation chairman and former shuttle astronaut Ed Lu. Added former Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart: “The current priority really needs to be toward finding all of those asteroids which can do real damage if they hit or when they hit. It’s not a matter of if; it’s really a matter of when.”

Asteroids are getting attention lately.

NASA nixed a return to the moon in favor of a manned landing on an asteroid. Last month, Planetary Resources Inc., a company founded by space entrepreneurs, announced plans to extract precious metals from asteroids within a decade.

Since its birth, the Mountain View, Calif.based B612 Foundation - named after the home asteroid of the Earth-visiting prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince” - has focused on finding ways to deflect an incoming asteroid.

Ideas studied include sending an intercepting spacecraft to aiming a nuclear bomb, but none have been tested.

Last year, the group shifted focus to seek out asteroids with a telescope. It is working with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which has drawn up a preliminary telescope design. The contractor developed NASA’s Kepler telescope that hunts for exoplanets and built the instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Under the proposal, the asteroid-hunting Sentinel Space Telescope will operate for at least 5 1/2 years. It will orbit around the sun, near the orbit of Venus, or between 30 million to 170 million miles away from Earth.

Data will be beamed back through NASA’s antenna network under a deal with the space agency. Launch is targeted for 2017 or 2018. The group is angling to fly aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which made history last month by lifting

a cargo capsule to the International Space Station.

Experts said the telescope’s vantage point would allow it to spy asteroids faster than ground based telescopes and accelerate new discoveries. NASA explored doing such a mission in the past but never moved forward because of the expense. “It’s always best to find these things quickly and track them.

There might be one with our name on it,” said Don Yeomans, who heads the NearEarth Object Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which monitors potentially dangerous space rocks.

Aside from the technological challenges, the big question is whether philanthropists will open up their wallets to support the project. Nine years ago, the cost was estimated at $500 million, said Tim Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at Harvard University who was part of the team that came up with the figure for NASA. Spahr questions whether enough can be raised given the economy. “ This is a hard time,” he said. The group has received seed money - several hundreds of thousands of dollars - from venture capitalists and Silicon Valley outfits to create a team of experts. Lu, the foundation chair, said he was confident donors will step up and noted that some of the world’s most powerful telescopes including the Lick and Palomar observatories in California were built with private money. “We’re not all about doom and gloom,” Lu said. “We’re about opening up the solar system. We’re talking about preserving life on this planet.”—AP

cattle industry, which in 2011 exported around 1.4 million head of cattle worth more than $600 million to the United States,” the officials said.

The US labeling law requires grocers to put labels on cuts of beef, pork, lamb, chicken and ground meat or post signs that list the origin of the meat. The WTO appeal body upheld an earlier WTO finding that COOL violates trade rules by giving less favorable treatment to imported cattle and hogs than domestic livestock. It reversed an earlier finding that COOL fails to fulfill its goal of providing consumers with information on origin.

The United States highlighted that part of the decision in its response. “We are pleased with today’s ruling, which affirmed the United States’ right to adopt labeling requirements that provide information to American consumers about the meat they buy,” US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement on his blog. “The Appellate Body’s ruling confirms that families can still receive information on the origin of their meat and other food products when they shop for groceries.”

US officials said the ruling allows the United States to continue to require country-of-origin labels, but Washington will have to change the way it runs the program to ensure it is not an impermissible trade barrier. The US Cattlemen’s Association, which supports the COOL program, said it believed the Obama administration could bring it into compliance with the WTO decision using its regulatory authority and without going to Congress for legislation.

“Much of this ruling is good news for US cattle producers,” Jon Wooster, the group’s president, said. To be listed as US origin, meat must come from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the United States. Meat from livestock raised in Mexico or Canada for slaughter in the United States must be labeled as a product of mixed origin. Canada and Mexico have sizeable cattle and hog trade with the United States.

The countries have until early September to agree on a reasonable amount of time for the United States to comply - which could be up to 15 months, said John Masswohl, director of government and international relations for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. The Canadian industry is seeking legislative changes that could include making the labeling rule voluntary, or labeling livestock according to where they are slaughtered or processed, he said.

“The World Trade Organization has been extremely clear that mandatory country of origin labeling is a clear WTO violation,” said Bob McCan, vice president of the US -based National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which opposes the COOL program, unlike the smaller US Cattlemen’s Association. “This (appeal) did nothing more than jeopardize our strong trade relationship with Canada and Mexico, the two largest importers of US beef,” McCan said.

Public Citizen, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, said the decision will mean consumers have less access to information about the origin of their food, and health regulators may struggle to track food-borne bacteria. “The WTO announcing that big agribusiness corporations must be allowed to sell mystery meat here, despite US consumers and Congress demanding these labels, is yet another example of outsourcing our legal system to international commercial bodies that push corporate interests,” said Lori Wallach of Public Citizen.

Many US meat-packing plants, especially those near the US-Canada border, either stopped accepting Canadian livestock or bought less due to the increased costs of segregating animals by domestic and foreign origin.

Changing the law would most affect packing plants that were once big buyers of Canadian animals, including those owned by JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill Inc., Hormel Foods and Smithfield Foods, Canadian farm industry officials have said.— Reuters

People who walk a lot have lower diabetes risk: Study NEW YORK: Among people at high risk for diabetes who get very little exercise, those who manage to walk more throughout the day are less likely to actually develop the blood sugar disorder, according to a US study. Earlier studies have shown that walking more is tied to a lower risk of diabetes, but few studies have looked into precise measures of how many steps people take each day, said Amanda Fretts, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“Our finding wasn’t surprising given that other studies have shown that even light activity is associated with a lower risk of diabetes,” Fretts wrote in an email to Reuters Health. To get a better sense of the potential benefits of walking, Fretts and her colleagues asked more than 1,800 people to wear a pedometer for a week to tally the number of steps they typically took each day. All of them came from native American communities in Arizona, Oklahoma and North and South Dakota that are known to have low physical activity levels and high rates of diabetes. About a quarter of the group were considered to have very low activity, taking fewer than 3,500 steps a day, while half took fewer than 7,800 steps a day. One mile is around 2,000 steps and daily walking recommendations typically point to a minimum of 10,000 steps a day. At the beginning of the study, none of the participants had diabetes. But after five years of follow-up, 243 people had the condition.—Reuters

TOKYO: A baby beluga whale swims close to her 11 year old mother called Parara, at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama in suburban Tokyo yesterday. The one a half meters in length baby beluga was born at the aquarium on June 28. —AFP

Toxic legacy in Malaysia rare-earths village

This artist’s rendering provided by Ball Aerospace/B612 Foundation Sentinel Mission shows the Sentinel Space Telescope which the nonprofit B612 Foundation wants to launch. —AP

Bolivian children in hospital after Amazon long march LA PAZ: Seventeen native Bolivian children have been hospitalized in La Paz with lung problems after completing a 600-kilometer (370-mile) two-month protest march from the Amazon, officials said Friday. This followed the news on Thursday that a six-month-old baby girl had died after the march, apparently from an existing infection that had been aggravated by cold conditions on her arrival in the high-altitude capital. Some 1,500 demonstrators, more than half of them women and children, arrived on

GENEVA/WINNIPEG: The World Trade Organization on Friday ruled a US meat labeling program unfairly discriminated against Mexico and Canada, putting pressure on the United States to bring the scheme in line with global trade rules. The WTO Appellate Body said the US country-of-origin labeling rules, commonly known as COOL, were wrong because they gave less favorable treatment to beef and pork imported from Mexico and Canada, the countries that brought the case, than to US meat.

The decision is not subject to appeal, but gives the United States time to comply and does not immediately alter the labeling rules. US officials hailed other parts of the decision, which they said affirmed the right to adopt country oforigin labels, even though the United States will have to change how it operates the program.

Meat labels became mandatory in March 2009 after years of debate. US consumer and some farm groups supported the requirement, saying consumers should have information to distinguish between US and foreign products.

Big meat processors opposed the provision, which they said would unnecessarily boost costs and disrupt trade.

A WTO panel ruled in November that the labeling provision violated WTO rules on technical barriers to trade. “Country of origin labeling is a lose-lose proposition for all players on both sides of the (border),” said Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, adding that within one year of the law, Canadian feeder cattle exports to the United States plunged by nearly half.

“Today’s ruling is a key victory for the livestock industry,” he said. Mexican officials also welcomed the ruling and in a statement called on the United States to “modify its rules to conform to the WTO and guarantee that Mexican cattle is subject to the same competitive conditions of US cattle. “That would imply a reduction in the gap in price between Mexican and US cattle of up to $95 per head. This ruling will benefit the Mexican

Wednesday in La Paz after walking all the way from the Amazon to protest the building of a major highway through their ancestral homelands.

The health of many of the marchers deteriorated significantly as a result of the trek, due to the sustained period with inadequate food and drink, doctors said. The Bolivian office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a statement discouraging the participation of children and adolescents in political protests and marches.— AFP

BUKIT MERAH: Thirty years have passed since Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemicals opened a rare-earths refinery in the Malaysian village of Bukit Merah, but although the plant is gone, its toxic legacy persists. The facility was embraced by authorities as an advanced foreign investment that would help create jobs in poor Perak state in the country’s north.

But a rise in leukaemia and other health problems has left the site, now abandoned, as a silent warning to Malaysia as it touts a controversial new foreign rare-earths plant being built in the country’s east by Australia’s Lynas Corp. “Look at my hands. The skin is peeling,” said a 68-year-old local resident who gave only his surname, Ng. “When I go to a local bar, the women just take off, afraid that if I touch them they will be infected,” he said angrily of a mystery skin disorder he has endured for years.

Ng, who ran a hauling business, was awarded a contract to dispose of radioactive waste from the then-new facility in 1982. The plant’s Japanese operators told him it could be used as fertiliser. But the waste that he casually hauled away and disposed of in fields and rivers around Bukit Merah, home to 15,000 people, contained thorium, a carcinogenic radioactive chemical. Lynas is putting the finishing touches on its $800 million rareearths processing facility in Pahang state, a project billed by the government as an economic boost for the relatively undeveloped east coast.

Analysts say the plant, which will refine rare-earth ore brought from a Lynas mine in Australia, could help break China’s stranglehold on the mineral elements, which are used in high-tech gadgets ranging from iPods to missiles. China’s control of about 95 percent of world supply has raised concerns. But Lynas has been dogged by protests by environmentalists and residents who fear a repeat of Bukit Merah, and the anti-Lynas sentiment has galvanised a nascent “green” movement in

Malaysia. Lynas vows the facility will be safe, but opponents say the risks are clear at Bukit Merah, a once-idyllic farming community that today is marked by dilapidated brown wooden houses and a falling population. Residents and activists say the village and surrounding areas have seen increased rates of leukaemia, birth defects, infant deaths, congenital diseases, miscarriages and lead poisoning in the years following the plant’s opening.

Suffering in silence- “Mitsubishi’s rare-earth refinery is Malaysia’s worst industrial tragedy,” said T. Jayabalan, a public health consultant who lived in Bukit Merah in the late 1980s, fighting for the plant’s closure and documenting leukaemia cases. Jayabalan said he had documented at least 11 deaths due to blood poisoning, brain tumours and leukaemia.

When the plant opened, villagers immediately complained of a stinging smoke and foul odour. Local ignorance meant that waste disposal was carried out with shocking recklessness. “At one time, we dug a pit near a river in Bukit Merah and buried the waste,” said Ng. “Occasionally, lumps of wet thorium sludge would fall off the lorry and school children would walk pass it.” Mitsubishi Chemicals closed the plant in 1994 after a mounting public outcry, but the government has neither admitted nor denied radiation poisoning in the village.

The only payout by the company was a 500,000-ringgit ($158,000) lump sum to the local community to aid victims in 1994. A tacit understanding was reached under which Mitsubishi Chemicals would shut the facility in exchange for a moratorium on lawsuits. The plant has since been dismantled, cows grazing on grass where it once stood, surrounded by a crumbling concrete wall. Radioactive waste that was previously kept in rusting metal drums has been removed and buried in an isolated limestone hills nearby. But environmentalists say the dump site remains a health threat.

Bukit Merah spotlights the conundrum surrounding rare-earths processing- consumers clamour for the products that contain them but there are major concerns over the environmental impact of processing the minerals. Opponents of the Lynas plant have seized upon such fears to challenge the new facility.

It was due to open late in 2011 but has been delayed in part by government hesitation in granting an operating licence to start production following protests by thousands.

A licence was awarded in February but the government froze that pending a review by a parliamentary panel. The panel, dominated

by Malaysia’s ruling party, ruled on June 19 that the plant was safe. It was not immediately clear when the licence would be issued.

“We should not repeat the mistakes made at Bukit Merah. There is no such thing as a safe threshold for radiation which is cancercausing,” Jayabalan said. S. Panchavarnam, 56, remembers vividly the pungent, choking smell she endured working at a timber mill adjacent to the plant in 1987. Pregnant at the time, she frequently fell ill.

“The Mitsubishi factory has caused a lot of pain. We are suffering in silence,” she said.

Malaysia’s frequent heavy rains caused carelessly dumped waste from the refinery to flow into the timber yard. She cleaned it up with no protective gear and soon suffered swelling in her legs and hands. Panchavarnam said her daughter Kasturi, now 24, has been plagued by health problems since birth, dropping out of college at 19 as a result.

Kasturi was born with just one kidney, has short neck and a pair of low set eyes and continues to undergo treatment for persistent headaches. Panchavarnam said Kasturi suffers from frequent dizzy and fainting spells. “The rare earths factory has brought pain to our lives. When she comes home from work, she will just sit in the corner of the room quietly,” said Panchavarnam.— AFP

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

Taiwan tea a matter of passion and profit TAIPEI: For decades, Lin Tsai-pan has tended his tea fields in the misty green hills of central Taiwan with a devotion bordering on obsession. It is not just a job. It is a passion and a question of honor. It is exactly 30 years since he first won a prize for his Oolong leaves at a prestigious contest held by Luku Farmers’ Association in Nantou county, 20 years since his second prize, and 10 years since his third-and so far last.

