3rd Jun 2013

CR IP TI ON BS SU

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

Hundreds of Indian workers throng Indian Embassy

www.kuwaittimes.net

RAJAB 24, 1434 AH

Egypt court rules Senate, constitution panel invalid

Ice cream nostalgia brings tears to Syrian refugee eyes

Pacers down Heat to force game seven

NO: 15828

segregation on campuses

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5Panel 7moves40 20 to end sex Committee approves social, civil rights for bedoons

Max 43º Min 29º High Tide 07:38 & 20:16 Low Tide 01:08 & 14:08

By B Izzak

conspiracy theories

Not worth the drama scene

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

W

e have been receiving many photos from the Ministry of Interior lately with updates on the numbers of detained, deported and illegal residents who are currently under investigation. All that is well. The Ministry of Interior is responsible for the security of the country and if anything goes wrong, we will hold them accountable. Of course, it is within their duties to enforce the law and to chase and deport illegal immigrants.

But there is a way of doing this kind of chase.

When I say chase, I do not imagine a cartel of traffickers in Colombia or high-profile FBI agents following suspect terrorists in the United States who threaten the security of the country or the whole world. Our illegal residents are mainly from the Subcontinent - mainly Bangladeshis, Nepalese, Indians, Pakistanis and also guest workers from the Philippines, Egypt and other Arabs. This group could include others from different nationalities too. I do not want to single out any nationality here. They are workers who have paid a lot of money to come here and who were bluffed by iqama traders and were brought to this country on false hopes. According to their standards, the money they spent on visas could be the savings of their life. When they arrive here, they discover the bitter reality - they are on the streets and on their own. They discover that there is no company employer.

Or those who end up in a real company discover that they are mistreated and their salaries are not paid for many months. Many end up sharing a room with 20 other coworkers. They are lost without food and rely on the charity of a few good people who sometimes offer them something. Put yourselves in their shoes. To deport this kind of people, you do not need the armed special squad, some of whom are wearing masks and are armed with batons and pistols. These scenes reminded me of the US military when they were searching for insurgents in private houses and mosques in Iraq. They were kicking the doors with their boots and they were detaining people en masse.

Honestly, when I see the pictures in our media, I feel I am watching CSI or an NYPD kind of series live.

After the raids of illegal residents, the squad starts taking pictures. They show off our big trained officers standing next to the terrified workers and posing with them for photos.

It is not worth the drama scene. Spare the drama for the time when, God forbid, there is a serious event - we are attacked, get infiltrators through our borders or are targeted by a spying network etc.

Ahmadinejad unhurt as copter forced to land TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in northeast Iran yesterday after an unspecified “accident”, the presidency reported, adding that he was unhurt. “The helicopter carrying Dr Ahmadinejad and a number of officials yesterday had an accident, but the pilot managed to land the aircraft safely,” the website president.ir reported, without elaborating. He had been en route to inaugurate a local project in a mountainous region of northeast Iran when the incident occurred. “With God’s help the president and the officials accompanying him were not hurt. After the landing the president inaugurated the project and returned to Tehran by car,” the website added.

Iranian state television showed footage of Ahmadinejad flanked by his ministers and other officials inaugurating the tunnel. It did not give further details of the incident nor specify the make of helicopter. The Islamic republic has been subject to harsh international sanctions over its disputed nuclear program, with spare parts for both military and civilian aircraft affected. — AFP

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber receives a gift from tribal chief Sultan bin Salman bin Hathlain at Hathlain’s diwaniya yesterday. — KUNA (See Page 2)

KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s legal and legislative committee yesterday approved a draft law stipulating to end a 13-year-old law that enforces sex segregation at government and private universities and some schools, a decision that was strongly criticized by Islamists as “disrespectful”. In taking the decision, the committee cited obstacles that hinder the educational process but insisted that girls and boys must be separated in the same classroom.

The segregation law was passed by an Islamist and conservative-dominated Assembly in 1996 and implementation started three years later only at Kuwait University. In 2000, the law was amended to cover private universities and some schools. The law requires that separate classrooms must be allocated for girls and boys at almost all colleges while at the new university at Shadadiya, completely separate campuses must be built for boys and girls. The legal committee’s decision must first be approved by the Assembly and accepted by the government to become effective.

Reactions to the decision came very quick. Islamist MP Khaled Al-Shulaimi strongly criticized the decision, describing it as “disrespectful” and vowed that he and other MPs will not allow it to pass. MP Faisal Al-Kandari, a member of the committee, said he voted against the draft law and added he will oppose it again if it comes up for voting in the Assembly. Former MP Falah Al-Sawwagh accused some members in the Assembly of attempting to transfer “moral corruption” into the society by ending segregation.

The Assembly’s human rights and bedoons committee meanwhile approved in principle two proposals granting more civil and social rights for tens of thousands of stateless people or bedoons. The proposals allow bedoons to get free healthcare and education, obtain birth and death certificates, attest marriage and divorce certificates and also have the right to obtain a driver’s license. Head of the committee MP Khaled Al-Adwah said the two proposals also allow bedoons to get jobs in the private and public sectors and own properties. Adwah said one of the proposals give the government a limited period to deal with and end the nationality issue of bedoons, adding that the initial approval was given in order to allow the committee to meet with the government agency for bedoons.

In another development, secretary of the National Assembly MP Kamel Al-Awadhi yesterday submitted a proposal calling for allowing servicemen in the police and the army to vote in elections. He said that the measure will achieve equality among Kuwaitis. Under the election law, servicemen in the police and the army are not allowed to vote or contest parliamentary or municipal council elections, although members of the national guard are given this right. The government has always maintained that it wants to keep servicemen away from politics by not allowing them to take part in the election process.

Gulf mulls action against Hezbollah Rebels, Hezb clash in Lebanon JEDDAH: Arab states of the Gulf could take measures against the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, openly involved in the Syrian conflict, the head of their sixmember bloc said yesterday. The Gulf Cooperation Council had “decided to look into taking measures against Hezbollah’s interests in the member states,” GCC chief Abdullatif Al-Zayani told reporters at the end of a ministerial meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah. Zayani gave no other details on the nature of the measures or the interests to which he was referring.

Bahraini Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ghanim Al-Buainain said that “nobody could cover up Hezbollah’s actions in regional countries. “It is a terrorist organisation and this is how Gulf states see it,” he added. However, placing Hezbollah on the GCC’s terror list was “a

technical and legal matter that needs to be further studied”. At the opening of the meeting, Buainain had called for “a serious stance and united action to end the attacks on the interests of the Syrian people and giving them the right to choose their political regime.” “We see this today as a clear and flagrant Iranian interference, alongside its ally Hezbollah, in the Syrian crisis using all sorts of weapons and turning Syria into a battle zone that has left thousands of Syrians dead,” he said.

Bahrain, which currently holds the GCC’s rotating presidency, has branded the movement a “terrorist organisation”.

Hezbollah’s men are fighting alongside Syrian government troops in a fierce battle to retake the Syrian town of Qusair from mostly Sunni rebels.

Continued on Page 15

MoI warns sponsors of visit visa violators KUWAIT: Interior Ministry expense and blacklist them from assistant undersecretary for sponsoring any visitors includcitizenship and passports ing first degree family members affairs Maj General Sheikh such as wives, children and parFaisal Nawaf Al-Sabah ents. hailed expatriates who Sheikh Faisal added that the respect residency and visit immigration department was visa laws, be they family, currently reviewing its database tourist or commercial ones. to list expatriates sponsoring He explained these visit violating visitors pending sumvisas have a time limit and moning them to take the aforethat visitors have to leave mentioned legal actions. He said Sheikh Faisal by their expiry to avoid resithe new measures would be dency law violations, for which the immi- accompanied by an awareness campaign gration department will summon spon- addressing expats in various languages sors, question them, make them pay the to make sure they understand them, due fines, deport visitors at their own especially non-Arabic speakers.

Turkey police fire tear gas as protests spread Erdogan rejects ‘dictator’ claims

ANKARA: Demonstrators assist a wounded protestor as they clash with riot police during a demonstration in support of protests in Istanbul and against the Turkish prime minister and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday. — AFP (See Page 9)

ISTANBUL: Turkish police fired tear gas at protesters in Ankara yesterday while thousands of people occupied Istanbul’s main Taksim Square on the third day of mass demonstrations against Turkey’s Islamistrooted government. Interior Minister Muammer Guler said more than 1,700 people had been arrested in the unrest that has spread to 67 cities nationwide, though most have since been released. In Istanbul, a sea of protesters from across Turkey’s political spectrum flooded Taksim a day after police pulled out of the area, waving flags and chanting “Government, Resign!” and “Istanbul is ours, Taksim is ours!”. From a nearby rooftop, a banner

with the words: “Do not surrender” was unfurled.

Taksim has been at the heart of a wave of protests that have spread across the country in the biggest public outcry against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government since it took power in 2002. Rights groups have complained about what they said was a “disgraceful” heavy-handed response by police to the demonstrations while Turkey’s Western allies appealed for restraint. The unrest began as a local outcry against plans to redevelop Gezi Park near Taksim, but after a heavy-handed police response quickly Continued on Page 15

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LOCAL

Amir attends luncheon hosted by tribal chief KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber attended a luncheon in his honor hosted by Sultan bin Salman bin Hathlain, at the latter’s diwaniya yesterday.

“I would like to convey my most sincere expressions of delight over these renewed encounters that continue to bring us together under the banners of familiarity and affection, characterizing the spirit of the united Kuwaiti family, and bolster the path taken by our forefathers,” HH the Amir was quoted in a statement as saying at the event. “We are delighted, after having met our brothers in other areas (of Kuwait), to be meeting you today - my brothers and citizens - on the table of Sultan bin Salman bin Hathlain.” “We need to be aware of the circumstances that surround our nation that require us to be

extremely conscious in order to protect our country from threats - in order for us to be able to overcome all obstacles we might come across in the path to growth and development.

HH the Amir expressed optimism that Kuwait’s “ambitious development goals,” would be met, and the “Kuwait of the present and future” maintained, through “utilizing available capabilities, enhancing and maintaining our national unity and tackling all that may scar” this unity. He also pledged commitment to safeguarding democracy, the constitution, the rule of law and the judicial system of the country.

Later, the host of the event, Bin Hathlain, after welcoming HH the Amir, on behalf of himself and the two Arabian tribes of Al-Ajmi and Yam, and congratulating HH the Crown Prince on

a successful surger y, made several requests, he said, were on behalf of the Kuwaiti people. “We raise to you, Your Highness, the priorities of the Kuwaiti citizen,” he said. These include “raising education standards, as education is the bridge to development, we need actual improvements in healthcare, a solution to the housing issue, an increase to the wages of those retired, a limit to rising prices and a solution to the unemployment crisis affecting our male and female graduates.”

On fur ther issues, he said “ Your Highness, we would like to see the Kuwaiti citizenship granted to all whom deserve it, without haste or delay and a just solution to the problem of those of an undetermined nationality - they have waited too long for the ‘promised dream.’”

The host went on to praise HH the Amir for openness and transparency in his dealings with people in the country, over 300 since the people of Kuwait opted for the Al-Sabah family as their rightful rulers.

This trust is “based on commitment to the constitution, democracy the rule of law, and the judicial system,” he said mirroring the sentiments of HH the Amir.

“We are committed to national unity and discard all notions of sedition and disparity. This is the way of life taken by Kuwaitis since olden times and represents clear evidence of the continued dialogue and coordination between the ruler and those governed.

“We realize you Your Highness are and will always be a father to us all,” he underlined. —KUNA

MoH call center 151: Another success story

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: The Board of Directors for Traffic National Strategy Forum 2010 - 2020 during a meeting.

Kuwait’s traffic strategic forum reviews progress KUWAIT: The Board of Directors for Traffic National Strategy Forum 2010 - 2020 held a meeting to discuss what all has been achieved so far and the areas requiring urgent attention in order to expedite execution.

Among those who were present at the meeting were the Director of Technical Cooperation Administration at State Ministry for Planning Affairs, Lana Aba Eid, the National Director for the project and representative of the Ministry of Interior, Brig. Nasser Mikhaf Al-Enazy, the technical director of the project professor Kim Grew, the UN resident coordinator, Stein Hansen, and projects director Mrs Sahar AlShawwa.

The par ticipants discussed how to expedite the entire project in cooperation with the UN growth program under the umbrella of an agreement signed between Kuwait government, the UN program and the Ministry of Interior. Lana Aba Eid spoke about the importance of the project and the necessity to overcome all obstacles in the way of execution. Brig Al-Enazie quoted the First Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud as saying that he was very much concerned about this project along with State Minister for Planning Dr Rola Dashti and Lt General Abdul Fattah AlAli, Assistant Undersecretary for traffic affairs. He said all cooperation should be extended and all parties must coordinate among themselves and with the ministries to ensure faster execution.

Hansen spoke about the formalities laid down by the UN program for execution of

the project, and emphasized that Kuwait had a typical strategy to deal with the traffic and transport sector which was hailed by the UN General Assembly. This strategy, he said, was compatible with the international plan drafted for the decade 2011 2020 and Kuwait only needed to bring together the efforts being made by all the ministries to expedite the execution.

Professor Grew reviewed the project’s requirements and achievements and also pointed out the work plan of the project for the period 2013 to 2015. He also discussed the ongoing preparations to execute the “Kuwait Smart” phase during 2015 - 2020 and the success of the fifth international workshop to train national cadre connected to traffic in which international experts participated.

He spoke about the eight training workshops held for the Ministry of Interior, Personnel, Ministr y of Public Works, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministr y of Communication, Fire Department, PAAET, Kuwait University, Housing Authority, Kuwait Municipality and others.

He explained that the project would generate many benefits over the next five years if it was executed. The benefits would include a saving of more than KD 9 billion being lost as the negative cost of traffic congestion. It would also save human lives as currently about 140 persons were dying in road accidents and 3000 were being injured. The project would lead to improved road safety, better road designs and smoother traffic movement.

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health is one of the most criticized ministries in Kuwait, thanks especially to the numerous utilities operating under its umbrella. In many cases, people, especially patients, faced problems and had complaints, but they did not know where to go for registering them. In serious cases, usually involving medical mistakes, they went to the police station to file a case and sue the institution legally.

There are many other problems facing patients at polyclinics, hospitals, pharmacies, or other utilities. However, if these problems are not serious enough or if the people facing them do not know where to complain, they will just let go of those.

Therefore, in order to simplify the grievance redressal process for the public, the Ministry of Health had launched a call center - 151 - to receive inquiries, suggestions and complaints from the public, on any issue relating to the Ministry and its utilities, on its hotline. This center works round the clock all days of the week.

Services of the center are available in both

Cabinet mulls Supreme Council for Economy KUWAIT: The Cabinet is examining the proposal of establishing a Supreme Council for Economy that will handle the planning and execution of economic and political strategies in a manner that will help the nation achieve its sustainable development goals, a local daily repor ted yesterday, quoting sources familiar with the issue. The sources, who spoke to Al-Qabas on the condition of anonymity, noted that the cabinet started discussing the proposal more than a year after receiving it from the Union of Investment Companies. “ The proposal is based on pointing out the need for an independent team of economic experts to handle the economic agenda management duties, which are currently too heavy for the Minister of Planning to handle on its own properly,” Al-Qabas reported. The proposal further explains that a Supreme Council for Economy would have more freedom from political pressure and could therefore “focus on long-term reforms, economic policies and sustainable development” instead.

Arabic and English languages.

The center was established a few months ago and has received thousands of calls so far.

“The calls increase during the weekdays, while less people call during the weekend. A majority of calls are complaints rather than suggestions or inquires. Also, most callers register complaints against the public sector and only rarely complain against the private sector,” Sara, an employee of the 151 call center, told the Kuwait Times. The complaints are sent to the directors of the health departments for resolution. “We enter the information in the system, which gets transferred automatically to the Ministry. The department in charge then deals with the complainers to solve their problems. Sometimes, the problem is solved automatically without complainer being contacted. Sometimes the complainers cancel their complaints, so we delete those. We send the complaint in about 30 seconds so it can be solved as soon as possible,” she said. It is also possible to register the complaint again if it was not resolved. “If the problem wasn’t solved and the complainer didn’t receive any response from the Ministry, then he can file his complaint again, and the staff in charge who

neglected the complaint will be punished. We register the complete information of the complainer so we can follow up with him the next day to ensure that his complain was satisfactorily resolved,” explained Sara. “Each employee working in this center receives about 200 calls per week. A majority of calls are from Kuwaitis, but there are also many expats calling. We also deal with the disabled and the elderly people, and we try to simplify the procedure of their medical treatments, such as by finding for them earlier dates for treatment at outpatient clinics, for x-rays and other treatments,” she pointed out.

The call center also provides detailed information about any utility of the Ministry of Health, whether it be a telephone number, timings, addresses, or any other inquiry. In addition, they also provide the names of the visiting doctors to Kuwait in order to make it easier for the patients to book an appointment. “I think that this center is successful and has helped many people resolve their problems with the Ministry. We are happy when we receive feedbacks from people thanking us for our job,” concluded Sara.

18 months’ salary for Kuwaiti retirees seen KUWAIT: The parliament’s financial committee will today discuss proposals to grant a special indemnity to Kuwaitis retiring from public sector posts, similar to financial privileges given to retirees in the oil sector, military, Ministry of Education and Kuwait Airways, a local newspaper reported yesterday quoting a panel member.

MP Ahmad Lari further told Al-Rai that the sum proposed to be paid was equivalent to a full month’s salary for every year in service, a year and a half, and two years, depending upon the case. He added that the committee is likely to agree to grant a sum equivalent to salary for 18 months.

Meanwhile, MP Kamil Al-Awadhi proposed a draft law to allow servicemen in Kuwait to vote in parliament elections.

Currently, members of the Kuwait Army and Police Force are automatically ineligible to vote according to article 3 of the law number 35 of the year 1962 regarding parliament elections. “Depriving the military and police force members of their right to run for parliament or vote violates the constitutional prin-

ciple of equality,” Al-Awadhi argued in a statement published yesterday.

In other news, a parliamentary committee assigned to probe suspected irregularities in two mega government contracts has reportedly recommended that the Jaber Causeway contract be continued, while the contract for establishing the Zoor Power Plant should be scrapped.

According to its investigation report published by Al-Rai yesterday, the panel found that the procedures preceding the signing of the Jaber Causeway contract were correct as the offer “matched the specifications required in the tender’s conditions and requirements.” It added that the tender presented by Hyundai Engineering and Construction saved Kuwait at least KD44 million, given the increased cost of putting up the project for new bidders again in case it was canceled. On the other hand, the report recommended that the Zoor Power Plant’s project be canceled “due to serious violations that led to the waste of billions of dinars of public funds.” —Al-Rai

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LOCAL

Meshal in Kuwait to seek financial support for Gaza KUWAIT: The Hamas political bureau head, Khalid Meshal, arrived in Kuwait on Saturday to hold talks with senior government officials that may include a request for financial aid to the troubled Gaza Strip, a local newspaper reported yesterday, quoting diplomats with knowledge of the case.

The KUNA reported yesterday that Meshal was received by HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah at the Bayan Palace. Al-Qabas reported that the Palestinian politician was on a two-day visit “to hold discussions with the political leadership about the situation in Gaza,

including the difficult humanitarian circumstances there and the mechanism to provide financial support.”

The sources quoted in the report spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide details about the visit.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud received at Bayan Palace Khaled Mishal.

Sheikh Al-Hmoud welcomed Mishal and expressed happiness for his visit, before holding a friendly meeting. The meeting was also attended by the Hawally governor, retired general Abdullah Al-Fares.

FM, finance minister in Saudi

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah yesterday received Hamas political bureau head, Khalid Meshal.— KUNA

JEDDAH: Kuwaitís Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali arrived here yesterday, heading delegations to two Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meetings.

The Kuwaiti ministers were received at the airport by Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdelaziz bin Abdullah,

GCC Secretary General Abdullatif AlZayani, Kuwait Ambassador to Riyadh Sheikh Thamer Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Kuwait Consul in Jeddah Saleh Ali Al-Saqabi. Foreign minister Sheikh Sabah will participate in the 127th session of the GCC Ministerial Council in Riyadh, while minister Al-Shamali will take part in the 96th meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee in Jeddah. — KUNA

Lawyer calls for regular press meetings ‘All are equal when it comes to human dignity, public rights and duties before the law’

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Even as crackdowns continue to check illegal residency or other violations, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor should ensure that regular press conferences, notices and advisories are issued to update the expatriates about the state of affairs.

Making these observations was Atty Labid Abdal, a Kuwaiti lawyer and local columnist, who spoke to the Kuwait Times in regard to the ongoing crackdowns to check illegal residency permits, a move that prompted some people to claim that Kuwait was violating expats’ rights.

Citing the Kuwaiti constitution, Abdal noted the Kuwaiti constitution is very clear and specific on the issue of human rights. The constitution says in its Article 31: “No person shall be arrested, detained, searched, or compelled to reside in a specified place, nor shall the residence of any person or his liberty to choose his place of residence or his liberty of movement be restricted, except in accordance with the provisions of the law. No person shall be subjected to torture or to degrading treatment.”

In addition, Article 29 of the Kuwaiti constitution mentions: “All people are equal in human dignity and in public rights and duties before the law, without distinction to race, origin, language, or religion.”

“The Kuwaiti constitution remains the gold standard that we must follow, a light which leads us in the right direction.

The constitution is there, and enshrined in it are the guarantees to protect individuals. Kuwait is home to expatriate communities and they, too, are also protected under our constitution,” he added.

“Any violations of their rights are against the golden rule and we need to know about it so that these are not abused by the authorities,” he stated. “If they (expats) felt their rights are being violated, they can easily approach their own embassies, seek legal help and can hire lawyers to help them. The companies which employ them should also shield them against any attempt by anyone to trample upon their rights. I don’t know till when the crackdowns will continue, though it could be a temporary phenomenon. So we must continue to demand clarifications and explanations from authorities on the matter,” he added.

Abdal said that the Kuwaiti constitution is very clear and specific about protecting any individual’s rights. “The constitution says that people, not just the citizens of this country, will be protected,” reiterated Atty Abdal.

He, however, explained that there were certain illegal residents who deserved to be deported since some of them violated Kuwaiti laws and committed crimes. But according to Abdal, even those individuals should be protected and should be given an opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law.

“Arresting and deporting expats because they were driving without a valid license or committed grave traffic viola-

KUWAIT: Ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of Nepal to the state of Kuwait Madhuban P Paudel held a reception on Wednesday on the occasion of the National Day of his country at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. It was attended by diplomats and other dignitaries. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

Travel advisory to Kuwait citizens KUWAIT: The Foreign Ministry’s consular department called upon Kuwaiti citizens who plan to spend the summer vacation abroad to check the expiry date of passports and issue visas for destination countries well in advance. A statement issued by the department regarding guidelines for Kuwaitis during the summer vacation stressed on the importance of checking passport expiry dates before departing the country, as passports should be valid for no less than six

months in commitment to laws of some countries.

The statement also stressed on the need to obtain a visa for destination countries that impose visas on Kuwaiti citizens well in advance of travel date, keeping in mind that those traveling to the EU are required to issue visas for first point of entry. The statement highlighted the purpose of the visit should conform with type of visa sought from the embassy, calling upon citizens to abide by foreign cus-

toms’ regulations, issue medical insurance, and avoid traveling with domestic helpers (maids) except when absolutely necessary. Citizens are also urged to avoid traveling to places that are witnessing security instability, and in cases of emergency, they are advised to communicate directly with the diplomatic missions of Kuwait in those countries through the telephone numbers on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website; www. mofa.gov.kw. —KUNA

tions was against the Kuwaiti constitution. The constitution of Kuwait did not permit that. The law is there to protect everyone, whoever they are, and again I say, both citizens and expats alike. We are a civilized society and a responsible community. I just hope that crackdowns will not violate people’s rights and that their dreams for their families will not be shattered because of these ongoing crackdowns,” he added.

“I call upon the government to explain their plans and policy clearly. We also want to know if there are cases filed against people (bogus companies) who brought these people into Kuwait and put us into this mess. These illegal residents did not fall from the sky; they came because there are companies that benefited from them. Are there cases being filed against these people? Please disclose so that the people can know that expatriates are not being singled out. We all have the right to know,” he opined.

“I heard that there are many companies that were already closed down and many were taken to court, many were fined but these are all reports based on hearsay. We want to hear from the ministry itself about all these issues.

We want to know the exact number of deported expatriates.

They must assure us that police were not mixing up the legal and illegal workers,” he added.

Regular crackdowns to track down those with illegal residence have been witnessed in many places in Kuwait since last month, and there has been photographic evidence

attesting to the on-going crackdowns which shows expatriates being rounded off, expats being asked to sit-down with hands up etc. There were photos of long queues before the police stations and some photographs of truckloads of expats filled to capacity. “Photographs perhaps depicted isolated or few incidences but again people should be treated with dignity and in a fair manner,” he argued.

Separate timings for citizens, expats come into effect

By A Saleh KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health yesterday started allocating the morning hours at the Out-Patient Department (OPD) clinics for citizens while the afternoon ones were allocated to expatriates and Bedoons at the Jahra Hospital. Notably, according to MOH decision about assigning separate hours, the new system would continue on an experimental basis for six months at the Jahra Hospital after which the results would be reviewed before a decision is taken to make it applicable to all public hospitals.

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LOCAL

kuwait digest

In my view

Students’ problems are ethical

It’s not fair to London

By Dr Aseel Al-Awadhi

I

By Labeed Abdal

labeed@kuwaittimes.net

T

he shouts in the streets of London from far right protesters - ‘Muslim killers off our streets ‘showed a heightened sense of concern, after two youth brutally killed a 25-year-old British soldier in the south of the city.

The two hacked the young soldier to death in broad daylight, claiming they did so in the name of Islam and as an act of retaliation for killing of Muslims

by British troops in distant countries. Now, such violence is absolutely unfair and against the basic tenets

There is no cause for war against Christians or even Jews; in fact, the heinous act was committed by someone afflicted with total ignorance. The situation needs to be handled with responsibility and not through any reckless response. No one should fall victim to and pay a price for such senseless violence that is the doing of some mentally ill criminals or extremists. of Islam, which is the religion of peace and tolerance.

Many European countries were shocked, just as the UK was, over such an incident and over protesters described Muslims as bombers and killers.

Furthermore, some demonstrators even went on to throw bombs on Islamic cultural centers and small mosques.

To counter a right-wing rally, an anti-fascist group called Unite Against Racism held its own demonstration, signifying a healthy move to combat extremists on both sides. The moderates among the Muslims as well as the Christians must not lose their way as it is most important to identify an enemy during a war.

Moreover, there is no need to act as if we are living lives akin to video games in which players win bonus arsenal after shooting down an enemy.

There is no cause for war against Christians or even Jews; in fact, the heinous act was committed by someone afflicted with total ignorance. The situation needs to be handled with responsibility and not through any reckless response. No one should fall victim to and pay a price for such senseless violence that is the doing of some mentally ill criminals or extremists. London or Paris are not the right battlefields to pour out anger, revenge or misery.

On other hand, countering terrorism is an international responsibility, as is protecting innocent civilians against dangerous attacks. Any vicious crimes taking place anywhere are being blamed upon Islam as if this particular religion is responsible. It is neither logical, nor sensible to do so and simply cannot be tolerated. A country being hit by a dramatic financial crisis or poverty, or anyone’s country of origin being doomed by unemployment as a result of administrative failures or corruption, are factors totally irrelevant to Islam. Religion has nothing to do with this.

Choosing to live in the first world requires that one works hard. In many developed countries, people worked non-stop to build and re-build their countries.

It is an open world and there are domains that are good and peaceful. They welcome people of all persuasions. Surely, killings, betrayal and shameful destruction can have no place in such a world.

kuwait digest

kuwait digest

Demographic balancing

By Yousuf O Mejalhem

T

he government’s policy of pulling the rope from the man who killed his colleague in the Qadsiya police one end and leaving the other end loose is a station. However, it would have been even more apprefailed policy. The government asked the munici- ciable if those involved in the killing of Al-Maimooni or pality custodian with probing how important docu- the attempt on the lives of MPs Hamad Al-Jouan and ments disappeared, but did not investigate who bene- Abdallah Al-Naibair were also prosecuted. The governfitted from these documents vanishing. Another exam- ment may pretend that it was being smart by someple is the way the government is dealing with the times appearing to act against the high and mighty, Manakh financial crisis which but then letting them off the resulted in putting those who in reality. This was There is a sense of deja vu in the hook were worried about their social exactly what happened when standing and fulfilled their government’s functioning when it the Central Bank sent some commitments, leaving others comes to the latest move to restore MPs in the 2009 National who were able to smuggle demographic balance in Kuwait. Council to the public prosetheir money out of Kuwait, or The government is back to the same cution in a case regarding registered their property in the deposits worth “millions,” only tactic - pulling the rope from one to close the case for lack of name of their relatives.

Another example could be end, and letting the other end evidence. cited about the time when the remain loose. It is trying to deport Finally, it is the talk of the government used its legal the marginal laborers, but is not town today that the K-Dow right to send those who deal cancellation row was all checking those who brought them about protecting a former stormed the National Assembly to the public prose- to Kuwait in exchange of large Prime Minister from grilling cution, but gave up the same amounts of money and then aban- by the Popular Bloc and those right when the Kuwait Football doned them on the roads. who benefitted from the canAssociation was stormed. celation of the deal. It says When it came to write off that the honorable leaders in loans, the government rewarded those who had the KPC were punished and the country had to pay availed of the loans but procrastinated when it came to with its public funds as fallout of the cancelled deal. the same people paying off their dues. At the same The idea behind referring the entire DOW to the Public time, it punished those who did not resort to borrow- Prosecution was to mislead the citizens. ing or repaid regularly.

In order to ensure integrity of the country on solid There is a sense of deja vu in the government’s func- grounds, the upcoming government policy must be tioning when it comes to the latest move to restore such that holds all parties accountable and not hold demographic balance in Kuwait. The government is only one side responsible without touching the other. back to the same tactic - pulling the rope from one Rather, we should first bring to account those who end, and letting the other end remain loose. It is trying have traditionally thought that no matter what, they to deport the marginal laborers, but is not checking will always remain safely away from the long arm of the those who brought them to Kuwait in exchange of law. However, if the policy of pulling the rope from one large amounts of money and then abandoned them on side, and leaving the other end loose continues, the the roads. other side will destroy the country.

Officials have called for making the expats bear the Finally, a person may become tired of pulling a rope expense of traffic jams by imposing taxes on them or that is not fixed on the other end, or may lose hope to demanding that vehicles that are more than 10 years ever succeed in tightening the rope. But our vibrant old be banned as most of them are owned by expats. people will not stop exposing the other side, and will However, it did not bother about others who are using not lose hope that one day everyone will be equal in licensed taxis which are owned by high-ranking people the eyes of the law. The ‘one end loose and the other in the Ministry of Interior or in the National Assembly. end being tightened’ policy will continue for long. At They should have been brought to book. least not so long as there is movement of the youth Finally, it was a good move to chase and track down and the wise men on in this country. — Al-Qabas

MOI budget kuwait digest

By Hamad Al-Srayye

V

arious departments of the Ministry of Interior are suffering because of a severe lack of patrol vehicles and equipment. The vehicles currently in service are all worn off and obsolete, and, thus, can hardly carry out their missions. Even the military vehicle maintenance contract remained suspended until the ministry’s financial administration realized how serious the situation was and what all troubles a policeman has to go through when a patrol vehicle breaks down.

Most MoI officers know that the ministry had been returning the surplus amounts, leftover from the budget, back to the finance ministry simply because many departments make budget estimates but the finance department fails to procure for them that money.

Such mistakes have been the reason many projects in various MoI departments had to be halted. Some department managers have been using their personal connections with those in the finance department and succeeding in ensuring that the required sums allocated to certain departments be transferred to theirs before the fiscal year runs out.

The financial department committed two cardinal mistakes this year that proved that if there was one thing that the financial department was unable to do, it was to run the financial and economic affairs of the country. As usual, the financial department wrote to a local automobile agent on March 15 requesting to purchase 400 vehicles (worth KD3 million) as soon as possible so that the purchase could be finalized before the fiscal year ended. However, the automobile agent responded, informing them that the 400 vehicles asked for were not available. Accordingly, the financial department returned KD10 million to the finance ministry as if MoI had completed all its projects and bought all the required equipment. —Al-Anbaa ( Hamad Al-Srayye is a retired Police General.)

American agenda in Gulf

By Ahmad Al-Khateeb

A

few days back, when I was listening to an be peaceful. Personally, and perhaps many others in Arabic language political news bulletin on the the Gulf area also support me, we do not care if a radio, the announcer quoted an American offi- nuclear war breaks out between these two countries. cial as declaring that it was Israel’s right to attack the Each of them has its own defense mechanism and Iranian nuclear reactor if it felt Iran was harboring ability to deal with any emergency. “bad intentions” and may use the reactor for nonBut the main point, and one we care for, is that the peaceful purposes. only one who will lose is ‘Us’. By ‘Us’, I mean the Gulf In the Gulf, we have become used to American offi- States in Iran’s neighborhood, as these will surely be cials making such repeated affected by such a war.

It is clear that America is declarations for more than five It is clear that America is pushing years now. The Arabian Gulf pushing through its repeatthrough its repeated declarations for Area remained particularly ed declarations for some volatile whenever it came to some kind of instability in the kind of instability in the the Iranian reactor case, Arabian Gulf by terrorizing us with Arabian Gulf by terrorizing thanks to such tactics. the specter of “Iranians” on one side, us with the specter of American officials have not and the “Israelis” on the other. The “Iranians” on one side, and hesitated in leveling accusathe “Israelis” on the other. tions at other countries, too, US declaration was akin to giving a The US declaration was akin referring to their allegedly dis- green light to Israel to hit Iran, some- to giving a green light to honest intentions. This is a thing that is not the first time that it Israel to hit Iran, something strange style and something would happen, nor be the last. that is not the first time that certainly not right, considerit would happen, nor be the ing that the US, a super power, last. It is all part of the US policy that aims at raising the stakes in the area and always claims to stick to the truth and evidence.

The US having double standards for two countries, keeping it unstable all the time. All for political aims each owning nuclear reactors, is not doing the right besides economic and strategic reasons, regardless of thing as it is supporting one of them but targeting the negative effect such a policy has on the Gulf the other on the grounds that its intention may not region. — AlRai

still remember the cultural shock I suffered when I first began my career as a Kuwait University professor. I was stunned by the moral deviations dominating the whole society that were, at the same time, socially accepted. I was shocked by the language used in political and religious discourse; language that focuses on ethics, fighting all forms of corruption and focuses on personal conduct that does not harm others but at the same time totally ignores manifestations of real corruption. The decisions of most politicians and lawmakers that are targeted at oppressing freedom were basically motivated by a wish to encourage ethical conduct.

I really found that there was weird contradiction between deeds and words throughout the society; almost schizophrenic contradiction between what people say and what they actually do in their daily and personal life. Since individuals start building up their moral capital at home in their childhood, university students come to campus fully under the influence of such contradictions and immoral conduct.

At a time when many of them criticize co-education and separate auditoriums are allocated for each gender to encourage good ethics and protect the students from moral deviations, there also exists a strange state of contentment in the face of all around atmosphere of cheating, lying, plagiarism and forgery.

Just like those in various government establishments, students use medical excuses to justify repeated absence from classrooms.

Those present literally copy papers to present them as their own. They purchase pre-drafted reports and researches from printing and typing centers all around and just put their own names to it. They are keen on joining certain professors’ groups and sections simply because they allow cheating during tests and still they reject the ‘immoral’ system of co-education. For example, I found out that a religious student who totally rejects liberalism because he believes it leads to moral degradation had been receiving a monthly salary on account of a government job for which he had never shown up for years.

Many other students justify their answers by resorting to Sharea and claim that certain things were ‘Haram’ while the whole answer is copied to the last letter from some online sources that they never mention, which is pure plagiarism. Others may appear accompanied by their parents or other people to meet the professors and beg them to change their grades once the results were out. In other words, they ask the professors to forge the results. One of my students apologized to me saying that she had not known that the aforementioned behavior was morally unacceptable. So, encouraged by their parents, the politicians and their professors, our future generations are experiencing a real moral dilemma. — Al-Jarida

kuwait digest

The long slumber

By Mubarak Al-Hajiri

W

hen US President Barack Obama held out a strong threat against the Baath regime in Damascus against any attempt to use chemical weapons, and sought to draw a red line on the issue, I knew at the time that it was just a bad joke.

President Obama was well aware of the bloody massacres of innocents being committed by those using all kinds of weapons, starting with machine guns, explosives and even Scud missiles. All these atrocities were being committed in clear disregard of and disrespect for the human lives. President Obama knew what was happening on a daily basis but his conscience did not trouble him. The slumber lasted for a long, long time.

What was taken by force will only be reclaimed by force. If Al-Assad Senior had snatched away dignity and freedom from the Syrian people, and committed mass killings while the world was watching - as happened in the case of the infamous Hamah massacre - he should not depend on anyone other than his Creator. We saw

What was taken by force will only be reclaimed by force. If Al-Assad Senior had snatched away dignity and freedom from the Syrian people, and committed mass killings while the world was watching - as happened in the case of the infamous Hamah massacre - he should not depend on anyone other than his Creator. politicians from the West and the East manipulating the issue of unarmed people who were demanding their freedom and human rights, but to whom no one was listening. When they did not find anyone who was ready to hear them out, they resorted to weapons to protect their lives and honor against the regimes’ thugs, backed by “Satan’s Soldiers” who were responsible for spreading their corruption to Lebanon and Syria.

If you look at the life history of President Obama, you will discover that he is a peace dove as he was against the Vietnam War during his youth. It seems that the idea of peace, according to him, is limited to the USA and Israel. Otherwise, how does he explain his wavering policy towards the butcher of Damascus?

And what about him using the internationally banned weapons? It was the US President who used to issue threats if someone crossed that red line. Now that he has crossed lines of every color, what are you waiting for, Mr President, before you make a move? —Al-Rai

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LOCAL

News

in brief

2,400 companies referred to MOI KUWAIT: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor’s assistant undersecretary for labor affairs, Jamal Al-Doussari, said that the Ministry had referred around 2400 companies to the Ministry of Interior for investigations for violating law 6/2010 since the beginning of this year till June 1. The law pertained to work in the private sector. Al-Doussari added that the MSAL teams had inspected many private sector companies to ensure that laborers sponsored by them actually worked in those firms. He stressed that the inspection campaigns resulted in filing 922 work-related citations, 240 for work safety and 15 for labor housing.

Gun Control operation In order to control the number of guns proliferating in Kuwait, the Ministry of Interior launched a campaign against firearms, a local newspaper reported yesterday quoting sources familiar with the case. Code named ‘Gun Control One’, the operation is being carried out by the Criminal Investigations General Department under the directions of First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah. It is being supervised by Undersecretary Assistant for Criminal Investigations Major General Abdulhameed Al-Awadhi. The authorities are relying on secret sources across all governorates and are equipped with warrants to confiscate firearms and ammunitions. “The campaign was launched following a notable increase in shooting incidents, especially during weddings,” said the sources who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity. The campaign began this week, sources said, but they could not confirm whether licensed weapons were also included under the firearm confiscation drive.

Hundreds of Indian workers throng Indian embassy Panicky expats seek info on arrested

By Sajeev K Peter KUWAIT: Hundreds of panic-stricken Indian expat workers gathered on the Indian embassy premises yesterday seeking the embassy’s help in securing either release or information of people who were arrested during a raid in Bneid AlGar last week. The workers numbering over 300 and residing mainly in Bneid AlGar complained to the embassy that hundreds of people were arrested during the raid last week in the Capital governorate as part of the ongoing crackdown on illegal residents in the country. They complained to the embassy officials that there was no information about them after the arrest. “It is not fair. We are not illegal residents. We have valid residencies. Still, many of us were arrested,” said a worker on condition of anonymity, who hailed from the state of Rajasthan in India.

Ac ting Ambassador Vidhu P Nair informed Kuwait Times that he spoke to the people and held separate talks with their representatives in his office. The act-

Fraudster wanted in US held in Kuwait KUWAIT: Interpol officers in Kuwait arrested a United States citizen wanted for frauds committed in her home country. According to a security source privy to the case, the woman came to Kuwait on a visitor’s visa in 2011, but has been since living illegally in Al-Mahboula.

After even the American army led efforts failed to track her down, the US Embassy officials reportedly contacted the Criminal Investigations General Department to follow up on the case. The woman was arrested on Friday night after a week-long monitoring during which officers waited for the right moment for the suspect to let her guard down. The woman, around forty years of age, is held pending extradition procedures.

Egyptian held Meanwhile, Interpol officers also arrested an Egyptian man wanted for a murder committed in his home country. An operation to arrest the man went underway after Interpol detectives were able to identify a Khaitan resident as the person mentioned in an arrest warrant forwarded by Egyptian authorities to the International Police. The man put up strong resistance but was arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigations General Department building for investigations. He is being held pending the arrival of a team from the Egyptian Interpol to handle the extradition procedures. (Rai) Prostitute in custody Criminal investigators arrested a woman who came to Kuwait for a visit after many people signed up online to avail of her services as a prostitute. Investigations went underway after Criminal Investigations General Department officers received information about a British woman staying temporarily in Kuwait offering prostitution activities for KD1500 a night. Detectives identified the suspect and found out that she was a British national of Jamaican decent and offered sexual services that people can sign up for from any place around the world. The woman was arrested after agents lured her into a trap, and admitted her purpose in coming to Kuwait. She admitted that she charged KD150 for a massage session, KD500

for spending two hours with a customer, and KD1500 for spending a night with a customer. She was referred to the proper authorities for further action.

Four gays held Four people were arrested late Friday night along a road south of the country and taken in custody on homosexuality charges. Moral police detectives were on a mission near the chalets located south of the country when they stopped four women going on foot. They soon discovered that the four were in fact cross-dressed men, wearing makeup. The four explained during investigations that they used to spend every weekend at a chalet owned by the family of one of them. They said they could enjoy this way some ‘freedom away from social restrictions’. The four were referred to the proper authorities for further action.

Suicide bid foild A man who tried to commit suicide was hospitalized in a serious condition in Farwaniya recently. Police and paramedics reached a public place where the man was seen slashing his wrist. The man, who was in his forties, was rushed to the Farwaniya Hospital and admitted to its intensive care unit. Preliminary tests indicated that the man could have been under the influence of drugs at the time. A case was filed for investigations.

Search for thieves Five people pulled off a robbery at a construction company’s site after gaining entry while impersonating as police officers.

According to a report filed by the complainants at the Jahra police station, the suspects forced their way into the site located near the Jal Al-Zoor road, north of the country, after flashing IDs, ostensibly issued by the Interior Ministry, to the gatekeeper. The suspects handcuffed the gatekeeper and two Asian nationals working near the engines located at the site, and then entered the security room and stole keys of eight cars, an electric cable and a number of cell phones, at knifepoint. They then escaped using two vehicles stolen from the scene. Investigations were on.

Municipality begins summer campaign

By Hanan Al-Sadoun KUWAIT: The Director of Capital governorate municipality, Eng. Falah AlShimmary, said that the summer program for inspections has started and will cover different sectors like foodstuff sellers, including vendors, cleaning, those peddling their wares or services on the sides of the roads, and advertisements found in violation of municipality norms.

He underlined the importance of actively inspecting various sectors to check such violations, particularly through field inspection tours, especially to ensure that only those foodstuff related items were sold that were health-friendly.

Al-Shimmary said that the municipality was very much concerned about implementing the norms about goods, whether stored or exhibited for sale. By carrying out repeated field trips, the shop owners would know that they are subject to inspections and will thus abide by the rules.

He said the first round of inspections at the stores and restaurants in the Al-Rai area

resulted in inspectors confiscating large quantities of vegetables and “Falafel” mixture which was found rotten but was kept for sale in a restaurant. It was destroyed by municipality officials and a report to that effect was prepared.

Chairman of the Al-Rai market Hamad Al-Hussaini, who headed the campaign team, said 80 cartons of green peppers, 20 cartons of brinjals, and 50 kilograms of tomatoes and five kilograms of parsley were confiscated as it did not seem fit for human consumption.

The above materials were destroyed and a report about it was prepared. Two citations were handed out for exhibiting and selling spoiled food items and lack of hygiene as the restaurant floor was not found clean. In addition, a water filter and a meat mincing machine were found in a state of rust. Al-Hussaini called upon the shop owners and outlets selling foodstuff to abide by municipality rules to avoid any legal action against them. He said the safety of consumers comes first for municipal authorities.

ing ambassador is scheduled to meet with the consular director at the Kuwait Foreign Ministry at 11am today. “In this

case, the embassy has certain limitations.

However, I will take up their case also during my meeting today,” he said.

KUWAIT: Acting Ambassador Vidhu P Nair talking to the Indian workers on the Indian embassy premises yesterday.

Nair said the embassy is unable to give an exac t number of I ndians being deported so far as it is not provided by the authorities. “Our assessment is based on the number of emergency certificates (out-passes) being issued by us to the people without passports,” he said. He said the embassy has requested the authorities to provide it with required information on people being arrested and deported. The acting ambassador informed that embassy officials visited detained Indians at deportation centers yesterday. The embassy is also in constant touch with foreign ministry officials in New Delhi. According to the present residency law in Kuwait, people who enter the country on Article 20 visas are permitted to work only under their sponsors. Many sponsors allegedly take an amount ranging from KD 500 to KD 700 per visa as their fee. In several cases, the sponsors do not offer jobs to the expats, compelling them to find jobs elsewhere.

In certain cases, the sponsors abandon the workers after a year or two, leaving them in the lurch.

Scores injured in road accidents

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A car accident at Boubyan Island resulted in a broken left hand of a 42-year-old Philippine expat. A helicopter was called to take the patient from the accident site to Jahra Hospital. The other party in the accident was taken to hospital by a private car.A car accident at King Fahad Road near Sabah Al-Salem Bridge, resulted in a twisted left leg and back injury of a 22- year-old Kuwaiti man. He was taken to military hospital. A car accident between Mubarak Al-Kabeer and Al-Qurain broke the left hand of a 42-year-old Kuwaiti woman, who was then taken to Al-Adan

Hospital.

A motorcycle accident between Subhan graveyard and Al-Dhahr area caused an injury in the left leg and pain in the back of a 29-year-old Egyptian expat, who was taken to Al-Adan Hospital. A car accident at Al-Fintas block 4, resulted in a broken left thigh bone, along with injury in the left hand, of a 27-year-old Syrian expat. He was taken to Al-Adan Hospital. A 25year-old Lebanese woman was hit by a car at Sadiq roundabout in Hawally. She got multiple injuries and was taken to Mubarak Hospital.

Another 29-year-old Kuwaiti man was hit by a passing car at Sharq, opposite Al-Khaleejia building. He was injured in the head and was taken to

Al-Amiri Hospital.

Bahraini teen hurt in fight A fight broke out at Fahaheel near Al-Zahra Club, causing multiple injuries to a 14-year-old Bahraini teenager. He was taken to Al-Adan Hospital. Another fight took place at Al-Hasawi near the fire station roundabout, resulting in multiple injuries for a 21-year-old Syrian expat, who was then taken to Farwaniya Hospital.

Another fight at Mangaf near Sultan Center resulted in an injured hand of a 61-year-old Egyptian expat and facial injury for 41-year-old Bengali expat. Both were taken to Al-Adan Hospital.

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LOCAL

Building strategic trust for peace, cooperation and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region

By Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the 12th Shangri-La Dialogue (Singapore, May 31 2013)

S

ince its inception 12 years ago, the Shangri-La Dialogue has truly become one of the most substantive and meaningful security dialogues in the region. I do believe that the full presence of government officials, military leaders, prestigious scholars and all distinguished delegates at this forum reflects the interest and the efforts to jointly preserve peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region in the context of a dynamically changing world.

While languages and expressions might differ, I am sure we all agree that without trust, there would be no success and harder work asks for bigger trust. In Viet Nam, there is a saying that ‘if trust is lost, all is lost.’ Trust is the beginning of all friendships and cooperation, the remedy that works to prevent calculations that could risk conflicts. Trust must be treasured and nurtured constantly by concrete, consistent actions and, most importantly, with a sincere attitude.

In the 20th century, Southeast Asia in particular and the Asia-Pacific in general were once fierce battlefields and deeply divided for decades. It might be said that the entire region ever thirsts for peace. To have the peace, development and prosperity, it is a must to build and consolidate strategic trust. In other words, we need to build strategic trust for peace, cooperation and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific. That is what I wish to share with you at this forum.

Lokking ahead To begin with, Viet Nam has a profound confidence in the bright future of the region that we are living in. Yet the trend of increased engagement and competition, particularly by big powers not only offers positive elements but also involves negative risks that require us to take initiative and work together to prevent.

The Asia-Pacific region now enjoys dynamic development and is home to the three biggest economies of the world. Here, the trend of multilayer and multi-sector cooperation and linkages is evolving vigorously and becomes the prevailing one of the day. This is quite a promising prospect for us all. However, looking back at the full picture of the region in the past years, we cannot fail to be concerned over the simmering challenges to peace and security.

Competition and engagement are by themselves normal facts in the course of development cooperation. Yet if such competition and engagement embrace calculations only in one’s own interest, inequality, disrespect of international law and lack of transparency, then strategic trust could not be reinforced, and there could be a chance for the rise of division, suspicion and the risk of mutual containment, thus adversely affecting peace, cooperation and development.

The unpredictable developments in the Korean Peninsula, territorial, maritime and island and natural resources disputes from the East China Sea to the East Sea (South China Sea) that are evolving with much complexity, threatening regional peace and security, firstly maritime security and safety as well as the freedom of navigation, have indeed caused deep concerns to the international community. Somewhere in the region, there have emerged preferences for unilateral might, groundless claims, and actions that run counter to international law and stem from imposition and power politics. I would like to draw your further attention to the fact that maritime transport and communications are growing in scale and having a much greater significance. It is projected that three fourths of

global trade in the 21st century will be made via maritime routes and two thirds of that will be shipped across the East Sea. A single irresponsible action or instigation of conflict could well lead to the interruption of such huge trade flow, thus causing unforeseeable consequences not only to regional economies but also to the entire world.

In the mean time, the threats of religious and ethnic conflicts, egoistic nationalism, secessionism, violence, terrorism, cyber security, etc. are still very much present. Global challenges like climate change, sea level rise, pandemics or water resources and the interests of upstream and downstream riparian countries of major rivers, etc. have become ever more acute. In such a context, we could realize that such challenges and risks of conflict are not to be underestimated. We all understand that if this region falls into instability and especially, armed conflicts, there will be neither winner nor loser. Rather, all will lose. Suffice it to say, therefore, that working together to build and reinforce strategic trust for peace, cooperation and prosperity in the region is the shared interest of us all.

Trust Secondly, to build strategic trust, we need to abide ourselves by international, uphold the responsibilities of nations, especially of major powers, and improve the efficiency of multilateral security cooperation mechanisms. In the world history, many nations have suffered from irreparable losses when they fell victim to power politics, conflicts and wars. In today’s civilized world, the UN Charter, international law and the universal principles and norms serve as the entire mankind’s common values that must be respected. This also represents the precondition for strategic trust building.

Each state should always be a responsible stakeholder in the pursuit of common peace and security. Countries, either big or small, must build their relations on the basis of equality and mutual respect and at a higher level, on mutual strategic trust. Big states have a greater role to play and can contribute more but also shoulder bigger responsibilities in the cultivation and consolidation of such strategic trust. Besides, when it comes to the right voices and beneficial initiatives it does not matter whether they come from big or small countries. The principles of cooperation, equal and open dialogue in ASEAN and other forums advocated by ASEAN as well as this Shangri-La Dialogue are born from and maintained on such mindset.

I fully share the views of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia who said last year at this forum that small and medium countries could help lock major powers into a durable regional architecture. I also agree with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on what he said in a speech in Beijing last September that a reliable and responsible cooperation between the United States and China would positively contribute to the common interest of the region.

We all understand that the Asia-Pacific has sufficient room for all intra- and extra-regional countries to work together and share their interests.

The future of the Asia-Pacific has been and will continue to be shaped by the roles and interactions by all countries in the region and the world, particularly by the major powers and certainly, by the indispensable role of ASEAN. I believe that no regional country would oppose the strategic engagement of extra-regional powers if such engagement aims to enhance cooperation for peace, stability and development. We could expect more in the roles played by major powers, particularly the United States and China, the two powers having the biggest

roles in and responsibilities to the future of their own as well as that of the region and the world.

What important is that such expectation should be reinforced by strategic trust and such strategic trust must be reflected by concrete and constructive actions of these two nations.

We attach special attention to the roles played by a strongly rising China and the United States - a Pacific power. We expect and would support the United States and China once their strategies and actions conform to international law, respect the independence and sovereignty

Nguyen Tan Dung of nations, not only bringing about benefits to themselves but also contributing practically to our common peace, cooperation and prosperity.

What I want to further underline is that the existing regional cooperation mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meetings Plus (ADMM+) as well as this ShangriLa Dialogue offer the opportunities to foster multilateral security cooperation and find solutions to the arising challenges. Yet it could be said that what is still missing, or at least still insufficient, is the strategic trust in the implementation of those arrangements. The first and foremost important thing is to build a mutual trust in confronting challenges and their impacts, and in enhancing concrete, practical, multi-layer and multi-sector cooperation within both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

Once there is sufficient strategic trust, we could advance and expand cooperation and find solutions to any problem, even the most sensitive and difficult one.

Unity Thirdly, when talking about peace, cooperation and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific, we cannot help but mention an ASEAN of unity and consensus, playing its central role in many multilateral cooperation forums.

It was hard to believe that a South East Asia once divided and embedded in conflicts during the Cold War could become a community of nations united in diversity and playing a central role in an evolving regional architecture like ASEAN today. The participation of Viet Nam in ASEAN in 1995 marked a new era of development in ASEAN towards building a common house for all South East Asian nations true to its name. The success of ASEAN is the fruit of a long persevering process to build trust, nurture the culture of dialogue and cooperation, and cultivate the sense of responsibility to the shared destiny of South East Asian nations. ASEAN is proud to be an example for the principle of consensus and mutual trust in the making of its own decisions. That principle is the foundation

for equality among the member states, whether it is Indonesia with nearly a fourth of a billion people or Brunei Darussalam with less than half a million. That principle also constitutes the foundation for extra-regional countries to place their trust in ASEAN as an ‘honest broker’ in guiding regional cooperation arrangements such as ARF, ADMM+, EAS, etc. With a mindset of shared interests rather than that of a win-lose one, the enlargement of the East Asia Summit (EAS) to include Russia and the United States, the ADMM+ process that was put into reality in Viet Nam in 2010, and the success of EAS, ARF, ADMM in the years that follow have further consolidated the ground for a regional architecture in which ASEAN plays the central role, bringing about trust in the multilateral security cooperation in the region.

I also wish to refer to Myanmar as a vivid example of the outcome of the perseverance to dialogue on the basis of building and reinforcing trust, respecting the legitimate interests of each other, which helps open up a bright future not only for Myanmar but also for our whole region.

There have been profound lessons about the fundamentality of ASEAN’s consensus and unity in maintaining equal and mutually beneficial relations with partner countries and maximising its proactive role in handling strategic issues of the region. ASEAN will only be strong and able to build on its role when it is a united block. An ASEAN with no unity will by itself, lose its stand and will not be in the interest of any country, even ASEAN member states or its partners. We need an ASEAN united and strong, cooperating effectively with all countries to nurture peace and prosperity in the region, not an ASEAN in which member states are forced to take side with one country or the other for the individual benefit of their own in the relations with big powers. We have the responsibility to multiply trust in the settlement of problems, enhance cooperation for mutual benefit, combine harmoniously our national interest with that of other nations and of the whole region.

Viet Nam and other ASEAN members always look forward to other countries, particularly the major powers, for the support to the AEAN Community’s central role, its principle of consensus and unity.

Back to the issue of the East Sea, ASEAN and China have travelled a long way with no less difficulty to come to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) adopted during the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in 2002. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the DOC, ASEAN and China have agreed to work towards a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC). ASEAN and China need to uphold their responsibilities, mutually reinforce strategic trust, first and foremost by strictly implementing the DOC and doubling efforts to formulate a COC that conforms to international law and in particular, the 1982 UNCLOS. We believe that ASEAN and its partners can work together to develop a feasible mechanism that could guarantee maritime security and safety and freedom of navigation in the region. In so doing, we will not only help ensure maritime security and safety, and freedom of navigation, and create conditions for the settlement of disputes but will also assert the fundamental principles in maintaining peace, enhancing development cooperation in the contemporary world.

