1st June 2012

FR EE www.kuwaittimes.net

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NO: 15466- Friday, June 1, 2012

Cruel!

SEE PAGES 6-7

KUWAIT: Carlos pictured here was mistreated by some local children. His leg was broken which affected his pelvic-bones and his spine was so badly hurt that one of his hip bones required surgery. Carlos’ owner Bridget had to take a tough decision to put him down but she says that it was the most humane solution.

Local FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Conspiracy Theories

Local Spotlight

Technology is a thief

What a Messi!

By Muna Al-Fuzai

By Badrya Darwish muna@kuwaittimes.net

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

A

s usual I try to upgrade my knowledge, but sometimes it looks like wishful thinking. I went crazy last night and went on a shopping spree and bought an iPhone.

Velina, one of our editors, was upset because she is a Blackberry fan. She thought I gave up on Blackberry. She actually convinced me a year ago to join the Blackberry club. I did. After a lot of struggle to manage to write the right letters, the right words took me some time. I used to call people by mistake; I used to call Jordan instead of London and called a neighbour instead of a delivery person etc etc.

After a few months, I got the gist of the Blackberry. Most people in my office have an iPhone and they kept nagging me to switch. They used all the tricks: free calls on Viber, games, photo options, WhatsApp, Tango and what not other million things. After a while I surrendered. Just like the Arab proverb ‘Kutur el dack exer al lee ham’ which means ‘if you keep on banging on a welded piece you will eventually break it’, they broke my commitment to Blackberry.

That was the night I made a mistake. With all due respect to iPhone and its users, it has been five hours and 25 minutes since I have been trying to register my iPhone and you all know I have to do that through my MAC. What a headache.... I lost my patience. Where are the good old days of user-friendly and simple phones for every user?

To use this sophisticated apparatus called smartphone, you have to take a university course or get an institute degree. They call them user-friendly, easy to program, by the touch of a button but these are just slogans to sell, I guess.

I bet you these companies know how to work our minds.

Give them a few months and the next generation of iPhone will be in the market. No matter what you call it. Z-Phone, X-Phone etc. You will throw your old phone away and buy a new one. Why are we so susceptible to advertisements by big companies and their tricks to sell us new things?

They make money from our pockets but instead of making our life easier, they hijacked my evening. I tell you, technology is a thief (Ali Baba). In the same way they hijack our salaries with new inventions every day. These inventions will keep on mushrooming and we will keep on buying.

T

hat is certainly shocking news though it is not true. But it put lots Barcelona star Lionel Messi’s fans into shock for a while until it was proved that the news was false!

How did that happen and who invented this lie?

A US channel, Fox Sports, mistakenly declared that Barcelona star Lionel Messi had died of a heart attack on Sunday. The channel published a tweet: “We announce the sad news that Lionel Messi died of cardiopulmonary arrest during a workout.” The tweet was removed later. Yet, it did not go away easily. A number of Spanish media outlets denied the news, especially as Messi had been seen celebrating Friday’s Copa del Rey triumph just a few hours earlier.

Now, I have not seen an apology or a comment from the news channel yet, but it is believed that their Twitter account may have been hacked. This news created a debate on the reliability of news appearing on Twitter! I don’t mean

that about all social network sites like Facebook, as you can’t put any information on your wall in Facebook without it being known! But Twitter is an open space to write anything about anyone at any given time anywhere in the world, so limitations are endless!

I believe Twitter is the real platform for globalization. It exceeds all limits and all borders. I like to think that freedom has to be responsible and the fact that you can have access to a network site doesn’t mean or justify insults or false allegations. Of course, we should consider legal action that can be taken by the victim.

In Kuwait, Twitter has been used widely for insults, curses and bad words as much as creating confusion and fuss between the citizens. In fact, I think the use of Twitter here disregards respect to others’ beliefs. Possibly, because it is easy to create an account on Twitter and with a fake picture and name, you can easily access any account, their followers and ideas. So, hacking someone’s account is not difficult even though it is unethical.

I doubt any hacker has any ethics at all. They would probably mind if someone hacked their own e-mails or social accounts but they don’t mind doing that to others even if it meant harm!

Anyhow, this short news of Messi which was removed by the channel, saddened his fans all over the world for minutes until they knew for sure that their beloved player was fine and doing well.

In my view

Making this place home

By Labeed Abdal

local@kuwaittimes.net

I

KUWAIT: An Arab man is pictured with his friends.

— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

have seen great examples and many success stories in Kuwait for foreigners. Many were in Kuwait from the 40s and 50s and actually created a fortune and cross border business empires. They also have the joy of living in Kuwait for generation after generation, because of the safety and joy they have in living here with many, many trusted friends.

The great thing is the tax-free environment, the common grounds of acceptance between the locals and foreigners where one can say there was not any kind of xenophobic fears between the two.

Yet, it is commonly known that the law-abiding citizen and expatriate will have a safe and stable co-existence and life. By all means, there are isolated cases related to expired visas or illegal runaways, non-payment of salary problems and some fraud cases where employees suffer and need self-awareness and self-determination to do things right.

In the few incidents of mistreatment that might occur to expatriates, we should remember that this should not reflect on all Kuwaitis and Kuwait. All those examples should be taken after making sure that the embassies of those foreign communities are involved to support and give guidance, the laws are equally applied, and their freedoms and rights are protected.

Also the individuals themselves must not be involved in the wrongdoing of choices which might have been against the law and surely will lead to difficult sequences. Many Kuwaitis do not want to feel wronged when saying we want expatriates to be welcome in Kuwait, live in peace, without fear and be treated equally.

We need to treat all foreigners better, even if compared to our own citizens, as this is what we expect when we go outside Kuwait, where we will always remember how and to what extent we were treated with generosity and respect. The same treatment requires honesty, pure dili-

Local FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Satire Wire

Dream interpretation - Kuwaiti style

By Sawsan Kazak

sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

S

ome say that dreams represent your innermost feelings and thoughts, your fears and aspirations and your predictions for the future. A dream is your brain’s way of making sense of the world. But dreams are not always clear and what you dream is not necessarily meant to be taken literally; especially in Kuwait. The following are dreams you may have and I have taken the liberty to interpret what they actually mean. (The following interpretations were neither based on any scientific research, nor were they provided by a professional.)

Cooked through You open your eyes, look around and all you see is orange neon lights all around you. At a distance you see a big brown window; you walk over to it and look out to ask for help. But instead of seeing a landscape, you see kitchen appliances. You quickly realize that you are inside an oven.

You kick, scream and push, but there is no escaping the intense cooking heat.

Interpretation: Not to worry, this dream only signifies the

beginning of a Kuwaiti summer. The orange neon lights represent heat and ever-present sun. The fact that you are in an oven represents the feeling of being cooked every time you step out into daylight and the fact that you can’t escape represents the fact that there is no escaping the summer heat.

BBQ monster You walk into a mall to do some good-old-fashioned shopping but in every store you walk into, the only item on sale is barbeques. There are big ones, small ones, red ones and silver ones. When you look around to ask for assistance, you notice that the ‘sales people’ are all walking barbeques.

They walk ever so slowly towards you, open their ‘mouths’ and try to eat you. You run, but everywhere you look, there is a different barbeque trying to eat you.

Interpretation: This dream represents the deep, subconscious fear every person living in Kuwait has and that is the fear that Parliament will begin their never ending grilling season. The barbeques represent Parliament members. The fact that they are trying to eat you, well that’s just weird.

Ring rage You are sitting in the audience at a sporting event enthusiastically cheering with the crowd. In the middle of the room is an abnormally big boxing ring. The presenter comes on and announces the beginning of the match, two cars drive into the ring and balance on their back wheels and start fighting with each other. The cars go at it until one car

loses its bumper.

Interpretation: This dream is your brain’s way of processing all the road rage you witnessed and were a part of all day. This dream is an obvious one as the cars punching each other represent all the times you were cut off, honked at or almost pushed off the road.

A mobile, mobile You are sitting at a coffee shop having a cappuccino with some friends. Halfway through the conversation, your friends start turning into mobile phones. One after the other, their heads start morphing into flat, shiny touch screens, their arms and legs disappear into a rectangular phone case, and they start talking to you with a robotic voice. Your phone-friends suddenly standing up and start chasing you down the street. You run as fast as you can but suddenly trip on a phone charge cord (ironically). The phones smother you until you scream and subsequently wake up because of it.

Interpretation: This dream represents two aspects in your life that are causing you harm. The first and most harmful is your ever-growing phone bill. Month after month you fork out a huge portion of your salary to the phone companies and your friends turning into giant phones is due to the fact that your phone bill is constantly on your mind. The second aspect of your psyche that is symbolized in this dream is how much you think about your smartphone. You are in a committed, monogamous relationship with your touch screen mobile and she/he is a huge part of your day.

Kuwait’s my business

The cost of a customer

By John P Hayes

local@kuwaittimes.net

KUWAIT: Pastries are pictured before they’re digested by customers looking to indulge their sweet tooth. — Photo

by Joseph Shagra

I

n USA, 50 percent of all new, independentlyowned businesses fail within a year, and as many as 85 percent fail within five years, according to government statistics. How do those statistics apply to Kuwait?

No one knows! Or if they do, they’re not telling me.

Even though America is the hallmark of freedom, that doesn’t mean all people are left alone to do as they please. Business owners are required to file a variety of periodic reports, and from those reports come valuable data that the US Government, and private firms, share with the world. Even if the statistics aren’t favourable, at least you know what you’re up against when you start a business in the USA. The odds for success are not very good.

The odds are probably not any better in Kuwait, and they may be worse. We know, from private and non-government data, that the average business loses 10 percent of its customers annually. So every five years, a business loses 50 percent of its customer base! In a transient society, like Kuwait, those percentages are probably higher. By the time a business finds a loyal customer, that customer is moving to a new location.

A lost customer is lost revenue in more than one way. Many business owners don’t realize the cost of acquiring customers. They worry about paying the rent, buying equipment, paying salaries, acquiring inventory, paying utilities, but they rarely take into

account the cost of acquiring a customer. If you add all the money spent in a year to attract new customers, i.e. advertising, signage, location fees, etc., and divide the sum by the number of customers acquired annually, you’ll know your cost per customer. Few businesses, anywhere, seem to know that number, and yet, few numbers are more important in business.

A fast food restaurant, which needs a constant flow of customers, might spend less than $10 to attract one, while a specialty retailer, which doesn’t need as many customers, might spend thousands of dollars per customer. A service provider selling printing or online connections or television programming might spend several times the value of just one purchase to snag a single customer. It’s important to know the acquisition cost because a business must earn that money back before earning a profit. Too often, businesses never recoup the cost of customer acquisition.

Why? First, because they don’t realize the cost, and second because they lose customers by not meeting their needs. Even though they don’t know how much they’re paying per customer, the focus of many businesses is on constantly attracting new customers while ignoring the existing customers!

Here’s another useful fact: It costs 10 times more to replace a customer than it does to keep a customer.

So if a business spends $100 to acquire a customer, it could spend just $10 to keep a customer. For every customer saved, the business keeps $90!

Starting a business in Kuwait may be more risky than in the USA, but it doesn’t have to be. If you pay attention to the numbers, and to your customers, Kuwait is as good as any place to own a business.

Dr. John P. Hayes is a marketing professor at Gulf University for Science and Technology.

Local FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

By Priyanka Saligram There’s a story behind these bleeding eyes.

PAWS (Protecting Animal Welfare Society) got a call on January 1 this year from a frantic Indian lady who saw young Kuwaiti teenagers torturing two friendly stray dogs by the beach at Fahaheel Sea Club. The boys were trying to gouge their eyes out and even managed to cut a tail off from one of the dogs. PAWS managed to save both dogs who, despite the brutality, didn’t give up their trust in humans and actually allowed themselves to be lifted into the rescue car without any growling. Now the pair, Texas and Georgia, are at the shelter recovering from their trauma.

They lucked out, but most other animals in Kuwait aren’t as lucky.

PAWS, along with other animal rights organizations in Kuwait, receive at least one case of an abused animal every day, which averages at 7-10 cases per week.

“These are just the cases which are reported to us; but obviously the statistics are higher as most go unreported,” revealed a member of the organization.

Awareness about these animal rights’ groups has helped to generate more active participation from the public over the past few years, but the violence has been consistent.

In a majority of the cases, the dogs are left tied to a tree or fence for days together without any water or food in the desert heat - or on building roof tops with the assumption that they will guard the place. In more obvious cases of abuse, flesh or bones can be seen as a result of beatings or deliberate injuries.

Death would seem a better option for

KUWAIT: The dog which had its eye gouged out by teenagers by the beach at Fahaheel Sea Club.

those who have been set on fire on the beach, had their legs, tails or ears cut off, dumped in the desert to starve or had their eyes gouged out. Cats haven’t had it easy either, with some being bundled into fishing nets or thrown into the rubbish bin to die.

Season to abandon Karen, one of the co-founders of PAWS and K’S PATH in Kuwait revealed the story of Maddy, a small Poodle mix, a few years ago. Maddy’s owners tied her neck to a fence with a metal wire and left her out in the sun to die. Teenagers would beat her on the way to school every day until she was found by a couple who untied her and got her immediate medical attention.

The vet discovered that her skin had grown over the metal wire and she required around 75 stitches after the wire was removed from her flesh. The couple adopted Maddy and moved to Dubai, where she leads a peaceful life after her ordeal here. While Maddy lived to have a name and someone to love, a tabby cat, which had its back legs tied with a metal wire and couldn’t move or jump into any bin to scavenge for food, died nameless because of starvation.

Karen, a passionate animal lover and hardcore activist, has had 17 years of experience rescuing animals in Kuwait. She says that even though there has been a drop in cases since she’s lived here, the summer season always witnesses a rise in animal cruelty.

“People travel in summer and abandon their pets on the streets or in the deserts.

Why? Because it’s the easiest way to get rid of them. Someone had even dumped a horse in the desert with a bucket of water, thinking ‘Hey, he won’t be able to make it back home from here!’ This is easier than having to take the trouble of leaving it at a shelter,” she says.

Two weeks ago, a cheetah was reportedly drugged and dragged around by its tail in Abu Hassania area by “amused” teens in broad daylight. The half-conscious animal apparently tried to hide under the shade of nearby cars but to no avail. Karen says, “There’s a link between animal abuse and psychopathology; youngsters who abuse animals grow up to become serial killers.”

Karen also recently found an

eagle dumped near a bin. It was clearly in a state of shock and when she realized that it was still breathing, she rushed it to the Royal Animal Hospital. It was treated for severe starvation before being handed over to K’S PATH, who made sure it was healthy before releasing it back into the wild. Rumour had it that it was dragged around near the Friday Market a day earlier.

This is just one of the many stories Karen can recount in Kuwait and has seen enough abused animals to author her own book.

‘Education, education, education’ So where exactly is the problem? Is it a lack of conscience? Or a lack of rules? Karen says that it’s a bit of both: “The problem is the lack of animal rights’ laws and their enforcement.”

But there’s one thing that’s completely within reach, “Education, education, education! If children are taught empathy right from a young age and made to understand that animals feel pain, just like humans, a lot could be achieved,” she says. She added that if there were constructive things for the youngsters to do here apart from just go to the malls and shop, like if they had Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to channel their energy into something useful, the beaches and the environment can be saved. “Nobody knows that something as mindless as throwing cigarette butts into the ocean can kill tortoises when they consume it,” Karen says.

Apart from lack of awareness, sterilization is a big problem faced by the shelters, who struggle with unsterilized strays which multiply during breeding season. “A lack of funds can be added to the list,” said an unnamed source who revealed that shelters run mostly on funds collected through charities, Open House events, and donations - which aren’t a steady flow or sustainable income. “From the minute an injured animal (or bird) is taken in, the shelter pays for its medical expenses, rehabilitation, sterilization, vaccination and food apart from other needs until it’s adopted again which amounts to a lot per case,” he said.

An ‘evil’ called the Friday Market The Friday Market in Kuwait might as well be rechristened ‘The Dead End’ as far as birds and animals are concerned. This place is notorious for almost having as many animals as the Kuwait Zoo: Kangaroos, monkeys, baboons, snakes, endangered tortoises and reptiles, bears, exotic spiders, parrots, macaws, coloured chicks, monitor lizards apart from many others can be seen - some with the DHL stickers still attached to their cages. The animals are housed in abominable settings and subjected to severe weather conditions with very little to eat or drink. Large dogs are stuffed into small cages to save space, and gain sympathy from visitors who might end up buying them to save them. On the other hand, tiny chicks are dyed toxic neon colours like pink, green, red, radiant yellow or blue to attract potential buyers. Many chicks die during the colouring process as they can’t withstand the wetness or the cold. The ones who survive end up with damaged internal organs because of the toxins in the dye.

Local FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

‘Youngsters who abuse animals grow up to become serial killers’ Karen recalls saving a group of baby rabbits, which were trying to hide under the shade of a car to stay cool: “Unsold animals are thrown outside like garbage,” she said. Most exotic animals, like monkeys, are smuggled into Kuwait from Asian countries like Indonesia and Thailand, or even Hungary, “They are drugged and smuggled in suitcases, and many die even before reaching Kuwait because of the lack of ventilation,” she said.

In fact, the Friday Market has been such a bone of contention with animal lovers that a website called change.org, which encourages people to fight for issues they care about deeply, has more than 200 people signing a petition for its closure. A page entitled ‘Kuwait: Close down the Animal Friday Market’ reads: “Animals are kept in terrible life threatening conditions in Kuwait’s harsh climate with no AC. Puppies, wet and dirty, and most infected with parvovirus, along with cats, are all put in small bird cages with hardly any space to move. Animals there are suffering horribly before dying every day!”

Price to be paid The violence is senseless. And sometimes there’s a quick buck to be made.

Vandana, an Indian expatriate, found an Alaskan Malamute with a belt tied around his neck, being dragged around in Mangaf. When she asked them to stop ill-treating it, they said they would - if she bought it. She paid KD 12 and brought the injured dog home to save it from them but when she walks him, she has people asking her “How much? How much?” hoping to buy it from her - and perhaps sell it again to someone else.

An Alaskan Malamute is, as the name suggests, a breed meant for the cold climates of Alaska - not a harsh desert ambiance like Kuwait. She says that she encounters difficulty walking him outside as his paws - which definitely aren’t suitable for the Middle

KUWAIT: Kittens are seen in unhygienic conditions at the Friday Market.

Eastern climate - burn in the heat. “I’m also worried about what he might eat because of the poison left out in the streets to kill strays”.

Vandana pointed that some residential buildings change their policies on pets overnight and ask the tenants to either get rid of their pets or vacate within 15 days’ time. “This is very little time and forces them to abandon their pets, which they might not have chosen to do otherwise”.

Change in policy or not, nothing can possibly justify her neighbours’ act of throwing a rabbit from the

roof “just to see what would happen to it”.

Some pet owners hesitated to provide pictures of their pets out of fear that the previous owners who abandoned them would track them down and want to take their pets back - now that they have received medical attention and appear in good health. priyankasaligram@kuwaittimes.net

Mahatma Gandhi said that the greatness of a nation can be judged by the way it treats its animals - what does this say about us?

KUWAIT: This tabby cat died of starvation after its hind legs were tied together with a metal wire.

Local FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

By Nawara Fattahova

K

uwait relies heavily on oil to sustain its demand for electricity. Compared to other places around the world the price of electricity is pretty low. Due to that reliance, the government is reluctant to seek other forms of alternative energy.

Mohammed Al-Naqi Mohammed Al-Naqi is a Kuwaiti who decided to find a way to benefit from solar and wind energy as a hobby. He fixed wind energy fans at his house in Salwa, and this attracted people who were passing from the Messila Bridge on Fahaheel Road. It’s not common to see such fans in Kuwait, and Al-Naqi is planning to use these fans to produce energy.

His interest in wind and solar energy started at the beginning of the 1980s. “During this period, I installed solar energy boards and I used them to heat water in the kitchen using solar energy. These solar boards got spoiled after the invasion in 1990 as a result of the burning oil wells. The black sticky liquid from the oil fires fell on the boards and damaged them. We have good aspects to benefit from solar energy. Once I also brought a clock that worked on solar energy and I presented it to The Scientific Club,” he told the Kuwait Times.

The shortage of manpower is the biggest obstacle facing Al-Naqi’s projects. “I suffer from public bureaucracy and some unfair rules. I understand that the government has issued strict rule for importing manpower as there are people trading with labourers and human trafficking, but on the other hand I’m justified as I need to bring technicians from outside. But they don’t allow me to do so,” he added.

“Now I’m working on designing a small room, which I will equip with some electronic devices such as a washing machine, refrigerator, television and other appliances and I will try using them with the energy produced by the wind fans,” stressed Al-Naqi.

He was amazed by the modern courtiers’

usage of wind energy. Al-Naqi is a member of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). He recently attended the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of EWEA in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“Denmark has reached 10 percent of its electricity production from wind energy in 2010.

They have a plan to reach 50 percent by 2025, and to reach 100 percent of electricity production from wind energy by 2050. Denmark is located on the northern sea, so they have a high energy percentage and speed most of the time.

Also, it’s a developed industrial country so they are interested in the waste recycling issue to benefit from it. They have many modern stations for producing energy from different sources,” he pointed out.

“We hope to see similar projects in Kuwait or t h e

Arab world.

For 22 years, we have heard many times about similar projects to produce sustainable energy and preserve the environment, for which a huge budget was set, but we didn’t see any of these projects. This project should be part of the development plan in Kuwait. For instance, we could use the burning of waste such as tires to produce energy rather that pollute the environment by its random burning,” he added. Wind speed isn’t very high in our region, yet we can benefit from it.

“I imported fans producing wind energy from different countries but it is not functioning yet. I fixed some of the fans that were not working as they needed to be installed in higher positions,” said Al-Naqi.

He thinks the best place to benefit from small wind fans that produce energy is the desert. “The camp doesn’t need much energy as they only need a light and a heater, and some also watch television. So it’s the ideal place for using it,” he said.

“I have nine wind fans installed. They are all in different shapes and sizes, so each can produce a different amount of energy. My fans can produce from 300-5,000 watts. In developed countries they have fans producing up to 25 mega watts and their size and weight is huge.

They use them in electricity production stations.

I also have fans combined with solar boards,” he explained.

In developed countries people collect solar energy. This is then connected to the public electricity line and is used instead of electricity.

“I don’t advise people to do so individually with-

out the permission of the government and the ministry in charge, as this may be dangerous.

Only experienced technicians can work with it,” stated Al-Naqi.

There are maps of wind speeds in different areas in the country, as the speed of wind is different from one place to another. Also there are maps for the solar temperature during the year.

“For instance there is the rainy season, when we don’t benefit from sun, which is short in our region. Also the wind is only available near the coastal area. Our region is rich with sun. To benefit from it, we need more sun energy boards.

The houses should be designed from the beginning to accommodate the solar boards to benefit from the solar energy,” he pointed out.

“The electricity here is very cheap and people are consuming it in big quantities and as a result we suffer from pressures and shortage of electricity during summer period. So if we used wind or solar energy, we could relieve the pressure on electricity,” concluded Al-Naqi.

KUWAIT: Wind energy fans seen at Mohammed AlNaqi’s house in Salwa.

— Photos by Joseph Shagra

Local FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Ibn Sina

‘sketch’ wins drawing contest

By Ben Garcia

P

rimitivo Aguilar III, a Filipino artist, recently won a drawing competition conducted by Eureka to celebrate the arrival of their newest addition to the roster of smart phones invading the world today Galaxy Note.

Buboy, as he is fondly called by his friends, bested 260 participants from all over Kuwait and demonstrated his skills in an on-the-spot drawing competition in a very short span of time, using smartphone technology.

During the five-minute stint, the face of an old looking Arab man was revealed, a face [frontal and sideways] turned out. Many in the audience at that time he was sketching [the image], especially Arabs, knew that what he was drawing was a famous philosopher in the Arab world that lived centuries ago.

And yes, after five minutes the full facial images of Ibn Sina appeared. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) is one of the foremost philosophers in the Medieval Hellenistic Islamic tradition that also includes Al-Farabi and Ibn Rushd. His philosophical theory is a comprehensive, detailed and rational account of the nature of God and being, in which he finds a systematic place for the corporeal world, spirit, insight, and the varieties of logical thought including dialectic, rhetoric and poetry.

Ibn Sina was born in AH 370/AD 980 near Bukhara in Central Asia. “I never encountered his image as yet. I heard about Ibn Sina hospital but not Ibn Sina as a famous Islamic philosopher. What I intend to do was to draw an old man that will show the wrinkles or the lines in the face of an old man using the pencil that is provided by Galaxy Note. And there I sketch him on the remaining time I had. When I finished it, they told me, he [the image] was the famous philosopher. I was touched that my drawing appeared like him,” Buboy told Friday Times.

Buboy recalled the audience [watching him while drawing] were even mad at him when he first sketched an image of a young boy because right after finishing it, he deleted it completely. “They are all mad at me; I wasn’t content with it, so I deleted it and replaced it with this drawing of an old man. I even thought that it was a disaster because I did it in five minutes - the remaining period of the 15 minutes allowable time limit,” he added.

With that image though, he got the nod of the panel of judges from both Samsung Korea and Eureka Kuwait to bag the first prize for the drawing competition using the Samsung Galaxy note. He took home $3,500 plus a unit of Samsung Galaxy Note. His original drawing and photographs during the contest and awards night can be viewed on Facebook-Eureka Kuwait.

Mamoun Hijazi, Eureka Kuwait Marketing Manager, told Friday Times that his drawing was selected among other competitors for its accuracy, the taste for the subject and the fact that he was able to finish the drawing with so many details in just five minutes.

“I was there. I’ve seen him drawing it. I knew that his drawing was skilfully crafted and I myself was amazed.

There are many wonderful drawings submitted to us, but his drawing was exemplary, and even I noticed that he did it effortlessly unmindful that he was doing something great,” the Eureka manager observed.

Graduated from one of the best schools in Fine Arts

in Manila [FIATI University], Buboy came to Kuwait two years after Kuwait’s liberation from Saddam Hussein’s occupation in 1992. He worked as a glass designer before moving to Al Bab Media Group, where he is currently working as one of its designers for branding and animation.

Buboy has been a designer for various Filipino events taking place in Kuwait since becoming active in the Filipino community in early 2000. His company assigned him to various locations and countries worldwide where his company works and does their media campaign/ads. In fact, he stayed in the United Arab Emirates for some time to finish the remaining episodes of the famous cartoon series ‘Shaabiyat Cartoons’ in Dubai, where he was tasked to direct some episodes and storyboard for that particular cartoon series.

He won various awards and recognition from both private and government institutions in both the Philippines and abroad. He’s been an artist who is known to many Filipinos here, making his name in vari- KUWAIT: Ibn Sina’s ‘image’ appears after a five-minute drawing stint ous works of art and platforms. In Qatar, his paintings by Filipino artist Primitivo Aguilar III, who won the first prize in a have been used as main images during the celebration drawing contest. of Qatar’s Foundation.