“I feel I have a good chance of creating another miracle this time,” he said on the eve of the 2012 summer competition, which was held in May. The stakes are huge. The winner of the competition can expect to sell his product at a steep premium-thousands of US dollars per pound-not least because of growing interest among newly affluent Chinese connoisseurs.

The impact of Chinese demand was dramatically illustrated two years ago, when that year’s winner was able to sell his har vest of 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds) at Tw$6.0 million ($200,670), twice the previous year’s price. “Some ‘nouveaux riches’ from China think it

worthwhile spending hundreds of thousands of Taiwan dollars,” said Tony Lin, a senior staffer at the farmers association who recently returned from a fact-finding trip in the mainland.

“After all, they get to taste the world’s best Oolong tea, which is how they see it.” Tea is a science in Asia. The categories are measured in terms of the fermentation process, with fully fermented black tea at one end and green tea at the other. Oolong tea, in the middle of the two extremes, has emerged as a must-buy for a large number of the more than 1.8 million Chinese tourists who visit the island each year, following an abrupt thaw in relations.

Taiwan got a late start with Oolong. It was introduced in 1885 from southeast China’s Fujian province to Tungting, Chinese for “Hill Top”, a 700-metre (2,310-feet) mountain in Luku. But the island has caught up, and more than 120 years later, the Oolong tea produced in Taiwan has outper formed Oolong grown in the mainland.

Oolong prices var y sharply, but medium-priced tea weighs in at about

NANTOU: This photo taken on May 10, 2012 shows a judge tasting tea during a tea contest in Nantou, central Taiwan. —AFP

Tw$3,000 per kilogram. “Taiwan tea has a special flowery fragrance which Chinaproduced tea doesn’t,” said Hsu Rungchun, a third-generation merchant in the northern Lungtan township with deep knowledge of the trade.

Threat to Taiwan’s tea- “Its quality may be dictated by a wide range of factors including weather, soil, the way the tea tree is treated-and finally the tea manufacturing techniques.” Taiwanese tea developers are working hard on different flavours. One example is “Oriental Beauty,” a tea with a complex aroma and a rich aftertaste of honey and peaches produced in the northern Hsinchu and Taoyuan areas.

Growers are forced to constantly upgrade and develop. The island’s tea industry peaked in 1973 when it produced 28,000 tons of tea leaves, with 23,000 tons being exported. But since then, the sector has been gradually losing its competitiveness due to labor shortages, rising labor costs and the appreciation of the local currency.

The total area of tea farms on the island has dwindled to 15,000 hectares (37,050 acres), less than half the size in the post-World War II heyday, as more cheap tea is shipped in from abroad.

Chiu Chui-feng, a senior researcher at the state -run Tea Research and Extension Station, shrugged off the threat from cheap imports. “The imports are simply to meet the low-priced demand and have posed no threat to Taiwan’s high-priced tea,” he said. The imported low-cost tea leaves are mostly used in the manufacturing of cheap bottled tea drinks which are popular among young consumers, he said.

However, experts and tea industry workers are alarmed by the “invasion” of Oolong tea grown in Southeast Asia or even in China but packed in Taiwan.

“The hard-won credit of Taiwan tea may be eroded by the imported Oolong tea sold in the name of Taiwan-grown tea,” said Hsu, the tea trader.

While calling on the government to adopt counter-measures to regulate the prevailing malpractices, tea farmers,

with the aid of regional associations and local governments, have been pulling all the stops to develop new aromas.

Taiwanese tea traders have also worked with farmers to set up overseas tea production in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and China, introducing the Taiwan tea trees and Taiwan-developed manufacturing techniques.

But quality comes first, and contests like the one attended by tea farmer Lin are essential in ensuring that the pro-

ducers keep evolving. This time, however, he did not make it in the stiff race which had drawn a record 5,729 samples of Oolong tea leaves harvested in the spring from hundreds of farmers island wide. “I’ll be back again in the winter tea race,” he said, undeterred, referring to the second of the year’s contests, held in October. “As a matter of fact, all my three top prizes were obtained at the winter tea competition.”—AFP

NANTOU: This photo taken on May 10, 2012 shows female tea farmers lining up to weigh their tea leaves at a farm in Nantou, central Taiwan.

The island’s tea industry peaked in 1973 when it produced 28,000 tonnes of tea leaves, with 23,000 tonnes being exported.—AFP

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WHAT’S ON Greetings

e wish many happy returns to our dear daughter Nimah Arshad as she celebrates her 7th birthday today.

Special greetings from father, mother, brothers, uncles, aunties, cousins, friends and well-wishers.

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abrook! Farah Baker Al-Nazer. Farah passed and graduated from Fajer AlSabah High School with an excellent grade (99.27%). She has made her parents, family and friends proud as she carries on her success to the University aiming to be a doctor.

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Announcements Open House for Indian citizens pen House for Indian citizens by the ambassador which is being held every alternate Wednesday has been found useful by the Indian community and the embassy. It will now be held on every Wednesday from June 2012 between 1500 hrs and 1600 hrs. in the embassy. In case Wednesday is an embassy holiday, the meeting will be held on the next working day.

To ensure timely action/follow-up by the embassy, it is requested that, wherever possible, Indian citizens should exhaust the existing channels of interaction/grievance redressal and bring their problems/issues in writing with supporting documents. It may be mentioned that embassy of Indiaís Consular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizens on all workings days from 1000 hrs to 1100 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1530 hrs by the Consular Officer in the Meeting Room of the Consular Hall.

For any unaddressed issues, Second Secretary (Consular) could be contacted. Furthermore, the head of the Consular Wing is also available to redress grievances. Similarly, a labour wing Help Desk functions from 0830 hrs to 1300 hrs and 1400 hrs to 1630 hrs in the Labour Hall to address the labour related issues. There is also a 24x7 Help Line (Tel No. 25674163) to assist labourers in distress. For any unaddressed issues, the concerned attaches in the labour section and the head of the labour wing could be contacted.

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‘Leniency of Islam’ An unprecedented initiative of KTV2 (English channel) is the new program by the name ‘Leniency of Islam’ presented by Shaikh Musaad Alsane and directed by Hamid Al-Turkait. The program is mainly meant to address the expatriates living in Kuwait.

Religious questions are received through the program email qislam@tv.gov.kw and sms can be sent to- 97822021 and answered by the lecturer and Imam in Awqaf Ministry Shaikh Musaad Alsane - a Master Degree holder in Sharia and fiqih from Kuwait University. So don’t forget to watch the program every Friday at 1:00 pm.

Summer Scrabble for kids ood news for kids still here during the summer vacations. You can join up with me to learn some tricks, tips and how to play Scrabble the right way! Need to know more? Then register with me Rohaina at 66634224 or at rainaveer@hotmail.com. You will be given Scrabble boards and have loads of fun games, mind games and quizzes. If this sounds fun, then call soon. Classes will end on July 26th.

Classes are on Thursdays ONLY and from 2.30 4.00 pm. Loads of fun and games in store.

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Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

he Life Abundant International Fountain Church on Friday celebrated its Shiloh Hour at the NECK premises in Kuwait City, under the theme ‘Discipline And Sharing His Abundant Life To All Nations’. Bishop Jonathan called on all Christians to promote love and peace and to live a life worth of emulation. The event - a non-denominational Christian program attracted a lot of Christian folks.

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Gulfmart to open new branch in Salwa here seems to be no stopping Gulfmart Supermarket as it pursues an assertive new expansion policy in Kuwait. The latest branch of Gulfmart, and its 14th outlet in the country, is scheduled to open in the residential district of Salwa tomorrow at 10.30am. The newest branch of Gulfmart, the fastest growing supermarket chain with the largest number of branches in Kuwait, will be inaugurated by His Excellency Satish C Mehta, Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, in the presence of top company officials, at the Sheikh A Al Sabah Complex, opposite to Kuwait English School, on Street 8, Block 11, in Salwa area.

Arif Sheikh, Managing Director of Gulfmart Group, speaking about the upcoming launch of Salwa branch said: “Gulfmart has enjoyed the patronage of customers in Kuwait since 1999, when we first set up shop here. The opening of a 14th branch in the country is clear evidence of the continued recognition and popularity of Gulfmart brand, and attests to the wide support we enjoy among

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customers in Kuwait.” We are very grateful for this trust in our brand and we will continue to work to meet and exceed the aspirations of patrons, he added.

With easy access, convenient car parking facilities and a comfortable shopping environment, the over 10,000 square feet of floor space within the supermarket, offers shoppers convenient shopping in a welcoming ambience. Gulfmart’s Operations Manager, Nikil Ajagaonkar, and top officials of the Centralized Merchandizing Department of the Group, including Jose Thomas, Raju Sawlani, Fakhruddin Kabir, Imran Sheikh, Zujer Saifee and Sameer Sheikh, confirmed that the new branch presents customers enormous value through extensive selection, competitive prices and excellent service, along with great offers and superb promotions.

The strategic business model of opening new stores in various formats, based on clearly defined customer needs, in suburbs underserved by full-service retail supermarkets is proving to be immensely successful for Gulfmart. While the new outlets carry products from around the world on their well-stocked, frequently-replenished shelves, they also offer a large selection of specific goods that cater to ethnic requirements of major customers in a locality.

“At Gulfmart, we are all about convenience and providing quality products at best prices,” said Remesh T A, Country Head for Gulfmart in Kuwait. “By opening a new branch in Salwa, we are making it even more convenient for shoppers in the neighborhood to access Gulfmart. We are now in the unique position of being able to offer shoppers in Kuwait with an

easily accessible outlet that is within commutable distance of any populated center in the country,” he added.

Clarifying that the opening of a branch in Salwa was the result of ongoing customer demand for access to quality retailing, the country manager added, “At Gulfmart, we have embarked on an assertive new expansion strategy that will see our brand grow rapidly across the country. With the launch of a branch in Fahaheel in May, now one in Salwa, and our imminent openings in Abu Halifa and other areas this year, we are well on our way to realizing our goal of having 25 quality retail stores in Kuwait by the end of 2013.”

Aware Diwaniya he AWARE Center cordially invites interested Western expatriates to its diwaniya presentation entitled, “You and the environment: how can you make a difference?” by Dr Mohammed Al-Furgi.

Environmental issues are sometimes classified as academic or elite issues and we may feel that we as individuals do not have a role to play. We do have a role to play in improving our environment and an important one indeed. We (the individuals) are by far the majority and we are

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the ones that dictate what will happen to our environment. We are targeted as consumers and by making the right choice we could force the producers to change their products. Kuwait a country with a relatively small population but high consumption rate suffers from environmental problems, and we as citizens or residents could make a difference in alleviating these problems through simple practices.

What can citizens and residents do to reduce littering and conserve water and

energy? In his 25-minute presentation, Alforgi will discuss these questions and many more.

Dr. Alforgi graduated from the University of Tulsa, Tulsa Oklahoma with a B.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering and an M.S. in engineering management. He also holds a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Wyoming, USA. Dr. Alforgi has taught petroleum engineering at the College of Technological Studies in Kuwait, as well as at universities in Libya,

Adopt a pet

Competitions in Patriotic songs ndo-Kuwait Friendship Society, Kuwait (www.indo-kuwaitfriendshipsociety.com) is planning to conduct competitions in Indian and Kuwaiti Patriotic songs. This is the first time in Kuwait, an Indian Association is organizing contests in “Patriotic Songs” for both Indian and Kuwaiti School students. The first 3 places will be declared separately

by Judges who are experts in Indian and Kuwaiti Patriotic songs. Several prizes and awards will be handed over for the winning schools. Pradeep Rajkumar and A K S Abdul Nazar said that IKFS wants let our children learn what they mean as a “Patriotic” to their home country. 4 pages of spot Essay competition related to “Patriotism” also will be held in the same day as a spot registration. 1 Girl and 1 Boy student from each School can participate in the ESSAY contest. Dr. Mohamed Tareq, Chairman of the First Indian Model School in Kuwait “ Salmiya Indian Model School (SIMS) already confirmed as a Co-Sponsor of the Program.

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Conditions apply: 1) The competitions are meant for all the Schools located in Kuwait and should be nominated by school authority.

2) Each school can select group of 7 students for the “PATRIOTIC SONGS (Indian and Kuwaiti)” and nominate separately.

3) Children of above 12 years till 17

years (VII classes to XII classes) are eligible for the contest. But if School is permitted 4) Musical instruments or KARAOKE mixer should be accompanied by the participating students/Children and the school team should operate and select the mixers.

5) Time frame: 7 minutes - Names will be called as “First come” in the Registration.

The Event will be held at the auditorium of “Salmiya Indian Model School” on Saturday, 27th October 2012 from 09:30 am onwards. It will be a full day program with fun and full of entertainments.

Food-stalls of different Kuwaiti and Indian tastes will installed.

Dr. Ghalib Al-Mashoor said in a press release that Invitations for all schools located in various parts of Kuwait are already been sent. Schools under one management but from different locations can also participate in the contest individually. As per the school directory, there 23 Indian schools in Kuwait. The last date of receiving names of the Participants is scheduled on 2nd day of October, 2012 (INDIA’s GHANDI JAYANTHI DAY). The entry is free to all and due to 2nd day of Eid Al-Adha holidays, a large crowd is expected to attend in addition to, Senior Kuwaiti and Indian citizens will also grace the function.

All the applications of interest should be sent to: ikfsociety@gmail.com

the United Arab Emirates and Wyoming.

He was a chairman of the Department of Petroleum Engineering Technology, at the College of Technological Studies. He wrote several papers on petroleum economics and takes deep interest in socioeconomic changes that occur due to this particular resource.

Cookie the Persian mix cat ookie is a charming twoyear-old male Persian mix cat. This friendly and confident fella loves attention and will do best in a home with children over 8 years of age. To adopt Cookie, contact K’S PATH.