As for non-traditional security and other challenges including water resources security on the common rivers, by building strategic trust, enhancing cooperation in harmonizing national interests with common interests, I believe that we will able to achieve successes, thus making

practical contributions to peace, cooperation and development in the region.

Throughout her thousands of years of history, Viet Nam has suffered numerous pains and losses due to wars. Viet Nam always aspires to peace and to contributing to the consolidation of peace and enhancement of friendship and development cooperation in the region and the world. To have a genuine and lasting peace, the independence and sovereignty of any country, whether large or small, must be respected.

Differences in interests, culture, etc. must be subject to open dialogues in a constructive spirit of mutual understanding and mutual respect.

We do not forget the past but need to put it behind to look forward to the future. With the tradition of offering friendship and hospitality, Viet Nam always desires to work with its partners to build and reinforce strategic trust for peace, cooperation and development on the basis of the principle of respect for independence, sovereignty, equality and mutual benefit.

Viet Nam persists with the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of external relations, being a friend and reliable partner to all nations, and a responsible member of the international community. Viet Nam has spared no efforts to deepen relations with countries from all continents and established strategic partnerships, comprehensive partnerships with many. It is our desire to establish strategic partnerships with all the permanent members of the UN Security Council once the principles of independence, sovereignty, non-interference in the internal affairs of each other, mutual respect, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation are committed and seriously implemented.

At this prestigious forum, I have the honour to inform that Viet Nam has decided to participate in UN peacekeeping operations, first and foremost in such areas as military engineering, military medicine and military observation. Viet Nam’s defence policy is that of peace and selfdefence. Viet Nam will not be a military ally to any country and will not allow any country to set up military bases in Viet Nam. Viet Nam will not ally itself with any country to counter another. In the past years, sustained high economic growth has enabled Viet Nam to increase its national defence budget at a reasonable level but lower than that of economic growth. Viet Nam’s army modernisation is only for self-defence and the safeguard of our legitimate interests. It does not, in any way target any other country. With regard to the present threats and challenges to regional security such as the Korean Peninsula, the East China Sea and the East Sea, etc., Viet Nam perseveres to the principle of peaceful dispute settlement on the basis of international law, respecting the independence, sovereignty and the legitimate interests of each other. All parties concerned need to exercise self-restraint and must not resort to force or threat to use force. Once again, Viet Nam reiterates its compliance with the ASEAN Six-point Statement on the East Sea and will do its utmost to work together with ASEAN and China to seriously observe the DOC and soon arrive at the COC. Viet Nam asserts and will protect its legitimate rights and interests in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Peace, cooperation and development represent the interest, the ardent aspirations and the common future of all countries and peoples. In the open spirit of the Shangri-La Dialogue, I would call upon you all to join hands and make concrete actions to build and reinforce strategic trust for an Asia-Pacific region of peace, cooperation and prosperity.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

No casualties in ‘Shdadeyah’ fire: KU Rector

KUWAIT: Kuwait University Rector Abdullatif Al-Bader during a field trip to Sabah AlSalem University City in Shdadeyah during which he inspected the damage caused by the fire. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The large fire which broke out on Saturday at the construction site of the new Kuwait University campus in “Shdadeyah” did not result in any casualties, officials reiterated. Kuwait University Rector Abdullatif Al-Bader added in press remarks yesterday that Kuwait Fire Services Directorate had immediately responded to the notice of the fire breaking out at the site and managed to put out the flames in record time, considering the magnitude of the incident.

The rector made the press remarks following a field trip to Sabah Al-Salem University City in Shdadeyah, during which he inspected the damage caused by the fire.

The fire took place first in the construction site of the college of arts/women campus, and the wind caused the fire to expand and reach the college of education/women campus as well. Construction workers were not on duty at the time of the incident, in conformity with a Kuwaiti labor law which bans such work in open areas from 11 am till 4 am, he stated.

The infrastructure at other colleges in the university was not damaged. The project of Sabah Al-Salem University City is on-schedule to date, he stressed, and the construction teams would now spare no effort to minimize the impact of the fire on overall progress. The official stressed representatives from the KU project would meet with Fire Services Directorate officials to look into and ascertain the causes behind the blaze and assess damage.

Once causes are known without doubt, all would be relayed through official media and all those responsible shall be held accountable, he stressed. —KUNA

Dr Kazem Behbehani, Director General of Dasman Diabetes Institute with Dr Bahareh Azizi, Director of Business Development and Communication and Mathew Tueller, Ambassador of USA to Kuwait.

Dasman Diabetes Institute holds end of year ceremony KUWAIT: The Dasman Diabetes Institute, which was established by Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, held an end of year ceremony in the presence of the US Ambassador Matthew Tueller, and Dr Kazem Behbehani, Director General of Dasman Diabetes Institute, to celebrate the success of the “Let’s Get Healthy Today, Kuwait” program.

The program, supported by the State Department’s Fund for Innovation in Public Diplomacy, initially aimed to host 16 schools from various governorates across Kuwait to attend a range of workshops with the goal of promoting healthy living and ultimately contributing towards the prevention of noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes.

The children rotated through a diabetes talk, kite-flying session, Wii games, “move for your health” gym session, “becoming your own chef” cooking session, and a nutrition talk. Due to high demand, 47 sessions were held, covering 33 schools across all 6 governorates of Kuwait, with plans to continue again in the new academic year.

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

Torrential rains lash central Europe

Iran’s Arak reactor looms into Israeli, Western view Page 8

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CAIRO: Art students from the University of Helwan study outside their university for their final year exams in the Zamalek neighborhood of Cairo yesterday. — AP

Egypt parliament ruled illegal Upper house to stay on until elections CAIRO: Egypt’s top court ruled yesterday that parliament’s Muslim Brotherhood-led upper house was illegal but could stay on until elections, dealing the Islamists a moral blow but letting them keep their grip on lawmaking for now. The decision resolves an area of legal uncertainty hanging over a political transition repeatedly upset by the courts. The ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court upheld the upper house’s right, as set out in a new constitution, to legislate in the absence of a lower house. That chamber was dissolved last June following a similar legal challenge. Dates for new elections have yet to be set.

The upper house, elected as a consultative assembly on a 7 percent turnout, has angered the opposition by broaching areas of controversy since it assumed legislative powers in December. These include a new civil society law criticised by human rights groups and the West as a threat to democratic freedoms, and proposals for judicial reform that are fuelling tensions between judges and Islamists who see the judiciary as hostile.

Analysts said yesterday’s ruling seemed likely to irritate both sides in Egypt’s political conflict: the Islamists would be angry that the chamber’s legitimacy had been rejected, and the opposition would be annoyed that the house wasn’t not dissolved. “If the Shura Council still has legislative authority, then this is a moral blow but not a legal one,” said Nathan Brown, a George Washington University professor and expert on Egypt.

The case against the upper house of parliament, brought by an independent member of parliament, follows a similar challenge that led to the dissolution of the Brotherhood-led

lower house last year on the grounds of defects in the election law. The Supreme Constitutional Court cited election law flaws as the reason for finding the upper house to be illegal.

But it said implementation of the ruling should wait given the legislative role given to the chamber by the new constitution. “The Shura Council is continuing to play its complete legislative role until the institutions of the state are completed and legislative power passes to the new parliament,” the presidency said in a statement.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opponent of the Brotherhood, assailed the court ruling as “an expected result of a low-level understanding and political thuggery that has toppled the concept of legitimacy and the rule of law”. Court rulings, many of them against the Brotherhood’s interests, have repeatedly turned the transition on its head.

The court also ruled as unconstitutional a provision used by President Mohamed Morsi to declare a state of emergency in three Suez Canal cities during violent protests earlier this year. Last week, the Supreme Constitutional Court struck down parts of a revised parliamentary election law, casting doubt over the date of polls originally called by Morsi for February. The Islamists believe the judiciary is stacked with Mubarak-era appointees dedicated to undoing its gains at the ballot box. The issue came to a head in April when a party allied to the Brotherhood tabled a draft law that would have forced 3,000 judges into retirement. Morsi and top judges have agreed to seek a compromise, though some see it as only a temporary truce.

The Supreme Constitutional Court

also ruled as illegal the rules that led to the selection of the assembly that drafted the new constitution, a controversial document fast-tracked into law

by Mursi last year. But it said that this did not affect the legitimacy of the constitution “approved by the people”.

Yasser El-Shimy, Egypt analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the court ruling would “further weaken the image of the Shura Council, as well as cast some doubt over the process by which the constitution was produced, and all of this is unwelcome for the Brotherhood”. “The decision seems to be what you get when the legal and political realms have become so intertwined with each other - a result of bad law and bad politics,” said H A Hellyer, Fellow specialising in Egyptian politics at the Brookings Institution.

The SCC “issued a decision that met the political realities half way,” Hellyer told AFP. Ahmed Ramy, spokesman for the Freedom and Justice Party - the political arm of the power ful Muslim Brotherhood - said the party was still studying the impact of the ruling. But he said he believes the Shura Council should continue with its work “so as not to create a legislative vacuum.”

But others disagree. “ The ruling means that the Senate must abstain from passing any law, because these laws would be contested,” said Mustafa Kamel Al-Sayyed, professor of political science at Cairo University.

“The fact that it remains in place is a conciliatory gesture,” he told AFP. The ruling creates a crisis for Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, Sayyed said, “because they wanted to use the Senate to pass several laws that they feel they could not in a new parliament,” said Sayyed. — Agencies

CAIRO: Hamdy El-Fakharany, an opposition leader and former member of the now-dissolved parliament and other activists flash victory signs in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court yesterday. — AP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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

Iran’s Arak reactor looms into Israeli, Western view VIENNA/JERUSALEM: Iran aims to start a reactor next year which the West fears could arm an atomic bomb; Israel, which has bombed such construction sites around the Middle East before, may try to stop the plant being completed. The timetable for the planned start-up of the Arak heavy-water research plant is closely watched: Israeli and Western experts say any attacker would probably prefer to act before it becomes operational - to avoid generating radioactive fallout. The Islamic Republic says it will make isotopes for medical and agricultural use.

But analysts say this type of facility can also produce plutonium for weapons if the spent fuel is reprocessed - something Iran says it has no intention of doing.

Time may be pressing for adversaries who want to act. “Whoever considers attacking an active reactor is willing to invite another Chernobyl,” former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said, referring to the 1986 Soviet reactor accident which sent radioactive dust across much of Europe. “And there is no one who wants to do that.” Yadlin, who runs Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, was among eight pilots who in 1981 bombed Iraq’s

Osirak reactor. Still under construction, Israel believed nuclear fuel was about to be loaded and decided to hit it then, avoiding a risk of sending fallout over nearby Baghdad.

Further underlining Israel’s determination to prevent its enemies from acquiring the means to assemble nuclear bombs, it attacked a site in Syria in 2007 that the United States said was a reactor being built with North Korean help. Syria denied that. Israel, widely assumed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state, now sees Iran’s purportedly civil nuclear program as the most serious risk to it and has threatened military action if diplomacy and sanctions fail to make Tehran hold back.

Western and Israeli worries about Iran are focused largely on uranium enrichment plants buried underground at Natanz and Fordo, as such material refined to a high level can provide the fissile core of an atomic bomb. But diplomats and experts say Arak could offer Iran a second route to nuclear bombs, if it decided to build such arms. “The concern about that plutonium route and the Arak site has got much stronger,” said a Western diplomat in Vienna, where the UN nuclear agency is based. “I think it is

another red line,” added the envoy, who is not from one of the big powers.

It was a reference to a “red line” for Iran set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September, when he told the United Nations that Tehran must not be allowed to amass an amount of medium-enriched uranium that could, if refined further in a relatively uncomplicated process, make even a single bomb. Iran has since kept its medium-enriched uranium stockpile below that point by converting some of it to make reactor fuel, in effect postponing any deadline for Israeli military action. Israeli Strategic Affairs and Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said Arak was “definitely a concern” but Iran’s uranium enrichment track was still a “far more pressing” issue. Iran says its nuclear work is a bid to generate electricity and also to make progress in other areas of scientific research. It denies accusations it is seeking to develop atomic weapons.

Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the non-proliferation and disarmament program of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said Arak would potentially be able to produce one bomb’s worth of weapons-grade plutonium a year. It would thus, he said, be “one of the key

targets if there is ever a decision by Iran’s adversaries to employ military force against the nuclear program”.

But Cliff Kupchan, Middle East analyst at consultancy Eurasia Group, said it would be politically difficult to strike a site that is monitored by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear agency. “My instinct is that ... Israeli triggers would relate more directly to intelligence that Iran is building or seeks” the capability to reprocess atomic fuel, Kupchan said. Iran says it does not have any reprocessing activities - which would be required to obtain plutonium from reactor fuel. It already has one reactor, at the Bushehr power station on the Gulf, but Western governments do not see that as a military risk since it is of a type less suited to generating plutonium; Russia helped build the plant, begun under the USbacked Shah in the 1970s, and also insists on taking back the spent fuel.

Tehran argues that it is Israel’s nuclear arsenal - believed to have been assembled from plutonium produced at the secretive Dimona reactor - that threatens regional peace and stability. But Iran’s refusal to suspend nuclear activity with both civilian and potential military

applications in defiance of UN Security Council demands and its lack of full openness with the IAEA have fuelled suspicions abroad about its ultimate aims. An IAEA report issued to member states on May 22 showed Iran pressing ahead with the construction of Arak, including the delivery to the site of the reactor vessel.

Stressing it was urgent that Tehran provided it with design information about the plant, the UN agency said Iran planned to commission the reactor with nuclear fuel in the first quarter of 2014 and launch it in the third quarter of next year. “It is quite an ambitious timetable,” one diplomat said.

Fitzpatrick said he did not expect the reactor - located southwest of Tehran to become operational until 2015. Many experts have voiced doubt that Israel’s conventional forces would be able to deliver lasting damage to Iran’s distant, dispersed and fortified nuclear facilities.

But, asked if the above-ground Arak site would be an easier target than Fordo and Natanz, former Israeli air force chief Ido Nehushtan indicated that it may be: “Obviously,” he said, “There is a big difference in terms of the quality and quantity of targets.” — Reuters

Iran police detain aides of presidential hopeful Candidate vows to ease health crisis

QUSAIR, Syria: Fadi Kerkoz mourns next to a body of his brother Shadi Kerkoz who was killed in a battle against Syrian forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad in this town near the Lebanon border in Homs province yesterday. — AP

Saudi edges Qatar to control rebel support BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia has prevailed over its small but ambitious Gulf neighbour Qatar to impose itself as the main outside force supporting the Syrian rebels, a move that may curb the influence of Qatari-backed Islamist militants. Though governments in neither Riyadh nor Doha would provide official comment, several senior sources in the region told Reuters that the past week’s wrangling among Syria’s opposition factions in Istanbul was largely a struggle for control between the two Gulf monarchies, in which Saudi power finally won out. “Saudi Arabia is now formally in charge of the Syria issue,” said a senior rebel military commander in one of northern Syria’s border provinces where Qatar has until now been the main supplier of arms to those fighting President Bashar alAssad.

The outcome, many Syrian opposition leaders hope, could strengthen them in both negotiations and on the battlefield - while hampering some of the anti-Western Islamist hardliners in their ranks whom they say Qatar has been helping with weaponry. Anger at a failure by one such Qatari-backed Islamist unit in a battle in April that gave Syrian government forces control of a key highway helped galvanise the Saudis, sources said, while Qatari and Islamist efforts to control the opposition political body backfired by angering Riyadh and Western powers.

The northern rebel commander said Saudi leaders would no longer let Qatar take the lead but would themselves take over the dominant role in channelling support into Syria. “The Saudis met leaders of the Free Syrian Army, including officers from the Military Council in Jordan and Turkey, and have agreed that they will be supporting the rebels,” he said after attending one of those meetings himself.

Prince Salman bin Sultan, a senior Saudi security official, was now running relations with the Syrian rebels, backed by his elder brother, intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan. Qatar also gave ground in the political field, accepting finally, late on Thursday, that the National Coalition should add a nonIslamist bloc backed by Saudi Arabia. “In the end Qatar did not want a confrontation with Saudi Arabia and accepted the expansion,” said a source close to the liberals who were allowed to join a body which the United States and European Union want to become a transitional government.

The rebels, whose disunity has been a hindrance both in the field and in manoeuvring for a possible international peace conference in the coming weeks, still face a huge task to topple Assad, who has long labelled his enemies Islamist “terrorists” and has his own powerful allies abroad, notably Iran and Russia. Describing the shift in military supervision, several sources from the political and military leadership of the Syrian opposition and a Saudi source said that anyone, whether a state or among wealthy Arabs who have been making private donations to the rebel cause, would now need the Saudi princes’ approval over what is supplied to whom if they wish to send arms into Syria.

Qatari help was still expected. But a division between a Qatari sphere of influence on the northern border with Turkey and a Saudi

sphere on the southern, Jordanian border was over. “The goal is to be effective and avoid arms getting into the wrong hands like before,” said a senior Saudi source. “Saudi and Qatar share the same goal. We want to see an end to Bashar’s rule and stop the bloodshed of the innocent Syrian people.” Qatar and Saudi Arabia are close allies in many respects: both armed by the United States, as Sunni Muslims they share an interest in thwarting, non-Arab Iran and its Arab allies - Shiites in Iraq and Lebanon and Assad’s Syrian Alawites. Both also want to preserve the absolute domestic power of the ruling dynasties and Western demand for their vast energy resources.

But their interests diverge, particularly over Qatar ’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups viewed with suspicion by Western powers and in Riyadh. As in Syria, Qatar has delivered extensive financial and other support to Islamists who have risen to prominence in Egypt and Libya as a result of the Arab Spring pro-democracy protests of 2011. Keen to punch above its weight in the world, independent of its dominant Saudi neighbour, Qatar hosts both a major US airbase and influential Islamists exiled from other Arab states; while preserving autocracy at home it has also aided liberals abroad, not least through its Al Jazeera satellite TV channel.

Saudi Arabia, whose king enjoys special status with the Sunni rebels as guardian of the holy city of Mecca, has long been suspicious of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the Cold War, it lent it support as a counterbalance to leftist Arab nationalism which threatened the traditional Gulf monarchies. But the U.S.allied kingdom now sees political Islam as a graver threat. Riyadh’s view of Syrian Islamist rebels is also influenced to some extent by its experience backing Arabs who flocked to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s; some returned home, like the Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, to wage a campaign of violence intended to topple the house of Saud.

Two events finally prompted Saudi Arabia and the United States to lose patience with Qatar’s Syrian role - one on the battlefield and another among the political opposition in exile. In mid-April, Assad’s troops broke a six-month rebel blockade of the Wadi al-Deif military base on Syria’s key north-south highway, after a rebel brigade that was seen as close to Qatar broke ranks - exposing fellow fighters to a government counterattack that led to the deaths of 68 of their number. A rebel commander, based near Damascus and familiar with the unit which buckled, said its failure had been due to its leaders having preferred using their local power to get rich rather than fighting Assad - a common accusation among the fractious rebels: “Qatar’s bet ... failed especially in the Wadi al-Deif battle. The regime managed to break through them after they became the new local warlords, caring for money and power, not the cause,” the senior commander told Reuters. That battlefield collapse infuriated Qatar’s allies in the anti-Assad alliance. “The straw that broke the camel’s back was the failure to take over Wadi al-Deif camp,” the commander said.— Reuters

TEHRAN: Iranian police have arrested several people campaigning for a reformist candidate in this month’s presidential election, an aide said yesterday, as a senior official pledged to impose ideological limitations on the race. Police picked up several supporters of candidate Hasan Rowhani after he delivered a speech Saturday night, his campaign manager, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, told the semiofficial Mehr news agency. “Some people were detained on the street after leaving the meeting,” he said. The June 14 election is to choose a replacement for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run for a third term. Authorities have already pared down the list of candidates to eight, disqualifying Ahmadinejad’s top aide and a former president who could have galvanized opposition to the harsh clerical system.

That was a clear indication that Iran’s rulers did not want an open contest that could end up in a disputed outcome of the type that set off widespread riots when Ahmadinejad was re-elected in 2009. Yesterday, after the arrests, a top official warned that Rowhani and others would be limited in their election drive. “Police will confront individuals who have counterrevolutionary behavior” during campaigning, said the Iranian police chief, Gen Ismail Moghadam, according to the police website. “It is natural that police have carried out their tasks.”

An exile-based Iranian opposition website reported that authorities arrested at least seven people who attended Rowhani’s campaign appearance. It said the arrests were made after participants chanted slogans calling for the release of Mir Hossein Mousavi, an opposition leader and candidate in the disputed 2009 election, who has been under house arrest for more than two years. A council of advisers to influential former reformist President Mohammad Khatami has urged Rowhani to unite with the other major reform-leaning candidate, Mohamed Reza Aref. A statement on Khatami’s personal website expressed hope that the two could form a “united front” to field a

TEHRAN: Iranian reformist students hold placards reading in Persian ‘No to Velayati, Long live reformsî during a campaign rally of advisor to the supreme leader and conservative presidential candidate Ali Akbar Velayati yesterday. — AFP single nominee. Nematzadeh, old US-educated physician, said he ple sclerosis. In October, an Iranian Rowhani’s spokesman, said the two would make free health treatment official acknowledged the price of candidates have not met to discuss available if elected on June 14, in a domestically-manufactured medithe possibility. Aref’s star has been speech at Shahid Beheshti cines had increased by 15 to 20 perrising since his performance in a University in Tehran. “Some people cent over the previous three Friday debate of the eight candi- cannot afford to go to doctors, or months, and that of imported dates, restoring some energy to the pay for their medicines and treat- drugs by 20 to 80 percent. Western economic sanctions have affected reform movement after their main ment,” he said.

Iran, under harsh international some six million patients in Iran. candidate, former President Akbar Fatemeh Hashemi, head of the Hashemi Rafsanjani, was disquali- sanctions over its disputed nuclear fied. Also yesterday, four aides to program, is facing increasing diffi- Foundation for Special Diseases, another candidate, Saeed Jalili, culties in importing medicine as its said the international measures were injured in a road accident. access to the global banking sys- have caused a hike in prices and Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, tem is “severely affected” by the even “shortages” in some sectors. is considered a frontrunner in the measures, officials and local reports Iran’s currency has lost more than campaign. The accident happened said. Velayati also seeks to “boost two thirds of its value since early on the way to the city of Qazvin, Iran’s capacity to produce medicine 2012, and its economy is struggling about 120 km west of Tehran. Jalili and medical equipment” and against rising inflation, officially was in a different vehicle and was revamp an “ineffective” insurance estimated at more than 30 percent, not hurt. Iran is among the world’s system. The presidential election is and a double-digit unemployment leaders in the number of road acci- overshadowed by economic strife, rate. Iran claims it is managing to dents per capita. More than 20,000 at a time when Iran is still at logger- produce some of its drugs requirepeople are killed on the roads there heads with Western powers who ments and is moving towards “selfaccuse it of seeking to develop an sufficiency,” but it criticises the every year.

Meanwhile, Iranian presidential atomic bomb. Tehran has repeated- sanctions for targeting imports of medication. Iranian-made medihopeful Ali Akbar Velayati vowed ly denied these claims.

Velayati’s remarks come as many cines are generally cheaper than yesterday to introduce “free health care” to tackle a crisis sparked by a Iranian patients say they cannot imported drugs, but doctors are lack of medicine and soaring treat- afford the spiralling cost of drugs cautious about prescribing them ment costs, partly due to interna- for life-threatening and complex ill- and patients prefer treatment with tional sanctions. Velayati, a 67-year- nesses, including cancer and multi- the imported brands. — Agencies

Candidates united on nuke issue TEHRAN: The eight candidates standing for president this month may differ on several issues, but when it comes to Iran’s nuclear drive they are united in pursuing what they see as its peaceful atomic ambitions. Whoever is elected president on June 14 to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Islamic republic is unlikely to alter the course of its controversial programme of uranium enrichment.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei takes the key decisions in Iran, including on the nuclear issue.

Western powers believe Iran’s nuclear activities may have a covert military purpose, but Tehran denies this, saying they are entirely peaceful.

“Definitely the result of the presidential election will not have any influence on the nuclear issue,” the country’s atomic chief Fereydoun Abbasi Davani has said. The presidential hopefuls including Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili - have all insisted that the nuclear project will proceed. “Regardless of who is elected president in June, uranium enrichment activities will be pursued without fear against the enemy,” Jalili said.

“The president must demonstrate this in a practical manner to the supreme leader,” Jalili, who has been negotiating with world powers on the issue since October 2007, said on his campaign website.

Neither the United States nor Iran’s regional arch-rival Israel has ruled out taking military action against Iranian atomic facilities over fears

that they mask a secret nuclear drive, despite the denials. The nuclear controversy peaked under Ahmadinejad’s two presidential terms, with several rounds of United Nations sanctions and punitive measures by the United States and European Union imposed on Iran. Since 2003, Tehran has been engaged in talks with not only UN watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but also with world powers to try to resolve the issue.

Its defiance and 10 failed meetings with the IAEA are expected to dominate a gathering of the body’s board starting today. Tehran maintains that as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it is within its rights to run a nuclear program to generate electricity and for medical purposes. Khamenei and other senior officials have repeatedly said that making, owning or using atomic weapons is “haram” - forbidden under Islam. But such declarations have so far failed to convince world powers whose sanctions are biting down hard on Iran’s oil-dependent economy. Sanctions have devalued the Iranian rial by around 70 percent and sent inflation soaring above 30 percent, economic woes that formed the crux of a Friday televised presidential debate between the candidates. None of them appeared to have any clear solution. On Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the election would be unlikely to change Tehran’s nuclear policy. “I do

not have high expectations that the election is going to change the fundamental calculus of Iran,” he told reporters. “So we will continue to pursue... every effort to have a peaceful resolution, but Iran needs to understand that the clock is ticking.”

Yesterday, French President Francois Hollande said there was an “urgent and imperative need to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons”.

Presidential candidate and former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati believes the controversy can be resolved “without giving up nuclear technology”.

“The supreme leader said he is committed to keeping nuclear technology, and whoever becomes president should carry out this policy,” said Velayati, who advises Khamenei on international affairs.

Another candidate, Hassan Rowhani who was chief nuclear negotiator under reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami, has asserted that “enrichment is our legitimate right”. Conservative candidate and former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai has talked of changing the way the nuclear talks with the West are held. “We have to neutralise the sanctions, as so far the negotiations have led to the intensification of sanctions,” said Rezai, who also stood for president in 2009. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran and a former national police chief, has aired views similar to those of his presidential rival candidates on the topic.— AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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

Turkish protesters have long list of complaints ANKARA: What started as a small group opposed to an development project in Istanbul has become an outpouring of national anger over how the Islamistrooted government treats its citizens, testing Ankara’s quest to be a model country in its neighbourhood. Turks are increasingly frustrated about what they see as restrictions on their freedom after a series of last-minute reforms were rushed through parliament by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which enjoys an overwhelming majority.

“This is a movement which is a result of growing frustration and disappointment among secular segments of society who could not influence politics over the last decade,” said Sinan Ulgen, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. “This is an unprecedented, abrupt and unplanned public movement that has not been manipulated by any political party. It is a big surprise,” he told AFP. A small park and its 600 trees at Istanbul’s iconic Taksim square was the spark for the protests that snowballed into one of the biggest nationwide campaigns against the ruling party’s ten-year rule.

Critics say that Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan’s rule has left Turkish society more polarised than ever, with opponents of the AKP government openly voicing concerns that Turkey is moving toward conservative Islam. The

ruling par ty has passed a series of reforms which have outraged many citizens who complain of a “fait accompli” and say it shows a slide toward an authoritarian and conservative agenda.

In 2004, the party attempted to submit a controversial amendment on banning adultery but had to back down amid criticism from opposition parties and women’s groups.

Last year, Erdogan provoked outrage when he likened abortion to murder, and his contentious education reform allowing clerical schools for the raising of what he described a “pious generation” was approved by the parliament in 2012, spreading fears among secularists.

More recently, Turkey ’s parliament passed legislation curbing alcohol sales and advertising, which would be the toughest in the republic’s history if the president, a former AKP member, signs it into law. In April, an Istanbul court ordered a retrial for world-renowned pianist Fazil Say, who was convicted earlier to 10 months in prison for blasphemy over a series of social media posts.

The 43-year-old virtuoso has accused the AKP of being behind the case against him.

Critics accuse Erdogan’s government of using courts to silence dissenting voices. Turkey is the leading jailer of journalists worldwide, imprisoning even more than China or Iran, according to

rights groups. Hundreds of military officers, academics and lawyers are also in detention -most of them accused of plotting against the government.

“Protesters are speaking out against top-down reforms imposed by the AKP government,” said Ulgen. “Every democracy has its own failures. Turkey will emerge stronger if the government responds to the public movement through more democracy.”

Erdogan’s ruling AKP first won elections in 2002 on a wave of popular support after years of unstable coalition governments. His party swept 50 percent of the votes in 2011 elections. Over 10 years, the AKP has boasted major success in transforming the economy after a devastating meltdown in 2001 and has introduced strict budgetary discipline, posting growth rates of over eight percent in 2010 and 2011.

Erdogan has also sought to raise Turkey’s diplomatic profile, often engaging in lectures on how democracy and Muslim values can coexist, in particular in countries swept up by the Arab spring uprisings. While analysts caution against describing the popular protests here as a harbinger of a “Turkish spring”, there are questions about the heavyhanded government response. The demonstrations in Turkey took a violent turn after police fired rounds of tear gas to disperse the protesters, which was

ANKARA: Demonstrators clash with police during a protest against Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday. — AFP condemned by rights groups and which dealt a blow to Ankara’s ambitions to become a role model for the Muslim world. Turkey’s former ally Syria has even mocked Erdogan, who has long urged the regime of President Bashar AlAssad to listen to its people’s demands, and accused the Turkish leader of “terrorising” his own people. “Turkey is not in a situation to preach democracy because winning elections alone is not an indicator of the quality of democracy,” Ilter Turan, a professor at Istanbul’s

private Bilgi University said. “Mr Erdogan does not accept any limitations to his power as a majority leader,” Turan said.

“He believes whatever he has been doing is a reflection of the democratic will and sees the demands from society as malicious,” he added. Turkish media hardly covered the protests which was seen as yet another sign of government pressure, with some pro-government newspapers failing to give numbers of protesters who filled up the squares, as well as the wounded in clashes. — AFP

Queen Elizabeth marks 60 yrs since coronation Monarch spends day at the races

PRAGUE: A flooded statue stands in the swollen Vltava river in the center of Prague yesterday. Heavy rainfall caused flooding along rivers and lakes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. — AP

Torrential rains lash central Europe VIENNA: Two people have perished and at least seven more were missing yesterday as torrential rains lashed central Europe, triggering floods and landslides and disrupting transport. Austria and Germany sent in army units to help with rescue efforts after rains reached record levels in some areas, while hundreds of roads have been closed and rail services cut. The banks of the mighty Danube river burst in one area in Germany while dozens of towns have been put on flood alert across a large swathe of central Europe. In Austria, one person was killed and two people reported missing following landslides triggered by heavy rains that forced several hundred people from their homes, local authorities said.

Two people were also missing in neighbouring Germany following a 48hour downpour that hit record levels in parts of the south and east, local rescue services and police said, according to the DPA news agency. But despite the heavy rains, around 10,000 Bayern Munich fans joined in celebrations for their team’s historic treble win in the European, league and cup titles. In the Czech Republic, one woman was killed and at least three other people were missing.

Barriers have been erected along the banks of the Vltava river in Prague to prevent it from flooding and a state of emergency has been declared in about 50 towns and villages in the west of country.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged federal government support for the affected areas, while the army was sent in to help in some towns in the east as water levels rose. The southern German town of Passau on the Austrian border was partly flooded when the Danube burst its banks. Further downstream, Austrian towns including Linz and Melk were bracing for the worst, with some local authorities fearing a repeat of the record floods in 2002 that

caused damage of up to Ä7.5 billion ($9.7 billion) nationwide.

Rail services between the southern German city of Munich and Salzburg in Austria were brought to a halt, according to German train operator Deutsche Bahn.

In Austria, much of the western provinces of Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg, as well as northern Upper Austria were on flood alert. Rail links were suspended due to landslides in many parts of Salzburg and Tyrol, Austrian Rail said, while a section of the motorway to Switzerland was closed because of flooding, as were smaller roads throughout the country. In a small town near Salzburg, a worker helping with the clean-up effort was killed in a landslide yesterday, police said.

In nearby Taxenbach, rescue services were still searching for two people - a farmer and a female driver - believed to have been caught in a mudslide overnight. Hundreds of firefighters and emergency workers, as well as the Austrian army, have been mobilised to help clear roads, assist with evacuations and put up anti-flood barriers. At least 240 residents in Salzburg and another 80 in neighbouring Tyrol were evacuated from their homes as local rivers threatened to burst their banks, local authorities said. Open-air music festivals and other events were relocated or partly cancelled as a result of the weather.

On Saturday alone, Vorarlberg province saw up to 132 mm of rain, according to the Austrian meteorological centre ZAMG. In just a few days, Austria has experienced as much rain as it normally would do in two months during this season, ZAMG added. In Switzerland, the federal weather office said water levels were still rising in a number of lakes and there remained a risk of landslides although in general the situation was under control. — AFP

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II was marking the 60th anniversary of her coronation in private yesterday after indulging in her passion for horses with a day at the races. The 87-year- old monarch and her husband Prince Philip spent Saturday at the Epsom Derby, echoing the events of a year ago that kicked off her four-day diamond jubilee party. Queen Elizabeth took the throne on Feb 6, 1952 upon the death of her father king George VI, but to allow for a period of national mourning, she was only crowned 16 months later in London’s Westminster Abbey.

The queen will be joined by the royal family and 2,000 guests at the abbey tomorrow for a service celebrating the anniversary.

At the Epsom Downs course, the monarch, an avid racing fan and a noted racehorse breeder, seemed in good spirits, while Prince Philip followed the action through binoculars. The queen and her 91-year-old husband were mark ing the ac tual anniversar y day in a low-key fashion at Windsor Castle, west of London, where they regularly spend the weekend. “They are spending the day privately,” a Buck ingham Palace spokeswoman told AFP. “ The main focus is obviously on Tuesday’s service.”

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip will return to duty tomorrow, attending a reception for the Royal National Institute for the Blind at St James’s Palace in London. The coronation anniversary is being staged with far less fanfare than the diamond jubilee celebrations last year.

This year’s events include exhibitions of memorabilia, gun

EPSOM, United Kingdom: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, speak as they watch the action from the Queens stand during Derby day at the Epsom Derby Festival in Surrey in southern England on Saturday. — AFP

salutes and a series of garden parties. Royal thoughts are now turning to the birth expected in July of Prince William and Catherine’s baby, who will be third in line to the throne.

Tomorrow’s service will mark the first time the couple have attended an event at Westminster Abbey since their wedding there in April 2011. The queen’s coronation was the first to be televised and more than 20 million people in Britain watched it live while another 11 million listened on the radio. The event sparked the popular growth of television in Britain.

Yesterday the BBC broadcast for

the first time a digitally remastered version of its original black-and-white footage from 1953. It was broadcast 60 years on to the ver y minute: from 10:15 am to 17:20 pm.

Recounting the events of June 2, 1953, Lady Moyra Campbell, one of Queen Elizabeth’s maids of honour at the coronation, told Sky News television it was an “unforgettable day ”. “ There was that amazing sincerity with which she made those incredibly solemn promises and I, for one, thank God that I have been blessed with a life long enough to see those promises fulfilled in

a way that I would challenge anyone else to do,” she said. The Mail on Sunday newspaper said in its editorial: “We couldn’t have k nown it at the time but 60 years ago today we crowned one of the greatest monarchs in our history. “Despite six decades of ser vice, despite being the most recognisable person alive today, she remains the same quiet, humble servant she was that day.” Prayers for the monarch were said across the country y, with the Church of England having written a new prayer to mark the occasion, giving thanks for her “long and glorious reign”. —AFP

‘Cash for access’ scandal hits Britain’s parliament LONDON: Three members of Britain’s upper house of parliament were suspended from their parties yesterday after media sting operations caught them apparently offering to use their influence for personal gain. The undercover investigations have thrust the issue of lobbying into the limelight and had already forced a member of the lower house of parliament, Patrick Mercer, to resign from the ruling Conservative Party and seek legal advice. The three House of Lords peers caught out by a Sunday Times sting operation are John Cunningham and Brian Mackenzie of the main opposition Labour Party and John Laird of the Ulster Unionist Party.

All three denied breaking the chamber’s rules but their parties took swift action against them. “Lord Cunningham and Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate have been suspended from the Labour Party pending further investigation,” the party said in a statement. Mike Nesbitt, leader of the Ulster Unionists, said in a statement he had called Laird after reviewing the media coverage and as a result of that call Laird had resigned from the party pending an investigation. The trio were covertly filmed offering to ask parliamentary questions, lobby ministers and host events in prestigious House of Lords premises

in exchange for payment by what they were told were lobbyists acting for companies.

The scandal will renew pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists, as promised in 2010 in the coalition agreement between his Conservatives and their junior partners, the Liberal Democrats. Cameron warned more than three years ago that lobbying was “the next big scandal waiting to happen” but critics, including some Liberal Democrats, accuse him of dragging his feet.

Sunday Times reporters approached Cunningham, a former minister under then Prime Minister Tony Blair in the 1990s, pretending to represent a South Korean solar energy company. “Are you suggesting 10,000 pounds a month? Make that ... 12,000 pounds a month. I think we could do a deal on that,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper during a discussion about his fees for what was described as consultancy work.

Cunningham later sent a statement to the Sunday Times saying he had referred to “a fanciful 12,000 pounds a month” to test his suspicion that he was talking to undercover journalists. “I deny any agreement to operate in breach of the House of Lords code of conduct and, in fact, recall that I made it clear that I

would only operate within the rules,” Cunningham said.

Laird also issued a statement denying he had broken the rules and Mackenzie denied wrongdoing in two BBC interviews. The three peers could not immediately be reached by Reuters. Mercer was caught out by undercover reporters from the Daily Telegraph newspaper and the BBC’s investigative Panorama program posing as lobbyists for businesses seeking to end Fiji’s suspension from the Commonwealth on human rights grounds.

His resignation from the Conservative Party was no great loss to Cameron as the House of Commons MP was an outspoken critic of the prime minister, but the allegations against him reflect badly on the party and on parliament in general. Mercer tabled five questions to government and a parliamentary motion on the Fiji issue after being paid £4,000 ($6,100) as part of a bogus contract he believed would earn him £24,000 a year, the two media reported. He told the fake lobbyists he had persuaded 18 other members of parliament to join an all-party group on Fiji, commenting that they included “several freeloaders that would like to go to Fiji” and one who asked to take his wife, the media said. —Reuters

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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

Push for US Internet ‘wiretap’ law faces tough road WASHINGTON: The FBI is stepping up its effort to get broader authority to put “wiretaps” on the Internet to catch criminals and terrorists. But the move is drawing fire from civil liberties groups, technology firms and others who claim the effort could be counterproductive, by harming online security and imposing hefty costs on makers of hardware and software.

US law enforcement has for years complained about the problem of “going dark,” or being unable to monitor Internet communications in the same manner as wiretaps, for which officials get a court order to tap into a local phone company. President Barack Obama said in a May 23 speech his administration is “reviewing the authorities of law enforcement, so we can intercept new types of communication.”

FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann told a recent Washington forum it would be “a top priority this year” to get expanded authority to tap communications such as “Gmail, Google voice (and) Dropbox.” “The way we communicate today is not limited to telephone companies,” Weissmann said.

“What we don’t have is the ability to go to court and require the recipient to effectuate the intercept. Most countries have that.” The FBI can get a court order to monitor Internet-based communications under current law, and major companies like Google and Microsoft may be able to comply.

But many other firms lack the technical capacity to allow this kind of surveillance. The proposal under consideration, according to published reports, would require firms to enable government access or face hefty fines. The US administration has made no public proposal on wiretap authority, but even the hint of a change has sparked a heated response. Critics say such a move would be tantamount to giving the government a “backdoor” to every piece of hardware and software being used, which could be exploited by hackers, foreign governments or others.

“It’s an intentional security vulnerability that they hope will only be used by the good guys, but we have evidence that the bad guys use it too,” said Joseph Hall, senior technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital rights organi-

zation. Hall said that to make the program work, law enforcement would need to get “all the encryption keys” for hardware and require software to be designed with so-called backdoor access, imposing new costs on technology firms.

A CDT report endorsed by 20 security and technology experts underscored the problems with any new Internet surveillance authority. Mandating a virtual wiretap “is harmful,” said Edward Felten, a Princeton University computer scientist who was among those endorsing the report. “ The port makes it easier for attackers to capture the very same data that law enforcement wants,” he said in a blog posting. “Better yet (for the intruder), the capability will be stealthy by design, making it difficult for the user to tell that anything is amiss,” he added.

“Beyond this, the mandate would make it harder for users to understand, monitor, and fix their own systems-which is bad for security.” Bruce Schneier, a computer security and cryptography expert, said the proposal would be “horribly ineffective.”

“Mandating wiretap capability in vast swaths of software will render normal law-abiding people less

secure, while allowing criminals and terrorists to disable the wiretap capability or use more secure products from other countries,” he said.

Technology companies also fiercely oppose any measure leading to government access, saying it would stifle innovation, impose costs on US firms and make their products less competitive in global markets. “The Department of Justice has not made the case for granting law enforcement broad new powers over Internet companies for purposes of new wiretap authority,” said Michael Beckerman of the Internet Association, a lobby for tech companies.

“There are a number of serious unintended consequences with this flawed proposal. A wiretap mandate for the Internet is dead on arrival.” CDT’s Hall said recent investigations suggest the FBI and other law enforcement agencies already collect vast amounts of information that could help prevent crimes but fail to make use of it. “Maybe it’s time to use the mountains of information the FBI collects in a smarter way rather than trying to get more information,” he said.— AFP

Obama to push Xi on cyber security China seeks ‘big power’ treatment

EL RENO: Fred Horn salvages items from what was the living room in his home after it was damaged by a tornado yesterday. —AFP

Tornadoes and floods kill 14 in US Midwest CHICAGO: Tornadoes and floods in the United States killed at least 14 people, including two children, officials said Saturday, with most of the fatalities in Oklahoma where a monster twister struck last month. Friday night’s storms battered areas in and around Oklahoma City with high winds, heavy rain and hail, much of it near where 24 people were killed in the May 20 tornado.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office announced nine fatalities in the state and said five of the victims have not been identified, while the sheriffs’ offices in towns east of Oklahoma City confirmed two other people had died. In Missouri, authorities said three people died from severe flooding in the wake of the storms. Streets turned into rivers, with stranded cars submerged in water as high as their door handles in some places. CNN said a massive sink hole off a major road developed due to the deluge, halting traffic.

The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, warned that the severe weather was shifting eastward again Sunday, with damaging winds and heavy downpours-and possibly small hail and isolated tornadoes-expected to threaten northern Virginia through Maine.

And northern Mexico was also bracing for severe thunderstorms, strong winds, and possibly hail and tornadoes. The National Weather Service said the first tornado developed around the city of El Reno before moving into parts of Oklahoma City, spawning others. Local broadcaster KOCO reported that 77 people had been admitted to hospitals with storm-related injuries.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, who toured the widespread devastation to assess the damage, urged residents of his state to avoid walking or driving through flooded areas.

“Missouri has been hit by several rounds of

severe storms in the past few weeks, and last night’s dangerous weather follows several days of heavy rain,” he said in a statement.

“Because many streams and rivers are overflowing their banks, we will need to stay vigilant in both monitoring and responding to flooding across the state as well. This remains a dangerous situation,” he said.

As the extent of the devastation in Oklahoma became clear, the work of cleanup crews was complicated by downpours that drenched the region overnight. “We’re going to get through this again,” Governor Mary Fallin told CNN. Officials from hard-hit Canadian County told reporters that crews were working to assess and restore “washed out” places. A trailer park in Oklahoma City was among areas evacuated by boat, raft and Humvee, according to KOCO. Power company OG&E, meanwhile, reported 65,000 outages by late Saturday, down from a high of 120,000, and the American Red Cross has opened shelters for those in affected areas.

Friday’s twisters were far less damaging than the tornado that hit the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore last month. That massive funnel cloud demolished large swathes of the town with winds above 200 miles per hour. In total, some 33,000 people were affected. In Iowa, Governor Terry Branstad issued a disaster proclamation for several counties in response to widespread flooding. Meanwhile, a tornado ranking an EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale damaged about 50 buildings in Illinois, including a high school in Gillespie, Illinois which had its roof sheared off by 115mile per hour winds. “We had houses twisted off foundations, houses with roofs taken off,” said James Pitchford, an emergency management official in the US heartland state. The United States is hit by an average of 1,200 tornadoes each year. — AFP

Illinois GOP elects a new chairman after infighting SPRINGFIELD: After months of public staff for Gov. Jim Thompson’s office and on infighting and constant bickering over Gov. Jim Edgar’s cabinet. “He has the issues that also continue to divide the strengths of knowing the fundamentals of national party, Illinois Republicans selected party basics and of party structure,” Cross a new leader Saturday who they hope is said. Along with Cross, Dorgan had the the best option to bring factions of the par- backing of US Sen Mark Kirk, state ty together after its poor showing in last Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka and memNovember’s elections. The party’s central bers of the Illinois congressional delegacommittee chose committeeman and lob- tion.

“I know Jack will be a leader who will byist Jack Dorgan of Rosemont as the party’s chair for the next year. He replaces out- focus on keeping our party energized heading into the 2014 elecgoing chairman Pat Brady, who tion and trust he will work to resigned last month after conensure the Illinois GOP is servatives complained about inclusive so that we continue his public support for gay marto live up to our full potential riage and other leadership as a party,” Kirk said in a stateissues. ment. The other six candidates Over the last few weeks, included former Congressman Dorgan, 53, emerged as a conJoe Walsh, former lieutenant sensus choice with the potengovernor candidate Don tial to bridge gaps between Tracy, former Cook County the party’s conservative and state’s attorney candidate Lori moderate wings. Party leaders Yokoyama and businessman are seeking ways to appeal Jim Nalepa. State Sen Matt more to youths, women and Murphy of Palatine removed minorities after a drubbing in Jack Dorgan his name from consideration state elections that allowed Democrats to nearly sweep contested con- late last month.

Brady resigned from his post May 8, citgressional seats and achieve supermajorities in both chambers of the Illinois General ing his wife’s battle with cancer and his desire to focus on family after six years in Assembly.

“After the last six months, the party real- Republican politics. He came under fire ly needs to refocus on the basics,” House from conservatives earlier this year after Republican Leader Tom Cross said. Dorgan calling the party “on the wrong side of histold the committee he has 30 years of polit- tory” for opposing gay marriage. Critics said ical experience, including as a legislative they had several issues with Brady’s leaderaide for state Rep. Roger McAuliffe, senior ship.—AP

WASHINGTON: A shirt-sleeves summit between the world’s two top economic powers is shaping up as anything but relaxing, with an assertive new Chinese leadership seeking a bigger place at the global table and the United States pushing back, especially in the battle over cyberspace. US President Barack Obama and newly installed Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet on Friday in Southern California at a relatively informal retreat aimed at allowing the pair to get to know each other away from the spotlight of Washington.

High-level US-Chinese encounters of recent decades have been unable to match President Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking visit to Communist China in 1972 that ended decades of estrangement between Washington and Beijing. But China experts say if Obama and Xi can develop personal rapport something lacking between US presidents and Xi’s notoriously wooden predecessor, Hu Jintao - and make at least a little progress on substantive issues, the summit could gain some historic significance.

Any feel-good vibe at the luxury resort in the desert near Palm Springs could be soured by Obama taking a hard line with Xi over Chinese cyber-hacking of US secrets. While China worries the United States is trying to encircle it militarily with its strategic “pivot to Asia,” the cyber dispute is the most pressing issue for Obama. “The president wants to be able to have, behind closed doors, a tough and straight conversation with Xi Jinping about our specific concerns,” a senior US official said of the cyber-security issue. “Problems and activities emanating from China have a deleterious effect on our companies, on our interests and on our relationship.”

The official said Obama would not shy away from pointing out US concerns about hacking, nor would he accept China’s “pro-forma protestation” that it too is a victim of cyber intrusions from abroad. In a sign of an easing of tension over hacking, an Obama administration official said on Saturday a previously agreed high-level working group on cyber security would convene for its first talks in July and meet regularly after that. The official said the panel would focus not only on hacking but on “developing rules of the road for operating in cyberspace.”

“Obviously the competitive nature of the relationship will always be there, but there’s also a playby-the-rules aspect to it,” another senior Obama administration official said of the cyber-security disagreements with China. Obama has been under strong pressure to persuade Xi to take US hacking

worries seriously, and complaints in Congress about cyber security are growing. “There has got to be red lines drawn. If the activity continues, there need to be some sanctions,” said Shawn Henry, who fought cyber thievery as an FBI assistant director and is now president of the security firm, CrossStrike Services. “They need to understand what the risks are.” The Washington Post reported this week that China had used cyber attacks to access data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. China dismissed the report, saying it needed no outside help for its mili-

US PIVOT TO ASIA Xi is eager to be seen on an even footing with the American leader and to show China’s ruling echelon and public that he can promote their interests on the world stage as Beijing seeks what it calls a new “big-power” relationship with Washington that takes into account China’s rise. It is his first US trip since taking over the presidency in March in China’s once-in-a-generation leadership transition. He is likely to express Beijing’s unease about a US reorientation of foreign policy and a shift of American military resources toward

HANOI: A protester holds up a large photograph showing Vietnamese communist party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong (right) shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during an anti-China rally in downtown Hanoi yesterday. Vietnam has detained some 30 anti-China protesters in Hanoi, amid growing tensions between the communist neighbors over rival territorial claims. — AFP tary development. In the two-day meeting with Xi, Obama will also likely bring up differences over North Korea, world trade and China’s territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. The talks are an opportunity for Obama to score a foreign policy success at a time when the lack of US action on Syria weighs heavily on his record. He can also turn away from controversies at home that have gotten his second term off to a rocky start.

the Asia-Pacific region as the war in Afghanistan winds down. The strategy is seen widely as a way of reassuring allies like Japan and South Korea of the US commitment to counter China’s power.

Shen Dingli, vice dean of the Institute of International Affairs at Shanghai’s Fudan University, said the US “return” to Asia and the security issues it raised was the biggest issue from the Chinese perspective— Reuters

Bradley Manning: Heroic whistleblower or traitor?

WASHINGTON: From a swivel chair and a small desk in a military courtroom in Maryland, Bradley Manning has for more than a year heard US government lawyers outline why he should spend the rest of his life in jail.

By recently admitting he was the source of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables and war logs regarding Afghanistan and Iraq, later published by WikiLeaks, he appears certain to be found guilty at a trial beginning Monday. But having denied the most serious charge of “aiding the enemy,” chiefly Al-Qaeda, the man accused of causing his country’s worst ever security breach remains an enigma: a hero to his followers, an enemy of the state to others.

The short, skinny, bespectacled US Army private has cut a confident figure in previous court appearances, exuding an outer calmness and quiet resolve on the occasions that he has testified and answered questions. His demeanor belies evidence of numerous episodes of suicidal tendencies and erratic behavior, such as licking the bars of his cell during some of the 1,109 days he has spent in military detention.

Born in Crescent, Oklahoma to an American father and a Welsh mother who later divorced, Manning had an aptitude for computers from an early age and reportedly created his first website when he was only 10 years old. At the age of 17, by when he was living as an openly gay man,

Manning got a job with a software company in Oklahoma City, only to be fired four months later. He then migrated to computer hacking, attending events filled with other hackers, a paradoxical prelude to the high-level security clearance he obtained when he became a military intelligence analyst in a warzone.

“I am the type of person who always wants to figure out how things work. And as an analyst, this always means I want to figure out the truth,” Manning said in his pre-trial testimony at the Fort Meade military base near Washington. His homosexuality and gender identity issuesManning enlisted despite the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays in the

military at the time-led to problems.

As at school, peers bullied and ridiculed him.

Commanders judged him ill-suited to military life and during training, he was recommended for discharge.

But his technical skills were perfectly suited to becoming an intelligence analyst and the decision was overturned. Ultimately, he was sent to Iraq where-appalled with what he saw in the reports he analyzed-his motivation for illicitly uploading such material and passing it to WikiLeaks appears to have taken hold.

The US Army video recording of two Apache attack helicopters gunning down a group of Iraqis in Baghdad, an attack that killed at least

MARYLAND: Signs lay on the ground at rally that was held in support for PFC Bradley Manning in Fort Meade, Maryland. — AFP

12 men and wounded two children, was an incident Manning said “burdens me emotionally.” “They dehumanized the individuals they were engaging and seemed to not value human life by referring to them as ‘dead bastards’ and congratulating themselves on their ability to kill in large numbers,” Manning said in court.

Such an account matches the view of Manning supporters who say he is a voice of conscience who lifted a veil on what he considered the worst transgressions of US foreign policy, by its political and military leaders. Daniel Ellsberg, the US military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers, a top secret study regarding decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, has said Manning is a hero who should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Bradley Manning Support Network has received more than $1.1 million in donations to pay his legal costs and has campaigned relentlessly on his behalf. But many people disagree with the cause, most notably Adrian Lamo, the fellow hacker who turned Manning over to the authorities after reading the soldier’s innermost thoughts from Iraq during Internet messaging discussions.

“What I saw in those chats was an admission of acts so egregious that it required that response,” Lamo told a pre-trial hearing of taking the decision that ultimately landed Manning in the dock.— AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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

Chinese patrols in Asian seas ‘legitimate’: Jianguo South China Sea row rumbles on

YANGON: People browse the internet at an internet cafe in Yangon. Sanctions and economic mismanagement under decades of military rule left Myanmar impoverished and cut off from the world, an isolation deepened by a system of online repression imposed by the paranoid generals. — AFP

Myanmar’s web users go online for freedom YANGON: Kam Khan Cin travelled for four days from his remote mountaintop town to attend Myanmar’s forum on web freedom as the country embraces its long-vilified netizens as part of sweeping reforms. The engineering student said he was compelled to journey to Yangon, an arduous trip made all the harder by monsoon rains that deluged the dirt roads of his native Chin state, to “find out what rights we are entitled to.”

“I believe that we will get those rights one day,” he said. Most residents in his hometown of Tedim cannot afford mobile phones, but there are three Internet cafes and Kam Khan Cin perseveres to get online-even though it often takes 15 minutes to load a page. “I can see what is happening in other places through the Internet. I feel connected with the world,” the 25-year-old said.

Sanctions and economic mismanagement under decades of military rule left Myanmar impoverished and cut off from the world, an isolation deepened by a system of online repression imposed by the paranoid generals. Less than one percent of the country’s population have access to the Internet and for those that do, unreliable electricity supplies and painfully slow connection speeds often make websurfing an excruciating experience.

But web users say the curtain is lifting.

Former political prisoners and activists mingled with politicians and government officials at Myanmar Internet Freedom Forum on Saturday all eager to hear debates on everything from censorship to cyber law. “ The system has changedinstead of the government giving out commands, it listens to the voices of the people. We want to know what we can do to create the Internet freedom that people want,” said information technology deputy minister Thaung Tin. He outlined a vision of fast, cheap and widely-available web access that would have been unthinkable under the previous regime, which banned websites like the BBC and criminalized online dissent.

Government ministers from a new quasicivilian regime now use Facebook-once only accessible through proxy sites-as their preferred medium to make announcements and quote the BBC and formerlyprohibited exile media groups.

Thaung Tin said Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Intel have all held discussions with the government about boosting web access in the country, as global firms eye what is now seen as one of Asia’s last untapped technology markets. But hurdles

remain, despite international interest in the fast-changing nation. “I told Microsoft that we want to use their licensed software in our country rather than pirated copies,” he said adding that he had asked the firm to provide it for a “reasonable” price.