He exhibited his work at the Fanar Mall Gallery together with two other Filipino artists in Kuwait sometime in 2007, and he is now busy preparing for his own solo-exhibit to be held in Kuwait before the end of this year. Every artist wants to be known for his own work and masterpiece, baring his signature in every piece.

Buboy is not exempt. “I am an artist who is yet to discover his own strength/style. I don’t have it yet,” he said humbly.

“There are many artists out there; but their painting style was copied from someone else. For me, I want to be myself. I want to create my own masterpiece, a genuine one, so I am doing it slowly but surely and I am heading in that direction,” he beamed.

KUWAIT: Primitivo Aguilar III (centre) receives first prize, a symbolic cheque, from Eureka Marketing Manager Mamoun Hijazi (right) and Mishary Al-Rashid.

Local FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Indian expat families pay the price for rupee plunge The seamy side of forex bonanza

By Sajeev K Peter KUWAIT: The continued plunge of the Indian rupee has held out an immediate financial bonanza for many Indian expatriates in Kuwait, though the unprecedented value erosion of the currency is creating major economic havoc for their families back home. Many currency specialists and community members say that the rupee plunge has a seamy side of the story as well.

“In fact, the rupee depreciation is beneficial for the high net-worth Indian expatriates in Kuwait, who can transfer huge volumes at a good rate. But the low-income groups are unable to cash in on the forex advantage as much as their rich fellow countrymen, because their income is low and fixed,” K N S Das, General Manager at Lulu Exchange, Kuwait, told the Friday Times.

“I think the advantage is illusory. The situation is alarming in India. The economic repercussions, as a result of the rupee plunge, could be far-reaching,” Das commented.

The rupee, that slumped to as low as 56.38 to the dollar last week, pared losses marginally this week to 55.29 on profit-taking. In Kuwait a dinar fetched 200.20 rupees last Wednesday, an ‘all-time high’ for the Indian currency. Though the currency has pulled back moderately over the week, it was still hovering in the range of 200 against the dinar on Wednesday.

“India is witnessing runaway inflation, making the lives miserable for an average household,” said Sam Painummodu, President of Kerala Art Lovers Association (KALA), a leading socio-cultural organization. “On the surface, it may look attractive because we get around 200 rupees for a dinar. It may be like a 20 percent salary increment. Most of us don’t see the sad side of the story. We fail to see the fact that the rupee’s value has eroded around 30 percent considering the skyrocketing inflation. Our families in India are paying the price for the rupee’s freefall,” he added.

Painummoodu blamed the present dismal scenario on the lopsided economic policies initiated by the Indian government. Ever since the India government lifted administrative control over oil products, oil majors decide the prices of petroleum products. During the last couple of years the prices of petroleum products have soared, fuelling a cascading effect on consumer products.

“Though oil prices have come down in the global market, petroleum prices continue to rise in India. The companies never roll back the prices they increased once,” said Salam Mohammed, an executive at a petrochemical company in Kuwait.

“For an average household, family budgeting has become a painful task. Prices have gone up for everything from grocery items, dairy products and vegetables to meat and fish,” said Thankachan, who works at a supermarket and earns around KD 150 per month. Fakhrudeen, an employee of a security services company, also echoed the sentiments of Thankachan, saying, “Usually I send around KD40 to KD50 (around Rs 10,000) to my family every month. Now my wife complains that the money is not enough to meet the monthly expenses.” E. D. Titus, General Manager at BEC Exchange and a currency specialist, said the rupee continued to drop mainly due to the euro-zone economic crisis.

“You can see a huge capital flight from India. Global investors are pulling out of rupee-denominated funds to the safety of dollar funds. The domestic economy has become weak, impacting the equity and forex markets,” he commented.

Despite continued intervention by the Reserve Bank of India, the rupee continued its freefall. Many experts feel that the government must take steps to rein in the growing dollar demand and support the weak rupee. It may also sell dollars directly to oil firms to satiate the demand for greenbacks in the foreign exchange market. India imports 80 percent of its crude from abroad, using dollars.

“We have witnessed about a 15 percent rise in the number of remittances to India in the last few weeks. I think many people are taking advantage of the favourable exchange rate today,” Titus added. The rupee has plunged more than 20 percent against the dollar since 2011. It has become the worst-performing of Asia’s 10 most-traded currencies.

Kuwaiti tweeter jailed six months for insulting Shiites Jail-term reduced after acquittal KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s court of appeals yesterday reduced a seven-year jail term for a Sunni tweeter to six months in prison for allegedly insulting the faith of the Shiite minority, his lawyer said. “The (appeals) court reduced Mohammad Al-Mulaifi’s jail term to just six months,” Fahad AlBraikan said. The case will now go to the Supreme Court for a final decision, he said. The jail term was reduced after the court acquitted Al-Mulaifi, a writer, of the charges of spreading false news about the Gulf state and promoting an illegal clandestine group, according to the court ruling.

He was convicted only on the count

of disparaging the Shiite faith in an Internet article which he posted on his Twitter account in February. Al-Mulaifi, a Ministry of Islamic Affairs employee and a widower with four children, categorically denied all the charges and insisted that he did not mean to insult any faith. Kuwaiti Shiites comprise around a third of the native population of 1.18 million. They staged a rally in protest of the article and demanded that authorities take action.

Sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in the Gulf state have increased rapidly in the past several months, reflecting regional tension over Bahrain and Syria. Over the past few

months, Kuwaiti courts have clamped down on Sunni and Shiite activists accused of committing religious offences, sentencing several of them to various jail terms. Several others are currently on trial.

Earlier this month, Kuwait’s appeals court upheld a 10-year jail term on tweeter Orance Al-Rasheedi for insulting the Gulf state’s ruler and calling for the overthrow of the regime. The lower court is scheduled to issue a verdict on Monday in the case against Shiite tweeter Mohammad Al-Naqi, who is charged with insulting Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him), his wife Aisha and some of his revered companions. — AFP

KUWAIT: Air force officers celebrated their graduation during an official ceremony recently. — KUNA

Kuwaiti official slams Iran criticism on spy ring rulings KUWAIT: A senior Kuwaiti official slammed Iran for criticizing a Kuwaiti court ruling that sentenced four men to life in jail for spying for Tehran, newspapers reported yesterday.

“Unfortunately, this is an act of disrespect for Kuwaiti court rulings that we highly appreciate and respect,” Foreign Ministry undersecretary, Khaled AlJarallah, was quoted as saying.

“Kuwaiti court rulings on men accused of spying were issued after lengthy and in-depth investigations ...

We reject the Iranian foreign ministry statements because they undermine our court verdicts,” he said. Al-Jarallah was responding to remarks by Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, on Tuesday in which he insisted the charges against the seven-member spy cell were false and rejected the ruling.

“From the Islamic republic’s point of view, all these charges are false and the sentences handed down are unacceptable,” Mehmanparast told a press conference in Tehran.”We hope the Kuwaiti government will review its position and these people will soon be freed,” he said. Kuwait’s Court of Appeals reduced on Monday a death

sentence on two Iranians and a Kuwaiti to a life term and upheld a life sentence on a stateless man. It also confirmed the acquittal of a man and a woman, both Iranians. A Syrian who was sentenced to life by the lower court was also acquitted.

The two convicted Iranians and the Kuwaiti worked for the Kuwaiti army at the time of their arrest in May 2010.

The defendants were accused of spying for Iran and of passing information on the Kuwaiti and US military in the Gulf Emirate to Islamic republic Revolutionary Guards, an accusation Iran has denied. The defendants denied the charges and insisted they were tortured to extract confessions.

Local media also reported that some of the men trained to use explosives and had planned to bomb Kuwaiti oil pipelines.The case strained relations between Kuwait and Iran, prompting a tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats. Ambassadors later returned to both capitals following a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi to Kuwait City in May 2011.The ruling is not final, as the case will now go to Kuwait’s Supreme Court, where a final verdict will be issued. —AFP

Security reinforced around specific embassies KUWAIT: In view of the accelerating measures taken by some Western states against the Syrian regime that recently ended up expelling Syrian ambassadors in the aftermath of the Al-Houla massacre, security measures around the Australian Embassy was reinforced. — Al-Watan

Traffic fines payable at airport KUWAIT: The traffic general directorate opened an office at Kuwait International Airport to collect traffic fines from travellers who used to be sent to various traffic departments to do so, which usually delayed their departure. The idea had been subject to discussion for a while in a bid to facilitate the departure of passengers. Finally, a meeting including the traffic directorate’s assistant manager, Brigadier Ihsan Al-Owayyesh, fines investigation department manager, Colonel Mohsen Al-Mekhyal, and his assistant, Colonel Hussein Ghaleb, decided to open the office a few days ago. The office working hours are 8:00-14:00 and 16:00-21:00, in addition to a night shift that will start operating from today. — Al-Watan

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

4 die in Seattle shooting spree

Baghdad blasts kill 16, shatter relative calm

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Assange loses UK extradition appeal

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CAIRO: A file picture shows ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak being wheeled on a stretcher into a court for his trial in Cairo. — AFP

Decades-old emergency rule ends Egypt on edge ahead of Mubarak’s verdict

CAIRO: Egypt’s decades-long state of emergency came to an end yesterday after its last renewal expired, the ruling military said in a statement, vowing to continue to “protect” the nation. The military will continue its “national and historic responsibility, taking into account that the state of emergency has ended, in accordance with the constitutional declaration and with the law,” it said. It said it would continue in that role until it hands over power, as it has promised to do to an elected president by the end of June.

Egypt has been under a state of emergency continuously since President Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981, allowing authorities to detain people without charge and try them in emergency security courts. Parliament renewed the emergency law for two years in May 2010 when now ousted president Hosni Mubarak was still in power, but limited its application to terrorism and drug crimes. The military, which took charge after Mubarak’s overthrow in February 2011, at first extended the law to include strikes

but then said it would apply only to “thuggery.”

A constitutional declaration ratified in a referendum in March last year gave the military the responsibility to “protect” the country but said only parliament had the right to proclaim a state of emergency, at the executive’s request. The military had suspended the constitution after Mubarak’s overthrow. Essam Erian, the deputy leader of the Islamist Freedom and Justice Party, which has the most seats in parliament said the military’s statement indicated it would not ask parliament to extend the law. The party’s leader and presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi has said the law will not be renewed.

VERDICT IN MUBARAK TRIAL Egyptians could hardly believe their eyes when Hosni Mubarak went on trial for complicity over the killing of protesters last year, but those who toppled him doubt tomorrow’s verdict will deliver justice for the almost 850 who died. Still less will it deal with the legacy of an autocratic

ruler who ran a police state that rode roughshod over human rights for 30 years until popular frustration exploded. “Justice will not be achieved,” said Ahmed el-Fekky, who was blinded in his left eye during the protests against Mubarak.

The verdict promised by Judge Ahmed Refaat more than three months after he closed the trial on Feb. 22 is keenly awaited, not least because of its timing, bang in between two rounds of Egypt’s first truly contested presidential election.

If Mubarak, 84, is convicted, he could face anything from three years in jail to the death penalty. Few expect the ex-air force chief to hang, given his age and the perceived weakness of the prosecution case.

Appeals could prolong the case for years. An acquittal or a light sentence could ignite a furious reaction on the streets from Egyptians already disappointed that their “revolution” has yet to bring much real change.

Many of those who took to the streets are frustrated that reform has yet to touch the army,

the hated police force, the judiciary and much else of the system that propped up his rule.

Acquittals of low-ranking officers accused of shooting protesters have raised fear that no one will be brought to book. In the run-off vote for the presidency on June 16-17 they must choose between Ahmed Shafiq, an ex-military man and Mubarak ally, and Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, which struggled for decades against a state that mostly repressed it.

Any violence after the trial verdict could benefit Shafiq, who is running on a tough security platform. But as a symbol of the Mubarak era, he could also be hurt if an acquittal sparks broad popular anger at the military-dominated establishment. The verdict on Mubarak, who is charged with corruption as well as complicity in the killings of protesters, could be postponed.

On trial with him are former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli and six security officials, as well as his two sons Alaa and Gamal, and businessman Hussein Salem, who has fled Egypt. —Agencies

International FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Bali bombmaker pleads for leniency JAKARTA: Umar Patek, accused of a playing key role in the Bali bombings, insisted yesterday the attacks that killed 202 people were “against my conscience” and begged for a light sentence. In emotionally-charged testimony, Patek, 45, maintained he played only a minor role in the 2002 bombings and had shown remorse by apologizing to the victims’ families.

Prosecutors have recommended a life sentence for Patek, claiming he was a main bombmaker in attacks on two nightclubs on the Indonesian resort island which killed many tourists.

“I only helped to mix less than 50 kilograms of chemicals,” Patek said, reading from a lengthy statement with Quranic verses in Arabic. He added that others mixed a remaining 950 kilograms for the explosives. “I did it half-heartedly, only because the person who was mixing looked tired and tense.

It’s not my soul’s calling and it’s against my conscience.” “I will turn 46 in 50 days, which is considered old, and a long term behind bars will be too severe. I am yet to have children,” he told the West Jakarta District Court. “I hope the judges will consider my plea and give the lightest possible verdict that is true and fair.”

He also urged the panel of five judges not to be influenced by “stigma surrounding my identity, theories, opinions and speculation in the mass media in making a final decision”. He criticized prosecutors for not considering the points raised by witnesses in drafting the recommendation. “All the facts uncovered in the trial specifically from witnesses and my statements were thrown aside,” Patek said, raising his voice. “Their recommendation was simply made by copying and pasting from the indictment.” Patek, part of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, was arrested last year in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, four months before US commandos killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden there.

Indonesian prosecutors stopped short of recommending the maximum death penalty last week, arguing that Patek’s remorse should spare him from the firing squad. Three of the Bali bombers have already been executed. At the trial which started in February, Patek has repeatedly denied any major involvement. He claimed he had a change of heart and tried to stop the attacks at the last minute. The court is expected to announce its verdict in June. Patek was once the mostwanted terror suspect in Indonesia and spent nearly a decade on the run with the US offering a $1 million bounty for him under its rewards for justice program. — AFP

Iran president sees no nuclear breakthrough at Moscow talks Ahmadinejad says West not trustworthy in Syria PARIS: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday he did not expect talks next month with six world powers in Moscow on Iran’s nuclear program to yield any major breakthroughs, but hoped to improve confidence between the two sides. The six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - failed to persuade Tehran on May 23 to halt its most sensitive nuclear work, but they will meet again in Moscow on June 18-19 to try to end a stand-off that has raised fears of a new war that could threaten global oil supplies.

“We are not fools. We are not expecting miracles at the next meeting,” Ahmadinejad said in an interview with France 24 television. “There will be areas of work that will go in the right direction and we will work towards them so that we reach a constructive accord.” He said Tehran had “good proposals” to make, but that it would only announce them when the time was right, and both sides had to work hand in hand to restore confidence. At the heart of the impasse is Iran’s insistence on the right to enrich uranium and that economic sanc-

tions should be lifted before it shelves activities that could lead to its achieving the capability to develop nuclear weapons.

Ahmadinejad reiterated Iran’s “legal right” to enrich uranium to 20 percent and said other countries would have to explain why Iran was not allowed to do this and what they would offer Iran in exchange if it stopped enriching uranium. Asked if Tehran would accept an offer under which other countries would enrich its uranium if it suspended its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said he was open to it. “That offer has not been made, but it would ease the situation and would help build trust,” he said.

Iran’s nuclear progress is closely watched by the West and Israel as it could determine how long it could take Tehran to build atomic bombs, if it decided to do so. Iran denies any plan to do this and says its aims are entirely peaceful. Israel this week said Tehran was still “buying time.” Ahmadinejad said Iran was not afraid of possible Israeli “aggression”, but questioned how the international community would have reacted had Iran threatened Israel. “The problem is

the Zionist regime not Iran,” he said. “If they don’t attack us there won’t be a problem.”

PUNISHING SYRIA CRIMES While Iran has supported popular uprisings that removed longtime leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen, it has steadfastly supported the Syrian leadership, a rare ally in the Arab world, which is largely suspicious of Shiite Iran’s ambitions for greater regional influence. Ahmadinejad condemned the killing of 108 people, many of them children, in the Syrian town of Houla last week, saying those who had committed the crime should be punished even if the government was behind it. “All those who carried out these murders are guilty and I hope the people responsible are punished,” he said. Ahmadinejad said he had no idea who was responsible, but said it made no sense for a government to kill its people. “It won’t bring any success to this government.

Why would this government kill its people because this can only bring negativity to it?

So we must shed light on this. I don’t exclude anybody (from committing this massacre).” — Reuters

New North Korea constitution states nuke status SEOUL: North Korea’s new constitution proclaims its status as a nuclear-armed nation, complicating international efforts to persuade Pyongyang to abandon atomic weapons, analysts said yesterday. An official website seen late Wednesday released the text of the constitution following its revision during a parliamentary session on April 13. “National Defense Commission chairman Kim Jong-Il turned our fatherland into an invincible state of political ideology, a nuclear-armed state and an indomitable military power, paving the ground for the construction of a strong and prosperous nation,” says part of the preamble.

The text was carried by the “Naenara” (My Nation) website.

The previous constitution, last revised on April 9, 2010, did not carry the term “nuclear-armed state”. Following Kim Jong-Il’s death last December, the country revised the charter to consecrate achievements of the late leader, who was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-Un. The North has been developing nuclear weapons for decades. Its official position has been that it needs them for self-defense against a US nuclear threat, but that it is willing in principle to scrap the atomic weaponry.

Under a September 2005 deal reached during six-nation negotiations, Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its nuclear programs in return for economic and diplomatic benefits and security guarantees. But six-party talks on implementing the deal have been stalled since December 2008. The North has staged two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009. “This makes it clear that the North has little intention of giving up nuclear programs under any circumstances,” Cheon Sung-Whun of the state Korea Institute for National Unification said. “If there is a demand at the negotiation table to give up nuclear weapons, the North Koreans would say it would be a breach of the constitution,” he said.—AFP

RAMALLAH: Members of the Palestinian security forces keep guard as mourners pray over flag-draped coffins during the funeral of 91 Palestinians whose remains were returned by Israel at the Palestinian leadership headquarters in Ramallah yesterday.— AFP

Israel hands over militants remains JERUSALEM: Israel yesterday transferred to Palestinian authorities the bodies of dozens of Palestinian militants whose attacks killed hundreds of Israelis, saying it hoped the move would help restart peace efforts. The militants had been buried, some for decades, in a desolate Israeli military cemetery for “enemy combatants” in the occupied West Bank. They included more than 20 suicide bombers who killed more than 200 Israelis in attacks from 1995 to 2006. The remains of 80 Palestinians were handed over to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and 11 bodies were slated for transfer to the Gaza Strip, controlled by rival Hamas Islamists.

“It is our hope that this humanitarian gesture will serve both as a confidence-building measure and help get the peace process back on track,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Israel is ready for the immediate resumption of peace talks without any preconditions whatsoever,” he said. Abbas has demanded a halt to Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as a con-

dition for returning to peace talks that collapsed over the settlement issue in 2010. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas both planned official memorial ceremonies later in the day. The militants are regarded by Palestinians as martyrs in a struggle for statehood.

“Palestine today glorifies its heroes,” said a presenter on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa radio. “With the return of the remains of the heroes, some of whom blew themselves up for Palestine, we hope the spirit of resistance and the smell of gunpowder will return to the alleys and streets of villages and refugee camps.” For some Israelis, the handover revived memories of Palestinian attacks that shook their country to the core. Among the bodies handed over were those of seven Palestinians who landed by sea at night in Tel Aviv in 1975 and seized a hotel, the Savoy, demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners. The gunmen were killed in an Israeli commando raid the next morning. Eight hostages and three soldiers, including the commander of the commando unit, were also killed.— Reuters

International FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Are Americans ready for a Mormon president?

WASHINGTON: Mitt Romney’s faith emerged as little more than a subordinate issue on the US campaign trail, but with the Republican nomination securely in his grip, are American voters now ready for a Mormon president? The candidate made history late Tuesday as the first from his religion to win the nomination of a major political party, and the achievement helps show how far the acceptance of Mormonism has come since its founding in the United States nearly two centuries ago.

A President Romney could be a golden opportunity for a church aiming to broaden its base across the United States and internationally, but it is also fraught with risk.

Romney, who outlasted several rivals in a bruising primary battle, has become the

unlikely flagbearer of a Republican movement heavily influenced by evangelical Christians, some of whom have called Mormonism a “cult.” But despite persistent skepticism about the faith-a Bloomberg News poll from March shows more than one in three Americans hold an unfavorable view of the Mormon church-associate professor Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston said Wednesday he thinks Americans are ready for a Mormon president.

“There will be a small segment of evangelical voters who won’t accept the Mormon faith as a tenet of Christianity, but most voters will be tolerant,” Rottinghaus said. “The big challenge for the Romney campaign was to get through the Republican primary

process without a religious uproar, a task they have completed.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has remained silent on the presidential campaign, even though Romney’s milestone could be seen as a plus for Mormonism. “The church’s political neutrality is well established, and we have no interest in providing commentary on a political race,” said Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for the Utah-based church.

The breakthrough is tempered by the historic nature of the 2008 race, which achieved several firsts: Americans elected Democrat Barack Obama as their first black president, Sarah Palin became the first female Republican vice presidential pick, and Hillary Clinton almost earned her party’s nomination. And in 2000, Democrat Al Gore

very nearly won the White House with Joe Lieberman, an orthodox Jew, as his running mate. “Primary audiences in both parties are used to seeing diversity among the pool of potential nominees,” Rottinghaus said.

Romney is not the first Mormon to seek the White House. Founder Joseph Smith ran in 1844, in part to press for greater civil liberties for members of his nascent church. And Jon Huntsman, a former Utah governor, was a candidate this year, but his campaign failed to gain traction and he dropped out in January. With the general election now in full swing, Obama and Romney are hammering each other over economic policy. But character and personal background form a piece of the puzzle, and Romney’s faith will likely come under some scrutiny. — AFP

International FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

A US complication: Defining a Palestinian refugee WASHINGTON: A simple congressional request for the United States to distinguish between Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict and millions of their descendants poses a high-stakes diplomatic and political challenge for President Barack Obama. The State Department dislikes the idea, arguing that it would force the US to prejudge one of the final so-called status issues of Mideast peace negotiations - refugees - that both Democrats and Republicans say Israel and the Palestinians should resolve in the now-stalled two-state talks. State Department spokesman Mark Toner insisted Wednesday that the fate of refugees “needs to be worked out between the parties.” Jordan opposes it, as it wonders who will care for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees within its borders if

the definition changes. Whatever step the Obama administration takes in an election year is certain to resonate as Republicans and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney persist in questioning the president’s commitment to Israel. Ignoring administration objections, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted last Thursday to ask the secretary of state to report to the panel within a year on the number of people who have received assistance from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, and “whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who were displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict; and who are descendants.”

The provision was a modified version of an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mark

Kirk. It centers on the contentious issue of who is a Palestinian refugee - just those were displaced 64 years ago by the 1948 fighting, or their descendants as well - and their “right of return” to where they left.

The UN agency defines a Palestine refugee as any individual whose “normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” Refugees also are any descendants of fathers who meet that definition. The UN agency counted 860,000 individuals in 1951. Those registered refugees and their descendants now total 5 million living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank.

Those who favor a distinction between the two argue that more than a half-century later, there are only 30,000 original

refugees left. The UN agency, which was established in 1949, provides health services, education and other assistance to these refugees, including 1.4 million spread out at 58 camps. Funds come from the United States, the largest donor with contributions of about $250 million a year, and other countries such as Britain, Norway and Sweden. Since 1949, the United States has supported the UN agency at a cost of about $4.4 billion.

The agency also has assisted refugees displaced by the 1967 Six-Day War. For years, Israel was content with the UN agency caring for the refugees and steered clear of congressional efforts to cut funds for the organization, said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.— AP

News

in brief

Sinai Bedouins kidnap two American tourists EL-ARISH: Armed Bedouins kidnapped two American tourists in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula early yesterday, security officials said. The Bedouins snatched the two as they were traveling in a car from Dahab to Nuweiba, resort towns on the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba. The two Americans are men in their early 30s, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The abduction was the latest in a series of kidnappings in Sinai, which has seen a surge in lawlessness over the last year. Bedouins have been kidnapping tourists to pressure authorities to release their detained relatives or to improve basic services in their areas. Past kidnappings have ended peacefully. The security officials said the latest kidnapping may have been carried out by Bedouins protesting Tuesday’s arrest of fellow tribesman Eid Suleiman Aytawi on suspicion of trafficking in drugs. Negotiations were under way to secure the release of the two, the officials said.

Nepal judge shot dead KATHMANDU: Motorcycle-riding assailants shot and killed a Supreme Court judge under investigation for allegedly taking bribes as he headed to work in the Nepalese capital yesterday, police said. Rana Bahadur Bam’s bodyguard and another passenger in his car were also wounded in the attack as the judge was driven to work after worshipping at a Hindu temple. Bam was being investigated by the Judiciary Council for allegedly taking bribes from suspects charged with abduction in 2010 in exchange for releasing them with light sentences and fines. Police official Rabindra Shah said two masked men on a black motorcycle drove by the judge’s car and opened fire. Bam, his bodyguard and another person identified as the judge’s friend were hit but the driver managed to escape. The attackers fled the scene after the shooting and the injured men were rushed to the hospital in a taxi.

Bam, shot several times, died at the local Norvic Hospital as he was being treated for internal bleeding, said hospital doctor Bharat Rawat. The other two men were undergoing surgery and their condition was unknown.

Dutch prince ‘ashamed’ THE HAGUE: Red-faced Crown Prince Willem-Alexander confessed to being ashamed of having taken part in a traditional Dutch potty-throwing contest, but organizers have poohpoohed his objections. The heir to the Dutch throne was in the small eastern village of Rhenen on Queen’s Day, April 30, where he entered-and won-a traditional village game of toilet-bowl tossing. But speaking at a function in Rotterdam on Wednesday, the prince admitted he felt ashamed when hurling the orange-colored ceramic potty given the lack of proper sanitary conditions in the developing world. “Here in the Netherlands there are towns that take part in the throwing of toilet-bowls for a laugh,” he said. “I participated with a smile, but not without shame in thinking about the some 2.6 billion people around the world that do not have this most basic infrastructure to fulfill a daily need with dignity.”

BAGHDAD: Iraqis gather at the site of a blast in Baghdad yesterday. — AFP

Baghdad blasts kill 16 Attacks shatter relative calm BAGHDAD: A spate of bombings in Baghdad yesterday killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens more, shattering a relative calm with the capital’s deadliest violence in weeks. Roadside bombs and explosives-packed cars detonated across a half-dozen neighborhoods in the north, south and west of Baghdad, underlining persistent security concerns even as international energy companies met in the centre of the capital to bid on nationwide oil and gas exploration blocks.