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Harry the Saluki male dog arry is a handsome 2year-old male Saluki dog. This friendly mister loves to roam around in the garden and play with other dogs! He will need long daily walks and a house with a garden. Harry would do best in a family with children over 15 years of age. To adopt Harry, contact K’S PATH at (+965) 67001622 or visit the website www.kspath.org

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WHAT’S ON

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian ConsulateGeneral in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm

Hotel Missoni Kuwait wins Best Hospitality Company award otel Missoni Kuwait was recently awarded as the Best Hospitality Company of the year 2012 in Kuwait at the Arabian Business Achievement Awards ceremony that

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took place in Kuwait last May. Alfio Bernardini, General Manager at the hotel said “This achievement is of a great value for Hotel Missoni Kuwait, it is dedicated to each and every person at

Missoni Hotel appoints new Director of Sales/Marketing otel Missoni Kuwait announces the appointment of Wassim Tarabay, who joins the Executive Team as Director of Sales & Marketing. Within this role Wassim will be responsible for all Sales & Marketing and PR activities at the hotel, reporting directly to the General Manager.

Wassim has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry where he was graduated from the Hotel Management School in Lebanon and started his career in hospitality as Corporate Trainee at Le Meridien Abu Dhabi.

Then joined Hyatt Regency Riyadh, a couple of years later on he joined the Regional Team of Radisson SAS Hotels and Resorts in Dubai as Director of Sales taking care of the GCC market. Wassim was transferred after that to Radisson Blu Hotel in Dubai Media City as part of the pre-opening team. In 2007 he joined Hyatt Regency Dubai in the capacity of Director of Sales and made his return back to Saudi Arabia to join Park Inn by Radisson team as Director of Sales & Marketing which was his last position before being transferred to Hotel Missoni Kuwait. Wassim is fluent in English and Arabic and has gained an advanced experience in the Middle East with a proven success record.

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the hotel who dedicated their times and efforts to boost the hotel in the Kuwaiti Hospitality map”. Each year, the awards celebrate the very best in business achievements, both on a corporate and

individual level. Arabian Business Awards returns to Kuwait to reward the outstanding performers of business.

Ex-assistant editor of Kuwait Times, Alfred D’Cruz dies at 91 lfred D’Cruz, veteran journalist, historian and author has passed away at his residence in Mumbai at the age of 91, after a brief illness. He was the Assistant Editor of Kuwait Times from 198991. He was at the editorial desk when the Gulf War broke out and always had interesting anecdotes about it. Alfred D’Cruz was also known for his interesting headlines such as “Showers of Blessings” when Kuwait experienced rains in the early 1990s.

Handpicked by the then British Editor, Sir Francis Low in 1947 when India gained Independence, Alfred D’Cruz was the first Indian journalist to work at the Editorial desk of The Times of India, Mumbai. After his retirement as Chief Sub-Editor in 1982, he continued with the Times of India Group as the Editor of India’s best comprehensive reference book ‘The Times of India Directory and Year Book 1984’, including Who’s Who in India, featuring prominent personalities.

The book was listed among the

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best in the Directory of Directories, Michigan, USA and soon became a best seller in India, US, UK and Europe. Alfred D’Cruz was known for his forte for historical research

research historical study of the making of the century-old newspaper from its inception.

He always promoted the Gulf region through articles in various Indian publications and other forums for he always believed it to be one of the most beautiful and progressive regions in the world.

He died as he always lived - Hardworking, with a zest for life, till the very end. Alfred D’Cruz will be fondly remembered by the newspaper fraternity as the “Eternal Newspaper Man”. He is survived by his wife, son and three daughters.

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

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EMBASSY OF BRITAIN Consular section at the British Embassy will be starting an online appointment booking system for our consular customers from Sunday, 01 July 2012. All information including how to make an appointment is now available on the embassy website. In addition, there is also a “Consular Appointment System” option under Quick links on the right hand side on the homepage, which should take you to the “Consular online booking appointment system” main page.

Please be aware that from 01 July 2012, we will no longer accept walk-in customers for legalisation, notarial services and certificates (birth, death and marriages). If you have problems accessing the system or need to make an appointment for non-notarial consular issues or have a consular emergency, please call 2259 4355/7/8 or email us on consularenquirieskuwait@fco.gov.uk. If you require consular assistance out of office hours (working hours: 0730-l430 hrs), please contact the Embassy on 2259 4320.

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and published the Times supplement ‘Metamorphosis and Makers of Bombay.’ He also brought out a special eight-page supplement of The Times of India entitled ‘Down the corridors of Times’ which was a

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

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform Kenyan residents throughout Kuwait and the general public that with effect from June 1, 2012 the Embassy has moved from its current location to a new location in Surra Block 1, Street 8, Villa 303.

Please note that the new telephone and fax numbers will be communicated as soon as possible. For enquiries you can contact Consular Section on mobile 90935162 or 97527306.

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

Manikgonj Emigrant Cooperative society marks ‘Isra At Miraj’ anikgonj Emigrant Cooperative society Kuwait recently organized a program to mark the ‘Isra At Miraj’ by Mawlana Abdur Rowf in the Hotel Rajdhani Kuwait city. The Program began with recitation of the Holy Quran by Mawlana Abul Hasan.

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EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, AlSalaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location.

Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF NEPAL The Embassy of Nepal has moved to a new location in Jabriya, Block 8, St. 13, House No. 514, effective from 15th April, 2012. Till the new telephone connections are installed, the Embassy may be contacted by email: info@nepembku.org ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk ■■■■■■■

IKFS calls Indian associations to protest 12.36% service tax on NRIs his is the second time, Indo-Kuwait Friendship Society is requesting to Vayalar Ravi, the Overseas Minister of India to protect the rights of NRIs spread all over the world. IKFS is deeply moved to hear the sad news of hurting NRIs and surprised to see the plan to levy 12.36 percent service tax which will be deducted directly by the money exchange houses where the payment is channeled. In fact, this proposal was introduced indirectly in the proposed place of provision of “service rules”. The issue has not received due attention as it was introduced through the backdoor, ignoring the likely adverse impact on the nation.

President Dr Ghalib Al-Mashoor said that

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what are the justifications to levy the hard working people’s money who have been maltreated with the nick name as strangers and NRIs. The move is surprising! If a cow is giving you the milk, you cannot cut its nipples to get its blood and flesh. Why should UPA government wants to hurt Indians?

What mistake they have done against their beloved country India? They left their families, children and dear and near to feed them. If UPA ruling government cannot give a job in their home country then why should UPA government wants to levy the poor NRIs? Moreover, no such levy is imposed on inward remittances in any other developed or developing countries.

Non-resident Indians numbering about 7.0 million transfer more than $65 billion annually to dependents in India. These remittances account for more than 3.0 percent of India’s GDP and have been instrumental in reducing the current account deficit by shoring up the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Also, migrant remittances have recently surged to the forefront of development agendas worldwide.

As per the latest statistical reports that States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Punjab are among the regions worldwide that depend heavily on international remittances. The share of NRI remittance in the state’s net domestic product is about 31.0

percent in Kerala, 13.0 percent in Punjab and 7.0 percent in Tamil Nadu. The remittances provide social security to the dependent families, help them meet basic necessities of life, education and improve their standard of living.

Therefore, IKFS calls all Indian associations based in GCC countries to protest against levying the so called service tax of 12.36 percent by NRIs. Sending only protest notes and memorandums to UPA government will not have any impact, unless we, NRIs go and convince the law makers in both Houses of India (Lokh Sabha and Rajya Sabha) not to charge any levies for the coming 100 years.

EMBASSY OF THAILAND The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait, wishes to invite the Kuwaiti companies that deal business with Thai companies or those agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register their relevant information to be part of the embassy’s business and trade database.

The Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6, Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 -25317531, Ext: 14.

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EMBASSY OF UKRAINE We’d like to inform you that in response to the increasing number of our citizens who work in the state and the need for 24-hour operational telephone in case of emergency the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait has opened “hotline telephone number” - (+ 965) 972-79-206.

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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

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03:20 Doctor Who Confidential 03:35 Allo ‘allo!

04:05 Balamory 04:25 3rd & Bird 04:35 Bobinogs 04:45 Gigglebiz 05:00 Teletubbies 05:25 Jackanory Junior 05:40 Little Robots 05:50 Balamory 06:10 3rd & Bird 06:20 Bobinogs 06:30 Gigglebiz 06:45 Teletubbies 07:10 Jackanory Junior 07:25 Little Robots 07:35 Robin Hood 08:20 Keeping Up Appearances 08:50 Lab Rats 09:20 The Old Guys 09:55 Peckham Finishing School For Girls 10:50 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries 11:40 20,000 Streets Under The Sky 12:30 The Royle Family 13:00 The Impressions Show 13:30 Allo ‘allo!

14:00 Doctors 14:30 Doctors 15:00 Doctors 15:30 Doctors 16:00 Doctors 16:35 Walk On The Wild Side 17:10 Doctor Who 17:55 Doctor Who Confidential 18:10 20,000 Streets Under The Sky 19:00 Blackadder The Third 19:30 Twenty Twelve 20:00 Life On Mars 20:50 Spooks 21:40 New Tricks 22:30 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries 23:20 Live At The Apollo

03:35 04:20 07:00 12:50 14:30 15:20 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:50 19:20 21:00 21:30 22:25 23:10 23:55

Cash In The Attic Come Dine With Me MasterChef Australia 10 Years Younger Gok’s Fashion Fix Gok’s Clothes Roadshow DIY SOS DIY SOS 10 Years Younger Holmes On Homes Gok’s Clothes Roadshow Masterchef: The Professionals Masterchef: The Professionals Holmes On Homes Holmes On Homes Gok’s Clothes Roadshow

03:00 BBC World News 03:10 World Features 03:30 Talking Movies 04:00 BBC World News 04:30 Dateline London 05:00 BBC World News 05:10 The Intelligence Squared Debate 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 Click 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 Newsnight 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 India Business Report 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 Fast Track 10:00 BBC World News 10:10 World Features 10:30 Talking Movies 11:00 BBC World News 11:10 World Features 11:30 Dateline London 12:00 BBC World News 12:10 Faster, Higher, Stronger 13:00 BBC World News 13:10 World Features 13:30 BBC World News 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 Newsnight 15:00 BBC World News 15:10 World Features 15:30 Collaboration Culture 16:00 BBC World News 16:15 Sport Today 16:30 Click 17:00 BBC World News 17:30 Rendezvous With Zeinab Badawi 18:00 BBC World News 18:10 The Intelligence Squared Debate 19:00 BBC World News 19:30 India Business Report 20:00 BBC World News 20:30 Our World 21:00 BBC World News 21:15 Sport Today 21:30 Collaboration Culture 22:00 BBC World News 22:30 Talking Movies 23:00 BBC World News 23:10 World Features 23:30 Rendezvous With Zeinab Badawi

03:00 Tom & Jerry 03:25 Looney Tunes 03:50 Scooby Doo Where Are You! 04:15 Droopy: Master Detective 04:40 Wacky Races 05:00 The Flintstones 05:25 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 05:50 Popeye Classics 06:00 Wacky Races 06:10 Pink Panther And Pals 06:35 Dexter’s Laboratory 07:00 Bananas In Pyjamas 07:25 Jelly Jamm 07:50 Baby Looney Tunes 08:15 Gerald McBoing Boing 08:40 Ha Ha Hairies 08:55 The Garfield Show 09:15 The Looney Tunes Show 09:40 What’s New Scooby-Doo? 10:05 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 10:30 Yogi’s Treasure Hunt 10:55 Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch 11:20 Wacky Races 11:30 Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood 12:30 Johnny Bravo 23:00 Wacky Races 23:20 Dastardly And Muttley 23:45 New Yogi Bear Show

03:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 03:25 Ben 10 03:50 Adventure Time 04:15 Powerpuff Girls 04:40 Generator Rex 05:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien

05:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:55 Angelo Rules 06:00 Casper’s Scare School 06:25 Casper’s Scare School 07:00 The Powerpuff Girls 07:15 Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi 07:40 The Amazing World Of Gumball 08:05 Adventure Time 08:55 Regular Show 09:20 Evil Con Carne 09:45 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 10:05 Thundercats 10:35 Hero 108 11:00 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 11:25 Grim Adventures Of...

12:15 Courage The Cowardly Dog 13:05 Generator Rex 13:30 Powerpuff Girls 14:20 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 14:45 Thundercats 15:10 Best Ed 16:00 Fantastic Four...

16:25 Ben 10 16:50 The Amazing World Of Gumball 17:15 Adventure Time 17:40 Regular Show 18:05 Powerpuff Girls 18:55 Ben 10: Alien Force 19:20 Ben 10: Alien Force 19:45 Ed, Edd n Eddy 20:35 Grim Adventures Of...

21:00 Star Wars: The Clone Wars 21:25 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 21:50 Cow And Chicken 22:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Ben 10 23:40 Chowder

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CNN Marketplace Europe CNN Marketplace Africa The Brief CNN Presents CNN Newsroom The CNN Freedom Project Inside Africa World Sport Road To Rio World Report CNN Marketplace Middle East Talk Asia World Report CNN Marketplace Europe I Report For CNN World Sport Aiming For Gold African Voices The Brief World Report World’s Untold Stories CNN Presents World Report Leading Women Future Cities Fareed Zakaria Gps State Of The Union International Desk Inside Africa Global Exchange CNN Marketplace Africa Global Exchange CNN Marketplace Middle East World Sport Open Court International Desk African Voices International Desk Road To Rio Fareed Zakaria Gps World Report World’s Untold Stories

03:00 How It’s Made 03:25 How Do They Do It? 03:55 How It’s Made 04:20 How Do They Do It? 04:50 How It’s Made 05:15 How Do They Do It? 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 How Do They Do It? 06:35 How It’s Made 07:50 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior 08:45 Wheeler Dealers Revisited

09:40 Fifth Gear 10:05 Fifth Gear 10:30 Hillbilly Handfishin’ 11:25 Extreme Fishing 12:20 How It’s Made 14:10 How It’s Made 14:35 Auction Kings 16:00 Auction Kings 16:25 Auction Kings 16:55 Border Security 18:45 Border Security 19:10 Mythbusters 20:05 Dynamo: Magician Impossible 21:00 Mythbusters Dirty Dozen 21:55 Curiosity 22:50 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior 23:45 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior

03:35 Sport Science 04:25 Sport Science 05:15 Sport Science 06:05 Sport Science 07:00 Mega World 07:55 Brave New World 08:50 How Does That Work?