“They asked me how much is reasonable for us. I answered: ‘Honestly, anything more than FOC (free of charge) is expensive’.” Under the former regime connections were slowed down on politically significant dates, such as the August 8 anniversary of a mass political uprising in 1988. Myanmar’s citizens used the web to leak extensive accounts and video of bloodshed during monk-led protests in 2007 to the outside world, prompting the regime to tighten its control of the Internet.

The country was still listed as “not free” in 2012 by rights group Freedom House, which sponsored the Yangon conference.

Myanmar’s reforms have included scrapping a harsh censorship that muzzled the media, releasing political prisoners and unblocking news sites. A report published by international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders in December said Internet cafe owners were no longer getting police visits. But it noted that repressive laws-under which journalists, bloggers and dissidents were previously jailed-had yet to be dismantled.

They include the Electronic Transaction Law, which makes using the Internet or digital technology for anti-government activities punishable by up to 15 years in prison. “Freedom is not only measured by being able to look at websites freely, bandwidth and Internet speed should also be in line with international standards,” said blogger and activist Nay Phone Latt, who was behind the Yangon forum. He told AFP that the proliferation of hate speech online during religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims that has swept the country since last year was a concern, particularly as MPs recently set up an entire committee to expose a blogger critical of parliament.

On a visit to Myanmar in March, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said the Internet would make it “impossible to go back”. His vision appears to have been enthusiastically embraced by at least some of Myanmar’s new leaders. Thaung Tin told the Internet conference that he imagines a Myanmar where rural children, instead of being hampered by electricity blackouts, are able to use tablet computers to search online for help with their schoolwork. “How pleasant is it when you close your eyes and think about it!” he said. “Nothing is impossible

China distances itself from Okinawa claim SINGAPORE: A top Chinese general yesterday sought to distance the country from claims by some of its scholars that the Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, do not belong to Japan.

Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, told a security conference in Singapore that the scholars’ views did not represent the official position.

The People’s Daily, China’s most circulated newspaper, had published an article last month written by two scholars from a top state-run think-tank that argued Beijing may have rights to the Ryukyus. The lengthy article argued that the island chain was a “vassal state” of China before Japan annexed it in the late 1800s. “This is only an article of particular scholars and their views on these issues...

It does not represent the views of the Chinese government,” Qi said at the annual forum known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

However, he repeated Chinese arguments for China’s historical claims over a set of tiny uninhabited islets in the East China Sea known as the Diaoyus in China and Senkakus in Japan. “I have to say Diaoyu islands and Ryukyu islands and

Okinawa islands... the first, and the second and the third, are not the same nature. The Chinese government on this is very clear,” he said.

Both countries have been locked in a long-running dispute over the island cluster in the East China Sea which Tokyo administers but is claimed by Beijing.

The two nations have stepped up a war of words in recent months, with Chinese vessels regularly entering waters around the islands, stoking fears of armed conflict. Some Chinese see historical ties as a basis of sovereignty and dismiss Japan’s possession of the islands as a legacy of its aggressive expansionism that ended in defeat at the end of World War II. Before being annexed into Japan in the late 19th century, the independent Ryukyu kingdom, centered on Okinawa, paid tribute to China for centuries-as did numerous other traditional Asian statesoften receiving favorable trading rights in return. Okinawa hosts major US air force and marine bases and is home to 1.3 million people. The US military occupied Okinawa and some other islands in the Ryukyu chain for 27 years after the end of World War II, returning them to Japan on May 15, 1972. — AFP

SINGAPORE: Chinese warships will continue to patrol waters where Beijing has territorial claims, a top general said yesterday, amid simmering rows with neighboring countries over the South China Sea and islands controlled by Japan.

Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, defended the patrols as legitimate and said his country’s sovereignty over the areas could not be disputed.

“Why are Chinese warships patrolling in East China Sea and South China Sea? I think we are all clear about this,” Qi told the annual ShangriLa Dialogue security conference in Singapore.

“Our attitude on East China Sea and South China Sea is that they are in our Chinese sovereignty.

We are very clear about that,” he said through an interpreter.

“So the Chinese warships and the patrolling activities are totally legitimate and uncontroversial.” Qi was responding to a question from a delegate after giving a speech in which he sought to assure neighboring countries that China has no hegemonic ambitions. “China has never taken foreign expansion and military conquering as a state policy,” he said. One delegate however said there appeared to be growing regional skepticism over China’s peaceful intentions because it was inconsistent with moves to send naval patrols to waters where other countries also have claims.

China is locked in a territorial dispute with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea. The four states have partial claims to islands but China says it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the sea, including areas much closer to other countries and thousands of kilometers from the Chinese coast. China also has a dispute with Japan over the Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea. “I do hope the statements of the good general today will be translated into action,” Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters.

He said Qi’s remarks about China having no hegemonic ambitions were “far from what is happening” in the sea. Manila last month protested at what it called the “provocative and illegal presence” of a Chinese warship near Second Thomas Shoal, which is occupied by Philippine troops. Among the other moves that

have caused alarm were China’s occupation of a shoal near the Philippines’ main island last year, and the deployment in March of Chinese naval ships to within 80 kilometers of Malaysia’s coast.

Competing claims have for decades made the area-home to rich fishing grounds and vital global shipping lanes and believed to sit atop vast natural gas deposits-one of Asia’s potential

Chinese scholars that the Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, do not belong to Japan.

“This is only an article of particular scholars and their views on these issues... it does not represent the views of the Chinese government,” he said. Maritime disputes and the risks of conflicts that could hurt Asia’s economic growth were a running theme during the three-day conference

SINGAPORE: Top Chinese military official, Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo tests a microphone while Philippines Secretary of Defense Voltaire Gazmin (right) watches at the 12th Asia Security Summit Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore yesterday. — AFP military flashpoints. China and Vietnam fought in 1974 and 1988 for control of islands in battles that left dozens of soldiers dead. The US-China strategic rivalry also loomed large during the conference, with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday accusing Beijing of waging cyber espionage against the United States.

But General Qi yesterday allayed concerns that China had dropped a pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

Omission of the “no-first-use” pledge in a recent defense white paper had created ripples in military circles and sparked speculation that China may have abandoned the policy. Qi also distanced his government from claims by some

Japan to give $1bn for Sahel security YOKOHAMA: Japan said yesterday it would give $1 billion in aid to help stabilize the Sahel region of Africa, months after the deaths of 10 Japanese in a hostage crisis there. The money is part of a $14 billion aid package to be given to Africa over five years, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Saturday at the start of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. “Japan will provide 100 billion yen ($1 billion) in assistance over five years for the development and stability of the Sahel,” Abe told heads of government from around 40 African nations.

The cash comes in addition to a $120 million aid pledge Tokyo announced in January, days after Islamist gunmen overran a gas plant in the Algerian desert and killed dozens of foreigners. The four-day crisis ended bloodily when Algerian commandos stormed the plant. Graphic pictures and accounts that emerged in the days after the assault indicated executions and sent a collective shudder through Japan, whose energy and infrastructure firms are heavily committed in the region.

Japan’s death toll of 10 was the highest of any nation whose citizens were caught up in the crisis. It was an unusual taste of jihadist anger for a country far removed from violence in the Muslim world. Despite the Japanese public’s wariness of unrest in far-off and little-known places, government, industry and academic leaders warned the resource-poor archipelago cannot withdraw its energy interests from areas like the Sahel.

Instead, they said, Tokyo must take the lead in helping to create stability, through social programs and development that can divert anger and tackle the unemployment and poverty that experts say leads to extremism. Katsumi Hirano, chief researcher at the Institute of Developing Economies, said Tokyo needed to be seen to be doing something. Abe’s latest pledge “is important to show Japan’s commitment to the peacebuilding in Africa”, he said. Abe said that in addition to the financial aid unveiled yesterday, Japan will also support the training of 2,000 people in counterterrorism and security maintenance activities.

“We believe that the assistance we provide in line with the concept of human security, such as the strengthening of social systems, with particular focus on food, education and health... will bring hope for economic development to the people of the region, thereby contributing to stability,” he said. “It is our sincere wish that the Sahel region is restored to peace and stability and recovers its place as the centre of prosperity in northern and western Africa. In order to do so, we must take action together,” he said.

Dioncounda Traore, interim president of Mali, said security in the region was improving, thanks in part to intervention by French-led forces after Islamist rebels seized control of his country’s north in the wake of a military coup last year. “What lessons have we learned from all these? Firstly, the necessity to build wellequipped armies so that we can face threats against security and peace,” he said. But as well as military power, he said, there must be an effort to improve governance, boost schemes to counter food shortages and provide work for the unemployed.

Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, sounded a grim warning against the world taking its eye off the Sahel. “We cannot look at Mali in isolation,” Guterres said, noting the area is prone to food crises and conflict, which can lead to displacement of people, organized crime and extremism. “If these factors are not properly addressed, including at the regional and global level, we face the risk of a series of interlinked crises from Libya to Nigeria and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Aden,” Guterres said. — AFP

that ended yesterday. “Asia holds great promise for ourselves and the world but continued peace and prosperity in this region are neither fait accompli nor automatic,” Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen told the conference.

“Instead, if we are to continue to enjoy stability and progress, we must work effectively in unison to strengthen areas of common interests.”

The Philippines’ Gazmin defended Manila’s move unilaterally to bring its territorial dispute with China before a UN tribunal after China refused to take part. “We hope that the arbitration tribunal will issue a clarification in accordance with international law that will direct China to respect our sovereign rights,” Gazmin told the forum. — AFP

Philippines passes strict gun measure MANILA: Philippine President Benigno Aquino has signed a law making it harder for private individuals to own firearms following a series of high-profile deaths this year, a government spokeswoman said yesterday. Under the law signed last week, those seeking to buy firearms will have to undergo drug and psychological tests and should not have a criminal record or pending court cases.

They will also have to show proof of income as well as a valid tax return and secure clearance from their respective city or municipal police offices. “The new law, coupled with strict enforcement and a more aggressive campaign against loose firearms, will help prevent untoward incidents involving firearms,” deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said.

Qualified citizens will only be allowed to own small firearms, and those who fail to renew their gun licence every two years will have their weapons confiscated by

police. Valte said the government was also stepping up its drive against illegal guns, with police going from door to door to check on potential sources of unlicensed weapons. Gun ownership is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, where many own or carry firearms to protect themselves amid rampant criminality. It was not clear how the law will help address the proliferation of unlicensed firearms or the thriving black market trade of these weapons.

The issue took centre stage in January, following a spate of shooting deaths, including two children hit by stray bullets on New Year’s Eve. A drug-crazed gunman also killed seven people in a slum rampage, and a shoot-out linked to a gambling turfwar left 13 dead, among them corrupt police and military officers. Police data showed there were 1.2 million registered guns in the Philippines as of last year, with an estimated further 600,000 unlicensed firearms in circulation. — AFP

MANILA: Security personnel cordon off the perimeter at the scene in Manila, following a powerful explosion at a luxury condo building. — AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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

Caring for Vietnam’s ‘invisible’ disabled children HANOI: The six-day-old baby with excessive fluid in the brain was left outside an orphanage in Hanoi-just one of thousands of disabled children to have been abandoned in Vietnam. The communist country of 89 million has some of the highest rates of child disability in the world-the legacy of decades of war, including use of defoliant Agent Orange-but experts say it is not equipped to provide adequate care.

At the Bo De Pagoda orphanage, where the baby was abandoned last week, dozens of disabled children-from teenagers with Down Syndrome to twomonth-old blind babies-are cared for by a team of 34 volunteers. “The parents leave the kids at the pagoda gate or abandon them at hospitals. With the more severely disabled ones, the families bring them here when they simply can’t care for them anymore,” volunteer Nguyen Thi Thanh Hue said. Hanoi says up to three million Vietnamese were exposed to dioxin in Agent Orange, and that one million suffer grave health repercussions today, including at least 150,000 children born with birth defects. Disabled children are among the most marginalized in the world, facing bullying and other discrimination, according to a UN report launched this week in the Vietnamese city of Danang-a dioxin “hotspot” where victim groups say rates of cancer and birth deformities are higher than the national average.

Vietnam has roughly 20,000 children in institutional care and over half are disabled, according to UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) executive director Anthony Lake.

“Kids in institutions simply aren’t getting the kind of stimulus and, I don’t want to sound too sentimental, but love, that allows the brain to develop for the rest of their lives,” he said. Even outside of institu-

HANOI: Volunteer Nguyen Thi Thanh Hue (left) helps a disabled girl put on an artificial limb at the Bo De Pagoda orphanage in Hanoi. (Right) Photo shows young children inside a dormitory room at the Bo De Pagoda orphanage in Hanoi. — AFP tional care, life is a daily struggle for Vietnam’s disabled children.

Linh Chi’s family say her grandfather was exposed to Agent Orange during the war. She was born with no limbs and is often stared at and sometimes bullied at school. “I just wish our community could pay her a bit of attention. It would boost her self-esteem. Now she feels so different from everyone else,” her mother Trinh Ngoc Thuy told AFP by telephone from Yen Bai province where they live. “I really find it hard to answer her questions like: why am I like this? Why don’t I have arms and legs?

When will my arms get longer?” she said.

The family have received minimal support

from Vietnamese authorities and say surviving on their joint income-she and her husband both work-of four million dong ($190) a month is hard.

DISABLED KIDS ‘NEARLY INVISIBLE’ Caring for a child with a disability places “an incredible burden” on families, UNICEF’s Lake said. The UN report argues the solution is to change attitudes about disability and support families to help include them in society rather than to institutionalize children. “There is no group of children who are not just left behind but nearly invisible as much as children with disabilities,” Lake said. UNICEF has a pilot scheme in Danang to provide day care to

children with disabilities, which if successful could be expanded. The communist government has publicly committed to action to help the country’s disabled population, which it says numbers 6.7 million but does not break out age groups.

Vietnam, which has signed but not ratified the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, is also looking at piloting cash benefits to support families with disabled children next year, Lake said.

In the meantime, families must cover costs and take on the burden of care such as that of Nguyen Phuong Anh, who has “Osteogenesis Imperfecta” or “brittle bone disease” which left her wheelchair bound.

Presidency beckons for rags-to-riches governor Jakarta governor Joko Widodo a wildly popular leader JAKARTA: Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo, the governor of Jakarta, might well be the future of Indonesian democracy. Here’s why. On a recent afternoon he visited Tambora, a densely populated area of west Jakarta, to inspect the aftermath of a slum fire. Within minutes, the narrow streets were a moshpit of jostling well-wishers. Women embraced him. Men kissed his hand. School children chanted “Long live Jokowi!” Unattended by bodyguards, Widodo edged through the scrum wearing a spotless white shirt and the sort of unfaltering grin that makes a normal man’s face ache.

No wonder he’s smiling. He is a wildly popular leader in a country where scandal has tarnished or toppled almost every leading politician, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and those vying to replace him in next year’s election. His rise has been formidable. So, too, is the task of fixing a city whose problems are holding back one of Asia’s largest and fastestgrowing economies. Widodo, 51, is a former furniture salesman who grew up in a riverside slum in Surakarta, better known as Solo, a oncedeclining city in Central Java where he was elected mayor in 2005.

Over the next seven years he cut crime, revived the local economy and gained a reputation for clean, can-do governance that propelled him into Jakarta’s City Hall last October. Widodo’s plans for the Indonesian capital are even more ambitious. He vows to solve its chronic flooding, alleviate its maddening traffic and re-house more than a million slum-dwellers. “My inspiration is the people,” he told Reuters. “I think we can solve our problems here.”

Jakartans think so too. Widodo is mobbed by crowds during his daily visits to low-rent communities, feted by the media and feared by underperforming city officials. That Widodo’s simple formula - competence, transparency and the common touch - seems so revolutionary is a testament to how corrupt and remote most Indonesian politicians are. In a country where political parties are distinguished not by policies but by personalities, Widodo seems a shoo-in for president - if he decides to run. For now, he says he will concentrate on Jakarta.

His Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) may have other ideas. Its leader is former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesian independence hero Sukarno.

“Megawati doesn’t want to stand next year,” says a senior party official, a Megawati confidant who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We don’t want to announce it yet, but . . . it’s clear that in the party, everyone has Jokowi in mind.” While Widodo’s popularity is rare for an Indonesian politician, it is far from unique. He is only the most celebrated of a new batch of popular and pragmatic leaders who could revolutionize the way Indonesia’s young democracy is run.

GOOD, BAD AND UGLY These leaders are products of Indonesia’s decade-old experiment with decentralization - a process more often blamed for creating corrupt local elites. “It’s important for Indonesians to understand that it’s not just Jokowi,” says Marco Kusumawijaya, director of the Jakarta-based urban studies think tank Rujak. “What we’re seeing is the emergence of new types of leaders.”

Many of them hail not from the bureaucracy the usual source - but from other professions.

Kholiq Arif, the mayor credited with revitalizing the Central Java city of Wonosobo, is a former journalist. Mayor Herman Sutrisno of Banjar, another Javanese town, is a doctor who still performs vasectomies as part of his family planning program. Capable regional leaders often win attention and funds from the central government, as Widodo did in Solo. Bantaeng in Central Sulawesi was picked for a pilot national healthcare program after its mayor Nurdin Abdullah improved the city’s welfare services.

“Indonesia should have more of these leaders,” says Tri Rismaharini, the mayor of Surabaya, herself praised for reviving Indonesia’s secondlargest city. “We’ve been independent for over 60 years and we should have advanced further by now. We are rich in natural and human resources, and we need leaders who understand this potential.” But for every mini-Widodo there are local leaders who have used decentralization to misrule and plunder.

Syamsul Arifin is serving a six-year jail sentence for embezzling nearly Rp 10 billion (US$1 million) during his time as governor of North Sumatra. Banten, a province run by Indonesia’s first female governor, Ratu Atut Chosiyah, has become a byword for nepotism. Her husband, son, daughter-in-law, sister and sister-in-law all hold senior political posts. Other local politicians have passed Islamic bylaws that oblige women to wear headscarves or be chaperoned by male relatives when going out after dark.

SHINING WITHOUT CORRUPTION Widodo’s father was a truck driver, his mother a bamboo seller, and his childhood home a shack on the banks of the Kalianyar River in Solo.

Later, his father ran a small timber business, and Widodo studied at the forestry department of Universitas Gadjah Mada in the nearby city of Yogyakarta. He was the first member of his family to attend university.

It taught him a valuable lesson: poor people who don’t understand the value of education remain poor. During his walkabout in Tambora, he not only inspected burned-out houses but also handed out free books and school bags to children. “Study! Study!” he urged, as they

on talking until he convinced them,” says Widodo’s friend Mari Pangestu, then Indonesia’s trade minister and now its minister of tourism and creative economy. “He’s very persistent - not pushy, but persistent. If he believes in that idea he’ll keep coming back to you and follow up.”

After revitalizing Solo’s traditional markets, he attracted new business by setting up a one-stop shop that allowed investors to cut through bureaucratic corruption and red tape. Corrupt officials were fired. Widodo and his then-deputy Hadi Rudyanto also improved slums and access to healthcare services, and boosted tourism by promoting Solo as a centre for Javanese art and culture. They were re-elected in 2010 with 90 percent of the vote. Widodo abandoned his second term as Solo mayor to run for Jakarta governor, easily beating the Jakarta-born incumbent, Fauzi Bowo.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Jakarta, home to 10 million people, should be famous for its rich Betawi culture and thriving arts scene. Instead, it is notorious for biblical floods, sprawling slums and soul-crushing gridlock. Floods have grown more frequent over the past decade, killing scores of people and causing millions of dollars of damage. In mid-January, days of heavy rain transformed the city into a grim imitation of Venice. The grounds of City Hall, a white-painted Dutch colonial building in central Jakarta, were shin-deep in filthy water.

Jakarta has a shabby and chaotic public transport system and no subway, which forces more people - especially Indonesia’s growing middle classes - into private vehicles. Jakartans buy more than 440 cars and 1,400 motorbikes

Phuong Anh’s mother gave up her job to care for her disabled daughter, and has literally become “her legs” in order to allow the 16-year-old to attend a normal staterun school and live a full and active life. “It is still hard because... the facilities and the platform at public school are not made for people in wheelchairs. That’s a fact in Vietnam and I just really hope for that to change,” she said. Phuong Anh recently appeared as a contestant on Vietnam’s version of the Got Talent television show-and said she hopes to use her local celebrity to change attitudes in her country. “The most important thing is for other people to treat us equally,” she said. — AFP

Bombs threaten ‘Pashto’ song-and-dance cinema PESHAWAR: A projectionist lies asleep in the sweltering Pakistani heat, his face covered by a cloth. A colleague rewinds a reel manually while on screen, through the hashish smoke, a woman bounces on a bed singing “hello, hello, hello” into a cellphone. To this, her would-be lover, who is in another room and is old and apparently drunk, sings “hello, hello, hello” back to her while splashing his head and shoulders with aftershave.

Then the two of them, both fully clothed, sing it again. Welcome to the strangely innocent and overwhelmingly seedy world of Pashto cinema, or Pollywood, which once made its home in Pakistan’s wild frontier town of Peshawar, but is now confined to a handful of theatres that haven’t been attacked by Islamists. The Taleban banned cinema and music during their five -year rule in neighboring Afghanistan, deeming them un-Islamic, and insisted that women wear allenveloping burqas.

The Pakistani Taleban are just as strict and in Pashto cinema, where there is no sex or even kissing and only a bit of midriff on show, all their rules are broken. Several cinemas have been attacked, three of them either bombed or burnt to the ground. Bombs have also gone off outside the cinemas. But even some of those who hate the Taleban are scornful and the industry has been fading over the decades as India’s higherquality Bollywood movies have flourished. “It’s been known for families (in the largely ethnic Pashtun northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) to kill a daughter who becomes a singer in the movies,” one resident of Peshawar said.

“People love the songs, but not the singers.”

The films, now mostly made in Lahore, capital of Punjab province, are crudely made stories with love, valour and Pashtun identity at their core. They feature middle-aged, heavily armed heroes with long moustaches wooing much younger women who, when not bouncing fully dressed on beds, sing a lot in the hills of northwest Pakistan.

Some say the vulgarity has been introduced by Punjabi film makers desperate to fill cinemas. And some theatres slip in blue movies between shows. The macho interest of Pashto films is addressed with guns, swords, knives and bloodshed. In the posters advertising the films, the wild-eyed men are often pictured smoking three cigarettes at once, with one behind the ear for good measure.

FIRE EXTINGUISHERS AT THE READY Peshawar’s Arshad Cinema, complete with private boxes, is grim and dark, with dirty stone steps, crumbling walls and bare wires hanging from the ceilings.

Opposite is a brand new medical centre, eight storeys high and built on the site of another Pashto cinema which was destroyed. The projectors are decades old and noisy. At the foot of one was a can of oil and three fire extinguishers near at hand. The picture itself was out of focus and the soundtrack painfully distorted. “People like Pashto films because they are based on stories about society,” Arshad manager Khalid Khan said.

“But when there are stories in the media saying there are four or five suicide bombers in Peshawar, no one comes to the cinema. And we are suffering losses.” But another reason for the losses is the repetitive story lines and vulgarity, though by western standards, the films are too soft and restrained to be considered pornography. “The films we used to watch in cinemas were based on stories and real issues,” said Safdar Khan, 70. “But going to the cinema is considered a shame or bad thing today due to the obscenity.”

Scriptwriter Nazir Bhati believes Pashto movies are on their way out because they are so monotonous. “I gave up my job when a producer asked me to include vulgar bits,” he told a newspaper. Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly Northwest Frontier Province. Once a majestic walled city, a centre of culture, trade, architecture and education, Peshawar is now hectic, congested and plagued by violence. It has witnessed dozens of bomb attacks in recent years, either launched by the Pakistani Taleban seeking to bring down the government or the result of sectarian violence.

But it remains a centre of Pashtun culture which celebrates the reputation of fearless warriors, the heroes of the films, even if over weight and apparently the wrong side of 60. The men in the pitch-black auditorium lounge around in their seats, smoking cigarettes and more powerful substances and cheering the good bits.

But for an outsider, it’s difficult to tell which bits are good. “The projectors are old,” Arshad manager Khan said.

“And there is so much smoke. So the quality is bad.” — Reuters

Quake kills 1 in Taiwan Joko Widodo holding a maroon bass guitar. mobbed his departing car. Exporting furniture made Widodo a millionaire and a prominent Solo businessman. But it was the city’s deteriorating state that lured Widodo into politics.

Riots during the 1998 downfall of the dictator Suharto razed homes and businesses in Solo and wrecked its economy. The city was also notorious as the home of radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, considered the spiritual leader of the bombers who killed more than 200 people in Bali in 2002. “Investors didn’t trust our city,” he says. Campaigning with the slogan “Shining Without Corruption”, Widodo became Solo’s first directly elected mayor in 2005. His signature achievement was unclogging Solo’s streets and public spaces by relocating thousands of illegal vendors to new facilities. He did this through incentives discussed at dozens of meetings with the vendors, often over lunch or dinner. “He kept

every day, says Widodo. Then there are the slums: more than 4.7 million Jakartans live in them, he says. Widodo’s big-ticket public transport projects are the city’s first subway (which was first proposed 24 years ago) and a monorail (14 years ago).

He promises the subway, or mass rapid transit (MRT), will be completed in seven years - he formally announced the $2.4 billion project on May 2 - and the monorail in half that time. He also plans to add more buses and dedicated bus routes, and to squeeze motorists with stiffer parking fees and congestion charges. Many of Jakarta’s problems are interconnected: its lack of green space, for example, means lower absorption of flood waters. But then so are its solutions: remove refuse-producing slums from the banks of rivers and canals and flood waters drain more easily. — Reuters

TAIPEI: A strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan yesterday, killing one person and violently shaking buildings in the capital Taipei, officials said. The quake sent people running into the streets and was also felt in Hong Kong, more than 700 kilometers away. The tremor at 1:43 pm was centered 32 kilometers east of the central county of Nantou at a depth of 10 kilometers, Taiwan’s Seismology Centre said. The National Fire Agency said a mountain climber was killed after he was hit by falling rocks on Mount Ali in central Taiwan.

TV footage showed landslides, stirring clouds of yellow dust, on other mountains in the area. The agency told AFP that four helicopters had been sent to scout the epicenter area as authorities awaited any further damage information. Six high-speed trains halted but services resumed after no

damage was found to the line. “This is the biggest earthquake to hit this year. As the origin of the quake was shallow and it happened in the centre of the island, its velocity could be felt islandwide,” Lu Pei-ling, deputy chief of the seismology centre, told reporters.

“Today’s earthquake was somewhat related to the 1999 one.” Nantou county was the epicenter of a 7.6-magnitude quake in September 21, 1999 that killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s recent history. In late March a strong earthquake in the same vicinity as yesterday’s tremor killed one person and injured 86 others. Violent shock waves damaged buildings and triggered two blazes. Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes. — AFP

14

ANALYSIS

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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Issues

China turns on charm at regional security forum

By John O’Callaghan and David Alexander enior Chinese military officials came ready to talk at a major regional security forum over the weekend, surprising delegates with a new sense of openness at a time when Beijing is making strident claims to territory across Asia’s seas. No one expected any resolution of disputes over maritime boundaries, accusations of Chinese cyber-espionage, Beijing’s suspicions about the US “pivot” to Asia or other prickly issues at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. But the charm offensive by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers, less than a week before Chinese President Xi Jinping meets US President Barack Obama for an informal summit, appeared to be designed to tone down the recent assertiveness by emphasising cooperation and discussion. “There’s no question that this year the PLA delegation has come very prepared to engage in dialogue,” said John Chipman, director-general of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, which convenes the forum.

“The intensity of the Chinese engagement and the manner of their engagement is different.” The defence minister of the Philippines, Voltaire Gazmin, also noted a shift. “It’s a total turnaround. They have been talking about peaceful resolutions, no outward acts,” Gazmin told Reuters. “But we still hope to see that these words are put into action.” China claims large swathes of the South China Sea, which could be rich in oil and gas. The Philippines and other Southeast Asia nations have challenged Beijing over those claims. Beijing is also embroiled in a row with Tokyo over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, which are also believed to contain large energy deposits. China, the world’s second-largest economy and a rising military power, is aware it needs what it calls a “stable and peaceful external environment” for its own development.

Indeed, Chinese officials at the forum sought to ease concerns about Beijing’s intentions. “China’s development and prosperity is a major opportunity instead of a challenge or even threat to countries in the Asia-Pacific region,” Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, the PLA’s deputy chief of general staff, told a session on regional security. Qi, China’s top official at the forum, said dialogue “by no means denotes unconditional compromise” and he gave no ground on sovereignty claims, calling the presence of Chinese warships in the East China Sea and the South China Sea “totally legitimate and uncontroversial to patrol within our own territory”. But he said “China is a peace-loving nation” and went on to answer more than a dozen questions from delegates.

Unlike most other countries, China has sent its defence minister to the Shangri-La Dialogue only once - in 2011.

Despite that absence, a senior US official accompanying Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to the forum saw a big change in the Chinese delegation. “Last year China had a very, very small contingent, a relatively junior-ranking contingent. This year they came in force ... and have been very active in the panels,” said the official. “That’s very, very good.

We want everybody to engage.”

While there was a fair amount of scepticism about China’s position from security analysts during the various sessions, Chinese officials were not shy about taking tough questions or asking their own from the floor. Major General Yao Yunzhu from the PLA’s Academy of Military Science asked Hagel after his speech how Washington could reassure Beijing that the US focus on Asia was not an “attempt to counter China’s rising influence”. “China is not convinced,” she said in fluent English.

“That’s really the whole point behind closer military-to-military relationships,” Hagel replied. “We don’t want miscalculations and misunderstandings and misinterpretations.”

The higher-ranking Chinese delegation this year and their participation in the sessions shows “a more active effort on the part of the Chinese to reach out”, Canada’s defence minister, Peter MacKay, told Reuters. “I see that as positive.” The Chinese worked “with a very courteous style, with a much less combative style”, Chipman said, noting the remarks by “a young officer of the PLA congratulating the defence minister of Japan for his very important and serious speech”. Japan, a US ally, is strengthening its economy and military to play a responsible international role, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said in his speech. Onodera, addressing lingering suspicion about his country’s intentions given its role in World War Two, said Japan “caused tremendous damage and suffering” to its neighbours in the past but wanted to look to the future by promoting cooperation. Those comments were what won public praise from the PLA officer, who also spoke in English. “The other Asians are saying the Chinese have decided to play the game, that is to pitch up, make an impression and do so in the right way,” said Chipman. “How that has an impact on the ground, at sea, in space, in cyber ... is a different question.” — Reuters

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Syrian war seen dragging on for years

By Crispian Balmer yrian President Bashar Al-Assad cannot regain full control of his battered country and his rebel foes are not strong enough to overthrow him, dooming Syria to months or even years of sectarian civil war. Bolstered by his Iranian and Russian backers, Assad has chalked up some military successes in recent weeks, defying his many critics, who have been confidently predicting his imminent downfall since the start of the uprising in March 2011. But any suggestion his government might secure the total defeat of its disparate opponents shows little understanding of the nature of the war or the multitude of forces involved. “As things stand, the regime cannot reconquer, it cannot reconcile, it cannot reform and it cannot rebuild,” said Peter Harling, a project director at the International Crisis Group. “But winning is living another day, and if you bring it down to that, (Assad) is,” he told Reuters.

As recently as December, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency stated openly that Assad’s government appeared to be “in its final stages”, citing its loss of control over swathes of territory and signs the rebels were coordinating better. Fast forward just five months, and the agency has turned that assessment on its head, a security source in Berlin said. Germany now believes it is the opposition that faces serious difficulties, hobbled by internal strife and forced into retreat by the arrival of well-trained Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, who have gone to war to fight for Assad’s survival.

However, a senior official in neighbouring Israel, reputed to have some of the best intelligence on its old enemy Syria, dismissed the idea that Assad was staging a remarkable recovery and could once again take full charge of his scarred nation. “It’s a roller coaster, up and down, but over time you see Assad shrinking,” said the top official, adding that recent government gains might prove hard to maintain. “It could all change tomorrow,” he said.

Recent history shows that most civil wars do not finish quickly, they do not tend to end in negotiated settlements

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and the longer they continue, the more difficult it is to disarm the militia and unravel the inevitable refugee crises.

The Syrian crisis is now in its third year, with at least 80,000 killed and more than 1.6 million refugees fleeing abroad.

Despite much hand-wringing in the West, the bloodletting looks set to carry on for much longer. According to Barbara Walter, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, civil wars since 1945 have lasted an average 10 years. Some analysts are starting to draw parallels with the civil war in Lebanon, which dragged on from 1975-1990.

“Yes, the Syrian war will last for many years ... And no, Assad will not emerge victorious,” said Walter, who has written extensively about civil wars around the world. On paper, Assad’s position looks encouraging for his allies. The rebels have managed to take only one of Syria’s 14 provincial capitals - Raqqa, in the northeast. By contrast, Saddam Hussein lost control of 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces after the 1991 Gulf War but fought back to survive another 12 years.

Assad’s forces have also honed their tactics, with irregular militias trained in urban warfare joining the fray while the army concentrates its considerable firepower on key areas. “Before, a rocket used to fall every 10 minutes. Their new strategy is to hit us with 10 rockets every 15 seconds.

We can’t figure out how to move fast enough to react,” said a rebel contact in the battered city of Homs, declining to be named. Another big boost has come from Hezbollah, which has openly committed its powerful forces to fight the poorly armed rebels. “Hezbollah’s presence has made a big difference. They are a real force. Army soldiers can defect. Hezbollah fights until the last breath,” said an antiAssad activist called Ahmed, who used to work with a rebel unit in Idlib, northwestern Syria.

Underscoring the rebel problems, Ahmed recently quit his unit, upset by constant infighting within opposition ranks. Despite the improvement in the outlook for Assad, the dynamics of civil war make it hard to imagine he can triumph. “I do not recall one civil war that has lasted for more than two years and that has ended with a complete restoration of control by the central government,” said

Jonathan Eyal, head of international studies at the Royal United Services Institute.

New patterns of power are emerging as Syria is torn apart, state institutions fray and the economy is devastated. The huge influx of arms means it may take decades to restore order. The war’s regional, ethnic and sectarian nature is a further element that looks likely to fuel the fighting, with largely Sunni Muslim states such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar lined up behind the rebels, while Shiite Iran backs Assad. “Even if the opposition was crushed, it would not be in the interests of most Arab states to abandon them because they would want to have an instrument to keep putting pressure on Assad and Iran,” said Eyal.

Many other jarring interests are at play, making it difficult to see how any diplomatic solution could be found despite US and Russian efforts to hold an international peace conference in Geneva in the coming weeks. The initial popular uprising has morphed into a many-layered conflict, with Syrian religious minorities pitted against the Sunni majority, Sunni jihadis at odds with more moderate Sunni Islamist rebels, quasi-Cold War tensions between Moscow and Washington, and Israeli concerns over its own security.

In the absence of decisive foreign intervention on behalf of the rebels - for which the West has shown little appetite - Assad’s opponents point to two possible triggers for his downfall: a complete economic meltdown or else a coup. But neither event would necessarily end the fighting.

Perhaps the best the world can hope for in the near future is a reduction in the intensity of the conflict, which US academic James Fearon says has proved one of the most intense civil wars in the last 60 years in terms of numbers killed. “As a practical matter it is hard to sustain this level of violence on both sides for a long time,” said Fearon, professor of political science at Stanford University. “However, even if the intensity of violence reduces a lot, the likelihood of years of continued lower-level but still serious violence in Syria must be judged to be pretty high.” — Reuters

Is Kerry a Lone Ranger on Mideast?

By Arshad Mohammed our months into his term, US Secretary of State John Kerry is trying, simultaneously, to end two of the world’s most intractable conflicts: the Syrian civil war and the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians. The two issues, according to an aide, have consumed the vast majority of Kerry’s time and energy - he has already flown more than 100,000 miles to 23 countries, including four trips to Israel since he took office Feb 1. What is unclear, however, is whether all the movement will lead to progress, or whether it will go down as the quixotic, if laudable, efforts of an enthusiastic new secretary of state.

Success, or even progress, could increase Kerry’s clout with foreign interlocutors and at the White House. Failure could tarnish his early months and, in the case of Israeli-Palestinian peace, add his name to a long list of chief US diplomats who have tried and then moved on to other challenges. Kerry, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is well-known in Washington and the corridors of power in foreign capitals, even if he may lack the global star-power of his predecessor, Hillary Clinton.

But what he is attempting is arguably more ambitious than where Clinton - another failed presidential candidate turned chief diplomat - was at the same stage four months into her tenure in the job. Clinton kept some distance from the IsraeliPalestinian issue, visiting Israel just five times in four years in office and delegating day-to-day work to special envoy George Mitchell. Unlike Clinton though, Kerry is not hamstrung by trying to preserve an ability to run for president again and so perhaps has greater latitude to press Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians without fear of alienating Jewish American voters. The next several weeks may provide clues on whether Kerry’s efforts in Arab-Israeli peacemaking and in trying to find a diplomatic solution to the more than two years of violence in Syria will bear fruit.

Nearly 20 years after the Israelis and Palestinians formally began their peace process through the Oslo Accords, there is deep skepticism on both sides that peace is possible. Among the issues to be settled in any agreement to end the more than six-decade conflict are borders, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. Palestinian officials have said Kerry has given them until June 7 to let the United States know whether they are serious about the possibility of reviving peace talks. While Kerry has not explicitly confirmed the

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deadline - and it could be extended - on May 24 he said “we’re getting towards a time now where hard decisions need to be made.”

Even before taking office, Kerry made no secret of his desire to try to solve the conflict. But he has acknowledged the deep skepticism, saying a week ago that “it is famously reputed to be diplomatic quicksand”. Having spent most of his career in the US Senate, where personal relationships are vital to getting things done, Kerry believes in the virtue of face-to-face diplomacy and has used his facility with languages to slip into French, German, Italian and even, occasionally, a word of Arabic to charm audiences. He also makes a point of visiting cultural icons when abroad, laying a wreath at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, touring Tokyo’s Zojo-ji Temple and paying his respects at Ataturk’s Tomb in Ankara.

However, he has been subjected to some withering criticism. “Despite his good intentions, Kerry so far looks like a naive and ham-handed diplomat who has been acting like a bull in the china shop of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict,” wrote Barak Ravid, diplomatic correspondent for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper. For all Kerry’s efforts, questions linger about whether US President Barack Obama has any real willingness to try a second time on Middle East peace, having promised to make it a priority at the start of his first term but failing to make any progress.

“It is a Lone-Ranger type of effort so far,” said Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.

“The perception in the region is this is a process of buying time ... that the White House is not serious about committing to what it takes to get this issue

resolved,” Muasher added. “I don’t think people are questioning the motives of Kerry, everyone thinks he is serious about this - and he is serious about this - but he is just acting alone,” he said. “There is not even a Tonto, it is just him doing it alone,” he added, referring to the fictional Lone Ranger’s companion.

A senior USofficial disputed the notion that Kerry was naive and said the Obama administration was prepared to abandon the effort if it judges that the Israelis and Palestinians are not serious about pursuing peace. “That’s what shows he’s not naive,” said the official of Kerry’s willingness to pull back if he does not see both sides as ready. “There’s too many things going on in the world ... You could bang your head on this for years and years and years.”

Rob Danin of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank said that Obama’s legendary control over foreign policy decision-making meant Kerry must have had a White House green light to explore the Syria and Israeli-Palestinian initiatives.

“Clearly these approaches have been initiated and designed by Secretary Kerry,” Danin said. “But given the equities involved, it is inconceivable to think that he is freelancing.”

Kerry appears to be attempting something equally ambitious in trying to end the Syrian civil war, which began as peaceful protests against President Bashar Al-Assad’s government and has evolved into a fullscale sectarian conflict. More than 80,000 people are believed to have been killed in the fighting, which has made millions of people homeless and begun to draw in regional parties such as Lebanese Hezbollah, which is fighting on the side of Syrian forces. Efforts to try to address the conflict at the UN Security Council have been stymied by vetoes by Russia, which has a naval base in Syria and has backed Damascus with arms deliveries.

However, after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kerry announced in Moscow on May 7 that the United States and Russia would try to bring the warring parties to a peace conference. —Reuters

NEWS

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

Pakistanis cool off at a beach on the Arabian Sea during a heat wave in Karachi yesterday. Heat-wave conditions in Pakistan have brought temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country. — AFP

Abbas names new PM to Hamas outrage the past largely on differences over RAMALLAH: Palestinian President policy toward Israel. Hamas rejects Mahmoud Abbas named British-eduany recognition of the Jewish state, cated political independent Rami while Abbas’ Fatah party signed an Hamdallah as new prime minister interim deal with Israel in 1993 and yesterday, a move that was immediis a party to US-brokered efforts to ately condemned by Gaza Strip rulers revive peace talks that broke down Hamas. Abbas and the militant in a dispute over Jewish settleIslamist group agreed in principle last ments in 2010. US Secretary of month to form a unity government State John Kerry has met with little for the divided Palestinian territories, success in efforts to renew peace and a Hamas spokesman said talks. The Palestinians want a settleHamdallah’s appointment threw that ment construction freeze while into doubt. Fawzi Barhoum told Israel insists talks should be held Reuters “Abbas should have implewithout preconditions. mented the reconciliation (deal)” Hamdallah also pledged his achieved in Cairo last month, rather commitment to Abbas’ agenda of than name his own independent canreturning to the table with a goal of didate as prime minister. The group establishing an independent called Hamdallah’s appointment “illeRami Hamdallah Palestinian state with East gal”.

But official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said that Jerusalem as its capital, the WAFA agency said. Under in naming Hamdallah, Abbas, who has sought to end Palestinian law, he has up to six weeks to form a governabuse of the Islamist group’s activists by security forces ment. Fayyad, a former World Bank official credited with in the West Bank, had “stressed his commitment to rec- building Palestinian institutions needed to gain indeonciliation” with Hamas. A little known figure outside the pendence from Israel, resigned over an economic crisis Palestinian territories, Hamdallah is a professor of lin- caused by cuts in Western funds and Israeli freezes on guistics who has been president of An Najah National money transfers.

Fayyad’s departure was seen as a major blow to the University in the West Bank’s largest city since 1998. He will replace Western-favoured economist Salam Fayyad Palestinians’ Western backers. Media reports have quoted Fayyad as saying he would have stayed on had he who quit in April and formally leaves office this month.

“President Abbas has designated Rami Hamdallah to thought Kerry’s initiative would succeed. A trusted gate form a new cabinet,” the official told Reuters, speaking keeper of Western aid, Fayyad’s absence may renew on condition of anonymity. Palestinian and Israeli media scrutiny of Palestinian accounts and accusations of coralso reported the appointment. Led by the secular Fatah ruption. The United States and parts of Europe reduced party, Abbas’ Western-backed Palestinian Authority has funding for the Palestinians late last year in protest at pursued surveillance, firings, arrests and torture to bar Abbas’ winning of de facto United Nations statehood its Islamist rivals from public life in the West Bank, since recognition, which Washington objected to as an attempt to bypass direct talks with Israel. Kerry has promHamas seized control of the Gaza Strip enclave in 2007.

Political attempts to heal the rift have foundered in ised $4 billion in aid but given few details. — Reuters

Gulf mulls action against Hezbollah Continued from Page 1 The Gulf Cooperation Council is made up of six Sunniruled states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Hezbollah, like Shiite-dominated Iran, is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar AAssad, who hails from the Alawite offshoot of Shiism. Gulf states have repeatedly accused Iran of meddling in their affairs, a charge the Islamic republic categorically denies.

Violence in Syria has killed more than 94,000 people since a brutal crackdown transformed democracy protests that erupted in March 2011 into an armed conflict.

On the battlefront, Hezbollah guerrillas fought a deadly battle with Syrian rebels in Lebanon’s eastern border region early yesterday, security sources said, in the latest eruption of Syria’s conflict on Lebanese soil. Sources said at least 12 rebels were killed in the fighting east of the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, but the toll would not be clear until bodies were retrieved from the remote and rugged border area. One Hezbollah fighter also died, they said.

The latest fighting took place near Ain el-Jaouze in a strip of Lebanese territory which extends into Syria, the sources said, and the rebels may have been ambushed as they set up rockets to fire into Shiite areas of the Bekaa Valley. Rebels have said they will carry out attacks inside Lebanon in response to Hezbollah’s support for Assad’s assault on Qusair, a strategic town for rebel weapons supplies and fighters coming into Syria from Lebanon.

The United Nations said on Saturday that up to 1,500 wounded people might be trapped inside Qusair and UN

officials called for an immediate ceasefire to allow them to receive treatment. The International Committee of the Red Cross asked for access, saying it was ready to enter Qusair immediately to deliver aid. But Syrian state television said Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem told UNSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon by telephone yesterday that the Red Cross would have to wait until military operations in the area were complete. Moualem also expressed surprise at international concern over the fighting around Qusair, saying the world had been silent when rebels took over the town 18 months ago and that Syria was now clearing it of “terrorism”, the television said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of medical and security sources on the ground, said heavy fighting continued in the northern, eastern and southern outskirts of Qusair yesterday.

Leading Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef alQaradawi, based in Qatar which has led regional pressure for Assad’s overthrow, called yesterday for holy war against the Syrian government after intervention by Hezbollah, whose name in Arabic means the Party of God. The Syrian Observatory said a bomber from the al Qaedalinked Nusra Front rebel group blew his car up near a police station in the eastern Damascus district of Jobar yesterday, killing himself and eight members of the security forces. Pope Francis called yesterday for an end to the violence in Syria and appealed to kidnappers in Syria to free their captives. Syria’s kidnap victims include the Greek Orthodox archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim, seized near Aleppo last month. — Agencies

3-D printing goes from sci-fi fantasy to reality SAN MATEO, California: Invisalign, a San Jose company, uses 3-D printing to make each mouthful of customized, transparent braces. Mackenzies Chocolates, a confectioner in Santa Cruz, uses a 3-D printer to pump out chocolate molds.

And earlier this year, Cornell University researchers used a 3D printer, along with injections of a special collagen gel, to create a human-shaped ear. Once a science-fiction fantasy, three-dimensional printers are popping up everywhere from the desks of home hobbyists to Air Force drone research centers. The machines, generally the size of a microwave oven and costing $400 to more than $500,000, extrude layer upon layer of plastics or other materials, including metal, to create 3-D objects with moving parts.

Users are able to make just about anything they like: iPad stands, guitars, jewelry, even guns. But experts warn this cool innovation could soon turn controversial - because of safety concerns but also the potential for the technology to alter economies that rely on manufacturing. “We believe that 3-D printing is fundamentally changing the manufacturing ecosystem in its entirety - how and where products are made and by whom,” said Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO of New Yorkbased Shapeways, an online company that makes and sells 3D printed products designed by individuals. Products include a delicate, twig-like egg cup (cost: $8.10) and a lamp that looks like a nuclear mushroom cloud (cost: $1,388.66).

“We’re on the verge of the next industrial revolution, no doubt about it,” added Dartmouth College business professor Richard D’Aveni. “In 25 years, entire industries are going to disappear. Countries relying on mass manufacturing are going to find themselves with no revenues and no jobs.”

On ground, sea or air, when parts break, new ones can be made on the spot, and even the tools to install them can be made, eliminating the need for staging parts in warehouses around the world, said Jeff DeGrange, vice president of Direct Digital Manufacturing at Stratasys Inc, currently the industry leader in a field of about 50 3-D printer companies. “We’re going to see innovation happening at a much higher rate, introduction of products at a much higher rate,” said DeGrange. “We live in an on-demand world now, and we’ll see production schedules are going to be greatly compressed.”

Airplane mechanics could print a replacement part on the runway. A dishwasher repairman could make a new gasket in

his service truck. A surgeon could print a knee implant custom-designed to fit a patient’s body. But the military, D’Aveni said, is likely to be among the first major users of 3-D printers, because of the urgency of warfare. “Imagine a soldier on a firebase in the mountains of Afghanistan. A squad is attacked by insurgents. The ammunition starts to run out. Is it worth waiting hours and risking the lives of helicopter pilots to drop it near you, or is it worth a more expensive system that can manufacture weapons and ammunition on the spot?” he said.

In the past two years, the US Defense Department has spent more than $2 million on 3-D printers, supplies and upkeep, according to federal contract records. Their uses range from medical research to weapons development. In addition, the Obama administration has launched a $30 million pilot program that includes researching how to use 3-D printing to build weapons parts. NASA is also wading into this arena, spending $500,000 in the past two years on 3-D printing. Its Lunar Science Institute has published descriptions of how it is exploring the possibility of using the printers to build everything from spacecraft parts while in orbit to a lunar base.

While the US is pursuing the military advantages of 3-D printing, it’s also dealing with the potential dangers of the technology. On May 9, the State Department ordered a group to take down online blueprints for a 3-D printable handgun, and federal lawmakers and some state legislatures are contemplating proposals to restrict future posting of weapons plans. Since 2007, when these printers first entered the mainstream marketplace, sales have grown by 7.2 percent each year, according to IBIS World, a company that tracks the industry. Sales are projected to jump from about $1.7 billion in 2011 to $3.7 billion in 2015.

Starting in June, office supply chain Staples plans to be the first major retailer to supply 3-D printers with “the Cube,” a plug-in device that uses 16 colors and costs $1,299. And in September the smallest and cheapest 3-D printer on the market - a printing pen priced from $50 - is due to start shipping. Similar to a glue gun, the 3Doodler plugs into the wall and is filled with cylinders of plastic that come out of a 518degree Fahrenheit tip. Once the plastic leaves the pen it cools and hardens. — AP

Turkey police fire tear gas as protests spread Continued from Page 1 snowballed into broader protests against what critics say is the government’s increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

After two days of violence, the situation appeared to have calmed in Istanbul yesterday after police pulled out of Taksim and officials adopted a more conciliatory tone. But in Ankara police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse some 1,000 protesters who were attempting to march on the prime minister’s high-security office, images that were shown live on the private NTV news network. “The continuation of these protests... will bring no benefits but will harm the reputation of our country which is admired both in the region and the world,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Twitter.

Guler said 58 civilians and 115 security officers had been injured in the three days of protests, although rights groups have put the number of injured in the hundreds. Authorities say almost 100 police vehicles, 94 shops and dozens of cars have been damaged, with Guler estimating the cost at at more than 20 million liras (over eight million euros). “They call me a dictator,” Erdogan said in a speech yesterday. “If they liken a humble servant to a dictator, then I am at a loss for words.” The prime minister had insisted on Saturday that his government would press ahead with the controversial redevelopment near Taksim although he said the project may not include a shopping mall, as feared by protesters. He also admitted “some mistakes” in the police response.

Eylem Yildirim, a 36-year-old housewife and protester in Taksim, said she expected the crowds to die down after the

weekend but said the people had made their point and the government knew they were “bitter and at the limits of their patience”. Mass circulation newspaper Milliyet plastered a picture of the packed square on its front page with the headline “Freedom Park”.

Amnesty International said some protesters had been left blinded by the massive quantities of tear gas and pepper spray used by police. Amnesty’s Europe director John Dalhuisen said police excesses had become routine in Turkey “but the excessively heavy-handed response to the entirely peaceful protests in Taksim has been truly disgraceful.” Human Rights Watch said the number of injured was higher than official figures suggested and that one protester had lost an eye after police shot him with a plastic bullet. Turkey’s NATO allies Britain, France and the United States have all urged the Erdogan government to exercise restraint.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris was calling for “a peaceful solution” but he rejected comparisons with the Arab Spring uprisings, saying: “We are dealing (in Turkey) with a government that was democratically elected.”

The Turkey protests also come after a controversial new law introduced by Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that will restrict the sale and advertising of alcohol, a move that has sparked complaints that the government is trying to impose an Islamic agenda. Erdogan’s populist government is often accused of trying to make the predominantly Muslim but staunchly secular country more conservative and has also been criticised for its crackdown on opponents including Kurds, journalists and the military establishment. — AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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EPL gaffe on Mourinho

Orb all set for Belmont

Gatlin wins 100m Classic

LONDON: The Premier League apologised to Chelsea yesterday after inadvertently publishing a pre-prepared story announcing Jose Mourinho’s return to the club. The story, later removed, appeared on the official Premier League website (www.premierleague.com) with today’s date and the headline: “Portuguese coach is back at Stamford Bridge after signing a xx-year contract.”

“Jose Mourinho returns for second stint as Chelsea manager. Portuguese signs x-year-deal,” the website added in key points alongside the story. A Premier League spokesman said they had spoken to Chelsea and apologised. “It was a publishing mistake,” he said. “We have no prior knowledge of a pending appointment.” Mourinho bowed out of Real Madrid with a 4-2 home La Liga win over Osasuna on Saturday and is poised to rejoin Chelsea, although neither the west London club nor the coach have confirmed his next destination. The Portuguese first joined Chelsea as manager in 2004 and won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006. Former Stamford Bridge defender Ricardo Carvalho made clear on Saturday that Mourinho was set to return when he told Sky Sports television that the Portuguese could win the title with them again next year. —Reuters

NEW YORK: The rematch is on. Kentucky Derby winner Orb is all set to take on Preakness winner Oxbow in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday following a workout that had trainer Shug McGaughey declaring his colt ready for another race.

“If he has a good week, he’s a go,” McGaughey said yesterday at Belmont Park after Orb worked 4 furlongs in 48.30 seconds with exercise rider Jenn Patterson aboard. “He came off the track playing a little bit. He’s been eating well all week and if he doesn’t show any ill effects of anything I see no reason why (he won’t run).”

Patterson guided Orb back into his barn saying she was “very happy” with the work. “He did everything very easily,” she said. “I didn’t have to encourage him at all. He was very happy doing it.”

Working in company with Hymn Book, Orb covered the ground as effortlessly as he had in previous works leading up to the Derby and the Preakness, galloping out 5 furlongs in 1:00.48.

McGaughey said racing circumstances may have played a role in Orb’s fourth-place finish in the Preakness. He said breaking from the inside post at Pimlico, a slow pace, and the fact Orb was unable to get outside and find running room made it all the more difficult.

“And I’m sure when the other riders had him down on the inside they weren’t going to let him out, especially as slow as they we going,” McGaughey said. “It just wasn’t our day.”—AP

EUGENE: Justin Gatlin turned back the clock with a victory in the 100 meters at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday. Gatlin won at the Diamond League meet in a wind-aided time of 9.88 seconds, beating fellow Americans Michael Rodgers and Ryan Bailey. The 31-year old, who won the bronze medal at the London Games, joked afterward: “I just age like wine.” Gatlin won the Olympic gold medal at the Athens Games but his promising career was derailed in 2006 by a positive drug test that led to a four-year ban. He has since worked hard to repair his past and was the defending champion at the Prefontaine, winning last year in 9.9 in a tuneup for the US Olympic trials. “I felt like I had a pretty good start, and I brought it home pretty good,” Gatlin said. “Last year, my 20 meters before the finish line wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be.

That’s what we’ve been working on.” Gatlin took longer than any other athlete on his victory lap, stopping frequently to sign autographs and pose for pictures. In the women’s 400, Olympic gold medalist Sanya-Richards Ross finished last in her first race since having surger y on her right big toe last September. — AP

Tigers pound Orioles

MLB results/standings Cleveland 5, Tampa Bay 0; Minnesota 5, Seattle 4; St. Louis 8, San Francisco 0; Detroit 10, Baltimore 3; Kansas City 4, Texas 1 (10 innings); Milwaukee 4, Philadelphia 3; Oakland 4, Chicago White Sox 3 (10 innings); Colorado 7, LA Dodgers 6 (10 innings); Miami 8, NY Mets 1; Boston 11, NY Yankees 1; Atlanta 2, Washington 1 (10 innings); Arizona 12, Chicago Cubs 4; Cincinnati 2, Pittsburgh 0; St. Louis 7, San Francisco 1; Houston 2, LA Angels 0; San Diego 4, Toronto 3.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT Boston 34 23 .596 31 24 .564 NY Yankees Baltimore 31 25 .554 Tampa Bay 30 25 .545 Toronto 23 33 .411 Central Division Detroit 30 24 .556 30 25 .545 Cleveland Chicago White Sox 24 29 5.5 Minnesota 24 29 .453 Kansas City 23 30 .434 Western Division Texas 34 21 .618 33 24 .579 Oakland LA Angels 25 31 .446 Seattle 24 32 .429 Houston 19 37 .339

GB 2 2.5 3 10.5 0.5 .453 5.5 6.5 2 9.5 10.5 15.5

National League Eastern Division Atlanta 33 22 .600 Washington 28 28 .500 Philadelphia 26 30 .464 NY Mets 22 31 .415 Miami 15 41 .268 Central Division St. Louis 37 18 .673 Cincinnati 35 21 .625 Pittsburgh 34 22 .607 Chicago Cubs 23 31 .426 Milwaukee 21 33 .389 Western Division Arizona 31 24 .564 Colorado 29 27 .518 San Francisco 29 27 .518 San Diego 26 29 .473 LA Dodgers 23 31 .426

5.5 7.5 10 18.5 2.5 3.5 13.5 15.5 2.5 2.5 5 7.5

Florida edge Nebraska in 15 inning at WCWS OKLAHOMA CITY: Lauren Haeger and Jessica Damico scored on shortstop Alicia Armstrong’s fielding error in the 15th inning, and No. 2 seed Florida eliminated Nebraska from the Women’s College World Series with a 9-8 victory Saturday night.