Overall, 16 people were killed and at least 56 wounded in the attacks, an interior ministry official and two medical sources said. Yesterday’s deadliest attack struck in the north Baghdad neighborhood of Shuala, where a car bomb killed at least 13 people and wounded 32, medical officials said. A police first lieutenant in Shuala said the car was driven by a suicide attacker. The explosion badly damaged nearby shops, and windows in several adjacent buildings were shattered, an AFP journalist reported. Emergency crews were still at the scene more than an hour after the attack along with dozens of tearful residents.

“I did not feel anything, but then sud-

denly I was thrown through the air and I hit a door,” said a taxi driver who identified himself only as Abu Qarrar, or father of Qarrar. “I saw dead bodies, wounded people, people with body parts torn off,” said the taxi driver, whose traditional Arab dishdasha robes were stained with blood.

“I tried to help some people, and then the ambulances arrived, and now, they are cleaning the streets as if nothing happened.”

Signs of the attack littered the scene, from a yellow taxi being taken away for examination by police, with its driver’s side seat and door covered in blood, to an unmarked civilian pick-up truck leaving the neighborhood with a coffin loaded into its back. Security forces cordoned off the area and tried to stop journalists from speaking to shop-keepers or residents. “When I got here, I saw people crying, and others were beating themselves,” said Qusay Rahi, 31. “I know two brothers who were killed in the explosion. I don’t know what they were guilty of, but may God be with them.”

Separate bombings also struck AlAmriyah, Ghazaliyah and Yarmuk in west Baghdad, and Dora and Saidiyah in the

south of the capital, all yesterday morning. A series of roadside bombs in AlAmriyah killed two people and wounded at least seven, officials said, while a car bomb near the Yarmuk home of an official in Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s office killed a passerby but the official escaped unharmed. Yesterday’s violence was the deadliest to hit Baghdad since April 19, when attacks in and around the capital killed 17 people and wounded 106, unrest claimed by Al-Qaeda’s front group in Iraq.

And in northern Iraq yesterday, a policeman was killed in a firefight with smugglers near the Iraq-Syria border, the interior ministry said on its website. The bombings came on the same day foreign firms gathered in central Baghdad for an auction of energy exploration blocks, a sale that had been hoped to boost Iraq’s role as a key global supplier of oil and gas, but which ended with just three of 12 blocks awarded. Violence in Iraq has declined dramatically since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, especially in Baghdad. A total of 126 Iraqis were killed in violence in April, according to official figures.—AFP

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International FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Pakistani militants threaten ‘CIA doctor’ PESHAWAR: The militants accused in a Pakistan court of conspiring with a doctor recruited by the CIA to find Osama bin Laden said yesterday they had nothing to do with him and threatened to kill him. Shakeel Afridi was on May 24 sentenced to 33 years in jail after he was found guilty of treason under Pakistan’s archaic system of tribal justice. He was arrested after US troops killed bin Laden in May 2011 in the town of Abbottabad where he set up a fake vaccination program in the hope of obtaining DNA samples to confirm the AlQaeda leader’s presence.

But he was convicted for treason over alleged ties to Lashkar-e-Islam and not for working for the CIA, for which the court said it did not have jurisdiction. Lashkar-e-Islam, led by warlord Mangal Bagh, is a militant organization feared for kidnappings and extortion in the tribal district of Khyber, where Afridi worked for years as a doctor. The court said Afridi had “close links” to the group, saying the doctor’s “love” for Bagh and “association with him was an open secret”.

But a spokesman and a commander in the organization both said that they had nothing to do with Afridi.

“We have no link to such a shameless man. If we see him we’ll chew him alive,” the commander said on condition of anonymity.

The spokesman, who gave his name as Ghazi Hussain, branded Afridi a “traitor, an enemy of Pakistan and of the Muslim nation”.

UAE court rejects Islamists lawsuit ABU DHABI: An Emirati court dismissed yesterday a lawsuit filed against the interior ministry by seven Islamists whose citizenships were revoked for alleged terror links, the state news agency said. “The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of First Instance announced yesterday that the appeal of seven persons whose nationalities have been withdrawn by the ministry of interior is inadmissible,” WAM news agency reported. The seven men, who were all naturalized between 1976 and 1986, have been behind bars since April 9 after refusing to obtain new nationalities.

In a rare move, the UAE revoked their citizenships late last year for allegedly threatening the Gulf state’s security and safety. Their lawyer Mohammed Al-Roken said that the group will appeal against the yesterday ruling. It was unclear if the seven men, whom the lawyer said had not met since they were held “52 days ago”, will remain in jail. The UAE has said they were being stripped of their nationality because they “had perpetrated ... acts threatening the national security of the UAE through their connection with suspicious regional and international organizations and personalities.”

The men have all identified themselves as members of the UAE’s Reform and Social Guidance Association (Al-Islah), which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. They have also signed a petition calling for political reforms which was launched by UAE intellectuals and activists in March 2011. The UAE, a federation of seven emirates led by oil-rich Abu Dhabi, has not seen any popular protests calling for reforms like those that have swept other Arab countries, including nearby Bahrain and Oman.

However, the government has increased its clampdown on voices of dissent and calls for democratic reforms. — AFP

PESHAWAR: Pakistani men walk by the Central Jail in Peshawar, Pakistan yesterday. A Pakistani doctor who helped the US track down Osama bin Laden was sentenced to 33 years in prison on Wednesday for conspiring against the state. — AP

“Whenever and wherever we get an opportunity to kill him, we will. If we can, we will even kill him inside the jail,” Hussain said. The court said Afridi paid two million rupees ($21,000) to the faction and helped to provide medical assistance to militant commanders in Khyber. But the group said the $21,000 was a fine imposed for over-charging patients.

“Afridi and his fellow doctor were fleecing tribesmen, giving them fake medicines and doing fake surgeries.

We had a lot of complaints against them and imposed a fine of two million rupees on them,” the commander said.

Local residents also said that Afridi was fined for performing “unnecessary surgeries and over-charging” patients at his private clinic in the town of Bara. Hussain rejected any alleged links with Afridi as “false and concocted”, saying he had been fined and expelled from Khyber “three or four years ago”. Pakistan’s umbrella

Taleban faction also threatened Afridi’s life, criticizing a sham trial that it said would allow the doctor to migrate to the United States. “He is now top of our list. We will cut him into pieces when and where we manage to reach him,” spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said by telephone.

“This court judgment and punishment is all a drama, staged to hand him over to America,” Ehsan added.

Authorities in Peshawar, where Afridi is being held away from Taleban and other terror suspects in jail, have demanded he be transferred to a more secure prison. Supporters of Afridi have rubbished his conviction and character assassinations that have appeared in the media. “Now we have more hope that Shakeel Afridi will be freed easily because there is no proof of his link with Lashkar-eIslam,” said Samiullah Afridi, one of five lawyers preparing to appeal the verdict and not related to him.

“In the decision it is mentioned that he had links with foreign intelligence, but it has not been identified nor does it speak about what kind of links he had.” Afridi’s sentencing has exacerbated tensions in Pakistan’s problematic relationship with the United States, where the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million. Pakistan was furious over the bin Laden raid, which it branded a violation of sovereignty and relations with the United States have yet to recover. — AFP

Iran destroying ‘nuke evidence’ US think-tank says two buildings razed VIENNA: A US security institute has published satellite images which it said increased concerns that Iran was trying to “destroy evidence” of suspected past research relevant for developing a nuclear weapons capability, a charge Tehran dismisses. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) posted them on its website hours after diplomats said the UN atomic watchdog showed what appeared to be similar imagery at a closed-door briefing in Vienna.

Western envoys who attended Wednesday’s briefing earlier told Reuters that two small side buildings at the Parchin military facility had been removed, and ISIS said its pictures from May 25 showed that they “have been completely razed”. The disclosure followed inconclusive talks between Iran and six world powers in Baghdad last week to address concerns about the nature of its nuclear activities, which Iran says are aimed at generating electricity.

The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly asked Iran for access to Parchin as part of a longstalled probe into suspicions that Tehran may be seeking the ability to assemble nuclear bombs, should it decide to do so.

The Islamic state has so far refused to let inspectors visit the facility - which it

describes as a conventional military complex - saying there must first be a broader framework agreement on how to address the IAEA’s questions. The new satellite images will add to Western suspicions that Iran is “sanitizing” the site of any incriminating evidence before allowing the IAEA to go there.

Iran’s IAEA envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, dismissed such accusations by Western officials, telling reporters after the briefing at IAEA headquarters that “this kind of noise and allegations are baseless”.

ISIS, which tracks Iran’s nuclear program closely, said there were visible tracks in the images “made by heavy machinery used in the demolition process”, adding that the two buildings had been intact in early April.

NO PARCHIN ACCESS? “Heavy machinery tracks and extensive evidence of earth displacement is also visible throughout the interior as well as the exterior of the site’s perimeter,” the thinktank said. The Parchin complex is at the centre of Western allegations that Iran has been conducting research and experiments that could serve a nuclear weapons development program. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied any such ambition. Last week, the IAEA said in a report issued to member states that satel-

lite images showed “extensive activities” at the facility southeast of Tehran.

Western diplomats said this was an allusion to suspected cleaning at Parchin.

They have earlier cited other images showing recent activity at the site, including a stream of water, as suggesting Iran is trying to remove evidence. Iran, which denies Western accusations it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons capability, has dismissed charges aired about Parchin as “childish” and “ridiculous”. “The newest image raises concerns that Iran is attempting to raze the site prior to allowing an IAEA visit. The razing of the two buildings may also indicate that Iran has no intention to allow inspectors access soon,” ISIS said.

An IAEA report last November said Iran had built a large containment vessel in 2000 at Parchin in which to conduct tests that the UN agency said were “strong indicators of possible (nuclear) weapon development.” It said a building was constructed around a large cylindrical object, a vessel designed to contain the detonation of up to 70 kg of high explosives.

Diplomatic sources say the suspected tests likely took place about a decade ago. Last week, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying the IAEA had not yet given good enough reasons to visit Parchin. — Reuters

International FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Obama takes new swipe at Romney record WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s camp took aim at Mitt Romney’s governorship of Massachusetts Wednesday, saying his “disastrous” tenure resulted in fewer jobs and more debt but left the wealthy better off. The offensive came as a report suggested that Romney’s allies in big business could pour $1 billion into the campaign to beat Obama and his Democrats in November, leaving the president at a steep financial disadvantage.

Obama’s political advisor David Axelrod dissected Romney’s record in Massachusetts between 2003 and 2007 in a campaign memo, five months before an election polls suggest will be tight and won in a few key states. It was the latest effort by the president’s team to negatively define Romney’s past record for voters and to focus November’s vote on the character of the challenger and not Obama’s own vulnerabilities on the economy. The assault follows Obama’s bid to puncture Romney’s claim that his business experience fits him to turn around the US economy, by focusing on a previous career as a venture capitalist which made him a multi-millionaire.

“Mitt Romney applied the economic philosophy he learned in the private sec-

tor to disastrous results as governor of Massachusetts,” Axelrod wrote. “Now he’s making the same promises he made when he was running for governor. We’ve seen this all before. “It’s the same formula that benefited a few, but crashed our economy in the first place and undermined security for the middle class.

Massachusetts couldn’t afford Romney Economics, and neither can the American economy.”

Romney has not dwelt much on governorship, apparently because Massachusetts is a liberal state reviled by conservatives who select the Republican nominee. He is also known for a health care reform which was used as the model for Obama’s signature medical insurance overhaul which Republicans have pledged to overturn. Axelrod said that under Romney, Massachusetts plunged from 36th to 47th out of 50 states in job creation, and despite promises to the contrary raised taxes and fees on middle class families and small businesses.

“Meanwhile, he cut taxes for millionaires like himself, handing over more than $75 million to just 278 of the wealthiest in Massachusetts,” Axelrod wrote. The latest sparring came a day after Romney formally captured the Republican nomination

Confession in notorious NY murder leaves doubts NEW YORK: Case solved? For the family of Etan Patz and their neighbors, last week’s highly publicized announcement of a confession in the three-decade old murder of the boy has so far failed to lay ghosts to rest. To Stan and Julie Patz, whose son Etan vanished on May 25, 1979 when he was six, the breakthrough in New York’s most notorious cold case could turn out to be a stunning opportunity for closure. But on Wednesday, the couple was barricaded in their SoHo home, angrily fending off tabloid journalists, while neighbors wondered openly whether the terrible crime had truly been cracked.

“We don’t know for sure,” said Maria Czapla, 57, as she walked her golden retriever Sophie outside the Patz’s loft apartment. “It’s hard to tell,” the Polish immigrant said sadly.

“All the neighborhood is sorry for this.” The mood was different a week ago, when city police Commissioner Ray Kelly went live on television to deliver the news of the arrest of Pedro Hernandez. The New Jersey man, who worked in a nearby grocery store at the time of Patz’s disappearance 33 years ago, had confessed to strangling the boy, then hiding his body in the garbage.

But the emergence of Hernandez brought a new twist to the Etan Patz riddle. There was now a confessed killer, but no body, or physical evidence that the boy died. Police have given no indication they even have physical evidence tying Hernandez to the murder. That leaves the case resting on a three-hour confession. However, according to the man’s lawyer, Hernandez suffers from schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and hallucinations. For Etan Patz’s parents, who chose to stay in their old third floor apartment after their son vanished a couple blocks away, the aftermath of the Hernandez confession has done little to end their torment.

Every move they make is captured by tabloid and news agency photographers. Journalists vainly ask for comments and the Patzs apparently have nothing they can say-except to beg that they be left alone. “I just wish this could be over,” Julie Patz was quoted as saying Wednesday by the Daily News, when confronted by reporters. Stan Patz’s response was to paste a note at the grey entrance to his building, telling “the media people” they have made “a difficult situation even worse.” A rough area in the 1970s, SoHo is now one of the trendiest, most upscale neighborhoods in New York, where tourists and high-end shoppers flit from boutique to boutique. Opposite the Patz’s front door is the Fragments jewelry shop.— AFP

by passing the needed threshold of 1,144 convention delegates. Obama marked the occasion by calling Romney to congratulate him for his victory and pledged a “healthy debate” about America’s future, spokesman Ben LaBolt said.

Romney’s camp said the call, which had the potential to be frosty as neither man appears to like the other, was “brief and cordial.”

The brief moment of civility did not last long. Romney’s Boston-based team took aim at Obama’s job creation record, days ahead of the latest politically sensitive Labor Department employment data, which will be watched for any sign that a slowing economy is gathering steam.

Obama had repeatedly demonstrated “hostility to job creators,” said Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul, singling out Obama’s top legislative achievements health reform and a financial regulatory overhaul. “These misguided policies have prevented businesses from growing and creating new jobs. As president, Mitt Romney will work from day one to repeal these disastrous laws and allow businesses to begin hiring again.”

The strength of Romney’s challenge was meanwhile underlined by a report on

the Politico website which said Republican fundraising committees largely funded by conservative corporate titans would spend $1 billion on the election.

The groups, allowed to dish up unlimited sums by a landmark Supreme Court ruling, will blitz battleground states with savage TV, radio and Internet ads battering Obama’s candidacy and those of congressional Democrats. Corresponding Democratic Super PAC committees have struggled to raise money, and the Politico report raised the likelihood that Obama will be seriously outspent as he asks voters for a second term amid tough economic conditions.

Romney meanwhile got to work polishing his image, as polls show he is viewed as less likable than Obama. One sugary spot related the day his wife Ann was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “As long as it’s not something fatal, I’m just fine. I’m happy in life as long as I’ve got my soul mate with me,” Romney said in the video. In the other ad, Romney promised to restore what he sees as the “promise” of America on Election Day November 6. “The dreamers can dream a little bigger, the help wanted signs can be dusted off, and we can start again. And this time we’ll get it right,” he said.— AFP

4 die in Seattle shooting spree Two tragic shootings shock US city SEATTLE: A gunman in Seattle shot five people Wednesday in a cafe, three fatally, before killing another woman and later turning the weapon on himself as officers closed in, police said.

The suspect, identified by the Seattle Times as 40-year-old Ian Stawicki, was alive and receiving treatment at Harborview Medical Center, a clinic in the northwestern US city where his two surviving victims clung to life.

Stawicki is believed to have entered Cafe Racer Espresso near the University of Seattle at around 11:00 am local time (1800 GMT) and shot five people with a pistol. Two men were confirmed dead at the scene, while a third victim, a woman, died later in hospital. His two remaining victims were in a critical condition, one undergoing surgery.

Half-an-hour later, Stawicki is believed to have shot dead a woman downtown before fleeing in a black Mercedes-Benz SUV. An officer spotted the suspect at around 2300 GMT a mile-and-a-half away from the abandoned vehicle. When patrol cars approached Stawicki he put a gun to his head and fired one round, Deputy Police Chief Nick Metz said, according to the Seattle Times. “The man detectives believe to be the lone suspect in 4 murders in 2 locations shot himself in the head when approached by @SeattlePD,” read a tweet from the Seattle police department.

SEATTLE: Friends and family of victims react at the scene of a shooting at Cafe Racer in Seattle on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. — AP The shootings, one of them in an upmarket university district, shocked a city that has now seen as many murders this year as it did in the whole of 2011. “We’ve had two tragic shootings today that have shaken this city. And it follows on the heels of multiple tragic episodes of gun violence that have occurred throughout the city,” Seattle

mayor Mike McGinn told journalists.

The motive for the shootings was not clear but the suspect’s brother told the Seattle Times he was mentally ill.

“It’s no surprise to me this happened.

We could see this coming. Nothing good is going to come with that much anger inside of you,” Andrew Stawicki said.— AFP

International FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

New N Korea constitution proclaims nuclear status SEOUL: North Korea’s new constitution proclaims its status as a nuclear-armed nation, complicating international efforts to persuade Pyongyang to abandon atomic weapons, analysts said yesterday. An official website seen late Wednesday released the text of the constitution following its revision during a parliamentary session on April 13.

“National Defense Commission chairman Kim Jong-Il turned our fatherland into an invincible state of political ideology, a nucleararmed state and an indomitable military power, paving the ground for the construction of a strong and prosperous nation,” says part of the preamble.

The text was carried by the “Naenara” (My Nation) website. The previous constitution, last revised on April 9, 2010, did not carry the

term “nuclear-armed state”. Following Kim Jong-Il’s death last December, the country revised the charter to consecrate achievements of the late leader, who was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-Un. The North has been developing nuclear weapons for decades. Its official position has been that it needs them for self-defense against a US nuclear threat, but that it is willing in principle to scrap the atomic weaponry.

Under a September 2005 deal reached during six-nation negotiations, Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its nuclear programs in return for economic and diplomatic benefits and security guarantees. But six-party talks on implementing the deal have been stalled since December 2008. The North has staged two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009. “This

Radioactivity: Japan’s invisible enemy within TOKYO: Before March 11, 2011, procuring food for an average Japanese household was a pretty straight-forward affair.

Following long-established traditions, a housewife-it is, still, almost always a woman in charge-did her best to ensure that every product brought to the table could be traced to Japanese soil or waters. This, it was widely held, was the best way to avoid eating fish, meat or produce tainted with dangerous contaminants. Chinese imports were to be avoided whenever possible.

The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, unleashed by a devastating earthquake and tsunami, shattered this age-old faith in the purity of Japanese produce.

Even the country’s most cherished and emblematic staple, rice, has been tainted in a way that was unimaginable before March 11. The very products - many of them cultural iconsthat had always been deeply reassuring precisely because of their native origins, were suddenly perceived as potentially poisonous, transformed overnight from sources of comfort to objects of fear.

Nuclear radiation is scary stuff. A quarter century after Chernobyl, and more than 65 years after atomic bombs laid waste to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fatally sickening thousands not killed outright, even unfounded fears of radioactive contamination can spark panic. Japan’s catastrophe emptied pharmacies in North America and Europe of anti-radiation pills despite reassurances from all manner of experts that the danger was nil.

By contrast, there are any number of agents-cancer, AIDS and auto accidents, to name three-that claim millions of victims every year but do not inspire that same kind of terror.

People still smoke, practice unsafe sex and climb into their cars every day. So why is nuclear radiation so fearsome, and what determines how we react when faced with a threat, imagined or real? The answer is complex and laced with contradictions, starting with the fact that most people don’t even think twice about absorbing radiation doses delivered through medical X-rays or scans.

But put the words “nuclear” and “accident” together, and suddenly the idea that sub-atomic particles can slip through our skin to damage inner tissue, or seep into the food we eat and the air we breathe, sets spines shuddering. “Anything that can penetrate inside our bodies fills us with apprehension, and triggers an ancestral or ancient fear,” said Herve Chneiweiss, a neurologist at the Centre for Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Universite Paris Descartes. When the culprit is invisible, odorless, tasteless-beyond, in other words, the reach of perception-that angst is magnified even more.

The partial meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released caesium particles and other radioactive elements into the air, soil and sea. Unlike harmful iodine 131, which disappears in matter of days, caesium 137 has a “halflife” of 30 years and lingers even longer. Radioactive discharge from the crippled power station fell directly on crops and vegetables, and worked its way into the food chain when fish or animals in affected areas consumed contaminated plants.

Even as the reactors continued to spew nuclear detritus, health officials began to monitor radiation levels of food products around the country and essentially quarantined a large swath of agricultural land and fishing grounds around the plant, located some 250 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.— AFP

makes it clear that the North has little intention of giving up nuclear programs under any circumstances,” Cheon Sung-Whun of the state Korea Institute for National Unification said. “If there is a demand at the negotiation table to give up nuclear weapons, the North Koreans would say it would be a breach of the constitution,” he said.

North Korea has long been in confrontation with the United States and its allies over its nuclear and missile programs. Its April 13 long-range rocket launch, purportedly a peaceful mission to put a satellite into orbit, further dimmed prospects for a diplomatic settlement. The revised constitution “is certainly bad news for participants in the sixparty talks”, said Professor Kim Keun-Sik at

Kyungnam University in Changwon. “It will make it harder to persuade the North to give up nuclear weapons through diplomacy.”

But Kim cautioned against reading too much into what was intended as part of a eulogy for Kim Jong-Il. “The North has been touting its nuclear status as one of the key achievements accredited to the late leader and the new constitution factors this in,” he said. “This can hardly be interpreted as a message that it will stick to its nuclear weapons no matter what.” Kim also said the North’s constitution can easily be amended once its ruler decides to do so, noting it was revised twice in as many years. The six-party talks which began in 2003 are chaired by China and also include the two Koreas, the United States, Russia and Japan.—AFP

Moscow, Washington trade diplomatic blows over Syria Russia ‘pushing’ Syria into civil war MOSCOW: Moscow and Washington traded fierce diplomatic blows over Syria yesterday with US charges that Russia was pushing its ally into civil war and the Kremlin accusing the White House of being emotional. The brisk exchange came as President Vladimir Putin prepared to face a grilling today from the leaders of Germany and France during his first tour abroad since his May 7 inauguration to a controversial third term.

Russia has made it clear from the start that Putin will not be swayed by Western and Arab world anger over his refusal to back action against a Middle East regime that Moscow has held patronage over since Soviet times. “Russia’s position is well-known. It is balanced and consistent and completely logical,” Interfax quoted Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. “So it is hardly appropriate to talk about this position changing under someone’s pressure.”

But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used some of her most explicit language to date to indicate that Washington’s patience with Moscow was running thin because of its refusal to commit to tougher UN Security Council measures. The Russians “are telling me they don’t want to see a civil war. I have been telling them their policy is going to help contribute to a civil war,” she told a mainly student audience on a visit to Copenhagen. “We have to bring the Russians on board because the dangers we face are terrible. We know it actually could get much worse than it is.”

Russia insists that it is not supporting President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime but respect for international law and the policy of non-intervention in internal conflicts.

That argument has found less currency with foreign powers following the slaughter last weekend of 108 civilians-almost half of them children-in the Syrian town of Houla that Moscow partially blamed on both sides. Peskov said Russia’s refusal to back further action against Assad after the Houla massacre and other attacks on civilians was based on an approach “completely free of emotions, which are hardly appropriate here.”

But Putin is still expected to face tough questions from both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande during a three-nation

swing starting yesterday in Belarus-an authoritarian ally he chose as his first foreign destination as head of state. Merkel nevertheless struck a cordial tone on the eve of Putin’s arrival by noting that “Russia has cooperated constructively in the UN Security Council.” “There were always times when we said ‘we want to go further’ but I think that we have to a certain extent

light the seriousness with which Putin took Russia’s position on Syria. The diplomatic standoff has been accompanied by reports of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations focused on ways Moscow could back down without losing its diplomatic prestige. The New York Times has reported that one option promoted in some Washington and Moscow circles involves a transition of

TRIPOLI: A Syrian injured man who lost his leg from the Syrian forces shelling at Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs Province, covers his face for fear of reprisal on his family by the Syrian regime as he wears his prosthetic leg at a hospital in Tripoli, Lebanon. — AP common ground when it’s a question of ensuring human rights and finally ending these terrible human rights violations,” she said.

Hollande has upset Russia by refusing to rule out foreign military intervention, as long as it is carried out with UN backing, to stamp out nearly 15 months of fighting, which observers believe has claimed some 13,000 lives. The Kremlin took the unusual step yesterday of announcing that Putin had staged a closed session of his powerful Security Council devoted specifically to Russia’s response to the crisis before leaving for his foreign tour.

Since the subject of Russian Security Council meetings is usually kept secret, this announcement seemed designed to high-

power similar to that used to end President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s strongman rule in Yemen this year.

The transition would reportedly see Assad cede power to his inner circle for an interim period during which political talks with the opposition would be held.

Analysts said Moscow could theoretically back this option because its historic relations with Syria depend not on Assad but on generations of military and trade contacts that it might potentially keep in the long term. “Russia’s goal is to avoid the use of foreign force rather than to defend Assad,” said Maria Lipman of the Carnegie Moscow Centre. “Putin cannot stand pressure. His job is to show that he will not be pressured into anything.”—AFP

International FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

India renews concerns on Afghan withdrawal WASHINGTON: India has called for greater coordination with the United States on Afghanistan, voicing fear that Islamic radicals would gain strength once Western forces pull out.

NATO leaders in a May 21 summit in Chicago committed to pulling combat troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 as Western nations grow tired of more than a decade of war and pessimistic on the chances of further progress. India is one of the most vocal supporters of continued engagement and has given Afghanistan more than $2 billion since the US-led inva-

sion in 2001 overthrew the Taleban regime, which sheltered virulently anti-Indian militants.

Ahead of high-level annual talks between India and the United States on June 13, Nirupama Rao, New Delhi’s ambassador to Washington, said the two nations have been holding stepped-up talks on building “a stable, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan.” “These consultations must be strengthened,” Rao said at the Atlantic Council, a think tank. “We understand that after 10 long years of war there is a manifest and genuine

desire to seek an end to conflict. But equally, we must ensure that the enormous sacrifices and efforts of the past decade have not been in vain,” she said. “Given the history of the last few decades in Afghanistan and the tide of extremism and radicalism that has swept across that country to the great detriment of its men, women and children, one cannot but help be concerned about what the future holds for that country” after the NATO pullout, she said. India’s involvement in Afghanistan has enraged neighboring Pakistan, which helped create the

Taleban regime and accuses its historic rival of seeking to encircle it.