09:15 How Does That Work?

09:40 Engineered 10:30 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 11:20 Mega World 12:10 Catch It Keep It 13:00 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 13:25 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 13:50 Scrapheap Challenge 14:45 Weird Or What?

15:35 Patent Bending 16:00 Patent Bending 16:30 Future Weapons 17:20 Joao Magueijo’s Big Bang 18:10 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 18:40 Brave New World 19:30 Prophets Of Science Fiction 20:20 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 21:10 Stuck With Hackett 21:35 Stuck With Hackett 22:00 Prophets Of Science Fiction 22:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 23:40 Dark Matters

03:05 03:30 03:55 04:20 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:25 06:40 Cody 07:05 07:30 07:40 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:10 09:35 10:00 10:25 11:50 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:40 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:00 18:20 18:45 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 22:15 22:30 22:41 22:55 Cody 23:20 Cody 23:45

Stitch Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic A Kind Of Magic Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Suite Life Of Zack And So Random Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Jessie A.N.T. Farm Austin & Ally Gotta Kick It Up Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie A.N.T. Farm Austin & Ally Jessie Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up So Random So Random Aladdin & The King Of Thieves A.N.T. Farm Austin & Ally Shake It Up Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Jessie Gotta Kick It Up Phineas And Ferb Fish Hooks Fish Hooks The Suite Life Of Zack And The Suite Life Of Zack And Sonny With A Chance

03:15 E! Investigates 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Then And Now 05:30 Then And Now 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Extreme Close-Up 09:45 Extreme Close-Up 10:15 E!es 11:10 THS 12:05 Giuliana & Bill 15:55 Giuliana & Bill 16:55 Behind The Scenes 17:25 Giuliana & Bill 20:25 Giuliana & Bill 21:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 22:25 Ice Loves Coco 22:55 Ice Loves Coco 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

TWELVE ON OSN CINEMA

03:45 04:30 06:10 07:00 07:50 09:30 09:55 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05

Mysterious Journeys On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery ER

19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared American Greed American Greed Scorned: Crimes Of Passion

03:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 04:00 Racing To America 05:00 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 05:30 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 06:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 06:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 07:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 08:00 Race To The Bottom of The Earth 09:00 One Man & His Campervan 09:30 One Man & His Campervan 10:00 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 11:00 Travel Madness 11:30 Travel Madness 12:00 Twister Tours 13:00 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 13:30 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 14:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 14:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 15:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 16:00 Race To The Bottom of The Earth 17:00 A World Apart 18:00 Geo Sessions 18:30 Geo Sessions 19:00 Around The World For Free 20:00 Extreme Expeditions 21:00 Banged Up Abroad 22:00 Race To The Bottom of The Earth 23:00 Into The Drink 23:30 Into The Drink

03:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 04:00 Racing To America 05:00 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 05:30 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 06:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 06:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 07:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 08:00 Race To The Bottom of The Earth 09:00 One Man & His Campervan 09:30 One Man & His Campervan 10:00 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 11:00 Travel Madness 11:30 Travel Madness 12:00 Twister Tours 13:00 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 13:30 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 14:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 14:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 15:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 16:00 Race To The Bottom of The Earth 17:00 A World Apart 18:00 Geo Sessions 18:30 Geo Sessions 19:00 Around The World For Free 20:00 Extreme Expeditions 21:00 Banged Up Abroad 22:00 Race To The Bottom of The Earth 23:00 Into The Drink 23:30 Into The Drink

03:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 04:00 Shark Men 05:00 Banged Up Abroad 06:00 Light At The Edge of The World 07:00 Departures 08:00 Situation Critical 09:00 Taboo 10:00 Megastructures 11:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 12:00 Shark Men 13:00 Banged Up Abroad 14:00 Sea Patrol 15:00 Salvage Code Red 16:00 Situation Critical 17:00 Taboo 18:00 Ancient Megastructures 19:00 Megastructures 20:00 Machines Of War 21:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 22:00 Sea Patrol 23:00 Air Crash Investigation

03:45 Strike Force 04:40 The Real Serengeti 05:35 Rescue Ink 06:30 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 07:25 The Invaders 08:20 Street Monkeys 09:15 Snake Wranglers 09:40 Snake Wranglers 10:10 Built For The Kill 11:05 Hidden Worlds 11:30 Hidden Worlds 12:00 Leopards of Dead Tree Island 13:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 14:00 Monster Fish 15:00 Tiger Queen 16:00 Built for the Kill 4 17:00 Snake Wranglers 17:30 Snake Wranglers 18:00 Shell Shocked 19:00 Tiger Queen 20:00 Built for the Kill 4 21:00 Snake Wranglers 21:30 Snake Wranglers 22:00 Shell Shocked 23:00 Leopards of Dead Tree Island

03:45 Strike Force 04:40 The Real Serengeti 05:35 Rescue Ink 06:30 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 07:25 The Invaders 08:20 Street Monkeys

TANGLED ON OSN MOVIES HD 09:15 Snake Wranglers 09:40 Snake Wranglers 10:10 Built For The Kill 11:05 Hidden Worlds 11:30 Hidden Worlds 12:00 Leopards of Dead Tree Island 13:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 14:00 Monster Fish 15:00 Tiger Queen 16:00 Built for the Kill 4 17:00 Snake Wranglers 17:30 Snake Wranglers 18:00 Shell Shocked 19:00 Tiger Queen 20:00 Built for the Kill 4 21:00 Snake Wranglers 21:30 Snake Wranglers 22:00 Shell Shocked 23:00 Leopards of Dead Tree Island

04:00 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights-PG15 06:00 Fatal Secrets-PG15 08:00 Last Breath-PG15 10:00 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights-PG15 12:00 Altitude-PG15 14:00 Last Breath-PG15 16:00 Time Machine: Rise Of The Morlocks-PG15 18:00 Altitude-PG15 20:00 Empire-18 22:00 Kiss Of Death-18

03:00 Certified Copy-PG15 05:00 African Cats: Kingdom Of Courage-PG 07:00 Despicable Me-FAM 09:00 The Eagle-PG15 11:00 Bright Star-PG15 13:00 Sounds Like Teen Spirit-PG15 15:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 17:00 Battle: Los Angeles-PG15 19:00 Burlesque-PG15 21:00 Handsome Harry-18 23:00 Twelve-18

03:00 Best Friends Forever 03:30 Bent 04:00 10 Items Or Less 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 The Simpsons 06:00 Friends 06:30 Weird Science 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 10 Items Or Less 08:30 Best Friends Forever 09:00 The Simpsons 09:30 The Office 10:00 Breaking In 10:30 Weird Science 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Til Death 13:00 The Simpsons 13:30 10 Items Or Less 14:00 Bent 14:30 Breaking In 15:00 The Office 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:30 Friends 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 Last Man Standing 19:00 Two And A Half Men 19:30 Happy Endings 20:30 Allen Gregory 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 Enlightened

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True Blood Good Morning America Terra Nova Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Criminal Minds C.S.I. Live Good Morning America

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Terra Nova The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Covert Affairs Bones Burn Notice Top Gear (US) True Blood

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C.S.I. New York C.S.I. C.S.I. Miami Unforgettable Emmerdale Coronation Street Body Of Proof Law & Order: Criminal Intent Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Body Of Proof Unforgettable Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Body Of Proof Covert Affairs Bones Burn Notice Top Gear (US) Rescue Me

03:00 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights-PG15 05:00 The Killing Room-18 07:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 09:00 Flight Of The Phoenix-PG15 11:00 The Devil’s Teardrop-PG15 13:00 You Got Served-PG15 15:00 Flight Of The Phoenix-PG15 17:00 Arachnophobia-PG15 19:00 The Spirit-PG15 21:00 Bats-18 23:00 The Speak-18

04:00 Paper Man-PG15 06:00 Marmaduke-PG 08:00 Mean Girls 2-PG15 10:00 Molly-PG15 12:00 The Prince And Me 4: The Elephant Adventure-PG15 14:00 Inspector Gadget (1999)PG15 16:00 Molly-PG15 18:00 Griff The Invisible-PG15 20:00 Mardi Gras: Spring Break-18 22:00 Mr. Nice-18

03:15 Miracle-PG15 05:30 Return To Rajapur-PG15 07:00 The Moveon.Org Story-PG15 09:00 Greener Mountains-PG 11:00 The Social Network-PG15 13:00 Witch Hunt-PG15 15:00 Greener Mountains-PG 16:45 Spiderman 2-PG15 19:00 Le Crime Est Notre AffairePG15 21:00 Of Gods And Men-18 23:00 Harley Davidson And The Marlboro Man-PG15

03:45 Sundays At Tiffany’s-PG15 05:15 Henry’s Crime-PG15 07:00 Flash Of Genius-PG15 09:00 Tangled-FAM 11:00 Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader-PG 13:00 Too Big To Fail-PG15 15:00 Get Low-PG15 17:00 Tangled-FAM 19:00 Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son-PG15 21:00 Winter’s Bone-18 23:00 Kick-Ass-18

04:00 Tommy & Oscar-FAM 06:00 Moomins And The Comet Chase-FAM 08:00 D’fenders-PG 10:00 Barbie In A Mermaid Tale 2FAM

12:00 Tommy & Oscar-FAM 14:00 Slappy And The Stinkers-FAM 16:00 Winner & The Golden Child: Part I-FAM 18:00 Barbie In A Mermaid Tale 2FAM 20:00 How The Grinch Stole Christmas-PG 22:00 Slappy And The Stinkers-FAM OSN NEWS 06:30 Live NBC Nightly News (SatSun) 07:30 Live NBC Nightly News (SatSun) 09:30 Live NBC Nightly News (SatSun) 16:00 Live NBC Meet The Press 19:00 Live NBC Meet The Press

04:00 Slipstream-PG15 06:00 B-Girl-PG15 08:00 Battle For Terra-PG15 10:00 Zookeeper-PG15 12:00 The Dragon Chronicles: Fire & Ice-PG15 14:00 Pina-PG15 16:00 Battle For Terra-PG15 17:30 The Help-PG15 20:00 Super-18 22:00 Resident Evil 4: Afterlife-18

04:30 Super Rugby 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 Live NRL Premiership 09:00 Super Rugby 11:00 Volvo Ocean Race 12:45 Live Cricket One International 21:00 Volvo Ocean Race 22:00 NRL Premiership

Day

03:00 03:30 05:00 05:30 06:30 07:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 12:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:30 20:30 20:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:30

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05:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 11:00 11:30 13:15 14:45 15:45 17:30 19:30 22:00

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04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:30 16:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed WWE Experience WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line WWE This Week WWE Vintage Collection V8 Supercars Extra V8 Supercars V8 Supercars Mobil 1 The Grid WWE SmackDown WWE Experience V8 Supercars Highlights V8 Supercars Highlights UFC Prelims

Classifieds SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JZR QTR JZR AEE ETH RJA KAC GFA UAE ETD THY DHX JZR FDB MSR RBG QTR KAC THY KAC JZR CLX DHX JZR KAC BAW KAC KAC IRA KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR MEA FDB IRA ETD GFA IRC MEA JZR MSR MSC JZR AFR SYR KAC MSR KAC GFA KAC FDB KNE KAC JZR QTR SVA RJA KAC JZR QTR FDB ETD KAC UAE UAL GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY KAC KAC QTR KAC KAC FDB MSR MSC JZR KAC KAC KAC JZR JAI KAC AXB FDB OMA MEA QTR GFA KAC JZR ALK KLM JZR UAE ETD KAC ABY QTR LMU DHX KAC JZR AIC FDB GFA UAL JZR DLH MSR THY JAI PIA

Arrival Flights on Sunday 1/7/2012 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 267 BEIRUT 998 ATHENS 620 ADDIS ABABA 642 AMMAN 108 GENEVA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 768 ISTANBUL 370 BAHRAIN 189 DUBAI 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 3553 ALEXANDRIA 138 DOHA 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 154 ISTANBUL 1541 CAIRO 792 LUXEMBOURG 170 BAHRAIN 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 615 SHAHRE KORD 284 DHAKA 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 408 BEIRUT 55 DUBAI 603 SHIRAZ 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 6801 AHWAZ 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 618 ALEXANDRIA 401 ALEXANDRIA 561 SOHAG 6708 PARIS 341 DAMASCUS 742 DAMMAM 610 CAIRO 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 774 RIYADH 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 538 SOHAG 535 CAIRO 140 DOHA 500 JEDDAH 640 AMMAN 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 134 DOHA 8069 DUBAI 303 ABU DHABI 1802 CAIRO 857 DUBAI 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 177 DUBAI 777 JEDDAH 127 SHARJAH 502 BEIRUT 542 CAIRO 144 DOHA 166 PARIS 786 JEDDAH 63 DUBAI 624 SOHAG 405 SOHAG 787 RIYADH 618 DOHA 674 DUBAI 102 NEW YORK 175 DUBAI 572 MUMBAI 562 AMMAN 389 KOZHIKODE 61 DUBAI 647 MUSCAT 402 BEIRUT 146 DOHA 221 BAHRAIN 514 TEHRAN 481 SABIHA 229 COLOMBO 417 AMSTERDAM 135 BAHRAIN 859 DUBAI 307 ABU DHABI 172 FRANKFURT 129 SHARJAH 136 DOHA 1109 ALEXANDRIA 872 BAHRAIN 678 MUSCAT 539 CAIRO 981 CHENNAI 59 DUBAI 217 BAHRAIN 981 BAHRAIN 239 AMMAN 636 FRANKFURT 614 CAIRO 772 ISTANBUL 574 MUMBAI 205 LAHORE