Armstrong was able to get in front of Taylore Fuller’s sharp grounder up the middle, but it hopped up and hit her before careening into center field.

The 14th-seeded Cornhuskers (45-16) scored once in the bottom of the 15th, but their chance for a third tying rally ended with Tatum Edwards getting called out at third base when her foot came off the bag after she touched it ahead of the initial tag.

“I don’t know that you could ask for anything more if you’re a fan and I know that you couldn’t ask for anything more as a coach on either side, in either dugout,” Cornhuskers coach Rhonda Revelle said.

“It’s a shame that someone has to lose that, but I don’t really feel like anybody lost it because both teams just fought tooth and nail.”

Nebraska had scored three times in the seventh to force extra innings, and Taylor Edwards tied it again in the 10th with a home run to match Briana Little’s solo shot in the top half of the inning.

It ended up as the fifth game to go 15 innings or longer at the Women’s College World Series. In the longest game ever, Texas A&M beat Cal Poly-Pomona 1-0 in 25 innings in 1984.

It was the longest game since 1994, when Oklahoma State beat Cal State Northridge 3-2 in 15 innings. Florida

advanced to face Texas in another elimination game late yesterday.

Armstrong doubled to lead off the bottom of the 15th and scored after back-toback groundouts. Tatum Edwards then drew a walk, fouling off a full-count pitch before taking ball four. Gabby Banda’s grounder glanced off of Florida pitcher Hannah Rogers and into left field, where Little fielded it and threw to third base.

Replays showed Tatum Edwards made it to the base, with Stephanie Tofft blocking it, ahead of the throw. Tatum Edwards, Taylor’s twin sister, remained face down on the infield dirt for a few moments after the final out.

“I don’t think she touched the bag,” Tofft said. “I think she got my whole knee, that’s about it.” Haeger (16-2) gave up one run on three hits in seven innings of relief, taking over at the start of the eighth inning.

Rogers, who started the game, re-entered and got the save.

“If that wasn’t one of the best, most exciting games at the World Series - I don’t know about ever. But it was one of the most exciting games I think I’ve ever coached,” Gators coach Tim Walton said.

“I’m really proud of our team.”

After Nebraska took a 2-0 lead in the fourth, the SEC champion Gators (58-8) answered right back while taking advantage of three straight defensive miscues on infield grounders.

After Tofft’s one-out RBI single, Haeger reached on a fielder’s choice when Banda was unable to tag Kirsti Merritt on her way to third base. — AP

OKLAHOMA: Texas’ Kim Bruins celebrates as she heads toward home after hitting a two-run home run against Arizona State in the fifth inning of their Women’s College World Series softball game in Oklahoma. —AP

BALTIMORE: Miguel Cabrera’s grand slam capped a wild fourth inning in which Detroit hit four home runs and Orioles pitcher Jason Hammel was ejected, and the Tigers beat Baltimore 10-3 Saturday to snap a four-game losing streak.

Prince Fielder hit a sixth-inning drive for the Tigers, whose five homers were a season high.

Justin Verlander (7-4) allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings to win his third straight start.

After Victor Martinez opened the inning with a home run off Hammel (7-3), Jhonny Peralta followed with a shot to left and Alex Avila made it three in a row with a drive to center. Hammel’s next pitch struck Matt Tuiasosopo in the shoulder or the helmet - replays were inconclusive and home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt immediately tossed the right-hander from the game.

INDIANS 5, RAYS 0 In Cleveland, Ubaldo Jimenez pitched eight scoreless innings and the Indians beat the Rays.

Jason Giambi and Asdrubal Cabrera hit two-run homers in the game that began about 10 hours following the conclusion of Friday night’s contest that ended at 2:53 a.m. Saturday after nearly five hours of rain delays. Jimenez (4-3) allowed four hits and struck out seven in stopping Tampa Bay’s six-game winning streak. The Rays, who rolled to a 9-2 win earlier Saturday morning, had only two runners reach second base. Tampa Bay right-hander Chris Archer (0-1), called up from Triple A-Durham before the game, allowed five runs in four innings.

TWINS 5, MARINERS 4 In Minneapolis, Ryan Doumit’s two-run triple off closer Tom Wilhelmsen with one out in the ninth inning sent the Twins to a victory over the Mariners.

This was the third blown save of the season for Wilhelmsen (0-1), all in his last four tries. The right-hander pitched a perfect ninth for the save Friday night, but he walked the first three batters he faced a day later after inheriting a 4-2 lead.

Josh Willingham followed with a sacrifice fly, and Doumit - who missed the cycle by a home run drove in two more for the walkoff win.

This one wiped out two homers by Jason Bay and an effective start by Aaron Harang. Rookie Caleb Thielbar (1-0) picked up his first major league victory with a scoreless ninth inning.

ROYALS 4, RANGERS 1 In Arlington, Robbie Ross hit David Lough with a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, and the Royals beat the Rangers.

BALTIMORE: Miguel Cabrera No. 24 of the Detroit Tigers hits a grand slam in the fourth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park. —AFP George Kottaras added a two-run double in the 10th for Kansas City. Ross (2-1) gave up a leadoff single to Alcides Escobar in the 10th. Eric Hosmer followed with a single and Billy Butler was intentionally walked to load the bases. Ross struck out Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain before Lough came up. Lough was hit on a 2-1 pitch to force in the go-ahead run.

That snapped Ross’ scoring streak at 20 1-3 innings. Aaron Crow (1-1) pitched 1 1-3 innings of scoreless relief and Greg Holland worked a perfect 10th to pick up his ninth save in 11 chances.

ATHLETICS 4, WHITE SOX 3 In Oakland, Hector Santiago walked Josh Reddick with the bases loaded and two outs in the 10th inning to force in the winning run and lift the Athletics over the White Sox. The A’s had 16 hits and failed to score after loading the bases with no outs in the ninth before scoring the game-winner off Santiago (14).

Jed Lowrie matched his career high of four hits for the A’s, who have won seven straight at home and 13 of 15 overall. Jerry Blevins (4-0) retired one batter to get the win. Alejandro De Aza had two hits and two RBIs for the White Sox, who have lost five straight.

RED SOX 11, YANKEES 1 In New York, Mike Napoli hit a grand slam

right after a mound conference, Felix Doubront stifled the Yankees once again and the Red Sox sent New York to its sixth loss in seven games.

Daniel Nava added a three-run homer in the eighth inning that emptied the crowd. Stephen Drew homered in a three-run ninth.

Doubront (4-2) won for the first time in five starts since his last victory on April 27. He permitted one run and six hits in six innings, striking out six.

Hughes (2-4) was pulled in the fifth when Napoli came up. The right-hander won his final three starts against Boston last year while allowing a total of three earned runs.

ASTROS 2, ANGELS 0 In Anaheim, Bud Norris dominated the Angels’ high-priced lineup for the third time this season with six innings of four-hit ball and Chris Carter hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Jerome Williams, leading the Astros to a victory over Los Angeles.

Norris (5-4) struck out six, walked three and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to end a winless streak of three starts - including a sixinning scoreless outing against Kansas City that resulted in a no-decision. The right-hander became the first starting pitcher to beat the Angels three times before the All-Star break since 2001, when Oakland’s Tim Hudson, Seattle’s Freddy Garcia and Texas’ Darren Oliver all did it. —AP

Cardinals sweep Giants ST. LOUIS: Adam Wainwright struck out 10 in his 14th complete game and third this season, and the St. Louis Cardinals completed a daynight doubleheader sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 7-1 win Saturday night.

Rookie Shelby Miller pitched sixhit ball for seven innings and backup catcher Tony Cruz hit two doubles and drove in a pair of runs for St. Louis in an 8-0 win in the opener. Wainwright (8-3) allowed eight hits and one run without walking a batter to close out the first doubleheader between the Giants and Cardinals in St. Louis since July 16, 1978. Wainwright threw 106 pitches and 73 strikes.

ROCKIES 7, DODGERS 6 In Denver, Dexter Fowler’s RBI single down the first base line in the 10th inning lifted the Rockies past the Dodgers. The Rockies got their fourth win this season in their last at-bat, one night after losing to the Dodgers in extra innings.

Yorvit Torrealba’s two-out single off Matt Guerrier (1-2) started the rally. Pinch-hitter Wilin Rosario followed with an infield single, narrowly beating the throw to first.

Fowler then lined a hard grounder that shot past first base into right field, driving in Torrealba with the winning run and snapping the Rockies’ three-game losing streak.

Matt Belisle (3-2) pitched a scoreless inning for the victory. The loss was compounded for the Dodgers because of another injury, this time to Carl Crawford. He left in the third inning after suffering a left hamstring cramp while legging out his second double in two at-bats.

BREWERS 4, PHILLIES 3 In Philadelphia, Jonathan Lucroy homered, Wily Peralta pitched seven strong innings and the Brewers held off a ninth-inning rally for victory over the Phillies.

Logan Schafer went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI for Milwaukee, which won its second straight after finishing May tied for the worst winning percentage (.214) in club history. Peralta (4-6) entered on a four-game losing streak but had one of his best outings of the season, surrendering two runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and a walk. Peralta successfully pitched out of trouble throughout and stranded runners at second in four of his seven innings, including when he struck out Domonic Brown with his final pitch in the seventh.

ST. LOUIS: Ty Wigginton No. 12 of the St. Louis Cardinals dives but misses a one run single hit by Andres Torres No. 56 of the San Francisco Giants in the seventh inning during game two of a doubleheader at Busch Stadium. —AFP

MARLINS 8, METS 1 In Miami, Jose Fernandez pitched seven scoreless innings and had two hits with an RBI to help the Marlins past the Mets.

Fernandez (3-3) allowed just three hits and struck out eight to give the Marlins their fourth winning streak of the season. Miami has won two straight games three times and three in a row once.

Fernandez retired his final 11 hitters and struck out the side in the seventh. He also had an RBI single in in the second, and doubled and scored in the seventh.

Chris Coghlan had three hits, including two run-scoring singles.

Derek Dietrich had a two-run single in a four-run seventh that made it 80. Collin McHugh (0-1) gave up four runs and six hits in four-plus innings.

He walked three and struck out one in his first start of the season.

BRAVES 2, NATIONALS 1 In Atlanta, BJ Upton returned to the lineup with two hits, including a game-ending single in the 10th inning that lifted the Braves to a win over the Nationals.

Upton, hitting only .145 at the start of the game, had been held out of two straight starts by manager Fredi Gonzalez, who hoped the rest would jumpstart the center fielder. And Upton came through with a single to right field off Henry Rodriguez (0-1) to drive in Jordan Schafer from second base. A sliding Schafer narrowly beat the throw from Roger Bernadina in right field, and Upton then was mobbed by his teammates between first base and second base. Rodriguez walked Evan Gattis to open the 10th.

Schafer replaced Gattis as a pinchrunner. Ramiro Pena popped out trying to bunt a high fastball, but

Schafer stole second and Uggla drew a walk before Upton ended the game. Jordan Walden (2-1) pitched a per fect 10th for the Braves.

REDS 2, PIRATES 0 In Pittsburgh, Mike Leake continued his recent run of strong pitching by working six scoreless innings Saturday night as the Reds beat the Pirates. Leake (5-2) scattered seven hits as the Pirates stranded seven runners during his six innings. He had five strikeouts and one walk. In his last four starts, Leake has gone 3-0 with a 0.27 ERA, allowing only one run in 33 innings.

The Reds shut out Pittsburgh for the second straight night as the Pirates lost back-to-back games for the first time since May 8-9. On Friday, Johnny Cueto pitched eight innings of a one-hitter. — AP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

S P ORTS

Czech team ditches pedals for leg-power PRAGUE: Four Czechs, a Finn and a Dutchman have dispensed with pedals and plan to use only leg-power and a pair of wheels to get them through the Tour de France.

They hope to complete the gruelling three-week cycle race on scooters. The men have been training furiously on their footbikes-scooters with a standardsize bicycle wheel up front and a smaller one at the rear-ahead of the late June kick-off of the 100th edition of the world’s most famous cycling race.

“This will be the first-ever attempt to cover the Tour de France on a footbike and also the greatest sports challenge of our lives,” said Vaclav Liska, a theatre actor and the project’s mastermind. The stunt is the latest in a series of wacky and bizarre episodes to strike the race over the years, including a death by jellyfish in 1910 and punctured tyres in 1905 when 125 kilogrammes (275 pounds) of nails were tossed onto the road.

This June prisoners from France’s southern island of Corsica, the starting line of this year’s race, will be allowed out of jail to cycle a stage-with guards-ahead of the professionals.

Meanwhile the footbikers hope to start each stage of the three-week race 24 hours before the likes of Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish or Chris Froome-and to cover the distance in the same number of days as the cycling greats.

They first struck upon the idea in 2005 while watching television coverage of fellow Czech Josef Zimovcak, now 56, who rode a penny-farthing bicycle the entire way, persisting even after he crashed and injured his rib, arm bone and head.

“Losers give up when they’re tired.

Winners stop only after they’ve won,” Liska told AFP. ‘Our 21 days of fun(?)’Since 2011, they have been training systematically to make their dream come true and survive the almost 3,500 kilome-

tres (2,200 miles) from Porto-Vecchio on the Mediterranean island of Corsica to the avenue Champs-Elysees in Paris.

This year’s edition of the race comprises 21 stages ranging from 25 to 242 kilometres, of which six are mountain stretches and four have summit finishes.

It will be no easy feat for the pedalchallenged, who jokingly describe the endeavour as “our 21 days of fun(?)” on their website.

“For the cyclists, each stage means five or six, maybe seven hours on a bike,” said team member Jan Vlasek, a lawyer who trains every evening after shedding his suit and tie.

“We will definitely be much slower, meaning that we will spend up to 17 hours a day on the decks of our footbikes. That’s our primary cause for concern: a lack of sleep and a lack of time to recover.” The footbikers will benefit from two free days planned for the peloton on July 8 and 15, as well as three time-trial

stages throughout the month.

“The cyclists will have to pedal at full speed while for us those will be nice rides lasting an hour or 90 minutes. After that, we can rest,” Vlasek said.

On the other hand, mountains will be a hard nut to crack for the team. “We are not afraid of any stage, but there are definitely some that command more respect,” Vlasek said, citing the longest stage between Givors and Mont Ventoux, whose 242 kilometres the cyclists will cover on July 14. Pivotal for the men is to use ideal riding technique, which requires one to alternate which foot stands on the deck and which kicks the ground.

The footbikers hope the adventure will promote their sport, which is still little known despite gaining traction through events like the Footbike Eurocup, held annually since 2001.

“Footbiking is an easy-going sportthere’s little money in it and there’s no

stress. People do it because they want to,” Vlasek said.

The footbike dates to 1994 when Finnish athlete Hannu Vierikko launched his Kickbike company with the glorified scooter design, allowing riders to race faster. Team member Jaromir Odvarka has been known to kick down a hill at 98 kilometres, but the men say the Tour average will be more along the lines of 18-20 kilometres to not burn out.

Vlasek said that if they manage to get as far as the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, they will throw a big party, and then start pondering new challenges.

“It would be interesting also to cover the routes of the other two great cycling races when they turn 100,” he said. “The 100th edition of the Giro d’Italia will take place in 2017, but we can see a slight problem with the Vuelta which has had 67 editions to date. We will be in our sixties when the moment comes,” he said, laughing. — AFP

Conway wins in Detroit

CHICAGO: Nick Leddy No. 8 of the Chicago Blackhawks goes for the poke check as Trevor Lewis No. 22 of the Los Angeles Kings tries to get the puck over the blue line in the first period of Game One of the Western Conference Final during the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. —AFP

Blackhawks, Bruins take conference final openers CHICAGO: Chicago’s Marian Hossa tipped in the tiebreaking goal in the second period, helping the Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Saturday in the opener of the NHL Western Conference finals. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Boston Bruins notched a valuable road victory with a 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in a rugged encounter.

Chicago’s Patrick Sharp also scored and Corey Crawford made 21 saves for the Blackhawks, who are 7-1 at home in the playoffs. They also have won four in a row heading into Game 2 yesterday.

“It’s always great when you win the first game, especially back to back, give you a little momentum,” Hossa said. “I felt like we did lots of good things today. We know we have to be better (Sunday) and keep doing those things.”

Jonathan Quick stopped 34 shots, and Justin Williams scored for Los Angeles, which has won just one of seven road games in the playoffs. The defending Stanley Cup champions got center Jarret Stoll back from a suspected concussion, but their offensive struggles continued; they have scored only 27 goals from 14 playoff games.

“The two guys that scored for them are going to score goals,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “We have guys that have to score goals. That’s how close it will be.”

Williams was also responsible for both goals in the Kings’ win over the San Jose Sharks in Game 7 of the second-round series against San Jose and said the onus for scoring needs to be shared.

“Scoring doesn’t simply come from the offensive zone,” Williams said. “It comes from being good in your own zone, breaking out together and scoring off the rush.

We didn’t have enough of that.”

Los Angeles took the lead at 14.23.

Goalie Crawford went behind the net to try to clear the puck away, but Brad Richardson jumped and knocked it in front. Dave Bolland tried to break up the play, but the puck went right to Williams, who scored.

For the first period and much of the second, Chicago looked hopeless against Quick and Los Angeles’ talented defensemen but the Blackhawks began to create more quality chances when they put more traffic in front of the goal.

With 71/2 minutes left in the second, Sharp skated into the zone, left the puck for Johnny Oduya and kept moving forward.

When Quick kicked away Oduya’s slap shot, the puck went right to Sharp, who scored into the lower right corner to tie it 1-1 with his eighth playoff goal.

“That first shot against (Quick) is tough,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

“You need traffic. You need a deflection. He finds a way to find pucks. The volume and traffic of shots is the only way to get to this guy.” The Blackhawks kept up the pressure and went ahead when Hossa redirected Keith’s long slap shot out of the air at 16:22 of the second. The puck landed in the lower right corner again before Quick could find it in the maze of bodies near the net.

It was the sixth goal of this postseason for Hossa and the 42nd of his playoff career.

The 34-year-old Slovakian forward has at least one point in four straight games.

Boston’s David Krejci scored two more goals during his impressive postseason, leading the Bruins over the Penguins.

Nathan Horton added an insurance goal

in the third period and Tuukka Rask stopped 29 shots for the Bruins, who silenced Sidney Crosby and the rest of the NHL’s top-scoring team.

Pittsburgh came in averaging a leaguehigh 4.27 goals in the playoffs but couldn’t find a way past Rask. The Penguins hit the post six times and seemed a little bit off following an eight-day break between rounds. The Bruins were coming off a similar layoff but had no such issues. Krejci scored early, and the Bruins handed Pittsburgh its worst loss of the playoffs.

Pittsburgh goalie Tomas Vokoun stopped 27 shots but surrendered a soft goal to Krejci, and Pittsburgh’s sizzling power play cooled off. The Penguins came in leading all playoff teams with the man advantage, scoring on 28 percent of their chances, but they went 0 for 4 in the opener. Crosby hit the post in the opening minutes, and Pittsburgh put the kind of pressure on Rask that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said would be necessary if they wanted to advance.

Rask, playing this deep in the postseason for the first time, proved equal to the challenge. He blocked Crosby from pointblank range on the power play, then added an acrobatic save on Evgeni Malkin in the final moments of the period when Malkin attempted to bang home a pass off the end boards.

The stop preserved a 1-0 Boston lead after Krejci beat Vokoun 8:23 into the game. Krejci’s sixth goal of the postseason was also the first sloppy mistake by Vokoun during his excellent playoff run.

The Bruins raced in on a 3-on-2 break, and the NHL’s leading postseason scorer found himself alone 30 feet in front of the net. The shot slid by defenseman Paul Martin and rolled slowly through Vokoun’s legs and into the net.

The game’s free-flowing tenor, however, changed abruptly in the second period when Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke slammed Boston’s Adam McQuaid from behind into the end boards behind the Bruins net.

McQuaid had his back turned when Cooke came in at full speed and raised his left arm just before impact. The collision sent McQuaid crumpling to the ice. Cooke whose career was pockmarked with suspensions and fines for hits before he made it a point to clean up his play two years ago - was given a major penalty for boarding and was ejected.

The sequence escalated things from contentious to chippy, and it accelerated from there. By the end of the second period - after Brad Marchand thumped James Neal into the boards in front of the Pittsburgh bench - the Penguins turned their frustration on the Bruins.

Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz and Boston’s Rich Peverley were called for unsportsmanlike conduct 5 seconds before intermission, a preview to the main event moments later.

Just as the horn sounded, Malkin and Bergeron - not exactly brawlers - started up, with Malkin dropping Bergeron to the ice with a couple of shots to the face. It ended with both assistant captains given fighting majors, and a jolt sent to both dressing rooms. It did little to help the Penguins.

Malkin was still in the penalty box when Krejci punched in a rebound for his 19th point of the playoffs 4:04 into the period to give Boston a two-goal lead. — AP

DETROIT: Mike Conway went from watching to winning IndyCar events in a week, less than a year after backing out of an oval race and wondering when he’d get another shot. “Amazing,” he said.

Indeed. The British driver dominated the first of two races at the Detroit Grand Prix, finishing nearly 13 seconds ahead of defending series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay on Saturday.

“What a weekend for Conway to show up” Hunter-Reay said. Conway’s margin of victory set a race record, beating the 12.2-second cushion 1999 winner Dario Franchitti had over Paul Tracy, and making team owner Dale Coyne seem as if he’s the smartest guy in the Motor City. Conway’s only other IndyCar win was at Long Beach in 2011.

Coyne picked Conway to drive one of its two cars this weekend - after Conway helped tend his father ’s garden in England during the Indianapolis 500 yesterday - and wasted no time offering him another opportunity. “You want to go to Toronto now?” Coyne asked Conway after the race. Yes, he does because the Streets of Toronto race in July suits his road- racing preference.

Conway chose not to race in last September’s season finale at Fontana because he’s uncomfortable racing on ovals. He had serious leg and back injuries after a 2010 crash at Indianapolis and wrecked there again in 2012.

In his only other IndyCar race since then, he qualified fifth and finished 25th this year at Long Beach for Bobby Rahal. “I knew it would be hard to make something possible for this year,” Conway said. The open-wheel series is running a second, full-length race in the same weekend for the first time Sunday when Conway will start up front for the first time in his career.

If Conway can finish first again, he’ll get a $50,000 for the sweep. “You can get a new suit,” Coyne cracked. “I can get my name stitched on it,” he responded with a grin.

Justin Wilson finished third and was thrilled for Conway, his Dale Coyne Racing teammate, for winning just four days after finalizing a deal to race in Detroit. “I think it’s just a really cool story,” Wilson said. Scott Dixon finished fourth

DETROIT: Mike Conway of England leads Justin Wilson (left) during the first of two IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix auto races on Belle Isle. —AP and Helio Castroneves was fifth, putting him No. 1 in IndyCar points just ahead of Hunter-Reay.

Indy 500 champion Tony Kanaan was 13th after starting 19th in the 25-car field. Marco Andretti, who put his famous family atop the standings for the first time in more than a decade earlier in the week, finished 20th and made at least one other driver very angry.

Sebastian Saavedra hit a tire barrier on lap 33 after Andretti ran him into a wall. “It’s just frustrating to see that Marco keeps doing these dirty moves and as usual nothing is done to him,” said Saavedra, who extended his middle fingers toward Andretti when he passed by on his next lap. “It’s just a very frustrating day.” It was for AJ Allmendinger, too.

After it was announced that he’s going to run two NASCAR Nationwide road race for Penske Racing, he failed to finish a lap after getting squeezed between Scott Dixon and Wilson.

“It’s just my fault,” he said. “I feel bad.”

Allmendinger, and the rest of the drivers who didn’t win, will have a chance to bounce back in late yesterday’s race on the 2.36-mile Belle Isle street course that held up much better than it

did last year. Dixon won last year’s Detroit Grand Prix marred by pot holes and grooves that stopped the race for a little more than 2 hours and shortened the 90-lap race to 70.

To avoid embarrassment and create more opportunities to pass, Roger Penske’s Michiganbased company and Chevrolet invested nearly $2 million to improve and reconfigure the track.

It looked like money well spent. Drivers had opportunities to make more moves and Conway took advantage right away and pavement stayed in place.

“It was much better passing for sure,” HunterReay said. “It was a big difference.” Conway went around E.J. Viso, who started first, heading into Turn 1 on the opening lap to take his first lead since a race in Edmonton on July 24, 2011.

Hunter-Reay took a turn with the lead as well from lap 23 to 43, but couldn’t prevent Conway from getting inside of him on lap 44.

“I thought I was turning some decent times at the time and he was still under my gearbox at every corner,” Hunter-Reay recalled. “It was a good, clean pass. And once he got by me, he was gone.” —AP

Rare breed of Lions tourist appear in HK HONG KONG: Alan Duckworth and Michael Thomas met for the first time last week, hours before hopping a plane from Heathrow to Hong Kong. The Englishman and the Welshman will share a hotel room for the next six weeks, in seven cities, spanning two continents as they follow the world’s most renowned touring rugby squad. More than 20,000 fans of the British and Irish Lions rugby team are expected to travel to Australia to cheer on the 37 players as they try to capture their first series win since 1997.

But only a tiny percentage of those fans will follow the entire, ten-match tour, which included a stop in Hong Kong for the opening 59-8 win against the Barbarians on Saturday.

The Lions fans are famous for their loyalty - an amazing feat given the rivalries among the four nations - and yet even the most dedicated follower will admit that anyone spending more than a month on the road, following the team through Southern China and Australia, is in a category by themselves. “For the next six weeks, we’re not English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh. We’re Lions supporters,” said Duckworth, who is already complaining about his roommate’s tendency to snore. A survey of some of the long-haul tourists show that they paid anywhere between 14,000 pounds ($21,200) and 23,000 pounds, depending on the package. That includes flights, lodging, tickets and a few other events thrown in.

Those embarking on the journey have several things in common, among them a passion for rugby, some money saved up, and a flexible schedule that allows for the time off. Nigel and Sian Stacey planned their retirement as teachers around this year’s tour.

Their first date was watching New Zealand play the Barbarians in the famous 1973 match.

The Welsh couple from Swansea needed to tend to various logistics at home before they set off on the 41 day journey. Bills were paid in advance, a gardener was hired to cut the grass and birthday cards for the grandchildren were pre-arranged.

The Lions tour, unrivalled by any other major sporting event by its longevity and fan base, requires supporters to leave their passion for country and their local team behind.

“It’s what the Lions are all about,” Nigel said. Sharing Cantonese food in Hong Kong on the night before the Barbarians match, Thomas, a retired builder, Duckworth, an IT manager, the Staceys and Gerry and Corinne Worsley reminisced about past Lions teams.

They all agree that they are united under the Lions banner for the time being, though they often took note of each other’s normal rugby affiliations.

“Typical Ospreys fan. What a wimp,” Thomas joked, taking aim at Nigel, who for the first time in his life was managing a pair of chopsticks. — Reuters

GREECE: Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala holds his trophy as he celebrates his victory in the WRC Acropolis Rally. —AFP

Latvala clinches Acropolis Rally ATHENS: Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala won the Acropolis Rally yesterday for his first victory in the world championship since he joined Volkswagen at the end of last season. Spain’s Dani Sordo was second for Citroen, with Belgian Thierry Neuville third in a Ford.

Latvala’s French team mate Sebastien Ogier, out of contention from the opening stage due to a fuel feed problem, remained championship leader after six rounds and collected three bonus points by winning the final ‘power stage’.

Poland’s former Formula One driver Robert Kubica was fastest in the WRC2 category, finishing 11th overall. Latvala had made his world championship debut in the event a decade ago as an 18-year-old and said: “This is my number one with VW and it feels amazing.

“We managed to get a nice win here and it is great to see all the team smiling,” added the Finn who finished the three -day, 306.53-km race one minute 50 seconds ahead of Sordo.

Latvala took control on Saturday after Friday’s overnight leader Evgeny Novikov of Russia suffered a punctured rear tyre on his Ford Fiesta RS after hitting a rock early in SS4, and the Finn never looked like giving away his lead despite the tricky terrain.

In the overall standings, Ogier remains in top spot with a 52-point lead over Latvala, who leapfrogged Sebastien Loeb into second place.

Loeb, the nine-times world champion and last year’s Acropolis winner, opted to sit out this year’s edition but is still only six points adrift of Latvala in third place. — Reuters

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

S P ORTS

Kuchar moves ahead at windy Memorial DUBLIN: While Tiger Woods battled to the second worst score of his professional career, Matt Kuchar held his nerve in tricky gusting winds to grab a two-shot lead after Saturday’s third round at the Memorial Tournament.

American Kuchar, who clinched one of the biggest victories of his career at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Februar y, ground out a two-under-par 70 to post an eight-under total of 208 in the weather-delayed PGA Tour event.

Though every player in the field struggled on lightning-fast greens at Muirfield Village Golf Club as the shifting winds gusted up to 32 mph (51.5 kph), ice-cool Kuchar mixed five birdies with three bogeys to take over at the top.

Americans Kevin Chappell (68) and Kyle Stanley (73) were tied for second at six under with Australian Matt Jones (70), 2010 champion Justin Rose of England (71) and second-round leader Bill Haas (76) a further stroke adrift.

“This place is really challenging, particularly with winds at 25 miles an hour all day,” Kuchar told reporters after moving a step closer to winning his sixth PGA Tour title.

“It was a bit of a survival. I was for tunate to make a handful of birdies. Anytime you make a birdie in these conditions, you feel like you’re

really up on the field here.” Kuchar brought good form into this week, having finished second at the Crowne Plaza Invitational in Fort Wor th, Texas, on Sunday, and he oozed confidence after the third round.

“It was a good, solid, steady round of golf,” said the 34-year-old. “I drove it well. I feel like I’m hitting it solid, and when you’re hitting it solid, the wind doesn’t affect the ball as much as the un-solid hits. “I feel really confident. I had some good stuff going on last week, carrying into this week.

It’s nice to see it keep going and to have another chance to win late on Sunday will be fun.”

The unheralded Chappell, hunting his first PGA Tour victory in his third full season on the circuit, expressed the views of many when asked how much he had enjoyed the challenging wind conditions.

“I guess it’s like a prize fighter,” he smiled after his 68 matched fellow American J.J. Henry for the lowest score in the third round. “He enjoys winning, but I don’t k now if he enjoys getting hit that much.” South African Charl Schwartzel laboured to a 76 to finish at four under. The 2011 Masters champion had birdied his last two holes for a 71 to trim Haas’ overnight lead to one shot when the weather-delayed second round was

completed earlier in the day. Danger lurked at every corner of the treelined course designed by tournament host Jack Nicklaus and fivetimes champion Woods struggled as much as anyone in the unpre dictable gusts as he carded a 79. The American world number one recorded a bogey, two doubles and a triple to reach the turn in eight-over 44, his worst nine as a professional, and declined to speak to reporters after bogeying his final hole, the par-four ninth.

“It was a rough day,” Woods later told a PGA Tour official after totalling 30 putts for the third successive round for his worst ever score at Muirfield Village, winding up joint 69th in the field of 72 - a distant 16 strokes off the pace.

“I t was tough out there from beginning to end. I tried to fight back on the back nine, just didn’t quite materialise.” Nor thern Irish world number two Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut here last year, also struggled, mixing two birdies with three bogeys and a double for a 75 to end the day at six over.

The average score in the third round was 73.603, more than a stroke -and-a-half over par, and would undoubtedly have been higher had the greens not been softened by overnight rain. —Reuters

Photo of the day

Competitors perform during Red Bull Flugtag Istanbul 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey. www.redbullcontentpool.com

Lorenzo bags Italian GP SCARPERIA: Jorge Lorenzo passed pole sitter Dani Pedrosa on the opening lap and quickly pulled away to win the MotoGP race yesterday for his third consecutive Italian Grand Prix victory.

It was the 25th career victory for the Spaniard with the Yamaha Factory team. “I’m very happy with this race because it really wasn’t easy with the high temperatures,” said Lorenzo, the 2010 and ‘12 world champion. “We struggled the last two races so it’s nice to bounce back.”

Lorenzo finished 5.400 seconds ahead of Pedrosa, the Spaniard with Repsol Honda who maintained the championship lead. Cal Crutchlow, a Briton with Monster Yamaha, crossed third, 6.412 behind on a sunny day at the Mugello circuit.

Marc Marquez concluded a miserable weekend by falling with three laps to go, having moved up from sixth to second. Marquez, who also had a nasty fall in practice Friday, lost control with nobody near him and dropped from second to third in the standings.

After 5 of 18 races, Pedrosa leads the title race with 103 points. Lorenzo is next with 91 and Marquez has 77. Seventime world champion Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista made contact during the opening lap and crashed. Both appeared to escape serious injury but their races ended there.

Scott Redding won the Moto2 race from pole to become the first British rider to take consecutive victories in the middle class since Rodney Gould 42 years ago.

Redding finished 2.175 ahead of Nicolas Terol of Spain and 4.387 in front of Johann Zarco of France.

Redding, who also had two second-place finishes in the opening five races, leads the standings with 101 points.

Terol and Mika Kallio of Finland are next with 58 each.

Luis Salom won the Moto3 race after starting fifth on the grid, moving him within four points of championship leader Maverick Vinales. Salom finished 0.099 ahead of Alex Rins, with Vinales 0.303 behind in third on an all-Spanish podium.

Five riders failed to finish the Moto3 races. Romano Fenati flew over the front of his bike after contact with Jasper Iwema, and Jakub Kornfeil and Matteo Ferrari ended up in the gravel trap of the final corner on the last lap. Next up is the Catalunya GP in Spain in two weeks. —AP

ITALY: Winner Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo celebrates with the trophy on the podium after the Italian MotoGP at Mugello’s racetrack. —AFP

Intello too bright for French rivals DUBLIN: Matt Kuchar hits his second shot on the par 3 17th hole during the third round of the Memorial Tournament. —AFP

Feng leaves pack behind GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP: Shanshan Feng beat the wind and now has a good chance of beating everyone else in the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Feng, who last year became the first Chinese player to win an LPGA Tour title and a major event in capturing the LPGA Championship, shot a marvelous 4-under 67 before the wind picked up Saturday and grabbed a three-shot lead heading into the final round. The round matched the day’s best and gave the eighth-ranked Feng a 6-under 136 total on the windwhipped Bay Course at the Stockton Hotel and Golf Club.

“I think right now I’m in good position this week, and if I can have some good results this week, it’s definitely going to give me more confidence for next week,” said Feng, referring to her defense of the LPGA championship.

The wind off Reed’s Bay was the story. It was mild in the morning when Feng played and then gusted between 20 and 30 mph in the afternoon, leaving players second-guessing club selection and battling inconsistent greens, some of which dried out and didn’t hold shots and others that were strangely receptive. Secondranked Stacy Lewis shot a 9-over 80, matching her worst round since the third round of US Women’s Open last

year. She fell from third to a tie for 50th. The defending champion had three double bogeys, including two on fired eggs in the bunker, and refused to talk to the media immediately after the round.

“Glad that’s over! Crazy windy, bumpy greens and a couple fried eggs in the bunker all add up to a lot of shots, hopefully tomorrow is better,” she tweeted less than an hour later. The cut of 6 over was the highest on tour this season. “ We were all struggling, Jeez Louise,” said Paula Creamer, who finished on the cut line after playing two days with Lewis and Suzann Pettersen (10 over). “I had a triple yesterday and between the three of us we had three or four doubles. You don’t see that. I can’t even tell you the last time I had a double, let alone a triple. But it happens on this golf course. I think everybody is taking it seriously but it’s hard.

It’s a different monster out there this year.” Feng got the best of the monster in putting herself in position to win her second LPGA event. This hasn’t’ been the best of years for Feng, who won six times in 2012 with three wins coming in Japan and two others on the European tour. While she has three top-10 finishes, her best finish was a tie for seventh in Texas.

Feng said a big part of the problem was playing old clubs because she could not get the ones she wanted from her old sponsor. Her new Japanese sponsor got her the clubs she wanted a couple of weeks ago.

She had hoped to play this past week in the Bahamas. However, she missed the event because of a visa problem that was complicated when a US Embassy in Japan closed for a few days after receiving a “powder” in the mail she said. Feng had little trouble on the golf course Saturday in stark contrast to most of the field. Eightteen players broke par with only one doing it in the afternoon when Lewis, first-round co-leaders Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand and Amanda Blumenherst, and Michelle Wie all played. Jutanugarn, the tour’s leading rookie, and Haeji Kang of South Korea shared second at 3 under. Jutanugarn had a 73, and Kang shot 69.

Wie, looking for her first LPGA win in the United States, rolled in four straight birdies on her back nine and was 4 under until a double bogey, bogey finish for a 73 that dropped her to 1 under. “It was tough out there,” said Wie, who hit a couple of shots into the tall grass. “It was really tough out there today. And I just got a little bit unlucky on the last hole. — AFP

PARIS: The favorite Intello romped home to give jockey Olivier Peslier his second French Derby success at Chantilly yesterday.

Intello (15/8), who also gave trainer Andre Fabre his fourth win in the race, won by two lengths from the hard charging Morandi to give the Wertheimer Family their first win in the Derby since their late father triumphed 38 years ago.

Fabre also saddled the third for good measure in Sky Hunter (7/1), who was a head behind Morandi (13/2). Peslier’s previous win in the race came with the great Peintre Celebre in 1997 also for Fabre - he was to go on and win Europe’s most prestigious race the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe later that year.

While Fabre gave a gruff ‘no I have nothing to say’ in his usual boycott of the domestic press, Peslier was far more forthcoming, paying homage to the complex but highlytalented trainer.

“I have had to wait a long time for my second win,” said the 40-year-old, who was riding his 60th Group One

winner in France. “Don’t forget that it was Andre Fabre, who gave me my chance and allowed me to ride my first French Derby winner.”

Peslier, who has a large following in Japan, where he has ridden with great success whereas he says in France he could walk down the Champs Elysees in Paris naked and not be recognised, said that unlike the winner’s previous run where he was an unlucky third in the French 2000 Guineas here he had had no problems.

“It was a case of us and then there were the others,” said Peslier, who has won the Arc four times most recently last year with outsider Solemia also for the Wertheimers.

“This race went perfectly as I was able to break quickly and lie up behind the pacemakers. He was very relaxed and when I asked him to quicken he showed no hesitation at all.”

The Wertheimer brothers, who own the controlling interest in historic perfumery producer Chanel, were relieved to have ended the

long drought of not having the Derby winner.

“We have been waiting so long for this,” said Gerard. “This gives us so much happiness as we have had a lot of favorites beaten in it. That has made us never assume we are going to win any race, as it is amazing the things that can happen in a race.”

Morandi, ridden by Peslier’s great rival Belgian Christophe Soumillon, was like the winner and Sky Hunter always up with the pace and his performance pleased his trainer JeanClaude Rouget enormously. “I have to be satisfied, I can’t be disappointed,” said Rouget, who trained his only Derby winner with Le Havre in 2009.

“We can be very pleased because he has been beaten by what I believe is an extra terrestrial of a horse,” added Rouget. Sky Hunter’s rider Maxime Guyon said his previously unbeaten mount had performed well but wasn’t good enough. “He was very courageous but he was just beaten by two tougher rivals on the day.” —AFP

Indian cricket board boss steps down after spot-fixing scandal NEW DELHI: Beleaguered Indian cricket board (BCCI) president N. Srinivasan stood down yesterday in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal that has hit the game in India and led to the arrest of his son-in-law last month.

The May 16 arrest of three cricketers, including former test bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, for allegedly taking money to concede pre-determined number of runs in Indian Premier League (IPL) matches has exposed Indian cricket’s soft underbelly and sparked nationwide outrage.

The trio have denied any wrongdoing. Police have launched a nationwide hunt for illegal bookmakers. The board has set up a commission to probe allegations against Srinivasan’s son-in-law and IPL Chennai fran-

chise official Gurunath Meiyappan who has been arrested as part of a police investigation into illegal betting.

“N Srinivasan announced that he will not discharge his duties as the President of the Board till such time as the probe is completed,” BCCI joint secretary Anurag Thakur said in a statement.

Former ICC and BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya would look after the board’s daily affairs until then, Thakur said after the board’s executive committee meeting in Chennai. On Saturday, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla resigned, barely 24 hours after BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke had quit their posts.

The board has asked both Jagdale and Shirke to withdraw their resignations. —Reuters

CHANTILLY: French jockey Olivier Peslier, riding Intello, crosses the finish line during the French Derby, also known as the ‘Prix du Jockey Club’. —AFP

19

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

SPORTS

All to play for in close Asia qualifying finale SINGAPORE: Asia’s 10 World Cup hopefuls enter into a decisive period of 12 matches in 15 days with Australia attempting to rescue a sketchy campaign while Uzbekistan and Jordan try to secure first appearances at the finals.

With only four places guaranteed from the two groups, avoiding defeat has been the mantra for most of the evenly-matched teams in the Asian qualifying picture, leading to a tangled situation ahead of the concluding matches in June.

Japan are one of the few sides that have played with some attacking verve which has left them on the verge of becoming the first side to qualify for Brazil ahead of their penultimate match in Group B at home to Australia tomorrow.

The Asian champions, however, blew the opportunity to qualify in

March after they slumped to a shock first defeat of the campaign in Jordan when all they needed was a draw.

That result was followed by a disappointing loss to Bulgaria in a friendly match in Toyota on Friday as the nerves set in ahead of the repeat of the 2011 Asia Cup final against the Socceroos.

“Given the result we had before (Jordan), it would’ve been nice to win with a good performance behind us so we can go into June 4 feeling good about ourselves, but that’s not going to happen anymore,” captain Makoto Hasebe, who scored an own goal in the loss, told Japanese media.

But the Blue Samurai could still qualify on Tuesday even in defeat, providing Iraq do not win away to Oman in the day’s other Group B match.

That luxury, though, is not extend-

ed to Australia, whose sluggish tempo and lack of goals have resulted in a shortage of points and given qualifying hope to the three West Asian sides in the group.

Japan lead the way on 13 from six matches, Jordan are second on seven from six, Australia next with six from five, followed by Oman on six from six and Iraq in last with five from five.

“It’s a dangerous situation,” underfire Australia coach Holger Osieck told Japanese media about the qualifying picture.

After the tricky away fixture, Australia host Jordan (June 11) and then Iraq (June 18), allowing them to control their own destiny despite their earlier wobbles.

Iraq, Asian champions in 2007, host Japan on (June 11) with Vladimir Petrovic now in charge after the Serb replaced former Brazilian great Zico

in March. Jordan end their campaign on June 18 at home to Oman. The team that finishes third in the group will still be in with a chance of qualifying for the World Cup but they will have to come through a two-legged playoff against the equivalent finisher in Group A before a similar tie against the fifth-placed team in South America.

Three 1-0 wins in a row have taken Uzbekistan to the top of Group A ahead of their final two matches away to South Korea (June 11) and at home to Qatar (June 18) but a first World Cup appearance still remains up in the air. The Uzbeks have 11 points from six matches, South Korea 10 from five, followed by Iran on seven from five, Qatar on seven from six with Lebanon last on four from six.

A win for the Koreans away to Lebanon on Tuesday would give

them breathing space before they face the Uzbeks and then Iran in their final two matches at home, but they have found the going much harder this time despite their talent-laden squad.

Korea, the Asian side with the most World Cup finals appearances (eight), needed a late 96th minute goal to beat Qatar at home in March while they slumped to a shock defeat in Lebanon in an earlier round.

Carlos Queiroz’s Iran side, who have managed just two goals in five matches, also play three times in June with Tuesday’s crunch match away to Qatar followed by a home tie with Lebanon before they head to Korea.

“At this moment everybody in the group can be in (automatic qualification) and everybody can be out,” the Portuguese told Iranian media.—Reuters

Thousands cheer Bayern’s rain-hit treble party

BERN: Supporters celebrates after FC Basel won the Swiss football championship title by winning 1-0 their penultimate season’s match against Bern Young Boys. —AFP

Basel win Swiss title BERN: Basel continued their dominance of Swiss soccer by winning their fourth successive league title, and a seventh in 10 seasons, with a 1-0 home victory over St Gallen in the final game on Saturday.

Argentine forward Raul Bobadilla was on target in the 22nd minute, his first goal since joining the club from Young Boys Berne in the mid-season break.

Basel, who boast an average attendance of more than 28,000, finished three points clear of record title winners Grasshoppers who beat Lausanne Sport 4-1 just hours after coach Uli Forte confirmed he was moving to Young Boys

next season. Champions Basel, who replaced coach Heiko Vogel with Murat Yakin in October, played 62 matches in a marathon season which began in midJuly and included a 20-game European campaign which took them to the Europa League semi-finals.

St Gallen’s Ezequiel Scarione finished as the league’s top scorer with 21 goals while Sion sacked five coaches including former Italy midfielder Gennaro Gattuso on their way to finishing sixth in the 10team table. Basel and Grasshoppers go into the third qualifying round of next season’s Champions League.—Reuters

Perez: Mourinho joining Chelsea LONDON: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has told British Sky Sports that Jose Mourinho is returning to Chelsea. The Portuguese coach took charge of his final Real game on Saturday as the Spanish giants beat Osasuna 4-2.

Six years after an acrimonious departure from the west Londoners following a reported fall-out with billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich, Mourinho has long been rumored to be on his way back. And Sky Sports said he had arrived in the United Kingdom, less than 24 hours following his Real swansong. Outgoing interim boss Rafael Benitez, who has now joined Napoli, had previously hinted that Mourinho was returning and although the Portuguese has refused to say so himself, it remains one of the worst kept secrets in football.

Mourinho won two league titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups during his previous stint in charge at Stamford Bridge, in just over three seasons, while he twice guided the club to the Champions League semi-finals. In his three years at Real he won La Liga and the Spanish Cup once each while getting to the Champions League semi-finals every year, but failing to reach the title game.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has taken one final shot at the Spanish press by claiming they were deliberately misleading when they claimed the Portuguese had chosen to leave out a host of big names for his final game in charge against Osasuna on Saturday.

Spain captain Iker Casillas wasn’t included in the squad despite an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Diego Lopez, whilst Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo were also not involved.

However, Mourinho claimed that they were all deemed unfit to play by the club’s medical staff. “I thought that the

front pages today (Saturday, June 1) were untrue and malicious,” he told Spanish television programme Punto Pelota in an interview broadcast yesterday.

“If I had to deny everything that they have said that is not true there wouldn’t be time for anything else, but as this is the last time that I will speak as Real Madrid manager I think the least I have to say is that the players not included in the squad were not deemed suitable to play by the medical department or by themselves.

“They (Casillas, Pepe and Ronaldo) didn’t train last week and neither have they trained very well this week and so they themselves didn’t consider themselves ready to play against Osasuna.

They were not called up for these problems and for this reason I say that these front pages that speak about humiliating someone by not calling them up are not true, but I understand the objective of the situation.” Mourinho was given a very mixed reception on his final appearance at the Santiago Bernabeu with the announcement of his name before kickoff being booed by the majority, however he did receive strong support from the club’s ultras who sang his name throughout the 4-2 victory and even held up a banner towards the end of the game thanking the Portuguese for his time in charge.

And despite a disappointing return of one league title and one Copa del Rey from his three seasons in charge, he insisted that he wishes Madrid all the best in the future.

“As I said, this is the last time I will speak with the pride of the badge on my shirt. Everything has finished. It ends an era and starts another one, just as much for Real Madrid as for me and I wish the best for Real Madrid.”—AFP

BERLIN: Mother nature is clearly not a Bayern Munich supporter as heavy rain and chilly temperatures in the Bavarian capital yesterday greeted around 10,000 hardy fans celebrating their historic treble win. Despite heavy rain across south Germany and temperatures more typical of January than June, Bayern fans packed into Munich’s iconic Marienplatz to celebrate with the European champions.

Bayern’s 3-2 victory over VfB Stuttgart in Saturday’s German Cup final completed the set after they won the Champions League title and the German League.

It means Bayern are the first German team to win the treble of European, league and cup titles as the Bundesliga celebrates its 50th anniversary.

After a long night of partying in Berlin following the cup final win at the capital’s Olympic Stadium, Bayern touched down at Munich airport at 1425 local time.

The bleary-eyed team boarded a special bus-ironically the same one Borussia Dortmund used to celebrate winning last season’s cup and league double to head to the city centre.

Thousands of fans decked out in rain jackets, rubber boots and umbrellas ignored the grim weather to catch a glimpse of their heroes raising the three trophies from the city hall’s balcony.

Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger hoisted the German Cup, captain Philipp Lahm lifted the Bundesliga shield while coach Jupp Heynckes had the honor of showing off the Champions League trophy. It was something he had vowed to do during the first of this three stints in charge of the Bavarian giants more than 20 years ago.

And Heynckes told the assembled crowd he was grateful for the chance to deliver on that promise. “In 1990, I stood here and a little cockily I promised the European Cup,” said the 68-year-old Heynckes, who stands down at the end of the season after two years in charge.

“Today, I want to make good on my promise. “Here’s the European Cup of the national champions, the Champions League! “We don’t just have a world-class team, we have world-class fans, we couldn’t have done it

GERMANY: Bayern Munich celebrate with their three trophies on the balcony of the town hall during the celebrations the day after winning the German Cup. —AFP without you.” tain Philipp Lahm. “It’s a miracle the coach can Heynckes will hold a press conference on still stand considering how much he danced Tuesday to reveal his future plans while ex- last night,” quipped Lahm, with the team all Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola will take decked out in traditional Bavarian lederhosen. charge of the European champions on June It had clearly been a good night in Berlin as 26. the team visited-en masse one of the city’s Despite nearing the end of his seventh top nightclubs. “It was a super night, but I’d decade, Heynckes was at the forefront of rather not say what happened...” said Bayern’s celebrations in Berlin in the early Schweinsteiger, while Lahm added: “All the hours of Sunday, to the awe of Germany cap- trophies turned up again at the end”.—AFP

Marzouq wins Red Bull King of the Rock in Kuwait and qualifies to the World Final KUWAIT: Hundreds of spectators lined up to witness the top 16 Basketball talents from Kuwait compete at the Marina Basketball Court for the prestigious title of Red Bull King of the Rock.

The event started at 8pm and the competition became fierce as the single elimination 1-on-1 games moved further through the brackets. In the final Mubarak Marzouq met with Nawaf Abdullah with both players tired from their semifinals.

Marzouq managed to equalize the score with a foul shot which lead to a two minute overtime.

Exhausted from the overtime thriller, Marzouq came out on top with a steady dose of strong dives to the hoop and managed to win 87.

With this win, Marzouq will now represent Kuwait at the World Finals which will be held at Alcatraz Island in September. He will be competing against 63 additional finalists that have earned their way to the finals through other qualifiers across the world.

“I thank god for my win. I’m very happy that I will be going to Alcatraz. I congratulate Red Bull for such a professional event. The competition was tough and in the final I was exhausted but I managed to keep my focus high. Now I will train more for the world final.” said Mubarak Marzouq.

It’s the second year of the tournament in Kuwait, where the halfcourt games are held at the famous Marina Basketball Courts. Last year the event was won by Ahmed Al Fadhly who managed to win his twin brother.

128 players participated in two qualifiers and only the top 16 made it to the final. Games last five minutes and were subject to regulation hoops rules and scoring (two and three pointers). The qualifier was open to amateur and pros alike.

Abdo Chidiac, a Lebanese professional basketball player was the competition director and responsible for the overall competition and the athlete management. Chidiac was part of the Lebanese National Basketball Team for 15 years. He also played for several professional clubs most notably Sagesse where he won the Arab Basketball Championship in 1998 and FIBA Asia Championship in 1999.

Now in its fourth year, the global one-on-one basketball tournament will return with the most competitive field to date. Bigger and better than ever, Red Bull King of the Rock has expanded to qualifiers in 27 countries, including 33 in the United States. From these qualifiers, 64 finalists will head to the island to put it all on the line in The Yard on Alcatraz on September 28.

For 29 long years, more than 1,500 men dreamed of nothing but getting off of Alcatraz. But this year, hundreds will try their hardest to make it onto the island, with the goal of being King of the Rock.

In 2010, Red Bull King of the Rock went down in history as the first official sporting event ever to be held on Alcatraz and the first time basketball had been played on The Rock since the inmates left the island over 50 years ago.

On September 28, 2013, King of the Rock is back and promises to be better than ever. With some of the

Mubarak Marzouk poses after his victory.

One of the competitions world’s best players converging upon Alcatraz, we have the opportunity to showcase their talent, provide these global basketball ath-

letes with a truly amazing Red Bull experience and witness incredible street basketball in a truly iconic location.

Lorenzo bags Italian GP

Latvala clinches Acropolis Rally

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

17

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Czech team ditches pedals for leg-power

Page 17

INDIANAPOLIS: Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert dunks against Miami Heat center Joel Anthony during the second half of Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference basketball finals. — AP

Pacers cool Heat to level series INDIANAPOLIS: The Indiana Pacers staggered Miami with one more big punch on Saturday, beating the Heat 91-77 to force a decisive Game 7 in their NBA Eastern Conference finals series and keep alive their hopes of a stunning upset.

Roy Hibbert did everything but pull out the boxing gloves in Game 6, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and continually contesting Miami’s shots to help Indiana stave off elimination.

Paul George scored 28 points, had eight rebounds and five assists, and the Pacers held Miami to 36.1 percent shooting as they booked a trip back to Miami for the decider.

“Myself and David (West), we throw ourselves in the fray, in the paint. We like to muck it up,” Hibbert said. “Paul and myself, we wanted to make sure we got this for him as well. We didn’t want this to be our last game.”

After winning their first division crown in nine years, the Pacers are one win away from advancing to the NBA Finals for only the second time in franchise history. They lost to the Lakers 4-2 in 2000.

They haven’t played a decisive seventh game in the conference finals since losing to Chicago in 1998.

And amazingly, they’ve done it this time against the defending champions who many considered virtually invincible after winning 27 straight during the regular season, finishing with a franchise-record 66 wins and having won 23 of their last 24 road games before losing Games 4 and 6 in Indianapolis.

But the Pacers have pushed four-time MVP LeBron James and his high-scoring, high-profile teammates to the brink of elimination by punching back, and Game 6 followed a familiar story line.

The Pacers had a 53-33 rebounding advantage, outscored Miami 44-22 in the paint and limited Miami’s shooters to 16 of 54, 29.6 percent, from inside the arc. James led the Heat with 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting. Nobody else scored more than 10.

How have the Pacers done it? With Hibbert controlling the inside after adding martial arts

training to his offseason regiment.

“Roy Hibbert is making extraordinary plays in the pocket, poise in the pocket we call it,” coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s getting paint catches and just having great poise, great reads. He’s not plowing over guys. He had a charge in Game 5, but has been under control.”

It was everything an elimination game should be. The teams traded baskets and jabs, sometimes literally, and players ignored the bumps and bruises of yet another wrestling match that has made this tough-guy series compelling.

Both teams attacked the basket, sometimes with problematic results. Indiana missed about five dunk attempts in the first half and a series of short jumpers, too, costing them precious points.

The Heat struggled, meanwhile, starting the game just 3 of 22 from inside the 3-point line.

Miami’s Big Three - James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh - went just 14 of 40. Excluding James, Miami managed only 16 baskets - eight 3s and eight 2s.

With Chris “Birdman” Andersen suspended, the

Heat couldn’t keep up with Indiana’s big rebounders inside. Even Lance Stephenson, who was not effective at Miami, finished with four points, 12 rebounds and four assists.