The United States partnered with Pakistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks. But relations have plummeted, with US concerns about Pakistan’s orientation soaring after US forces found and killed Osama bin Laden near the country’s main military academy last year. The United States has welcomed India’s contributions in Afghanistan but some US policymakers believe that Pakistan has maintained links to Islamic extremists due to a fixation on New Delhi’s influence.— AFP

Assange loses UK extradition appeal Deportation put on hold to give

KATHMAMDU: Members of Nepal Student Union affiliated with Nepali Congress carry an effigy of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai before burning it in Kathmandu yesterday. —AP

Ordinary Nepalis vent anger at political elite KATHMANDU: As summer approached street vendor Binod Paudyal withdrew his life savings and decided to pursue his dream of opening a restaurant serving authentic Nepali cuisine to backpackers and tourists. Two months later his business is floundering because of civil unrest and the 39-year-old, like millions of ordinary Nepalis, has seen his optimism crushed by what he believes is the intransigence and corruption of the political elite. “I took a huge risk and invested 1.5 million rupees ($17,500). But there was a series of strikes which crippled me,” said Paudyal, who has a wife and two young children.

“The customers stayed indoors and we often had to close the restaurant. At times like these when there are strikes and political uncertainty, no one wants to venture out to enjoy the evening at a restaurant.” On Sunday Nepal’s political leaders failed after years of wrangling to meet a deadline to write its first post-war constitution and parliament was dissolved, leaving the country with no legal government.

Nepalis elected the 601-member assembly in 2008 to draw up the constitution, but the collapse dashed their hopes for a new social and political order in a country that remains deeply unequal.

“I am worried because the situation is very uncertain,” Paudyal, who used to operate a street booth in Kathmandu selling passport photographs said. “I’m not sure whether I will be able to continue in such dismal conditions.”

Nepal’s main parties have squabbled over power and positions for decades, and political corruption has led to widespread disillusionment in a country hobbled by strikes and chronic power shortages. Six years after the end of the civil war,

which claimed 16,000 lives, and four years after the abolition of Nepal’s Hindu monarchy, regular street protests are a symptom of growing public anger with the government. While the politicians argue, the problems faced by ordinary Nepalis are mounting.

The political turmoil has sharply slowed growth in an economy heavily dependent on foreign aid and tourism revenue, trimming the increase to a meager 3.5 percent in the financial year to 2011, a four-year low. Cars and motorbikes queue at petrol stations due to fuel shortages, power cuts force shops to use candlelight after dark, food inflation is rocketing and the state-run oil monopoly has hiked prices after running out of cash. “Four years ago, when there were elections for the Constituent Assembly, there was optimism and euphoria,” said engineer Bibek Raj Kandel, 33.

“But what we got was more violence and now the entire process has collapsed. People are being fooled by their leaders.” The demise of the assembly could herald a six-month leadership vacuum, with the Maoists struggling to hold onto power. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has called new elections, vowing to lead a caretaker government to the November polls, but political opponents say that the interim constitution has no provision for such a move. Nepal has more than 100 different ethnic groups, and marginalized lower castes are looking for a greater say in running the country and increased access to jobs and education.

Ethnically-driven organizations with varying demands have organized increasingly violent protests, with recent deaths in bomb attacks in Kathmandu and in the southern plains, known as the Terai. —AFP

LONDON: Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden, but put his deportation on hold to give his lawyers a final chance to reopen the case. The court, which handed down its decision on Wednesday after an 18-month legal marathon, rejected Assange’s argument that the Swedish prosecutor who issued the arrest warrant over sex crime allegations was not entitled to do so.

“The request for Mr Assange’s extradition has been lawfully made and his appeal against extradition is accordingly dismissed,” Supreme Court president Nicholas Phillips said as he delivered the ruling to a hushed courtroom.

The seven judges were split five to two but their majority ruling was that the prosecutor was a rightful judicial authority, and therefore allowed to issue the warrant for the Internet whistleblower. But in a new twist, Assange’s lawyer Dinah Rose asked for 14 days to consider whether to apply to reopen the case, on the grounds that the judgment referred to material that was not mentioned during the last hearing in February. The judge granted the request, which is highly unusual in the three-year history of the Supreme Court. “With the agreement of the respondent, the required period for extradition shall not commence until 13th June 2012,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.

Assange, a 40-year-old Australian national, was not in the central London court for the judgment. One of his supporters, journalist John Pilger, said he was “stuck in traffic” with his mother, who flew in from Australia for the verdict. The Swedish lawyer for the two women who accuse Assange of rape and sexual assault said he would be extradited eventually. “The decision was what we expected... It’s unfortunate that it has been delayed further, but he will ultimately be extradited,” Claes Borgstroem said. Assange is at present wanted for questioning over the sex crime allegations, but Borgstroem said he expected an indictment perhaps within a month after he gets to Sweden. Assange, whose website enraged Washington by releasing a flood of state and military secrets in 2010, has been living under tight restrictions on his movement for 540 days, including wearing an ankle tag and reporting daily to police. He has said he fears his extradition would eventually lead to

his transfer to the United States, where US soldier Bradley Manning is facing a courtmartial over accusations that he handed documents to WikiLeaks. The US ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich denied there was any plan to seek his extradition from Sweden. “It’s not something that the US cares about. It’s not interested in it,” he told Australian state broadcaster ABC in comments aired yesterday.

“And frankly if he is in Sweden then there is a less robust extradition relationship than there is between the US and the UK,” he said.

“So I think it’s one of those narratives that has been made up. There is nothing to it.”

Close US ally Australia has come under pressure from Assange’s supporters to provide him with more assistance, after Prime Minister Julia Gillard previously slammed WikiLeaks as “grossly irresponsible”.

Assange’s mother Christine accused Canberra of failing to help her son. “(They have been) absolutely useless, in fact contrary to help, they’ve done everything they can to smear Julian and hand him up to the US,” she told the ABC from London.

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr rejected the criticism, saying Assange was receiving regular visits from consular staff.

“He gets the full Australian consulate support available to any Australian caught up in the legal processes of another country,” he said, adding however that Australia can’t “interfere with the legal processes of another country”. Outside court, Assange’s principal lawyer Gareth Peirce confirmed that the extradition was stayed while his legal team considers whether to apply to reopen the case, although the judgment still stands.

If Assange fails to have the case reopened in Britain, he still has the option of a lastditch appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Assange does not deny that he had sex with two WikiLeaks volunteers in Sweden while attending a WikiLeaks seminar, but insists the sex was consensual and argues there are political motives behind the attempts to extradite him. The former computer hacker has been fighting deportation since his arrest in London in December 2010 on the European arrest warrant issued by Sweden. The Supreme Court is his final avenue of appeal under British law, after two lower courts ruled he should be sent to Sweden for questioning.— AFP

Business FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Iran cancels $2bn dam deal with China

India growth slumps to near-decade low

PAGE 22 PAGE 21

STRALSUND, Germany: Members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, including President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pose front of a giant aquatic tank at the Ozeaneum sea museum for a family photo at their summit yesterday. — AFP

Euro’s survival ‘at risk’ ECB warns current eurozone form is ‘unsustainable’

BRUSSELS: The European Central Bank stepped up pressure yesterday for a joint fund to guarantee bank deposits in the euro zone, saying Europe needed new tools to fight bank runs as the bloc’s debt crisis drives investors to flee risk. The European Commission’s top economic official, Olli Rehn, warned the single currency area could disintegrate without stronger crisis-fighting measures and tough fiscal discipline. The twin warnings came as worries about Spain’s banks and Greece’s survival in the euro area pushed the euro to a two-year low against the dollar and hastened a rush into safe-haven assets including Austrian and French bonds.

Irish voters seemed set in a referendum to approve a European budget discipline treaty vital to continue receiving EU financial aid. But the outcome of a second Greek general election on June 17, seen as crucial for Athens’ future in the currency zone, is too close to call. ECB President Mario Draghi urged Europe’s leaders to clarify their vision for the single currency quickly or risk disaster, warning the European Parliament that the central bank could not fill the policy vacuum. “We will avoid bank runs from solvent banks.

Depositors’ money will be protected if we build this European guaranteed deposit fund. This will assure that depositors will be protected,” Draghi said, calling for an

EU-wide banking supervision and resolution system.

EU paymaster Germany, reluctant to risk more of its own taxpayers’ money in support of euro zone partners, has so far rejected any such joint deposit guarantee.

“The financial crisis has heightened risk aversion in a dramatic way,” Draghi said. “I urge all governments to keep this in mind, because it is better to err by too much in the very beginning rather than by too little,” he said, citing the repeated failure of national regulators to correctly assess the needs of failed Franco-Belgian bank Dexia and Spain’s Bankia. He said the ECB would keep liquidity lines alive for solvent banks and disclosed that four Greek banks that were excluded from ECB lending operations had now been readmitted following recapitalisation by the Greek authorities last week.

Another ECB policymaker, Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco, went further, saying political inertia and bad economic decisions had put “the entire European edifice” at risk and only a clear path to political union could save the euro. “There are now growing doubts among international investors about governments’ cohesion in guiding the reform of European governance and even their ability to ensure the survival of the single currency,” Visco told the Bank of Italy’s annual meeting.

Global investors retreated sharply from equities in May and held more cash than at any stage since the crisis erupted in early 2010, Reuters’ asset allocation polls showed. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Rehn, speaking at a Brussels conference, said Europe needed both tighter budget discipline and more integrated rescue funds to avert a potential breakup of the euro. “We need a genuine stability culture and a much upgraded common capacity to contain common contagion,” he said. “This is the case, at least if we want to avoid a disintegration of the euro zone and instead make the euro succeed.”

The dramatic tone of EU and ECB officials raises pressure on Germany to drop its opposition to bolder rescue measures ahead of a June 28-29 summit that could be a turning point in the euro zone crisis.

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive, called on Wednesday for closer economic union and said its elements should include a banking union, joint financial supervision and bank deposit guarantees. But a Commission spokesman said on Thursday there was no chance that euro zone banks could be directly recapitalised using the bloc’s permanent bailout fund as it stands.

Spanish bond yields traded at 6.66 percent, close to euro era highs, due to market expectations that Spain may need

international help to keep its troubled banks afloat - a prospect flatly rejected by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. “The levels are definitely worrying. Spain is reaching zones where it is harder and harder to finance itself in the capital market,” said Viola Julien, fixed income analyst at Helaba Landesbank Hesse-Thueringen.

“One can remember Portugal or Ireland when they went above the 7 percent mark, they had to seek shelter in these (euro zone) rescue funds and market participants are playing this scenario right now,” she said.

The uncertainty over Spain, the euro zone’s fourth biggest economy, is making it harder for other member states to overcome their own debt problems, despite rigorous austerity programmes and structural reforms. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said his country was threatened by “huge possibilities” of contagion, and pressure from rising sovereign bond yields could complicate reforms. “It is obviously a difficult place to be in, when you have a country displaying massive and concentrated efforts of consolidation and structural reforms, which are obviously politically and socially costly, and sees its position threatened by huge possibilities of contagion,” he said. He warned of a popular backlash if investors demanded deeper fiscal cuts and budget discipline beyond what was already being undertaken. — Reuters

Business FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Lukoil-led group wins Iraq oil block bid BAGHDAD: A group led by Russian oil firm Lukoil won a bid for a key oil block in the second day of Iraq’s energy auction after tough service contract terms led to disappointing bidding on 12 new oil and gas fields for the OPEC member nation. The lukewarm response to Iraq’s fourth energy auction - only three blocks out of 12 were awarded - is a setback for its plans to rapidly expand its huge oil and gas reserves and compete with regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia. Lukoil and partner Inpex Corp of Japan won the deal for the 5,500-sq-km Block 10 in Muthanna and Dhi Qar provinces in the south in an auction Iraq had expected would attract more investors.

A bid from Pakistan Petroleum also won gas Block 8 in Diyala and Wasit provinces in eastern Iraq. Four other blocks, and two from the first day that were re-offered, received no bids. The second day of bidding followed a sluggish start to the auction on Wednesday when only one block was taken by Kuwait Energy, four other blocks got no bids and another deal failed after companies rejected the government offer.

Iraq had hoped the auction would spur the expansion of its energy sector after years of war and sanctions, but

the government said it would shortly open a fifth round with more new oil and gas blocks up for auction. “We will start preparations in the next few months to start a 5th exploration bidding round. The round will include 10 to 15 new blocks,” Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi told reporters. Oil giants such as Exxon Mobil and BP have already signed major deals to develop oilfields in Iraq, which has the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves and the tenth largest gas reserves. But Baghdad’s tough service contract terms and a boom in natural gas and gas finds elsewhere crimped investor interest, especially from the oil majors, for the 4th bidding round. Iraq is offering foreign companies less attractive service agreements - where they are paid a fee - rather than production-sharing deals that allow them to profit jointly from the output.

A boom in unconventional gas production in North America has boosted world supplies, while a surge in Australian exports, gas finds in east Africa, and China’s own gas potential also combine to make trickier prospects such as Iraq less attractive. Bidding at the auction was decided according to the remuneration fees offered, with the lowest bids winning blocks. —Reuters

BAGHDAD: Ahmed Haider Ahmed, business development manager for Kuwait Energy, drops his offer in a box during the fourth licensing round at the Iraqi Oil Ministry’s headquarters yesterday. — AFP

Irish voters set to approve fiscal pact ‘No’ vote can have dire consequences for Ireland

MADRID: A man stands by a lottery ticket office outside the Bankia bank headquarters yesterday. — AP

Spain urged to explain rescue MADRID: The European Union urged Spain yesterday to rapidly clear up doubts over its mammoth rescue of stricken lender Bankia so as to calm investors fearing a financial breakdown. As Spanish government bonds and stocks took a hit, the bloc called on Madrid to provide details of its bailout of Bankia, which is seeking a total €23.5 billion ($29 billion). Bankia has asked the state for 19 billion euros to repair its books, in addition to € 4.5 billion already injected, the biggest rescue in Spanish banking history. “What we need from the Spanish government is for it to communicate the restructuring plan for Bankia and the options it is considering to restructure and if possible recapitalise,” said EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj.

“We will then study it to see if is fulfills conditions for public aid,” Altafaj, who is spokesman for EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn, told Spanish public broadcaster Radio Nacional de Espana. “We cannot keep up this uncertainty which is weighing on confidence in the markets,” the spokesman said. “No-one can expect that with these negative results from some banking entities the markets are going to react with euphoria. So the sooner we eliminate uncertainties the better.”

The rate on 10-year government bonds hit 6.68100, only a little down from six-month highs hit the day before and still at levels regarded as unsustainable over the longer term. The extra premium over safe-bet German bonds spiked to 5.41 percentage points, matching the previous day’s euro-era record, before easing to a still-punishing 5.27 percentage points. Stocks also suffered. Madrid’s IBEX-35 index floated just 0.22 percent above the previous day’s close, a nine-year low.

Altafaj said that although the Europe Union had a rescue mechanism, any use of it would require negotiating a bailout of the Spanish economy, even if it was focused on only one sector.— AFP

DUBLIN: Ireland voted yesterday in a referendum on a key EU pact designed to strengthen the crisis-hit euro, amid signs that a clear majority will approve it. In the only referendum expected on the fiscal pact, which all 27 EU members have signed except Britain and the Czech Republic, early voting was slow after polling stations opened at 7:00 am (0600 GMT). Heavy rain showers appeared to be discouraging some voters from turning out. Polling ended at 10:00 pm and a result is not expected until today, but the outcome will be closely watched across the continent.

Rejecting the pact - a German-backed measure which would penalise countries if they fail to keep their spending in check could give momentum to a growing European backlash against austerity measures. An Irish “no” would not scupper the treaty, as it needs to be ratified by just 12 countries to come into force and four have already done so, but it could have dire consequences for Ireland. But opinion polls suggest 60 percent of Irish voters will back the treaty.

The message from the “yes” campaign appears to have got through - that a victory for the “no” camp would exclude Ireland from emergency EU funds when its current bailout package expires in 2013. The Irish government has warned it would only be able to get guaranteed financial help from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the new permanent bailout fund which comes into force in July, if voters approve the treaty.

Eighteen months ago Ireland was forced to seek an €85-billion ($106 billion) bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund after its economy came close to collapse, and ministers warn they may well have to access more funds. The government has also warned a “no” vote could hit Ireland’s credit rating, making it harder to borrow. The Irish Independent

said Thursday: “A ‘no’ vote is a vote for poverty, not progress.” Rejecting the treaty “would make it immensely difficult, probably impossible, to borrow sufficient funds to maintain the present level of public services,” it added in an editorial.

Finbar McDonnell, who works in the property sector, said as he left a polling station in central Dublin that he had voted “yes”. “I think the treaty is sensible in itself because it’s going to limit our deficits in the future,” he told AFP. “I also think a strong ‘yes’ vote would send a signal to Europe that Ireland wants to be part of the core of Europe and moving ahead into deeper integration - not like our neighbours in the UK, who are opting out of the treaty.”

The pact’s critics in Ireland have labelled it an “austerity treaty” as it ultimately empowers the EU to fine countries

that overspend, and have sought to harness public anger against the spending cuts and tax rises attached to the bailout.

“We know that austerity doesn’t work, and that’s increasingly what people are saying in mainland Europe,” Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the main party opposing the pact, said in final campaigning Wednesday. With a third of the electorate still undecided, there is still a possibility that Ireland could deliver a shock “no” vote, as it has done in two previous EU referendums. But Michael Marsh, politics professor at Trinity College Dublin, said he expected the treaty to get the green light.

“People argue that you’d vote ‘yes’ out of fear and ‘no’ out of anger, but it’s a bit more complicated than that,” he said.

“There’s some trust in what the government’s saying, that you’d just be silly not to vote ‘yes’.— AFP

DUBLIN: A Catholic nun casts her vote at the Drumcondra polling station in the referendum on the European fiscal treaty yesterday. — AFP

Business FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Indians in nationwide strike over fuel prices NEW DELHI: A nationwide strike against rising petrol prices in India closed shops and disrupted public transport yesterday, with the under-fire government facing new dissent over its economic management. Opposition political parties and trade unions enforced a shutdown in many cities, with anti-government marches held in New Delhi and commercial hub Mumbai. “Our protest is successful,” claimed Prakash Javdekar, spokesman of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Millions of angry Indians are protesting against the petrol price rise.

“The government will have to change their decision now,” he told AFP. In New Delhi, most shops were closed and traffic was extremely light, with many workers deciding to stay home because of the lack of public transport. In Mumbai, the Shiv Sena party, a BJP ally with a history of vio-

lent protests, instructed residents that they “should not venture out of their houses” and there were reports of buses being stoned and offices attacked.

The strike came on the same day as shock economic growth figures for the January-March quarter showed the slowest quarterly expansion in nine years, of 5.3 percent. The flagging economy, high inflation and a string of corruption scandals have weakened the coalition government headed by 79-year-old Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Congress party. Last week, Indian staterun oil firms announced the sharpest jump in petrol prices in nearly a decade to offset growing losses caused by subsidised rates. Once taxes are included, the price increase of 6.28 rupees (11 US cents) per litre will result in a 7.5-rupee hike for consumers in cities such as Delhi.—AFP

KOLKATA: Activists of Social Unity Center of India (SUCI) scuffle with police officials as they attempt to arrest them during a protest against a recent petrol price hike. — AFP

India growth slumps to near-decade low Monetary policy blamed for decline

KOLKATA: Activists of Social Unity Center of India (SUCI) scuffle with police officials as they attempt to arrest them during a protest against a recent petrol price hike. — AFP

Losses at Kingfisher triple, shares plunge MUMBAI: India’s cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines posted its deepestever quarterly loss yesterday, hit by rising fuel costs and curtailed operations, sending its shares tumbling to a record low.

The company posted a net loss of 11.52 billion rupees ($21 million) in the three months to March - a tripling of losses compared with a 3.56 billion rupees loss a year earlier. Sales fell about 55 percent to 7.41 billion rupees for the airline, which owes millions of dollars in taxes as well as to suppliers, lenders, partners and staff.

Its shares subsequently slid as much as 7.7 percent intraday to a lifetime low of 10.2 rupees at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Kingfisher has scaled down its operations dramatically in recent months stopping international operations completely - and now has the smallest market

share among Indian airlines at just 5.4 percent. “Kingfisher is continuing with its ‘holding plan’ of a limited fleet... to contain losses in this tough and unprecedented operating environment for the Indian aviation industry,” it said in a statement. “The company hopes to be back to full-scale operations in the next 12 months,” it added.

The carrier, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, has never turned a profit since its launch in 2005. Mallya, known as the “King of Good Times” for his flamboyant lifestyle, has been lobbying hard in support of proposals to allow foreign carriers to buy stakes in Indian airlines.

Foreign direct investment in aviation is seen as a lifeline to companies such as Kingfisher, which analysts believe needs up to $600 million to survive. The government is yet to clear the proposal.—AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s economy grew at a near-decade low of 5.3 percent in the January-March quarter, data showed yesterday, as high interest rates and the global downturn hit the emerging market giant. The unexpectedly grim figure undershot analysts’ 6.1 percent growth forecasts and coincided with neighbouring China’s series of bleak data that have dashed hopes non-Western economies could help revive the global economy. HSBC chief India economist Leif Eskesen compared India’s weak performance, which pushed the country’s currency to a record low of 56.50 rupees to the dollar, to that of a “gasping elephant”. “The slowdown in growth has proven deeper than expected. It is the result of the lagged effects of monetary policy tightening and the impact of the weak global economic conditions,” Eskesen said.

Full-year growth to March 2012 was 6.5 percent, lower than the government’s initial estimate of 6.9 percent and far below the 8.4 percent logged the previous year. It was also the weakest annual growth since India’s economy expanded by just four percent in 2002-03. CLSA economist Robert PriorWandesforde said the numbers were “hard to describe as anything other than shocking,” noting the quarterly data was “softer than anything seen in the global financial crisis when growth

SRINAGAR: A Kashmiri coppersmith works at his manufacturing unit yesterday. India’s economic growth slowed to 5.3 percent in the January-March quarter. — AFP bottomed at 5.8 percent”.

Business leaders called for cuts in India’s high interest rates but analysts said monetary policy cannot be eased significantly because of inflation of around 7.0 percent. Cutting rates could also further weaken the rupee. “With growth slowing, inflation sticky and interest rates still high, it is a difficult situation for the central bank - whether to be pro-growth or battle inflation,” said Naveen Mathur, an associate director at Angel Broking. The growth figures were a further blow to the struggling government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who only in January was talking

of growth rates of nine to 10 percent levels seen as vital to reduce India’s crushing poverty. “The economy is in the throes of a serious slowdown,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry, calling for rate cuts and other “bold” action “exclusively aimed at salvaging the economy.”

The government has been on the defensive, embroiled in a string of corruption scandals while its failure to push forward reforms and the announcement of new controversial taxes have punctured overseas sentiment. —AFP

Guru blames rupee symbol for woes MUMBAI: BBusinessmen may blame global troubles or inept governance, but a Hindu guru has an alternative theory for the historic weakness of India’s rupee: the newly adopted symbol for the currency is inauspicious. Rajkumar Jhanjhari, an expert in the ancient Hindu doctrine of vastu shastra, has called for a new design, arguing that a line on the symbol has “slit the throat” of the rupee and sparked the country’s financial gloom. The rupee symbol, unveiled in 2010 during happier times for the Indian econo-

my, is inspired by the letter “R” in the Roman alphabet and “Ra” from the ancient Devanagari script used in Hindi.

“India managed to withstand a severe global slump in 2009, before the symbol came up. One must ask why our growth rate is taking a beating now before rubbishing pleas for changing the symbol,” Jhanjhari told the Hindustan Times. Data yesterday showed India’s economy grew just 5.3 percent in January-March, its slowest pace in almost a decade, pushing the rupee to its

lowest ever rate against the dollar. It has shed about a fifth of its value against the US currency in the last 12 months.

Jhanjhari, based in the northeastern city of Guwahati, has offered tweaks to the rupee design that he believes would boost the troubled economy, the newspaper reported. The 50-year-old said he wrote to the prime minister with his suggestions late last year and copies of the letter were also sent to the finance minister and the central bank. —AFP

MUMBAI: An Indian policeman adjusts his cap as he walks past a collage of the new Indian rupee symbol outside the Bombay Stock Exchange in this Sept 21, 2010 file photo. — AFP

Business FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Iran cancels $2bn dam deal with China BEIJING: Iran has cancelled a $2 billion contract for a Chinese firm to help build a hydroelectric dam in the country, Chinese state media said yesterday, a move that risks upsetting Beijing, one of Tehran’s most important economic and political allies. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to visit China next week for a security summit, where he is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, on Iran’s disputed nuclear program. In March 2011, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said China’s Sinohydro Corp had signed a contract with Iranian hydro firm Farab to build the dam, described as the

world’s tallest, in Iran’s western province of Lorestan. It was designed to support a 1,500-megawatt power station.

The Global Times, a popular tabloid owned by Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, said the Iranian government had decided to cancel the contract. The report did not cite sources or give a reason for the cancellation. But it quoted Iranian media reports as saying Iran’s central bank was “dissatisfied” with financing options offered by China. Sinohydro was not immediately available for comment.

Guo Xian’gang, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, a

government think tank, said he did not see the cancellation affecting Sino-Iran ties. “Some projects may be cancelled due to some technical reasons, other projects are still going on, it is really normal,” Guo said. “The outside world does not need to exaggerate this.” Guo, who is an expert on the Middle East, added the cancellation would not affect Ahmadinejad’s visit to China.

China and Iran have close energy and trade ties, and Beijing has repeatedly resisted US-led demands to impose tougher economic sanctions on Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions. However, differences have arisen between China and

Iran in the development of Iran’s oil and gas resources. State-owned China National Petroleum Corporation was given a month’s deadline by Iranian Oil minister Rostam Ghasemi in April to make a serious start on the giant South Pars gas field after 32 months of delay.

In September last year, Reuters reported China’s reluctance to progress with oil and gas investments in Iran. Many foreign companies have been forced to pull out of the Iranian energy sector due to the fear of sanctions, but state-owned Asian firms are less susceptible to Western pressure to stay away from the Iranian market. — Reuters

WTO warns of Asian protectionism threat ASEAN urged to step up integration

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (center) holds Felda Global Ventures Holdings’ newly launched prospectus as he poses with Felda Chairman Mohd Isa Samad (left) and Felda Chief Executive Sabri Ahmad yesterday. — AP

Malaysia IPO to raise $3bn KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian plantation giant Felda could raise $3 billion in what would be Asia’s biggest IPO of this year, according to a prospectus unveiled yesterday by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The targeted June 28 listing of Felda Global Ventures will be the biggest worldwide this year after Facebook’s mammoth $16 billion issue earlier in May, and is being pitched by Najib as a boon to the rural voters he is courting in upcoming elections. Felda Global Ventures Holding (FGV), the world’s third-largest oil palm plantations operator, is an arm of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), a government agency that provides land to rural poor. FGV said it would offer up to 2.19 billion ordinary shares, aiming to raise some 9.96 billion ringgit ($3.15 billion) at a target price of 4.55 ringgit.