Time 0:15 0:20 0:50 1:30 1:45 2:10 2:15 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:50 2:55 3:00 3:10 3:20 3:20 3:25 4:10 4:35 4:55 4:55 4:55 5:00 6:00 6:15 6:30 7:15 7:30 7:35 7:45 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:10 9:20 9:25 9:30 10:00 10:15 10:55 11:05 11:25 12:00 12:25 12:35 12:35 13:25 13:30 13:40 13:40 13:45 13:45 14:15 14:20 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:15 15:55 16:35 16:40 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:30 17:40 17:45 18:00 18:15 18:20 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:55 19:00 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:35 19:35 19:35 19:50 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:35 20:55 20:55 20:55 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:00 22:05 22:10 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:55 23:10 23:35 23:40 23:50 23:55

Airlines AIC LMU FDB UAL DLH MSR JAI THY AEE ETH THY UAE FDB DHX RBG ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR RJA JZR GFA THY JZR KAC CLX BAW FDB IRA KAC JZR ABY KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR FDB KAC MEA ETD IRA KAC KAC GFA IRC KAC MEA KAC JZR MSR KAC MSC KAC JZR JZR SYR AFR GFA FDB MSR KAC KAC JZR KNE KAC JZR KAC SVA RJA JZR QTR KAC FDB ETD JZR QTR UAE GFA JZR ABY UAL SVA JZR QTR FDB MSR MSC JZR KAC JAI FDB KAC KAC OMA MEA KAC GFA JZR DHX ALK KLM JZR ABY ETD UAE KAC QTR KAC KAC JZR DHX LMU QTR AXB FDB GFA KAC KAC JZR

Depature Flights on Sunday 1/7/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 1110 ALEXANDRIA 52 DUBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC 637 FRANKFURT 615 CAIRO 573 MUMBAI 773 ISTANBUL 999 ATHENS 621 ADDIS ABABA 769 ISTANBUL 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 3554 ALEXANDRIA 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 643 AMMAN 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 534 CAIRO 537 SOHAG 792 GIALAM 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 614 SHAHRE 171 FRANKFURT 256 BEIRUT 126 SHARJAH 117 NEW YORK 671 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 856 DUBAI 133 DOHA 56 DUBAI 1801 CAIRO 409 BEIRUT 302 ABU DHABI 602 SHIRAZ 741 DAMMAM 773 RIYADH 214 BAHRAIN 6802 AHWAZ 541 CAIRO 405 BEIRUT 501 BEIRUT 776 JEDDAH 623 SOHAG 103 LONDON 406 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 480 ISTANBUL 176 DUBAI 342 ALEPPO 6708 DUBAI 220 BAHRAIN 58 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 561 AMMAN 673 DUBAI 538 CAIRO 473 JEDDAH 677 MUSCAT 174 DUBAI 617 DOHA 503 MADINAH 641 AMMAN 786 RIYADH 135 DOHA 513 IMAM KHOMEINI 8070 DUBAI 304 ABU DHABI 238 AMMAN 141 DOHA 858 DUBAI 216 BAHRAIN 134 BAHRAIN 128 SHARJAH 982 BAHRAIN 511 RIYADH 266 BEIRUT 145 DOHA 64 DUBAI 621 ALEXANDRIA 402 ALEXANDRIA 184 DUBAI 361 COLOMBO 571 MUMBAI 62 DUBAI 283 DHAKA 351 KOCHI 648 MUSCAT 403 BEIRUT 543 CAIRO 222 BAHRAIN 502 LUXOR 171 BAHRAIN 230 COLOMBO 417 DAMMAM 1540 CAIRO 120 SHARJAH 308 ABU DHABI 860 DUBAI 343 CHENNAI 137 DOHA 301 MUMBAI 205 ISLAMABAD 554 ALEXANDRIA 873 BAHRAIN 1110 ALEXANDRIA 147 DOHA 390 MANGALORE 60 DUBAI 218 BAHRAIN 411 BANGKOK 415 KUALA LUMPUR 528 ASSIUT

Time 0:05 0:05 0:10 0:25 0:30 0:35 0:50 2:15 2:30 2:45 3:40 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:05 4:20 4:50 5:40 6:00 6:50 6:55 7:05 7:10 7:30 8:05 8:15 8:25 8:25 8:35 8:55 9:00 9:05 9:05 9:20 9:35 9:40 10:00 10:05 10:05 10:10 10:15 10:25 10:25 10:25 10:45 11:15 11:30 11:55 12:00 12:15 12:25 12:30 13:00 13:10 13:15 13:20 13:35 14:20 14:25 14:25 14:30 14:40 15:05 15:10 15:15 15:25 15:25 15:45 15:45 15:50 15:50 16:15 16:25 16:35 17:20 17:30 17:45 18:05 18:20 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:50 19:20 19:25 19:55 20:00 20:05 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:45 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:30 21:35 21:45 21:50 21:55 22:05 22:05 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:10 23:15 23:30 23:40 23:50 23:50

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

FOR SALE Mitsubishi Pajero 2000 model, maroon color, full option, good condition, price KD 1,250/-. Contact: 66395004. (C 4063) Mitsubishi Lancer GLX 2009, golden color, excellent condition, price KD 1,700/-. Contact: 50699345.

(C 4064) Toyota Prado (4 CLR), 2003 model, white color, 4 doors, price KD 3,650. Contact: 66729295. (C 4065) 1-7-2012 Apartment for sale 10x5 meters hall, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, well furnished in Salmiya, Block-10.

Contact: 66647327.

(C 4061) 30-6-2012 Toyota Corolla 2011 model, white color, well maintained low mileage, excellent condition, wanted price KD 3,750/-. Contact: 60099305. (C 4056) 26-6-2012 MATRIMONIAL NRI Orthodox parents invited from God fearing professionally qualified working boys from Orthodox,

Jacobite, Marthomite for their daughter Kuwait Residence holder 26/160cm, BSc Nurse presently working in a reputed hospital in Mumbai arriving to Kerala middle of July. Please respond with recent photo and bio data to the e-mail: proposal201244@yahoo.com (C 4062) 30-6-2012

CHANGE OF NAME

Prayer timings JABIR HUSAIN holder of Passport No: J0978818 has change my name JABIR HUSAIN LAKHARA. (C 4060) 28-6-2012 I, Shri Joao Rodrigues, s/o Shri Diogo Rodrigues residing at H.No. 925, Acsona, Benaulim, Salcete - Goa has changed my name from Joao Diogo Rodrigues to Joao Rodrigues. Hereafter, in all my dealings and documents, I will be known by the name Joao Rodrigues.

(C 4059) 27-6-2012

Fajr: Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

03:17 11:52 15:26 18:52 20:24

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

34

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 722

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) You seem turned-on and tuned-in to other people’s emotions—not supersensitive, but more intuitive. You can demonstrate a great deal of understanding and sensitivity to the needs of others and you relate well; a healing is in process. If your profession is not a healing vocation, you will find yourself magically motivated in that direction. Putting your arm around someone’s shoulder or listening intently to matters very private is just part of your day. You may find yourself in psychology, counseling or some other form of healing other than repair of body parts; whatever you do, you will bring comfort. Today is about gratefulness. Tonight brings laughter and a relaxed atmosphere. You are a free spirit when it comes to friends, lovers and tastes.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) In a word, your emotions and gusto hold your innermost self together. Your feelings are not just important—they are central to understanding more about yourself. A strong devotional nature becomes apparent to anyone who takes time to understand the real you. Everything else is centered upon this inner drive and energy. The search for a mate, and marriage in particular, are crucial for you and today you may decide to place yourself in social surroundings that will help you meet new people and perhaps find someone special. You are driven to unite and find out what togetherness means. Cleaning, new health awareness ideas, shopping and interaction with members of the family or your circle of friends makes laughter easy this afternoon.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. The sister of your father or mother.

5. Obvious and dull.

10. A health resort near a spring or at the seaside.

13. Genus of prickly shrubs and small trees of the Caribbean region.

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

15. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc..

16. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.

17. An imaginary elephant that appears in a series of French books for children.

18. (usually followed by `to') Naturally disposed toward.

19. Eurasian perennial bulbous herbs.

21. A family of fish in the order Zeomorphi.

23. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

25. A doctor's degree in education.

26. A small digital computer based on a microprocessor and designed to be used by one person at a time.

28. System of measurement based on centimeters and grams and seconds.

30. A song that was formerly popular.

34. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting (especially in cases of drug overdose or poisoning).

38. A British peer ranking below a Marquess and above a Viscount.

39. The head of a branch of an organized crime syndicate.

40. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

42. The basic unit of money in Iran.

43. A very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms.

44. A short labored intake of breath with the mouth open.

47. Narrow wood or metal or plastic runners used for gliding over snow.

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

50. Any of several related languages of the Celts in Ireland and Scotland.

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

55. An archaic name for Easter or Passover.

57. (Akkadian) God ruling with his consort Ereshkigal the world of the dead.

61. A proportion multiplied by 100.

62. An agency of the United Nations responsible for programs to aid education and the health of children and mothers in developing countries.

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

66. (informal) Of the highest quality.

67. A port city and resort in Andalusia in southern Spain on the Mediterranean.

68. (in Scotland or Ireland) A mountain or tall hill.

69. A rapid escape (as by criminals).

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

71. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

DOWN 1. Assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing.

2. Relating to the Urdu language.

3. City in Sudan.

4. Of or relating to a speaker of the Tamil language or the language itself.

5. A small cake leavened with yeast.

6. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

7. Tag the base runner to get him out.

8. Affect with wonder.

9. A city in southern Texas on the Rio Grande.

10. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.

11. An informal term for a father.

12. (prefix) In front of or before in space.

20. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

22. Person who does no work.

24. A bachelor's degree in science.

27. An accountant certified by the state.

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

31. A platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it.

32. A republic in the Middle East in western Asia.

33. (Norse mythology) Goddess of old age who defeated Thor in a wrestling match.

35. A federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment.

36. Ratio of the hypotenuse to the opposite side.

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

41. How long something has existed.

45. Dried root of two plants of the genus Polygala containing an irritating saponin.

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

49. An indehiscent fruit derived from a single ovary having one or many seeds within a fleshy wall or pericarp.

50. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

51. A line on a sphere that cuts all meridians at the same angle.

52. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

54. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

56. (linguistics) The form of a word after all affixes are removed.

57. Being nine more than forty.

58. An amino acid that is found in the central nervous system.

59. In bed.

60. Relating to or characteristic of or occurring on land.

63. The United Nations agency concerned with the interests of labor.

64. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) There will be less of a push for recognition. There is a growing need to just be you and follow the rules. This coming time will be less outward and may call for a change of approach. You will be able to build your own little empire and the money goes in the bank the rest of this year. This is not a time of outreach, not necessarily the best point to start any great projects. However, this weekend you can take advantage of whatever time you have away from work for a bit of introspection and you may find yourself letting go or revising a few plans and projects. You may take an interest in your own psyche, religion and spiritual ideas. This is a time to absorb and take in new impressions and information. A friend or family member may join you in this endeavor.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You could find yourself completing your professional chores quickly today. You can always find the resources you require plus the necessary instruction in how to use them if you do not know how. You have an inner vision, coupled with the ability to see the whole picture. This often finds you working as a go-between with others. There is a demand in your work area for someone such as you that can work as a calming factor and problem-solver.

People respect you and you could create a coordinator or managerial position that will make life in your work world run smoothly. You may be interested in a home show, animals at the zoo or a sports show this weekend; make your plans and invite a friend or two to go along with you.

NON SEQUITUR

Leo (July 23-August 22) Interaction with others is the focus of the day. New business, new customers and new products seem to grab your attention all at one time. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but you can be impatient with those who slow your pace. The more you can learn how to calm or help others understand the process of a situation, the better you will get the results you want. You soak up what you need to see or learn quickly and are ready to go forward with new experiences. The qualities that you have may identify you as a teacher or manager. You seek contact with others and may find yourself involved with some sort of contact sports this afternoon; perhaps a golf game would be good. You are spontaneous to the needs of others and agreeable this evening.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You will find yourself in a puzzle over an environment that is very comfortable and supportive versus a real need to progress and push out on your own. You always seem to be in a situation of having to choose between surroundings—and today is no exception. This could mean you have an opportunity to take your skills into an unknown area and teach or be constructive to the needs of some group of troubled people. This decision may involve your family and you must choose the right thing to do. If you have a family that complains, it might be wise to find some way to invite them to share their talents with people in need. You may have teenagers that could utilize their time in serving others that live in a children’s home or are in a hospital.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) A difficult situation this morning comes to your attention. Very little time passes before you discover the root of a problem and eliminate it. You are responsible to the extreme, always taking on obligations and pushing yourself to the limit. You pursue your obligations with much emotion and obvious enthusiasm. You are conventional when it comes to your needs and surroundings. Small and less is beautiful for you. Take it easy and be good to yourself.

Today, you may find an increase of energy—you desire to enjoy the day and to live it to full order. If you are shopping this afternoon, look at shades that are light yellow, robin’s egg blue and some metallic for evening fun wear. Spend money on some wellfitting shoes to comfort your feet.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Circumstances can throw you into positions where you must use your mind and deal with communications, service or enclosed hidden interests. You may deal with education, psychology, spiritual enlightenment or teaching principles and techniques. This is a great time to contemplate and understand your own situation: just how you feel about yourself. The emotions and feelings of those around you are very clear. You enjoy life yourself and value enthusiasm in those around you. You may have noticed that your energies are at a high point.