Indiana’s loud crowd created a hostile atmosphere, too. Fans chanted “Heat Are Floppers!” sporadically throughout the second half, urging the Pacers to play harder, to defend better and to make another trip home. The only way to do that is to win Game 7 and avoid a second straight playoff elimination at the hands of the Heat.

For Miami, the stakes were so high that when James was called for an offensive foul midway through the fourth quarter, he lost his cool. James protested by running from one end of the court to the other, drawing a technical foul, and when Miami assistant coach David Fizdale showed his support for the league’s four-time MVP, it drew another technical.

George Hill answered by making free throws and Hibbert followed that with a layup, ending any chance of Miami making a late comeback. James

Serena sets up Kuznetsova rematch

Robredo smashes comeback record PARIS: Tearful Tommy Robredo became the first man in 86 years to come back from two sets to love down in three successive Grand Slam matches to reach the French Open quarter-finals yesterday.

Robredo clinched a breathtaking 6-7 (5/7), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 64 win over 11th seeded compatriot Nicolas Almagro and will tackle fellow Spaniard David Ferrer for a semi-final spot.

Henri Cochet at Wimbledon in 1927 was the last man to achieve the feat.

Robredo, who was down at 471 in the world rankings this time last year after leg surgery forced him onto the sidelines, joins the great Frenchman after battling past Igor Sijsling and Gael Monfils before repeating the drama against Almagro.

Robredo, a former world number five, had appeared on his way out, however, when Almagro, with a 5-0 career lead over his compatriot, led by two sets and 4-1 in the third yesterday.

Robredo, the 32nd seed, was also down in the fourth set at 2-4, but went on a four-game streak to level the tie. The decider followed the same pattern with Almagro, a threetime quarter-finalist, nipping out to a 2-0 lead before Robredo, with the crowd on his side, came back for a 3-2 lead.

Almagro broke back for 3-3 but his nerve failed him in the ninth game when Robredo hit back for 5-4 and took the match when Almagro fluffed an easy volley.

Robredo, who will be playing in a fifth quarter-final, at

Roland Garros, 10 years after his first, collapsed to his knees on Court Suzanne Lenglen and wept while more tears flowed as he received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Meanwhile, Ferrer, the Spanish fourth seed and a semifinalist in 2012, breezed past South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.

The 31-year-old has made the last eight without dropping a set and takes a 6-2 head-to-head lead over Robredo into their quarter-final. “I have faced other Spanish players many times. Tommy is very solid. It will be a long physical match,” said Ferrer.

Anderson, the 27th seed, was bidding to become the first South African to reach the last-eight at Roland Garros since Cliff Drysdale in 1968 but his challenge was fatally undermined by 41 unforced errors. Roger Federer, the 2009 champion, will later Sunday attempt to become just the fourth man to record 900 wins on the tour when he meets French 15th seed Gilles Simon.

Victory for the 31-year-old will also give him a spot in a Grand Slam quarter-final for the 40th time. Only Jimmy Connors (1,156), Ivan Lendl (1,068) and Guillermo Vilas (940) have won more times on the tour than Federer.

On a day of potential landmarks, the Swiss holder of 17 majors can also win his 58th match at Roland Garros, matching the record held jointly by Vilas and Nicola Pietrangeli.

In a battle of tennis dads-Federer has twin daughters while Simon has a son-the 28-year-old Frenchman is trying to reach his first Paris quarter-final.

said he was trying to avoid an ejection and wound up spending the last 66 seconds on the bench.

“Explain it? You seen it. It was total domination by the Pacers in the third,” James said when asked what happened to the league’s most dominant team on Saturday. “They made a lot of shots, we didn’t get too many stops and we missed some very, very easy shots.”

It was a complete reversal from Game 5, when Miami took control by outscoring the Pacers 30-13 in the third. This time, against one of the league’s top offensive teams, the Pacers gave up only six points in the first eight minutes of the quarter, using a 14-2 run to turn a 40-39 halftime deficit into a 66-49 lead with 1:15 left in the quarter.

Hibbert scored nine in the quarter.

Miami did close to within 68-55 after three, but it was too big a deficit to overcome - even with James running the show.

“They just flat-out beat us in every facet of the game. They just outclassed us in that (third) quarter,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. — AP

PARIS: Spain’s Tommy Robredo cries after defeating compatriot Nicolas Almagro during their fourth round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium. — AP The winner of that tie will meet French sixth seed JoWilfried Tsonga who swept past unseeded Serb Viktor Troicki, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, for a semi-final place.

Tsonga, one of three Frenchmen in the last-16, is seen as his country’s best hope of ending a 30-year wait to crown a men’s champion at the French Open.— AFP

PARIS: Serena Williams bludgeoned her way to another lopsided win at the French Open yesterday as she continued her quest for a second French Open title, 11 years after her first.

The top seeded American needed just 70 minutes to dispose of the world’s top doubles player, Roberta Vinci of Italy, 61, 6-3 and in four matches at Roland Garros this year, she has dropped just 10 games.

The win puts her into a quarter-final matchup against unseeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia who won the title in Paris in 2009 after defeating Williams in a quarter-final thriller.

Kuznetsova, who outlasted eighth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, said she would relish going up again against Williams, even given her current form.

“I mean, she’s the best in the world so far. She’s been playing unbelievable tennis,” she said. “But I believe that I have the game and my good days, as well. Let’s cross fingers I will have a good day on that one. She’s just a fighter. She’s unbelievable, you know.” Williams said that she expected a tough match every time she comes up against Kuznetsova.

“I mean, the last time we played here she won, so that will probably get her pumped up and she’s on a comeback,” she added. “She has nothing to lose but everything to gai. She also wants to do well, and she’s won this tournament before.

“I have had some pretty tough matches this claycourt season, and I think for sure that will be another one.” The win takes Williams career-best winning streak to 28, the third longest since 2000 behind sister Venus (35) and Justine Henin (32).

As in the previous three rounds Williams asserted her authority from the start, jumping out into a 4-0 lead. The only trouble she occasionally had came from the windy conditions that disrupted her service action. Vinci got on the scoreboard when Williams hit long with a forehand in the fifth game but two games later, the set was done and dusted for the American in just 29 minutes. — AFP

Business

After ‘black gold’, South Sudan eyes the real stuff Page 22 Italian workers ‘recycle’ jobs Page 23

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

Refined design, brand philosophy drive Lexus sales up by 57% in Q1 Page 26 Page 23

Fiscal data remains key for Fed decision

TEHRAN: Iranians shop in Tehran. A televised debate on Iran’s sanctions-hit economy failed to introduce a frontrunner as the eight approved presidential candidates echoed each other on the main issues and refrained from making direct attacks. —AFP

US shale revolution ‘no big threat’ ‘OPEC will be around after shale oil finishes’ VIENNA: OPEC, the oil producer cartel, is shrugging off talk of its weakening influence sparked by booming US shale energy production, according to analysts. “OPEC will be around after shale oil finishes,” secretary-general Abdullah El-Badri said with a smile Friday as the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) met in Vienna. An explosion in hard-to-reach energy trapped in shale, or sedimentary rock, has sparked doubts about OPEC’s standing in the global oil market, analysts say.

However, El-Badri played down talk that the so-called shale oil and gas revolution in the United States could diminish the global influence of a group that pumps about 35 percent of global oil. “I don’t think it’s a big threat,” the Libyan told reporters in Vienna, where the cartel held its daily oil output ceiling at 30 million barrels.

“It is a newcomer, it is a new addition to the energy mix and we welcome it.” The International Energy Agency said last month that shale was sparking a “supply shock”, creating a brand new energy supply that was reshaping the

industry. But El-Badri also highlighted the relatively high cost of shale energy extraction, and the harsh impact on the environment of controversial methods like hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

“The ministers would like to know the magnitude of this supply, how long it will last, it’s possible sustainability, its cost (and) effect on (the) environment,” he said after ministers discussed the issue in their closed-door meeting.

“Some say ... it will be a huge supply, some say it is a cheap supply, others ... report that this is going to be a very high cost.

“We will look at it and follow it up as with any sort of energy,” he noted. OPEC ministers also decided in Vienna to establish a committee to examine the impact of shale.

Meanwhile, analysts were split over the impact this new source might have on the energy market. Analyst Fawad Razaqzada at trading group GFT Markets predicted OPEC would take a hit from shale.

“It is not a question of if, but how severely the booming

US shale oil production would diminish the market power of OPEC, and thus cause exports to shrink,” Razaqzada told AFP. “Along with the United States, production of oil is also booming in Russia and Norway, which makes OPEC’s influence on the price of oil increasingly less significant,” he added.

DNB Bank analyst Torbjorn Kjus agreed. “OPEC market power will decrease as a consequence of the US shale revolution,” he told AFP. “So far it is mainly hitting west African producers because their production is light-sweet qualities and the shale oil is almost all light sweet. “The Persian Gulf barrels are mainly medium-sour qualities and hence cheaper for refiners.” But over the next five to six years, Kjus predicted falling oil prices as a result of shale expansion.

Other analysts were keen to downplay its impact. “The truth is that OPEC’s biggest concern in the immediate term is not US shale oil supply, but global oil demand, and the sluggish economic conditions in the eurozone and China,” said analyst Jason Schenker at Prestige Economics. Oil

Sony break-up call shines light on electronic issues TOKYO: A proposal by a US hedge fund billionaire to spin off a chunk of Sony’s profitable music and movie business is shining a light again on what has been a long-time sore spot for the Japanese giant: electronics. The onceiconic maker of the Walkman is rarely seen as anything but a gadgets company, with its name on televisions and DVD players around the world. But the firm’s key moneymakers are actually its Hollywood movie studio and singers such as Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift.

And perhaps its biggest profit generator is something decidedly un-Sony-a financial arm that sells insurance. Massive losses in electronics kept Sony in the red for years, faced with falling prices and tough competition from lower-cost rivals and more innovative firms such as iPhone producer Apple. Sony’s PlayStation games console has faced pressure from rivals such as Microsoft’s Xbox, as well as a more recent challenge from cheap, or even free, gaming on smartphones and tablets.

“The problem with Sony now is that it is in the business of making things that have become commodified,” said SMBC Nikko Securities analyst Koki Shiraishi. “Sony’s strengths are many-good designs, brand strength. It has strong technologies... But you need new and innovative technology to lure consumers.”

Sony, like many Japanese companies that came of age in the booming Japan of the 1970s and 1980s, diversified its operations to include seemingly unrelated businesses with

few synergies. Critics say Sony and their onceleading rivals such as Panasonic and Sharp are too big to cope with their more nimble overseas competitors, which has led to years of record losses amounting to tens of billions of dollars.

Still, the sector has been wary about slicing up businesses that encompass a vast range of consumer products, from DVD players to washing machines. Sony has crept back to profitability after four years in the red, but that was mainly due to a restructuring that includes thousands of layoffs and asset sales, including its Manhattan headquarters for more than $1.0 billion.

While the firm has long faced pressure to hive off the good from the bad in its business, the idea grabbed headlines last month after US hedge fund billionaire Daniel Loeb called for a spin-off of as much as 20 percent of its entertainment arm. A US media report this week said Sony’s board had hired investment banks to look at the proposal, which helped push up its Tokyo-listed shares by 2.09 percent to 2,049 yen on Friday. Sony declined to comment on the report.

Sony’s chief Kazuo Hirai has so far resisted calls to slice up the company, saying he wants to drag the TV business into the black and calling the ailing electronics unit part of “Sony’s DNA”. Loeb’s volley marked a rare bid by an overseas investor to penetrate a staid corporate culture in Japan, where big firms are often resistant to change and are largely controlled

by institutional shareholders.

Unlike in the US, shareholder activism is not common in Japan although there has been increasing pressure from vocal investors overseas in recent years. It’s unlikely that Sony will accept the proposal,” said Seiichi Suzuki, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Securities. “This is not the first time Sony has faced a shareholder who said ‘your electronics segment is not profitable so you should try to make money in other areas’.”

But, he added, the move did “serve as warning for the board about how it runs the business”. “It’s important for firms, especially big companies like Sony, to have discussions with shareholders,” he said. SMBC Nikko analyst Shiraishi disagrees with some analysts’ harsh assessment that the electronics unit is effectively worthless. But he added that Sony would be wise to listen to those who call for it to cut back on areas where it consistently loses money.

Loeb’s proposal, which the US investor said was aimed at unlocking the profit potential of Sony’s entertainment arm, “make sense... but corporate decisions are not made based on immediate benefit and loss”, Shiraishi said. As part of its corporate overhaul Sony has talked about moving into areas with fatter profit margins, including a tie-up with camera and endoscope maker Olympus in a bid to tap the lucrative medical equipment market. “You might see sales fall, but profitability will improve,” Shiraishi said. —AFP

exports from OPEC members Angola, Nigeria and Venezuela have already been hit by shale because they sell crude to the United States.

All three nations are turning to fast-growing Asian markets, particularly China and India. “I don’t think the shale oil or shale gas will affect the OPEC countries’ production or exports,” said Nigerian Oil Minister Diezani AlisonMadueke. “But it is a great concern for us (Nigeria), even if we do respect the integrity of the US to be self-sustainable in terms of oil and gas.”But Asia “will still have growing energy needs for quite a while to come,” she added.

“But remember that China itself may be discovering shale gas pretty soon, and oil,” she warned. In a heavy blow last year, the IEA predicted that the US was set to become the world’s largest oil producer by 2017 on the back of shale energy. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia is currently the biggest producer. “We are watching it (shale energy sector) very carefully but we don’t see (it) as a revolution but an evolution,” El-Badri said Friday. —AFP

Kuwait drops most in 7 months MIDEAST STOCKS DUBAI: Kuwait’s bourse suffered its largest one-day drop in seven months yesterday in a profit-taking move analysts said was long overdue, while UAE markets extended their bullish run and other regional exchanges were mixed. Kuwait’s index lost 3 percent, down for a third session since Tuesday’s 53-month peak and its biggest daily decline since October 2012.

“It was panic selling today rather than structured profittaking but, nevertheless, it’s a long overdue corrective move,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House. Those buyers who had driven the market to a 39.9 percent advance in the first five months of 2013 were mostly retail investors, who were now beginning to sell ahead of the summer, Darwish added.

Traditionally, many people depart the Gulf for the summer months due to the excessive heat, with investors reducing their positions before returning to the market later in the year. Small and mid-cap stocks, normally the preserve of retail investors as they can be moved easier for quick results, slumped yesterday, with Gulf Finance House, Abyaar Real Estate Development Co and Manazel Holding dropping 5.9, 7.3 and 7.8 percent respectively.

Larger stocks didn’t escape the negative tone, with Agility down 2.7 percent - trading ex-dividend - and National Industries Group 5.4 percent lower. Elsewhere, Dubai’s measure rose 2.7 percent to hit a fresh 54-month high as mid-cap stocks surged. Gulf Navigation and Dubai Financial Market jumped 14.9 and 14.7 percent respectively, with both stocks hitting the limit for the maximum daily rise.

Drake & Scull climbed 6.9 percent, extending 2013 gains to 54.8 percent. Mid-caps are catching up to a rally in bluechips earlier this year as prices picked up to reflect

improving fundamentals. Dubai property prices partially recovered in recent months following a 50 percent-plus slump from their 2008 peak and banks reported improving earnings as provisions declined. UAE banks were heavily exposed to government debt, which has largely been restructured.

Emirates NBD, the best performing stock on Dubai’s bourse in 2013, held onto its 91.2 percent year-to-date gains.

“There’s no worry of a potential bubble as the momentum is on solid footing,” said Rami Sidani, Schroders Middle East’s head of investment, pointing out that while many exchanges around the world have recovered their post-financial crisis losses, UAE markets still have some way to go.

Dubai is still 61 percent below its 2008 pre-crisis peak, while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices have recovered their losses and recently recorded new all-time highs. Abu Dhabi’s benchmark climbed 0.8 percent to finish at 3,590 points, its highest close since October 2008 but still nearly 50 percent below its peak of that year. In Egypt, shares in heavyweight Orascom Telecom dropped 6.8 percent after Russia’s Altimo withdrew its offer to buyout minority shareholders in the telecom firm. Altimo said it had no plans to launch a new offer after Egypt’s regulator rejected its attempt to reopen its earlier tender. The Russian firm failed to secure the minimum take-up requirement by its May 27 deadline. Cairo’s benchmark fell 1.2 percent, down for a fourth session in the last seven. Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s bourse gained 0.5 percent to its highest close in 13 months. Banking shares, which have underperformed in recent sessions, supported the increase, with the sector’s index climbing 1.1 percent. Buying interest returned to insurance stocks, lifting the industry measure 1.4 percent. —Reuters

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

BUSINESS

After ‘black gold’, South Sudan eyes the real stuff Long term mining has potential to replace oil NANAKANAK: Knee-deep in muddy water, Peter Locebe and a long line of other men scour the sand for the sparkle of a speck of gold, back breaking work in the fierce equatorial sun of South Sudan. “There is so much gold here,” Locebe said, mopping his brow and telling stories of how he once found a whole ounce (30 grams) of gold in a single day from the muddy creeks in this remote and grossly impoverished region. But while the panners sift the dirt in the hope of making their fortune, the gold here could also turn out to be a much-needed economic lifeline for their fledgling nation.

Experts believe and South Sudan hopes the land holds good potential for larger scale mining, a possible future resource to wean the economy of the world’s youngest nation off an almost total reliance on the pumping of crude oil. Initial geological assessments suggest South Sudan holds good reserves of iron ore, copper, nickel, platinum and manganese. “Long term, mining has the potential to replace oil, because oil is seen to be phasing out in about five or 10 years time,” said Rainer Hengstmann, who works for the Londonbased Adam Smith International advisory firm to support the oil and mining ministry.

Setting up large-scale mining could take from around five to 15 years, he estimates. As yet, it is nearly virgin territory for explorers, apart from an aerial survey carried out near the main trading post town of Kapoeta here, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of the capital Juba. South Sudan won independence from former civil war foes Sudan in July 2011, taking with it the bulk of the former united country’s oil

reserves, a resource that provided 98 percent of Juba’s government revenue.

But bitter arguments and still tense relations with Sudan-who controls all the pipelines the landlocked South need to export crude-showed the danger of near total reliance on a single resource. South Sudan’s economy was crippled when it shut down crude production for more than a year-restarting only in Aprilafter accusing Khartoum of stealing its oil. That makes minerals under the soil a literal gold mine for the nation.

Foreign companies lining up Armed with picks and plastic tubs, the Toposa people here started digging soon after the end of British colonial rule in the 1960’s, recruited by traders scooping a fortune by buying a gram of gold for a dollar. The Toposa, still wearing traditional costumes consisting of little but vast strings colourful beads, have now been joined by an estimated 60,000 artisanal diggers and panners lured by the gold rush. However, larger companies are expected soon. Petroleum and Mining Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau says the government is “giving special attention to this sector”, and hopes to provide the first exploration licences later this year.

Interest is keen, officials say.

“There are so many companies at the door, just queueing to come in,” mining ministry director general Arkangelo Okwang said, adding officials still need to finalise mining regulations to ensure the resource is managed, and becomes a “blessing, not a curse.” As yet, the formal industry is not even in its infancy.

“Where’s the infrastructure, where’s the power?” asked Hengstmann. “You need roads, a railway...you can’t run a mine on generators.” But hand digging miners are already pulling out impressive hauls.

A gram sells for between 36 to 47 dollars (28 to 36 euros) said Kenyan trader Samuel Mutham Kivuva, a spokesman for around a thousand foreign middlemen in the gold trade, allowing a small profit for resale down the line. He claims around five kilogrammes (11 pounds) of gold leaves Kapoeta each week. That represents around a million dollars (euros) in golden nuggets and dust a month.

More than double that amount was reportedly being shipped out last year before metal detectors were outlawed by mining ministry officials. The government has vowed to stop the gold smuggling across the border, and start taxing the gold leaving freely from the country. “There are border customs but they don’t check people’s pockets,” said Kapoeta commissioner Martin Lorika.

But many across the region are attracted to Kapoeta, whose dusty streets and simple shacks exude the air of a Wild West frontier town, rife with rumours of shady business deals. One western mining analyst even alleges Somali pirates send associates to launder potentially marked dollars bills from ransom payments by buying pure gold more easily smuggled for sale in Dubai. International firms may come in the future, but for the moment, business is for only the brave. “This is a land where if you think of investing...you need a proper godfather,” Kivuva warns. —AFP

LISBON: A woman shouts slogans during a protest in Lisbon. The march was against austerity measures linked to a euro 78 billion ($101 billion) bailout that Portugal needed in 2011 by international creditors - The European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, known as the “Troika”. —AP

Cash brews robust US craft coffee market For exotic coffee connoisseurs like Geoff Watts, the search for the perfect bean isn’t the solitary quest it once was. On a recent visit to Ethiopia’s southern Yirgacheffe region eight hours from Addis Ababa, the buyer for Intelligentsia Coffee bumped into a familiar face. “I saw a random white guy walking around in a field, and it turned out he was a friend and competitor,” said Watts.

U.S. craft coffee purveyors are getting less lonely. The segment is a small but growing slice of the $27.9 billion U.S. coffee market, which has increased in recent years at an annual average rate of 5.6 percent and is expected to reach $33.7 billion by 2018, according to research firm IBISWorld, though it does not yet separate revenues for high-end purveyors.

Small bi-coastal chains Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle Coffee and Stumptown Coffee Roasters lead the so-called “third wave” or “slow coffee” movement, while industry behemoth Starbucks Corp shows off its craft roots selling limited-supply “reserve” coffees for up to $50 for a half-pound bag.

The new generation of upscale coffee shops and roasters includes dozens of operators around the country. They are in a race to find rare and distinctive beans and hope to elevate one of the world’s oldest and most popular drinks in the same way that craft beer brewers, boutique wineries and olive oil makers won fans by focusing on highquality ingredients and production.

During the last two years, private equity firms, venture capitalists and wealthy individuals such as former professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, and tech luminaries Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom and Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter and Square, have poured in well over $55 million - including a large cash jolt for San Francisco-based Philz Coffee in May. Not your typical retirement investors, they are often coffee connoisseurs themselves and are eager to capitalize on the

Starbucks holds the biggest share of the country’s coffee market with 18.7 percent of revenue, according to IBISWorld. That figure shows how competitive and fragmented the business is in the United States, where local cafes, fast-food chains and even gas stations peddle coffee and lattes.

“We are all focused on that highest quality cup of coffee and there is room for everyone to grow,” said Craig Russell, senior vice president of Global Coffee for Starbucks. Seattle-based Starbucks is a major buyer of artisan beans, going up against rivals like Chicago-based Intelligentsia, which sells half-pound (8ounce) bags of its Santuario Geisha roast from Colombia for $80.50 and expects to grow to 12 stores this year from nine.

“The third wave of coffee really is about understanding the craft and the lifestyle of coffee,” said Instagram CEO Systrom, a selfdescribed coffee addict and one of a group of investors led by True Ventures and Index Ventures that poured $20 million into San Francisco-based Blue Bottle late last year. He and fellow investor Hawk, who said he kicked in $100,000, also advise Blue Bottle on its growth plans. Investment opportunities appear limited to the very wealthy but it is not for a lack of effort from fans of the cafes.

“We get all sorts of weird inquiries all the time,” said Sightglass co-founder Jerad Morrison, who did accept startup capital from Dorsey, a personal friend. Baristas at the new coffee shops often sport handlebar mustaches, bow ties or suspenders.

They spend long moments lovingly tamping espresso, coaxing clever designs from frothy cappuccino milk, or coaching customers as they select beans.

It is a time-consuming process that bears little resemblance to the buttonoperated speed and efficiency of Starbucks’ current generation of espresso machines. The third wave caters to fanat-

new breed of enthusiasts who were raised on espressos and lattes popularized by Starbucks. Customers are willing to pay dearly for their java habit - $80 for a halfpound of rare, roasted beans and $3 and up for a cup of individually prepared “pour over,” high-tech “siphon” coffee, or old school espresso. Those prices are as much as triple the cost for an average cup of coffee and bean prices are at least 10 times more.

Sales are expected to climb as the US job market improves and more Americans treat coffee as an experience rather than a utilitarian pick-me-up, said IBISWorld analyst Andrew Krabeepetcharat. But experts also wonder if there will be enough demand beyond wealthy, urban enclaves to support meaningful growth and whether getting bigger would hurt the mystique that fueled the craft operators in the first place.

“I don’t think the (exotic) market is that big,” said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant analyst for the NPD Group’s foodservice unit. While many people may try such coffees as a treat, winning the loyal, frequent users needed to support significant growth will be a challenge, she said. Blue Bottle founder James Freeman and his peers say they do not aspire to Wall Street-style expansions, nor the pricey exclusivity of high-end wine. For around $5, “you can have an incredible experience at a high-end coffee bar and get something impeccably sourced and roasted and made,” said Freeman. “It’s the democratization of luxury.”

Exotic, exclusive The new movement is built on the success of Starbucks, whose founder and CEO Howard Schultz often speaks of the “romance” and “theater” of coffee and is credited with pioneering coffee’s “second wave” by shifting the masses from cheap, hours-old brew to fresh-made drinks from premium beans. With some 12,900 cafes in its US-dominated Americas region,

ics like Northern California author Bill Tancer, 47, who said a “coffee concierge” opened his eyes to a new world of coffee during a visit to Philz, which received an “eight figure” investment from Summit Partners, a private equity firm.

TechCrunch reported that the infusion was in the $15 million to $25 million range. Summit and Philz declined to comment. “We had this back and forth about what I was looking for in a cup of coffee - did I want rich, light, more acid, flowery?” said Tancer, who since has become a home roaster. “There are so many coffees out there to discover.

It’s a bit of an adventure,” he said.

Hand up or sell-out?

In 2011, Portland, Oregon-based Stumptown, which has nine coffee bars, took a large investment from TSG Consumer Partners, a private equity firm.

The parties declined to quantify it, but two sources familiar with the deal said it was in the area of $20 million to $25 million and constituted a controlling stake.

The sources declined to be identified because the information is not public.

Some die-hard fans fretted that the craft coffee trend-setter had sold out, considering that TSG has a strong track record of investing in small brands, helping them grow, and selling them to large corporations. Indeed, one of its most notable investments was a stake in vitaminwater maker Glaceau, which was ultimately sold to Coca-Cola Co for $4 billion.

TSG declined to comment, but Stumptown’s new president, Joth Ricci, said maintaining the brand’s identity would be a major factor in any future deal. “You figure out the right fit for a brand. Some work really well and some don’t,” Ricci said.

Customers said Stumptown’s quality remains high, even if it now seems a little more corporate. —Reuters

Freelancing considered viable career by 69 % of MENA residents: Bayt.com DUBAI: The recent ‘Bayt.com State of the Freelance Market in the MENA Region poll’ conducted by Bayt.com, the region’s number one job site, has revealed that freelancing is considered by 75.2 percent of respondents to be a good option for someone working in the M iddle East and Nor th Africa (MENA) region, with perceived better pay and a better work-life balance than working full-time.

S even out of 10 (69.2 percent) respondents would consider working on an independent or freelance basis instead of being a full-time employee, with their main motive for doing so being to achieve a better work-life balance (30.5 percent). Other top reasons professionals would considera freelance career are to be able to focus more on the things they love (23.5 percent); better pay (18.3 percent), and more control over their career path (11.8 percent). Freelancers are considered, by 54.9 percent of respondents, to earn more than full-time professionals.

The main reason for most full-time employees taking on freelance work is so that they can earn more money, according to 63.9 percent of professionals polled, or to explore other career opportunities (14.7 percent).

Yet, it seems professionals are put off from embarking upon a freelance career because they don’t know where to start (31.1 percent), though visa issues are also a major concern for 15.6 percent, and 14.6 percent are concerned by a lack of opportunities.

“There is clearly a strong interest in freelancing in the region; however, the majority of people do not know where to begin. This suggests that more needs to be done to educate professionals in the Middle East on their options. After all, promoting entrepreneurship in this form is essential to addressing youth unemployment and boosting the MENA countries’ GDPs,” said SuhailMasri, VP Sales, Bayt.com. “At Bayt.com, not only do we provide a wealth of jobs and recruitment solu-

tions toconnect people looking for jobs with business owners, we also empower ourprofessionals’ community with constant access to live data regarding the employment and economic pulse of the region. Bayt.com caters to professionals at all career levels seeking full-time jobs as well as internships, consulting work and freelance opportunities and has over12 years experience empowering creative regional recruitment solutions pan-industrially.”

Most respondents to the Bayt.com MENA HR poll (44.2 percent) know at least five or more professionals who freelance, while students and fresh graduates are considered to be the most likely to freelance by 50.2 percent. Professionals with 5-10 years of experience are also thought to be likely to freelance by a fifth of respondents (21.6 percent).

The skills a professional has will determine whether they have the potential to be a freelancer, as stated by 48.1 percent of respondents though three in 10 (27.2 percent) also claim that ‘anyone’ can go independent.

Flexibility and adaptability are the top traits a freelancer should have (according to 27.6 percent), followed by great self-confidence (16.3 percent), the ability to multi-task (15.5 percent), and good time management skills (14.5 percent).

Half of the respondents’ companies (53 percent) outsource work to freelancers, because it is considered to be cheaper than hiring an employee (30.4 percent). Freelancers are also seen as being a good contingenc y plan between hires (28.4 percent), while a quarter of respondents (24.8 percent) believe that they are more skilled and efficient.

Data for the ‘Bayt.com State of the Freelance Market in the MENA Region’ poll was collected online from May 2 to May 28, 2013, with 7,795 respondents from UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

.2770000 .4310000 .3680000 .3020000 .2780000 .2940000 .0040000 .0020000 .0771240 .7513970 .3930000 .0720000 .7366120 .0370000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2841000 .4338920 .3707360 .3043390 .2795430 .0497330 .0443660 .2963730 .0365940 .2291130 .0029600 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0773800 .7538810 .0000000 .0757800 .7382100 .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht

ASIAN COUNTRIES 2.853 5.070 2.906 2.263 3.180 228.630 36.934 3.676 6.775 9.500

.2880000 .4470000 .3760000 .3170000 .2920000 .3020000 .0069000 .0035000 .0778990 .7589480 .4110000 .0770000 .7440150 .0440000 .2862000 .4370990 .3734770 .3065880 .2816100 .0501010 .0446940 .2985640 .0368650 .2308060 .0028810 .0052870 .0022880 .0029190 .0036810 .0779520 .7594530 .4048090 .0763400 .7436660 .0069870

Malaysian ringgit Irani Riyal Irani Riyal

Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

94.221 0.271 0.273

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 40.350 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 40.373 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.338 Tunisian Dinar 175.780 Jordanian Dinar 405.030 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.924 Syrian Lier 3.116 Morocco Dirham 34.050 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 286.700 Euro 375.860 Sterling Pound 438.940 Canadian dollar 279.300 Turkish lira 152.920 Swiss Franc 303.390 US Dollar Buying 277.240 GOLD 263.000 133.000 70.000

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

SELL DRAFT 278.44 280.51 304.66 375.30 285.85 438.20 2.91 3.682 5.058 2.256 3.172 2.905 77.89 760.81 40.31 406.82

Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

Selling Rate 286.750 282.465 436.890 370.980 295.860 759.185 78.050 78.710 76.430 404.225 40.419 2.269 5.174 2.908 3.680 6.954 703.420 3.795 9.710 4.095 3.330 94.935

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar

748.000 79.500 77.000

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

GCC COUNTRIES 76.484 78.807 744.970 761.790 78.109

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

743.39 78.94 76.36

SELL CASH 283.000 283.000 299.000 372.000 288.000 438.500 3.300 3.740 5.400 2.460 3.420 2.985 78.800 763.500 40.500 415.000

British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Scottish Pound Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar Uganda Shilling Canadian Dollar Colombian Peso US Dollars Bangladesh Taka Cape Vrde Escudo Chinese Yuan Eritrea-Nakfa

SELL CASH Europe 0.4278481 0.0062612 0.0457656 0.3664124 0.0452526 0.4235148 0.0392353 0.2939051 Australasia 0.2677639 0.2246165 0.0001140 America 0.2713010 0.0001462 0.2850000 Asia 0.0036421 0.0031866 0.0457618 0.0166100

SELLDRAFT 0.4368481 0.0182612 0.0507656 0.3739124 0.0504526 0.4310418 0.0442353 0.3009051 0.2797639 0.2346165 0.0001140 0.2803010 0.0001642 0.2871500 0.0036971 0.0034166 0.0507618 0.0197100

Guinea Franc Hg Kong Dollar Indian Rupee Indonesian Rupiah Jamaican Dollars Japanese Yen Kenyan Shilling Malaysian Ringgit Nepalese Rupee Pakistan Rupee Philippine Peso Sierra Leone Singapore Dollar Sri Lankan Rupee Thai Baht Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Ethiopeanbirr Ghanaian Cedi Iranian Riyal Iraqi Dinar Jordanian Dinar Kuwaiti Dinar Lebanese Pound Moroccan Dirhams Nigerian Naira Omani Riyal Qatar Riyal Saudi Riyal Sudanese Pounds Syrian Pound Tunisian Dinar UAE Dirhams Yemeni Riyal

0.0000446 0.0344513 0.0051002 0.0000244 0.0028724 0.0027581 0.0033556 0.0896040 0.0030879 0.0028905 0.0064572 0.0000733 0.2231395 0.0022314 0.0092030 Arab 0.7552440 0.0384730 0.0129538 0.1460100 0.0000799 0.0001765 0.3994455 1.0000000 0.0001762 0.0219552 0.0012248 0.7348357 0.0782176 0.0760400 0.0466918 0.0027765 0.1723211 0.0767591 0.0012958

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 285.900 374.400 436.800 278.050 2.880 5.060 40.330 2.260 3.673 6.765 2.903 761.200 77.900 76.400

0.0000506 0.0375513 0.0051642 0.0000295 0.0038724 0.0029381 0.0035856 0.0966040 0.0032879 0.0029305 0.0069272 0.0000763 0.2291395 0.0022734 0.0098030 0.7637440 0.0405030 0.0194538 0.1478000 0.0000804 0.0002365 0.4069455 1.0000000 0.0001962 0.0459552 0.0018598 0.7458357 0.0790006 0.0766800 0.0472418 0.0029965 0.1783211 0.0782031 0.0013958

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

BUSINESS

Singapore’s economy struggles to squeeze out growth in Q1 KCIC WEEKLY ASIA ANALYSIS

Fiscal data remains key for Fed decision NBK WEEKLY MONEY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Markets were very volatile last week and currency performance was directly correlated to position unwinding. The poor performance in the Nikkei seemed to reflect disappointment over structural reforms even with news that the Japanese Pension fund would increase their modest equity holdings.

We continued to witness a continued pressure on emerging markets currencies from investors worried by the eventual end of the Fed quantitative easing programs. That pressure on emerging markets continued as the euro soared on cross demand and the market was exiting their short low yield currencies, long high yield trade, which sent the euro racing to 1.3062 during the week Jobless claims edged up, US yields drifted lower, and equities recovered their weakness witnessed in the past couple of days as investors started unwinding their dollar bullish bets.

Indeed, the positioning unwind saw the dollar weaken. The dollar yen cross also came back under pressure on reports that Japanese market regulators would hike margins for retail investors who are believed to be long Dollar. The euro hardly dipped despite poor French employment.

On the foreign exchange side, currencies closed the week with a slightly weaker dollar against the low yielders, but stronger against emerging markets high interest rate currencies.

The pound attempted a move higher during the week helped by an unwinding of sterling shorts against emerging market currencies; however, the reaction was fairly muted. After reaching a low of 1.5009, the pound ended the week at 1.5200.

The euro was well bid during the week helped by positive employment news out of Germany and after ECB’s Asmussen played down his support for negative deposit rates.

After reaching a high of 1.3061, the euro closed the week at1.2999 following a stronger dollar across the board. In the commodity complex, gold prices range traded after higher than expected jobless claims that added doubt over the US recovery. The physical market remains strong with strong Asian demand. gold prices closed the week below the $1,400 level.

Oil prices remain supported on the back of a stabilizing US equity markets in addition to the ongoing Middle East tensions and a rumor of a potential productions cuts from the OPEC. In conclusion, global equity markets have not followed Japan’s market drop and have instead stabilized. While there are still a number of other factors to consider mainly the robustness of the US data and the Fed QE expectations, we expect the dollar to stabilize and potentially recover Jobless claims confusing investors Jobless claims in the US rose to 354,000 last week, however the four-week average remained in the range of moderate labor market growth at 347,000. The data was up 10,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 344,000.

Economists had expectations for 340,000 claims.

Analysts reported that Memorial Day might have had an impact on the increase due to the state governments closed for the holiday. Job figures have become much more important lately with the Fed watching extremely closely the numbers in order to adjust up or down their asset purchases.

Strong housing market recovery The latest Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index showed the best gain in nearly seven years in the month of March. Even if the price of the average American house is still down 28 percent from peak levels, the level is significant from the Fed point of view. Home prices in March rose by 10.9 percent compared to prices one year ago. The data on home prices suggest that the strong recovery in home prices continues, and this should provide both direct and indirect positive effects to the economy. In the case Schiller report, all 20 cities were up on both the month and the one year-over-year basis, an unusual occurrence that typically only occurs in bull markets for housing. Rising home prices will encourage more construction, as builders and buyers become more confident that the assets will increase in value.

Europe & UK The positive tone continued in Europe with a positive Euro zone economic confidence registering 89.4 compared to 88.6 in April. Indeed, figures released by the European Commission suggested firms are more optimistic about the crisis, which may increase chances of the recession ending soon. Even with the pressure by the S&P rating agency towards France’s need to deliver the promised budget cuts to avoid a further credit rating downgrade; ECB members played down their support for negative deposit rates. The interesting news from Germany this week was Schaeuble German finance minister proposing that the state-owned development bank KfW would be used to provide loans to small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain, Portugal and possible Greece. The report did not mention a specific amount for the program but suggested it would be less than 10 billion.

French and Italian unemployment at record high The number of jobless people in France rose up by nearly 40,000 in April or 1.2 percent to hit

another all-time high. Over the last five years, it was the 53rd month out of 61 showing a rise, a fact that will pressure France to deliver more measures in order to avoid a potential imminent downgrade. There are now 3.26 million people officially out of work in France, after the total jumped by almost 40,000 in April. This is likely to increase tensions between France and Germany especially after Angela Merkel urged France to implement the reforms requested by the European Commission in return for the deficit deadline extension granted this week. The comments came at a press conference with Francois Hollande.

Italy’s jobless rate on the other continued to deteriorate to a 36-year high in April.

Unemployment in the country rose to 12 percent after the March reading was revised up to 11.9 percent from an initial 11.5 percent. The unemployment rate for people between the age of 15 and 24 rose to 40.5 per cent in April, the highest since the data series began in 1966. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development also reported this week that it expected the recession in Italy to be deeper than it previously feared this year and that unemployment is set to keep rising. The OECD said it had revised down its GDP forecasts for the country UK retail sales plummet The UK retailers are facing an increasingly difficult year as retail sales fell at the fastest level in 16 months. According to the Confederation of British Industry, the percentage of firms surveyed who saw sales volumes rise against those who saw sales fall led to a balance of minus 11 percent, the worst outcome since January 2012.

Sales of clothing, footwear and household durable goods were all lower in May than a year earlier. Online sales were down for the first time since August 2011.

Asia Investors doubting success of Abenomics Japan’s Nikkei took another tumble this week, falling by over 5 percent on Thursday as the Tokyo exchange was gripped by another spree of selling. Japanese politicians insisted there was no need for panic, but the drop highlighted concerns that the country’s new economic stimulus package may not be working. Indeed, the rise in government bond yields in Japan has been a key focus for markets in the past week as higher yields could potentially work against the benefits of a weaker yen for the economy. This is why authorities have announced they would step up their efforts to control yield volatility. The weekly Ministry of Finance data showed that foreign buying of Japanese equities slowed. Indeed, the drop witnessed lately in the Japanese equity markets likely accounted for the drop-off in foreign buying, and the drop in share prices. The JPY remains highly negatively correlated to Japanese equities and as such, the drop in share prices saw the currency strengthen. Another important point this week was the report saying that the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund is considering a change to its portfolio strategy that could allow its investment in domestic stocks to increase, which gave some support to the Japanese stock market IMF cuts China’s growth forecasts The International Monetary Fund lowered its growth forecast for China this week, saying that the country must bring a rapid expansion in credit under control and combat income inequality. Indeed, the IMF cut its growth forecast for China this year to 7.75 percent from 8 percent, citing a weak world economy and exports, adding to concerns that the economy is losing growth momentum.

The IMF also said that inflation in China would likely pick-up to 3 percent by the end of 2013 while the current account surplus is expected to be equivalent to 2.5 percent of GDP this year. Finally, the organization also said that the country’s currency the renminbi is “moderately undervalued” relative to other Asian basket of currencies.

Commodities Gold supported by physical demand In a report this week, the World Gold Council stated that demand for gold would reach a quarterly record in Asia during the second quarter of 2013. Additionally, the doubt over the Fed tapering of its quantitative easing program provided a support to the price of gold lately. Prices of bullion remain around the $1,400; however, investors remain nervous over the latest market behavior and sudden large drops Oil remains positively correlated to US equity markets Even after the OECD and IMF trimmed their growth outlook for the world and China, the American Petroleum Institute reported that the US crude oil stockpiles climbed 3 million barrels for the week ended May 24. Although this should represent a drag on the price of crude, the positive performance of the US equity markets pushes prices to stabilize around the $93.00 by the end of the week.

Kuwait Kuwaiti dinar at 0.28560 The USDKD opened at 0.28560 yesterday morning.

Singapore’s economy slowed down from 1.5 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2012, to 0.2 percent in the first three months of this year.

In spite of the weak performance, the number has been a positive surprise, as most analysts were expecting a contraction due to the waningactivity levels in the manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade sectors. Manufacturing was hit the hardest,with weak demand from both the EU and the US weighing down on the demand for electronics, which make up the bulk of manufacturing. Improvements in the financial, insurance and construction sectors however, helped prop up growth. Even with such a beleaguered growth rate, the central bank has refrained from endorsing monetary stimuli, as inflationary pressures persist. During its policy meeting in April the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) maintained its monetary policy and confirmed that its top priority was to ensure that inflation remained in control.Having said that, the central bank did reduce its inflation outlook for this year from a range of 3.5 percent-4.5 percent to 3 percent-4 percent, on expectations that the growth in both housing and private vehicle costs will ease.The government has imposed higher taxes and new borrowing limits on properties in a bid to curb prices. It also lowered the cost of the Certificates of Entitlement (which gives the buyer of a car the right to own, register and use it), to tame private transport inflation and introduced financing restrictions on motor-vehicle loans, which have prompted car dealers to lower prices in order to support demand. The ease in housing and private transportation costs was particularly evident in the nation’s latest inflation data: prices eased from 4.9 percent year-on-year in February to 3.5 percent in March. However,a further decline is unlikely anytime soon, as the new more stringent foreign labour laws increasecosts of production and translate into higher consumer prices.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of the economic output or of the size of the economy - adjusted for inflation or deflation. It is the sum of the values of all final goods and services produced by that country or region over a given time period. The values depend on the quantities (volume) of the goods produced and their prices. Real GDP is a measure that holds prices constant by using a given year’s value (the base date) for all items and services. Then these values are used to calculate GDP for years prior to the base year and subsequent years. The graph illustrates the expenditure breakdown of GDP, which

consists of private consumption, government expenditure, fixed capital investments, exports and imports. Being a highly trade dependent economy, (exports make up at least 200 percent of the country’s GDP) the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) uses the domestic currency as opposed to its interest rates, as a monetary policy tool to ensure price stabilityby making the currency stronger.

Singapore has yet to take any growth boosting measures as it continues to choose to control

ersearly in 2012, by increasing the levy on businesses that want to hire foreigners and by making it tougher for foreign workers to qualify for an employment visa.This has driven the overall price of labourand production costs higher, most of which is likely to be transferred to the consumer in the form of higher prices.The government needs to heed caution, because the tougher immigration law might hamper further investment plans and increase discontent among businesses which may be forced to relocate. So

prices. This in turn has had negative repercussions on growth, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Weaknesses in this sector have arisen because of a) sluggish global demand; b) limits on the central bank’s ability to lend to the private sector and c) restrictions on immigration. The latter factor is becoming increasingly relevant and is affectinginvestment and expansion plans.

Singapore imports most of its low-skilled labour from overseas because they are less costly than the locals. However, the influx of foreign workers has led to social and economic tensions among the Singaporeans, who have blamed immigrants for job shortages, overcrowding and the rise in property prices. As a result, the government started to restrict the inflow of foreign work-

far, curbing inflation remains the nation’s top priority, but if growth continues to remain weak well into the year, then the MAS may consider easing its monetary policy by limiting currency gains and allowing its currency to depreciate, so as to make its exports more competitive. The government may also be forced to adopt a laxer foreign labour lawif it wants to avoid a recession in 2013. So far, the MAS has maintained its 2013 GDP growth forecast at 1 percent-3 percent on hopes that external demand will recover. Since Singapore is one of the most open nations in the world, the country will not be able to experience a sustained pick-up in growth until the global economy recovers, and we do not expect that to happen until, at least, mid-2014.

NBK and Qatar Airways offer exclusive discounts

TREZZANO SUL NAVIGLIO: A former employee of the Maflow automobile air conditioning company, now occupying the factory renamed Rimaflow, inspects parts of old electronic equipments in Milan. —AFP

Italian workers ‘recycle’ jobs TREZZANO SUL NAVIGLIOP: A group of Italian factory workers who lost their jobs at an auto component maker due to the recession, have taken over their disused factory near Milan and are planning to set up a recycling business as they struggle for dignity. “We were considered rejects in society and we recycled ourselves,” said Gigi Malabarba, an unemployed man who has joined the initiative.

Their unusual project is illegal but tolerated by local authorities and the owner of the site, a company belonging to banking giant UniCredit. As Italy’s longest post-war economic crisis drags on, theirs is a desperate measure for a desperate time in which there are precious few other jobs. The facade of the factory is covered in banners. Inside are dozens of members of “Ri-Maflow”, which registered as a social cooperative in March. The idea took shape during 2012 as the workers struggled and failed to keep their factory open.

A total of 330 workers at the Maflow plant were let go between 2010 and 2012 before it shut down. It has only just begun but the plan is to recycle and repair electronic equipment destined for scrap. A factory hall-turned-workshop already has piles of old computers, scuffed keyboards and tools. There are also plans to host regular organic and ethical goods markets and a large space dedicated to “ancient crafts”, as well as a library.

One corner of the factory houses two African refugees who escaped from former dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya.

They have already set up their own small business-a workshop to repair old bicycles. “There is no work elsewhere so we

are going to invent it ourselves,” said Michele Morini, 43, a former employee and member of Ri-Maflow.

“But we needed a place so we returned to the ashes of Maflow,” he said, adding that project members were hoping for some “beginner’s luck” to recover the “dignity” they lost when their jobs vanished. “We hope we manage to create something that has meaning, that is environmentally useful, something that is relatively easy to launch and does not require the purchase of expensive equipment.”

Ri-Maflow is inspired by worker cooperatives from the 19th century that made up for the absence of a social welfare state and were based on “solidarity, equality and self-management”, the movement said on its website. Members also drew parallels with similar factory occupations in Argentina, where dismissed workers took over their former places of employment after the devastating 2001 financial crisis.

The aim is to employ between 200 and 300 people over the next two or three years. “The outlook is good,” said Pietro Calvi, 46, another participant in the project. He said that the toughening up of European rules on recycling would favour their business as Italy still lags far behind in terms of waste disposal. Morini denied any political affiliation but said he hoped Ri-Maflow would make politicians reflect on “a critical situation, where the usual, conventional, banal answers no longer work. “I never thought I would reach this stage. I never saw myself as a revolutionary,” he said.”Even moderates sometimes take desperate, risky measures they would have never thought of. It’s very cleareither that or they do not eat.” —AFP

KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) and Qatar Airways offer NBK credit cardholders exclusive, instant discounts for travel to all destinations until June 30, 2013. NBK credit card-holders ( Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club) will receive a 10 percent discount for economy class and 15 percent discount for business class when they purchase flights on Qatar Airways official website.

NBK customers who make travel bookings with Qatar Airways will receive these fabulous savings to more than 100 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America. NBK always works with the best partners to bring its customers the most valuable offers. With this tie up, NBK credit cardholders can take advantage of enormous discounts on their travel plans. This exclusive offer once again proves that NBK credit cards are the best way to pay.

NBK Credit Cards are accepted worldwide and are the safest, most convenient and rewarding way to pay. Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar, is one of the world’s leading airlines among an elite group of carriers with a 5-Star ranking for service and excellence. Operating 7 daily flights from Kuwait to Doha, passengers can connect seamlessly through Doha International Airport and onwards to their destination of choice.

Qatar Airways’ was recently awarded for its stringent measures to prevent credit card fraud, making it one of the few airlines in the world to offer such high levels of security for customers and their payment and card information.

Al-Tijari announces winners of Najma draw KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait held the AlNajma Account Daily draw on June 2, 2013. The draw was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry represented by Abdulaziz Ashkanani. The winners of the Najma Daily Draw who get KD 7,000 are: Bader Bureki Mabrouk AlRasheedi, Firoz Ali Bhai, Abbas Fuoad Muhsen Zein, Hind Saeed Hasan Al-Ajmi, and Faisal Abdullah Awadh Al-Harbi The Commercial Bank of Kuwait announces the biggest daily draw in Kuwait with the launch of the new Najma account. Customers of the bank can now enjoy a KD 7,000 daily prize which is the highest in the country and another 4 mega prizes during the year worth KD 100,000 each on different occasions: The National Day, Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al-Adha and on June 19 which is the date of the bank’s establishment.

With a minimum balance of KD 500, customers will be eligible for the daily draw provided that the money is in the account one week prior to the daily draw or 2 months prior to the mega draw. In addition, for each KD 25 a customer can get one chance for winning instead of KD 50.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait takes this opportunity to congratulate all lucky winners and also extends appreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for their effective supervision of the draws which were conducted in an orderly and organized manner.

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

BUSINESS

Honda to participate in FIA Formula One World Championship TOKYO: Honda Motor Co, Ltd announced today its decision to participate in the FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship in the 2015 season under a joint project with McLaren, the UKbased F1 corporation.

Honda will be in charge of developing, manufacturing and supplying the power unit, including the engine and energy recovery system, while McLaren will be responsible for the development and manufacturing of the chassis, as well as the management of the new team, McLaren Honda.

From 2014, the new F1 regulations require the introduction of a 1.6 liter direct injection tur-

bocharged V6 engine with energy recovery systems. The opportunity to further develop these powertrain technologies through the challenge of racing is central to Honda’s decision to participate in F1. Honda has passionately pursued improvements in the efficiency of the internal combustion engine and, in more recent years the development of advanced energy management technologies such as hybrid systems.

Honda’s participation in the Formula One Championship under these new regulations will further encourage technological improvements that Honda has always strived for.

Commenting on this exciting development,

Takanobu Ito, President and CEO of Honda Motor Co, Ltd said “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Jean Todt, the President of FIA and to Bernie Ecclestone, the CEO of Formula One Group who showed great understanding and cooperation to help realize our participation in F1 racing. The corporate slogan of Honda is “The Power of Dreams”, which represents our strong desire to pursue and realize our dreams together with our customers and fans. Together with McLaren, one of the most distinguished F1 constructors, Honda will mark a new beginning in our challenges in F1.”

Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren Group

Limited said “The names of McLaren and Honda are synonymous with success in Formula One, and, for everyone who works for both companies, the weight of our past achievements together lies heavily on our shoulders. But it’s a mark of the ambition and resolve we both share that we want once again to take McLarenHonda to the very pinnacle of Formula One success.

Together we have a great legacy - and we’re utterly committed to maintaining it.”

Jean Todt,President of FIA said “I am very happy to hear about Honda’s important decision to return to Formula One with McLaren from 2015.I am sure that Honda will become a strong contender in the

years to come. “ Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One Group said “It is a great pleasure to see Honda back in Formula One. Their engine technology and passion for motor sports make them a natural Formula One contender.”

In Kuwait, Alghanim Motors is proudly the sole distributor of Honda Automobiles, Honda Power Products and Honda Motorcycles. The introduction of Honda to the Formula One (F1) Championship in 2015 gives further proof of Honda’s prestigious quality and commitment to excellence in the automotive industry. Alghanim Motors strives to bring that same quality to their customers.

Tesla promises to add charging stations DETROIT: Electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. promises to boost the number of fast-charging stations in the US and Canada to make crosscountry travel by electric car possible in the next year. The company said that by the end of next month, it will triple the number of charging stations it runs from the current eight, and the number will go to around 100 in the coming year, putting stations within reach of almost the entire populations of both countries. The pace of construction is about twice as fast as the company had previously announced.

The expanded “supercharger” network will allow owners of Tesla’s $70,000 Model S sedans to travel from Los Angeles to New York, probably by the coming winter, as well as make other long-distance trips. The Model S can travel about 200 miles, or for about three hours, when fully charged. With the network, it can be recharged to 50 percent of its battery capacity in 20 to 30 minutes, allowing drivers to make quick stops

before driving on. The supercharging stations are about 10 times as faster than most public charging stations, Tesla said on its website.

Currently Tesla has eight supercharger stations in California and on the East Coast. It has plans to add four stations in California this summer. Stations also will be added during the summer so drivers can go from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Seattle and Portland; and from Austin, Texas, to Dallas. They also will come online quickly in Illinois and Colorado.

In addition, the company intends to add four stations this summer in the densely populated Eastern Seaboard, where it currently has two.

Elon Musk, who leads the company, said Thursday that the stations will always be free for owners of the large-battery version of the Model S. Owners of the brand’s smaller-battery version will have to pay for the option of using the stations.

Musk said most of Tesla’s customers don’t

know about the supercharger stations, and they won’t have much of an impact on the company’s current sales rate of around 20,000 per year. But they are necessary to appeal to a wider group of more mainstream customers who want to travel between states.

“They want to know that they have that ability to do so, and on a moment’s notice, to go wherever they want,” Musk said. “I think it’s really important for accessing a broader audience.”

Tesla said by fall, it should have charging stations in most metro areas, with coast-to-coast travel available during the winter along Interstate 80. By 2014, the company expects to have charging stations within reach of 80 percent of people in the US and Canada, and 98 percent by 2015, it said in the statement. Tesla said new technology is being tested now that will allow its cars to be fully recharged in about 20 minutes. The technology will be available at stations this summer, the company said. — AP

KSE ends March with indices’ variance BAYAN INVESTMENT MONTHLY KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended the month of March with variance on its indices. The price index ended the month with an increase amounted to 3.99 percent, the weighted index increase by 0.39 percent, and KSX-15 Index decreased by 0.65 percent compared to the closings of February.

Furthermore, last month’s average turnover increased by 54.33 percent, compared to the preceding month, reaching KD 53.40 million, whereas trading volume average was 720.22 million shares, recording increase of 41.96 percent.

The monthly closing of the market indices was mixed for March, due to a volatile performance during most of the daily sessions. The price and weighted indices were able improve for the month, especially the Price Index, which was able to end March by breaking the level 6,700 point high. On the contrary, KSX-15 could not realize gains, as a result to the sale and profit collection operations on some blue chip stocks linked to the same index.

Moreover, the market witnessed such variance in performance due to the small-cap stocks’ dominance on the trading activity, and the control of quick speculative operations on the same stocks, which in turn had a positive impact on the price index, to be the only index that improved during the last three months. On the other hand, some listed blue chip and operational stocks witnessed sale and profit collection operations, caused its prices to drop, and had a negative impact on the weighted index and KSX-15 Index performance in particular.

For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 13.27 percent annual gain com-

pared to its closing in 2012, while the weighted index increased by 3.78 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 2.16 percent increase. By the end of the month, the price index closed at 6,721.52 points, up by 3.99 percent from the month before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 0.39 percent, monthly gain after closing at 433.45 points. Moreover, the KSX15 index closed at 1,030.93 points, decreasing with 0.65 percent.

Sectors’ indices Nine of KSE’s sectors ended last month in the green zone, while the other three recorded declines. Last month’s highest gainer was the real estate sector, achieving 8.60 percent growth rate as its index closed at 1,138.19 points. Whereas, in the second place, the oil and gas sector’s index closed at 1,241.0 points recording 5.46 percent increase.