Najib had announced plans in October to float FGV in a bid to turn it into a global commodities player by expanding into palm oil processing and other downstream businesses, part of a larger push to divest state-run firms. “The listing will fulfill the demands (of Felda settlers) that Felda be developed... It is a big transformation,” Najib said when launching the prospectus at a ceremony in the capital Kuala Lumpur. “We want to create wealth.”

Najib drew laughter from those in attendance at Felda headquarters in the capital Kuala Lumpur by saying “God willing, it will do better than Facebook.” He was referring to the disastrous May 18 listing of the social networking leader, which has seen its shares tumble by more than 26 percent from the $38 per share initial public offering price. Felda, the government agency, is the world’s biggest plantation entity at 850,000 hectares.

Besides an oil-palm replanting program, the proceeds from the listing will be used for potential land acquisitions in Southeast Asia and Africa for cultivation of oil palm and rubber, FGV said in a press release. Najib announced earlier this month that, as part of the listing plan, each of the more than 112,000 Felda families would receive 15,000 ringgit. But vocal farmers and the political opposition have warned smallholders who have tilled Felda-granted plots for decades could be exposed to more risk under the complicated scheme.— AFP

BANGKOK: The head of the World Trade Organisation yesterday warned against growing Asian protectionism and said the region would not escape the impact of economic woes across the globe. WTO Director General Pascal Lamy acknowledged the region’s relative resilience so far to economic turbulence in the eurozone and continued uncertainty in the US economic outlook. But he told the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok that it was increasingly “interconnected with the rest of the planet and I don’t think this relative immunity will be forever”. “I would expect, given what is happening in other parts of the world economy, this region to be more affected than it has been so far,” he added.

Lamy said the “biggest risk” was protectionism, because of Asia’s position as a major exporter to the rest of the world.

“The main risk is protectionism, and you know that it remains a serious risk, a growing risk,” he said, adding that protectionist pressure had increased over the last six months. “But more worryingly protectionists action have intensified, more and more governments are ceding to this pressure,” he said, urging the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to step up integration to insure against external shocks.

Gerard Mestrallet, chairman of energy company GDF SUEZ and co-chair of the forum, said the ASEAN region could become a pillar of the global economy, but warned against turning free trade zone planned for 2015 into a “fortress”. “If you can do it (free trade zone) in 2015, you’ll have to avoid transforming it into a fortress, you have to let it open to the rest of the world... in terms of trade and in terms of investments.”

The Bangkok summit, which began yesterday and was attended by Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on her first trip outside her homeland in 24 years, is aimed at providing a forum for nations and business leaders to discuss issues of regional concern. A report by the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) in early May said the region’s growth will edge down to 6.5 percent in 2012 from 7.0 percent last year caused by troubled export markets and rising commodity prices.— AFP

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (right) meets Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi prior the gala dinner as part of the 21st World Economic Forum on East Asia at Royal Thai Navy Convention hall yesterday. — AFP

Philippines economy grows 6.4% MANILA: The Philippine economy grew by a faster-than-expected 6.4 percent in the first quarter, officials said yesterday, fuelling optimism that one of Asia’s longtime laggards is on the rise. The government said the expansion was seen across most sectors of the economy, reinforcing perceptions that President Benigno Aquino’s two-year-old administration was building strong foundations for sustained growth. “All indications point to the global economy’s continued confidence in the Philippines as well as to a more optimistic outlook within the country,” Aquino’s spokeswoman, Abigail Valte, told reporters.

The government had been expecting an expansion of 5.0-6.0 percent in the first quarter, after global economic turmoil and restrained state spending kept growth to 3.7 percent last year. The year-on-year first quarter expansion, up from 4.9 percent in the same period of 2011, made the Philippine economy the best performing in Asia after China, according to the government. National Statistical Coordination Board chief Romulo Virola said the strong performance boosted hopes that economic growth for the year would exceed the government’s target of 5.0 to 6.0 percent.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told reporters increased government spending had played an important part in the lift. But he also cited greater household spending, low inflation, resilient exports of goods and services, more tourists and the continued heavy remittances of the 10 million Filipinos working overseas as spurs for growth. However the agriculture and fisheries sector, where most of the country’s poor are employed, grew by just 1.0 percent despite relatively good weather.—AFP

THEY ARE THE 99!

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

THE STORY SO FAR : Trapped beneath a collapsed Alaskan research station, BAQI THE EVERLASTING, SAMDA THE INVULNERABLE, and BARI THE HEALER must hold out until a rescue team can find them.

www.the99.org

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

But Samda’s self-confidence turns quickly to panic...

Opinion FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Corruption runs deep in the Middle East Fifth of executives say business impossible to do without illicit payments

By David Rosenberg

I

t’s been a tough year for officials on the take in Jordan.

Spurred by chronic street protests, whose list of grievances is topped by official malfeasance, former Amman mayor Omar Maani was arrested on fraud charges in December and two months later, Mohammad Dahabi, former director of Jordan’s intelligence service, was taken into custody on charges of money laundering. The year is not half over, but Jordan’s AntiCorruption Commission has already referred 41 cases of suspected wrong-doing to the judiciary. Even a member of the country’s anti-corruption panel, Sanaa Mihyar, was detained briefly this month. She and her old boss, Amer Bashir, a former deputy mayor of Amman, have been charged with graft in connection with the purchase of two garbage trucks.

Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), fighting corruption has been the clarion call of Arab Spring protestors, ensnaring once untouchable officials in places like Egypt and Libya. But if a survey published this week by the accounting firm Ernst & Young and the security consulting firm Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International is correct, the anti-corruption drive has barely scratched the surface.

They asked 139 people from 64 organizations in UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain about the extent of corruption, and the answers they received painted a picture of endemic bribery, graft and fraud.

More than a fifth said it was impossible to compete in business in the MENA nations without committing fraud. Half doubted that legislation could prevent it.

“The general view is that its problem here, particularly bribery. That’s not saying it isn’t a problem in other parts of the world, but it is problem here,” Michael Adlem, an Ernst & Young partner specializing in fraud investigations and dispute services and a co-author of the report,

told The Media Line. Although the West has taken the lead in cracking down on corruption, the impact of tougher rules in the US and Britain is being felt across the Middle East and North Africa.

“Companies here is that want to play in the global space can’t ignore it,” Adlem said. It’s no secret that corruption is a serious problem for MENA countries. The annual Corruptions Perceptions

mechanism. Although no corruption or other charges have been leveled, five people, including the mall owner, have been arrested in connection with the blaze.

Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon do not have anti-corruption agencies and though Morocco does, it has no power to investigate or punish, according to Transparency International.

Experts attribute the persistence

President Hosni Mubarak, was convicted on Sunday of corruption charges and sentenced to seven years in prison.

The court found that Azmi used his position to make illicit gains of 42.6 million Egyptian pounds ($7 million). He is one of some three dozen Mubarak-era figures facing corruption charges including two former prime ministers, an ex-speaker of parlia-

An Egyptian walks in front of a giant poster of the US dollar at an exchange office in Cairo in this Feb 14, 2010 file photo.— AP Index survey by Berlin-based Transparency International found eight out of 19 countries are in the bottom half of the global rankings. Among the worst offenders are Yemen (164), Libya (168) and Iraq (175) on the list of 183 countries worldwide. A few scored well, like Qatar (22, two places ahead of the US) and the United Arab Emirates (28). But this week even Qatar is contending with the aftermath of a deadly fire that killed 19 people at a shopping mall and revealed a hugely inadequate fire safety

of corruption to autocratic governments, sprawling governmental bureaucracies of low-paid, under-trained civil servants; and a lack of media freedom or impendent institutions that keep tabs on malfeasance.

The Arab Spring has let loose long-suppressed anger at widespread corruption. In Egypt, where crime and corruption cost Egypt around $6 billion annually, according to Washington-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI), Zakaria Azmi, a powerful and long-serving aide to former

ment and several wealthy businessmen and cabinet ministers.

But it isn’t just the Arab Spring that has heightened sensitivity to corruption. Martin Gill, the chief executive officer of Perpetuity, told a conference in Jedda this week that the economic downturn that hit Dubai in 2008 exposed many ongoing frauds that had been inspired by fat government contracts and easy money. Most anti-corruption efforts focus on the recipients - politicians and civil servants - but the problem is as much supply-driven

by business executives anxious to win a contract as it is demand-driven.

The Ernst & Young/Perpetuity survey found that 52 percent of the respondents admitted that their companies had no relevant anti-fraud strategy and 35 percent confessed that no policy was in place for reporting corruption.

Not surprisingly, even though two thirds of executives polled said fraud and bribery were also a “major problem” in the Middle East, only 14 percent said they believed that corruption was an issue within their companies.

“Corruption is viewed as easy and unlikely to be detected. In addition, admitting to be a victim of fraud can cause reputation damage and companies often prefer to deal with it secretively and avoid taking formal external action,” Gill told the conference, according to the daily Saudi Gazette.

Both the US and Britain have clamped down on corruption not only by their own companies but also by foreign firms operating subsidiaries in the two countries’ jurisdictions. The US Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act, which dates back to 1977, and the UK Bribery Act, passed in 2010, can ensnare companies accused of criminal practice in the MENA and elsewhere in the world, even if local officials fail to pursue allegations. “The fact that the US that is cracking the whip means international companies make sure their agents as on the ground in other parts of the world are complying with the rule,” Adlem of Ernst & Young said. “The new UK bribery act has not seen any big prosecutions yet, but it has very draconian powers.”— Media Line

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FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Years

www.kuwaittimes.net The members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States sit under models of whales at the Ozeaneum sea museum as they attend the plenary session of the summit in Stralsund, Germany, yesterday. Germany is hosting government leaders and officials from the countries around the Baltic Sea to discuss energy security and ways to foster competitiveness and growth across the region. — AP

Food

Everyday cooking

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

By Sawsan Kazak

Sparkling strawberry lemonade

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t’s official, summer is here. No one really feels like slaving over a hot stove in the middle of summer. But you can’t eat pop-cycles and ice cream all summer. The following recipes will keep you cool this summer all while keeping you nourished.

Send suggestions to: sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

Tofuberry smoothie 1/4 cup diced silken tofu 2 tablespoons soy milk 1/4 cup fruit yogurt 1/2 cup raspberries 1/4 banana 2 cups orange juice

3 cups quartered strawberries 1 cup cold water 1 can (6 ounces) frozen lemonade concentrate 2 cups chilled sparkling water (divided) whole strawberries for garnish ice cubes

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rocess strawberries and water in the blender until smooth. Add the concentrate and 1 cup of the sparkling water.

Blend until smooth and pour into a pitcher with the rest of the sparkling water. Serve in tall glasses over ice and garnish with a strawberry on the rim of the glass.

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lace tofu, soy milk, yogurt, raspberries, banana, and orange juice in a blender.

Blend until smooth. Pour in glasses over ice or vanilla ice cream.

Food FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Chilled avocado and mint soup 4 cups diced peeled avocados (about 4 medium) 3 1/4 cups chilled buttermilk 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1/4 cup chopped green onions 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 teaspoon minced seeded serrano chile 1 teaspoon chili powder 6 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves, divided 3 cups (or more) low-salt chicken broth 1 cup diced seeded tomatoes

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ombine first 7 ingredients in processor. Add 4 tablespoons mint; blend until smooth. Transfer to large bowl.

Gradually whisk in 3 cups broth. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Cover; chill until cold, about 2 hours. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Keep chilled. Thin with more broth by 1/4 cupfuls, if desired. Rewhisk before serving.) Ladle soup into bowls.

Garnish with diced tomatoes and remaining 2 tablespoons mint.

Strawberry

mousse parfait 1 1/3 cups quartered strawberries (from 6 ounces) 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 3/4 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from 1 envelope) 1 1/2 tablespoons water 1/3 cup well-chilled heavy cream 3 butter cookies, coarsely crushed (1/4 cup)

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ash 1 cup quartered strawberries with sugar and lemon juice in a bowl using a fork. Cut remaining strawberries into 1/4-inch dice and reserve.

Sprinkle gelatin evenly over water in a very small saucepan and let stand 1 minute to soften, then warm over low heat, stirring until gelatin is dissolved. Stir gelatin mixture into mashed strawberries.

Set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stir frequently until a spoonful of gelatin mixture holds its shape briefly before dis-

Not your mama’s cole slaw P

1/2 small head green cabbage 1/2 small head red cabbage 4 large carrots, scrubbed or peeled and shredded 1 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves 2 cups (16 ounces) mayonnaise, low-fat is fine, as is swapping half with yogurt 1/4 cup Dijon mustard 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon celery seed 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) blue cheese (optional)

Summer

shrimp salad

1 pound frozen, fully cooked medium shrimp, thawed 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced 4 cups watermelon, roughly chopped 2 jalape?os, seeded and finely chopped 2 avocados, roughly chopped juice of 1 lime

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repare the vegetables: Halve the cabbage halves and cut out the cores. Slice the cabbage as thinly as you can with a sharp knife. Alternately, you can use a mandoline to cut the thinnest slivers or use your food processor’s slicing blade (lay the cabbage horizontally in the feed tube) to do the job in just seconds. Transfer chopped cabbage into a large bowl, discarding any very large pieces. Stir in the shredded carrot and parsley, reserving a few tablespoons of parsley for garnish.

Make the dressing: Mix the mayonnaise, mustards, vinegar, celery seed, salt and pepper in a smaller bowl. Stir in blue cheese, if using. Toss the cabbage mixture with dressing to taste — you will probably not need all of it, but it keeps in the fridge for weeks (even longer, but I’m embarrassed to admit how we’ve tested this theory) — and adjust seasonings as needed.

n a large bowl, combine the shrimp, onion, watermelon, jalape?os, and avocado. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, honey, oil, salt, and pepper. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad; toss. Sprinkle with the cilantro. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.

1 teaspoon honey 3 tablespoons olive oil 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

solving back into mixture, about 5 minutes.

Beat cream in another bowl with a whisk until it just holds stiff peaks. Fold 1/2 cup whipped cream into gelatin mixture, then fold in 1/4 cup diced strawberries (reserve remainder for topping).

Spoon one third of strawberry mousse into a glass and sprinkle evenly with half of cookie crumbs, then top with half of remaining mousse and all of remaining cookie crumbs. Top with remaining mousse, whipped cream, and strawberries, then chill until set, about 30 minutes.

Relationship FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Balancing act

Moms back on job - will they stay?

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n late April, Alexandra Bach Lagos had one of those rough weeks most lawyers dread. She spent three days out of town conducting depositions, returned and put in two more 12-hour days. While the schedule would be taxing for anyone, it was particularly difficult for a new mother. What keeps me going is having a supportive work environment,” says Lagos, explaining that her partners gave her the option of having someone else conduct the out-of-town depositions. “I said, no, I’m fine. I want that opportunity and I’m going to take it. But it’s the fact that they care, and want to make it work that makes a difference,” says Lagos, an associate at Shook Hardy & Bacon in Miami.

Workplaces often struggle to keep new mothers engaged and employed. A new study of mothers by TheLadders.com shows those who return to full-time work after giving birth said they do so first for financial reasons and second because they enjoy the work. Yet, even in this troubled economy, new mothers bolt when the juggling act becomes too overwhelming. New mothers, often experienced workers with valued skills, say there are particular workplace factors that keep them in their jobs the trying first year, when exhaustion, emotions and changed routines take a toll. Few of those factors cost a company money, yet many employers - both large and small - haven’t figured them out.

“Good companies are having honest conversations with their new moms,” says Jennifer Owens, editorial director of Working Mother. “They are talking to them in a non-judgmental way about how they can be supportive.” Studies show at most companies, the immediate return rate for mothers is significantly higher than the long-term retention rate. Mothers will tell you their direct supervisor plays a key role in whether they stick around. Adrienne Zalkind, a public relations executive and mother of two, discovered the importance of talking with her boss when she returned from maternity leave with her now 8-month-old daughter, Chloe. She sat down with her supervisor and discussed more flexible work hours, allowing her to pick up her baby on time from daycare. “If they work with you, it can make all the difference.”

Co-workers play a role in retention, too, a factor employers may underestimate. Only two weeks back on the job, Fox News reporter Molly Henneberg attributes her smoother adjustment to “a community of working mothers” at the network who give her advice and encouragement and act as role models. “The first week can be a difficult emotional transition,” Henneberg says. “They told me each day would get better and then I would get into a routine. So far it’s worked.”

On her second week back, Henneberg experienced her first work/family challenge. An unexpected late night threw a wrench into her child-care arrangement. “It used to be no big deal, but now it was like a military troop movement to make sure the baby was cared for.” Henneberg said her co-workers helped her figure it out, even offering to hold the baby during her live shots. Fortunately, her husband was able to leave work earlier than usual.

Yet, for every story of a supportive workplace, there are mothers who have opposite experiences. Zalkind says the glare of co-workers who see a flexible work arrangement as perks rather than a different way of putting in the same hours can create the tension that causes a new mother to leave or search for a new job. “You have to walk out with your head held high, knowing you are working as hard as anyone else. But for some people, day after day, that can be hard to do,” Zalkind says.

Some companies have become intentional in their effort to retain new mothers, offering coaching before, during and after maternity leave. Five years ago, Citi, a financial

services company, discovered a high percentage of its women who go on maternity leave have 10 years of experience or more - “talent we can’t afford to lose,” according to Carolanne Minashi, regional head of diversity for Citi’s Markets & Banking Division. The discovery led to a voluntary program called Maternity Matters. The program, started in the United Kingdom and now offered in the United States, offers group coaching for new moms and their managers and maternity buddies for the women giving birth or adopting. In the United Kingdom, Citi says its shortand long-term retention of mothers has risen. And, while Citi hasn’t released US retention numbers, spokesman Anu Ahluwalia said more than 1,000 of its employees here have participated.

Mothers say perks such as onsite child care and lactation rooms are helpful. But more important, they say, is manager support for their use of family-friendly benefits.

Dominique Kirkland, a forensic toxicologist, has been back at work for about two months after giving birth to her son, KJ, two months prior. Kirkland is nursing and one of the first to use one of the nine newly established Nursing Mothers Lactation Rooms for University of Miami employees. She says her supervisor has structured her schedule to allow her to pump three times a day, even providing her own private office for two weeks before the nursing center opened. Kirkland’s family depends on her income and her work is specialized, giving her and her employer incentive to make her juggling act work. “It’s hectic at times, but an understanding supervisor and co-workers make it a whole lot easier.”

Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute, said a new study shows employers have cut back on part-time work and phased returns. They have also cut down on the amount of paid maternity leave for new mothers, which hits low-wage mothers the hardest.

However, the companies have increased the use of flexible work schedules for mothers who work full-time. And, for the first time, she says she sees progressive companies focused on retaining women after maternity leave and training supervisors to be supportive. They need to understand, she says, “people don’t leave jobs. They leave people.”

Lagos says that’s exactly what she’s seen with her peers, new mothers who left their jobs after shortly after giving birth and returning to work. “They weren’t all that happy in their jobs, they had an unsupportive work environment and they didn’t have great maternity leave.” As Nicholas, turns 10 months old, Lagos says she’s learning the balancing act can be challenging but she’s determined to make it work: “I love my career. I love being a mom and I’m not willing to compromise.” — MCT Alexandra Bach Lagos is seen with her 10-month old son Nicholas. —MCT

BOOKS FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

James and the Giant Peach (1961)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) ahl’s description of the taste of Wonka’s WhippleScrumptious Fudgemallow Delight as Charlie eats it is merely words on a page. And yet, however many years or even decades it now is since one first read it, it still feels like the most delicious, luxuriant, succulent, sumptuous thing that any of us has ever actually eaten. The moment when Charlie sees the gold ticket peeping out from beneath the wrapper is pure magic too - has childish excitement ever been more brilliantly conveyed? And to think Martin Amis recently disparagingly said that he might well write a children’s book only “if I had a serious brain injury”. Clever fellows really can talk twaddle sometimes, can’t they?

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he moment when Aunts Spiker and Sponge are crushed by the now enormous fruit. The thrills! The excitement!

The satisfaction! Revenge has never - in any sense - tasted sweeter.

A Dip in the Pool (1952)

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aving bet his and his wife’s life-savings that the oceanliner on which they’re cruising will make poor progress, the doomed hero of this grown-up short story befriends a kindly old woman on deck before hurling himself overboard before her eyes in an attempt to slow everything down. He never finds out, however, that she is not quite all there - moments later, after she has watched him flailing in the ship’s ever-lengthening wake, she tells her disbelieving carer about the curious incident. “Such a nice man,” she insists. “He waved to me.”

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1977)

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ermicious knids! (With the “k” sounded, of course.) Has a disagreeable alien ever been endowed with a better name? The fact that these ovine beasties are also inveterate show-offs, and know only one word of English - scram which they spell out in mid-air, only adds to the comedy.

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his wonderfully convincing fantasy’s extraordinary description of a candle’s flame, starting with the yellow outside, then the blue bit, with the black core at its centre.

Has anyone who ever read this ever looked at a lit candle in the same way again?

Lamb to the Slaughter (1953)

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he moment in this short story when the police - investigating the murder of fellow copper Patrick Maloney find a formerly frozen leg of lamb in the oven, now completely cooked. This must be the only story ever written in which the cops eat the murder weapon. Genius.

Health FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Flexing your muscles

Best five exercises for biceps that look ripped

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hen starting on a muscle-building program, one of the key body parts that many people want to place a large focus on are the biceps. The biceps tend to be a highly noticed muscle group by others, so if you have nicely developed arms, people are going to know you’re on top of your workout game. It is important to keep in mind that in actuality the triceps muscle comprises a very large component of the arm, so you must not neglect your triceps work either, which will then give you the perfect balance of what you need to see optimal results.

When you are aiming for maximum size, another important point to note is that lifting heavy must be placed as a priority. Since building more size is a combination of a heavy surplus, enough volume, and plenty of calories, it’s a wise decision to focus on exercises that will allow you to lift the heaviest weight possible.

Usually for most people this will be exercises such as rows and lat-pull-downs, both of which do target the biceps muscles as well.

If you are including these regularly with your workout program and then adding in other exercises that are specifically targeted towards the biceps muscles you will be right on track for developing the best arms you can. Here are the five best exercises that focus on the biceps to add after your rows and pull-downs.

Barbell Biceps Curls The first biceps exercise to perform is barbell biceps curls, which will also allow you to overload those biceps with a heavy eight.

Most trainees are slightly stronger when lifting a barbell versus a set of dumbbells, so this is a great one for maximum strength development.

When doing the exercise the primary thing to focus on is that you’re not cutting the movement pattern short at all and that you’re not allowing momentum to cause you to lean backwards as you hoist the weight upwards.

This is one of the most common mistakes with this exercise momentum performs more of the work than your muscles actually do. If you perform it in a slow and controlled manner, that should reduce the chances of this happening significantly and allow you to place a higher intensity deep within the muscle fibres.

Incline Dumbbell Curls The second exercise to add is incline dumbbell curls. This exercise is one of the best to help pre-

vent that momentum issue from happening as we just discussed since it essentially restricts the movement of the back.

When doing this exercise you will feel maximum tension on the biceps muscle belly, so don’t be surprised if the weight is slightly lower. As long as you’re pushing yourself hard, using the lower weight but maintaining proper form will be the way to go for results.

Cable Curls If you’re looking to target the deep tissue muscle fibres, cable curls are a good bet. Since the pattern of movement is less stable with this movement, due to the constant tension provided by the cable, you will call all the stabilization muscles surrounding the biceps into play as you execute the exercise.

You can use a variety of different attachments to perform the cable curls including a rope, a straight bar, or rotating cable handles that allow you to work a single arm at a time.

Reverse Grip Rows After you’ve included regular straight rows within the program, you may also want to consider adding reverse grip rows as well.

These are going to place a slightly greater stress on the biceps muscles as opposed to straight rows so they will be a better exercise for strictly targeting the biceps.

Depending on what muscle group you think of contracting as you bring the weights up to the body (the biceps or the back), that too will impact the nature of the muscle stimulus.

Concentration Curls Finally, the last of the exercises to consider to blast your biceps into growth are concentration curls. When done while sitting, these will also limit the degree momentum plays in the execution of the exercise and place all the emphasis right on the biceps muscle.

There will be no helper muscles called into play when doing concentration curls (when done properly), so this is a good one to add in at the very end of your workout when you’re really looking to finish off the biceps and fully exhaust them. www.bodybuilding.com

Beauty FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

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This is the mane point

veryone wants locks that glisten with light.

No matter what your hair texture is, you can have healthy-looking hair by following our shiny hair secrets. We’ve even got professional beauty advice for your type of hair.

If your hair is damaged: Improving its condition is the only way to make it look shinier. When hair is damp, apply leave-in conditioner to damaged areas. Invest in a quality deep-conditioning treatment and use once a week.

Although blow-dryers and straightening irons may add to the damage, they’re the only things that will make your hair look sleeker temporarily.

“Your hair needs heat to smooth the cuticle these are the tools that can do it,” says Labrecque.

Put the blow-dryer on a high setting and use an iron on hair ends. Apply drops of frizz-taming serum to dry hair.

Tip: Add a spritz of hairspray to your brush before running it through your hair to control static and hold the style.

If your hair is straight: Lucky you. “Straight hair has great natural shine, because its flat cuticle is highly light-reflective,” says New York City salon owner Paul Labrecque. To get maximum shine, wash and condition your hair, then blast it with a cold-water rinse for about three seconds. “This helps seal in conditioner, making hair easier to style and adds a ton of shine,” says Labrecque.

Blow-dry while brushing with a natural boar-bristle paddle brush. Apply a bit of light finishing serum to frizzy areas (like ends). Finish with shineenhancing hairspray.

TIP: If you’ve been OD-ing on styling products, buildup could be making your hair dull. Use a clarifying shampoo like Aussie Citrifier Shampoo for seven days, then once a week.

If your hair is curly: Curly hair tends to have more shine-reducing short pieces and split ends.

This becomes really noticeable when it’s blown straight. Use a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner and a straightening gel. Detangle with a wide-tooth comb. As you blow-dry, wrap 2 inch sections around a round brush to straighten.

Apply a finishing cream below the roots to the ends. To get super-glossy curls: After conditioning hair, don’t rinse completely - leave a little in. Apply a gel to damp hair and twist sections around your fingers. Let hair dry naturally.

Tip: Glossing sprays are great for boosting shine midday.

Shiny hair secrets Do use heat-activated shampoos, conditioners and styling products like those from ThermaSilk, Vidal Sassoon and Neutrogena. Their moisturizers are released by the heat of your hairdryer.

Do use your fingers to separate your curls once your hair is dry, if it is curly. A brush will cause your hair to frizz.

Do try a shine-enhancing hair-color product like Revlon Super Lustrous or L’OrÈal FÈria if you’re going to color your hair at home.

Don’t apply finishing products too close to your scalp - your hair will look greasy.