Feelings are something you express with ease and you appreciate others doing the same. Sports and outdoor activities are high on your list of favorites for the upcoming weekend. Plans can be made soon.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

There is much to accomplish today. Perhaps some repair work or catch-up work needs to be balanced with some of the normal workflow. If you are not working in an office you may be working at home to set up a business for yourself in the future. You push hard, with much passion, direction and planning. This is a good time to see in your mind what you want for the end result and how you might be able to adjust the steps that take you to the results you want. Just begin to take on some new changes that you deem necessary, one step at a time. You could be a tree trimmer, a private chef or a sales person—you will be able to polish the edges to your best presentation. Relax—soak in the companionship of your friends this evening.

When asked, you do not hesitate to navigate right to the center of a matter. You quickly find the truth or correction and prepare to move forward. You do not stagnate. You may be interested in matters of psychology, different cultures and history, particularly today. You can find support from all sides when it comes to any sort of a meeting issue. You are quite skillful and it is stimulating just being with you. Your high degree of mental concentration makes you an excellent student, able to excel in speaking, writing and all types of communication skills. Your ambitions go hand in hand with using the mind; the two should never be far apart. This is a successful day and you may find the evening a romantic one.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You are, no doubt, a touch too sober, but when it comes down to taking care of business, you really shine. Others may think you are older than you are, for you sometimes assume an authoritarian stance. You may even enjoy the thought of being older and probably treat authority, the elderly and your teachers with great respect, if not reverence. Discipline is no problem; so today you could find yourself nominated for a very important job. Circumstances may urge you to help care for the very old or the very young. Things are working with rather than against you, however, so do not hold back. This afternoon you may decide to begin repairs on your house or teach some serious hobby techniques. Do not forget about family members this evening.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

There is a lot to accomplish today and the faster you get started the better. You are up early this morning at the thought of the job ahead and it is a good time to take advantage of the energy to achieve and get things accomplished. Do not rush—one step at a time and you will be happy with the results. Delay only causes you frustration so, although you don’t really like to tend to business so early, you won’t have to worry that it might become a habit. Perhaps, because you have an early start, there will be an opportunity to walk away at an earlier hour than usual. Being more closely involved with another person may be very important today. Marriage, contracts and partnerships are seen as keys to success and happiness—they have plenty of lessons to teach you.

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Kaizen center

25716707

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

ST TAT TE OF K KUW WA AIT

el.: 161 Te

DIRECTORA AT TE GENERAL GENE OF CIVIL AVIA V AT TION METEOROLOGICAL DEP PA ARTMENT

BY Y DA AY:

Very e hot h with moderate to fresh north westerly wind, with speed of 20 - 40 km/h causing raising dust over open areas

BY Y NIGHT:

Relatively hot with light to moderate north westerly wind, with speed of 10 - 30 km/h

No Current Warnings arnin a

WA ARNING

34 °C

KUW WA AIT AIRPOR RT

48 °C

35 °C

NUW WA AISEEB

44 °C

33 °C

WAFRA A

47 °C

32 °C

SALMI

44 °C

29 °C

ABDAL LY

47 °C

32 °C

JAL ALIY YA AH

45 °C

31 °C

25623444

FAILAKA A

45 °C

32 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

41 °C

36 °C

Mishref

25381200

UMM AL-MARADEM

38 °C

32 °C

W.Hawally

22630786

WARBA A A - BUBY YAN A

42 °C

31 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya Firdous

ST TAT TION

SFC. CHART

30/06/2012 0000 UTC

4 DA AY YS FORECAST Temperatures DA AY

DA ATE T

WEA ATHER T

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

Sunday

01/07

very hot + raising dust

49 °C

32 °C

NW

20 - 40 km/h

Monday

02/07

very hot + blowing dust

49 °C

32 °C

NW

20 - 40 km/h

Tuesday

03/07

very hot + blowing dust

49 °C

33 °C

NW

20 - 40 km/h

Wednesday e

04/07

very hot + raising dust

49 °C

32 °C

NW

20 - 45 km/h

RA AY YER TIMES PRA

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WAIT A AIRPORT

Fajr

03:17

MAX. Temp.

46 °C

24884079

Sunrise

04:52

MIN. Temp.

31 °C

24892674

Zuhr

11:51

MAX. RH

20 %

Asr

15:25

MIN. RH

Sunset

18:51

MAX. Wind i

Isha

20:24

TOT TAL AL RAIINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

05 % NW 43 km/h 00 mm

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

Fintas

23900322

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Dr. Salem soso General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Mousa Khadada Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Expected Weeather for the Next 24 Hours

46 °C

24772608

22545171

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

KUW WA AIT CITY

West Jahra

Al-Shohada’a

WWW.MET.GOV V.KW .

MIN. REC.

24575755

2627 - 2630 Ext.: 262

22418714

Fax: 24348714

MAX. EXP P.

New Jahra

PHONE

Al-Madena

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Katy Perry

doesn’t need a man to make her happy

he ‘Part of Me’ singer - who split from estranged husband Russell Brand last December after a 14month marriage - says she has learnt from her previous relationships and now knows she’s the only person that can make herself truly content. She said: “I’ve learnt I’m in a very modern fairy tale. But I also know I don’t need the Prince Charming to have a happy ending. I can make the happy ending myself. “Being in love is the dream. But the reality of making it work is not like the movies.” However, the 27-year-old beauty who is now dating Florence + the Machine guitarist Rob Ackroyd - says she still believes in love and would like to settle down one day and have a family. She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I want to be a mother but

T

Kim K

thinks she will have cosmetic surgery one day

Elle Macpherson’s son is embarrassed by her he 48-year-old supermodel has kids Flynn, 14, and Cy, nine, from a previous relationship and admits she has to keep her distance when dropping her eldest child at school. She said: “I have to park away from the school when I drop him off so we don’t get seen together - he gets so embarrassed.” Despite her hectic work schedule, Elle insists her family always comes first. She added to Closer magazine: “I always prioritise my boys. I take them to school every day and we have the usual fights over homework. But they’re amazing.” The Australian beauty feels “lucky” to be very tall as she thinks it means she is able to be less strict with her diet as excess weight doesn’t show so much. She said: “I’m lucky to be 6ft tall as it makes you look slimmer. I eat carbs and cakes, but in moderation. “It would be a pretty sad existence if I had this great life, but had to starve myself.”

now’s not the right time. A baby can’t have a baby, and I’m still a baby. “But I’m not afraid of falling in love again, absolutely not. I’m excited for the future, whatever it brings. “I still believe in love, most definitely.”

he ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ star - whose mother Kris Jenner had a facelift ahead of Kim’s wedding to Kris Humphries last year - has no plans to go under the knife yet but won’t rule it out when she is older. She told Now magazine: “I haven’t had any surgery. I know they always say, She did her butt, she did her nose’, and all that stuff, but I haven’t. “I’m not against it - my mom had her neck done and I think they did a really good job and she did exactly what she wanted. So when I get older, knowing me, I’m so crazy that I will probably have something done.” Kim has previously had wrinkle-freezing Botox injections and while she didn’t like the results, it is a process she would go through again. She added: “I didn’t like having Botox at the corner of my eyes and I still don’t think I need it there, but I’d have it in my forehead - in fact, I have since, just right there in the middle of my eyebrows. I’m not against it at all, it was just I didn’t need it in the corner of my eyes at that time.”

T

T

McConaughey

Bieber’s

says romantic-comedies saved him he 42-year-old actor - who has played an array of Hollywood heartthrobs over the years including Benjamin Barry in ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ - admits the success of 2001 film ‘Wedding Planner’ ensured he was asked to do further films in the genre, but he never planned it like that. He said: “Truth is, I was in a colder part of my career at the time. I was coming off, what was it, ‘U-571’? I had to try different things. I did action movies, crime; and then I did ‘Wedding Planner’. I thought, let’s go see what it’s like to just be light; never done that before. And then, s**t ... it made a whole bunch of money, and they came back, and offered me more.” The 42-year-old star also admits he has little respect for the characters he played in both ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ and ‘The Wedding Planner’. He added: “The male is always the pawn in a romantic comedy. Come together, break up, go chase her, get her, roll credits. What woman wants that guy?” Despite this, the Texas-born actor who is starring in 2012 thriller ‘Killer Joe’ - says that he still takes humor “really seriously”. He said: “I take the comedy real seriously. There’s a whole plan behind it. Even though those characters look like I’m just skating through, there’s a design behind it. “They look easy-breezy’ but if you go digging too deep into the character, you sink the ship.”

T

Yeater song inspired by Jackson’s Billie Jean

he ‘Baby’ hitmaker has composed a tune for his latest album about fan Mariah’s false claims he fathered her baby last year and Justin says it was inspired by Michael’s similar but fictional account of a fan claiming he’d fathered her son.

He told We Love Pop magazine: “We definitely took inspiration from that song. “I wanted to write something different and something the fans would be connected to and understand. “I wanted them to think, ‘Yeah that’s Justin’s life and he’s talking about stuff that’s really going on.’” Justin also revealed he’s not afraid to talk about his ordeal because people now know he was not the father after he took a paternity test. He said: “I still just think, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that happened,’ but it’s not really hard to talk about because I know the truth. It’s behind me. People know what the truth us as well. “Before, it was all pretty shady because everyone was like, ‘Is it true?

Is it not true?’ But now I think people know that it’s not true.”

T

Kunis

felt bad when she slimmed down to 98 pounds for ‘Black Swan’ he 28-year-old actress admitted that she felt like she had no shape when she filmed the movie with Natalie Portman. She told the August edition of American Glamour magazine about how she viewed herself: “Flat, flat, flat. There was no shape, no form, nothing, nothing.” Now that the ‘Ted’ star has gained back 25 pounds to bring her up to her normal weight, she feels like her critics are as disappointed as when she was thinner. She continued: “This is my normal body. It’s not 98 pounds. God, I’m probably 25 pounds heavier in muscle mass and weight at this point. “What was crazy was, when I was shooting ‘Black Swan’, everyone was like, ‘Gosh, you’re really too skinny.’ Then my weight started bouncing back and they’re like, ‘She looked better when she was anorexic-looking.’ You can’t please anyone!” Mila maintains that she has never suffered an eating disorder and only transformed her body for the film. She added: “It was just for work. I didn’t do it because I had issues. Now this is my normal weight that I started out with.” —BangShowbiz

T

37

LIFESTYLE

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

in brief New ‘Spider-Man’ spotlights brooding Peter Parker He’s been in comics, cartoons, on TV and in movies, but when Spider-Man swings into theaters this week for new film “The Amazing Spider-Man,” its makers bring out a more brooding and human web-slinger than fans have seen before. Director Marc Webb, known for low-budget film romance “500 Days of Summer,” explores not just the origin of how Peter Parker becomes crimefighting superhero Spider-Man. He and the writers craft a tale that is as much about Parker - a 17-year-old filled with angst, independence and desire for love - as it is about action, adventure and catching crooks.

The Flaming Lips break record for most shows in 24 hours Oklahoma rockers The Flaming Lips broke the Guinness world record for most shows performed in 24 hours this week, taking the title from previous record holder Jay-Z. The band performed eight shows in eight different US cities, kicking off in Memphis, Tennessee on Wednesday, playing through Mississippi and finishing in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday.

Seth Rogen waltzes to a dramatic beat in new movie He’s better known for big studio comedies like “Superbad” and “Pineapple Express,” but Seth Rogen strays from his beaten path when he stars in the low-budget comedydrama “Take This Waltz.” Directed by Canadian actress/filmmaker Sarah Polley, and opening in U.S. theaters on Friday, the movie sees Rogen starring opposite Michelle Williams, who is better known for dramatic roles in films like “Blue Valentine.”

Charlie Sheen’s TV show sets cable audience record Charlie Sheen may have lost a man and a half, but the bad boy actor has rebounded from last year’s television debacle with a record-setting audience for his new TV comedy. More than 5.4 million US viewers watched the debut episode of “Anger Management” on FX on Thursday night according to audience ratings data, making it was the most-watched, scripted comedy series debut in primetime cable TV history.

CBS, ‘Happy Days’ actors in settlement talks CBS is in settlement talks with cast members of the popular 1970’s TV show “Happy Days” to end a legal dispute over revenues from the sitcom’s merchandise, an agreement that could have broad ramifications for how TV actors are compensated.

Representatives for the actors, who include Anson Williams, Marion Ross, Don Most, Erin Moran and the widow of Tom Bosley, began negotiations with CBS after a California judge ruled earlier this month that their case could go forward, according to two people with knowledge of the talks who asked to remain anonymous.

Singer Lauryn Hill pleads guilty to evading taxes Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill pleaded guilty in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday to three counts of failing to file federal income tax returns. Hill, 37, a hip hop singer and rapper best known as a former member of the Fugees and for a Grammy-winning 1998 solo album, pleaded guilty to failing to file federal returns between 2005 and 2007, despite earning an income of more than $1.8 million primarily from film and recording royalties.

‘Longmire’ gets second season from A&E A&E has renewed “Longmire” for a second season less than a month after its series premiere. The western-themed series, which stars Robert Taylor as Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire and Katee Sackhoff as his deputy Vic Moretti, premiered Sunday, June 3 at 10 p.m. with a particularly strong 4.1 million total viewers, making it the year’s top new scripted cable drama.

The second episode grew 22 percent in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic, with 1.2 million viewers in that demo.

Based on Craig Johnson’s mystery novels, “Longmire” also stars Lou Diamond Philips.

Warner Horizon Television produced the series, with Hunt Baldwin John Covey, Greer Shephard and Michael M. Robin executive-producing.