The healthcare companies sector came in third as its index achieved 4.16 percent growth, ending the week at 1,065.44 points. The Insurance sector was the least growing as its index closed at 975.73 points with a 0.43 percent increase. On the other hand, the technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 4.06 percent to end the week’s activity at 1,009.27 points. The telecommunications sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 3.54 percent, closing at 899.10 points, followed by the consumer services sector, as its index closed at 1,006.88 points at a monthly loss of 0.56 percent.

Sectors’ activity The financial services sector dominated total trade volume during last month with 6.40 billion shares changing hands, represent-

ing 42.31 percent of the total market trading volume. The real estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 35.22 percent of last month’s total trading volume, with a total of 5.33 billion shares.

On the other hand, the financial Services sector’s stocks where the

highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 412.50 million or 36.48 percent of last month’s total market trading value. The real estate sector took the second place as the sectors last month turnover of KD 282.67 million represented 25 percent of the total market trading value.

Nordic nations grapple with ‘austerity lite’ STOCKHOLM: When Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt celebrated his 45th birthday, his finance minister gave him a framed graph showing the tax burden falling to 45 percent of GDP for the first time in decades. It still hangs in his office.

The gift reflected the celebratory mood of a centre-right government boosting economic growth while reducing taxes and cutting unemployment and sickness benefits, shrinking a welfare state that is among the most generous in the world.

Three years later, engulfed in the worst riots in decades, that optimism is questioned. The torching of cars and battles with masked youths from poor immigrant suburbs has exposed another side of Sweden’s welfare reform. Still, given globalisation and the need to be competitive, the fact that people live longer and that state finances need to be kept sound, Sweden and other Nordic states face more reforms, a lite version of austerity forced on many European nations.

“We are far more aware that Sweden is part of a competitive environment,” said Minister for Social Security Ulf Kristersson.

Sweden is eyeing more cuts to pensions and sickness benefits, but it is not alone in the region. Denmark too is cutting benefits.

Finland is under pressure to raise the pension age. Even oil rich Norway has concerns it is becoming uncompetitive. But Sweden faces political headwinds before a 2014 election. Cuts have pushed the Danish government to historic poll lows. In Norway, reforms are on a back burner.

The new Swedish market model For a glimpse of a market-oriented culture that increasingly permeates Sweden’s state, look no further than St Goran’s hospital, Stockholm’s only privately run emergency hospital. From the offices of chief executive Britta Wallgren, it can be difficult to know she is talking about running a hospital. A video compares emergency checkups with Formula 1 pit stops and her conversation is littered with words like “lean” and “flows”. Stockholm council pays St Goran’s, privatised in 1999 and owned by private health provider Capio, on a formula based on the number of patients and treatments.

The contract has been renewed this year. Costs are around 8 percent lower than other Stockholm hospitals. But they lead other hospitals in many indicators, including reducing hospital infections and waiting times. “We believe the drive for efficiency also means a drive for quality,” said Wallgren. She pointed out how simple changes in treatment - making sure teams included specialists as well as nurses - cut costs and reduced waiting times.

She is proud of one reform in particular placing yellow stickers on floors to locate defibrillator saved some 40 hours a week of wasted time searching for them.The Nordics enjoy some of the world’s most generous welfare. Sweden has subsidised, universal child care with up to 480 days of parental leave per child. It spends 12 percent of GDP on family, housing, sickness and labour market policies, compared with an OECD average of under 9 percent.

Denmark is at 14 percent.

Reforms have helped economic growth outstrip most of Europe and accelerated entry of private companies into the public sector. Private firms run a fifth of hospital services and many publicly-funded schools.

Stockholm has ostentatious wealth Michelin star restaurants, top end fashion rare decades ago. But Sweden also has the fastest growing inequality of any OECD nation - so much so that last year one group offered “class war safaris” so Swedes could see how the other half lives.

“The extent of the cuts would surprise many people outside Sweden,” said Ola Pettersson, economist at the LO trade union federation. “We can see the early signs of a backlash.” The market model has also been overshadowed by scandal, including reports workers at homes for the elderly run by one private equity firm were

told to weigh adult diapers and not to change them until they were full in order to keep costs down.

Recently, hundreds of nurse also protested over poor resources for maternity wards. Reinfeldt’s government has been forced by popular anger to close tax loopholes used by private equity companies, some of them active in running health services. Some centre-left opposition parties want to ban profits being made by companies in tax-payer funded sectors.

In immigrant suburbs where May’s riots exploded, benefits cuts have come, but not jobs. At the same time, a growing minority of Swedes complain about the cost of asylum seekers on welfare. Foreign-born unemployed rates, at 16 percent, compare with 6 percent for native Swedes.

“Conditions for receiving welfare are now much tougher, so it’s very hard to get it, and even when you do the payments are meagre,” said Mia Paarni a local opposition politician in the IT hub of Kista, close to May’s riots. Poverty rates have risen in Sweden, being most pronounced among immigrants and single mothers.

In the university town of Uppsala, Charlotte Bjornstrom says she was paid sick leave for 10 years, with a host of ailments, before reforms introduced a two-year limit, forcing many to transfer to unemployment payments and look for a job. “That was torture, especially the first time, because I was so ill then and I didn’t know what it was,” she said.

Welfare scandals Denmark, nearly in recession, has been forced to make changes to its welfare system. Two highly publicised social benefits scandals accelerated the reform. One involved “Poor Carina”, a single mother of two picked for a television programme meant to expose hardship. But that backfired when it turned out she received around $2,700 a month - more than many full-time workers.

Later in the year, a man labelled “Lazy Robert” further fuelled the debate when he told his story of being on welfare since 2001 with no plans to take a lower-paid job. While Denmark enjoys a triple-A credit rating, at least 18 percent of the population is over 65.

But reforms such as cutting unemployment benefits from four years to two years and reducing student grants and early retirement scheme have proved costly in political terms. Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s standing is under 20 percent in polls, a historic low.

“The crisis is not a small detour that can be solved through a fiscal fix or a quick cuts,” she said in parliament on Wednesday.

“We live in a new reality where all tools must be pulled out of the toolbox in our bid to change Denmark.”

In Norway, worries have emerged that oil wealth and generous welfare means many can afford not to work and that competitiveness is suffering from rising wages.

Norwegians have even added a new word to their vocabulary - “to nave”, or to get benefits from NAV, the labour and welfare agency. It was named word of the year for 2012 after it became popular shorthand among youngsters, as in: “I am going to ‘nave’ this year rather than work.”

But while there have been efforts to rein in high sick leave levels, tax rates have remained elevated and the opposition Conservatives, likely to win September elections, see little impetus for major reforms. “I don’t think we’ll make any major changes to our welfare benefits, such as sick leave, as long as the economy is faring well,” said Conservative leader Erna Solberg.

That aspect of faring well is one which is key to future reforms in the Nordic countries. While finances for now are better than elsewhere in Europe, long-term challenges remain to maintain traditions of a strong, protective state, said Stephanie Janet, head of the Denmark and Sweden desk at the OECD economics department. — Reuters

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

BUSINESS

Trade row dims IATA’s airline business mood Airlines seen divided over costs of capping emissions

YANGON: In this photo, Zaw Zaw sits in his office where he meets visitors in Yangon, Myanmar. — AP

How a Myanmar tycoon is profiting from change YANGON: Zaw Zaw, one of Myanmar’s most successful and notorious businessmen, likes to pick his way at odd hours around the hulking skeleton of his new hotel, rising beside Yangon’s main airport road.

The 366-room Novotel holds a story of how one man, who remembers being too poor to afford a soccer ball, built an empire by befriending the military government in what was one of the most oppressive and isolated countries on earth; and how, as Myanmar opens up, he is quickly breaking with the past to embrace a prosperous, cosmopolitan future in which one thing seems certain: He will not lose. “I am friends with everybody,” Zaw Zaw says, a big smile spreading across his youthful face.

The 45-year-old tycoon, who built his fortune capitalizing on Myanmar’s old networks of patronage and power, has demonstrated an agility in reconfiguring his business - and image - to suit a new global audience, and at a speed few have matched. As the country emerges from a half century of military rule, his Max Myanmar Group is on track to more than double revenues, according to data he has not made public before.

His ability to ride the waves of change suggests that the old economic order may not be overturned as Myanmar opens its markets and deepens its embrace of democracy. Just as the former military leaders have taken off their uniforms to refashion themselves as civilian lawmakers and bureaucrats, many of Myanmar’s dozen or so economic giants are rebranding themselves as entrepreneurs and working hard to take the stink out of the word “crony.”

Zaw Zaw, widely regarded as among the cleanest of the bunch, has moved faster - and more publicly - than his peers to take advantage of Myanmar’s reintegration with the global economy. Though he remains on a US blacklist that bans American companies from doing business with friends of the old regime, the Max Myanmar Group is one of the nation’s most successful conglomerates, employing 11,000 people in sectors from hotels and banking to cement and construction.

France’s Accor Group has a deal with him to manage the Novotel in Yangon and an MGallery hotel in Naypyitaw, the capital. Zaw Zaw says he is pursuing a joint venture with a Thai cement company, and trying to get his Ayeyarwady Bank in shape so he can bring in a foreign partner. He also made a bold effort to list his energy subsidiary on the Singapore Stock Exchange, though that was rejected in April over lingering concerns about his past.

Zaw Zaw acknowledges being friendly with the old military regime, arguing that there was no other way to succeed. “Only the government has projects,” he says. “If I don’t do projects with them, who will I do projects with?” His only crime as he sees it? “In this poor country, I have become rich.”

Zaw Zaw was not born to power. The youngest of six children, he grew up in a tworoom wooden house in Yeygi township in Myanmar’s southern delta. His father was a government servant, and his mother sold food and household sundries from their home. In 1988, during his final year at the University of Yangon, he was swept up in student protests against the military government that galvanized the nation. When the government began rounding up student leaders, he hid in the countryside for four months, then went to Singapore with the help of a cousin who found him a job as a sailor. He had $80 in his pocket. It was the beginning of a six-year odyssey abroad.

While Myanmar’s xenophobic government sank deeper into isolation, Zaw Zaw saw the world, earning $200 a month as a deckhand.

He went to Australia, Hong Kong, Iran, Taiwan,

Japan and Africa. He learned English. He saw the development in other countries and grew ashamed of the poverty and repression of his own.

He saved $8,000 and headed to Bangkok, where he blew most of it at nightclubs with friends. In 1991, he bought a ticket to Japan with his last $650. In Tokyo, he worked three jobs, as a cook, a dishwasher and a waiter. He learned Japanese. Determined to go into business, he began flipping through the yellow pages and cold-calling used car dealers. One was named Max Trading Co. Zaw Zaw became friendly with the owner, bought two Nissan sedans and sold them to his friends.

Thus was born the Max Myanmar Group.

Zaw Zaw exported used cars to Myanmar and other developing countries. Taking advantage of a Burmese law that allowed each citizen living overseas to import one car, he snapped up other people’s import permits on the black market for around $500 each.

He also met his future wife, a woman from Myanmar then working in Japan too. “She was buying the car from me,” he says. “At the end, she bought me.” The couple moved back to Myanmar in 1995 to marry. Zaw Zaw kept importing cars, then added more profitable sales of heavy construction equipment. From there, he went into construction, first as a subcontractor and then winning government contracts himself.

His businesses thrived on connections he developed with the military rulers. He founded a construction company in 2005 that laid the roads for Naypyitaw. Five months later, he started a hotel company that built hotels in the same city in exchange for coveted vehicle import licenses. He developed a jade mine in 2007 in a joint venture with the government.

In 2010, the ruling junta oversaw a rush of privatizations before handing power to a nominally civilian government. Max Myanmar acquired 12 gas stations, part of the land for the coming Novotel hotel and a banking license, putting Zaw Zaw in good position to capitalize on the ensuing opening of Myanmar’s economy. Today, the Max Myanmar headquarters in downtown Yangon are outfitted with sleek burnished wood. Zaw Zaw welcomes visitors in royal red chairs rimmed with ornate silver. He is surrounded by a coterie of assistants, young men with firm handshakes, bright smiles and perfect English, some of whom left successful careers abroad to join Zaw Zaw. He says he wants to become a global, or at least regional, player. “In Myanmar, we don’t have any single brand to compete in the world, or even the region,” he says. That quest is forcing him to break many of the old rules.

He has courted the political opposition and Western diplomats, both of which were anathema to the former military government. And in a system that long prized secrecy, he agreed to open his books, first to 48 inspectors from the Singapore Stock Exchange, and then to The Associated Press.

The revenues of the privately-held Max Myanmar Group, as reported to Myanmar’s tax authorities, show the direction Zaw Zaw is steering his empire, as well as the extent to which he has benefited from his friends in the former military government. Revenues grew to $240 million in the year ended March 31, 2012, the latest full-year data available, up from $180 million a year earlier. They then jumped to an estimated $293 million in the six months through Sept. 30, thanks to a surge in construction income.

The banking license Zaw Zaw got three years ago has given rise to the fastest growing part of Zaw Zaw’s empire. He and three other tycoons were summoned to a meeting with the government in June 2010 and given the licenses, he says. — AP

Myanmar leader vows to curb poverty YANGON: Myanmar President Thein Sein pledged yesterday to tackle chronic poverty in the long-isolated nation, whose economy was left in tatters by decades of harsh junta rule. “We have a good foundation for economic development in our country,” the former general said in a speech in Yangon, citing ample water resources, an efficient labour force, an advantageous climate and abundant natural resources.

“But our country is still one of the poorest LDCs (least developed countries)... We must all strive to get out of this situation,” he said. “Poverty alleviation should be prioritised rather than the wealth of the country at this moment.” Myanmar was once seen as one of Southeast Asia’s brightest economic prospects, but decades of corruption and economic mismanagement under the former junta caused it to fall behind its regional neighbours.

About one quarter of Myanmar’s population lives below the national poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Thein Sein’s government yesterday launched a plan to offer micro-finance loans together worth several million dollars to households and workers as part of poverty alleviation efforts. As he was speaking, about 200 people gathered nearby protesting against land grabs, witnesses said. “Welcome to the Democracy President-from the people in Mi Chaung Kan whose lands were unlawfully seized,” read one banner. Demonstrations over alleged land grabs have taken place across the country since 2011, when the repressive junta was replaced by a quasi-civilian government. Analysts say protesters have been emboldened by reforms since the end of military rule, during which dissent was routinely crushed. —AFP

CAPE TOWN: Global airlines are gathering for an industry summit boosted by weaker fuel prices, but facing a tough debate over how to share the cost of tackling emissions involved in a trade row. The International Air Transport Association, which represents 240 carriers, is holding its annual meeting against a backdrop of higher traffic and cheaper energy that could lift airline profits and unperpin hopes of economic recovery.

Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general, said ahead of the June 2-4 talks that airlines felt “modest signs of improvement” as traffic grows sharply in emerging markets, offsetting Europe’s debt crisis and a hesitant pick-up in North America. North Sea Brent crude prices have fallen from a peak of $118 per barrel earlier this year to $100, raising the prospect that IATA will hike its influential profit forecast as airline chiefs meet in Cape Town. Fuel accounts for a third of airline costs.

IATA currently predicts an industry profit of

$10.6 billion in 2013 and Tyler said Monday’s update would set a “cautiously optimistic” tone for the meeting of 700 aviation executives. An 18-month slump in cargo showed signs of stabilizing in April. In North America, airlines have managed to keep capacity in check, keeping planes full and ticket prices up.

“The economy has been OK but not robust.

Usually (airline) prices ebb and flow with oil and now we see they have some ability to maintain their pricing power,” said Basili Alukos, an airlines analyst with Morningstar, based in Chicago.

Overshadowing the discussions will be lingering fears of a trade war as governments remain deadlocked over fuel emissions.

The European Union has pledged to re-introduce a controversial emissions trading scheme opposed by a group of other countries unless everyone can agree on a global system. But little progress has been made in a United Nations effort to craft an agreement to lower emissions

from international air travel, raising doubts that a September target date can be met.

Failure to agree has given the airline industry itself a slim window of opportunity to forge a common position and seize the initiative before the UN’s aviation body meets in September. But airlines are seen as split over who should pay the most if the world does manage to come up with a market-based scheme for taxing emissions deemed harmful to the environment. Airlines in the Gulf and Asia are growing at a much faster pace than those in mature European and North American markets. One of the industry’s most sensitive topics is whether the whole industry should underwrite its goal of carbon-neutral growth or whether those growing the most should also pay the most. IATA has said it will seek the “fairest possible agreement” at its annual summit and is urging airlines to compromise or see their fate controlled by a jumble of uncoordinated policies. — Reuters

SAMENA Council’s leadership dinner defines elements of future success KUWAIT: The South Asia - Middle East - North Africa region’s SAMENA Telecommunications Council’s Chairmen & CEO’s Leadership Dinner, hosted by Telecom Italia in Venice recently, brought together leaders of the telecommunications and content industries to explore prospects for cooperation and collaboration in order to exploit emerging business opportunities created by the convergence of media to drive further growth and investment in the future.

Preceded by an executive workshop, which was hosted by Telecom Italia in partnership with the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association, and focused on generating a highlevel debate on the future of the telecommunications and broadcasting market in the context of the ongoing global digital revolution, the SAMENA Council’s Leadership Dinner delved into addressing the needs of various stakeholders in the converged telecoms and content landscape; assessing emerging regulatory dimensions and business models;

driving innovation at all fronts; and assuring the success of the core business. High-impact areas of the discussion included digitization, sustainability of the telecoms and the media industries, profitable business models that should guarantee future growth, and business transformation.

With the focus on securing the core business, especially when alternative players have also entered the telecoms and content business via the Internet, the discussion reflected the need to create and manage relations between telecom operators and broadcasters. This is especially true since, in the words of Franco Bernabe, Executive Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia, “Users want more flexibility, better choice and ease of use. An increasing number of users watch television while browsing the Internet or using other applications on tablets, PCs or smartphones. At home, the second screen - in particular tablets - is becoming the actual companion of the TV set, while users are shifting towards multi-screen offerings.” In

such a situation, when video traffic on telecom networks has multiplied manifold, it is also observed that traditional broadcasters face similar challenges to those faced by telecommunications operators.”

With new regulator y frame works, which should allow fair and justifiable advantage to all the players in the digital content valuechain, innovative means to secure partnerships and combine synergies, and standardization of technologies, such as content compression and protection protocols, both telecoms operators and broadcasters should be able to create new trends to enhance their business’ growth and help sustain future investments for the greater benefit of end-consumers.

On this occasion, Bocar BA, Chief Executive Officer, SAMENA Council, witnessing the success of the Leadership Dinner, said, “We have truly been privileged by the presence of the leaders of the global telecoms and broadcasting industries in our 4th Chairmen & CEO’s Dinner. I believe, our executive participants have shared their

insights and concerns in a very personal and frank manner-and such an approach is key to addressing issues that really need to be voiced across industries and across stakeholders. Telecoms operators and broadcasting companies need both policy-level support as well as each other’s support to convert the existing challenges into beneficial opportunities.”

The SAMENA Council, in accordance with its organizational mandate, continues to emphasize on the need to transform business models across industries, especially as the adoption of digital services, applications, and tools gains greater adoption across the region.

In such a situation, the SAMENA Council believes that there is a requirement to accelerate the adoption of digital services, while protecting the interests of all stakeholders and investment groups, so that investments are sustained and next-generation networks are put to their best use for providing best-quality integrated telecommunications and content services.

The IRS, its glory days and its checkered past WASHINGTON: For a time, the Internal Revenue Service inspired awe and admiration in Americans, not just trepidation and lame jokes about death and taxes. Everyone loved the revenue agents when they put away Al Capone, the Chicago underworld’s master of brutality and bribes, in a coup so spectacular it scared other gangsters straight. In the year after, federal coffers swelled as delinquent taxpayers stepped forward to make good on their debts. Criminals came out of the woodwork to pay taxes on their ill-gotten gains. Authorities in what was then the Intelligence Unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue nailed the slippery Public Enemy No. 1 when no one else could, scooped up New York City racketeers by the dozen and stood tall in the popular imagination as incorruptible, fearless stewards of the treasury and the law.

Fine, but that was the 1930s. What have they done for us lately? Or to us?

The essential mission hasn’t changed.

The IRS still collects the money that goes back out to build roads, help look after people in their old age, fight menaces from Nazism to terrorism, and operate the vast levers of government. It still locks up a few thousand delinquents a year, among them drug kingpins who wouldn’t be caught any other way.

But no one loves the IRS anymore, not for ages. It’s our culture’s kingsized pain that makes you do hard math, issues nonsensical directions, takes your money and gives it to politicians to waste even as they borrow unspeakable sums from China to waste even more. On top of that overdrawn caricature, the agency now is saddled with its episode of tea party tumult, exposing IRS behavior that is memorably bumbling at best and criminal at worst.

“Taxes grow without rain.” Proverb.

More than 97,000 people work for the IRS, more than double the workforce

of that other deeply inquisitive and all-seeing institution, Google. That includes 13,000 revenue agents and more than 1,500 lawyers, about as many attorneys as practice statewide in North Dakota. It’s bigger than some Cabinet departments - Transportation for one. Employment has dropped by about 10,000 since 2010.

The perception of the “taxman”

political foe or going easy on a political friend, both tactics of the past.

The commissioner serves five-year terms, ensuring that leadership is out of synch with four-year election cycles. The commissioner and chief lawyer are the only political appointees and must be confirmed by the Senate. But the commissioner reports to the treasury secretary

WASHINGTON: This file photo shows an Iraq War demonstrator gets arrested outside the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Washington during a protest on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq.—AP probably should give way to tax woman because more than six in 10 employees are female, a substantially higher share than in both the civil service and US labor force at large.

The IRS is something of a hybrid in its relationship with political masters, not the “independent agency” claimed by President Barack Obama when he dissociated himself from its discriminatory audits of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status during the 2012 campaign.

It is partially independent, which is not at all like being a bit pregnant. On one hand, the president and his people at the White House are barred by law from pressing the IRS to start or stop a tax audit. This is to prevent the president from putting the heat on a

through the department’s deputy and can be fired at will by the president, which is not the case in more handsoff federal bodies. Indeed, the acting chief, Steven Miller, was ousted within days of the report coming to light showing the misbegotten actions of lower level employees; he was one of three senior officials to be sidelined in the continuing investigation.

“This is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher.”

Nobel Prize physicist Albert Einstein on preparing his taxes. The income tax was unloved from its inception.

Pushing for it in 1861 to help pay for the Civil War, Rep. Thaddeus Stevens declared, “It is unpleasant to send the tax gatherer to the door of the farmers, the mechanics, and the capital-

ists... but these things must come or this government must soon be buried in its grave.” President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a 3 percent tax on income over $800, a sum few people made. A progressive income tax followed a year later in a law establishing an enforcement arm, the office of commissioner of internal revenue in the Treasury Department. The wealthiest Americans paid 5 percent.

Before the end of the 1800s, the income tax was repealed, revived and struck down as unconstitutional, only to return in 1913 with the enactment of a constitutional amendment. The tax form of 100 years ago - three pages long, with another page of instructions - loosely resembles the short form of today, except for its provisions for deducting uninsured shipwrecks and its guidance to a still-agricultural nation about claiming income from the wool and hides of slaughtered animals.

The basic tax rate was 1 percent on personal income over $3,000, and there was a 6 percent surtax on astronomical incomes over $500,000. Rates would not remain so benign for long.

In 1918, the top rate soared to 77 percent to help pay for World War I. During World War II, compliance leaped forward when Congress introduced payroll withholding and quarterly tax payments. “If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street. If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat. If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat. If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.” The Beatles, “Taxman.” Back to biblical times, revenue collection was often contracted out to independent “tax farmers” so as to insulate authorities from the howls of an aggrieved population, Atlanta accountant Jay Starkman says in his history of taxes, “ The Sex of a Hippopotamus,” so named because it’s about as hard to divine whether a hippo is male or female as it is to comprehend the tax code.—AP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

BUSINESS

Burgan Bank wins ‘Best Employee Development in GCC’ award KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced today that it has won the coveted ‘Best Employee Development in GCC’ award from World Finance, one of the world’s leading financial publications. Burgan Bank’s success was announced at the World Finance’s “Annual GCC Investment and Development Awards” and was published in its May issue.

This latest award for Burgan Bank is recognition of its employee development program, which is an extensive integrated

and rigorous approach that consists of inclass training to define specific career goals, e-learning courses that address individual competencies, combined with on-job training that creates opportunities to apply theory in practice across the bank’s departments together. Halah El Sherbini, Burgan Bank’s Chief Human Resources & Development Officer- GM said: “We are proud to receive this prestigious award which recognizes our continued efforts in training and developing

world class bankers. Burgan Bank’s human resources & development system directly contributes to the bank’s sustained competitive advantage through facilitating and nurturing staff competencies that are specific to the bank’s strategic objectives and operations.”

“Our development program has been designed specifically to enhance and develop the skills set of our employees. This allows us to invest in our human capital - is our most important

asset. Our approach is based on helping our people achive their full potential through learning processes designed to increase capability and align skills to organizational needs,” added El Sherbini.

Excellence is one of the Burgan Bank’s key values, and the bank continually strives to maintain the highest standards in the industry. As a truly respected regional banking franchise, the bank excels in providing an employee oriented, high performance culture that

emphasizes on quality, productivity, goal attainment as well as recruitment and development of a superior work force aiming at building the best team in the industry.

Spaniards crave political change MADRID: Spaniards tired of spending cuts and allegations of high-level corruption want new parties to shake up the current political scene, according to an opinion poll published yesterday. In Spain, where 27 percent of the workforce is jobless owing to a painful recession, power has switched between the centre-right People’s Party (PP) and the socialist PSOE since 1982. The country was ruled by dictator Francisco Franco for decades until his death in 1975.

Spaniards have become disenchanted with their politicians, especially since the ruling PP was accused of graft. They rank corruption as the country’s second-biggest problem, behind unemployment. Seventynine percent consider the current parties to all be the same and 70 percent want new ones to be formed so they have more options when they vote, the Metroscopia poll found.

Public disillusion has helped smaller parties come to the fore such as the Union for Progress and Democracy (UPyD), led by former Socialist Rosa Diez. Previous polls have indicated if an election were held

now, the party could increase its seats in the 350-seat parliament to 30 from five.

Social movements, such as the “Indignados” (Indignants) who first occupied Madrid’s Sol square two years ago and are credited with sparking similar “Occupy” protests across the world, have gained popular support as traditional politics has failed to create jobs and ease the country’s economic crisis.

The Metroscopia poll published in newspaper El Pais showed 67 percent of Spaniards thought these groups should find a political platform and compete with traditional parties in the next election, to be held in 2015. Other movements that have become increasingly popular are a group that helps people forcibly evicted from their homes when they fail to pay their mortgages and activists who campaign against cuts in education and healthcare. The survey of 600 people carried out on May 29 and 30 showed that 19 percent of people believed the majority of parties were interested in public opinion, down from 50 percent in 2007. — Reuters

Refined design, brand philosophy drive Lexus sales up by 57% in Q1 KUWAIT: Lexus announced a significant growth in sales in the Gulf region with a 57 percent increase in Q1 2013 as compared to last year. The spurt in sales with 9,398 units sold during the first quarter, can be attributed to Lexus’ refined design and brand philosophy which has enabled it to consolidate its position as a vehicle of choice in the luxury segment.

Nobuyuki Negishi, Chief Representative of Middle East & North Africa Representative Office, Toyota Motor Corporation said, “The Lexus brand has been at the forefront of the luxury segment in the region, pushing the boundaries and setting new benchmarks in customer experience with every new vehicle. The first quarter of 2013 has been phenomenal, and the tremendous growth

VIVA announces winner of Lamborghini Gallardo KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing telecom operator, announced Abdullah Nabil Al-Waheib the lucky winner of its premium postpaid car draw, which was held at the Avenues Mall last Thursday 30 May 2013, under the supervision of a Ministry of Commerce representative. Al-Waheib drove away in a brand new 2013 Lamborghini Gallardo, one of the world’s most desirable sports-cars.

The draw was held in the midst of an exciting ambiance, where audiences were entertained by the famous MC’s Salman Najadi and Hessa Al-Loghani, two of the most outstanding presenters in Kuwait.

VIVA CEOSalman Al-Badran said: “On

behalf of VIVA, I would like to congratulate the lucky winner Abdullah Nabil Al-Waheib and thank each and every customer who made the effort to enter the draw. VIVA will continue to demonstrate its commitment towards its customers by delivering unique products and services and designing exciting offers that will allow VIVA to further engage with them”. The draw, which was announced earlier this year in March by VIVA, is one of a series of activities and campaigns planned for this year. Worthy to note, VIVA’s ‘Win a Car Every Week’ campaign is still available to prepaid customers, presenting winners with either a brand new car or 10,000 KD cash prize every week.

Burgan Bank announces names of winners of Yawmi account KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced the names of the five lucky winners of its Yawmi account draw, each taking home a prize of KD 5,000. The lucky winners for the daily draws took home a cash-prize of KD 5,000 each, and they are: Joaquina Picardo Francis Xavier Picardo, Batool Basem Subhi Ghabrees, Bhagyavatai Kuppanna, AbdulKareem Abdul-Reda Murad Almoemen, and Ali Yaqoub Yousef Dashti.

With its new and enhanced features, the Yawmi Account has become more convenient, easier, and faster for customers to benefit from. Now, customers will be eligible to enter the draw after 48 hours only from opening the account. Customers are also

required to deposit KD 100 or equivalent only to enter the daily draw, and the coupon value to enter the draw stands at KD 10.

The newly designed Yawmi account has been launched to provide a highly innovative offering along with a higher frequency and incentive of winning for everyone.

Today, the Yawmi account is a well understood product, where its popularity can be seen from the number of increasing account holders. Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maximize their chances to becoming a daily winner. The more customers deposit, the higher the chances they receive of winning the draw.

HERAT: An Afghan barber cuts the hair of a customer yesterday. Over a third of Afghans are living in abject poverty, as those in power are more concerned about addressing their vested interests rather than the basic needs of the population, a UN report said. —AFP

in our sales is a true reflection of the strong and rapidly growing appeal that the brand has among customers. Our customers appreciate our new design philosophy and value the high standards that Lexus is known for in terms of refinement, comfort, driving performance, technical excellence and above all, quality.”

The Lexus SUV product range did exceptionally well in Q1 showcasing customer demand for the premimum offroad vehicles. The Lexus LX saw a 37 percent growth with sales of 4152 units, while sales of the RX range rose by 51 percent with 1116 units sold during the first quarter. In the sedan category, the new Lexus LS made its mark on luxury car buyers in the region, recording an impressive 180 percent jump in sales with 645

units. The Lexus GS also had a substantial increase with 545 units sold to register a 100 percent growth in sales. The Lexus ES had a 121 percent increase in sales selling 2434 units reflecting a strong performance across the board for Lexus in the region. In terms of new launches, Lexus introduced the 2013 LS in the GCC market offering customers a sophisticated sedan with a bold blend of refinement and evolution. The LS incorporates powerful new styling featuring the Lexus spindle grille design, with enhanced driving dynamics and industry-leading technology. Lexus also launched the 2013 LX SUV to offer the ultimate off-roader in its class with a unique combination of luxurious interior features, legendary allterrain capability and new-age styling.

Markaz wins Euromoney’s ‘Best Investment Bank’ Award KUWAIT: Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz ” was awarded the Euromoney’s Best Investment Bank in Kuwait prize. Euromoney’s 2013 Award for Excellence recognizes financial institutions based on judgments of their team of editors, journalists and researchers, analyzed in conjunction with their own market knowledge and research before the final decision is made by the editorial committee.

Commenting on this occasion, Ali H Khalil, Chief Operating Officer at Markaz, said: “We are proud to receive such prestigious award, which reaffirms the quality of our investment banking services stemming from the dedication of our team of professionals to deliver suitable and value added financial advices and solutions to our corporate clients. The prize is particularly in recognition of Markaz’s success in assisting its clients to manage their financial requirements through the difficult economic cycle since the 2008 crisis. The Euromoney Award for Excellence is a distinguished achievement and we are pleased that Euromoney’s

editorial committee recognized Markaz ’s capabilities.” Khalil explained that “during the past few years, Markaz has expanded its investment banking capability to include distressed debt, and corporate debt restructuring, and has been active in assisting both creditors and borrowers in developing and executing consensual plans towards the settlement of debt.

Also, it has been successful in assisting its clients in refinancing existing debt capital market issues, or, issuing new ones through creative structure notwithstanding the difficult capital market conditions at the time of the issue.” He added: “the key to our success is that we realize that we operate in highly cyclical sector, and accordingly, we manage our business in anticipation of frequent and severe changes in our business environment. Such mindset requires that we develop the skillset and the experience that allows us to assist our clients in expanding during prosperous times and in protecting their positions during unfavorable market conditions.

KUWAIT: Ali H Khalil, Chief Operating Officer (center), Sohail Ladha, Assistant Vice President (left), Abdullatif Al-Nusif, Assistant Vice President (right) at Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz”.

Issuers warm to cross-border sukuk MANAMA: Growth in cross-border Islamic bond issues points to greater convergence in an industry that has been divided by tensions between the Middle East and Asia over sukuk rules, opening the door to a much wider pool of investors. The Islamic finance industry is centred in the Middle East and southeast Asia, but for the most part those regions have developed independently of each other.

The past year, however, has seen a number of cross-regional sukuk, mostly by Gulf issuers tapping Malaysia’s highly liquid market, the world’s biggest for sukuk issuance. Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund has also launched a Chinese yuan sukuk. “Diversification of funding sources is extremely important, that is a big driver for crossborder sukuk,” said Ahmed Abbas, chief executive of Liquidity Management Centre, a Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank. National Bank of Abu Dhabi tapped the Malaysian market with a 15-year, 500 million ringgit ($164.4 million) sukuk in November, its third issue in that currency. Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat issued a fiveyear, 300 million ringgit sukuk in September. Sukuk are investment certificates which follow religious guidelines, including a ban on interest and pure monetary speculation, and pay a profit rate based on an underlying asset rather than an interest rate as in the case of conventional bonds. However, their structures are not standardised, and some Gulf-based sharia scholars have objected to certain

structures used in Asia, a region which has proven to be more flexible in its transactions.”Malaysia and Singapore are far more open and forgiving on sharia aspects,” Abbas said. In the latest cross-border sukuk, Al Bayan Group, a private holding company, became the first issuer from conservative Saudi Arabia to tap the Malaysian market, with a small 200 million ringgit ($65.7 million) private placement last month.

Turkey attractive The development of sharia-compliant hedging tools is making it easier for issuers to invest in foreign currency assets, said Ijlal Ahmed Alvi, chief executive of Bahrain-based International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM), an industry body which develops specifications for Islamic finance contracts. Last year, IIFM launched a standard contract template for Islamic profit rate swaps, with others in the pipeline including cross-currency swaps and FX forwards, Alvi said.

Sukuk issuance in the Middle East outside of the Gulf is also becoming more attractive, notably Turkey, which was recently elevated to investment grade credit status and is bidding to develop an Islamic finance industry. “Turkey is a market to watch - they are developing their regulations to allow issuers to use a variety of sharia structures,” said Alex Roussos, counsel at law firm Norton Rose in Dubai. “Turkish issuers are highly attractive cred-

its for international investors.” Cross-border issuance is benefiting from clarity on the legal documentation required for such transactions. “In terms of global offerings, sukuk will continue to be predominantly English law-governed because of the certainty and predictability that this legal system offers,” Roussos said.

“North African countries I believe will make their presence felt during 2013/2014 as they are nearing completion of the process of creating the legal infrastructure that will enable their sovereigns to tap the markets.” Egypt this month announced a $12 billion bond programme that will include sukuk issuance in early 2014, which would be Irishlisted and governed under English law.

Yuan issues Malaysian issuers have started testing other currencies, in particular the Chinese yuan, although they have yet to tap the Gulf market. “Cross-border issuance has been one-way traffic, mostly to tap Malaysian liquidity, but conceptually there is nothing wrong with the other way around,” said Sabeen Saleem, chief executive of the Bahrain-based Islamic International Rating Agency. Malaysian telecom firm Axiata issued a two-year, 1 billion yuan ($163.22 million) sukuk in September, following on the heels of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional , which issued a 500 million yuan sukuk in 2011. —Reuters

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

technology

Inside the secret Symantec building that keeps websites safe

CALIFORNIA: Christina Holterhoff and Ralph Claar III, work with a hardware security module in Symantec’s highly secure data center in Mountain View, California. —MCT photos MOUNTAIN VIEW: Hidden within a nondescript building here is a highly secret Symantec facility protected by the sort of measures found in nuclear missile silos.

Dubbed “the vault” by some employees, the bunkerlike operation bristles with guards, sensors, iris- and fingerprint-reading locks, and, deep within its labyrinthine confines, a room containing the most privileged data, to which only five people have the combination. All that is to ensure no one can sneak in and steal the information Symantec maintains to certify that thousands of widely used websites are legitimate, and that whatever is sent to and from the sites is encrypted against cyberattacks.

Although company officials say hackers frequently try to break into their computer network, they say it has never been breached. And they are so proud of its physical protections, they recently let the San Jose Mercury News tour the hushhush complex, on condition its exact location not be revealed. While Symantec and some other prominent “certificate authorities” take security seriously, experts say, others in the business are far less careful.

Citing several recent incidents, these experts contend it’s often easy for hackers to compromise weak points in the system and steal credit card numbers, bank

account filings, emails or other personal records.

“Right now the whole certificateauthority model is completely broken, but at the same time we have no valid alternative,” said Jeremiah Grossman, founder of Santa Clara, Calif.-based WhiteHat Security.

“It’s going to take a disruption - something really bad will have to happen - and then we’ll fix it.” According to research firm Netcraft, the Internet has more than 670 million websites, the vast majority with addresses beginning with HTTP - for hypertext transfer protocol - which experts say often can be easily hacked. But about 2 million sites for banks, retailers and others boast HTTPS addresses.

That “S” means a certificate authority, like Symantec, has verified their operators’ identity and that the information flowing in and out of the sites is encrypted. The sites bear a padlock icon in their addresses, some of which are green to indicate they’ve undergone additional verification.

But some of these Web destinations aren’t as secure as they seem to be. By breaking into certificate authorities and issuing fake certificates, hackers can decrypt and steal information sent to and from these sites.

In 2011, when prominent Dutch certificate authority DigiNotar was hacked, an investigation determined about 300,000

CALIFORNIA: Paul Meijer, senior director of operations at Symantec’s identity and authentication division, stands in the company’s highly secure data center in Mountain View, California.

Iranian Gmail accounts were accessed. The attack - widely believed to have been launched by the Iranian government to monitor dissidents - also created havoc in the Netherlands. Its citizens were warned to avoid online transactions and to correspond with the government only via paper, because Dutch authorities feared their own websites might not be safe.

As the world’s biggest certificate authority, Symantec strives to avoid being similarly victimized. While it most fears cyberattacks, it also emphasizes the physical security of its location. Surveillance cameras, motion sensors and reinforced walls protect the Mountain View center. Yet many experts say security procedures vary widely at other certificate authorities whose numbers worldwide are estimated at anywhere from 65 to well over 100 - and that many of them aren’t nearly as cautious. No single body polices them.

And the standards that industry groups have proposed haven’t been universally adopted, which has contributed to confusion about how certificate authorities operate. “It is an extremely complicated, obscure bureaucracy that only a handful of experts on the planet understand,” said Peter Eckersley of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. One troubling mystery is how often certificate authorities get hacked,

which is particularly difficult to determine with operations based overseas, said Adam Langley, a senior staff software engineer at Google.

Consequently, “there may be lots of small targeted attacks that we don’t know about,” he said, adding that “the general system is rather fragile.” Studies suggest many sites certified as safe may not be. The Electronic Frontier Foundation last year found that thousands of certificates “used to authenticate HTTPS sites are effectively useless, owing to weak algorithms used to generate the random numbers that are needed for encryption.” As a result, it concluded, “tens of thousands of sites across the Web are vulnerable to eavesdroppers.”

The Trustworthy Internet Movement, a nonprofit group that seeks to bolster Internet security, reported in April that only 22 percent of the 172,598 HTTPS sites it checked were secure. And Netcraft recently warned that even when fraudulent HTTPS certificates are revoked, people can continue using those sites “for weeks or months without knowing anything is amiss,” because browsers often are slow to warn them of the problem.

Recommendations for improving the system range from making more information about certifications public to requiring every site to have HTTPS encryption. But

during a recent federal workshop on the issue, researchers with the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, Calif concluded, “There is no real solution in sight.” Others hope they are wrong. “All this stuff is really critical in ensuring that ecommerce continues to be viable, so we all feel safe shopping on the Internet,” said Paul Meijer, senior director of Symantec’s secret center. “That just benefits everybody.”

CERTIFYING SAFE SITES The vast majority of the more-than 670 million Internet sites have addresses that begin with HTTP - for hypertext transfer protocol - which experts say often can be easily hacked. About 2 million sites operated by banks, retailers and others boast HTTPS addresses. The “S” means a certificate authority has verified the identity of the sites’ operators and that information flowing to and from the sites is encrypted. A padlock icon appears in their addresses, some of which are green to indicate they’ve undergone additional verification. But experts say security precautions vary among the scores of certificate authorities around the world, making it possible for hackers to sometimes decrypt and steal information sent to and from HTTPS sites. —MCT

Facebook revamps policy on controversial content Groups fume over messages against women

SAN FRANCISCO: File photo shows the Apple logo at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts in San Francisco. Apple goes on the defensive today with the start of a trial in which US officials allege the company was the “ringmaster” of a conspiracy to raise prices of electronic books. —AFP

Apple fights ebook conspiracy in court NEW YORK: Apple goes on the defensive today with the start of a trial in which US officials allege the company was the “ringmaster” of a conspiracy to raise prices of electronic books. In the trial set to open in US District Court in New York, the technology icon is going solo in its fight against the US Justice Department after five large publishers named in the lawsuit settled the charges. US antitrust watchdogs allege Apple orchestrated a collusive shakeup of the ebook business in early 2010 that resulted in higher prices.

Apple is expected to argue its actions shook up a sector that had been dominated by Amazon, and that it boosted competition and improved conditions for consumers. Early signals suggest the three-week, non-jury trial could be a tough ride for Apple, which has been struggling of late amid a dearth of new products and recent allegations that it avoided billions in taxes. Five publishers originally named as defendants reached settlements in which they agreed to terminate their ebook agreements with Apple. The largest settlement was with Penguin for $75 million, while a settlement with Hachette, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster created a $69 million fund for refunds to consumers. Macmillan settled for $26 million. Apple chief executive Tim Cook dismissed the idea of a settlement because it would call for the company to sign an admission of wrongdoing. “We didn’t do anything wrong there,” Cook told a recent California conference. “We’re going to fight.”

For Apple, the case is not as much about money but maintaining what had been a stellar reputation and deciding its own business practices. A loss could also leave Apple vulnerable to private lawsuits. “The Apple brand has been built magically over many years,” said Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a technology market intelligence company, who added that a defeat “would substantially harm the company’s reputation.”

The government’s case centers on a period when Amazon dominated the ebook business, selling most bestseller titles for $9.99. Leaders of the major pub-

lishing houses held “CEOs dinners” in “private rooms at upscale restaurants” at which they discussed the threat from Amazon. Into this environment stepped Apple, which was readying the launch of its iPad. Rather than following the Amazon “wholesale” pricing model in which the retailer sets the price, Apple favored the so-called “agency model” where the publishers set the price and the seller-in this case Applereceived a 30 percent commission. The result was an increase in price to $12.99 or $14.99 for most books.

Apple throughout the negotiations informed the publishers of the status of its dealings with other publishers. Apple was the “ringmaster” of the “conspiracy,” the complaint alleges. The government is expected to use emails and comments from the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, which indicated that as part of a deal to force a new pricing model, publishers should “hold back your books from Amazon.”

“The sharply higher prices consumers have paid... are the direct, quantifiable result of defendants’ conspiracy,” the government said. Judge Denise Cote, who is presiding, ordered Tim Cook to testify in a deposition, overruling protests from Apple. It was not clear if Cook will appear in the trial. Apple’s rebuttal dismisses the “conspiracy” charge and said its negotiations with the publishers as “difficult and contentious.”

Apple acknowledged that it did inform publishers about its talks with other publishers, but characterized this as a “standard negotiation tactic that incentivized each publisher to come on board with Apple.”

Apple described itself as a “new entrant” to a sector that was dominated by Amazon, which was selling products below cost and endangering the health of the book publishing industry. The company contends that its entry led to lower ebook prices and grew the market of e-books from 400,000 when it launched the i-Pad to more than 1.7 million today. “Ruling against Apple would create a dangerous precedent and risk deterring new entry into concentrated markets and punishing innovation,” Apple said in its filing. “The antitrust laws should promote competition, not condemn it.” —AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: Uproar over graphic images of violence against women posted on Facebook has prompted the social network to change its policies on controversial material, including making creators of “cruel or insensitive content” more accountable. Facebook Inc unveiled a new policy changes in reaction to an ad boycott campaign launched this week by Women, Action & the Media to protest graphic images and messages against women posted on the social network. Some of the posts glorified or defended rape and domestic violence, and included photos of battered women with bloody noses and black eyes.

“Honestly, if you wouldn’t advertise on a magazine with that kind of content, why would you advertise on Facebook?” Jaclyn Friedman, executive director of Women, Action & the Media, told MarketWatch. Most of the images have been removed from Facebook, a company spokesperson told MarketWatch. Friedman said the campaign grew out of frustration with what her organization saw as Facebook’s inadequate response to the complaints about the posts. “Enough is enough,” she said, recalling the reaction. “They’ve been stonewalling on this long enough.”

Marne Levine, Facebook vice president for global public policy, acknowledged that the group’s campaign drew the social network’s attention. “In recent days, it has become clear that our systems to

identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate,” Levine said in a blog post. “In some cases, content is not being removed as quickly as we want. In other cases, content that should be removed has not been or has been evaluated using outdated criteria. ... We need to do better - and we will.”

Levine said Facebook will review policies for evaluating materials deemed to be forms of hate speech, and will update the training given to teams in charge of monitoring content on the site. The social-media giant also promised to “increase the accountability of the creators of content that does not qualify as actionable hate speech, but is cruel or insensitive by insisting that the authors stand behind the content they create.” “If an individual decides to publicly share cruel and insensitive content, users can hold the author accountable and directly object to the content,” Levine wrote. “These are complicated challenges and raise complex issues,” Levine said. “Our recent experience reminds us that we can’t answer them alone.” Friedman of the Women, Action & the Media welcomed the company’s response. “We’re really eager to work with them,” she said. “I do think they’re really operating in good faith. I think they really get the issue now.”

Levine took note of the balance Facebook must strive to reach related to issues of “free expression

and community respect.” “We prohibit content deemed to be directly harmful, but allow content that is offensive or controversial,” Levine wrote. “We define harmful content as anything organizing real world violence, theft, or property destruction, or that directly inflicts emotional distress on a specific private individual.”

Friedman acknowledged that there will always be “grey areas,” but added that “there are fewer grey areas than people think,” especially in connection with the images and posts her organization brought to light in the campaign. “There’s lots of stuff that aren’t in the grey area that has not been addressed

by Facebook,” she added. “We’re looking to shift the line where that grey area starts.” Parry Aftab, executive director of Wired Safety, an Internet safety and education group which is part of Facebook’s safety advisory board, said the social network has been focused on issues related to hate speech and cyberbullying. But with more than a billion users and growing, Facebook faces an increasingly daunting challenging of keeping track of what’s showing up on the site and reacting quickly enough, even with the technology and staff devoted to the task.

“They’ve got to monitor images. They’ve got to monitor links. They’ve got to monitor video,” she told MarketWatch. “It’s about time that the team at Facebook got the level of priority they deserve.” But she added: “It’s a gargantuan task.” —MCT

Microsoft to simplify and fix Windows 8.1 SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft is trying to fix what it got wrong with its radical makeover of Windows. It’s making the operating system easier to navigate and enabling users to set up the software so it starts in a more familiar format designed for personal computers.

The revisions to Windows 8 will be released later this year. The free update, called Windows 8.1, represents Microsoft’s concessions to long-time customers taken aback by the dramatic changes to an operating system that had become a staple in households and offices around the world during the past 20 years. Research group IDC has blamed Windows 8 for accelerating a decline in PC sales.

With the release of Windows 8 seven months ago, Microsoft introduced a startup screen displaying applications in a mosaic of interactive tiles instead of static icons. The shift agitated many users who wanted the option to launch the operating system in a mode that resembled the old setup. That choice will be provided in Windows 8.1. However, Microsoft isn’t bringing back the start menu on the lower left corner of the screen.

Windows has offered the button for accessing all programs and settings on every previous version of the operating

system since 1995. Microsoft believes the startup screen replaces the need for a button, but its omission has ranked among the biggest gripes about Windows 8.

Microsoft is hoping to quiet the critics by resurrecting an omnipresent Windows logo anchored in the lower left corner.

Users will also be able to ensure their favorite applications, including Word and Excel, appear in a horizontal tool bar next to the Windows logo. Accessing apps outside the toolbar will still require using the tiles or calling them up in a more comprehensive search engine included in the Windows 8.1 updates.

Microsoft Corp. announced its plans for Windows 8.1 in early May, but it didn’t offer details about what it will include until Thursday. The Redmond, Wash., company will provide a more extensive tour of Windows 8.1 and several new applications built into the upgrade at a conference for programmers in San Francisco, scheduled to begin June 26.

Antoine Leblond, a Microsoft executive who helps oversee the operating system’s program management, said the ability to start PCs in the more familiar format is meant to ease the “cognitive dissonance” caused by Windows 8.

Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi pre-

dicted the desktop option will spur more sales of Windows 8 computers. “Some people were getting fixated” on the desktop issue, Milanesi said. “This may cause more people who felt uncomfortable with Windows 8 to take a second look.”

Microsoft made the dramatic overhaul to Windows in an attempt to expand the operating system’s franchise beyond personal computers that rely on keyboards and mice to smartphones and tablet computers controlled by a touch or swipe of the finger. But Windows 8 has been widely panned as a disappointment, even though Microsoft says it has licensed more than 100 million copies so far.

Microsoft views Windows 8.1 as more than just a fix-it job. From its perspective, the tuneup underscores Microsoft’s evolution into a more nimble company capable of moving quickly to respond to customer feedback while also rolling out more innovations for a myriad of Windows devices - smartphones, tablets or PCs. “Windows 8 has been out long enough for us to take stock of where things are going and what we need to do to move it forward,” Leblond said in an interview with The Associated Press.

It’s crucial that Microsoft sets things

right with Windows 8.1 because the outlook for the PC market keeps getting gloomier. IDC now expects PC shipments to fall by nearly 8 percent this year, worse than its previous forecast of a 1 percent dip. IDC also anticipates tablets will outsell laptop computers for the first time this year. The growing popularity of tablets is now being driven largely by less expensive devices with 7- and 8-inch display screens. Microsoft built Windows 8 to primarily to run on tablets with 10-inch to 12-inch screens, an oversight that Leblond said the company is addressing by ensuring Windows 8.1 works well on smaller devices.

If Windows 8.1 doesn’t stimulate more sales of PCs and tablets running on the operating system, it could escalate the pressure on Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Although the company’s revenue and earnings have steadily risen since Ballmer became CEO 13 years ago, Microsoft’s stock performance has lagged other technology companies. Investors, though, appear to be more optimistic about Ballmer’s strategy. Microsoft’s stock has risen by 26 percent since Windows 8’s release last October, outpacing the 17 percent gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index during the same period.—AP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

Roche’s Avastin extends life in advanced cervical cancer

R

MADRID: ONCE (National Organization for Spanish Blind People)’s ticket sellers, relatives and friends wearing yellow hats and t-shirts attend a concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of the ONCE in Madrid yesterday.—AFP

Exotic animal owners in Ohio appeal curbs COLUMBUS, Ohio: Some owners of exotic animals say a new Ohio law is onerous and infringes on their constitutional rights, and they’ve asked a federal appeals court to strike it down.

The private owners argue in a brief filed Friday that the law violates the First and Fifth Amendments, by limiting their freedom of association and effectively taking their property by requiring them to implant microchips in their animals at their own expense before being registered with the state. They argue the law includes impossible hurdles that leave owners who want to operate for-profit businesses only one option: joining a zoological group that private owners are “loathe to associate with,” a lawyer for the owners wrote in the brief. Attorney Robert Owens called Ohio permitting requirements “a sham” imposing compliance costs so exorbitantly high they exceed the value of the animals involved and threatening to financially wipe out those who seek permits.

“As a result, the Act provides a textbook Hobson’s choice. There is no actual choice, only an illusory one,” Owens wrote. “Unless they join (one of two national zoological associations), Appellants will have to dispose of their property and close their businesses.”

The appeal comes after a federal judge in Columbus sided with the state last year in upholding the law. Ohio strengthened its regulation of exotic animal ownership after a Zanesville man released dozens of his animals in 2011 from his eastern Ohio farm before committing suicide. Authorities killed most of the animals, including black bears, Bengal

tigers and African lions, fearing for the public’s safety.

The new law took effect in September, although some provisions have yet to kick in.

Those include a permit process that goes into place in October. Under that process, owners who want to keep their animals must obtain new state-issued permits by Jan. 1, 2014.

They must pass background checks, pay fees, obtain liability insurance or surety bonds and show inspectors they can properly contain the animals and care for them. The law exempts sanctuaries, research institutions and facilities accredited by the two national zoo groups.

Owens says in the brief filed with the 6th US District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati that the only way for his clients to qualify for an exemption under the law is for them to join either the Association of Zoos and Aquariums or the Zoological Association of America groups he says are at odds with his clients.

“The AZA and ZAA advocate against private ownership in the form of aggressive political lobbying and contributions of time and money to political candidates who support their political agenda,” Owens wrote.

In upholding the law last year, US District Court Judge George Smith said the court recognizes some businesses may be negatively affected by it and some owners may not be able to keep their beloved animals, but the plaintiffs failed to prove it violates their constitutional rights. Smith said the case came down to the public interest and protecting the public from the potential dangers of exotic animals that get loose. —AP

Another major use for the drug

oche Holding AG’s drug Avastin helped prolong the lives of women with advanced cervical cancer when added to chemotherapy in a late-stage clinical trial, likely paving the way to another major use for the multibillion-dollar medicine.

This marked the first study to demonstrate that a drug which blocks blood vessel formation in the tumor can prolong the lives of women with gynecologic cancers, researchers said.

In the study of 452 patients with cervical cancer that had spread or returned, those who received Avastin on top of chemotherapy on average lived for 17 months. That compared with a median overall survival of 13.3 months for those who received only chemotherapy. The result was considered to be statistically significant. “Improvement in overall survival is a huge deal in this disease,” Dr Krishnansu Sujata Tewari, the study’s lead investigator, said in an interview.

The current standard treatment for cervical cancer that has recurred or spread offers little hope, and patients tend to live for 12 months or less.

“We finally have a drug that helps women live longer,” said Tewari, who presented data from the study yesterday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago.

Avastin, which had sales approaching $6 billion in 2012, is approved in the United States to treat cancers of the colon, lungs and kidneys, and - pending additional confirmatory data - has conditional approval for a type of brain cancer.

In some overseas markets, it is also approved for ovarian and breast cancer. A conditional US breast cancer approval was pulled after it failed to prolong survival in clinical trials.

An approval for treating advanced cervical cancer would open another large market for the medicine in patients for whom chemotherapy has been largely ineffective. About 4,000 women in the United States and 250,000 worldwide die each year from the disease.

The National Cancer Institute-sponsored study tested two chemotherapy regimens against the Avastin combination - cisplatin plus paclitaxel and topotecan plus paclitaxel - to assess if topotecan performed any better than commonly used cisplatin. Researchers found no significant differences in survival between the two chemotherapy regimens.

Avastin with either chemo agent also met secondary goals of the trial by improving progression-free survival (PFS), or the time before

the disease began to worsen, to 8.2 months versus 5.9 months for chemotherapy. Tumor shrinkage rates were higher in patients who received Avastin, known chemically as bevacizumab - 48 percent versus 36 percent for chemotherapy.

Researchers encountered no new or unexpected side effects from Avastin use in cervical cancer,

while those that were observed did not significantly diminish patient quality of life.