Don’t weigh down fine hair with a heavy serum formulated only for very thick hair.

Don’t apply a ton of product before using a straightening iron. A sticky gel not designed to protect the hair can actually “cook” it.

Don’t use a plastic vent brush to detangle wet hair. It stretches and eventually snaps the hair. Use it to brush as you blow-dry, to give your hair a sleeker look. www.marieclaire.com

Feed your hair Salmon When it comes to foods that pack a beauty punch, it’s hard to beat salmon. Loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, this high-quality protein source is also filled with vitamin B-12 and iron.

“Essential omega-3 fatty acids are needed to support scalp health,” says Andrea Giancoli, MPH, RD, a dietitian in Los Angeles and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “A deficiency can result in a dry scalp and thus hair, giving it a dull look.”

Vegetarian? Include one or two tablespoons of ground flaxseed in your daily diet for some plant-based omega-3 fats.

Dark green vegetables Popeye the Sailor Man didn’t eat all that spinach for healthy hair, but he could have.

Spinach, like broccoli and Swiss chard, is an excellent source of vitamins A and C, which your body needs to produce sebum. The oily substance, secreted by your hair follicles, is the body’s natural hair conditioner. Dark green vegetables also provide iron and calcium.

Beans Beans, beans, they’re good for your ... hair?

Yes, it’s true. Legumes like kidney beans and lentils should be an important part of your hair-care diet. Not only do they provide plentiful protein to promote hair growth, but ample iron, zinc, and biotin. While rare, biotin deficiencies can result in brittle hair. Blatner, who is also a spokeswoman for the American

Dietetic Association, recommends three or more cups of lentils or beans each week.

Nuts Do you go nuts for thick, shiny hair? You should. Brazil nuts are one of nature’s best sources of selenium, an important mineral for the health of your scalp. Walnuts contain alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid that may help condition your hair. They are also a terrific source of zinc, as are cashews, pecans, and almonds. A zinc deficiency can lead to hair shedding, so make sure nuts are a regular on your healthy hair menu.

Poultry Chickens and turkeys may have feathers, but the high-quality protein they provide will help give you the healthy hair you crave.

“Without adequate protein or with low-quality protein, one can experience weak brittle hair, while a profound protein deficiency can result in loss of hair color,” Giancoli tells WebMD. Poultry also provides iron with a high degree of bioavailability, meaning your body can easily reap its benefits.

Eggs When it comes to healthy hair, it doesn’t matter whether you like your eggs scrambled, fried, or over easy. However they’re served up, eggs are one of the best protein sources you can find. www.webmd.com

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Sade brings it home with concert film and live CD S

ade fans have had to learn to be very patient. After a decade-long hiatus, the soulful jazz band led by Nigerian-born British singer Sade Adu, 53, returned to the stage with their “Bring Me Home” tour last year. And for those who couldn’t make it to a show, there is now an album and film. This week, Sade released “Bring Me Home - Live 2011,” a live CD and concert film directed by frequent collaborator Sophie Muller shot over several stops on the tour. The film includes behind-the-scenes footage of Adu and her bandmates rehearsing, hanging out on their tour bus and goofing off. Reuters spoke with Adu about her music, life on the road and how she spends her time away from the spotlight.

Q: “Bring Me Home” director Sophie Muller has directed most of your videos over the last 20 years. How has that creative relationship lasted so long?

A: “We met many years ago when we were both at (Central) Saint Martins (college). We used to sit in the library throwing things at each other. We would write really weird abstract poetry. I would write a line and then she would write a line, and then I’d write the next line and we’d put it together.

“Sophie was in and out of the studio when we were making the album. We can trust each other.

It’s not enough just to like each other or love each other. It’s like if you’re climbing up a rock and someone’s got your rope, you have to know that they’re not going to let you go.”

Q: How was it having your 15-year-old daughter accompany you on tour?

A: “She loved the show. I was amazed at how many times she watched it.

She came out on the road with me the last time but she was always on the bus. She was so young, just four. I didn’t want her to see me on stage. I felt it would be too much for her to grasp because to her, I’m just her mommy. I thought it would overwhelm her. A long time after that she asked, ‘Mom are you famous? Are you really famous?’”

Q: How do you spend your time between projects? Are you always working on new material?

A: “I always sing because I listen to music at home and I sing. I’ll sometimes write things down - thoughts or feelings that might trigger a song later on. My life between the albums is a collection of experiences, which I will one day write about. It’s not like I’m a prolific writer who just writes, and writes and writes.”

Q: There is a clip of you dancing to Snoop Dogg in the “Bring Me Home” behind-the-scenes footage. Do you really listen to hip-hop?

A: “I love hip-hop. I love the beats, I love the lyrics and I love the fact that it’s from the heart. It’s real and not just commercial. I listen to Snoop Dogg and Drake - they’re great. I listen to a lot of hip-hop, so I do dance a lot. I actually love going out. I haven’t lately, but I love getting on the dance floor.”

Q: It’s interesting you say you enjoy going out because you are often described as reclusive, so is that fair?

A: “I don’t think I’m reclusive but I do avoid celebrity. I will go out to dance where no one bothers you because they’re all doing their own thing. I don’t consider myself a celebrity, I consider myself a songwriter and a singer - a person who makes music. I don’t see why that’s necessarily synonymous with giving your whole world away.”

Q: How do you handle your sex symbol status? I know several guys who want to marry you.

A: “What are their addresses? (laughs) I don’t think of that. When I perform I’m just expressing elements of myself, and I don’t really stop and think about that stuff. But I ain’t complainin’! It could be worse.”

Q: At 53, you’re often described as age defying. How do you stay so young?

A: “I think it’s an energy thing. Your physical language determines how young you look moreso than if you have plastic surgery. You have to keep that love for what you do and, even in the battleground, keep your head up. So many people let go of that. They get past a certain age and feel they no longer belong. I never really feel that way. I always have something to add. It’s still a battle to be won.” —Reuters

Bollywood choreographer-turned-director Farah Khan (L) with actor Boman Irani poses during a promotional event for the Hindi film ‘Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi’ in Mumbai. — AFP

Singer Juanes:

‘Unplugged’ helped change sound C

olombian superstar Juanes said singer-songwriter-producer Juan Luis Guerra got him out of his comfort zone when the musician started rearranging his songs for his “MTV Unplugged” taping. And Juanes was happy to take on the challenge. “He put me in another place, but for me as a musician, as an artist, I was like: ‘Wow. This is a new world. I feel like I can do this,’” Juanes said in a recent interview.

“We tried different styles ... (and) I was not used to that kind of arrangement.”

Guerra, the Dominican Grammywinning producer, is known for his bachata and merengue sound. He’s won the Latin Grammy for album of the year three times. Juanes, also a Grammy winner, has a sound that is built from rock and metal genres. The singer said the 14 songs on “Juanes: MTV Unplugged,” released this week, are a blend of Latin, jazz, blues, rock, folk and classic sounds. He says the process felt new. “You know, it’s scary, but it’s kind

of what I’m looking for now,” he said.

“Just to take the risk and go to different places and try different things. So it’s not about fear, it’s more about risk.”

The first single, “Le Senal (The Sign),” has peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s US Latin Songs chart. The special, which aired Monday, was taped at the New World Symphony Center in Miami Beach, Fla, in February. Juanes says a new sound will be all over his upcoming studio album, due out next year.

“The ‘Unplugged’ right now is like a transition album. It’s going to give (me) some more time to keep writing my songs and go the studio,” he said. “It’s going to be completely different, wild and loud, and happy.” The 39-year old is married to model-actress Karen Martinez. He says he’s noticed his musical abilities spillover onto his daughters, ages 7 and 8, who are now taking piano lessons. He also has a 2-year-old son, who he says is “crazy with cars and superheroes.” —AP

In this April 26, 2012 file photo, Colombian singer Juanes walks the red carpet at the Latin Billboard Awards in Coral Gables, Fla. —AP

Possible duet with Robin Thicke? His wife or son

R File photo shows singer Robin Thicke and wife actress Paula Patton at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in West Hollywood, Calif. —AP

obin Thicke is a mentor on the new ABC singing series “Duets,” but the R&B crooner could find himself partnering on a song with his 2-year-old son or his wife, actress Paula Patton. Thicke says both his wife and son can sing. Patton, whose film credits include “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” and “Mission Impossible 3,” sings a small part on a song Thicke produced for Usher, the slow groove “Can U Handle It.” It appears on Usher’s Grammywinning, 2004 effort “Confessions,” one of the last decade’s top-selling albums.

“The song called for a female

vocal, a very simple, more like a talkwhisper part and ... I said, ‘Hey, honey, you mind putting something down for me?’” he recalled. “And of course it turns out to be Usher’s biggest album and one of the biggest albums of all-time.”

Thicke, 35, said Patton would ask him, jokingly, to let her sing on songs he worked on. “She’d be like, ‘Hey, baby, can I just sing a little song just so I can hear my voice on tape?’”

Thicke said. “And I was like, ‘No! We’re not starting that. We are not going to get into the ‘you recording an album.’

Go find another producer if you want to do that.’” —AP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Review

‘Snow White’ a gorgeous take on fairy tale A

stonishingly beautiful and breathtaking in its brutal imagery, “Snow White & the Huntsman” is thrilling and frightening in equal measure, yet as bereft of satisfying substance as a poisoned apple.

Rupert Sanders’ revisionist take on the classic Brothers Grimm fable, the first feature from the respected British commercial director, upends expectations of traditional gender roles while simultaneously embracing what a fairy tale should be. It’s dark and dangerous, vicious and violent. Yes, there are dwarves and adorable, furry woodland creatures but more often, death is a constant threat.

And yet the performances - notably from Kristen Stewart as the iconic title character - don’t always live up to the film’s visionary promise. First, there’s the problem of casting anyone who’s supposed to be fairer than Charlize Theron as the evil queen. But beyond Stewart’s distractingly inconsistent British accent, she simply lacks the presence to serve as a convincing warrior princess. She’s too slight, her Snow White seems too reticent and insecure as she leads her minions into battle, and she still relies on all those Bella Swan tics that define her performances in the “Twilight” movies: the sulking and sighing, the skittish side glances.

Theron, at the opposite end of the spectrum, tends to get too screechy; with her imposing height, deep voice and mesmerizing beauty, she’s far more powerful when she dials it down. She’s long been willing to play deeply flawed and even cruel characters, but here she gets downright campy at times. Still,

she is always a startling vision to behold in Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood’s dramatic, intricate dresses and crowns. The look and the energy of “Snow White & the Huntsman” are what keep it engaging, if a bit overlong.

Theron, as the magical and manipulative Ravenna, has married (and quickly killed) the widower king, locked his daughter Snow White in a tower and plunged a once-peaceful realm into a wasteland of misery and strife. Once Snow comes of age and earns her fairest-of-them-all status, Ravenna’s power is threatened, and nothing short of eating the princess’ heart will sustain her. This sets the film’s chase in motion: Snow White escapes, and Ravenna hires a veteran huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track her down in a treacherous place known as the Dark Forest. But instead, this tormented soul ends up becoming

her reluctant protector, which means Ravenna must send yet another team of bad guys to find them both.

Hemsworth, the hunky “Thor” star, continues to solidify his intriguing screen presence; he’s got the looks and swagger of a bigger, bulkier Brad Pitt but also gets to show off his vulnerability and even some comic timing, too.

And laughs are hard to find around here, which is why it’s so surprising to see our old friends the dwarves show up; given that everything else about this telling of the familiar fairy tale is so different, you don’t really expect them.

There are eight of them, not seven, and they certainly don’t whistle while they work; similar to the dwarves in the other Snow White movie this year, the jokey, ornate “Mirror Mirror,” they’re scoundrels and thieves making mischief in the forest. But it’s the way they’re presented once they meet Snow and the

This film image released by Universal Pictures shows actress Kristen Stewart in a scene from ‘Snow White and the Huntsman.’ —AP

huntsman that’s the real surprise, and it may cause you to do a double take.

Sanders has rounded up a veritable who’s-who of esteemed British character actors - including Ian McShane, Toby Jones, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost and Eddie Marsan - and, through some digital trickery, seamlessly depicted them as little people.

It’s just one of many examples of meticulous detail in the film, from the menacing trees that come alive in the Dark Forest to the hauntingly enchanted animals and fairies that greet Snow White and her new posse of pals as they continue along their arduous trek toward safety and, eventually, back to the kingdom to reclaim her rightful throne. There are no Rodents of Unusual Size, to borrow from “The Princess Bride,” but every other fantastical creature is here so they’d be right at home. And if there were, Snow would be the one to slay them. It’s certainly admirable to see this character depicted as a strong, capable woman rather than a damsel in distress, and it’s a great role model for girls in the audience (although little kids might find much of the imagery too nightmarish; adults might, too, for that matter). But it does make you wonder how Snow White, who’s been trapped in a tower for the entirety of her adolescence, knows how to ride a horse and wield a sword like some bad-ass in “Braveheart.” “Snow White & the Huntsman,” a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief sensuality. Running time: 125 minutes. Three stars out of four.— AP

Tel Aviv gig kicks off Madonna’s MDNA world tour US

pop icon Madonna launched her hotly-anticipated MDNA world tour with a show in Tel Aviv, kicking off a roadtrip of more than 80 countries in what will be her longest-ever stint on the road. When she hit the stage at Ramat Gan stadium last night with what promises to be an eye-popping extravaganza, the 53-year-old Queen of Pop will be embarking on her ninth world tour, this time in support of her new album MDNA. Announced in February, the tour-Madonna’s first first since her wildly successful “Sticky and Sweet” outing in 2008 and 2009 — will move from Israel to Abu Dhabi and on to Europe and the Americas.

It is expected to draw to a close in early 2013 in Australia where the singer has not performed in more than 20 years. Kicking off her latest tour in Israel was a natural choice for the Catholic-born singer who over the last decade has become deeply involved in the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah, which has brought her to the Jewish state on a number of public and private visits. She last performed in Israel in 2009 during her “Sticky and Sweet” tour, when she met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visited the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.

Yesterday evening’s show at the Ramat

Gan stadium, which has a capacity of 35,000, was completely sold out but a day ahead of the performance, the singer briefly met with members of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum and handed them 600 tickets. “We spoke to her for a few minutes and we asked if she would say anything about peace,” Peace Now’s Yariv Oppenheimer told AFP, saying it was the forum’s first-ever contact with the petit singer, who has largely steered clear of getting involved with political issues linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “She told us: I will say much more than a word about it.”

She arrived last Friday on a chartered El Al flight from New York, accompanied by partner Brahim Zaibat, her four children and an entourage of 70, who took over the seafront Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv. More than 4,000 fans have flown into Israel to attend the concert, with each paying between $62 (50 euros) per ticket, up to $620 for a VIP package including a seat in the specially-constructed Diamond area which is part of the stage. Produced by Israel’s Shuki Weiss with Live Nation, the Tel Aviv show is reportedly said to have cost an estimated $3.9 million (3.1 million euros).

Ahead of her arrival, the Material Girl asked for the stadium to include sleeping accommodation for her and her family, a games area for her kids and a lounge in

which she will be interviewed by US TV host Conan O’Brian, who has flown in specially, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported. The Tel Aviv show is reportedly said to have cost an estimated $3.9 million (3.1 million euros). As for the outfits, Madge has reportedly enlisted an ever-impressive list of designers to suit and boot both her, her band and her

dancers for the MDNA tour, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Jeremy Scott, Alexander Wang, Dolce & Gabbana, Fausto Puglisi and J Brand. She will also be wearing Prada and Miu Miu shoes as well as footwear and lingerie from her Truth or Dare line, with her signature conical bra also set to make an appearance. —AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Busker Justin Maloney (a.k.a. ‘Mr IncrediBubble’) performs his unusual art as a way to earn a living in Sydney’s Hyde Park yesterday. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said unemployment shrank to 4.9 percent in April from 5.2 percent in March, its best level since April 2011 and much lower than the 5.3 percent expected by economists. — AFP

Can you really teach a kid to become bullyproof?

T

eaching kids to become “bullyproof” is all the rage. Books, videos and websites promise to show parents how to protect their kids from being bullied; school districts are buying curricula with names like “Bully-Proofing Your School,” a well-regarded program used in thousands of classrooms. Even martial arts programs are getting into the act: “Bullyproofing the world, one child at a time,” is the motto for a jujitsu program called Gracie Bullyproof.But can you really make a child invulnerable to getting picked on? And even if you could, should the burden really be on potential victims to learn these skills, rather than on punishing or reforming the bullies?

Parents and educators say when bullyproofing programs are done right, kids can be taught the social and emotional skills they need to avoid becoming victims. But bullyproofing is not just about getting bullies to move on to a different target. It’s also about creating a culture of kindness, beginning in preschool, and encouraging kids to develop strong friendships that can prevent the social isolation sometimes caused by extreme bullying.

Who’s got your back?

Bullies “sniff out kids who lack connections or who are isolated because of depression, mental health issues, disabilities or differences in size and shape,” said Malcolm Smith, a family education and policy specialist at the University of New Hampshire who has been researching peer victimization for more than 30 years. “So if you’re worried about your child being a victim, the best thing a parent can do from a very young age,

starting in preschool, is ask, ‘Who’s got your back? When you’re on the bus, when you’re in the hall, who’s got your back?’ If they can’t name someone, you should help them establish connections to their peers.”

Smith, who is working on a program called “Courage to Care” that’s being tested in three rural New Hampshire schools, cited an example of a new boy who was being pushed and shoved by other boys in the hallway. “We didn’t know how to empower him,” Smith said, until the staff noticed that he’d become friends with a girl. “This girl is sweet but really assertive. What are seventh grade boys more afraid of than anything? Girls! So having her walk down the hall with this boy was the immediate solution to ending the bullying.”Psychologist Joel Haber, a consultant on the recent documentary “Bully,” says kids should also have “backup friends” outside school through sports, hobbies, summer camp or religious groups. “That’s hugely important, especially as kids move from elementary to middle school.”

Emotional skills Haber says “most kids can learn skills to make themselves less likely to have the big reactions” that feed bullies. “Let’s say you’re one of those kids who, when I make fun of your clothes, you get really angry and dramatic. If I taught you in a role-play situation as a parent or a therapist to react differently, even if you felt upset inside, you would get a totally different reaction from the bully. And if you saw that kids wouldn’t tease you, your confidence would go up,” said Haber One way parents can help is to normalize conversations about school social life so that

kids are comfortable talking about it. Don’t just ask “How was school today?” Ask, “Who’d you have lunch with, who’d you sit with, who’d you play with, what happens on the bus, do you ever notice kids getting teased or picked on or excluded?” advises Haber, who offers other bullyproofing tips and resources at RespectU.com and is coauthored of a new book called “The Resilience Formula.”

Body language Bullies “feed on the body language of fear. It’s a physical reaction - how the victim responds, how they hold their head and shoulders, the tone of voice,” said Jim Bisenius, a therapist who has taught his “Bully-Proofing Youth” program in more than 400 schools in Ohio and elsewhere.Teaching a kid to appear confident physically can sometimes be easier to teach than verbal skills, Bisenius said. “If a kid who’s never been mean in his life tries to fake it, or tries to outdo a bully with a verbal comeback, the bully sees right through that.”

Lisa Suhay, a mom in Norfolk, Virginia, said her 8-year-old son Quin was helped by Gracie Bullyproof, a martial arts program taught in 55 locations that combines verbal strategies with defensive jujitsu moves. Quin had been bullied so much on the playground that Suhay stopped taking him there. But she decided to give the park one last try after he completed the Gracie training. No sooner did Quin begin playing on a pirate ship than a bigger boy knocked him down and ordered him to leave. But this time, as his mom watched in amazement, Quin grabbed the other kid around the waist “and landed on

This June 2010 photo provided by Lisa Suhay shows her son Quin Suhay, now 8, tackling Bill Odom, owner of Norfolk Karate Academy in Norfolk, Va, as part of a bullyproofing class that combines jujitsu-defensive moves only, no punching or kicking-with verbal strategies. — AP him like a big mattress, all while saying, ‘That was an incredibly bad idea you just had. But I’m not afraid of you.’

“The other boy swung again, and Quin took him down again, then asked, “Now do you want to play nice?” They played pirates for the rest of the afternoon. “It’s about respect and self-confidence,” said Suhay.

“You’re not teaching them to beat up the bully. But they’re not cowering. They make eye contact. They talk to the bully. So much of the time they avert the situation because the bully doesn’t expect them to say, ‘I’m not scared of you.’” —AP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

When the Frommers talk travel, they may disagree S

he likes Venice as a side trip from Rome; he says do Florence instead.

She likes traveling with kids; he says he doesn’t - even though he took her when she was young. But the occasional difference of opinion is part of the charm when you listen to the call-in radio show hosted by an unusual father-daughter team with a famous last name: travel gurus Arthur and Pauline Frommer.

“It was quite a shock to have my daughter disagree with me the first time it happened, but the people at the station said it was great radio,” said Arthur Frommer, 83, as they prepared on a recent Sunday for “The Travel Show with Arthur and Pauline Frommer.” “He says when we disagree, it’s like 50 years of his life mean nothing,” said Pauline, 46, with a laugh. It was actually more than 50 years ago when the elder Frommer self-published his first guidebook, “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day” in 1957, using material he gathered while stationed in Germany with the US Army.

That book launched a guidebook company that has become one of the world’s most recognized travel brands. Pauline is carrying on the family tradition with her own line of guidebooks and as founding editor of Frommers.com.

They also bring their travel expertise to the air each Sunday, broadcasting live from WOR-AM studios in New York beginning at noon. The show is carried on 115 stations, reaching every US state but Alaska. There’s hardly a place in the world they haven’t been, and their off-the-cuff knowledge is astounding as they effortlessly field callers asking about everything

from what to do in Denmark to the best outfitters for African safaris. Only rarely does a question stump them (“Jewish sites in Morocco? I haven’t a clue!” says Pauline during a commercial break), and any questions they don’t have time for - including those sent in by email or Twitter - Pauline emails back during the week.

Father-daughter chemistry is what makes the show so much fun to listen to.

Sometimes they both chime in to answer; other times, they divide the topics based on their experiences. Arthur took a question about river cruises in Austria and Germany, while Pauline spoke from experience about RV road trips. An email query on visiting concentration camps in Europe was shared: “You know how to go to Auschwitz,” said Arthur, “I know how to go to Dachau.” It’s a testament to their reputation that travelers still look to them when so much is available online. Pauline says they offer clarity amid the information overload; Arthur says “people have learned to trust our judgment because we have no commercial interests to push.”

Pauline adds that the occasional disagreements bolster their credibility: “It shows we’re not in anyone’s pay.”

The friction also adds to the fun.

“People tell us it reminds them of their relationships with their fathers,” Pauline says. “We hear that from a lot of people who work in family businesses.” When a caller who hates crowds asks if Versailles is worth it, Pauline says it’s “insanely crowded,” has a “big problem with pickpockets” and suggests the palace at Fontainebleau instead. Then Arthur jumps in: “Pauline, I

couldn’t disagree with you more!” A call about Venice versus Florence results in a similar divergence: “I prefer Venice,” says Pauline, followed by Arthur: “Venice is impossible in the summer months - it’s like Times Square!”

“I’m sorry,” Pauline says to the caller, “you’ve sparked an argument between the Frommers.” Off the air, she says their “biggest arguments are about whether to travel with children.” She loves taking her two young daughters to other parts of the world, even if that means going to the park instead of a museum. “That time spent in playgrounds with the kids is magical,” she says. “You meet other parents, find the best restaurants. Besides, if you want to travel, what other choice do parents have aside from taking their kids?”

Arthur’s take on travel with children is more succinct: “I feel it destroys the trip.”

Still, he recalls taking Pauline on her first voyage, with her mother Hope, in 1965 when she was 4 months old, leading to a family joke that the original guidebooks should have been called “Europe on Five Diapers a Day” instead of dollars. Chitchat before the show includes not just going over the program but also catching up on family news. Pauline mentions her husband’s upcoming bike race and asks what the doctor said about her dad’s cough; he mentions a trip he’s planning to England to take a course on Virginia Woolf at Oxford, and prompts her to retell a story about ziplining with her family in Belize.

Then the show begins. They start with a script they’ve prepared with recent travel news - this week, how the debt crisis in

This May 20, 2012 image shows Arthur Frommer, 83, and his daughter, Pauline Frommer, 46, as they prepare for their radio show at the WOR studios in New York. — AP Greece is affecting tourism and the dramatic drop in prices for Mediterranean cruises. Arthur occasionally rails against things that pique his ire - a $100 baggage fee on Spirit Airlines, the construction of a “phony port city” in the Dominican Republic that he says will line the cruise company’s coffers while keeping visitors from ever having “any contact with a real person.”

Next, they go to the phone lines, with a few questions coming by email or Twitter.

The show’s second hour is carried by some but not all stations, and they usually host an interview or two as well, with experts on subjects ranging from medical tourism to wine trails. Any questions they don’t get to, Pauline responds in writing later. —AP

A visitor looks at furniture of Napoleon Bonaparte during the preview of the exhibition ‘Napoleon: Revolution to Empire’ at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne yesterday. The panoramic exhibition, featuring nearly 300 works examining French†art, culture and life from 1770 to 1820, takes place from tomorrow to October 7. — AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Jennifer Scherer in her new, bigger closet at her home in Paterson, New Jersey, May 17, 2012. Her contractor removed a built-in and took space from another room. —MCT

Tapping in to your hidden space:

Renovations that bypass expansion W

hen it comes to renovation projects, contractors say homeowners often don’t (pardon the pun) think outside the box. Want a closet? You can steal some space from a neighboring room. Want a room? You can repurpose that little-used closet into something more practical. When your contractor takes a peek behind your walls, you might be surprised to find you have usable space you never knew existed. A savvy contractor can often come up with an innovative solution for home design and construction problems. “People sort of get tunnel vision,” says Richard Graniere, owner of Wayne, N.J.-based Advantage Contracting. “They work in the existing space instead of working within the outside perimeters of the house. They get blinded by the walls.”

One of the easiest ways to repurpose space is to take down non-load-bearing walls, and Graniere says most walls in your home are non-load bearing. Even a loadbearing wall can be removed, but it requires support beams to be erected in its place. “You can really open things up,” he says.

The contractor Dominic Mangiarelli recalls the case about four years ago of a woman who asked him to renovate a bathroom, but also talked about how much she wanted more closet space for her five-bedroom colonial in Livingston, N.J. In the process of the renovation, Mangiarelli had to take down a wall between the bathroom and the hallway. In the middle, he discovered a cavity between a chimney and the hallway wall.

“It was small, only about 18 inches by 18 inches, but to her it was a gold mine,”

he says. Mangiarelli carved out the space for a linen closet in that cavity. A custom door for such a small size would be very expensive, but Mangiarelli came up with a novel idea: He used one panel of a bi-fold door. A little paint and spackle and a carpet remnant completed the job.