‘American Horror Story’ books ‘Secret Circle’ star Chris Zylka has just booked himself another spooky gig. Zylka, who plays witch Jake Armstrong on the CW series “The Secret Circle,” has joined the cast of FX’s “American Horror Story” for its second season. It’s not known what character Zylka will play on the Ryan Murphy-Brad Falchuk drama - in keeping with the show’s tradition of secrecy, details are being kept under tight wraps. However, Zylka is joining a cast that includes returning stars Jessica Lange, Evan Peters and Zachary Quinto, as well as newcomers James Cromwell, Chloe Sevigny, “The Voice” coach Adam Levine and Lizzie Brochere. As Murphy revealed after the drama’s first season, the second run of “American Horror Story” will build from the ground up, transplanting from its initial Los Angeles setting and employing an all-new cast of characters. (Quinto, Peters and Lange will play different roles than the ones they played in the first season.) In the upcoming second season, Cromwell will play the director of an East Coast institution for the criminally insane, while Sevigny will play a character named Shelly the Nymphomaniac. —Reuters

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

lifestyle F A S H I O N

Kenzo

spirits Paris on

jungle safari K

enzo whisked Paris to the jungles of Southeast Asia yesterday with a retro-tinted men’s look of safari suits and animal prints cut out for the urban adventurer. Design duo Humberto Leon and Carol Lim took their cue from the 1970s jungle period of the house’s Japanese founder Kenzo Takada, travelling to Thailand on a sensory immersion trip to find their own modern take on the theme.

Tiger stripes and Asian clouded leopard printsblurred or miniaturised found their way onto ultrafine layered shirts, bermuda pants and raincoats, worn over patent loafers or chunky patent sandals with socks.

“When we went to Thailand, on weekends we saw that all the village people would dress to the nines,” Leon told reporters after the show. “We like to play with this idea of sportswear meets tailored pieces,” said the designer, also known as the co-founder with Lim of the New York fashion complex Opening Ceremony. “We touched upon this idea of almost Sunday best.”

As a venue the duo picked a vast dojo in the south of Paris, sending a team of impeccably-dressed athletes somersaulting perilously down from the higher seats onto the stage by way of introduction.

When the models stepped onto the arena of thickly piled red and yellow gym mats, it was to a fast, heady drumbeat and the clicks and whirrs of a jungle canopy soundtrack. Jungle attire was suggested in the layered looks, and bermuda pants cut wide to let in the breeze, in khaki or mustard, and double-billed visor caps in a tiny leopard-print of green, blue and red.

Boxy rust-colored pants with a starchy pleat suggested the wraparound trousers worn in rural south Asia. And a mustard yellow perfecto jacket, with matching shorts, was layered over a green sweater and leopard-collar shirt-its wearer fit for a cameo in a Bruce Lee martial arts movie. — AFP

Models display creations by Italian designer Antonio Marras for the label Kenzo during the men’s spring-summer 2013 fashion collection show yesterday in Paris. — AFP photos

‘I Love Lucy’ actress Singleton dies A

ctress Doris Singleton, who played one of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s lesserknown neighbors on “I Love Lucy,” has died. She was 92. Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, confirmed the

This Aug 4, 2011 file photo originally released by CBS DVD shows actress Doris Singleton arriving at the “Lucille Ball At 100 & ‘I Love Lucy’ At 60” opening gala at The Hollywood Museum in Los Angeles. —AP

death in an email to The Associated Press and in a post on her Facebook page.

Singleton died Tuesday, the same day as writer-director Nora Ephron, and Arnaz acknowledged them both in her post, writing, “They were loved and appreciated and will be missed.”

Singleton’s death also was reported by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. Her character, first called Lillian Appleby and then Caroline Appleby, appeared in 10 episodes. She was Lucy’s neighbor, the wife of a radio station owner. “She was sort of Lucy’s nemesis” because both had young sons, Singleton said in a 2005 interview for the Archive of American Television of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. “There was a rivalry there but she had to be nice, Lucy had to be nice to Caroline, because her husband owned the radio station.”

Harpo Marx was the guest star in one episode. “Harpo played a concert for us afterward,” Singleton said, adding that she loved the episode. “I was one of the blondes he

was chasing!” Fred and Ethel Mertz, played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance, were the Ricardos’ closest friends on the show. Frawley died in 1966 and Vance in 1979. On set, Lucille Ball was nice to Singleton but she was tough when it came to the show. Actors were replaced “if she didn’t like you or you made a mistake or you flopped,” Singleton said. “It was a very difficult show to work, it was challenging,” Singleton said, with only a few days of rehearsal and constant script changes.

Born in Brooklyn, Singleton was a professional ballet dancer in her teens, and later became a singer and radio actress. Singleton also played Margaret Williams on the 1960s sitcom “My Three Sons” and she appeared on dozens of other TV shows in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including another Lucille Ball program, “Here’s Lucy,” “Perry Mason,” “All in the Family,” and “Days of Our Lives.” Don Grady, who played big brother Robbie Douglas on “My Three Sons,” died Wednesday of cancer at age 68. Singleton was married to comedy writer Charlie Isaacs for 61 years before his death in 2002.— AP

Naomi Campbell, perfume firm settle NYC lawsuits N

aomi Campbell and a perfume company have settled a sour dispute that started over a fragrance line and became part of the backdrop of former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s war crimes trial. Dueling lawsuits between the supermodel and an entity called Moodform Mission were closed Thursday, Manhattan court records show.

Moodform Mission’s lawyer, Daniel R. Bright, said Friday his clients “are happy with the settlement,” but he wouldn’t disclose details. Campbell’s lawyer didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

The dispute involves Campbell’s longtime former modeling agent, Carole White, who joined with a Miami Beach, Florida-based cosmetics company to form Moodform Mission in the 1990s. Her New York court fight with the model was mentioned at Taylor’s 2010 war crimes trial, at which White contradicted the model’s testimony about some alleged blood diamonds - gems used to finance wars - she received from the former Liberian president. Taylor was convicted of arming and supporting murderous rebels in Sierra Leone in return for blood diamonds; he was sentenced in May to 50 years in prison. He plans to appeal his conviction.

At his trial in the Netherlands, Campbell said she didn’t know the source of the stones presented to her after a dinner at former South African President Nelson Mandela’s mansion in 1997, or even that they were diamonds. She gave them to a friend to donate to charity. When White took the stand and insisted that Campbell knew Taylor had provided the stones, Taylor’s lawyer accused White of lying to further her lawsuit over the perfume fallout. White denied it.

In the perfume suit, Moodform Mission said it was unfairly squeezed out of its share of millions of dollars in profits from such scents as Naomi Campbell, Cat Deluxe and Seductive Elixir after working for years to line up a 1998 fragrance deal for Campbell.

The agreement called for regular payments to Moodform Mission once the scents went on the market in 2001, netting Campbell millions of dollars over the years, according to the company’s lawsuit. It said Campbell violated the contract by inking a new fragrance-licensing agreement in 2008.

The new deal “was a fraudulent scheme arranged by (Campbell) for the purpose of avoiding her obligation to pay Moodform Mission the money required to be paid to it,” said the suit, filed in 2009. Campbell,

meanwhile, said she wasn’t given full information before signing her deal with Moodform Mission. She said she didn’t know for years that White - her chief agent from 1993 until about 2006 - had a stake in the perfume partnership. “If White had told me that she was a principal in (Moodform Mission), I would not have blindly trusted her advice to sign the documents that she brought to me,” Campbell said in a sworn statement last year. “... White held a position of trust and confidence in my life, and I expected her to act in my best interests (and never to benefit if this would be detrimental to my interests).”

Campbell, now 41, became one of the world’s highest-paid models after being discovered at age 15. She is British. She has also been known for her feisty temper. At various points, she pleaded guilty to cursing and kicking at police officers in a rage over missing luggage at London’s Heathrow Airport, hurling a cellphone at her maid in New York because of a vanished pair of jeans and beating an assistant who said the model whacked her on the head with a phone in Toronto. She was released without punishment in the Toronto case and sentenced to community service in the others. — AP

‘Deliverance’: Of dunking and dummies 40 yrs on

F

orty years after “Deliverance” enthralled movie audiences and made Burt Reynolds a star, the lead actors gathered in Los Angeles this week to recall the film shoot that left them soaked on good days, and nearly took their lives on bad ones.

Shot in merciless river rapids in the wilderness of Georgia “Deliverance”, starring Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox, was the tale of four Atlanta suburbanites who decide to test their mettle on a disastrous canoe trip. Directed by the late John Boorman, the movie was nominated for three Oscars, including best picture, and was a box office hit. A premium Blu-ray edition was released this week to commemorate the movie’s 40th anniversary. Reynolds, who was 36 years old then, recounted one perilous scene in which he was thrown free of his canoe and sent skidding down a cascade wild, white water. The scene was first shot with a dummy, which in daily film clips appeared unconvincing. So Reynolds, a former stuntman, volunteered to run the rapids himself.

“First thing I did was hit a rock, crack my tailbone, did a flip and I was in a hydro-flow. I couldn’t get out,” Reynolds, now 76, told Reuters.

Underwater, Reynolds quickly remembered the advice of a colleague: if you get caught in a hydro-flow, swim to the bottom and it will shoot you out. “But he didn’t tell me it’s like being shot out of a submarine like you’re a torpedo!” laughed Reynolds. “Everybody thought I was gone. They looked down and saw this nude man who looked 75 or so, crippled, walking along, coming back. It tore every piece of clothing I had off, including the high-top boots. I said to John, ‘What’d it look like?’ And he said, ‘It looked like a dummy going over the falls.’”

As challenging as the river was, the late author James Dickey who wrote the book “Deliverance” and the film’s screenplay proved overbearing on set. “He was huge and he was always standing over you, kind of boring in,” said Reynolds. Dickey, who died in 1997, was ultimately asked by Boorman to leave but invited to return at the end of the shoot for a cameo role as a cop. Reynolds had been acting for 15 years at the time and had little to show for it other than the supporting role of Quint the blacksmith on the popular TV western “Gunsmoke”.

For him, “Deliverance” was a last chance at a film career. Voight was an established actor at the time, having worked in movies like “Midnight Cowboy” and “Catch-22”, while Beatty and Cox had only done regional theater. “When I met Boorman I knew I was in the presence of someone who knew what the hell they were doing,” Reynolds said of his first meeting with the director. “And then he brought Voight out, who was in the backroom.” Reynolds said he knew instantly that if anyone could steal the show it was Voight, a rising star. “This was a kind of starmaking role for Burt and he knew it,” Voight told Reuters. “And our friendship was based on a kind of competitive sense.” —Reuters

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

lifestyle

World gourmet summit - Singapore

World-renowned chefs share their thoughts on food

By Sawsan Kazak

Three internationally renowned chefs participating in Singapore World Gourmet Summit 2012 sat down with the Kuwait Times to give their perspective on food, cooking, eating and the future of gastronomy. From traditional cooking to upcoming food trends, this trio of chefs opens up on what has inspired their cuisine, what motivates them to cook well and the part of the job they appreciate the most.

Delivering the moon: Being a good chef is not a talent, but a passion for Chef Menard

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ith a three Michelin star accreditation and decades of culinary experience, you would expect a chef to be at the utmost of snootiness, but French chef Bruno Menard is as down-to-earth as they come. The third generation chef has honed his craft and continues to be as passionate about food as when he first started cooking. Attending the World Gourmet Summit 2012 in Singapore, Menard sat down with Kuwait Times to talk cooking styles, trends and the future.

Japanese influences Chef M enard spent 14 years in Japan where his restaurant L’Osier was considered one of the top ten French restaurants outside France. Even though L’Osier closed its doors last year, chef Menard says Japan will stay with him forever. “Japan definitively influenced my thinking and way of doing things because when living in Japan I had to adapt myself to the people as well as culture and tastes. Even if we wanted to have the authentic flavors of France, you can’t help but be influenced by the beautiful products, techniques and fantastic traditions spanning thousands of years,” explains the Michelin-starred chef.

But Menard points out that he is influenced by the country, but his cooking has remained loyal to its roots, saying “you cannot go too far, you must keep your soul, I am a French chef cooking French cuisine with a

slight Japanese twist.” Menard says his aim was not to become a Japanese chef, rather to stay true to his training and way of thinking but to be flexible and open minded about it. “I am lucky enough to travel around the world, meet fantastic people and lucky enough to see and taste products, as well as learn different techniques. I add these experiences to my strong base of French cooking and that is how I cook,” says the French chef.

Menard describes his cook ing as pure French with a strong Asian influence, specifically Japanese. “Every country or culture has its own way of doing things, some are more delicate. I’m not here to say what’s better or not, it’s a question of feeling. In my opinion, Japanese guests are very into French cooking because they have a very similar approach to cooking,” explains chef Menard. “Their produce is also similar. They have products from the ocean, raise animals, they have forests, they have mushrooms, dairy products. They have anything we have, just have a different way of cooking it,” says Menard of the similarities between French and Japanese cooking.

Star-studded Three Michelin-starred chef is modest when it comes to discussing his accreditations, but does recognize that it added more pressure and greater expectations. “I used to think that getting the three stars, to reach this level of recognition, was going to be the diffi-

cult part. But finally right after getting accredited was the hard part; to maintain it,” explains Chef Menard, adding “you have just set the minimum standard of quality, now you have to keep it up and take it higher.”

Menard found that once he earned his three Michelin stars, people’s expectations changed. “People are looking for the extraordinary all the time. This obviously puts pressure on you. Because every single guest is different; they have different tastes, preferences, they even come with different moods, the challenge is to please everyone and make sure everybody leaves happy. You have to give them a mind-blowing experience; it’s what they are expecting,” says chef Menard of the expectations placed on a Michelin-starred restaurant, adding “if they expect the moon, you have to deliver the moon.”

Chef Menard believes that the way to ‘deliver the moon’ is through the details.

Every single detail is important; not one is more important than another. Everything needs to be spotless. This is accomplished through a state of mind of an entire team, not one person. I was the chef but my team of over 40 people came in everyday striving for excellence for every client,” says Chef Menard of his now closed Tokyo restaurant L’Osier.