“Not only did we not find any new side effects, but the overall side effects that we did see were all under 10 percent, which is considered to be an acceptable tradeoff when getting a survival gain,” Tewari said.— Reuters

Avastin fails to prolong survival in brain cancer

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he widely used Roche Holding AG cancer drug Avastin failed to prolong survival when added to chemo-radiation therapy for glioblastoma - a fast-growing type of brain tumor - according to data presented yesterday.

Those who received Avastin in the latestage study of 637 previously untreated patients also experienced more side effects, such as low platelet counts, blood clots and elevated blood pressure. Researchers said the toxicity was not severe enough to preclude use of Avastin, or bevacizumab, had it helped patients live longer. The data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago could jeopardize Avastin’s accelerated, or conditional, U.S. approval.

Glioblastoma is the most common as well as most aggressive form of primary brain cancer, affecting about 100,000 Americans each year. Avastin currently has conditional U.S. approval for use against glioblastoma that has recurred after initial treatment, but some oncologists have been using it off-label as a first-line treatment.

“Unless we can identify a group of patients that clearly benefits from early use of bevacizumab, it appears that it should not be used in the first-line setting,” Dr. Mark Gilbert, the study’s lead investigator from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said in a statement.

Avastin “remains an important part of our armory against glioblastoma, but in most situations it should be reserved as a salvage regimen.”

In the study led by Gilbert and sponsored by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients following surgery received either the Merck & Co

brain cancer drug Temodar plus radiation or the chemo and radiation therapy plus Avastin.

The median overall sur vival was 16.1 months for the control group versus 15.7 months for the Avastin group. Those who received Avastin on average went longer before their tumor started to grow - known as progression-free survival, or PFS - but the difference of 10.7 months versus 7.3 months was not deemed to be statistically significant, researchers said.

Researchers also found that patients who received Avastin suffered more symptoms and other measures of diminished quality of life, compared with the control group.

In a separate study of 921 patients sponsored by Roche that was required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a condition of the accelerated approval, Avastin also failed to prolong survival. In that study, Avastin plus chemotherapy and radiation led to median survival of 16.8 months, compared with 16.7 months for those who did not get Avastin.

In data from the study that was previously reported, the Avastin group did go longer before the tumor began to grow again - 10.6 months versus 6.2 months. However, it remains to be seen whether the FDA will keep the glioblastoma approval in place based on progression free survival but no actual survival benefit. The FDA previously withdrew a conditional approval for Avastin in breast cancer after it failed to improve overall survival.

Molecular profiles of tumor samples and imaging scans are being examined to determine if there is any group of patients that could still benefit from Avastin use in the firstline setting, researchers said. — Reuters

Vinegar cancer test saves lives, India study finds

Republican vs Republican on covering uninsured WASHINGTON: It’s Republican versus Republican in the latest round of political battles over health care. Conservative Republican legislators in major states are trying to block efforts by more pragmatic governors of their own party to accept health insurance for more low-income residents under President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Unlike their congressional counterparts, who’ve misfired in repeated attempts to torpedo the law, state Republicans may well sink the expansion of Medicaid in populous states such as Florida and Michigan. That would mean leaving billions of dollars in federal matching funds on the table and hundreds of thousands of the poor uninsured. Expansion opponents say it’s an issue that goes to their core beliefs.

“It’s an ideological principle piece to us on the conservative side,” said state Rep David Gowan, majority leader in the Arizona House of Representatives. “We don’t believe in the expansion of Medicaid itself - it’s within the process of mandating health care. We don’t believe it’s the government’s duty to do that.

It should be open for people to go get their health care.”

Nine Republican governors supported or accepted the Medicaid expansion, a major component of the health care law taking effect Jan 1. It’s designed to provide coverage to about 20 million uninsured people if all states accept. Washington would pick up the full cost for the first three years and 90 percent over the long haul. Those helped would mainly be low-income adults with no children at home, people working jobs that pay little and don’t come with health insurance. For

uninsured adults below the poverty line, expanded Medicaid is the only way to get coverage under the new law. But middle-class people will be eligible for subsidized private insurance. Overall, 23 states plus the District of Columbia, are planning to expand their Medicaid programs. About a dozen are undecided. The nine GOP governors supporting expansion are Jan Brewer in Arizona, Rick Scott in Florida, Terry Branstad in Iowa, Rick Snyder in Michigan, Brian Sandoval in Nevada, Chris Christie in New Jersey, Susana Martinez in New Mexico, Jack Dalrymple in North Dakota and John Kasich in Ohio.

Initially, some observers saw a shift toward pragmatism among Republicans and predicted the governors would get their way. Now experts are not so sure.

Four of the GOP governors have run into real battles. Expansion prospects are flickering in Florida and Michigan. In Ohio, Kasich’s legendary deal-making abilities are being tested. In Arizona, Brewer is trying to stare down Republicans in the state House, and the coming week may determine who prevails.

“In the past, that much federal money has brought reluctant parties to the table,” said economist Gail Wilensky, a Republican health policy expert who sees flaws in Obama’s law but says covering the uninsured is worthwhile. “It is now looking more likely that a number of states will sit out 2014.”

Legislators can dig in more easily than governors, said Alan Weil, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy. “There is a lot of pragmatism involved in the Medicaid decision,” Weil explained. —AP

A mahout tends to nine month old female Sumatran elephant ‘Sarah’ (front) and her mother ‘Suci’ (back) at the Conservation Response Unit area in Aceh Jaya district, Aceh province located on Indonesia’s Sumatra island. Listed as critically endangered, there are fewer than 3,000 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.— AFP

MUMBAI: Usha Devi (right), who was suffering from cervical cancer, talks with health workers from Tata Memorial Hospital in a slum in Mumbai, India. A simple vinegar test slashed cervical cancer death rates by one-third in a remarkable study of 150,000 women in the slums of India, where the disease is the top cancer killer of women.— AP MUMBAI: A simple vinegar test slashed cervical cancer death rates by one-third in a remarkable study of 150,000 women in the slums of India, where the disease is the top cancer killer of women. Doctors reported the results yesterday at a cancer conference in Chicago. Experts called the outcome “amazing” and said this quick, cheap test could save tens of thousands of lives each year in developing countries by spotting early signs of cancer, allowing treatment before it’s too late.

Usha Devi, one of the women in the study, says it saved her life. “Many women refused to get screened. Some of them died of cancer later,” Devi said. “Now I feel everyone should get tested.

I got my life back because of these tests.” Pap smears and tests for HPV, a virus that causes most cervical cancers, have slashed cases and deaths in the United States. But poor countries can’t afford those screening tools. This study tried a test that costs very little and can be done by local people with just two weeks of training and no fancy lab equipment. They swab the cervix with diluted vinegar, which can make abnormal cells briefly change color.

This low-tech visual exam cut the cervical cancer death rate by 31 percent, the study found. It could prevent 22,000 deaths in India and 72,600 worldwide each year, researchers estimate.

“That’s amazing. That’s remarkable. It’s a very exciting result,” said Dr Ted Trimble of the National Cancer Institute in the US, the main sponsor of the study. The story of research participant Usha Devi is not an unusual one. Despite having given birth to four children, she had never had a gynecological exam. She had been bleeding heavily for several years, hoping patience and prayers would fix things.

“Everyone said it would go away, and every time I thought about going to the doctor there was either no money or something else would come up,” she said, sitting in a tiny room that serves as bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room for her entire family.

One day she found a card from health workers trying to convince women to join the study. Devi

MUMBAI: A local health worker (second from left) speaks about cervical cancer to a group of women from a slum in Mumbai, India. — AP

is in her late 40s and like many poor Indians doesn’t know her date of birth. She learned she had advanced cervical cancer. The study paid for surgery to remove her uterus and cervix.

The research effort was led by Dr Surendra Shastri of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.

India has nearly one-third of the world’s cases of cervical cancer - more than 140,000 each year.

“It’s just not possible to provide Pap smear screening in developing countries. We don’t have that kind of money” or the staff or equipment, so a simpler method had to be found, Shastri said.

Starting in 1998, researchers enrolled 75,360 women to be screened every two years with the vinegar test. Another 76,178 women were chosen for a control, or comparison group that just got cancer education at the start of the study and vouchers for a free Pap test - if they could get to the hospital to have one. Women in either group found to have cancer were offered free treatment at the hospital. Still, this quick and free cancer screening was a hard sell in a deeply conservative country where women are subservient and need permission from husbands, fathers or others for even routine decisions. Social workers were sent into the slums to win people over.

“We went to every single house in the neighborhood assigned to us introducing ourselves and asking them to come to our health talks.

They used to come out of curiosity, listen to the talk but when we asked them to get screened they would totally refuse,” said one social worker, Vaishnavi Bhagat. “The women were both scared and shy.”

One woman who did agree to testing jumped up from the table when she was examined with a speculum. “She started screaming that we had stolen her kidney,” Bhagat said. Another health worker was beaten by people in the neighborhood when women realized they would have to disrobe to be screened. “There was a sense of shame about taking their clothes off. A lot of them had their babies at home and had never been to a doctor,” said one health worker, Urmila Hadkar. “Sometimes just the idea of getting tested for cancer scared them. They would start cry-

ing even before being tested.”

But screening worked. The quality of screening by health workers was comparable to that of an expert gynecologist, researchers reported.

The study was planned for 16 years, but results at 12 years showed lives were saved with the screening. So independent monitors advised offering it to the women in the comparison group. An ethics controversy developed during the study. The U.S. Office for Human Research Protections faulted researchers for not adequately informing participants in the comparison group about Pap tests for screening. A letter from the agency in March indicated officials seemed to accept many of the remedies study leaders had implemented.

Others defended the study. “We looked at the ethics very carefully” and felt them to be sound, and visited the project in India, said Trimble of the National Cancer Institute.

Dr Sandra Swain, a cancer specialist at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, also defended the research. She is president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the research results were presented at that group’s meeting in Chicago yesterday.

“There really was no wrongdoing there,” she said. “They have no screening anyway,” so there is no standard of care now. Officials in India already are making plans to expand the vinegar testing to a wider population. Many poor countries can’t afford mammograms for breast cancer screening either. The India study also has been testing breast exams by health workers as an alternative.

Preliminary results suggest breast cancers are being found at an earlier stage, but it’s too soon to know if that will save lives because not enough women have died yet to compare the groups, said Trimble of the National Cancer Institute. More progress against cervical cancer may come from last month’s announcement that two companies will drastically lower prices on HPV vaccines for poor countries. Pilot projects will begin in Asia and Africa; the campaign aims to vaccinate more than 30 million girls in more than 40 countries by 2020. —AP

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

Berlin company counts on the autistic BERLIN: When German software giant SAP said last month it plans to employ hundreds of autistic people as IT experts, the news was welcomed especially at a small Berlin computer consulting firm. The pioneering company, Auticon, already employs 17 people who live with autism, the disorder characterized by difficulties with social interactions and exceptional abilities in specific fields.

BERLIN: Melanie Altrock (left), 27-year autistic programmer employed at the company Auticon sits at her workplace next to her “ job coach “ Elke Seng, who assists the employees in their relationships at work and with clients on May 30 in Berlin. — AFP

“Many people say that if a company like SAP said it makes sense... it’s very good for us,” said its chief Dirk Mueller-Remus. “That means it’s something serious, solid.” SAP, which makes business software, said in May that after pilot projects in India and Ireland, it plans to employ hundreds of people with autism as software testers and programmers. Its goal is that by 2020, people with autism will make up one percent of its worldwide workforce of 65,000.

Mueller-Remus created his far smaller company in November 2011 with the idea of“investing in the strengths” of these potential employees. His son was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a variant of autism, as a teenager, and Mueller-Remus has long known that many people with autism excel in fields like programming or quality control.

“This is my talent,” one of the employees, 27-yearold Melanie Altrock, stated matter of factly, sitting at her screen in a white-walled, modern top-floor office in western Berlin. “Other people are interested in languages or math, for me it’s computers. I don’t just search for errors, I see them.”

Auticon now has 25 staff and offices in Berlin, Munich and Duesseldorf, with plans for another in Hamburg. It looks to break even “by the end of the year”, said Mueller-Remus. “We wanted a normal consulting company, without subsidies, without donations, without funding from a foundation,” he said, adding that the aim was to “combine social commitment and business”. “Today, after a little over a year, we

have good customers like Vodafone, it’s looking good,” said Mueller-Remus.

But he also emphasised that working with autistic people can be “a very complex issue”. “We can make many mistakes because people with Asperger are very demanding people,” he said. “People with autism are very concrete, unequivocal,” added Elke Seng, a “job coach” at Auticon who assists the employees in their relationships at work and with clients. “There is no innuendo, there is only one or zero. It’s rather nice,” she smiled. Friedrich Nolte, board member of the Federal Association for the Development of People with Autism, said “only five to 10 percent of people affected by autism find a place on the regular job market”.

Mueller-Remus said that “their CVs often have brief episodes of work interspersed with long interruptions”.

Often people with autism “have no situational awareness, may seem arrogant, have no interest in small talk, and are not interested in people because people are not logical,” he said.

All of this can give rise to misunderstandings with sometimes serious consequences, he said.

In this context, the SAP initiative was widely applauded at the small company. “That more people with autism can access a job is simply fantastic,” said Seng, who confessed she finds her work “fascinating”.

An autism specialist, psychiatrist Kai Vogeley of Cologne University Hospital, told a German medical journal that people with autism who work can “develop confidence in themselves”.

He cautioned however that “certain conditions must be met for this to succeed”.

“I hope that SAP knows how difficult it is,” said Mueller-Remus. “If things are done well, you can really achieve great results.” Altrock, the autistic programmer, agreed. “I have a full-time job, I take pleasure in it, I earn my own money and I have my own apartment,” she said. “I’m glad it’s like that.” — AFP

BERLIN: Dirk Mueller-Remus, head of Auticon, a company that employs autistic people, speaks during an interview in Berlin. —AFP

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

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hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! Let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

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ACK hosts KISR director to speak on future of sustainable energy in Kuwait

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he Australian College of Kuwait’s (ACK) School of Engineering hosted Dr Osamah Al-Sayegh, Director of Science and Technology from the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), to give a presentation titled: “Toward Sustainable Energy Systems in Kuwait” on May 8, 2013. The guest speaker presented to a group of 2nd year students as part of their Environmental Engineering Module, which is part of ACK’s Engineering curriculum aimed at shedding light on current environmental issues faced globally and locally and the challenges that humans will be confronting. The module aims at presenting topics to students pertaining to their major field of study through encouraging discussion, independent thinking, and solution-based debates. “The module follows ACK’s Project Based Learning (PBL) model of education coupled with other traditional and nontraditional learning tools; one of which is direct exposure to industry and research professionals through events such as this one”, explained Eng. Tony Geara, Civil Engineering Instructor who delivers this environmental unit.

Throughout the presentation Dr AlSayegh covered some critical and current topics relating to environmental impact of energy systems and potential sustainable alternatives in the near future.

“Kuwait has invested large sums of money, research efforts, and manpower into

this field through R&D and data collection since the 1970’s; and those efforts are paying off especially after a revitalized directive and support from His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah”, explained Dr Al-Sayegh in his presentation. He went on to explain that “the effects of this work will be essential for generations to come ... and it is through key education institutions such as ACK that engineering students like the ones sitting in on this presentation will be armed with the tools necessary to spearhead these efforts and changes in the future.”

The presentation was attended by over 50 civil engineering students who were very interactive and inquisitive about current and future research being conducted

by KISR in this domain particularly relating to Kuwait’s future. Dr. Osamah invited the students to come and visit KISR’s headquarters in Kuwait and had a few one-on-one conversations with some of the interested students. Concluding the event, Dr Ayad Salheya - Head of School of Engineering at ACK - said: “It’s through events such as this that a very healthy collaboration effort can be bridged between Kuwaiti research institutions such as KISR and key engineering educational institutions such as ACK providing our students with the best professional and educational exposure possible”.

DPCS holds ‘Grand Welcome Meet’

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ushdi Hassan (Entertainment City) received many congratulations and best wishes from friends and family on the graduation of his daughter Haneen from New Arab Academy School.

IMAX

IMAX film program Monday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Flight of Butterflies 3D 10:30am, 8:30pm Tornado Alley 3D11:30am, 5:30pm, 7:30pm To The Arctic 3D 12:30pm, 9:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 6:30pm Tuesday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Tornado Alley 3D10:30am, 6:30pm, 8:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 11:30am, 9:30pm To The Arctic 3D 12:30pm, 7:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 5:30pm Wednesday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups To The Arctic 3D 10:30am Tornado Alley 3D11:30am, 6:30pm, 9:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 12:30pm, 7:30pm Journey to Mecca 5:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 8:30pm Thursday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Flight of Butterflies 3D 10:30am, 5:30pm, 8:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 11:30am Tornado Alley 3D 12:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm To The Arctic 3D 6:30pm Friday: Fires of Kuwait 2:30pm Tornado Alley 3D3:30pm, 5:30pm, 8:30pm To The Arctic 3D 4:30pm, 7:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 6:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 9:30pm Saturday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Flight of Butterflies 3D 10:30am, 1:30pm, 8:30pm Tornado Alley 3D11:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm To The Arctic 3D 12:30pm, 6:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 3:30pm Journey to Mecca 4:30pm Notes: All films are in Arabic. For English, headsets are available upon request.

“Fires of Kuwait” is in English. Arabic headsets are available upon request.

Film schedule is subject to changes without notice.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

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he Delhi People Cultural Society, or DPCS, organized its very first event on Friday, May 31, 2013. The “Grand Welcome Meet” - the inaugural function of the DPCS was just like its name, grand!

Held at the grand Messilah 1 ballroom of the newly opened Jumeirah Hotel in Messilah, the event was a grand success, with the attendance of more than three hundred guests, who came in eager anticipation of what DPCS was going to bring for them.

The Delhi People Cultural Society (DPCS), the first of its kind in Kuwait, has been formed recently with a mission to provide a variety of arts, cultural, educational and social events for Indian residents in Kuwait - events and activities that will showcase the flashy and flamboyant culture of India, especially of North India, and at the same time, preserve and promote the existing Indian cultural heritage.

DPCS believes that arts and culture is for everyone, and that life is enriched through diverse cultural and educational experiences. As per the statement of the Chairman of DPCS, Bharat Nanda, DPCS encourages everyone to participate and enjoy this creative process, while at the same time the society wishes to cultivate and develop the talents of the local community in the field of art, culture and education.

The Chief Guest for the “Grand Welcome Meet” was Vidhu P Nair - Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Kuwait.

He was given an august welcome by small girls dressed in beautiful traditional attires who greeted him with rose petals and rose water. He was also gifted the flower bouquet to welcome him to the very first event of DPCS. After the lighting of the lamp by the honorable chief guest, the Ganesh Vandana was performed traditional attire.

After the well choreographed and gracefully performed traditional dance, welcome speeches were made by the DPCS Chairman and Vice-Chairman, where the DPCS vision and mission were introduced, as well as the nine executive committee

members, resembling famous nine gems of Delhi Darbar, were called on stage and introduced, one by one, in a witty and poetic manner, highlighting their individual cultural backgrounds. The nine executive committee members of DPCS are : Bharat Nanda, Vijay Dhillon, Dipen Sen, Vikas Arora, Rishabh Nath Jain, Rakesh Joshi, Atul Kumar Singh, Sujata Sharma, and Shireen Passi Chopra. Similarly, Rajesh Gupta, who is looking after the entire I.T of DPCS was introduced.

Sujata Sharma and Vikas Arora, who were comparing the event, did a great job enlightening the crowd with some interesting facts about Delhi, while humoring them with amusing anecdotes and shers (phrases). The audience was asked if they knew what Delhi’s oldest name was Indraprastha around 400BC before it got its various names like Dilli, Old Delhi and now New Delhi.

The honorable chief guest, Nair was then invited on stage to make a speech. In his address Nair congratulated the DPCS members for having formed the first of its kind cultural society from North India.He also mentioned that the DPCS is the first that covers the entire Northern part of India. About the capital of India - Delhi in particular, Nair fondly said that he feels his visits to India remain incomplete if he does-

n’t visit Delhi.

After the chief guest’s speech, spot prizes were given on questions about Delhi - certain interesting facts about Delhi and its youthful culture, as well as other questions about India, which changed the mood to fun and excitement. People participated with great enthusiasm to answer and win the prizes with many people raising their hands and clamoring to answer and win the prize.

The first round of spot questions was followed by a five minute cultural dance performance called Radha-Krishna - the traditional dance performed by Lord Krishna and his muse Radha. Small girls dressed in beautiful traditional costumes danced gracefully, giving an indication about the immense talent youngsters have these days!

More spot questions followed, and more prizes were won. The event’s final dance performance was a Rajasthani folk dance, performed by two talented young girls who received a huge applause from the audience while they danced gracefully and in perfect coordination to a popular Rajasthani folk song.

After this entertaining dance, all the young participants who had dazzled the audience with their scintillating performance were called on stage and given gifts

and appreciation certificates of participation by the honorable chief guest.

The grand finale was the three rounds of raffle draw which gave away great prizes to the lucky members and their families. The General Secretary of DPCS gave the vote of thanks and invited the guests for High Tea. The grand welcome meet was concluded with high tea, where the DPCS members and their families interacted with each other over tea and snacks. The feedback from the attendees was very positive and the general mood was that of excitement, with people congratulating the DPCS founding members on the success of their first event, and looking forward to witnessing more entertaining events from DPCS in the future. With an excellent word of mouth for DPCS, many people have called in and expressed their willingness to become members of the society.

The DPCS promises quality cultural and educational events every year. So hop on this magical journey filled with artistic and cultural experiences that will be music for the soul and soul to the senses. The DPCS motto - ab Dilli dur nahi (now Delhi is not far) symbolizes the realization of success! It is the same aphorism the first freedom fighters of India coined when they waged a war against the British colonial rule in the year 1857.

Kuwait Marriott Hotels organize blood donation drive

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uwait Marriott Hotels, in collaboration with the Central Blood Bank, recently organized a blood donation drive which took place at the JW Marriott Hotel Kuwait City and Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Kuwait City.

Specially equipped medical clinics were set up by the Central Blood Bank to allow XX Marriott associates to donate blood while also giving them the opportunity to undergo some basic health checks including blood pressure as well. The event reflects the organizations’ ongoing commitment towards supporting every aspect of the local community and environment, while fulfilling its global “Spirit to Serve” initiative. Setting up the in-house clinic made it easy for donors to donate blood, which was also evident from the support received during the campaign.

Essa Ghadban, Cluster Director of Loss Prevention and JW Marriott Director of

Government Relations, organized the drive with the coordination of the Kuwait Central Blood Bank. George Aoun, General Manager of Kuwait Marriott Hotels emphasized on the importance of this humanitarian cause and how it is part of the ongoing corporate social responsibility of the Hotel.

“Through the regular blood drives, we aim to spread awareness in the local community on the importance of serving as a good example that upholds the value of the community as a whole. We strongly encourage all healthy citizens and residents in Kuwait to donate to this vital cause whenever they can, as a mission to provide care to individuals in need, and save lives,” said Aoun.

Marriott’s “Spirit to Serve” initiative is captured in uplifting human interest stories and important environmental issues across the world. Through drives like inviting its staff to donate blood, Marriott strives to be

a responsible member of the local community. It continues to become an important role in people’s lives, and help them over-

come adversity, embody a passion for service and achieve personal excellence.

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

IWG holds their end of season meeting

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department.

All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm. nnnnnnn

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esterday’s monthly meeting of the International Women’s Group - a multi-national group of women from more than 50 countries, was a feast for the eyes. A feerie of beautiful colours worn by the group of women dressed in traditional costumes from different countries of the world was the highlight of the meeting at Boubyan Hall, Radisson Blu Hotel.

Wife of the Armenian ambassador to Kuwait Anna Nalbandyan, who is also the President of the International Women’s Group (IWG) opened the gettogether yesterday which is the women’s last meeting for this year. She addressed the attendees and concluded the gathering with the announcement of the newly elected IWG President Rima Khalidi, wife of the Palestinian Ambassador to Kuwait.

“I feel very proud, honoured and grateful to be elected the International Women’s Group president. I pledge myself to do good work. I look forward to work-

ing together with all of you,” said Khalidi addressing the group of women.

There were six finalists in the best dress competition. The winner for the best national dress was Nousema Bennani, wife of the Moroccan ambassador to Kuwait. Among the other finalists were from South Korea, Liberia and Denis Tueller, wife of the American Ambassador to Kuwait.

The network of women in Kuwait has members from all continents and being part of it is “an enriching experience” that provides a glimpse of other cultures.

IWG member Narjis Al-Shatti who holds the PR portfolio in the IWG explained that the IWG is an all-women multi-national group of women that gather to exchange cultural tips, share knowledge about the different countries they hail from and to make friendships. The members are diplomat’s wives, business women from Kuwait, local entrepreneurs and foreign

(From left) Narjes Al-Shatti, board member IWG, Dr Nouema Bennani, wife of the Moroccan Ambassador to Kuwait, Anna Nalbandyan, wife of the Armenian ambassador to Kuwait with a guest from Armenia, at the event.

women. The IWG Kuwait chapter is a branch of the Denmark-based International Women’s Association, which has branches worldwide, all of which organize similar programs and activities. Some of the activities in Kuwait include visits to traditional venues, museums and places o interest. The members of the organization are also entertained by various cultural activities and cross-cultural programs that aim to introduce the different cultures of the organization’s members.

Dr Sheikha Anwar Faisal Al-Sabah, Chief Executive Officer of Dale Carnegie Training was the guest speaker in one of the group’s previous meetings this year. The IWG has a regularly scheduled monthly meeting on the first Sunday of every month. Apart from these meetings they also organize trips to museums and various touristic places around Kuwait. The group’s next meeting will be held on the first Sunday of October.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-imenquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is open from 07:30 to 12:30. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday. nnnnnnn

The finalists of the competition for best national outfit.

EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on shortstay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database. Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF ITALY The Board of the Kuwait Italian Business Group (KIBG), will unveil the KIBG website on 28 May 2013. The event starts at 18:00 with registration and socialization and includes a welcome address at 19:00 by the Ambassador of Italy to Kuwait followed by the formal presentation of the KIBG website. The event will end at 20.00. Event Location Italian Embassy Jabriya Block 9 Street 1 Villa 84. Valet service will be provided . No mobiles nor equivalent devices are allowed in the Embassy.

Dr Nouema Bennani wife of the Moroccan Ambassador won the first place for best dress at the event yesterday. —Photos by Yasser Al Zayyat

The outgoing IWG president Anna Nalbandyan (left) with the new elect IWG president Rima Khalidi at the event yesterday.

Big Tree Society hosts environment program for schools

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EMBASSY GREECE The Embassy of Greece in Kuwait has the pleasure to announce that visa applications must be submitted to Schengen Visa Application Centre (VFS office) located at 12th floor, Al-Naser Tower, Fahad Al-Salem Street, AlQibla area, Kuwait City, (Parking at Souk Watia). For information please call 22281046 from 08:30 to 17:00 (Sunday to Thursday). Working hours: Submission from 08:30 to 15:30. Passport collection from 16:00 to 17:00. For visa applications please visit the following website www.mfa.gr/kuwait. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF SOUTH KOREA

T

he Big Tree Society launched by the UNESCO in cooperation with the Boubyan Bank was the program for all the schools of Kuwait to participate about the awareness of environment.

Around 67 schools participated in the competition, among which 57 were government and 10 were private schools. Pakistan Sunshine School also participated in this

competition, the only Pakistani school that accepted the invitation and reached all the way to the final round of competition. The idea of the project was selected by the students of middle class for recycling of waste under the guidance of a team of teachers and the whole project was supervised by the Vice Principal Shazia Malik.

The exhibition of the ideas and work done by all 67

schools was held for three days in first week of May 2013 at 360 Mall. The prize distribution ceremony was held at International Islamic Charitable Organization Premises on May 6, 2013. The Principal Farah Javed received the certificate of appreciation for school participation, which was honored by the Minister for Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Nayef Falah Hajraf.

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Kuwait will organize 2013 K-POP Contest on Thursday, June 6, 2013 at 6:00 pm. The aim of the contest is to provide an opportunity to the participants to showcase their exciting talents to the audience. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the contest. Application forms can be downloaded from the Embassy’s website: http://kwt.mofa.go.kr (Select English from the menu at the top of the page then Bilateral Relations) or visit the “Korean Culture Diwaniya” Facebook Group. Interested applicants must send their application forms to Kuwait@mofa.go.kr by 24 May 2013.

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 Into The Dragon’s Lair 01:35 Animal Cops Philadelphia 02:25 Roaring With Pride 03:15 Wildest Africa 04:05 Biggest And Baddest 04:55 Animal Cops Philadelphia 05:45 Wildest Islands 06:35 Wildlife SOS 07:00 The Really Wild Show 07:25 My Cat From Hell 08:15 Dogs 101 09:10 Panda Adventures With Nigel Marven 10:05 Wildwives Of Savannah Lane 11:00 Animal Cops Phoenix 11:55 Shamwari: A Wild Life 12:20 Wildlife SOS 12:50 Clinically Wild: Alaska 13:15 Clinically Wild: Alaska 13:45 Animal Precinct 14:40 Wildwives Of Savannah Lane 15:30 Echo And The Elephants Of Amboseli 16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 17:25 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 17:50 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 18:20 Trophy Cats 19:15 Escape To Chimp Eden 19:40 Bondi Vet 20:10 Shamwari: A Wild Life 20:35 Echo And The Elephants Of Amboseli 21:05 Wildwives Of Savannah Lane

00:20 Cash In The Attic 01:05 Gok’s Fashion Fix 01:50 Design Rules 02:15 Daily Cooks Challenge 02:45 Daily Cooks Challenge 03:15 Celebrity MasterChef 04:05 Vacation Vacation Vacation 04:30 Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds 05:15 Design Rules 05:40 Antiques Roadshow 06:30 Daily Cooks Challenge 07:00 Design Rules 07:25 Cash In The Attic 08:10 Homes Under The Hammer 09:05 Bargain Hunt 09:50 Antiques Roadshow 10:40 Gok’s Fashion Fix 11:30 Celebrity MasterChef 12:25 Come Dine With Me 13:15 Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds 14:00 Cash In The Attic 14:45 Antiques Roadshow 15:40 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 17:00 Homes Under The Hammer 17:55 Food And Drink 18:25 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 18:50 Food Poker 19:40 Come Dine With Me 20:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

00:15 00:45 01:30 01:55 02:20 02:45 03:00 03:20 03:45 04:10 04:35 05:00 05:25 06:00 06:25 06:50 07:15 07:40 08:05 08:30 08:55 09:20 09:45 10:10 10:35 11:00 11:25 11:50

Duck Dodgers Wacky Races What’s New Scooby-Doo? What’s New Scooby-Doo? The Flintstones Tom & Jerry Tales What’s New Scooby-Doo? Taz-Mania The Looney Tunes Show Tom & Jerry Tales Johnny Bravo Bananas In Pyjamas Jelly Jamm Ha Ha Hairies Bananas In Pyjamas Lazytown Krypto: The Super Dog Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Cartoonito Tales Ha Ha Hairies Lazytown Baby Looney Tunes Krypto: The Super Dog Cartoonito Tales Jelly Jamm Gerald McBoing Boing Lazytown

12:15 12:40 13:00 13:25 13:50 14:20 14:45 15:10 15:35 16:00 16:25 16:50 17:15 17:40 18:05 18:30 18:55 19:20 19:45 20:10 20:35 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:15 23:05 23:30 23:55

Baby Looney Tunes Jelly Jamm Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Moomins Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries The Looney Tunes Show The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo Taz-Mania Tiny Toon Adventures Moomins Tom And Jerry Tales What’s New Scooby Doo The Looney Tunes Show The Garfield Show Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo Tom And Jerry Tales What’s New Scooby Doo Tiny Toon Adventures Puppy In My Pocket What’s New Scooby-Doo? Looney Tunes Dexter’s Laboratory Tom & Jerry Tales Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Moomins

00:30 Grim Adventures Of...

01:20 Johnny Test 02:10 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 02:35 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 03:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 03:25 Regular Show 03:50 Ben 10: Omniverse 04:15 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 04:40 Powerpuff Girls 05:05 Evil Con Carne 05:30 Cow & Chicken 06:00 Casper’s Scare School 06:30 Angelo Rules 07:00 Dreamworks Dragons Riders Of Berk 07:25 Johnny Test 07:45 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 08:10 Evil Con Carne 08:55 Adventure Time 09:45 Regular Show 10:35 Angelo Rules 11:25 Ben 10: Alien Force 11:50 Ben 10: Alien Force 12:15 Hero 108 12:40 Hero 108 13:05 Mucha Lucha !

13:30 Angelo Rules 14:20 Evil Con Carne 15:10 The Amazing World Of Gumball 15:35 Adventure Time 16:00 Regular Show 16:30 Johnny Test 17:00 Ben 10: Omniverse 17:25 Dreamworks Dragons Riders Of Berk 17:50 Gormiti New 18:15 Young Justice 18:40 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 19:05 Total Drama Island 19:30 Total Drama Island 19:55 Mucha Lucha !

20:20 Ben 10: Omniverse 20:45 The Amazing World Of Gumball 21:10 Adventure Time 21:35 Regular Show 22:00 Ben 10 22:25 Ben 10 22:50 Mucha Lucha !

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 Face 04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00

Bloodwork Private Crimes Private Crimes Evil Up Close Haunted Encounters: Face To Bloodwork Private Crimes Private Crimes Crime Town USA Crime Town USA Cold Case Files The FBI Files Crime Stories Crime Stories

11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00

Crimes That Shook Britain Psychic Detectives Curious & Unusual Deaths Stalker Vanished With Beth Holloway The First 48 The FBI Files Crime Stories Crime Stories Psychic Detectives Curious & Unusual Deaths Snapped: Women Who Kill

00:40 Inside The Gangsters’ Code 01:35 Inside The Gangsters’ Code 02:30 Inside The Gangsters’ Code 03:25 Inside The Gangsters’ Code 04:20 Heroes Of Hell’s Highway 05:15 Heroes Of Hell’s Highway 06:05 Heroes Of Hell’s Highway 07:00 Mythbusters 07:50 Soul Food Family 08:45 Gold Rush 09:40 Border Security - Series 6 Specials 10:05 Auction Hunters 10:30 Auction Kings 10:55 How Machines Work 11:25 How It’s Made 11:50 Wheeler Dealers 12:45 Wheeler Dealers: Trading Up 13:40 Fifth Gear 14:35 Border Security - Series 6 Specials 15:05 Auction Hunters 15:30 Auction Kings 16:00 Robson Green’s Extreme Fishing Challenge 16:55 Gold Rush 17:50 Mythbusters 18:45 Sons Of Guns 19:40 How Stuff Works 20:05 How It’s Made 20:35 Auction Hunters 21:00 Storage Hunters 21:30 Gold Divers: Under The Ice 22:25 Alaska: The Last Frontier

00:05 00:30 01:00 01:50 02:45 03:35 04:25 05:15 05:40 06:05 06:30 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 10:25 11:20 12:10 13:00 13:25 13:50 14:20 14:45 15:10 16:00 16:55 17:45 18:35 19:30 20:20 20:45 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:50 23:40

How Tech Works Sci-Fi Science What’s That About?

Future Weapons Future Weapons Future Weapons Future Weapons The Gadget Show How Tech Works James May’s 20th Century James May’s 20th Century X-Machines Things That Move Things That Move The Gadget Show How Tech Works Scrapheap Challenge What’s That About?

Superships Meteorite Men Things That Move Things That Move Sci-Fi Science The Gadget Show How Tech Works X-Machines Scrapheap Challenge Future Weapons Engineered Meteorite Men Under New York Things That Move Things That Move The Gadget Show How Tech Works Under New York Sport Science The Gadget Show

00:45 02:30 04:20 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:35 10:30

Final 24 Bone Detectives Timewatch Prehistoric Chasing Classic Cars Circus Treasure Quest Great Battles

10:55 11:20 12:10 13:05 13:55 14:50 15:45 16:40 17:05 17:35 18:00 18:25 19:20 20:10 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

00:00 Chelsea Lately 00:30 Opening Act 01:25 E! Investigates 03:15 E! Investigates 04:10 E!es 05:05 Extreme Close-Up 05:30 Extreme Close-Up 06:00 THS 07:50 Style Star 08:20 E! News 09:15 Married To Jonas 09:45 Married To Jonas 10:15 THS 11:10 E!es 12:05 Playing With Fire 13:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:30 Extreme Close-Up 17:00 Fashion Police 18:00 E! News 19:00 E!es 20:00 Ice Loves Coco 20:30 Ice Loves Coco 21:00 Chasing The Saturdays 21:30 Chasing The Saturdays 22:00 Kourtney And Kim Take Miami 23:00 E!es 23:30 E!es

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:35 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:30 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 10:20 10:45 11:10 11:35 12:00 12:50 13:15 Basics 13:40 Basics 14:05 14:30 14:55 15:20 15:45 16:35 17:00 17:25 17:50 18:15 18:40 19:05 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:25 22:50 Feasts 23:15 23:40

00:30 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:15 13:40 14:30 15:20 15:45 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

30 MINUTES OR LESS ON OSN MOVIES COMEDY

Great Battles Survivorman Alaska’s Great Race Timewatch Bone Detectives Daredevils Prehistoric Great Battles Great Battles Chasing Classic Cars Chasing Classic Cars Survivorman Reign Of The Dinosaurs Hell On High Water Timewatch Reign Of The Dinosaurs Final 24 FBI Case Files

Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Food Wars Food Wars Unwrapped Iron Chef America Iron Chef America Unique Eats Food Crafters United Tastes Of America Chopped Iron Chef America Unwrapped Unwrapped Guy’s Big Bite Guy’s Big Bite Reza, Spice Prince Of India Unique Sweets Kid In A Candy Store Barefoot Contessa Food Network Star Extra Virgin Extra Virgin Cooking For Real Food Crafters Ultimate Recipe Showdown Grill It! With Bobby Flay Barefoot Contessa - Back To Barefoot Contessa - Back To Food Wars Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Guy’s Big Bite Chopped Barefoot Contessa Barefoot Contessa Food Wars Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Guy’s Big Bite Reza, Spice Prince Of India Chopped Chopped Amazing Wedding Cakes Reza’s African Kitchen Reza’s African Kitchen Andy Bates American Street Andy Bates Street Feasts Food Wars

The Haunted Dr G: Medical Examiner Blood Relatives Couples Who Kill Scorned: Crimes Of Passion The Haunted Dr G: Medical Examiner Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Murder Shift Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

Disappeared Undercover: Double Life Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Deadly Sins Blood Relatives I Almost Got Away With It

01:15 Cadillac Man 02:55 Boxcar Bertha 04:25 Eye Of The Needle 06:15 A Rage In Harlem 08:05 Bound For Glory 10:30 Twelve Angry Men 12:25 Johnny Be Good 13:50 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course 15:20 Billion Dollar Brain 17:10 The Wilby Conspiracy 18:55 The Tempest 20:25 Fires Within 22:00 Born To Win 23:30 Mgm’s Big Screen 23:45 Firestarter

00:15 Market Values 00:45 Living With The Amish 01:40 Into The Drink 02:05 Into The Drink 02:35 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 03:30 Travel Oz 03:55 Deadliest Journeys 04:25 A World Apart 05:20 Long Way Down 06:15 Graham’s World 06:40 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 07:10 Market Values 07:35 Market Values 08:05 Living With The Amish 09:00 Into The Drink 09:25 Into The Drink 09:55 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 10:50 Travel Oz 11:15 Deadliest Journeys 11:45 A World Apart 12:40 Travel Oz 13:05 Travel Oz 13:35 Gone to save the planet 14:00 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 14:30 Market Values 14:55 Market Values 15:25 Living With The Amish 16:20 Into The Drink 16:45 Into The Drink 17:15 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 18:10 Travel Oz 18:35 Deadliest Journeys 19:05 A World Apart 20:00 Market Values 20:30 Market Values 21:00 Gone to save the planet 21:30 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 22:00 Long Way Down 22:55 Graham’s World 23:20 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 23:50 Earth Tripping

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS ON OSN MOVIES HD 00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Doomsday Preppers Situation Critical Blowdown Banged Up Abroad Naked Science Shark Men Banged Up Abroad Alaska State Troopers Doomsday Preppers Situation Critical Blowdown Banged Up Abroad Naked Science Shark Men Banged Up Abroad Alaska State Troopers Doomsday Preppers Situation Critical Mega Breakdown Trapped The Known Universe Dangerous Encounters Trapped Alaska State Troopers

00:00 Ultimate Animal Countdown 01:00 Speed Kills 01:55 Monster Fish 02:50 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 03:45 Built For The Kill 5 04:40 World’s Deadliest Animals 05:35 Triumph of Life 06:30 Monster Fish 07:25 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 08:20 Built For The Kill 5 09:15 Fish Warrior 10:10 Moray Eels: Alien Empire 11:05 World’s Weirdest 12:00 I, Predator 13:00 Monster Fish 14:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 15:00 Built For The Kill 5 16:00 Fish Warrior 17:00 Ninja Shrimp 18:00 World’s Weirdest 19:00 Monster Fish 20:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 21:00 Built For The Kill 5 22:00 Fish Warrior 23:00 Ninja Shrimp

09:30 Two And A Half Men 10:00 The Office 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Arrested Development 12:30 Seinfeld 13:00 Hope & Faith 14:00 1600 Penn 14:30 The Office 15:00 Two And A Half Men 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Arrested Development 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:30 Malibu Country 20:00 Don’t Trust The B In Apartment 23 20:30 Brickleberry 21:00 The Daily Show Global Edition 21:30 The Colbert Report Global Edition 22:00 Family Guy 22:30 Louie 23:00 Girls 23:30 Enlightened

00:00 02:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00

24 Good Morning America Good Morning America 24 Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show 24 Emmerdale Coronation Street Live Good Morning America Awake The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street 24 C.S.I. Miami The Carrie Diaries

00:00 The Keeper-18 02:00 Meskada-PG15 04:00 True Justice: Angel Of Death 06:00 Tomorrow, When The War Began-PG15 08:00 True Justice: Blood Alley-PG15 10:00 Do No Harm-PG15 12:00 Ip Man 2-PG15 14:00 True Justice: Blood Alley-PG15 16:00 Killer Mountain-PG15 18:00 Ip Man 2-PG15 20:00 Three Kings-18 22:00 The Silence Of The Lambs-18

00:00 01:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

Eureka Scandal Grimm Necessary Roughness Grimm Eureka Emmerdale Coronation Street The Finder Scandal Burn Notice Necessary Roughness Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Eureka Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Finder Alphas Top Gear (US) Once Upon A Time

01:00 Footloose-PG15 03:00 Hidden Crimes-PG15 05:00 The National Tree-PG15 07:00 Underground: The Julian Assange Story-PG15 09:00 Footloose-PG15 11:00 Blackthorn-PG15 13:00 The Decoy Bride-PG15 15:00 Winx-FAM 17:00 Larry Crowne-PG15 19:00 Jane Eyre-PG15 21:00 One Day-18 23:00 Project X-18

00:00 Alien 02:00 The Keeper 04:00 Meskada 06:00 True Justice: Angel Of Death 08:00 Tomorrow, When The War Began 10:00 True Justice: Blood Alley 12:00 Do No Harm 14:00 Ip Man 2 16:00 True Justice: Blood Alley 18:00 Killer Mountain 20:00 Ip Man 2 22:00 Three Kings

00:00 The Cleveland Show 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Saturday Night Live 02:30 The Ricky Gervais Show 03:00 Guys With Kids 03:30 1600 Penn 04:00 Seinfeld 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Hope & Faith 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Seinfeld 08:30 Hope & Faith 09:00 Guys With Kids

00:00 Tucker And Dale vs Evil-18 02:00 Grassroots-PG15 04:00 Ernest Scared Stupid-PG15 06:00 Snow Day-PG 08:00 Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach-PG15 10:00 3 Holiday Tails-PG 12:00 Ernest Scared Stupid-PG15 14:00 Falling Star-PG15 16:00 3 Holiday Tails-PG 18:00 Men In Black II-PG 20:00 30 Minutes Or Less-18 22:00 Tucker And Dale vs Evil-18

01:00 The Preacher’s Wife-PG15 03:15 Broken-PG15 05:00 7 Days In Havana-PG15 07:15 Virtual Lies-PG15 09:00 B-Girl-PG15 11:00 The Preacher’s Wife-PG15 13:15 Henry’s Crime-PG15 15:15 George Harrison: Living In The Material World-PG15 19:00 The Company Men-PG15 21:00 Mad Bastards-PG15 23:15 S. Darko-PG15

01:00 Toast-PG15 03:00 A Better Life-PG15 05:00 Crisis Point-PG15 07:00 A Fall From Grace-PG15 09:00 Water For Elephants-PG15 11:00 Big Miracle-PG 13:00 Bobby Jones: Stroke Of Genius 15:15 Kung Fu Panda 2-PG 17:00 Water For Elephants-PG15 19:00 Joyful Noise-PG15 21:00 Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows-PG15 23:15 Shark Night-PG15

01:15 Queen Of The Swallows 02:45 Quest For A Heart 04:15 Mandie And The Secret Tunnel 06:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer 08:00 Emilie Jolie 10:00 Happy Feet Two 11:45 Winner & The Golden Child: Part II 13:15 Battle For Terra 14:45 Quest For A Heart 16:15 Winner & The Golden Child: Part II 18:00 Happy Feet Two 20:00 Dragon Hunters 22:00 Battle For Terra 23:30 Winner & The Golden Child: Part II

00:00 Burden Of Evil-PG15 02:00 HappythankyoumorepleasePG15 04:00 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights-PG15 06:00 Valentina-FAM 08:00 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol-PG15 10:15 Flower Girl-PG15 12:00 Happythankyoumoreplease14:00 Alpha And Omega-PG 15:45 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol-PG15 18:00 Mary & Martha-PG15 20:00 Seeking Justice-PG15 22:00 Your Sister’s Sister-18

00:30 01:00 08:00 13:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Futbol Mundial Test Cricket PGA Tour Live Test Cricket AFL Premiership Highlights PGA Tour Highlights PGA European Tour Highlights

01:00 06:30 07:00 08:30 10:00 11:30 12:00 14:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 23:00

PGA European Tour Futbol Mundial Super League Super League Super League Futbol Mundial Live NRL Premiership Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters Futbol Mundial PGA Tour Highlights PGA European Tour Highlights Super Rugby Highlights NRL Premiership AFL Premiership Highlights

00:00 01:30 03:00 04:30 07:00 08:00 08:30

Super League Super League Super League Pro 12 Golfing World Top 14 Highlights AFL Premiership

11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:30 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:30

World Pool Masters World Cup Of Pool Golfing World AFL Premiership NRL Premiership Top 14 Highlights Trans World Sport ICC Cricket 360 Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters

01:00 02:00 04:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 13:00 13:30 14:30 15:30 17:30 18:00 19:00 21:00

UFC Countdown UFC Prelims UFC WWE Bottom Line WWE Experience Ping Pong World US Bass Fishing NHL Mass Participation Ironman Mass Participation Ironman European Le Mans Series WWE SmackDown Mobil 1 The Grid US Bass Fishing UFC Prelims UFC

00:05 00:30 03:00 04:15 05:30 07:00 Shots 08:15 09:30 Shots 10:45 12:00 13:15 14:30 15:45 17:00 18:15 19:30 20:45 22:00 Shots 23:15 23:40

Excalibur’s Deer City USA Elk Chronicles Excalibur’s Deer City USA Elk Chronicles Bow Madness Shooting USA’s Impossible

01:35 03:30 05:10 07:00 07:30 09:20 11:15 14:20 16:00 17:35 21:10 22:00

Stihl’s Reel In The Outdoors Shooting USA’s Impossible Legends Of Rod & Reel Outdoors In The Heartland Bill Dance Saltwater Legends Of Rod & Reel Outdoors In The Heartland Bill Dance Saltwater Legends Of Rod & Reel Outdoors In The Heartland Bill Dance Saltwater Shooting USA’s Impossible Stihl’s Reel In The Outdoors Stihl’s Reel In The Outdoors

Cool Hand Luke Dark Of The Sun Little Women-FAM TCM Presents Under The...-U Guns For San Sebastian-PG Rhapsody-FAM Doctor Zhivago-PG Casablanca-FAM Jailhouse Rock-PG Gone With The Wind-PG Ride Him, Cowboy-FAM Cheyenne Autumn-FAM

00:00 Big Rich Texas 01:00 Fashion Police 01:55 Empire Girls: Julissa And Adrienne 02:50 Empire Girls: Julissa And Adrienne 03:45 Videofashion Daily 04:40 Videofashion Specials 05:10 Videofashion News 05:35 Videofashion Collections 06:05 Open House 06:30 Open House 07:00 Videofashion News 07:30 Videofashion News 08:00 Videofashion Daily 09:00 Open House 09:30 Dress My Nest 10:00 Built 10:55 Tia And Tamera 11:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 12:50 Videofashion Specials 13:20 Videofashion Collections 13:50 Chicagolicious 14:45 How Do I Look?

15:40 How Do I Look?

16:35 Giuliana & Bill 17:30 Giuliana & Bill 18:25 Tia And Tamera 19:25 Tia And Tamera 20:20 Kimora: House Of Fab 21:15 Kimora: House Of Fab 22:10 Built

Classifieds MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

Kuwait SHARQIA-1 FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) SARA 3 AL AHEBA (DIG) AT ANY PRICE (DIG) SARA 3 AL AHEBA (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 11:30 PM

SHARQIA-2 DINO TIME (DIG-3D) EPIC (DIG-3D) EPIC (DIG-3D) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

SHARQIA-3 THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) SAMEER ABOO ELNEEL (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED MUHALAB-1 HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) FRI EPIC (DIG) THU+SAT+MON HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) EPIC (DIG) AT ANY PRICE (DIG) HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) MUHALAB-2 THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) SAMEER ABOO ELNEEL (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) MUHALAB-3 FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) DINO TIME (DIG-3D) THU IDDARAMMAYILATHO (TELUGU) FRI+SAT FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO THU+FRI+SAT IDDARAMMAYILATHO (TELUGU) THU FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO THU FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FANAR-1 FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) SAMEER ABOO ELNEEL (DIG) SARA 3 AL AHEBA (DIG) SARA 3 AL AHEBA (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED FANAR-2 THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG)

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (30/05/2013 TO 05/06/2013) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

1:30 PM 1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM 1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 2:00 PM 4:30 PM 4:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

FANAR-3 ABDUCTED (DIG) 12:45 PM YEH JAWANI HAI DEEWANI (DIG) (HINDI) 2:45 PM YEH JAWANI HAI DEEWANI (DIG) (HINDI) 5:45 PM AT ANY PRICE (DIG) 8:45 PM ABDUCTED (DIG) 10:45 PM ABDUCTED (DIG) 12:45 AM NO SUN+ TUE+WED MARINA-1 FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) SARA 3 AL AHEBA (DIG) SAMEER ABOO ELNEEL (DIG) HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

MARINA-2 SAMEER ABOO ELNEEL (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:15 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM

MARINA-3 EPIC (DIG-3D) EPIC (DIG-3D) EPIC (DIG-3D) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

AVENUES-1 ABDUCTED (DIG) ABDUCTED (DIG) SAMEER ABOO ELNEEL (DIG) ABDUCTED (DIG) SAMEER ABOO ELNEEL (DIG) ABDUCTED (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

AVENUES-2 AT ANY PRICE (DIG) AT ANY PRICE (DIG) AT ANY PRICE (DIG) AT ANY PRICE (DIG) AT ANY PRICE (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

AVENUES-3 FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:30 PM 6:15 PM 9:00 PM 11:45 PM

360ยบ- 1 THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

360ยบ- 2 ABDUCTED (DIG) ABDUCTED (DIG)

12:45 PM 3:00 PM

ABDUCTED (DIG) ABDUCTED (DIG) ABDUCTED (DIG) ABDUCTED (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

360ยบ- 3 DINO TIME (DIG-3D) DINO TIME (DIG-3D) DINO TIME (DIG-3D) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:15 PM 1:15 AM

AL-KOUT.1 EPIC (DIG-3D) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) EPIC (DIG-3D) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

AL-KOUT.2 SARA 3 AL AHEBA (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) SAMEER ABOO ELNEEL (DIG) SARA 3 AL AHEBA (DIG) AT ANY PRICE (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

12:45 PM 2:30 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM

ACCOMMODATION

AL-KOUT.3 FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:30 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM 12:15 AM

BAIRAQ-1 FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

BAIRAQ-2 EPIC (DIG) EPIC (DIG) EPIC (DIG) EPIC (DIG) HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) HUMMINGBIRD (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

BAIRAQ-3 THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) THE HANGOVER PART III (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

Sharing accommodation for only Indians, family or executive bachelors only, in Salmiya, Block - 12, AlMughera bin Shoba Street.

Contact: 97202594.

(C 4430) 30-5-2013 Fully furnished 2 bedroom, 2 bath, salah with satellite, internet, telephone, sea view closet, near Burger King, Blagat Street, from 016-2013 to 20-08-2013, rent KD 270. Contact: 50687350.

28-5-2013 FOR SALE

PLAZA IDDARAMMAYILATHO (DIG) (TELUGU) 3:30 PM FRI+SAT+MON IDDARAMMAYILATHO (DIG) (TELUGU) 6:30 PM IDDARAMMAYILATHO (DIG) (TELUGU) 9:30 PM THU+FRI+SAT FAST & FURIOUS 6 (DIG) 9:30 PM

Fully furnished flat for sale in Burj Behbehani building opposite to Salmiya Garden. Big hall, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, big kitchen. Swimming pool, Gym facility, underground parking and round the clock security available.

Contact: 50701181. (C 4432) 1-6-2013 Doctor owned cars - Toyota Yaris 2009 (hatchback) and Nissan Murano (2006), low

mileage, going cheap and well maintained. Contact: 97202594. (C 4429) 30-5-2013 For sale Honda model 2001, gold color, good condition, price KD 750/-.

Contact: 50952218. (C 4426) For sale Mercedes Benz C300, model 2009, mileage 54,000km, body kit AMG, Price KD 7,500/-. Contact: 97479763.

28-5-2013 CHANGE OF NAME I, Murtaza Rehmat Ali Tamatiya, have changed my name from Murtaza to Murtaza Rehmat Ali

Tamatiya.

(C 4431) 1-6-2013

I, Moidin Kunhi Badiyar Husan, S/o Husan Kunhi Urmene Moidin holder of Indian Passport No. F4932532 have changed my name to Mohammed Mohideen for all purposes.