“She was just as excited about that closet as she was about the weeks of work I put into the bathroom,” Mangiarelli says with a laugh. Since then, Mangiarelli has done the hidden-closet trick at least two more times. About three months ago with a client in Rockaway Township, N.J., he found a tiny space between the bathroom and a hallway landing that was just right for a linen closet that could be accessed from the hallway.

“These happy surprises happen all the time,” Mangiarelli says. “You never know what you’re going to find until you start tearing things out.” Newer homes are much more likely to have hidden spaces, Mangiarelli says. With older homes, craftsmen made sure to use every possible space wisely. “They used every nook and cranny they could find,” he says. “It’s sad to say, but in newer homes they often slapped up walls over spaces because it was quicker, rather than to use all the space they had.”

He recalled another “happy surprise,” when he was working with a Livingston woman on a bathroom renovation. She wanted to get rid of her bathtub to gain some more space and go with just a shower stall.

Mangiarelli advised against it, knowing it would bump down her eventual resale value. Instead, he realized that he could

swipe some space from an L-shaped closet/changing room that abutted the bathroom. “She wasn’t using the space in the closet, and it really helped the bathroom,” he says He kept the tub, added the stall shower and made the client happy. “There are always ways to find space,” he says.

Shelia Manigault could read between the lines of her house. During a large renovation project on her Washington Township, N.J., home, she knew her family no longer needed the walk-in hallway closet upstairs. Instead, Manigault and her contractor, Glen Lumia, owner of Creative Design Construction and Remodeling, decided to turn the space into a computer/homework nook for her kids. One of the closet’s walls abuts the staircase. They decided to cut a window-size hole in that wall to make the space more airy.

“I wanted them to have a little corner to go study and sit on the computer and still not be in their bedrooms,” she says. “I can go up the stairs and see them; it’s like a cozy corner.” Manigault had advice for other homeowners who are considering renovation jobs. “I made a list of my needs first instead of looking at the space first,” she says. “Once I figured out what I needed, then I could figure out where to put it.”

A Glen Rock, N.J., homeowner, Jennifer Scherer, found her hidden space while working with John Wohlberg, owner of JH Renovations of Ridgewood, on the master bedroom. The problem was the closet.

Though it had a handy built-in dresser, it was too small. “There were two racks, one behind the other, and it was impossible to get your clothes,” she says. “My husband kept his clothing in the hallway closet.”

Wohlberg suggested removing the built-in dresser and taking about a foot from a daughter’s bedroom to enlarge the closet. At first, Scherer says, the couple was dubious. “My husband originally wanted to take even more space, but John said it would look funny,” she says. “I couldn’t visualize it, but it turned out to be the perfect size. I didn’t know if it would make her room look awkward, but it actually makes it look more interesting.”

The wall in the girl’s bedroom juts in about a foot and then runs the length of the closet, about eight feet, before doglegging back for the rest of the wall. “It looks like a little nook in her room,” Scherer says. “He put in crown molding and a chair rail around the room, and it all tied together. No one would ever walk into her room and say, ‘What is this?’ You’d never know.” The master bedroom closet is now deep and wide, and has room for all the couple’s clothing. Wohlberg also vaulted the ceiling to give more space and light. “It’s really the perfect size,” she says. Wohlberg says more homeowners are starting to think creatively about their space, thanks to the economy. “Most people are not expanding these days,” he says. “They’re looking to get more space in the space they have.” — MCT

Te c h n o l o g y FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Honey, I shrunk technolo Smartphone avalanche burying computer industry dinosaurs

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he personal computer has dominated modern life for 25 years, but the often bulky devices are increasingly giving way to smaller, lighter smartphones and tablet computers. The whole sector is scrambling to survive the avalanche set off by Apple under its late founder, Steve Jobs.

Technology giant Hewlett-Packard, whose business is still built on personal computers and printers, this week announced it would slash its payroll by 27,000 workers, or 8 percent, by 2014 to eventually save at least 3 billion dollars a year. Managers were admitting to Wall Street that HP’s future was as a smaller company.

The world’s largest PC manufacturer has so far failed to connect with consumer demand for smartphones and tablets - a new technology landscape of slender mobile devices dominated by Silicon Valley’s Apple and South Korea’s Samsung. A world of mobile computing appears to have only a small space left for Hewlett-Packard, as well as PC competitor Dell, which has suffered shrinking sales recently. Both have failed to achieve the innovations to make a successful transition.

As early as 2010, when he launched the iPad, Jobs talked about the “post-PC world.”

Other manufacturers did not take his vision seriously, and they continued to make their big desktop machines and laptops. One of their biggest innovations was to make PCs in colours other than the old “computer grey.”

In time, Jobs was vindicated.

“Today, Apple is reinventing the phone,” he said in 2007, as he launched the iPhone. At the time, it sounded like an exaggeration, but the cellphone with a touch-sensitive screen set new standards for performance and appearance. Above all, the iPhone redefined the industry, because for the first time it brought to the fore not the device but the software it holds: the apps.

At the start of 2010, Jobs dealt a definitive blow to the PC: he launched Apple’s tablet computer, the iPad. With it, the company again achieved a resounding success. Over the past quarter alone, 35 million iPhones have been sold, along with close to 12 million iPads. By comparison, based on the data of market research firm Gartner, 89 million PCs were sold over the same period by all manu-

facturers put together.

PC firms tried to come up with their own tablets, well before Apple did. More than 10 years ago in Las Vegas, Microsoft founder Bill Gates presented his vision of the digital table computer. The smartphone, too, is hardly Jobs’ invention. However, alternative devices were too expensive, inconvenient or just too ugly to become bestsellers.

Now, little is left for PC manufacturers to do but chase Apple and try not to miss the train altogether. Some of them continue to focus, successfully, on the traditional PC market, like the Chinese company Lenovo, whose boss Yang Yuanqing likes to talk of a “PC-plus era.” A big fish like Hewlett-Packard, however, can hardly change overnight. For years, the US giant worked on perfecting its business of selling computers, complementing them with extras like printers and offering services for such equipment. It was a perfect long-term relationship with customers, or so HP managers thought.

HP reached the top of the industry 10 years ago through the expensive purchase of rival PC maker Compaq. Change within the

sector, however, threw them off balance.

Their hardware sales dropped, their software business failed to grow fast enough, payment for acquisitions like security service provider SonicWall was still pending.

Prospects are good once the payroll is reduced, and share prices rose more than 3 per cent Thursday. While Apple is surfing the mobile wave with the iPhone and iPad and setting trends in the notebook computer market with the MacBook, Hewlett-Packard does not even have smartphones and tablets on offer. HP bought the smartphone pioneer Palm in 2010, but the management opted to close the company soon afterward, because it was uncompetitive. —dpa

L e i s u re

C R O S S W O R D

6 9 2

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

To Yester

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

ACROSS

1. A police officer who investigates crimes.

4. (electronics) Of a circuit or device having an output that is proportional to the input.

10. Rare (usually fatal) brain disease (usually in middle age) caused by an unidentified slow virus.

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

14. Eurasian perennial bulbous herbs.

15. The syllable naming the sixth (submediant) note of a major or minor scale in solmization.

16. The sign language used in the United States.

17. Any organic compound containing the group -CONH2.

19. Of surpassing excellence.

21. Thorny shrub or small tree common in central Argentina having small orange or yellow flowers followed by edible berries.

23. (of persons) Highest in rank or authority or office.

26. A public promotion of some product or service.

27. An esoteric or occult matter that is traditionally secret.

30. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

34. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

36. Made from residue of grapes or apples after pressing.

37. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).

38. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

41. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

42. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

46. A city in southern California (southeast of Los Angeles).

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

50. An analytic or interpretive literary composition.

51. Least expensive statin drug (trade name Lescol).

54. Satisfy (thirst).

58. An association of countries in the western hemisphere.

59. Obvious and dull.

62. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

63. A unit of pressure.

64. Without moral standards or principles.

66. The United Nations agency concerned with international maritime activities.

67. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

68. A member of an agricultural people of southern India.

69. A local computer network for communication between computers.

DOWN 1. Worthless material that is discarded.

2. Issue or terminate (in a specified way, state, etc.).

3. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.

4. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers.

5. Lacking sensation.

6. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942).

7. Either of two folds of skin that can be moved to cover or open the eye.

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

9. A rare silvery (usually trivalent) metallic element.

10. Group of people related by blood or marriage.

11. An island in Indonesia south of Borneo.

12. Tropical woody herb with showy yellow flowers and flat pods.

18. A family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in southeastern Asia.

20. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.

22. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing.

24. Considerate and solicitous care.

25. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

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

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

31. (Scotland) A slope or hillside.

32. City in southwestern Colombia in a rich agricultural area.

33. A fraudulent business scheme.

35. (informal) Of the highest quality.

39. Dried bark of the cascara buckthorn used as a laxative.

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

43. Summer cypress.

44. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

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

47. An associate degree in applied science.

48. Type genus of the Hylidae.

52. Situated in or facing or moving toward the east.

53. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.

55. Fleshy and usually brightly colored cover of some seeds that develops from the ovule stalk and partially or entirely envelopes the seed.

56. God of love and erotic desire.

57. Very dark black.

60. A sign of assent or salutation or command.

61. The act of slowing down or falling behind.

65. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily.

Yesterday’s Solution

W h a t ’s O n FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Announcements ‘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.

Free Arabic course IPC is opening an Intensive Basic Arabic Course for ladies commencing from June 3 to July 8, 2012. The class will be from 5-7 pm for three days a week. Registration is on!

For information, call 22512257.

The Nigerian community in Kuwait wishes to congratulate Africans in diaspora for a glamorous ‘Africa Day’ celebration. We wish you good luck in all your endeavors.

Indian Community School interacts with visiting Indian dignitaries

I

ndian Community School (Senior) Salmiya students got a rare opportunity to interact with visiting dignitaries, N Gopalaswamy IAS, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India and V Ponraj, Advisor to former President A P J Abdul Kalam. The event was graced by Ashok Kalra, the Honorary Chairman of ICSK, Board of Trustees, Rajan Daniel, Honorary Secretary, Vijay Karayil, Honorary Joint Secretary of ICSK Board of Trustees, Lamba, Council of Elders, ICSK Board of Trustees and other distinguished Board Members. Ashok Kalra, the Honorary Chairman of ICSK Board of Trustees, in his presidential address gave a kaleidoscopic view on the glory of ICSK. He also mentioned that the Golden Jubilee celebration of school coincided with the State of Kuwait’s 50th year of Independence Day celebrations.

‘Thathwamasi’ of KALA-Kuwait today

T

he 34th year celebrations of KALA-Kuwait ‘Thathwamasi’ is scheduled today at Central School Auditorium. The organizers informed through a press release that the celebration will start with the inaugural meeting at 9.30 am to be followed with colorful displays of different art forms. KALA-Trust Chairman VV Dakshinamoorthy and well known cartoonist Yesudasan are participating as distinguished guests. The free Malayalam education program for the current year also will be inaugurated in the same function.

Open House for Indian Citizens The Ambassador of India will be holding an Open House for Indian citizens to address their problems/grievances on Wednesdays of the second and the fourth week of every month between 1500 hrs and 1600 hrs at 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 India’s Consular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizen 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 labor wing Help Desk functions from 0830 hrs to 1300 hrs and 1400 hrs to 1630 hrs in the Labor Hall to address the labor related issue. There is also a 24X7 Help Line (Tel No. 25674163) to assist labors in distress.

For any unaddressed issues, the concerned Attaches in the labor section and the head of the labor wing could be contacted.

Legal seminar today

T

he PALAKKAD PRAVASI ASSOCAITION OF KUWAIT, the association of Palakkad natives living in Kuwait and ‘INDIAN LAWYERS’ FORUM’ (ILF) are conducting a legal seminar today by 11.00 am at Mangaf - Friends of Kannur (FOKE) Auditorium.

The Legal Seminar will focus on Kuwait New Labor Law, Traffic laws, Indian civil and criminal laws, and all legal related questions from the Indian community present .

The seminar will be addressed by the ILF Advocates. All Indian community members in Kuwait, especially Palpak members, families and friends are cordially invited. For your legal doubts and questions can be send by email to: palpaklegal@gmail.com and it will be answered in the seminar. ‘Indian Lawyer’s Forum’ has 85 Indian lawyers, law graduates and their family members as members. Several of ILF members are working with Kuwaiti law firms and corporations as senior lawyers. For further information please contact, P NKumar - 99771830; Aravindhashan - 66535989; Adv Thomas Panicker 24346934, 97203939; Adv Suresh Pulikkal 97260159.

TV Listings FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

03:30 03:55 04:25 05:20 05:45 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:25 08:15 08:40 09:10 09:35 10:05 11:00 11:55 12:50 13:15 13:45 14:10 14:40 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:25 18:20 19:15 19:40 20:10 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

Snake Crusader With Bruce George Snake Crusader With Bruce George Wildwives Of Savannah Lane Wildlife SOS International Escape To Chimp Eden Wild Africa Rescue Wild Africa Rescue Shamwari: A Wild Life There’s A Rhino In My House!

Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Talk To The Animals Safari Sisters Safari Sisters Wildwives Of Savannah Lane Animal Precinct Animal Cops South Africa Vet On The Loose E-Vets: The Interns Bondi Vet Wildlife SOS International Wildwives Of Savannah Lane Shamwari: A Wild Life Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Growing Up...

Dogs 101 Your Very First Puppy Wildlife SOS International Escape To Chimp Eden Great Ocean Adventures Wildest Africa The Beauty Of Snakes I Was Bitten Last Chance Highway

03:40 10 Years Younger 04:30 The Restaurant UK 05:25 Dolce Vito: Dream Restaurant 05:50 Dolce Vito: Dream Restaurant 06:15 Indian Food Made Easy 06:40 Indian Food Made Easy 07:10 Living In The Sun 07:55 MasterChef Australia 08:40 MasterChef Australia 09:30 Bargain Hunt 10:10 Antiques Roadshow 11:00 Come Dine With Me 11:50 10 Years Younger 12:40 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 13:30 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 14:15 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 15:00 Bargain Hunt 15:50 Antiques Roadshow 16:40 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 17:10 Come Dine With Me 18:00 A Taste Of Greenland 18:50 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 19:20 Rick Stein’s French Odyssey 19:45 James Martin’s Brittany 20:10 10 Years Younger 21:00 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 21:45 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 22:30 Bargain Hunt 23:15 Antiques Roadshow

03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:30 05:55 06:00 06:25 07:00 07:15 07:40 08:05 08:55 09:45 10:10 10:35 11:25 11:50 12:15 13:05 13:30 13:55 14:20 14:45 15:35 16:25 17:15 17:40 18:05 18:30 18:55 19:20 19:45

The Amazing World Of Gumball Ben 10 Adventure Time Powerpuff Girls Generator Rex Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Angelo Rules Casper’s Scare School Eliot Kid The Amazing World Of Gumball Adventure Time Regular Show Grim Adventures Of...

Courage The Cowardly Dog Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Powerpuff Girls Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Ed, Edd n Eddy Ben 10: Alien Force Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders Redakai: Conquer The Kairu Camp Lazlo Powerpuff Girls Angelo Rules Grim Adventures Of...

The Amazing World Of Gumball Adventure Time Regular Show Ben 10 Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge Hero 108 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

20:10 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:00 22:50 23:15 23:40

Courage The Cowardly Dog Ben 10: Alien Force The Powerpuff Girls Cow And Chicken Codename: Kids Next Door Ben 10 Ben 10 Chowder

03:00 Anderson Cooper 360 04:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 05:00 Quest Means Business 05:45 CNN Marketplace Europe 06:00 The Situation Room 07:00 World Sport 07:30 News Special 08:00 World Report 09:00 World Report 10:00 World Sport 10:30 African Voices 11:00 World Business Today 11:45 CNN Marketplace Middle East 12:00 Amanpour 12:30 Talk Asia 13:00 World One 14:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 The Brief 18:30 The Royals 19:00 World Sport 19:30 Inside Africa 20:00 International Desk 21:00 Quest Means Business 21:45 CNN Marketplace Africa 22:00 Amanpour 22:30 CNN Newscenter 23:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson

04:00 Carrie-18 06:00 The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen-PG15

08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

True Justice: Deadly Crossing-PG15 Game Of Death-PG15 Inside Out-PG15 True Justice: Deadly Crossing-PG15 You Got Served-PG15 Inside Out-PG15 Tupac: Resurrection-18 The Siege-18

15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Seinfeld Late Night With Jimmy Fallon New Girl Happy Endings 30 Rock Modern Family

03:00 05:00 PG15 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Dear John-PG15 Tomorrow, When The War Began-

03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00

Mad Love Mr. Sunshine Weird Science The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Seinfeld Dharma And Greg 10 Items Or Less Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Weird Science Mad Love Seinfeld Cougar Town How I Met Your Mother 10 Items Or Less The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Dharma And Greg Weird Science Seinfeld 10 Items Or Less Mr. Sunshine How I Met Your Mother Cougar Town

03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Scandal Pillars Of The Earth Good Morning America The Practice Emmerdale The Martha Stewart Show The View GCB One Tree Hill Live Good Morning America The Practice Castle Fairly Legal Jane By Design Smash The Bachelor Pillars Of The Earth

03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 19:00

One Tree Hill GCB Scandal Pan Am Emmerdale Hot In Cleveland The Protector Scandal One Tree Hill GCB The Chicago Code The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Protector Pan Am The Chicago Code Castle Fairly Legal

Justice For Natalee Holloway-PG15 Dear John-PG15 The Art Of Getting By-PG15 Bangkok Adrenaline-PG15 Bright Star-PG15 Sounds Like Teen Spirit-PG15 The Company Men-PG15 Going The Distance-18 Drag Me To Hell-18

20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Jane By Design Smash The Bachelor Love Bites

03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:15 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

The Final-18 The Daisy Chain-PG15 Behind Enemy Lines-PG15 Long Weekend-PG15 Wild Bill-PG15 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 Long Weekend-PG15 Flight Of The Phoenix-PG15 Kiss Of Death-18 Maximum Risk-18 The Final-18

04:15 The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle-FAM 06:00 The Open Road-PG15 08:00 How To Train Your Dragon-PG 10:00 Sleepover-PG15 12:00 Nothing Like The Holidays-PG15 14:00 The Chaperone-PG15 16:00 Sleepover-PG15 18:00 Leap Year-PG15 20:00 The Legend Of Awesomest Maximus-18 22:00 Made In Dagenham-PG15

03:00 05:00 07:15 09:00 11:30 13:00 15:00 17:30 19:30 21:30 23:30

On The Edge-18 Nine-PG15 The Nutty Professor-FAM 2001: A Space Odyssey-PG15 Skirt Day-PG15 Alabama Moon-PG15 2001: A Space Odyssey-PG15 Grace Of My Heart-PG15 Moonlight And Valentino-PG15 Romeo Is Bleeding-18 The Kid-18

03:00 Zookeeper-PG15 05:00 Inside Job-PG15 07:00 Lottery Ticket-PG15 09:00 Love The Beast-PG 11:00 Zookeeper-PG15 13:00 Rango-FAM 14:45 Love N’ Dancing-PG15 16:30 Love The Beast-PG 18:00 Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son-PG15 20:00 Real Steel-PG15 22:15 Inception-PG15

04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Slappy And The Stinkers-FAM Olentzero Christmas Tale-FAM Flubber-PG Marmaduke-PG Tom Tom & Nana-FAM Slappy And The Stinkers-FAM Scooby-Doo-PG Marmaduke-PG Cars 2-FAM Tom Tom & Nana-FAM

04:00 Lord Of The Dance-PG 06:00 My Last Five Girlfriends-PG15 08:00 Sundays At Tiffany’s-PG15 10:00 Lego: The Adventures Of Clutch Powers-FAM 12:00 Flash Of Genius-PG15 14:00 Wall Street: Money Never SleepsPG15 16:15 Sundays At Tiffany’s-PG15 18:00 Game Change-PG15 20:00 Real Steel-PG15 22:15 Looking For Eric-18

THE SEIGE ON OSN ACTION HD

03:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 04:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 05:00 MSNBC The Last Word W/ Lawrence O’Donnell 06:00 NBC Nightly News 06:35 ABC Nightline 07:00 ABC World News W/ Diane Sawyer 07:30 Live NBC Nightly News 08:00 Live PBS Newshour 09:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 10:00 ABC World News Now 10:30 Live ABC World News Now 11:00 NBC Early Today 11:30 ABC America This Morning

12:00 ABC America This Morning 12:30 Live ABC America This Morning 13:00 Live ABC America This Morning 13:30 MSNBC First Look 14:00 Live NBC Today Show 17:57 Live MSNBC Hardball W/ Chris Matthews 18:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show 19:19 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 20:00 MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 21:00 Live PBS Newshour 22:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir 23:00 MSNBC The Dylan Ratigan Show

06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:30 12:30 14:30 16:30 20:30 21:30

WWE NXT Trans World Sport Volvo Ocean Race Highlights Volvo Ocean Race Highlights Super Rugby Highlights Live Super Rugby Live Super Rugby Super Rugby Live PGA European Tour Trans World Sport Live Super League

03:00 04:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 12:00 14:30 15:30 16:30 17:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

Golfing World Pro 12 Celtic League Futbol Mundial Top 14 Highlights WWE NXT PGA European Tour Live NRL Premiership WWE NXT Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial Super Rugby WWE NXT WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line Super Rugby

04:30 05:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 15:30 16:30 21:00 21:30 23:30

NRL Full Time Triathlon Triathlon World Cup of Pool Golfing World Super Rugby Highlights Trans World Sport Total Rugby Top 14 Highlights Volvo Ocean Race Highlights Futbol Mundial NRL Full Time Live AFL Premiership Golfing World NRL Premiership Top 14 Highlights Live Top 14 Total Rugby

07:00 08:00 08:30 11:30 12:30 14:30 23:00

WWE NXT Mobil 1 The Grid Prizefighter WWE NXT Live NRL Premiership UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC The Ultimate Fighter

03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 23:00

Mounted In Alaska Mounted In Alaska Ancient Aliens Nazi Britain Ax Men Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Ancient Aliens The Sinking Of The Royal Oak Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Ax Men Swamp People Mounted In Alaska Mounted In Alaska The Sinking Of The Royal Oak Ancient Aliens Swamp People Mounted In Alaska Mounted In Alaska The Sinking Of The Royal Oak Ancient Aliens Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Ax Men Egypt’s Lost Rival Queen And Country

Sports FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Kings march past Devils Game One of Stanley Cup finals NEWARK: It doesn’t matter whom Los Angeles Kings face or where they play. East. West. High seed. Low seed. The results haven’t changed this postseason. W after W after W. In becoming their latest victim, the New Jersey Devils quickly learned they are not facing the likes of the Panthers, Flyers or Rangers. Los Angeles is a super team right now and New Jersey needs to pick up its game if it wants any hope of lifting the Stanley Cup. Anze Kopitar scored a spectacular goal on a breakaway with 11:47 left in overtime Wednesday night and the Kings beat the Devils 2-1 in Game One of the Stanley Cup finals.

“It was more of a grinding game tonight,” said Kings forward Justin Williams, who set up Kopitar’s goal with a chip pass from along the boards in center ice. “We realized that early. It’s a team that doesn’t give you much and we’re not expecting to give an inch either. It’s supposed to be hard. Tonight it was.”

And as usual Los Angeles won. It has steamrolled to a 13-2 record in the postseason and it is now three wins from hoisting its first Cup since joining the NHL in 1967-68. The Kings have won all nine of their road games in the playoffs, an NHL record. They are now one win shy of tying the NHL record for postseason road victories in a season.

They have won 11 consecutive road playoff games dating to last season. “I think we’ve outworked teams,” said Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, who made 17 saves. “I think whoever wins this series is going to be the team that outworks the other.”

The winning goal was a perfect example.

Williams fought Devils defenseman Bryce Salvador and forward Dainius Zubrus along the boards in center ice and managed to chip a pass down the middle toward the Devils’ zone. It was somewhat of a prayer.

“I just threw an area pass,” Williams said. “I hoped that he was alone and he was. I’ve played with him a long time. You just kind of feel it. If it wasn’t there, it would have went to nobody. It was a no-lose situation.” Kopitar did everything perfectly on his breakaway. He faked a backhand then put the puck on his forehand and beat a prone Martin Brodeur.

“All losses this time of year are really hard to take because your dream is slowly shutting down,” said Brodeur, who faced 25 shots. “We lost one game, there’s six games left in this series. They need to win three. We need to win four.”

As soon as he rifled the puck into the net,

Kopitar raised his hands and banged himself into the boards, facing the crowd off to Brodeur’s right.

“To put it past a goaltender like Marty,” Kopitar said, “is a good feeling.” The veteran goaltender dejectedly skated off to the locker room as the Kings piled on Kopitar. This is the third straight series in which the Devils have lost the first game.

“I think it was probably the worst game in the playoffs for us,” said Devils leading scorer Ilya Kovalchuk, who was limited to one shot. “Maybe we were a little too nervous before the game started, but it’s all excuses. We’ve got to make

their first Stanley Cup finals since 1993.

Anton Volchenkov tied it late in the second period for New Jersey, the East’s sixth seed. The Devils are now 4-2 in overtime his postseason.

Los Angeles is 3-0 after regulation this spring.

The Devils had two great chances to take the lead early in the third, and for a split second it appeared they went ahead with 16:02 to play in regulation when Zach Parise scored off a wild goal-mouth scramble.

While the horns went off and the fans celebrated, referee Dan O’Halloran quickly waved off the goal. It was reviewed in Toronto and replay clearly showed Parise swept the puck into the

NEWARK: Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar of Slovenia prepares to shoot the puck past New Jersey Devils’ Martin Brodeur for a goal during overtime in Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals. — AP sure we know what we didn’t do right, and be a different team next game.” Game 2 will be played tomorrow in New Jersey.

“We’ll be better on Saturday night. ... I don’t believe we deserved to win tonight, that’s the bottom line and that’s what happened,” Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. “If we had have won, we would have been sneaking one out.”

Fourth-line center Colin Fraser scored in the first period for the Kings, the No. 8 seed in the West who beat the top three teams to get to

net with his hand.

Defenseman Mark Fayne was probably kicking himself six minutes later when he missed a wide-open net from the edge of the crease in what was the Devils’ best period of the night.

“We didn’t deserve to win tonight, and we didn’t,” said Devils veteran Patrik Elias, a member of their Cup-winning teams in 2000 and 2003.

The Kings had their chances, too, with Brodeur making two outstanding saves about

10 seconds apart. He made a stacked-pad save on a one-timer by defenseman Drew Doughty from 30 feet after a drop pass from Mike Richards. A turnover seconds later set up forward Dustin Penner for a shot from the left circle.

The Kings came into the finals after steamrolling Vancouver, St. Louis and Phoenix in just 14 games, and they made the Devils look ordinary in the first 40 minutes, holding them to nine shots.

But a fluke goal by Volchenkov tied the game with 1:12 left in the second. Volchenkov took a shot from the left point that Quick kicked away in front. The puck went airborne, avoided Elias in front and hit off the shoulder of Kings defenseman Slava Voynov before going into the net.