Fusion is confusion “I hate the word fusion; it means everything and nothing. If you ask me, fusion is confusion,”

years, every since the age of ten. I’m still learning something new every day. It’s a never ending process,” advices Menard to new and upcoming chefs.

‘Bistronomy’ The French chef sees the trend moving away from gimmick cooking and back to real food and big portions and he believes this is due to the economic situation. “People want value for money these days. The trend in Paris at this moment is Bistronomy. This is when you have a bistro serving high end meals. Young chefs don’t have enough money to open their own high-end restaurants. They have the technique, the ideas, but not the money to have the silverware, location and so on. They deliver the product and people are getting value for their money,” explains Chef Menard. says chef Menard of fusion cooking. “You really need to control one thing at the time. Everyone wants to be the master chef because of what they see on TV. People see these chefs who are like rock stars and they want that. Being a good chef is not a talent, it’s a passion. Of course you need some talent, but you need passion way before talent,” says Chef Menard.

“You need to make sure that every day you go in and learn something new and you add to your repertoire. I have been cooking for forty

The future is Singapore When asked what his future plans were in the food industry, he answers jokingly ‘peeling carrots’. “No, in reality I am very excited to be in Singapore at this time,” Chef Menard explains.

He has recently joined the Délicae Hospitality Management group and is presently opening a series of restaurants in Singapore. “I’m here working with people to build the new taste of Singapore, it will take years, but I am proud to be part of this process now,” says chef Menard.

Indian chef breaks barriers, unites with food

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hef Vikas Khanna is a celebrity in his own right. He hosts the very popular TV show MasterChef India, owns an award winning Indian restaurant in New York, authors cookbooks and makes documentaries. But at the heart of all his endeavors is the intentions of a humanitarian and food missionary. He attended the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore where he was hosted by song of India restaurant. Chef Vikas took a few moments out of his busy schedule to speak about his passion for food.

Simplicity is key The Indian chef recently received a Michelin star for work as executive chef of the highly regarded Junoon restaurant in New York. He also has a cafe in New York that does Himalayan cooking which is his tribute to the Dalai Lama.

Chef Vikas says that he got the Michelin star by making very simple Indian cooking. “I was not trying to make it fancy, I wasn’t trying to make it fusion, for me it was important that any dish that goes on the table has century’s old memories of comfort and security,” explains Chef Vikas of his dishes at Junoon, adding “Deep down I always feel that even a small bowl of lentil has memories of so many generations.”

The soft-spoken chef does not like to disturb the tranquility and comfort qualities that are found in Indian cooking and is very modest of his place in the culinary world, saying “ I don’t have the right to change tradition. I am nobody in the sphere of cuisines and history to be disturbing that equation. I try to keep it as simple as possi-

every generation and I proudly take that stance. I keep food as basic and simple as possible and to be acknowledged by Michelin for that is very special,” says the Indian chef.

“For me integrity is everything, it cannot lose its spirit on basis to be accepted,” says chef Vikas of his authentic Indian dishes, adding “I think a long lasting chef is one that has proper understanding of cuisines, cultures and techniques and has fundamental knowledge.”

ble.” He attributes his basic foundation of cooking to his grandmother and mother that he would watch and help in the kitchen as a young child.

Chef Vikas sees the importance of staying authentic, saying “If a cuisine changes too much from its roots, it feels very empty. No void can fill the gap.” As for the fusion cuisine Vikas says he is very proud of the young chefs attempting it but says jokingly that he is probably too old for that kind of cooking. “I feel there has to be a purist in

Advice for the ages Chef Vikas’ advice for the future generations is to ‘do everything when it comes to cooking, but don’t forget to find your center.’ “I have tried different techniques in France, but my center was the peace I would get when I would serve the perfect meal to a 70-year-old women that would remind her of her childhood. This is making the food immortal. How do you create something so imortal out of something so physical? That is the power of food,” says the Michelin-starred chef.

He believes that the younger generation of chefs should search for the power food has; however and wherever they find it. “A chef has the ability and opportunity to take the position of mother, because it’s all about nourishment. The power of food is like the power of motherhood.

The power of motherhood can’t be quantified.

Food has that kind of power when combined with culture, but stand food alone and it has no power,” explains chef Vikas of the strong power

food has on people.

The story teller The Indian chef began to dabble in different forms of media after being affected by the attacks on New York on Sept 11, 2001.

“Everything changed after 9/11; my whole world changed. I was working across the street from the Twin Towers at the time and I felt that there was a bigger role we had to play, coming from Asia, and this part of the world,” explains chef Vikas. He felt it was his duty to ‘tell the true story’ through different media. “There was so much discrimination after that and standing in the kitchen alone I realized that I have no power because I limit myself. I let food be the center force, I thought I will use food as the excuse to tell the story,” says chef Vikas of his epiphany over a decade ago.

Every year the chef makes a documentary about different religions and the foods associated with religious festivals. He was born and raised Hindu, but has dedicated 2012 to promoting Islam in America; next year it will be Buddhism. The passionate chef recently released a documentary called the ‘Moon of Eid’ at Harvard, a film that documents the rituals of Ramadan.

He also recently released a groundbreaking cookbook called ‘Return to the Rivers’. The book is a new approach to cookbooks as it was written without geographical boundaries. “I just follow the rivers of the Himalayas. For seven years I have traveled the Himalayas: Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan,

Back-to-basics, tradition are the upcoming food trend:

“S

icily has the best ingredients in the Mediterranean sea, that’s what makes Sicilian food so special,” says Chef Pietro D’Agostino with a heavy Italian accent. The patriotic chef was at the Singapore World Summit 2012 and hosted by the very popular and authentic Gattopardo restaurant.

Chef D’Agostino is the chef and owner of La Capinera in Sicily and has recently acquired a Michelin star for his take on simple and traditional Sicilian cooking.

Chef D’Agostino has cooked for everyone from British monarchs to the Sultan of Brunei, but insists on keeping it simple.

Sicily effect “Some people think that regular products can make a great plate, but to make a great plate you need to top fish, top vegetable, top meat, top ingredients. Sicily’s weather is dr y and hot, which helps produce the best products. The volcano in the area makes for good nuts and olive oil. The ground has volcanic hash and is ver y sulfuric, which give a particular taste,” explains Chef D’Agostino. He says that his type of cooking is standard, meaning it is the type his mother or grandmother used to make. “When guests walk into my restaurant I want them to feel

at home. When they walk in I welcome them to my house because when you go to a Michelin star restaurant, you go to see the chef to taste his creations,’ says Chef D’Agostino of his restaurant in Italy.

Going home Chef D’Agostino is not fazed by the trend of molecular cuisine and fusion cooking. He believes they are short-lived trends that are already fading, saying “five years ago I said ‘we are going back home.’ As in the way mama used to cook. Now we cook with things like liquid nitrogen which is a nice idea, but it’s not tradition, there is no history.”

The Michelin-starred chef believes that ‘gimmicky’ cooking can catch people’s attention for a while because it’s creative and new, but it doesn’t last long because ‘people want to eat’. “ People want food. I can eat creative food one day, two days but eventually I will want real food, traditional, something I can bite into,” says the Chef about trendy cook ing, adding, “When you come to Sicily you are not look ing for foam, jelly or frozen foods,

Bhutan, Kashmir. I combined them all together.

The food has the power to connect and brakes down borders, and that’s what I did in this book.”

Chef Vikas shows no signs of slowing down, and plans to continue to break down cultural, social, religious and geographical barriers through food.

Chef D’Agostino

D’Agostino finds a way. “If you avoid pasta, everything else is gluten free. Fish is gluten free, meat, vegetables are gluten free. What we do is replace pasta with rice; dishes like risotto. Because bread is part of the Italian diet, we make gluten free bread. So basically we would make things like polenta bread, or other alternative breads. They are authentic Sicilian recipes, the only difference is the flour,” says the Italian chef of his gluten free menu options.

you want to eat food like an Italian mother would make at home”.

Gluten free Chef D’Agostino emphasizes the use of gluten free food as he has noticed a surge in allergies. “In the last ten years gluten allergies have increased from 10% of the population to 40%. So now more and more people, especially women ask for dishes or options that are gluten free,” explains the chef. With so much use of pasta in Italian cooking, one would think it would be hard to provide people with gluten free options but Chef

Educating the future Chef D’Agostino enjoys passing on his knowledge to other people and believes education on good nutrition is a must in his country. “I have opened a cooking school, but it’s more like a center that educates people about proper nutrition. We work with kids but also parents. We teach the mother on proper alimentation: if you give pasta for lunch, don’t give pasta for dinner; balance the diet. In the future I would like to invite chefs from around the world to give classes and speak about their experiences and cooking styles,” explains the chef. “My plan is to build a unique place which would be a restaurant, cooking school, hotel all in one location. We teach people around the world about the benefits of Mediterranean food,” says chef D’Agostino about the future projects he hopes to accomplish someday.

‘I Love Lucy’ actress Singleton dies at 92

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SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

Participants dance as part of the third edition of “La Fete Imperiale” summer ball held at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna Friday.—AFP

‘TomKat’ split after five years Holmes could receive $3 m for every year of marriage, California mansion

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airytale Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes announced Friday they were calling it quits after five years of marriage, ending an unexpected love story dogged by tabloid rumors. “Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children,” Amanda Lundberg, Cruise’s representative, told AFP. “Please allow them their privacy to work this out.” “This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family,” said Jonathan Wolfe, the attorney representing Holmes. “Katie’s primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter’s best interest.”

Cruise, who turns 50 on Tuesday, wed Holmes, 33, in a storybook Italian castle in November 2006 after declaring his love for the former “Dawson’s Creek” star live on “Oprah”-famously hopping on a couch in the studio. It was Holmes’s first marriage and Cruise’s third. They have a six-year-old daughter, Suri. The “TomKat” split comes just 10 days after the “amicable” parting of US actor Johnny Depp and French singer/actress Vanessa Paradis, and will doubtless lead to renewed chatter about the pressures on Hollywood couples.

Holmes has admitted to having a teenage crush on Cruise, even saying she had put up a poster of the “Top Gun” star in her bedroom. After a whirlwind courtship that culmi-

nated in a proposal under the Eiffel Tower in June 2005, what followed resembled a fairytale-at first. Fireworks lit up the night sky above the 15th-century Odescalchi castle near Rome when Cruise and Holmes tied the knot on November 18, 2006.

Glitterati from the worlds of cinema, sports and music were on hand at the sprawling estate perched above the lakeside town of Bracciano as Holmes offered her hand to the “Mission Impossible” star, who has three Oscar nominations. Italian media reported that American Scientology leader David Miscavige officiated at the event, arguably the most high-profile Scientology wedding to date, in a ceremony that lasted no more than 15 minutes.

Reports at the time said that under the prenuptial agreement, Holmes-who converted to Scientology-would receive $3 million for every year of the marriage plus ownership of a California mansion if they split. But it remains to be seen how the stylish, darkhaired duo-often snapped at glittery events alongside soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria- will handle the custody of their daughter, who has been called one of Hollywood’s most fashionable youngsters.

According to the website TMZ.com, Holmes wants sole custody.

Citing unnamed sources, the website

claims Holmes filed for divorce mainly over Cruise’s ties to Scientology, “fearing that Tom would drag Suri deep into the church.” “We’re told the couple had been arguing over Surithat she’s now of the age where Scientology becomes a significant part of her life,” it said.

Tabloids, shadowing the couple since the get-go, have speculated for some time that the relationship was on the rocks after the pair was not seen together for months.

Cruise has also won two lawsuits alleging he is gay.

In an interview with Playboy magazine in May, Cruise said he would be spending his birthday shooting a film in Iceland-without his significant other. “My family, my wife, they understand. It’s who I am,” he said.

Addressing rumors about his private life, he added: “You just have to keep going and remember that. The other stuff? I hear it, I read it, I get it. But life is not a matter of trying to prove anything to anybody.” Born in New York state in 1962, Cruise was raised by his mother and barely knew his father who left early on. That didn’t change his feelings about family.

“I always wanted to be a father, a husband,” he told Playboy. Cruise, still one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars as shown by recent box office smash “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol,” was married to

Australian actress Nicole Kidman from 1990 to 2001. The couple had two adopted children, 19-year-old Isabella and 17-year-old Connor. He was also married to American actress Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990 and had a three-year relationship with Spanish star Penelope Cruz after splitting up with Kidman.

Holmes, who was born and raised in Ohio, appeared in “Batman Begins” (2005) and starred alongside Adam Sandler in the critically panned 2011 romantic comedy “Jack and Jill.” News of the divorce set off an avalanche of messages on Twitter, many sarcastic in nature. “Mimi Rogers 1956; Nicole Kidman 1967; K atie Holmes 1978 - my supercomputer analysis says Tom Cruise’s next wife was born in 1989,” said one, signed HAL -9000. — AFP

File photo of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise attending the 2012 Vanity Fair Oscar party held at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California on February 26, 2012. —MCT

Adele pregnant with first child Indian devotees dressed as lord Shiva (L) and goddess Parvati (R) sit on a cart during a Hindu religious procession in Amritsar yesterday.

Over 80 percent of the Indian subcontinent identifies themselves as Hindu. —AFP

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In this Feb 21, 2012 photo, performer Adele arrives for the Brit Awards 2012 at the O2 Arena in London. The superstar singer’s rep confirmed June 29, 2012 that the 24-year-old is expecting a child. —AP

dele is celebrating another milestone - a pregnancy.

The superstar singer’s representative confirmed Friday that the 24-year-old is expecting a child with boyfriend Simon Konecki. The message was posted on her official website, which crashed due to a large amount of traffic after the news was announced. “I’m delighted to announce that Simon and I are expecting our first child together. I wanted you to hear the news direct from me, obviously we’re over the moon and very excited but please respect our privacy at this precious time,” she said on the website. It’s unclear how far along the British singer is.

Adele won six Grammys earlier this year for her best-selling “21” album. Though that disc was based on heartbreak, she has since found love with Konecki.— AP