(C 4427) MATRIMONIAL Inviting proposals for daughter Dr. Pharmacy, Age 27, tall, smart, Kuwait working Muslim Pakistani family, from seasonable same status boys through parents. Contact: decent9343@gmail.com (C 4428) 30-5-2013

Prayer timings Fajr: Shorook Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

03:15 04:49 11:46 15:20 18:44 20:15

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines QTR JZR THY ETH GFA JZR AFG UAE ETD FDB RBG MSR QTR THY DHX FDB BAW FDB UAE ABY QTR KAC KAC KAC JZR FDB ETD GFA IRC MEA MSC UAE MSR THY QTR FDB MPH SVA KNE OMA RJA KAC KAC KAC KAC JZR JZR JZR

Arrival Flights on Monday 3/6/2013 Flt Route 148 DOHA 267 BEIRUT 764 SABIHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 539 CAIRO 416 JEDDAH 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 67 DUBAI 555 ALEXANDRIA 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 69 DUBAI 157 LONDON 53 DUBAI 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 412 MANILA 302 MUMBAI 206 ISLAMABAD 503 LUXOR 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 6521 LAMERD 404 BEIRUT 403 ASSIUT 871 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 766 ISTANBUL 140 DOHA 57 DUBAI 93 AMSTERDAM 500 JEDDAH 472 JEDDAH 645 MUSCAT 640 AMMAN 546 ALEXANDRIA 284 DHAKA 352 COCHIN 344 CHENNAI 165 DUBAI 561 SOHAG 239 AMMAN

Time 00:15 00:20 01:40 01:45 01:55 00:40 02:15 02:25 02:30 03:10 03:15 03:15 03:30 04:35 05:10 05:50 06:30 07:45 08:25 08:50 09:00 06:15 07:50 07:25 07:40 09:15 09:30 10:40 10:50 10:55 11:35 12:45 13:00 13:10 13:45 13:50 13:55 14:30 14:35 14:40 15:55 14:15 12:05 9:55 9:35 11:35 12:00 22:30

QTR ETD UAE ABY SVA GFA UAL NIA QTR FDB GFA MSC JAI FDB OMA ABY MEA MSR AXB MSC ALK UAE ETD QTR GFA QTR JAI FDB AIC UAL TAR DLH PIA JAI KLM THY TMA KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC JZR JZR JZR JZR JZR

134 303 857 127 510 215 982 251 144 63 219 405 572 61 647 129 402 618 489 401 229 859 307 136 217 146 576 59 975 981 327 636 205 574 411 772 213 786 104 774 542 118 674 618 742 535 177 777 135 185

DOHA ABU DHABI DUBAI SHARJAH RIYADH BAHRAIN WASHINGTON DC DULLES ALEXANDRIA DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN SOHAG MUMBAI DUBAI MUSCAT SHARJAH BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA COCHIN ALEXANDRIA COLOMBO DUBAI ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN DOHA COCHIN DUBAI CHENNAI BAHRAIN TUNIS FRANKFURT LAHORE MUMBAI AMSTERDAM ISTANBUL BEIRUT JEDDAH LONDON RIYADH CAIRO NEW YORK DUBAI DOHA DAMMAM CAIRO DUBAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI

16:15 16:35 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:25 18:00 18:25 18:55 19:05 19:15 19:35 20:00 20:00 20:05 20:15 20:30 20:35 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:30 21:35 21:45 22:00 22:05 22:20 22:25 22:40 22:55 23:10 23:15 23:20 23:40 23:45 23:10 18:30 18:45 19:25 18:15 16:00 19:25 19:10 19:30 16:10 17:30 17:50 23:00 22:40

Airlines AIC JAI UAL DLH PIA JZR THY THY ETH AFG UAE FDB RBG MSR ETD QTR QTR JZR FDB GFA THY KAC JZR KAC BAW FDB JZR ABY UAE FDB QTR ETD GFA KAC KAC IRC MEA JZR KAC MSC KAC JZR MSR THY UAE FDB

Departure Flights on Monday 3/6/2013 Flt Route 982 AHMEDABAD 573 MUMBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 206 PESHAWAR 502 LUXOR 773 ISTANBUL 765 ISTANBUL 621 ADDIS ABABA 416 KABUL 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 556 ALEXANDRIA 613 CAIRO 306 ABU DHABI 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 70 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 545 ALEXANDRIA 164 DUBAI 415D KUALA LUMPUR 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 534 CAIRO 126 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 133 DOHA 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 165 ROME 6522 LAMERD 405 BEIRUT 776 JEDDAH 103 LONDON 406 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 767 ISTANBUL 872 DUBAI 58 DUBAI

Time 00:05 00:20 00:25 00:30 00:55 01:30 02:20 02:40 02:45 03:15 03:45 03:50 03:55 04:15 04:20 04:25 05:15 05:35 06:30 07:00 07:10 07:20 07:25 07:30 08:25 08:25 09:10 09:30 09:50 09:55 10:00 10:15 11:25 11:30 11:45 11:50 11:55 12:25 12:30 12:35 13:00 13:20 14:00 14:10 14:15 14:30

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

QTR KAC MPH KNE OMA SVA KAC KAC KAC RJA JZR QTR ETD JZR ABY UAE SVA GFA JZR JZR UAL NIA QTR FDB GFA JZR MSC JAI FDB ABY KAC OMA KAC MEA MSR DHX MSC ETD ALK UAE QTR KAC GFA KAC FDB QTR JAI TAR KAC

141 673 93 473 646 501 617 773 741 641 238 135 304 538 128 858 511 216 184 266 982 252 145 64 220 134 404 571 62 120 331 648 351 403 619 171 402 308 230 860 137 301 218 205 60 147 575 328 283

DOHA DUBAI AL MAKTOUM JEDDAH MUSCAT JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH DAMMAM AMMAN AMMAN DOHA ABU DHABI CAIRO SHARJAH DUBAI RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN ASSIUT MUMBAI DUBAI SHARJAH TRIVANDRUM MUSCAT KOCHI BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA ABU DHABI COLOMBO DUBAI DOHA MUMBAI BAHRAIN ISLAMABAD DUBAI DOHA KOCHI DUBAI DHAKA

14:55 15:05 15:25 15:30 15:40 15:45 15:45 16:00 16:30 16:55 17:05 17:20 17:20 17:40 17:50 18:15 18:20 18:20 18:30 18:40 18:40 19:00 19:25 19:35 19:50 20:05 20:15 20:35 20:40 20:45 20:50 20:55 21:05 21:15 21:30 21:50 22:05 22:15 22:20 22:25 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:00 23:05 23:05 23:45 23:45

34

stars CROSSWORD 209

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) You seem turned on and tuned in to other people’s emotions. Not supersensitive, but intuitive. You can demonstrate a great deal of understanding and sensitivity to the needs of others and are in a good position to promote healings. You are very original when it comes to home and surroundings—the environment you build around you.

This could also manifest itself in unusual ways of supporting yourself. You may enjoy working with the flow of water . . . As in waterfalls and water sprinkler systems and the layout of the land. Breakthroughs available today may come through your immediate surroundings, home and environment. This could be new ideas in how you could receive monetary rewards for your creative work.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) In a word, it is your emotions and gusto that hold your innermost self together. Your feelings are not just important—they are central to knowing more about yourself. A strong devotional nature becomes obvious to anyone who takes time to know the real you. Everything else is centered upon this inner drive and energy. The search for a mate, and marriage in particular, are crucial for you. Communication with those in a place of worship is possible, enjoyable and uplifting. You are moved to unite and find out what togetherness means. Cleaning, health awareness, shopping and cooperation from the family or your circle of friends make laughter easy. Someone will join you now in your fitness program or perhaps help you create a new program.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. A communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia.

4. A view of the sea.

12. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

15. To an excessive degree.

16. Having removed clothing.

17. A periodic paperback publication.

18. A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (trade name Clinoril).

20. Capable of being added or added to.

22. An administrator in charge of a division of a university or college.

23. The basic unit of money in Ghana.

24. Having been read.

25. Spanish painter (born in Greece) remembered for his religious works characterized by elongated human forms and dramatic use of color (1541-1614).

28. (of complexion) Blemished by imperfections of the skin.

30. Australian shrubs and small trees with evergreen usually spiny leaves and dense clusters of showy flowers.

33. A quantity of no importance.

36. The fourth month of the Hindu calendar.

37. Make amends for.

41. The compass point midway between south and southwest.

42. Any rigid body structure composed primarily of keratin.

47. The process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid).

49. Any of various usually white herons having long plumes during breeding season.

50. (of skin) Covered with warts or projections that resemble warts.

51. Resembling or similar.

52. Any of various large keen-sighted diurnal birds of prey noted for their broad wings and strong soaring flight.

53. Yellow-fever mosquitos.

54. Exultantly proud and joyful.

56. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh.

58. A state in New England.

59. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

61. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

63. Not only so, but.

69. 1 species.

73. Belonging to or on behalf of a specified person (especially yourself).

76. Type genus of the Amiidae.

77. Electronic equipment that provides visual images of varying electrical quantities.

78. A needle-like part or structure of a plant or animal or crystal.

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

80. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

81. The face veil worn by Muslim women.

82. Hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella.

DOWN 1. An anxiety disorder associated with serious traumatic events and characterized by such symptoms as guilt about surviving or reliving the trauma in dreams or numbness and lack of involvement with reality or recurrent

thoughts and images.

2. A dissolute man in fashionable society.

3. Large genus of African trees bearing kola nuts.

4. A typical star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system.

5. Give qualities or abilities to.

6. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

7. United States anarchist (born in Italy) who with Bartolomeo Vanzetti was convicted of murder and in spite of world-wide protest was executed (1891-1927).

8. A hard brittle blue-white multivalent metallic element.

9. A port city in southwestern Iran.

10. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

11. A doctor's degree in education.

12. To fix or set securely or deeply.

13. The basic unit of money in Western Samoa.

14. Advanced in years.

19. A member of western Finnish people formerly living in the Baltic province where Saint Petersburg was built.

21. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography).

26. A demon who swallows the sun causing eclipses.

27. A Bantu language spoken by the Chaga people in northern Tanzania.

29. A yellow trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group.

31. Absolve or pardon.

32. New Zealand timber tree resembling the cypress.

34. Decisively defeated in combat.

35. An Asian river.

38. Colloquial American term for a town.

39. Production of a certain amount.

40. One of a set of small pieces of stiff paper marked in various ways and used for playing games or for telling fortunes.

43. A condition requiring relief.

44. The function or position properly or customarily occupied or served by another.

45. The basic unit of money in Zambia.

46. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy.

48. A sailing vessel with two masts.

55. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

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

60. The temporal end.

62. A lake in northwestern Russia.

64. A republic consisting of 26 of 32 counties comprising the island of Ireland.

65. Small buffalo of the Celebes having small straight horns.

66. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

67. Make an etching of.

68. A musical percussion instrument.

70. Derive or receive pleasure from.

71. A river in northern England that flows southeast through West Yorkshire.

72. A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk.

74. The month following April and preceding June.

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

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

More and more, others realize that you are not what you appear to be.

Your personality and the way the world sees you may appear more independent and outgoing than usual. An extroverted manner screens a more inward and quiet seeking self. In other words, you are much more sensitive and concerned about what others think. Although your outer personality may seem tough and self-centered, you are more sensitive to the needs and feelings of others than you convey outwardly. Your appearance and personality may bring you attention today. A bookstore or video store appeals to you and you may decide that one of your favorite ideas of a hobby could get a better start if you knew more about the subject.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Health and work goals take on a driving force this day. You want to be in better health and you are determined to find foods that will replace the current foods that may not be too healthy. You are able to find a few things that your family will enjoy but you will have to keep looking so as to not fall into the bad habits you are trying so hard to break. You will make the change for yourself but you will have to have some facts to present to others before you can convince them to take the same path as you. You are very original when it comes to home and surroundings— this is the environment you enjoy. You find unusual ways to be creative. Your work to improve your surroundings has been noticed and you continue to paint, hang and create whenever you can.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Interaction with others is the focus of this day. Neighbors, friends and family members may take on importance now. Outdoor activity through, perhaps a tour of a nearby park, zoo or multifamily garage or yard sale, can be enjoyed by many. You have a lot of energy and tend to be impatient with those who slow your pace. You soak up what you need to see quickly and are ready to go forward with new experiences. Your closest friends realize that the experience itself is what is foremost in your mind, not so much what you can get out of it. You seek contact with others and are not too concerned about matters of privacy today. Getting your message or ideas across to others is at a high. Your timing should be perfect for whatever you want to accomplish.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You enjoy and value the simple life. You may have tomato vines or a yard to tend, but whatever the case, you seem to enjoy some quiet time alone today. Your appreciation for hard work and discipline is natural and lifelong even in your personal life.

You actually love responsibility and may pile on the chores. Serving your family is very rewarding. Cook up a big meal with a smile. Put time and energy into achieving a feeling of togetherness. If you do not cook much, you may find that ordering food to be delivered to you is almost as much fun. Consider preparing the table in a creative way with, perhaps, a beautiful dessert. These are the wonderful ways to build close relationships. Make a resolution to lighten up on the workload.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) Your commitment to spiritual ideas may find you teaching or taking a spiritual class or enjoying some form of yoga today. You always work for a real future, doing what has to be done. The vapors of the universe may cause you to be in an appraisal mood. Not only do you become actively involved in some form of toning and meditative type of exercise but you encourage your friends and family to cull through the pantry and throw out medicines and foods that are past their date of expiration. Move on toward the medicine cabinet and eliminate some of those old bottles from long ago. It would be easier to keep a log of the prescriptions than to have them sitting around taking up space. A favorite pet is worth your time this evening: lots of smiles.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) A major life event marks the end of a formative period and the beginning of more independence. You are on your own and this marks the start of increased responsibility and accountability. This is a time for deep thought, review of self and a new chance. Emotional challenge, probably offered from someone close to you, may mark this time. Circumstances may press you and may bring out the rebel in you. You could feel frustrated and thwarted by events. Self-control is in order.

Circumstances should work together to help make your dreams real. This evening, your attention may be focused on a young person that needs your guidance in matters of importance. You will be able to make a positive difference in his or her life.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You are very fortunate in being able to grow and progress throughout your life without major difficulties. Your mood is cheerful and contagious to all you encounter. You can always find the resources you require plus the necessary instruction in how to use them. A friend or family member is willing to help you with a creative project today. The two of you can put your heads together and come up with some great ideas. You may find yourself at a family gathering this afternoon. You work hard to remember all the jokes you have heard so that you could add to the fun of the party. Enjoy the interactions between loved ones, take pictures and use them to add to the good memories that come with days like this. Peace is only a smile away.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) CAPRICORN Interaction with friends and family is enjoyable as well as comforting. Most of us enjoy group time with fun people and particularly you. You are so pleased to have so many opportunities to enjoy listening and participating in whatever your home group enjoys that you may have cooked an extra amount of whatever food draws a crowd. As you embrace the day and the people, perhaps . . . This is why you are loved so much. When family goes home your friends may decide to stay around and play some type of team sports, or go swimming or walking. This is a great way to enjoy your friends. This evening you may gather your thoughts in planning a way to lose some of those extra pounds. Eventually you may decide on vegetables and only a few starches.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You could find that you are appreciated and valued for your feelings as well as your ability to act and get things done. There is an interest in a volunteer group and you might find that if you talk it up among your friends you will have support in this interest. It may take a few months before you get a respectable group together for this volunteer project but don’t give up . . . It will happen. You will still have time for your creative moods later today but there are also plenty of interactions with others. People find you especially witty. You are an instant umbrella of warmth and friendship. You like to take care of everything and are always redeeming, salvaging and restoring. You may find yourself teaching and preaching to others about recycling.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You have a natural ability to grasp spiritual and visionary matters and to put them to work in your life and today is no exception. You perform with lots of creativity and imagination as others work with durable things. This is because you understand what is behind and connecting things. Much of your own self-image is wrapped up with your ability to work with images and dreams. You would make a good teacher in areas of music, philosophy and all that is mystical. You are most understanding and there is much sensitivity to the needs of others. There is a chance to understand those around you and to have a special time with someone you love this evening. There is a sense of support and harmony making this a happy time.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

Al-Madeena

22418714

Al-Shuhada

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Faiha

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Al-Jahra

25610011

Khaldiya

24848075

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Omariya

24719048

N Khaitan

24710044

Fintas

23900322

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Salem soso

22618787 General Surgeons

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

Endocrinologist Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Madonna urges fans to start ‘revolution of love’

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he ‘Hung Up’ hitmaker was one of the A-list stars to lend her support to the charity gig - which was organized by fashion house Gucci’s Chime for Change female empowerment campaign - at London’s Twickenham Stadium yesterday and urged people to join her in changing the world through education. The 54-year-old star took the stage, saying: “I keep telling people I want to start a revolution, but my revolution doesn’t involve bloodshed and violence. My revolution starts with education. My revolution is about achieving a higher level of consciousness, but this cannot start without education. “We cannot change this world, nor begin to treat each other with human dignity, without an education. Let tonight be the beginning of this revolution because education is not a luxury, it is a basic human right. “I invite you all to join my revolution of love. Join me tonight.

The revolution of love starts here.” During her show-stopping performance, ‘On the Floor’ hitmaker Jennifer Lopez also chimed for change, adding: “I believe my girls out there deserve the best education. They deserve the best in health. And I believe in justice for my girls everywhere.”

Kim’s stepfather met Kanye West only once

Simon Cowell talks about marriages and retirement

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ruce Jenner admits that he doesn’t know the 35-year-old rapper well because he has barely been around during the reality TV’s star pregnancy. He told ‘Extra’: “(I’ve) only met him once. Yeah, he’s not around, he was in Paris the whole time writing, and he just hasn’t been around.” The 32-year-old beauty, who is set to give birth to her first child in early July, has also failed to introduce her boyfriend of more than one year to her step-brother Brody Jenner, who is joining their show ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ this season. He said: “I’ve never met him.” The ‘Mercy’ hitmaker made a brief appearance at Kim’s baby shower in Beverly Hills yesterday with her younger sister Khloe’s husband Lamar Odom and her older sister Kourtney’s boyfriend Scott Disick. Khloe told UsMagazine.com: “It’s girls, but Kanye will come at the end. I said I want Rob [Kardashian] to be there the whole time because I feel bad he’s like left out of all this stuff. So I said come the whole time, but I don’t know if he is.

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he ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ and “X Factor’ boss also claims that he has never had his heart broken and thinks most people’s marriages are boring. The 52year-old star insists he isn’t ready to retire and told the Telegraph newspaper: “I’d rather drop dead doing my job. The idea of getting up in the morning to play golf makes me want to jump off a bridge.” But Simon isn’t worried about getting older because he believes there are advantages. He explained: “You don’t get so insecure or competitive. And if you can grow old gracefully, you’re fit and healthy and not bad looking.” Simon who called off his engagement to make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy in early 2012 - was most recently linked to Carmen Electra and is still close to his exgirlfriends Jackie Sinclair, Sinitta and Terri Seymour but doesn’t think he will ever marry. He said: “Well it worries me because I’ve seen it destroy people. And I couldn’t think of anything worse than being in an unhappy marriage. “Actually, being on my own is the best thing in the world. It’s like breathing in oxygen-I can really switch off then.

“I’m fine as I am. I think that when you get into a rut, it gets boring. “Look, when no matter how big your house is, you are going to end up on the same sofa, in the same bed or in the same room as a person, you are going to get bored. It’s a boring routine.”

Jaden Smith denies having a relationship with Kylie

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he 14-year-old ‘After Earth’ actor - who stars in the movie alongside dad Will - insisted he’s not dating the ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ star after he was asked about their relationship by Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS-FM radio show. He said: “I love Kylie and I love [her sister] Kendall [Jenner]. They’re just really good friends. “We all just kind of hang out because we live in the same neighborhood and they’re really cool girls. I love hanging out with them. They’re just friends.” The young film star was seen earlier this week with the 15-year-old model wearing an ‘Iron Man’ outfit in New York and Kylie has also been quick to insist they are just good friends. In an interview with E! News she said she loves being around him because he is so supportive and she admitted it’s great hanging out with someone who she can relate to. She said: “He comes and supports me with everything that I do. It’s refreshing.

Some people don’t understand and some people do.

Selena Gomez admits she is still ‘immature’

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he ‘Come and Get It’ singer - who has an on/off relationship with Justin Bieber - is gearing up to celebrate her 21st birthday on July 22 but says she sometimes still feels like a teenager. She told ‘ET Canada’: “I feel like sometimes I am 15 in my heart. You know, sometimes I just go in waves of being a child and being an adult. It’s awkward, I am growing up. I am just trying to figure out who I am.” But the ‘Spring Breakers’ actress is looking forward to celebrating the milestone in Los Angeles next month and being legally able to drink alcohol. She said: “I’m going to enjoy being 21, absolutely, of course. “I am going to have a party. ... My family from Texas, my friends [and] my cousins are flying in. I will have some of my best friends in LA.” Selena insists she has no regrets about anything she has done in her life or career to date, saying: “Everyone goes through things, the bad and the good, and at the end of the day, I don’t regret anything. It makes me who I am.” She has also learnt to accept that all of her actions are scrutinized because she is in the public eye.

Sofia Coppola believes American celebrity culture is out of control

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Bruno Mars’ mother had a heart attack

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he ‘Locked Out Of Heaven’ hitmaker’s mother Bernadette Hernandez, 55, was rushed to hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii on Friday night where she is reportedly still in a critical condition. Family friend Anita Sojot told Star magazine that the family are gathering to be at Bernadette’s bedside.

She said: “Bernadette is in hospital and the grandkids are all here, I’m looking after them. The family is on its way here right now and we are going to discuss what to do next.” The 27-yearold Grammy-winner has been very open about his love for his mother in the past and even wrote a song called ‘I Love You Mom’ about her, in which he refers to her as a “superstar” and “my favorite girl.” Bruno, whose real name is Peter Gene Hernandez, also has Bernadette’s name tattooed on his shoulder. The singer, who is set to kick off on his Moonshine Jungle world tour in Washington D.C. on June 22, has yet to comment.

he Bling Ring’ director wrote the movie about a real-life story based on five famehungry teenagers who raid the homes of the rich and famous and she insists people have become too obsessed with the lives of high profile stars. She said: “I see celebrity culture as some kind of guilty-pleasure thing that you look at once in a while.

But now it’s become the dominating thing in our culture in America. It’s out of control.” The 42-year-old producer filmed part of the movie at the home of Paris Hilton who was one of the gang’s victims after they burgled her luxury property and Sofia admits the heiress became very “emotional” during the filming. She told Radar Magazine: “I was curious to hear her point of view. She really liked the movie and she said that she got emotional when she saw them in her house because it brought back that time for her.” Speaking about whether she can relate to Paris and her lifestyle she added: “I don’t really relate our backgrounds at all. To me, she’s very exotic. I like her. She’s a very warm person. But I didn’t really think about any connections.”

37

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LIFESTYLE

Charli XCX brings the ’80s into ’10s

Ashley Tisdale’s stalker arrested

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icholas Fiore is currently in police custody after contacting the ‘Scary Movie V’ star who recently asked a judge to extend her temporary protection order against him, claiming she is terrified he will shoot her or her boyfriend Christopher French - via social media. A Los Angeles law enforcement source told gossip website TMZ.com that Nicholas, who has sent the 27year-old actress more than 18,000 tweets since 2012, has repeatedly violated the restraining order, which prohibits him for contacting Ashley and requires him to stay 100 yards away from her, since it was put in place. The obsessed fan was arrested at his home on Friday. The former ‘High School Musical’ star submitted a request 11 days ago to have her temporary restraining order against Nicholas, who showed up at her house twice and tried to gain access by pretending to be a deliveryman, extended because she fears he could cause severe bodily harm to her and her boyfriend.

Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter could soon inherit $49 million

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judge formally put an end to the more than a decade-long inheritance battle on Wednesday between the late model’s estate and family of her wealthy elderly husband, J Howard Marshall II, who died a year after they married with an estimated net worth of up to $1 billion, but ordered sanctions against the estate of his late son, Pierce, for using delaying tactics in the case that is expected to see Anna’s sixyear-old daughter Dannielynn secure a multi-million dollar damages payment. According to Forbes.com, US District Judge David O Carter said: “Pierce’s bad faith conduct was too pervasive and too egregious to be ignored, despite the fact that he has since passed away. It would promote disrespect for the authority of the federal courts to turn a blind eye to actions that so wilfully and blatantly attempted to make a mockery of this justice system. Further, it would reward a party for win-at-all-costs tactics, to the deprivation of his opponent. Such behavior cannot be condoned.” The judge did not specify the damages but previously estimated in March 2012 they could run up to $49 million.

Anna Paquin feels lucky juggling motherhood with busy career

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he ‘True Blood’ star - who has nine-month-old twins with her costar and 43-year-old husband Stephen Moyer - admits she has no time to sleep but feels very lucky to be juggling motherhood with her busy career after signing up to star in the fourth installment of the ‘X-Men’ franchise, due out later this year. The 30-year-old actress told the June issue of Angeleno magazine: “Sleep’s not a very big part of my life right now. But that’s fine. It’s kind of part of the deal. “This is one of the jobs where you don’t get to pick the timing, and when it rains, it pours. “When there are interesting things happening and interesting people you want to work with, you kind of jump on it and figure out the details, which thankfully have all kind of fallen into place. And then I’ve had a really, really awesome last few months. “I’ve been really blessed. I’ve never really been drawn to things because I wanted to be famous or huge or anything ... “I feel like [choosing creatively interesting projects] guided my choices a lot and I’ve consequently been drawn to people who, in the best possible way, kind of kicked my ass, because I didn’t want to be the weak link.” —Agencies

ritish goth-pop singer Charli XCX’s debut album, “True Romance,” shares a title with Tony Scott’s Quentin Tarantino-scripted 1993 road movie. The similarity, however, is only “incidental,” says the 20-year-old songwriter. “I do love that movie, and I think that Clarence and Alabama (played by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette) are two of the best romantic heroes ever,” says the singer, who hails from Hertfordshire, north of London, and whose last name is Aitchison.

“But I wasn’t thinking of paying homage to the film or anything like that. Sometimes life and love is very serious, and sometimes it’s not. You don’t really have true romance unless you have these orgasmic moments and also these dark, crying-in-the-shower moments. That’s what ‘True Romance’ is.” The singer, who cowrote and sings on the Icona Pop hit “I Love It,” played her first headlining US show at a Making Time party in Philadelphia in March 2012.

“It was fantastic, really, really good,” she remembers, talking on the phone as her tour bus makes its way to a show in Pittsburgh this week. “And then the next time I played there, there were five people in the audience.

So I don’t really know what to expect.” At a record store appearance in Chicago last week, she did a terrific synth-pop cover of the Backstreet Boys’“I Want It That Way,” a video clip of which has since gone viral. “I

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knew the song, but I wasn’t like a diehard fan or anything,” she says of the boy band’s 1999 hit, which was released when she was 7. “But I feel that that song is like a pop classic. It’s emotionally dark. It’s such an ‘80s song, really, at least the way I do it.”

Most of Charli’s musical cues are taken from the decade that preceded her birth. “I love that whole idea of dreamy romance, and a kind of drama in that period of time, when it comes to fashion and music and everything,” she says of the Reagan-Thatcher decade. “I love Belinda Carlisle, the Cure.

When we were beginning writing the record, that’s what I was listening to. Martika’s Toy Soldiers. Kate Bush. I guess it was kind of in my brain.” She began work on the album in 2011, but delayed its release for two years. “I was going to put it out when I was ready, because I’m the one who has to live with the record forever,” she says.

“I was growing up, being 18, 19, 20. It was finding out who you are, what you want to say, and what music you want to make. I needed it to be perfect.” And finally, the question everyone wants answered: What does the XCX stand for? “It was my MSN messenger name, which I guess is uncool. It was how I would sign off. ‘Charli Kiss Charli Kiss.’” When she was 14, “I started getting gigs at raves in London, and I didn’t have a name. And the guy who contacted me was like, ‘What do I call you?’ And I said, ‘Charli XCX.’ —MCT

Matt Smith quits BBC’s Doctor Who

he BBC is on the hunt for a new Time Lord after British actor Matt Smith announced on Saturday that he is quitting as the star of cult sci-fi drama Doctor Who. Smith, who has played the eccentric, time-travelling Doctor since 2010, said he would bow out in a special Christmas episode of the 50-year-old show and a new star would take over at the helm of his spaceship, the Tardis. The 30-year-old, who came to the role as a relatively unknown actor, said it had been “an honour” to play the Doctor. “Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew and fans of the show,” he said.

“The fans of Doctor Who around the world are unlike any other-they dress up, shout louder, know more about the history of the show,” he added. Doctor Who is the world’s longest-running science fiction series, according to the Guinness Book of World Records,

and has been sold by the BBC to more than 200 territories around the world. Smith is the 11th and youngest actor to star in the show, which has seen the Doctor battle enemies from the Daleks to the Cybermen since 1963.

Like his predecessors, he was joined by a series of companions as he travelled to faraway worlds in the Tardis.

“The Doctor can be clown and hero, often at the same time, and Matt rose to both challenges magnificently,” said Steven Moffat, the show’s lead writer and executive producer.

“The way he’d turn a line, or spin on his heels, or make something funny, or out of nowhere make me cry-I just never knew what was coming next.” Smith recently made his directorial debut and has spoken of his ambitions for a film-making career. As with previous Time Lords, news of his departure sparked feverish speculation amongst fans about who will come next-with some predicting that a woman could finally land the role.—AFP

Dumond Spring Summer ‘13 Collection T

here is no greater reference for Brazilian summer than Rio de Janeiro. A wonderful city full of colors, light and samba that inspire fashion in all senses. In total harmony with this environment, Dumond presents a summer collection filled with swing.

The Brazilian woman, who knows how to enjoy the beach with the same intensity that she enjoys the nightlife and all the wonders of Rio, now has her lifestyle portrayed by the brand. There are several shoes, handbags and accessories in a

perfect mix between modern and cool.

This season, the color blocks revisit candy colors. A real fruit salad, filled with lighter shades including guava, lime, raspberry and blueberry, which come to refresh the summer. Multicolored braids in the right amount give grace and freshness to shoes.

Typically urban materials, such as satin, lurex and pearly varnish, work with leopard and snake prints, setting a glamorous, sophisticated touch. Stiletto heels accompany the main trends and

platforms come to impose. In contrast, linen, cutout leather, vegetable, cork heels appear in line with the ethnic look and highlight craftsmanship, totally handmade. From the beach to the shopping mall, postman bags, shopping bags and clutches in various colors, prints and fabrics prepare the woman for all occasions, matched with shoes that range from basic flats and ballerinas to classic pumps or platform sandals.

Shines with iridescent sequins appliquÈs, metallic leathers, chromed

heels, and noble and shiny fabrics are very prominent and will brighten the most joyful season of the year. Acrylic details and vinyl accessories are also noteworthy. They take transparency to the footwear universe. Not to mention the brand’s sneakers. Darling among fashionistas, sneakers appear in more than sophisticated materials and prints, ensuring a cool and fun touch to the casual look. The athletic mood is taken up with sneakers with a built-in heel, the brand’s great bet. With so many colorful and cheerful details, Dumond reinforces the desire to further illuminate the wardrobe of updated women.

38

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LIFESTYLE F e a t u r e s

Piecing together ancient art of mosaics in Ravenna, Italy T

he Italian mosaic master sat poised behind her small, wooden work stand, a log placed on end and embedded with a small, sharp steel tool.

She held a piece of marble no larger than a stamp against that ax-like tool and struck it with a hammer, cutting it into progressively smaller cubes.

TINK. TINK. TINK. Luciana Notturni had no need to look as the pointed hammer swiftly descended into the tiny gap between finger and

thumb. Her body knew the drill. In no time, she had eight or so perfect little cubes resting in the palm of her hand. Her gaze fell on her students, and with a slight smile she shrugged, as if to say, “See, that’s all there is to it.”

We looked at those cubes with pursed lips and furrowed brows, likely harboring a shared sentiment: “How many fingers am I going to lose by the time this class is over?” Notturni’s full-time students at a nearby mosaic-restoration academy in Ravenna, Italy, must spend four months

perfecting their cutting techniques before they can construct a mosaic. The eight women who had signed up for her fiveday crash course held at Notturni’s studio - myself included - had about four hours.

Fear of digit damage wouldn’t hold me back during the class, an intensive introduction to the traditional techniques of the Byzantine artists of the fifth and sixth centuries. In recent years, I’d experimented with using tiny preformed squares of Italian glass, but that was a little like resorting to canned Parmesan cheese,

Mosaics cover nearly every surface of the 6th century Basilica di San Vitale, a few blocks from Ravenna, Italy’s main square, the Piazza del Popolo. The church was built on the site of the martyrdom of St Vitalis.

Brazilian Yara Fragoso, a student at the Mosaic Art School in Ravenna, Italy, carefully presses a marble tile into a temporary base of soft lime. —MCT Photos

A variety of awnings adorn shops lining a narrow street in Ravenna, Italy’s pedestrian center.

when I could be grating up the authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano. I’d traveled to Ravenna to learn how to create such artworks the right way.

This Italian jewel of a city proved the perfect place for our studies. While preChristian Roman mosaicists excelled at flooring, Ravenna’s mosaics, created mainly when the city was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, cover nearly every interior surface of many sacred buildings. The result is a glittering no-holds-barred carnival of color, form and movement, all within easy walking distance of the city’s main square, Piazza del Popolo.

Notturni’s light-filled studio is tucked away, just south of one of the remaining gates (think mini-Arc de Triomphe) in what used to be the city’s defensive wall.

On Monday morning the students listened as Notturni, a Ravenna native well known for her skill in mosaic restoration, explained the evolution of the art form and gave a rundown of tools and materials. “We’re not jealous of our techniques and methods. We want to share the knowledge,” Notturni said.

The workshop would focus on making a replica of an ancient mosaic, using a grout-free “double-reverse” method developed in Ravenna several centuries ago.

Notturni assured us all would go smoothly. “We help you prepare materials. We teach you. Remember, not enough time to make masterpieces while you’re here.”

We chose designs from about two dozen tacked to a wall: a bouquet of flowers, a geometric pattern, a Roman face, each a tracing of a mosaic found somewhere in Ravenna.

I decided on a Pavoncella, a longlegged bird depicted in the apse of nearby Basilica di San Vitale, a massive church covered inside from head to toe with sparkling mosaics. My bird had its own moniker: Pollo Sultano. The Sultan Chicken. We students spent a quiet hour or two painstakingly tracing our designs onto contact paper, tessera (individual stone cube) by tessera and then flipping the paper over and retracing the shapes, this time using a water-soluble marker.

And we got acquainted. I tried my everdiminishing German language skills on a hotelier from Passau.

A Brazilian was our class extrovert, quizzing the group on good places to shop. “You can’t find anything to buy in Brazil,” she lamented. Three sisters, all New

England artists, came to bond on their first “real trip” together. The following morning, we arrived to find that instructors working with Notturni had transferred our designs onto hydrated lime, a base that stays malleable. Glass tiles, called smalti, were also arranged in bowls next to easel-mounted lime slabs.

After practicing our finger-amputation-avoidance skills by cutting marble, a material that severs more cleanly than glass, we started in on our projects. “Stay and relax and think you are in the wombah and begin to write the ABCs,” Notturni exhorted us. “Try to having fun. Is what we ask you.” We tapped away. Tink, tink, tink, oops. Little piles of mistakes accumulated on our work stands and in the far recesses of the room. But ever so slowly, by pressing the tesserae halfway into the lime one piece at a time, our mosaics came together. Long lunches in the European tradition were strictly imposed, brooking little objection from the eat-lunch-in-yourcubicle crowd.

Evenings, a group of us roamed Ravenna’s laid-back pedestrian center looking for bars offering “aperitivo,” a phenomenon not unlike happy hour. For the price of a glass of wine, we had unlimited access to a spread of grilled vegetables, salads and pastas. Late Wednesday, after pressing the last tessera into the lime, we were in for a real treat: rabbit skin glue. As part of the double-reverse process, we needed to temporarily bind the front of the work, flip it over, remove the lime, spread adhesive and flip the work back over onto a permanent base.

The rank-smelling water-soluble glue was thankfully kept outside in a heated pot. We placed cheesecloth atop the mosaic and used a soft brush to drench the cloth with glue. It would soon dry rock hard, securing the front. There are modern alternatives to rabbit skin glue, but they are surely less memorable and they don’t come with bragging rights. The week only got better as it passed. On Thursday evening, Notturni brought us to Trattoria al Rustichello, a restaurant known locally for its excellent pasta. The meal finished with several types of homemade liqueurs, including limoncello made from lemons and nocino, a regional walnut infusion.

Friday, after easing our precious works into Mosaic Art School tote bags, most of us gathered at a wood-fired pizzeria for lunch, a repast we shared with dozens of excited gradeschoolers and one harried teacher. Then Notturni’s daughter led us on a walking tour that included an underground museum displaying strata of mosaic flooring discovered when the city began digging for a planned parking garage. Because Ravenna, like Venice, is slowly sinking, floors were repeatedly built over older sunken floors, essentially creating a rich vertical timeline of mosaic techniques and trends.

On the eve of our departure, I and four other students who occupied the entirety of Al Teatro, a gorgeous 18th-century palace made into a B&B, put together an antipasti dinner in owner Daniela Mingozzi’s stylish kitchen and washed it down with a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino. While the city is graced with many mosaic treasures, the one I will remember best is the workshop itself, a true masterpiece of Notturni’s creation.—MCT

Brazilian Alba Panhoca, a student at the Mosaic Art School in Ravenna, Italy, recreates an ancient medallion design first crafted by an artist of the Byzantine Empire.

A sculpture created in 2000 under the direction of mosaic master Luciana Notturni, founder of the Mosaic Art School in Ravenna, Italy. The work is tucked against a surviving portion of what used to be the city’s defensive wall.

Unlocked bicycles occupy a narrow sidewalk on a residential street in Ravenna, Italy. Daniela Mingozzi, owner of nearby B&B al Teatro, claims you are not a true Ravennan if you don’t have a bicycle.

39

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

LIFESTYLE F e a t u r e s

‘French kiss’ finally enters French dictionary

F

or centuries, there’s been no official French word for the sloppy Gallic export “to French kiss” - though that certainly hasn’t stopped any citizen from doing so. Now the oversight has been rectified. The one-word verb “galocher” to kiss with tongues - is among new entries added to the “Petit Robert” 2014

French dictionary, which hit the shops Thursday. It may surprise many that France - a country famed for its amorous exploits and which gave the world sexsymbol Brigitte Bardot, romantic photographer Robert Doiseau and even scandalhit former IMF chief Dominique StraussKahn - is only just linguistically embrac-

ing the popular pastime.

Yet Laurence Laporte of the Robert publishing house says that it’s just the way language evolves. “We always had many expressions to describe ‘French-kissing,’ like ‘kissing at length in the mouth,’ but it’s true, we’ve never had one single word,” she said. The term “French kiss” - once also

called a “Florentine kiss” - is popularly considered to have been brought back to the English-speaking world by soldiers returning from Europe after World War I. At the time, the French had a reputation for more adventurous sexual practices. Laporte said “galocher” was a slang term that’s been around for a while “but

only now is it being officially recognized in a French dictionary.”“La galoche” is an iceskating boot, so the new term riffs evocatively on the idea of sliding around the ice.

The word expert added a caveat about the power of language. The lack of a specific term “never stopped us from doing it,” Laporte noted.—AP

Jean Stapleton, TV’s Edith Bunker, dies at 90 J

ean Stapleton’s Edith Bunker was such a dithery charmer that we had to love her. And because she loved her bombastic husband Archie, we made room for him and TV’s daring “All in the Family.” It took an actress as smart and deft as Stapleton to create the character that Archie called “dingbat,” giving a tender core to a sitcom that tested viewers with its bigoted American family man and blunt take on social issues.

Stapleton, 90, who died Friday of natural causes at her New York City home, was the sweet, trusting counterpoint to Carroll O’Connor’s irascible Archie on the 1970s groundbreaking show from producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin. “No one gave more profound ‘How to be a Human Being’ lessons than Jean Stapleton,” Lear said Saturday. While Edith faced problems, including a breast cancer scare, with strength, it was the demanding Archie who presented her greatest challenge.

Stapleton made her much more than a doormat, but the actress was concerned about what the character might convey.

Edith’s flighty manner, cheerfully high-pitched voice and family loyalty enchanted viewers, while Stapleton viewed her as oppressed and, she hoped, removed from reality. “What Edith represents is the housewife who is still in bondage to the male figure, very submissive and restricted to the home. She is very naive, and she kind of thinks through a mist, and she lacks the education to expand her world. I would hope that most housewives are not like that,” Stapleton told the New York Times in 1972. Her character regularly obeyed her husband’s demand to “stifle yourself.” But Edith was honest and compassionate, and “in most situations she says the truth and pricks Archie’s inflated ego,” Stapleton added.

“She was unforgettable in that role,” Bette Midler posted on her Twitter account Saturday. Roseanne Barr lauded Stapleton in a tweet as a “great actor whose range was unbelievable, deep and majestic.” The stage-trained actress was little known to the public before “All In the Family,” the top-rated CBS sitcom that also starred Sally Struthers as the couple’s daughter and Rob Reiner as their liberal son-in-law Mike, aka Meathead. “Jean was a brilliant comedienne with exquisite timing. Working with her was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” Reiner said in a statement.

Stapleton was surrounded by family and friends when she died. “It is with great love and heavy hearts that we say farewell to our collective Mother, with a capital M,” said her son and daughter, John Putch and Pamela Putch, in a statement. “Her devotion to her craft and her family

taught us all great life lessons.” She proved her own toughness when her husband of 26 years, William Putch, suffered a fatal heart attack in 1983 at age 60 while the couple was touring with a play directed by Putch.

Stapleton went on stage in Syracuse, NY, that night and continued on with the tour. “That’s what he would have wanted,” she told People magazine in 1984. “I realized it was a refuge to have that play, rather than to sit and wallow. And it was his show.” She received eight Emmy nominations and won three times

tery show, “Murder, She Wrote,” which became a showcase for Angela Lansbury.

The theater was Stapleton’s first love and she compiled a rich resume, starting in 1941 as a New England stock player and moving to Broadway in the 1950s and 60s. In 1964, she originated the role of Strakosh in “Funny Girl” with Barbra Streisand. Others musicals and plays included “Bells Are Ringing,” “Rhinoceros” and Damn Yankees,” in which her performance - and the nasal tone she used in “All in the Family” - attracted Lear’s attention

This 1991 file photo shows Jean Stapleton in the off-Broadway musical theater piece called ‘Bob Appetit.’ —AP during her eight-year tenure with “All in the Family.” The series broke through the timidity of US TV with social and political jabs and ranked as the No 1-rated program for an unprecedented five years in a row.

Lear would go on to create a run of socially conscious sitcoms.

Stapleton also earned Emmy nominations for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1982 film “Eleanor, First Lady of the World” and for a guest appearance in 1995 on “Grace Under Fire.” Her big-screen films included a pair directed by Nora Ephron: the 1998 Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan romance “You’ve Got Mail” and 1996’s “Michael” starring John Travolta. She also turned down the chance to star in the popular mys-

and led to his auditioning her for the role of Archie’s wife. “I wasn’t a leading lady type,” she once told The Associated Press. “I knew where I belonged. And actually, I found character work much more interesting than leading ladies.”

She confounded Archie with her malapropos - “You know what they say, misery is the best company” and open-hearted acceptance of others, including her beleaguered son-in-law and African-Americans and other minorities that Archie disdained. As the series progressed, Stapleton had the chance to offer a deeper take on Edith as the character faced milestones including a breast cancer scare and menopause.

She was proud of the show’s politi-

cal edge, citing an episode about a draft dodger who clashes with Archie as a personal favorite.

But Stapleton worried about typecasting, rejecting any roles, commercials or sketches on variety shows that called for a character similar to Edith. Despite pleas from Lear not to let Edith die, Stapleton left the show, re-titled “Archie’s Place,” in 1980, leaving Archie to carry on as a widower. “My decision is to go out into the world and do something else. I’m not constituted as an actress to remain in the same role.... My identity as an actress is in jeopardy if I invested my entire career in Edith Bunker,” she told the AP in 1979.

She had no trouble shaking off Edith - “when you finish a role, you’re done with it. There’s no deep, spooky connection with the parts you play,” she told the AP in 2002 but after O’Connor’s 2001 death she got condolence letters from people who thought they were really married. When people spotted her in public and called her “Edith,” she would politely remind them that her name was Jean. Stapleton was born in New York City to Joseph Murray and his wife, Marie Stapleton Murray, a singer. She attended Hunter College, leaving for a secretarial stint before embarking on acting studies with the American Theatre Wing and others.

Stapleton had a long working relationship with playwright Horton Foote, starting with one of his first full-length plays in 1944, “People in the Show,” and continuing with six other works through the 2000s. “I was very impressed with her. She has a wonderful sense of character.

Her sense of coming to life on stage - I never get tired of watching,” Foote told the AP in 2002. He died in 2009.

Her early TV career included guest appearances on series including “Lux Video Theatre,”“Dr Kildare” and “The Defenders.” Her post-”All in the Family” career included a onewoman stage show, “Eleanor,” in which she portrayed the wife of President Franklin D Roosevelt.

Stapleton spent summers working at the Totem Pole Playhouse near Harrisburg, Pa operated by her husband, William. She made guest appearances on “Murphy Brown” and “Everybody Loves Raymond” and even provided the title character’s voice for a children’s video game, “Grandma Ollie’s Morphabet Soup.” For years, she rarely watched “All In the Family,” but had softened by 2000, when she told the Archive of American Television that enough time had passed. “I can watch totally objectively,” she said. “I love it. And I laugh. I think, ‘Oh,’ and I think, ‘Gee, that’s good.’” —AP

In this Thursday, June 21, 2012 file photo, whirligig artist Vollis Simpson sits outside his shop in Lucama, NC. Simpson, a self-taught artist famed for his whimsical, wind-powered whirligigs, has died. He was 94. —AP

Whirligig art creator Vollis Simpson dies

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ollis Simpson, a self-taught North Carolina artist famed for his whimsical, wind-powered whirligigs, has died. He was 94. Beth Liles of Joyner’s Funeral Home confirmed the death Saturday. Simpson’s wife, Jean Simpson, was quoted by the Wilson Daily Times as saying that her husband died Friday in his sleep at his home in the town of Lucama.

Jean Simpson also was quoted by the paper as saying that her husband had received a heart valve replacement in February but experienced some complications. Simpson became known for his whirligigs, wind-driven creations that stand as high as 50 feet (15 meters) and are constructed from recycled parts including motor fans and cotton spindles. He built the contraptions on land near his machine shop in Lucama, about 35 miles east of Raleigh. More than 30 of them were on display there until last year, when an effort to restore them began. The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park is scheduled to open in November in Wilson, about 50 miles east of Raleigh.

People from across the world visited Simpson at his shop, where he would happily sit and talk with them. “What Vollis was doing mechanically, creatively and artistically is unparalleled,” folklorist Jefferson Currie, who has worked on the renovation, said Saturday. “He worked on a scale that was a lot larger than anyone else. And even in that scale, he had a lot of intricacy. ... It’s

hard to get your ahead around how one man could create all of this.”

Simpson’s creations also captured national attention, with buyers including a shopping center in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, and the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. Four of them were also put on display at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Last month, the North Carolina House approved a measure making whirligigs the state’s official folk art. The whirligigs weigh as much as 3 tons and have hundreds of moving parts. They’re folk art or what’s also known as outsider art, works created by someone without formal arts training.

Simpson also did not have a formal engineering degree. But that didn’t stop him from constructing a motorcycle using a bicycle and a stolen motor when he was an Air Force staff sergeant on Saipan during World War II. He also built tow trucks for moving houses. In an interview last summer, Simpson told The Associated Press he was conflicted about the park in his honor.

He said he knew he could no longer care for his creations if they stayed at home with him, but he felt lonely without them. “I just hope I live to see it,” he said of the park.— AP

Beyonce headlines UK gig to promote gender equality

U

S singer Beyonce performed a set full of female anthems on Saturday at a London concert to raise funds for women’s health, education and justice. The concert, which organizers hoped would reach a billion viewers, was staged by Chime For Change, a charity started by Italian fashion house Gucci which crowdfunds donations for projects to advance gender equality in more than 70 countries.

The “If I Were A Boy” singer was joined on stage by husband and rapper Jay-Z for “Crazy In Love”, but sang stirring anthems of female empowerment for which she is best known alone. She told the audience that the charity gig had already raised $4 million dollars, and urged them to go online and do more during a set lasting 40 minutes that also included short films about women’s issues starring Beyonce.

Performances from Florence + The Machine, John Legend and Jennifer Lopez with a surprise duet with Mary J Blige, entertained the audience of more than 50,000 at Twickenham stadium, west London. Beyonce walked on stage wearing a black leather body suit with sequin shoulders as the crowds chanted her name, and an all-female troupe of violinists played the opening chords of “A Change Is Gonna Come”.

Tearful but smiling, she then sang “At Last”, originally by Etta James, and pleased a dancing crowd with an energetic performance of “Run The World (Girls)”. The Song For Change concert was broadcast live to 150 countries, and on primetime TV in the United States the following day, organizers said. Promoting gender equality and empowering women is

Jennifer Lopez performs at The Sound of Change Live at Twickenham Stadium in London , June 1, 2013. —AP

one of the eight goals set out by the United Nations at the turn of the millennium, yet inequality remains with just 21 percent of seats in national parliaments held by women, according to the Chime For Change website. Leading human rights activist and anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu appeared in a video message and called for men to stand up for girls and women. “This is the time for a revolution for women and girls,” the 81-year-old said. “And we each must play a part. Empowering girls and women is the challenge of our time.” Artists including Jessie J, HAIM, Iggy Azalea, Legend, Rita Ora and Timbaland all performed, but Beyonce was the big attraction for performers and fans alike. “She’s the perfect role model for anyone: she’s got a business mind, her body’s amazing!” said 26-year-old Sophie Kalaichakis, who was wearing a T-shirt from the singer’s last tour. Gucci is underwriting the event to allow all ticket sales to go to the charity, after taxes and transaction fees. Each one of the 52,000 tickets sold at prices ranging from 55-95 British pounds each ($85-$150) entitle the buyer to choose which cause their ticket will fund in what organizers said was a first for such a venture. “They want people not just to enjoy the concert but also follow it through,” Harvey Goldsmith, producer of the 1985 Live Aid concert staged to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief, told Reuters before the gig. “The idea is to get the audience more engaged in what’s going on so that they can actually see and feel where the money is going.” Projects include helping provide 50 Haitian girls with a safe space to learn and lead in their communities and fighting female genital mutilation in Mali. —Reuters

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp leaves Whitey Bulger film over salary issues

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ohnny Depp has left a planned film biography of notorious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, reportedly over salary issues. The Hollywood Reporter said that Depp, 49 - who was announced in February to star in the crime thriller by director Barry Levinson - exited after being asked to accept half his standard quote of $20 million. The trade magazine said this was part of a budget cut for the estimated $65 million to $70 million film following lower-than-expected sales of the movie internationally at the Cannes Film Festival.

A production source disputed this, telling the Reporter sales were in the projected range. UTA, the talent agency representing both the star and the director, had no comment. The film is based on Dick Lehr and

Gerald O’Neill’s 2001 bestseller “Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob.” Depp, who plays sidekick Tonto in director Gore Verbinski’s Western “The Lone Ranger,” opening July 3, is currently shooting “Transcendence,” a science-fiction thriller marking the directorial debut of “Inception” Academy Award-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister. It is scheduled for release next year. Actor-director Ben Affleck has a separate Bulger film project, written by Terrence Winter, creator of “Boardwalk Empire,” with Matt Damon in the starring role. That movie’s development status is currently uncertain. —MCT

Beyonce headlines UK gig to promote gender equality

39

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

Employees prepare ice cream at a franchise of Syrian ice cream shop “Bakdash” that opened on Madina Munawwara Street in Jordan’s capital.

An employee adds pistachios in cups of ice cream at a franchise of Syrian ice cream shop “Bakdash” that opened on Madina Munawwara Street in Jordan’s capital. —AFP photos

An employee serves cups of ice cream at a franchise of Syrian ice cream shop “Bakdash” that opened on Madina Munawwara Street in Jordan’s capital, Amman. Bakdash, billed as one of the oldest shops in the world selling Arabic ice cream, is located in Al-Hamidiyeh bazaar in the war-rattled Damascus.

Ice cream nostalgia

brings tears to Syrian refugee eyes A

n enticing aroma of boiled milk, vanilla, gum Arabic and pistachios; the rhythmic pounding of wooden mallets deep into stainless steel vats; the clink of spoons on glass accompanying cheerful conversation.

These are the sights, sounds and smells of Bakdash, billed as one of the oldest shops in the world selling Arabic ice cream and located in Al-Hamidiyeh bazaar in the world’s oldest capital, war-rattled Damascus.

These sensual delights make people’s mouths water in Jordan’s capital Amman, but memories of them are also bringing tears to the eyes of Syrians who have fled the conflict in their country and are nostalgic for a taste of home. What they are missing is Bakdash’s “booza”, a uniquely Middle Eastern type of ice cream that is elastic in texture, like taffy.

Adding to its distinct flavour and texture is salep, a flour made from the tubers of the mas-

cula orchid.

Mohammad Hamdi Bakdash opened his shop in Al-Hamidiyeh in 1895, and it is still going strong there despite the civil war that has killed more than 94,000 people and is increasingly threatening the capital. Earlier this month, a Bakdash franchise opened in Amman on Madina Munawwara Street. The decor is identical to the fast-food ambience of Bakdash itself, with its glaring neon lights, large mirrors, long rows of tables and waiters squeezing past customers ordering cones to take away.

“I am so moved,” said Sleiman Muhanna, a Syrian architecture professor who teaches in both the Syrian and Jordanian capitals. “They have recreated the spirit of Damascus.”

Janoub, the 25-year-old Jordanian who runs the Amman shop, said 60 to 70 percent of his customers are Syrian, many of them among

the nearly half a million of their countrymen who have fled home and are now living in Jordan. He also speaks of the emotional impact of the place. “I have seen elderly ladies weep” when they come in, he said.

Janoub speaks as two young men, white bandanas wrapped around their heads, pound the booza with long wooden clubs that look giant pestles to soften it and make it more elastic. What is pulled out of the containers could look to the untrained eye like pizza dough or even chewing gum. As he works, 24year-old Mohammed tells of how he came here to work from the mother store just a few weeks ago. Damascus “is not like it was before.

The situation is getting steadily worse. Here it’s like being at home, but it’s not really Damascus.” “They say the perfume of Damascus is here, but they all long to go home.”

TRANSPORTING BOOZA IS FRAUGHT WITH RISKS The pounding is done in Amman, and the final product mixed with pistachios and other delicacies for serving, but the ice cream itself is still made in Damascus to “preserve the true cachet of Syria”, Janoub said. But getting it to Amman, 170 kilometers to the south, is fraught with risks. “The ice cream is made in Al-Hamidiyeh and transported each day in refrigerated trucks,” Janoub explained. The trucks head south through Suweida, then across to Daraa before crossing the border,” all the time skirting bombed-out areas and potential obstacles along the way.

“Sometimes it’s the FSA (rebel Free Syrian Army), sometimes the (national) army and sometimes criminal gangs.” While two of his employees came from Bakdash in Damascus, Janoub said the others are either refugees or

fled to avoid being forced into military service, which is compulsory at the age of 19. One of them is Karim, whose timid face rarely breaks into a smile. He is from the central western city of Homs and declined to give his real name.

“My parents are still there, and I saw three of my cousins killed before my eyes.”

He said he left in July when he turned 19 “because I didn’t want to fight in the army”. As customers dig in to their booza, he relates a bitter tale similar to that of so many other young men his age. “My brother, who is 24, said one of us would go off and join the fight against the regime. He went, and I am here.”

For now, Madina Munawwara Street has become a sort of Little Syria, full of shops and restaurants that speak of home. But the thoughts in so many hearts are the same: “As soon as the regime falls, I’m going back to Syria.” —AFP

Yahoo! wraps US music tour with fun Y

An autographed guitar case bears logos from various US cities and signatures of musicians who performed during a Yahoo! On The Road music tour that wrapped in San Francisco on May 31, 2013. —AFP

ahoo! treated a select group of fans to a private performance of Grammy-winning band fun., wrapping up a crosscountry music tour aimed at reintroducing people to the Internet pioneer. “It’s been quite a ride,” Yahoo! chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt said before fun. took to the stage late Friday in the Masonic Center on San Francisco’s upscale Nob Hill.

“I’m sort of the ceremonial bus driver of the Yahoo! tour.” Yahoo! On The Road kicked off in New York City on May 3 with a performance by John Legend and the Salome Chamber Orchestra, and then traveled across the United States. To have chances at getting into shows, Yahoo! users took part in challenges geared at promoting the Californiabased Internet firm’s software applications, such as by taking smartphone photos using Flickr.

In an online clip from a brief interview at a Milwaukee concert hall where Macklemore was about to perform, Yahoo! chief Marissa

Mayer said she was “really excited” about the tour getting people to experience what is new at the company. Mayer-among Google’s first employees-became one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley when she was appointed Yahoo! chief executive in July. Yahoo! has been re-inventing itself as a premier online content venue since the pioneering Internet search firm found itself withering in Google’s shadow.

Different artists performed in each of the tour’s shows, and the lineup included Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy and The Lumineers.

Yahoo! is set to launch a European leg of the music tour in Berlin on June 11 with Los Angeles rock duo Capital Cities. “We are hopping over the pond and we are going to drive from Berlin to London, stopping every day,” Savitt said. “We will have everyone from Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake to Frank Ocean and Emeli Sande.” Video clips of performances and information about the tour is available online at ontheroad.yahoo.com.—AFP

Members of the Grammy-winning band Fun sign a Yahoo music road tour guitar case with Yahoo chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt (right) before performing a concert in San Francisco. —AFP