Until then, Fraser’s first career playoff goal was looking like the winner. It was a typical Kings’ goal, created off the forecheck - by the fourth line, no less.

Jordan Nolan checked New Jersey’s Andy Greene behind the Devils’ net, dug out the puck and found Fraser between the circles for a shot that beat Brodeur 9:56 into the game.

The Kings had chances to extend the lead, but Brodeur, who was the difference in the Devils’ victory over the rival Rangers in the conference finals, made three good saves. The best stop by the 40-year-old, three-time Cup winner came on the opening shift of the second, when he blocked Kopitar pointblank on the edge of the crease.

Brodeur also stopped forward Jeff Carter from in close and made a big pad stop on Penner in the second. The Devils were held without a shot for more than 14 minutes of the period before Parise was credited with one on a short-handed attempt in which the puck rolled off his stick into the crease.

Quick, who wasn’t very busy in the first two periods, made his best save with a glove stop on Zubrus from the left circle after a turnover.

However, New Jersey managed to tie it on Volchenkov’s strange goal. The tally came just after Quick got into a tussle with Parise in the crease, and refused to let the Devils’ captain get up after he fell as Parise lost his helmet.

“I think we’re going to have to find another level,” DeBoer said. “We were a little tentative, as was expected for a Stanley Cup final. I think we got better as the game went along, but you have to play 60 minutes against that team. “We have to be better than we were tonight.”— AP

Pietersen retires from ODI cricket LONDON: England batsman Kevin Pietersen has retired from all forms of one-day international cricket with immediate effect, the England and Wales Cricket Board said yesterday.

The 31-year-old, who will continue to play tests, cited the increasing demands of international cricket on his body for his decision to quit onedayers.

“After a great deal of thought and deliberation, I am today announcing my retirement from international one-day cricket,” Pietersen, who has played 127 ODI’s, scoring 4,184 runs at an average of 41.84, said in a statement on the ECB website (www.ecb.co.uk).

“With the intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32, I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the ICC World Cup in 2015.

“I am immensely proud of my achievements in the one-day game, but still wish to be considered for selection for England in test cricket.

Pietersen, who made his ODI debut in 2004, said he would still have been available for England’s Twenty20 world title defence in Sri Lanka in September but ECB selection policy states that any player making himself unavailable for

either of the one-day formats rules himself out of consideration for both.

Hugh Morris, managing director of England Cricket, said he was disappointed. “The ECB is disappointed by the timing of Kevin’s decision less than four months before we defend our ICC World Twenty20 title,” Morris said.

“Kevin is a world-class player and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his efforts and we look forward to his continued contributions to the test match side.”

Pietersen played 36 Twenty20 internationals, scoring 1,176 runs at an average of 37.93. — Reuters

Kevin Pietersen

Sports FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Mariners clobber Rangers

DENVER: Houston Astros starting pitcher Lucas Harrell (left) watches Colorado Rockies’ Michael Cuddyer’s grand slam in the first inning of a baseball game. — AP

Rockies rout Astros 13-5 DENVER: Carlos Gonzalez hit three home runs in his last three at-bats, Michael Cuddyer had a grand slam and Dexter Fowler also homered, leading the Colorado Rockies past the Houston Astros 13-5 on Wednesday night for their third win in a row.

The game was not without some concern for the Rockies, however. Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki left the game in the top of the seventh with what the team said was a strained left groin.

Gonzalez broke a 5-all tie with a solo shot leading off the fifth off Lucas Harrell (4-4). He added a two-run drive off reliever Xavier Cedeno as part of a six-run sixth and then had another solo shot, driving the first offering from David Carpenter into the right field seats in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Christian Friedrich (3-1) allowed five runs on 11 hits in six innings, shaking off a rough third inning in which the Astros scored four runs.

Marlins 5, Nationals 3 At Miami, Giancarlo Stanton hit his 12th home run in May to equal the club record for a single month and the Miami Marlins earned their 20th comeback victory Wednesday night, completing a three-game sweep of the first-place Nationals.

Stanton hit a solo homer in the seventh inning, his 13th this year, and had a two-out RBI single in the first. Josh Johnson (3-3) gave up three runs in six innings and singled home the tying run with his first hit of the year.

Washington’s Chien-Ming Wang (1-1), making his first start of the season, allowed four runs in four-plus innings.

Phillies 10, Mets 6 At New York, pinch-hitter Carlos Ruiz came through with a tying homer in the seventh inning, Jimmy Rollins added a three-run shot and Philadelphia busted loose late to beat the Mets.

Shane Victorino drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth off Jon Rauch (3-4). Ty Wigginton also homered for the Phillies, who improved to 3-6 against the Mets this season.

Lucas Duda went deep twice, including a two-run shot off Lee in the sixth to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. Dillon Gee pitched 6 2-3

effective innings, but the New York bullpen was battered after he left. Antonio Bastardo (2-1) and Jose Contreras each worked a scoreless inning.

Braves 10, Cardinals 7 At Atlanta, Freddie Freeman homered and drove in three runs to help the Braves recover after blowing a five-run lead and beat the Cardinals.

Freeman, who had missed four straight starts because of vision problems, was elated about receiving his new sports glasses before the game. He broke out of slump with three hits: his eighth homer in the first, a run-scoring double in the third and run-scoring single in the eighth.

Jonny Venters (3-2) recorded the last out of the sixth. Craig Kimbrel earned his 15th save. The Braves broke a 5-5 tie with three runs on four hits off Mark Rzepczynski (0-3) in the sixth.

Cubs 8, Padres 6 At Chicago, Darwin Barney hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Cubs a win over San Diego. Barney launched an offering from Dale Thayer (0-1) into the left-center field bleachers to give the Cubs a three-game sweep.

James Russell (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win. Carlos Quentin hit two homers and drove in four runs for the Padres.

He had six extra-base hits and six RBI in the three-game series. Chris Denorfia also hit a two-run homer for San Diego.

Pirates 2, Reds 1 At Pittsburgh, AJ Burnett allowed just two hits over seven innings, Matt Hague delivered a two-run double and the Pirates edged the Reds.

Burnett (4-2) escaped early trouble then cruised, giving up one unearned run while striking out three and walking two to win his third straight start.

Joel Hanrahan worked out of a two-on, one-out jam for his 13th save as the Pirates clinched their first winning May in four years.

Johnny Cueto (5-3) gave up two runs over seven innings, walking four and striking out five while dropping his second straight decision.—AP

ARLINGTON: Justin Smoak hit two three-run homers against his former team and the Seattle Mariners used a pair of early eight-run innings to rout the Texas Rangers for the second straight game, winning 21-8 Wednesday night.

Smoak had three hits to go with his career high for RBIs as Seattle reached double digits in backto-back games against the AL West leaders. Jesus Montero homered among his three hits and drove in four runs, and Kyle Seager had four hits and two RBIs. Every Seattle starter had at least one hit in amassing 20 overall.Dustin Ackley also had a three-run homer in support of former Rangers minor league prospect Blake Beavan (3-4). Rangers starter Derek Holland (4-4) gave up eight hits, eight runs and two walks in 1 2-3 innings. Seattle had lost five in a row before beating Texas 10-3 Tuesday night.

They scored eight runs in the second and third innings en route to scoring the second-most runs in club history, equaling a 21-9 victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Sept. 30, 2000. Coincidentally, that was the same day the Rangers gave up the most runs in club history, a 23-2 loss at Oakland.

White Sox 4, Rays 3 At St. Petersburg, Alexei Ramirez drove in two runs as Chicago extended its best win streak of the season to eight games with a victory over Tampa Bay. Dayan Viciedo had a run-scoring single and Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly to help Chicago take a 3-1 lead in the third. Ramirez made it 4-1 with an RBI double in the fifth.

Luke Scott and Carlos Pena homered for the Rays, who have dropped nine of 13 at home. Tampa Bay right-hander Alex Cobb (2-1) took the loss, allowing four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Nate Jones (3-0) got the win and Addison Reed worked the ninth for his sixth save.

Blue Jays 4, Orioles 1 At Toronto, Edwin Encarnacion hit one of Toronto’s four solo home runs, leading the Blue Jays to a three-game sweep of Baltimore. Rajai Davis, Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus also homered for the Blue Jays. Brandon Morrow suffered a bruised right shin when he was struck by Wilson Betemit’s liner in the seventh, hopping around the mound in pain. X-rays were negative and he is day-to-day.

Morrow (6-3) gave up one run and four hits over 6 1-3 innings. He walked two and struck out eight.

Casey Janssen finished in the ninth for his fifth save in six opportunities. Jason Hammel (6-2) allowed four runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings for the Orioles.

Yankees 6, Angels 5 At Anaheim, Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano homered during New York’s five-run third inning, helping the Yankees end Los Angeles’ eightgame win streak. Raul Ibanez tripled off the center field wall and scored the tiebreaking run on Nick Swisher’s sixth-inning flyout as the Yankees avoided a sweep after wasting a four-run lead.

Mark Trumbo homered in a fourth straight game and drove in three runs for the Angels.

Hisanori Takahashi (0-2) gave up Ibanez’s triple after Ervin Santana yielded six hits and five runs over five innings for the Angels, who hadn’t lost since May 21. Ivan Nova (6-2) worked six-plus innings for New York, allowing eight hits and three walks.

Royals 6, Indians 3 At Cleveland, Kansas City scored its first five runs with two outs in a win over Cleveland. Bruce Chen (4-5) held the Indians scoreless after giving up three runs in the second. Alex Gordon, Johnny Giavotella, Mike Moustakas, Jeff Francoeur and Brayan Pena had run-scoring hits for Kansas City, which has won four of its last six to finish a nine-game road trip at 54. Chen worked the first five innings before Tim Collins, Aaron Crow, Jose Mijares and Jonathan Broxton pitched scoreless ball over the final four.

Broxton earned his 11th save. Jeanmar Gomez (3-4) gave up five runs in five innings for Cleveland.

Twins 4, Athletics 0 At Minneapolis, Francisco Liriano tossed six shutout innings in his return to Minnesota’s rotation, sending Oakland to its eighth straight loss.

Liriano (1-5) retired the last 11 batters he faced and struck out nine, the most this season by any Twins pitcher. He allowed only two walks with a double and two singles against the worst-hitting team in the majors that brought a brutal .212 batting average into the game.

Josh Willingham had an RBI single and a two-run homer, roughly 15 hours after his three-run shot in the ninth gave the Twins a dramatic win the night before. Tyson Ross (2-6) lasted only five innings for the A’s, who have lost 12 of their last 15.

Red Sox 6, Tigers 4 At Boston, David Ortiz and Will Middlebrooks each hit two-run homers, Kevin Youkilis had a solo shot and surging Boston beat Detroit for its 14th win in 19 games. Miguel Cabrera went 4 for 5 with three doubles and drove in a run for Detroit, which has dropped the first three of a four-game series at Fenway Park. Adrian Gonzalez had two doubles for Boston, his second breaking a 4-4 tie in the seventh.

Matt Albers (1-0) gave up a game-tying hit, but retired one batter to get the win. Alfredo Aceves collected his 13th save in 16 chances. Octavio Dotel (1-2) took the loss. — AP

MLB results/standings Kansas City 6, Cleveland 3; Minnesota 4, Oakland 0; Chicago White Sox 4, Tampa Bay 3; Chicago Cubs 8, San Diego 6; Pittsburgh 2, Cincinnati 1; Toronto 4, Baltimore 1; Boston 6, Detroit 4; Atlanta 10, St Louis 7; Miami 5, Washington 3; Philadelphia 10, NY Mets 6; Seattle 21, Texas 8; Colorado 13, Houston 5; NY Yankees 6, LA Angels 5; Arizona 4, San Francisco 1; Milwaukee 6, LA Dodgers 3.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EASTERN DIVISION W L PCT Tampa Bay 29 22 .569 Baltimore 29 22 .569 NY Yankees 27 23 .540 Toronto 27 24 .529 Boston 26 24 .520 CENTRAL DIVISION Chicago White Sox 29 22 .569 Cleveland 27 23 .540 Detroit 23 27 .460 Kansas City 21 28 .429 Minnesota 18 32 .360 WESTERN DIVISION Texas 31 20 .608 LA Angels 26 26 .500 Seattle 23 30 .434 Oakland 22 29 .431 NATIONAL LEAGUE EASTERN DIVISION Washington 29 21 .580 Miami 29 22 .569 NY Mets 28 23 .549 Atlanta 28 24 .538 Philadelphia 27 25 .519 CENTRAL DIVISION Cincinnati 28 22 .560 St. Louis 27 24 .529 Pittsburgh 25 25 .500 Milwaukee 22 28 .440 Houston 22 28 .440 Chicago Cubs 18 32 .360 WESTERN DIVISION LA Dodgers 32 18 .640 San Francisco 27 24 .529 Arizona 23 28 .451 Colorado 20 29 .408 San Diego 17 35 .327

GB 1.5 2 2 .5 1.5 5.5 7 10.5 5.5 9 9

0.5 1.5 2 3 1.5 3 6 6 10 5.5 9.5 11.5

Sports FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Murray limps through, Nadal cruises in Paris

PARIS: Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki celebrates after a point as she plays against Australiaís Jarmila Gajdosova during their Womenís Singles second round tennis match of the French Open.—AFP

Wozniacki sends Jarmila packing PARIS: Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki stayed on course for a Roland Garros showdown with Maria Sharapova yesterday in a quarter of the draw blown wide open by Serena Williams’ shock exit. Wozniacki, seeded nine this year and a quarter-finalist in 2010, breezed past Jarmila Gajdosova 6-1, 6-4 for a sixth win in six meetings against the Australian.

Gajdosova, now at 72 in the world after playing as a seed in Paris 12 months ago, paid a heavy price for her 40 unforced errors on a chilly Philippe Chatrier court.

Denmark’s Wozniacki will face either Kaia Kanepi of Estonia or Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu for a place in the last 16 where she had originally been scheduled to meet Serena Williams. But the great American’s stunning loss to France’s Virginie Razzano on Tuesday has removed the most formidable obstacle preventing a quarter-final between Wozniacki and Sharapova.

Fourth seeded Czech Petra Kvitova coasted into the third round with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Poland’s Urszula Radwanska.

Wimbledon champion Kvitova, who only dropped three games in her opening win over Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty, needed 70 minutes to set up a clash with Russia’s Nina Bratchikova.

The 22-year-old has twice reached the fourth round in Paris, including last year when she was defeated by China’s Li Na and she never looked in trouble yesterday.

She fired 30 winners past the 21-year-old Pole, the younger sister of third seeded Agnieszka Radwanska who had put out Venus Williams on Wednesday.

“She played well, she has good hands and a good touch,” said 22-year-old Kvitova of her 79th-ranked opponent. “But she wasn’t very aggressive so I was able to play my game.”

The first seed to lose yesterday was Russian 16th seed Maria Kirilenko who, under the concerned gaze of ice hockey superstar boyfriend Alex Ovechkin, slumped to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 loss to the Czech Republic’s Klara Zakopalova.

Zakopalova has made the third round for the first time in nine attempts and will face Russian 22nd seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who put out Melinda Czink of Hungary 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, for a place in the last 16. Later yesterday, second seed Sharapova, who didn’t drop a game in her opening win over Romania’s Alexandra Cadantu, takes on Japan’s world number 84 Ayumi Morita.

Defending champion Li Na, the seventh seed, faces France’s Stephanie Foretz Gacon while Razzano goes up against Dutchwoman Aranxta Rus who knocked out Kim Clijsters in the second round in 2011.—AFP

PARIS: Andy Murray and defending champion Rafael Nadal both reached the third round of the French Open yesterday, but their manner of going through could not have been more different.

The British fourth seed defeated Jarkko Nieminen 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2, but he had looked down and out in the first few games of the match as he struggled to shake off back spasms and pain in his left leg.

In stark contrast Nadal took his Roland Garros match record to 47-1 with a straightforward 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 win over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

Elsewhere, fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga completed a 6-2, 46, 6-2, 6-1 win over German qualifier Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in a match interrupted by rain late Wednesday, while sixth seed David Ferrer of Spain coasted past Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

Grimacing in pain and clutching his back and legs, Murray needed medical treatment three times in quick succession as grim-faced coach Ivan Lendl looked on.

But at a set and 4-2 down, Murray suddenly found a new lease of life and a run of seven games in a row in his favour gave him command.

The strained look on his face at the end when Nieminen hit long on match point, however, bore testimony to the concern that he must have for his chances of making it six straight semi-final appearances at Grand Slam tournaments.

“It was fine yesterday, went to bed and woke this morning and couldn’t put weight on my left leg,” Murray said of his injury woes. “At practice it was okay, not great, but okay. But we talked about not playing the match.

“Right at the beginning of the match it wasn’t too bad, then at the changeover at 3-0 it was really sore and was struggling badly.

“Then afer an hour and a half it started to feel a bit better so I just gritted my teeth. “I was a few points from stopping in the middle of the second set.

“I just didn’t really want to stop the match and he made some mistakes and it was his fault for letting me back in the match.” There was no such drama for Nadal.

The Spaniard, who will turn 25 during the tournament, is seeking to win a record seventh French Open title, taking him out of tie for the most wins he currently shares with Bjorn Borg.

His opponent, who had yet to get past the second round at Roland Garros struggled throughout to deal with the heavy top-spin barrage that Nadal fired his way.

Murray’s next opponent in the third round will be Colombian Santiago Giraldo who defeated Australian 25th seed Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 Another South American claycourter to make it through

PARIS: Spain’s Rafael Nadal hits a return to Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin during their men’s Singles 2nd Round tennis match of the French Open tennis tournament.—AFP was 13th seed Juan Monaco of Argentina who stopped Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7/4), 6-0, 7-6 (7/5).

Rising Canadian player Milos Raonic defeated qualifier Jesse Levine 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 meaning that five days into the tournament John Isner is the only surviving American player.

Isner was on court later on Thursday against Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, aiming to reach the third round at Roland Garros for just the second time in his career.—AFP

Heat singe Celtics in OT MIAMI: LeBron James scored 34 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Miami Heat pulled off the biggest playoff comeback in the club’s history to beat the Boston Celtics 115-111 in overtime on Wednesday night.

Dwayne Wade scored 23 points and Mario Chalmers scored 22 for the Heat, who took a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals despite an unbelievable night by Rajon Rondo. The Celtics guard played all 53 minutes and scored 44 points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed eight rebounds.

“This group had resolve,” Wade said of the Celtics. “They came out and played a great game. It was physical early. They brought the game to us. That can’t happen. We used our crowd and the energy to get back into the game and we had to play better.”

Paul Pierce scored 21 points, Kevin Garnett added 18 and Ray Allen 13 for Boston. Rondo finished 16 of 24 from the floor, 10 of 12 from the foul line and

made both his 3-point tries.

“He was absolutely phenomenal,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “Put us, put the whole team at times on his shoulders. ... We had a lot of opportunities to win the game.”

Allen’s 3-pointer with 34.3 seconds left tied the game at 99-all. James missed two shots, first a layup - he got the rebound of his own miss - and then a jumper on the final possession of regulation, and to overtime they went. “We had to do it the tough way,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. Game 3 is today in Boston.

The Heat had come back to win from 14 points down in playoff games twice before, first in Game 6 of the 2006 NBA finals - their title clincher - and again last season against Philadelphia.

And this one was slipping away, more than once. James missed two free throws 21 seconds into overtime, and Miami looked in trouble. But the Heat held on, in a game where they took 47 free throws - 24 by James - to Boston’s 29.

The scoring dossier in overtime began like this: Rondo scored, Heat tied it, Rondo scored, Heat tied it, Rondo scored, Heat tied it.

When Rondo missed a layup - he thought he was fouled, and the Celtics agreed - with 1:33 left, Miami took advantage, with Udonis Haslem getting a dunk to put the Heat up 105-103. And after a turnover on the next Boston possession, Wade drove the lane, hit the deck and watched as his layup bounced on the rim and dropped through.

Garnett stood over Wade and glared, to no avail. Wade hit the free throw, and Miami was up 110-105 with 59.7 seconds left. On a night where the Heat missed 16 free throws - including at least four by James in crucial situations - they would survive.

“Now we’re going home,” Boston’s Mickael Pietrus said. “Our jersey is going to be white. They got two. Fine, good for them. But we’re going home now and you know what that means.”—AP

Sports FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Dutch blank Slovakia in friendly ROTTERDAM: World Cup finalists Netherlands recovered from a loss to Bulgaria to defeat Slovakia 2-0 in an international friendly on Wednesday.

During a lively opening five minutes both teams came close to scoring when Marek Hamsik hit the bar with a

header before Nigel de Jong headed a corner kick just wide. A minutes later, the Dutch opened the scoring when a fine cross from Afellay was deflected behind his own keeper by Kornel Salata. The Dutch had another injury blow, after Joris Mathijsen pulled a

hamstring on Saturday, when playmaker Wesley Sneijder was replaced because of a sore ankle by Rafael van der Vaart. Van der Vaart scored the second goal in the 76th minute after Klaas Jan Huntelaar had been stopped by two defenders. Netherlands will play

their final European championships warmup match on Saturday when they host Northern Ireland.

They play their opening Group B match on June 9 against Denmark.

Germany and Portugal are their other group opponents.—Reuters

Sweden beat Iceland STOCKHOLM: Zlatan Ibrahimovic revelled again in a playmaking role to help Sweden beat Iceland 3-2 in a Euro 2012 warmup in Gothenburg on Wednesday. While coach Erik Hamren will be concerned about conceding two soft goals, he could not fail to be impressed by AC Milan forward Ibrahimovic.

Having orchestrated a 3-1 win against Croatia in February, Ibrahimovic was deployed in a free role again against Iceland and volleyed the opener from the edge of the box after two minutes. With Markus Rosenberg given the task of pulling the Icelandic defence apart with his running, Ibrahimovic was free to roam the length and breadth of the pitch in order to exert his influence.

His economic use of the ball, flicking first-touch passes off either foot, encouraged the home side to a style of play more Spanish “”tiki-taka” than Scandinavian pragmatism.

In the 14th minute he created Sweden’s second goal, chasing down a loose ball before bamboozling a defender and crossing for Ola Toivonen to tap home from close range.

Two goals to the good early on, Sweden looked like they were preparing for a rout but the coach in the away team’s dugout had a point to prove. Iceland coach Lars Lagerback, a Swede, guided Sweden to the finals of five successive tournaments but his careful, conservative style never really won over Swedish fans, and his relationship with the media was frosty at best. Lagerback’s influence was clear to see, however, with Iceland’s diligence getting them back in the game when Kolbeinn Sigthorsson beat Olof Mellberg to reduce the deficit just before the half-hour mark. Hamren will be disappointed by the ease with which defender Mellberg was beaten in the air, something that will surely be noted by England manager Roy Hodgson and striker Andy Carroll ahead of their Euro 2012 meeting in Kiev on June 15.

The slew of halftime substitutions slowed the game down, with the exception of Sweden’s Pontus Wernbloom, who mixed his usual quota of tough tackles with some sprayed passes. It took the introduction of winger Christian Wilhelmsson for Ibrahimovic on the hour to breathe some life back into what had become a pedestrian encounter.

Wilhelmsson’s sleight of foot on the wing ensured Ibrahimovic was not missed, and his efforts were rewarded when he volleyed Sweden’s third in the 78th minute.

Sweden then took their foot off the gas and Hallgrimur Jonasson headed home from a corner with the last touch of the match. Sweden will now face Serbia in a final pre-Euro friendly on June 5 before heading to Kiev, where they will face hosts Ukraine in their opening game on June 11.—Reuters

GOTHENBURG: Iceland’s Rurik Gislasson (left) vies with Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic during the international friendly soccer match.—AP

BERN: Spain’s national football team player Alvaro Arbeloa (left) jumps for the ball during the international friendly football match between Spain and South Korea.—AFP

Spain thrash South Korea BERNE: Striker Fernando Torres, who scraped into Spain’s Euro 2012 squad by the skin of his teeth, celebrated by ending a year-long goal drought for his country in a 4-1 friendly win over South Korea on Wednesday. Torres, complimented by coach Vicente del Bosque afterwards, gave Spain a 11th minute lead although South Korea then gave them a fright when Kim Do-Heong who plays for National Police Agency rifled an equaliser a minute before halftime. A Xabi Alonso penalty and a Santi Cazorla free kick in a four-minute spell early in the second half put Spain back in control and Alvaro Negredo, who like Torres just make the cut, added a fourth.

It was not all plain sailing for the world and European champions as South Korea, themselves warming up for a pair of World Cup qualifiers, exposed some gaps in the Spanish rearguard in the first half. Torres’ place at Euro 2012 next month looked to be in danger when his erratic form for Chelsea and Spain led him to be dropped from the squad for a friendly against Venezuela earlier this year.

But his Champions League semi-final goal for Chelsea against Barcelona, when he broke from his own half to score the goal that made the tie safe for the Premier League side, helped swing the pendulum back in his favour.

Given another chance, Torres looked

sharp from the outset, deflecting Santi Cazorla’s shot just wide after two minutes. The 28-year-old forward put Spain ahead when he got behind the South Korea defence to meet a long Benat cross into the area with a backwards header which flew into the net.

It was his first goal since he hit the target in a 4-0 friendly win over the United States on June 4 last year and the 28th of his international career.

“He is one of those players who brings us speed, draws markers away, never stands still, and gets into positions to receive passes behind the back line,” said Del Bosque, who is without the injured David Villa for the tournament.

“Fernando is very happy to be here, he’s euphoric.”

Spain, still without their contingent of Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao players after they were involved in the King’s Cup final last Friday, completely dominated possession for the next 15 minutes, barely letting South Korea out of their half.

Benat was especially impressive and on Wednesday’s performance can consider himself unlucky to be among the players who missed the cut for Poland and Ukraine.

After the half hour mark, the Koreans began finding gaps in the Spanish defence and, having already caused a couple of scares, levelled just before the

break. Kim was left free on the edge of the area and rifled a 25-metre shot past the helpless Pepe Reina. Spain quickly regained control after Ignacio Monreal’s shot was handled by a defender and Xabi Alonso converted the resulting penalty in the 52nd minute.

Four minutes later, midfielder Santi Cazorla scored with a low free kick which went under the Korean wall.

Negredo, included in the squad at the expense of Valencia’s Roberto Soldado, fired the fourth with an angled shot with 10 minutes left.

Spain, who beat Serbia 2-0 in St Gallen on Saturday, have spent one week training in the Austrian Alps, bringing in several younger players to make up for the absence of the Barcelona contingent.

Del Bosque said it was worthwhile, even though players such as Benat, Soldado and Adrian Lopez had to be cut from the squad.

“We’ve have very good days for training, no injuries, we have great relationships within the group, everyone has been extraordinary,” said Del Bosque.

“This has been more than a mere preparation, we have planted roots for the future with these players.” Spain start the defence of their European crown against Group C rivals Italy on June 10 before also taking on Ireland and Croatia.—Reuters

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Murray limps through, Nadal cruises Page 46

PARIS: Spain’s Rafael Nadal serves to Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin during their men’s Singles second round tennis match of the French Open.—AFP